In 1225 a Norman called Laurentio Vitrario (from the Latin word vitrum, which means glass) was granted 20 acres of land in the parish and set up the first-known glassworks in the country since Roman times. The works established Chiddingfold as England’s main centre of glass-making for almost the next 400 years. Glass from here was used in both Westminster Abbey and Windsor Castle. A map in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence dating from 1556 shows only two places in Surrey – Guildford and Chiddingfold – indicating the importance the industry gave to the village.
At one time the village green itself was the site of no fewer than eleven glassworks, but this led to a local outcry and they were closed down. However, many others continued in the surrounding woods. The end finally came because of worries about the amount of Wealden oak being burned to fuel both the iron and glassmaking industries, and its use for glass production was banned completely in 1615.
In Haslemere Museum there is a reproduction of one of the old Chiddingfold glassworks, and there are samples of the glass in the museum at Guildford. But the most impressive relic of the industry is to be found in a lancet window in St Mary’s church, by the green. It was made in 1916 using 427 fragments of glass gathered from three sites around the village by the Rev Stephen Cooper, a former curate. It is said that during World War I old slag from the glassworks was used to surface the roads around Cranleigh, which then glittered in the sun when newly-repaired!
The Crown Inn reckons it is one of England’s oldest public houses, claiming to have been founded around 1250 as a guesthouse for travellers to Waverley Abbey. This, however, can only be conjecture. The earliest documentary evidence is dated March 22nd, 1383, a title deed, a copy of which hangs in the inn. It is also claimed that King Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth I stayed there while they were on their travels. The Swan Inn, just around the corner, cannot boast such illustrious visitors, but it does keep pigs in its outbuildings and garden!
The village green comes complete with a not-so-unusual pond and a rather-more-scarce working blacksmith’s forge. The milestone on the green notes that the village is just 38 miles from Hyde Park Corner.
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