Ashtead
Ashtead maps (2 available)
Map of Surrey
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Ashtead books (21 available)
- 6 photos on Ashtead appear in 4 Frith books - View photos of Ashtead
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Ashtead and Surrey
Ashtead memories
Read and share memories of Ashtead and Surrey inspired by Frith photos
Mac May
I lived in a cottage by the pond some 20 odd years ago. My neighbour, well into her 90's was Mac May (a version of her true name garbled by other neighbours' kids) who, every day, was out in her wellies digging in the garden. We had this photo &, knowing Mac May had lived in the cottage all her life, asked if she knew the children.
She did & remembered the photo being taken.
The boy & the girl in the middle are Mac May's elder brother & sister; the little girl is Mac May & her brother has just thrown the milk jug at her.
(small white object in middle foreground)
Ashtead resident finds herself in 1925 Caterham bus photo
The above photo is the pond which is close to Dorothy Connor's current home in Glebe Road, Ashtead. This area has not changed so very much since the time the Frith photo was taken in 1904.
Interestingly, Dorothy Connor (nee Step) is actually pictured in the Caterham Frith photo ref 78135V accompanied by her late Mother Elizabeth Step (aged 46) and her Sister, Florence Step (aged 21) having alighted from the 159a Bus which brought them from their home in Clerkenwell, London, pictured Outside the Old Surrey Hounds Public House, Croydon Road, Caterham Surrey on a Day Out to Caterham in 1925. They were on their way to the Barracks Hospital to see Dorothy's, Uncle Charlie (her Father's Brother) ...read more here
Contributed by Elisabeth Connor
Breakfast at Ashtead
Having breakfast and the sight of a fishing pond with a woman I once loved.
Contributed by Phelim Gollogly
Surrey memories
Mac May
I lived in a cottage by the pond some 20 odd years ago. My neighbour, well into her 90's was Mac May (a version of her true name garbled by other neighbours' kids) who, every day, was out in her wellies digging in the garden. We had this photo &, knowing Mac May had lived in the cottage all her life, asked if she knew the children.
She did & remembered the photo being taken.
The boy & the girl in the middle are Mac May's elder brother & sister; the little girl is Mac May & her brother has just thrown the milk jug at her.
(small white object in middle foreground)
Extracts From Ashtead & Surrey books
In 1882, the wealthy lord of the manor and the father of the incumbent Rector of Ashtead, Sir Thomas Lucas, donated a small iron church for the expanding population in this part of the parish. In 1899 a fund was launched for the building of a permanent building on the site, and within six years, the iron church was moved on rollers to the opposite side of the road and the construction of this building was begun. The church was consecrated on 21 April 1906.
An extract from from"Surrey Revisited Photographic Memories".
Ashtead stands beside
the Rye, a tributary of
the Mole, and judging
by the signs for the tea
gardens and a ‘cyclist`s
rest’, passing trade on
the Leatherhead to
Epsom road was much
sought-after. The Ashtead
Pottery, set up to provide
employment for disabled
ex-servicemen, was in
business here from 1923 to
1935. It produced a range
of characteristic wares that
are now very collectable.
An extract from from"Villages of Surrey Photographic Memories".
Samuel Pepys knew Ashtead as a boy, and in later years called it ‘my old place of delight’. Certainly this view suggests delight - with swimmers poised on the diving boards amid the tree-fringed beauty of Ashstead’s outdoor pool.
An extract from from"Surrey Photographic Memories".
This building on Ashtead Common, owned by Frederick Felton, served as the village bakery around the turn of the century, but also formed a focus for the hordes of London day and Sunday school children who came to play and picnic on the Common. Adjacent to it was a children's playground with swings, a helter skelter, coconut shies, a roundabout, a sweet stall and a toyshop. The owners claimed to be able to seat two and a half thousand people in the marquees and refreshment rooms.
An extract from from"Surrey Revisited Photographic Memories".
Epsom is famous for two things:
Epsom Salts, and the two great classic
flat races run on the Downs south of
the town, the Derby and the Oaks,
both inaugurated in the late 18th
century. The salts gave the town its
first fame in the 17th century as a
noted spa town, but the May race
meeting still remains immensely
popular and draws huge crowds.
This view shows the bookies doing a
roaring trade. Note the William Hill
hoarding: this is still a major firm of
turf accountants today.
An extract from from"Surrey Living Memories".