Frimley
| Frimley | |
|---|---|
 High Street looking East | |
| Population | 12,739 (2001 census) |
| OS grid reference | SU875578 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Camberley |
| Postcode district | GU16 |
| Dialling code | 01276, 01252 |
| Police | Surrey |
| Fire | Surrey |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| UK Parliament | |
Frimley is a small English town situated 2 miles (3 km) south of Camberley, in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire. It is about 31 miles (50 km) west south-west of London. It is part of the urban district Frimley and Camberley. The town is connected to the M3 motorway by the Blackwater Valley Road and the Frimley bypass.
Frimley Green is a neighbouring village which has hosted the British Darts Organisation’s (BDO) World Professional Darts Championship since 1986 each January in the Lakeside complex.
History
The name Frimley is derived from the Saxon name Fremma's Lea, which means "Fremma's clearing". The land was owned by Chertsey Abbey from 673 to 1537 and was a farming village.[1] More recently it was a coach stop on the main London to Portsmouth road for about four hundred years.
Frimley was not listed in Domesday Book of 1086, but is shown on the map as Fremely, its spelling in 933AD.[2]
Frimley lunatic asylum was opened in 1799; it catered for both male and female patients, and received four patients from Great Fosters. Magistrates visited in 1807 and ordered the proprietors to stop chaining the patients.[3]
An 1811 inventory from Frimley Workhouse can be seen on the Surrey County Council website.
The present St. Peter's Church was built in 1837 replacing earlier buildings. The building has a balcony running around three sides of the interior. Dame Ethel Smyth once preached from the pulpit.[4]
In 1904, the Brompton Hospital Sanatorium was established in Frimley to treat tuberculosis patients; it closed in 1985. Dr Marcus Sinclair Paterson (1870-1932) was the first medical superintendent, and he developed a system of treatment called 'graduated labour' which generated a lot of interest from other health professionals. The treatment used controlled levels of physical activity.[5]
In 1959 the Cadet Training Centre at Frimley Park was formed following the 1957 publication of the Amery Report.[6]
Facilities
The main shopping street includes a branch of Waitrose and some smaller shops, several restaurants, banks, charity shops, a post office, a number of estate agents, solicitors, opticians, betting shops, an insurance broker and two public houses, the Railway Arms and the White Hart. Frimley Park Hospital is situated in the town. One of the major employers in the town is BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies, which occupies a building in Lyon Way. Siemens opened its main UK headquarters in Frimley in 2007.
Transport
Frimley railway station provides access to Guildford, Ascot and London Waterloo. Frimley Lodge Park Railway is also nearby.
Education
There are a number of schools in Frimley including: The Grove Primary School, Lakeside Primary School, Ravenscote Junior School, Tomlinscote School and 6th Form College and St Augustines RC Primary School.
Sport
Frimley Town Football Club was formed over 100 years ago. It runs four teams, and the first team competes in the Senior Division of the Aldershot & District Football League. The club is based at Chobham Road recreation ground.[7]
Famous people
Births
- James Cobbett, famous cricketer and considered by many as the finest all-rounder of his day, was born in Frimley on January 12, 1804.[8]
- Frimley Park Hospital was the birth place in 1979 of Jonny Wilkinson, a fly-half for England Rugby Union and one of the most famous players in international professional rugby[9] and Lady Louise Windsor in 2003.
- Jonny Wilkinson's England team-mate Toby Flood was born in Frimley[10] in 1985.
- Christopher Charles Benham (cricketer) was born in Frimley on 24 March 1983. He currently plays county cricket for Hampshire.[11]
- Jyoti Guptara and Suresh Guptara, young novelists of British and Indian heritage, were born in Frimley.
- John McFall, British Paralympic sprinter, was born on 25 April 1981 in Frimley.
- Other sportsmen born in Frimley include cricketers James Lawrell (born 1780) and Richard Ingleby Jefferson (born 1941); and footballers Vic Niblett (born 1924) and Martin Kuhl (born 1965).
Residents
Dame Ethel Smyth, English composer and suffragette grew up in Frimley. Her family moved to the town in 1867 when her father was given command of the Royal Artillery at Aldershot.[12] Daphne du Maurier wrote most of her fourth novel, Jamaica Inn, in 1935 in Frimley where her soldier husband Frederick Browning was based.[13]
Deaths
Notable people buried in the churchyard of St. Peter's Church, Frimley[4] include:
- John Frederick Lewis (d. 1876), a British 19th-century painter
- Bret Harte (d. 1902), the American author[14]
- William George Cubitt (d. 1903), who won the Victoria Cross in the Indian Mutiny for saving three men's lives at the risk of his own during the retreat from Chinhut
- Charles Wellington Furse (d. 1904) a British 19th-century painter
- Sir Doveton Sturdee (d. 1925) a British admiral who decisively defeated the German squadron under Graf Maximilian von Spee at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914, for which he was made a baronet
- George Edward Lodge, British illustrator of birds and an authority on falconry, died in Frimley on 5 February 1954.
Literary mentions
In one of the "Just William" books by Richmal Crompton, William visits an aunt in Frimley for a few days.[15]
Charles Kingsley refers to "a series of Letters on the Frimley murder" in his Alton Locke, Tailor And Poet[16]
There is a brief mention of Frimley in Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes in the short story Crouch End. It reads: 'He did indeed move into council housing, a two-above-the-shops in Frimley'.
In The Reminiscences of Sir Henry Hawkins (Baron Brampton), chapter 18 tells of the trial of a bricklayer who, in a prize fight on Frimley Common, unfortunately killed his opponent. He appeared in court dressed as a young clergyman and was found innocent of the manslaughter charge because of doubts over his identity.[17]
References
- ^ Surrey Heath Borough Council (2005). "History of Surrey Heath". surreyheath.gov.uk. Retrieved 2006-05-19.
- ^ John Garnons Williams (2000-09-10). Surrey Domesday Book "Domesday Sudrie (Surrey) - The Domesday entries for and the meanings of the Domesday place-names appearing on the Surrey historical map". Domesday Collection. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Andrew Roberts (2002). "Part of the Asylums Index: South East England". The Lunacy Commission, a study of its origin, emergence and character. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
- ^ a b The Parish Office. "St Peter's Church". The Parish of Frimley. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
- ^ Julie Tancell (2001). "National Heart and Lung Institute". AIM25: Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
- ^ "History". Sussex Army Cadet Force. 2003. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
- ^ Pete Bass (2006). "Frimley Town FC - 2005/06". Web-Teams. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
- ^ "Cricinfo - Players and Officials - James Cobbett". cricinfoengland. 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-19.
- ^ "Jonny Wilkinson: A Who2 Profile". WHO2?. 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-19.
- ^ "The Toby Flood interview". BBC Tyne. 2006. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
- ^ "Chris Benham, England". Cricinfo - County Cricket 2008. 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
- ^ "Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)". Literary Encyclopedia. 2004. Retrieved 2006-05-19.
- ^ Ann Willmore (2002). "Review of Jamaica Inn". Daphne du Maurier Book Reviews. Retrieved 2006-05-24.
- ^ "Bret Harte - Biography and Works". The Literature Network. 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-19.
- ^ Gert (2003). "Comments". mad musings of me. Retrieved 2007-02-18.
- ^ "Alton Locke, Tailor And Poet by Rev. Charles Kingsley et al. - Full Text Free Book (Part 1/10)". Fullbooks. Retrieved 2006-05-23.
- ^ Brampton, Henry Hawkins. "XVIII. The Prize-Fight on Frimley Common". In Richard Harris, K.C. (ed.). The Reminiscences Of Sir Henry Hawkins (Baron Brampton). Retrieved 2008-10-11.
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