Etymology The name of Newdigate refers to a place at the
gate or path to a wood. Surviving manuscripts such as
manorial rolls,
Assize Rolls and
Feet of Fines give forms including Newdegate (13th century), Newedegate and Neudegate (15th century) and Nudgate (16th century). The name
Ewood (
Iwode in Feet of Fines 1312) occurs in the parish and might derive from Old English for a forest of
yew-trees, in which case the 'N' survives from a prefix such as 'in' (
O.E. 'on') or 'at the' (
O.E. 'be þane'). Alternatively, the word may refer to a 'New wood'.
Early history In early history, Newdigate was at the western heart of the
Weald a much more dense wooded forest occupying the space between the
North and
South Downs.
Middle Ages Newdigate was for the most part in
Copthorne Hundred, forming a detached part of it. But the hamlet of Parkgate and the part of the parish near it were in
Reigate Hundred. The place does not appear at all in the 1086
Domesday Book, and the connection with Copthorne is a probable result of the land holding by the Montfort family of Newdigate together with
Ashtead Manor, while Parkgate was held with Reigate and Dorking by the
Earls of Warenne and Surrey. Newdigate has a medieval
church, St. Peter's Church, which is a grade II*
listed building. Ewood (Yew Wood) was described during the medieval period as a "park" which was an enclosure of the forest for the purpose of
deer hunting – the
patent rolls of 1312 refer to it. As Newdigate began as a road through the forest (
Reigate to
Ockley) rather than a fixed settlement. A description given in 1911 for the Victoria County Histories topological summary is in terms of land use: "The parish is still thickly wooded, and is purely agricultural, except for brick and tile works." ==Geography==