Abinger, Surrey Family History Guide

Abinger is an Ancient Parish in the county of Surrey.

Parish church: St. James

Parish registers begin:

• Parish registers: 1559
• Bishop’s Transcripts: 1692

Nonconformists include:

Adjacent Parishes

• Rudgwick, Sussex
• Okewood
• East Horsley
• Cranleigh
• Wotton
• Shere
• West Horsley
• Effingham
• Ockley
• Ewhurst
• Coldharbour
• Ockham

Parish History

Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales 1895

Abinger, a village and a parish in Surrey. The village is 2½ miles SE of Gomshall and Sheire station on the S.E.R., and 4½ SW of Dorking, under which it has a post office; money order and telegraph office, Holmbury St Mary. Acreage, 7577; population of the civil parish, 1394; of the ecclesiastical, 555. It was for many years the residence of Hoole, the translator of Ariosto; and it gives the title of Baron to the family of Scarlett. The parish is overhung on the SE by Leith hill, and drained westward by a tributary of the Wey.

Abinger Hall is in the neighbourhood, and was long the residence of the Countess of Donegal, Swift’s “Glory of the Granard race.” The living is a rectory in the diocese of Winchester; net value, £466. The church is an ancient edifice, partly in the earliest Norman, partly in Early English; was restored in 1880, and contains some beautiful stained glass windows and a good organ. In 1877 the remains of a Roman villa were discovered close to Abinger Hall, and some coins of Constantine and a quantity of broken tiles were found.

Source: The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales 1895 by Brabner, John Henry Fryden

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

ABINGER, a village and a parish in Dorking district, Surrey. The village is 2¼ miles SE of Gomshall and Sheire r. station, and 4½ miles SW of Dorking; and has a post-office under Dorking. It was for many years the residence of Hoole, the translator of Ariosto; and it gives the title of Baron to the family of Scarlett.

The parish is overhung on the SE by Leith hill, and drained west ward by a tributary of the Wey. Acres, 5,547. Real property, £4,265. Pop., 906. Houses, 177. The property is not much divided. Abinger Hall is the seat of Lord Abinger; and was long the residence of the Countess of Donegal, Swift’s “Glory of the Granard race.” The living is a rectory in the diocese of Winchester. Value, £453. Patron, W. J. Evelyn, Esq. The church is an ancient edifice, partly in the earliest Norman, partly in early English; was recently restored at a cost of about £1,500; and has some good coloured windows. Charities, £9. The parish is a meet for the Surrey Union hounds.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Lewis Topographical Dictionary of England 1845

Abinger (St. James), a parish, in the union of Dorking, First division of the hundred of Wotton, W. division of Surrey, 4½ miles (S. W. by W.) from Dorking; containing 920 inhabitants. This parish is noticed in the Domesday survey, under the appellation of Abinebourne; it comprises a small hamlet called Hammer, from an iron hammer mill formerly erected here.

The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s books at £12. 8. 1½., and in the gift of the Evelyn family: the tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £584, and there are 85 acres of glebe. The church, which occupies an elevated site, is an ancient edifice, with a low wooden tower and pyramidal spire. A school was commenced in 1829, and is supported by subscription. Lady Evelyn, in 1817, left £500 to the poor of this and the adjoining parish of Wotton; and the parish enjoys benefit from Henry Smith’s charity.

Oakham Grove was the seat of the celebrated Sir John Evelyn, and Parkhurst, of Lord Macartney. Sir James Scarlett was raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Abinger in 1835, having just previously been created chief baron of the exchequer.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis Fifth Edition Published London; by S. Lewis and Co., 13, Finsbury Place, South. M. DCCC. XLV.

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales 1840

Abinger, anciently called Abingworth, a parish in the hund. of Wotton, union of Dorking, Surrey; 4½ miles south-west of Dorking. Living, a rectory in the archd. of Surrey and dio. of Winchester; rated at £12 8s. 1½ d.; gross income £650. Patron, in 1835, Sir J. Evelyn, Bart.

The church contains some ancient monuments. Charity bequeathed to the poor of this parish, by Lady Evelyn, amounts to the annual sum of £8 19s. 7d. The annual sum of £9 is also given, partly for the same purpose, and partly for the apprenticing of children, by the bequest of Henry Smith, in 1627. Pop., in 1801. 632; in 1831, 767. Houses 105. Acres 9,780. A. P. £3,152. Poor rates, in 1837, £499.

Source: The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales; A Fullarton & Co. Glasgow; 1840.

Topographical Dictionary of the United Kingdom Capper 1808

Abinger, a parish in the hundred of Wootton, Surry, 6 miles from Dorking, and 29 from London; contains 105 houses and 632 inhabitants. It is a rectory, value 12l. 8s. 1d. and had formerly a castle.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of the United Kingdom. Benjamin Pitts Capper. 1808.

Parish Registers