© 2008 St John the Baptist, Capel PCC
CAPEL Derives its name from the Chapel known as Dorking cum Capella which was built early in the twelfth century. In those days the area was heavily forested but gradually the land was cleared and farms were developed which grew mostly wheat and oats.
Many of those early farms exist today, two of the oldest being Ewekene (dated 1180) and Temple Elfold which was built in 1235 and became the home of the Knights Templar in 1263; both farms have had a long association
with the church. Capel has remained mainly a farming community over the centuries but it achieved some importance from the sixteenth century onwards being situated on the old turn-pike road midway between the market towns of Dorking and Horsham and later it became a notable staging-post on the old stagecoach routes between London and the south coast.
