Place:Walton on Thames, Surrey, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

Walton on Thames is a town on the River Thames in the Elmbridge Borough of Surrey. The town is centred 15.3 miles (24.6 km) southwest of Charing Cross (considered a centre-point for Greater London) and is between the towns of Weybridge (to the south-west) and Molesey (to the north-east).

History

The name "Walton" is Anglo-Saxon in origin and is believed to mean "Briton settlement" (literally, "Welsh Town" - wealas tun). Even before the Romans and the Saxons were present, there was a Celtic settlement here. The Anglo-Saxon word for the Celtic inhabitants who lived here before them is "Wealas", meaning "foreigners" or "strangers". Walton was also identified by William Camden as the place where Julius Caesar forded the River Thames on his second invasion of Britain. However, according to the Elmbridge Museum, there is no evidence to support this.

Walton lay within the Anglo-Saxon administrative district of the Elmbridge Hundred.

Walton appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Waletona". The settlement was held jointly by Edward de Sarisber (Salisbury) and Richard de Tonbrige. Its Domesday assets were: 6 hides; 1 church (St. Mary's), 2 mills worth £1 5s 0d, 1 fishery worth 5s, 14 ploughs, of meadow, worth 50 hogs. It rendered £28.^[1]

The original village lies in the north, while later development took place in the south, closer to the railway station. St. Mary's Parish Church is of Saxon origin, with parts dating back to the 12th century. The square flint tower, supported by a 19th-century brick buttress, contains a ring of 8 bells, the oldest bearing the date 1606. In the north aisle is a large monument (1755) by the French sculptor Roubiliac to Richard Boyle, Viscount Shannon, Field Marshal and commander-in-chief in Ireland. Also in the north aisle a brass to John Selwyn (1587) keeper of Oatlands Park, with figures of himself, his wife and eleven children. An unusual relic kept in the church is a copy of a scold's bridle presented to the parish in the seventeenth century, which is mentioned in Jerome K Jerome's classic 'Three Men in a Boat'. The royal palace of Oatlands, built by Henry VIII in 1538, was a mile upstream to the west.

John Bradshaw lived in the Tudor manor house in the 17th century. He presided at Charles I's trial.

During World War I, troops from New Zealand were hospitalised in the now-demolished Mount Felix House. They are remembered by a memorial in the cemetery, where those who died at Mount Felix are buried, and one in St Mary's Church where an annual service of remembrance is held. They are also remembered in the street-name New Zealand Avenue, the Wellington Pub (formerly The Kiwi), and a small memorial in the Homebase car park.

In World War II, owing largely to the proximity of important aircraft factories at nearby Brooklands, the town was bombed on various occasions by the Luftwaffe.

Hersham and Walton Motors (HWM) constructed its own racing car in the early 1950s. Stirling Moss competed in his first Formula One Grand Prix in an HWM. HWM was the world's first Aston Martin car dealership.

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.