Surrey

This article is about the county of England. For the Canadian city, see Surrey, British Columbia. For other uses, see Surrey (disambiguation).

Surrey
Non-metropolitan and ceremonial county
Clockwise from top: Guildford and its cathedral; the view from Leith Hill; and Epsom

Ceremonial Surrey within England

Historic Surrey in the British Isles
Coordinates: 51°15′N 0°27′W / 51.25°N 0.45°W / 51.25; -0.45
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Constituent countryEngland
RegionSouth East
Establishedbefore 1066
Time zoneUTC+0 (GMT)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (BST)
UK ParliamentList of MPs
PoliceSurrey Police
Largest townWoking
Ceremonial county
Lord LieutenantMichael More-Molyneux
High SheriffJulie Llewelyn (2021–22)[1]
Area1,663 km2 (642 sq mi)
 • Rank35th of 48
Population 
(2022)[2]
1,214,540
 • Rank12th of 48
Density731/km2 (1,890/sq mi)
Non-metropolitan county
County councilSurrey County Council
ControlConservative
Admin HQWoodhatch Place, Reigate
Area1,663 km2 (642 sq mi)
 • Rank20th of 21
Population 
(2022)[3]
1,214,540
 • Rank5th of 21
Density731/km2 (1,890/sq mi)
ISO 3166-2GB-SRY
GSS codeE10000030
ITLUKJ23
Websitesurreycc.gov.uk
Districts

Districts of Surrey
Districts
  1. Spelthorne
  2. Runnymede
  3. Surrey Heath
  4. Woking
  5. Elmbridge
  6. Guildford
  7. Waverley
  8. Mole Valley
  9. Epsom and Ewell
  10. Reigate and Banstead
  11. Tandridge

Surrey (/ˈsʌri/)[4] is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the west. The largest settlement is Woking.

The county has an area of 1,663 km2 (642 square miles) and a population of 1,214,540. Much of the north of the county forms part of the Greater London Built-up Area, which includes the suburbs within the M25 motorway as well as Woking (103,900), Guildford (77,057), and Leatherhead (32,522). The west of the county contains part of built-up area which includes Camberley, Farnham, and Frimley and which extends into Hampshire and Berkshire. The south of the county is rural, and its largest settlements are Horley (22,693) and Godalming (22,689). For local government purposes Surrey is a non-metropolitan county with eleven districts. The county historically included much of south-west Greater London but excluded what is now the borough of Spelthorne, which was part of Middlesex. It is one of the home counties.

The defining geographical feature of the county is the North Downs, a chalk escarpment which runs from the south-west to north-east and divides the densely populated north from the more rural south; it is pierced by the rivers Wey and Mole, both tributaries of the Thames. The north of the county is a lowland, part of the Thames basin. The south-east is part of the Weald, and the south-west contains the Surrey Hills and Thursley, Hankley and Frensham Commons, an extensive area of heath. The county has the densest woodland cover in England, at 22.4 per cent.

  1. ^ "Home - High Sheriff of Surrey". Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  2. ^ "Mid-2022 population estimates by Lieutenancy areas (as at 1997) for England and Wales". Office for National Statistics. 24 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Mid-Year Population Estimates, UK, June 2022". Office for National Statistics. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  4. ^ "Surrey | Definition of surrey in English by Oxford Dictionaries". Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 8 October 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2017.