Early history barbed and
tanged flint
arrowhead, found in Reigate The earliest evidence of human activity in the Reigate area is a triangular stone axe from the
Paleolithic, which was found in Woodhatch in 1936. Worked flints from the later
Neolithic have been found on Colley Hill. Finds from the
Bronze Age include a gold
penannular ring, dated to
BCE, and a barbed spearhead from Priory Park. The eight
barrows on Reigate Heath are thought to date from the same period, when the surrounding area may have been marshland. During the Roman period, the Doods Road area was a centre for tile-making. An excavation in 2014 uncovered the remains of a 2nd- or 3rd-century kiln with several types of tile, identified as
tegulae, imbrices and
pedales. The former name
Cherchefelle suggests that the most recent period of permanent settlement in Reigate began in
Anglo-Saxon times. Excavations in Church Street in the late 1970s uncovered a Saxon glass jar and remains of a skeleton of uncertain age, but archaeological evidence from this period elsewhere in the town is sparse. The Domesday Book also records that the town was part of the larger
Hundred of Cherchefelle. In 1868, Reigate borough was disenfranchised for corruption, but representation in the
House of Commons was restored to the town in the
Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (
48 & 49 Vict. c. 23). The manor of
Cherchefelle was granted to
William de Warenne when he became
Earl of Surrey and under his patronage, Reigate began to thrive. The castle was constructed shortly afterwards and the modern town was established to the south in the late 12th century. An
Augustinian priory, founded by
the fifth Earl of Surrey, is recorded in 1240. The dukedom
was restored to the family in 1660, following the accession of
Charles II.
Reforms during the Tudor period reduced the importance of
manorial courts and the day-to-day administration of towns such as Reigate became the responsibility of the
vestry of the parish church. By the early 17th century, the ecclesiastical parish had been divided for administrative purposes into two parts: the "Borough of Reigate", which broadly corresponded to the modern town centre, and "Reigate Foreign", which included the five petty boroughs of Santon, Colley, Woodhatch, Linkfield and Hooley. The two parts were reunited in 1863 as a
Municipal Borough with a council of elected representatives chaired by a mayor. The Borough was extended in 1933 to include Horley, Merstham, Buckland and Nutfield. The
Local Government Act 1972 created Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, by combining the Reigate Borough with Banstead Urban District and the eastern part of the Dorking and Horley Rural District. Since its inception in 1974, the council has been based in the Town Hall in Castlefield Road, Reigate.
Reigate Castle Reigate Castle was built in the late 11th or early 12th century, most likely by
William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey. Taking the form of a
motte-and-bailey castle, it was originally constructed of
timber, but the
curtain walls were rebuilt in stone around a century later. A water-filled moat section was dug into the clay on the north side and a dry ditch was excavated around the remainder of the structure. The large size of the motte indicates that the castle was designed both as a fortification and as the lord's residence from the outset. Following the
dissolution of the monasteries, the lords of the manor moved their primary residence to Reigate Priory, to the south of the town. The castle was allowed to decay, with only small outlays recorded in the manor accounts for repairs, until 1686, when the buildings were reported as ruinous. Much of the masonry was most likely removed for local construction projects, but in around 1777, Richard Barnes, who rented the grounds, built a new gatehouse folly using the remaining stone. A century later, the Borough Council was granted a long lease on the property, which had been turned into a public garden. Regular tours of the caves beneath the castle are run by the Wealden Cave and Mine Society.
Reigate Priory William de Warenne, the fifth Earl of Surrey, is thought to have founded the Augustinian priory at Reigate before 1240. Early documents refer to the priory as a hospital, but in 1334 it is described as a
convent and thereafter as a purely religious institution. The priory was built to the south of the modern town centre and a series of fish ponds was constructed in the grounds. Although the exact layout is uncertain, the buildings are thought to have been arranged around a central square cloister, with the church on the north side and the
refectory on the south. In 1541,
Henry VIII granted the former priory to
William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham, the uncle of
Katherine Howard. The old church was converted to a private residence and the majority of the rest of the buildings were demolished. Richard Ireland, who purchased the priory in 1766, is primarily responsible for the appearance of the buildings today. A fire destroyed much of the west wing and Ireland commissioned its rebuilding. Following Ireland's death in 1780, the priory passed through a succession of owners, including
Lady Henry Somerset, who remodelled the grounds between 1883 and 1895, creating a sunken garden. Following her death in 1921, the estate was divided for sale and much of the land was purchased for housebuilding. The final private owner of the house was the racehorse trainer,
Peter Beatty, who sold it to the Mutual Property Life and General Insurance Company, which relocated from London for the second half of the Second World War. In 1948, the borough council bought the grounds, having secured them as Public Open Space three years earlier. Also in 1948, the Reigate Priory County Secondary School opened in the main priory building, with 140 children aged 13 and 14. In 1963 the boys moved to Woodhatch School and the Priory School continued as an all-girls secondary school. In 1971, the secondary school closed and Holmesdale Middle School, which had been founded in 1852, moved to the priory.
Transport and communications In medieval times, the main road north from Reigate followed Nutley Lane, climbing Colley Hill in the direction of
Kingston upon Thames, from where produce and manufactured items could be transported via the
River Thames. Although the direct route to London via Merstham had a less severe gradient, it appears to have been little used for the transport of goods. and improvements were often only funded by private donations. In 1555, the responsibility for local infrastructure was transferred to the parish, and separate
surveyors were employed for the Borough and for Reigate Foreign. The inefficiency created by this division resulted in frequent complaints and court cases relating to the poor state of the roads The first
turnpike trust in Surrey was authorised by Parliament in 1697 to improve the road south from Woodhatch towards Crawley. The new road took the form of a
bridleway, laid alongside the existing causeway between the River Mole crossing at
Sidlow and Horse Hill, and was unsuitable for wheeled vehicles. Repairs were also carried out on the route between Reigate and Woodhatch under the same Act. A second turnpike was authorised in 1755, to improve the route from
Sutton to Povey Cross, near
Horley, which involved creating a new road north from Reigate over Reigate Hill. A cutting was excavated at the top of the hill, using a battering ram to break up the underlying chalk. The new route was completed the following year and the old road via Nutley Lane was blocked at Colley Hill. In 1808, a second turnpike to the north was opened to Purley via Merstham. The new trust was required to pay £200 per year to the owners of the Reigate Hill road, in compensation for lost tolls. decorated for the
Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II in June 2022 Two improvements were made to the road network in the town centre in the early 19th century. Firstly, in 1815, the Wray Stream, was
culverted to improve the drainage and road surface of Bell Street. Secondly,
Reigate Tunnel, the first road tunnel in England, was constructed at the expense of
John Cocks, 1st Earl Somers, the lord of the manor. Opened in 1823, it runs beneath the castle and links Bell Street to London Road. It enabled road traffic to bypass the tight curves at the west end of the town centre, but is now only used by pedestrians. The Borough Council became responsible for local roads on its formation in 1865. The final tolls were removed from the turnpikes in 1881. The first station to serve Reigate area, on Hooley Lane near
Earlswood, opened in 1841. The following year, the South Eastern Railway opened the , which was initially named Reigate Junction. The
railway line through Reigate was constructed by the Reading, Guildford and Reigate Railway and opened in 1849. It was designed to provide an alternative route between the west of England and the Channel ports, and serving intermediate towns was a secondary concern.
Electrification of the section of line from Reigate to Redhill was completed on 1 January 1933. In February 1976, Reigate was joined to the UK motorway system when the
M25 was opened between Reigate Hill and
Godstone. The section to
Wisley via
Leatherhead was opened in October 1985.
Economy and commerce From much of its early history, Reigate was primarily an
agricultural settlement. At the time of the Norman conquest, the common fields covered some and in 1623 the total area of arable land was around . From the early 17th century, the manor began to specialise in the production of
oatmeal for the
Royal Navy, possibly due to the influence of Admiral Charles Howard, who lived at the priory. By 1710, 11.5% of the population was employed in cereal processing, but the trade dwindled in the mid-18th century and had ceased by 1786. The market in Reigate is first recorded in 1279, when
John de Warenne, the 6th Earl of Surrey, claimed the right to hold a weekly market on Saturdays and five annual
fairs.
His son John, the 7th Earl, was granted permission to move the event to Tuesdays in 1313. The original market place was to the west of the castle, in the triangle of land now bordered by West Street, Upper West Street and Slipshoe Street (where the former route to Kingston diverged from the road to Guildford). It moved to the widest part of the High Street, close to the junction with Bell Street, in the 18th century. Cattle ceased to be sold in the late 19th century and the market closed in 1895, in part as a result of the opening of a fortnightly market in Redhill in 1870. Reigate has two surviving
windmills: a post mill on
Reigate Heath and a tower mill on
Wray Common. In the early modern period, the parish had at least three other windmills Although the opening of the Reigate Hill turnpike in 1755 provided an easier route to transport produce and manufactured items to London, the new road appears initially to have had a negative impact on the local economy, as goods produced elsewhere became cheaper than those made in the town itself. As a result, there was little growth in the population between the 1720s and 1821. In the late 18th century, the prosperity of the town began to recover as it became as stopping point on the London to
Brighton coaching route. s in Doods Road A new residential area was established at Wray Park, to the north of Reigate town centre, in the 1850s and 1860s. St Mark's Church was built to serve the new community. Doods Road was constructed in around 1864 and Somers Road, to the west of the station, followed shortly afterwards. In 1863, the National Freehold Land Society began to develop the Glovers Field estate, to the south east of the town centre, and also led efforts to build houses at South Park, to the west of Woodhatch. At the end of the 19th century, the estates of several large houses were broken up, releasing further land for development. The Great Doods estate, between the railway line and Reigate Road, was sold in 1897 and the first houses in Deerings Road appeared shortly afterwards. A major development occurred in 1921, when the Reigate Priory estate (which included much of the land in the town) was sold, enabling existing leaseholders to purchase the freehold of their properties and freeing up further land for construction. In the early 20th century, South Park continued to expand to the south and east. The sale of Woodhatch Farm in the 1930s released the land for housebuilding. Further expansion in Woodhatch occurred in the 1950s, with the construction of
council housing on the Rushetts Farm estate.
Reigate in wartime Although little fighting took place in Surrey during the
Civil War, the Reigate Hundred was required to provide 80 men for the
Parliamentarian army, but a force of only 60 was raised, including a captain and lieutenant. Troops were garrisoned in the town and by the summer of 1648, serious discontent was rising in the local area as a result. The
Royalist,
Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, raised a fighting force and marched from Kingston to Reigate where his men plundered local property and briefly occupied the half-ruined castle. Parliamentary troops under Major Lewis Audley were sent to confront Rich, but he withdrew first to Dorking and then the following day back to Kingston. The withdrawal of the Royalists from Reigate was the final incident in the Civil War south of the
River Thames before the
execution of Charles I in 1649. In September 1914, Reigate became a garrison town. Members of the
London's Own Territorials were billeted locally whilst undergoing training in the area and Reigate Lodge was used as an
Army Service Corps supply depot. Reigate railway station was closed between January 1917 and February 1919 as a wartime economy measure. By the end of the First World War, there were three temporary hospitals for members of the armed forces in Reigate. The Hillfield Red Cross Hospital opened on 2 November 1914 and was equipped with an operating theatre and 50 beds. As well as treating injured soldiers transported home from overseas, the facility also treated troops garrisoned locally. The Kitto Relief Hospital in South Park opened on 9 November 1914, initially as an annex to the Hillfield Hospital, but from 28 September 1915 it was affiliated to the
Horton Hospital in Epsom. The Beeches Auxiliary Military Hospital, on Beech Road, was opened in March 1916 with 20 beds, but expanded to 40 beds that October. The hospital relocated to a larger facility in the same road in July 1917 and became affiliated with the Lewisham Military Hospital two months later. air raid shelter, Tunnel Road Some 5000
evacuees from London were sent to the Reigate and Redhill area at the start of the Second World War in September 1939, but by February of the following year around 2000 had returned home. The caves beneath Reigate Castle were converted for use as public
air raid shelters There was a succession of raids in November 1940, including on the 7th when Colley Hill and Reigate Hill were attacked. Towards the end of the war, in 1944, the Tea House café on top of Reigate Hill was destroyed by a
V-1 flying bomb. In total 71 civilians died through enemy action within Reigate Municipal Borough. For much of the war, Reigate was the headquarters of the South Eastern Command of the
British Army. The command was partly housed in purpose-built tunnels beneath Reigate Hill, excavated in 1939 by Welsh miners. The complex consisted of four large underground halls, linked by a network of passageways dug through the chalk. The entrances to the tunnels were destroyed in 1968, after several people had been injured in unauthorised attempts to access the site. During the Second World War, the defence of the town was primarily the responsibility of the 8th Surrey Battalion of the
Home Guard, although the East Surrey Water Company and the London Passenger Transport Board formed separate units to defend local infrastructure. Tank traps in the castle grounds were among the defences installed in the town. On 19 March 1945 a
U.S. Air Force B17G, returning from a
bombing raid in Germany, crashed into Reigate Hill in low-visibility conditions. Two memorial benches, carved in the shape of
wing tips, were installed as a memorial at the crash site 70 years later. ==National and local government==