It takes in Purley Downs and Sanderstead Plantation, an area of woodland that includes the second-highest point in London.

All Saints' Church's construction began in about 1230 followed by great alterations and affixing of monuments including a poem attributed to John Dryden, the first Poet Laureate nationally; it is protected under UK law as Grade I listed.

[4][5] Sanderstead station is at the foot of the dry valley and has frequent, fast trains to East Croydon, connected to a range of London terminals and interchanges.

[n 2] Sanderstead is claimed to an origin of the English Sanders surname,[6] noting at least four separate geographical clusters formed by the 19th century, two of which were by 1881 far more populous.

[7] Sanderstead's Interwar growth coincided with the electrification of the Southern Railway leaving largely a suburban community of households having at least one commuter to central London or Croydon.

In 1958–60 the Sanderstead Archaeological Group excavated in the vicinity of Sanderstead pond and revealed the presence of man as far back as the Mesolithic Period nearly 12,000 years ago, as well as pottery fragments dated between 100 AD and 1300 AD and a bronze belt from the end of the Saxon era.

[8] North of the village at Croham Hurst, upon a wooded hill, are circular barrows believed to be from a Bronze Age settlement.

During the 1980s, when the school was extended, further excavation revealed the remains of several round huts, hearths, a brooch, and pottery, some of which hailed from North Africa.

[9] Sanderstead appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Sandestede, and belonging to St Peter's Abbey, Winchester.

The Atwood family had a long association with Sanderstead, with inscriptions at the local church indicating a presence in the village from the reign of Edward II.

On the edge of the village lies the site of the Old Saw Mill, now home to a number of private residences and the picturesque setting for Sanderstead Cricket Club.