Mickleham
| Mickleham | |
| Surrey | |
|---|---|
 St Michael's church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ171534 |
| Location: | 51°16’5"N, 0°19’16"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 570 (2001) |
| Post town: | Dorking |
| Postcode: | RH5 |
| Dialling code: | 01372 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Mole Valley |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Mole Valley |
Mickleham is a village in Surrey between the towns of Dorking and Leatherhead. The civil parish includes the hamlet of Fredley.
Mickleham lies near to the old Roman road known as Stane Street. It is in the Copthorne Hundred.
Due south of the village is the manor and hamlet of Fredley. There is also the Field Studies Council's Juniper Hall centre. Further to the south of the village is the Burford Bridge Hotel that was frequented by Lord Nelson. Across the A24 in Norbury Parks is 'Druids Grove' which is an area of mature yew trees.
History
Mickleham appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Michelham and Micleham. It was partly held by Nigel from the Bishop of Bayeux and partly by Oswald from Richard de Tonbrige. Its domesday assets were: 7 hides; 1 church, 7 ploughs, 3 acres of meadow, woodland worth 4 hogs. It rendered £10.[1]
The village
The village has a very old church, two pubs (The Running Horses and The King William IV) and a village shop. Box Hill School is located in the village, close to the village shop.
The A24 bypasses Mickleham with what is said to be the first dual-carriageway bypass to be built in the United Kingdom. This popular route for motorcyclists once had a road sign which read 'Deceptive Bends' and is the origin of an album title for the band 10cc. 10cc had a recording studio in nearby Dorking called Strawberry Studios South. Across the A24, and towards Dorking, Westhumble is also part of the parish. There is a chapel there, originally a barn converted into a place of worship for the benefit of those building the railway over 100 years ago. Ninety navvies died in an accident when a tunnel they were working on collapsed; it was suggested at the time that God was displeased with the barn conversion. Box Hill & Westhumble station provides a link to London and Horsham.
The village gave its name to HMS Mickleham, a Ham class minesweeper.
The Downs around the village
The surrounding area contains many Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) including the popular beauty spot of Box Hill.
The River Mole flows nearby and indeed as its name suggests the river in places goes underground where the chalk bed is dissolved in places forming swallow holes or sinkholes. Ian Middleton tells of his father, sometime in the 1950s, the village police officer PC Middleton, looking past his bathroom mirror one morning whilst shaving to see a mature oak tree disappear into the ground. It turned out that the river flowing underground had been gradually wearing away the supporting ground under the tree forming a giant swallow hole which had collapsed. The subsequent pit was not filled in until 1968 approx when it was still 30 feet deep and 30 feet across.
PC Middleton also reportedly removed parts from an unexploded V2 which fell in the village during the Second World War.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Mickleham) |
