Уитли ауылы, Суррей, Англия

the village in Surrey, England

Witley is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Waverley in Surrey, England centred 2.6 mile (4 km) south west of the town of Godalming and 6.6 mile (11 km) southwest of Guildford. The land is a mixture of rural (ranging from woodland protected by the Surrey Hills AONB including a small part of the forested Greensand Ridge to cultivated fields) contrasting with elements more closely resembling a suburban satellite village. As a civil parish it is unusual in that it includes the small town of Milford in the north. Occupying its hills in the south west are Sandhills and Brook. Witley Common is a wide expanse of land, owned by the National Trust, crossed by the A3 road. The village is served by two stations on the Portsmouth Direct Line: Witley station, to the south in nearby Wormley, and, to the north, Milford station, which is more or less equidistant between Milford and Witley. Its church dates to the pre Norman Conquest period of the Kingdom of England. The village has the private sector, but charitable co educational boarding and day school King Edward's School founded in Westminster in 1553 by King Edward VI and bishop Nicholas Ridley – supported by the City of London Corporation.

This was within Peper Harow Park, but in the parish of Witley, and was early held by Richer de Aquila and subsequently his grandson heir Gilbert. It was included in the Dissolution of the Monasteries grant of Waverley Abbey to Sir William Fitz William, with which it descended to Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu who died seised of a messuage called Oxenford, 9 October 1592. Similarly to the above, Sir George More of Loseley in 1609, Oxenford passed to Bartholomew Hone and heir John Chesterton of St. Giles in the Fields in 1619. In 1667 Antony Covert and his son conveyed their third to John Platt of Westbrook and his heirs; his son Sir John Platt and a John Smith sold it to prominent parliamentarian Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles; the other third was sold by the Fox family to George Brodrick, 4th Viscount Midleton c. 1822; his son employed Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin to build an imitation 13th century farm here. The church is a Grade I listed building. The graveyard has 13 war graves administered by the CWGC. Witley Park, the home of Whitaker Wright, was built in the 1890s at a cost of £1.85 million. It was one of the most lavish private residences in the world. The grounds included a series of three interconnecting lakes and an underwater billiard room. The main building burnt to the ground in 1953. Today the grounds and remaining buildings are private family homes. Old Cottage and Step Cottage, dating from the 15th and 16th centuries, are close to the church. White Hart, the village public house, is mostly Elizabethan and is said to stand on the site of a Saxon inn.

On Bannicle or Bannack Hill stood an Admiralty telegraph station which was built in 1822 as part of a semaphore line between the Admiralty in London and Portsmouth. It was about 30 yards east of Hill House, but no trace remains. William Cobbett in Rural Rides, in which he pursues his hallmark restraint of empire and government views, referred to the station when travelling through the hills of Hambledon. "On one of these hills is one of those precious jobs, called semaphores. For what reason this pretty name is given to a sort of Telegraph house, stuck up at public expense upon a high hill; for what reason this outlandish name is given to the thing, I must leave the reader to guess; but as to the thing itself; I know that it means this; a pretence for giving a good sum of public away every year  "

Witley is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Waverley in Surrey 2.6 mile (4 km) south west of Godalming and 6.6 mile (11 km) southwest of the county town, Guildford. The village lies just east of the A3 from London to Portsmouth between Guildford and Petersfield; London is 33.5 mile (54 km) northeast as the crow flies. Witley Civil Parish contains the large village of Milford (arguably a small town to the north, which also has the next railway station on the line to London, however, which is closer to Wheelerstreet and Witley historic village along than to Milford) and the localities set out in this article, all of which, apart from Culmer, Wormley, Sandhills and Brook are contiguous, linked by unbroken paved roads and development forming a wide arc surrounded by Witley Common or by the Witley Stream, Enton lakes and ponds. The census area Waverley Middle Layer Super Output Area 12 (which excludes Milford but adds most of Hambledon, Thursley and Hascombe) gives a population of 6,619 in 2001, whereas the civil parish had a population of 7,703. If the population of Thursley CP (654) is subtracted and those of Hascombe (241) and Hambledon CPs (765) from Area 12, Witley's habitually resident population, excluding the major settlement of Milford stood at 4,959. Witley civil parish council has a website with sections for Witley and Milford. It consists of 16 councillors; unpaid as with all civil parishes, and the rest of Waverley is likewise entirely parished, each parish charging a small annual precept on council tax. Among their tasks are the management of the recreation ground, 43 allotments, upkeep of village halls and organisation of annual community events.

Witley Common, which belongs to the National Trust, directly adjoins many localities of the village. It is bisected by the A3 dual carriageway.

Five can be named first which form a loose cluster, though some smallholdings and playing fields buffer them: Cramhurst, Wheelerstreet, Crossways, Witley (historic centre) and Culmer. Also in the parish are Sandhills, Brook and most of Wormley.

Witley Infants School, opposite the church, is a fine example of a 19th century school constructed in 1836. King Edward's School is a private school due south of the village centre.

The village is served by Witley railway station, although those living in the northern part of the village are closer to Milford railway station. Both are on the Portsmouth Direct Line.