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Byfleet is a village forming a suburb of Woking and is located south of Weybridge on the River Wey. The village is crossed by the main railway line to London Waterloo with stations at Byfleet and at Newhaw and West Byfleet. Byfleet and West Byfleet are bisected by the M25 motorway.
Byfleet was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Biflet. Traces of a Neolithic village have been found but the first record appears to be in 727 when a charter of the King of Mercia granted the area to Chertsey Abbey.
At the time of the Norman Conquest, Byfleet was a Saxon Manor under the Abbot of Westminster and part of the forest of Windsor. King William I considered the area for a royal country house and acquired it from the Abbot. Byfleet was a royal manor until 1826.
West Byfleet became a separate parish in 1917 and is about 2.5 miles from Byfleet village centre. Byfleet became part of Woking Urban District Council in 1933 having previously been part of Chertsey Rural District Council.
Nearby is Brooklands which was formerly a pioneer motor racing centre and airfield, originally developed by the Locke-King family, and is now a large retail and leisure development. The town of Weybridge is to the north of the parish.
The parish church of St. Mary dates from the 13th century but has been much rebuilt. The parish church of West Byfleet is the church of St. John the Baptist and was built in 1910-12 by W D Caroe. Byfleet Manor was originally built in the 17th century and although extensively rebuilt over the years is still recognized as one of the most attractive houses of its period in the county.
Further information
Search for records related to Byfleet on this website
- Click here to view a selection of images of Byfleet painted by John Hassell
- Click here to read about Byfleet's War Memorial
- Click here to read about the war memorial in St Mary's Church
- Click here to read about St Mary's School's war memorial
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