County in England
Surrey
Surrey is where a king sealed Magna Carta, where the Derby was first run, and where the world's first purpose-built motor-racing circuit opened.
Key information
- County
- Surrey
- Nation
- England
- Population
- About 1.2 million (2021 Census)
- Area
- About 1,660 square kilometres
- Known for
- Runnymede and Magna Carta, the Epsom Derby, Brooklands, the Surrey Hills, the stockbroker belt
- What locals are called
- Surrey folk
- Famous people
- Lewis Carroll (died in Guildford), Gertrude Jekyll, Jack Phillips, Jack Hobbs
- Football clubs
- Woking, Guildford City, Kingstonian
About Surrey
The meadow where a king gave in
In June 1215, King John met his rebellious barons at Runnymede, a water meadow beside the Thames, and agreed to the terms that became Magna Carta. It is Surrey's biggest claim on the world stage, and the meadow now holds three memorials. The American Bar Association put up a small domed Magna Carta memorial in 1957. A short walk away is the memorial to John F. Kennedy. Up on Cooper's Hill, the Air Forces Memorial remembers airmen of the Second World War who have no known grave. The county's name is far older than the charter. It comes from the Old English Suthrige, meaning the southern district, because Surrey lies south of the Thames.
The coin toss that may have named the Derby
Epsom was a spa town before it was a racing town. In 1618 a spring on the common gave bitter-tasting water that turned out to be rich in magnesium sulphate, and Epsom salts were born. Then came the horses. The Derby was first run on Epsom Downs in 1780. The story goes that the Earl of Derby and Sir Charles Bunbury tossed a coin to decide whose name the race would carry, and the Earl won. The race has had its drama. In 1913 the suffragette Emily Davison was fatally injured after running onto the course and being struck by the King's horse, Anmer. It remains one of the most famous moments in British racing and in the fight for votes for women.
Racing cars, Martians and a first for Britain's mosques
Brooklands, near Weybridge, opened in 1907 as the world's first purpose-built motor-racing circuit. Its steep concrete banking is still partly there. The first British Grand Prix was held at Brooklands in 1926. The site later became an aircraft factory, and the Brooklands Museum now has a Concorde on display. That engineering tradition lives on in Woking, home of the McLaren Technology Centre. H.G. Wells lived in Woking while writing The War of the Worlds, and he sent his Martians crashing down on Horsell Common. The town has a tall Martian tripod sculpture to prove it. Woking also holds some quieter firsts. Britain's first crematorium opened there in 1885, and the Shah Jahan Mosque of 1889 was the first purpose-built mosque in the country.
Hills, five-toed hens and a garden queen
Surrey is one of England's most wooded counties, and the Surrey Hills were among the first places in England designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in 1958. Box Hill takes its name from the box trees on its slopes. Jane Austen sent Emma's ill-judged picnic there, and the 2012 Olympic cycling road race tackled its zigzag road. Leith Hill, at about 294 metres, is the county's highest point, and its Georgian tower was built by Richard Hull in 1765. Dorking gave its name to the Dorking chicken, an old breed with five toes instead of the usual four. The town's cockerel emblem comes from it. Nearby, the vineyards of the North Downs make some of England's best-known sparkling wine. The garden designer Gertrude Jekyll lived near Godalming at Munstead Wood. Her planting, often paired with houses by Edwin Lutyens, shaped the English garden. The Royal Horticultural Society's garden at Wisley is Surrey's other great shrine to planting.
Small towns, surprising firsts
Godalming was the first town in the world to have a public electricity supply, when its streets were lit in 1881 using a water wheel. It was also the home town of Jack Phillips, the senior wireless operator on the Titanic. Guildford has a cathedral consecrated in 1961 and a statue of Alice beside the river Wey. Lewis Carroll, creator of Alice, died in the town in 1898 and is buried in its Mount Cemetery. Egham has Royal Holloway, whose Founder's Building was modelled on the Château de Chambord in France. It is one of the most extravagant university buildings in Britain.
Cricket first, football second
Surrey is a cricket county first. Surrey County Cricket Club has won the County Championship many times and plays at The Oval, which staged the first Test match in England in 1880. The Oval also hosted the first FA Cup final in 1872, when the Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers. Jack Hobbs, who played for Surrey, scored 61,760 first-class runs, a total no one has come close to matching. Football is more modest. Woking, Guildford City and Kingstonian carry the county's colours, and Woking's loyal following has made them one of the best-known non-league sides in the south.