Charlwood is a village and civil parish in the far southern reaches of Surrey whose village church is less than a mile from the western end of the runway as the crow (or jet plane!) flies at Gatwick Airport which, until very recently, was the busiest single runway airport in the world. This proximity to London’s second airport has resulted in the village living with the threat of total destruction as a consequence of airport expansion since the 1970s.

Home to a little under 2,500 people, Charlwood is a village of Saxon origin (‘The Wood of the Ceorls’; a freeman with the right to bear arms) and, in common with many ancient towns and villages across The Weald, early settlers were drawn to the area by the abundance of iron ore to be found below ground and the timber, required to smelt and forge that ore, that was growing above.

This page is an index of the historical buildings and curiosities that I have photographed and investigated within the modern boundaries of the parish. This will be a work in progress so please bookmark and visit regularly for updates.