View of the Police Station, including Broadoak on the right (postcard post- marked 1909) The Police Station Sir Robert Peel set up the first modern police force, the Metropolitan Police, in 1829 (hence the nicknames ‘bobbies’ or ‘peelers’ for policemen). In 1835, the Municipal Corporations Act allowed cities ...
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The Victorian Schoolroom in Sainsbury’s car park (viewed from the south) This month we begin a series on ‘Cranleigh Buildings with a Story’. Have you ever noticed a little building with a slate roof, looking out of place in Sainsbury’s car park? This is its story. In the nineteenth century, education was ...
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Under its new name of Lloyd’s Bank Ltd, about 1925 Goodbye to Lloyd’s Bank Sadly, the recent closure of Lloyd’s Bank follows a pattern with Cranleigh banks. The local branch of HSBC closed in 2016 and NatWest in 2018. Now Lloyd’s is departing too. It is particularly sad for Cranleigh to lose Lloyd’s, which ...
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Not Cranleigh’s toll-house, but the one at Gaston Gate, which the Cranleigh gate would have resembled (courtesy of Michael Miller) The Toll-house and Toll-gate Roads around Cranleigh 200 years ago were little more than tracks, causing problems for would-be travellers or farmers needing to transport produce or ...
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Most of the Vanished Buildings of Cranleigh featured in the magazine during this year disappeared long ago, but the Regal Cinema closed only in March 2002. Newcomers to Cranleigh may be surprised to know that there was a cinema here so recently, while other readers remember it with affection and regret. It seems ...
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The gasworks, seen from the railway bridge (courtesy of Michael Miller) The Gasworks While the Oval cricket ground proudly cherishes its disused gasholder as a symbol, Cranleigh took its old gasholders down when they ceased to be used and only a few people remember them. The Cranleigh Gas Company was founded in 1876. ...
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The Great Barn in 1888, looking east, a painting by J. Hardy, with glimpses of the church, Ivy Hall Farm and the Onslow Arms (Frank Warren Papers, courtesy of Mrs Catherine Ferrier) The Great Barn As a traveller to Cranleigh entered the village from the West 150 years ago, almost the first building that he would see ...
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The Little Manor emerging from the rubble - 1988 In 2019 Little Manor Service Station, commonly known as ‘The Esso’, is celebrating its 30th anniversary under the ownership of the Lambert family. At the centre of the site is the delightful 15 Century, half-timbered, Little Manor building that nearly lost its fight ...
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Peace celebrations at the head of Knowle Lane (courtesy of Michael Miller) On Saturday July 19th, a month after the Peace of Versailles was signed to conclude the Great War, the whole country celebrated Peace Day. In Cranleigh, the church bell-ringers started the day with a peal of bells at 5.45am. A lunch was ...
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Ceiling detail, Basildon Court by Elizabeth E. Harper and Marion R. May In 2001 I produced a book entitled “The Ornamental Jacksons” showing many of the commissions undertaken by my great, great, great grandfather’s ornamental plaster firm, George Jackson & Sons, in London. My cousin, Elizabeth, and I ...
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