Gomshall

Gomshall is a village in the borough of Guildford in Surrey, England.[1]

Gomshall
Village

Gomshall Post Office and Mill
Gomshall
Location within Surrey
Population<1,000
OS grid referenceTQ084480
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townGuildford
Postcode districtGU5
Dialling code01483
PoliceSurrey
FireSurrey
AmbulanceSouth East Coast
UK Parliament

It is on the A25, roughly halfway between Guildford and Dorking, and in Shere civil parish,[2] which, reaching to Peaslake and Colmar's Hill, in 2001 recorded a human population of 3,359.[3] Nearest places are Shere, Albury and Abinger Hammer.

The River Tillingbourne flows through Gomshall, while the North Downs Way passes just to the north. The village also has a railway station, served by Great Western Railway trains running between Reading and Redhill.

History

The Manor of Gumesele was a Saxon feudal landholding that originally included the present day Gomshall.[4]

Gomshall appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Gomeselle. It was held by William the Conqueror. Its domesday assets were: 1 mill worth 3s 4d, 20 ploughs, 3 acres (12,000 m2) of meadow, woodland worth 30 hogs. It rendered £30.[5]

In 1154, Henry II of England divided the Manor of Gumesele into three: West Gomshall, East Gomshall and Somersbury. In 1240, West Gomshall was granted to the Cistercian Abbey of Netley in Hampshire[6] and became known as Gomshall Netley. East Gomshall was granted to the Abbey of St Mary Graces, Tower Hill, London in 1376 and became known as Gomshall Towerhill.

For the 1380 poll tax, Gomshall had 267 names registered. The occupations written beside the names show land-holders and the usual country crafts but also a high proportion of skills relating to the wool trade; there were spinners and weavers, fullers and pelterers and many tailors.

Towerhill Manor, as portrayed by Lewis Pinhorn Wood in 1880, was bought by Sir Edward Bray of Vachery in 1550 and remained in the Bray family until 1972.

Local industries developed based on the plentiful and constant water supply of the River Tillingbourne. Those that survived into the 20th century, but are now gone, were corn milling, watercress growing, and leather tanning. Gomshall Mill, now a public house, was the corn mill. Netley Mill pumped water for the Hurtwood Water Company for part of its existence.

See also

References
  1. OS Explorer map 145:Guildford and Farnham. Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton. ISBN 978 0319239261
  2. Shere parish council Archived 2006-10-01 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Parish Headcounts, 2001". Neighbourhood Statistics. Retrieved 23 February 2007.
  4. Ewhurst History Society Archived 2007-02-18 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Surrey Domesday Book Archived 2007-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
  6. History report
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