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Box Hill
In 1912, 94 hectares (230 acres) of Box Hill were offered for sale on the open market. Leopold Salomons of Norbury Park purchased it for the nation and gave it to the National Trust in 1914. Since then the Box Hill estate has expanded through purchase, legacies and gifts and today it covers some 490 hectares (1,200 acres), including Mickleham Downs.
Box Hill is one of the best-known summits of the North Downs and at 193 metres (634 feet) it is prominent in the landscape. The 120 metre high (394 feet) sheer chalk escarpment (called the Whites) has been cut away by the River Mole and is the finest natural river cliff in the county, if not in southern Britain. The cliff is so steep that the only trees that can get a foothold are box and yew.
People have visited Box Hill for centuries. The 17th-century diarist John Evelyn, who lived nearby for a time, noted on 27 August 1655:
"I went … to Box Hill to see those rare natural bowers, cabinets and shady walks in the box coppses … there are such godly walkes and hills shaded with yew and box as render the place extreamely agreeable, it seeming to be summer all the winter for many miles prospect."
The box trees that were evident even in Evelyn's day give Box Hill its name.
Daniel Defoe observed in 'A Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain' (1724-6) that: "Here every Sunday, during the summer season, there used to be a rendezvous of coaches and horsemen, with an abundance of gentlemen and ladies from Epsome to take the air, and walk in the box woods."
Jane Austen also referred to it in Emma: "We are going to Box Hill tomorrow … It is not Switzerland but it will be something for a young man so much in want of change." And in 1930 the television pioneer John Logie Baird conducted some of his early experiments on Box Hill.
To the Victorians Box Hill was literally a breath of fresh air and the advent of the railway in 1849 made easy access possible for large numbers of people. In 1971, it was declared an official Country Park, a measure that was intended to protect countryside near cities and give people a chance to enjoy the open air, with amenities which would encourage them to visit.
Box Hill provides a habitat for 40 out of the 58 British species of butterfly.
Facilities
- Refreshment servery
- National Trust shop
- Information centre
- Lavatories
Headley Heath
The wide expanse of Headley Heath is ideal for walking, cycling or horse-riding. It was given to the Trust in 1946 by the Lord of the Manor, Mr and Mrs Crookenden. Heath Plantation was added in 1952, a gift from the Warburg Family. Oyster Hill Wood was purchased with the help of local gifts and bequests in 1980.
Facilities
- Car park
- Non-National Trust catering van
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