Coulsdon - History

History

Coulsdon is a suburban district in south London, England. It has a strong and vibrant local history which includes Saxon burial mounds and an Iron Age field system on Farthing Downs, an ancient church recorded in the Domesday book, Marlpit (a former industrial chalk quarry) and the former Cane Hill Mental Hospital (a site currently under development). Appearing in the Domesday Book as Colesdone it boasted one church and rendered £7 to Chertsey Abbey. Its only other Domesday assets were 3½ hide, 7 ploughs, and woodland worth 3 hogs.

Prior to Domesday, the village's name appears to have gone through a number of changes. Originally it seems to have derived from Cuðrædsdun, i.e. Cuthred's down (or hill), via Curedesdone (675), subsequently elided to Curresdone and Cullesdune.

The town later lay within the Anglo-Saxon administrative division of Wallington hundred, but is now firmly established as a locality in its own right. Indeed, Coulsdon now covers a multitude of geographical settlements - from Old Coulsdon, through Coulsdon Woods, the High Street (Brighton Road), properly Smitham Bottom, to the Mount (Clockhouse).

The local history of Coulsdon, together with that of other former villages in the surrounding area, is included within the scope of the The Bourne Society. This takes its name from the seasonal 'bourne' or stream that runs through local valleys following unusually wet winters in the district and by tradition foretells national or local disaster.

Formerly within the administrative county of Surrey, as part of the Urban District of Coulsdon and Purley, boundary changes, London Government Act 1963, meant that in 1965 it became part of the Greater London Borough of Croydon. However 'Surrey' is still frequently included in Coulsdon addresses, although no longer specified by the Post Office.

The area between Smitham and Old Coulsdon was filled by housing development in the later 19th and especially the 20th centuries. The two centres still, however, have separate characters, with the village green, parade of shops and mediaeval church giving a 'village' feel to Old Coulsdon, while the Brighton Road and the railway give the old Smitham Bottom a bustling, busier atmosphere.

Coulsdon has recently benefited from the long awaited bypass, a relief road called the Farthing Way, which opened in December 2006 as part of The Coulsdon Town Centre Improvement Scheme. Whilst mourning the loss of Woolworth's and the local bookstore in recent years, the Pembroke pub and Café Nero opened in the past few years. Coulsdon also contains the head office of Jane's Information Group. Waitrose have a longstanding branch in the town centre, and Tesco have opened an 'Express' branch in the old Woolworths store. A planned new Sainsbury's with apartments above the store has been singled out for note by New London Architecture.

Around Coulsdon are attractive and important open spaces, largely chalk downland set upon the northern edge of the North Downs. Farthing Downs and New Hill are owned by the City of London Corporation, and Happy Valley Park by Croydon Council. Farthing Downs and Happy Valley are a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Farthing Downs is also a scheduled ancient monument, showing evidence of human occupation going back to the Neolithic period, including Iron Age fields and Anglo-Saxon barrows. The London LOOP footpath around the capital passes through Farthing Downs in the section of the route between Hamsey Green and Banstead. The Coulsdon section was the first of the 24 to be opened.