HISTORY TIME LINE FOR WOKING, SURREY

This time-line is a work in progress.  Any contributions gratefully accepted.
400,000 BC Earliest evidence of man living in Surrey -  flint handaxes found on upper river terraces near Farnham
150,000 BC Start of continuous period of settlement. After the last Ice Age (180,000-110,000 BC), hunters moved back into the Surrey area 
c. 20,000 BC Flint tools, from late Upper Palaeolithic era, found in Littlewick area
c. 3000 BC Flint handaxes, from neolithic or early bronze age, found in Maybury area (in the Lightbox collection)
c. 2000 BC One disc barrow and two bell barrows constructed on Horsell Common (early Bronze Age)
  c. 675 Monks of Medehamsted found daughter-house at Woking
  c. 710 Earliest reference to Woking in a letter from Pope Constantine
1086 Woking recorded in Domesday Book as 'Wochinges'
1100 s Chapel built on site of Horsell church
1200 King John granted manor of Woking and manor of Sutton to Alan Bassett
1260 Manor of Woking passed to Hugh le Despenser
1272 Royal residence (Woking Palace) sited by River Wey
1416 Alice, Duchess of Kent, bequeaths manor of Woking to Margaret Beaufort, Duchess of Somerset
1485 Lady Margaret Beaufort (dau of the Duchess) granted manor of Woking by Henry VII
11 Sep 1490 Treaty of Woking (a non-aggression pact) signed by Henry VII with Maximilian of Austria
1509 Manor passes to Henry VIII
1515 Thomas Wolsey, at Woking Palace, made a Cardinal
1521 Manor of Sutton granted to Sir Richard Weston
1530  ish Sutton Place built
1561 Elizabeth I grants a charter for a market
Nov 1620 James I grants manor and lordship to Sir Edward Zouch
Jun 1634 Woking manor and lordship passes to James Zouch
1645 Woking manor and lordship passes to James Zouch's 5 year old son, Edward
1658 Edward Zouch dies and the manor and lordship passes to his brother, James
1653 Wey Navigation opened
1665 James Zouch obtains charter for weekly Woking market
1665 James Zouch builds Woking market house
1708 James Zouch dies
1713 Woking manor sold to John Walter
1718 Brew-house built
1724 Defoe describes the Surrey commons as "a vast tract of land which is not only poor, but even steril … horrid and frightful to look on … much of it is a sandy desert, and one may frequently be put in mind here of Arabia Deserta"
1736 Woking manor passes to Abel Walter on death of his father John Walter
1752 Abel Walter sells Manor and Lordship sold to Richard Onslow
1760 Goldsworth Nursery established by James Turner
1788 -94 Building of Basingstoke Canal started
1791 Basingstoke Canal open to Horsell
1795 Knaphill Nursery established by Michael Waterer
1808 Enclosure of Sutton completed
1811 Horsell Common Baptist chapel built
Nov 1830 Civil unrest in Woking parish over tithe payments
1834 London-Southampton Railway construction begins
Guildford and Chertsey Poor Law Unions formed
21 May 1838 Woking Common Station opened
1840 Railway Hotel built (later Cardinal, Sovereigns) 
Building work starts on St John's Church (as a chapel of ease)
1845 Guildford Branch railway opened
1848 Church Street School built
1849 Necropolis proposed for Woking parish by Board of Health
First Westfield School built
1854 London Necropolis Company buy Woking common land
1855 Act for permission to sell surplus Necropolis land
1856 Albion Hotel built
1858 Kemishford bridge built
1859 Invalid Prison built at Knaphill
Proposal to pump London sewage to Woking Common, which might have prevented development of modern Woking
Apr 1859 Prisoners moved into Invalid Prison
1860 -65 Construction of Royal Dramatic College
1862 First residents admitted to Royal Dramatic College
1863 Work starts on Surrey County Lunatic Asylum (Brookwood Hospital)
1864 Post Office, previously in Ripley, moves to Old Woking High St opposite the White Hart
Jun 1864 Brookwood railway station opened
1865 Sub-Post Office opens at corner of High St and Church Path opposite station
Jun 1867 First patients admitted to Brookwood Hospital
1868 Beacon tower on Monument Hill falls in a storm
1869 Red House Hotel built
Woking College founded
May 1869 Female Invalid Prison opened
Jan 1870 Surrey Advertiser first uses term 'Old Woking' to decribe Woking village
Apr 1874 Woking School Board formed
1877 Walter Slocock buys Goldsworth Nursery
  Woking Station Sub-Post Office then in Walton Road, becomes the Woking's main Post Office
10 Nov 1887 Duchess of Albany lays foundation stone for Christ Church
Dec 1877 Royal Dramatic College closes
1879 Woking Crematorium built
1880 Knaphill School built
1882 Public piped water supplied introduced
1883 St John's chapel of ease becomes fully-fledged church
Building starts on St Peter's Convent
1884 -93 Christ Church built
1885 Oriental Institute opened in former Royal Dramatic College building
Electric Street lighting in Woking town centre
St Peter's Convent opened
Knaphill church constructed in Chobham Road
Mar 1885 First legal cremation in modern times.  ‘A lady well-known in literary and scientific circles’ was the only clue The Times gave to the identity of the woman (Mrs Pickersgill) who was cremated by the Cremation Society.
1887 Woking Police Station opens
Claremont Avenue completed
Surrey Industrial School moves to Maybury Farm
West Byfleet station opens
1888 Ashby's Bank, of Staines, opens branch in Commercial Road
Capital & Counties Bank opens branch in High Street
1889 Shah Jehan Mosque opens
Woking Crematorium rebuilt in brick
Woking Electrical Supply Company formed
Woking Football Club founded
Male convict prison closed
1890 Electricity supplies started
Abbey Farm, Horsell, sold for development
National Rifle Association (NRA) moves from Wimbledon to Bisley; Bisley branch line built from Brookwood to Bisley Camp
1891 Woking College closed
1891 -2 Old wooden Elm Bridge rebuilt in brick
1892 Gasworks opened in Boundary Road
Conversion of Woking Prison to Army Barracks begins
Ashby's build new bank on corner of Chertsey Road and what would later be the Broadway
1893 Woking Golf Club founded
Woking Local Board established
First hospital in Woking opens in Bath Road
14 Jun 1893 Christ Church consecrated by Bishop of Winchester
1894 Woking Urban District, local government district created
Woking News first published
Woking, Horsell and Woodham Cottage Hospital started
1895 Woking Public Halls completed
Woking Mail first published
First Infantry regiment quartered at Inkerman Barracks
First street lighting in Woking
New Post Office built in Chertsey Road
Woking Urban District Council formed
St Johns fire station opened
St Paul's church Maybury built
H G Wells moves to Woking; Writes The War of the Worlds
H G Wells writes The Time Machine
Dec 1895 Woking Fire Brigade established
Female convict prison closed
1896 Red House Hotel enlarged (Saloon bar, coffee & billiard rooms)
Home and Colonial Tea Stores opens in Chertsey Road
H G Wells leaves Woking
1897 Mains gas reaches Horsell
Claremont Avenue constructed
Hugh Butcher's shop opens in the Broadway
New Westfield School built
1898 Conservative Club built
Woking-Basingstoke railway line widened;
Goldsworth Schools open
1899 Methodist Church completed
Oriental Institute closes (and with it the Mosque)
Albion Hotel rebuilt
Victoria Cottage Hospital opened;
Woking sewerage system inaugurated;
1899 Tunnelling for the sewerage system under the Basingstoke canal at Horsell Moor causes the canal bed to collapse closing it to traffic for 6 months
Horsell Nurseries sold for development
Mains gas reaches West Byfleet
Oriental Institute closes after death of Dr Leitner
Woking & District Co-Operaive Society starts trading 
1899 Kiln Bridge rebuilt
St Dunstan's church opened in Percy Street
1900 Waldens Farm, Horsell, sold for development
Princess Christian Home built at Stafford Lake
1901 Woking and District Water Company incorporated
1902 Co-Op opens at junction of Percy St and Church St
 Electric street lighting replaced with gas
Mains gas reaches Mayford & Hook Heath
1903 Victoria Gardens aka 'Sparrow Park' established
Brookwood School built
1904 Hockering Estate laid out
Fox and Hounds PH built at Sutton Green
1905 New Mayford Arms built; old Mayford Arms converted to private house
Emmanuel Chapel built in Saunders Lane
1906 Council Offices opened
Hermitage Bridge collapes
Brookwood volunteer fire brigade formed
1907 Victoria Arch rebuilt/widened
Mains electricity reaches Woking Village
Old Chertsey Road bridge demolished
Building of Holy Trinity Church, Knaphill begins
St Mary of Bethany Church built in Mount Hermon Rd
30 Jun 1907 Storm hits Woking; Cecil Terrace hit by lightning
1908 Mains electricity reaches Knaphill
Market House in Woking village demolished and replaced with cottages
1909 LSWR Servants Orphanage opens
St Saviour's Church built in Brookwood
1910 Outdoor swimming pool (timber-lined) built in Woking Park
Wheatsheaf Bridge demolished
Salvation Army hall built in Church Street
1911 Recreation Ground laid out
1912 Woking Co-Op Society Garden Suburb built in Horsell as a mini 'garden city'
Shah Jehan Mosque reopened
1913 Co-Op store built at Knaphill, at junction of Broadway and High Street
1914 Woking County School for Boys opened
Mains electricity reaches Pirbright, Ripley, Bisley
Stumps Bridge, Brookwood rebuilt
1915 Martinsyde moved to former Oriental Institute
New Broadmead Bridge built
by 1916 Former Womens' prison becomes Military Detention Barracks
1917 Muslim Cemetery built 
1919   J Sainsbury opens shop in Chertsey Rd
1920 Woking's first council house completed
1920s White Horse Inn in Old Woking demolished for 'road widening' (still not happened)
1921 Barley Mow PH, Knaphill closes
1921 -2 Widening of Hermitage Hill
24 May 1922 War memorial unveiled
1923 Part of Maybury Road renamed 'Broadway'
New Chertsey Road bridge built
1925 Woking County School for Girls opened
Anchor Hill brickworks closed
New St Dunstan's church opened in White Rose Lane
1926 James Walker take over Martinsyde site to be renamed 'Lion Works'
1928 Fire brigade move to new station in Church Street
Floods in Old Woking
1929 Woking Library opened in former RC Church in Percy St
1930 Woking Urban District Council granted a coat of arms
1931 Conversion of street lighting from gas [back] to electricity
1933 Byfleet & Pyrford joined with Woking Urban District
1934 Sainsbury moves to High St
Library moved to former Methodist Chapel
Roundabout completed at Turnoak Corner
1935 New lido-style swimming pool
Co-Op redeveloped as a department store
1936 -7 Railway station rebuilt
1937 Council car park opens in Commercial Road
Ritz (later A.B.C.) Cinema built
1945 Woking hit by V2 Rocket
1946 Woking Masonic Lodge constituted and consecrated
Sep 1947 RMP make Inkerman their home
Nov 1948 Construction starts on Sheerwater Estate
15 Mar 1949 Final commercial load carried on Basingstoke canal delivered to Spantons' Yard.
Sep 1951 First house in Sheerwater Estate ready for occupation
1957 Woking Water Company move from Commercial Way to Guildford Road
1960 Closure of Inkerman Barracks announced
1960 s Albion House development
1963 McLaren Racing Team formed
1965 Inkerman Barracks closes
1966 Methodist church in Commercial Road destroyed by fire.
1967 Winston Churchill School established
1968 Floods in Old Woking
12 Jul 1969 Woking Round Table held first Woking Whirl carnival in Egley Road
1972 New Salvation Army Hall built in Walton Road
1973 Victoria Way version 1 opened
Jun 1973 Goldsworth Park plan approved by Government
Oct 1973 Building starts in Goldsworth Park
1974 Atalanta Ballroom closes
Wolsey Place shopping arcade opened
1975 Woking Centre Pools opened 
War Memorial moved to Town Square
Woking Centre Library opened
Conservation area designated at Old Woking 
14 Oct 1975 Official opening of Wolsey Place 
1976 BAT building completed
Conservation area designated at Pyrford 
1977 Boys Grammar School closed
Woking College founded, as Woking Sixth Form College
Oct 1978 Fine Fare Supermarket opens
1978 Crown Life House completed
Conservation area designated at Horsell 
1981 Fire station in Church St rebuilt
1983 Woking Civic Offices opened
Knaphill School demolished
1984 Prince of Wales PH, St John's, closed
1988 Goldsworth Park completed
2 Jul 1988 Woking Round Table held nineteenth and last Woking Whirl carnival
1989 Pool in the Park opened
1992 Peacocks centre opened
Ambassadors & New Victoria Theatre opened
Woking Centre Pools demolished
Queen's Head PH, Knaphill closed
1993 Woking Mural unveiled
1997 Surrey History Centre building starts
1998 Surrey History Centre opens
2007 County Council moves to Woking
2010 Brookwood Hotel closed
2011 Goldsworth Arms PH closed
Mar 2012 Building of Living Planet Centre starts
25 Jun 2012 Revamped Library opens
Nov 2013 Living Planet Centre, the home of the UK branch of the World Wildlife Fund opened by David Attenborough
2015 Goldsworth Arms PH demolished
2018 Robin Hood PH closed
Victoria Square development starts
2020 Surrey County Council scraps plans to move to Woking and instead moves to Reigate
Jun 2023 Woking Borough Council declares itself bankrupt