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A county in southern England, one of the Home Counties. Surrey has a population of approximately one million and an area of 648 square miles (1,679 sq km). . The traditional county town is Kingston upon Thames, which was lost to the county following the continued expansion of London. The present county town is Guildford although the County Council is still based in Kingston-Upon-Thames. In the famous Harry Potter series of novels, his residence is in Surrey.

Geography

Surrey is a low-lying area traversed from W to E by the chalk hills of the North Downs. Much of Surrey is rolling downland, the North Downs Way being a scenic long-distance path. There are many notable beauty spots including Box Hill, Frensham Ponds and Puttenham Common. The highest point in Surrey is Leith Hill near Dorking at 968 ft (295 m) above sea level.

Industry

The county's proximity to London has influenced its growth as a residential and light industrial region. Agriculture is still important, however, and includes dairying, market gardening, and the cultivation of wheat and oats. Much of Surrey is in the Green Belt and, since the soil is very sandy and agriculture not intensive, there are a large number of footpaths, bridleways and commons or Access lands. Therefore Surrey provides much in the way of rural leisure activities, the horse population being very large.

History

The name comes from the Old English suther-ge meaning southern district, and is first recorded in A.D.722 as Suthrige. Surrey is known to have had at least one sub-king, Frithuwald, who died around the year 686. It is not known if he was from a native dynasty or was an appointee of East Saxons or Mercian overlords. Surrey was anciently divided into the 14 hundreds of Blackheath, Brixton, Copthorne, Effingham, Elmbridge, Farnham, Godalming, Godley, Kingston, Reigate, Tandridge, Wallington, Woking and Wotton. Until 1889 Surrey contained the present-day London boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth. In 1965 the boroughs of Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond and Sutton were made part of Greater London, and Spelthorne acquired from Middlesex. The 1974 local government reforms caused Gatwick Airport and some surrounding land to be transferred to West Sussex. In the Local Government Act 1972 Horley and Charlwood were also to be transferred, but fierce local protests led to a reversal of this decision.