Domesday book from 1086 records Woking manor as originally being held by Edward the Confessor, passing automatically to King William I in 1066. Near the end of the 12th century King Richard I granted the manor to Alan, Lord Basset of Witcomb (modern day High Wycombe). At the time, he was one of the great men of the kingdom and his name appears in the Magna Carta. He decided to establish a new manorial centre on an area of higher ground, to escape the regular inundation of the rest of the floodplain of the River Wey.
It was an excellent choice for a moated manor of the type that had then become newly fashionable, since the channelling of water to create the moats could be readily achieved. The earliest finds from excavations at the site include pottery and coins showing that occupation on the site begun around by 1200. The short cross penny pictured here dates to between 1194 and 1204, and is contemporary with the earliest occupation of the site.
From around 1189 to 1503 the manor of Woking was in the possession of a succession of great families, the Bassets, followed by the Despensers, Kents, Hollands and finally the Beauforts. These families had close connections to the royal family, often by blood, but these links sometimes proved hazardous, with Gilbert Basset in 1233 being declared an outlaw, and 5 of the Despenser family being executed for treason.
Continue to follow the road.
Images: Woking Palace popular booklet by Rob Poulton and Giles Pattison, Surrey County Archaeological Unit
