Image: Holmbury St Mary Church

Description: St.Mary's church at Holmbury St.Mary, which overlooks the village from the heavily wooded backdrop of Holmbury Hill. Holmbury St.Mary is a small village near Abinger in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England located within the Hurtwood, the largest area of common land in Surrey. Nearby to the south is Holmbury Hill, which at 857 feet (261 m) is the fourth highest point in Surrey. The village itself is named after the hill and the large Victorian church at its heart. St Mary's church, which overlooks the village green, was built in 1879 by George Edmund Street who had built himself a large house in the village between 1873-76 known as Holmdale. Holmdale later became home to Thomas Catto, the Governor of the Bank of England from 1944 to 1949. From 1947 to 1986 the village was home to the Webb trust set up as a memorial to Beatrice Webb. Beatrice Webb House was opened by Clement Attlee and served as an important education and discussion facility for the Fabian society, Labour party and trade unions. The Fabian Window, designed by George Bernard Shaw (who co-founded the London School of Economics with Sidney and Beatrice Webb) hung in the house until it was stolen in 1978. The widnow was later recovered and is now on loan to the LSE. Holmbury-St-Mary is also home to the Mullard Space Science Laboratories (MSSL), the UK's largest university-based space science research group. MSSL is attached to University College London. The village has two schools, Belmont School and Hurtwood House, catering for ages 2 to 13 and 16 to 18 respectively. There are two pubs in the village, The Royal Oak and The King's Head. At weekends the village becomes very busy as it is popular with walkers, horse riders and mountain bikers. Holmbury St. Mary has its own annual bonfire and fireworks night in the Glade, made possible by local village men (The Bonfire Boys) who gather wood from the Hurtwood and put on a fireworks show on the weekend following Halloween. I'm one of the Bonfire Boys myself and it's always a great time of year when you invite your friends round for a traditional bonfire and a dinner at the house afterwards. Happy days. This is a very popular event in the village with thousands attending, and all profits are donated to charity. Holmbury St. Mary is believed to be the basis for the fictional village of Summer Street in 'A Room With A View'. Its author E.M. Forster was a longstanding resident in neighbouring Abinger Hammer. I have also uploaded a photo of the inside of holmbury st mary church
Title: Holmbury St Mary Church
Credit: Holmbury St Mary Church
Author: Johan J.Ingles-Le Nobel from Holmbury St.Mary, UK
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
License: CC BY 2.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes