Hindhead
| Hindhead | |
| Surrey | |
|---|---|
 Hindhead traffic lights | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU886360 |
| Location: | 51°7’2"N, -0°44’5"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 4,685 (2001) |
| Post town: | Hindhead |
| Postcode: | GU26 |
| Dialling code: | 01428 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Waverley |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
South West Surrey |
Hindhead is a village in the very south-western corner of Surrey, found about 11 miles south-west of Guildford. Neighbouring settlements include Haslemere, Grayshott and Beacon Hill. Liphook is the next major town southwards on the A3. Hindhead is the highest village in Surrey.
The place-name 'Hindhead' is first attested in 1571, and means "hinds' hill".[1]
Near Hindhead is the Devil's Punch Bowl, a site of special scientific interest. This area was notorious in times past for highwaymen and lawlessness and was only "tamed" in the 19th century when the London to Portsmouth railway line removed much of the freight being transported by road. Gibbet Hill above the Devil's Punch Bowl is where murderers and robbers were hung in chains to warn others.
Home of writers
George Bernard Shaw, the playwright and wit, born in Dublin, lived at "Blen Cathra" in Hindhead, now the site of St Edmund's School.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author, born in Edinburgh, lived at "Undershaw" from 1897 to 1907 and it was here that he wrote some of his most famous books: The Great Boer War, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Adventures of Gerard, The Return of Sherlock Holmes and Sir Nigel. He came for the healthy air when his wife Louise contracted tuberculosis, and in May 1895, having chosen the site to build, he wrote "... its height, its dryness, its sandy soil, its fir trees, and its shelter from all bitter winds present the conditions which all agree to be best in the treatment of phthisis. If we could have ordered Nature to construct a spot for us we could not have hit upon anything more perfect. ... I have bought 4 acres under £1000 and I don't think it will prove to be a bad investment."
The name of the house is said to refer to the sheltering plants: 'shaw' is from an Old English word meaning 'a grove of hanging trees'.[2] Another tale is that Undershaw received its name from a friendly wager; Sir Arthur lived up the hill from George Bernard Shaw but Shaw was convinced that his own house, Blen Cathra, was at a higher elevation and bet Sir Arthur that it was so, the loser to rename his house. Although higher up the hill, Conan Doyle's house is in a depression and a detailed measurement showed that George Bernard Shaw's house did indeed stand higher. Therefore, Sir Arthur's house had to be renamed "Undershaw".
Undershaw later became a hotel and restaurant on the A3. It is now closed and, after a proposal to turn it into flats was denied, the local council had to step in and do some repairs.
The novelist Grant Allen (1848–99), born in Canada, also lived in Hindhead, at "Hilltop." Arthur Conan Doyle was one of Allen's neighbours and became his friend. It was Doyle who completed Allen's novel Hilda Wade when Allen died.
Also the relatively well-known scientist John Tyndall (1820–1893) lived and died in the village at a house now on "Tyndalls", named after him. He is most famous for his work on the Greenhouse Effect.
Landscape
The centre of the village lies near a set of traffic lights with the A287 and the A333 (the former A3), however a £371 million bypass including a 1.9-mile twin-bore tunnel, rerouted the A3 to the south. The Hindhead Tunnel is the longest non-estuarial tunnel in the United Kingdom.[3]
The major natural feature of the area is the Devil's Punch Bowl, a huge natural amphitheatre filled with a variety of trees and plants; a beauty spot for all the parishes around. It is the source of many stories about the area. The A3 Portsmouth Road used to skirt around its side, but was closed when the Hindhead Tunnel opened. The land is now owned and maintained by the National Trust.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle described the area:
"As to my own amusements there I am within an hour of town and an hour from Portsmouth. I have golf, good cricket, my own billiard table, excellent society, a large lake to fish in not far off, riding if I choose to take it up, and some of the most splendid walks & scenery that could be possibly conceived"
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Hindhead) |
- Highways Agency A3 Hindhead improvement
- Hilltop Writers, a Victorian Colony among the Surrey Hills — documenting 66 authors who lived in and around Hindhead at the end of the Victorian era
- Hindhead Together A Joint Advisory Committee for the Redevelopment of Hindhead
References
- ↑ Eilert Ekwall, Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, p.240.
- ↑ Stashower, Daniel (1999). Teller of Tales: the life of Arthur Conan Doyle. New York: Henry Holt and Company. p. 199. ISBN 0-8050-5074-4.
- ↑ A3 Hindhead Tunnel - Mott MacDonald Project Page