Hersham


Hersham is a village in Surrey, within the M25. Its housing is relatively low-rise and diverse and it has four technology/trading estates. The only contiguous settlement is Walton-on-Thames, its post town.
Hersham Green, in the nucleus of the village, is of open space where regular events take place throughout the summer. Within a few minutes walk of this suburban-urban bulk of Hersham in the east are green fields and meadows alongside the River Mole and footpaths by fields used for mixed farming.
Hersham is served by Hersham and Walton-on-Thames railway stations with a minimum of two trains per hour and differing types of services on the South West Main Line.
Two golf courses are within its bounds, Burhill Golf Club and Hersham Village Golf Club; considerable other land is wooded, used for mixed farming or Esher Rugby Club, much of which is Metropolitan Green Belt.

History

According to Hersham in Surrey:
That this could have been constructed at all indicates a fairly large population in the district, a chieftain of some sort, organised labour and a desperate perhaps recurring danger. Bronze and Iron Age burials have been found on the slopes of the hill which was clearly a feature of some importance in ancient times.
The Anglo-Saxons may well have been the first permanent settlers here; they gave the name to the place and no older remains of actual dwellings in areas not mentioned above have been found. In the 12th century it was written Haverichesham suggesting Haeferick's hamlet or river bend settlement. By contraction the name become Haverisham, Haversham, Harsham or Hersham before finally settling only on the latter.
Hersham's first chapel of ease was built of yellow brick in Anglo-Norman style in 1839. Similarly congregationalists had a Round Chapel which existed from 1844 until 1961, the year in which the single dual carriageway in Hersham was created, and enabling its construction.
Instead of merely being the southern hamlet of Walton, Hersham became an ecclesiastical parish in 1851. The dividing line was what then officially termed the "London and South Western Railway line" and all borders remain almost unchanged by later local government and ecclesiastical parish decisions. The present Anglican church of St. Peter was built by Mr. J. L. Pearson, R.A., in 1887. It is of brick and stone in 13th-century style. It has a nave and aisles, of five arcades, chancel, transepts, and a western tower and spire. Its site was given by Lieut. Col. Terry of Burvale, Hersham.
;Moor Hall, Syklesmore or Southwood
Hersham contained one manor alone known as Morehall alias Sylkesmore or Southwood. Mention of a court held at Hersham in 1272 by Reginald de Imworth and Matilda his wife, may indicate that he was then lord of the manor. When Henry VIII built Nonsuch Palace in Cheam as many as eighty loads of timber were obtained from Southwood, or the South Woods, for it. In 1540 he purchased from John Carleton the "manor of Morehall or Sylkesmore" in Hersham, together with lands and woods in Burwood and Hatch in Hersham. The manor remained in the possession of the Crown, and was granted by Philip II of Spain and Mary I of England to David Vincent. In 1579 Queen Elizabeth granted to Thomas Vincent "the manor, site, and demesne lands of Morehall, and the wood called Sylkesmore coppice". In the 18th century and until 1802 at least, the estate, then known as 'the manor of Southwood and Silksmore,' appears to have been held by the Frederick family.
;Whiteley Village
This private retirement village, which allocates some of its accommodation to disabled poor residents, is set in a lightly undulating, elevated, wooded part of Hersham and was created from a bequest of £1m left by a London department store pioneer William Whiteley.

Geography

Hersham is in the borough of Elmbridge, in north-west Surrey and has no particular sub-localities except for Burwood Park, which alongside certain other addresses in the village is, when published for any purposes, due to its proximity to Walton-on-Thames railway station, done so under the name of Hersham's post town only, Walton on Thames. A planned community also exists in the south almost entirely for the retired, Whiteley Village.
The parish boundaries run from the South Western Main Line railway in the North to the East and through St George's Hill in the West.
Places within Hersham thus technically include a portion of Saint George's Hill, all of Burwood Park and Whiteley Village.

Notable people past and present

visited Weylands farm in Hersham where he saw the first drill plough. Queen Victoria wrote in her diary how she saw her first steam train in Hersham when she was a young girl.
In more recent times the punk group Sham 69 with lead singer Jimmy Pursey, had its roots in Hersham. The band's biggest hit was Hersham Boys. Sham 69 took their name from the remnants of a piece of graffiti in the area which made reference to when Walton and Hersham football club secured the Athenian League title in 1969.
Due to its proximity to London and Shepperton Studios, Hersham is frequently a filming location for film and television productions including Nighty Night, The Glass, and Monty Python The second series of the TV show, Ashes to Ashes was filmed in Hersham. The Mummy was filmed in Hersham.
Hersham is also home to Britain's largest colony of parakeets near Esher Rugby Club. This was estimated in 2004 to have consisted of around 7,000 birds.

Education

Within Hersham is the mixed, secondary Three Rivers Academy. The school holds specialist Business and Enterprise College status, and boasts an impressive drama programme. Its roll holds approx. 1200 students. Hersham also has three primary schools - Burhill, became primary in 2015, Bell Farm, became primary in 2014 and Cardinal Newman.

Sport

Rugby

is a multi-pitch rugby union club in Hersham since approximately 1939. Their first men's team is notable in the region and saw 2012-14 among the upper 50% of clubs in RFU National League 1, having been relegated in the previous season. Esher play at The Rugby Ground, 369 Molesey Road. The 1st XV play in a black-amber strip.
TV presenter John Inverdale has long been associated with the club, albeit the 2010s saw his involvement diminish.

Golf

Hersham Village Golf Club is on the opposite, south side of the village, where snooker player John Virgo has been a longstanding president.
Hersham's large second golf club is Burhill Golf Club (with North and South courses, the latter of which has been added near Burwood Park. Early in World War II, Barnes Wallis and several hundred staff were evacuated to Burhill Golf Club from the nearby Vickers-Armstrongs aircraft factory at Brooklands and designed the legendary Dambusters 'bouncing bomb' there.

Economy

Four technology/trading estates exist in Hersham:
A major nearby conjoined set of trading estates spans the Weybridge/Byfleet border at Brooklands and Heathrow Airport also has a range of employers, though this is across Walton-on-Thames itself and the borough of Spelthorne. Most important to the local economy is the accessibility of Central London — see [|Rail] below, with more than 500,000 train entries and exits per annum recorded across the two stations bordering and in the village itself.
The very modest High Street contains almost entirely only convenience and socialising stores; fashion and leisure shops are to be found less than to the north, in Walton on Thames. As part of the development of Hersham a new shopping centre was built with a large supermarket now occupied by Waitrose. A new Lidl supermarket was given permission in 2015 and has recently opened, increasing Hersham's retail floor-space in addition to Waitrose.

Transport

Rail

Hersham is served by Hersham and Walton-on-Thames railway stations with a minimum of two trains per hour even on Sundays and differing types of services on the South Western Main Line. Fast trains stopping at Walton-on-Thames reach London Waterloo within 30 minutes.

Roads

The M25 Junction 10 is 4 miles away and an A-roads and dual carriageway connect neighbouring Esher and the almost bordering towns of Weybridge and Cobham, across a narrow strip of Walton on Thames.

Demography and housing

The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that was apartments was 22.6%.
Output areaPopulationHouseholds% Owned outright% Owned with a loanhectares
Hersham North 5,992 2,469 27 41 230
Hersham South 6,422 2,664 35 35 799

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.