Hubbry Logo
search
logo
1957343

Bletchingley

logo
Community Hub0 Subscribers
Write something...
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
See all
Bletchingley

Bletchingley (historically "Blechingley") is a village in Surrey, England. It is on the A25 road to the east of Redhill and to the west of Godstone, has a conservation area with medieval buildings and is mostly on a wide escarpment of the Greensand Ridge, which is followed by the Greensand Way.

The village lay within the Anglo-Saxon administrative division of Tandridge hundred.

The settlement appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Blachingelei. It was held by Richard de Tonebrige. Its Domesday assets were: 3 hides; 14 ploughs, 17 acres (69,000 m2) of meadow, woodland worth 58 hogs. Also 7 houses in London and Southwark. It rendered (in total): £15 13s 4d.

In 1225 there is mention of Bletchingley as a borough. In the Middle Ages a borough was created by either the King or a Lord as a potentially profitable element in the development of their estates.

It appears that after the 14th century Bletchingley began to lose its importance as a borough, perhaps losing out to the market town of Reigate to the west. The village retained its status as a parliamentary borough and elected two members to the unreformed House of Commons. By the time of the Industrial Revolution, it had become a rotten borough. Parliamentary elections were held from 1733 in what is now the White Hart inn: a book in 1844 notes this and that 8 to 10 people voted, as well as a sale of the manor for a very disproportionate sum of £60,000 in 1816.

The house at Place Farm formed the gatehouse of Bletchingley Place: a great Tudor house, which was given to Anne of Cleves after her marriage to Henry VIII was annulled.

There are nine buildings that date back to the 16th century in the clustered area of the village around its High Street of 90 or so houses.

"Sandhills" was built in 1893 by Mervyn Macartney in free Tudor style, and is protected under UK law with Grade II listing. It is the former home of Geoffrey FitzClarence, 5th Earl of Munster and his wife, Hilary FitzClarence, Countess of Munster, aka musician Hilary Wilson, founder of the Countess of Munster Musical Trust.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.