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|longitude= -0.188
|longitude= -0.188
|official_name= Reigate, Surrey, United Kingdom
|official_name= Reigate, Surrey, United Kingdom
|static_image=[[Image:Mill church.jpg|240px]]
|static_image=[[Image:Reigate Town Hall.jpg|240px]]
|static_image_caption=<small>Reigate Heath Windmill</small>
|static_image_caption=<small>Reigate Town Hall</small>
<!-- Reigate Heath Windmill is NOT in Reigate -->
|population = 21,820
|population = 21,820
|shire_district= [[Reigate and Banstead]]
|shire_district= [[Reigate and Banstead]]

Revision as of 21:08, 11 May 2013

See also: Reigate (UK Parliament constituency)
Reigate, Surrey, United Kingdom
File:Reigate Town Hall.jpg
Reigate Town Hall
Population21,820 
OS grid referenceTQ2649
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townREIGATE
Postcode districtRH2
Dialling code01737
PoliceSurrey
FireSurrey
AmbulanceSouth East Coast
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Surrey

Reigate (/[invalid input: 'icon']ˈraɪɡeɪt/) is a historic market town in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs, and in the London commuter belt. It is one of the main constituents of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. This part of Surrey including the adjacent town of Redhill is sometimes grouped together as part of the Gatwick Diamond, M23 corridor or Crawley Urban Area however the area is interspersed with Metropolitan Green Belt land.[1]

Colley Hill, one mile (1.6 km) north of Reigate, is the sixth highest point in Surrey at 756 feet (230 m). Reigate Hill, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the east of Colley Hill, is the seventh highest point in Surrey at 723 feet (220 m).

History

Kiln fire channel

There are neolithic flint mines on the ridge of the North Downs above Reigate. The Bronze Age barrows on Reigate Heath indicate ancient settlement in the area. A Bronze Age spearhead was recovered on Park Hill in Reigate Priory Park. In 2004, a Roman tile kiln dated from around AD 92 (pictured left) was recovered from the grounds of Rosehill in Doods Way, Reigate. Tiles on the Rosehill site were first discovered in the 1880s. The tiles would have been used for important buildings in the area. The Rosehill find is also the oldest recorded use of Reigate Stone (Upper Greensand) for "ashlar masonry work".

The town lay within the Reigate hundred, an Anglo-Saxon administrative division. Reigate appears in Domesday Book in 1086 as Cherchefelle which appears to mean 'the open space by the hill'. (The name has nothing to do with the church and the element Cherche is a later corruption.) It was held by William the Conqueror as successor to king Harold's widow Editha. Its Domesday assets were: 34 hides, 2 mills worth 11s 10d, 29 ploughs, 12 acres (49,000 m2) of meadow, pannage and herbage worth 183 hogs. It rendered £40.[2]

Castle

The earlier site was located, at least in part, in what is now the Church Street area of Reigate, close to the church. Part of the site was excavated in the 1990s. It was shown that the settlement moved during the earlier part of the 12th century when the present town was formed. William I granted the land around Reigate to one of his supporters, William de Warenne, who was created Earl of Surrey in 1088. It is believed that his son, William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey, ordered that Reigate Castle be built, although the de Warennes had their southern base at Lewes, Sussex, as well as castles in Yorkshire and Normandy. Around 1150 the Earl de Warenne laid out a new town below the castle. This town forms the basis of modern-day Reigate. Little is known of the Castle which has never been excavated on any great scale. Local legend says[3] that prior to the signing of the Magna Carta, the rebellious barons met to hammer out the details of the document in the extensive[4] caves beneath the castle. The story however has no truth to it. The castle later fell into decay and the remains were demolished at the end of the 17th century, though the grounds remain as a public garden, and the caves are occasionally opened for tours.[5]

The origin of the name Reigate is uncertain, but appears to derive from Roe-deer Gate, as the town was situated near to the entrance to the de Warenne's deer park.[3]

The medieval town is centred on a north—south road of some antiquity as it incorporates the pre-Conquest road pattern. The story of the Pilgrim's Way passing through Reigate is a myth, although in the 13th century a chapel to St Thomas was built in the town centre for the use of Canterbury pilgrims.[6]

Areas of the town have been the subject of extensive archaeological investigation. Bell Street was certainly in existence by the middle of the 12th century and Mesolithic implements have been found here.[7] Much of the High Street appears to be slightly later although there appear to have been buildings along the south side of the Street near to the junction with Bell Street by the 13th century at the latest.[7] The market place was originally around Slipshoe Street, at the junction of West Street, but infilled houses encroached on it and it had been moved to the east end of the High Street by the end of the 16th century.[8] The results of much of this work have been published; many of the finds are held in the museum of the Holmesdale Natural History Club in Croydon Road.

Probably early in the 13th century Reigate Priory was founded for regular Canons of the Order of St Augustine although it was strictly speaking the Hospital of the Crutched Friars - a suborder. After the dissolution of the monasteries in 1535 the estate was granted by Henry VIII to William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham, who soon converted the Priory buildings into a residence. The Effingham branch of the Howard family, including the Earl of Nottingham who as Lord High Admiral commanded the force which defeated the Spanish Armada, lived there until their heirs sold it to the wealthy London brewer, John Parsons in 1681. Remains of the former monastery buildings are known to lie beneath the lawns to the south of the present mainly 18th century house, which is now used as a school.

The town developed a large trade in oatmeal during the 16th century[9] but this had ceased by about 1720. There was a noted tannery at Linkfield Street which was expanded in the 19th century. It burnt down about 1930.

The coming of the Brighton railway in 1841 led to a rapid expansion of the parish, concentrated around the railway station in an area that was previously uninhabited.

The old (non corporate) Borough of Reigate (roughly the town centre of Reigate) elected two MPs until the Reform Act of 1832 when it lost one. Further amendments to the electoral boundary occurred. In 1863, the whole parish was formally incorporated as the Borough of Reigate with Thomas Dann as its first Mayor.

Reigate has two windmills: a Post mill on Reigate Heath and a tower mill on Wray Common. Previously there had been about a dozen animal powered mills for oatmeal as well as several water and windmills.[10] Reigate is the setting for the Sherlock Holmes short story The Adventure of the Reigate Squire, also known as The Adventure of the Reigate Squires and The Adventure of the Reigate Puzzle. It is one of 12 stories featured in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

Today

The town centre is, save for the castle, focused on Bell Street, leading south, and a long High Street/West Street conservation area[11] with shops, cafés, bars and restaurants. Between the streets is a Morrisons supermarket. The other central supermarket is an M&S. Reigate has a tea room, independent toy shop and delicatessen.[12][13][14]

There are a total of nine licensed pubs and bars in the town centre.

The most popular park in Reigate is the Priory Park, adjoining Reigate Priory School and located south of the High Street and west of Bell Street. It has a recreation area for smaller children as well as football fields, tennis courts, a skatepark, woodland and large Priory Pond, draining over a small weir. Priory Park also has a café set in a building named 'The Pavilion', which also houses bulletin boards for the people of Reigate.

Reigate is also home to Pilgrim Brewery, which moved to its West Street address in 1984. It was the first new brewery to be established in Surrey for over a century and is well known for the quality and variety of beers brewed using the local water.

Travel

  • Reigate is served by Reigate railway station. At peak times a few direct trains run to London Victoria and London Bridge at 40-minute intervals. Off-peak trains run to Gatwick Airport, Reading, Redhill and London Bridge (cut back from London Charing Cross in the December 2009 timetable). Trains to London are run by the (New) Southern Railway company and those to Gatwick Airport and Reading by First Great Western.
  • Reigate is a few minutes from Junction 8 of the London orbital M25 motorway. The town's one-way system includes parts of the A25 and the A217.
  • Reigate is linked to Redhill by the Metrobus routes 435 and 430. The 435 tends to go into Reigate whereas the 430 goes "away" from Reigate. Other bus routes also link the town to other areas in and around Redhill and Reigate, for example South Park.

Hamlets and neighbourhoods of Reigate

Neighbourhoods of Reigate share many of the characteristics of the town itself, in particular, the loosely demarcated Reigate Hill to the north of the town, for which a sign exists going northbound on the A217 heading towards the M25 Reigate Hill junction; however, this is not the case on approaching from other locations, due to the undulating outskirts of the town[15] and Gatton. Due to their size and more modest character there are articles on the neighbourhoods of South Park and Woodhatch.

In the graduated, winding lanes of the south-west of Reigate post town towards the Mole Valley are two distinct hamlets, Skimmington and Flanchford.

Skimmington

Skimmington is a small hamlet made up of Skimmington Cottages, Heathfield Farm and Nursery, and on the C-road, Flanchford Road, Reigate Heath Golf Club House and Course. The Skimmington Castle (the most historic building, Grade II-listed) pub is by the cottages.[16] It arguably includes most of Reigate Heath; its buildings are however predominantly south-east of Flanchford Road. Skimmington includes eight pre-historic tumuli (bowl barrows), two in one close group,[17] several within the golf club. It is popular among walkers for its serenity, hills and woods as it lies on the Greensand Way only 1 mile (1.6 km) along the due west path in the south of Reigate Park.[18]

Flanchford

Half of this hamlet is within the post town, being in the far south west of Reigate. It is connected by Flanchford Bridge to Little Flanchford, which is in Mole Valley.[18]

Flanchford Mill, which has as its millpond a lake at the foot of the Wallace Brook, is a Grade II* listed building dating from 1768.[19]

Neighbouring settlements

Economy

At one time the airline Air Europe had its head office in Europe House in Reigate.[20] Redland plc the FTSE 100 building materials company was headquartered in Reigate before its acquisition by Lafarge. The insurance company Esure is now located in the former Redland headquarters, and the Redland brick sculpture remains in front of the building.

Governance

Reigate has three Surrey County Council representatives, elected every four years, elected by three wards: [21]

Election Member[22]

Ward

style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | 2009 Dr Zully Grant-Duff Merstham and Reigate Hill
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Democrats (UK)/meta/color" | 2009 Peter Lambell Reigate Central
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | 2009 Frances King Earlswood and Reigate South

5 councillors sit on Reigate and Banstead borough council, who operate a council-elected-in-thirds system, which results in voting for one local candidate in three out of every four years:

Election Member[22]

Ward

style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | 2010 Adam de Save Reigate Central
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | 2011 Steve Farrer Reigate Central
2011 Christopher Whinney Reigate Central
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | 2008 Roger Newstead Reigate Hill
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | 2010 Lisa Brunt Reigate Hill

Places of worship

Reigate has several churches. St Mary's Parish Church (Anglican) is located in Chart Lane to the east of the town with its chapel of ease St Cross in the windmill on Reigate Heath.[23] Reigate Methodist Church is located in the town centre.[24] Reigate Baptist Church,[25] Reigate Park URC,[26] Sandcross Church, and Reigate and Redhill Community Church[27] are further out. The Holy Family Catholic Church is the only Roman Catholic Church in Reigate.[28] The Religious Society of Friends have a meeting house on Reigate Road (Thomas Moore House).

Education

Primary schools

Secondary schools

Other schools

Sport and leisure

Reigate has two non-League football clubs: South Park F.C. who play at King George's Field and Reigate Priory F.C. who play at Park Lane.

Reigate is home to Old Reigatians Rugby Football Club, located at Park Lane off the high street adjacent to the town's only cricket club, Reigate Priory.

Notable people

Notable pets

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/census-2001-key-statistics/urban-areas-in-england-and-wales/urban-areas-in-england-and-wales-ks01-usual-resident-population.xls
  2. ^ Brayley, Edward (1850). A topographical history of Surrey. Vol. 4. London: G Willis. p. 218. OCLC 4601837.
  3. ^ a b Reigate and Banstead Borough Council: A Brief History of Reigate
  4. ^ Old Reigate: A Pictorial History
  5. ^ "Reigate Caves". East Surrey Explorers. Retrieved 2009-08-19. [dead link]
  6. ^ Wright, Christopher (1971). A Guide to the Pilgrims' Way. London: Constable. p. 134. ISBN 0-09-456240-7.
  7. ^ a b English Heritage. SMR
  8. ^ Hooper . Reigate; its story through the ages
  9. ^ Greenwood,J. Turnpikes and the economy. 2008
  10. ^ Farries and Mason. Mills of Surrey
  11. ^ "Conservation Area Map" (PDF). Reigate and Banstead Borough Council. Retrieved 2012-04-26.
  12. ^ "Tea Room site". Vintage Tea Rooms. Retrieved 2012-04-26.
  13. ^ "Cullenders fine foods and delicatessen". Cullenders. Retrieved 2012-04-26.
  14. ^ "The Toy Shop". The Toy Shop, Reigate. Retrieved 2012-04-26.
  15. ^ Grid Reference Finder Elevation Tools compare parts of Reigate Hill to Wray Common, Doods Park Road and Underhill Park Road for example
  16. ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1029061)". National Heritage List for England.
  17. ^ Bowl barrows on Reigate Heath:Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1008849)". National Heritage List for England.
    Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1008851)". National Heritage List for England.
    Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1008852)". National Heritage List for England.
    Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1008857)". National Heritage List for England.
    Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1008869)". National Heritage List for England.
    Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1008871)". National Heritage List for England.
    Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1008872)". National Heritage List for England.
  18. ^ a b Open Street Map
  19. ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1029111)". National Heritage List for England.
  20. ^ "World Airline Directory". Flight International. 26 July 1980. 274. "Head Office: Europe House, Bancroft Road, Reigate, Surrey, Great Britain."
  21. ^ "List of County Councillors". Surrey County Council. Retrieved 2012-04-26.
  22. ^ a b Reigate and Banstead councillors
  23. ^ St Mary's church, Reigate
  24. ^ Reigate Methodist Church
  25. ^ Reigate Baptist Church
  26. ^ Reigate Park Church
  27. ^ [1]
  28. ^ Holy Family Church, Reigate
  • W. Hooper. Reigate; its story through the ages. 1945
  • J. Greenwood. Turnpikes and the economy: the case of Reigate
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Reigate.
Wikisource has the text of the 1905 New International Encyclopedia article "Reigate".
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