Human settlement in England
Longcross
is a village in the
Borough of Runnymede
in
Surrey
, England, approximately 34.6 kilometres (21.5 mi) west of central London. Its name is thought to come from a marker, placed where the parish boundaries of
Chertsey
,
Chobham
and
Egham
met.
[1]
Description
[
edit
]
South Longcross consists of large houses along one long, hilly road with a few closes. North Longcross has two, adjoining, scheduled for early 2020s-final phase completion housing estates including
Upper Longcross
on a shorter road before the next settlement, the south of Virginia Water,
Trumps Green
which is an older mixture of former workers' cottages, a little semi-detached stock, large houses and public woodland. The village is otherwise very
buffered
however has a transport link: its
rail station
on the
Waterloo to Reading Line
. All of its clusters are between
Virginia Water
,
Sunningdale
,
Windlesham
,
Ottershaw
and
Chobham
. It is bisected by the
M3 motorway
(which is unusually in a large
cutting
) into north and south components.
Politics and demography
[
edit
]
In the local return of a panel of three councillors per ward of 5,000-6,000 people (see
apportionment
) its
electoral ward
is
Foxhills
(an estate towards Lyne, once the seat of John Ivatt Briscoe). It comprises Longcross together with
Lyne
,
Ottershaw
and
Addlestone
.
[2]
In 2011 the village was again, for equal population of units (or half-sized units) purposes, split into three Output Areas totalling two and a half typical size, by taking in a small part of Ottershaw and of
Wentworth Estate
.
[3]
These areas had a total population of 943 people.
History
[
edit
]
Longcross's church is
Christ Church
; it is a
redundant church
registered for disposal and the parish has re-merged with the parish of
Lyne
, itself a relatively late breakaway from Chertsey, but longer a
chapelry
. The church is a
Grade II listed
building of mid-
Victorian
(1847)
[4]
origin comprising a nave, west porch, chancel, north organ chamber, and vestry. It is built of red brick with slate roofs.
[5]
For a long time there was a
Ministry of Defence
presence in Longcross. In
World War II
, the
Military Vehicles and Engineering Establishment
was built to the north of the village, where
armoured vehicles
were designed and tested.
[1]
Now no longer used for its original purpose, the site was sold by
QinetiQ
, and is now the site of
Longcross Film Studios
, where the James Bond film
Skyfall
and several other films have been made since 2010.
[6]
[7]
Facilities
[
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]
Longcross has few public facilities of its own; exceptions include the Old School cafe, boarding kennels and serviced offices. The cafe has been a family-run business for 50 years.
[8]
There is no village centre, pub, or green. It is a dispersed village. By virtue of its farms, Chertsey lays claim to be the only predominantly London commuter town with an annual agricultural show. The show has since lost its agricultural component.
[9]
Public transport
[
edit
]
Train services from
Longcross railway station
to and from
London Waterloo
are operated by
South Western Railway
. The station adjoins the North or Upper Longcross development, a large new
Garden village
constructed in the late 2010s and early 2020s.
The railway station, linked by footpaths to the new North/Upper Longcross estates and at Burma Road, has been upgraded in services from a very minor (seldom) stop on the
London Waterloo to Reading line
to a normal minor stop. The next station with regular services is
Virginia Water
, being a major stop on this main line and a branch line.
No part of this hilly area of land has bus services — the far east of Longcross is 1 mile (1.6 km) across sparse footpaths from services to
Woking
and Chertsey.
Today
[
edit
]
Longcross Road has a partial footway, otherwise sandy mud verges, at one point reduced by trees and hill crest to nothing meaning South Longcross is hard to traverse on foot. The road leading
NNE
into Trumps Green has footways and short section of normal verge, making
Trumps Green
an easy walk from the station/north area.
A large portion of Longcross is taken up by the Longcross Estate, currently owned by
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
.
[10]
There are public footpaths and bridleways leading through the estate and onto
Chobham Common
, which spans from the south-west to the south-east of the village.
On 2 January 2017, it was announced that Longcross was to be one of the sites of the government's proposed
garden villages
, ideally having around 5,000 new homes. A generous road expansion to the existing road to Trumps Green has been given, and the sites are served by rail and road with spare capacity.
[6]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Longcross
.
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Towns,
villages and
neighbourhoods
| Addlestone
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Chertsey
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Egham
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Virginia Water
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Notable parks
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Churches
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Education
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Transport
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Buildings
and structures
| Public use
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Notable private
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Bridges
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Sports
| Football
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Cricket
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Tennis
| 16 nationally registered venues
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Golf (main)
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Watersports
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Other leisure
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