A 1930s art deco railway control room, a church tower climb and Brookwood's mausoleums all open free in Woking this September. Three of the five need booking now.

Five places in Woking borough open free during this year’s Heritage Open Days, and the one most people have never been inside is a railway control room behind York Road. Network Rail is running 48 guided tours of the British Railways Electrical Control Room across two weekends, eight people at a time, and 52 of the 384 places had gone when we checked on 26 August. One slot has already sold out.

Heritage Open Days runs from 11 to 20 September 2026. It is England’s largest free festival of history and culture, organised by volunteers, and every event is free to attend (Heritage Open Days).

The five Woking openings

We checked every entry on the festival’s Woking area list against the postcode, and cross-checked the Guildford, Surrey Heath, Runnymede, Elmbridge and county-wide lists for anything filed in the wrong district. All five belong to Woking borough, and none of the neighbouring lists holds a Woking venue this year (Heritage Open Days: Woking printable area list).

Site Where When
British Railways Electrical Control Room 107-109 York Road, GU22 7XW 12, 13, 19 and 20 Sept, 10am to 2pm
Brookwood Cemetery Cemetery Pales, Brookwood, GU24 0BL Sat 12 Sept, 10am to 3pm
St Mary the Virgin, Horsell Church Hill, GU21 4QQ Sat 12 Sept, 10am to 4pm
St Mary’s Church, Byfleet 124 Church Road, KT14 7NF Sun 13 Sept, 2pm to 5pm
Woking’s Heritage Showcase The Lightbox, Chobham Road, GU21 4AA Sat 19 Sept

Timeline of the five free Heritage Open Days openings in Woking borough: the railway control room on 12, 13, 19 and 20 September; Brookwood Cemetery and St Mary's Horsell on Saturday 12 September; St Mary's Byfleet on Sunday 13 September; and the Lightbox showcase on Saturday 19 September

Saturday 12 September carries three of the five. That is the pattern every year: openings cluster on the first Saturday, and the volunteers who staff them are finite.

The control room: book, or you will be turned away

The British Railways Electrical Control Room ran the power distribution network for the electrified railway from 1936 until 1997, and it keeps several of its original art deco features. Network Rail organises the opening, and the tours are 20 minutes each, in groups of no more than eight.

The festival listing says pre-booking is preferred. Network Rail’s own page says something firmer: tickets are free but must be booked, and “unfortunately we will be unable to admit people without a pre booked ticket”. Ticket sales close 24 hours before each open day (Network Rail Wessex).

Booking is through TryBooking, where the live session list showed this on 26 August (TryBooking: Woking ECR Open Days 2026):

Day Tours Places left of 96
Saturday 12 September 12 66, and the noon tour sold out
Sunday 13 September 12 94
Saturday 19 September 12 85
Sunday 20 September 12 87

Tours run from 10am to 2pm on each of the four days. There are two steps up to the front door, and the festival entry gives the estimated visit length as 40 minutes.

Brookwood Cemetery: mausoleums open, no booking

Brookwood is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1852 by the London Necropolis Company to take London’s dead, was the biggest in Europe, and more than 250,000 people are buried there. Funerals still take place daily.

The open day runs from 10am to 3pm on Saturday 12 September, across both the military and civilian cemeteries, and no booking is required. The programme is:

  • self-guided walks
  • a rare look inside some of the historic mausoleums, with the doors open
  • refreshments at the Brookwood Cemetery Society lodge, donations welcome
  • designated grass picnic areas

The society’s lodge is in the south cemetery near the cemetery office, off the turning from Cemetery Pales signposted “cemetery office”. There is parking and there are toilets on site (Heritage Open Days: Brookwood Cemetery).

A separate open day at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Brookwood Military Cemetery runs the same day, 10am to 3pm, also free and with no booking needed. Note that its Dawney Hill entrance, GU24 0JB, sits in Guildford borough rather than Woking, which is why it appears on the Guildford list.

Horsell: 64 steps, and the cedar has gone

St Mary the Virgin on Church Hill opens from 10am to 4pm on Saturday 12 September. The church is open to everyone with no booking, and refreshments are available.

The tower climb is the part that needs organising. Tower slots run from 10am, the last one starts at 3pm, and the church takes bookings through Eventbrite. Its own listing sets out the conditions (St Mary the Virgin, Horsell):

  • 64 steps up a twisting staircase that is narrow in places
  • no child under 8 allowed to the top, and 8 to 17 year olds must be with an adult
  • a maximum of six visitors at the top at any one time, with a volunteer on duty
  • arrive five minutes before your slot for a safety brief

The church says the view north over the Surrey and Berkshire countryside has changed since a cedar tree was removed. Booking through the festival closes at 1pm on the day itself. For anyone with mobility restrictions, the church advises parking in Wilson Way opposite the school car park, where a gate gives a level footpath through the churchyard.

Byfleet and the Lightbox

St Mary’s Church, Byfleet opens from 2pm to 5pm on Sunday 13 September, with a guided tour of the church and churchyard at 3.30pm and light refreshments all afternoon. The building is 14th century and the opening is organised with Byfleet Heritage Society. It is on the A245 between Cobham and West Byfleet.

Woking’s Heritage Showcase at the Lightbox on Saturday 19 September brings the gallery and local partners together for a day on the borough’s history, including the Woking’s Story gallery, heritage craft displays and talks from local history experts. It is part of the gallery’s Unlocking Woking’s Heritage Collection project, and visitors can also see the current exhibitions, Animal Encounters and The Lost Gardens of Lobsteropolis.

Check the time before you go. The two sources disagree. The festival listing gives 11am to 3pm (Heritage Open Days); the Lightbox’s own What’s On entry gives 19 September 2026, 10:00 AM, and states “Admission - Kids go FREE / Entry by Donation applies” (The Lightbox). The gallery’s ground floor opens at 10am on a Saturday and its galleries and museum open half an hour later.

What it means for you

  • If you want the control room, book this week. It is the only one of the five that will refuse you at the door, and the Saturday 12 September tours are already the busiest of the four days.
  • If you want the Horsell tower, book that too, and check the age rule before you promise a child a climb. The church itself needs no booking.
  • Brookwood and Byfleet need nothing but turning up, on 12 and 13 September respectively.
  • Three of the five fall on Saturday 12 September. Brookwood, Horsell and the control room are all open that morning, and Brookwood to Horsell is a short drive rather than a walk.
  • Everything is free. Where a site normally charges or asks for a donation, the festival entry says what applies; the Lightbox’s own page is the one to read for its admission arrangement.

Woking station is a 20 minute walk from St Mary’s, Horsell, and Brookwood has its own station on the same line. If you are driving on 12 September, our roadworks and travel page has what is live on the borough’s roads, and our parking guide has the town centre tariffs.

Sources

Places remaining were correct at the time of checking on 26 August 2026 and will change. Organisers can amend or cancel an opening at short notice, so check the entry before setting out.