Editing Dorking (section)

===Governance===
Dorking appears in [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 as the Manor of ''Dorchinges''. It was held by [[William the Conqueror]], who had assumed the lordship in 1075 on the death of [[Edith of Wessex]], widow of [[Edward the Confessor]]. The settlement included one church, three [[Mill (grinding)|mills]] worth 15s 4d, 16 [[plough]]s, [[woodland]] and herbage for 88 [[Domestic pig|hogs]] and {{cvt|3|acre|ha|1}} of [[meadow]]. It [[feudalism|rendered]] £18 per year in 1086. The residents included 38 villagers, 14 smallholders and 4 [[villein]]s, which placed it in the top 20% of settlements in England by population.<ref name=Ettinger_1991_pp11-13/><ref name=Dorking_Domesday>{{cite web |url=https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ1649/dorking/ |title=Dorking |author=Powell-Smith A |year=2011 |publisher=Open Domesday |access-date=20 November 2020 |archive-date=2 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102101918/https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ1649/dorking/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

In around 1087, [[William II of England|William II]] granted the manor of Dorking to [[William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey|Willam de Warenne]], the first [[Earl of Surrey]], whose descendants have held the [[Lord of the manor|lordship]] almost continuously until the present day.<ref name=Ettinger_1991_pp11-13/> By the early 14th century, the manor had been divided for administrative purposes into four [[tithing]]s: Eastburgh and Chippingburgh (corresponding respectively to the eastern and western halves of the modern town); Foreignburgh (the area covered by the Holmwoods) and Waldburgh (which would later be renamed [[Capel, Surrey|Capel]]).<ref name=Ettinger_1991_pp15-16/> On the death of the seventh Earl, [[John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey|John de Warenne]], in 1347, the manor passed to his [[sibling-in-law|brother-in-law]], [[Richard Fitzalan, 3rd Earl of Arundel|Richard Fitzalan]], the third [[Earl of Arundel]]. In 1580 both Earldoms passed through the female line to [[Philip Howard, 13th Earl of Arundel|Phillip Howard]], whose father, [[Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk|Thomas Howard]], had forfeited the title of [[Duke of Norfolk]] and had been executed for his involvement in the [[Ridolfi plot|Ridolfi plot to assassinate Elizabeth I]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|wstitle=Norfolk, Earls and Dukes of|volume=19|page=744}}</ref> The dukedom [[Thomas Howard, 5th Duke of Norfolk|was restored to the family]] in 1660, following the accession of [[Charles II of England|Charles II]].<ref>{{EB1911|wstitle=Arundel, Earls of|volume=2|pages=706–709}}</ref>

[[File:Deepdene (1850) adjusted.jpg|thumb|right|An engraving of Deepdene House (1842) by the illustrator [[Thomas Allom]] (1804–1872)]]
As the status of the de Warennes and their descendants increased, they became less interested in the town. In the 14th and 15th centuries, prominent local families (including the Sondes and the Goodwyns) were able to buy the leases on some of the lordship lands.<ref name=Ettinger_1991_p21>{{harvnb|Ettinger|Jackson|Overell|1991|p=21}}</ref><ref name=Ettinger_1991_pp23-24>{{harvnb|Ettinger|Jackson|Overell|1991|pp=23–24}}</ref> One such area was the Deepdene, first mentioned in a [[manorial roll|court roll]] of 1399. This woodland was held by several tenants, before being inherited in 1652 by Charles Howard, the fourth son of the [[Henry Howard, 15th Earl of Arundel|15th Earl of Arundel]], in whose family it remained until 1790. The estate was expanded by successive owners, including the Anglo-Dutch banker [[Thomas Hope (banker, born 1769)|Thomas Hope]] and his eldest son [[Henry Thomas Hope]], who commissioned [[William Atkinson (architect)|William Atkinson]] to remodel the main house as a "sumptuous High Renaissance palazzo".<ref name=Mercer_Deepdene>{{cite journal |last=Mercer |first=D |year=1977 |title=The Deepdene, Dorking – Rise and Decline Through Six Centuries |url=https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-379-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_71/surreyac071_111-138_mercer.pdf |journal=Surrey Archaeological Collections |volume=71 |pages=111–138 |doi=10.5284/1069034 |access-date=22 September 2020 |archive-date=2 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102102017/https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-379-1%2Fdissemination%2Fpdf%2Fvol_71%2Fsurreyac071_111-138_mercer.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>{{refn|Similarly, in 1448 Sir [[Thomas Browne (died 1460)|Thomas Browne, Sheriff of Kent]], purchased the manor of West Betchworth, which included [[Betchworth Castle]]. Browne converted the castle into a fortified house, in which his family and [[Browne baronets#Browne baronets, of Betchworth Castle (1627)|their descendants]] lived until the 1830s, when it was bought by Henry Thomas Hope and added to the Deepdene estate.<ref name=Malden_1911_pp141-150/> Hope dismantled much of the castle (which was in a poor state of repair) leaving the ruins visible today.<ref name=Mercer_Deepdene/> The remains are protected by a Grade II listing.<ref name=Betchworth_Castle_NHLE>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1378073|desc=Ruins of Betchworth Castle|fewer-links=yes}}</ref>|group=note}}

Unlike the neighbouring towns of Guildford and [[Reigate]], Dorking was never granted a [[Ancient borough#Town and manor|Borough Charter]] and remained under the control of the Lord of the Manor throughout the Middle Ages.<ref name=Ettinger_1991_pp15-16/> [[Tudor period#Local government|Reforms during the Tudor period]] reduced the importance of [[manorial court]]s and the day-to-day administration of towns such as Dorking became the responsibility of the [[vestry]] of the parish church.<ref name=Kümin_1996_pp250-255>{{harvnb|Kümin|1996|pp=250–255}}</ref><ref name=Ettinger_1991_p25>{{harvnb|Ettinger|Jackson|Overell|1991|p=25}}</ref> There was little change in local government structure over the subsequent three centuries, until the [[Poor Law Amendment Act 1834]] transferred responsibility for [[poor relief]] to the [[Poor Law Commission]], whose local powers were delegated to the newly formed [[poor law union]] in 1836.<ref name=Overell_1991_pp58-60>{{harvnb|Ettinger|Jackson|Overell|1991|pp=58–60}}</ref>{{refn|The Dorking Union was responsible in for poor relief in the parish of Dorking (which included Holmwood, Westcott and Coldharbour) and also the parishes of Abinger, Capel, Effingham, Mickleham, Newdigate, Ockley and Wootton.<ref name=Overell_1991_pp58-60/>|group=note}} In 1841, the Dorking Union constructed a new [[workhouse]], south of the town centre, designed by William Shearburn. The entrance block still stands and is now part of Dorking Hospital.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Dorking/ |title=Dorking, Surrey |last=Higginbotham |first=Peter |year=2020 |publisher=The Workhouse: Story of an institution |access-date=30 December 2020 |archive-date=2 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102102000/http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Dorking/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

A [[local board of health]] (LBH) was established in Dorking in 1881 to administer [[hard infrastructure|infrastructure]] including roads, street lighting and drainage. The LBH organised the first regular domestic [[waste collection|refuse collection]] and, by mid-1888, had created a new [[sewerage|sewerage system]] (including a [[sewage treatment|treatment works]] at Pixham).<ref name=Jackson_1991_pp81-82>{{harvnb|Ettinger|Jackson|Overell|1991|pp=81–82}}</ref><ref name=Malden_1911_pp141-150>{{harvnb|Malden|1911|pp=141–150}}</ref> The [[Local Government Act 1888]] transferred many administrative responsibilities to the newly formed [[Surrey County Council]] and was followed by an [[Local Government Act 1894|1894 Act]] that created the Dorking Urban District Council (UDC).<ref name=Jackson_1991_pp81-82/><ref name=Malden_1911_pp141-150/> Initially the offices of the UDC were in South Street,<ref name=Jackson_1991_pp81-82/> but in 1931 the Council moved to Pippbrook House, a [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival]] country house to the north east of the town centre, designed as a private residence by [[George Gilbert Scott]] in 1856.<ref name=Pippbrook_NHLE>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1028875|desc=Pippbrook House|fewer-links=yes}}</ref><ref name=Raine_Pippbrook>{{cite web |url=https://dorkingmuseum.org.uk/pippbrook-house-2/ |title=Pippbrook House |last1=Raine |first1=Doreen |last2=Docking |first2=Jim |year=2015 |publisher=Dorking Museum |access-date=29 November 2020 |archive-date=2 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102101954/https://dorkingmuseum.org.uk/pippbrook-house-2/ |url-status=live}}</ref>{{refn|Pippbrook House is a Grade II*-listed building.<ref name=Pippbrook_NHLE/>|group=note}}

The [[Local Government Act 1972]] created [[Mole Valley|Mole Valley District Council]] (MVDC), by combining the UDCs of Dorking and Leatherhead with the majority of the Dorking and Horley Rural District. In 1984, the new council moved into purpose-built offices, designed by Michael Innes, at the east end of the town.<ref name=Jackson_1991_p103>{{harvnb|Ettinger|Jackson|Overell|1991|p=103}}</ref>