East Molesey, Surrey
Historical Description
Molesey or Moulsey, East, a village and a parish in Surrey. The village stands on the river Mole at its influx to the Thames, and at Hampton Court station on the L. & S.W.R,, opposite Hampton Court Palace, 2¼ miles WSW of Kingston; it takes its name from a quondam " eye " or island in the Mole (Mole's Eye), is a rapidly-increasing place, and lias a post, money order, and telegraph office. Acreage of the civil parish, 781; population, 4666; of the ecclesiastical, 2458. Under the Local Government Act, 1894, it has an urban district council consisting of twenty-one members. Numerous villas and other genteel houses stud the outskirts of the village and the banks of the Thames. It is a very .favourite resort of excursionists owing to its proximity to Hampton Court Palace, Bushey Park, and the river. The river abounds here in the beautiful willow-shaded "aits," and a level meadow along its side between East Molesey and West Molesey bears the name of Molesey Hurst, is famous in the annals of the prize ring, and contains the racecourse for Hurst Park Club races. The press which printed the celebrated Marprelate tracts about 1588, called by Fuller the " vagabond press," was first set up at Molesey. Large corn and saw mills are on the Mole. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Winchester; gross value, £190 with residence. Patron, King's College, Cambridge. The church is Later English, comprises nave and chancel, and contains a curious brass of Standen, cupbearer of Darnley. The building was enlarged in 1884. A section of the parish, called St Paul's, was constituted a separate charge in 1856, and the living of it is a vicarage of the value of £100. The Princess Frederica's Convalescent Home is in the parish. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Surrey | |
| Hundred | Elmbridge | |
| Poor Law union | Kingston |
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 East Molesey from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Molesey, East)
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Surrey is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of East Molesey 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.