Farnham is a town in Surrey
, England
, within the
Borough of Waverley.
The town
is situated some 42 miles (67 km) southwest of London
in the
extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire. By road Guildford
is 11 miles (17 km) to the east, Aldershot
4 miles (7 km) to the north-east and Winchester
28 miles (45 km) to the south-west. It
is of historic interest, with many old buildings, including a
number of
Georgian houses.
Farnham Castle
overlooks the town. A short distance
south-east of the town centre are the ruins of Waverley Abbey
, Moor Park House
and Mother Ludlam's
Cave. Farnham is twinned with Andernach
in Germany
.
Geography
Farnham's history and present status are mainly the result of its
geography; a combination of river,
streams, fresh water springs and varied soils, together with a
temperate climate, attracted early man to the area and, even today,
the geology of the area greatly influences the town, both in terms
of communications, scenic and botanic variety and the main local
industries of agriculture and minerals extraction. Farnham
Geological Society is an active organisation in the town, and the
Museum of Farnham has a collection of geological samples and
fossils.
Farnham
lies in the valley of the North Branch of the River Wey
, which rises near Alton
, merges with
the South Branch at Tilford
, and joins
the River Thames at Weybridge
. The mainly east-west alignment of the
ridges and valleys has influenced the development of road and rail
communications.
The most prominent geological feature is the chalk
of the North
Downs
which forms a ridge (the Hog's Back
) to the east of the town, and continues through
Farnham Park to the north of the town centre, and westwards to form
the Hampshire Downs. The land rises to more than 180 metres
(591 ft) above sea level (ASL) to the north of the town at Caesar's
Camp which, with the northern part of the Park, lies on gravel
beds. There are a number of
swallow holes
in the Park where this
stratum meets the
chalk. The historic core of the town lies on gravel beds at an
altitude of roughly 70 metres (230 ft) ASL on an underlying geology
of
Gault Clay and
Upper Greensand and the southern part of the
town rises to more than 100 metres (328 ft) on the
Lower Greensand.
History
Prehistory
Stone Age
Farnham's
history has been claimed to extend
back tens of thousands of years to hunters of the
Paleolithic or early
Stone
Age, on the basis of tools and prehistoric animal bones found
together in deep gravel pits. The first known
settlement in the area was in the
Mesolithic period, some 7,000 years ago; a
cluster of
pit dwellings and evidence of a
flint-knapping industry from that
period has been excavated a short distance to the east of the town.
Neolithic man left evidence of occupation in the
form of a long barrow at nearby Badshot Lea
, now destroyed by quarrying. This monument
lay on the route of the
prehistoric
trackway known as the
Harrow Way or
Harroway, which passes through Farnham Park, and a
sarsen stone still stands nearby, which is believed
to have marked the safe crossing point of a marshy area near the
present Shepherd and Flock roundabout.
The parallel Pilgrims' Way
, known as such for linking Canterbury
to Winchester, also dates back to prehistory and, like the Harrow
Way, may date back to the time when Britain was physically joined
to continental Europe.
Bronze Age
Occupation of the area continued to grow through the
Bronze Age. Two bronze hoards have been
discovered on Crooksbury Hill and further artefacts have been
found, particularly at sites in Green Lane and near the Bourne
spring in Farnham Park.
A significant number of Bronze Age barrows occur in the area, including a triple barrow
at Elstead
and an urnfield
cemetery at Stoneyfield, near the Tilford road.
Iron Age
Hill forts from the early
Iron Age exist locally at Botany Hill to the south
of the town and at "Caesar's Camp" to the north of the town at
Upper Hale. The latter is a very large earthworks on a high
promontory, served by a spring which emerges from between two
conglomerate boulders called the Jock and Jenny Stones.
"Soldier's Ring" earthworks on Crooksbury Hill date from the later
Iron Age. The final era of the Iron Age, during the 1st century
BC, found Farnham within the territory
of the
Belgic Atrebates tribe led by
Commius, a former ally of
Caesar, who had brought his tribe to Britain
following a dispute with the Romans. A hut dating from this period
was discovered at the Bourne Spring and other occupation material
has been discovered at various sites, particularly Green
Lane.
Roman Britain
During
the Roman period the district became a
pottery centre due to the plentiful supply of gault clay, oak woodlands for fuel, and good
communications via the Harrow Way and the nearby Roman road from
Silchester
to Chichester
. Kilns dating from about AD 100 have been
found throughout the area, including Six Bells (near the Bourne
Spring), Snailslynch and Mavins Road, but the main centre of
pottery had been Alice Holt Forest
, on the edge of the town, since about AD 50, just 7
years after the arrival of the Romans. The Alice Holt
potteries continued in use, making mainly domestic wares, until
about AD 400. Near the Bourne Spring two Roman buildings were
discovered; one was a bath-house dating from about AD 270 and the
other a house of later date. The Roman Way housing estate stands on
this site.
William
Stukeley propounded that Farnham is the site of the lost Roman
settlement of "Vindomis", although this is
now believed to be at Neatham
, near Alton. Large hoards of Roman coins have been
discovered some south-west of Farnham in Woolmer Forest
and a temple has been excavated at Wanborough, about to the east.
The Anglo-Saxon period
It was the
Saxons who gave the town its
name - Farnham is listed as
Fearnhamme in the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
Fearn refers to the fern and bracken of the land and
Hamme to the water meadows.
They arrived in the
sixth century and, in AD 688, the West Saxon
King Caedwalla
donated the district around Farnham to the Church, and to the
diocese of Winchester
. This was the first mention of Farnham in
written history. A Saxon community grew up in the valley by the
river. By the year 803 Farnham had passed into the ownership of the
Bishop of Winchester and the
Manor of Farnham remained so (apart from
two short breaks) for the next thousand years. Although Farnham is
documented in Saxon texts and most of the local names are derived
from their language, there is only one fully
attested Saxon site in Farnham, just off the lower
part of Firgrove Hill, where a road called Saxon Croft is now
sited. Here several Saxon weaving huts from about AD 550 were
discovered in 1924. At the time of the
Danish
invasion in the 9th century (probably in 893 or 894) there was a
battle on the edge of the settlement when
Edward the Elder, son of
Alfred the Great, routed the
invaders.
After the Norman invasion
Farnham appears in
Domesday Book of
1086 as
Ferneham, one of the five great "
minster" churches in Surrey. Its domesday assets
were: 40
hide; 1 church, 6
mill worth £2 6s 0d, 43
ploughs, of
meadow,
woodland worth 175½
hog.
It rendered £53.
Waverley
Abbey, the first Cistercian abbey in England, was founded
in 1128 by William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester about one mile
(1.6 km) south of the town centre. King John visited Waverley in 1208, and
Henry III in 1225. The abbey
also produced the famous Annals of Waverley, an important reference
source for the period. By the end of the thirteenth century the
abbey was becoming less important. By the time it was suppressed by
Henry VIII in 1536 as part of
the
dissolution of the
monasteries there were only thirteen monks in the community.
The town
is midway between Winchester and London and, in 1138, Henry de Blois (grandson of William the Conqueror and brother of
King Stephen) started building
Farnham
Castle to provide accommodation for the Bishop of
Winchester in his frequent journeying between his cathedral and the
capital. The castle's garrison provided a market for farms
and small industries in the town, accelerating its growth.
A large
earthwork north-west of the town at Barley (or Badley) Pound may be
the ditch and ramparts of a wooden precursor of Farnham Castle built in the 11th century.
Farnham was granted its charter as a town in 1249 by
William de Ralegh, then
Bishop of Winchester.
The Blind Bishop's Steps, a series of steps leading along Castle
Street up to the Castle, were originally constructed for Bishop
Richard Foxe (godfather of
Henry VIII).
The
Black Death hit Farnham in 1348,
killing about 1,300 people, at that time about a third of the
population. In 1625 Farnham was again subject to an outbreak of the
plague which, together with a severe decline in the local woollen
industry (the local downland wool being unsuitable for the newly
fashionable
worsted) led by the 1640s to a
serious
economic depression in
the area. Local wool merchants were, like merchants throughout the
country, heavily taxed by Charles I to pay for his increasingly
unpopular policies.
The Civil War
Against this background the
English
Civil War began, with Farnham playing a major part. Here,
support for the
Parliamentarians was
general. The castle was considered a potential rallying point for
Royalists, resulting in the installation of
a Roundhead
garrison there in 1642.
As the
King's forces moved southwards, taking Oxford
, Reading
and Windsor
, the garrison commander at Farnham (and noted
poet), Captain George Wither, decided
to evacuate the castle; the new High Sheriff of Surrey (John Denham, a Royalist sympathiser and
another noted poet) then occupied the vacant castle with 100 armed
supporters. With the castle and much of the surrounding area
in Royalist hands, Parliament despatched Colonel Sir
William Waller to Farnham to retake the
castle. The defenders refused to surrender but Waller's men used a
petard to destroy the castle gates and
overcame them, with only one fatality, and took the High Sheriff
prisoner. The following year, as the Royalists strengthened their
position west of Farnham, the garrison at Farnham Castle was
strengthened when it became the headquarters of the Farnham
regiment of foot or "
Greencoats", with
some eight to nine hundred officers and men, supported by a number
of troops of horse. Further reinforcement by three regiments from
London, 4,000 strong under Waller's command arrived in Farnham that
October prior to an unsuccessful
foray to
recapture Winchester from the Royalists. Eight thousand Royalists
under
Ralph Hopton (a
former friend of Waller) advanced on Farnham from the west and
skirmishes took place on the outskirts of town. Despite further
reinforcement for Waller from Kent, Hopton's entire army gathered
on the heathland just outside Farnham Park. There was some
skirmish but Hopton's men withdrew. Through the
next few years Farnham was an important centre of Parliamentary
operations and the garrison cost Farnham people dearly in terms of
local taxes, provisioning and quartering; even the lead from the
Town Hall roof had been requisitioned to make bullets. A number of
local women were widowed following the pressing of local men into
the militia.
The bombardment
of Basing
House
was by a train of heavy cannon assembled at Farnham from other areas and, in
1646, most of the garrison was removed from Farnham to form a
brigade to besiege Donnington Castle
near Newbury
. The King surrendered shortly afterwards at
Newark
and a small
garrison remained at Farnham.
In 1647,
having escaped from custody at Hampton Court
, the King rode through Farnham at dawn on November
12 with a small party of loyal officers, en-route to the Isle of Wight
, where he sought sanctuary
under the protection of Colonel Robert Hammond, a
Parliamentarian officer but with Royalist sympathies. The
following March,
Oliver Cromwell
stayed at Farnham for discussions concerning the marriage of his
daughter to a
Hampshire gentleman,
although some historians have speculated that this was cover for
secret negotiations with the King.
Following the
rebellion during the summer
of 1648 the keep was partially dismantled at the orders of
Cromwell, to make further occupation by garrison indefensible. In
late November that year Hammond was summoned to Farnham, where he
was arrested, and the King was removed under military escort to the
mainland. On December 20 the King and his escort entered Farnham,
where groups of men, women and children gathered at the roadside to
welcome him and touch his hand. That night the King lodged at
Culver Hall (now Vernon House) in West Street before the party
continued to London for Charles's trial and execution in January
1649. The King gave his
morning cap to
Henry Vernon, owner of Culver Hall, "as a token of Royal favour".
Records show that the following period of
interregnum until
restoration of the monarchy in 1660 was
a time of prosperity and growth for Farnham. In 1660 the bishops of
Winchester were restored to the adjoining Bishops Palace, which
remained their residence until 1927.
From 1927 until 1955
it was a residence of the bishops of the newly created diocese of
Guildford. The castle is currently owned by
English Heritage.
Post-restoration
Farnham became a successful market town; the author
Daniel Defoe wrote that Farnham had the
greatest corn-market after London, and describes 1,100 fully laden
wagons delivering wheat to the town on market day. During the
seventeenth century, other new industries evolved:
greenware pottery (a pottery, dating from
1873, still exists on the outskirts of the town),
wool and
cloth, the processing of
wheat into flour, and eventually
hops, a key ingredient of
beer. The
Anglican divine,
Augustus Montague Toplady
composed the hymn
Rock of
Ages in 1740 whilst living in West Street - a plaque now marks
the building where he resided.
The radical MP, soldier, farmer, journalist and publisher
William Cobbett was born in Farnham in 1763,
in a pub called the Jolly Farmer. The pub still stands, and has
since been renamed the William Cobbett.
The
railway arrived in 1848 and, in 1854,
neighbouring Aldershot became the “Home of the British Army”. Both
events had a significant effect on Farnham. The fast link with
London meant city businessmen could think of having a house in the
country and still be in close contact with the office; Farnham
thereby became an early example of a 'commuter town'.
Also, the railway did
not reach Aldershot until 1870; during the intervening period
soldiers would be carried by train to Farnham
station
and then march to Aldershot. Many officers
and their families chose to billet in Farnham itself. The railway
was electrified by the Southern Railway company in 1937 as far as
Alton, and a carriage shed for the new electric stock was built in
Weydon Lane. This building, which carried fading camouflage paint
for many years after World War II, was replaced in 2006.
St Andrew's Parish Church seen here
from the junction of Middle Church Lane and Vicarage Lane
Farnham
In 1895 Farnham Urban District Council (FUDC) was formed. In 1930
the council purchased Farnham Park, a large park which occupies
much of the former castle grounds. The FUDC was abolished in 1973
by the Local Government Act of the previous year. Farnham, together
with Hindhead, Haslemere, Cranleigh and surrounding areas were
absorbed into the new Waverley District Council (latterly Waverley
Borough Council) with its headquarters in Godalming. At a later
date Farnham Parish Council became Farnham Town Council and took
back some of the minor roles of the former FUDC from
Waverley.
In 1901, the population of Farnham was about 14,000. Since the end
of the
Second World War, Farnham has
expanded from a population of about 20,000 to the present 38,000.
Of that figure, about 15,000 live in the town centre, whilst the
remaining 23,000 live in the surrounding suburbs and villages
within the town's administrative boundaries.
Farnham
Maltings
, Bridge Square was once a tannery; the site
expanded to become part of the Farnham United Breweries, which
included its own maltings. Taken over by a major brewer
(
Courage's) brewing ceased but
malting continued into the 1960s, when Courage's planned to sell
off the site for redevelopment. Money raised by the people of
Farnham saved the buildings from demolition for conversion to a
community centre for the town. Current management places the
emphasis on the arts over other community activities, many of which
have ceased or moved elsewhere, but the famous
Farnham Beer Exhibition (or
"Beerex") continues, after more than 30 years, to be as popular as
ever. Other buildings in Farnham once linked to the Farnham
Maltings include The Oasthouse (now offices) in Mead Lane and The
Hop Kiln (now private residences) on Weydon Lane.
Communications
Farnham
railway station is on the Alton Line,
which provides commuter links to London at Waterloo
. The A31 Farnham
bypass links the town by road to Winchester, Alton and Guildford; the A325 links the town
to Farnborough
and to the A3 (London-Portsmouth) at Greatham. The A287 links
Farnham to the M3 at
Hook and the A3 at Hindhead
. London Heathrow Airport
is by road but is served only by indirect public
transport routes from Farnham. Gatwick
Airport
and Southampton Airport
are each about away by main roads.
Facilities
Shopping in Farnham
Farnham is a former market town with many shops located along both
sides of the main thoroughfare running through West Street, The
Borough and East Street. The town includes a significant number of
independent retailers, some who have been in business since the
nineteenth century, such as Rangers Furnishing Stores (est. 1895),
Elphicks department store (est. 1881) and
Pullingers (est. 1850). The latter evolved into
the Pullingers Art Shop chain and is thought to be Farnham's oldest
surviving business. A popular independent retailer (est. 1986) is
Colours
situated in the Lion and Lamb Yard between Waitrose and Starbucks.
There are also branches of national retailers such as
Argos,
Robert
Dyas,
Boots the Chemist,
Waterstone's and
W H
Smith.
The major supermarkets are represented by
Waitrose, Sainsbury's
, Lidl and Iceland in the town centre, and two
Tesco
Expresses located on Ridgeway Road and in Upper
Hale. Sainsbury's also have a larger Superstore on
the outskirts of town towards Badshot Lea. Large garden centres exist nearby at
Holt
Pound
(Forest Lodge), Frensham
(Frensham Garden Centre) and Badshot Lea
(Squires). Castle Street's market stalls have been replaced
by semi-permanent "orangery" style buildings selling some fresh
flowers and produce. Farnham is also known for its numerous
secondhand charity shops which offer plenty of high-quality items,
especially clothes.
Markets
A large market selling arts, crafts, antiques and bric-a-brac
operates under-cover at the Farnham Maltings on the first Saturday
of each month. A
Farmers' market is
held in the central car park on the fourth Sunday of each month,
selling high-quality, locally-produced meat, fruit and vegetables,
bread and cakes, preserves, beer and cider, fruit juices, cheeses
and other dairy products. Toy, crafts and militaria fairs are
hosted by the Maltings from time to time where new and used items
can be bought and sold.
Leisure and recreation
There are two main parks in Farnham town centre: Farnham Park and
Gostrey Meadows. Farnham Park is adjacent to Farnham Castle.
Gostrey Meadows is in the centre of Farnham town next to the river,
and includes a fenced children's play area.
Sports
There are various facilities available in Farnham one of which is
the local
leisure centre. The leisure
centre has a gym under the
Kinetica
franchise through which personal
instructors can be hired.
The centre is also the home of Farnham
Swimming Club which allows youngsters to swim and compete with
other local clubs such as Guildford.
The town
is represented in the non-league football pyramid by Farnham Town
F.C.
, who compete in the Combined Counties
League.
Farnham Cricket Club was started in 1782.. The ground is at the
edge of Farnham Park and in the shadows of the castle. There is
also a local umpires association.
The Farnham and Aldershot hockey club runs three men's teams and
two women's teams. Floorball hockey is played by the adult team
Southern Vipers FBC and junior floorball is also played at Farnham
Sports Centre.
Farnham
also has a public golf course which is
situated next to the cricket ground directly behind Farnham Castle. It was designed by Sir
Henry Cotton, three times
British Open champion. It is a nine-hole,
par-three golf course, open daily.
Farnham's sporting heroes
- "Silver Billy" Beldham
(1766–1862) was one of the greatest cricketers in England during
the Napoleonic era, pre-dating W.
G. Grace.
He was
born on the outskirts of town at Wrecclesham
and played in Farnham Cricket Club's first match,
against Odiham
, when he was
16 years old, and later played for the famous Hambledon Club. By the age of 21 he
was widely recognised as the best batsman in England.
- Mike Hawthorn
(1929–1959), driving for Ferrari
, became the first British Formula One World Champion in 1958.
His
family moved to Farnham when he was two years old, so his father
could be near to Brooklands
race track. Mike Hawthorn Drive is named
after him.
- Jonny Wilkinson (1979– )
England's world-cup-winning kicker and former captain, and England
scrum half Peter
Richards (1978– ) were not born in Farnham but both played for
Farnham Rugby Football Club at mini level.
- Graham Thorpe (1969– ) England
cricket captain, was born in Farnham and played at the Farnham
cricket ground.
- Joel Freeland (1987– ),
international basketball player, was born in Farnham.
Entertainment
Farnham
Maltings
has diverse concerts including opera, folk and acoustic music gigs, band evenings and
stand up comedy nights, as well as
shows and workshops for younger people. There is a
cinema run every Wednesday at the Maltings. The
Maltings also hosts a successful "Acoustic Fridays" evening once a
month, and this has a student following due to the fact many
students play sets there. A regular
blues
night takes place in the "Cellar Bar" and the whole venue is taken
over for the annual Blues Festival. In keeping with the town's
historical link with hop-growing and beer, the Farnham Maltings
also plays host to the
Farnham
Beer Exhibition, one of the largest beer festivals in Britain,
an annual event that started in 1977. Some of the most popular pubs
in Farnham are The Plough, The William Cobbett, The Lamb, and the
student union bar of the UCCA, all of which have live music
regularly.
Carnival
Farnham also has a yearly carnival, normally on the last Saturday
in June, organised by two charitable
service organisations, the Farnham
Lions Club and The Hedgehogs. Castle
Street is closed for the evening, with bands playing on a stage in
the street, a
beer tent,
barbecue, and sideshows. A procession of
carnival floats,
marching bands,
tableaux,
trade
floats and classic vehicles parade through the main streets of
the town. Staff of the local Kar Ling Kwong Chinese restaurant
traditionally perform the
Lion Dance each
year as part of the parade,a lot of the local schools also
participate.
Public library
Farnham Public Library is a community facility that provides a free
lending library service to local
residents and workers of a wide range of books, audiobooks,
periodicals, DVDs and videos. It includes a children's section. The
library was refurbished in November 2005. The library also provides
IT facilities and a
reference
library for research purposes. The library is housed in the
historic Vernon House at which
King
Charles I slept on his way to his trial and execution in London
in 1649, a situation commemorated by a plaque on the building wall.
The library also features public gardens with sculptures provided
by local artists.
Museum of Farnham
Willmer House, in West Street, houses this extensive collection of
artefacts from all periods of the town's history and prehistory.
The museum has active support from both the Friends of the Museum
of Farnham and The Farnham and District Museum Society. In addition
to permanent displays such as "Discover the History of Farnham",
"On the road to Winchester", Farnham motoring links, Farnham
Greenware Pottery, William Cobbett, George Sturt and
Harold Falkner, it features a changing range
of activities and exhibitions, many of which are aimed to be of
particular interest to children and families. The museum has
received numerous awards, including a special commendation in the
European Museum of the Year awards in 1994. The museum also has a
Local Studies Library to support family tree and house detectives,
school projects & local history queries.The museum also has a
club for children.
Willmer House is a fine eighteenth-century town house with a
decorative brickwork facade. The house and its garden are worth a
visit in their own right.
Tourism
The town has a number of attractive houses from various periods and
many interesting passages which reveal hidden parts of the town
including old workshops, historic cottages and pretty, hidden
gardens. Farnham Castle was built by the
Normans and updated over the years as the
Palace of the Bishops of Winchester. The former
Bishops' Palace of the castle is now a conference centre, but the
medieval keep is in the care of
English
Heritage and has limited opening to the public.
Many of the places mentioned in the books of
George Sturt can be seen, and Waverley, the
first
Cistercian Abbey in England is open
to the public.
Farnham Park is attractive for walks and
wildlife and there is a variety of attractive scenery - Farnham
borders on the Surrey
Hills
Area
of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the North Downs
Way
long-distance path starts here. Alice Holt
Forest is nearby, as are Frensham Ponds
and many heath and
downland scenery. The Rural Life
Centre
is nearby at Tilford, and the town is a suitable
touring base for Winchester, the Mid-Hants Railway and canal trips on the
Basingstoke
Canal
and Wey Navigation
.
Arts and crafts
Farnham has long had a strong association with the creative arts.
Farnham
School of Art
opened in 1866 and was associated with the Arts and crafts movement when
architects such as Edwin Lutyens and
Harold Falkner, painters such as George
Watts and W. H. Allen, potters
such as
Mary Watts and landscape
gardeners (
Gertrude Jekyll) worked
in the area. Lewen Tugwell, a Farnham sculptor in the 1960s,
invented a technique for production of a unique craft product made
from resin,
Shattaline. Items made by
this process in his workshops in Long Garden Walk are now very
collectable. Farnham has several art galleries - the New Ashgate
Gallery in Lower Church Lane has exhibitions by established and new
artists in a variety of media, the exhibition changing on the first
Saturday of each month. The gallery at Farnham Maltings also has
frequent exhibitions.
Pottery
Since
Roman times the wealden
clay of the area has been exploited for pottery and
brickmaking. Pottery continued on a small-scale commercial
basis until the closure of
Farnham
Pottery at Wrecclesham in 1998, when it passed to the Farnham
Buildings Preservation Trust. Farnham Pottery , in addition to
utility wares, became famous during the
Arts and crafts movement for their
decorative wares, either hand-thrown or moulded and decorated in a
variety of coloured glazes, particularly "Farnham Greenware".
There was
close co-operation between the pottery and Farnham
School of Art (now a campus of the UCCA).
Painting
William Herbert Allen, the notable
English landscape watercolour artist, lived and worked in Farnham
for most of his career. He was Master of Farnham Art School from
1889 to 1927 and many of his works depict landscapes of the Farnham
area. Popular artists from Farnham in recent years include Charles
Bone, whose watercolour landscapes of the area are very popular as
limited edition prints, and
Josephine
Wall, a popular fantasy artist who was born in the town.
Theatre
The Castle Theatre in Castle Street was replaced by the Redgrave
Theatre in 1974 which, itself, closed down in 1998 due to the
decline of repertory theatre in England. Productions still
regularly take place at the Maltings, which both produces work and
receives touring shows as well as occasionally in the grounds of
Farnham Library. Various genres of music are also promoted at the
Maltings, where there is also a dance studio.
Gerald Flood, stage, TV and film actor, lived
in Farnham for most of his life; Peter
Lupino, a well-known West End
actor of the 1930s and 40s, and member of the
famous theatrical family, also lived for many years in Farnham, in
Red Lion Lane and was a well-known local character in his
retirement. Actor
Bill Maynard,
the "
Carry On" and "
Heartbeat" actor, was born in the
town, as was
Bill Wallis, who learned
his trade on the stage of the Castle Theatre. Opera singer Sir
Peter Pears (1910-1986) was born in
Farnham and
Jessie Matthews, OBE
(1907-1981), the popular English actress, dancer, and singer of the
1930s to 1960s, lived in Farnham, where she ran the Alliance public
house (now closed).
Literature
It was in Farnham that
J M Barrie wrote
Peter Pan, whilst living at Black Lake
Cottage.
Education
Farnham Grammar School was created some time before 1585 (the date
of a donation being made by a Richard Searle "to the maintenance of
the school in Farnham"). It is possible that this ancient school
dated back as far as 1351 when a chantry was created at Farnham
Castle, but there is no documentary evidence of this. It benefited
over the years from bequests by different people as well as the
generosity of bishops of Winchester who occupied Farnham Castle
over the centuries. In 1905 the town centre assets of the old
grammar school, located in West Street, were sold in order to
purchase and build new premises in fields to the south of the town.
In 1973
this campus became a Sixth Form
College and was renamed Farnham College
.
Primary schools
Secondary schools
Further education
Farnham
College (part of Guildford College
) offers further educationThe University
for the Creative Arts
at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and
Rochester or UCA (a merger of the local Surrey Institute of Art & Design,
University College
and Kent Institute of Art &
Design
) offers higher education.
Politics
Farnham Town Council is composed of 18 councillors. Of these, 14
are
Conservatives, 3 are
Independents, and 1 represents the
Liberal Democrats.
Famous people
In
addition to those mentioned in the text above, notable people born
in Farnham include William Willett,
campaigner for daylight saving
time (1856); George Sturt, writer
and social historian (1863); and Maud
Gonne, feminist and activist in Irish
politics
(1866). John Henry
Knight (1847-1917), who built the first British
motor car and designed a number of innovative
digging machines for use in hop fields, was born and brought up at
Weybourne
on the outskirts of the town. Actor
Jim Sturgess was raised in Farnham
(1981).
References
External links
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