Editing Weybridge (section)

===Governance===
There are three separate entries for Weybridge in Domesday Book. The first area of land described was held by  [[Odo of Bayeux|Bishop Odo of Bayeux]] as tenant-in-chief and Herfrid of Throwley as [[lord of the manor|lesser tenant]]. It included {{convert|16|acre|ha|abbr=on}} of meadow and woodland for five swine with a value of £5 per annum. The other two entries list areas belonging to [[Chertsey Abbey]], totalling a further 16 acres of meadow, land for four swine and ploughland for 1½ plough teams. None of the entries records a church or a mill in the settlement.<ref name=Surrey_Domesday/><ref name=Weybridge_Domesday>{{cite web|url= https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ0764/weybridge/ |title= Weybridge |author= Powell-Smith A |year= 2011 |publisher= Open Domesday |access-date= 22 August 2021 |archive-date= 16 January 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190116093724/https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ0764/weybridge/ |url-status= live}}</ref>

There are only sporadic surviving references to Weybridge in the following centuries. A chapel is mentioned in a [[papal bull]] issued by [[Pope Alexander III]] in 1176 and a later document shows that Chertsey Abbey had sold the [[advowson]] to [[Newark Priory]] by 1200. By 1262, the Priory had obtained a license that confirmed its rights to appoint a priest, to hold church property and to collect [[tithe]]s from the local residents. In 1284 the village was held by Geoffrey de Lucy as a lesser tenant of Chertsey Abbey.<ref>{{harvnb|White|1999|pp=8–19}}</ref>

[[File:Palace - Oatlands.jpg|thumb|right|Oatlands Palace (17th century)]]
[[File:Oatlands Palace gateway, Weybridge, Surrey.jpg|thumb|Entrance gateway to the former Oatlands Palace built {{circa|1545}}<ref name=Oatlands_gateway>{{NHLE|num=1191628|desc=Entrance gates and walls to Oatlands Palace|grade=II|fewer-links=yes|accessdate=4 September 2021}}</ref>]]
Following the [[dissolution of the monasteries]], Weybridge was held by the Rede family for three years, before passing to the Crown in 1537.<ref>{{harvnb|White|1999|pp=10–12}}</ref> In June of the same year, [[Henry VIII]] began to construct [[Oatlands Palace]] by expanding an existing late-medieval manor house located to the north of the town centre. Some of the stone used in the construction of the foundations was taken from the demolition of Chertsey Abbey.<ref name=EM_Oatlands>{{cite web |url= https://elmbridgemuseum.org.uk/online-exhibitions/oatlands-from-henry-viiis-palace-to-first-world-war-hospital/ |title= Oatlands Palace |publisher= Elmbridge Museum |date= March 2021 |access-date= 22 August 2021 |archive-date= 22 August 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210822130044/https://elmbridgemuseum.org.uk/online-exhibitions/oatlands-from-henry-viiis-palace-to-first-world-war-hospital/ |url-status= live }}</ref> Henry had intended that the palace would become the residence of his fourth wife, [[Anne of Cleves]], but the marriage was annulled after six months.<ref name=EM_Oatlands/> The king married his fifth wife, [[Catherine Howard]], at Oatlands, but rarely visited thereafter.<ref>{{harvnb|White|1999|p=13}}</ref> Following Henry's death the palace remained a possession of the Crown until the [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]], when the contents were sold and the buildings demolished.<ref>{{harvnb|White|1999|pp=16–18}}</ref> Only a side entrance gate and adjoining sections of walls, which date from {{circa|1545}}, remain.<ref name=Oatlands_gateway/>

[[Tudor period#Local government|Reforms during the Tudor period]] reduced the importance of [[manorial court]]s and the day-to-day administration of towns such as Weybridge became the responsibility of the [[vestry]] of the parish church.<ref name=Kümin_1996_pp250-255>{{harvnb|Kümin|1996|pp=250–255}}</ref> The Weybridge vestry oversaw the distribution of [[poor relief]] and the maintenance of local roads. In the 1840s, responsibility for poor relief was transferred to the Chertsey Board of Guardians of the Poor. Local drainage and highways boards were established in the 1860s and in the 1870s a burial board was created to purchase land for new cemeteries.<ref name=White_1999_pp86-88>{{harvnb|White|1999|pp=86–88}}</ref>

The [[Local Government Act 1888]] transferred many administrative responsibilities to the newly formed [[Surrey County Council]] and was followed by an [[Local Government Act 1894|1894 Act]] that created the Weybridge Urban District Council (UDC). Initially the council met at the [[National school (England and Wales)|National school]], but moved to Aberdeen House at the junction of High Street and Baker Street in 1908. As a result of the [[Local Government Act 1929]], the UDCs of Weybridge and Walton were combined in 1932. In 1951 the [[civil parish]] of Weybridge had a population of 8083.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10070790/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Cobham CP/AP through time|publisher=[[A Vision of Britain through Time]]|accessdate=27 April 2024}}</ref> On 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished. The [[Walton and Weybridge Urban District|unified council]] was merged with the [[Esher Urban District|Esher UDC]] to form [[Elmbridge Borough Council]] in 1974.<ref name=White_1999_pp86-88/>