Weybridge (St. Nicholas)
WEYBRIDGE (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Chertsey, First division of the hundred of Elmbridge, W. division of Surrey, 4 miles (W.) from Esher, and 20 miles (S. W. by W.) from London; containing 1064 inhabitants. Weybridge is bounded on the north by the Thames, where that river receives the Wey, which is crossed by abridge, and thus gives name to the place. The Wey canal commences a little to the west of the village; and the London and South-Western railway, which passes through the parish, has a station on Weybridge Common: a branch line to Chertsey was opened in 1848. The parish comprises 1320a. lr. 36p.; about two-thirds are arable, pasture, and meadow, and one-third woodland. The neighbourhood is adorned with many elegant seats, the principal being Oatlands, which was the residence of His Royal Highness the late Duke of York, occupying the brow of an eminence, near a fine sweep of the Thames: a pillar has been erected in the village to the Duchess of York, by the inhabitants, as a mark of respect to her memory. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £7. 0. 5., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £292: there are 60 acres of glebe. The church is a small neat edifice, and contains several monuments, among which is one to the Duchess of York, who was interred here. James Taylor, Esq., in 1836 built a Roman Catholic chapel, with a house for the clergyman, near his own residence, at a cost of £2000. Among the various relics of antiquity found in the parish, several curious wedges, or celts, were discovered in 1725, at Oatlands, about 20 feet below the surface; which circumstance seems to sanction the opinion that Cæsar attacked the Britons at the place now called Cowey Stakes, a short distance from bis camp at Walton.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.