Royal borough in London, England
The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is a borough in southwest London. The main town is Kingston upon Thames and it includes Chessington, Malden Rushett, New Malden, Surbiton and Tolworth. It is the oldest of the four royal boroughs in England. The others are Windsor and Maidenhead, the site of Windsor Castle, and the London boroughs of Greenwich, and Kensington and Chelsea. The local authority is Kingston upon Thames London Borough Council.
The neighbouring districts (clockwise from north) are the London boroughs of Richmond upon Thames, Wandsworth, Merton and Sutton, and the Surrey districts of Epsom and Ewell, Mole Valley and Elmbridge.
History.
Kingston upon Thames, on the south bank of the River Thames has existed for many hundreds of years. Many Roman relics have been found in the surrounding areas. A church has stood on the site of All Saints' Church, in the centre of Kingston, for more than a thousand years. An earlier church was sacked by the Vikings in 1009 AD. Kingston was the site of the coronations of seven Anglo-Saxon monarchs:
The Coronation Stone, on which they are said to have been crowned stands outside the local council offices, the Guildhall. A coin from the reign of each of those kings is set into the base of the stone.
Administrative history.
The town of Kingston upon Thames was an ancient borough, having been formally incorporated in 1441, with a long history prior to that as a royal manor dating back to Saxon times. The borough was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1836 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country. Kingston was often described as a royal borough, with its right to that title being formally confirmed in 1927.
The old borough did not cover the whole parish of Kingston upon Thames, and separate local government arrangements were later put in place for the outlying parts of the parish. Surbiton was made an improvement commissioners district in 1855, and New Malden was made a local government district in 1866.
Such districts were reconstituted as urban districts under the Local Government Act 1894. New Malden was enlarged in 1895 to take in the neighbouring parishes of Coombe and Malden, at which point the urban district was renamed The Maldens and Coombe. Surbiton was also enlarged in 1895, absorbing the parishes of Hook and Tolworth, and again in 1933 when it absorbed Chessington. Both urban districts were incorporated to become municipal boroughs in 1936, at which point The Maldens and Coombe was renamed Malden and Coombe.
The modern borough was created in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963, covering the combined area of the former municipal boroughs of Kingston-upon-Thames, Malden and Coombe and Surbiton. The area was transferred from Surrey to Greater London to become one of the 32 London Boroughs. Kingston's royal borough status transferred to the enlarged borough.
Most of the borough continued to have Surrey postal addresses until postal counties were abolished in 1996. Districts mainly use the KT postcode, except from the parts of Ham in the borough which use the TW code, and the Kingston Vale area in the north-east which has an SW15 postcode.
Districts in the borough.
Areas in the borough include:
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Governance.
The local authority is Kingston Council, which is based at Kingston upon Thames Guildhall.
Greater London representation.
Since 2000, for elections to the London Assembly, the borough forms part of the South West constituency.
UK Parliament.
The borough includes the whole of the Kingston and Surbiton Parliamentary Constituency and part of the Richmond Park Constituency with both constituencies being created in 1997. The previous constituencies re-arranged to form these two had been essentially Conservative.
In 1997 the Liberal Democrats won both seats. Jenny Tonge took Richmond Park constituency and in 2005 Susan Kramer became its Liberal Democrat MP with a majority of 3,731 but she was beaten in the May 2010 election by Conservative Zac Goldsmith with a majority of 4,091. Goldsmith retained his seat at the 2015 general election, with a greatly increased majority of 23,015. Goldsmith stood as an Independent candidate in the by-election held on 1 December 2016, but was defeated by Sarah Olney, a Liberal Democrat, after the Conservative Party decided not to put forward its own candidate. Goldsmith regained the seat for the Conservatives in the 2017 general election with a significantly reduced majority of 45 votes. Sarah Olney then regained the seat during the 2019 general election.
In 1997 Ed Davey overturned the previous Conservative majority of more than 10,000 in Kingston and Surbiton, to win by 56 votes after three recounts. He retained the seat in 2001 with a majority of 15,676 over the Conservative candidate David Shaw. In 2005 Davey's majority was 8,961, and in the May 2010 general election he again retained the seat with a slightly reduced majority, beating the Conservative candidate Helen Whately. In the 2015 general election, Davey's seat was taken by Conservative James Berry with a majority of 2,834. Davey's was one of six Liberal Democrat losses in London and 49 overall as the party suffered its worst election results since its formation in 1988. Davey regained the seat in the 2017 general election.
Demography.
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Ethnicity.
The following table shows the ethnic group of respondents in the 2001 and 2011 census in Kingston upon Thames.
Modern Kingston.
Kingston benefits from one of the biggest and most visited shopping areas outside of central London, with a varied selection of high street stores, and a large number of independent boutiques and retailers.
The most famous shop in Kingston is Bentalls, started by Frank Bentall in 1867 in Clarence Street, where it (or at least the completely rebuilt Bentall Centre) stands.
Close to Kingston, and located between Kingston, Richmond and Roehampton, is Richmond Park, one of the oldest of London's royal parks.
The borough is home to the highest number of South Koreans in Europe, in the town of New Malden.
Tourism in Kingston.
Kingston has many attractions in and near it, ranging from nature and historical attractions to theme parks.
Some of the borough's attractions are:
Economy.
Kingston is the 3rd largest retail centre by employment, in London.
Sega Amusements International, responsible for the production of arcade games outside Japan, has its head office in Chessington, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. Lidl relocated its UK Headquarters to Kingston in 2020.
Industry.
Sopwith Aviation Company had a factory in the Canbury Park area of Kingston, where the famous Sopwith Camel was produced during World War I. The Hawker Hurricane was designed in a site in Kingston town centre and built in the aviation factory near Ham now known as the Hawker Centre.
Education.
Primary responsibility for education in the borough lies with the local education authority.
Free schools:
Academy schools:
Grammar schools:
Independent Schools
Transport.
Kingston has nine South Western Railway stations and two centrally located bus stations, but no London Underground or other Transport for London stations. In 2008, 64 bus routes served Kingston.
Railway.
Coaching interests in Kingston opposed the plan of the London and Southampton Railway to run its line to Southampton near Kingston. The line consequently avoided the town with a station opened in 1838 southwest of the town; it was later resited to the present site of Surbiton station.
In 1863 a branch was built from Twickenham to a terminus in Kingston. That line was extended to the main line in 1869 to form the Kingston Loop Line.
All rail services in the borough are operated by South Western Railway, who provide regular services to and from London Waterloo.
Railway stations in the borough:
Travel to work.
In March 2011, the main forms of transport that residents used to travel to work were: driving a car or van, 26.1% of all residents aged 16–74; train, 7.1%; bus, minibus or coach, 7.1%; on foot, 6.9%; work mainly at or from home, 4.3%; bicycle, 2.8%; underground, metro, light rail, tram, 2.5%.
Coat of arms.
The Kingston coat of arms displays three salmon and its shield is almost identical to the coat of arms of the Swedish municipality of Laholm. Both coats of arms can be traced back to the 16th century. The arms of the Norwegian town of Mandal is also similar, but more recent.
In 1966 the newly created London Borough added a set crests and supporters taken from the localities merged into it. The crest came from the Municipal Borough of Malden and Coombe, with that borough's arms hung from the neck of the stag, and the supporters taken from Municipal Borough of Surbiton, with again its arms hanging from the stags' necks.
International links.
Although not officially 'twinned', The Royal Borough of Kingston has a partner city of Oldenburg in Germany and Gwanak-gu, an administrative subdivision of Seoul, in South Korea. Some road signs announce that Kingston is linked with Delft in the Netherlands but this official link has ended.
Sport and leisure.
The Borough of Kingston upon Thames has several football clubs in its area:
Other sports:
References.
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