Ashford, Surrey

Ashford

St Matthew's C of E Church

Church Road
Ashford
 Ashford shown within Surrey
Area  6.71 km2 (2.59 sq mi)
Population 27,382 (2011 census)[1]
   – density  4,081/km2 (10,570/sq mi)
OS grid referenceTQ065715
Civil parishn/a
DistrictSpelthorne
Hounslow
Shire countySurrey
Greater London
RegionSouth East
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town ASHFORD
Postcode district TW15
Dialling code 01784
Police Surrey
Fire Surrey
Ambulance South East Coast
EU Parliament South East England
UK ParliamentSpelthorne
List of places
UK
England
Surrey

Coordinates: 51°26′02″N 0°27′50″W / 51.434°N 0.464°W / 51.434; -0.464

Ashford is a town and suburb of London located almost entirely in the Surrey borough of Spelthorne, but with a small section lying within the London Borough of Hounslow, England.[n 1] Mostly residential, Ashford is 13.5 miles (21.7 km) WSW of Charing Cross, London, forms part of the London commuter belt, with a minor stop on the Waterloo to Reading Line (which has two branch lines) and has a long commercial high street. It is centred 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south of London Heathrow Airport, to which a portion of its economy relates, including business premises relating to aviation and the distribution of air freight – the main cargo depot being next to an adjoining village, Stanwell.

More usually referred to as Ashford, Middlesex[n 2] to distinguish it from the larger town of Ashford, Kent, since 1965 when Middlesex County Council was dissolved the town's wards are officially in Ashford, Surrey and for example the current railway services provider uses the present or past county variously throughout its stations and trains. A leading gymnastics club, HMP Bronzefield and one of the sites of Brooklands College are in the town. Ashford Hospital is narrowly within Stanwell and began as Ashford's workhouse. Ashford Common has a parade of shops and is a more residential ward that includes part of the Queen Mary Reservoir and all of its related water treatment works, which is contiguous with and subsidiary to the town itself.

Ashford consists of relatively low density low and medium rise buildings, none of them being high rise. If excluding apartments (at the last census 27% of the housing stock) most houses are semi-detached. Ashford is defined along its northern edge by a dual carriageway and extends no more than 400m beyond another parallel to the southern boundary. It centrally includes a short section of another and has a driving test centre. Junctions of the UK's motorway network are 3.5 miles (5.6 km) and 2 miles (3.2 km) from its borders and it has along the two main dual carriageways official dealers of Ford, Citroën and Suzuki.

On two of the eight chief compass points the town is buffered by green space which covers just over 2.5 square kilometres (1.0 sq mi) and includes The Princes Club, Bedfont Lakes and Shortwood Common.

Topography

Ashford is in the almost flat alluvial plain formed by the historic courses of the River Thames[2] on fairly fertile but gravelly soil[3] in centuries past covered by deciduous forest for wood gathering, with clearings of meadow for pasture and to a lesser extent arable farming to supply the London market; sheep grazing continues today around the reservoirs. In common with western fringes of Greater London, gravel commences often within a metre of the surface which has led to 20th century gravel extraction,[2][n 3] which has formed the lakes to the north of the railway line. The extreme west is Shortwood Common, partly converted to a recreation ground, Ashford Park School, a cemetery. North of this is the pair of Staines Reservoirs, the other green buffer is The Princes Club, Bedfont Lakes, spanning the northeast border; these areas constitute Metropolitan Green Belt buffers to the country's largest city. The area includes postally much of Queen Mary Reservoir (which covered most of the parish to the south of Littleton and almost none of historic Ashford) named after the wife of George V, Mary of Teck.

A large majority of land is devoted to suburban and low-rise urban housing[4] – in addition to recreational areas, green belt in part of the Bedfont/Feltham fringe exists in the form of meadows used for walking, horse grazing and equestrianism around Feltham Young Offenders' Institution. A few parks such as the Ashford Reservoirs or Spelthorne Park are remnants of Ashford Common which give the eastern part of the town a reminder of its past status as a grazing common; these include recreation grounds such as Thames Water-sponsored Spelthorne Sports Club and the BP recreation ground.[5]

In The Clumps, 37 houses in the Ashford post town, which has the postcode TW15, are in the London Borough of Hounslow, Greater London, alongside the Princes Club watersports lakes partly in Ashford post town but mostly in East Bedfont, Feltham post town, London. The other road with this status is the western half of Challenge Road, which has only business addresses.[6][7]

History

Bronze Age artefacts have been found in Ashford (at 51.432708N, 0.485174W) giving rise to the name Bronzefield and a henge may have been present in that period.[8] The settlement as indicated by its name but small assets just after the Norman Conquest was part agricultural settlement in Saxon times.

Ashford appears on the Middlesex Domesday map as Exeforde held by Robert, Count of Mortain. Its Domesday Assets were: 1 plough, meadow for 1 plough; a separate manor in 1066, it was part of the manor of Kempton in 1086. It rendered (in total): 14s 0d.[9] Throughout the early medieval period the place was also referred to as Echelford.[10]

A stone bridge was built over the ford in 1789 by the Hampton and Staines Turnpike Trust, part of which is used as the rather scenic Fordbridge roundabout with its large weeping willow trees at the centre.[10]

Ashford Common the large area of common land in the south and east of the town was sold (enclosed) in 1809, before which this was a favourite ground with George III for the forces to put on military displays.[10]

While Ashford Manor Golf Club was established in 1902 at the property which was the Manor Farm House[11] the actual large manorial estate and manor house that was held by Solomon Abraham Hart from 1870 to 1882[n 4] had, before 1902 been broken up among many small owners and all trace of the manor house became lost.[10][n 5]However the title of lord of the manor was acquired by Scott Freeman in 1890[12] and after passing to another partner of the solicitors Horne, Engall Freeman came in more recent times to Russell Grant.[13]

Ashford's housing stock is modern, with chiefly a mixture of detached and semi-detached housing built between 1885 and 1960. [n 6]

Civic Administration

In 1894, under the Local Government Act 1894, Ashford became part of the Staines Rural District of Middlesex.[14] In 1930 the rural district was abolished to join Staines Urban District. In 1965, under the London Government Act 1963, Middlesex County Council was abolished and the urban district was transferred to Surrey.[15] In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, Staines Urban District was abolished and its area combined with that of Sunbury-on-Thames Urban District to create the present-day borough of Spelthorne.

Religious buildings

The present parish church of St Matthew was built in 1858 with financial assistance from the well-constructed neo-gothic Welsh School (in its later years, St David's School (defunct), occupied since 2010 by the senior school of St. James independent school[16]), north of the railway station. The rebuilt main structure (pictured in the header) kept older internal monuments and the south arch is 12th century.[17][18] A daughter church to St Matthew was built on the corner of Stanwell Road and Woodthorpe Road, commencing in 1913, to serve the needs of the rapidly growing community of dwellings built around the railway station; its original design included a magnificent spire which would have been one of the most significant landmarks in the area but never built: nonetheless construction completed in 1928 when it was consecrated to Saint Hilda. Initially assigned the status of a conventional District under the Parish Church of St Matthew, St Hilda's Church is now an Ecclesiastical Parish.[19] The easternmost parts of Ashford Common fall in the parish of St Saviour's Church, Sunbury.

An imposing Roman Catholic Church with whitewashed interior and gilded and crucifix-dominated chancel wall, all designed by Sir Sir Giles Gilbert Scott RA, which is dedicated to St Michael[20] and central, close to the war memorial and driving test centre that serves a wide area[21] a little along Fordbridge Road (the road to Laleham) the partially completed church was consecrated in 1928. The foundation stone of the building was laid in 1927. Further work to extend the building was carried out in 1938 but World War II intervened and the building was not completed to the original design until 1960.[17]

There are two methodist churches, on Clarendon Road and in Ashford Common on Felthamhill Road.[22]

Economy

The high street – actually called Church Road which bears onto Station Road – mainly comprises local businesses, including Co-op, Tesco Express, Costa Coffee, a Sainsbury's, three funeral directors, and many different eateries. Church Road is also home to the Ashford campus of Brooklands College (formerly Spelthorne College), Ashford Library and a prominent World War 2 memorial.[23] Ashford, in common with most of London suburbia, has very low unemployment rates. A great deal of local employment is directly related to Heathrow Airport. BP International is another major employer. Many other residents work in London or in the Thames Valley. Main dealers of Ford, Citroën and Suzuki are along the town's outlying dual carriageways.

Transport

Railway

Ashford railway station lies on the Waterloo to Reading Line; it is served and managed by South West Trains stopping services from London Waterloo on two of its three routes, those to Windsor & Eton Riverside, which branches off after Staines and to Weybridge on the South West Main Line via the Chertsey Line. The third route forms the second Main Line run by the company, with faster trains available from the next stations east and west. The current railway services provider uses the present or past county variously throughout its stations and trains.[24]

Roads

A few streets or parks north of the station is the dual A30 marking most the area's northern border – the traditional road from London to Land's End. As such the alignment of this road is WSW-ENE.

A straight, approximately WNW-ESE relief road was created by the Hampton and Staines Turnpike Trust, the A308 has become a dual carriageway from Sunbury Cross to Staines, at the junction with the A30. This road marks some of the town's southern border. Criss-crossed by more minor roads, access can be had throughout to these arterial roads which if including the A309 Hampton Court Way are connected to three motorways, the M25, M3 and A3(M).

Buses

The town is on two main Heathrow bus services provided by Abellio, to Walton-on-Thames and to Woking, on three services on routes to Staines under the Transport for London fare scheme (the 117, 216 and 290, also serving Isleworth, Kingston upon Thames and Twickenham respectively), and more occasional routes, including special school services run by Abellio and other operators.[25]

Education

Ashford contains more primary than secondary schools as due to available land, three secondary schools were established in Sunbury-on-Thames, particularly the borough's religiously denominated senior schools, The Bishop Wand Church of England School and St Paul's Catholic College.

Primary Schools

(above in order of best combined England and Maths benchmark score 2011 primary schools)[27][28]

Secondary Schools

Further education

Ashford's further education college covers a wide area of Surrey for ages 16 to 18, Spelthorne College, which became a Brooklands College Campus in 2007.

Sport

Ashford Park – part of fields and tennis court

Active sports clubs in Ashford competitive at many levels are: Ashford Town F.C., Ashford Casuals F.C. and Ashford Cricket Club. Clubs exist for hockey, tennis, table Tennis, aikido, karate, golf and bowls, with leading clubs in acrobatic gymnastics and sailing which offer professional coaching from Olympic-level coaches.

Ashford Manor Golf Club is described above, a golf course that has 18 holes; one other is in the borough, Sunbury Golf Course in Charlton.

Spelthorne Atoms (previously known as Ashford Atoms) are one of the best youth basketball teams in the country having been to the national finals on a number of occasions.

Spelthorne Gymnastics club is one of the premier clubs for Acrobatic Gymnastics in the World, having won eight World Title gold medals.

Watercourses

Ashford has one river, the River Ash, one of the six distributaries of the River Colne, Hertfordshire which runs in line with the Staines bypass under the Fordbridge roundabout at the far end of Fordbridge Road, its upper reach being the traditional border with Staines and then entering Laleham, passing close to the other side of the Queen Mary Reservoir.

Government

Ashford is part of the Spelthorne constituency which has been represented by the Conservative Kwasi Kwarteng since 2010.[30] At Surrey County Council, 4 of the 81 councillors relate to Ashford in whole or in part:[31] Ashford is represented by a Conservative councillor,[32] Staines South and Ashford West by UKIP councillor, Daniel Jenkins, part of north Ashford is in the division represented by Robert Evans, Labour Councillor for Stanwell and Stanwell Moor, and Sunbury Common and Ashford Common is represented by a Liberal Democrat councillor.[33]

Ashford has 12 representatives on Spelthorne Borough Council, headquartered in Staines-upon-Thames:

Most Recent
Election		Member[34]!!WardCurrent party (if changed)
2011 Marion Bushnell Ashford CommonSpelthorne Independent Party[35]
2011 Nick Gething Ashford Common
2011 Frank Ayers Ashford CommonSpelthorne Independent Party
2011 Asif Ayub Ashford East
2011 Chris Frazer Ashford East
2011 Tony Mitchell Ashford East
2011 Marian Rough Ashford North and Stanwell South
2011 Joanne Sexton Ashford North and Stanwell South
2011 Sam Budd Ashford North and Stanwell SouthSpelthorne Independent Party
2011 Gerald Forsbrey Ashford TownSpelthorne Independent Party
2011 Denise Grant Ashford TownSpelthorne Independent Party
2011 Caroline Spencer (Independent) Ashford TownSpelthorne Independent Party

Demography and housing

 2011 Census Homes
Output area Detached Semi-detachedTerracedFlats and apartmentsCaravans/temporary/mobile homesShared between households[1]
Spelthorne 3,5 and 62,388 4,380 1,672 2,618 7 0

The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that was apartments was 22.6%.

Output area Population Households % Owned outright % Owned with a loanhectares[1]
Spelthorne 3, 5 and 627,382 11,065 29.0% 33.9% 671

The proportion of households in the settlement who owned their home outright compares to the regional average of 35.1%. The proportion who owned their home with a loan compares to the regional average of 32.5%. The remaining % is made up of rented dwellings (plus a negligible % of households living rent-free).

Notable people

Notes and References

Notes
  1. ↑ Two side roads are in the London Borough of Hounslow in west London, in Ashford post town: Challenge Road and The Clumps. See Google maps: 'TW15', Royal Mail Postcode Finder free service, Spelthorne Borough Council maps, cited below.
  2. ↑ In the same way as Potters Bar, Staines upon Thames, Laleham, Shepperton and Sunbury on Thames, it is in that historic county which has a continued use for cricket purposes.
  3. ↑ Page wrote in 1911: There are 1,401½ acres in the parish, and of these 495¼ acres are arable, and 398¼ acres are grass. The principal crops are oats, wheat, barley, turnips, and peas. The soil is gravelly, and the subsoil gravel.
  4. ↑ who died in 1887 aged in the Holborn district of London (General Register Office ref: 1b 538)
  5. ↑ See the source book, where in 1911, the name of the club was at that point the Ashford Manor Farm Golf Club
  6. ↑ William Page states
    “ The aspect of the whole parish is rapidly changing. Until a few years ago it was almost completely rural ”
    in the A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 2, The Institute of Historical Research, 1911
References
  1. 1 2 3 Key Statistics; Quick Statistics: Population Density United Kingdom Census 2011 Office for National Statistics Ashford makes up 2011 lower output areas Spelthorne 003, 005 and 006. Note: the towns and villages in Spelthorne have one ward each which covers part of a neighbouring town or village. For example, Ashford is two wards and part of a third ward (see Government). Retrieved 21 November 2013
  2. 1 2 Surrey Archived 2 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine.. Natural England. Retrieved 12 October 2012
  3. ↑ UK Soilscapes, a resource from Cranfield University
  4. ↑ 2001 Census: density and land use statistics
  5. ↑ Spelthorne maps, see in Planning section: Maps: Green Belt
  6. ↑ Google map of TW15 versus Greater London boundary
  7. ↑ http://www.royalmail.com/postcode-finder
  8. ↑ Ashford Henge details from history website
  9. ↑ Surrey Domesday Book Archived 30 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  10. 1 2 3 4 William Page (Editor) (1911). "Spelthorne Hundred: Ashford". A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 2: General; Ashford, East Bedfont with Hatton, Feltham, Hampton with Hampton Wick, Hanworth, Laleham, Littleton. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  11. ↑ Golf Club website, as the New Manor Golf Club Ashford Company
  12. ↑ Archives in London and the M25 area
  13. 1 2 Press article on Suffolk manors cites Russell Grant's ownership of the incorporeal hereditament, though not its land.
  14. ↑ Vision of Britain – Staines Rural District
  15. ↑ Vision of Britain – Staines Urban District
  16. ↑ Ashford Move 2010 – Press Release St James independent school. Retrieved 1 June 2013
  17. 1 2 St Matthew's Church: Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1187026)". National Heritage List for England.
  18. ↑ Church of England – "A Church Near You" – St Matthew Retrieved 1 June 2013
  19. ↑ Church of England – "A Church Near You" – St Hilda Retrieved 1 June 2013
  20. ↑ Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster (rcdow) Ashford. Retrieved 1 June 2013
  21. ↑ Department for Transport Retrieved 1 June 2013
  22. ↑ Ashford Methodist Church
    Ashford Common Methodist Church.
  23. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1392259)". National Heritage List for England.
  24. ↑ "Station Facilities for Ashford (Surrey)". National Rail. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  25. ↑ Bus Timetables Surrey County Council. Retrieved 2 June 2013
  26. ↑ Department of Education performance of this school
  27. ↑ BBC 2011 summary of schools in Surrey
  28. ↑ Department of Education performance of this school
  29. ↑ Thomas Knyvett College
  30. ↑ "Spelthorne: Constituency". The Guardian. 2010. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  31. ↑ "Conservatives still in control in Surrey". Get Surrey. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  32. ↑ "County council elections 2013". Surrey County Council. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  33. ↑ Web Operations Team (5 March 2012). "Surrey's County councillors". Surrey County Council. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  34. ↑ "Borough Councillors by ward 2011–2015". Spelthorne Borough Council. 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  35. ↑ Councillors by Party – Spelthorne Independent Party Retrieved 2 June 2013
  36. ↑ Bond-Owen on the Internet Movie Database
  37. ↑ June 07, 2010 Article, S&B Media (Surrey Herald, Surrey Advertiser, Staines Informer series

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