Merstham (St. Catherine)

MERSTHAM (St. Catherine), a parish, in the union, and Second division of the hundred, of Reigate, E. division of Surrey, 3½ miles (N. E.) from Reigate; containing 1130 inhabitants. It comprises 2535a. 1r. 18p., of which 1585 acres are arable, 597 meadow and pasture, 235 woodland, and the remainder gardenground and common. The Reigate stone, called also fire-stone, is found here, under beds of chalk and chalk marl; a considerable quantity of it was used in the erection of old Windsor Castle and Henry the Seventh's chapel. The Brighton railway intersects the parish. The living is a rectory, in the patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury, valued in the king's books at £22. 1. 8.: the tithes have been commuted for £574, and the glebe comprises 26 acres. The church, standing on a knoll, was erected about the time of Henry VI., and is principally in the later English style; the tower is in the early style, and surmounted by a wooden spire.