Oxshott

Oxshott

Surrey

Oxshott Heath

Location

Grid reference:TQ1460

Location:51°19’55"N, 0°21’22"W

Data

Population:6,100  (2001)

Post town:Leatherhead

Postcode:KT22

Dialling code:01372

Local Government

Council:Elmbridge

Parliamentary
constituency:Esher and Walton

Oxshott is a village in Surrey. It is neighbour to Cobham and south of Esher and Claygate. Oxshott has a pretty situation, bustledin with woodlands all about, within the great woodland with stretches from Esher to Leatherhead.

The village has a station on the line to London and stands on the A244, five minutes by car from both the A3 (Portsmouth Road) and the M25 motorway thus it serves as a commuter town in the London commuter belt ("the stockbroker belt") and the area consequently has some of the highest property prices in Britain. In 2010, the Daily Telegraph called Oxshott "the village with most footballers" in England.

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Name of the village

Oxshott is believed to mean "Ocga's wood", from an otherwise unknown Old English personal name Ocga, and not, contrary to popular belief, from oxen. The Oxshott is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 but in 1179 it is recorded as Occesete.

History

At the time it was first mentioned in the Middle Ages, Oxshott was a hamlet of about 200 people earning their living from forestry, farming and pig keeping.

For 600 years Oxshott was in an isolated position, which was surrounded by heath and scrubland with a network of footpaths across them.

In 1885 the nature of the village was changed forever with the building of the railway. The railway allowed both day trippers and wealthy residents quickly to appreciate the area's scenery. The following 30 years saw Oxshott expand to meet their demands and in doing so it acquired all the characteristics of a fine English village.

The Crown Commissioners limited early housing development to mansions suitable for occupation by wealthy families. Examples of these include Danes Hill, Broom Hall and Bevendean. Subsequently the village has expanded to include all types of housing, but it has retained a degree of prosperity.

St Andrew's Church was consecrated in 1912 to meet the needs of the growing population. Oxshott became a parish in its own right in 1913.

The high street expanded from an initial nucleus of three shops: a draper's, a tobacconist and a set of tea-rooms. Industry arrived in Oxshott when John Early Cook set up his brickworks in 1866, which continued until 1958, the famous and distinctive chimney demolished in 1967. Heathfield Pond is the site of the brickwork pit previously called Brick Pond; the pond is approximately 100 feet deep with a cottage and machinery at the bottom.

During the Second World War, Canadian army engineers were billeted on Oxshott Heath while they built The Cabinet War Rooms.

Today, Oxshott is a thriving residential and commercial community, thanks to its relative proximity to London coupled with its semi-rural location.

The railway

 

Oxshott Railway Station

Oxshott is served by commuter trains and is 38 minutes from Waterloo Station in London, with local bus services also available. Oxshott 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 were served by a branch line that ran from the station, West (towards Guildford), which is why the footbridge at the end of Sheath's Lane is long enough to 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.

Parish church

The parish church, the only church in the village, is St Andrew's. It was consecrated in 1912 as the village expanded in consequence of the coming of the railway. Oxshott became a separate parish the next year.

About the village

 

The road from Oxshott to the station

Oxshott has its own Primary School, the Royal Kent, named because its predecessor was founded by the Duchess of Kent, Queen Victoria's mother, in 1820. The original building stood on the sight now occupied by the village petrol station. There is also the private preparatory school, Danes Hill School, and its pre-prep school, Bevendean. Another independent school near Oxshott is Reed's School. The ACS International School (formerly the American Community School) is nearby in Cobham, bringing a number of Americans to live in Oxshott.

There is also a very active sports club, which has expanded from the village cricket club founded in 1896.

Oxshott has two public houses: The Victoria and The Bear.

In fiction

A greater part of the historic novel "Unter der Asche" (Beneath the ashes) by German author Tom Finnek is set in Oxshott and nearby Cobham. The novel deals with the Great Fire of London 1665-66 and the so-called "Diggers", a nonconformist dissenting group during the English Civil War.

Scenes from Monty Python feature film Jabberwocky (1977) were filmed in Oxshott Woods.

Sophie Kinsella's "chick-lit" Shopaholic novels have Oxshott as the hometown of the series' narrator, Becky Bloomwood.