Hascombe

Hascombe
Surrey
Hascombe
Location
Grid reference:	SU997397
Location:	51°9’2"N, -0°34’18"W
Data
Population:	241  (2001)
Post town:	Godalming
Postcode:	GU8
Dialling code:	01483
Local Government
Council:	Waverley
Parliamentary constituency:	South West Surrey

Hascombe is a village in south-western Surrey consisting of but a cluster of cottages and country estates, the parish church, the village green and The White Horse pub, all nestling between wooded hillsides. The village is found about halfway between Godalming and Cranleigh. The whole of Hascombe is designated an "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty".

Even by the standards of the surrounding area, Hascombe is remarkably affluent and a number of media personalities and at least one Russian oligarch have houses in the village.

Winkworth Arboretum, with its collection of rare trees and shrubs, is nearby and there are walks through the surrounding hills and along the greensand way.

The name of the village is believed to come from the Old English Hægescumb, meaning hedge valley or even hag's valley.

Parish church

The parish church is St Peter's. It was rebuilt during the mid-19th century, but retains its mediæval screen, made from Jerusalem olive trees and featuring elaborate carvings, and a font dating back to 1690.

The Victorian restoration of the church was at a time when the Church of England was riven by the effects of the Oxford Movement, whose tracts even denied the Protestant nature of the Church. The Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman's described the church as "a Tractarian work of art", which seems to suggest the party the restorers of Hascombe supported.

History

Above the village is Hascombe Hill which is the site of a ruined hillfort built by the ancient Britons and occupied during the 1st century BC.

The village was not mentioned by name in the Domesday Book and it is thought to have been part of the manor of Bramley.

The damming of a stream in the 15th Century created the Church Pond, close to which stands the village pub, The White Horse, a 16th/17th century building, with many later additions, built from the local Bargate stone.

Because of its elevation, from 1796 to 1816 Hascombe hosted a station in the shutter telegraph chain which connected the Admiralty in London to its ships at Portsmouth.

Hascombe's natural fresh-water spring attracts many visitors: the fountain itself was commissioned in 1887 by local landowner Edward Lee Rowcliffe as a memorial to his late brother. It was during a stay at Hoe Farm in 1915 that statesman and future Prime Minister Winston Churchill learned to paint.

References

A History of Hascombe – A Surrey Village by Winifred Ashton

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Hascombe)

• Hascombe village web site