page_title: Kingston upon Thames
section_title: Urban development
hierarchical_section_title: Kingston upon Thames / History / Urban development
caption_attribution_description: English: Clattern Bridge across the Hogsmill River, Kingston on Thames
context_page_description: Kingston upon Thames is a town, former manor, ecclesiastical parish and borough now within Greater London, England, formerly within the county of Surrey. It is situated on the River Thames, about 33 feet above sea level and 10 miles southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as the ancient market town in which Saxon kings were crowned and today is the administrative centre of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.
  The large historic parish of Kingston became absorbed in modern times into the Municipal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames, reformed in 1835 and from 1893 has been the location of Surrey County Hall, extraterritorially in terms of local government administration. Since 1965 Kingston has been a part of Greater London.
  Today, most of the town centre is part of the KT1 postcode area, but some areas north of Kingston railway station are within KT2. The United Kingdom Census 2011 recorded the population of the town as 43,013, while the borough overall counted 175,470. Kingston is identified as a metropolitan centre in the London Plan and is today a major retail centre, one of the biggest in the UK, receiving 18 million visitors a year.
context_section_description: Kingston was built at the first crossing point of the Thames upstream from London Bridge and a bridge still exists at the same site. It was this 'great bridge' that gave it its early importance in the 13th century. Kingston was occupied by the Romans, and later it was either a royal residence or a royal demesne. There is a record of a council held there in 838, at which Egbert of Wessex, King of Wessex, and his son Ethelwulf of Wessex were present. In the Domesday Book it was held by William the Conqueror. Its domesday assets were: a church, five mills, four fisheries worth 10s, 27 ploughs, 40 acres (16 ha) of meadow, woodland worth six hogs. It rendered £31 10s (£31.5).
  In 1730, the chapel containing the royal effigies collapsed, burying the sexton, who was digging a grave, the sexton's daughter and another person. The daughter survived this accident and was her father's successor as sexton. Kingston sent members to early Parliaments, until a petition by the inhabitants prayed to be relieved from the burden. Another chapel, the collegiate chapel of St Mary Magdalene, The Lovekyn Chapel, still exists. It was founded in 1309 by a former mayor of London, Edward Lovekyn. It is the only private chantry chapel to survive the Reformation.
  With the coming of the railway in the 1830s, there was much building development to the south of the town. Much of this became the new town of Surbiton, but the Surbiton Park estate, built in the grounds of Surbiton Place in the 1850s, remained part of Kingston during the period of the Municipal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames.
  A permanent military presence was established in the borough with the completion of The Barracks in 1875.
caption: The Hogsmill flowing under Clattern Bridge in Kingston. The bridge is mentioned in 1293 as "Clateryngbrugge"[13]
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