Farncombe, historically Fernecome, is a village and peripheral settlement of

Godalming Godalming ( ) is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settl ...

in Waverley, Surrey, England and is approximately 0.8 miles (1.3 km) north-east of the Godalming centre, separated by

common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all 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 ...

known as the Lammas Lands. The village of Compton lies to the northwest and Bramley to the east; whilst

Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...

is to the west. Loseley Park, in the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of Littleton, lies to the north of the village.

History

The earliest evidence of human activity is an early

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

spear A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with Fire hardening, fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable materia ...

head, found in 1985. Farncombe appears in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

as ''Fearnecombe'', thought to mean "valley of the

ferns The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

". In 1086, it was held by the Bishop of Bayeux. Its Domesday assets were: 2

plough A plough or ( US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden ...

s, of

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable con ...

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

worth 3 hogs. It rendered £1 4s 0d. Among the oldest buildings in the village is a row of

almshouses An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable organization, charitable public housing, housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the povert ...

, built in 1622 for Richard Wyatt, the Master Carpenter of the Carpenters' Company in London. Farncombe Infants' School, on Grays Road, near the railway station was built by subscription in 1905 and was originally a boys' school. It was a mixed infants' school from 1935, and became a junior school in 1975 with an annexe for the infants school.

Governance

Farncombe is part of one of the five wards that make up the town of Godalming. Farncombe is within the census area Godalming Farncombe and Catteshall (Ward), which had a population of 4,600 in 2011.

Transport Links

Farncombe is served by the Portsmouth-London railway, through Farncombe railway station, and the Hoppa community bus project. It is near the A3, which links the village with London and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, and the M25. It lies on the River Wey and canal boats can be hired there taking travellers up to

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

and beyond.

Sports

Godalming and Farncombe Leisure Centre, home to Godalming Swimming Club, is in Farncombe. Farncombe Youth Football Club (FYFC) caters for boys and girls from ages 6/7 to 16/17. Farncombe Cricket Club and Godalming Tennis Club are both on Summers Road.

Schools

Farncombe is home to several schools, including: * Broadwater School, a secondary school for children aged 11–16, on Summers Road. * Farncombe

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Infants School, which teaches children age 4–7, on Grays Road. * The Ladybird Nursery, which caters for children from 3 months to 5 years, on Fern Road.

Pubs, Shops and Businesses

Farncombe is served by a number of traditional English pubs including: The White Hart, The Mead Row, The Manor, The Three Lions, The Charterhouse, and The Cricketers which has associations with

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

who played cricket in the area. It is also home to shops and businesses including a Co-op supermarket and two Indian restaurants: Farncombe Tandoori and The Rajasthan.

Notable people

* Nellie Boxall (1890–1965) was born here and educated to be a domestic servant. She found notability working for

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

. * John George "Jack" Phillips (1887–1912) was born in Farncombe. He died while serving as senior

wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information (''telecommunication'') between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided transm ...

operator on board the maiden voyage of the RMS ''Titanic''. He continued working as the ship sank, trying to contact other ships that might be able come to the assistance of the ''Titanic''. The Jack Phillips pub in Godalming High Street is named after him. * Alan P. F. Sell (1935–2016), academic and theologian, was born in Farncombe.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Surrey Borough of Waverley