Surrey
Encyclopedia
Surrey ˈ is a county
in the South East
of England
and is one of the Home Counties
. The county borders Greater London
, Kent
, East Sussex
, West Sussex
, Hampshire
and Berkshire
. The historic county town
is Guildford
. Surrey County Council
sits at Kingston upon Thames
, although this has been part of Greater London
since 1965. The London boroughs of Lambeth, Wandsworth and Southwark were considered part of Surrey until 1889; and Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Sutton, Barnes and Richmond - all now reclassified as part of Greater London - were part of Surrey until 1965.
Surrey is divided into 11 borough
s and districts: Elmbridge
, Epsom and Ewell
, Guildford
, Mole Valley
, Reigate and Banstead
, Runnymede, Spelthorne
, Surrey Heath
, Tandridge, Waverley
, Woking
. After the elections of 1 May 2008, the Conservatives
are in control of 10 out of 11 councils in Surrey, with Epsom and Ewell in Residents Association control. The Conservatives hold all 11 Parliamentary constituencies within the county borders.
Surrey is divided in two by the chalk ridge of the North Downs
, running east-west. The ridge is pierced by Surrey's principal rivers, the Wey
and the Mole, which are tributaries of the Thames
, the river which constituted the northern border of the county before modern local government reorganisations. To the north of the Downs the land is mostly flat, forming part of the basin of the Thames. The geology of this area is dominated by London Clay
in the east, Bagshot Sands in the west and alluvial
deposits along the rivers. To the south of the Downs in the western part of the county are the sandstone Surrey Hills
, while further east is the plain of the Low Weald
, rising in the extreme south-east to the edge of the hills of the High Weald. The Downs and the area to the south form part of a concentric pattern of geological deposits which also extends across southern Kent and most of Sussex, predominantly composed of Wealden Clay
, Lower Greensand and the chalk of the Downs.
Much of Surrey is in the Metropolitan Green Belt
. It contains a good deal of mature woodland
(reflected in the official logo of Surrey County Council, a pair of interlocking oak leaves). Among its many notable beauty spots are Box Hill, Leith Hill
, Frensham Ponds, Newlands Corner
and Puttenham & Crooksbury Commons
. Surrey is the most wooded county in England, with 22.4% coverage compared to a national average of 11.8% and as such is one of the few counties not to include new woodlands in their strategic plans. Box Hill has the oldest untouched area of natural woodland in the UK, one of the oldest in Europe. Surrey also contains England's principal concentration of lowland heath
, on sandy soils in the west of the county.
Agriculture not being intensive, there are many commons
and access lands, together with an extensive network of footpaths and bridleways including the North Downs Way
, a scenic long-distance path. Accordingly, Surrey provides much in the way of rural leisure activities, with a very large horse population.
The highest elevation in Surrey is Leith Hill
near Dorking
. It is either 293, 294 or 295 metres (961, 965 or 968 ft) above sea level and is the second highest point in southeastern England after Walbury Hill
297 metres (974.4 ft) in West Berkshire
.
Surrey has a population of approximately 1.1 million people. Its largest town is Guildford
, with a population of 66,773; Woking
comes a close second with 62,796. They are followed by Ewell
with 39,994 people and Camberley
with 30,155. Towns of between 25,000 and 30,000 inhabitants are Ashford
, Epsom
, Farnham
, Staines
and Redhill
. Guildford is the historic county town
, although the county administration was moved to Newington
in 1791 and to Kingston upon Thames
in 1893. The county council's headquarters have been outside the county's boundaries since 1 April 1965 when Kingston and other areas were included within Greater London
by the London Government Act 1963
. Recent plans to move the offices to a new site in Woking have now been abandoned. Due to its proximity to London there are many commuter town
s and villages in Surrey, the population density is high and the area is one of the richest parts of the UK. Surrey is Britain's most densely populated county, excluding Greater London, the metropolitan counties
and Bristol
. Much of the north east of the county is an urban area contiguous to Greater London
. In the west, there is a conurbation
straddling the Hampshire/Surrey border, including in Surrey Camberley
and Farnham
.
Before Roman times the area today known as Surrey was very probably occupied by the Atrebates
tribe centred at Calleva Atrebatum in the modern county of Hampshire
. They are known to have controlled the southern bank of the Thames from Roman texts describing the tribal relations between them and the powerful Catuvellauni
on the north bank. In about 42AD King Cunobelinus
(Welsh
: Cynfelin ap Tegfan) of the Catuvellauni died and war broke out between his sons and King Verica
of the Atrebates. The Atrebates were defeated in the conflict, their capital captured and their lands made subject to the Catuvellauni now led by Togodumnus
ruling from Camulodunum
. Verica fled to Gaul
and appealed for Roman aid. The Atrebates were allies with Rome during their invasion of Britain in 43AD. The area of Surrey was traversed by Stane Street and other less well known Roman roads. There were Roman temples on Farley Heath
and near Wanborough
.
. The names of a number of Saxon tribes who may have inhabited different parts of Surrey in this period have been conjectured on the basis of place names. These include the Godhelmingas (around Godalming
), Tetingas (around Tooting
) and Woccingas (between Woking
and Wokingham
in Berkshire). It has also been speculated that the Nox gaga and the Oht gaga tribes listed in the Mercian Tribal Hidage
refer to two distinct groups living in Surrey. They were valued together at 7,000 hides
. Surrey may have formed part of a larger Middle Saxon
kingdom or confederacy also including areas north of the Thames. The name Surrey is derived from Suthrige, meaning "southern region", and this may originate in its status as the southern half of the Middle Saxon territory.
If it ever existed, the Middle Saxon kingdom had disappeared by the 7th century, and Surrey became a frontier area disputed between the kingdoms of Kent
, Essex
, Sussex
, Wessex
and Mercia
, until its permanent absorption by Wessex in 825. Despite this fluctuating situation it retained its identity as a coherent territorial unit. During the 7th century Surrey became Christian and initially formed part of the East Saxon diocese of London
, indicating that it was under East Saxon rule at that time, but was later transferred to the West Saxon diocese of Winchester
. Its most important religious institution throughout the Anglo-Saxon
period and beyond was Chertsey Abbey
, founded in 666. At this point Surrey was evidently under Kentish domination, as the abbey was founded under the patronage of King Ecgberht
of Kent. However, a few years later at least part of it was subject to Mercia, since in 673-5 further lands were given to Chertsey Abbey by Frithuwald
, a local sub-king (subregulus) ruling under the sovereignty of Wulfhere
of Mercia. A decade later Surrey passed into the hands of King Caedwalla of Wessex, who also conquered Kent and Sussex and founded a monastery at Farnham
in 686, and it remained under the control of Caedwalla's successor Ine
in the early 8th century. Its political history for most of the 8th century is unclear, although it may have been under South Saxon control around 722, but by 784–5 it had passed into the hands of King Offa
of Mercia. Mercian rule continued until 825, when following his victory over the Mercians at the Battle of Ashdown
, King Egbert
of Wessex seized control of Surrey, along with Sussex, Kent and Essex. It was incorporated into Wessex as a shire
and continued thereafter under the rule of the West Saxon kings, who eventually became kings of all England.
Identified sub-kings of Surrey
Vikings. Surrey's inland position shielded it from coastal raiding, so that it was not normally troubled except by the largest and most ambitious Scandinavian armies. In 851 an exceptionally large invasion force of Danes
arrived in the mouth of the Thames on a fleet of about 350 ships, which would have carried over 15,000 men. Having sacked Canterbury
and London and defeated King Beorhtwulf
of Mercia in battle, the Danes crossed the Thames into Surrey, but were slaughtered by a West Saxon army led by King Aethelwulf in the Battle of Aclea, bringing the invasion to an end. In 892 Surrey was the scene of another important battle when a large Danish army, variously reported at 200, 250 and 350 ship-loads, moved west from its encampment in Kent. It was intercepted and defeated at Farnham by an army led by Alfred the Great
's son Edward, the future King Edward the Elder
, and fled across the Thames towards Essex.
Its location and the growing power of the West Saxon, later English, kingdom kept Surrey safe from attack for over a century thereafter. Kingston
was the scene for the coronation of Aethelstan
in 924 and Aethelred the Unready in 978, and, according to later tradition, of other tenth century Kings of England as well. The renewed Danish attacks during the disastrous reign of Aethelred led to the devastation of Surrey by the army of Thorkell the Tall, which ravaged all of south-eastern England in 1009–11. The climax of this wave of attacks came in 1016, which saw prolonged fighting between the forces of King Edmund Ironside
and the Danish king Cnut, including an English victory over the Danes somewhere in north-eastern Surrey, but ended with the Danish conquest of England and the establishment of Cnut as king.
Cnut's death in 1035 was followed by a period of political uncertainty as the succession was disputed between his sons. In 1036 Alfred, son of Aethelred the Unready, returned from Normandy, where he had been taken for safety as a child at the time of Cnut's conquest of England. It is uncertain what his intentions were, but after landing with a small retinue in Sussex he was met by Godwin, Earl of Wessex
, who escorted him in apparently friendly fashion to Guildford
. Having taken lodgings there, Alfred's men were attacked as they slept and massacred by Godwin's followers, while the prince himself was blinded and imprisoned, dying shortly afterwards. This butchery must have contributed to the antipathy between Godwin and Alfred's brother Edward the Confessor
, who came to the throne in 1042. That hostility was of critical importance in bringing about the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.
Domesday Book
records that the largest landowners in Surrey at the end of Edward's reign were Chertsey Abbey and Harold Godwinson
, Earl of Wessex and later king, followed by the estates of King Edward himself. Apart from the abbey, most of whose lands were within the shire, Surrey was the not the principal focus of any major landowner's holdings, a tendency which was to persist in later periods. Given the vast and widespread landed interests and the national and international preoccupations of the monarchy and the earldom of Wessex, the Abbot of Chertsey was therefore probably the most important figure in the local elite.
The Anglo-Saxon period saw the emergence of the shire's internal division into 14 hundreds
, which continued until Victorian
times. These were the hundreds of Blackheath
, Brixton
, Copthorne
, Effingham Half-Hundred
, Elmbridge
, Farnham
, Godalming
, Godley
, Kingston
, Reigate
, Tandridge
, Wallington
, Woking
and Wotton
.
Identified ealdormen
of Surrey
, the Norman army advanced through Kent into Surrey, where they defeated an English force which attacked them at Southwark
, before proceeding westwards on a circuitous march to reach London from the north-west. As was the case across England, the native ruling class of Surrey was virtually eliminated by Norman seizure of land. Only one significant English landowner, the brother of the last English Abbot of Chertsey, remained by the time the Domesday survey was conducted in 1086. At that time the largest landholding in Surrey, as in many other parts of the country, was the expanded royal estate, while the next largest holding belonged to Richard fitz Gilbert
, founder of the de Clare
family.
In 1088, King William II
granted William de Warenne
the title of Earl of Surrey
as a reward for Warenne's loyalty during the rebellion that followed the death of William I
. When the male line of the Warennes became extinct in the 14th century the earldom was inherited by the Fitzalan Earls of Arundel. The Fitzalan line of Earls of Surrey became extinct in 1415 but the title was revived in the late 15th century for the Howard family who still hold it. However, Surrey was not the principal focus of any of these families' interests.
Guildford Castle
, one of many fortresses originally established by the Normans as part of the process of subjugating the country, was developed as a royal palace in the 12th century. Farnham Castle
was built during the 12th century as a residence for the Bishop of Winchester
, while other stone castles were constructed in the same period at Bletchingley
by the de Clares and at Reigate
by the Warennes. During King John
's struggle with the barons
, Magna Carta
was issued in June 1215 at Runnymede
. In the following year Surrey was overrun by forces supporting Prince Louis
of France, who passed through on their way from London to Winchester
and back and occupied Guildford and Reigate castles. Guildford Castle later became one of the favourite residences of King Henry III
, who considerably expanded the palace there. In 1264, during the baronial revolt
against Henry III, the rebel army of Simon de Montfort
passed southwards through Surrey on their way to the Battle of Lewes
in Sussex. Although the rebels were victorious, soon after the battle royal forces captured and destroyed Bletchingley Castle, whose owner Gilbert de Clare was one of de Montfort's leading supporters. By the 14th century castles were of dwindling military importance, but continued to be a mark of social prestige, leading to the construction of castles at Betchworth
by Lord Cobham
and at Starborough near Lingfield
by John Fitzalan
, whose father had recently inherited the Earldom of Surrey.
Surrey had little political or economic importance in the Middle Ages. It was not the main power-base of any major aristocratic family or the seat of a bishopric, while its agricultural wealth was limited by its generally poor soils. Population pressure in the 12th and 13th centuries led to the beginning of the gradual deforestation and agricultural development of the Weald, an area which had hitherto remained wooded due to the exceptional difficulty of farming its heavy clay soil. Urban development, excepting the London suburb of Southwark, was sapped by the overshadowing predominance of London and the major towns in neighbouring shires, many of which benefited from access to the sea or from political or ecclesiastical eminence. Surrey did however achieve a significant degree of prosperity in the later Middle Ages through its role in the production of woollen cloth, England's main export industry, which in Surrey was centred on Guildford.
One benefit of obscurity was that Surrey largely avoided being seriously fought over in the various rebellions and civil wars of the period, although armies from Kent heading for London passed through what was then north-eastern Surrey during the Peasants' Revolt
of 1381, Cade's Rebellion
in 1450 and one stage of the Wars of the Roses
in 1460.
In 1082 a Cluniac abbey was founded at Bermondsey
by Alwine, a wealthy English citizen of London. The first Cistercian monastery in England, Waverley Abbey
, was founded in 1128. Over the next quarter-century monks spread out from here to found new houses, creating a network of twelve monasteries descended from Waverley across southern and central England. The 12th and early 13th centuries also saw the establishment of Augustinian priories at Merton
, Newark
, Tandridge, Southwark
and Reigate. A Dominican
friary was established at Guildford
by Henry III's widow Eleanor of Provence
, in memory of her grandson who had died at Guildford in 1274. In the 15th century a Carthusian
priory was founded by King Henry V
at Sheen
. These would all perish, along with the still important Benedictine
abbey of Chertsey
, in the 16th-century Dissolution of the Monasteries
.
Although now fallen into disuse, some English counties had nicknames for people from that county, such as a Tyke
from Yorkshire
and a Yellowbelly
from Lincolnshire
; the traditional nickname for people from Surrey is 'Surrey Capon', as it was well known in the later Middle Ages as the county where chickens were fattened up for the London meat markets.
Under the early Tudor
kings magnificent royal palaces were constructed in northern Surrey, in convenient proximity to London. At Richmond
an existing royal residence was rebuilt on a grand scale under King Henry VII
, who also founded a Franciscan
friary nearby in 1499. The still more spectacular palace of Nonsuch
was later built for Henry VIII
near Ewell
. The palace at Guildford Castle had fallen out of use long before, but a royal hunting lodge existed just outside the town. All these have since been demolished.
During the Cornish Rebellion of 1497
the rebels heading for London briefly occupied Guildford and fought a skirmish with a government detachment on Guildown outside the town, before marching on to Blackheath
in Kent where they were crushed by a royal army. The forces of Wyatt's Rebellion
in 1554 passed through what was then north-eastern Surrey on their way from Kent to London, briefly occupying Southwark and then crossing the Thames at Kingston after failing to storm London Bridge.
Surrey's cloth industry declined in the 16th century, and effectively collapsed in the 17th. The introduction of new furnace technology in the early 17th century led to an expansion of the iron industry in the Weald, whose rich deposits had been exploited since prehistoric times, but this hastened the extinction of the business as the mines were worked out. However, this period also saw the emergence of important new industries, centred on the valley of the Tillingbourne
. The production of brass goods and wire in this area was relatively short-lived, but the manufacture of paper and gunpowder proved more enduring. For a time in the mid-17th century the Surrey mills were the main producers of gunpowder in England. The Wey Navigation
, opened in 1653, was one of England's first canal systems.
George Abbot, the son of a Guildford clothworker, served as Archbishop of Canterbury
in 1611–33. In 1619 he founded Abbot's Hospital
, an almshouse
in Guildford, which is still operating. He also made unsuccessful efforts to revitalise the ailing local cloth industry. One of his brothers, Robert, became Bishop of Salisbury
and another, Maurice
, was a founding shareholder of the East India Company
who became the company's governor and later Lord Mayor of London
.
Bankside
in Southwark, then part of Surrey, was the principal entertainment district of early modern London. This was due to its convenient location outside the jurisdiction of the government of the City of London
, since the social control exercised over this London suburb by the local authorities of Surrey was less effectively restrictive. As a result this was where the city's theatres were located and was the setting for the golden age of Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre
, with the work of playwrights including William Shakespeare
, Christopher Marlowe
, Ben Jonson
and John Webster
being performed in playhouses along the south bank of the Thames.
Surrey almost entirely escaped the direct impact of fighting during the main phase
of the English Civil War
in 1642-6. The local Parliamentarian
gentry led by Sir Richard Onslow
were able to secure the county without difficulty on the outbreak of war. Farnham Castle was briefly occupied by the advancing Royalists in late 1642, but was easily stormed by the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller
. A new Royalist offensive in late 1643 saw skirmishing around Farnham between Waller's forces and Ralph Hopton's Royalists, but these brief incursions into the western fringes of Surrey marked the limits of Royalist advances on the county. During a political crisis in summer 1647 Sir Thomas Fairfax's army passed through Surrey on its way to occupy London, and subsequent billeting of troops in Surrey caused considerable discontent. In the brief Second Civil War
of 1648 the Earl of Holland
entered Surrey in July hoping to ignite a Royalist revolt. He raised his standard at Kingston and advanced south, but found little support. After confused manoeuvres between Reigate and Dorking
as Parliamentary troops closed in, his force of 500 men fled northwards and was overtaken and routed at Kingston.
Surrey had a prominent role in the development of the radical political movements unleashed by the civil war. In October 1647 the first manifesto of what became known as the Leveller movement, The Case of the Army Truly Stated, was drafted at Guildford by the elected representatives of New Model Army
regiments and civilian radicals from London. This document combined the presentation of specific grievances with wider demands for constitutional change on the basis of popular sovereignty
. It formed the template for the more systematic and radical Agreement of the People
, drafted by the same men later that month, and led to the Putney Debates
between its signatories and the army leadership. In 1649 the Diggers led by Gerrard Winstanley
established their communal settlement at St. George's Hill to implement egalitarian ideals of common ownership, but were eventually driven out by the local landowners through violence and litigation. A smaller Digger commune was then established near Cobham
, but suffered the same fate in 1650.
roads and a stagecoach
system. A far more profound transformation followed with the arrival of the railways, beginning in the late 1830s. The availability of rapid transportation enabled prosperous London workers to travel daily to homes across Surrey. This phenomenon of commuting brought explosive growth to Surrey's population and wealth, and tied its economy and society inextricably to London. Existing towns like Guildford, Farnham and most spectacularly Croydon
grew rapidly, while new towns such as Woking and Redhill
emerged beside the railway lines.
Meanwhile London itself spread swiftly across north-eastern Surrey. In 1800 it extended only to Vauxhall
; a century later the city's growth had reached as far as Putney
and Streatham
. This expansion was reflected in the creation of the County of London
in 1889, detaching the areas subsumed by the city from Surrey. The expansion of London continued in the 20th century, engulfing Croydon, Kingston and many smaller settlements. This led to a further contraction of Surrey in 1965 with the creation of Greater London
.
In 1849 Brookwood Cemetery
was established near Woking to serve the population of London, connected to the capital by its own railway service
. It soon developed into the largest burial ground in the world. Woking was also the site of Britain's first crematorium
, which opened in 1878, and its first mosque
, founded in 1889. In 1881 Godalming became the first town in the world with a public electricity supply.
The eastern part of Surrey was transferred from the Diocese of Winchester
to that of Rochester
in 1877. In 1905 this area was detached to form a new Diocese of Southwark
. The rest of the county, together with part of eastern Hampshire, was separated from Winchester in 1927 to become the Diocese of Guildford
, whose cathedral
was consecrated in 1961.
During the later 19th century Surrey became increasingly important in the development of architecture in Britain and the wider world. Its traditional building forms were significant in shaping the widespread trend for English vernacular architecture
associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement
, and would continue to influence domestic building through the 20th century. The prominence of Surrey peaked in the 1890s, when it was the focus for globally important developments in domestic architecture, in particular the early work of Edwin Lutyens
, who grew up in the county and was greatly influenced by its traditional styles and materials.
The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the demise of Surrey's long-standing industries manufacturing paper and gunpowder. Most of the county's paper mills closed around the turn of the century and the last survivor shut in 1928. Gunpowder production fell victim to the First World War, which brought about a huge expansion of the British munitions industry, followed by sharp contraction and consolidation when the war ended, leading to the closure of the Surrey powder mills. New industrial developments included the establishment of the vehicle manufacturers Dennis Brothers
in Guildford in 1895. Beginning as a maker of bicycles and then of cars, the firm soon shifted into the production of commercial and utility vehicles, becoming internationally important as a manufacturer of fire engines and buses. Though much reduced in size and despite numerous changes of ownership, this business continues to operate in Guildford.
During the Second World War a section of the GHQ Stop Line
, a system of pillboxes, gun emplacements, anti-tank obstacles and other fortifications was constructed along the North Downs. This line, running from Somerset
to Yorkshire
, was intended as the principal fixed defence of London and the industrial core of England against the threat of invasion. German invasion plans envisaged that the main thrust of their advance inland would cross the North Downs at the gap in the ridge formed by the Wey valley, thus colliding with the defence line around Guildford.
Few traces of the ancient British and Roman periods survive in Surrey. There are a number of round barrow
s and bell barrow
s in various locations, mostly dating to the Bronze Age
. Remains of Iron Age
hillforts exist at Holmbury Hill
, Hascombe Hill
, Anstiebury (near Capel), Dry Hill (near Lingfield
), St. Ann's Hill, Chertsey and St George's Hill, Weybridge
. Most of these sites were created in the 1st century BC and many were re-occupied during the middle of the 1st century AD. Only fragments of Stane Street and Ermine Street
, the Roman roads which crossed the county, remain.
Anglo-Saxon elements survive in a number of Surrey churches, notably at Guildford (St. Mary's), Godalming
(St. Peter & St. Paul), Stoke D'Abernon
, Thursley
, Witley
, Compton and Albury
(old church).
Numerous medieval churches exist in Surrey, but the county's parish churches are typically relatively small and simple, and have suffered particularly heavily at the hands of Victorian restoration
. Important medieval church interiors are to be found at Stoke D'Abernon, Compton, Chaldon
, Dunsfold
and Lingfield
. The larger monastic churches fell into ruin after their institutions were dissolved, although some remains of those at Waverley and Newark still exist, while Southwark Priory, no longer in Surrey, has survived intact as a cathedral. Farnham Castle survives in large part and substantial ruins remain at Guildford Castle, while a handful of medieval domestic buildings survive, albeit with considerable later modifications.
The 16th century is the earliest from which a sizeable amount of non-military secular architecture survives in Surrey. Important examples include the grand mid-century country houses of Loseley Park
and Sutton Place
and the old building of the Royal Grammar School, Guildford
, founded in 1509. A considerable number of more ordinary houses and commercial buildings of the 16th century are also still standing, and with the 17th century the number of surviving buildings proliferates much further. Abbot's Hospital
, founded in 1619, is a grand edifice built in the Tudor style
, despite its date. More characteristic examples of major 17th-century building include West Horsley Place, Slyfield Manor and the guildhall in Guildford, as well as Ham House and Kew Palace
, formerly in Surrey but now in Greater London.
, many important writers have lived and worked in Surrey.
.
in the 16th century (see History of English cricket to 1696). Mitcham Cricket Club
, formed in 1685 and the oldest documented club in the game's history, was within Surrey's borders until 1965. The Surrey County Cricket Club
, founded in 1845, represents the historic county of Surrey, although its main ground, The Oval
in Kennington
, is now in Greater London
. The club also uses Whitgift School
, South Croydon
and Woodbridge Road
, Guildford
for some games. It was one of the original participants in the County Championship
and has won the competition 18 times, more than any other county except Yorkshire
.
Epsom Downs Racecourse
is the venue for the most prestigious event in British flat horse-racing, the Derby
, which has been held there annually since 1780.
Brooklands
near Woking was the world's first purpose-built motorsport
race circuit, opened in 1907. Currently Woking plays host to the headquarters of the McLaren
Formula One
team, giving Surrey the rarity of having a local F1 team. James Hunt
, the 1976 Formula 1 World Driver's Champion was born in Belmont, then part of Surrey, in 1947.
Surrey's leading rugby
club, Esher
, currently compete in the RFU Championship
, the second tier of English rugby. The county has numerous football teams, but none in the Football League.
Surrey is home to the Ice Hockey
team the Guildford Flames
, who compete in the English Premier League
and the basketball team the Guildford Heat
, who play in the top tier of British basketball, the British Basketball League
.
The Local Government Act 1888
reorganised county-level local government throughout England and Wales. Accordingly, the administrative county
of Surrey was formed in 1889 when the Provisional Surrey County Council first met, consisting of 19 aldermen and 57 councillors. The county council assumed the administrative responsibilities previously exercised by the county's justices
in quarter sessions
. The county had revised boundaries, with the north east of the historic county bordering the City of London
becoming part of a new County of London
. These areas now form the London Boroughs of Lambeth
, Southwark
and Wandsworth
, and the Penge
area of the London Borough of Bromley
. At the same time, the borough of Croydon
became a county borough
, outside the jurisdiction of the county council.
For purposes other than local government the administrative county of Surrey and county borough of Croydon continued to form a "county of Surrey" to which a Lord Lieutenant
and Custos Rotulorum
(Chief Magistrate
) and a High Sheriff
were appointed.
Surrey had been administered from Newington
since the 1790s, and the county council was initially based in the sessions house there. As Newington was included in the County of London it lay outside the area administered by the council, and a site for a new county hall within the administrative county was sought. By 1890 six towns were being considered: Epsom, Guildford, Kingston, Redhill, Surbiton
and Wimbledon. A decision to build the new County Hall
at Kingston was made in 1891, (the building opened in 1893) but this site would also became overtaken by the growing London conurbation and by the 1930s most of the north of the county had been built over, becoming outer suburbs of London
, although continuing to form part of Surrey administratively.
In 1960 the report of the Herbert Commission
recommended that much of north Surrey (including Kingston and Croydon) be included in a new "Greater London
". The recommendations of the report were enacted in highly modified form in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963
. The areas that now form the London Boroughs of Croydon
, Kingston, Merton
, Sutton
and that part of Richmond
south of the River Thames
were transferred from Surrey to Greater London. At the same time part of the county of Middlesex
, which had been abolished by the legislation, was added to Surrey. This area now forms the borough of Spelthorne
.
Further local government reform under the Local Government Act 1972
took place in 1974. The 1972 Act abolished administrative counties and introduced non-metropolitan counties in their place. The boundaries of the non-metropolitan county of Surrey were similar to those of the administrative county with the exception of Gatwick Airport and some surrounding land which was transferred to West Sussex
. It was originally proposed that the parishes of Horley
and Charlwood
would become part of West Sussex, however fierce local opposition led to a reversal of this under the Charlwood and Horley Act 1974
.
Surrey has more organisation and company headquarters than any other county in the UK. Electronic giants Nikon
, Whirlpool, Canon, Toshiba
, Samsung
and Philips
are housed here. Kia Motors
and Toyota UK also have HQs in Surrey, as do drug companies Pfizer
and Sanofi-Aventis
and oil giant Esso
. Some of the largest FMCG multinationals in the world have their UK and/or European headquarters here, including Unilever
, Procter & Gamble
, Superdrug
, Nestle
, SC Johnson, Kimberly-Clark
and Colgate-Palmolive
. NGOs including WWF
UK & Compassion in World Farming
are also based here. Government Quango
s such as SEEDA, SEERA and GOSE are headquartered in Guildford.
Other major roads include:
Alternatively, services in the South East terminate in London Bridge, and London Victoria via the Brighton Mainline. It runs from Horley to the Merstham Tunnel, via the major station Redhill
. These lines are all electrified, and in Surrey the only main route not electrified is the North Downs Line which runs from Reading to Redhill via Farnborough and Guildford. Services into London Waterloo are run by South West Trains, services to London Victoria and London Bridge are Southern and South Eastern, and services on the North Downs Line are operated by Great First Western. From Guildford, a daily service with CrossCountry runs to Manchester Piccadilly
via Reading.
Major Stations:
Fairoaks Airport
, on the edge of Chobham and Ottershaw is just 2.3 miles from Woking Town centre which operates as a private airfield with two training schools and is home to other aviation businesses.
Surrey has a comprehensive
secondary education system with 53 state schools (not including sixth form college
s). There are 41 independent schools including Preparatory schools
and Senior schools including the famous Charterhouse School
, which along with Eton College
and Harrow
was one of the original nine independent schools defined by the Public Schools Act 1868
. Most secondary schools in Surrey have sixth forms although Reigate, Esher, Egham, Spelthorne, Woking and Waverley districts tend to have separate sixth form colleges.
; the Devil's Punch Bowl
at Hindhead
and Frensham
Common. Leith Hill
south west of Dorking
in the Greensand Ridge
is the second highest point in south-east England. Witley Common
and Thursley Common
are expansive areas of ancient heathland south of Godalming
run by the National Trust
and Ministry of Defence
. The Surrey Hills
are an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).
More manicured landscapes can be seen at Claremont Landscape Garden
, south of Esher
(dating from 1715). There is also Winkworth Arboretum
south east of Godalming
and Windlesham Arboretum
near Lightwater
created in the 20th century. Wisley
is home to the Royal Horticultural Society
gardens
. Kew
, historically part of Surrey but now in Greater London, features the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
, as well as The National Archives for England & Wales.
There are 80 Surrey Wildlife Trust reserves with at least one in all 11 non-metropolitan districts
.
Surrey's important country houses include the Tudor
mansion of Loseley Park
, built in the 1560s and Clandon Park
, an 18th-century Palladian mansion in West Clandon
to the east of Guildford. Nearby Hatchlands Park
in East Clandon
, was built in 1758 with Robert Adam
interiors and a collection of keyboard instruments. Polesden Lacey
south of Great Bookham
is a regency
villa with extensive grounds. On a smaller scale, Oakhurst Cottage
in Hambledon
near Godalming
is a restored 16th-century worker's home.
A canal system, the Wey and Godalming Navigations
is linked to the Wey and Arun Canal
with future full reopening expected after 2015. Dapdune Wharf
in Guildford
commemorates the work of the canal system and is home to a restored Wey barge, the Reliance. Furthermore on the River Tillingbourne
, Shalford Mill
is an 18th century water-mill.
Runnymede
at Egham
is the site of the sealing of the Magna Carta
in 1215.
Guildford Cathedral
is a post-war cathedral built from bricks made from the clay hill on which it stands.
Brooklands
Museum recognises the motoring past of Surrey. The county is also home to the theme parks Thorpe Park
and Chessington World of Adventures
.
Much of H. G. Wells
's 1898 novella The War of the Worlds
is set in Surrey with many specific towns and villages identified. The Martians first land on Horsell Common
on the north side of Woking, outside the Bleak House pub, now called Sands. In the story the narrator flees in the direction of London, first passing Byfleet
and then Weybridge
before travelling east along the north bank of the Thames. Jane Austen's novel Emma is set in Surrey and the famous picnic where Emma embarrasses Miss Bates takes place on Box Hill. The character Ford Prefect
from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
claimed to be from Guildford in Surrey, but in actuality he was from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse
. Thomas Paine Kydd, the hero of the Kydd
series of naval adventure novels written by Julian Stockwin
, starts off as a young wig-maker from Guildford who is pressed into service and thus begins a life at sea. Atonement
is set in Surrey. The late Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman mentions Camberley
in his poem "A Subaltern's Lovesong", while Carshalton
forms the literary backdrop to many of the poems by James Farrar
. In J.K. Rowling's
"Harry Potter" series, the home of Harry's
pernicious relatives, the Dursleys, is set in the fictional town of Little Whinging, Surrey. They lived at Number Four Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey in a perfectly ordinary house on a perfectly ordinary street.
The county has also been used as a film location. Part of the movie The Holiday
was filmed in Godalming and Shere: Kate Winslet
's character Iris lived in a cottage in Shere and Cameron Diaz
's character Amanda switched houses with her as part of a home exchange. The final scene of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
uses the village church, also in Shere, as does the movie The Wedding Date
. In the 1976 film The Omen, the scenes at the cathedral were filmed at Guildford Cathedral
. The film I Want Candy
follows two hopeful lads from Leatherhead
trying to break into the movies, and was partly filmed in Brooklands College (Weybridge
campus). Surrey woodland represented Germany in the opening scene of Gladiator
, starring Russell Crowe
; it was filmed at the Bourne Wood
s near Farnham in Surrey.
Scenes for the 2009 BBC production of Emma
by Jane Austen
, starring Romola Garai
and Michael Gambon
, were filmed at St Mary the Virgin Church Send
near Guildford
and at Loseley House.
Counties of England
Counties of England are areas used for the purposes of administrative, geographical and political demarcation. For administrative purposes, England outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly is divided into 83 counties. The counties may consist of a single district or be divided into several...
in the South East
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and is one of the Home Counties
Home Counties
The home counties is a term which refers to the counties of South East England and the East of England which border London, but do not include the capital city itself...
. The county borders Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
, Kent
Kent
Kent 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...
, East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
and Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
. The historic county town
County town
A county town is a county's administrative centre in the United Kingdom or Ireland. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its...
is Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
. Surrey County Council
Surrey County Council
Surrey County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 80 elected councillors.The council is controlled by the Conservative party.The leader of the council is David Hodge....
sits at Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated south west of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the...
, although this has been part of Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
since 1965. The London boroughs of Lambeth, Wandsworth and Southwark were considered part of Surrey until 1889; and Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Sutton, Barnes and Richmond - all now reclassified as part of Greater London - were part of Surrey until 1965.
Surrey is divided into 11 borough
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
s and districts: Elmbridge
Elmbridge
Elmbridge is a local government district and borough in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Esher. The district has only one civil parish, which is Claygate...
, Epsom and Ewell
Epsom and Ewell
Epsom and Ewell is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England, covering the town of Epsom and the village of Ewell. The borough was formed as an urban district in 1894, and was known as Epsom until 1934. It was made a municipal borough in 1937...
, Guildford
Guildford (borough)
Guildford is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. It is named after Guildford where its council is based....
, Mole Valley
Mole Valley
Mole Valley is a local government district in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Dorking.The district, named after the River Mole, was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the urban districts of Dorking and Leatherhead and most of the Dorking and Horley...
, Reigate and Banstead
Reigate and Banstead
Reigate and Banstead is a local government district with borough status in east Surrey England. It covers the towns of Reigate, Banstead, Redhill and Horley....
, Runnymede, Spelthorne
Spelthorne
Spelthorne is a local government district and borough in Surrey, England. It includes the towns of Ashford, Laleham, Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell and Sunbury...
, Surrey Heath
Surrey Heath
Surrey Heath is a local government district with Borough status in Surrey, England. Its Council is based in Camberley. Much of the area is within the Metropolitan Green Belt....
, Tandridge, Waverley
Waverley, Surrey
Waverley is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. The borough's headquarters are in the town of Godalming, with Farnham and Haslemere being the other large notable towns....
, Woking
Woking (borough)
Woking is a local government district with borough status in the west of Surrey, England.It was formed in 1895 as an urban district under the Local Government Act 1894. The present-day borough was established in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, and is one of two districts in Surrey to...
. After the elections of 1 May 2008, the Conservatives
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
are in control of 10 out of 11 councils in Surrey, with Epsom and Ewell in Residents Association control. The Conservatives hold all 11 Parliamentary constituencies within the county borders.
Geography
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs...
, running east-west. The ridge is pierced by Surrey's principal rivers, the Wey
River Wey
The River Wey in Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex is a tributary of the River Thames with two separate branches which join at Tilford. The source of the north branch is at Alton, Hampshire and of the south branch at both Blackdown south of Haslemere, and also close to Gibbet Hill, near Hindhead...
and the Mole, which are tributaries of the Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
, the river which constituted the northern border of the county before modern local government reorganisations. To the north of the Downs the land is mostly flat, forming part of the basin of the Thames. The geology of this area is dominated by London Clay
London Clay
The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for the fossils it contains. The fossils from the Lower Eocene indicate a moderately warm climate, the flora being tropical or subtropical...
in the east, Bagshot Sands in the west and alluvial
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
deposits along the rivers. To the south of the Downs in the western part of the county are the sandstone Surrey Hills
Surrey Hills AONB
The Surrey Hills is a Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty , located in Surrey, England. The AONB was designated in 1958 and covers one quarter of the county of Surrey...
, while further east is the plain of the Low Weald
Weald
The Weald is the name given to an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It should be regarded as three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge which...
, rising in the extreme south-east to the edge of the hills of the High Weald. The Downs and the area to the south form part of a concentric pattern of geological deposits which also extends across southern Kent and most of Sussex, predominantly composed of Wealden Clay
Wealden Group
The Wealden Group is a group in the lithostratigraphy of southern England. The Wealden group consists of paralic to continental facies sedimentary rocks of Valanginian to Barremian age and thus forms part of the English Lower Cretaceous. It is composed of alternating sands and clays...
, Lower Greensand and the chalk of the Downs.
Much of Surrey is in the Metropolitan Green Belt
Metropolitan Green Belt
The Metropolitan Green Belt is a statutory green belt around London, England. It includes designated parts of Greater London and the surrounding counties of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey in the South East and East of England regions.-History:The...
. It contains a good deal of mature 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...
(reflected in the official logo of Surrey County Council, a pair of interlocking oak leaves). Among its many notable beauty spots are Box Hill, Leith Hill
Leith Hill
Leith Hill to the south west of Dorking, Surrey, England, reaches above sea level, the highest point on the Greensand Ridge, and is the second highest point in south-east England, after Walbury Hill near Hungerford, West Berkshire, high....
, Frensham Ponds, Newlands Corner
Newlands Corner
Newlands Corner is a summit of the North Downs approximately east of Guildford in Surrey. Together with the nearby Silent Pool it forms part of the privately owned Albury Estate SSSI managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust. There are large areas of chalk grassland and woodlands...
and Puttenham & Crooksbury Commons
Puttenham & Crooksbury Commons
Puttenham & Crooksbury Commons lie to the south of the Hog's Back which runs between Farnham and Guildford in Surrey, England. The commons are sites of special scientific interest...
. Surrey is the most wooded county in England, with 22.4% coverage compared to a national average of 11.8% and as such is one of the few counties not to include new woodlands in their strategic plans. Box Hill has the oldest untouched area of natural woodland in the UK, one of the oldest in Europe. Surrey also contains England's principal concentration of lowland heath
Heath (habitat)
A heath or heathland is a dwarf-shrub habitat found on mainly low quality acidic soils, characterised by open, low growing woody vegetation, often dominated by plants of the Ericaceae. There are some clear differences between heath and moorland...
, on sandy soils in the west of the county.
Common land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
and access lands, together with an extensive network of footpaths and bridleways including the North Downs Way
North Downs Way
The North Downs Way is a long-distance path in southern England, opened in 1978. It runs from Farnham to Dover, past Godalming, Guildford, Dorking, Merstham, Otford and Rochester, along the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Kent Downs AONB.East of Boughton Lees, the path splits...
, a scenic long-distance path. Accordingly, Surrey provides much in the way of rural leisure activities, with a very large horse population.
The highest elevation in Surrey is Leith Hill
Leith Hill
Leith Hill to the south west of Dorking, Surrey, England, reaches above sea level, the highest point on the Greensand Ridge, and is the second highest point in south-east England, after Walbury Hill near Hungerford, West Berkshire, high....
near Dorking
Dorking
Dorking is a historic market town at the foot of the North Downs approximately south of London, in Surrey, England.- History and development :...
. It is either 293, 294 or 295 metres (961, 965 or 968 ft) above sea level and is the second highest point in southeastern England after Walbury Hill
Walbury Hill
Walbury Hill is the highest point in the traditional county of Berkshire in the UK at above sea level. It is also the highest point in the South East of England, West Berkshire being a constituent part of the South East of England...
297 metres (974.4 ft) in West Berkshire
West Berkshire
West Berkshire is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England, governed by a unitary authority . Its administrative capital is Newbury, located almost equidistantly between Bristol and London.-Geography:...
.
Settlements
- See also list of places in Surrey.
Surrey has a population of approximately 1.1 million people. Its largest town is Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
, with a population of 66,773; Woking
Woking
Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....
comes a close second with 62,796. They are followed by Ewell
Ewell
Ewell is a village in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, close to the southern boundary of Greater London. It is located 14 miles south-south-west of Charing Cross and forms part of the suburbia that surrounds Greater London. Despite its growing population it is still referred to as a...
with 39,994 people and Camberley
Camberley
Camberley is a town in Surrey, England, situated 31 miles southwest of central London, in the corridor between the M3 and M4 motorways. The town lies close to the borders of both Hampshire and Berkshire; the boundaries intersect on the western edge of the town where all three counties...
with 30,155. Towns of between 25,000 and 30,000 inhabitants are Ashford
Ashford, Surrey
Ashford is a town almost entirely in the Surrey borough of Spelthorne in England, with a small part falling within Greater London. It is a suburban development situated 15 miles west south-west of Charing Cross in London and forms part of the London commuter belt...
, Epsom
Epsom
Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England. Small parts of Epsom are in the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. The town is located south-south-west of Charing Cross, within the Greater London Urban Area. The town lies on the chalk downland of Epsom Downs.-History:Epsom lies...
, Farnham
Farnham
Farnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is situated some 42 miles southwest of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire...
, Staines
Staines
Staines is a Thames-side town in the Spelthorne borough of Surrey and Greater London Urban Area, as well as the London Commuter Belt of South East England. It is a suburban development within the western bounds of the M25 motorway and located 17 miles west south-west of Charing Cross in...
and Redhill
Redhill, Surrey
Redhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead, Surrey, England and is part of the London commuter belt. Redhill and the adjacent town of Reigate form a single urban area.-History:...
. Guildford is the historic county town
County town
A county town is a county's administrative centre in the United Kingdom or Ireland. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its...
, although the county administration was moved to Newington
Newington, London
Newington is a district of London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It was an ancient parish and the site of the early administration of the county of Surrey...
in 1791 and to Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated south west of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the...
in 1893. The county council's headquarters have been outside the county's boundaries since 1 April 1965 when Kingston and other areas were included within Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
by the London Government Act 1963
London Government Act 1963
The London Government Act 1963 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which recognised officially the conurbation known as Greater London and created a new local government structure for the capital. The Act significantly reduced the number of local government districts in the area,...
. Recent plans to move the offices to a new site in Woking have now been abandoned. Due to its proximity to London there are many commuter town
Commuter town
A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...
s and villages in Surrey, the population density is high and the area is one of the richest parts of the UK. Surrey is Britain's most densely populated county, excluding Greater London, the metropolitan counties
Metropolitan county
The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, typically with populations of 1.2 to 2.8 million...
and Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. Much of the north east of the county is an urban area contiguous to Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
. In the west, there is a conurbation
Conurbation
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of cities, large towns, and other urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area...
straddling the Hampshire/Surrey border, including in Surrey Camberley
Camberley
Camberley is a town in Surrey, England, situated 31 miles southwest of central London, in the corridor between the M3 and M4 motorways. The town lies close to the borders of both Hampshire and Berkshire; the boundaries intersect on the western edge of the town where all three counties...
and Farnham
Farnham
Farnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is situated some 42 miles southwest of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire...
.
British and Roman Surrey
Atrebates
The Atrebates were a Belgic tribe of Gaul and Britain before the Roman conquests.- Name of the tribe :Cognate with Old Irish aittrebaid meaning 'inhabitant', Atrebates comes from proto-Celtic *ad-treb-a-t-es, 'inhabitants'. The Celtic root is treb- 'building', 'home' The Atrebates (singular...
tribe centred at Calleva Atrebatum in the modern county of Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
. They are known to have controlled the southern bank of the Thames from Roman texts describing the tribal relations between them and the powerful Catuvellauni
Catuvellauni
The Catuvellauni were a tribe or state of south-eastern Britain before the Roman conquest.The fortunes of the Catuvellauni and their kings before the conquest can be traced through numismatic evidence and scattered references in classical histories. They are mentioned by Dio Cassius, who implies...
on the north bank. In about 42AD King Cunobelinus
Cunobelinus
Cunobeline or Cunobelinus was a historical king in pre-Roman Britain, known from passing mentions by classical historians Suetonius and Dio Cassius, and from his many inscribed coins...
(Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
: Cynfelin ap Tegfan) of the Catuvellauni died and war broke out between his sons and King Verica
Verica
Verica was a British client king of the Roman Empire in the years preceding the Claudian invasion of 43 AD.From his coinage, he appears to have been king of the Atrebates tribe and a son of Commius. He succeeded his elder brother Eppillus as king in about 15 AD, reigning at Calleva Atrebatum,...
of the Atrebates. The Atrebates were defeated in the conflict, their capital captured and their lands made subject to the Catuvellauni now led by Togodumnus
Togodumnus
Togodumnus was a historical king of the British Catuvellauni tribe at the time of the Roman conquest. He can probably be identified with the legendary British king Guiderius....
ruling from Camulodunum
Camulodunum
Camulodunum is the Roman name for the ancient settlement which is today's Colchester, a town in Essex, England. Camulodunum is claimed to be the oldest town in Britain as recorded by the Romans, existing as a Celtic settlement before the Roman conquest, when it became the first Roman town, and...
. Verica fled to Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
and appealed for Roman aid. The Atrebates were allies with Rome during their invasion of Britain in 43AD. The area of Surrey was traversed by Stane Street and other less well known Roman roads. There were Roman temples on Farley Heath
Farley Green
Farley Green is a small hamlet in the Surrey Hills to the south east of Guildford.On the outskirts of Farley Green, lies Farley Heath where one of Surrey's few Roman remains, a temple, can be found. The open heathland was the site of the largest Romano-British settlement in Surrey.The site was...
and near Wanborough
Wanborough, Surrey
Wanborough is a small hamlet in Surrey approximately 6 km west of Guildford on the northern slopes of the Hog's Back. Neighbouring villages include: Puttenham and Christmas Pie...
.
The Saxon tribes and the sub-kingdom
During the 5th and 6th centuries Surrey was conquered and settled by SaxonsSaxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
. The names of a number of Saxon tribes who may have inhabited different parts of Surrey in this period have been conjectured on the basis of place names. These include the Godhelmingas (around Godalming
Godalming (hundred)
Godalming was an ancient hundred in the south west of the county of Surrey, England. It corresponds to the central third of the current borough of Waverley and some parts of the current borough of Guildford.-History:...
), Tetingas (around Tooting
Tooting
Tooting is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
) and Woccingas (between Woking
Woking
Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....
and Wokingham
Wokingham
Wokingham is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire in South East England about west of central London. It is about east-southeast of Reading and west of Bracknell. It spans an area of and, according to the 2001 census, has a population of 30,403...
in Berkshire). It has also been speculated that the Nox gaga and the Oht gaga tribes listed in the Mercian Tribal Hidage
Tribal Hidage
Image:Tribal Hidage 2.svg|thumb|400px|alt=insert description of map here|The tribes of the Tribal Hidage. Where an appropriate article exists, it can be found by clicking on the name.rect 275 75 375 100 Elmetrect 375 100 450 150 Hatfield Chase...
refer to two distinct groups living in Surrey. They were valued together at 7,000 hides
Hide (unit)
The hide was originally an amount of land sufficient to support a household, but later in Anglo-Saxon England became a unit used in assessing land for liability to "geld", or land tax. The geld would be collected at a stated rate per hide...
. Surrey may have formed part of a larger Middle Saxon
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
kingdom or confederacy also including areas north of the Thames. The name Surrey is derived from Suthrige, meaning "southern region", and this may originate in its status as the southern half of the Middle Saxon territory.
If it ever existed, the Middle Saxon kingdom had disappeared by the 7th century, and Surrey became a frontier area disputed between the kingdoms of Kent
Kingdom of Kent
The Kingdom of Kent was a Jutish colony and later independent kingdom in what is now south east England. It was founded at an unknown date in the 5th century by Jutes, members of a Germanic people from continental Europe, some of whom settled in Britain after the withdrawal of the Romans...
, Essex
Kingdom of Essex
The Kingdom of Essex or Kingdom of the East Saxons was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the so-called Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century and covered the territory later occupied by the counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Kent. Kings of Essex were...
, Sussex
Kingdom of Sussex
The Kingdom of Sussex or Kingdom of the South Saxons was a Saxon colony and later independent kingdom of the Saxons, on the south coast of England. Its boundaries coincided in general with those of the earlier kingdom of the Regnenses and the later county of Sussex. A large part of its territory...
, Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
and Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
, until its permanent absorption by Wessex in 825. Despite this fluctuating situation it retained its identity as a coherent territorial unit. During the 7th century Surrey became Christian and initially formed part of the East Saxon diocese of London
Diocese of London
The Anglican Diocese of London forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England.Historically the diocese covered a large area north of the Thames and bordered the dioceses of Norwich and Lincoln to the north and west. The present diocese covers and 17 London boroughs, covering most of Greater...
, indicating that it was under East Saxon rule at that time, but was later transferred to the West Saxon diocese of Winchester
Diocese of Winchester
The Diocese of Winchester forms part of the Province of Canterbury of the Church of England.Founded in 676, it is one of the oldest and largest of the dioceses in England.The area of the diocese incorporates:...
. Its most important religious institution throughout the Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
period and beyond was Chertsey Abbey
Chertsey Abbey
Chertsey Abbey, dedicated to St Peter, was a Benedictine monastery located at Chertsey in the English county of Surrey.It was founded by Saint Erkenwald, later Bishop of London, in 666 AD and he became the first abbot. In the 9th century it was sacked by the Danes and refounded from Abingdon Abbey...
, founded in 666. At this point Surrey was evidently under Kentish domination, as the abbey was founded under the patronage of King Ecgberht
Ecgberht of Kent
Ecgberht was a King of Kent who ruled from 664 to 673, succeeding his father Eorcenberht s:Ecclesiastical History of the English People/Book 4#1....
of Kent. However, a few years later at least part of it was subject to Mercia, since in 673-5 further lands were given to Chertsey Abbey by Frithuwald
Frithuwald of Surrey
Frithuwald was a seventh century Anglo-Saxon ruler in Surrey, and perhaps also in modern Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, who is known from two surviving charters. He was a sub-king ruling under King Wulfhere of Mercia. According to late hagiographical materials, he was a brother-in-law of Wulfhere...
, a local sub-king (subregulus) ruling under the sovereignty of Wulfhere
Wulfhere of Mercia
Wulfhere was King of Mercia from the end of the 650s until 675. He was the first Christian king of all of Mercia, though it is not known when or how he converted from Anglo-Saxon paganism. His accession marked the end of Oswiu of Northumbria's overlordship of southern England, and Wulfhere...
of Mercia. A decade later Surrey passed into the hands of King Caedwalla of Wessex, who also conquered Kent and Sussex and founded a monastery at Farnham
Farnham
Farnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is situated some 42 miles southwest of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire...
in 686, and it remained under the control of Caedwalla's successor Ine
Ine of Wessex
Ine was King of Wessex from 688 to 726. He was unable to retain the territorial gains of his predecessor, Cædwalla, who had brought much of southern England under his control and expanded West Saxon territory substantially...
in the early 8th century. Its political history for most of the 8th century is unclear, although it may have been under South Saxon control around 722, but by 784–5 it had passed into the hands of King Offa
Offa of Mercia
Offa was the King of Mercia from 757 until his death in July 796. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æthelbald after defeating the other claimant Beornred. In the early years of Offa's reign it is likely...
of Mercia. Mercian rule continued until 825, when following his victory over the Mercians at the Battle of Ashdown
Battle of Ashdown
The Battle of Ashdown, in Berkshire , took place on 8 January 871. Alfred the Great, then a prince of only twenty-one, led the West Saxon army of his brother, King Ethelred, in a victorious battle against the invading Danes.Accounts of the battle are based to a large extent on Asser's "Life of...
, King Egbert
Egbert of Wessex
Egbert was King of Wessex from 802 until his death in 839. His father was Ealhmund of Kent...
of Wessex seized control of Surrey, along with Sussex, Kent and Essex. It was incorporated into Wessex as a shire
Shire
A shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in the United Kingdom and in Australia. In parts of Australia, a shire is an administrative unit, but it is not synonymous with "county" there, which is a land registration unit. Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland and in the far...
and continued thereafter under the rule of the West Saxon kings, who eventually became kings of all England.
Identified sub-kings of Surrey
- Frithuwald (c.673 – 675)
- Frithuric? (675 – c.686)
The West Saxon and English shire
In the 9th century England was afflicted, along with the rest of north-western Europe, by the attacks of ScandinavianScandinavians
Scandinavians are a group of Germanic peoples, inhabiting Scandinavia and to a lesser extent countries associated with Scandinavia, and speaking Scandinavian languages. The group includes Danes, Norwegians and Swedes, and additionally the descendants of Scandinavian settlers such as the Icelandic...
Vikings. Surrey's inland position shielded it from coastal raiding, so that it was not normally troubled except by the largest and most ambitious Scandinavian armies. In 851 an exceptionally large invasion force of Danes
Danes
Danish people or Danes are the nation and ethnic group that is native to Denmark, and who speak Danish.The first mention of Danes within the Danish territory is on the Jelling Rune Stone which mentions how Harald Bluetooth converted the Danes to Christianity in the 10th century...
arrived in the mouth of the Thames on a fleet of about 350 ships, which would have carried over 15,000 men. Having sacked Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
and London and defeated King Beorhtwulf
Beorhtwulf of Mercia
Beorhtwulf was King of the Mercians from 839 or 840 to 852. His ancestry is unknown, though he may have been connected to Beornwulf, who ruled Mercia in the 820s...
of Mercia in battle, the Danes crossed the Thames into Surrey, but were slaughtered by a West Saxon army led by King Aethelwulf in the Battle of Aclea, bringing the invasion to an end. In 892 Surrey was the scene of another important battle when a large Danish army, variously reported at 200, 250 and 350 ship-loads, moved west from its encampment in Kent. It was intercepted and defeated at Farnham by an army led by Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
's son Edward, the future King Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder was an English king. He became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great. His court was at Winchester, previously the capital of Wessex...
, and fled across the Thames towards Essex.
Its location and the growing power of the West Saxon, later English, kingdom kept Surrey safe from attack for over a century thereafter. Kingston
Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated south west of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the...
was the scene for the coronation of Aethelstan
Athelstan of England
Athelstan , called the Glorious, was the King of England from 924 or 925 to 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder, grandson of Alfred the Great and nephew of Æthelflæd of Mercia...
in 924 and Aethelred the Unready in 978, and, according to later tradition, of other tenth century Kings of England as well. The renewed Danish attacks during the disastrous reign of Aethelred led to the devastation of Surrey by the army of Thorkell the Tall, which ravaged all of south-eastern England in 1009–11. The climax of this wave of attacks came in 1016, which saw prolonged fighting between the forces of King Edmund Ironside
Edmund Ironside
Edmund Ironside or Edmund II was king of England from 23 April to 30 November 1016. His cognomen "Ironside" is not recorded until 1057, but may have been contemporary. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, it was given to him "because of his valour" in resisting the Danish invasion led by Cnut...
and the Danish king Cnut, including an English victory over the Danes somewhere in north-eastern Surrey, but ended with the Danish conquest of England and the establishment of Cnut as king.
Cnut's death in 1035 was followed by a period of political uncertainty as the succession was disputed between his sons. In 1036 Alfred, son of Aethelred the Unready, returned from Normandy, where he had been taken for safety as a child at the time of Cnut's conquest of England. It is uncertain what his intentions were, but after landing with a small retinue in Sussex he was met by Godwin, Earl of Wessex
Godwin, Earl of Wessex
Godwin of Wessex , was one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great and his successors. Cnut made him the first Earl of Wessex...
, who escorted him in apparently friendly fashion to Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
. Having taken lodgings there, Alfred's men were attacked as they slept and massacred by Godwin's followers, while the prince himself was blinded and imprisoned, dying shortly afterwards. This butchery must have contributed to the antipathy between Godwin and Alfred's brother Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
, who came to the throne in 1042. That hostility was of critical importance in bringing about the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.
Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
records that the largest landowners in Surrey at the end of Edward's reign were Chertsey Abbey and Harold Godwinson
Harold Godwinson
Harold Godwinson was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England.It could be argued that Edgar the Atheling, who was proclaimed as king by the witan but never crowned, was really the last Anglo-Saxon king...
, Earl of Wessex and later king, followed by the estates of King Edward himself. Apart from the abbey, most of whose lands were within the shire, Surrey was the not the principal focus of any major landowner's holdings, a tendency which was to persist in later periods. Given the vast and widespread landed interests and the national and international preoccupations of the monarchy and the earldom of Wessex, the Abbot of Chertsey was therefore probably the most important figure in the local elite.
The Anglo-Saxon period saw the emergence of the shire's internal division into 14 hundreds
Hundred (division)
A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in England, Wales, Denmark, South Australia, some parts of the United States, Germany , Sweden, Finland and Norway, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions...
, which continued until Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
times. These were the hundreds of Blackheath
Blackheath, Surrey (hundred)
Blackheath was an ancient hundred in the county of Surrey, England.It consisted of the following parishes:*Albury*Alfold*Bramley*Cranleigh*Dunsfold*Ewhurst*Hascombe*St Martha*Shalford*Shere*Wonersh...
, Brixton
Brixton (hundred)
Brixton Hundred or the Hundred of Brixton was an ancient hundred in the north east of the county of Surrey, England. Its area has been entirely absorbed by the growth of London; with its name currently referring to the Brixton district...
, Copthorne
Copthorne (hundred)
Copthorne was a hundred in what is now Surrey, England. It includes the following places: Ashtead, Burgh, Cuddington, Epsom, Ewell, Fetcham, Headley, Leatherhead, Mickleham, Pachevesham , Tadworth, Thorncroft and Walton-on-the-Hill....
, Effingham Half-Hundred
Effingham (half hundred)
Effingham was a half hundred in what is now Surrey, England. It includes the village of Effingham.In the Domesday Book of 1086, Effingham half hundred included the three parishes of Effingham, Great Bookham and Little Bookham. It also include two unknown settlements of Driteham and...
, Elmbridge
Elmbridge (hundred)
Elmbridge Hundred or the Hundred of Elmbridge was an ancient hundred in the north of the county of Surrey, England. The majority of its area forms the borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, with the remainder now forming part of Greater London....
, Farnham
Farnham (hundred)
Farnham was a hundred in what is now Surrey, England. It includes the town of Farnham.In the 14th century, Farnham hundred was owned by the Bishop of Winchester and was one of the wealthiest on the bishop's rolls.-See also:*Medieval Surrey...
, Godalming
Godalming (hundred)
Godalming was an ancient hundred in the south west of the county of Surrey, England. It corresponds to the central third of the current borough of Waverley and some parts of the current borough of Guildford.-History:...
, Godley
Godley (hundred)
Godley was a hundred in what is now Surrey, England. Egham, Thorpe, Chertsey and Chobham are all mentioned in the Chertsey Abbey charter of 673AD due to a donation by Frithuwold. Chobham manor needed to be large to have a reasonable economic importance as it covered very poor quality heathland...
, Kingston
Kingston (hundred)
The Hundred of Kingston or Kingston Hundred was an ancient hundred in the north east of the county of Surrey, England. Its area has been mostly absorbed by the growth of London; with its name currently referring to both the suburban town of Kingston upon Thames and the larger Royal Borough of...
, Reigate
Reigate (hundred)
Reigate was a hundred in what is now Surrey, England. It includes the town of Reigate.The Reigate hundred includes the parishes of: Betchworth, Burstow, Buckworth, Charlwood, Chipstead, Gatton, Horley, Leigh, Merstham, Nutfield and Reigate....
, Tandridge
Tandridge (hundred)
Tandridge was a hundred in what is now Surrey, England. It includes the borough of Tandridge.It includes the parishes of Bletchingley, Caterham, Chelsham, Crowhurst, Farleigh, Godstone, Horne, Limpsfield, Lingfield, Oxted, Tandridge, Tatsfield, Titsey, Warlingham and Woldingham.The hundred has...
, Wallington
Wallington (hundred)
Wallington was an ancient hundred in the north east of the county of Surrey, England. The majority of its area has been absorbed by the growth of London; with its name currently referring to the district of Wallington...
, Woking
Woking (hundred)
Woking was a hundred in what is now Surrey, England. It includes the town of Woking and the borough of Woking.The Hundred includes the parishes of Ash, East Clandon, West Clandon, East Horsley, West Horsley, Merrow, Ockham, Pirbright, Send and Ripley, Stoke Juxta Guildford, Wanborough, Windlesham,...
and Wotton
Wotton (hundred)
Wotton was a hundred in what is now Surrey, England.The hundred included the parishes of Abinger, Capel, Dorking, Ockley, and Wotton.The hundred was granted to Sir Edward Zouche in 1620 by James I. It later passed onto the Earl of Onslow.-See also:...
.
Identified ealdormen
Ealdorman
An ealdorman is the term used for a high-ranking royal official and prior magistrate of an Anglo-Saxon shire or group of shires from about the ninth century to the time of King Cnut...
of Surrey
- Wulfheard (c.823)
- Huda (? – 853)
- Æðelweard (late 10th century)
- Æðelmær (? – 1016)
Later Medieval Surrey
After the Battle of HastingsBattle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...
, the Norman army advanced through Kent into Surrey, where they defeated an English force which attacked them at Southwark
Southwark
Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...
, before proceeding westwards on a circuitous march to reach London from the north-west. As was the case across England, the native ruling class of Surrey was virtually eliminated by Norman seizure of land. Only one significant English landowner, the brother of the last English Abbot of Chertsey, remained by the time the Domesday survey was conducted in 1086. At that time the largest landholding in Surrey, as in many other parts of the country, was the expanded royal estate, while the next largest holding belonged to Richard fitz Gilbert
Richard Fitz Gilbert
Richard fitz Gilbert , was a Norman lord who participated in the Norman conquest of England in 1066. He was also known as "de Bienfaite", "de Clare", and "de Tonbridge".-Biography:...
, founder of the de Clare
De Clare
The de Clare family of Norman lords were associated with the Welsh Marches, Suffolk, Surrey, Kent and Ireland. They were descended from Richard fitz Gilbert, who accompanied William the Conqueror into England during the Norman conquest of England.-Origins:The Clare family descends from Gilbert...
family.
William II of England
William II , the third son of William I of England, was King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales...
granted William de Warenne
William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey
William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, Seigneur de Varennes is one of the very few proven Companions of William the Conqueror known to have fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066...
the title of Earl of Surrey
Earl of Surrey
The Earl of Surrey is a title in the Peerage of England, and has been created five times. It was first created for William de Warenne, a close companion of William the Conqueror...
as a reward for Warenne's loyalty during the rebellion that followed the death of William I
Rebellion of 1088
The Rebellion of 1088 occurred after the death of William the Conqueror and concerned the division of lands in the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy between his two sons William Rufus and Robert Curthose...
. When the male line of the Warennes became extinct in the 14th century the earldom was inherited by the Fitzalan Earls of Arundel. The Fitzalan line of Earls of Surrey became extinct in 1415 but the title was revived in the late 15th century for the Howard family who still hold it. However, Surrey was not the principal focus of any of these families' interests.
Guildford Castle
Guildford Castle is in Guildford, Surrey, England. It is thought to have been built shortly after the 1066 invasion of England by William the Conqueror.-Construction and development:...
, one of many fortresses originally established by the Normans as part of the process of subjugating the country, was developed as a royal palace in the 12th century. Farnham Castle
Farnham Castle
Farnham Castle is a castle in Farnham, Surrey, England .First built in 1138 by Henri de Blois, grandson of William the Conqueror, Bishop of Winchester, the castle was to become the home of the Bishops of Winchester for over 800 years. The original building was demolished by Henry II in 1155 after...
was built during the 12th century as a residence for the Bishop of Winchester
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...
, while other stone castles were constructed in the same period at Bletchingley
Bletchingley Castle
Bletchingley Castle is in the village of a Bletchingley in Surrey .Late in the 12th century a rectangular tower was built on an earlier enclosure of earthworks by Richard Fitz Gilbert, founder of the de Clare family...
by the de Clares and at Reigate
Reigate Castle
Reigate castle is a ruined castle in the market town of Reigate in the county of Surrey, England.-Establishment:King William I granted the land around Reigate to one of his supporters, William de Warenne, who was created Earl of Surrey in 1088...
by the Warennes. During King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
's struggle with the barons
First Barons' War
The First Barons' War was a civil war in the Kingdom of England, between a group of rebellious barons—led by Robert Fitzwalter and supported by a French army under the future Louis VIII of France—and King John of England...
, Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
was issued in June 1215 at Runnymede
Runnymede
Runnymede is a water-meadow alongside the River Thames in the English county of Berkshire, and just over west of central London. It is notable for its association with the sealing of Magna Carta, and as a consequence is the site of a collection of memorials...
. In the following year Surrey was overrun by forces supporting Prince Louis
Louis VIII of France
Louis VIII the Lion reigned as King of France from 1223 to 1226. He was a member of the House of Capet. Louis VIII was born in Paris, France, the son of Philip II Augustus and Isabelle of Hainaut. He was also Count of Artois, inheriting the county from his mother, from 1190–1226...
of France, who passed through on their way from London to Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
and back and occupied Guildford and Reigate castles. Guildford Castle later became one of the favourite residences of King Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
, who considerably expanded the palace there. In 1264, during the baronial revolt
Second Barons' War
The Second Barons' War was a civil war in England between the forces of a number of barons led by Simon de Montfort, against the Royalist forces led by Prince Edward , in the name of Henry III.-Causes:...
against Henry III, the rebel army of Simon de Montfort
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, 1st Earl of Chester , sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from other Simon de Montforts, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman. He led the barons' rebellion against King Henry III of England during the Second Barons' War of 1263-4, and...
passed southwards through Surrey on their way to the Battle of Lewes
Battle of Lewes
The Battle of Lewes was one of two main battles of the conflict known as the Second Barons' War. It took place at Lewes in Sussex, on 14 May 1264...
in Sussex. Although the rebels were victorious, soon after the battle royal forces captured and destroyed Bletchingley Castle, whose owner Gilbert de Clare was one of de Montfort's leading supporters. By the 14th century castles were of dwindling military importance, but continued to be a mark of social prestige, leading to the construction of castles at Betchworth
Betchworth Castle
Betchworth Castle is a ruin of a fortified medieval house, near Brockham, built on a sandstone spur overlooking the western bank of the River Mole, Surrey, UK...
by Lord Cobham
John de Cobham, 2nd Baron Cobham
John de Cobham, 2nd Baron Cobham was an English nobleman. He was the second baron of the family of Cobhams of Cobham. He married Joan of Beauchamp, daughter of John Lord Beauchamp; after her death, he married one Agnes Stone of Dartford....
and at Starborough near Lingfield
Lingfield, Surrey
Lingfield is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England. It is most famous for its horse racing course, Lingfield Park. Lingfield lies to the east of a section of the A22 which runs between Godstone and East Grinstead...
by John Fitzalan
John FitzAlan, 1st Baron Arundel
John FitzAlan , 1st Baron Arundel was a Lord Marshal or Marshal of England.- Lineage :He was born in Etchingham, Sussex, England to Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel and his second wife Eleanor of Lancaster...
, whose father had recently inherited the Earldom of Surrey.
Surrey had little political or economic importance in the Middle Ages. It was not the main power-base of any major aristocratic family or the seat of a bishopric, while its agricultural wealth was limited by its generally poor soils. Population pressure in the 12th and 13th centuries led to the beginning of the gradual deforestation and agricultural development of the Weald, an area which had hitherto remained wooded due to the exceptional difficulty of farming its heavy clay soil. Urban development, excepting the London suburb of Southwark, was sapped by the overshadowing predominance of London and the major towns in neighbouring shires, many of which benefited from access to the sea or from political or ecclesiastical eminence. Surrey did however achieve a significant degree of prosperity in the later Middle Ages through its role in the production of woollen cloth, England's main export industry, which in Surrey was centred on Guildford.
Peasants' Revolt
The Peasants' Revolt, Wat Tyler's Rebellion, or the Great Rising of 1381 was one of a number of popular revolts in late medieval Europe and is a major event in the history of England. Tyler's Rebellion was not only the most extreme and widespread insurrection in English history but also the...
of 1381, Cade's Rebellion
Jack Cade
Jack Cade was the leader of a popular revolt in the 1450 Kent rebellion during the reign of King Henry VI in England. He died on the 12th July 1450 near Lewes. In response to grievances, Cade led an army of as many as 5,000 against London, causing the King to flee to Warwickshire. After taking and...
in 1450 and one stage of the Wars of the Roses
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...
in 1460.
In 1082 a Cluniac abbey was founded at Bermondsey
Bermondsey Abbey
Bermondsey Abbey was an English Benedictine monastery. Most widely known as an 11th-century foundation, it had a precursor mentioned in the early 8th century, and was centred on what is now Bermondsey Square, the site of Bermondsey Market, Bermondsey in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast...
by Alwine, a wealthy English citizen of London. The first Cistercian monastery in England, Waverley Abbey
Waverley Abbey
Waverley Abbey was the first Cistercian abbey in England, founded in 1128 by William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester. It is situated about one mile south of Farnham, Surrey, in a bend of the River Wey.-History:...
, was founded in 1128. Over the next quarter-century monks spread out from here to found new houses, creating a network of twelve monasteries descended from Waverley across southern and central England. The 12th and early 13th centuries also saw the establishment of Augustinian priories at Merton
Merton Priory
Merton Priory was founded in 1114 by Gilbert Norman, Sheriff of Surrey under Henry I. It was located in Merton, Surrey, England at the point where the Roman Stane Street crossed the River Wandle....
, Newark
Newark Priory
Newark Priory is a ruined priory located near the village of Pyrford in Surrey, England- History :Newark Priory was established in the late 12th Century by Rauld de Calva and his wife Beatrice de Sandes for Augustian canons. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Thomas Beckett and originally, the...
, Tandridge, Southwark
Southwark Cathedral
Southwark Cathedral or The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, Southwark, London, lies on the south bank of the River Thames close to London Bridge....
and Reigate. A Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
friary was established at Guildford
Guildford Black Friary
-History:A house of Dominican friars was founded in Guildford by Queen Eleanor of Provence, at some time after the death of her husband Henry III. The friary was on the east bank of the river, north of the current High Street in Guildford at the end of the present Friary Street, In 1275 on 6th...
by Henry III's widow Eleanor of Provence
Eleanor of Provence
Eleanor of Provence was Queen consort of England as the spouse of King Henry III of England from 1236 until his death in 1272....
, in memory of her grandson who had died at Guildford in 1274. In the 15th century a Carthusian
Carthusian
The Carthusian Order, also called the Order of St. Bruno, is a Roman Catholic religious order of enclosed monastics. The order was founded by Saint Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns...
priory was founded by King Henry V
Henry V of England
Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
at Sheen
Sheen Priory
Sheen Priory in Sheen, now Richmond, London was a former Carthusian monastery founded in 1414 within the royal manor of Sheen, on the south bank of the Thames, upstream and approximately 9 miles southwest of the Palace of Westminster...
. These would all perish, along with the still important Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
abbey of Chertsey
Chertsey Abbey
Chertsey Abbey, dedicated to St Peter, was a Benedictine monastery located at Chertsey in the English county of Surrey.It was founded by Saint Erkenwald, later Bishop of London, in 666 AD and he became the first abbot. In the 9th century it was sacked by the Danes and refounded from Abingdon Abbey...
, in the 16th-century Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
.
Although now fallen into disuse, some English counties had nicknames for people from that county, such as a Tyke
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
from Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
and a Yellowbelly
Yellowbelly (Lincolnshire)
A yellowbelly is a person from Lincolnshire, England. The origin of this nickname is disputed, and many explanations have been offered. These include:...
from Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
; the traditional nickname for people from Surrey is 'Surrey Capon', as it was well known in the later Middle Ages as the county where chickens were fattened up for the London meat markets.
Early Modern Surrey
Tudor dynasty
The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...
kings magnificent royal palaces were constructed in northern Surrey, in convenient proximity to London. At Richmond
Richmond Palace
Richmond Palace was a Thameside royal residence on the right bank of the river, upstream of the Palace of Westminster, to which it lay 9 miles SW of as the crow flies. It it was erected c. 1501 within the royal manor of Sheen, by Henry VII of England, formerly known by his title Earl of Richmond,...
an existing royal residence was rebuilt on a grand scale under King Henry VII
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
, who also founded a Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
friary nearby in 1499. The still more spectacular palace of Nonsuch
Nonsuch Palace
Nonsuch Palace was a Tudor royal palace, built by Henry VIII in Surrey, England; it stood from 1538 to 1682–3. Its ruins are in Nonsuch Park.- Background :Nonsuch Palace in Surrey was perhaps the grandest of Henry VIII's building projects...
was later built for Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
near Ewell
Ewell
Ewell is a village in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, close to the southern boundary of Greater London. It is located 14 miles south-south-west of Charing Cross and forms part of the suburbia that surrounds Greater London. Despite its growing population it is still referred to as a...
. The palace at Guildford Castle had fallen out of use long before, but a royal hunting lodge existed just outside the town. All these have since been demolished.
During the Cornish Rebellion of 1497
Cornish Rebellion of 1497
The Cornish Rebellion of 1497 was a popular uprising by the people of Cornwall in the far southwest of Britain. Its primary cause was a response of people to the raising of war taxes by King Henry VII on the impoverished Cornish, to raise money for a campaign against Scotland motivated by brief...
the rebels heading for London briefly occupied Guildford and fought a skirmish with a government detachment on Guildown outside the town, before marching on to Blackheath
Blackheath, London
Blackheath is a district of South London, England. It is named from the large open public grassland which separates it from Greenwich to the north and Lewisham to the west...
in Kent where they were crushed by a royal army. The forces of Wyatt's Rebellion
Wyatt's rebellion
Wyatt's Rebellion was a popular uprising in England in 1554, named after Thomas Wyatt the younger, one of its leaders. The rebellion arose out of concern over Queen Mary I's determination to marry Philip II of Spain, which was an unpopular policy with the English...
in 1554 passed through what was then north-eastern Surrey on their way from Kent to London, briefly occupying Southwark and then crossing the Thames at Kingston after failing to storm London Bridge.
Surrey's cloth industry declined in the 16th century, and effectively collapsed in the 17th. The introduction of new furnace technology in the early 17th century led to an expansion of the iron industry in the Weald, whose rich deposits had been exploited since prehistoric times, but this hastened the extinction of the business as the mines were worked out. However, this period also saw the emergence of important new industries, centred on the valley of the Tillingbourne
River Tillingbourne
The River Tillingbourne runs along the south side of the North Downs and joins the River Wey at Guildford. Its source is near Tilling Springs to the north of Leith Hill at and it runs through Friday Street, Abinger Hammer, Gomshall, Shere, Albury, Chilworth and Shalford. The source is a...
. The production of brass goods and wire in this area was relatively short-lived, but the manufacture of paper and gunpowder proved more enduring. For a time in the mid-17th century the Surrey mills were the main producers of gunpowder in England. The Wey Navigation
Wey and Godalming Navigations
The Wey and Godalming Navigations is the name given to the navigable parts of the River Wey, in Surrey, UK. The navigation runs for around between the River Thames below Shepperton Lock near Weybridge, to the south-west of London, and the centre of Godalming, in Surrey; it runs through Guildford...
, opened in 1653, was one of England's first canal systems.
George Abbot, the son of a Guildford clothworker, served as Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
in 1611–33. In 1619 he founded Abbot's Hospital
Abbot's Hospital
The Hospital of the Blessed Trinity, better known as Abbot's Hospital, is a Jacobean building founded by George Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury , in 1619...
, an almshouse
Almshouse
Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...
in Guildford, which is still operating. He also made unsuccessful efforts to revitalise the ailing local cloth industry. One of his brothers, Robert, became Bishop of Salisbury
Bishop of Salisbury
The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset...
and another, Maurice
Maurice Abbot
Sir Maurice Abbot was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1621 and 1626. He was Lord Mayor of London in 1638....
, was a founding shareholder of the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
who became the company's governor and later Lord Mayor of London
Lord Mayor of London
The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...
.
Bankside
Bankside is a district of London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. Bankside is located on the southern bank of the River Thames, east of Charing Cross, running from a little west of Blackfriars Bridge to just a short distance before London Bridge at St Mary Overie Dock to...
in Southwark, then part of Surrey, was the principal entertainment district of early modern London. This was due to its convenient location outside the jurisdiction of the government of the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
, since the social control exercised over this London suburb by the local authorities of Surrey was less effectively restrictive. As a result this was where the city's theatres were located and was the setting for the golden age of Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre
English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, which occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...
, with the work of playwrights including William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
, Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
and John Webster
John Webster
John Webster was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, which are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.- Biography :Webster's life is obscure, and the dates...
being performed in playhouses along the south bank of the Thames.
Surrey almost entirely escaped the direct impact of fighting during the main phase
First English Civil War
The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...
of the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
in 1642-6. The local Parliamentarian
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
gentry led by Sir Richard Onslow
Richard Onslow (Parliamentarian)
Sir Richard Onslow was an English Member of Parliament and fought on the Parliamentary side during the English Civil War. He was the grandson of one Speaker of the House of Commons and the grandfather of another, both also called Richard Onslow.Onslow was knighted on 2 June 1624...
were able to secure the county without difficulty on the outbreak of war. Farnham Castle was briefly occupied by the advancing Royalists in late 1642, but was easily stormed by the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller
William Waller
Sir William Waller was an English soldier during the English Civil War. He received his education at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and served in the Venetian army and in the Thirty Years' War...
. A new Royalist offensive in late 1643 saw skirmishing around Farnham between Waller's forces and Ralph Hopton's Royalists, but these brief incursions into the western fringes of Surrey marked the limits of Royalist advances on the county. During a political crisis in summer 1647 Sir Thomas Fairfax's army passed through Surrey on its way to occupy London, and subsequent billeting of troops in Surrey caused considerable discontent. In the brief Second Civil War
Second English Civil War
The Second English Civil War was the second of three wars known as the English Civil War which refers to the series of armed conflicts and political machinations which took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1652 and also include the First English Civil War and the...
of 1648 the Earl of Holland
Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland
Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland was an English aristocrat, courtier and soldier.-Life:He was the son of Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick and of Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich, and the younger brother of Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick...
entered Surrey in July hoping to ignite a Royalist revolt. He raised his standard at Kingston and advanced south, but found little support. After confused manoeuvres between Reigate and Dorking
Dorking
Dorking is a historic market town at the foot of the North Downs approximately south of London, in Surrey, England.- History and development :...
as Parliamentary troops closed in, his force of 500 men fled northwards and was overtaken and routed at Kingston.
Surrey had a prominent role in the development of the radical political movements unleashed by the civil war. In October 1647 the first manifesto of what became known as the Leveller movement, The Case of the Army Truly Stated, was drafted at Guildford by the elected representatives of New Model Army
New Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
regiments and civilian radicals from London. This document combined the presentation of specific grievances with wider demands for constitutional change on the basis of popular sovereignty
Popular sovereignty
Popular sovereignty or the sovereignty of the people is the political principle that the legitimacy of the state is created and sustained by the will or consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. It is closely associated with Republicanism and the social contract...
. It formed the template for the more systematic and radical Agreement of the People
Agreement of the People
An Agreement of the People was a series of manifestos, published between 1647 and 1649, for constitutional changes to the English state. Several versions of the Agreement were published, each adapted to address not only broad concerns but also specific issues during the fast changing...
, drafted by the same men later that month, and led to the Putney Debates
Putney Debates
The Putney Debates were a series of discussions between members of the New Model Army – a number of the participants being Levellers – concerning the makeup of a new constitution for England....
between its signatories and the army leadership. In 1649 the Diggers led by Gerrard Winstanley
Gerrard Winstanley
Gerrard Winstanley was an English Protestant religious reformer and political activist during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell...
established their communal settlement at St. George's Hill to implement egalitarian ideals of common ownership, but were eventually driven out by the local landowners through violence and litigation. A smaller Digger commune was then established near Cobham
Cobham, Surrey
Cobham is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, about south-west of central London and north of Leatherhead. Elmbridge has been acclaimed by the Daily Mail as the best place to live in the UK, and Cobham is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt...
, but suffered the same fate in 1650.
Modern history
Until the late 18th century Surrey, apart from its north-eastern corner, was sparsely populated and somewhat rustic, despite its proximity to the capital. Communications began to improve, and the influence of London to increase, with the development of turnpikeTurnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...
roads and a stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
system. A far more profound transformation followed with the arrival of the railways, beginning in the late 1830s. The availability of rapid transportation enabled prosperous London workers to travel daily to homes across Surrey. This phenomenon of commuting brought explosive growth to Surrey's population and wealth, and tied its economy and society inextricably to London. Existing towns like Guildford, Farnham and most spectacularly Croydon
Croydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
grew rapidly, while new towns such as Woking and Redhill
Redhill, Surrey
Redhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead, Surrey, England and is part of the London commuter belt. Redhill and the adjacent town of Reigate form a single urban area.-History:...
emerged beside the railway lines.
Meanwhile London itself spread swiftly across north-eastern Surrey. In 1800 it extended only to Vauxhall
Vauxhall
-Demography:Many Vauxhall residents live in social housing. There are several gentrified areas, and areas of terraced townhouses on streets such as Fentiman Road and Heyford Avenue have higher property values in the private market, however by far the most common type of housing stock within...
; a century later the city's growth had reached as far as Putney
Putney
Putney is a district in south-west London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
and Streatham
Streatham
Streatham is a district in Surrey, England, located in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
. This expansion was reflected in the creation of the County of London
County of London
The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government Act 1888. The Act created an administrative County of...
in 1889, detaching the areas subsumed by the city from Surrey. The expansion of London continued in the 20th century, engulfing Croydon, Kingston and many smaller settlements. This led to a further contraction of Surrey in 1965 with the creation of Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
.
Brookwood Cemetery
Brookwood Cemetery is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in western Europe.-History:...
was established near Woking to serve the population of London, connected to the capital by its own railway service
London Necropolis Railway
The London Necropolis Railway was a railway line opened in November 1854 by the London Necropolis Company , to carry cadavers and mourners between London and the LNC's newly opened Brookwood Cemetery southwest of London in Brookwood, Surrey...
. It soon developed into the largest burial ground in the world. Woking was also the site of Britain's first crematorium
Woking Crematorium
Woking Crematorium is a crematorium in Woking, a large town in the west of Surrey, England. Established in 1878, it was the first custom-built crematorium in the United Kingdom and is closely linked to the history of cremation in this country.-Location:...
, which opened in 1878, and its first mosque
Shah Jahan Mosque
The Shah Jahan Mosque is the first purpose-built mosque in Britain built 1889 in Woking, 30 miles south-west of London in Oriental Road.-Construction:...
, founded in 1889. In 1881 Godalming became the first town in the world with a public electricity supply.
The eastern part of Surrey was transferred from the Diocese of Winchester
Diocese of Winchester
The Diocese of Winchester forms part of the Province of Canterbury of the Church of England.Founded in 676, it is one of the oldest and largest of the dioceses in England.The area of the diocese incorporates:...
to that of Rochester
Diocese of Rochester
The Diocese of Rochester is a Church of England diocese in South-East England and forms part of the Province of Canterbury. It is an ancient diocese, having been established in 604; only the neighbouring Diocese of Canterbury is older in the Church of England....
in 1877. In 1905 this area was detached to form a new Diocese of Southwark
Anglican Diocese of Southwark
The Diocese of Southwark is one of the 44 dioceses of the Church of England, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Diocese forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. It was formed on May 1, 1905 from part of the Diocese of Rochester...
. The rest of the county, together with part of eastern Hampshire, was separated from Winchester in 1927 to become the Diocese of Guildford
Diocese of Guildford
The Diocese of Guildford is a Church of England diocese based in Guildford, covering most of Surrey and part of Hampshire. The cathedral is Guildford Cathedral and the bishop is the Bishop of Guildford. It is part of the Province of Canterbury....
, whose cathedral
Guildford Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of the Holy Spirit, Guildford is the Anglican cathedral at Guildford, Surrey, England.-Construction:Guildford was made a diocese in its own right in 1927, and work on its new cathedral, designed by Sir Edward Maufe, began nine years later, with the foundation stone being laid...
was consecrated in 1961.
During the later 19th century Surrey became increasingly important in the development of architecture in Britain and the wider world. Its traditional building forms were significant in shaping the widespread trend for English vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs and circumstances. Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it...
associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
, and would continue to influence domestic building through the 20th century. The prominence of Surrey peaked in the 1890s, when it was the focus for globally important developments in domestic architecture, in particular the early work of Edwin Lutyens
Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
, who grew up in the county and was greatly influenced by its traditional styles and materials.
Dennis Specialist Vehicles
Dennis Specialist Vehicles is a major British coachbuilder and manufacturer of specialised commercial vehicles based in Guildford, England...
in Guildford in 1895. Beginning as a maker of bicycles and then of cars, the firm soon shifted into the production of commercial and utility vehicles, becoming internationally important as a manufacturer of fire engines and buses. Though much reduced in size and despite numerous changes of ownership, this business continues to operate in Guildford.
During the Second World War a section of the GHQ Stop Line
GHQ Line
The GHQ Line was a defence line built in the United Kingdom during World War II to contain an expected German invasion.The British Army had abandoned most of its equipment in France after the Dunkirk evacuation...
, a system of pillboxes, gun emplacements, anti-tank obstacles and other fortifications was constructed along the North Downs. This line, running from Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
to Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, was intended as the principal fixed defence of London and the industrial core of England against the threat of invasion. German invasion plans envisaged that the main thrust of their advance inland would cross the North Downs at the gap in the ridge formed by the Wey valley, thus colliding with the defence line around Guildford.
Historic architecture and monuments
Round barrow
Round barrows are one of the most common types of archaeological monuments. Although concentrated in Europe they are found in many parts of the world because of their simple construction and universal purpose....
s and bell barrow
Bell barrow
A bell barrow, sometimes referred to as a Wessex type barrow, campanulate form barrow, or a bermed barrow is a type of tumulus identified as such by both John Aubrey and William Stukeley....
s in various locations, mostly dating to the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
. Remains of Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
hillforts exist at Holmbury Hill
Holmbury Hill
Holmbury Hill is the site of an Iron Age hillfort close to the village of Holmbury St. Mary in Surrey, England. Excavation of the site in 1929 by S.E. Winbolt indicated that it dated to the 1st Century AD and may have been constructed by Belgic tribes of Celts who were settling this part of Britain...
, Hascombe Hill
Hascombe Hill
Hascombe Hill is the site of an Iron Age hillfort close to the village of Hascombe in Surrey, England. The site was excavated in 1931 by S. E. Winbolt, who dated the occupation of the site to the 1st century BC. The hillfort encloses a thickly wooded area of approximately . The sides of the fort,...
, Anstiebury (near Capel), Dry Hill (near Lingfield
Lingfield, Surrey
Lingfield is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England. It is most famous for its horse racing course, Lingfield Park. Lingfield lies to the east of a section of the A22 which runs between Godstone and East Grinstead...
), St. Ann's Hill, Chertsey and St George's Hill, Weybridge
Weybridge
Weybridge is a town in the Elmbridge district of Surrey in South East England. It is bounded to the north by the River Thames at the mouth of the River Wey, from which it gets its name...
. Most of these sites were created in the 1st century BC and many were re-occupied during the middle of the 1st century AD. Only fragments of Stane Street and Ermine Street
Ermine Street
Ermine Street is the name of a major Roman road in England that ran from London to Lincoln and York . The Old English name was 'Earninga Straete' , named after a tribe called the Earningas, who inhabited a district later known as Armingford Hundred, around Arrington, Cambridgeshire and Royston,...
, the Roman roads which crossed the county, remain.
Anglo-Saxon elements survive in a number of Surrey churches, notably at Guildford (St. Mary's), Godalming
Godalming
Godalming is a town and civil parish in the Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England, south of Guildford. It is built on the banks of the River Wey and is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt. Godalming shares a three-way twinning arrangement with the towns of Joigny in France...
(St. Peter & St. Paul), Stoke D'Abernon
Stoke d'Abernon
Stoke d'Abernon is a small village situated between Cobham and Leatherhead in the county of Surrey. The census area Oxshott and Stoke d'Abernon has a population of 6,100.-History:...
, Thursley
Thursley
Thursley is a small village in Surrey. It lies just west of the A3 running between Milford and Hindhead. Neighbouring villages include Rushmoor, Bowlhead Green and Brook. Thursley is in south-west Surrey, in south-east England...
, Witley
Witley
Witley, in Surrey, England is a village south west of Godalming. The village lies just east of the A3 that runs from Guildford to Petersfield. Witley together with the neighbouring area of Hambledon have a population of about 4,000. Neighbouring villages include Milford, Chiddingfold and...
, Compton and Albury
Albury, Surrey
Albury is a village and civil parish in the borough of Guildford in Surrey, England, about south-east of Guildford town centre. The village is within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Site of Special Scientific Interest....
(old church).
Numerous medieval churches exist in Surrey, but the county's parish churches are typically relatively small and simple, and have suffered particularly heavily at the hands of Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...
. Important medieval church interiors are to be found at Stoke D'Abernon, Compton, Chaldon
Chaldon
Chaldon is a village in Surrey, England on the North Downs to the west of Caterham. It falls within the boundaries of Tandridge district.The village lay within the Anglo-Saxon administrative division of Wallington hundred....
, Dunsfold
Dunsfold
Dunsfold is a village in the Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England, 8.7 miles south of Guildford. The census area Chiddingfold and Dunsfold has a population of 3,812.-History:...
and Lingfield
Lingfield, Surrey
Lingfield is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England. It is most famous for its horse racing course, Lingfield Park. Lingfield lies to the east of a section of the A22 which runs between Godstone and East Grinstead...
. The larger monastic churches fell into ruin after their institutions were dissolved, although some remains of those at Waverley and Newark still exist, while Southwark Priory, no longer in Surrey, has survived intact as a cathedral. Farnham Castle survives in large part and substantial ruins remain at Guildford Castle, while a handful of medieval domestic buildings survive, albeit with considerable later modifications.
The 16th century is the earliest from which a sizeable amount of non-military secular architecture survives in Surrey. Important examples include the grand mid-century country houses of Loseley Park
Loseley Park
Loseley Park is a historic manor house situated outside Guildford in Surrey, England near Compton. The estate was acquired by the direct ancestors of the current owners, the More-Molyneux, at the beginning of the 16th century....
and Sutton Place
Sutton Place, Surrey
Sutton Place, 3 miles NE of Guildford in Surrey is a Grade I listed Tudor manor house built c.1525 by Sir Richard Weston, courtier of Henry VIII. It is of great importance to art history in showing some of the earliest traces of Italianate renaissance design elements in English architecture. In...
and the old building of the Royal Grammar School, Guildford
Royal Grammar School, Guildford
The Royal Grammar School is a selective English independent day school for boys in Guildford, Surrey. The school dates its founding to the death of Robert Beckingham in 1509 who left provision in his will to 'make a free scole at the Towne of Guldford'; in 1512 a governing body was set up to form...
, founded in 1509. A considerable number of more ordinary houses and commercial buildings of the 16th century are also still standing, and with the 17th century the number of surviving buildings proliferates much further. Abbot's Hospital
Abbot's Hospital
The Hospital of the Blessed Trinity, better known as Abbot's Hospital, is a Jacobean building founded by George Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury , in 1619...
, founded in 1619, is a grand edifice built in the Tudor style
Tudor architecture
The Tudor architectural style is the final development of medieval architecture during the Tudor period and even beyond, for conservative college patrons...
, despite its date. More characteristic examples of major 17th-century building include West Horsley Place, Slyfield Manor and the guildhall in Guildford, as well as Ham House and Kew Palace
Kew Palace
Kew Palace is a British Royal Palace in Kew Gardens on the banks of the Thames up river from London. There have been at least four Palaces at Kew, and three have been known as Kew Palace; the first building may not have been known as Kew as no records survive other than the words of another...
, formerly in Surrey but now in Greater London.
Literature
Besides its role in Elizabethan and Jacobean theatreEnglish Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, which occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...
, many important writers have lived and worked in Surrey.
- The Owl and the NightingaleThe Owl and the NightingaleThe Owl and the Nightingale is a 12th- or 13th-century Middle English poem detailing a debate between an owl and a nightingale as overheard by the poem's narrator. It is the earliest example in Middle English of a literary form known as debate poetry...
, one of the earliest Middle EnglishMiddle EnglishMiddle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
poems, may have been written by one Nicholas of Guildford, who is mentioned in its text. - John DonneJohn DonneJohn Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
(1572–1631) lived and worked for much of his life in PyrfordPyrfordPyrford is an English village that for centuries had historical links with the monastery of Westminster, in whose possession it remained between the Norman Conquest and the Dissolution of the Monasteries nearly five hundred years later. It is thirty miles by road from central London and situated...
. - John EvelynJohn EvelynJohn Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
(1620–1706) was born at WottonWotton, SurreyWotton is a small village located on the A25 between Guildford in the west and Dorking in the east. Neighbouring villages include: the Abingers of Abinger Common, Sutton Abinger, and Abinger Hammer; Friday Street and Westcott...
and spent much of his life there. - Daniel DefoeDaniel DefoeDaniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
(1659/61-1731) was educated in Dorking. - William CobbettWilliam CobbettWilliam Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who was born in Farnham, Surrey. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly...
(1763–1835) was born in Farnham and is buried there; Surrey features prominently in his Rural RidesRural RidesRural Rides is the book for which the English journalist, agriculturist and political reformer William Cobbett is best known.At the time of writing in the early 1820s, Cobbett was a radical anti-Corn Law campaigner, newly returned to England from a spell of self-imposed political exile in the...
. - Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) wrote Conningsby while living in Dorking.
- Alfred TennysonAlfred Tennyson, 1st Baron TennysonAlfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....
(1809–92) spent the latter part of his life, and died, in HaslemereHaslemereHaslemere is a town in Surrey, England, close to the border with both Hampshire and West Sussex. The major road between London and Portsmouth, the A3, lies to the west, and a branch of the River Wey to the south. Haslemere is approximately south-west of Guildford.Haslemere is surrounded by hills,...
. - Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
(1812–70) wrote part of The Pickwick PapersThe Pickwick PapersThe Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club is the first novel by Charles Dickens. After the publication, the widow of the illustrator Robert Seymour claimed that the idea for the novel was originally her husband's; however, in his preface to the 1867 edition, Dickens strenuously denied any...
in Dorking, and refers to the town in the novel. - Robert BrowningRobert BrowningRobert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.-Early years:...
(1812–89) was born in CamberwellCamberwellCamberwell is a district of south London, England, and forms part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is a built-up inner city district located southeast of Charing Cross. To the west it has a boundary with the London Borough of Lambeth.-Toponymy:...
, then part of Surrey. - George EliotGeorge EliotMary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era...
(1819–80) wrote most of MiddlemarchMiddlemarchMiddlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Evans, later Marian Evans. It is her seventh novel, begun in 1869 and then put aside during the final illness of Thornton Lewes, the son of her companion George Henry Lewes...
while living in Haslemere. - George MeredithGeorge MeredithGeorge Meredith, OM was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era.- Life :Meredith was born in Portsmouth, England, a son and grandson of naval outfitters. His mother died when he was five. At the age of 14 he was sent to a Moravian School in Neuwied, Germany, where he remained for two...
(1828–1909) lived at Box Hill. - Lewis CarrollLewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
(1832–98) died and is buried in Guildford, where he had spent much time at his sisters' home. - George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
(1856–1950) lived in Woking and later in HindheadHindheadHindhead is a village in Surrey, England, about 11 miles south-west of Guildford. Neighbouring settlements include Haslemere, Grayshott and Beacon Hill. Hindhead is the highest village in Surrey...
, where he wrote Caesar and CleopatraCaesar and Cleopatra (play)Caesar and Cleopatra, a play written in 1898 by George Bernard Shaw, was first staged in 1901 and first published with Captain Brassbound's Conversion and The Devil's Disciple in his 1901 collection, Three Plays for Puritans. It was first performed at Newcastle-on-Tyne on March 15, 1899...
. - Arthur Conan DoyleArthur Conan DoyleSir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
(1859–1930) lived and wrote many of his books in Hindhead and served as deputy lieutenantDeputy LieutenantIn the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
of Surrey; the county forms a setting for many of the Sherlock HolmesSherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
stories. - J.M. Barrie (1860–1937) lived in TilfordTilfordTilford is a small village about two miles south of Farnham in Surrey, England. It lies within the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty- History :The name "Tilford" is probably derived from "Tila's ford" or "Tilla's ford"....
, and based The Boy Castaways, which later evolved into Peter PanPeter PanPeter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
, in the nearby countryside. - H.G. Wells (1866–1946) wrote The War of the WorldsThe War of the WorldsThe War of the Worlds is an 1898 science fiction novel written by H. G. Wells.The War of the Worlds may also refer to:- Radio broadcasts :* The War of the Worlds , the 1938 radio broadcast by Orson Welles...
while living in Woking; much of northern Surrey is laid waste in the course of the story. - John GalsworthyJohn GalsworthyJohn Galsworthy OM was an English novelist and playwright. Notable works include The Forsyte Saga and its sequels, A Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter...
(1867–1933) was born in Kingston and the Forsyte Saga is set in the area. - E.M. Forster (1879–1970) lived and wrote in Weybridge.
- P.G. Wodehouse (1881–1975) was born in Guildford and baptised there in St. Nicolas's churchSt. Nicolas' Church, GuildfordSt. Nicolas is an Anglican parish church in the centre of Guildford, England. It is one of the three ancient parishes of Guildford borough ....
. - Aldous HuxleyAldous HuxleyAldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
(1894–1963) was born in Godalming and his remains are interred at Compton; the end of Brave New WorldBrave New WorldBrave New World is Aldous Huxley's fifth novel, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in London of AD 2540 , the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of...
is set in Surrey.
Arts and sciences
- William of OckhamWilliam of OckhamWilliam of Ockham was an English Franciscan friar and scholastic philosopher, who is believed to have been born in Ockham, a small village in Surrey. He is considered to be one of the major figures of medieval thought and was at the centre of the major intellectual and political controversies of...
(c.1288-c.1348), scholasticScholasticismScholasticism is a method of critical thought which dominated teaching by the academics of medieval universities in Europe from about 1100–1500, and a program of employing that method in articulating and defending orthodoxy in an increasingly pluralistic context...
philosopher, most famous for "Occam's RazorOccam's razorOccam's razor, also known as Ockham's razor, and sometimes expressed in Latin as lex parsimoniae , is a principle that generally recommends from among competing hypotheses selecting the one that makes the fewest new assumptions.-Overview:The principle is often summarized as "simpler explanations...
", came from OckhamOckham, SurreyOckham is a tiny English village near East Horsley, in Surrey, England. The village lies to the east of the A3 which runs between Cobham and Guildford. Other neighbouring villages include Ripley, Wisley and Effingham....
. - Thomas MalthusThomas MalthusThe Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus FRS was an English scholar, influential in political economy and demography. Malthus popularized the economic theory of rent....
(1766–1834), pioneer of demographyDemographyDemography is the statistical study of human population. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space...
, was born and grew up in WestcottWestcott, SurreyWestcott is a village situated on the A25 between Dorking and Guildford in Surrey, England. Neighbouring villages include Friday Street, Wotton, Abinger Common and Abinger Hammer. It was the nearest village for the John Evelyn's Wotton Estate, and was well known by the diarist in the mid to late...
, and later lived in Albury. - Ada LovelaceAda LovelaceAugusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace , born Augusta Ada Byron, was an English writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine...
(1815–52), mathematician, lived at East Horsley. - Gertrude JekyllGertrude JekyllGertrude Jekyll was an influential British garden designer, writer, and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the UK, Europe and the USA and contributed over 1,000 articles to Country Life, The Garden and other magazines.-Early life:...
(1843–1932), garden designer, lived for much of her life at Munstead near Godalming, created significant gardens in Surrey and is buried in BusbridgeBusbridgeBusbridge is a village and civil parish in the borough of Waverley in Surrey. It has a population of 758. It forms part of the Waverley ward of Bramley, Busbridge and Hascombe....
. - Edwin LutyensEdwin LutyensSir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
(1869–1944), architect, grew up in ThursleyThursleyThursley is a small village in Surrey. It lies just west of the A3 running between Milford and Hindhead. Neighbouring villages include Rushmoor, Bowlhead Green and Brook. Thursley is in south-west Surrey, in south-east England...
and many of his early works were built in west Surrey, including collaborations with Gertrude Jekyll. - Ralph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
(1872–1958), composer, grew up at Leith Hill and later lived in Dorking. - Laurence OlivierLaurence OlivierLaurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
(1907–89), actor, was born in Dorking. - Alan TuringAlan TuringAlan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS , was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a...
(1912–54), mathematician and pioneer of computer scienceComputer scienceComputer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, lived for much of his early life in Guildford.
Popular music
The "Surrey Delta" produced many of the musicians in 60s British blues movements. The Rolling Stones developed their music at Crawdaddy Club in RichmondRichmond upon Thames
Richmond is a town in southwest London, England and is part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is located west-southwest of Charing Cross....
.
- Jimmy PageJimmy PageJames Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
(born 1944) spent much of his early life in EpsomEpsomEpsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England. Small parts of Epsom are in the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. The town is located south-south-west of Charing Cross, within the Greater London Urban Area. The town lies on the chalk downland of Epsom Downs.-History:Epsom lies...
. - Jeff BeckJeff BeckGeoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
(born 1944) was born in WallingtonWallington, LondonWallington is a town in the London Borough of Sutton situated south south-west of Charing Cross. Prior to the merger of the Municipal Borough of Beddington and Wallington into the London Borough of Sutton, it was part of the county of Surrey.- History :...
, then part of Surrey. - Eric ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
(born 1945) was born and grew up in RipleyRipley, SurreyRipley is a village and parish in Surrey, which grew on the main A3 road from London to Portsmouth. The road was renumbered as B2215 when a bypass was built. The village is situated close to the M25 motorway and southeast of Woking, northeast of Guildford and some southwest of central London...
. - The StranglersThe StranglersThe Stranglers are an English punk/rock music group.Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s...
were formed in GuildfordGuildfordGuildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
. - Paul WellerPaul WellerPaul Weller is an English singer-songwriter. Starting with the band The Jam , Weller then went on to branch out musically to a more soulful style with The Style Council...
(born 1958) was born and grew up in Woking, which inspired the song Town Called MaliceTown Called Malice"Town Called Malice" is a song recorded by The Jam from the album The Gift. It reached number one in the UK singles chart.-Song profile:It was a double A-side single release featuring "Precious" as the flip side...
. The JamThe JamThe Jam were an English punk rock/New Wave/mod revival band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were formed in Woking, Surrey. While they shared the "angry young men" outlook and fast tempos of their punk rock contemporaries, The Jam wore smartly tailored suits rather than ripped...
were formed at Sheerwater Secondary School in the town. - Norman Cook (born 1963) was born in Surrey.
- Hard-FiHARD-FiHard-Fi are an English indie rock band formed in Staines, Surrey in 2003. The band's members are Richard Archer , Ross Phillips , Kai Stephens and Steve Kemp .They achieved chart success with their third single, "Hard to Beat" and then followed by other successful singles such as...
members Richard ArcherRichard ArcherRichard John "Rich" Archer is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, principal songwriter and main composer of indie rock band Hard-Fi. Hard-Fi have produced several top 10 hits and two #1 albums. The influence of Archer's hometown of Staines is often...
, Ross PhillipsRoss PhillipsRoss Phillips is an English musician. He is the guitarist of indie rock band Hard-Fi and also provides backing vocals for frontman Richard Archer. Phillips previously worked in a local hi-fi shop in his home town of Staines...
, and Kai StephensKai StephensKai Stephens is an English musician. He is the bass guitarist of indie rock band Hard-Fi. He attended Licensed Victuallers School in Slough and then Ascot, Berkshire....
are from Staines, Surrey. - Justin HawkinsJustin HawkinsJustin David Hawkins is an English musician and singer-songwriter, best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist of The Darkness, alongside his brother, guitarist Dan Hawkins...
, lead singer of rock band The Darkness was born in Surrey. - Mike RutherfordMike RutherfordMichael John Cleote Crawford Rutherford is an English musician. He is a founding member of Genesis, initially as a bassist and backup vocalist. In later incarnations of Genesis, he assumed the role of lead guitarist. He is one of only two constant members in Genesis . He also fronts Mike + The...
guitarist of progressive rock band GenesisGenesis (band)Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
. - Peter GabrielPeter GabrielPeter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
, once lead songwriter of progressive rock band Genesis.
Sport
Surrey was the scene for the earliest appearance in history of cricket being played, a reference to games at the Royal Grammar School, GuildfordRoyal Grammar School, Guildford
The Royal Grammar School is a selective English independent day school for boys in Guildford, Surrey. The school dates its founding to the death of Robert Beckingham in 1509 who left provision in his will to 'make a free scole at the Towne of Guldford'; in 1512 a governing body was set up to form...
in the 16th century (see History of English cricket to 1696). Mitcham Cricket Club
Mitcham Cricket Club
]Mitcham Cricket Club is reported by The Independent to be the oldest cricket club in existence, with the club having been playing cricket on Mitcham Cricket Green since 1685. Mitcham club were also reportedly watched by Lord Nelson during his time in the area...
, formed in 1685 and the oldest documented club in the game's history, was within Surrey's borders until 1965. The Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
, founded in 1845, represents the historic county of Surrey, although its main ground, The Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
in Kennington
Kennington
Kennington is a district of South London, England, mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, although part of the area is within the London Borough of Southwark....
, is now in Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
. The club also uses Whitgift School
Whitgift School
Whitgift School is an independent day school educating approximately 1,400 boys aged 10 to 18 in South Croydon, London in a parkland site.- History and grounds :...
, South Croydon
South Croydon
South Croydon is a locality in Greater London, the area surrounding the valley south of central Croydon about 1 km in radius, centred on the Red Deer public house on the Brighton Road. It is part of the South Croydon post town and in the London Borough of Croydon...
and Woodbridge Road
Woodbridge Road
The Sports Ground, Woodbridge Road is a cricket ground in Guildford, Surrey. The ground was given to the town in trust in 1911 by Sir Harry Waechter, Bart. Guildford Cricket Club play their home matches on the ground. Surrey CCC play one County Championship match and one List A one-day match there...
, Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
for some games. It was one of the original participants in the County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
and has won the competition 18 times, more than any other county except Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
.
Epsom Downs Racecourse
Epsom Downs Racecourse
Epsom Downs is a Grade 1 racecourse near Epsom, Surrey, England. The "downs" referred to in the name are part of the North Downs. The course is best known for hosting the Epsom Derby, the United Kingdom's premier thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old colts and fillies, over a mile and a half...
is the venue for the most prestigious event in British flat horse-racing, the Derby
Epsom Derby
The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...
, which has been held there annually since 1780.
Brooklands
Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. It opened in 1907, and was the world's first purpose-built motorsport venue, as well as one of Britain's first airfields...
near Woking was the world's first purpose-built motorsport
Motorsport
Motorsport or motorsports is the group of sports which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles, whether for racing or non-racing competition...
race circuit, opened in 1907. Currently Woking plays host to the headquarters of the McLaren
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup...
Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
team, giving Surrey the rarity of having a local F1 team. James Hunt
James Hunt
James Simon Wallis Hunt was a British racing driver from England who won the Formula One World Championship in . Hunt's often action packed exploits on track earned him the nickname "Hunt the Shunt." After retiring from driving, Hunt became a media commentator and businessman...
, the 1976 Formula 1 World Driver's Champion was born in Belmont, then part of Surrey, in 1947.
Surrey's leading rugby
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
club, Esher
Esher RFC
Esher Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Surrey, England. Esher RFC are currently playing in the second division of the English league system, The Championship. The club was formed in 1923 when four rugby enthusiasts agreed to start a club....
, currently compete in the RFU Championship
RFU Championship
The RFU Championship replaced National Division One as the second tier in the English rugby union system in September 2009. Unlike National Division One, which is semi-professional, the RFU Championship is a fully professional league.-History:...
, the second tier of English rugby. The county has numerous football teams, but none in the Football League.
Surrey is home to the Ice Hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team the Guildford Flames
Guildford Flames
The Guildford Flames are an ice hockey team based in Guildford, Surrey and their home ice is the Guildford Spectrum.Founded in October 1992, the team played for many years in the British National League...
, who compete in the English Premier League
English Premier Ice Hockey League
The English Premier Ice Hockey League commonly abbreviated to EPIHL, or simply EPL, is a senior ice hockey league in England, and is run and administered by the English Ice Hockey Association...
and the basketball team the Guildford Heat
Guildford Heat
Guildford Heat is a basketball club based in Guildford, England that currently play in the British Basketball League. Heat play their home games at the brand-new Surrey Sports Park and was formed in 2005 by fans of former BBL franchise Thames Valley Tigers, who folded during the same year...
, who play in the top tier of British basketball, the British Basketball League
British Basketball League
The British Basketball League, often abbreviated to the BBL, is the premier men's professional basketball league in the United Kingdom. The BBL runs two knockout competitions alongside the league championship; the BBL Cup and the BBL Trophy....
.
Local government
The Local Government Act 1888
Local Government Act 1888
The Local Government Act 1888 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales...
reorganised county-level local government throughout England and Wales. Accordingly, the administrative county
Administrative county
An administrative county was an administrative division in England and Wales and Ireland used for the purposes of local government. They are now abolished, although in Northern Ireland their former areas are used as the basis for lieutenancy....
of Surrey was formed in 1889 when the Provisional Surrey County Council first met, consisting of 19 aldermen and 57 councillors. The county council assumed the administrative responsibilities previously exercised by the county's justices
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
in quarter sessions
Quarter Sessions
The Courts of Quarter Sessions or Quarter Sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the United Kingdom and other countries in the former British Empire...
. The county had revised boundaries, with the north east of the historic county bordering the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
becoming part of a new County of London
County of London
The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government Act 1888. The Act created an administrative County of...
. These areas now form the London Boroughs of Lambeth
London Borough of Lambeth
The London Borough of Lambeth is a London borough in south London, England and forms part of Inner London. The local authority is Lambeth London Borough Council.-Origins:...
, Southwark
London Borough of Southwark
The London Borough of Southwark is a London borough in south east London, England. It is directly south of the River Thames and the City of London, and forms part of Inner London.-History:...
and Wandsworth
London Borough of Wandsworth
The London Borough of Wandsworth is a London borough in southwest London, England, and forms part of Inner London.-History:The borough was formed in 1965 from the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea and much of the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth, but...
, and the Penge
Penge Urban District
Penge was a civil parish and a local government district located to the southeast of London, England. It included the settlements of Penge, Anerley and part of Crystal Palace...
area of the London Borough of Bromley
London Borough of Bromley
The London Borough of Bromley is a London borough of south east London, England and forms part of Outer London. The principal town in the borough is Bromley.-Geography:...
. At the same time, the borough of Croydon
County Borough of Croydon
Croydon was a local government district in north east Surrey, England from 1849 to 1965.-History:A local board of health was formed for the parish of Croydon St John the Baptist in 1849. On March 9, 1883 the town received a charter of incorporation to become a municipal borough...
became a county borough
County borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...
, outside the jurisdiction of the county council.
For purposes other than local government the administrative county of Surrey and county borough of Croydon continued to form a "county of Surrey" to which a Lord Lieutenant
Lord Lieutenant
The title Lord Lieutenant is given to the British monarch's personal representatives in the United Kingdom, usually in a county or similar circumscription, with varying tasks throughout history. Usually a retired local notable, senior military officer, peer or business person is given the post...
and Custos Rotulorum
Custos Rotulorum of Surrey
This is a list of people who have served as Custos Rotulorum of Surrey.* Sir Thomas Pope bef. 1544–1559* William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham bef. 1562–1573* Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln 1573–1585...
(Chief Magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
) and a High Sheriff
High Sheriff of Surrey
-List of High Sheriffs of Surrey:The list of known High Sheriffs of Surrey extends back to 1066 At various times the High Sheriff of Surrey was also High Sheriff of Sussex -1066-1228:...
were appointed.
Surrey had been administered from Newington
Newington, London
Newington is a district of London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It was an ancient parish and the site of the early administration of the county of Surrey...
since the 1790s, and the county council was initially based in the sessions house there. As Newington was included in the County of London it lay outside the area administered by the council, and a site for a new county hall within the administrative county was sought. By 1890 six towns were being considered: Epsom, Guildford, Kingston, Redhill, Surbiton
Surbiton
Surbiton, a suburban area of London in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, is situated next to the River Thames, with a mixture of Art-Deco courts, more recent residential blocks and grand, spacious 19th century townhouses blending into a sea of semi-detached 20th century housing estates...
and Wimbledon. A decision to build the new County Hall
County Hall (Surrey)
County Hall is the main government building for the county of Surrey in England. It was opened 13 November 1893, and is located in Kingston upon Thames. County Hall is a landmark in Kingston and contains a clock tower entrance, sculptures, plaques of Surrey MPs and Lord Sheriffs, and the council...
at Kingston was made in 1891, (the building opened in 1893) but this site would also became overtaken by the growing London conurbation and by the 1930s most of the north of the county had been built over, becoming outer suburbs of London
Outer London
Outer London is the name for the group of London Boroughs that form a ring around Inner London.These were areas that were not part of the County of London and became formally part of Greater London in 1965...
, although continuing to form part of Surrey administratively.
In 1960 the report of the Herbert Commission
Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London
The Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London, also known as the Herbert Commission, was established in 1957 and published its report in 1960...
recommended that much of north Surrey (including Kingston and Croydon) be included in a new "Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
". The recommendations of the report were enacted in highly modified form in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963
London Government Act 1963
The London Government Act 1963 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which recognised officially the conurbation known as Greater London and created a new local government structure for the capital. The Act significantly reduced the number of local government districts in the area,...
. The areas that now form the London Boroughs of Croydon
London Borough of Croydon
The London Borough of Croydon is a London borough in South London, England and is part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the largest London borough by population. It is the southernmost borough of London. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name...
, Kingston, Merton
London Borough of Merton
The London Borough of Merton is a borough in southwest London, England.The borough was formed under the London Government Act in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton and Morden Urban District, all formerly within Surrey...
, Sutton
London Borough of Sutton
The London Borough of Sutton is a London borough in South London, England and forms part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It is one of the southernmost boroughs of London...
and that part of Richmond
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is a London borough in South West London, UK, which forms part of Outer London. It is unique because it is the only London borough situated both north and south of the River Thames.-Settlement:...
south of the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
were transferred from Surrey to Greater London. At the same time part of the county of Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, which had been abolished by the legislation, was added to Surrey. This area now forms the borough of Spelthorne
Spelthorne
Spelthorne is a local government district and borough in Surrey, England. It includes the towns of Ashford, Laleham, Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell and Sunbury...
.
Further local government reform under the Local Government Act 1972
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
took place in 1974. The 1972 Act abolished administrative counties and introduced non-metropolitan counties in their place. The boundaries of the non-metropolitan county of Surrey were similar to those of the administrative county with the exception of Gatwick Airport and some surrounding land which was transferred to West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
. It was originally proposed that the parishes of Horley
Horley
Horley is a town in Surrey, England, situated south of the twin towns of Reigate and Redhill, and north of Gatwick Airport and Crawley.With fast links by train to London from Horley railway station, it has grown popular with commuters in recent years...
and Charlwood
Charlwood
Charlwood is a village and civil parish in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England. It is immediately northwest of London Gatwick Airport in West Sussex, close west of Horley and north of Crawley. The historic county boundary between Surrey and Sussex ran to the south of Gatwick Airport...
would become part of West Sussex, however fierce local opposition led to a reversal of this under the Charlwood and Horley Act 1974
Charlwood and Horley Act 1974
The Charlwood and Horley Act 1974 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that amended the Local Government Act 1972 to move the villages of Charlwood and Horley from West Sussex to Surrey....
.
Economy
Surrey is an affluent county with a service based economy closely tied to that of London. Surrey has the highest GDP per capita of any county in the UK and the highest cost of living in the UK outside of the capital. The county is said to have the highest proportion of millionaires in the UK. The average wage in Surrey is bolstered by the high number of residents who work in financial services.Surrey has more organisation and company headquarters than any other county in the UK. Electronic giants Nikon
Nikon
, also known as just Nikon, is a multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging. Its products include cameras, binoculars, microscopes, measurement instruments, and the steppers used in the photolithography steps of semiconductor fabrication, of which...
, Whirlpool, Canon, Toshiba
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
, Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
and Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
are housed here. Kia Motors
Kia Motors
Kia Motors , headquartered in Seoul, is South Korea's second-largest automobile manufacturer, following the Hyundai Motor Company, with sales of over 1.4 million vehicles in 2010...
and Toyota UK also have HQs in Surrey, as do drug companies Pfizer
Pfizer
Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...
and Sanofi-Aventis
Sanofi-Aventis
Sanofi S.A. is a multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Paris, France, the world's fourth-largest by prescription sales. Sanofi engages in the research and development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products for sale principally in the prescription market, but the...
and oil giant Esso
Esso
Esso is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. Pronounced , it is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1972, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by...
. Some of the largest FMCG multinationals in the world have their UK and/or European headquarters here, including Unilever
Unilever
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....
, Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
, Superdrug
Superdrug
Superdrug Stores PLC is Britain's second-largest beauty and health retailer behind Boots. Superdrug - part of the AS Watson Group which in turn is part of the Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa - is a UK based company with over 890 stores, which since 2006, includes the Republic of Ireland...
, Nestle
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...
, SC Johnson, Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. Kimberly-Clark brand name products include "Kleenex" facial tissue, "Kotex" feminine hygiene products, "Cottonelle", Scott and Andrex toilet paper, Wypall utility wipes, "KimWipes"...
and Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American diversified multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as soaps, detergents, and oral hygiene products . Under its "Hill's" brand, it is also a manufacturer of...
. NGOs including WWF
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
UK & Compassion in World Farming
Compassion In World Farming
Compassion in World Farming is a campaigning and lobbying animal welfare organisation, with headquarters in the UK, branches in eight European countries and international representatives in China, Australia and South Africa...
are also based here. Government Quango
Quango
Quango or qango is an acronym used notably in the United Kingdom, Ireland and elsewhere to label an organisation to which government has devolved power...
s such as SEEDA, SEERA and GOSE are headquartered in Guildford.
Road
Three major motorways pass through the county. These are:- The M25M25 motorwayThe M25 motorway, or London Orbital, is a orbital motorway that almost encircles Greater London, England, in the United Kingdom. The motorway was first mooted early in the 20th century. A few sections, based on the now abandoned London Ringways plan, were constructed in the early 1970s and it ...
(London Orbital). This runs around the North-East of the county. It connects to the M1M1 motorwayThe M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
, M11M11 motorwayThe M11 motorway in England is a major road running approximately north from the North Circular Road in South Woodford in north-east London to the A14, north-west of Cambridge.-Route:...
, M20M20 motorwayThe M20 is a motorway in Kent, England. It runs from the M25 motorway to Folkestone, providing a link to the Channel Tunnel and the ports at Dover. It is long...
, M26M26 motorwayThe M26 is a motorway in Kent, England. It provides a short link between the M25/A21 at Sevenoaks and the M20 near Wrotham.-Route:The motorway starts at junction 3 of the M20 and heads west, encountering almost immediately the single junction along its length where it has an interchange with the A20...
and M40M40 motorwayThe M40 motorway is a motorway in the British transport network that forms a major part of the connection between London and Birmingham. Part of this road forms a section of the unsigned European route E05...
. The motorway bypasses London Heathrow AirportLondon Heathrow AirportLondon Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...
, and is easily connected to Gatwick Airport, Stanstead Airport, Luton Airport and the Channel TunnelChannel TunnelThe Channel Tunnel is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is deep...
.
- M3M3 motorwayThe M3 motorway runs in England for approximately from Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, to Southampton, Hampshire and forms an unsigned section European route E05. It is dual three lanes as far as Junction 8 near Basingstoke and then dual two lane until Junction 9 near Winchester and then dual three...
which runs along the north of the county. It connects London to SouthamptonSouthamptonSouthampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
and the South West of England via CamberleyCamberleyCamberley is a town in Surrey, England, situated 31 miles southwest of central London, in the corridor between the M3 and M4 motorways. The town lies close to the borders of both Hampshire and Berkshire; the boundaries intersect on the western edge of the town where all three counties...
and SunburySunburyPlaces called Sunbury include:Australia*Sunbury, Victoria**Sunbury Downs College**Sunbury Pop Festival Canada*Sunbury County, New Brunswick...
.
- The M23M23 motorwayThe M23 motorway is a motorway in England. The motorway runs from south of Hooley in Surrey, where it splits from the A23, to Pease Pottage, south of Crawley in West Sussex where it rejoins the A23. The northern end of the motorway starts at junction 7 on what is effectively a spur north from...
. Runs along the East border, from CroydonCroydonCroydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
, South London, to South of CrawleyCrawleyCrawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...
. It connects London and Surrey via the M25, to Gatwick Airport.
Other major roads include:
- The A3A3 roadThe A3, known as the Portsmouth Road for much of its length, is a dual carriageway, or expressway, which follows the historic route between London and Portsmouth passing close to Kingston upon Thames, Guildford, Haslemere and Petersfield. For much of its length, it is classified as a trunk road...
trunk road is the Old Portmouth Road, which runs from PortsmouthPortsmouthPortsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
to London. The road travels through HaslemereHaslemereHaslemere is a town in Surrey, England, close to the border with both Hampshire and West Sussex. The major road between London and Portsmouth, the A3, lies to the west, and a branch of the River Wey to the south. Haslemere is approximately south-west of Guildford.Haslemere is surrounded by hills,...
, GodalmingGodalmingGodalming is a town and civil parish in the Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England, south of Guildford. It is built on the banks of the River Wey and is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt. Godalming shares a three-way twinning arrangement with the towns of Joigny in France...
, GuildfordGuildfordGuildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
, EsherEsherEsher is a town in the Surrey borough of Elmbridge in South East England near the River Mole. It is a very prosperous part of the Greater London Urban Area, largely suburban in character, and is situated 14.1 miles south west of Charing Cross....
and Kingston-upon-Thames. The Hindhead TunnelHindhead TunnelThe Hindhead Tunnel is a road tunnel that opened on 29 July 2011 as part of the new Hindhead bypass for the A3 road in Surrey. It forms part of the 4 mile dual-carriageway being built to replace the last remaining stretch of single-carriageway on the London to Portsmouth road...
has bypasses the infamous Hindhead junction and the Devil's Punchbowl. - The A24 runs again from London to LittlehamptonLittlehamptonLittlehampton is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England, on the east bank at the mouth of the River Arun. It lies south southwest of London, west of Brighton and east of the county town of Chichester....
and WorthingWorthingWorthing is a large seaside town with borough status in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, forming part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester...
. In Surrey, it passes through EwellEwellEwell is a village in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, close to the southern boundary of Greater London. It is located 14 miles south-south-west of Charing Cross and forms part of the suburbia that surrounds Greater London. Despite its growing population it is still referred to as a...
, EpsomEpsomEpsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England. Small parts of Epsom are in the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. The town is located south-south-west of Charing Cross, within the Greater London Urban Area. The town lies on the chalk downland of Epsom Downs.-History:Epsom lies...
, AshteadAshteadAshtead is a village situated within the Metropolitan Green Belt of Surrey, England, and is just outside of the suburbia of London. It is separated from Leatherhead by the M25, and from Epsom by Ashtead Common.- History :...
, LeatherheadLeatherheadLeatherhead is a town in the County of Surrey, England, on the River Mole, part of Mole Valley district. It is thought to be of Saxon origin...
and DorkingDorkingDorking is a historic market town at the foot of the North Downs approximately south of London, in Surrey, England.- History and development :...
. It passes past Box Hill, near Dorking. Unlike the A3, which is almost completely dual carriageway, the A24 is generally single carriageway, and has been bypassed around LeatherheadLeatherheadLeatherhead is a town in the County of Surrey, England, on the River Mole, part of Mole Valley district. It is thought to be of Saxon origin...
. - The A31A31 roadThe A31 is a major trunk road in southern England that runs from Guildford in Surrey to Bere Regis in Dorset.-Route of road:The road begins in the centre of Guildford, meeting the A3 road before running south west along the Hog's Back. It continues past Farnham, Alton and New Alresford before...
is a trunk road from GuildfordGuildfordGuildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
to Bere RegisBere RegisBere Regis is a village in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England, situated north-west of Wareham.The village has one shop, a post office and two pubs, The Royal Oak and The Drax Arms. The parish church is St. John the Baptist Church...
via FarnhamFarnhamFarnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is situated some 42 miles southwest of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire...
and is connected to the M3 by WinchesterWinchesterWinchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
or via the A331. It is dual carriageway along the Hog's Back from the A3 to Farnham. It is one of the ancient routes from London to WinchesterWinchesterWinchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
. - The A331 connects the A31 to the M3. It runs along the Surrey – Hampshire border, bypassing AldershotAldershotAldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
, FrimleyFrimleyFrimley is a small English town situated 2 miles south of Camberley, in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire. It is about 31 miles west south-west of Central London. It is part of the Borough of Surrey Heath...
and FarnboroughFarnborough, Hampshire-History:Name changes: Ferneberga ; Farnburghe, Farenberg ; Farnborowe, Fremborough, Fameborough .Tower Hill, Cove: There is substantial evidence...
.
Rail
Surrey is connected to London via the South Western Mainline and the Brighton Mainline. The South Western Mainline travels from Weymouth, Southampton, Basingstoke to Farnborough (Main), up through Woking before travelling to Surbiton and onto London Waterloo. Although these routes are used for long distance trains, regular commuter services run along these lines, and Woking, Guildford are main commuter towns for London. As the North – East is heavily built up, and apart of the London Urban Area. There are many commuter routes, including the Chertsey Branch Line, the Hampton Court Line, the New Guildford Line, the Alton Line.Alternatively, services in the South East terminate in London Bridge, and London Victoria via the Brighton Mainline. It runs from Horley to the Merstham Tunnel, via the major station Redhill
Redhill railway station
Redhill railway station serves the town of Redhill, Surrey, England. The station is a major interchange point on the Brighton Main Line 21 miles south of London Victoria...
. These lines are all electrified, and in Surrey the only main route not electrified is the North Downs Line which runs from Reading to Redhill via Farnborough and Guildford. Services into London Waterloo are run by South West Trains, services to London Victoria and London Bridge are Southern and South Eastern, and services on the North Downs Line are operated by Great First Western. From Guildford, a daily service with CrossCountry runs to Manchester Piccadilly
Manchester Piccadilly station
Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. It serves intercity routes to London Euston, Birmingham New Street, South Wales, the south coast of England, Edinburgh and Glasgow Central, and routes throughout northern England...
via Reading.
Major Stations:
- GuildfordGuildford railway stationGuildford railway station can refer to:* Guildford railway station , England* Guildford railway station, Sydney, Australia* Guildford railway station, Perth, Western Australia* Guildford railway station, Victoria, Australia...
(7.8 million passengers) - WokingWoking railway stationWoking railway station is a railway station in England, serving the town of Woking, Surrey. It is a major stop on the South Western Main Line and is used by many commuters...
(7.1 million passengers) - EpsomEpsom railway stationEpsom railway station is the main railway station for Epsom in the county of Surrey. It is located off Waterloo Road, near to the High Street....
(3.5 million passengers) - RedhillRedhill railway stationRedhill railway station serves the town of Redhill, Surrey, England. The station is a major interchange point on the Brighton Main Line 21 miles south of London Victoria...
(3.4 million passengers)
Air
Both Heathrow (in the London Borough of Hillingdon) and Gatwick (near the Sussex/Surrey border) are close at hand and both are connected to Surrey by the M25 in particular. There is also a National Express Coach from Woking to Heathrow Airport.Fairoaks Airport
Fairoaks Airport
Fairoaks Airport is a private airfield on the edge of the village of Chobham, north of Woking, Surrey. The airport is operated by Fairoaks Airport Ltd, owned by Albermarle Fairoaks Airport Ltd....
, on the edge of Chobham and Ottershaw is just 2.3 miles from Woking Town centre which operates as a private airfield with two training schools and is home to other aviation businesses.
Education
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
secondary education system with 53 state schools (not including sixth form college
Sixth form college
A sixth form college is an educational institution in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Belize, Hong Kong or Malta where students aged 16 to 18 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A-levels, or school-level qualifications such as GCSEs. In Singapore and India, this is...
s). There are 41 independent schools including Preparatory schools
Preparatory school (UK)
In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...
and Senior schools including the famous Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...
, which along with Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and Harrow
Harrow College
Harrow College is the largest college in the London Borough of Harrow. It opened in 1999 following a merger of two former local colleges, Greenhill College and Weald College .Ofsted has reported the college as Outstanding for Social and Educational Inclusion...
was one of the original nine independent schools defined by the Public Schools Act 1868
Public Schools Act 1868
The Public Schools Act 1868 was enacted by the British Parliament to reform and regulate nine of the leading English boys' schools. They were described as "public schools" as admission was open to boys from anywhere and was not limited to those living in a particular locality...
. Most secondary schools in Surrey have sixth forms although Reigate, Esher, Egham, Spelthorne, Woking and Waverley districts tend to have separate sixth form colleges.
Higher education
- The University of SurreyUniversity of SurreyThe University of Surrey is a university located within the county town of Guildford, Surrey in the South East of England. It received its charter on 9 September 1966, and was previously situated near Battersea Park in south-west London. The institution was known as Battersea College of Technology...
is based in GuildfordGuildfordGuildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
and the University of Creative Arts (UCA) is based in FarnhamFarnhamFarnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is situated some 42 miles southwest of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire...
and EpsomEpsomEpsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England. Small parts of Epsom are in the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. The town is located south-south-west of Charing Cross, within the Greater London Urban Area. The town lies on the chalk downland of Epsom Downs.-History:Epsom lies...
. - Royal Holloway, University of LondonRoyal Holloway, University of LondonRoyal Holloway, University of London is a constituent college of the University of London. The college has three faculties, 18 academic departments, and about 8,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from over 130 different countries...
is based in EghamEghamEgham is a wealthy suburb in the Runnymede borough of Surrey, in the south-east of England. It is part of the London commuter belt and Greater London Urban Area, and about south-west of central London on the River Thames and near junction 13 of the M25 motorway.-Demographics:Egham town has a...
Emergency services
Surrey 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...
, with twelve police stations in Surrey. - 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. Previously 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....
covered Surrey; on 1 July 2006, it merged with Sussex Ambulance ServiceSussex Ambulance ServiceSussex Ambulance Service was the ambulance service for the County of Sussex in England until July 1, 2006, when it was succeeded by a South East Coast Ambulance Service also covering Surrey and Kent....
and Kent Ambulance ServiceKent Ambulance ServiceKent Ambulance Service was the ambulance service for the County of Kent in England until July 1, 2006, when it was succeeded by a South East Coast Ambulance Service also covering Surrey and Sussex....
to form the South East Coast Ambulance Service. Surrey has twenty-one ambulance stations. - Surrey Fire & Rescue Service, with twenty-four fire stations in Surrey.
- SURSAR, Surrey Search & Rescue, based in Woking Police Station.
Places of interest
Significant landscapes in Surrey include Box Hill just north of DorkingDorking
Dorking is a historic market town at the foot of the North Downs approximately south of London, in Surrey, England.- History and development :...
; the Devil's Punch Bowl
Devil's Punch Bowl
The Devil's Punch Bowl is a large natural amphitheatre and beauty spot near Hindhead, Surrey, in England, and is the source of many stories about the area. The London to Portsmouth road used to climb round its side, but this is now closed due to the Hindhead Tunnel opening on the 27th July 2011...
at Hindhead
Hindhead
Hindhead is a village in Surrey, England, about 11 miles south-west of Guildford. Neighbouring settlements include Haslemere, Grayshott and Beacon Hill. Hindhead is the highest village in Surrey...
and Frensham
Frensham
Frensham is a village in Surrey, England, beside the A287, south west of Guildford. Neighbouring villages include Millbridge, Shortfield Common, Dockenfield, Spreakley, Batt's Corner and Rushmoor. Frensham lies on the River Wey. Farnham is the nearest main town and it is to the north. The...
Common. Leith Hill
Leith Hill
Leith Hill to the south west of Dorking, Surrey, England, reaches above sea level, the highest point on the Greensand Ridge, and is the second highest point in south-east England, after Walbury Hill near Hungerford, West Berkshire, high....
south west of Dorking
Dorking
Dorking is a historic market town at the foot of the North Downs approximately south of London, in Surrey, England.- History and development :...
in the Greensand Ridge
Greensand Ridge
The Greensand Ridge is an extensive, prominent, often heavily wooded, sandstone escarpment and range of hills in south-east England. It runs in a horseshoe shape around the Weald of Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It reaches its highest elevation, , at Leith Hill in Surrey—the second highest point...
is the second highest point in south-east England. Witley Common
Witley Common
Witley Common is an area of woodland and heath, close to Witley, Surrey, in the United Kingdom. It is part of a much larger Site of Special Scientific Interest....
and Thursley Common
Thursley Common
Thursley Common is a heathland Site of Special Scientific Interest in Surrey, England. It is one of the last remaining heathlands in Surrey. It is most famed for its diverse wildlife...
are expansive areas of ancient heathland south of Godalming
Godalming
Godalming is a town and civil parish in the Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England, south of Guildford. It is built on the banks of the River Wey and is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt. Godalming shares a three-way twinning arrangement with the towns of Joigny in France...
run by 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...
and Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
. The Surrey Hills
Surrey Hills AONB
The Surrey Hills is a Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty , located in Surrey, England. The AONB was designated in 1958 and covers one quarter of the county of Surrey...
are an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).
Claremont Landscape Garden
Claremont Landscape Garden, just outside Esher, Surrey, England, is one of the earliest surviving gardens of its kind of landscape design, the English Landscape Garden — still featuring its original 18th century layout...
, south of Esher
Esher
Esher is a town in the Surrey borough of Elmbridge in South East England near the River Mole. It is a very prosperous part of the Greater London Urban Area, largely suburban in character, and is situated 14.1 miles south west of Charing Cross....
(dating from 1715). There is also Winkworth Arboretum
Winkworth Arboretum
Winkworth Arboretum is a National Trust-owned arboretum located between Godalming and Hascombe, Surrey, England.Winkworth Arboretum exhibits large collections of azalea, rhododendron, and holly on slopes leading down to ornamental lakes. Gertrude Jekyll explored the woods in the early 20th century...
south east of Godalming
Godalming
Godalming is a town and civil parish in the Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England, south of Guildford. It is built on the banks of the River Wey and is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt. Godalming shares a three-way twinning arrangement with the towns of Joigny in France...
and Windlesham Arboretum
Windlesham Arboretum
Windlesham Arboretum is situated between the villages of Windlesham and Lightwater in the county of Surrey, UK. The arboretum is medium in size and features over 22,000 mature and rare trees, lakes, monuments, follies and a chapel...
near Lightwater
Lightwater
Lightwater is a village in the Surrey Heath district of Surrey, England about to the south-west of London. Immediately surrounding towns and villages include Bagshot, Deepcut, Windlesham, Camberley, and West End. The village is bounded to the north west by the M3 and to the north east by the...
created in the 20th century. Wisley
Wisley
Wisley is a small village in Surrey, England. It lies between Cobham and Woking. It is the home of the Royal Horticultural Society's Wisley Garden. The River Wey runs through the village....
is home to the Royal Horticultural Society
Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...
gardens
RHS Garden, Wisley
The Royal Horticultural Society's garden at Wisley in the English county of Surrey south of London, is one four public gardens run by the Society, the others being Harlow Carr, Hyde Hall and Rosemoor...
. Kew
Kew
Kew is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London. Kew is best known for being the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens, now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace...
, historically part of Surrey but now in Greater London, features the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to as Kew Gardens, is 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. "The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" and the brand name "Kew" are also used as umbrella terms for the institution that runs...
, as well as The National Archives for England & Wales.
There are 80 Surrey Wildlife Trust reserves with at least one in all 11 non-metropolitan districts
Non-metropolitan district
Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially shire districts, are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties in a so-called "two-tier" arrangement...
.
Surrey's important country houses include the Tudor
Tudor period
The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...
mansion of Loseley Park
Loseley Park
Loseley Park is a historic manor house situated outside Guildford in Surrey, England near Compton. The estate was acquired by the direct ancestors of the current owners, the More-Molyneux, at the beginning of the 16th century....
, built in the 1560s and Clandon Park
Clandon Park
Clandon Park is an 18th century Palladian mansion in West Clandon just outside Guildford, Surrey, in the United Kingdom. It has been a National Trust property since 1956....
, an 18th-century Palladian mansion in West Clandon
West Clandon
West Clandon is a village in Surrey, England. It is within 4 miles of the M25 and the A3. Nearby villages include Send, Ripley, Ockham, East and West Horsley. Local towns are Woking and Guildford....
to the east of Guildford. Nearby Hatchlands Park
Hatchlands Park
Hatchlands Park is a red-brick country house with surrounding gardens in East Clandon, Surrey, England covering 170 hectares . It is located near Guildford along the A246 between West Clandon and West Horsley.-History:...
in East Clandon
East Clandon
East Clandon is a village and parish in Surrey, England on the A246 between the towns of Guildford to the west and Leatherhead to the east. Neighbouring villages include West Clandon and West Horsley....
, was built in 1758 with Robert Adam
Robert Adam
Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
interiors and a collection of keyboard instruments. Polesden Lacey
Polesden Lacey
Polesden Lacey is an Edwardian house and estate. It is located on the North Downs at Great Bookham, near Dorking, Surrey, England. It is owned and run by the National Trust and is one of the Trust's most popular properties....
south of Great Bookham
Great Bookham
-Today: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 butchers, a family run fishmongers and two traditional greengrocers...
is a regency
Regency architecture
The Regency style of architecture refers primarily to buildings built in Britain during the period in the early 19th century when George IV was Prince Regent, and also to later buildings following the same style...
villa with extensive grounds. On a smaller scale, Oakhurst Cottage
Oakhurst Cottage
Oakhurst Cottage is a tiny 16th-century cottage in Hambledon, Surrey, in the United Kingdom. It is now owned by the National Trust, which has restored the timber-framed building as an excellent example of a Surrey labourer's cottage...
in Hambledon
Hambledon, Surrey
Hambledon is a small and scattered village in Surrey, south of Guildford. It is tucked away amongst fields and woodland between Witley and Chiddingfold....
near Godalming
Godalming
Godalming is a town and civil parish in the Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England, south of Guildford. It is built on the banks of the River Wey and is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt. Godalming shares a three-way twinning arrangement with the towns of Joigny in France...
is a restored 16th-century worker's home.
A canal system, the Wey and Godalming Navigations
Wey and Godalming Navigations
The Wey and Godalming Navigations is the name given to the navigable parts of the River Wey, in Surrey, UK. The navigation runs for around between the River Thames below Shepperton Lock near Weybridge, to the south-west of London, and the centre of Godalming, in Surrey; it runs through Guildford...
is linked to the Wey and Arun Canal
Wey and Arun Canal
The Wey and Arun Canal is a 23-mile-long canal in the south of England, between the River Wey at Shalford, Surrey and the River Arun at Pallingham, in West Sussex...
with future full reopening expected after 2015. Dapdune Wharf
Dapdune Wharf
Dapdune Wharf is a former wharf on the Wey and Godalming Navigations in Guildford, England, UK, close to the Surrey County Cricket Club ground. It is now maintained by the National Trust....
in Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
commemorates the work of the canal system and is home to a restored Wey barge, the Reliance. Furthermore on the River Tillingbourne
River Tillingbourne
The River Tillingbourne runs along the south side of the North Downs and joins the River Wey at Guildford. Its source is near Tilling Springs to the north of Leith Hill at and it runs through Friday Street, Abinger Hammer, Gomshall, Shere, Albury, Chilworth and Shalford. The source is a...
, Shalford Mill
Shalford Mill
Shalford Mill is an 18th century watermill located on the River Tillingbourne in Shalford, near Guildford, Surrey, England. Since 1932 it has been owned by the National Trust....
is an 18th century water-mill.
Runnymede
Runnymede
Runnymede is a water-meadow alongside the River Thames in the English county of Berkshire, and just over west of central London. It is notable for its association with the sealing of Magna Carta, and as a consequence is the site of a collection of memorials...
at Egham
Egham
Egham is a wealthy suburb in the Runnymede borough of Surrey, in the south-east of England. It is part of the London commuter belt and Greater London Urban Area, and about south-west of central London on the River Thames and near junction 13 of the M25 motorway.-Demographics:Egham town has a...
is the site of the sealing of the Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
in 1215.
Guildford Cathedral
Guildford Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of the Holy Spirit, Guildford is the Anglican cathedral at Guildford, Surrey, England.-Construction:Guildford was made a diocese in its own right in 1927, and work on its new cathedral, designed by Sir Edward Maufe, began nine years later, with the foundation stone being laid...
is a post-war cathedral built from bricks made from the clay hill on which it stands.
Brooklands
Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. It opened in 1907, and was the world's first purpose-built motorsport venue, as well as one of Britain's first airfields...
Museum recognises the motoring past of Surrey. The county is also home to the theme parks Thorpe Park
Thorpe Park
Thorpe Park is a theme park located in Chertsey, Surrey, England, UK. It was built in 1979 on the site of a gravel pit which was partially flooded, the intention of creating a water based theme for the park. The park's first large roller coaster, Colossus, was added in 2002...
and Chessington World of Adventures
Chessington World of Adventures
Chessington World of Adventures Resort is a theme park and zoo in South West London, England. It lies south of Central London. Historically opened as Chessington Zoo in 1931, a theme park was developed alongside it, opening in 1987...
.
Surrey in film and books
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
's 1898 novella The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds is an 1898 science fiction novel written by H. G. Wells.The War of the Worlds may also refer to:- Radio broadcasts :* The War of the Worlds , the 1938 radio broadcast by Orson Welles...
is set in Surrey with many specific towns and villages identified. The Martians first land on Horsell Common
Horsell Common SSSI
Horsell Common is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in Surrey, England, UK. It is and lies near Horsell, an ancient village nearby to the more modern Woking. It includes a Muslim Burial Ground and a number of Bronze Age barrows and heathland. The common has thousands of trees. There are parts...
on the north side of Woking, outside the Bleak House pub, now called Sands. In the story the narrator flees in the direction of London, first passing Byfleet
Byfleet
Byfleet is an inland island village forming a suburb of Woking in Surrey, England. It is in the east of the borough between the River Wey and the River Mole, and is within the M25 motorway....
and then Weybridge
Weybridge
Weybridge is a town in the Elmbridge district of Surrey in South East England. It is bounded to the north by the River Thames at the mouth of the River Wey, from which it gets its name...
before travelling east along the north bank of the Thames. Jane Austen's novel Emma is set in Surrey and the famous picnic where Emma embarrasses Miss Bates takes place on Box Hill. The character Ford Prefect
Ford Prefect (character)
Ford Prefect is a fictional character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by the British author Douglas Adams. He is the only character other than the protagonist, Arthur Dent, to appear throughout the entire Hitchhiker's saga.-Name:Although Ford had taken great care to blend into Earth...
from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...
claimed to be from Guildford in Surrey, but in actuality he was from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse, also known by its Bayer designation Alpha Orionis , is the eighth brightest star in the night sky and second brightest star in the constellation of Orion, outshining its neighbour Rigel only rarely...
. Thomas Paine Kydd, the hero of the Kydd
Kydd
Kydd, first published in 2001, is a historical novel by Julian Stockwin. This first instalment in Julian Stockwin's series of novels set during the Age of Fighting Sail tells the story of young Kydd, who is pressed into service on a British ship in 1793...
series of naval adventure novels written by Julian Stockwin
Julian Stockwin
Julian Stockwin is an author of historical action-adventure fiction.-Biography:Born in 1944, Stockwin soon developed a love for the sea...
, starts off as a young wig-maker from Guildford who is pressed into service and thus begins a life at sea. Atonement
Atonement (novel)
Atonement is a 2001 novel by British author Ian McEwan.On a fateful day, a young girl makes a terrible mistake that has life-changing effects for many people...
is set in Surrey. The late Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman mentions Camberley
Camberley
Camberley is a town in Surrey, England, situated 31 miles southwest of central London, in the corridor between the M3 and M4 motorways. The town lies close to the borders of both Hampshire and Berkshire; the boundaries intersect on the western edge of the town where all three counties...
in his poem "A Subaltern's Lovesong", while Carshalton
Carshalton
Carshalton is a suburban area of the London Borough of Sutton, England. It is located 10 miles south-southwest of Charing Cross, situated in the valley of the River Wandle, one of the sources of which is Carshalton Ponds in the centre of the village. The combined population of the five wards...
forms the literary backdrop to many of the poems by James Farrar
James Farrar
-Biography:Farrar was born on 5 October 1923 in London, the second son of Donald Frederic Farrar , a former Royal Flying Corps supply pilot, and Mabel Margaret Farrar, née Hadgraft . He lived in Carshalton, a small village in Surrey, England. He attended the local grammar school, Sutton Grammar...
. In J.K. Rowling's
J. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series...
"Harry Potter" series, the home of Harry's
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
pernicious relatives, the Dursleys, is set in the fictional town of Little Whinging, Surrey. They lived at Number Four Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey in a perfectly ordinary house on a perfectly ordinary street.
The county has also been used as a film location. Part of the movie The Holiday
The Holiday
The Holiday is a 2006 American romantic comedy film written, produced and directed by Nancy Meyers. Distributed by Columbia Pictures and Universal Studios, it stars Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet as two lovelorn women from opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, who temporarily exchange homes to...
was filmed in Godalming and Shere: Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet
Kate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...
's character Iris lived in a cottage in Shere and Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...
's character Amanda switched houses with her as part of a home exchange. The final scene of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is a 1999 novel by Helen Fielding, a sequel to her popular Bridget Jones's Diary. It chronicles Bridget Jones's adventures after she begins to suspect that her boyfriend, Mark Darcy, is falling for a rich young solicitor who works in the same firm as him, a woman...
uses the village church, also in Shere, as does the movie The Wedding Date
The Wedding Date
The Wedding Date is a 2005 romantic comedy directed by Clare Kilner, who also directed How to Deal . The release was successful achieving $47 million worldwide at the box office against a budget of $15 million...
. In the 1976 film The Omen, the scenes at the cathedral were filmed at Guildford Cathedral
Guildford Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of the Holy Spirit, Guildford is the Anglican cathedral at Guildford, Surrey, England.-Construction:Guildford was made a diocese in its own right in 1927, and work on its new cathedral, designed by Sir Edward Maufe, began nine years later, with the foundation stone being laid...
. The film I Want Candy
I Want Candy (film)
I Want Candy is a 2007 British comedy film from Ealing Studios.-Plot:A group of film students at Leatherhead University in search of funding for their feature film "The Love Storm" end up having to rewrite and make it into a porno...
follows two hopeful lads from Leatherhead
Leatherhead
Leatherhead is a town in the County of Surrey, England, on the River Mole, part of Mole Valley district. It is thought to be of Saxon origin...
trying to break into the movies, and was partly filmed in Brooklands College (Weybridge
Weybridge
Weybridge is a town in the Elmbridge district of Surrey in South East England. It is bounded to the north by the River Thames at the mouth of the River Wey, from which it gets its name...
campus). Surrey woodland represented Germany in the opening scene of Gladiator
Gladiator (2000 film)
Gladiator is a 2000 historical epic film directed by Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed, Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel and Richard Harris. Crowe portrays the loyal Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed...
, starring Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...
; it was filmed at the Bourne Wood
Bourne Wood
Bourne Wood is an area of predominantly coniferous woodland just south of Farnham, Surrey, England. It is named after The Bourne, a ward of Farnham. A promontory above a large heathland clearing provides views over the surrounding woodland...
s near Farnham in Surrey.
Scenes for the 2009 BBC production of Emma
Emma
Emma, by Jane Austen, is a novel about the perils of misconstrued romance. The novel was first published in December 1815. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively 'comedy of manners' among...
by Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
, starring Romola Garai
Romola Garai
Romola Sadie Garai is an English actress. She is known for appearing in the movies Amazing Grace, Atonement, and Glorious 39, and for appearing in the BBC adaptation of Emma.-Early life:...
and Michael Gambon
Michael Gambon
Sir Michael John Gambon, CBE is an Irish actor who has worked in theatre, television and film. A highly respected theatre actor, Gambon is recognised for his roles as Philip Marlowe in the BBC television serial The Singing Detective, as Jules Maigret in the 1990s ITV serial Maigret, and as...
, were filmed at St Mary the Virgin Church Send
Send, Surrey
Send is a village in the English county of Surrey. It reputedly got its name as a corruption of the word sand, which was extracted until the 1990s for construction and other purposes at pits nearby. Send is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 where it is named Sande.-History:Send appears in...
near Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
and at Loseley House.
See also
- Lord Lieutenant of SurreyLord Lieutenant of SurreyThis is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Surrey. Since 1737, all Lords Lieutenant have also been Custos Rotulorum of Surrey.-Lord Lieutenants of Surrey:*William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton 1551–1553?...
- High Sheriff of SurreyHigh Sheriff of Surrey-List of High Sheriffs of Surrey:The list of known High Sheriffs of Surrey extends back to 1066 At various times the High Sheriff of Surrey was also High Sheriff of Sussex -1066-1228:...
- Surrey (carriage)Surrey (carriage)A surrey is a horse-drawn, four-wheeled, two-seated pleasure carriage with an open spindle seat.-Overview:The name comes from Surrey, the county in southern England where it was first built. It resembles a cabriolet but has a straight or nearly straight bottom, sometimes cut under...