Bourne Society Pub and Brewery History Group

Visit to the King’s Head, Holmbury St Mary, Aug 7, 2004

Pitland Street
Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey, RH5 6NP
Tel: (01306 730282)

 

The Kings Head, is located on the site of a very old ale house this has been a pub since the early 19th century.  Tucked in a tiny side street away from the main village road, you may come across it only by accident or after a good walk on Holmbury Hill. The SCC guide to the village states that a village shop operates at the King’s Head.

 

The Kings Head

 

From Kelly’s Surrey Directory, listed under Shere parish, we find James Flint the publican in 1871, followed by William Harrison who is found along with his family in the 1881 census. Both William and his wife were born locally at Wotton, just west of Dorking. Holmbury St Mary ecclesiastical parish was created in 1878 from the civil parishes of Shere, Abinger, Ewhurst, Cranley, Ockley and Ockham. However, the census place is still Shere in 1881. 

 

Dwelling: Kings Head

Census Place:         Shere, Surrey, England

Source:   FHL Film 1341182     PRO Ref RG11    Piece 0775    Folio 63    Page 16

                                Marr         Age         Sex          Birthplace

William HARRISON   M             32            M             Wotton, Surrey, England

                Rel:          Head

                Occ:        Publican

Louisa HARRISON   M             28            F              Wotton, Surrey, England

                Rel:          Wife

Kate HARRISON                     5              F              Shere, Surrey, England

                Rel:          Daur

                Occ:        Scholar

May HARRISON                      3              F              Shere, Surrey, England

                Rel:          Daur

Lee HARRISON                      1              M             Shere, Surrey, England

                Rel:          Son

Emily COLMAN                       16            F              Shere, Surrey, England

                Rel:          Serv

                Occ:        Domestic Servant

John THOMPSON    M             52            M             Scotland

                Rel:          Lodger

 

By 1905 the King’s Head had a new publican, Charwood Hammond, followed by William Hutchins who appears in the 1915 and 1922 Directories. In 1934 we find Morgan Robert Hunt and in 1938 Henry Evans as publicans at the King’s Head.

 

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In Victorian times, the village was very popular as a retreat for wealthy Londoners, so in 1872 when the village was still named Felday, it was visited by the celebrated Victorian architect George Edward Street and his wife. The latter is reported to have exclaimed 'this is heaven's gate' upon entering the village and it is still easy to understand why. Situated as it is, in the valley at the foot of Holmbury Hill,  the village is one of the most beautiful in all of Surrey.   St Mary's was built at Street's own expense in 1879 just two years before his death. 

 

On Holmbury Hill there are the earthworks of an Iron Age fort which was excavated in the 1930s and whose artefacts may now be seen in Guildford Museum. The site of this ancient fortification was about eight acres and was a camp for the native Celts since between about 150 B.C. to 50 A.D.  This camp was one of three along this ridge of hills, the others were at Anstiebury and Hascombe.

 

These sandy heights to the south of the North Downs trail (from Folkestone  to Farnham and on to Winchester and Salisbury Plain) attracted groups of Celts to settle. These primitive people were led by Druid priests and practised religious rites connected with the gods of thunder, war, women's crafts and manly beauty. Holmbury Hill was not thickly wooded then and it is likely the surrounding land would have been farmed.    Throughout history the general area has been one of the remotest and wildest in the county, with deep sunken lanes, so many smugglers, sheep stealers and poachers took refuge in the hills near here and often the local cottages had large cellars used to hide their contraband.

  

Felday was soon renamed Holmbury St. Mary, after George Street designed and erected St. Marys Church in his beloved village, where he then lived with his wife in the house they soon built called 'Holmdale' in Holmbury Hill Road. Unfortunately his wife did not live to see the completed church that was built in 1879, as she died in 1876. In fact, St. Mary's Church was to be one of George Street's last works, as he also died just two years after it was built. He did live, however, to welcome Gladstone and the cabinet of the day, when they once visited his home in the village in 1880. George Street, who designed the London Law Courts, was obviously a man of some considerable standing, he was later buried in Westminster Abbey.