107-536: Thomas Cubitt (25 February 1788 – 20 December 1855) was a British master builder, notable for his employment in developing many of the historic streets and squares of London, especially in Belgravia , Pimlico and Bloomsbury . His great-great-great-granddaughter is Queen Camilla . The son of a Norfolk carpenter, he journeyed to India as a ship's carpenter, from which he earned sufficient funds to start his own building firm in 1810 on Gray's Inn Road , London, where he
214-596: A Slum Clearance Order to demolish 81 properties in Church Street, North Street, Cotmandene and the surrounding areas. In total 217 residents were displaced, many of whom were rehoused by the UDC in the Fraser Gardens estate, designed by the architect George Grey Wornum . The Chart Downs estate to the southeast of the town was built between 1948 and 1952. Controversially, in the late 1950s and 1960s, Dorking UDC constructed
321-405: A clerestory and two side aisles were added to the nave . The so-called Intermediate Church was constructed in 1835–1837. It had a square tower, topped with an octagonal spire , and could seat around 1800 worshippers. Its floor level was approximately 1.8 m (6 ft) higher than that of the church it replaced, allowing the base of the medieval nave to become a crypt . In 1868–1877,
428-494: A politician , created Baron Ashcombe in 1892. Mary, later Mrs Parker, was a botanist whose botanical specimens are held at the Royal Botanica Gardens, Kew. Thomas through his son, George , is a great-great-great-grandfather of Queen Camilla . Cubitt died in 1855 and was taken from Dorking for burial at West Norwood Cemetery on 27 December 1855. After his death, Queen Victoria said, "In his sphere of life, with
535-580: A 2018 Netflix original movie starring Vanessa Hudgens , takes place largely in the fictional kingdom of Belgravia. Belgravia is a period television series, broadcast in 2020, based on a novel of the same name by Julian Fellowes , published in 2016, which Fellowes himself adapted for the series. Dorking Dorking ( / ˈ d ɔːr k ɪ ŋ / ) is a market town in Surrey in South East England about 21 mi (34 km) south of London . It
642-472: A Nicaraguan dictator, lived at number 35. Chester Square is a smaller, residential garden square, the last of the three garden squares built by the Grosvenor family. It is named after the city of Chester , near Eaton Hall. Members of the family also served as Members of Parliament (MPs) for Chester . The garden, just under 1.5 acres (6,100 m ) in size, is planted with shrubs and herbaceous borders. It
749-563: A church at Dorking occurs in Domesday Book of 1086. In around 1140, Isabel de Warenne, the widow of the second Earl of Surrey , granted the church and a tithe of the rents from the manor to Lewes Priory in Sussex. In the 1190s, the tithe was converted to a pension of £6, which was paid annually to the Priory until at least 1291. The Priory also acquired the right to appoint the town's priest. It
856-650: A fall in produce prices following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. Like many towns in the south of England, Dorking was affected by civil unrest among its poorest residents. In November 1830 a riot broke out and a mob of 80 attacked the Red Lion Inn in the High Street. A troop of soldiers from the Life Guards regiment was called in to restore order. In 1831 it was noted that the town (population 4711) had one of
963-620: A few families also joined the group. Most appear to have settled in the Toronto area, but a few are recorded as living in Kingston, Ontario . In 1911, the town was described in the Victoria County History as "almost entirely residential and agricultural, with some lime works on the chalk, though not so extensive as those in neighbouring parishes, a little brick-making, watermills (corn) at Pixham Mill, and timber and saw-mills." Although
1070-660: A group of landowners including the Duke of Bedford . He was commissioned in 1824 by Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster , to create a great swathe of building in Belgravia centred on Belgrave Square and Pimlico , in what was to become his greatest achievement in London. Notable amongst this development are the north and west sides of Eaton Square , which exemplify Cubitt's style of building and design. After Cubitt's workshops in Thames Bank were destroyed by fire, he remarked "Tell
1177-489: A lower iron content, and contain veins of silver sand and rose-coloured ferruginous sand. Running along the north bank of the Pipp Brook (with a width of around 200 m (200 yd)) is the outcrop of Gault, a blue-black shaly clay, beyond which is a narrow band of Upper Greensand, a hard, grey mica-rich sandstone. In the extreme north west of the town, the marly Lower Chalk was quarried for lime production until
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#17328527813311284-578: A major road through West London, and the London Inner Ring Road run along the boundaries of Belgravia. The area takes its name from the village of Belgrave, Cheshire , two miles (3 km) from the Grosvenor family's main country seat of Eaton Hall . One of the Duke of Westminster 's subsidiary titles is Viscount Belgrave. During the Middle Ages , the area was known as the Five Fields and
1391-462: A mock-Tudor arch was erected over the main carriageway entrance from South Street. Initially sales were slow, but the proposals for the building of the railway line from Redhill stimulated interest in the development in the late 1840s. Although most of the purchasers were private individuals (the majority of whom had been born outside of the local area), the Dorking Society of Friends bought one of
1498-433: A popular spot for duelling . Despite its reputation for crime and violence, Five Fields was a pleasant area during the daytime, and various market gardens were established. The area began to be built up after George III moved to Buckingham House and constructed a row of houses on what is now Grosvenor Place . In 1826, Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster received rights from Parliament to build on land that
1605-605: A windmill on Tower Hill. The town flourished in Tudor times and, in the 1590s, a market house was built between what is now St Martin's Walk and the White Horse Hotel. The antiquarian John Aubrey , who visited the town between 1673 and 1692, noted that the weekly market (which took place on Thursdays) was "the greatest... for poultry in England" and noted that "Sussex wheat" was also sold. The free-draining Lower Greensand found in
1712-471: Is a Grade II* listed building , in a Greek revival style featuring a six-columned Ionic portico and a clock tower. Eaton Place is an extension to the square, developed by Cubitt between 1826 and 1845. The scientist William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin lived here, as did the Irish Unionist Edward Carson . Sir Henry Wilson, 1st Baronet was assassinated by Irish Republicans in 1922 as he
1819-738: Is a district in Central London , covering parts of the areas of the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea . Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' during the Tudor Period , and became a dangerous place due to highwaymen and robberies. It was developed in the early 19th century by Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster under the direction of Thomas Cubitt , focusing on numerous grand terraces centred on Belgrave Square and Eaton Square . Much of Belgravia, known as
1926-460: Is from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, and there are several Bronze Age bowl barrows in the local area. The town may have been the site of a staging post on Stane Street during Roman times , however the name 'Dorking' suggests an Anglo-Saxon origin for the modern settlement. A market is thought to have been held at least weekly since early medieval times and was highly regarded for
2033-593: Is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp Brook and along the northern face of an outcrop of Lower Greensand . The town is surrounded on three sides by the Surrey Hills National Landscape and is close to Box Hill and Leith Hill . The earliest archaeological evidence of human activity
2140-621: Is in central Surrey, about 21 mi (34 km) south of London and 10 mi (16 km) east of Guildford . It is close to the intersection of two valleys – the north-south Mole Gap (where the River Mole cuts through the North Downs ) and the west–east Vale of Holmesdale (a narrow strip of low-lying land between the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge ). The highest point in the town
2247-411: Is marked by a blue plaque ). Like much of Belgravia, Wilton Crescent has grand terraces with lavish white houses which are built in a crescent shape, many of them with stuccoed balconies, particularly in the southern part of the crescent. The houses to the north of the crescent are stone clad, and five storeys high, and were refaced between 1908 and 1912. Most of the houses had originally been built in
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#17328527813312354-608: Is one of London's largest and is divided into six compartments by the upper end of King's Road (northeast of Sloane Square ), a main road, now busy with traffic, that occupies its long axis, and two smaller cross streets. Although not as fashionable as some of the other squares in London, Eaton Square was home to several key figures. George FitzClarence, 1st Earl of Munster , the illegitimate son of William IV , lived at No. 13, while Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain lived at No 93 and No. 37 respectively. Since World War II, Eaton Square has become less residential;
2461-506: Is the Glory Wood , south east of the centre, where the summit (137 m (449 ft)) is marked by a Bronze Age bowl barrow . The basic plan of the town centre has not changed since medieval times (and may be Anglo-Saxon in origin). The main streets (the High Street, West Street and South Street) meet at Pump Corner, forming a " Y " shape. Together, West Street and the High Street run approximately west–east, paralleling
2568-565: Is unclear where in the town the Domesday church was located. It appears to have been replaced at some point during the 12th century (possibly by Isabel de Warenne) by a large cruciform building with a central tower. A rededication from St Mary to St Martin may have taken place around the same time. In 1334 the church was granted to the Priory of the Holy Cross in Reigate. In the late 14th century
2675-596: The Goodwyns estate on land compulsorily purchased from Howard Martineau, a major local benefactor to the town. The initial designs were by Clifford Culpin and the project was subsequently developed by William Ryder, who was responsible for the erection of the Wenlock Edge and Linden Lea tower blocks . Both the design of the buildings and the layout of the estate were praised in the early 1970s by architectural historians Ian Nairn and Nikolaus Pevsner . The first mention of
2782-689: The Grosvenor Estate , is still owned by a family property company, the Duke of Westminster's Grosvenor Group , although owing to the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 , the estate has been forced to sell many freeholds to its former tenants. Belgravia is near the former course of the River Westbourne , a tributary of the River Thames . The area is mostly in the City of Westminster , with a small part of
2889-609: The Grosvenor family estate surveyor, and was drawn up with the original 1821 Wyatt plan for Belgravia. It is named after the 2nd Earl of Wilton , second son of the 1st Marquess of Westminster. The street was built in 1827 by William Howard Seth-Smith. In the 19th and 20th centuries, it was home to many prominent British politicians, ambassadors and civil servants. Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma lived at No. 2 for many years and Alfonso López Pumarejo , twice President of Colombia , lived and died at No. 33 (which
2996-512: The Mesolithic and Neolithic periods and includes flint tools and flakes found during construction development in South Street. During the rebuilding of the Waitrose supermarket in South Street in 2013, charred hazelnut shells, radiocarbon dated to between 8625 and 8465 BCE , were discovered. A ring ditch containing two ceramic urns , was also found. Other ditches identified during
3103-647: The Pipp Brook , a tributary of the Mole, which runs to the north of the centre. The town is surrounded by the Metropolitan Green Belt (which also covers the Glory Wood) and is bordered on three sides by the Surrey Hills National Landscape . Several Sites of Special Scientific Interest are close by, including the Mole Gap to Reigate Escarpment , immediately to the north. The National Trust owns several properties in
3210-602: The poultry traded there. The Dorking breed of domestic chicken is named after the town. The local economy thrived during Tudor times , but declined in the 17th century due to poor infrastructure and competition from neighbouring towns. During the early modern period many inhabitants were nonconformists , including the author, Daniel Defoe , who lived in Dorking as a child. Six of the Mayflower Pilgrims , including William Mullins and his daughter Priscilla , lived in
3317-677: The 1960s and 1970s). Holloway Farm was sold in 1870 and the first houses in Knoll, Roman and Ridgeway Roads were constructed before 1880. Houses in Cliftonville (named after its promoter, Joseph Clift, a local chemist ) were also built around the same time. To the north of the High Street, smaller semi-detached and terraced houses were constructed in the 1890s for artisans in Rothes Road, Ansell Road, Wathen Road, Hart Road and Jubilee Terrace. No significant residential expansion took place in Dorking in
Thomas Cubitt - Misplaced Pages Continue
3424-433: The 20th century at St Barnabas Church, Ranmore. Aubrey also recorded that an annual fair took place on Ascension Day . Chalk and sand were quarried in Dorking until the early 20th century. Chalk was dug from a pit on Ranmore Road and heated in kilns to produce quicklime . In the medieval and early modern periods, the lime was used to fertilise local farm fields, but from the 18th century onwards (and especially after
3531-588: The Bolivian Embassy is at No. 106 while the Belgian Embassy is at No. 103. At the east end of the square is St Peter's Church . It was designed by Henry Hakewill and built between 1824 and 1827 during the first development of Eaton Square. The first church was destroyed by fire in 1836 and rebuilt by Hakewill, and again in 1987, when it was restored by the Braithwaite Partnership. It
3638-486: The Confessor . The settlement included one church, three mills worth 15s 4d, 16 ploughs , woodland and herbage for 88 hogs and 3 acres (1.2 ha) of meadow . It rendered £18 per year in 1086. The residents included 38 villagers, 14 smallholders and 4 villeins , which placed it in the top 20% of settlements in England by population. In around 1087, William II granted the manor of Dorking to Willam de Warenne ,
3745-458: The Dorking area is particularly suited for rearing chickens and the local soils provide grit to assist the birds' digestive systems . The Dorking fowl, which has five claws instead of the normal four, is named after the town. Wine made from the wild cherries that grew in the town was another local speciality. A 'cherry fair' was held in July in the 17th and 18th centuries, and was revived in
3852-568: The Intermediate Church was rebuilt into the present St Martin's Church , designed in the Decorated Gothic style by the architect Henry Woodyer . The 64 m (210 ft) spire of the current church was dedicated as a memorial to Bishop Samuel Wilberforce (who had died in 1873) and in 1905–1911 the Lady chapel was added. In order to accommodate the growing population in the south of
3959-521: The London-Brighton road at Tadworth . The development of Guildford (12 mi (19 km) to the west) was stimulated by the construction of the Wey Navigation in the 1650s. In contrast, although several schemes were proposed to make the Mole navigable, none were enacted and transport links to Dorking remained poor. As a result, the local economy began to suffer and the town declined through
4066-526: The Navigator , the 1st Marquess of Westminster, a bust of Basevi and a sculpture entitled "Homage to Leonardo, the Vitruvian Man", by Italian sculptor Enzo Plazzotta . Eaton Square is one of three garden squares built by the Grosvenor family, and is named after Eaton Hall, Cheshire , the family's principal seat. It is longer but less grand than Belgrave Square, and is an elongated rectangle. The first block
4173-497: The UDCs of Dorking and Leatherhead with the majority of the Dorking and Horley Rural District. In 1984, the new council moved into purpose-built offices, designed by Michael Innes, at the east end of the town. Following the end of Roman rule in Britain , there appears to have been no systematic planning of transport infrastructure in the local area for over a millennium . During Saxon times,
4280-521: The UK average and has left the area empty and isolated. Belgrave Square , one of the grandest and largest 19th-century squares, is the centrepiece of Belgravia. It was laid out by the property contractor Thomas Cubitt for the 2nd Earl Grosvenor , later to be the 1st Marquess of Westminster, beginning in 1826. Building was largely complete by the 1840s. The original scheme consisted of four terraces, each made up of eleven grand white stuccoed houses, apart from
4387-537: The area) purchased the estates at Bury Hill, Denbies and Deepdene respectively. Higher-status individuals living closer to the town centre included William Crawford , the City of London MP, and Jane Leslie , the Dowager Countess of Rothes. Although the incoming landowners played little part in local commerce, they appear to have been the driving force behind schemes to pave streets and to provide gas lighting (both paid for by public subscription ). Rose Hill,
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4494-541: The area, especially in Belgrave Square . In the early 21st century, some houses are being reconverted to residential use, because offices in old houses are no longer as desirable as they were in the post-war decades, while the number of super-rich in London is at a high level not seen since at least 1939. The average house price in Belgravia, as of March 2010, was £6.6 million, although many houses in Belgravia are among
4601-523: The area, including Box Hill , Leith Hill Tower and Polesden Lacey . The rock strata on which Dorking sits, belong primarily to the Lower Greensand Group . This group is multilayered and includes the sandy Hythe Beds, the clayey Sandgate Beds and the quartz-rich Folkestone Beds. The lower greensand was deposited in the early Cretaceous , most likely in a shallow sea with low oxygen levels . Over
4708-411: The buildings were constructed by Cubitt in the 1820s and 1830s. Walter Bagehot , a writer, banker and economist, lived at No. 12 during the 1860s. Alfred, Lord Tennyson lived at No 9 in 1880–1881. John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan lived at No. 46, and disappeared without trace from there in 1974 after his children's nanny was found murdered. Hope Portocarrero , the wife of Anastasio Somoza ,
4815-558: The centre was cleared enabling farms owned by the Goodwyns, Stubbs and Sondes families to expand. By the start of the Tudor period, there were at least five watermills in Dorking – two at Pixham (one on the Pipp Brook, owned by the Sondes and one on the Mole, owned by the Brownes), two close to the town centre (both owned by the manor) and one at Milton, on the road to Westcott. There may also have been
4922-548: The construction of the turnpike to Epsom in 1755), it was transported to London for use in the construction industry . Sand from the Folkestone Beds was quarried from several sites in the town, including at two pits in Vincent Lane. Caves and tunnels were also dug in the sandstone under several parts of the town. Many were used as cellars for storing wine bottles, but deeper workings followed seams of silver sand , which
5029-453: The death of the seventh Earl, John de Warenne , in 1347, the manor passed to his brother-in-law , Richard Fitzalan , 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
5136-636: The early 20th century. Ammonite fossils are found in the north of the town, including Stoliczkia , Callihoplites , Acanthoceras and Euomphaloceras species in the Lower Chalk and Puzosia species in the Upper Greensand. Foraminifera fossils have been found in the Hythe Beds adjacent to the Horsham road, to the west of Tower Hill. The earliest evidence of human activity in Dorking comes from
5243-501: The east is Westminster . The area is mostly residential, the particular exceptions being Belgrave Square in the centre, Eaton Square to the south, and Buckingham Palace Gardens to the east. The nearest London Underground stations are Hyde Park Corner , Knightsbridge and Sloane Square . Victoria station , a major National Rail , tube and coach interchange, is to the east of the district. Frequent bus services run to all areas of Central London from Grosvenor Place. The A4 ,
5350-735: The east lies Buckingham Palace . The play Major Barbara is partly set at Lady Britomart's house in Wilton Crescent. In 2007, Wilton Garden, in the middle of the crescent, was awarded a bronze medal by the London Gardens Society. Lowndes Square is named after the Secretary to the Treasury William Lowndes . Like much of Belgravia, it has grand terraces with white stucco houses. To the east lie Wilton Crescent and Belgrave Square. The square runs parallel with Sloane Street to
5457-557: The east, east of the Harvey Nichols department store and Knightsbridge Underground station . It has some of the most expensive properties in the world. Russian businessman Roman Abramovich bought two stucco houses in Lowndes Square in 2008. The merged houses, with a total of eight bedrooms, are expected to be worth £150 million, which exceeds the value of the previous most expensive house in London. George Basevi designed many of
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#17328527813315564-436: The first Earl of Surrey , whose descendants have held the lordship almost continuously until the present day. By the early 14th century, the manor had been divided for administrative purposes into four tithings : Eastburgh and Chippingburgh (corresponding respectively to the eastern and western halves of the modern town); Foreignburgh (the area covered by the Holmwoods) and Waldburgh (which would later be renamed Capel ). On
5671-400: The first half of the 20th century, as the Deepdene and Denbies estates began to be broken up. Further development is now constrained by the Metropolitan Green Belt , which encircles the town. The origins and meaning of the name Dorking are uncertain. Early spellings include Dorchinges (1086), Doreking (1138–47), Dorkinges (1180), and Dorkingg (1219). Both principal elements in
5778-492: The first planned residential estate in Dorking, was developed by William Newland, a wealthy Guildford surgeon, who also had interests in the Wey and Arun Canal . Newland purchased the "Great House" on Butter Hill and the surrounding 6.5 ha (20 acres) of land in 1831, which he divided into plots for 24 houses, arranged around a central paddock , known as "The Oval". The Great House was divided into two separate dwellings (Butter Hill House and Rose Hill House), adjacent to which
5885-465: The first two decades of the 20th century. In the 1920s and 1930s, the breakup of the Deepdene and Pippbrook estates (and the electrification of the railway line from Leatherhead) stimulated housebuilding to the north and east of the town, including Deepdene Vale and Deepdene Park. The sale of part of Bradley Farm (part of the Denbies estate) in the 1930s, enabled the building of Ashcombe, Keppel and Calvert Roads. The Dorking UDC intended to build housing on
5992-459: The highest rates of poor relief in Surrey. In early 1832, the vestry devised a supported scheme to enable young unemployed, unskilled labourers to leave the town to settle in Upper Canada . The cost of the voyage from Portsmouth to Montreal for 61 recipients of poor relief was paid by private donations, however the emigrants also received an allowance for food and clothing from parish funds. Although many were young, single men aged 14–20,
6099-493: The houses in the square. Mick Jagger and James Fox once filmed in Leonard Plugge 's house in Lowndes Square. The square was used as a setting for the Edward Frederic Benson novel The Countess of Lowndes Square . The novels of Anthony Trollope (1815–1882): The Way We Live Now , Phineas Finn , Phineas Redux , The Prime Minister , and The Duke's Children all give accurate descriptions of 19th-century Belgravia. Flunkeyania or Belgravian Morals , written under
6206-662: The immense business he had in hand, he is a real national loss. A better, kindhearted or more simple, unassuming man never breathed." As well as the statue in Denbigh Street, London, another of Cubitt can be seen in Dorking , opposite the Dorking Halls, as he was favoured there for his architecture on his Denbies estate . In 1883 the business was acquired by Holland & Hannen, a leading competitor, which combination became known as Holland & Hannen and Cubitts, later Holland, Hannen & Cubitts . Restaurants, pubs and other places have been named in his honour. Belgravia Belgravia ( / b ɛ l ˈ ɡ r eɪ v i ə / )
6313-462: The largest houses ceased to be used as residences, or townhouses for the country gentry and aristocracy, and were increasingly occupied by embassies, charity headquarters, professional institutions and other businesses. Belgravia has become a relatively quiet district in the heart of London, contrasting with neighbouring districts, which have far more busy shops, large modern office buildings, hotels and entertainment venues. Many embassies are located in
6420-492: The late 17th and early 18th centuries. The turnpike road through Dorking was authorised by the Horsham and Epsom Turnpike Act of 1755. The new turnpike dramatically improved the accessibility of the town from the capital and a report from 1765 noted both that the Thursday grain market had increased in size and that the local flour mills were significantly busier. A mail coach operated return journeys between Dorking and London six days per week and several stagecoaches used
6527-501: The late 1920s, improvements were made to the Dorking-Reigate road (now the A25), including the construction of Deepdene Bridge over the River Mole. The bypass road (now the A24) was opened in 1934 following considerable local opposition to the route, which cut through the Deepdene estate. A market at Dorking is first recorded in 1240 and in 1278, the sixth Earl of Surrey, John de Warenne , claimed that it had been held twice weekly since " time out of mind ". The early medieval market
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#17328527813316634-423: The men they shall be at work within a week, and I will subscribe £600 towards buying them new tools." Cubitt was also responsible for the east front of Buckingham Palace . He also built and personally funded nearly a kilometre of the Thames Embankment . He was employed in the large development of Kemp Town in Brighton , and Osborne House on the Isle of Wight , completed in 1851. Cubitt's public works included
6741-404: The most expensive anywhere in the world, costing up to £100 million, £4,761 per square foot (£51,000 per m ) as of 2009. As of 2013, many residential properties in Belgravia were owned by wealthy foreigners who may have other luxury residences in exclusive locations worldwide, so many are temporarily unoccupied as their owners are elsewhere. The increase in land value has been in sharp contrast to
6848-525: The name are disputed. The first element may be from a personal name, Deorc , or some variant, of either Brittonic or Old English origin. Alternatively it may derive from the Brittonic words Dorce , a river name meaning "clear, bright stream", or duro , meaning a "fort", "walled town" or "gated place". The second element, if originally plural (‑ ingas ), might mean "(settlement belonging to the) followers of ...", but if singular (‑ ing ) might mean "place", "stream", "wood" or "clump". Dorking
6955-443: The neighbouring towns of Guildford and Reigate , Dorking was never granted a Borough Charter and remained under the control of the Lord of the Manor throughout the Middle Ages. Reforms during the Tudor period reduced the importance of manorial courts and the day-to-day administration of towns such as Dorking became the responsibility of the vestry of the parish church. There was little change in local government structure over
7062-470: The northern corner, No. 49, which was built by Cubitt for Sidney Herbert in 1847. The terraces were designed by George Basevi (cousin of Benjamin Disraeli ). The largest of the corner mansions, Seaford House in the east corner, was designed by Philip Hardwick , and the one in the west corner was designed by Robert Smirke , completed circa 1830. The square contains statues of Christopher Columbus , Simón Bolívar , José de San Martín , Prince Henry
7169-450: The plots in 1845 for the construction of a meeting house . By 1861 the estate was complete. The arrival of the railway in 1849 catalysed the expansion of the town to the south and west. Between 1850 and 1870, the National Freehold Land Society was responsible for housing developments in Arundel and Howard Roads, as well as around Tower Hill. Poorer quality houses were built along Falkland and Hampstead Roads (many of which were replaced in
7276-406: The provision of public parks, including being an organiser of the Battersea Park Scheme. His work outside London includes the country house Polesden Lacey , near Dorking, Surrey, which he rebuilt to largely its present form in the early 1820s. In 1827 he withdrew from the management of his Gray's Inn Road concern leaving this to his brother William Cubitt ; the firm of Cubitts still carried out
7383-421: The pseudonym "Chawles", was one of the novels serialised in The Pearl , an allegedly pornographic Victorian magazine. A 1967 episode of the television series Batman is set in Belgravia. In the popular British television series Upstairs, Downstairs (1971–1975), the scene is set in the household of Richard Bellamy (later 1st Viscount Bellamy of Haversham) at 165 Eaton Place, Belgravia (65 Eaton Place
7490-431: The reigns of Hadrian (117–138 AD), Commodus (180–192) and Claudius Gothicus (214–270), as well as tiles and pottery fragments, have been found in the town. Stane Street , the Roman road linking London to Chichester , was constructed during the first century AD and is thought to have run through Dorking. The exact course through the town is not known and no definitive archaeological evidence has been discovered for
7597-400: The rest of the farm (now Denbies Wine Estate ), however their plans were interrupted by the outbreak of war and were ultimately prevented by the creation of the Metropolitan Green Belt . The first council housing was built in Dorking by the UDC in Nower Road in 1920 and similar developments took place in Marlborough and Beresford Roads later the same decade. In 1936, the council obtained
7704-488: The route daily until the mid-19th century. In contrast, the east–west Reigate–Guildford road remained the responsibility of the parishes through which it ran and only minimal improvements were made before the start of the 20th century. The first railway line to reach Dorking was the Reading, Guildford and Reigate Railway (RG&RR) , authorised by Acts of Parliament in 1846, 1847 and 1849. Dorking station (now Dorking West )
7811-510: The route in the 3 mi (5 km) gap between the crossing of the River Mole at the Burford Bridge and North Holmwood . A posting station is thought to have been located in the area and sites have been proposed in the town centre, at Pixham and at the Burford Bridge, where the road crossed the River Mole. Although the name Dorking implies a settlement that was well established by
7918-543: The same excavation may indicate the presence of a Bronze Age field system , although the date of these later earthworks is less certain. Bowl barrows from the same period have been found at the Glory Wood (to the south of the town centre), on Milton Heath (to the west) and on Box Hill (to the northeast). There is thought to have been a settlement at Dorking in Roman times, although its size and extent are unclear. Coins from
8025-652: The same geological processes that created the Alps , resulting in an anticline which stretched across the English Channel to the Artois region of northern France. Initially an island, this dome-like structure was drained by the ancestors of the rivers which today cut through the North and South Downs, including the Mole. The dome was eroded away over the course of the Cenozoic , exposing
8132-452: The section of Stane Street between Dorking and Ockley was bypassed by the longer route via Coldharbour and the upper surface of the Roman road was most likely quarried to provide stone for local building projects. Two routes linked the town to London, the first via the Mole crossing at Burford Bridge to Leatherhead and the second, the "Winter Road", climbed the south-facing scarp slope of Box Hill from Boxhurst and ran northeastwards to meet
8239-656: The source of the Pipp Brook on the northern slopes of Leith Hill. In the late Saxon period, the manor and parish were administered as part of the Wotton Hundred and may have been part of a large royal estate centred on Leatherhead . Dorking appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as the Manor of Dorchinges . It was held by William the Conqueror , who had assumed the lordship in 1075 on the death of Edith of Wessex , widow of Edward
8346-403: The south-east terrace, which had twelve; detached mansions were in three of the corners and there was a private central garden. The numbering is anti-clockwise from the north: NW terrace Nos. 1 to 11, west corner mansion No. 12, SW terrace 13–23, south corner mansion No. 24, SE terrace Nos. 25–36, east corner mansion No. 37, NE terrace Nos. 38–48. There is also a slightly later detached house at
8453-639: The story of one of the main characters, Rose Buck , in 1936, as she returns to 165 Eaton Place to serve as the Holland family's housekeeper . The first episode of the second series of the television programme Sherlock is " A Scandal in Belgravia ", loosely based on the Arthur Conan Doyle short story " A Scandal in Bohemia ". Moreover, Conan Doyle's friend and literary collaborator, Bertram Fletcher Robinson , died in Belgravia in 1907. The Princess Switch ,
8560-633: The strata beneath and resulting in the escarpments of the Downs and the Greensand Ridge. In Dorking, the dividing line between the Lower Greensand and Gault clay is marked by the course of the Pipp Brook. In the south of the town, the Hythe Beds take the form of iron-rich , soft, fine-grained sandstone, whereas the Sandgate Beds have a more loamy composition. The quartz-rich Folkestone Beds have
8667-488: The stucco style, but such houses became stone clad during this renovation period. Other houses today have black iron balconies. Wilton Crescent lies east of Lowndes Square and Lowndes Street, to the northwest of Belgrave Square . It is accessed via Wilton Place , constructed in 1825 to connect it to Knightsbridge . It is adjacent to Grosvenor Crescent to the east, which contains the Indonesian Embassy. Further to
8774-464: The subsequent 50 million years, other strata were deposited on top of the Lower Greensand, including Gault clay , Upper Greensand and the chalk of the North and South Downs. Following the Cretaceous , the sea covering the south of England began to retreat and the land was pushed higher. The Weald (the area covering modern-day south Surrey, south Kent, north Sussex and east Hampshire) was lifted by
8881-628: The subsequent three centuries, until the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 transferred responsibility for poor relief to the Poor Law Commission , whose local powers were delegated to the newly formed poor law union in 1836. In 1841, the Dorking Union constructed a new workhouse , south of the town centre, designed by William Shearburn. The entrance block still stands and is now part of Dorking Hospital. A local board of health (LBH)
8988-457: The time of the Norman Conquest , archaeological evidence of Saxon activity in the town centre is limited to pottery sherds . Probable Saxon cemeteries have been found close to Yew Tree Road (to the north of the centre) and at Vincent Lane (to the west). In 1817, the so-called "Dorking Hoard" of around 700 silver pennies , dating from the mid-8th to the late-9th centuries, was found near
9095-486: The town before setting sail for the New World. Dorking started to expand during the 18th and 19th centuries as transport links improved and farmland to the south of the centre was released for housebuilding . The new turnpike , and later the railways , facilitated the sale of lime produced in the town, but also attracted wealthier residents, who had had no previous connection to the area. Residential expansion continued in
9202-664: The town, a second Anglican church , St Paul's, was opened in 1857 on land donated by Henry Thomas Hope. Designed by the architect, Benjamin Ferrey , it was built of Bath stone in the Decorated Geometric style. A daughter church to St Martin's, designed by Edwin Lutyens and dedicated to St Mary, was opened at Pixham in 1903. In the two centuries following the passing of the 1558 Act of Uniformity , many inhabitants of Dorking embraced more extreme forms of protestantism and by 1676,
9309-420: The turnpike road through Dorking had been constructed in the 1750s, the built-up part of the town had changed little by the start of the 19th century. Most of the local professional class and wealthier tradesmen lived along the three main streets (the High Street, West Street and South Street), whilst the often crowded houses of artisans and labourers tended to be in the narrower lanes and alleys. Poor sanitation
9416-464: The walls of which were painted with trompe-l'œil pillars. Unfortunately, in order to complete the car park, it was necessary to fill in the cave with concrete. Guided tours of the caves in South Street are held on a regular basis and are organised by Dorking Museum. By the start of the 19th century, increasing mechanisation of agriculture was leading to a local surplus of labour . The wages for unskilled farm workers were decreasing, exacerbated by
9523-411: The western section in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea . The district lies mostly to the south-west of Buckingham Palace , and is bounded notionally by Knightsbridge (the road) to the north, Grosvenor Place and Buckingham Palace Road to the east, Pimlico Road to the south, and Sloane Street to the west. To the north is Hyde Park , to the northeast is Mayfair and Green Park and to
9630-632: The work of Thomas Cubitt and the change robbed neither partner of the credit for their work. Cubitt had two brothers, the contractor and politician William and the civil engineer Lewis who designed many houses built by Thomas. Cubitt married Mary Anne Warner (1802–1880), on 25 March 1821 in the church of St Marylebone and they had at least twelve children – Anne (1820), Mary (1821), Emily (1823), George (1828), Sophia (1830), Fanny (1832), William (1834), Lucy (1835), Caroline (1837), Arthur (1840), and twins Thomas and Charles (1842), although five children predeceased their father. George became
9737-421: Was a series of fields used for grazing, intersected by footpaths. The Westbourne was crossed by Bloody Bridge, probably called so as it was frequented by robbers and highwaymen, and it was unsafe to cross the fields at night. In 1728, a man's body was discovered by the bridge with half his face and five fingers removed. In 1749, a muffin man was robbed and left blind. Five Fields' distance from London also made it
9844-405: Was established in Dorking in 1881 to administer infrastructure including roads, street lighting and drainage. The LBH organised the first regular domestic refuse collection and, by mid-1888, had created a new sewerage system (including a treatment works at Pixham). The Local Government Act 1888 transferred many administrative responsibilities to the newly formed Surrey County Council and
9951-550: Was followed by an 1894 Act that created the Dorking Urban District Council (UDC). Initially the offices of the UDC were in South Street, but in 1931 the Council moved to Pippbrook House, a Gothic Revival country house to the north east of the town centre, designed as a private residence by George Gilbert Scott in 1856. The Local Government Act 1972 created Mole Valley District Council (MVDC), by combining
10058-467: Was held by several tenants, before being inherited in 1652 by Charles Howard, the fourth son of the 15th Earl of Arundel , in whose family it remained until 1790. The estate was expanded by successive owners, including the Anglo-Dutch banker Thomas Hope and his eldest son Henry Thomas Hope , who commissioned William Atkinson to remodel the main house as a "sumptuous High Renaissance palazzo". Unlike
10165-469: Was laid out by Cubitt in 1826, but the square was not completed until 1855, the year of his death. The long construction period is reflected in the variety of architecture along the square. The houses in Eaton Square are large, predominantly three bay wide buildings, joined in regular terraces in a classical style, with four or five main storeys, plus attic and basement and a mews house behind. The square
10272-421: Was leaving No. 36. Upper Belgrave Street was constructed in the 1840s to connect King's Road with Belgrave Square. It is a wide one-way residential street with grand white stuccoed buildings. It stretches from the south-east corner of Belgrave Square to the north-east corner of Eaton Square. Most of the houses have now been divided into flats and achieve sale prices as high as £3,500 per square foot. Many of
10379-577: Was one of the first builders to have a 'modern' system of employing all the trades under his own management. Cubitt's first major building was the London Institution in Finsbury Circus , built in 1815. After this he worked primarily on speculative housing at Camden Town , Islington , and especially at Highbury Park , Stoke Newington . His development of areas of Bloomsbury , including Gordon Square and Tavistock Square , began in 1820, for
10486-434: Was opened in 1849 northwest of the town, initially as a temporary terminus for trains from Reigate . Local residents had expressed a preference for the station to be sited closer to the town centre at Meadowbank, but since the line passed through a deep cutting at this point it was deemed impractical to provide the necessary freight facilities at this location. Two years later a second station, now known as Dorking Deepdene ,
10593-510: Was opened on the same line. The second railway line to serve the town was authorised by Acts of Parliament in 1862 and 1864 and was opened by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1867. A west-south connecting spur to the RG&;RR was provided on opening, but was removed around 1900, before being briefly restored between 1941 and 1946 as a wartime resilience measure. Dorking station
10700-505: Was probably centred around Pump Corner and between South Street and West Street, but it appears to have moved east to the widest part of the High Street by the early 15th century. In the century following the Norman conquest, agricultural activity was focused on the lordship lands, which lay to the north of the Pipp Brook. However, as the Middle Ages progressed, woodland to the south and west of
10807-418: Was provided with extensive goods facilities, a locomotive yard and a turntable (later the site of the car park). It was built with two platforms, but a third was added in 1925, when the railway line was electrified from Leatherhead . The original building was demolished in 1980 and was replaced by a larger structure, designed by Gordon Lavington, which integrated the station with offices for Biwater . In
10914-538: Was refurbished in 1997, to the layout that appears in the Ordnance Survey map of 1867. Past residents include the poet Matthew Arnold (1822–88) at No. 2, Mary Shelley (1797–1851) at No. 24, John Liddell (1794–1868) at No. 72, Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) at No. 73, and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (1880–1962) resided at No. 77 from 1940 until 1945. Wilton Crescent was created by Thomas Cundy II ,
11021-536: Was restored to the family in 1660, following the accession of Charles II . As the status of the de Warennes and their descendants increased, they became less interested in the town. In the 14th and 15th centuries, prominent local families (including the Sondes and the Goodwyns) were able to buy the leases on some of the lordship lands. One such area was the Deepdene, first mentioned in a court roll of 1399. This woodland
11128-591: Was still a major problem for the poorer residents and, in 1832, a cholera outbreak was recorded in Ebenezer Place (north of the High Street), where 46 people were crammed into nine cottages. Nevertheless, Dorking was beginning to attract more affluent residents, many of whom had accumulated their wealth as businessmen in London. Charles Barclay (a Southwark brewery owner) and the bankers Joseph Denison and Thomas Hope (none of whom had any previous connection with
11235-536: Was to become Belgravia, and came into agreement with Thomas Cubitt to design an estate. The construction of the stucco grand terraces took place between 1830 and 1847. Belgravia is characterised by grand terraces of white stucco houses, and is focused on Belgrave Square and Eaton Square . It was one of London's most fashionable residential districts from its beginnings. Towards the late 19th century, Belgravia ranked among other fashionable areas in London such as Tyburnia and Mayfair. After World War II , some of
11342-528: Was used for exterior shots; a "1" was painted in front of the house number). It depicts the lives of the Bellamys and their staff of domestic servants in the years 1903–1930, as they experience the tumultuous events of the Edwardian era , World War I and the postwar 1920s, culminating with the stock market crash of 1929 , which ends the world they had known. In 2010, filming began on a mini-series intended to pick up
11449-418: Was used in glass making . Most of the surviving caves are privately owned and not accessible to the public. A well-known example is the cockpit beneath the former Wheatsheaf Inn in the High Street, in which fighting cocks were set against each other for sport . During the construction of the car park to the south of Sainsbury's supermarket , the builders broke through into a large cavern of unknown date,
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