WOKING'S HERITAGE IN DETAIL
Hook Heath
Hook Heath was originally part of the vast Woking Heath and in the 17th century was considered to be one of the ‘poorer’ parts of the area, the wild heath being frequented by gypsies and travellers! In the 1850s the London Necropolis & National Mausoleum Company bought the area as part of Woking Common for their cemetery, but unlike other parts of their estate they made little or no attempt to develop the area until the 1890s. By then they had learned from the land sales around Woking Station that the high ground to the south of the railway, with fine views towards the North Downs, could be sold for high-class development (and so high prices and profits)!
In 1893 they encouraged the development of the Woking Golf Club - one of the first ‘inland links’ in the country (an idea later taken up by W.G. Tarrant at his estates in St George’s Hill, Weybridge and Wentworth at Virginia Water).
The Necropolis Company used the Golf Club, and later the Lawn Tennis and Crochet Club, to promote their estate. A brochure by the Company in the early years of the 20th century emphasising that ‘the membership of the (Golf) Club is full up, and many names await election, but the Company, in letting the Links, stipulated for the entrance of future settlers on the Estate, so Golfers need have no fear on this score when considering the attractions of Woking.’
The Company was careful not to restrict all development to large, expensive properties, but it was clear that where they could (notably along the escarpment along Hook Heath Road) they used the lie of the land to the full. In other parts of the estate they allowed some smaller-scale properties to be built, but these were the exception rather than the rule. However in the brochure mentioned above they were careful to promote all types of property as the following shows…
‘It must not be thought that only mansions are permissible on Hook Heath; on the contrary, the writer was shown here one of the most delightful cottages that could be imagined. Although still in the builder’s hands, it was possible to see what a charming home such a cottage would afford, with its sloping red-tiled roof, latticed windows, wrought iron door latches, and cosy window seats, the whole, set in a delightfully rustic garden, forming an ideal abode for a young married couple.’
The brochure went on to state that ‘the bridegroom who has £500 to invest, can borrow, say, £1,000 from the London Necropolis Company, and in a few years find himself the absolute owner of his house’.
As mentioned above some of the largest properties were built along Hook Heath Road, with places such as Whinfield, Woodside and Hembury Knowle still standing as testament to the Necropolis Company’s ideas for the area. Some of the large properties were built by well-known local firms such as W.G. Tarrant of Byfleet or W.J. Drowley & Co., of Church Street, Woking. A brochure produced by Drowley’s in 1907 shows properties such as ‘Comeragh Court’ (since demolished although the Lodge survives), The Links (which was built overlooking the Golf Course), and High Housen (another of the houses overlooking the Wey Valley). It is strange that the name of Drowley is not so well known as Tarrant, as the brochure clearly shows that his workmanship was equal to (if not better than) that of his more sought after rival!
Nowadays many of the older properties have been divided or demolished to make way for ‘small’ estates of large houses. However with the Fishers Hill and Hook Heath Conservation Area’s, Hook Heath will remain one of the most sought after areas of the Borough of Woking and the legacy of the Necropolis Company will live on.
