Motspur Park
| Motspur Park | |
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 The suburban shopping parade at Motspur Park dates from the 1930s |
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 Motspur Park
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| Motspur Park shown within Greater London | |
| Population | 9,862 (2011 Census. West Barnes Ward) |
| OS grid reference | TQ225677 |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | NEW MALDEN |
| Postcode district | KT3 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| EU Parliament | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
Motspur Park, also known locally as West Barnes, is a suburb in south-west London. It is located just south-east of New Malden, between the boroughs of Kingston upon Thames and Merton.
Motspur Park owes its identity to the railway station of the same name, which has six trains an hour to London Waterloo, and to the adjacent parade of small shops. Two prominent gas holders, which are used to store the consumer gas supply for south-west London, stand just south of the shopping parade and can be seen from a wide area.
Two of London’s minor natural water courses run through the area. The Beverley Brook runs south to north through its centre and its smaller tributary the Pyl Brook runs parallel further to the east. These have in the past given rise to some local flooding.
The Motspur Park athletics stadium was built by the University of London in 1928 and achieved fame when the world mile record was set there in 1938. It was sold to Fulham Football Club as their training ground in 1999.
The name comes from Motspur Farm which was located in the area between the modern road called Motspur Park and Chilmark Gardens. The 1865 OS map shows the farm's name as Mospur . The adage "Park" was appended when the area was developed for market gardening in the late nineteenth century, along with Raynes Park, Stoneleigh Park & Worcester Park and denotes a system of intensive cultivation.
The district was historically known as West Barnes and formed part of the traditional county of Surrey. It was rural right up to the end of the nineteenth century when the railway station was built. Two local lanes, West Barnes Lane and Blakes Lane, represent remnants from this rural era. The barns referred to were those at the western end of Merton Abbey's estates and were just north of West Barnes Lane's junction with the modern Crossway.
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Wikipedia