Chobham, Surrey
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Chobham, Surrey is a small village in NW Surrey, England. About 15 minutes drive from the London railway line stations at Woking to the south and Sunningdale to the north.
Surrounded by heathland of little agricultural value, the village has traditionally been a poor rural isolated community. During mediaeval times Chobham was part of the Chertsey Abbey estates. The abbots management was conservative and restrictive. When the railways were developed in the 19th century, the main lines went north and south of the village, passing through the nearby then smaller villages of Sunningdale and Woking. Thus Chobham has remained largely undeveloped whilst Woking has grown into the large town it is today.
Within living memory a quiet one-church, four-pub village, with useful food shops. But now has a traffic-congested High St mostly given over to estate agents and restaurants. This corner of Surrey is one of the fastest developing areas in Britain with house prices to match. Lying between M3 and M25 motorways, the expansion of nearby Heathrow Airport - all combine to increase the demand for land for industry and housing as well as greatly increasing the traffic that the village is required to bear. But nevertheless the village and the surrounding lanes remain very pretty.
The four pubs in the area are:
- The Castle Grove, towards Knaphill, unpretentious pub with a public bar and a saloon bar, as well as pool table, darts and jukebox.
- The Red Lion, Burrowhill, a pub that serves the local housing estate well.
- The Sun Inn, the last remaining pub in the High St - saved by local villagers that bought it to prevent it being converted to a restaurant.
- The Four Horseshoes, at Burrowhill - classical English village green setting, complete with a baker and blacksmith. A great area to sit outside in the summer time.
Chobham is probably most famous for the tank factory that was once carved out of Chobham Common and created Chobham armour. However, there are also the reputed "treacle mines" (where it is said soldiers had buried their treacle tins before going off to the Crimean war), and Queen Victoria's visit to their camp.
Not to be confused with Cobham, Surrey.