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Dorking in Surrey County England History and GeographyDORKING, a market town and parish in the second division of the hundred of WOTTON, county of SURREY, 12 miles (E.) from Guildford, and 23 (S.S.W.) from London, on the road through Epsom to Worthing, Bognor, and Brighton, containing 3812 inhabitants. This place, anciently called Dorchinges, appears to have derived its name from its situation in a valley abounding with springs of water. It was probably founded by the Saxons, and, after its destruction by the Danes, was rebuilt, and had become a town of some importance prior to the Norman Conquest, at which period it was held in royal demesne, and had a church and three mills. In the reign of Edward I., it obtained the grant of a weekly market and an annual fair, and was endowed with many privileges. In a survey of the manor in 1649, the town is stated to have considerably improved, and to have been paved: the summer assizes for the county were held here in 1699, but from what particular cause does not appear; the quarter sessions were also held here occasionally. The town is situated in a sandy vale, and towards the south side of it, on a stratum of sand-rock, in which excellent cellars are excavated: a small stream flowing into the river Mole, intersects the vale, which is sheltered on the north by a ridge of chalky downs, extending from Farnham on the western side of the county into Kent, and abounding with picturesque scenery: the soil is luxuriantly fertile, and the heights command extensive and magnificent views, embracing the metropolis on one side, and the British channel on the other. In the environs are several handsome villas and stately mansions, of which Shrub Hill deserves notice on account of its fine hanging gardens. Box Hill, about a mile from the town, a picturesque eminence planted with box trees, in the reign of Charles I., by the Earl of Arundel, from which circumstance it takes its name, commands an extensive view of the surrounding country, and is a place of resort for summer excursions from London. Betchworth castle, occupying the site of an ancient fortress of that name, on the western bank of the river Mole, is beautifully situated in an extensive park, celebrated for the stateliness of its fine chesnut trees, some of which are seven yards in girth, and produce fruit equal to the Spanish tree. There were also two other ancient fortresses in the parish, called Benham and Ewtons castles, which are stated to have been demolished by the Danes: vestiges of the moat that surrounded each are still apparent, and the former has given name to a meadow in which it stood. The vale beneath Box Hill, called Holmward or Holmdale, was for several ages the retreat of the ancient Britons, in their conflicts with the Romans, and after-wards that of the Saxons, when the county was harassed by the Danes, on which account it has become the subject of a distich declaratory of the unconquerableness of the dale: in the reign of Charles II. it was celebrated for red deer, which the Duke of York, afterwards James II., preserved for his own sport; it was subsequently noted for the production of immense quantities of strawberries, which were conveyed to market in horse-loads, but is now overgrown with furze. The streets are spacious, and the foot-paths have been recently paved; the houses, though mostly of ancient date, are in general well built, and of neat appearance: the town is lighted with oil by subscription, and supplied with water brought from a spring by water-works, the property of a private individual, who has constructed baths adjoining them for the public accommodation. A book society has been formed under the patronage of the gentry resident in the neighbourhood; a reading society is principally supported by the inhabitants of the town; and a circulating library has been established by a number of subscribers, who pay an annual subscription of £2. 2. in advance. The trade is principally in meal and lime, the latter being considered superior in quality to any produced elsewhere; poultry (of which a particular species, having five claws, stated to have been brought hither by the Romans, is known among the poulterers as Dorking fowls,) is sold in large quantities for the supply of the London market. The county magistrates hold petty sessions here for the division; and a court leet and court baron are held in October, under the lord of the manor. The custom of Borough English prevails in this parish, which is divided into the several districts of Easthorough, including West Betchworth and part of the town; Chipping borough, including the remainder of the town; Holmwood borough, including the northern and southern suburbs; Milton borough, including the hamlet of Milton-street; and Westcote borough, so called from a hamlet about a mile and a half west of the town. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Surrey, and diocese of Winchester, rated in the king's books at £14. 13. 11½., and in the patronage of the Co-heirs of the Duke of Norfolk. The church, dedicated to St. Martin, is a spacious cruciform structure, principally in the later style of English architecture, with a low embattled tower rising from the centre; the upper part of the tower was rebuilt in 1672, and the church extensively sively repaired, but it still retains much of it soriginal character; a flight of steps leads down from the churchyard, the ground of which has been raised to a considerable height above the level of the foundation of the church: the interior is lighted with several fine windows, in which is some good tracery; and in the south transept, near the chancel, is an elegant tablet, erected by public subscription to the memory of the Right Hon. the Earl of Rothes, who died suddenly, in 1817, while hunting in Betchworth park. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends and Independents. A National school for boys and girls, and an infant school, established in 1829, in which are one hundred and fifty children, are supported by subscription. An almshouse, containing eighteen apartments, was founded on Cotmandean common, and endowed by Mrs. Susannah Smith, with land producing £40. 10. per annum. The rents of an estate, purchased with a sum of money left for that purpose, by Mrs. Margaret Fenwicke, producing £52. 10. per annum, are distributed in marriageportions to servant maids, and apprentice-fees to poor children; and there are several other charitable bequests for the relief of the poor of the parish. Traces of the Roman Stane-street, which passed through Dorking, are frequently discovered in digging the ground in the churchyard; and on the summit of a hill, three miles and a half from the town, is Anstie Bury, a Roman encampment, enclosing more than eleven acres, defended by a triple intrenchment, and having the entrance on the east side, where the works have been levelled by the plough. On Winterfield farm, near this camp, a wooden box was discovered in 1817, about ten or twelve inches below the surface of the ground, containing seven hundred Anglo-Saxon coins, of which the uppermost were firmly cemented together by an incrustation formed by the decomposition of the metal used as an alloy to the silver; these coins were purchased on the spot by Robert Barclay and George Dawdney, Esqrs., who presented them to the trustees of the British Museum, in order that they might select such as might be found requisite to complete their series: many curious fossils have been found in the chalk-pits; and within two miles of the town is Mag's well, the water of which is slightly impregnated with sulphate of magnesia and iron; it closely resembles the Malvern water, and is used as an alterative. Jeremiah Markland, a learned critic, who resided here, and died in 1763, and Abraham Tucker, Esq., author of the 'Light of Nature,' who resided at Betchworth castle, were buried in the chancel of the church; and John Hoole, translator of Tasso and Ariosto, was interred in the church-yard: the Rev. John Mason, author of a Treatise on Self-Knowledge, lived for several years in this town. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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