Pyrford | |
---|---|
Pyrford shown within Surrey | |
Population | 5,022 (2011 Census. Ward.) |
OS grid reference | TQ041583 |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Woking |
Postcode district | GU22 |
Dialling code | 01932 |
Police | Surrey |
Fire | Surrey |
Ambulance | South East Coast |
EU Parliament | South East England |
UK Parliament | |
Pyrford /ˈpɜːrfərd/ is a village in the borough of Woking in Surrey, England. It is on the left bank of the River Wey, around 2 miles (3.2 km) east of the town of Woking and just south of West Byfleet; the M25 motorway is north-east of the edge of the former parish. Pryford was also voted Britain's best village of 2016
The village sits on raised mixed heath soil, and has historical links with the abbey at Westminster, in whose possession it remained between the Norman conquest in 1066 and the Dissolution of the Monasteries nearly five hundred years later.
At the foot of slopes in the south of the area are agricultural flood plain pasture meadows bisected by the River Wey Navigation; the actual border is the River Wey itself (though slightly inaccurate as based on meanders as they were before 1820). Roads passing through the village include the B367 (Upshott Lane/Church Hill) and B382 (Old Woking Road). Open areas in the south and east of the village are designated Metropolitan Green Belt.
The current village name 'Pyrford' is derived from the Saxon dialect of Old English combined term 'Pyrianford', which scholarly research into Old English asserts means 'pear tree ford'.
Famous residents include the poet John Donne.
The Rowley Bristow Hospital from 1928 to 1991 was in Pyrford in the area now occupied by St Martin's Mews and St Nicholas Crescent.