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126-413: Reigate Castle is a former castle in the town of Reigate in the county of Surrey , England . None of the castle buildings survive today, but a cave below the site, considered to be part of the castle, still exists. Known as "Baron's Cave", it is occasionally open to the public for tours. The site of the castle is known as "Castle Grounds", and is a public park. At its entrance stands a folly , built in

252-563: A Circum Arabian Nomadic Pastoral Complex developed in the period from the climatic crisis of 6200 BC, partly as a result of an increasing emphasis in PPNB cultures upon domesticated animals, and a fusion with Harifian hunter gatherers in the Southern Levant, with affiliate connections with the cultures of Fayyum and the Eastern Desert of Egypt . Cultures practicing this lifestyle spread down

378-416: A century later. A water-filled moat section was dug into the clay on the north side and a dry ditch was excavated around the remainder of the structure. The large size of the motte indicates that the castle was designed both as a fortification and as the lord's residence from the outset. Following the dissolution of the monasteries , the lords of the manor moved their primary residence to Reigate Priory, to

504-524: A culture contemporaneous with the Cishan and Xinglongwa cultures of about 6000–5000 BC, Neolithic cultures east of the Taihang Mountains , filling in an archaeological gap between the two Northern Chinese cultures. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards (1,000 m ; 0.10 ha), and the collection of Neolithic findings at the site encompasses two phases. Between 3000 and 1900 BC,

630-511: A division into five periods. They also advanced the idea of a transitional stage between the PPNA and PPNB between 8800 and 8600 BC at sites like Jerf el Ahmar and Tell Aswad . Alluvial plains ( Sumer / Elam ). Low rainfall makes irrigation systems necessary. Ubaid culture originated from 6200 BC. The earliest evidence of Neolithic culture in northeast Africa was found in the archaeological sites of Bir Kiseiba and Nabta Playa in what

756-412: A dramatic increase in social inequality in most of the areas where it occurred; New Guinea being a notable exception. Possession of livestock allowed competition between households and resulted in inherited inequalities of wealth. Neolithic pastoralists who controlled large herds gradually acquired more livestock, and this made economic inequalities more pronounced. However, evidence of social inequality

882-546: A living tradition in small and extremely remote and inaccessible pockets of West Papua . Polished stone adze and axes are used in the present day (as of 2008 ) in areas where the availability of metal implements is limited. This is likely to cease altogether in the next few years as the older generation die off and steel blades and chainsaws prevail. In 2012, news was released about a new farming site discovered in Munam-ri , Goseong , Gangwon Province , South Korea , which may be

1008-586: A non-hierarchical system of organization existed is debatable, and there is no evidence that explicitly suggests that Neolithic societies functioned under any dominating class or individual, as was the case in the chiefdoms of the European Early Bronze Age . Possible exceptions to this include Iraq during the Ubaid period and England beginning in the Early Neolithic (4100–3000 BC). Theories to explain

1134-445: A purely religious institution. The priory was built to the south of the modern town centre and a series of fish ponds was constructed in the grounds. Although the exact layout is uncertain, the buildings are thought to have been arranged around a central square cloister, with the church on the north side and the refectory on the south. In 1541, Henry VIII granted the former priory to William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham ,

1260-627: A rarely used and not very useful concept in discussing Australian prehistory . During most of the Neolithic age of Eurasia , people lived in small tribes composed of multiple bands or lineages. There is little scientific evidence of developed social stratification in most Neolithic societies; social stratification is more associated with the later Bronze Age . Although some late Eurasian Neolithic societies formed complex stratified chiefdoms or even states , generally states evolved in Eurasia only with

1386-511: A significant portion of their ancestry from the Anatolian hunter-gatherers (AHG), suggesting that agriculture was adopted in site by these hunter-gatherers and not spread by demic diffusion into the region. The Neolithic 1 (PPNA) period began around 10,000 BC in the Levant . A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe , dated to around 9500 BC, may be regarded as the beginning of

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1512-497: A succession of owners, including Lady Henry Somerset , who remodelled the grounds between 1883 and 1895, creating a sunken garden. Following her death in 1921, the estate was divided for sale and much of the land was purchased for housebuilding. The final private owner of the house was the racehorse trainer, Peter Beatty , who sold it to the Mutual Property Life and General Insurance Company, which relocated from London for

1638-543: A survey of the manor of Reigate noted a "Bowling Alley lying before the gate of the Tenement called Woodhatch". Alternatively, the name may derive from that of a local resident: A "Thomas ate Chert" is recorded as living at the settlement in the early 14th century and "Woodhatch" might instead mean "woodland of the ate Chert family". Reigate is in central Surrey , around 19 mi (30 km) south of central London and 9 mi (14 km) north of Gatwick Airport . The town

1764-752: A term coined in the 1920s by the Australian archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe . One potential benefit of the development and increasing sophistication of farming technology was the possibility of producing surplus crop yields, in other words, food supplies in excess of the immediate needs of the community. Surpluses could be stored for later use, or possibly traded for other necessities or luxuries. Agricultural life afforded securities that nomadic life could not, and sedentary farming populations grew faster than nomadic. However, early farmers were also adversely affected in times of famine , such as may be caused by drought or pests . In instances where agriculture had become

1890-511: A tower mill on Wray Common . In the early modern period, the parish had at least three other windmills and about a dozen animal-powered mills for oatmeal. In addition, there were watermills along the southern boundary of the parish, on the Mole and Redhill Brook. Although the opening of the Reigate Hill turnpike in 1755 provided an easier route to transport produce and manufactured items to London,

2016-538: Is a large body of evidence for fortified settlements at Linearbandkeramik sites along the Rhine , as at least some villages were fortified for some time with a palisade and an outer ditch. Settlements with palisades and weapon-traumatized bones, such as those found at the Talheim Death Pit , have been discovered and demonstrate that "...systematic violence between groups" and warfare was probably much more common during

2142-549: Is better explained by lineal fission and polygyny. The shelter of early people changed dramatically from the Upper Paleolithic to the Neolithic era. In the Paleolithic, people did not normally live in permanent constructions. In the Neolithic, mud brick houses started appearing that were coated with plaster. The growth of agriculture made permanent houses far more common. At Çatalhöyük 9,000 years ago, doorways were made on

2268-668: Is in the Vale of Holmesdale , below the North Downs escarpment. The average elevation in the centre is 80 m (260 ft) above ordnance datum (OD) and the area is drained by the Wallace Brook and its tributaries, which feed the River Mole . Woodhatch lies on the Weald Clay , a sedimentary rock primarily consisting of mudstone that was deposited in the early Cretaceous . Much of Reigate

2394-493: Is now only used by pedestrians. The Borough Council became responsible for local roads on its formation in 1865. The final tolls were removed from the turnpikes in 1881. The first station to serve Reigate area was at Hooley, Earlswood and opened in 1841. The following year, the South Eastern Railway opened the railway station at Redhill , which was initially named Reigate Junction. The railway line through Reigate

2520-531: Is now southwest Egypt. Domestication of sheep and goats reached Egypt from the Near East possibly as early as 6000 BC. Graeme Barker states "The first indisputable evidence for domestic plants and animals in the Nile valley is not until the early fifth millennium BC in northern Egypt and a thousand years later further south, in both cases as part of strategies that still relied heavily on fishing, hunting, and

2646-523: Is on the strata of the Lower Greensand Group . This group is multi-layered and includes the sandy Hythe Beds overlain by the clayey Sandgate Beds, which together form the high ground of Priory Park. Reigate Heath and the town centre are on quartz-rich Folkestone Beds and the water-filled part of the castle moat is dug into narrow band of clay present in the sandstone. To the north of the railway line

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2772-647: Is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as Cherchefelle and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earliest archaeological evidence for human activity is from the Paleolithic and Neolithic , and during the Roman period , tile-making took place to the north east of the modern centre. A motte-and-bailey castle was erected in Reigate in the late 11th or early 12th century. It was originally constructed of timber , but

2898-1017: Is still disputed, as settlements such as Çatalhöyük reveal a lack of difference in the size of homes and burial sites, suggesting a more egalitarian society with no evidence of the concept of capital, although some homes do appear slightly larger or more elaborately decorated than others. Families and households were still largely independent economically, and the household was probably the center of life. However, excavations in Central Europe have revealed that early Neolithic Linear Ceramic cultures (" Linearbandkeramik ") were building large arrangements of circular ditches between 4800 and 4600 BC. These structures (and their later counterparts such as causewayed enclosures , burial mounds , and henge ) required considerable time and labour to construct, which suggests that some influential individuals were able to organise and direct human labour – though non-hierarchical and voluntary work remain possibilities. There

3024-681: Is taken to overlap with the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) of 10,200–8800 BC. As the Natufians had become dependent on wild cereals in their diet, and a sedentary way of life had begun among them, the climatic changes associated with the Younger Dryas (about 10,000 BC) are thought to have forced people to develop farming. The founder crops of the Fertile Crescent were wheat , lentil , pea , chickpeas , bitter vetch, and flax. Among

3150-654: Is the Gault Formation , a stiff, blue-black, shaly clay, deposited in a deep-water marine environment. At the base of the North Downs is a thin outcrop of Upper Greensand , above which lies the Chalk Group . Weald clay was dug for brickmaking at Brown's Brickyard in Woodhatch. Building sand was excavated from Barnards Pit, to the west of the town, and at Wray Common Road to the east. Seams of silver sand which occur in

3276-542: The Bronze Age began about 3500 BC, replacing the Neolithic cultures. Around 10,000 BC the first fully developed Neolithic cultures belonging to the phase Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) appeared in the Fertile Crescent. Around 10,700–9400 BC a settlement was established in Tell Qaramel , 10 miles (16 km) north of Aleppo . The settlement included two temples dating to 9650 BC. Around 9000 BC during

3402-611: The Epipalaeolithic Near East and Mesopotamia , and later in other parts of the world. It lasted in the Near East until the transitional period of the Chalcolithic (Copper Age) from about 6,500 years ago (4500 BC), marked by the development of metallurgy , leading up to the Bronze Age and Iron Age . In other places, the Neolithic followed the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) and then lasted until later. In Ancient Egypt ,

3528-610: The Jordan Valley ; Israel (notably Ain Mallaha , Nahal Oren , and Kfar HaHoresh ); and in Byblos , Lebanon . The start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming. In the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain

3654-543: The Longshan culture existed in the middle and lower Yellow River valley areas of northern China. Towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC, the population decreased sharply in most of the region and many of the larger centres were abandoned, possibly due to environmental change linked to the end of the Holocene Climatic Optimum . The 'Neolithic' (defined in this paragraph as using polished stone implements) remains

3780-566: The M25 was opened between Reigate Hill and Godstone . The section to Wisley via Leatherhead was opened in October 1985. From much of its early history, Reigate was primarily an agricultural settlement. At the time of the Norman conquest, the common fields covered some 3,500 acres (1,400 ha) and in 1623 the total area of arable land was around 4,500 acres (1,800 ha). From the early 17th century,

3906-457: The Middle East , cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC. Early development occurred in the Levant (e.g. Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B ) and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are also attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. Anatolian Neolithic farmers derived

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4032-523: The North Downs , to the north of Reigate, is owned by the National Trust , including Colley Hill , 722 feet (220 m) above ordnance datum (OD) and Reigate Hill 771 feet (235 m) above OD. In the Domesday Book of 1086, Reigate appears as Cherchefelle and in the 12th century, it is recorded as Crichefeld and Crechesfeld . The name is thought to mean "open space by the hill or barrow". The name "Reigate" first appears in written sources in

4158-637: The Red Sea shoreline and moved east from Syria into southern Iraq . The Late Neolithic began around 6,400 BC in the Fertile Crescent . By then distinctive cultures emerged, with pottery like the Halafian (Turkey, Syria, Northern Mesopotamia) and Ubaid (Southern Mesopotamia). This period has been further divided into PNA (Pottery Neolithic A) and PNB (Pottery Neolithic B) at some sites. The Chalcolithic (Stone-Bronze) period began about 4500 BC, then

4284-525: The Rift Valley of East Africa and surrounding areas during a time period known as the Pastoral Neolithic . They were South Cushitic speaking pastoralists, who tended to bury their dead in cairns whilst their toolkit was characterized by stone bowls, pestles, grindstones and earthenware pots. Through archaeology, historical linguistics and archaeogenetics, they conventionally have been identified with

4410-451: The medieval and early modern periods , Reigate was primarily an agricultural settlement. A weekly market began no later than 1279 and continued until 1895. Key crops included oats , hops and flax , but there is no record of rye being grown in the local area. The economy initially declined in the 18th century, as new turnpike roads allowed cheaper goods made outside the town to become available, undercutting local producers. Following

4536-574: The "rei" element may have evolved from the Middle English ray , meaning a marshland or referring to a stream; this theory is considered unlikely as the Old English form of this word is ree rather than rey . Woodhatch may derive from the Old English word hæc meaning "gate", and the name may mean "gate to the wood". It is possible, in this instance, that the "wood" referred to is the Weald . In 1623,

4662-515: The 1190s. Similar forms are also recorded in the late medieval period, including Reigata in 1170, Regate in 1203, Raygate in 1235, Rigate in 1344 and Reighgate in 1604. The name is thought to derive from the Old English rǣge meaning "roe deer" and the Middle English gate , which might indicate an enclosure gate or pass through which deer were hunted. It has also been suggested that

4788-537: The 18th century, in the form a medieval castle gateway. King William I granted the land around Reigate to one of his supporters, William de Warenne , who was created Earl of Surrey in 1088. It is believed that his son, William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey , ordered that Reigate Castle be built, although the de Warennes had their southern base in Lewes , Sussex , as well as castles in Yorkshire and Normandy . Around 1150

4914-709: The Balkans from 6000 BC, and in Central Europe by around 5800 BC ( La Hoguette ). Among the earliest cultural complexes of this area are the Sesklo culture in Thessaly, which later expanded in the Balkans giving rise to Starčevo-Körös (Cris), Linearbandkeramik , and Vinča . Through a combination of cultural diffusion and migration of peoples , the Neolithic traditions spread west and northwards to reach northwestern Europe by around 4500 BC. The Vinča culture may have created

5040-508: The Baron's and Tunnel Road Caves take place on the second Saturday of every month between May and September inclusive. 51°13′48″N 0°11′16″W  /  51.23000°N 0.18778°W  / 51.23000; -0.18778 Reigate Reigate ( / ˈ r aɪ ɡ eɪ t / RY -gate ) is a town in Surrey , England, around 19 miles (30 km) south of central London. The settlement

5166-516: The Bronze Age, eventually giving rise to permanently settled farming towns , and later cities and states whose larger populations could be sustained by the increased productivity from cultivated lands. The profound differences in human interactions and subsistence methods associated with the onset of early agricultural practices in the Neolithic have been called the Neolithic Revolution ,

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5292-566: The Civil War by followers of a Royalist uprising. In 1777 a mock medieval gateway was built over the ruins of the original castle. An inscription is written on the side of the gateway, in English on one side and Latin on the other: To save the memory of William Earl Warren who in old days dwelt here and was a loyal champion of our liberties from perishing like his own castle by the ravages of time, Richard Barnes at his own expense erected this gateway in

5418-509: The Confessor . The settlement included two mills worth 11s 10d, land for 29 plough teams, woodland and herbage for 140 swine , pasture for 43 pigs and 12 acres (4.9 ha) of meadow . The manor rendered £40 per year in 1086 and the residents included 67 villagers and 11 smallholders. The Domesday Book also records that the town was part of the larger Hundred of Cherchefelle . The non-corporate Borough of Reigate , covering roughly

5544-520: The Folkestone Beds were quarried for glass making and the caves beneath the castle may originally have been excavated for this purpose, before being used as cellars. There is also evidence of ironstone extraction in the town, although this practice is thought to have ceased by 1650. Reigate Stone was mined from the Upper Greensand from medieval times until the mid-20th century and was used in

5670-767: The Hillfield Hospital, but from 28 September 1915 it was affiliated to the Horton Hospital in Epsom. The Beeches Auxiliary Military Hospital, on Beech Road, was opened in March 1916 with 20 beds, but expanded to 40 beds that October. The hospital relocated to a larger facility in the same road in July 1917 and became affiliated with the Lewisham Military Hospital two months later. Some 5000 evacuees from London were sent to

5796-491: The Maltese archipelago) and of Mnajdra (Malta) are notable for their gigantic Neolithic structures, the oldest of which date back to around 3600 BC. The Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni , Paola , Malta, is a subterranean structure excavated around 2500 BC; originally a sanctuary, it became a necropolis , the only prehistoric underground temple in the world, and shows a degree of artistry in stone sculpture unique in prehistory to

5922-443: The Maltese islands. After 2500 BC, these islands were depopulated for several decades until the arrival of a new influx of Bronze Age immigrants, a culture that cremated its dead and introduced smaller megalithic structures called dolmens to Malta. In most cases there are small chambers here, with the cover made of a large slab placed on upright stones. They are claimed to belong to a population different from that which built

6048-624: The Middle East. The neolithization of Northwestern Africa was initiated by Iberian , Levantine (and perhaps Sicilian ) migrants around 5500-5300 BC. During the Early Neolithic period, farming was introduced by Europeans and was subsequently adopted by the locals. During the Middle Neolithic period, an influx of ancestry from the Levant appeared in Northwestern Africa, coinciding with

6174-538: The Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order: the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. In other parts of the world, such as Africa , South Asia and Southeast Asia , independent domestication events led to their own regionally distinctive Neolithic cultures, which arose completely independently of those in Europe and Southwest Asia . Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture. In

6300-686: The Neolithic lasted until the Protodynastic period , c. 3150 BC. In China , it lasted until circa 2000 BC with the rise of the pre-Shang Erlitou culture , as it did in Scandinavia . Following the ASPRO chronology , the Neolithic started in around 10,200 BC in the Levant , arising from the Natufian culture , when pioneering use of wild cereals evolved into early farming . The Natufian period or "proto-Neolithic" lasted from 12,500 to 9,500 BC, and

6426-400: The Neolithic than in the preceding Paleolithic period. This supplanted an earlier view of the Linear Pottery Culture as living a "peaceful, unfortified lifestyle". Control of labour and inter-group conflict is characteristic of tribal groups with social rank that are headed by a charismatic individual – either a ' big man ' or a proto- chief – functioning as a lineage-group head. Whether

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6552-626: The PPNA, one of the world's first towns, Jericho , appeared in the Levant. It was surrounded by a stone wall, may have contained a population of up to 2,000–3,000 people, and contained a massive stone tower. Around 6400 BC the Halaf culture appeared in Syria and Northern Mesopotamia. In 1981, a team of researchers from the Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée , including Jacques Cauvin and Oliver Aurenche, divided Near East Neolithic chronology into ten periods (0 to 9) based on social, economic and cultural characteristics. In 2002, Danielle Stordeur and Frédéric Abbès advanced this system with

6678-441: The Reigate and Redhill area at the start of the Second World War in September 1939, but by February of the following year around 2000 had returned home. The caves beneath Reigate Castle were converted for use as public air raid shelters and the first bombing raid on the town took place on 15 August 1940. There was a succession of raids in November 1940, including on the 7th when Colley Hill and Reigate Hill were attacked. Towards

6804-488: The Roman period, the Doods Road area was a centre for tile-making. An excavation in 2014 uncovered the remains of a 2nd- or 3rd-century kiln with several types of tile, identified as tegulae , imbrices and pedales . Artefacts discovered to the south west of the town centre in 2011 suggest that there was a high-status villa nearby. Coins from the reigns of Vespasian (69-79), Hadrian (117–138), Severus Alexander (222–235) and Arcadius (383-408), indicate that there

6930-512: The Surrey County Council moved its headquarters from Kingston upon Thames to Woodhatch Place at 11 Cockshott Hill, in the Woodhatch area of Reigate. Two councillors, elected every four years, represent the town: Ward Six councillors sit on Reigate and Banstead borough council, which operates a council-elected-in-thirds system, allowing electors to vote for one candidate in three out of every four years: Ward Neolithic The Neolithic began about 12,000 years ago, when farming appeared in

7056-410: The Wray Stream, was culverted to improve the drainage and road surface of Bell Street. Secondly, Reigate Tunnel , the first road tunnel in England, was constructed at the expense of John Cocks, 1st Earl Somers the lord of the manor. Opened in 1823, it runs beneath the castle and links Bell Street to London Road. It enabled road traffic to bypass the tight curves at the west end of the town centre, but

7182-414: The apparent implied egalitarianism of Neolithic (and Paleolithic) societies have arisen, notably the Marxist concept of primitive communism . Genetic evidence indicates that a drop in Y-chromosomal diversity occurred during the Neolithic. Initially believed to be a result of high incidence of violence and high rates of male mortality, more recent analysis suggests that the reduced Y-chromosomal diversity

7308-558: The area". The research team will perform accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating to retrieve a more precise date for the site. In Mesoamerica , a similar set of events (i.e., crop domestication and sedentary lifestyles) occurred by around 4500 BC in South America, but possibly as early as 11,000–10,000 BC. These cultures are usually not referred to as belonging to the Neolithic; in North America, different terms are used such as Formative stage instead of mid-late Neolithic, Archaic Era instead of Early Neolithic, and Paleo-Indian for

7434-499: The area's first Afroasiatic -speaking settlers. Archaeological dating of livestock bones and burial cairns has also established the cultural complex as the earliest center of pastoralism and stone construction in the region. In southeast Europe agrarian societies first appeared in the 7th millennium BC , attested by one of the earliest farming sites of Europe, discovered in Vashtëmi , southeastern Albania and dating back to 6500 BC. In most of Western Europe in followed over

7560-436: The arrival of pastoralism in the region. The earliest evidence for pottery, domestic cereals and animal husbandry is found in Morocco, specifically at Kaf el-Ghar . The Pastoral Neolithic was a period in Africa's prehistory marking the beginning of food production on the continent following the Later Stone Age . In contrast to the Neolithic in other parts of the world, which saw the development of farming societies,

7686-475: The arrival of the railway lines in the 1840s. At first, development was focused in the east of the parish. A new settlement, initially known as Warwick Town, was established on land owned by Sarah Greville, Countess of Warwick in the 1820s and 1830s. In 1856, the post office relocated its local branch to the growing village and the area became known as Redhill . Throughout the second half of the 19th century, Redhill expanded westwards towards Reigate town centre and

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7812-453: The arrival of the railways in the mid-19th century, Reigate began to expand and the sale of much of the priory estate in 1921 released further land for housebuilding. Reigate is part of the London commuter belt , and since 1974 it has been one of four towns in the borough of Reigate and Banstead . The borough council is based at the town hall in Castlefield Road, and Surrey County Council has its headquarters at Woodhatch Place . Much of

7938-423: The bow and arrow and ceramic pottery were also introduced. In later periods cities of considerable size developed, and some metallurgy by 700 BC. Australia, in contrast to New Guinea , has generally been held not to have had a Neolithic period, with a hunter-gatherer lifestyle continuing until the arrival of Europeans. This view can be challenged in terms of the definition of agriculture, but "Neolithic" remains

8064-405: The castle grounds were among the defences installed in the town. Before being deployed to the Western Front , the 1st Battalion of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment (part of the Canadian Army , was encamped locally. On 19 March 1945 a U.S. Air Force B17G , returning from a bombing raid in Germany, crashed into Reigate Hill in low-visibility conditions. Two memorial benches, carved in

8190-434: The chalk. The entrances to the tunnels were destroyed in 1968, after several people had been injured in unauthorised attempts to access the site. During the Second World War, the defence of the town was primarily the responsibility of the 8th Surrey Battalion of the Home Guard , although the East Surrey Water Company and the London Passenger Transport Board formed separate units to defend local infrastructure. Tank traps in

8316-421: The construction of several local buildings, including the castle, Reigate Priory and St Mary's Church. To the north of the town are the remains of several old chalk pits and lime is thought to have been produced at a site at the base of Colley Hill , although the age of the workings is uncertain. The earliest evidence of human activity in the Reigate area is a triangular stone axe from the Paleolithic , which

8442-403: The curtain walls were rebuilt in stone about a century later. An Augustinian priory was founded to the south of the modern town centre in the first half of the 13th century. The priory was closed during the Reformation and was rebuilt as a private residence for William Howard , the 1st Baron Howard of Effingham. The castle was abandoned around the same time and fell into disrepair. During

8568-406: The de Warennes ordered that a town be constructed below the castle. This town forms the basis of modern-day Reigate. The origin of the name Reigate is uncertain, but appears to derive from Roe-deer Gate, as the town was situated near to the entrance to the de Warenne's deer park . Another possibility is that Reigate derives from Rhie-gat, roughly translating to the River's Course. In 1216 the castle

8694-399: The dead, which were plastered with mud to make facial features. The rest of the corpse could have been left outside the settlement to decay until only the bones were left, then the bones were buried inside the settlement underneath the floor or between houses. Work at the site of 'Ain Ghazal in Jordan has indicated a later Pre-Pottery Neolithic C period. Juris Zarins has proposed that

8820-542: The earliest farmland known to date in east Asia. "No remains of an agricultural field from the Neolithic period have been found in any East Asian country before, the institute said, adding that the discovery reveals that the history of agricultural cultivation at least began during the period on the Korean Peninsula ". The farm was dated between 3600 and 3000 BC. Pottery, stone projectile points, and possible houses were also found. "In 2002, researchers discovered prehistoric earthenware , jade earrings, among other items in

8946-408: The earliest system of writing, the Vinča signs , though archaeologist Shan Winn believes they most likely represented pictograms and ideograms rather than a truly developed form of writing. The Cucuteni-Trypillian culture built enormous settlements in Romania, Moldova and Ukraine from 5300 to 2300 BC. The megalithic temple complexes of Ġgantija on the Mediterranean island of Gozo (in

9072-592: The eastern part of the Dorking and Horley Rural District. Since its inception in 1974, the council has been based in the Town Hall in Castlefield Road, Reigate. Reigate Castle was built in the late 11th or early 12th century, most likely by William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey . Taking the form of a motte-and-bailey castle , it was originally constructed of timber , but the curtain walls were rebuilt in stone around

9198-495: The enclosures also suggest grain and meat storage. The Neolithic 2 (PPNB) began around 8800 BC according to the ASPRO chronology in the Levant ( Jericho , West Bank). As with the PPNA dates, there are two versions from the same laboratories noted above. This system of terminology, however, is not convenient for southeast Anatolia and settlements of the middle Anatolia basin. A settlement of 3,000 inhabitants called 'Ain Ghazal

9324-599: The end of the war, in 1944, the Tea House café on top of Reigate Hill was destroyed by a V-1 flying bomb . For much of the war, Reigate was the headquarters of the South Eastern Command of the British Army . The command was partly housed in purpose-built tunnels beneath Reigate Hill, excavated in 1939 by Welsh miners. The complex consisted of four large underground halls, linked by a network of passageways dug through

9450-570: The first cultivated crop and mark the invention of the technology of farming. This occurred centuries before the first cultivation of grains. Settlements became more permanent, with circular houses, much like those of the Natufians, with single rooms. However, these houses were for the first time made of mudbrick . The settlement had a surrounding stone wall and perhaps a stone tower (as in Jericho). The wall served as protection from nearby groups, as protection from floods, or to keep animals penned. Some of

9576-545: The first form of African food production was mobile pastoralism , or ways of life centered on the herding and management of livestock. The term "Pastoral Neolithic" is used most often by archaeologists to describe early pastoralist periods in the Sahara , as well as in eastern Africa . The Savanna Pastoral Neolithic or SPN (formerly known as the Stone Bowl Culture ) is a collection of ancient societies that appeared in

9702-492: The five petty boroughs of Santon, Colley, Woodhatch, Linkfield and Hooley. The two parts were reunited in 1863 as a Municipal Borough with a council of elected representatives chaired by a mayor. The Borough was extended in 1933 to include Horley, Merstham, Buckland and Nutfield. The Local Government Act 1972 created Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, by combining the Reigate Borough with Banstead Urban District and

9828-602: The following day back to Kingston. The withdrawal of the Royalists from Reigate was the final incident in the Civil War south of the River Thames before the execution of Charles I in 1649. In September 1914, Reigate became a garrison town. Members of the London's Own Territorials were billeted locally whilst undergoing training in the area and Reigate Lodge was used as an Army Service Corps supply depot . Reigate railway station

9954-518: The former route to Kingston diverged from the road to Guildford). It moved to the widest part of the High Street, close to the junction with Bell Street, in the 18th century. Cattle ceased to be sold in the late 19th century and the market closed in 1895, in part as a result of the opening of a fortnightly market in Redhill in 1870. Reigate has two surviving windmills : a post mill on Reigate Heath and

10080-503: The gathering of wild plants" and suggests that these subsistence changes were not due to farmers migrating from the Near East but was an indigenous development, with cereals either indigenous or obtained through exchange. Other scholars argue that the primary stimulus for agriculture and domesticated animals (as well as mud-brick architecture and other Neolithic cultural features) in Egypt was from

10206-416: The importance of manorial courts and the day-to-day administration of towns such as Reigate became the responsibility of the vestry of the parish church. By the early 17th century, the 20 km (5,000-acre) ecclesiastical parish had been divided for administrative purposes into two parts: the "Borough of Reigate", which broadly corresponded to the modern town centre, and "Reigate Foreign", which included

10332-469: The manor began to specialise in the production of oatmeal for the Royal Navy , possibly due to the influence of Admiral Charles Howard, who lived at the priory. By 1710, 11.5% of the population was employed in cereal processing, but the trade dwindled in the mid-18th century and had ceased by 1786. Until the early 18th century, most goods were traded locally, but thereafter, London is thought to have become

10458-466: The most important market for produce. The market in Reigate is first recorded in 1279, when John de Warenne , the 6th Earl of Surrey, claimed the right to hold a weekly market on Saturdays and five annual fairs . His son John , the 7th Earl, was granted permission to move the event to Tuesdays in 1313. The original market place was to the west of the castle, in the triangle of land now bordered by West Street, Upper West Street and Slipshoe Street (where

10584-464: The new road appears initially to have had a negative impact on the local economy, as goods produced elsewhere became cheaper than those made in the town itself. As a result, there was little growth in the population between the 1720s and 1821. In the late 18th century, the prosperity of the town began to recover as it became as stopping point on the London to Brighton coaching route. In 1793, over half of

10710-540: The next 1,500 years. Populations began to rise after 3500 BC, with further dips and rises occurring between 3000 and 2500 BC but varying in date between regions. Around this time is the Neolithic decline , when populations collapsed across most of Europe, possibly caused by climatic conditions, plague, or mass migration. Settled life, encompassing the transition from foraging to farming and pastoralism, began in South Asia in

10836-440: The next two thousand years, but in some parts of Northwest Europe it is much later, lasting just under 3,000 years from c. 4500 BC–1700 BC. Recent advances in archaeogenetics have confirmed that the spread of agriculture from the Middle East to Europe was strongly correlated with the migration of early farmers from Anatolia about 9,000 years ago, and was not just a cultural exchange. Anthropomorphic figurines have been found in

10962-502: The other major crop domesticated were rice, millet, maize (corn), and potatoes. Crops were usually domesticated in a single location and ancestral wild species are still found. [1] Early Neolithic farming was limited to a narrow range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat , millet and spelt , and the keeping of dogs . By about 8000 BC, it included domesticated sheep and goats , cattle and pigs . Not all of these cultural elements characteristic of

11088-570: The parish. Excavations in Church Street in the late 1970s uncovered a Saxon glass jar and remains of a skeleton of uncertain age, but archaeological evidence from this period elsewhere in the town is sparse. Reigate appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Cherchefelle . It was held by William the Conqueror , who had assumed the lordship in 1075 on the death of Edith of Wessex , widow of Edward

11214-691: The period. This site was developed by nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes, as evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity, and may be the oldest known human-made place of worship. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres (10 ha), contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, and birds. Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Palestine , notably in Tell es-Sultan (ancient Jericho ) and Gilgal in

11340-507: The poor state of the roads and so, in 1691, local justices of the peace were given the role of appointing the surveyors. The first turnpike trust in Surrey was authorised by Parliament in 1697 to improve the road south from Woodhatch towards Crawley. The new road took the form of a bridleway , laid alongside the existing causeway between the River Mole crossing at Sidlow and Horse Hill, and

11466-523: The preceding period. The Formative stage is equivalent to the Neolithic Revolution period in Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the southwestern United States it occurred from 500 to 1200 AD when there was a dramatic increase in population and development of large villages supported by agriculture based on dryland farming of corn (maize), and later, beans, squash, and domesticated turkeys. During this period

11592-454: The predominant way of life, the sensitivity to these shortages could be particularly acute, affecting agrarian populations to an extent that otherwise may not have been routinely experienced by prior hunter-gatherer communities. Nevertheless, agrarian communities generally proved successful, and their growth and the expansion of territory under cultivation continued. Another significant change undergone by many of these newly agrarian communities

11718-417: The previous megalithic temples. It is presumed the population arrived from Sicily because of the similarity of Maltese dolmens to some small constructions found there. With some exceptions, population levels rose rapidly at the beginning of the Neolithic until they reached the carrying capacity . This was followed by a population crash of "enormous magnitude" after 5000 BC, with levels remaining low during

11844-496: The previous reliance on an essentially nomadic hunter-gatherer subsistence technique or pastoral transhumance was at first supplemented, and then increasingly replaced by, a reliance upon the foods produced from cultivated lands. These developments are also believed to have greatly encouraged the growth of settlements, since it may be supposed that the increased need to spend more time and labor in tending crop fields required more localized dwellings. This trend would continue into

11970-406: The priory. In medieval times, the main road north from Reigate followed Nutley Lane, climbing Colley Hill in the direction of Kingston upon Thames , from where produce and manufactured items could be transported via the River Thames . Although the direct route to London via Merstham had a less severe gradient, it appears to have been little used for the transport of goods. The manor of Reigate

12096-544: The railway line and Reigate Road, was sold in 1897 and the first houses in Deerings Road appeared shortly afterwards. A major development occurred in 1921, when the Reigate Priory estate (which included much of the land in the town) was sold, enabling existing leaseholders to purchase the freehold of their properties and freeing up further land for construction. In the early 20th century, South Park continued to expand to

12222-422: The region of Balochistan , Pakistan, around 7,000 BC. At the site of Mehrgarh , Balochistan, presence can be documented of the domestication of wheat and barley, rapidly followed by that of goats, sheep, and cattle. In April 2006, it was announced in the scientific journal Nature that the oldest (and first Early Neolithic ) evidence for the drilling of teeth in vivo (using bow drills and flint tips)

12348-674: The rise of metallurgy, and most Neolithic societies on the whole were relatively simple and egalitarian. Beyond Eurasia, however, states were formed during the local Neolithic in three areas, namely in the Preceramic Andes with the Caral-Supe Civilization , Formative Mesoamerica and Ancient Hawaiʻi . However, most Neolithic societies were noticeably more hierarchical than the Upper Paleolithic cultures that preceded them and hunter-gatherer cultures in general. The domestication of large animals (c. 8000 BC) resulted in

12474-743: The roof, with ladders positioned both on the inside and outside of the houses. Stilt-house settlements were common in the Alpine and Pianura Padana ( Terramare ) region. Remains have been found in the Ljubljana Marsh in Slovenia and at the Mondsee and Attersee lakes in Upper Austria , for example. A significant and far-reaching shift in human subsistence and lifestyle was to be brought about in areas where crop farming and cultivation were first developed:

12600-693: The second half of the Second World War. In 1948, the borough council bought the grounds, having secured them as Public Open Space three years earlier. Also in 1948, the Reigate Priory County Secondary School opened in the main priory building, with 140 children aged 13 and 14. In 1963 the boys moved to Woodhatch School and the Priory School continued as an all-girls secondary school. In 1971, the secondary school closed and Holmesdale Middle School, which had been founded in 1852, moved to

12726-665: The shape of wing tips , were installed as a memorial at the crash site 70 years later. The town is in the parliamentary constituency of Reigate and has been represented at Westminster since July 2024 by Conservative Rebecca Paul . A previous MP. George Gardiner , was elected MP in 1974, but defected from the Conservatives to the Referendum Party two months before the 1997 general election . Geoffrey Howe , later briefly Deputy Prime Minister under Margaret Thatcher , represented Reigate from 1970 to 1974. In January 2021,

12852-462: The signing of Magna Carta , the rebellious barons met to hammer out the details of the document in the extensive caves below the castle. The Reigate Castle Tunnel runs under the grounds of Reigate Castle and was constructed in 1823. It is believed to be Europe's first road tunnel and is pedestrianised. The castle grounds remain as public gardens . The castle gate is the main feature of Reigate and Banstead 's municipal coat of arms . Tours of

12978-623: The south and east. The sale of Woodhatch Farm in the 1930s released the land for housebuilding. Further expansion in Woodhatch occurred in the 1950s, with the construction of council housing on the Rushetts Farm estate. Although little fighting took place in Surrey during the Civil War , the Reigate Hundred was required to provide 80 men for the Parliamentarian army, but a force of only 60

13104-482: The south east of the town centre, and also led efforts to build houses at South Park, to the west of Woodhatch. At the end of the 19th century, the estates of several large houses were broken up, releasing further land for development. Glovers and Lesborne Roads, to the south east of the centre, were developed by the National Freehold Land Company c.  1893 . The Great Doods estate, between

13230-467: The south of the town. The castle was allowed to decay, with only small outlays recorded in the manor accounts for repairs, until 1686, when the buildings were reported as ruinous. Much of the masonry was most likely removed for local construction projects, but in around 1777, Richard Barnes, who rented the grounds, built a new gatehouse folly using the remaining stone. A century later, the Borough Council

13356-504: The third Earl of Arundel . In 1580 both Earldoms passed through the female line to Phillip Howard , whose father, Thomas Howard , had forfeited the title of Duke of Norfolk and had been executed for his involvement in the Ridolfi plot to assassinate Elizabeth I . The dukedom was restored to the family in 1660, following the accession of Charles II . Reforms during the Tudor period reduced

13482-640: The town centre, was formed in 1295. It elected two MPs until the Reform Act 1832 when it lost one. In 1868, Reigate borough was disenfranchised for corruption, but representation in the House of Commons was restored to the town in the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 ( 48 & 49 Vict. c. 23). The manor of Cherchefelle was granted to William de Warenne when he became Earl of Surrey c.  1090 and under his patronage, Reigate began to thrive. The castle

13608-481: The traffic on the Reigate Hill turnpike was bound for the south coast and numbers swelled as a result of troop movements during the Napoleonic Wars . The opening of the turnpike through Redhill, appears to have had little initial impact on the numbers travelling through the town, as travellers preferred to break their journeys in Reigate, rather than bypassing the town to the east. Reigate began to expand following

13734-540: The two towns are now contiguous. A new residential area was established at Wray Park, to the north of Reigate town centre, in the 1850s and 1860s. St Mark's Church was built to serve the new community. Doods Road was constructed in around 1864 and Somers Road, to the west of the station, followed shortly afterwards. In 1863, the National Freehold Land Society began to develop the Glovers Field estate, to

13860-412: The uncle of Catherine Howard . The old church was converted to a private residence and the majority of the rest of the buildings were demolished. Richard Ireland, who purchased the priory in 1766, is primarily responsible for the appearance of the buildings today. A fire destroyed much of the west wing and Ireland commissioned its rebuilding. Following Ireland's death in 1780, the priory passed through

13986-470: The year 1777. ne willi comitis warren veteris hujusce loci incolae fidique libertatum nostrarum vindicis memoria temporum injuria cum ipso castello intercideret propriis R. B. impensis H.P.E anno MDCCLXXVII. None of the original castle buildings have survived, with the exception of the Barons' Cave. Little more is known of the castle which has never been excavated on any great scale. Local legend says prior to

14112-455: Was Roman activity in the local area throughout the occupation of Britain . The former name Cherchefelle suggests that the most recent period of permanent settlement in Reigate began in Anglo-Saxon times. The main settlement is thought to have been located in the area of the parish church, to the east of the modern centre, although much of the population was probably thinly dispersed around

14238-639: Was closed between January 1917 and February 1919 as a wartime economy measure. By the end of the First World War, there were three temporary hospitals for members of the armed forces in Reigate. The Hillfield Red Cross Hospital opened on 2 November 1914 and was equipped with an operating theatre and 50 beds. As well as treating injured soldiers transported home from overseas, the facility also treated troops garrisoned locally. The Kitto Relief Hospital in South Park opened on 9 November 1914, initially as an annex to

14364-412: Was completed the following year and the old road via Nutley Lane was blocked at Colley Hill. In 1808, a second turnpike to the north was opened to Purley via Merstham. The new trust was required to pay £200 per year to the owners of the Reigate Hill road, in compensation for lost tolls. Two improvements to the road network in the town centre took place in the early nineteenth century. Firstly, in 1815,

14490-552: Was constructed by the Reading, Guildford and Reigate Railway and opened in 1849. It was designed to provide an alternative route between the west of England and the Channel ports, and serving intermediate towns was a secondary concern. Electrification of the section of line from Reigate to Redhill was completed on 1 January 1933. In February 1976, Reigate was joined to the UK motorway system when

14616-419: Was constructed shortly afterwards and the modern town was established to the south in the late 12th century. An Augustinian priory , founded by the fifth Earl of Surrey , is recorded in 1240. By 1276, a regular market was being held and a record of 1291 describes Reigate as a Borough . On the death of the seventh Earl, John de Warenne , in 1347, the manor passed to his brother-in-law , Richard Fitzalan ,

14742-840: Was found in Mehrgarh. In South India, the Neolithic began by 6500 BC and lasted until around 1400 BC when the Megalithic transition period began. South Indian Neolithic is characterized by Ash mounds from 2500 BC in Karnataka region, expanded later to Tamil Nadu . In East Asia, the earliest sites include the Nanzhuangtou culture around 9500–9000 BC, Pengtoushan culture around 7500–6100 BC, and Peiligang culture around 7000–5000 BC. The prehistoric Beifudi site near Yixian in Hebei Province, China, contains relics of

14868-410: Was found in Woodhatch in 1936. Worked flints from the later Neolithic have been found on Colley Hill. Finds from the Bronze Age include a gold penannular ring , dated to c.  1150  – c.  750 BCE , and a barbed spearhead from Priory Park. The eight barrows on Reigate Heath are thought to date from the same period, when the surrounding area may have been marshland. During

14994-409: Was found in the outskirts of Amman , Jordan . Considered to be one of the largest prehistoric settlements in the Near East , it was continuously inhabited from approximately 7250 BC to approximately 5000 BC. Settlements have rectangular mud-brick houses where the family lived together in single or multiple rooms. Burial findings suggest an ancestor cult where people preserved skulls of

15120-524: Was granted a long lease on the property, which had been turned into a public garden. Regular tours of the caves beneath the castle are run by the Wealden Cave and Mine Society. William de Warenne, the fifth Earl of Surrey, is thought to have founded the Augustinian priory at Reigate before 1240. Early documents refer to the priory as a hospital, but in 1334 it is described as a convent and thereafter as

15246-450: Was ground into flour. Emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated ( animal husbandry and selective breeding ). In 2006, remains of figs were discovered in a house in Jericho dated to 9400 BC. The figs are of a mutant variety that cannot be pollinated by insects, and therefore the trees can only reproduce from cuttings. This evidence suggests that figs were

15372-402: Was one of diet . Pre-agrarian diets varied by region, season, available local plant and animal resources and degree of pastoralism and hunting. Post-agrarian diet was restricted to a limited package of successfully cultivated cereal grains, plants and to a variable extent domesticated animals and animal products. Supplementation of diet by hunting and gathering was to variable degrees precluded by

15498-510: Was one of many captured by the French in southern England, including Chichester Castle . In 1347 the castle became the property of Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel . From 1397 it was owned by a number of Lords of the Manor of Reigate, including the influential Howard family. It was occupied until the 16th century, but fell into disrepair afterwards. It was demolished in 1648 after occupation as a garrison during

15624-483: Was raised, including a captain and lieutenant. Troops were garrisoned in the town and by the summer of 1648, serious discontent was rising in the local area as a result. The Royalist , Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland , raised a fighting force and marched from Kingston to Reigate where his men plundered local property and briefly occupied the half-ruined castle. Parliamentary troops under Major Lewis Audley were sent to confront Rich, but he withdrew first to Dorking and then

15750-483: Was responsible for maintaining the roads in the local area, but repairs were carried out infrequently and improvements were often only funded by private donations. In 1555, the responsibility for local infrastructure was transferred to the parish, and separate surveyors were employed for the Borough and for Reigate Foreign. The inefficiency created by this division resulted in frequent complaints and court cases relating to

15876-430: Was unsuitable for wheeled vehicles. Repairs were also carried out on the route between Reigate and Woodhatch under the same Act. A second turnpike was authorised in 1755, to improve the route from Sutton to Povey Cross, near Horley , which involved creating a new road north from Reigate over Reigate Hill. A cutting was excavated at the top of the hill, using a battering ram to break up the underlying chalk. The new route

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