Cranleigh is a village and civil parish, about southeast of

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

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. It lies on a minor road east of the A281, which links Guildford with

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

. It is in the north-west corner of the Weald, a large remnant forest, the main local remnant being Winterfold Forest directly north-west on the northern Greensand Ridge.

Etymology

Until the mid-1860s, the place was usually spelt Cranley. The Post Office persuaded the vestry to use "''-leigh''" to avoid misdirections to nearby

Crawley Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...

in West Sussex. The older spelling is publicly visible in the ''Cranley Hotel''. The name is recorded in the '' Pipe Rolls'' as ''Cranlea'' in 1166 and ''Cranelega'' in 1167. A little later in the '' Feet of Fines'' of 1198 the name is written as ''Cranele''. Etymologists consider all these versions to be the fusion of the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

words "Cran", meaning " crane", and "Lēoh" that together mean 'a woodland clearing visited by cranes'. The name is popularly believed to come from imputed large crane-breeding grounds at the Anglo-French named Vachery Pond, often locally known as Vachery. The figure of a crane adorns the old drinking water fountain of 1874 in 'Fountain Square' in the middle of the village. A pair of cranes adorn the crest of the 21st century granted coat of arms of Cranleigh Parish Council.

History

Early history

Partly on the Greensand Ridge, where it rises to at Winterfold Hill, but mainly on the clay and sandstone Lower Weald, Cranleigh has little of

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

or Roman interest, whereas just across the east border Wykehurst and Rapley Farms have Roman buildings and Roman Tile Kilns – in the parish of Ewhurst. A spur of the Roman road between London and Chichester runs north west to Guildford past nearby

Farley Heath Farley Green is a small hamlet of Albury in the Greensand Ridge where it forms the south of the Surrey Hills AONB, to the south east of Guildford. History On the outskirts of Farley Green, lies Farley Heath where one of Surrey's few Roman rema ...

in Farley Green, a temple site. Cranleigh was not mentioned in the Domesday Book, at that time being part of the manor of Shere. The

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

parish church of

St Nicolas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-day Demre ...

dates the first building on its site from around 1170, and the building was in its present form by the mid-14th century. It was extensively

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian music musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004 by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard ...

in 1847. The church has a gargoyle, on a pillar inside the church, which is said to have inspired Lewis Carroll, who lived in Guildford, to create the Cheshire Cat. With the growth of the village, a "daughter" church, St Andrew's, opened at the west end of the village in 1900 but it closed some sixty years later. The parish is in the Diocese of Guildford. The 16th century Boy & Donkey pub, on Knowle Road outside the village, was taken over in the mid-19th century by Hodgsons of Kingston, later

Courage Courage (also called bravery or valor) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in battle. Physical courage is bravery in the face of physical pain, h ...

, and remained in business until the early 1990s. It was sold to Morland of Abingdon who later closed it. The building was converted into a private home. Oliver Cromwell visited Knowle House in 1657, his soldiers being billeted in houses in the village.

Post Industrial Revolution

Growth came due to improvements in transport; in 1813 the

Wey and Arun Canal The Wey and Arun Canal is a partially open, 23-mile-long (37 km) canal in the southeast of England. It runs southwards from the River Wey at Gunsmouth in Shalford, Surrey to the River Arun at Pallingham, in West Sussex. The canal compri ...

was authorised. Three years later it opened, passing a few miles to the west of the village. This route linked London (via the Thames and the

Wey Wey may refer to: Places *Wey (state) (衞), or Wei, ancient Chinese state during the Zhou Dynasty *River Wey, river in Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex, England *River Wey (Dorset), river of Dorset, south west England *Wey and Arun Canal, canal ...

) with Littlehampton (via the Arun). However, the canal traffic was completely eclipsed by the Horsham to Guildford railway which opened in 1865, and the canal fell into disuse. A turnpike road was also built between

and

, assent for the project being given in 1818. The opening is commemorated by an obelisk at the junction of the roads to Horsham and to Ewhurst. The Prince Regent used the route when travelling between Windsor and

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, the distances to which are given on the plaque on the obelisk. Three people played a major part in the development of the village during the 19th century: Reverend

John Henry Sapte John Henry Sapte (1821–1906) was a Church of England cleric who was the Archdeacon of Surrey from 1888 his death on 4 June 1906. Biography Sapte was born on New Year's Eve 1821. the 2nd son of Francis and Anna Sapte. In 1848, he married Car ...

, Dr Albert Napper and Stephen Rowland. Sapte arrived in Cranleigh in 1846 as the

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

. He played a major role in setting up the National School in 1847 and Cranleigh School in 1865. He was appointed

Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

of Surrey and remained in the village until his death in 1906. Together with Napper, Sapte set up the first cottage hospital in the country in 1859. It has survived many attempts to close it, through fundraising by the local community. However it lost its beds for in-patients in May 2006. Stephen Rowland was a resident who had a major role in the development of the infrastructure of the village. He formed the Cranleigh Gas Company in 1876, and arranged for a mains water supply in 1886. In 1894 he laid out an estate between the Horsham and Ewhurst Roads, building New Park Road, Avenue Road, Mead Road, Mount Road and Bridge Road. He also set up a grocery store. His name is commemorated in that of Rowland Road.''Around Cranleigh'', p8. The cricket field has been used for that purpose since 1843. Cranleigh Lawn Tennis Tournament was held there in August from 1922 until 1998, when it moved to the grounds of Cranleigh School. David Mann's department store opened in 1887. The store closed in October, 2021 and the business went into liquidation. A distinctive row of maple trees which lines the High Street between the cricket field and the Rowland Road junction was planted in 1890, and not by Canadian servicemen in World War I as is widely believed. Cranleigh's Village Hall opened in 1933. The Regal Cinema opened on 30 October 1936. It survived for over sixty years, finally closing on 14 March 2002. The site is now occupied by a block of flats.

During World War II (1939-1945)

Winterfold House near Cranleigh was requisitioned by the British Government and used by SOE Special Operations Executive, as a training school designated STS 4 and later STS 7 as the location of the Student Assessment Board. Its primary use during the war was to whittle out those not suited to undercover work and begin initial training for those that progressed. Amongst the many recruits that attended Winterfold included

Muriel Byck Muriel Byck (4 June 1918 – 23 May 1944) was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in France during World War II. She died of meningitis. Early life Muriel Tamara Byck was the daughter o ...

Andrée Borrel Andrée Raymonde Borrel (18 November 1919 – 6 July 1944), code named Denise, was a French woman who served in the French Resistance and as an agent for Britain's clandestine Special Operations Executive in World War II. The purpose of SOE was ...

Denise Bloch Denise Madeleine Bloch (; 21 January 1916 – 5 February 1945) was an agent working with the clandestine British Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in the Second World War. Captured by the Germans, she was executed at Ravensbrück ...

Noor Inyat Khan Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan, GC (1 January 1914 – 13 September 1944), also known as Nora Inayat-Khan and Nora Baker, was a British resistance agent in France in World War II who served in the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The purpose of S ...

(Nora Baker) – a descendant of Indian Muslim royalty and

Violette Szabo Violette Reine Elizabeth Szabo, GC (née Bushell; 26 June 1921 – February 1945) was a British-French Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent during the Second World War and a posthumous recipient of the George Cross. On her second mission i ...

GC. A film

Carve Her Name with Pride ''Carve Her Name with Pride'' is a 1958 British war drama film based on the book of the same name by R. J. Minney. The film, directed by Lewis Gilbert, is based on the true story of Special Operations Executive agent Violette Szabo, GC, who w ...

was made in 1958 about Szabo's wartime life in the SOE. In November 2011, a Memorial to the SOE was unveiled at Winterfold House, Surrey, initiated by British military historian, writer and author

Paul McCue Paul McCue (born 1958) is a British military historian, researcher and author. Born in Wombwell, near Barnsley in the then West Riding of Yorkshire, and educated at Wath Grammar School, Yorkshire; The County Grammar School, Godalming, Surrey; and ...

and others. The unveiling was attended by Tania Szabó, the daughter of

, together with representatives from the US, Dutch and French embassies and the Canadian High Commission. During the later part of World War II, on 27 August 1944, the infants school was hit by a V-1 flying bomb and demolished, as was the stained glass east window of the nearby St. Nicolas Church. This occurred early on a Sunday morning, and the school was empty. The only casualty was the

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

, who was in his garden not far away and was injured. Another flying bomb hit the

gasholder A gas holder or gasholder, also known as a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas is natural gas storage, stored near atmospheric pressure at room temperature, ambient temperatures. The volume of the container follows th ...

on the Common, destroying both the structure and a nearby cottage, whose occupant was killed.

Post-war

Cranleigh railway station Cranleigh was a railway station on the Cranleigh Line between and . It served the village of Cranleigh, Surrey in southern England. History Opening in 1865 as "Cranley", its name was changed in 1867 to "Cranleigh" at the request of the Pos ...

was closed by

Dr Beeching Richard Beeching, Baron Beeching (21 April 1913 – 23 March 1985), commonly known as Dr Beeching, was a physicist and engineer who for a short but very notable time was chairman of British Railways. He became a household name in Britain in the ...

in 1965 after almost exactly a hundred years of operation. In 1975 the 1900-built church of St Andrew was demolished.

Geography

Cranleigh village is southeast of the county town of

, and ESE of

Godalming Godalming is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settleme ...

, which is the administrative centre of the borough of Waverley. In the centre of the civil parish are the greatest number of buildings, fanning out in many side roads and on the high street.Map
created by Ordnance Survey, courtesy of English Heritage Cranleigh Waters also known as the Cranleigh Water, drains the village, before flowing to Shalford where it joins the River Wey, specifically in the small, formerly marsh-like locality of Peasmarsh, which still has water meadows lining the bank itself. Winterfold Forest, a remaining higher part of the forest that occupies the northeast is on the Greensand Ridge, which can be explored using in places roads or by the long-distance path, the

Greensand Way The Greensand Way is a long-distance path of in southeast England, from Haslemere in Surrey to Hamstreet in Kent. It follows the Greensand Ridge along the Surrey Hills and Chart Hills. The route is mostly rural, passing through woods, and al ...

Localities

Rowly

Rowly is a neighbourhood NNW of the edge of the contiguous suburban part of Cranleigh that architecturally contains three Grade II listed buildings.
Three surrounding farms have listed farmhouses, and one of these has a listed granary. Rowly is separated from Cranleigh by Manfield Park and Hollyhocks House.

Baynards

Baynards to the south is separated by a green buffer including the lake, Vachery Pond. It consists of fewer than 20 buildings. Reached by Knowle Lane, a rural road leading off of the high street, which is dotted with houses, the settlement lies east of that lane along another lane, Baynards Road. No other neighbourhoods or localities of importance exist in the civil parish as a whole.

Elevations, Soil and Geology

Elevations range from a maximum of 240 m AOD (mean high water level) at the car park on Reynolds Hill in Winterfold Heath (a woodland in the north) to 41 m on the watercourse and the disused

as they leave both the parish in the northwest extreme at the end of East Whipley Lane. The village centre lies at generally 50–70 m above AOD. Soil consists in small areas of "naturally wet loamy soil"; the north and south of the village centre and all surrounding areas are "slowly permeable seasonally wet slightly acid but base-rich loamy and clayey soils". Then deep seas,

Gault Clay The Gault Formation is a geological formation of stiff blue clay deposited in a calm, fairly deep-water marine environment during the Lower Cretaceous Period (Upper and Middle Albian). It is well exposed in the coastal cliffs at Copt Point in ...

and the Upper Greensand deposits form the deep soil, more evident where erosion has taken place on steeper hillslopes in the civil parish. The Gault Clay contains phosphate-rich nodules in discrete bands and has a rich marine fauna with abundant ammonites, bivalves and gastropods. The Upper Greensand comprises a variety of sediments with fine silts at the base, giving way upwards into sandstones. Just before the

paleogene The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...

which included the mass-extinction event of the non-avian dinosaurs, sea levels dropped, exposing Sussex and Kent; marine Upnor Beds were deposited in

. In the paleogene, Southern England slightly rose and the seas retreated and reddish and mottled clays of the Reading Beds were deposited by a large river sand delta system including across much of the Weald (which covers much of

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

and Kent as well). Later, a rise in sea level around 50 million years ago caused widespread deposition, until 2 million years ago, of the London Clay across the county. The London Clay is a bluish-grey marine clay with isolated pockets of fossils especially where chalkier. The youngest part of the London Clay is known as the

Claygate Beds The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 56–49 million years ago) age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for its fossil content. The fossils from t ...

and sand and soft sandstone of the Bagshot Formation, though in many areas such as this generally eroded, followed in most cases by a variable thickness of organic

humus In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Lati ...

Economy, twinning etc.

Despite losing the rail link, Cranleigh has prospered both as a satellite of

, and as a service and light engineering centre in its own right. Furthermore, it is a retail centre for the surrounding smaller villages. The resident population of the area decreased by 2.0% in the ten years to 2001. In January 2007, Cranleigh Parish Council received a grant of arms. Cranleigh is twinned with

Vallendar Vallendar is a town in the district Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, approx. 4 km north-east of Koblenz. Vallendar is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipali ...

, Germany, and with Semur-en-Auxois in

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

, eastern France. Cranley Hotel is in a large Victorian house which is a listed building. Nurseries for plant for sale and food provide a significant source of local employment. Cranleigh's High Street has seen a rise in large corporate shops in recent years, such as Co-op, Peacocks, Superdrug, and WH Smith. There are three supermarkets and two national banks, and various other shops.

Education

Cranleigh School, an independent

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

, is in the village. It opened in 1865 and was originally known as "The Surrey County School". State schools includ
Glebelands School (a secondary school)Cranleigh C of E Primary School
an
Park Mead Primary School
There is als
St Cuthbert Mayne Catholic Primary School
Cranleigh C of E Primary School opened in September 2008 as an amalgamation of Cranleigh Infants School and St. Nicolas Junior School. In 1847 the National School opened in the present Arts Centre, replacing earlier dame schools. During the twentieth century, separate infant and secondary schools were formed and moved to their own premises (leaving the C of E Junior School which moved to new buildings in 1964).

Recreation and entertainment

The Cranleigh Arts Centre runs a full programme of feature film screenings, live music, theatre productions, adult and children's activities, exhibitions and workshops. Regular community arts projects and work with local schools are undertaken to reach and develop new audiences. The centre is a registered charity and is run by a team of volunteers. The village has a relatively large public library. A gym and leisure centre (which incorporates an indoor swimming pool) is centrally just off the High Street. Snoxhall Fields incorporates a few fields very near to the centre of Cranleigh, accessed by car via Knowle Lane. Across the road lies the Bruce McKenzie Memorial Field where Cranleigh Parkrun is organised on a weekly basis. Running through Snoxhall Fields is the path of the disused railway line which is now commonly used for cycling and walking. The football club, Cranleigh F.C. currently play in the Surrey Elite West Division and previously at times in the Combined Counties League. The Sports and Social Club splits into bowls and pétanque clubs. Every year the Cranleigh & South Eastern Agricultural Society host the Cranleigh Show, a traditional agricultural show.

Religion

There is a Roman Catholic church, Jesus Christ Redeemer of Mankind (in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arundel & Brighton), and churches of the Methodist and Baptist denominations, as well as the Anglican church of St Nicolas mentioned above.

Transport

Rail

was opened in 1865 as "Cranley" as part of the Cranleigh Line, its name was changed in 1867 to "Cranleigh" at the request of the Postmaster General as badly addressed letters to "Cranley" were often mistaken for "

" and vice versa. Cranleigh was the busiest station on the line with regular commuter traffic to and from London via

. Cranleigh had a substantial goods yard equipped with a large loading gantry. Inward freight consisted mainly of coal which was required, in particular, by the local gasworks, whilst goods outward were mainly timber. A victim of the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

, the line closed in 1965 and Cranleigh station was demolished shortly afterwards, replaced by the "

Stocklund Square Cranleigh is a village and civil parish, about southeast of Guildford in Surrey, England. It lies on a minor road east of the A281, which links Guildford with Horsham. It is in the north-west corner of the Weald, a large remnant forest, the mai ...

" housing and shopping development. In 2004 part of this development was itself demolished and a Sainsbury's

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

was constructed on the site. Today the trackbed is in part used by the

Downs Link The Downs Link is a footpath and bridleway linking the North Downs Way at St. Martha's Hill in Surrey with the South Downs Way near Steyning in West Sussex and on via the Coastal Link to Shoreham-by-Sea. History For much of its route, ...

, and the station's old platform levels are still visible at the rear of the shops. Two studies have been carried out to review the possibility of reviving train services. The first, in the 1990s, was to determine whether re-opening a portion of the line for passenger traffic from Bramley to Guildford would be economically viable. Although the study was inconclusive, Waverley Borough Council protected the line from further development in its Local Plan. In 2009, the

Association of Train Operating Companies The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), previously the Association of Train Operating Companies, is the British rail industry membership body that brings together passenger and freight rail companies, Network Rail and High Speed 2. History From 24 Oc ...

applied for funding for a new line to Cranleigh.

Road

Cranleigh centres around the junction of two B roads to the east of the A281

road. The village is on a number of bus routes serving, among others,

and Ewhurst. The main operator is Stagecoach.

Tillingbourne Bus Company Tillingbourne Bus CompanyCompanies House extract company no 259480

was based in the village prior to its collapse in 2001.

Canal

The

is gradually being restored.

Landmarks

Stocklund Square

A square near the centre of the village on the High Street, which is the main road running through Cranleigh. It was constructed following the closing of the railway line in 1965, and the removal of the railway station. A new Sainsbury's supermarket was built in late 2004. Other shops in the square are

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...

, Carphone Warehouse and Costa Coffee. The square used to have greenery and a fountain, but this was replaced with a more open layout catering for attractions and events such as a town-style public Easter Service and a French Market.

Fountain Square

In 2006, the pedestrian area surrounding the large stone drinking fountain (1874) at the centre of the village was re-modelled, and given the name 'Fountain Square'. New granite paving, brick planters and trees were introduced in a design which created a haven from traffic and a place for small community events. As part of this a bus shelter sometime nicknamed the Threepenny Bit Shelter was remodelled at Snoxhall behind the leisure centre. Within a few weeks it was vandalised and pulled to the ground. The bulk of funding was from Surrey County Council (SCC) and the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), to designs by SCC.

Winterfold House

Winterfold House, north-east of the village along Barhatch Lane, was built in 1886 for Richard Webster QC, afterwards

Viscount Alverstone A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

. He became Lord Chief Justice in 1900 and died in 1915. A bench in the woodland above the house is known as 'Lord Justice Seat'. The house was then bought by

Charles Armytage-Moore Charles James Eglantine Armytage-Moore (27 April 1880 – 10 December 1960), founder partner of London stockbrokers Buckmaster & Moore (now Credit Suisse Group). Family background Charles Armytage-Moore came from a background of Irish nobility ...

, founder partner in the stockbrokers Buckmaster & Moore. He reconstructed the main facade in Queen Anne style, and enhanced the gardens with rare rhododendrons, camellias, azaleas and magnolias. One particular red-flowered species (Rhododendron barbatum Wallich ex G. Don 1834) won an Award of Merit when exhibited by Winterfold House in 1934. During World War II Winterfold was requisitioned by the Government and used by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) as a training school designated STS 4. Amongst the many recruits that attended Winterfold were

GC. Armytage-Moore died in 1960. The house was sold to

HRH Prince Carol of Romania Mircea Grigore Carol Hohenzollern (born Mircea Grigore Carol Lambrino; 8 January 1920 – 27 January 2006), also known as Prince Mircea Grigore Carol al României (Anglicisation, anglicised as: of Romania) according to his amended Romanian b ...

. It achieved notoriety by being searched for evidence after the

Great Train Robbery of 1963 The Great Train Robbery was the robbery of £2.6million from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London on the West Coast Main Line in the early hours of 8 August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn, near Mentmore in Buckinghamshi ...

, but nothing was found. The house and estate of was sold in 18 lots at auction in 1978.

In popular culture

Cranleigh appears in the book ''

The Meaning of Liff ''The Meaning of Liff'' (UK Edition: , US Edition: ) is a humorous dictionary of toponymy and etymology, written by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd, published in the United Kingdom in 1983 and the United States in 1984. Content The book is a " ...

'' by Douglas Adams and

John Lloyd John Lloyd may refer to: Artists, writers, and entertainers *John J. Lloyd (1922–2014), American art director and production designer *John Lloyd (graphic designer) (born 1944), co-founder of design consultancy Lloyd Northover *John Lloyd (journa ...

, in which experiences which do not have words yet are given words which currently only exist as names of places. "Cranleigh" is defined as: "A mood of irrational irritation with everyone and everything." "Cranleigh Hall", the home of "Lord Cranleigh", was the principal location for the ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' serial, '' Black Orchid''.

Demography and housing

The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that was apartments was 22.6%. The proportion of households in the civil parish who owned their home outright compares to the regional average of 35.1%. The proportion who owned their home with a loan compares to the regional average of 32.5%. The remaining % is made up of rented dwellings (plus a negligible % of households living rent-free).

Notable residents

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

presenter

Anna Botting Anna Elizabeth Botting (born 4 November 1967) is an English news presenter with Sky News, a broadcasting network based in the United Kingdom. She currently presents Sky News from 21:00 until midnight from Monday to Thursday. Prior to the channel ...

was born and raised in Cranleigh. *The artist

Joseph Longhurst Joseph Longhurst (3 April 1874 – 27 July 1922) was a British landscape painter. He was one of the founding members of the Brighton Arts Club and exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1902 and 1922. Life and career Longhurst was born in Bri ...

moved to Cranleigh in 1918, and lived there until his death in 1922. He was one of a group of artists who lived in the village in the early 1920s, including

W. Heath Robinson William Heath Robinson (31 May 1872 – 13 September 1944) was an English cartoonist, illustrator and artist, best known for drawings of whimsically elaborate machines to achieve simple objectives. In the UK, the term "Heath Robinson contr ...

and Lawson Wood. *Mathematician

G. H. Hardy Godfrey Harold Hardy (7 February 1877 – 1 December 1947) was an English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis. In biology, he is known for the Hardy–Weinberg principle, a basic principle of pop ...

was born and raised in Cranleigh. * Frederick Savage, schoolmaster who founded

Seaford College (Aim High) , established = 1884 , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = John Green , r_head_lab ...

* Jim Slater, accountant turned businessman, founder of

Slater Walker Slater Walker was a British industrial conglomerate turned bank that got into financial difficulties in the 1970s. It specialised in corporate raids. Its fall shook the British banking system at the time, and it had to be bailed out by the Bank of ...

, lived in the village *Former drummer in The Beatles

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

and his actress wife Barbara Bach lived on the outskirts of the village. *

Frank Swinnerton Frank Arthur Swinnerton (12 August 1884 – 6 November 1982) was an English novelist, critic, biographer and essayist. He was the author of more than 50 books, and as a publisher's editor helped other writers including Aldous Huxley and Lytton S ...

the writer lived in the large cottage Old Tokefield on The Commons in Cranleigh for more than fifty years. *

Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...

, when serving as a

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

in England in 1963, lived in the village for a month. He wrote in the parish magazine about how friendly the locals had been towards himself and his family. *

Richard O'Brien Richard Timothy Smith. known professionally as Richard O'Brien, is a British-New Zealand actor, writer, musician, composer, and television presenter. He wrote the musical stage show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' in 1973, which has remained in conti ...

, actor, songwriter, screenwriter and creator of the Rocky Horror Picture Show lived in Cranleigh. He named his house Denton after the fictional setting of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* ''Cranleigh: A History of Wealden Settlement'' by Christopher Budgen * ''Around Cranleigh: The Archive Photographs Series'' by Michael Miller * ''Cranleigh Through Time'' by Michael Miller

External links

Cranleigh Parish Council

British History Online: Cranleigh
(H.E. Malden's History and Topography of Surrey in 1911 with substantial medieval history for the Victoria County Histories books project) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cranleigh Villages in Surrey Borough of Waverley Civil parishes in Surrey