Tourist's guide to visit Walton-on-Thames

Visit Walton-on-Thames – things to do & explore

Overview of Walton-on-Thames history & facts by Walkfo

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Planning a visit to Walton-on-Thames?

Walton-on-Thames is a market town on the south bank of the Thames in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. The town itself consists mostly of affluent suburban streets, with a historic town centre of Celtic origin. It is one of the largest towns in the Elmbridge borough, alongside Weybridge. According to the 2011 Census, the town has a total population of 22,834. It is around 15 miles from Central London, and is served by a wide range of transport links.

Walton-on-Thames history

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The name “Walton” is Anglo-Saxon in origin and is cognate with the common phonetic combination meaning “Briton settlement” (literally, “Welsh Town” – weal(as) tun). Before the Romans and the Saxons were present, a Celtic settlement was here. The most common Old English word for the Celtic inhabitants was the “Wealas”, originally meaning “foreigners” or “strangers”. William Camden identified Cowey Stakes or Sale, Walton as the place where Julius Caesar forded the River Thames on his second invasion of Britain. A fisherman removed several wooden stakes about thigh-width and 6 feet (1.8 m) high that were very black and hard enough to turn an axe, and shod with iron. He sold these to John Montagu, 5th Earl of Sandwich, who used to come to the neighbouring Shepperton bank to fish, for half a guinea apiece. Elmbridge Museum requires definitive evidence of these stakes, the evidence at present limited to pre 20th-century secondary sources that conflict as to detail. Walton lay within the Anglo-Saxon district of Elmbridge hundred, in the shire (later county) of Surrey. Walton appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as “Waletona”. The settlement was held jointly as overlords in the feudal system by Edward de Sarisber (Salisbury) and Richard de Tonbrige. Its Domesday assets were: 6 hides; 1 church (St. Mary’s), 2 mills worth £1 5s 0d, 1 fishery worth 5s, 14 ploughs, 40 acres (16 ha) of meadow, supporting 50 hogs. It rendered £28. The nucleus of the village is in the north, while later development took place in the southern manors on all sides of the railway station. About half of the land was south of the South Western Main Line. This included, from west to east, Walton Heath, Burwood manor and Hersham manor; these together became the civil parish of Hersham in the 19th century. On a smaller scale, the majority of Oatlands village, to the south-west, formed part of the town. St. Mary’s Parish Church has some Saxon material and an architectural structure of the 12th century, with later additions. The square flint tower, supported by a 19th-century brick buttress, has a working ring of eight bells, the oldest bearing the date 1606. In the north aisle is a large monument (1755) by the French rococo sculptor and bust maker Roubiliac to Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, commander-in-chief in Ireland, who lived at the former manor and house of Ashley Park in the parish; this was demolished and its many acres subdivided in 1920. Also in the north aisle is a brass to John Selwyn (1587), keeper of Oatlands Park, with figures of himself, his wife and eleven children. An unusual relic kept in the church is a copy of a scold’s bridle presented to the parish in the 17th century, which is mentioned in Jerome K. Jerome’s classic Three Men in a Boat. The royal palace of Oatlands, built by Henry VIII in 1538, was a mile upstream to the west. John Bradshaw lived in the Tudor manor house in the 17th century. He presided at Charles I’s trial. Under the Inclosure Act 1800 there were enclosed (privatised from common land or manorial land subjected to agrarian rights of others) 3,117 acres (12.6 km) of the Walton manors, which included holdings at Chertsey and 475 acres (1.9 km) of arable common fields. A School Board was formed in 1878. A previously existing school was enlarged in 1881. The infant school was built in 1884. The Methodist Church, with a spire taller than the tower of the Anglican Church, was built in 1887. The Baptist Church was built in 1901. A Public Hall, in High Street, was built in 1879 by Mrs Sassoon, who resided at Ashley Park House. This is still in existence and is visible behind the present shopfront. Ashley Park Golf Club was laid out in the 1890s, but ceased to exist prior to 1918. During World War I, troops from New Zealand were hospitalised in the No. 2 New Zealand General Hospital at Mount Felix House, which is now demolished except for its stable block and clock tower. They are remembered by a memorial in the cemetery, where those who died at Mount Felix are buried, and one in St Mary’s Church where an annual service of remembrance is held. They are also remembered in the street name New Zealand Avenue, the Wellington Pub (formerly The Kiwi), and a small memorial in the Homebase car park. Walton upon Thames Urban District merged with Weybridge Urban District to form Walton and Weybridge Urban District in 1933. In World War II, owing largely to the proximity of important aircraft factories at nearby Brooklands, the town was bombed on various occasions by the Luftwaffe. On 27 September 1940, fighter pilot F/Sgt. Charles Sydney, who was based with 92 Squadron at RAF Biggin Hill, died when his Spitfire (R6767) crashed in Station Avenue. He was buried in Orpington and is commemorated today by a memorial plaque close to the crash site. Hersham and Walton Motors (HWM) constructed its own racing car in the early 1950s. Stirling Moss competed in his first Formula One Grand Prix in an HWM. HWM was the world’s first Aston Martin dealership that diversified into Alfa Romeo in 2009. Walton Town hall, which was commissioned to serve as the offices of Weybridge Urban District Council, was designed by Sir John Brown Henson and Partners in the modernist style, featured a curved structure built from concrete with stone cladding and was completed in 1966. It became surplus to requirements and was subsequently demolished after Walton on Thames was absorbed into the Borough of Elmbridge in 1974.

You can visit Walton-on-Thames, COUNTY/BOROUGH & use Walkfo to discover the best walking places with our free digital tour guide app created especially for Walton-on-Thames. Walkfo Walton-on-Thames has 300 locations with history, culture & travel facts, that you can explore the same way you can a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Walton-on-Thames, being in the moment, without digital distraction and no limitations to a specific walking route – you choose where you want to go, when you want to go and Walkfo Walton-on-Thames will keep up.

When you visit Walton-on-Thames

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When you visit Walton-on-Thames, Walkfo is your digital tour guide while exploring by foot, bike or bus. With numerous walks, hikes, tourist locations & travel destinations available in Walton-on-Thames, our travel AI guide helps you get the best from your visit to Walton-on-Thames & the surrounding areas. Our explore Walton-on-Thames app for iPhone & Android, allows you to experience the hidden history, culture and amazing facts throughout Walton-on-Thames whilst out walking. The digital tour guide creates interactive audio stories driven by where you walk, so you can exploration Walton-on-Thames’s National Heritage sites, tourist attractions, historic locations or city streets freely, without the restrictions of a predefined walk & walk map.

“The Walkfo AI has curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 0 audio facts in Walton-on-Thames alone that form an interactive Walton-on-Thames walking map for you to explore.”

Best Walton-on-Thames places to visit

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Walton-on-Thames has hundreds of places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are five of Walton-on-Thames’s best destinations to visit when exploring the area. We have condensed the information with much more detail available within Walkfo when you visit the destinations.

Visit Walton-on-Thames plaques

Experience Walton-on-Thames audio walks & tours

Visiting Walton-on-Thames with Walkfo’s things to do interactive map
The “Walton-on-Thames things to do map” below is a preview of the places you can visit in Walton-on-Thames and surrounding areas with our digital audio tour guide app. Each spot has content for a plaque, a building, a street or general area, providing history, culture or tourism information the you can explore.

Interactive ‘Explore Walton-on-Thames Map’     This Walton-on-Thames tourism map shows points of interest within a 4km radius of Walton-on-Thames centre

Walkfo App     Walkfo

Walkfo is free to download & use (for a limited time period), so if you are looking to explore Walton-on-Thames, go to your App Store to search for “Walkfo” or follow a links below and install on your mobile phone. Walkfo is designed for use with headphones or AirPods, so you can walk & explore whilst learning about the things around you without digital distraction.

  Apple App Store

  Google Play Store

Things to do & visit in Walton-on-Thames and surrounding areas

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Getting to / around Walton-on-Thames – transport links, stations, streets & traffic map

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Getting around in Walton-on-Thames using public transportation may include roads, streets, trains, undergrounds, buses or trams. Walkfo has the following important Walton-on-Thames public transport locations with historic / cultural / factual content when you visit:

Walton-on-Thames Notable Public Transport Stations		Walton-on-Thames Notable Streets & Roads

Walton Bridge

Six versions of Walton Bridge have crossed the Thames, each westward, to Shepperton. Before the first bridge there was a ferry which went back at least to the early 17th century. The first bridge, constructed between 1748 and 1750, was a timber structure that stood until 1783. Canaletto painted a picture of this bridge in 1754. The painting, which shows the rococo-style of this bridge, may be seen in the Dulwich Picture Gallery. The second bridge was constructed in 1788 and stood until 1859. Constructed of brick and stone, it lasted much longer than its predecessor. This bridge was painted by J. M. W. Turner in 1805 following his sketching tour of the River Thames and River Wey. After the second bridge collapsed a ferry crossing resumed until the construction of the third bridge in 1864. This was a girder bridge on stone piers. At the same time, a brick viaduct was constructed to span the flood plain to the south of the river. The viaduct is still standing. The third bridge was damaged during World War II in 1940, leading to a permanent weight restriction. To alleviate this a fourth temporary bridge was constructed in 1953 on the downstream side of the old bridge; this was relegated to use by cyclists and pedestrians only until finally demolished in 1985. The fourth bridge was constructed from prefabricated sections designed by A. M. Hamilton in 1930; built by Callender Cables Ltd, it was called the Callender-Hamilton Bridge. In 1999, the fourth bridge was replaced by yet another temporary, fifth bridge occupying the line of the original bridges. This initially had several problems and had to be resurfaced a number of times causing huge traffic disruptions. The fourth bridge was restricted for use by cyclists and pedestrians only once the fifth bridge was completed. Building a sixth bridge began in 2011 and was completed in summer 2013, being opened to traffic on 22 July. The two previous bridges were removed. The supplemental brick viaduct to the east remains for cycle and pedestrian use. The £32.4 million bridge is single span (has no piers in the river, which increases views from upstream and downstream and particularly navigation for boats – the first such bridge heading up the River Thames. This is also the only parabolic tied-arch bridge without piers across this river.

Attention local Walton-on-Thames historians, tour guides & Walton-on-Thames tourism agents