pre 40,000 B.C.The climate varys between Ice Age and Tropical; Many different animals inhabit Britain, including Mammoths, Elephants, Hippopotamus, and Bison; Neanderthal Man.
40,000 B.C.Modern man, Homo Sapiens, arrives in Britain. Bone tools are in use.
10,000 B.C. Climate becomes milder, forests grow. Stone axes made.
6,000 B.C. Sea levels rise enough to cut off the land-bridge to Europe. Britain becomes an island.
4,000 B.C. Farming, Pottery and Trade start.
2,500 B.C. Antler, Wood, Copper and then Bronze tools and Flint arrowheads made.
1,000 B.C. Hill forts develop.
700 B.C. Iron tools and Coins made.
55 B.C. Julius Caesar leads Roman recce on Britain.
54 B.C. Roman attack on Britain. These spur local tribes to regroup. Tribal areas around our area at this time were Regni based around Chichester, Atrebates based around Silchester, Cantii based around Canterbury, Trinobantes based north of the Thames and Belgae based around Winchester.
35 B.C. Commius is King of the Atrebates and Regni until 20 B.C. Area covered is roughly modern Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire.
20 B.C. Tincommius is King of the Atrebates and Regni until A.D. 5.
AD 5Eppillus is King of the Atrebates and Regni until A.D. 10. (All dates from here are A.D.)
10 Verica is King of the Atrebates and Regni until A.D. 40.
43 Roman invasion led by Aulus Plautius - colonisation of southern Britain begins. He becomes the first Roman governor of Britain (43-47).
410 The Romans leave Britain. Local British tribes run by Kings, in our area it was mainly Regia (which spread down to Sussex area as well) and there were 3 tribes nearby - Atrebatia (Hampshire and Berkshire), Londein (North of the Thames) and Cantia (Kent).
420Saxon mercenaries come to Britain to stop raids by Irish/Picts/Germanic tribes.
440 Saxons start to turn on the local tribes. Saxon Kent gradually expands westward from 450 to 500 when it is controlling all of Cantia and the north-east of Surrey.
500 Local peace agreements. Saxon Sussex expands west and northwards into Regia.
568 Surrey's northern border is the River Thames and the eastern border with Kent consolidated by a ditch. Saxon Sussex expands into Regia, so by around 570 it controls most of modern Sussex. By 600 it controls the rest (modern West Surrey). Similarly Wessex is expanding into Atrebatia and Essex into Londein.
600 Saxon kingdoms of Kent, Sussex, Wessex and possibly Essex (and later Mercia) fight to control Surrey which is often a sub-kingdom.
666 Chertsey Abbey formed.
673First recorded use of "Sudergeona" (Southern district - sub kingdom of Mercia), this later was corrupted to "Surrey". The sub-King at the time was Frithuwold.
690 Surrey's western border consolidated. Mercia now in control of West Surrey.
871Alfred is King of Wessex (871-899) and is sometimes called 'King of England'.
899Edward I is King of Wessex (899-924), and the first King crowned in Kingston. This was probably used as an attempt to unite Wessex and Mercia, divided by the Thames, against Danish raiders.
967The name 'Bisley' was first recorded, as 'Busseleghe' when King Edgar confirms the posessions of the monastery at Chertsey. Bisley is held of the Abbey of Chertsey until 1327.
1066England invaded by the Normans.
1086Domesday Book. Bisley is included with Chobham; a church is recorded.
1215Magna Carta signed at Runnymede.
1267Hamlet of Bisley held, of the Abbey of Chertsey, by Geoffrey de Lucy, as parcel of the manor of Byfleet for the annual payment of 13s 4d. The history of Bisley then followed that of Byfleet until the reign of James I.
1272Woking Royal Palace first recorded.
1283Institution of Bisley's first Rector.
Chertsey Abbey concede the right of interment of all in habitants of the parish; The parish proividing the abbey with three pounds of wax each year to 'systain the lights of the Holy Cross'
before 1294On the death of Geoffrey de Lucy the rent-roll of Bisley was valued at £3 16s 5d
1297Bisley conveyed, with Byfleet, to Henry de Leybourne.
after 1305Bisley, with Byfleet, passed to the crown.
c.1315Peter de Gaveston possesses manor of Byfleet When he was put to death, soon after, the manor reverted to the Crown at which time the area now known as 'Bisley Detached' was seized from the Arderne family.
19 Jan 1316William de Lascore instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1327Bisley assigned to Queen Isabella as part of the Manor of Byfleet.
The area now known as 'Bisley Detached' was restored to the Arderne family.
28 Jan 1390Stephen Hayne instituted as Rector of Bisley.
15 May 1391John Lotewyk instituted as Rector of Bisley.
8 Aug 1396John Sherman de Nortwych instituted as Rector of Bisley.
9 Nov 1397Richard Palmer instituted as Rector of Bisley.
12 Aug 1402John Pynford instituted as Rector of Bisley.
c.1450Clews Farm and barn built.
22 Jan 1450John Browning instituted as Rector of Bisley.
3 Dec 1455Thomas Smyth instituted as Rector of Bisley.
28 Jun 1456Thomas Russell instituted as Rector of Bisley.
6 Jun 1460John Everley instituted as Rector of Bisley.
18 Jul 1465Richard Strother instituted as Rector of Bisley.
31 Jan 1465William Horne instituted as Rector of Bisley.
13 Aug 1467John Carethorpe instituted as Rector of Bisley.
16 Feb 1475Richard Cadey instituted as Rector of Bisley.
18 Jul 1477Roger Mortymer instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1484John Williamson is Rector of Bisley.
1490 Treaty of Woking is signed by Henry VII with Emperor Maximillian of Austria, at Woking Palace.
22 Sep 1509Thomas Preston instituted as Rector of Bisley.
25 Nov 1530Robert Grous instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1533Bisley (with Manor of Byfleet) granted by Henry VIII to Katherine of Aragon following their divorce. Sir Anthony Browne is Keeper of the Manor at this time.
1539Timber cut at Bisley for paling at Hampton Court Chase.
1553Cobbetts farm in existence.
18 May 1560Richard Ode instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1561John Hill instituted as Rector of Bisley, 26 March.
27 Jan 1583Muster of the Militia held at Chobham.
25 Oct 1588Anthony Harrison instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1595Government require every parish to provide butts for archery practice.
15 Nov 1610Richard Massey M.A. instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1612Bisley (with Manor of Byfleet) granted by James I to his consort Ann of Denmark.
13 Nov 1621Bisley granted to Sir Edward Zouche along with Woking, Chobham and Bagshot. The descent of Bisley is then identical to these other manors [hereafter referred to as "the Estates"], eventually coming into the hands of the Earl of Onslow. Zouche make representation to the King and enlarged the villagers' common lands.
1642English Civil War. Surrey, mostly, is on Parliament's side.
23 Mar 1671Charles II granted the reversion of the Estates, including Bisley, in trust for Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland.
1708James Zouch dies without issue. Trustees of Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, came into possession of the Estates.
9 Oct 1709Duchess of Cleveland dies.
18 Jul 1712David Kineir instituted as Rector of Bisley.
28 Nov 1713John Campion instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1715Duchess of Cleveland's interest in the Estates is sold to John Walter Esquire.
1736John Walter dies. Succeeded by his son, Abel.
3 Sep 1739Thomas Gawton instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1748Abel Walter, by Act of Parliament, obtains the Freehold of the Estates from the Crown.
21 Jun 1748Allen Walter instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1752Abel Walter, sells the freehold of the Estates to the Trustees of Lord Onslow.
1779/80George Clarke Gayton instituted as Rector of Bisley.
25 Apr 1786Richard Cecil instituted as Rector of Bisley.
23 May 1805Beating the bounds - perambulation of the parish boundaries conducted, 40 days after Easter, on Ascension Day or Holy Thursday. The school children would accompany the Rector and others on a walk around the parish boundaries 'whipping' various markers on the way around. Sometimes the children would be whipped, doused with water or banged against posts or barn doors to 'make them remember' the boundaries.
1813John King instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1815Corn Law passed.
1834Chertsey Poor Law Union formed. Parishes rates on average drop due to economies of scale.
1836Inclosure Act passed, inclosing the common fields. Areas of previously common land were awarded to individuals - as everywhere this happened, the Lord of the Manor got the most (and best) bits while the poorer people (who relied upon the common most) received the least.
1838London and Southwestern Railway opened as far as Woking.
9 Jun 1841Beating the bounds - perambulation of the Bisley/Cowshot boundary.
13 Jul 1841Beating the bounds - perambulation of the Bisley/Pirbright boundary.
1846George Robinson instituted as Rector of Bisley.
Corn Laws repealed.
1847Bisley National School opened by the 'National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church'.
1849Cholera epidemic.
20 Sep 1849Hen & Chickens PH sold for £770.
1857F B Gourrier instituted as Rector of Bisley.
6 Aug 1858Final award for inclosure of common fields made.
1851Surrey Constabulary begins policing rural Surrey. Captain Hastings is the first Chief Constable (1851-1899).
16 Nov 1859National Rifle Association (NRA) is formed at a meeting at the Thatched House Tavern in St James Street.
1861Thomas J Farr instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1865George Wild instituted as Rector of Bisley.
Dec 1868Bisley Farm School opened by Lord Shaftesbury.
Sep 1871Army exercises held in the area, including the 'Battle of Bisley'.
13 Jul 1872Meeting of 200 agricultural labourers at Woking, protesting about low pay.
1872/3Restoration work carried out on St John the Baptist Church.  A new chancel was built and the church enlarged by the addition of a north aisle.
1873Shaftesbury House erected.
1874Shaftesbury & Farm Schools Chapel built by Augustus Calder. Now the Village Hall.
1876School attendance made compulsory; from then it was illegal to employ children under the age of 10 years.
1878Bagshot railway station opened.
1881W Landon-Smith instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1883Shaftesbury & Farm Schools Hospital built.
1886Joseph Cater instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1888NRA buy large expanse of Bisley Common for construction of rifle ranges.
10 May 1888Beating the bounds - perambulation of the parish boundaries.
12 Jul 1890Princess Alexandra, Princess of Wales, formally opens the NRA's first Imperial Rifle Meeting to be held at Bisley, by firing the first shot.
1892Rent-roll of Bisley valued at £1,721
1893Schools Hospital closed and replaced by the Bungalow Hospital.
National School taken over by Bisley School Board.
1894Flying machine tested at Bisley (without success) by Hiram Stevens Maxim.
Nov 1894Bisley Surrey Parish Council established and formed under the "Local Government Act".
1895John Gwyon instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1899Act of Parliament enables the first mains water to be supplied to Bisley, by allowing the Woking and District Water Company to sink a well and build a pumping station (later called Dapdune Pumping Station), just north of Guildford.
Captain M.L. Sant becomes Chief Constable of the Surrey Constabulary (1899-1930).
Churchyard is enlarged, by a donation of land by the rector, the Rev. John Gwyon.
1908Bisley hosts the shooting events of the 1908 London Olympic Games.
1912A Village Institute was erected by W. B. Wakefield esq. and was let by him on a peppercorn rent to trustees.
1914Princess Christian Homes, an auxiliary Convalescent Home to Queen Alexandra's Hospital opened.
1 May 1916MF Longhorn bi-plane falls in the grounds of the Farm School.
4 Aug 1918First baptismal entry written in the new church vestry. The vestry was built by the Diocese of Winchester at a cost of £230.
1919Farm School and Shaftesbury School are combined.
5 Aug 1919Celebration held at the Sports Field of the Farm School to celebrate the end of the Great War (WWI).
1920Village Hall burnt down.
1921Great War, 1914-18, memorial - a granite cross - erected on Bisley Green.
1925Port Lane renamed as Guildford Road.
1926Fox Garage started, as car hire business by the Burns family.
1927Shaftesbury House reconstructed.
1930Charles Montagu Horley instituted as Rector of Bisley.
Part of Bisley Parish joined with Woking Urban District Council.
29 May 1930Beating the bounds - perambulation of the parish boundaries.
1931Freddy Brown, a tradesman sheet metal worker, started his one man business repairing cars in a garage in St Johns, Woking
1933By the Surrey Review Order, 1933, part of the parish was transferred to Woking urban district and added to the parish of Horsell.
1938St John the Baptist holy well was restored by H. P. Lawson esq.
1941Brown's business moves to Bisley
1947The Bisley Hunt Branch of The Pony Club was established.
1947/8Surrey Fire Brigade was formed.
1948Bisley hosts the shooting events of the 1948 London Olympic Games.
1951Bisley Hunt founded as "Fulton's Farriers" - renamed as Bisley Foxhounds in 1958.
1952Railway branch line from Brookwood to Bisley Camp closed.
Bisley Village Institute renamed as Bisley Village Hall.
1957Windsor Roberts instituted as Rector of Bisley.
25 July 1959Bisley Boys School closed.
1961Bisley Boys School Chapel sold for £500 to become the Village Hall.
1962Village Hall opened, following conversion work, and given charitable status.
William Mervyn Bowen Francis instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1969Coldingley Prison opened.
1974Bisley Scout and Guide HQ opened.
1976Peter Douglas Gotelee instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1982Jubilee Hall extension added to Village Hall.
7 May 1983Beating the bounds - perambulation of the parish boundaries in celebration of the 700th anniversary of the institution of Bisley's first Rector.
1985Clive Edmonds instituted as Rector of Bisley.
1986New Bisley centre, The Butts, opened.
15/16 Oct 1987The 'Great Storm' which hit the south of England was the worst since 1703. Nineteen people died. Fifteen million trees were flattened in one night - one and a half million of them in Surrey. Winds gusted in excess of 120 miles per hour. One exceptional feature was the wild fluctuation in temperatures - near the West Surrey border area (i.e. near Bisley) the temperature rose from 8.5C to 17.6C in twenty minutes.
1992Ian Terry instituted as Rector of Bisley.
19931st Strawberry Fair held to raise funds for the Youth Club
19953rd Strawberry Fair held - now organised by Bisley Village Hall
27 May 2000Beating the bounds - perambulation of the parish boundaries.
25 Jun 2000Bisley Millenium Parade.
Jul 2002Bisley hosts the shooting events of the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.
2003Andy Armitt instituted as Rector of Bisley.
2009Replacement roof for Jubilee Hall.
2020Fiona Simon instituted as Rector of Bisley.