WOKING THROUGH THE AGES
Woking in the Late Victorian and Edwardian Period
The Necropolis land sales from the 1850s onwards led to the development of WOKING TOWN CENTRE and areas such as MAYBURY, HOOK HEATH, ST JOHNS, BROOKWOOD and much of KNAPHILL on the former common lands of ‘Old’ Woking.
At KNAPHILL and ST JOHNS, the development of the prison and asylum led to the growth of housing in the area, but BROOKWOOD village did not develop until after the main line station was opened there in 1864. ST JOHNS also saw the building of the Crematorium - the first one in the country - and with Brookwood Cemetery still the largest cemetery in the country, this area is almost literally the ‘dead centre’ of England!
The Broadway and Chertsey Road, Woking.MAYBURY saw more institutions built as well as one close - The Royal Dramatic College - (in 1877). The site was later sold to Dr. G.W. Leitner, who in 1884 opened the Oriental Institute. Five years later the Mosque - the oldest in the country - was built on the site.
Other institutions included the St Peter’s Convent on Maybury Hill (a Grade II listed building which has recently been converted into apartments) and the London & South Western Railway Orphanage, which opened in Oriental Road in 1909. The impetus for growth in the Maybury area, however, came from the proximity to the town centre and not from the institutions.
The Maybury area was also attracting some famous names, as H.G. Wells came to live in Maybury Road in 1895, followed by W.E. Henley (who lived on Maybury Hill in the early part of the 20th century) and George Bernard Shaw, whose home (Maybury Knoll) stands in The Ridge.
On HOOK HEATH, the development of the golf course helped to attract high-class development, while in the MOUNT HERMON and HEATHSIDE areas several local farmers ‘cashed in’ on the growth of the new town by selling their fields for development. The Hockering Estate was one such area, named after the Norfolk village where the Smallpiece family (the owners of the land) originated. They sold the estate to W.G. Tarrant, a local builder, who developed the area as one of Woking’s high-class estates.
Rosemount Parade, West Byfleet.Central Woking was not the only area to see development at this time, as the farmers and nurserymen of HORSELL soon realised that they, too, could sell land for housing. At BYFLEET it was the opening of the station on the common in 1887 which led to the development of that area (subsequently called WEST BYFLEET) and the beginning of the growth of modern PYRFORD.
Meanwhile in Woking new shops, new industry and new entertainment came to the area. To add to the shops in the High Street and Chertsey Road, others were built in The Broadway, Guildford Road and eventually in Commercial Road, which was also the home of several of Woking’s early ‘public’ buildings, such as the Constitutional Club (built in 1895), the Council Offices (1905) and the Grand Theatre (1898).
The former St. Peter's Home, Maybury Hill.The ‘Grand’ was later joined by the ‘Woking Palace Theatre’ in Duke Street and the ‘Central Halls Cinema’ (or the ‘flea-pit’, as some locals called it) in Chertsey Road.
Linked Pages.
More information on the Late Victorian period may be found under the pages of the relevant places mentioned in the text above. The pages on Brookwood Cemetery & The Necropolis, 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 the Edwardian period throughout the whole borough.
Booklets on ‘The Mad, the Bad and the Sad - a Brief Guide to the Institutions of West Woking’, ‘Famous People from Woking’s Past’ and ‘The War of the Worlds Cycle Tour’ are also available - please see the list of publication on the HERITAGE WALKS page.
Woking: 01483 773773