Timeless Stories

*Historical*  Wilderness Island is nature reserve situated in Mill Lane by Butter Hill Bridge and it’s run by the London Wildlife Trust. The island once had a Victorian woodland garden, reached via the ornate white bridge, pictured above. You can still see remains of the old footbridge on both sides of the River Wandle. Everything […]

*Historical* The original Wardill Motorcycle began life at this garage workshop that once stood in Pound Street, on the corner of Carshalton Park Road. Pictured is the latest motorbike model, made in Wales. Great grandson of the motorcycle creator, Mark Wardill, who lives in south Wales Valleys is resurrecting the company. He’s been shortlisted for […]

A bottle of whisky was one of the many prizes on a bottle Tombola stall belonging to Wallington Animal Rescue, but fortunately it was never won. It was put into storage, and when having a clear-out the bottle was spotted by chance, and recognised as being high value. The auction took place on 5 January […]

*Historical* The misty morning provided the perfect atmosphere to capture these shots in Carshalton, of where police officers used to be based. Did you know Carshalton used to have its own police station? 🗝 The Carshalton police station used to be on a grassy area behind the Honeywood museum. For comparison, where the policeman is […]

Take a step back in time… here’s a look at some wooden weatherboard buildings, which were once a common design feature that dotted Carshalton High Street, as this old image below shows. To the right of the main pic was once a small maze of worker cottages, such as these houses at Clark’s Yard in […]

Like a sect, the Quakers seem a quiet and secretive bunch, controlling where we go and what we do… Stop there. First off, don’t get your hopes up. I’ve found no evidence of a Quaker covenant depriving us of our enjoyment of a pint on every street corner in Carshalton Beeches. But how did the […]

I thought it would be interesting to plot the rough location of the old park wall, to scale, and to see that Carshalton park about 120 years ago was 4 – 5 times larger than it is now. You can of course still see some of the original old boundary wall around the area, some […]

One of my regular wanders takes in The Grotto at Carshalton Park. Did you know Carshalton’s grotto is even older than other better known ones, such as Stourhead, Goldney and Painshill. 🗝 The Grotto was originally constructed around 1724, and designed by the land owner Thomas Scawen. He lived in Stone Court, a building which […]