Mole Valley District was formed at the reorganisation of local government in 1974, It consists of the old Leatherhead and Dorking Urban Districts together with much of the Dorking and Horley Rural District. It covers about 100 square miles stretching from Chessngton (in the London Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames) in the north to Gatwick (in West Sussex) in the south.

You may find second hand copies of the print version of this book on Amazon

There is more to historic Surrey in an industrial and transport sense than a first glance would suggest.  We have had  no major volume car or commercial vehicle manufacturer, but we have had over 100 different makes of car produced in the county at one time or another. Some of these progressed no further than a single prototype, others became small volume specialist manufacturers. Some of the more important ones are given detailed coverage in the book, an A to Z appendix briefly describes the rest.

James Simmons, master paper-maker of Haslemere in Surrey, kept a diary from 1831 until shortly before his death in 1868. It consisted of thirty-eight booklets most of which are made from paper he had produced himself. They present a fascinating account of his family and business affairs. The references to his paper-making activities form only a part of the diaries and it is these extracts, in the main, which are contained in the book. They provide a significant contribution to the understanding of the life of a paper-maker during a difficult period of the 19th century.