Peper Harow

Peper Harow
Surrey
Peper Harrow House
Location
Grid reference:	SU932444
Location:	51°11’30"N, -0°40’1"W
Data
Population:	185  (2011)
Post town:	Godalming
Postcode:	GU8
Dialling code:	01483
Local Government
Council:	Waverley
Parliamentary constituency:	South West Surrey

Peper Harow is a tiny hamlet and a parish in south-western Surrey close to the town of Godalming. It was a noted early cricket venue. Its easternmost fields are in part given up to the A3 trunk road.

Here stands a grand country house, Peper Harow House, which with its attendant buildings is the greater part of the hamlet.

Parts of the village are privately owned, with restricted access.

An ancient bridge called Somerset Bridge crosses the River Wey here and connects Peper Harow with nearby Elstead.

Location and history

Somerset Bridge

The name "Peper Harow" is unusual and appears to come from Old English Pipers Hear(g) perhaps meaning, approximately "The pagan stone altar of the pipers". However, hearg can mean a pagan high place, it might instead be hæg meaning more prosaically a hedged enclosure or a hay meadow. Pipers might mean musicians, or sandpipers (the green sandpiper and wood sandpiper are migrants to marsh and swampy ground – as this is). The name might therefore just mean 'sandpipers' meadow'.

Peper Harow appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Pipereherge. It was held by Girard (Gerard) from Walter, son of Othere. Its Domesday assets were: 3 hides. It had 3 ploughs, 1 mill worth 15s, 7 acres of meadow. It rendered £5 per year to its feudal overlords.

The name is documented as Pipereherge (11th century); Piperinges (13th century); Pyperhaghe (14th century).

During the Second World War, Peper Harow was used as a holding area for Canadian Forces.

Parish church

The parish church is St Nicholas's Church which standsb@. The church was almost destroyed by fire in December 2007. It has since been restored.

In the graveyard of St Nicholas's Church (dating to 1301) is an ancient yew tree which has been dated to being 800 years old. It was unharmed by the fire in 2007.

Cricket

Playing cricket at Peper Harow

Cricket has long been played in Peper Harow, with evidence of rules and matches dating to 1727.

In the 1720s, Peper Harow was the seat of Alan Brodrick, 1st Viscount Midleton who was succeeded by his son Alan Brodrick, 2nd Viscount Midleton in the viscountcy on 29 August 1728. Before succeeding, the latter made his mark as a cricket patron by arranging major matches against his friend Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond. Records have survived of two such games that took place in the 1727 season. These two games are highly significant because Richmond and Brodrick drew up Articles of Agreement beforehand to determine the rules that must apply in their contests. These were itemised in sixteen points. It is believed that this was the first time that rules (or some part of the rules as in this case) were formally agreed, although rules as such definitely existed. The first full codification of the Laws of Cricket was done in 1744.

The Peper Harow Residential Community

Dovecote, Granary and Barn in the village of Peper Harrow

The Peper Harow residential community was founded in 1970 by Melvyn Rose and established in Peper Harow House. The community gained international repute for its pioneering work with disturbed adolescents. For over 20 years, this establishment provided a therapeutic environment for teenagers who had often suffered abuse.

The Peper Harow therapeutic community was set up by Melvyn Rose who had been a housemaster at the approved school, Park House, that pre-dated the Peper Harow Community. All young people were assigned a personal mentor who developed close relationships with the children in their care. In keeping with the interest in eastern philosophy at the time these were, rather quaintly, known as "Gurus".

The residents and staff together took responsibility for the daily maintenance of the community and all contributed to cooking and cleaning. The young people were considered to be partners in the therapeutic endeavour and there was an expectation that everyone attended the daily community meetings. These meetings were the heart of the community and often young people were able to share and resolve very painful experiences from their past, and the daily difficulties and challenges of sixty adults and children living together could be addressed in a helpful way. Peper Harow House was later sold and redeveloped into flats. The Foundation however continued in other centres, and is now known as 'Childhood First'.

Peper Harow House

Main article: Peper Harow House

Peper Harow House was built for George Brodrick, 3rd Viscount Midleton in 1765, and completed after his death in that year by his son after he came of age. It is a Grade I listed building.

Lancelot 'Capability' Brown landscaped the park in 1762-3, and many fine trees remain from this time.

The house was owned by the Midleton family until 1944 when it was sold to the Park House School, while the farm was sold separately. property developers. It, and the entire village, is now owned by a trust.

Sport

Cricket is still played here, as it has been since the early years of the sport, in which Peper Harow played a prominent part.

Part of the park not in the parish is used annually for point-to-point horse racing.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Peper Harow)

• Peper Harow
• Peper Harow

References

• Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. Aurum. 
• McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society. 
• Marshall, John (1961). The Duke who was Cricket. Muller.