Maybury Casino History

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Maybury Casino History

The Maybury family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. The most Maybury families were found in the UK in 1891. In 1840 there were 5 Maybury families living in New York. This was about 29% of all the recorded Maybury's in the USA. New York had the highest population of Maybury families in 1840. The story of the Maybury family in Kerry is very much part of the tumultuous history of modern Ireland. Don Collins' book, 'The Mayburys', contains the most comprehensive published study of the family. This summary of the family's history includes some very recent research that will soon be published on the Maybury website. The First Kerry.
Maybury Casino History Pictures
Maybury Casino History Photos
Maybury Casino History Wikipedia
Maybury Casino History Website
Most of what you see in Woking todayhas come in the last 150 years – in the middle of the town thereare very few buildings more than 40 years old. But Wokingdoes have a history. There are three burial moundson Horsell Common which are 3000 years old and there was a smallRoman settlement east of Old Woking. About 1300 years agomonks came from Chertsey and built a church, probably where OldWoking church is now, to serve the whole district. Vikingsdestroyed this but by 1066 it had been rebuilt and a small villagegrew around it.
Apart from land along the River Weywhich could be used for agriculture most of the area of the modernborough was heathland – like Horsell and Chobham Commons. Therewere isolated farms and small churches at Horsell, Pyrford, Suttonand Byfleet and by 1300 some of the richer people and servants of theking had built larger manor houses in these places (but notHorsell). The kings loved hunting and large areas formed‘forest' which meant they were kept for the court to hunt deerand the local people had few chances to improve themselves. Themanors at Woking and Sutton grew more important and were often ownedby the king; at Woking Henry VIII rebuilt the old house as a smallpalace and often entertained his court and foreign visitors there: atSutton the Weston family were given the manor and built Sutton Place,one of the first large houses built in brick and not with any meansof defence.
Woking Palace was not used much afterthe time of Henry VIII and after James I sold it the building wasdemolished to build Hoe Place and other houses around Woking. TheWeston family built canals and locks along the River Wey so thatboats could reach from the Thames as far as Guildford and this meantthat Old Woking grew into a small town. With thisimprovement in transport some market gardens opened on the heath toprovide vegetables for London, which was growing rapidly, and by theend of the 18th century it was found that while the soil waspoor it was good for growing plants such as rhododendrons and severalplant nurseries opened, mostly lasting until the late 20th century.
In 1838 the railway reached WokingCommon, on the site of the present station, on its way from London toSouthampton and in 1845 a branch line opened to Guildford. WokingStation thus became an important junction for goods and passengertraffic, and London could now be reached within an hour. Thisdid not bring an instant growth to the town, but it was now easy toreach London and there was a lot of land around the station which hadlittle value for agriculture and was therefore cheap to buy from theEarls of Onslow, who owned the commons. Firstto realise this were those who saw that the Londongraveyards were becoming overcrowded and unhealthy: in 1852 theLondon Necropolis Company was formed to acquire land for burials outof town and came to buy 2000 acres of land based on Brookwood. Thecemetery laid out on 400 of those acres was, and is, the largestprivate cemetery in Europe, and taking advantage of the railwaypassing by they ran trains for coffins and mourners from a specialstation near Waterloo into the cemetery where there were twostations. These special trains stopped when bombed in1941.
The Necropolis Company had a lot ofland they did not need for burials and soon began to sell it toothers who saw the need for buildings on cheap land, near the railwaybut not too near anything else – so Woking by the 1870s had asplendid home for retired actors (the Royal Dramatic College, ofwhich more later), the expanded Surrey County Lunatic Asylum (laterrenamed Brookwood Hospital, and one of the first mental hospitalswhich tried to understand problems of mental health) and two prisons,one for invalid men, the other for women. Other land wassold near the station, but in small portions, with no properplanning, and some rather ordinary streets of shops and houses grewalong the roads to Chertsey, Chobham, Guildford, St John's andMaybury. South of the station ground was sold for largerhouses, but nothing else.
Not all these grand projectssucceeded. The Royal Dramatic College ran short of moneyby 1877 and after being empty for some years was bought by DrGottlieb Leitner, who founded the Oriental Institute as a centrefor oriental studies in England, both for the English and visitorsand residents from the east. He built a mosque in thegrounds – the first purpose-built mosque built in Western Europesince the 1500s, and although it closed for some years after hisdeath it was re-opened in 1912 and was a centre for Muslims inBritain for many years, attracting many immigrants from Pakistan,Bangladesh, and Uganda, to Woking from the 1960s onwards. Aftermuch successful work the Brookwood Hospital finally closed in 1994 asmental problems began to be treated in the community rather than inlarge institutions, and the site has been redeveloped withSainsbury's and Homebase, but some of the original buildingsbecoming flats and the chapel a Buddhist temple. Theprisons were gone by the 1890s, becoming Inkerman Barracks, whichclosed in the 1980s, to be demolished or converted to housing.
Two later large projects were theCrematorium at St John's, the first crematorium built in Britain,opening in 1885, and the orphanage for the children of railwayworkers transferred from Clapham in 1911, and partlymaintained by donations made to dogs which patrolled main stationswith collecting boxes on their backs. The Crematoriumcontinues but the orphanage has now been demolished and houses aswell as a smaller home for retired railway workers built on the site.
Meanwhile the new town around thestation continued to grow, with the addition of churches, a hospital,public buildings, halls and cinemas, and the smaller settlements suchas Kingfield, St John's, Knaphill and Brookwood also grew on amodest scale: Old Woking, left behind by the railway and north of thepresent A3 grew very little until industrial estates came after WorldWar 2. Byfleet and Horsell both acquired rows of shops andWest Byfleet started from a church at the corner to become thelargest of the centres outside Woking town. Plans todevelop a site for light industry and to rebuild in the centre ofWoking had to stop with the outbreak of World War 2 and until 1975the centre of Woking was a large car park. From 1950Sheerwater was built on woodland and heath to house people fromLondon which was becoming overcrowded, and also became a centre forindustry, being the first Woking home of the McLaren motor racingworks.

Woking was by nownot only an ideal commuter town for London, with frequent trains, butwas also becoming a business and industrial centre in its own right,with its population reaching 80,000 (it is now 90,700). In1975 the first shopping mall, Wolsey Place, was built, along with anew library, swimming pool, theatre and halls and the Town squaretook shape, with the war memorial moved to its centre from ‘SparrowPark'. As the nursery land became Goldsworth Park, thenthe largest private housing estate in Europe, further building in thetown centre was necessary by the 1990s and the Peacocks shoppingcomplex was built, along with the Ambassadors, including the NewVictoria Theatre and a three (later six) screen cinema. Thelibrary was rebuilt and the swimming pool moved to Woking Park. Moreoffice buildings and housing came along Victoria Way, the relief roadbuilt in the 1970s, as well as in Goldsworth Road and south of thestation. Throughout the 1970s there had been calls for abranch of M & S, a hotel and a museum: M & S came to thePeacocks and left in 2009, the Holiday Inn to Victoria Way (with anefficient district heating system) and in September 2007 The Lightboxopened as a museum, art gallery and cultural centre for all thepeople of Woking.
The boundaries of what I think of as Woking Town Centre, the Walton Road area and Sheerwater may not be the same as your interpretation, and any local authority or ecclesiastical boundaries may well have changed over time, so if you cannot find what you are looking for in this section, it may be in a neighbouring area or perhaps one of the more general sections.

For Instance I have included all the area between the railway and canal from Sheerwater Road to Victoria Way, but some may view the shops of Goldsworth Road & Guildford Road as being part of Woking Town Centre rather than 'Goldsworth' or 'Heathside'. Items on Wolsey Place and The Peacocks can be found here, together with items on the New Victoria (Ambassadors) Theatre (& Peacock's Cinema). 

I have tried to divide the archive into logical sections to make finding things easier, but this is not a comprehensive list of items in my archive, just an indication of some of the pre-2000 items I hold, so if you cannot find what you are looking for please ask.

Not everything has been scanned, but those that have are highlighted in blue on the list, so if you find something listed in white that you are interested in please let me know and I will try to get it up on this site as soon as possible.

Deeds, Sales Brochures Etc.

I have been lent or given various deeds, sales brochures, etc., for properties all over the Woking area, some of which I have scanned an put on this site. The following relate to this area.

Chertsey Road

Maybury Road

1884 Mortgage 

1897 Mortgage 

1913 Abstract of Title 

1913 Mortgage

1914 Lease

1937 Abstract of Title 

1946 Conveyance

1946 Mortgage

1966 Lease

Monument Road & Pollard Road

Walton Road 

1946 Conveyance

1959 Mortgage
Maybury Casino History Pictures

Items Relating to Local Businesses

A number of items relate to local businesses, such as brochures, magazines, invoices etc. They are listed here.

1936 Catalogue (No 50) Skeet & Jeffes Ltd

Woking Ford News Extra (Jan 86)

Performance Focus on Woking (Phillips Petroleum) (Sep 1987)

Items Relating to Local Organisations

Some items relate to local charities and organisations and such as political parties, uniformed organisations, societies, and religious groups.

(Nov) Woking Amateur Dramatic Club Programme (at the Woking Public Hall)

(Jan) Christ Church Parish Magazine

Woking & Horsell War Memorial Official Opening

Woking Operatic Society Programme (Merrie England at The Place, Duke Street)

Woking Operatic Society Programme (The Gondoliers at The Palace, Duke Street)

Woking Operatic Society Programme (Yeoman of the Guard at Woking Central Hall)

Woking & District Chamber of Trade (Dinner at The Albion Hotel)

Harold Fielding's Wartime Entertainment Programme (at The Atalanta)  Oracle casino bistro.

Weyside Singers Programme in Aid of the Polish Relief Fund (at The Atalanta)

Warship Week Boxing Tournament (at The Grand Theatre)

(Dec) Liberty - Organ of the Woodham & Sheerwater Ward (Woking Labour Party)

(Apr) Liberty - Organ of the Woodham & Sheerwater Ward (Woking Labour Party)

Proteus (Nov & Dec) Programme for Rock Me Gently at the Rhoda McGaw Theatre

(Feb) Maybury Centre Review 

Maybury Casino History Photos4th-Rite

The 4th Woking Scout Group Newsletter 

(1968-69) (1970) (1971) (1972)

Monument Road & Pollard Road

Walton Road 

1946 Conveyance

1959 Mortgage
Maybury Casino History Pictures

Items Relating to Local Businesses

A number of items relate to local businesses, such as brochures, magazines, invoices etc. They are listed here.

1936 Catalogue (No 50) Skeet & Jeffes Ltd

Woking Ford News Extra (Jan 86)

Performance Focus on Woking (Phillips Petroleum) (Sep 1987)

Items Relating to Local Organisations

Some items relate to local charities and organisations and such as political parties, uniformed organisations, societies, and religious groups.

1904 (Nov) Woking Amateur Dramatic Club Programme (at the Woking Public Hall)

1916 (Jan) Christ Church Parish Magazine

1922 Woking & Horsell War Memorial Official Opening

1925 Woking Operatic Society Programme (Merrie England at The Place, Duke Street)

1926 Woking Operatic Society Programme (The Gondoliers at The Palace, Duke Street)

1928 Woking Operatic Society Programme (Yeoman of the Guard at Woking Central Hall)

1933 Woking & District Chamber of Trade (Dinner at The Albion Hotel)

1939 Harold Fielding's Wartime Entertainment Programme (at The Atalanta)  Oracle casino bistro.

1941 Weyside Singers Programme in Aid of the Polish Relief Fund (at The Atalanta)

1942 Warship Week Boxing Tournament (at The Grand Theatre)

1955 (Dec) Liberty - Organ of the Woodham & Sheerwater Ward (Woking Labour Party)

1956 (Apr) Liberty - Organ of the Woodham & Sheerwater Ward (Woking Labour Party)

1978 Proteus (Nov & Dec) Programme for Rock Me Gently at the Rhoda McGaw Theatre

1995 (Feb) Maybury Centre Review 

Maybury Casino History Photos4th-Rite

The 4th Woking Scout Group Newsletter 

(1968-69) (1970) (1971) (1972)

Sheerwater Pylon & Post

When the Sheerwater Estate was first built, the local residents' association produced a monthly magazine known as the Sheerwater Pylon. I was lent copies of some of the magazines, as well as one called the Sheerwater Post that was produced in October 1953. There are some missing editions, so if you have one that is not here, please get in touch. 

(Dec 1952) (Apr 1953) (Jun 1953) (Jul 1953) (Dec 1953) (Jan 1954) (Feb 1954) (Mar 1954) (April 1954) (May 1954) (June 1954) (July 1954) (Aug 1954) (Sep 1954) (Oct 1954) (Feb 1955) (Jun 1956) (Oct 1956) (Dec 1956) (Jan 1957) (Feb 1957) (Mar 1957) (Apr 1957) (May 1957) (May-Jun 1958) (Nov 1958) (Apr 1959) (Dec 1959) (Feb 1960) (Jul 1965)

Woking New Town Centre & The Peacocks

A number of documents relate to the building of Woking New Town Centre – The Centre Halls, Centre Pool, Library and what became Wolsey Place – as well as The Peacocks. I have grouped them together here for ease of reference.

1970s Woking Library - A New Look

1991 Woking Town Centre Vision & Reality

1992 Peacocks Family Funday

1996 (Mar-May) Rhoda McGaw Theatre Programme
Maybury Casino History Wikipedia
1996 (Sep-Dec) Rhoda McGaw Theatre Programme

New Victoria Theatre 

(Feb/Mar 1993) (May/Jun 1993) (Jun/Jul 1994) (Summer 1996) (Winter 1996/1997) (Winter 1998/1999)

New Victoria Theatre Programmes 
Maybury Casino History Website
1993 Scrooge; 1996 Show Stoppers; 1994-1995 Goldilocks & the Three Bears; 1995-1996 Dick Whittington; 1996-1997 Cinderella; 1997-1998 Snow White