Norbiton

Norbiton is an area within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, London. It lies approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Kingston upon Thames town centre, and 11 miles (17.7 km) from Charing Cross. Its main landmarks include Kingston Hospital, Kingsmeadow football stadium, Kingston Cemetery and St Peter's Anglican parish church which serves the area.

Norbiton
St Peter's Church
Norbiton Location within Greater London
Population	10,107 (2011 Census. Ward)^[1]
OS grid reference	TQ195695
London borough	Kingston
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Kingston upon Thames
Postcode district	KT1, KT2
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
UK Parliament	Kingston and Surbiton
London Assembly	South West
List of places UK England London 51°24′43″N 0°16′59″W / 51.41194°N 0.28311°W / 51.41194; -0.28311Coordinates: 51°24′43″N 0°16′59″W / 51.41194°N 0.28311°W / 51.41194; -0.28311

Norbiton was part of the Municipal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames from its creation in 1835, and became part of the larger Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in 1965.^[2]

History

 

Norbiton ward of Kingston upon Thames Municipal Borough, 1868.

 

Plaque on flats at site of original Norbiton Hall

 

Plaque at site of Kingston Lodge

Its name was originally Norberton(e) and it was named in a similar way to Surbiton on the opposite side of the Hogsmill River. The origin of the place-name is from the Old English words north, bere and tun (meaning northern grange or outlying farm).^[3]

The area was originally a part of the parish of All Saints Church, Kingston upon Thames. In 1840 a separate Norbiton parish was created, with St Peter's Church built between 1840 and 1842 to a design of Gilbert Scott and William Moffatt.^[4]

Until the mid-nineteenth century much of Norbiton was made up of country estates, all since sold as housing land. These included:

Norbiton Hall, a manor from the 16th century. Residents included Richard Taverner, who lived there 1547–75 and Sir Anthony Benn, 1605–18. In 1829, the Surrey MP Charles Pallmer sold the estate to Mary, Countess of Liverpool, widow of the late prime minister Lord Liverpool.^[5] It was finally demolished in the 1930s to make way for a complex of flats, also called Norbiton Hall. These flats were built between 1933 and 1935 and received local listing in 2018.^[6]

Norbiton Place was bought by Sir John Philipps, who died there in 1764.^[7] One of the family's servants was Cesar Picton, originally an African slave, he was brought to England aged six in 1761. He lived at Norbiton Place for nearly thirty years, before becoming a successful coal-merchant in Kingston.^[8] In the early 1800s Norbiton Place became the main residence of Charles Pallmer, owner of neighbouring Norbiton Hall.^[5] Pallmer greatly developed the estate, including adding a dairy styled like an Indian temple and a lodge in the form of a doric temple.^[7] Living above his means, Pallmer was declared bankrupt in 1831.^[9] Much of the main house was pulled down after 1830,^[5] with St Peter's Church built on part of the grounds.^[10]

Kingston Lodge, opposite Norbiton Hall, was leased by Novelist George Meredith in 1865. Disliking the increasing development of the area, he moved away at the end of 1867.^[11]

Norbiton today

Norbiton's housing stock largely consists of large Victorian and Edwardian family houses, plus small localised brownfield redevelopments of 1960s, 1980s and modern flats. It contains more council and social housing than most other areas of Kingston – one of the largest such sites, the Cambridge Road estate, was used as a fictional council estate in TV drama The Bill, as well as the BBC sitcom Some Girls. In 2020 plans were agreed to regenerate the Cambridge Road estate, including demolishing 865 existing homes and building 2,170 new ones.^[12] Homes on the renewed estate will obtain heating by a process that turns treated sewage into clean energy, the first such scheme in England.^[13]

As Norbiton is only 25 minutes by train from Waterloo station, the suburban population includes a large concentration of London commuters. Norbiton railway station was used as a location for the British sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. The headquarters of the Fire Brigades Union is located close to the station, on Coombe Road.

Kingsmeadow football stadium in Norbiton was bought by Chelsea FC in 2016 and has been used for the home matches of Chelsea F.C. Women since 2017. It was previously used as a home ground by Kingstonian F.C. (1989–2017)^[14] and by AFC Wimbledon (2002–20).^[15]

In the 2018 Kingston borough elections, both council seats in Norbiton ward were gained by the Liberal Democrats from Labour, leaving Labour with no seats on the council.^[16]

Education in Norbiton. See the main Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames article.

Transport and locale

Nearby places

• Berrylands
• Canbury
• Coombe
• Kingston
• New Malden
• Surbiton
• Wimbledon

Nearest railway stations

• Norbiton railway station
• Kingston railway station
• Berrylands railway station
• New Malden railway station

References

1. "Kingston Ward population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
2. Great Britain Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, Kingston upon Thames London Borough. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
3. Mills, A.D. (2011) [First published 1991]. A Dictionary of British Place Names (First edition revised 2011 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199609086.
4. Cherry, Bridget; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1983). Pevsner Architectural Guides. The Buildings of England London 2: South. London: Penguin. p. 313. ISBN 978-0-300-09651-4.
5. Malden, H.E. (1911). A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3. Victoria County History, London, 1911. pp. 501–516. Accessed 30 March 2020
6. Elisabetta Tonazzi (February 2018). "Norbiton Hall: Heritage assessment for designation as locally listed building with inclusion in the local list of Building of Townscape Merit (BTM)" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 2 December 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
7. Prosser, G.F. (1828). Select Illustrations of the County of Surrey. Rivington, London. Accessed 9 April 2020
8. Historic England. "Picton House, Kingston upon Thames (1080069)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
9. "No. 18798". The London Gazette. 26 April 1831. p. 807.
10. "St Peter's Church". Diocese of Southwark. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
11. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1912). "Meredith, George" . Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). Vol. 2. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 604–616.
12. Jenkinson, Orlando (20 March 2020). "Residents back Cambridge Road estate regeneration". Surrey Comet. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
13. Ambrose, Jillian (26 February 2021). "Thames Water hopes to harness human 'poo power' to heat homes". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
14. Ames, Nick (25 April 2017). "Kingstonian leave Kingsmeadow: collateral damage in a modern football parable?". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
15. White, Jim (7 February 2020). "After 29 years 'without a home fixture', AFC Wimbledon fans have lent enough money to rebuild Plough Lane". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
16. "Kingston local election results 2018". Surrey Comet. 4 May 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.