Ranmore Common, also known as Ranmore Commons, is an area of wooded former

common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person who has a ...

on the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills a ...

, immediately northwest of Dorking in the English county of Surrey. Its

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

is Wotton, a geographically large village with a small population west of Dorking. Ranmore Common is within the Surrey Hills

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

, and part of it is Ranmore Common SSSI, a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Features

George Cubitt, owner and resident of the estate abutting to the east,

Denbies Denbies is a large estate to the northwest of Dorking in Surrey, England. A farmhouse and surrounding land originally owned by John Denby was purchased in 1734 by Jonathan Tyers, the proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens in London, and converted into a ...

Vineyard Estate, commissioned George Gilbert Scott to design St. Barnabas Church, which was completed in 1859. The church is designated with a Grade II* listing; Cubitt is buried to the east of the chancel. It has several other notable burials including Sir Harry Hylton-Foster, who died in 1965. North and south sides are wooded and sloped. Its central belt is a road separating a very long, natural grass and

wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the ...

meadow. On its northern edge are Tanners Hatch

Youth Hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ...

and further, across a wooded vale,

Polesden Lacey Polesden Lacey is an Edwardian house and estate, located on the North Downs at Great Bookham, near Dorking, Surrey, England. It is owned and run by the National Trust and is one of the Trust's most popular properties. This Regency house was exp ...

. The

North Downs Way The North Downs Way National Trail is a long-distance path in southern England, opened in 1978. It runs from Farnham to Dover, past Guildford, Dorking, Merstham, Otford and Rochester, along the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Be ...

National Trail, a long-distance path that runs from Farnham to Dover, via Canterbury, crosses the common. For fifty years the route of the Tanners Hatch Marathon, a thirty-mile challenge walk, crossed the common. It began in 1960, and was so-called because the first few marathons started and finished at Tanner's Hatch Youth Hostel.

References

External links

Surreycc.gov.uk
{{Authority control Hamlets in Surrey Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Surrey