
Reigate is a town in eastern Surrey, England, located 19 miles southwest of London. Reigate was known to the Anglo-Saxons as Cherchefelle ("the open space by the hill"), and it later came to be known as Reigate, referring to the "roe-deer gate" which separated the town from the De Warenne family's deer park. Reigate became a center of the oatmeal trade during the 16th century, but it had ceased by 1720. Reigate continued to be a rural town for centuries, and it became a Conservative Party stronghold. In 2011, Reigate had 21,820 residents.