Cheam History

CHEAM, a parish in the second division of the hundred of Wallington, in the county of Surrey, 3 miles from Epsom, and 5 from Kingston. It is a railway station on the London, Croydon, and Leatherhead section of the Brighton and South Coast line. It was given by Athelstan to the monks of Canterbury, and afterwards passed to the Lumley family, who built the old manor-house.

About half-a-mile to the S.W. of the village formerly stood the magnificent palace of Nonsuch, the erection of which was commenced by Henry VIII., and completed by Henry, Earl of Arundel; it became the favourite seat of Queen Elizabeth, and was kept up as a royal residence by James I., who purchased, for it the library of the Lumleys, thus laying the foundation of the King's Library, now in the British Museum. After the decapitation of Charles I., it came into the possession of Algernon Sydney, and at the Restoration was granted to the Duchess of Cleveland, who pulled down the building and dis-parked the land.

The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Winchester, value £559, in the patronage of St. John's College, Oxford. The church, dedicated to St. Dunstan, is a handsome and ancient structure, and contains monuments and brasses to the Lumley family, &c. The register commences 1558. Here are National schools for both sexes. Five out of six rectors of this parish became bishops between the years of 1581 and 1662.

Lloyd, the antiquary, resided here at one period. Gilpin, who wrote the "Tour in search of the Picturesque," kept a school here, and in the churchyard lie the remains of Lady Lumley, who translated the "Iphigenia "of Euripides, and some of the works of Isocrates into English. The chief residence is Cheam House, a seat of the Antrobus family.

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003] These pages are intended for personal use only, so please respect the conditions of use.