Burstow Parish Today

Burstow Parish today is one of the largest Parishes in Tandridge with Smallfield Village at its heart. This is a thriving community with fantastic facilities. We have a Butcher, Greengrocer, Post Office, Chemist, Upholsterer; Hairdresser, Convenience Store, Hardware Store, Estate Agent and Meditation Centre. We have a Doctors Surgery, Two Schools, Nursery School, Playgroup, Church hall, Village Hall and two churches. We also have a blossoming Play Area, complete with Skate Ramp, Multi Use Games Area (Muga), Playground, Adventure Trail and Youth Shelter, along with another playground in Plough Road. We have Allotments, Cricket and Football Clubs, without mentioning the Karate, Dance, Yoga, Short Mat Bowls Clubs etc. We could carry on and list the Garages, the Businesses and the Restaurants, all available on this website - but it is the people who make our rural village the community it is. We are working hard to make this a place that we can be proud to live in and be a part of. Burstow Day was held in September 2006, when stakeholders from all aspects of the community met together and decided how they would improve the Parish given unlimited funds - it is from that day that the Website, the Annual Smallfield Summer Party, the Play area and many other projects, some in their infancy, have evolved.

History and Facts

The earliest mention of Burstow appears in a church record of 1121 but it is practically certain that a church had been in existence long before that time.

John Flamsteed, who was Rector of Burstow from 1684 until his death in 1719, was appointed in 1675 by King Charles II to be the first Astronomer Royal. His accurate measurements of star positions and the movements of the moon, made in the newly opened Observatory at Greenwich, contributed to making possible the safe navigation of shipping around the world. Flamsteed is buried in Burstow Church and you can see the star that commemorates him in the large window above the altar.

Smallfield derives its name from the occasion when a Lord Burghersh donated 'a narrow piece of land' (Saxon smael feld) to John de Burstow in thanks for assistance rendered during a war in France in the 1300s.

All the original tracks in the area ran north-south - for example, the lanes to Outwood and Bletchingley (or Blechingley as it was spelled until fairly recently) - so they tend to be narrow and winding. The east-west roads tend to be wider and straighter as they were not constructed until much later - there wasn't even a direct road from Smallfield going all the way to Horley until 1870 and the narrow humpbacked bridge built at that time over the Burstow Stream saw many car bumps in later years until it was replaced in the mid-1960s.

Sanger's Circus had winter quarters for its animals at Burstow Lodge (at the northern end of Chapel Road) from the early 1900s until around 1940, so if you had been living in Smallfield at that time you would not have been at all surprised to meet elephants being exercised in the village (no, they didn't bring lions out for walkies as well!). It has been recorded that the elephants were also used for ploughing land in the area.

For many years Smallfield had its own smithy where horses were shod and other work was carried out. This stood in Weatherhill Road opposite where the present bus shelter stands and it was demolished only when the 'Georgian' style houses were built there around 1970.

Smallfield Hospital was built early in the 1939-45 War on land beside Broadbridge Lane. It was used by the Canadian Army to treat their wartime casualties and then more recently it was a NHS hospital. In 1962 it was used in filming a scene of The Password is Courage which starred Dirk Bogarde, and several local residents who were hospital staff appeared in the film. The hospital was demolished around 1980 to be replaced by the 'Canadian' housing estate.

When you are next in Centenary Hall in Wheelers Lane (erected in 1994 and marking the centenary of Burstow Parish Council), look up and on the end wall you will see mosaics that were designed and made by local residents. These celebrate some of the rich variety of places, events and activities that have gone to make up Burstow, Smallfield and Keepers Corner. Many of the local clubs and societies originated in these earlier days and they, together with those formed more recently, contribute to the strong community spirit that exists in the village.