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Woodmansterne
Woodmansterne photos
Displaying the first of 19 old photos of Woodmansterne. View all Woodmansterne photos
Woodmansterne maps
Historic maps of Woodmansterne and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Woodmansterne maps
Woodmansterne area books
Displaying 1 of 16 books about Woodmansterne and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Woodmansterne
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Woodmansterne.
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The Kent Family
My great grandparents lived in Carlshalton Road, Woodmansterne and bought up their family, including my Nanna, Dorothy, there. Their surname was Kent and they lived in the middle cottage of a terrace of 3.
My Aunt Mary (who is now in her eighties) has very fond memories of visiting them there before and during the Second World War and recalls days spent exploring the woods and fields around Woodmansterne with a friend who lived on a nearby farm, and of watching her grandad ploughing the fields.
I would love to hear more about what the village was like then and to hear if anyone has any memories of my family.
Village Life
As a child I lived in neighbouring Coulsdon, and Woodmansterne was a favourite cycle ride. Armed with jam sandwiches and bottle of pop, my sister and I would ride down Hatch Lane (even though you weren't supposed to), feeding the horses in the adjoining field. Then go on to Woodmansterne's park where there were playground equipment, and a huge fallen hollow tree. There was a shop in the village that opened on a Sunday (rare in those days) where you could buy ice creams.
Sometimes on summer evenings our dad would walk with us to the Woodman and we'd have lemonade and crisps in the beer garden. There was an annual fete held in the field behind the sports hut (near the pub) and I once won a tray of fruit. Despite promising to take it home to mum, I managed to eat it all on the way!
I live in Australia now, but it's still a pleasant walk around Woodmansterne on my rare visits back to Coulsdon.
Surrey memories
Hairdressers Banstead High Street 1969-1973
I worked as a Saturday girl at the hairdressers opposite the church in Banstead High Street when I was 15 in 1969. It was called Nicolette then and I worked for Margaret and her mother Mrs Anscombe. Margaret was a lovely boss, she taught me many things. The salon seemed huge to me in those days, but on a recent visit I was surprised at how tiny it is now. When I worked there we had seperate booths and front was basins. The curtain was pulled across once the customer was seated within. I recall one client who worked at the church would request a foot stool while under the dryer and would read her bible while waiting for her hair to dry. Miss Deacon (Deaky) was her stylist. The salon also had a barbers attached and Ian and Trevor were the two barbers. Famous clients were Peter Osgood and Peter Bonetti - both footballers playing for Chelsea at the time. My school friends were really jealous of me over... Read more
Opposite The School
Does anyone else remember the chain railings and posts, painted black and white around the green in front of these shops? I used to jump over them as a small child. They enclosed all the grass area.
Bassett House
The large oblong building on the left was Bassett House of which the ground floor was Waitrose. The Bassett Family lived at Hunters Lodge, Banstead and the three children grew up to represent England. Sheena in running and swimming marathons and Pippa and Karen won bronze medals for the British team in the horse four in hand World Driving trials They are both short listed for this years team [2006] and Karen is the leading lady driver in GB and the World.
Moving of The War Memorial
Note in this photo that the war memorial has been moved back and the wall lowered. Flats have been built on the Banstead house site. You could always see the green houses over the high wall from the top of the 164a bus. The corner shop, which I think used to be a bakery (top left) has gone and the road widened. The bus always used to mount the curb on this corner when turning towards the downs and Greenacre school roundabout.
Banstead War Memorial in Its Original Position
This card shows the Banstead War Memorial before it was moved to its current positition in the 1990s.
Sutton Lane was very narrow in earlier times and conductors used to have to get off the bus to check that there was not another one coming the other way. Often the buses had a hard time coming up the hill from Sutton and an old watering can was kept by the Woolpack to enable the driver to top up the radiator.
If you would like to know more about the history of Banstead, check out the Banstead History Research Group website. You will also find an ongoing project to research the history of the memorial and the stories of the men listed on it.
I would particularly like to find any information about the rededication of the memorial after WWll. Please contact me via this site or the Webmaster link on the BHRG web site.
Thank you.
Jan 2010 update - nearly three... Read more
