Great Bookham
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The village has a high street, located in Great Bookham, which is, as its name suggests, the larger of the two villages. It has two butcherButcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...
s, a family run fishmonger
Fishmonger
A fishmonger is someone who sells fish and seafood...
s and two traditional greengrocer
Greengrocer
A greengrocer or fruiterer is a retail trader in fruit and vegetables; that is, in green groceries. Greengrocer is primarily a British and Australian term, and greengrocers' shops were once common in suburbs, towns and villages...
s. The beautiful Rayleigh House at the top of the high street, originally built as the Victoria Temperance Hotel by Mary Chrystie, now contains a healthcare practice.
Three pubs are situated in the village, The Anchor, The Royal Oak, The Old Crown and one in Little Bookham, Ye Olde Windsor Castle. Legend has it that King Henry VIII's hunting parties used to pass through Bookham and stop in the Windsor, hence its royal name. The village has a curry
Curry
Curry is a generic description used throughout Western culture to describe a variety of dishes from Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Thai or other Southeast Asian cuisines...
house. The Old Barn Hall is the main community centre, regularly used for staging amateur dramatics productions and hosting parties and receptions.
The Bookham football club Bookham is in the Combined Counties Premier Division with all the new teams coming into it from the Ryman League. The club was founded prior to World War I.
There are 2 successful primary schools in the village, which makes the area very sought after with families: Eastwick Junior School in Eastwick Drive and The Dawnay School in Griffin Way. There are 3 infant schools in Great Bookham: the Polesden Lacey School in Oakfield Close, Eastwick Infant School in Eastwick Drive, and The Dawnay Infant School in Griffin Way.
Bookham Commons
Bookham CommonsBookham Commons
Bookham Commons are two commons, situated just to the north of the villages of Great Bookham and Little Bookham, in Surrey, England, 1.51 square kilometres in extent; the individual parts are named Great Bookham Common and Little Bookham Common...
includes the two commons in Great Bookham and Little Bookham. Great Bookham Common was bought by local residents in 1923 to save the oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
woodlands, then given to the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
. Little Bookham Common was given to the Trust in 1924 by Mr H Willock-Pollen, then Banks Common in 1925 by Mr R Calburn.
The London Natural History Society has been surveying Bookham Commons for over 50 years, making it one of the best recorded sites for wildlife in south east England.
The common land consist of grassland
Grassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...
(wet, low-lying meadow
Meadow
A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants . The term is from Old English mædwe. In agriculture a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make hay...
s), woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
, scrub and twelve pond
Pond
A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens, water features and koi ponds; all designed for aesthetic ornamentation as landscape or architectural...
s. The ponds are home to all three British species of newt
Newt
A newt is an aquatic amphibian of the family Salamandridae, although not all aquatic salamanders are considered newts. Newts are classified in the subfamily Pleurodelinae of the family Salamandridae, and are found in North America, Europe and Asia...
, including the rare Great Crested Newt
Great Crested Newt
The Great Crested Newt, also called Northern Crested Newt or Warty Newt is a newt in the family Salamandridae, found across Europe and parts of Asia.-Distribution:...
. The five largest ponds are man-made, formed for fish-production in the 17th-century.
Emergency services
Great Bookham is served by these emergency services:- Surrey PoliceSurrey PoliceSurrey Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Surrey in the south of England.The force is led by Chief Constable Mark Rowley and has its headquarters at Mount Browne, Guildford, Surrey...
. From Leatherhead Police Station is only used for minor issues now; everything else is handled from Dorking Police Station. - South East Coast Ambulance ServiceSouth East Coast Ambulance ServiceThe South East Coast Ambulance Service is the NHS Ambulance Services Trust for south-eastern England, covering Kent , Surrey, West Sussex and East Sussex . It also covers a part of north-eastern Hampshire around Aldershot...
as of 1 July 2006, is the local NHSNational Health Service (England)The National Health Service or NHS is the publicly funded healthcare system in England. It is both the largest and oldest single-payer healthcare system in the world. It is able to function in the way that it does because it is primarily funded through the general taxation system, similar to how...
Ambulance Services Trust. The Surrey Ambulance ServiceSurrey Ambulance ServiceSurrey Ambulance Service was the ambulance service for the County of Surrey in England until July 1, 2006, when it was succeeded by a South East Coast Ambulance Service also covering Sussex and Kent....
, SussexSussexSussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, and KentKentKent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
Ambulance services have all merged, and have now ceased to exist. - Surrey Fire & Rescue Service, Actually in FetchamFetchamFetcham is a village in Surrey, England. It is west of Leatherhead, on the other side of the River Mole and Mill Pond springs and the associated nature reserve....
, but called Leatherhead Fire Station. With a full time crew.- 1 x Water tender ladder
- 1 x Water carrier