TQ1558 : Junction of Randalls Road and Woodlands Road
taken 11 years ago, near to Fetcham, Surrey, England
A minor road, the C131, between Randalls Road (at its end-on junction with Woodlands Road) at Pachesham, and the Leatherhead Road. As a largely straight road connecting two primary routes (the A244 and A245) in the vicinity of the M25 junction 9, it sees considerably more and faster traffic than might be expected.
Oaklawn Road was laid out soon after 1865 in consequence of the Leatherhead Common Inclosure Award (itself authorised by an inclosure act of 1859). It was an entirely new road across the former common, at a width of 30 feet, and named in the award as the Patsham Green Road. A slight kink was necessary at the crossing of the Patsham Brook in order to keep the alignment within the bounds of the common being inclosed.
The road serves few local properties: Pachesham Park Golf Club, Tyrwhitt House, Dorincourt (Queen Elizabeth's Foundation For Disabled People). The pavement was widened in the 1990s to improve access, including disabled access, although a lack of maintenance, particularly of the pavement along Randalls Road, discourages such use. The road became subject to a 40mph speed limit in 2013.
Randalls Road is a primary road, the A245, from Leatherhead to Stoke d'Abernon and Cobham: however, only the first two kilometres of the A245 from Leatherhead is so named: beyond the junction with Oaklawn Road, it becomes Woodlands Road, and then Woodlands Lane.
Most of Randalls Road, from Leatherhead as far as the junction with River Lane, was formerly Randalls Lane, which is a very old route linking Leatherhead with Pachesham (the latter predating Leatherhead itself). A further 230m length, between River Lane and the turning to the recycling site, is now sequestered on the west side of what is the replacement road (but remains accessible as a horse margin): both old and new pass over Gutters Bridge, a bridge over the Rye Brook.
Until the inclosure of Leatherhead Common soon after 1865, Randalls Lane turned left into Gutters Lane, down what is now the access road to the recycling centre, then north past Mole Cottage (now Brook Cottage) to rejoin the Stoke Road (now Woodlands Road) at the first bend near West Orchard. To the right, another lane ran east and then north to Patsham Lane Gate on the edge of Leatherhead common, at what is now Pachesham Farm House: the first 180m metres can still be traced as the track leading to the field barn. There was no road straight ahead: this was laid out under the inclosure award at thirty feet wide to the new junction with Patsham Green Road (now Oaklawn Road) and the Stoke Road (now Woodlands Road), the latter rejoining Gutters Lane/Stoke Lane at the first bend.
This explains the varying character of Randalls Road: a narrow, winding lane between Cleeve Road and River Lane, and a straight, wide road beyond. Both Gutters Lane and Patsham Lane were stopped up under the inclosure award, but endured as physical features well into the twentieth century: indeed, the old lane into Pachesham Farm was only replaced with the new drive after WWII.