Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 21,655 people, this large town lies in Surrey, South East. Secondary school results beat 97% of towns in England.
Health is a strength: life expectancy 83.4 for men, 87.3 for women. Jobs & income is a strength too: households earn a mean £76,801 a year, and 1.3% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Housing is expensive (C−): the median home sold for £680,000, 9.6 years of area income. Put together, the subjects come to an A overall, ranking #12 of 65 in Surrey. It comes out better than 93% of UK towns.
Figures: life expectancy and income, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
The 3 things Great Bookham and Fetcham does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Great Bookham and Fetcham is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 85 buildings inside Great Bookham and Fetcham’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
6% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Great Bookham and Fetcham. Best known first.
Historic house · National TrustPolesden Lacey Estate800 m outside town, to the south
Historic house · National TrustHatchlands3.9 km outside town, to the west
Historic houseWest Horsley Place1.7 km outside town, to the west
Historic houseBeaverbrook1.9 km outside town, to the east
MuseumLeatherhead Museum of Local History500 m outside town, to the northeast
MuseumDorking Museum4.7 km outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Great Bookham and Fetcham.
2 GP practices serve the town; 84% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Great Bookham and Fetcham is Epsom General Hospital, 5.2 miles away. 86% of the town’s residents described their health as good or very good at the census, close to Surrey’s towns (87%) and above England’s towns (82%).
| Census 2021 | Great Bookham and Fetcham | Surrey | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 86% | 87% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.4% | 3.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 15% | 14% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy and early deaths.
At the town’s 4 primary schools, 66% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Great Bookham School’s results beat 87% of schools in England like it. Three of its 8 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Between them, seven primaries and one secondary teach 2,978 pupils in Great Bookham and Fetcham.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great Bookham SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 335 | A |
| Howard of Effingham SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,471 | A |
| Oakfield Junior SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 255 | A− |
Private renters make up 9% of households, below both Surrey’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (21%). From September 2023 to August 2026, 876 homes sold inside Great Bookham and Fetcham’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £680,000. That is the middle of 876 standard sales inside the town’s built-up area over three years, against £277,000 in the typical UK town.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £860,000 | 476 |
| Semi-detached | £599,975 | 238 |
| Terraced | £427,500 | 88 |
| Flat or maisonette | £292,500 | 74 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 701 offences in Great Bookham and Fetcham and 153 cases of nuisance behaviour. Violence came to 15.3 per 1,000 residents a year, below both Surrey’s towns (19.4) and England’s towns (22). Burglary and damage add up to 7.5 per 1,000 residents each year. Of all the crimes, 44% were violence and sexual offences.
Not gradedAnti-social behaviour, shoplifting and other theft are shown but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident.
data.police.uk street-level crime · points inside the ONS built-up-area boundary · OGL · The police category of violence and sexual offences includes harassment and stalking.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 48% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The car carried 82% of commuters at the census, and 48% of workers worked mainly from home, higher than both Surrey’s towns (44%) and England’s towns (31%). For just over a third of commuters, work was under 5 km away. Work in town: nearly a fifth of resident commuters.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 5 of them, Grade I 1. Great Bookham and Fetcham’s listed buildings include the Church of St Nicholas, Grade I. Homes from before 1919 make up 6% of the total.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Degrees are held by 44% of adults, about level with Surrey’s towns (42%) and above England’s towns (34%). People aged 15 to 24 make up a tenth of the town. Half of Great Bookham and Fetcham is older than 49.7, half younger. Under 15: 16% of residents.
51% women, 49% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Great Bookham and Fetcham | Surrey | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.6% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 18% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 27% | 19% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 11% | 13% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.3% | 4.2% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 44% | 42% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Surrey and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
85 listed buildings in Great Bookham and Fetcham, 1 of them Grade I.
Fetcham Park House: Photo: Adam37 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Former The Old Rising Sun: Photo: Ian Capper · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Windsor Castle Public House: Photo: Grantwoodham · CC0 · The Granary with Attached Chimney Stack: Photo: Stefan Czapski · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph
5 notable people were born in Great Bookham and Fetcham.
Roger Waters: digboston, CC BY 2.0 · Jack Clarke: United Autosports, CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Bookham and Fetcham | 21,655 | — | A | C− | A− | A+ |
| Leatherhead | 11,482 | 2.2 | B+ | B | D | B− |
| East Horsley | 5,843 | 2.8 | A+ | D | A | A+ |
| Ashtead | 14,830 | 3.4 | A+ | C− | A− | A |
| Cobham | 17,505 | 3.4 | A | C− | B− | A+ |
| West Horsley | 1,378 | 3.8 | — | D | A | A+ |
| Westcott | 2,275 | 3.9 | — | C+ | C+ | A− |
| Box Hill | 1,271 | 4.2 | — | B | A− | B |
West Horsley, Westcott and Box Hill have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £680,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £292,500, terraced houses £427,500, semi-detached houses £599,975 and detached houses £860,000.
Primary results beat 75%.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Large town in Surrey, England
Great Bookham and Fetcham is a built-up area of 21,655 people, in the Mole Valley council area. TownRatings uses ONS’s 2022 built-up areas as towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a council district, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from ONS geography and Census 2021
Sources: ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · HM Land Registry Price Paid (standard sales, September 2023 to August 2026) · ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026, by council) · MHCLG and Welsh Government council tax, Band D 2026–27 (with parish precepts in England) · data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS small-area life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, 2019 to 2023 (England and Wales), OHID Fingertips small-area indicators (England) and Census 2021 health, adjusted for age · ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023) · DWP claimant count via Nomis (January to August 2026) · Historic England, National Heritage List for England (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, battlefields, World Heritage Sites), October 2026, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties by build period (31 March 2025) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.