1st century AD Hill ffrts
Remains of Iron-Age hill forts can be found in several places in Surrey

circa 300 Southwark
In Roman times the main town in Surrey is Southwark, now part of Greater London

circa 500 Saxons
In the 5th and 6th centuries Surrey is conquered and settled by Saxons

666 Chertsey Abbey
Chertsey Abbey is founded and soon becomes Surrey's most important religious institution in the Anglo-Saxon period

686 Monastery at Farnham
King Caedwalla of Wessex founds a monastery at Farnham

825 Wessex and Surrey
The small kingdom of Surrey is absorbed by Wessex

circa 1040 Tower of St Mary's in Guildford
The Anglo-Saxon tower of St Mary's in Guildford is the earliest surviving architectural feature in Surrey

circa 1060 Saxon thane in control
West Horsley Place (WHP) is one of many manors owned by Beorhtsige, a Saxon thane

1068 Beorhtsige survives
Beorhtsige survives the Norman Conquest but is deprived of all his manors

circa 1070 Walter FitzOtha
West Horsley is given to a Norman baron, Walter FitzOtha, who is also made responsible for Windsor Castle and changes the name of the family owning West Horsley to the more aristocratic De Windsor

circa 1080 Visit to Cluny
William de Warenne and his wife's visit to Cluny Abbey in France so impresses them that they decide to build Cluny Abbey in Lewes, England's earliest Cluniac establishment

1088 Earl of Surrey
William de Warenne, a keen supporter of William II in English dynastic wars, is created Earl of Surrey

circa 1090 Guildford Castle
Guildford Castle is built by Normans to subdue the Anglo-Saxons of the surrounding district

circa 1106 Southwark Priory
Southwark Priory is formed and eventually becomes Southwark Cathedral (now in London)

1128 Waverley Abbey
The first Cistercian monastery in England is Waverley Abbey, near Farnham

circa 1150 Farnham Castle
Farnham Castle is built as a residence for the Bishop of Winchester

12th and 13th c. Clearing of Weald
Population pressure causes the gradual clearing of the Weald, the forest spanning the borders of Surrey, Sussex and Kent

Circa 1200 Gilforte and Guildford
Gilforte, a variety of cloth exported all round Europe, derives its name from Guildford, its main centre of production

circa 1200 Guildford cloth
Guildford becomes an important early centre for the production of woollen cloth, thanks to deposits of fuller's earth

1215 Barons and king at Runnymede
John, the king of England, fixes his seal to Magna Carta, which the barons place before him in a meadow called Runnymede

Circa 1275 Owl and Nightingale
The Owl and the Nightingale, an early Middle English poem, is supposedly written by Nicholas of Guildford who features in the text

circa 1287 William of Ockham
The Franciscan friar William of Ockham is believed to have been born in the village of Ockham and as a philosopher is best known for the principle of Ockham's Razor

Circa 1330 Occam's Razor
A theory attributed to the philosopher William of Ockham that among rival conclusions the simplest one is likely to be right, thus applying a razor to unnecessary perplexities

1425 Northwest wing
The earliest surviving part of West Horsley Place has been dated by dendrochronology to 1425

circa 1425 West Horsley Place
West Horsley Place is a Tudor house with a brick facade of the 17th century, in a version of contemporary Dutch design in a style known as Artisan Mannerism

1499 First Richmond Palace
In Richmond a new palace on a grand scale is created for Henry VII, who also founds a Franciscan friary nearby

1509 Grammar School Guildford
The Royal Grammar is founded in Guildford and moves in 1552 to Upper High Street

1533 Henry VIII dines in the house
Henry VIII dines in the Great Hall of West Horsley Place as the guest of Henry Courtenay. Stewed sparrow, stork and heron feature on the lengthy menu

circa 1550 Earliest reference to cricket
A coroner, John Derrick, testifies that he and his friends played cricket at the Free School in Guildford, later the Royal Grammar School, in what is accepted as the earlest reference to the game

17-23 August 1559 Royal week in West Horsley Place
Elizabeth I spends a week at West Horsley Place, as guest of honour in festivities given to celebrate her recent accession to the throne

1562-1568 Losesley Park
This magnificent Tudor house southwest of Guildford is built by an ancestor of the More-Molyneux family, still its owners today

circa 1570 Bankside and Shakespeare
Early performances of plays by William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Johnson are presented on Bankside

circa 1600-1950 Twenty-four mills
The twenty-four mills identified in the Tillingbourne Valley provide power for industries as varied as gunpowder, paper for bank notes, iron-working, wire-making, fulling, tanning and and pumping waterumping water

circa 1600 onwards Valley of Tillingbourne
The Valley of Tillingbourne becomes a rich source of wealth in Surrey because of the increasing ease of transport to London via the rivers Wey and Thames

16th or 17th century Oakhurst
Oakhurst is a tiny cottage in Hambledon, restored by the National Trust as an example of a labourer's dwelling

1611 Guildford's George Abbot archbishop
George Abbot, son of a Guildford clothworker, becomes Archbishop of Canterbury

1619 Abbot's Hospital
George Abbot founds Abbot's Hospital, an almshouse in Guildford still in service today

1620 Evelyn in Wotton
The diarist John Evelyn is born in Wotton and spends much of his life there

1626 Gunpowder mills
Gunpowder mills are set up at Chilworth by the East India Company

Up to 1631 Kew Palace
Kew Palace is completed in Kew Gardens in a red-brick style deriving from Holland, which is for a while a new fashion in England

1642 Surrey in the Civil War
Surrey is mainly on the Parliamentary side in the English Civil War after Sir Richard Onslow raises a regiment for Parliament

1647 Levellers in Guildford
The first manifesto of the movement known as the Levellers is drafted in Guildford

1647 Putney Debates
The Putney Debates are held within Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army, at their headquarters in Putney, on the issue of a new constitution for Britain

Circa 1650 Slyfield Manor
A mid-17th house in the red-brick style, a fashion of the time deriving from Holland as seen also in the neighbouring West Horsley Place

1674 Onslow family
Arthur Onslow is made a baronet and for nearly two centuries his descendants are the dominant political network in Surrey

1685 Mitcham Cricket Club
Mitcham Cricket Club is founded and is the earliest documented club in the game's history

Circa 1730 Clandon
Construction begins of Clandon Park House, home of the Onslow family and given by them in 1956 to the National Trust, but very severely damaged by fire in 2015

circa 1750 Turnpike and stagecoach
Turnpike roads and a stagecoach system continue to open Surrey more to the influence of London

1756-7 Hatchlands Park
The interior of Hatchlands Park is designed by Stiff Leadbetter with superb details by Robert Adam. The house also contains the superb Cobbe Collection of historic musical instruments.

1780 The Derby
The Derby is held at Epsom Downs Racecourse and has almost invariably been held there ever since

circa 1800-1900 Population of London
By 1800 the population density of London has reached Vauxhall; a century later the spread of the city westwards engulfs Putney

1817 Dulwich gallery
An art collection given to Edward Alleyn's college in Dulwich is opened to visitors in 1817, becoming Britain's first public art gallery

1822 Cobbett Rural Rides
William Cobbett, born and raised in Farnham, begins to publish his Rural Rides in which Surrey features prominently

1830 Cobbett influence of devil
William Cobbett argues that the influence of the devil links Tillingbourne with two of the most damnable inventios - namely the making of gunpowder and of banknotes

1835 Ada marries
Lord Byron's daughter Ada has a strong with East Horsley. At the age 20 she marries Lord Lovelace, the designer and owner of Horsley Towers. a grand mansion which survives. It becomes her home.

circa 1836 Pickwick in Dorking
Dickens writes part of The Pickwick Papers while living in Dorking

1836 Pickwick Papers
While living in Dorking Dickens writes Pickwick Papers, published in 20 parts from March 1836

circa 1838 Railways
Railways are built throughout Surrey leading to the now familiar custom of commuting and greatly adding to Surrey's population and wealth.

Circa 1843 Coningsby
Disraeli writes Coningsby while living in Dorking

1843 Gertrude Jekyll born
Gertrude Jekyll, collector of plants for preservation and famous for her subtle gardens and collaboration with Lutyens, designs 400 gardens in Britain and Europe, many of them in Surrey

1845 Surrey County Cricket
The Surrey County Cricket Club is founded and is based from the start at the Oval in Kennington. It has won the County Championship 19 times, more than any other county except Yorkshire

1866 Molesey Boat Club
Molesey Boat Club is founded on the Thames and becomes the elite centre of British Rowing, with many Olympic champions, past and present, among its memberst

1869-1871 Middlemarch
George Eliot writes Middlemarch when living at Haslemere

Circa 1870 Through the Looking-Glass
Lewis Carroll spends much of his time at his sisters' home near Guildford and it is there that he writes Through the Looking-Glass

1871 Through the Looking Glass
Lewis Carroll writes Through the Looking Glass, a second story of Alice's adventures, while staying with his sisters in Guildford

circa 1873 Edwin Lutyens
Edwin Lutyens, who becomes famous for buildings in multiple styles around the world, grows up in the Surrey village of Thursley

1877 Wimbledon
The first Gentlemen's Championship in lawn tennis (singles only and underarm serving) is held at Wimbledon by the All England Croquet Club

1878 Woking crematorium
The first custom-built crematorium in Britain is established near Woking

1881 Godalming has own electricity
Godalming is the first town in the world with its own electricity supply, powered by a water wheel on the river Wey

1889 Mosque in Woking
The first purpose-built mosque in Britain, the Shah Jahan mosque, is built in Woking

1894 Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley is born and raised in Godalming, and the end of Brave New World is set in Surrey

1897-1907 Conan Doyle
Conan Doyle lives and writes in Hindhead, and Surrey is the setting for several Sherlock Holmes stories

1897 War of the Worlds
H.G. Wells writes The War of the Worlds while in Woking, and much of northern Surrey is laid waste in the story

Circa 1904 Peter Pan
J.M. Barrie lives in Tilford and bases Peter Pan in nearby countryside

1906 Polesden Lacey
The Regency house of Polesden Lacey is transformed to a magnificent Edwardian mansion for Margaret Greville, a famous society hostess who fills the house with her collection of fine paintings, furniture, porcelain and silver

1912 Sopwith Aviation
The Sopwith Aviation Company is formed in Ham, near Richmond

1920 Croydon Airport
Croydon Airport is opened and becomes for several years the main airport for London

1922 Golf
The Wentworth Golf Club is founded and its three eighteen-hole courses are now the location for many professional competitions at the highest level

1931 Chessington
Chessington Zoo opens and in 1987 is transformed, with help from Tussaud's, into one of the first themed amusement parks in Britain

1933 Gatwick Airport
Commercial flights begin from Gatwick, which is in an area transferred from Surrey to West Sussex in 1974

1940 Alan Turing
Turing, who spends much of his early life in Guildford, is the leading code-breaker at Bletchley Park, analysing at high speed German encrypted messages and thus enabling the Allies to anticipate and neutralise German attacks.

1940 Turing
Alan Turing, pioneer of computer science, leads the team at Bletchley Park and is responsible for massive life-saving advantages for the Allies

1961 Guildford Cathedral
Guildford's new Anglican cathedral, designed by Edward Maufe, is consecrated

1963 McLaren team
The McClaren Formula One racing team is founded by New Zealander Bruce McLaren and has its HQ in Woking

1963 Surrey and London
Croydon, Kingston, Merton and Sutton are moved from Surrey to Greater London

1972 The Jam
The Jam, an immensely successful mod revival and punk rock band, led by Paul Weller, is formed at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking

1974 Stranglers
The Stranglers are formed in Guildford and become one of the leading bands in Britain of punk rock