|
Written by Administrator
|
|
Tuesday, 06 June 2006 |
Where does it end?
The following article by Michael Ridge first appeared in the St Nicholas Church Parish Magazine of August-September 1999 and is used with his kind permission.
"Before one can answer it is necessary to know which Thames Ditton is the subject of the question, and naturally enough in a parish magazine it is the Parish of Thames Ditton. This has changed in shape and size over the last two hundred years as land originally falling within its boundary now forms the Parishes of Claygate, Hinchley Wood and Weston. Today it has approximately 2,700 "residential units" providing homes for over 5,500 people.
In past years the boundaries were beaten on Rogation Sunday so that the inhabitants, particularly the young, would know the extent of their village. Today we have to rely on maps, and even there more attention is paid to "government" boundaries than to those of parishes.
Here in Thames Ditton from its northern point and travelling anti-clockwise the line leaves the River Thames, which provides a natural boundary, and crosses undeveloped land, a sports ground. Prior to this land being acquired by Kingston Grammar School it had been a site for travellers, and in the sixties there were many shacks, huts and old caravans to be found here. The area was known as Palace Estate. The line crosses the Hampton Court Way and follows the back fences of the first few properties in Summer Road. These are still known as Gladstone Place (numbers 1-10), although all the other houses have an address of Summer Road, East Molesey. At the western end of Gladstone Place is a house which, until about twenty years ago, was a shop, a grocers, tobacconists and off-licence, known as Boundary Stores. Then there was a stone marker (now disappeared) by the gate leading to the front door which bore the inscription "EM|TD" and marked the boundary between the parishes of Thames Ditton and East Molesey. The property is now a house with the name Boundary House.
At this point the boundary crosses Summer Road and then open land following the line of an ancient ditch until it reaches a "recent" development known as Hampton Court Avenue. The line passes through the dividing wall of a pair of semi-detached houses, numbers 32 and 34, and then bisects the roadway. Thus the even numbers 2-32 are in the parish of St Nicholas, Thames Ditton, while the other even numbers and all the odd numbers are in the parish of St Mary?s, East Molesey. One of the important points about this is that people are only able to marry in church without a license if one of them lives in the parish. It therefore depends on which side of the road one lives whether one has the right to be married in St Nicholas. This applies elsewhere in the parish.
Crossing Esher Road the line follows the back fences of the houses on the north side of Ember Farm Way and then crosses open land to the River Ember, or rather where it was prior to the flood relief scheme introduced in the early seventies. This river is followed to the back of Imber Court where the boundary line turns east, crosses Ember Lane and follows the back fences of properties to the south of Embercourt Road. Houses in Ember Gardens, a cul-de-sac, are to the south of this line and outside the parish but only accessible from the parish. Close to Thames Ditton railway station the boundary veers south towards the railway line crossing Weston Green Road close to the station. However it is not too close, with the result that the first four houses on the north-west side of the road are in the parish of Thames Ditton and the remainder of the houses are in the Parish of Weston.
The boundary then follows the railway line to a point west of Rushett Close where it follows a line down the middle of part of Thorkhill Road, so that houses on the east side of the road are in the parish of St Mary?s, Long Ditton. Not only are they not in the parish of Thames Ditton, they are not in the Diocese of Guildford, as Long Ditton is in the Diocese of Southwark.
Crossing the Portsmouth Road the boundary line follows the course of the River Rythe to its junction with the Thames and then follows the line of the river to the northern parish point. The Island and Thames Ditton Island, near the Swan Inn, are both in the parish, with the former joined to it by a bridge. However this is a comparatively recent change since until the creation of the Greater London Council, now defunct, they were in the County of Middlesex, as the county boundary followed the line of the old river before a new channel was dug in the reign of Henry VIII. The result was that not only were the residences not in the parish of Thames Ditton, they were in the Parish of Hampton in the Diocese of London. Anyone on the Island wanting to get married in St Nicholas Church, a few yards from their front door via a connecting bridge, had to get a special license!
But in considering the parish boundary of Thames Ditton one should not overlook other "boundaries" which affect us. Until recently I lived in Ember Lane at number 173 and the house backs on to the Metropolitan Police stables. I was therefore resident in the parish of Thames Ditton. But the ward boundary for local government follows a different line to that of the parish. First, houses to the west of the Hampton Court Way are not in Thames Ditton Ward but in that of Weston Green. Second, instead of following the line of the back fences on the south side of Embercourt Road it follows those on the north side and extends across Ember Lane at that point. Thus 173, 175, 177 and the houses opposite, 172, 174 and 176 are in the electoral ward of Weston Green, while the remainder of the houses in this part of the road are in East Molesey. And of course the residents in that part of Embercourt Road vote in Weston Green and not Thames Ditton.
As a bit of social history it is worth noting that 172 Ember Lane, quoted above, does not exist in practice. Not only is my former house in the parish of Thames Ditton and the ward of Weston Green, it is in the postal district of East Molesey. Embercourt Road is in the postal district of Thames Ditton, part of Ember Lane is in East Molesey, while the reminder of Ember Lane is in the postal district of Esher. Several years ago people then moving into 172 Ember Lane, East Molesey (not the present occupiers), decided that a postal address of Thames Ditton was preferable to East Molesey. Since number 172 occupied a corner site they discovered that the last house in Embercourt Road was 68. So they adopted the address 70 Embercourt Road, Thames Ditton, although the house fronts onto Ember Lane, East Molesey. Consequently one finds 170 and 174 Ember Lane but no 172"
Michael Ridge ©1999
|
|
Home 
Village Info 
