Waspes Lodge Roundabout opened on May 1st 1939. Known as 'Britain's first elevated traffic island' the roads that converge on it are on the same level. Surrounded by a concrete 'crash barrier' wall. Public footpaths lead through subways to a hollow central space within the middle. The concrete inner wall has foundations six feet thick.
In September 1939 local residents were concerned that the roundabout and by-pass would be visible to the German air force as a guiding landmark. After the RAF expressed concern the War Office ordered camouflage which included trees from Ashdown Forest. During the war the subways under the roundabout became air raid shelters for the public.
Why the name Wapses Lodge? A building of that name, between Godstone Road and Succombs Hill, was a lodge for a private driveway that led to Marden Park. The most probable explanation of the word 'wapses' is a derivation of the old English word 'wop' meaning tearful or weeping. Water once welled from the ground near Wapses Lodge and joined the nearby Bourne, and the area was subject to flooding over the centuries.
