Local Geography/History Question

[SpiderBee]

Where the Sutton Churches tennis club and allotments are on GGL there is a large open space.
1. What is it called?
2. Has it ever been used for sport(s)?

[Gareth]

I think it's all part of Seears Park

[SpiderBee]

Is it owned by the water board or Sutton council?

[Gareth]

Looking at 82.43.4.135/serviceviewer/Default.aspx, it's not actually part of Seears Park at all and is called Perrett's Field. You learn something new every day!!

Not sure where the boundaries are for Water Works/LBS land - probably best phoning the Council's Denmark Road offices

[chasm]

I think there was a Cricket Club there. I remember getting cricket coaching there about 50(!) years ago. Unfortunately it didn't work I'm still no good at it!

[markf]

One part of that space - nearer the A217 end - used to be known as the brick fields. My brother used to go looking for newts (I dunno!) in the ponds that were there.

I think the WB sold their land all for housing. Those new places just on the right before the bend are on the old WB land.

[sallycat]

I used to go blackberry picking there when I were a lass. We made some absolutely fantastic blackberry and apple crumbles

[Stewart]

I searched the Brick Field ponds for newts when I was a lad

I'm not too sure if you can find a Great Crested Newt anywhere in Sutton now

[jr]

I used to collect newts from Carshalton Park (where the canal is) when I was a wee nipper. I think they're protected now.

[johnboy]

Many years ago, and I'm talking 50/60 years, there were rumours that Sutton United were considering relocating to a newly built ground on the brick fields site.

[timbo]

Bumping this thread, as others have said I also used to roam the Bricky when I was young in the Sixties. We used to enter by the A217 into what has now become an extension of Seears Park but was just a dump back then. You could walk through to the Water Board premises and I think also enter via Bourne Way, which had gates at the bottom. The Borough Sports was held on adjoining Water Board land which is now Shearwater Housing. Anybody else have any memories or pictures or old maps etc?

[SpiderBee]

www.seecheam.com/sears-park.html

[toronto]

The brickie that i knew could be entered from an alley way on stayton road. I believe that one could venture "a field" from there. In those days if you had an old jam jar you never knew what you could end up with from a pond or even a "sewer" Yes i believe there was a sewer to be explored in those parts. I believe that the exit was in Alexander road. Did our parents worry where we were? Those were the days.
Perhaps sallycat. with her stayton road connections could remember that old alley way.

[sallycat]

The one that leads to Alexandra Avenue? Yes, very well - I used to walk to primary school down there. Can't be the same place discussed earlier in this thread though - Collingwood Road and GGL are between there and Perrett's Field/Seears Park. Are you talking about the field by the Collingwood estate (probably a much bigger field in those days)?

There was a sort of tributary alleyway leading off that alley that everyone called "Pigs' Alley" for some reason, and the kids at my school used to talk about it in hushed whispers, as if it were full of drug dealers and murderers ;D Venturing down there became a sort of dare, but by the time I was in my teens I'd walk all the way through fairly regularly to get to the A217. Bit nasty and overgrown, but nothing too awful!

[Andy K]

Don't know if it's any use, but Cloudmade do interesting maps which are a bit more detailed than Google - footpaths, shops etc

Here is it's map of the area - maps.cloudmade.com/?lat=51.364506&lng=-0.206745&zoom=16&styleId=1&opened_tab=0