Oxshott
Template:Infobox England place Oxshott is a village in Surrey, England with a growing population of around 1501. It is situated in fields and woodlands between Esher and Leatherhead on the A244, five minutes by car to both the A3 (Portsmouth Road) and the M25 London Orbital motorway.
History
Oxshott is first recorded in 1179 as Okesetta, a hamlet of about 200 people. The name is derived from the name Occa and the Old English word sceat, meaning a strip of land. The village remained isolated until connected by the railway in 1885. The attractiveness of the area led to an expansion of the village and the development of a number of large mansion houses, including Danes Hill, Broom Hall and Bevendean. The village continued to expand through the 20th century. St. Andrew's Church was consecrated in 1912, with Oxshott becoming a parish the next year.
Transport
Oxshott is served by commuter trains and is 30 minutes from Waterloo Station in London, with local bus services to local town and city centres also available. The railway station is situated just off Oxshott Heath, to the south of Oxshott Woods. Oxshott Heath is interesting geologically as it has an escarpment where the London clay and sand strata emerge from the ground. For this reason, Oxshott had a brickworks from 1866 to 1958. The brickworks was served by a branch line that ran from the station, West (towards Guildford). This is why the footbridge at the end of Sheath's Lane (this is the proper, historic spelling) can span three tracks.
At Cook's Crossing, the railway crossing had three lines: two for the electrified main line to Guildford via Cobham and Stoke D'Abernon and a single track to the brickyards. This latter track is still in evidence if one looks hard, and the old hand-operated gates were still there less than 5 years ago. This single track now disappears into the houses built on the brickyards on Somerville Road.
Local
Oxshott also has two public houses: The Queen Victoria and The Bear. Both of the aforementioned used to be Courage Brewery houses, but now only The Victoria continues that alliance. Oxshott is blessed with one, Anglican church, St. Andrew's. There is also a very active sports club, which has expanded from the village cricket club founded in 1896. Oxshott has its own Primary School, the Royal Kent, named because it was opened by the Duchess of Kent at the beginning of the 20th Century. There is also the private Preparatory school, Danes Hill, and its pre-prep school, Bevendean.
The village has a large number of expatriates, due in part to the nearby ACS Cobham International school.
The local newspaper is the Cobham News & Mail
Oxshott is featured in the popular "Confessions of a Shopaholic" novels by British author Sophie Kinsella