by Roger P
On a warm Saturday afternoon that had a threat of rain about it, there was the usual melee around the Mansion as friends met and chatted, querying – “where do we go today”. While those who had read the list suggested the long ride go to Wimbledon Park or Nork and Banstead. Neither of these held any charm for me so I was relieved when “The Horton” was suggested as a short ride.
I had driven to a concert at The Horton last year and realised it was very easy to get to from Horton Lane, but I considered there must be a more interesting route avoiding fast main roads, so a few weeks earlier, I had dredged my memory to piece together a route from scraps of remembered rides and set out to explore an offroad route and quiet streets that would take us somewhere near “The Horton”.
We did in the end find it after much exploring of dead end streets and crescents and closes and rewarded ourselves with a coffee and cake. More importantly we had recorded our confused wanderings on” Bee Line”, in the hope we could at least use it next time to plot a route through the housing estates.
Now, eleven intrepid explorers, including one or two brave souls who had survived the previous attempt to find The Horton, decided to risk coming with me. We exited Nonsuch onto the A24 and turning right at Bourne Hall carried on up over the railway line and on to Chessington Rd. I remembered that the key to finding the entry to the bike track through Chessington Road Recreation Ground was to look for the pedestrian crossing immediately before it, and sure enough just past it on the left was a close marked Bakers Field and alongside it the path that eventually, after crossing Hook Road, the track develops into a shared bike and pedestrian pavement alongside Chantilly way.
Cycling alongside Chantilly way, the left turn to Longrove Road can easily be missed, but this short road leads directly to the roundabout at the entrance of Longrove Park. The path divides soon after entry. We took the left fork onto the designated bike route around the edge of the park which had the advantage of being well away from the skate park and playground and associated pedestrians and dogs.
The route exits the park via the gate at the far end and continues alongside the site of what was once the mental hospital complex now replaced and repurposed by new housing developments. What is visible today is only a small part of what had been a place where tens of thousands of patients lived out, all too often, their whole lives.
As the long stay mental hospitals were phased out in the 1980’s many of the buildings were demolished and their extensive grounds were sold off for development and became a golf course, parks and open spaces interspersed with a mix of substantial hospital accommodation redeveloped into high quality apartments and housing with low rise housing packed into in a mix of crescents and closes all looking remarkably similar and linked by service roads and roundabouts.
The cycle track from the park passes the Abbots Avenue playground, ending at one of the many roundabouts. We paused here to consider our next move. Instinct and previous attempts to work out the location of The Horton indicated that it was to our right and slightly behind us.
We decided to defer to technology and” Bee Line” was consulted which confirmed the general direction of the target, so we turned into Cavell Way looking for a road through the estate that would take us to Horton Lane. After only one dead end we did find a way through to Abbots Avenue once more and soon after had sight of the roundabout by Horton Crescent. As we drew nearer signage pointed us to Haven Way and the fenced compound containing the repurposed chapel that is “The Horton”. We entered the compound and secured the bikes at the newly installed cycle racks there.
Those who had never visited “The Horton” were captivated by its transformation from what had been the main place of worship for the massive hospital complex into a café, display space and performance area.
The café does good coffee cakes and even hot meals and customers can make use of the superb facilities or sit at a café table and admire the sensitivity the buildings preservation and the simplicity of its sympathetic transformation complete with original organ pipes, pulpit and tiled floor.
We sat outside where it was cooler and enjoyed coffee and cakes while one or two of us popped back indoors to read the information panels about the history of the one time mental hospital complex and learn about the patients and why so many mental health colonies were created around Epsom and Chessington.
Taken by Paul
The return ride was both quick and easy. Turning right out of The Horton’s car park we retraced our steps to Abbot’s Road and entered the cycle track at Horton Lane. There followed an easy downhill ride down to the Hook Road roundabout. We took advantage of the pedestrian controlled crossing to get to the cycle track alongside Hook Road until it intercepted the track from Chessington Recreation field. We turned into the track and retraced our route to the exit marked” Bakers Field” at Chessington Road and retraced our route back to Nonsuch via Spring Street and the A24.
A comfortable and easy short ride of not quite ten miles.
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