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Military Vehicles and Engineering Establishment

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68-518: The Military Vehicles and Engineering Establishment ( MVEE ) was a British defence research unit on Chobham Lane, Chertsey in Surrey. It was responsible for many innovations in armoured vehicle design, including ceramic Chobham armour . The Admiralty's Landships Committee was created in 1915 to oversee the development of what would become known as tanks . In the same year, the Design Department

136-406: A Regency period framing of its door . Wood panelling with subdued embellishment decorates the rooms. Owner Joseph Mawbey had architect Kenton Couse build this substantial Georgian building surrounded by a manicured estate, now a private nursing home. U-shaped it is a rectangle of three storeys with seven windows to each of the four fronts, built of ashlar its ground floor is rusticated with

204-443: A Tympanum is inscribed: "c5 Founded by Sr Wm PERKINS KBE For Fifty Children clothed and taught Go and do likewise". 25 Windsor Street is also at Grade II* architecturally, early C18 however a larger three-storey house in brown brick with a tile roof, nipped. A moulded wood eaves cornice, altered, has supporting brackets. Five sash windows with bars make up the windows. A central entrance encased door has an open pediment in

272-530: A market charter from Henry I . A bridge across the River Thames first appeared in the early 15th century. The River Bourne through the town meets the Thames at Weybridge. The Anglican church has a medieval tower and chancel roof. The 18th-century listed buildings include the current stone Chertsey Bridge and Botleys Mansion . A curfew bell , rung at 8pm on weekdays from Michaelmas to Lady Day ties with

340-413: A modillion eaves cornice; a parapet roof tops the structure. Each front has three centre window bays that project slightly with a pediment above and their original glazing bars intact. Ground floor windows have keystones. Upper windows have moulded architraves, those on 1st floor with cornices over, the centre one with a pediment. On the north front, the centre projection has four engaged Ionic columns with

408-615: A London "commuter town", Chertsey is home to the head office of Compass Group , and the UK head office and European headquarters of Samsung Electronics . Samsung moved there in 2005; previously the Samsung offices were in New Malden . Thorpe Park , part of Merlin Entertainments Ltd, is on the northern boundary, connected by frequent buses from Staines-upon-Thames and Chertsey. Chertsey Bridge

476-589: A branch railway... The river Wey Navigation and canal passes...two miles [3 km] [away from Chertsey]...conveyance for the several articles of manufacture, and for large quantities of vegetables, which are cultivated in the environs for the London market. The market, chartered by Queen Elizabeth in 1559, is on Wednesday: the fairs are on the first Monday and Tuesday in Lent, for cattle; 14 May, for sheep; and 6 August and 25 September, for toys and pedlery. A court of pie-poudre

544-451: A donation by Frithwald . Until the end of use of the hundreds , used in the feudal system until the establishment of Rural Districts and Urban District Councils , the name chosen for the wider Chertsey area hundred was Godley Hundred . In the 9th century, the abbey and town were sacked by the Danes , leaving a mark today in the name of the neighbouring village, Thorpe , and refounded as

612-507: A high plaster ceiling. Other good ceilings and doorcases to principal rooms on 1st floor. Bournewood House is part of Bournewood Park Hospital a central building in a large medical NHS trust adjoining St Peter's Hospital, formerly a nursing wing of the above hospital when it was run from the Victorian period as a mental hospital or asylum retreat. Chertsey has a Non-League football club, Chertsey Town F.C. who play at Alwyns Lane. The town

680-439: A pediment above containing a cartouche flanked by swags of husks; a piano nobile to one side connects the middle floor with a doorway with a rectangular fanlight, approached by a horse-shoe shaped stair connected with doorway by a bridge, beneath which is the service entrance to the ground floor below. Two fronts are prolonged in the same style by large modern additions. Entrance has a good hall with screen of four Ionic columns and

748-624: A plan for up to 113,434 square metres of development in 2005, which was later reduced. It now forms the backlot of Longcross Studios and has plans for redevelopment as residential. 51°22′54″N 0°35′33″W  /  51.38167°N 0.59250°W  / 51.38167; -0.59250 Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede , Surrey , England, 18 miles (29 km) southwest of central London. It grew up around Chertsey Abbey , founded in AD 666 by St Erkenwald , and gained

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816-556: A retail development. The M25 motorway runs through Runnymede from south to north, with junctions at Chertsey and Egham, while train services in the borough are provided by South Western Railway on the Waterloo–Reading line and the Chertsey branch line . Runnymede is twinned with Bergisch Gladbach , situated 10 miles east of Cologne; Herndon, Virginia , about 20 miles west of Washington, D.C.; and Joinville-le-Pont , located to

884-538: A subsidiary abbey from Abingdon Abbey by King Edgar in 964. Chertsey appears in the Domesday Book as Certesi . It was held partly by Chertsey Abbey and partly by Richard Sturmid from the abbey. Its Domesday assets were: 5 hides , 1 mill and 1 forge at the hall, 20 ploughs , 80 hectares of meadow , woodland worth 50 hogs . It rendered a larger than average sum for the book of manor and ecclesiastical parish entries, £22. The abbey grew to become one of

952-544: A third of the council elected each time for a four-year term of office. Surrey County Council elections are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no borough council elections. The council is based at Runnymede Civic Centre on Station Road in Addlestone . The new building cost a reported £12.6m and opened in May 2008. The council's former offices were on the adjoining site and were subsequently demolished to make way for

1020-404: A wide range of acute care services, on the straight A road to Woking close to the much younger parish of Ottershaw. Hospital Radio Wey has been broadcasting to the patients and staff of St Peter's Hospital since 1965 and now also broadcasts on the internet as RadioWey. St Peter's church has a 13th/14th-century west tower (with 18th-century bricks above the belfry) and east chancel; a collection of

1088-463: A wider area was included in Chertsey: Ottershaw (and Brox) was an ecclesiastical district; whose church-sponsored (first built) schools were built in 1870, so too was Addlestone . Today the history of the abbey is reflected in local place names and the surviving former fishponds that fill with water after heavy rain. The nearby Hardwick Court Farm , now much reduced in size and cut off from

1156-460: Is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and Grade II* listed structure that has a listed City (of London tax) Post at one end, and nearby milestones. It is predominantly of ashlar light stone with two white flagstone york stone pavements with a low weight limit and narrow carriageways inappropriate to HGVs, which have Staines Bridge , Walton Bridge or motorway alternatives to reach Spelthorne . Samuel Lewis included it in his opening description of

1224-527: Is a local government district with borough status in Surrey , England. Its council is based in Addlestone and the borough also includes the towns of Chertsey and Egham . The borough is named after Runnymede , a water meadow on the banks of the River Thames near Egham, which is connected with the sealing of Magna Carta by King John in 1215. It is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt , having some of

1292-552: Is a Grade II* listed building that was referenced by Nikolaus Pevsner and has a brick front with gauged flat arches to its windows, supplemented by square brick pilasters to the corners. Moulded brick cornice underlies a parapet (flat/almost flat) roof. Carved stone vases ornament the masonry in the corners; a band of rendering marks off the first floor. A large centre first floor window is arched with stone keystone and impost blocks, radial bars at its head. Other windows are all sash windows with bars; 12 paned. Its entrance door has

1360-430: Is a conservation area, joined by an arcade to a medium-sized supermarket and car park to the south. The character of this central area is that of a traditional small town, with relatively narrow building frontages set hard up against the pavement, so that they clearly define the public space. The centre of the town is richly endowed with listed buildings most of which date from the 16th and 17th centuries. In addition to

1428-519: Is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £13. 12. 4.; net income, £307; patrons, alternately, the Haberdashers' Company , and the governors of Christ's Hospital ; impropriators , the landowners. The church, a handsome structure in the later English style, with a square embattled tower, was built with money raised on annuities, in 1808; it contains a tablet to the memory of the celebrated orator and statesman, Charles James Fox , and several monuments to

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1496-636: Is also home to Dial Square F.C. , who have ground-shared with The Curfews since August 2022. Chertsey Meads adjoin a start of a southern variant of the Thames Path on the south bank from where the path crosses the river at Chertsey Bridge. On the north of this park is the main Thameside development, the Bridge Wharf estate, through which passes this strand of the Thames Path, the long northern border then follows

1564-455: Is an annual event on the 2nd Saturday of July each year with live music and refreshments. Schools in Chertsey include; Chertsey High School is a non-faith school which welcomes children from different faiths and non-faith backgrounds, whilst maintaining strong Christian principles; the school ethos is Knowledge, Determination and Love . It opened in 2017 using the buildings that remained from

1632-446: Is attached to the fair in Lent. The county magistrates hold...and headboroughs and other officers are appointed...at the court leet of the lord of the manor, who also holds a court baron on the following day at Hardwick Court , now a farmhouse, but once the manorial mansion, in which Henry VI resided when a child. ...county debt-court of Chertsey, established in 1847... The parish comprises about 10,020 acres [4,050 ha]. The living

1700-626: Is of national importance, contains around three thousand pieces of costume and was donated by Matthews to the museum in 1969. The museum contains clocks by two local makers, James Douglass and Henry Wale Cartwright. (Note however that there were three successive watchmakers called James Douglass (or Douglas) in the Douglas family, the latter based in Egham) St. Peter's Hospital , originally intended to serve casualties of World War II , formally came into being on 12 September 1939. It now has 400 beds and

1768-422: Is recorded as Certesi in Domesday Book in 1086 and as Certeseye in 1129–30. Other later forms include Charteseye (mid-14th century), Charsey (in 1543) and Chutsey (in 1606). The first use of the modern spelling "Chertsey" is from 1559. The first part of the toponym "Chertsey" is thought to refer to a Celtic individual, whose name was subsequently Latinised to Cerotus . The second part derives from

1836-457: Is within the M25 , accessible via junction 11. It has a population of 15,967. The first written mention of Chertsey is by Bede c.  750 , in which he describes the location as Cerotaesei, id est Ceroti insula (translated as "Chertsey, that is the island of Cerotus "). The settlement appears in 13th-century copies of 7th-century charters as Cirotesige , Cirotesge and Cerotesge . The manor

1904-601: The Defence Research Agency (DRA), an executive agency of the Ministry of Defence . In turn, DRA became a division of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) in 1995. The Chertsey and Christchurch sites were among those allocated to Qinetiq when DERA was broken up in 2001 with the intention that Qinetiq would be privatised, which happened in 2006. Technologies such as electric armour were retained within

1972-599: The Department of Tank Design . In 1942 the DTD at Farnborough spawned the Fighting Vehicles Proving Establishment ( FVPE ), which moved to a new purpose-built camp in Chertsey on the site of the former RAF Chobham that was convenient for testing tanks on Chobham Heath . The Wheeled Vehicles Experimental Establishment (WVEE) was also formed out of the DTD in that year, and moved to Chertsey in 1943. In 1946

2040-548: The London commuter belt in the outermost part of the Greater London Urban Area and is served by Chertsey railway station and separated from all adjoining settlements by the buffer of designated areas of Green Belt . Measuring from centre to centre, Chertsey is 29 kilometres (18 mi) from London, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) from Addlestone, and 17.6 kilometres (10.9 mi) from the county town, Guildford. The traditional, yet commercially important town centre

2108-566: The Old English ēg and means "island or well-watered land". Chertsey is one of the oldest market towns in England. Its Church of England parish church dates to the 12th century (see below) and the farmhouse of the Hardwick in the elevated southwest is of 16th-century construction. It grew to all sides but the north around Chertsey Abbey, founded in 666 A.D. by Eorcenwald, Bishop of London , using

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2176-573: The Thames towards Addlestone to the confluence, by private houses, on the south side of the River Bourne, Chertsey . Narrower parks and allotments, interspersed by relatively few developments, follow this brook upstream through the town centre, which rises a few miles above Virginia Water (the actual lake of the same name as the more recent settlement as a whole) to its north and south. Much of its upper catchment area still remains Crown Estate . Altogether

2244-483: The Tuscan order with flat pilasters . Radial bars segment its arched fanlight . At the top floor is a stone moulded band; the middle floor band is also rendered; the ground floor band is lined and painted. Red gauged brick flat arches top the windows with window dressings and quoins . Its front railings have spearhead bars and metal standards with vases, gadrooned . Pyrcroft House on Pyrcroft Road leading to St Ann's Hill

2312-631: The 19th century and was situated in Gogmore Lane. The Chertsey troop of the Berkshire Yeomanry occupied the Drill Hall on Drill Hall Road since 1977. The unit has close ties with the borough and was granted the freedom of Runnymede in 2009. The Drill Hall closed at the end of March 2010 and the troop had to return to Windsor due to cuts in the Territorial Army in 2009–2010. Chertsey is part of

2380-519: The Conservative minority administration between 2023 and 2024. The other two (both representing Englefield Green East) form part of the majority administration group. The next election is due in 2026. Since the last boundary changes in 2019 the council has comprised 41 councillors representing 14 wards with each ward electing three councillors except Englefield Green East which elects two. Elections are held three years out of every four, with roughly

2448-794: The DTD merged with WVEE to form the Fighting Vehicle Design Department (FVDD) at Chertsey alongside the FVPE. The FVDD was renamed the Fighting Vehicle Design Establishment (FVDE) in 1948. Four years later the FVPE and FVDE merged to create the Fighting Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (FVRDE). FVRDE and the Military Experimental Engineering Establishment (MEXE) at Christchurch amalgamated in 1970 to form

2516-796: The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). The research staff at Chertsey were joined by the Vehicles Branch of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) in 1972, which became the Vehicles and Weapons Branch in 1982, the Army Technical Support Agency (ATSA) in 1995, and finally the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO) Chertsey from 2000 until 2005. The DLO and its predecessors were responsible for

2584-489: The Mawbey family. A church has been built at Addlestone and...Independents and Methodists. A school was founded in 1725, by Sir William Perkins , who endowed it with £3000 Bank stock, which sum, augmented by an accumulating annual surplus, produces at present nearly £400 per annum; the school has been extended upon the national plan. The tolls and profits arising from stallage in the market and fairs were granted by Queen Elizabeth to

2652-842: The Military Vehicles and Engineering Establishment (MVEE). In 1984-5 Chertsey became the Vehicles Department of the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment (RARDE) as the MVEE and the Propellants, Explosives and Rocket Motor Establishment (PERME) based at Waltham Abbey and Westcott , merged with RARDE Fort Halstead . In the wake of the ending of the Cold War, RARDE merged with other research establishments in April 1991 to form

2720-475: The Olympic sport of rowing (in racing shells ) has an annual Burway Regatta above Chertsey Lock , an area of former flood meadow , reservoirs and golf course. The Burway was in the medieval period let out by the abbey as over 200 acres (0.81 km ) of grazing pasture (and remains postally associated with the town). The Burway faces Laleham Park , the largest municipal park of a neighbouring borough. Chertsey

2788-463: The abbey's paving tiles is in its sanctuary; several are also in the British Museum and a 15th-century chancel roof. St Peter's is surrounded by many Grade II listed buildings in the three mixed shopping and residential streets of the town centre however is Grade II* listed building. Curfew House is four narrow houses west of the church, a taller red brick building in a group of five buildings of

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2856-522: The abbey, a private mansion, called the Abbey House, was erected, but this was pulled down some years ago. The town is pleasantly situated upon the Thames...the houses are in general neatly built of brick; the streets are partially paved, and lighted, and the inhabitants are plentifully supplied with water from springs. A neat building, of which the first stone was laid in November 1838, by the high sheriff of

2924-463: The borough, which is an unparished area . The council has been under no overall control since 2023. Following the 2024 election a coalition of Labour , Liberal Democrats , Greens and independent councillors formed to run the council. The first elections to the council were held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of

2992-494: The council since 1974 has been as follows: The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Runnymede. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader or co-leaders of the council . The leaders (or co-leaders) since 1984 have been: Following the 2024 election the composition of the council has been: Of the independent councillors, two (all representing Ottershaw ward) form the "Independent Group", which informally supported

3060-452: The county , has been erected for a literary and scientific institution. The trade is principally in malt and flour; the manufacture of coarse thread, and the making of iron-hoops and brooms, are carried on to a considerable extent; and a great quantity of bricks is also made in the neighbourhood. The town is about three miles [5 km] from the Weybridge station...an act was passed in 1846 for

3128-462: The ground in the war with the Danes, was refounded by King Edgar, and dedicated to St. Peter. In this abbey Henry VI was privately interred; but his remains were subsequently removed, and deposited, with appropriate solemnities, in the Chapel Royal . At the dissolution , its [annual] revenue was £774. 13. 6.: some portions of the outer walls remain, and on the site, and with part of the materials, of

3196-410: The largest Benedictine abbeys in England, supported by large fiefs in the northwest corner of Sussex and Surrey until it was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1536. The King took stone from the abbey to construct his palace at Oatlands Palace ; the villagers also used stone for raising the streets. By the late 17th century, only some outer walls of the abbey remained. During this period until at least 1911

3264-513: The more than 56 numbered houses/shops (42 buildings) nationally listed buildings , nine other buildings in the conservation area are locally listed. A further 11 buildings outside the centre are also nationally listed. Elevation is generally low at 14m in the Town Centre and 11 m on the River Thames at Chertsey Bridge, making it the lowest place in Chertsey. The highest point is on

3332-570: The most expensive housing in the United Kingdom outside central London, such as the Wentworth Estate at Virginia Water . The M25 motorway which encircles London runs through the borough, with Addlestone, Chertsey and Egham Hythe being inside the M25. At the 2021 Census , the population of the borough was 87,739. With a GDP per capita of £87,277 it is the sixth wealthiest borough in the UK, being

3400-592: The open space covers 70 hectares (170 acres). Nearby across Bridge Street by the bridge, to the north of this, is the Chertsey Camping and Caravanning Club Site There is another camping site at Laleham Park on the opposite bank of the Thames. Annually, in early August, the Chertsey Agricultural Show is held here. This 7.25" gauge miniature railway, off Hardwick Lane, opened in September 1968. This

3468-552: The original Meads School, built in 1965. During a two-year occupancy, a new school building was developed alongside, opposite Clay Corner on the Chertsey Road. In 2019, the new school building opened its doors to 450 students, and has the capacity for 900 students over the coming years. The school has developed state-of-the-art facilities, including a 3G sports pitch, which it shares with its neighbours, Abbey Rangers Football Club. Borough of Runnymede The Borough of Runnymede

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3536-536: The outset of the French Revolution and the opportunity was missed. The original Chertsey railway station was built by the London and Southampton Railway and opened on 14 February 1848. The present station, across the level crossing from the site of the original one, was opened on 10 October 1866 by the London and South Western Railway. The Southern Railway completed electrification of the line on 3 January 1937. Samuel Lewis devotes one of his longest entries to

3604-612: The peak of wooded and inhabited St. Ann's Hill which reaches an elevation of 77 m, making it the second-highest point in Runnymede . Across Chertsey bridge, pictured, on the Middlesex side of the river is the Thames Path National Trail and Chertsey Lock . Chertsey town centre lies on a floodplain terrace between the River Thames to the north and The Bourne to the south. Much of the terrace consists of river gravels deposited on

3672-410: The poor, for whose benefit there are various other charitable benefactions, among them a sum of nearly £4000, left by Miss Mary Giles, who died in 1841. The union...contains a population of 14,929. Near the town is St. Ann's Hill, commanding an extensive prospect, formerly the residence of...Fox, and in which are some tessellated pavements, collected from the ruins of the abbey: the water of St. Ann's Well

3740-468: The romantic local legend of Blanche Heriot , marked by a statue of her and the bell at Chertsey Bridge. Green areas include the Thames Path National Trail , Chertsey Meads and a round knoll (St Ann's Hill) with remains of a prehistoric hill fort known as Eldebury Hill. Pyrcroft House dates from the 18th century and Tara from the late 20th. Train services are run between Chertsey railway station and London Waterloo by South Western Railway . The town

3808-407: The same era; the name derives from the cruel King John and Blanche Heriot history and story which took place in the town centre. Below an open pediment are brick pilasters with moulded wood cornice , with dentils . Brick-coped gable ends front the street. Enriched wood architrave features as part of its entrance door and reeded panels with raised centres. Its keystone is dated 1725 , inside

3876-560: The same time: The new district was named after the water meadow of Runnymede on the banks of the Thames at Egham on the northern edge of the borough, which is connected with the sealing of Magna Carta by King John in 1215 and is the site of several significant monuments. The district was awarded borough status in 1978, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor . Runnymede Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Surrey County Council . There are no civil parishes in

3944-634: The sandy Bagshot Beds, which in turn overlie the London Clay. The soil in this area is loamy and the water table is naturally high. St Ann's Hill appears as an island of Tertiary strata, surrounded by river deposits. The hill is composed primarily of the Bagshot Beds, but is capped by Bracklesham Clays with a thick pebble bed. South west of the town centre, the chert and flint pebble deposits at Cockcrow Hill and Sandgates were probably deposited by an earlier course of The Bourne. Aside from being

4012-547: The small town in his 1848 topographical guide to England: ...a market-town and parish, and the head of a union ... 13 miles [21 km] (N. N. E.) from Guildford , and 20 [miles (30 km)] (W. S. W.) from London; containing 5347 inhabitants. During the Heptarchy , the South Saxon kings had their residence in this town ; and it became noted for a Benedictine monastery, founded in 666 by Erkenwald ...which, having been burnt to

4080-467: The support and testing of all British Army vehicles. During the 1980s, vehicle testing was carried out by a sub-contracted company who provided drivers to test a range of military vehicles ascertaining a range of requirements from their ability to move over rough terrain through to their tipping point. Qinetiq sold the 315 acre Chertsey site to Crest Nicholson and Morley Fund Management (part of CGNU ) for redevelopment in November 2003. They submitted

4148-492: The town above: "...[River Thames] over which is a handsome stone bridge of seven arches, built in 1785, at an expense of £13,000, defrayed jointly by the counties of Surrey and Middlesex ..." It was built in 1783–1785 by James Paine . Chertsey has an admission-free museum on Windsor Street, which provides considerable information about the history of Chertsey. The museum holds the Olive Matthews costume collection, which

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4216-470: The town by the M25, has the successor to the abbey's large and well-supported 15th-century tithe barn, mostly rebuilt in the 17th century. The eighteenth-century Chertsey Bridge provides an important cross-river link, and Chertsey Lock is a short distance above it on the opposite side. On the south west corner of the bridge is a bronze statue of local heroine Blanche Heriot striking the bell by Sheila Mitchell . The summit of St Ann's Hill in Chertsey

4284-482: The wealthiest outside of London. The UK Competitiveness Index ranks it as the 8th most economically competitive area in the UK, with only London boroughs ahead. The neighbouring districts are Spelthorne , Elmbridge , Woking , Surrey Heath and Windsor and Maidenhead . The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 , covering two former districts which were both abolished at

4352-714: Was a vital viewing point for the Anglo-French Survey , which calculated the distance between the Royal Greenwich Observatory and the Paris Observatory using trigonometry . A grid of triangles was measured all the way to the French coast, to join up with the French survey; St Ann's Hill was crucial for the link with the base-line of the English survey on Hounslow Heath . In the 18th century, Chertsey Cricket Club

4420-422: Was once in repute for its efficacy in curing diseases of the eye. The poet Cowley lived for some time in an ancient house in the town, called Cowley House, in which he died; and Mr. Day, author of Sandford and Merton, resided in the vicinity. Chertsey Regatta has been held on the river for over 150 years, which is in the non-Olympic regional sport of skiffing which has a club on this reach of river. Similarly

4488-479: Was one of the strongest in the country and beat the rest of England (excluding Hampshire) by more than an innings in 1778. The Duke of Dorset , (who played cricket for Chertsey), was appointed Ambassador to France in 1784. He arranged to have the Chertsey cricket team travel to France in 1789 to introduce cricket to the French nobility. However, the team, on arriving at Dover, met the Ambassador returning from France at

4556-401: Was set up at the Royal Arsenal , Woolwich . The Tank and Tracked Transport Experiment Establishment (TTTEE) was formed at Farnborough in 1925, which in turn spawned the Mechanical Warfare Experimental Establishment (MWEE) in 1928. The MWEE was renamed the Mechanisation Experimental Establishment (MEE) in 1934 and in 1940 the MEE merged with elements of the Design Department at Woolwich to form

4624-450: Was the home of Charles James Fox , who had wished to be buried there but instead is buried in Westminster Abbey. The nearby estate that is now the large Foxhills Golf Estate, Spa and Restaurant, close to Ottershaw and Lyne , was named in honour of him, but was not his home. A long history of metal working exists, and from the 19th century a prosperous bell foundry, Eldridge, was in Windsor Street. Herrings, an iron foundry, flourished during

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