Merstham, Surrey Genealogy

England   Surrey

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Parish History
MERSTHAM (St. Catherine), a parish, in the union, and Second division of the hundred, of Reigate, E. division of Surrey, 3½ miles (N. E.) from Reigate; containing 1130 inhabitants. It comprises 2535a. 1r. 18p., of which 1585 acres are arable, 597 meadow and pasture, 235 woodland, and the remainder gardenground and common. The Reigate stone, called also fire-stone, is found here, under beds of chalk and chalk marl; a considerable quantity of it was used in the erection of old Windsor Castle and Henry the Seventh's chapel. The Brighton railway intersects the parish. The living is a rectory, in the patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury, valued in the king's books at £22. 1. 8.: the tithes have been commuted for £574, and the glebe comprises 26 acres. The church, standing on a knoll, was erected about the time of Henry VI., and is principally in the later English style; the tower is in the early style, and surmounted by a wooden spire.

From:A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel A. Lewis (1848), pp. 295-298. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51145 Date accessed: 19 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
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

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
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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