Gatton, Surrey

Gatton was a former village and borough in Surrey, England, and an ancient parish. It survives as a sparsely populated, predominantly rural locality, which includes Gatton Park, no more than 12 houses, and two farms on the slopes of the North Downs near Reigate.

The parish lay within Reigate hundred.

Early forms of Gatton's name include Gatatune (recorded between 871 and 889) and Gatetuna (in 1121). The name is thought to mean "goat-farm". This may indicate either that the township had a specialised function (goat-farming) within the economy of a much larger Anglo-Saxon estate; or that it was required to make a specialised tribute obligation, in the form of goats, to its overlord.

Gatton appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Gatone. It was held by Herfrid from the Bishop of Bayeux. Its Domesday assets were: 2½ hides; 5 ploughlands; a church; 6 acres (24,000 m²) of meadow; and woodland and grazing for 7 pigs. It rendered £6.

From 1332 onwards Gatton was taxed as a town (at a higher rate than that payable by a village or rural settlement); and from 1450 part of the parish was the parliamentary borough of Gatton, sending two members to the House of Commons. However, there is no evidence of the late medieval settlement developing any other distinctively urban characteristics. Instead, the settlement shrank, and by the beginning of the 17th century the antiquary William Camden was able to describe it as "scarce a small village, though in times past it hath beene a famous towne". By 1831 the parliamentary borough had only seven voters and 23 houses, placing it among the most notorious of "rotten boroughs". It was abolished by the Reform Act of 1832.

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