Hogsmill River Park

The name 'Hogsmill' in all likelihood derives from someone called Hog owning a mill by the river, and a John Hogge of 'Suberton' is referred to in 1179 in connection with leasing land from Merton Priory at Grapelingham, now called The Grapsome (q.v.). The river was used to drive mills from before the Norman Conquest until the early C20th. Malden Mill on the river below Old Malden parish church of St Mary (q.v.) is referred to in the Domesday Survey and was probably used for corn milling prior to 1720. After that date the site was used for gunpowder mills, and the parish of Malden had 12 gunpowder mills in the early C19th. On 2 January 1742 one of the mills blew up with 40 barrels of gunpowder, causing damage to the church windows some 400 metres away and the explosion was heard for 20 kms around. Two mills nearer the road blew up in 1854; after this a new cornmill was built here but it was burnt down in 1891 and other uses made of the site until it was cleared in 1950.

The Pre-Raphaelite painters, William Holman Hunt and John Millais, who was born in Kingston, visited the area in 1851 in search of locations for painting. Holman Hunt painted near Old Malden Lane, staying in Worcester Park Farmhouse with Ford Madox Brown and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. His painting 'The Light of the World' and Millais' 'Ophelia' are both thought to have been painted in the vicinity of the Hogsmill.

The Hogsmill Valley was saved from housing development largely due to it being a flood plain. The landscape of the path is varied, in some parts having hedgerows, lines of trees, mature willows and oak. Part abuts sports fields, and north of the Kingston By-pass is woodland managed by London Wildlife Trust as Hogsmill Wood Nature Reserve with another privately-owned woodland located south of the Chessington railway. The Hogsmill Valley Walk Strategy was adopted by Kingston Council in June 2002 following consultation with key interested parties in December and January 2001/02.