Epsom, High Street 1907

Photo ref: 58596

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His neighbours were a mixture of old and new residents. Some, like Trayton Peter Pagden and his brother Stephen, had come up from Sussex at the same time as Dorling; they ran a brewery in Church Street. Others were from long-established families. There was John Lewis Jacquet, the postmaster, who soldiered on at his work until he was 79, or Thomas Butcher, the auctioneer, who had cried the lots at the Spread Eagle; both were the sons of men who had been on the vestry 50 years before. But, old or new, all were agreed that Epsom had to change. The old church, which went back in parts to the 12th century, was swept away in 1824. A committee of townspeople planned the new St Martin's - a simple, elegant building, with clear windows that lit an uncluttered space. It was designed to hold 1,120 people, out of a total population of 2,900. Of the rest, some worshipped at the dissenting chapel, which had been rebuilt after falling derelict at the turn of the century. It then became a Congregational chapel, and today (after more rebuilding) is the United Reformed Church.