History of Surrey

The name Surrey comes from the Old English "suther-ge" meaning southern district and is first recorded in AD 722 as "Suthrige".

Surrey was anciently divided into the fourteen hundreds of Blackheath, Brixton, Copthorne, Effingham, Elmbridge, Farnham, Godalming, Godley, Kingston, Reigate, Tandridge, Wallington, Woking and Wotton.

Until 1889, Surrey contained the area of the present-day London boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth. In 1965 the London boroughs of Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond (part only) and Sutton were created and made part of Greater London, and the area of the present-day borough of Spelthorne acquired from Middlesex. In the 1974 local government reform caused Gatwick Airport and some surrounding land to be transferred to West Sussex. In the enactment of Local Government Act 1972, Horley and Charlwood were also to be transferred, but fierce local protests led to a reversal of this decision.

ee also

* History of England