Purley, Surrey
Historical Description
Purley, an ecclesiastical parish in Surrey, with a station on the L.B. & S.C.R., 13 miles from London and 2 from Croydon. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office. The parish was formed in 1881 out of the civil parishes of Coulsdon, Beddington, and Sanderstead. Population, 1279. The Warehousemen, Clerks, and Drapers' Schools, situated in this parish, form a splendid pile of buildings in Early Gothic style, and stand in some fine grounds planted with shrubs. Christ Church is a building of Kentish rag in the Decorated style. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester; gross value, £300 with residence. There are several handsome residences in the neighbourhood. Purley was made famous by Home Tooke, who wrote his celebrated " Diversions of Purley" when residing at an old house in the neighbourhood.
Church Records
Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Surrey History Centre, have images of the Parish Registers for Surrey online.
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Surrey is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Purley 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.