Abinger Hammer

The historic Grade II listed clock that overhangs the A25 was brand new when this photograph was taken. It has been damaged on a number of occasions by passing lorries. The 4ft-high figure of the blacksmith then has to be repaired by a firm that makes traditional merry-go- rounds. The footpath has now been widened and road markings added, so as to alert lorry drivers.
An extract from from"Villages of Surrey Photographic Memories".

On the road linking Guildford and Dorking, this hamlet was one of the medieval centres of the local iron industry, and is named from the hammer-pond that worked a furnace here. The famous landmark clock projecting over the roadway, with its figure of Jack the Smith who strikes the bell every hour, was erected in 1899 in memory of the first Lord Farrer by his second wife Euphemia, a member of the Wedgwood family. A local witticism says that those who are present at midnight will see the figure change his grip on the hammer as the hour is struck.
An extract from from"Surrey Revisited Photographic Memories".

Across the chalk ridge, the route returns to the greensand country, and to one of Surrey’s prettiest and most wooded areas. Abinger Hammer is most well known for its spectacular clock, which is attached to the corner of a typical late 19th-century Surrey vernacular tile-hung house. The house was tea-rooms in the 1950s, and still is today. The clock was rebuilt in 1891 for Lord Farrer of Abinger Hall: a blacksmith figure strikes the bell every hour. The village is somewhat traffic-choked - it is situated on the A25 - but the Abinger Arms beyond the clock also offers refreshment.
An extract from from"Surrey Living Memories".

Other local churches, claimed to be ‘old and steady’, are Shere, Leigh, Mickleham, Abinger, Wotten and Betchworth: they have stood for centuries. St Barnabas’s on Ranmore sits 700 feet above Dorking on Ranmore Common. Sir Gilbert Scott designed it in 1859 as the estate church for George Cubitt, the first Lord Ashcombe. In the churchyard lie the founder of Denbies Estate, and his three grandsons, Henry, Alick and William, who lost their lives in the First World War. St Joseph’s Catholic Church, designed by Frederick Arthur Walters, was erected in 1895 in Falkland Grove, off Coldharbour Lane.
An extract from from"Dorking Town and City Memories".

he downs are mostly of chalk, and otherwise of sandstone, and each has its own special flora. The sandstone hills have their highest point in Leith Hill, 965ft above sea level, about five miles south-west of Dorking. From there they fall away in a picturesque series of steps, rising again to the same level as Leith Hill at Hindhead and Black Down. Leith Hill and its tower is a beauty spot not to be missed. With a good eye and on a clear day all the surrounding counties are visible. ‘With the assistance of a telescope Windsor Castle, Frant Church, St Paul’s Cathedral, Dunstable Downs, Ditchling Beacon and the spires and towers of forty-one churches can be seen.’ (J S Bright, 1876). It has been said that a reflection of the sun on the sea has been noted. Richard Hull of Leith Hill Place built the tower in 1766 for his own delight, but also for that of his neighbours and everybody else. Richard was laid to rest beneath the tower, buried upside-down: he believed that the world would have turned on its axis before Judgement Day, and he ‘wished to stand before his Maker right way up’. This area is part of the National Trust’s holdings; the estate now boasts over 900 acres owned by the Trust, and another 300 are under protection. Box Hill has been called the most popular hill in the world, and Leith Hill most likely comes second. On each hill grow beeches, junipers, wild clematis and box, which delight the eye. The short, sweet, flower-starred turf is restful to the traveller. But there is a wilder, rugged air about Leith Hill and its approaches, which are clad in larch and fir and carpeted with scarlet and green whortleberry and purple heather. It has always been known as a rambler’s paradise, for there are innumerable paths and bridle- ways that wind through the plantations and the heath. The area covering Box Hill, the Holmwoods, Ranmore, Leith Hill and Coldharbour contain some of the finest woodland and natural habitats in Surrey. Generous donations of land and money by many public-spirited contributors over the years have helped to ensure the upkeep of this fine and beautiful area.
An extract from from"Dorking Town and City Memories".