Editing New Malden (section)

==History==
New Malden was established as a result of the arrival of the railway. What is now [[New Malden railway station]] was opened on 1 December 1846 on the main line from [[London Waterloo railway station|London Waterloo]].

Building started slowly in the area just to the north of the station, gathering pace in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with two- and three-bedroom [[terrace (architecture)|terraced house]]s. Further out towards [[Coombe, Kingston upon Thames|Coombe Hill]] are larger detached and semi-detached houses built in the 1930s. The name of the road which leads up the hill to Coombe, Traps Lane, is thought to derive from a farm owned by a Mrs Trap. Following the opening of the [[A3 road|Kingston bypass]] in 1927, the farms to its south were progressively developed for housing.

Two miles (3&nbsp;km) to the south is the former village of [[Old Malden]]  the origins of which are Anglo-Saxon, the name being [[Old English]] for ''Mæl'' + ''duna'' = "the cross on the hill".

Under the District Councils Act 1895, [[Municipal Borough of Malden and Coombe|The Maldens & Coombe Urban District Council]] was created (the plural relating to Old Malden and New Malden). In 1936 Malden and Coombe was granted full Borough status, with its own Mayor, and had the rare distinction of a civic mace bearing the royal insignia of [[King Edward VIII]].

New Malden suffered damage from German bombing during the Second World War.<ref>{{cite web|title=Map|url=http://bombsight.org/#15/51.4058/-0.2598|website=Bomb Sight: Mapping the WW2 Bomb Census|access-date=20 June 2015}}</ref> The first attack took place on 16 August 1940, killing about 50 people and damaging about 1,300 homes. After dropping about 150 bombs, German aircraft reportedly flew over the railway station at low altitude and machine-gunned passengers as they disembarked from a train.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Gill|first1=Robin|title=The First Raid|url=http://www.maldenblitz.co.uk/the-1st-raid.html|website=Malden Blitz 1940: Remembering Our Community Under Fire|access-date=18 June 2015}}</ref> Unexploded munitions from this period are still found on occasion.<ref>{{cite web|title=B&Q New Malden evacuated after discovery of suspected World War II mortar|url=http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/11808187.B_Q_New_Malden_evacuated_after_discovery_of_suspected_World_War_II_mortar/?ref=mr|website=Your Local Guardian| date=20 February 2015 |access-date=18 June 2015}}</ref>
In 1965, the [[London Government Act 1963]] came into force merging the boroughs of Malden & Coombe and [[Surbiton]] with Kingston upon Thames to form the [[Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames]].

New Malden contains offices of several large organisations, including [[Northrop Grumman]] in Burlington Road. [[Nestlé Purina]] Pet Foods (before 1997 [[Spillers]] Pet Foods) was located in New Malden until 2012 when Nestlé moved its UK headquarters to Gatwick.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.nestle.co.uk/media/pressreleases/nestl%C3%A9ukannouncesheadofficemovetogatwick |title=Nestlé UK announces Head Office move to Gatwick |publisher=Nestle.co.uk |date=4 January 2012 |access-date=14 July 2017}}</ref>