Wonersh is a village and

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the Waverley district 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 ...

, England and Surrey Hills

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

. It contains three

Conservation Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

s and spans an area three to six miles SSE of

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 ...

. In the outer

London commuter belt The London metropolitan area is the metropolitan area of London, England. It has several definitions, including the London Travel to work area, Travel to Work Area, and usually consists of the London urban area, settlements that share London' ...

, the village is southwest of London. Wonersh's economy is predominantly a service sector economy. Three listed churches are within its boundaries as are a number of notable homes such as Frank Cook's 1905 hilltop mansion, which is a hotel, business and wedding venue.

Etymology

State records show the name as ''Wonherche'', (14th century); ''Ognersh'' and ''Ignersh'', (16th and 17th centuries). The form ''Woghenersh'', in a Charter roll of 1305, indicates the (

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

) formation ''(aet) wogan ersce'', 'at the crooked field'.

History

Pre-Roman settlement

Finds have been found in the hamlet and forest of Blackheath of

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...

(

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

) flint implements and near Chinthurst Hill.

Middle Ages

Based on foundations and core of the church, a settlement has existed in Wonersh village centre since

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 ...

times.St John the Baptist – Grade II* listing Wonersh is not named 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 ...

of 1086. All the six manors: Tangley or Great Tangley; Little Tangley; Halldish; Losterford/Lostiford above the intact mill and mill house by the village; Rowleys and; Chinthurst (partly in Shalford) were later built on lands then in Bramley and Shalford. Great Tangley Manor in 1582 became the residence of John and Lettice Carrill and descended to their grandson John Carrill (d. 1656) and his widow Hester, who secondly married Sir Francis Duncombe. The church of Wonersh was formerly a chapel (of Shalford), and as such the

advowson Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a ...

(right to appoint the vicar) was in the presentation of the King who later transferred it to St Mary without Bishopsgate in London; after this it was held by a line of nobles until bought in the 19th century by the lord of the manor. As a chapel, the great

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...

s were commuted for £700 and the lesser for the vicar for £17.

Post Renaissance

Until

Charity Commission The Charity Commission for England and Wales is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's Government that regulates registered charities in England and Wales and maintains the Central Register of Charities. Its counterparts in Scotland and ...

amalgamation in 1908, Wonersh had charity endowments paying out for its poor: John Austen of Shalford left money for poor relief in 1620. Henry Chennell of Wonersh left land whose produce was to be devoted to putting six poor boys to school from 1672. A Mr Gwynne of London gave land and bank stock in 1698 to put four poor boys to school and to distribute bread to fifteen poor persons every Sunday after service. Manorial fortunes became more muted from 1700 to 1900 during the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

– seeing almost all of their farm lands being sold for lack of scale or produce. Wonersh was one of the flourishing seats of the clothing trade in West Surrey. The special manufacture was blue cloth, dyed, no doubt, with woad, licence to grow which was asked in the neighbourhood in the 16th century. Wonersh Park was a lightly wooded park now public Green in front of and beside the church. Through the park runs a small stream and its 17th century stone gatehouse houses a protected species of bat.Wonersh main menu – Wonersh Parish Council re three greens.
/ref> Wonersh Park, a 17th-century mansion, was demolished in 1935.Waverley Borough Council – Wonersh Conservation Area main menu
/ref> Owners were: the original owner of the demolished building Richard Gwynn, who died in 1701, and it passed by issue's marriage to 1710 Sir William Chapple, serjeant-at-law and later judge who probably rebuilt it; later passing in 1741 to

Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, PC (23 June 1716 – 1 January 1789) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1756 to 1782 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Grantley. Life and career Norton was ...

of Grantley in Yorkshire, leading government lawyer created Lord Grantley in 1782. His family held Wonersh Park until 1884 on a sale to Mr. Sudbury. In 1848

Cranleigh Waters The Cranleigh Waters or Bramley Wey is a tributary of the River Wey in Surrey. Course The Cranleigh Waters or Bramley Wey rises at a source close to the sources of two tributaries, the Thornhurst Brook and Coneyhurst Gill in the rural north of ...

here was used for coal, building materials and agricultural produce as part of the

Wey and Arun Canal The Wey and Arun Canal is a partially open, canal in the southeast of England. It runs southwards from the River Wey at Gunsmouth in Shalford, Surrey to the River Arun at Wisborough Green, Pallingham, in West Sussex. The canal comprises parts ...

and the west boundary formed an economic draw for the village. Northbrook's mill was a

fulling mill Fulling, also known as tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelt waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven cloth (particularly wool) to eliminate (lanolin) oils, dirt, ...

, used for dressing leather for making saddles, straps, bags and garments. Shamley Green was formed into a parish from Wonersh in 1881 at which time the 1st Baron Ashcombe did not part with the

of Shamley Green, but did of Wonersh, to

Selwyn College, Cambridge Selwyn College, Cambridge is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1882 by the Selwyn Memorial Committee in memory of George Selwyn (bishop of Lichfield), Georg ...

. In 1905 Barnett Hill was chosen to be built on for the first time, by Frank Cook, the grandson of

Thomas Cook Thomas Cook (22 November 1808 – 18 July 1892) was the founder of the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son. He was born into a poor family in Derbyshire and left school at the age of ten to start work as a gardener's boy. He served an appren ...

, who lavished £35,000 on constructing a Queen Anne-style mansion. The house later passed to the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

who owned it until 2006 – today, it is a hotel, conference and events venue managed by the Sundial Group. The house is now Grade II* listed.Barnett Hill House – Grade II* listing

Geography

Flanked by two round hills, Chinthurst Hill north west of the village and Barnett Hill east of the village, the village centre ranges between above sea level. Two-thirds of the pine

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

and mixed forest-covered high ground ''Blackheath'' is included in Wonersh as are the settlements/neighbourhoods of Shamley Green, Blackheath, Ridgebridge Hill, Whipley, Plonk's Hill, Woodhill, Lordshill Common and Norley Common. Spanning SSE of Guildford.Grid reference Finder measurement tools
/ref> and in the outer London commuter belt, the centre of the village is southwest of London. Grassy expanses of Smithwood Common in the south and Wonersh Common in the north are in the civil parish; over of the southeast is Winterfold Wood and Heath an ancient forest part of the

Weald The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, and Kent. It has three parts, the sandstone "High W ...

, with parts managed by

Surrey Wildlife Trust Surrey Wildlife Trust (SWT) was founded in 1959 as Surrey Naturalists' Trust and it is one of forty-six The Wildlife Trusts, wildlife trusts covering Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man and Alderney. ...

.Surrey Wildlife Trust
/ref>

Elevations, geology and soil

The parish rises from west to east up the eroded basin of Cranleigh Waters holding the villages to the flint, clay, greensand and sandy soil topped

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 ...

. Elevations vary from AOD by the Bramley/Wonersh bridge over the stream to at the car park on Winterfold Hill, Winterfold Heath. Geologically the landscape demonstrates the contrast between the retention of the top of the

from coastal

deposition (geology) Deposition is the geological process in which sediments, soil and rock (geology), rocks are added to a landform or landmass. Wind, ice, water, and gravity Transportation (sediment), transport previously Weathering, weathered surface material, wh ...

followed by avoiding sea rise changes and the formation of the lower

because of water erosion on the three-county-sized calciferous and sandy beds south of this ridge. The Ridge forms the highest hills in the south east, excluding the southwest

Berkshire Downs The Berkshire Downs are a range of chalk downland hills in southern England, part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Berkshire Downs are wholly within the traditional county of Berkshire, although split between ...

. Soil is slowly permeable loamy/clayey slightly acid but base-rich soil except for the higher ground including Blackheath which is slightly acid only freely draining sandy soils containing small areas of wet impeded drainage

land soil.

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 in the civil parish 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). In 2001, Wonersh parish contained 3,297 residents of which 19.8% were aged over 65; 5.2% of the population were in full-time further education; 75.5% of all men were economically active whereas 2.2% were unemployed, 4.8% worked part-time; 57.6% of all women were economically active whereas 1.7% were unemployed, 34.8% worked part-time.Surrey County Council collated census statistics
/ref> Wonersh has a predominantly service economy, reflected in the official categorisation table of occupation, compiled from the 2001 census: In this census, 34.6% of the population worked in middle or higher professional occupations.

Economy

Wonersh has a predominantly service sector economy, with its access to Shalford and Guildford stations and road links to the Compton interchange of the

A3 road The A3, known as the Portsmouth Road or London Road in sections, is a major road connecting the City of London and Portsmouth passing close to Kingston upon Thames, Guildford, Haslemere and Petersfield. For much of its length, it is classifie ...

from Shalford it is part of the

London Commuter Belt The London metropolitan area is the metropolitan area of London, England. It has several definitions, including the London Travel to work area, Travel to Work Area, and usually consists of the London urban area, settlements that share London' ...

Culture and community

Many of the societies and clubs in the villages of Wonersh and Shamley Green are community-run, such as amateur dramatics and sports clubs. Cricket grounds, paths, commons and some events are organised by village associations or Wonersh Parish Council. Shamley Green has two village halls for private and community events.

Sport

Wonersh village green is where local teams play

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and

stoolball Stoolball is a sport that dates back to at least the 15th century, originating in Sussex, southern England. It is considered a "traditional striking and fielding sport" and may be an ancestor of cricket (a game it resembles in some respects), b ...

. The sports pavilion has a bar, meeting room and changing facilities. Wonersh Bowling Club was founded in 1925 and is situated in the heart of the village behind the Memorial Hall. The club is affiliated to both the English and Surrey Bowling Associations. The bowling green has six full sized rinks. The pavilion has, in addition to changing rooms and dining area, a kitchen and licensed bar. The bowling season runs from the beginning of April through to the end of September.

Societies

''Wonersh Players'' are an amateur dramatic society that has existed since 1982. They write, produce and perform their own

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

s, performed at the Wonersh Memorial Hall, usually during the February half term holiday. In 1993 Wonersh History Society was formed to preserve and build on a quantity of historical material and notes gathered over many years by the late Anthony Fanshaw. A social club named Wonersh Village Club, which was founded over a hundred years ago. It provides a venue for playing

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue stick, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . Cue sports, a category of stic ...

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

and all manner of

card games A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...

. There is an active Wonersh U3A, a Gardening Club and a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

group.

Localities

Wonersh is situated in a gap between two steep hills in front of Cranleigh Waters: Chinthurst Hill with wooded paths and land managed by

which had a manor and has a folly and a listed farm at its foot and Barnett Hill. The

St John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

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, ...

church has a 12th-century

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

, 13th-century

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 ...

, 15th-century north chapel and 1793 south aisle including

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

. It had tower

crenellation A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals t ...

s added in 1751.The

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

is joined with Blackheath and lies within the

diocese. There is also a United Reformed church which overlooks the village common. There is a large college built in 1891 ( St John's Seminary) for the training of

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priests, built in the Italian Renaissance style. Wonersh has a village shop and post office which is owned by a village co-operative. There is a small art gallery next door. The Grantley Arms is the central pub/restaurant, which is often used for functions and also has a bar food menu. Both the shop and the pub are situated in the centre of the village by the ''pepper pot'', which is a small shelter. The area's doctors surgery is opposite the post office. Its purpose-built right wing was opened in 1972 and extended in 1982.

Blackheath

Blackheath is often called ''Blackheath Village'' to distinguish it from Blackheath in south east London. The settlement appears in the ''

'' as ''Blacheatfeld''. Blackheath as a

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

(not marked on its Surrey map, which shows only ''Domesday'' manors), an administrative area, where local leaders met about once a month. Blackheath is architecturally a Victorian heathland settlement with pioneering

Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

movement buildings by Harrison Townsend. Its church, which has remarkable stained glass (see Landmarks) is a

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 ...

. It is a lightly wooded east–west lineal settlement in the elevated, wooded heath. St Martin's church, built in 1893 based upon the design of an Italian wayside chapel, contains some wall painting from 1894/5 by the American artist Anna Lea Merritt.

Shamley Green

Shamley Green is a village part of the Surrey Hills

between Wonersh and

Cranleigh Cranleigh is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Waverley, Surrey, England. It lies southeast of Guildford on a minor road east of the A281, which links Guildford with Horsham. It is in the north-west corner ...

. It is bordered on the east by Blackheath and in the west by Cranleigh Waters. Blackheath is separated by farmland and footpaths in Reelhall Hill and Woodhill. Two 300m footpaths, traversing Lordshill Common, connect the middle of the village to The Wey South Path from Guildford to Cranleigh which was historically the Cranleigh Railway Line. The parish church of Christ Church, Shamley Green, was completed in 1864, initially as a daughter church of the Wonersh parish. The adjacent Old Vicarage, now a private home, was built for the first vicar, the Reverend Edgar Bowring. Two areas of public open space in the village include the Cricket Green that hosts occasional summer fairs.Shamley Green main menu – Wonersh Parish Council
/ref> The Red Lion and the Bricklayers Arms are pubs in the village. There are several shops and there are

schools A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of ...

. Shamley Green Conservation Area contains 22

s with 10 others on the village outskirts.Shamley Green Conservation Area
/ref> Shamley Green is a area of common land, the majority of which is owned by the parish council. The area is predominantly open grassland and part of it is used as a cricket pitch. None of the buildings in Shamley Green are graded Grade I or II*. In 2013,

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

featured the village in the ''

Horizon The horizon is the apparent curve that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This curve divides all viewing directions based on whethe ...

'' episode ''The Secret Life of the Cat'', stating that Shamley Green has the highest density feline population in the United Kingdom.

Willinghurst Copses forming the west of Winterfold Forest and Heath

This forested area of the southeast adjoins Winterfold Forest. In its middle is Willingshurst House, an 1887

property by

Philip Webb Philip Speakman Webb (12 January 1831 – 17 April 1915) was a British architect and designer sometimes called the Father of Arts and Crafts Architecture. His use of vernacular architecture demonstrated his commitment to "the art of common ...

, sometimes called the father of arts and crafts and son of commercial and residential buildings architect Sir

Aston Webb Sir Aston Webb, (22 May 1849 – 21 August 1930) was a British architect who designed the principal facade of Buckingham Palace and the main building of the Victoria and Albert Museum, among other major works around England, many of them in par ...

. Spring Wood, The Shaws, The Ball; Madgehole, South, Great, Dean, Pithouse, Rock and Lapscombe Copses are the names for sections of the forest. A car park is on top of Winterfold Heath on the Cranleigh parish boundary in the middle of the southern Winterfold Heath section. South of the main forest is a series of 11 woodland lakes – one is large enough to allow boats – used for fishing and woodland walks.

Landmarks

Wonersh Conservation Area contains 27

sMap
created by

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

, courtesy of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

– at least ten of which are early and late

Tudor period In England and Wales, the Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603, including the Elizabethan era during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England, which began with ...

– however none in the highest Grade I category. Just north of the village centre however is the only Grade I listed building,

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

ed Great Tangley Manor.

The Dower House

Architecturally Grade II* listed, the

Dower House A dower house is usually a moderately large house available for use by the widow of the previous owner of an English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish estate (house), estate. The widow, often known as the "dowager", usually moves into the dower house fr ...

is the largest building on a long residential lane off Cranleigh Road, Barnett Lane at the end east of the street.Dower House In 1710 most all of its exterior was built – the date of foundations and chimneys is uncertain – in red brick with plain hipped tiles and five 12-pane glazing bar sash windows to its first floor. Its architectural features represent typical authentic

Queen Anne style architecture The Queen Anne style of British architecture refers to either the English Baroque architecture of the time of Queen Anne (who reigned from 1702 to 1714) or the British Queen Anne Revival form that became popular during the last quarter of th ...

Wonersh Court

At the opposite end of The Street behind a large listed entrance arch, are eight

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary a ...

townhouses, the original stables and parade ring to the demolished mansion Wonersh Park, converted and divided in 1745–1759 by the owner Sir Fletcher Norton, first Lord Grantley. Red and brown brick with some blue brick headers in arches over windows, painted weatherboard to first floor of rear (south) range. Architecturally the building is Grade II-listed.

Great Tangley Manor

In the 15th century a

hall house The hall house is a type of vernacular house traditional in many parts of England, Wales, Ireland and lowland Scotland, as well as northern Europe, during the Middle Ages, centring on a hall. Usually timber-framed, some high status examples wer ...

core was built on its

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or Bailey (castle), bailey, surrounded by a protective Rampart (fortificati ...

that remains in the very core of the manor, but its main portion was built by Richard Caryll in 1584.Great Tangley Manor / Great Tangley Manor West, one building Wickham Flower employed

to restore and extend the house in 1884 and in 1906 Colonel Hegan Kennard employed Inigo Thomas to build the north wing. Set a few metres above a narrow square moat, Great Tangley Manor has been well preserved and has been made the subject of many paintings as have its garden and lily pond, well described and illustrated. A long entrance tunnel added by Philip Webb, with one sandstone and brick wall and open timber 12-bay arcade on the other, crosses the moat. This medieval and Elizabethan building is Grade I listed and has Victorian gardens. The main front facing south-east is decorative timber frame with whitewashed render infill and remainder is brick and whitewashed extensions on the south wing, ashlar ground floor and roughcast above on rounded north wing.

Barnett Hill

Architecturally Grade II* listed, Barnett Hill's social history is described in

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

, its architect was Arnold Mitchell who chose an expensive and ornate masonry Carolean style. Purple/brown bricks with red brick and yellow stone dressings form its walls. Roofing consists of hipped plain tiled several roof slopes over a wooden eaves

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

around its roof, incorporating dormer windows. Spread over three above ground floors the venue is on a short H-shaped plan with a long service wing in an identical style. Ground floor windows have 24 panes each and keystone

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case ...

s. In the angles between wings are square turrets and a recessed range under copper ogee domes with spherical finials.

Christ Church, Shamley Green

Christ Church is towards the end of the main street (B road) towards Cranleigh in the south of Shamley Green and is a Grade II

.Christ Church – Grade II listing The churchyard is the resting pace of television presenter

Tony Hart Norman Antony Hart (15 October 1925 – 18 January 2009)Debrett's People of Today 2008, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 2007. was an English artist best known for his work in educating children in art through his role as a children's television present ...

who lived in the village for more than 40 years.

St Martin's Church Blackheath

Colourful stained glass and imposing arches are in Blackheath's Grade II-listed church, St Martin's, which is its only listed building. The murals are by the American artist Anna Lea Merritt.

Chinthurst Hill

A 1930s folly tower tops this 397-foot (121-metre above sea level) knoll.

manage the hill's woodland and tower. It is the 31st highest hill in the county and a stand-alone outcrop of the

which restarts in parishes east and west on its course from

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

Transport

The main road through Wonersh is the B2128, which links the village to Shamley Green, Cranleigh and Guildford. The nearest railway station is Shalford, on the Reading to Gatwick Airport via Guildford Line.

Education

*Shamley Green Montessori Pre-School, closed around 2017 *Wonersh Preschool *Wonersh and Shamley Green C of E Primary School *Longacre School, ages 2–11 (independent)

Other notable residents

*The Irish actor

Max Adrian Max Adrian (born Guy Thornton Bor; 1 November 1903 – 19 January 1973) was an Irish stage, film and television actor and singer. He was a founding member of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. In addition to his succ ...

died in Shamley Green in 1973. *

(1925–2009), artist and TV presenter, lived in Shamley Green for more than 40 years. * William Howard Seth-Smith III (1852–1928), architect, born in the hamlet of Tangley.

References

;Notes ;References

External links

Wonersh Parish Council

Blackheath, Shamley Green, Wonersh Village Design Statement

with information about the people of Wonersh and their families {{authority control Villages in Surrey Borough of Waverley Civil parishes in Surrey