| Ockham | |
|---|---|
| Village | |
 The Semaphore Tower rises from highOckham and Wisley Commons atChatley Heath | |
 All Saints' Much of the church dates to the middle of theMiddle Ages. | |
  Ockham Location withinSurrey | |
| Area | 12.13 km2 (4.68 sq mi) |
| Population | 410 (civil parish, 2011)[1] |
| • Density | 34/km2 (88/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | TQ0756 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WOKING |
| Postcode district | GU23 |
| Dialling code | 01483 |
| Police | Surrey |
| Fire | Surrey |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| UK Parliament | |
| 51°17′53″N0°27′40″W / 51.298°N 0.461°W /51.298; -0.461 | |
Ockham (/ˈɒkəm/OK-əm) is arural and semi-ruralvillage in theborough of Guildford inSurrey, England. The village starts immediately east of theA3 but the lands extend to theRiver Wey in the west where it has a large mill-house. Ockham is betweenCobham (nearLeatherhead) andEast Horsley (nearGuildford).
Ockham has been occupied since at least the middleBronze Age (c.1500-1100 BC), evidenced by the so-called 'Ockham Hoard', a collection of bronze-age objects discovered in 2013 during building works at the formerHautboy Inn,[2][3] as well as the existence of a relatively uncommonbell barrow on Cockcrow Hill.[4]
Ockham appears in theDomesday Book of 1086 asBocheham. Held byRichard Fitz Gilbert, its Domesday assets were: 1½hides, 1 church, 2fisheries worth 10d, 3ploughs, 2 acres (0.81 ha) ofmeadow,woodland worth 60hogs. It rendered £10 per year to itsoverlords.[5][6]
Through theMiddle Ages in the many records nationally (such asAssize Rolls andfeet of fines), Ockham features no high nobles among its owners. However it is the birthplace ofWilliam of Ockham,[7] the famousmedievalphilosopher and the proponent ofOccam's razor.
Byron's daughter,Ada Lovelace, lived briefly atOckham Park before settling atHorsley Towers, which her husband the 1stEarl of Lovelace built in the village ofEast Horsley. His forefather Sir Peter King bought the manor using anAct of Parliament to cement the deal from the long-standing lords of the manor the Weston family of Albury, Send in Surrey, and of Sussex, who had acquired the manor from distant cousins who since their lateTudor period forebear,Francis Weston, owned it along withSutton Place, Surrey in the extreme south of theparish ofWoking.[6]
An act of charity in the village assisted one family in the 'Underground Railroad' in theUS that resulted from theFugitive Slave Act of 1850. After reachingLiverpool in 1850, following an arduous journey starting with a flight to freedom fromMacon, Georgia, African-American slavesEllen and William Craft were given a home by a parishioner in Ockham in 1851. They attended the Ockham School, and paid for their education by working as teachers: William giving instruction in carpentry, and Ellen in sewing. In 1852 their first child, Charles Estlin Phillips Craft, was born in Ockham. One year later, they left Ockham and returned to London. In 1871, after returning to Georgia, they started the Woodville Co-Operative Farm School, modelled after the Ockham School.[8]
The soil of Ockham Common varies between fertile light clay and humus topsoil to highly acidic, sandyheath. In the north is the high, unerodedBagshot Sand. The southern part of the parish is on theLondon Clay. Part of the Wey Valley in the west of the parish and the banks of a stream which joins it from the east are particularly formed fromalluvium.[6]
The tall, narrow, octagonal tower dates to the early 19th century when theNapoleonic Wars were raging. It was used for signalling bysemaphore.
One of the largest formerly industrial millhouses on theWey, comparable to the converted mills inOld Woking and that ofStoke Mill, Guildford, Ockham mill is dated 1862 and is a Grade II listed building. It is of four storeys red stock brick with decorative brick and tile bands over each floor. Providing unusual quirkiness, it has brick-dentilledeaves over its third 3 first floor and one of its windows is considered "Lovelace style", i.e. with deeply inlaid recess as in theEast Horsley walls of the memorials to theEarl of Lovelace.[9]
Ockham Common, to the north-east of the village, is the site of the disusedWisley Airfield,[10][11] which has a paved 2 km (1.2 mi) runway (RWY 10/28). As late as 1972, this airfield was in service as a satellite fit-out and flight test centre forVickers and latterly theBritish Aircraft Corporation, linked to their main factory and airfield at nearbyBrooklands,[12] Weybridge, capable of taking aircraft as large as theVC10.
Although the airfield is disused, the aviation connection remains: it is the location of OCK,[13] aVOR navigational beacon which is the holding facility for south westerly arrivals intoLondon Heathrow Airport.
Ockham has a small church,All Saints'.[14] It is a Grade Ilisted building. The foundations were laid in the 12th century, and part of the nave was built then. The chancel and north aisle date from the 13th century, the south nave wall from the 14th century, and the tower and north aisle wall from the 15th century. In 1735, the King Chapel was added to the church as north wing. Intended as a chapel over thefamily vault of theLords King and their descendants, theEarls of Lovelace, it features severalchurch monuments. All Saints' Church building was restored and enlarged in 1874-75 byThomas Graham Jackson. There is also a memorial to those who gave their lives in theGreat War andWorld War II.
This smalllinear settlement is ahamlet to the east of the village, nearDownside and Cobham. It has the village's only pub;The Black Swan.
Ockham has cricket and football clubs that play at weekends at Hautboy Meadows on Ockham Lane. The cricket club has two teams in the Surrey Downs League and a Sunday friendly (matches) only side. The football club are in the Guildford & Woking Alliance.
Ockham was also the headquarters for theTyrrellFormula One racing team,[15] until its sale toBritish American Racing in 1997 and subsequent move toBrackley,Northamptonshire.[16]
| Output area | Detached | Semi-detached | Terraced | Flats and apartments | Caravans/temporary/mobile homes | shared between households[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Civil Parish) | 92 | 53 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
The average level of accommodation in the region composed ofdetached houses was 28%, the average that wasapartments was 22.6%.
| Output area | Population | Households | % Owned outright | % Owned with a loan | hectares[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Civil Parish) | 410 | 164 | 41.5% | 32.9% | 1213[1] |
The proportion of households in the civil parish who owned their home outright compares to the regional average of 35.1%. The proportion who owned their home with a loan compares to the regional average of 32.5%. The remaining % is made up of rented dwellings (plus a negligible % of households living rent-free).
The village gave its name toHMSOckham, aHam class minesweeper.
