Place:Botleys and Lyne, Surrey, England

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NameBotleys and Lyne
Alt namesHardwickesource: ancient tything in parish
Hardwitchsource: spelling variant
Lolewirthsource: ancient tything in parish
Lulworthsource: spelling variant
Rokesburysource: ancient tything in parish
Ruxburysource: spelling variant
Longcrosssource: hamlet in parish
TypeCivil parish
Coordinates51.386°N 0.545°W
Located inSurrey, England
See alsoChertsey, Surrey, Englandparish in which it was originally located
Godley Hundred, Surrey, Englandancient county division in which it was located
Chertsey, Surrey, Englandurban district of which it was part 1894-1974
Runnymede District, Surrey, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area since 1974
source: Family History Library Catalog
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Lyne is a semi-rural village and civil parish in the Runnymede District of Surrey. Its nearest town is Chertsey, which is centred approximately 1.6 miles (2.6 km) northeast of the village. The boundary is officially the M25 motorway.

The village was for the centuries (from at least the Norman Conquest) until the early 20th century in the parish of Chertsey. This meant it was a hamlet dominated by landholding of Chertsey Abbey throughout the Middle Ages and before; as this was one of the earliest religious communities centred on a large building in the country, founded in the mid 7th century. Accordingly, before the Conquest the hundred (county subdivision) was named Godley. In the early centuries of this period Chertsey was divided into eight tythings: two of which were Lolewirth/Lulworth or Hardwitch/Hardwicke and Rokesbury or Ruxbury in Lyne. The 16th century replacement to the great tything barn is here in the eastern part of Lyne, close to the present Chertsey proper.

In 1849 the church was built for the hamlet Lyne and Longcross in Lyne making Botleys and Lyne an ecclesiastical parish.

In 1911 its description from the Victoria County History of Surrey was:

"Botleys and Lyne, a hamlet of Chertsey, is 2 miles south by west. The school was built in 1895. Botleys Park, the residence of Mr. Henry Gosling, Almners Barns, now called Almners...Foxhills [more considered Ottershaw today], the seat of Sir Charles Rivers Wilson, and Fan Court [in Longcross], the seat of Sir Edward D. Stern, are in this district."

As can be seen from the above excerpt, Botleys Park was the name of a manor within the parish of Lyne.

Contrastingly, A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Botleys from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"BOTLEYS and LYNE, a chapelry in Chertsey parish, Surrey; near the Chertsey branch of the Southwestern railway, 2 miles SW of Chertsey. Post Town: Chertsey. Rated property: £6,211. Population: 494. Houses: 110. The property is divided among a few. Botleys Park is the seat of R. Gosling, Esq., and has richly-wooded grounds. The chapelry was constituted in 1849. The living is a [perpetual] curacy in the diocese of Winchester. Value: £100.* Patron: the Bishop of Winchester. The church is good."

The map of Surrey circa 1900 (when blown up) provides an good image of the parish of Chertsey and the various settlements within it. This map is from from the website, A Vision of Britain through Time.

Surrey Research Tips

Government

Administrative boundaries of the county of Surrey (Surrey History Centre. The centre has a website with a number of useful indexes--titheholders in various parishes, deaths at the county gaol, etc.)

Registration Districts

  • Registration Districts in Surrey from their introduction in 1837 to the present. By drilling down through the links you can follow any parish through the registration districts to which it was attached.

GENUKI provisions

The website GENUKI provides a very comprehensive list of reference sources for the County of Surrey. It includes:

  • Archives and Libraries
  • Church record availability for both Surrey and the former Surrey part of Greater London
  • 19th century descriptions of the ecclesiastical parishes
  • Lists of cemeteries
  • Local family history societies
  • A list of historic maps online

History

  • The Victoria History of the County of Surrey is a series of three volumes available online through British History Online. The volumes were written over the past hundred or so years by a number of authors and cover various sections of Surrey. A list of the volumes and what each contains can be found under the source Victoria History of the County of Surrey. Both volumes 3 and 4 contain areas which are part of Greater London and parts of modern Surrey.

Maps

  • The National Library of Scotland has a website which provides maps taken from the Ordnance Survey England & Wales One-Inch to the Mile series of 1892-1908 as well as equivalent maps for Scotland itself. The immediate presentation is a "help" screen and a place selection screen prompting the entry of a location down to town, village or parish level. These screens can be removed by a click of the "X". The map is very clear and shows parish and county boundaries and many large buildings and estates that existed at the turn of the 20th century. Magnification can be adjusted and an "overlay feature" allows inspection of the area today along with that of 1900. The specific map from the series can be viewed as a whole ("View this map") and this allows the inspection of the map legend (found in the left hand bottom corner. Becoming familiar with the various facilities of these maps is well worth the trouble.
  • Victoria County History chapter on Chertsey (includes references to Lyne)