Leatherhead

The town of Leatherhead, in Surrey, England, is on the right bank of the River Mole and at the edge of the contiguous built-up area of London. It is located in the Mole Valley district. The place has been recorded since Anglo-Saxon times. After pedestrianisation in the late 20th century, it has a theatre and cinema combined. There are 21 miles (34 km) between the town and central London, and 21 miles (33 km) between the town and Guildford.

History of Leatherhead

Human activity in Leatherhead dates back to the Iron Age. The site, which was also used during the early Roman period, was also found to contain flints, a possible well, and two pits during construction work on Garlands Road in 2012. Fetcham’s Hawks Hill (about 1 km (0.62 mi) southwest of the town centre) and Mickleham Downs (about 3 km (2 mi) south of the town centre) display iron age field systems and settlement activity. Similarly, Norbury Park’s Druid’s Grove has a pagan association with pre-Christian times.

There is evidence that a second Romano-British road ran from Ashtead Church to Leatherhead Bridge and continued towards Effingham, which lies across Stane Street about 2.5 km (1.6 mi) south of the town.

As a result, Leatherhead’s medieval history is incredibly complex, since it was divided into a number of manors. Leatherhead first appears in Domesday Book 1086 as Leret. In Domesday, it had a single church belonging to Ewell and 40 acres (160,000 m2). It was held by Osbern de Ow as a mesne lord. One pound was derived. 

On the south side of the river was the manor of Thorncroft, held by Richard son of Gilbert as tenant-in-chief. There was a manor of Pachesham in the north, subdivided into two pieces, each held by a menne lord to Bishop Odo of Bayeux, the tenant-in-chief. A manor called “Minchin” is occasionally mentioned in surviving documents, possibly belonging to Kilburn Priory in Middlesex

In the past, the parish produced lights and vacuum cleaners. During the Second World War, both were used as ammunition plants. In the early 1980s or late 1970s, most assembly lines left Leatherhead, replacing them with commercial, transportation, and distribution businesses.

For more than fifty years, Leatherhead/Ashtead was home to the Remploy factory, which was dedicated to hiring disabled people. Remploy announced the closure of the Leatherhead factory on 22 May 2007.

Mole Valley District Council modernized the town in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with a pedestrianised high street and a large one-way system.