- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
The Borough of Waverley is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. The borough's headquarters are in the town of Godalming, with Farnham and Haslemere being the other large notable towns. The population of the borough, according to a 2014 estimate was 122,850.
The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the municipal borough of Godalming, Farnham and Haslemere Urban Districts and Hambledon Rural District.
Waverley District or Borough neighbours the Boroughs of Guildford and Mole Valley in Surrey, and the counties of West Sussex and Hampshire. The borough is named after Waverley Abbey, near Farnham, the earliest Cistercian monastery in Britain. In the north the borough contains Blackheath Common, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Waverley has the most green space in absolute terms in Surrey at 293.1 km², approximately half of which is woodland.
Much of the west of the borough echoes former ownership by the abbey, such as Waverley Cricket Club and the Waverley Arms pubs in Farnham and elsewhere. Equally echoed are the tens of square miles held under the Farnham holding of the Bishop of Winchester which took in the western parishes of Frensham and Churt as well as much of Farnham parish since the early 12th century when one such Bishop, Henry of Winchester and of Blois, established Farnham Castle as the See's episcopal home. Today Farnham Castle is the borough's main surviving medieval edifice and acts as a museum for the period.
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.
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