[2] Ewell was founded as a spring line settlement, where the permeable chalk of the North Downs meets the impermeable London Clay, and the Hogsmill River (a tributary of the River Thames) still rises at a spring close to Bourne Hall in the village centre.

The Roman road Stane Street from Chichester deviates from straight slightly at Ewell to pass by the central spring.

It rendered £25 per year to its feudal system overlords; also £1 from the church in Leatherhead, it was held by Osbert de Ow and was attached to his manor.

[3] King Henry VIII established here in 1538 Nonsuch Palace on the borders of Cheam, considered one of his greatest building projects.

[3] Samuel Pepys visited Ewell on numerous occasions in the 17th century and the area is mentioned several times between 1663 and 1665 in his diary, in which he spells it Yowell.

Thomas Calverley built the large architecturally listed home Ewell Castle in 1814 in an imitation castellated style and gave the school financial benefaction, which became available in 1860.

In the 1980s, an elderly lifelong resident of Ewell, named Digeance, recalled the pasture land and orchards that stretched north and west right across to Berrylands in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

This radical transformation is documented in the photography collected in the book Archive Photos – Epsom and Ewell.

[11] The suburban residential development across that area is mainly 1930s/40s semi-detached houses, although some Edwardian, Victorian and earlier architecture is still present.

[16] The town lies entirely within the parliamentary constituency of Epsom and Ewell, and is currently represented in parliament by Liberal Democrat Helen Maguire.

It is a modernist circular structure with a central glass dome, built in 1967–70 to a design by A. G. Sheppard Fidler and Associates.

The building, which is reminiscent of an immense flying saucer, houses a public library, subterranean theatre, gymnasium, café and local museum, and holds gatherings such as fairs, yoga and karate lessons.

The ruins of the old church's early medieval tower stand alone in parkland and are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

[24] St Paul's Howell Hill is situated in East Ewell and is known locally due to its prominent presence on a roundabout and its contemporary design.

Unlike most parts of its borough, Ewell has telephone numbers using the London 020 area code, alongside Stoneleigh .

[n 2] Ewell also has an unusually large telephone exchange, beside The Spring pub, fitted with underground facilities designed to survive a nuclear conflict during the later years of the Cold War.

[25][26] Ewell's town centre is the 400 m (1,300 ft) long High Street which contains two chain convenience stores, Sainsbury's Local and Co-op, in addition to a post office.

A large portion of the Hogsmill Open Space, a local nature reserve, is in this area, from the railway line near Ewell Village to Ruxley Lane.

An extensive wildlife corridor, stretching from the Hogsmill source in Ewell Village and extending downstream along the course of the river.

They dance Cotswold Morris and sport black top hats, red and white baldrics and ribbons.

Bus services in Ewell include the TfL-operated 293, 406, 418, 467, S2 and non-TfL operated E5 and E16 providing links to Morden, Kingston Upon Thames and Chessington.

The doorway linking St Mary's church yard and the grounds of Glyn House reproduced as the door on which Christ is knocking is arguably his most praised painting, The Light of the World.

Similarly, the background for John Everett Millais' oil on canvas Ophelia was painted at Ewell.

The borough's low crime rate, good education results and large number of open spaces were all cited as its particularly attractive features, although being less commercial than the centres of Kingston or London, having a relative 'lack of entertainment facilities'.

Singer Petula Clark was born in Ewell in 1932, as well as the broadcaster James Whale, and TV presenter Michaela Strachan.

[32] Michael Frayn, author and playwright, lived as a child in Hillside Road, off Queensmead Avenue, East Ewell.