South Holmwood

South Holmwood
South Holmwood from Redlands Wood within the parish, a foothill of Leith Hill. St Mary Magdalene is visible to the far right and Holmwood Common contains all of the wood on the far side.
View of the most developed part of South Holmwood, with church tower (with clock) in the background.
South Holmwood  South Holmwood shown within Surrey
Area	7.73 km2 (2.98 sq mi)
Population	895 (Civil Parish)[1]
- Density	116 /km2 (300 /sq mi)
OS grid reference	TQ1745
Civil parish	Holmwood
District	Mole Valley
Shire county	Surrey
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Dorking
Postcode district	RH5
Dialling code	01306
Police	Surrey
Fire	Surrey
Ambulance	South East Coast
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Mole Valley
List of places UK England Surrey

South Holmwood -/hoʊmwʊd/ is a semi-rural village in Surrey, England. It can be considered cognate to its wider civil parish that stretches to the east to embrace Holmwood Common however does not include Mid Holmwood, nor North Holmwood which is contiguous with Dorking. Betchett's Brook is the southern boundary of the area and runs through a small locality known as Holmwood Corner. Reflecting Victorian naming of a railway station, Holmwood railway station is squarely within the parish of Capel but connected to the village by a curved path passing through Holmwood Corner Common.

Centred 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) south of Dorking, South Holmwood is on the A24 London to Horsham and Worthing road, a dual carriageway with relatively few buildings on it.

Geography

Holmwood forms part of Mole Valley Borough Council's area; the main settlement is a clustered small area bypassed by the A24 road. The smaller settlement of Holmwood Corner is half within the district but that part beyond Betchett's Brook is considered to be part of Beare Green, which is also convenient to the railway station, see Transport.

A country path, with a footbridge across the brook runs between the houses in Holmwood Corner, to the station at the end of Bregsell's Lane (running underneath the A24 and railway line) this forms a gentle curve through Holmwood Corner Common. A pavement on the opposite side of the dual carriageway feeds into a footpath that runs by the parish church (an Anglican church)^[2] to similarly connect South Holmwood's main cluster of residential streets.

Moor Cottage, South Holmwood, was the birthplace of the novelist E. Arnot Robertson (1903–1961).^[3]

History

The only settlement within the parish of Dorking and had one manor mentioned in the Domesday Book is Anstie, a smallholding rendering only £0.6 (12s) per year to its overlords, who were Baldwin son of Herlewin, with William, son of Ansculf holding has tenant-in-chief.^[4]

Holmwood Borough was the ancient division of Dorking, to the south of the town. The ancient spelling in the Court Rolls is invariably Homewood; holly trees have led to the change in the name. But as far back as 1329 the reeves' accounts include carriage of firewood from 'Dorkynge [h]Ywode vel Homewode' to Kingston. The distinction between the 'High Wood,' the skirts of the big forest of the Weald, and the 'Home Wood,' sufficiently explains the name. In 1562 Kingston still depended upon this neighbourhood for firewood. Manning and Bray state that by the early 19th century Dorking was 'supplied lately' with coal from Kingston.^[5]

Dispersed farmsteads replacing those of medieval origin work the near western and far eastern fields beyond the common. Cottages have generally been replaced here save for as Betchets Green Cottage and Stoneheal, a 17th century timber-framed example.^[6]

South Holmwood only became a significant settlement in the 19th century when the turnpike road was built from Epsom to Brighton via Worthing. The district of St. Mary, Holmwood, was taken out of Dorking and Capel parishes and made into a separate parish in 1838. The school of the parish of St. Mary Magdalen, Holmwood, was built in 1844, and enlarged in 1870 and 1884. The village prospered from the increased thoroughfare (as well as from the presence of large country houses such as Anstie Grange and Holmwood Park), leading to the creation of establishments such as the cottages and travellers' inn in Mid Holmwood, and relatively high-wealth villas such as The Dutch House in South Holmwood.^[7] The village saw bisection from its Cricket Ground set in Holmwood Common by the expansion of the turnpike road, now the A24, in 1971. The main residential area of the village is overlooked by the Grade II-listed parish church of St. Mary Magdalene, built in 1838 and designed by John Burges Watson, standing five to ten metres higher than this Victorian network of streets, 100 metres to the south.^[8]

A disused section of the Roman road Stane Street passes to the west of the village where there is one of the few changes in its alignment. Moor Cottage, South Holmwood, was the birthplace of the novelist E. Arnot Robertson (1903–1961). She then passed her childhood at Templeton, off Horsham Road.^[9]

Holmwood Common

This site of approximately 600 acres (2.4 km²) in the Victoria County History of 1911 gives its social geography and history, while neglecting to mention that remains mostly woodland and common land.

A great number of "gentlemen's houses" [upper-middle class] surround the...Common, and some standing upon it represent the original intrusions of squatters upon the waste of the manor [infertile land]—confirmed by lapse of time. Holmwood Park was the seat of the late Mrs. Gough Nichols, widow of the celebrated antiquary. Francis Larpent, Judge Advocate-General to Wellington's army in Spain and the south of France, formerly lived here. Oakdale is the seat of Lady Laura Hampton [neé Phipps]; Oakdene of Mr. Augustus Perkins; Redlands of Colonel Helsham Jones; Anstie Grange of Mr. Cuthbert E. Heath; Moorhurst, an ancient farm...of the Hon. W. Gibson, who has opened a small Roman Catholic chapel there. It is the property of Mr. Cuthbert E. Heath, of Anstie Grange.

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).

Transport

Rail

Holmwood railway station just south of the parish boundary on the north-south Mole Valley Line which terminates by getting a connecting peak hour service (via Dorking) at London Waterloo, otherwise hourly at London Victoria it is convenient on foot to Holmwood Corner, southernmost farms and Beare Green (which is in Capel parish) and by vehicle otherwise.

Roads

The village is bisected down the middle by the A24 road. An internal only network of roads connects the nucleus of the village roads one principal other local road exists; this runs due east across Holmwood Common, passing the cricket ground, large forest homes and the main car park. At the far side a road runs north-south that has access roads to many of the village's relatively small farms.

Neighbouring areas of Surrey

	Westcott	Dorking	Brockham
	Friday Street, Abinger		Leigh
	Holmwood
	Coldharbour, Capel	Beare Green, Capel	Rusper

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to South Holmwood.

• History of church
• A brief history of Holmwood Common, the villages of North, South and Mid Holmwood with biographical details of eminent residents and sites of architectural interest

References

v t e District of Mole Valley Towns · Villages Abinger Ashtead Beare Green Betchworth Box Hill Brockham Buckland Capel Charlwood Coldharbour Dorking Fetcham Friday Street Goodwyns Great Bookham Headley Holmbury Holmwood Leatherhead Leigh Little Bookham Mickleham Newdigate Ockley Pixham Westcott Westhumble Wotton Parks Ashtead Common Bookham Commons Glover's Wood Holmbury Hill Leith Hill Oxmoor Copse Norbury Park Polesden Lacey Places of worship Church of St Nicholas, Charlwood St Joseph's Church, Dorking St Martin's Church, Dorking Church of St. Mary, Fetcham Church of Our Lady and St Peter, Leatherhead Church of St. Mary & St. Nicholas, Leatherhead Education The Ashcombe School Box Hill School City of London Freemen's School Downsend School Manor House School The Priory School St Andrew's Catholic School St John's School St Teresa's School Therfield School Transport Railway stations Ashtead Betchworth Bookham Box Hill & Westhumble Dorking Dorking Deepdene Dorking West Holmwood Leatherhead Ockley Buildings and structures Betchworth Castle Bocketts Farm Burford Bridge Hotel Cherkley Court Denbies Wine Estate Dorking Caves Fetcham Park House Gatwick Aviation Museum Headley Court Juniper Hall Lowfield Heath Windmill Mullard Space Science Laboratory Wotton House Sport Football clubs Bookham Dorking Dorking Wanderers Leatherhead