 "The Battle of Dorking", a novella written by Lt. Col. Sir George Tomkyns Chesney in 1871, was set in the town.Describing a fictional invasion and conquest of Britain by a German-speaking country, it triggered an explosion of what came to be known as invasion literature.In groupings by such bodies as Surrey County Council, the unparished area in terms of civil parishes in England, North Holmwood is grouped with Dorking, and is subsidiary to the town as lacking many amenities and services.