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Beddington :- The village lay in Wallington hundred and until
the 19th century was in secular and ecclesiastical terms a large
parish in its own right. Wallington was for centuries a manor
in Beddington parish and although known as a shorthand for the
area stretching from Cheam to Addington and from Chaldon to Mitcham
(inclusive). Wallington superseded Beddington's former area almost
completely in the early 20th century. The settlement appears in the Domesday Book as Beddinton(e) held partly by Robert de Watevile from Richard de Tonebrige and by Miles Crispin. Its Domesday Assets were: 1,439 acres were arable land, 614 permanent grass and 45 woods. As this was before the expansion of Wallington, it extends on the south over the chalk downs at Roundshaw and northwards on to the London Clay. Lavender and medicinal herbs were grown commercially in the parish. The population in 1901 was 4,812. The parish was bounded on the north by Mitcham Common, and the three parishes of Croydon, Beddington and Mitcham met on the railway line by Beddington Lane station. The 1911 Victoria County History documents Beddington in the period of its shrinkage.Wallington is now more urban than Beddington; the hamlet in 1901 had a population of 5,152 on an area of 312 acres. In prehistoric times it also appears to have been the more important place, since it gave its name to the hundred. It is possible that the Roman remains mentioned above may be a relic of a formerly important place, and that its name may preserve the memory of the Wealas, the Romanized Britons, whom the Suthrige found here when Britain was [mostly] becoming England. In historical records, however, Wallington is not a place of importance. There was a chapel, but there is no record of a parish church. In Bishop Willis's visitation of 1725 the chapel is described as partly used for a barn, no service having taken place [in memory]. It was ruinous later in the century and was pulled down in 1797. There were extensive common fields, as was usual in the parishes on the north side of the chalk range. They were inclosed under an Act of 1812. In 1835 a system of allotments was established, which seems to have flourished for a time. A few old houses remain at Wallington Corner, but none of these appear to date from earlier than the beginning of the 19th century. A parish hall was built at Wallington in 1888, following its church and parish being set up in 1867 (in Beddington at the time). Holy Trinity Church school was built in 1896; the High School for girls was built in 1895 and enlarged in 1905. Thus it came about that Wallington took up most of the land of Beddington. A static inverter plant of HVDC Kingsnorth stood here in the late 20th century |
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Waddon :- Waddon was one of the manors around Croydon
owned by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Waddon's nomenclature
was first recorded in the twelfth century. The name derives from
Old English words meaning 'the hill where woad grows, or is grown'.
Traces of Bronze Age and Iron Age habitation have been found
locally. Waddon has an older area with 19th-century properties,
some even older, close to central Croydon. Further south is a
large estate of Council-owned and former Council-owned homes
and a small number of tower blocks. In the inter-war years Waddon
had the most Croydon Corporation owned homes in Croydon with
1,125 council houses and 80 council flats. The geographical area
of Waddon extends a good deal further north than the political
ward boundary of Waddon ward. Waddon ward also includes residences
along Pampisford Road that are in South Croydon. Waddon is in
the Wandle river valley. Waddon Ponds is a public open space,
the ponds in which are one of the sources of the river. The Wandle
has been deculverted in Wandle Park and in the New South Quarter
development. Wandle Park was opened in 1890. The park has benefited
from section 106 monies used for the refurbishment of the park
from the developers of the New South Quarter. The river Bourne
used to flow above ground through the South Mead, now Southbridge
Road and along Old Town to join the river Wandle. The Waddon Court estate covered most of the area from the Middle Ages, when mills operated along the River Wandle. The river was later used to irrigate watercress beds and to feed the extensive lakes of Waddon Court. The first incarnation of the Hare and Hounds public house opened in 1773, on what was then Waddon Marsh Lane. In the latter years of the 18th century Waddon Court's owner, John Dewye Parker, raised a volunteer corps of yeomen here, at his own expense, and "military evolutions were performed with the utmost precision, upon the lawn surrounding his mansion." |
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