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

The Parish

The parish of Lingfield lies in the extreme southeast of Surrey where three counties meet and it has borders with both neighbouring Kent & Sussex. Lingfield is located roughly 4 miles north of the Sussex market town of East Grinstead and stands on and mostly north of the B2028 road which connects Coptthorne with Edenbridge. Lingfield is a large village much expanded to the east in more recent times once a railway station connected to London was constructed. The old village sat around the church and north of the B2028 in a rough square of lanes. Lingfield sits within Surrey's portion of The Weald, an area, in  earliest times a Royal hunting forest, of much woodland and sparse settlement, its name deriving from the heather heathland, ling being a form of that plant. Today the former heath is graced by Lingfield's horse race course one of the premier courses in the land which exploits the former heath. At the time of this transcript Lingfield would have been a farming parish with almost equal amounts of arable and pastoral in effect, if early gazetteers estimates are correct, with traces of the former forest still dotting the landscape woodland would have been managed for useful products such as posts and hurdles. Today's Lingfield is a commuter village thanks to the modern development of a railway line and station part of the line from London to East Grinstead. Lingfield is drained eastwards by the Eden Brook which beyond Edenbridge becomes the River Eden eventually meeting the Medway and turning north it reaches the sea through the outer Thames Estuary. Lingfield is sited at around 60 metres above the sea in what is known as the "Low Weald", land rises to the south reaching around 110 metres by the time East Grinstead is reached in relatively gentle terrain. Lingfield parish was extensive as befits fairly unproductive soils, it covered almost 9,000 acres and supported a population of around 1,900 parishioners. Like most of the Weald Lingfield is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Peter & St Paul's church stands on Church Road yet is set back down a short dead-end lane almost opposite to the Star Inn. Whilst there has been a church here from earliest times today's version was created as an act of benefice by the local Cobham family of Stanborough Castle who financed a complete demolition and rebuild on the site during the 14th century. The church is thus almost entirely in the Perpendicular style of that half of the 14th century. To its west stands a tall and buttressed tower complete with a splay-footed spire, the tower reminiscent of the mighty such towers of East Anglia. The main body is large with nave and chancel augmented with extensive aisles and arcades to accommodate the large congregation, again all is Perpendicular. A date of 1341 is assigned as the completion date for the nave which is early for dull-blown Perpendicular styling. Most change wrought since the completion was as a result of a typical Victorian restoration of 1847 which also tackled the interior fitting and fixtures, much changed here too in the late 20th century. Church Road has ample on street parking so a short walk up to the church leads to the gates. Once through the rows of properties lining that lane it opens out to a substantial open space allowing uninterrupted views from most aspects for the photographer.