Westcott is a semi-rural

English village English villages are language education institutions which aim to create a language immersion environment for students of English in their own country. The concept is run as a commercial venture in Spain and Italy, Poland, Hungary, and is quasi ...

and former

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 ...

west of the centre of Dorking on the A25 between 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 ...

and

Greensand Ridge The Greensand Ridge, also known as the Wealden Greensand is an extensive, prominent, often wooded, mixed greensand/sandstone escarpment in south-east England. Forming part of the Weald, a former dense forest in Sussex, Surrey and Kent, it r ...

, making it one of the '

Vale of Holmesdale Holmesdale, also known as the Vale of Holmesdale, is a valley in South-East England that falls between the hill ranges of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge of the Weald, in the counties of Kent and Surrey. It stretches from Folkestone o ...

' villages (greatly in Westcott an AONB) and is in Surrey in the direction of Guildford. It is served by a local bus service and is from

Dorking West railway station Dorking West railway station is in Dorking, Surrey, England. It is measured from via and is one of three stations serving the town (the others are and ). Dorking West is on the North Downs Line. The station is managed by Great Western Rail ...

on the

North Downs Line The North Downs Line is a passenger-train line connecting Reading, on the Great Western Main Line, to Redhill and , along the Brighton Main Line, linking many centres of population in that part of the North Downs which it traverses en route. ...

Topography

The village rainwater drains into the midsection of the

Pipp Brook The Pipp Brook is a left-bank tributary of the River Mole, Surrey, England. It rises at two main springs north of Leith Hill on the Greensand Ridge, then descends steeply in a northward direction, before flowing eastwards along the Vale of Holm ...

which comes from Wotton Common and sources in the parish (rising at its furthest source south at

Leith Hill Leith Hill in southern England is the highest summit of the Greensand Ridge, approximately southwest of Dorking, Surrey and southwest of central London. It reaches above sea level, and is the second highest point in southeast England, after ...

). The stream then flows past the village centre near its northern farmland, flowing into Dorking and discharging at the lowest part of Dorking's former other chapelry in Pixham. The village is dominated by its main road, the A25 and rests in a valley at the foot of the steep slopes of Ranmore and the

to the north and

to the south. Some of the village is in the

Surrey Hills AONB The Surrey Hills is a Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), which principally covers parts of the North Downs and Greensand Ridge in Surrey, England (approximately one quarter of the land area of the county). The AONB was designated in 1958 ...

and its single through-road in two directions is on the annual London-Surrey cycle classic route. In Squire's Wood, south of Westcott, is Mag's Well, one of the sources of Pipp Brook. It was formerly of some repute as a medicinal spring, and is strongly impregnated with iron. A building, ruined, existed over it, and in the Victorian period children still bathed in it. There is a thatched dovecot on the

village green A village green is a common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for gathering cattle t ...

. The weather vane on top of the dovecot has had the N replaced by a T such that it now shows the letters WEST.

History

Westcott or Westcote lay in the Wotton Hundred. Along with superseded Milton, it was the upper

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

, turned into a chapelry of Dorking also in the

Victorian period In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian ...

. The lower hamlet being Pixham As such, it contributed significantly to the wealth and trade of Dorking, including in the wool and meat from sheep farming on the

within the parish bounds. Bury Hill, between Dorking and Westcott, was recorded in the 15th century. It became a manor, formed from waste (infertile land) of the manor of Milton, Dorking. James Walter bought the land in 1753, he built the house there and planted the grounds. He died 1780, when the 3rd Viscount Grimston, his daughter's husband, succeeded him. In 1812 his son and heir, about to be created

Earl of Verulam Earl of Verulam is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for James Grimston, 4th Viscount Grimston. He was made Viscount Grimston (in the peerage of the United Kingdom) at the same time. Verulam had previously ...

, sold it to a wealthy scot, Robert Barclay and it descended to his Barclay heir in the

Edwardian period The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

when The Nower was "a favourite place to walk for Dorking people". He was the ancestor of comedy executive/producer

Humphrey Barclay Humphrey Barclay BEM (born 24 March 1941, Dorking, Surrey, England) is a British comedy executive and producer. Career Barclay was educated at Harrow School, before reading Classics at Trinity College, Cambridge, where his first foray into sh ...

. Many pre-1800

listed buildings In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

including some that are

thatched Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

are in the lanes leading off the A25, including

Leslie Howard Leslie Howard Steiner (3 April 18931 June 1943) was an English actor, director and producer.Obituary ''Variety'', 9 June 1943. He wrote many stories and articles for ''The New York Times'', ''The New Yorker'', and ''Vanity Fair'' and was one o ...

's (actor 1893–1943) ''Stowe Maries'' (built in the 1550s) in Balchins Lane. Milton Street and Westcott Street lead to several more old buildings. The Church of the Holy Trinity is Grade II* as it was commissioned to be designed 1851, by Sir George Gilbert Scott made of knapped

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

with ashlar quoins/dressings. Its spire has a clock, striking bell and weather vane. The church is built of stone, with a small western turret. Charles Barclay of Bury Hill gave for it to be built, and Lady Mary Leslie the same as an endowment. The clock was installed to commemorate the Jubilee of 1887. The parsonage was built at the expense of Barclay and the secular Westcott School was built by subscription in 1854; the infant school by subscription in 1882. It was the second nearest village, with some trade, to

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's diary, or ...

's Wotton House and Estate, well known by the diarist, garden landscaper and society favourite in the mid to late 17th century; in 1694 Evelyn moved into his completed house.

Economy and amenities

The average distance travelled to work is .2001 census table
/ref> Of the original six

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

s ''The Prince of Wales'' remains. ''The Crown'' closed in September 2011 and is being converted into private housing. The others were the Bricklayers' Arms, the Cabin, the Cricketers' and Uncle Tom's Cabin. 'The Cricketers' was converted into an Indian restaurant called the ''Bay Leaf '' but it failed and the building is now derelict. The village has an art gallery, a small shop, a bicycle shop and a hairdressers. The main village grocery with Post Office closed in December 2016. The village has difficult parking and is busy with cyclists every weekend. Westcott Church of England primary school celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2004. In 2010 it was merged with Abinger Common CEP school to create a two-campus school known as the ''Surrey Hills Church of England Primary School''. In 2009 a skate ramp and football goals were installed in the village park.

Demography and housing

The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that was apartments was 22.6%. The proportion of households who owned their home outright compares to the regional average of 35.1%. The proportion who owned their home with a loan compares to the regional average of 32.5%. The remaining % is made up of rented dwellings (plus a negligible % of households living rent-free).

Gallery

File:Bluebells - geograph.org.uk - 169078.jpg, Bluebells in woods in the south of Westcott File:Pickett's Hole - geograph.org.uk - 537196.jpg, Pickett's Hole is in the north of Westcott, an escarpment with deciduous woods which adjoins

Ranmore Common Ranmore Common, also known as Ranmore Commons, is an area of wooded former common land on the North Downs, immediately northwest of Dorking in the English county of Surrey. Its civil parish is Wotton, a geographically large village with a sma ...

File:Pipp Brook Footbridge - geograph.org.uk - 589576.jpg, Pipp Brook footbridge in fields to the immediate north of the village centre File:Milton Court - geograph.org.uk - 200820.jpg, Milton Court is close to the southern woods

References

External links

*
Obsessive Compulsive Hoarder

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

programme that features Westcott
reviewed here
{{Authority control Mole Valley Villages in Surrey