Abinger Common's most remarkable claim to history reaches back nearly seven thousand years. In 1950, Dr Louis Leakey (better known for his work in East Africa) led excavations on the edge of the common and uncovered a Mesolithic pit dwelling dating to around 5000 BC. The shallow pit, roughly fifteen feet across, with post holes suggesting a roof of branches, is one of the oldest known dwelling sites in Britain. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and a small concrete shelter was built over the site to protect it from the elements.
The church of St James, on the green, has medieval origins, though much of the current building dates from restorations in the 19th century. The village was for centuries part of the manor held by the Evelyn family, connecting Abinger to John Evelyn, the 17th century diarist, forester, and founding member of the Royal Society. Evelyn's estate at nearby Wotton encompassed much of the surrounding woodland, and his passion for trees and landscape shaped the countryside that remains today.
E.M. Forster, the novelist, lived at West Hackhurst on the edge of Abinger Common from 1924 to 1946. The house had been built by his aunt, and Forster came to love the place deeply. He wrote about it with obvious affection in essays and talks, and in 1934 he produced a pageant play, "The Abinger Pageant," performed by villagers on the common. A second pageant, "England's Pleasant Land," followed in 1938 and dealt with the threat of rural destruction by modern development. Forster was eventually forced to leave West Hackhurst when the lease expired, and he wrote movingly about the loss. The surrounding countryside, including the slopes of Leith Hill and the Abinger Roughs (managed by the National Trust), remains much as Forster knew it.
