Addlestone, Surrey, England, United Kingdom

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Addlestone is a town in Surrey, England. It is located approximately 18.6 mi (29.9 km) south-west of London. The town is the administrative centre of the Borough of Runnymede, of which it is the largest settlement.

History The town is recorded as Attelsdene in 1241 and its name is probably derived from that of a Saxon landowner. Previously part of the parish of neighbouring Chertsey, it began to grow as significant settlement in its own right from the mid-18th century. The Civic Centre, which houses the offices of Runnymede Borough Council, Addlestone Police Station and the local library, opened in 2008.

Geography Addlestone is approximately 9.8 miles (15.8 km) north-east of Guildford and 18.6 mi (29.9 km) south-west of London.

Narrow green buffers separate the town with Weybridge, Chertsey and Ottershaw. There is no precisely defined southern boundary with New Haw.

Addlestone is home to the ancient Crouch Oak tree, under which it is said Queen Elizabeth I picnicked. It also marked the edge of Windsor Forest before it was largely cut down for fields and settlements.

Education There are two secondary schools in Addlestone: Jubilee High School, state-funded and St George's College, privately funded which relocated from Croydon to Woburn Park in 1884. All non-junior parts of the school occupy Woburn Park, Addlestone described above. There is also St Paul's CofE - a state school located next to Jubilee high sharing the same field next to the M25. Regular football matches are played on this field by the local football team, Hythe Hornets

A range of primary and infant schools are in Addlestone which include St Paul's C of E Primary School, Ongar Place, Sayes Court, The Holy Family Catholic Primary School and Darley Dene Infant school. A few nurseries also serve the wider-area community.

The George Inn Heading north from the town, towards the Addlestonemoor five-way, two-lane roundabout is a Grade II listed building at the renaming Brighton Road to Chertsey Road, the George Inn, This Inn is a Tudor Period building with 18th century and later alterations and has three gables facing the road. It is now boarded up. Almost opposite is another listed building split into two houses: nos 114–116 Chertsey Road, early 19th century, slate-roofed houses with sash windows.

Woburn Hill

Woburn Hill is a large house built in 1815 spread over three storeys, that features a moulded cornice and fluted Greek Doric columns to its porch with an iron balustrade above it forming a balcony in front of a central window of the floor above.

Rowhill or Row Hill Row Hill forms a residential estate with shops of a butcher, baker and electrical appliance store that is contiguous with Addlestone to its west. These shops are on Ongar Hill not Row Hill and hence the name Ongar Parade, also known locally as "Top shops" due to being at the top of Row Town.

Addlestone Moor Addlestone Moor has a public house, now closed 08/2013, now a Day Nursery, flood meadows, a sports pitch and a mobile home park. It is also home to the Runnymede Rockets BMX Club. Its roundabout marks on the closer side of town has five exits and is used for motorway access from primarily Addlestone, Weybridge, Shepperton, Laleham and Chertsey.

Sport The town's lawn bowls club, Addlestone Victory Park, won Bowls England's “Story of the Year” award in February 2022 after its president, Barrie de Suys, aged 87, walked 2,400 0.6 mile laps of the park during lockdown for the club. He also raised over £10,000 for the Royal National Institute for the Blind. Formed in 1931 it was reduced to five members at the start of the 2021, recovering to forty members by the end of that Season. In 2022 it increased its membership to one hundred and five, making it the fastest growing bowls club in England. It also runs the largest junior section in Bowls Surrey. In February 2023 it won a "Highly Commended" notice at the Runnymede Borough Council Civic Awards. It runs an annual Open Days at the end of May.

Abbey Rangers play at Addlestone Moor, on the Thames winter flood meadows (prior to the construction of the Thames Barrier) next to the disused Woburn Arms and the athletics track in Woburn Park which is now St George's RC College. Lyne FC play at Jubilee High School.

The now-defunct Addlestone & Weybridge Town were established as Addlestone Town in 1885 and played at their ground in Liberty Lane until their dissolution in 1985. There is now housing on the site of the club's ground.

Economy, culture and community Addlestone is mentioned in H.G Wells' book The War of the Worlds, in which the second of ten Martian invasion ships (called 'cylinders') lands at the Addlestone Golf Links. This is probably a reference to New Zealand Golf Club (founded 1895) on Woodham Lane - the road from Woking to Addlestone - and not the Abbey Moor Golf Course which was only established in 1989.

Addlestone Library is co-located with Runnymede Borough Council and Addlestone Police in the Runnymede Civic Centre built in 2008 at a cost of £12,700,000 with atriums and courtyards on Station Road and opposite Addlestone Health Centre.

Its main road is Station Road which has many shops, two supermarkets, Addlestone Methodist Church, a doctors' NHS surgery, the Aviator business park and the Eileen Tozer Day Centre; the civic centre of Runnymede borough council is on this street.

Station Road hosts a 2011-completed business (office) estate, Aviator Park, in glass and steel which has landscaped verges with trees, shrubs and grass.

In July 2015, Bouygues Development commenced work on a new, large scale town centre regeneration called, "Addlestone ONE". Located along Station Road and next to Runnymede Civic Centre, when complete in 2017, the project will create 213 new homes, a Premier Inn hotel, a Waitrose supermarket, a premium 6-screen cinema operated by The Light Cinemas, new public spaces, various restaurants and shops as well as a multi-storey car park. The Ground Breaking Ceremony for the development took place on 23 October 2015 and was officiated by Foreign Secretary, the Rt. Hon. Philip Hammond.

Transport: Road Station Road joins into surrounding A-roads in all directions, including non-principal "Brighton Road" which has since become superseded by the motorway network and other north–south roads, the A319 that links in towards routes to Berkshire and the A320 road that is convenient for closer areas of Thames Valley corridor, and the A318 to Brooklands with its museum, luxury hotel and retail park and the A3 road Painshill interchange between Hersham and Cobham towards London.

The M25 can be accessed from Addlestone at junction 11.

Transport: Rail Addlestone railway station is operated South Western Railway and is served by services running between London Waterloo and Guildford. Journey times to London Waterloo are between 30 and 50 minutes.

Transport: Air London Heathrow Airport is located 10.8 miles from Addlestone to which it is connected by bus services and the M25.

Transport: Bus Addlestone has four principal bus services. An hourly service to Slough via Staines upon Thames and Windsor and in the other direction to the Brooklands retail park operates: bus 51: Another service with 2 buses per hour is the 461 which goes from Chertsey to Kingston upon Thames and bus 446 between Woking and Staines upon Thames.

River navigation The Wey Navigation canal runs to the south east of the town. Coxes lock is the deepest unmanned lock on the Navigation with a fall of 8 feet 6 inches (2.59 m).