Chapter I: Preface

A preface ought not to contain an apology. But mine must contain at least an explanation, if only of omissions. The Highways and Byways of Surrey belong not to one county or to one period of time, but to two different ages, and, to-day, to two counties. London has made the difference. What was Surrey country a hundred years ago has been gathered into the network of London streets, and belongs, in the mind and on the map, to London. Almost for ten miles south of the London Thames the old Surrey countryside has disappeared, and the disappearance has left the writer of a book of Surrey Highways a difficult choice. It would have been easy to fill a large part of the book with the Surrey of the past, the Surrey of Southwark, and the great church of St. Mary Overie, and of Lambeth Palace and the Archbishops, of Vauxhall, and the Paris Gardens, and the Bankside where Shakespeare brought out his plays. But it is not easy to write anything new of any part of Surrey, and of that part I could have written nothing new at all. So that it seemed best to leave the Surrey that has disappeared to writers who have dealt with its history far more adequately than I could, and to choose for the Highways and Byways of this book only those which still run through open country and through country villages and towns. That is the Surrey of to-day.

The general plan of the book is simple. I have entered the county from the west at Farnham, with the old Way along the chalk ridge, and I leave it by Titsey on the east. Of course, not all the Surrey villages belong to the ridge, though the chief towns lie along it. Other villages set themselves along the banks of the two Surrey rivers, the Wey and the Mole, and there are separate little groups like the villages of the Fold country, or on the plateaux of the Downs round Epsom, or between Chertsey and Windsor on the Thames. These group themselves in their own chapters. But the main progress of the book is the trend of the great Surrey highway. As to following the book through its chapters from west to east, Surrey is threaded by such a net of railways that the deliberate choosing of a route, with definite centres and points of departure, is unnecessary. But those who believe that the best way to see any country is to walk through it will find that, as a general rule, the book and its chapters are divided, sometimes naturally, sometimes perhaps a little perversely, into the compass of a day's walking. My own plan has been simple enough: it has been to set out in the morning and walk till it was dark, and then take the train back to where I came from. Others will be able to plan far more comprehensive journeys by motor-car, or by bicycling, or on horseback--though not many, perhaps, ride horses by Surrey roads to-day. But only by walking would it be possible to explore much of the country. You would never, except by walking, come at the meaning or read the story of the ancient Way, or the Pilgrims' Road that follows it; only on foot can you climb the hills as you please, or follow the path where it chooses to take you. It is only by walking that you will get to the best of the Thursley heather, or the Bagshot pines and gorse, or the whortleberries in the wind on Leith Hill, or the primroses of the Fold country, or the birds that call through the quiet of the Wey Canal--though there, too, you may take a boat; it is one of the prettiest of the byways. The walker through Surrey sees the best; the others see not much more than the road and what stands on the road.

The omission, or rather neglect, of Surrey in London is deliberate. There must be many other omissions, I fear, which are not. For pointing out some of them, and for suggesting alterations and additions, I have to thank my friend Mr. Anthony Collett, who has kindly looked through my proofs. I should like also to be the first to thank Mr. Hugh Thomson for the pleasure and the help of his charming sketches.

WEYBRIDGE, _October, 1908_ ERIC PARKER.

NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION

I have made several additions to the second edition of this book, and, I hope, have corrected some mistakes. I am greatly indebted to reviewers who have pointed out errors and omissions, and to correspondents who have kindly written to me.

E.P.

_June, 1909._

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I PAGE

THE PILGRIMS' WAY 1

CHAPTER II

FARNHAM 14

CHAPTER III

FRENSHAM AND TILFORD 30

CHAPTER IV

WAVERLEY ABBEY AND MOOR PARK 43

CHAPTER V

THE HOG'S BACK 55

CHAPTER VI

GUILDFORD 64

CHAPTER VII

GUILDFORD'S ENVIRONS 85

CHAPTER VIII

SHALFORD AND WONERSH 95

CHAPTER IX

THE VILLAGES OF THE TILLINGBOURNE 101

CHAPTER X

GUILDFORD TO LEATHERHEAD 115

CHAPTER XI

GODALMING 126

CHAPTER XII

HASLEMERE AND HINDHEAD 139

CHAPTER XIII

THURSLEY AND THE MOORS 153

CHAPTER XIV

THE FOLD COUNTRY 163

CHAPTER XV

CRANLEIGH AND EWHURST 173

CHAPTER XVI

CHERTSEY 179

CHAPTER XVII

WEYBRIDGE 190

CHAPTER XVIII

NORTH TO RUNEMEDE 200

CHAPTER XIX

CHOBHAM AND BISLEY 209

CHAPTER XX

THE WEY VILLAGES 217

CHAPTER XXI

RICHMOND AND KEW 235

CHAPTER XXII

KINGSTON 244

CHAPTER XXIII

THE DITTONS AND WALTON 250

CHAPTER XXIV

EPSOM 259

CHAPTER XXV

MID-SURREY DOWNS AND COMMONS 270

CHAPTER XXVI

LEATHERHEAD 280

CHAPTER XXVII

STOKE D'ABERNON 287

CHAPTER XXVIII

LEATHERHEAD TO DORKING 296

CHAPTER XXIX

DORKING 308

CHAPTER XXX

WOTTON AND LEITH HILL 316

CHAPTER XXXI

DORKING TO REIGATE 328

CHAPTER XXXII

UNDER LEITH HILL 335

CHAPTER XXXIII

REIGATE 344

CHAPTER XXXIV

CROYDON 357

CHAPTER XXXV

BEDDINGTON AND CARSHALTON 365

CHAPTER XXXVI

CHALDON TO THE DOWNS 373

CHAPTER XXXVII

HORLEY AND CHARLWOOD 380

CHAPTER XXXVIII

GODSTONE AND BLETCHINGLEY 389

CHAPTER XXXIX

LINGFIELD AND CROWHURST 401

CHAPTER XL

OXTED AND LIMPSFIELD 414

CHAPTER XLI

DULWICH TO WIMBLEDON 424