Woking Crematorium Office 2018

Woking ( ) is a town and borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The earliest evidence of human activity is from the Paleolithic, but the low fertility of the sandy local soils meant that the area was the least populated part of the county in 1086. Between the mid-17th and mid-19th centuries, new transport links were constructed, including the Wey Navigation, Basingstoke Canal and London to Southampton railway line. The modern town was established in the mid-1860s, as the London Necropolis Company began to sell surplus land surrounding the railway station for development.

Modern local government in Woking began with the creation of the Woking Local Board in 1893, which became Woking Urban District Council (UDC) in 1894. The urban district was significantly enlarged in 1907 when it took in the parish of Horsell, and again in 1933 when it took in the parishes of Byfleet and Pyrford. The UDC was granted a coat of arms in 1930 and Woking gained borough status in the 1974 reorganisation of local government. In 2022, a total of 30 elected representatives serves on the council, each with a term length of four years.

The Borough of Woking covers and had a population of 103,900 in 2021. The main urban centre stretches from Knaphill in the west to Byfleet in the east, but the satellite villages of Brookwood, Mayford, Pyrford and Old Woking retain strong individual identities. Around 60% of the borough is protected by the Metropolitan Green Belt, which severely limits the potential for further housebuilding. Recent developments have included the construction of two residential tower blocks in the town centre and the conversion of former industrial buildings to apartments. There are six Sites of Special Scientific Interest within the borough boundaries, of which three form part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area.

Almost the entire town centre dates from the 20th and 21st centuries. Elsewhere in the borough, there are several historic buildings, including the ruins of Woking Palace, a royal residence of Henry VII and Henry VIII. Parts of St Peter's Church in Old Woking date from the reign of William I and Sutton Place, built for Richard Weston , is one of the earliest unfortified houses in England. The Shah Jahan Mosque, constructed in 1889, was the first purpose-built Muslim place of worship in the UK. There are numerous works of public art in the town centre, including a statue of the author, H. G. Wells, who wrote ''The War of the Worlds'' while living in Maybury Road. Much of the novel is set in the Woking area.

Toponymy

The earliest surviving record of Woking is from Domesday Book of 1086, in which the manor appears as ''Wochinges''. In the 12th century, it is recorded as ''Wokinges'', ''Wokkinges'', ''Wokinge'' and ''Wochinga''. The "monastery at ''Wocchingas''" is mentioned in a copy of an early 8th-century letter from Pope Constantine to Hedda, Abbot of Bermondsey and Woking. The first part of the name "Woking" is thought to refer to an Anglo-Saxon individual, who may have been called "Wocc" or "Wocca". The second part is derived from the Old English -''ingas'' and means "people of" or "family of".

Geography

Borough of Woking

The Borough of Woking covers an area of in north-west Surrey. Woking town, the main population centre, is surrounded by smaller, distinct settlements, such as West Byfleet and Byfleet in the east and Knaphill to the west. The villages of Brookwood and Mayford retain strong individual identities and lie just outside the primary built-up area of the borough.

Around 60% of the land in the borough is part of the Metropolitan Green Belt, which severely limits the potential for urban expansion. Of the six Sites of Special Scientific Interest, five are areas of heathland and the sixth covers the majority of the Basingstoke Canal.

Woking town centre

Woking town centre is around from central London. It covers an area of about to the north and south of the station, although the primary shopping and office spaces are between the railway line and the Basingstoke Canal. The two main shopping centres, The Peacocks and Wolsey Place, adjoin Jubilee Square. A second public space, Victoria Square, was completed in 2022 as part of a project to construct two high-rise residential apartment blocks and a 23-storey hotel.

Old Woking

Old Woking, around south of the town centre, close to the River Wey, is the location of the original settlement of the manor of Woking. The village is thought to have grown as an unplanned settlement surrounding St Peter's Church, parts of which date from the 11th century. The basic street layout is likely to have been established in medieval times, and there was a period of strong growth following the grant of a market in 1662. The settlement expanded north-wards during the interwar period, and Old Woking is now contiguous with the main urban area of the borough.

Hydrology and geology

The majority of the borough is drained by the River Wey, which flows along the southeastern boundary of the borough, from Jacobs Well to Byfleet. The Hoe Stream, which joins the Wey near Pyrford Village, runs from Fox Corner through Mayford. The Basingstoke Canal runs from west to east, broadly following the course of the partly culverted Rive Ditch, and the northern part of the borough is drained by the tributaries of the River Bourne. There have been major flooding events in Woking in 1968, 2000, 2014 and 2016.

The strata on which the borough sits were deposited in the Cenozoic. The sandy Bagshot Beds are the main outcrop around the town centre and to the north. In the west of the borough, around Knaphill and Brookwood, are the younger Bracklesham Beds. The Bracklesham Beds have a higher clay content than the Bagshot Beds, and brickmaking has historically taken place at Knaphill. The River Wey primarily runs across alluvium and the settlements of Old Woking and West Byfleet are built on river gravels.

History

Early history

The earliest evidence of human activity in the Woking area is from the Paleolithic. Flints dated to years before present (BP) have been found at Horsell, and knife blades from BP have been discovered at Pyrford. Two bell barrows and a disc barrow at Horsell are thought to date from the early Bronze Age. Pollen samples taken from the westernmost barrow suggest that the local environment at the time of construction was predominantly open heathland with some areas of deciduous woodland. Aerial photographs suggest that there may have been field systems on Horsell Common, Smarts Heath and Whitmoor Common in the same period, although the local soils are relatively infertile and could not have sustained the farming practices of the time for very long.

Roman occupation in the borough appears to have been concentrated in the Old Woking and Mayford areas. The sites excavated to date show evidence of low-status dwellings, possibly connected to iron working and pottery making. Roman tiles can be found in the lower part of the tower of St Peter's Church.

The earliest documented reference to Woking suggests that there was a religious foundation in the area in the early 8th century. Around this time, the settlement was the administrative centre for north-west Surrey, with its western border as the watershed between the Rivers Mole and Wey and its southern border as the North Downs. By 775, there was a minster in Woking, which may be the forerunner of St Peter's Church and by the mid-late 9th century, the settlement was the centre of a royal vill. Towards the end of the Saxon period, Surrey was divided into hundreds, of which Woking Hundred was one.

Governance

Woking appears in Domesday book as ''Wochinges''. In 1086, it was partly held by William I and partly by two lesser tenants of the Bishop of Exeter. Together the two holdings had sufficient land for ploughteams, of meadow and woodland for 160 swine. Between them, the manors had two mills and one church, and the settlement was among the largest 20% of those recorded in the country in 1086.

Three other manors in the modern borough are listed in Domesday Book: Byfleet and Pyrford were held by the abbeys of Chertsey and Westminster respectively; Sutton was held by Durand Malet as lesser tenant and by Robert Malet as tenant-in-chief.

Woking was held by the Crown until 1189, when Richard I granted it to Alan Basset, who later received the manor of Sutton from King John. Woking was inherited by his descendants until it passed, through marriage, to Hugh le Despenser. It remained in the Despenser family until 1326 when it was granted to Edmund Holland, the fourth Earl of Kent. In the mid-15th century, the manor was inherited by Margaret Beauchamp. It was briefly held by the Crown before it was passed to her daughter, Margaret Beaufort, in 1466. On her death in 1509, Woking was inherited by her grandson, the future Henry VIII. James I sold the manor to Edward Zouch, but it reverted to the Crown in 1671. In 1752, it was bought by Richard Onslow, the third Baron Onslow and remained in his family's possession until the mid-19th century.

Byfleet became a royal property at the start of the 14th century. Edward II granted it to Piers Gaveston, but following Gaveston's downfall in 1312, it reverted to the Crown. Anne of Denmark, wife of King James I was the manor's last royal owner and thereafter it was held by a series of private individuals. The current manor house dates from 1686, but it was restored and extended in 1905.

Pyrford was held by Westminster Abbey until the dissolution of the monasteries when it became the property of the Crown. Elizabeth I granted the manor to Edward Clinton, the first Earl of Lincoln in 1574 and it was sold repeatedly until the mid-17th century. In 1677, Richard Onslow, the first Baron Onslow purchased Pyrford, and it was owned by his family until 1805.

Reforms during the Tudor period reduced the importance of manorial courts and the day-to-day administration of towns became the responsibility of local vestries. By this time, the modern Borough of Woking was divided between four parishes: Woking, Byfleet, Horsell and Pyrford. The vestries appointed constables, distributed funds to the poor and took charge of the repair of local roads. From the 17th century, the roles of Justices of the Peace were expanded to take greater responsibility for law and order in the area.

Following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, the parish of Woking was included in the Guildford Poor Law Union, whilst the parishes of Byfleet, Horsell, and Pyrford were included in the Chertsey Poor Law Union. These unions then formed the basis for the rural sanitary districts established in 1872, which gradually took on more local government responsibilities. Surrey County Council was established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888 to operate as a higher-tier authority alongside the sanitary districts. In 1893 a separate local board was established for the parish of Woking, making it its own urban sanitary district, independent from the Guildford Rural Sanitary District. After elections, the first meeting of the Woking Local Board was held on 4 October 1893.

Under the Local Government Act 1894, the Woking Local Board became an urban district council (UDC). Byfleet, Horsell and Pyrford became part of the Chertsey Rural District, although the parish of Horsell was transferred into the Woking Urban District in 1907, It was not until 1933, when the Chertsey Rural District was abolished, that both Byfleet and Pyrford joined the Woking Urban District. The council was granted a coat of arms in 1930 and three years later it applied to the Privy Council for borough status, but without success. A similar request made in 1955 was also declined. It was not until the 1974 reorganisation of local government that Woking finally became a borough. The parishes within the borough were abolished at the same time, making it an unparished area.

A civil parish council for Byfleet was created in 1990, but was abolished in April 2010. As of 2022, there are no parish councils in the borough.

Transport and communications

The unimproved River Wey is thought to have been used for the transport of goods and passengers from ancient times. In the early Tudor period, there was a wharf at Woking Palace and in 1566 there is a reference to a "certaein locke... between Woodham lands and Brook lande upon the water of the Weye". The River Wey Navigation was authorised by Act of Parliament in 1651. Twelve locks (including two flood locks), and of new cuts were constructed between the Thames and Guildford, of which three are in the borough. The opening of the new navigation had a modest effect on the local area, and, by the 18th century, flour produced by watermills at Woking was being shipped to London from a new wharf at Cartbridge near Send.

The Basingstoke Canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1778 and was intended to provide a route for the transport of farm produce and timber from Hampshire to London. The section between the Wey Navigation and Horsell opened in 1791 and the canal was finally completed in 1794. Although the route was too far from Old Woking for it to have an effect on its development, a wharf was provided at Horsell for the use of local farmers. In the first half of the 19th century, bricks were manufactured in the area now occupied by Goldsworth Road and were transported to London via a wharf adjacent to the Rowbarge pub. The canal declined sharply after the opening of the London and Southampton Railway in the late 1830s and traffic west of Woking had ceased by 1921. The final commercial delivery, a consignment of timber to Woking, was made via the canal in 1947. By the mid-1960s, the canal was derelict, but between 1970 and 1976 it was purchased by Surrey and Hampshire county councils. Restoration of the canal was completed in 1991 and the canal is now open for navigation from the Wey to the eastern portal of Greywell Tunnel.

The construction of the London and Southampton Railway began in October 1834 and the first train ran between and on 12 May 1838. When it opened, Woking station was surrounded by open heath and was from what is now the village of Old Woking. Nevertheless, it quickly became the railhead

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