Woking is a modern, thriving borough whose main claim to fame nowadays seems to be its sporting and cultural links - McLaren's motor racing team, Woking Football Club, the New Victoria Theatre and, for those with an interest in history, the new Surrey History Centre (where all Surrey’s records are kept).
But in the past Woking has been famous for much more. Woking was one of the fourteen ancient ‘Hundreds’ of Surrey and was a royal manor at the time of the Domesday Survey. Henry VIII had one of his palaces here and it was while staying with the king at Woking that Wolsey heard that he had been made a Cardinal.
In Victorian times the London Necropolis Company dominates the story. Had they fulfilled their original plans, modern Woking would now be a vast ‘national’ cemetery. Even so, Brookwood Cemetery is the largest in Western Europe!
The crematorium at St Johns is the oldest in the country, as is the Mosque at Maybury. But internationally the Woking area is probably best known as the landing place of the Martians in the famous science-fiction novel, ‘The War of the Worlds’, written by H.G. Wells in Woking in the mid-1890s.
This site is designed to introduce you to Woking, its history and heritage, through a series of linked pages covering ‘Woking through the ages’, ‘Woking district by district’ and ‘Woking’s heritage in detail’.
Each page links not just to the next but also has links to pages with other relevant information. For some items, there are booklets available for those who want to learn more. These are listed on the ‘Heritage Walks’ page that follows.
This historical element of this site has been compiled by local historian Iain Wakeford, who has been researching and writing about Woking’s past for over twenty years - his first book, ‘Bygone Woking’, being published in 1983.
As well as his books, Iain has also written a number of articles on the history of the area for various publications and since 1989 has organised the annual Woking History Festival. As a result of the Festival, Iain has conducted a number of guided walks around the Woking area.
A note of Iain’s walks can be found on the HERITAGE WALKS page, which also lists his slide shows, talks and exhibitions as well as books and booklets currently available.
