Worplesdon

Worplesdon is a village 3.1 mile (5 km) NNW of Guildford in Surrey, England and a large dispersed civil parish that includes the settlements of: Worplesdon itself (including its central church area, Perry Hill), Fairlands, Jacobs Well, Rydeshill and Wood Street Village, all various sized smaller settlements, well connected by footpaths and local roads. Its area includes Whitmoor Common, which can be a collective term for all of its commons.

A large common is at the heart of the parish that has mixed landscapes of heather, copses of woodland, grasslands and bracken. Clustered around the village centre and its lightly developed localities are heavily wooded commons, managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust, including Broadstreet & Backside Commons, Stringer's Common, Littlefield Common, Whitmoor/Whitmore Common, Jordan Hill, Rickford Common, and Chitty's Common.

Worplesdon is served by the Worplesdon Memorial Hall, built in 1922 to recall those who died in World War I; it and the adjacent recreation grounds are managed by trustees representing the donors and the Parish Council. A caretaker lives nearby. Beside the Hall are a playground and tennis and cricket facilities. There are a large events room, a meeting room, and the Sidney Sime Memorial Gallery.

Worplesdon itself has few shopping facilities; however it has the Worplesdon Place Hotel and the rail station 1.2 mile (2 km) north east of the village centre.

Wood Street Village is, unusually, a larger "village" within the historic parish as well as the 19th century created, civil parish. Stoughton, Guildford has a diverse parade of shops and is well situated for access from most of the village and other settlements.

Worplesdon railway station has up to three services per hour to London Waterloo, on Mondays to Saturdays on the Portsmouth Direct Line. The station is between Woking and Guildford, in the east of the village. This is separated from parts of the main village by the gently elevated northwestern flank of wooded Whitmoor, Jordan Hill and Rickford Commons, all of which are part of the village.

Taking the parish as a whole: 213 people at the time of the last census were employed in finance and insurance industries. Technical/scientific employers employed 10% of the population, bolstered by the University of Surrey and Institute for Animal Health (with associated major employers in life sciences, space exploration and computing). Greater than this, education employed 12% of the population (549 people). Wholesale and retail trade, and the sale/repair of motor vehicles was the most important single category with 639 people. Next, just behind education, was health and social work employing 495 people. Accommodation and food service activities, combined with the category of arts, entertainment and recreation, employed a similar figure of 440 people. Two neighbouring villages to the northwest are Pirbright and Deepcut with significant UK Army presences, although the latter's barracks has been redeveloped into homes. Public Administration and Defence; Compulsory Social Security's total of people was 38 fewer than manufacturing, which gave employment to 239 people in 2011.

The Normandy Youth Center serves the area by sponsoring community based programs targeting youth in the area (especially marginal groups and minorities) for the purpose of increasing exposure to educational opportunities and building a stronger community.

There is also Worplesdon Phoenix FC playing in the Surrey Counties Intermediate League and Guildford and Woking Alliance League and, since 1991, Worplesdon Tennis Club, with a new clubhouse (2005). Worplesdon Rangers FC is another football club based in and around the parish; the club was founded in 2001 and caters for pre reception to Under 18 age groups playing in the Surrey Primary League. Committee meetings are held monthly at Jacobs Well Village Hall.

The following have received the Freedom of the Parish of Worplesdon. Sandra A. Morgan: 28 November 2021.