Cheam (/ˈtʃiːm/) is a suburb of London, England, 10.9 miles (17.5 km) southwest of Charing Cross.

Cheam is bordered by Worcester Park to the northwest, Morden to the northeast, Sutton to the east, Epsom, Ewell and Stoneleigh to the west and Banstead and Belmont to the south.

Held by Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury, its Domesday assets were four hides, one church, 17 ploughs, 1 mile (1.6 km) of meadow, and woodland worth 25 hogs.

It is thought to date back to 1259 when Henry III granted Cheam a charter, making it a town.

Firm historical records of Cheam Charter Fair date back to the 1800s when a fairground accompanied the market.

It has a conservation area[12] and a number of historic buildings dating back several centuries, including Nonsuch Mansion, the gabled Whitehall and Lumley Chapel, and a Georgian former rectory.

The area consists of a large Sainsbury's supermarket with adjoining Starbucks, a neighbouring park, a number of independent shops and restaurants, a 24-hour McDonald's drive-thru, a post office and a Costa Coffee.

There are a number of inscriptions on the structure, including one at the 12 O'Clock Face which reads: Our Glorious Dead / Their names shall endure for evermore.

[17] The Old Rectory is a large part timber-framed house, built in the Tudor period, but extended and remodelled in the 18th century.

Many original features remain including oak doors and hinges, window shutters and fireplaces.

A file of text and images relating to the house is available in the Conservation Archive in Sutton Library.

In medieval times the land upon which Nonsuch Mansion sits was part of the three thousand acre manor of Cuddington.

Built within the north porch of the mansion is a block from the original Nonsuch Palace that bears an inscription which means "1543 Henry VIII in the 35th year of His reign."

St Paul's Howell Hill is on Northey Avenue at the far west of the town, although it is actually in the borough of Epsom and Ewell.

Towards the eastern end of Northey Avenue is St Andrew's United Reformed Church, a grade II listed[24] building designed by Maxwell Ayrton in 1933.

It was built with Kentish ragstone below pitched slate roofs, with dressings to windows and doors in Bath Stone.

It was designed by F. H. Pownall in the Gothic revival architectural style, and features polychrome brickwork decoration internally.

[28][29][30] The graveyard attached to this church was twice subject to a 6-foot (1.8 m) archaeological excavation by the police, first between June and September 2012, and again from April 2013.

[31] This excavation was conducted in order to uncover evidence in the investigation into the unsolved disappearance of Lee Boxell, a fifteen-year-old local schoolboy, in 1988.

[32] Situated next to St Dunstan's Church, Lumley Chapel is the oldest standing building in the London Borough of Sutton, and contains many notable monuments to local families.

[33][34] It is constructed in partly roughcast rubble stone and brick, and has a gabled tile roof.

[36] It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building,[34] and is under the care of a national charity, the Churches Conservation Trust.

Services from Cheam to central London include direct trains to Victoria which take about 30 minutes.

[40] The same report recommended extending the Northern line to North Cheam, contingent on doubling the tracks between Kennington and Tooting Broadway such that Charing Cross trains would terminate at Tooting Broadway, and with an intermediate station at Morden South.

[41] The proposed site for North Cheam station would have occupied the site of what was then a Granada cinema on London Road in North Cheam, which was opened in 1937 and closed in 1969;[42] one half was demolished to make way for a community centre car park,[43] and the other half of which is now a Wetherspoons pub.

Cheam Leisure Centre, on Malden Road, has facilities including a swimming pool (30m x 12m), squash courts and fitness gym.

[citation needed] Cheam is referred to in a rhyme dating back to the 18th century, and revised in the Victorian era to: "Sutton for good mutton; Cheam for juicy beef; Croydon for a pretty girl And Mitcham for a thief.