Administrative Boundary of Kingston upon Thames

About Kingston upon Thames

Kingston upon Thames is a Royal Borough in southwest London, England. Covering approximately 37 square kilometres on the south bank of the Thames between Richmond and Epsom, Kingston upon Thames had a population of approximately 180,000 at the 2021 Census. One of only three Royal Boroughs in Greater London, Kingston has a history of extraordinary antiquity for an English town — seven Anglo-Saxon kings of England were crowned here in the 10th and 11th centuries, making Kingston one of the oldest and most historically significant coronation sites in the country. The Saxon Coronation Stone The Coronation Stone of Kingston upon Thames, displayed in the Guildhall precinct in the town centre (adjacent to a medieval chapel), is believed to be the stone on which seven Anglo-Saxon kings of England were crowned between approximately 900 and 978 AD. The kings crowned at Kingston included Athelstan (the first King of all England, crowned c.925 AD), Edmund I, Eadred, Eadwig, Edgar the Peaceful, Edward the Martyr, and Ethelred the Unready. The choice of Kingston as a coronation site — on a major Thames crossing at the boundary between the ancient kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia — reflects its strategic and symbolic importance in early medieval England. The site of the coronations was almost certainly within or adjacent to the Saxon church of All Saints (on the site of the present Kingston Guildhall), and the town's prosperity in the medieval period was closely tied to its status as a royal town. Kingston's own name — "King's town" — reflects this ancient royal connection. Bushy Park and Eisenhower's Headquarters Bushy Park, one of the eight Royal Parks of London, covers approximately 445 hectares of deer park and gardens on the southwestern edge of Kingston upon Thames. The park is famous for its herds of red and fallow deer (which roam freely across the parkland), its Chestnut Avenue (a mile-long double avenue of horse chestnut trees designed by Sir Christopher Wren for a never-built approach to Hampton Court Palace, now spectacular in May when the candles are in flower), and its association with the Second World War. From 1943 to 1945, Bushy Park was the headquarters of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), first under General Dwight D. Eisenhower and later General Bernard Montgomery. It was from Bushy Park that the planning for Operation Overlord — the D-Day landings of June 1944 — was coordinated. New Malden and the Korean Community New Malden, in the south of the borough, is home to the largest Korean community in Europe and one of the largest outside Korea and the United States. The Korean community began settling in New Malden from the 1970s, attracted initially by employees of Korean companies (Samsung, LG, Hyundai and others established European offices in Surrey) and grew through chain migration into a substantial community of approximately 20,000 Korean residents. New Malden's high street and surrounding streets contain Korean restaurants, supermarkets, hairdressers, churches, and cultural organisations, making it a distinctive and vibrant Korean neighbourhood. Population and Demographics The 2021 Census recorded approximately 180,000 residents. Kingston upon Thames is moderately diverse: approximately 67% White, 14% Asian (with a significant Korean community in New Malden), 5% Black, and 6% mixed or other. GIS and Boundary Data The administrative boundary of Kingston upon Thames London Borough is available for free download in GeoJSON and KML formats, sourced from the ONS Open Geography Portal (Crown copyright 2024). Compatible with QGIS, ArcGIS, Mapbox, and Google Earth, the dataset supports Saxon heritage mapping, Royal Park management, Korean community research, D-Day history documentation, and demographic analysis across the Kingston upon Thames local authority area.

📍 Administrative boundary of Kingston upon Thames county