WOTTON HUNDRED 



DORKING 



In 1871 Mr. Charles Webb of Clapham was com- 

 memorated by his family in the building of alms- 

 houses for six aged couples. 



Mr. Thomas Summers, of Horsham, left 100 in 

 1807, which was invested in 3 per cent, consols. 

 The income provides bread for the poor (see Broking 

 also). The vicar and churchwardens of Capel, who 

 were trustees of Smith's and Summers' Charity, 

 obtained leave from the Charity Commissioners to 

 devote the funds to a more useful purpose, the bread 

 having been distributed among a large number of 



people quite well able to provide for themselves, or 

 given to the poor in such quantities that they could 

 not consume it while it was good. All the bakers in 

 the parish had to be employed, and the baker in 

 Coldharbour (q.v.) sent bread three miles and a half 

 to Capel, which was given to the Coldharbour people 

 who had walked the same distance to receive it, and 

 who carried it back to a hundred yards from where it 

 was baked. The Parish Council, however, on becom- 

 ing manager of parochial charities restored the bread 

 dole. 



DORKING 



Dorchinges (xi cent.) ; Dorkinges (xiii cent.) ; 

 Dorking (xviii cent.). 



Dorking is a market town 23^ miles south-west of 

 London, 1 2 miles east of Guildford. The market was 

 claimed by the Earl of Warenne and Surrey in 1 278 as 

 of immemorial antiquity. 1 The parish is bounded on 

 the north by the two Bookhams and Mickleham, on 

 the east by Betchworth, on the south by Capel, on 

 the west by Wotton. It contains 1,329 acres of 

 land and 10 of water, and is about 5 miles from 

 north to south and 4 from east to west, but is slightly 

 narrower towards the south. Capel, which lies south 

 of it, was anciently part of the parish, and for the 

 most part of the manor. The parish extends over the 

 usual succession of soils in this part of Surrey. The 

 northern part is on the chalk downs, partly capped 

 by gravel and sand. The town and church are on 

 the sand, the southern part is on the Wealden clay. 



From the high chalk down about Denbies, and 

 from Ranmore Common on the north-west border of 

 the parish, the views are beautiful and extensive. 

 Between the spectator and the steep side of Box Hill, 

 immediately to the east, the transverse valley of the 

 Mole runs through the chalk range. Southward lies 

 Dorking in the valley between the chalk and the well- 

 wooded sand hills, which rise to the fir-tree clad 

 heights of Redlands Wood, and to Anstiebury and 

 1 Leith Hill beyond. The lower ground of the Weald, 

 thickly wooded, extends south-eastwards, and the 

 horizon is marked by the South Downs near Lewes. 

 The boundary of the sand and the clay runs north 

 and south for some way on the southern side of 

 Dorking. The Redlands Woods are a steep sand 

 ridge of north and south direction covered with fir 

 trees, with a silver fir, Ia probably the tallest tree in 

 the county, standing up above them all, while east 

 of it extends the Holmwood Common, a high open 

 common on the clay, thickly studded with hollies and 

 furze bushes, with occasional houses dotted about it. 

 The Glory Woods, a favourite resort of Dorking 

 people, are on the sand hills nearer to the town. 

 There is a small common close to the town called 

 Cotmandene, formerly famous as the cricket ground 

 where the great Dorking players, who did so much 

 for the Surrey eleven, were trained. Caffyn, who 

 first taught scientific cricket to the Australians, was 

 one of them, and Jupp and the two Humphreys 

 were among the last. Milton Heath is another com- 



mon west of Dorking. Towards the high ground of 

 the Leith Hill range parts of Broad Moor, Cold- 

 harbour Common, and the plantation called the 

 Warren are in Dorking parish. 



Dorking town consisted till recently of one long 

 street, High Street, which bifurcated at the south- 

 west end into West Street and South Street, the road 

 to Guildford passing out of the former, that to Hors- 

 ham out of the latter. In the last thirty or forty years 

 a good deal of building has broadened out the town, as 

 well as extended it at both ends. 



The parish was divided into six tithings called 

 Boroughs ; namely, East Borough, including West 

 Betchworth, at the east end of the' town ; Chipping 

 Borough, the body of the town, a name which justi- 

 fies the Earl of Warenne's claim to an ancient market; 

 Milton Borough, lying west ; Westcote Borough, still 

 farther west and south-west ; Holmwood Borough, 

 to the south ; and Walde or Wold or Wale Borough, 

 farther south still, but now known as Capel parish, 

 and distinct from Dorking.' But in the i.fth and 

 1 5th centuries, when Milton and Westcote were 

 separate manors, both the views of frankpledge held 

 in Dorking recognized the Chipping Borough, East 

 Borough, Waldeborough, and Forreyn Borough only 

 as tithings. 3 The names are the same in the view 

 of frankpledge of 7 October 1597, but on 27 Sep- 

 tember 1598 the names are changed to Chipping 

 Borough, East Borough, Capel and Homewood 

 Borough. The last therefore answers to Forreyn 

 Borough, as also appears by local names in the latter 

 tithing. 



The town is administered as an urban district under 

 the Local Government Act of 1894, which superseded 

 a local board established in 1881. The Act of 1894 

 separated the urban district from Dorking rural parish, 

 which is administered by a rural parish council. 



The parish is almost entirely residential and agri- 

 cultural. But there are lime works on the chalk, 

 though not so extensive as those in neighbouring 

 parishes, a little brick-making, water-mills (corn) at 

 Pixham Mill, and timber and saw-mills. 



Poultry rearing is an ancient pursuit of the neigh- 

 bourhood, and the Dorking fowls with an extra claw 

 are a well-known breed, which it is not necessary to 

 derive from Roman introduction. 



Sand of fine texture and often in veins of pink 

 colour is also dug about Dorking, and some exten- 



1 Plot, de Qua War. (Rec. Com.), 

 745. la Dead in 1939. 



1 Dorking Manorial Rolls, I4th, 151(1, 

 nd 1 6th centuries panim. The first five 



boroughs were confirmed and denned by 

 a County Council order, 26 July 1894, 

 under the provisions of the Loc. Govt. 

 Act, 56 & 57 Viet. cap. 73. 



141 



e.g. View of frankpledge, 7 Oct. 

 1 6 Hen. VI, in Dorking Manorial 

 Rolls. 



