Editing Cranleigh (section)

===Early history===
Partly on the [[Greensand Ridge]], where it rises to {{convert|700|ft|m}} at Winterfold Hill, but mainly on the clay and sandstone Lower [[Weald]], Cranleigh has little of [[prehistoric]] or [[Roman Britain|Roman]] interest, whereas just across the east border Wykehurst and Rapley Farms have Roman buildings and Roman Tile Kilns – in the parish of [[Ewhurst, Surrey|Ewhurst]]. A spur of the Roman road between [[London]] and [[Chichester]] runs north west to Guildford past nearby [[Farley Heath]] in [[Farley Green, Surrey|Farley Green]], a temple site. Cranleigh was not mentioned in the [[Domesday Book]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/places/surrey/waverley/cranleigh/ |title=Cranleigh |access-date=17 December 2019 |archive-date=9 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509115624/https://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/places/surrey/waverley/cranleigh/ |url-status=live }}</ref> at that time being part of the manor of [[Shere]].

The [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] parish church of [[Saint Nicholas|St Nicolas]] dates the first building on its site from around 1170, and the building was in its present form by the mid-14th century. It was extensively [[Victorian restoration|restored]] in 1847. The church has a gargoyle, on a pillar inside the church, which is said to have inspired [[Lewis Carroll]], who lived in Guildford, to create the [[Cheshire Cat]].<ref>''Around Cranleigh'', p11.</ref> With the growth of the village, a "daughter" church, [[Saint Andrew|St Andrew's]], opened at the west end of the village in 1900 but it closed some sixty years later. The parish is in the [[Diocese]] of Guildford.

The 16th century Boy & Donkey pub, on Knowle Road outside the village, was taken over in the mid-19th century by Hodgsons of Kingston, later [[Courage Brewery|Courage]], and remained in business until the early 1990s. It was sold to Morland of Abingdon who later closed it. The building was converted into a private home.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://whatpub.com/pubs/REI/73/boy-donkey-cranleigh |title=Boy & Donkey Knowle Road |date=11 July 2007 |publisher=What Pub |access-date=16 December 2019 |archive-date=17 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217023225/https://whatpub.com/pubs/REI/73/boy-donkey-cranleigh |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Oliver Cromwell]] visited Knowle House in 1657, his soldiers being billeted in houses in the village.<ref>''Around Cranleigh'', p7.</ref>