History Of Woking

Woking means"(settlement belonging to the) followers of Wocc (or 'Wocca')". Over time, the name has been written variously as, for example, ''Wochingas'', and ''Wokynge''.

Pre-1800

Pre-historic Woking

In Horsell Common there are three ancient bell barrow burial mounds that are around 3–4,000 years old. A possible explanation to these burial mounds (as Bell Barrow Mounds are not common in Surrey) is that they were built to 'commemorate leaders who had migrated from Wessex to colonise new lands'. There is a reference to these three burial mounds in the antiquarian John Aubrey's 1718 book 'A History of Surrey'. Although there was and is knowledge of these bell barrow mounds, there is no official evidence they have ever been excavated.

It is likely the spot where the burial mounds was once farmland, though because of its poor soil the burial mounds were put there instead. It is likely there are more than three of the burial mounds, though no more have yet been found.

Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Norman Woking

Woking appears in written materials which, though created in the 12th century at Peterborough Abbey, formerly known as Medeshamstede, reliably describe earlier events. The earliest of these is the grant by Pope Constantine (708–715) of privileges to a monastery at ''Wochingas''. Later in the 8th century a charter of King Offa of Mercia granted further privileges, freeing this church from numerous standard liabilities. This charter is paraphrased in a 12th-century interpolation to the '' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's'' entry for 777 AD, also written at Peterborough:

The church was probably formed around 1,300 years ago when monks from Chertsey set up a church to serve the area that is now Woking Borough. The church is thought to have been destroyed by Vikings around 1030–60. The church was rebuilt by 1066.

Woking appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Wochinges''. Its description there is complex, since it was then held as three estates, by King William the Conqueror, Walter FitzOther, constable of Windsor Castle, and Ansgot and Godfrey from Osbern FitzOsbern, then bishop of Exeter.

There is evidence of a Roman settlement to the east of Old Woking.

Woking Palace

A building was first recorded on the site of Woking Palace in 1272. In 1466 Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII and grandmother of King Henry VIII, and her third husband, Sir Henry Stafford, obtained by royal grant the former Beaufort manor of Woking. They lived in the manor house at least until Henry Stafford's death in 1471. In 1490 a treaty with Spain, known as the Treaty of Woking (or Okyng), was signed at the Palace by Henry VII. This alliance was sealed with the marriage of Catherine of Aragon to Arthur, Prince of Wales.

The modern Beaufort School in nearby Goldsworth Park is named after Lady Margaret. Henry VII took the manor from his mother in 1503 and began the process of converting the manor house into a palace. His son Henry VIII continued this process when he succeeded his father in 1509, and the palace became a favorite residence of the king.

By 1620 the ownership of Woking Palace was passed by King James I to Sir Edward Zouch who abandoned the palace and built himself a new manor house at Hoe Bridge Place. Thereafter the buildings fell into decay and the original park surrounding the palace was turned over to agriculture.

There are 3 weekends a year when the palace is open to the public. The barrel vaulted room is open during these weekends with various activities around it. There are varied displays just round the back of the King's Hall that include Birds of Prey flying displays and explanations of how the Tudors would have hunted with them. There are also gardens and fish ponds around the Hall. Bordering the ruins to the south is the River Wey and the moat surrounds the rest of the Palace site of nearly 8 acres.

17th century Woking

In 1651 the Wey Navigation Canal was opened for traffic from Guildford to the River Thames passing through Woking. Over a century later, in 1791, the canal from the Wey Navigation Canal to Basingstoke opened as far as Horsell. Then in 1792 the Basingstoke Canal opened as far as Pirbright. Navigation on the Brookwood Canal stopped in 1947. In 1991, the Basingstoke Canal was formally reopened along its whole length following renovation by volunteers.

In 1661 James Zouch, grandson of Sir Edward Zouch, obtained the Market Charter for Woking. Eight years later Zouch was Sheriff of Surrey (1669–1670). In 1760, James Turner bought from the Earl of Onslow, owner of Woking Manor, some land in the "Tithing of Goldings".

1800s

In 1849, locating the London Necropolis (cemetery) was first proposed for Woking Parish by the Board of Health. In 1879 Woking Crematorium was built at St John's, to be used for the first time in 1884 when the first modern cremation in the UK was performed.

H. G. Wells

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