Normandy Historians

Normandy in Surrey
About Normandy Historians

In 1987 Normandy Parish Council expressed its concern that knowledge and memories of past village life would be irretrievably lost with the demise of elderly residents, known to have been born or to have lived most of their life in Normandy. The Council together with a small group of residents who were keen to form a Local History Group met to consider how to alleviate the Council’s concern. The group launched the project to form a Society with terms of reference ‘to record and publish the last 100 years history of Normandy in a form acceptable to the Parish Council and for the Council to assist financially in the project’. The inaugural meeting of the Society (known as Normandy Historians) was held in July 1987 when a management team was elected.

The logo of the Society, now affectionately known as 'Norman', was first used for the Wanborough Station centenary celebration held in September 1991. ‘Norman’ is a caricature of a warrior symbolic of all local study groups, in that he is the Defender of the past and Herald of the future.

The principal object of the Society, to compile the history of the village, was achieved in July 2000 when the book 'A Century of Normandy in Surrey' was published. Society members have since written and published books on the prominent local houses at Normandy Park, Westwood Manor and Henley Park.

Normandy Historians holds monthly meetings at Normandy Village Hall on the third Tuesday evening, except January and during the summer months. There is usually a speaker giving an illustrated talk on a historical topic. Guests are welcome to these meetings. Additionally there are visits arranged to local places of interest. Details of membership and the extensive information about the history of Normandy can be found elsewhere on this website.

Please send any enquiries to

info@normandyhistorians.co.uk.

Why not join us?
Membership is only £10.00 for the year. Just download the membership form and fill it in and bring to one of our meetings with your cheque (Make your cheque payable to Normandy Historians) or post to the address on the form.
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of the month in the small hall of Normandy Village Hall
Manor Fruit Farm, Glaziers Lane, Normandy, Guildford GU3 2DD
and to start at 8pm Map
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Tuesday December 5th
Woking’s Railway
Alan Norris. His talk will cover the coming of the railway to Woking in 1838, the Brookwood Cemetery opened by the London Necropolis Company in the 1850s with special funeral trains from London, and the on-going effect on the development of the town.

2024

Tuesday February 20th
The Great Roof of Westminster Hall
Roy Waight will describe the structure and construction of the roof of this iconic building which was produced from Surrey oak trees and manufactured at Farnham.

Tuesday March 19th
Denmark Street, Soho
The heart of the Music business from the 1940’s to 1970’s
Presented by Malcolm Campbell

Tuesday April 16th
Sex and Parish Politics
Louise Falcini, a research fellow in history at Sussex University will give an insight into an aspect of early social history.

Tuesday May 21st
The Gentleman's Magazine
Julian Pooley of the Surrey History Centre will introduce an 18th century magazine featuring an early Panorama of Georgian Surrey for the Family and Local Historians.


"A Century of Normandy in Surrey"
Digital Book
Out now the digital version of the Normandy book "A Century of Normandy in Surrey".

This is a CD-Rom in PDF format and updated to "errata 7" and is available from Normandy Historians at only £7.50 plus p&p (£1.50 UK) or at our meetings.

If you would prefer you can Buy it Now with "PayPal"

"A History of Normandy Park in Surrey"

A History of Normandy Park in Surrey is presented as an attractive, glossy soft-back book with cover photo, composed of 114 pages of text, 25 figures and 63 black & white photos featuring Normandy Park house, neighbouring houses and the people who helped to shape that area of Normandy including the author's family.

Jack Kinder, the author demonstrates a unique and succinct style of writing, which coupled with his skill as a draughtsman, so ably demonstrated in the copious figures in the book, will not disappoint the reader.

Notwithstanding the excellence of his work, A History of Normandy Park in Surrey is a veritable tome of reference for family history researchers and for those who have an interest in the transformation and development of a village as its large fruit farms and nurseries disappeared from the rural scene in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

Available from Normandy Historians at only £9.50 plus p&p (£3.50 UK) or at our meetings.

If you would prefer you can Buy it Now with "PayPal"

"Henley Park in Surrey"
The History of a Royal Manor

Henley Park's long history spans over a thousand years from Saxon settlement through royal ownership and more than one stately mansion to a wartime factory and its last-minute rescue from ruin and collapse. New research has revealed the much-debated location of the medieval royal complex as well as a long-forgotten Jacobean-style mansion that predates the Georgian-style mansion that we know today. This history is described in a readable and informative style in our new publication: Henley Park in Surrey, the History of a Royal Manor, by John Squier.

John is an amateur historian who has lived in Normandy for 38 years and was a founder member of Normandy Historians. He has spent many years researching Henley Park since he discovered that his house was briefly part of its extensive estates.

An updated history of Henley Park has long been overdue and with nearly 200 pages of text and 123 illustrations, many in colour, we believe that this is a book worthy of the long and fascinating history of Normandy's most prestigious estate.

Available from Normandy Historians at only £10 plus p&p (£4.00 UK) or at our meetings.

If you would prefer you can Buy it Now with "PayPal"

Westwood, Normandy
The story of a Surrey Estate
By Pat Ashworth and Jack Kinder
Meticulously researched from papers held by the Coussmaker family and other records held by public bodies, the book traces the history of Westwood from early days. The growth and subsequent decline of the estate are chronicled; also the lives of the various members of the Coussmaker family who held Westwood for over two centuries and the contribution they made to the local community, in particular the founding of the church of St Mark, Wyke. The story is brought up to 1998 and describes the changes which have taken place since the sale of the estate and the house and their effect on Normandy.

140 pages with 27 line drawings and 34 photographs.
By kind permission of the publishers, Westwood Place Management Ltd.

You can download a pdf -FREE- (7.4mb)
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