Wimbledon St Mary, Surrey Genealogy

England   Surrey   Surrey Parishes

Parish History
WIMBLEDON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Kingston, W. division of the hundred of Brixton, E. division of Surrey, 7 miles (S. W.) from London; containing 2630 inhabitants. The name of this place, anciently written Wymbandune, Wymbaldon, and Wymbledon, is supposed to have been derived from one of its early proprietors. The principal feature in the parish is Wimbledon Park, which comprises 922 acres, including a sheet of water covering about forty acres; it is one of the finest parks in the county, and has some very stately trees, especially ever-green oaks and cedars, one of the latter of which measures nineteen feet in circumference at two feet from the ground. In the pleasuregrounds is a curious sarcophagus; also several blocks of marble taken from the French during the war, which were presented to the late Earl Spencer, then first lord of the admiralty, and are said to have been brought from Pompeii for Buonaparte. Wimbledon common is surrounded by seats of the nobility and gentry, and exhibits at the south-west angle a circular encampment with a single ditch, including a surface of seven acres; the trench is very deep, and perfect. This encampment is said to mark the site of a battle fought in 568, between Ceawlin, King of the West Saxons, and Ethelbert, King of Kent, in which the latter was defeated, and his two generals, Oslac and Cnebban, slain. At the northeast angle of the common is the village, consisting of one street containing many respectable houses; and in detached situations are numerous pleasant villas. A little north of the encampment is a well, the water of which has never been known to freeze. The London and South-Western railway passes through the parish, and about half a mile from the church has a station. The mills of the English Copper Company are in the parish; also some works for printing calico. A pleasurefair is held on the first Monday after Lady-day, and the two following days. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £170; patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Worcester, as appropriators of the rectory, which is valued in the king's books at £35. 2. 11. The church, a neat structure in the Grecian style, situated about a quarter of a mile north of the village, was erected in 1787, on the site of an edifice which had fallen into decay. On the south side is the Cecil chapel, an ancient building, in which are portions of mail armour and several monuments, one an altar-tomb of black marble to the memory of Sir Edward Cecil. In the east window are some remains of painted glass representing the arms of the families of Leeds, Salisbury, Dorset, &c.; and in the churchyard are several handsome mausoleums and monuments, including one to the memory of G. S. Newton, R. A., a painter of considerable merit. There is a place of worship for Independents. Five almshouses erected in 1839 by subscription, are endowed with the interest of £1000, the profits of a fancy-fair held in the grounds of Wimbledon House, belonging to Mrs. Marryat. It is said that Catherine Parr, after the death of Henry VIII., occupied a house in the village, now a large school; and the celebrated Lord Burleigh is thought to have resided here, and planted the magnificent avenue of elms on the common. Judge Park lived many years in the parish, and the inhabitants have erected a monument in the church to his memory. On digging in the grounds of Belvidere House, in 1838, to make space for an artificial piece of water, two fine figures of white marble, as large as life, were discovered several feet below the surface, one representing Summer, and the other Winter.

From: Samuel A. Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 584-592. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51411 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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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.

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Web sites
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