Crime
Through the ages, Reigate had seen it’s fair share of crime. Gallows were
set up on Reigate Heath and showed grisly spectacles to travellers. The Parish
register on 23rd March 1700, recorded Humphrey Hannael and three others hanged
for burglary. Victims were often burnt. In Reigate 1697, a single woman looked
after a house for a man named Richard Rhodes. He found her pregnant, killed
her and fled to Ireland after burying her in the garden. Papers described the
man and a man at an Irish Inn recognised Rhodes and he was then arrested, hung
on a tree in Reigate and the body then taken to Redhill Common. His body was
later buried on the common and the story goes that a man dug up some bones and
it was established that these most probably belonged to Rodes. Bodies were often
buried here during the 16th and 17th centuries. This area was a proposed site
for a Military Prison in 1862.
Around 1728, a local highwayman
nicknamed ‘Roly Poly’ killed a farmer on Cockshot Hill in Reigate.
Witches were arrested and brought to trial throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, although no death penalties have been recorded.
Reigate held a prison in the market place and a new prison was set up in an
area called Mint Yard in 1811, The Cage Pub in the Safeway’s complex is
named after the single celled prison.
Kevin Keegan,
the curly haired footballer was attacked and hit over the head when sleeping
in his car in a layby on Reigate Hill. I don't know if he ever came back.
Crimewatch featured stories of a man found murdered in Merstham quarry and the
body of a businessman found in a boot of a car near Redhill station.
A long time ago,
a body was found in Reigate Priory Lake, one of our visitors sent this in: The
torso was found in a black bin bag, by a woman walking her doggie. Can’t
remember the date you could ask the surrey mirror people they may have an archive
apparently the bloke had been drinking in the St Helier arms and gangsters chopped
him up. The pub has since been demolished (said bloke at work) AB
The Merstham Railway Tunnel Mystery near Redhill
Highways
Roads in the area were widened to make way for the new forms and volumes of
traffic and many old houses, notably in West Street (see postcard below)
were demolished.
Tollgates existed near the Yew Tree Inn on Reigate Hill and at Woodhatch near the Angel pub for the upkeep of the roads.
Gas street lighting was first introduced in neighbouring Reigate in 1838 with Redhill following in 1865.
Sites of religious
worship in Reigate included the Priory, St Mary’s Church in Chart Lane,
standing most probably in pre-Conquest days, various chapels sprang up and a
Quakers Meeting House was founded in the 1600’s.
John Wesley visited Reigate and preached during 1770 to 1775. He noted that
his congregations always seemed apathetic and not surprisingly labelled them
“Dull as stones.” Not much change today!
The strict Baptist chapel in Station Road, Redhill opened it's doors on 21 July 1858 at a cost of £850. A building near the chapel has it's established date on the building of 1849.The Salvation Army Hall in Lower Bridge Road, Redhill was established in 1890. William Booth visited the town in 1905.
Near the Reading Arch railway bridge to the north of Redhill town center stood St Josephs Roman Catholic Church but was demolished in 1984 to make way for office developments.
St Mary’s
is said to be of ‘pre-Conquest’ days. The church went through many
changes and additions. Original stained glass was removed at various dates.
It has been documented that a nutter named Thomas Glynn in 1661, “forcibly
and unlawfully smashed and tore out the windows of the parish church.”
His punishment was a fine of 12d. As you come into the church just after the
glass doors, two pillars in front of the towers walls are dated 1180. The graveyard
holds bodies of victims of the plague, Chart Lane narrows around the church
as to not disturb the bodies that lie there. Blame them for cars that annoyingly
beep as they come round the corner when you are in a service.
In 1374, the bishop of Reigate Priory told parishioners under threat of excommunication
to attend mass always on Sundays and festivals as the townsfolk would often
spend the day after church services remaining in the pubs!
Shops
Many changes have
gone on in the area, although it now seems that Reigate is resistant to any
changes at all. Redhill has seen many facelifts with the high street being pedestrianised
in the 80’s with the addition of the Belfry shopping center.
Many old buildings and shops are long gone in Redhill such as the early sub-post
office and Kennetts shop at 25 Station Road, which in 1905 sold goods such as
Arms china and Frith’s picture postcards. As you walk out of the Belfry
down the steps, the shops opposite 47 Station Road used to be T. Padwick’s
the chemists established in 1849. The famous William E. Tanner’s Goldsmiths
and Watchmakers traded from number 54 in 1911, with its large clock telling
the time for everyone. The Cooke family, who also owned Wray Common Windmill
in the late 1880’s, owned a bakers shop here.
There is a building in the street near Nat West showing that it was established in 1849.
The first brewery
in Redhill, the Somers Arms Brewery, had its buildings on the west side of Linkfield
Lane, Redhill in the 1880’s. Billingsgate Market acquired the same building
in 1939 but traded for only two weeks until local fishmongers complained about
the competition and residents about the smell. The old brewery buildings were
demolished in 1972.
The Red Lion pub is an attractive ancient building inside and out with a very
low ceilings dating from the 16th century.
Roses Brewery
existed in Mill Lane, Redhill nearer the Hooley Lane side in the 19th century.
The oldest building in Redhill, The Old Cottage dating from the first half of
the 15th century stands in Mill Street and used to stand in ‘Reigate Foreign’,
the area name before Redhill existed. It is believed that a farming family originally
owned the house. The house was divided in two parts and occupied by railway
workers during the 19th century.
Redhill High Street has seen many redevelopments over the years, including the pedestrianisation of the High Street and the current town development scheme finished in 2004 with new street tree planting, resting areas and durable granite paving. The Wheatsheaf Hotel, then turned into an O’Neills pub, stands on the corner of Station Road and was built in 1900, Lloyd’s Bank on the left used to be a tollgate and a cottage in the 19th century. Nichols the drapers was one of the previous major shopping establishments in the town and stood on the corner of Station Road and the High Street opposite the Wheatsheaf Hotel. The Nichols building was built in 1900 and was run by Robert Nichol selling various goods such as clothes, house furnishings and china. He saw his beautiful building burn to the ground in 1901, the fire being so savage that it took the lives of employees and partially set the Wheatsheaf’s roof alight. The building was rebuilt to its original design and remains an impressive building in the town today.
The Surrey Mirror had its offices on the corner of Ladbroke Road in Redhill, now the offices have moved to Reigate and houses occupy the old site. Mr J. Hall Richardson founded the ‘Mid-Surrey Mirror’, first issued on July 26th, 1879. In 1964 the offices at Ladbroke Road burnt down but were later rebuilt, moving to Reigate in the early 1980’s.
Bell Street, Reigate
Knights clothes shop in Bell Street, Reigate established in 1883 is the longest standing business in its original position after taking over the Grapes Hotel. This 1894 picture below has The White Hart Hotel on the left, demolished in 1935.
Bell
Street, Reigate. Facing South with Knights on the far right
Nearby Gatton
once described as a “Rotten Borough” due to many of it's dodgy political dealings of the past, houses a large nineteenth
century mansion in Gatton Park, once owned by the Colman (mustards) family in
1888. The mansion was gutted by fire in 1923, the site is now a Boarding school.
Housewives favourite, Monty Don and his associates recently undertook
a project of unearthing a Victorian Japanese garden in the grounds in 1999. An extensive
and expensive project pursued whereby the fields were drained and historic sculptures,
planting schemes and innovative landscape designs that were believed to be designed by H E Milner in 1910, were discovered and restored.
The public can now view the gardens on certain days.
Japanese gardens at Gatton Park
oOo
Reigate and Redhill continues to evolve, in particularly Redhill with proposals of new leisure amenities and shops. As mentioned, Reigate doesn’t seem to like change and the community spirit between Reigate and Redhill is a large divide, but with Priory Park in Reigate, with its many events will continue to encourage old and new faces to gather and Redhill will maintain its industrial heritage and continue to develop.
For more Reigate history links please check our Reigate and Redhill links section for more historic goodies
