Reigate is situated in a valley called Holmsdale, from the holm-trees that abound in it. The name of the town, which in Saxon signifies the course or channel of a river, was given to it from its being seated on a branch of the river Mole. In Domesday it is called Cherche felle, and an hundred of the same name, and afterwards Churchfield in Reigate.

Reigate is a very ancient borough, having sent members to parliament from the very first. The right of voting is in the freeholders of the place.

The town is governed by a bailiff, chosen annually at the manor court. The market is held on Tuesday.

The church is a handsome building of free-stone; the market-house was formerly a chapel, dedicated to Thomas a Becket.

It is suggested, that in ancient times this vale was for many ages the retreat of the native Britons, whom the Romans could never drive out; and after that it was the like to the Saxons, when the nation was harassed by the Danes, and the country ravaged wherever they came. On this account they retain here, in memory, this rhyming boast:

"This is Holmesdale,

Never conquer’d, never shall."

The vale derives its name from Holm oak, which, with red deer, abound here. It runs south and east, immediately under the hills of Surrey, and is a rough, woody track, stretching into Kent.

There was here a very ancient castle, called Holms Castle, built by the Earls Warren, under which Camden mentions having seen an extraordinary passage, with a vaulted room, hewn with great labour out of the sandy stone, of which the hills about the town are composed Here, we are told, the barons who took up arms against king John had their private meetings, and especially the evening before the celebrated congress in Runnemeade. A gate, with some round towers, were the last remains.

Under the hill adjoining to the south side of the town was a great house, which was formerly a priory of black canons, founded by William Warren, Earl of Surrey, about the year 1245. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the Holy Cross.

The neighbourhood abounds with fullers’-earth and medicinal herbs and plants.

In Reigate is a curious spot, where the great Earl of Shaftesbury wrote "The Characteristics." it is planted to imitate a park and a garden; the latter contains a mount, a river, a parterre, a wilderness, besides a lawn, with a few deer, terminated by a small wood, and it is called All the World in an Acre, the whole space not exceeding four. Among the remains are two halls, each fifty feet long, the ceilings rather low, the carving of an ancient date. It is surrounded on all sides with hills, and has a sheet of water in its grounds.

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REIGATE, called in Domesday “Cherchefelle,” probably de-rives its modern name as a contraction from “Ridgegate” (A.S. hrycg. a back), the passage through the ridge of the North Downs, and is a municipal borough, market and union town, head of a petty sessional division and parish, about 9 square miles in extent, with a station on the Redhill, Dorking and Guildford line of the South Eastern railway, 23 miles from London by rail and 20 ½ by road, 2 west from Redhill junction, 6 east from Dorking, 19 east from Guildford and 11 south-west from Croydon, in the South Eastern division of the county, hundred of the same name, Redhill and Reigate county court district, and Reigate rural deanery, Kingston archdeaconry and Rochester diocese; the river Mole runs through part of the parish. Reigate parish comprises the old Borough and the Foreign of Reigate, the first embracing the ancient town and the second extending around the town on all sides, including Wray Park on the north, the Heath on the west, Woodhatch and South Park on the south and Redhill (formerly called Warwick town) on the east. Reigate was constituted a municipal borough in 1863, and is divided into two wards, eastern and western, and governed by a mayor, six aldermen and eighteen councillors, who form the Urban Sanitary Authority; the borough has a commission of the peace; it formerly returned a member to Parliament, but was disfranchised by the “Representation of the People Act, 1867.” The town is lighted with gas and well supplied with water from the greensand formation, the works being situated near the town.

The parish church of St. Mary Magdalene is an ancient structure of native fire stone dating from the 12th century, and consists of chancel, with north and south chapels, nave of five bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower containing a fine peal of 8 bells, entirely rehung in 1877; the chancel and chapels were restored by Mr. Woodyear, in 1845, and the nave, aisles and tower by Gilbert Scott esq. son of The late Sir G. Gilbert Scott R.A. in 1876: Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham K.G. Admiral of the Fleet collected to oppose the Spanish Armada, who died at Haling House, 14th December, 1624, lies buried in a vault on the south side of the chancel, with several others of the Howard family; the vestry was built about the same time as the chancel and was added to by the Skynnea family in 1513: attached to the church is a library, formed in 1701 by the Rev. Andrew Cranston, then vicar, assisted by the great John Evelyn and others: it contains 1,700 volumes, some MSS. and early specimens of printing, and is open to the clergy of the archdeaconry of Ewell and to the parishioners of Reigate: there are 900 sittings. The register dates from the year 1546. The living is a vicarage, average yearly value, from tithes, £283, with residence, in the gift of trustees, and held since 1847 by the Rev. John Newman Harrison M.A. of Caius College, Cambridge; there is also a town tithe levied upon the rating of the houses in the old borough of Reigate, dating from the time of Pope Nicholas. Francis Maseres esq. Cursitor Baron of the Exchequer, 1773—1822, and who died here 19 May, 1824, provided an endowment in 1820 for an afternoon sermon, out of the dividends of which 10s. 6d. is paid to the officiating minister who preaches the sermon.

St. Mark’s is an ecclesiastical parish, formed in 1860 from the civil parishes of Reigate and Buckland. The church, erected by subscription, at a cost, including the parsonage, of about £6,000, and consecrated May 22nd, 1860, is an edifice of stone in the Early Decorated style, and consists of chancel, nave of five bays, aisles, transepts, north porch and a tower on the north side, with spire, and containing a clock and 3 bells: there are 740 sittings, 240 being free. The register dates from the year 1860. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value from pew rents £250, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Rochester, and held since 1889 by the Rev. Arthur Simmonds M.A. of St. John’s College, Cambridge. The population in 1881 was 3,524.

St. Luke’s, South park, is an ecclesiastical parish, formed December 22nd, 1871. The church, an edifice in the Gothic style of the 14th century, consists of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles, with porch, vestry and organ chamber: the north aisle was added in 1884: there are about 400 sittings. The register dates from the year 1871. The living is a vicarage, in the gift of the Bishop of Rochester, gross yearly value £120, with residence, and held since 1885 by the Rev. Malcolm Charles Baynes M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge. The area is 380 acres; and the population in 1881 was 820, but has since greatly increased.

The mission church in Nutley lane, attached to the church of St. Mark, was erected and endowed in 1864, at the sole expense of the late William Phillipps esq.; and has sittings for about 300 persons. The curacy, which has an endowment of £120 yearly, with residence, has been held since 1889 by the Rev. David Marshall Lang M.A. of Corpus Christi college, Cambridge.

The chapel of St. Cross on Reigate heath, formerly known as “Mill chapel,” and in connection with the parish church, was at one time a mill.

There is a meeting-house for the Society of Friends, with seats for 250. The Congregational church in High street, erected in 1831, and enlarged and refronted in stone in 1872, has 550 sittings. The Wesleyan chapel, High street, built in 1884, at a cost, including site, of £5,000, is an elegant structure in the Romanesque style, from designs by Mr. F. Boreham, architect, of London, and has sittings for 500 persons. There is a Primitive Methodist chapel in Lesbourne road, seating 150.

The Cemetery, formed in 1855, and since very greatly enlarged, adjoins the graveyard of the parish church on the east and south sides, but is separated therefrom by fine old trees: it contains about 12 acres: being adjacent to the church, no mortuary chapel for Church of England service is required, but there is one for the use of Nonconformists and a portion of the ground is set apart for Catholics: the cemetery includes a keeper’s house, and is under the control of a Burial Board of nine members.

The Town Hall, erected in 1708, and situated in the Market place, on the site of an ancient chapel of St. Thomas a Becket, is a plain edifice of red brick, surmounted by a turret containing a clock with four illuminated dials; it is now used for petty sessions and as a market room.

The Public Hall, erected in 1861, at a cost of £5,000, is a building in the Gothic style, its principal entrance being in High street, with offices on each side: the main hall will seat 500 persons; the lower floor comprises a Literary Institution, established in 1837, and now (1890) numbering 300 members, with reading and other rooms and a library of 4,000 volumes; other portions of the building are appropriated to the museum of the Holmesdale Natural History Club and the Surrey Lodge of Freemasons, No. 416; and there are also kitchens and various offices.

A corn market is held on Tuesday in each week. The fairs are on Whit Tuesday and December 9th.

The Youths’ Institute, founded in 1875, was removed in 1885 to new premises in West street; the Science and Art classes are also here held.

There is a drill shed, with armoury, for the 2nd Volunteer Battalion (the Queen’s) Royal West Surrey Regiment, in Chart road, with residence for the sergeant instructor.

Henry Smith esq. of Wandsworth, alderman of London (1d. January 30, 1628), left by will dated 24th April, 1627, £1,000 for the poor of this town; in 1641, the trustees of this charity purchased lands at Rusper, Sussex, and Newdigate, Surrey, which came into the possession of the town in 1689; by a scheme of the Court of Chancery, dated 8th August, 1860, the charity, then consisting of £3,922 10s. 5d. stock, and producing a total gross income of £117 13s. 6d. was applied in aid of the Grammar School, together with a sum of £53 13s. 6d. yearly, derived from an estate at Stoughton, Leicestershire, allotted to the town by the trustees in 1641.

Mrs. Kitto’s Free Convalescent Home, first opened at Bletchingly in 1872, was removed in 1880 to a new building situated in a healthy spot at South park. The aim of its promoters has been to provide a home for those who have no means of making such payments as ordinary convalescent homes require, the majority of the patients coming from the east end parishes of London: there are beds for 13 men and 15 women and children: the home is supported by voluntary contributions.

The Brabazon Home, Lesbourne road, was founded in 1885 by Lady Brabazon (now Countess of Meath) for chronic cases among the members of the Girls’ Friendly Society: invalids who require medical care are also admitted: there are beds for 20 patients; 4 girls are also admitted for industrial training. The home is partly supported by subscriptions.

The ancient Market House stood at the west end of the town, near to Nutley lane, formerly the entrance to Reigate. from London: an interesting crypt, with freestone, still marks the site.

The Red Cross inn stands on the site of a very ancient chapel dedicated to the Holy Cross.

Another chapel, said to have been dedicated to St. Lawrence, stood next to the White Hart hotel, and portions of the walls still remain.

Reigate Castle, supposed to have been founded before the Norman Conquest, was taken from Earl Warrenne by the Dauphin Louis of France and the Barons in 1216, and was destroyed about 1648, the stone being carried away from time to time to form the road leading from Reigate to Buckland. Under the Castle keep is a cave, called “The Barons’ Cave,” with an arched roof cut in the silver sand, and a vault 150 feet long and 10 to 12 feet high, whence it is traditionally stated that a subterranean passage leads to the Priory of St. Mary and the Holy Cross, a house of Austin Canons, founded by William de Warren (Plantagenet), Earl of Warren and Surrey, who died in 1240: the revenues at the Dissolution were estimated at £78 16s. 8d. The stone gateway of the castle was erected in 1777: the grounds were some time since laid out as a public garden and planted with shrubs, trees and flowers, under the direction of the late W. Wilson Saunders esq. F.R.S.: the castle and grounds belong to the Corporation, and are at all times open to the public: a tunnel under the castle grounds was formed some years since, whence large quantities of sand have been taken, thus forming extensive vaults, which are now used principally by Messrs. F. Blackiston and Sons, as bonded stores, and by Messrs. Mellersh and Neale as beer stores; many varieties of fungi grow in these caves, giving them a remarkable appearance.

At Wray Park is the model farm of George Simpson esq. the well-known breeder and exhibitor of pedigree Jersey stock.

The Priory, one of the seats of Lady Henry Somerset, now occupied by Sophia Marchioness of Anglesey, marks the site of the monastery, referred to above. After the Dissolution, in 1535, the estates were granted by Henry VIII. to William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham K.G. who resided here, as also his son Charles, 2nd baron, and 1st Earl of Nottingham K.G. the leader of the English fleet against the Armada. The mansion consists of a centre, with lateral wings, and in the entrance-hall is a curious chimney-piece, formerly at Nonsuch Palace in Cuddington parish.

Minster Lea is the residence of Sir John Rogers Jennings kt. The town stands on a bed of white sand, which is invaluable for gardening and nursery purposes, as well as for the manufacture of fine glass; large quantities are obtained from works on the properties of Lady Henry Somerset and Mr. G. E. Pym; fire stone and hearth stone are also procured in the neighbourhood.

The principal landowners are Lady Henry Somerset, of The Hermitage, Reigate, who is lady of the manor, Viscount Oxenbridge, William H. Nash, Henry Clutton and John Clutton esqrs. the trustees of A. J. Waterlow esq. W. B. Waterlow and Thomas Burt Haywood esqrs. the trustees of Samuel Relf esq. and George Simpson and G. E. Pym esqrs.

The area is 5,675 acres of land, 34 water, 185 roads and 111 acres railways, making a total of 6,005 acres; rateable value of Reigate old Borough is £22,669; rateable value of Reigate Foreign, £117,491; total rateable value, £140,160.

The parish and municipal borough are co-extensive: the population in 1881 was 18,662, viz. 3,274 in the old borough of Reigate, and 15,388 in the portion of the municipal borough called the Foreign.

Petty sessions are held in the Town hall on the second Saturday in every month at 11 a.m. Tuesday & Saturday are days appointed for hearing indictable charges under the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1870.

The parishes in the petty sessional division are:- Betchworth, Brockham, Buckland, Burstow, Chaldon, Charlwood, Chipstead, Gatton, Horley, Kingswood, Leigh, Merstham & Nutfield.

Borough petty sessions held in Town hall on third Monday of each month at 10 a.m. Monday & Friday are days appointed for hearing indictable offences.

Reigate Union

Board day, alternate Wednesdays, at the Workhouse, at 11 a.m. The Union comprises the following places:-Betchworth, Buckland, Burstow, Chaldon, Charlwood, Chipstead, Gatton, Horley, Kingswood, Leigh, Merstham, Nutfield, Reigate Borough, Reigate Foreign & Walton-on-the-Hill. The population of the union in 1881 was 30,359; rateable value in 1890, £262,698.

Workhouse, Earlswood common, a building of red brick, built to hold 257 inmates.

Places of Worship, with times of services

St. Mary’s Church, Rev. John Newman Harrison M.A. vicar; Rev. John Wilson Pickance LL.M. & Rev. William Paxton Thorp A.K.C. curates; 8 & 11 a.m.; litany 3 & 7 p.m.; evening prayer, 3.30 p.m.; daily, 10 a.m. & 4 p.m.; litany, 11.45 a.m.

St. Mark’s Church, Wray park. Rev. Arthur Simmonds M.A. vicar; Rev. A. E. Norman M.A. curate; holy communion 8 a.m.; morning prayer, 11 a.m.; evening prayer, 7 p.m.; holy days, morning prayer & holy communion, 11 a.m.; Wed. & Fri. morning prayer, 11 a.m.

St. Luke’s Church, South park. Rev. Malcolm C. Baynes M.A. vicar; 8.30 & 11 a.m. & 7 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.; Fri. during Lent 11 a.m.

Nutley Lane Chapel of Ease, Rev. David Marshall Lang M.A. curate in charge; holy communion, 8 a.m.; 11 a.m. & 7 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m. in winter.

St. Cross, Reigate heath (in connection with Parish Church), 6.30 p.m.

Society of Friends’ Meeting House, Reigate road; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 10.30 a.m.

Congregational, High street. Rev. George John Adeney, minister; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Congregational, South park (various); 3 & 6.30 p.m.

Wesleyan, High street, Rev. Thomas Little, minister; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Primitive Methodist, Lesbourne road, ministers various; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Undenominational, Temperance hall, Bell street; 3 & 7 p.m.

Congregational Mission Room, Adlington road, South park; 10 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

Schools

A School Attendance Committee consisting of 8 members of the Corporation was formed in 1877; the town clerk is clerk to the committee.

Reigate Grammar was founded in 1675, by subscription, augmented by bequests, & is situated near the parish church, on the brow of the hill on the road from Reigate. to Redhill; in 1862 it was reorganized, when the bread charities, by an order in Chancery, were appropriated for its benefit: in 1864 the friends of the late Mr. Peter Martin raised £1,000, to found two exhibitions as a memorial, to be called the “Martin Exhibitions,” of the annual value of £20 and £10, open to all boys who have been two years in the school: in 1871 a residence & school-room, with class-rooms adjoining, were erected, the play-ground having previously been enlarged by more than an acre of land, the gift of Messrs. A. J. & W. B. Waterlow; in 1881 a new class-room was added by R.L. Hesketh, in memory of his father, the late chairman of the governors; a scheme was approved by the Endowed Schools Commission in May, 1875: there are ten foundation scholarships, five being open, the other five are competed for by boys who have attended a public elementary school in Reigate for two years, & the school is now under the management of fifteen governors, five of whom are co-optative & ten elected by the Town Council of Reigate on the nomination of not less than eight ratepayers: the present number of scholars is 80; & the income of the school from endowments is about £368 yearly.

Reigate National, London road, built in 1854, for 380 children; average attendance, 84 boys, 73 girls & 84 infants.

“Lesbourne Lands” National (infants), Effingham road, built in 1880, for 108 children; average attendance, 88.

St. Luke’s National, Allingham road, South park (mixed), built in 1873 & enlarged in 1883, for 300 children; average attendance, 70 boys, 80 girls & infants.

St. Mark’s National, Holmesdale road, built in 1869, for 300 children; average attendance, 89 boys, 79 girls & 59 infants.

British, High street, built in 1852 & enlarged in 1888, for 300 children; average attendance, 200.

Holmesdale British (mixed), Holmesdale road, built in 1870, for 200 children; average attendance, 96.