Tilford

• Country — England • Official Name — Tilford • Population — 799 • Population Ref — (Civil Parish 2011) • Area Total Km2 — 9.87 • Civil Parish — Tilford • Shire District — Waverley • Shire County — Surrey • Region — South East England • Constituency Westminster — Farnham and Bordon • Post Town — Farnham • Postcode District — GU10 • Postcode Area — GU • Dial Code — 01252 • Os Grid Reference — SU875434

The name "Tilford" appears to identify the Old English name Tila, as Tila's ford" or "Tilla's ford". Several substantial farm houses date from the 16th century. Tilford House was built in 1727 and its chapel in 1776. In the mid eighteenth century the village was owned by Elizabeth Abney, daughter of Lady Mary Abney; and her detailed local survey map has survived to this day in the British Library. During the second world war, Cdr D J L 'Tim' Foster (RN Rtd), who later lived in the village, brought back from northern Russia a reindeer (named Minsk) in his submarine HMS Tigris.

The land reaches 163m OD on the boundary with Seale, with a marked 180° south-facing panorama on OS maps and other guides, taking in much of Alice Holt Forest and the Greensand Ridge. This has contributed to the inclusion wholesale of Tilford into the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty The centre of the parish on the River Wey is at 49-50m OD.

• All Saints Church was built in 1867 in medieval style. It is grade II listed. The Tilford Bach Festival is based at the church. • Islamabad, a piece of land that was bought and used for the Annual Conventions of the Ahmadiyya Community from 1985 up until 2004, when the conventions moved to Hadeeqatul Mahdi near Alton, Hampshire. In 2015 it was announced that the existing pre-fab huts on the land were intended to be replaced with a new mosque built with minarets generating energy, and wind-turbines. The site is currently the international headquarters of the community and the primary residence of Mirza Masroor Ahmad, leader of the Ahmadiyya Community.

• Illustration — Cricket on Tilford Green All Saints Church of England Infant School occupies an attractive site overlooking the green. Waverley Abbey Church of England school is in the village. The name is derived from Waverley Abbey. Tilford, hosts a team in the sport of cricket, which in 2014 won a local village league. The Tilford Bach Festival founded by Denys Darlow has been held in the village since 1952.

2011 Census Homes • Output area — Detached — Semi-detached — Terraced — Flats and apartments — Caravans/temporary/mobile homes — shared between households • (Civil Parish) — 184 — 53 — 15 — 26 — 5 — 0 The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that was apartments was 22.6%. 2011 Census Key Statistics • Output area — Population — Households — % Owned outright — % Owned with a loan — hectares • (Civil Parish) — 799 — 283 — 36.4% — 36.7% — 987 The proportion of households in the civil parish who owned their home outright compares to the regional average of 35.1%. The proportion who owned their home with a loan compares to the regional average of 32.5%. The remaining percentage is made up of rented dwellings (plus a negligible percentage of households living rent-free).

• Illustration — Tilford Green and the Barley Mow pub, 2007 The village centres on a triangular green used for cricket in the summer. • The two branches of River Wey, Wey North and Wey South have their confluence in the village centre. • The Barley Mow pub was built in about 1763. • The Tilford Institute was built in 1894 to Sir Edwin Lutyens' design and is a focus for sport. • South Bank Cottage (formerly Gorse Cottage) was home for 8 years from 1885 to Henry Shakspear Stephens Salt the writer and campaigner for social reform in the fields of prisons, schools, economic institutions, and the treatment of animals. It was Salt who first introduced Mahatma Gandhi to the influential works of Henry David Thoreau. • The Rural Life Living Museum is a collection of prehistoric, Roman and medieval artefacts and reconstructed rural buildings. The annual Weyfest music festival takes place here. • Crooksbury House, now divided, was built in Queen Anne style in 1890, enlarged in 1898-9 and mostly changed to Arts and Crafts movement 'vernacular' architecture in 1914 as Sir Edwin Lutyens's first Country House, for W. A. Chapman. Its garden with a pergola is by Gertrude Jekyll, planted and landscaped in 1892 and 1902. • Mubarak Mosque was inaugurated on 17 May 2019 and serves as the headquarters of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

Beside the green is a well-known tree, the Tilford Oak. In the early 21st century the tree was estimated to be at least 800 years old. In 1908 Eric Parker wrote about the Tilford Oak in Highways and Byways in Surrey: Parker measured the girth again in 1934 and found it to be 1 foot more. The tree's branches have been lopped in recent years and the trunk is patched with iron sheets. There are three other "British Oaks" nearby, planted at each corner of the triangular green, to commemorate: • 60 years of Queen Victoria's reign (1897) • the coronation of King Edward VII (1902) • the accession of King George V (1910) – this oak was uprooted in the Great Storm of 1987 and has been replaced.

• Illustration — One of the medieval bridges at Tilford The south branch and the combined branches of the River Wey are spanned by bridges at the village green. Dating from the medieval period, they were likely built by the monks of Waverley Abbey. Both are Grade I listed buildings, and scheduled monuments.

• Moor Park, Farnham • Mother Ludlam's Cave, Moor Park, Farnham • River Wey • Elstead • Waverley Abbey