Frimley

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Frimley


High Street looking East
Frimley (Surrey)
Frimley

Frimley shown within Surrey
Population 12,739 (2001 census)
OS grid reference SU875578
District Surrey Heath
Shire county Surrey
Region South East
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Camberley
Postcode district GU16
Dialling code 01276, 01252
Police Surrey
Fire Surrey
Ambulance South East Coast
European Parliament South East England
UK Parliament Surrey Heath
List of places: UK • England • Surrey

Coordinates: 51°18′52″N 0°44′19″W / 51.3143, -0.7387

Frimley is a small English town situated 2 miles (3 km) south of Camberley, in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire. It is about 31 miles (50 km) west south-west of London. It is part of the urban district Frimley and Camberley. The town is connected to the M3 motorway by the Blackwater Valley Road and the Frimley bypass.

Frimley Green is a neighbouring village which has hosted the British Darts Organisation’s (BDO) World Professional Darts Championship since 1986 each January.

Contents

[edit] History

The name Frimley is derived from the Saxon name Fremma's Lea, which means "Fremma's clearing". The land was owned by Chertsey Abbey from 673 to 1537 and was a farming village.[1] More recently it was a coach stop on the main London to Portsmouth road for about four hundred years.

Frimley shown on the map The Road from London to Southampton by John Ogilby dated 1675
Frimley shown on the map The Road from London to Southampton by John Ogilby dated 1675

Frimley was not listed in Domesday Book of 1086, but is shown on the map as Fremely, its spelling in 933AD.[2]

Frimley lunatic asylum was opened in 1799; it catered for both male and female patients, and received four patients from Great Fosters. Magistrates visited in 1807 and ordered the proprietors to stop chaining the patients.[3]

An 1811 inventory from Frimley Workhouse can be seen on the Surrey County Council website.

The present St. Peter's Church was built in 1837 replacing earlier buildings. The building has a balcony running around three sides of the interior. Ethel Smyth once preached from the pulpit.[4]

In 1904, the Brompton Hospital Sanatorium was established in Frimley to treat tuberculosis patients; it closed in 1985. Dr Marcus Sinclair Paterson (1870-1932) was the first medical superintendent, and he developed a system of treatment called 'graduated labour' which generated a lot of interest from other health professionals. The treatment used controlled levels of physical activity.[5]

In 1959 the Cadet Training Centre at Frimley Park was formed following the 1957 publication of the Amery Report.[6]

[edit] Today

The White Hart, Frimley
The White Hart, Frimley
Frimley Railway Station
Frimley Railway Station
Frimley Park Hospital Main Entrance
Frimley Park Hospital Main Entrance

The main shopping street includes a branch of Waitrose and some smaller shops, several restaurants, banks, charity shops, a post office, a number of estate agents, solicitors, opticians, betting shops, an insurance broker and two public houses called White Hart and The Railway Arms. Frimley Park Hospital is situated in the town. One of the major employers in the town is BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies (Insyte), which occupies a new building in Lyon Way.

Frimley railway station provides access to Guildford, Ascot and London Waterloo. Frimley Lodge Park Railway is also nearby.

There are a number of schools in Frimley including: The Grove Primary School, Lakeside Primary School, Ravenscote Junior School and Tomlinscote School and 6th Form College.

Frimley Town Football Club was formed over 100 years ago. It runs four teams, and the first team competes in the Senior Division of the Aldershot & District Football League. The club is based at Chobham Road recreation ground.[7]

[edit] Famous people

[edit] Births

John Singer Sargent: Ethel Smyth grew up in the town
John Singer Sargent: Ethel Smyth grew up in the town

James Cobbett, famous cricketer and considered by many as the finest all-rounder of his day, was born in Frimley on January 12, 1804.[8] Frimley Park Hospital was the birth place in 1979 of Jonny Wilkinson, a fly-half for England Rugby Union and one of the most famous players in international professional rugby[9] and Lady Louise Windsor in 2003. Also Jonny Wilkinson's England team-mate Toby Flood was born in Frimley[10] in 1985.

[edit] Residents

Dame Ethel Smyth, English composer and suffragette grew up in Frimley. Her family moved to the town in 1867 when her father was given command of the Royal Artillery at Aldershot.[11] Daphne du Maurier wrote most of her fourth novel, Jamaica Inn, in 1935 in Frimley where her soldier husband Frederick Browning was based.[12]

[edit] Deaths

Notable people buried in the churchyard of St. Peter's Church, Frimley[4] include:John Frederick Lewis (d. 1876), a British 19th-century painter; Bret Harte (d. 1902), the American author;[13] William George Cubitt (d. 1903), who won the Victoria Cross in the Indian Mutiny for saving three men's lives at the risk of his own during the retreat from Chinhut; Charles Wellington Furse (d. 1904) a British 19th-century painter; and Sir Doveton Sturdee (d. 1925) a British admiral who decisively defeated the German squadron under Graf Maximilian von Spee at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914, for which he was made a baronet.

[edit] Literary mentions

In one of the "Just William" books by Richmal Crompton, William visits an aunt in Frimley for a few days.[14] Charles Kingsley refers to "a series of Letters on the Frimley murder" in his Alton Locke, Tailor And Poet[15]

There is a brief mention of Frimley in Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes in the short story Crouch End. It reads: 'He did indeed move into council housing, a two-above-the-shops in Frimley'.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Surrey Heath Borough Council (2005). History of Surrey Heath. surreyheath.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2006-05-19.
  2. ^ John Garnons Williams (2000-09-10). Surrey Domesday Book Domesday Sudrie (Surrey) - The Domesday entries for and the meanings of the Domesday place-names appearing on the Surrey historical map. Domesday Collection. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
  3. ^ Andrew Roberts (2002). Part of the Asylums Index: South East England. The Lunacy Commission, a study of its origin, emergence and character. Retrieved on 2006-05-20.
  4. ^ a b The Parish Office. St Peter's Church. The Parish of Frimley. Retrieved on 2006-05-20.
  5. ^ Julie Tancell (2001). National Heart and Lung Institute. AIM25: Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine. Retrieved on 2006-05-20.
  6. ^ History. Sussex Army Cadet Force (2003). Retrieved on 2006-05-20.
  7. ^ Pete Bass (2006). Frimley Town FC - 2005/06. Web-Teams. Retrieved on 2006-05-20.
  8. ^ Cricinfo - Players and Officials - James Cobbett. cricinfoengland (2006). Retrieved on 2006-05-19.
  9. ^ Jonny Wilkinson: A Who2 Profile. WHO2? (2006). Retrieved on 2006-05-19.
  10. ^ The Toby Flood interview. BBC Tyne (2006). Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
  11. ^ Ethel Smyth (1858-1944). Literary Encyclopedia (2004). Retrieved on 2006-05-19.
  12. ^ Ann Willmore (2002). Review of Jamaica Inn. Daphne du Maurier Book Reviews. Retrieved on 2006-05-24.
  13. ^ Bret Harte - Biography and Works. The Literature Network (2006). Retrieved on 2006-05-19.
  14. ^ Gert (2003). Comments. mad musings of me. Retrieved on 2007-02-18.
  15. ^ Alton Locke, Tailor And Poet by Rev. Charles Kingsley et al - Full Text Free Book (Part 1/10). Fullbooks. Retrieved on 2006-05-23.

[edit] External links