Leatherhead

Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about 21 mi south of London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leatherhead was a royal vill and is first mentioned in the will of Alfred the Great in 880 AD. The first bridge may have been constructed in around 1200 and this may have coincided with the expansion of the town and the enlargement of the parish church.

For much of its history, Leatherhead was primarily an agricultural settlement, with a weekly market being held until the mid-Elizabethan era. The construction of turnpike roads in the mid-18th century and the arrival of the railways in the second half of the 19th century attracted newcomers to the town and began to stimulate the local economy.