Kingston upon Thames

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Template:Infobox London place Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a lively borough of London situated 10 miles (16.1 km) south west of Charing Cross.

1 History
2 Kingston today
3 Education
4 Sport
5 Representatives
6 Bishop of Kingston
7 Trivia
8 Notable people connected to the Kingston area
9 References
10 External links

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History

Kingston was built at the first crossing point of the Thames upstream from London Bridge and a bridge still exists at the same site. Kingston was occupied by the Romans, and later it was either a royal residence or a royal demesne. There is a record of a council held there in 838, at which Egbert of Wessex, the first King of All England, and his son Ethelwulf of Wessex were present; and in this record it is styled Kyningestun famosa illa locus. In Old English, tun, ton or don meant farmstead - so the name Kingston may have been thought to mean farmstead of the kings. Seven Saxon kings are traditionally said to have been crowned at Kingston, while seated on a large stone - The Coronation Stone - that stands outside the Guildhall. There is a local rumour that these Saxon coronations gave Kingston its name, but the records of the 838 council disprove this. (Dickens 1887)

The first charter was granted by King John in 1208 and this document still exists in the town's archives. Other charters were issued by later kings, including Edward IV's charter that gave the town the status of a borough in 1481. Some interesting relics have been discovered to support this history, and statues of some of the Saxon kings and of King John were preserved in a chapel. In 1730 the chapel containing the royal effigies collapsed, burying the sexton, who was digging a grave, the sexton's daughter and another person. The daughter survived this accident and was her father's successor as sexton. Another chapel, The Lovekyn Chapel, still exists. It was founded in 1309 by a former mayor of London, Edward Lovekyn. It is the only private chantry chapel to survive the Reformation.

Kingston sent members to early parliaments, until a petition by the inhabitants prayed to be relieved from the burden.

Kingston was one of the boroughs to be reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, becoming a municipal borough. It retained this status until the London Government Act 1963 came into force in 1965, merging it to form part of the London Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

For much of the 20th century, Kingston was a major military aircraft manufacturing centre - first with Sopwith, then Hawker Aviation and eventually British Aerospace.

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Kingston today

Central Kingston is a busy predominantly retail centre, with a small number of commercial offices and civic buildings. It has great many car parks, connected by a notoriously difficult one-way system. It is one of the main centres of the south west London bus network, and it is connected to Twickenham, Richmond upon Thames, Wimbledon, and London Waterloo by overground train.

The shopping centre includes a shopping mall called "The Bentall Centre" that contains the Bentalls department store and large branches of chain stores found in many British high streets. There is a large branch of the John Lewis department store with a Waitrose supermarket in the basement. The "Rotunda" near the railway station includes a bowling alley, fitness centre, a 14-screen Odeon multiplex cinema and some fast-food restaurants. Recent developments along the riverside south of Kingston Bridge have added bars (such as HaHa and Casa), restaurants (including Carluccio's and Cammasan) and a theatre. The ancient market still continues daily in the Market Place.

Kingston's civic buildings include the Guildhall which houses Kingston Council, the main offices of Surrey County Council (though Kingston is no longer in Surrey - plans to move these to Woking have been scrapped), and Kingston University are currently negotiating buying the building), the magistrates' court, the county court, and a fine local museum and public library.

One of the more unusual sights in Kingston is several disused red telephone boxes that have been tipped on their sides in a pattern resembling dominos. This sculpture by David Mach was commissioned in 1988, and is called Out of Order.

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Education

There are many schools in Kingston including Surbiton High School, Kingston Grammar School and the Tiffin Schools, all of which are considered to be fine establishments. Kingston is also home to Kingston University.

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Sport

Kingston is the home of two non-league Association football clubs, Kingstonian F.C. and AFC Wimbledon, both of which play at The Fans' Stadium, Kingsmeadow.

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Representatives

Kingston straddles two Parliamentary constituencies: the area north of the railway line is part of Richmond Park represented by Susan Kramer; the area south of the railway line (which includes the ancient town centre) is part of Kingston and Surbiton represented by Edward Davey. Both MPs are members of the Liberal Democrat party.

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