In The Grange Gardens, Beddington Park

Image: © Marathon Taken: 13 Jun 2012

From the 14th century until the early 19th century, Beddington Place and Park were the seat of the Carew family. The estate was split up in 1857 and much of the house did not survive the drastic rebuilding of 1865-6 for the Lambeth Female Orphan Asylum. However, parts of the Carew Mansion of the 15th and 16th centuries survive in what is now Carew Manor School. In the time of the Crews the park was much larger than that remaining today and encompassed the land to the north now occupied by the sewage farm. The estate was even bigger and at one time stretched from Streatham to Epsom. In 1877 the present-day park was acquired by the Reverend Bridges, who was responsible for much of the landscaping seen today. It finally became the property of the Council in 1925, and they increased their holdings between the Wars, including the opening of The Grange gardens in 1936. These were created by Alfred Smee and renowned throughout Surrey in the late 19th century. Smee wrote a 650-page horticultural work about them in 1872. The Grange itself was a Tudor-style mansion, built by Smee's son in 1872 but burnt down in 1960.

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