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Epsom in Surrey County England History and GeographyEPSOM, a parish in the first division of the hundred of COPTHORNE, county of SURREY, 16 miles (E.N.E.) from Guildford, and 15 (S.W. by S.) from London, on the road to Worthing, containing, with the hamlet of Horton, 2890 inhabitants. This place was by the Saxons called Ebbisham, from which its present name is derived. It is delightfully situated on the western verge of Banstead downs, and from the salubrity of the air and the estimation in which its medicinal waters were formerly held, it became the resort of many families, and rapidly increased in the number of its buildings and the extent of its population. In the centre of the town is a large sheet of water: the houses are in general handsome and well built, and the inhabitants are tolerably supplied with water. The environs, which are exceedingly pleasant, abound with handsome villas; and on the downs, which command an extensive excellent course, on which races are held annually, commencing on the Tuesday and continuing till the end of the week preceding Whitsuntide; the Derby stakes are run for on Thursday, which is the principal day, and the Oaks on Friday. The grand stand, a handsome and commodious edifice, was erected in 1829-30, the expense being estimated at £13,890, raised in one thousand £20 shares; the interior comprises several rooms for refreshment, and a saloon, one hundred and one feet in length, and thirty-eight feet wide; the whole length of the building is one hundred and twenty-six feet, arranged for the accommodation of five thousand persons, with seats on the roof for two thousand five hundred: a second meeting also takes place in October: much of the support of the town arises from the great influx of strangers at the time of the races. The market, formerly on Friday, has been discontinued; but it is in contemplation to erect a market-house for the renewal of the market, with a room over it for holding the sessions, on the site of an old watch-house, which is about to be taken down: a fair is held annually on the 5th of August for toys. The medicinal springs, though less frequented than formerly, still retain their efficacy. The county magistrates hold here a petty session for the division on the first Monday in every month; and the town is within the jurisdiction of a court held at Kingston, for the recovery of debts to any amount: a court baron is held in April, and a court leet in October. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Surrey, and diocese of Winchester, rated in the king's books at £8. 9. 9½., and in the patronage of ' Speirs, Esq. The church, dedicated to St. Martin, was rebuilt at an expense of £7000 in 1825, when it received an addition of five hundred and forty-seven sittings, three hundred and thirty-nine of them free, towards defraying the expense of which, the Incorporated Society for the enlargement of churches and chapels granted £500: in the modern edifice the architectural style of the ancient structure has in most instances been carefully preserved. There is a place of worship for Independents. In 1694, John Brayne, Esq. bequeathed £300, to be invested in the purchase of land, of which the rents were to be applied to the instruction of poor children, from which fund, augmented with other benefactions, arises an annual income of more than £70, by which, and by annual subscriptions, all the children of the parish are instructed on the National system: the school-rooms were built in 1828, by subscription. An almshouse for twelve aged widows was erected by the parishioners, on land given for that purpose by Mr. John Livingstone, about the year 1703. Samuel Cane, Esq., in 1786, bequeathed £500 three per cent. consols.; and in 1814, Langley Brackenbury, Esq. left by will £300 in the same funds, to be distributed in bread and coal to the inmates of the almshouse. There are also charitable bequests for the relief of the poor generally. On the south-east side of the parish is an irregularly intermitting spring. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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