Carshalton History

CARSHALTON, (or Casehorton), a parish in the second division of the hundred of Wallington, in the county of Surrey, 3 miles W. of Croydon, and 10 S. of London. It is a post town, and a station on the Epsom and Leatherhead branch of the London, Brighton, and South Coast railway. The parish is situated in a pleasant country on the northern border of Banstead Downs, famous as the scene of the Epsom races, and on the banks of the river Wandle.

Carshalton is a place of great antiquity, and was made a market town in the reign of Henry III. In Domesday Book it is named Aulton. Chalk is the substratum of the district. Within the parish are several extensive corn-mills, drug-mills, paper-mills, oil-mills, snuff manufactories, and other similar establishments.

The school, founded in 1848 by the Ordnance Department, for the education of officers for the artillery and engineers, has been done away with. The Wandle, famed for its excellent trout, is here crossed by a bridge, built about 1828, and in the centre of the village expands into a beautiful sheet of water, replenished by copious rills which rise in the parish.

The living is a rectory and vicarage* in the diocese of Winchester, of the annual value of £875, in the patronage of Albemarle Cater, Esq. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient edifice partly in the early English style, with a tower between the nave and chancel. The body of the church is of brick, and of later date than the chancel, which is built of flint. It contains some ancient monuments of the Scawens and others, and two remarkably fine monumental brasses. One, beautifully coloured, is to the memory of Sir Nicholas Gaynesford, sheriff, who died in 1490, his lady and family; and the other, with a double canopy, to the memory of T. Ellenbridge, who died in 1497. The register dates from the year 1538.

There is a National school. The charitable endowments of the parish, including bequests by Christopher Muschamp; in 1660, for apprenticing poor children; and by Edward Fellows, in 1726, for the like purpose, and the relief of the poor, produce about £60 per annum. Near the church is a spring named after Anne Boleyn, which is now arched over with stone. Carshalton House is a pleasant seat, and once belonged to Dr. Radcliffe, founder of the Radcliffe Library at Oxford.

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003] These pages are intended for personal use only, so please respect the conditions of use.