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place.
A few years back a member of the Duff family who
worked and lived on the estate laid out the plan of who
sat where in the 1940s just before the last of the Estate
Rectors retired – it is in all likelihood the way it had been
since 1859. Each Sunday morning the estate staff
gathered in the stable yard to walk to church followed by
members of the Cubitt family. You know where the
Cubitts sat! Behind them the South pews were filled with
their staff and servants with the Butler, Footman and
Cook ahead of the maids, under-footmen, coachman,
bailiff, gardener and carter. All together now
All Things
Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures Great and Small...
During the Second World War the big house was
requisitioned by the military and in 1953 it was
demolished. A little under ten years later, following the
death of the Third Baron Ashcombe, the patronage of the
church was handed over to the Church Commissioners
and the Benefice was united with St Martin’s Dorking,
the Vicar of Dorking also becoming Rector of Ranmore.
Dick suggests a donation of £2.00 per person if you’d
like to visit the church as a group.
Lovely and unspoiled Ranmore Common is on the ridge
of the North Downs and looks eastward across the valley
of the River Mole as it cuts through the hills beneath the
western slopes of Box Hill and on the other side it looks
out over the valley of the Tilling Bourne. More than 800
acres of the woodlands and chalk downland at Box Hill
belongs to the National Trust or, as I like to say, belongs
to us! Come and see your property – this really is a
breathtaking view. The road climbing to the top of Box
Hill zig-zags like an Alpine pass and you really do see
box trees on the way up which is strangely exciting. People
have long come to Box Hill for the view: Keats, Daniel
Defoe, Robert Louis Stevenson and JM Barrie among them.
John Logie Baird once lived right at the top conducting early
television experiments from the summit. The oddest chap
here though without a doubt was Major Peter Labelliere
whose dying wish was to buried on top of the hill upside
down on the grounds that the world had turned topsy-turvey
so in death at last he’d be the right way up! He also asked
that the youngest son and daughter of his landlady dance on
his coffin. While they were busy carrying out his wishes in
June 1800 some rotter stole the wooden bridge over the
River Mole so the mourners had to wade through the river
to get home. Poor old Labilliere had grown more and more
eccentric in his final years, his personal hygiene was so
ropey that the locals called him
old dung-heap.
During the London 2012 Olympics Box Hill was the star
turn of the cycling road race, the men climbing the hill nine
times and the women just twice. Just! Ha, I’d not get my
wee Brompton past the first zig-zag without spluttering to a
halt. The view really is a marvel and it’s a great way to bring
to a satisfying close a day out exploring the beautiful Surrey
Hills. The National Trust have a large outdoor seating café
here and this year have opened a small indoors café but its
only got about 25 seats. Hopefully someone will nudge them
along with the news that modern charbancs seat up to 57
people. So we’ll drop back down to the Denbies Wine Estate
where you can buy tea and rather good cakes and perhaps
even take home a little taste of the Surrey Hills. If you think
that your group might enjoy exploring this area please read
on for our new tour itinerary:
The Beautiful Surrey Hills.