Jimmy Page Childhood Home

This modest semi-detached house at 34 Miles Road in Epsom, Surrey is where Jimmy Page grew up and first discovered the guitar. Page was born in Heston, Middlesex in 1944, and his family moved to Epsom when he was a young child. It was here, as a teenager, that he found an old Spanish guitar that had been left behind by a previous occupant of the house. He taught himself to play, and by the age of 13 was appearing on a BBC television talent show.

Page's progress was remarkably fast. While still living at Miles Road, he began playing in local bands and quickly developed a reputation that reached beyond Surrey. By his mid-teens he was being recruited for session work in London, and before long he had become one of the most in-demand session guitarists in Britain, playing on records by The Kinks, The Who, Them, and dozens of others. His work was so prolific that he is believed to have played on a significant proportion of the hit records coming out of London in the early-to-mid 1960s.

Page continued to live at the family home in Epsom during his early career, commuting into London for studio sessions. It was only after joining The Yardbirds in 1966 — initially as bassist before switching to lead guitar — that his life moved decisively away from suburban Surrey.

When The Yardbirds dissolved in 1968, Page formed the New Yardbirds with Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham — a band that quickly renamed itself Led Zeppelin. The rest is among the most well-documented stories in rock history. But the beginning of it all traces back to this quiet street in Epsom, where a boy found a forgotten guitar in a house his family had just moved into.

34 Miles Road is a private residence on a quiet residential street in Epsom. The house should be viewed respectfully from the street only. Epsom is a commuter town in Surrey, easily reached from central London by train from Waterloo or Victoria. The house looks much as it would have in the 1950s — an ordinary English suburban home that happened to set in motion one of the most extraordinary careers in rock music.