East Clandon

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 51.253
longitude= -0.4836
official_name= East Clandon
map_type= Surrey
population = 250
shire_district= Guildford
shire_county = Surrey
region= South East England
constituency_westminster=
post_town= Guildford
postcode_district = GU4
postcode_area= GU
dial_code= 01483
os_grid_reference= TQ059515 East Clandon is a village and parish in Surrey, England on the A246 between the towns of Guildford to the west and Leatherhead to the east. Neighbouring villages include West Clandon and West Horsley.

It has a population of 250 in 110 homes clustered around the church of St Thomas of Canterbury, The Queen's Head pub and the village hall. Located four miles east of Guildford in the county of Surrey, the tiny 9 square mile parish landscape includes a traditional country estate, arable and livestock farmlands, woodlands, a golf course and Hatchlands Park, a National Trust property.

History

Pre-1800

The word Clandon (Clanedune) goes back to Anglo-Saxon times meaning clean down or open downland from the North Downs hills that rise above the village. People settled here due to the availability of water that emerged where the chalk meets the lower lying clay.

Chertsey Abbey, a Benedictine foundation was patron of East Clandon from the Norman Conquest of 1066 to the Reformation in 1539. East Clandon appears in Domesday Book as "Clanedun". It was held by Chertsey Abbey. Its domesday assets were: 4 hides; 7 ploughs, woodland worth 6 hogs. It rendered £6. [ [http://www.gwp.enta.net/surrnames.htm Surrey Domesday Book] ] In old documents the village is also often referred to in old documents as "Clandon Abbatis".

In 1544 Henry VIII granted East Clandon Manor to Sir Anthony Browne. The manor itself, which is thought to have been placed close to where Hatchlands Park now is, was moated since violent times in the early 1300s. The house and with that the village changed hands many times during the next two hundred years.

The oldest houses in the village, Frogmore Cottage, Lamp Cottage, Old Manor Farm, Tunmore Cottage among others, had already been built when the London brewer John Raymond sold the Hatchlands estate to Admiral Boscawen in 1749. The present Hatchlands house was built for him with the help of prize money from his victory with the French and it was completed in 1758 only three years before the Admiral died.

Post-1800

From 1768 the Sumner family owned the Hatchlands estate until it went to auction in 1888 and was bought by Lord Rendel. In 1913 his eldest daughter's son Captain H. S. Goodhart-Rendel inherited the estate in trust. The captain was a professional architect and took a great interest in the village and its inhabitants. According to the writings of Maurice Wiggin, Goodhart-Rendel was a tall, spare, upright figure making his daily round in the village dressed in his grey tweed suit and soft brown trilby shouting to his dogs in a real Grenadier's voice. Every Christmas time the squire gave a children's tea party at Hatchlands complete with Christmas tree and gifts for all comers. Christmas carol concerts are still held at Hatchlands for villagers today.

Several houses in the village were built to his drawings including Antler's Corner, Appletree Cottage, Meadow Cottage and 5 School Lane (1910), Prospect Cottages (1914), Snelgate Cottages (1926) and the St Thomas' Housing Society Cottages (1947).

In 1945 the Hatchlands house, park and some land were given to the National Trust. When Captain Goodhart Rendel died in 1959 the estate passed from his care into the hands of two relatives, a split he regarded with misgivings. The new owners, the Dunne-Ritche estate, sold most houses around 1970, but a few still remain in their possession.

References

External links

* [http://www.eastclandon.org.uk Official East Clandon website]