July 2022
Local historian Julian McCarthy has written us a brief history of Jubilee Square. Jullian's passion is searching for obscure, forgotten historical nuggets of Kingston that he believes are waiting to be found, buried in the pages of old books, maps and photos. A Chartered Design Engineer and a Building Services Consultant, he is also the author of three books about Kingston upon Thames. The article begins.. JUBILEE SQUARE - 135 YEARS OF COMMUNITY SPIRIT Early beginnings - farmland Before this area was mapped in 1768, little is known about the land that now holds Jubilee Square. Earlier maps suggest that farmland lay to the east and west. The farmland to the east was known as ‘Blacden Farm’ and would later become ‘Black Dene Farm’, followed by ‘Blagdon Farm’- providing the nearby Blagdon Road with its name. The land that we know today as the junction between Kingston Road and the High Street was also made up of enclosed farmland and land known as ‘Norbeton Common’. Plucky little Malden By 1871, Blagdon Farm and its estate totalled 224 acres - an area equivalent to 150 football pitches, which covered all of the land from Blagdon Road to the Kingston Bypass, stretching back to the railway line from West Barnes to Motspur Park. When Richmond Vestry (later Richmond Council) tried to buy the farm to use to dispose of their sewage, a public enquiry was made, and the scheme was rejected. Having fought off a nearby giant, the Village earned the name “Plucky little Malden”
Comments