Hook, London

Hook is a suburban area in south west London, England. It forms part of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and is located 12 miles (19.3 km) south west of Charing Cross. Neighbouring settlements include Hinchley Wood, Long Ditton, Surbiton, Tolworth and Chessington.

Hook
St Paul's Church
St Paul's Church
Hook is located in Greater London
Hook
Hook
Location within Greater London
Population18,973 (Chessington North and Hook and Chessington South wards 2011)[1]
OS grid referenceTQ183641
London borough
Ceremonial countyGreater London
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townCHESSINGTON
Postcode districtKT9
Dialling code020
PoliceMetropolitan
FireLondon
AmbulanceLondon
UK Parliament
London Assembly

An RAF barrage balloon depot opened in Hook c. 1938 and was later known as RAF Chessington, latterly used as a hospital until demolished and redeveloped for housing in the 1990s.

Hook forms part of the Chessington post town.

Governance

Hook was a civil parish which formed part of the Surbiton Urban District of Surrey from 1895.[2] The urban district became a municipal borough in 1936 and in 1965 its former area was transferred to Greater London. The former area of the Hook parish, together with that of the Chessington parish, form a protrusion of Greater London with the Surrey districts of Elmbridge to the west, Mole Valley to the south and Epsom and Ewell to the east.

Transport

Hook is on the A243 road. Chessington North railway station is within walking distance to the east.

Surviving old buildings

Only three listed buildings exist in the entire post town of Chessington, two of which are on Hook Road, just north of Chessington itself, on the east side. The first is at number 325: a 19th-century CE two-storey home featuring central doorway with moulded architrave and bracketed hood with fluted Ionic columns. The second, at number 435, is a two-storey house inscribed 1669 but with later alterations. It has two-part baffle- (or lobby-) entry, and has been refaced with brick but is probably timber-framed behind; its sides and back are weather-boarded and it has a steeply pitched, pantiled roof with central chimney.[3] Many former 18th- and 19th-century houses on this old Kingston-upon-Thames to Dorking and Horsham route have been redeveloped or were destroyed during World War II, including The Blitz, as shown in the street numbering.

Notable people

Harry Hawker, record-breaking Brooklands-based test pilot and racing driver lived in Hook Road until his death in a flying accident at Hendon Aerodrome and is buried in St Paul's churchyard.

References
  1. Census Information Scheme (2012). "2011 Census Ward Population figures for London". Greater London Authority. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  2. Vision of Britain Archived 1 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine - Hook civil parish (historic map)
  3. Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1184479)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
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