EPSOM
(EPP-suhm)
English
town famous for the Epsom Downs Racecourse Common
clue: English derby site; Derby town; England's ____ Downs; Downs
town; Surrey track town Crossword
puzzle frequency:
once a year Frequency
in English language:
21419 / 86800 Video: Epsom
– The Ivestec Derby 2009
Epsom
is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England,
to the south of Greater London. The town is located 18 miles (29
km) south-south-west of Charing Cross, and forms part of the
suburbia that surrounds London. The town lies on the chalk
downland of Epsom Downs.
Epsom
Grandstand in the 1830s
Epsom
lay within the Copthorne hundred, an administrative division
devised by the Saxons. The name of Epsom derives from Ebba's ham.
Ebba was a Saxon landowner. There were a string of settlements,
many ending in -ham, along the northern slopes of the Downs,
including Effingham, Bookham, and Cheam. The only relic from this
period is a 7th century brooch found in Epsom and now in the
British Museum.
The
early history of the area is bound up with the Abbey of Chertsey,
whose ownership of Ebbisham was confirmed by King Athelstan in
933.
Epsom
appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Evesham. It was held by
Chertsey Abbey. Its domesday assets were: 11 hides; 2 churches, 2
mills worth 10s, 18 ploughs, 24 acres of meadow, woodland worth
20 hogs. It rendered £17.[1] The town at the time of
Domesday Book had 38 peasant households grouped near St. Martin's
Church. Later, other small settlements grew up at the town pond
(now the Market in the High Street), and at Epsom Court, Horton,
Woodcote, and Langley Vale.
The
Epsom Derby, the second leg of the English Triple Crown of
Thoroughbred Racing is run each June on nearby Epsom Downs
Racecourse.
The
British Prime Minister and first chairman of the London County
Council, Lord Rosebery, was sent down (expelled) from the
University of Oxford for buying a racehorse and entering it in
the Derby − it finished last. Lord Rosebery remained
closely associated with the town throughout his life, leaving
land to the borough, memorialised in the names of Rosebery Park
and Rosebery School. A house was also named after him at Epsom
College, a public school located in Epsom.
Historically,
Epsom was known as a spa town, although there is little to see
nowadays. There were entertainments at the Assembly Rooms (built
c. 1690) and is now a Wetherspoons pub. A housing estate has now
been built upon the wells.
Epsom
was visited by Samuel Pepys in 1663 when the town was famous for
its wells. The visit is noted in his diaries.
Epsom
salts are named after the town. Epsom salt was originally
prepared by boiling down mineral waters at Epsom.
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Epsom".
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