North Holmwood is a residential area on the outskirts of

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England about south-west of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs ro ...

, in

Surrey, England 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 ...

. The village is accessible from the

A24 A24 Films LLC, commonly referred to as A24, is an American Privately held company, independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. The studio is based in Manhattan. The company ...

, the village's historic heart is the road Spook Hill. The 2011 census for the broader area ''Holmwoods'' shows a population of 6,417 and that North Holmwood forms part of the Dorking Built-up Area.

The village

The village has a main street called Spook Hill, in which there is a

newsagent's shop A newsagent's shop or simply newsagent's or paper shop (British English), newsagency (Australian English) or newsstand ( American and Canadian English) is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of loca ...

. There are other main built up roads: Bentsbrook Road, Bentsbrook Park (no through roads) and Holmesdale Road leading to Inholms Lane, completing a circuit, and smaller roads and estates such as St John's. The residential area of Stonebridge in the east is linked by residential roads to Spook Hill, as is Chart Downs across Bent's Brook. There is a village hall, a clinic called Holmwood Surgery and a local sports and social club. There is a pond, opposite the newsagent's, alongside Spook Hill. Holmwood Common is immediately to the south of North Holmwood. The approximately 600-acre (2.4 square kilometer) ancient wooded area was once owned by

Harold II Harold Godwinson ( – 14 October 1066), also called Harold II, was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon King of England. Harold reigned from 6 January 1066 until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, the decisive battle of the Norman ...

and

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

and is currently under the management of the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

. Public footpaths extend into the common from North Holmwood at Saint John's Church and Inholms Lane to the east of the church. The main estate in North Holmwood occupies the former site of Dorking Brickworks, which was a major local employer from the 1930s until its closure in 1983. The brickworks used up the clay surrounding it, ran out of space in the 1950s and extended south of Inholms lane in 1961. The clay supply was exhausted and the brickworks closed in 1983. After demolition, the brickworks land north of Inholms lane was used to build residential housing, while the smaller excavation south of Inholms lane was designated a nature reserve, now the Inholms clay pit LNR, open to all and accessed by a tunnel under Inholms lane.

The parish church

A parish of Holmwood was created from parts of Dorking and Capel parishes in 1839.St John the Evangelist Church website
Retrieved 5 August 2017 The parish church was built of flint in Early English style and consecrated in 1875. The tower contains two bells and a clock. The east window of the chancel has stained glass from 1874 made by Messrs Powell of White Friars. The west windows of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

have glass designed by

Charles Eamer Kempe Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a British Victorian era designer and manufacturer of stained glass. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lychg ...

from 1891 showing the four Fathers of the Western Church. St John's Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

entry

Transport

North Holmwood has two bus stops either side of the newsagent's shop. The nearest railway station is Dorking north. " Holmwood" is on the far side of

South Holmwood South Holmwood () is a semi-rural village in Surrey, England. It can be considered cognate with its wider civil parish, which stretches to the east to embrace Holmwood Common, but does not include Mid Holmwood, or North Holmwood, the latter b ...

, over away.

References

External links

Church website-history of parishSports and Social ClubHistory of Holmwood Common and the surrounding villages, eminent residents and key sites of architectural interestDorking Golf Club
{{authority control Villages in Surrey Mole Valley