Dunsfold is a
villageA village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town or city. Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in...
in the
WaverleyWaverley is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. The borough's headquarters are in the town of Godalming, although the largest town is Farnham...
district of the county of
SurreySurrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, 8.7 miles (14 kilometres) south of
GuildfordGuildford is the county town of Surrey, England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
. The census area
ChiddingfoldChiddingfold is a village and civil parish in the heart of The Weald in the Waverley district of Surrey, England. It lies on the A283 between Milford and Petworth...
and Dunsfold has a population of 3,812.
The village's name was recorded as
Duntesfaude in 1259,
Duntesfaud in 1272 and
Duntesfalde in 1291, apparently meaning
Dunt's fold. Alternatively it may be derived from the
Old EnglishOld English , also called Anglo-Saxon, is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary...
dun (hill, cf.
Dunsfold is a
villageA village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town or city. Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in...
in the
WaverleyWaverley is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. The borough's headquarters are in the town of Godalming, although the largest town is Farnham...
district of the county of
SurreySurrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, 8.7 miles (14 kilometres) south of
GuildfordGuildford is the county town of Surrey, England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
. The census area
ChiddingfoldChiddingfold is a village and civil parish in the heart of The Weald in the Waverley district of Surrey, England. It lies on the A283 between Milford and Petworth...
and Dunsfold has a population of 3,812.
History
The village's name was recorded as
Duntesfaude in 1259,
Duntesfaud in 1272 and
Duntesfalde in 1291, apparently meaning
Dunt's fold. Alternatively it may be derived from the
Old EnglishOld English , also called Anglo-Saxon, is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary...
dun (hill, cf. down) and
fold (enclosure) - folding or enclosing being a way of moving sheep around the land to graze off crops remains previously harvested. It is a practice still followed on some of the farmland around the village. There are some prize-winning Aberdeen Angus cattle farmed here but the last dairy herd has now closed.
St Mary & All Saints' Church is a Norman building, containing the oldest
pewA pew is a long bench seat used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church.Churches were not commonly furnished with permanent pews before the coming of the Protestant Reformation. The rise of the sermon as a central act of Christian worship, especially in Protestantism, made the...
s in England. The nearby Holy Well was formerly a site of pilgrimage and its waters were thought to cure diseases of the eye. It is further thought that the well may be a pre-Christian site and the church itself may be constructed on a man-made hill of pre-Christian origin. The current rector is Paul Jenkins who has been installed since 23/01/2007
Common House is a medieval hall which dates from circa 1500 and is of architectural importance. The village has many other houses of architectural interest including The Sun Inn public house, set back from the Common, parts of which are clearly ancient particularly the rear bar.
The village has one of the best-kept cricket pitches in the area for a village club and holds matches throughout the season, usually on Sunday afternoons.
The village was a site of
ironIron is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a group 8 and period 4 element and is therefore classified as a transition metal. Iron and iron alloys are by far the most common metals and the most common ferromagnetic materials in everyday use...
-working in the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
. Later, Dunsfold benefited from the construction of the
Wey and Arun CanalThe Wey and Arun Canal is a 23-mile-long canal in the south of England, between the River Wey at Shalford, Surrey and the River Arun at Pallingham, in West Sussex...
, and
Dunsfold AerodromeDunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, England was built by the Royal Canadian Army and civilian contractors as an A Class Bomber Airfield for Army Co-operation Command...
.
Dunsfold Park
The airstrip was built by the Royal Canadian Army during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as an emergency landing airfield. After the war the airfield was used to repatriate prisoners of war. Dunsfold was declared inactive in 1946 but was used again in 1948 and 1949 as part of the Berlin Airlift. In 1950 The Hawker Aircraft Company acquired the lease of the site.
In October 1960 the then Hawker Siddeley flight tested its
Hawker P.1127The Hawker P.1127 and the Hawker Siddeley Kestrel FGA.1 were the development aircraft that led to the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first VSTOL jet fighter-bomber.-Background:...
prototype, the development aircraft that led to the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first
VTOLVTOL is an abbreviation for Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft. See also V/STOL. This classification includes fixed-wing aircraft that can hover, take off and land vertically as well as helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as tiltrotors...
jet fighter bomber. Final assembly of the Harrier and the
HawkThe BAE Systems Hawk is a British single engine, advanced jet trainer aircraft. It first flew in 1974 as the Hawker Siddeley Hawk. The Hawk is used by the Royal Air Force, and other air forces, as either a trainer or a low-cost combat aircraft...
trainer aircraft was at Dunsfold. Hawker Siddelely became part of
British AerospaceBritish Aerospace was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. In 1999 it purchased Marconi Electronic Systems, the defence electronics and naval shipbuilding subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc, to form BAE Systems....
in 1977. On 2 July 1986 British Aerospace's deputy chief test pilot Jim Hawkins was killed at Dunsfold when his developmental Hawk 200 crashed. On 24 June 1999 British Aerospace announced the closure of Dunsfold as part of a restructuring; Hawk final assembly had been transferred to Warton in 1988 and Harrier production finished in 1998.
Post-British Aerospace
In 2002,
BAE SystemsBAE Systems plc is a British defence, security and aerospace company headquartered in Farnborough, Hampshire, England, that has global interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is the world's second-largest defence contractor and the largest in Europe...
(British Aerospace's successor) sold Dunsfold Park to The Rutland Group and
The Royal Bank of ScotlandThe Royal Bank of Scotland Group is a British banking and insurance holding company in which HM Treasury holds a 70.33% controlling shareholding, through UK Financial Investments Limited...
forming
Dunsfold Park Ltd with the intention of developing the site as Britain' s most sustainable village with 2500 homes. Since 2002, the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
motoring show
Top GearTop Gear is a BBC television series about motor vehicles, primarily cars. It began in 1977 as a conventional motoring magazine show. Over time, and especially since a relaunch in 2002, it has developed a quirky, humorous style. The show is currently presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond...
has been recorded at the park using the former paint shop as a studio and parts of the runways and taxiways of the aerodrome as a
test trackThe Top Gear test track is used by the BBC automotive television programme Top Gear. Located in Dunsfold Park in Surrey, United Kingdom, it was partly designed by Lotus...
.
Since June 2007 Dunsfold Park has been home of the
Surrey Air Ambulance ServiceThe South East Coast Ambulance Service is the NHS Ambulance Services Trust for south-eastern England, covering Kent , Surrey, West Sussex and East Sussex...
. Dunsfold Park is the home to Wings & Wheels, an air and motor show that has been running for many years now and typically held in late August. Currently run by the site owners, Dunsfold Park Ltd, it will continue until the park is redeveloped.
747
A Boeing 747-200 which served with
British AirwaysBritish Airways plc is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Waterside near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport and is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations. Its second hub is London Gatwick...
until 2002 as
City of Birmingham,
G-BDXJG-BDXJ is the registration of a Boeing 747-236B aircraft purchased by British Airways in 1980, which after retirement found a new life as a film prop.-Aircraft history:...
, was purchased by Aces High Limited, a company specialising in supplying aircraft for television and film work, and transferred to Dunsfold.
It was modified and used for filming for the 2006
James BondJames Bond 007 is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. The character has also been used in the longest running and most financially successful English language film franchise to date, starting in 1962 with Dr...
film
Casino RoyaleCasino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond series; it was directed by Martin Campbell and the first to star Daniel Craig as MI6 agent James Bond. Based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, it was adapted by screenwriters Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis...
. Some of the scenes set at
Miami International AirportMiami International Airport , also known as Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the Miami Metropolitan Area. The airport is located eight miles northwest of the central business district of Miami, in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States...
were filmed at Dunsfold. It has also appeared in the background of numerous
Top Gear episodes and directly in an episode where it is towed by a
JCB FastracThe Fastrac is a high speed agricultural tractor manufactured by JCB Landpower, part of the J. C. Bamford group of companies.Production began in 1991, with continual development to the present day. Generally the maximum speed of most models is 40mph but other speeds both slower and faster are...
tractor. It was also towed by a
VolkswagenThe Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft , also known as Volkswagen Group or as VW, is an automobile manufacturer and mobility organisation based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany and is the pioneer brand within the Volkswagen Group, which contains the car brands Audi AG, Bentley Motors Ltd.,...
Touareg in a 2006
Fifth Gear episode, the same year that the modified aircraft and Dunsfold Airfield were featured in a television advertisement filmed for the
Volkswagen TouaregThe Volkswagen Touareg is a mid-size luxury sport utility vehicle produced by German automaker Volkswagen Passenger Cars since 2002. It was the third sport utility vehicle from the automaker, after the much older Volkswagen 181 "Kurierwagen", and the Iltis .-Pronunciation:The correct German...
, demonstrating the vehicle's towing ability. In 2008 it featured in an episode of
Scrapheap ChallengeScrapheap Challenge is an engineering game show produced by RDF Media and broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK. In the show, teams of contestants have 10 hours in which to build a working machine that can do a specific task, using materials available in a scrapheap. The format has been exported to...
in which contestants created machines to tow the aircraft. Modifications to the aircraft include the removal of the existing
Rolls RoyceRolls-Royce plc is a British aircraft engine maker, and the second-largest in the world, behind GE Aviation. The company has related businesses in the defence aerospace, marine and energy markets....
engines and replacement with twin mount engines, similar to those fitted to aircraft such as the B-52 Heavy Bomber.
The aircraft was a major feature in
PrimevalPrimeval is a British science fiction television series.Primeval or primæval may also refer to:* Primeval , a 2007 film* Primeval , a score of music from the BBC TV series Doctor Who...
on the 18 April 2009, in which it was nearly eaten by a dinosaur.
Future
In 2006, the owners of Dunsfold Park proposed the construction of a new town with 2,600 homes on the site, a school, health services, public transport and road links to the A281, and an expanded business district. One of the largest construction projects in Surrey, it would result in the closure and replacement of the aerodrome. A project of this kind and size is controversial, resulting in the formation of the
STOP Dunsfold Park New Town campaign.
In late 2007, Dunsfold Park Ltd. applied to have their plans for the new town selected as one of Gordon Brown's proposed "eco-towns". On 3 April 2008 Dunsfold Park was denied Eco-town status by the Housing Minister Caroline Flint. According to the Government's press release over 40 applications including Dunsfold Park were rejected "for being undeliverable or not ambitious enough to meet the high environmental and affordability standards set by Government."
External links