page_title: Banstead
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Banstead / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Banstead in 1841 from Lambert, H.C.M. 1912 History of Banstead in Surrey; the book provides annotations for some of the place names, many of which have given rise to modern street names. Two scans had to be stitched together, and the original was not quite flat, so there is slight distortion.
context_page_description: Banstead is a town bordering Greater London in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It is 2.5 miles south of Sutton, 5 miles south-west of Croydon, 7.5 miles south-east of Kingston-upon-Thames, and 13.3 miles south of Central London.
  On the North Downs, it is on three of the four main compass points separated from other settlements by open area buffers with Metropolitan Green Belt status. Echoing its much larger historic area and spread between newer developments, Banstead Downs is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
  One of its wards is "Banstead Village". The civil parish was abolished when Banstead Urban District was created. Both included many outlying parts as well as the main settlement. Contiguous Nork, which contains Banstead station shares in many amenities of Banstead and is included in county-level population analyses of Banstead but not the central governmental drawn Banstead Built-up Area, which takes in Burgh Heath, and has a total population of 10,653 as at the 2011 census.
context_section_description: The earliest recorded mention of Banstead was in an Anglo-Saxon charter of AD 967, in the reign of King Edgar.
  The settlement appears in the Domesday Book (1086) as Benestede. The first element is probably the Anglo Saxon word bene, meaning bean, and the second element stede refers to an inhabited place without town status (cf farmstead).
  Banstead's non-ecclesiastical land and 50 households were held by Richard as tenant-in-chief, under the Bishop of Bayeux. Its assets were: 9½ hides, 1 church, 1 mill worth £1, 17 ploughs, woodland worth 20 hogs. It rendered (in total): £8 per year.
  The Manor had two ploughs, and there were 28 villeins and 15 cottars (people with a small cottage but no land) with 15 ploughs.
  This was a farming area that later became well known for its high quality wool. The manor was owned by increasingly wealthy gentry, then by the church, before it fell into the hands of the Crown in the 13th century; Edward I visited more than once. Henry VIII made Banstead part of Catherine of Aragon's dowry, but took it away again and gave it to a court favourite, Sir Nicholas Carew. Carew was later beheaded for treason, but the manor, once covering most of the village but mostly sold piecemeal, stayed in his family until the 18th century.
  Banstead Downs, which for many centuries meant all the open land stretching from Epsom to Croydon and Reigate, became well known for horse racing in the 17th century. On 20 November 1683, King Charles II and the Duke of York attended a race meeting near the core of the village. The town also gained a reputation as a health resort during that era, becoming famous for its "wholesome air", and London physicians recommended a visit to Banstead to their ailing patients.
  Banstead's population remained low until the late 19th century when the improved roads and the building of the railways led to gradual growth, which continued with low density social housing and post-Blitz rehousing projects in the mid 20th century. Banstead's housing stock is generally low density and set in overwhelmingly green surroundings; there are a few listed buildings of some historical and architectural interest Banstead was a spring line settlement's whose main source of water was The Old Well until the arrival of pumped water. The 18th century wellhead cover which still houses the elaborate winding gear is a listed building.
  In 1930, the ecclesiastical parish of Nork was formed, taking in part of Epsom as far as Wallace Fields and Higher Green in the west of the parish, loosely termed Epsom Downs.
caption: Banstead in 1841, based on a tithe map.[7] Many modern street names derive from those of features named here.
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