WOKING'S HISTORY DISTRICT BY DISTRICT
Byfleet, West Byfleet and Pyrford
In 1933 the old Woking Urban District was enlarged to include the villages of Byfleet, West Byfleet and Pyrford. Before then, the three villages were part of the ‘Chertsey Rural District’ (established in the 1890s) and before that, part of the ancient ‘Hundred of Godley’ (which had been centred on Chertsey since Saxon times). Byfleet was first recorded in the 8th century and Pyrford in the 10th century, but evidence from the area shows that man lived in these parts long before then. Prehistoric flints have been found in both villages and coins from the Roman period have been found at ‘Romans Way’ in Pyrford and at Brooklands in Byfleet.
St. Mary's Church, Byfleet.Byfleet at the time of the Domesday survey was held by Chertsey Abbey, whilst most of Pyrford belonged to Westminster Abbey. William the Conqueror kept a small part of Pyrford for himself, but even this land was given to the Abbey shortly before he died. Pyrford, at the time of the survey, apparently included the area we now call ‘Horsell’, with 37 villagers, 14 smallholders and three slaves recorded for the area, as well as pasture and grazing for 80 pigs, 15 acres of meadow and two mills valued at 10s. Byfleet, by contrast, had just seven villagers, two smallholders and three slaves, with woodland and pasture for 10 pigs, a mill worth 5s, a church and fisheries producing 325 eels.
In medieval times Byfleet became part of the Duchy of Cornwall, with one of the best known occupants being the ‘Black Prince’, who appears to have stayed in the area quite often. In 1536 the manor was granted to Catherine of Aragon upon her divorce from Henry VIII, but in the early 1540s it appears that the manor was in the hands of Sir Anthony Browne, who used material from Newark Priory (near Pyrford) to rebuild the manor house. The present house, however, dates from the 17th century, while at Pyrford the Elizabethan manor house of the Earl of Lincoln and his successors has been lost to modern developments.
Station Approach, West Byfleet.The old Summer House at Pyrford does still stand - although the story that it was once the home of the poet John Donne is not true. He did live at Pyrford, but the Summer House dates from a later period. Other famous people connected with the area include the 17th century poets Stephen Duck and Joseph Spence (Byfleet), the 19th century diarist A.J. Munby (Wheelers Farm, Pyrford), and the Victorian politician Sir Charles Dilke (Pyrford Rough). The Guinness family was also connected with Pyrford Court, the gardens of which are occasionally open to the public.
The Summer House, Pyrford Place.The oldest structures in the two ancient villages are the churches - Pyrford’s dating from the 12th century and Byfleet’s from the 14th century. The area also contains a number of ‘listed’ buildings and there are conservation areas at Byfleet High Road, Aviary Road and Church Hill, Pyrford. But it is the Victorian and Edwardian ‘town’ of West Byfleet (originally part of the common land of Byfleet) that has the largest number of conservation areas in the borough! They include the areas of Birchwood Road, Old Avenue, Station Approach, and the Basingstoke Canal. In fact West Byfleet, even with its 1960s and 70s developments, still contains a large number of Victorian buildings and on the outskirts (of both West Byfleet and Pyrford) are a number of large ‘Tarrant’-built properties.
Wheelers Farm, Pyrford.
The pages on The
Basingstoke Canal, The
Railway, Victorian
and Edwardian Institutions, and Famous
People deal with more information about those subjects.
Booklets.
The Woking Community Play Association’s book ‘Changing Woking - 1900-1929’ contains a wealth of information on Byfleet, West Byfleet and Pyrford.
Booklets on ‘The Prehistory of the Borough of Woking’, ‘The Place Names of Woking’, ‘A Brief History of the Manor of Byfleet’, ‘A Brief History of Newark Priory’, ‘A Brief History of the Wey Navigation’ and ‘Famous People from Woking’s Past’ as well as ‘Heritage Notes’ on ‘Byfleet’, ‘West Byfleet’ and ‘Pyrford’ are also available - please see the list of publication on the HERITAGE WALKS page.
