Steve's World Blog Information and articles on cities, towns and villages around the world.

April 6, 2012

Dorking Surrey

Filed under: England,United Kingdom — Tags: , , , , , , , — needahand @ 11:52 am

Dorking Surrey – Dorking is a town in England, below the North Downs in Surrey, about 40 kilometres south of London. The town has 17,000 inhabitants and belongs to the district of Mole Valley. Dorking began as a small postal station on Stane Street, the Roman road from London to Chichester. In the 11th Century, this Surrey town was listed in the Domesday Book as the Manor of Dorchinges. The landlords were the Dukes of Norfolk, who lived in Dorking, until they moved to Arundel. In the Middle Ages, Dorking, was a prosperous agricultural market, which benefited from its location on a variety of important roads. In 1750 the building of the Turnpike Road made Dorking a post station on the way to Brighton and the coast. This position was lost with the construction of the railway. Dorking is situated south of the town of Leatherhead and west of the town of Reigate, in the county of Surrey.

View a map of Dorking, Surrey here: http://www.my-towns.co.uk/dorking-map.html

July 24, 2009

Leatherhead Surrey History

Filed under: England,History,Travel,United Kingdom — Tags: , , , , , , — needahand @ 4:29 pm

A small market town in Surrey, with a very interesting history is Leatherhead, located 4 miles south of Epsom. Though probably seeing human habitation as far back as the Neolithic Era, and certainly known to the Romans (Stane Street passes nearby), the first mention of Leatherhead was in Anglo-Saxon times, appearing in King Alfred’s will and being bequeathed to his son Edward. Later appearing in the Domeday Book as Leret, it was held by Osbert de Ow, and even this far back had a church. Its position on a crossroads and on a ford of the River Mole, led it to becoming a market town and Henry III granted Leatherhead the right to hold a weekly market and an annual fair. The Running Horse pub which still stands in Leatherhead today dates from 1403 and has been mentioned in poems and writings over the centuries. The Swan Hotel was a popular coaching station beside the River Mole, it declined only after the arrival of the railway in the 19th century. Leatherhead’s charming old centre was mostly ruined in the 1970’s and 1980’s as it was developed as a pedestrianised area with little thought for the history of this charming town.

More Leatherhead History.

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