Benhilton

Benhilton
Surrey
All Saints Benhilton
Location
Grid reference:	TQ258653
Location:	51°22’23"N, 0°11’34"W
Data
Post town:	Sutton
Postcode:	SM1
Dialling code:	020
Local Government
Council:	Sutton
Parliamentary constituency:	Sutton and Cheam Carshalton and Wallington

Benhilton is a suburban parish to the north of Sutton in Surrey.

The village is dominated by All Saints Church, a Grade II* listed building and the parish church in the Diocese of Southwark. It was designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon in a Gothic Revival style and consecrated in 1863. It also contains All Saints Benhilton, C of E Primary and Greenshaw High School.

Benhilton is significantly elevated above the surrounding area. Great Grennell, the hill on which St Helier Hospital and Greenshaw High School climbs to 210 feet above sea level.

The name 'Benhilton' is derived from Benhill Farm, which stood close to the corner of Benhill Street and the High Street.

History

Origin

Milestone at Benhilton's northern boundary at Rose Hill

Benhill Farm was the largest farm in Sutton and covered much of where Benhill Avenue is now. 18th century maps record the name as 'Been Hill' or 'Bean Hill', and in the late 15th century it was called 'Benehill' or 'Benehyll', suggesting that the farm grew broad beans, which were a staple food in the pre-industrial peasant's diet. The earliest recorded name for the area is 'Benhull' from the 1385 Carshalton Court Rolls. A 1912 history of Surrey refers to: "The district called Benhilton, properly Bonhill, Bonehill or Benhill"; the area to the east of Sutton Common and north-east of the village was known as "Bonhill Common" in the 18th century.

18th and 19th centuries

The oldest surviving structures in the parish date from the 18th century, both of which are milestones showing the distance to central London: there was busy roadbuilding after the scare caused by the Jacobite rising of 1745 and the realisation that troop movements were hindered by poor roads, and the route through Mitcham and Sutton to Banstead Downs was measured and milestones erected. They are two of a series of milestones that marked the road from Westminster and London Bridge to Banstead Downs and, from 1755, the route of the turnpike road to Brighton.

Sutton Common was enclosed in c.1810–12 and Sutton Green was reserved as a recreation ground. To the south side of the Green, a pond with a small island was built and in 1838 a weeping willow 'coronation tree' was planted to celebrate the crowning of Queen Victoria. Cricket was played on the Green, which lent itself to the name of a public house opposite the Green, "The Cricketers".

The largest and most prominent villa developed here, Benhill House (later Benfleet Hall), was located on land between Benhill Road, Oakhill Road, Benhill Wood Road and Elgin Road.

20th century

In 1901, the population of the parish of Benhilton was 3,503. A map of 1913 shows that the area was still semi-rural and had a working farm,

Building of the Sutton Garden Suburb on open land to the north began in 1912, and continued during the 1920s and 1930s. By the time of the Second World War, the parish was mostly fully developed.

By the 1890s, Victoria Pond at Sutton Green had a reputation more for its smell than its looks and following many complaints it was cleaned out, and given a solid lining and railings. An elm tree was planted for Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in 1897, and an oak for Edward VII's coronation in 1902. The pond served as an emergency water source during the Second World War but it was drained completely in 1955. A visitor in 1905 wrote of "the lovely old elms" edging the Green, which have now gone, as has a terracotta fountain, also placed in 1902 to commemorate Edward's coronation.

The parish was only lightly bombed during The Blitz compared to some parts of London. At 11.30pm on 9 September 1940, two high explosive bombs blew out some of the stained glass windows in All Saints Church and damaged the adjoining National School. Further heavy bombing in the parish occurred on the nights of 10, 11 and 28 September and 8 and 29 November 1940. The school and vicarage were destroyed by flying bombs during the summer of 1944. The school was rebuilt and reopened in 1950; it was rebuilt again on the site of the old vicarage on All Saints Road in the late 1980s. The adjoining vicarage is relatively new and was built on the site of the previous building in 2014.

A visible relic from the War can be found at the peak of Great Grennell in Rosehill Park East, close to the Grennell Road entrance, where a concrete tank trap was built into the hill to slow an advance by enemy tanks. It formed part of the Outer London Defence Ring.

Benhilton today

Houses at Woodend in the Sutton Garden Suburb

Benhilton is mostly residential, comprising a mixture of Victorian and Edwardian town houses, inter-War detached and semi-detached houses, private blocks of flats and the low-rise Benhill Estate, which underwent major refurbishment and architectural improvements as part of an extensive programme of work from 2011 to 2013. More modern late 20th and early 21st century infill is evident along All Saints Road, Benhill Wood Road and Woodside Road in particular.

Weeping willow in Erskine Village

Erskine Village, a small commercial area, borders the Poets Estate, an inter-War estate mostly comprising semi-detached housing with streets named after famous English poets including Lord Byron (Byron Gardens), John Milton (Milton Avenue) and Robert Browning (Browning Avenue) among others.

Churches

• Church of England: All Saints Church
• Roman Catholic:
  • Korean Catholic Church in London
  • Holy Family

Society

The Granfers Community Centre on Oakhill Road is a hub for various local voluntary and charitable organisations. The Benhill Crescent Horticultural Society maintains allotments on Benhill Road.

The 1st North Sutton Scout Group have their headquarters on Stayton Road and another building in Benhilton Gardens.