During the 1850s Enclosure acts allowed  the land to be sold off in lots, and the village started to develop from that time to what it is today.  Before this the only significant housing  had been built around the site of the present Grayshott Hall, which at that time was a farmhouse. 

In 1861 Edward l'Anson purchased Grayshott park estate and here he constructed Heather Lodge, and ion 16th September, 1866 The Tennyson's visited Anne Gilchrist at Shottermill and a month later they rented Grayshott Farm, the following year Catherine l'Anson began a Sunday School and through lack of accommodation she held it in the laundry room at Heather Lodge.

In 1868 Wishanger Estate was sold by the Miller family to John Rowan Phillips and this included Grayshott Hall Farm which was said to be a large built residence of stone and slate.Grayshott school opened on 4th September 1871 with only seven children on its registers and the first headmistress was Mrs Esther Clark who served till 25th June 1885.

It was in 1887 that Grayshott's first shop was Robinson's at Mount Cottage which is quite near to Heather Lodge, but soon moved to Crossways Road which was on higher ground. Also in this year Alfred Tennyson leased a home here for a year to search for land on which to build and he eventually settled on a site near Blackdown. Another well known resident at Hindhead was Arthur Conan Doyle. A visit by George Bernard Shaw to Pitfold House while on honeymoon in June 1898, then in November he rents Blen-Cathra which is now St Edmund's School, (Shaw married Charlotte Payne-Townshend). It was in May 1900 that the residents read in the Sunday newspapers that Mafeking had been relieved and flags and bunting were hoisted at a number of the houses and in the evening the Grayshott Brass Band toured the village. It was in this year that Flora Thompson

• St Luke's, Grayshott, St Luke's the parish church was designed by Edward l'Anson who was an architect that moved here from Clapham. His daughter Catherine l'Anson laid the foundation stone in 1898 and the church was consecrated on St Luke's Day 1900. In November 1918 a Memorial to Kingsley Conan Doyle was erected in St Luke's churchyard, he was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's son, who died of wounds and in 1921 a memorial to Mary Josephine Doyle was erected in the churchyard she was the mother of Sir Arthur .

The village is one one of a number of spurts that radiate from Gibbet Hill at Hindhead which rises 895ft above sea level. It is said that the air of this height is as "Pure as the Alps" and along with the arrival of the railway at Haslemere in 1859 made Grayshot an attractive place to live. But prior to this not many people lived in this open heathland, only a few drovers and 'broom squires'  who made brooms from the birch and heather which grew in abundance here.

The New Post Office, Grayshott the old one where
Flora Thompson worked was a few doors away and
is now demolished. This claims to be the oldest
building in Grayshott, built in 1887.

The Fox and Pelican (see photo left), has a curious history, built in 1899 by the Grayshott and District Refreshment Association for selling non-alcoholic drinks, though it did in fact also sell  alcohol, but that was kept well out of sight.  The name came about through Bishop Fox of Winchester, the pelican was in the crest of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, which the Bishop founded.  The pub was opened by Mrs Davidson, the wife of the Bishop of Winchester.  Grayshott was the nearest post and telegraph office to Hindhead and an employee, Flora Timmons wrote "listening with delight to their conversation as they met with friends at the counter,"  She was better known as Flora Thompson who wrote the trilogy Lark Rise to Candle Ford, she came to the village in September 1898 at the age of 21 and worked at the post office in Crossways Road, this was her first permanent job.

Flora Thompson returned to Hampshire in 1916 and penned her famous trilogy a few years later, there was also a fourth part called 'Heatherley' which told of her life in Grayshott but it was never published at the time, though when it was found in her archives it has been published twice.

She remained here for about two and a half years first of all residing with the postmaster and his family but later found her own lodgings. It was not long after Flora left Grayshott that the postmaster who was renowned for his violence murdered his wife, but the court declared him insane.

There was another murder in Crossways Road during 1915 when a Canadian officer killed a sergeant and it seems he was also found to be insane!

In January 1901 King Edward VII signed an Order of Council which made Grayshott a separate ecclesiastical parish. The mother, wife and son of Conan Doyle are buried in the churchyard here.

In 1903 the Village Hall was opened and it was deemed to be enormous due to the population being only 700, the side room which was used as a library was built on in 1906 and this has been the venue for he annual Grayshott and Hindhead Literary Festival.

Left: The graves to the Canadians who died in 1918 Right: One of the Military graves at St Josephs RC Church inscribed to The Rev Ivor Daniel Chaplain to the Forces. the protestants were buried at Bramshott.

The war memorial commemorates the dead of the Great War of 1914-1919 (strictly correct because the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919) and of the Second War of 1939-1945 (usually referred to as the Second World War).

One of the chief 'exports' of the village is Grayshott Pottery  and the village has both a thriving commercial and social scene. And visitors to the area can delight in the hundreds of acres of unspoilt land which surrounds the village often carpeted by purple heather.

The exterior and interior of St Luke's Parish Church, Grayshott

Text above courtesy of John Owen-Smith
http://www.headley1.demon.co.uk/flora/index.htm
http://www.headley1.demon.co.uk/churches/grayshot.htm