Country: | England |
Official Name: | Ockley |
Static Image: | Ockley Green.JPG |
Static Image Width: | 325px |
Static Image Caption: | Ockley Green |
Map Type: | Surrey |
Coordinates: | 51.148°N -0.363°W |
Population: | 871 |
Population Ref: | (Civil Parish 2011)[1] |
Area Total Km2: | 13.75 |
Civil Parish: | Ockley |
Os Grid Reference: | TQ1540 |
Shire District: | Mole Valley |
Shire County: | Surrey |
Region: | South East England |
Constituency Westminster: | Dorking and Horley |
Post Town: | Dorking |
Postcode District: | RH5 |
Postcode Area: | RH |
Dial Code: | 01306 |
Ockley is a rural village in Surrey. It lies astride the A29, the modern road using the alignment of Stane Street (Chichester). The A29 diverges from the A24 from London about 2.5 miles northeast and takes the alignment of Stane Street a mile north of the village. It has a medieval parish church, see list of places of worship in Mole Valley.
Finds of small artifacts dating to Roman Britain associated with the Roman road stretching from Chichester to London have been made since at least the 19th century.[2]
Ockley's name initially appears to fit the uncertain site where battle took place described in the entry for the year 851 of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. According to the chronicler, king Æthelwulf and his son Æthelbald, together with the West-Saxon army, fought against an invading Danish army of 350 ships that had plundered London and Canterbury previously, and had also put king Beorhtwulf of Mercia to flight. The chronicler refers to the battlefield as Aclea, Oak Lea, and the Danish army was defeated suffering “the greatest slaughter… we have heard tell of up to this present day”. However, Aclea almost always appears in modern English as Oakley not Ockley and the identification of Ockley with the battlefield is made virtually impossible.[3]
Ockley appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Hoclei. It was held by Radulf (Ralph) from Richard Fitz Gilbert. Its domesday assets were: 1 hide. It had 5 ploughs, woodland worth 20 hogs. It rendered £3 10s 0d to its overlords per year.[4]
Nicholas Culpeper, a leading Stuart period herbalist, was probably born here on 18 October 1616.[5]
In 1911 the parish was "agricultural, except for a little brick and tile making".[2]
Informal football is generally played on Ockley Green which has football posts in place.
Ockley Cricket Club celebrated its 170th anniversary in 2022. League matches are played on Saturdays with friendly games on Sundays.
Ockley has Gatton Manor Golf Course on the outskirts of the village, within the parish bounds.[6]
The village has featured in longer routes of the London-Surrey Cycle Classic.
Between Dorking and Horsham, close to the Sussex/Surrey border, Ockley stretches to the escarpment of Leith Hill, the second highest point in South East England, after Walbury Hill in the far south-west of Berkshire. The northern border is marked by the Greensand Ridge. Close to the Greensand Ridge are small beds of Sussex marble, and remnants of a former limestone area of the Weald.[2]
The A29 is the main road through the village with Horsham to the south and Dorking to the north. Local minor roads provide relatively straight access from just north of the village's developed area to Ewhurst and Cranleigh to the west and Capel to the east.
The village is served by Ockley railway station which is to the east, due to a Victorian aristocrat having imposed his manor's name on a station closer to Capel, Surrey.
+ 2011 Census Homes | |||||||
Output area | Detached | Semi-detached | Terraced | Flats and apartments | Caravans/temporary/mobile homes | shared between households | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(Civil Parish) | 147 | 132 | 44 | 18 | 11 | 0 |
+ 2011 Census Key Statistics | ||||||
Output area | Population | Households | % Owned outright | % Owned with a loan | hectares | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(Civil Parish) | 871 | 352 | 34.7% | 26.7% | 1375 |