Q: Where can you find a 100 million year old marine fossil and 10,000 year old flint tools? A: in Wanborough, digging a vegetable patch. These discoveries in Wanborough, a hamlet on the flanks of the Hogs Back, led to the creation of a history exhibition, which is displayed in The Great Barn of Wanborough – built in 1388 by the Cistercian monks of Waverley Abbey. The exhibition is for all ages, has full colour illustrations, supported by videos, cartoons, artefacts that can be handled – including fossils, stone tools, bullet cases, even a Morse code machine. Free guided tours of the hamlet are also available.
Throughout the summer local residents welcome visitors and provide refreshments in the old barn, the largest wooden structure in Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire. Entry and parking is free and dogs are welcome.
Future Open Days:
26th July, 2pm-5pm – tea and cakes available for purchase,
30th August, 2pm-5pm – tea and cakes available for purchase,
11th and 12th September, 10am-5pm – Heritage Weekend – tea, cakes and lunch in the village hall are available for purchase.
The exhibition looks at how this landscape was created and how it attracted our early ancestors after the end of the last Ice Age. The hamlet has been occupied for over 10,000 years and as a result has a very rich history, much of which is preserved in the archaeological record or in historic documents;
- Roman occupation alongside the Celts – with farms, a Roman temple, villas and ironworks.
- Saxon settlers from the east and the birth of the English language and culture.
- The Norman’s vicious assault on the Guildford / Farnham area and the subsequent conquest and militarisation of England.
- The purchase of Wanborough Estate in 1190 by the Cistercian Monks of Waverley Abbey and its development as an Abbey Farm – complete with (a surviving) mediaeval church.
- The Civil War and the redevelopment of the Wanborough Estate in the 17’th century.
- Victorian Wanborough and its important residents and notable visitors – including Queen Victoria, other heads of state and Prime Ministers.
- The purchase after WWI of Wanborough Estate by William Perkins and its development as a modern mechanised farm.
- The Special Operations Executive, who requisitioned the Manor House in WWII and trained fluent French speakers as spies, radio operators and saboteurs, who were parachuted into occupied France.
Wanborough Barn is owned by Guildford Borough Council and managed by local residents through a Charitable Trust. Find out more at wanboroughgreatbarn.co.uk/
