Kingston upon Thames

Template:infobox UK place Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in London.

It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a lively suburb situated 10 miles (16.1 km) south west of Charing Cross. It is one of ten major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan.

History

Kingston was built at the first crossing point of the Thames upstream from London Bridge and a bridge still exists at the same site. Kingston was occupied by the Romans, and later it was either a royal residence or a royal demesne. There is a record of a council held there in 838, at which Egbert of Wessex, the first King of All England, and his son Ethelwulf of Wessex were present; and in this record it is styled Kyningestun famosa illa locus. In Old English, tun, ton or don meant farmstead - so the name Kingston may have been thought to mean farmstead of the kings. Seven Saxon kings are traditionally said to have been crowned at Kingston, while seated on a large stone - The Coronation Stone - that stands outside the Guildhall. There is a local rumour that these Saxon coronations gave Kingston its name, but the records of the 838 council disprove this. (Dickens 1887)

The first of the charters given to the town of Kingston was granted by King John in 1208 and this document still exists in the town's archives. Other charters were issued by later kings, including Edward IV's charter that gave the town the status of a borough in 1481. Some interesting relics have been discovered to support this history, and statues of some of the Saxon kings and of King John were preserved in a chapel. In 1730 the chapel containing the royal effigies collapsed, burying the sexton, who was digging a grave, the sexton's daughter and another person. The daughter survived this accident and was her father's successor as sexton. Another chapel, The Lovekyn Chapel, still exists. It was founded in 1309 by a former mayor of London, Edward Lovekyn. It is the only private chantry chapel to survive the Reformation.

Kingston sent members to early parliaments, until a petition by the inhabitants prayed to be relieved from the burden.

File:Kingston Parish Church.jpg

Placard commemorating the coronation of the Saxon Kings.

Kingston was one of the boroughs to be reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, becoming a municipal borough. It retained this status until the London Government Act 1963 came into force in 1965, merging Kingston-upon-Thames with Surbiton and Malden & Coombe Councils to form part of the London Borough of Kingston upon Thames. At the request of the Council, Queen Elizabeth II granted Kingston another Royal Charter in 1965 entitling it to continue using the title "Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames" for the enlarged Borough.

For much of the 20th century, Kingston was a major military aircraft manufacturing centre - first with Sopwith, then Hawker Aviation and eventually British Aerospace.

A corner of Kingston's Market Square.

Kingston today

Central Kingston is a busy predominantly retail centre, with a small number of commercial offices and civic buildings. It has a great many car parks, connected by a notoriously difficult one-way system. It is one of the main centres of the south west London bus network, and it is connected to Twickenham, Richmond, Wimbledon, and London Waterloo by overground train.

Kingston Bridge with John Lewis in the background.

Shopping is well catered for and is generally towards the upper end of expectations, with a good mixture of familiar High Street chains and more select boutiques. The shopping centre includes a shopping mall called "The Bentall Centre" that contains the Bentalls department store and large branches of chain stores found in many British high streets. There is a large branch of the John Lewis department store with a Waitrose supermarket in the basement. The "Rotunda" near the railway station includes a bowling alley, fitness centre, a 14-screen Odeon multiplex cinema and some restaurants. Recent developments along the riverside south of Kingston Bridge have added bars, restaurants and a theatre, the Rose of Kingston (due to open in 2007 with Sir Peter Hall as the director). The ancient market is still held daily in the Market Place.

Kingston's civic buildings include the Guildhall which houses Kingston Council, the magistrates' court, the county court, and a fine local museum and public library. The main offices of Surrey County Council are also in County Hall Kingston, even though Kingston is not administered by Surrey. Plans to move these offices to Woking have been scrapped.

One of the more unusual sights in Kingston is several disused red telephone boxes that have been tipped on their sides in a pattern resembling dominos. This sculpture by David Mach was commissioned in 1988, and is called Out of Order. The Druid's Head in Kingston is notable as one of the first taverns to make the famous syllabub dessert in the 18th century.

These phone boxes are "Out of Order".

Another recent novelty is the Toilet Gallery, a minimalist art gallery housed in an ex-public lavatory near the Phone Box sculpture.

Eating and Drinking

Kingston has many pubs and restaurants. However in the centre at least, a number of public houses have closed in recent years to become restaurants or bars, adding to the losses sustained due to large-scale rebuilding in the final quarter of the twentieth century. The more traditional pubs tend to be in the northern part of the town (Canbury) and include the Park Tavern and Wych Elm. Further south are found the Druid's Head, the Spring Grove, and several small local pubs around Fairfield, as well as several Chinese, Indian, and Thai restaurants.

Education

There are many schools in Kingston including Surbiton High School, The Hollyfield School, Southborough High School, Chessington Community College, Richard Challoner School, Tolworth Girls School, Kingston Grammar School, Canbury School, Coombe Girls School, Coombe Boys school, Marymount International School (MMI) and the Tiffin Schools. Kingston is also home to Kingston University and Kingston College.

Transport

The town is served by two railway stations on a line into Waterloo Station via New Malden and Wimbledon or via Richmond-upon-Thames (the long way round). The local stations are: Kingston and Norbiton.

The A3 road runs from central London towards Kingston before by-passing the town to the east. The "Kingston by-pass road" was one of the first arterial roads to be built in Britain. It was originally proposed in 1912 to relieve the pressure of traffic in the town centre, but World War I delayed the start of work until 1924. It was opened by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin on 28 October 1927. Kingston is also served by the A240, the A307, Portsmouth Road, A308 and A310.

Heathrow Airport is within six miles.

Sport

Kingston is the home of two non-league Association football clubs, Kingstonian F.C. and AFC Wimbledon, both of which play at The Fans' Stadium, Kingsmeadow.

Representatives

Kingston straddles two Parliamentary constituencies: the area north of the railway line is part of Richmond Park represented by Susan Kramer; the area south of the railway line (which includes the ancient town centre) is part of Kingston and Surbiton represented by Edward Davey. Both Members of Parliament are members of the Liberal Democrat party.

Bishop of Kingston

Ecclesiastically, Kingston lies in the Church of England Diocese of Southwark and Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark. The suffragan or Area Bishop of Kingston is the Rt Rev. Dr Richard Cheetham.

Kingston Green Fair

Kingston Green Fair has been held annually since 1987 in Canbury Gardens, next to the river, on the Spring Bank Holiday. The word "Green" in the title refers to the ethos of the fair as promoting sustainable development. For instance no meat or other products derived from dead animals are allowed to be sold, and no electricity is permitted on the site unless generated by wind, sun, or bicycle power. See also the Fair's official web site.

Trivia

• Kingston is where the comic Victorian novel Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome begins.
• Kingston is referenced (and used as a filming location) in episodes of Monty Python.
• The popular police drama series, The Bill is often filmed in New Malden and Norbiton.
• A scene from Mujhse Dosti Karoge, a Bollywood film, was filmed by the toppled telephone boxes. This had Hrithik Roshan as the leading actor.
• A scene in the television program 'The Good Life' sees Richard Briers get on a bus towards Kingston town centre

Notable people connected to the Kingston area

• Julie Birch, killer
• Anthony Bowl, killer
• Richard Briers, actor. Educated at Rokeby Prep School
• Richard Butler and Tim Butler of rock band The Psychedelic Furs
• Eric Clapton, guitarist. Educated at Hollyfield School
• James Cracknell, Olympic rower. Educated at Kingston Grammar School.
• Lawrence Dallaglio, former English Rugby Union Captain. Attended Kingston University
• Michael Frayn, playwright. Educated at Kingston Grammar School.
• Neil Fox, Radio Jackie DJ. Educated at Kingston Grammar School.
• Fritha Goodey, actress
• Rob Henderson, Irish International Rugby Union. Educated at Tiffin Boys School
• Dave House, singer/songwriter based in Kingston; also former frontman of Kingston pop-punk band Lucky Thirteen.
• Simon May, playwright and composer. Taught at Kingston Grammar School.
• Debbie McGee, wife of Paul Daniels
• Jonny Lee Miller, actor. Educated at Tiffin Boys School
• Eadweard Muybridge, photographer
• Christian O'Connell, Virgin Radio DJ and television presenter
• Cesar Picton, African slave turned successful coal merchant
• R. C. Sherriff, playwright. Educated at Kingston Grammar School
• Sir Thomas Skewes-Cox, MP 1895-1906
• Alec Stewart, former England Cricket Captain, Educated at Tiffin Boys School
• Jimmy Tarbuck, former television comedian.
• Liza Tarbuck, television actress and presenter.
• Lynn Truss, author. Educated at Tiffin Girls School.
• David Whitaker (artist) Lived in Kingston until death in 2007.
• Jacqueline Wilson, author. Currently lives in Kingston.

And others

• Nipper is buried in Kingston.

References

• Dickens's Dictionary of the Thames 1887 ISBN 1-873590-12-1

External links

• Kingston Council official site
• Kingston On Thames - 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article
• Kingston Online - business and leisure information listings and links
• A Brief History of Kingston-upon-Thames by Tim Lambert
• Kingston Museum
• Kingston University official site
• Kingston On The Web Online Guide to Kingston upon Thames with local services, information and events
• Kingstonian FC official site

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