Wotton is a well-wooded parish with one main settlement, a small village mostly south of the A25 between Guildford in the west and Dorking in the east. The nearest village with a small number of shops is Westcott. Wotton lies in a narrow

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

, collecting the headwaters of the Tilling Bourne which then has its first combined flow in the

Vale of Holmesdale Holmesdale, also known as the Vale of Holmesdale, is a valley in South-East England that falls between the hill ranges of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge of the Weald, in the counties of Kent and Surrey. It stretches from Folkestone o ...

. The parish is long north to south, reaching to 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 a ...

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

(and the

North Downs Way The North Downs Way National Trail is a long-distance path in southern England, opened in 1978. It runs from Farnham to Dover, past Guildford, Dorking, Merstham, Otford and Rochester, along the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Be ...

) in the north to the escarpment 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 ...

Leith Hill Leith Hill in southern England is the highest summit of the Greensand Ridge, approximately southwest of Dorking, Surrey and southwest of central London. It reaches above sea level, and is the second highest point in southeast England, after ...

in the south. Wotton Common forming the south of the parish is elevated woodland dotted with a few vernacular-style houses and has the county's only natural waterfall. The common's main settlement is Friday Street.

Geography

The

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

of WottonSurrey Council census
/ref> is wholly within the Surrey Hills

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

and includes the small village itself, the smaller settlement of Friday Street,

to the south and Ranmore Common to the north. Wotton lies in a small north then west facing

, amassing the headwaters of the Tilling Bourne joining together in what becomes the west of the

. The parish is long north to south, reaching to the

(and the

) in the north. To the south it reaches as far as the escarpment of the

History

Wotton appears in

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

of 1086 as ''Odetone''. It was held by Osuuold (Oswold). Its domesday assets were: 5 hides; 1

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...

worth 1s 8d, 10 ploughs, of

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

and herbage worth 73 hogs. It rendered £7 and a half (10s) per year to its overlords, a modest drop since the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...

. The English Place-Name Society volume on ''Surrey'' (published 1934) records early spellings of Wotton as Wodeton (in 1235, 1258, 1291, 1304, 1317 and 1355), Wudeton (in 1235, 1242 and 1259), Woddeton (in 1304), Woditon (1279) and Wodyton (1443); and variants such as Wodenton (1270) Wodinton (1276 and 1302), Wodynton (1355), Wodyngton (1292, 1380, 1382 and 1456) and Wodington (1324). In 1548 it was "Wodyngeton alias Wotton" and in 1610 it was "Wutton". The same source explains the name as meaning "Farm by the wood", the first element being "Wood" and the final element being "tun" or farmstead.

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's diary, or ...

, the

diarist A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal d ...

was born at Wotton House in 1620, which includes two grottos in the grounds. In 1694 he moved in as the main

legatee A legatee, in the law of wills, is any individual or organization bequeathed any portion of a testator's estate. Usage Depending upon local custom, legatees may be called "devisees". Traditionally, "legatees" took personal property under will a ...

. After the Evelyn family relinquished occupation, Wotton House was leased as a training college for the Fire Service from 1947 to 1981 and then, after being empty for nearly 13 years, was converted into a hotel and conference centre with over 100 bedrooms. Three areas of the house remain in the original layout and architectural style, and the hotel has a building and grounds of historic importance from the 17th century. Its unusually highly II* graded (listed above the grade many comparable parks achieve) garden and architecture for example are well documented. It has an orangery with decorative parapet and banded piers, terracotta decorations on brickwork, octagonal turrets and stacks, winged gryphons on the porch and Jean Derraux Chinese panels. The parish church of St John the Evangelist is situated in the scattered hamlet of Wotton at the end of Church Lane overlooking a broad sweep of the North Downs. The parish itself is a long finger stretching from the foot of the North Downs to Friday Street. The founding of the church dates back to Saxon times, although only a few of the original footings now remain to the west of the Norman tower. Much of the church was, of necessity, restored in Victorian times, but there are still many interesting original features to see. John and Mary Evelyn are buried in the Evelyn Chapel in the church.

Demography, economy and housing

At the census of 2011 there were 583 people forming 244 households in the parish. 456 persons are aged 16–74 of which 59 work in extractive or manufacturing industries and 55 run a business. There is significant gravel quarrying in the region. 94 people walk/cycle to work or work at home and 34 people use public transport to travel to work. The Wotton House hotel constitutes the largest employer, with many of the farms being arable owing to the rich soil, and it caters for large weddings as well as providing business meetings. To the north and south, on the

and Leith Hill, the land is owned by the National Trust. 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 people

, diarist, born at Wotton House 1620, and buried (with his wife) in the Evelyn Chapel in St John's Church, Wotton. *

Thomas Malthus Thomas Robert Malthus (; 13/14 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English cleric, scholar and influential economist in the fields of political economy and demography. In his 1798 book ''An Essay on the Principle of Population'', Mal ...

clergyman and political economist, was curate at Oakwood Chapel in the parish of Wotton, 1789–1834. * Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer, grew up at Leith Hill Place, and owned it briefly in 1944, when he gave it to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. * Vernon White, the noted theologian, was rector from 1987–1993.

References

External links

Old photographsWotton House website
*

{{authority control Villages in Surrey Mole Valley Civil parishes in Surrey