REIGATE, a borough and market-town and parish, in the first division of the hundred of REIGATE, county of SURREY, 19 miles (E.) from Guildford, and 21 (S. by W.) from London, containing 2961 inhabitants; the parish is divided into two precincts, each of which supports its own poor, viz., the borough, which contains 1328 inhabitants, and the foreign, including the districts of Santon, Woodhatch, Howleigh, Linkfield, and Colley, in which are 1633. This place, which is of considerable antiquity, was called in Domesday-book Cherche felle, and afterwards Church-field, in Reigate, by which name the church was given by Hamelin, Earl of Surrey, to the priory of St. Mary Overy, Southwark, in the reign of King John. The origin of its present name is uncertain; Camden says that, if borrowed from the ancient language, it signifies the course of the stream; while Mr. Bray and others consider it to be derived, and with great probability, from the Saxon words rige, or 4 ridge, and gate, from a gate, or bar, placed across the road which runs by the high ridge of hill, now called Reigate hill. He is also inclined to think that the gate existed so early as the formation of the Saxon Stane-street; and there are many other places in the vicinity the names of which terminate in a similar way, all seemingly derived from a like circumstance. The inhabitants are recorded to have routed the Danes, when they were ravaging the kingdom, on more than one occasion; and Camden has preserved a distich commemorating their courageous conduct in these conflicts. The next historical circumstance connected with Reigate is the assault and capture of its castle by Louis the Dauphin, in the reign of John, in revenge for the adherence of its then owner, William de Warren, to the cause of that monarch, in his quarrel with the barons. The manor of Reigate was originally of great extent: it belonged in the Confessor's time to his Queen Edith, at which period it was rated at three thousand seven hundred and fifty-six acres, and is thought to have included, besides the parish of that name, the present parishes also of Leigh, Newdigate, Churchwell, Horley, and Brostow. The town is beautifully situated on a branch of the river Mole, in the valley of Holmesdale, on the high road from London to Brighton, and stands upon a rock of white sand, which, for purity and colour, is said to be unequalled by any in the kingdom: it consists of two principal streets and several smaller ones, which are only partially paved, and indifferently lighted; water of very good quality is procured from the rock on which it stands. The High-street, which is the main street, extends in a direction nearly from east to west, having at its eastern extremity the church: the other chief street, called Bell-street, runs north and south, containing some respectable houses, and is terminated at its southern extremity by the priory. A considerable quantity of oatmeal was formerly made here, nearly twenty mills having been employed, but the number is now reduced to one; some pits of fullers' earth have been opened of late years. A weekly market on Tuesday was granted by Edward III., and, in 1679, Charles II. granted a second market, on the first Wednesday in every month, which afterwards fell into disuse, but has lately been revived, and is held for cattle, the market on Tuesday being for corn and provisions: the market-house, built by Sir Joseph Jekyll, is an appropriate and convenient edifice. The fairs are on Whit-Monday and Tuesday, September 14th, and December 9th, chiefly for horses, cattle, &c. A court leet and baron is held here, at which a bailiff and subordinate officers are elected, by whom the local affairs of the town are managed. The town hall is in the market-place, and was built as a prison for felons brought to be tried at the sessions, which were formerly held here. This borough sent two members to parliament so early as the reign of Edward I., and has continued to do so since that period; the right of election is vested in the freeholders of messuages, or burgage tenements, within the borough precincts, in number about two hundred; the bailiff is the returning officer, and the parliamentary influence is possessed by Lord Hardwick and Lord Somers. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Surrey, and diocese of Winchester, rated in the king's books at £20. 5. 5., and in the patronage of Miss Snelson. The - church, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, is a substantial stone building, with an embattled tower of hewn stone at the west end, and with double buttresses; it contains some handsome monuments, amongst which is one to the memory of the Earl of Nottingham, Lord High Admiral in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who commanded the naval equipment against the Invincible Armada. The Society of Friends and Independents have each, a place of worship here. The free school was founded, in 1675, by the inhabitants, and ten boys, selected by the trustees from the parish, are instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic, a house having been built for the master, who receives about £23 per ann. from endowments by Robert Bishopp and John Parker. There is also a National school, supported by voluntary contributions, in which about one hundred boys and girls are educated. The origin of Reigate castle, which stood on the north side of the town, within the precincts of the borough, is generally ascribed to the ancient Earls of Warren and Surrey, although some writers consider it to be of Saxon foundation, with subsequent erections; it is spoken of by Lambarde, in the reign of Elizabeth, as a ruin, although enough of it remained at the time of the parliamentary war to induce a committee sitting at Derby House to take notice of it; it appears to have been soon afterwards completely demolished, and little now remains to point out even its site. In the castle court is an entrance to a cavern, called the Barons' Cave, in which it is said that the barons met and settled the articles of Magna Charta, prior to meeting King John at Runymede. The priory was founded by William, Earl Warren, for canons regular of the order of St. Augustine, about the same period as the presumed erection of the castle: it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the Holy Cross, and, at the period of its dis solution by Henry VIII., was valued at £78. 16. 8.: a manor was attached to this foundation, for which courts are still held, many of the burgage tenements in the borough being holden of it: the noble mansion erected on its site retains the name of Reigate Priory. The walls and roof of an ancient chapel, dedicated to St. Lawrence, are still standing in the town, the building haying been converted into a dwelling-house: another chapel, dedicated to the Holy Cross, supposed to have belonged to the priory, and which stood in the town, has been demolished, having been previously occupied as a barn; and a third, dedicated to St. Thomas the Apostle, and standing in the market-place, was used as a courthouse and market-house until 1708, when it was taken down. John Fox, the martyrologist, resided in this town, in the family of the Duchess of Richmond, as tutor to her son, the Earl of Surrey, when expelled from New College, Oxford, on a charge of heresy, and continued under the protection of the family during the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII., that of Edward VI., and part of that of Mary, when his pupil, then Duke of Norfolk, sent him abroad, to avoid the malice of Gardiner.