Surrey is one of the smallest of the English counties, but also one of
the most populous. However, it has managed to retain much of its open
spaces and is the most densely wooded county in England. With this comes
a rich history that stretches beyond the written record; it is no wonder
that there is a wealth of folklore, legends, strange tales and unusual
history about the county. The book will explore many of the fascinating
stories that have built up around Surreyʼs ancient landscape, such as
the giant sisters at St Catherineʼs and St Marthaʼs hills, the witch
said to have inhabited Mother Ludlamʼs Cave and the Crowhurst Yew, the
trunk of which once housed a room large enough for a table, chairs and
more than a dozen people. Legendary heroes and heroines - and villains -
of Surrey include Blanche Heriot and the infamous Mary Toft, the woman
who gave birth to rabbits, the Godstone pirate, William Davis (the
Golden Farmer) and Mary Frith, better known as Moll Cutpurse, the
notorious highwaywoman. Spooky histories of places abound, such as
Merstham Tunnel (scene of an unsolved murder in 1905), the haunting of
Betchworth Castle, the ʻRailway of the Deadʼ at Brookwood, the Silent
Pool, the Camberley Obelisk and a haunted house in Egham. Other unusual
sites include Watts Cemetery Chapel, the Reigate Heath windmill church
and Brockham Hill crater, where strange, foreign plants sprouted in the
1940s. Modern mysteries and urban legends have also entered into Surrey
folklore, such as the A3 Ghost Crash of 2002, the Surrey Puma, the
Thornton Heath Vampire, the disappearance of Agatha Christie, the
Queenʼs ʻforgotten cousinsʼ in Royal Earlswood Asylum and the Reigate
Martin Bormann. These strange and spooky stories are accompanied by
illustrations of places, both present-day and historical, in this hugely
entertaining book.
