SURREY, one of the inland counties of Eng land, is bounded on the south by Sussex, on the east by Kent, on the west by Berkshire and Hamp shire, and on the north by Middlesex and part of Buckinghamshire, from which it is separated by the Thames. It is about S7 miles long from east to west, and its breadth from north to south is 25 miles. It is divided into 13 hundreds (with the boroughs of Southwark and Guildford) which con tain 14 market towns and 146 parishes, in the diocese of 'Winchester. It contains 758 square statute miles, or about 485,120 statute acres. The annual rental is L.369,901, and the amount of tithe L.47,320. In 1806 it paid L.3,646,783 of property tax, and in 1803, L.179,005 of poors rate, at the average of 5s. 8d. in the pound. The county pays 18 parts of the land tax, and returns 14 members to Parliament, viz., 2 from Southwark, 2 from Bletchingley, 2 from Gatton, 2 from Rcygate, 2 from Guildford, 2 from IIaslemere, and 2 from the county. The elections are held at Guildford and the assizes once a year. The other assizes are at Kingston and Croydon alternately. The gaol is in Southwark.
The principal river in Surrey is the Thames. The Wey is the only other navigable river, barges going above Guildford into the Basingstoke Canal, which was finished in 1796. The Mole disappears in dry weather by absorption at I3oxhill, and rises again in a strong spring at the bridge of Thorn croft, where the current continues constant. Its banks arc beautiful all the way to Esher. It flows into the Thames opposite to lIampton Court. The Wandle, which runs into the Thames a little below Wandsworth, though it has only a course of 10 miles, yet it turns nearly 40 mills, and employs about 40,000 people. The Medway only has its origin in Surrey. The Loddon supplies the Bas ingstoke Canal, and there is a nameless stream rising in the town of Ewell, which supplies seve ral gunpowder mills at Ewell and Maldon, and a large corumill at Kingston, where it joins the Thames. The canals are the Basingstoke, the Croydon, and the Surrey Canal, already fully de scribed in our article NAVIGATION INLAND, Vol.
XIV. p. 280.
The surface of this county is generally undulat ing, and presents a great diversity of scenery. The northern part of the county is most beautiful, and covered with villas. The central part is a range of chalk hills, interspersed with dry arable fields. The southern part is a flat clayey country, containing the finest oaks in Britain. The north west district is covered with black and barren heath, and on the south-west near Farnham, we meet with the most productive land in England.
The soils of Surrey may be divided into clay, loam and chalk. The Weold of Surrey in the south, about So miles by 4, is a pale, cold, reten tive clay. Farther north it is chiefly loam across the whole county, and near Godalming, it has great depth reposing on an iron-veined sandstone. The chalky downs now begin, and have a breadth of about seven miles. Besides the crops common to other counties, there is a great deal of clover and sainfoin cultivated on the hills, and wood is also raised in the same districts to a great extent. Plants for druggists and perfumers are extensively cultivated near London on about 350 acres, and superior hops are raised near Farnham. The waste lands occupy 73,000 acres.
The principal useful minerals are fullers' earth, which has been dug for GO or 70 years; there are two kinds, the blue and the yellow, the last of which is the finest. Excellent freestone is exten sively wrought near Godstone. When first taken from the quarry it can scarcely bear damp, but when kept for a few months under cover, it resists the heat of a common fire, and is in great demand in London and elsewhere for fire-places. Lime stone is abundant, especially near Dorking, and it and chalk are made into lime on a great scale for the metropolis. The sand of Dorking and Rye gate is in great request for hour-glasses and for the manufacture of glass. Iron ore was formerly wrought at Haslemere, Dunsfold and Cranley, in the south-west of the county, and about Lingfield and Horne in the south-east; but from the high price of fuel the works have been abandoned as un profitable.