This fascinating collection of over 200 old photogrpahs from the Archive and Local Studies Collections of the London Borough of Sutton gives an excellent introduction to the recent history of this easter side of the Borough. The selection inludes images from an early as 1860 and captures some of the major changes seen by local people since the time when Carshalton, Wallington and Beddington were rural villages on the outskirts of London.

Expanding steadily in the second half of the nineteenth century they were overwhelmed by surburban development in the 1920s and '30s and the transformation from countryside to urban sprawl was complete by 1939.

Although this overall pattern of development was common to them all, the three communities had, and continue to have, distinct identities. The differences and similarities in their history are fully explored and give some clues to their present appearance and circumstances.