House Clearance in Beare Green

Taking its name from Walter de la Bere, a local landowner in the 13th century, the original hamlet of Beare Green lay in a boggy woodland area where wild boar ran freely, four miles south of Dorking. With its area stretching from north of Capel village to , bounded by Newdigate to the east and to the west, the small community literally surrounded the village green. The present settlement called ‘Beare Green’ owes its current location to the coming of the railway and the opening of in 1867. This shifted the focus of development to the north west of the original village green, with the A24 dual carriageway now separating the two. From the outset, the railway service provided extremely efficient links to London [and the rest of the country] and, to a lesser extent, still does.

The railway also acted as a catalyst for some speculative development during the 19th century and encouraged the wealthy to establish country mansion houses. Otherwise, the local economy was predominantly agrarian based, augmented by employment in the local brickfields, with a multiplicity of small retail and service businesses attending to the needs of the inhabitants. Despite its rural location and small population, the basic infrastructure included a local school, post office, public houses and various shops.

As road transport developed between the two World Wars, Beare Green was found to be conveniently situated between the Metropolis and the South coast, leading to the expansion of the “White Hart” public house, the construction of the “Red Arrow” café and a petrol filling station to accommodate the needs of the day trippers.