Heritage Leatherhead

This year's heritage trail, started the weekend previously and noticed at reference 1, finished up at Leatherhead, with the old building called the Mansion as the focus. The main part of which building now does the registration of births, deaths and marriages, with the library in a wing adjacent.

Parked down by the Mole, in the Pay-and-Display next to the historic public house, now called the Running Horse and not on the heritage day menu. Rather, we headed up the hill, mostly through what had been the back garden of the Mansion, taking in the curious bottlebrush like bush snapped above, to pay a visit to the small Leatherhead Museum, occasionally open and, as it turned out, more interesting than the rather bigger museum in Dorking. Maybe it is all a matter of how one feels on the day.

We started off by chattering to the lady trusty about how much of the stuff now to be found in such places was to be found in our homes when we were small. This chatter being promoted by a pair of wooden laundry tongs, more or less identical to the one's my mother used for fishing stuff out of the washing machine and dumping it in the massive sink adjacent.

From where I moved onto the industrial department to admire this clock from the Magneta Time Co. Ltd, a company that appears to have gone in for master-slave clock systems, time keeping clocks and various sound equipment. See reference 3.

From there to admire the display built around Ronson, once the big employer in the town. Big enough to run to their own chorus line. You can read all about it at reference 4, if you can put up with the deadening infestation of advertising material, some of it paid for by the people from whom we rent cottages from Dartmoor.

Next stop the small display in the Library about the Mansion house, where I turned the pages of the sales particular for its sale in 1903. It seems that one of the things the prospective purchasers would want to know about were sporting facilities of the area, that is to say golf, horse racing and horse hunting. It seems that this last need was met by the Surrey Union and the West Surrey Hounds. I am happy to be able to report that the Surrey Union is still going strong, which is more than can be said for the Ronson factory.

A good chunk of the back garden is now a public park, running down to the Mole, bottom left in the snap above, but enough lawn and such has been left for wedding pictures. A mole which occasionally rises to flood into the houses at the bottom of the hill, top left.

Closed with a quick look inside what had been a theatre when we first came to Epsom, but which now muddles along, mainly on a diet of films. I suppose there must be lots of such places, all over the country, with the appetite for such theatre having been killed off by television. Along with all the repertory companies of luvvies which used to serve them. Being in a prosperous area - refugees from the East end notwithstanding - with plenty of well off - not to say rich - people being no defence.

Once a cinema, now a fine example of the concrete art of the 1960's. Art for which I have always had a soft spot. From where I associated to the concrete art of the rather later National Theatre on the South Bank, a place we have not visited for a long time. But not more than four years ago, as can be seen from reference 6.

Access to the church denied. They clearly missed out on the heritage message. Not in the heritage loop. As far as I can remember, a curious place inside, on more than one level. There are also the unusual dormer windows to the nave roof, presumably a Victorian embellishment.

Running Horse declined, and back home in time for a light lunch.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/09/heritage-dorking.html.

Reference 2: https://www.running-horse.co.uk/. Public car park cunningly excluded.

Reference 3: https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Magneta_Time_Co.

Reference 4: https://www.company-histories.com/Ronson-PLC-Company-History.html.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorndike_Theatre. A rather slim entry.

Reference 6: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/05/hell.html.