Place:Capel, Surrey, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia Capel is a village and civil parish in southern Surrey, England. It is equidistant between Dorking and Horsham - both about 5 miles (8.0 km) away. To the west of Capel skirts the A24 road. Capel is approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north of the West Sussex border, 26 miles (42 km) south of London and 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Guildford and is in the Mole Valley District. The village is in the north of a landscape called the Weald, meaning forest, which forms a significant minority of the land today, particularly towards the Greensand Ridge. The large civil parish at the 2001 census had a population of 3,624, which had increased to 3,832 by 2011. Capel was part of the Dorking Rural District from 1894 until 1933, the Dorking and Horley Rural District from 1933 until 1974, and of the Mole Valley District since 1974. [edit] History the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia (The description of an ancient monument has been omitted.) [edit] Medieval period Capel in the Middle Ages developed only as much as to deserve a chapel of ease, as a chapelry within the parish of Dorking. The chapel which gives its name to the village was first mentioned in a confirmation (1129–71) of a grant to the Priory of Lewes by the Earls of Warenne consisting of 'Ecclesiam de Dorking cum Capella de la Wachna.'[4] The original settlement of Capel consisted of approximately 30 farms, most of which still exist today bearing the names of their tenants in the early 14th century. Timbers in some of the farmhouses have also been dated to 14th century.

19th Century

By 1848 there were 989 inhabitants over 5,522 acres (2,235 ha), of which 105 acres (42 ha) were common or waste. Samuel Lewis summarised Capel in that year as:

"The lands are principally arable, producing good crops of wheat and oats, and the soil is also well adapted to the growth of timber. Broom Hall here is an elegant edifice, on the south-eastern confines of Leith Hill. The living is a donative [not a rectory], in the patronage of Charles Webb, with a net income of £84: the tithes have been commuted for £610." (Source: Samuel Lewis (editor) (1848). "Cannock - Carbrooke". A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved by Wikipedia 26 October 2012.)

The 13th century church, pictured in Wikipedia, was enlarged in 1836, paid for by a Mr Broadwood and was restored in 1858 by architect Henry Woodyer, who installed a spiral staircage and bell cage in the same style as the church in Buckland.

Friends Meeting House

In the 17th and 18th centuries Capel was the centre of a thriving Quaker community which met at the houses of the local Bax family. The Quaker Sussex Quarterly Meeting recorded the fact that Thomas Patching "who then lived at Bonwick's Place in Ifield" met with George Fox (1624-1691), and then later "there was settled the first Monthly Meeting that was set up in this county .... and has since been removed to the house of Richard Bax at Capel in Surrey by reason of Thomas Patching's removing from that place". It is known that George Fox visited Surrey in 1668 and held a Meeting at Plaistow Farm, Capel, the home of Richard Bax. The Friends Meeting House is in the main conservation area of the village; it is also a listed building.

Localities

Beare Green

Beare Green is a separate locality in the same parish with a population of 1,323, made up of 607 households (2012 estimate). It is located about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Capel; Beare Green's roundabout, to its north, is at one end of the A29 road to Bognor Regis on the English Channel.

Coldharbour

Coldharbour is a community within the civil parish 3 miles (4.8 km) to the northwest. It is situated on the southern and eastern slopes of Leith Hill; Leith Hill is the second highest point in southeast England and lies on the Greensand Ridge that runs from near Hindhead to the south of Maidstone, Kent. Coldharbour has a conservation area along its highest roads with two listed buildings: Christ Church is a chapel built in 1848; members of the Wedgwood and Vaughan Williams families lived at Leith Hill Place.

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 Capel