Riverside Properties in Kingston-Upon-Thames

Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated 10 miles (16.1 km) south west of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan

History

In 838 it was styled Kyningestun famosa illa locus. In Old English, tun, ton or don meant farmstead – so the name Kingston may have been thought to mean farmstead of the kings. Seven Saxon kings are traditionally said to have been crowned at Kingston, while seated on a large stone – The Coronation Stone – that stands outside the Guildhall. There is a local tradition that these Saxon coronations gave Kingston its name, but the records of the 838 council disprove this.

Kingston was built at the first crossing point of the Thames upstream from London Bridge and a bridge still exists at the same site.

For much of the 20th century, Kingston was a major military aircraft manufacturing centre specializing in fighter aircraft – first with Sopwith Aviation, H G Hawker Engineering, later Hawker Aircraft, Hawker Siddeley and eventually British Aerospace. The legendary Sopwith Camel, Hawker Fury, Hurricane, Hunter and Harrier were all designed and built in the town and examples of all of these aircraft can be seen today at nearby Brooklands Museum in Weybridge. The growth and development of Kingston Polytechnic and its transformation into Kingston University has made Kingston a university town.

Economy

Kingston has many pubs and restaurants, though several public houses in the centre have closed in recent years to become restaurants or bars. In research from 2010 on retail footprint, Kingston upon Thames came out as 25th in terms of retail expenditure in the UK at £810 million. This puts it as generating the fifth most amount of money from the retail sector in the Greater London area, passing Croydon. In 2005, Kingston was 24th with £864 million.

Landmarks

One of the more unusual sights in Kingston is several disused red telephone boxes that have been tipped up to lean against one another in an arrangement resembling dominoes. This sculpture by David Mach was commissioned in 1988 as part of the landscaping for the new Relief Road, and is called Out of Order.

Transport

The town is served by three railway stations on a line into Waterloo Station via New Malden and Wimbledon or via Richmond upon Thames (the long way round). The local stations are Kingston, Norbiton and Hampton Wick. Norbiton is east of the town centre near Kingston Hospital, and Hampton Wick is to the west across the river Thames.

The A3 road runs from central London towards Kingston before by-passing the town to the east. The "Kingston bypass road" was one of the first arterial roads to be built in Britain.

Riverboats run regularly between Kingston and Hampton Court as well as Richmond all during the summer season. There are also direct services to Putney and Westminster from Hampton Court.

Education

Kingston is the location of Kingston University and College. There are 34 Primary schools (including Infant and Junior), of which 14 are Church Schools,10 Secondary Schools and 14 Private schools which provide education for all age ranges. Some of Kingston's most notable Primary Schools include Latchmere School and Fern Hill Primary School. Its most notable private secondary school is Kingston Grammar School. The most notable public secondary schools include Tiffin School and Tiffin Girls' School.