View source for Beddington

==History==
{{see also|Wallington, London}}
The village lay in [[Wallington (hundred)|Wallington]] [[hundred (county subdivision)|hundred]] and until the 19th century was in secular and ecclesiastical terms a large [[parish]] in its own right. [[Wallington, London|Wallington]] was for centuries a [[Manorialism|manor]] in Beddington parish and although known as a shorthand for the area stretching from Cheam to Addington and from Chaldon to Mitcham (inclusive).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43046 |title=The hundred of Wallington: Introduction and map |editor=H.E. Malden  |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1912 |work=A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4 |access-date=26 January 2014 }}</ref> Wallington superseded Beddington's former area almost completely in the early 20th century.

The settlement appears in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 as ''Beddinton(e)'' held partly by Robert de Watevile from Richard de Tonebrige and by Miles Crispin. Its ''Domesday'' Assets were: 6 [[hide (unit)|hide]]s; 1 church, 14 [[plough]]s, 4 [[gristmill|mill]]s worth £3 15s 0d, {{convert|44|acre|km2}} of [[meadow]], [[woodland]] worth 10 [[hog (swine)|hog]]s per year. It rendered: £19 10s 0d per year to its [[feudal system]] overlords.<ref>[http://www.gwp.enta.net/surrnames.htm Surrey ''Domesday Book''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030192829/http://www.gwp.enta.net/surrnames.htm |date=30 October 2007 }}</ref>  In 1901 it consisted of {{convert|3127.5|acre|km2}}, of which 1,439 acres were arable land, 614 permanent grass and 45 woods.  As this was before the expansion of Wallington, it extends on the south over the chalk downs at [[Roundshaw]] and northwards on to the London Clay. Lavender and medicinal herbs were grown commercially in the parish. The population in 1901 was 4,812.  The parish was bounded on the north by Mitcham Common, and the three parishes of Croydon, Beddington and Mitcham met on the railway line by Beddington Lane station.<ref name=m>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43048 |title=Parishes: Beddington |editor=H.E. Malden  |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1912 |work=A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4 |access-date=26 January 2014 }}</ref>

The 1911 [[Victoria County History]] documents Beddington in the period of its shrinkage.

{{blockquote|Wallington is now more urban than Beddington; the hamlet in 1901 had a population of 5,152 on an area of 312 acres. In prehistoric times it also appears to have been the more important place, since it gave its name to the hundred. It is possible that the Roman remains mentioned above may be a relic of a formerly important place, and that its name may preserve the memory of the Wealas, the [[Roman Britain|Romanized Britons]], whom the Suthrige found here when Britain was [mostly] becoming England. In historical records, however, Wallington is not a place of importance. There was a chapel, but there is no record of a parish church. In Bishop Willis's visitation of 1725 the chapel is described as partly used for a barn, no service having taken place [in memory]. It was ruinous later in the century and was pulled down in 1797. There were extensive [[common land|common fields]], as was usual in the parishes on the north side of the chalk range. They were [[enclosure|inclosed]] under an Act of 1812. In 1835 a system of allotments was established, which seems to have flourished for a time. A few old houses remain at Wallington Corner, but none of these appear to date from earlier than the beginning of the 19th century.<ref name=m/>}}

A parish hall was built at Wallington in 1888, following its church and parish being set up in 1867 (in Beddington at the time). Holy Trinity Church school was built in 1896; the High School for girls was built in 1895 and enlarged in 1905.  Thus it came about that Wallington took up most of the land of Beddington.<ref name=m/>

A [[static inverter plant]] of [[HVDC Kingsnorth]] stood here in the late 20th century.