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- source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
- source: Family History Library Catalog
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NOTE: There is another village named Crowhurst not far away in
East Sussex. The two should not be confused.
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- the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia
Crowhurst is a civil parish and dispersed village in a rural part of the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The nearest town is Oxted, 3 miles (4.8 km) north.
The parish church is dedicated to St. George, and is architecturally Grade II listed, mostly built from the 12th to the 15th centuries. It has a chancel that was repaired and made plain in 1657. The spire was rebuilt after a fire in 1947. There are wall monuments are to: Justinian Angell (d. 1680) Margaret Gainsford (d. 1691) and a wall tomb to Richard Marryott (d. 1675). A larger tomb chest is to John Gaynesford (d. 1450).
Crowhurst Place is a timber-frame Grade I listed house partly built 1425-1450 sited at the summit of a gradual slope about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Crowhurst church. It faces the east and is surrounded by a moat. The property was conveyed for the Gainsford family of the manor who held it from 1418, having acquired it from John atte Hall and Joan (in the customs of the time, presumably his wife).
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John Gainsford, who died in 1450, had a younger son William, who was Knight of the Shire (equivalent to Member of Parliament) for Surrey in the year of his father's death. His descendants were a locally irrelevant Gainsford line from Cowden in Kent. The Rev. George Gainsford of this line, retiring as vicar of Hitchin, bought Crowhurst Place about 1905. He died in 1910 and his son the Rev. G. B. Gainsford became the owner.
Tenant George Crawley, an amateur architect who also designed Westbury House on Long Island in the United States, made alterations during his residence at Crowhurst Place in the early 20th century, then expanded the building again between 1912 and 1915 for his successor as leasee, Consuelo Vanderbilt, first wife of the 9th Duke of Marlborough.
For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Crowhurst. Includes another reference to the family of the Dukes of Marlborough.
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.)
- In 1889 the County of London was created, and the areas of the modern London boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth were removed from Surrey. The records of these areas are held either by the London Metropolitan Archives or by the local boroughs, but the Surrey History Centre holds pre-1889 Quarter Sessions records for this area.
- Also in 1889, Croydon was made into a county borough exempt from county administration. Croydon became a London borough in 1965, and most Croydon records are held by the Croydon Local Studies Library and Archives.
- In 1965 more of Surrey was lost to London, with the creation of the London boroughs of Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and an expanded Croydon. For these areas, records are held by the local boroughs (either in their archives or local studies libraries) or the Surrey History Centre. The London Metropolitan Archives may also have some material.
- In 1965 Staines and Sunbury were transferred from Middlesex to Surrey. In 1974 these areas became the new District of Spelthorne. Most records relating to the former Middlesex area are held by the London Metropolitan Archives.
- In February 2020 FindMyPast announced it had added a substantial number of baptisms, marriages and burials to its database for Surrey. FindMyPast is a pay website.
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 Crowhurst
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