Misplaced Pages

Crowhurst
The oast house in Crowhurst and neighbouring homes
Crowhurst Place and sheep meadows
CrowhurstLocation within Surrey
Area	9.7 km (3.7 sq mi)
Population	281 (Civil Parish)
• Density	29/km (75/sq mi)
OS grid reference	TQ391470
• London	21.9 miles (35.2 km)
Civil parish	Crowhurst
District	Tandridge
Shire county	Surrey
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LINGFIELD
Postcode district	RH7
Dialling code	01342
Police	Surrey
Fire	Surrey
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	East Surrey
List of places UK England Surrey 51°12′32″N 0°00′36″W / 51.209°N 0.010°W / 51.209; -0.010

Crowhurst is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England. The nearest town is Oxted, 3 miles (5 km) to the north. Rated two architectural categories higher than the medieval church is the Renaissance manor, Crowhurst Place, which is a Grade I listed building.

Landmarks

St George's Church

The parish church is dedicated to St George, and is Grade II listed. The oldest parts (the nave, south aisle and porch) date from the 12th century and the chancel was built in the 15th century. The spire was rebuilt after a fire in 1947. Inside, there are wall monuments to Justinian Angell (d. 1680) and Margaret Gainsford (d. 1691), and a wall tomb of Richard Marryott (d. 1675). A larger tomb chest is of John Gaynesford (d. 1450).

Crowhurst Place

Crowhurst Place is a timber-frame Grade I listed house, partly built 1425–1450, sited at the summit of a gradual slope about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Crowhurst church. It faces the east and is surrounded by a moat (GPS: 51.199603, -0.017060).

The property was conveyed for the Gainsford family of the manor who held it from 1418, having acquired it from John atte Hall and Joan (in the customs of the time, presumably his wife).

John Gainsford, who died in 1450, had a younger son William, Knight of the Shire (equivalent to Member of Parliament) for Surrey in the year of his father's death, from whom descended a Gainsford line from Cowden. The Rev. George Gainsford, of this line, retiring as vicar of Hitchin, bought Crowhurst Place about 1905. He died in 1910, and his son the Rev. G. B. Gainsford became the owner.

George A. Crawley, an amateur architect who also designed Westbury House on Long Island in the United States, made alterations during his own residence in the early 20th century, then expanded the building again between 1912 and 1915 for his successor as lessee, Consuelo Vanderbilt.

History

The place-name 'Crowhurst', first recorded in 1189 in various forms similar to those of the next century Croherst and Crauhurste, simply means 'crow wood'.

The settlement was in the Anglo-Saxon administrative division of Tandridge hundred hundred. The Domesday Book (1086) has no record of the place. To quote Malden's Victoria County History of 1911:

is one of the places on which do not appear as parishes until the 13th century, and were probably scarcely inhabited at the time of the Domesday Survey. It was then no doubt part of Oxted, to which the manor was subordinate. The dedication of the church to St. George indicates a consecration not earlier than the third Crusade...

Manor

In 1338 Robert de Stangrave and Joan his wife conveyed the manor to John Gainsford and Margaret his wife. The Gainsford family held Crowhurst until 1716, when a dispute arose between rival claimants to the estate. The manor was sold in 1720 to Edward Gibbon, a director of the South Sea Company, but before the transaction could be completed, he was declared bankrupt and in 1723 the estate was placed in the care of a board of trustees. The following year, Crowhurst was sold to the Duchess of Marlborough, who used the endowed income of the manor to found the Marlborough almshouses for the poor in need of their own dwellings in St Albans.

Other manors

Three other manors existed: Atgrove, Chellows and Rugge. Each was originally owned by the Gainsford family. A brief-lived fourth manor may have existed, Infields, crossing boundaries by extending into Lingfield and Tandridge, but of its three parts from the 14th century (Mote, Newlands and Maynmead), only Newlands in Tandridge had the wealth and status of a manor. Owen Manning (a noted county historian, who lived 1721–1801) suggests that the name Atgrove survives in Blackgrove Farm, the property of the Gainsford family at the time of his book on Surrey, published posthumously in 1804.

In an iron-producing area, the church's monuments include one cast-iron grave slab. In the churchyard is a hollow short yew tree, the Crowhurst Yew, measuring about 33 feet (10 m) in diameter. Early in the 19th century a bench was fixed inside the tree, and a wooden door added, with seating for about twelve people. An iron cannonball found in the middle of the tree is still preserved there.

Geography and transport

Gibbs Brook forms part of the boundary with Oxted and was called the Gippes River, and flows into the River Eden, Kent which discharges into the River Medway near Edenbridge.

Most development is in two linear settlements: small detached houses at Ardenrun Shaw, a small wood to the north – only one of these is listed; St Georges Cottages and its continuation which is narrowly west of the border (in Godstone) Crowhurst Lane End which is mostly semi-detached properties within 1 mile (2 km) of Godstone railway station in the modern settlement of South Godstone along a straight and parallel foot/cyclepath to the railway line. The first neighbourhood has a hall, whereas the second has a public house by a T-junction facing the path.

Roads

The village has a network of minor roads which are not heavily developed, for which reason it is described by the Victoria County History as "it in a peaceful area of the county that has always been tucked away" and has no A-roads.

Demography

Crowhurst had a population in 2001 of 349. The next census, in 2011, recorded 281 people living in 119 households. Its area then was unchanged.

The accommodation in the parish included detached houses (28%), and apartments (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).

References

1. ^ Key Statistics; Quick Statistics: Population Density Archived 11 February 2003 at the Wayback Machine United Kingdom Census 2011 Office for National Statistics Retrieved 21 November 2013
2. Historic England. "Church of St George (Grade II) (1029927)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
3. ^ H.E. Malden, ed. (1912). "Parishes: Crowhurst". A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
4. Historic England. "Crowhurst Place (Grade I) (1280991)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
5. "Parishes: Crowhurst". A History of the County of Surrey. Victoria County History. Vol. 4. pp. 274–281. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
6. The History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey Owen Manning and John Aubrey, p 247
7. Historic England. "Ardenrun Cottage (Grade II) (1205297)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
8. "Census data". The Office for National Statistics.

External links

• Crowhurst Parish Council
• Surrey County Council. "Crowhurst". Exploring Surrey's Past. Retrieved 31 May 2017.

v t e District of Tandridge
Settlements (grouped by associated post town)	Caterham Caterham on the Hill Caterham Valley Chaldon Whyteleafe Woldingham Godstone Godstone East Grinstead Felbridge Felcourt Horley Horne Burstow Lingfield Crowhurst Dormansland Lingfield Newchapel Smallfield Oxted Hurst Green Limpsfield Limpsfield Chart Oxted Tandridge Titsey Redhill Bletchingley Nutfield Warlingham Chelsham Farleigh Fickleshole Hamsey Green (part) Warlingham Westerham Tatsfield
Places of worship	All Saints Church, Oxted Church of St John the Baptist, Outwood London England Temple (LDS Church) List of places of worship in Tandridge (district) Sacred Heart Church, Caterham
Education	Caterham School De Stafford School Hazelwood School Lingfield College Oakhyrst Grange School Oxted School Sunnydown School Warlingham School Woldingham School
Transport	Railway stations Caterham Dormans Godstone Hurst Green Lingfield Nutfield Oxted Upper Warlingham Whytleafe Roads A22 A25 M23 M25 Other North Downs Way/Pilgrims' Way Greensand Way
Buildings and structures	Heritage buildings and grounds Bletchingley Castle Titsey Place Spectator sports Lingfield Park Racecourse Theatre Orpheus Centre, Godstone Lakes, watersports and wildlife Hedgecourt Lake Nature Reserve, Felbridge Wire Mill Recreational Lake, Felbridge Mercers Park Country Park, Nutfield Marsh
Sport	Football Farleigh Rovers F.C. Lingfield F.C. Warlingham F.C. Whyteleafe F.C. Cricket Caterham Cricket Club
The administrative centre is Oxted. The largest town is Caterham. Three of the post towns have urban centres Caterham, Godstone and Oxted. Lingfield and Warlingham are major villages which have post town status. The others are outside the area.

• Tandridge
• Civil parishes in Surrey
• Villages in Surrey