is a town in the
Elmbridge district of
Surrey in
South East England . It is bounded to the North by the
River Thames at the mouth of the
River Wey , from which it gets its name.
The early history of Weybridge was simply as a river crossing. In
1537 it became the location of
Oatlands Palace built by
Henry VIII . When it was demolished in
1650 , bricks from its walls helped to line the then new Wey Navigation. Part of the original site of the Palace is now occupied by Oatlands Park Hotel.
At the bottom of Monument Hill, close to the town centre is a monument to the Duchess of York, erected by public subscription in 1820 from the remains of the original
Seven Dials Monument that stood in St.Martin's Lane London until 1773.
The famous former
Brooklands Aerodrome and Race Circuit is located here, just south of the railway station. It is now the location for the Brooklands Museum. Brooklands was also the home of
Vickers the aeroplane construction organisation.
At the top of Monument Hill, adjacent to the cricket green is a
World War I war memorial.
When the
London And Southampton Railway opened its
Station here in 1838, development of what was only a village began. Large houses were built on St George's Hill; and gradually Weybridge became a town.
In
Weybridge Heath many rare species of
Insect s (particularly
Ant s), rare
Birds and
Insectivorous Plant formerly occurred. The heath was allowed to become vastly overgrown in recent years, but recently
Surrey Wildlife Trust invoked a scrub clearance plan in an attempt to restore this valuable habitat.
Weybridge is the UK headquarters of
Toshiba Information Systems.
In
H. G. Wells ' book ''
The War Of The Worlds '', Weybridge was the location of a battle in which a
Martian fighting machine was destroyed.
The school for 11-18-year-olds,
St George's College is in Weybridge.
The
Veterinary Laboratories Agency , an executive agency of
DEFRA has its central laboratories located near Weybridge. The laboratory is notable as being one of the principal test centres for the
H5N1 virus, commonly known as Bird Flu.
Famous current inhabitants of Weybridge include TV & Radio presenter
Michael Aspel , singer/songwriter
Cliff Richard , and golfer
Nick Faldo . The latter two live on St Georges Hill, which was the founding place for the
Diggers in the
17th Century , whose early attempt at communal life heavily influenced the development of embryonic socialist thought.
Famous past inhabitants of Weybridge include musicians
John Lennon and
Tom Jones and the authors
E. M. Forster and
Warwick Deeping , the
Formula 1 racing driver
Jenson Button and the
Entomologist ,
Horace Donisthorpe .
Weybridge is made up of a number of distinct areas:
