Limpsfield

Limpsfield

North end of Wolf's Row, Limpsfield
Limpsfield
Limpsfield shown within Surrey
Area 18.54 km2 (7.16 sq mi)
Population 3,569 (Civil Parish 2011)[1]
• Density 193/km2 (500/sq mi)
• London 18.0 mi (29.0 km)
Civil parish
  • Limpsfield
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Oxted
Postcode district RH8
Dialling code 01883
Police Surrey
Fire Surrey
Ambulance South East Coast
EU Parliament South East England
UK Parliament

Limpsfield is a village and civil parish in the east of the county of Surrey, England, by Oxted at the foot of the North Downs. The town Oxted merges with the village's westernmost area, Oxted railway station being within 300m of the residential East Hill (on the A25) in the village and under a mile from Limpsfield's conservation area High Street.[2] The English composer Frederick Delius and orchestral conductor Sir Thomas Beecham are both buried in the village churchyard and there are 89 listed buildings.

History

St Peter's Church at the north end of the High Street

The village lay within the Anglo-Saxon Tandridge hundred.

Limpsfield appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Limenesfeld. It was held by the Abbot of Battle Abbey, Sussex. Its domesday assets were: 1 church, 1 mill worth 2s, 19 ploughs, 1 fishery, 4 acres (1.6 ha) of meadow, woodland worth 150 hogs, 2 stone quarries, 3 nests of hawks. It rendered £24 (of silver) per year to its feudal overlords.[3]

Old Court Cottage in Titsey Road, formerly the manorial court of the Abbot of Battle, is grade I listed building and dates from c1190-1200 (including aisle posts and arcade plates) with alterations in the late 14th century, and a 16th-century crosswing.[4][5] Reginald Mason cited this in 1964 as an outstandingly important early example of a timber framed building in the south of England.[6]

The parish church of St. Peter was constructed in the late 12th century and is a grade I listed building extensively restored in the 19th century, unusually it tower windows with two light plate tracery of c.1260 is made of ironstone rubble with stone dressings and dressed stone to north aisle. In addition it has a wooden shingled spire with wooden cross surmounted.[7]

There are approximately twenty medieval buildings within the parish and there are 89 listed buildings.[8]

Landmarks

The village heart is in a conservation area and some of the surrounding area is National Trust land including Limpsfield Common. Staffhurst Wood is also within the parish boundaries and is notable for its bluebells in spring. Limpsfield Chart has a golf course and cricket club. Limpsfield itself has a football (soccer) team and a tennis club and its current cricket club is a united team with Oxted, named Oxted & Limpsfield Cricket Club with two grounds.[9]

The village is served by Oxted railway station.

The composer Frederick Delius is buried in St Peter's churchyard. Delius was an early proponent of post-impressionist modernism. Also, Delius' supporter and main performer of his music, Sir Thomas Beecham is buried close by in the same churchyard.

St. Peter's church is also home to the last stained glass windows produced by John David Hayward who lived for many years in nearby Edenbridge, the window depicts Saint Cecilia.

The artist was a very important and leading artist in stained glass in the 20th century.

One of John's most famous works is the great west window in Sherbourne Abbey, Dorset.

Geography

Map showing the position of Limpsfield Civil Parish in Tandridge

The civil and ecclesiastical parish area is grouped to the north and south of Hurst Green, Surrey. The built up section is north of Hurst Green and both east and north-east of Oxted. The lowest elevation is 62m at Staffhurst Wood on the south-western parish boundary on the River Eden, Kent and highest is just east of the town centre at Grubstreet Copse at 163m; (Titsey being a separate civil parish[10] north of the village and higher on the North Downs).

The M25 motorway is to the north and Junction 6 for Godstone is just  3 1⁄2 miles west.[2]

Nearby are three national rights of way: Vanguard Way, Pilgrims' Way and Greensand Way, the latter two along the hill ranges the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge.

Localities

Limpsfield chart

51°15′N 0°02′E / 51.25°N 0.04°E / 51.25; 0.04 Limpsfield Chart is arguably a village in its own right which begins from the south side of the A25.

Limpsfield Chart
The Carpenters Arms

Chart is used mostly in Kent and Surrey and refers to relatively high, wooded land, on the Greensand Ridge.

The High Chart, south-east of Limpsfield is a large area of woodland owned by the National Trust which has a network of footpaths. 'Chart' is an Old English word for rough ground. Within this area and particularly close to the mother village to its north is the small settlement of Limpsfield Chart. The remains of a Roman road, the London to Lewes Way, pass through the woods east of the village, where it makes an eastward diversion from its alignment to avoid steep slopes. It passes through Crockham Hill before returning to its line near Marlpit Hill.

In the village is the C of E church of St Andrew, which it is the place of worship of 'a Conventional District' in the ecclesiastical parish of Limpsfield and Titsey, built in 1895. There is a pub The Carpenters Arms in the centre.

Within it is the halfway point in the Greensand Way long distance footpath which runs for 110 miles from Haslemere in Surrey to Hamstreet in Kent along the Greensand Ridge.

Governance

There is one representative on Surrey County Council grouped under Oxted, conservative Nick Skellett CBE.[11] There are two representatives on Tandridge District Council :

ElectionMember[12]

Ward

2010 John Pannett Limpsfield
2011 Lesley Dunbar Limpsfield

There is also a parish council with ten members.[13]

Demography and housing

 2011 Census Homes
Output area Detached Semi-detachedTerracedFlats and apartmentsCaravans/temporary/mobile homesshared between households[1]
(Civil Parish)841 254 147 187 1 0

The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that was apartments was 22.6%.

 2011 Census Key Statistics
Output area Population Households % Owned outright % Owned with a loanhectares[1]
(Civil Parish)3,5691,43049.0% 34.2%1,854

The proportion of households in the civil parish who owned their home outright compares to the regional average of 35.1%. The proportion who owned their home with a loan compares to the regional average of 32.5%. The remaining % is made up of rented dwellings (plus a negligible % of households living rent-free).

Nearest settlements

Notable residents

The composer Frederick Delius is buried in the churchyard of the Norman parish church of St. Peter's, as is his wife Jelka.

The English orchestra conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham, is also buried there, only a few metres from Delius, whose music he supported and promoted. Another nearby grave is occupied by the cellist Beatrice Harrison, who lived locally in Oxted, and who worked closely with both Delius and Beecham.

The Scottish statesman and historian, Mountstuart Elphinstone, associated with the government of British India, is buried in Limpsfield churchyard.[14]

Over time, the parish has been home to a number of notable residents:

See also

Surrey portal

References

  1. 1 2 3 Key Statistics; Quick Statistics: Population Density United Kingdom Census 2011 Office for National Statistics Retrieved 21 November 2013
  2. 1 2 Online map distance reference tool Retrieved 27 April 2012
  3. ↑ Surrey Domesday Book Archived 15 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ "Old Court Cottage". The National Heritage List for England. English Heritage. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  5. ↑ Brodie, Allan (1990). E. C. Fernie, ed. Medieval Architecture and Its Intellectual Context. London: Hambledon. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-8528-5034-0.
  6. ↑ Mason, Reginald Thomas (1969). Buildings of the Weald. Coach Publishing House Ltd. p. 111.
  7. ↑ "Church of St Peter, High Street". The National Heritage List for England. English Heritage. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  8. ↑ National Heritage List, online. Accessed 27 April 2012. Archived 1 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ Local Cricket Club Website
  10. ↑ List of Parish Councils. Accessed 27 April 2012
  11. ↑ "List of Surrey CC Councillors". Surrey County Council. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  12. ↑ "Council Members". Tandridge District Council. Archived from the original on 9 September 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  13. ↑ "Parish Council Members". Limpsfield Parish Council. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  14. ↑ BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF FORMER FELLOWS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 1783 – 2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.

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