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Coordinates: 51°19'16?N 0°08'19?W? / ?51.3211, -0.1386
Coulsdon is a town in the London Borough of Croydon on the Brighton Road (A23). The received pronunciation is "Cools-don" (IPA: /'ku?lzd?n/).
Part of Coulsdon is the estate marked on maps as Clockhouse but always referred to locally as The Mount after its central road. Administratively The Mount is part of the London Borough of Sutton but to reach the rest of Sutton from The Mount by road one must leave the borough.
The village lay within the Anglo-Saxon administrative division of Wallington hundred.
Couldson appears in Domesday Book as Colesdone. It was held by Chertsey Abbey. Its domesday assets were: 3½ hides; 1 church, 7 ploughs, woodland worth 3 hogs. It rendered £7.[1]
Unlike Purley, Coulsdon has managed to retain a good mix of traditional high street shops. It also has a large number of restaurants for its size.
Since 2005 there has been a large empty space in the middle of Coulsdon following the demolition of the Red Lion public house. Current (Nov 2007) plans for the site are for an Aldi supermarket. There is also a scheme to replace the Pinewood garage site near Smitham station with a branch of Sainsbury's. Controversy surrounds both projects, mainly because of the large - six storey - scale of these developments and doubts about the need for yet more supermarkets in the area. (There is a Waitrose across the way from the planned site for the Sainsbury's. Recently the Coulsdon branch of Co-op shut down, due presumably to lack of business. Planning consent is being sought to turn it into a pub. One of the largest Tescos in the country is at Purley Cross, a mere mile or so away from the centre of Coulsdon.)
A relief road called Farthing Way, (as part of The Coulsdon Town Centre Improvement Scheme) opened on 2006 December 18 and has rid the town centre of the large volume of through traffic. The redevelopment of the Red Lion site and the completion of the road are likely to transform the centre of Coulsdon.
Prominent in the middle of Coulsdon is the head office of the world-famous Jane's Information Group. Places of worship in Coulsdon include a Coptic Orthodox Church, an Anglican Parish Church and a Messianic Synagogue.
Around Coulsdon are attractive and important open spaces, largely chalk downland - the beginning of the North Downs. Farthing Downs and Happy Valley are managed by the City of London Corporation and are popular with walkers. The London LOOP footpath around London passes through on the route between Hamsey Green and Banstead. The Coulsdon section was the first of the 24 to be opened.
[edit] Sports
Home of Purley John Fisher Rugby Football Club www.pjfrfc.co.uk
[edit] Schools
- Chipstead Valley Primary School
- Smitham Primary School
- St. Aidan's Primary School
- Woodcote Junior School
- Woodcote Infant and Nursery School
- Coulsdon High School
- Woodcote High School
[edit] Nearest places
[edit] Nearby stations
The railway stations in the Coulsdon area are:
There was previously a station at Coulsdon North, adjacent to Smitham station.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
(Source: Wikipedia) |