Caterham, Surrey Genealogy

England   Surrey

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Parish History
CATERHAM, or Katerham (St. Lawrence), a parish, in the union of Godstone, Second division of the hundred of Tandridge, E. division of Surrey, 3¼ miles (N. by W.) from Godstone; containing 477 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the road from Croydon to Godstone, and intersected by the London and Brighton railway; and comprises by admeasurement 2386 acres, of which 1462 are arable, 269 meadow and pasture, 175 woodland, and 468 uninclosed common. The surface is hilly, and the soil has several varieties, consisting of chalk, clay, and black mould: building-stone is quarried extensively. A fair for toys is held in July. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £8. 0. 1½.; patron and incumbent, the Rev. James Legrew, whose tithes have been commuted for £400, and who has a glebe of 5 acres. The church was repaired in 1832, and a beautiful monument erected on the north side of the chancel to the memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Legrew. There is an encampment on the top of Whitehill, called the Cardinal's Cap, said to have been formed by the ancient Britons.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 531-534.

The old church of St Lawrence still stands across the road from its successor St Mary.

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

Census records
See Surrey Census

Poor Law Unions
Godstone Poor Law Union,Surrey

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
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Local Family History Centre
Orpington Family History Centre, Kent is within the London Borough of Bromley, located adjacent to Orpington Station and on major bus routes through the borough.

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.