Оксшотт: История и современность английской деревни

Oxshott is a suburban village in the borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England. Oxshott includes hilly acidic heath which is partly wooded (see Esher Commons and Prince's Coverts) and occupies the land between the large towns of Esher and Leatherhead. The Oxshott section of the single carriageway north south A244 runs through its middle and briefly forms its high street, centred 2 mile (3 km) from the A3 (Portsmouth Road) and the M25 (London Orbital motorway). Before about 1912, there was an equally used alternative spelling, Ockshot. Oxshott was part of Stoke D'Abernon parish until 1912, when Oxshott gained its first place of worship. The Prince's Coverts remains part of the Crown Estate, albeit decreased by some privatisation; and the public land of the village has been protected by inclusion in the Metropolitan Green Belt. A great many of Oxshott's residential areas are on gated private roads. This, combined with the large and desirable properties that form much of the village's housing stock, contributes to Oxshott's status as the "most expensive village in England".

Oxshott means "Ocga's corner of land", from the Old English personal name Ocga and sceat (related to modern 'shoot') "corner of land". The first element does not, unlike Oxford, have anything to do with oxen. Oxshott was first recorded in 1179 as Occesete. At this time Oxshott was a hamlet in the east of the village of Stoke D'Abernon. It had a population of about 200 people living from the land, rather than trade, via forestry, farming and the keeping of pigs. Until the 16th century, Oxshott was fairly isolated from other centres of population, surrounded by heath and scrubland and connected to nearby villages only by footpaths. For almost the whole of a further three centuries, no major transport links crossed the parish. In 1820, the Duchess of Kent laid the foundation stone of the national primary school here, which was enlarged in 1897.

In 1885, Oxshott railway station, first named Oxshott and Fairmile, was opened on the new Guildford Line. The railway transformed Oxshott from "a hamlet of pig farmers" into a popular destination for London commuters, who occupied newly constructed mock Tudor mansions on land that had been released by the Crown Estate. A small high street also developed to service their needs. Oxshott became a parish in its own right in 1913 under that name; this putting an end to the use of the pre 1913 spelling of Ockshot, as used, for example, in 1911 in its topographical description in the Victoria County History. to/from Cobham five times a day.

On Friday 5 November 2010, at 15:40, there was an accident where the Guildford via Cobham railway line passes in a deep cutting under the Esher to Leatherhead road. A 26 tonne concrete mixer lorry crashed through the road bridge's parapet and fell about 30 feet (9 m) onto the railway line, colliding with a train travelling from Guildford to London Waterloo. Of the 40 people on board the train, four were injured. The lorry driver of the lorry was badly injured, and also apparently had a heart attack and had to be carefully taken out of the cab by the medical services. Rail and road had been cleared and re opened by early the following Monday.

Oxshott has one, Anglican, church, St. Andrew's. Oxshott has its own primary school, the Royal Kent, named because its predecessor was founded by the Duchess of Kent, Queen Victoria's mother, in 1820. The original building stood on the site of the petrol station. Oxshott has an independent preparatory school, Danes Hill School, and its pre prep school, Bevendean. A senior independent school, Reed's School, just beyond its northern boundary, caters for boys aged 11 to 18 and girls aged 16 to 18. There is also a very active sports club, which has developed from the village cricket club founded in 1896, as well as a village snooker / social club. Oxshott also has two public houses: The Victoria and The Bear. The village has a large number of United States nationals and expatriates with their social organisations, due in part to the nearby ACS Cobham International school. The 2012 Summer Olympics cycling road race events passed through Oxshott.

Oxshott is featured in the popular Shopaholic novels by British author Sophie Kinsella, as the hometown of the series' narrator, Becky Bloomwood. A greater part of the historic novel "Unter der Asche" (Beneath the ashes) by German author Tom Finnek is set in Oxshott and nearby Cobham. The novel deals with the Great Fire of London 1665–66 and the so called "Diggers", a nonconformist dissenting group during the English Civil War. Some scenes from the Monty Python feature film Jabberwocky (1977) were filmed in Oxshott Woods. In the 1970s ITV situation comedy George and Mildred, Mildred's brother in law Humphrey is described as "the offal king of Oxshott".