Compton is a former village and today a semi-rural suburb centred ESE of

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 tri ...

in the Waverley district of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

, England and connected to Farnham by two direct urban single carriageways and green space footpaths along the Wey (North Branch) which in part marks the northern boundary of the area together with the A31. The area relies on Farnham for most of its modern amenities and its eastern part is rural whereas its western part is urban, with a divide where the Wey flows between the two south-eastwards.

History

Compton has given its name to the local roads Compton Way and Old Compton Lane, and is most formally, though on few modern maps, considered to include (being a medieval-founded

tything A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or ...

and manor) Moor Park, Farnham on the left bank of the Wey, further east. Moor Park takes its recent name from Moor Park House the former mansion of Sir William Temple, where

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Du ...

, author of

Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', or ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'' is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan ...

lived and worked which is a listed building in the mid category, Grade II*. The house dates from 1307 when it was Compton Hall. Compton Woods is an area of woodland with public access. Having three window bays and two storeys, the present

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals ...

is an ordinary building in a grid of streets towards Farnham proper and was 'probably' built in the mid 19th century. The land of the area was owned or had as overlord above various head-tenants the Bishops of Winchester who in many successions were given the right to live in as their home

Farnham Castle Farnham Castle is a 12th-century castle in Farnham, Surrey, England. It was formerly the residence of the Bishops of Winchester. History Built in 1138 by Henri de Blois, Bishop of Winchester, grandson of William the Conqueror, Farnham castle ...

across the other side of the town as a result of its founding by William the Conqueror's grandson Henry of Blois and of Winchester.

Amenities and ruins

Compton has one of three churches of Farnham parish in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

, St Mary's Church, built in 1918.Extent of Parish of St Andrew, Farnham and its churches and chapels
The Church of England. Accessed 2015-03-20 This structure and Christian community building was built from local

Bargate stone __NOTOC__ Bargate stone is a highly durable form of sandstone. It owes its yellow, butter or honey colouring to a high iron content. In some contexts it may be considered to be a form of ironstone. However, in the context of stone buildings loca ...

which is the stone of the

Greensand Ridge The Greensand Ridge, also known as the Wealden Greensand is an extensive, prominent, often wooded, mixed greensand/sandstone escarpment in south-east England. Forming part of the Weald, a former dense forest in Sussex, Surrey and Kent, it r ...

and is a form of dense

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

which is also an

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...

. On the boundary of the area are the ruins of the

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint B ...

Waverley Abbey Waverley Abbey was the first Cistercian abbey in England, founded in 1128 by William Giffard, the Bishop of Winchester. Located about southeast of Farnham, Surrey, it is situated on a flood-plain; surrounded by current and previous channels ...

managed by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

and Mother Ludlam's Cave, connected by footpaths. The river here is the sinuous west or 'north' branch of the Wey, upstream of Tilford where it combines with the south branch and of the town 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 settlement ...

where it becomes navigable.

Demography

Though widely mapped, Compton is no longer strictly defined, neither as a census unit nor as one of the town's three-member electoral wards. As at the 2011 census it equated to Waverley 004D with most of 004C which is largely urban and includes

Farnham railway station Farnham railway station serves the town of Farnham in Surrey, England. Train services are provided by South Western Railway, with direct trains running to Guildford, Aldershot, Alton, Woking, Surbiton, Clapham Junction and London Waterloo. ...

and part of the town centre's dual carriageway and a lengthy division: Waverley 003D (which takes in most of its homes and many of the town's businesses to the north of the Sheep and Flock major roundabout and includes Farnham Hospital). Taking the first two wards are covered below to provide for an approximation.

References

{{authority control Villages in Surrey Farnham