•  Redhill, Surrey

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In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Redhill like this:

REDHILL, a small town and two chapelries in Reigate parish, Surrey. The town stands on the London and Brighton railway, at the junction with it of the London and Dover line eastward, and of the Redhill, Guildford, and Reading line westward, 2 miles E of Reigate; takes its name from a hilly elevation of the Shanklinsand rock-formation, commanding fine views over the Weald; was, prior to the railway epoch, a mere hamlet; rose rapidly into importance in consequence of its position at the railway junctions; and now has a head post-office, ‡ a railway station with telegraph, several good inns, a corn exchange, three churches, two dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, a mechanics' institution and reading-room, a national school, and a British school. ...

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The corn exchange was built in 1860, at a cost of £3, 400; and includes assembly-rooms. St. John'schurch was built in 1843, at a cost of about £5,000; St. Matthew's church, in 1866; the Independent chapel, in 1862, at a cost of £2, 500; the Baptist chapel, in 1866, at a cost of about £1, 400; the Roman Catholic chapel, in 1861, chiefly at the expense of Lady Mostyn. The townis conjoint with Reigate in the publication of two weeklynewspapers; partakes also in some of the trade of that town; and has a brewery. The two chapelries are St. John and St. Matthew; they are jointly conterminate with the section of Reigate parish called Foreign; and they include Wray-common, Warwicktown, Linkfield-street, Earlswood, Copyhold, High Trees, and the Reigate suburb of Wood-Hatch. Real property, £32, 426. Pop. in 1851, 3, 287; in 1861, 7, 967. Houses, 1, 228. The property is much subdivided. Redhill Common was the scene of a skirmish, between the royalists and the parliamentarians, in the civil wars of Charles I. Silversand is worked. An asylum for idiots stands at Earls-wood; was built in 1856, at a cost of more than £30,000; is a handsome edifice, in the Tudor style; and, at the census of 1861, had 416 inmates. The philanthropic society's farm school, for the reformation of criminal boys, stands about ¾ of a mile from the r. station; was founded in 1849 by the late Prince Consort; includes a tasteful chapel, and several neat extensions; and, at the census of 1861, had 375 inmates. The Reigate work-house stands also at Earlswood; and, at the census of1861, had 131 inmates. The livings are p. curacies in the diocese of Winchester. Value of St. John, £190; of St. Matthew, £350.* Patron of both, the Bishop of Winchester.

Redhill through time

Redhill is now part of Reigate and Banstead district. Click here for graphs and data of how Reigate and Banstead has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Redhill itself, go to Units and Statistics.

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