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In 1924 the West Park Mental Hospital was completed and occupied,
and in 1925 the Queen Mary'3 Convalescent Centre was closed. In
November, 1925, the population of the four Mental Hospitals and the Ewell
Ministry of Pensions Hospital was returned as 7,853 persons, consisting of
927 staff and 6,926 patients.
Taking into consideration these figures, the natural increase in the
population, and the number of houses that have been erected, the population
for 1925 may be estimated as in the neighbourhood of 23,000, and the nett
population, among whom the births and deaths of the District are recorded,
as 15,700 persons.
Physical Features.—The District is situated upon, and at the foot of,
the northern slope of the chalk downs. The town itself, at a height of
about 150ft. above sea-level, and Woodcote (190ft.), are situated chiefly on
the Thanet sand and the Woolwich and Reading beds of the Lower London
Tertiaries, which separate the chalk from the London clay ; a superficial
deposit of valley gravel overlies a considerable area of the London clay and
Lower London Tertiaries. The western and north-western parts of the
District, including the Common and Horfcon, are on the London clay, at an
elevation of about 200ft.; the eastern and southern parts are on the chalk,
which rises to a height of about 500ft. at the south-eastern limit of the
parish. The natural drainage is to the Hog's Mill River to the north and
to the Rye Brook, a tributary of the River Mole, to the west.
Inhabited Houses and Families.—At the Census, 1921, there were
2,813 inhabited separate dwellings, occupied by 3,181 private families;
there were in addition 26 other occupied dwellings.
Of the 2,813 occupied private dwellings
193, or 7 per cent, contained 1—3 rooms
1,732, or 62 „ „ 4—5 „
622, or 22 „ „ 6—8 ,,
and 266, or 9 ,, ,, 9 or more rooms.
One of the dwellings which contained 1—3 rooms, 192 of those
containing 4—5 rooms, 75 of those containing 6—8 rooms, and 15 of the
remainder were occupied by more than one family ; in 30 of the houses
there were three or more families.