Newington, Surrey Genealogy

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View a Comprehensive List of Chapels and District Churches in the Civil Parish of Newington St Mary.

Parish History
NEWINGTON (St. Mary), or Newington-Butts, a parish, in the E. division of the hundred of Brixton and of the county of Surrey, 1¾ mile (S.) from London; containing 54,606 inhabitants. This parish obtained the adjunct by which it is distinguished from other parishes of the name of Newington, from the shooting butts anciently erected here. By the addition of numerous houses in various parts, it has become one of the most populous districts in the suburbs of the metropolis. A few of the older buildings still preserve vestiges of their original character; but by far the greater part of the parish consists of widely-extended ranges of modern appearance. The roads leading through the village from the metropolis to Camberwell and to Clapham, and the streets which diverge from them, are partially paved, and well lighted with gas; and the inhabitants are amply supplied with water from the Lambeth and South London water-works. Among the more recent erections which have contributed to the extension of the village, are the handsome ranges of houses on the north and east sides of Kennington Common, Doddington-grove, Surrey-square, and several lines of houses on the Kent-road, together with those in the vicinity of Trinity-square. A manufactory for oil of vitriol, on the east side of Kennington Common, occupies three acres of ground; and between that and the Kent-road are, a smelting-house for lead and antimony, a tannary, a manufactory for glue, another for tobacco-pipes, with manufactories for floorcloth and for carriages. The sessions-house, in which the quarter-sessions for the county of Surrey are held, is situated in that part of the parish which adjoins the borough of Southwark; and close to it is the common gaol, a spacious building, containing ten wards for the classification of prisoners, with airing-yards, &amp;c., and affording room for the reception of 156 prisoners in separate cells. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £16; net income, £1300; patron, the Bishop of Worcester. The church is a modern edifice of brick, with a small cupola and campanile turret, surmounted by a dome; the interior is well arranged, and there are several handsome mural tablets. The churchyard, which is spacious, contains numerous ancient tombs and some interesting monuments. Two district churches were erected in the parish, in 1824 and 1825, by aid of the Parliamentary Commissioners, who granted one moiety of the expense, and lent the other for eight years without interest, to be repaid by a rate on the inhabitants. The church dedicated to the Holy Trinity, in Trinity-square, is a handsome edifice in the Grecian style, with a portico of six fluted Corinthian columns, and a square tower ornamented with pillars of the Doric order, and surmounted by a campanile turret surrounded with pillars of the Corinthian order: the cost of its erection was £13,316. The other church, dedicated to St. Peter, is in the hamlet of Walworth, which see. The livings are perpetual curacies, in the patronage of the Rector. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Wesleyans, and the followers of Joanna Southcott. The southern quadrangle of the Fishmongers' almshouses, consisting of 20 additional tenements founded in 1721 by James Hulbert, whose statue is placed on a pedestal in the centre of the area, is within the parish; the older portion of the almshouses, erected by the Fishmongers' Company about a century before, in the parish of St. George the Martyr, consists of an outer and an inner quadrangle, comprising 23 tenements, of two rooms each. There are also some almshouses in Cross-street, connected with the Drapers' Company. Under the PoorLaw Amendment act, the parish has a board of guardians of its own. Of the hospital of Our Lady and St. Katherine, which existed here till the middle of the sixteenth century, no vestiges remain.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel A. Lewis (1848), pp. 389-393. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51172 Date accessed: 30 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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Census 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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