Dorking IN THE YEAR 2000 Dorking as a settlement is thought to date back two thousand years to Roman times. The first recorded reference to 'Dorchinges' is in the Doomsday Survey of 1086. The town grew, spurred on by significant events in it's history: a charter was granted to the market in 1278, the London to Horsham road was improved and turnpiked in 1755 and the railway arrived in the mid-19th century. In the year 2000 when this plaque was erected, Dorking's population had grown to 11,000.