Located on the River Tillingbourne it is a small still partly agricultural village chiefly set in the wooded Vale of Holmesdale between the North Downs and Greensand Ridge.

In 1281 William Braose was granted free warren there In the 13th century Roger de Clare settled for a life-rent on the church and sold the manor of Shere to a grandson of Geoffrey Fitz Peter, 1st Earl of Essex.

In turn his grandson divided the manor, according with the law of moiety title to his daughter Joan Butler who thus received the new manor of Shiere Vachery; while Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster ('the red Earl') received Shiere Ebor(acum).

Highlights of the often influential tapestry of powerful owners include (but are not limited to): The Victoria County History (Surrey: 1911) cites numerous mentions in the Assize Rolls, Patent Rolls, Feet of Fines and the ecclesiastical records of Westminster and Lambeth Palaces.

[6] The neighbourhood was for a time one of the wildest in Surrey: sheep-stealers, smugglers, and poachers found a refuge in these remote hills.

Malden to have been "far too large for any honest purpose, and were no doubt made for storing smuggled goods till they could be conveniently taken on to London".

[6] In 1671, a Shere man called Edward Bound was charged by church authorities with "playing cricket on the Sabbath" and was exonerated, one of the sport's earliest references.

[6] In 1911 great quantities of watercress were grown which is no longer the case;[6] the principal area in southern England for this being near New Alresford in Hampshire.

By the north chancel wall there is a 14th-century quatrefoil window and squint – belonging to an Anchorite cell used by Christina Carpenter in the 14th-century.

In the village are Millstream Press, a book publisher named after the Tillingbourne, a textiles-cum-boutique[13] and Surrey Hills Brewery.

[14] The United Kingdom Census 2011 considered the village as four relevant output layers, approximately a third of the ward Shere, the latter being used for elections to Guildford Borough Council.

The census boundaries drawn exclude central and eastern Burrows Cross due to is proximity to slightly larger hamlet Gomshall, being contiguous and due south Burrows Cross had census overlap of its output areas (E00155528 and E00155529) and was included within Gomshall.