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Woking is a large
town and civil parish that shares
its name with the surrounding local
government district, located to
the west of Surrey in South East
England. It functions as a dormitory
town of the London commuter belt
and is located 23 miles (37 km)
south west of Charing Cross in central
London. Woking town itself, excluding
the district, has a population of
62,796, and the administrative civil
parish, which covers part of the
urban area inclusive of Sheerwater
and Knaphill, has a population of
30,403.
Woking also plays a role in literature:
it is the town in which the Martians
landed in H. G. Wells science fiction
novel The War of the Worlds. It
also features in Douglas Adams's
The Meaning of Liff, as the word
for when you go to the kitchen but
forget why.
Facilities
Woking has a modern shopping centre
called The Peacocks and an older
shopping area, Wolsey Place.
The main area for evening entertainment
is around Chertsey Road which contains
restaurants serving a number of
cuisines and there are also numerous
bars and pubs. The Ambassadors cinemas
and New Victoria Theatre can be
accessed via the top floor of The
Peacocks.
Woking has indoor swimming pools,
"Pool in the Park", and
a separate leisure centre. Outdoor
facilities include a skatepark,
tennis courts, five-a-side football
pitches, a cricket pitch (during
the summer), bowling greens, a crazy
golf course, and a children's adventure
playground. These leisure facilities
are all located within the attractively
landscaped Woking Park near to the
town centre.
The scene at St Peter's Church,
Old Woking is an inspiration for
many local artists, as is another
local beauty spot at the lock at
St John's Lye.
Transport
London Heathrow and London Gatwick
airports are 15 and 35 miles from
Woking respectively. The M25, M3
and A3 are each within a ten minute
drive of the town centre.
Rail
Woking railway stationWoking railway
station is situated on the Alton
Line, Portsmouth Direct Line, South
Western Main Line and West of England
Main Line. Accordingly, there are
frequent trains to and from London
Waterloo (via Clapham Junction),
a journey taking approximately half
an hour. There is also the twice
hourly Waterloo/Woking stopping
service that calls at many stations
between Waterloo and Woking.
In 2007, the Woking Station canopy
is being built. It will stretch
from the railway station entrance
(town side) to Albion House and
the development will include landscaping
of the area which, along with the
canopy, will create a new entrance
to the town from the railway station.
Other stations in the Woking area:
Brookwood railway station
Worplesdon railway station
History
Woking's history
starts in 673AD. Woking began around
this time as a settlement of a Wessex
tribe, followers of Wocca. The name
has been corrupted and was spelt
as Woccingas, Wochinges, Wokynge,
Wochynghe at different times.
Woking appears in Domesday Book
of 1086 as Wochinges. It was held
partly by William the Conqueror
and partly by Ansgot and Godfrey
from Bishop Osbern of Exeter. Its
domesday assets were: 3½
hides; 1 church, 2 mills worth 13s
10d, 31 ploughs, 46 acres of meadow,
woodland worth 161 hogs. It rendered
£24 10s 0d. Also 15s to the
sheriff each year.
Modern Woking was formed around
the railway station built over 150
years ago at the junction between
trains to the south coast, the south-west
of England and the necropolis railway
to Brookwood Cemetery. This cemetery
was developed by the London Necropolis
Company as an overflow burial ground
for London's dead. Later, Woking
was home to the first crematorium
in the United Kingdom (St Johns)
and the first mosque in the UK (on
Oriental Road). The Shahjehan Mosque
was commissioned by Shahjehan, Begum
of Bhopal (1868-1901), one of the
four female Muslim rulers of Bhopal
who reigned between 1819 and 1926.
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