List of places of worship in Woking (borough)
Download coordinates as: There are more than 50 current and former places of worship in the borough of Woking, one of 11 local government districts in the English county of Surrey.
Anglican parish churches in surrounding villages such as Pyrford, Old Woking and Byfleet are among the oldest buildings in the borough.
[6] One of 11 local government districts in the county of Surrey, the borough of Woking covers 6,357 hectares (15,710 acres) and had a population of 99,198 at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2011.
The surrounding area consisted of heathland with very poor soil—mostly of the acidic Bagshot Formation but with some alluvium and gravel associated with the Wey Valley.
[12] The modern town and borough grew around these roads and villages, but the area was remote and thinly populated during the medieval period.
The opening of Woking railway station, and the construction of an important branch line to Guildford and Portsmouth from 1845, put in place the foundations for the modern town to grow.
The present St Dunstan's is the third church to bear that dedication: others were in Percy Street in the town centre (a tin tabernacle erected in 1899) and White Rose Lane south of the railway.
[30] A large site formerly occupied by a Catholic school became available in 2006, and the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton decided to consolidate services at a single modern building.
[33] The United Kingdom Census 1851 included questions about religious worship and was used to measure church attendance and the strength of Nonconformist groups.
It revealed that Nonconformism in the Woking area was well above the average for Surrey, in particular at Horsell where the proportion of residents attending non-Anglican services was among the highest in the county.
Church attendance of any type was lower overall, though: the remoteness of Woking at the time encouraged small groups and breakaway sects.
As late as 1882, the pastor of the isolated Baptist mission chapel at Anthonys bemoaned the lack of religious knowledge and general education among residents of that part of Horsell Common.
[34] The first local Nonconformist chapel stood next to the present New Life Baptist Church in Old Woking, but the two are not directly related.
Independent Baptists led by the Hoad family from a nearby farm started meeting in 1770 and built a place of worship in 1782.
[51] Only one survives, though: it occupies the building which originally opened in 1952 as St Andrew's Presbyterian Church on White Rose Lane.
It later became York Road United Reformed Church but closed in January 2005,[53] was deregistered accordingly in April 2005[54] and has been demolished (planning permission for this was granted in November 2007).
[60] A small meeting room registered on Goldsworth Road in central Woking in the 1980s has been acquired by a Muslim community group.
The proportions of Woking residents identifying as Jewish or not stating their religion were broadly in line with the national figures.
[74] Providence Chapel in Knaphill maintains links with GraceNet UK, an association of Reformed Evangelical Christian churches and organisations.
