Welcome to Visit Cranleigh.
Cranleigh is the largest village in England and is situated at the foot of the Surrey Hills.
The high street has a wide variety of independent shops and businesses including cafes, restaurants, takeaways, fashion and gift shops, hair and beauty salons, tanning salons, ice cream shops, a florist, cobblers, newsagents a hardware shop, bakery and much more.
Cranleigh has some amazing amenities including an Arts Centre, a well equipped Leisure Centre, a newly refurbished village hall and Knowle Park that was donated to the community and held in perpetuity by a charity.
Cranleigh has something for everyone and is so much more than just a destination.
Ten Facts about Cranleigh (Courtesy of Cranleigh Magazine)
1. Until the mid-1860s, Cranleigh was spelt ‘Cranley’. However, it was changed by the post office to avoid confusion with nearby Crawley… as if anyone these days could make such a mistake!
2. St Nicolas’ Church is the oldest building in the village, having been erected by the Norman knights of William the Conqueror. The church as it stands today dates back to the mid-14th century, with the first building on the site recorded from about 1170.
3. Speaking of St Nicolas’ Church, did you know that a gargoyle on a pillar inside the church was the inspiration for Lewis Carroll to create the Cheshire Cat?
4. During World War II, two separate bombings hit Cranleigh. The first was dropped on the infant school, but luckily it was on a Sunday morning when no children were present. The Rector, however, in his garden nearby, suffered some injuries from the blast. The second bomb hit the gas works dome, destroying a nearby cottage and killing its occupant.
5. Cranleigh School was originally called ‘The Surrey County School’, and was opened in 1865.
6. Cranleigh appears in Douglas Adams and John Lloyd’s novel ‘The Meaning of Liff’. In the book, experiences that do not yet have a word associated with them are given the names of places. Cranleigh, in the novel, means “a mood of irrational irritation with everyoneand everything”. Make of that what you will…
7. In prehistoric times, the area we now know as Cranleigh was the bed of an inland freshwater lake, and part of the vast Wealden forest, an uninhabit-able, inhospitable environment for human life. How things change!
8. Cranleigh was once a small and isolated agricultural community, until the early 1800s when a turnpike road was built to allow the Prince Regent to travel easily from Windsor to his beloved pavilion in Brighton.
9. Though there’s no supporting evidence, many believe that the prefix ‘Cran’ in ‘Cranleigh’ originated after the Norman conquest. It is believed that, in those days, cranes were bred on farms in the district, to be served as delicacies for Kings.
10. The Cranleigh railway line was erected in 1865, overtaking the once-prosperous canal as the main transport link with neighbouring Horsham and Guildford. The canal closed in 1870, having lost all its business to the railway. The railway was sadly demolished in 1965, with the station giving way to Stocklund Square. If you look behind the shops, however, you can still see some of the old platform levels.
