Hatchford is a hamlet in the English county of

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

outside the town of Cobham (its former civil and ecclesiastical parish); it traditionally includes the contiguous hamlet of Pointers Green.

Geography

Hatchford rests almost wholly on the high

Bagshot Formation In geology, the Bagshot Beds are a series of sands and clays of shallow-water origin, some being fresh-water, some marine. They belong to the upper Eocene formation of the London and Hampshire basins, in England and derive their name from Bagsh ...

(above the flood plain of the

River Mole The River Mole is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows north-west through Surrey for to the Thames at Hampton Court Palace. The river gives its name to the Surrey district ...

), on a country road between Cobham, Martyrs Green, Ockham and Downside. The hamlet is bisected into Pointers Green main sub-localities by the

M25 motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major ring road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 th ...

Etymology

The name of the hamlet appears to have changed over time. A deed dating from 1740 refers to a John Wilson of 'Hatchfold'. It also appears on Rocque's Map of Surrey of 1765 and Cary's 1786 map as 'Hatch Fold'. It was still 'Hatchfold' in the Ordnance Survey map of 1816. However, by the time of Brayley's 1848 Topological History, it had become 'Hatchford'. Early maps and references to the area relate principally to the historic house that is now called 'Hatchford Park', but which was at earlier times referred to simply as 'Hatchford'.Brayley, E. W. A Topographical History of Surrey, London: Virtue & Co., volume 2, pp. 151-2, available online at https://archive.org/stream/topographicalhis02bray#page/n7/mode/2up (accessed 14 March 2013) As the hamlet grew in the late nineteenth century, however, the name was applied more broadly, with the historic house taking the name 'Hatchford Park' to distinguish it.

History

The house at Hatchford Park was originally built in the 1600s, but little physical evidence of this survives. In the eighteenth century, it belonged for a time to Andrew Ramsay, a wealthy landowner and Acting Governor of Bombay for a period. In the nineteenth century, it became the home of

Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere (1 January 1800 – 18 February 1857), known as Lord Francis Leveson-Gower until 1833, was a British politician, writer, traveller and patron of the arts. Ellesmere Island, a major island (10th in size amon ...

, who rebuilt the house in the 1850s. Lord Ellesmere started an

arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

in the grounds in 1845, while Lady Ellesmere laid out the gardens. The garden writer William Keane included the gardens in his book ''The Beauties of Surrey''. Lady Ellesmere lived on at Hatchford Park after the 1857 death of the 1st Earl. Her mother, Lady Charlotte Greville (née Cavendish-Bentinck) died at Hatchford Park on 28 July 1862, aged 86. The estate was later purchased by Isabella Saltonstall, a patron and executor of the painter

George Stubbs George Stubbs (25 August 1724 – 10 July 1806) was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses. Self-trained, Stubbs learnt his skills independently from other great artists of the 18th century such as Joshua Reynolds and Thoma ...

. The main house was remodelled in c1890 by

Rowland Plumbe Rowland Plumbe, also known as Roland Plumbe (2 February 1838, Whitechapel – 2 April 1919, Willesden), was an English architect, famous for being the author of many residential schemes across London, many being considered the first examples of ...

in mock Jacobean style for its then owner, the City stockbroker, Walter Moresby Chinnery. It then became the home of

Bernhard Samuelson Sir Bernhard Samuelson, 1st Baronet, (22 November 1820 – 10 May 1905) was an industrialist, educationalist and a Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons in 1859 and from ...

MP, who built a mausoleum in the grounds. Its last private owner as a single house was the steel magnate William John Firth, who lived there in the 1930s. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Hatchford Park was used as a military hospital. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Hatchford Park was taken over by the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

, as were some other properties in the area. In 1952, it became Hatchford Park School, a residential school for children with disabilities. In 1969 it was used as a filming location for ''

Spearhead from Space ''Spearhead from Space'' is the first serial of the seventh season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 3 to 24 January 1970. It was the first ''Doctor Who'' ...

'' an episode of

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

broadcast in 1970. In the 1990s, Hatchford Park was bought by property developers for conversion into private apartments. During the redevelopment, a fire was started which severely damaged the manor house and destroyed many of the original features. HatchfordPark-PostFire

At the same time as remodelling the main house, Lord Ellesmere also gave land and funds to build a small church, St. Matthews, on his estate.Langham-Carter, R. R. 1964. "Hatchford Park & Church". Surrey Archaeological Collections, Relating to the History and Antiquities of the County, Volume 61. In 1865, the church was endowed as a parish within the

Diocese of Winchester The Diocese of Winchester forms part of the Province of Canterbury of the Church of England. Founded in 660 AD, it is one of the older dioceses in England. It once covered the Kingdom of Wessex, many times its present size. Today it is most of th ...

with the Earl of Ellesmere as patron. However, the church was demolished in the 1960s due to disrepair, leaving only the graveyard, which remains in use; the community is now served by parish church of Ockham (All Saints') and the small chapel of St. Matthew in Downside. Hatchford End, built near Hatchford Park in 1752, was given to house the estate chaplain. In the 1920s, the 4th Earl bought Hatchford End as a home for his three unmarried sisters (Lady Blanche Egerton, Lady Dorothy and Lady Christian). Another major historic house of the hamlet is Pointers (also Poynters), which was known as 'Pointintone' in 675. This house overlooking the

was an important house for many years, being the residence of Thomas Page, who purchased both this estate and the manor of Cobham in the year 1781, under the option of his father's will, and substantially enlarged the manor via the Enclosures Act. Page also diverted the nearby road (Pointers road) so that it passed to the south of the house, rather than between the house and river Mole. As the manor house of Cobham it was "several times visited here by the late duke of York, and other members of the royal family". It has since been divided into multiple dwellings. Also dating from the 1600s is Cold Norton (formerly known as Burchets).

Other landmarks

Near Hatchford Park are several dwellings which were originally established as

almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the poor of a locality, for those who had held ce ...

s. On the hill north of Hatchford (known as Chatley Heath, formerly Breach Hill) stands a semaphore tower, which was part of the line of Naval communication

semaphore line An optical telegraph is a line of stations, typically towers, for the purpose of conveying textual information by means of visual signals (a form of optical communication). There are two main types of such systems; the semaphore telegraph whic ...

from the south coast to London, prior to the development of the electric telegraph. Where the

cuts through the hamlet is Brickfield copse, named after early brickworks and claypits located there. A pest house, for victims of smallpox and other contagious diseases, was also established there, near the sixteenth century Pointers Farm Cottage, some time before 1711. The site was shown in a 1796 map as including a hop garden and orchard. A Roman villa is known to have existed to the north of Hatchford, near Chatley Farm, which has been dated to about 350AD. There is a (relatively uncommon) bronze-age bell barrow on nearby Cockcrow Hill.

References

External links

Downside Village community website

St. Matthew's Church of England Infant School
{{Elmbridge Hamlets in Surrey Country houses in Surrey Grade II listed buildings in Surrey Gardens in Surrey Manor houses in England Borough of Elmbridge