Farleigh, sometimes spelled Farley, is a village and former

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, now in the parish of

Chelsham and Farleigh Chelsham and Farleigh is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The parish is high on the North Downs and centred south-southeast of central London and it adjoins the Greater London boundary; it ...

in the

Tandridge Tandridge is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge District, in the county of Surrey, England. Its nucleus is on a rise of the Greensand Ridge between Oxted and Godstone. It includes, towards its middle one named sub-locality (hamlet), ...

district of

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, England. It is located in 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 Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Areas of Outstanding Natural Be ...

AONB An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

and the

Metropolitan Green Belt The Metropolitan Green Belt is a statutory green belt around London, England. It comprises parts of Greater London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey, parts of two of the three districts of Bedfordshire and a s ...

, south east of

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

, south of London and WNE of Surrey's

county town In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in ...

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west 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 nam ...

History

Early history

Farleigh lay within the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

division of

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

. Farleigh 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as the manor of ''Ferlega''. It was held by Robert de Wateville from Richard Fitz Gilbert (de Clare and de Tonbridge). Its domesday assets were: hide; 2

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

s, 1 ox, to its overlords per year rendering £3. Judging by the style of the western doorway of St Mary's Church, a date about the close of the 11th century is indicated, at least for the building of the first stone church. The present building is of field flints, with the original rough yellow plaster or mortar coat outside, and with dressings of local firestone and inside a little

caen stone Caen stone () is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in north-western France near the city of Caen. The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about 167 million years ...

. In the 13th century the manor belonged to Walter de Merton, who founded

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

and settled his property in Farleigh upon the new society. The

living Living or The Living may refer to: Common meanings *Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms ** Living species, one that is not extinct *Personal life, the course of an individual human's life * ...

is a discharged rectory which gives rise to

chancel repair liability Chancel repair liability is a legal obligation on a small number of property owners in England and Wales to pay for certain repairs to a church, often the local parish church. Where people purchase property within land that was once rectorial (pa ...

on the holders of Merton College's land. The church is on an elevated site, and consists of a body and chancel only, with no tower.

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

in 1634 confirmed the rights of the manor with the

advowson Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a ...

and certain woods called Farley Parks, Farley Frith, Popletwood and Hedgegroves.

Post Industrial Revolution

In 1848 area comprised , of which were arable, woodland, and the remainder pasture, statistics which are little changed today.Map
created by

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

, courtesy of

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, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

By that time the

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...

s had been commuted for £177 4s, and the

glebe A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. ...

consisted of . In 1911 Merton College continued to hold the manor. On 1 April 1965 the parish was abolished, from 1965 to 1969 Farleigh was part of the

London Borough of Croydon The London Borough of Croydon () is a London borough, borough in South London, part of Outer London. It covers an area of and had a population of 397,741 as of mid-2023, making it the most populous London borough. It is London's southernmost ...

Geography

Farleigh makes up the northern part of

. Both villages are on the

, an

, and within the

Green Belt A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...

.Chelsham & Farleigh Parish Council website
Farleigh is south-east of

, south of London and Grid reference Finder measurement tools
/ref> WNE of Surrey's

. Together with Chelsham the total population of the civil parish was 356 as measured by the 2001 census.

Elevations, soil and geology

Elevations range from 191m AOD in the south of Fickleshole (similarly the Chelsham border just south of the main village is 175m AOD – the bulk of the land is upland at a similar height) to the middle of a deep crevasse/ravine in the east between Fickleshole and Farleigh at 126m AOD. Farleigh lies high and commands views for a long distance including over

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. It is well wooded and the soil is most suited to pasture. The administrative centre of the district, Oxted, is below the uplands upon which Farleigh lies, due south. The highest point of the

Botley Hill Botley Hill is a hill in Surrey and is the highest point of the North Downs, with a height of . The Prime Meridian crosses the hill. Geography Botley Hill is a Marilyn (a hill with topographic prominence of at least 150m), and the third highe ...

, is a slight, gentle rise south of Chelsham and Warlingham along the straight ''Croydon Road'', which afterwards veers east and descends the ridge to

Westerham Westerham is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 3.4 miles east of Oxted and 6 miles west of Sevenoaks, adjacent to the Kent border with both Greater London and Surrey. I ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

Local government

Two of the seven parish councillors represent Farleigh and the clerk is Maureen Turner.

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Surrey, England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1974 the Conservative Party has held the majority. The leader ...

, headquartered in

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

, elected every four years, has one representative from the area. David Hodge, leader of the county council, is its representative as Chelsham and Farleigh are within the Surrey Council Council

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

Warlingham Warlingham is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England, south of London and east of Guildford. Warlingham is the centre of a civil parish that includes Hamsey Green to the north. Caterham is to the southwest ...

. Chelsham and Farleigh share in three representative on Tandridge District Council, headquartered in

Oxted Oxted is a town and civil parish in the Tandridge District, Tandridge district of Surrey, England. It is at the foot of the North Downs, south-east of Croydon, west of Sevenoaks, and north of East Grinstead. Oxted is a commuter town and Ox ...

Localities

Fickleshole

Fickleshole is a hamlet and neighbourhood about east of Farleigh. Fickleshole is mainly used for farming, with stables home to over eighty horses. Fickleshole was established in the early sixteenth century. Roads leading to the hamlet are very narrow with passing places, based on the old roads as used by horse and carts. Many of the roads are unsuitable for heavy goods vehicles. The White Bear public house, with its white bear sculpture outside, is the main landmark of the hamlet.

Landmarks

St Mary's Church

St Mary's Church, the history of which is described above, is a Grade I listed building. Farleigh Rovers F.C. was formed in 1922 and has played its home games at Parsonage Field in Warlingham since 1959. In the 2021/22 season, the first team played in the Surrey Premier County Football League.

References

External links

History of Farleigh VillageChelsham & Farleigh Parish Council website
{{authority control Villages in Surrey Former civil parishes in Surrey Tandridge