Colley Hill is part of the North Downs escarpment in the
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills and ...
,
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It is about 1 km east of Buckland Hills and 1 km west of Reigate Hill, all of which form part of the same escarpment. It is centred south of London and forms a single scarp with Reigate Hill, peaking away at 235 metres above sea level. The scarp fluctuates in height but is continuous as far as
Box Hill west. The term "Reigate Hill" also designates a neighbourhood of
Reigate
Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earlie ...
, and also a ward of
Reigate and Banstead
Reigate and Banstead is a local government district with borough status in east Surrey, England. It includes the towns of Reigate, Redhill, Horley and Banstead. The borough borders the Borough of Crawley (in West Sussex) to the south, the Boroug ...
.
Prominence and description of section of range
Colley Hill is contiguous with Reigate Hill, the ninth highest hill in Surrey. Colley Hill is its western continuation — officially considered a crest or scarp reaching (at grid reference TQ255521) , a point usually simply but confusingly known as Reigate Hill. "Reigate Hill" also defines a neighbourhood of the town of
Reigate
Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earlie ...
, and is also a
ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
of
Reigate and Banstead
Reigate and Banstead is a local government district with borough status in east Surrey, England. It includes the towns of Reigate, Redhill, Horley and Banstead. The borough borders the Borough of Crawley (in West Sussex) to the south, the Boroug ...
. The Reigate Hill summit is the highest point along the
Mole Gap to Merstham Gap, the mid-western section of the
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills and ...
, which stretch from at least
Farnham
Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a trib ...
in the west to
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
on the coast.
This section of the ridge is, as is typical, steep and a little to the west is quarried forming white faces to the south but particularly gentle to the north, where it gave way to hill pasture covering more than which was until deep wells were dug devoid of any access to surface water, known as
Banstead and Walton Downs.
At the foot of Colley Hill are the remains of the Hearthstone Mine, where they mined a seam of hearthstone that ran from
Brockham
Brockham is a village and civil parish in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England. It is approximately east of Dorking and west of Reigate. The village lies south of Box Hill, with the River Mole flowing west through the village. At the ...
Pit to
Caterham
Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valley but rises to equal ...
. Hearthstone was used to clean
hearths
A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by at least a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a low, ...
and doorsteps. The main tunnel headed due north under the hill and was 1.8m wide and nearly 1.5m high. The mine was worked from the late 1890s and included its own processing works, where the blocks of stone were crushed before being mixed with cement and moulded. The hearthstone would then be taken by horse and cart to a railway siding where it was transported to London. A
V-1 flying bomb
The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buz ...
destroyed some buildings in 1944. The mine was eventually closed in 1961 and the entrance blocked.
File:South from Colley Hill.jpg, View of Surrey and Sussex Weald from Colley Hill
Wider context
The lower summit is noted for even greater biodiversity along the same
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
(SSSI) at Box Hill which first came to stark national public attention in the 18th century due to its access to London and greater prominence above the steep valley cut by the
Mole
Mole (or Molé) may refer to:
Animals
* Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America
* Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...
below, particularly in novels such as ''
Emma'' and having views over the country seat of especially wealthy individuals at
Polesden Lacey
Polesden Lacey is an Edwardian house and estate, located on the North Downs at Great Bookham, near Dorking, Surrey, England. It is owned and run by the National Trust and is one of the Trust's most popular properties.
This Regency house was exp ...
,
Deepdene House,
Norbury Park
Norbury Park is a swathe of mixed wooded and agricultural land associated with its Georgian manor house near Leatherhead and Dorking, Surrey, which appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. It occupies mostly prominent land reaching into a bend in th ...
and being on the same ridge as
Headley Court
Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre Headley Court (abbreviated to DMRC Headley Court, and more commonly known as Headley Court), formerly RAF Headley Court, was an United Kingdom Ministry of Defence facility in Headley, near Epsom, Surrey, Eng ...
served to cement its 'prominence'.
Database of British and Irish Hills
Retrieved 2015-03-06
The Pilgrims' Way
The Pilgrims' Way (also Pilgrim's Way or Pilgrims Way) is the historical route supposedly taken by pilgrims from Winchester, Hampshire, Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent. This name, of compa ...
travels along the scarp at these points though below it at Box Hill, a café with terrace is at the summit of Reigate Hill (in a car park near Junction 8 of the M25) and nearby villages also provide facilities for walkers, such as Buckland to the immediate south-west.
References
{{Reigate and Banstead, state=expanded
Hills of Surrey
Reigate