Domesday it is mentioned that with this manor, which then belonged to Richard de Tonbridge, had been given other lands, held by Mervin and others, who were so free that they could go where they pleased;' a circumstance only occasionally specified in that ancient record.

DORKING Consists of three streets, distinguished as the South, East, and West. It is situated in a sandy vale, sheltered on the north by the ridge of a chalky down which runs across the county. The market-day is Thursday, and it has a fair on Ascension-day and the eve preceding. The river Mole is contiguous, and there are two small streams which, joining before they reach the town, form the rivulet known by the name of Pipbrook, and flow to the former river at Box-hill. Springs abound here; from which circumstance Manning traces the derivation of its name. In 1811, Dorking contained 589 houses, and 3,259 inhabitants. The assizes for the county appear to have been held here in 1699, but on what occasion we are not informed. The sessions used sometimes to be held in the Town-Hall, which formerly stood in the middle of the High Street; but this custom has been discontinued many years. The manor is the property of the Duke of Norfolk. Among its peculiar usages is that of Borough-English, by which the youngest son inherits the copyhold.

Dorking is celebrated for a breed of fowls which bear its name: they have five claws; and are of two sorts, the one white, the other coloured like a partridge. These fowls, well known to the London poulterers, are supposed to have been brought to this island by the Romans; as Columella, in his Husbandry, mentions a breed whose description will exactly apply to them.

The Church is a neat, commodious, and substantial building, consisting of a nave, with its north and south aisles, and a chancel, divided from the former by a transept, in the centre of which stands a low embattled tower, containing eight bells, with a clock and chimes.