page_title: Chertsey
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Chertsey / Geography
context_page_description: Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately 29 km southwest of central London. The town grew up around Chertsey Abbey, founded in 666 AD, and was awarded a market charter by Henry I. A bridge across the River Thames was first constructed in the early 15th century. The River Bourne runs through the town to meet the Thames at Weybridge.
  The Anglican church has a medieval tower and chancel roof. The 18th-century listed buildings include the current stone Chertsey Bridge and Botleys Mansion. A curfew bell, rung at 8 p.m. on weekdays from Michaelmas to Lady Day, is associated with the romantic local legend of Blanche Heriot, celebrated by a statue of the heroine and the bell at Chertsey Bridge. The green spaces include the Thames Path National Trail, Chertsey Meads and a round knoll with remains of a prehistoric hill fort known as Eldebury Hill. Pyrcroft House dates from the 18th century and Tara from the late 20th.
  Train services from Chertsey railway station to and from London Waterloo are operated by South Western Railway. The town is within the M25, which is accessible via junction 11.
context_section_description: Chertsey is part of the London commuter belt in the outermost part of the Greater London Urban Area and is served by Chertsey railway station and separated from all adjoining settlements by the buffer of designated areas of Green Belt. Measuring from centre to centre, Chertsey is 29 kilometres (18 mi) from London, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) from Addlestone, and 17.6 kilometres (10.9 mi) from the county town, Guildford. The traditional, yet commercially important town centre is a conservation area, joined by an arcade to a medium-sized supermarket and car park to the south.
  The character of this central area is that of a traditional small town, with relatively narrow building frontages set hard up against the pavement, so that they clearly define the public space. The centre of the town is richly endowed with listed buildings most of which date from the 16th and 17th Centuries. In addition to the more than 56 numbered houses/shops (42 buildings) nationally listed buildings, nine other buildings in the conservation area are locally listed. A further 11 buildings outside the centre are also nationally listed.
caption: Simple road and watercourse map of the urban and suburban majority of Chertsey, which continues on postal, ecclesiastical parochial and ward definitions to the north and to the south-west.
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