Buckland, Surrey

Buckland
Buckland windmill
Buckland  Buckland shown within Surrey
Area	5.51 km^2 (2.13 sq mi)
Population	562 (Civil Parish 2011)[1]
– density	102/km^2 (260/sq mi)
OS grid reference	TQ2251
Civil parish	Buckland
District	Mole Valley
Shire county	Surrey
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Betchworth
Postcode district	RH3
Dialling code	01737
Police	Surrey
Fire	Surrey
Ambulance	South East Coast
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Mole Valley
List of places UK England Surrey

Coordinates: 51°14′38″N 0°15′18″W / 51.244°N 0.255°W

Buckland is a village and civil parish in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, between Dorking and Reigate, its nearest towns. The civil parish is bordered by the North Downs escarpment in the north. The area contains a number of clay pits.

History

Buckland appears in Domesday Book (of 1086) as Bochelant. It was owned by John of Tonbridge. Buckland had a church, watermill and thirty-five heads of household. Of these, seventeen farmed the land owned by the feudal lord, and ten were more lowly servants (serfs) of the estate.^[2]

The village church St Mary the Virgin was built in 1380.^[3] The windmill is a tourist focal point.

Local legend

Buckland is also the location of the Shag Brook, which local legend says was the home of a monstrous horse (in some versions a gorilla), called the Buckland Shag. This beast would drag travellers from the nearby coaching road and devour them on the Shag Stone, a large boulder in the brook with a blood red vein of iron ore running through it.^[4]

The local parson, Willoughby Bertie, had the Shag Stone removed from the brook in 1757 and thrown from a cliff in Devon. The Buckland Shag then disappeared from local folklore.

The legend of the Buckland Shag has recently been revived by a local morris side, The Buckland Shag Morris Men.

Governance

Surrey County Council elected every four years, has one representative, from Buckland for Dorking Rural:

• Helyn Clack, conservative who participates in these committees:
  • Cabinet Member for Community Services and the 2012 Games decisions
  • People, Performance and Development
  • The Mole Valley local committee (obligatory)^[5]

The second party forming the main local opposition in the 2009 election, was the Liberal Democrats gaining 1956 votes versus the winning candidate's 2225.^[6]

2 councillors sit on Mole Valley borough council, who are:

Election		Member[7][8]	Ward
	2011	John Muggeridge	Brockham, Betchworth & Buckland
	2010	Paul Potter	Brockham, Betchworth & Buckland

Demography and housing

2011 Census Homes

Output area	Detached	Semi-detached	Terraced	Flats and apartments	Caravans/temporary/mobile homes	shared between households[1]
(Civil Parish)	118	76	13	25	4	0

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

2011 Census Key Statistics

Output area	Population	Households	% Owned outright	% Owned with a loan	hectares[1]
(Civil Parish)	562	236	39.8%	30.5%	551

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).

Transport

Roads

The A25 runs east-west through the parish. No dual carriageways are in the parish.

Rail

The nearest railway station is centred 1 mile (1.6 km) WNW of the village centre, Betchworth railway station and is also on an east-west line.

References

1. Key Statistics; Quick Statistics: Population Density United Kingdom Census 2011 Office for National Statistics Retrieved 21 November 2013
2. Surrey Domesday Book Archived July 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
3. St Mary the Virgin
4. Dyer, F. Thiselton (2008). Strange Pages from Family Papers. London: Echo library. p. 344. ISBN 9781406827040. page 63
5. Surrey Councillor details Surrey Councillor details
6. Dorking Rural 2009 Election Results
7. Mole Valley Councillors. Retrieved 2012-04-28
8. Mole Valley Results 2009-11

External links

• Buckland Shag Morris Men
• Buckland war memorial