Haslemere, Surrey

Historical Description

Haslemere, a small market-town and a parish in Surrey. The town stands amid pleasant environs of hill and vale, 9 miles SSW of Godalming, and has a station on the L. & S.W. R., 43 miles from London, and a post, money order, and telegraph office. It is said to have succeeded an older and larger town, situated on the side of an adjacent hill, and destroyed by the Danes; was a borough by prescription, and chartered by Queen Elizabeth; sent two members to Parliament till disfranchised by the Act of 1832; and was the scene of many expensive and violent election contests till its interests became united in the Earl of Lons-dale. It has now a handsome church, Congregational and Baptist chapels, a literary and scientific institution, assembly room, and workmen's club, and is a good centre for tourists to explore the romantic region in the triangle between it, Mid-hnrst, and Petersfield. The remarkable depression in th— sand, called the Devil's Punchbowl, and emitting an affluent of the Wey, is 2½ miles to the NNW. Acreage of the civil parish, 1899; population, 1274; of the ecclesiastical, 1261. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Winchester; value, £240 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. Aid-worth, the residence of the late Lord Tennyson, and where he died, is in the parish of Lurgashall, Sussex, 2½ miles from Haslemere. Professor Tyndal died at Shottermill (adjoining Haslemere) in 1893, and is buried in Haslemere churchyard.

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.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Haslemere from the following:

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

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of Haslemere 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.