Woking: Surrey's Fast-Growing Commuter Hub
Woking exists because of the railway. Before the London and South Western Railway arrived in 1838, Woking was a small rural parish. The station created the town. Today, fast services reach Waterloo in 24 minutes, and the town has become one of the principal commuter hubs in Surrey. The skyline has changed dramatically: the Victoria Square development (completed 2021) brought a 34-storey residential tower, the tallest building in Surrey, transforming a low-rise town centre into something residents are still adjusting to.
The Shah Jahan Mosque, built in 1889, was the first purpose-built mosque in Britain. Its location in a Surrey commuter town is less unlikely than it sounds: the mosque was funded by a Hungarian-Jewish convert to Islam with connections to the Indian nobility. The Lightbox gallery and museum on the Basingstoke Canal provides a contemporary exhibition space. Brookwood Cemetery, three miles south, is the largest cemetery in the UK (500 acres), established in 1854 by the London Necropolis Company to relieve overcrowded London burial grounds. The population is around 103,000.
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Woking exists because of the railway. Before the London and South Western Railway arrived in 1838, Woking was a small rural parish. The station created the town. Today, fast services reach Waterloo in 24 minutes, and the town has become one of the principal commuter hubs in Surrey. The skyline has changed dramatically: the Victoria Square development (completed 2021) brought a 34-storey residential tower, the tallest building in Surrey, transforming a low-rise town centre into something residents are still adjusting to.
The Shah Jahan Mosque, built in 1889, was the first purpose-built mosque in Britain. Its location in a Surrey commuter town is less unlikely than it sounds: the mosque was funded by a Hungarian-Jewish convert to Islam with connections to the Indian nobility. The Lightbox gallery and museum on the Basingstoke Canal provides a contemporary exhibition space. Brookwood Cemetery, three miles south, is the largest cemetery in the UK (500 acres), established in 1854 by the London Necropolis Company to relieve overcrowded London burial grounds. The population is around 103,000.
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