Malden Rushett is a small village in the

Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is a London boroughs, borough in southwest London. The main town is Kingston upon Thames and it includes Chessington, Malden Rushett, New Malden, Surbiton and Tolworth. It is the oldest of the four List ...

, London. It is located at the southernmost tip of the Royal Borough, surrounded by woodland and farmland, and between the larger suburban villages and towns of

Claygate Claygate is an affluent suburban village in Surrey, England, southwest of central London. It is the only civil parishes in England, civil parish in the borough of Elmbridge. Adjoining Esher and Hinchley Wood to the west and north respectively, ...

Chessington Chessington is an area in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames within Greater London, which was historically part of Surrey. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census it had a population of 18,973. The Bonesgate Stream, a tributary of ...

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

Ashtead Ashtead is a village in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, approximately south of central London. Ashtead is on the single-carriageway A24 road (Great Britain), A24 between Epsom and Leatherhead. The village is on the northern sl ...

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon ...

and Oxshott.

History

Rushett was a detached part of the parish of Malden, located approximately 5 miles southwest of the main parish. On 24 March 1884 it was transferred to the parish of

Facilities

Malden Rushett sits on the crossroads of the

A243 road A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient ...

from

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

and the B280 from Oxshott to

. It consists of a few houses, two pubs and a petrol station incorporating an M&S Simply Food shop. It is two miles from Junction 9 on the

M25 motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major ring road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 th ...

. The area also houses the Explorer Gate (south entrance and car park) of Chessington World of Adventures & Zoo Resort.

Rushett Common

South of Malden Rushett is Rushett Common, consisting of two strips of woodland alongside the A243 to the edge of the boundary between Greater London and Surrey. These are bounded by the

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

woodlands of Princes Covert to the west and

Epsom Common Epsom Common is a Local Nature Reserve in Epsom, Surrey, England. It is owned and managed by Epsom and Ewell Borough Council. It is part of Epsom and Ashtead Commons, a Site of Special Scientific Interest. This is a nationally important wil ...

to the east. Within Rushett Common is Telegraph Hill – earlier known as Cabbage Hill – which was the site of a station on the Admiralty Shutter telegraph line. This used the shutter system to communicate between London and Portsmouth from 1796 until 1816. The buildings were small two-roomed wooden huts with a frame which held the six wooden shutters.Rushett Common
/ref> The station was replaced by a semaphore station built at

Education

Transport and locale

Malden Rushett was due to have had a railway station built as part of the Southern Railway's extension from Motspur Park to

via Chessington. The line reached Chessington South in 1939 and work was well underway on the final part of the line to Malden Rushett and Leatherhead, which was expected to stimulate further housing development beyond Chessington. The railway was extended beyond Chessington South station as far as Chalky Lane, with a bridge built over this road. Work was halted due to the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, although the Royal Engineers did build a further railway embankment south of Chalky Lane which went as far as Chessington Wood and, probably, not far from the location where Malden Rushett station would have been built. Following the introduction after the war of

Green Belt A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...

legislation, little housing development could take place beyond Chessington South. Thus, the revenue earned from a station at Malden Rushett would have been minimal and the work was abandoned. The village is now served by the London Buses route 465, while route 65 terminates at the nearby Chessington World of Adventures as part of its night route, with route 71 also terminating there.

Nearby places

* Oxshott *

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in the borough of Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole, Surrey, River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London, close to the London–Surrey border; with Esher Commons at its ...

Tolworth Tolworth is a suburban area in the Surbiton district, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, Greater London. It is southwest of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Berrylands, Chessington, Epsom, Ewell, Kingston upon Thames, Kingston, Lo ...

Surbiton Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the Historic counties of England, historic county of ...

Nearest railway stations

* Chessington South railway station * Chessington North railway station

Bus routes

* London Buses route 465

Prominent residents

* Andrew Mackinlay

References

{{LB Kingston upon Thames Areas of London Districts of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames