The Dorking Society exists to promote public interest in and appreciation of the beauty and history of Dorking and its surrounding areas. Its three operating groups work to preserve, develop and improve local features of general public amenity and historic interest.
The Society maintains and oversees the operations of Dorking Museum & Heritage Centre which develops, displays and cares for a large collection of local artefacts for the public benefit. The Museum provides the town with a visitor gallery, the Cockerel Press publishing arm, guided walks and cave tours in the South Street caves, educational and community engagement initiatives, and research and study facilities.
The Society also promotes and encourages the study of and community engagement with the history of the area through its Local History Group.
The Society’s Community Team encourages high standards of architecture and town planning in the town and surrounding district.
The Society operates within the historic manor of Dorking and its environs: north to Mickleham and Box Hill but excluding Leatherhead; south to Capel, Walliswood and Ockley; east to Betchworth and Brockham; and west to Abinger.
The Dorking Society comprises:
The Dorking Society Blue Plaque scheme
The Society runs a commemorative blue plaque scheme in the town and villages to recognize local buildings with links to events or people of historical significance. In 2018 the Society unveiled two plaques to mark the centenary of the vote being granted to women.
The plaque at the Dutch House in South Holmwood celebrates the lives of Emmeline and Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, leaders of the women’s suffrage movement and campaigners for peace and social justice; the plaque at 43 Howard Road, Dorking, marks the headquarters of the Dorking ‘suffragette’ campaign of 1912. More recently the Society has installed blue plaques to the Rob Walker Racing Team, to aeronautical engineer Beatrice Shilling, and to Strawberry Studios South. If you would like to nominate a premises with strong links to a person of significance for consideration, please get in touch.
“Stories about Storeys” competition
Part of “Heritage Open Days” – enter NOW and win a prize!
The Dorking Society 