How a lord forced the entire Surrey village of Albury to move

Villages have been evacuated for many reasons over the years, including flood, fire and plague, but one Surrey village was emptied purely on the whim of a lord of the manor.

In 1784, Capt William Finch bought Albury Manor and quickly set about forcing people from the homes on his land.

“He just didn’t want the local people living near his own manor house and so after closing the road, he demolished all their cottages and they had to go and live outside his estate,” said Trevor Brook, from Albury History Society.

All that remains of the original Albury is a Saxon church and a former pub, which later became the estate manager’s house, but the 20 cottages which made up the village are long gone.

Finch made life as difficult as possible for Albury residents by closing the road through the village, which ran between Shalford and Shere.

Instead, people were forced to walk up to what is now the Albury bypass to get to the neighbouring villages.

A “campaign of harassment” against the villagers continued for years and by the 1820s they had all been forced to nearby Farley Green, Albury Heath or Weston Street – the latter becoming what is now known as Albury.

“It’s a piece of history that shouldn’t be forgotten,” said Trevor.

“Lords of the manor could clear it, fence it and throw anyone who lived within the boundary out of the place completely.”

In 1842, Albury Manor had been sold to Henry Drummond MP, who built houses with beautiful Pugin chimneys in Weston Street for the people previously displaced from what was now his land.

Now, Albury Manor remains a private residence, however the public can still visit the Saxon church of St Peter and St Paul’s, which is maintained by a group of volunteers and stands as a reminder of the 20 households who were forced from their homes.