Box Hill, Surrey

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Box Hill
Photograph taken from behind stone viewing platform showing landscape beneath the hill.
Salomons Memorial viewpoint, Box Hill.
Elevation 224 m (735 ft) [1]
Prominence 49 m
Listing (none)
Location
Location North Downs, England
Coordinates 51°15′18″N 0°18′31″W / 51.255°N 0.30861°W / 51.255; -0.30861
Topo map OS Landranger 187
OS grid TQ 179 511
Not to be confused with Box Hill, Wiltshire.

Box Hill is a summit of the North Downs in Surrey, approximately 30 km (19 mi) south west of London. The hill takes its name from the ancient box woodland found on the steepest west-facing chalk slopes overlooking the River Mole. The western part of the hill is owned and managed by the National Trust, whilst the village of Box Hill lies on higher ground to the east. The highest point is Betchworth Clumps at 224 m (735 ft) above OD,[1] although the Salomons Memorial overlooking the town of Dorking is the most popular viewpoint.[2]

Box Hill lies within the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and forms part of the Mole Gap to Reigate Escarpment Site of Special Scientific Interest. The north- and south-facing slopes support an area of chalk downland, noted for its orchids and other rare plant species.[3] The hill provides a habitat for 40 species of butterfly,[3] and has given its name to a species of squash bug, now found throughout south east England.[4]

An estimated 850,000 people visit Box Hill each year.[2] The National Trust visitors' centre provides both a cafeteria and gift shop and the panoramic views of the western Weald may be enjoyed from the North Downs Way, a long distance footpath that runs along the southern escarpment. Box Hill will feature prominently on the route of the 2012 Summer Olympics cycling road race events, the men doing nine circuits and the women doing two circuits.[5]

Contents

[edit] Geography

Box Hill stands at the south eastern corner of the Mole Gap, the valley carved by the River Mole through the North Downs.[6] Box Hill School is located in the village of Mickleham about 1.4 kilometres (0.9 mi) to the north and the hill overlooks the town of Dorking to the south west. The hill is approximately 30 km (19 mi) south west of central London.

The National Trust owns and manages much of the western part of Box Hill. Leopold Salomons, owner of Norbury Park donated 95 ha (230 acres) in 1914 in order to protect it from development.[6] Additional land was purchased or donated between 1921 and 1999 and today the Box Hill estate covers an area of around 490 ha (1,200 acres), including Mickleham Downs to the north and Lower Boxhill Farm to the south.[6][7]

The village of Box Hill is located to the east of the National Trust property. The earliest flint cottages date from the 1800s, although much of the village was constructed in the first half of the 20th century.[8] By 2005 there were more than 800 dwellings of which over five hundred were mobile homes. An estimated 41% of the community is aged 60 or over.[9] St Andrew's Church, part of the Parish of Headley, was opened in 1969 and the village hall opened in 1972.[10][11]

[edit] Environment

Box Hill is a Special Area of Conservation and included in a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest, affording it a level of legislative protection against planning applications. The chalk downland environment supports notable populations of bats, lepidopterans, orchids and the hill's namesake, the box tree (buxus sempervirens).[12]

[edit] Public access

Panorama made from multiple photos showing the viewpoint at Box Hill
A Sunray Travel bus passing the visitor centre. Inset left shows the special wooden National Trust bus stop, with logo engraved.

Box Hill was given to the nation by Leopold Salomons in 1914.

A country park, owned by the National Trust, now provides for public access to Box Hill, and the Pilgrims' Way long distance footpath runs about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the south.

At the "top" of the hill there is a car park and viewpoint, from where the entire town of Dorking can be viewed. However, this location is not actually the true summit of the hill. To the east, the ridge ascends, and most of the village of Box Hill is higher, at an altitude of around 200 metres (656 ft). The Ordnance Survey mark a spot height of 224 metres (735 ft) at the radio mast at TQ 2040 5175.

Within the area of the car park there is a National Trust Shop, a small 'visitor centre' (inside the shop) and a café (take-away only). The car park is owned and run by the National Trust. Details of trails are available in this area. There are several potential trails, although they aren't necessarily clearly marked (e.g. the 'Family Fun Trail', details of which are available in the shop).

Box Hill is served by local and London bus routes,[13] providing access to both the visitor centre[14] and the foot of the hill,[15] where there exists another car park (adjoining Ryka's Café) that is frequented by motorcyclists.

The route to the top car park from the A24, known as the Zig Zag Road, is very narrow and is a popular test of fitness by road cyclists. There is another small car park half way up this, with room for only around 10 cars.

The nearest railway station is Box Hill & Westhumble railway station.

[edit] Notable Sights

Salomons Memorial viewpoint and triangulation post on the North Downs Way.

[edit] Salomons Memorial (viewpoint)

The most notable sight on Box Hill is the view from the viewing platform. It gives a very clear view, roughly south over Dorking and further in the distance towards Gatwick Airport and right across to the South Downs, i.e. Chanctonbury Ring and Devil's Dyke, Sussex (a distance of 26 miles, according to the inscription on the viewing platform). The Salomons Memorial is often mistakenly considered the summit of the hill, although the land continues to rise to the east. The highest point is at Betchworth Clumps, a wooded area to the south of the Hand-in-Hand public house, with an elevation of 224 metres (735 ft). The summit is occupied by a water tower and transmitter mast.[1]

[edit] The Old Fort

Close to the car park and shop there is the 'Old Fort'. This was built in the late 1890s as one of a number of forts (known as the London Defence Positions) built to protect London from invasion from continental Europe.[16] The building cannot be entered by visitors. It is inhabited by bats.[17]

Broadwood's Folly built in around 1820.

[edit] Broadwood's Folly

The circular flint tower located on the northern tip of Lodge Hill was built for the piano maker Thomas Broadwood, who purchased Juniper Hall in 1815.[18][19]

[edit] Labilliere's Grave

Peter Labilliere was born in Dublin on 30th May 1725 to a family of French Huguenot descent. He joined the British Army at the age of 14, becoming a Major in 1760.[20] After leaving the army he became a political agitator and was accused in 1775 of bribing British Troops not to fight in the American War of Independence, although he was never tried for treason.[21] Throughout the 1770-80s Labiliere corresponded regularly with both Benjamin Franklin (at that time the American representative in France) and the Long Island wax sculptor Patience Wright.[22] The effect of his anti-war protests on British public sentiment is uncertain, although he appears to have attracted a following of upwards of 700 like-minded adherents,[23] and the army was required to rely on German mercenaries, as recruitment of British troops for the war became increasingly difficult.[24]

Labilliere moved to Dorking from London in around 1789,[21] and often visited Box Hill to meditate.[25] With old age he became increasingly eccentric and neglected his own personal hygiene to such an extent that he acquired the nickname "the walking dung-hill".[25] In accordance with his wishes he was buried head downwards in June 1800 on the western side of Box Hill above The Whites. The burial was carried out without any religious ceremony and Labilliere is reported to have said that the world was "topsy-turvey" and that it would be righted in the end. There was however, no mention of this within his "Book of Devotions" Rather this states that he wished to emulate the example of St Peter, who was crucified upside-down according to apocryphal sources.[26] This book was taken by the youngest daughter of his landlady who passed it down to her children. It is now in Dorking Museum along with some of his personal trinkets.

The memorial stone on Box Hill is not believed to mark the exact location of his burial (which is though to be several meters to the west on a steep incline). There are two errors on the memorial stone itself: He was buried in June 1800 (rather than July) and all surviving manuscripts indicate that he spelt his name Labilliere (rather than Labelliere).[27][28]

[edit] Weypole and Stepping Stones

The Stepping Stones at the foot of Box Hill

The Weypole (or Waypole) is a roughly semi-circular 2.4 ha (5.9-acre) area of level ground at the foot of Box Hill, between The Whites and the River Mole.[29] The area was originally part of the grounds of Burford Lodge, built by John Eckersall in 1776, and the prevalence of apple and cherry trees in the area suggest that it was used as an orchard for a time.[30] The Burford Lodge estate was later owned by the horticuluralist Sir Trevor Lawrence, who created a garden along the banks of the Mole for his collection of orchids.[31]

A fording point across the River Mole is thought to have existed at this site since prehistoric times.(ref) The way-pole itself was a notched post secured in the riverbed, to indicate the depth of the water.[32] Stepping stones at this site are first recorded in 1841 and it is possible that they were installed by an owner of Burford Lodge to facilitate access to the Weypole orchard.[33] The current stones were dedicated in September 1946 by the then Prime Minister Clement Attlee, replacing those destroyed during WW2 as an anti-invasion measure.[34][35] The location is popular both with anglers and families, although swimming is strongly discouraged. The stones give their name to the pub in the nearby village of Westhumble.

[edit] Other

The trees on one side of Box Hill

John Logie Baird, the inventor of the first working television system lived at Swiss Cottage from 1929 until 1932.[36] Baird conducted some of his experiments on Box Hill,[37] including his Noctovisor,[38] an infra-red viewing device.

[edit] Cultural references

"A view of Box Hill, Surrey" by George Lambert

John Evelyn notes in his Diary in 1662 that Box Hill was frequented by the ladies and gentlemen from nearby Epsom spa.[39]

In 1733, George Lambert painted Box Hill. The painting is now in The Tate.[40]

An important passage of Jane Austen's novel Emma is set at Box Hill.

In England: A Nation, (London: R. Brimley Johnson, 1904), edited by Lucian Oldershaw, and in a chapter entitled "The Patriotic Idea" written by G. K. Chesterton, the beauty of Box Hill violated by an invading army is used to express a healthy patriot's love for his nation is opposed to the jingoistic nationalism of tabloid newspapers: "But just as a man who has been in love will find it difficult to write a whole frantic epic about a flirtation, so all that kind of rhetoric about the Union Jack and the Anglo-Saxon blood, which has made amusing the journalism of this country for the last six years, will be merely impossible to the man who has for one moment called up before himself what would be the real sensation of hearing that a foreign army was encamped on Box Hill."

The 1981 Public Image Ltd song “The Flowers of Romance”, from the album of the same title, includes the line “I’ve got binoculars on top of Box Hill”.

British biker rock band, Dumpy's Rusty Nuts, released a single called 'Boxhill or Bust' in the early 1980s. The song is something of a cult anthem for bikers, and reflects the popularity of Box Hill amongst the biking community.

Musician Ben Watt of Everything But The Girl wrote a song "On Box Hill", released as the B side of the single "Some Things Don't Matter" (Cherry Red Records) in 1983. This song about a sunny day on Box Hill also appears on his début album North Marine Drive.

In Richard Thompson's song "1952 Vincent Black Lightning", Box Hill is the location to which James and Red Molly ride on James' motorcycle. In the cover version of this song by bluegrass artist Del McCoury on the album Del and the Boys, Box Hill is changed to Knoxville, a city in Tennessee, U.S.A.

Mystery author Cyril Hare sets his 1954 novel, That Yew Tree's Shade (published in the U.S. as Death Walks the Woods) at "Yew Hill," which Hare admits in an introduction is modelled on Box Hill.

Actor and singer Tom Felton's song called "Time Well Spent" mentions him going to "chill out on Box Hill".

[edit] References

North Downs Way approaching the Salomons Memorial through trees.
  1. ^ a b c Wooldridge & Hutchings 1957, p. 79
  2. ^ a b "Box Hill Visitor Facilities and Car Park: Planning Application for Proposed Improvements". Mole Valley District Council. http://www.mole-valley.gov.uk/cwi/getDocument?docId=188328&account=planning&ref=MO/2009/0647&filename=Design%20Statement. Retrieved 3 April 2011. 
  3. ^ a b Oates M (2008). "Box Hill". Places to Visit for Wildlife. National Trust. http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-great_days_out/w-nature-places_to_visit/w-nature-places_to_visit-boxhill.htm. Retrieved 3 April 2011. 
  4. ^ Bantock T and Botting J (2010). "Gonocerus acuteangulatus Box Bug". British Bugs: An online identification guide to UK Hemiptera. www.britishbugs.org.uk. http://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Coreidae/gonocerus_acuteangulatus.html. Retrieved 29 March 2011. 
  5. ^ "Olympics 2012: cycling road race route" (Adobe Flash). Guardian. 2011-02-11. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/interactive/2011/feb/10/olympics-2012-cycling-road-race-route. Retrieved 2011-02-18. 
  6. ^ a b c Bannister 1999, p. 2
  7. ^ Welcome To Box Hill, National Trust pamphlet, 2008
  8. ^ Mountford 1974, pp. 3–4
  9. ^ Fry R (2006). "Box Hill Project". Community Case Studies. The Connected Surrey Partnership. http://www.connectedsurrey.com/stylesheet.asp?file=17032006112104. Retrieved 13 April 2011. 
  10. ^ Langley D (2000). "History". The Church on the Hill. Friends of St Andrews Box Hill. http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/friendsofstandrewsbh/history_part_1.htm. Retrieved 3 April 2011. 
  11. ^ Mountford 1974, p. 3
  12. ^ Box Hill Community Website accessed 4th February 2008
  13. ^ Getting there from The National Trust website. Accessed 12 February 2008
  14. ^ Surrey County Council — 516 bus timetable via Box Hill visitor centre
  15. ^ Surrey County Council — 465 bus timetable via foot of Box Hill
  16. ^ http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMGCY
  17. ^ Bannister 1999, p. 27
  18. ^ Wainwright 1982, p. 338
  19. ^ Goodge M (2005). "The Broadwood Folly at Juniper Hall, Dorking". British Listed Buildings. http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-494323-the-broadwood-folly-at-juniper-hall-dork. Retrieved 28 April 2011. 
  20. ^ Lander 2000, pp. 7–8
  21. ^ a b Lander 2000, pp. 20–21
  22. ^ Lander 2000, p. 24,30
  23. ^ Lander 2000, p. 25
  24. ^ Lander 2000, p. 19
  25. ^ a b Lander 2000, pp. 35–36
  26. ^ Lander 2000, pp. 39–40
  27. ^ Lander 2000, p. 6
  28. ^ Box Hill, Surrey sur Flickr : partage de photos !
  29. ^ "National Trust Acquisition Data". National Trust. 2010. http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-acquisitions-oct2010.pdf. Retrieved April 6, 2011. 
  30. ^ Chapman & Young 1979, p. 164
  31. ^ Chadwick & Chadwick 2006, p. 121
  32. ^ A Son of the Marshed (1890). "A Surrey River". The Living Age (Littell) 185 (2395): 486–497. 
  33. ^ Brayley & Britton 1841, p. 179
  34. ^ "Box Hill, Surrey: walk of the week". Daily Telegraph. 2 March 2011. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activityandadventure/walkingholidays/8356605/Box-Hill-Surrey-walk-of-the-week.html. Retrieved 29 March 2011. 
  35. ^ "Picture of the Week". Life (Time Inc.) 21 (13): 36. 1946. 
  36. ^ Burns 2000, p. 205
  37. ^ National Trust | South East | Box Hill & Headley Heath
  38. ^ Baird
  39. ^ Noted in Alice M. Coats, Garden Shrubs and Their Histories (1964) 1992, s.v. "Buxus".
  40. ^ "A view of Box Hill, Surrey" at The Tate

[edit] Bibliography

  • Bannister, NR (1999). The Box Hill Book of Archaeology. Dorking, Surrey: Friends of Box Hill. ISBN 0-9534430-1-9. 
  • Brayley, E. W.; Britton, J. (1841). A topographical history of Surrey. Surrey: Dorking. 
  • Burns, RW (2000). John Logie Baird: Television pioneer. History of Technology. 28. London: Institution of Electrical Engineers. 
  • Chadwick, AA; Chadwick, AE (2006). The Classic Cattleyas. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. ISBN 978-0-88192-764-1. 
  • Chapman, GM; Young, RHD (1979). Box Hill. Lyme Regis: Serendip. ISBN 0-9504143-1-X. 
  • Headley, G; Meulenkamp, W (1986). Follies: A National Trust Guide. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-02105-2. 
  • Lander, J (2000). Peter Labilliere: The Man Buried Upside Down on Box Hill. Chertsey: Post Press. ISBN 9780953242412. 
  • Littledale, H; Locock, LM; Sankey JHP (1984). Box Hill. Dorking, Surrey: Box Hill Management Committee. 
  • Mountford, F (1974). The Box Hill Guide. Tadworth: Mountford. ISBN 0950354007. 
  • Sankey, A (2000). The Box Hill Book of Orchids. Dorking, Surrey: Friends of Box Hill. ISBN 0-9534430-2-7. 
  • Wainwright, D (1982). Broadwood by Appointment: A History. London: Quiller Press. ISBN 0907621104. 
  • Warren, S (2010). 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs: A road cyclist's guide to Britain's hills. London: Frances Lincoln. ISBN 9780711231207. 
  • Wooldridge, SW; Hutchings, GE (1957). London's Countryside : Geographical Field Work for Students and Teachers of Geography. London: Methuen. 

[edit] External links

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