A brief history of Chipstead
This section provides information about the history of the village of Chipstead.
Chipstead is a parish on the North Downs, bounded by Babylon Lane in the south to Hollymead Road in the north, and from the Brighton railway at Hooley in the east to the southern edge of Banstead Wood in the west.
Herdsmen were drawn to the ponds in the area, where a settlement was formed as early as the 7th century.
Its name is variously spelt Tepestede, Chepestede, and Schipsted in historical record and is likely to have derived from the old English word ceapstede, meaning the market place.
The people of Banstead and Coulsdon may well have met at a market there.
Origins
The number of ponds in the area would also have made it an attractive spot for herdsmen and therein lies the start of a settlement, which was first noted in record in the 7th and 8th century.
The Domesday book notes that the principal Manor of Chipstead was held by Richard of Tonbridge. He was never resident, and for centuries various Lords of the Manor eschewed the chance to live there.
Railway
In the 17th and 18th centuries the Manor was held by Lords of Upper Gatton and then by the Lords of Merstham.
The village remained an isolated rural parish until the late nineteenth century, when the opening of Tattenham Corner railway station led to a period of development.
A number of mansions were built for successful City businessmen and the seeds were planted for the Chipstead which exists today.
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