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Reigate (St. Mary Magdalene)

REIGATE (St. Mary Magdalene), a borough, market-town, and parish, and the head of a union, in the First division of the hundred of Reigate, E. division of Surrey, 18 miles (E.) from Guildford, and 21 (S. by W.) from London; containing 4584 inhabitants. This place, which is of considerable antiquity, was called in Domesday book Cherche felle, and afterwards Churchfield in Reigate, under which name the church was given by Hamelin, Earl of Surrey, to the priory of St. Mary Overy, Southwark, in the reign of King John. The origin of the name Reigate is uncertain: Camden says that, if borrowed from the ancient language, it signifies the course of the stream; while Mr. Bray and others consider it, with great probability, to be derived from the Saxon words rige or ridge, and gate; from a gate, or bar, placed across the road which runs by the high ridge of hill now called Reigate Hill. He is also inclined to think that the gate existed so early as the formation of the Saxon Stane-street; and there are many other places in the vicinity, the names of which terminate in a similar way, all apparently derived from a like circumstance. The inhabitants are recorded to have routed the Danes when they were ravaging the kingdom, on more than one occasion; and Camden has preserved a distich commemorating their courageous conduct in these engagements. The castle was taken by assault by Louis the Dauphin, in the reign of John, in revenge for the adherence of its then owner, William de Warren, to the cause of that monarch in his quarrel with the barons. The manor of Reigate, originally of great extent, belonged in the Confessor's time to his queen, Edith.

The town is beautifully situated on a branch of the river Mole, in the valley of Holmesdale, on the road from London to Brighton; and stands upon a rock of white sand, which, for purity and colour, is said to be unequalled by any in the kingdom, and has been of late extensively used in the manufacture of glass. It consists of two principal and several smaller streets, partially paved, and well lighted with gas; water of very good quality is procured from the rock. A mechanics' institution has been established, with a library and readingroom. A considerable quantity of oatmeal was formerly made here, nearly twenty mills being employed, but the number is now reduced to one; some pits of fullers'earth have been opened of late years at Redstone. The London and Brighton railway, after quitting the Merstham tunnel, passes on the east of the town, and the South-Eastern railway quits the line near Redstone or Red Hill, taking a direction eastward towards Dovor. In 1846 an act was passed for a railway from Reigate to Dorking, Guildford, and Reading: the first sod of this line was cut, at Betchworth, near Reigate, on Aug. 20th, 1847. A market on Tuesday was granted by Edward III., and in 1679 Charles bestowed a second, on the first Tuesday in every month, which is for cattle, the other being for corn and provisions: the market-house, built by Sir Joseph Jekyll, is convenient. The fairs are on Whit-Tuesday, September 14th, and December 9th; the last is a large cattle-fair. A court leet and baron is regularly held, at which a bailiff and subordinate officers are elected, by whom the local affairs of the town are managed. The borough sent two members to parliament so early as the reign of Edward I., and continued to do so until the 2nd of William IV., when it was deprived of one, and when the boundaries were made co-extensive with the parish, comprising an area of 5415 acres: the bailiff is returning officer. The town-hall is in the market-place, and was built as a prison for felons brought to be tried at the sessions; the Easter sessions are still regularly held here. The powers of the county debt-court of Reigate, established in 1847, extend over the registration-districts of Reigate and Godstone.

The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £20. 5. 5.; net income, £418; patrons, the family of Snelson. The church, a substantial stone building, with an embattled tower of hewn stone at the west end, and with double buttresses, contains some handsome monuments: here are interred the remains of Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham, lord high admiral in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and commander of the naval equipment against the Armada. A church, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, has been built at Red Hill, near the town; the cost, towards which £1000 were given by Lord Somers, amounted to £5000, and £1300 more were raised for an endowment. This church was consecrated in September, 1843; it is after a design by Mr. Knowles, and the congregation is accommodated in open seats, and without galleries. The Society of Friends and the Independents have each a place of worship. The free school was founded in 1675, by the inhabitants, and is partly supported from endowments by Robert Bishop and John Parker. There is also a school on the national plan, maintained by subscription; and the parish receives £70 per annum from Henry Smith's charity. The poor-law union of Reigate comprises 16 parishes or places, and contains a population of 14,329.

The origin of Reigate Castle, which stood on the north side of the town, within the precincts of the borough, is generally ascribed to the ancient earls of Warren and Surrey, although some writers consider it to have been of Saxon foundation, with subsequent erections. It is spoken of by Lambarde, in the reign of Elizabeth, as a ruin, but enough of it remained at the time of the parliamentary war to induce a committee sitting at Derby House to take notice of it. The buildings appear to have been soon afterwards demolished, and little now remains except the site, considerably elevated above the town, and surrounded by a broad and deep moat; the area is laid out as a lawn with gravel walks, and without the moat is an antique gateway. In the castle court is an entrance to a cave 123 feet long, called the Barons' Hall, with a stone seat at the extremity. In the castle butts, a spur of extraordinary size was discovered in 1802. The priory of Reigate was founded by William, Earl Warren, for Canons regular of the order of St. Augustine, about the same period as the presumed erection of the castle; it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the Holy Cross, and at the period of its dissolution by Henry VIII., was valued at £78. 16. 8. The noble mansion erected on its site retains the name of Reigate Priory. An ancient chapel, dedicated to St. Lawrence, has been converted into a dwelling-house; and two other chapels, respectively in honour of the Holy Cross and St. Thomas the Apostle, have been demolished.


Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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