This area was formerly very far from drinking water sources, being on Banstead Commons (also known as Banstead Downs), so was a lightly laboured hill farming settlement.
After the English Restoration the Merland and Buckle families held the manor, removed to Nork House, which has become the suburb of Banstead simply known as Nork, until 1847, when in times of historically low wool prices, it was bought by the 4th Earl of Egmont [REF].