Betchworth, Surrey Genealogy

England   Surrey   Surrey Parishes

Parish History
BETCHWORTH (St. Michael), a parish, in the union, and First division of the hundred, of Reigate, E. division of Surrey, 3¼ miles (W. by S.) from Reigate; containing 1140 inhabitants. This place is noticed in Domesday Book as Becesworde, and the manor was anciently held by the earls of Warren and Surrey, one of whom in the 12th century gave the advowson to the convent of St. Mary Overy, Southwark. The parish comprises 3067 acres, whereof about 500 are common or waste land; it contains some good seats, and several respectable cottage residences. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £7. 8. 11½.; patrons, the Dean and Canons of Windsor; impropriators, the Rt. Hon. Henry Goulburn, and Sir Benjamin Brodie, Bart.: the great tithes have been commuted for £295. 15. 4., and the vicarial for £200. The church was renovated in 1838. At Brockham Green is a church lately built by subscription. A school is endowed with £20 per annum, and there are several charities for the benefit of the poor. Brockham Lodge was the summer retreat of Capt. Morris, the well-known lyric poet, who died in 1838, at the age of 93.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 223-228. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50795 Date accessed: 26 May 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
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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