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1 Population

(1991 census), figures given for the civil parish:

Overall, the resident population of the Waverley district increased by 2.4% in the ten years to 2001.

2 Economic activity

Cranleigh lies near the main route between Guildford and Horsham, and was also a station on the railway line which connected them until the Beeching axe. Despite having been deprived of a rail link, Cranleigh has prospered both as a satellite of Guildford, and as a service and light engineering centre in its own right.It is also a retail centre for the surrounding smaller villages.

Cranleigh supports a small hospital and a large public (fee-paying) school.

3 Government

Cranleigh is in the Waverley district of Surrey county council, and is in the Guildford Westminster constituency.

4 Culture

The Anglican parish church of St Nicolas dates the first building on its site from around 1170, and the building was in its present form by the mid Fourteenth century. The parish is in the Diocese of Guildford.

There is a Roman Catholic church (in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arundel & Brighton) and churches of the Protestant denominations.

5 History

Situated in the WealdA weald once meant a dense forest, especially the famous great wood once stretching far beyond the ancient counties of Sussex and Kent, England, where this country of smaller woods is still called "the Weald. Now that most English forests have been cut do, a forested area not densely populated until the Nineteenth century, Cranleigh has little of prehistoric or Roman interest. A spur of the Roman road between LondonLondon is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England, and with over seven million inhabitants in the Greater London area, is the second-most populous conurbation in Europe (after Moscow). From being Londinium the capital of the Roman province of Bri and ChichesterChichester is a city in the south of England, in the county of West Sussex. It is the administrative centre for the Chichester district. The area is believed to have been a bridgehead for the Roman invasion of Britain and the city centre stands on the fou runs north west to Guildford past nearby Farley Heath , a temple site.

The village goes without a mention in the Domesday BookThis article is about the 11th century census. See BBC Domesday Project for the multimedia project. Domesday Book (also known as Domesday or Book of Winchester , was the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William the Con of 1085Events May 25 Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo, Spain back from the Moors. Domesday survey commissioned by William I of England to ensure proper taxation and levies. Births Deaths May 25 Pope Gregory VII 1085., although a population must have existed a century later large enough to warrant the building of the church. In common with other parts of the Weald, the forests supplied the timber which fuelled the ironworking which, apart from peasant agriculture, was the only employment.

Any growth could only come by improvements in transport; in 1813 the Wey and Arun Canal was authorised, passing a few miles to the west of the village. This route linked London (via the Thames and the Wey with Littlehampton (via the Arun). However, the canal traffic was completely eclipsed by the railway in 1865, and the canal fell into disuse. A turnpike road was also built between Guildford and Horsham, the opening of which is commemorated by an obelisk near the church.

This growth in transportation provided the initial stimulus for the typical Surrey village pattern of commuting, followed by the growth of a local service sector, except that Cranleigh was big enough to generate a good deal of light industrial employment itself.

Cranleigh is proud of its hospital, the first cottage hospital in the country. It has survived many attempts to close it, through fundraising by the local community.

Related Links: Cranleigh hospital history