Leatherhead Road, with Rushett Common alongside
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Leatherhead Road, with Rushett Common alongside by Marathon as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Leatherhead Road, with Rushett Common alongside
Image: © Marathon Taken: 21 May 2014
Travelling along the very busy Leatherhead Road, one has the impression that woodland is either side when in fact an agricultural landscape is just beyond the trees on either side. Rushett Common has existed much in its present shape since the beginning of the 19th century, except that it stretched further north than at present towards Hook. The Common is now mostly covered by mature oak woodland. The First Edition Ordnance Survey Map of 1866 shows Rushett Common with the same boundaries as today but showed that it was mostly rough pasture. The main route from Leatherhead and the Mickleham Gap to Kingston and its market lay along Leatherhead Road. Sheep and cattle would have been driven along it to market, stopping on the way to graze on the pasture of Rushett Common beside the trackway. This view looks towards Leatherhead.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
51.333197
Longitude
-0.322655