Illustration: Chris Forsey. Design and Print: FdK Design Consultants Design FdK Print: and Design Forsey. Chris Illustration: ‘Discover Gatton’ – Past and Present Telephone: 01622 221525 or visit www.nationaltrail.co.uk/northdowns visit or 221525 01622 Telephone: North Downs Way National Trail National Way Downs North Telephone: 01372 220653 or visit www.surreyhills.org visit or 220653 01372 Telephone: Small populations with very few voters were easily corruptible Formal gardens & lakes Extracts from the AONB Hills Surrey e Th by the local landowner. The ability to have an influence on The picturesque Hop Garden Pond, Engine Pond, Serpentine Parliament had the potential to be worth a great deal of money. 1888 sales particulars 054 649 01737 ce: Offi Foundation This often meant rotten boroughs were valued far in excess of and Main Lake, together with the Japanese, Rock and Walled of Gatton Ltd Trust Gatton The their material worth. In 1830 Gatton was bought for the 21 year Gardens are hidden treasures, largely unknown within the Photography: Andrew Wright, NT grounds of The Royal Alexandra and Albert School 4584000 0870 Membership: Trust National old Lord Monson by his trustees for the sum of £100,000. This 453401 01372 ce: Offi Regional East South North Downs Offi ce: 01372 220643 01372 ce: Offi Downs North It absolutely stands unrivalled for its was a very bad time to pay a premium for a rotten borough Trust National The To discover these, you will need to visit on an Open Day (first “ as the reformation of constituencies was on the agenda beauty ….Scenery of this special character is not Sunday of the month from February to October between 1pm ��������������� ����������� within weeks. Monson was one of a few “stalwart peers” details and 5pm) when you will be able to walk around the lakes and equalled in the entire Kingdom…..for salubrity, ������� who persisted in opposing the Reform Bill. Despite Monson’s �� ponds, visit the impressive Dry Arch and Town Hall and finish dry soil, and bright, bracing air, the district is Contact ���� ���� opposition, the 1832 Reform Act was passed and Gatton � with tea in Gatton Hall. Entry is via the main entrance to the School. ��� proverbial, and ranks among the most healthful ���� lost its parliamentary status, ending centuries of corruptive ���� ������ � � ������� � � � ���� � �� � ���� ���� � � ������� � ��������� ������������� � � � ��������� � The gardens and grounds are being restored by the Gatton � � � � � misrepresentation. ���� spots in England. � ��������� � � ����������� � � � � ������� ������� ��� � � � ��������� � � � � � � �������������� � Trust volunteers and your entry fee enables the Trust to � ” ����������� � ��� � � � � continue this work. � � � � � ��� ���������� � � ����� � Jeremiah Colman ���������� …..many miles of enchanting walks �������� ���� ��� The last private owners of the Gatton Estate “ ��� ����� The royal alexander and rides, each one seeming to outvie the other, ���������� were the Colman Family. Sir Jeremiah ������ ��� and albert school in beauteous glimpses they reveal the exquisite �� What is a parkland? Colman bought Gatton in 1888 following the success of the Colman’s family businesses, The School, which has its origins in the 1700’s as the Orphan scenery around… Cycle network route, which runs through Reigate town centre. town Reigate through runs which route, network Cycle Working School, came to the site in 1947 and is the second ” 6 Gatton Park is located approximately 2 miles north of a National National a of north miles 2 approximately located is Park Gatton the most famous of which was Colman’s The easiest way to understand designed parkland is as a piece of art. Nature B Nearest stations are Reigate and Earlswood. and Reigate are stations Nearest Mustard. largest state boarding school in the UK. It has some 750 ….Wingate Hill, in full splendour pupils (aged 7 to 18) of which 400 are boarders. The remainder Lane. Wray into left turning and round-a-bout 8 Junction main the is manipulated to create large open spaces that are distinct from the general In common with “ around going by dirrection other the from approach to need will You are day boarders (being entitled to arrive for breakfast in the of the enchanting scene stretching away over Park previous owners, direction. Reigate the from approaching when lane Wray to access agricultural landscape. morning and stay until their peers go to bed). Colman made alterations and additions and Lake, Wood and Water, till the varied outline direct no is there note Please M25. the of 8 Junction to adjacent l Please park at Wray Lane car park at the top of Reigate hill hill Reigate of top the at park car Lane Wray at park Please to his estate, notably the Japanese of the distant hills seems to fade away in one vast there get to How Historically, deer would have been enclosed Gatton – “A Very Garden and the Pulhamite Rock The Stone Circle in the first parklands. Over the centuries Placed on site by the Jerusalem Trust to commemorate the expanse of beauteous and almost illimitable space. parklands evolved into formal landscapes, Rascally Spot of Earth” Garden. He had a real passion for ” property. interesting most this of history diverse the into glimpse turn of the millennium, each stone represents a 200 year time a offers also It Brown. ‘Capability’ Lancelot by designed parkland, orchids and grew many fine specimens most commonly surrounding a mansion ..... So described by the radical William Cobbett in 1823, just period and is inscribed with quotes and poems of its respective era. great this through walk circular a along you guide will et leafl This in specially constructed greenhouses. WALK CIRCULAR house and garden. They are designed to a few years before the 1832 Reform Act was passed, which The views at Gatton can hardly be impress at various levels; the natural beauty, finally put an end to centuries of Parliamentary corruption. Colman regularly exhibited his orchids imagined,“ even by the most enthusiastic admirer of the splendour and not least to display the at the premier horticultural shows of the day and won many A ‘rotten borough’ was usually the product of a small town Nature’s charms, and while gazing on scenes of such wealth of the owner. medals. Orchids from Gatton were sent as far afield as New losing its voters. Prosperous market towns of the middle ages exquisite beauty, with no sound to disturb the sweet Zealand and Ceylon to help establish new centres of orchid In common with most art, various parkland designs had the right to elect a member of the House of Commons. development. repose, except, perhaps, the lovely melodies of the fell in and out of fashion. The last big fashion was the Over the decades and centuries, some towns grew whilst songsters of the woods, it is diff icult to imagine that English Landscape Movement of the eighteenth century. others shrank to be the size of small villages or hamlets. The DISCOVER It was a ‘must have’ for anyone with standing, wealth constituencies did not change with the shifts of population. This the world’s great centre of attraction, whether for and the desire to impress. One of the leading landscape meant tiny hamlets like Gatton were electing two members of business or pleasure, is within an hours reach. architects of this movement was Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown parliament when larger towns like Birmingham and Manchester ” (1716-1783), so called because he claimed to see great had no representation. Such hamlets were known as ‘pocket Gatton St Andrew’s Church capability within a landscape. boroughs’ or ‘rotten boroughs’. North Downs Way It has been a focal point of Christianity for over 900 years and Brown applied his skills to many Gatton was given Parliamentary status in 1450. Apart from Oliver the present building dates from the 16th century. There has This long distance path which runs through Gatton Park parklands throughout the land during Cromwell’s brief intervention in the 1650’s, Gatton elected two been a church on this site since at least Norman times. is one of fifteen National Trails in England and Wales – all the mid eighteenth century and members of parliament from 1451 until the 1832 Reform Act. of which provide superb walking experiences amongst the Gatton was ranked amongst the The fifth Lord Monson and his architect E Webb carried finest landscapes. For further information please visit Gatton’s so called Town Hall, built in 1765 by Sir George top quarter of his grandest designs. out restoration works to the church in 1834. The result www.nationaltrail.co.uk/northdowns Colebrooke, was used to announce the election results, is a magnificent and richly furnished probably a foregone conclusion on the majority of occasions. interior, similar to an Oxford LANCELOT In the mid 1900’s, or Cambridge College chapel. Surrey Hills AONB Pevsner, the ‘CAPABILITY’ BROWN The Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) great architectural As you walk the Discover Gatton route you will see how is one of 36 nationally protected landscapes in England. The historian, described Brown’s work, which is over 200 years old, still has the Surrey Hills stretch across a quarter of the county of Surrey and the tiny classically In 1934 disaster struck. A fire gutted the famous house and ability to impress to this day. From the carriage road the include the chalk slopes of the North Downs from Farnham in designed building ruined many of its irreplaceable treasures. The house was visitor receives tantalising glimpses of the landscape the west to Oxted in the east and extend south to the deeply as “one of the best rebuilt, but sadly not to its former splendour. Sir Jeremiah through tree framed vistas. Further round the walk wider wooded Greensand Hills in Haslemere and Limpsfield. architectural and continued to live on the estate until his death in 1942. sweeping views open up over uninterrupted grassland which political jokes in Lady Colman moved into a cottage on the estate.