Prior to the Victorian age Surrey was a little known county but with the coming of the railways it opened up as people were able to come out from London with their bicycles and enjoy the countryside. It was then that gardening became extremely popular. The wealthy had the space and money to create large, lavish landscapes and the middle class were also able to create beautiful gardens many of which are to be found in Surrey. Let’s now look more closely at the characteristics of Victorian garden style.

Flower beds were formal with showy plants and flowers grown along walkways or in large raised beds. Victorians preferred big, bold plants like lilies, dahlias, ferns and ornamental grasses. Traditional cottage garden flowers such as hollyhocks, snapdragons and sunflowers were considered outdated.

Collecting plants imported from all over the world became a popular hobby and thus necessitated the construction of glasshouses to house these tropical plants during winter. They were situated in the walled kitchen garden which played an important part in Victorian lives. It was the job of the head gardener to prepare displays of exotic fruits for the master of the house as well as elaborate floral arrangements for the table. The mid 19th century garden at Titsey Place (image below), home of the Gresham family for many years, contains a number of glasshouses now fully restored.

Lawns were an essential element of Victorian garden style, designed to frame a lovely house and also for socialising and lawn games. A huge variety of shrubs and trees, both evergreen and deciduous, were used for planting along property lines or in mixed hedges.

The Victorians loved ornamentation, in particular, topiary, sundials on pedestals, cast iron ornaments, statues, pools and fountains, urns filled with flowers and foliage in covered trellises – anything flamboyant.

However, although all these gardens helped to popularise gardens and gardening in Victorian England, because of their romantic image, they do not depict the widespread poverty that was often found in rural areas. Nevertheless the paintings of the Victorian “cottage artist” Helen Allingham showing an abundance of flowers in cottage gardens, and portraying country life at that time, were much sought after by the Victorians.

Most of the gardens from this period were designed in an earlier age but were remodelled throughout the 19th century. Here are some examples:-

Claremont: extensive pleasure gardens and park surrounding a country mansion originally designed by Sir John Vanbrugh but remodelled in the early 19th century. Highlights are a superb serpentine lake, an amphitheatre and a belvedere (a raised gallery or summer house for viewing).

Wotton House: home of John Evelyn’s family for many years, but now a hotel, was the first Italian garden in this country with extensive alterations in early to mid 19th century. Thirteen acres of eccentric formal gardens containing extravagant features such as temples, grottoes, waterfalls and various follies.

Munstead Wood: late 19th century garden, one of many created by Gertrude Jekyll, probably the most famous of all the Arts & Crafts gardeners, full of colourful roses, pergolas and lily ponds. She is especially known for her ability to showcase plants to the best of their advantage by colour, texture and shape according to the season.

Thus the formal style that we associate with the Victorians, in both their elaborate and richly adorned houses and dress and in their love of brightly coloured flowers, was reflected in gardens such as these. The introduction of plants from every continent and climate all helped to increase their knowledge of plant breeding and, together with meticulous garden design, they were able to create the gardens which we still see and admire today.

Virginia Turner

Prior to Victorian times, waterways and canals had become the preferred method of moving bulk and trade cargoes around the country. The Basingstoke Canal, River Wey Navigations and the Wey & Arun Junction Canal (WAJC) were all busy routes and, indeed, the WAJC reached its peak in 1839 when the canal carried 23,000 tons of goods around Surrey and beyond. However, the 19th century was the era of massive railway growth and, by about 1870 two of the three were effectively dead whilst the River Wey Navigations only limped on into the beginning of the 1900s.

It seems strange to realise that when Victoria became queen in 1837 there were no steam powered railways in Surrey – although the horse-drawn Surrey Iron Railway between Wandsworth, Croydon and Mitcham had opened at the beginning of the century and lasted until 1838.

The basic cause of the demise of the canals was that railways could move larger quantities of material, could travel faster and were not restricted to the availability of water sources. In addition, the promoters of routes soon realised that passenger traffic could be a profitable addition to freight revenues so that it was not long before lines were being created primarily for the carriage of people.

Amongst the first lines to actually open for traffic through Surrey (September 1841) was the London & Brighton Railway. The main trade for this route was the carriage of passengers to Brighton which had become the most popular seaside resort in Britain, with over 2,000 people a week visiting the town.

In May 1845 the first steam train left Guildford for Woking. It only took 12 minutes which is not much longer than the current journey time! Guildford to London took a bit longer but was still less than two hours. Then, in 1849 a link to Farnham was established from Guildford and this was extended in 1852 to become the Alton line. These areas were barley growing districts and a heavy traffic of ale (145,000 barrels) was sent to London. Stone quarries near Alton gave rise to stone being transported widely by rail. Guildford became more important, growing into a railway junction and part of an ambitious scheme to reach the Channel ports from the Midlands and the West.

Many of the companies opening new railway lines across the county and beyond were working independently and there was no agreed gauge for the tracks. In order to create a useful network, they all needed to be standardised and consequently the “Regulation of Gauge Act” was made law in July 1854 to rectify an anomaly of different gauges along the lines.

Another line into Surrey was created by the London Necropolis Company. This company purchased land at Brookwood, near Woking, and created a large cemetery to cater for the needs of London – whose local cemeteries were becoming full.

Brookwood station opened in June 1864 and served special trains consisting of normal coaches for the mourners and special hearse vans for the coffins.

The railway company did well, gaining not only from the journey to the cemetery, but also from subsequent visits by relatives.

The public soon realised that railways provided new ways for them to enjoy their leisure hours with trips to places which had previously been less accessible. Hampton Court was already a popular destination and a branch line from Woking was created for this trade. There was opposition but it was considered a public necessity to provide recreation to the poorer classes. By 1865 as many as 13 of the 47 main line departures from Waterloo were for Hampton Court. In 1861 a line to Richmond and Shepperton had been built so that London workers could escape from the overcrowded and unhealthy portion of the city into the healthier localities. Then in 1867 the station at Boxhill and Westhumble was built and the leisure trade to the area blossomed.

Victorian Surrey was well served by racecourses and the first ideas of reaching Epsom Racecourse came in 1838. Trains were planned on race days and passengers were set down on the Kingston to Epsom line. They then had to journey the last 6 miles on foot or by car or trap. It was clear that a station nearby was required and one was opened on 22 May 1865 just in time for Derby Day.

Woodside station, close to Croydon Racecourse, was opened in 1871. Horses were often brought to the racecourse by train and for a number of years a track to the course from the down side of the station catered for many famous horses. Gatwick Racecourse station on the main London to Brighton line opened in 1891 and to cater for the anticipated traffic, a relief line was opened from Gatwick Racecourse to Horley in October 1892. Meanwhile, Kempton Park racecourse had proposed a station in 1877 but this was rejected. One was built in 1878 with them paying half the costs themselves.

The last of the Surrey racecourse stations to be built takes us back to Epsom. Tattenham Corner station opened in July 1901 and handled around 15,000 passengers. Many came from London but a large number arrived from the coast or through Reading. The punters were taken right to the racecourse itself. In addition to this a raised lawn close to the station gave excellent views over much of the Downs.

And so, from an absence of railways at the beginning of Victoria’s reign, a complex network had been created across the county to support trade, ‘commuter traffic’ to London and provide leisure opportunities for the population of London and the surrounding counties – a legacy which is still with us.

Sall Baring

Acknowledgements
• Map of Victorian railways across Surrey, courtesy of Surrey Industrial History Group
• Photo of train – probably East Clandon Common Bridge over Ripley Road, courtesy of Surrey History Centre

Today, Surrey is perceived as being one of the wealthiest counties in the country and it is difficult for many of the current generation to appreciate that this is a modern phenomenon. If we look back to the early 19th century, rural Surrey was predominantly a peasant population. Yes, as you can read elsewhere, there were wealthy land owners but these were the exceptions who held considerable power over the labourers who worked their land.

Reading the literature you will find little mention of Surrey as an agricultural county – mainly because its produce was insignificant compared to the larger, more productive counties elsewhere. However, the majority of the rural population here was involved in some way with agriculture and its associated trades.

A typical labourer would work for a farmer – who might himself be a tenant of a wealthy landowner. The labourer would generally rent his accommodation from the farmer and in most cases, tenancy went with the job. If he lost his job he tended to lose his home as well. In addition, if he were ill or had an accident so that he couldn’t work, he got no pay – so would struggle to pay his rent. Thus, all the power was with the farmer and the labourer was close to being tied to him. This meant that farmers could pay very low wages whilst ensuring the labourers worked extremely long hours. In general, the entire family, including very young children, had to work in order to obtain even a subsistence living. As late as 1867, labourer’s weekly wages varied from 12 shillings (60p) in western Surrey, to 15 shillings (75p) in the neighbourhood of London.

As stated at the time by a West Country parson, Canon Girdlestone, “How is it possible. on such wretched wages for a man to house, to feed and clothe not only himself but his wife and children; and to pay, in addition, the doctor and the midwife when their services were required; to provide shoes, fuel, light, such incidental expenses as school fees, and, in fact, many other items which cannot be enumerated, but which entered nevertheless into the cost of living.”

Although William Cobbett (a Farnham local) died just before Victoria’s coronation, he had spent many years trying to raise the issues of peasant conditions and pay. He was a thorn in the side of Government and authority but did much to highlight the iniquities of early 19th century farm labour. Frederick E Green and George Sturt were two other local writers who wrote extensively on this topic. They were both born in the 1860s and possibly gained a broader perspective on rural poverty since they were looking back over their lives which included the latter part of the century.

One of Sturt’s propositions was that the local peasantry had once been less poor and more self-sufficient and that the “enclosures” which occurred during the earlier part of the century had been a major cause of their decline. The peasants lost the land over which their cow, donkey, geese, fowls, or swine used to graze, and from which they derived fuel for the household, fodder for their beasts, and even corn for their daily bread. Thus, they only had their labour to provide for all their needs and, additionally, now had to purchase from that minimal amount all of those products which they could have obtained free prior to enclosure.

The situation towards the end of the century was exacerbated by general agricultural depression – partly driven by greater international trade in produce. The agricultural labour situation became unsustainable and many left the land to seek employment in towns. This depressed wages for unskilled labour and together with a doubling in population in the first 70 years of the century led to a complete rebalancing of rural versus urban employment. To highlight the change, in 1872 Surrey had 193,343 acres of arable land but by 1909 this had fallen 47% to 102,364 acres.

Some Victorians, however, did make good. Self-made entrepreneurs used their new wealth to rise in society, building large houses, educating their children and employing domestic servants (by the 1880s, 1.25 million people were employed in domestic service – more than in any other work category). That, I suspect was the origin of the current “wealthy Surrey” image. Having created their wealth in the urban areas, they then wanted to move out to greener, cleaner, more beautiful environments. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Ken Bare

Acknowledgements

• Deerleap Woods Wotton. Hoopshaver at his hut
• Milton Farm, Westcott
• Moving Barn @ Bookham

All 3 images courtesy of Keith Harding, Walter Rose/goodnessgracious.co.uk

Back by popular request was a walking tour of the Sheepleas mixed woodland open space run by our Society member, Pamela Holt.

Pamela ran this morning tour twice the same morning as we have been sticking to a reduced numbers quota. A few hardy souls braved the pouring rain to meet and learn how to identify tree types from their leaves, fruits, buds and location, especially in winter.

We were guided through beautiful areas of late autumn colour of oak, beech, yew, the ‘beams’ – whitebeam, hornbeam, various maples, willows, sycamores, ash, lime and London plane trees (I’m sure there were more that I’ve forgotten!). In winter when there are no leaves on deciduous trees to assist identification, we learnt to look at surrounding vegetation, presence and arrangement of buds on the stem, presence of nuts on the ground or some berries still remaining on the tree. We were encouraged to look at wild clematis weaving its way through walls of deciduous hedgerows, where honeysuckle also fought for space.

Tree roots are not nearly as deep as you might imagine a lofty beech tree to have – their roots spread superficially far and wide. This is evident when you see a fallen tree with its roots still intact.

Pamela is extremely knowledgeable and has had an interesting career as a botanist, having started out with Kew Gardens & travelled far and wide since.

The interesting thing as a keen walker is that I often walk in areas consulting a map, enjoying the views, chatting or looking ahead to where I’m going – but don’t notice the huge variety of tree species right next to me off the path.

Diane Cooper

Due to the current situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and in line with Government regulations, all Surrey Hills Society outside events have been cancelled.  We hope that all events will be reorganised at later dates as soon as it is safe to do so.  If you are already booked on an event you will receive a separate email explaining the cancellation arrangements.

Gordon Jackson, Chairman

On arrival we were greeted with a cup of tea or coffee and biscuits, always most welcome.

We then had a talk from Vikki Leedham who is the co-curator at the gallery together with Anthony Paul who is married to Hannah Peschar.   

Vikki was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic and gave us a potted history of the garden informing us of how Anthony landscaped the grounds but Hannah felt something was missing.  Although not an artist, Hannah has a very good eye for sculpture and on a visit to a friend’s gallery saw some sculptures being exhibited outside and this was the inspiration for the garden to become a gallery.

After the talk we were given a free reign to walk around the garden/gallery which takes around an hour and a half to fully appreciate the grounds and all the exhibits displayed.  Below are a few photographs of the some of the 200 or so sculptures very cleverly positioned around the garden.

It was a lovely visit (except for a hail storm and torrential rain which lasted at least half an hour) but we would definitely go back for another visit perhaps as early as next year.

Sall Baring

It is always good to revisit favourite haunts and so it was a pleasure to go to Gatton again.  Gatton has always had a close association with the Society since its early days.  On this visit, the weather was very wet and windy but the landscape was still there for all to see in the glorious colours of autumn. 

The Capability Brown landscape was magnificent with the trees in bold yellows through to reds.  It is hard to believe that this is a largely man-made landscape.

The Japanese Garden was a highlight with a magnificent Bloodgood acer which was so red that it matched the newly replaced bridge. 

Many thanks to Gatton’s guides for giving up their time to show us round the property – and their enthusiasm for the Trust was obvious.

For the first time visitor, Gatton is a revelation.  Some members are already planning to return at a different time of year and in better weather to see it in its full glory.

Stella and Martin Cantor

Members of the Society enjoyed a beautiful morning at Ramster Gardens on Wednesday 14^th October, which started with some welcoming tea and cake.

These gardens in Chiddingfold extend over 25 acres of woodland, glades, a lake and a formal “tennis court” garden and, at this time of year, are a blaze of autumn colours. In particular the wide variety of Acers, planted throughout the gardens, display a rich palette of colours with deep reds and orange framing the pathways.

Huge Gunneras enjoy the moist soils adjacent to watercourses whilst there are plenty of tranquil spots to stop and admire the beauty of the surroundings.

We hope to return in spring when the bluebells, daffodils, rhododendrons and magnolias will be at their magnificent, colourful,  best.

A wonderful gem hidden away in the far south west corner of our county.

Martin and Stella Cantor