Riverhill Project

Introduction

RiverHill, in the heart of Cobham’s commercial centre opposite The Bear remains a well used but under-valued asset for the Cobham community.

Under-investment over a period of years has left it a shabby and under-utilised site for the community and from a commercial perspective. 

Plans are now well developed to re-instate this area as a centre-piece of the Cobham community, open up views along the Mole and greatly enhance the Conservation Area in which this area sits.

Historical Context

Cobham town centre has long had a vibrant river front. Cobham has been called “a creature of the Mole”. It is the river Mole that gave Cobham its existence and the historic heart of the town can still found close to the river. Cobham Mill, now a tourist attraction, was built in the 1820s but there has been a mill on the site since the time of the Domesday Book. There are few places so close to London where it is possible to walk from a thriving shopping area to a rural riverside area and, in the summer the river bank here is popular place for families. Generations of children have come here with their parents to feed the ducks and generations of local boys have caught their first fish from the river bank here.  

In recent years since the instigation of the Cobham Central Conservation Area stretching from the area opposite the Bear past several listed and locally listed buildings to the Old Mill the area of land adjacent to the river has gradually deteriorated and benefited from little to no investment over that period. RiverHill is very visible coming into and leaving Cobham and creates a somewhat shabby impression in the mind, of an area somehow “past its prime” and thus somewhere probably not worth stopping.

Next >>