Burpham, Surrey
Encyclopedia
- There is also a BurphamBurphamBurpham is a village and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. The village is on an arm of the River Arun slightly less than northeast of Arundel.The civil parish has an area of...
in West SussexWest SussexWest Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
, near ArundelArundelArundel is a market town and civil parish in the South Downs of West Sussex in the south of England. It lies south southwest of London, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester. Other nearby towns include Worthing east southeast, Littlehampton to the south and Bognor Regis to...
Burpham is a suburb of Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
, a town in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It includes George Abbot School
George Abbot School
George Abbot School is a large state secondary school with Arts College status in Burpham, north-east of the town of Guildford. The school is named after the 17th-century Archbishop of Canterbury George Abbot. Surrey County Cricket Club's Cricket Academy is located in the grounds of the school.The...
, a parade of small shops, and the nationally recognised Sutherland Memorial Park. It also benefits from a Sainsbury's superstore, Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
church (Church of the Holy Spirit
Church of the Holy Spirit, Burpham
Church of the Holy Spirit, Burpham is a Church of England church, known locally as "CHS".It serves the parish of Burpham along with its sister church St...
) and, until 2006, a former coaching inn, The Green Man.
Burpham is bordered by the neighbouring villages of Merrow
Merrow, Surrey
The village of Merrow, in Surrey, England, lies on the north-east corner of Guildford. It is about two miles from the town centre, right on the edge of the ridge of hills that forms the North Downs. Although now a relatively anonymous suburb, the village can trace its origins back many hundreds of...
(to the south-east) and Jacobs Well
Jacobs Well, Surrey
Jacobs Well is a village in the county of Surrey, England with a population of 1,171. The village is located on the northern outskirts of Guildford, in the parish of Worplesdon, the village which lies to the west...
(to the north-west). Burpham is separated from Merrow by the New Guildford Line, the railway line between Guildford
Guildford (Surrey) railway station
Guildford railway station is an important railway junction on the Portsmouth Direct Line serving the town of Guildford in Surrey, England. It is 30.3 miles from London Waterloo....
and Effingham Junction
Effingham Junction railway station
Effingham Junction railway station is situated near the villages of Effingham and East Horsley in Surrey, England. Although the station takes its name from the former town, and the immediate vicinity has itself become known as Effingham Junction, it is actually located in the latter...
.
Between Burpham and Jacobs Well is Burpham Court Farm Park, a rare breeds conservation centre that straddles the River Wey
River Wey
The River Wey in Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex is a tributary of the River Thames with two separate branches which join at Tilford. The source of the north branch is at Alton, Hampshire and of the south branch at both Blackdown south of Haslemere, and also close to Gibbet Hill, near Hindhead...
.
Burpham appears in Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
as Borham. It was held partly by Turald (Thorold) from Roger de Montgomery and by Godfric from Thurold. Its domesday assets were: 3 hide
Hide (unit)
The hide was originally an amount of land sufficient to support a household, but later in Anglo-Saxon England became a unit used in assessing land for liability to "geld", or land tax. The geld would be collected at a stated rate per hide...
s; one mill
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
worth 15s, 6½ plough
Plough
The plough or plow is a tool used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting. It has been a basic instrument for most of recorded history, and represents one of the major advances in agriculture...
s, 25 acres (10.1 ha) of meadow
Meadow
A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants . The term is from Old English mædwe. In agriculture a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make hay...
, woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
worth 83 hogs. It rendered £8.
Transport
Guildford's eastern-most junction with the A3A3 road
The A3, known as the Portsmouth Road for much of its length, is a dual carriageway, or expressway, which follows the historic route between London and Portsmouth passing close to Kingston upon Thames, Guildford, Haslemere and Petersfield. For much of its length, it is classified as a trunk road...
trunk road is named The Burpham Interchange, despite the fact that there is only one on-ramp and one off-ramp. It is a restricted junction, only providing access for traffic heading to or from the London direction. This restriction has long been a cause of annoyance to residents, as local Guildford-bound traffic has no option but to pass through the village.
Burpham is on several bus routes that start or finish in Guildford. It is also a stop for some services heading to or from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on the A3.
Burpham Lock is some distance from the village, on the River Wey
River Wey
The River Wey in Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex is a tributary of the River Thames with two separate branches which join at Tilford. The source of the north branch is at Alton, Hampshire and of the south branch at both Blackdown south of Haslemere, and also close to Gibbet Hill, near Hindhead...
Navigation.
Sutherland Memorial Park
In the centre of the village is the Sutherland Memorial Park a 6.53 hectare open space which is a focus of community life in Burpham. The formal landscaped gardens provide for passive recreation alongside the many sporting facilities offered, and an area has been set aside and planted as a wildflowerWildflower
A wildflower is a flower that grows wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. Yet "wildflower" meadows of a few mixed species are sold in seed packets. The term "wildflower" has been made vague by commercial seedsmen who are interested in selling more flowers or seeds more...
meadow.
The Park was adopted by Guildford Corporation in 1954 after the land was donated by the Duke of Sutherland
Duke of Sutherland
Duke of Sutherland, derived from Sutherland in Scotland, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom held by the head of the Leveson-Gower family. It was created by William IV in 1833 for George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Marquess of Stafford...
under a Deed of Gift. It was given as a dedicated War Memorial
War memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.-Historic usage:...
in memory of the residents of Burpham who were killed on active service during the Second World War. Adjoining land was developed and incorporated in the 1990s, including a car park.
The Park has won Green Flag Award
Green Flag Award
The Green Flag Award is the benchmark national standard for parks and green spaces in the United Kingdom. The scheme was set up in 1996 to recognise and reward green spaces in England and Wales that met the laid down high standards...
s in 2004, 2005 and 2006, in recognition of it being "an excellent example of a community park as it addresses the needs and wishes of the local community and current users".
The multi-use pavilion is home to a local nursery school, and provides changing and other facilities for the sports undertaken in the park. There are playgrounds for all ages, including a separate toddler area and a basketball court for the teenagers.
Sports facilities include: a cricket pitch (plus practice nets); two 11-a-side and two (junior) 7-a-side football pitches; two petanque
Pétanque
Pétanque is a form of boules where the goal is, while standing inside a starting circle with both feet on the ground, to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet or jack. It is also sometimes called a bouchon or le petit...
courts; lawn bowls; and a floodlit artificial pitch providing either three tennis courts or two 5-a-side football pitches.
The Park is the home ground of Burpham football club, who play in the Premier Division of the Surrey Elite Intermediate League
Surrey Elite Intermediate League
The Surrey Elite Intermediate League is a regional English football league for teams in the county of Surrey and neighbouring areas. It was founded in 2008. The league is situated at the 11th level of the English football league system but it has not yet been incorporated into the National League...
.
The Green Man
The Green Man was a former coaching inn on the original A3A3 road
The A3, known as the Portsmouth Road for much of its length, is a dual carriageway, or expressway, which follows the historic route between London and Portsmouth passing close to Kingston upon Thames, Guildford, Haslemere and Petersfield. For much of its length, it is classified as a trunk road...
route from Guildford to London; a public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
had been on the site for more than 400 years. The Green Man had been a 'Harvester
Harvester (restaurant)
Harvester Restaurants is a popular family farmhouse-style licensed restaurant chain with more than 170 outlets in the United Kingdom.-History:-Courage:...
' restaurant since 1984,Roger Marjoribanks, Hon. Remembrancer
Remembrancer
The Remembrancer was originally one of certain subordinate officers of the English Exchequer. The office itself is of great antiquity, the holder having been termed remembrancer, memorator, rememorator, registrar, keeper of the register, despatcher of business...
, Borough of Guildford (Accessed 03 May 2009) but was sold for redevelopment early in 2006. A proposal that the former pub be demolished and replaced by an Aldi
ALDI
ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. oHG, doing business as ', short for "Albrecht Discount", is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany...
supermarket and residential dwellings was opposed by local residents. However, the opposition was unsuccessful, and after the roofing tiles had been (mysteriously) removed, leaving the building vulnerable to weather damage, demolition took place in December 2008. (Aldi had previously undertaken to not demolish the building until their planning application had been approved.) Opposition by local residents continues, and the Residents' Association is still campaigning for a public house on the site rather than a supermarket.
Ghost sighting on A3
The section of the A3A3 road
The A3, known as the Portsmouth Road for much of its length, is a dual carriageway, or expressway, which follows the historic route between London and Portsmouth passing close to Kingston upon Thames, Guildford, Haslemere and Petersfield. For much of its length, it is classified as a trunk road...
that runs through Burpham is extremely busy, and there have been a number of accidents over the years. Therefore, on Wednesday 11 December 2002, it was no surprise to the Surrey Police
Surrey Police
Surrey Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Surrey in the south of England.The force is led by Chief Constable Mark Rowley and has its headquarters at Mount Browne, Guildford, Surrey...
when several motorists phoned to report that a car had veered off the A3 with its headlights blazing.
Officers were dispatched to investigate, but could find no sign of a crashed vehicle at the scene. Further searching was ordered and police uncovered the wreckage of a Vauxhall Astra, containing the remains of a man, no more than 20 m from the supposed "crash scene". The car was buried in twisted undergrowth, nose-down in a ditch and invisible from the road. The car's lights were off – the battery had long since gone flat – and the man's body was little more than a skeleton
Skeleton
The skeleton is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism. There are two different skeletal types: the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, and the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside the body.In a figurative sense, skeleton can...
. A police spokesman later said: "We believe the car left the road and ended up in the ditch during July. It doesn't appear that any other vehicles were involved. The car was discovered as a result of a report from members of the public who thought they saw a car's headlights veering off the road." The driver was later identified from dental records.
One officer called the discovery of the five-month old corpse "spine-chilling", and the motorists who reported the incident have been left wondering whether they saw a ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
ly re-enactment of the original crash.
Burpham Court Farm Park
Burpham Court Farm Park is a rare breeds centre occupying a former dairy farm on land between Burpham (specifically, north of the Wey Navigation cut to Burpham Lock) and Jacobs Well. Some of the farm buildings date back to 1600. The farm straddles the River WeyRiver Wey
The River Wey in Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex is a tributary of the River Thames with two separate branches which join at Tilford. The source of the north branch is at Alton, Hampshire and of the south branch at both Blackdown south of Haslemere, and also close to Gibbet Hill, near Hindhead...
on land owned by the National Trust.
The tenant, Bob Dearnley (57) died after breathing a toxic substance, believed to be rat poison, on the morning of 28 May 2009. Several emergency personnel were also admitted to hospital. Mr Dearnley had been served with an eviction notice having unsuccessfully contested a court case against the land owner and incurred large debts. A post-mortem is currently under way.
Burpham Court Farm Park has been closed "until further notice".
Culture
Burpham has its own enthusiastic musical club, the Burpham Ukulele Music Society. Currently better known for their unfortunate and yet always amusing acronym, the members of the society play on in the hope that one day, Ukulele music will embraced by Britain once again as a socially acceptable musical art form.External links
- Burpham Community Association
- Burpham Football Club
- Sutherland Memorial Park – Green Flag Award
- Sutherland Memorial Park – at Guildford Borough CouncilGuildford (borough)Guildford is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. It is named after Guildford where its council is based....
website - Burpham Court Farm Park