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1716580

Normandy, Surrey

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1716580

Normandy, Surrey

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Normandy, Surrey

Normandy is a village and civil parish of 16.37 square kilometres (4,050 acres) in the borough of Guildford in Surrey, England. Almost surrounded by its hill ranges, Normandy is in the plain west of Guildford, straddles the A323 'Aldershot Road' and is north of the narrowest part the North Downs known as the Hog's Back which carries a dual carriageway. The parish in 2011 had a population of 2,981 living in 1,310 households, has woods, a public common and four government-operated commons to the north that are an SSSI heath. Normandy has been home to a number of notable residents, including William Cobbett.

As well as the village of Normandy clustered around the crossroads of the Guildford-Aldershot Road (the A323), Hunts Hill Road and Glaziers Lane, the parish also includes Christmas Pie, Willey Green, Wyke, Flexford and Pinewoods. These hamlets, although distinct, are strung together in a swathe of development with largely residential use apart from Pinewoods that is separated by much open land and is close to Ash near to Aldershot. Normandy Common has a picnic site and stream with a path west that leads to Normandy Hill, Wyke overlooking parts of all the heath of nearby commons but not restricted. Four joint commons are north of the partly wooded promontory: Ash, Wyke, Cleygate and Pirbright, an SSSI but also a non-public access Danger Area, in use by the MOD

In the south of the parish, touching an arm of Normandy village and all of Flexford (another clustered development), stands Wanborough railway station, so-called because the owner of the land, diplomat and civil servant Algernon West lived in Wanborough 1 mile (1.6 km) south. Development locally is restricted as the village lies within the Metropolitan Green Belt. Little woods and acid heathland including Normandy Common are scattered in the north; to the south is mainly arable farmland.

Flexford in the south was once called Flaxford, itself a corruption of "flax vard", meaning flax meadows by a stream. The ancient industry here was the creation of linen from flax.

Flexford is, bar a few outlying buildings, one almost inextricable, contiguous settlement with Christmas Pie and the station and railway line to the north of this private estate passes over the Normandy road, residential all the way to Normandy village centre – unusually named Wanborough railway station instead of Flexford and Normandy – for a purely historical reason connected with Lord Wanborough, see Wanborough.

Flexford has a population of 1,163. Flexford's businesses include a garage, and carpentry and roofing contractor firm. Nearby Wood Street Village presents more options, and Guildford is accessible by car or bus – the 694 school bus runs from Christmas Pie via Puttenham to Broadwater School, and the 520 runs five buses per day both ways between Aldershot and Guildford via Flexford. Flexford is part of one of two wards that are within the Guildford borough but are represented by the Member of Parliament for Woking.

Christmas Pie adjoins Flexford on a wide boundary. Christmas Pie owes its curious name to property owned by a prominent local family named Christmas. There are many references to this family in the court records of the manor of Cleygate which date back to 1513 in the reign of King Henry VIII. Christmases are often noted as serving as members of the homage which was the jury of the court. The "Pie" comes from the Saxon term "pightel" or "pightle" meaning a small piece of arable land. Until this was built up during the 1920s, a small field, Pie Field was near the Christmas Pie crossroads. This tiny settlement spans the extreme southern border with Wanborough.

The western part of the parish is Wyke. This appeared in Domesday Book of 1086 as Wucca, a hide (approximately 120 acres) held by Godric from Earl Roger. The Domesday Book mentioned a hall which is thought to have been where East Wyke Farm now stands and where remains of 'Surrey White Ware" pottery have been found. Names such as Wuccha, Wicca, Week and Wick have been used, some of which are preserved in place-names in the hamlet (such as Weekwood). Finally Wyke was settled upon, and this too is the name of the ecclesiastical parish that has covered Normandy since 1847, that of St Mark's Wyke.

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