Human settlement in England
Fetcham
is a suburban village in the
Mole Valley
district, in
Surrey
, England west of the town of
Leatherhead
, on the other side of the
River Mole
and has a
mill pond
, springs and an associated nature reserve. The housing, as with adjacent
Great Bookham
, sits on the lower slopes of the
North Downs
north of
Polesden Lacey
(
NT
).
Fetcham Grove
has Leatherhead and the village's main leisure centre and football club, between the two settlements. Fetcham has two short parades of shops and services, several sports teams and parks and a small number of large
pubs
and food premises.
Neighbouring Bookham and Leatherhead have railway stations
[n 1]
and a junction of the
M25 London Orbital Motorway
is a 3-mile (4.8-km) journey from it passing alongside the
River Mole
beyond a brief upland made up of most of Fetcham's remaining farms and wooded
Great Bookham Common
demarcating Fetcham's northern border. The northern few square miles and the larger North Downs are protected
Green Belt
, forming a
buffer
between
Stoke D'Abernon
(the south of
Cobham
post town) and
Dorking
respectively.
History
[
edit
]
The name Fetcham is derived from the Anglo-Saxon "Fecca's ham" ? Fecca's settlement. Fetcham lay within the
Copthorne
hundred
.
Indeed, there is evidence that there were even earlier settlements, with the discovery of Stone and Bronze Age tools and
Roman
artefacts, as well as three ancient burial grounds.
Fetcham appears in
Domesday Book
of 1086 as
Feceham
. It was held partly by
William the Conqueror
; partly by Richard from the
Bishop of Bayeux
partly by Oswald the
Thegn
. Its Domesday assets were: 7
hides
; 5½
mills
worth 17s; 10½
ploughs
; 2
oxen
; 30 acres (12 ha) of
meadow
;
woodland
, herbage and
pannage
worth 23
hogs
. It rendered £10 10s 0d per year to its
feudal system
overlords per year.
[2]
Fetcham, therefore, was referenced in the
Domesday
survey as three manors; one known as King's Manor was probably
Fetcham Park
; another was given to
Odo, Bishop of Bayeux
after the
Norman conquest
. The third was an Augustinian foundation from
Merton Priory
, at Cannon Court, which
Henry VIII
dissolved in 1538.
[3]
Its small manorial farming community numbered 176 in the survey, but halved as a result of the
Black Death
in 1349. In the first half of the nineteenth century the population was still only around 370
[4]
[1]
[
permanent dead link
]
. In the 1931 census it had reached 1,318 and by 1972 was 7,331.
[5]
St Mary's Church
has been a place of Christian worship for over 1000 years. Built during
Anglo-Saxon
and early
Norman
periods, it is probably on the site of an even earlier timber church. There are many hints of its past in its structure. These include the south-west quoin of the nave, and a single splay window high on the south wall with traces of Roman brick as well as arches that are presumed to pre-date 1066.
In 1951 the
civil parish
had a population of 4178.
[6]
On 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished.
[7]
Topography
[
edit
]
The village of Fetcham is slightly larger than the English non-city parish average; extending from the
River Mole
at the village's east side, it is bounded by the neighbouring villages of
Great Bookham
and
Little Bookham
on its west.
Amenities and landmarks
[
edit
]
Although at the eastern extreme, the historic B2122 Guildford Road/Waterlow Road which has mixed use splits north and east with two bridges to Leatherhead, Fetcham is centred on its own road The Street, with wide-ranging convenience shops, some small restaurants/take-aways,
community halls
, large
public houses
as well as nearby churches.
Fetcham Park House
front elevation
The Fetcham Conservation Area includes the impressive 18th-century mansion of
Fetcham Park House
. The Salt Box, The Well House, The Dower House and Ballands Hall
[8]
are four of a cluster of old buildings in that area. Others are sparingly strewn throughout Fetcham including at Grade II*: Le Pelerin
[9]
and Thorncroft Manor.
[10]
The Mill Pond springs are a large number of chalk springs, still used to supply
potable tap water
. These springs continued to supply water during the droughts of 1976 and 2006.
There are four Christian congregations in the village:
- Cannon Court Evangelical Church, in Cannonside
- Church of the Holy Spirit (
RC
), in Bell Lane
- Christ Church Fetcham, which meets in Oakfield Junior School
- St Mary's Church
Grade II* listed medieval,
[11]
off The Ridgeway
To its south are the Fetcham and Leatherhead Downs, which are a part of the
North Downs
.
Education
[
edit
]
There are two village schools:
- Fetcham Infants School for ages 4?7 with an attached pre-school for ages 2½?4. The original school, nearby, opened in 1820. On the present site, the distinctive white former main building, now a classroom, was built in 1854 and added to and enlarged in 1874 and 1886. A four-classroom block and staff room was built in 1936, to accommodate children from the significant residential growth in the village. A new hall and servery were added in 1982.
[12]
- Oakfield Junior School for 256 pupils ages 7?11. The present school opened (as Fetcham County School) in September 1963.
[13]
[14]
Culture, sport and social life
[
edit
]
Fetcham's sole
pub
,
The Bell
was built in brick in the 1930s on the site of an earlier pub, opposite
Fetcham Infants School
. It changed ownership several times in the late 20th century until it was bought by the
Youngs
brewery chain in 2004, when it had a major refit, followed by another in late 2007. The Bell is mentioned in
The Good Food Guide
and holds a
pub quiz
on Mondays.
[15]
The large Village Hall in The Street is home to several organisations, including Fetcham Village
Women's Institute
. It was also the venue for several early performances by the influential band
John's Children
, which included sometime frontman
Marc Bolan
.
[16]
There is also a small reading room that can be hired for private functions, on Cobham Road just north of the railway.
There was a social club, called the Fetcham Sports and Social Club, but this closed in 2001 after the membership dwindled. The building is now used as offices.
1st Fetcham Scout Group, headquartered in Cock Lane, has three
Cub Scout
packs and two
Scout
Troops
, as well as
Beavers
.
Fetcham
Explorers
share the 1st Fetcham Scout Group hall and facilities.
Fetcham FC
football club no longer exists, Fetcham Park United formed in 1971 is now an adult amateur
Charter Standard
football club affiliated with the
Surrey FA
. Its two teams play in Division 1 and Division 5 of the
Leatherhead & District Sunday Football League
. The home ground was formerly the Cock Lane Recreation Ground in Fetcham but the teams now play home games at Priest Hill Playing Fields, in
Epsom
.
Transport
[
edit
]
All parts of the large village are within 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of a railway station giving easy access to London. The
M25 motorway
's nearest access is J9, just after the one-way square in Leatherhead town centre (enclosing public gardens) or from the south of the village via the Leatherhead bypass and A246.
Guildford
,
Cobham
,
Epsom
and
Leatherhead
can be reached by the A-road network that has a choice of routes through and around the village.
Roads
[
edit
]
The main village thoroughfare is the A245
Cobham
Road and is partly bounded by and contains partly in the south the east-west, part-dualled A246.
Local bus operator Falcon Buses provides hourly route 479 between
Epsom
and
Guildford
through the village.
[17]
Rail
[
edit
]
The
New Guildford Line
skirts the north of most of the houses in Fetcham, but there is currently no station in the village. There were proposals for a station in the village centre during the 1930s/40s which would have served the main village centre and been located at what is now Hilley Field Lane
[18]
. The nearest stations are
Leatherhead
,
Cobham & Stoke D'Abernon
and
Bookham
.
Emergency services
[
edit
]
Fetcham is served by the following emergency services:
- Surrey Police
- South East Coast Ambulance Service
as of 1 July 2006. The
Surrey
, Sussex, and
Kent
Ambulance services have merged, and no longer exist separately.
- Surrey Fire & Rescue Service
, Leatherhead Fire Station is in Fetcham, off Guildford Road, close to the River Mole boundary with Leatherhead.
- Fetcham (Leatherhead) fire station has 28 personnel and one fire engine (water tender ladder). It also has special vehicles, one that is capable of transporting a large quantity of water or foam to an incident (water carrier), and a fire victim support vehicle crewed by the Red Cross.
- Appliances:
- 1 x water tender ladder
- 1 x water carrier
Demography and housing
[
edit
]
2011 Census Homes
Ward
|
Detached
|
Semi-detached
|
Terraced
|
Flats and apartments
|
Caravans/temporary/mobile homes/houseboats
|
Shared between households
[1]
|
Fetcham East
|
852
|
440
|
57
|
159
|
0
|
0
|
Fetcham West
|
807
|
615
|
120
|
61
|
1
|
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 Households
Ward
|
Population
|
Households
|
% Owned outright
|
% Owned with a loan
|
hectares
[1]
|
Fetcham East
|
3,836
|
1508
|
50
|
36
|
429
|
Fetcham West
|
4160
|
1604
|
46
|
46
|
543
|
The proportion of households 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).
See also
[
edit
]
Surrey portal
Notes and references
[
edit
]
- Notes
- References
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Fetcham
.
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Betchworth
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Dorking
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Horley
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Leatherhead
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Reigate
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Tadworth
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