| Country: | England |
| Official Name: | Dunsfold |
| Map Type: | Surrey |
| Coordinates: | 51.1161°N -0.5638°W |
| Static Image Name: | St Mary and All Saints, Dunsfold.jpg |
| Static Image Caption: | Church of St. Mary and All Saints |
| Population: | 989 |
| Population Ref: | (Civil Parish 2011)[1] |
| Area Total Km2: | 16.06 |
| Civil Parish: | Dunsfold |
| Os Grid Reference: | TQ006361 |
| Shire District: | Waverley |
| Shire County: | Surrey |
| Region: | South East England |
| Constituency Westminster: | South West Surrey |
| Post Town: | Godalming |
| Postcode District: | GU8 |
| Postcode Area: | GU |
| Dial Code: | 01483 |
Dunsfold is a village in the borough of Waverley, Surrey, England, 8.7miles south of Guildford. It lies in the Weald and reaches in the north the southern escarpment of the Greensand Ridge. It includes the Wey and Arun Canal, and just under half of Dunsfold Aerodrome, which is shared with Alfold.
The village's name was recorded as Duntesfaude in 1259, Duntesfaud in 1272 and Duntesfalde in 1291, apparently meaning Dunt's fold. Alternatively it may be derived from the Old English (and Celtic) dun (hill i.e. down) and fold (enclosure). Either way folding means enclosing with fences, a way of moving sheep around the land to graze off the remains of previously harvested crops. It still emulated in modern sheep farming with and without pens around the village. There are some prize-winning Aberdeen Angus cattle farmed here but the last dairy herd has now closed.
St Mary & All Saints' Church is a Norman building, containing the oldest pews in England. The nearby Holy Well was a site of pilgrimage – its waters were thought to cure diseases of the eye. It would be consistent with the topography of the site that the well be a pre-Christian site and the church itself be constructed on a man-made hill of pre-Christian origin.
Three manors were here, all had more cultivated fields, in order of size: Burningfold, Field Place and Graffham Grange.
Common House is a late medieval hall which dates from circa 1500, of lowest listing category, Grade II architectural importance. The village has many other houses of architectural interest e.g. Lark's Rise, Yonder Lye and The Sun Inn public house, set back from the common, parts of which are clearly ancient particularly the rear bar.
The village was a site of iron smelting from local ironstone (see Bargate stone) and iron-smithery in the Middle Ages. Later, Dunsfold has hosted the construction of the Wey and Arun Canal which is being gradually reopened, and Dunsfold Aerodrome which is used primarily in connection with automobiles of many times, hosting a major television programme on the subject.
The village has a cricket club with matches usually on Sunday afternoons.
Dunsfold has a small Post Office and shop in the middle of the village.
See main article: Dunsfold Aerodrome. The airstrip was built by the Canadian Army during World War II . After the war the airfield was used to repatriate prisoners of war. Dunsfold was declared inactive in 1946 but was used again in 1948 and 1949 as part of the Berlin Airlift. In 1950 The Hawker Aircraft Company acquired the lease of the site.[3]
In October 1960 the then Hawker Siddeley flight tested its Hawker P. 1127 prototype, the development aircraft that led to the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first VTOL jet fighter bomber. Final assembly of the Harrier and the Hawk trainer aircraft was at Dunsfold.[4] Hawker Siddeley became part of British Aerospace in 1977. On 2 July 1986 British Aerospace's deputy chief test pilot Jim Hawkins was killed at Dunsfold when his developmental Hawk 200 crashed.[4] On 24 June 1999 British Aerospace announced the closure of Dunsfold as part of a restructuring; Hawk final assembly had been transferred to Warton in 1988 and Harrier production finished in 1998.[5] [6]
In 2002, BAE Systems (British Aerospace's successor) sold Dunsfold Park to The Rutland Group and The Royal Bank of Scotland forming Dunsfold Park Ltd with the intention of developing the site as Britain' s most sustainable village with 2500 homes. Since 2002, the BBC motoring show Top Gear has been recorded at the park using the former paint shop as a studio and parts of the runways and taxiways of the aerodrome as a test track.
Some of the track (The Young Drivers Track) is now used by many driving schools and instructors to enable under seventeen-year-olds to learn to drive.
Dunsfold Park is the home to Wings and Wheels, an air and motor show that has been running for many years now and typically held in late August. Currently run by the site owners, Dunsfold Park Ltd, it will continue until the park is redeveloped.
| + 2011 Census Homes | |||||||
| Output area | Detached | Semi-detached | Terraced | Flats and apartments | Caravans/temporary/mobile homes | shared between households | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Civil Parish) | 214 | 150 | 38 | 38 | 1 | 0 |
| + 2011 Census Key Statistics | ||||||
| Output area | Population | Households | % Owned outright | % Owned with a loan | hectares | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Civil Parish) | 989 | 441 | 38.5% | 31.5% | 1,606 |
In 2006, the owners of Dunsfold Park proposed the construction of a new town with 2,600 homes on the site, a school, health services, public transport and road links to the A281, and an expanded business district.[7] One of the largest construction projects in Surrey, it would result in the closure and replacement of the aerodrome. A project of this kind and size is controversial, resulting in the formation of the STOP Dunsfold Park New Town campaign.
In late 2007, Dunsfold Park Ltd. applied to have their plans for the new town selected as one of the Brown Ministry's proposed "eco-towns". On 3 April 2008 Dunsfold Park was denied Eco-town status by Housing Minister, Caroline Flint. According to the Government's press release over 40 applications including Dunsfold Park were rejected "for being undeliverable or not ambitious enough to meet the high environmental and affordability standards set by Government."
An appeal in 2009 was rejected by the then Secretary of State John Denham. Inquiry conclusions included remarks on the sustainability of the site including at paragraph 37 of the report[8] dated 24 September 2009 "The Secretary of State has concluded that the development would generate a considerable amount of additional road traffic and he considers that this would have a severe and unacceptable impact on an overstretched local road network, and that the scheme would be unsustainable in transport terms."