IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Little Woodcote Estate, WALLINGTON, SM6 0SH

Of course the roads are narrow, the corners right-angled and the visibility at the junction poor, so I see why everyone is made to approach cautiously by putting Give Way lines across the road; but still, I can't help imagining a scenario where four vehicles arrive simultaneously and stay there for ever, endlessly deferring to each other.

The estate was set up after WWI by Surrey County Council to provide smallholdings for returning servicemen. They still own these roads, which are not public roads in the usual sense, although the crossing road here is a public bridleway.

I knew these crossroads well in the nineteen fifties, as I was born on the Smallholdings in July 1950. I would have walked along here many times either to Boundary Corner for a 654 trolleybus or Woodcote Green for a 234 or 234A bus.

Telegraph Track is a Bridleway, Oaks Track, to the left of the sign, is a Permissive Path.

The estate was set up after WWI by Surrey County Council to provide smallholdings for returning servicemen. It still operates as smallholdings, pursued with more or less enthusiasm. This is one of the more enthusiastic.

The estate was set up after WWI by Surrey County Council to provide smallholdings for returning servicemen. They still own the roads, which are not public roads in the usual sense, although this one is a public bridleway.

A smallholding on Telegraph Track. The estate was set up after WWI by Surrey County Council to provide smallholdings for returning servicemen. It still operates as smallholdings, pursued with more or less enthusiasm. This is one of the more enthusiastic.

Cycle track in Little Woodcote.

Surrey County Council first bought land at Woodcote in 1912, but after the First World War they made substantial purchases in the Little Woodcote area, on either side of Woodmansterne Lane. The main purpose was to provide smallholdings so that ex-servicemen who wanted to farm on a small scale had the chance to do so as tenants of the County Council. They built the semi-detached farm houses with uniform black weatherboarding and white window frames. Over the years many of the smallholdings have been given up but a number still remain and some of the plots still grow vegetables. The one seen here from Telegraph Track was derelict at the time I photographed it. Much of the land purchased by Surrey in this area became the backbone of the Green Belt hereabouts after the Second World War. In keeping with the set up of the times, the roads do not seem to have normal names. This photograph is taken from Telegraph Track which connects Carshalton on the Hill with Little Woodcote and crosses Oak Track at right angles.