Hindhead

The settled parts of the village are elevated relative to all of the surrounding parishes and are a mixture of paved streets and wooded roads as well as agricultural smallholdings, which are few compared with other parts of Waverley District. Hindhead has the 2nd and 13th highest hills in Surrey: Gibbet Hill and Hatch Farm Hill, at {{convert|272|m|ft}} and {{convert|211|m|ft}} above sea level respectively.[http://www.hills-database.co.uk/downloads.html Database of British and Irish Hills] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805042151/http://www.hills-database.co.uk/downloads.html |date=5 August 2018 }} Retrieved 2015-03-06 These rise gradually from the rest of the village towards the north of the Greensand Ridge, upon which the village wholly lies. The soil is near its surface a sort of crumbly sandstone here known as greensand which breaks up forest into acidic heathland in many places. It supports endemic types of fungi, ferns, gorse and heather.{{Cite web |url=https://www.landis.org.uk/soilscapes/ |title=Cranfield University National Soil Resources Institute |access-date=6 March 2015 |archive-date=2 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602134653/https://www.landis.org.uk/soilscapes/ |url-status=live }}

The north of the village forms the Devil's Punch Bowl, a large wooded beauty spot and a site of special scientific interest. Much of the north and east of the village is rolling woodland which forms part of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

File:Hindhead Sailors stone front.jpg

This area was notorious for highwaymen. In 1736, Stephen Phillips, a robber tried and convicted at the Old Bailey, admitted to the Newgate chaplain to having stolen 150 guineas in gold on the road towards London. In 1786, three men were convicted of the murder of an unknown sailor on his way from London to rejoin his ship, a deed commemorated by several memorials in the area. The perpetrators were hung in chains to warn others on Gibbet Hill, a short walk away on top of the Devil's Punch Bowl. With an increase in traffic and opening of the London to Portsmouth railway line removing much of the road transport of freight, such incidents reduced during the 19th century.{{Cite web |url=http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?path=ordinarysAccounts%2FOA17360726.xml |title=Proceedings of the Old Bailey. Ordinary and Chaplain's account of 26 July 1736. Accessed 2012-04-26 |access-date=26 April 2012 |archive-date=23 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223121502/http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?path=ordinarysAccounts%2FOA17360726.xml |url-status=live }}Moorey, Peter. 2000.Who was the Sailor Murdered at Hindhead 1786. Blackdown Press {{ISBN|0-9533944-2-5}}

Hindhead became a substantial settlement in the late 19th century. In 1904 a temporary mission church was built to serve the new community. An architectural competition to design a permanent church, that of St Albans in Beacon Hill, was held in 1906, and John Duke Coleridge (1879–1934) was chosen as the architect. The first phase, comprising the chancel, north chapel, transept and the lower stage of a projected bell tower, was completed by 1907, and the church gained its own parish in the same year. A series of windows by the Arts and Crafts designers Karl Parsons and Christopher Whall were installed in the unfinished church between 1908 and 1912. The three eastern bays of the nave were consecrated in 1915, but the two western bays were not built until 1929–31; the bell-tower was never completed and became in effect a south transept. There followed two additional stained-glass windows: by Christopher Webb in 1945 and by Francis Skeat in 1950. A large vestry extension was added in 1964. A fire in 1999 destroyed the original high altar and reredos paintings.{{cite book|last=Cormack|first=Peter|title=Karl Parsons, 1884-1934: Stained Glass Artist - Exhibition Catalogue|year=1987|publisher=William Morris Gallery|location=London|isbn=9780901974259|pages=24}}{{cite book|last=Pevsner|first=Sir Nikolaus|title=The Buildings of England: Surrey|year=1982|publisher=Penguin Books|location=Harmondsworth}}

File:UndershawCirca1900.jpg

• Grant Allen (1848–1899), the Canadian-born novelist, lived at "Hilltop". Conan Doyle was one of Allen's neighbours and became his friend; he completed Allen's novel Hilda Wade after Allen's death.{{cite ODNB |last=Van Arsdel |first= Rosemary T. |title=Allen, (Charles) Grant Blairfindie (1848–1899) |id=373 |date=October 2005}}
• Peter Alliss (1931–2020), professional golfer and commentator, lived in Hindhead.{{cite web |url=http://www.surreylife.co.uk/people/nicholas_owen_meets_the_voice_of_golf_peter_alliss_1_1641388 |title=Nicholas Owen meets the voice of golf, Peter Alliss |work=Surrey Life |date=26 October 2010 |access-date=30 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414234617/http://www.surreylife.co.uk/people/nicholas_owen_meets_the_voice_of_golf_peter_alliss_1_1641388 |archive-date=14 April 2015 }}
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle lived at "Undershaw" from 1897 to 1907. Here he wrote some of his best-known novels, including The Hound of the Baskervilles. Undershaw later became a hotel and restaurant, but this closed in 2004 and the property is now a school.{{cite news|work=BBC News|date=20 October 2014|title=Deal struck over Conan Doyle house school plan|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-29698425|access-date=31 October 2018|archive-date=18 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618072804/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-29698425|url-status=live}} Conan Doyle was Hindhead Golf Club's first President in 1904.{{cite web|url=http://www.the-hindhead-golf-club.co.uk/|title=Hindhead Golf Club|access-date=7 Oct 2013|archive-date=30 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930011221/http://www.the-hindhead-golf-club.co.uk/|url-status=live}}
• Miss James built and lived at West Down, donating land to the National Trust which now features Miss James' Walk and the Miss James footbridge over the A3 road.{{cite web |title=Houses and Buildings |url=https://grayshottheritage.com/features/houses-and-buildings/ |website=Grayshott Heritage |access-date=4 July 2020 |language=en |date=14 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190907073747/https://grayshottheritage.com/features/houses-and-buildings/ |archive-date=7 September 2019 |url-status=live }}
• Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery (1887–1976) took the title of "Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, of Hindhead in the County of Surrey" when he was raised to the peerage in 1946.{{London Gazette|issue=37407|page=1|supp=y|date=28 December 1945}}
• Playwright George Bernard Shaw lived at "Blen Cathra" in Hindhead, now the site of St Edmund's School.{{NHLE|num=1244470|desc=St Edmund's School, East End|grade=II|fewer-links=yes}}
• Diplomat and writer Humphrey Trevelyan was born at the parsonage in Hindhead.{{cite ODNB |first= Michael T. |last=Thornhill |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/31773 |title=Trevelyan, Humphrey, Baron Trevelyan}}
• The scientist John Tyndall (1820–1893) lived and died at "Tyndalls", now known as "Hindhead House". He is best known for his work on the discovery of the greenhouse effect.{{NHLE|num=1244173|desc=Hindhead House|grade=II|fewer-links=yes}}

For the purposes of local government, Hindhead is within the civil parish of Haslemere, the district of Waverley and the county of Surrey. Hindhead forms a ward for elections to Haslemere Town Council and Waverley Borough Council, and is part of the Waverley Western Villages electoral division for Surrey County Council elections. The ward elects a single county councillor, two district councillors and five town councillors.{{cite web | url = http://www.election-maps.co.uk/electmaps.jsf | title = Election Maps | publisher = Ordnance Survey | access-date = 2013-08-12 | archive-date = 5 January 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100105222709/http://www.election-maps.co.uk/electmaps.jsf | url-status = live }}{{cite web | url = http://www.waverley.gov.uk/councillors/specificWard/29/hindhead | title = List of borough councillors | publisher = Waverley Borough Council | access-date = 2014-03-11 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131211022910/http://www.waverley.gov.uk/councillors/specificWard/29/hindhead | archive-date = 11 December 2013 | df = dmy-all }}{{cite web | url = http://mycouncil.surreycc.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?FN=WARD&VW=LIST&PIC=0 | title = Your councillors by division | publisher = Surrey County Council | access-date = 2013-08-16 | archive-date = 6 October 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131006224422/http://mycouncil.surreycc.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?FN=WARD&VW=LIST&PIC=0 | url-status = live }}{{cite web | url = http://www.haslemere.com/towncouncil/cllrs.html | title = Meet your Haslemere Town Councillors | publisher = Haslemere Town Council | access-date = 2013-08-16 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130827235242/http://www.haslemere.com/towncouncil/cllrs.html | archive-date = 27 August 2013 | df = dmy-all }}

Hindhead is within the UK constituency of Farnham and Bordon{{cite web|title=Location of Farnham and Bordon |url= https://members.parliament.uk/constituency/4049/location |website=parliament.uk |date=July 2024 |access-date=19 March 2025 }} and was in the European constituency of South East England.

File:Hindhead SouthPortal.jpg]]

Until 2011, Hindhead village was situated on the main A3 road between London and Portsmouth. In that year, a £371 million bypass was completed, reducing the amount of traffic passing through the village. The bypass includes the Hindhead Tunnel, the longest non-estuarial road tunnel in the UK.[http://www.tunnels.mottmac.com/projects/?mode=type&id=3402 A3 Hindhead Tunnel - Mott MacDonald Project Page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070504015651/http://www.tunnels.mottmac.com/projects/?mode=type&id=3402 |date=4 May 2007 }}

The village is served by the A287, between Hook and Haslemere, and the A333, a stretch of the former A3 that links the village south to the new bypass. The section of the old A3 north of Hindhead and alongside the Devil's Punch Bowl has been returned to tree-interspersed heathland.

The nearest railway station is at Haslemere, {{convert|2.6|mi|km}} away, on the Portsmouth Direct Line between London Waterloo and Portsmouth Harbour stations. Hindhead is served by several Stagecoach South bus routes linking nearby towns and villages and connections further afield,{{Cite web|url=https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com/Timetables/South/Aldershot/AL17%2C18%2C19Timetable17Feb19.pdf|title=Timetable for Stagecoach South services 17,18,19|access-date=29 April 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com/Timetables/South/Basingstoke/Basingstoke%20Route%209_13_23_17-02-19_webfile.pdf|title=Stagecoach South services 13/23/23X|access-date=29 April 2019}} and National Express Coaches between Portsmouth and London.{{cite web|title=030 National Express Shuttle|url=https://bustimes.org/services/030-london-southsea|access-date=29 April 2019}}

Neighbouring settlements are Beacon Hill (administratively part of Hindhead, while geographically separate) and Grayshott village. The town of Haslemere is {{convert|2|miles}} to the southeast, whilst the considerably larger town of Guildford is {{convert|10.5|miles}} to the north-east. London is {{convert|38|miles}} to the north-east.

{{Geographic location

|title = Nearest settlements

|Northwest = Churt

|North = Thursley

|Northeast = Brook, Wormley

|West = Grayshott

|Centre = Hindhead

|East = Chiddingfold

|Southwest = Nutcombe, Grayshott

|South = Shottermill, Haslemere

|Southeast = Haslemere

|width = auto

}}

• List of places of worship in Waverley (borough)

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Hindhead}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070629031024/http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/3832.aspx Highways Agency A3 Hindhead improvement]
• [http://www.johnowensmith.co.uk/books/htw1873855311.htm Hilltop Writers, a Victorian Colony among the Surrey Hills] — documenting 66 authors who lived in and around Hindhead at the end of the Victorian era
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090403185406/http://www.surreyhills.org/Hindhead-Together.aspx Hindhead Together: A Joint Advisory Committee for the Redevelopment of Hindhead]

{{Waverley}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Road junctions in England

Category:Villages in Surrey

Category:Haslemere