Editing Kingston upon Thames (section)

===Early history===
[[File:Coronation Stone - geograph.org.uk - 664311.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Coronation Stone (Kingston upon Thames)|Coronation Stone]] in the grounds of the Guildhall]]
The first surviving record of Kingston is from AD 838 as the site of a meeting between King [[Egbert of Wessex]] and [[Ceolnoth]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]].<ref name=VCH>{{harvnb|Malden|1911|pp=487–501}}</ref> Kingston lay on the boundary between the ancient kingdoms of [[Wessex]] and [[Mercia]], until in the early tenth century when King [[Æthelstan]] united both to create the kingdom of England. According to the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'', two tenth-century kings were consecrated in Kingston: Æthelstan (925), and [[Æthelred the Unready]] (978). There are certain other kings who are said to have been crowned there, but for whom the evidence (including the writings of [[Florence of Worcester]] and [[Ralph de Diceto]]) is less substantial: [[Edward the Elder]] (902), [[Edmund I]] (939), [[Eadred]] (946), [[Eadwig]] (956), [[Edgar the Peaceful]] ({{circa|960}}) and [[Edward the Martyr]] (975). It was later thought that the coronations were conducted in the chapel of St Mary, which collapsed in 1730. Tradition dating to the 18th century holds that a [[Coronation Stone, Kingston upon Thames|large stone]] recovered from the ruins played a part in the coronations. It was initially used as a mounting block, but in 1850 it was moved to a more dignified place in the market before finally being moved to its current location in the grounds of the [[Kingston upon Thames Guildhall|Guildhall]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Foot |first=Sarah |author-link=Sarah Foot |year=2011 |title=Æthelstan: the first king of England |url=https://archive.org/details/thelstanfirstkin00foot |url-access=limited |publisher=Yale University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/thelstanfirstkin00foot/page/n94 74] |isbn=978-0-300-12535-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Simon |last=Keynes |author-link=Simon Keynes |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |year=1999 |article=Kingston-upon-Thames |editor-first=Michael |editor-last=Lapidge |display-editors=etal |isbn=978-0-6312-2492-1 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |page=272}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Butters |first1=Shaan |title=The Book of Kingston |publisher=Baron |isbn=0860235629 |year=1995 |pages=29–30, 184 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hilliam |first1=David |title=Crown, Orb and Sceptre: The True Stories of English Coronations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fKYTDQAAQBAJ&q=how+many+kings+were+crowned+in+kingston&pg=PT13 |via=Google Books |date=16 September 2011 |publisher=The History Press |isbn=9780752470795 |access-date=25 September 2019 |archive-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307204948/https://books.google.com/books?id=fKYTDQAAQBAJ&q=how+many+kings+were+crowned+in+kingston&pg=PT13 |url-status=live }}</ref>

From Medieval times [[Medieval football|Shrovetide Football]] was played annually at Kingston upon Thames and in surrounding towns including [[Richmond, London|Richmond]] and [[Twickenham]]. The windows of the houses and shops were boarded up and from 12 noon the inhabitants would kick several balls around the town before retiring to the public houses.<ref>Football at Kingston, https://web.archive.org/web/20080105043230/http://www.uab.edu/english/hone/etexts/edb/day-pages/046-february15.html</ref> The last game was played in 1866, by which time the urban development of the town meant it caused too much damage and the custom was outlawed.<ref>Surrey Comet, 9 March 1867</ref>