There is evidence of prehistoric human activity in and around Sanderstead. In 1958–60 the Sanderstead Archaeological Group excavated in the vicinity of Sanderstead pond and revealed the presence of man as far back as the Mesolithic Period nearly 12,000 years ago, as well as pottery fragments dated between 100 AD and 1300 AD and a bronze belt from the end of the Saxon era.9 North of the village at Croham Hurst, upon a wooded hill, are circular barrows believed to be from a Bronze Age settlement. This is now part of a public open space and the site is marked by a brass monument. A Romano-British homestead (small farming settlement) was discovered during the construction of the Atwood School. During the 1980s, when the school was extended, further excavation revealed the remains of several round huts, hearths, a brooch, and pottery, some of which hailed from North Africa.
An Anglo-Saxon reference to Sanderstead can be found in the will, dated 871, of Alfred, an ealdorman. The village lay within the Anglo-Saxon administrative division of Wallington hundred. It later appears to have been given to St Peter's Abbey, Winchester (Hyde Abbey) by Æthelflæd, the wife of Edgar the Peaceful and mother of Edward the Martyr, where it remained after the Norman Conquest.10
Sanderstead appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Sandestede, and belonging to St Peter's Abbey, Winchester. It had a noted population (probably of just the adult males) of 26 including 21 villagers, 4 slaves and 1 cottager.11 Its Domesday assets were assessed as 5 hides, and 10 carucates of arable land. It had 9 ploughs and wood worth 30 hogs.12 Its Domesday entry records that in the time of Edward the Confessor it was valued at 100 shillings, and now 12 pounds; and yet it produces 15 pounds.13
The village was granted to Sir John Gresham by Henry VIII following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was passed to his son Richard who subsequently sold it to John Ownsted, the transfer being ratified in 1591. Ownsted died without issue in 1600, and devised his estates to his two sisters and cousin Harman Atwood, with Atwood subsequently purchasing the shares of his joint legatees. The Atwood family had a long association with Sanderstead, with inscriptions at the local church indicating a presence in the village from the reign of Edward II.14
The manor house, known as Sanderstead Court, was substantially remodelled by Harman Atwood. This large country house was probably first constructed in the early sixteenth century. The Atwoods continued to occupy the house until 1778, when it was devised to Atwood Wigsell. It was turned into a hotel in 1928, and before the Second World War it was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was very badly damaged by fire (not a bomb) in 1944 and was demolished in 1958. One very small part of the hotel building does however still stand. On the site now stands "Sanderstead Court", a three-storey block of flats.
One of the more curious aspects of Sanderstead is that it has no pub, unlike nearby Warlingham which has around six.
On the edge of the village lies the site of the Old Saw Mill, now home to a number of private residences and the picturesque setting for Sanderstead Cricket Club. Cricket has been played in the area since the 18th century, with matches recorded in 1731 and 1732.1516 The Old Saw Mill cricket ground itself has been in use since 1926 and continues to the present day with five teams playing in the Surrey Championship and a number of other Colts, The legendary Sunday XI and other friendly teams.17
Located between Limpsfield Road and Kingswood Lane is the large Kings Wood. It derives its name from a small wood to the north of Kings Wood Lodge. In 1823, Ordnance Survey Maps called the wood Sanderstead Wood, but this might be due to a mistake. It covers some 147½ acres, criss-crossed by ancient rides and is on relatively flat ground. It was purchased in 1937 under the Green Belt Act by the local council and is now public open space. There is the site of a Romano-British settlement on the northern boundary, a small farmstead undisturbed for 2000 years.18
Sanderstead has four schools, namely; Atwood Primary School, Gresham Primary School, Kingsdown Secondary School and Ridgeway Primary School. It is also conveniently placed for a number of others located within a couple of miles from the village including Croydon High School, Harris Academy Purley, Riddlesdown Collegiate, Royal Russell School, The Quest Academy, Thomas More Catholic School, Warlingham School, and Whitgift School.
In the 2011 census, Sanderstead was White or White British (80.3%), Asian or Asian British (9.5%), Black or Black British (4.4%), Mixed/multiple ethnic groups (3.8%), and Other ethnic group (0.9%). The largest single ethnicity is White British (76.2%).19
The crime rate in 2014/15 in Sanderstead was 29.6, the 7th lowest out of the 628 wards of Greater London.20
Sanderstead has consistently returned Conservative Party MPs to the local seat of Croydon South and has also returned Conservative members to the local council. Since the north of Croydon tends to return Labour councillors, a near-identical split in representation follows. The current MP for Croydon South is Chris Philp.
Sanderstead is one of the twenty-four wards constituting Croydon London Borough Council. Three councillors are elected every four years to represent the ward on the council. The current elected Councillors are:
In alphabetical order:
for the last fifty years of which, the CPC was an inferior body to the Coulsdon and Purley Urban District of Surrey, co-run by Surrey County Council and all of the London Borough of Croydon formed in 1965 lay in the latter county as 1965 saw the county's second major reduction /wiki/Coulsdon_and_Purley_Urban_District ↩
Vision of Britain - Sanderstead civil parish boundary http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10147232/boundary ↩
The Church of England Sanderstead ecclesiastical parish boundary http://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/782/ ↩
'Parishes: Sanderstead', A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4, ed. H E Malden (London, 1912), pp. 237-243. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol4/pp237-243 [accessed 24 May 2018]. /wiki/Victoria_County_History ↩
Stuff, Good. "Church of All Saints, Croydon, London". www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2018. http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-201146-church-of-all-saints-croydon ↩
Other direct destinations are further from London: East Grinstead and Uckfield /wiki/East_Grinstead ↩
Generations, a Thousand Year Family History by Ralph Sanders; ISBN 1425795722 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩
Sanders surname in 1881 map of England http://gbnames.publicprofiler.org/Map.aspx?name=SANDERS&year=1881&altyear=1998&country=GB&type=name ↩
"London Borough of Croydon : Sanderstead Pond - Sanderstead Pond history". Archived from the original on 12 January 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140112163500/http://www.croydon.gov.uk/leisure/parksandopenspaces/parksatoz/sandersteadpond/ssphistory ↩
A topographical history of Surrey, by E.W. Brayley assisted by J. Britton ... By Edward Wedlake Brayley, John Britton, page 40 ↩
"Index of /place/TQ3461/sanderstead/". domesdaymap.co.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2018. http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TQ3461/sanderstead/ ↩
Surrey Domesday Book Archived 15 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine http://www.gwp.enta.net/surrnames.htm ↩
A topographical history of Surrey, by E.W. Brayley assisted by J. Britton ... By Edward Wedlake Brayley, John Britton, Page 40 ↩
A topographical history of Surrey, by E.W. Brayley assisted by J. Britton ... By Edward Wedlake Brayley, John Britton, Page 41 ↩
Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell. /wiki/G._B._Buckley ↩
Maun, Ian (2009). From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Roger Heavens. ISBN 978-1-900592-52-9. 978-1-900592-52-9 ↩
"Sanderstead CC". sanderstead.play-cricket.com. Retrieved 19 April 2018. http://sanderstead.play-cricket.com/website/web_pages/80378 ↩
"Online communities". croydononline.org. 22 January 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2018. http://www.croydononline.org/history/places/parks_and_open_spaces/kingswood.asp ↩
Services, Good Stuff IT. "Sanderstead - UK Census Data 2011". UK Census Data. Retrieved 31 January 2021. http://www.ukcensusdata.com/sanderstead-e05000160#sthash.eNqWsZnl.dpbs ↩
"Ward Profiles and Atlas – London Datastore". https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/ward-profiles-and-atlas ↩
"Margaret Bondfield - British labour leader". britannica.com. Retrieved 19 April 2018. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/72848/Margaret-Bondfield ↩
"Kray on drugs charges". independent.co.uk. 2 August 1996. Retrieved 19 April 2018. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/kray-on-drugs-charges-1307719.html ↩
IMDb Retrieved 10 August 2018. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6735159/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 ↩
Fred Vermorel, Kate Moss: Addicted to Love, Omnibus Press, 7 Apr 2010, p.4 ↩
My Life in Pictures ISBN 0-906969-60-3 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩
"London People: Dr Tony Sewell". https://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2008/10/27/londonpeople_tony_sewell.shtml ↩