Shere
Village
St James' Church
Shere Location withinSurrey
Area	9.88 km2 (3.81 sq mi)
Population	1,032 (2011)(relevant part of Civil Parish, whole parish had 3,630 people over 24.5 km2)[1]
• Density	104/km2 (270/sq mi)
OS grid reference	TQ070479
Civil parish	Shere
District	Guildford
Shire county	Surrey
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Guildford
Postcode district	GU5
Dialling code	01483
Police	Surrey
Fire	Surrey
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	Godalming and Ash
List of places UK England Surrey 51°13′14″N0°28′07″W / 51.2206°N 0.4687°W /51.2206; -0.4687

Shere is a village in theGuildford district ofSurrey, England 4.8 miles (7.7 km) east south-east ofGuildford and 5.4 miles (8.7 km) west ofDorking, centrally bypassed by theA25. Located on theRiver Tillingbourne it is a small still partly agricultural village chiefly set in the woodedVale of Holmesdale between theNorth Downs andGreensand Ridge. As of 2011 the village had a population of 1,032.

The village gives its name to the larger civil parish of Shere, extending to the east and south intohamlets founded in the early Middle Ages which officially, in the 19th century, were consolidated into three villages;Gomshall,Holmbury St. Mary andPeaslake. This larger entity has a total population of 3,359 and area of 24.5 square kilometres (9.5 sq mi) (as at the 2011 census).^[2]

Shere appears inDomesday Book asEssira andEssire in the ancienthundred ofBlackheath.^[3] It was held byWilliam the Conqueror. Its Domesday assets were: 1 church, 2mills worth 10s per year, 14ploughs, 3 acres (1.2 ha) ofmeadow,woodland worth 50hogs. It rendered £15 per yearto its overlords.^[3][4][5]

In 1086, when Gomshall was royal demesne, thevilleins (villagers) there were exempt from the sheriff's jurisdiction; Gomshall Netley and Gomshall Towerhill manors hadcourt baron. Eleanor, Countess of Ormond owning the Vachery manor, hadview of frankpledge in Gomshall Towerhill. In 1281 William Braose was grantedfree warren there

In the 13th century Roger de Clare settled for a life-rent on the church and sold the manor of Shere to a grandson ofGeoffrey Fitz Peter, 1st Earl of Essex. In turn his grandson divided the manor, according with the law ofmoiety title to his daughter Joan Butler who thus received the new manor of Shiere Vachery; whileRichard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster ('the red Earl') received Shiere Ebor(acum). Two other manors evolved.

Highlights of the often influential tapestry of powerful owners include (but are not limited to):

TheVictoria County History (Surrey: 1911) cites numerous mentions in theAssize Rolls,Patent Rolls,Feet of Fines and the ecclesiastical records of Westminster and Lambeth Palaces. Traditionally the parish included the areas of the current civil parish and measured about4+1⁄2 miles from north to south, and from 2 to2+1⁄2 miles from east to west and contained 6,400 acres of land and 12 of water.^[6]

The neighbourhood was for a time one of the wildest inSurrey: sheep-stealers,smugglers, and poachers found a refuge in these remote hills. Some of the cottages have, still existing, very large cellars (excavated easily in the sandy hill), stated by H.E. Malden to have been "far too large for any honest purpose, and were no doubt made for storing smuggled goods till they could be conveniently taken on to London".^[6]

In 1671, a Shere man called Edward Bound was charged by church authorities with "playingcricket on the Sabbath" and was exonerated, one of the sport's earliest references.^[7]

Iron was worked from the stone and into implements in centuries before the 18th century in Shere.^[6] In 1911 great quantities ofwatercress were grown which is no longer the case;^[6] the principal area in southern England for this being nearNew Alresford inHampshire.

Holmbury St. Mary up in the Greensand Ridge was a modern village term devised in 1878 for the two hamlets of Felday in Shere and Pitland Street in Shere andAbinger, when the place became a civil parish and ecclesiastical parish. TheChurch of England schools were built in 1860 and enlarged in 1900.^[6]

Shere Infant and Nursery School has been serving the local community since 1852, celebrating its 175th birthday in 2017. The school received a 'Good' status from the Ofsted inspection in December 2015.^[8]

The church of St James is in theEarly English style, most being 12th, 13th and 14th century. It replaced an earlier Anglo-Saxon church mentioned in theDomesday Book.^[9] Constructed ofironstone rubble withsandstone buttresses, it was restored in 1895 by S. Weatherley. By the north chancel wall there is a 14th-century quatrefoil window and squint – belonging to anAnchorite cell used byChristina Carpenter in the 14th-century. There is 14th-century glass in the east window and the chancel fittings were renewed in 1956 byLouis Osman. It is a Grade Ilisted building.^[10]

Within the village centre conservation area there are 34listed buildings.

These are all older than 1830, in some cases by several centuries.^[11]

The village can be accessed for long-distance travel from the north and west from theA3 atWest Clandon – from the east theM25 atLeatherhead and theA24 at Dorking followed by theA25 road provides a shorter alternative route than taking the first route; there are minor routes south however the nearest major route directly south is the A24 at Dorking.

Gomshall railway station is less than 1 mile (1.6 km) away on theReading toGatwick line. While 1614 people (65% of the parish) in 2001 for instance were economically active, only 178 routinely used public transport and 1037 used motor vehicles. The average Shere commuter travels 20.3 kilometres (12.6 mi) to work.^[12]

The economy is a mixture of local and regional with the many shops and some farming within it. A significant minority of the working population are London commuters, particularly in the civil parish at large. The 2001 census shows the self-employed (including with employees) form 36% of the population, retirees form 16% of the population and employees form 48% of the population. 77% of the ward's population is Christian, of the remainder 22% are of no religion or not stated.^[2]

Within the civil parish are shops, four village halls, and three post offices. Many walks radiate from the village, including a streamside walk, parts of theNorth Downs Way and thePilgrims' Way. In the village are Millstream Press, a book publisher named after the Tillingbourne, a textiles-cum-boutique^[13] and Surrey Hills Brewery.^[14]

TheUnited Kingdom Census 2011 considered the village as four relevant output layers, approximately a third of thewardShere, the latter being used for elections toGuildford Borough Council. All parts featured their single largest proportion of housing as eithersemi-detached orsingle-family homes and most of these with gardens.

In all 439 households (in slightly fewer homes) make up the village including its scattered farms and cottages. The census boundaries drawn exclude central and eastern Burrows Cross due to is proximity to slightly larger hamlet Gomshall, being contiguous and due south Burrows Cross had census overlap of its output areas (E00155528 and E00155529) and was included withinGomshall.

The proportion of households in three divisions of Shere who owned their home outright was at least 5% above the national average, in the fourth division this was 3% below, a central area including one of the two conservation area thoroughfares. The proportion of residents who owned their home with a loan was between 2.8% and 11.3% lower than the national average. The census shows that overall, Shere has a lower proportion than average of rented residential property and ofsocial housing relative to theSurrey and national averages.^[1]

Across the whole parish the 2011 distribution of housing was:

The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that was apartments was 22.6%.

AtSurrey County Council, one of the 81 representatives represents the area within theShere division which includes Albury and (East and West) Clandon.^[15]

AtGuildford Borough Council most wards of the borough are deemed appropriate to be represented under the current constitution of councillors by two to three councillors, which is the case for theTillingbourne ward which has two.

• Christine Carpenter (of unknown year of birth and death) submitted a petition in 1329^[18] and consequently was granted permission to become theAnchoress of Shere Church^[19] (aka.The Church of St. James). She received her food and drink from friends and family through a metal grating on the outside wall. In the interior of the church aquatrefoil shape was cut out of the wall through which she could receive theEucharist and asquint (orhagioscope) for her use for prayer and reflection. She left her cell and in 1332 she applied again and was granted permission to be re-enclosed.^[9]
• Benjamin Williams Leader (1831–1923), landscape artist. Lived in the parish from 1889 to 1923 at Burrows Cross, a large mansion which dominated its hamlet directly south-east of the village, designed byNorman Shaw.
• Lewis Pinhorn Wood (1848–1918), landscapist and watercolourist, best known for his rural scenes of Sussex and Surrey. In the tradition of the Victorian era, his work depicted idyllic scenes of rural life across the home counties. He lived with his family in the parish in the 1870s and 1880s at 'Burnside'.
• Harry Edwards (1893–1976), spiritual healer, founded his "Spiritual Healing sanctuary" at Burrows Lea, a house in the east of the parish, in 1946; he went on to found the "National Federation of Spiritual Healers" (NFSH) in 1959.^[20]
• John "Hoppy" Hopgood (1921–1943), a pilot with617 Squadron, the Dambusters. Flying as Guy Gibson's second in command, he was killed in the attack on theMöhne dam. "Hoppy" lived in Hurstcote House on Hook Lane which is now the site of Shere Court.

Since at least the early 20th century, the location andTudor architecture has been a draw for artists and film-makers. TheVictoria County History, which was written for the county of Surrey in 1911, lavished more praise than on any other village:

Shere has often been called one of the most beautiful villages in England; certainly few can surpass it in Surrey for a combination of those qualities that go to make up the ideal village... Shere is, therefore, the haunt of painters, many of them residents in and around, and samples of their handiwork may be inspected in the ancient Black Horse Inn.^[6]

Films made in the area include:

• 1918, D. W. Griffith's silent filmHearts of the World.^[21]
• 1946, as Dr. Reeves’ village inMichael Powell andEmeric Pressburger'sA Matter of Life and Death.^[22]
• 1964,The Earth Dies Screaming, ascience fiction film directed byTerence Fisher.^[22]
• 1965,Die, Monster, Die!, loosely based onH. P. Lovecraft'sThe Colour Out of Space, starringBoris Karloff.^[23]
• 1972,The Ruling Class, starringPeter O'Toole.^[22]
• 2004,Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, in which St James's church features briefly in the final wedding scene.^[24]
• 2005,The Wedding Date starringDebra Messing andDermot Mulroney.^[24]
• 2006,The Holiday starringCameron Diaz,Kate Winslet andJude Law.^[24][25]
• 2021, The music video forZombie! byOrla Gartland.^[26]

Anchoress of Shere by Paul L. Moorcraft.^[27]

The Passionate Friends, a social commentary novel byH. G. Wells, places the protagonist's marriage here.^[28]

• Shere Parish Council
• 1933 Video of Shere
• Shere Village website
• Young Kuwaiti Man visits English Village of Shere, 1960s - Archive Film 1062116

• Cricket in Surrey
• English cricket in the 14th to 17th centuries
• Civil parishes in Surrey
• Borough of Guildford
• Villages in Surrey

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