Epsom | |
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High Street, Epsom |
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Epsom shown within Surrey | |
Area | 18.04 km2 (6.97 sq mi) |
Population | 31,489 (2011 census) |
• Density | 1,746/km2 (4,520/sq mi) |
OS grid reference | TQ2060 |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | EPSOM |
Postcode district | KT17 KT18 KT19 |
Dialling code | 01372 |
Police | Surrey |
Fire | Surrey |
Ambulance | South East Coast |
EU Parliament | South East England |
UK Parliament | |
Epsom (/ˈɛpsəm/) is a market town in Surrey, England, 13.6 miles (21.9 km) south south-west of London, located between Ashtead and Ewell. The town straddles chalk downland (Epsom Downs) and the upper Thanet Formation. Epsom Downs Racecourse holds The Derby, now a generic name for sports competitions in English-speaking countries. The town also gives its name to Epsom salts, extracted from mineral waters there.
Epsom is the source of the Hogsmill River and includes the semi-rural Horton and Langley Vale.
Epsom lies within the Copthorne hundred used for periodic, strategic meetings of the wealthy and powerful in Anglo Saxon England, and later having a Hundred Court. The name of Epsom is early recorded as forms of Ebba's ham ( or perhaps manor). Ebba was a Saxon landowner. Many Spring line settlements by springs in Anglo-Saxon England were founded at the foot of dry valleys such as here and Effingham, Bookham, Cheam, Sutton, Carshalton, Croydon and Bromley. A relic from this period is a 7th-century brooch found in Epsom and now in the British Museum.