page_title: Godstone
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Godstone / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: The Bell Inn, Godstone
context_page_description: Godstone is a village and civil parish in the county of Surrey, England. It is centred 6.3 miles east of Reigate at the junction of the A22 and A25 roads, and near the M25 motorway on the escarpment of the North Downs to the north. In its far south, it has a railway station, with its own small community South Godstone separated by agricultural land. Two other communities exist tied to Godstone, The Enterdent and Blindley Heath, which includes Blindley Heath Site of Special Scientific Interest. The Greensand Way and the North Downs Way pass through areas of Godstone.
  Godstone has a smaller population than Oxted 3 miles east which is the administrative centre of its mid-unit of local government, Tandridge District. Westerham, Kent is 6 miles east. The county town of Guildford is 22 miles due west and London is centred 18.1 miles north.
context_section_description: The heart of Godstone consists of two centres, Church Town and Godstone Green, linked by other neighbourhoods.  Both are now conservation areas.  Overall the long north-south parish covers 1,806 hectares (4,460 acres) and through its length of approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) the A22 road runs.
  Church Town has old timber framed buildings. The Old Packhouse, dating from the 15th century, is the oldest timber framed building in the town.  In the 18th Century, brick became the fashionable material for house building, and Church End and Church House, opposite the church, are two listed architectural examples.
  St Nicholas Church dominates Church Town. James Evelyn of Fellbridge House built a memorial chapel in 1787, which has the tombs of Sir John and Lady Evelyn.  The North aisle was built in about 1845. Sir George Gilbert Scott's restoration of the church in 1872-3 involved widening of the chancel arch, inserting a new north side to the chancel, new windows to the nave and east end, and adding the south aisle. The churchyard contains a notable sarsen stone marking the grave of Walker Miles whose work in the early days of the "Ramblers' movement" contributed to the formation of the Ramblers of Great Britain.
  
  At the same time, Sir George Gilbert Scott designed St Mary's almshouses next to St Nicholas Church for Mrs Mabel Hunt of Wonham House, in memory of her only daughter who had died at the age of sixteen. Built in a Victorian Tudor/gothic style, they include eight self-contained houses, a wardens house and a beautiful little chapel, dedicated to St Mary. The flèch-capped chapel and the gables compose a very pretty hamlet.
  Godstone Green became a busy centre of roads and vehicles during the growth of wheeled traffic in the 16th century, an era which spawned the establishment of Godstone's numerous inns. A number of houses built entirely of brick appeared in the 18th Century, notably the row in the High Street.
  During the 19th Century, The Pond at Godstone Green was used as a horse-pond with a sloping bank down which the wagoners drove their horses.
  In the very core of the village is a triangular island, which in Victorian times, was densely packed with a remarkable number of cottages intersected by alleys. It is claimed to have been the worst slum in Surrey, which is no longer the case, with each dwelling having been paid much care and attention.
  The two parts of Godstone are linked by Bullbeggars Lane, a narrow road leading from the south of the village to the church, and the footpath running from the White Hart pub and its barn, along Bay Pond to Church Lane. The original village around St Nicholas Church was decimated during the great plague of 1342 with the victims being buried in two 'plague pits' in Bullbeggars Lane.  Even in death, the sexes were kept separate; men and women were interred in separate pits.  The road running past the church was at one time the main coastal road with the present village not being built until Tudor times.  The Pack House featured in the Gracie Fields film 'Sing as you dance along', with Gracie dancing along the lane past the cottage which used to be an Inn.
caption: The Bell Inn
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