The London/Surrey/Croydon boundary comes westwards to Ditches Lane where it meets the boundary of the Reigate and Banstead District of Surrey.
St.Peter and St.Paul on Ditches Lane is a small church which might have been visited by travellers on the Pilgrims’ Way. It is built of flint and dates from the late 12th with a tower and spire of 1843. It once had a bell with Lombardic inscription, believed to be the oldest in the country but it was stolen - there is a replica.
Inside is a painting of hell – a purgatorial ladder with people ascending and descending; an angel waits above and a devil below, while St.Michael weighs the souls. The paints used were red and yellow ochre, cinnabar and whiteIt was painted about 1200, and later covered with whitewash, probably in the 1600s. Rediscovered in 1869 it was restored by the Surrey Archaeological Society. It is very rare, the subject chosen is very unusual and is a theme of Eastern European origin. There is a rare lizard oak pulpit of the mid 17th, and a plaque about the poor and needy.
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The London/Surrey/Croydon boundary comes westwards to Ditches Lane where it meets the boundary of the Reigate and Banstead District of Surrey.
