Cheam, Surrey Genealogy

England   Surrey

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Parish History
CHEAM (St. Dunstan), a parish, in the union of Epsom, Second division of the hundred of Wallington, E. division of Surrey, 1½ mile (N. E. by E.) from Ewell; containing 1109 inhabitants. This parish comprises the districts of Lower and North Cheam, the latter of which is situated on the high road from London to Worthing. The manor anciently belonged to the Lumley family, a member of which sold his collection of books to James I., thus laying the foundation of the royal library now in the British Museum. About half a mile to the southwest of the village was the magnificent palace of Nonsuch, in the parish of Cuddington. The parish comprises 1894a. 3r. 6p., of which nearly 1200 acres are arable, 581 meadow and pasture, and 14 wood. A vein of clay is found of excellent quality for making casting-moulds, and for tobacco-pipes, of which there is a manufactory; and a pottery, chiefly for chimney and flower pots, affords employment to several hands. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £17. 5. 5., and in the patronage of St. John's College, Oxford: the tithes have been commuted for £625, and the glebe comprises 26 acres, with a glebe-house. The church, an ancient and spacious edifice, was, with the exception of the tower, rebuilt of brick in 1740; the chancel contains several monuments to the Lumleys. Sir Edmund Yates, Knt., many years one of the justices of the king's bench and common pleas, noticed with eulogium by Junius in his letters, resided and was interred here; Bishop Watson was also buried in the parish, of which he had been rector. Of six successive rectors, from 1581 to 1662, five became bishops, viz., Watson, Andrews, Mountain, Senhouse, and Hackett.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 558-562. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50868 Date accessed: 18 November 2010.

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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