Things you never knew about Reigate
By Sue Fenton, F Words editing & copywriting services
www.fwords.co.uk
Local historian Grace Filby shares some fascinating facts about our town.
The Reigate area, because of its position on the North Downs, has always been strategically important as part of the defence of Britain. The recently renovated Reigate fort was part of a string of defensive installations along the downs.
The route of the A217 was dug out with a huge battering ram in the 18th century, the workers spurred on by the local vicar telling them inspiring bible stories about the battering rams used against the walls of Jerusalem.
Reigate stone was used by Sir Christopher Wren to make part of the apse at St Paul’s Cathedral.
The Crabtree Bottom area by the Yew Tree Inn was the secret headquarters of the South Eastern Command, headed by General Montgomery. Operations including the D-Day landings were planned there.
A secret bunker was mined inside the chalk quarry behind the Yew Tree for 24-hour radio transmitting, with teleprinters, offices and cipher rooms. It contained 3,000 feet of tunnels and was designed to be gas- and shell-proof. Iron doors meant the whole premises could be sealed off while ventilation shafts, one of which can still be seen, meant fresh air could circulate.
The tunnels were dug by Welsh miners: the local barber guessed there was something special going on because chalk is normally dug, not mined.
The entrances were dynamited in the late 1960s onwards and are currently sealed.
The property called Underbeeches, which is next to the quarry, was commandeered during the war for Montgomery’s accommodation.
Another large property, Broadleas, once owned by the Colman family, complete with 9 bedrooms, excellent views south and an outdoor swimming pool, was reputedly where Churchill wrote some of his speeches.
The cottages around number 117 Reigate Hill were adapted to defence posts in case of an invasion. Bricks were removed and replaced with metal flaps so soldiers would be able to shoot invaders from inside the house.
Carrier pigeons from the Great Doods Loft at 18 Doods Road were commandeered for South Eastern Command.
The German airforce, the Luftwaffe, had a map and aerial photograph of Reigate. They pointed out the railway tunnel in Merstham but did not refer to any tunnels and caves underneath Reigate.
The tunnels leading off Tunnel Road in the town centre were used as air raid shelters. Previously in World War 1 they were also used as an ammunition dump.
Over many years, Churchill used to stay at Reigate Priory for weekends and for meetings with cabinet members and trusted military advisors.
Churchill and members of the royal family went in secret to Reigate Priory in the 1920s to foil a Sinn Fein assassination plot.
After WW2, a doppelganger of Hitler’s henchman, Martin Bormann, lived in Reigate and is buried in Redstone Cemetery.
The grandfather of BBC broadcaster Jean Metcalfe, who lived in Reigate, was Churchill’s barber.
Major General Philip Mitchiner, the Royal Surgeon, who also knew Montgomery, was brought up in Doods Road and Fengates Road. He was a star pupil at, then Governor of, Reigate Grammar School.
Montgomery sometimes read the lesson at Reigate Parish Church and was often seen cross country running with his officers along The Clears, Chart Lane and Redhill Common.
Comedian Eric Sykes was based at Gatton Park in the lead-up to D-Day before being transported to Normandy.
For more information:
Grace Filby: www.relax-well.co.uk
Chase Hospice: www.chasecare.org.uk
Winston Churchill Memorial Trust: www.wcmt.org.uk