Horsell Common is a open space in

Horsell Horsell is a village in the borough of Woking in Surrey, England, less than a mile north-west of Woking town centre. In November 2012, its population was 9,384. Horsell is integral to H. G. Wells' classic science fiction novel ''The War of the W ...

, near Woking in Surrey. It is owned and managed by the Horsell Common Preservation Society. An area of is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and part of the Thames Basin Heaths

Special Protection Area A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certa ...

. In the south-east corner of the common is the former Muslim Burial Ground, now an Islamic Peace Garden. There are

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

barrows, protected

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

and thousands of trees. There are parts of the common all over

, isolated from the rest of the common by roads. There is a large amount of wildlife on the common. Woking - Peace Memorial Garden (geograph 5274104)

The Sandpit area was the location of the first

Martian Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s as the Moon was evidently lifeless. At the time, the pr ...

landing in the H.G. Wells novel ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...

'' (1897) .The Sandpit
Horsell Common Preservation Society

References

External links

Horsell Common
Horsell Common Preservation Society
Surrey County Council map of SSSIs
{{Woking Woking Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Surrey Parks and open spaces in Surrey Special Protection Areas in England