ASHFORD, SURREY

'Ashford' is a town in the Surrey borough of Spelthorne in England. It is a suburban development situated 15 miles (24 km) west south-west of Charing Cross in London and forms part of the London commuter belt.

Contents

Town and environs

History

Status

Ashford today

Trivia

Famous people from Ashford

References

External links

Town and environs

Ashford is close to London Heathrow Airport and borders the London Borough of Hounslow to the northeast. It covers an area of 30 square kilometres. Other towns nearby include Staines, Feltham and Sunbury-on-Thames.
Spelthorne is an area of mostly green belt land, rivers, flood plain and reservoirs. Ashford is almost completely surrounded by the latter: in particular the ''Staines Reservoirs'' to the north east (now a bird sanctuary) and the ''Queen Mary Reservoir'' to the south. These reservoirs, resulting from gravel extraction, are part of the water supply network.
Between Staines and Ashford lies Shortwood Common, which contains one of the UK’s most important ponds. The pond is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and covers nearly 15,000 square metres. The common is still grazed by cattle.

History

Ashford appears on the Middlesex Doomsday Map as ''Exeforde''. It was 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.^[1]
The settlement was most likely founded in Saxon times. Bronze Age artefacts have been found in Ashford (at 51.432708N, 0.485174W), and a henge may have been present in Bronze Age times.
The present parish church of St Matthew[1] was built in 1858 with financial assistance from the ''Welsh School'' (now St David's School) which had just moved to Ashford. For long a village, Ashford was always associated with Staines, its nearest neighbour.

Status

In 1894, under the Local Government Act 1894, Ashford became part of the Staines Rural District of Middlesex. [2] In 1930 the rural district was abolished and Ashford was added to the Staines Urban District. In 1965, under the London Government Act 1963, Middlesex was abolished and the urban district was transferred to Surrey. [3] 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.

Ashford today

Although the town's origins are ancient, Ashford's housing stock is chiefly a mixture of villas and castle-like houses built between 1930 and 1960.
The high street mainly comprises local businesses, with Somerfield, Tesco Express and Woolworths also present. The main street is also home to Spelthorne College, Ashford Library and a World War 2 memorial. 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 Ashfordians work in London or in the Thames Valley.
The town is served by South West Trains services from Waterloo station calling at Ashford (Middlesex), which lies to the south of the A30 road.
There are many local primary and secondary schools. There is also a further education college for ages 16 to 18.
An above-average proportion of the population (approximately one third of households) are OAPs.

Trivia

Ashford did not contain a single 'Street' - its 'High Street' is called Church Road - until Autumn 2006, when Queens Lane (a narrow service lane behind a parade of shops) was re-named Queen Street.

Famous people from Ashford

★ Ray Dorset, singer / songwriter with 1970s chart-toppers Mungo Jerry.

★ Norman Willis, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) 1984-92 and president of the European Trade Union Confederation 1991-93.

★ Sarah Ayton, Olympic gold medal winner in the Yngling sailing class 2004 Summer Olympics

★ Sarah Webb, Olympic gold medal winner in the Yngling sailing class 2004 Summer Olympics (They won Britain's first gold medal of the Athens Games)

★ Bobby Davro, born Robert Nankeville, 1990s TV impressionist

★ Lynda Chater, author of novels published by Simon & Schuster

★ Russell Grant (astrologer and resident of Staines) became Lord of Ashford in 1996.

★ Nathan Shackley, Historian

★ Luke May, Harlequins Rugby League player

★ Jack Swaybe , former governor in 1967

References

★ Population figures (PDF)

★ Ashford Henge

External links

★ Train Times To Ashford

★ Official St.David's School Website

★ St Matthew's Church Website

★ Ashford Congregational Church Website