Pirbright, Surrey
Historical Description
Pirbright, a village and a parish in Surrey. The village stands near the Basingstoke Canal, 1 mile from Brookwood station on the L. & S.W.R., and 6 miles NW of Guildford, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Woking. Acreage of parish, 4711; population, 889. There is a parish council consisting of seven members. The manor belongs to the Halsey family. A large portion of the common lands around the village have been purchased by the War Department, and are used as a musketry station by the brigade of Foot Guards. The National Rifle Association camp, called Bisley after the adjoining parish, to distinguish it from the Pirbright Guards' camp, is with the exception of a small portion, in this parish. (See BISLEY.) The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Winchester; net value, £180 with residence. The church and its tower were rebuilt in 1785 after a fire, and the chancel was built in 1846. There is a Congregational chapel.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Surrey | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Purbright St. Michael | |
Hundred | Woking | |
Poor Law union | Guildford |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Surrey History Centre, have images of the Parish Registers for Surrey online.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Pirbright from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Purbright (St. Michael))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Surrey is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Pirbright are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Surrey papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Surrey, 1662-1668 is available on the Heraldry page.