Chessington
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Template:Infobox London place Chessington is a place in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in Greater London. The Hogsmill river runs through it. It is home to two Combined Counties League football teams.
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Attractions
It is famous for its zoo, which was gradually turned into Chessington World Of Adventures, an amusement park with a broader appeal. Chessington Hall has a place in eighteenth century literary history, as home of the failed playwright and close friend of Fanny Burney, Samuel Crisp.
Areas
Small areas of Chessington have become well known to residents of the town under different names, These being:
- Chessington North, also referred to as North Parade, home to Chessington North railway station.
- Hook, generally referred to as the central point in Chessington, incorporates the majority of bus routes which pass through the area, and is the terminus for routes 467 (Chessington To Epsom) and route 833 (Hinchley Wood School to Chessington).
- Copt Gilders, named after the farm once upon this estate.
- Chessington South, previously referred to as Fleetwood, incorporating the majority of buildings south of Chessington Community College and Chessington South railway station.
- Southborough, referring to the Boys School which stands on the site, this area is close to the A3 Dual Carriageway and nearby Surbiton and Tolworth.
Railway
It has two train stations: Chessington North and Chessington South. They are half a mile apart with trains every half hour to London Waterloo. Chesington South is the end of the line. The line was originally intended to split at Motspur Park, pass through Chessington and proceed onto Leatherhead, but construction was halted at Chessington South in 1940 as World War Two began, and was then prevented from continuation after the war by the Green Belt.
The line past Chessington has fallen into heavy disrepair and simply leads off after a concrete bridge into a set of fully-developed trees. It is interesting to point out that the crossover, signal and 3rd-rail electricity at this point is still active, even though a passenger train has never passed over this section.