Limpsfield

History

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.

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. Reginald Mason cited this in 1964 as an outstandingly important early example of a timber framed building in the south of England.

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.

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

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.

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

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 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.

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.

Limpsfield chart

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.

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. There are two representatives on Tandridge District Council :

There is also a parish council with ten members.

Demography and housing

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

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).

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.

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

Mountstuart Elphinstone is buried in Limpsfield churchyard.