Dunsfold straggles along a village green which is over half a mile long, and, as the buildings are set well back from the road, it has a very spacious look. The heart of the village is towards the south, where the green merges with the Common. The village church is some distance away – we shall pass it at the end of the ride. Apart from the green, one of the village’s claims to fame is its number of ponds. Once there were seven, but a couple have now been filled in. One, on the opposite side of the road to The Sun pub, has a cobbled bottom, allowing carts and cattle to be driven through to wash off the mud.
Have a walk around the village, taking a good look at Forge Cottage, between the pub and the shop. It is a rare example – only three are known in Surrey – of an aisled hall house, built like a barn with two rows of posts dividing the building into a nave and aisles. Note how the chimney doesn’t seem to match the style of the rest of the building. That’s because it was added much later; the original would have had only a smoke hole.
In 1992, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the airfield, a fascinating book entitled ‘Dunsfold – Before the Airfield’ was written and published by Alan Siney (4 The Riddens, Loxwood Road, Rudgwick, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 3DR). It covers the general history of both Dunsfold and the neighbouring villages, and looks at those places which were lost or dramatically altered by the airfield’s construction. The history of the airfield itsef is described in Dunsfold: Surrey's Most Secret Airfield, 1942-92 by Paul McCue.
The Church of St Mary and All Saints, Dunsfold, is built away from the rest of the village, giving rise to the idea that it might have taken over an earlier pagan site. The mound on which it stands could be artificial. The church dates from the 13th century and its quality suggests that royal masons may have been responsible for its construction.
William Morris went so far as to describe it as ‘the most beautiful country church in all England’. The pews are unusual in being as old as the church itself – most churches didn’t get them for another century or two, and these are the oldest in the country. The door is just as old, and shows that graffiti is not just a modern problem!
Look at the base of the wall just to the right of the porch, where you will see a chained oak plug, provided to allow water to drain away when the floor was washed. There are a couple more elsewhere in the walls. The yew tree in the churchyard, now heavily cut back, is probably older even than the church.
To reach the Holy Well, turn right out of the lychgate at the churchyard entrance and follow the track for about 100 yards to the bottom of the hill, where the well is on the left. Its water is said to have excellent healing properties for diseases of the eye. The shrine was erected by the Dunsfold Amateur Dramatic Society in 1933.
The well stands beside one of the branches of the River Arun; Himalayan balsam, or policeman’s helmet as it is often known, grows in profusion here. Its delicate white or pink flowers can be seen between July and October. A footpath continues past the well and along the riverbank, leading to the Mill House.
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