Westcott, Surrey
| Westcott | |
| Surrey | |
|---|---|
 Village green area with flowers | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ140485 |
| Location: | 51°13’29"N, 0°22’5"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 2,251 (2011) |
| Post town: | Dorking |
| Postcode: | RH4 |
| Dialling code: | 01306 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Mole Valley |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Mole Valley |
Westcott is a semi-rural village in the centre of Surrey, a mile and a half west of the centre of Dorking on the A25 between the North Downs and Greensand Ridge, making it one of the 'Vale of Holmesdale' villages. It is in the county's Wotton Hundred.
The Pipp Brook rises in the hills hereabouts and flows past the village centre near its northern farmland, flowing into Dorking and discharging at the lowest part of Dorking's former other chapelry in Pixham. The village is dominated by its main road, the A25, and rests in a valley at the foot of the steep slopes of Ranmore Common and the North Downs to the north and the Greensand Ridge to the south.
In Squire's Wood, south of Westcott, is Mag's Well, one of the sources of Pipp Brook. It was formerly of some repute as a medicinal spring, and is strongly impregnated with iron. A building, ruined, existed over it, and in the Victorian period children still bathed in it.[1]
There is a thatched dovecot on the village green. (The weather vane on top of the dovecot has had the N replaced by a T such that it now shows the letters WEST.
Parsih church
The parish church, the Church of the Holy Trinity, is Grade II*. It was commissioned to be designed 1851, by Sir George Gilbert Scott made of knapped flint with ashlar quoins/dressings. Its spire has a clock, striking bell and weather vane.[2] The church is built of stone, with a small western turret. The local landowner, Charles Barclay of Bury Hill gave £1,000 it to be built, and Lady Mary Leslie the same as an endowment. The clock was installed to commemorate the Jubilee of 1887. The parsonage was built at the expense of Barclay and the secular Westcott School was built by subscription in 1854; the infant school by subscription in 1882.[3]
History
Westcott or 'Westcote' along with superseded Milton, was the 'upper borough' of Dorking, and turned into a chapelry of Dorking in the Victorian period. The lower hamlet was Pixham As such, it contributed significantly to the wealth and trade of Dorking, including in the wool and meat from sheep farming on the North Downs within the parish bounds.[1]
Bury Hill, between Dorking and Westcott, was recorded in the 15th century. It became a manor, formed from waste of the manor of Milton, Dorking. James Walter bought the land in 1753, he built the house there and planted the grounds. He died 1780, when the 3rd Viscount Grimston, his daughter's husband, succeeded him. In 1812 his son and heir, about to be created Earl of Verulam, sold it to a wealthy scot, Robert Barclay and it descended to his Barclay heir in the Edwardian period when The Nower was "a favourite place to walk for Dorking people".[3]
Many pre-1800 listed buildings including some that are thatched are in the lanes leading off the A25, including 'Stowe Maries', built in the 1550s, in Balchins Lane. Milton Street and Westcott Street lead to several more old buildings.
It was the second nearest village, with some trade, to John Evelyn's Wotton House and Estate, well known by the diarist, garden landscaper and society favourite in the mid to late 17th century; in 1694 Evelyn moved into his completed house.
About the village
The village has an art gallery, a small shop, a bicycle shop and a hairdressers. The main village grocery with Post Office closed in December 2016. The village has difficult parking and is busy with cyclists every weekend.
In 2009 a skate ramp and football goals were installed in the village park.
Pictures
Bluebells in woods south of Westcott
Pickett's Hole
Pipp Brook footbridge
Milton Court
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Westcott, Surrey) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 A History of the County of Surrey - Volume 3 : The hundred of Wotton: Introduction and map (Victoria County History)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1227892: Church of The Holy Trinity (Grade II* listing)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 A History of the County of Surrey - Volume 3 pp 141-150: Parishes: Dorking (Victoria County History)
