Banstead

The earliest recorded mention of Banstead was in an Anglo-Saxon charter of AD 967, in the reign of King Edgar. The settlement appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Benestede. The first element is probably the Anglo Saxon word bene, meaning bean, and the second element stede refers to an inhabited place without town status (as in farmstead). Banstead's non-ecclesiastical land and 50 households were held by Richard as tenant-in-chief, under the Bishop of Bayeux. Its assets were: 9½ hides, 1 church, 1 mill worth £1, 17 ploughs, woodland worth 20 hogs. It rendered £8 per year. The Manor had two ploughs, and there were 28 villeins and 15 cottars (people with a small cottage but no land) with…

Banstead Downs is a large Site of Special Scientific Interest, covering 430 acres. Banstead Golf Course is on the northern slopes. The Downs is one of four green areas in the north of the borough, which are overall referred to by their historic name "Banstead Commons"; the other three are: Banstead Downs is home to the rare Small Blue butterfly. The four tumuli (burial mounds) that can be seen on the Downs have been identified as dating from Saxon times and are known as the Gally Hills because they are the site of a 15th-century gallows.