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Vol 11.9 STATION ROAD Part 4

Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2021 2:14 pm
by Les1949
HAMPTON, AROUND AND ABOUT

Things you may not know, or didn’t know you knew!

No 9 STATION ROAD Part 4
Back to the Station

Following on from the last article, a stroll back to the station.

Immediately after St Johns Super Store you cross Warfield Road (the name is believed to be a corruption of Warrenfield – the field near the warren – and nothing to do with military use). Before Warfield Road was built a house called Warfield Lodge stood on the entrance and extended along 96,98 & 100.

On the corner is no 96, the Post Office. The shop was originally an upholsterer’s, during WW2 all three properties suffered bomb damage and were rebuilt after the war. For many years it was run by Mr G E Lloyd as a Radio, TV and White Goods outlet (in 1980 it was known as Hampton Audio Visual Ltd). In 1993 the Post Office moved across the road from no 94, into 96 where it still trades.

In the mid-60s, no 98 was occupied by a photographer, Hampton Studios but is now the All-In-One Service Bar (Keys cut, shoes mended etc – it is also where I get the plaques made for the Memorial Board). Alongside at 100 is a pet shop, Tail End of Hampton.

Next comes Warfield Court (which a few years ago was totally re-furbished – no doubt with an increase in value). Built on the site of the former Warfield Lodge.

No’s 104 & 106, two semi-detached houses, stand on the site of cattle sheds and were built in the 1890s. Next to it is no 108 and a cul-de-sac, Station Close. On this site once stood the Railway Inn pub (in 1959, Bob & Eileen were advertising in the programme). The pub was demolished and Station Close built in the mid-60s.

Next you come to St Theodore’s Catholic Church built in the area behind 110 & 112. The church opened in 1927, and has since then been extended to include a Parish Hall.

114 stands on the corner of the junction that includes the bridge across the railway. Carefully crossing over we now come to some old cottages and the ‘Railway Bell’ – known locally as ‘The Dip’. Yew Tree Cottages have been in situ since around 1720.

The Railway Bell is likely to have been a ‘Beer House’, when first used but is likely to have been re-named shortly after the arrival of the Railway in 1864. Apparently, a bell was run to indicate the approach of a train – such a novelty, of course – to tell customers to down their pint and catch their train, lack of timepieces perhaps?

Between the cottages and the station were coal yards and sidings for the offloading of freight. Apart from supplying coal for the coal merchants based there, frozen meat was imported in wagons from the Hungarian State Railway – who remembers that! The area is now covered by a block of flats, Kempton Rise, which were built in 1976.

The station is now reached, originally a single-track line with only one access, it was double-tracked in the 1870s. The down line takes you as far as Shepperton, including a stop at Kempton Park Racecourse, whilst crossing the footbridge, replaced in 2009, takes you to the up line to London Waterloo, via Kingston, or at certain times, via Richmond.

So, four articles with a potted history of Station Road using various sources including local history books by John Sheaf and our own Match Day Programmes – a source of more info than you might imagine.

The Old Historian