170-541: Horsell is a village in the borough of Woking in Surrey , England, less than a mile north-west of Woking town centre. In November 2012, its population was 9,384. Horsell is integral to H. G. Wells ' classic science fiction novel The War of the Worlds , the sand pits of Horsell Common being the site of the first Martian landing. Horsell Common has since been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest . Another landmark
340-405: A London labourer just 17 years. Public health policy at this time was shaped by the miasma theory (the belief that airborne particles released by decaying flesh were the primary factor in the spread of contagious illness), and the bad smells and risks of disease caused by piled bodies and exhumed rotting corpses caused great public concern. A royal commission established in 1842 to investigate
510-570: A consignment of timber to Woking, was made via the canal in 1947. By the mid-1960s, the canal was derelict, but between 1970 and 1976 it was purchased by Surrey and Hampshire county councils. Restoration of the canal was completed in 1991 and the canal is now open for navigation from the Wey to the eastern portal of Greywell Tunnel . The construction of the London and Southampton Railway began in October 1834 and
680-596: A dedicated columbarium . The LNC also provided the land for a number of significant military cemeteries and memorials at Brookwood after both World Wars . In 1941 London Necropolis railway station , the LNC's London railway terminus, was badly damaged by enemy bombing, and the London Necropolis Railway was abandoned. Rising property prices in Surrey in the 1940s and 1950s made the LNC increasingly valuable, but also made it
850-425: A different state of things, the middle and working classes of the metropolis will not be slow in perceiving the advantages of extramural burial, conjointly with a management that frees them from extortion ... To merely provide decency of sepulchre was not, and is not, all. [The LNC] perceived that if it was to work out with any efficiency the problem of extramural burial, it must be its own undertaker, and provide
1020-483: A first class coffin (in 1891 worth about £41 and £138 respectively in 2024 consumer terms). Rival firms of undertakers were not permitted to use the LNC's trains to Brookwood Cemetery and had to pay the much more expensive LSWR fares to transport coffins and mourners from Waterloo to Woking, giving the LNC a significant advantage in carriage to the crematorium. While the LNC never built its own crematorium, in 1910 Lord Cadogan decided he no longer wanted to be interred in
1190-434: A hand-drawn bier and pulled by LNC staff to the appropriate chapel. While this was taking place the mourners were escorted to the waiting rooms at the station. On arrival at the chapels first and second class funerals would generally have a brief service (third class funerals had a single service in the appropriate chapel for all those being buried). For those burials where the funeral service had already been held at either
1360-721: A junction in May 1845 when the branch to Guildford was opened. Three other railway stations were built in the present borough: Brookwood (opened in June 1864), Worplesdon (opened in March 1883) and West Byfleet (opened in December 1887 as Byfleet). The track through Woking station was quadrupled in 1904 and electrified in 1937. The London Necropolis Company was established by an Act of Parliament in 1852 to create Brookwood Cemetery . New burials had been banned in central London graveyards in 1850, and
1530-572: A long term solution to the crisis, Edwin Chadwick proposed the closure of all existing burial grounds in the vicinity of London other than the privately owned Kensal Green Cemetery in west London. Kensal Green Cemetery was to be nationalised and greatly enlarged to provide a single burial ground for west London. A large tract of land on the Thames around 9 miles (14 km) southeast of London in Abbey Wood (on
1700-491: A major railway junction as well as several Vickers factories making aircraft parts, made Woking an obvious target for enemy bombing. The most severe attack took place in January 1941, in which seven people were killed. By the end of 1944, the borough had experienced 58 air raids, during which around 25 houses had been destroyed and almost 2300 damaged. The final bomb attack on Woking, a V-2 rocket , fell on 2 March 1945. The town
1870-501: A new factory, known as the Lion Works, on the site of the former Oriental Institute . By 1919, over 600 Buzzard biplanes had been produced in Woking, but following the end of the war, demand for aircraft declined, and the company closed in 1924. In 1926, the site of the Lion Works was purchased by James Walker, whose company specialised in the production of packaging materials. By 1939,
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#17328514689442040-513: A new station in return for the existing station. The LNC agreed to the proposals, in return for the LSWR granting the LNC control of the design of the new station and leasing the new station to the LNC for a token rent in perpetuity, providing new rolling stock, removing any limit on the number of passengers using the Necropolis service, and providing the free carriage of machinery and equipment to be used in
2210-459: A parish church or the LNC's London terminus the coffins would be taken directly from the train to the grave. The return trains to London generally left South station at 2.15 pm and Necropolis Junction at 2.30 pm; the return journey initially took around an hour owing to the need to stop to refill the engine with water, but following the construction of the water tower in the cemetery this fell to around 40 minutes. An 1854 agreement between
2380-440: A popular choice for the burial of actors for the same reason, to the extent that actors were provided with a dedicated section of the cemetery near the station entrance. While the majority of burials conducted by the LNC (around 80%) were pauper funerals on behalf of London parishes, the LNC also reached agreement with a number of societies, guilds, religious bodies and similar organisations. The LNC provided dedicated sections of
2550-468: A population of 103,900 in 2021. The main urban centre stretches from Knaphill in the west to Byfleet in the east, but the satellite villages of Brookwood , Mayford , Pyrford and Old Woking retain strong individual identities. Around 60% of the borough is protected by the Metropolitan Green Belt , which severely limits the potential for further housebuilding. Recent developments have included
2720-402: A railway of this unique nature became clearer. Other than brick platform faces, chimneys and foundations, the stations were built entirely of wood. Each station held first class and ordinary reception rooms for mourners, a first class and an ordinary refreshment room, and a set of apartments for LNC staff. To provide an attractive first view of the cemetery for visitors arriving at the stations,
2890-491: A railway trackbed. The rails, and in particular the sleepers , deteriorated rapidly and needed constantly to be replaced. A site for the London terminus near Waterloo had been suggested by Richard Broun. Its proximity to the Thames meant that bodies could be cheaply transported to the terminus by water from much of London, while being situated near three major Thames bridges the area was easily accessed from both north and south of
3060-428: A reception-house, as well as railway transit. This it has done accordingly. The London Necropolis Company offered three classes of funerals: Brookwood was one of the few cemeteries to permit burials on Sundays, which made it a popular choice with the poor as it allowed people to attend funerals without the need to take a day off work. As theatrical performances were banned on Sundays at this time, it also made Brookwood
3230-447: A royal property at the start of the 14th century. Edward II granted it to Piers Gaveston , but following Gaveston's downfall in 1312, it reverted to the Crown. Anne of Denmark , wife of King James I was the manor's last royal owner and thereafter it was held by a series of private individuals. The current manor house dates from 1686, but it was restored and extended in 1905. Pyrford
3400-562: A significant portion, of the burials of London's dead. However, while the Metropolitan Interment Amendment Act 1852 had repealed Chadwick's scheme for two very large cemeteries near London, it had also permitted London's parishes to make their own arrangements for the burial of their dead. Each parish could make arrangements with the cemetery of its choosing, or use money from the rates to create their own cemeteries. The financial mismanagement and internal disputes within
3570-459: A slow programme of clearing and restoring the derelict sections of the cemetery commenced. Although it was never as successful as planned, the LNC was very influential in both the funeral industry and in the development of the area around Woking, and Brookwood Cemetery remains the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom. Since the conversion of London to Christianity in the early 7th century,
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#17328514689443740-509: A target for property speculators. In 1959 a hostile takeover succeeded, and LNC's independence came to an end. From 1959 to 1985 a succession of owners stripped the profitable parts of the business from the company, leaving a rump residual company operating the increasingly derelict cemetery. In 1985 what remained of the company came into the ownership of Ramadan Güney , who set about reviving what remained. Links were formed with London's Muslim communities in an effort to encourage new burials, and
3910-400: A thriving market in second hand coffin furniture, coffin wood was burned as household fuel, and exhumed bones were shipped in bulk to the north of England to be sold as fertiliser. Decaying corpses contaminated the water supply and the city suffered regular epidemics of cholera , smallpox , measles and typhoid ; in 1842 the mean working life of a London professional man was 30 years and of
4080-592: A train, and felt that it demeaned the dignity of the deceased for the bodies of respectable members of the community to be carried on a train also carrying the bodies and relatives of those who had led immoral lives. Meanwhile, Henry Drummond , Member of Parliament for the West Surrey constituency which covered the Brookwood site, James Mangles , MP for the nearby constituency of Guildford , and labour reform campaigner Lord Ashley (later Lord Shaftesbury) lobbied against
4250-487: A victory for the campaign to end private profiteering from death and that the new scheme would reverse these gains, and was also concerned about the health implications of diseased bodies being transported to and stored at the London terminus in large numbers while awaiting trains to Brookwood. Despite the opposition, on 30 June 1852 the London Necropolis and National Mausoleum Act 1852 ( 15 & 16 Vict. c. cxlix)
4420-476: A wharf was provided at Horsell for the use of local farmers. In the first half of the 19th century, bricks were manufactured in the area now occupied by Goldsworth Road and were transported to London via a wharf adjacent to the Rowbarge pub. The canal declined sharply after the opening of the London and Southampton Railway in the late 1830s and traffic west of Woking had ceased by 1921. The final commercial delivery,
4590-525: Is Horsell Common , where H. G. Wells set the landing of the Martians in his novel War of the Worlds . The common is the site of a bronze-age barrow cemetery as well as a World War I era Muslim burial ground , a bomb crater from World War II , a large seasonal pond with a sandpit, and an open field extending to the grounds of the McLaren headquarters. It hosts a wide variety of plant and wildlife species and has
4760-521: Is a town and borough in northwest Surrey , England, around 23 mi (36 km) from central London . It appears in Domesday Book as Wochinges , and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The earliest evidence of human activity is from the Paleolithic , but the low fertility of the sandy local soils meant that the area was the least populated part of the county in 1086. Between
4930-501: Is in the parliamentary constituency of Woking and has been represented at Westminster since July 2024 by Liberal Democrat Will Forster . Councillors are elected to Surrey County Council every four years. The borough is covered by seven divisions, each of which elects one councillor. The seven divisions are: "The Byfleets", "Goldsworth East and Horsell Village", "Knaphill and Goldsworth West", "Woking North", "Woking South", "Woking South East" and "Woking South West". Elections to
5100-535: Is mentioned in a c. 1200 copy of an early 8th-century letter from Pope Constantine to Hedda, Abbot of Bermondsey and Woking. The first part of the name "Woking" is thought to refer to an Anglo-Saxon individual, who may have been called "Wocc" or "Wocca". The second part is derived from the Old English - ingas and means "people of" or "family of". The Borough of Woking covers an area of 64 km (25 sq mi) in northwest Surrey. Woking town,
5270-466: Is named for the business owned by the Stedman family, which operated from the 1860s until the 1910s. Byfleet Brewery, the largest in the modern borough, was active for much of the second half of the 19th century, but production was moved to Guildford after the company was taken over by Friary Ales in the 1890s. The multinational brewing and beverage company, SABMiller , was based in Woking from 1999 until it
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5440-651: Is the McLaren Technology Centre , built on the northern edge of the common in the early 2000s for the McLaren Group . Horsell was first documented in the 13th century, although the parish church of St Mary the Virgin is believed to date from the middle of the 12th century. The name probably comes from the Anglo-Saxon horig scylf , meaning "muddy slope". This may refer to the hill known as Horsell Rise now carrying
5610-685: The 'Jackmanii' and the 'Belle of Woking'. By 1900, horticulture was one of the most important industries in the area, but following the end of the Second World War, most firms closed or relocated, and their land was sold for housebuilding. Heavy industry arrived in Woking during the First World War with the establishment of the Martinsyde Aircraft Works on Oriental Road. The founders, H. P. Martin and George Handasyde were unable to expand their existing factory at Brooklands and set up
5780-625: The Ancient Order of Foresters to the Corps of Commissionaires and the LSWR. The Nonconformist cemetery also includes a Parsee burial ground established in 1862, which as of 2011 remains the only Zoroastrian burial ground in Europe. Dedicated sections in the Anglican cemetery were also reserved for burials from those parishes which had made burial arrangements with the LNC. Immediately after its foundation
5950-525: The Home Secretary , bowed to strong protests from local residents and threatened to prosecute if any cremations were conducted. As a consequence the crematorium was not used other than for the experimental incineration of livestock. The 1884 trial of William Price established that human cremation was not unlawful in England, and on 26 March 1885 the first human cremation took place at Woking. Although
6120-662: The Local Government Act 1894 , the Woking Local Board became an urban district council (UDC) . Byfleet, Horsell and Pyrford became part of the Chertsey Rural District, although the parish of Horsell was transferred into the Woking Urban District in 1907, It was not until 1933, when the Chertsey Rural District was abolished, that both Byfleet and Pyrford joined the Woking Urban District. The council
6290-478: The London Necropolis & National Mausoleum Company until 1927, was a cemetery operator established by Act of Parliament in 1852 in reaction to the crisis caused by the closure of London 's graveyards in 1851. The LNC intended to establish a single cemetery large enough to accommodate all of London's future burials in perpetuity. The company's founders recognised that the recently invented technology of
6460-616: The Woking Convict Invalid Prison and Brookwood Hospital in the mid-19th century. Modern Woking began to develop between the mid-1860s and late-1880s, as the London Necropolis Company sold excess land that had not been used for Brookwood Cemetery. The High Street had been laid out by 1863, and a post office opened there in 1865. By 1869, the first houses had appeared on Ellen Street (now West Street), Providence Street (now Church Street) and Commercial Road. By
6630-536: The railway provided the ability to conduct burials far from populated areas, mitigating concerns over public health risks from living near burial sites. Accordingly, the company bought a large tract of land in Brookwood, Surrey , around 25 miles (40 km) from London, and converted a portion of it into Brookwood Cemetery . A dedicated railway line, the London Necropolis Railway , linked the new cemetery to
6800-864: The 11th Battalion of the South Eastern Home Guard . Training was carried out at Mizens Farm, Horsell, and included a mock battle with Canadian, Polish and Free French troops in 1941. Dedicated Home Guard units were responsible for guarding the Woking Electric Supply Company power station, the GQ parachute factory and the Sorbo Rubber Works. Woking railway station was defended by troops operating light anti-aircraft artillery. Air raid shelters were opened on Commercial Road and at Wheatsheaf Recreation Ground in 1939, followed in 1941 by further shelters, including at Victoria Gardens. The presence of
6970-528: The 11th century. The basic street layout is likely to have been established in Medieval times, and there was a period of strong growth following the grant of a market in 1662. The settlement expanded northwards during the interwar period , and Old Woking is now contiguous with the main urban area of the borough. The majority of the borough is drained by the River Wey, which flows along the southeastern boundary of
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7140-471: The 1852 Act but had not yet been completed, easing the immediate financial burden. It also allowed a ten-year window for the LNC to sell certain parts of the land bought from Lord Onslow which were not required for the cemetery, to provide a source of income. Although the 1855 Act permitted the LNC to sell land, this proved difficult. Of the 2,200-acre (3.4 sq mi; 8.9 km ) site, around 700 acres (1.1 sq mi; 2.8 km ) were occupied by
7310-548: The 1880s the LNC began a more aggressive programme to maximise its income. The process for the sale of surplus land was improved, resulting in increased income. The LNC redeveloped its lands at Hook Heath into housing and a golf course, creating a new suburb of Woking and providing a steady income from rentals. After an 1884 ruling that cremation was lawful in England the LNC also took advantage of its proximity to Woking Crematorium by providing transport for bodies and mourners on its railway line and after 1910 by interring ashes in
7480-420: The 1890s, most of the land to the north of the railway line had been sold, but the London Necropolis Company had been unable to find a buyer for Hook Heath, to the south. The company decided to develop the area itself and divided it into plots for large, detached houses. A golf course was built on part of the heath to attract residents and visitors. The first council housing in Woking was constructed following
7650-505: The 18th century this land had been nicknamed "the Waste of Woking", and with poor quality gravel soil it was of little use in farming and thus available very cheaply. The London and South Western Railway (LSWR)—which had connected London to Woking in 1838—would enable bodies and mourners to be shipped from London to the site easily and cheaply. Broun envisaged dedicated coffin trains, each carrying 50–60 bodies, travelling from London to
7820-399: The 1944 Greater London Plan , Pyrford and Byfleet were identified as areas for overspill development and homes for 3,250 former London residents were expected to be built in the borough. In 1947, London County Council purchased 230 acres (93 ha) at Sheerwater and by 1951 had constructed 1,279 houses and flats for new tenants. In 1965, much of the remaining open space in the borough
7990-464: The Brookwood end, were designated the initial cemetery site, and a branch railway line was built from the LSWR main line into this section. A plot of land between Westminster Bridge Road and York Street (now Leake Street) was chosen as the site for the London railway terminus. Architect William Tite and engineer William Cubitt drew up a design for a station, which was approved in June 1854, and completed in October 1854. In July 1854 work began on
8160-554: The Christian Public, but also, if desired and deemed expedient, into as many separate compartments as there are parishes within London and its suburbs ... [and] a Mausoleum Church, with funeral chapels, private mausolea, vaults, and catacombs, large enough to contain, not only the thousands of coffins now lying within our numerous Metropolitan Churches, but also the coffins of all such dying in London, in this and future generations ... [A] grand and befitting gathering place for
8330-469: The Crown until 1189, when Richard I granted it to Alan Basset , who later received the manor of Sutton from King John . Woking was inherited by his descendants until it passed, through marriage, to Hugh le Despenser . It remained in the Despenser family until 1326 when it was granted to Edmund Holland, the fourth Earl of Kent . In the mid-15th century, the manor was inherited by Margaret Beauchamp . It
8500-520: The Horsell Village School, built 1851, and independent school St. Andrew's School along with Woking High School , formerly Horsell High School. It is also the home of Woking and Horsell Cricket Club, whose members have included Alec and Eric Bedser . The famous twins played cricket for Surrey ; Alec also played with great success for England. In birth order: Borough of Woking Woking ( / ˈ w oʊ k ɪ ŋ / WOH -king )
8670-515: The LNC also envisaged the physical relocation of the closed burial grounds to their Necropolis, to provide a final solution to the problems caused by burials in built-up areas. The massive London civil engineering projects of the mid-19th century—the railways, the sewer system and from the 1860s the precursors to the London Underground —often necessitated the demolition of existing churchyards. The first major relocation took place in 1862, when
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#17328514689448840-451: The LNC and LSWR gave consent for the LNC to operate two or three funeral trains each day if demand warranted it, but traffic levels never rose to a sufficient level to activate this clause. The train ran only if there was a coffin or passengers at the London terminus waiting to use it, and both the journey from London to Brookwood and the later return would be cancelled if nobody was due to leave London that morning. It would not run if there
9010-426: The LNC had delayed the opening of Brookwood Cemetery by 18 months, and during this period new cemeteries nearer London had opened or were nearing completion. While some parishes did choose Brookwood as their burial site, many preferred either to make arrangements with less distant cemeteries, or to buy land on the outskirts of London and open their own suburban cemeteries. Concerns over the financial irregularities and
9180-414: The LNC used existing firms of London undertakers to arrange funerals, but over time took over all aspects of the arrangements from coffin-making to masonry. LNC funerals were intentionally kept as similar as possible to those of traditional undertakers, with the exception that a railway carriage was used in place of a hearse. On being commissioned to provide a funeral, invitations would be sent out either by
9350-460: The LNC was hostile to the idea of cremation, Woking Crematorium was the only operational crematorium in the country. Since the Necropolis Railway provided the easiest way to transport bodies and mourners from London to the Woking area, transport to and from Woking Crematorium soon began to provide a significant source of revenue for the LNC. Cremation remained unusual and very expensive;
9520-448: The LSWR were concerned at the impact the cemetery scheme would have on the normal operations of the railway. At a shareholders' meeting in August 1852 concerns were raised about the impact of funeral trains on normal traffic and of the secrecy in which negotiations between the LSWR and the promoters of the cemetery were conducted. The LSWR management pledged that no concessions would be made to
9690-529: The London terminus was bombed. Construction of St John's , the only significant area where housebuilding was directly stimulated by the opening of the Basingstoke Canal, began in the first decades of the 19th century. In the 1790s, there had been a few scattered smallholdings and squatters' cottages to the south of Knaphill, but the opening of a wharf to serve the nurseries and new brickworks attracted new workers, requiring more extensive accommodation. By
9860-725: The Peace were expanded to take greater responsibility for law and order in the area. Following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 , the parish of Woking was included in the Guildford Poor Law Union, whilst the parishes of Byfleet, Horsell, and Pyrford were included in the Chertsey Poor Law Union. These unions then formed the basis for the rural sanitary districts established in 1872, which gradually took on more local government responsibilities. Surrey County Council
10030-515: The Sunday trains were discontinued, and from 1902 the daily train service was ended and trains ran only as required. On some occasions where there were very large numbers of mourners the LSWR would provide special passenger trains from Waterloo to their own station at Brookwood to carry additional mourners to the vicinity of the cemetery. As well as intending to conduct those burials which would previously have taken place in London's now-closed graveyards,
10200-446: The Weye". The River Wey Navigation was authorised by Act of Parliament in 1651. Twelve locks (including two flood locks), and 9 mi (14 km) of new cuts were constructed between the Thames and Guildford , of which three are in the borough. The opening of the new navigation had a modest effect on the local area, and, by the 18th century, flour produced by watermills at Woking
10370-461: The areas around the stations and their associated chapels were planted with groves of bay , Cedar of Lebanon , rhododendron and Portuguese laurel . At the time the cemetery opened, the nearest railway station other than those on the cemetery branch was Woking railway station , 4 miles (6.4 km) away. As only one train per day ran from London to the cemetery stations and back, and even that ran only when funerals were due to take place, access to
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#173285146894410540-410: The available space and covered with a layer of earth. In more crowded areas even relatively fresh graves had to be exhumed to free up space for new burials, their contents being unearthed and scattered to free up space. In some cases large pits were dug on existing burial grounds, unearthing the previous burials, and fresh corpses crammed into the available space. Intact material from burials was sold on
10710-436: The basis that the cemetery would handle between 10,000 and 50,000 burials per year, but the number never exceeded 4,100 and over its first 20 years of operations averaged just 3,200. As the five-year extension expired the financial difficulties remained, and under pressure from shareholders the London Necropolis & National Mausoleum Amendment Act 1869 was passed. This removed all restrictions on land sales, other than within
10880-485: The borough council take place in three out of every four years. A total of 30 councillors serve at any one time, ten of whom are elected at each election. The council is led by an executive committee consisting of the Leader and six portfolio holders. Each year, one of the councillors serves as Mayor of Woking for a period of twelve months. The role of mayor is primarily ceremonial and the post has little political power. Among
11050-403: The borough on a daily basis. According to the 2015–2016 Annual Population Survey, 85% of the working-age population are in employment (compared to the Surrey average of 80%) and 14% are self-employed (compared to the county average of 12%). However, economic prosperity is not spread uniformly across the borough; two areas of Sheerwater are the most deprived parts of Surrey. In the mid-2010s,
11220-523: The borough sits were deposited in the Cenozoic . The sandy Bagshot Beds are the main outcrop around the town centre and to the north. In the west of the borough, around Knaphill and Brookwood, are the younger Bracklesham Beds . The Bracklesham Beds have a higher clay content than the Bagshot Beds, and brickmaking has historically taken place at Knaphill. The River Wey primarily runs across alluvium and
11390-506: The borough, from Jacobs Well to Byfleet. The Hoe Stream, which joins the Wey near Pyrford Village , runs from Fox Corner through Mayford. The Basingstoke Canal runs from west to east, broadly following the course of the partly culverted Rive Ditch, and the northern part of the borough is drained by the tributaries of the River Bourne . There have been major flooding events in Woking in 1968, 2000, 2014 and 2016. The strata on which
11560-580: The cemeteries across surrounding areas. Although the Metropolitan Interments Act 1850 authorised Chadwick's scheme to proceed, section 1 of the Burial Act 1852 repealed the authorisation. An area of ground so distant as to be beyond any possible future extension of the Capital, sufficiently large to allow of its sub-division, not only into spacious distinct portions for the burial of each sect of
11730-400: The cemetery could travel on any LSWR train to Waterloo, Vauxhall or Clapham Junction . A site for the replacement terminus was bought by the LSWR in 1899, south of the existing site and on the opposite side of Westminster Bridge Road. The new station was completed on 8 February 1902, and the LSWR viaduct was widened to serve a greatly enlarged Waterloo station, destroying all traces of
11900-570: The cemetery for these groups, on the basis that those who had lived or worked together in life could remain together after death. Although the LNC was never able to gain the domination of London's funeral industry for which its founders had hoped, it was very successful at targeting specialist groups of artisans and trades, to the extent that it became nicknamed "the Westminster Abbey of the middle classes". A large number of these dedicated plots were established, ranging from Chelsea Pensioners and
12070-483: The cemetery operators, other than promising them the use of one train each day. Charles James Blomfield , Bishop of London was hostile in general to railway funeral schemes, arguing that the noise and speed of the railways was incompatible with the solemnity of the Christian burial service. Blomfield also considered it inappropriate that the families of people from very different backgrounds would potentially have to share
12240-414: The cemetery was difficult for mourners and LNC staff. Although in the negotiations leading to the creation of the cemetery the LSWR had told the LNC that they planned to build a main line station near the cemetery, they had not done so. On 1 June 1864 the LSWR finally opened Brookwood railway station on their main line, immediately adjacent to the cemetery. A substantial commuter village grew around
12410-411: The cemetery, and the first burial (that of the stillborn twins of a Mr and Mrs Hore of Ewer Street, Borough ) took place. A very few years ago, the idea of founding a cemetery for the metropolis which should be more than 20 miles distant from it would have been looked upon as an absurdity. Yesterday, however, saw the practical embodiment of this idea ... A short distance beyond the Woking station,
12580-414: The cemetery. Although the LSWR was extremely unhappy at what they considered excessive demands, in May 1899 the companies signed an agreement, in which the LSWR gave in to every LNC demand. In addition the LSWR paid £12,000 compensation (about £1.71 million in terms of 2024 consumer spending power) for the inconvenience of relocating the LNC station and offices, and agreed that mourners returning from
12750-456: The city's dead had been buried in and around the local churches. With a limited amount of space for burials, the oldest graves were regularly exhumed to free space for new burials, and the remains of the previous occupants transferred to charnel houses for storage. From the 14th century onwards the charnel houses themselves were overwhelmed, and exhumed bones were scattered where they had been dug up or reburied in pits. Despite this practice, by
12920-446: The city. Financial mismanagement and internal disputes led to delays in the project. By the time Brookwood Cemetery opened in late 1854, a number of other cemeteries had opened nearer to London or were in the process of opening. While some parishes in London did arrange for the LNC to handle the burials of their dead, many preferred to use nearer cemeteries. The LNC had anticipated handling between 10,000 and 50,000 burials per year, but
13090-422: The coffins being loaded onto the train if they so wished. (After the relocation to the new London terminus in 1902, some funeral services would be held in a Chapelle Ardente on platform level, for those cases where mourners were unable to make the journey to Brookwood. ) Each door of the waiting train would be labelled with the name of the deceased, to ensure all passengers travelled with the correct funeral party;
13260-427: The company unable to pay promised dividends, a number of the directors resigned, including Voules, and the remaining public confidence in the scheme collapsed. Broun's scheme had envisaged the cemetery running along both sides of the LSWR main line and divided by religion, with separate private railway halts on the main line, each incorporating a chapel, to serve each religion's section. The new consulting engineer to
13430-503: The company was able to purchase 2,268 acres (918 ha) of common land in the Woking area in 1854. The cemetery was consecrated by the Bishop of Winchester in November 1854. Coffins were transported to Brookwood by train and the cemetery was served by a short single-track branch line with two stations . The company ran funeral trains to Brookwood at least twice a week until April 1941, when
13600-402: The company, William Cubitt , rejected this idea and recommended a single site to the south of the railway line, served by a private branch line through the cemetery. The company also considered Broun's plan for dedicated coffin trains unrealistic, arguing that relatives would not want the coffins to be shipped separately from the deceased's family. In September 1853 a Committee of Enquiry into
13770-495: The construction of Charing Cross railway station and the routes into it necessitated the demolition of the burial ground of Cure's College in Southwark . Around 5,000 cubic yards (3,800 m ) of earth was displaced, uncovering at least 7,950 bodies. These were packed into 220 large containers, each containing 26 adults plus children, and shipped on the London Necropolis Railway to Brookwood for reburial, along with at least some of
13940-528: The construction of two residential tower blocks in the town centre and the conversion of former industrial buildings to apartments. There are six Sites of Special Scientific Interest within the borough boundaries, of which three form part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area . Almost the entire town centre dates from the 20th and 21st centuries. Elsewhere in the borough, there are several historic buildings, including
14110-449: The cost of a cremation at Woking was £6, not including transport and funeral costs, more than twice the £2 10s cost of a first class burial at Brookwood. By 1891 only 177 people had been cremated at Woking. Cyril Tubbs recognised that a potential increase in cremations once the practice became accepted represented an opportunity for the LNC. In July 1891 he proposed that the LNC build its own crematorium and columbarium (building for
14280-480: The country, without varying from its general character of sterility and hardness of outline, becomes gently undulating and offers features which, with some assistance from art, might be made more than pleasing. Here is the London Necropolis, which certainly throws into the shade any previous attempts at extramural interments. It was fitting enough that the largest city in the world should have, as it will now have,
14450-425: The deceased's family or from the LNC offices. These letters specified the waiting room to be used, the time of the train to Brookwood, and the expected return time to London. If the funeral was to be held in London, a traditional hearse and carriage would take the deceased to their parish church for the service, and then on to the London railway terminus; if the funeral was to take place in the terminus or in Brookwood,
14620-445: The drainage of the marshlands designated as the initial cemetery site, and on the construction of the embankment carrying the railway branch into the cemetery. With the ambition to become London's sole burial site in perpetuity, the LNC were aware that if their plans were successful, their Necropolis would become a site of major national importance. As a consequence, the cemetery was designed with attractiveness in mind, in contrast to
14790-432: The early Bronze Age . Pollen samples taken from the westernmost barrow suggest that the local environment at the time of construction was predominantly open heathland with some areas of deciduous woodland. Aerial photographs suggest that there may have been field systems on Horsell Common, Smarts Heath and Whitmoor Common in the same period, although the local soils are relatively infertile and could not have sustained
14960-549: The early 21st century, Woking has a strong economy relative to the rest of the UK; the borough was awarded first place in the UK Vitality Index of Local Authorities, compiled by Lambert Smith Hampton in 2021, and was placed in the top 20% of all Local Authorities for economic vibrancy by Grant Thornton in 2016. University graduates comprise more than 60% of the workforce, although around 53% of all working residents commute out of
15130-464: The emerging technology of mechanised land transport to provide a final solution to the problem of London's dead. They envisaged buying a single very large tract of land around 23 miles (37 km) from London in Brookwood near Woking , Surrey , to be called Brookwood Cemetery or the London Necropolis. At this distance, the land would be far beyond the maximum projected size of the city's growth, greatly reducing any potential hazards from miasma. In
15300-580: The end of the First World War, and by the summer of 1921, around 100 families had moved into new properties in Old Woking, Horsell, Knaphill and Westfield. In the same year, Chertsey Rural District Council developed their own schemes in Byfleet and Pyrford, and, in the two decades to 1939, Woking UDC constructed a total of 785 houses. Following the end of the Second World War, the borough council began to build estates at Maybury, Barnsbury and St Mary's Byfleet. In
15470-498: The existing cemetery and the adjacent reserve site. Despite the releasing of restrictions in the 1869 Act, land sales remained disappointing. By 1887 less than half the surplus land had been sold, much of it at very low prices. In 1878 the Cremation Society of Great Britain bought an isolated piece of the LNC's Brookwood land and built Woking Crematorium on the site. The crematorium was completed in 1879 but Richard Cross ,
15640-445: The existing headstones from the cemetery, at a cost of around 3 shillings per body. At least 21 London burial grounds were relocated to Brookwood via the railway, along with numerous others relocated by road following the railway's closure. The LNC's exhumation and relocation business, split from the LNC in 1973 and renamed "Necropolis", continued to operate until 2002. The success of the LNC relied on taking over all, or at least
15810-458: The factory was the largest employer in Woking and, in the mid-1950s, 8% of the local workforce was working for the company. Manufacturing ceased in Woking in 1993, but the company headquarters is still based in the town. The factory site was redeveloped into the Lion Retail Park. The Sorbo Rubber Works opened in 1920 on the site of the former steam laundry on Maybury Road. It specialised in
15980-425: The farming practices of the time for very long. Roman occupation in the borough appears to have been concentrated in the Old Woking and Mayford areas. The sites excavated to date show evidence of low-status dwellings, possibly connected to iron working and pottery making. Roman tiles can be found in the lower part of the tower of St Peter's Church. The earliest documented reference to Woking suggests that there
16150-519: The first half of the 19th century the population of London more than doubled, from a little under a million people in 1801 to almost two and a half million in 1851. Despite this rapid growth in population, the amount of land set aside for use as graveyards remained unchanged at approximately 300 acres (0.47 sq mi; 1.2 km ), spread across around 200 small sites. The difficulty of digging without disturbing existing graves led to bodies often simply being stacked on top of each other to fit
16320-430: The first train ran between Nine Elms and Woking on 12 May 1838. When it opened, Woking station was surrounded by open heath and was 2 km (1.2 mi) from what is now the village of Old Woking. Nevertheless, it quickly became the railhead for west Surrey and the main entrance was positioned on the south side of the tracks for the convenience of those travelling by stagecoach from Guildford. The station became
16490-486: The former Unwins' Print Works at Old Woking into the Gresham Mill apartment complex. Until the mid-19th century, the local economy was dominated by agriculture, although large areas of the modern borough were covered by infertile waste land. Acts of Inclosure were passed for Byfleet, Sutton and Pyrford in 1800, 1803 and 1805, respectively, allowing landowners to rededicate land for pasture and growing crops. Inclosure
16660-489: The funeral trains were to operate. By this time, Broun and Sprye had lost control of the scheme. On 1 April 1851 a group of trustees led by Poor Law Commissioner William Voules purchased the rights to the scheme from Broun and Sprye for £20,000 (about £2.37 million in terms of 2024 consumer spending power) and, once the act of Parliament had been passed, founded the London Necropolis & National Mausoleum Company on their own without regard to their agreement with
16830-560: The government as sites for prisons and a lunatic asylum , the LNC struggled to sell the remainder. By the time the ten-year window for land sales expired in 1865, only 346 acres (0.54 sq mi; 1.4 km ) had been sold. With the majority of the surplus lands still unsold, as the ten-year window expired the LNC successfully petitioned for a further five-year extension. The LNC was by this time in serious financial difficulties, and dependent on loans from its own directors to settle outstanding debts. The business had been established on
17000-460: The government sought alternative means to prevent the constantly increasing number of deaths in London from overwhelming the new cemeteries in the same manner in which it had overwhelmed the traditional burial grounds. The new suburban cemeteries had a combined size of just 282 acres (0.44 sq mi; 1.1 km ), and the Board of Health did not consider any of them suitable for long-term use. As
17170-487: The government taking control of an industry previously controlled by religious bodies and private entrepreneurs. The process of decomposition was still poorly understood and it was generally believed that 12 ⁄ 13 (92%) of a decaying corpse is dispersed as gas; local authorities in the vicinity of the proposed new cemeteries were horrified at the prospect of an estimated 3,000,000 cubic feet (85,000 m ) per year of miasma (disease-carrying vapour) spreading from
17340-472: The headquarters of the group, was formally opened by Elizabeth II in 2004. The 50 ha (120-acre) site, to the north of the town centre, includes the McLaren Production Centre, the primary manufacturing facility for McLaren Automotive . In 2013, McLaren was the largest employer in the borough. During the Second World War, the defence of Woking and the surrounding area was coordinated by
17510-405: The importance of manorial courts and the day-to-day administration of towns became the responsibility of local vestries . By this time, the modern Borough of Woking was divided between four parishes: Woking, Byfleet, Horsell and Pyrford. The vestries appointed constables, distributed funds to the poor and took charge of the repair of local roads. From the 17th century, the roles of Justices of
17680-449: The industries providing the largest number of jobs in the borough were information technology , food and beverage services , and motor vehicle design and manufacture . Woking also has a significant cluster of companies operating in the oil and gas industries , financial and business services industry , as well as the environmental technologies sector . London Necropolis Company The London Necropolis Company ( LNC ), formally
17850-501: The initial Necropolis site and the adjacent reserve site, and a further 200 acres (0.31 sq mi; 0.81 km ) retained their common land rights and could not be developed in any way, rendering them worthless to prospective buyers. While this left 1,300 acres (2.0 sq mi; 5.3 km ) theoretically able to be sold, the Brookwood site had been chosen for its remoteness and there were few prospective buyers. While 214 acres (0.33 sq mi; 0.87 km ) were bought by
18020-420: The intention of creating perpetual greenery with large numbers of flowers and a strong floral scent throughout the cemetery. On 7 November 1854 the new cemetery opened and the southern Anglican section was consecrated by Charles Sumner , Bishop of Winchester . At the time it was the largest cemetery in the world. On 13 November the first scheduled train left the new London Necropolis railway station for
18190-461: The largest cemetery in the world. As the Brookwood site had been intentionally chosen for its distance from London, at the time of its opening the only practical way to reach the cemetery was by railway. William Cubitt decided the terrain of the initial cemetery site was best suited to a railway branch from the LSWR at the west of the cemetery, and work began on the earthworks and rails for the new branch in early September 1854. The single-track branch
18360-456: The late 1830s, the new village, initially known as Kiln Bridge, was large enough to support the construction of a chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist . The chapel was replaced by a larger church , designed by George Gilbert Scott and consecrated in 1842, and the surrounding area acquired the name "St John's" at around the same time. Further expansion in the area continued with the opening of
18530-437: The main population centre, is surrounded by smaller, distinct settlements, such as West Byfleet and Byfleet in the east and Knaphill to the west. The villages of Brookwood and Mayford retain strong individual identities and lie just outside the primary built-up area of the borough. Around 60% of the land in the borough is part of the Metropolitan Green Belt , which severely limits the potential for urban expansion. Of
18700-473: The manors had two mills and one church, and the settlement was among the largest 20% of those recorded in the country in 1086. Three other manors in the modern borough are listed in Domesday Book: Byfleet and Pyrford were held by the abbeys of Chertsey and Westminster respectively; Sutton was held by Durand Malet as lesser tenant and by Robert Malet as tenant-in-chief . Woking was held by
18870-528: The manufacture of rubber sponges but also made toys for children. Production moved to Arnold Road in 1922, and during the Second World War, the company made self-sealing aircraft fuel tanks for the Royal Air Force . The company was acquired by its competitors, P. B. Cow Ltd, in 1948. The first known brewery in the area was founded in Old Woking in 1715 and continued to trade until 1890. Brewery Road in Horsell
19040-414: The mausoleum he had commissioned at Brookwood. This building, the largest mausoleum in the cemetery, was bought by the LNC, fitted with shelves and niches to hold urns, and used as a dedicated columbarium from then on. In December 1887 the LNC appointed Cyril Tubbs to supervise the LNC estate. Tubbs was given a broad remit to "advance the company's interests", including buying and selling land, supervising
19210-513: The metalled track. Until the late 19th century, the village consisted of scattered cottages and farms, surrounded by fields, heathlands and nurseries. Suburban development began in the 1880s, but the village remains largely rural in character. In 1951 the civil parish had a population of 6858. On 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished. Horsell is located in northern Surrey and is surrounded by deciduous woodland. Some geographic locations in Horsell are; One of Horsell's significant locations
19380-463: The metropolitan mortality of a mighty nation; a last home and bed of rest where the ashes of the high and low, the mighty and the weak, the learned and the ignorant, the wicked and the good, the idle and the industrious, in one vast co-mingled heap may repose together. While the negotiations over the state taking control of burials were ongoing, an alternative proposal was being drawn up by Richard Broun and Richard Sprye. Broun and Sprye intended to use
19550-525: The mid 17th century the city was running seriously short of burial space. A proposal by Christopher Wren to use the reconstruction following the 1666 Great Fire of London as an opportunity to cease burials in the churchyards and establish new cemeteries outside the city was approved by the King and Parliament but vetoed by the Corporation of London , and burials continued at the newly rebuilt churches. In
19720-693: The mid-17th and mid-19th centuries, new transport links were constructed, including the Wey Navigation , Basingstoke Canal and London to Southampton railway line . The modern town was established in the mid-1860s, as the London Necropolis Company began to sell surplus land surrounding the railway station for development . Modern local government in Woking began with the creation of the Woking Local Board in 1893, which became Woking Urban District Council (UDC) in 1894. The urban district
19890-442: The mismanagement of the company recommended the expulsion of the four remaining trustees and the reform of the company under a new board of directors. This was unanimously approved by the shareholders, and work finally began on the scheme. A 2,200-acre (3.4 sq mi; 8.9 km ) tract of land stretching from Woking to Brookwood was purchased from Lord Onslow. The westernmost 400 acres (0.62 sq mi; 1.6 km ), at
20060-561: The mushroom farms in Chobham or for the James Walker company. Many started their own landscaping or ice cream businesses. St Dunstan's Catholic Church in Woking holds masses in Italian. The Italian population in Woking, including second- and third-generation members, numbers between two and three thousand. There is a large Pakistani population in Woking, centred on Maybury and Sheerwater. In
20230-552: The names of the deceased being carried on the train would be called in turn, and that person's mourners would board the train. At the time the service was inaugurated, the LNC's trains were divided both by class and by religion, with separate Anglican and Nonconformist sections of the train. This distinction applied to both living and deceased passengers. Intended to prevent persons from different social background from mixing and potentially distressing mourners and to prevent bodies of persons from different social classes being carried in
20400-490: The new Necropolis in the early morning or late at night, and the coffins being stored on the cemetery site until the time of the funeral. Mourners would then be carried to the appropriate part of the cemetery by a dedicated passenger train during the day. Broun calculated that a 1,500-acre (2.3 sq mi; 6.1 km ) site would accommodate a total of 5,830,500 individual graves in a single layer. The legislation authorising Brookwood Cemetery did not permit mass graves at
20570-404: The northern (i.e. non-cemetery) side of the new station. As the corpses brought to either of the reception-houses by the funeral tender are now taken each one its separate way, followed by its mourning-group, and by paths where privacy is unbroken, and none but soothing and religious influences around,—when amidst this scene, the clergyman or minister, unharassed by other duties, reads reverently
20740-449: The number never rose above 4,100 per year, and in its first 150 years of operations only 231,730 burials had been conducted. Buying the land for Brookwood Cemetery and building the cemetery and railway had been very expensive, and by the time the cemetery opened the LNC was already on the verge of bankruptcy. The LNC remained solvent by selling surplus parts of its land, but as the land had been chosen for its remoteness, sales were low. From
20910-472: The original LNC terminus. The two stations in the cemetery were very similar in design. North station served the Nonconformist section of the cemetery, and South station served the Anglican section. On William Cubitt's advice the two stations in the cemetery were built as temporary structures, in the expectation that they would need to be rebuilt once the railway was operational and the issues with operating
21080-435: The original promoters. These trustees proved inept, wasting large sums of money; meanwhile Richard Broun lobbied vigorously against the "misrepresentations and ambiguous assertions" of the new trustees. With financiers sceptical of the scheme's viability Voules and his trustees were unable to raise the funds to buy the proposed site from Lord Onslow. In early 1853, amid widespread allegations of voting irregularities and with
21250-736: The people and organisations to have received the Freedom of the Borough are Howard Panter , Rosemary Squire and the Army Training Centre Pirbright . Woking is twinned with: Amstelveen , Netherlands (since 1989); Le Plessis-Robinson , France (since 1993); Rastatt , Germany (since 2001). In December 2014, the borough council announced that it would establish a task group to explore potential twinning opportunities with towns in Brazil , Russia , India , China and South Africa . In 2021,
21420-511: The policy of the borough council has been to permit high-density residential development in this area, exemplified by two residential towers completed in Spring 2022 as part of the Victoria Square project. Elsewhere in the borough, the conversion of former industrial land to residential use is encouraged in preference to building on greenfield sites. Recent examples include the redevelopment of
21590-500: The population of the Borough of Woking was 103,900. According to the 2011 Census , 83.6% of the inhabitants were white , 11.6% were of Asian descent and 2.4% were mixed race . There has long been a large Italian community in Woking, most of whom originated from the Sicilian town of Mussomeli . The majority of the original arrivals worked in the Britax factory in Byfleet and others on
21760-425: The prayers for the dead,—when all which is this taking place tends to raise the dignity and self-respect of human nature, and create a sublime ideal of the great mystery of the grave, we perceive by contrast, more and more, what the evils of city and suburban burials have been, and what an educative process lies within even this portional one of their reformation ... Hither the wealthy and respectable are removing
21930-652: The problem concluded that London's burial grounds had become so overcrowded that it was impossible to dig a new grave without cutting through an existing one. Commissioner and sanitation campaigner Edwin Chadwick testified that each year, 20,000 adults and 30,000 children were being buried in less than 218 acres (0.34 sq mi; 0.88 km ) of already full burial grounds; the commission heard that one cemetery, Spa Fields in Clerkenwell , designed to hold 1,000 bodies, contained 80,000 graves, and that gravediggers throughout London were obliged to shred bodies in order to cram
22100-422: The procession would come directly to the terminus. On arrival at the terminus the mourners would be led either to one of the dedicated first class waiting rooms (for first and second class funerals) or to the communal third class waiting room. The coffin would be discreetly unloaded from the hearse and sent to the platform level by lift. Those attending first and second class funerals would be permitted to watch
22270-423: The prohibition of mass graves it would take over 350 years to fill a single layer of the cemetery. Although the Brookwood site was a long distance from London, Broun and Sprye argued that the railway made it both quicker and cheaper to reach than the seven existing cemeteries, all of which required a slow and expensive horse-drawn hearse to carry the body and mourners from London to the burial site. Shareholders in
22440-439: The proposal. Drummond considered the scheme a front for land speculation, believing that the promoters only intended to use 400 acres (0.63 sq mi; 1.6 km ) for the cemetery and to develop the remaining 80% for building; Mangles felt that the people of Woking were not being fairly compensated for the loss of their historic rights to use the common lands; Ashley felt that the Metropolitan Interments Act 1850 had been
22610-403: The railway stations, advertising the cemetery and liaising with the LSWR. Tubbs set about restructuring the design of Brookwood Cemetery to make it more appealing to mourners and visitors. The cemetery was divided into numbered sections, separated by an expanded network of avenues. These avenues were all named, and signposts were erected along them, to allow visitors easily to find their way around
22780-404: The remains into available grave space. In 1848–49 a cholera epidemic killed 14,601 people in London and overwhelmed the burial system completely. Bodies were left stacked in heaps awaiting burial, and even relatively recent graves were exhumed to make way for new burials. In the wake of public concerns following the cholera epidemic and the findings of the royal commission, the Burial Act 1852
22950-468: The remains of relatives from the graves and vaults of the metropolis, and hither the Nonconformists are bringing the long-interred dead from even the once-sacred place of Bunhill Fields ... but it is a law that moral and social advantages permeate as surely down through the strata of society as water finds its level. In spite of little knowledge, in spite of ignorant opposition from those interested in
23120-404: The river. The arches of the huge brick viaduct carrying the LSWR into Waterloo Bridge station (now London Waterloo station) were easily converted into mortuaries. Broun also felt that the journey out of London from Waterloo Bridge would be less distressing for mourners; while most of the rail routes out of London ran through tunnels and deep cuttings or through densely populated areas, at this time
23290-434: The ruins of Woking Palace , a royal residence of Henry VII and Henry VIII . Parts of St Peter's Church in Old Woking date from the reign of William I and Sutton Place , built for Richard Weston c. 1525 , is one of the earliest unfortified houses in England. The Shah Jahan Mosque , constructed in 1889, was the first purpose-built Muslim place of worship in the UK. There are numerous works of public art in
23460-476: The same compartment rather than to provide different facilities, the carriages intended for all classes and religions were very similar in design, and the primary difference was different ornamentation on the compartment doors. At 11.35 am (11.20 am on Sundays) the train would leave London for Brookwood, arriving at Necropolis Junction at 12.25 pm (12.20 pm on Sundays). On arrival at North or South station coffins would usually be unloaded onto
23630-435: The settlements of Old Woking and West Byfleet are built on river gravels. The earliest evidence of human activity in the Woking area is from the Paleolithic . Flints dated to c. 13000 years before present (BP) have been found at Horsell, and knife blades from c. 12000 – c. 11000 BP have been discovered at Pyrford. Two bell barrows and a disc barrow at Horsell are thought to date from
23800-410: The site of present-day Thamesmead ) was to become a single burial ground for east London. All bodies would be shipped by river and canal to the new cemeteries, bringing an end to burials in London itself. The Treasury was sceptical that Chadwick's scheme would ever be financially viable. It also met with widespread public concerns about the impact of monopoly control of the burial industry, and about
23970-414: The site, and burials were restricted to one family per grave. If the practice of only burying a single family in each grave were abandoned and the traditional practice for pauper burials of ten burials per grave were adopted, the site was capable of accommodating 28,500,000 bodies. Assuming 50,000 deaths per year and presuming that families would often choose to share a grave, Broun calculated that even with
24140-652: The six Sites of Special Scientific Interest , five are areas of heathland and the sixth covers the majority of the Basingstoke Canal . Woking town centre is around 23 mi (36 km) from central London. It covers an area of about 50 ha (120 acres) to the north and south of the station, although the primary shopping and office spaces are between the railway line and the Basingstoke Canal. The two main shopping centres, The Peacocks and Wolsey Place, adjoin Jubilee Square. A second public space, Victoria Square,
24310-422: The sprawling Brookwood site, and to locate particular graves; the naming and numbering system devised by Tubbs has remained in use ever since. Tubbs established a masonry works and showroom near the centre of the cemetery, allowing the LNC to provide grave markers without the difficulty of shipping them from London, and opened a LNC-owned nursery in the grounds for the sale of plants and wreaths. This increased
24480-399: The squalid and congested London burial grounds and the newer suburban cemeteries which were already becoming crowded. The LNC aimed to create an atmosphere of perpetual spring in the cemetery, and chose the plants for the cemetery accordingly. It had already been noted that evergreen plants from North America thrived in the local soil. Robert Donald, the owner of an arboretum near Woking,
24650-409: The station abutted the arches of the LSWR's viaduct, it acted as an obstacle to any increase in the number of lines serving Waterloo station (renamed from Waterloo Bridge station in 1886). Urban growth in the area of what is now south west London, through which trains from Waterloo ran, led to congestion at the station and in 1896 the LSWR formally presented the LNC with a proposal to provide the LNC with
24820-456: The status of a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The World War II Home Guard base on the common has disappeared. Several smaller institutions were evacuated here during the war. The Anglican parish church of St Mary the Virgin dates back to the middle of the 12th century, and still retains the original doors. The church has strong links with one of the village's junior schools, Horsell C of E Junior School. The village's other schools include
24990-496: The storage of cremated remains) within the cemetery, with the ultimate goal of taking over all funeral arrangements for the Cremation Society. The Cremation Society were keen to prevent a competitor to Woking Crematorium, and sought to cooperate with the LNC. The fares for the transport of mourners and coffins on the London Necropolis Railway had been fixed by Parliament in 1852 at 6s for a living first class passenger and £1 for
25160-426: The time Brookwood Cemetery opened in November 1854 the LNC was on the verge of bankruptcy. Recognising their financial predicament, the LNC lobbied Parliament for a new Act of Parliament to allow the venture to survive. On 23 July 1855 the London Necropolis & National Mausoleum Amendment Act 1855 received Royal Assent. This Act released the LNC from those compulsory purchases of land which had been mandated by
25330-473: The town centre , including a statue of the author, H. G. Wells , who wrote The War of the Worlds while living in Maybury Road. Much of the novel is set in the Woking area. The earliest surviving record of Woking is from Domesday Book of 1086, in which the manor appears as Wochinges . In the 12th century, it is recorded as Wokinges , Wokkinges , Wokinge and Wochinga . The "monastery at Wocchingas "
25500-428: The urban development of what is now south London had not taken place and the LSWR route ran almost entirely through parkland and countryside. In March 1854 the LNC purchased a plot of land between Westminster Bridge Road and York Street (now Leake Street). Architect William Tite and engineer William Cubitt drew up a design for a station, which was approved in June 1854 and completed in October of that year. As
25670-516: The viability of the scheme had led to only 15,000 of the 25,000 LNC shares being sold, severely limiting the company's working capital and forcing it to take out large loans. Buying the land from Lord Onslow, compensating local residents for the loss of rights over Woking Common, draining and landscaping the portion to be used for the initial cemetery, and building the railway lines and stations were all expensive undertakings. With far fewer burial contracts with London parishes than had been anticipated, by
25840-535: The works expanded following the opening of a wharf at Kiln Bridge. Although the local soils were unsuitable for large-scale agriculture, nurseries were established on the Bracklesham Beds in the 1790s, to satisfy the increasing demand for ornamental garden plants from the growing middle class in London. The Clematis specialist, George Jackman , was among those who established nurseries at Mayford and Goldsworth Park. Cultivars first grown by his firm include
26010-481: Was granted a coat of arms in 1930 and three years later it applied to the Privy Council for borough status , but without success. A similar request made in 1955 was also declined. It was not until the 1974 reorganisation of local government that Woking finally became a borough. The parishes within the borough were abolished at the same time, making it an unparished area . A civil parish council for Byfleet
26180-520: Was a religious foundation in the area in the early 8th century. Around this time, the settlement was the administrative centre for northwest Surrey, with its western border as the watershed between the Rivers Mole and Wey and its southern border as the North Downs . By 775, there was a minster in Woking, which may be the forerunner of St Peter's Church and by the mid-late 9th century, the settlement
26350-513: Was being shipped to London from a new wharf at Cartbridge near Send . The Basingstoke Canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1778 and was intended to provide a route for the transport of farm produce and timber from Hampshire to London. The section between the Wey Navigation and Horsell opened in 1791 and the canal was finally completed in 1794. Although the route was too far from Old Woking for it to have an effect on its development,
26520-571: Was bought by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV in 2016. As part of the takeover deal, several former SABMiller brands, including Peroni and Grolsch , were purchased by the Japanese firm, Asahi Breweries . As of 2022, the UK headquarters of Asahi Breweries is in Woking. The McLaren Group was founded in 1981 by Ron Dennis following his acquisition of the McLaren Formula One team . The McLaren Technology Centre , designed by Foster + Partners as
26690-418: Was briefly held by the Crown before it was passed to her daughter, Margaret Beaufort , in 1466. On her death in 1509, Woking was inherited by her grandson, the future Henry VIII . James I sold the manor to Edward Zouch , but it reverted to the Crown in 1671. In 1752, it was bought by Richard Onslow, the third Baron Onslow and remained in his family's possession until the mid-19th century. Byfleet became
26860-411: Was completed in 2022 as part of a project to construct two high-rise residential apartment blocks and a 23-storey hotel. Old Woking , around 1 mi (1.6 km) south of the town centre, close to the River Wey, is the location of the original settlement of the manor of Woking. The village is thought to have grown as an unplanned settlement surrounding St Peter's Church , parts of which date from
27030-415: Was completed in time for the opening two months later. The junction with the LSWR, known as Necropolis Junction, was west-facing, meaning that trains to and from London were obliged to reverse in and out of the branch to the two stations in the cemetery. The poor quality gravel soil, which had been the initial reason for the site's cheapness and its selection as the site for the cemetery, was poorly suited as
27200-499: Was contracted to supply the trees and shrubs for the cemetery. The railway line through the cemetery and the major roads and paths within the cemetery were lined with giant sequoia trees, the first significant planting of these trees (only introduced to Europe in 1853) in Britain. As well as the giant sequoias, the grounds were heavily planted with magnolia , rhododendron , coastal redwood , azalea , andromeda and monkeypuzzle , with
27370-454: Was created in 1990, but was abolished in April 2010. As of 2022, there are no parish councils in the borough. The unimproved River Wey is thought to have been used for the transport of goods and passengers from ancient times. In the early Tudor period, there was a wharf at Woking Palace and in 1566 there is a reference to a "certaein locke... between Woodham lands and Brook lande upon the water of
27540-483: Was established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888 to operate as a higher-tier authority alongside the sanitary districts. In 1893 a separate local board was established for the parish of Woking, making it its own urban sanitary district, independent from the Guildford Rural Sanitary District. After elections, the first meeting of the Woking Local Board was held on 4 October 1893. Under
27710-461: Was held by Westminster Abbey until the dissolution of the monasteries when it became the property of the Crown. Elizabeth I granted the manor to Edward Clinton, the first Earl of Lincoln in 1574 and it was sold repeatedly until the mid-17th century. In 1677, Richard Onslow, the first Baron Onslow purchased Pyrford, and it was owned by his family until 1805. Reforms during the Tudor period reduced
27880-435: Was not completed at Woking until the London Necropolis Company purchased the common land in 1854. No Act was passed for Horsell, and the large area of common land to the north of Woking remains free of development as a result. The opening of the Basingstoke Canal in 1794 enabled new industries to be established in the west of the borough. Brickmaking had been taking place on a small scale at Knaphill since at least 1709, but
28050-536: Was only a single third or second class coffin to be carried, and in these cases the coffin and funeral party would be held until the next service. Generally the trains ran direct from London to the cemetery, other than occasional stops to take on water. Between 1890 and 1910 the trains also sometimes stopped at Vauxhall and Clapham Junction for the benefit of mourners from south west London who did not want to travel via Waterloo, but these intermediate stops were discontinued and never reinstated. After 1 October 1900
28220-536: Was passed, giving the Brookwood scheme parliamentary consent to proceed. The former Woking Common at Brookwood, owned by the Earl of Onslow , was chosen as the site for the new cemetery. To prevent the LSWR from exploiting its monopoly on access to the cemetery, the act of Parliament authorising the scheme bound the LSWR to carry corpses and mourners to the cemetery in perpetuity and set a maximum tariff which could be levied on funeral traffic, but did not specify details of how
28390-538: Was passed. Under the Burial Act, new burials were prohibited in what were then the built-up areas of London. Seven large cemeteries had recently opened a short distance from London or were in the process of opening, and temporarily became London's main burial grounds. A proposal by Francis Seymour Haden to ship the bodies of London's dead to the Thames Estuary for use in land reclamation met with little approval, and
28560-477: Was placed into the Metropolitan Green Belt , restricting the potential for future development of greenfield land . Nevertheless, housebuilding continued in the 1970s, including the 20 ha (49-acre) Lakeview development and the construction of 440 homes on the former Inkerman Barracks site. Redevelopment has resulted in the demolition of the majority of the Victorian buildings in the town centre. Since 2012,
28730-461: Was significantly enlarged in 1907 when it took in the parish of Horsell , and again in 1933 when it took in the parishes of Byfleet and Pyrford . The UDC was granted a coat of arms in 1930 and Woking gained borough status in the 1974 reorganisation of local government . In 2022, a total of 30 elected representatives serves on the council, each with a term length of four years. The Borough of Woking covers 64 km (25 sq mi) and had
28900-556: Was the centre of a royal vill . Towards the end of the Saxon period, Surrey was divided into hundreds , of which Woking Hundred was one. Woking appears in Domesday book as Wochinges . In 1086, it was partly held by William I and partly by two lesser tenants of the Bishop of Exeter . Together the two holdings had sufficient land for 15 + 1 ⁄ 2 ploughteams, 46 acres (19 ha) of meadow and woodland for 160 swine . Between them,
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