Editing Belmont, Sutton

{{Short description|Area of the London Borough of Sutton}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}
{{infobox UK place
| country                  = England
| static_image_name        = St. John's Church (C of E), Queens Road, Belmont - geograph.org.uk - 478223.jpg
| static_image_caption     = St. John's Church (C of E), Queens Road, Belmont, Sutton
| coordinates              = {{coord|51.34328|-0.20239|display=inline,title}}
| region                   = London
| official_name            = Belmont
| constituency_westminster = [[Sutton and Cheam (UK Parliament constituency)|Sutton and Cheam]]
| population               = 10,048
| population_ref           = (2011 Census. Ward)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=13689064&c=Belmont&d=14&e=62&g=6337336&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&o=362&m=0&r=1&s=1476029059262&enc=1|title=Sutton Ward population 2011|accessdate=9 October 2016|publisher=Office for National Statistics|work=Neighbourhood Statistics|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021055911/http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=13689064&c=Belmont&d=14&e=62&g=6337336&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&o=362&m=0&r=1&s=1476029059262&enc=1|archive-date=21 October 2016|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
| post_town                = SUTTON
| postcode_area            = SM
| postcode_district        = SM2
| london_borough           = Sutton
| dial_code                = 020
| os_grid_reference        = TQ253620
}}
'''Belmont''' is a village in the [[London Borough of Sutton]], in [[South London]], England. It is located off the [[A217 road]] and near to [[Banstead Downs]] in Surrey. It is a suburban development situated 10.8 miles (17.4&nbsp;km) south-southwest of [[Charing Cross]].
[[File:The 'Chilterns' art deco apartments, Belmont, SUTTON, Surrey, Greater London.jpg|thumb|280px|The Chilterns [[art deco]] apartments, Brighton Road, in Belmont ward, just north of Belmont Village]]

==History==
Belmont did not exist until the late 19th century.<ref name="belm">Sparkes, Roland (2009) ''Belmont: A Century Ago''.</ref> [[Belmont railway station (Sutton)|Belmont railway station]] opened in May 1865 and was originally called 'California Station', named after the California Arms [[public house]] on the opposite side of Brighton Road which was built by John Gibbons in approximately 1858. The station was renamed 'Belmont' in 1875, and the name was attached to the village that emerged subsequently.<ref name="belm"/> The original pub was heavily damaged by German bombing in the [[Second World War]]. The new building, built on the site in 1955, was known as "The California" later changed to 'The Belmont', but in 2014, under new management, reverted to its original name of 'The California'.<ref name="belm"/> St. John's Church (C of E) stands in Queens Road, near the end of the small High Street ("Station Road").

===Banstead Hospital and the emergence of Belmont===
The village of Belmont strongly owed its development to the presence of [[Banstead Hospital|Banstead Asylum]].<ref name="belm"/> Although located in the parish of [[Banstead]], the asylum was much closer to the village and railway station of Belmont than those of Banstead. The site is now occupied by [[HM Prison High Down]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/banstead.html|title=Banstead Hospital|publisher=Lost Hospitals of London|accessdate=27 May 2018}}</ref>

===Belmont Hospital and the South Metropolitan District School===
Belmont Hospital was a psychiatric hospital.  It closed and was demolished in the 1980s. The site is now occupied by the 'Belmont Heights' housing development, which is situated to the west of Brighton Road, to the north of Belmont village. Belmont Hospital opened after the Second World War. The premises had previously fulfilled a number of different institutional purposes.<ref name="belm"/> For example, during World War II it was used as an emergency hospital for military and civilian casualties, including psychiatric cases. The oldest buildings on the site, built in the early 1850s, had originally been a large [[Poor Law]] residential 'district' school belonging to the South Metropolitan Schools District. This institution catered for pauper children from several parishes in south-east London. Along with its nearby annex site, built in 1884 in Cotswold Road (formerly Banstead Road), this establishment closed in 1902. The premises at both sites were then acquired by the [[Metropolitan Asylums Board]]. Some of the buildings of the Cotswold Road site still exist.<ref name="belm"/>

==Public institutions==
{{main|Royal Marsden Hospital}}
{{main|Institute of Cancer Research}}
*The [[Royal Marsden Hospital]] is a specialist cancer treatment hospital.  It is a [[foundation trust]], and operates facilities on two sites, including one in Belmont, Sutton. The original buildings on the site were first used as the [[Banstead]] Road branch of the South Metropolitan District School, which was a 'district' school for children of [[workhouse]] inmates in south London. In the 1890s, girls were kept at the Banstead Road site and boys were kept at a site in Brighton Road, which was built in 1851. The Brighton Road site later became Belmont workhouse and Belmont Psychiatric hospital, before being demolished in the 1980s. The Banstead Road site later became a [[sanatorium]], before the southern half of the site was acquired by Royal Marsden in 1962.
*The [[Institute of Cancer Research]] is a [[Public university|public]] [[research institute]] and university located on two London sites and specialised in [[oncology]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lon.ac.uk/colleges_institutes |title=University of London: Colleges/Institutes |publisher=Lon.ac.uk |date=29 March 2010 |accessdate=29 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100110134105/http://www.lon.ac.uk/colleges_institutes |archive-date=10 January 2010 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> It was founded in 1909 as a research department of the [[Royal Marsden Hospital]]. It established its Belmont, Sutton campus site in 1956. It joined the University of London in 2003.<ref name=2009review>{{cite web|url=http://www.icr.ac.uk/about_us/annual_review/15136.pdf|title=Annual Review 2009|accessdate=21 October 2010|publisher=Institute of Cancer Research|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124214033/http://icr.ac.uk/about_us/annual_review/15136.pdf|archivedate=24 November 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  
*Sutton Hospital

==Green Space==
[[File:Belmont Park (geograph 3731492).jpg|thumb|left|Belmont Park]]

In addition to Belmont Park, Belmont contains two [[Local Nature Reserve]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lnr.naturalengland.org.uk/Special/lnr/lnr_results.asp?N=&C=17&Submit=Search |publisher=Natural England |title=Local Nature Reserves: Search results for Greater London |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927113247/http://www.lnr.naturalengland.org.uk/special/lnr/lnr_results.asp?N=&C=17&Submit=Search |archivedate=27 September 2013 |df=dmy }}</ref>

*[[Cuddington Meadows]] is a Grade I [[Site of Nature Conservation Interest|Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation]]. The site was shown as two enclosures on the open Banstead Downs on an early nineteenth century map, and it was later part of Walnut Tree Farm, which became Cuddington Hospital in 1897. The hospital closed in 1984, and in the late 1990s the land was transferred to Sutton Council to be managed for nature conservation.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=London Borough of Sutton |url=https://www.sutton.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2398 |title=Cuddington Meadows LNR |accessdate=3 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223235018/https://www.sutton.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2398 |archivedate=23 December 2014 |df=dmy }}</ref> It is mainly chalk grassland with some scrub. Its most important feature is a variety of unusual flowering plants, including [[greater knapweed]], [[lady's bedstraw]] and [[field scabious]].
*[[Belmont Pastures]] is a Grade II [[Site of Nature Conservation Interest|Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation]]. It is a long narrow triangle north of Belmont railway station. It is an old meadow which formerly belonged to Belmont Hospital.

Just to the south of the village is Banstead Downs, which extends for around a mile further south towards neighbouring [[Banstead, Surrey]].  Banstead Downs is a large [[Site of Special Scientific Interest]], covering 430 acres (170 ha). Banstead Golf Course is on the northern slopes.

==Economy==
Station Road is the main commercial street of Belmont Village, containing a range of mainly independent shops and restaurants. It runs for about a quarter of a mile from Belmont Station in the east to St John's Church in the west.  One mile to the north lies the larger economic centre of [[Sutton, London|Sutton]].

==Nearest places==
[[File:Belmont War Memorial, looking north-west.jpg|thumb|Belmont War Memorial, situated at the western end of Station Road opposite St John's Church]]
* [[Sutton, London|Sutton]] to the north
* [[Cheam]] to the west
* [[Banstead, Surrey]] to the south
* [[Carshalton]] to the east

==Transport==
[[Belmont railway station (Sutton)|Belmont railway station]] is on the [[Sutton railway station (London)|Sutton]] to [[Epsom Downs railway station|Epsom Downs]] branchline and the London Victoria to Epsom Downs line. It is part of the [[Sutton & Mole Valley Line]] services of the [[Southern (Govia Thameslink Railway)|Southern]] rail operating company, and is in London [[Travelcard Zone 5]]. [[Transport for London|TfL]] buses also run in this area.

==Former residents==
* [[David Bellamy]] (1933–2019), botanist, author and academic.
* [[Robin Hull (music critic)|Robin Hull]] (1905-1960), music critic
* [[James Hunt]] (1947–1993), World [[Formula One]] motor-racing champion 1976.
* [[Lord Judd]] (1935-2021) former director of Oxfam. As Frank Judd he was MP for constituencies in Portsmouth from 1966 to 1979.
* [[Don Lusher]] (1923–2006), trombonist and jazz band leader
* [[Lord Ritchie-Calder]] (1906–1982), journalist and environment expert
* [[Lionel Tertis]] (1876–1975), viola-player
* [[Barry Wordsworth]] (born in Cheam 1948), orchestral conductor – music director.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading (local history)==
* ''Belmont: A Century Ago'' by Roland Sparkes, published December 2009. Paperback. {{ISBN|978-0-9563424-0-9}}. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100105214442/http://www.nielsenbookdata.co.uk/controller.php?page=1]. This is first book dedicated to the history of the village. The introductory chapter provides a resume of Belmont's history and development in the Victorian era and the early 20th century.
* Articles by local historian Roland Sparkes for the Belmont Local History group (established 2009). E.g. ''Belmont: 1865 – A description of the Belmont area as it existed in 1865'' [http://belmontlocalhistory.webs.com/WEBPROTECT-page4belmont1865.htm]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, and ''Dr Carl Warburg, his Belmont laboratory, and his famous fever drug''[http://belmontlocalhistory.webs.com/WEBPROTECT-page6drwarburg.htm]{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}.
* ''[[Sutton Guardian]]'' newspaper – heritage page articles and features. [https://web.archive.org/web/20071208001821/http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?refresh=Ky91e0A314fN&PBID=21808e87-e7bc-4660-9728-9e4ce3c30669]
* ''Sutton Scene'' (London Borough of Sutton's official newsletter), Oct/Nov 2009 edition. Feature on Belmont. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100122080624/http://www.sutton.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3545]
* Two booklets have been produced about the history of Belmont's churches, both now out of print: (i) ''Splendid the Heritage: the story of Belmont and its Methodist Church'' (Craig, 1965); and (ii) ''A Village Church: the story of the first 75 years of St John’s with Belmont Methodists'' (Reed, 1992).
* ''The Brighton road; the classic highway to the south'' by Harper, Charles George, 1863-1943  [https://archive.org/details/brightonroadclas00harpiala/mode/2up] Page 159 refers to the position of Belmont on the road between London and Brighton and the 1796 marking of "Little Hell" on the maps.

==External links==
* Belmont Local History group, [http://www.belmonthistory.org.uk]
* Map of Belmont area, Streetmap website, Streetmap.co.uk [https://web.archive.org/web/20121024021531/http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=525458&y=162172&searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf]

{{LB Sutton}}

[[Category:Areas of London]]
[[Category:Districts of the London Borough of Sutton]]