Wotton, Surrey Genealogy

England   Surrey   Surrey Parishes

Parish History
WOTTON (St. John the Evangelist), a parish, in the union of Dorking, First division of the hundred of Wotton, W. division of Surrey, 3 miles (W. S. W.) from Dorking; containing, with the chapelry of Oakwood, 763 inhabitants. This parish, which gives name to the hundred, is about nine miles in length and one mile in average breadth; it includes Leith Hill, and comprises 4176 acres, of which 563 are common or waste. The soil is various. The lands are watered by two streams rising in the northern declivity of Leith Hill, and which, uniting, fall into the Wey near Shalford: another stream rises under the hill, and runs into the river Arun. There are considerable woods of oak, ash, beech, hazel, and birch. On the summit of Leith Hill, which is the highest in the county, Richard Hull, Esq., in 1766 erected a tower, commanding an extreme view of the Wolds of Surrey and Sussex, with the English Channel in the distance, and northward a fine prospect of Reigate and the valley of the Thames, with the hills of Harrow, Hampstead, and Highgate. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 18. 9., and in the patronage of William J. Evelyn, Esq., of Wotton House: the tithes have been commuted for £525, and there are 140 acres of glebe. The church, a handsome structure with a tower at the west end, contains numerous monuments to the Evelyn family. There is an ancient chapel at Oakwood. Some bequests have been left to the poor. John Evelyn, a great benefactor to the Royal Society, of which he was a member, and the author of Sylva and several other works, was born and buried here; and Sir Samuel Romilly resided many years in the parish.

From: Samuel A. Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 692-695. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51432 Date accessed: 14 April 2011.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
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Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Surrey Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
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Web sites
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