Tag: local history

Cheam Village Used To Be A Sleepy Village!

UK: WHEN EAST CHEAM WAS NOT A PLACE OF FICTION! (14.9.2026)

Each house possessed an ample front and back garden, with a covered garage to park the family conveyance – usually on the property or nearby. As there was ample space – these houses were large and roomy. Sutton was only forced to build rental properties for workers post-1945 – although people like Thomas Wall, did use his own money to build workers’ cottages for his employees – but these were few and far between. Today, such cottages are worth millions on the free market and are highly sought after (ironically). The British comedian – Tony Hancock (1924-1968) – was famous for a fictional character he created whose back-story had him living in “East Cheam” – but East Cheam has not be used for probably hundreds of years – despite the odd campaign here and there. In 2022, Sutton Council renamed the “Electoral Ward” where we live into “West Sutton and East Cheam” – thus bringing the designation back to life. Tony Hancock must have really researched this area very well to come-up with this obscure name – making it famous

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TS Hermes - Tiverton Sea Cadets

Tiverton: WWI Naval Gun [Lime Kiln Road] – Playing in the 1970s Was Very Different! (5.7.2025)

I was born in Oxford – but my parents moved to Tiverton (in East Devon) in 1970. I started school (Wilcombe) in 1972 (when 5-years old) – but changed to a school in Exeter in 1977. However, I have a memory of joining (after school) a group of classmates who “played” on a WWI Naval Gun situated on a public street (situated in Lime Kiln Road)! I have lived in Sutton (South-West Greater London) for over three-decades today – but recently – whilst picking-up my children from school in Cheam, I saw youths dressed in the uniforms of what is today termed the “Combined Cadet Force”, and the thought of myself once playing on a military gun (around 1977) bubbled-up in my mind (although publicly accessible – the gun in question was placed outside the Tiverton Sea Cadets Training Hall). In fact, after having experienced many interest things in my life (including four wonderful years based in Hereford during the 1980s), and having travelled around the world, I surprised myself with this memory and was not even sure it was real!

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Sutton: Visiting the Carshalton Water Tower! (24.9.2023)

As immense wealth was generated through the labour of the exploited masses (which involved the development of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade) a privileged middle-class developed – particularly after the English Civil Wars of the 1640s. This development saw the successful transference of the control of the ‘means of production’ (and political power) from the Aristocracy (the upper-class) to the Bourgeoisie (the middle-class) and with it the unleashing of tremendous creative force (a process magnified enormously by the ‘discovery’ of the Americas and the effective stealing of immense tracts of ‘free’ land and other resources)! Of course, the spread of British power and influence throughout other countries of the world – including Africa and Asia – opened all kinds of diverse markets which spread commodities to the four corners of the earth!

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