Cheam, Surrey

Historical Description

Cheam, a parish in Surrey, under Banstead Downs, 5½ miles WSW of Croydon. It has a station on the L.B. & S.C.R., 15 miles from London, and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Sutton. Acreage, 1909; population, 2146. The manor was given by Athelstane to Christ Church, Canterbury, and passed at the dissolution to the Lumleys, from whom it passed to the Dukes of Bedford. For the last 140 years it has been in the family of Northey of Woodcote House, Epsom. Whitehall House is timber-built, and contains a room said to have been used by Queen Elizabeth on her visits to Nonsuch Palace. That palace was in the neigh' bourhood, and was built by Henry VIII., and demolished by Charles I.'s Duchess of Cleveland. The present Nonsuch House stands at some distance from the site of the palace, and is a modern castellated structure, originally from designs by Wyattville, but much altered and enlarged. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester; value, o£445 with residence. Patron, St John's College, Oxford. The church was built in 1864, and is in the Early English style with a tower. The chancel of the previous church still stands, and contains elaborate monuments of the Lumley family. Five out of six successive rectors between 1581 and 1662 became bishops. Many distinguished men have received their early education in the private school which has flourished here since 1665. Gilpin, the author of "Forest Scenery," and the original of Dr Syntax, kept this school for 30 years. Cheam Common is about a mile north-west. A chapel of ease was erected here in 1874, and is a red brick building in the Early English style. There are Baptist and Primitive Methodist chapels.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

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.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Cheam from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Cheam (St. Dunstan))

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Surrey is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Cheam 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:

• Surrey Mirror
• Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser
• Surrey Advertiser

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Surrey, 1662-1668 is available on the Heraldry page.