Hampton, London

Hampton is a suburban area, centred on an old village on the north bank of the River Thames, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in England. Formerly it was in the county of Middlesex, which was formerly also its postal county. The population is about 9,500. It is served by Hampton railway station.

The Anglo-Saxon parish of Hampton included present-day Hampton, Hampton Hill, Hampton Wick and Hampton Court which together are called The Hamptons. The name Hampton may come from the Anglo-Saxon words hamm meaning an enclosure in the bend of a river and ton meaning farmstead or settlement.

It is near Bushy Park and the shopping town of Kingston. The Hampton Heated Open Air Pool is one of the few such swimming pools remaining in Greater London. The riverside, on the reach above Molesey Lock, has many period buildings including Garrick's House and Shakespeare's Temple, also on the river is the Astoria Houseboat recording studio. Hampton Ferry provides access across the Thames to East Molesey.

The town is home to Richmond's only senior level football side, Hampton & Richmond Borough F.C., though there are numerous rugby union teams.

Education
The latter two schools share a new Millennium Boathouse. Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race participants attended Hampton School.
 * Hampton Academy (formerly Rectory School, latterly Hampton Community College), Hampton's mixed comprehensive school.
 * Hampton School, an independent school for boys, which recently celebrated its 450th anniversary and is 61st in the schools' league table.
 * Lady Eleanor Holles School is an independent school for girls. It is 5th in the schools league table.
 * Hampton Junior School (which recently celebrated its 100th year anniversary)
 * Hampton Infants School
 * Carlisle Infants school
 * Buckingham Primary School

Churches
The Christian churches in Hampton and Hampton Hill work together as Churches Together Around Hampton. The church buildings are a significant presence in the area. The ministers and members provide a range of services for the community. The affiliated churches are:
 * Hampton Methodist Church, Hampton
 * Hampton Baptist Church, Hampton
 * Hampton Hill United Reformed Church, Hampton Hill
 * S Theodore of Canterbury (Roman Catholic) Hampton
 * S Frances de Sales (Roman Catholic) Hampton Hill
 * All Saints (Church of England) Hampton
 * S Mary (Church of England) Hampton
 * S James (Church of England) Hampton Hill

Facilities in Hampton
Hampton youth project has been a popular youth centre in the area since 1990. Built in a converted coach depot on the Nurserylands Estate it offers a wide programme of activities for those aged 11–19.

Hampton Station is on the Waterloo to Shepperton line.

The Library is in a Georgian building above the A308 with a double blue plaque to two former residents, the singer John Beard and William Ewart MP, the Politician behind the Public Libraries Act 1850.

Hampton Water Treatment Works (WTW)


The large operational Water Treatment Works, owned by Thames Water, is situated between the Upper Sunbury Road (A308) and the River Thames. It was built in the 1850s after the 1852 Metropolis Water Act made it illegal to take drinking water from the tidal Thames below Teddington Lock because of the amount of sewage in the river. Three companies had established waterworks by 1855 — the Grand Junction Waterworks Company, the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company, and the West Middlesex Waterworks Company. The site includes old Victorian buildings, filter beds and some larger water storage beds. The site well demonstrates the successful accommodation of nature conservation with operational considerations. The Water Treatment Works is next to the Sunnyside Reservoir and the Stain Hill Reservoirs - sites of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation and contains flower-rich grassland and habitats for water birds.

The extensive areas of open water, especially the Grand Junction Reservoir in the north-west of the site, are used by large numbers of birds, particularly in winter. Most of the site is still in operational use so marginal vegetation, where it occurs, is generally sparse. However, the grasslands surrounding the filter beds and buildings are among the most herb-rich grasslands in the Borough and contain several scarce London species often associated with chalk grassland.

Thames Water completed a five year modernisation in 1993 and has installed advanced water treatment facilities at the plant to filter out pesticides. Water is supplied via the Staines Aqueduct from the King George VI Reservoir and Staines Reservoirs which receive their input from the River Thames at Hythe End, just above Bell Weir Lock. The aqueduct passes the Water Treatment Works at Kempton Park, which used to be connected to Hampton via the Metropolitan Water Board Railway. The Hampton library is across the road from Hampton Water Works.

General Roy


A cannon in Roy Grove marks the Hampton end of the baseline measured in 1784 by General William Roy at the start of the Principal Triangulation of Great Britain.

Notable inhabitants
Notable people born in Hampton include: Other people associated with Hampton include:
 * Richard Doll (epidemiologist)
 * Martin Salter (politician)
 * John Beard (tenor)
 * William Ewart MP (politician and promoter of free libraries)
 * David Garrick (actor, playwright and producer)
 * David Gilmour (musician)
 * Brian May (musician)
 * Crispian Mills (musician)
 * Hayley Mills (actor)
 * Alan Turing (code breaker and computing pioneer)

Hampton in popular culture
The area is featured briefly in two Charles Dickens novels. In Oliver Twist, Oliver and Sykes stop in a public house in Hampton on their way to the planned burglary in Chertsey. In Nicholas Nickleby, Sir Mulberry Hawk and Lord Frederick visit the 'Hampton Races', which refers to a racecourse at Moulsey Hurst. It is also briefly mentioned in War of the Worlds. The Bell public house in Hampton is mentioned in T S Eliot's ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.

Nearest places

 * Hampton Hill
 * Hampton Court
 * Sunbury-on-Thames
 * Teddington
 * Twickenham
 * Hanworth