Shepperton is a suburban town in the borough of Spelthorne, in the county of Surrey in England, south west of Charing Cross, London, bounded by the Thames to the south and much of the east and which is in the north-west bisected by the M3 motorway. Shepperton is equidistant between the towns of Chertsey and Sunbury-on-Thames. Shepperton is mentioned in a document of 959 AD and in the Domesday Book, where it was an agricultural village.In the early 19th century resident writers and poets included Haggard, Peacock, Meredith and Shelley, allured by the Thames beside which they and other wealthy residents lived, painted at Walton Bridge here in 1754 by Canaletto and in 1805 by Turner. Its accessibility was improved by Sunbury Lock and Shepperton Lock built in the 1810s supporting the trade and agricultural barges and later the use of residential narrowboats. The suburbanisation of Shepperton began late for Middlesex, in the latter part of the 19th century, with the construction in 1864 of its railway — the owner of its manor, William Schaw Lindsay sponsored the venture which had aims to be extended via Chertsey and connect to the South Western Main Line. Shepperton's proximity to burgeoning London led to small businesses being established along its high street by the end of the century.