Ockham ( ) is a rural and semi-rural village in the borough of Guildford in Surrey, England. The village starts immediately east of the A3 but the lands extend to the River Wey in the west where it has a large mill-house. Ockham is between Cobham (near Leatherhead) and East Horsley (near Guildford).
History
Ockham has been occupied since at least the middle Bronze Age (), evidenced by the so-called 'Ockham Hoard', a collection of bronze-age objects discovered in 2013 during building works at the former Hautboy Inn, as well as the existence of a relatively uncommon bell barrow on Cockcrow Hill.
Ockham appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Bocheham. Held by Richard Fitz Gilbert, its Domesday assets were: 1½ hides, 1 church, 2 fisheries worth 10d, 3 ploughs, of meadow, woodland worth 60 hogs. It rendered £10 per year to its overlords.
Through the Middle Ages in the many records nationally (such as Assize Rolls and feet of fines), Ockham features no high nobles among its owners. However it is the birthplace of William of Ockham, the famous medieval philosopher and the proponent of Occam's razor.
Byron's daughter, Ada Lovelace, lived briefly at Ockham Park before settling at Horsley Towers, which her husband the 1st Earl of Lovelace built in the village of East Horsley. His forefather Sir Peter King bought the manor using an Act of Parliament to cement the deal from the long-standing lords of the manor the Weston family of Albury, Send in Surrey, and of Sussex, who had acquired the manor from distant cousins who since their late Tudor period forebear, Francis Weston, owned it along with Sutton Place, Surrey in the extreme south of the parish of Woking.
Geology
thumb|[[Ockham and Wisley Commons support rare species in their nationally rare soil type, acid, naturally wet sandy heath and bog soil.]]
The soil of Ockham Common varies between fertile light clay and humus topsoil to highly acidic, sandy heath. In the north is the high, uneroded Bagshot Sand. The southern part of the parish is on the London Clay. Part of the Wey Valley in the west of the parish and the banks of a stream which joins it from the east are particularly formed from alluvium.
Wisley Airfield on Ockham Common
Ockham Common, to the north-east of the village, is the site of the disused Wisley Airfield, which has a paved runway (RWY 10/28). As late as 1972, this airfield was in service as a satellite fit-out and flight test centre for Vickers and latterly the British Aircraft Corporation, linked to their main factory and airfield at nearby Brooklands, Weybridge, capable of taking aircraft as large as the VC10.
Although the airfield is disused, the aviation connection remains: it is the location of OCK, a VOR navigational beacon which is the holding facility for south westerly arrivals into London Heathrow Airport.
All Saints' Church
Ockham has a small church, All Saints'. It is a Grade I listed building. The foundations were laid in the 12th century, and part of the nave was built then. The chancel and north aisle date from the 13th century, the south nave wall from the 14th century, and the tower and north aisle wall from the 15th century. In 1735, the King Chapel was added to the church as north wing. Intended as a chapel over the family vault of the Lords King and their descendants, the Earls of Lovelace, it features several church monuments. All Saints' Church building was restored and enlarged in 1874–1875 by Thomas Graham Jackson. There is also a memorial to those who gave their lives in the Great War and World War II.
Martyrs Green
thumb|This farmhouse in Martyrs Green demonstrates the fertile soil of part of the parish
This small linear settlement is a hamlet to the east of the village, near Downside and Cobham. It has the village's only pub; The Black Swan.
Sports
Ockham has cricket and football clubs that play at weekends at Hautboy Meadows on Ockham Lane. The cricket club has two teams in the Surrey Downs League and a Sunday friendly (matches) only side. The football club are in the Guildford & Woking Alliance.
Ockham was also the headquarters for the Tyrrell Formula One racing team, until its sale to British American Racing in 1997 and subsequent move to Brackley, Northamptonshire.
Demography and housing
{| class="wikitable"
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|+ 2011 Census Homes
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!Output area !!Detached !!Semi-detached!!Terraced!!Flats and apartments!!Caravans/temporary/mobile homes||shared between households