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Church History

History 

A church (perhaps of wood) may have been on the site of St James since before the Norman Conquest but the first record is found in the Domesday book.

The church is named for James the Greater, the brother of John, who was killed in Jerusalem for his convictions about his brother. James had spent some time preaching on the Iberian Peninsula. After James’ death, his disciples shipped his body to the Iberian Peninsula to be buried in what is now Santiago. Off the coast of Spain a heavy storm hit the ship, and the body was lost to the ocean. After some time, however, the body washed ashore undamaged, covered in scallops.

• Abinger and its Church
• A Chronology of Abinger
• Historical Photographs
• Disasters in the Church
• Abinger Pageants
• Rectors of Abinger from 1286
• Articles from Abinger and Coldharbour Parish News
  

Other Documents 

• The Churches of Wotton, Abinger and Oakwood F R Fairbank MD, FSA 1911 (re-formatted in .PDF)
• Abinger Parish Church J A Gibbs (Churchwarden) Third Edition 1946 (re-formatted in .PDF)
• Abinger and its Church compiled by RJ du Bois in 1967 (available in the church - 30p).
• Abinger - some key dates in its history Eric Burleton 2000
• The Most Lovely of Village Churches Eric Burleton (2000), available in the church
• Abinger Hammer - a short history and guide Shirley Corke (out of print)
  
• St James' Church described in 1911 (from British History Online)
  

Papers by J A Gibbs 

It is from these papers that Gibb's Abinger Parish Church, printed in 1938, was abridged. These papers transcribed by Philip Rawlings from a duplicate bound original in the Parish vestry. J A Gibbs, Churchwarden, died 1949.

• 1. Abinger Church: an introduction
• 2. Records up to 1855 as to the fabric and contents of the Church
• 3. Description of the Church in 1855
• 4. Restoration and Changes
• 5. Description of the Church in 1938 with historical details
• 6. The Churchyard
• 7. The Benefice
• 8. Boundaries, ecclesiastical and civil, of Abinger and its neighbouring parishes.
  

References  

Links to other sites with some information on local history are:

• A History of the County of Surrey st-james-1911 - Abinger
• Historical photographs from the Frith collection
• Abinger Hammer- a short history: Shirley Corke
  
• The villages of Abinger Common & Wotton: Terence O'Kelly
  
• Surrey Villages: Pitt and Shaw
  
• Abinger Parish Church: J.A.Gibbs
  
• Abinger Church Records
  
• The Tillingbourne Valley Story: Peter Brandon
  
• Industrial History of the Mole Valley; Peter Tarplee
  
• Victorian History of the County of Surrey