Brookwood appears by name (as
Brocwud and
Brocwude) in the bounds of the Forest of Windsor as set down in 1225, and is depicted within 'Brookewood Walke' on
John Norden's 1607 map of the Forest. It was mapped in detail for the first time in 1709, when it was recorded as covering 684 acres (excluding two large internal enclosures) bounded on all but the north-east side by Woking Common. Timber from Brookwood was used for the repair of local bridges in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and by 1719 the wood appears to have been stripped of all trees. The village has grown over the 150 or so years since the vast cemetery and station first set roots in this area. Many of London's dead were buried in
Brookwood Cemetery during the Victorian era due to the over-population of the city at that time. The logistics were accomplished using the
London Necropolis Railway, consisting of funeral trains running from
London Waterloo railway station to Brookwood and subsequently down a small branch line into the cemetery grounds. This branch-line is now disused. The main station and nearby Brookwood Club private members bar are at least 100 years old. The name, 'Brook wood', refers to the small streams which used to rise within it, and in particular to 'Coresbrook'. The name is unlikely to derive from 'brocc' (meaning 'badger'), although the animal features on the village crest and on the school uniform. ==Transport==