Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for MOLESEY, or MOULSEY (EAST)

MOLESEY, or MOULSEY (EAST), a village and a parish in Kingston district, Surrey. The village stands on the river Mole, at its influx to the Thames, and at Hampton-Court r. station, opposite Hampton-Court palace, 2½ miles WSW of Kingston; takes its name from a quondam "eye ''or island in the Mole,-Moles-Eye; is a scattered and rapidly increasing place; and has a post office under Kingston, London, SW. The parish comprises 730 acres. Real property, £7,028. Pop. in 1851,765; in 1861,1,568. Houses, 287. The increase of pop. arose mainly from the purchase of an estate by a Freehold Land Society, and from the erection upon it of about 150 houses. The manor belongs to Lord Hotham and Lady Berkeley. Numerous villas and other genteel houses stud the outskirts of the village and the banks of the Thames. That river abounds here in the beautiful willow-shaded "aits; ''and a level meadow along its side, between East Molesey and West Molesey, bears the name of Molesey Hurst, is famous in the annals of the prizering, and contains the race-course of Hampton races. The press which printed the celebrated Mar-prelate tracts about 1588, called by Fuller the "vagabond press," was first set up at Molesey. A large corn and Saw mill is on the Mole. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Winchester. Value, £157.* Patron, King's College, Cambridge. The church is later English, with large wooden belfry; comprises nave and chancel; and contains a curious brass of Standen, cup-bearer of James I. A section of the parish, called St. Paul's or Kent-Town, was constituted a separate charge in 1856, and had a pop. of 887 in 1861; and the living of it is a p. curacy, of the value of £100, * in the patronage of F. J. Kent, Esq. There are a slightly endowed national school, alms houses, and charities £104.


(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: East Molesey CP/Ch       Kingston RegD/PLU       Surrey AncC
Place names: EAST MOLESEY     |     EAST MOULSEY     |     MOLESEY     |     MOLESEY EAST     |     MOLESEY OR MOULSEY EAST     |     MOULSEY     |     MOULSEY EAST
Place: East Molesey

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