Gerrards Cross
| Gerrards Cross | |
| Buckinghamshire | |
|---|---|
_-_geograph.org.uk_-_29075.jpg) Gerrards Cross town centre | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU999880 |
| Location: | 51°35’18"N, -0°33’11"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 8,017 (2011[1]) |
| Post town: | Gerrards Cross |
| Postcode: | SL9 |
| Dialling code: | 01753 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Buckinghamshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Beaconsfield |
Gerrards Cross is a town and parish in Buckinghamshire, close to the borders with Hertfordshire and Middlesex. Geographically large and suburban, Gerrards Cross is south of Chalfont St Peter and north of Fulmer and Hedgerley. It spans foothills of the Chiltern Hills and land on the right bank of the River Misbourne — it has a central public park, Gerrards Cross Common and Bulstrode Park Camp, a preserved area of land which was an Iron Age fortified encampment.
The town has a railway station on the Chiltern main line whose operator provides a fast service from the station to London and the M40 motorway is beside woodland on the southern boundary of the civil parish and the settlement has a commercial and leisure central area which is smaller than the nearby town of Beaconsfield.
History
Gerrards Cross did not exist in any formal sense until 1859 when it was formed by taking pieces out of the five parishes of Chalfont St Peter, Fulmer, Iver, Langley Marish and Upton-cum-Chalvey to form a new ecclesiastical parish. It is named after the Gerrard family who in the early 17th century owned a manor here. At that time homes which were not farms were smallholdings clustered in a hamlet in the south of an elongated parish of Chalfont St Peter. Near its centre is site of an Iron Age minor hillfort, Bulstrode Park Camp, which is a scheduled ancient monument[2] Originally named Jarrett's Cross before the times of the Gerrard family, after a highwayman, some areas retain the original name, such as Jarrett's Hill leading up to WEC International off the A40 west of the town.
In 2014, a major national surveying company named Gerrards Cross as the most sought-after and expensive commuter town or village in their London Hot 100 report, with an average sale price of £1,000,000.[3]
Facilities
The large and distinctive parish church is dedicated to St James. It was built in 1861 as a memorial to Colonel George Alexander Reid who was MP for Windsor and designed by Sir William Tite in yellow brick with a Byzantine-style dome, Chinese-looking turrets and an Italianate Campanile. In 1969 the singer Lulu married Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees in the church. The actress Margaret Rutherford is buried with her husband Stringer Davis in the graveyard. The town has its own library, various restaurants and its own cinema, the Everyman Gerrards Cross.
On the south side of the town is the Gerrards Cross Memorial Building, on the site of the former vicarage. The building was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled in 1922 to commemorate the town's losses during the First World War. It is the only example of a Lutyens war memorial designed with a functional purpose.[4]
Transport
The town has a railway station on the Chiltern Main Line which opened on 2 April 1906. This provides services to London and Birmingham with a commuting time of about 25 minutes to London Marylebone.
The town is 14 miles from Heathrow Airport.
Popular culture
Stanley Kubrick filmed some of the exteriors in his feature 1962 film Lolita, notably "Charlotte Haze's house", in Gerrards Cross.
"The Italian Lesson" sketch in the first episode of the first series of the BBC Television comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus (first broadcast in 1969) includes the line "'Sono inglese di Gerrard's (sic) Cross', I am an Englishman from Gerrard's Cross."
Jethro Tull's song "Journeyman" on their 1978 album Heavy Horses includes the line "Too late to stop for tea at Gerrards Cross".
Indie band the Hit Parade released their 3rd single "The Sun Shines In Gerrards Cross" in 1986.[5]
St Hubert's House, a Grade-II listed house to the south-east of Gerrards Cross has been used as a filming location for TV series including Inspector Morse and The Professionals, and was the location of Colonel Hyde's house in the film The League of Gentlemen.
Notable people
- Joan G. Robinson, author and illustrator, lived in Gerrards Cross. Her most well-known book is When Marnie Was There, which was adapted into an animated film by Studio Ghibli.
- Kenneth More, actor, born in Gerrards Cross September 20, 1914.
- Roy Castle, dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician lived in Gerrards Cross.
- Dominic Raab, politician and Conservative Member of Parliament, grew up in Gerrards Cross.
- Amal Clooney, barrister and human rights activist, moved from Lebanon to Gerrards Cross with her family at the age of 2.
References
A History of Chalfont St Peter and Gerrards Cross C G Edmonds 1964 and The History of Bulstrode by A M Baker 2003 published as one book by Colin Smythe Ltd. 2003
- ↑ Neighbourhood Statistics 2011 Census, Accessed 2 February 2013
- ↑ National Heritage List 1006954: Gerrards Cross
- ↑ CBRE Global Research Gateway
- ↑ National Heritage List 1430052: Gerrards Cross Memorial Building
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P8Y1rtcY-Q
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Gerrards Cross) |