This event is fully booked. If you wish to have your name on our waiting list, please let us know via email or contact form.
16th May 2018, 10:30 - 12:30
Join local historian, Janet Balchin for a guided morning tour around the pretty village of Ewhurst, near Cranleigh. She will be pointing out houses and other buildings of historic interest, as well as giving an insight into the social history of the village.
The name Ewhurst in old English is derived from “Iw” meaning Yew tree and “hyrst” meaning wooded hill. The Grade I listed Church of St Peter and St Paul was built in the 12th century – partly rebuilt 1838–39 due to a collapse. The Bulls Head Pub was built in 1908, originally called the Bulls Head Hotel. It was built speculatively, as a railway hotel, in anticipation of the railway coming through the village (which never happened!).
The first reference to Ewhurst is a papal bull of 1179, recording the ‘ecclesiam de Iuherst’ in a list of properties of Merton Priory and part of the Royal Manor of Gomshall. The oldest surviving houses date from the early 1400s, including White Hart House, Hoyle Cottage, Coverwood and Oak Cottage at Ellen’s Green. The Weald became a centre for glass working, Ellen’s Green and Summersbury, being the most northerly. The names of Huguenot families known to be involved in glassmaking are found in the Ewhurst Parish lists for the Surrey Musters of 1583-84. The agricultural ‘Improvements’ of the 18th century did not benefit Ewhurst much. The parish was not affected by enclosures but the mechanisation of formerly labour intensive agriculture led to much hardship. Poaching and smuggling were rife in Victorian times. Ewhurst Mill and The Windmill Inn are reputed to have been haunts of smugglers.
Today, Ewhurst is an attractive, and much sought after, Surrey Hills’ village. It is home to several famous people including musicians Eric Clapton, Mike Rutherford and Kenney Jones, comedian Jim Davidson and horse raising presenter Brough Scott MBE.
The cost will be £7.00 for members, and £8.00 for non-members, which includes coffee & biscuits on arrival, the tour and talk. At the end of the morning’s activities there will be an optional lunch or drink at the Bulls Head pub. Please indicate in the comment box, if you plan to join us for lunch. This visit is not suitable for children, or dogs.
Booking is essential. If you wish to join us for the day, please book your spaces before Friday 11th May either online or by returning the downloadable slip with your email address or a stamped, addressed envelope so you may be sent full details of the event. For any further information, contact us at Info@surreyhillssociety.org.
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