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Witley is a village in the civil parish of Witley and Milford in the Waverley district in Surrey, England. It is centred south west of the town of Godalming and southwest of Guildford. The land is a mixture of rural (ranging from woodland protected by the Surrey Hills AONB including a small part of the forested Greensand Ridge to cultivated fields) contrasting with elements more closely resembling a suburban satellite village. In 2011 the parish had a population of 8,130.
The civil parish includes the small town of Milford in the north. Occupying its hills in the south-west are Sandhills and Brook. On 1 April 2023 the parish was renamed from "Witley" to "Witley and Milford", at the same time part was moved to Haslemere and Peper Harow.
Witley Common is a wide expanse of land, owned by the National Trust, crossed by the A3 road. The village is served by two stations on the Portsmouth Direct Line: Witley station, to the south in nearby Wormley, and, to the north, Milford station, which is more or less equidistant between Milford and Witley. Its church dates to the pre-Norman Conquest period of the Kingdom of England. The village has the private, but charitable coeducation boarding and day school King Edward's School founded in Westminster in 1553 by King Edward VI and bishop Nicholas Ridley – supported by the City of London Corporation.
In 1848, Samuel Lewis's "topography dictionary of England" describes Witley as
In 1911 H.E. Malden, historian and factfinder for the Victoria County Histories, turned to Surrey, and wrote about the advowson, of minimal notability given general forfeiture in favour of each diocese appointing its own clergy. There were seven manorialism, which owned virtually all of the land in the medieval period, of which three were senior as they had nobility living in, or owning, them. These senior manors are summarised below. The other four were Wytley Chesberies or Wytley Cheasburies Manor, Mousehill Manor, Rake Manor and Roke or Roakeland Manor.
William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey, Gilbert's nephew by marriage, was granted it, who died in 1240.Morris, Marc, The Bigod Earls of Norfolk in the thirteenth century, (The Boydell Press, 2005), 31. However, this was to no effect, as he gave it back. It reverted to the King, who then granted it to Peter de Rivaulx, who similarly suffered a deprivation in 1234. In 1246 Gilbert Marshal, 4th Earl of Pembroke was awarded it, and surrendered it; then still termed part of the honour of Aquila, Peter of Savoy and later Earl of Richmond, uncle of Queen Eleanor, received this land; homage stopped, rents rose and, on the baronial victory in 1264, Peter of Savoy having fled from the country, this manor was briefly in the custody of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford and Earl of Gloucester. After his success at Evesham in 1264, Eleanor was seized, who granted the tenants a release from the oppressive exactions of her predecessor on condition that they should cause a yearly service to be held in Witley Church for the souls of her husband and of Peter of Savoy.
Queen Isabella, Queen to Edward II of England, surrendered it with her other lands in 1330 and it formed part of next Queen Philippa of Hainault's dower in January 1330–31. After an intriguing further incidence of exhortation, many years later Sir Bryan Stapilton held it for life, followed by James Fiennes, 1st Baron Saye and Sele, soldier and politician. He was put to death during the Kentish rebellion of Jack Cade, and the Manor passed to the King's brother Jasper Tudor (created Duke of Bedford, Earl of Pembroke); when the Wars of the Roses raged the Earl of Kent was awarded it, followed by the soon-to-be executed George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence. Then we see still more royal holding, with stewards Sir George Brown, Sir William Fitz William, Sir Anthony Browne and Henry VIII's server of the chamber, Thomas Jones. In 1551 new Baron Saye and Sele (dubious, per Malden) Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln sold the estate to Richard Sackville (escheator) for Surrey, who made William More of Loseley steward. Elizabeth I had it within her powers by the time of her accession to just grant the manor, possibly due to the internal wars of religion and Sir Francis Wolley (see his daughter Hannah Woolley), to Sir George More in 1605. He later sold the park to Sir Edward More, and the title of the manor to Henry Bell of Rake manor. After this time the manor was never again held by nobility.
The site of the house now called Witley Manor, opposite Witley Church, was sold by its owner Richard Ede to his son-in-law John Chandler in 1673. Charles Warner. A Short History of Witley (1993) It was then associated for many generations onwards with the Chandler family of local clerics, including John Flutter Chandler (1762-1837), John Chandler (1806-1876), John Brownlow Chandler (died 1894) and Bishop Arthur Chandler (1859-1939).'Death of a Bishop', in The Surrey Advertiser, 8 November 1939, p. 2
Witley Civil Parish contains the large village of Milford (arguably a small town to the north, which also has the next railway station on the line to London, however, which is closer to Wheelerstreet and Witley historic village along than to Milford) and the localities set out in this article, all of which, apart from Culmer, Wormley, Sandhills and Brook are , linked by unbroken paved roads and development forming a wide arc surrounded by Witley Common or by the Witley Stream, Enton lakes and ponds. Map created by Ordnance Survey, courtesy of English Heritage The census area Waverley Middle Layer Super Output Area 12 (which excludes Milford but adds most of Hambledon, Thursley and Hascombe) gives a population of 6,619 in 2001, whereas the civil parish had a population of 7,703. UK Census search by Waverley Middle Layer Super Output Area 12 and by Parish If the population of Thursley CP (654) is subtracted and those of Hascombe (241) and Hambledon CPs (765) from Area 12, Witley's habitually resident population, excluding the major settlement of Milford stood at 4,959.
Witley & Milford Parish Council consists of 16 councillors; and the rest of Waverley is likewise entirely parished, each parish charging a small annual precept on council tax. Among their tasks is the management of the recreation ground, allotments, upkeep of village halls and organisation of annual community events.
Also in the parish are Sandhills, Brook and most of Wormley.
Enton Mill was the subject of a painting, Sheep washing, by the 19th century artist, William Hull.
Witley Manor
Earl Godwin, father of Harold Godwinson, was the lord of the manor before the Norman Conquest. According to Domesday Book, Witley was held by Gislebert (Gilbert), son of Richere de L'Aigle, in 1086. In the 12th century, Richer de Aquila forfeited his land to the crown for complicity in the rebellion of William Clito against the crown. Malden reveals the legal term then used, one still used today, escheat.
Lea Park known as Witley Park
The early history of Lea Park (renamed Witley Park during the 20th century) is entwined with that of Witley Manor. Specific frequent appointments to the office of keeper occur in the Patent Rolls, sometimes in conjunction with that of Ashurst Park: in 1514, for example, to Thomas Jones and also to his son. In 1656 Edward More, grandson of Sir Edward, sold it to Thomas Russell; it was probably already broken up into farms, and James Cecil, 4th Earl of Salisbury had half of it via marriage. By heirs expiring of the other moiety title, James Cecil, 6th Earl of Salisbury received the remaining (as some is thought to have been sold off) whole of Lea park in 1730. His son sold it to a William Smith of Godalming in 1791. Allen Chandler sold it to the Earl of Derby in 1876. It was subsequently sold to Whitaker Wright (see below) for £250,000.
Oxenford Grange
This was within Peper Harow Park, but in the parish of Witley, and was early held by Richer de Aquila and subsequently his grandson heir Gilbert. It was included in the Dissolution of the Monasteries grant of Waverley Abbey to Sir William Fitz William, with which it descended to Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu who died seised of a messuage called Oxenford, 9 October 1592. Similarly to the above, Sir George More of Loseley in 1609, Oxenford passed to Bartholomew Hone and heir John Chesterton of St. Giles in the Fields in 1619. In 1667 Antony Covert and his son conveyed their third to John Platt of Westbrook and his heirs; his son Sir John Platt and a John Smith sold it to prominent parliamentarian Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles; the other third was sold by the Fox family to George Brodrick, 4th Viscount Midleton c. 1822; his son employed Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin to build an imitation 13th century farm here.
Landmarks
Semaphore/Telegraph Station
On Bannicle or Bannack Hill stood an Admiralty telegraph station which was built in 1822 as part of a semaphore line between the Admiralty in London and Portsmouth. It was about 30 yards east of Hill House, but no trace remains. Historic Environment RecordHER 3504 – Admiralty Telegraph Station circa 1822 (Site of) William Cobbett in Rural Rides, in which he pursues his hallmark restraint of empire and government views, referred to the station when travelling through the hills of Hambledon. "On one of these hills is one of those precious jobs, called semaphores. For what reason this pretty name is given to a sort of Telegraph house, stuck up at public expense upon a high hill; for what reason this outlandish name is given to the thing, I must leave the reader to guess; but as to the thing itself; I know that it means this; a pretence for giving a good sum of public away every year ..."William Cobbett Rural Rides Penguin English Library 1967
Geography
Witley is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Waverley in Surrey south west of Godalming and southwest of the county town, Guildford. The village lies just east of the A3 from London to Portsmouth between Guildford and Petersfield; London is northeast as the crow flies. Grid reference Finder measurement tools
Witley Common
Witley Common, which belongs to the National Trust, directly adjoins many localities of the village. National Trust It is bisected by the A3 dual carriageway.
Localities
Five settlements form a loose cluster, though some smallholdings and playing fields buffer zone them: Cramhurst, Wheelerstreet, Crossways, Witley (historic centre) and Culmer.
Education
Transport
Notable people
Demography and housing
The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that was apartments was 22.6%.
+ 2011 Census Homes 2
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).
+ 2011 Census Key Statistics 2,776
In popular culture
James Bond's visit to Shrublands health farm in Thunderball was inspired by author Ian Fleming's own 1956 stay at the Enton Hall Natural Health Resort in Witley.
See also
Notes and references
External links
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