Dunsfold is recorded in the Domesday Book, and the church of St Mary and All Saints is one of its treasures. The 13th century oak pews are among the oldest in England, their surfaces worn smooth by nearly 800 years of use. The Holy Well, an ancient spring near the church, was a site of pilgrimage in the medieval period and is still maintained. Its clear water was believed to have healing properties, and the site retains an atmosphere of quiet devotion.
Dunsfold Common, a large area of heathland and scrub to the south of the village, is ancient common land that has never been ploughed. The mix of heather, gorse, and birch provides habitat for species that have become rare elsewhere in lowland England. The village remained a quiet agricultural settlement for centuries, its farms working the clay soil and its woods providing timber and fuel.
The aerodrome changed everything. Built in 1942 as a base for the Royal Canadian Air Force, Dunsfold Aerodrome played a significant role in the Second World War. Canadian squadrons flew Typhoons and Spitfires from the grass strip. After the war, Hawker Aircraft (later absorbed into British Aerospace) took over the site for aircraft manufacturing and testing. The Hawker Hunter, the Harrier jump jet, and the Hawk trainer all flew from Dunsfold. Test pilots pushed experimental aircraft to their limits over the Surrey countryside. The airfield later became famous for an entirely different reason: the BBC used it as the Top Gear test track from 2002 to 2018, and the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" lapped the old perimeter road watched by millions of viewers. Plans for redevelopment of the site into housing have been debated for years.
