[1][5] Since 1984, it has been part of the Epsom and Ashtead Commons Site of Special Scientific Interest[3] and it became a Local Nature Reserve in 2001.

Invertebrates found on the common include the nationally rare Rhizophagus oblongicollis, the beetle Bibloporus minutus and the flies Ctenophora bimaculata and Oedalea apicalis.

Following the dissolution of the abbey in 1537, Henry VIII granted the manor to Nicholas Carew and the land then passed through a series of private owners.

[10] In 1794, the common was described as "being covered in furze, brambles, hawthorn bushes, large quantities of hornbeams and other pollards: other parts are sour, wet pasture."

[14] By the mid-19th century, the settlement at Stamford Green was sufficiently large that it was felt necessary to provide a dedicate place of worship for the residents.

[15] Its replacement, the present church, was designed in the Gothic revival style by Arthur Blomfield and opened in 1876.

By tradition, the discoverer is generally named as Henry Wicker, a local farmer who, in 1618, noticed that his cows refused to drink from a slow spring on the common.

Among those taking the waters at Epsom were John Aubrey, Samuel Pepys, Dorothy Osborne, Celia Fiennes and Charles II.

[19][21] In the mid-1720s, the popularity of Epsom rapidly declined and attempts 1760s to revive the town as a spa resort were unsuccessful.

[22] Shortly after 1700, the lord of the manor enclosed a roughly circular area of the common surrounding the well, approximately 450 yd (410 m) in diameter.

The farm was pulled down c. 1885 and James Stuart Strange, Lord of the Manor of Epsom, constructed a mansion in its place.