🎥 History sleuth tracks down family of long-lost photo album

*Video* A chance purchase led Chris Pocock on a journey through time. He discovered this beautiful leather-bound book, packed with nostalgic Victorian images from the 1880s, and just had to find out more… So Chris began to trace the story of the album’s owner, Lydia Wiles. Lydia taught at the Female Orphan Asylum, which was […]

Tree-mendous! New measurement finally announced for Carshalton’s giant tree

EXCLUSIVE Carshalton’s much-loved giant tree has been officially measured again – and the results show it has grown significantly since it was last measured more than 60 years ago. The impressive London plane beside the stream that feeds Carshalton Ponds has been remeasured following a request to the Forestry Commission, with the official results now […]

Rare 55-million-year-old fossil discovered in Carshalton

EXCLUSIVE This incredible find reveals the small creatures fossilised beneath our feet — water dwellers that lived here millions of years ago. Carshalton’s oldest residents, if you like. The area on the corner of Butter Hill and Mill Lane was once an oyster bed, at a time when, incredibly, parts of Carshalton were submerged beneath […]

Artistic pamphlet produced when Little Holland House was first Grade II listed

Secret Carshalton recently came across some old publications related to Carshalton and this book caught our eye. Frank R Dickinson (1874 – 1961) lived at 40 Beeches Avenue in Carshalton Beeches and built and designed virtually everything to do with the house – all in an Arts and Crafts style. The house was purchased by […]

What was inside Carshalton’s lost 1877 Time Capsule?

It’s a mystery. What’s happened to two time capsules said to be stored within the wall of an old Barclays Bank. Lynne Mills, a local resident said “I used to go to barclays bank in Carshalton High Street every day for the company I worked for, and in the wall there were 2 time capsules […]

Mystery of the ornate post by Carshalton Park – solved – see how it once looked

We asked our social media followers what they thought this stump could once have been. There were many entertaining suggestions. Some of the ideas put forward were: street lamp, drinking water post, cannon, air raid siren, fire hydrant, parish markers, trolley bus post… This intriguing stump could be mistaken for many things. However, some of […]

Location of Old Boundary Wall Around Carshalton Park

I thought it would be interesting to plot the rough location of the old park wall, to scale, and to see that Carshalton park about 120 years ago was 4 – 5 times larger than it is now. You can of course still see some of the original old boundary wall around the area, some […]

Bank Of England Governor, Sir William Scawen Has An Ornate Memorial At All Saints Carshalton

Thomas Scawen was the man who created The Grotto in Carshalton Park (see my previous post about The Grotto), and he had inherited the land from his uncle, who had no heirs. 🗝 His uncle Sir William Scawen is pictured here. He once had the prestigious and lucrative role of the Governor of the Bank […]

Hexagonal Penfold Victorian Post Box in Carshalton Beeches is Over 150 Years Old

There’s quite a lot to say about this old Penfold Post Box (as it’s now officially known). When it was first installed in Carshalton Beeches over 150 years ago, around 1866, it would have been painted green and gold. About 10 – 15 years later it became red. It’s a much loved but short-lived design […]