Facts about Banstead
General Info
Banstead is a town bordering Greater London in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It is 2.5 miles (4 km) south of Sutton, 5 miles (8 km) south-west of Croydon, 7.5 miles (12 km) south-east of Kingston-upon-Thames, and 13.3 miles (21 km) south of Central London. On the North Downs, it is on three of the four main compass points separated from other settlements by open area buffers with Metropolitan Green Belt status. Echoing its much larger historic area and spread between newer developments, Banstead Downs is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
History
The earliest recorded mention of Banstead was in an Anglo-Saxon charter of AD 967, in the reign of King Edgar.
The settlement appears in the Domesday Book (1086) as Benestede. The first element is probably the Anglo Saxon word bene, meaning bean, and the second element stede refers to an inhabited place without town status (as in farmstead).
Banstead’s non-ecclesiastical land and 50 households were held by Richard as tenant-in-chief, under the Bishop of Bayeux. Its assets were: 9½ hides, 1 church, 1 mill worth £1, 17 ploughs, woodland worth 20 hogs. It rendered (in total): £8 per year. The Manor had two ploughs, and there were 28 villeins and 15 cottars (people with a small cottage but no land) with 15 ploughs.
