East Clandon is a village and civil parish in

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 on the A246 between the towns 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 ...

to the west and Leatherhead to the east. Neighbouring villages include West Clandon and West Horsley. In 2011 it had a population of 268 in 109 households clustered around three buildings, the church of

St Thomas of Canterbury Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...

, ''The Queen's Head'' pub and the village hall. Centred east of Guildford, the parish landscape on the lower slopes of the North Downs includes the 1,836-acre Ryde Farm Estate, Hatchlands Park, a National Trust estate,

arable Arable relates to the growing of crops: * Arable farming or agronomy, the cultivation of field crops * Arable land, land upon which crops are cultivated * Arable crops program The arable crops program is a consolidated support system operated und ...

and livestock farmland, woodlands, High Clandon Vineyard and Clandon Regis Golf Club.

History

Early history

The word Clandon (first recorded as Clanedune) goes back to

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

times, meaning "clean down" (open downland) from the North Downs hills that rise to the south of the village. People settled here due to the availability of water that emerged where the high chalk downs meet the lower lying clay to the north. Chertsey Abbey, a Benedictine foundation, was patron of East Clandon from the Norman Conquest of 1066 to the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. East Clandon appears in Domesday Book as ''Clanedun''. It was held by Chertsey Abbey. Its assets were then: 4 hides; 7

plough A plough or plow ( US; both ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses, but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or ...

s, woodland for 6 hogs. It rendered £6 per year to its overlords. In ancient documents the village is also often referred to as ''Clandon Abbatis'' (Abbot's Clandon). The church was built in the 12th and 13th centuries and is a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

building (the highest category). The main addition to it has been a bell tower added in 1900. In 1544

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

granted East Clandon Manor to Sir Anthony Browne. The manor house, thought to have been close to where Hatchlands Park now is, was moated since times of unrest in the early 14th century. The house, and with it the village, changed hands many times during the next 200 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 Boscawen in 1749. The present Hatchlands House was built for him with the help of prize money from his victory over the French, and it was completed in 1758, only three years before the Admiral died.

1761 to present

From 1768 the Sumner family owned the Hatchlands estate until it was bought at auction in 1888 by

Lord Rendel Stuart Rendel, 1st Baron Rendel (2 July 1834 – 4 June 1913), was a British industrialist, philanthropist and Liberal politician. He sat as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire between 1880 and 1894, and was recognised as the lead ...

. 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 Maurice Samuel Wiggin (1912 – 1986) was an English journalist and memoirist. As a journalist, he worked on a wide variety of titles, including the ''Birmingham Gazette'' and the ''Sunday Times.'' His books include memoirs (with a particular fo ...

, 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 this '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 into the hands of two relatives, a split he regarded with misgivings. Late 20th century owners, the Dunne-Ritche estate, sold most houses around 1970, but a few still remain in their possession. The TV series '' Catweazle'' was shot in East Clandon (on Home Farm), West Horsley and the surrounding area in summer 1969. Home Farm still hosts the annual Hexwood Summer Fete.

Notable residents of East Clandon

Sir Anthony Browne 1500–1548. Standard bearer of England. Owner of Manor of East Clandon. Thomas Goffe 1591–1629. A minor Jacobean playwright. Rector of East Clandon Admiral Edward Boscawen. 1711–1761. Builder of Hatchlands Park. Stuart, Baron Rendel 1834–1913. Founder of University College of Wales, Aberystwyth and owner of Hatchlands Park. Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel. 1887–1959. Architect and Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford University. President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Owner of Hatchlands Park. Francis Octavius Grenfell VC. Recipient of the first Victoria Cross of the First World War; born at Hatchlands Park. Sir Freddie Laker. 1922–2006. Airline pioneer. Lived at New Manor Farm.

Demography and housing

The average proportion 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 remainder is made up of rented dwellings (plus a negligible % of households living rent-free).

References

External links

Official East Clandon website
{{authority control Villages in Surrey Borough of Guildford Civil parishes in Surrey