Thorpe, Surrey

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 51.4069
longitude= -0.5354
official_name= Thorpe
map_type= Surrey
population = 5,624 [ [http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=5942933&c=TW20+8QS&d=14&e=16&g=491520&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&enc=1 Census data] ]
shire_district= Runnymede
shire_county = Surrey
region= South East England
constituency_westminster= Runnymede and Weybridge
post_town= Egham
postcode_district = TW20
postcode_area= TW
dial_code= 01932
os_grid_reference=TQ019685

Thorpe is a village in Surrey, England, located between Egham and Chertsey. It lies just inside the circle of the western part of the M25, near the M3. Neighbouring villages include Virginia Water, Wentworth, Laleham and Lyne. The River Bourne flows through the village and it lies within the Godley hundred.

Thorpe appears to be an island: a former rural community which has survived the construction of nearby motorways and gravel pit extraction. Much of the local surroundings are now a conservation area.

History

The village has a number of listed buildings and others constructed within the style of the area. Archeological finds in the surrounds point to Bronze and Iron Age as well as Roman settlements. Chertsey Abbey records note a place of worship at Thorpe from the 7th century; the chancel of the parish church was constructed as a chapel of retreat for the private use of Chertsey's Abbot and stands on Roman and pre-Roman foundations. The nave of the present church dates from the 10th century; millennium celebrations at St. Mary's took place in 1990.

Thorpe appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as "Torp". It was held by Chertsey Abbey. Its domesday assets were: 7 hides. It had 9 ploughs, 33 acres of meadow, herbage worth 24 hogs. It rendered £12. [ [http://www.gwp.enta.net/surrnames.htm Surrey Domesday Book] ]

St Mary's Church is part of the conservation area along with a number of other listed and protected buildings possibly dating from the 1600s onwards. Renalds Herne, an 18th-century, brick-built house, stands almost opposite the parish church facing a picturesque close with a thatched cottage and adjacent to another 18th-century brick-built house with an obviously brick-filled window, possibly because of the window tax.

Today

The village is close to Thorpe Park theme park, The American School In Switzerland (TASIS England), St Mary's 7th-century church. Thorpe Industrial Estate which lies on the edge of the village is home to Maranello Concessionaires, Ferrari's UK distributor.

Notable former inhabitants of Thorpe include Frank Muir, David Williams and Admiral Hardy (1769-1839), captain of HMS Victory during the Battle of Trafalgar.

References