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Abinger Hammer is a village situated on the A25 between Dorking and Guildford in Surrey, England. It lies with the parish of Abinger which includes Abinger Common and Abinger Sutton. Other neighbouring villages are Wotton and Gomshall. The village was once a very important centre of the wealden iron industry and this is commemorated by its most notable landmark, the clock which overhangs the main road. This portrays the figure of "Jack the Blacksmith", who strikes the hour with his hammer. The clock bears the motto "By me you know how fast to go". The clock was given in memory of the first Lord Farrer of Abinger Hall who died in 1899. The clock represents the iron industry and the role played by the county of Surrey in the industrial past. The striking hammer has been out of order since 2005. The River Tillingbourne flows through the village and forms a number of hammer ponds, once used to power forges and now to grow watercress. Brown trout swim in the stream, which is their natural habitat; the occasional larger rainbow trout can be sighted. These may have escaped from the fish farm further downstream towards Gomshall. In summer the village green in Abinger is popular with locals and tourists who like to picnic on the grass whilst watching a game of cricket in surroundings which are quintessentially English. The cricket pitch borders the Tillingbourne - the Post Office sells nets for children to "fish" in this shallow and sandy stream. Annie's tearoom is next to the Post Office and offers lunches and teas seven days a week. Abinger Hammer village school has been threatened with closure but due to public support it has remained open. It is a state school and as of 2008 has only sixteen students. Novelist E.M. Forster spent forty years of his adult life living at his mother's house at West Hackhurst, Abinger Hammer. During the years 1925 to 1945, the novelist, E M Forster, lived with his mother Alice Clare (Lily) in Abinger Hammer in a house designed by his father, the architect 'Eddie' Morgan, and previously occupied by his grandmother Laura. Forster was obliged to leave his home at West Hackhurst on the death of his mother in 1945 as the landlord refused to renew the lease. Research Tips
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