BUCKLAND is a historic corner of old
Surrey. This page link provides the following:
- an overview of the village history (this
page.below)
- a description of the book of the village
history (and how to order)
- census return transcripts from 1841-1901
(as available at intervals of every 10 years) with names of families and houses
- of interest to genealogists tracing family histories
- the village 'legend' -every village has
one!
_______________________________________________
OVERVIEW OF BUCKLAND's
VILLAGE HISTORY
Population
Buckland has grown steadily over the years, from 269
people in 1801, 500 in 1901 and about 600 now (2001).
Domesday Book
Buckland is mentioned in the Domesday Book.
It was owned by John of Tonbridge – who also owned about one-third of
Surrey at the time. Buckland had a
church, water-mill and 35 heads of household, of which 17 farmed the land owned
by the feudal lord, and 10 were servants of the Estate.
Estate History
Since the thirteenth century, Buckland’s ‘Lord of
the Manor’ has owned most of the land in the Parish, and they have bought and
sold additional land in Reigate and Sidlow.
The Estate was last sold in 1653 for £5000, to George Browne, who had
made his money mining ironstone ore in Kent.
The current Estate owner – Adrian Sanders (Dungates Estates Ltd) –
has a family trace from George Browne to the present day, almost 350 years of
inherited family line residence. The
Estate still owns over half the land of the Parish, manages crop production,
leases the mineral rights for sand extraction to Hanson, and leases a number of
estate-owned houses.
The Three Greens
For such a small village, we have the unusual
distinction of having had 3 village greens.
The oldest, on Lawrence Lane, is now farmed, but it used to be the site
of the Workhouse (now Orchard Farm) and a pub (now The Harvesters).
The second is ‘Rectory Green – the grassy area at the bottom of
Rectory Lane - opposite Glebe House (the old Vicarage) and Oak House.
The Green that we now know is one of the most picturesque in Surrey, with
the pond, Towered Barn and Church opposite.
Houses and buildings
There are about 250 homes in the village, of which 26
are listed buildings, including the church, windmill, two barns, the
gate-keepers cottage by the level crossing, and many old timber-framed farms and
cottages. The oldest
surviving cottages in the village date from the 16th century, are on
The Green by the pond. Buckland
Court, behind the church, was the Manor House until it was divided into separate
houses in the 1940s. Buckland
has two pubs, the Red Lion (just in Buckland’s boundary) and the Jolly
Farmers.
More information can be found in
‘Buckland 1000-2000 – A Village History of Buckland, Surrey’
available at the Village Shop
