[2] Ockley's name initially appears to fit the uncertain site where battle took place described in the entry for the year 851 of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

According to the chronicler, king Æthelwulf and his son Æthelbald, together with the West-Saxon army, fought against an invading Danish army of 350 ships that had plundered London and Canterbury previously, and had also put king Beorhtwulf of Mercia to flight.

The chronicler refers to the battlefield as Aclea, Oak Lea, and the Danish army was defeated suffering “the greatest slaughter… we have heard tell of up to this present day”.

Close to the Greensand Ridge are small beds of Sussex marble, and remnants of a former limestone area of the Weald.

Local minor roads provide relatively straight access from just north of the village's developed area to Ewhurst and Cranleigh to the west and Capel to the east.

The proportion of households in the civil parish who owned their home outright compares to the regional average of 35.1%.