History

Buckland has grown steadily over the years, but at a much slower pace than the wider population.  The Census Records, we had 269 people in 1801, 500 in 1901 and about 600 in 2001.  Buckland is mentioned in the Domesday Book.  It was then owned by John of Tonbridge – who also owned about one-third of Surrey at the time.  Buckland had a church, water-mill and 35 heads of household, of which 17 farmed the land owned by the feudal lord, and 10 were servants of the Estate.

Since the thirteenth century, Buckland’s ‘Lord of the Manor’ has owned most of the land in the Parish, and they have bought and sold additional land in Reigate and Sidlow.  The Estate was last sold in 1653 for £5000, to George Browne, who had made his money mining ironstone ore in Kent.  The current Estate owner – Dominic Sanders (Dungates Estates Ltd) – has a family trace from George Browne to the present day, almost 350 years of inherited family line residence.  The Estate still owns over half the land of the Parish, managing farms, leasing a number of estate-owned houses and used to lease the mineral rights for sand extraction.

For such a small village, we have the unusual distinction of having had three village greens.  The oldest, on Lawrence Lane, is now farmed, but it used to be the site of the Workhouse (now Orchard Farm) and a pub (now a house called The Harvesters).  The second is ‘Rectory Green – the grassy area at the bottom of Rectory Lane – opposite Glebe House (the Old Vicarage) and Oak House.  The Green that we now know is one of the most picturesque in Surrey, with the pond, Towered Barn and Church opposite.

There are about 250 homes in the village, of which 28 are listed buildings, including the church, old manor house, Buckland Windmill, two barns, the gate-keepers cottage by the level crossing, and many old timber-framed farms and cottages.  The oldest surviving cottages in the village date from the 16th century, are on The Green by the pond.  Buckland Court, behind the church, was the Manor House until it was divided into separate houses in the 1950s.  Buckland has two pubs, The Pheasant and The Red Lion.