History
Weybridge lay within the Saxon administrative district of Elmbridge hundred.
Weybridge appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Webrige and Webruge. It was held partly by Chertsey Abbey; partly by an Englishman from the abbey; and partly by Herfrid from the Bishop of Bayeux. Its domesday assets were: 6 hides; 1½ ploughs, 32 acres (130,000 m2) of meadow, wood worth 9 hogs. It rendered £4.
The early history of Weybridge was simply as a very small village with a river crossing. The earliest monuments on the tower wall of St James's C of E Church are 15th Century plaques, and the Church was rebuilt in 1848 with a south aisle added in 1864. In 1537 it became the location of Oatlands Palace built by Henry VIII, which was where he married his 5th wife Catherine Howard. When it was demolished in 1650, bricks from its walls helped to line the then new Wey Navigation canal. Part of the original site of the Palace is now occupied by Oatlands Park Hotel. St. George's Hill was the site of the Diggers' Commune in the 1640s.
At the bottom of Monument Hill, close to the town centre is a monument to the Duchess of York, erected by public subscription in 1820 from the remains of the original Seven Dials Monument that stood in St. Martin's Lane, London until 1773. The Duchess is buried in St. James's Churchyard.
The entomologist, Horace Donisthorpe, visited Weybridge Heath to investigate the ant colony.
The world's first leisure campsite was set up near Weybridge in 1901 and was part of the early history of the Camping and Caravanning Club.
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