Walton-on-Thames.org is an independent, not-for-profit digital community archive and local history resource for Walton-on-Thames, Hersham and Whiteley Village in Surrey. It brings together a growing collection of illustrated, researched articles and place-based stories covering the area’s people, buildings, streets, organisations and events.
The archive includes historical photographs and postcards, maps, newspaper extracts, transcribed records, timelines, biographies and links to relevant museum and archival sources. Material is presented online through written interpretation and digitised images. The collection comprises dozens of themed articles and location pages, and it continues to expand as new research and community knowledge become available.
Subjects include the River Thames and Walton Bridge, St Mary’s Church and other local buildings, transport and railway history, Cecil Hepworth’s pioneering film studios, the First World War New Zealand hospital at Mount Felix, local schools, businesses and notable residents, Hersham Green, and Whiteley Village. The website also publishes walking-tour style material and Historypin collections that connect stories with specific places.
The period covered ranges from the medieval history of the settlements through the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries to recent local change, with particular strengths in Victorian and twentieth-century social history. Articles are researched from published works, archives and primary sources, with references included wherever possible. Walton-on-Thames.org aims to preserve local knowledge, make reliable history accessible to residents, schools, researchers and visitors, and guide readers towards original archives and other primary sources.