Surrey place-names

From International Robin Hood Bibliography
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By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-06-18. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2017-06-16.

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County description

The Historic Counties Trust describes Surrey as follows:

Surrey is a relatively small county but heavily populated. The northeast of Surrey lies within the Metropilitan conurbation. In this area are numerous contiguous towns varying socially from the wealthy and exclusive to the more ordinary city neighbourhoods. In this area are Southwark, oppposite the City of London, home of a Cathedral and of much of the broadcast media; Lambeth, home of the Archbishop of Canterbury; Brixton; Wandsworth; and the wealthy towns of Richmond upon Thames and Kingston upon Thames. Richmond Palace, now demolished, was a favourite home of the Tudor monarchs, while Kingston has an older royal claim as the coronation place of several Anglo-Saxon kings. Outside the Metropolis are towns which are themselves often largely commuter towns. Surrey's communter suburbs have become the essence of our understanding of "Suburbia". In the very south of Surrey is Gatwick Airport, a gateway to London, and the consequent swathe of motorway corridor cutting through the farmland to meet the M25. The M25, the London Orbital, is itself an unavoidable feature of the Surrey landscape, with the motorway and all the junctions, slip roads and related equipment slicing through and reshaping the outer suburbs. Further from London the villages become smaller and very pleasant. The North Downs, a range of fine chalk hills and downland, stretch across Surrey from Guildford into Kent. The Downs are a mixture of chalk, meadow and dense woodland. Box Hill provides a fine viewpoint over its sudden southern scarp slope. Further hills lie to the south, beautifully wooded in places. The highest point is Leith Hill, at 965 feet but with a manmade tower added to take it up to above 1,000 feet. The brooks that run in the denes between the hills of Surrey have numerous beautiful villages along them. The major rivers of Surrey are the Thames, which forms its whole northern boundary, the Mole and the Wey. The Mole cuts through the Downs under Box Hill in a beautiful wooded valley. The Wey, further west, has several towns on its banks, including Guildford, the county town. Guildford is a large market town with an attractive high street. Guildford is built in a notch in the hills where the Wey breaks through, and the roads of the county try to force the same gap. On either side the town climbs the slopes, precipitously on occasion. Some miles west, linked to Guildford by the Hog's Back ridge, is Farnham, a town with well-kept Tudor and Georgian buildings and a twelfth century castle once belonging to the Bishops of Winchester.

Main Towns: Battersea, Brixton, Clapham, Croydon, Epsom, Farnham, Gatwick, Guildford, Haselmere, Kington-upon-Thames, Leatherhead, Richmond, Southwark, Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Woking.
Main Rivers: Mole, Wey, Thames, Eden.
Highlights: Richmond Park; Kew Gardens; North Downs; Runnymede; Thorpe Park.
Highest Point: Leith Hill, 294.13 m.
Area: 1963.21 km2.[1]

Chronology

19th century

Robin Hood-related place-names first documented in the 19th century.

20th century

Robin Hood-related place-names first documented in the 20th century.

Unknown century

0 Robin Hood-related place-names whose century of first occurrence is unknown.

All localities

List and gazetteers

Background

Notes

  1. The Historic Counties Trust has kindly allowed me to quote its county descriptions in toto. I have converted square miles to km2 and feet to m.