The village is in the north of a landscape called the Weald, meaning forest, which forms a significant minority of the land today, particularly towards the Greensand Ridge.

Within the parish in Coldharbour there is one Scheduled Ancient Monument, a large Iron Age hillfort named Anstiebury Camp evidencing early occupation.

Multivallate, defined by boundaries consisting of two or more lines of closely set earthworks, this relatively late hill fort constructed in the second and first centuries BC covers approximately 5 hectares (12 acres).

Trenches dug in the southeast, the entrance, and a few other investigations in 1972-3 revealed that the front of the main rampart had been set against and into the edge of the associated ditch and revetted with massive, irregular blocks of sandstone.

The conclusion was that the purpose was to resist sling warfare due to the form and width, with rounded pebbles, foreign to the Greensand Ridge, being frequently found in the areas excavated.

'[4] The original settlement of Capel consisted of approximately thirty farms, most of which still exist today bearing the names of their tenants in the early 14th century.

Lewis summarised Capel in that year as: The lands are principally arable, producing good crops of wheat and oats, and the soil is also well adapted to the growth of timber.

The Quaker Sussex Quarterly Meeting recorded the fact that Thomas Patching "who then lived at Bonwick's Place in Ifield" met with George Fox, and then later "there was settled the first Monthly Meeting that was set up in this county .... and has since been removed to the house of Richard Bax at Capel in Surrey by reason of Thomas Patching's removing from that place".

It is known that George Fox visited Surrey in 1668 and held a Meeting at Plaistow Farm, Capel, the home of Richard Bax.

This was rejected and the site is subject to a Geological Conservation Review[12][13] The largest brickyard in the area was The Clock House Brick Company Ltd., opened to the south of Capel in 1933 to exploit a rich seam of clay.

In 1941 the majority of shares were acquired by The London Brick Company who expanded quarrying of the clay to accommodate improved production methods.

Older maps label Beare Green as being where the Duke's Head pub and Weald School are, on the East side of the A24 dual carriageway.

In February 2020, Mole Valley District Council proposed a strategic development of 480 homes on Green Belt land to the South of the settlement.

1996 Grand National winner, Rough Quest was trained for the race by Terry Casey at Henfold House Stables, in a farm close to Beare Green in Capel.

Broome Hall near Coldharbour is a Grade II listed stone mansion, built for the publisher Andrew Spottiswoode.

It was finished around 1830 and subsequently owned by the Liberal politician Frederick Pennington and writer Henry Du Pré Labouchère.