It is situated on a spring at the foot of the chalk Hog's Back ridge and is thought to have been first settled in 8000 BC (no mistype) for this reason. It has a mini church (44 feet x 18feet internally) dating from 1060, the largest medieval barn in Surrey dating from 1388, and a Manor House dating from 1150 - all AD, of course. Oh, and there was a Roman temple nearby where £2million of coins were looted using metal detectors in 1985.
The manor - an estate - is recorded in the Domesday Book (1083) which mentions that it had belonged to two brothers of King Harold in Saxon times. The present stone church is believed to have replaced a wooden Saxon church on the site.
The manor changed hands over the years and into the ownership of the Cistercian (i.e. Roman Catholic) monks based at Waverley Abbey in 1130 to provide them with grain, fish and wool.
Henry VII's anti RC dissolution dissolved the Abbey in 1536 (G&D, remember visiting the ruins?) and ownership of the manor passed into secular hands. At one time a Quaker family owned it and, not having use for churches, they used the building as a carpenter's shop. The church was restored and re-opened in 1861. Two of Prime Minister Asquith's children are buried in the small church yard.
During World War II the Manor House was taken over by the Special Operatives Executive (SOE) which apparently features in Ted Allbeury' s spy books. Here agents from the Continent were trained in methods of disruption - an equivalent of terrorist training camps - before returning to their own countries' to join resistance movements.
There is more detail on the place, especially the Barn which has to be viewed internally, in Wiki or by googling. Here are two pictures of the church, taken in 2008 AD.
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