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London Metropolitan Archives

SHEPPERTON PARISH


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): ACC/1218

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: SHEPPERTON PARISH

Date(s): 1714-1964

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 1.82 linear metres

Name of creator(s): Shepperton Parish Council
Manor of Shepperton Estate Office

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Shepperton lies on the north bank of the Thames opposite Walton and Weybridge on the Surrey bank. Until 1930 it consisted of 1,492 acres and formed a rough triangle, with the winding river as the base and the east and west sides meeting at the apex about two miles north of the village. In 1930 the parish was incorporated in Sunbury urban district, but 77 acres in the north (nearly all lying in the Queen Mary Reservoir) were transferred to Littleton civil parish, in the same urban district.

In the early 19th century the vestry of Shepperton usually met once or twice a month and the rector was normally in the chair. Voting power was related to the amount of property held, so that in 1845 49 people had 81 votes, of which 41 belonged to 9 persons. With rare exceptions there were under a dozen people at the vestries and half or more were parish officers. By 1820 the officers appointed by the vestry included the constable and headborough, who continued to be appointed after the parish was included in the Metropolitan Police District in 1840. From 1822 there was a salaried assistant overseer and from 1826 there were one or two poundsmen. There was a parish fire-engine by 1819. The chief preoccupation of the vestry before 1836 was of course the administration of the poor law. From 1796, and possibly from 1776, there was a regular workhouse. This stood in 1834 in Watersplash Road and was held by the parish on lease.

The parish council which existed from 1895 until 1930, when the parish was absorbed by Sunbury urban district, met in the Shepperton church school. At first there were nine councillors who met seven times a year, but by the 1920's there was a monthly council meeting. In 1895 the council appointed one of its members to be unpaid clerk. Until 1929 its servants included a poundsman. The parish property which the council took over included not only the pound and a farren right in Cowey for the poundsman, but a small piece of land in Ferry Lane and the allotments and recreation ground set out under the 1862 inclosure, which had been managed by the vestry. From about 1907 the council managed Lower Halliford Green and Walton Bridge Green. A lighting committee was formed in 1906 but the first lighting scheme, which came into force a year or two later, was supported by voluntary subscriptions. It lapsed in 1915, and in 1922 the council took over the 30 lamps. By 1930 the Staines rural district council had built 110 houses in the parish. Others have since been provided by the Sunbury urban district council.

William Schaw Lindsay (1816-1877) purchased the manor of Shepperton in 1856, and was succeeded by his grandson William Herbert Lindsay (died 1949). W. S. Lindsay usually lived at the manor-house and died at Shepperton. He was a ship-owner and member of Parliament and wrote a history of merchant shipping as well as one of Shepperton. He was largely responsible for the construction of the Thames Valley Railway. In 1954 W. H. Lindsay's widow transferred the estate to her husband's nephew, Mr. P. A. R. Lindsay, who was the owner in 1958.

From: 'Shepperton: The hundred of Spelthorne (continued)', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 1-12 (available online).

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Parish of Shepperton, 1714-1936, including settlement certificates; settlement examinations; removal orders; settlement appeals; apprenticeship indentures; bastardy bonds; papers relating to the workhouse; papers relating to the militia; rates and accounts; papers relating to tithes; enclosure and common lands maps.

Records of the Shepperton Parish Council, 1895-1928; including correspondence; financial accounts and plans. Records of the Lindsay Estates, 1837-1964, including deeds; correspondence and plans. Plans and maps of the parish, 1841-1938; and some undated historical notes regarding the parish and the estate.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

In sections: ACC/1218/001-068: Parish Records; ACC/1218/069-185: Parish Council; ACC/1218/186-275: Lindsay Estates; ACC/1218/276-288: Plans and books of reference; ACC/289-293: Miscellanea.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright: City of London

Physical characteristics:

Fit

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

The records of the old parish administration appear to have been placed in the custody of the Parish Council in 1912. A letter dated 6 March 1912, addressed to the Clerk of the Parish Council states that 'in a chest in the parish room attached to the Rectory there are a number of books which belong to the Parish Council now that the latter carries out the duties formerly performed by the churchwardens ... the Rector and churchwardens would feel obliged if you would remove them as soon as possible ... If the chest is of any use to the Council they may have it ...' (Acc.1218/143-4). The Lindsay Estate papers in this deposit originated from the estate office and were placed in the custody of Sunbury Urban District Council.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The records of the parish and Parish Council of Shepperton, and the Lindsay Estates were deposited by the Sunbury Urban District Council, which took over many of the functions of Shepperton Parish Council when the parish was transferred to the Sunbury-on-Thames Urban District in 1930. Acc/1218.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

For other collections of records relating to the manor of Shepperton and the Lindsay Estates see ACC/0650, ACC/0960 and ACC/0973.

Publication note:

"Shepperton" by W S Lindsay was reprinted by the Sunbury and Shepperton Local History Society in 1994.

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: April to June 2009


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Apprenticeship indenture | Apprenticeship records | Documents | Information sources
Bastardy bonds | Bastardy records | Documents | Information sources
Enclosure | Land management | Land economics | Agricultural economics
Estate management | Land management | Land economics | Agricultural economics
Estates (land) | Land use
Parish councils | Parishes | Administrative units | Local government | Public administration | Government
Parish records | Documents | Information sources
Removal orders from parish | Removal orders | Settlement records | Documents | Information sources
Settlement examinations | Settlement records | Documents | Information sources
Tithes | Taxation | Fiscal policy | Finance
Workhouses | Buildings | Architecture
Primary documents
Property

Personal names
Lindsay | William Schaw | 1816-1877 | shipowner, author and politician

Corporate names
Manor of Shepperton
Shepperton Parish Council

Places
London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Shepperton | Surrey | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe