Visit Dorking Places

Welcome to Visit Dorking Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Dorking

  

Dorking Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Dorking

---

Dorking culture & places

Art

The Arts Society Dorking promotes local art appreciation and the preservation of the town’s artistic heritage. The Dork Group of Artists, established in 1947, exhibits locally twice a year.

Leith Hill Musical Festival

Three-day Leith Hill Musical Festival for amateur choral societies was founded in 1905. Ralph Vaughan Williams was the Festival Conductor until 1953, currently held by Jonathan Willcocks.

Recording studios

Strawberry Studios South was opened in 1976, in a former cinema in South Street. Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart of the band 10cc recorded the album, Deceptive Bends there. Paul McCartney recorded part of “Ebony and Ivory” (a duet with Stevie Wonder) there.

Literature

The Battle of Dorking, a novella written by Lt. Col. Sir George Tomkyns Chesney in 1871, was set in the town. Benjamin Disraeli wrote part of his political novel Coningsby while staying at Deepdene.

Dorking toponymy

Early spellings include Dorchinges (1086), Doreking (1138–47), Dorkinges (1180), and Dorkingg (1219) Both principal elements in the name are disputed. The first element may be from a personal name, Deorc, or some variant of either Brittonic or Old English origin. Alternatively it may derive from the Brittonic words Dorce, a river name meaning “clear, bright stream”, or duro, meaning a “fort” or “gated place”

Dorking geography / climate

Location and topography

Dorking lies in central Surrey, approximately 34 km (21 mi) south of London and 17 km (11 mi) east of Guildford. It is close to the intersection of two valleys – the north-south Mole Gap and the west-east Vale of Holmesdale. The highest point in the town is the Glory Wood, south east of the centre, where the summit is marked by a Bronze Age bowl barrow.

Geology

The rock strata on which Dorking sits, belong primarily to the Lower Greensand Group. This group is multilayered and includes the sandy Hythe Beds, the clayey Sandgate Beds and the quartz-rich Folkestone Beds. The lower greensand was deposited in the early Cretaceous, most likely in a shallow sea with low oxygen levels. Over the subsequent 50 million years, other strata, including Gault clay, Upper Greensand and the chalk of the North and South Downs.

You can visit Dorking places with Walkfo Dorking to hear history at Dorking’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Dorking has 32 places to visit in our interactive Dorking map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Dorking, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Dorking places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Dorking & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 32 audio facts unique to Dorking places in an interactive Dorking map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Dorking Places Map
32 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

---

–

Dorking historic spots	Dorking tourist destinations	Dorking plaques	Dorking geographic features
Walkfo Dorking tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Dorking

  

Best Dorking places to visit

---

Dorking has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Dorking’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Dorking’s information audio spots:

St Joseph’s Church, Dorking St Joseph’s Church is a Roman Catholic Church in Dorking, Surrey. It was founded in 1872 with help from the Duke of Norfolk. It is situated in Falkland Grove in the town.

Dorking Caves The Dorking Caves are a network of manmade tunnels excavated in the soft sandstone of the Upper Greensand deposits beneath Dorkling in Surrey, England.

Deepdene House and Gardens Deepdene was an estate and country house occupying land to the southeast of Dorking, Surrey, England. The remains of the gardens are Grade II* listed with the adjoining Chart Park.

St Martin’s Church, Dorking St Martin’s Church is an Anglican parish church in Dorking, Surrey. It is a Grade II* listed building and surviving parts of the structure date back to the Middle Ages. It was refurbished to the designs of Henry Woodyer.

Vale of Holmesdale Holmesdale is a valley in South-East England that falls between the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge of the Weald. It stretches from Folkestone on the Kent coast, through Ashford, Harrietsham, Maidstone, Redhill, Reigate, Dorking, Gomshall, and Guildford.

Dorking West railway station Dorking West is one of three stations serving the town (Dorking Deepdene) It is 30 miles 42 chains (49.13 km) measured from London Charing Cross via Redhill. The station is unstaffed, and there is no ticket office at the station.

South Holmwood South Holmwood is a semi-rural village in Surrey, England. Centred 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Dorking, it is on the A24 London to Worthing road, a dual carriageway through the village. It can be considered cognate with its wider civil parish of Capel, which stretches to the east.

Pipp Brook The Pipp Brook is a left-bank tributary of the River Mole in Surrey. It rises at two main springs north of Leith Hill on the Greensand Ridge. It descends steeply in a northward direction before flowing eastwards along the Vale of Holmesdale. It discharges into the Mole at Pixham, Surrey.

Denbies Wine Estate Denbies Wine Estate, near Dorking, Surrey, has the largest vineyard in England. It has 265 acres under vines, representing more than 10 per cent of the plantings in the whole of the UK.

Juniper Hall Juniper Hall is an 18th-century country house on the east slopes of Mickleham in the deep Mole Gap of the North Downs in Surrey. Opened as a field centre in 1947, it was one of the original four opened by the Field Studies Council.

Visit Dorking plaques