Dorking, a pleasant old-fashioned market-town of Surrey, stands in a picturesque valley near the base of Box Hill (590 feet), 24 miles SSW. of London. Its new church, with a spire 210 feet high, is a memorial to Bishop Wilberforce, who met his death riding over the Downs near Dorking
(1873). Deepdene, the lovely seat of 'Anastasius' Hope, where Beaconsfield wrote Coningsby, is close to the town. The battle of Dorking, vividly described by General Chesney in 1871, is happily still unfought. Pop. (1851) 3490; (1881) 6328; (1891) 7132. There is a History of Dorking by J. S. Bright (1885).—For Dorking breed of Fowls, see POULTRY.