'N' is for Newdigate.
From Saxon times much of the parish of Newdigate had belonged to the manor of East Betchworth whose lands stretched from the chalk of the North Downs through the sands of Betchworth to the clay and wet oak forest of Newdigate.
Within the parish four names are important - Newdigate, Ewood, Parkgate and Kingsland. The name Newdigate is probably derived from "on Ewood gate", i.e. on the road to Ewood, as Newdigate began as a road through the forest rather than a fixed settlement. Ewood (Yew Wood) was described from early times as a "park" i.e.an enclosure of the forest for the purpose of deer-hunting - the patent rolls of 1312 so mention it. This later gave rise to the name Parkgate, the "gate" by now meaning an entrance.
There are many old timber-framed houses scattered throughout the parish that were built before 1630 from locally cut oak. The oldest is Greens Farm once a manor house dating back to about 1280. Look for farmhouses named Ivy House, Oaklands Park, Rolls, Old Beam Brook, Coombers, Gaterounds and many others. Several other manor houses can still be seen, including two that were moated: Marelands once owned by Trinity College Cambridge and Newdigate Place formerly the home of the Newdegate family and Cudworth with its moat.
Special mention should be made of three houses: Reffolds built in 1606, an example of a jettied house: Tanhouse (picture above) built around 1540 and extended in 1575, once home to a tanner and set well away from the village close to a stream; and Nyes Place dating from 1575, now fully restored thought to have been the house of a flax weaver.
This was a time of relative prosperity, founded on the abundance of oak for ship and house building, supported by the presence of iron making in Ewood, which flourished until the beginning of the 17th century. It is not known exactly when iron making began, but in 1533 the Darrell brothers purchased Ewood Park from Lord Abergavenny there was already a well established forge and furnace, and a group of cottages near the dam which held back the shallow pond of up to 100 acres. The remains of this dam are still to be seen adjacent to Mill Cottage. Nothing remains of the iron mill or later flour mill, but traces of slag are to be seen.
A long period of economic decline followed lasting until about 1850. During this period probably only two houses were built and many others fell into disrepair. The only industry in the parish was now agriculture but due to the poorness of the soils this was only marginally profitable.
Parts of St.Peter's Church can be traced back to the 12th Century but it was not until 1876 that the church was extended and repaired to cope with the increasing population - then about 650. The main feature of the church is its timber built tower one of only two in Surrey.
Because of the scattered nature of the houses Newdigate has no village green. It was not until 1945 that a fund was established to purchase a 12 acre field that is now a public recreation area known as The Brocus. The village sign, based on the coat of arms of the Newdegate family stands in a corner of the field overlooking the village shop and post office.
1902 saw the Smallholders Association purchase the Cudworth Estate and on the Socialist principle of the time "a few acres and a cow" divided this into small plots for the sale to those who wished to make a living for themselves by working on the land. One purchaser started a holiday camp for Londoners in 1910 - the first of its kind in the country.
From 1920 when agriculture was again depressed many fields with road frontages were sold as building plots. In 1930 saw well built brick houses being constructed often using the very hard Newdigate bricks produced by the brickworks in Hogspudding Lane. This site has recently received planning permission for the construction of houses.
Another site formerly occupied by Schermuly (rocket propelled marine safety equipment) during the period from 1934 to 1981 has been developed in 1995 to 1999 as houses in a park setting.
Text taken from the village website.
This cache was placed by Mitchelltwo
Bonus Cache
Bonus numbers will be present in some of the caches in the series, collect these numbers as you will need to use them should you wish to find the series bonus '* - Bonus Cache - Surrey A to Z'