Caterham

Caterham is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey. It lies on the A22 Eastbourne road south of Croydon in a valley cut into the slope of the North Downs. The village lay within the Anglo-Saxon administrative division of Tandridge hundred.

Caterham Old Cottage Hospital, 1903
Photographic Survey and Record of Surrey no. 429

The original settlement was on the ridge above the modern town and is now called Caterham-on-the-Hill. The modern town in the valley is a product of the Victorian age and the coming of the Caterham railway line in 1856. A large Asylum was built at Caterham-on-the Hill soon after, bringing new employment to the area. The Victorian expansion of the town required the building of a much larger parish church (St Mary the Virgin) in 1866 but the old Norman church of St Lawrence was retained and remains directly across the road from St Mary's. As it grew Caterham Valley gained its own church, St. John the Evangelist, which was consecrated in 1882. It is even larger than St. Mary's. The North Downs Way, a popular National trail with walkers passes very close to the town.

CVL00990
The Commandant's House, Caterham Barracks
North Tandridge Local History Centre ref. 990

From 1877 Caterham Barracks on the hill was a depot for the foot guards regiments. In August 1975 a local public house (the Caterham Arms), which was used by soldiers, was targeted by an IRA bomb. The barracks were closed in the 1990s and the site redeveloped for housing.