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)
– density	193/km2 (500/sq mi)
– London	18.0 mi (29.0 km)
Civil parish	Limpsfield
District	Tandridge
Shire county	Surrey
Region	South East
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	East Surrey
List of places UK England Surrey

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. 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.

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 Peters 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-wastern 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.

Localities

Limpsfield Chart

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, here in the Greensand Ridge.

The High Chart, south-east of Limpsfield is a large area of woodland owned by the National Trust and has a large 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.

Within the village is the C of E church of St Andrew, and it is the place of worship of 'a Conventional District' in the ecclesiastical parish of Limpsfield & Titsey and built in 1895. Limpsfield Chart has a pub called (The) Carpenters Arms in the centre of the village.

Within its definition 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 :

Election		Member	Ward
	2010	John Pannett	Limpsfield
	2011	Lesley Dunbar	Limpsfield

There is also a parish council with ten members.

Demography and housing

2011 Census Homes

Output area	Detached	Semi-detached	Terraced	Flats and apartments	Caravans/temporary/mobile homes	shared between households
(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 loan	hectares
(Civil Parish)	3,569	1,430	49.0%	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).

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:

• Colin Cowdrey, former England cricket captain, resided in the village for many years.
• The book illustrator Arthur Rackham lived and died in Pains Hill (a small hamlet to the south of Limpsfield village).
• The Big Brother (TV series) host, Davina McCall, spent much of her childhood in Limpsfield.
• Florence L. Barclay the romance novelist and short story writer whose novel The Rosary was a bestseller and was translated into eight languages was the daughter of the local Anglican rector.

See also

• List of places of worship in Tandridge (district)

Surrey portal

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• Limpsfield parish council
• Limpsfield parish council - history
• Limpsfield from Victoria County History
• Delius' Gravestone