England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Limpsfield St Peter

The Parish

The parish of Limpsfield lies in the extreme southeast of Surrey forming an extensive part of the border with neighbouring Kent and also being no too far from Sussex. Limpsfield is located about 9 miles east of the market town of Redhill and sits on, but mostly just north of, the A25 road which connects Redhill with the Kent town of Sevenoaks. Limpsfield is one of a number of villages which lie at the base of the escarpment formed by the chalk of the North Downs sitting on the Greensand belt where springs would have risen. Once a fairly small rural farming village, the parish like most along the edge of the downs being extended from north to south contains a share of all the local land types enabling a rich mix of farming regimes from sheep on the downs to arable to cattle & forestry in the Weald. Developments like the railway lines from London to East Grinstead and to Uckfield lead to strong growth in the village with many wealthy properties built in late Victorian times. Further growth has come from the arrival of London's encircling motorway the M25 which passes less than a mile north of the church. These developments have granted Limpsfield its share of capital commuters too. Various small feeder streams either head east to form the Darent or south to join the Eden, both reaching the outer Thames Estuary either directly or via the Medway. Limpsfield is sited at around 110 metres above the sea but land rises to the north in the steep escarpment of the North Downs to over 260 metres at the summit. Outer Surrey parishes like Limpsfield were often quite extensive, Limpsfield covered just over 3,600 acres and would have supported a population of a little over 1,300 parishioners. In Domesday times Limpsfield was a wealthy holding of Battle Abbey, a prosperous settlement boasting 19 ploughs, extensive meadow and woodland plus the bonuses of a mill and a fishery making it amongst the largest 20% of settlements recorded in that tome.

The Church

St Peter's church sits on the eastern side of the B269 which heads north from the A25 and climbs the Downs to Warlingham. The church has ancient origins with the oldest portions dated by Pevsner to a date close to 1180, the 12th century Norman Romanesque style being displayed in the tower and the western walls. The bulk of the main body of the church both nave and chancel and the chancel chapel and southern aisle a from the next, 13th, century and are Early English Gothic in style, showing the lancet windows characteristic of that period. To this ancient core a few windows were replaced in a 15th century perpendicular style and a southern porch was added in Tudor times. The Victorians made their usual changes, refreshing some of the windows and adding a northern aisle in 1852 with further restoration following some 20 years later. The church sits high above the road, the B269 is broad enough for safe parking, with either a sloping pathway or a steep set of steps rising to the 14th century lychgate. Once reached the churchyard is open, uncluttered and with few obstacles for photography.