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The White Horse

The White Horse Hotel, 1870

The White Horse Hotel 1870’s. © Dorking Museum
The White Horse Hotel 1890. © Dorking Museum

Most of this hotel was built in the 1700s but parts are probably older. It was formerly known as the Cross House because of the Cross of the Knights of St. John.  Coaches like the one in the picture stopped here on their way from London to Horsham, though sometimes the roads south of the town were so bad, that someone going to Horsham might have to travel via Canterbury!

Besides the coach, can you see something else that tells you this was a coaching inn? (Look on the left hand side.)

Do you think coach travel was comfortable? It was very expensive so the coming of the railways meant that a lot more people could travel. 

Famous writers like Jane Austen and Charles Dickens mention this inn. If you visit it yourself, notice the cobblestones around the entrance to the yard.

The White Horse Hotel, 2015

The White Horse Hotel 2015

Although it is easy to tell it is the same place, does the White Horse look exactly as it did in 1890?  What has changed?

Dorking in 1870

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