East Clandon
| East Clandon | |
| Surrey | |
|---|---|
 Church at East Clandon | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ059515 |
| Location: | 51°15’11"N, 0°29’1"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 250 |
| Post town: | Guildford |
| Postcode: | GU4 |
| Dialling code: | 01483 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Guildford |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Guildford |
East Clandon is a small village in Surrey on the A246 between the towns of Guildford to the west and Leatherhead to the east. Neighbouring villages include West Clandon and West Horsley.
The village's 250 souls dwell in 110 homes clustered around the church of St Thomas of Canterbury, The Queen's Head pub and the village hall. Found 4 miles east of the county town, Guildford, the tiny 9 square miles of the parish landscape includes a traditional country estate, arable and livestock farmlands, woodlands, a golf course and Hatchlands Park, a National Trust property.
The village's name in Old English signifies the clean or open downland from the North Downs.
History
Early history
Early settlement here would have been attracted by the availability of water that bubbles forth where the chalk meets the lower lying clay.
East Clandon appears in Domesday Book as Clanedun. It was held by Chertsey Abbey, which held the patronage of the village until the Reformation. Its assets were: 4 hides; 7 ploughs, woodland worth 6 hogs. It rendered £6.[1] In old documents the village is also often referred to in old documents as Clandon Abbatis.
In 1544, Henry VIII granted East Clandon Manor to Sir Anthony Browne. The manor itself, which is thought to have been placed close to where Hatchlands Park now is, was moated since violent times in the early 14th century. The house and with that the village changed hands many times during the next two hundred years.
The oldest houses in the village, Frogmore Cottage, Lamp Cottage, Old Manor Farm, Tunmore Cottage among others, had already been built when the London brewer John Raymond sold the Hatchlands Park estate to Admiral Edward Boscawen in 1749. The present Hatchlands house was built for him with the help of prize money from his victory against the French and it was completed in 1758 only three years before the Admiral died.
After 1768
From 1768 the Sumner family owned the Hatchlands estate until it went to auction in 1888 and was bought by Stuart Rendel, 1st Baron Rendel. In 1913 his eldest daughter's son Captain Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel inherited the estate in trust. The captain was a professional architect and took a great interest in the village and its inhabitants. According to the writings of Maurice Wiggin, Goodhart-Rendel was a tall, spare, upright figure making his daily round in the village dressed in his grey tweed suit and soft brown trilby shouting to his dogs in a real Grenadier's voice. Every Christmas time the squire gave a children's tea party at Hatchlands complete with Christmas tree and gifts for all comers. Christmas carol concerts are still held at Hatchlands for villagers today.
Several houses in the village were built to his drawings including Antler's Corner, Appletree Cottage, Meadow Cottage and 5 School Lane (1910), Prospect Cottages (1914), Snelgate Cottages (1926) and the St Thomas' Housing Society Cottages (1947).
In 1945 the Hatchlands house, park and some land were given to the National Trust. When Captain Goodhart Rendel died in 1959 the estate passed from his care into the hands of two relatives, a split he regarded with misgivings. The new owners, the Dunne-Ritche estate, sold most houses around 1970, but a few still remain in their possession.
