St Martha, Surrey Genealogy

England   Surrey   Surrey Parishes

Parish History
MARTHA, ST., ON-THE-HILL, or Martyr-Hill, a parish, in the union of Hambledon, First division of the hundred of Blackheath, W. division of Surrey, 2¾ miles (S. E.) from Guildford; containing 193 inhabitants. This parish is called Martyr-Hill from a tradition that in the early ages some Christians were burnt by the Pagan Britons on the site where the church now stands. It contains 1070 acres, and in point of picturesque beauty is almost unrivalled. The living is a donative; net income, £25; patron and impropriator, W. Tinkler, Esq. The church occupies a bleak situation on a high hill about a mile from Chilworth, the small village of the parish: it was formerly an extensive cruciform structure, in the early English style; but the nave is now in ruins. The ecclesiastical property, prior to the Dissolution in 1538, belonged to the abbey of Newark in Send, near Guildford; and at Tyling are the remains of a religious house.

Consider also the following parish nearby:

CHILWORTH, a hamlet and a parish in Hambledon district, Surrey. The hamlet lies N of the river Wey, adjacent to the Reading and Redhill railway, 2½ miles SE by E of Guildford; and has a station on the railway. The parish is called also St. Marthaon-the-Hill; and its post town is Guildford. Acres, 1, 070. Pop., 168. Houses, 23. The property is divided among a few. St. Martha's Hill consists of sandstone; is about 600 feet high; and commands a rich and various view. Paper mills and powder mills are in the pretty vale of Chilworth, below the hill; but have ceased, for a time, to be worked. The living is a donative in the diocese of Winchester. Value, £25. Patron, Lord Lovaine. The church stands on St. Martha's Hill; and is a restored cruciform ancient chapel, which belonged to the priory of Newark.

From: Samuel A. Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 266-269. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51137 Date accessed: 13 April 2011.

John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870)

Civil Registration
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Church records
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Census records
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Probate records
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