Capel, Surrey
| Capel | |
| Surrey | |
|---|---|
 Shiremark Mill, Capel | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ175407 |
| Location: | 51°9’14"N, 0°19’16"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 3,000 |
| Post town: | Dorking |
| Postcode: | RH5 |
| Dialling code: | 01306 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Mole Valley |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Mole Valley |
Capel is a village in southern Surrey, found about six miles south of Dorking alongside the A24 road, and some three miles from the Sussex border. Neighbouring villages are Ockley, Coldharbour and Newdigate.
The village clusters around the parish church, St John the Baptist, and the pub, The Crown. It has a set of local shops too, an infant school, a garage, a cricket club and a tennis club. The village is served by Ockley railway station on the Mole Valley Line between Dorking and Horsham.
Capel civil parish covers an area of 6,457 acres and at the 2001 census had a population of 3,624.
Churches
- Church of England: St John The Baptist
- Society of Friends (Quakers): Friends Meeting House
History
Capel was originally a chapelry of Dorking. The chapel which gives its name to the village was first mentioned in a confirmation (1129–71) of a grant to the Priory of Lewes by the de Warenne Earls of Surrey, consisting of Ecclesiam de Dorking cum Capella de la Wachna.[1]
The original settlement of Capel consisted of approximately 30 farms, most of which still exist today bearing the names of their tenants in the early 14th century. Timbers in some of the farmhouses have also been dated to 14th century.[2]
In the 17th and 18th centuries Capel was the centre of a thriving Quaker community which met at the houses of the local Bax family. The Quaker Sussex Quarterly Meeting recorded the fact that Thomas Patching "who then lived at Bonwick's Place in Ifield" met with George Fox, and then later "there was settled the first Monthly Meeting that was set up in this county .... and has since been removed to the house of Richard Bax at Capel in Surrey by reason of Thomas Patching's removing from that place". It is known that George Fox visited Surrey in 1668 and held a Meeting at Plaistow Farm, Capel, the home of Richard Bax.[3]