Surrey - Settlements

Settlements

See also list of places in Surrey.

Surrey has a population of approximately 1.1 million people. Its largest town is Guildford, with a population of 66,773; Woking comes a close second with 62,796. They are followed by Ewell with 39,994 people and Camberley with 30,155. Towns of between 25,000 and 30,000 inhabitants are Ashford, Epsom, Farnham, Staines-upon-Thames and Redhill. Guildford is the historic county town, although the county administration was moved to Newington, London (then Surrey) in 1791 and to Kingston upon Thames in 1893. The county council's headquarters have been outside the county's boundaries since 1 April 1965 when Kingston and other areas were included within Greater London by the London Government Act 1963. Recent plans to move the offices to a new site in Woking have now been abandoned. Due to its proximity to London there are many commuter towns and villages in Surrey, the population density is high and the area is one of the richest parts of the UK. Surrey is Britain's most densely populated county, excluding Greater London, the metropolitan counties and Bristol. Much of the county is a suburban area with some of the suburban villages' housing estates contiguous to Greater London, the instances being the small hilltop settlements of Whyteleafe/Warlingham and Chipstead as well as Ewell/Stoneleigh and Thames Ditton. In the west, there is the Blackwater Valley conurbation with its further recent development there focussed on the aviation industry and on computer technology in Farnborough at its centre and Fleet to the west. straddling the Hampshire/Surrey border, including in Surrey, Camberley and Farnham.