Surrey
Surrey's most significant source of prosperity in the later Middle Ages was the production of woollen cloth, which emerged during that period as England's main export industry. The county was an early centre of English textile manufacturing, benefiting from the presence of deposits of fuller's earth, the rare mineral composite important in the process of finishing cloth, around Reigate and Nutfield. The industry in Surrey was focused on Guildford, which gave its name to a variety of cloth, "gilforte", which was exported widely across Europe and the Middle East and imitated by manufacturers elsewhere in Europe. However, as the English cloth industry expanded, Surrey was outstripped by other growing regions of production.
Though Surrey was not the scene of serious fighting in the various rebellions and civil wars of the period, armies from Kent heading for London via Southwark passed through what were then the extreme north-eastern fringes of Surrey during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and Cade's Rebellion in 1450, and at various stages of the Wars of the Roses in 1460, 1469 and 1471. The upheaval of 1381 also involved widespread local unrest in Surrey, as was the case all across south-eastern England, and some recruits from Surrey joined the Kentish rebel army.
List of places of worship in Mole Valley
Mole Valley covers a area in the centre of Surrey and had a population of 85,375 at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2011. It is one of 11 local government areas in the county, which lies immediately south of London in southeast England. The main centres of population are Dorking, centrally located within the district, and Leatherhead to the north, which is part of a continuous urban area incorporating Ashtead, Fetcham and Great Bookham. The M25 motorway runs through them, several railway lines provide connections in all directions, and Gatwick Airport is just beyond the southeastern boundary of the district. Nevertheless, it is mostly rural—more than 90% of the land is countryside, much of which is covered by the Surrey Hills AONB—and there are dozens of small villages. Most have at least one place of worship—usually an Anglican parish church, and in some cases other chapels or meeting houses serving the Protestant Nonconformist denominations which grew in importance from the 18th century. The main towns have a wider range of places of worship: Plymouth Brethren, Christian Scientists, the Elim Pentecostal Church and Jehovah's Witnesses are all represented, for example. Roman Catholics are served by large churches in Dorking and Leatherhead and smaller modern buildings in Ashtead and Fetcham.
The oldest churches in the district have Saxon origins (i.e. 10th- or 11th-century); examples include Betchworth, Fetcham and Wotton, each of which retain fragmentary evidence of this era. (Even older material in the form of reused Roman rubble is visible at St Giles, Ashtead and at Fetcham.) Norman churches extended or altered in the 13th century are common and across the county; in Mole Valley, Charlwood is a good example. Work from later centuries generally consisted of extensions and rebuilds, although one new church was provided at Leigh in the 15th century. Victorian restoration affected many churches, sometimes to the extent of completely rebuilding them (as at Buckland and Capel, both by Henry Woodyer).
Along with an enthusiasm for restoration, another characteristic of the area in the Victorian era was the provision of chapels of ease in the extensive ancient parishes and the formation of new parishes from parts of others. Dorking expanded greatly in the 19th century, and the large parish of St Martin's Church was divided up as new churches were opened in the south of the town (St Paul, 1857) and at nearby North Holmwood (St John the Evangelist, 1875) and Pixham (St Mary the Virgin, 1903). Similarly, Leatherhead's ancient parish church was supplemented by All Saints in the north of the town in 1889; St George was built in 1905 near Ashtead railway station as a chapel of ease to St Giles at Ashtead Park; and St Margaret, distant from Ockley village, had a chapel of ease (St John) on the village green from 1872 until its closure in the late 20th century. In the same era, new churches were built in villages which had none before, and parishes were created for them. Examples include Brockham Green (1848; originally in Betchworth parish), Coldharbour (1848; a parish was carved out of four others) and Westcott (1850; originally in Dorking parish). Elsewhere, ruinous old churches were rebuilt or restored at Buckland, Headley, Oakwood Hill and other villages. Churches built for specific purposes include the landmark hilltop St Barnabas' Church at Ranmore Common (1859; formerly in Great Bookham parish), provided for the Denbies Estate's owners and employees, and Holy Trinity at Forest Green (1897; formerly in Abinger parish)—built not only to serve villagers but to act as a memorial to a man who was killed in an accident.