Stories — Secret Carshalton

Pastimes Fancy a plunge in Carshalton’s very own freezing cold ‘Bagnio’?Carshalton Village
*Historical* Bathing parties in Carshalton would be held in lavish surroundings, and the Bagnio on the grounds of Carshalton House was visited back in the 1770s by the influential writer Horace Walpole (pictured below). He built and lived in the beautiful gothic Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham. 🗝️ The Carshalton bathhouse was most likely designed […]
The old gothic-style doorway to Carshalton’s first Fire Station Carshalton Village
*Historical* There wasn’t much room for firemen, but behind these doors was stored a small wooden fire ‘engine’. The fire cart was a basic contraption pulled by horse. Handily placed to pump water out of the pond to deliver to the nearest fire. You can still see a similar fire cart on display at Bourne […]
Wood-framed Wine Bar in South London built in the 1600s was a butcher’s for over 300 years Carshalton Village
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*Historical* This old and fragile wooden-framed building in Carshalton may have originally been the home of the parish priest. It is thought to have become a butcher shop as far back as 1660. 🗝 It went through several owners until 1905, when Edward and Emily Woodman took over. They were there for about 15 years […]
Twist of fate A motorway next to Beddington Park? They’d even started building it…Beddington
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Yes, it was a genuine proposal to cut up swathes of Surrey to build a motorway into London. And did you know, they even started building it? Hidden parts still exists – this includes part of the carriageway and an abandoned bridge that you still drive under today. If you come off the M25 at […]
The Oaks Bake House and the Flamingo named after the owner Oaks Park
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*Historical* This is the pleasingly large chimney of the old Bake House in Oaks Park catching the winter sun. The unusual square chimney pots once vented the steam derived from baking bread for a large country house. 🗝 The Bake House was built in around 1889, during the time of Harry Berkeley James. It was […]
Stylish and Unique Carshalton Pub Crawl gifts made by LazystuffFeatured
The coolest local gifts for Carshalton lads!
Objects of interest Mystery of the ornate post by Carshalton Park – solved – see how it once looked Carshalton Park
We asked our social media followers what they thought this stump could once have been. There were many entertaining suggestions. Some of the ideas put forward were: street lamp, drinking water post, cannon, air raid siren, fire hydrant, parish markers, trolley bus post… This intriguing stump could be mistaken for many things. However, some of […]
River Wandle The incredible 1000-year timeline of Carshalton’s miniature Upper Mill Carshalton The Grove
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The site of this unassuming little building is a source of so much local history pertinent to the local area. Going back nearly 1,000 years, the mill has been rebuilt and adapted a lot throughout that time. Although the current mill building is relatively recent it still provides a reminder of the long and industrious […]
Forgotten places Stunning photo of lost pond and rockery in The Grove is a reminder of richer times Carshalton The Grove
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*Historical* This recently discovered photo featuring an ornamental pond and rockery is absolutely stunning. It would have been part of the gardens of the last private owners of The Grove mansion, and possibly laid out by them – though at the time of writing this isn’t clear. For whatever reason the pond was filled in. […]
The memorial designed by a Lib Dem councillor and the nearby garden once owned by the Church of England Carshalton Village
As usual, things in Carshalton have an interesting backstory. First, a little about the original War Memorial pictured above. It was designed by Sidney Tatchell FRIBA and Edward Bouchier FRIBA (Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects), and constructed by a company called A Burslem & Son. On 13th March 1921 the stone monument […]

Timeless Stories