The tollhouse on the right just before the junction at Alfold Crossways seems to be back-to-front – and it is! In 1757 the road from Guildford to Alfold, through Lakers Green and the airfield site, was made into a turnpike, with a tollhouse facing onto the road at Alfold Crossways. At that time the roads to Fast Bridge and Horsham, which are now part of the A281, were both just small country lanes. In 1809 the new road to Horsham opened, but its junction with the existing road, just south of the tollhouse, was awkward because it had to twist its way between existing buildings.
As the Horsham road grew in importance, it was decided to change the junction layout. The main road through Lakers Green was realigned through the garden behind the tollhouse so that the back of the house now faced the road. As a result, the tollkeepers found that their well, previously at the bottom of the garden, was now across the road! When the airfield was built in 1942, the old Guildford road was blocked off and a bypass built via Fast Bridge, connecting with the Horsham road at Alfold Crossways. This left the present rather strange road layout at the Crossways, where there seem to be two separate roads running parallel. Alfold is less than a mile further on.
The main feature of Alfold village is the church of St Nicholas which is well worth a visit. In the churchyard look for the slab of Sussex marble which is said to mark the grave of Jean Carré, one of the leading French Huguenot glassmakers who settled and practised their trade in this area. He died in 1572.
Alfold church, like most others in the area was built in the 13th century, which must have been about the time these villages were established. It is built of Bargate stone rubble, and rendered. Inside it has much fine timber work as befits a church in the oak forests of the Weald. It has a similarity to the church at Thursley, some 10 miles to the north-west, in that the spire at Alfold is also supported on massive timber beams.
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