Cranleigh

Cranleigh is a large village and civil parish, about 8 miles southeast of Guildford in Surrey. It lies on a minor road east of the A281, which links Guildford with Horsham. It is in the north-west corner of the Weald, a large remnant forest, the main local remnant being Winterfold Forest directly north-west on the northern Greensand Ridge.

Until the mid-1860s, the place was usually spelt Cranley. The Post Office persuaded the vestry to use "-leigh" to avoid misdirections to nearby Crawley in West Sussex. The older spelling is publicly visible in the Cranley Hotel. The name is recorded in the Pipe Rolls as Cranlea in 1166 and Cranelega in 1167. A little later in the Feet of Fines of 1198 the name is written as Cranele. Etymologists consider all these versions to be the fusion of the Old English words "Cran", meaning "crane", and "Lēoh" that together mean 'a woodland clearing visited by cranes'. The name is popularly believed to come from imputed large crane-breeding grounds at the Anglo-French named Vachery Pond, often locally known as Vachery. The figure of a crane adorns the old drinking water fountain of 1874 in 'Fountain Square' in the middle of the village. A pair of cranes adorn the crest of the 21st century granted coat of arms of Cranleigh Parish Council.

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