Petersham, Surrey

Historical Description

Petersham, a village and a parish in Surrey, now absorbed in the borough of Richmond. The village stands near the river Thames, under Richmond Hill, 1½ mile S of Richmond station on the L. & S.W.R. It takes its name from having belonged to St Peter's Abbey at Chertsey, gives the title of Viscount to the family of Stanhope, Earls of Harrington, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Richmond. Acreage of parish, 652; population, 629. Ham House is the seat of the Earl of Dysart Pembroke Lodge, in the park, is the seat of Countess Russell. Petersham House, Petersham Lodge, Sudbrook Park, Montrose House, Douglas House, Manor House, Gort House, and Reston Lodge are other residences. The Star and Garter, the famous Richmond hotel, is in this parish. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester, dependent on the pew rents, with a residence but no endowment. The church was built in 1605, and modernized in the Georgian period, but has not been restored. It contains the grave of the Duchess of Lauder-dale, some ancient monuments, and a tablet to the memory of the navigator Vancouver. There are some almshouses built in 1867, and also several charities, chiefly educational, into which an inquiry was held in 1893. The schools built and supported by the Russell family have been transferred by them to the British and Foreign School Society, and are situated in the park.

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 Petersham from the following:

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

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of Petersham 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.