Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for GATTON

GATTON, a village and a parish in Reigate district, Surrey. The village stands on the ancient Roman road from Stane-street to Croydon, and near the source of the river Mole, 1 mile WNW of Merstham r. station, and 2½ NE by N of Reigate. It took its name from the Roman road or " gate;" is supposed to occupy the site of a Roman fort or station; has yielded Roman coins; ap-pears to have been a place of considerable importance in the middle ages; was made a borough, in 1451, by Henry VI.; sent two members to parliament till disfranchised by the reform bill; and had only about 20 houses and 100 inhabitants at the time of its disfranchisement. The parish comprises 1, 260 acres. Post town, Merstham under Red Hill. Real property, £2, 387. Pop., 191. Houses, 36. The property is divided among a few. Gatton Park is the seat of Lord Monson; possessed the direction and disposal of the quondam borough; and was purchased by the late Lord Monson, in 1830, for £180, 000. The house is a stately edifice, in the Italian style; stands amid beautiful grounds, with a fine lake; has a splendid hall, modelled after the Corsini Chapel at Rome; and contains a rich collection of pictures. Upper Gatton House also is a handsome mansion; and was formerly a seat of the Duke of St. Albans. A small bridge in the parish, called Battle Bridge, was the scene of a great slaughter by women, of Danes fleeing from the battlefield of Ockley, in 851. A white soft stone, used in the construction of Hampton Court, and much valued for ovens and furnaces, was quarried. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Winchester. Value, £148. Patron, Lord Monson. The church stands in the grounds of Gatton Park; is an ancient structure, seemingly early English; contains a fine collection of Flemish oak carving; and was renovated in 1834.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Gatton CP/AP       Reigate RegD/PLU       Surrey AncC
Place: Gatton

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