Description
Cheam Park and Cheam Recreation Ground are the former grounds of Cheam Park House. An C18th house built by Dr Edmund Sanxay, it was considerably enlarged in the early 1800s by London tea merchant Archdale Palmer. It was purchased by Mrs Bethell in 1920 and became known as Bethell House. After her death in 1937 the house and grounds were purchased by Sutton Council, for the benefit of the public in perpetuity. The house was demolished following bomb damage in WWII. The site is in two parts with Cheam Park the more formally planted and Cheam Recreation Ground to the north having a more open landscape.
Practical Information
| Previously known as | Cheam Park House; Bethell House |
|---|---|
| Site location | Ewell Road/Tudor Close, Cheam |
| Postcode | SM3 8AJ |
| What3Words | ///fakes.event.safely |
| Type of Site | Public Park |
| Borough | Sutton |
| Open to Public | Yes |
| Opening Times | 8.00am - dusk |
| Facilities | Sports pitches, bowls, cricket field, children’s playground, tennis courts, cafés, toilets including disabled, car park |
| Public Transport | Rail: Cheam. Bus 151, 213, 470, X26. |
| Research Updated | 1 March 2012 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
Sutton Council purchased Cheam Park House and its grounds on 20 March 1937 for £25,000. In 1939-30 it was used for assembling gas masks, and it became a First Aid Station and Warden's Post. In 1944 the house was badly damaged by a flying bomb that landed in the park, and it was subsequently demolished. The C19th entrance lodge survives on the Cheam village side of the park, and the original drive is now a tarmac path running uphill and curving round in front of the site of the house, which is marked by a slight platform. Brick walls beyond this were formerly those of the old kitchen garden, which is now a parks depot. Down the slope from the site of the house towards Cheam Road is a shallow gully curving across the grass, which is the remains of the ha-ha that formerly separated the garden from the park to the north. Many of the larger trees in the park date from the C19th but the garden bedding around the house has gone. There are old oaks and yews, an overgrown pond and remains of earlier landscaping in the park.
The site adjoins Nonsuch Park (q.v.) and is separated into two parts, Cheam Park with more formal, ornamental planting to the south and Cheam Recreation Ground lying to the north with meadowland areas and flower beds.
The site adjoins Nonsuch Park (q.v.) and is separated into two parts, Cheam Park with more formal, ornamental planting to the south and Cheam Recreation Ground lying to the north with meadowland areas and flower beds.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ239639 |
|---|---|
| Site Ownership | LB Sutton |
| Site Management | Parks Service |
| Dates | 1815; 1937 |
| Listed Structures | LBII: Lodge to Cheam Park in Cheam Park Lane |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | Sutton |
| In Conservation Area | Yes |
| Conservation Area Name | Cheam Village |
| Tree Preservation Order | No |
| Nature Conservation Area | Yes - Local Importance |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | Yes |
| Special Policy Area | No |
| Other LA Designation | Site of wild life value |
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
Adjacent to Cheam Library are the remains of the walled garden that once surrounded West Cheam Manor, which was demolished in c.1796. Part of a stable block remains to the north-east. Cheam remained rural until the 1920s but by the late 1930s was largely suburban. To the west of the library, which was built in 1962 on the site of the manor house, is the Memorial Garden and Cheam War Memorial, dedicated to the dead of both world wars. The garden is mainly laid to lawn, with paths and a number of flower beds.
A church in Cheam was recorded in the Domesday Book and probably dates from the early C11th, dedicated to St Dunstan. The old church was demolished in the 1860s and a new church built next to the Lumley Chapel, which was the chancel of the medieval church that had been converted as a memorial chapel for the Lumley family in the late C16th. St Dunstan's Church and Lumley Chapel stand in a well tended churchyard with mature cedars and yews. There are a number of historic tombs and a war memorial with an Arts and Crafts lych-gate of 1891 at the entrance.
* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens
Nonsuch Park is a large park situated partly in Sutton and partly in the Epsom and Ewell within a wider area that was once extensive royal parkland of some 2000 acres. It contained the site of Nonsuch Palace, built as a hunting lodge for Henry VIII from 1538. It was later owned by Charles II's mistress, who was created Baroness Nonsuch, but in 1682-83 the palace was demolished to pay her gambling debts. In the mid-C18th the mansion was the home of Thomas Whately, author of 'Observations on Modern Gardening', published 1770, who made improvements to the gardens. The Nonsuch Park Estate was owned by the Farmer family from 1799 to 1937, when it was purchased by the local authorities of Sutton and adjacent Epsom and Ewell.
Nonsuch Park is a large park situated partly in Sutton and partly in the Epsom and Ewell within a wider area that was once extensive royal parkland of some 2000 acres. It contained the site of Nonsuch Palace, built as a hunting lodge for Henry VIII from 1538. It was later owned by Charles II's mistress, who was created Baroness Nonsuch, but in 1682-83 the palace was demolished to pay her gambling debts. In the mid-C18th the mansion was the home of Thomas Whately, author of 'Observations on Modern Gardening', published 1770, who made improvements to the gardens. The Nonsuch Park Estate was owned by the Farmer family from 1799 to 1937, when it was purchased by the local authorities of Sutton and adjacent Epsom and Ewell.