Leatherhead, Surrey

Historical Description

Leatherhead, a small town and a parish in Surrey. The town stands on the river Mole, at a fourteen-arched bridge across the stream, and has stations on the L. & S.W. and L.B. & S.C.R. 18 miles from London, and 4 SW by S of Epsom, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office. It was known to the Saxons as Leodre, Ledret, and Leadrite; appears to have been long a place of considerable importance; was the seat of the sheriff county court prior to the end of Henry III.'s reign, and was also a market-town; consists now of four streets, with large gardens sloping down from the back of one of them to the river; and has two chief inns, a church, Baptist, Wesleyan, and Congregational chapels, a mechanics' institute, and charities. One of the inns has a spacious apartment for balls, concerts, and public meetings. A small inn, a timber-built house recently much altered, close to the bridge, is said to have been the hostel of " Dame Eleanor Eummyng," celebrated by Skelton, the laureate of Henry VIII. St John's or Foundation is a school for the free boarding and education of sons of clergymen of the Church of England; it was first established at Clapton, but was transferred to Leatherhead in 1872, and the buildings were considerably enlarged in 1890. The church stands on an eminence above the Mickleham Road; is a cruciform edifice of the 13th century; was given, about the middle of the 14th century, to the priory of Leeds in Kent; has a tower with octagon staircase at the NE corner, and strong double buttresses at each of the other corners; contains carved screens at the division between the nave and the transepts; contains also, in its E window, stained glass brought from Eouen by the Eev. J. DaUaway, at the time when he was publishing his. history of West Sussex; and contains likewise a beautiful monument to Mrs. Dixon, and many ancient marble tablets. Mailing and brewing are carried on. Area of parish, 3480 acres; population, 4305. The manor, with Eandall Parky belongs to the Henderson family. Leatherhead House was the seat of the Gores and of Judge Jeffreys. Bricks and tiles are made. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Winchester; value, £350 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Eochester.

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 Leatherhead from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Leatherhead (St. Mary and St. Nicholas))

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of Leatherhead 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.