Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for OCKLEY

OCKLEY, a village and a parish in Dorking district, Surrey. The village stands near the Dorking and Horsham railway, 7 miles S by W of Dorking; has a station on the railway; is supposed to be the Aclea of the Saxon chronicle, where Ethelwulf defeated the Danes ina great battle in 851; and has an old-fashioned green, a post-office‡ under Dorking, and two small inns. The parish includes parts of the chapelries of Cold Harbour and Oakwood, and comprises 4, 286 acres. Real property, £3, 570. Pop., 683. Houses, 104. The property is divided among a few. Ockley Court is the seat of MajorW. Calvert; Joldwynds, ofC. Wetton, Esq.; Leith Hill Place, of J. Wedgwood, Esq.; and Elderslie, of G. Arbuthnot, Esq. The parish abounds with traditions of the Danes; and Aubrey saw traces of an ancient castle near the church, and says that the Danes destroyed it with battering engines, placed on Berry Hill, 2 milesdistant. Vestiges of a Roman camp, with double ditch and vallum, are at Holmbury Hill. A magnificent view, over parts of fourteen counties, and to London and these a, is got from Leith Hill. The parish is a meet for the Horsham hounds. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Winchester. Value, £539.* Patron, Clare College, Cambridge. The church, in 1867, was in bad condition. There are a parochial school, and charities about £90.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Ockley AP/CP       Dorking RegD/PLU       Surrey AncC
Place: Ockley

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