- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
The Spelthorne District is a local government district and borough in Surrey, England. It contains the towns and villages of Ashford, Laleham, Shepperton, Staines upon Thames (or Staines), Stanwell and Sunbury on Thames.
Boroughs adjacent to Spelthorne are Runnymede and Elmbridge to the south in Surrey, Windsor and Maidenhead and Slough to the west in Berkshire, and Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames to the north and east in Greater London.
Spelthorne was a hundred, where local landowners met about once a month. The Spelthorne hundred also covered Poyle, historically a hamlet in the village of Stanwell, and the parishes of Hatton, East Bedfont, Feltham and Hanworth in the modern London Borough of Hounslow and Teddington and Hampton (historically including Hampton Wick, Hampton Hill and Hampton Court) in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.
From 1889 until 1965 Middlesex County Council principally administered the area. Under the Local Government Act 1894 the current borough responsibilities such as planning, sanitation and surface water drainage were conferred on the new bodies: Staines Urban, Sunbury Urban and Staines Rural Districts.
The 20th century saw the construction of the Two Staines Reservoirs (1901), Queen Mary (1931), King George VI (1947), and the Wraysbury Reservoirs (1970) in what is today's borough.
In 1930 most of Staines Rural District merged into Staines Urban District, with the remainder given to West Drayton and Feltham Urban Districts.
In 1965 when the rest of Middlesex, except for Potters Bar Urban District, was absorbed into the new county of Greater London, Staines and Sunbury on Thames Urban Districts were transferred to Surrey. From these the Borough of Spelthorne was formed on the abolition of the urban districts and rural districts nationally in 1974.
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.
- Because the towns and villages making up Spelthorne District were originally in Middlesex, the Victoria County History volumes describing them are Victoria County History-Middlesex Volume 2 and Victoria County History-Middlesex Volume 3
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