Norbury Park

 

Braemar Road?

Colebrook Road?

Druids Grove

Irregular Avenue of ancient yews

Melrose Road?

Norbury Park

‘Norbury Park’, marked thus on the Ordnance Survey map of 1876, was formerly the grounds of Norbury Hall.  Yew and beech. Slopes to farmland with orienteering course. lots of wild life including deer. In the 18th walnut trees on  the estate were stripped to make musket stocks for the army.

Norbury Park.  Large house of 1775 on a wooded bluff. purchased for the nation by the Surrey County Council in 1930. it stands on the summit of a hill It has a fine view of the River Mole meandering through the park.  The house is a white bulk with a sweep of lawns. It was built in 1774 by the Locke family  and in 1890 bought bt Leopold Saloman and was at once time the home of Humphrey V. Roe, husband of Marie Stopes who was here until 1957.

Icehouse Combe. This is a rectangular structure with flint walls and natural chalk floor. It is set in the hillside by Icehouse Combe; its roof has fallen in.

Druid's Grove George Meredith wrote in 1869 'anyone walking under the yews should remember that they were saplings when Jesus Christ came to earth'. Brailey, in his History of Surrey (1850) wrote: 'Many of these yews are of great age and venerable aspect, and of a girth seldom equalled.  'John Lowe documented the Druids Grove in 1897. It would seem that some of the oldest trees were planted to form a rough avenue. There are also many scattered trees growing in fairly dense undergrowth, along with box. The great storm of 1987 and the further storm in 1990 had a detrimental effect on the grove. Trees were uprooted and much damage was caused to the crowns of the yews. The trees have largely been left alone with little tidying up, deliberately, to see what happens in regrowth. Much debate has surrounded the origin of the Druids Grove but it is clear the trees are extremely old and the name they take goes back into the mists of time and may well be connected with the Celtic Druids of pre-Christian times.

Palmers Road?

Tylecroft Road?

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