Village in Surrey, England
Human settlement in England
Ewhurst
is a rural village and
civil parish
in the
borough of Waverley
in Surrey, England. It is located 8.3 miles (13.4 km) south-east of
Guildford
, 2 miles (3.2 km) east of
Cranleigh
, and 4.5 miles (7.2 km) south of
Shere
.
[3]
The parish includes the smaller hamlets of Ellen's Green and Cox Green near the border with
West Sussex
. At the north is Hurt Wood, a part of the
Surrey Hills AONB
. The
Greensand Ridge
also passes through this area. The rest of the parish, apart from Ewhurst village itself, is classified as an
Area of Great Landscape Value
(AGLV).
[4]
History
[
edit
]
Holmbury Hill
with its
Iron Age
settlements in the parishes of Shere, Guildford borough and Abinger, Mole Valley borough
Holmbury St Mary
for early British settlers would have been a more suitable, accessible settlement than the denser woodland of this area.
[5]
A Roman road
NNW to SSE
just west of the village centre runs from
Rowhook
over the Sussex border where it met with England's south
Stane Street
(stone street) between London and
Chichester
the other end point is not clear however it was traced in the reign of
Victoria
by James Park Harrison (1816?1901)
[6]
[7]
and the Rapley
Roman villa
's remains are west of the village: interesting discoveries include a tile-
kiln
discovered and excavated in 1836 and from the villa itself in the 1960s, fragments of a glass goblet and an unusual vase decorated with a 'Mural Crown'.
[5]
[8]
Richard Rawlinson
notes
[n 1]
in 1719 the name Ewehurst appears to have been developed from the wooded hills or
hurst
and
yew
due to
"the vast quantities of yew trees that formerly abounded here."
When
King John
was at Guildford and
Knepp Castle
in West Sussex on the same day, 21 January 1215, in winter when unmade ways were foul, he very probably used the Roman road. Historian H. E. Malden commented of the village in 1911, nothing shows the backwardness of
the Weald
more than the absolute disuse and forgetting (and abandonment) of these lines of through passage.
[7]
Ewhurst is not named in Domesday. It was part of the great royal manor of
Gomshall
but was probably sparsely inhabited. That there was some population soon afterwards is implied by Norman work in the church, a chapel to
Shere
, the earliest evidence of it as a parish was in 1291.
[7]
The richness of the Weald's natural resources led it to become an industrial centre of Britain, as both the iron and glass industries needed large amounts of timber for fuel.
[9]
There is a site of a bloomery iron works at Coneyhurst Gill and
glassmaking
sites at Ellen's Green and Summersbury/Somersbury. The wealth of the area can also be seen in the many fine timber-framed houses dating from this medieval and
Tudor period
, however reliance on coal and the work of the
industrial revolution
later led to neglect, poverty,
highwaymen
and
smuggling
exacerbated by the less well trodden transportation connections.
[5]
As shown by the list of prominent Victorian and twentieth century figures, the wood nestled physical geography of the area has led to home building among wealthy individuals in the parish.
Significant places
[
edit
]
As shown, Ewhurst is a narrow parish. The northeast of the area includes the large
Mullard Space Science Laboratory
of
UCL
formerly Holmbury House laboratory and several sloped
copses
. Woodland forms a considerable minority of land use also on the
wealden clay
across the parish such as Upper Canfold Wood (north of Cranleigh Road) and Buildings and Somersbury Woods (north and south of Horsham Road).
[10]
There are several of
country houses
with historically dominant estates, upon which much agriculture and gardening continues
[n 2]
; the largest is
Baynards Park
, which formerly had a
Grade II listed
country house
.
[11]
The Church of St Peter and St Paul built in the 12th century ? largely rebuilt 1838?39 due to a collapse ? apart from the nave, is a Grade I
listed building
.
[12]
Outlying the village, on Pitch Hill, is
Marylands
a Grade II* listed home by
Oliver Hill
, constructed in 1929?31 of
sandstone
with a green Swedish
pantiled
roof. It was built for M C Warner in a blend of
Spanish architecture
and
Lutyens
.
[13]
It has been used as a film location, including for episodes of
Poirot
mysteries.
There are a few listed buildings closer to the church including one at Grade II*, White Hart Cottage.
[14]
The East window behind the altar in the church was commissioned from
Archibald Keightley Nicholson
as a memorial window for Captain William Ralph Frecheville who was executed after capture 9 January 1920 aged 24, in
Rostov-on-Don
, Russia, whilst serving as part of the
Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War
.
[15]
There are several businesses in the main village, a village hall for community events and a
public houses
throughout including The Windmill by Pitch Hill, and at Ellen's Green and Ewhurst Green which is a continuation of the village just south of the main village.
Schools
[
edit
]
- Hurtwood House
residential 16?18, renowned for its theatre and media departments and at £11,725 per term the most expensive school or Higher Education college in the UK
- Ewhurst C of E Infant School
Sport and Leisure
[
edit
]
The village's area includes Sayers Croft, a former evacuee centre that is now an outdoor and environmental education centre. The centre has hosted over half a million visitors in its 70-year history.
The village is also home to Hurtwood Polo Club, which aside from polo, holds several music events and shows throughout the year.
Demography and housing
[
edit
]
2011 Census Homes
Output area
|
Detached
|
Semi-detached
|
Terraced
|
Flats and apartments
|
Caravans/temporary/mobile homes
|
shared between households
[2]
|
(Civil Parish)
|
533
|
249
|
89
|
48
|
4
|
0
|
The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that was apartments was 22.6%.
2011 Census Key Statistics
Output area
|
Population
|
Households
|
% Owned outright
|
% Owned with a loan
|
hectares
[2]
|
(Civil Parish)
|
2,480
|
923
|
46.3%
|
33.8%
|
2,379
|
The proportion of households in the civil parish who owned their home outright compares to the regional average of 35.1%. The proportion who owned their home with a loan compares to the regional average of 32.5%. The remaining % is made up of rented dwellings (plus a negligible % of households living rent-free).
Notable residents
[
edit
]
- Eric Clapton
, who is known to play at the
Church of England
church
- Mike Rutherford
, founding member of
Genesis
- Kenney Jones
of
Small Faces
and
The Who
- Jim Davidson
- Diane James
former MEP for UKIP
- Brough Scott
- Janet Gladys Aitken
(1908?1988), socialite, horsebreeder, equestrian, and helicopter pilot
- Hugh F. Locke King
(1848?1926),
Brooklands
motor circuit entrepreneur
- Henry Doulton
(1820?1897),
Chevalier of the Legion d'honneur
, businessman, inventor and manufacturer of pottery
[7]
- Dugald Clerk
(1854?1932) who designed the world's first successful
two-stroke engine
- Bernard Bosanquet
(1877?1936), cricketer.
- Gary Brooker
(1945-2022) founder of
Procol Harum
- Jodie Kidd
, former model, racing driver, tv personality and food entrepreneur.
- Geoffrey Greig
(1897?1960), cricketer
- John Evershed
(1864?1956), astronomer and discoverer of the
Evershed effect
.
- Mary Acworth Orr Evershed
(1867?1949), astronomer and
Dante
scholar.
- Kenneth Biggs
(1911?1998), soldier awarded the
George Cross
.
- Jonathan King
, former songwriter and record producer.
[16]
- Bruce Grobbelaar
, former
Liverpool FC
footballer.
[17]
- Chapman Pincher
, journalist
Notes and references
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
External links
[
edit
]
Media related to
Ewhurst, Surrey
at Wikimedia Commons
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