History
The name is an early abbreviation of 'Shepherd's Town', which transliterated into the Saxon language as Sceapheard-ton. The name of one of the older streets, Sheep Walk, reflects that origin.
Shepperton in the Domesday Book of 1086 was recorded by the Norman conquerors as Scepertone, had a population of 100 and was held by Westminster Abbey; (excluding any wood, marsh and heath) having 8 hides, 7 Carucates, pasture for 7 carucates, 1 weir worth 6s 8d and in total rendering £6.
The Church Lane/Square area, leading to and next to the river predates by several centuries the High Street as the village nucleus. When the railway station was constructed a mile to the north, linking Shepperton to London Waterloo station, the village expanded in that direction.
The River Thames was important for transport from the late 13th century and carried barley, wheat, peas and root vegetables to London's markets; later timber, building materials such as bricks, sand and lime, and gunpowder, see the Wey Navigation.
George Eliot's Scenes of Clerical Life telling the Sad Fortunes of The Rev. Amos Barton, its curate, gives a vivid picture of church and village in the early 19th century.
Shepperton was a parish in the Staines Rural District (and Middlesex which had a county council from 1896) from 1889 to 1930, when it became part of the Sunbury-on-Thames Urban District. These areas were transferred to Surrey in 1965 rather than becoming part of Greater London in a similar way to Potters Bar becoming part of Hertfordshire. The town includes the neighbourhood of Lower Halliford, formerly a separate hamlet.
The population in 1858 was 858 and the railway opened in 1864.
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