Longcross

Longcross
Dunstall Green is one of a few clusters of housing in largely rural Longcross
Longcross  Longcross shown within Surrey
Population	<1,000
District	Runnymede
Shire county	Surrey
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Chertsey
Postcode district	KT16
Dialling code	01932
Police	Surrey
Fire	Surrey
Ambulance	South East Coast
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Runnymede and Weybridge
List of places UK England Surrey

Coordinates: 51°22′N 0°35′W / 51.37°N 00.59°W

Longcross is a dispersed village across a woodland and farmland area of Green Belt in Surrey, England. Between Virginia Water, Chertsey and Chobham, it consists of a number of houses spread out along Longcross Road (the B386) and a few subsidiary roads.

The electoral ward is Foxhills named after the estate of Charles James Fox a senior minister, which includes Longcross together with Lyne, Ottershaw and Addlestone. 5,467 people live within this area.^[1]

History

Longcross's church is Christ Church; it is a redundant church registered for disposal and the parish has re-merged with the parish of Lyne. The church is a Grade II listed building of mid-Victorian (1847)^[2] origin comprising a nave, west porch, chancel, north organ chamber, and vestry. It is built of red brick with slate roofs.^[3]

For a long time there was a Ministry of Defence presence in Longcross. In World War II, a tank factory and test track was built to the north of the village. Now no longer used for its original purpose, the site was sold by QinetiQ, and is now the site of Longcross Film Studios, where the James Bond Skyfall film and several other films have been made since 2010.

Facilities

Longcross has few public facilities of its own; exceptions include the Old School cafe, boarding kennels and serviced offices. The cafe has been a family run business for fifty years.^[4] There is no village centre, pub, or green. It is a dispersed village and was until its church was founded as its own parish part of Chertsey, the only London predominantly commuter town which holds an agricultural show on its remaining rural fringe near Longcross.^[5]

There is a railway station known as Longcross station, at the end of Burma Road, a very minor stop on the London Waterloo to Reading line and not easily accessible from the village. The next station with regular services is Virginia Water, being a major stop on this main line and a branch line. No part of this hilly area of land has no bus services of its own, however the far east of the village is within 1 mile (1.6 km) from services to Woking and to Chertsey.

Today

Longcross Road has a footpath but is otherwise difficult to navigate on foot.

A large portion of Longcross is taken up by the Longcross Estate, currently owned by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. There are public footpaths and bridleways leading through the estate and onto Chobham Common, which spans from the south-west to the south-east of the village.

Longcross is still the home of many Army families who occupy married quarters.

References

1. Population statistics.
2. Guildford Diocese.
3. Redundant Churches
4. Old School Cafe
5. 'Parishes: Chertsey', in A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3, ed. H E Malden (London, 1911), pp. 403-413 Readable online at British History. The University of Portsmouth and Others Accessed 21 March 2015].

External links

• Multimap