Dunsfold

Dunsfold
Church of St. Mary and All Saints
Central housing and shop
Dunsfold  Dunsfold shown within Surrey
Area	16.06 km2 (6.20 sq mi)
Population	989 (Civil Parish)[1]
- Density	62 /km2 (160 /sq mi)
OS grid reference	TQ006361
Civil parish	Dunsfold
District	Waverley
Shire county	Surrey
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Godalming
Postcode district	GU8
Dialling code	01483
Police	Surrey
Fire	Surrey
Ambulance	South East Coast
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	South West Surrey
List of places UK England Surrey

Dunsfold is a village in the borough of Waverley, Surrey, England, 8.7 miles (14 kilometres) south of Guildford. It lies in a once wooded plain which was therefore once called the Weald and reaches in the north the southern escarpment of the Greensand Ridge. It includes the Wey and Arun Canal, and just under half of Dunsfold Aerodrome, which is shared with Alford.

History

Norman English (Middle Ages) building and records

The village's name was recorded as Duntesfaude in 1259, Duntesfaud in 1272 and Duntesfalde in 1291, apparently meaning Dunt's fold. Alternatively it may be derived from the Old English (and Celtic) dun (hill i.e. down) and fold (enclosure). Either way folding means enclosing with fences, a way of moving sheep around the land to graze off the remains of previously harvested crops. It still emulated in modern sheep farming with and without pens around the village. There are some prize-winning Aberdeen Angus cattle farmed here but the last dairy herd has now closed.

St Mary & All Saints' Church is a Norman building, containing the oldest pews in England. The nearby Holy Well was a site of pilgrimage — its waters were thought to cure diseases of the eye. It would be consistent with the topography of the site that the well be a pre-Christian site and the church itself be constructed on a man-made hill of pre-Christian origin.^[2] The current rector is Paul Jenkins who has been installed since 23/01/2007.

Manors

Three manors were here, all had more cultivated fields, in order of size: Burningfold, Field Place and Graffham Grange.

Burningfold

The 5th Viscount Montagu (d. 1767) held this largest estate from a purchase from a Mr Tanner in 1751 until 1756 and his son sold it to Edmund Woods jun. in 1790. Owner Charlotte Woods built and endowed the first school, on the Green in 1850.^[3]

Field Place

Held by Emery Cranley, it briefly split by moiety title between Quenell and Stoughton sisters (both born Cranley), was reunited by Peter Quenell then sold 1651 (to William Yalden) and 1677 (to William Sadler). In 1850 of James Sadler of Chiddingfold held it, by which time its main economy legacy was Field Place, a small manor house, with "a most delightful collection" of roofs of many of pitches and dispositions.^[3]

Graffham Grange

In the early 13th century Walter Giffard, Abbot of Waverley, (1236–51), granted all the rights of the abbey in Graffham to Walter de Graffham for a rent of 16s. a year, rent paid to Markwick, a former possession of Waverley Abbey as late as 1808. Mr. J. C. McAndrew was an owner of what was left of it towards the end of 19th century followed by Mr. F. A. Shepherd.^[3]

Other buildings and industries

Common House is a late medieval hall which dates from circa 1500, of lowest listing category, Grade II architectural importance.^[4] The village has many other houses of architectural interest e.g. Lark's Rise,^[5] Yonder Lye^[6] and The Sun Inn public house, set back from the common, parts of which are clearly ancient particularly the rear bar.^[7]

The village was a site of iron smelting from local ironstone (see Bargate stone) and iron-smithery in the Middle Ages. Later, Dunsfold has hosted the construction of the Wey and Arun Canal which is being gradually reopened, and Dunsfold Aerodrome which is used primarily in connection with automobiles of many times, hosting a major television programme on the subject.

Amenities

The village has one of the best-kept cricket pitches in the area for a village club and holds matches throughout the season, usually on Sunday afternoons.

Dunsfold has a small Post Office and shop in the middle of the village.

Dunsfold Park

The airstrip was built by the Canadian Army during World War II as an emergency landing airfield. After the war the airfield was used to repatriate prisoners of war. Dunsfold was declared inactive in 1946 but was used again in 1948 and 1949 as part of the Berlin Airlift. In 1950 The Hawker Aircraft Company acquired the lease of the site.^[8]

In October 1960 the then Hawker Siddeley flight tested its Hawker P.1127 prototype, the development aircraft that led to the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first VTOL jet fighter bomber. Final assembly of the Harrier and the Hawk trainer aircraft was at Dunsfold.^[9] Hawker Siddeley became part of British Aerospace in 1977. On 2 July 1986 British Aerospace's deputy chief test pilot Jim Hawkins was killed at Dunsfold when his developmental Hawk 200 crashed.^[9] On 24 June 1999 British Aerospace announced the closure of Dunsfold as part of a restructuring; Hawk final assembly had been transferred to Warton in 1988 and Harrier production finished in 1998.^[10][11]

Post-British Aerospace

In 2002, BAE Systems (British Aerospace's successor) sold Dunsfold Park to The Rutland Group and The Royal Bank of Scotland forming Dunsfold Park Ltd with the intention of developing the site as Britain' s most sustainable village with 2500 homes. Since 2002, the BBC motoring show Top Gear has been recorded at the park using the former paint shop as a studio and parts of the runways and taxiways of the aerodrome as a test track.

The Young Drivers Track

Some of the track (The Young Drivers Track) is now used by many driving schools and instructors to enable under seventeen-year-olds to learn to drive. Thousands of youngsters have now had their first driving experience at the Top Gear location before going out on to the road.

Since June 2007 Dunsfold Park has been home of the Surrey Air Ambulance Service.^[12] Dunsfold Park is the home to Wings & Wheels, an air and motor show that has been running for many years now and typically held in late August. Currently run by the site owners, Dunsfold Park Ltd, it will continue until the park is redeveloped.

747

A Boeing 747-200 which served with British Airways until 2002 as City of Birmingham, G-BDXJ, was purchased by Aces High Limited, a company specialising in supplying aircraft for television and film work, and transferred to Dunsfold.

It was modified and used for filming for the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale. Some of the scenes set at Miami International Airport were filmed at Dunsfold. It has also appeared in the background of numerous Top Gear episodes and directly in an episode where it is towed by a JCB Fastrac tractor. It was also towed by a Volkswagen Touareg in a 2006 Fifth Gear episode, the same year that the modified aircraft and Dunsfold Airfield were featured in a television advertisement filmed for the Volkswagen Touareg, demonstrating the vehicle's towing ability. In 2008 it featured in an episode of Scrapheap Challenge in which contestants created machines to tow the aircraft.^{[citation needed]} Modifications to the aircraft include the removal of the existing Rolls Royce engines and replacement with twin mount engines, similar to those fitted to aircraft such as the B-52 Heavy Bomber.

The aircraft has also featured in Primeval, the 2009 BBC production of The Day of the Triffids, and in RED 2.^[13]

Demography and housing

The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that was apartments was 22.6%.

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).

Eco-town expansion plan

In 2006, the owners of Dunsfold Park proposed the construction of a new town with 2,600 homes on the site, a school, health services, public transport and road links to the A281, and an expanded business district.^[14] One of the largest construction projects in Surrey, it would result in the closure and replacement of the aerodrome. A project of this kind and size is controversial, resulting in the formation of the STOP Dunsfold Park New Town campaign.

In late 2007, Dunsfold Park Ltd. applied to have their plans for the new town selected as one of the Brown Ministry's proposed "eco-towns". On 3 April 2008 Dunsfold Park was denied Eco-town status by Housing Minister, Caroline Flint. According to the Government's press release over 40 applications including Dunsfold Park were rejected "for being undeliverable or not ambitious enough to meet the high environmental and affordability standards set by Government."

References

• Dunsfold - Surrey's Most Secret Airfield Paul McCue, Air Research Publications, 1991

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dunsfold.

• Dunsfold Online
• Dunsfold Aerodrome
• Wings & Wheels

v t e Borough of Waverley Towns, villages and hamlets Alfold Alford Crossways Badshot Lea Blackheath Bowlhead Green Bramley Brook Busbridge Chiddingfold Churt Compton Cranleigh Dippenhall Dockenfield Dunsfold Eashing Elstead Enton Ewhurst Farncombe Farnham Frensham Godalming Grayswood Hale Hambledon Hascombe Haslemere Heath End Hindhead Hurtmore Hydestile Lower Bourne Loxhill Milford Norney North Munstead Peper Harow Puttenham Ramsnest Common Rowledge Rowly Runwick Shackleford Shamley Green Shottermill Thorncombe Street Thursley Tilford Tuesley Weybourne Wheelerstreet Witley Wonersh Wormley Wrecclesham Parks Devil's Jumps, Churt Devil's Punch Bowl Frensham Common Gibbet Hill Hascombe Hill Hydon's Ball Moor Park, Farnham Witley Park Churches Busbridge Church St Andrew's Church, Farnham St Joan of Arc's Church, Farnham Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, Godalming Godalming United Church Hambledon Church St Peter's Church, Wrecclesham Education All Hallows School Broadwater School Charterhouse School Cranleigh School Edgeborough School Farnham College Frensham Heights School Glebelands School Godalming College Heath End School King Edward's School, Witley Prior's Field School Rodborough School The Royal School, Haslemere St Catherine's School St Edmund's School St Hilary's School St John's College, Wonersh University for the Creative Arts Weydon School Woolmer Hill School Transport Bramley & Wonersh railway station Cranleigh railway station Farnham railway station Godalming railway station Haslemere railway station Milford railway station Witley railway station Buildings and structures Birdworld Dunsfold Aerodrome (Top Gear test track) Farnham Castle Farnham Maltings (Farnham Beer Exhibition) Farnham Pottery Mother Ludlam's Cave Rural Life Centre Waverley Abbey Winkworth Arboretum Sport Football Badshot Lea F.C. Farnham Town F.C. Godalming Town F.C. Old Carthusians F.C. Shottermill & Haslemere F.C. Cricket Godalming Cricket Club