Canbury

Canbury
Canbury Gardens and the River Thames
Canbury Location withinGreater London
Population	12,373 (2011 Census. Ward)
OS grid reference	TQ185705
London borough	Kingston
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	KINGSTON UPON THAMES
Postcode district	KT2
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
UK Parliament	Richmond Park
London Assembly	South West

Canburyis a district of the northern part ofKingston upon Thamesthat takes its name from the historicmanorthat covered the area.

History

Canbury ward of Kingston upon Thames Municipal Borough in 1868.

There is evidence of prehistoric occupation from at least theMesolithicalong the river margins at Kingston, although most of the evidence tends to consist of scattered residual artefacts.Despite numerous archaeological investigations in the area of Kingston since the 1960s there have been fewin-situarchaeological finds and features dating to the Roman period. The few finds in Kingston come from Canbury; a burial ground excavated in the 19th century, not far from the river and railway line, excavations at Skerne Road in 2005, and the Sopwith Way and Skerne Road areas in 2007. These have revealed evidence of small-scale and agriculturalRoman settlements.

Manor

Despite Kingston's Saxon heritage, Canbury does not feature as part of the settlement of that period.Canbury,orCanonbury,is not mentioned inDomesday Bookof 1086, but was held byMerton Prioryat an early period, probably dating from the grant of Kingston Church byHigh Sheriff of SurreyGilbert the Norman (or "Gilbert the Knight" ), in about 1114.

The possessions of the Merton monastery in Kingston andHache,(Hatch), exclusive of Berwell,were valued, inCardinal Beaufort's time, (c. 1374–1447) at 52s.The manorial holdings included parts ofopen fieldsand buildings in the neighbouring manor of Ham with Hatch, probably the result of gifts to the church and priory as Ham had no church of its own until 1832 and lay within the parish of Kingston.After theDissolution of the Monasteriesthe manor, with the rectory andadvowsonof Kingston, was the subject of various Crown leases.

The manor was bought for £4,000 bySir John Ramsayin 1618. Ramsay also held land inPetershamand Ham to the north, living atHam House.Ramsay was created Baron of Kingston upon Thames andEarl of Holdernessin 1620, and obtained a grant of the advowson in 1622. He married Martha, daughter of SirWilliam Cockayne,and died without issue in 1626. The rectory, manor, and advowson then passed, under a settlement, to his widow, who married as her second husbandMontague, Lord Willoughby.On the death of the Countess of Holderness without heirs in 1640, the advowson, rectory, and manor reverted to the Crown estate ofKing James I.TheCourt-rollsshow that in 1635 it became the property ofWilliam Murray,Esq. afterwards 1st Earl of Dysart, who had also acquired the lease of Ham House in 1626 following Ramsay's death.In 1641 Murray conveyed the manor toThomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin,a relative of his wife.

In 1652 it appears to have belonged toArabella, Countess of Kent,and others. In 1664, it was the property of another John Ramsey, Esq. whoalienatedit toNicholas Hardinge,Esq. in 1671. It continued in the Hardinge family for a century, becoming the property ofGeorge HardingeEsq. M.P.. The manor included part of the town of Kingston. John Rocque's map of 1746 shows the area comprising a patchwork of large fields transected by a few roads, the principle north–south route beingCanbury Lane,the precursor to a section of the modernA307 road.

Until this time it probably represented the early endowment of the church, and the manor had followed the descent of the advowson until 1786, when George Hardinge sold the right of patronage, but retained the manor.The manor-house, which was close to the town, was sold to John Eddington, Esq.

The manor house,Down Hallor Downhall, stood south of the railway line and bridge. It was described in 1911 as being a grey stuccoed house withjalousiesand older kitchens behind. It had been held in the 13th century of the manor of Canbury (q.v.) by Lewin andAlan le Mariner,and was afterwards leased toRalf Wakelinand Beatrice his wife. In 1485–6 it was styled a 'capital messuage' or "manor," and was held of Merton by Robert Skerne, on whose death in that year it passed to Swithin his son. Robert Skerne was son of William Skerne, who founded the chantry in Kingston Church. William was nephew toRobert Skerne,who died in 1437, and has a brass in the church.Braysays, in hisHistory of the County of Surreythat this Robert was also of Downhall, but others have been unable to corroborate this.It was conveyed in 1617 by Mildred Bond, widow, and Thomas Bond to Anthony Browne and Matilda his wife. Not far away stood the ancienttithe barn,large enough for twelveteamsto unload and with fourthreshing floors.It was sold in 1850 and pulled down.

The manor seems to have disappeared by the beginning of the 19th century following its sale on 4 September 1800 toWilbraham Tollemache, 6th Earl of Dysart,whose family had retained the manors of Ham andPetershamto the north since their forebear, William Murray, had last held Canbury.

Urbanisation

The Dysarts' acquisition of Canbury was well timed as Kingston expanded northwards during the 19th century. The expansion was driven by the coming of the railway to the area with the extension of the line from Twickenham to Kingston completed in 1863, then extended toNorbitonin 1869 to its terminus atLudgate Hill.Developers bought 103 acres (42 ha) ofLord Liverpool's Farm to the north and east of the railway as well as 33 acres (13 ha) next to Kingston Station, and 44 acres (18 ha) of pasture and arable land of the Dysart estate. The mixed Victorian housing stock that characterises the area today reflects the piecemeal development that occurred during this period.

Industrial development

The arrival of the railway also drove industrial growth. The poor sanitation of the expanding town was addressed, in part, by 1877 with the construction ofsewage worksnear the river to the north of the railway line, operated on behalf of Kingston Corporation by theNative Guano Company.Raw sewage was treated using theABC Process,toasted in huge ovens to produce a garden fertiliser sold as "Native Guano". King's Passage, at the end of the adjacent Canbury Gardens, was known at the time as "Perfume Parade". The public nuisance contributed to the decommissioning of the works in 1909. A large part of the adjacent area was used for KingstonGasworks,from the 1850s onwards. Although much of the site has since been redeveloped for retail, leisure, parking and residential use, thegasometers,the last remaining feature of the area, have now been demolished for the Queenshurst development.

The coal-firedKingston Power Stationwas built in 1894 with coal arriving by barge and rail and ash departing by barge. The station was closed in 1980, demolished, and the area, controversially, redeveloped for high-rise riverside apartments. The felling of a line of trees that had previously helped screen the power station from the river also aroused much local protest.

Sopwith Camel

TheSopwith Aviation Companyexpanded from its early beginnings atBrooklandsto a former Roller Skating Rink in Canbury Park Road in 1912, drawing on the availability of boatbuilding and coachbuilding skills in the area to scale up aircraft production.By 1915 they were successful enough to build a 5.5 acres (2.2 ha) site further along Canbury Park Road. The company rose to prominence duringWorld War Iproducing many famous fighter aircraft including theSopwith Cameland leasingNational Aircraft FactoryNo 2 at Ham. After the war the Ham lease was sold and the company wound up but almost immediately reformed asH.G. Hawker Engineeringat the Canbury Park Road site. The company and its successors remained there, going on to design and build theHawker Hurricanefighter ofWorld War IIamongst many others. Hawker Aircraft bought the Ham factory in 1948 and, after redevelopment, moved from Canbury Park Road in 1958.Both sites have since been redeveloped for residential use.

Open spaces

Latchmere Recreation Ground, Kingston upon Thames

Some areas of open space were retained within the urban development. The riverside walk developed intoCanbury Gardens.The nearby Richmond Road ground was an athletics and rugby ground before becoming the home ofKingstonian F.C.between 1919 and 1988. TheLatchmere Recreation Groundwas conveyed byWilliam John Manners Tollemache, 9th Earl of Dysartand theDysart Trusteeson 23 February 1904 to theMunicipal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames,"Kingston Corporation", as part of the settlement of theRichmond, Petersham and Ham Open Spaces Act 1902.The land itself, though, remained within and defined part of the southern boundary ofHam Urban District.This, and the southern half of Ham, was absorbed into Kingston, becoming part of the present day Tudor Ward when the Urban District was abolished in 1933.

Geography

Canbury district extends westwards from theRiver ThamesatKingston Railway Bridgefollowing the railway line throughKingston stationeastwards towardsNorbiton railway stationand thence north toRichmond Park.It then extends northwards along the park wall to the border with theLondon Borough of Richmond upon ThamesatHam.

Canbury lies on alluvialflood plainsextending from the river to the foot of Kingston Hill between 5.5m and 9.5mAODand comprising river gravels overlain byholocenebrickearthclays and silts. TheLatchmere Stream,a small watercourse now mostlyculverted,that flows south–north along the foot of the hill towards Ham, once marked part of the boundary.There is evidence that the area close to present day Kingston town centre was once crossed by many watercourses linking with the Thames and theHogsmillforming a series of islands upon which Kingston was built, and the Latchmere linked with these.