Leatherhead has, at times, been known as the county town of Surrey, yet has never really lost its village identity. Indeed, its prehistoric origins are still evident to those who seek them out. At the point where the Mole bisects the North Downs, its strategic location attracted the Romans, whose Stane Street passes close by, and then the Saxons, who established a Minister church and made the small settlement a centre of royal authority. Medieval Leatherhead was important, but after a Tudor heyday it declined to the point where Dallaway, in his first major history of the town, noted the increasing influence of the neighbouring, if somewhat larger, London ...
Now a haven for commuters, Leatherhead provides all the services they could desire - social, commercial, educational and cultural. Yet large areas of unspoilt countryside can still be enjoyed just outside its boundaries, while the four main streets, ancient bridge, Thorncroft Manor and parish church on the hill are all as they have been for almost a thousand years.
This book is a new, revised, re-illustrated, and re-designed edition of 'History of Leatherhead: A Town at the Crossroads', which Edwina Vardey compiled and edited over ten years ago for the Leatherhead and District Local History Society. In addition to incorporating all the latest findings of researchers and archaeologists, many new illustrations have been added, including a contemporary street plan of the town. Together with the Society, Edwina has produced a text that will inform and delight those who already know something about Leatherhead's past just as much as those new to local history.
Contents:
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Prehistory to the Middle Ages c4000 B.C.-A.D. 600
2. The Early Middle Ages c.600-1250
3. The Late Middle Ages 1250-1558
4. The Elizabethan and Stuart Period 1558-1714
5. The Age of the Georgians 1714-1837
6. The Victorian Era 1837-1901
7. The Twentieth Century
Index
Review:... a notable contribution to developing and satisfying interest in the history of towns in Surrey' — Nonsuch Antiquarian Society
