IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Priory Road, HAMPTON, TW12 2PN

Rain threatened on this March afternoon and the day soon deteriorated into a thoroughly wet and miserable one - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3903298 taken an hour later.

This area of Hampton contains a range of properties from the Victorian and Edwardian eras as well as many late 20's early 30's Semi's as shown here.

The Thames Valley Railway opened on 1st November 1864 between the Kingston Loop south of Twickenham to Shepperton. Hampton station also opened on 1st November 1864. Within a year the line was taken over by the London & South Western Railway. When it opened the branch was a meandering single line through small communities. It was described as "crossing a flat and somewhat dreary region of Middlesex to terminate in a potato field, as if weary of going further in such country". A double track was provided as far as Fulwell in about 1867, and further doubling reached Sunbury in 1878 following the sale of the Kempton Manor estate for conversion to a racecourse. There was no really significant residential development along the line before 1914. At Hampton, a large estate called Marling Park to the north of the station was laid out for building in mid-Victorian times but filled only very slowly. The large gaps in the service during the first 40 years cannot have helped - four hours each way in the afternoon between trains. This bridge is seen from Oldfield Road, with Priory Road on the other side. Hampton is the next station to the right and Kempton Park Racecourse station the next one to the left. Until June 2006 the latter only opened for events at Kempton Park Racecourse, but since then it has had a regular timetable each day.

This runs along the railway line to Kempton Park