JFoi
FOUNDED BY
GOLDWiN SMITH
HARRIET SA\ITM
J
k ?r,
/
ZTbe Dictotia Ifotetone of the
Counties of England
EDITED BY WILLIAM PAGE, F.S.A.
A HISTORY OF
SURREY
VOLUME III
THE
VICTORIA HISTORY
OF THE COUNTIES
OF ENGLAND
SURREY
LONDON
CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LIMITED
This History is issued to Subscribers only
By Constable & Company Limited
and printed by Eyre & Spottiswoode Limited
H.M. Printers of London
INSCRIBED
TO THE MEMORY OF
HER LATE MAJESTY
QUEEN VICTORIA
WHO GRACIOUSLY GAVE
THE TITLE TO AND
ACCEPTED THE
DEDICATION OF
THIS HISTORY
THE
VICTORIA HISTORY
OF THE COUNTY OF
SURREY
EDITED BY './,,
H. E. MALDEN, M.A.
(Hon. Fellow of Trinity Ha/I}
VOLUME THREE
H /
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LONDON c>
CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LIMITED
IpII
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670
v.3
CONTENTS OF VOLUME THREE
Dedication
Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Maps .
Editorial Note
Topography .
Godalming Hundred .
Introduction .
Arlington
Chiddingfold .
Compton .
Godalming . .
Hambledon . .
Haslemere
Peper Ha row .
Puttenham
Thursley .
Witley .
Blackheath Hundred
Introduction
Albury
Alfold
Bramley .
Cranleigh
Dunsfold .
Ewhurst .
Hascombe
St. Martha's or Chil-
worth .
PAGE
V
Xlll
XV111
General descriptions by H. E. MALDEN, M.A. ; Manorial
descents compiled under the superintendence of WILLIAM
PAGE, F.S.A., and H. E. MALDEN, M.A. ; Architectural
descriptions except where otherwise stated compiled under
the superintendence of C. R. PEERS, M.A., F.S.A., by
J. MURRAY KENDALL, J. W. BLOB, and C. C. DURSTON of
the Architectural Staff; Heraldic drawings and blazon
by Rev. E. E. DORLING, M.A., F.S.A.
Architectural descriptions by PHILIP M. JOHNSTON, F.S.A.
By LILIAN J. REDSTONE, B.A. .....
Manorial descents by LILIAN J. REDSTONE ....
n
n
I
3
10
16
History of borough and manorial descents by LILIAN J.
REDSTONE ......... 24
Manorial descents by LILIAN J. REDSTONE .... 42
History of borough and manorial descents by LILIAN J.
REDSTONE ..... -45
Manorial descents by LILIAN J. REDSTONE .... 49
,, . . 5*
,, 59
61
Architectural descriptions by PHILIP M. JOHNSTON, F.S.A.,
except Ewhurst, by Architectural Staff.
By LILIAN J. REDSTONE, B.A. ...... 70
Manorial descents by LILIAN J. REDSTONE .... 72
77
.... 80
. 86
. 92
97
102
104
IX
CONTENTS OF VOLUME THREE
Topography (continued)
Blackheath Hundred (continued)
Shalford .
Shere
Wonersh .
Wotton Hundred
Introduction
Abinger .
Capel
Dorking .
Ockley .
Wotton .
Reigate Hundred
Introduction
Betchworth
Buckland .
Burstow .
Charlwood
Chipstead .
Gatton
Horley
Leigh
M erst ham
Nutfield .
Reigate .
Copthorne Hundred ,
Introduction
Ashtead .
Banstead .
Chessington
Cuddington
Epsom
Ewell
Fetcham .
Headley .
Letherhead
Mickleham
Manorial descents by LILIAN J. REDSTONE
PACE
107
ii I
121
Architectural descriptions by PHILIP M. JOHNS'TON, F.S.A.,
except Abinger, by Architectural Staff.
By DOROTHY W. SPRULES, Oxford Honours School of Modern
History
Manorial descents by Dorothy W. SPRULES ....
Architectural descriptions by Architectural Staff, except
Betchworth, Horley, Merstham, and Reigate by PHILIP
M. JOHNSTON, F.S.A.
By DOROTHY L. POWELL, Modern Language Tripos
Manorial descents by DOROTHY L. POWELL
History of borough and manorial descents by LILIAN J.
REDSTONE, B.A ........
Manorial descents by DOROTHY L. POWELL ....
VALENTINA HAWTREY
99 99 99 ....
DOROTHY L. POWELL ....
History of borough and manorial descents by LILIAN J.
REDSTONE, B.A. ........
Architectural descriptions by Architectural Staff.
By HENRIETTA L. E. GARBETT ......
Manorial descents by ELIZA B. MILLER ....
DOROTHY L. POWELL, Modern Language
Tripos
WINIFRED RAY, B.A. ....
99 99 99 >
ELIZA B. MILLER ....
99 99 99 99 '
WINIFRED RAY, B.A ....
VALENTINA HAWTREY ....
EMILY G. ALLINCHAM
128
129
'34
141
150
54
165
166
173
176
182
189
196
200
208
213
222
229
246
247
252
263
266
271
2 7 8
284
290
2 93
301
CONTENTS OF VOLUME THREE
PACK
Topography (continued)
Copthorne Hundred (continued)
Newdigate (part of) .
Walton-on-the-Hill .
Manorial descents by VALENTINA HAWTREY ....
310
315
Effingham Hundred .
Architectural descriptions by Architectural Staff.
Introduction
By WINIFRED RAY, B.A. .......
320
Effingham
Manorial descents by WINIFRED RAY, B.A.
321
Great Bookham
99 99 99 99
326
Little Bookham
99 99 99
335
Woking Hundred . .
Architectural descriptions by Architectural Staff.
Introduction
By DOROTHY W. SPRULES, Oxford Honours School of Modern
History ........
339
Ash ...
Manorial descents by DOROTHY W. SPRULES
34
East Clandon .
99 99 99 99 ...
344
West Clandon .
99 99 99 99 ...
346
East Horsley
99 99 99 99 ...
349
West Horsley .
99 99 99 99 ...
353
Merrow .
99 99 99 99 ...
357
Ockham .
99 99 99 99 ...
3S 9
Pirbright .
99 99 99 99 ...
363
Send with Ripley
99 99 99 99 ...
365
Stoke next Guildford .
99 99 99 99 ...
37'
Wanborough
99 99 99 99 ...
374
Windlesham
99 99 99 99 ...
376
Wisley .
99 99 99 99 ...
378
Woking .
99 99 99 99 ...
381
Worplesdon
99 99 99 99 ...
39
Godley Hundred
Architectural descriptions by Architectural Staff, except Pyr-
ford by PHILIP M. JOHNSTON, F.S.A.
Introduction
By DOROTHY L. POWELL, Modern Language Tripos
396
Bisley
Manorial descents by DOROTHY L. POWELL .
398
Byfleet .
99 99 99 99
399
Chertsey . . .
99 99 99 99 ...
403
Chobham . . .
99 99 99 99 ...
4 J 3
Egharn
99 99 99 99 ...
419
Horsell .
99 n 99 99 ...
4^7
Pyrford .
99 99 99 99 ...
43'
Thorpe .
99 99 99 99 ...
437
Klmbridge Hundred .
Architectural descriptions by Architectural Staff.
Introduction
By HENRIETTA L. E. GARBETT ......
441
Cobham .
Manorial descents by MARGARET E. CORNFORD
442
Esher
99 99 99 99 '
447
XI
CONTENTS OF VOLUME THREE
PAGE
Topography (continued)
Elmbridge Hundred (continued')
East and West Molesey Manorial descents by MARGARET E. CORNFORD . 45 1
Stoke D'Abernon . -457
Thames Ditton . . ,, 4 6z
Walton -on-Thames . 47
Weybridge . ,, > 475
Kingston Hundred . . Architectural descriptions by Architectural Staff.
Introduction . . By HENRIETTA L. E. GARBETT . . 48 1
Kew . . General description and manorial descents by VALENTINA
HAWTREY ... .482
Kingston-upon-Thames History of borough and manorial descents by HENRIETTA
L. E. GARBETT ... 487
Long Ditton . . Manorial descents by EMILY G. ALLINGHAM . . .516
Maiden ... ... 523
Petersham . . WINIFRED RAY, B.A. . . 5 2 5
Richmond, anciently
Sheen . . . General description and manorial descents by MARION
WESTON, History Tripos . . . . . -533
Guildford Borough . . Architectural descriptions by Architectural Staff, except Guild-
ford Castle by L F. SALZMANN, B.A. ; History of the
borough by DOROTHY W. SPRULES, Oxford Honours School
of Modern History ....... 547
XII
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
The Thames at Runnymede. By WILLIAM HYDE Frontispiece
Arlington : Loseley House : Principal Front View . . ~)
full-page plate, facing
Chalk Mantelpiece in Drawing-room J
Chiddingfold : The Crown Inn . . ")
Church : Nave looking East in 1868, before restoration .)
Plan . . 13
from the South-east in 1868, before restoration )
I full-page plate, facing 14.
South-west in 1868, before restoration)
Compton : Old Inn .......... .16
The Coffee Tavern 1 8
Church from the South-east . . . . . . . . . .21
Plan . . 22
The Tower, showing straight joint of pre-Conquest 1
Nave Quoin
, o > full-page plate, facing 22
Chancel and Sanctuary Arches, showing 12th-century
balustrade in Upper Chapel . , . .,
Godalming : Old Timber-framed House . . . . . . . . . 25
Eashing Bridge . .......... 27
Shackleford : Old Cider Press House at Hall Place 28
The White Hart 29
Old Brick Houses ............ 36
Shackleford : The Old Garden, Hall Place 33
Church from the East ........... 34
Ground Plan . . . . . . . . . . -37
Pre-Conquest Fragments . . . . . . . . -39
Painted Decoration .......... 40
Puttenham Common, looking to Hindhead . . . . . . . . . -53
Puttenham ............... 54
Shoelands Manor House .......... .56
Church : Ground Plan . . . . . . . . . . -57
Thursley : St. Michael's Church : Plan before the Enlargements of 1860, &c. ... 59
Chancel Arch ......... 60
The Font . . . 61
Witley : Cottages South-east of the Church 62
The White Hart ........ full-page plate, facing 62
Church : Ground Plan ........... 67
Albury Church : Plan ............. 75
Old Church : The Porch 76
from the South-east in 1875, before the Chancel)
was unroofed . . . . . . ! full-page plate, facing 76
Dunsfold Church : Thirteenth-century Pews . . . . . )
Alfold : Old House ... 78
Church : Plan ............. 79
Bramley : Old Houses ... 8 1
xiii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Cranleigh Church : Plan .
Dunsfold Church from the South-east .
Plan ... .96
Albury : The Grange, formerly Cook's Place j ..'... full-page plate, facing 100
Ewhurst Church : West Porch . )
St. Martha's or Chilworth Chapel : Plan .
View showing St. Martha's Hill . j ... fall-page plate, facing 106
St. Martha's Chapel from the South-west)
Shere Village .
Church : Tower and Chancel looking East . | _ _ full-page plate, facing 118
Hascomb Church from the North-west before rebuilding )
Wonersh : Shamley Green : The Post Office . .122
Village . ) full-page plate, facing 122
Shamley Green : Old Houses . )
Church from the North . .
Plan .
Abinger : Crossways Farm House ...
Mill House . 3 2
Parkhurst. . j ... full-page plate, facing 134
Church : Nave looking East J
Capel : Bonet's Farm . "
Dorking : Old Market House, pulled down in i8l3\
Milton Court, c. 1845 . "4*
Staircase, c. 1845 .
Abinger Church from the South-east, c. 1845 . \
Dorking: St. Martin's Church : Choir, c. 1845. > . H 8
'Chancel, c. 1845)
Ockley Green : Well, c, 1845 ~)
[. ....... 'i u
Dorking Church, before 1835 j
Ockley Church : South Porch . . )
f ...... '5*
Wall of Nave i
Wotton Church : The West Tower from the South . . . 1 5 5
House in 1640 (two views) ... . full-page plates, facing 156
Chapel of St. John the Baptist, Okewood, from the South-west . 158
Church: Plan '59
from the South-east, ,.1845 } _ fall-page plate, facing .60
House ... . J
Okewood Chapel : Plan ... 162
Burstow : St. Bartholomew's Church : Plan , . . . .181
Charlwood Church from the North-east . . .183
St. Nicholas's Church : Plan . . . . .187
Church : Fourteenth-century Window in Nave ) . , .
' . . full-page plate, facing 188
Chipstead Church : The Font . . 3
from the South-west . . . . .190
St. Margaret's Church : Plan . -194
Church : The Chancel . ~)
,,.,. full-page plate, facing 194
Charlwood Church : Nave looking East )
Gatton Church : The Pulpit |
... c ....... ,, 198
West Screen )
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Merstham : St. Katherine's Church : Plan .......... 218
Church from the South-east ")
,.,._ ..... full-page plate, facing 218
West Door of Tower 3
Nutfield Church from the South-east . . . . . . . 226
Plan ............. 227
,, Nave looking East ....... full-page plate, facing 228
Reigate : St. Mary Magdalen's Church : Plan ......... 239
Church : South Arcade of Nave )
, T . TV ^> i XT it- full-page plate, facing 240
Westernmost Pier Capital in Nave Arcade )
Ashtead Church from the South-east . . . . . . . . . . .251
Banstead Church : Plan ............. 260
Capital of Nave Arcade . . . . . . . . . .261
Nave looking East }
T, ,/-.,, r o ... full-page plate, facing 262
Epsom Parish Church from the North-east m 1824. )
Chessington Church : Plan ............ 265
Cuddington : Nonsuch Palace in 1611 . . . . . . full-page p/ate, facing 268
,, ,,........ 270
Fetcham Church : Plan ............. 288
Nave looking North-east ..... full-page plate, facing 288
South Arcade of the Nave, showing Early Window . . . . .289
Letherhead : The ' Running Horse '........... 294
Swan Inn : Front View 1
Back View i ' ****&>**,&** 294
Church : Plan ............ 298
Nave looking East )
Bridge | full-page plate, facing 300
Mickleham : Course of the River Mole, showing the larger ' Swallows ' . . . . . 302
Burford Bridge Hotel from Garden ..... full-page plate, facing 302
' Old House ' : West Front "\
East Front J
Church : Plan ............ 307
West Tower and Porch ......... 308
Burford Bridge and Box Hill (early igth century) ")
,,,,_,,.., > . full-page plate, facing 308
Church : Chancel Arch ..... )
Walton-on-the-Hill : Manor House : Plan . . . . . . . . . .318
Church : The Leaden Font .... full-page plate, facing 3 1 8
Great Bookham Church from the South-west . . . . . . . . .327
Slyfield House . .......... 320
,, Outbuildings ......... 339
Ceiling of Bedroom over Dining-room "j
>, ,, Hall and Dining- Y full-page plate, facing 330
room . .)
St. Nicholas's Church : Plan . . . . . . . . .331
Church looking South-west ....")
Inscribed Stone in East Wall of Chancel 1 ' f""-f^ P^e, facing ^
Little Bookham Church : Plan ............ 337
from the South-east 1
Nave looking East }' ' ****&*>*** 33
East Clandon Church : Plan ............ 34.5
Xv c
PAGE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
East Clandon Church : The Chancel . . j ... full-page plate, facing 346
West fr m the East in 1824 3
Pkn 348
n
Clandon Park j full-page plate, facing 350
East Horsley : Horsley Towers )
West Horsley Church from the South-west .
West Porch . . 35 6
Place ... I full-page plate, facing 356
Church : Nave looking East )
Ockham Church : Plan . . .... 362
East Window 1 ... full-page plate, facing 362
Nave looking East )
Send : Newark Priory : Plan . ... 37
South Transept and Presbytery from South-east j fau . page platejacing ^
from South-west . . )
Church : Plan . -369
Ripley Church : Plan of Chancel . . -37
Ockham Church from the South-east j < full-page pkte, facing 370
Send Church from the South-east )
Wanborough Church : East Window . . 374
Plan . 375
Wisley Church from the South-east . . -379
Plan -380
91 fr * ldil
' 1 full-page plate, facing 380
Nave looking East )
Woking : Button Place : South or the Garden Front }
n 1 1 1 I O 1- I ' ' " "
Quadrangle looking South }
Details of a Bay Window . . |
Panels over Entrance to Great Hall )
Plan . . ... . ... 385
Interior of Great Hall full-page plate, facing 386
The Long Gallery . .
Stairhead leading to Long Gallery
Church : Plan ............. 388
from the South-east ")
w [ ...... full-page plate, facing 388
Nave looking West )
Worplesdon : Half- timber Cottages ........ . . . 391
Ripley Church : The Chancel . . ")
?. . full-pott plate, facme 304
Worpiesdon Church : Nave looking East )
Bisley Church : West Porch ........ 402
Chertsey Abbey : Plan, Fourteenth Century ..... 404
Chobham Church : Nave, showing Early Windows ........ 417
Plan ............. 418
West Porch . . .")
, , . [ ..... full-page plate, facing 418
South Aisle and Chapel )
Byfleet Church from the South-east ....... 420
Pyrford Church from the North-east . ...... . . . .432
Plan . -434
The Porch ............ 435
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ay }
. )
Thorpe Village
Cobham Church : Style House ..
Plan ...
Twelfth-century Doorway
Esher Tower .....
Place: East View in 1737 ~>
Old Church, looking East }
Stoke D'Abernon Church before 1866 : Plan . . .
South Door, now blocked up, and Sundial
Norbury Chapel .....
Thames Ditton Church : The Font ... .
Walton-on-Thames : Manor House ......
" " " Bndge ' ..
Stoke D'Abernon Church : Nave looking East 3
Walton-on-Thames : Manor House : Plan . . ...
..
Nave looking East 3
Kew Palace ........
Kingston-upon-Thames . . . . .
Old Bridge, pulled down ,828j
Market Place ... 3
High Street .
St. Mary Magdalen's Chapel, formerly used
as the Grammar School
St. Mary Magdalen's Chapel, used as the
School Gymnasium
Clattering Bridge . }
n King John's Dairy, demolished in 1884 )
Market Place (early 1 8th century) . .
Church : Nave looking East . ")
East end of North Chapel 5
Long Ditton Rectory from the South-west ..
Maiden Church from the South-east in 1 809
Petersham : Ham House : North Front ..
Door of North Front
South Front
Cabal Room
Drawing-room
The Staircase
Richmond: The Terrace . .
Palace in 1611 ..
The Gateway ]
)
The Trumpeters
Green: East View of King Henry VII Palace in 1737
General View from Twickenham Park in 1755
West View from the Star and Garter .
PAGE
. 437
44 2
-445
fuU -p ag e plate, facing 446
. .
full-page plate, facing
....
full-page plate, facing
full-page plate, facing
.
full-page plate, facing
459
460
4 66
468
468
47
474
4 8z
488
488
49'
full-page plate, facing 492
JJ '
500
>
508
.
509
.
5.6
full-page plate, facing
524
.
526
full-page plate, facing
526
528
full-page plate, facing
528
99
530
>
534
> .
534
xv
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
I'Al.E
Richmond Palace from the Green . ) full-page plate, facing 540
from the River in 1562 . )
. j, 54
Guildford: Plan, c. 1738 ..
Abbot's Hospital : Front View .
Plan of Abbot's Hospital . . .
Abbot's Hosp,tal : Courtyard . full-page plate, facing 55 o
High Street .
Grammar School ) ... full- page plate, facing 552
Town Hall . ) '
St. Mary's Church : North Doorway j .... ,. 554
'Old House in Quarry Street . . )
' Castle : Plan .
Keep: Plan ....
Exterior ") full-page plate, facing 556
Interior )
" CCq
from the South-west
" " n I
House opposite St. Nicholas's Church
St. Mary's Church : Plan
Angel Hotel : Crypt j ... full-page plate, facing 564
St. Mary's Church : North Chapel . 3
LIST OF MAPS
Index Map to the Hundred of Godaiming
Blackheath ....
71
Wotton ...
. 128
Rci te
. ,65
Copthorne . .
246
Effingham . .
. 320
Woking ....
- 339
Godley
397
Elmbridge . .
44'
Kingston ... . . . .
. 481
xvni
EDITORIAL NOTE
THE Editor wishes to thank all those who have kindly assisted him by
reading the proofs of this volume and have otherwise helped in passing
the pages through the Press, particularly Mr. A. R. Bax, F.S.A. ; the
Rev. T. S. Cooper, M.A., F.S.A. ; Mr. Julian S. Corbett, LL.M., F.S.A. ;
Mr. E. Gardner, M.B. ; Mr. W. Edgar Home ; Miss Keate ;
Col. F. A. H. Lambert, F.S.A. ; Mr. H. Lambert ; and Mr. Percy
Woods, C.B.
The Editor desires further to acknowledge the courtesy he has
invariably received from all those to whom he has applied for informa-
tion. He would more especially mention in this respect, His Grace the
Lord Archbishop of Canterbury ; the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Onslow,
G.C.M.G. ; the Rt. Hon. the Lord Hylton, F.S.A. ; the Rt. Hon. the
Lord Ashcombe ; Sir Henry D. Le Marchant, Bart. ; Lieut. -Colonel
H. Godwin-Austen ; Mr. F. W. Smallpeice ; the late Rev. T. R.
O'Fflahertie; and the Clerk of the Surrey County Council. He is
also indebted in a like manner to His Grace the Duke of Norfolk, K.G. ;
His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, K.G. ; the Lady Henry
Somerset ; the Rt. Rev. H. E. Ryle, D.D., Dean of Westminster ;
the Hon. Sir Charles Swinfen-Eady ; the late Rev. Sir Edward G. Moon,
Bart.; Sir John Watney, F.S.A.; the Rev. W. H. Ady, M.A. ; the Rev.
Edward Atkinson, D.D. ; Mr. H. Cosmo O. Bonsor, D.L., J.P. ; Miss
Broadwood ; Mr. H. Chancellor ; the late Rev. J. R. Charlesworth ;
Mr. J. Collyer ; Mr. W. Cunliffe, M.A. ; Mr. F. B. Eastwood ; the
late Mr. W. J. Evelyn ; Dr. W. E. St. Lawrence Finny ; the Rev.
J. K. Floyer, M.A., F.S.A. ; the late Mr. G. Leveson-Gower ; Mr.
J. Henderson ; the late Major Heales ; Mr. Gordon Home ; Miss
Jackson ; the Rev. A. H. Johnson, M.A. ; Mr. A. H. Lloyd ; Mr. F.
Mount ; the Rev. W. H. Oxley, M.A. ; Mr. W. P. D. Stebbing ; Mr.
H. A. Style ; Mr. F. Turner ; Miss Ethel Lega-Weekes ; the Rev.
S. Wetherfield, M.A. ; Miss Wheeler ; and the late Mr. S. Woods.
Thanks are also tendered to Lord Northcliffe, Mr. Herbert O. Ellis,
Mr. J. H. C. Evelyn, the Kingston Corporation, the Surrey Archaeo-
logical Society, and Mr. G. West, for the loan of pictures and plans for
reproduction.
XIX
A HISTORY OF
SURREY
TOPOGRAPHY
THE HUNDRED OF GODALMING
CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF
ARTINGTON ' HAMBLEDON PUTTENHAM
CHIDDINGFOLD HASLEMERE THURSLEY
COMPTON PEPER HAROW WITLEY
GODALMING
The history of the hundred is generally coincident with that of the
manor. The earliest definite reference to the hundred is the confirmation of
Arlington Manor, and possibly Godalming also, to Stephen de Turnham, in
I2o6. 2 In 1 22 1 the king directed the Sheriff of Surrey to give full seisin of
the manor of Godalming, the hundred, and the market (town) of Haslemere
to Richard, Bishop of Salisbury, which manor, &c., were belonging to Edelina
de Broc, salvo iure nostro et heredium ipsius TLdeline?
On 24 May 1224, Thomas de Bauelingham and Mabel his wife, eldest
daughter and co-heir of Stephen de Turnham, levied a fine, and for 3 5 marks
of silver gave to the Bishop and church of Salisbury, the bishop holding the
hundred, all their rights in the hundred of Godalming, and in the manor of
Godalming, saving to Thomas and Mabel the tenement which they held in
Arlington and Catteshull. 4
It does not appear therefore that the bishop obtained full possession of
the hundred till the reign of Henry III, and subsequently Witley, in the
hundred, remained a royal manor of ancient demesne, having no connexion
with the courts of the hundred, except in suits for the recovery of land and
debts ; neither is Puttenham represented in the courts.
The hundred remained in the hands of the bishop till 1541. In that year
it was conveyed, under an Act of Parliament, to Thomas Paston, and by him
to the Crown, 20 April I542. 6 Elizabeth granted the manor and hundred,
3 November 1601, to Sir George More of Loseley for 1,341 8s. 2f</. 6
1 Including Littleton and Loseley, i.e. that part of the parish of St. Nicholas, Guildford, which lay out-
side the borough boundaries as they were in 1831. For the sake of convenience the account of the whole
parish has been included in the hundred of Godalming. The extent of the hundred is taken from Pop. Ret.
1831, p. 632.
1 Rot. de Oblat. et Fin. (Rec. Com.), 339. Compare the accounts of Arlington and Godalming.
1 Ret. Lit. Clam, (Rec. Com.), i, 455.
4 Lib. Evident. B. no. 363, Salisbury. 5 Aug. Off. Hen. VIII, Box C, 12.
6 The original grant is at Loseley. It is copied by Symmes (Town Clerk of Guildford, temp. Chas. II),
B.M. Add. MS. 6167. It contains a grant of the 'bondmen, bondwomen, villeins, and their sequele,' but
this is probably only a customary form and does not mean that there were any then.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
The lordship of the hundred continued in the family of More and More-
Molyneux of Loseley till 1871, when it was conveyed with the manor to
Mr. James Stewart Hodgson. The lordship of the hundred was by this time
meaningless. The courts of the hundred had become at an early period
indistinguishable from those of the manor. There are at Loseley a large
number of Hundred Court Rolls, views of frankpledge, and views of frank-
pledge on the rectory manor, from the time of Edward III downwards.
Courts were held at three weeks' intervals for ' playnts and accions,' dealing
with tenants of all the manors in the hundred except the royal manors of
Witley and Puttenham. Two ' lawdays,' or leets, were held at Hocktide and
Michaelmas, except for the town of Godalming, for which a ' lawday ' was
held on St. Matthew's Day ; this was called Enton lawday. These included
in their business the view of frankpledge, the Visus Personates, election of
tithing-men, of ale-taster, a reeve (prepositus) for Godalming by the customary
tenants, and of a bedell, and the receiving of the burgage rents of Haslemere.
There were also yearly leets at Catteshull, Hambledon, Loseley, Arlington,
Farncombe, and Compton. The hundred and three-weekly courts and Enton
court were held, latterly at least, in the old town hall of Godalming, where
the market house now stands. 7 Fines levied in the hundred court were
accounted for to the More-Molyneux family as lords of the hundred up to at
least I79O. 8
' Rolls at Loseley, passim, and Misc. Bks. Exch. L.T.R. vol. 169 ; Godalming Hundred, 1-3 Edw. VI.
8 Accts. at Loseley.
INDEX MAP TO THE HUNDRED OF GODALMING
GODALMING HUNDRED
ARTINGTON
ARTINGTON
(!N THE PARISH OF ST. NICHOLAS, GUILDFORD)
Ertindun (xiii cent.)
The parish of St. Nicholas, Guildford, contains
2,693 acres. It is for the greater part of its eastern
tide bounded by the Wey, on the left bank of which
it lies. A great part of the parish is in the borough
of Guildford, and part has always been in the borough,
so far as is known. But the rural part of the parish
has always been in Godalming Hundred, and the
parish, 3 miles north to south, z or ij miles east
to west, was originally a rural parish. The idea
suggested in old histories that Guildford was once in
this parish on the left bank of the Wey is baseless.
The name ' Bury Fields,' in St. Nicholas parish,
refers of course to the town fields, not to the town.
Neither have draining or building revealed any old
foundations on the left bank. The Guildford Ceme-
tery is in the parish of St. Nicholas, in the part
included in the borough since 1904. It is under a
joint committee on which the rural parish is repre-
sented.
The main part of the parish is on the Green Sand,
with an outcrop of the Atherfield and of the Wealden
Clay in the middle of it. But the northern part crosses
the chalk ridge of the Hog's Back and reaches on to
the Woolwich Beds and London Clay beyond.
Guildford station is in the parish, and of late
years, in the neighbourhood of the station and on the
Hog's Back, building has much increased. The
Portsmouth road also traverses the parish, and houses
extend along it for a mile, connecting Guildford
with the hamlet of St. Catherine's. The old Ports-
mouth road came past St. Nicholas's Church, along
Bury Fields, and up what was called the Little
Mount into the line of the present road. The old
Farnham road came along the ridge of the Hog's
Back and down the Great Mount by a very steep
descent. 1 The Act of Parliament for making the new
Farnham road was passed in 1 796, but the road was
not begun till some years later. A parcel of land
south of the Great Mount is in Farnham Manor, and
was the site probably of a lodging of the Bishop of
Winchester when he was travelling on the road. The
end of the Hog's Back is known as Guildown, and
this old Farnham road is the Strata de GeUedone
referred to in the Pipe Rolls of 1189 as the southern
boundary of the purlieu of Windsor Forest.
In the south of the parish part of the common
called Peasemarsh is included. Great part of this
was inclosed in 1803. It is very poor soil. In the
old river gravel on it some palaeolithic flints have
been found.
The northern part of the parish beyond the Hog's
Back is called Guildford Park. This was the site of
the old royal park of Guildford. Much of the
history of the park is involved in that of the forest of
Windsor, the Surrey bailiwick of which extended
over the whole county north of the Hog's Back and
west of the Wey. It would appear that Henry II
inclosed the park at the beginning of his reign. 1 The
custody of the park often went with the office of
constable of the castle and steward of the king's
manor, for Guildford was a royal manor and castle
from before the Conquest. There was a manor-
house in the park, but it was quite a small place.
The residence of the kings, who were frequently in
Guildford, was in the castle. It was here that the
extensive buildings and decorations of Henry III
were executed, not at the park manor-house, for they
involved buying of land for the extension of the
building, an impossibility at the latter place, which
lay in the middle of the park surrounded by the
king's land on every side. In 1299 the park was
assigned to Margaret, second wife of Edward I,' but
reverted to the Crown under Edward II. When
Edward III granted the royal manor in fee-farm to
the good men (probl homines) of Guildford the park
and castle were reserved. Helming Leggette was
given the custody of the park for life in I 3 70.' On
the decease of Sir Hugh Waterton it was granted to
Sir John Stanley for life in 1409-10.* In 1444 it
was granted to John Genyn and Richard Ludlow,
Serjeants of the king's cellar, and to Richard's heirs. 6
But in 1463 Edward IV granted it to Thomas St.
Leger, who married his sister Anne, widow of the
Duke of Exeter, and gave him the further charge of
certain enlargements of the park made before 1475-6.'
St. Leger received the herbage and pannage of the
park, without rendering account, and 10 a year for
the maintenance of the deer in winter. 8 The manor
of Cleygate in Ash was granted to St. Leger in 1475,
for the further maintenance of the game. 9 He was
attainted for rebellion against Richard III, when the
custody of the park was perhaps given to William
Mistelbroke, who received Cleygate. 10 In 1488 Sir
Reginald Bray received the custody of the park, and
Cleygate. 11 Sir Michael Stanhope was the next
holder." When Guildford Grammar School was re-
founded by Edward VI, the Marquis of Northampton
held it." Under Elizabeth Lord Montague was
keeper, and had much anxiety with poachers of deer
and snarers of rabbits and pheasants. 14 He died 1592,
and Sir Thomas Gorges, who had married Northamp-
ton's widow, was perhaps the next keeper. In his
time Norden's survey was executed. He describes
the park as of 6J miles' circuit with 7$ miles of pales.
Part of the southern side was inclosed and cultivated.
It contained 1,620 acres by estimation, and was
' meanely timbered,' not enough to repair the pales.
There were about 600 fallow deer, but ' not above
30 bucks,' i.e. males of two years old and upwards.
The manor-house was 'puled down and defaced.'
This stood, by his plan, where the farm called Manor
Farm is now. There were three other lodges. The
chief lodge was by the bank of the river, and is partly
1 Long poles used to be put through the
hind wheels of the coaches coming down
this hilL
3 Close, 9 Hen. Ill, m. 6.
8 Pat. 27 Edw. I, m. 4.
4 Pat. 43 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 33.
' Pat. 10 Hen. IV, pt. ii, m. 13.
6 Pat. 22 Hen. VI, pt. ii, m. 2.
7 Exch. Accts. bdle. 516, no. II.
8 Pat. 2 Edw. IV, pt. ii, m. 14.
Pat. 1 5 Edw. IV, pt. ii, m. 4.
10 Pat. I Ric. Ill, pt. iv, m. 12.
11 MS. of Mr. Anstis, quoted by Man-
ning and Bray, Hist, of Surr, i, 514.
18 Mr. Anstis' MS., Manning and Bray
Surr. i, 25.
18 Chart, of the school.
14 Loseley MSS. fasiim.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
standing now as a farm-house at the end of Walnut
Tree Close, between the railway and the river. The
' Deer Leap,' or place for taking deer alive, was by
the side of the Great Mount, where a path now leads
from the mount to the new Farnham road." Mr.
Carter was then under-keeper. He was the Mr.
John Carter who later received a grant of Guildford
Castle. Gorges died in 1610, and John Murray,
afterwards Earl of Annandale, succeeded. In 1631
Charles I granted it to him in fee-simple, to be held
as for a quarter of a knight's fee, and by his heirs for
ever." His son, the second earl, died childless, and
the Guildford Park Estate was ultimately sold in 1 709
to the Hon. Thomas Onslow, afterwards Lord Onslow,
and the park was disparked before 1717. The park
extended from the road on the Hog's Back to the road
between Woodbridge and Worplesdon, and from close
to the river to a line of hedges and a green lane east
of a small stream and west of Strawberry Grove, which
exactly corresponds to the boundary on John Norden's
plan.
West of St. Catherine's Hill stand St. Catherine's
House, in which the late Mr. W. More-Molyneux
lived, and Mount Browne, the residence of the Dowager
Marchioness of Sligo. Littleton School was built by
Mr. James More-Molyneux of Loseley in 1843. It
has been recently enlarged, and a service is celebrated
there on Sundays by a curate of St. Nicholas. It
was let to the County Council in 1903. A new
school is in course of erection.
AR TINGTON MANOR was originally
MANORS a part of Godalming, from which it was
separated by Henry II, who, about the
year 1171, bestowed it on Master David of London,
an ambassador at Rome. 17 This Master David granted
it in fee farm to Ralph de Broc for 15, with whose
daughter Stephen de Turnham had it in marriage. 18
In 1191 and again in 1 205 Stephen obtained royal
confirmations of his right to the manor. 1 ' In 1220,
shortly after Stephen's death, his widow Edelina,
daughter of Ralph de Broc, put forward her claim to
certain rents in Arlington against Stephen's five co-
heiresses, Mabel wife of Thomas de Bauelingham,
Alice wife of Adam de Bendeng, Eleanor wife of
Roger de Layburn, Eleanor wife of Ralph son of
Bernard, and Beatrice wife of Ralph de Fay. 10
Edelina entered upon the land, but probably only for
life. The manor was divided into four portions, of
which Mabel de Bauelingham obtained one, the manor
of Artington ; Beatrice de Fay a second ; a third
portion, which was Alice de Bendeng's, afterwards
formed part or the whole of the manor of Braboeuf ;
and a fourth became the manor of Piccard's.
Artington Manor, i.e. the portion of the original
manor which was assigned to Mabel de Bauelingham,
descended with her manor of Catteshull " till William
Weston and his wife Joan sold the latter in 1384 5, but
retained Artington." A rent roll of William Weston's
lands in Artington, dated 3 November 1 394, is among
the Loseley Manuscripts. 13 John Weston of Weston
died seised of Artington 1 7 November 1 440, leaving
three married daughters, Agnes wife of John atte
Hull, Joan wife of John Skynet, and Anne wife of
Thomas Slifield." Of these we find that Agnes atte
Hull died in widowhood in the year 1488 seised of
the manor of Artington, Henry atte Hull being her
grandson and heir." The overlordship was conveyed
to Sir George More of Godalming, 3 November
1 60 1, and the manor of Artington has since been in
the family of More of Loseley. Artington Manor
Farm was the manor house.
BRABOEUF MANOR, which extends very widely
about St. Catherine's Hill and towards Godalming,
includes that portion of Stephen de Turnham's
manor which was assigned to his daughter Alice de
Bendeng, for she granted her portion of Artington to
Geoffrey of Braboeuf in 1232," and he had confirma-
tion of the grant in 1 25 1. 17 He had other lands in
Artington and Guildford, and in 1257, together with
Richard Testard, obtained a royal grant of the sites of
old mills in Guildford which they had recently sold to
the king, and also of new mills which they were to
remove to the site of the old ones. 88 Cicely ' la
Braboeuf held a quarter of the manor at ' Artington
next Braboeuf at her death in 1 347," probably as
dower. John Braboeuf witnessed deeds of Artington
in 1337 and again in 1350.* Andrew Braboeuf,
son of Andrew and Cecily de Braboeuf, died seised
of one quarter of Artington in 13612, leaving a
daughter Agnes, 81 who married first Robert Dan-
hurst, and secondly, Robert Loxley. At her death
her grandson Robert Danhurst inherited her lands.
He died s.p.m. in 1481-2, having settled Braboeuf on
Bernard Jenyn and his wife Elizabeth, who was niece
of Agnes Braboeuf 's second husband Robert Loxley ."
Bernard Jenyn settled the manor on his second son
Thomas, 33 who died in March 1508-9.** Sir John
Jenyn, kt., son of Thomas Jenyn, died holding
Braboeuf in 1 545, leaving a son Edward aged five,"
who died a minor and was succeeded by his aunt
Joan, wife of Robert Kemp. 86 Agnes, wife of John
Wight of Wimbledon, and daughter of Joan Kemp,
was in possession of Braboeuf in 1 5 59," and was
succeeded by her son Rice (Riceus) Wight, who
died at Artington 31 October 1602. His son John
was born in 1674 an< ^ died ' n 1656, his son John died
15 Norden's Surv. 1606 ; Harl. MSS.
3749. " Cart. Chas. I, R. 8, m. 2.
>' Fife R. 17 Hen. II (Pipe R. Soc.),
144 et seq.
Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 225.
It seems probable therefore that Matter
David only had a life interest in Arling-
ton, and that after hit death Stephen de
Turnham held directly of the king, for in
later confirmations Stephen is stated to
have had it of the gift of Henry II.
19 Pipe R. 3 Ric. I, m. 3 ; Rot. Cart,
(Rec. Com.), 160.
*> Maitland, Bracton'i Nate Bk. 1410 ;
Exarpta e Rat. Fin. (Rec. Com.), ii, 25.
There was apparently another daughter
Clemency, see Piccard's Manor.
V, dt infra.
*> Feet of F. Surr. 8 Ric. II, 73, 75.
" Hist. MSS. Cam. Rep. vii, App. pt. i,
599-
M Chan. Inq. p.m. 19 Hen. VI, no. 5.
85 Ibid. (Ser. 2), iv, 14.
* Col. Chart. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 366.
It seems probable that he already possessed
a tenement called Braboeuf in Artington.
Indeed, in 1496 it was declared that 'the
manor of Braboeuf and the manor of Art-
ington are not one, nor was any part of it
ever part of Arlington.' Memo. R.
Exch. L.T.R. Trin. n Hen. VII, m.
xvi. It seems, however, that the lords of
Braboeuf also possessed a part of the
original manor of Artington.
W Add. Chart. 24581, 24583,
88 Cal. Chart. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 456.
99 Chan. Inq. p.m. 22 Edw. Ill (ist
nos.), no. 20.
60 Montagu Burrows, Tht Family of
Broeas f 430-2.
11 Chan. Inq. p.m. 35 Edw. Ill (it
nos.), no. 21.
"Memo. R. (Exch. L.T.R.), Trin.
II Hen. VII, m. 16, 'Recorda' ; Feet of
F. Surr. 42 Edw. Ill, 15 10 Ric. II,
23-
88 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixxxiil
20.
Ibid. xxv, 48. M Ibid. Ixxii, 9&
M Ibid, cxiii, 46.
7 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. i Eliz.
GODALMING HUNDRED
ARTINGTON
1707 and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son
William, who died in 1722, and his son Tempest
Wight died 1768. John Wight, his son, died 1817,
his son Arthur Wight died 1 847, having married Jane
More-Molyneux of Loseley. His son Albert Wight
died in 1905, and his widow, nee Mary Anne Boul-
derson, is lady of the manor. 89
Braboeuf Manor House is now occupied by Mr.
J. A. C. Younger. It has been much modernized,
but retains much of its original 16th-century work.
It was evidently a half-timber house consisting of a
main body facing east, as at present, with projecting
wings at either end ; the north wing has disappeared,
but the south wing still stands with the main portion.
To the south of this old building are a modern dining-
room and conservatory, and a modern wing extending
to the west.
The walls are now of modern stone, with mullioned
windows. The ground floor of the main (former)
central body contains the hall, entered directly by
the main entrance close to the south wing ; the
library, at the north end of the hall, and doubtless
once a part of it ; and the stair hall and other rooms
to the west, behind the hall, &c. The south wing
contains chiefly the billiard-room. Over the hall is
the drawing-room, with a fine fireplace (dated 1586),
and bedrooms, &c., and on the second floor are attic
bedrooms.
The entrance doorway now within a modern
porch has an old oak moulded frame. The hall has a
good late 1 6th-century ceiling, with heavy beams run-
ning east and west, and a shallower one running length-
wise (north and south), and upon the latter and the
walls are the joists, also running east and west ; all the
beams and joists have moulded soffits. The fireplace
on the west side of the hall contains some 17th-
century carving, made up with later work ; the walls
of the hall are lined with late 1 6th or early 17th-
century panelling ; some of it is set in an irregular
fashion. Doorways at the ends give access to the
library and billiard-room, and an archway opposite
the entrance doorway opens on to the stair hall. The
thin wall dividing the hall from the library is evidently
a later insertion, but it is covered with the old panel-
ling on the hall side. The library has a plain plaster
ceiling, which probably conceals some moulded wood-
work as in the hall, and a heavy encased wood girder
close to the partition would, no doubt, prove to be
similar to the others. In the library is a large cup-
board front containing some of the original carved
late 16th-century oak work in its cornice, &c., made
up with more modern woodwork ; it stood formerly
against the partition at the south end of the hall.
The staircase is late 1 7th-century work ; it has
turned balusters, and heavy panelled square newels
with shaped heads, and very heavy moulded hand-
rail, 8 in. by 7 in.
The drawing-room on the first floor has a good
stone fireplace and chimneypiece in its outer or east
wall between the two windows. The opening has a
flat, four-centred arch, enriched with leaf and rose
ornament ; above this is a fluted frieze with roses and
portcullises. The rest of the space above this is
divided by pilasters into two bays, the lower parts
treated as panels with a moulded cornice, and con-
taining leaf designs ; the upper parts filled with a
large Tudor rose and a portcullis carved in high relief;
each is surmounted by a small crown. At the top,
close to the ceiling, is carved the date 1 5 86. The
whole of the fireplace is decorated with paint, most
of it modern, but said to be a restoration of the
original colour. The room has modern oak wall
lining, and an enriched plaster ceiling of four bays
divided by moulded wood beams. In some of the
bedrooms on this floor are some 1 7th-century panel-
ling and plain old beams, and one of the attic bed-
rooms also has some similar panelling below its
window.
Over the porch entrance outside is set a small old
stone, carved with a representation of a phoenix,
perhaps the mark of an insurance company.
The grounds and park contain nothing of note.
There appears to have been no formal garden about
the house, or it has long since disappeared, as also
has the ancient dovecot which is mentioned in various
old records.
Beatrice de Fay's portion of Arlington consisted of
201. rent and a quarter of a mill. These she granted
to the abbey of Wherwell, co. Hants, towards the
maintenance of a chaplain to celebrate in the chapel
of St. Mary in the little meadow called St. Mary's
Garden.* 9 In 12412 the abbess sued her tenants in
Arlington for rent. 40 At the time of the surrender
of the abbey in November 1539 lands and rent in
Arlington were still amongst its possessions." These
were leased out by the Crown from time to time, the
lessee in 1567 being Michael Kettelwell," and in
1595 Sir John Wolley, kt. 4S At this date the lands
included ' Millmeade ' in Guildford. Sir John's son
Francis Wolley possibly obtained a grant in per-
petuity, for he bequeathed his lands in Arlington to
' the maiden child christened by his wife and Mrs.
Bridget Weston in Pirford Church by name of Mary
Wolley,' with remainder to Sir Arthur Mainwaring. 44
The latter was disputing lands called the ' Holy Lands '
in Arlington in 1628 ; they had lalely been ihe
properly of Wherwell Abbey, and were claimed by a
certain Thomas Tuesley. At this dale ihey included
' an ancienl dwelling-house ' 4S near St. Catherine's Hill,
various fields at Artinglon, and one-sixlh of Millmead. 46
The eslates have since been broken up, and part
has been bought by ihe Wighl family.
LITTLETON near Loseley Park is a hamlet of
Artinglon, and now consists of Orange Court, Orange
Court Farm, and a few cottages. Littleton is mentioned
in the Domesday Survey as being held by Wulwi the
huntsman, who had been in possession of it before the
Conquest. 47 Under Edward the Confessor it was
assessed for 2 hides and paid no geld, but in 1086
it was only assessed for I virgate. In 1218-19
88 Parish Reg. of St. Nicholas, Guild-
ford.
* Probably the chapel of the Blessed
Virgin, with which the Abbess Euphemia
inclosed a large space 'which was
adorned on the north side with pleasant
Tines and trees.' f.C.H, Hants, ii, 133.
Egerton MS. 2104 (A), no. 254.
4 Feet of F. Surr. 26 Hen. Ill, 273,
274, *79-
Misc. Bkf. Aug. Off. ccccxiv, 17-21.
a Enr. of Leases (Aug. Off.), 9 Eliz.
R. 4, no. 3.
48 Partic. for Leases, Surr. 37 Eliz. R. 2,
no. 23.
44 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxxxir,
5
60. See under Burpham in Worples-
don.
41 Possibly the house now called the
Priory, some of which it very old.
48 Exch. Spec. Com. 6 Chas. I, no.
$666 ; 5 Chas. I, no. 5665 ; Exch. Dep.
Mich. 4 Chas. I, 21.
7 V.C.H. Surr. i, 328*.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
William le Gras of Littleton granted 2 acres in a
field called la Hulle and other land on Lidhe ' and
Guildown to Robert son of William of Littleton for a
yearly rent. 48 In 1285 Nicholas le Gras, who was
Sheriffof Surrey, obtained a grant of free warren in his
demesne lands of Littleton and Arlington/ 9 He died
before December I293, 60 and seems to have been
succeeded by Ralph le Gras, 6 ' whose brother and heir
was Roger. Roger le Gras died seised of the manor
of Littleton on 28 November 1303, having been
murdered in Essex. 6 * His heir was his brother
Nicholas, aged twenty-two. 63 It then included a
capital messuage and three free tenants and was held
of John of Cobham by service of entertaining him in
food and drink for two nights yearly. 64 Nicholas le
Gras, brother to Roger, was in possession of it in
1323-4." The manor included much more than the
present hamlet and ran up to the road (via regia) on
the Hog's Back. 66 It is interesting to see that these
old manors, Loseley and Littleton, were, like the old
parishes generally, 67 bounded by the ridge of the chalk
downs. John le Em of Compton had lands and rent
there in I325, 68 and William Shepherd and his wife
Margaret sold 60 acres of land and 21. 6J. rent in
Littleton to Arnold Brocas in 1394 s9 (vide Loseley),
probably for the use of William Sidney, with whose
half of Loseley it seems to have since descended. It
is now held with Loseley.
In 1406-7 a Richard atte Park held land in Little-
ton. 60 A house called ' Hamptons ' was sold with
land in Littleton in l63o, 61 while Orange Court
Farm was purchased circa 1750 by Sir William
More-Molyneux of Loseley. John Orange is among
Arlington tenants in a I4th-cenlury roll ; and in
1464 Robert Bussebrigge left in perpetuity lands in
St. Nicholas, Guildford, called Orenges to Thomas
Costyn, and in 1481 Henry Costyn succeeded."
LOSELET MANOR (Losele xi cent., Lousle
xiii cenl., Loseley xvi cenl. et seq.), which was held
before the Conquest by Osmund the ihegn, was
assessed at 2 hides in 1086, and was at that time
in possession of Earl Roger of Shrewsbury, who had
also obtained Osmund's manor of Eaton Mewsey in
Wiltshire. Loseley was held of Earl Roger by
Turold, 63 who, with his successors, continued to hold
it of the various lords of Eaton Mewsey. 64 Among
the under-tenants, successors of Turold, was Richard
de Dol, one of the supporters of the barons in their
struggle against John. 66 He sold 2 hides in Loseley
to Hugh de Dol in January 1 2 04- 5. w Loseley
descended to Robert son of Hugh de Dol, whose
widow Eleanor obtained from the overlord the custody
of the manor during the minority of Robert's son
and heir, also named Robert. She pledged it in 1285
to Henry Gerard of Guildford for six years. 6 ' In
1316-17 ' Elbrede atte Park de Lousle in viduitate
mea ' granted land in Loseley to Robert and his wife
Isabella. This was the northern part of the manor,
bounded by the ' via regia de Guldedone,' i.e. the
Hog's Back road. 68 It shows that the whole had not
been acquired in 1204-5. This Robert was com-
missioner of array for Surrey in 1 3 24, 69 and made an
agreement four years before his death by which his.
daughter Joan had for life the whole of the profits of
the manor, together with Loseley Hall, while he
himself only retained the solar or upper room to the
east of Loseley Hall and an annual rent of 20 marks.'*
He died 22 March 1355-6, leaving as heirs the same
daughter Joan de Bures, then a widow aged sixty, and
John de Norton, grandson and heir of his second
daughter Margaret. The solar and rent were divided
between them in 1357," and the custody of John de
Norton's lands was granted to John de Tye." After
the death of Joan de Bures in March 1371-2 one
moiety of Loseley descended to her son William de
Bures, on whom she had entailed it, while the other
moiety was inherited by John Norton, great-grandson
of her sister Margaret." This second moiety was
committed to the custody of William de Brantingham
during the minority of John Norton." In 1395
John Crosse conveyed lands in Loseley to Master
Arnold Brocas and others, evidently trustees. 76 One
moiety of the manor, probably the Norton moiety, 7 *
was eventually obtained by William Sidney. He
was the William Sidney to whom Margaret, then
wife of Robert Danhurst, released lands in Arlington
in 1426-7." William Sidney died 1449, and his
elder son William acknowledged the right of his
mother, Thornasine, to half Loseley Manor in dower
in I452, 78 and died seised of the reversion, as was
said, in October 1463.
This William Sidney, described as of Stoke D'Aber-
non and of Baynards, left two daughters, Elizabeth
and Anne, subsequently married to John Hampden
and William Uvedale. But he had a younger
brother, also named William Sidney, of ' Kyngsham '
(Sussex), whose son Humphrey successfully claimed
the moiety of Loseley under the will of William
Sidney, his grandfather, after the death of Thomasine
his grandmother, who survived both her sons William
and died in January 1498. This claim was made in
1508. There is a large parchment roll at Loseley of
an Inspeximut of the Record of Proceedings before the
barons of the Exchequer enrolled Michaelmas term
23 Henry VII (i 508). The unsuccessful parties were
the widow and daughters of William. Humphrey
Sidney's attorney was Christopher More, and the
suit is evidently connected with the acquisition
Feet of F. Surr. 3 Hen. Ill, 20.
Chart. R. 1 3 Edw. I, m. 4.
* Cal. Clou, 1288-96, p. 339.
" Ibid. 444.
"Cal. Pat. 1301-7, pp. 272,459.
68 Chan. Inq. p.m. 32 Edw. I, no.
47-
" Ibid.
ss Pipe R. 17 Edw. II, ' De Ob. Suss.'
68 D. of 8 Hen. IV, referred to be-
low.
V.C.H. Surr. ii, 6.
M Feet of F. Surr. 18 Edw. II, 83.
"Ibid. 1 8 Ric. II, 55.
60 D. at Loseley compare 'Elbrede atte
Park de Lousle,' below.
61 Com. Pleas D. Enr. East. 6 Chai. I,
m. 17.
ra D. at Loseley.
63 V.C.H. Surr. i, 314*.
64 De Banco R. 60, m. 83 ; Chan. Inq.
p.m. 30 Edw. Ill, 45 ; ibid. 8 Edw. II,
68.
85 Rot. Lit. Claui. i, 285, 307.
66 Feet of F. Surr. 6 John, file 3,
no. 17.
" Wrottesley, Ptdigreet from tht Plea
R. 433 ; De Banco R. 60, m. 83.
68 D. at Loseley.
69 Par!. Jfrit, (Rec. Com.), ii (2), 666,
(21).
70 Chan. Inq. p.m. 30 Edw. Ill, no. 45.
" Abbrev. Rot, Orig. (Re;. Com.}, ii,
241.
7" Ibid, ii, 252.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 45 Edw. Ill (ist
nos.), no. 4.
7* Fine R. I Ric. II, pt. i, m. 21.
7 Close, 19 Ric. II, m. 29 d.
Vide infra.
T> Feet of F. Surr. 5 Hen. VI, 20. A
year later William Sidney and John
Strode held one fee in Loseley ; Lay Subs.
R. bdle. 184, no. 75.
"> Harl. Chart. 56, B. 25 ; and Loseley
R. below.
" Exch. Inq. p.m. (Ser. i), file 1805,
no. 2.
GODALMING HUNDRED
ARTINGTON
by More of the Sidney moiety, which he after-
wards held. In 1515-16 Sir Christopher More
acquired the rights of John Twistleton, goldsmith, of
London, probably a mortgagee ; and before 153 2-3
he had evidently purchased this moiety in addi-
tion to the other (vide infra), for William son
of Humphrey Sidney then released all his rights
to him. 60
The other moiety was in the hands of a John
Strode and Katherine his wife in 1429, and of
Katherine widow of John and John her son in 1435,
and of a Robert Strode in 1454 5- 81 They, in
granting a lease of land bounded by William Sidney's
land, spoke of ' nostra pan de manerio de Losele,'
and gave the grant at Loseley. This moiety there-
I fore may possibly have included the manor-house,
and may have been the Bures moiety. Robert
Strode, heir of Thomas Strode, conveyed to trustees,
8 October I476, 51 and by this means no doubt the
moiety was acquired by John Westbroke, for John
Westbroke held his first court at Loseley in i^Si."
John Westbroke was summoned to warrant the
manor of Loseley to Gilbert Stoughton and Thomas
Purvoche in isoo, 84 and on 31 October 1508 John
Westbroke of Godalming sold to Christopher More,
gentleman, all his moiety of Loseley Manor, reserv-
ing an annuity to himself and his wife Elizabeth for
life. 86 Christopher More held
his first court at Loseley
1 1 January I joS-g. 86 In
1 530 he had licence to inclose
12 acres of land and a grant
of free warren and free fishery
within the park, of which this
may have been the nucleus. 87
Sir Christopher More died
1549. His son William be-
gan to build the present
house, which was completed
in I569. 88 William, who was
knighted in 1576, was the
most trusted agent of Elizabeth's Government in
Surrey, and a special favourite of the queen. The
lords lieutenant, the two Lords Howard of Effing-
ham, and the Council, seem to have remitted all
business to him. He also acquired much property
in the county and elsewhere. In 1570 the Earl
of Southampton was removed to his custody and
remained at Loseley for three years. 89 Queen
Elizabeth visited the house three times, in 1576,
1583, and again in 1591." Sir William's son and
heir, Sir George More, kt., who succeeded to the
estate in 1600," was Lieutenant of the Tower, and
represented both Guildford and Surrey county in
Parliament, as his father had done before him.** He
was twice visited by James I at Loseley .** He died
and was buried in the Loseley Chapel, St. Nicholas,
MORI of Loseley. A-
xure a cross argent with
five marflfts sable thereon.
Guildford, in 1632, his heir being Poynings, son
of his eldest son Sir Robert More, kt., who had
predeceased his father." Loseley remained the r. ra-
perty of his heirs male till 1689, when at the death
of Robert More, the then holder, his sister and sole
surviving heiress, Margaret wife of Sir Thomas
Molyneux, 94 inherited the manor. Their eldest son,
Sir William More-Molyneux, died 1760. His eldest
son James had died the year before. His son
Thomas More-Molyneux died unmarried in 1776,
and left the property to his sisters in succession, and
then to James Freeman afias Molyneux, son of Jane
Freeman, who was afterwards the wife of Samuel
Hill of Duke Street, gentleman. James, son of
Thomas, became owner in 1802, as James More-
Molyneux, and died 1823. His son James died 1874.
William More-Molyneux, son of James, 8 * 1 died 1907.
The present owner is Mrs. More-Molyneux McCowan,
daughter of his brother, Admiral Sir Robert More-
Molyneux.
View of frankpledge was held at Loseley by the
Bishop of Salisbury as lord of Godalming ; * and
thus when the Mores of Loseley obtained Godalm-
ing they also obtained the right of view of frankpledge
on their manor of Loseley. There was an oratory
in this manor from the end of the I4th century,
when Robert de Dol had licence to hear mass there."
Sir George More enlarged the new house and added
a chapel where he held licence for services in 1605."
But this extension became ruinous, and was pulled
down by the late Mr. James More-Molyneux about
1835.
Loseley lies about 2 miles to the south-west of Guild-
ford. There was certainly a moated house near this
site at a much earlier date, but the present mansion was
built from the ground between 1563 and 1 569, by Sir
William More. Sir Christopher More, who came
out of Derbyshire, must have occupied from about
I 5 1 5 an older house which probably stood on the site
of the lawn to the south of the present house, and he
obtained in 1530 a licence to empark. The 'park'
still remains, and forms with its green turf, flower-
gardens, and trees, gathering on the west into a great
avenue which is perhaps more like a forest ride a
worthy setting for the fine old house.
As originally planned, the house of 1563 was to
have occupied three sides of a square, a central gate-
house and flanking walls, with perhaps minor offices,
forming the fourth side, thus leaving a great open
quadrangle in the middle. In conformity with this
clinging to earlier traditions in planning is the style
of architecture in which the house is built, which leans
to the older Gothic in all its forms, rather than to
the Renaissance.
The original plan was never fully carried out, but
was confined in execution to the main block of
the south side of the square, thus giving the principal
80 Copy of Inq. p.m. and deeds at
Loseley.
81 Deeds at Loteley.
85 Ibid.
88 Fragment of roll there,
84 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 1 5 Hen. VII,
13 ; De Banco R. 15 Hen. VII, m. xi.
"Add. Chart. 13557. More was, as
we have seen, simultaneously acquiring
the Sidney moiety.
86 Loseley MSS.
* Pat. Hen. VIII, pt, ii. m. 3.
The present park is much more than 1 1
acres.
88 See Arch, xxxri, 294, where there
is printed an account of the expenses
of building Loseley House, and also an
inventory of the goods of William More
in 1556.
89 Kempe, Loieley MSS. 129 et seq.
90 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, App.
629, 638, 649.
91 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cclxiv, 179.
91 Return of Members of Purl. pt. i.
98 Diet. ffat. Biog. xxrriii, 414.
M Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccxjutrii,
106.
95 Inscription in church of St. Nicholas,
Guildford.
** The writer desires to acknowledge
his obligations to this gentleman for the
free use of his MSS.
Hist. MSS. Com. Rtf. rii, App. 599,
600, &c.
*! Egerton MS. 2033, foL 53*.
98 Licence at Loseley.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
front to the north a fact that, with the sombre
colour of the stonework, and the stone roofs, accounts
for the somewhat gloomy aspect of the house. Early
in the I yth century, however, a considerable addition
was made by Sir George More, the son of the founder,
in the shape of a western wing, which included a
gallery 121 ft. long by 1 8 ft. wide, and a chapel.
This wing, said to have been designed by the famous
John Thorpe, was entirely removed about 1835, but
more recently a low range of offices has been erected in
the rear of the house. Built of Bargate stone rubble,
with dressings of firestone or clunch, the main front
consists of a series of gables and interspaces backed by
the long line of the main roof and planned with a
pleasing irregularity, to which the numerous stacks of
brick chimneys contribute. The pedimental doorway
is of classical design and of I yth-century date, but in
all other respects the front exhibits its original
features, most noticeable of which are the long ranges
of mullioned windows, in groups of two, three, four,
and six lights. The early character of the work is
evidenced in these, which have elliptical heads to the
lights and a hood-mould with returned ends, such as
might have been employed in work fifty years older
in date. The great window of the hall bay is very
tall and of three tiers of eight lights, including those
in the return walls. Among the other coats and
badges preserved in its glazing are the arms of the
More family, with the date 1563.
The rear of the house is not so imposing. At the
south-east angle is a large projecting group of gables,
and a garden porch of later character occupies the
centre of the recessed portion, with smaller gables to
the right and dormers in the roof over.
In the interior the drawing-room is remarkable for
its elaborate frieze, on which appears the rebus of the
More family, a mulberry-tree intertwined with the
motto, Morus tarde Mortens Morum cito Moriturum.
The room is panelled from floor to ceiling, and the
latter is a fine specimen of plaster rib-work with pen-
dants and devices framed in the geometrical patterns,
among them being the cockatrice (which occurs in
other rooms also), a bearing of the Mudge family, to
which Sir William More's mother belonged. The
great window of this room is of six lights, three on
either side of a broad pier, which in the interior is
finished as a carved console.
The stately mantelpiece, a masterpiece of delicate
carving in hard chalk, may without exaggeration be
placed among the finest things of its kind in England.
The fireplace opening is spanned by a flat arch, with
rusticated keystones, and flanked by caryatides and
coupled Corinthian columns, which stand upon
pedestals bearing swags of fruit. Above is a frieze of
arabesque or strap pattern, surmounted by a modillion
cornice : and the overmantel is formed of six panels
enriched with scrolled cartouches, bearing coats of
arms, and framed in by male and female caryatides
holding up the carved frieze and cornice under the
ceiling. 98 "
Many of the other rooms have panelling, ceilings,
and other features of interest, and the character of the
house has been admirably kept up by the successive
generations of its owners.
In some of the upper rooms are fine tapestries,
including a good specimen of the Mortlake Tapestry.
There was at one time a collection of armour
and weapons which were mostly exhibited in the
great hall, but these have been removed, and their
place is now taken by pictures, many of which
are of great interest, such as those of James I and
Anne of Denmark, painted in celebration of their
visit to Sir George More in 1603 ; and the large
painting of Sir William More-Molyneux with his
wife Cassandra and all their children. Besides these
there are in other parts of the house many portraits of
the More and Molyneux families ; and, among royal
and eminent personages, Edward VI, presented by
Henry VIII to Sir Christopher More; Anne Boleyn;
Queen Elizabeth, presented by herself to Sir William
More ; and Sir Thomas More, who was, however,
no connexion of this More family.
The finest collection of manuscripts of family, local,
and public interest, which is preserved in any private
house in Surrey, is at Loseley. Sir Christopher, Sir
William, and Sir George More, the three generations
of owners whose lives covered the time from the
beginning of the 1 6th century till the early part of
the reign of Charles I, were continually employed in
the public service. The first was King's Remembrancer
in the Exchequer, Sheriff and member for the county ;
Sir William was at different times or simultaneously
Sheriff, Deputy-Lieutenant, and member for the county
or for Guildford, and Vice-Admiral of Sussex ; Sir
George was Sheriff, Deputy-Lieutenant, member of
Parliament, and also Lieutenant of the Tower, Chan-
cellor of the Garter, and Treasurer to the Prince
of Wales ; Sir William was also executor to Sir Thomas
Cawarden, who was Master of the Revels from
Henry VIII to the first year of Elizabeth, and kept his-
papers. They were also stewards of manors, con-
stables of the castle, and keepers of the chase at Farn-
ham, and all of them active justices of the peace. In
these various capacities they received a vast quantity
of official correspondence, besides private letters from
many persons of importance. The bulk of these let-
ters is preserved in twelve volumes, but over and
above there is a great mass of letters, accounts, memo-
randa, Hundred Rolls and Court Rolls of Godalming
Hundred and of many manors, deeds and printed
pamphlets. The greater number belong to the
Tudor reigns and the time of James I, but they
extend earlier and later. Among them are letters and
papers of Dr. John Donne (1573-1631), poet and
Dean of St. Paul's, who was imprisoned in the Mar-
shalsea for clandestinely marrying Anne daughter
of Sir George More. Later papers of much in-
terest are memorials of a tour in Spain in the i8th
century. Mr. A. J. Kempe printed a small selection
of papers in extenso in 1835." William Bray, the his-
torian of Surrey, had previously had access to the
papers. They have been catalogued, very incompletely,.
for the Historical MSS. Commission." 3 Recently
the whole has been deposited on loan at the Public
961 The effect of thi chimneypiece and
of the room generally ii admirably ren-
dered in Plate LXXI of Nash' Mentions
of Engl. in the Olden Times. It it
point in common between Loseley and
Wakehurit in Sussex that the latter also
boasts a chalk mantelpiece. A good
example of a small chalk chimneypiece
is preserved in the old house which now
forms the museum of the Surrey Archaeo-
logical Society in Guildford. The panels
in the great hall bear the badges of
8
Henry VIII and Catherine Parr, and are
said to have been brought from Nonsuch.
Palace.
Kempe, Lately MSS.
*> Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii.
ARTINGTON : LOSELEY HOUSE, PRINCIPAL FRONT VIEW
ARTINGTON : LOSELEY HOUSE, CHALK MANTELPIECE IN DRAWING-ROOM
GODALMING HUNDRED
ARTINGTON
Record Office. The present writer acknowledges with
gratitude the kindness of the owner, who has given
him free access to such a collection, interesting to
the historian generally and invaluable to the historian
of Surrey in particular. It is not too much to say
that the history of the administration of a county
under Elizabeth could be compiled from these sources
alone.
P1CC4RDS M4NOR seems to have formed a part
of Stephen de Turnham's manor of Arlington, for it ap-
pears in 1279 in the possession of Joan wife of William
Branche and descendant of Clemency, one of Stephen
de Turnham's daughters. 100 Joan and William were
granted free warren in Arlington by Henry III. 101
It passed with their manor of Peper Harow to Henry
of Guildford, who died seised of land and rent in Ar-
lington together with pleas of court there early in the
14th century. 101 His kinsman and heir, John son of
Gilbert the Marshal of Guildford, paid relief for the
manor in 1319 20 1M and granted il lo John Piccard
of Guildford and his wife Margaret in I323. 104 It is
evidently from this family that the manor obtained its
name of Piccards. In 1350 John son of John
Piccard and his mother Margaret conveyed all their
lands in Arlington to Master Bernard Brocas, clerk,
in exchange for lands called Heysull in Chiddingfold. 105
From this date Piccards descended with Peper Harow
(q.v.) till the death of Sir Richard Pexall, c. 1 57 1. 106
He bequeathed it to Pexall Brocas the elder son of
his daughter Anne, who had married Bernard Brocas
of Horton. 10 ' In 1586 Pexall Brocas sold ten-twelfths
of the manor to Sir William More of Loseley, 108
who evidently bought up the remaining two-twelfths,
for he died seised of ihe whole in July i6oo. 109
Since then the descent of the manor has been coin-
cideni wilh lhal of Loseley (q.v.).
For an accounl of ihe church of
CHURCH ST. NICHOLAS, see ihe history of
Guildford, wilhin the boundaries of which
it is situated.
The ruins of ST. CATHERINE'S CH4PEL stand
on St. Catherine's or Drake Hill, 110 about a mile south
of Guildford Bridge. The building was a plain paral-
lelogram of 45 ft. 6 in. by 20 ft. 6 in., inside measure-
ment. The walls are mainly of sandstone, 3 ft. ihick,
the windows, doors, and bullresses faced with chalk.
At ihe north-west corner is a turret, with vice, lead-
ing perhaps to a priesl's room, as the top of ihe lurrel
does nol seem like a belfry. The butlresses belween
ihe ihree windows on each side and at the angles
ran up into pinnacles. There were large east and
west windows, and west and also north and south
doors. The side windows over the north and south
doors were al some period converted inlo doorways,
approached by oulside sleps and probably connected
by a gallery or bridge across the chapel. The north-
ern door opened inwards, ihe southern outwards.
The only possible use was lo allow a great number of
people to pass through the chapel, by the upper and
lower doors simultaneously, to venerate relics. The
present building is mainly early 14th-century. In
the Pipe Roll 14 Henry III (i 230) 50*. was allowed lo
ihe sheriff for his disbursement of so much lo ihe
priesi of St. Catherine's Chapel, by which it would seem
that the chapel, in the old royal manor of Godalming,
was still in ihe king's hands. The subordinale manor
of Arlington was then held by the co-heiresses of
Stephen Turn ham.
In 1317 Richard de Wauncey, rector of St.
Nicholas, had rebuilt the chapel and received
licence for ils consecraiion after rebuilding. 111
He had bought it and the neighbouring ground from
the holders of ihe manor of Arlington before 1301.
Andrew Braboeuf granted by charter to Richard de
Wauncey, rector of St. Nicholas, and his successors,
all his rights on Drake Hill and in the chapel of St.
Catherine. 11 ' But in 1 3 1 7 ihe king appointed Robert
de Kyrkeby to the chapel of Arlington, belonging to
ihe king because ihe lands of John ihe Marshal were
in ihe king's hands. The rector's grant had been
annulled, and in 1318 the chapel was granted to
Richard le Constable, chaplain to ihe king and rector
of St. Mary's, Guildford. 1 " But in 1328 Bernard
Brocas, rector of St. Nicholas, received a grant of the
chapel, 114 and ihe apparenlly delayed consecraiion
was carried oul "* in spite of the remonstrance of Con-
stable. The chapel was valuable because attached to
it was the right of holding a fair on St. Matlhew's
Day, and receiving ihe tolls. The lord of ihe manor
of Godalming, the Bishop of Salisbury, had, however,
certain dues from the fair. In the Godalming Hun-
dred Rolls "' the steward accounled to the lord for
3/. Afd., perquisiles from the fair pro agro, picaglo, stal-
lagio, et dlvertis occupationibus. On 22 September 1453
the tithing-man of Arlington presented one absentee
and nine persons for breaking ihe assize of ale al the
fair. This probably comprised all the inhabitants.
At least a century later there were only eleven men,
for in 1 546 the courl presented that all the inhabit-
ants of Arlington were sellers of beer al ihe lime of
ihe fair, and paid according lo ancient custom id.
each, hence the sum of lid. was due, and paid. At
this time the manor was in the king's hands, and ihese
dues were going to him and not to the rector of St.
Nicholas. The episcopal registers are silent as to
appointmenls lo the chaplaincy, and it may be that
the rectors failed to provide payment for a separate
priest. The chapel itself iherefore may have
become disused. Il does nol appear among ihe
chapels or chantries suppressed under Edward VI. In
1653 John Manship, presented lo St. Nicholas by the
Parliament, sold his rights in ihe fair to Mr. Wight,
lord of the manor of Braboeuf; and Sir William More,
lord of the manor of Godalming, failed to recover ihe
lolls in a Chancery suit. 117 Mr. Wight's representa-
tives have since enjoyed the tolls of the fair, which are
100 See below under Peper Harow. It
is also called * one quarter of Arlington
manor.'
wplac. dt Quo War. (Rec. Com.),
741.
1M Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. II, no. 57.
'"PipeR. 13 Edw. II. 'Susse* Ob-
lata.'
104 Cal. Pat. 1321-4, p. 295.
105 Inq. a.q.d. ccrcviii, 7 ; Montagu
Burrows, Hiit. of Family ofBrocat, 432,434.
3
IM The records of two leases, one in
1 500, the other in 1 503, are among the
deeds of the Brocas family ; ibid. 436.
10 7 P.C.C. Will 1571, 46 Holney.
108 Close, 28 Eliz. pt. xviii.
109 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cclxiv,
179.
110 Winton Epis. Reg. Stratford, foL 43*.
m Winton Epis. Reg. Sandal, pt. 2,
fol. i2b.
UJ Charter among Loseley MSS.
9
Chart. 1 8 Edw. II; cf. Parl. R.
(Rec. Com.), ii, 378.
114 Pat 2 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 9.
115 Winton Epis. Reg. Stratford, fol.43*.
ue Loseley MSS. Godalming Hundred
Court, 21 Sept. 1377.
"'The Chancery reference cannot be
found ; the fact is alluded to in Loseley
letters, and was vouched for by Manning
and Bray. A copy of the pleadings is at
Loseley.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
now insignificant. At the change of style it was
brought on to 2 October. Within the memory of
the last generation universal selling of beer by the in-
habitants continued, and the fair was of real com-
mercial importance. Turner drew the chapel in Liber
Studiorum. The old Portsmouth road went over the
hill, near the chapel, and a cross-way led to the ferry,
which is probably on the site of the ford for the
Pilgrims' way. The fair was at the crossways.
Caleb Lovejoy in 1 677 left property
CHARITIES in Sonthwark for the teaching and
apprenticing of boys in the parish, the
preaching of a sermon, and the providing of a dinner,
on the anniversary of his death. The surplus was to
go to the foundation of almshouses for poor women.
In fact the property was insufficient, and the alms-
houses were not built till 1841. They hold four
women. They are nearly on the site of the house of
Caleb Lovejoy's father, which can be fixed from an
agreement recorded in the Parish Register.
George Ben brick in 1682 gave sums charged on
land at Alton and at Shalford for poor freemen (of
the borough) or their widows residing in St.
Nicholas.
CHIDDINGFOLD
Chedelingefelt (xii cent.) ; Chidingefalde(xiiicent.) ;
Chudyngfold (xiv cent.). Twenty-eight different
spellings are found.
The parish of Chiddingfold lies between Haslemere
and Witley on the west, Godalming and Hambledon
on the north, Dunsfold on the east, and Sussex on
the south. Part of the parish was transferred to
the ecclesiastical parish of Grayswood in 1 900. The
village is 7 miles south of Godalming. The area is
7,036 acres of land, and 7 of water. The soil is the
Wealden Clay, very deep and tenacious in wet weather,
but not unfertile. The parish is well wooded. The
oak flourishes as usual upon this soil, and the ash is
grown commercially for the making of walking-sticks
and umbrellas. There are tile and brick works.
Formerly glass-making was largely carried on. The
industry was curiously persistent, though not probably
continuous, in the neighbourhood. Much Roman
glass, some of it now in the museum of the Surrey
Archaeological Society at Guildford, has been found
in Chiddingfold. Remains of a Roman villa exist,
but the glass is more abundant than would necessarily
be the case were it merely the rubbish from one house,
and probably glass was made here. In the 1 3 th century
(c. 1225-30) Simon de Stokas granted land in
Chiddingfold, at Dyer's Cross, to Laurence the Glass-
maker. 1 The history of the industry in the I4th
century, and under Elizabeth, is dealt with in an
earlier volume of this history.' On Thursday after
Michaelmas, 1440, John Courtemulle of Chidding-
fold was presented and fined for leather-dressing outside
a market town. These country industries are con-
tinually noted, the same people being fined again
and again.
The Godalming Hundred Rolls show that the
parish was divided into two tithings of Chiddingfold
Magna and Chiddingfold Parva in 1538. Earlier
there had been three, Chiddingfold Magna to the
west, Pokeford or Chiddingfold Parva to the east,
Sittinghurst in the middle, afterwards merged in
Chiddingfold Parva. The rolls show * that there were
at least eight bridges, Southbrugge or Stonebridge,
Middilbrugge, Pokeford Bridge, Bothedenesbrigge,
Hazelbridge, Godleybridge, Jayesbridge, and Dene-
brugge, reparable by the Villa de Chudyngfold, and
complaints were constant of the bad state of repair
or the flooding of the via regia, the road, no doubt,
which runs from Godalming through Hambledon and
Chiddingfold into Sussex, which was reparable by certain
1 D. in Surr. Arch. Society's Museum. ' ;
tenants in Chiddingfold, and easily became impassable
on the heavy clay. It was continually submersa, or
profunda, or noxia. There are traces of another
old road in the parish, running north-eastward
towards Dunsfold. The common over which this
road goes is always High Street Common on old
maps and deeds. Rye Street is parallel to it on the
north. There were two mills at Sittinghurst and le
Estmull. But the most remarkable presentment to be
made at a Hundred Court is that on 29 September
1483, when Richard Skynner of Chiddingfold 'non
venit admissam in festialibus diebus sed vivit suspiciose';
was a Lollard, in short. The lord of the hundred
was a bishop, we may remember.
There are no references to common fields in the
rolls in Chiddingfold, though they are frequent in
Godalming proper. There seem never to have been
common fields in the Weald, which was scarcely in-
habited, or thinly inhabited only, in 1086 and before
then. Nevertheless the common lands of the manor
of Godalming within Chiddingfold were inclosed
under an award dated 1811, now in the custody of
the clerk of the peace.
There is a Congregational chapel, built in 1871,
and a small Particular Baptist chapel at Ramsnest
Common.
Schools were built at private expense in 1868, and
in 1872 at Anstead Brook.
Chiddingfold and its neighbourhood abound in
ancient farm-houses and cottages, prominent among
which may be mentioned Lythe Hill Farm, with half-
timber work of two periods,
the richer and later being a
gabled wing with square and
circle patterns in the timber
framing, probably c. 1580;
but the main body of the
house is at least half a century
earlier. The wing is panelled,
and has a good mantelpiece of
c. 1700. It was owned by
the Quenell, Quenel, or Quy-
neld family, to which, as the
name is uncommon, the Quy-
nolds who held land at Ware,
Hertfordshire, in the I4th
century, may have belonged.
QUINILL of Chidding-
fold. Azure a cross ar-
gent between tvn rases or
in the chief and tvnf curs-
de-lit argent in the foot.
They were in Chiddingfold in the I4th and
centuries. Peter Quenell, of Lythe Hill, died in 1559,
'Hund. Ct. 27 Apr. 1357, inter alia.
, Surr. ii, 195.
IO
GODALMING HUNDRED
CHIDDINGFOLD
and was buried at Chiddingfold. His father was John
Quenell, as was shown by a monument formerly at
Haslemere. Peter's eldest son Thomas died in 1571;
he married Agnes Irelond. 4 His brother Robert
Quenell succeeded to Lythe Hill. He became owner
of the Imbhams iron furnace in Chiddingfold (the
works probably reached into Haslemere) after 1574.*
Robert died in 1612.' His wife was Elizabeth Hall,
heiress of George Hall of Field, Compton, whence
the Quenells came to Field." Their son Peter, who
was born in 1580 and died in 1650, was a gentleman
of coat armour at the Heralds' Visitation in 1623.
He made guns for the king when the Civil War was
breaking out, and his son Peter tried to raise a Royalist
company in 1642, but it was soon disarmed. 7 Peter
married his cousin Alice Cranley. Their son Peter,
born in 1605, served in the king's army, and was
nominated as one of the intended knights of the
Royal Oak. He died 1666, and was buried at
Compton. His son Peter sold Imbhams to William
Golden, 8 and perhaps also sold Lythe Hill.
Hallands is another well-preserved timber house,
of the 1 6th century, smaller, and of a plain oblong
plan, with a lean-to against one of the long sides,
a great chimney in the centre, having two large
open fireplaces, back to back, in the kitchen and
parlour on the ground floor, and sleeping apart-
ments on the floor over, the upper story being
bracketed out on three sides and the gable ends fur-
ther projected. The brackets are of a classical scroll
pattern.
The Crown Inn, opposite the church, retains a fine
14th-century king-post roof, over what was originally
the open hall. A curious feature of the exterior is
the canted wing in the rear, the angle of which has
been planned askew to conform to the line of an
ancient passage way. This wing, which is of massive
timber framing, has an overhanging upper story,
showing the projecting ends of the floor joists, stif-
fened with occasional brackets. There is a fine example
of the corner-post at the angle of the main front, the
bracket of which has been hewn out of the solid butt
of a tree. Besides some excellent examples of oak-
joisted ceilings and panelling, the interior contains
two or three ancient fireplaces, one of which, on the
ground floor, has a massive moulded and arched beam
over the wide opening." Two of the adjacent cottages
show ancient features, such as four-centred arches of
brick to first-floor fireplaces, and half-timber walls.
The manorial rights have always be-
M4NORS longed to the lords of Godalming. Chid-
dingfold was a tithing of Godalming
Hundred. 10 Three tithing-men reported for it in
Godalming courts. No separate court was ever held
for Chiddingfold as a manor, although Edward I
in 1 300 granted a fair to the Bishop of Salisbury at his
' manor of Chiddingfold.' " The fair was to be held
yearly on the eve, day, and morrow of the Nativity
of St. Mary (7-9 September). At the same time the
bishop had a grant of a weekly market on Tuesday,
but both have long ceased to be held. As living in the
royal demesne the tenants were free from tolls else-
where." The rents from tenants at Chiddingfold
formed a considerable item in the profits of Godalm-
ing Manor. The latter included in 1543 the holders
of Killinghurst, ' le Crown,' and Pockford," and in
1 60 1 the rent of assize from free tenants in Chidding-
fold amounted to 9 6/. 8$</."
4SHURST or FRIDINGHURST (Ayshurst, xiii
cent. ; Fridinghurst or Ashurst, xvi cent, et seq.).
The site of Fridinghurst manor-house is in Fril-
linghurst Copse ; the Court House is now attached to
a labourer's cottage. The existing Court Rolls com-
mence in 1550. The manor contains 1,134 acrcs >
chiefly in Chiddingfold, but also in Thursley (anciently
Witley), Shalford, and Hascombe, with reputed mem-
bers in Witley.
A Stephen de Hassehurst in the 1 3th century, and
Margaret atte Assch and Richard Asshehurst, both
holding Frithinghurst Mead at Pockford in the 1 4th
century, are known to have existed."
There was an ancient manor of Ashurst in Witley
which included in 1369 a fishery in Frithinghurst
and a meadow called Frithinghurstmead. 16 Frithing-
hurstmead was afterwards part of the Fridinghurst
property," but not properly belonging to the manor.
It seems that the manor of Ashurst in Witley, with
members in Chiddingfold, drops out of sight, while
the manor of Fridinghurst, with members in Witley,
appears. The history of Ashurst in Witley is as
follows :
Henry of Guildford held land of Queen Margaret,
including what was afterwards parcel of Fridinghurst
Manor. 18
The separate existence of Ashurst Park probably
dates from the grant of free warren to Henry of
Guildford in his demesne lands of Chiddingfold."
This took place in 1303, and in 1312 Henry of
Guildford was returned as holding tenements called
Ashurst and Bovelythe (in Thursley) of the Witley
manor. 10
The park of Ashurst came into the king's pos-
session, but was not always in the same custody
as that of Witley until near the end of the i6th
century." In 1363 the farmer of Witley Manor
stated in his account that the rent of 1 6s. SJ.
due from the tenant of Ashurst had not been paid for
more than eight years because it was held by the
king." Later the manor and park were granted to
Adam Pinkhurst, one of the archers of Edward III ; n
but six months afterwards, in June 1378, Philip
Walwayn the elder had a grant of the manor and
4 Will printed in Surr. Arch. Coll. vol.
XT.
* V.C.H. Surr. ii, 271.
6 Chiddingfold Reg.
** Hundred Court 1357, Subsidy R.
1487.
1 Loseley MSS. I Aug. 1642.
Vide infra.
' See Ralph Nevill, F.S.A., Old Cottage
and Domestic Arcbit. Soutb-*vest Surr.
(2nd edit.), 59. The Rev. T. S. Cooper
has copied ancient deeds which make
mention of a building on this site in 1 383,
the 'aula' spoken of being in all likeli-
hood the shell of the existing building
with its fine roof. Under the date I $48
a later deed refers to some additions lately
made to ' le Croune * perhaps the canted
wing above described.
> Par!. Writ, (Rec. Com.), ii (3), 338 ;
Erch. Mins.Accts. Surr. 34 & 35 Hen. VII,
Div. Co. R. 64, m. 21.
11 Chart. R. 28 Edw. I, m. 6, no. 24 ;
Cart. Antiq. H.H. 21.
"Add. MS. (B.M.) 19572.
" Eh. Mins.Accts.34 & 35 Hen.VIII,
Div. Co. R. 64, m. 21.
14 Pat. 43 Eliz. pt. xvi.
II
15 Deeds in hands of Mr. James Sadler
of Chiddingfold.
16 Mins. Accts. bdle. loio, no. 5.
W Ibid.
18 Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. II, no. 57.
19 Chart. R. 3 1 Edw. I, m. 2. But
Ashurst Park was probably partly at least
in Witley.
90 Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. II, no.
91 Mins. Accts. bdle. ioio,no. 5 ; ibid,
no. 7.
M Ibid. bdle. 1015, no. 9.
98 Cal. Pat. 1377-81, p. 104.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
park for life in lieu of an annuity of 10" In April
1379 a commission was issued for inquiry touching
the persons who, ' in no small number both of horse
and foot,' broke into the park, killed and carried away
the deer, and intimidated the parker in his lodge. 15 It
is a significant fact that in October of the same year
masons, carpenters, and other workmen were repairing
Ashurst manor-house." The house was still under
repair in 1385, when Philip Walwayn and William
Taillard were given power to take sufficient carpenters
and labourers for the work, and to ' imprison the dis-
obedient.' " Walter Bedell had a grant of the manor
and park in 14.38. In 1445 the sheriff accounted
for Ashurst Park and Manor. 19 They were granted
for life in 1464 to George, Duke of Clarence, who
conveyed them, with other lands, to trustees on
'going across the sea in the King's service ' in I47S. M
In 1479, a year after the attainder of the Duke of
Clarence, the same custodian, Thomas Wintershull,
held both Witley and Ashurst, described in the singular
as ' the manor.' "
Ashurst, in Witley, as a separate manor from
Witley, now drops out of sight. Ashurst Park was
probably united with Witley Park, to which it seems
to have been adjacent (in the hollow to the east of the
top of Hindhead). Fridinghurst was probably carved
out of members of Ashurst and Chiddingfold by a
successful intrusion of the Husseys of Hascombe. For,
referring back to 1438, we find Walter Bedell, then
appointed custodian, engaged in a suit against Henry
Hussey for usurping rents of Ashurst."
The manor of Ashurst and Fridinghurst came later
into the possession of the Forde family. Edmund
Forde, who acquired it from Henry Windsor and
Eleanor his wife in 1 549," held the first court of which
record remains in 1 55o,and in 1 560 Thomas Rythe and
Constance his wife and John Hussey further confirmed
to Forde." It passed from Forde to Blackwell. In
1567 Thomas Blackwell held his first court, in 1583
Margaret Blackwell his widow,
in 1586 William Blackwell, in
1 6o8Henry Blackwell. Ini6io
Henry and William Blackwell,
brothers, sold the manor to
John Middleton of Horsham
and Thomas Burdett of Abin-
ger for i , i oo." They held
their first court in 161 1, and
conveyed the manor in 1622
to Peter Quenell of Chidding-
fold and Thomas Payne of
Pitfold.* 6 But in 1625 Henry
Hooke of Bramshott held his
first court ; in May 1679 John
Hooke his son, and in 1685
John and his wife Griselda, and their son Henry and
Elizabeth his wife conveyed the manor to William
HOOKE of Bramshott.
Quarterly table and ar-
gent a cross quarterly be-
tween four scallops all
countercohvred.
Salmon," who held his first court in 1687. It passed
to Salmon's daughter, who married William Bishop.
In 1717 William Bishop held his first court, with
Elizabeth his wife. In 1725 George Bishop, their
son, held his first court; in 1733 William Bishop
held a court ; and courts were held in this name up
to 1778, probably by father and son; In 1783 the
court was held in the name of William Bishop, a
minor; in 1804 by W. Bishop; in 1835 by his
widow and John Cuming Bishop, a minor ; in 1877
by Henry Parlett Bishop.
The manor and certain outlying portions bought
at various times by the lord are distinguished in
conveyances.
GOSTRODE reputed M4NOR was held of Poyle in
Guildford. Edward of Gostrode held 10 acres of
land in Chiddingfold in 1254-5, which he had
inherited from his father Alwin
of Gostrode, who had it of the
grant of Nigel of Littleton. 88
Later in the same century
William of Gostrode was one
of the tenants of Poyle for a
house and 40 acres of land,
not a manor. 39 His son Thur-
stan paid relief for a messuage
and 5 2 acres of land in Chid-
dingfold in 1302-3.* John
of Gostrode was the Bishop
of Salisbury's bailiff in God-
aiming about the year 1320."
In May 1325 another William of Gostrode was
pardoned for acquiring js. rent in Chiddingfold
from John de la Poyle without licence. 4 * William
died c. 1328, and was succeeded by his son William,**
who held of the king because of the minority of John
de la Poyle. He was probably the one free tenant
who held at Chiddingfold of John de la Poyle in
1332.**
After the death of William about twenty years
later his son Thurstan of Gostrode inherited tenements
in Chiddingfold which were part of Henry de la
Poyle's serjeanty in Guildford and Stoke,* 4 and con-
sisted of a messuage, 40 acres of land, and 1 2 acres of
wood.' 6 This Thurstan was still living in 1372.**
William Novell of Gostrode held Dyers in Chidding-
fold before William Hammond, who was the tenant
in 1547.*" The Peytoes preceded the Chalcrofts
till 1659. Gostrode was in the possession of John
Chalcroft in the 1 8th century, and passed at his
death to one of his sisters, Hannah widow of Richard
Hughes."
Gostrode is now a farm in the south of Chiddingfold
belonging to Mr. Luttmare-Johnson.
COMBE BR4BIS was held of the manor of Bra-
boeuf in Arlington by a rent of 2/. and services,
and therefore was separated before the statute of
PoYLr. Argent a sal-
tire gules in a border sablt
bexanty.
M Cal. Pat. 1377-81, p. 257.
Ibid. 361. Ibid. 398.
"Hbid. 1381-5, p. 584.
28 Pat. 16 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 25.
* Foreign Accts. 23 Hen. VI, no. 79,
m. i.
Cal.Pat. 14.61-7, p. 328 ; ibid. 1467-
77, PP- 457, 829.
81 Ibid. 87, 381.
M Eieh. R. 18 Hen. VI, m. 45.
88 Feet of F. SUIT. Mich. 3 Edw. VI;
Recov. R. Hil. 3 Edw. VI, rot. 349.
84 Feet of F. Mich. 2 & 3 Eliz. Misc. Co.
85 Close, 7 Ja. I, pt. xlv ; Feet of F.
Surr. East. 8 Jas, I.
86 Close, 20 Jas. I, pt. xxiv, no. 1 5.
"7 Feet of F. Surr. East. I Jas. II.
88 Assize R.872, m. 8. This land was an-
cient demesne, aspart of Godalming Manor.
89 Chan. Inq. p.m. 27 Edw. I, no. 44.
40 Abbrev. Rot. Orig. i, 244.
41 Parl. Writs (Rec. Com.), ii (2), 217,
939. In 1337, and again in 1343, John
Gostrode witnessed conveyances dated at
Arlington ; Montagu Burrows, Hist, of tit
Brocas Family, 430-1,
12
4a Cal. Pat. 1324-7, p. 1 20.
43 Chan. Inq. p.m. 2 Edw. Ill (ist
nos.), no. 43.
44 Ibid. 6 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 24,
45 Ibid. 28 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 34.
46 Abbrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), ii,
244.
4 ? He witnessed a grant at Chidding-
fold dated Sunday after St. Andrew,
1372 ; Add. Chart. 24654.
48 Misc. Bks. (Land Rev.), vol. 190,
fol. 230.
49 Manning and Bray, Hwr. Surr.i, 650
CHIDDINGFOLD : THE CROWN INN
CHIDDINCFOLD CHURCH: NAVE AND CHANCEL IN 1868, BEFORE RESTORATION
GODALMING HUNDRED
CHIDDINGFOLD
Quia Emptom. It was held by the Purvoch family,
and a rental of Thomas Purvoch of 1 507 is in
evidence. 50 Laurence Rawsterne, husband of Anne
daughter of Thomas Purvoch, jun., son of the above-
mentioned Thomas, sold Combe in 1546 to William
Hammond," who had other lands in Chiddingfold
which passed to Henry Hooke, 5 * clothier, of Godal-
ming. The latter held his first court in 1560, and
his son John held a court at Combe in 1571-2 and
'577-8; ne sold the manor in 1592 to William
Peyto, a yeoman." John Peyto of Pound, son of
William, died seised of the manor of Combe Brabis
in 1616."
John Peyto left two daughters, Anise and Eliza-
beth. Anise married John Courtneshe of Chidding-
fold, yeoman, in 1630, who in 1632 bought Eliza-
beth's share of the manor. 45 He held his last court
in 1676, and died i68i. M William his son held a
court in 1 694, and in 1711 conveyed the manor to
Henry Welland of Witley, yeoman." Henry Welland
died I739, 58 leaving a son Thomas, who held his
first court in 1745, and
died 1 749 ; his son Tho-
mas died unmarried 1758.
The manor went to
Thomas's three cousins
Anne, Jenny, and Mar-
garet. Their trustees con-
veyed two-thirds to Mr.
John Leech, of Alton, co.
Hants, surgeon, in 1764,
and the remainder in
1768. Mr. Leech died
in 1778. His son John
died intestate 1786. Mr.
Leech, his son, by agree-
ment dated 22 Septem-
ber 1803, released to the
tenants of the manor all
heriots, fines, reliefs, ser-
vices, &c., and put an
end to the manor's ex-
istence, they on their part
surrendering their com-
mon rights in the waste. 69
Combe Court was built by Mr. John Storer about
fifty years after this.
PRESTW1CK, otherwise HIGH PRESTWICK,
ind OKEL4NDS, otherwise ROOKELAND or
NOOKEL4ND, were dependencies of Catteshull in
Godalming. 60 High Prestwick and Prestwick are
tenements which were of some importance in the
early history of Chiddingfold. 61 Robert of Prestwick
and William Prestwick witnessed deeds at Chidding-
fold in the 1 4th century. 6 ' A little later Sir Thomas
Fleming was possessed of a tenement called Prestwick,
which included land extending from Fridinghurst to
the land of Robert of Prestwick and from Prestwick
Hatch to Shoelands. 63
But this (Great) Prestwick to the west of Chidding-
fold, to which the family of the same name belonged,
was not part of the lands of the manor, which was at
High Prestwick, and should probably be rightly
called Oke or Okelands. A Richard de Oke, or
del Hoc, witnessed local deeds in the 131)1 century.
In 1316 Richard Lawrens conveyed land out of the
tenement called ' del Ok ' to William Frensh. Richard
Frensh, heir of William, in 1327 granted to Robert
de Prestwick money to be paid out of tenements held
of Oke. This brings the Prestwicks first into con-
nexion with Oke, afterwards High Prestwick, to
which, perhaps, they gave the name. In 1434 a
Robert Prestwick had a life interest in a moiety of
the manor. 64 In 1581 the demesne lands were
divided between Thomas Hull and Thomas Ropley.* 4 *
The farm and land called ' High Prestwick formed
part of the estate settled by Sir William Elliott on
his wife Joan in February 1620 I. 65
ifeer
PLAN OF CHIDDINGFOLD CHURCH
The existing Court Rolls date from 1649, after
the manor had been divided. Courts were held
between 1649 and 1676 by Richard Baker and
Robert Elliott, in 1697 and 1711 by Henry Baker
and Thomas Elliott. In 1723 Henry Holloway,
husband of Elizabeth, only surviving child of Henry
Baker, and Richard Elliott held a court. Henry
Holloway died in 1755, leaving his property to his
daughter's son Stephen Mills. Stephen Mills and
Richard Elliott held a court in 1762. Stephen
Mills died in 1772. His heir was his sister Mary
the wife of William Sadler of Chiddingfold, yeoman.
40 Information kindly supplied by Mr.
Percy Woods of Guildford.
51 Feet of F. Surr. 37 Hen. VIII. He
held courts there in 1550; Add. MS.
(B.M.) 6167, fol. 107.
' Misc. Bks. (Land. Rev.), cxc, 230.
"As early as 1559 Thomas Peyto,
father of William, had bequeathed land
at Combe to his wife Agnes j Chan. Proc.
(Ser. 2), bdle. 10, no. 101.
64 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccclxxviii,
139.
" Deeds fena Rev. T. S. Cooper.
Par. Reg.
'7 Ct. R. ; cf. Manning ind Bray, Hist.
Surr. i f 651,
58 Par. Reg. Witley.
* Deeds of Mr. James Sadler, Chid-
dingfold. o Deed, ibid.
61 Manning and Bray (Hist. Surr. i, 652)
state that Prestwick was a manor, the
demesne lands of which were divided into
moieties in 1580 (correctly 1581), one
moiety being in the tenure of Thomas Hull
and the other in that of Thomas Ropley ;
that Hull's moiety eventually came to
13
Nicholas Elliott and Ropley'i to Richard
Baker ; and that Elliott's moiety eventually
descended to Thomas Smyth, and Baker's
to William Sadler. The Ropleys of Rod-
gate held various lands in the parish up to
1621, including Magwicks.
" Add. Chart. 24.654, 26628.
88 Rentals and Surv. (P.R.O.), R. 628.
64 Deeds in possession of Mr. Jamel
Sadler of Chiddingfold.
64a Abstract of deed penet Rev. T. S.
Cooper.
HarL Chart. 57, H. 43.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
Richard Elliott died in 1785, leaving his moiety to
his nephew Thomas Smyth of Burgate. It came
eventually to his six daughters in 1837, and they sold
in 1838 to Mr. James Sadler, son of William Sadler
above. Mr. James Sadler of Cherfold, his descendant,
is now, therefore, lord of the whole manor.
There are certain scattered lands in Chiddingfold
known as College Lands, which were granted by Sir
Thomas St. Leger, brother-in-law of Edward IV, for
the formation of his chantry in St. George's Chapel,
Windsor, 30 March 1481."" They were in the
hands of the chapter of Windsor and then of the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and were eventually sold
to Mr. Sadler, lord of Prestwick Manor.
The church of ST. MARY, on slightly
CHURCH rising ground in the centre of the village,
stands in a beautifully shaded churchyard,
entered through a modern lich-gate. The ivy, with
which the whole church is overgrown, conceals many
features of archaeological interest. A few of the ojd
wooden ' bed-heads' are still to be seen in the church-
yard.
The church is built of Bargate stone rubble, with
external dressings of the same stone, but the internal
masonry is chiefly in clunch and firestone. In Crack-
low's view (1823) and in pre-restoration photographs
the outside face is shown as covered with a thin coat
of plaster, which has been removed, together with
most of the ' healing ' of Horsham slabs which then
covered the greater part of the roofs, an edging only
being left at the eaves.
In plan the building consists of nave 39 ft. by
T 9 ft. 9 in., having aisles 9 ft. 6 in. wide before the
restoration, but that on the north has been widened to
1 7 ft. 9 in., and lengthened a few feet to the west ; a
wide and shallow south porch, 8 ft. 6 in. by 8 ft. ; chancel
346. 3 in. by l6ft. gin., chapel on the north of
the same length, and 1 1 ft. wide ; and west tower
about 1 5 ft. square internally, with a modern heating
chamber on the north. Originally the nave and its
aisles (as at Alfold) made almost a square.
Between the nave and its aisles are exceptionally lofty
arcades of four narrow arches. The chapel originally
opened into the chancel by two arches, and by a half
arch into the nave ; a third, with the intervening
pillar, was added to the west in 1870 in the course of
a 'restoration ' of an exceptionally destructive character.
A great deal of the external stonework seems to have
been renewed or re-tooled ; the chancel arch, an in-
teresting early 1 3th-century example, was taken down
and rebuilt with heightened piers, being made central
with the nave, instead of with the chancel, as before.
The north aisle was rebuilt on a much extended plan,
the windows in the north wall of the chapel were re-
newed to a different design and shifted. The ancient
east windows in the chancel and chapel and those in
the south aisle exceptionally valuable examples of
early tracery were largely renewed in Bath stone, the
former being shortened ; and the quaint and charac-
teristic 17th-century tower was raised some 146.,
the whole being dressed up to imitate 1 3th-century
work.
There is some possibility that the nave occupies
the same area as a pre-Conquest original, and that
portions of its quoins remain in the piers at the angles.
This would account for the extraordinary loftiness of the
arcade walls which are no less than 23 ft. in height,
the measurement to the top of the capitals of the
octagonal pillars being about 146. Sin. These
pillars, which are I ft. 10 in. in diameter, have an
unpleasantly drawn-out appearance, resembling in
this the somewhat similar late nave arcades of Oxted
Church. They have octagonal capitals and bases,
flatly moulded, and the arches of two orders, a hollow
and a chamfer, are slightly four-centred. There is
reason to believe that they are as late as the end of
the I Jth or the beginning of the 1 6th century, and
that they superseded much earlier arcades of normal
proportions, with, perhaps, a row of clearstory win-
dows over them, which would be very necessary for
the lighting of the nave under the older arrangement.
Most probably, with the rebuilding of the arcades,
dormer windows were introduced in the nave roof.
It seems clear that the southern arcade was shifted
2 ft. to the southward in rebuilding."
The early church would appear to have remained
till the end of the 1 2th century, when aisles were
added to the nave, and the forerunners of the
present arcades were pierced through the older walls.
These had pillars spaced as the later ones, and
probably circular. The old stones greenish fire-
stone were reworked and used again with the
clunch employed for the new work, and the keel-
moulding between quirked hollows that formed the
outer order of the first arcades was re-used in part in
the northern arches. Part of what may have been
one of the earlier capitals was lying loose in the tower
some years ago. It was decorated with foliage.
The aisles were probably quite narrow as first built
not more than about 6 ft. 6 in. in width. The west
window of the south aisle remains in its original
position, and is a narrow lancet only 7 in. wide.
In the early part of the I4th century the outer walls
were rebuilt so as to add another 3 ft. to the width,
the inner and outer doorways of the porch being
moved outwards and rebuilt in the new work. The
outer doorway has a pointed arch, with hood-mould-
ing, and shafts having moulded capitals, the abacus
of which is prolonged.
Before restoration the porch retained a foliated
barge-board and a string-course of 14th-century date.
The inner doorway is of plainer character, and a small
holy-water stoup of 1 4th or 15th-century date is in
the angle adjoining. To the eastward in the south
wall is a square-headed three-light window, which,
together with one to the west of the porch, and that
in the east end of this aisle, dates from the recon-
struction of the aisle in about 1330 ; the last two,
however, had been deprived of their tracery, which
has been restored. In the three-light window this
was of a net pattern, which is somewhat unusual in
conjunction with a square head." Two shallow
tomb-recesses remain in the outer face of the eastern
part of this wall. They have segmental-arched heads
with mouldings of 14th-century character.
The chancel in its rebuilding, about 1230, was
probably greatly extended. It is spacious and lofty,
with a stately row of five lancets and a priest's door in
65s Cat. Pat. 1476-85, p. 269
" These early examples of the quare ham, Fetcham, Cobham, Dorking (before
L.. i , 1470-05, p. 209. nese early examples ot tne square nam, l<etcham, Uobham, Dorking (before
86 This would give a width of 1 7 ft. 9 in. head in tracery windows are exceptionally rebuilding), and Godalming are other in-
r the original nave. numerous in Surrey and Sussex. Bislev. stances in Siirrrv wh*r* tM fir** nf
for the original nave.
numerous in Surrey and Sussex. Bisley,
Wanborough, St. Mary's Guildford, Ock-
14
stances in Surrey where this type of
window occurs.
CHIDDINGFOLD CHURCH FROM THE SOUTH-EAST IN 1868, BEFORE RESTORATION
CHIDDINGFOLD CHURCH FROM THE SOUTH-WEST IN 1868, BEFORE RESTORATION
GODALMING HUNDRED
CHIDDINGFOLD
the southern wall. The western lancet has a sill-
transom, below which is a low side window, at present
glazed, but the rebate and hooks for the shutter
remain. In the same wall, to the east, are a good
trefoil-headed piscina of c. 1260, and the original
piscina with oak credence shelf, nearer to the altar,
which has been turned into an aumbry. This wall
and the east wall have a chamfered plinth and the
original buttresses, with their stone water-tables, in
good preservation.
The work to the chancel was either altered soon
after its erection, or, more probably, resumed after
suspension for lack of funds or some other reason.
Then, in about 1260, the north chapel was built, and
the present east window put in the chancel. It will
be noted that the wall between the chancel and chapel
is thinner than the outer walls, which seems to indi-
cate that the two had been planned at the same time,
although built with an interval. The eastern part of
the partition wall is blank ; the western has two
pointed arches of two orders a chamfer and a hollow
resting upon an octagonal column and semi-
octagonal responds, only the column having a capital
and base of plain section. The space to the west-
ward was pierced in 1870 with another smaller arch,
thus making a second column in place of the respond.
The windows of this chapel are practically new, except
that in the east wall, which has been renewed upon the
old lines. It is of two trefoiled lights with a quatre-
foil in the head. The east window of the chancel,
very gracefully proportioned, of three trefoiled lights
with three trefoiled circles over, within an inclosing
arch and hood-moulding, is a most valuable example
of its period, c. 1260. In 1870, very reprehen-
sibly, its lights were shortened about i8in. There
was a circular gable-light in the east wall before 1870,
of which a modern copy, as an unpierced panel, has
been preserved.
The chancel arch had originally low responds,
which were raised about 3 ft. when the whole arch
was shifted and reconstructed in 1870. The arch
itself, which is of two orders, with bold roll and hollow
mouldings on its western and chamfers on the eastern
face, has been rebuilt on the original lines. The
outer order of the jambs has a roll moulding with
good stops, and the capitals, of a fine bold section,
have their abacus continued as an impost to the outer
order of the arch. 68
Ip is somewhat difficult to fix a date for the tower
before the alterations of 1870 masked its character,
but jthe 1 7th century may be hazarded approximately,
as ids windows before they were altered had segmental-
ardfied heads, and there was a parapet with obelisks at
the! angles, resembling that at the neighbouring church
of Witley. It may have superseded an earlier stone
rer, or perhaps one of timber.
The north aisle in its present form is entirely
tieiv, save for the lancet of c. 1 200 rebuilt in its
veit wall, and is of discordant character especially
a wheel window in its east gable. Originally
.us aisle had a lean-to roof like that of the north
wpel.
' The roof over the chancel is in the main that of
e i 3th century, and still retains its richly-moulded
cambered tie-beams and king-posts. The nave roof,
also with moulded tie-beams and wall-plates, is per-
haps as old, but owing to the great height it is difficult
to speak with certainty. The aisle and chapel roofs
appear to have been renewed in 1870.
At this time also the seating and fittings generally
were renewed, but a few old seats, perhaps as old as
the 1 7th century, were worked in ; and in the vestry
is preserved one of much older date, with scrolled tops
to the ends, resembling in design the remarkable late
13th-century nave seats at Dunsfold hard by. A
Jacobean communion-table now stands in the vestry.
There is a 13th-century font, disused, besides the
modern one.
The church contains few ancient monuments, but in
the churchyard is the grave of the mother of Dr. Young,
the author of Night Tkoughti.
The registers date from I 563.
Among the church plate are a cup and paten of
1 66 1 (probably a thank-offering by Dr. Layfield on
his reinstatement in the rectory after a long perse-
cution by the Puritans), and a handsome silver flagon
of tankard shape, bearing the hall-marks of 1 747.
Of the eight bells one is probably of the second half
of the I Jth century, and is inscribed in black letter :
Sancts. Trinitas Ora Pro Nobis
The second is by Richard Eldridge, 1622 ; the third
by Bryan Eldridge, 1656 ; the fourth by Samuel
Knight, 1699 ; and the tenor by William Eldridge,
undated. Of the three modern bells one is by Mears
& Stainbank, 1 870 ; two by Warner & Sons, 1 894.
The church is not mentioned in
JDrOWSON the Domesday Survey. Chidding-
fold was then parochially part of
Godalming, of which it was later a chapelry. It
was in existence late in the 1 2th century, for circa
1 1 80 Ralph de Lechlade granted the church of
Chiddingfold with the chapel of Piperham (i.e. Hasle-
mere) to his clerk, Geoffrey de Lechlade, to hold
for an annual pension of I Ib. of wax ; and a vicar
was instituted in 1 1 85.'' Again, a few years later,
Savaric, Archdeacon of Northampton, bestowed the
church and chapel upon Richard son of Richard for
a similar rent to Ralph de Lechlade. 70 A pension
of 2 marks was conveyed, after the death of Ralph,
to Thomas de Chebeham by Philip, Canon of
Heytesbury, of which prebend Godalming was a
member." In a survey of Godalming Rectory taken
in 1 2 20 Chiddingfold is still called a chapel, the
chaplain being appointed by the rector of God-
aiming, to whom he paid loot, yearly, while the
pound of wax was still due to Godalming Church. 71
In 1291, however, the church of Chiddingfold with its
chapel was assessed at 20." The right of presenta-
tion rested with the Deans of Salisbury, until it was
transferred to the Bishop of Winchester when the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners acquired Godalming
Rectory in l846(q.v.).
In 1852 the advowson was transferred from the
Bishop of Winchester to the Bishop of Lichfield, 7 * and,
finally, in May 1872, was exchanged with the
Crown, in whom the right of presentation is now
vested. 75
88 The work recallt that of the chancel
rch of the tame date in Clympinj Church,
ussex.
69 Rig. of St. Osmund (Rolls Ser.), i,
268, 301-3 ; Winton Epis. Reg. Wood-
lock, fol. ii, i z.
7 Ibid. 301.
f Ibid. 297.
15
7 Ibid.
7* PofH Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), zo8.
1* Lund. Go*. 4 June 1852, p. 1578.
7 s Ibid. 5 May 1873, p. 2265.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
CHARITIES
Henry Smith's Charity applies to
this parish, and was augmented by an
annuity of 1 01., paid by the parish officers since the
sale of Poors' Land for the benefit of the new work-
house circa 1 794, but this has not been paid for many
years. Ballard's (before 1850) and Callingham's
(1898) chanties are for the repair of graves, the residue
distributed to the poor, &c.
COMPTON
Contone (xi cent.).
Compton parish, 2 miles north-west of Godalming,
4 miles west by south of Guildford, is about 2^ miles
from north to south, I J miles from east to west, and
contains 1,995 acres. The northern part of the
parish extends over the narrow chalk ridge of the
Hog's Back, the main part is in the Green Sand,
with a considerable outcrop of the Atherfield Clay
in the eastern part. On the west the land rises to-
wards the high ground about Puttenham Heath.
Compton Common lies east of the village. North-
east of the village, south of the Hog's Back, are two
eminences in the sand, one Budburrow Hill, now
crowned by the mortuary chapel, the other Rowbury
Hill, near the house of the late Mr. G. F. Watts,
R.A., called Limnerslease. These are apparently
referred to by Aubrey (167 3) and Coxe (circa 1726) as
Robin Hood's Butts, and connected with an apocry-
COMPTON : OLD INN
16
phal story of a French invasion, and defeat of the
invaders. The time indicated is that of the invasion
of Louis of France in 1216, but there was no battle
at Compton, and the hills are natural. It is said
that skeletons were found here, but if so they were
only interments of probably Anglo-Saxon date. Neo-
lithic flint implements and flakes are not uncommon
on the north side of the parish.
In the wood to the north-west of the village, at
the foot of the Hog's Back, are very extensive caves,
excavated in the Green Sand. Within the memory of
the last generation sand was brought from them for
sale to builders in Guildford, and they were probably
excavated for the sand ; but local tradition also con-
nects them with the smuggling trade, and calls them
Smugglers' Store-houses. It is not impossible that
they were used for such a purpose, as the extensive
cellars under several old farm-houses and cottages
below the chalk ridge in
Surrey pretty certainly
were used.
The parish is wholly
agricultural, except for one
recently introduced in-
dustry. The late Mr.
G. F. Watts, R.A., who
resided at Limnerslease,
to the north of the parish
church, and Mrs. Watts
started a pottery and terra-
cotta-making school, which
continues.. The pupils
trained at it were em-
ployed in the decoration
of the mortuary chapel
in the cemetery, which
Mr. Watts built. This
is in brick and terra-
cotta, from his own de-
signs, on the side of the
hill, about half a mile from
the church. The style is
a sort of neo-Byzantine.
There are one or two
ancient timber houses of
some interest in the (vil-
lage, which chiefly cpn-
sists of a winding street
straggling away to the
south of the church. One
of these, formerly the in? ,
a good deal 'restored '
stands on a raised bap ,
so high above the roi !
that a basement story f '
stone is entered by a doc f.
on the street, the ground!
floor being approached by
another door on the bank
above. The first floor and 1 .
GODALMING HUNDRED
COMPTON
attic stories have a considerable projection, and the
whole of the three upper stories are of timber framing,
the corbelled corner-posts being cut out of solid butts.
The doors have flat arched heads ; and the date of the
whole house appears to be about the second quarter
of the 1 6th century. Several of the other cottages in
the village are highly picturesque, and many date back
at least to the 1 6th century. They are of timber con-
struction, with tile-hanging over the upper stories, and
high pitched tiled roofs, those of a farm-house at
Compton being hipped over the wings of the front in
a somewhat unusual manner. Some good chimneys
occur. The coffee tavern is ancient and picturesque.
Not far from it the manor pound still survives. There
is a nursery garden in connexion with the Guildford
Hardy Plant Nursery.
Foisted Manor is a modern house, but behind it
stands the old manor-house, a small 16th-century
timber-framed building.
Eastbury Manor, .Monk's Hatch, Brook House,
Sunny Down, now occupied as a school, and Prior's
Wood Lodge are modern houses.
The original manor of COMPTON,
MANORS which afterwards divided to form Comp-
ton Westbury and Eastbury, was held
by Brixi in the time of Edward the Confessor. 1 At
the time of the Domesday Survey it was held of the
king by Walter son of Other, founder of the De
Windsor family, of whose manor of Stanwell it con-
tinued to be held 'until 1 541, when Lord Windsor
exchanged the overlordship with the king for other
lands in Surrey and Sussex.* The tenants of Comp-
ton held it by knight's service, which was rendered
after the division by the lord of Eastbury only. 4
No record of the under-tenants can be found until
1201 when Cecily of Compton was holding a knight's
fee and a half in Surrey, which evidently included
the manor of Compton. 4 John de Gatesden held
half a knight's fee of William de Windsor in Comp-
ton, circa 1212.' He or another John granted a life-
interest in Compton Manor to Nicholas Malemeins
for a yearly rent of io/. in 1249.' In 1260 a settle-
ment 8 of Compton was made on John de Gatesden
and his wife Hawise de Nevill, daughter of Robert de
Courtenay, and widow of John de Nevill. 83 Hawise
survived her husband, who died shortly before 1262,'
leaving a young daughter, probably Margaret, the wife
first of Sir John de Camoys, whom she deserted for
Sir William Paynele or Pagenal, whom she ultimately
married. 10 Margaret owed money to the Crown in
1294," whence perhaps a part of Compton, since
knovyn as COMPTON WESTBURT, was granted to
Henry of Guildford for life only with reversion to
the grantors and to the heirs of Margaret. He was
a tenant among several in 129 1. 11
In 1303 Henry of Guildford received a grant of
free warren in his demesne lands of Compton, 13 and
in 1308 obtained a release of land in Compton from
Sir William Paynel and Margaret daughter of John de
Gatesden. 14 Henry of Guildford was the chief bene-
factor of Dureford Abbey in Sussex, to which he
bequeathed a large sum of money for the maintenance
of two chaplains. 1 * After his death his heir, John
the Marshal of Guildford, held Westbury, 16 and re-
ceived from the Abbot of Dureford a corrody of bread
and ale, a yearly pension, and a messuage within the
abbey, and four ' Paris candles whereof sixteen make
the pound ' nightly. 17 The abbey bought many lands
for the support of Henry of Guildford's chaplains, and
amongst them in I 330 the manor of Westbury, then
in the possession of John of Brideford. 18 The abbot
retained the court and customary dues of Westbury,
but leased the land to a tenant, who undertook to
supply the abbot's officers with 'horsemeate and
manesmeate ' when they held their yearly court at
Compton." In 1532 one William Wynter obtained
such a lease of the land for fifty-six years, but at the
time of the Dissolution it was taken into the king's
hands, together with the abbey's other possessions. 10
In October 1537 the king granted all the possessions
of Dureford Abbey in Compton to Sir William Fitz
William, K.G., whom he created Earl of Southampton
in that same year.' 1 He held his first court 8 June
1541. He died in 1542 without heirs male," so
that as Westbury had been granted to him in tail
male, it then reverted to the king, by whom it was sold
in 1 545 to Sir Christopher More," who in January
1535 had a lease of it in perpetuity from the abbot."
After this grant the history of the manor was coin-
cident with that of the Mores' manor of Loseley
(q.v.)-
Mr. James More-Molyneux of Loseley sold a small
part, including the manor-house, to Mr. George Best,
owner of Eastbury, shortly before 1 842. The manor-
house is now the cottage of the gardener of Eastbury
Manor.
COMPTON E4STBURY, the eastern moiety of
the original manor of Compton, was not included in the
grant to Henry of Guildford," but was held by Sir Wil-
liam Paynel in right of Margaret, daughter of John de
Gatesden." John Paynel, William's brother, succeeded
to the manor, which he granted to John of Brideford,"
who retained it when he sold Compton Westbury to
Dureford. 18 John of Brideford obtained a release
from Eva St. John, widow, formerly second wife of
Sir William Paynel," of her right to dower in East-
1 y.C.H. Surr. i, 322*.
1 Titta de Nevill (Rcc. Com.), 220 ;
Chan. Inq. p.m. io Ric. II, no. 46 ;
ibid. 6 Hen. V, no. 46 ; Col. Inj. p.m.
Hen. VII, i, 19.
-Deeds of Purchase and Exchange,
H p. VIII, C. 22.
Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. II, no. 57.
Red Bk. ofExch. (Rolls Ser.), i, 148.
Tata de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 220.
Feet of F. Surr. 33 Hen. Ill, i.
Ibid. 44 Hen. Ill, 4.
1 Cott. MS. viii, 22 (12 Aug. 1253).
Excerpta e Rot. Fin. ii, 384.
10 Exch. K.R. Proc. bdle. 14?, file 301.
A see the story quoted by Camdcn, Brit.
1 1 72 (ed. Gibson), from Rolls of ParL 30
Jdw. I, of John de Camoys' conveyance
of his wife Margaret to William Pagenal.
There was, however, another Margaret,
daughter of another John de Gatesden
' the younger,' who died in 1258 leaving a
widow Margery ; Excerpta e Rot. Fin. ii,
316, 326 ; Cal. Chan. Inj. p.m. Hen. Ill,
454-
Ibid. " Ibid.
11 Chart. R. 31 Edw. I, no. 29.
" Feet of F. Surr. 2 Edw. II, 26.
" Dugdale, Men. vii, 936 ; Cal. Pat.
1317-21, p. 246.
" Part. Writ, (Rec. Com.), ii (3), 338
(13)-
" Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xxiii, fol. 1060.
18 Cal. Pat. 1327-30, p. 505. He was
one of the executors of Henry of Guild-
ford.
'7
"Decrees of Ct. of Aug. .35 Hen.
VIII, xiv, 12.
Dugdale, Man. vii, 936 ; Valor Eecl.
(Rec. Com.), i, 321.
L. and P. Hen. VIII, xii (z), 1008
('9)-
m Diet. Nat. Biog. xix, 232.
* Panic, for Grants (Aug. Off.), Hen.
VIII, 411.
84 Close, 37 Hen. VIII, pt. iii, no. 26.
M Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. II, no. 57 5
ibid, io Edw. II, no. 61.
* Parl. Wriu. (Rec. Com.), ii (3),
338 (13).
W De Banco R. Trin. 12 Edw. II, m.
234.
88 Inq. a.q.d. ccix, 21.
M Cal. Pat. 1313-17, p. 646.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
bury in 1321.* He was assessed in Compton for
a subsidy in 1332, but died very shortly after.
Eastbury passed to William Cook of Brideford and
William Wreyford. In 1333 William Cook granted
a lease fcr eight years of a moiety of a third part
of the (origin.il undivided ?) manor of Compton to
Richard de Windsor the overlord ; 3I and in the same
year William Wreyford conveyed a moiety of Eastbury,
together with the reversion of the dower of Rose
widow of John of Brideford, and a messuage and rent
which the Abbot of Dureford held during the life of
Joan wife of Robert Gerneys, to Richard atte Welle."
In 1343, the lease being just expired, Richard de
Windsor brought a suit ** against Richard atte Welle
and William Cook of Brideford concerning one-
third of the -manor, Richard atte Welle appearing
as William's bailiff. The action was probably col-
lusive to settle the title. The result is not on
record, but Windsor apparently lost ; for William
Cook of Brideford in 1343 granted by deed to
Richard atte Welle and Sybil his wife all his rights in
Eastbury.* 4 Further, in 1349 Richard atte Welle, by
deed dated at Compton, enfeoffed John de Shackleford,
john de Walton, and Richard Pruwet, of his manor
in the parish of Compton and in Tunshamstede
or Unstead in Shalford, with certain reservations, 35
in trust for his wife Sybil and his children and
his brother, with reversion. Sybil afterwards married
William Seward and had a daughter Maud, wife of
Thomas Swanton.
In 1387 William Seward and his wife Sybil were
holding the whole of Eastbury for the life of Sybil,* 6
as the inquisition of Miles de Windsor says, but the
trial referred to says that Richard atte Welle son of
Sybil's former husband had granted it to William
Seward for life with remainder to Richard's heirs.
This Richard died without heirs.
In 1397 William Wallyng and his wife Isabella
claimed the manor from William Seward after Sybil's
death. Isabella was daughter of Christina, sister of
Richard atte Welle the elder. They were successful ;
but meanwhile, William Seward had probably con-
veyed to John Guvynes, who is said to be have held the
manor in 1398." In 1398 William and Isabella
Wallyng acknowledged the right of one Elias Beare to
the manor, but the proceedings did not terminate till
I4IO. 38 Clemence Wallyng daughter of Isabella
married a Thomas Beare.
The Seward family afterwards claimed again, and in
1422 the manor was restored to Maud, widow of
Thomas Swanton and daughter of the above Sybil,
wife of Richard atte Welle and afterwards of William
Seward."
In 1428 Maud Brocas was charged for a quarter
part of a knight's fee in Compton which Richard
atte Welle formerly held of Richard Windsor. She
was possibly Maud Swanton remarried to a Brocas,
whence the manor came into this family. 40 Thomas
Brocas, who represented Guild-
ford in Parliament, had been
a tenant in Compton in 1398.
Arnold Brocas, who was
knight of the shire for Surrey
in 1441-2, was in possession
of Eastbury in 145 1 " and was
succeeded by Benedict Brocas,
who was holding it in 1485,"
and is said to have died in
1488. His son and heir
Richard was holding Eastbury
in i 504," when he was at law
with William Lussher, lessee of Westbury. In 1515 he
made a grant to Gilbert Stoughton. 44 The grant did
not alienate Compton from the Brocas family. One
BROCAS. Sable a In-
pard rampant or.
r>
-- ' I- :; J7S * - _ ' 'I ' ' *$&*
COMPTON : THE COFFEE TAVERN
80 Feet of F. Surr. 14 Edw. II, 28.
81 Auize R. 1431, m. 65 d.
M Feet of F. SUIT. 14 Edw. Ill, 25.
88 Assize R. 1431, m. 65 d.
84 Referred to in 1397, Coram Rege R.
Mich. 21 Ric. II, m. 70 4c. 85 Ibid.
86 Chan. Inq. p.m. 10 Ric. II, no. 46.
7 Chan. Inq. p.m. 22 Ric. II, no. 52.
88 Feet of F. Surr. 1 1 Hen. IV, 82.
89 Coram Rege R. 645, m. 59.
40 She was known as Maud Brocas in
1427, when she was said to be holding
the manor of Eastbury of Richard Wind-
sor. Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Hen. VI, 46.
18
41 Chan. Inq. p.m. 30 Hen. VI, n o.
II.
41 Cal. oflnj. p.m. Hen. Vll, i, 19. t
48 Com. Pleas D. Enr. East. 20 He.n.
VII, m. 155.
44 Com. Pleas D. Enr.
VIII.
- - 7- Y
. East. 20 He.n.
ir. HiU 6 Hen 1 .
GODALMING HUNDRED
COMPTON
LUSSHER. Gules three
martlets or and a chief
or 'with three molets a-
sure therein.
consideration had been a perpetual payment to the
Black Friars of Guildford for masses for Richard,
and perhaps this was not paid. At any rate the next
holder to be found is Lawrence Rasterne who
married Anne daughter of
Thomas Purvoch and Joan
Brocas. 45 Their son was Wil-
liam Rasterne, 46 who died I 562.
His only survivingchild Martha
married John Lussher. She
was involved in an action in
the Court of Requests 15745
with her mother's second hus-
band William Grey. 47 John
Lussher died before October
1603, when Martha his widow
held a court. 48 Her son John
Lussher mortgaged the manor
to Richard Carrill 10 Novem-
ber i63o, 49 and in December 1631 Lussher and Carrill
conveyed the manor to trustees for John Kempsall of
St. Clement Danes. 60 John Kempsall had a son
Edward, married again and had a son John, and died
1659." Edward the elder son had only an annuity
out of the manor, which had been leased to a
Dr. Tichborne and settled on the elder John's second
wife and her children." John the younger sold to
Dr. Edward Fulham in 1662, who in 1667 further
secured himself against the claim of John's mother
and her second husband Thomas Weston.**
The estate remained in the Fulham family, for the
Rev. Edward Fulham held it at his death in 1832."
It was purchased by Charles Devon," who sold the
manor and manor-house to George Best, who resided
there c. 1848. Mr. Best died 1870. His widow
died 1873, when the manor was sold to Colonel
McC. Hagart, C.B. His sister, Mrs. Ellice, is now
owner.
DOWN PLACQ, the manor which includes the
northern part of Compton parish, was a part of the
main manor of Compton at the time of the Domesday
Survey. Gregory de la Dune held half a knight's
fee there of William de Windsor c. I2I2. 66 It was
held with Compton of the manor of Stanwell until
the sale of the overlordship by Lord Windsor to
Henry VIII."
In 1386 Elizabeth Stonhurst was holding the
manor of Miles Windsor, 68 and a few years later she
paid poll tax for herself and four servants in Compton
in i 38 1. 69 She is probably identical with Elizabeth
de Doune who appears in the Godalming Hundred
Rolls, the Arlington and the Catteshull courts,
Courf:
1382-5, as holding land in Compton, Arlington,
and Cherfold in Chiddingfold ; perhaps Downland in
Chiddingfold was so named from her holding it.
Down was subsequently in the hands of Robert
Hull. 60 In 1427 Margery Knollis was in posses-
sion, 61 but by 1451 it had again changed hands
and was held by George Daniell. 61 William Brocas
in 1452 held Me Doune ' in Arlington. 63 That this
was part of Down in Compton appears likely from
his son holding the manor of Down in 1485. If so,
it had been confiscated before by Edward IV and
given to his brother-in-law
Sir Thomas St. Leger, who
held it towards the end of the
1 5th century. He was the
chief tnstigalor of the rising in
Surrey in I483- 64 After his
attainder and execution Down
Place was forfeit to the king,
who granted it to his servant
William Mistelbroke in tail
male, 66 but William Brocas was
holding Down soon afterwards,
see above. 66 The attainder of
ST. LEGER. Azure
fretty argent a chief or.
Sir Thomas St. Leger having been reversed at the
accession of Henry VII, 67 his heiress Anne, wife of
George Lord Roos, entered upon the manor, 68 but
seems to have alienated it, for under Henry VIII
William FitzWilliam, Earl of Southampton, was in
possession, and settled it on his wife, Mabel, and his
heirs by her. He died in 1542 without issue, and
the manor descended, in accordance with the terms
of the settlement, to his half-brother Sir Anthony
Browne, kt., father to the first Lord Montague. 69
Down Place under Guildown was among lands
granted in 1592 to William Tipper, a fishing grantee. 70
However, the rightful owners
succeeded in recovering their
lands, for in 1610 Anthony
Viscount Montague, a descen-
dant of Sir Anthony Browne,
sold the manor to Richard
Coldham. 71 From him it de-
scended to his son Richard."
In 1668 Richard Coldham
and George Coldham the
younger were dealing with it. 7 *
Richard Coldham conveyed
it in 1688 to the trustees
of the estates of Gerard Gore, deceased, 74 whose
daughter Sarah married Sir Edward Tumor, Speaker
of the House of Commons in 1661." Arthur
COLDHAM. Azure a
molet argent pierced
fcv-
the th
V;
4t Catteshull Manor R. 12 June 23
Hen. VIII, and brass of Thomas and
Joan Purvoch in Godalming Church.
They had a son Thomas who married
Jane. The wife of the father or the son
might be Joan Brocas.
** Ct. of Req. bdle. 39, no. 91, 17 Eliz.
* Ibid. Ct. R.
V Close, 7 Chas. I, pt. xxvi, no. 28.
Ibid. pt. xxv, no. 33.
P.C.C. will proved 27 Jan. 1659.
2 Close, 1 1 Chas. I, pt. xxv, no. 2$.
' Feet of F. Surr. East. 14 Chas. II ;
. Trin. 19 Chas. II.
* Coll. To fog. et Gen. i, 17.
Brayley, Hist, of Surr. v, 22 j.
Testa de Neiiill (Rec. Com.), 220.
/'" Deeds of Purchase and Exchange
(Aug. Off.), Hen. VIII, C. 22.
58 Chan. Inq. p.m. 10 Ric. II, 46.
"Exch. Lay Subs. bdle. 184, no. 29,
m. I.
60 Chan. Inq. p.m. 22 Ric. II, no. 52.
Robert Hull and his wife Elisora (?) ap-
pear in the protracted lawsuit of 1398-
1410 owing homage to Eastbury. The
question arises whether 'Elisora' could
have been ' Elizabeth ' Stonhurst.
Ibid. 6 Hen. VI, 46. She also held
Cherfold, vide supra, Catteshull R. 7
Hen. VI.
M Chan. Inq. p.m. 30 Hen. VI, no.
n.
68 Godalming Hund. R. 1452.
M V.C.H. Surr. i, 365 ; Chan. Inq.
p.m. V.O. Ric. Ill, no. 18.
M Cal. Pat. 1476-85, p. 529.
M Cal. oflnj. p.m. Hen. VII, i, 19.
19
" Rolls of Part. (Rec. Com.), vi,
*73-
<* Feet of F. Surr. East. 4-5 Hen. VI;II.
69 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixxxix, i 43.
7 That is, one of a class of professio nal
informants who made it their business to
report to the Crown questionable titles o.
landowners. In many cases the lands
were thereupon resumed by the Crown,
and regranted to the informants, and the
original owner had to pay highly in order
to recover them ; Pat. R. 34 Eliz. pt.
vii.
n Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 8 Jas. I ;
Recov. R. Mich. 9 Jas. I.
7Add. MS. (B.M.), 6171.
7 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 20 Chat. II.
7 Close, 4 Jas. II, pt. i, no. 17.
' 5 Diet. Nat. Biog. Ivii, 373.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
TURNOUK. Nine fieeet
erminea and argent -with
four mill-ttone turnert
lablt in the argent.
Turnor succeeded, and, dying in or before 1724, left
his son Edward heir. Edward by his will (proved
I July 1736) left his estates to his cousin Sarah,
daughter of his father's elder
brother Sir Edward, 76 and wife
of Francis Gee, whose daugh-
ter, also named Sarah, married
Joseph Garth. Their son Ed-
ward, first Earl Winterton, 77
thus inherited Down, and his
son, Edward, second Earl Win-
terton, was in possession in
l8o8. 78 Between 1831 and
1838 the third earl sold it to
Mr. James Mangles, M.P. for
Guildford in 1831, 1832, and
1835. Mr. Mangles died in
1838. The property was set-
tled for life on Mrs. Mangles. Mr. Frederick
Mangles his son lived there. About 1859 it was sold
to Mr. Faviell, who rebuilt the house. Mr. Bett
bought it in 1890, and Mrs. Bett now lives there.
FIELD PLACE was parcel of the possessions of
Henry of Guildford, 80 who held a part of it of Wal-
ter of Wintershull in 1312. It was occupied by a
Matilda atte Felde apparently in 1 343 ; 81 and by Ber-
nard Brocas in I349- 8 ' He was rector of St. Nicholas
Guildford.
Later it is named amongst the lands forfeited by
Sir Thomas St. Leger, 8 * after which it was, like Down,
granted to William Mistelbroke, 84 but afterwards re-
verted to St. Leger's daughter
Anne wife of George Man-
ners, Lord Roos. 85 His sons,
Thomas, Earl of Rutland, and
Sir Richard Manners, kt., sold
Field Place to Thomas Hall
and his wife Joan in I542. 86
After her husband's death Joan
married James Rokley, who
held the manor in her right. 87
It descended to her son, George
Hall. 88 His widow Juliana
married a Thomas Washington
about 1569-72, and George's
only child Elizabeth Hall married Robert Quenell be-
fore 1 5 8o. 89 The Washingtons and Quenells of Chid-
dingfold were jointly interested in the manor in 1585.*
MANNERS, Lord Roos.
Or two tars azure and a
chief gulei.
Robert and Elizabeth Quenell had a son Peter who
resided at Lythe Hill, Haslemere. 91 Robert died in
1612. Peter Quenell the son, who held his first
court in 1615, had a son Peter born in 1603," who
married in 1628 Elizabeth Grey, and resided at
Field Place, holding a court in 1635, though his
father the older Peter did not die till i65o. 93
Peter the younger was already owner. 91 He died in
1666 and was buried at Compton. His will was
proved by his widow Elizabeth, 95 who was assessed
for hearth tax at Compton circa 1 67 5. ^ His son Peter
died in 1 684," leaving two daughters, minors : Eliza-
beth subsequently wife of Robert Beare and Joan
subsequently wife of John Waight, to whom Field
Place descended in moieties. 98
In 1 709 John and Joan Waight, Nathan and Eliza-
beth Hickman, and sundry mortgagees joined in a
conveyance of the whole manor to Samuel Manship. 99
His widow Anne held a court in 1726. Their son
John Manship held a court in 1738 and died in
1751. His son John did not come into possession
till his mother's death in 1788, and was holding still
in i8o8. lo Soon after this the manor was purchased
by George Smallpeice, 101 who died in 1853. After his
widow's death in 1869 it passed to his nephew Job
Smallpeice. He sold it to Mr. John King before
21 May 1875. Mr. John King died 15 May 1893.
Mrs. King his widow died 16 August 1902, after
which date the estate was sold to Colonel Annand.
POLSTED, the most easterly part of the parish,
was distinguished from the main manor of Compton I0 *
early in the reign of Richard I, for in 1 1 96 Walter de
Windsor warranted it to Hugh of Foisted and his wife
Cecily to hold by knight's service, 10 * while in 1199
mention is made of a house which had belonged to
Gerard of Foisted and to the land of Richard the
Reeve (frepositus) of Foisted. 104 At the time of the
confirmation to Hugh of Foisted William de Astinges
was laying claim to the service from the manor, but
apparently failed to prove his right to it, for in 1219
Michael of Foisted, probably a son of Hugh, obtained
confirmation of his land in Foisted from William de
Windsor. 105 In 1261 a second Hugh of Foisted con-
veyed the manor to Simon Passelew and his heirs. 100
About ten years later John de Middleton conveyed
the manor to William of Wintershull, 107 on whose
younger son Walter it was settled, together with
Bramley (q.v.). IOS In 1308-9 John de Foisted
7 See Priv. Act 2 Geo. Ill, cap. 52.
fl Diet. Nat. Biog. Ivii, 373 j Berry,
Susi. Gen. 368.
7 8 Manning and Bray, Surr. ii, 7.
T> Ret. of Memb. of Parl. ii, 333.
80 Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. II, no. 57.
81 Godalming Hund. Ct. 31 July, 21
Aug. II Sept. 1343.
84 In lawsuit of 1397, vide Eastbury.
83 Chan. Inq. p.m. Ric. Ill, V.O. no. 18.
84 Cal. Pat. 1476-85, p. 529.
85 Feet of F. Surr. East. 4*5
Hen. VIII.
Feet, of F. Surr. Mich. 34 Hen. VIII.
See Each. P.M. Wards and Liveries, I
Edw. VI, vol. 3, p. 26, on Thomas Hall.
w Misc. Bks. (Exch. T. R.), vol. 169, fol.
1094.
88 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Izxzv, 54.
89 Inq. p.m. Wards and Liveries, 15 Eliz.
Idle. 100, no. 30.
<x> Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 28 Eliz.
91 Haslemere Reg.
M Ibid.
88 P.C.C. Will 1650. Pembroke 57.
M Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 1650.
85 Archd. Ct. Surr. 3 Oct. 1666.
86 Lay Subs. R. bdle. 1 88, no. 504.
97 P.C.C. Adm. 29 Aug. 1684. Hare
124.
98 Feet of F. Surr. East. 3 Anne ;
Mich. 3 Anne ; Trin. 6 Anne.
99 Close, 8 Anne, new no. 4999.
100 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii,
70.
101 Brayley, Hist, of Surr. v, 226, and
private information.
lra Cecily de Compton held three half-
knights' fees, c. 1 20 1 (Rid Bk. Excb.
Rolls Ser. i, 148). Possibly, therefore,
her holding included Foisted and Down
as well as Compton, but the three were
held separately of the De Windsors a few
years afterwards (Testa de Nevill [Rec.
Com.], 210).
101 Feet of F. Surr. 7 Ric. I, 4. The
name of the Surrey manor is Polsted,
though it is evidently derived from ' Pol-
20
stead ' in Suffolk, from which the family
took their name.
lw Feet of F. Surr. 10 Ric. I, 41. An
agreement between Akina widow of Ij'hilip
Blund and her son Philip and certain women,
Juliane, Erahina, Emma, Alice, and Rose,
as to land and a mill in Polsted, including
2 acres in Westden and Goster, a meadow
in liromhell, and land in Estdon and
Molherst.
105 PipeR. 3 Hen. HI, m. i6d.
X* Feet of F. Surr. 45 Hen. Ill, 30.
Hugh and his heirs were to receive a
yearly rent of id., but quitclaimed thfcir
right to ward, marriage and relief of the
tenants. About 127; William le Hare
and his wife Joan granted one quarter of
a messuage and carucate of land in Pol-
sted to Hugh de Oyldebof to hold of tie
heirs of Juliane ; ibid. 3 Edw. I, 16.
W Ibid. 56 Hen. Ill, 8.
108 De Banco R. 724 (Hil. 20 Hen. V^),
m. 477. Hitt. MSS. Com. Ref. vii, App.
599- \
GODALMING HUNDRED
COMPTON
OOP
JENYN. Argent a
fesie gules "with three be-
xanls thereon.
granted land to Thomas his son ; Richard de Foisted
was a witness. 109 They were perhaps then tenants of
the Wintershulls. In 1424 Joan then wife of William
Catton and Agnes Basset, sisters and co-heirs of
Thomas Wintershull, to whom Walter Wintershull's
estates had descended, sued John Loxley for the
manor, 110 and again in 1441 Agnes Bassett and
John Weston son of Joan Catton disputed it
against John Jenyn. The latter claimed to be
enfeoffed of it, jointly with Bernard Jenyn of
Braboeuf, who is said to have married Elizabeth
daughter of John Loxley, son of Robert Loxley,
half-brother of Thomas Win-
tershull. 111 The Jenyns seem
to have made good their claim
to the manors, for Thomas
Jenyn, son of Bernard, held
it at his death in March
1508-9."' He left an infant
son John, afterwards knighted,
who died in 1545."* His
widow married Stephen Adams,
who was holding the manor
in her right a few years after
Sir John's death. 1 " It was
ultimately inherited by Agnes,
or Anne, niece of Sir John and wife of John Wight
(or Weight), 116 who sold it to Sir William More of
Loseley in 15 58," from which time its history has
been coincident with that of Loseley.
Court baron was attached to Westbury, East-
bury, Field Place, and Polsted, 117 but there seems to
be no record of courts held for Down, which was
not called a manor till I386." 8 The court of Pol-
sted was held during the I yth century in a meadow
under a walnut tree. 119 In 1249 the
tenant of Compton had estovers in the
wood of Compton towards the repair of
the house of the court of Compton.' 1JO
In the Godalming Hundred Rolls, 1 " it
appear, that in the I4th, I5th, and i6th
centuries the tithing-man and tithings of
Compton attended at the hundred courts
at Godalming. But a view of frankpledge
was held regularly at Compton on the
Thursday after St. Matthew's Day, when
the tithings of Eastbury, Westbury, and
Polsted and of part of Hurtmore in
Compton were represented. On 22 Sep-
tember 1453, no one attended from
Polsted ' eo quod nullus est residens neque
inhabitans super eandem dec-nam,' and
the same is recorded of Hurtmore in God-
aiming the same year. But on 1 8 Sep-
tember 1483 the tenant of Polsted paid
%d. at the Godalming court, fro sua secta
relaxanda, and the tithing of Hurtmore
appears later, but no tithing-man for
Polsted. The inhabitants of the manors,
which were also tithings in Compton, owed suit to
the court at Godalming (q.v.), when the Bishop of
Salisbury, lord of the manor as well as of the hundred,
held courts which from an early period combined
the functions of a court baron and a hundred court.
In 1547 it was stated that the lords of Down had
failed to pay suit to Godalming for many years. 1 "
The church of ST. NICHOLAS
CHURCH is built on a spur of sand hill rising
out of the valley in which the village
stands. The east end of the building is approached
from the road by the steep path overshadowed
with cypresses and other trees, and the church-
yard, which is very picturesque and well-wooded,
shares in the undulating nature of the site. Be-
hind the church to the west are some fine cedars
and other trees. The church, which is one of the
most interesting in the county, is built of Bargate
stone, flints, and chalk, with Bath stone used in the
modern work. A good deal of the exterior is covered
with a brownish plaster ; the roofs are tiled and the
spire of the western tower is shingled. Nearly all
the internal dressings are in clunch or hard chalk.
The church was restored in 1843, under Mr.
H. Woodyer, and further works were carried out in
1869 and 1906. It consists of a western tower
about I o ft. square internally ; nave 47 ft. 6 in. long
by 1 8 ft. at its western end and i6ft. 6 in. at the
eastern ; north and south aisles, of the same length,
7ft. 3 in. wide, south porch, and chancel 27ft.
(originally 28 ft.), by 13 ft. at its western end. The
eastern part of the chancel is vaulted and separated
from the western by a low arch. It is of two stories,
the upper forming a chapel over the sanctuary, a
very rare feature in this country. On the north is a
COMPTON CHURCH FROM THE SOUTH-EAST
109 Deed at Loseley.
M De Banco R. 655 (Mich. 3 Hen. VI),
m. 123.
'j 11 Ibid. 724, m. 477. It is possible
thai} John Loxley claimed it as a descen-
dai^t of Alice, widow of Thomas Winters-
hpll and wife of Henry Loxley ; if so
,ere must have been some definite settle-
ent on Alice by the Wintershulls, and
.is seems unlikely since Polsted is not
mentioned in the inquisition taken upon
her death. Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Ric. II,
24.
ua Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xxv, 48.
" Ibid. Ixxii, 96.
Misc.Bks. (Exch. T.R.), clxix, 109*.
113 See under Braboeuf in Arling-
ton.
" Feet of F. Surr. East. 4 & 5 Phil,
and Mary.
21
W Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. II, 57 5
Add. MS. (B.M.) 6171.
118 Chan. Inq. p.m. 10 Ric. II, 46.
"'Add. MS. (B.M.), 6171.
M Feet of F. Surr. 33 Hen. Ill, I.
1M Loseley MSS.
"Misc. Bks. (Exch. L.T.R.), clxix,
1 1 3*.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
modern vestry and on the south a small projecting
building, originally of two stories, which may have
served for an anchorite's cell or for viewing relics.
There is a modern coal shed on the north of the
tower.
The tower has no buttresses, and is of very rude
construction, built entirely of rag rubble, without
any ashlar dressings to quoins and windows, the
latter being narrow round-headed slits in the rubble-
work ; a modern window of very incongruous
design has been pierced in the west. It has no
staircase, and its whole appearance suggests a date
prior to the Norman Conquest. The rag-work
quoins of the early nave are still visible and of the same
character. The timber spire, which is fairly lofty, is
probably of 14th-century date. The tower arch,
plain pointed, on square piers, dates from about 1 1 60
and replaces an earlier and smaller opening. A
peculiarity of the plan is that the nave contracts in
width towards the east, being 1 8 in. narrower at its
eastern end than at the west. Its floor is said to have
been higher than that of the chancel previous to the
restoration of 1843,3 fact borne out by the stilted
square at the top with the angles canted off to a
circular necking. This rests upon a short circular
stem and base, and the whole upon a square table
and chamfered plinth. The north aisle retains its
low pitch and one of its original windows, but the
walls of the south aisle were raised about 3 ft. in the
1 5th century ; one of its original windows remains
in the south wall, but blocked on the inside, and
another in the west wall ; the remainder are of
1 4th and ijth-century dates. In the north aisle are
two shallow tomb-recesses, with depressed cusped
arches, of 14th-century date. A blocked rood-loft
door appears at the back of the eastern respond in
this aisle. The chancel arch is of two orders, the
outer circular in form, the inner obtusely pointed.
These are nook-shafted with volute capitals to the
outer order.
The shell of the chancel walls is perhaps of late
1 1 th-century date, though heightened and otherwise
altered in subsequent periods ; three of its windows
can be traced, one in each wall. The bowl of a
pillar-piscina of this period has lately been found
plastered up in the wall of the upper chapel, to which
HDPreconquest
Hi c.ioSO
C3 c 1160-80
A A -Windows
of c. IO8O
Scale of
PLAN OF COMPTON CHURCH
C.13OO
C.1320
ei4oo
modern
40,
feer
bases of the arcade-piers. These arcades, which with
the aisles and the chancel arch date from about 1 160,
are of three arches on each side, and with their
columns are entirely worked in hard chalk. The
arches are very slightly pointed, square-edged and of one
order, with a flat moulded label, a rare and note-
worthy feature being the coeval treatment of the
thin coat of plaster on their soffits, which is cut into
patterns (scallop, zigzag, and nebule) at the edges, as
at Godalming and the crypt of St. James's Clerkenwell.
The capitals have square abaci and are carved with
varieties of the scallop, volute, and different types of
foliage, those on the south being peculiarly rich.
The columns and responds are circular, with round
bases on square plinths. The north and south doors,
which have circular heads, are both of this period,
the former having a plain roll-moulding and the
latter an outer order of zigzag, with a hood. In
the centre of the nave at its western end is the
large font of late lath-century date. The design
is peculiar, and looks like a rude imitation of a Vene-
tian well-head, the bowl being shaped as a capital,
it had evidently been removed when that chapel was
formed. The basin has two drain-holes an earlier
and a later a circular-headed niche being made to
fit the older drain. Clear proof was found during
the underpinning of the chancel in 1906 that when
the two-storied sanctuary was formed in its eastern
half, in about 1180, the older walls were merely
thickened by the addition of an independent ' skin,'
about I ft. thick, on the inside, to serve as an extra
abutment for the vault. The original plastering still
remains on the older face, now hidden. This vault
is of very low pitch, with segmental ribs, clumsily
constructed, springing from a string-course, with
corbels in the eastern angles. It is inclosed by a low
and wide segmental arch, beautifully moulded, with
nook-shafts having foliate capitals and chamfered
imposts, all in chalk. The arch has a hood-moulding
enriched with the dog-tooth ornament, and two
orders, both moulded, the outer having a cusped or
horse-shoe border in relief over a deep hollow 1 ,,
which gives a very rich effect. In the south wall are A
piscina and aumbry of the same period, and in thw
22
< U
< z
01 -
M
u V
a A
U ~
6
I
3
o
O
O y
h g 1
= u
O
U
GODALMING HUNDRED
COMPTON
western part of the chancel proper are windows, one
in either wall, of like date, within plainly splayed
pointed heads. That on the south has, however,
been altered externally in the I 3th century, so that
it is now a low side window of two lights. Hard by
a very carefully finished squint (c. 1 1 60) pierces the
chancel arch pier. Its other end is blocked by the
pulpit. In either wall to the east is a small doorway
with a pointed head. The western jamb of the south
door stands on an early base. That on the north
now gives access to the modern vestry, but no doubt
originally opened to a stair which led to the upper
chapel, a purpose at present served by a modern
staircase placed within the small building on the
opposite side, which is entered by the other door.
A wide lancet, of date about 1250, is found on either
side of the chancel, westward of these doors, and a
two-light window of about the same date remains in
the south wall of the lower sanctuary.
The anchorite's cell, or watching-place, whichever it
be, on the south side of the chancel has several interest-
ing features : a tiny round-headed window apparently
of 1 2th-century date ; a door opening outwards sug-
gesting that there was a porch or out-building of
timber attached to the southern side ; and a squint
with a peculiar cross-shaped opening to the chancel.
This squint, which would command a view of the
altar, is high enough for a person to kneel within
it on the cell side, and the oak board on its sill shows
a depression worn by constant use. The squint also
looks towards a nameless tomb, quatrefoil panelled, of
15th-century date, beneath a window of the same
period in the north wall of the sanctuary, which prob-
ably served as an Easter Sepulchre. In the recent
underpinning of the chancel walls several male
skeletons (one having abundant bright red hair on
the skull), buried one above another, were found
beneath this tomb, and it has been suggested that
these were successive occupants of the anchorite's
cell.
The present east window of the upper chapel is
modern, and replaces one of three lights with four-
centred or elliptical heads, probably of late 1 6th-cen-
tury date. Standing upon a beam above the low arch
which forms the entrance to the lower sanctuary is the
unique piece of early wooden screen-work or balustrad-
ing, placed here when the vaulting was constructed,
about 1 1 So. 1 " It consists of nine semicircular arches,
cut out of a single plank, resting upon octagonal shafts,
having foliate capitals and moulded bases. A modern
deal capping now crowns the top. The chancel roof
is covered with modern boarding on the inside. In
the nave and north aisle the roof timbers are ancient,
perhaps of the I zth century : the south aisle roof has
been largely renewed. Few churches possess such
interesting early lyth-century fittings as the com-
munion-table, rail and gates, with pierced scroll-
carving, newels and balusters, the pulpit and sounding-
board, also elaborately carved, and the chancel screen,
now placed at the west end, and also enriched with
pierced scroll-work and circular arches on baluster
shafts. The seats in the chancel and body of the
church are all modern.
In the southern window of the sanctuary is a beau-
tiful fragment of early 13th-century glass representing
the Blessed Virgin and Child. Other ancient frag-
ments of grisaille or pattern-work have disappeared
within living memory. The glass now in the west
window of the south aisle, but originally made for
the east window of the sanctuary, appears to be of I yth
or 18th-century date, and its subject is the Baptism of
our Lord.
The chancel walls have been re-plastered, but there
may be ancient paintings under the whitewash in the
nave.
Resting within the blocked north doorway, outside,
is part of a late 1 2th-century coffin lid, bearing a
floriated cross.
In the centre passage of the nave is a slab bearing
the brasses of a civilian and his wife, dated 1508.
The man wears a long fur-lined coat, with a girdle,
from which hangs a gyfxtire. His hair is long and
he has square-toed shoes. The lady is attired in a
pedimental head dress and a tight-fitting gown with
fur cuffs of a somewhat unusual shape, her waist being
confined by a long ornamented girdle reaching to the
feet. Beneath the husband are the figures of two
sons, and one of a daughter, as appears by the indent,
was originally below the wife's effigy. The inscription
reads :
' Pray for the sowllis of Thomas Genyn and
Margaret hys wyfe,
the whych decesyd the yere of our Lord MCCCCC
and VIII, on whos sowllis Ihu have marcy. Amen.'
Above the figures was a shield, now gone, but
which, according to Manning, bore Argent on a
fesse gules three bezants, for Jennings, quartering
Gules a bull's head cabossed argent armed or.
From Manning we learn that a marble stone bore
the following inscription, lost at the time when he
wrote :
' Hie jacet Robertus Soule et Margareta uxor ejus,
quorum
animabus propicietur Deus. Amen.'
Besides these, there are several slabs and monu-
ments of the 1 7th and l8th centuries, including a
stone at the east end of the nave inscribed to ' Eliza-
beth wife of Peter Quynell, Esq., daughter and sole
heiress to Edmund Grey, Rector of Woolbeding,
1684.'
Her husband, according to an entry in the register,
was buried at Compton on 7 May 1666.
On a tablet in the south aisle are inscriptions to
members of the Fulham family, 1 7th and 1 8th cen-
turies. In the churchyard is the fragment of a coped
coffin-slab bearing a cross, of izth or 13th-century
date.
On a jamb-stone of the small blocked window in the
south aisle is an incised sundial.
A rare detail is some ancient ridge- or crest-tiles
on the nave roof. The registers date from 1639.
The churchwardens' accounts begin 1570, and the
book is bound up with part of an old processional
belonging originally to the Abbey of Hyde, near
Winchester.
The plate includes a fine communion cup and cover
or paten, of 1569, with a somewhat unusual form of
ornament on the paten ; another paten and a flagon
of 1683 and 1687, given to the church by Dr. Edward
13> Illustrated in V.C.H. Surr. it, 433.
23
A HISTORY OF SURREY
Fulham, Canon of Windsor, who died 1 694, aged 90,
and was buried at Compton.
Of the bells, the treble is by Brian Eldridge, 1634,
and the second by the same founder, 1660. The
tenor is by Mears, 1845.
The church was mentioned in
ADVQWSOX the Domesday Survey of Compton. 1 "
The advowson seems to have been in
dispute early in the 1 4th century between the lords
of Foisted and Compton Westbury, for, though
Hugh of Foisted granted the advowson with Foisted
to Simon Passelew, 1 " Henry of Guildford, lord of
Westbury, died seised of it ; his successor, John the
Marshal, disputed the presentation, and finally John
of Brideford presented a rector." 6 Thenceforward the
history of the advowson was coincident with that of
Compton Westbury, saving that during the I Jth and
1 8th centuries the Mores and their descendants sold
the right of presentation for several turns to members
of the Fulham family. 187 It is now in the hands of
the owner of Loseley and Westbury.
The charities are Smith's Charity,
CHARITIES on the usual terms for the relief of
deserving poor, charged on the War-
bleton estate, Sussex ; a bequest by Richard Wyatt, in
his will, 20 March 1618, for the maintenance of one
poor man, with is. gd. a week and clothes once a
year, in the almshouses at Godalming trustees, the
Carpenters' Company ; 50.1., charged on land in
Compton, in bread and money to the poor and
clothes to two aged persons, by John Thompsall, first
distributed in 1674, in the hands of the church-
wardens and overseers ; a gown yearly to one poor
woman, and the overplus bread, by Mrs. Jane
Aburne, by will 19 May 1708.
A convalescent home for four inmates was founded
in 1884 by Miss Hagart, and is supported by Mrs.
Ellice of Eastbury.
GODALMING
Godelminge (xi cent.) ; Godhalminges and Godeli-
ming (xiii cent.) ; Godlyman (xvii cent.). 1
The town of Godalming is 32 miles from London,
and 4 from Guildford. The parish is of an extremely
irregular shape, the extreme measurements being 6
miles north and south, 4 miles east and west. The
area is 6,980 acres of land, and 59 of water.
The parish is entirely upon the Lower Green Sand,
with the exception of alluvium in the valley of the
Wey. The town lies in the valley, but its outskirts
extend on to the hill to the south, called Holloway
Hill, and to the north near Hurtmore, where the
Charterhouse School stands. The most extensive
open ground is Highden Heath to the south, near
Hambledon. High Down is a corruption ; it was
Hyddenesheth in 1453,' and Hyde Stile is near it.
Hyden Ball rises to 592 ft. above the sea. Chauncey
Hare Townshend, a poet of some celebrity, born at
Busbridge in Godalming, 1798, celebrated the view
from it. Burghgate, or Burgate Farm, where a road
comes up the declivity of the sand from the Weald,
perhaps gives its name to Bargate stone, a well-known
building stone. But Topley * says that though the
stone occurs freely in the parish, it does not occur here.
Manning and Bray suggest that this was the en-
trance to Godalming Common Park, which stretched
over the waste land hence to the common fields on
Holloway Hill and near Busbridge, south of the
town. The tenants by copy of court roll had to
repair the park palings. 4 The park is marked with
no inclosure in Rocque's map ; but, from absence of
any early reference to it, the probability is that
' park,' in the sense of ' a pound,' is here intended.
The meadows to the west, up the Wey, are called
Salgasson. In the 1 4th century this was spelt
Chelnersgarston. The meadows by the river, north
of the town, were lammas lands, common pasture
for the parish; under regulations as to the number
of beasts allowed to townsmen. Westmede was
old common pasture closed from Lady Day to
St. Peter ad Vincula.* The common fields had been
partly alienated to private use in Elizabeth's time.
In Court Rolls of 23 September 1591 it appears
that Arnold Champion had alienated to John West-
broke 6 acres by estimation, lately parcels of the field
called ' Godalmyng field,' and four closes of 1 6 acres
lately parcel of the field called ' Ashtedfielde ' in Godal-
ming. The fields in Shackleford were called Estfield,
Southfield, and Buryland.
Shackleford inclosure had begun earlier. On 5 Oc-
tober 1503 Robert Bedon had inclosed 'land called
Andyelle,' ' Rydys and Wodecrofte, that was never
before inclosed.' The final Inclosure Act for Godal-
ming and Catteshull was passed in l8o3, 6 and Pease-
marsh, partly in Godalming, Compton, and Arlington,
was inclosed by an Act of the same year. 7
The three ancient mills of the Domesday Survey
were at Catteshull (mentioned 22 September 1453),
Westbrook (mentioned 21 September 1441), and
Eashing ; and there was a mill called Southmill at
Lalleborne 8 (Laborne).
The road from Guildford to Portsmouth passes
through the parish, and also the South Western Rail-
way (Portsmouth line), opened through in 1859. ^ n
1 849 however, the line had been taken from Guildford
to Godalming old station, now used for goods only
as a siding. Farncombe station was opened when
old Godalming station was disused in 1898. The
Wey Navigation was extended from Guildford to
Godalming in 1 760, with four locks.
The old bridge of Godalming was owned by the
lords of the manor and hundred. It was only open
1M V.C.H. Surr. i, 322*.
Feet of F. Surr. 45 Hen. Ill, 30.
It is alo mentioned in the conveyance of
Foisted by John de Middleton.
la6 Egerton MSS. 2031, 2034.
W Imt. Bks. P.R.O.
1 In 1647 it was spelt God Almaignt.
The pronunciation of that time is illus-
trated by the following 17th-century
proverb :
He that shall say well, do well, and
think well in mind,
Shall as soon come to heaven, as they
that dwell at Godalming.'
(Add. MS. (B.M.), 6167, fol. 167).
24
" Ct. R. Geol. of the Weald, 123.
< Ct. R. 2 Chas. I, Monday after St.
Matt. 5 Ct. R. Aug. 2, 1453.
6 43 Geo. Ill, cap. 99. The award wa
dated 1811.
7 43 Geo. Ill, cap. 94.
8 Thursday after Michaelmas I 108 ;
Ct. R.
GODALMING HUNDRED
GODALMING
to the public in times of flood, when the ford was
dangerous. This is the bridge at the east end of
the town ; it was first improved when the Ports-
mouth road was made, or improved, in I749- 9 It
was taken over by the county 5 April 1782, and the
first stone of the new bridge was laid by Lord
Grantley 23 July 1782.' The bridgenear the church
was made where a ford existed, about 1870. Bolden
Bridge, just above it, was formerly repaired by the
lord of the manor."
Broadwater, in the Portsmouth road, is the seat of
Mr. E. G. Price. Munstead Hall, picturesquely
situated in the woods on what used to be called
Munstead Heath, on the hills north-east of the town,
is the seat of Sir Henry Jekyll, K.C.M.G. Apple-
garth, on Charterhouse Hill, is the seat of Sir John
Jardine, K.C.S.I., M.P.
The situation of the town is very pleasant, as it
lies in a great valley of green meadows, with the Wey
winding in and out, and with wooded hills rising all
around, on the spurs of which the outlying parts of
the town are scattered. There is a modern Godalming,
consisting of red-brick streets and trim villas, well
surrounded with trees, lying to the north of the old
town and around the railway station : but the old
town follows the Portsmouth
road, with streets right and
left. At the junction of the
principal of these Church
Street with the High Street
is placed the town hall or
market-house, the successor of
an older one, dating from 1814.
With its small tower and cupola,
polygonal end on open arches,
and general irregularity, it
groups well with its surround-
ings. For use it is superseded
by new municipal buildings in
Bridge Street, completed in
1908.
Both the High Street and
the cross streets abound with
old houses, some of timber and
plaster, some tile-hung, and
others with 1 8th and igth-
century brick fronts. In the
outskirts of the town, on the
south-west side, the houses are
built on high banks above the
road, with raised footways.
Other specially picturesque
parts are in Wharf Street, by
the water-mill, and in Church
Street, where are some ancient
timber houses with projecting
upper stories. Owton or Hart
Lane, now called Mint Street,
has some ancient half-timber
work. The White Hart Inn,
in the High Street, near the
Market house, is another good
example of a timber house
with two overhanging stories
having nicely carved brackets ;
and the adjoining shop has a
projecting gable-end quite in keeping. The Angel
Hotel, on the other side of the High Street, though its
front has been modernized, has some interesting old
timber work in the rear ; and the ' King's Arms,' where
Peter the Great and his suite of twenty-one lodged
on the way from Portsmouth to London in 1698, is
another hostelry. Among other ancient timber houses
in the High Street is one which has the Westbrook
arms on a pane of glass ; but it was not their home.
They lived at Westbrook, where the last of them
died, 1537. It is now cut up into a bank and
a shop, but retains its projecting gables, with richly
carved barge-boards, and a hint of timber framing,
concealed by stucco. Its date appears to be about
the middle of the i6th century. But more interest-
ing architecturally than any of these is a house with
an overhanging upper story at the corner of Church
Street and High Street. It is probably a house
called ' at Pleystow,' belonging to the Croftes
family in the 1 6th century. The upper story, like
many of its neighbours, had been coated with plaster,
but in the course of repairs a piece of this fell
off, and disclosed some timber framing of unusual
character. The whole front was then stripped, with
the result that a very rich design of timber pargeting,
GODALMING : OLD TIMBER-FRAMED HOUSE
21 Geo. II, cap. 36.
3
10 MS. at Loseley ; 22 Geo. Ill, cap. 17.
25
LoKlejr MSS.
4
A HISTORY OF SURREY
consisting of interlaced squares and circles, has been
brought to view. The narrow, winding street, the
irregular roof-lines and overhanging stories, with this
beautiful piece of detail in the foreground, make the
whole corner a delightful study.
Very different in character, but equally valuable to
the lover of old domestic architecture, are the elabor-
ately ornamented brick fronts of I jth-century date in
the High Street. As Mr. Ralph Nevill, F.S.A.,
observes, ' They are good examples of how to treat
rough stone with brick dressings, and are of a more
graceful and fanciful character than the later work
when affected by the intrusion of Dutch taste under
William III.' " One of these has, in an oval panel,
the date 1663, and very elaborate cornices of cut
brick. This retains also its mullioned windows, with
ornamental casement glazing. Another, also of local
stone, with cut brick dressings and brick panel-work,
has good curved and pedimental gables.
Besides these specially valuable examples there are
numerous specimens of the sober brick houses of the
1 8th century, with excellent plain details both inside
and out.
On the high ground to the north-west of the town
stand the buildings of Charterhouse School, which
was moved here from its old
home in London in 1872.
The main block, designed by
Hardwick, is built round three
sides of a great court open
to the west, called Founder's
Court, with the chapel on the
south, the head master's house,
' Saunderites,' on the north,
and a tall tower with a spire,
Founder's Tower, on the east,
flanked on the north by the
school museum and part of the
old foundation scholars' house,
' Gownboys,' and on the south
by the other part of the same
house. An archway under
Founder's Tower opens to the south walk of an
arcaded cloister, Scholars' Court, leading directly to
the west door of the school library, a fine room flanked
by classrooms on the north and south, and opening
on the east to a great hall, also flanked by classrooms,
built in 1885 from the designs of Sir A. Blomfield.
The cloister walk already mentioned is crossed at right
angles by two other walks, one running at the back of
the east block of the great court, and leading north-
wards to ' Saunderites,' and southwards through
' Gownboys,' to another passage which ends in a lobby
east of the chapel, and a second walk near the west
end of the library, leading to a block of classrooms on
the north, and to the east end of the passage just
mentioned on the south. South of this passage is a
third house, ' Verites,' forming the south front of the
group of buildings, which are collectively known as
'Block.' To the west and south of 'Block 'lie the
cricket and football grounds, with ' Crown,' the school
pavilion, on the east, and the fives and tennis courts on
the west. From Founder's Court a road leads west-
ward down the hill past the rifle range to the racket
courts and swimming baths, and beyond them to the
River Wey, and the school bathing-place. The main
CHARTERHOUSE SCHOOL.
Or a cheveron between
three rings gules 'with
three crescents argent on
the cheveron, which are
the arms of Sutton, the
founder.
approach to the school from Godalming is by a road
running up the valley between Frith Hill on the east
and Charterhouse Hill on the west, which turning on
itself passes westward over a bridge and reaches the
level top of the hill on which ' Block ' stands just to
the south-east of the great Hall. To the north is one
of the outhouses as distinguished from those in
' Block ' ' Girdlestoneites,' with a group of classrooms
and workrooms near it on the north-west, and
to the south of the road is another house, ' Weeklies.'
The remaining houses of the school lie to the east and
south, standing picturesquely among their trees and
gardens on the slopes of the hill.
A few relics from the old buildings in London
were transplanted to Godalming in 1872, notably the
arch of entrance to the old schoolrooms, carved all over
with names of bygone Carthusians, which being placed
in the lobby east of the chapel, together with a number
of other similarly adorned stones, has caused a con-
tinuance of the custom of name cutting, and all the
walls of the lobby are covered with names, singly or
in groups, of those who from time to time have made
their mark in the school.
The general arrangement of the various houses is
fairly uniform, consisting of a ' hall ' for the use of the
upper boys, and a ' long room,' in ' Gownboys,' called
' writing school,' for the juniors, separate studies for
the upper boys, and long dormitories with cubicles.
In the halls are panels with the names of monitors
and those who have represented the school in cricket,
football, &c.
The chapel is a simple rectangle in plan, with a
central passage and rows of seats facing towards it on
the north and south, a south aisle at a higher level
than the chapel proper, a west organ gallery and lobby,
with canopied stalls on the east, and a south-west
tower, under which is the main entrance. A cloister
has lately been added on the south in memory of
Dr. W. Haig-Brown, for many years head master, and
is now filled with brass tablets and other memorials.
The library, originally a big schoolroom, contains
a valuable collection of books, drawings, and pictures,
and there are a number of pictures in the Great
Hall, and the ' Orator ' and ' Gold Medallist ' boards
from Old Charterhouse. The uses of ' Hall,' which
is separated from ' Library ' by a movable wooden
partition, are many and various, such as concerts,
rifle corps drill, examinations, prize-givings, ' call over,'
and the like.
Of late years, a new museum, surrounded by class-
rooms, and new science classrooms have been built, and
a wooden building with a central hall and classrooms
at either end, familiarly called ' Barn,' has been taken
down and set up again on a new site, to be used as a
music-room. To former generations of Carthusians
it chiefly recalls memories of a dreary ceremony known
as 'extra school.'
The playing fields have been greatly extended in
the last twenty years. ' Green,' south of the main
buildings of the school, is devoted to school matches
and first eleven cricket, while ' Big Ground,' west of
the chapel, holds the same position in regard to foot-
ball. On ' Under Green ' are eight cricket grounds,
rather close together, and on ' Lessington ' are five
football grounds. And there are a number of other
grounds besides.
11 Ralph Nevill, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A., Cottage and Damatic Architecture of South-vilest Surr. (ed. z), 4.7
26
GODALMING HUNDRED
GODALMING
GODALMING : BASHING BRIDGE
The hamlet of Hashing contains many old cottages
of architectural interest, and an ancient bridge over
the Wey. One of the cottages is on the river close
to the bridge. It is largely of timber framing. The
other cottages at Lower Eashing form a highly
picturesque group, with high-pitched roofs, hipped
gables, and dormers of half-timbered construction,
with a specially fine and lofty group of chimneys,
connected with the main roof by a sort of lean-to.
An ivy-clad stone wall to the fore-court heightens
the artistic effect, and within the court is an ancient
well-house, retaining its old wheel and bucket. 13
Another cottage in this neighbourhood has a fine crow-
stepped chimney. Near Eashing House is a brick and
timber building, with circle work in the gable. Eash-
ing House itself was built by Ezra Gill in 1729-36
on the site of the house called Jordans.
Eashing Bridge, of three low stone-built round
arches, with breakwaters between them, is probably
of early 1 3th-century date. It has lately been
acquired by 'The National Trust for the Preservation
of Places of Natural Beauty and Historical Associa-
tions.' It was formerly repaired by the lord of the
manor. In 1568 it is presented in the Hundred
Court as valde ruinosa, the obligation of repair being
* on the queen. But in 1588 it was ruinosa still. 1 *
The name Eashing is of great antiquity. It is
mentioned in Alfred's will, where it was left to his
nephew ^Edhelm. In the Burghal Hidage, a docu-
ment attributed by Professor Maitland to the loth
century," it appears as a site of a fortified place, where
the expression myd jEicingum shows that it was a tribal
name. The burn is not likely to have been here. There
are two tithings of Godalming, Lower Eashing where
are the hamlets of Lower and Upper Eashing, as here
described, and Upper Eashing Tithing, quite separate
from it. The latter is High Tithing ' of the
Hundred Rolls, about Busbridge, which name has
superseded it as the name of a hamlet. Bus-
bridge seems to have been named from a family who
came from Kent, in 1384 spelt ' Burssabrugge ' and
' Burrshebrugge' (Hundred Rolls). There was other
land called Bushbridges the possession of the same
family in the Godalming common fields. James de
Bushbridge sold Bushbridge or Busbridge to John
Eliot of Godalming under Henry VIII. 18 His grand-
son Laurence Eliot sailed with
Drake round the world. His
son William, born 1587," was
knighted 1620. He built the
old house of Busbridge, to
judge from the features of the
building, and formed the park,
having a grant of free warren
in his lands of 500 acres in
1637," and died 1650. His
son William, born 1624, died
1697, leaving a son William,
born 1671, who died 1708.
His brother Laurence sold the property in 1 7 1 o. It
passed through the hands of various owners. Among
these was Philip Carteret Webb, F.R.S., born 1700,
ELIOT of Godalming,
Azure a fesse or.
18 These cottages are illustrated in
Mr. Nevill's Old Cottage aid Domestic
Architecture of South-west Surr. (ed. 2),
65 ; a,nd in Old Cottages and Farmhouses
in Suirr. by W. Galsworthy Davie, and
W. Curtis Green, pi. 22, 23, 24, and
29.
14 Loseley R.
15 Maitland, Dam. Bk. and Beyond, 502
et seq.
2 7
18 Survey of Godalming, I, 2, 3,
Edw. VI.
*' Godalming Registers.
18 Pat. R. 1 3 Chas. I, pt. xxvii.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
solicitor to the Treasury 1756-65, M.P. for Hasle-
mere 1754-67. He was a distinguished lawyer,
antiquary, and collector. He died at Busbridge in
1770. Chauncey Hare Townshend the poet was
born here in 1798, when his father owned the pro-
perty, which he bought in 1796. It now belongs to
Mr. P. Graham. The house was pulled down in
1 906, and a new one is being erected on a new site.
The hamlet of Shackleford contains some old cot-
tages and farm buildings and many new houses in very
beautiful scenery. Hall Place, the house of Richard
Wyatt, who built the Mead Row Almshouses, was
pulled down. The offices were made an inn, called
Cyder House. The inn was acquired by Mr. William
Edgar Home, who turned it into a modern mansion.
The panelling.and overmantel of the dining-room came
from the Cock Tavern in Fleet Street, London, whilst
the gallery railings in the hall came from the old
Banqueting Hall at Whitehall.
Neolithic implements found upon Charterhouse
Hill and the school cricket ground are now in the
school museum.
King Edward's school is in the Laborne tithing of
Godalming parish, close to Witley Station. It is a
school for destitute boys who have never been con-
victed of crime, who are trained for the Army, Navy,
or industrial life, and is under the control of the
Governors of Bridewell and Bethlehem Hospital. The
,Sfr
SHACKLEFORD : OLD CIDER PRESS HOUSE AT
HALL PLACE
corresponding girls' school is in Southwark. This
building was erected in 1867, and enlarged in 1882
and 1887, and will hold 240 boys. It is in the
Italian Renaissance style in brick. There is a chapel
for the joint use of this school and the Convalescent
Home for women and children in Witley.
The Technical Institute and School of Science and
Art in Bridge Road was built in 1896 in the Renais-
sance style from designs by Mr. S. Welman.
A cemetery was opened in 1857. The present
cemetery was opened in 1899. It serves both the
civil parishes, the town and Godalming Rural, and is
under joint management.
A Roman Catholic chapel used to exist, but had no
resident priest. The new Roman Catholic Church of
St. Edmund King and Martyr is in Croft Road. It
was consecrated in 1906. It consists of a plain nave
and chancel divided by a pointed arch. It is of local
stone with a tiled roof. On the north is a low tower.
The Unitarian chapel in Mead Row was built
before 1 809, when worship is first recorded there in
the church books, in accordance with a resolution
passed as far back as 1788, for a Baptist congregation
which had met at Worplesdon, and which admitted
another body of Unitarian Baptists who met at
Crownpits, Godalming, in 1814. In 1818 the
Baptist qualification was dropped, and the meeting
became Unitarian as the older members died.
A Congregational chapel was opened in 1730 in
Hart Lane. The building has been replaced since.
Under Charles II the population of Godalming had
been very largely nonconformist ; 700 or 800 people
met in a conventicle every Sunday, and 400 or 500
monthly in a Quaker's house, out of a population of
under 3,ooo. 19 In 1725 there was no meeting house,
but ' several kinds of Protestant Dissenters of no great
consideration as to numbers or quality.' * The con-
gregation may be considered however the lineal repre-
sentative of the conventicle of the reign of Charles II,
organized in 1730. There is now a Wesleyan chapel,
a Friends' meeting house, and a small Baptist chapel,
opened in 1903.
The parish is divided into two civil parishes,
Godalming Urban and Godalming Rural." The
former includes the borough of 897 acres.
There were anciently nine tithings, for which tith-
ingmen were chosen : Godalming Enton (the town),
Binscombe, Catteshull, Bashing, Farncombe, Hurtmore,
Laborne, Shackleford, Tuesley. Tithingmen also
attended the Godalming Hundred Court from Shackle-
ford, Arlington and Littleton (in St. Nicholas Guild-
ford), Compton, Peper Harow, Chiddingfold Magna,
Chiddingfold Parva, and Haslemere. But the names
of the tithings vary from time to time, nor are they
all constantly represented in the extant rolls. High
Tithing, from which tithingmen also came, is the
same as Upper Bashing, answering nearly to Bus-
bridge. To the Godalming Enton Court Vann,
Haslemere, Chiddingfold, Shackleford, Bashing, and
Godalming constantly sent tithingmen. All these were
originally in the manor and were perhaps in the parish.
There were parish churches at Compton, Chidding-
fold, and Haslemere, and churches at Tuesley, Hurt-
more, Catteshull, Arlington (St. Catherine) ; there
are modern churches at Farncombe, Shackleford, and
Busbridge."
In Domesday in the manor held by Ranulf Flam-
bard, which was afterwards known as the Reclory
Manor, ihere are twelve cotarii mentioned. In the
king's manor of Godalming there were no cotarii,
but in Tuesley, held by Flambard, were six cotarii.
Tuesley was afterwards included in the Rectory
Manor. In the rolls preserved at Loseley there
are fourteen, and in the survey of I Edward VI,
eighteen cotholders, on the king's manor. They
are described as libere tenentes a or ' free ten-
ants,' but their services seem to have been similar
to the ordinary villein services in kind, though
different in particulars. They all paid small money
renls. They goi in the lord's hay ;" and did suit at
the courts." They paid heriots on succession, and
19 V.C.H. Surr. ii, 39, 40.
K Bishop Willis' Visitation, 1724-5.
56 & 57 Viet. cap. 73.
See below.
Miru. Accts.
Hen. VIII, no. n.
Mic. Co. 33, 34
" Ct. R. 24 Aug. 3 1 Edw HI.
* Ct. R. 23 Aug. 31 Hen. VI, Ac.
28
GODALMING HUNDRED
GODALMING
fines, and were admitted, like other tenants of the
manor, at the courts which did common service as
both hundred and manorial courts. For instance, on
15 June 19 Henry VI (1441) Juliana wife of John
Savage was admitted ' ad unam parcellam terrae unius
cotlonde vocatam Hykemannes,' as heiressof Christiana
wife of John Peck, and paid a fine of two shillings,
doing fealty. Only six weeks after this, on 27 July
1441, Juliana who was
the wife of John Savage
was deceased. There was
no heriot, because Juliana
had no beast. John her
husband was admitted as
tenant for life of the
'cotlond,' paying a fine
of one shilling and four-
pence." The cotholders
had perhapo a share in
the common fields : on
1 6 March 8 Richard II
(1385) John Farnham
claimed, as heir, Edward
Waterman's land. Ed-
ward Waterman was a
cotholder, and some of
his land lay in campo and
some in communi campo.
But it is possible that
this may have been apart
from his cotholding. One
of the services of the cot-
holders was to convey
prisoners to the county
gaol at Guildford Castle.
This service was due from
Waterman's land, and fur-
ther he was hangman ap-
parently, for after the
conveyance of prisoners
the words are added et eos
suspendet. The convey-
ance of prisoners led on
one occasion to a mis-
adventure which illustrates
the lawless action possi-
ble in the 1 4th century,
though the perpetrator
was a Frenchman of Ca-
lais, before Calais belonged
There was no chance then of the guard and
prisoners being locked up together, but the county
gaol was in Southwark, and the obligation much more
burdensome than when it was at Guildford. 13 The
question was raised at the same court whether the
cotholders were bound to repair the fence of the
common pound of Godalming. This seems to
differentiate them from the other customary
to England, in the service
of Margaret, the second wife of Edward I. Richard atte
Watere of Godalming came to the king's court in 1317
or 1318, and complained that his tenure obliged him
to convey prisoners to Guildford Castle from the
court at Godalming, and that Andrew de Caleys,
constable of the castle of Queen Margaret at Guild-
ford, took Richard vi et armis, and shut him up with
his prisoners for three months and more, and only let
him go on payment of a heavy ransom. It was
ordered that the sheriff should produce Andrew to
answer to this on the morrow of St. Martin.* 7
The obligation to convey prisoners, at their own
proper charges, lay in the cotholders as late as 1670.
GODALMING: 'THE WHITE HART' (see p
tenants ; for there was no question that the latter
had to repair it. The obligation occurs frequently,
and had been affirmed so lately as by the court
held on the Monday after St. Matthew 1626."
They certainly repaired the fence of the lord's pound
or pinfold. 30
Queen Elizabeth incorporated the
BOROUGH town by a charter dated 25 January
1574-5," when the cloth trade was
flourishing there." The corporate body was to con-
sist of the warden (gardlanus) and inhabitants, who
were to have the usual right of impleading, and also a
common seal. At the same time the queen granted
* Loseley R. of dates cited.
*< DC Banco R. Trin. 1 1 Edw. II, m.
tCa.
18 t. R. 14 Oct. 22 Chas II.
M R. in steward's hands.
80 R.patiim; Exch. Min. Accts. 34 & 35
Hen. VIII, Div. Co. R. 64, m. 11.
81 Pat. 17 Eliz. pt. vii, no. 4.
29
81 Though the inhabitants complained
of their great poverty ; possibly only for
the sake of rhetoric.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
the town a weekly market on Wednesdays," thus
forgoing her own right as lady of the manor to the
market granted by Edward I. She also granted them
an annual fair to last three days, beginning on the eve of
Candlemas Day, which did not interfere, however,
with her own manorial fair held in June. 34 The
warden was to collect the tolls of market and fair for
the maintenance of the town. The queen herself
appointed the first warden, John Perrior," to hold
office till the following Michaelmas, at which time a
warden was to be nominated by the chief inhabitants
of the town in the presence of the other inhabitants,
and then elected by the majority. In the follow-
ing reign ordinances were drawn up ' for the better
order and government of the town,' S6 directing that
there should be eight assistants chosen from such
GODALMING : OLD BRICK HOUSES (see p,
inhabitants as had borne office as bailiff, constable,
or tithingman, to be elected for life by the warden
and inhabitants, a warden chosen by the majority of
the assistants from their own number, and a bailiff
elected yearly from those who were capable of being
constable or tithingmen. The warden and assistants
had power to levy assessments on the householders,
more especially for the repair of the town clock,
and opposition to them might be punished by dis-
franchisement.
The present extent of the borough of Godalming
dates from November 1 894."
Before its incorporation by Elizabeth there were
no traces of any institutions which might indicate the
existence of a borough. During the lordship of the
Bishops of Salisbury, Godalming was merely a market
town with an annual
fair held by the bishop
under a royal grant of
1 300." In the Nomina
Villarum of 1315 it is
not distinguished as a
borough. Constantly in
the Hundred Rolls per-
sons are presented for
carrying on trades out-
side Godalming because
in so doing they are
extra villam mercatoriam..
They seem to have been
content with fines time
after time, especially for
the privilege of dress-
ing leather where they
pleased. In 1563 God-
aiming was constituted a
market town by statute. 39 *
The great industry in.
the 1 6th century was in
woollen stuffs. The trade
was in decay in the I /th
century. 40 Shortly after
the ordinances of James I
the townspeople were in.
great distress, for in 1 630
they were suffering from
want of a market for their
manufactuies, chiefly
Hampshire kersey s, 41
whilst a few years before
they had been obliged to
postpone their fair for
fear of the plague, 41 but
were nevertheless visited
by the dread sickness in
1 636-7." The present
industries are tanning
(Westbrook) and paper-
ma k i n g (Catteshull).
There are also flour-mills
88 In 1674. the day of the market
was changed from Wednesday to Friday,
but had returned to Wednesday by the
19th century. Col. S.P. Dam. 1673-5,
P- 95-
w See Chart R. 28 Edw. I, m. 6 ; Add.
MS, 6167, fol. 167 ; Parl. Papers, 1835,
'v, 735 t >eq.
85 See f.C.H. Surr. ii, 346-7, and Surr.
Arch. Coll. xix.
86 See Parl. Pafers, 1835, xxiv, 735.
*> Under Loc. Govt. Bd. Orders
Confirm. Act (No. n), 9 Nov. 1892.
88 Chart. R. 28 Edw I, m. 6, no. 24.
It may be this grant which gave rise to
the tradition that the town had a royal
charter in 1300 ; cf. Parl. Pafers, 1835,
30
xxiv, 735. The market-day recited was
Monday, and the fair was held on the
eve, dny, and morrow of St. Peter and
St. Paul.
89 5 Eliz. cap. 4, sec. 44.
40 V.C.H. Surr. ii, 342.
41 Cat. S.P. Dam. 1629-31, p. 391.:
Ibid. 1625-6, p. 45.
"Ibid. 1636-7, p. 353.
GODALMING HUNDRED
GODALMING
and timber-yards." In 1666 Elizabeth's charter was
confirmed by Charles II."
In 1825 an Act was passed for paving, lighting, and
otherwise improving the town of Godalming, 46 which,
till then, had been ill-lighted with oil, and guarded
only by a bellman or watch supported by arbitrary
assessments levied by the warden and his assistants."
The first attempt to pave the town had been made in
1528.
In 1484 the lord of the manor had received 4*.
profit from the watch of Godalming. 48 It is stated in
a Parliamentary account of the borough drawn up in
1835 49 that the greater part of its bye-laws appeared
to be illegal ; that the town was governed neither
according to the charter of Elizabeth nor the institu-
tions of James I ; that the choice of warden was always
so arranged as to ensure the election of a nominee
three years after his nomination ; that the number of
assistants had diminished, and that the bailiff, who had
then been in office twenty years, had succeeded his
father. At this time the chief duty of the warden
was to take the lead in all public meetings, to advise
the constables, who were appointed at the court leet
held by the lord of Godalming, and to defray the
surplus expenditure, which was considerable, owing to
the lack of any town property ; while the assistants
aided the warden, and the bailiff collected the tolls of
the fair. The corporation was reconstituted by the
Municipal Corporation Act of 1835,* under which
the tide of ' warden ' was changed to that of ' mayor,'
whilst four aldermen and twelve councillors took the
place of the former ' assistants.'
The town has never had any property of impor-
tance. The tolls of the market and fair it possessed
by Queen Elizabeth's charter of incorporation. They
were levied in kind until 1825, when the tolls of
market were for the sake of the town's prosperity
forgone by the warden and assistants. The only other
source of income was the Market House, which was
leased from time to time, though still used for town
purposes. 51 The old market house was pulled down
in 1814 and a poor building erected in its place.
The old house had been also the Hundred House, where
the hundred court was held. It was from its appear-
ance of a date not later than the 1 5th century. In
1616 it was in need of repair, as appears from the
will of John Purchase, dyer, of Godalming. It is
referred to as the 'Hundred House' in a deed of 1 532.
A court of pie powder was held there on market-days.
GODALMING MANOR was a posses-
MANORS sion of King Alfred, who bequeathed it
to his nephew Ethelwald." The latter
doubtless forfeited it to the Crown, for he rebelled
SIE or SALISBURY.
Azure Our Lady stand-
ing -with the Child in her
arms or.
against Edward the Elder in 905 and died in arms."
Edward the Confessor held Godalming, which remained
an appurtenance of the Crown till Stephen's son,
William Earl de Warrenne, obtained a grant of it,"
but probably resigned it with his other lands before
1 159. It seems that Henry II granted it to Stephen
de Turnham," for in 1206 he obtained a confirma-
tion of Arlington, and with it the hundred and all
other appurtenances which he
had of the gift of Henry II. M
In 1 22 1 a mandate was issued
to the Sheriff of Surrey to de-
liver to the Bishop of Salis-
bury seisin of the manor and
hundred of Godalming, which
had been held by Edelina de
Broc, Stephen's widow. 57 Ma-
bel de Bavelingham, one of
Stephen and Edelina's five co-
heiresses, released the manor
and hundred to the Bishop
of Salisbury in 1224," while
ten years afterwards three of
the remaining co-heiresses sued Robert Bishop of
Salisbury for the manor, 49 but were evidently unsuc-
cessful, for it remained the property of that see till
1541 2. 60 In 1294 the king granted the bishop free
warren in his demesne lands in Godalming. 61 In
1541 the Bishop of Salisbury exchanged Godalming
Manor and Hundred for the prebend of Bluebery,
then held by Thomas Paston, one of the gentlemen of
the Privy Chamber, 6 * and evidently an agent for the
king, to whom he immediately gave Godalming in
exchange for other estates. 63 In 1595 Anthony
Viscount Montague was appointed steward of the
manor, 64 and in 1 60 1 Queen Elizabeth sold it to Sir
George More of Loseley, 65 in whose family it re-
mained for more than two and a half centuries. 66
Mr. James More-Molyneux sold it about 1865-70
to Mr. James Stewart Hodgson, who died in 1 899. It
is now in the possession of Mr. F. A. Crisp of Hurt-
more, who bought it in 1909.
There were court baron and court leet in con-
nexion with Godalming Manor. 67 The lord of
Godalming also had relief and heriot. 68 In 1394
Richard II granted to John Waltham, Bishop of Salis-
bury, all the amercements of the tenants and residents
in his fee and in that of the dean and chapter, together
with assize of all victuals, waifs and strays, and freedom
from purveyance. 69 These liberties were claimed by
Sir George More in i6o5-6. 70 The fishing and
fowling rights throughout the hundred were leased to
Richard Bedon while the manor was in the king's
1 V.C.H. Surr. ii, 340.
44 No enrolment of the charter has been
found ; Par!. Papers, 1835, xxiv, 735.
46 6 Ceo. IV, cap. 177.
*' Parl. Pa fen, 1835, xxiv, 735 et seq.
48 Add. R. 26892.
49 Par!. Pafers, 1835, xxiv, 735.
60 5 & 6 Will. IV, cap. 76, schedule B.
41 Parl. Pafers, 1835, xxiv, 735 et seq.
"Birch, Cart. Sax. ii, 178; i, 178 et seq.
U 4ngl.-Sax. Chron. (Rollt Ser.), i,
i8:-2.
44 r. C. H. Surr. i, 298* ; Red. Bk. of
Excb. ii, 654 ; Fife R. 2 Hen. II (Rec.
Com.), 10.
44 (Manning and Bray state that the land
whicii Henry II exchanged with Salisbury
Cathedral was the manor of Godalming.
In the deed of exchange, however, mention
is only made of Godalming Church with
its appurtenances, i. e. the rectory manor.
Sarum Chart, and Doe. (Rolls Ser.), 29-
30 ; Cart. Antiq. C. C. 9.
M Rot. de Oblatii et Fin. (Rec. Com.),
339. The history of the manor and that
of the hundred are elsewhere coincident.
" Rot. Lit. Claus. (Rec. Com.), i, 455.
"Feet of F. Surr. 8 Hen. Ill, 23;
Sarum Chart, and Doc. (Rolls Ser.), 165.
69 Maitland, Bracton's Nott Bk. 800.
See below.
61 Chart. R. 22 Edw. I, m. 3.
L. and P. Hen. VIII. xvii, 14.
65 Pat. 34 Hen. VIII, pt. iii, m. 23;
3 1
Feet of F. Div. Co. Trin. 34 Hen. VIII ;
ibid. Hil. 35 Hen. VIII. There is a very
full and interesting survey of the manor
taken early in the reign of Edward VI.
Misc. Bks. (Land Rev.), vol. 190, fol. 223
et seq. and Misc. Bks. (Exch. T. R.), voln.
168-9.
64 Hist. MSS. Com. Ref.vii, App. 654.
'*Pat. 43 Eliz. pt. xvi.
** For an account of the family see
under Loseley.
6 7 See the account of the hundred.
68 Misc. Bks. (Land Rev.), vol. 190, fol.
m-
"Mem. R. (Exch. K. R.) East. 17
Ric. II, ' Record:i,' m. 6 (not marked).
7 Pipe R. 3 Jas. I under ' Sussex resid.'
A HISTORY OF SURREY
hands." Early in the 1 7th century a dispute arose
between Sir George More and Mr. Castillion, farmer
of the rectory manor, as to the fishing rights belonging
to the latter. 71
CATTESHULL (Chatishull, Cateshull, xii cent. ;
Catteshull, xiii-xiv cent. ; Catteshill, xviii cent.) is a
manor and tithing in the north-east of Godalming,
and included lands in Chiddingfold." a Its separate
existence seems to date from the reign of Henry I, who
gave Catteshull to Dyvus Purcell." Geoffrey Purcell,
the king's usher (hostiarius), son of Dyvus, held it free
of toll as it had been in his father's time, 74 and gave it
to Reading Abbey on becoming a monk there." This
gift was confirmed both by the Empress Maud 76 and
by her opponent Stephen, the latter stipulating in
his grant that Ralph, Purcell should hold 2cu.
of land in Windsor of the monks." No mention
is made of Catteshull in the confirmatory grants of
Henry II to Reading Abbey, 78 and he seems to have
regranted it to Ralph de Broc, son of Dyvus Purcell
(identical with Ralph Purcell), to hold by the service
of usher of the king's chamber. 79 This service or
serjeanty by which the manor was held is variously
stated as 'the keeping of the linen ' M and being 'usher
of the laundresses.' 81 Ralph de Broc's daughter
Edelina having married Stephen de Turnham, 81 the
manor passed to one of his (Stephen's) five
heiresses, viz. Mabel wife of Thomas de Baveling-
ham, 83 who was also known as Mabel de Gatton.
In 1224 she established her claim against the Bishop
of Salisbury, lord of Godalming, in Arlington and
Catteshull. 84 She conveyed the manor to her son-in-
law Robert de Manekesey in 1234, but the sale was
opposed by her son Hamo de Gatton, whom Edelina
de Broc had empowered to perform the service due. 84
Mabel was given the option of buying back the
manor, 86 but does not seem to have done so, for in
November 1234 the king confirmed the grant to
Robert de Manekesey. 87 In 1254-5 Robert de
Gatton was in possession of Catteshull. 88 He died
c. 1264, leaving a son Hamo, 89 who was succeeded
by his son Hamo de Gatton, 90 who dowered his wife
Margery with Catteshull at the church door. 91 Their
son, Edmund de Gatton, was an infant at his father's
death, and died a minor. He had two sisters and
co-heirs, Elizabeth wife of William de Dene, and
Margaret wife of Simon de Northwood. 9 ' Of these
Margaret obtained her purparty of her brother's
lands in I3I5,' 3 although Guy de Ferre, custodian
of Edmund's lands during his minority, 94 accounted
for the manor in February 1319-20." Margaret's
portion evidently included the whole of Catteshull.
Her son Sir Robert de Northwood, kt., inherited it
and made good his claim to it against Robert de Dol
of Loseley, who asserted that Robert de Manekesey
had granted it to his grandfather Hugh de Dol and
his wife Sibyl. 98 Sir Robert was in possession of
Catteshull at his death in 1360," and was succeeded
by his son Thomas, who only survived his father a
year. 98 One of his sisters and heirs, Joan wife of
John Levyndale, was apportioned certain rents in
Catteshull, while his other sister, Agnes, afterwards
wife of William Beaufoy, received the rest of the
manor, 89 and conveyed it to John Legg, or Leigh,
serjeant-at-arms, who is said to have been her second
husband, William Brantingham, and John West. 100
During the lifetime of John Legg land in Catteshull
was leased to Elizabeth widow of Peter Stonhurst. 101
William Brantingham held a court there 25 July
1383, but almost immediately conveyed the manor to
Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, and others, probably
trustees, for William Brantingham obtained in 1384
a quitclaim of the rights of Joan Weston, wife of
William Weston, daughter of Agnes and heiress of
John Legg or Leigh. 10 '
William Brantingham was in possession in 1407
when he granted the manor to trustees, evidently for
the purpose of a conveyance to his kinsman John
Brantingham, which was completed in 1413.'*
John was still holding in 1421, but in 1428 Richard
Brantingham was assessed in a feudal aid for the
manor. In 1430 John Brantingham sold it to Thomas
Wintershull senior, and others, to the use of Robert,
father of Thomas, 104 who was lord of Wintershull in
Bramley (q.v.). In his family it remained 104 till
1565, when John Wintershull sold it to William
More of Loseley. 106 His direct descendants retained
it till i836, 107 at which date James More-Molyneux
sold it to George Marshall. 108 Mr. Marshall died
in 1853, having bequeathed his estate to his wife,
who died 1874, leaving it to her daughter Mrs.
Fairclough.
When the lord of Godalming held his yearly
view of frankpledge at Catteshull the lords of that
''Misc-Bks. (Land Rev.), vol. 190, fol.
m-
WHiit. MSS. Com. Ref. vii, App. 660.
7 J a Court Rolls passim.
"' Tata de Ne-vill (Rec. Com.), 223.
f Add. Chart. (B.M.), 19572.
"* Ibid. 19576.
7* Ibid. The date of her confirmation
was probably May 1141, in which month
she visited Reading. See Arch. Jwrn.
xx, 284-96.
n Add. Chart. (B.M.), 19584.
78 Harl. MS. 1708, foL 21 et seq.
? Ttita de Ncvill (Rec. Com.), 223,
227.
80 Red Bit. of the Exch. 561, 1013. In
Inq. p.m. of Robert de Gatton, 48 Hen. Ill,
90, he is 'marescallus meretricum,' and
the Red Book of the Exchequer leaves no
doubt whatever that the literal meaning
ii correct. See also Chan. Inq. p.m.
20 Edw. I, no. 25.
81 Assize R. 80, m. 3 d. See Blount,
Jocular Tenures (ed. W. C. Hazlitt),
126.
81 Testa de Nevill, 223 ; Red Bk. of
Exch. 561 ; ibid. 1013, where it ap-
pears that the heirs of Ralph de Broc's
second daughter, Juliane, had no share in
Catteshull.
8s Fine R. 3 Hen. Ill, m. 9.
" Feet of F. Surr. 8 Hen. Ill, 65.
85 BracKn's Nate Bk. 1171; Assize
R. 80, m. 3 d. Robert de Manekesey
married Mabel's daughter Isabel ; Assize
R. 867, m. i8d.
86 Maitland, BracKn's Note Bk. 1171.
87 Cal. of Chart. R. i, 188.
88 Assize R. 872, m. 23. He may
have been either the above-mentioned
Robert de Manekesey or his son.
89 Chan. Inq. p.m. 48 Hen. Ill, no. 20.
90 Ibid. 20 Edw. I, no. 2 J.
81 Ibid. 29 Edw. I, no. 58.
m Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 318.
* Cal. Close, 1313-18, p. 237.
94 Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 570.
85 Pipe R. 13 Edw. II.
" De Banco R. 331, m. 311. Roger
son and heir of Thomas Lewkenor released
32
all his right in the manor to Sir Robert de
Northwood in 1 344 (Loseley D.).
9 ? Chan. Inq. p.m. 34 Edw. Ill
(ist nos.), no. 72.
98 Ibid. 35 Edw. Ill, pt. 2 (lit nos.),
no. 13.
" Close, 37 Edw. Ill, m. 38.
1 Feet of F. Surr. 48 Edw. Ill, 2 ;
Fine R. 3 Ric. II, m. 3 ; Loseley D.
3 Ric. II.
101 Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Ric. II, no. 34.
Feet of F. Surr. 8 Ric. II, 73.
" Loseley D.
Ibid, and Chan.Inq. p.m. 17 Edw.IV,
no. 48.
105 Cal. fat. 1476-85, p. 499 j Exch.
Inq. p.m. mlix, 2 ; Feet of F. Mich.
33 Hen. VIII.
106 Recov. R. Mich. 7 & 8 Elir. m.
cccxii ; Pat. 7 Eliz. pt. i ; Deed at Lose-
ley.
W Feet of F. Trin. 7 Jas. I ; Eat.
32 Chas. II ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2),
ccccxxxvii, 106.
'8 Brayley, op. cit. v, 215.
GODALMING HUNDRED
GODALMING
manor were wont to have the amercements. 109 They
also had court baron, heriot, and relief. 110
The chapel of St. Nicholas at Catteshull is mentioned
in the Dean of Salisbury's survey of Godalming in
1 220. The lady of the manor claimed suit of court
from its tenants, but the chaplain and vicar were
strictly prohibited from paying it. 1 " The chapel
was near the present manor-house, on the right-hand
side of the road from Catteshull to Munstead.
F4RNCOMBE M4NOR was held by Ansgot under
Edward the Confessor, and became demesne land of
Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, after the Conquest. He
added it to the land which he had out in farm at
Bramley ('convertit ad firmam de Bronlei '). One of
the king's reeves, Lofus, claimed the manor in 1086,
asserting that he had held it when the king was in
Wales (i.e. in 1081), and had kept it till the
bishop took his journey into Kent (i.e. in lo82). n>
It was probably granted out to tenants by the Crown
after the forfeiture of Bishop Odo's lands, for in 1280
Reginald of Imworth and his wife Matilda held the
manor in her right "* and
granted it to John son of
John Adryan, to hold of Ma-
tilda and her heirs. 1 "
The manor passed to the
Ashursts of East Betchworth
in the latter part of the I4th
century. In 1371 William
Prestwyke and others in Farn-
combe paid fine for leave of
absence from the hundred
court. 1 " There are similar
payments by the lord of Farn-
combe, not named, in 1377
and 1384. In 1382 William
Ashurst paid a fine of the
same amount, xii</. 114 The
Ashursts held High Ashurst in
Mickleham and other land in
that neighbourhood, and prob-
ably had acquired Farncombe
about 1382, and did not find
it convenient to attend Godal-
ming Hundred Court. Ashursts
paid for non-attendance in 1412, 1440, and 1447-
In 1413 Margaret Ashurst conveyed Farncombe
Manor to her son William. 117
In 1452 the death of William Ashurst, the holder
of land in Farncombe, is mentioned. 118
In 1503-4 John Ashurst of Farncombe paid
igs. <)<t. towards an aid, 119 and he died seised of the
manor in February 1 506-7, leaving a brother and heir
William. 110 He is said to have sold the manor, 12
January, to John Skinner, who had married John
Ashurst's widow." 1 James Skinner sold it to John
Mellersh in 1552,'" and John Mellersh, clothier, died
1567 holding the manor of Farncombe, which he en-
tailed on his son John and heirs. 113 John cut off the
entail by recovery 1573,'" but died seised in 1623
leaving a daughter and heir Juliane who married John
Launder. 1 " In 1675 John Launder senior, his
grandson, and the latter's son John Launder junior,
conveyed the manor to Thomas Mathew and others, 12 *
probably as trustees to sell, for five years later Robert
Pratt sold it to Anne Buncombe of Albury, 117 who,
with her second husband, Timothy Wilson, conveyed
it to trustees in 1685. 1M After the death of Anne's
granddaughter, Mary wife of Charles Eversfield, the
manor, which had been divided among her four
daughters, was sold by them, 1733-4, to Henry Page," 9
who left it by will to his nephew John Skeet, 110 after his
widow's death. She died 1784, and John Skeet was
in possession in the same year." 1
His widow died in 1800, having bequeathed Farn-
combe in moieties to her two daughters, Sarah Hall
and Elizabeth Geering Lane. The former's infant
SHACKLEFORD : THE OLD GARDEN, HALL PLACE
daughters Eliza and Sarah inherited her moiety. 1 "
In 1841 the manor was the property of William
Saunders Robinson and others. 13 * The British Free-
hold Land Society bought the land c. 1850-5 and
pulled down the Manor House, which stood at the
angle between Manor Road and Farncombe Street.
The manor was advertised for sale in 1859, with 76
heriots and 2 a year quit-rents." 4 It was bought by
Mrs. Marshall, and belongs now to Mr. George
Marshall, her grandson.
In the road near Farncombe, besides several
109 Chan. Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. I, no. 25.
110 Plat, de Qua Warr. (Rec. Com.),
743 ; Misc. Bks. (L.T.R.), clxi*, 114.
111 Reg. of St. Oimund (Rolli Sen), i,
297. The chapel it (aid to be 'in curia
quae fuit Stephani de Thurncham.'
118 V.C.H. Surr. i, 3020.
118 Reginald died c. 1280, leaving an
infant son John ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 8
Edw. I, file 2;, no. 8.
111 Feet of F. Surr. 8 Edw. I, 7.
115 Godalming Hund. Ct. 2 Oct. 45
Edw. HI.
Ibid. 29 Oct. I Ric. II ; Oct. 8
Ric. II ; 6 Ric. II.
"7 B.M. Add. MS. 6:67, fol. 182;
Hund. Ct. R.
118 12 Oct. 31 Hen. VI.
'"Add. R. (B.M.), 1355.
130 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), nr, 24.
111 Deeds quoted by Symmes. Add.
MS. (B.M.), 6167, fol. 182.
Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 6 Edw. VI.
M P.C.C. Will proved 7 Feb. 1568.
191 Recov. R. Hil. 16 Eliz.
las Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccv, 151.
33
196 Feet of F. SUIT. 27 Cha. II. Symmet
quotes a conveyance by John Launder to
Thomas Mathew and Robert Pratt. Add.
MS. (B.M.), 6167, fol. 182.
"" Close, 32 Chas. II, pt. iii, no. 28.
198 Feet of F. Surr. East, i Jas. II.
" Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 6 Anne ; Close,
7 Geo. II, pt. iv, no. 5.
"O Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 624.
181 Rccov. R. East. 24 Geo. Ill, m. 241.
1(9 Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 624.
its Bray ley, op. cit. v, 219.
184 W. Surr. Times, 27 Aug. 1859.
fi
A HISTORY OF SURREY
picturesque half-timber cottages and other ancient
houses, there is a charming block of red-brick almshouses
in Mead Row, founded in 1622 by Richard Wyatt,
citizen of London, and owner of Hall Place, Shackle-
ford. This has a wonderful row of chimneys, very
irregular in outline, at the back, and in the centre is
the chapel, in which are some curious details. 135
A small stone and brick cottage on the road leading
to Binscombe 135a has a good chimney and a brick
hood-moulding over its windows.
HURTMORE (Hormera, xi cent. ; Hertmere, xiii
cent. ; Hurtmere, xiv cent.), also a tithing in God-
aiming, was held before the Conquest by Alwin. In
GoDALMING CHURCH FROM THE EAST
1086 Tezelin held it of Walter Fitz Other, founder of
the Windsor family, 136 in which the overlordship was
still vested in I54I. 137 The under tenant in 1166
was Philip of Hurtmore, 13 ' and in January 1 199-1200
William of Hurtmore released his claim in land in
Hurtmore to Thomas son of Philip in considera-
tion of a life annuity. 139 Thomas of Hurtmore
held a fee in Hurtmore." A Thomas of Hurt-
more granted the manor to the Priory of Newark,
Surrey, in I259, 1 " and about twenty years afterwards
the prior granted to Mary Norries and her grandson
Robert common of pasture in ' Quachet ' and land
called ' Lyth,' formerly the demesne of Thomas of
Hurtmore."' The prior leased
the manor from time to time, for
in 1527 Henry Tanner obtained
a lease of it for forty years, 143
and in 1535 the farm of the
manor was 4 131. \d. lu On
the surrender of the priory in
1538 Hurtmore was taken into
the hands of the king, who in
April 1 542 gave it with other
lands to Andrew Lord Windsor
in part exchange for the manor of
Stanwell. 1 " The latter's son Wil-
liam succeeded to his estates in
the following March, 146 and his
son and heir Edward Lord Wind-
sor sold the manor to Eustace
Moone of Farnham in I564-5- 147
Edmund Moone, son of Eustace,
sold Hurtmore to Francis Clarke
in I59O. 148 He was resident in
1592."' In 1595 he conveyed
it to his son John Clarke and his
wife Mary. Their children were
baptized at Godalming 1596
1 60 1.
In 1606 John Clarke sold it to
Sir Edward More of Odiham. 150
For some reason he obtained a
grant of it from the Crown in
i6i5, 1M probably on account of
recusancy. By his will he directed
that his daughter and her husband
Sir William Staunton, recusant
convict, 151 should have the house
free of rent for life.
He died in 1623, having set-
tled Hurtmore on his infant
grandson Edward More. 153 The
latter was dealing with Hurtmore
185 There are excellent photographs of
the front and back in Old Cottages and
Farmhouses in Surr. B. T. Batsford, 1908.
The will of Richard Wyatt and other
ancient documents relating to the alms-
houses are printed in Surr. Arch. CM. iii,
277-
185a Illustrated in Mr. Ralph Nevill's
Old Cottage and Domestic Architecture of
South-tvcst Surrey.
" V.C.H. Surr. i, 3230.
W When they exchanged it with the
king, in whom the overlordship was after-
wards vested; see below. Chan. Inq. p.m.
10 Ric. II, no. 46 ; ibid. 22 Ric. II, no.
52 ; ibid. 9 Hen. V, no. 45 ; ibid. 17
Hen. VI, no. 36.
k. of Exch. 315.
139 Feet of F. Surr. i John, 6 ; Pipe R.
2 John, m. 15 d.
140 Testa dt Nevill (Rec. Com.), 221.
141 Feet of F. Surr. 43 Hen. Ill, 28.
For an inspiximus of this gift see Dugdale,
Man. yi, 384.
141 Cal. ofAnct. D. iii, 284. Thomas
of Hurtmore had granted Robert Norries
land in Southcroft in Hurtmore ; ibid, iii,
279, 283.
I4B Mins. Accts. Surr. 31 & 32 Hen.
VIII, no. 146.
" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 33.
14S D. of Purchase and Exchange (Aug.
Off.), 33 Hen. VIII, C. 22. Strangely
enough Stanwell was the caput of the
barony of Windsor of which Hurtmore was
held. The exchange is said to have been
34
forced upon Lord Windsor by Henry VIII.
See Dugdale, Baronage, ii, 307-8. In 165 1
the fee-farm rent due from the manor to
the Crown was sold by the trustees of the
Crown lands to John Johns, a merchant of
London ; Close, 1651, pt. ix, no. 23.
146 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixviii, 28.
"7 Pat. 7 Eliz. pt i ; Chan. Inq. p.m.
(Ser. 2), cciiv, 236.
148 Feet of F. Surr. East. 32 Eliz. ;
Recov. R. Trin. 32 Eliz.
" Godalming Ct. R. (view of frank-
pledge), n Oct. 34 Eliz.
160 Close, 4 Jas. I, pt. xxxiii, modern ref.
no. 1870.
151 Pat. 13 Jas. I, pt. xv, no. 2.
lsa Subs. R. 4 Chas. I, bdle. 186, no. 439.
158 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxc.ix, 155.
GODALMING HUNDRED
GODALM1NG
in 1643,'" and again in 1657.'" His two children
died in infancy. 145 In 1679 Isabel More, spinster,
was in possession of the manor and sold it to Ralph
Lee, executor to Simon Bennett of Calverton, 1 "
whose daughters, Frances wife of James fourth Earl
of Salisbury 148 and Grace wife of John Bennett, held
it in moiety. The fifth Earl of Salisbury had the
remainder of Grace Bennett's share." 9
James first Marquis of Salisbury sold Hurtmore in
1786 to John Richardson of Shackleford, 160 whose
heir, John Aldborough Richardson, was in possession
in 1804.""
In 1814 he and his wife sold Hurtmore to William
Keen. William Keen sold in 1828 to James Henry
Frankland and Mary his wife of Bashing. Mr.
Frankland died in 1859. His son Major Frankland
took the name of Gill, and died unmarried in 1866.
Hurtmore passed to his sister, Mrs. Sumner, and from
her to her niece, Miss Kerr. 161
Though the conveyance of Hurtmore in 1598
ascribes a court leet to it, 163 and though it is spoken
of as a manor, it is doubtful if it really was such.
No court baron can be traced, and the assertion
about view of frankpledge in a court leet is un-
true. The Hurtmore people answered at the Godal-
ming hundred court for view of frankpledge except
a few who appeared at Compton. Trespasses, &c., in
Hurtmore are continually noticed in the Godalming
courts.
One mill is mentioned in the Domesday Survey
of the manor, 164 and mention is made of mills in
Thomas of Hurtmore's grant to Newark Priory. 1 * 4
T4TLORS was held by Nicholas Taillard in
I486-7. 168 He conveyed it to Foisted and others,
trustees, who enfeoffed Tho-
mas Purvoch. His son Tho-
mas Purvoch enfeofFed Arnold
Champion as purchaser or
trustee. 167 Thomas Purvoch
junior had a daughter Anne
who married Lawrence Raw-
sterne. It passed from him to
Richard Compton, 168 who had
married Agnes daughter of
Arnold Champion. 169 Richard's
son Thomas brought a suit in
1574 against Henry Hooke,
who, having married Agnes
widow of Richard Compton, entered upon the 'manor
of Taylors,' which was settled on her for life, and
spoiled the woods and suffered the manor-house to
decay. 170 Thomas Compton left it to his nephew
John Compton in 1 606. irl This Sir John Compton
died seised in 1653. His grandson and heir was Comp-
TAILLARD. Quarterly
argent and table a troti
paty countercolourtd.
ton Tichborne. 17 * He died and left it to his cousin
Sir Henry Tichborne, bart., who held it in 1 658,"'
and Sir Henry Joseph Tichborne was in possession in
i6 95 . 17 '
In 1696 it was conveyed to John Yalden. 174
Edmund Yalden his grandson died in 1814 (aged 89)
r \AAAAf
UlAAAA
UJAJJAA
VA.A.A/
COMPTON of Godal-
ming. Ermine a bend
sable with three helms
or thereon.
TICHBORNE. Valr a
chief or.
holding Taylors, 17 ' and left it to Edmund Woods his
sister's son. 177 He died 1833 and it passed to his
daughter Katherine. It was sold to the Marshall
family, to whom it still belongs.
f.AN'N (Fenne, xii and xiii cents. ; Fanne, xiv
and xv cents.), on the borders of Hambledon and
Chiddingfold, was really a tithing, 178 but was called
a manor later. It is mentioned in a conveyance of
1198-9, when Emma, widow of William of Vann,
released land there to William of Vann. 179 In 1232
Walter of Vann witnessed a grant of land in Arling-
ton, 1 " while Laurence of Yately and his wife Isabel
granted lands in Godalming and Vann to Thomas of
Vann in I279. lsl Thomas atte Vann conveyed Vann
to Robert atte Vann and his brother Walter in con-
sideration of a life-rent in I324. 18 * It was held of
William atte Vann in 1332, Henry Hussey being the
tenant. 183 Tenants and tithingmen at Vann occur
often in the Godalming Hundred Court. In 1371
Walter Webbele surrendered the tenement of William
Piperham to Walter atte Vann and his heir. This
was Piperham in Haslemere, which subsequently was
conveyed as a separate parcel, with the manor of
Vann. 184
Walter atte Vann was subsequently in debt. In 1412
John Loxley for ' le Fanne' and Thomas atte Vann pay
6d. for leave of absence from the hundred court. 184
In 1448 Bernard Jenyn or Jenings was summoned to
the court 186 to do fealty, probably for Vann, for
in 1476 John Hill and John Mellersh, probably
trustees, enfeoffed Bernard Jenings of ' land in the
manor of Vann ' in tail male. John son of Bernard
succeeded to it at his father's death, 187 and his son
1H Recov. R. Mich. 19 Chas. I, m. 9.
1M Notei of F. SUIT. Trin. 1657.
156 Godalming Par. Reg.
"' Feet of F. Div. Co. Trin. 31
Chns. II ; and will of Simon Bennett,
Cottle, 127. He left each of his daughters
20,000. Hurtmore is not mentioned.
158 Close, 31 Ceo. HI, pt. iii, no. 7.
** Deed of 23 Nov. 1725, produced in
ale of 1828.
IM Cloe, 27 Geo. Ill, pt. i, no. 18.
181 Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 626.
162 Private and local inform.
168 Cloie, 38 Eliz. pt. v j Recov. R.
Mich. 22 (Ceo. Ill, m. 418.
lM r.C,fi.Surr. i, 323^.
185 Feet of F. SUIT. 43 Hen. Ill, 28.
166 Godalming Rental at Loseley.
187 Esch. Inq. p.m. 67 Hen. VIII, file
1070.
188 Misc. Bks. (Land Rev.), vol. 190,
fol. 223.
189 Berry, Hantt Gen. 328.
170 Chan. Proc. C.c. 15 Eliz. 51.
171 P.C.C. Will (Stafforde, 33).
173 Godalming court baron 30 Sept.
1653.
178 Recov. R. Mich. 1658, m. 108.
""Close, 7 Will. Ill, pt. iv, no. 10.
174 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 8 Will. III.
178 Godalming Ct. R. 26 Oct. 1814.
'"Ibid.
35
178 Godalmidg view of frankpledge, 17
Edw. Ill, &c.
W Feet of F. Surr. 10 Ric. I, 39.
*> Cal. of Chart. R. i, 366.
181 Feet of F. Surr. 7 Edw. I, 17. They
were to be held of Isabel and her heirs.
182 Feet of F. Surr. 1 8 Edw. II, 14.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. Ill (ist
nos.), no. 66. See also ibid. 23 Edw. Ill,
pt. i, 77.
184 Godalming Hund. Ct. 2 Oct. 45
Edw. III. is Ibid. 10 Nov. 1412.
Ibid. 1 8 Apr. 26 Hen. VI. He
married Elizabeth daughter of John Loxley
(sec Braboeuf).
187 Chan. Proc. Ser. 2), Uxxiii, 20.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
Nicholas is said to have settled the manor on his wife
Margaret for life, with remainder to their son Bernard.
Margaret's third husband, Henry Mannock, held in
right of his wife in 1 548.'" He died in 1 563, having
quarrelled with his wife, to whom he left nothing in
his will. 159
In 1564 Margaret brought a suit against Ralph,
great-nephew of John Jenings, who had entered upon
the manor after the death of Bernard. 190 Ralph
Jenings held it, 191 and was succeeded by his son
Thomas, who sold it to Thomas Cowper in 1590.'"
Thomas Cowper's brother and heir Martin sued for
the lands as part of his inheritance, 191 and released his
claim to John Hollinshed and Richard Sheppard in
1597."*
In 1 608 they conveyed it to the Vintners' Company
for the use of Mary Clarke wife of John Clarke of
Battle in Sussex, and her son Francis and her other
* 194
sons in succession.
John Clarke, the third son, parted with it to Wil-
liam Byerley in l635, 196 but apparently the purchase
money was not all paid, 197 and it reverted to his son
Mark, and afterwards to his son Antony, who was in
possession in 1665,'^ and in 1689 sold to John Childe 1M
the manor of Vann and a parcel of land called Pepper-
hams. John Childe died 1 70 1 , and was succeeded by his
son John. 100 He sold to John Greenhill in 1722.*"
In 1734 it was entailed on Peter, son of Sir Peter
and Sarah Anna Myers, and Sarah his wife, daughter
of John Curryer. The latter in her widowhood
settled it* * in 17589 on her daughter Sarah, wife
of Thomas Geldart, but her son Peter Myers was
treated as tenant in a court of 1 762 as a defaulter.
The Geldarts are said in a court of 1789 to have
obtained Vann from Peter Myers. In 1822 Richard
Smyth of Burgate died holding the manor, 10 * and it
was in the Smyth family for some time later. There
is no record of any court in the reputed manor.
The reputed manor of WESTBROOK lies to the
west of the town. From an undated customary of
Godalming of the early part of the reign of Edward III,
of which a 1 6th or 1 7th-century copy exists at Loseley,
it appears that there was a Richard de Westbrook hold-
ing land in Godalming ; by the marginal notes on
the copy this seems to be the same land that was after-
wards held by Thomas Hull, owner of Westbrook.
The conditions of tenure are plainly servile in origin,
including carriage of harvest and serving as reeve with
food allowance. In 1334 a Robert Westbrook and
his wife Bona were enfeoffed of land in Godalming,* *
WISTBROOK of God-
aiming. Gules a fleur-
de-lis coming out of a
leopard's head or.
but whether of what was afterwards called Westbrook
is not clear. Westbrooks occur frequently in the God-
aiming courts. They held Prestwick in Chiddingfold
soon after i327,* M and Asshtede,* 06 which afterwards
both belonged to the West-
brooks of Westbrook, but
there is no evidence of their
holding Westbrook. It was
probably a holding in Godal-
ming named from them. The
original ' Westbroke ' was per-
haps that in Hampshire. There
were members of the family
about the neighbourhood, and
they were rising in the world.
A John Westbrook acquired
the Strode moiety of Loseley
in or before 1481.
According to Symmes, Wil-
liam Westbrook was buried at Godalming in 1437,
and Thomas Westbrook in 1493 ; both holders of
the manor.* 07 It appears from a rental at Loseley
that John Westbrook held Westbrook in 1486. John
Westbrook sold his moiety of Loseley Manor in
I5o8.* 8 He died in 1513-14 and was buried in
Godalming Church.* 09 William Westbrook died in
1537. His widow Margaret resided at Westbrook,
and after her death the manor descended to the heirs
of his sisters Florence Scarlet and Elizabeth Hull.* 10
Thomas Hull and John Scarlet a minor were hold-
ing Westbrook in moieties in 1547.'" John Scarlet's
portion seems to have passed to William Morgan, who
sold it to Thomas Hull about the year 1576.*" He
was thus seised of the whole of Westbrook. A
Thomas Hull and his wife Florence were dealing
with it in 1600, and again in 1622."* Their son
Thomas Hull was an ardent Royalist," 4 who suffered
sequestration in April 1649 for lending money to
maintain the war against Parliament." 5 He was
obliged to compound, and in 1656 sold Westbrook
to John Platt, clerk of West Horsley," 6 who after-
wards held weekly conventicles at his house in Godal-
ming," 7 and died in 1670. His son John, who was
knighted in 1672, was raising money on the manor
in 1674,"' and is said to have built Westbrook
Place." 9 In 1688 the manor was sold to Sir
Theophilus Oglethorpe, kt.,** who sat in Parlia-
ment for Haslemere from 1698 till 1701.*" His
eldest son Louis was killed at Schellenberg in 1704.
The next son, Theophilus, who also represented
18B Survey of manor of Godalming, 13
Edw. VI i Land. Rev. Misc. Surv. vol.
190, p. 248, etc.
185 P.C.C. Wills (Stephenson, 47).
190 Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), Ixxxiii, 20.
191 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), clxii,
146.
1M Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 32 Eliz. ;
Recov. R. Trin. 32 Eliz. m. 22.
19a Chan. Proc. Eliz. C.c. xiii, 5 9 ;
ibid. C.c. xiv, 41.
191 Com. Plea D. Enr. Trin. 39 Eliz.
en. 9.
195 Close, 6 Jas. I, pt. xi, no. II.
196 Close, 12 Chas. I, pt. xxvi, 25 j 13
Chas. I, xxv, 8.
W Will of John Clarke, P.C.C. 2 June
1637 (Goare, 99).
198 B.M. Add. MS. 6167, fol. 168.
199 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. I Will, and
Mary.
800 Godalming Ct. R. 17 Oct. 1701.
801 Recov. R. Hil. 9 Geo. I, Vann, Win-
tershull and High Loxley.
808 Close, 32 Geo. II, pt. i, no. 8 ; cf.
Feet of F. Surr. East. 32 Geo. II.
* Will
804 Feet of F. Surr. 7 Edw. Ill, 29.
It consisted of a messuage, a carucate of
land, and 131. S,/. rent.
805 Deed Rev. T. S. Cooper.
806 Godalming R. 1384.
107 Inscriptions quoted by Symmes, Add.
MS. (B.M.), 6167, fol. 167. It is prob-
able that Symmes confused 1437 and
1537 ; the date of Thomas Westbrook is
doubtful.
808 Add. Chart. (B.M.), I3SS7-
809 Where there is an altar-tomb in his
memory. See Surr. Arch. Sue. Proc. vii,
279. Ralph Nevill, F.S.A., Notts on the
Restoration of Godalming Ch.
36
See V.C.H. Surr. ii, 592, under
Compton Hall.
811 Misc. Bks. (Exch. T.R.), clxix, 223.
818 Close, 20 Eliz. pt. xx ; Feet of F.
Surr. Mich. 18-19 Eliz -
811 Feet of F. Surr. East. 42 Eliz. ; ibid.
Trin. 20 Jas. I.
814 He had an elder brother Humphrey
who died without issue.
815 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iit,20 1 8.
818 Close, 1656, pt. xxxi, no. 20.
417 A. R. Bax, Conventicles in Surr.'
Surr. Arch. Coll. xiii, 159.
tt8 Feet of F. Surr. East. 26 Chas. II.
*** Aubrey, Nat. Hist, and Aniij. of
Surr. iv, 17.
880 Before 1690, for in March of that
year Lady Oglcthorpe had a pass to go to
her house near Godalming ; Cal. S.P.
Dom. 1689-90, p. 512.
881 Diet. Nat. Biog. xlii, 50.
GODALMING HUNDRED
GODALMING
Haslemere, and died at the Jacobite court of St. Ger-
mains about 1728, was dealing with the manor in
1727.'" His younger brother, General James Ed-
ward Oglethorpe, the great philanthropist and founder
of Georgia, next came into
possession. In spite of his fre-
quent absences from England,
he was five times elected mem-
ber of parliament for Hasle-
mere. After his final return
from Georgia he was made a
general in the English army
and served under the Duke of
Cumberland in the rebellion
of 1745. He died in 1785,
having left the manor by will
to his widow, who devised it
to be sold for the general's
great-nephew, the Marquis of Bellegarde." 5 It was
bought in 1788 by Christopher Hodges, who sold it
in 1790 to Nathaniel Godbold, a quack doctor." 4
The latter's son of the same name was living there in
1824 and died 1834."' In 1844 part of the estate
was sold to the Direct London and Portsmouth Rail-
way Company ; m and the house, after being occupied
only for short terms, became the Meath Home for
Epileptics in 1892. Mr. G. J. Hull bought the
house, part of the estate, and the manor. The manor
is now held by Mr. H. Thackeray Turner.
A quit-rent of lot. 6d. was payable from West-
brook to the lord of Godalming manor, of whom
it was held.
OGLITHOHFI. Argent
a Jftse dancetty between
three boars* heads sable.
Near Westbrook are the town mill and a tanning
mill.
In the roll of a leet-court held at Godalming in
1483 mention is made of ' Westbrokesmyll." 87 Two
fulling mills were'sold with the manor in 1624, 1647,
and 1 727.""
Binscombe, about I \ miles from Westbrook, seems
to have been closely connected with that manor.
' Bedelescombe ' and Farncombe sometimes sent two
tithingmen between them, sometimes one each
separately, to the hundred court of Godalming. TO A
list of tenants of Westbrook Manor at Loseley (circa
1670) contains some names in Binscombe, and it is
called sometimes a manor, but always in connexion
with Westbrook. The existing houses are the pro-
perty of Mrs. More-Molyneux McCowan, owner of
Loseley. There is a Friends' burial ground dating
from the 1 7th century. This is now no longer used.
The church of ST. PETER 4ND
CHURCHES ST. PAUL is charmingly situated in
the meadows close to the River Wey,
set in a large and prettily kept churchyard.
It is built of Bargate stone rubble, originally of a
bright yellow colour, and of hard texture. The
dressings in the earliest periods were executed in the
same stone, but from the end of the 1 2th century
clunch or hard chalk was employed for wrought work
in the successive enlargements, Bath stone being used
in the 19th-century additions. The roofs are tiled
and the lofty spire is covered with lead a valuable
example of this treatment.
In its present form the church has been considerably
A -Windows of 11OO - 2o
B- c.i2oo
IP t go 30 40 j
GODALMING CHURCH : GROUND PLAN
m Recov. R. Trin. 13 Geo. I, m.
271.
815 Gent. Mag. Ivii, 1025.
114 Manning and Bray, op. cit. i,
III.
" Gent. Mag. itciv, 120 ; Feet of F. ibid. Mich. 23 Chas. I, m. 46; ibid.
Surr. Eait. 57 Geo. III. Trin. 13 Geo. I, m. 261.
*> Brayley, op. cit. v, 214. m Add. R. (B.M.), 26892 ; ibid.
*> Add. R. (B.M.), 26892. 1355 i and Rolli at Loseley, paitim.
08 Recov. R. Trin. 22 Jat. I, m. 35 ;
37
A HISTORY OF SURREY
extended laterally and to the westward, the north
transept has been prolonged, and the north chancel
rebuilt on a larger plan, all within the 1 9th century
in 1840 and 1879. It consists therefore now of nave,
68 ft. 9 in. by 20 ft. 6 in. at the east end and
1 9 ft. 5 in. at the west end ; aisles of different lengths,
20 ft. wide; transepts about 12 ft. 3 in. wide and
originally 14 ft. 9 in. long ; central tower 16 ft. 6 in.
square ; chancel 40 ft. 5 in. long by 1 7 ft. 3 in. ;
and north and south chancel aisles, respectively
35 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft. 9 in. and 34 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft.
We owe it to Mr. Ralph Nevill, F.S.A.' 80 (who,
with the late Sir Gilbert Scott, carried out the last
enlargements), and later to the painstaking and acute
observation of Mr. S. Welman," 1 that a very complete
architectural history of the building can be put
together. Probably there are at least twelve periods
of work to be traced in the walls of the present church.
The nucleus around which it has grown lies in the
centre, the eastern half of the nave representing the
simple aisleless nave of the pre-Conquest church, and
the central tower its short, square chancel. This
would give a nave of about 32 ft. by 20 ft. ; the chancel,
which had an inclination towards the north, being
1 6 ft. 6 in. wide and in length originally about a
foot longer. This Saxon church had walls averaging
3 ft. in thickness, and disproportionately lofty about
25 ft. as was commonly the case in work of this
period. Until 1879 the original chancel arch, a
plain circular-headed opening about 10 ft. wide, of
one order, with plain chamfered imposts, remained
as the western arch of the present central tower ;
but, against the wish of Mr. Nevill, this interesting
feature was then removed, and a wide and lofty
pointed opening put in its place. The outline of the
gable wall above this arch (upon which the west wall
of the tower had been subsequently raised), together
with the drip-stone or weathering of the pre-Conquest
chancel which abutted against its eastern face, was
noted by Mr. Nevill, and their true relationship to
the earliest structure finally established by Mr. Wei-
man's subsequent discovery of two curious eyelet holes
in the apex of this eastern gable of the nave. These
are double-splayed, their narrowest diameter being in
the heart of the wall, but the internal splay was pro-
tracted downward on the western face to throw the
light in that direction. Doubtless they lit a roof-
chamber over the nave.
About the year 1 100 the primitive church received
its first enlargement, in the form of a long chancel
(about 33 ft. 3 in. by 17 ft. 3 in.), a low tower being
raised upon the gabled walls of the original chancel,
and the eastern wall thickened by about a foot on the
western side, an arch of two plain orders, with cham-
fered imposts, being pierced through it. This arch
still exists, but in 1 8 79 it was lifted up on higher
piers, the old imposts being left in position and new
added to mark the increased height. Earlier altera-
tions had brought to light the remains of six of
the windows of this period, three in either side
wall of the chancel (lettered A on the plan), and the
base and part of the jamb of a priest's door at the
west end of the south wall : the east wall of this
chancel no longer exists, having been pulled down
and rebuilt farther eastward in the I4th century."*
There are traces of flat pilaster buttresses having been
added to strengthen the junction between the first and
second period work. This chancel also inclines to
the north.
About 1 1 20 (third period) narrow transepts were
added, some of the windows of which can also be
traced, arches were pierced in the hitherto solid north
and south walls of what had been the first chancel
now the central tower and the latter was heightened
by an additional stage, which still retains in each
face the two round-headed openings that were then
formed, with a string-course of rounded section below
them. A small door of this period has been pre-
served in the rebuilt end of the north transept.
In the last ten years of the 1 2th century, but perhaps
not quite at one and the same time, aisles were added
to the nave, two lofty pointed arches being pierced
in either wall, and smaller ones in the west walls of
the transepts. This may be called the fourth period.
At about the same date, but perhaps slightly earlier,
the arches to the transepts from the central tower
were altered to a pointed form, and perhaps widened.
In the fifth period, c. 1 200, the chancel aisles, or
north and south chancels, were thrown out, their
arcades being pierced through the second-period walls,
leaving the original windows largely intact, but blocked
up. These chapels were lit by tall narrow lancets,
the south chapel having five in its southern wall
and three in its eastern, parts of which still remain
(lettered B on plan), although displaced by later
insertions."*
For some reason this displacement began very soon,
for in about 1250 the curious grouped lancets, with
acutely pointed heads and inner-plane arcade, in the
south wall, took the place of two of the single lancets :
and in I 270 an early essay in bar tracery was inserted
in the east wall of the same chapel. This is of five
lights, the central wider and taller than the others,
with three circles above, having cinquefoil cusping on
a recessed plane, and the whole united by a pointed
inclosing arch and hood moulding. At some time
between 1 200 and 1300 the first spire, lower than the
present, and covered with oak shingles, replaced the
original squat cap of the 1 2th century. 2 "
Period eight the 1 4th century produced fur-
ther changes, in the shape of the blocking up of
the plain lancets in the western part of this south
chapel, and the insertion of square-headed three-light
windows with cusped ogee tracery, this type of win-
dow being inserted also in the transepts and nave
aisles, and probably in the north chancel aisle. At
the same time the chancel was extended about 4 ft.
eastward, a large five-light window and diagonal
"" Vide Mr. Ralph Nevill'i account of
discovcrk-s made in 1879, in Surr. Arch.
Coll. vii, 277 .
a* 1 S. Welman, The Parhb and Church
of Godalmmy.
Ma The angle stone of the original
foundation of the earliest eat wall may
be seen outside, where the south chantry
abuts on the chancel.
" Mr. Welman points out that Richard
de Chiddingfold, vicar, instituted by Sav-
aric Archdeacon of Northampton and
Treasurer of Salisbury, in or about 1200,
probably engineered the work of this period.
The sections of mouldings closely corre-
spond to those of the same date at Chidding-
fold Church.
" 4 It is not easy to determine the date
of the parapet which at one time crowned
38
the tower and inclosed the base of the
spire. Its corbels, which alone remain,
are of various patterns and of more than
one date : and such parapets on corbel-
tables were not uncommon in 1 2th -century
towers, as at Witley, hard by, and at
Clymping and Yapton, Susser. Most
probably this parapet dates from the erec-
tion of the first spire.
GODALMING HUNDRED
GODALMING
buttresses accompanying the rebuilding. In this
period the first timber spire probably gave place to
the much loftier one of oak covered with lead, which
remains substantially as then reconstructed, save for
the later addition of broaches at the angles when the
parapet wall was removed.
To the ninth period the ijth century belong
the extension westward of one bay of the nave and
aisles, a window in the north wall of the north tran-
sept, a corresponding one in the south transept, and
others which have been destroyed or shifted within
recent times.
In the end of the I5th or beginning of the 1 6th
century the roof of the nave was ceiled with panel-
ling, the south chapel roof reconstructed, and a large
doorway, having a four-centred arch within a square
frame, was inserted in the west end of the church.
This in 1840 was removed to its present position
beneath the tracery window in the east wall of the
south chapel. During the iyth and i8th centuries a
western gallery and other galleries were erected ; the
south aisle walls were raised to provide the necessary
height, and re-roofed with a span roof. Wooden
frame windows were inserted in several places, and
dormers made to light the north aisle.
In 1840, after the church had passed through the
usual stages of neglect, disfigurement, and mutilation
that characterized the 1 7th, 1 8th, and early igth
centuries, a severe ' restoration ' swept away not only
abuses, but many valuable ancient features. Most of
the work of 1 879 was of the nature of a true archaeo-
logical restoration, in which much of the bad work
of 1840 was undone and many valuable ancient
features were brought to light.
The windows and doors of the nave and aisles and
north chantry belong for the most part to 1840 and
1879, including that in the east wall of the north
chantry, but the east window dates from 1859. The
stair turret on the north side is also modern.
Some points of detail in the interior of the church
have now to be considered.
On the window sills of the south chapel are carved
fragments, in a very hard shelly limestone, of pre-Con-
quest date. Two seem to have formed the rims of
a circular basin or basins, but they are hardly large
enough to have served for a font, as has been suggested,
nor does the shape at all suggest such a use. The
total diameter of the two halves is only I ft. yjin.
by 6J in. in height and 3$ in. thickness. The
upright face is ornamented with four horses' heads,
separating alternate designs of interlaced work and a
running scroll, such as are found in the pre-Conquest
arch at Britford Church, near Salisbury. A third
fragment, with a basket-work pattern, may have been
part of the block on which this basin stood ; and two
others with a scroll-pattern and figures, much defaced,
suggest the stem of a churchyard cross. Some of
these were found built into the walls, notably in the
west arch of the tower, i.e. the chancel arch of the
pre-Conquest church, suggesting that they had formed
part of some building of even older date.
Next in interest and date to these are the remains
of the priest's door and six windows of c. noo in
the chancel walls. The windows have splays running
g C fo
'Prc-Concjuesir' f
P.tf, Johnston
A HISTORY OF SURREY
out to a narrow chamfered edge, without rebate or
groove for glazing. The rough plaster of the splays
is cut into patterns round the circular internal head,
such as zigzag, fret, and saw-tooth ; Ki and both on the
plastering and stonework are painted well-preserved
coeval patterns in red and white. The somewhat
later transept windows are not so ornamented. In
the south wall of the south transept is a 1 2th-century
piscina and the remains of what may have been
sedilia.
In the west wall of the south transept is the arch
of 1 1 90, with characteristic mouldings and a slightly
PAINTED DECORATION IN GODALMING CHURCH
incised cheveron ornament on the bell of one of its
capitals. The two eastern arches of the north and
louth nave arcades are set upon unusually lofty piers,
those on the south being circular, while the north are
octagonal, an alteration of later, date. The north and
south arches of the tower are perfectly plain, and
possibly a little earlier.
The nave roof is ancient the eastern part perhaps
even of I 3th-century date but the flat panelled ceil-
ing added in the reign of Henry VII was in 1 840 turned
into one of canted shape ; the old painted shields,
bearing local and other coats of arms, which were
fixed at the ir tersection of the ribs of the panel-
ling, were preserved and re-used in the new work.
Similar wooden shields, displaying general and local
heraldry, initials of benefactors, &c., existed up to the
same date in the south chantry and the adjoining
transept. In both transepts, in the south chapel,
and in the main chancel, are ancient roofs, parts of
which may be as old as the I 2th or 1 3th century,
but with considerable reconstruction at different dates.
The south chapel roof has somewhat elaborate mould-
ings on many of its timbers, of very much later date.
This roof was always a span roof ; but that of the
north chapel, prior to 1 840, when the extension took
place, was a lean-to, as was also that of the north
aisle of the nave.
Among smaller features may be noted the early
14th-century sedilia, piscina, and aumbry in the south
wall of the chancel; the early 13th-century piscina
and aumbry in the north chapel ; and the unusually
large double piscina, with two aumbries over, in the
south chapel of the same date. The two piscinae are
divided by a small octagonal shaft with cap and base.
Beneath these is an altar-tomb of marble on chalk
and brick base, 236 and a disused font also of late charac-
ter and quite plain.
In the same south chapel, on the partly unblocked
splays of the destroyed lancets, are some very valuable
and well-preserved fragments of painting, coeval with
the lancets themselves (c. 1200). These, which are
somewhat elaborately executed in several colours, show
figures of about life-size within trefoil-headed canopies.
On the east splay of the easternmost lancet on the
south side St. John the Baptist is shown, with hairy
mantle, and bearing a disc on which is the Agnus
Dei. Having been covered up from about half a
century after the date of execution until 1879, these
paintings are exceptionally well preserved. It is said
that in 1 840 many others, on the general wall surfaces,
were uncovered only to be destroyed.
Aubrey mentions one or two coats of arms in the
glazing of the chancel and south chantry windows, in-
cluding those of England and France, but these no
longer exist. There is a part of a lion, or, in the
east window of the south chancel, and a rose with
diamond quarters in the north transept.
A very large and solid oak chest, of the same date
as the chantry, 5 ft. 7 in. by I ft. 9^ in. and 2 ft. 4 in.
high, has lately been placed here. It belongs to the
pin-hinge group of the 1 3th century, and has a
pierced quadrant to the standards, and a money-
hutch inside with a secret well below. 137 A good
oak railing, which formerly fenced three sides of the
sacrarium, was removed in 1867, and parts of it
used as stair balusters in a house known as the
' Square.'
The pulpit is Elizabethan. There are two com-
munion tables ; one of Elizabethan or Jacobean date,
which formerly had extending leaves, now stands in
the north chancel, cruelly mangled to suit modern
taste, and concealed by upholstery ; the other, a good
but more modern table, has now been placed in the
vestry.
Besides the altar tomb above mentioned, there are
no monuments of importance,* 373 and, what is rather
surprising in a church of this size and antiquity, prac-
tically none of pre-Reformation date. In the chancel
are brasses to Thomas Purvoch and wife, 1 509, and
John Barker,! 595, in armour; and there are slabs, some
with brass plates, escutcheons, and carved armorial
bearings. The inscriptions to Thomas and Isabella
Westbrook no longer exist, but the old family of the
Eliots of Busbridge are largely represented : and on
the south side of the chancel is an alabaster and black
marble tablet, with a kneeling figure, to Judith Eliot,
wife of William Eliot, 1615. The inscription is of
^ Similar to the cut plaster edges at
Compton Church in this neighbour-
hood.
988 To John Westbrook 'Squyer' and
Elizabeth his wife, as recorded in Manning
and Bray's Surrey : the brass inscription strip
and coats of arms are now missing, as is
also a monument to William Westbrook
of the same family (to whom the south
chantry belonged), dated 1437, according
to Symmes's MS. The inscription, quoted
in Mr. Welman's book, reads like one of
a century later, and describes the deceased
as ' Catholike of Faith.' Vidt sufra, note
207.
"'This chest closely resembles others
40
of the same date and class at Rogate and
Bosham churches, Sussex ; all described
and illustrated in the Arch. Journ. Ixiv,
243 -306, and in Surr. Arch., Coll. xx,
68-89.
M ' a This is owing to the fact that the
lords of the hundred and manor were
absentees.
GODALMING HUNDRED
GODALMING
the quaintly laudatory style so often met with in
monuments of this period.
In the south transept is a tablet to the Rev. Owen
Manning, Canon of Lincoln, rector of Peper Harow
and vicar of Godalming for thirty-seven years, joint
author of Manning and Bray's History of Surrey, who died
in 1 80 1. He is buried in the churchyard.
The Registers of Godalming, edited by Mr. H. E.
Maiden, have been published by the Surrey Parish
Register Society (vol. ii), and extracts from them in
a paper on the church by the late Major Heales,
F.S.A.*" b They commence in 1582, but copies of
earlier entries are to be found in Symmes's MS. in the
British Museum, among which is :
' 1 541, July 7, Sir James Wall, Soul Priest of Godal-
ming, was buryed.' *"
The famous Nicholas Andrews, ' Vic. de Godalmyn,'
has signed each page of vol ii, from March 1636 to
1642. In the plague-year, 1666, there are many
entries of deaths due to ' y e great sickness,' which, no
doubt owing to the proximity of the Portsmouth road,
must have spread from London with fatal effect.
Besides more modern pieces, there are patens of
1685 and 1722 among the church plate, and a fine
silver alms basin of 1632.
The bells have all been recast in the 1 8th and igth
centuries. Prior to 1849 or 1850 there was a unique
survival (so far as Surrey is concerned) of a sanctus bell,
hung externally at the base of the south-east side of the
spire. This now does duty at the cemetery chapel.
It was cast by Richard Phelps in 1724.
The church of St. John the Baptist, Busbridge, is
of Bargate stone with chalk quoins and windows in
13th-century style. There is a central tower. It was
consecrated in 1867.
The church of St. John the Evangelist, Farncombe,
is of Bargate stone, with a bell-turret but no tower
or spire, in 13th-century style. It was consecrated
in 1 849. The Rev. Charles C. R. Dallas, rector 1859-
80, was as an ensign in the 32nd Foot wounded at
Quatre Bras. The church was built upon land given
by the late James More Molyneux which had escheated
to him as lord of the manor owing to the tenant
having committed murder.
The church of St. Mary the Virgin, Shackleford,
is of Bargate stone in a good 13th-century style, built
by Sir Gilbert Scott. It is cruciform, with north and
south aisles divided from the nave by arcades of four
arches. A central tower and spire were built in
1865.
The ancient site of the parish church was Minster
Field at Tuesley. A chapel dedicated in honour of
the Virgin Mary was still standing in a ruinous state
there in 1220, and its memory was preserved by
celebrations on the Purification, the Vigil of the
Assumption, and the Nativity of the Virgin. There
was also a burying-ground there.* 39 After the dis-
solution of free chapels under Edward VI, the chapel
in Godalming called Oldminstcr, with a cemetery
round it, was leased to Laurence Eliot.' 40 The
foundations of this chapel, which have been un-
covered in recent years, prove it to have been
stone-built, with a nave 21 ft. by 14 ft., and a
chancel 1 1 ft. long, of the same width as the nave,
and separated from it by a wall with an arch or door
in it. The nave itself was divided up the centre
longitudinally by a wall or foundation, and many
ancient interments were found within this area, the
skeletons being disposed from east to west. The
close called ' Chapel Fields ' is mentioned with the
Eliots' manor of Busbridge in May 1622 ;"' it is close
to Minster Field. A fair was held on Lady Day at
the Old Minster as late as the 1 6th century.
GODALMING RECTORT was a separate fee in
the time of Edward the Confessor, when Ulmaer held it
of the king. In 1086 it consisted of a church and three
hides, and was held of Godalming Manor by Ranulph
Flambard, who became chief adviser of William II ;
he also held the church at Tuesley,' and Tuesley
was parcel of the rectory manor.' 41 Ranulph fled
from Henry I to Duke Robert of Normandy ; and
though he was pardoned by Henry in 1 1 o6,' 44 he does
not appear to have regained entire possession of his lands,
for a few years later '" the king granted Ranulph's fee in
Godalming, Tuesley, Enton, and Guildford, together
with Heytesbury co. Wilts, to the church of St. Mary,
Salisbury, as a prebend on condition that Ranulph
should hold the churches for life as a canon of Salis-
bury.' 46 It was known as the prebend of Heytesbury,
and, Ranulph Flambard having died in 1128,"' the
prebend was annexed to the possessions of the Deans
of Salisbury.* 43 The cathedral obtained a confirma-
tion of Godalming Church and a grant of 30 librates
of land in Godalming in 1 157 in return for the castle
of Devizes.* 4 ' The rectory was impropriate to the
dean by 1 2 8 5 . In a visitation of the manor dated 1220
it is stated that there had been a vicar there for a long
time, but he had never been residentiary.* 40
The estate and the advowson were leased fre-
quently. In a dispute between the lessee (Mr. Castil-
lion) and the vicar in 1578 some curious evidence
was given of the former state kept by the dean when
he visited the rectory house, then ruined, north of the
church. He spent ' 30 hogsheads of drink at Christ-
mas.' * sl A picturesque old house which stood here
till about 1860 must have been a successor to the one
described. The dispute continued till 1628. The
final decree in Chancery preserves the survey of the
rectory manor made in 1622."*
The manor remained the property of the successive
Deans of Salisbury till the Act of 1649 abolishing
deans and chapters. Whilst it belonged to the State
a survey of the rectory manor was taken.' 55 It in-
cluded, besides the right of presentation and tithes, the
"7 b Surr. Arch. Coll. iv, 105.
""Add. MS. 6167 ; being part of 'Col-
Icctiont for a History of Surrey ' made by
Mr. Symmes, an attorney of Guildford,
in about the year 1670.
' Reg. of St. Oimund (Roll Ser.), i,
297.
""Misc. Bks. (Land Rev.), vol. 190,
fol. 237.
Harl. Chart. 57 H. 43.
> V.C.H. Surr. i, 298*.
448 Reg. of St. Osmund, fol. 42.
3
tH Diei. Nat. Siog. xir, 237.
844 Between 1109 and 1117.
* 8 Sarum Chart, and Doe. (Roll Ser.), 3.
W Diet. Nat. Biog. xix, 237.
448 Sarum Chart, and Doc. (Rolli Ser.),
358.
" Ibid. 29. Manning and Bray state
that this grant referred to the manor of
Godalming, but mention it only made of
the church with its appurtenances. The
deed is clearly one of restoration, an amic-
able settlement of the late disputes as to
41
the cathedral's property. See ibid. 22 ;
Pipe R. I Ric. I (Rec. Com.), 216 ; 2 Hen.
II, 10 ; 4 Hen. II, 161 ; ibid. (Pipe R.
Soc.), i, 55 ; iv, 42 et seq. ; Tata de
Ne-uill (Rec. Com.), 225.
450 Reg. of St. Otmund (Rolls Ser.), i, 297.
*"LoseIey MSS. ii, 31; ix, 55, and
a loose paper.
454 Chan. Decrees, 3 Chas. I, No. 247/4.
The survey is quoted by Manning and
Bray, Hist, of Surr. i, 644.
848 Proc. of the Surr. Arch. Soc. ii, 50.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
parsonage or rectory, glebe and ' sanctuary lands,' and
the profits of court leet where 'one constable for the
Deanes ' was sworn. The lease by a former dean to
Valentine Castillion was confirmed, but the manor
was sold to George Peryer. 1 * The dean and
chapter were reinstated after the Restoration,*" and
the successive deans continued in possession till 22
May 1846, when the manor was transferred to the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners."* The rectory manor
was sold with the land about 1860 to Mr. John Sim-
monds, whose son, Mr. J. Whateley Simmonds, is
now owner. The Commissioners retained the great
tithes, and the advowson was vested in the Bishop of
Winchester.
The early history of the advowson
4DVOWSONS of the parish church is coincident
with that of the rectory manor.
After the deprivation of Dr. Andrews, whose Calvin-
istic parishioners petitioned against him in 1640,"'
the king presented Isaac Fortrey. The Crown again
presented in l66o,* M but withdrew the presentation
at the petition of the dean and chapter." 9
The parsonage or rectory, now demolished, was
directly north of the church. Parts of the vicarage
house are of great antiquity.
The ecclesiastical parish of St. John the Baptist,
Busbridge, was formed in I S6$. Ka The advowson was
then vested in Emma Susan, wife of Mr. John C.
Ramsden of Busbridge Hall. 181
Farncombe was formed into an ecclesiastical parish
in 1 849 ; * 61 the living is in the gift of the Bishop of
Winchester.
Shackleford parish was formed in i866. 16 * The
living is also in the patronage of the bishop. These
three are rectories, endowed by the Commissioners
out of the great tithes.
There were also churches or chapels at Catteshull
and Hurtmore, now lost. Traces of the Catteshull
Chapel remained near the manor house when Man-
ning wrote.
The wooden chapel of All Saints, Hurtmore, was
held in 1220 by Nicholas, apparitor of the Chapter of
Guildford, for half a mark, who had it from Thomas
of Hurtmore. The latter had made a composition
for it with the Chancellor of Salisbury. 164 In 1 260
the Prior of Newark, then lord of Hurtmore, pleaded
that he had been permitted to present to Hurtmore
' Church.' 18S It has long disappeared, but its site was
south-west of the Charterhouse Hill towards Eashing.
Wyatt's Almshouses were founded
CHARITIES in 1619 by Richard Wyatt, of Lon-
don, carpenter. The management is
vested in the Carpenters' Company. They stand in
Mead Row, Farncombe.
Smith's Charity exists in Godalming as in other
Surrey parishes ; it is distributed here in money, not
in bread. Richard Champion in 1622 left a house
and land in Crayford, now represented by 1,138
consols, which is administered as Smith's Charity.
The Meath Home for Epileptic Women and Girls
was founded by the Countess of Meath, who in 1892
bought for the purpose the manor house of Westbrook,
near Godalming station. A new wing was added in
1896. It accommodates seventy-four patients.
HAMBLEDON
Hameledune (xi cent.), Hameledon (xiii cent.),
Hameldon (xiv cent.).
Hambledon is a small parish inclosed on the north,
east, and west by Godalming, bounded on the south
by Chiddingfold. It is about 3 miles from north
to south, rather over I mile wide in the south, but
tapering to the north. It contains 2,721 acres. The
village is 4 miles from Godalming town. The
northern part of the parish is on the Green Sand,
which rises into a considerable elevation towards
Highden Heath (Hyddenesheth in 1453). Hyde
Stile is near it ; High Down is a probable corrup-
tion. The clay in the south of the parish is very
thickly wooded, chiefly with oak ; and Hambledon
Hurst, an oak wood, through which a clay track runs,
the old highway from Godalming to Chiddingfold
and beyond, is, when passable in dry weather, one
of the most picturesque woodland walks in Surrey.
This highway was continually being presented as out
of repair in the Godalming Hundred Courts in the
1 4th, 1 5th, and 1 6th centuries. 1 It is crossed more
than once by a stream, which ultimately joins the
Arun. On 21 September 1340, Thomas le Beel,
rector of Hambledon, was presented for having dug a
ditch in the highway.
Brick-making is carried on in the clay soil. Iron
also occurs in considerable quantities in the same soil;
Lord Montague claimed an iron mine at Hambledon, 1
and Mine Pits Copse no doubt preserves the name of
it, though the part of the wood now so named is over
the Godalming border. On 20 February 1570 Lord
Montague had had trouble with the commoners who
resented his cutting wood for his ironworks, perhaps
in Hambledon Hurst.*
The school (under the National Society) was
enlarged in 1874.
The Union Workhouse for the Hambledon Union
is in the parish. It was originally built as a parish
workhouse in 1786, but has been much enlarged.
A small outlying portion of Hambledon, an enclave
of Godalming and Hascombe, was transferred to Has-
combe by the Local Government Board in 1884. It
included Lambert's Farm on the road through Has-
combe village.
Within the bounds of the parish are several old
houses and cottages, as well as a number of good
154 Close, 1651, pt. xiv, no. 4.
164 See Col. S.P. Dam. 1663-4, pp. 169,
191.
>Parl. Papers, 1847-8, xlix, 167.
W y.C.H. Surr. ii, 33 ; Inst. Bkt.
(P.R.O.).
In.t. Bkt. (P.R.O.)
" Col. S.P. Dam. 1663-4, pp. 169, Reg. of St. Osmund (Rolls Ser.),
191- i, 297.
160 Land. Gax. 30 June 1865, p. Mi Curia Regis R. 166, m. 2id.
3 z8 3- * See 21 Sept. 1377, and other
181 Ibid. placet.
*> a Pap. Ret. Surr. 1901, p. 5. Loselejr MSS. June 10 1595, x, 116.
M Ibid. p. 6. Loselejr MSS. x, 28.
42
GODALMING HUNDRED
HAMBLEDON
modern houses. The old manor-house close to the
churchyard is one of the best of the old buildings.
H4MBLEDOX MA" NOR included lands
M4NOR in Chiddingfold, Godalming, and Witley.
In the time of Edward the Confessor,
Azor held Hambledon. 4 After the Conquest it was
held in chief by Edward of Salisbury, ancestor of the
first Earl of Salisbury, and remained for some time a
member of the honour of Salisbury.*
The immediate tenant in 1086 was Randulf. His
successors in the I3th century took their name from
Hambledon. In consideration of a grant to William
de Brademer of certain land in Fetcham and Lether-
head in 1207, Robert of Hambledon obtained a
release of William's claim to a hide of land in Ham-
bledon in favour of his own son, Richard of Hamble-
don. 6 This hide had formerly been held by Robert
de Smallbrede, and may therefore have been identical
with the lands called Great and Lesser Smallbredes,
which were attached to the manor in 1621.' In
1251 free warren in Hambledon and Prestwick was
granted to Robert Norris, but there is no proof
that he held the manor. 8 Richard of Hambledon,
the son of Henry of Hambledon, was lord of the
manor later in the same century.' His successor in
1316 was Walter of Hambledon ; " he apparently died
leaving heirs who were minors, for in 1321 the king
granted Hambledon to John de Toucester during his
pleasure." Before 1324 it appears to have been
acquired by Robert Fleming and Alice his wife, for in
that year they had licence for a chapel in their manor
of Hambledon." A 14th-century extent of the pur-
party of a certain inheritance assigned to Thomas
Fleming includes a hall at Smallbredes with a solar
and kitchen and a chapel." The history of the manor
during the next century is obscure. It would appear
from the patronage of the church, which both before
and after this period belonged to the lords of the
manor, that it changed hands several times, for the
advowson was successively in the possession of Edward
the Black Prince, John de Bursebrigg, Richard Earl of
Arundel, John Ryouns, William Petworth, Robert
Payn, John Wintershull and Henry Payn, Robert
Marshall and Richard Payn, Richard Monsted and
Edmund Sumner, and Robert atte Mille and John Bus-
bridge and others." It is directly stated that Richard
Earl of Arundel held the lordship of Hambledon by
reason of the custody of the heir, a woman ; it is
therefore possible that the above-mentioned patrons
of the church were also holding the manor either as
guardians or feoffees to the use of the heir of the
vv
HULL of Hambledon.
Argent a cheveron azure
between three demi-lioni
passant gules vtith three
bexants on the chrvertm
and a chief table -with
Pun piles argent therein.
at Hyls or Hulls. In 1350 Thomas at Hyl wa*
lord of the manor and Maud was his wife." She was
clearly seised of the manor and is said to have been
Maud of Hambledon.
At his death in 1489 John Hull was lord of
Hambledon. 16 Probably he was a descendant of Maud
wife of Thomas Hull whose
death w*s presented at Godal-
ming Court, October 1410."
The sons of John Hull were
Richard and Edward.
In 1538 John Hull of Ham-
bledon died. John Hull of
full age was his heir. 18 He
held in 1547-9" and Giles
Hull in 1567 and 1572.
Giles was father to Samuel
and Joseph who sold in 1606
to Lawrence Stoughton." In
1613 he sold to Laurence
Eliot of Busbridge, 81 a yearly
rent being reserved to Samuel
Hull during his life." Lau-
rence Eliot who held a court in 1614 died holding
the manor in 1 6 1 9," and left a son Sir William Eliot
who settled the manor on himself and his wife Joan in
tail male." He died in 1650. His son Sir William
with his wife and son William barred the entail in
1692." William the son died 1707. The manor
was mortgaged and in 1710 was sold to John Walter *
except the next presentation to the church, which
William had already granted
to his brother, Laurence El-
iot. John Walter settled the
manor on his son Abel's wife
Anne Nevill in 1 729, and they
conveyed it in 1737 to James
Jolliffe and others, 87 possibly
trustees for Hitch Young. 88
In 1759 it passed to the lat-
ter's grand-nephew the Hon.
William Bouverie, created Earl
of Radnor 1761. His son
Viscount Folkestone was in
possession in 1770." In 1800
his son Jacob Pleydell Bouverie
sold it to Henry Hare Town-
send of Busbridge. 30 Mr.
Thomas Mellersh of Godalming purchased it from
him in 1823, and it has since remained in the
Mellersh family.
BOUVERIE, Earl of
Radnor. Party fesseviise
or and argent an eagle
sable with nvo heads hav-
ing on his breast a scut"
chcon gules vjsth a bend
vair.
* V.C.H. Surr. i, 325*.
6 Testa di Nevill (Rec. Com.), 220,
ait.
e Feet of F. Surr. 9 John, 30.
7 Harl. Chart, 57, H. 43.
8 Chart. R. 35 Hen. Ill, m. 3. There
is, however, a possibility that Robert of
Hambledon was ' Robert Norrii of Ham-
bledon.'
Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 221 ;
Anct. D., B. 4012.
10 Par!. Writs (Rec. Com.), ii (3),
338 (13).
11 Abbrev. Rot. Ong. (Rec. Com. ), i,
163. There are numerous record* of mem-
bers of the Hambledon family in Surrey
during the ijth century, and as late as
1 342 John of Hambledon owed suit to God-
aiming Hundred Court (Ct. R. 24 Oct. 17
Edw. III).
18 Winton Epis. Reg. Stratford, fol. 6a.
It is worthy of note that the Flemings
were connected with the Norris family, for
in 1319-20 a release was granted to Robert
son of William Fleming from a warranty
of dower, claimed by Lucy late wife of
Robert Norris of Fordham in Essex (Anct.
D. [P.R.O.] B. 3625).
18 Rentals and Surv. P.R.O., no. 628.
11 Egerton MS. 2033, fol. 17, 58, 88.
ls Lay Subs. R. bdle. 184, no. 29.
16 P.C.C. Will proved 23 Oct. 1489 ;
Miller 39.
V Thomas Hull held land at Heydon in
Godalming close to Hambledon. John
Hull was in possession of Heydon in
1428-9 (Catteshull Customary, 7 Hen. VI.)
18 Catteshull Court, 23 Sept. 30 Hen.
VIII.
19 In a survey of Godalming (Misc.
Bks. Exch. L.T.R. vol. clxix, fol. 109*)
John Hull senior is mentioned as owing
43
suit at Godalming Hundred Court for the
manor in 1549, and a marginal note says
that Giles Hull held it later.
* Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 4 Jas. I ; Mich.
6 Jas. I.
21 Close, 1 1 Jas. I, pt. xxxv, no. 23.
*> Harl. Chart. 57, H. 43, 44.
88 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccclxxx, 127.
84 Harl. Chart. 57, H. 43, 44.
95 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 4 Will, and
Mary.
m See Close, 7 Geo. II, pt. vi, no. I.
"Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 12 Geo. II}
Release Enr. in Chan. 1733, pt. B. 6,
no. 9.
88 Manning and Bray say that Hitch
Young bought it c. 1737 ; Hist, of Surr.
ii, 56.
* Com. Pleas Recov. R. Trin. II
Geo. Ill, m. 104.
80 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii,56.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
The old manor house is at the west end of the
church. It is now called Court Farm from the court
baron having been held there.
The lands of Great and Lesser Smallbrede, Shad-
wells and Durcombes are mentioned in another deed
of 1622-3." In I 77 Shadwell Field and Upper,
Lower, and Little Darkham were included in Hyde
Style Farm in the northern part of Hambledon, and
Shadwell is an existing name north-west of the
farm-house. These seem to be the latter two.
Smallbrede was probably adjoining them, and perhaps
Great Smallbrede is preserved in what is called the
Great House on the right-hand side of the road from
Hambledon to Godalming, south of Hyde Style
Farm. Smallbrede was on the road, for the Hundred
Roll of the Court of 21 September 1340 refers to
injury to the via rfgia dt Smallbrede.
The lord of Hambledon Manor had court baron,
and in Manning and Bray's time court leet in ' High
Hambledon.' " View of frankpledge and assize of
bread and ale were claimed by Robert parson of
Hambledon in 12789. He failed to appear and
justify his claim, whereupon the Bishop of Salisbury
was allowed those liberties as pertaining to his hun-
dred of Godalming. 33 As late as 1808 the lord of
Godalming Hundred was paid zs. when a court leet
was held at Hambledon.* 4 The steward of the bishop
regularly held a view of frankpledge at Hambledon on
St. Matthew's Day, and tried cases of trespass, assault,
failure to maintain highways and bridges, breaking of
the assize of bread and ale, &c.* s
The church of Sr. PETER is a small
CHURCH building almost entirely rebuilt in 1846,
consisting of nave, with small north aisle
and vestry, south porch, and chancel. There is a
bell-turret at the west end. It is most picturesquely
situated, with very fine views from the churchyard, in
which are two splendid yews ; the trunk of the larger,
which must be of an immense age, measures about
3 oft. in circumference and is hollow. The smaller
one measures 1 7 ft. at 5 ft. from the ground.
Cracklow (1824) describes the old church as con-
sisting of a nave and chancel, 'of rough materials,
covered partly with tiles, and partly with stone slates,'
with ' a small open chapel on the north belonging
to the manor, with a gallery on the north sides
and another at the west end. The floor of the
church is paved with bricks, and the entrance is by a
path at the west end ; there is a wooden turret,
rising through the roof near the middle of the nave,
containing one bell, and surmounted by a small spire
covered with shingles. The basin of the font is cut
out of a solid block of stone. The style of the
architecture affords but few data on which to form
any idea of the period of its foundation. The Royal
Arms are painted on the shell of a turtle placed over
the pulpit, which was presented by the Earl of Rad-
nor, patron of the church. Among the monuments
are some for the family of Hull, of the early date of
1489.'
Cracklow's view, taken from the south-west, shows
a porch of timber at the west end, a somewhat lofty
nave, with its modern bell-turret nearly central (as in
the neighbouring church of Hascombe, before re-
building), a square-headed blocked doorway in the
south wall, and eastward of it a two-light window,
apparently of 13th-century date, beyond which again
are two two-light windows, square-headed and
probably ' churchwarden ' insertions : one is quite
low down in the wall. In the south wall of the
chancel is a lancet of 1 3th-century character, probably
a low side window.
The approximate dimensions of the old church were:
nave 30 ft. by 1 6 ft., chancel 1 6 ft. by 13 ft., and
north chapel 1 6 ft. by 7 ft., and the new church is
of about the same size. As might be expected from
the date of the rebuilding, the present church has not
much to recommend it, but the design is pretty good
in parts, and there is a profusion of carving, quite
excellent for the period, especially a cornice on the
outside of the south wall of the chancel, with
minute heads and paterae by the same hand as the
restored heads in the wall-arcade of ' the Round ' at
the Temple Church, London.
A good deal of chalk has been used in the interior,
especially in the arcade of three arches to the north
aisle, and in the chancel arch. The font, octagonal
and modern, is a copy of that in Bosham Church,
Sussex. The original font appears to have been of
1 1 th or 1 2th-century date and to have resembled in
design that in the neighbouring church of Alfold.
The roofs are modern.
The 1 7th-century altar-table is now in the vestry,
in which also is a deal chest of about the same date.
The registers date from 1617.
When the church was rebuilt in 1 846, the then
rector, the Rev. E. Bullock, gave a cup, paten, and
flagon. The only ancient communion vessel is a
small paten with the London hall-marks of 1691.
There is one bell by William Eldridge, 1705.
There is no mention of a church
JDfOfrSON at Hambledon in the Domesday
Survey. A church existed in 1 29 1. 36
The lords of the manor presented to it in the I4th cen-
tury, and the advowson of the church remained in
their possession " till the last William Eliot (who
sold the manor to John Walter) granted the presenta-
tion to his brother Laurence Eliot. 38 His son
Francis Eliot sold it to Lord Folkestone in 176 1. 3 '
It is now in the hands of Lord Radnor, his descendant.
Henry Smith's Charity (1627) for
CHARITIES the relief of deserving poor exists as
in most Surrey parishes.
Richard Wyatt(l6i8) left money for the mainten-
ance of one poor man of the parish in the Carpenters'
Almshouse at Godalming.
81 Harl. Chart. 57, H. 44.
81 Hitt. ofSurr. ii, 55.
"Plae. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.),
38.
84 Manning and Bray, Surf ii, 55.
85 Hund. R. fattim, preserved at Lose-
ley.
88 Pope Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 208.
87 William More of Loseley presented
in 1568 ; he probably had a lease of the
advowson. Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii,
App. 620.
88 Close, 7 Geo. II, pt. vi, no. i.
89 Close, I Geo. Ill, no. 6077, sub.
no. 5.
GODALMING HUNDRED
HASLEMERE
HASLEMERE
Hasulmore (xiv cent.) ; Haselmere (xvi cent.).
Haslemere is a market town and a small parish
9 miles south-west of Godalming, of irregular form
about 2 miles in breadth at the south end, and nearly
2 miles at the greatest measurement from north to
south. The soil is mainly the Lower Green Sand, but
the parish also extends over some of the Atherfield
Clay and the Wealden Clay. It includes part of
Weydown Common, and Grayshott Common to the
north, and open land about East (or Haste) Hill to the
east, and other open land ; but is mostly agricultural
land or woodland. The parish is traversed by the
Portsmouth line of the London and South Western
Railway, and by the road from Guildford to Midhurst.
It contains 2,253 acres. A part of the town
was in the parish of Thursley, but has been
transferred to Haslemere by the Local Government
Act of 1 894. The house called Weycombe was trans-
ferred from Chiddingfold to Haslemere by order of
the Local Government Board, 1884.'
The woollen industry existed here as elsewhere in
West Surrey, and the iron works at Imbhams and
in Witley gave employment to charcoal burners,
called colliers as elsewhere in Surrey, in Haslemere
parish. The names of Foundry Road and Hammer
Lane imply ironworks in the parish.
The present industries include brick and tile works,
and several handicrafts introduced of late years by
artistic and benevolent residents or neighbours, such as
the linen, silk, and cotton weaving in Foundry Road,
introduced by Mr. and Mrs. King of Witley circa
1 895 ; tapestry, by Mr. and Mrs. Blunt ; silk weaving,
by Mr. Hooper ; artist's wood and cabinet works, by
Mr. Romney Green ; faience and mosaic works by
Mr. Radley Young, in Hammer Lane ; weaving of
ecclesiastical vestments, etc., by Mr. Hunter, on College
Hill. The local museum and library, very far
superior in plan and arrangement to the ordinary local
museum, is connected with these local industries, as part
of a general scheme to revive artistic taste and intellec-
tual interests in a country place. But though Haslemere
is a centre for a residential district, which since Pro-
fessor Tyndall first built a house upon Hindhead has
housed a remarkable body of literary, artistic, scientific,
and otherwise distinguished residents, from Professor
Tyndall and Lord Tennyson downwards, the greater
part of the residential district is outside the parish
of Haslemere, though a considerable number of
houses have been built, or old houses adapted, in the
place itself.
The tradition preserved by Aubrey ' that Haslemere
was a place of ancient importance, once possessing
seven churches, but destroyed by the Danes, is of no
value. It is unsupported by a scrap of documentary
evidence, and is contrary to probability, as the place,
unnamed in Domesday, was on the confines of the
Wealden Forest, in a generally thinly inhabited
country and was neither an ancient parish nor an
ancient manor. It was a chapelry of the parish of
Chiddingfold and was part of the first royal and then
episcopal manor of Godalming. Old Haslemere, on
East Hill, also called Haste Hill in deeds, south-east
of the town, was merely a tenement in the 1 4th cen-
tury, 3 but the name ' Churchliten field ' there * and
' Old church-yard ' of Haslemere are suggestive of a
church having been on the spot. The place where
the present church stands, upon the opposite side of
the town, was called Piperham. 5
The boundaries of Surrey and Sussex have perhaps
been slightly altered here to the loss of Surrey. On
6 September 161 6 some forty inhabitants of Haslemere
and the neighbourhood sent a letter to Sir George
More, lord of the hundred and manor of Godalming,
complaining that some two years back John Misselbroke
had altered the course of the stream called Houndley's
Water, near Carpenter's Heath, where it formed the
county boundary, and that Richard Boxell of Linch-
mere in Sussex had kept up the diversion.' Carpenter's
Heath was the name of the land about Shottermill, on
the borders of Godalming and Farnham Manors and
Hundreds. Though the diversions deprived Sir George
of land, no further action appears to have taken
place.
Cinerary urns, made on a wheel, with calcined bones
in them, and some flints about them, but no bronze or
iron, were found in Mr. Rollason's meadow, called
Beeches, between Haslemere and Grayshott, and were
presented to the local museum in 1902. Close by
was the floor of a kiln, with tesserae and burnt stones
and charcoal. Neolithic flint implements are fairly
common in the neighbourhood.
There are Congregational and Particular Baptist
chapels in Haslemere.
The town is beautifully placed on the slope of a
gentle hill Black Down ridge its church lying
away from the town on a high spur. There is 3
market-house, placed in the middle of the wide street
on the site of the Town Hall. It is not in itself
of any great antiquity or beauty, but it harmonizes
with its surroundings. For grouping, colouring,
and the artistic setting of trees, creepers, and lovely
backgrounds the streets of Haslemere are justly
renowned ; and the new houses blend on the whole
very happily with the old : but considered individually
for antiquity or architectural merit they cannot com-
pare with the houses of Godalming. Tile-hanging is
the characteristic feature of the houses, which are mostly
gabled and of brick or timber and plaster construction,
with, in many cases, fine brick chimney stacks, and
tiled roofs. Besides the High Street, which contains
many picturesque examples of low-pitched gabled
houses, there are interesting old houses in Shepherd's
Hill (half timber and tile-hanging, to upper story,
with plastered cove below) and East Street, which latter
has a good moulded brick cornice. Most of these
appear to date from early in the iyth century, but
there are a few perhaps of earlier date, and a number
belonging to the 1 8th century.
Haslemere, which was originally only
BOROUGH a tithing of Godalming, seems to have
first gained importance through itt
market, which was especially mentioned with the manor
1 Loc. Govt. Bd. Order 165 31.
* Hitt. ofSurr. (ed. 1718), iv, 28.
8 Godalming Hundred Rolls, Loseley
MSS. fanim. The rent of Old Haslemere
was 6d. per acre to the lord.
* Gent. Mag. 1802, pt. ii, p. 817.
45
* See below, under the account of the
church.
Loseley MS. date cited.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
of Godalming in 1 22 1, 7 nearly eighty years before the
lords of Salisbury had a weekly market in Godalming
itself. In point of population it does not seem to have
even approached the neighbouring " parishes of Witley
and Chiddingfold. Although it was not expressly
called a borough in the return of 1315,' it is called
'burgus' in 1377.' In 1394 John Waltham, Bishop
of Salisbury, had licence to grant a charter to Hasle-
mere, giving the town a market on Wednesdays and
an annual fair on the eve and day of the Holy Cross,
and three succeeding days."
In an account of rents received in Godalming
Manor, dated 1543, the 'burgesses' of the 'borough'
of Haslemere are said to owe MS. zd. rent for certain
lands there," which rent is evidently identical with
izs. id. called ' le Burgage Rent' paid to the lord of
Godalming by the tenants called the .burgage holders
in Haslemere." The inhabitants held by burgage
tenure in the 1 4th century when the Court Rolls of
Godalming Manor and Hundred begin.
The tenants of the tithing owed suit to the Hun-
dred Court of Godalming, but a view of frankpledge
was held at Hocktide at Haslemere, and a court leet
with it, in the 1 7th century, for the borough." The
town was considered a separate manor from Godal-
ming, after the charter of 1596 at least.' 5 Separate
Court Rolls exist for it.
The burgage-rent was collected annually by the
bailiff of the borough, who seems to have been the
only officer, for in 1 596, at the time when the Crown
was still holding Godalming Manor, Queen Elizabeth
addressed a re-grant of the market and fairs to the
bailiff and inhabitants of the borough." In the pre-
amble to this grant she asserted that the town had
sent two burgesses to Parliament from time imme-
morial, and confirmed their right to do so in the
future. She further recited the charter of Richard II,
and as the markets and fair had fallen into disuse,
restored to them the market on Tuesdays, the fair,
now twice a year on St. Philip and St. James's and
Holy Cross Day. Tolls were to be levied, a court of
pie powder held, and the tolls to be applied by the
bailiffand others to the relief of the poor inhabitants."
The original grantees having all died, John Billing-
hurst of Coldwaltham, co. Sussex, claimed the right
to gather the tolls as heir of John Steede, the last sur-
viving grantee. He was accused of misemploying the
profits of the fair and market, which seem at that time
to have amounted to about j yearly, and a decree
was issued in 1662 vesting the trust in the lords of
the manor of Godalming for the relief of the poor of
Haslemere, an account being given at the court leet
of the borough. 18 According to the inscription on
the almshouses on the common near Lythe Hill,
James Gresham, who represented Haslemere in the
Parliament of 1678-9, by his 'care and oversight'
caused the almshouses, then called the Toll House, to
be built in 1676, for the habitation of decayed inhabi-
tants of the borough, out of the profits of the market. 19
However, after the death of Sir William More, lord
of Godalming, John Billinghurst again tried to make
good his claim to the tolls, and obtained a reversal of
the former decree, 10 but in 1691 the grant was found
to be in favour of the poor of the borough. 11 Thomas
Molyneux, then lord of Haslemere Manor, the minis-
ter of Haslemere, and others, were appointed trustees,"
and John Billinghurst ordered to restore 42 I is.
which he had collected." The market produced
little, being in the centre of a poor country. The
view of frankpledge and court baron, held together
in this case as at Godalming, give a few interesting
glimpses of town management. So anxious were the
burgesses to keep down the poor-rate that they decreed
at the court of 4 May 1627 that no one in this leet
shall let, devise, grant, &c., any messuage, &c., or
room, to any ' forriner,' unless he and they can satisfy
the bailiff and overseers that he can maintain himself
and family penalty 10. This was repeated 7 May
1628. Under Charles I the records of the court were
kept in Latin. One result of the Commonwealth is
that English was used, as was also the case in Guildford.
On 30 April 1652 Puritan opinion forbade any person
to set up a game called 'nine holes' in this borough
penalty 5*. But cleanliness was some way off godli-
ness, for on 10 April 1654 it was ordered that no one
was to keep a dunghill standing in the borough above
a month penalty izd. On 22 April 1658 the
Market House, the Fish Cross, and the Butter Cross,
were reported to be very ruinous. Robert Cobden
and William Shudd were bound to repair them, under
penalty of I o, to be done before the feast of St. Mi-
chael the Archangel. This feast survives in all its
full sanctity as a date in spite of the opinions then
prevailing. After the Restoration Mr. Richard
Symmes, the steward of Godalming, had the record of
the court kept again in Latin. It is interesting to
find that in 1678 among the 'foreign' tradesmen
who set up stalls at the market, but who were fined
I it. for doing so without the bailiff's leave, was
Robert Smyth of Farnham, bookseller. The old
Crosses and Town Hall, ruinous in 1658, were pulled
down, the two former after 1735. The Town Hall
was not pulled down till 1814, when the present
hall was built by the two members. For this date
there is a plan of the town, a copy of which is pre-
served in the present Town Hall.
7 Rot. Lit. Clam. (Rec. Com.), i, 455.
8 In the earlier Subsidy Rolls Haslemere
is not even mentioned. Probably it was
included in Godalming at that time. In
the returns for the poll tax of 1380, 62
names are given under Haslemere, whereas
238 were returned under Godalming, 133
under Witley, and 176 under Chiddingfold
(Lay Subs. R. bdle. 184, no. 29). Nor
does it ever seem to have been very exten-
sive, for the hearth-tax return of 1674
only accounts for 61 households (ibid. bdle.
1 88, no. 496).
9 Par!. Writs (Rec. Com.), ii (3), 338.
The vill of Haslemere is there set down
as a possession of the Bishop of Salis-
bury.
10 Mins. Accts. bdle. 1010, no. 7. An
account of the manor of Ashurst, wherein
one item is given as 301. rent in the hamlet
of Chiddingfold and 'in turgode Haselmere.'
11 Chart. R. 15-17 Ric. II, no. 6.
11 Exch. Mins. Accts. 34-5 Hen. VIII,
Div. Co. R. 64, m. 20.
u Godalming R. fassim and Misc. Bks.
(Land Rev.), cxc, 235.
11 Godalming R. Loseley MSS.
" Fide infra.
" Petty Bag Char. Inq. xxvi, 18.
V Writs of Privy Seal, May, 38 Eliz.
18 Petty Bag Char. Inq. xxvi, 18 ;
Hitt. MSS. Com. Ref. vii, App. 679.
" See Char. Cam. Rep. ii; Par!. Papers,
1824, xiv, 635. It was this James Gresham
46
who persuaded the bailiff to substitute his
name for that of Denzil Onslow in the
return of burgesses for 1679. See also
Loseley MSS. i, 132.
20 Proc. as to Charitable Uses, Confir-
mations, &c. 2 Jas. II, 25. On the ground
that Elizabeth had intended the profits of
the market and fair for the public
benefit of the borough and not for the poor
only, so that the matter did not come
within the cognizance of the Charity Com-
missioners who had issued the decree.
81 Chan. Decrees and Orders, Mich.
1691, A 425.
aa Ibid. Hil. !692, A 232.
88 Chan. Rep. 1693, A-D, Chan. Orders
and Decrees, Hil. 1693-4, A. 365*.
GODALMING HUNDRED
HASLEMERE
Haslemere ceased to be a borough after the Mu-
nicipal Reform Act of 1835."
Although the charter of I 596 asserts that Haslemere
sent two burgesses to Parliament from time imme-
morial," the first extant return of burgesses for the
town dates from 1584, only twelve years before.* 8
It is evident, therefore, that Haslemere was one of
the towns which Elizabeth caused to return members
in order to increase her influence in the House, a
supposition strengthened by her own statement that
she granted the market and fairs in the hope that if
the inhabitants of the town should thereby enjoy
greater prosperity they would feel themselves the more
bound to do all possible service to her and her suc-
cessors.
The electors were inhabitant freeholders, whether
paying rent to the lord of the manor or not, the bur-
gage holders in fact." Tenants of land which had
been part of the waste of the manor, or of houses
upon it, could not vote from such qualification only.
The number of such burgage holders varied consider-
ably, because as different owners represented different
interests the burgages were deliberately divided into
small parts to multiply votes. Haslemere was a
rotten borough in the sense of being thoroughly
penetrated with corruption, and was the scene of very
violent electoral contests," till in 1784 Sir James
Lowther, afterwards Earl of Lonsdale, bought the manor
and many freeholds in it, and made it a close borough,
though a rival interest, that of the Burrell family,
existed. The second Earl of Lonsdale in fact abolished
many of the freeholds, creating them only for the pur-
pose of an election, when the burgages required are said
to have been conveyed to the charcoal-burners and
others of the neighbourhood, or to servants of his friends,
with the understanding that they should be surrendered
for a consideration when the need was over. But
there were a few distinguished members for Haslemere.
Carew Raleigh, son of Sir Walter, was elected to fill
the vacancy in the Long Parliament caused by the
death of Sir Poynings More in 1 649, and the famous
General Oglethorpe sat from 1722 to 1754. The
Rt. Hon. Sir John Beckett was one of the last two
members. It was among the forty-six boroughs whose
population stood lowest at the
time of the Reform Bill of
1832, and accordingly was then
disfranchished. 89
The manor of
MANORS H4SLEMERE
descended with
the hundred and manor of
Godalming till 1784, when
the sisters of Thomas More-
Molyneux and their trustees
sold to Sir James Lowther
under a private Act.*" Sir James
was created Earl of Lonsdale
the same year, and died in 1802. The manor passed
to his cousin Sir William Lowther, who inherited the
LOWTHER, Earl of
Lonsdale. Or tix rings
table.
title of Viscount Lowther, and was created Earl of
Lonsdale in 1807. He died in 1844. The manor
was purchased from his heirs by James Stewart Hodgson
of Lythe Hill, Haslemere, in 1870. His widow held
it, and died 1907. Mr. J. Whateley Simmonds, J.P.
has lately bought the manor. A description of the manor
in 1814 says that ' the manor was held by burgage
tenure, the Burgesses paying for their several tenements
a burgage rent of I2/. \d. to the lord of Godalming.
The Borough and Manor are not co-extensive, as some
of the lands in the borough are in the manor of
Godalming. Officers are elected at a Court Leet in
April or May, a Bailiff, a Constable, Searchers and
Sealers of Leather and and an Ale taster. No Court
Baron has been held since 1694.'
The court leet was held up to 1839, when the
practice was discontinued."
The manor of IMBHAMS (Imbeham xiii-xv cents. ;
Imbhams and Embornes, xvi cent.) was parcel of
Loseley Manor, held of the honour of Gloucester, but
adjacent land bearing the same name was held of the
Bishop of Salisbury's manor of Godalming.
In 1285 Eleanor widow of Robert de Dol, late
lord of Loseley, had dower in Imbhams, 31 and re-
covered land in Chiddingfold from various tenants
including Alan of Imbhams. 33 From her time the
manor descended with Loseley to her son Robert, at
whose death in March 13567 it was found that he
held two holdings of the name. The one was held of the
Earl of Gloucester, and the other of the Bishop of
Salisbury for 1 Ss. SJ. and suit of court at Godalming.
The manor-house was in that part of Imbhams which
was held of the earl. None of the arable land seems
to have been profitable, since it lay in the Weald, and
the pasture was of no value on account of the great
size of the trees. 31 Imbhams was not included in
Robert de Dol's agreement with his daughter Joan de
Bures, 35 but was assigned immediately after his death
to his heirs, the same Joan and John Norton. 36
Joan died in 1371, her heir being her son William
Bures, 37 who succeeded to the moiety of Loseley,
including presumably a moiety of Imbhams, which she
held in her own right. The other moiety, afterwards
known as NORTH IMBH4MS, passed to John Nor-
ton, descended from her sister Margaret, 38 who must
have died almost immediately after her, for in 1375 he
had been dead about four years, having been seised of
a moiety of a piece of land called ' Imbeham,' held of
the king in chief, owing to the vacancy of the see of
Salisbury, but formerly held of the bishop at a rent of
6/. 39 His heir John Norton was under age. This was
parcel of the manor of Loseley. It was the portion in
Haslemere, and by an unknown process passed to the
Coverts. It did not pass first to the Sidneys, to whom
the Norton moiety of Loseley proper came, for in the
proceedings by which Humphrey Sidney established
his claim to the inheritance in 1508,* though land
in Chiddingfold (which then of course included
Haslemere) is mentioned, this land was held of the
manor of Bramley." The Norton portion was already
5 & 6 Will IV, cap. 76.
* Writs of Privy Seal, May 38 Eliz.
" Rft. of Mtmb. of Part. i. The first
members recorded aa representing Hasle-
mere were Christopher Rythe of Lincoln's
Inn, and Miles Rythe of the same.
a " Journ, of the Houie of Common*,
20 May 1661, p. 253.
** Ibid, xxxii, 49 ; xxxv, 361 ; Mere-
wether and Stephens, Hist, of Boroughs, ii,
1380.
99 Part. Papers, 1831-2, xxxvi, 3, 5,
41.
80 20 Geo. Ill, cap. 45.
81 Privately communicated.
M De Banco R. 60 (Mich. 1 3-14
Edw. I), m. 83.
88 Close, 1 5 Edw. I, m. i d.
47
84 Chan. Inq. p.m. 30 Edw. Ill, no. 45.
84 See under Loseley.
88 Abbrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), ii,
241.
07 Chan. Inq. p.m. 4; Edw. Ill, no. 4.
88 See Loseley.
89 Chan. In.], p.m. 49 Edw. Ill, no. 1 8.
*> See under Loseley.
41 Inform. Rev. T. S. Cooper.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
in the hands of William Covert of Slaugham and
Harlcombe, who died in 1494- In I 504 his son John
Covert died seised of the manor of Imbhams in
Haslemere, Chiddingfold and Alfold, held of the
Bishop of Salisbury." H is heir was his cousin Richard,
from whom it went to John's nephew Giles, who
held at the time of the survey of Godalming made
by Edward VI, and died in 1557," holding of the
Crown, which then held the bishop's manor of Godal-
ming. He was succeeded by his brother Richard.
He was father of Antony Covert, father of John and
An tony, all of whom held it." John conveyed to Antony
in 1625, the conveyance including the pond which
supplied the water for the Quenells' iron furnace
called Imbhams." The Coverts sold to Peter Quenell
the elder in \6zj. K ,
Quenell had already acquired SOUTH IMBHAMS,
the other moiety, which went with the Bures portion
of Loseley, probably to the Strodes, who had land in
Chiddingfold, 47 and so to the Westbrooks. John
Westbrook was lord of the manor of Imbhams alias
Southymbhams, in 1492, and granted land which had
escheated to him as lord. When he sold Loseley to
Sir Christopher More he did not convey the manor
of South Imbhams 48 specifically, and it continued in
his family. He died in 1513, and his son William
in 1537. His heirs were his sister Florence Scarlett,
widow, and Elizabeth wife of Edward Hull. John,
grandson of the former, sold his moiety of South
Imbhams to Thomas Quenell in I568. 49 Thomas
left it, subject to his wife's life interest, to his brother
Robert Quenell in 1571, and Scarlett levied a fine to
Robert Quenell in I576. 50
Thomas Hull, son of Elizabeth Hull, had sold his
share to the same Robert Quenell in 1574." This
Robert was father to Peter, who acquired the other
part of Imbhams, vide supra, in 1626. The Quenells
were ironmasters, and Peter, a Royalist, cast guns for
the king at Imbhams as long as he was allowed." He
died in 1 649. His son Peter served in the king's army,
and also borrowed money. He died in 1666. Peter
Quenell his son held a court in 1669, but under
an arrangement to satisfy his father's debts sold
with his mother's concurrence in 1677 to Thomas
Newton and William Yalden." The latter took the
manor and held a court in 1 679. He died in 1 740,
aged 91. His son William died in 1742, leaving a
son William who died in 1796. He had a daughter
Elizabeth, wife of Ralph Bennet, and two other
daughters. The trustees of the estate sold it to
George Oliver of Brentford in 1797. His son
George died at a great age after 1 870, and the manor
was sold to the late Mr. James Stewart Hodgson of
Lythe Hill, Haslemere, whose widow died in 1907.
William Yalden the younger was of ' the New-
house,' since known as the Manor House. The old
manor house is a moated farm of the 1 6th century.
The church of ST. BARTHOLO-
CHURCH MEW is embowered in trees, among
which the grey stone tower with stone-
slated roof has a more venerable aspect than is war-
ranted by its actual age. The churchyard, which is
extremely pretty and well kept, abounds in choice
shrubs and trees, and has a great number of old and
new monuments. Professor Tyndall lies here, but
under a gorse and heather-covered mound, without
stone or other memorial.
The church was originally only a chapel-of-ease to
Chiddingfold. The tower at the west end is practic-
ally all that remains of ancient date, and there is reason
to suppose that this goes no further back than the
middle of the I7th century. The nave, north aisle,
and chancel, after having been greatly altered about
1837, were partly rebuilt in 1870-1, a south aisle
being added at the same time. The style in which
the new work was designed is that of the middle of
the 1 3th century. When the rebuilding took place a
number of the older gravestones were built into the
walls inside and out. There is a good deal of modern
glass of varying merit, including a two-light window
designed by the late Sir Edward Burne-Jones to the
memory of the poet Tennyson, its subject being Sir
Galahad and the Holy Grail. Some old glass said to
have been brought out of Kent by the Rev. M. San-
derson at the end of the 1 7th century has been re-
distributed, part being in the west window of the tower,
and the rest in the west window of the north aisle ;
originally the whole was in the east window of the
chancel. A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for
1 80 1 gives the subjects as follows :
' I. St. Matthew. 2. Our Saviour's Ascension.
3. St. Mark. 4. Adam and Eve in Paradise. 5. The
Nativity. 6. Noah going into the Ark. 7. St. Luke.
8. Saul thrown from his horse, and his attendants
offering him assistance : " Savl, Savl, qvid persecv'is
me ? " 9. Offering of the Wise Men. Among the
numerous presents, I distinguished some fine hams,
poultry and mutton. 10. St. John.'
The same writer describes the nave as ' separated
from the transept [i.e. aisle] by four pointed arches
resting on low round pillars, part of a wooden
screen remaining under the chancel arch. The font
is a large octagonal stone supported on a pillar corre-
sponding with it. On one of the bells is inscribed,
" Peace and good neighbourhood." '
Another writer says 54 of the arcade between the
nave and north aisle, ' the pillars that support the
arches are of oak, and of large dimensions.' Mr. J. W.
Penfold, an old resident, in giving his recollections
of the church as he remembers it ' in the early days
of William IV,' says ; ' The north aisle was separated
from the nave by huge oak pillars, with heavy carved
ribs or struts forming arches to support the low roof,
and much obscuring the view into the nave. . . About
1 837 the oak pillars were removed, and neat fluted
iron columns were substituted.' "
From Cracklow's view of 1823 it would seem prob-
able that the old nave and chancel retained features
of 1 3th-century date, but that the building had been
greatly altered in the 1 6th and following centuries.
18 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xxxi, 263.
48 Ibid, cxiv, 42.
44 Feet of F. SUIT. Hil. 14 Jas. I; Chan.
Proc. Elir. H.h. vi, 60.
45 Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 22 Jas. I.
46 Ibid. East. 2 Chas. J, and East. 4
Cha". I.
4 ' Strode Deeds at Loseley, q.v.
43 Add. Chart. 13557. See Loseley.
Imbhams was included in the marriage
settlement of William More in 1551
(Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 5 Edw. VI). It
was probably an overlordship attaching to
Loseley, merged in the general overlord-
ship acquired by the Mores in the whole
hundred and manor of Godalming by
grant in 1601.
49 Com. Pleas D. Enr. East. 18 Eliz. m.
43-
50 Feet of F. Surr. East. 18 Eliz.
4 8
"Ibid. Hil. 1 7 Eliz.
M For an account of the Quenell family
see Surr. Arcb. Coll. xv, 40.
68 Chan. Decree, 3 July 27 Chas. II,
790, no. 13.
64 Gent. Mag. 1802, pt. ii, 817, 8 1 8.
65 Preface to Haslemere and Hir.dhcad,
in the 'Homeland Handbooks' series.
This timber arcade was the only one of
ancient date in Surrey.
GODALMING HUNDRED
PEPER HAROW
The registers date from 1572.
The church plate includes a cup and paten cover of
1669, a credence paten of 1672, a paten of 1718, a
cup of 1730, and a flagon of 1793 all of silver.
The place where the present church stands upon
the side of the town opposite to 'Old Haslemere'
(vide supra) was called Piperham, and the church here
is the ' capella de Piperham ' which with Chiddingfold
is mentioned in 1 1 80 and 1185 in the Salisbury
Registers. 56 A deed of 1486 in the possession
of Mr. J. W. Penfold shows that the road from
the upper end of Haslemere Street leading to the
present church then led to Piperham Church. A
fragment of a Court Roll at Loseley of 6 & 7 James I
mentions the road as out of order leading from ' Pep-
perham's church in Haslemere by Pilemarsh.' Pile-
marsh is between the present church and Haslemere
Station. There probably was another church, now
gone, on East Hill, whence the tradition of seven
churches. Also in 1458 John Piperham leased to
John Boxfold of Haslemere his tenement called Piper-
hammes next the church in Haslemere on the under-
standing that Boxfold should perform all services due
to the king, the lord of the fee, and to the church.* 7
There was also a tenement called Howndleswater,
rtherwise Peperham in Haslemere, of which John
Bridger was possessed when he died in February
1 5 80- 1. 58
The parish was a chapelry in the parish of Chid-
dingfold, but in 1363 Bishop Edyngton of Winchester
granted licence for the consecration of a long-existing
chapel and burial-ground at Haslemere in place of
the old churchyard near the old church. 69 The dis-
trict possessed parish officers and registers of its own,
and though a rector was usually, till recently, instituted
to the rectory of Chiddingfold with Haslemere, a
separate curate was often in residence. It has been
in all respects a separate parish since 1869.
The history of the advowson is
ADVOWSON coincident with that of the mother-
church of Chiddingfold till 1868.
In that year a rector was instituted to the churches of
Chiddingfold and Haslemere on the understanding that
he should resign the latter when called upon to do so.
This he did in 1869, when Haslemere became a
separate rectory.
Smith's Charity is distributed as in
CHARITIES other Surrey parishes.
James Bicknell by will 27 Novem-
ber 1633 ' ft tne produce of certain land, of about
1 3*. \d. a year, to the churchwardens for the poor.
James Gresham, lessee of the tolls of the market, left
the tolls and an almshouse in 1676. The almshouse
exists, but is now unendowed. In 1816 Mr. Shudd,
a solicitor of the town, left 350 to the poor.
There is a cottage hospital founded by John Pen-
fold, opened in 1898, in commemoration of the
Diamond Jubilee of the late Queen Victoria ; a
convalescent home, founded and maintained by Jona-
than Hutchinson; and a holiday home at East Hill,
established by Mrs. Stewart Hodgson in 1884, for
the reception of poor girls from London.
PEPER HAROW
Pipereherge (xi cent.) ; Piperinges (xiii cent.) ;
Pyperhaghe (xiv cent.).
Peper Harow is a small parish lying west of
Godalming town. It measures about 4 miles from
north to south, about 2 miles in breadth in the
northern and under a mile in the southern part.
The soil is exclusively the Lower Green Sand, except
for alluvium in the valley of the Wey, which runs
in a winding course across the parish from west to
east. The southern part of the parish includes
Ockley Common and Pudmoor, extensive heathlands
connected with Thursley Common and Elstead Heath.
In the northern part of it is Peper Harow Park, the
seat of Viscount Midleton, extending to both sides
of the Wey, and reaching on the southern bank into
Witley parish. The area is 1,301 acres of land and
19 of water. The road from Farnham to Godal-
ming crosses the parish from west to east. The
population is under 200.
The charter of Edward of Wessex to the church
of Winchester, c. 909,' gives the boundary of Elstead
and of Peper Harow as it now exists in part :
' Aerest act vii dican to Ottanforda, swa to Sumaeres
forda, (now Somerset Bridge), Souan to Ocanlea
(Ockley Common).'
The park and grounds at Peper Harow contain
some fine timber, notably some cedars of Lebanon,
which were put in as seedlings from pots in 1735.*
In the park are the remains of Oxenford Grange,
a grange of Waverley Abbey. The fifth Viscount
Midleton employed Mr. Pugin to build an imitation
13th-century farm here, and a gatehouse to the park
in the same style in 1844, and in 1843 Mr. Pugin
built an arch of similar design over the Bonfield
Spring in the neighbourhood a medicinal spring
of local repute, said by Aubrey to be good for all
eyesores and ulcers. This land of Oxenford is
now counted in Witley parish.*
A conveyance to Sir Walter Covert in 1605
speaks of the land in the ' Parish and Field ' of
Peper Harow. But the end of ' the Field ' is not
known. There was no Inclosure Act.
PEPER HAROW was held by Alward
MANOR under Edward the Confessor, and after the
Conquest carne into the possession of
Walter, Governor of Windsor Castle, son of Other,
ancestor of the Windsors, 4 to whose honour of Windsor
the overlordship of the manor belonged. 6 The actual
tenant of Peper Harow in 1086 was a certain Girard,*
one of whose successors, Osbert of Peper Harow, sold
Peper Harow to Ralph de Broc. His son-in-law
Stephen de Turnham received a confirmation of the
M Rtg. of St. Osmund (Rolls Ser.), i, 268, 460. Thit would be the present, i.e.
301, 303. ' Add. Chart. 27757. Piperham, church.
1 Kemble, Codex Difl. 1093, v > '7^-
1 MS. at Peper Harow.
8 For a further account of it ee under
88 Exch. Mint. Accti. 34-5 Hen. VIII,
Div. Co. R. 64, m. 19 ; Chan. Inq. p.m.
(Ser. 2), cxcvii, 64.
" Winton Epit. Reg. Edyngton, ii,
Witley.
49
. Surr. i, 323.1.
* Tata di Nit/ill (Rec. Com.), 220 ;
Chan. Inq. p.m. 27 Edw. Ill (lit no*.},
no. 61 ; ibid. I Ric. Ill, 23 ; ibid. (Ser.
2), x, 97.
. Surr. i, 313*.
7
A HISTORY OF SURREY
sale from King John in 1205.' Stephen's daughter
Clemency received Peper Harow as her portion on
her marriage with her first husband Alan de Plugen-
hay ; 8 she afterwards married Wandrith de Corcell,
and her third husband, Henry Braybrok, who evi-
dently survived her, sued Ralph son of Bernard and
his wife Eleanor, daughter of Clemency by Wandrith
de Corcell,' for Peper Harow as having been settled
on him at his marriage with Clemency. 10 Clearly
the suit was decided in favour of Ralph and Eleanor,"
for William Braunch, husband of their daughter Joan,
held a fee in ' Piperinges ' of the honour of Wind-
sor." William and Joan settled a rent of 2 marks
from the manor on Giffard, Abbot of Waverley, and his
successors in 1246," and Joan was still in possession
of Peper Harow in, 1279, when she claimed free
warren there under a charter of Henry III, her right
being disputed on the ground of the previous dis-
afforestation of the whole county." A fresh grant
of free warren in Peper Harow was issued to Henry
of Guildford in 1 303, when he was lord of the
manor. 14 Joan Braunch died before 21 December
1279, leaving a son and heir Nicholas, 16 who suffered
a recovery to Henry of Guildford, marshal of the king's
household 1297-8, and gave him a release. Henry
died 1312 holding the manor, 17 and among the execu-
tors of his will was Hervey (or
Henry) de Stanton, 18 who ob-
tained a release of the manor
from Henry de Stoughton. 19
Henry de Stoughton was as-
sessed for feudal aid in Peper
Harow in 1 3 1 6.* He is said
to have obtained it from Henry
of Guildford 1312-13 and to
have conveyed it to Henry
de Stanton c. 13602, from
whom it descended to Hervey
de Stanton." He held the
manor for some time." The Stoughtons recovered
their estate, though by illegal means, for in 1 343
Henry de Stoughton was fined for persuading Walter
de St. Neot to come to Bagshot calling himself
Master Hervey de Stanton, and in that name to
make quitclaim of Peper Harrow to John son of
Henry de Stoughton." In the same year Sir
Andrew Braunch, son of Nicholas," purchased
Henry Stoughton's rights in Peper Harow for
j^ioo. 15 He was succeeded by a young son and
heir Thomas, who died in the wardship of the king
in 1360, leaving, though he was only eleven years of
age, a widow Mary,' 6 to whom dower was assigned
in the manor." Stephen de Wydeslade, Andrew
STOUGHTON. Azure a
croix engrailed ermine.
Braunch's nephew by his sister Eleanor, heir to
Thomas, seems to have sold the manor, for in 1368
it appears in the possession of John Chapman and
Geoffrey Edyth, evidently trustees, who conveyed
it early in 1368 to Bernard Brocas, clerk, for life, with
remainder to Sir Bernard Brocas of Beaurepaire and
his wife Mary in tail. 18 The latter's son and heir,
Sir Bernard, succeeded to Peper Harow at his father's
death in 1395," but forfeited it by his share in the
conspiracy to restore Richard II.' His son William,
however, was restored to his father's estates in the
following year," and died in 1456." His son
William, sheriff of Berkshire and Oxfordshire in
1459, held the manor, 53 as is recorded by his wife's
inscription in Peper Harow Church. It had been
seized by Edward IV and granted in 1477 to his
servant John Smyth," but it was clearly recovered by
Brocas. His son John followed, and was succeeded
by William Brocas, also of Beaurepaire.
His two daughters and heirs, Anne and Edith, were
aged respectively twelve and nine at their father's
death in July 1506." Edith, who was ultimately
her sister's heir, married Ralph Pexsall, 56 during
whose tenure the house and demesne lands, ex-
cept the rights of fishing, were leased for ten years
to John Moth of Sherborne." Ralph's son, Mr.
Richard Pexsall, afterwards knighted, was holding in
the survey of the manor of Godalming in I547. 58
He was once attacked at Peper Harow by a certain
' Bedon,' who with his friends had entered upon
lands belonging to the Parsonage. 39 Sir Richard's
daughter Anne having married Bernard Brocas of
Horton, a descendant of Sir Bernard, the supporter
of Richard II, most of the Pexsall lands were settled
PEXSALL. Argent a BROCAS. Sable a leo~
flowered crust engrailed fard rampant or.
sable between four birds
azure having beaks and
legs gules and collars ar-
gent taith a scallop ar-
gent in the cross.
on her son Pexsall Brocas, 40 and among them a con-
siderable portion of Peper Harow. In 1585 he sold
7 Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), i, i6oi.
8 Maitland, Bracton't Note Bk. 116.
9 Curia Regi R. no. 162 (Hil. 43
Hen. Ill), in. 21.
10 Bracton's Note Bk. 1 1 6.
11 It turned upon the point whether, after
the death of Wandrith de Corcell, Edelina,
Stephen's widow, had any right to re-
enfeoff Clemency and Henry de Braybrok.
14 Testa de Ne-vill (Rec. Com.), 220,
221 ; Curia Regii R. 87, m. 7.
18 Feet of F. Surr. 31 Hen. Ill, 313.
" Plat, de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 74..
15 Chart. R. 3 1 Edw. I (no. 96), m. 2.
18 Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. I, no. I.
"Ibid. 6 Edw. II, no. 57.
18 Cal. Close (Rec. Com.), 1307-13, p.
474-
' Add. MS. (B.M.), 5846, fol. 78.
*>Parl. Writs (Rec. Com.), ii (3), 338.
81 Stoughton MSS. quoted by Manning
and Bray.
M Add. MS. (B.M.), 5846, fol. 78.
M Cal. Pat. 1343-5, p. 150.
M Cal. Close, 1318-23, p. 611.
Feet of F. Surr. 17 Edw. Ill, 37.
K Chan. Inq. p.m. 27 Edw. Ill (tit
nos.), no. 61 ; ibid. 34 Edw. Ill (ist nos.),
no. 58.
" Close, 34 Edw. Ill, m. 22.
88 Feet of F. Surr. 42 Edw. Ill, 12.
It is worthy of notice that John Brocas
mainprised that Henry Stoughton would
pay the fine due for his share in the
Bagshot conspiracy. See Cal. Pat. 1343-5,
p. 150. See also Loseley MSS.
50
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 19 Ric. II, no. 3.
80 Ibid. I Hen. IV, pt. ii, no. 2. For
an account of the family see Burrows,
Brocas of Beaurepaire.
11 Pat. 2 Hen. IV, pt. i, m. 19.
33 Chan. Inq. p.m. 34 Hen. VI,
no. 9.
38 He died in 1484 ; Chan. Inq. p.m.
I Ric. Ill, no. 23.
84 Cal. Pat. 1476-85, p. 43.
85 Ibid. (Ser. 2), xx, 97.
86 Pat. 4 Hen. VIII, pt. i, m. 21.
8 ? Burrows, Brocas of Beaurepaire, 441.
88 He also held Piccards in Arlington.
89 See a letter by Sir Richard quoted in
Brocas of Beaurepaire, 197.
Will of Sir Richard, 1571, P.C.C. 6
Holney.
GODALMING HUNDRED
PEPER HAROW
HoLLrs, Lord Holies.
Ermine rwo filet sable.
ten-twelfths of the manor and the advowson to Henry
Smythe," the remaining two-twelfths of the manor
being in possession of Pexsall's aunt Margery Cotton,
and of Edward Savage, son of Sir John Savage, second
husband of Eleanor widow of Sir Richard Pexsall."
The former conveyed her share to Henry Smythe in
1594," while Edward Savage sold his to Sir Walter
Covert, kt.," who in 1605 bought the other eleven
parts from Henry Smythe." Sir Walter died
22 January 1631-2," the manor being settled on his
widow Joan for life, with remainder to John Covert,
son of Sir Walter Covert of
Maidstone, who in June 1655
sold the reversion at Joan's
death to the Hon. Denzil
Holies of Damerham, after-
wards Lord Holies, who died
1680." The manor descended
his son, Francis, Lord
to
Holies." At the death of his
son Denzil (who had no issue)
in 1694, the manor reverted
to John, Duke of Newcastle,
male heir of the elder branch
of the family." He sold it in February 1699-1700
to Philip Frowde,* who in 1713 sold it to Alan
Brodrick, afterwards Viscount Midleton.
In 1725 Viscount Midleton was 'expected to
reside shortly,' and was patron." He died 1728.
His son Alan, second viscount, died 1747. In his
time his first cousin Vice-
Admiral Thomas Brodrick was
residing at Peper Harow."
George, the third viscount, son
of Alan the second, died 1 765.
He was succeeded by his son
George, created Baron Brod-
rick of Peper Harow in the
peerage of the United King-
dom. He died 1 836. His son
George Alan was succeeded
in 1 848 by his cousin Charles,
grandson of the third viscount,
who died in 1863. The
manor passed to his brother
the Very Rev. William John Brodrick, who dying in
1 870 was succeeded by his son William, the late Lord
Lieutenant of Surrey. Viscount Midleton died in 1 907,
and was succeeded by his eldest son, the present viscount.
There is mention in 1 3 5 3 of a manor-house M at
Peper Harow. It formed for a time the residence of
William Brocas and his widow Joan, who was buried
in the church in 1487." The third viscount pulled
down the old house, but at his death in 1765 the new
house, which was being built from designs by Sir
William Chambers, was not completed. It was finished
by his son when he came of age ten years later, and
afterwards added to, under the advice of Wyatt. It
is a plain Italian building, in brick and stucco.
B BOD RICK, Viscount
Midleton. Argent a
chief vert and therein tvjo
spear-heads argent having
draft of blood upon them.
RIEHULL (or Royal hodle) in Peper Harow was a
very early grant to Waverley Abbey by Ralph the
sheriff, confirmed by the pope in 1147." It is pre-
sumably part of the land in Peper Harow of which
the Earl of Southampton, the grantee of Waverley,
died seised in 1542. In 1602 Henry Smith, who
owned Peper Harow, 66 settled ' Ryalls ' on his son
William on his marriage."
The property continued with the Smiths till about
1837, when it passed to Mr. Fielder King, son of
George and Elizabeth King, under the will of
Smith, brother of the latter. The King family sold
the property to Lord Midleton.* 8
Besides the liberty of warren claimed by Joan
Braunch and granted to Henry of Guildford, the
lords of Peper Harow had free fishery, which last was
reserved by Ralph Brocas in granting a lease of the
manor. He also claimed hospitality from his tenant
when he came to the manor to hold his courts. There
is mention in the survey of 1086 of a mill at Peper
Harow ; this had fallen into ruins before 1353."
The church of ST. NICHOLAS is
CHURCH situated in the park. The churchyard,
which is beautifully kept, is surrounded
by trees. The ancient parts of the church are built
of local sandstone rubble, with dressings of clunch,
covered with rough plaster ; the modern work is in
local stone rubble with Caen stone dressings, except
the tower, which is coursed stone. The roofs are tiled.
The church consists of a nave about 3 5 ft. by 20 ft.,
and a chancel 1 8 ft. long by 20 ft. wide. These
represent the extent of the mediaeval building. To
them in 1826 a western tower was added, replacing the
wooden bell-turret with shingled spire shown in
Cracklow's view. A north aisle was added to the nave
and a mortuary chapel opening out of it to the chancel
by the then Viscount Midleton in 1847, from the
designs of the late A. W. Pngin, while in 1877 the
nave was reroofed and reseated, and a new porch
added on the south side, to replace one built in 1826.
There is a vestry on the north of the aisle. These
successive works have considerably changed the ancient
aspect of the building ; but even so they have stopped
short of what was proposed to be done, judging by the
plate published in Brayley's Surrey.
The nave is entered through the south porch by an
ancient round-headed doorway of two plain orders,
with a hood-mould and impost simply chamfered.
The only other ancient features in this wall are the
external south-east quoins of chalk and ?. single-light
window low down in the wall close ; djoining, with
an ogee trefoiled head, evidently inserted to light the
south nave altar, and dating from about 1330; it is
set in a recess going down to the floor on the inside.
The two windows to the westward are quite modern.
In the south wall of the chancel, near to its western
end, is a low side window renewed in modern stone.
All the other windows and external features in the
chancel, chapel, north aisle, and tower are modern.
a Close, 27 Eliz. pt. xv ; Feet of F.
Surr. Hil. 35 Eliz.
Chan. Proc. Elit. S.. 15.
Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 36 Eliz.
Ibid. Trin. 3 Jas. I.
Ibid. Mich. 3 Jas. I ; Close, 3 Jas. I,
no. 1809.
46 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccclxvii,
187. *" Close, 1655, pt. xxxvii.
48 Chan. Decrees Enr. (1313), vi, fol.
100. He was sued by the administrator
of the estate of his stepmother Hester,
for money due for a release of her life
interest in Peper Harow.
Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 1 1 WilL III ;
Luttrell, Brief Historical Relation of State
Affairs, ii, 496.
Close, II Will. Ill, pt. iv, no. 5.
11 Bishop Willis's Visit, at Farnham.
11 Registers.
51
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 27 Edw. Ill (lit
nos.), no. 61.
64 Major H tales, ' The Brasses in Peper
Harow Church,' Surr. Arch. Coll. rii, 34.
" B.M. Lansd. MS. 27.
Harl. MS. 1561, fol. 190-1.
" Chart, at Peper Harow.
48 Local information.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 27 Edw. Ill (irt
nos.), no. 61.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
In the interior the most striking features are the
much-restored chancel arch and its flanking recesses
that to the south pierced with a squint dating from
the middle of the 1 2th century. But though parts of
the works are old, particularly in the recesses, the whole
has been so much renewed, with the addition of
carved shafts and elaborate mouldings, that it possesses
little interest for archaeologists. The arcade to the
new aisle, also a very elaborate piece of work, has
been built to accord with the chancel arch, the
materials used being chalk and Caen stone, with
shafts of Irish marble from Lord Midleton's estates
in that country.
Within the chancel practically all is new, including
the sedilia in the south wall, but the piscina is said to
be a copy of that formerly in existence. The chancel
and chapel windows,' which are entirely modern, are
designed in the style of the early part of the 1 4th
century, and there are also some image niches and other
features in the new work with much carving about
them. The roofs, fittings, and glass are also modern.
The chancel roof is panelled and covered with sacred
emblems. That of the chapel has quatrefoiled bosses,
with painting and gilding in the panels. The rere-
dos, of Caen stone, has five canopied compartments,
the middle one containing a cross supported by
angels, and the other four cherubim standing on
their wheels.
Besides the monuments to Lord Midleton's family
in the chapel there are some brasses of ancient date, one
on the north wall of the chancel to Joan Adderley,
bearing date 1487. It is fixed in a slab of Sussex
marble, and represents her in widow's dress kneeling
at a prayer-desk before a representation of the Blessed
Trinity with labels inscribed, ' Ihu Mercy Lady
helpe' and the inscription in black letter :
Ex vestra caritate orate pro Mima. Johane Adderley
quondam uxoris Johtfis Adderley quoi/dam Majoris
Civitatis London', et nup^r uxor;V Wille/mi Brokes,
armigeri, Patroni istius ecckfie, qae quid^m Johana
obiit xviij die Novembr/V a 'Domini mcccclxxxvij ;
cuja/ ai/e propicietur Deus. Amen.
In front of the altar rails is another slab bearing a
brass cross which formerly marked the actual place of
her burial.
Among the church plate is a paten of 1717 and a
chalice and paten of peculiar design and uncertain date,
made at Danzig, Germany.
There are three bells, all of 1 7th-century date.
The registers of baptisms begin in 1697, of burials
in 1 69 8, of marriages in 1699. There is a note at the
beginning that the old registers were destroyed when
the rectory house was burnt ' in Dr. Mead's time.'
He was rector 1661 to 1687.
The church is not mentioned in
AD VQ ffSON the Domesday Survey of Peper Harow,
but it was assessed at 5 in 1 29 1. 60
The advowson was an appurtenance of the manor,
with which it has descended till the present day.
The charities are a rent-change on
CHARITIES an estate at Shelley in Essex, for the
use of poor persons, amounting to 30^.,
left by Nicholas Wallis, rector in 1 606 ; and Smith's
Charity for the relief of aged and infirm persons of good
character, apprenticing children, portioning maids, &c.,
payable out of the Warbleton estate, Sussex, and
amounting to about 3 a year or under.
PUTTENHAM
Potenham and Putenham (xiii cent.).
Puttenham is a village on the south side of the
Hog's Back, 4^ miles west of Guildford, 5^ miles
east of Farnham. The parish is roughly triangular.
The base from north-east to south-west is nearly 3 miles
long; the line from the apex to the middle of the base,
north-west to south-east, is under 2 miles. The west
side is longer than the northern side. It contains
i ,93 1 acres of land and 29 acres of water. The village
lies in the north-east angle of the parish. The northern
part of the parish is on the chalk of the Hog's Back
ridge, though, as is almost invariably the case, the
village is not on the chalk. The rest of the parish is
Upper Green Sand, Gault, and Lower Green Sand,
which is the predominating soil.
The views from the upper ground are extremely
picturesque, embracing the Hindhead and Blackdown
ranges, and extending over Sussex to the South Downs,
while the foreground is broken and diversified with
woods and heaths. Puttenham Heath, however, to
the east of the parish, is mostly covered with turf, and
a nine-hole golf course has been made on it, with a
club-house opened in 1897. Puttenham Common,
to the south-west, is a true heath, covered with heather,
fern, and furze, and rising to over 300 ft. above the
sea, with a deep depression between it and the chalk
to the northward.
The parish is purely agricultural. Chalk was dug
on the Hog's Back. The district of the famous Farn-
ham hops extends into Puttenham. The northern
boundary of the parish is the road along the ridge of
the Hog's Back. One sign of the antiquity of the road
is the frequency with which it forms the old parish
boundaries. Captain James, R.E., traced the so-called
Pilgrims' Way through the parish below the chalk.
It went on as a lane to Scale, and has been converted
since 1903 into a good road.
On Puttenham Heath is a fairly large tumulus
called Frowsbury, which has never been explored.
Neolithic flints are not uncommon near it. On
Puttenham Common is a considerable entrenchment,
with one bank and ditch. It is of about 5 30 ft. on
the south, east, and west sides, but the north-east
angle is slightly obtuse, the south-west angle slightly
acute, so that the east and west sides are not parallel,
and the north side is shorter than the other. On the
west there is no distinct bank, and no ditch, but the
hill falls sharply to a stream in the grounds of Hamp-
ton Lodge, and has been perhaps artificially scarped.
The water below is within missile range of the
entrenchment. Romano-British pottery and a rude
pavement were found near this, to the north-east, in
1870. Many neolithic flints have been found on
the borders of the parish, near Shoelands, a little
further north.
There is a cemetery with a chapel on Puttenham
10 Poft Nict. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 208.
52
GODALMING HUNDRED
PUTTENHAM
Heath, opened in 1882. The schools were built
in 1850.
There are four manors or reputed
MANORS manors in Puttenham; Puttenham Bury
and Puttenham Priory moieties of one
manor, Rodsell and Shoelands. Of these Rodsell
alone is mentioned in the Domesday Survey.
The main manor of PUTTENH4M was a member
of the manor of Bramley in Blackheath Hundred. 1 It
is uncertain whether it was included with Rodsell in
1086 or whether the ' two manors' of Wanborough
recorded in Domesday were Wanborough and Putten-
ham, or whether it was included in Bramley. It
seems to have followed the history of Bramley, for
it was in the king's hands in the 1 2th century, since,
c. 1199, Geoffrey Bocumton exchanged 15 librates of
land, which he had had in Puttenham by the king's gift,
for 1 2 librates of land in Stoke by Guildford. 1 The lands
of Ralph de Fay, lord of Bramley under Henry II,
were in 1203 granted to Robert de Barevill.' Robert
was sued for land in Puttenham by Geoffrey de
Roinges before the
time of this grant, 4
and evidently esta-
blished his rights, for
in 1 22 1 the king gave
Robert de Barevill
ten oaks towards the
mcndingand rebuild-
ing of his houses in
Puttenham. 6 Ralph
de Fay's lands were
restored and descend-
ed to his son Ralph,'
who was succeeded by
John de Fay, his son,
in 1223.' At John's
death his lands were
divided between his
two sisters, Maud
wife of Roger de
Clere and Philippa
Neville. 8 Puttenham,
however, had been
assigned to Ralph de
Fay's widow Beatrice,
in dower. It was seized in 1241 owing to her
excommunication, but restored in 1242. It was
again taken into the king's hands in 1 246.' Putten-
ham was then divided between the two sisters, Philippa
and Maud. Philippa's moiety was afterwards called
Puttenham Bury, while her sister's portion became
the manor of Puttenham Priory.
Philippa Neville gave PUTTENH4M BURY
with Bramley in free marriage with her daughter
Beatrice to William of Wintershull. 10 For the next
300 years Puttenham Bury and Bramley followed
the descent which is given under Bramley. 11 In
1541 Edmund Pope, a lineal descendant of Wil-
liam of Wintershull and his wife Beatrice, sold both
manors. 11 Bury was purchased in 1541 by Robert
Lusher of Cheam and his wife Elizabeth, who also
bought Puttenham Priory in 1 544." His father
Thomas was holding Shoelands, but Robert predeceased
him, dying in 1545." His widow Elizabeth, aunt
of Sir Olliph Leigh (see below), married George
Beaumont," and retained for life an allowance out of
Puttenham Bury Manor, 16 and the whole of Puttenham
Priory, 17 which she leased to her son Thomas Beau-
mont in 1587."* Robert's son, Nicholas Lusher, died
26 May 1566, leaving an infant son Nicholas. 19 His
lands were therefore taken into the queen's hands
during the minority of the heir. She leased the de-
mesne lands of Puttenham Bury and Shoelands to Mary,
Nicholas Lusher's widow. In 1 6 1 o Nicholas, son
and heir of Nicholas Lusher, and his son Richard sold
the two manors 'of Puttenham and the manor of
Shoelands to Sir Olliph Leigh of Addington and his
brother Sir John Leigh." Sir Olliph died 1612.
PUTTENHAM COMMON, LOOKING TO HINDHEAD
His son Sir Francis and the latter's uncle Sir John
held the estates in coparceny, and demised a part of
Shoelands to one Nicholas Harding. They then
divided them, Sir John taking the two Puttenhams,
and Sir Francis Shoelands. On Sir John's death in
1624, Sir Francis took the whole. 2 ' Sir Francis
Leigh, having married Elizabeth daughter and heir
of William Minterne of Thorpe, conveyed the manor
of Puttenham Bury in 1625 to his father-in-law for
life, with reversion to his younger son Francis Leigh,
and failing his male issue to his elder son Wolley
Leigh, later an ardent Royalist. William Minterne
1 Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. I, no. 15 ;
bid. (Ser. 2), ii, 7.
* Rot. dt Oblat. et Fin. (Rec. Com.),
[ohn, p. 41.
8 Liberate R. 4 John, m. 6.
4 Rot. Cur. Regii (Rcc. Com.), ii, 79 ;
Feet of F. Surr. i John, 19.
Rot. Lit. Claui. (Rec. Com.), i, 469.
Tata de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 225 ;
ltd Bk. ofExcb. ii, 560.
* Exctrfta t Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), i,iO2.
Ibid. 346, 354.
Ibid. 355, 448; and Close R. z6
Hen. Ill, m. IO.
10 Feet of F. Surr. 33 Hen. Ill, 23.
11 See under Bramley in Blackheath
Hund.
Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 33 Hen. VIII ;
ibid. Hit. 33 Hen. VIII.
a Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ciliii, 32.
14 Exch. luq. p.m. (Ser. 2), bdle. 1094,
no. 15.
S3
15 Surr. Visit. (Harl. Soc.), xliii, 14.
Harl. Chart. 1 1 1, E. 25.
W Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 29 Eliz.
M Ibid.
11 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cxliii, 32.
Harl. Chart, in, E. 25.
11 Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 7 Jat. 1 5 ibid.
Eatt. II Jas. I.
w Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 13 Jas. I ;
deed of 26 Jan. 1615-16 ; P.C.C. will,
proved 2; Sept. 1624.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
died in 1627, and bequeathed all his lands, with the and her husband sold the manors in 1744 with
exception of one-half of Shoelands, to Wolley Leigh." Bury Farm to Brigadier-General James Edward Ogle-
T?..., ~:- T A.nVi KiTrirtry ^i*d in/It-lirM-it- i-KiMrpn in 1^5*7 * 4 rrinrn* fnnnH^r rf tllA rr1r\n\r rtf CZfnrnit *8 T-I*t
Francis Leigh having died without children in 1637,
Wolley should have succeeded to all the manors. But
some rearrangement of trusts must have been made.
Sir Francis Leigh the father was still alive, and it is
he who held a court in 1643." Sir Francis died
1645, and Wolley Leigh very soon after him. In
1645 the estate was conveyed by Thomas Leigh,
Wolley's half-brother, or son, to William Leigh,
another half-brother, 16 whose widow, Lydia Leigh,
was lady of the manor as early as 1661, and held
courts up to 1711, when she was buried at Puttenham.
In 1728 Jasper Jones and his wife Frances were in
possession of the two manors." Frances was only
daughter and heir of Francis Leigh of the Middle
Temple, son of the said William and Lydia. She
PUTTENHAM
thorpe, founder of the colony of Georgia.* 8 He
sold the manors in 1761 to Thomas Parker,* 9 wha
rebuilt the Manor House, since called the Priory ;.
but parts of an older house of Elizabethan or
Jacobean date, including a shaped gable of Bargate
stone and brick, remain at the back. In 1775 he
sold the whole property. Admiral Cornish bought
the Manor House and some other property, and after
his death in 1 8 1 6 it was sold to his wife's nephew
Richard Sumner, who died in 1870. His son Mr.
Morton Cornish Sumner owned it, and died before
1 880. His widow died recently, and the owner now
is Mr. Ferdinand F. Smallpeice. The manors were
bought by Mr. Nathaniel Snell, from whom they
were bought by Mr. E. B. Long with Hampton
Lodge in 1 799. He was
succeeded by Mr. H. L.
Long and by Mr. Mow-
bray Howard of Hamp-
ton Lodge, vide infra.
Mr. F. F. Smallpeice has
since bought the manors.
P UTTE N HAM
PRIORY or PRIOR
was the moiety of the
original manor of Putten-
ham which Maud de Fay,
one of the sisters of John
de Fay, inherited. She
granted it in 1248 to the
Priory of Newark by
Guildford. 30 In 1279 the
prior claimed assize of
bread and ale and view
of frankpledge in his
manor of Puttenham."
At the time of the sur-
render of the priory in
1538 the farm of the
manor of Puttenham was
6." The king thus
being in possession of the
manor as part of the
lands late of Newark
Priory, granted it to
Edward Elrington and
Humphrey Metcalfe in
exchange for other lands
in various counties. 33 On
the sites of Puttenham
and other manors granted
at the same time there
grew two hundred oaks
and elms, 'part timber
and most part usually
croppyd and shrude of
sixty and eighty years
Sgrowthe,' of which a great
many were reserved ' by
38 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccxxxviii, half-brother Thomas, but this is incor
125. Bridget wife of William Mintcrne rect.
was also to have a life interest in half of
Shoelands.
34 Surr. Arch. Coll. vii, pt. i, p. in.
"' Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 17,
, . . , ,
think that it was Francis son of Wolley's
36 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 21 Chas. I ;
Recov. R. East. 24 Chas. I.
*> Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 2 Ceo. II.
28 Close, 19 Geo. II, pt. i, no. 26.
38 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 2 Geo. III.
54
80 Feet of F. Surr. 32 Hen. Ill, 35.
81 Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rcc. Com.),
747-
82 Dugdale, Man. vi, 384.
88 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xix (i), 441
(16).
GODALMING HUNDRED
PUTTENHAM
custome of olde tyme ' to the farmer for the repair
of the houses on the manors * 4 (for which compare
the grant by Henry III to Robert de Barevill, above).
In 1544 Edward EIrington and Humphrey Metcalfe
sold the manor to Robert and Elizabeth Lusher, then
owners of Puttenham Bury. Thenceforward the two
manors generally follow the same descent.
The lords of Puttenham Priory seem to have had
view of frankpledge and assize of bread and ale in
their manor." William of Wintershull and his wife
Beatrice also had view of frankpledge in Putten-
ham.* 6 Both Puttenham Bury and Priory had courts
baron."
RODSELL lies to the south of the parish between
Shackleford in Godalming and Cut Mill. Under
Edward the Confessor Tovi held it. Bishop Odo of
Bayeux held it in demesne after the Conquest,* 8 and
added it to the land which he held out in farm at
Bramley.* 9 The bishop's lands fell to the Crown at
his final exile, and with them Bramley. The history of
the holding from this time is obscure. In 1273 William
Palmer of Rodsell obtained from John son of William
3. lease for life of a messuage and half a virgate of land
in Puttenham.' In 1508 William Lusher held the
manor of ' Redsale ' (evidently
Rodsell by the context)." In
1568 William Lusher, son and
heir of George Lusher, had a
rent-charge on lands in Rod-
sell and Puttenham. 4 ' Richard
Wyatt purchased lands in Put-
tenham from Sir John and Sir
Francis Leigh, who were con-
nected by marriage with the
Lushers, 4 * and Richard's son
Francis Wyatt died in 1634
holding the manor and farm
of Rodsell, 44 which he had
settled on his wife Timothea
in April 1621." He also held the wood called
Prior's Wood in Puttenham and Compton. His
son Richard entered upon the manor after his mother's
death. 46 He died in June 1645, leaving a younger
brother Francis, who was his heir. 47 Francis died
in 1673. His son Francis died in 1723, having
survived his son, also Francis, who died in 1713, aged
twenty-six. The latter's elder son Richard married
Susan daughter of Sir Thomas Molyneux of Loseley,
and died s.p. in 1753. His younger brother Wil-
liam died in 1775, and his son Richard in 1784.
Richard son of Richard died unmarried in 1816.
His heir, another Richard, of Horsted Keynes, sold
Rodsell in 1819 to Edward Beeston Long, who was
followed by his son Henry Lawes Long of Hampton
Lodge. 49 It is now the property of Mr. Mowbray
Howard of Hampton Lodge.
SHOELANDS (Sholaund, xiii cent. ; Sheweland,
LUSHF.R. Gules three
martltti or and a chief or
with three molets azure
therein.
xvi cent. ; Sholand and Shoeland, xvii and xviii
cents.) was probably a sub-manor of Burgham, for
its tenants paid rent to the lord of Burgham. 49 In
1235 Ralph Attewood granted to John de Fay land
in Shoelands. 50 The lords of Burgham in 1251 were
William of Wintershull and Beatrice his wife," and
when, at that date, Peter de Ryvall granted a carucate
of land and 5;. rent in Shoelands and Puttenham to
the Prior and church of Selborne, co. Han's, forever,
William of Wintershull and his wife confirmed the
land to the priory to be held of them and their
heirs by rent of a gilded spur yearly within a week
of the Nativity of John the Baptist (J une 24)."
The rent of the gilded spur is mentioned in an ex-
tent of the Wintershulls" lands dated 1287. The
men of the priory in Shoelands and Puttenham
were to be free from view of frankpledge. At the
same time William and Beatrice released to the prior
all their claim to the road which led from a certain
close (hega) at ' Otteford,' before the prior's gate at
Shoelands as far as the house of Ralph Du Bois."
This was probably a right of way to the main road
in the Down, up the existing steep and certainly
ancient lane.
For some time the priory remained in possession
of Shoelands, paying an annual rent of 6J., M probably
in lieu of the gilded spurs. In 1338 Ralph Poynaunt
incurred the greater excommunication for stealing an
ox from the manor of the Prior and convent of Selborne
at ' Schoulonde.' " The priory was suppressed owing
to its poverty, and by Waynflete's influence added
to the foundation of Magdalen College in I484. 56
Thomas Lusher was tenant of some Hampshire lands
under the priory, 1462, and just before the foun-
dation of Magdalen Shoelands had been granted for
life to Richard Lusher." Apparently it was somehow
retained, for it never belonged to Magdalen, and William
Lusher was seised of it late in the I 5th century. From
him it descended to his son Thomas. Thomas's son
Robert, the purchaser of the Puttenham manors, pre-
deceased his father in 1545, leaving a son Nicholas
aged ten. 58 After Thomas's death his grandson Nicholas
entered upon the manor, and in 1561 was sued by
his uncle William for a rent from the manor, which
he claimed as bequeathed him by Robert. 5 ' After
the death of Nicholas Lusher in 1566 Shoelands was
taken into the queen's hands, the demesne lands being
leased with those of Puttenham Bury to Mary
Lusher, 60 Nicholas's widow. Their son Nichoks was
knighted after 1580, and his son Richard Lasher of
Shoelands was admitted as a student at the Inner
Temple in 1602. Shoelands seems to have been sold
with Puttenham Bury and Priory to Sir Olliph and
Sir John Leigh. Sir Francis, the son of the former (see
Puttenham Bury), conveyed a moiety of it in February
1615-16 to William Minterne to the use of his wife
Bridget Minterne, with remainder to Francis Leigh and
M Partic. of Grants, Aug.
Hen.VIII.no. 411, E. 6.
84 Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.),
747-
88 Feet of F. Surr. 35 Hen. Ill, 24.
8 ' Harl. Chart, in, E. 25.
** Y.C.H.Surr.\, 301*.
Ibid. 3023.
40 Feet of F. Surr. 2 Edw. I, 14.
41 De Banco R. East. 23 Hen. VII.
Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 1 1 Eliz.
43 Will of Francis Wyatt, proved Lond.
10 Feb. 1635.
Off. 44 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccclxxiii,
90.
45 Ibid.
49 Ibid, mxxxvii, 12.
4 ? Ibid, mxxiv, 34.
48 Brayley, Hitt.ofSurr. v, 239.
4> Chart, of Selborne Priory (Hants
Rec. Soc.}, 1891, p. 117.
60 Plac. de jur. and Assiz. 19-20
Hen. Ill, Calendar 21 (xlix), 85.
61 Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. I, IJ.
SJ Feet of F. Surr. 35 Hen. Ill, no.
3, 24.
55
48 Ibid. In 1198-9 Thurbert Du Bois
leased a virgate of land in Puttenham to
a certain Richard le Curt ; ibid, xo Ric. I,
34-
M Chart, of Selborne Priory (Hants
Rec. Soc.), 1891, p. 117.
M Ibid. 89.
68 See V.C.H. Hants, ii, 179.
'7 Doc. of Selborne at Magdalen Col-
lege, Oxford.
69 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixxzv, 55.
69 Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), ex, 13.
80 Harl. Chart, ill, E. 25.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
contingent remainder to Wolley Leigh. 61 Wolley
Leigh died seised of the reversion of this portion of
the manor, 61 his grandmother Bridget Minterne and
his father Sir Francis Leigh being still alive, and of
the other half on his father's death.
Sir Thomas Leigh, Wolley Leigh's son apparently,
dealt with one moiety only
in 1 66 1, 63 and again in i66f,. M
Sir Thomas Leigh died in
1677, leaving a son Sir John
Leigh, bart. He was suc-
ceeded about 1692 by his son
Sir John Leigh, born 1681,
married 1700, and in 1703
a recovery was suffered by Sir
John to Sir Stephen Lennard,
father of his son's wifi." He
died in 1 737. The recovery
probably barred the entail,
and Shoelands is not specifi-
cally mentioned in the last Sir John's will.
The other moiety was apparently sold to John
Caryll of Tangley, whose son-in-law Henry Ludlow
was in possession in l695. 66 It descended in his
family till 1767, when the whole manor apparently
was part of the property assigned to Giles Strangways. 67
He sold it to the tenant, Francis Simmonds, whose
grandson Thomas, a yeoman farmer, was the owner in
i8o6. M In 1823 he sold to Mr. E. H. Long, and
the property has passed, as Puttenham, to Mr. Mow-
bray Howard. Thomas Packington, who has been
described as an owner, was merely a tenant about
LEIGH. Or a cheveron
sable 'with three lions ar-
gent thereon.
Shoelands House bears the date 1616 or 1618 over
the porch. The date has been replaced after removal.
The house was therefore partly built by William Min-
terne or his son-in-law Sir Francis Leigh, or by Thomas
Packington (of Shoelands in Visitation of 1623). It
has a fine mullioned window, blocked now, to the
south, an old chimney-stack on the same side, and a
Jacobean staircase with good carving of about the
same date. This work probably marks a rebuilding
of an older house, when the
staircase was put in to reach
rooms built over an old high
hall the rafters of which are
visible in one place in the wall
of an upper room.
There are no mills given in
the survey of Rodsell 70 in 1 086,
though there are five given
under Bramley. 71 In 1587
there were no fewer than four
mills in Puttenham Priory, 72
and about the same time there
was one water-mill in Putten-
ham Bury Manor." This may
have been Cutt Mill, which
was afterwards in the possession
of Francis and Richard Wyatt. 74
The family of Frollebury seems to have been of
some importance in Puttenham during Jhe 131)1 and
I4th centuries. In 1296 William Frollebury and
his wife Joan had two messuages and land there,
which they held of Thomas son of William Frolle-
bury. 76 Stephen Frollebury and his wife Katharine
held the same land in 1 340." Frollesbury is an
existing house in Puttenham.
The church of ST. JOHN THE
CHURCH BAPTIST stands high above the road,
the ground rising in steep banks round
it on the south and east. The churchyard, which is
bordered on the south by a low wall and the grounds
of the manor-house (commonly called Puttenham
Priory) has some fine trees and shrubs, and is carefully
kept.
The building is of local sandstone rubble with dress-
ings of hard chalk, mostly replaced on the outside by
Bath stone ; parts of the north aisle and the chancel are
plastered, and the roofs are tiled. In plan the church
consists of a long and very narrow nave 5 2 ft. 3 in.
by 1 6 ft. 9 in., and chancel 29 ft. 2 in. by 1 2 ft. 6 in.;
these probably representthe extent of theearly church. 763
On the north of the nave is an aisle about 7 ft. wide,
opening to the nave by an arcade of four arches, repre-
senting the first extension in the latter part of the 1 2th
century : and on the north of the chancel is a chapel
29 ft. 7 in. by I 3 ft. 6 in., partly opened to the chan-
cel by a pair of small arches an addition of about
1 200.
At the eastern end of the south side of the nave
is a transeptal chapel, 1 2 ft. square, added about
1330 ; and the west tower, very large and massive
in proportion to the church, dates from the early
part of the I jth century. The south porch in its
present form is modern, dating from the general re-
storation of the building in 1 86 1. The north chapel
seems to have been largely rebuilt at the beginning of
the igth century.
Judging by the different levels of the arcade bases,
which increase in height from west to east, the ancient
floor of the nave must have been laid on an inclined
PUTTENHAM : SHOELANDS MANOR HOUSE
61 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccxxxviii,
125. 6S Ibid, mxxiv, i.
68 Feet of F. Div. Co. East. 13
Cha. II.
"Ibid. Trin. 17 Chas. II.
85 Recov. R. Hil. 2 Anne.
< Feet of F. SUIT. East. 7 Will. III.
8 ' For detailed descent see under Bram-
68 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii,
19.
Chan. Proc. 1621-5 (Ser. i), bdle.
364, no. 1 6.
V V.C.H. Surr. i, 301*.
1* Ibid. 3010.
T 5 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 29 Eliz. Not
necessarily separate buildings, but possibly
four separate mill-stones.
56
7 Harl. Chart, in, E. 25.
1* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccclxxiii,
90 ; mxxiv, 34.
" 5 Feet of F. Surr. 24 Edw. I, 3.
7'Ibid. 13 Edw. Ill, 1 6.
? te Cf. the plan of the neighbouring
church of Compton, where the nucleus of
a pre-Conquest plan has survived through
later alterations.
GODALMING HUNDRED
PUTTENHAM
plane, following the natural slope of the ground, and
there is reason to believe that this sloping floor remained
till 1861.
The church is entered from the south by a round-
headed doorway built of clunch, very much retooled.
It is of two moulded orders, the outer standing upon
a shaft with square abacus and scalloped capital of
unusual design. The abacus is continued as an impost
moulding across the inner order of jamb and arch,
which are plain except for a quirked bead on the angle.
A round-headed window to the west appears to be
modern, but may be a copy of one found at the resto-
ration ; and the traceried windows to the east of the
porch are quite modern. The north arcade, in chalk
or clunch, is of four semicircular arches of a single
square order without a label, an unusual number, neces-
sitated by the lowness of the wall through which
they were pierced : a diminutive arch has been pierced
through the east respond at the restoration. The
piers are circular and their bases have square sub-bases
with angle spurs and chamfered plinths. The capitals
are square, with chamfered abaci and somewhat irre-
gular scalloping of the common pattern, the capital of the
west respond only differing from the others in having
the scalloping concave with a small round-topped
touched up. The last-named seems to have been rebated
for a shutter. The thinness of the transept walls
(l ft. 10 in.) is exceptional.
The date of the chancel arch is if anything some-
what earlier than that of the chancel, which may be
placed at about I zoo. It is pointed, of two orders
chamfered like the jambs, which have no shafts, but
only an impost moulding at the springing. Its setting
out on plan shows some irregularity. A string-course
of a round section remains within the chancel, and on
the north side are the two arches to the chapel. These
are of one pointed order, with narrow chamfers, and
the central column has a circular moulded capital and
base. The east window and the buttresses flanking it
are modern,>but the two eastern windows in the south
wall are apparently restorations, and follow the lines of
the east window of the transept. An 18th-century
engraving shows three-light windows in the east walls
of the chancel and north chapel, both apparently
of early 14th-century character. The two eastern
windows in the south wall of the chancel, now
restored in stone, are shown as plain wooden
frames in this old view. The piscina is also restored.
The window in the western part of the south wall
of the chancel is ancient, built of chalk, and dates
C.116O BBc.<4oo
c.1200 CUD 1800-61
Scale of feet
PUTTENHAM CHURCH
GROUND PLAN
cresting just above the necking. 76b The modern
plastering is cut with scalloped edging round the arches
an ancient feature found at Compton, but here
probably only borrowed. There are no ancient
windows in the aisle, which is lit by dormers of modern
date, and the door in the north wall is modern.
The west tower wears a somewhat battered appear-
ance from the friable nature of the sandstone of
which it is built, and most of the windows and other
dressings inside and out, including the lofty arch to
the nave, have been renewed in Bath stone. It has a
large square stair-turret on the south side, and is
finished by a plain parapet of modern date.
The transept chapel, which is shown in Cracklow's
view (c. 1824) as having a large square window with a
wooden frame in its south wall, now has a poor three-
light traceried opening of discordant character in its
place ; but the three-light window in its east wall and
the small single-light opening to the west are ori-
ginal early 14th-century features, though a good deal
from about 1400. It is of three lights with six small
lights over, under a square hood-moulding, which
terminates on one side in the bust of an angel and
on the other in that of a mitred bishop or abbot.
The westernmost of the three lights has its sill
lowered in a very peculiar manner to serve as a low side
window a feature very noticeable in Cracklow's view.
This light alone retains the original iron stanchions
and cross-bars, and the lower part has the mullions
rebated for a shutter.
The windows in the north wall and the door in
the east wall of the north chapel are insertions of the
early part of the igth century, the former probably
replacing lancets. A blocked recess with an oak lintel
in its west wall seems to have been a door of commu-
nication between the chapel and the aisle. The floor
of the chapel is raised above that of the chancel, and
there is a platform or altar-pace at the east end.
The roof is ceiled.
Both the nave and the chancel roofs are ancient and
~ 6b One of the capitals at Compton it
precisely similar, and there are others very
like it at Rustington and Sompting, Sussex.
The lame masons must have worked in
and out of the two counties, as at Alfold
and other Surrey churches there is a
57
striking resemblance to features in the
sister county.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
of massive oak timbers. The chancel roof, of rafters,
collars and struts, has large moulded plates and tie-
beams excessively cambered, and is perhaps of 14th-
century date.
The font, seating, quire stalls, and other fittings are
all modern, and a very large organ, bracketed out
overhead, blocks up the narrow chancel. 77 The altar
is well raised, as, owing to the site, there are four steps
between the sacrarium and the nave.
In the chancel is the small brass of a priest in mass
vestments inscribed : ' Hie jacet dns Edward' Cranford'
quonda' Rector isti' Ecclie'. qui obijt viij die mens'
August! Anno dm MillO. cccc. xxxj cui' aie p'piciet'
deus. Amen.'
In the north chapel is a small stone with indents of
man and wife and the brass inscription below ; the
date may be about '1504"": 'Hie jacent Ricardus
Lussher et Etheldreda uxor ejus quorum animabus
propicietur Deus. 1
Also a large slab of Sussex marble bearing in Roman
capitals the inscription : ' Hie jacet sepultn corpus
dominse Dorotheae unius filiarum JohfS Hunt de
lindon in Com. Rutland armigeri nup' uxoris charis-
simae Nicholai Lussher militis cui quatuor pep'it filios
totidemque puellas nempe Ricardn, Gulielmfi Nichos
laO, Mariam et AnnS adhuc superstites JohaTIem
Janam et JohSnam, in cunabilis defunctos, et de hac
vita decessit 1 8 Feb : 1 604 orans ut ignoscat ei peccata
sua Omnipotens et Misericors Dominus.'
Aubrey gives another inscription as existing in his
day on a slab in the north chapel to Nicholas Lusher
of Shoeland, esq., son and heir of Robert Lusher,
who died in 1566.
There is also a small brass, with the arms of Wyatt
impaling Burrell, to Francis Wyatt, 1634, now set ' n a
marble slab on the chancel wall ; it came from a stone
in the middle of the north chapel, which formed the
burial spot of the Wyatts of Rodsell.
Fixed to the sill of the westernmost window of the
chancel is an oblong brass plate, with an inscription
to the memory of Henry Beedell and his son Henry,
both rectors of Puttenham, who died respectively in
1636 and 1692. Besides these there are one or two
ledgers bearing heraldry and some marble tablets
of more recent dates.
The registers date from 1562.
The only ancient pieces of church plate a silver
cup and paten, dated respectively 1636 and 1674, are
of interest from their association with the Beedells,
father and son. The paten is known to have been
given by the son, ' who gave back to the church the
alienated or chantry lands which his father, the pre-
ceding rector, had purchased. Perhaps he also gave
the cup." 7b
The bells are all modern.
There was no church here at the
ADVQWSQN time of the Domesday Survey so far as
is known. The advowson probably be-
longed subsequently to the lord of the manor. The
king seems to have possessed it before 1305, when he
granted it with Shalford, Wonersh, and Dunsfold
churches to the Hospital of St. Mary without Bishops-
gate. 78 In 1342 the prior and brethren of the hospital
had licence to appropriate the churches of Puttenham
and Dunsfold, 79 but apparently the appropriation was
never carried out, for the living was a rectory in 1535.
The annual pension due from the rectory at this time
was 2O/. 80 In 1537 Thomas Elliott obtained a lease
of this pension together with Shalford rectory for
ninety-nine years. 81 St. Mary without Bishopsgate
was taken into the king's hand at the time of the Dis-
solution, but when Queen Elizabeth granted Shalford
Rectory to John Wolley 81 she retained the advowson
of Puttenham, which has ever since belonged to the
Crown. In 1694 Thomas Swift, Jonathan Swift's
' little parson cousin,' became rector.
Richard Lusher presented the parsonage to the
church. His gift consisted of a house, garden, and croft
lying on ' Gildowne,' and half an acre of land at Rods-
mill (Rodsell) in a field called the ' Pece.' They were
given to the parson on condition that he should sing
or say thirty masses yearly in the parish church, and also
a Placebo and Dirige on Thursday before the Nativity
of the Virgin Mary (September S). 83 After the sup-
pression of chantries by Edward VI these premises
were leased by the king to Henry Foisted and William
More. No provision seems to have been made for
the parsonage till Henry Beedell, rector early in the
1 7th century, bought back the parsonage, which his
son Henry, who succeeded his father as rector, gave
to the parish, 84 confirming the gift in his will. 84 The
two Henry Beedells, father and son, held the living
from 1598 to 1692.
Manning and Bray quote a will in the Archdeacon's
office, by which a certain Stephen Burdon, an inn-
keeper of Southwark in 1503, directed 61. 8d. to be
paid for an image of St. Roke to be given to Putten-
ham Church. 86
In 1725 the return was that there was no chapel,
no lecturer, no curate, no Papist, one Quaker, no
gentleman, ' nor any school but what teaches children
to read and write.' 86a
The charities are Smith's Charity,
CHARITIES founded 1627 for the relief of the
deserving poor, and a small sum em-
ployed in the same way from the rent of the golf-links.
Mr. Richard Wyatt, 1619, left two nominations to
the Carpenters' Company's Almshouses at Godalming
to this parish.
Mr. Robert Avenell, 1733, left money with a trus-
tee for the relief of the deserving poor, but this seems
to have disappeared.
In 1725, in answer to Bishop Willis's Visitation, the
churchwardens returned that there were rents of about
4 from lands called the Church Lands applied to the
relief of the poor.
77 The present font is the successor
of that described in Manning and Bray's
Surr. as 'of a square form, of free-
itone.'
77" Richard Lusher' s will was proved
1504; P.C.C. Holgrave, ig.
" b Rev. T. S. Cooper, in Surr. Arch.
Coll. x, 343.
7 s Chart. R. 33 Edw. I, m. 49.
7 Cal. Pat. 1340-3, p. 410.
8 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 28.
81 Misc. Bks.(Land Rev.), vol. 1 90, p.i68.
ra Pat. 32 Eliz. pt. 17.
M Partic. of Sales of Colleges, Misc. Bks.
(Aug. Off.), vol. 68, p. 56.
84 Monumental inscription in Putten-
ham Church.
85 Proved 20 July 1693.
88 Hist, of Surr. ii, 20
86a Willis' Visitation.
GODALMING HUNDRED
THURSLEY
THURSLEY
Thoreseley (xiv cent.).
Thursley was originally a part of the parish of Witley.
The length of the old parish was about 6 miles from
north to south, about 2 miles wide in the northern part,
tapering to the south and inclosing the town of
Haslemere in an elbow at the extreme south. The
boundary was here altered in 1902, by order of the
Local Government Board, 7 March 1902, part of
Thursley, covering 392 acres, which had been much
built over by the extension of Haslemere, being
transferred to Haslemere parish.
The area of the parish is now 3,986 acres, 1,202 of
which are heath land, and 29 water. The parish is
traversed throughout its length by the London and
Portsmouth road, which rises in easy slopes for over
2 miles from Thursley Common to the top of
Hindhead, 903 ft., or by another survey 895 ft., above
the sea.
The road winds below the top of the hill along
the edge of the great hollow called vulgarly the
Devil's Punch Bowl. The old name was Haccombe,
i.e. Highcombe, Bottom. The old road was higher
up the slope near the top ; it can still easily be seen.
The stone marking the site of the murder of a sailor
of name unknown, by three fellow travellers in
September 1786, is now by the side of the new road.
But the crime was committed upon the old road,
which was diverted in 1826. The murder is further
commemorated by a tombstone, with a bas-relief of
the act, in Thursley Churchyard. The perpetrators
were hung in chains on a gibbet by the side of the
road, pictures of which exist. The whole district
was formerly extremely wild and dangerous. Pepys
travelling in Surrey in 1668 engaged a guide to
conduct him over the road from Guildford to
Petersfield. This was a mere track. A properly
metalled road was made first in accordance with an
Act of Parliament of 1749 f r completing the road
from Kingston to Petersfield. The road which
branches off from Hindhead to Haslemere and into
Sussex, to Midhurst, was made at the same time. The
view from Hindhead challenges comparison with any
in the south of England. Though not so extensive
as that from Leith Hill, which including the Tower
is 60 ft. higher, the foreground is more broken and
diversified. The whole western half of the South
Downs lies in front to the south, the Hampshire
chalk hills to the west, the whole country to the
Thames Valley is overlooked northwards. The
advanced position of the hill, jutting out south-
ward from the Green Sand range of Surrey, yields
a view eastward along the middle of the Weald,
with the Leith Hill range on one hand, the South
Downs on the other, and Crowborough Beacon,
in Sussex, appearing in the blue distance beyond.
Till some forty years ago the spot was still desolate.
The ' Royal Huts," the old inn, was the only house
except two or three cottages which stood near it.
Since then, Professor Tyndall having led the way,
many houses have been built, but not on the top
of the hill, and not generally in Thursley parish.
The summit, and all the beautiful open common
to the north, has been preserved as open space, by
the purchase of this part of the waste of the manor
of Witley, from the representatives of the late Mr.
Whitaker Wright, by subscribers for the Commons
Preservation Society (1905). Thursley is still a
purely rural parish ; there is a small village near the
church, and a small collection of houses at Bowlhead
Green, where a Congregational chapel was built in
1865. The picturesqueness of the parish is not
exhausted with Hindhead. The view from the
churchyard westward is very fine, and the valley of
Cosford is very beautiful.
The soil is the Lower Green Sand almost entirely ;
the parish merely touches the Atherfield and Wealden
clays on part of its south-east border. The Hammer
Ponds, which formerly worked iron forges and a furnace
owned by the Smiths of Rake, Witley, are partly in the
parish. On the common, but in Frensham parish, are
the curious conical sand-hills called the Devil's Jumps.
They are natural, not, as has been supposed, barrows.
Neolithic implements have been found, an axe-head by
Mr. lolo Williams, now in the Charterhouse Museum,
some arrow-heads and flakes, also in the Charterhouse
Museum. The farm near the church seems to belong
to the 1 6th century in the back part and interior.
The principal landowners are Mr. R. W. Webb
of Milford House, Witley ; the Earl of Derby,
Captain Rushbrooke of Cosford, Mr. Yalden H.
Knowles, and Mrs. Gooch.
There has never been a separate manor of Thursley,
but the manor of Witley extends over the parish.
In the 1 6th century tenants of Witley Manor were
holding lands at Jordans, Robyns, Bagleys, and else-
where in the ' hamlet ' of Thursley. 1
The church of ST. MICHAEL*
CHURCH THURSLEr, was originally a chapel-
of-ease to Witley. The mother church
is mentioned in Domesday, but this is not, making
it a matter of doubt whether there was a chapel on
the site prior to about noo, which is the approxi-
mate date of the earliest features in the existing
building. There are a number of 1 8th and igth-
century monuments in the churchyard, among which
is the famous 'sailor's tomb,' mentioned above.
The church is constructed of Bargate stone rubble
with Bargate stone and chalk dressings in the old
parts. The same rubble, with dressings of Bath stone
Pl&n&s
before
1860
Scale oi
ST. MICHAEL, THURSLEY : PLAN AS BEFORE THE
ENLARGEMENTS OF 1860, ETC.
1 Misc. Bks. (Land Rev.), vol. 290, fol. 129.
59
A HISTORY OF SURREY
and some red brick, is employed for the new work.
Before enlargement there was a nave 38 ft. 3 in. by
2 1 ft., and a chancel 1 8 ft. by 1 6 ft. 9 in., separated by
an arch, and with a porch on the south of the nave.
Rising out of the centre of the nave, was and
happily still is a slender timber bell-turret, with
graceful shingled spire standing upon four enormous
baulks of moulded timber, which rest upon the nave
floor, and are tied together with braces. The
whole turret closely resembles that of the west end
of Alfold Church in this neighbourhood, and the two
were doubtless erected, about 1500, by the same
hands.
Until about the year 1860 the proportions of the
simple early building of about 1 100 remained unal-
tered, save for the addition of this timber turret and
spire (which, however, made no alteration in the
area occupied by the nave and chancel) ; at that time
the church received its first enlargement by the
addition of a short aisle and a vestry on the north of
the nave ; new windows were inserted in the west
and east walls and on the south of the nave, and the
church was reseated, a gallery being retained at the
west end. In 1883-4 tne nave was lengthened
westwards, and a transept, baptistery, and porch added
on the south of the nave, the additions involving the
removal of the old west wall and part of the south
wall. The accompanying plan, drawn with the help
of one taken before the 1860 alterations, shows some
of the ancient features that still remain, as well as
those that have been removed in the successive
enlargements.
CHANCEL ARCH, THURSLEY (FURNITURE OMITTED)
60
The turret and its spire are shingled, and on the
south side of the former is a large old sundial, in
place of a clock, bearing the inscription, ' Hora pars
vitae.' The body of the turret has been heightened
3 ft. Its timbers are remarkably massive as seen from
within the nave. Four huge uprights, worked with
a series of hollow chamfers, and measuring on the
square about 2 ft. 6 in., rise from the nave floor, and
great arches of oak spring from them and span the
nave. These arches, which are four-centred or
elliptical in outline, have a hollow chamfer on the
edges, and between them are two other arches of
similar shape, but rising from a beam on either side
(north and south), carried by a low four-centred
arch.
The nave retains only one of its original windows,
a small round-headed opening, somewhat widely
splayed, in the eastern part of the north wall. It
was preserved when the church was enlarged, and
now looks into the aisle. Originally there was a
similar window to the westward and a small door
between in this wall, probably matched by others in
the opposite wall ; and in the west end the outline
of a round-headed opening was noticeable until the
last extension. The south wall seems to have been
altered about the middle of the 1 3th century, when
a lancet and doorway took the place of the earlier
features. Later still, perhaps in the 1 5th century,
a two-light opening was inserted in the eastern part
of the south wall, destroying another early window,
and this and a similar insertion in the east wall of the
chancel seem to have been fitted with wooden frames
in place of the stone tracery early
in the igth century.
The chancel arch, built of hard
chalk, is of mid- 13th-century date.
Its piers are square to a height
of 4 or 5 ft. from the floor, and
then rise in two chamfered orders,
with pyramidal stops at the base,
the chamfers continuing without
any break round the arch. This
arrangement suggests that there
was originally a low screen stand-
ing in the opening. There are
at present the lower parts of a
15th-century screen, which has
been deprived of its traceried
upper half. The arch should be
compared with one of similar
date and character in West Clan-
don Church, near Guildford. In
the north-east angle of the nave
is a moulded bracket of black
marble which looks as if it had
carried the beam for the rood,
independently of the low screen.
The north wall of the chancel
is strangely devoid of features, "
there being no window, door, or
aumbry therein. There is a break
in the wall horizontally near the
top, which is much thinner. In
the south wall are two lancets of
about 1250, the openings of which
appear to have been widened at
some time, and the western, which
was a low side window and has
GODALMING HUNDRED
had its head raised since Cracklow's view of 1823
was taken. In the eastern part of the same wall is
a small piscina of 1250.
Both in the nave and chancel the roofs are mostly
ancient, the timbers of black oak, very massive and
in good preservation ; some of the beams are of
unusual size for so small a building. There are some
slight remains of plain 15th-century seats, worked in
with new material, in the chancel.
The font is the original, a large circular tub-shaped
block of hard Bargate stone, brownish-orange in
colour, and quite plain save for a band of cheveron
or arrow-head ornament incised round the rim, and
a little lower down a projecting moulding of circular
section, which may have served the practical purpose
of giving a grip to the chain or rope by which this
huge block was hoisted about between the quarry
and the church. This font appears to belong to an
early group in Surrey and Sussex, in which are
comprised Tangmere (with a circular moulding),
Alfold, Yapton and Walberton, the last two showing
similar incised ornamentation to the rims.
Of the three bells one is mediaeval, with an unde-
cipherable black-letter inscription, the others are
modern.
Among the church plate is a cup of 166* and an
old pewter plate.
The registers date from 1613, which leads to
the inference that it was a separate parish in fact ; it
had churchwardens of its own, but up to the middle
of the i gth century it was usually held with
Witley.'
WITLEY
A chapel atThursley was taxed with
Witley in 1291.* It is said to have
been erected into a separate parish in
THE FONT, THURSLEY
1838,* and the benefice is still in the gift of the vicar
of Witley.
Henry Smith's Charity applies to
CHARITIES Thursley. Moon's Money, a charity
of unknown origin, was applied to
the maintenance of the workhouse.
WITLEY
Witlei (xi cent.) ; Whitle or Witle (xiii cent, on-
wards).
Witley is bounded on the west by Thursley,
formerly a chapelry of the parish. It is rather over
6 miles from north to south, and 2 miles from east to
west, tapering somewhat towards the south. It con-
tains 7,210 acres of land, and 40 of water. The soil
of most of the parish is the Lower Green Sand ; the
south-eastern part is on the Atherfield and Wealden
Clays. On the west side of the parish Witley Common
is an extensive waste of heather, connected with
Thursley Common and the waste land running thence
up to Hindhead, all included in the manor of Witley.
The escarpment of the Green Sand to the south is
abrupt, affording fine views southward and east-
ward, and the central parts of the parish are 300 ft.
above the sea. The parish was divided into four
tithings. Milford to the north, containing the hamlets
of Milford and Mousehill, and now a separate ecclesias-
tical parish, Ley or Lea in the centre, containing the
hamlet of Wheeler Street; Stoatley ; and Birtley, which
includes Witley Street and all the parish to the south.
Witley Park was in the last.
The parish is intersected from north to south by
the London and Portsmouth road, and in the same
direction by the London and South Western Railway
to Portsmouth. Milford station is in Witley, but
Witley station is in Godalming parish.
Pinewood is the seat of Viscount Knutsford ; Rake
of Archdeacon Potter ; Lea Park was the home oi the
late Mr. Whitaker Wright. At the sale of this property
in 1905, the manorial rights over part of the waste
of Witley, including Thursley and part of Hindhead,
were acquired by trustees for the Commons Preserva-
tion Society. The principal landowners are Mr.
Webb, Mrs. Francis E. Eastwood of Enton, Mr. E. A.
Chandler, the Earl of Derby, and the various purchasers
of the Lea estate.
The soil of Witley Common contains a considerable
percentage of ferruginous sand. There were iron-
works in the parish on Witley and Thursley Heaths,
but the more important part of them was probably
in the Thursley chapelry, now a separate parish. But
iron was found also in Witley Park, in the clay. These
ironworks seem to have been among the last which
were kept open in Surrey. 1 They were working in
1767.
The social troubles of the year 1 549 led to riots
in Witley among other places, dignified by an old in-
habitant as ' the general rebellion in these parts,'
when the pale of Witley Park was demolished. The
rebellion was largely against inclosing of lands. 1
8 Injt. Bks. (P.R.O.).
< Pofe Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 208.
s Sumner, Comfectut of Dioc. of ffin-
ton, 1 1 6.
'Sec y.C.H. Surr. ii, 173, and Topley,
Gtol. of the Weald, 134, for the valuable
ferruginous land in Witley.
* Mr. M. S. Giuseppi, in Surr. Arch.
61
Coll. xviii, 17, quoting Exch. K.R. Spec.
Com. 2244. The same insurrection is re-
ferred to in a paper among the Loselcy
MSS. now at P.R.O.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
Witley Park was in the hollow, east of Hindhead
and south of the road called Park Lane. The whole
property is still called Witley Park.*
The ancient cottages near the church are very
picturesque. The White Hart Inn may be of 1 6th-
century date, though it has been restored externally.
In Milford and in Brook there are also old cottages.
Near Stroud are the remains of a moat, where possibly
the lodge of Witley or Ashurst Park once stood.
Leman Lane, an old road on the eastern boundary of
Lea Park, possibly is a very old right of way, retaining
its characteristic name, and nature, of the muddy way.
The Witley Institute was built by Mr. John Foster
in 1883. It contains a good reference library of 240
volumes, and a lending library of over 700 volumes.
On Witley Comn^n is a moated barrow of consid-
erable size, apparently undisturbed. 4 Other barrows
are said to have existed, and to have been opened, but
no record is known of their contents.
Neolithic implements and flakes are fairly com-
mon. An Anglo-Saxon gold ring of curious make has
been found at Witley.'
The ecclesiastical parish of Milford was separated
from Witley in 1844. The village is about a mile
and a half south of Godalming. The parish is
traversed by the London and Portsmouth road and by
the Portsmouth line of the London and South Western
Railway, which has a station there.
Milford House, the seat of Mr. R. W. Webb, J.P.,
is a substantial brick house of the style of Queen
Anne's reign. It was built by Thomas Smith, who
succeeded to the property in 1705. His daughter
Mary married Philip Carteret Webb, from whom Mr.
R. W. Webb is descended.
In and around the hamlet of Milford are a number
of old houses and cottages. One, a farm-house, with
a fine old yew tree in front, has a large roof of steep
pitch over the centre, which covered the hall, and a
gabled wing of slight projection at either end, in
which both the upper story and the gable-end over-
hung. Its timber-framed construction is now hidden
by plaster, and the barge boards of the gables are plain.
The arms of Paine quartered with an unknown coat
are in a window. The window-frames appear to be
17th-century insertions in some cases, but one at least
of the chimneys is original. The general date of this
house may be about 1500.
At Mousehill, to the west of Milford, is a fine old
brick manor-house of 17th-century date, with a large
chimney at either end having crow-stepped set-offs,
and there is some curious panelled work in brick, the
window heads with shouldered-arches under a string-
course being very unusual.
At Milford is a small Congregational Chapel opened
in 1902.
W1TLEY M4NOR was a possession of
MANORS Earl Godwin, and after the Conquest was
among the lands of Gilbert son of Richer
(Richerius) de Aquila, 6 whose grandfather Engenulf
de Aquila had accompanied William the Conqueror
and fell at the battle of Hastings.' Gilbert's son
Richer demanded his father's lands in England ; these
were at first refused him, but were temporarily restored
upon his invoking French aid. For his complicity in
Vide infra.
* Surr. Arch. Coll. xviii, p. xix.
WITLEY : COTTAGES SOUTH-EAST OF THB CHURCH
" Ordericui Vital!*, Hist.Eccl. (Duchesne),
s y.C.H. Surr. i, 271.
6 y.C.H. Surr. \, 323*.
62
501.
WITLEY : THE WHITE HART
GODALMING HUNDRED
WITLEY
the rebellion of William Clito his whole honour of
Aquila escheated to the Crown, and was only fully re-
granted in 1154.* He died in 1176 and was succeeded
by a son of the same name.' The latter's son Gilbert
went away into Normandy shortly before 1 200, at
which date the sheriff accounted for his lands at
Witley. 10 The custody of this manor was given first
to Stephen de Turnham, and afterwards, in 12045,
to William, Earl de Warenne, Gilbert's brother-in-
law," who obtained the grant on behalf of his sister."
The lands had probably been restored to Gilbert be-
fore 6 April 1226, when he had licence to cross to
Normandy," but they were again taken into the king's
hands in September of the same year," perhaps as a
pledge for his loyalty to Henry III, for they were re-
stored in the following spring on payment of a fine. 15
Gilbert de Aquila was dead before January 1231-2,"
and his lands escheated to the king, 17 probably owing
to his or his heir's adherence to French interests, 18
for in 1232 Henry III granted his barony to Peter
de Rivaulx, the Poitevin favourite, promising that,
if he should restore it to Gilbert's heirs by a peace
or of his own free will, Peter should not be dispossess-
ed without compensation. 19 Peter de Rivaulx, however,
seems to have lost the lands at the time of his depriva-
tion in 1234, for in December of that year the king
granted them with a similar promise to Gilbert Mar-
shal, Earl of Pembroke. 10 He exchanged them almost
immediately with the king's brother Richard," but
temporarily only, for he surrendered them to the
Crown in June 1 24.0." In the year following Henry
granted the honour of Aquila to Peter of Savoy, uncle
of Queen Eleanor," and entailed it on his heirs in
1246." It was doubtless the general dislike of for-
eigners which caused the ill-feeling that arose between
Peter of Savoy and his tenants at Witley. They
roused his anger by neglecting the homage due to him,
and he in revenge increased their rents. 1 * On the
baronial victory in 1264, Peter of Savoy having fled
from the country, Witley was granted to the custody
of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester." But after
Evesham, Peter's lands were restored, and on his death
in 1268 Queen Eleanor received Witley in accord-
ance with a settlement made by Peter her uncle."
The king and queen granted the manor to their son
Edward, who surrendered it to his mother for her
life.' 3
She granted the tenants a release from the oppres-
sive exactions of her predecessor on condition that
they should cause a yearly service to be held in Witley
Church for the souls of her husband and of Peter of
Savoy.* 9 In 1275 she gave the manor for life to her
steward Guy Ferre,* who surrendered it to the Crown
c. 1279." In 1283 Queen Eleanor was again in
possession, for she then had a grant of a weekly market
on Fridays at her manor of Witley, 3 ' and her charter
to Guy Ferre was confirmed in 1289." She died in
1291.
Edward I visited Witley in June 1294," and in
1 299 assigned the honour of Aquila, and possibly
Witley also, but there is no definite proof that
Witley was parcel of the honour, in dower to
Queen Margaret," who was in actual possession of
Witley in 131 3," and possibly earlier, for Guy de
Ferre the former tenant for life had died before
I 303." Witley ^seems to have been assigned with the
honour to the next queen, Isabella, who was in
possession in 1329." Queen Isabella surrendered it
with her other lands in 1330," and it formed part of
Philippa of Hainault's dower in January 1330-1.*
During the latter's life Andrew Tyndale held the
manor in lease, and after her death, in 1 369, the lease
was renewed for twenty years.* 1 He died c. 1377,*'
and the manor was thereupon granted by Richard II
to his nurse Mundina Danos for life, the grant being
afterwards extended to her and her husband Walter
Rauf, the king's tailor, in survivorship.*' They seem
to have renewed the exactions of Peter of Savoy,
whereupon the tenants of the manor raised a subscrip-
tion among themselves and brought a plea against
Mundina and her husband,** and though they were
not at the time successful they were able in the next
reign to obtain an exemplification of the Domesday
entry relating to Witley,** and a confirmation of
Queen Eleanor's charter.* 6 Walter Rauf died 12
June 1421,*' but Mundina survived him, at any rate
till 1423, when she had confirmation of the former
grants of Witley.* 9 The reversion of Witley Manor
was given to John Feriby, king's clerk, for life, in
1422 ;*' Henry VI also granted a life-interest in the
8 Dugdale, Baronage, i, 497. That he
retained some lands, possibly including
Witley, is inferred from hit grant of
Oxenford in 1 147.
'Cbroniea Roberti di Torigneio (Rolls
Ser.), 270.
10 Pipe R. 2 John, m. 15 d. ; Testa de
Nevill (Rec. Com), 225 j Cal. Doe. France,
225-6. "Close, 6 John, m. 14.
19 Teita de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 225.
u Cal. Pat. 1225-32, p. 26.
14 Excerfta t Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), i,
147.
"Fine R. n Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. iz.
u Cal. Pat. 1225-32, p. 458.
W Exeerfta e Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), i,
119.
18 It is most likely that it was the heir
who sacrificed his English in order to
retain his French lands, for Gilbert's
widow had dower in his English lands,
which were nevertheless accounted for
among the 'Terrae Normannorum.'
19 Col. Chart. R. i, 162. It is interest-
ing, in face of Peter de Rivaulx's depriva-
tion, to note that Hubert de Burgh pledged
himself to resist any possible attempt of
the king to violate the charters granted to
the Poitevin (ibid, i, 165).
*>Ibid. i, 190.
Ibid, i, 191 ; Red Bk. ofExeh. (Rolls
Ser.), 803.
M Cal. Chart. R. 252.
"Rymer, FoeJera, i, 399.
* Cal. Chart. R. i, 193, 296.
5 Assize R. no. 873 (43 Hen. Ill),
m. 6.
* Pat. 48 Hen. Ill, m. 8.
'7 Feet of F. Div. Co. Mich. 44
Hen. III.
98 Pat. 53 Hen III, m. 24 and 21.
89 Pat. 7 Hen. IV, pt. i, m. 29.
Cal. Pat. 1272-81, p. 125.
"Ibid. 355.
89 Close, 1 1 Edw. I, m. 7.
"Cal. Pat. 1281-92, p. 329.
81 Letters close and patent are dated
thence by the king 25 June 1294.
86 Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, pp. 76, 79,
102.
M Close, 6 Edw. II, m. 14, 15.
87 Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 1015,
no. 8. Mention is made of his executors
in this account. Edward II visited Witley
63
m 1324 (Cal. Close, 1323-7, pp. 203,
205).
88 Pat. 3 Edw. Ill, pt. 11, m. 19 d.
89 Rymer, FoeJera, ii, 835, 893.
40 Cal. Pat. 1330-4, p. 55.
41 Abbrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), ii,
304. At first he paid 20 yearly, from
which the parker's wages of id. daily were
deducted : after 1369 he paid 30 yearly,
which seems to have been about the value
of the manor. Queen Philippa granted
30 from it to Gilbert of Imworth (Cal.
Pat. 1343-$, p. 380). See also the first
grant to Mundina Danos (ibid. 1377-81,
p. 1 20), and Andrew Tyndale's account
(Mins. Accts. [Gen. Sen], bdle. 1015,
no. 9).
4a Cal. Pat. 1377-81, p. 21.
48 Ibid. 120, 159, 609.
44 Coram Rege R. no. 511 (Hil. 11
Ric. II), m. 17.
46 Cal. Pat. 1399-1401, p. 501.
44 Pat. 7 Hen. IV, pt. i, m. 29.
4 " Esch. Inq. p.m. (Ser. i), file 1417,
DO. I.
48 Cat. Pat. 1422-9, p. 87.
49 Ibid. 16.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
manor to Sir Bryan Stapilton, kt., with remainder
after his death to James Fiennes, afterwards Lord Say,"
who was in possession of it in 1450, when he was
executed by Cade's mob. 51 His lands fell to the king,
who bestowed Witley on his brother Jasper Tudor,
Earl of Pembroke, in 1453." On the accession of
Edward IV, the Earl of Pembroke was attainted and
forfeited his lands to the king, 63 who granted Witley
to the Earl of Kent in tail male, 54 and at the earl's
death without heirs male in January 14623 to
George, Duke of Clarence," his ill-fated brother. 16
On the duke's execution Witley was again seized by
the Crown, the stewardship of the manor being granted
in 1478 to Sir George Brown, kt., for life." Jasper
Tudor's attainder was reversed in 1485 ; probably he
regained Witley. At ,his death in 1495 Henry VII
was his heir. Again in 1 5 1 1 the stewardship of the
manor was given to William Fitz William and William
Cope, and in 1527 to Sir William Fitz William and Sir
Anthony Browne.* 8 The demesne lands were held in
1 547-9 by Thomas Jones," son of Thomas, Server of
the Chamber to Henry VIII (buried in the church),
the manorial rights being reserved to the Crown. 60
In 1551 the manorial rights and the park were
given in exchange for other lands to Edward Fiennes,
Lord Clinton and Say, 61 who almost immediately con-
veyed them to Sir Richard Sackville, Chancellor of
the Court of Augmentations.* 1 The latter conferred
the stewardship on William More of Loseley. 63 Queen
Mary evidently resumed the manor. 64 In 1599
Queen Elizabeth sold the whole manor and park
together with courts leet and baron to trustees for
Elizabeth Egerton, widow of Sir John Wolley and
sister of Sir George More, 65 her favourite maid of
honour. Her son Sir Francis Wolley sold it in 1605
to Sir George More his uncle, 66 who in 1613 sold the
park to his brother-in-law Sir Edward More, 67 and
the manor to Henry Bell of Rake. 68 It was settled
on his great-nephew Anthony Smith the younger. 69
It descended in the Smith family till it passed by the
marriage of Philip Carteret Webb in 1763 with Mary
Smith '" to his family. Mr. Robert William Webb
of Milford House sold the manor to Mr. Whitaker
Wright of Lea Park. Since his death part of the
waste has been acquired by trustees, to preserve the
open ground for public enjoyment, 71 and other parts
separately sold. Mr. G. H. Pinckard of Combe
Court bought the quit-rents of the manor.
The lords of Witley seem to have had a
PARK park there early in the I3th century," but
it is not specially mentioned in the grants
of the manor till after April 1247, when Peter of
Savoy obtained free warren in his demesne lands
of Witley. 73 In 1303 the profits of the park
amounted to 33*. 5</., 74 and ten years later Queen
Margaret sent five oaks from her park at Witley for
making shingles to cover the king's great hall at
Westminster. 75 Early in the following year Queen
Margaret made complaints against certain persons who
had broken several of her parks, including Witley,' 6
and a similar petition was made by Queen Isabella in
1329." In the grant to Mundina Danos in 1378
vert and venison in the park were reserved to the
king, while the grantee undertook to pay the parker
his wages of ^d. a day. 78 Amongst the charges brought
against the tenants of the manor by Mundina Danos
and her husband was that of breaking into their
warren, 79 while they claimed free warren in the lands
of bond-tenants as well as in their demesne lands. 80
Frequent appointments to the office of keeper occur
in the Patent Rolls, sometimes in conjunction with
that of Ashurst Park. In 1514 Thomas Jones (Johns)
and his son Robert had a grant of the office of keeper
in survivorship. 61 Sir William Fitz William and Sir
Anthony Browne were made masters of the hunt at
Witley when they obtained the stewardship of the
manor, 8 * but in the survey of Witley Manor dated
I 547 Thomas Jones was said to be custodian of the
park, which was 6 miles in circuit. 83 It was not
always included in the leases of the demesne lands,
but in May 1596 was granted in farm to Elizabeth
Wolley, Francis her son, and George More her
brother, 84 and finally sold to Elizabeth Wolley with
the manor, with which it descended till 1613. Sir
George More then sold to his brother-in-law, Sir
Edward, grounds called Witley Park, which he had
w> Pat. 21 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 18.
51 Chan. Inq. p.m. 29 Hen. VI, no. n.
sa Pat. 3 I Hen. VI, pt. ii, m. 26. The
manor was first granted to Edmund, Earl of
Richmond, and the Earl of Pembroke for
twelve years, and a few months afterwards
the former grant was cancelled and the
manor settled on Pembroke in tail male.
58 R. of Part. (Rcc. Com.), vi, 278.
54 Cal. Pat. 1461-7, p. 225.
" Ibid. 226, 227. It seems probable,
however, that William son and heir of
Lord Say was still occupying the manor
in conjunction with his mother Emeline;
ibid. 1467-8, p. 116.
56 To whom there is a tablet dated 1468
on the north wall of the church, erected in
his lifetime.
57 Cal. Pat. 1476-85, p. 92. It is said
that Sir Reginald Bray held the manor for
life under Henry VII. B.M. Add. MS.
6167. Perhaps the stewardship is meant.
48 L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv, 1385. In
May 1513 William Fitz William granted
the sub-stewardship to Christopher More ;
Loseley MSS. Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii,
App. 6004.
59 Misc. Bks. (Land Rev.), vol. 190,
fol. 129 et seq.
60 Jones's first lease was for 21 years
(Pat. I Mary, pt. xiii). In 1553 Sir John
Gage obtained a lease to date from the
expiration of Jones's lease, nevertheless the
latter and his nephew William Stoughton
obtained renewals of his lease in 1568
and 1588 (Pat. 10 Eliz. pt. iii, no. 3 ;
29 Eliz. pt. iv, no. 5 ; 37 Eliz. pt. ii,
no. i).
61 Pat. 5 Edw. VI, pt. vii, no. 14.
* Close, 5 Edw. VI, pt. v, no. i.
68 Loseley MS. iz, 10.
64 Possibly the object of the transaction
with Lord Clinton and Say was to ensure
the Crown against any claim he might
bring to the manor. The manorial rights
seem to have been included in the grant
to Sir John Gage.
Pat. 41 Eliz. pt. xii, no. 20 ; Close,
41 Eliz. pt. xxi.
66 Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 2 Jas. I.
67 Close, ii Jas. I, pt. xxxvi, no. 3.
68 Ibid. 12 Jas. I, pt. xxv, no. 23.
M Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), mxxvi, 54 ;
Surr. Arch. Coll. xviii, 29.
70 She was great-granddaughter of
Thomas brother and heir of the younger
Anthony Smith. See an interesting
account of the manor by Mr. E. Foster,
Surr. Areh. Coll. xviii, 79.
71 See account of parish. Certain parts
6 4
of the waste were, however, reserved by
Mr. Webb, and certain quit-rents were
separately sold.
7> In the charter of Gilbert de Aquila,
confirming Oxenford to the abbey of
Waverley, the following clause occurs : ' et
claudent tantum de parco quantum pertinet
ad predictum tenementum de Oxenford
cum toto exitu suo et non plura sicut
ceteri homines mei de H. Witley ' ; Pat.
II Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 36.
78 Cal. Chart. R. i, 315.
? 4 Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 1015,
no* 8.
76 Cal. Close (Rec. Com.), 1307-13, p.
507.
76 Cal. Pat. 1313-17, pp. 135, 137
228.
" Ibid. 1327-30, p. 476.
T 8 Ibid. 1377-81, p. 159.
78 Coram Rege R. no. 511 (Hil. 12
Ric. II), m. 17.
80 Free warren had been granted to
Peter of Savoy in his demesne lands in
Witley ; Cal. Chart. R. i, 315.
i L. and P. Hen. fill, i, 886.
8a lbid. iv, 1385.
88 Misc. Bks. (Land Rev.), vol. 190,
fol. 134.
84 Pat. 38 Eliz. pt. xii.
GODALMING HUNDRED
WITLEY
previously held on lease. 84 In 1656 Edward More,
grandson of Sir Edward, sold it to Thomas Russell ** ;
it was probably already broken up into farms.
Russell was possibly trustee for Simon Bennett, whose
daughter Frances carried a moiety of the park in
marriage to James fourth Earl of Salisbury. Her sister
Grace died in 1730 without issue, and her moiety
also passed to James, the sixth Earl. His son the
first Marquess of Salisbury sold it to William Smith
of Godalming in 1 79 1. 87 William Smith bequeathed
the estate to his brother, Richard Smith of Burgate,
whose niece Mary, widow of George Chandler, in-
herited it in 1838, and held it with remainder to her
son Allen. 88 Mr. Allen Chandler sold it to the Earl
of Derby, in 1876.
In the 1 5th century the lords of Witley Manor
had both court baron and view of frankpledge together
with the chattels of fugitives and outlaws ; M they
also had a right to heriot and relief from certain of
their tenants, 90 and claimed a custom called ' grasaves,'
or ' Grayside,' which was valued at 5/. ^J. yearly."
From time to time their tenants claimed various privi-
leges, asserting that Witley was ancient demesne. On
this ground in 1380, and again in 1401, they were ex-
empted from paying the expenses of knights to Parlia-
ment." On the other hand, in the suit brought against
Peter of Savoy by the men of Witley, the jurors
allowed the exactions of Peter of Savoy, but denied
that Witley was ancient demesne of the Crown. 93 In
1389 the tenants, with a few exceptions, 94 were said
to be villeins and bond-tenants, and were bound to
act as reeve of the lord's manor, and to perform
certain other services. 94
They obtained a recognition of their position as
tenants in ancient demesne in the proceedings in
1401, including right of exemption from juries. 94
This privilege, with the exemption from contribution
to expenses of knights of the shire, was confirmed
20 June 1574."
Free fishery was recounted among the appurtenances
of the manor in I443. 98
tTYTLEr CHESBERIES aSai WTTLETCHEAS-
BURIES is a small reputed manor. It is near Wheeler
Street. In 1310 William de Chussebury de Mule-
ford was husband of Dionisia, co-heiress of Stephen
de Asshurst. 99 They levied a fine of land in Witley,
Godalming, &c. The name Chesbury appears in
subsidies in 1332 and 1381. In 1 5 66 there was an
inquiry in the Catteshull court as to whether Henry
Chittie, tenant of Chesberies, was or was not subject
to the court's jurisdiction. 100 In 1575 Henry Chittie
alias Bocher parted with the manor of Chesberies to
Laurence Stoughton, parson of Witley."" In 1580
Laurence sold to George Weller. 101 In 1605 Weller
parted with the manor of Chesberies to Thomas
Compton,"" doubtless the owner of Taylors, God-
aiming. 10 * It afterwards went to the Buncombes.
In 1726 John Duncombe sold to John Marche,
yeoman. It descended to Richard Marche, and
through theWinkworth and Sparkes families from him
to Mrs. Eastwood, who lately sold it to Mr. Heatley.
OXENFORD GRANGE, within Peper Harrow
Park, but in the parish of Witley, was a part of the
manor of Witley until Richer de Aquila granted it
to the abbey of Waverley early in the I2th century. 104
His gift is mentioned in the bull of Pope Eugenius III,
dated 1 147, confirming to the abbey all its property, 106
and the grange of Oxenford with land at Rihella was
included in the lands confirmed to the abbey by
Richard I. 107 Richer's grandson, Gilbert de Aquila, in
confirming his grandfather's gift, mentioned the right
of the abbot to inclose so much of Witley Park as
belonged to Oxenford. 1 " 8 In the 'Taxatio ' of 1291
Oxenford was rated at ji, 109 and the abbot seems to
have objected to paying the tenth for it, 110 but his
claim to exemption was disallowed. 111 The grange
remained among the possessions of the abbey till the
Dissolution, at which time it was valued at 4 1 3/. 4</. n>
It was included in the grant of the site of Waverley
to Sir William Fitz William, 113 with which it descended
to Anthony, first Viscount Montague, 114 who died
seised of a messuage called Oxenford, 9 October I 592. " 4
His son by his second wife, Sir Henry Browne,
sold to Sir George More of Loseley in 1609."*
Sir George, his son Sir Robert, and their respec-
tive wives, levied a fine to John Hone in 1613,"'
and Bartholomew Hone his son, of Oxenford, and others
conveyed to John Chesterton of St. Giles in the Fields
in i6i9. 118 After his death in February 1624-5,
it was held by his wife Anne for life, who survived
her two sons, Walter, who died in i638, 119 and John."
The reversion became divided among the three sisters
of John and their representatives, namely, Mary wife
of Henry Fox, Jane wife of John Smith of Riehull,
and Martha wife of Antony Covert. On 8 February
1667 Antony Covert and his son conveyed their
third to John Platt of Westbrook and his heirs, 111 and
in 1676 his son Sir John Platt, and John Smith son
85 dole, 1 1 Jas. I, pt. xxxvi, no. 3.
86 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 1656, pt. I.
87 Cloie, 31 Geo. Ill, pt. iii, no. 7.
88 Brayley, Hist, of Surr. v, 254.
89 Pat. 21 Hen. VI, pt. i, no. ig.
10 Miic. Bk. (Land Rev.), vol. 190, foL
134; Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle.
1015, no. 8.
Panic, of Grants (Aug. Off.), 6 Edw.
VI, 1515-
" Add. Chart. 27744-7.
* Assize R. 873, m. 6 (1259). Peter
brought forward as evidence against them
the entry under the barony of Aquila in
Domesday Book, which, strangely enough,
was employed by the tenants themselves in
asserting their privileges two centuries
later.
M Viz. the tenants of Bouelith, Winkes-
worth, Balham, Dene, Writrowe, Stutley,
High Ashurst, and Oxenford.
M Coram Rege R. 5 1 1 (Hit. 12 Ric. II),
'7-
96 B.M. Add. Chart. 27444-5 ; Cal.
Pat. 13991401, p. 502. On the ground
that the manor was entered under the
barony of Aquila in Domesday Book.
Perhaps it was understood that the manor
had pertained to the Crown before 1086,
and that it had passed from Earl Godwin
to Earl Harold, and thus to William I,
and had been held by him as ancient de-
mesne before the grant to Aquila.
*! Pat. 1 6 E1U.
99 Pat. 21 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. ig.
99 De Banco R. Hil. 3 Edw. II, m.
i go.
lwl View of Frankpledge, 27 Sept. g
Eliz.
l" 1 Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 17 Eli*.
" Ibid. Trin. 22 Eliz.
> Ibid. Mich. 3 Ja.. I.
104 Private information.
101 The abbey was founded in 1128.
The grant must therefore have been made
between that date and the confirmatory
65
charter of Pope Eugenius, which was given
in 1147.
M Lansd. Chart. 17.
107 Cart. Antiq. S. 20.
108 Pat. 1 1 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 36.
109 Poft Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 206.
110 Ibid. 209*.
111 Ctl. fat. 1340-3, p. 128.
11J Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 34.
" L. and P. Hen. VIII, xi, 88. I
" See V.C.H. Surr. ii, 624.
114 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxxxv,
no.
118 Close, 8 Jas. I, Modern Ref. no.
2027.
17 Feet of F. SUIT. East. II Jas. I.
118 Close, 17 Jas. I, pt. xiv, no. 55.
u > Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccxix,
3'-
" Ibid. vol. cccclxxxvi, 100.
"> Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 19 Chat. II. ;
Close, 1 8 Chas. II, pt. !T, no. 17.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
of John and Jane, conveyed two-thirds to Denzil,
Lord Holies, 1 " from whom it passed as Peper Harow
(q.v.). This portion included the grange itself.
Chesterton Fox, son of Henry Fox and Mary, was
possessed of the other third in i68o, 1M and in 1705
it was sold by Mary Horish and Anne Fox, daughters
of Chesterton Fox, to Edmund Stillwell of Thursley. 11 *
His descendants sold to Viscount Midleton c. 1822.
The remains of the Grange are now included in
Peper Harow Park. They consist of only part of
a cottage, the rest having been pulled down in 1775
when the present mansion-house at Peper Harow was
approaching completion. The fifth Viscount Midle-
ton employed Mr. Pugin to build an imitation 1 3th-
century farm here. The land of Oxenford is counted
now in Witley parish. It was apparently, when in
the hands of Waverley, extra-parochial, and is tithe-
free. In 1802 and 1803 the inhabitants successfully
resisted an inclusion for rateable purposes in Witley. 1 "
MOUSEH1LL (Mushulle, xiv cent. ; Moussulle,
xv cent.) is a hamlet of Milford. The family of
Court were the chief landowners there in the 1 4th
century. In 1335-6 Cecily widow of Richard le
Court leased land at Mousehill to Thomas atte
Dene and Robert son of John le Court. 116 Robert
Court is said to have held court baron for the manor
of Mousehill early in the reign of Henry V. 117
Robert Court conveyed all his lands in Witley to
his son Thomas Court in 14.26. Thomas is said to
have had a daughter Julia who married John Hedger.
His granddaughter Marion married Richard Shudd. 119
From the Courts the estate became known as Court
Thorn in Mousehill. 130 In 1 548 the manor of
Court was held by Richard Shudd, 131 son of Richard
and Marion, who was succeeded by John Shudd.
He conveyed in 1 6 1 1 to his son Richard. In 1614
Richard bequeathed Court Thorn in Mousehill to his
brother Thomas, together with Court Hall in Mouse-
hill, which he had purchased from John Fludder, 1 "
subject to the condition that Thomas granted his
right in other property to a third brother John. This
arrangement was carried out in l6l5, 1S3 John Stillwell
(vide infra) being an executor. Thomas Shudd
entered upon his bequest in 1614. He died in
1 649 134 holding Court Hall and Mousehill, and his
son Thomas was in possession of them c. 1618, and
died in 1699."* They passed, through the marriage
of his sister Joan to John Stillwell of Lower House
in Thursley, to the Stillwell family. 136
The ' manor of Court Thorn or Mousehill '
remained in the possession of John Stillwell's descend-
ants till about 1822, when it was purchased by
Viscount Midleton." 7 A court baron existed as late
as 1701.
RAKE in Milford is an Elizabethan house near the
watercourse which runs from Witley to Milford.
The owner of the estate had a mill near his house, the
whole being described c. 1548 as a tenement and
26 acres of land and a fulling-mill." 8 Robert Mellersh,
who was then the owner, was succeeded by his widow
Joan, after whom their son John held Rake. 139 He
was involved in a suit with the tenant of Witley.
Thomas Jones, concerning the damage caused to the
demesne lands of Witley by the overflow of water
from the pond at Rake, and a right of way claimed
by Mellersh through the lands of Witley Manor. 140
In 1592 he sold a messuage and mill in Witley to
Henry Bell. There seems no doubt that this sale
referred to Rake, 1 * 1 for Henry Bell was possessed of
' Rake farm ' at his death.'" It passed to his nephew
Antony Smith, who settled it upon his great-nephew
Antony Smith Meale ; it descended to thelatter's grand-
daughter Anne, the wife (1748) of Thomas Woods of
Godalming, whose grandson Thomas Woods sold the
house and mill in 1836 to Thomas Durrant. He
died in 1879 ; the property was sold to the trustees
of the Busbridge estate, and the late owner was the
Hon. Violet Monckton, but it has been sold again
recently to Archdeacon Potter. 1 "
Rake House, built by Henry Bell in 1602, is one of
the best examples of the half-timber manor-house
remaining in Surrey. 144 Its timber framework, filled
with bricks laid herring-bone fashion, the many
original windows, and a large and finely proportioned
chimney-stack rising from the ground on the west
side are noteworthy features. The plan is important,
as typical of the smaller gentleman's house of the
beginning of the 1 7th century. It is L shaped, with
the staircase carried up in a gabled excrescence built in
the inner angle of the |_ (a feature occurring in a
house of similar plan at Shottermill). The hall or
kitchen occupies roughly the middle of the long stroke
of the L, having the great open fireplace at one end and
a screen along one side. Two kitchen offices filled the
top of the L, and two parlours, separated by a large
chimney-block, the short stroke. The annexe con-
taining the staircase served also as an entrance porch,
and there was a second doorway opposite to it in the
rear of the hall. The parlour filling the outer angle
of the L is approached by a third outer door, which
opens into the lobby formed by the thickness of the
chimney between the two parlours ; and in the other
parlour is an oak mantelpiece, very delicately carved
with arabesque and foliage patterns, caryatides, and
arches, bearing the date 1602 and the initials H. B.
ROAKEot ROKEL4ND was held in 1548 by
Walter son of John Roke, 145 who was doubtless a
descendant of Richard atte Roke, one of the tenants
who protested against the exactions of Mundina Danos
in I389. 146 Walter's granddaughters, Alice Clarke
1M Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 28 Chas. II.
la8 Recov. R. Trin. 31 Chas. II, rot
56.
144 Close, 4 Anne, pt. ii, no. 9.
115 Manning and Bray, Hiit. of Surr.
47-
12 Add. Chart. (B.M.), 27741.
1J ~ Manning and Bray, ii, 46, quoting
from the court rolls.
1113 Add. Chart. (B.M.), 27748.
39 From an old pedigree communicated.
130 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccclii,
123.
131 Misc. Bks. (Land. Rev.), vol. 190,
fol. 132.
ua Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccclii,
213.
138 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 1 3 Jas. I.
184 Witley Ct. R. 5 Apr. 1649.
*** Deeds communicated by Mr. Woods.
188 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 30 Chas. II.
ls; Bray ley, Hut, of Surr. iv, 312.
James Stillwell conveyed them to John
Stillwell in 1785 ; Feet of F. Surr. Trin.
25 Geo. III.
188 Misc. Bks. (Exch. L.T.R.), 168, fol.
79 et seq.
"" Misc. Bks. (Land Rev.), vol. 190,
fol. 132.
140 For a full account of the proceedings
66
see Mr. Giuseppi, ' Rake in Witley,' Surr,
Arch. Coll., xviii, 11-60.
1" Ibid.
14a Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), vol. dxxvi,
54-
148 Surr. Arch. Coll. xviii, 56, &c. ;
and private information.
144 Surr. Arch. Coll. xviii, 61.
145 Misc. Bks. (Land Rev.), vol. 190,
fol. 129 (Surv. of Witley Manor.)
148 Coram Rege R. Hil. 1 2 Ric. II, m.
17. In 1327 a Thomas of Roke and his
wife Joan appeared at Godalming Hundred
Court, Joan being executrix of Henry
Lanewey ; Add. R. 26892.
GODALMING HUNDRED
and Jane Payne, inherited Rokeland, which ultimately
passed to Thomas Clarke, 147 who sold ' the manor of
Rokeland ' and a house called Rokehouse to Thomas
Carrill in I585- 1 * 8 Six years later the Carrills alien-
ated Rokeland to John Westbrook, 149 whose descendants
held it for nearly a century. 140 In 1674 Richard
and William Westbrook sold it to Thomas Smith of
Witley, 151 with which manor it has since descended.
The church of ALL S4INTS stands
CHURCHES upon a gentle slope on one side of the
village. The churchyard is beautiful
and has some fine trees; and the cottages at the south-
eastern angle, with the church stile, combine to make
a most picturesque and oft-painted group, the square
tower and slender spire of the church appearing be-
hind. There are many lyth and 18th-century grave-
stones in the churchyard.
The church is built of local sandstone rubble, with
dressings of the same or Bargate stone ; brick and Bath
stoc.e have been partly used for modern additions.
Horsham slabs still remain upon the roofs, together
with ordinary tiles, and the
spir e is covered with oak shingles.
The church consists of nave,
44 ft. 6 in. by 1 8 ft. 6 in. with
north and south transepts (the
south, which is ancient, being
1 3 ft. 9 in. by 1 5 ft. 6 in.),
central tower (about 14 ft.
square) and spire, chancel, 26 ft.
6 in. long, by I 5 ft. 2 in., and
north chapel known as the Wit-
ley Manor Chapel, originally
lyft. by 156. The nave is
the oldest part of the building,
and probably the plan and main
structure of this date from the
last quarter of the 1 1 th cen-
tury. The central tower, tran-
septs, and chancel belong to the
next period, 1 1 90, while the
north chapel was added and
other alterations made in the
first half of the 1 4th century.
There is a porch on the south
of the nave, patched work of
19th-century date, and another giving access to the
north transept of more recent date. This transept
has been thrown out on an enlarged scale, and a
short aisle and vestry built in 1890 on the north of
the nave. Before these extensions the insertion of
' churchwarden ' windows, &c., in the early part of
the I gth century, and a severe ' restoration ' in 1 844
had robbed the church of some of its interest.
Externally, the most ancient feature is the south
doorway within the porch, which preserves its jambs
and their plain heavy nook-shafts, with cushion
capitals, of date c. 1080. Part of the abacus is plain
except for a small moulding, but the rest, of a slightly
later date, has been carved with another moulding and
the star-pattern. 16 * The original semicircular arch
has been replaced by a rude pointed one, apparently
of early igth-century date. The substance of the
nave walls, which are unusually lofty for a church of
WITLEY
this size, is of the latter part of the nth century, but
no windows of this period are now visible, they having
been replaced by large two-light openings of 'church-
warden ' character. The west window and the
doorway below are apparently of 15th-century date.
On the gable of the south porch, which is a modern
antique, is an ancient oak barge-board, perhaps as old
as the latter part of the I4th century, but belonging
originally to a demolished house in the village.
The south window of the south transept is a
' churchwarden ' insertion, but in the west and east
walls are small narrow lancets, dating from about 1 1 90.
The eastern is set with a pointed-arched recess on the
inside, indicating the position of the chapel altar.
This transept retains its original roof of somewhat
acute pitch.
Above the crossing rises the tower, of solid dignified
square form, in two stages, without buttresses. It is
built like the rest of the church of local rubble, with
Bargate stone quoins and other dressings. At the
south-east angle is a circular stair-turret of modern
Sca-le of feet
WITLEY CHURCH
GROUND PLAN
date, and in the lower stage are lancet windows with
pointed heads. A string-course of half-round section
separates the stages, and upon this stand, in each face,
two round-headed openings divided by a broad mul-
lion : these are chamfered and rebated. The tower
is crowned by a coped parapet resting upon a corbel,
and at the angles are small obelisks or pinnacles,
evidently 1 7th-century additions ; the corbels of the
parapet being variously moulded and coeval with the
tower.
The shingled spire is of 1 4th or 15th-century date.
Altogether this tower is one of the most interesting
studies in early masonry in Surrey. Within it rests
upon plain pointed arches, worked in clunch, and
having steeply chamfered imposts and narrow chamfers
to the piers.
In the south wall of the chancel, at its western end,
is a trefoiled lancet, which old photographs show to
147 In the above-mentioned survey
Thomas Clarke's name is inserted in the
margin as heir of Richard son of Walter
Roke.
148 Close, 27 Eliz. pt. viii.
""Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 33 Eliz.
150 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccclxxiii,
141 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 26 Chat. II.
"'Illustrated in V.C.H. Surr. ii,
448.
74-
6 7
A HISTORY OF SURREY
have been a low side window : its sill has been lately
raised. Further east is a wide lancet with pointed
head, and at the angle a good example of a late 12th-
century buttress with a string-course of semi-octagon
shape, which also appears beneath the east window.
The latter, which has replaced the original early
lancets, is an interesting design in flowing tracery of
three lights, worked in clunch. 153 The gable has a
moulded barge-board. The east window of the
Witley Manor Chapel, also of three lights, is a resto-
ration on the old lines of a reticulated pattern tracery.
The windows in the north wall are also new, but
perhaps restorations, and the north transept, porch,
aisle, and vestry are modern.
Coming to the interior, we find few features of
antiquity in the nave, which has a new oak-panelled
roof and seating. The internal opening of the south
doorway has been enlarged and otherwise altered.
The character of the tower arches and the south
transept has been noted above. In the chancel are
handsome modern alabaster sedilia and other fittings,
but the curious piscina with thirteen foliations to the
drain and the aumbry above it are of about 1350.
The face of the latter is sloped back, so as to keep the
door automatically closed ; adjacent to this are the
remains of the earlier semi-octagonal string found also
on the outside.
The arches between the two chancels appear to
have been pierced at a later date than that of either
chancel, and originally there was probably a wall
between the two with a door in it. The western
arch is wide, of two plain chamfered orders, and the
other quite narrow, of 15th-century date, with a
plain tomb standing in it which was used as an
Easter sepulchre. Eastward of this, on the chapel
side under a pointed arch and credence shelf, is a
piscina in Sussex marble, bearing curious ornamenta-
tion of wavy lines. This bowl was probably
transferred here from the main chancel when the later
piscina there was made and the chapel built.
The original oak roof (c. 1 1 90) remains over the
south transept. It is of braced collar-beam construc-
tion, with fine massive timbers. The corresponding
north transept roof was preserved when the walls
supporting it were removed to extend the area, and
a noteworthy detail of this is the billet ornament
upon the wall plates, a feature rarely found in wood-
work. 1 "
The handsome screen between this transept and
the north chapel is of the 1 5th century. On the
south wall of the nave, high up, is a painting of
12th-century date in two tiers. It measures about
1 6 ft. in length, by about 9 ft. in height, but is
obviously a fragment of a scheme which probably
covered the entire nave ; the colours used are red,
pink, yellow, and white, and the whole composition
and treatment recall the early Lewes school as
represented in Hardham, Clayton, and other Sussex
churches. The subjects are uncertain, but the upper
tier seems to contain scenes connected with the
Nativity, and the lower legendary incidents in the
lives of saints. One nimbed figure in the lower tier
bears a T-headed staff. In the background is some
architecture of arcaded towers and domed roofs with
scale-shaped tiles. On the east wall of the south
transept and elsewhere are further slight remains of
colour decoration, chiefly in red.
Some good 15th-century heraldic glass (among
which are the arms of France and England quarterly,
and France impaling France and England) remains
in the windows of the Witley Manor Chapel, but it
has been shifted and releaded within the last
century, and not all of it is ancient. One fragment
on which was depicted the hawthorn bush and crown,
with the initials H. E. in black letter beneath it,
formerly marked the connexion of the manor with
Henry VII. It and the remaining old glass are con-
jectured to have been placed in the windows by
Sir Reginald Bray (temp. Henry VII). The font dates
from about 1250. Its octagonal bowl, which has
been renewed or recut, rests upon a central drum and
eight small shafts with moulded bases, standing upon
a circular plinth.
Some ancient seats belonging to the first half of
the 1 4th century, which may have originally stood
in the nave, have been placed in the same chapel.
The sanctuary is bordered with a dado of modern
marble.
A fragmentary inscription in black letter, cut in
a piece of stone let into the north wall of the chancel,
bears the date 1468, and records the fact that the
manor of Witley was held by the ill-fated Duke of
Clarence, brother of Edward IV. It reads :
' Georgii Ducis Clarence et Dns (sic) de Wytle, ac
fratris Edwardi quarti, regis Anglic et Franc . . .'
This accounts, probably, for the heraldic glass in the
windows.
The Easter sepulchre contains a brass to Thomas
Jones, Jane his wife, and their six children, 'which
Thorn's was one of the Servers of the Chamber to our
Souverayne lorde Kinge Henry VIII.'
A brass in the north wall of the manorial chapel
bears the date 1634, and commemorates Henry Bell,
' Clarke Controwler of the Household to our late
Soveraigne Lord King James of Blessed Memorie.'
There are also tablets in the chancel and north
chapel to the wife of a 17th-century vicar of Witley
(in which her virtues are likened to those of Sarah,
Rebecca, Rachel, and Ruth) ; and to Anthony Smith,
' Pentioner ' to Charles I and II, with a curious Latin
couplet containing allusions to his gift of a bell to the
church, and his benefactions to the poor of Witley.
An ancient almsbox of enamelled iron, with 1 4th
or 15th-century tracery on the front, stands by the
south door. Although an undoubted antiquity, it
has been presented to the church in recent years.
The registers date from 1558.
There are eight bells in the tower, the treble and
third by Bryan Eldridge, 1648 ; the second bears
Richard Eldridge's initials and the legend, ' Our Lord
our hope, 1604.' The fourth is by William Eldridge,
1670.
Among the church plate are chalices of the years
1638 and 1639, the second being an ancient piece
imported from Yorkshire, the gift of Mr. John Har-
rison Foster, of Witley. There is also a paten of the
date 1717, and an old pewter tankard of a poor type.
The church of St. John the Evangelist, Milford,
was built in 1844. It is of Bargate stone, which
is found in the neighbourhood, in 14th-century
158 Illustrated in V.C.H. Sam ii, 456 ;
cf. the eat window! of Woking, Dork-
ing, and Mickleham the last two de-
stroyed.
68
154 A 12th-century beam in the nave of
Old Shoreham Church, Sussex, is one of
the few instances of its occurrence.
GODALMING HUNDRED
WITLEY
style, with a bell turret. The north aisle was added
in 1894.
The church of All Saints, Grayswood, was built in
19001 and consecrated in 1902.
A church is mentioned in the
JDfOIVSONS Domesday Survey of Witley. 1 "
The advowson of Witley Church
was appurtenant to the manor until Gilbert Marshal,
Earl of Pembroke, gave it to the Abbey of St. Mary
de Gloria, Anagni, to which Pope Gregory IX
granted an indult to enter in possession in September
1238, a vicar's portion being reserved. 14 * This
appropriation does not seem to have been carried
into effect, and the advowson itself was evidently
restored to the lords of the manor before 1289,'"
when it was included in the confirmatory grant to
Guy Ferre. 158
In 1321 Queen Isabella presented a rector to
Witley Church. 159 In 1 342 Edward III gave the
advowson to Dartford Priory, 160 to which the church
was appropriated c. 1 368, 161 but the prioress, doubt-
ing the validity of the former appropriation and
* being in no small need,' obtained a fresh licence
from the pope in October I395. 161 In 1544, after
the suppression of the priory, the king sold the rectory
and advowson of Witley as a manor to Thomas
Jones, ' his servant,' 16S who sold them in 1571 to
Thomas Smith, controller of the queen's household. 144
In 1642 a Thomas Smith his grandson presented to
the vicarage, and left the manor in his will for
sale. 1641 In 1670 George Smith his son 16S presented.
From him the rectory manor descended in moieties to
Susan Smith and Sarah wife of Michael Purefoy. 158
Susan Smith either inherited or purchased the
second moiety, for she was possessed of the whole
rectory and advowson in iy\$, K1 and alienated them
to the use of William Myers. 168 He died in 1739.
His son William Myers made a settlement of Witley
rectory on his marriage in I743. 169 In 1775
William Myers his son sold the rectory, advowson,
and great tithes of Witley (but not of Thursley) to
John Leech, Ph.D., of Alton and John Chandler of
Witley." The former took the rectory, manor-house,
and part of the land, the latter the advowson of
Witley and Thursley, the vicarage house, and other
lands.
This Mr. Chandler's grandson was patron and vicar
in 1837. The present patron is Mr. E. A. Chandler.
The rectory manor passed ultimately to Mr. John
Leech, of Lea, M.P. for West Surrey, son of Dr. Leech,
who died in 1 847. His widow Mary married William
Wight, and died 1878. The manor was then sold to
W. H. Stone, whence it probably passed with Lea,
where Dr. Leech and Mr. Stone had lived, to
Whitaker Wright, and was seemingly lost sight of as
a manor.
There were manorial rights attached to the rectory
as well as court leet. 1 " With regard to the latter, the
parson of Witley claimed view of frankpledge and
assize of bread and ale in 1279, but the king
recovered seisin of them through his default. 1 ' 1
Apparently, however, the rectors had regained view
of frankpledge before the Dissolution, and the rector
had both court baron and court leet late in the
1 7th century. 173
Milford was formed into a separate ecclesiastical
parish in 1844. The vicar of Witley is patron of the
living. 174
Grayswood was formed into a separate ecclesiastical
parish from Chiddingfold, Haslemere, Thursley, and
Witley in 1900. The Bishop of Winchester is
patron 17i of the living, which is a vicarage.
155 y.C.H. Surr. i, 313.
156 Cat. of Papal Letters, i, 164, 176.
The gift was made before 26 Oct.
1237.
67 It ii doubtful whether the Earl Mar-
thai had any right to alienate the advowson
of which he had only the custody ; the
church is expressly excepted, however, in
Queen Eleanor's first grant of the manor
to Guy Ferre.
158 Cal. Pat. 1272-81, p. 125 ; ibid.
1281-92, p. 329.
/>. Reg. Wintm (Hants Rec.
Soc.}, 446.
m Pat. 31 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, no. 12. It
appears therefore that Philippa of Hainault
did not have it in dower with Witley Manor,
for we infer from the wording of Edward's
grant that it referred to the advowson itself
and not the reversion.
151 Wyktham't Reg. (Hants Rec. Soc.),
ii, 23.
168 Cal. of Papal Letters (Rec. Com.),
iv, 517.
163 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xix, i, 374 ;
Aug. Off. Partic. of Grants, 650. He
was son of the Thomas Jones, server of
the chamber to Henry VIII, to whom
there is a brass in the church.
164 Close, 14 Eliz. pt. 27.
"*> Will proved Load. 7 Mar. 1658
(Pell 152).
"> Inst. Bks. P.R.O.
' Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 1689-94
(year not given) ; ibid. Hil. 2 Will, and
Mary.
W Recov. R. East. I Ceo. I, m. 57,
67.
168 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 1 Geo. I.
169 Recov. R. East. 16 Geo. II, rot.
24.
170 Close, 17 Geo. Ill, pt. v, no. 7.
171 Partic. for Grants (Aug. Off.), 650.
178 Plac. de Quo tVarr. (Rec. Com.),
738.
W Add. MS. 6167.
17 < Pop. Ret. 1891, i, 350.
l " Ibid. 1901, p. 5.
THE HUNDRED OF BLACKHEATH
CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF
ALBURY DUNSFOLD SHALFORD
ALFOLD EWHURST SHERE
BRAMLEY HASCOMBE WONERSH l
CRANLEIGH ST. MARTHA'S OP CHILWORTH
The hundred of Blackheath (Blackfelde, x cent. ; Blacheatfeld, xi cent. ;
Blakehethfeld, xiii and xiv cent.) is bounded on the north by Woking, on
the west by Godalming, on the east by Wotton, and on the south by the
county of Sussex.
Tyting, in St. Martha's parish, was in Woking Hundred in 1086 and
subsequently, 3 but is now counted as in Blackheath. In 1086 three virgates
(rated) of Gomshall were in Wotton Hundred, not in Blackheath, but as
Gomshall was ancient demesne, and the tenants were quit of all sheriffs'
courts, it made little difference.
Blackheath is a high, heathy common, chiefly in the parishes of Albury
and Wonersh ; but much of the adjacent country, which is partly inclosed and
partly open heath or planted with conifers, equally deserves the name. The
population must always have been chiefly round about this country, and the
place of meeting of the hundred court might have been expected to be upon
it, as at Farnham ; but in 1377* it was held at La Perie, which is also referred
to in the Godalming Rolls as the place of holding. This would seem to
be near Perry Bridge in Shalford parish, over the Wey, on the road from
Godalming to Bramley, on the extreme verge of the hundred.
The jurisdiction of the sheriffs court was practically much curtailed by
private rights. In Domesday Odo of Bayeux held Bramley, which included
a great deal of the then inhabited part of the hundred. This no doubt
explains the low assessment at 6J hides, against 97 under Edward the Con-
fessor, and was perhaps the origin of the separate court leet of Bramley.
The lords of Shalford, Wintershull, and Gomshall, and the rectors of Shalford
and Cranleigh also had courts leet, and the lord of Albury view of frank-
pledge, but the latter gave the profits to the Crown. 4 The lord of Shere
claimed view of frankpledge previous to 1238," the lord of Albury claimed the
same, and it was granted to Bramley by charter of Henry III. 8 But all these
townships paid an annual fine to the sheriff. In 1671 Shere paid 2os.,
Gomshall i2s., Albury 13^. 8*/., Shalford 6j. SdJ The royal rights, such as
1 The extent of the hundred at the time of the Population Returns of 1831.
* Close, 23 Chas. II, pt. ix, no. 24. ' Manning and Bray, Hist. ofSurr. ii, 99.
4 Assize R. 895. Viz. 1226-7 and 1236-8 ; Plat, de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 742.
* Ibid. 743. ' Pat. 23 Chas. II. pt. is, m. 23.
70
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
they were, were granted by James I in 1620 to Sir Edward Zouche of
Woking, and to the heirs male of Sir Alan his uncle, together with Woking
Hundred and Manor and other lands, to be held by the service of bringing in
the first dish to the king's table on St. James's Day and paying annually
100. All feudal incidents were expressly abrogated. 8
Charles II granted this rent and the reversion of the hundred for 1,000
years to Viscount Grandison, Henry Howard, and Edward Villiers, in trust
for the Duchess of Cleveland. 9 In 1708 James Zouche, younger son of
Sir Edward, the last of the male heirs, died. The Duchess of Cleveland
succeeded, but died on 9 October 1709. Her trustees in 1715 sold the
rights in this hundred, as well as in Woking, to John Walter of Busbridge
House, Godalming, whose son sold them to Lord Onslow in 1752, having
obtained by Act of Parliament in 1748 a grant of the fee simple after the
expiration of the 1,000 years. 10 The interest of the present Earl of Onslow in
the hundred, if it continues, is purely nominal.
There was ' a Hundred Hedge ' bounding Blackheath Hundred towards
Godalming, referred to in rolls of Catteshull Manor at Loseley.
Pat. 1 8 Jas. I, pt. vi, m. i. ' Ibid. 23 Chas. II, pt. ix, m. 24.
10 Ibid. 22 Geo II, pt. ii, m. 14 ; Com. Journ. xxv, 601.
INDEX MAP
" TO THE
HUNDRED
OF *
BLACKHEATH
A HISTORY OF SURREY
ALBURY
Eldeberie (xi cent.), Aldebur (xiii. cent.), Aide-
bury (xiv cent.), Aldbury (sometimes in xviii cent.).
Albury is a parish 5 miles east of Guildford and 7
miles west of Dorking. The parish is bounded on the
north by Merrow and West Clandon, on the west by
St. Martha's and Wonersh, on the south by Cranleigh,
on the east by Shere. A detached portion, the manor
of Wildwood, used to lie in Alfold to the south, and
detached portions of Cranleigh, Shere, and Wonersh
lay in Albury. These were transferred to the parishes
surrounding them respectively in 1882. The exist-
ing parish contains 4,405 acres of land and 14 of
water. It is 6 miles from north to south, and no-
where more than 2 miles from east to west. It is of
the typical form and soils of the parishes to the south
of the chalk ridge. The northern boundary is on the
crest of the chalk, the village is in the valley upon the
sand south of the chalk hill, but close to it, and the parish
extends across the sand on to the Atherfield clay and
Wealden clay for a short distance, to the south. There
is open common on the chalk. Southwards the ex-
tensive heaths of Blackheath and Farley Heath are
partly or wholly in the parish. The continuation of
the high ridge of Greensand, of which Leith Hill, Holm-
bury, and Ewhurst Hills are part, further eastward,
reaches across the southern end of the parish, but
falls away into the valley through which the Guild-
ford and Horsham line runs, bending northward to
form its eastern side. The views here across the
Weald, and westward to Hascombe Hill and Hind-
head beyond, are very beautiful. Below the escarp-
ment of these hills part of Smithwood Common is in
Albury. But it is to the north, on the chalk, at New-
lands Corner, where the old road from Shere to Guild-
ford runs up the down, and where Albury Downs reach
600 ft. above the sea, that the most famous view in
the parish is to be seen. Its beauty consists not in
extent merely, but in the broken foreground, east and
west along the valley between the chalk and the sand.
Some very ancient yew trees mark the line of the old
road, commonly called Pilgrims' Way, along the slopes
of the downs. The ancient bridle-way over St. Martha's
Hill comes down into Albury through a deep lane.
The modern road from Guildford to Dorking traverses
the parish, and also the Redhill and Reading branch
of the South Eastern Railway. Chilworth and Albury
station is just outside the parish.
The Tillingbourne stream runs through the parish
from east to west, working two mills. It is augmented
by the water from the deep springs in the chalk which
form the Shireburn Ponds, deep pools at the foot of
the slope of the down surrounded by trees. The
upper and more picturesque is usually called the
Silent Pool. The springs which supply them are
supposed to have connexion with those which break
out on the other side of the chalk, due north, in
Clandon Park. The operations of the Woking Water
Company, who have tapped the chalk between them,
have undoubtedly led to a diminution of the supply in
the Shireburn Ponds.
Albury parish is somewhat rich in antiquities. At
Newlands Corner is a large barrow, not marked on the
Ordnance map, and neolithic flints are fairly numer-
ous on and below the hills. The name HarrowshiH
borne by part of the down may indicate an Anglo-
Saxon holy place. But the most considerable antiquity
of the parish is on Farley Heath, near the road from
Albury to Cranleigh. The banks, with a very slight
exterior ditch forming three sides of a quadrangular
inclosure, are fairly well marked, especially to the.
west. The east bank is not now visible. The in-
closure is not exactly rectangular, but the north-west
angle is slightly acute, the south-west slightly obtuse.
The sides are 220 yds., and the interior space must
consequently have been 10 acres. In the middle of
this was a smaller quadrangular inclosure which Man-
ning and Bray describe as of 22 yds. each way. This
is now not to be traced, but stone foundations are
visible where it was, and a great abundance of Roman
tiles and some pottery are easily found in the whole
inclosure. Many Roman coins were found by excava-
tions conducted in 1 839 and 1 840 by the late Mr. Mar-
tin Tupper, and it is said British coins also. 1 A gold
coin of Verica found here is in private hands.
When Aubrey wrote he saw, or imagined, the ruins
of a Roman temple on the spot, and the bases of the
two pillars in the south arcade of old Albury Church
are reputed to have been brought from this place.
Further inclosing banks to the east are said to have
formerly existed. Some of the coins found here
by Mr. Tupper, and some found afterwards by
Mr. Lovell, the schoolmaster of Albury, were sent
to the British Museum. A systematic exploration,
and a classification of remains, and pending this
a cessation of the practice of taking road metal from
the surface of the common, are much to be desired.
The Roman road traced in Ewhurst parish would, if
continued, have come close by here, and went on no
doubt either to Newlands Corner or to the gap in the
hills at Guildford. This is the Old Bury which gave
its name to the parish.
The old village of Albury had grown up by the
banks of the Tillingbourne, and partly within what is
now Albury Park, around the village green, which
adjoined the churchyard ; but Mr. Drummond, in
1842, finally removed it bodily half a mile to the
westward, leaving the ancient church intact, and built
a new parish church in the new village that grew up
at what formerly had been known as the hamlet of
Weston Street.
Albury Park also used to extend on to the chalk
hill above Shireburn Lane, over what is now farming
land. The road up the hill was called Old Park Pales
Lane.' Early in the igth century a Maypole still
stood at the corner where Blackheath Lane joins the
west end of Weston Street.
Albury Park, the Surrey seat of the Duke of North-
umberland, K.G., is famed both for the sylvan beauty
of its park and for its gardens. The magnificent trees
especially a noble avenue of old beeches, some huge
walnut trees and clumps of hawthorns the irregular
levels of velvety turf across which stretch long vistas,
1 It is unknown exactly what coins were
found by Mr. Tupper, but they are supposed
to have extended from Domitian to Mag-
nentius.
72
'Manning and Bray, op. cit ii, iz6.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
ALBURY
including peeps of the little Tillingbourne stream and
of the lake before the house, with its swans ; the half-
ruined ancient church, almost hidden by its stately
cedars, and the house make this park, though its area
is but small, one of the loveliest in Surrey. The
gardens also merit the praise bestowed on them by
William Cobbett : 'Take it altogether,' he says, 'this
certainly is the prettiest garden I ever beheld. There
was taste and sound judgment at every step in the
laying out of this place.' The famous John Evelyn,
in 1667, at the request of Thomas Howard, Earl of
Arundel and Duke of Norfolk, 'designed the plot of
the canal and garden, with a crypt through the hill.'
Although the canal has been drained, a terrace of
beautiful green sward, about a quarter of a mile in
length, remains, together with the ' crypt,' and a
wonderful yew hedge, ' or rather,' as Cobbett writes,
'a row of small yew trees, the trunks of which are
bare for about 8 or I o ft. high, and the tops of
which form one solid head of about I oft. high, while
the bottom branches come out on each side of the
row about 8 ft. horizontally. This hedge or row,'
he adds, ' is a quarter of a mile long. There is a
nice, hard sand road under this species of umbrella ;
and summer and winter, here is a most delightful
walk.' '
The Catholic Apostolic Church, close to Albury
Park, is a cruciform building, with a western tower
and an octagonal chapter-house, designed in a starved
imitation of late I 5th-century architecture, and built
about 1 840 by Mr. Drummond. Immediately oppo-
site, on the south side, is a fine old timber-framed
house, with square and circle patterns in its main
gable, moulded barge-boards, projecting upper stories
and mullioned windows, recalling the design of Great
Tangley, in Wonersh parish, a few miles to the west.
This was no doubt an important house at one time.
In and around Albury are many half-timber cottages
and houses, as at Madgehole, Jelleys, Colman's Hol-
low, Mayor House Farm, and Shophouse Farm. 4
Pit House is another ancient house with an old roof not
far from the site of a Roman settlement. Many years
ago there was in Albury village an important house
called Weston House after the ancient family of that
name, who held the manor for centuries. Its stair-
case, of Spanish mahogany, was re-erected in the
County Club at Guildford. This was at the west
end of Weston Street, and is not to be confused with
Weston House, still standing, at the east end.
Weston House, in Weston Street, is the seat of
Mr. W. W. Wright ; Weston Lodge, of Colonel
Martindale ; Dalton Hill, of Colonel Malthus.
Albury has had several distinguished residents.
William Oughtred, the famous mathematician of his
day, was rector from 1610 to 1 660, holding the pre-
ferment through the Civil War time till he died in
possession a month after the Restoration. Samuel
Horsley, afterwards Bishop of Rochester and of
St. Asaph, was rector 1 77480. The Rev. Edward
Irving resided a good deal in the parish when the
Catholic Apostolic Church was being founded. Mr.
Martin Tupper was a resident till a few years before
his death, and composed his once-famous Proverbial
Philosophy here. The scene of his romance, Stephen
Langton, is laid in the neighbourhood, but embodies no
real local history.
The history of ALBVRT M4NOR
MANORS before the Conquest is obscure. It is
quite uncertain whether the two
'mansae' in Albury, held by Chertsey before the
Conquest, and attributed (falsely) to the grant of
Frithwald of the 7th century,' were part of their East
Clandon Manor reaching into this parish or at one of
the two other places in Surrey called ' Aldeberie.'
In Domesday it appears that Azor held it of the Con-
fessor, and it was granted after the Conquest to Richard
de Tonbridge, ancestor of the de Clares and their de-
scendants, 6 in whom the overlordship was vested till it
lapsed in the 1 6th century. 7 Roger D'Abernon was
tenant under Richard, 8 and his descendants were
lords of the manor for more than five centuries. 9 In
the i 3th century 10 it formed the dower of Joan widow
of Ingram D'Abernon. John
D'Abernon obtained a grant
of free warren here in 1253."
The manor passed with Eliza-
beth daughter and co-heir of
William D'Abernon, who died
in 1359, to the Croyser fami-
ly," and through Elizabeth's
granddaughter Anne to Henry
Norbury." From them it de-
scended to Joan wife of Sir
Urian Brereton," who con-
veyed it in 1550-1 to Henry
Foisted and his wife Alice in consideration of an
annuity to Joan and her heirs. 15 The manor was so
settled that after the death of Alice, who survived
her husband, it remained to Vincent, son and heir
of Edward Randall. 16 His estates descended to Sir
Edward Randall of Edlesborough, Buckinghamshire,"
who sold the manor in 1633-4 to J onn Gresham of
Fulham. 18 In 1638 John Gresham and George Dun-
combe conveyed it to the trustees of Thomas, Earl
of Arundel. 19 After some delay, owing to the se-
questration of the earl's estates," during which time
George Duncombe resumed possession and held courts,
Mr. Henry Howard paid the purchase money to the
Duncombes before 1655," and acquired Albury. He
was grandson to the Earl of Arundel, and later
succeeded as Duke of Norfolk. He conveyed it to
trustees for sale in 1 680." It was purchased by
D'ABERNON.
a cAeveron or.
Azure
' Cobbett, Rural Walks and Rides.
* Old Cottages and Domestic Architecture
in South-'west Surr. (2nd ed.), 91.
4 Birch, Cart. Sax. i, 39.
* y.C.H.Surr.i, 3193.
^ Excirpta e Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), i,
272 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. II, no. 68 ;
ibid. 3 Hen. V, no. 37 ; ibid. (Ser. 2),
cclxxiii, 99.
8 V.C.H.Surr.\, 3190.
* The detailed history is coincident with
that of Stoke D'Abernon (q.v.).
" Add. Chart. (B.M.), 5562.
11 Cat. of Chart. R. i, 435.
11 Chan. Inq. p.m. 18 Ric. II, no. 108.
Feet of F. Div. Co. 14 Hen. VI, 184;
Add. Chart. (B.M.), 5618.
" See account of the family under Stoke
D'Abernon.
15 Feet of F. Div. Co. Mich. 3 Edw. VI.
The annuity descended to Joan's daughters,
Mary wife of Sir Robert Peckham, and
Anne wife of Sir George Cobham. The
latter's son, Sir John Cobham, forfeited
his share to the Crown. James I granted
it to Sir Edward Randall, then lord of
Albury, and to others ; Chan. Inq. p.m.
(Ser. 2), clxix, 40 ; Pat. 3 Jas. I, pt. xxr.
73
18 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cxci, 78 ;
Chan. Proc. Eliz. R r, x, 54.
11 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cclxxiii, 99.
18 Close, 9 Chas. I, pt. xli, no. 1 1 8.
Gresham mortgaged it immediately to
George Duncombe of Albury ; Close, 10
Chas. I, pt. xxviii, m. 33.
Feet of F. Surr. Mil. 13 Chan. I.
80 Cal. of Com. for Compounding iv,
2471.
u Evelyn's Diary, 10 Aug. 1655 ; cf.
19 June 1662.
m Close, 32 Chas. II, pt. xiv, no. 10.
10
A HISTORY OF SURREY
Heneage Finch, first Earl of Aylesford, Solicitor-
General to Charles II, who presented to the church in
1691," and was in possession
of the manor in the latter part
of the 1 7th century." His
son the second earl lived at
Albury. The fourth earl sold
the manor to his brother, Cap-
tain William Clement Finch, 15
of whom Samuel Thornton,
Governor of the Bank of Eng-
land, bought it in 1800. He
made it his residence.** In
1 8 1 1 John Thornton and his
wife Eliza sold the rent from the
manor to Charles Wall," who
FINCH, Earl of Ayles-
ford. Argent a che-veron
between three griffins
passant sable.
appears to have sold in 1819 to Henry Drummond,
M.P. for West Surrey from 1847 to 1860, an enthu-
siastic supporter of Irving. The ' little prophetic
parliament ' which originated the Catholic Apostolic
Church met at his house at Albury, and at a later date
he built a church for the community near his park.' 8
From Henry Drummond the manor descended through
his daughter Louisa to her son the present Duke of
Northumberland. 19
An engraving of 1645 gives a clear idea of the
ancient house that then stood upon the site of the
present building. This shows an irregular elevation of
half-timber gables, backed by a long ridge of roof with
many chimneys, and flanked by a square-topped wing
on the right, the whole inclosed within a walled court-
yard, in which is an arched gateway. This picturesque
and rambling structure, which must have had many
points of resemblance to the old house of the Evelyns
at Wotton, judging by John Evelyn's drawing of the
latter, was burnt down in Queen Anne's reign and
rebuilt by the Earl of Aylesford. Mr. Samuel Thorn-
ton, M.P., owner from 1800 to 181 1, altered it again.
It was remodelled in red brick and stone by Pugin
during Mr. Drummond's ownership. Perhaps the
most interesting of its treasures is the fine collection of
old paintings formed here by Mr. Drummond, which
include a portrait of Melanchthon by Holbein, Cor-
nelius Schall's ' Four Doctors,' and portraits of many
royal and noble personages connected with the
Northumberland family.
WESTON M4NOR, known in the 1 7th and i8th
centuries as Weston Gomshall, possibly to distinguish it
from the~*second Weston, is situated about the village
now called Albury, but formerly known as Weston
Street. It gave its name to an ancient Surrey family
who occur as lords of many manors, and now hold
West Horsley. Early in the 1 3th century David son of
Nicholas was dealing with land in Weston. 30 In 1254-5
John of Weston granted a messuage, mill, and a caru-
cate of land in Weston to Thomas of Weston to held
WESTON of Weston.
Sable a cheveron or be-
tween three lions' heads
razed argent.
of him and his heirs. 31 Early in the next century John
D'Abernon unjustly dispossessed Thomas of Weston
of his common of pasture in
Albury. 3 * He seems to have
been succeeded by William of
Weston, who obtained licence
to hear service in the chapels
of his manors of Weston and
West Clandon. 3 ' In 1335
this William of Weston was in
possession. The manor was
to revert at his death to his
grandson William. 54 Margery
widow of the William Weston
of Weston and Clandon died
seised of a tenement in Albury
called Weston in 1361 ; 3S and John Weston of Weston
died in 1440, leaving a son who died without issue
and three daughters, of whom the one, Anne, married
Thomas Slyfield ; 38 another, Joan, Thomas Pope ; and
the third, Margaret, William Wells.
Thomas Slyfield and his son John granted the
manor to Richard Eliot," whose son Richard mort-
gaged and finally sold it to George Holman of Lon-
don. 38 He conveyed to George Duncombe of Shal-
ford in l6lo-u. 39 Sir Richard Onslow and his son
Arthur seem to have had some
claim on the manor from 1644
to 1 677," but it remained in
the possession of the Dun-
combe family, for in 1693
George Duncombe was deal-
ing with it, 41 and his daugh-
ters Hester Woodroffe and
Anne Sturt sold it in 1724
to Abel Alleyne, 4 ' after whose
death it was sold to Sir Robert
Godschall. He died in 1 742,
and it descended to Nicholas
Godschall. 43 His only daugh-
ter and heiress Sarah married
William Man, F.R.S., 44 who
took the name of Godschall and lived at Weston.* 5
His son, the Rev. Samuel Man Godschall, succeeded.
After his death it was sold to Henry Drummond,
then lord of Albury, 46 since when its history has been
coincident with that of Albury.
There was a second Weston Manor near the par-
sonage house of Albury, but lying in a detached part
of Shere parish, and called Weston in Shere. 47
Alderbrook, the seat of Mr. Pandeli Ralli, is pos-
sibly the site of ' Aldrebrook,' sold in 1 3 74-5 by
Roger Libbesofte and Joan his wife to Robert Brown. 43
The old church of Sr. PETER and
CHURCHES ST. PAUL lies close to the stream,
and within a short distance of the
DUNCOMBE. Party
chciieronivise and en-
grailed gules and argent
three talbotf heads razed
countertoloured.
23 Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.), B. 6.
* Aubrey, Nat. Hist, and Antiq. ofSurr.
iv, 65.
25 Gent. Mag. liii, 576.
ffi Manning and HT3y,Hist.ofSurr.ti,i2;.
1 Add. Chart. (B.M.) 40623. Mrs. Wall
lived there in 1816 (old print).
28 Diet. Nat. Biog. nvi, 29.
29 Gent. Mag. (new ser.), viii, 41 3.
80 Feet of F. Surr. 1 3 Hen. Ill, 23
81 Ibid. 38 & 39 Hen. Ill, 17.
8a Assize quoted by Symmes ; Add. MS.
(B.M.), 6167, fol. 24.
88 Egerton MS. 203 1, foUi 13 ; 2032, fol.
90. The first grant was between 1305 and
1316, the second between 1 3 33 and 1345.
84 Feet of F. Surr. 9 Edw. Ill, 9.
85 Chan. Inq. p.m. 36 Edw. Ill, pt. ii
(ist nos.), no. 75.
86 Chan. Inq. p.m. 19 Hen. VI, no. 5.
8 " Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 41, no.
1 2,where it is thus stated, but Manning and
Bray (op. cit. ii, 126) quote an enfeoftment
of Henry Slyfield son of Thomas, and say
that he joined in a sale of the manor to
Richard Eliot in 1521.
83 Close, 42 Eliz. pt. viii ; ibid. 42 Eliz.
pt xxiv.
74
89 Close, 8 Jas. I, pt. viii.
* Recov. R. Mich. 29 Chas. I, m. 240;
ibid. Mich. 1650, m. 19 ; ibid. Hil. 28 &
29 Chas. II, m. 57.
Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 4 & 5 Will,
and Mary.
Ibid. Hil. 10 Geo. I.
43 Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 16 Geo. II.
44 Gent. Mag. xxii, 432.
45 Ibid. Uxii, 1169.
46 Braj-ley, To fog. Hist, of Surr. v, 1 60.
4 7 For its history see under Shere.
Feet of F. Surr. 48 Edw. Ill,
115.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
house of Albury Park. It is a most picturesque build-
ing, containing features of great archaeological interest.
The chancel has for m.iny years been roofless, and
the whole building is covered with masses of ivy,
which is slowly but surely disintegrating the walls.
The church is constructed of ironstone and sand-
stone rubble, with dressings of Bargate stone, clunch,
and firestone, chiefly plastered. The nave roof is
partly covered with Horsham slabs, the aisle and
porch with tiles, the transept with slates, and the
tower has a domed covering of shingles and lead.
The plan is unusual in several respects, consisting
of a nave 30 ft. gin. by 19 ft. 4 in. with north
porch, a south aisle 13 ft. I in. wide and 32 ft. 6 in.
long, a tower to the east of the nave 1 5 ft. 6 in. by
14 ft. 2 in., a south transept opening out of the aisle
and tower 20 ft. by 15 ft. loin., and a chancel
26 ft. 3 in. by 14 ft. 4 in.
In origin the nave is that of the pre-Conquest
church, or at least of that mentioned in Domesday.
The character of the north-east quoin and the lofty
walls rather favours the former date, but all the original
windows and other features have
been replaced by later insertions,
so that the evidence is meagre.
The tower, between the nave and
the chancel, either stands upon
the site, or incorporates part of
the walls, of the original chancel ;
probably the internal area is that
of the latter, and its walls have
been thickened in an outward di-
rection to 3 ft. 10 in., the two
upper stages being decreased in
thickness. There is no staircase,
and the tower is now open to the
roof. The walls are plastered ex-
ternally. The ground story is
lighted only by a small round-
headed window on the north side,
6 in. wide, splaying out, without a
rebate, to 2 ft. on the inside. In
the next stage is a very interesting
two-light opening in the north wall,
under a semicircular arch, having a central shaft with
scalloped capital and base, recalling those in the tower
of Cobham Church in this county. 49 This and other
features suggest a date of about 1140-50. On the
east and south sides of the middle stage are other
coupled lights, but with plain piers of masonry instead
of the little column. Above these again, in the top-
most stage (which was crowned with brick battlements
about 1820), are two separate openings on each face,
large, with square heads, on the west, and small and
round-headed on the other sides. The round-headed
arches towards the nave and chancel are in firestone,
on square jambs, with chamfered and hollow-cham-
fered imposts, each about 9 ft. wide, and high in pro-
portion. The eastern has a quirked roll on the angle,
with a chamfered hood-moulding having a plain sunk
zigzag or hatched pattern on its outer face. The
western arch has a similar roll-moulding with a hollow
cut set on the angle, and above it a shallow ornament
ALBURY
like a circular cusping, with balls at the points of the
cusps. 50 The arch to the transept from the tower is
of late 13th-century character, but it has been much
modernized.
Of the izth-century chancel no trace remains, and
the walls of the present chancel are apparently a good
deal later. They incline markedly to the north on
plan, and the partly-destroyed windows in the north
and south walls and the gutted opening of a late
tracery window in the east wall give no certain clue
to the date, while no piscina or aumbry is now visible.
Probably the 13th-century chancel was re-modelled
in the i6th century.
A spacious south aisle was added to the nave about
1280, with an arcade of three pointed arches of two
chamfered orders, on octagonal columns with moulded
capitals, the eastern and western arches having a corbel
of similar section in place of a respond." The bases of
the columns are evidently spoil from some more ancient
building, being circular capitals in Sussex marble,
turned upside down and mutilated to fit their new
position. These are mounted upon rough circular
PLAN OF ALBURY CHURCH
plinths of Bargate stone, which may be older than
the bases themselves, the mouldings of which indicate
work of about 1 200. Upon the western face of both
columns is a small shallow square-headed niche. All
the windows of the nave and aisle have been robbed
of their tracery, so that they present a very forlorn
and gaping appearance. This is the more to be
regretted, as, from the delicacy of the mouldings, they
must have been very graceful examples of early bar
tracery when perfect. They are built of a curious
mixture of chalk, or clunch, and dark red-brown iron-
stone. The window in the west wall of the aisle
has been altered in the iyth century, its head being
made circular. That in the west wall of the nave
was of three lights, and above it in the apex of the
gable is a plain circular opening, also devoid of tracery;
another smaller one is in the corresponding gable-end
of the aisle. The buttresses of the west and south
walls, and the wide south doorway, appear to be all of
49 The tower of the neighbouring church
of Shere has a simitar two-light opening
in its second stage, but with a square pier
between the lights.
40 At in the doorway to the chapter-
house, Oxford Cathedral, and New Romney,
Kent. Something like it is found in the
cusped ornament round the chancel arch
at Eastbourne, and the arch to the inner
chancel at Compton, Surrey.
75
51 Almost exactly the same as a corbel
in the south aisle of Cranleigh Church, a,
few miles to the south-west.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
the 1 2 80 period. Owing to the rise in the ground
outside, there are now three steps down into the aisle.
In the eastern part of this south wall there are
indications of a blocked piscina.
The transeptal chapel, which opens by a modern
or greatly modernized arch, with a screen in it, into
the aisle, is apparently only a little later than the
aisle. It has two buttresses at either angle, and the
setting of a large ancient window filled with modern
tracery, and in its east wall are two windows of two
lights worked in chalk, which appear to be ancient ;
the sub-arches are simply pointed, and there is no
cusping in the head. Under the southern of these is
an ancient piscina. This transept, which has been
incongruously roofed with slate, was restored and
richly decorated in colour, from the designs of
Mr. Pugin, as a mortuary chapel for the Drummond
ALBURY OLD CHURCH : THE PORCH
family, whose motto, ' Gang warily,' with the initial
D, is powdered on the walls, roof, and screens inside.
All the windows are filled with stained glass. Be-
tween the two eastern windows is a modern niche,
containing a carving of the Crucifixion, with our Lady
and St. John ; and against the south wall, on a raised
platform, is an altar-tomb to Mr. Drummond, mem-
bers of whose family are commemorated by slabs with
brass crosses in the floor below.
The roofs over the nave and aisle, much patched,
and covered with lath and plaster, are ancient. The
floors are paved with old stone slabs, and some ancient
tiles remain in the aisle.
One of the most interesting features of the building is
the beautiful timber porch on the north side of the nave.
The north doorway, to which it conducts (which retains
its original oak door and strap-hinges, oak lock-case, and
a key over a foot long), is a century and a half earlier
(c. 1330), the porch dating from about 1480. A
curious point is that it is nearly a foot longer on its
eastern side (9 ft. 6 in.) than on its western. The
openings in the sides are square-headed and delicately
moulded, 61 with a moulded cornice on the inside and
a richly traceried and carved barge-board, in which
are pierced quatrefoils with rosettes in their centres.
The wide outer opening has a flat four-centred head,
with roses in the spandrels.
This porch door the principal entrance from the
old village commands a view of a remarkable
painting of St. Christopher, over the opposite
door in the south wall of the aisle, which was
brought to light during some repairs a few years
ago. The details (such as the pleated shirt worn
by the saint) fix the date of the painting at
about 1480, the same as the porch. On the
east wall of the aisle is a fragment of earlier
painting, probably nearly two centuries older,
and there are traces of colour on the columns
and elsewhere. Probably the nave and arcade
walls would yield other subjects if carefully
searched.
The early font has been carried off to the
new parish church, but its base block, a great
circular drum of Bargate stone, remains close to
the western column of the arcade.
In the floor of the aisle is a slab of blue
marble, slightly tapering, 6 ft. 3 in. long by
2 ft. I in. at the head, with a very worn in-
scription, which appears to read as follows :
WILLEMVM : TERNVM : DE : WESTONE : SVSCIPE :
CIST (for CHRISTE) : LVMEN : ETERNVM :
QVEM : DEPRIMIT : Hie : LAPIS : ISTE :
From the character of the lettering, which
appears to have been filled with a black sub-
stance, this may be the tomb slab of the founder
of the western aisle or chantry towards the end
of the i 3th century.
Westward of this is another marble slab in the
pavement, bearing the brass of John Weston of
Weston, who died in 1440. He is represented in
complete plate armour. Above the head is the
matrix of a shield, set diagonally, and over it
there may have been a helm and crest. It is somewhat
singular that, point for point, down to the minutest
detail, this brass agrees with that of Sir John Throck-
morton, dated 1445, in Fladbury Church, Worcester-
shire. Each shows a small spring pin passing through
a ring, or staple, on the left side of the breastplate,
and another on the left elbow-piece both connected
with extra defences to the left, or bridle, arm. 5 * The
ground on which the feet stand is covered with
flowers. Beneath is the inscription : Hicjacet Johis
Weston de Weston Armiger qui obijt xxiii die :
M The mouldings and plain square- 53 Although this type of military brass
headed openings are exactly like those of is a fairly common one, the detail referred
the chapel screen of Croydon Palace, and
also a parclose screen in Wonersh Church,
near Albury.
to is very seldom met with. It occurs
also on the brass of a knight of the De
7 6
Cuttles family, in Arkesden Church, Essex,
c. 144.0. These three brasses may well
have been executed by the same engraver
in London.
ALBURV OLD CHURCH FROM THE SOUTH-EAST IN 1875, BEFORE THE CHANCEL WAS UNROOFED
DUNSFOLD CHURCH: IJTH-CENTURY PEWS
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
Novembris Anno dffl Millmo CCCC xl ' cuiO
ai5 ppiciet' de* ame :
There is also a small brass on the north wall, framed
into a tablet, commemorating Henry Wicks, a servant
of Queen Elizabeth, King James, and King Charles
(1657) ; and monuments to Elizabeth Merrye, 1652,
Edith Duncombe, daughter of John Carrill, late of
Tangley, 1628 (south wall), and others to the Dun-
combe, Risbridger, and other local families of the
iyth and i8th centuries. These are all of good
design, according to their periods, and of rich mate-
rials ; alabaster and black and white marble being
employed, and the heraldry coloured and gilt.
Of the new church all that need be said is that it is
in brick, and modelled upon the church of Than,
near Caen, in Normandy, that it is transeptal, with
an apsidal chapel, added by the late Duke of Northum-
berland, and has a tower at the north-west angle.
There is much stained glass, including a memorial
window to Mr. Drummond, painted by Lady Gage ;
and the font, probably of early 12th-century date,
was removed here from the old church.
The registers date from 1559.
The plate includes a silver cup, paten cover, flagon,
and silver alms-bason, of 1714, the last-named in-
ALFOLD
scribed : ' The gift of Heneage, Lord Guernsey
[Master of the Jewell House] to the Parish of Albury
the place of his birth, 1714..'
The bells, brought from the old church, are six in
number, and, with the exception of the treble, which
was added in 1841, they date from 1695, and bear
the name of William Eldridge.
Albury Church is mentioned in
JDrOffSON the Domesday Survey of the manor.
The advowson was and is vested in
the lord of Albury Manor. The living was valued
at 12 in 1291," and at 18 in 1535."
The charities are numerous ; in
CHARITIES addition to the usual Smith's Charity,
an annuity of l izs., charged on
land, was left by Alice Foisted in I 586 for distribution
among the poor ; the interest on 400 was left by
William Risbridger in 1754 to put poor children to
school, to be given in bread, and to provide a sermon,
with a gratuity for the poor who listened to it. The
Duncombe Charity, for the poor generally, was left in
1705 and 1712 by Olive daughter of John Child of
Guildford and widow of Henry Duncombe of Weston,
Albury, who died 1688. This was invested in land
and produces 200 a year. 56
ALFOLD
Alfaude (xiii cent.) ; Aldfbld, Awfold (xvii cent.).
Alfold is a rural parish on the borders of Surrey
and Sussex, bounded on the north by Hascombe and
Cranleigh, on the east by Cranleigh, on the south by
Rudgwick, Wisborough Green, and Kirdford (all in
Sussex), on the west by Dunsfold. It measures
roughly 2} miles north to south, a little over a mile
east to west. It now contains 2,974 acres. The
parish formerly extended into Sussex, and inclosed an
outlying piece of Albury. In 1880 the Albury part
was added to Alfold, 1 and in 1884 the Sussex por-
tion was transferred to parishes in the county.*
About 150 acres, with ten to fifteen inhabitants
only, were added to Sussex, and about 50 acres taken
from Albury. The soil is Wealden clay, and grows
nothing much except forest trees and oats. There
are no wastes in the parish, and the roadside grass is
not above 20 acres in all. A great part of the parish
is wooded, and it was all formerly in the Wealden
Forest ; 917 acres are tithe-free, as ' woodland in
the Weald of Surrey and Sussex.' *
In Sydney Wood were glass-houses, of which the
only relic is the name Glass House Fields. A glass-
house is marked in Speed's map. Aubrey (i7th cen-
tury) saw the graves of French glass-makers in the
churchyard, but the industry was extinct in his time,
so the French were not refugees after the Revocation
of the Edict of Nantes, as stated by Brayley. Char-
coal was extensively burnt in the parish for gun-
powder works in Dunsfold, Cranleigh, and Sussex.
A road from Guildford to Arundel, made in 1809,'
traverses the village. Before this time there was
no made road in the parish, and fifty years ago there
was no other. The disused Wey and Arun Canai
passes through the parish.
Alfold Park, which belonged to the manor of
Shalford, contained 300 acres. It had ceased to be
a park when Speed's map was made, and was not
mentioned among twenty-one Surrey parks of the
compass of a mile in the proceedings under the Act
for the Increase of Horses. 5 It is unknown when it
was disparked. The house is, though partly mod-
ernized, a good specimen of an old timbered house,
formerly with a hall with a louvre over, the chimney
being a Tudor addition. There are the remains of
a moat round it. The house is now known as
Alfold Park Farm. There are also the remains of
a moat at Wildwood Farm. The parish was rich
in timbered farms and cottages, some of them being
now altered, some pulled down.
A Baptist chapel was erected in 1883, and an ele-
mentary school in 1876. Sydney Manor is the resi-
dence of Mr. George Wyatt, Sachel Court of
Mr. Thomas Wharrie.
In the lane leading up to the church, and close to
the churchyard gate, the village stocks are still pre-
served ; a shed-roof has lately been erected over them.
Besides the ancient tile-hung cottages grouped
round this lane, a notable example of the half-timber
house, originally built by a substantial yeoman in
the early years of the l6th century, remains in
Alfold House at the entrance to the village. This
was originally constructed entirely from the founda-
tion of timber framework, filled with wattle and
daub. In plan it was of J-shape with hall (about
23ft. by 1 9 ft.) between offices and living rooms.
M Popt Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 208.
" falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 29.
* Return to Part. 1786 and present
information.
1 By Loc. Govt. Bd. Order 10920,
2 Dec.
s Loc. Govt. Bd. Order 16533, 2 4 Mar -
77
8 Cf. f.C.H.Surr. ii, 613.
4 Stat. 49 Geo. Ill, cap. 12.
6 27 Hen. VIII, cap. 6.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
In late years it has been a good deal injured by
the insertion of modern windows in place of the
ancient mullioned openings filled with lead lights,
but it still retains its arched doorway and a projecting
gable, carried on a moulded bressummer and brackets
and having a foliated barge-board. 6
W1LDWOQD? now represented by
MANORS Great and Little Wildwood Farms and
Wildwood Copse and Moat, was formerly
possessed by the lords of Albury and Stoke D'Aber-
non, the D'Abernons and their successors. 8 In the
1 3th century the D'Abernon family had land in
Alfold, 9 and in a deed of 1313 John D'Abernon's
wood called ' le Wylwode ' is mentioned. This was
probably the wood of 40 acres of oaks, possibly the
ALFOLD : OLD HOUSE
' Wealden ' Wood named in the inquisition on the
Albury Manor. 10 In 1391 Elizabeth Grey, lady of
Stoke D'Abernon, widow of Sir William Croyser,
granted the soil and wood of Wildwood except
the moat, grange, and manorial rights " to John,
Duke of Lancaster, and others." The descent of
Wildwood followed that of Albury till 1626, when
Sir Edward Randyll alienated it to Elizabeth Ons-
low, widow, and Sir Richard Onslow, 13 from whom
it seems to have passed to the Duncombes of Wes-
ton." With Weston it descended to Nathaniel
Sturt, who is said to have sold it in 1736 to either
Richard or Francis Dorrington, from whom it was
purchased by Henry Page. He bequeathed it to his
cousin Richard Skeet of Effingham, whose son Richard
succeeded him as owner."
MARKWICK and MONKSNHOOK were among
the possessions of Waverley Abbey, 16 but Markwick
only was assessed as the property of
the abbey in 1534-5." The ' manors
of Markwick and Monken hook ' were
included within the grant of the site of
the abbey to Sir William Fitz William,
at whose death they appear under the
name of the manor of Alfold, 18 and de-
scended to Anthony, second Viscount
Montagu, 19 who alienated the estate circa
1623," evidently to agents in a sale to
Simon Carrill of Tangley, for it appears
afterwards in the possession of the three
daughters of John Carrill," and de-
scended with that part of his estate
which was assigned to Henry Ludlow
and his wife Margaret." Giles son
of Thomas Strangways sold them in
1784 to Thomas Boehm, the owner
in 1808." The Earl of Onslow is now
lord of the manor.
It was said in the 1 7th century that
the lord of Markwick had both court
baron and court leet, while the lord of
Monkenhook had court baron." The
courts were held at Rickhurst and Hook
Street.
The reputed manor of STDNET alias
HEDGECOURT or RICKHURST lies
partly in Dunsfold. The family of Syd-
ney can be traced in the surrounding
parishes from the 1 4th century, while
John at Sydney witnessed a deed con-
cerning lands in Alfold in 1313." In
1413 the lord of the manor of Shalford
Bradestan is said to have granted Rick-
hurst and other land in Alfold to
William Sydney and his wife Agnes. 16
In 1595-6 Richard Ireland died possessed r/f a
house called ' Sydneys,' which was held of the lord of
6 Resembling one in a house at Sham-
ley Green and another in the rear of
West Horsley Place, Surrey.
* Formerly an outlying part of Albury
parish.
8 See the account of Stoke D'Abernon.
9 Surr. Arch. Coll. xviii, 222.
10 Chan. Inq. p.m. I Edw. Ill, no. 53.
11 The manorial rights probably apper-
tained to Albury Manor, for Wildwood
itself never seems to have been a separate
manor.
11 Close, 14 Ric. II, m. 8 d.
Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 2 Chas. I.
14 See Albury.
15 Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 7.
16 In 1346 the Abbot of Waverley
proved his claim to view of frankpledge
in his ' manor of Bramley.' Cal. Pat.
1345-8, p. 220. This may possibly refer
to Markwick and Monkenhook, which
appear to be the only lands in or near
Bramley held by the abbey. In a bill of
sale in 1 784 they include land in Dunsfold
and Bramley.
V Yalor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 34.
Probably it included Monkenhook.
18 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixx, 29.
19 See V.C.H. Surr. ii, 624.
80 Recov. R. East. 20 Jas. I, m. 51 and
14.
al Feet of F. Surr. HiL 23-4 Chas. II ;
78
Hil. 25-6 Chas. II ; Hil. 26-7 Chas. II ;
Mich. 30 Chas. II. Symmes, writing
later in the same century, says that their
uncle, Simon Carrill, was the purchaser ;
Add. MS. 6167, fol. 135.
M Exch. Spec. Com. 6485. See under
Bramley.
58 Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 70 ; and
Bill of Sale, in which the manor includes
GrarVham and Burningfold, that is probably
some land of the latter.
Add. MS. (B.M.) 6167, fol. 135.
"Add. Chart 5585. See also Cal.
Feet of F. Surr. ; Surr. Arch. Coll.
passim.
46 Manning and Bray, Surr. ii, 64.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
ALFOLD
Pollingfold." He left a sister and heir Elizabeth,
a minor at the time of his death, and it was
probably from her that it passed ultimately to the
Dorrington family, who held it during the I yth and
following centuries.* 9 Sydney Wood was purchased
by Sir John Frederick, lord of Hascombe, with which
manor it descended till the igth century.* 9 It was
in 1903 the property of Mr. George Wyatt, but
has since been bought by Messrs. J. E. Sparkes
and H. Mellersh.
The church of ST. NICHOLAS
CHURCH stands upon a knoll of rising ground
in the centre of the village, flanked by
a cluster of charming old tile-hung cotisges. The
churchyard is prettily surrounded by trees, and con-
tains several larches and one or two yews of some
antiquity. 30 Dotted about among the graves are a
number of cypresses and other evergreens, and in
early spring the grass is thick with crocuses and
daffodils. The churchyard has been extended con-
siderably beyond its ancient boundaries.
The building in itself and with its surround-
ings is delightfully picturesque, especially as
viewed from the south-east.
Bargate stone rubble, plastered outside and in,
has been employed for the walls, with dressings
of the same stone ; but internally the hard chalk,
or clunch, also quarried locally, has been used
in the south arcade, the chancel arch, and the
15th-century features of the chancel. The
chancel roof and the roofs over the aisles and
porches are still ' healed ' with Horsham slabs ;
the bell-turret and its spire are covered with oak
shingles, and the porches are of oak.
In plan the church consists of a nave, 36 ft.
4 in. by 21 ft. z in., north and south aisles,
about 7 ft. 5 in. wide (the south aisle is slightly
longer than the nave) ; chancel, 1 7 ft. 5 in. wide
by 1 6 ft. 5 in. long; north and south porches,
and a vestry lately erected on the north of the
chancel. The simple outlines of nave and chancel
give the plan of the primitive church, erected
perhaps about lioo, of which the only visible
relic besides plain walling is the remarkable
font.
The south aisle was added about 1 1 90, the old
walls being pierced with three plain, square-edged,
obtusely pointed arches, unrelieved by moulding,
chamfer, or label, and springing from columns and
responds circular in plan, on square plinths, and having
capitals of an early circular form, simply moulded. 31
The western respond only has a circular moulded
base with angle-spurs. The church must have re-
mained with one aisle till about 1290, when that on
the north wis thrown out. Its three arches were
discovered blocked up in the north wall of the nave
at the restoration of 1845 ; they were then opened
and the aisle rebuilt on its old foundations. The
arches, in rough Bargate stone, are moulded in three
orders (a hollow between two wave-mouldings), and
these spring direct from octagonal piers, without
capitals, which have chamfered plinths instead of
bases. 3 * The chancel arch is of somewhat similar
design, but in a firestone, or clunch, and springing
from plain square piers. The mouldings indicate a
slightly later date c. 1320 to which period may be
referred the south aisle windows, with ogee and
reticulated tracery, and the outline at least of the east
window of the chancel. The windows of the north
aisle appear to be entirely modern, and are copies of
those on the other side, but its doorway (c. 1290) has
been replaced from the old north wall and retains the
original oak door with very elaborate diagonally-
braced framework on the back, a massive oak lock-
case, and some good wrought-iron hinges and straps,
partly ancient. The south door, less elaborate, is
perhaps of the same date.
The two-light window and piscina in the south
wall of the chancel, and the splayed opening with
PLAN OF ALFOLD CHURCH
four-centred arch in the wall opposite, are of I Jth-
century date, the piscina being a restoration. a The
splayed opening now communicates with a modern
vestry, but it is probable that it was originally an
arch over a tomb or Easter sepulchre in the thickness
of the wall, and the splays repeated on the outer face
suggest that there was at one time a small chapel or
vestry abutting upon the north wall of the chancel
into which this arch opened. There is a small
buttress at the south-east angle of the south aisle and a
low one beneath the east window of the chancel, both
perhaps dating from about 1320. Parts of the pic-
turesque oak porches may belong to the same early
*i Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxlvii, 30.
The Sydneys had held Baynards in Polling-
fold (Inq.of 4 Edw. IV preserved at Loseley).
28 Aubrey (Hitt. and Antiq, of Surr. iv,
92) says that it was in the possession of
Captain Dorrington in 1673. There is a
memorial to Francis Dorrington in Alfold
Church. He died 1693, aged 75. The
monument was erected by his grandson
Edward Dorrington.
as Manning and Bray, op, cit. ii, 69.
80 The largest measures about 23 ft. in
circumference at 4 ft. from the ground.
81 The general character of this arcade
resembles the south arcade of Rustington
Church, Sussex, while the curious features
of the north arcade are exactly reproduced
in the north arcade of that church. In
each case these arcades correspond closely
in date. The font, strangely enough, is
very like that in Yapton Church, Sussex,
within a few miles of Rustington.
79
83 Besides the north arcade of Rusting-
ton Church, which so exactly resembles
this, there are other arcades without
capitals at Fetcham, Surrey, and Slindon
and Coldwaltham, Sussex.
88 Cracklow's view of 1824 shows that
the two-light window has been shifted to
the eastward and raised in the wall at the
1845 restoration, being possibly shortened
at the same time.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
date, but they have been much restored and are
largely of new material. That on the south side
appears in Cracklow's view very much as at present.
The timber bell-tower, standing on huge oak posts
worked into a series of hollow mouldings, rises from
the floor of the nave at its western end and occupies
the western bay of the arcades, its width across the
nave (20 ft. 6 in.) being considerably greater than
from west to east (l I ft. 6 in.). It is spanned both
ways by arched braces, those on the sides being much
lower and forming complete four-centred arches.
The framework of the bell-chamber above and of the
spire is ancient, and the whole forms a most interest-
ing piece of mediaeval carpentry, the date of which
may be placed at about 1500." The bell-cage is
coeval.
The present west window of the nave, a dispro-
portionately large one of five lights, replaces a simple
two-light opening, having been inserted, together
with its glass, quite lately as a memorial.
All the roofs of nave, south aisle, and chancel are of
massive oak timbers, the spaces between the rafters
being plastered. Such roofs are difficult to date pre-
cisely, but these may well be as old as the beginning
of the 1 4th century.
The chancel screen is a restoration, incorporating
parts of one of 15th-century date, and great part of
the oak seating is of the same period, the bench-ends
being of a plain square shape, with a moulded cap-
ping. The pulpit is an interesting example of
Jacobean date, retaining its sound-board, suspended
by a scrolled iron rod.
No ancient paintings are now visible, but in the
works of 1845, on removing the whitewash, traces of
a Crucifixion were found over the east window of the
chancel, and a diaper of flower pots with lilies and
roses on the north side of the nave. These were un-
fortunately covered up again, and in recent years the
chancel walls have been elaborately painted with
diaper patterns and figures. All the glass now in the
church is modern.
The altar is raised on three steps above the chancel,
the latter, however, being on the same level as the
nave.
Few churches in Surrey have such an interesting
font. It is in Bargate stone, tub-shaped, with a broad
shallow base of recessed section round which winds a
cable-moulding, the upper part of the bowl having an
arcade of eight circular-headed arches on square piers
with small square imposts incised in a very shallow
fashion. Within each arch is a Maltese cross on a
long stem. A similar ornament was added to the
ancient font in St. Martha's Chapel (q.v.) in 1 849 by
Mr. Woodyer. The date of the font is about 1 1 oo,
and its design in the matter of the arcade and crosses
is remarkably like that of the early font in Yapton
Church, Sussex.
The most ancient monument within or without
the church is to a yeoman family, the Didelsfolds,
dating from 1670. The monument of Francis Dor-
rington is of 1693. In the churchyard is a slab said
to cover the grave of the last of the glass manufac-
turers. A few incised marks may be found on the
pillars of the south arcade and on one of the splays of
the opening in the north wall of the chancel. The
parish chest is of 1687.
The registers of burials date from 1658, of bap-
tisms from 1 66 1, and among other items of interest
contain several certificates for touching for the king's
evil.
Besides three pieces of 1819, 1820, and 1821,
there are a silver chalice and paten-cover of 1570,
and a pewter tankard-shaped flagon dated 1664. A
curious pewter almsdish and a pewter plate have been
lost between 1839 and 1876.
Of the three bells the treble and tenor are by
Bryan Eldridge, of 1631 and 1625, and the second
is by William Eldridge, 1714.
The advowson belonged to the
ADVQWSON lords of Shalford Manor, and is men-
tioned in the grant of that manor to
John son of Geoffrey. 14 Richard son of John in-
herited the advowson, which formed a part of his
widow's dower, and at her death descended to the
successive Earls of Ormond, lords of Shiere Vachery, 36
till early in the 1 6th century, when Edmund Bray
presented to Alfold. 57 Either he or his descendants
seem to have sold it, and it afterwards continually
changed hands. In 1 68 1 Elizabeth Holt, and in 1694
Christopher Coles, presented, and in 1711 it was in
the gift of Jacob Whitehead. William Elliott pre-
sented in 1 80 1, and the Rev. William Elliott in
1817. The present patron is Sir Henry Harben of
Warnham.
BRAMLEY
Bronlei, Brunlei, Brunlege, Brolege (xi cent.),
Bromlegh, Bromley, Bromle, (xiii cent.).
Bramley was originally a part of the ecclesiastical
parish of Shalford, with a separate chapel since
probably the nth century at least, for there may be
work of that or the I2th century in the church, and
it would seem to be one of the three churches in
Bramley Manor in 1086. It was a distinct civil
parish from Shalford before it was ecclesiastically
separated in 1844. The parish lies south-east of
Guildford, about 3 miles. It is about 5 miles
north to south, and 2 miles from east to west, but
tapers towards the south. It contains 4,510 acres
of land, and 34 of water. It is bounded on the
north by Shalford, on the east by Wonersh and Cran-
leigh, on the south by Hascombe and Dunsfold, on
the west by Godalming and an outlying part of
Dunsfold. The soil is the Lower Greensand over
the great part of the parish, this soil rising into hills
of some elevation on the borders of Godalming
parish to the west. Southwards occurs a rather wider
outcrop of Atherfield clay than is usually seen in
the neighbourhood, but the Wealden clay is in the
south-east.
84 The timber towers of Dunsfold and
Thursley (q.v.) in Surrey, of the same
date and character, should be compared
with this ; probably they are all the work
of the same gild.
85 See under Shalford.
80
86 Egerton MSS. 203 2, fol. 131 ; 2033,
fol. 72 ; 2034, fol. 72, 113 ; Feet of F.
Surr. 10 Hen. VU, 31.
8 ? Egerton MS. 2034, fol. 159.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
BRAMLEY
The country is well wooded. There are extensive
roadside wastes, but no large commons. The land is
agricultural. There is a water-mill, Bramley Mill, or
Snowdenham Mill, worked by a tributary of the Wey,
which flows from Hascombe into Bramley village,
where it joins another stream which falls into the
Wey below the railway bridge of the Brighton line.
The mouth of this stream was utilized for the old
Wey and Arun Canal, which here left the former
river, and passed along the eastern verge of Bramley
parish. This canal was virtually disused when the
railway was opened in 1865, and was barely passable
for a small boat above Bramley village in 1872, and
is now quite blocked and dry in places. There is a
station at Bramley on the Brighton line from Guild-
ford to Horsham, opened in 1865.
A road from Guildford to Horsham passes through
Bramley. A branch leads from the village to Has-
combe and Dunsfold and Alfold.
Historically it is remarkable that Bramley, which
Hooper, Woodrough of the Hon. E. P. Thesiger,
Bramley Grange of Colonel Fox Webster, Nore of
Colonel Godwin Austen, and Unstead Park of Mr.
L. C. W. Phillips. Lord John Russell had a lease of
the last named during Sir Robert Peel's ministry, when
the Whigs were out of office.
The Parish Schools were built by Mrs. Sutherland
in 1850, and enlarged in 1874, 1894, and 1901.
St. Catherine's School for Girls (Church of England
middle class school) was built by subscription in
1885, and incorporated by charter with Cranleigh
Boys' School in 1898. There is a handsome red-
brick chapel in 1 3th-century style containing good
painted glass, showing English and other female saints
on opposite sides of the chapel.
In 1884 Brookwell and Graff ham were transferred
from Dunsfold civil parish to Bramley, being before
isolated parts of Dunsfold, and High Billinghurst was
transferred from Bramley to Dunsfold. 1
The parish abounds in ancient houses. Bramley
BRAMLEY : OLD HOUSES
gave its name to the very extensive possessions of the
Bishop of Bayeux in the neighbourhood, so that the
manor of Bramley intruded into several neighbouring
parishes of later date, was not itself a parish. What-
ever the enumeration of population in Domesday may
mean, Bramley is the third in order in the county,
coming after only Southwark and Guildford. As is
the case all over the dry soils of Surrey, a great many
neolithic flint implements and flakes have been found.
Some are in the Surrey Archaeological Society's museum
at Guildford, some in the Charterhouse Museum.
The cemetery was made in 1851 by the late Mrs.
Sutherland, and enlarged by the late Mr. Percy
Ricardo in 1890. The Constitutional Hall, which
includes a Conservative Working Men's Club, was
opened in 1888. Thorncombe is the residence of
Captain Fisher Rowe, Bramley Park of Colonel
Ricardo, Snowdenham Hall of Mr. John Kinnersley
East was the name both of a house and a manor ; the
house is a three-gabled brick and stone building,
nicely proportioned. Opposite to it is a far more
interesting half -timber house, the details of which re-
call Great Tangley manor-house, in the adjoining
parish of Wonersh. Tangley Manor was rebuilt by
Mr. Carrill in Elizabeth's reign. He was also lord of
Bramley East. The date of the latter may be about
1560. The most valuable feature is a two-storied
gabled staircase wing resembling those at Rake House
and Shottermill, in which the timber framework is
designed in squares, four quadrants of a circle being
placed back to back within each square, the total
effect being a pattern of intersecting squares and
circles. The grouping of roofs and crow-stepped
chimneys in this building is very picturesque.
At Nursecombe, an outlying hamlet, is an inter-
esting old timber-framed house of the 1 6th century
1 By Loc. Govt. Bd. Order, 16532, dated 24 Mar.
Si
II
A HISTORY OF SURREY
probably of two dates with projecting upper stories,
ornamental barge-boards to the gables and a delightful
jumble of tiled roofs. There is a picturesque porch
to the front, having an oak doorway with four-
centred arch and carved spandrels. Among other
interesting details are the moulded joist-boards and
brackets, the barge-boards of two patterns, and pen-
dants to the barge-boards and wall plates. There is a
good gable of timber pattern-work at the back, retain-
ing its barge-board.
Another old house, at Snowdenham, although
marked by later alterations, exhibits internally some
door-posts of perhaps 1 5th-century work. A stable
belonging to this house is in a very perfect condition
and apparently of early I yth-century date.
Thorncombe Street, a straggling hamlet to the
south of Nursecombe, contains a number of old
timber-framed cottages. One of these, T" s ^ a P e ^ ' n
plan, has some very solid half-timber work, and the
original windows with lead lights. An old farm-
house called Slades, in the same hamlet, has a good
ttalrcase and other woodwork of 18th-century date.
At the time of the Domesday Survey
MANORS the manor of BRAMLEY covered appar-
ently the inhabited parts of the county
from near Shalford Church southwards to the Sussex
border. All the manors of the parishes of Wonersh,
Cranleigh, Hascombe, Dunsfold, and Alfold, and part
of Shalford seem to have been formed out of it.
Alnod Cild held it in the time of Edward the
Confessor. After the Conquest it became the holding
of Odo of Bayeux, who found various pretexts for
annexing to it land in Clandon and Gomshall, the
manors of Chilworth and Sutton, and lands else-
where.' It is recorded in Domesday that the manor
paid no geld since Odo held it. After the forfeiture
of the Bishop of Bayeux it escheated with his other
lands to the Crown. Under Henry I Eustace de
Brutvile held it for a short time. 3 Henry II gave the
manor to Ralph de Fay, who was, however, dis-
possessed during the war between the king and his
son, the young King Henry. 4 Bramley paid tallage
as king's demesne in 1187.' It was afterwards held
for a short time by Baldwin de Bethune, 6 but in 1 196
46 is given as the ferm of Bramley for half a year
before it was given to John Count of Mortain. 7 After
his accession John granted the manor to Ralph de
Fay, son of the former tenant. 9 His son John de Fay
had seisin of his father's lands in 1223,' and after his
death in 1241 the manor was divided between his
two sisters, Maud de Clere and Philippa de Fay. 10
They each held a moiety by service of half a knight's
fee, the two portions being afterwards accounted
separate manors. Maud de Clere's portion was again
divided into three in the I 7th century, but Philippa's
remained entire, and is now known as the manor of
Bramley.
Philippa married a William Neville " and enfeoffed
her only daughter Beatrice, who married William of
Wintershull, lord of the manor of Wintershull in
Bramley, of her portion of the manor of Bramley."
Beatrice survived her husband 13 and entailed the
manor on their younger son Walter, 14 whose son
Thomas succeeded him, 15 and married Alice 16 after-
wards wife of Henry de Loxley, who held with Alice,
or was at all events answerable for dues from the
manor." Thomas died on Good Friday I339, 18 hold-
ing half the manor of Bramley of John de Hadresham
as of his manor of Combe Neville. 19 He left a son
and heir William, 80 who died in 1361. He was suc-
ceeded by his brother, 11 Thomas Wintershull, from
whom the manor descended to his son Thomas."
The latter died in January 1414-15, leaving a son,
also Thomas, whose proof of age was taken in 1418."
He died in 1 420, his heirs being his sisters, Joan wife
of William Weston of Sussex, and Agnes wife of
William Basset.* 4 Joan married a second husband,
William Catton. 15 No more is known of Agnes
Basset; 16 in 1485, after the death without issue of
William Weston, Joan's only son, the manor was
divided between Margaret Appesley, Joan's daughter,
and John Pope, son of Thomas Pope and Joan,
another of her daughters." Margaret Appesley died
27 August 1516, leaving a son and heir, John Welles,
by her first husband William Welles.' 8 In January
1534-5 John Welles died possessed of half the manor
of Bramley, and was succeeded by his son Thomas
Welles,* 9 who, with his wife Cecily, joined with
Edmund Pope (probably a descendant of John Pope
and as such seised of the other half of the manor) in
a sale of the whole manor to William Harding of
Knowle in Cranleigh, citizen and mercer of London,
and his wife Cecily. 30 After
William Harding's death in
September 1549" the manor
was divided between his daugh-
ters Helen and Catherine.
Catherine married in 1559
Richard Onslow, 33 who be-
came Speaker of the House
of Commons and Solicitor-
General. 33 Helen in 1561
sold her share to her brother-
in-law Onslow.' 4 From him
the manor descended to his
son Sir Edward, whom Queen
HARDING of Knowle.
Argent a bend azure tuith
three martlets or thereon.
I V.C.H. Surr. i, 295*, 2963, 29811,
301, 302(1, 305*.
8 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 225.
Ibid.
6 Pipe R. 33 Hen. II, m. 15 d.
Exch. K.R. Misc. Bks. vol. 6, fol. 73.
In the printed Testa de Nrvill the name
is given ' Becchon. 1
7 Pipe R. 8 Ric. I, m. 17 d.
8 Cal. Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), 33. He
confirmed at the same time a tithe of the
manor to the monks of Lyre.
9 Excerfta e Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), i,
102.
10 Ibid, i, 346, 352.
II Wintershull Chart, quoted by Man-
ning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 28. By the In-
quisition below it would seem that William
and Philippa had a son of whom the manor
was held.
Feet of F. Div. Co. 33 Hen. III.
18 Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. I, no. 15.
Ibid. 5 Hen. V, no. 52.
"Ibid. 20 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 46.
Ibid. 8 Ric. II, no. 24.
V Pipe R. 26 Edw. Ill, m. 30.
18 Chan. Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. Ill (ut
nos.), no. 46.
19 Ibid. 14 Edw. Ill, no. 7.
2 Ibid, ii Edw. Ill, pt. 2 (ist nos.),
no. 82.
al Ibid.
M Ibid. 5 Hen. V, no. 52.
33 Ibid. 6 Hen. V, no. 53.
82
Ibid. 8 Hen. V, no. 86 ; Feet of F.
Div. Co. Hil. 9 Hen. VI.
85 Surr. V'nit. 216 ; and Feet of F. Div.
Co. Hil. 9 Hen. VI.
* Manning and Bray quote a deed
dated 2 Ric. Ill, by which William Swan,
a trustee, conveyed Bramley to William
Weston, son of William and Joan Weston.
*7 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xxvii, 61.
Ibid.
S9 Exch. Inq. p.m. file 1085, no. I.
80 Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 33 Hen. VIII.
81 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixxxix, 136.
8a Feet of F. Div. Co. Hil. 3 Eliz.
83 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. pt.
, 475-
84 Lord Onslow's D.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
BRAMLEY
Elizabeth had knighted." The manor was settled on
Sir Edward's son Thomas at his marriage with Mary
Lennard in i6l6.* 6 He died in the same year and
was succeeded by his brother Sir Richard Onslow,
knight of the shire for Surrey from 1627 to 1658."
Bramley descended to his son Arthur,* 8 whose son
Richard was created Baron Onslow in 1716."
George, first Earl Onslow, grand-nephew of Richard
first Baron Onslow, sold Bramley to William Lord
Grantley in 1805." He also owned the whole of
the other moiety, thus uniting the portions which
had been separate for nearly six centuries. He was
succeeded by his nephew Fletcher Norton, third Lord
Grantley, in 1822." The Grantley property was sold
in 1886, and Captain W. H. Waud is now lord of
the manor.
The second moiety, which was assigned to Maud
de Clere, descended at her death in 1250 to Alice
daughter of Maud's daughter Agatha and William
de Ros, who afterwards married Richard Longe-
spee." Her daughter Alice, wife of Richard Breus,"
granted it in iz66 to Maud Longespee to hold for
life." In 1271 Richard and Alice Breus conveyed
the manor to William Breus and his wife Mary in
exchange for Akenham Manor, co. Suffolk.* 5
In 1293 Mary Breus obtained licence to grant
Bramley in fee simple to Walter de Gedding for his
good services to her. 46 Evidently this grant was only
for life, for Mary Breus was holding it at her death in
May 1326." She was succeeded by her grandson Sir
Thomas Breus, 48 whose widow Beatrice held Bramley
for life. 49 Sir Thomas Breus, kt., died seised of it in
1395,* leaving two children who died within a week
of their father. The manor of Bramley, however,
after being for a time in the hands of trustees, 51 in-
stead of passing to his niece and heir Elizabeth, wife
of William Heron, descended in tail male to George
de Breus son of John brother of Thomas de Breus the
elder." This George died seised of it in 1418."
Dower was assigned out of the manor to his widow
Elizabeth, afterwards wife of Thomas Slyfeld. 54 She held
it of the inheritance of Sir Hugh Cokesey, kt., great-
grandson of Agnes sister of George de Breus. 55 After
Hugh's death in February 1 445-6 M Bramley remained
with his widow Alice in accordance with the terms of
a previous settlement, 57 but at her death descended to
his sister Joyce Beauchamp, then wife of Leonard
Stepelton. 58 Her son Sir John Greville, kt., suc-
ceeded her as lord of the manor " and died seised of
CARRILI. of Bramley.
Argent three ban table
viith three martins table
in tiu chief.
it in 1480, leaving a son Thomas who assumed the
name of Cokesey. 60 At his death there was a partition
of the family estates, and the Surrey part, including
Bramley, passed to the Earl of Surrey. 61
The manor of Bramley is mentioned as a possession
of his son Thomas Duke of Norfolk, in 1545." His
widow, Agnes, Duchess of Norfolk, held it for life with
reversion to the king by reason of her husband's at-
tainder. 68 Her grandson and
heir, being restored to the
dukedom, sold Bramley to
Richard Carrill (or Caryl) in
1559." Richard Carrill died
in February 15 75-6" and
was succeeded by his son John
Carrill, attorney of the Duchy
of Lancaster. His kinsman
and heir, John Carrill, proved
himself of age in 15 78,**
and died seised of the
manor of Bramley in 1612,
leaving a son Simon, 67 on
whom he had settled it at
the time of his marriage with Elizabeth daughter
of Sir Francis Aungier. 68 Elizabeth survived her
husband, and Bramley ultimately passed to her son
John Carrill, who in 1649 granted it, 69 as a security
probably, to a relative, George Duncombe, for life, for
the yearly rent of one peppercorn. 70 John Carrill
mortgaged all his property heavily. His widow,
Hester, married Sir Francis Duncombe, bart., who
complained that he had to abandon his profession as
barrister-at-law in order to give proper attention to
the estates of his stepchildren. These were Lettice,
Elizabeth, and Margaret, daughters of John Carrill.
At the age of sixteen Lettice Carrill married John
Ramsden, 71 and joined with her husband in a suit
against her stepfather for ill-treatment of herself and
her sisters and mismanagement of their estates.
Bramley was divided among the three sisters, Lettice
Ramsden's portion of the estates being known as the
' manor of EAST BRAMLET or Great Tangley.' "
In 1673 she conveyed it to John Child. 73 His grand-
son Charles Child left it to his nephew Charles Searle,
who conveyed it in 1759 to Fletcher Norton, first
Lord Grantley, 74 in whose family it descended to-
gether with the first moiety of the manor.
John Carrill's second daughter Elizabeth, wife of
Peter Fermor, conveyed her third of the estate in
84 Hilt. MSS. Com. Ref. xiv, App. pt. ix,
476.
85 Com. Pleat D. Enr. Mich. 14 Jas. I,
m. 33.
87 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccclv, 105.
88 Feet of F. Surr. Mil. 22 Chas. 1 5
ibid. Div. Co. Mich. 1649.
" Hiit. MSS. Com. Ref. xiv, App. pt. ix,
489.
10 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii,
79 ; Recov. R. Trin. 10 Geo. Ill, m. 195.
41 Brayley, Tofog. Hilt, of Surr. v, 121.
42 Chan. Inq. p.m. 46 Hen. Ill, no. I.
48 Coram Rege R. 58, m. 5.
44 Feet of F. Div. Co. 5 1 Hen. Ill, 9.
Feet of F. Div. Co. 56 Hen. Ill, no.
73. Bramley was to be held of Richard and
Alice by William and Mary, and after the
death of Alice's son, Giles Breus, the
manor was said to be held of his heirs
(Chan. Inq. p.m. 19 Edw. II, no. 90), but
in all subsequent documents the successors
of William and Mary are said to have
held it in chief. See Chan. Inq. p.m. 29
Edw. I, no. 52 ; ibid. 4 Edw. II, no. 40 ;
Cal. Pat. 1324-7, p. 262.
44 Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 79.
4 " Chan. Inq. p.m. 1 9 Edw. II, no. 90 ;
Each. Enr. Accts. i, 25.
Feet of F. Div. Co. n Edw. Ill,
22 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 35 Edw. Ill, pt. i,
no. 39.
48 Pat. 46 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 6.
40 Chan. Inq. p.m. 19 Ric. II, no. 7.
41 Close, 3 Hen. IV, pt. i, m. 24.
51 Wrottesley, Pedigrees from the Plea
R. 230.
M Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Hen. V, no. 48.
44 Ibid. 10 Hen. V, no. 33.
44 Ibid. 12 Hen. VI, no. 4.
*> Ibid. 24 Hen. VI, no. 36.
Ibid. 38-9 Hen. VI, no. 49.
48 Ibid. 24 Hen. VI, no. 36.
4 Ibid. 13 Edw. IV, no. 32. Ibid.
83
41 He was descendant of William Breus,
elder brother of Peter father of Sir Thomas
Breus, who succeeded to the manor in
1326. William Breus' daughter Alina
married John, Lord Mowbray ; Cal. Close,
I 31~lt PP- 259.479 5 Cal. Pat. 1330-4,
p. 128.
ra Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixxii, 26.
8 Ibid. Ixix, 189.
84 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. I Eliz.
86 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. i), clxxv, 74.
66 Ibid, clxxxiii, 65. By Visit, of Surrey
(Harl. Soc.), 89, the first John was brother
of Richard, the second John Richard's son
67 W. and L. Inq. p.m. xlvi, 9.
68 Ibid, xxix, 155.
69 Com. Pleas D.Enr. East. 1649, m. 16.
7 Visit, of Surr. (Harl. Soc.}, 89.
71 Exch. Dep. HiL 21 & 22 Chas. II, 26.
73 Exch. Spec. Com. 6484, 6485.
7 Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 25-6 Chas. II.
74 Manning and Bray, op. cit ii, 83.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
1674 to Ambrose Holbech and Lawrence Lord,"
probably as trustees to sell to Richard Gwynn, cloth-
worker of London, whose niece and heiress Susan
Clifton had a daughter Trehane, who married Sir
William Chappie, justice of the King's Bench. His
daughter Grace married Sir Fletcher Norton, first
Lord Grantley," who thus obtained another third of
this manor.
John Carrill's third daughter married Henry Lud-
low, and their share of the estate was known as WEST
BRAMLEY Henry Ludlow, by will in 1 724 (proved
P.C. Cant. 15 October 1730), devised the manors
of West Bramley, Markwick, Monkenhook, and
Shoelands in Puttenham to his daughter Elizabeth.
She became insane, and on her death her next heirs
were found to be her father's first cousin's sons Cap-
tain Harcourt Masters and Mr. Giles Strangways. By
a deed of partition in 1750 West Bramley fell to
Captain Harcourt Masters. He sold West Bramley
to William Hammond, who was already tenant of
the manor-house. 79 William Hammond sold it to
John Shurlock and Richard Elliott. John Shurlock's
grandson John conveyed his interest to Thomas
Smyth, nephew of Richard Elliott, who thus owned
the whole of West Bramley. 80 He sold it to William
Lord Grantley, 81 who already owned the rest of the
original manor, with which it has since descended.
William de Breus and William Wintershull with
their wives, lords of the divided manor of Bramley in
the time of Edward I, made good their claim to view
of frankpledge, assize of bread and ale and liberties of
pillory and cucking-stool according to a charter of
Henry III. sla The lord of Bramley used also to hold
pleas for merchants attending Shalford fair, and to
take the stakes set up in his fee. 81
View of frankpledge was held by William,
grandson of Walter Wintershull, on Wednesday in
Whitsun week. 8 ' He also had a rent called 'work-
silver ' from his free tenants in Bramley. 84 The view
of frankpledge was sold with the manor to William
Harding in 1 542.
Of the liberties peculiar to the de Breus' half of the
manor of Bramley free warren was granted to Walter
de Gedding in 1304..** Among items given in the
account of Robert the Tailor, ' bedell ' of Sir Thomas
de Breus in 1354 and the following years, are a rent
called ' Toppingselver ' from Clandon and ' Work-
selver ' from various tenants. 84
THORNCOMBE STREET or M4RSH4LS was
that land of 'Torncumba' of which Stephen de
Turnham the king's marshal was enfeoffed by William
and Roger de Paceys, and which he was holding in
1205 in accordance with a charter of Ralph de Fay."
It probably returned to the de Fay family through
Beatrice daughter and co-heiress of Stephen de Turn-
ham and wife of Ralph de Fay. 87 It afterwards formed
part of lands granted to John of Wintershull by Maud
de Fay. 88 No documentary evidence concerning
Thorncombe during the next three centuries has
been found.
In 1 502 John Mellersh recovered the manor of
Thorncombe, &c., from Robert Marshall. 88 *
In 1505 John Onley and others acquired the manor
of Thorncombe alias Marshall from John Aprye,
Robert Marshall and Elizabeth his wife being called
to warrant. 89
In 1510 Onley conveyed to William Lusher. 90
George Lusher settled it on his son William on his
marriage (1564-5); and subsequently, in 1593, his
son's first wife being dead, was trying to recover pos-
session against John Comber, to whom William had
conveyed it in 15 83," presumably on a second mar-
riage with a daughter of Comber. In 1596 Comber
and William Lusher were able to convey it to Henry
Mellersh, at whose death it seems to have been split
up into fifths, which descended respectively to Martha
wife of Robert Roydon, Anne wife of John Wight,
Eleanor wife of William Skynner, James and Chris-
topher Hobson, and Margaret wife of John Scales, 91 *
which last sold her fifth to Francis Aungier in
1 604"
The portions of the manor often reappear, and
' Marshall or Marshalls ' kept its name as a farm. It
was owned by Budds and Balchins, and conveyed by
George Chandler's trustees to Mr. Richard Gates, in
1839. He sold it to Mr. Fisher in 1849, and it is
now, as Thorncombe, the property of Captain Fisher-
Rowe.
The manor of WINTERSHULL seems to have been
separated from Bramley Manor soon after the death
of Ralph de Fay the younger, for in 1227 a royal
confirmation was made to
Henry Wintershull of ' all the
land of Wintersell and all ser-
vice of the land saving the
king's service only,' which he
had of the gift of John de
Fay. 9 * Ralph de Fay's widow,
Beatrice, had also granted land
in Bramley to Henry Winter-
shull. 933 The manor remain-
ed in the Wintershull family,
though not in that branch
which held Bramley half-
manor. It was held of Bramley by the service of
a knife for cutting bread yearly." In 1279 J onn
Wintershull proved his claim to view of frankpledge
in the manor. 94 In 1327-8 Francis Wintershull
IFLFU
WlNTIRSHUtL. Or tv>0
bars gules and a label sable.
7' Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 26 & 17
Chaa. II.
7 Close, 30 Chas. II, pt. vi, no. 30.
77 Diet. Nat. Sing, xli, 211 ; x, 62.
f Feet of F. Surr. East. 31 Chas. II.
7 Close, 25 Geo. II, pt. i, no. 5.
80 Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 83,
112 ; Brayley, op. cit. v, 121.
81 Braylejr, op. cit. v, 120.
8la Plac. de Quo tVarr. (Rec. Com.), 743.
81 Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. I, no. 69.
88 Chan. Inq. p.m. 1 1 Edw. Ill (pt. 2,
lit nos.), no. 82.
Feet of F. Surr. HiL 33 Hen. VIII.
84 Chart. R. 33 Edw. I, no. 98.
" Mint. Accts. bdle. 1010, no. 23.
86 Cal. Roc. Chart. (Rec. Com.), i, 160.
Stephen was confirmed at the same time in
the possession of lands which had been his
father-in-law's, Ralph de Broc.
8 7 Sec the account of Arlington.
88 Deed quoted by Manning and Bray,
op. cit. ii, 8;. The rent due from the
tenement of Geoffrey *de Torcumba' in
Bramley had been granted by John de
Fay to the Prioresi of Amesbury ; Curia
Regis R. 1 08, m. 9.
*> De Banco R. East. 17 Hen. VII, m.
146 d. [Recovery]. It is probably from this
family that it took the name of Marshals.
89 De Banco R. HiL 20 Hen. VU, m.
360.
8 4
Ct. R. of Selhurst Manor. Feast of
St. Edmund, 2 Hen. VIII.
91 Chan. Proc. Eliz. LI, i, 34.
911 Feet of F. Surr. East. 5 Jas. I; East.
7 Jas. I. Henry Mellersh's will (1597)
names his four daughters, of whom one is
Martha, who married Robert Roydon, but
the other names are not those of these
co-heiresses. His only ton died young,
and there were only four daughters.
"Ibid. HiL i Jas. I.
* Cal. Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), i, 48.
9ta Maitland, Braaon's Note Bk. 679.
94 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Unix, 133.
"Plac. de Qua Warr. (Rec. Com.),
747-
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
BRAMLEY
witnessed a conveyance of land in Bramley. 9 * John
Wintershull was lord in 1340." In 1362 John
vested the manor in trustees for himself, his son John
and his heirs, and other children and their heirs in
succession. 98 John the younger made his will in
1396, mentioning his children, Thomas, John, and
Joan. 9 *" John had a son Robert," whose son Thomas
died seised of the manor in 1 476-7. 100 Robert, son of
Thomas, petitioned for the manorial records to be de-
livered to him by Elizabeth Wintershull. 101 Robert
died in I487, 10 * leaving a son Robert, then eight
yean old, 103 who died in 1549, and was succeeded
by his son John. John, son of John Wintershull, 104
made proof of his age in 1565, but died in I57I. 104
He left an infant son William, who afterwards,
in 1 60 1, conveyed Selhurst or Wintershull to George
Austen, 106 probably for the purpose of a settlement, as
Austen was not in possession a few years later.
William Wintershull was probably a recusant. He
was connected with the Lumleys, recusants, to whom
he let the manor-house ; and he ultimately conveyed
the reversion of the manor to trustees for their benefit.
Henry Lumley parted with his interest, and by a
series of conveyances the manor passed to George
Chandler, who in 1655 conveyed one moiety in
possession and one in reversion to his brother
Richard. 107 Richard Chandler held a court in 1663.
Thomas Chandler his son held a court in 1667, and
made a conveyance of the manor in 1671 I08 to John
Child, who held a court in 1672. His grandson
Charles Child is said to have sold the manor after
1723 to Mr. Barrett, father of George Barrett, the
owner in i8o8, 109 and it is now in the possession of
Mr. George W. Barrett.
HAM was held by Henry de Guldeford, when he
died in 1312 13, of the Prior and convent of Sandle-
ford. 110 Ham was connected with the manor and
park of Ashurst (see Witley). The keeper of these
was accountable for rent of land called ' Hamme,' circa
I369-7I. 111 The rent occurs again in 1374 5,"' and
in 1439-40 Walter Bedall, keeper of Ashurst Manor
and park, took proceedings against Sir Henry Hussey
for usurping the profits of Ham. 118
Ashurst and Frydynghurst seem to be the same
estate. The Windsor family bought land in them, and
the Fordes from them. 114 Thomas Mellersh was dealing
with Hamland in 1574,"' and is said to have owned
Nore and Ham Manor, 11 * and to have bought the
latter from Forde, of Harting, Sussex. 1 "
NORE, which with Ham is called a manor, was
acquired by George Austen of Shalford, by marriage
with Anne, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas
Mellersh of Nore. The Mellersh family had held it
for some time. George Austen died holding the
capital messuage of Nore in 1611, together with
Hameland and Unstead Manors. 118 It is still the
property of the family, and the residence of Colonel
Godwin Austen, owner of Shalford Park.
Rushett Farm was called Marhoks before the
Durgats held it in the 1 6th century, 119 and was
afterwards in the possession of Joshua Mellersh. 1 "
Birtley House was perhaps originally Berkeley, for in
1 604 Brian Annesley held ' Burtley,' otherwise Burke-
ley. 111 It was held by Henry Foisted, to whose fam.ly
it had passed from Thomas Elliott of Yateley. Ralph
de Fay, when lord of Bramley, had granted lot. rent
from the tenement of William 'of Berkele in
Bromlegh ' to the priory of Amesbury. 1 " ' Bromley
House in Bromley Street ' was the residence of Dame
Joan Pole in l^8. m The house was afterwards
claimed by Lawrence Stoughton, to whom it de-
scended by various enfeoffments from Drew, brother
and heir of Charles Barentyne, son of Dame Joan." 4
The church of the HOLrTRlNlTT,
CHURCH originally a chapel attached to Shalford,
has been grievously injured by several
restorations and enlargements. It stands towards the
north of the village street, near the corner at the
cross roads. The site is level, and the churchyard
is prettily planted with trees and shrubs, there being
a fine old yew on the north side. It is built of
Bargate stone rubble, with dressings of hard chalk in
the older parts and of Bath stone in the new. The
squat spire is shingled, and the chancel has been
re-roofed in slates with very inharmonious effect.
Until 1850 the plan was cruciform, and consisted
of a nave, about 57 ft. by 21 ft., chancel 31 ft. 6 in.
by 21 ft., south transept (or Ludlow chapel) about
1 7 ft. square, and low tower and spire on the north
forming a north transept of about the same dimen-
sions. At the west end was a porch, within which
was a plain doorway of mid- 12th-century date, to
which period the nave seems to have belonged. The
head of this doorway, with zigzag moulding, has been
rebuilt on modern jambs. The chancel and tower,
which still remain, were evidently added in about
1210, and the south transept, roofed, with its gable
parallel to that of the chancel, in about the middle of
the 1 3th century. Both tower and chancel have
been much modernized within, but externally, save
for the slated roof of the chancel and some modern
outbuildings and buttresses, they have been little
altered. The chancel has a slight inclination to the
north on plan.
There are three long lancets in the east wall ; the
middle one slightly higher, and three in each of the
side walls, worked in hard chalk, their internal splays
radiating round the head, without scoinson arches a
mark of early date in the period. Under the eastern-
most lancet on the south side of the chancel is a
piscina with a pointed arch, upon the apex of which
a fleur-de-lys is carved in relief an ornament of not
Add. Chart. (B.M.), 14839.
*" Ct. R. quoted by Manning and Bray,
op. cit. ii, 86.
98 Deed quoted by Manning and Bray,
op. cit. ii, 86.
* Ibid.
*> See Frenches in Worplesdon.
100 Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. IV, no. 48.
101 Early Chan. Proc. Ixvii, 239. It
appears from the petition that Robert the
elder had two tons named Thomas, and
that Elizabeth was widow of the younger
Thomas.
1M Will. P.C.C. proved 23 NOT. 1487.
IM Eich. Inq. p.m. 3 & 4 Hen. VII,
1059, no. 2.
104 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), lixxv, 53 j
ljuumc, 133.
l< " Ibid. 15 Eliz. clxv, 176.
"*> Feet of F. Surr. East, i Jat. I ; Hil.
I Jas. I.
W Feet of F. Surr. East. 1655.
l*> Ibid. Mich. 1671.
ltw Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 87.
110 Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. II, no. 4] .
111 Mins. Accts. bdle. 1010, no. 5.
111 Ibid. bdle. loio, no. 6, 7.
" Pat. 17 Hen. VI, pt i, m. 134
85
Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 34 Hen. VIIIj
Mich. 3 Edw. VI ; Mich. 2*3 Eliz.
"' Ibid. Trin. 16 Eliz.
u * Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 87.
u ' Private inform.
11H Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccicvii,
90.
"' Misc. Bks. (Exch. L.T.R.), 168.
l *> Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccUii, $*.
111 Ibid, cccvi, 149.
" Maitland, Bracton't Nett Bit. 553.
l" Star Chamb. Proc. Edw. VI, i, 8,
" Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 170, no.
91.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
very common occurrence in the beginning of the
I jth century. The chancel arch is lofty, pointed, of
two chamfered orders upon stop-chamfered jambs,
having square-edged moulded imposts at the spring-
ing. On the south side of this arch are traces
of a squint, which formerly opened into the south
transept. The door to the vestry on the north of
the chancel is modern, and it does not appear that
there was ever a priest's door. The roofs of both
chancel and nave are ancient, of collar-beam con-
struction, with braces and struts, and of somewhat
flat pitch that of the former being only 45 de-
grees.
The destroyed transeptal chapel on the south had
a single lancet in each wall, and on either side of the
nave before its enlargement was a plain blocked door-
way of later date than the I zth-century door in the
west wall.
In 1850 the north aisle was added in the style of
the early 1 4th century, and in 1875 the south aisle
followed, being prolonged into what had been the
transeptal chapel, which was rebuilt, and vestries were
built to the east of the tower. The west front, with
its ' Norman ' windows, is modern. The present font
is modern, as is also the chancel screen.
In the chancel windows is some heraldic and
pattern glass, noticed by Cracklow in 1824, parts of
which are ancient.
There are many monuments of late 1 7th and i8th-
century date to the Ludlow family.
There are a silver paten of 1592 and a cup and
paten-cover of 1664, besides more modern pieces,
among the church plate.
There are six bells.
The registers of baptisms and marriages date from
1566, with three baptisms, entered later, in 1563,
1564, and 1565 respectively. In 1676 Bishop
Morley for the first time licensed a burial-ground
round the chapel of Bramley. 1 " The register of
burials begins from that year.
The parish church was probably
ADVQWSQN one of the three churches contained
in Bishop Odo's fee in io86. 186
Until 1 844 Bramley was a chapelry of Shalford, but
in that year it was constituted a separate parish under
Sir Robert Peel's Act for establishing parishes.
In Thorncombe Street were five
CHARITIES cottages built and owned by the
parish. They are described by one
who remembers them as disgracefully bad. They
were sold by the parish in 1837.
Mrs. Finchett in 1815 left .100 stock to trustees
to provide a dole of bread yearly for the poor.
Smith's Charity exists as in other Surrey parishes.
About 22 ioi. in all is distributed in bread and
clothing.
CRANLEIGH
Cranlygh, Cranleigh, Cranlegh, Cranle (xiii cent.). 1
Cranley till recently. Cranleigh of late years to avoid
confusion in post and railway with Crawley.
Cranleigh, a parish 8 miles south-west of Guildford,
bounded on the north by Shere, Albury, and Wonersh,
on the west by Alford and Hascombe, on the east by
Ewhurst, on the south by the county of Sussex, con-
tains 7,697 acres of land and 6 1 of water. It
measures rather under 6 miles from north to south,
just under 4 from east to west.
The northern part of the parish rises to about
, 700 ft. above the sea in Winterfold Hill, part of the
great stretch of the heath and fir upland called Hurt
Wood adjoining Blackheath to the north, and east-
ward rising still higher in Ewhurst, Holmbury, and
Leith Hills, in Ewhurst, Ockley, and Wotton re-
spectively. This part of the parish is Greensand.
From the base of the hills to the Sussex border the
soil is Wealden Clay, with superficial patches of sand
and gravel. The village is on the latter, on Cran-
leigh Common, part of which is one of the best
cricket pitches in Surrey. Smithwood Common is to
the north-west of the village. Small detached parts
of Cranleigh were added to Albury and Wonersh,
and part of the border at Moxley was added to Shere
24 March 1884.'
The village is traversed by the road from Guildford
to Horsham. The London, Brighton and South
Coast Railway line from Guildford to Horsham,
opened in 1865, passes through the parish, which
contains two stations, Cranleigh and Baynards. The
disused Wey and Arun Canal runs through the parish.
On the clay are extensive brick and tile works.
Formerly Cranleigh was a great seat of the iron
industry. 3 The oak timber of Vachery was a valuable
property sold to London merchants in the 1 5 th
century. 4 Vachery Pond, an artificially-made lake
covering 6 1 acres, was used as a reservoir for the Wey
and Arun Canal, and was probably enlarged for that
purpose. But it is marked on the map before the
canal existed, and was certainly made as a forge or
hammer pond. Hammer Farm is on the stream,
which is dammed up to make it, a little lower down.
A fish-pond is mentioned at Vachery in the I3th
century,' but it need not have been so extensive,
probably was not, as the subsequent reservoir, even if
it is included in this.
A Baptist chapel was built in 1889, and there is
a small Wesleyan mission chapel on the common.
A few old-fashioned gabled and tile-hung houses
remain near the church, including the post office,
and another with a half-timber wing. Ancient houses
of important families, now represented by farm-houses,
also existed at Vachery (near Baynards in Ewhurst)
and Knowle, and the north and south transeptal
chapels in the church are still known respectively as
the Vachery and Knoll (or Knowle) chapels. A
house called Sansoms has some old panelling and other
features of interest internally, although the exterior
has been modernized.
There is a very picturesque 16th-century cottage at
the south end of the village, but the houses have mostly
185 The licence is in the parish cheit.
" V.C.H. Surr. i, 301.
> Add. MS. (B.M.), 7606.
* Loc. Govt. Bd. Order 16532.
V.C.H. Surr. ii, 272.
86
4 Anct. D. (P.R.O.), C. 242.
' Chan, Inq. p.m. 25 Edw. I, no. 50.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
been rebuilt in a substantial but unpicturesque man-
ner. The rectory is on the site of an old house sur-
rounded by a moat now drained. Winterfold, on the
hills, is the modern residence of Lord Alverstone, Lord
Chief Justice, Nanhurst of Lady Carbutt, Barrihurst
of Colonel W. A. Browne. Wyphurst is an old farm
converted into a large modern house, the seat of
Mr. Chadwyck Healey, C.B., K.C. It has been en-
larged from designs by R. Blomfield, R.A., F.R.I.B.A.
The other large houses of the parish are on the site
of old manor-houses, and fall under the manorial
description.
Part of the Roman road, which runs through the
parish, and which probably went from near Shoreham
to Staines, can be traced in Cranleigh parish. 6
The Peek Institute was founded by the late Sir
H. W. Peek, in memory of Lady Peek. It includes
a club, with reading and billiard rooms, and a library.
Cranleigh School was opened 12 October 1865,
and largely added to in 1 869, when the chapel was
built by the late Sir H. W. Peek at a cost of 6,500.
Further additions have been made subsequently. The
style is Early English, in brick, with stone wings.
The school was originally called the Surrey County
School, and special advantages were offered to Surrey
boys. It is now equally open to boys from any place.
The object of the school is to afford a public-school
education on moderate terms, and the religious teach-
ing is distinctively Church of England. 7 The whole
of the original cost was borne by subscribers, and
Sir H. W. Peek, Lord Ashcombe, Sir Walter Farquhar,
Mr. Douglas D. Heath, and Archdeacon Sapte, rector
of Cranleigh, were among the most prominent of the
early supporters and governors of the school. The Rev.
J. Merriman, D.D., St. John's College, Cambridge, was
the first head master. The late head master was the
Rev. G. C. Allen, M.A., St. John's College, Cam-
bridge. 8 Mr. C. H. Tyler, M. A., was appointed 1 909.
A reputed native of Cranleigh was Thomas de
Cranleigh, Fellow of Merton, 1366, first Warden of
Winchester, 1382, Warden of New College, 1389,
Chancellor of the University of Oxford, 1390,
Archbishop of Dublin, 1397, Chancellor of Ireland
1397 to 1400 ; he died in 1417, aged about eighty.
Cranleigh seems at the time of the Domesday
Survey to have formed part of the vills of Shiere,
Gomshall, and Bramley. The parish of Cranleigh
contains Vachery, part of Pollingfold, Holdhurst,
Knowle, Utworth, and Redinghurst, the first three
of which were members of Shiere or Gomshall, and
the last two of Bramley. 9
VACHERY in Cranleigh parish was
MANORS a member of the manor of Shiere
Vachery. The lords of Shiere kept it in
CRANLEIGH
their own hands. The name itself (vaccaria, or dairy)
gives sufficient reason for this. Henry III granted
bucks to John son of Geoffrey to stock his park of
Vachery. 10 His son John obtained a grant of a weekly
market and an annual fair at Cranleigh, on the eve,
feast, and morrow of Lammas Day," and appropriated
to himself free warren there," There was a manor-
house in Vachery in 1 296 ; ls at present there is a farm-
house and the remains of a moat. The Earls of
Ormond resided either at Shiere or Vachery." The
farm-house was sold by Earl Onslow in 1783."
Nanhurst Farm cum Treewell, part of Vachery, was
sold by Lord Onslow in 1815."
In 1820 Vachery was the property of Thomas
Lowndes. 17
HOLDHURST Manor (Holehurst, xiv cent.) wai
an outlying portion of the manor of Shiere, which was
called ' Sutton or Holhurst at Downe.' The lands
belonging to it in Shiere and Abinger are no doubt
the lands which it appears from Domesday were seized
by the Bishop of Bayeux, and added to his manor of
Bramley. 18 These are treated under Shiere. Later,
Holdhurst in Cranleigh and Holdhurst in Shiere
became separate estates.
The history of the property, before its division,
seems to be as follows :
In 1297 Walter of Holdhurst conveyed land in
Bramley and Shiere to his son John. 19 There was a
Walter of Holdhurst living at Cranleigh in the early
years of the reign of Edward III. 10 In May 1368-9
Thomas of Holdhurst and his wife, Alice, were in
possession of the manor ; " possibly incorrectly so-
called, for the Court Rolls of Gomshall Towerhill of
1 3 67 say that Thomas Holdhurst held a yard-land
in Cranleigh. It continued in his family till the
reign of Henry VIII, when, on the death of Thomas
of Holdhurst, John Wood and Arnold Champion
succeeded in 1532." Arnold Champion died seised
of a moiety of the manor in 1546." According
to Manning and Bray it was afterwards the property
of Richard Wood (possibly son of the above John)
and of John his son. His sister and heir, Agnes wife
of Richard Welles, conveyed it to Richard Onslow of
Knowle, 31 December 1568"; and in 1584 James
Hobson and his wife Anne conveyed a moiety of the
manor to Richard Browne and Edward Onslow. 15
Meanwhile Sutton in Shere was now separated from
Holdhurst in Cranleigh and the connexion forgotten.
Edmund Hill was in possession of the whole of ' Sud-
ton aRas Holhurst aftas Halhurst at Downe,' meaning
Sutton in Shere, in 1554;" but this had no connexion
with the land in Cranleigh. 87 Sir Edward Onslow,
son of Thomas, was in possession at his death in
1615 ^ of the Cranleigh land.
* Surr, Arch, Coll. vi, I, and private
information to the writer from the late
Mr. James Park Harrison, who traced
the road.
1 See also V.C.H. Surr. ii, 221.
8 Mr. Allen was instituted to the living
of Send, Oct. 1908.
9 Vachery was a member of Shiere
Manor (Chan. Inq. p.m. 25 Edw. I, 50 ;
Fine R. 27 Edw. I, m. i). Pollingfold
and Holdhurst were held of Gomshall
Towerhill ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2),
ccxlvii, 72 ; Ct. R. quoted by Manning
and Bray, op. cit. i, 539. Utworth was a
member of Bramley, and Redinghurst
broke off from Utworth ; Feet of F. Surr.
19 Hen. Ill, 16; Add. Chart. (B.M.),
17606.
10 Close, 29 Hen. III. m. 15.
" Chart. R. 56 Hen. Ill, m. 2.
11 Plac. Ji Quo Warr, (Rec. Com.), 742*
13 Chan. Inq. p.m. 25 Edw. I, no. 50.
14 See Mins. Accts. bdle. 1250, no. 4,
where under the heading Shere and
Vachery the accountant states that there
was no return from the 'said house' since
it was assigned as the lord's ' hospicium.'
15 Egerton MS. 2651, fol. 213.
14 Deeds penes Messrs. Whateley & Bar-
low, Godalming.
W Egerton MS. 2651, fol. 215.
y.C.H. Surr. i, 305*.
87
" Feet, of F. Surr. 26 Edw. I, 85.
*>Add. Chart. (B.M.), 7610, 5940,
7628 ; and Ct. R. of Gomshall Tower-
hill.
"i Anct. D. (P.R.O.), B. 3942.
M Ct. R. quoted by Manning and Bray,
op. cit. i, 539.
M Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Irxrv, 71.
94 Manning and Bray, op. cit. iii, $39.
Cf. Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 1 1 Eliz.
Ibid. Mich. 26 & 27 Eliz.
96 Misc. Bks. Exch. L.T.R. clxix, 211 ;
clxviii, 69.
*7 See below, Shere, for Sutton descent.
19 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccli, 105
Cf. Feet of F. Surr. East 4 Ja, I.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
On 10 September 1616 Elizabeth Onslow, widow,
and her son Thomas Onslow made a settlement of
' all and every the manors of Cranley alias Cranleigh,
Knowle, Holehurst, and Utworth in the parishes and
hamlets of Bramley, Shalford, Wonersh, Guildford,
Hascombe, and Cranley,' on the intended marriage of
Thomas with Mary daughter of Sir Samuel Lennard.
Thomas died the following December, perhaps before
the marriage could take place. Richard his brother
succeeded him. 89 This shows that Holdhurst in Cran-
leigh was united in the hands of the Onslows, and that
Sutton in Shere (q.v.) was not then considered part of
it. The manors are described as ' late of Sir Richard
Onslow, Thomas' grandfather,' who died in 1571.
Holdhurst continued in the Onslow family till
1818, when it was alienated to Thomas Puttock.'
In 1823 Mr. Walter Hanham bought it. About
1839 it came into the possession of Mr. John Brad-
shaw, 31 and in 1878 the present owner, Sir George
Francis Bonham, bart., H.M. representative at Berne,
bought it from Mr. Bradshaw's heir.
The early history of KNOWLE Manor (Knolle,
xiii to xviii cent.) is somewhat obscure." Robert,
William, and Henry at Knowle witnessed deeds at
Cranleigh in 1303 4.** Peter at Knowle granted a
house and lands in Shere to Bartholomew of Shere in
1308-9," and a few years afterwards Bartholomew re-
leased land in Shere to Henry at Knowle and his wife
Cassandra. 35 In 1336 Henry and Cassandra granted
Cravenhurst out in farm. 36 Walter at Knowle wit-
nessed deeds at Cranleigh in 1360, 1404, and 141 1.'* 7
In 1481-2 the trustees of Thomas Slyfield of
Great Bookham conveyed Knowle to Robert Hard-
ing, afterwards master of the Goldsmiths' Company.* 8
He bequeathed it to his nephew Thomas Harding. 3 '
Robert Harding left two crofts and a cottage towards
the maintenance of the aisle called Our Lady Aisle in
Cranleigh Church. 40 In 1 549 William Harding of
London, mercer, died seised of Knowle, which he had
bequeathed to his daughter Catherine," with whom
it went in marriage to Richard Onslow." The
manor henceforward remained in the Onslow family.
At one time they resided there," and Arthur Onslow,
the Speaker, took from it his title of Viscount Cranley,
since merged in the earldom of Onslow. It was for
sale with the rest of the Onslow estates in Cranleigh
in 1815, and passed ultimately with Holdhurst to Mr.
Hanham and Mr. Bradshaw and to Sir George F.
Bonham, bart.
REDINGHURST (Redinghers, xiii cent. ; Riding-
BYSSHE. Oracheveron
between three rotes gules.
hersh, xiv cent.). This manor was originally a member
of Utworth. A deed of the latter end of the 1 3th
century records the quitclaim to Robert of Reding-
hurst of the service which he owed to Thomas of
Utworth for Redinghurst, except one penny yearly.* 4
In 1331 John son of Robert of Redinghurst was
enfeoffed of his father's lands in Cranleigh. 45 His son
John was still living in September 1364," and seems
to have been succeeded by
Walter Redinghurst. *' In
1494 the manor was conveyed
by the trustees of John Red-
inghurst to John Bysshe of
Burstow, 48 whose grandson
William settled it on his son
John in I544- 49 John Bysshe
bequeathed it to his wife
Mary. 60 In 1635 it was the
property of Edward Bysshe."
His son, Sir Edward, Garter
and Clarencieux King of Arms,
was dealing with it in i654, 51 and later conveyed it
to John Hill. 53
William Chennell and his wife Mary conveyed it
to Henry Chennell in 1780." It passed soon after
to Mrs. Ayling, and from her to Henry Streater Gill,
who sold it to Mr. Evershed, owner in 1804."
UTWORTH Manor, which extends into Wonersh
and Dunsfold parishes, 56 was held of Bramley. In
1234 John de Fay, lord of Bramley, granted the
Abbess of Fontevraud 2 marks rent from Utworth
in exchange for an annuity due to her." Other rents
were due from the manor to Beatrice, mother of John
de Fay. 58 Roger de Clare confirmed the grant of a
rent from Walter of Utworth to the Abbess ofWher-
well towards the support of a chaplain in the chapel
of the Garden of St. Mary." Walter son of Elias of
Utworth laid claim to Chilworth Church in I224, 60
and was probably the Walter of Utworth who con-
veyed the manor to his son Thomas in return for a
life annuity in I247-8. 61 There is a late 13th-cen-
tury agreement between Edmund and Lawrence of
Utworth as to land in Bramley. 61 They seem to have
been succeeded by Thomas of Utworth, who witnessed
many charters at Cranleigh. 63 In 1394-5 Walter
Utworth witnessed a grant to John Redinghurst. 64
William Utworth was living in 1 462." In 1580 Wil-
liam Morgan, who is said to have been a descendant
of William Utworth's granddaughter Catherine, held
the manor, 66 which he settled on his son John, after-
Com. Pleas D. Enr. 14 Ja. I, m. 13.
Ct. R.
81 Brayley, Hist, of Surr. T, 172.
83 Manning and Bray (Hist, of Surr. i,
536) state that Robert at Knoll possessed
it temp. Edw. I, and that a settlement was
made on his son William in 131516.
88 Add. Chart. 5939, 7613.
" Feet of F. Surr. 2 Edw. II, 28.
85 Ibid. 7 Edw. II, 6.
86 Add. Chart. 17304.
8 " Ibid. 7631, 7616, 17337.
88 Close, 21 Edw. IV, m. 9 ; Manning
and Bray, op. cit. i, 537.
' Surr. Arch. Coll. vi, 38.
< Ibid. 41. He died Feb. 1503-4.
11 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixxxviii, 78.
Feet of F. Div. Co. Hil. 3 Eliz.
Hist. MSS. Com. Ref. xiv, App. pt.
ix, 476.
Add. Chart. 7606.
Ibid. 7610.
Close, 38 Edw. Ill, m. 7 d.
7 Add. Chart. 7603.
48 It was granted him by the trustees of
a certain John Redinghurst, deed. ; Add.
Chart. 7626, 7597, 7638, 7622 ; Man-
ning and Bray (op. cit. i, 540) state that
Joan, one of the daughters and co-heirs of
John Redinghurst, married John Bysshe.
Add. Chart. 7641.
40 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cxlviii, 23.
u Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 1 1 Chat. I.
" Ibid. Mich. 1654 ; Trin. 1655.
48 Ibid. East. 13 Chat. II.
44 Ibid. East 20 Geo. III.
46 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. i,
540.
46 Lease in 1821 of part of the waste of
Utworth manor near Dunsfold Church.
Feet of F. Surr. 19 Hen. Ill, 16.
Thomas of Utworth bought a release
88
from this rent in 1260-1 ; Feet of F.
Surr. 45 Hen. Ill, 24.
48 Ibid. 25 Hen. Ill, 20.
69 See Arlington ; Chartulary of Wher-
well Abbey; Egerton, MS. 2104, A. foL
1 05 b.
60 Maitland, Bracton't Note Bk. 928.
81 Feet of F. Surr. 3 2 Hen. Ill, 28 and 37.
s Ibid. 12 Edw. I, 17. This Edmund
was juror in a perambulation of Windsor
Forest in 1300. Select Pleas of the Forest
(Selden Soc., xiii}, 117.
88 Add. Chart. 7609, 7610, 7623, 7631.
4 Ibid. 7604.
85 Cal. Pat. 1461-7, p. 2OI.
88 According to fiiit. of Surr. (Harl. Soc.
xliii, 23), Catherine daughter of William
Utworth married John Gunter, and their
daughter Catherine married Henry Mor-
gan. They had a grandson William Mor-
gan.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
CRANLEIGH
wards Sir John Morgan. 67 He sold it m 1614 to Sir
Edward Onslow, 68 in whose family it remained till
1815, when it was sold to Mrs. Sarah Shurlock of
Bramley. She died before 1821, and her daughter
and heiress married Mr. Charles Hemming of Dorset-
shire. 69 Mr. Walter Hemming sold Utworth in 1889
to the late Sir Edward Carbutt. The house is now
inhabited by the bailiff of Lady Carbutt's estate at
Nanhurst.
RTE FARM, if we may conclude that it was the
tenement known as ' la Ree,' was released in 1 394
by John grandson of Walter at Ree to John Reding-
hurst/ In 1406-7 it was the dower of Tiffania
widow of John Redinghurst." It was conveyed to
Robert Harding with Knowle Manor."
NANHURST (Knauenhurst, xiv cent.), part of
Vachery, 7 * was rented by Edmund Constantin of
Robert Redinghurst in 1303." It belonged at one
time to Lord Onslow, but was for sale in 1778. It
gate of stone erected as a memorial in 1880. The
boundaries of the churchyard have been greatly ex-
tended within the last half-century, to meet the
growth in population.
The church is built of ironstone rubble and con-
glomerate, with a little Bargate rubble, and with
dressings of Bargate stone and clunch, the modern
portions being in the same stone with Bath stone
dressings. A good deal of the old walling is plastered
externally. The roofs are still in part covered with
Horsham slabs, and the quaint conical roof of the
tower, with a gablet at the apex from which rises the
weathercock, is shingled. The nave roof is old and
of oak, but the roofs of the aisles, transepts, vestry,
and chancel, are modern, and chiefly of stained deal,
those of the aisles being of wretched and flimsy con-
struction. The modern porch (1862) is of oak.
Few Surrey churches have suffered more barbarous ill-
treatment under the name of ' restoration ' than this.
PLAN OF CRANLEIGH CHURCH
was part of the estate of the late Sir Edward
Carbutt, bart. The tenement called Furshulle, or
Freeswell (xix cent.), also part of Vachery, granted to
Walter at How and William Clynon in I 303," was
settled by the latter on his son Henry, 76 while Henry
at How granted to Walter at How two crofts and a
messuage in Furshullshamme in 1337."
The church of ST. NICHOLAS stands
CHURCH picturesquely on rising ground, backed
by beautiful old trees. The well-kept
churchyard has an exceptionally fine cedar and other
trees, besides two yews, one near the chancel, of great
antiquity, and is approached through a modern lych-
Very few are built on such spacious lines. The
tower is unusually large, almost a square of 20 ft.
internally, with walls 3ft. 9 in. thick, and very mas-
sive buttresses ; the nave is slightly wider, and 36 ft.
in length ; the transepts are about 1 6 ft. in width
(they have been lengthened in modern times), and
the chancel is about 34 ft. long by 20 ft. wide. Its
axis inclines about 5 degrees to the north of east.
Both nave and chancel are exceptionally lofty, the
walls of the former being about 30 ft. in height.
The present timber south porch is modern a memo-
rial to Jacob Ellery and the vestry and organ-cham-
ber on the north side of the chancel are also modern,
Chan. Inq. p.m.(Scr. 2), cclxxxi, 85. Chart. 7631, in which William at Ree it
Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 1 1 Jas. I. itated to have land called Church land'
Dr^ila firrtft \AfUura \X7\\itf\n\r Xr T'ir_ in C"rtr, \m\nV,
69 Deeds ftnes Messrs. Whatelcy & Bar-
low, Godalming.
"Add. Chart. 7604; ee alio Add.
in Cranleigh.
7 1 Ibid. 7603.
7' Clote, 21 Edw. IV, m. 9.
8 9
7> Onslow Deeds.
1* Add. Chart. 7613.
' Ibid. 5939.
' Ibid. 5940.
" Ibid. 7602.
12
A HISTORY OF SURREY
by Butterfield, under whom the restoration of the
church, in 1845 and subsequently, was carried out.
The north and south transepts originally had lean-to
roofs, a continuation of those over the aisles, and only
projected about 5 ft. beyond the aisles. The northern
was known as the Vachery Chapel, the southern as
the Knowle or Knoll Chapel. There seems to have
been another chapel in the south aisle and probably
in the north aisle also.
There is evidence of the existence of a church here
in 1244, and the short nave preserves the dimensions
of an early aisleless nave, which no doubt had a short
chancel occupying the area of the central part of the
crossing. This would give an internal dimension of
about 36ft. in length by 20 ft. in width, and these
sizes and proportions ' coincide with those of the
original church of Alfold. As early as the last
quarter of the 1 2th century, this church of Cranleigh
must have needed additional space. Aisles were
therefore thrown out on both sides in about 1 1 70, of
which the round columns and responds, or half-piers,
remain with characteristic mouldings and angle-spurs
to their bases, all executed in clunch. Also there has
been built into the pier of the arch from the north
aisle to the transept one of the peculiar cat's-head
corbels which were a common feature in the period.
It was a bold idea of the 1 2th-century architect to
divide the nave space into two arches, with a central
column and such short responds ; probably he was
led to it by the necessity of economizing the scarce
building materials at his disposal. But anyway, the
result seems to have been that the arches and capitals
of the arcades were crushed by the weight of wall
above them, being provided also with insufficient
abutment, so that before a century and a half had
expired it was found necessary when widening the
first aisles to renew the capitals of the columns and
responds, and to put new arches upon them. The
capitals are of an octagonal form, moulded in accor-
dance with their date, c. 1325. The first aisles were
probably not much more than 7 ft. wide. In about
1200-10 chapels were thrown out on either side of
the new chancel, the arches of which remain. In
the subsequent widening of the aisles, the arches lead-
ing from them into the transepts were rebuilt. That
in the south aisle has a corbel closely resembling one
in Albury Old Church, of about the same date.
The main arch of the north transept is of two
orders with moulded imposts, of a section common in
the south of Sussex ; that to the south transept has
shafts of trefoil section under a capital with a circular
abacus. These are in chalk, and are exactly like the
shafts to an arch in the north transept at Godalming.
The wide and plain south doorway, approached
through a modern porch, and the windows and
buttresses of this aisle are all of about 1 300, though
so much re-tooled that they might be taken for modern
work. The two windows in the opposite wall, made
in clunch, are good examples of the plain square-
headed openings found in the aisles of this period.
They are of two lights, those in the eastern window
being much wider than those in the western, with
ogee trefoiled heads to the lights and cusping in the
spaces over. Internally they have oak lintels. The
three-light window in the west end of the north aisle
is modern, and a copy of that in the corresponding
position in the south aisle, the heads being filled with
reticulated tracery.
A puzzling feature is the pair of piers, now carrying
nothing but image niches of doubtful antiquity with
modern statues, at the east end of what was the
original nave. There can be little doubt that they
were built as chancel-arch piers in about 1300, on the
site of the original but much narrower chancel arch,
and that when the work had got so far, the present
extended chancel was decided upon and the piers left
as built. The capitals are of the same section as those
put upon the older nave piers. The present chancel
arch and the chancel must have been built immediately
after, and may be dated at about 1300 by the fine
triple sedilia in the south wall. These have moulded
arches with a trefoiled inner order like those at Duns-
fold, but the shafts, with their capitals and bases, are
modern. The existing east window is modern, having
been refashioned on a larger scale by Butterfield, who
designed the elaborate reredos and tabernacle work ;
the side windows are modern and very bad, dating
from 1845 or before. The piscina and all other
features in the chancel are modern or modernized.
The western tower has been practically left un-
touched by the mischievous ' restorations ' that have
so greatly injured the rest of the church. It dates
from about 1300, but the two windows in the ground
story would appear to be insertions of slightly later
date, the west window exhibiting flowing tracery of
about 1 340, in clunch, bearing such a strong re-
semblance to that of the east window in Witley
Church, that they must have been executed by the
same masons. Both are of three lights, with a cinque-
foil figure of flowing tracery in the head, the tracery-
plane at Cranleigh, and in the window of the south
wall also, being recessed by a hood and outer arch, as
well as by a deep hollow, which gives a rich effect of
shadow. The windows of the upper stories are short
lancets, single in the intermediate stage and coupled
in the bell-chamber. The original floor, of massive
timbers, remains above the ground story. The tower
arch, in clunch, has recessed chamfered orders with a
scroll-moulding for the hood. The west doorway,
which has continuous mouldings, a chamfer and a
wave moulding, with a scroll section for the hood,
retains its original oak door, hinges, and closing-ring.
The newel-stair is contained in an enormous buttress-
like projection, of curiously irregular plan, at the
north-west angle.
The modern work of 1845 and 1862 is inharmo-
nious in character, and the extension of the transepts,
with high-pitched compass roofs and coped gables, has
quite altered the original aspect of this part of the
church and confused its architectural history.
Of the roofs, that of the nave only is old, probably
dating from about 1 300. It is quite plain in character,
and the present skimpy tie-beams are modern. The
chancel roof is a pretentious hammer-beam construc-
tion in stained deal, and the aisle roofs are of the
meanest description. One of the parclose screens
remains, now spanning the archway of the Knowle
Chapel, but formerly in the main arch of the south
transept. It is heavily-built, and, of course, of late
design, having fourteen openings with ogee-cinque-
foiled heads, and dates from the middle of the ijth
century. The pulpit, at the 1 845 restoration, was
made out of the rich traceried panels, cornice, and
pinnacles of another ancient screen dating from about
the same period. On the chancel arch are the marks
of the rood screen, but no trace of the stair-turret, if
90
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
CRANLEIGH
any ever existed, remains. A plain old lectern, after
a period of banishment to the belfry, has now dis-
appeared altogether.
The church, in 1 845, was found to have been exten-
sively decorated with wall paintings, which were un-
happily swept away to give place to raw modern plaster.
These occurred over the chancel arch and in the
spandrels of the nave arcades, but no records have
been preserved as to the dates and subjects.
Until the beginning of the igth century there was
an exceptional quantity of ancient stained glass of very
fine design remaining. A Jesse-tree was almost com-
plete in the window of the Knowle Chapel in 1798,
but within a few years some fragments only were left,
including, in the centre, a headless seated figure hold-
ing a rose, a Crucifixion in the upper part, and, in
Lombardic lettering, the names Josaphat, Ashur,
Salomon, Ezechial, and Joathan. In 1841 scarcely
anything of this remained, and some fragments had
probably been removed by Lord Onslow to West
Clandon Church, but, if so, they no longer exist
there. When Manning and Bray published their
History of Surrey in 180814 there also remained in
the Vachery Chapel on the north side effigies of our
Lord and the Blessed Virgin seated, and two angels
censing. 78 The figure of the Blessed Virgin has dis-
appeared, but those of our Lord and the two angels,
together with some good pattern-work, have been
worked up into the reticulated tracery of the modern
east window of the chancel. Our Lord, seated on
the throne in a green tunic and yellow mantle, has
the right hand raised in benediction, while with the
left He holds the cross and orb. The background is
ruby, with a white border. Some of the pattern-work
in the other quatrefoil figures of this window, con-
sisting of crosses with fleur-de-lys ends, in white on
red and gold on red, is also ancient, the date of the
whole being c. 1340.
The font, standing to the west of the first pillar in
the north nave arcade, is of doubtful antiquity ; if
not new, severe re-tooling has robbed it of all appear-
ance of age. The bowl is octagonal and quite plain,
standing upon a large central drum and eight small
shafts without capitals, having a cable-moulding twined
in and out round them, for a base.
Outside, beneath the east window, is an early 14th-
century coffin-lid, with a cross within a circle on a
long stem carved in low relief. Manning and Bray
and Brayley mention a slab in the nave floor, with the
legend in Gothic capitals :
WALTER KNOLL CIST YCY
BIT MERCI
DIEV DE S ALME
Also a brass plate, formerly existing in the chancel,
to William Sydney, esq., who died 8 October 1449.
Both these seem to have disappeared early in the
i gth century.
Within the chancel rails on the south side is a brass
half-figure of a priest " in mass vestments, with scrolls
proceeding from his mouth, bearing the words :
ESTO MIHl PECCATORI : SANA ANIMX MEA QUIA
PECCAVI T1BI
Up to the restoration of 1845 a good specimen of
the combined altar-tomb and Easter sepulchre, in
Sussex marble, remained against the north wall of the
chancel. Most improperly, it was then demolished,
and the brasses upon and over it were permitted to
disappear. It bore the effigies of a man and woman
with a child between them, all kneeling, each having
inscriptions issuing from the mouth, the man's having
the words : ' Have m'cy Jhesu in honour of thy
gloriovs resvrreccion ' ; the woman's : ' And grant vs
the merite of thy bytter Passion ' ; and the child's :
' Accipe parentes, et infantem, bone Xpe.'
Fortunately a facsimile of the plate on the wall
behind is preserved in an engraving, probably of the
size of the original, in Hussey's Churches of Kent,
Sussex, and Surrey. This, as is often the case in Easter
sepulchres, was a representation of the Resurrection of
our Lord, Who is stepping out of the tomb bearing
the cross and pennon and displaying the bleeding
wounds, while guarding the tomb are four soldiers.
Detached from the tomb, on the other side of the
chancel, was a shield bearing a merchant's mark and
the initials R. H. ; and on the tomb itself, beneath
the figures, was the imperfect inscription, which when
complete read : ' Of your Charite pray for the soulys
of Robert Hardyng late Alderman & Goldsmith of
London and Agas his Wyffe whos body here lyeth
beryed, And departyd this present lyfe the XVIII
day of Febrvar y in the yere of ovre Lord God
MCCCCC and III for whos Sowlys and all xpen we
pray you say Paternoster and Ave.' Above the man's
figure were the arms of Harding, which were : Argent
a bend sable with three martlets or thereon.
Among the stones cast out of the church in 1845
were three inscribed :
' 1664. May 1 9 th Sir Richard Onslow, Bart.,
aged 6 3.'
' 1679. Aug' 27"" Dame Elizabeth Onslow hii
widow, aged 78."
' 1688. July 21 st Sir Arthur Onslow, Bart., aged
67.'
On the outside of the south wall of the south aisle
is a tablet of Sussex marble, very weather-worn,
bearing the date 1630. A few others of no great age
or importance have been re-fixed on the aisle side of
the north arcade.
The bells are six in number, the oldest with the
inscription : PRAIS GOD 1599 AW, and a coin. Two
others have : 1638 BRYAN ELDRIDGE ; another is by
Bryan Eldridge, 1 660 ; the treble by William Eldridge,
1709 ; and the third, re-cast in 1862, used to have
the inscription : OUR HOPE is IN THE LORD R.E. 1605.
With the exception of a silver paten of 1789 the
church plate is modern and uninteresting.
The registers commence in 1566 and have been
somewhat irregularly kept. As might be expected,
they contain numerous entries relating to the Onslow
family.
The modern chapel of ease of St. Andrew, on the
Common, was dedicated in 1900.
The origins of Cranleigh as a
ADVQWSQN parish are unknown. In Domesday
it is not recognized. It belonged to
the extensive manors of Shiere and Gomshall, and
when Shiere was divided in 1 299, the greater part of it
was included in the manor called Shiere Vachery or
" Manning and Bray, op.cit. i, 540. The
late Major Heales, F.S.A., in his paper on
this church in Surr. Arch. Coll. vi, 30, in
recording the general disappearance of the
old glass, omits to note that parts of these
Vachery Chapel fragments still survive.
9'
W Perhaps commemorating Richard
Caryngton, rector, who died in 1507.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
Shiere cum Vachery and Cranleigh. It is recognized as
a parish in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas, 1191. The
advowson of the rectory was granted in 1244 by
Roger de Clare, lord of Shiere, to John Fitz Geof-
frey. 80 Robert Montalt, who had married Emma,
widow of Richard son of John, presented to the
church after the latter's death. 81 Two of the co-
heirs of Richard son of John, viz. Matilda Beau-
champ and Robert Clifford, had possession of the
advowson. The successive representatives of their
families presented to the church s * in alternation till the
attainders of John, Lord Clifford, 1461, and Richard
Earl of Warwick, 1471, after which the advowson
was escheat to the Crown. 8 * Henry VIII granted it
to Sir Edward Bray, 84 who sold it to Walter Cresswell, 85
to whose son William it descended. 86 At his death
one-third descended to his granddaughter Elizabeth,
the other two-thirds to his son Christopher, 87 who
ultimately inherited his niece's portion. 88 He sold
it to Michael Pyke in i64O. 89 From this time it
frequently changed hands. In 1691 Ralph Drake
and his wife Mary and Anne Glyd conveyed it to
Henry Cheynell. 90 The Rev. James Fielding in-
herited it at his father's death late in the i8th
century." In 1806 the Rev.
John Wolfe was patron." It
is now in the gift of Sir W.
Peek, bart. The chapel at
La Vacherie, to which chap-
lains were appointed in 1302
and subsequently, 95 was only
the north transept of the
parish church of St. Nicholas,
dedicated in honour of the
Trinity.
There was an anniversary
in Cranleigh Church main-
tained from lands in the parish.
Edward VI granted these to Henry Foisted. 94
Cranleigh Cottage Hospital, found-
CH4RITIES ed in 1859, is said to have been the
first of the kind set up in England.
It is partly self-supporting, patients paying on a varied
scale according to position, and partly supported
by subscriptions.
Smith's Charity is distributed in Cranleigh, as in
other Surrey parishes, to the value of 23 i8/. 8d.,
charged on the Warbleton Estate, Sussex.
PICK, Baronet. A-
zure a star argent <vjuh
three crescfntt argent in
the chief.
DUNSFOLD
Duntesfaud and Dunterfeld (xiii cent.) ; Dunttes-
fold (xiv cent.).
Dunsfold is a small parish bounded on the west by
Chiddingfold and Godalming, on the north by
Hascombe and Bramley, on the east by Hascombe
and Alfold, on the south by the county of Sussex.
It contains 4,028 acres of land and 1 1 of water.
The parish is roughly a parallelogram of 3 miles
from north to south and 2 miles from east to west.
An outlying portion to the north, between the
parishes of Bramley and Wonersh, is now the eccle-
siastical parish of Graffham, and is included in the
civil parish of Bramley, to which it was transferred
with Brookwell in 1884; at the same time High
Billinghurst was transferred from Bramley to Duns-
fold. The parishes hereabouts were formerly very
much intermixed, portions of various manors being
included parochially in the parish where the caput
manerli lay. Dunsfold, not named in Domesday, was
probably in 1086 uninhabited woodland belong-
ing to the manor of Bramley. It is mentioned
in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas, 1291, but is not
separately assessed in the early Subsidy Rolls of
Edward III. 1
Dunsfold is still one of the most completely rural
and sequestered parishes of the county. The northern
part of the consolidated parish just touches the Ather-
field Clay at the foot of the escarpment of the Green-
sand hills, but the main part of it is on the Wealden
Clay. There is a patch of sand and gravel on
Dunsfold Common. The parish is still thickly
wooded, and the oak trees are very numerous.
There were iron forges, or furnaces, in the 1 6th
century in the parish. Thomas Gratwyck and
Richard March owned three in Dunsfold, and
Thomas Clyde one at Durfold, which is in the
parish. 1
In 1653 the Dunsfold forges were still at work,'
and as late as 1758 in a list of militia William
Gardiner, ' furnaceman ' of Dunsfold appears. 4 Burn-
ingfold 5 Wood and Furnace Bridge preserve the
names of places of charcoal-burning and iron-founding.
Norden's Surveyor says that the woods at Burningfold
were destroyed by the ironworks; but in the i8th
century charcoal was being made for the government
gunpowder mills just over the Sussex border close to
Burningfold, and the woods exist still. Bricks and
tiles are now made in the parish. The disused Wey
and Arun Canal skirts the eastern side of the parish.
Dunsfold village consists chiefly of small houses
and cottages scattered round a very large green. The
cottages are highly picturesque and a feature is the
number of well-designed chimneys. One of these
cottages has an unglazed window with wooden
stanchions and shutter, such as were the rule in
houses before glass came into general use. Mr
80 Feet of F. Div. Co. 28 Hen. Ill,
199.
81 Egerton MS. 2032, fol. II, 50.
81 Egerton MS. 2032, fol. II ; 2034,
fol. 38 ; Wykcham'i Reg. (Hantt Rec.
Soc.), i, 76, 1 06, 117, 124; De Banco
R. 74.9, m. 339.
88 Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Edw. IV, 52.
84 L. and P. Hen. fill, xiv (2), 780
(33)-
85 Feet of F. Surr. Mil. 22 Eliz.
88 Ibid. Trin. 2 Jaa. I.
87 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccrcvii, 93.
88 Ibid, ccccxxxvi, 20 ; William Holt
presented to the living in 1632. See
Int. Bk. (P.R.O.).
89 Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 16 Chan. I.
90 Ibid. Trin. 3 Will, and Mary.
91 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. i,
546.
w Brayley, Hiit. of Surr. v, 173.
98 Winton Epi. Reg. Beaufort, foL 550.
94 Pat. 2 Edw. VI, pt. i, m. 14.
1 y.CJi. Surr. i, 441.
92
* S.P. Dom. Eliz. xcv, 20, 61 ; xcvi,
199. See Loseley MSS. Letter of 31 Oct.
1588.
* V.CJI. Surr. ii, 273.
* List of militia of the three south-
west hundreds of Surrey, at Loseley.
* Burningfold however may be a name
connected with a kindred, the Burning!,
like Burningham in Norfolk. There was a
Burningfold in Haslemere (rentals of 1517
and 1653), a small tenement, perhaps
Buringfold's originally,
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
DUNSFOLD
Ralph Nevill Sa notes the common occurrence of
slabs of Sussex or Petworth marble for steps and
paving-stones, and occasionally in mantel-pieces, in
these cottages and houses a fact due to its having
been dug in the neighbourhood of the church until
within the memory of persons now living.*
At Burningfold is a fine old house of timber
framework. The two gables of the front are covered
with tile-hanging, but in the central space on ground
and first floors the original construction is exposed
and exhibits some square and circle patterns in the
framing, bearing considerable resemblance to the
work at Great Tangley. There are some good
mullioned windows with lead glazing, and the in-
terior retains a little oak panelling.
The Baptist chapel was erected in 1883, and the
elementary school in 1839.
BURNINGFOLD Manor seems origi-
M4NORS nally to have been a member of Bramley. 7
There is record of Stephen ' de Brun-
feld ' in a suit against the Abbot of Westminster in
1199.* In 1233-4 J nn de Fay, lord of Bramley,
sued Richard of Burningfold for customary service in
Bramley. 9 In 1229 John de Fay gave to Roger de
Bydon land in the woods of Burningfold and Wither-
fold; 10 and in 1235-6 Roger granted the land to
Sandon Hospital to be held of him." The Witherfold
lands reverted to the Crown and were granted to
Ralph Camoys of Wotton."
Richard of Burningfold and his wife Isabel were
dealing with land in Dunsfold in 1 2712," and he was
one of the tenants who in 1280 paid rent due from
Bramley Manor to the Prior of Carisbrook in accor-
dance with a grant of Ralph de Fay. 14 In 1386-7
Robert Adam and his wife Elizabeth sold to Robert
March certain lands in Dunsfold with the reversion of
one-third of a quarter of a house which Joan widow
of John of Burningfold was holding in dower." Two
centuries later Burningfold was in the possession of
William March and of John his son, 16 and in 1569 of
John's son Richard March, 17 who was succeeded in 1 584
by his son William. 18 In 1 604 William March sold the
manor, all manorial rights, and the ironworks there 18a to
George Buncombe for J 886. 18b But John Middleton,
Richard Wyatt of Hall Place, Shackleford, and Thomas
Burdett, also had claims on the estate, 19 and Dun-
combe sold his rights to the other three in i6o8. !0
GORING, Baronet. Ar-
gent a cheveron between
three rings gules.
Middleton seems to have purchased those of Burdett,
for in 1619 Henry Wyatt inherited one-third of the
manor at his father's death, 11 John Middleton con-
veyed two-thirds to Arthur Middleton in 1622,** and
finally Henry Wyatt sold his rights in the manor to
Arthur Middleton, 1 * whose two youngest sons succeeded
to the manor." They sold it
in 1657 to Henry, afterwards
Sir Henry Goring, bart., whose
direct descendant, Sir Harry
Goring of Horsham, conveyed
the manor to John Tanner in
1722.** He died in 1751,
and his executors sold it
about 1756 to Viscount Mon-
tagu (who died in 1767),**
and Manning and Bray incor-
rectly state that his son Anthony
Joseph sold it by auction to
Edmund Woods ini768;' 7 but
Montagu mortgaged the estate to Robert and Henry
Drummond, 28 of Drummond's Bank, in 1781, and his
son sold it to Edmund Woods jun. in ijgo. 13
Mr. Woods died in 1833,* his daughter Katherine
succeeded. She was succeeded by her sister Charlotte
Woods, who built and endowed the school on the
Green in 1850."
It now belongs to Mr. Samuel Barrow.
FIELD PLACE, a farm in the south of the parish,
is a reputed manor." In the I Jth century it was
the property of William Cranky and his wife Mar-
garet. 3 * It descended to their son William and from
him to his son Henry." Henry Cranley leased
the manor to his younger son John for forty years
after his own death with remainder to his eldest son
Emery." From him it descended in moieties to his
daughters, Alice wife of Peter Quenell, 36 and Jane wife
of George Stoughton.* 7 The whole manor descended
to Peter Quenell, son of Alice and Peter. 38 He sold
it to William Yalden in 1651." In 1677 William
Yalden and Mary Yalden, widow, conveyed the
manor to William Sadler. 40 In 1808 it was the
property of William, nephew of Thomas Sadler, 41
and in 1850 of James Sadler of Chiddingfold."
Land in Chiddingfold, of this manor, was held by
Giles Covert, who died in 1556, holding of the Dean
and Chapter of Windsor. 43
* Old Cottage and Domestic Architecture
in SoutA-tvfst Surr. (znd ed.), 87.
8 Large Paludina marble, Topley, Geol.
of the Weald, 105.
' In 1583-4, however, Richard March
is said to have held it of Viscount Mon-
tagu as of his manor of Shalford Bradestan;
Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cciv, 97.
8 Rot. Cur. Regis (Rec. Com), ii, 60.
8 Close, 18 Hen. Ill, m. 17 d.
10 Chart, quoted by Manning and Bray,
ii, 60.
11 Feet of F. SUIT. 19 Hen. Ill, 177.
11 Cal. Pat. 1317-11, p. 565.
18 Feet of F. Surr. 56 Hen. Ill, 27.
14 Exch. K..R. Transcripts of Charters,
bdle. 2.
15 Feet of F. Surr. 10 Ric. II, 9. The
lands were the right of Elizabeth, who
was evidently an heiress of John of Burn-
ingfold ; see also ibid. 2 Hen. IV, 4,
which seems to refer to the same lands.
Surv. of Bramley, Edw. VI.
" Feet of F. Surr. Mil. II Eliz.
18 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. z), cciv, 97.
'"a See V.C.H. Surr. ii, 173.
18b Close, 2 Jas. I, pt. xx.
19 Ibid. 6 Jas. I, pt. ii, no. 29.
*> Ibid. ; Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 5 Jas. I.
81 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccclixx, 132.
Wyatt left by his will, 12 Mar. 1618,
one-third of his share to his third son
Francis, who died 1634, and does not refer
to this property in his will. Henry
borrowing money on the land refers to it
as his by right of descent, and his mother's
will in 1632, printed in Surr. Arch. Coll.
iii, speaks of his having acquired an estate
from his brothers and sisters against the
intention of his father.
M Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 20 Jas. I.
88 Ibid. Trin. 14 Chas. I. Arthur Mid-
dleton is said to have died just afterwards
seised of two-thirds of the manor only.
The title to the Wyatt third was probably
in doubt.
* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccclxxxvi,
124.
Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 8 Ceo. I.
** Haslemere Registers ; Private Deeds.
93
27 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii,
61.
89 Com. Pleas D. Enr. Trin. 30 Ceo.
Ill, m. 257.
ai> Ibid, and see Land Tax Assessments.
80 Private information.
81 Brayley, Tofog. Hist, of Surr. v, 125.
88 In 1 347 Richard de Feld was an
agent in a conveyance of land in Dunsfold;
Feet of F. Surr. 21 Edw. Ill, 3.
88 Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 48, no. 8.
84 Feet of F. Div. Co. Mich. 37 Hen.
VIII.
85 Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 48, no. 8.
84 Visit, of Surr. (Harl. Soc.), pp. 162
and 86.
1 Feet of F. Div. Co. HiL 5 Jas. 1 1
Ibid. East. 6 Jas. I.
88 Feet, of F.Surr. East i6jo.
"Ibid. Mich. 1651.
> Ibid. HiL 28 & 29 Chas. II.
41 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. IT,
60.
41 Brayley, Tofog.Hist.ofSurr.v, 125.
48 Harl. MS. 756, foL 309.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
vv
Field Place, a small manor-house, shows a most
delightful collection of roofs of all sorts of pitches and
dispositions, and two good chimneys, one of which
has crow-steps to the breast below. Part of the house
is built of brick and stone.
GRAFFHAM GRANGE was an old house held by
the abbey of Waverley of Roger de Clare, c. 1238, and
inhabited by a family who took their name from it.
About that year Walter Giffard, Abbot of Waverley,
(1236-51), granted all the rights of the abbey in
Graffham to Walter de Graff ham for a rent of 1 6s. a
year, still paid to Markwick, a former possession of the
abbey, in 1808."
Elias of Graffham owned a mill in Shalford in the
13th century. 45 About 1325 Eleanor widow of
John of Graffham signed a bond at Graffham. 46 In
I 367 John of Graffham resigned Graffham to his son
Hugh. 47 Thomas of Graffham, lojuly 1445, granted
all his land in Dunsfold and elsewhere to John Provys
and Thomas George. 45 John Elliot died seised of a
messuage called ' Graffam ' in 1 640." It passed from
the Elliots to the Mellersh family, from whom
Mr. Richard Eager bought it in 1803. He sold it to
Mr. James Stedman of Guild-
ford in 1832. Mr. J. C.
McAndrew was the late owner,
and it now belongs to Mr. F. A.
Shepherd.
HIGH LOXLET, a farm
near Park Hatch, in Has-
combe, was in the possession
of the Hull family in the 1 6th
and I 7th centuries." Thomas
Hull conveyed it to John
Machell, who sold it in 1682
to John Child ; " his grand-
son Charles Child is said to
have succeeded to it and to
have left it to his niece Martha
Searle (see Tangley, in Wo-
nersh). It was purchased in 1770 by Peter Flutter,
whose daughter carried it in marriage to John
Martyr."
SMITHBROOK Manor was a possession of the
Knights of St. John, 53 and was an appurtenance of
their preceptory of Poling, co. Sussex. 54 Queen
Elizabeth granted the manor to Edward Wymarke, 65
who appears to have sold it to George Austen of
Shalford. 56 George Austen died seised of it in 1621 . w
From that time it descended with the rectory manor
of Shalford (q.v.).
The church of ST. MART AND
CHURCHES ALL S4INTS stands remote from
the village on a hillock well elevated
above the surrounding country. To the east of the
church is the rectory-house, a picturesque gabled and
tile-hung structure, probably dating from the 1 5th
century.
The churchyard, approached from the east, is large,
HULL. Urgent a clie-
veron azure bctiveen three
demi - lions passant gules
with three beeants on the
cheveron and a chief ta-
ble -with nvo files argent
therein.
and has been extended down the slope of the hill to
the south during recent years. Besides other trees it
contains two yews, one of which, with a hollow trunk,
close by the south porch, is probably one of the most
ancient trees in the county.
The walls are constructed of Bargate stone rubble,
of a bright yellow colour in places, with dressings of
the same stone, and the mortar joints of the walling
are galleted with chips of ironstone in parts ; but this,
although an ancient local fashion, may only date from
recent restorations, when large parts of the walls were
re-faced or re-pointed and some rebuilt. In Crack-
low's view they appear as plastered externally. A
border of Horsham slabs, with which the entire
church was roofed originally, remains on the nave and
north transept roofs, but they have mostly been re-
placed by tiles. The timber bell-turret, at the west
end, and its square spire, are covered with oak
shingles.
Its cruciform plan follows a favourite local type,
Cranley, Ewhurst, Witley,Godalming,and St. Martha's
chapel being neighbouring examples of cross churches.
But in these cases the plan seems to have grown to the
cruciform shape, whereas here it would appear to have
been designed from the first. The nave is 47 ft. long
by 20 ft. 9 in., the chancel (the axis of which inclines
to the north) 3 1 ft. 6 in. by 1 6 ft. 3 in., and the
transepts, which vary in width between 1 2 ft. 2 in.
and 12 ft. 10 in., have the shallow projection of 8 ft.
internally. There is a spacious porch on the south
of the nave coeval with the church ; and on the north
of the chancel vestries and an organ-chamber have
been built in modern times. There are original
buttresses, two at each angle, except on the east side of
the transepts. The west respond of the south transept
arch is an entire octagonal column, the obvious
assumption being that the intention of the builders
abandoned during the progress of the work was to
build an aisle on this side instead of a transept. The
timber turret at the west end is carried on four huge
oak baulks with arched braces, and is probably a
1 5th-century addition.
The date of the entire church is between 1270
and 1290, and it is remarkable for being practically
all in the one style. If there were an earlier building
the place itself is not named in Domesday no
trace of it remains in the stonework. About 1304
the advowson, which was (as it now is) in the hands
of the Crown, was given by Edward I to the hospital
of St. Mary at Spital without Bishopsgate, and to this
circumstance is doubtless due the erection of the
church, and the exceptional beauty and regularity of
the work. 58
The chancel is of two bays, each with a two-light
window, in which the lights have trefoiled cusping
with a circle over containing a pointed trefoil ; the
whole within a pointed inclosing arch, and worked
with mouldings on three planes, some parts being
exceptionally delicate and rich for country work. This
** Deeds formerly in possession of Mr.
Mellersh of Godalming, quoted by Man-
ning and Bray, op. cit. ii, $9. Possibly the
rent was included in the advowsons, &c. in
Dunsfold belonging to the abbey at the
Dissolution. The advowson did not be-
long to it.
Feet of F. Surr. 32 Hen. Ill, 53.
4 * Deeds quoted by Manning and Bray,
op. cit. ii, $9.
4 ' Ibid. Ibid.
49 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. 2), mcci, 147.
* Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 20 Jas. I ;
Com. Pleas D. Enr. Mich. 23 Chas. I.
61 Recov. R. Trin. 14 Chas. II, m. 137;
R. of West Bramley quoted by Manning
and Bray.
M According to Manning and Bray,
Hist, of Surr. ii, 60.
M Cott. MS. Claud. E. 6, fol. 143.
94
" Ibid. fol. 281.
65 Pat. 30 Eliz. pt. vii, m. I.
w See Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 59.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxcvii, 90.
68 There are points of resemblance be-
tween this work and that in Trotton
Church, Sussex, and in the transepts of
North Stoke Church in the same county,
both somewhat elaborate work of about
the same date.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
DUNSFOLD
design is repeated in the two remaining windows in
the side walls of the nave (there were two others in the
western bay, filled up when the timber tower was
built), and in the opposite walls of the transepts, the
only variation in the design being that the two western
windows of the chancel were prolonged downwards,
after the manner of a certain class of low side win-
dows. The east window of each transept is of a
different design, smaller and plainer, consisting of two
trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil over, the whole
worked on one plane, with chamfers instead of
mouldings, and without an inclosing arch. The east
window of the chancel is large and of three trefoiled
lights, with three cinquefoiled circles above within a
moulded inclosing arch, but without a hood. There
is a quatrefoil panel in the apex of the gable, originally
an opening pierced for ventilation, but reproduced in
this meaningless form at the 1882 restoration, when
its place. The rafters and boarding of the roof still
retain scroll patterns painted c. 1280.
Besides the priest's door in the south wall of the
chancel, there is a small doorway in the north wall of
the north transept and the usual south door in the
nave, all having engaged shafts with capitals and bases,
delicate hollow stop-chamfers to the jambs, and
moulded arches and labels. The nave doorway retains
its original oak door, with coeval wrought-iron hinges,
strap-work, closing ring, scutcheon, and a large solid
oak lock-case. This doorway has a pointed segmental
head on the inside, moulded and having a moulded
hood which is made to die into the string-course of
plain circular section which runs almost entirely round
the church on the inside.
The chancel and transept arches are doubly hollow
chamfered, and the former has no capitals. Those of
the transept arches are boldly moulded, of differing
DUNSKOLD CHURCH FROM THE SOUTH-EAST
also the east window was raised in the wall and a
transom with blank panels inserted beneath it a very
unwarrantable tampering with the fine design. The
west window of the nave has interlacing tracery in
three lights, the centre cinquefoiled and the others
trefoiled, with pointed trefoils and quatrefoils in the
spaces above. This window has a hood-mould the
only one used externally and its mouldings and
character are so far different from the others as to
suggest that it is an insertion of slightly later date
(c. 1300).
The south porch is remarkable for its excep-
tional antiquity, the main timbers, including the
trefoiled bargeboard (which has a curious ' halved '
joint at the apex) being coeval with the church.
Early in the i6th century, however, the original
doorway was removed and the present one, with four-
centred head and Tudor roses in the spandrels, put in
sections, corresponding to those in the door-shafts.
The chancel arch was, most reprehensibly, heightened
and widened, a hood-moulding being added in the
restoration of 1882, and in this way a squint and
image-niche on the northern side of the arch were
displaced. Both transepts retain their piscinae, that
in the south transept having grooves for the oak shelf.
The northern one is in the north wall, i.e. on the
gospel side of the altar, a somewhat unusual position.
Part of what may have been a piscina belonging to
one of the nave altars is preserved in the vestry. The
triple sedilia and piscina in the chancel are a most
beautiful composition, the four arches having undercut
hood-mouldings dying into the circular string-course
over them. The arches have a wave-moulding as the
outer order, as in the windows and doors, and a
hollow for the inner, which is worked into a light and
graceful trefoil. The mouldings of the capitals and
95
A HISTORY OF SURREY
bases of the sedilia are also peculiarly good, and the
two centre ones are of Sussex marble, together with
their shafts. The seat levels are stepped up, and the
piscina has a credence shelf and an elegantly moulded
bowl with two circular basins. 69
Ancient roofs, no doubt coeval with the walls,
remain in the nave and transepts, but that of the
chancel is of modern deal. Perhaps the most inter-
esting feature in the church is the 1 3th-century
seating in the nave, in an almost perfect state. The
design of the standards, which is nearly alike in the
dozen or so ancient benches, is quaint resembling a
pair of cows'-horns with balls on the tips ; and round
the edges is worked a hollow chamfer. These benches
had a narrow plank for seat lately widened and a
thick rail to rest the back against, the space between
it and the seat being filled with a thin plank. They
stood upon a continuous oak plate or curb, which has
lately been done away with, and a separate block put
under each standard. 60 In the vestry is preserved part
of the very graceful fleur-de-lys termination of the
quire stalls of the same date the only fragment
PLAN OF DUNSFOLD CHURCH
remaining. It resembles others of like pattern at
Merrow, Effingham, and Great Bookham in this
county. An Elizabethan or Jacobean altar-table is
also preserved in the vestry.
The walls of the church appear to have been
painted at about the time of the completion of the
work with a series of very small subjects, of which
copies made at the time they were discovered have
been framed and hung up in the nave. They seem
to have been executed chiefly in red outline, and on
round the whole of the nave under the string-
course.' 61 On the east wall of the nave and transepts
the remains of a hunting-scene, with a hare and stag,
suggested the mediaeval allegory of The Three Dead
and the Three Living of which subject there is a
painting in existence at Charlwood Church, Surrey. 61
St. Christopher and St. George appear to have been
painted on the north wall of the nave, probably in the
1 5th century, and an undecipherable painting of this
later period still remains within the space occupied by
the timber tower, on the south wall of the nave.
Some grisail'e quarries, coeval with the windows,
still remain in the chancel, and the bordering of the
modern glass in the east window is copied from the
old. The font with small circular bowl in Sussex
marble is of uncertain date, but probably late 13th-
century, although some authorities have placed it as
late as the latter part of the lyth century. The only
mediaeval monument now visible is a stone slab dug
up in the nave and now placed in the south transept,
which has moulded edges, and probably once bore a
cross. It is a monumental slab and not a coffin-lid.
Aubrey mentions a gravestone
in the chancel to 'John Ship-
say, Dr. of Divinity, Rector of
the Parsonage of Dunsfold,'
who was ' chaplayn to King
Charles the First,' and died in
1665, but this is no longer to
be seen.
The registers commence in
1628. The first volume, which
ends in 1653, is partly tran-
scribed in volume two, which
contains baptisms to 1810,
burials to 1812, marriages to
1752. The registers of bap-
tisms and marriages are com-
pleted in volumes three and
four. They contain, among
other items of interest, a record
that Sarah Pick, on 1 8 March
1665, 'did penance in a white
sheet,' with the remarkable ad-
dendum that ' She was excom-
cated code die': and another notice of the penance in
private of one 'J. Barnes and An his wife' in 1667.
There is a silver cup of I 566 and a ewer of 1578
among the church plate ; also an old pewter tankard-
shaped flagon, no longer used.
Of the six bells three are modern, added in 1892.
One, recast in 1893, was by William Knight of
Reading, 1583, inscribed multit annis resonet campana
Johannis. Another bears the date 1621, and the
inscription ' Our hope is in the Lorde ' : and a third
the south wall of the nave, immediately westward of of 1 64.9 is by Bryan Eldridge,
the transept arch, ' the scheme of human redemption
was probably set forth, commencing with the Fall of
Man, and ending with the Coronation of the Blessed
Virgin the last within a quatrefoil ... A band
of interlacing, or chain-work, is said to have run
The advowson of the parish
church was at first in the hands
of the king, who granted it with
that of Shalford to St. Mary Spital without Bishops-
gate in 1304-5 ;" it followed the history of Shalford
59 The range of aedilia and piscina
at Preston, Sussex, is a coarse edition
of these. Trotton, Lynchmerc, and
Sompting, Sussex, have very similar pis-
cinae.
Burstow, Chiddingfold and Witley,
in Surrey, have one or two seats of some-
what similar character and date. Did-
ling, Sussex, Minstead in the New Forest,
Winchfield, Hants, Clapton in Gordano,
Somerset, and Churchdown, Gloucester-
shire, are other examples of nave seating
of the late I3th or early 141)1 cen-
tury.
9 6
" J. L. Andre, F.S.A, Surr. Arch.
Coll. xiii, 9.
82 Another was found at Fetcham in
this county, and the same subject was
formerly to be seen over the chancel arch
at Battle, Sussex.
* Chart. R. 33 Edw. I, no. 49.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
EWHURST
Rectory until the suppression of the priory, from
which time the church has been in the gift of the
Crown. 64
The church of St. Andrew Graffham, built in 1 86 1
of the local sandstone, is in 14th-century style, with
a bell-turret containing two bells surmounted by a
spire.
The ecclesiastical district of Grafham or Graffham
was formed in 1863 out of the civil parishes of Bram-
ley and Dunsfold. The living is in the gift of the
vicar.
The parish benefits from Henry
_ . , , * , . . - ...
Smith s chanty and from Wyatt &
Hospital in Godalming.
EWHURST
Yweherst and Uhurst (xiii cent.) ; Iwehurst (xiv
cent.) ; Ewehurst (xv cent.).
Ewhurst is a parish bounded on the north by
Shere, on the east by Ockley (formerly detached,
now added to Abinger) and Abinger, on the west
by Cranleigh, on the south by the county of Sussex.
It is 5 miles from north to south, and a mile and
a half from east to west, of a fairly regular form.
It contains 5,417 acres. The village is 12 miles
south-east of Guildford, and 1 1 miles south-west of
Dorking.
The northern part of the parish is on the Green-
sand hills Ewhurst Hill, Pitch Hill, and Coneyhurst
Hill ; but the greater part of it is upon the Wealden
Clay, in the ancient forest. It is still well wooded,
and the oak grows with great vigour in the soil. It
has no large open spaces, except upon the hills to the
north ; and these have been much inclosed and planted
during the last twenty years. A road from Rudgwick
in Sussex, whence are branches to Horsham and Pul-
borough, runs through the village to Shere. By the
side of this road, where it crosses the summit of the
hill, stood Ewhurst Mill, which for many years was a
conspicuous landmark visible for many miles. Of
late years it has been disused as a mill, the sails are
taken down, and the greater growth of trees has helped
to make it less easily seen.
Till the i gth century had advanced someway there
was no properly made road in Ewhurst parish. A
Roman road existed, which was carefully traced by the
late Mr. James Park Harrison, 1 and is laid down on
the 6-in. Ordnance map as running west of the village.
When King John was at Guildford and Knepp Castle
in Sussex on the same day, 21 January 1215, in
winter-time when unmade ways were foul, he very
probably used this road. Nothing shows the back-
wardness of the Weald more than the absolute disuse
and forgetting of these lines of through communication.
Ewhurst is not named in Domesday. It was part of
the great royal manor of Gomshall, but was probably
sparsely inhabited. That there was some population
soon afterwards is implied by Norman work in the
church. But it was a chapel to Shere still, the earliest
evidence of it as a parish being in 1291.
The schools were built in 1840. In 1870 another
school was built at the hamlet of Ellen's Green, in
the extreme south of the parish.
The house of Baynards Park is in Ewhurst parish,
though most of the park is in Cranleigh. It is now
the seat of Mr. T. J. Waller.
Among modern houses in Ewhurst parish are
Coverwood, the seat of Mr. H. F. Locke-King ;
Ewhurst Place, the seat of Col. Thomas Warne Lem-
mon ; Woolpits, high up Coneyhurst Hill, the seat
of Mr. H. L. Doulton.
The Ewhurst Institute and Reading Room was
built by subscription in 1901.
SOMERSBURr Manor, which in-
M4NORS eludes the central portion of Ewhurst
parish, was originally a member of Gom-
shall.' It was separated from the main manor in the
1 2th century, when Henry II retained it at the time
of his grant of Gomshall to William Malveisin and
Ingram Wells. 1
The first indication of a tenant occurs in 1272,
when Herbert of Somersbury obtained from the
parson of Ewhurst a quitclaim of a house and land in
Ewhurst. 4 He was still living in 1276,* but seems to
have been succeeded by Henry of Somersbury, probably
his son, who was holding land of the manor of Gom-
shall in 1 298-9." Early in the next century Richard
and Henry of Somersbury were buying land in the-
neighbouring parish of Cranleigh. 7 About the year
1317-18 Henry of Somersbury died holding Somers-
bury, which then consisted of a house and half a.
carucate of land in Gomshall. 8 He was succeeded by
his son Henry, who obtained licence to hear divine
service in the oratory of Ewhurst. 9 At his death the
manor descended to his son Richard, 10 who enfeoffed
Eleanor, Countess of Ormond," probably in order
to secure himself against any claim she might make
on the manor as a member of Shiere Vachery, for
in 1 3445 she re-enfeoffed Richard of Somersbury
of it." He then alienated it to a certain Agnes, after-
wards wife of Walter of Hamme," who conveyed it in
13645 to John Busbridge on consideration of a life-
rent to Walter and Agnes. 14 John Busbridge was
succeeded by his son Robert, 14 who died holding the
manor in 1416, leaving a son and heir Thomas." In
September 1455 John Busbridge, who was then holding.
Somersbury, died leaving a brother Robert, during:
whose minority the king granted the custody of Somers-
bury to Richard Langport, clerk. 17 The heir had
already alienated it to a certain Thomas Playstow, 18 so
" In.t. Bk.. P.R.O.
1 Surr. Arch. CM. vi, I.
Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 225.
* See the account of Gomshall in Shere.
Feet of F. Surr. 56 Hen. Ill, 3.
s Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Edw. I, 47, where
he appears as a juror in an inquisition
touching Gomshall.
Add. Chart. (B.M.), 5578 ; Chan. Inq.
p.m. 27 Edw. I, no. 45.
I Feet of F. Surr. 32 Edw. I, 17 ; 34
Edw. I, 9.
8 Chan. Inq. p.m. 1 1 Edw. II, no. 50.
9 Egerton MS. 2032, foL 6oA.
1 Feet of F. Surr. 6 Edw. Ill, 36.
II Chan. Inq. a.q.d. cccxlvii, I.
Feet of F. Surr. 18 Edw. Ill, 8.
97
She held Shiere Vachery for life. The ori-
ginal connexion with Gomshall had been
perhaps forgotten.
18 Chan. Inq. a.q.d. cccxlvii, I.
Feet of F. Surr. 38 Edw. Ill, 42.
15 Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Hen. IV, no. 46.
Ibid. 4 Hen. V, no. 23.
17 Cal. Pal. 1461-7, p. 179.
18 Ibid.
'3
A HISTORY OF SURREY
that it seems probable that on that account it was
forfeited to the Crown. It was granted with Shiere to
John, Lord Audley, and forfeited by his son James
after the insurrection at Blackheath." It was then
farmed by a certain William Cokys, 80 and in October
i Jl i, Henry VIII granted it with other lands in
Ewhurst to Thomas Salter, Sewer of the Chamber, to
hold for the annual rent of a red rose.* 1 The manor
seems, however, to have been restored to John, Lord
Audley, for he conveyed it in 1532 to Thomas Wolley
the younger." In 1 549 Ambrose Wolley sold the
manor to Robert Whitfeld,* 8 who held it till 1576,
when he sold it to Nicholas Dendy "and his son John,
w\io were also holding Breach." Nicholas died at
Rwhurst in October 1 5 87 and was succeeded by John
Dendy, 16 who conveyed the manor to Edward Dendy
in 1621." In 1640 Henry Ockley and his wife
Beatrice were in possession, and sold the reversion to
John Clifton of Worplesdon.* 8
In 1 648 these three conveyed it to Richard Evelyn
of Baynards.' 9 John Dendy was farming it at the
time of the Commonwealth. 10 It descended from
Richard Evelyn to his daughter Ann, wife of William
Montague, who conveyed it to William Freeman in
1674." In 1680 William Montague, junior, 'seised
in fee in reversion," surrendered all his rights to
William Freeman. The latter in 1700 granted
a lease for a year to Sir Richard Onslow ' to test
the possession,' and his son, Thomas Onslow, after-
wards the second Lord Onslow, mortgaged the pro-
perty in 1714," as owner. It continued in Lord
Onslow's family till about 1863, when it was bought
ONSLOW, Earl Onslow.
Azure a Jesse gules be
noeen fix Cornish choughs.
SCARLETT, Lord Abin-
ger. Cheeky or and gules
a lion ermine and a quar-
ter azure with a castle
argent therein.
by the late William Lord Abinger, in whose heir it
now remains.
It seems possible that the manor of BdTNdRDS,
which lies on the boundary between Ewhurst and
Cranleigh, was originally a part of Pollingfold (q.v.),
and never a separate manor, though so called, for
tenants of the Baynards estate appear in the court
rolls of Pollingfold (extant between 1772 and 1883).
In 1447 William Sydney the younger obtained a
licence to impark 800 acres of land appertaining to
his ' manor ' of Baynards." According to a monu-
mental inscription in Cranleigh Church, quoted by
Aubrey in the I7th century, William Sydney died
in 1449.'' He was succeeded by a son William,
whose widow Elizabeth obtained the custody of his
lands during the minority of his daughters Elizabeth
and Anne." Baynards Manor appears to have
been the portion of Anne, who married William
(afterwards Sir William) Uvedale.* 6 According to
his will * 7 a rent was to be paid to his eldest son and
the residue of the profits divided between his younger
son John and his brother Thomas. The manor was
conveyed to Reginald Bray or his brother John. Ed-
mund Lord Bray, son of the latter, sold it in 1535 to
his brother Sir Edward Bray. Sir Edward Bray died
in 1558. His son Sir Edward mortgaged Baynards,
2 November 1580, to John
Reade of Sterborough, 58 to
whom he sold Pollingfold
3 December, a month later.
On 29 October 1587 John
Reade released his rights in
Baynards to George More of
Loseley, afterwards knighted,
and a fine was levied in 1588
confirming the conveyance.
Baynards was bought by More
with his wife's money, she
being a wealthy heiress.' 9 He
probably rebuilt the house
with the great hall, which
now exists, for his home while his father Sir William
was alive. 40 In 1604, after the death of the latter,
Sir George, his wife Constantia, and his son Sir Robert,
conveyed Baynards to Sir Francis Woolley of Pirford,
Sir George More's nephew, for a sum of money and
the manor of Witley in exchange.
On 6 March 4 James (1607) Sir Francis Woolley
sold Baynards for 4,400 to Edward Bayninge,
gentleman, of London. He presumably died, leaving
an heir Andrew Bayninge, who sold it i 5 February
1608-9 to I saac Woder of Plumstead in Kent.
Woder, who also had acquired Knowle in Cranleigh,
described as ' a manor in Surrey and Sussex,' in the
same year, sold Baynards 28 February 160910 to
Robert Jossey. His son James Jossey alias Hay
mortgaged his property, and was clearly in considerable
difficulties, for on 23 January 1628-9 his mot her
Margaret surrendered to him all her jointure, Polling-
fold Manor, Coneyhurst Hill, and two rooms over
' the great dining chamber ' at Baynards. The mort-
gage changed hands, and finally Richard Gurnard,
citizen and clothworker, conveyed his rights under it
to Richard Evelyn, father of the diarist, i 3 November
1629. On 30 August 1630 Jossey released all his
rights in Baynards and Pollingfold to Richard Evelyn,
and in 1631 a lessee of Mrs. Jossey's jointure sur-
rendered his lease to Evelyn. 41
MORI of Loseley. A-
seure a cross argent with
Jive martlea sable there-
on.
Pat. 7 Edw. IV, pt, i, m. 6.
*> Rentals and Surv. (P.R.O.), rviii, 51.
L. and P. Hen. VIII, i, 1916.
Feet of F. SUIT. East. 23 Hen. VIII.
Ibid. Mich. 3 Edw. VI.
Ibid. Mich. 18 & 19 Eliz.
Ibid.
* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccix, 118.
7 Feet of F. Surr. HiL 18 Jas. I ; Re-
COT. R. East. 19 Jas. I, rot. 59.
18 Deed of Lord Onslow.
** Ibid.; Close, 22 Chas. I, pt. ii, no. 5.
80 Surr. Arch. Coll. xvii, 88.
81 Feet of F. Surr. East. 26 Chas. II.
* Deeds of Lord Onslow.
"Chart. R. 25 & 26 Hen. VI, no. 12.
81 Antiq. of Surr. (ed. 1718), iv, 85.
85 Cal. Pat. 14.61-7, p. 273.
"Till 1487 it was held in dower by
Elizabeth their mother, who had remar-
ried Sir Thomas Uvedale. See Cal. Inj.
p.m. Hen. Vll, i, 170, 171.
9 8
7 See Surr. Arch. Coll. iii, 171.
88 Cf. Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 22 Eliz. ;
a conveyance to Sir Thomas Cotton,
probably for the purposes of the mort-
gage.
89 Settlement at Loseley.
40 John Evelyn in his letter to Aubrey
prefixed to Aubrey's Hist, and Antiq. of
Surr. says that More built the house.
Some of it, however, is probably older.
41 Deeds of Lord Onslow.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
He settled the manor on his youngest son Richard,"
who in 1648 acquired Somersbury (see above), and
the entire property descended to the Onslow family
as already stated." A distinction of Baynards is that
it has belonged at various times to the four leading
families in Surrey since the year 1500, namely Bray,
More, Evelyn, and Onslow. The second Sir Edward
Bray who held it married Elizabeth Roper, grand-
daughter of Sir Thomas More, whence the fact or
legend that Sir Thomas More's skull was preserved at
Baynards.
John Evelyn visiting it in 1657 describes the house
as ' a very fair noble residence having one of the
goodliest avenues of oaks up to it that ever I saw.' u
Later, however, the house ceased to be used as a
gentleman's house, Arthur Onslow the Speaker, Lord
Cranley, resided at Knowle, and Baynards was merely
a farm-house. In 1 8 1 8 Lord Onslow sold Polling-
fold and Baynards to John Smallpeice of Guildford.
In 1824 Pollingfold was sold to Richard Gates, and
in 1832 the estate was reunited by the Rev. Thomas
Thurlow, son of the Bishop of Durham and nephew
to the Lord Chancellor Thurlow. He added to and
restored or rebuilt the house, under the direction of
Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt, and made a fine collection
of paintings, armour, furniture and tapestry, which
remain in the house. He raised the roof of the
original hall, turning one of the rooms over it into the
present gallery at the end, and altered the entrance.
Mr. Thurlow died in 1874, and was succeeded by his
son Mr. Thomas Lyon Thurlow, who in 1889 sold
Baynards and the manor of Pollingfold to Mr. T. J.
Waller, the present owner. The house is mainly of
brick, but the foundations are of Sussex marble and
the roof of Horsham slates, both found in the neigh-
bourhood. The house is very handsome, with an air
of antiquity about it, and the grounds are picturesque.
An avenue of Wellingtonias leads from the station
towards the house.
The reputed manor of BREACH was probably a
member of Gomshall Netley. 45 In the 1 6th century
it was the property of John Agmondesham. 46 He
mortgaged the manor to William Atlee and Nicholas
Dendy, who disputed the division of the estates.
Nicholas Dendy died during the dispute, but it was
settled by compromise that his son John should have
the northern half of the lands, i.e. North Breach."
Finally, in 1594, William Atlee conveyed all his right
to Ralph Dendy, probably the heir of John Dendy.' 9
EWHURST
In 1630 Edward Dendy sold the manor to Walter
Longhurst,' 9 whose descendants remained in possession
for nearly a century and a half. Ralph Long-
hurst and Richard Stening M were holding South
Breach at the time of the Commonwealth. In
1 768-9 Richard Longhurst and his wife Anne sold
the manor to John Vincent of Stoke by Guildford."
His grandson and heir died leaving an only daughter,"
probably the Mary Hone, who joined with her hus-
band, William Smith, in a sale of the manor, under
the name of North Breach, to Samuel John Symons
Trickey in 1803." It afterwards belonged to a family
named Donithorne, from whom it was bought by
Mrs. Fletcher Bennett about 1877. It is now in
the hands of the Bennett trustees.
CONETHURST is situated on the rising ground
north of the village and was in the possession of
Ambrose Wolley in 1553, and probably formed a part
of his manor of Somersbury. It was then sold by him
to Sir Edward Bray, M who bequeathed it in 1558 to
his son Edward on condition of paying off a mort-
gage. 54 In 1593 it was in the possession of a certain
Ralph Dalton, 66 to whose son, Richard, it descended
in November 1 60 1," and from him it passed in 1615
to his two daughters, Joan and Elizabeth, who were
then both minors. 69 Joan married Richard Bridger,
and Elizabeth, Henry Matchwick. 49 In 1676 the
whole manor was settled on Joan, 60 and descended
from her to her nephew Henry Bridger. Henry died
in 1695, and his cousin Richard covenanted with
Edward Wood, who had married Elizabeth daughter
to Henry, to levy a fine." In 1776 it was the
property of Thomas Wood, 61 who died in 1779
leaving a son and heir Thomas, 6 * in whose family it
continued.
POLLINGFOLD in Ewhurst extended into Cran-
leigh parish and into Sussex. It was held of the
lords of Gomshall, 6 ' and the first under-tenant of whom
record has been found is John of Pollingfold, who
lived in the time of Edward I. 65 From him the
manor passed to Lettice wife of William Man, 66 who
sold it in 133410 a certain Robert,' 7 who was perhaps
a trustee for the Brocas family, for in 1345 Sir John
Brocas had a grant of free warren there. 68 The manor
was released by his widow to his son Sir Bernard with
remainder to Sir Bernard's half-brother John, but,
John having died, his brother Oliver succeeded to
Pollingfold, where he took up his residence. 69 He
granted it in 1397 to Sir Bernard's son Bernard,
49 It was settled on him in tail male, but
by a subsequent deed was entailed on
him and hi heirs.
48 In 1648 Baynards, Somersbury, and
Ewhurst Mill were settled on Mrs. Eliza-
beth Evelyn, wife of Richard. She kept
an interest till her death, 1692, and held
a court in 1690, as lady of the manor of
Pollingfold.
44 Evelyn's Diary (ed. W. Bray), 305.
45 Manning and Bray quote Ct. R. of
Gomshall Netley, in which this manor U
stated to be the property of John Amer-
sham, and late of John of Breach (flat,
of Surr. i, 503).
4 Feet of F. Sun. Trin. 29 Eliz. In August
1462 William Agmondesham had granted
to Thomas Smallpeice the rents and service
of lands called Hakkers in Ewhurst in the
vill of Gomshall ; See Surr. Arch. Coll.
xviii, 224.
Chan. Proc. (Eliz.) Aa, i*, 43 ; Dd,
v, 53. John also claimed certain quit-
rents in the whole manor.
48 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 36 Eliz.
4 Ibid. Surr. Trin. 6 Chas. I.
60 Surr. Arch. Call, xyii, 88. Parlia-
mentary Survey of Church Lands.
51 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 9 Geo. III.
The manor here seems to have included
both North and South Breach, while the
later deeds possibly also refer to both
moieties under the name of North Breach.
w Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 3 Geo. III.
" Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. i, 5 03.
54 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. I Mary.
" P.C.C. 47 Welles.
M Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ceil, 9.
W Ibid, cclxx, 1 44. "Ibid, ccclv, 87.
"See Feet of F. Surr. East. 13 Chas. I ;
East. 14 Chas. I.
Ibid. Hil. 28 & 29 Chas. II.
Ibid. 9 Will, and Mary ; and deeds of
the Wood family.
99
"Ibid. Trin. 16 Geo. III.
68 Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 503.
64 After its division into East and West
Pollingfold the former was held of Gom-
shall Netley and the latter of Gomshall
Towerhill ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2),
ccilvii, 72, and Ct. R. quoted by Manning
and Bray, i, 501.
MPlac. Abbrru. (Rec. Com.), 262.
68 Chan. Inq. p.m. 27 Edw. 1,45 ; John's
grandson Robert of Pollingfold sued Lettice
for the manor, but was unsuccesful as he
had described it as lying entirely in Surrey,
whereas loo acres of land and 2O>. rent
were in Sussex (De Banco R. 281, m. 78).
W Feet of F. Surr. 8 Edw. Ill, 3. The
surname of the purchaser is torn away in
the conveyance. The initial letter appears
to be a T.
68 Chart. R. 19 Edw. Ill, m. 8.
"Close, 4 Edw. Ill, 21 j Burrows.
Family oj Brocas, 425 et seq.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
whose son and heir William entered upon it in
1405-6, and died in 1456, before which date he is
said to have sold it to William Sydney of Loseley. 71
It was evidently divided between the two daughters
of William son of William Sydney ; of these, the one,
Anne, married William Uvedale, and the other, Eliza-
beth, married John Hampden. 71 The njanor was
divided in moieties, whence doubtless arose the names
EAST and WEST POLLINGFOLD. The Ufedale
anoiety, East Pollingfold, chiefly in Ewhurst, was
.alienated by Anne n to Sir Edward Bray and others
in I528. 74 He had already purchased Elizabeth
Hampden's moiety, or West Pollingfold, and Baynards
from his brother Edmund Lord Bray," whose uncle
Reginald, to whom Edmund was heir, or whose father,
John, had apparently purchased it from Michael Dor-
mer, to whom Sir John Hampden had conveyed it in
I52O, 76 and thus the manor was reunited, but not for
long. In 1581 Sir Edward sold the manor of
Pollingfold with 40 acres of land and 30;. rent in
Sussex to John Rede, 77 who conveyed it to Edward
Tanworth seven years later. 78 The latter sold it in
1595 to George, afterwards Sir George More, 79 of
JBaynards, with which it has since descended (q.v.).
AST POLLINGFOLD apparently was again
separated from the main manor before 1560, and in
October 1 606 Sir Thomas Leedes, son of John Leedes
of Wapingthorne, Sussex, sold it to John Hill of
Ewhurst. 80 Some years after the latter's death it was
assigned to one of his daughters, Sarah, wife of John
Stevens. 81 A John Stevens was in possession in l69O, 8>
but in 1695 Robert Gardiner and his wife Mary held
it, 83 probably in her right, and conveyed it in 1 70 1 to
George Mabank, 84 evidently as a marriage portion, for
in 1790 George Mabank Gardiner sold it to John
Crouze."
The remains of a moated inclosure called the Site
of Pollingfold Manor House are just outside Baynards
Park, in Cranleigh parish. This house was presumably
pulled down by Sir George More when he rebuilt
Baynards close by. But there is some doubt whether
it was really the old manor-house, for the court baron
was recently held at Moated Farm, an old moated house
now also pulled down, in Ewhurst parish. 86 If Bay-
nards had taken the place of the old manor house the
courts would have been held there.
MATBANKES, in the south of the parish, was
occupied in 1503 by William Edsalle, 87 and was
granted with Somersbury Manor, Saltland, and Slehurst
in Ewhurst to Thomas Salter in 1 5 1 1 . 88 About the
same time Rumbemyr in Ewhurst was occupied by
Richard Astret, and Marschall by Thomas Edsalle. 89
Lands called Mascalls Pipers and Potfelds were sold
by Robert Browning to Nicholas Dendy in the 1 6th
century. 90 At the same time Moon Hall was held
(of Coneyhurst Manor) by William Ticknor," and land
.called Sprout or Prout was the subject of a dispute
between Agnes Hill and her uncle, Richard Hill."
Thomas Hill sold it in 1608 to Sir Francis Wolley. 93
The church of ST. PETER AND
CHURCH ST. PAUL consists of a chancel ztft. 9 in.
by 1 5 ft. 9 in. ; a central tower 1 7ft. I oin.
by 1 5 ft. 3 in. ; a north transept 2 1 ft. 5 in. by
19 ft. 2 in. ; a south transept 23 ft. by 18 ft. 3 in. ;
a nave 34 ft. 5 in. by 19 ft. 5 in. The whole struc-
ture was almost completely rebuilt in 1838-9, for
during the progress of some repairs the central tower
collapsed and brought down much of the chancel in
its fall. The nave would appear to have been less
altered than the rest, and is of 1 2th-century date.
Alterations were evidently made, however, late in the
1 5th century, and a century or so later the nave at
least was a good deal altered as regards its windows.
But in view of the devastating repairs of 1838 the
early history of the church must remain a matter of
uncertainty, for they included a skin of plaster which
hides all evidence possibly contained in the walling.
The present church, however, is probably on the
foundations of the old one.
The windows of the chancel all date from 1838,
that to the east being of three cinquefoiled lights and
' perpendicular ' design. To north and south are
plain rather wide single lancets. To the south is also
a plain pointed door of the same date as the windows.
Externally the chancel appears entirely modern, and
the walls are of rubble plastered with sham joints
representing masonry.
The tower rests upon four two-centred arches, all
of two continuous chamfered orders, heavily plastered
and probably completely modern. Above these the
tower rises in two stages. The second one, containing
the ringing chamber, is quite plain. The belfry stage
however, is of 12th-century design with round-headed
shafted openings, pilaster buttresses, and a crowning
corbel table with plain corbels and small round
connecting arches ; above this is a tiled broach spire of
a somewhat obtuse type. The whole of this part of
the tower is completely modern, as are also the
diagonal buttresses set in the angles of the chancel and
transepts and the nave and transepts. The ringing
chamber is reached by a wooden stair in one flight in
the north transept.
The north transept appears to have been wholly
rebuilt in 1838. It is lit on the north by three
wide grouped lancet lights with wide chamfered
pilastered external jambs, and (over these) a trefoil
light. To east and west are two single lancet lights,
and on the west is also a small pointed door, all
of which date from the rebuilding. The south
transept is similar in every way, but lacks the door,
and retains an old window of late I 5th-century date.
This is of two rather wide trefoiled lights with sub-
mullions over and a square main head. It has been
a good deal disfigured in the resetting and restoration.
70 Close, 7 Hen. IV, m. 29.
I 1 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. i, 390.
7* Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. VII, i, 170.
7* Evidently she married Henry Roberts
as her second husband.
7<Feet of F. Div. Co. Hil. 19 Hen.
VII.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccxlvii, 72.
7 Close, ii Hen. VIII, pt. xxiii.
77 Feet of F. Div. Co. Trin. 23 Eliz.
78 Ibid. Surr. East. 30 Eliz.
7Ibid. Hil. 37 Eliz.
8 Com. Pleas D. Enr. Mich. 4. Jas. I,
m. 7 ; Manning and Bray quote a court roll
recording the death of John Leedes, seised
of Pollingfold in 1560. He was succeeded
by a son John, evidently father of Sir
Thomas.
81 Deeds quoted in Manning and Bray,
op. tit. i, 502.
M Feet of F. Surr. Trin. I Will, and
Mary.
Ibid. East, 7 Will. III.
"Ibid. Trin. 13 Will. III.
100
85 Ibid. HiL 30 Geo. III.
86 Information from Mr. Waller of
Baynards.
W Rentals and Surv. (P.R.O.), portf.
xviii, no. 51.
88 L. and P. Hen. VIII, i, 1916.
89 Rentals and Surv. P.R.O. portf. xviii,
Si-
s'* 1 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccix, n8.
91 Ibid, ccxl, 9.
*> Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 97, no. 37.
* Close, 5 Jas. I, pt. xxv.
X
o
I
U
x
W
o
o
U
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
EWHURST
The nave is lit on the north by three windows, all
of two rounded lights. The first and third are very
rough and probably very late. The middle one is
of better workmanship, has spandrel sinkages, and is
of 16th-century date. It is placed higher in the
wall than the others in what is apparently the round-
headed internal reveal of a 12th-century window
which has been partly cut away to allow for this.
The heavy coats of plaster, both inside and out,
however, make this a little uncertain. On the south
is a window of late 15th-century date of two wide
trefoiled lights with sub-mullions over and a segmental
main head, and of the same character as the east
window of the south transept. West of this is the
south door. This is of izth-century date, though
somewhat restored. It is of rather rough workman-
ship, with a semicircular head of two non-concentric
orders, the inner, which is square, being a little below
the outer, which is rather awkwardly worked with a
pair of rolls and a chamfer. The jambs hare
circular shafts with plain cushion capitals and cone
bases. The west window of the nave is of 15th-
century date and has three cinquefoiled lights with
sub-mullions over and a two-centred main head.
Under the window is the west door, which is of the
same date. It has a two-centred head and a con-
tinuous hollow chamfer, and is of chalk, almost the only
use in the church of this material. In the south
jamb are the remains of a holy-water stoup. Covering
this door is an open timber porch of late 15th-century
date, with a scalloped barge-board and a rounded
arch of entrance, but otherwise of the plainest design.
The nave walls are of rubble, plastered and ruled
with sham jointing to represent 1 2th-century masonry.
The roofs of the chancel and the north transept
are quite modern, and that of the north transept
is partly modern, but also retains some moulded beams
of late 16th-century date. The nave has its late
16th-century roof complete. It is ceiled with a
plaster barrel vault and has moulded tie-beams and
wall plates and strutted king-posts.
The font has been very much restored with roman
cement, but the square bowl appears to be of izth-
century date and is of very crude design. The flat
faces are ornamented with saltire ornaments of clumsy
rolls. The four supporting columns are modern.
The pulpit is a fair example of early I yth-century
work. It is octagonal with two stages of panelling in
each face, the lower forming an arcade of enriched
arches and the upper carved with arabesques in flat
bands. The altar-table is of late I yth-century date
with fluted legs, an inlaid top and a carved rail de-
corated with cherub-heads. The altar-rails are a good
example of early 1 8th-century church fitting. They
are returned on the flanks to form three sides of a
square with rounded and mitred corners. The hand-
rail is broad and moulded and is carried on panelled
posts and twisted balusters. In the chancel are a pair
of handsome carved chairs of late I yth-century date,
and, possibly, foreign workmanship. In the nave are
four painted tablets of the commandments and texts.
These are inclosed in handsomely carved frames of
late i yth-century design. These and the altar rails
were brought from Baynards in i8yg and were the
gift of Mr. T. L. Thurlow. The font cover is from
the same donor and is partly made up of some I yth-
century consoles.
At the north-west of the nave is a small vestry cut
off from the rest of the nave by a screen in part made
from the I yth-century clerk's desk. There are no
monuments.
In the east window of the chancel are three shields
of arms. The first of these is the arms of Rev. Thomas
Thurlow of Baynards Argent a cheveron between
couplecloses sable with three portcullises argent on
the cheveron, impaling Argent a lion in a double
tressure counter-flowered azure, for Lyon. Above is
the crest of Hovell A golden greyhound lying down
with collar and line sable. The second shield is
Onslow quartered with Harding of Knowle Argent
a bend azure with three martlets or thereon. The
third shield is : Or a fesse cheeky azure and argent
and a bend engrailed gules all within a double tres-
sure counter-flowered gules, for Stewart, with a scut-
cheon of pretence Azure a bend between six scallops
argent, for Freshfield.
The tower contains a clock and six bells. The
treble and second were cast by Mears of London in
1839. The third is inscribed ' Sancte Petre Of'
in black-letter smalls and capitals and bears the leopard's
face, cross flory and coins of John Saunders. The
fourth has the same marks and is inscribed ' Sancte
Johannis Ora Pro Nobis.' The fifth and tenor were
cast by William Eldridge in l6yi.
The first book of the registers contains all entries
from 1614 to iyig. The second contains all entries
from iyzo, baptisms and burials running to 1803 and
1810, and marriages to 1773. The latter, after iy54,
are entered in manuscript, but in the form of the
printed book. A third book, a printed one, continues
the marriages to 1812, and a fourth book carries the
baptisms and burials to 1812.
The advowson belonged in 1206
ADVQWSQN to Merton Priory. 95 At that date
William Brews disputed the pre-
sentation, but judgement was given for the priory.
The latter retained the advowson until its dissolution. 96
The living was not appropriated, but paid a pension to
the priory. This pension was granted in 1541 to
the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury," while the king
retained the right of presentation. The advowson
remained thencefoiwird with the Crown."
Smith's Charity is distributed as in
CHARITIES other Surrey parishes. A Mr. Wors-
fold gave, at an unknown date, a rent-
charge of 1 z/. SJ. for teaching poor children.
85 Curia Regis R. 4.2, m. 17.
98 Winton Epis. Reg. ; Egerton MS.
1032, fol. 60 ; 2033, t'ol. 10, 91, &c.
W L. and P. Hen. fill, xvi, 878 (59).
* Irwt. Bk. (f.R.O.) A. 79 i B. 197 ;
C. 3+7.
101
A HISTORY OF SURREY
HASCOMBE
Hascumbe (xiv cent.).
Hascombe parish, about 12 miles south of Guild-
ford, contains 1,587 acres. It is in two portions,
one nearly three-quarters of a mile from north to
south and half a mile from east to west ; the other
half a mile each way, with tongues of the parishes of
Bramley and Dunsfold separating them. Of these
two portions the north-western is rather larger than
the south-eastern. The whole is bounded by Godal-
ming and Bramley on the north, by Godalming on
the west, by Dunsfold and Alfold on the south,
and by Bramley and Cranleigh on the east. The
north-western portion is almost entirely on the Green-
sand and Atherfield Clay, and contains Hascombe Hill,
formerly, from a large beech tree, known as Hascombe
High Beech, which is 624 ft. above the sea. A tele-
graphic semaphore formerly stood here. The south-
eastern portion is on the Wealden Clay. Hascombe
village and church lie in a valley north of Hascombe
Hill. The school was opened in 1867.
Park Hatch, the seat of Mr. Joseph Godman, is on
the southern slope of Hascombe Hill, in a deer park
of about 200 acres. Hall Place, the seat of Mr. E. L.
Rowcliffe, is in the south-eastern detached portion of
the parish. The old disused Wey and Arun Canal
skirts this part of the parish. In 1884 Lambert's
Farm, which abuts on the village street, was transferred
from Hambledon to Hascombe.
There are no old houses or cottages of special
architectural interest in the village, but many are to
be found in the surrounding hamlets and lanes of a
highly picturesque character.
Mr. Ralph Nevill notes that ' Hoe Farm is a timber
house, rudely framed with great curved struts, and has
... a look as if it might be of unusual age. Such
framing is often shown in manuscripts.'
On Hascombe Hill, at the western end, is an ancient
camp. It is roughly rectangular, following the slope
of the hill, and from the curiously regular form of
the ground it makes a sort of square of 200 yds.
Water was procurable a little way down the hill.
Lieut.-Colonel Godwin Austen has found sling stones
on the hill, rounded flint pebbles, where no such
should be geologically, and Mr. Godman found a
good flint arrow-head lower down the southern slope.
H4SCOMBE was held of the joint
MANORS lords of Bramley. 1 Richard and John of
Hascombe were tenants of Bramley in
1241-2,' but Hascombe probably did not separate
from Bramley till early in the next century. 3 In
1306-7 Henry Hussey bought the reversion of the
manor of Hascombe from Henry Sturmy, to whom
it should have descended at the death of Joan wife
of John of Wintershull, who had already obtained a
release of other lands in Bramley and Hascombe. 4
This Joan was probably the wife of Walter of
Huntingfield, of whose grant the manor is said
to have come to Henry Hussey in the inquisition
of 1 349-
In 1 307 Henry Hussey obtaineda grant of free warren
in Danhurst and Hascombe. 5 In 1331 he was
succeeded by his son Henry, afterwards Sir Henry
Hussey, kt., 6 who died seised of Hascombe in 1 349,
his heir being his grandson Henry, son of his son Mark,
aged six years. 7 This Henry Hussey, or his cousin of
the same name/' died seised in 1409, and was succeeded
by his son Henry, 8 who held for life with remainder
to his son Nicholas for life and reversion to Henry
elder brother of Nicholas. 9 Henry was outlawed and
forfeited his rights in 1454.' Nicholas was sheriff of
Surrey and Sussex, victualler of Calais, and Lieutenant
of Guisnes Castle under Henry VI. Edward IV
seized Hascombe, alleging that Nicholas had refused
to render account since the change of dynasty," but
pardoned him in 1467." Nicholas Hussey left two
daughters, Catherine wife of Reginald Bray, and Alice
or Constance, wife of Henry Level. 13 Probably the
co-heiresses sold Hascombe to the Coverts, for William
3* &* -
f f f f f
HUSSET. Barry er-
mine and gulei.
COVIRT. Gales afesse
ermine between three mart-
lets or.
Covert died seised of it in 1494." His son John, who
died in 1 503, bequeathed his lands, failing his heirs male,
to his cousin Richard Covert. 16 Giles Covert 1Sa was in
possession of the manor in I547, 16 died in 1556, and
was succeeded by his brother Richard. 17 The manor
was then successively owned by Anthony, who died
in 1631, John, and Anthony Covert." The last
lived at Hascombe about i654, 19 and was succeeded
by John Covert,* whose son Anthony sold the rever-
sion to John Fawkes of Guildford. 11 His son John
1 Chan. Inq. p.m. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. i,
no. 77 ; ibid, to Hen. IV, 17 ; ibid. (Ser.
2), cxiv, 42.
a Assize R. 37, m. 21 d.
8 Feet of F. Surr. I Edw. II, 1 1.
* Ibid. 34 Edw. I, 3 and 12.
6 Charter R. 35 Edw. I, m. 16.
' Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. Ill ( ist not.),
no. 66.
7 Ibid. 23 Ed-w. Ill, pt. i, no. 77.
" a Compare manor of Freefolk (f.C.H.
Hants, iv), and tee De Banco R. Mil. 2
Hen. VII, m. 430 ; Mich. 3 Hen. VII,
m. 154.
8 Chan. Inq. p.m. 10 Hen. IV, no. 17.
Add. Chart. 18726.
10 Ech. Inq. p.m. (Ser. i), 32-3 Hen.
VI, file 1801, no. 2. He had previously
conveyed the manor to Richard Bitterley
and John Hole. Anct. D., B 4199.
11 Enr. Accti. (Foreign), 5 Edw. IV,
no. 99 P.
la Ca/. Pat. 1467-77, p. 20.
" Winton Epi. Reg. Fox, i, foL 30.
102
14 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), , 38.
15 Ibid, xxiii, 263.
JSa Son of Giles, nephew of John, HarL
Soc. Publ. xliii, 39.
16 Mi8C.Bks.(Ld.Rev.),vol.i90,fol. 143.
17 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cxiv, 42.
18 Feet of F. (Sum), Hil. 31 Eliz. \
HiL I4ja. I ; Hil. 1654.
M Add. MS. 6167, foU 252.
*> Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 34 Chas. II.
81 Aubrey, Nat. Hist, and Antij. of Surr*
iv, 93.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
HASCOMBE
sold the manor In 1723 to Leonora Frederick and
her son John Frederick who was created baronet in
FRIDIRICK, Baronet
Or a chief azure <with
three doves argent therein.
THBTLIWAIT*. Or
a bend azure "with three
fheons or therein.
GODMAN of Park
Hatch. Party ermine
and erminees a chief in~
dented or and therein a
lion paaant vert.
the same year." Early in the 1 9th century Hascombe
became the property of Robert Thistlewaite through
marriage with Selina Frede-
rick, 83 daughter of Sir John's
younger son Thomas, who
succeeded his brother in the
baronetcy. Sir Henry Ed-
mund Austen of Shalford
bought it of their son and sold
it in 1841 to Joseph Godman
of Park Hatch, grandfather
of the present lord of the
manor.
The old manor-house was
at Place Farm, south-east of
the church and north of Has-
combe Hill.
The church (not mentioned in Domes-
CHURCH day) of ST. PETER" is situated in
the midst of lovely wooded scenery in
the fork between two roads near a cluster of houses.
The churchyard is planted with fine trees and
shrubs, and is approached through a modern lych-
gate.
The church was entirely rebuilt in 1 3th-century
style in 1864 from designs by Mr. H. Woodyer, in
Bargate stone, with Bath stone dressings. It is small,
but very thoroughly finished in every detail, and con-
sists of a nave, a small western tower, with shingled
spire, a chancel with a polygonal apse,a south chapel and
a south porch. Almost the only relic of the old church
is the I Jth-century chancel screen, which has, however,
been elaborately decorated in colour. The narrow
lancet windows are filled with glass by Hardman, and
on the walls of the apse are carved the angels of the
seven churches, each holding a stone candlestick.
There are an alabaster reredos and sedilia, a credence-
table, and a squint from the south chapel, which con-
tains the squire's pew and is screened off from the
nave. The stone pulpit has a carved figure of
St. Peter. The font of Sussex marble has a small
square bowl on a square-banded pedestal and plinth,
and bears the inscription on its western face, ' The gift
of Richard Holland, rector, j69<D.' It somewhat
resembles in form two Sussex fonts not far away, at
Lurgashall and North Chapel, also of Sussex marble,
and bearing date 1661. In 1890 the nave was
decorated in colour, the subject being the Miraculous
Draught of Fishes.
The old church must have been a curious and
singularly attractive little building, judging by the
drawing preserved in Cracklow's Churches of Surrey
(1824). The late Mr. J. L. Andre has also left a
careful sketch of the church taken from the south-
east, Cracklow's view being from the north-west,
accompanied by a small block plan to scale, from
which its dimensions can be approximately re-
covered.
It was built of Bargate rubble, and the walls were
plastered externally. It consisted of nave, about 40 ft.
by 20 ft. internally, and short chancel with a semi-
circular apse about 1 5 ft. in length and 1 7 ft. in
width. On the north of the nave, somewhat un-
usually, was the principal entrance, protected by a
timber-framed porch with arched opening and foliated
barge-board of 14th-century character. A little to
the west of the middle of the nave roof (which was
covered with Horsham slabs) rose a timber bell-turret
with shingled spirelet, containing two bells (re-cast
at the re-building), this turret being described by
Cracklow as 'a loft of timber,' viewed from within
the nave. At the west end there was a gallery erected
in 1784. The south door was a plain round-headed
opening of mid lath-century date, and two very
perfect little windows of the same date remained, one
in either wall, in the eastern part of the nave. (In
Mr. Andre's sketch the stove pipe is seen projecting
through that on the south.) In the apse were two
lancets of early 13th-century character, while to the
west of that on the south side was a two-light tracery
window of the first half of the 1 4th century, and
another of similar date and style in the eastern part
of the nave hard by. A plain opening filled with a
wooden frame had been pierced in the west wall
about 1 800, and another in the western part of the
south wall, high up, to light the gallery.
The earliest monuments are to Richard Holland,
rector, and to his wife, who died respectively in 1 694
and 1664. The ancient family of Didelsfold is re-
presented by later memorials.
All the church plate is of igth-century date, one
chalice being engraved with seven kneeling angels and
the Agnus Dei, the River of Life, the Holy City, the
twelve angels and the names of the tribes of Israel
and of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb, &c. No
less than 300 precious stones (including those men-
tioned in the Apocalypse) have been employed in the
jewelling of this remarkable cup, which was the work
of Mr. J. A. Pippet, of the firm of Messrs. J. Hard-
man & Co., Birmingham, who also executed the
wall-paintings in the church. Underneath the foot
is ' Vernon Musgrave Rector of Hascombe A.D.
1889.'
The bells are all modern.
The registers of baptisms date from 1 646, of mar-
riages from 1658, of burials from 1659.
No church is mentioned in the
ADV Off SON Taxatio of 1291, but Henry Hussey
died seised of the advowson in
1305." It belonged to the successive lords of Has-
combe till early in the igth century, when Algernon
M Feet of F. SUIT. Mil. 9 Geo. I j
Recov. R. East. 9 Geo. I, m. 13, 16.
28 Brayley, Hilt. ofSurr. v, llj ; Recov.
R. East, i Geo. IV, m. 6.
* Commonly so called. Salmon, An-
tiquities of Surr. (ed. 1735), called it
St. John's. In 1535 Arnold Mellersh
desired by will to be buried before the
high altar in the church of St. Michael,
Hascombe.
Harl. MS. 5193, fol. 26.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
Wellington appears to have purchased it. 16 In 1835
Alan Mackenzie presented to the church." In 1841
the advowson was the property of Mrs. T. C.
Stone,' 8 and in 1906 of the trustees of Mr. E.
Thompson.
Dr. Conyers Middleton, author of The History of
the Life of Cicero, was presented to the living in
March 17^6-7,'* but did not apparently reside.
CHARITY. Smith's Charity is distributed in.
money and clothing.
ST. MARTHA'S OR CHILWORTH
St. Martha's (1291) ;' St. Martha and All Holy
Martyrs, and Martyr's Hill (1464) ; Martha Hill
(1468) ; Marters Hill (1538); St. Martha on the
Hill (i 589).
St. Martha's is a small parish, now ecclesiastically
merged in Albury, 2 miles south-east of Guildford,
bounded on the north by Stoke and Merrow, on the
west by Shalford, on the south by Wonersh, on the
east by Albury. It con tains 1, 060 acres. Its greatest
length north to south is under 2 miles, its greatest
breadth on the northern border is under a mile and
a half. The soil is chalk in the north, on the downs,
but most of it is on the Greensand, which rises in
St. Martha's Hill to 570 ft. above the sea. The hill,
crowned by what is now called the chapel of St.
Martha, is abrupt and isolated, forming a more
conspicuous object than the height, which is surpassed
by the hills to the south of it, would indicate. It is
higher than the chalk down to the north of it, and
the views from it south-west towards Hindhead, and
eastward along the valley to Albury and Shere, are
among the most picturesque in the county.
The valley to the south of the hill, through which
the Tillingbourne flows, has for long been the seat of
industries dependent upon the good water-power
supplied by the stream. There was a mill in Domes-
day, a corn-mill and a fulling-mill in 1589,' and from
before that date gunpowder mills, which still continue.*
There was a paper-mill which was burnt down in
1 896 and has never been rebuilt. Cobbett, in his
Rural Rides, has a remark, often quoted, upon the
extreme beauty of this valley as God made it, and its
pollution by the two worst inventions of the Devil,
gunpowder and bank-notes being manufactured in it.
Postford Mill is on the boundary of this parish
and of Albury. The road from Guildford to Dorking
and the Reading branch of the South Eastern Railway
traverse the southern end of the parish ; Chilworth
and Albury station, opened 1 849, is just inside it.
An ancient bridle way from the ferry over the
Wey at St. Catherine's Hill, through the Chantry
Woods, and over St. Martha's Hill, close by the
church, and so down to Albury, has been generally
identified with the Pilgrims' Way. The line,
straight over the top of a steep isolated hill which
might have been easily turned upon either side, does
eeem to indicate some ancient route to some object of
interest upon the hill. If to the church, the Holy
Martyr, St. Thomas of Canterbury, one of the
patrons of Newark Priory, to which the church was
appropriated, whose shrine at Canterbury travellers
here might be seeking, may have superseded St.
Martha in popular language as the patron of the
hill.
Neolithic flint implements and flakes are of more
than usually abundant occurrence on this road, on
the hill and in the fields to the north of it. On the
hill, near the top and towards the southern side, were
several curious earth-circles about 28 to 30 yds. in
diameter marked by a slight mound and ditch. The
best was destroyed a few years ago by the Hambledon
District Council, who made a reservoir on the hill to
which water is pumped to supply houses on Blackheath.
The persons responsible for the work made no effort to
observe or record any discoveries. The next best marked
lies nearly due south of the church. To the south-west is
another, fairly well marked, but much overgrown by
heather, ferns, and fir trees. The fourth, nearly ob-
literated, is south-east of the church. South-west of the
church marks in the ground visible in a dry season
may indicate nearly obliterated hut-circles. Small flint
implements are to be found in them scratched out by
rabbits. At the western foot of the hill, near the road
opposite Tyting, is a large barrow with trees upon it,
which has, apparently, never been disturbed. On the
north side of St. Martha's Hill lies the old farm-house
of Tyting, which from the period of the Domesday
Survey belonged to the Bishops of Exeter. It stands
in a quaint old-world herb-garden, and still retains a
small oratory with a group of three lancets in chalk,
probably of early 13th-century date.
Chilworth is an erroneous name for the parish. It
is an ancient manor, and the few houses usually called
Chilworth are partly in St. Martha's and partly in
Shalford parishes. Of modern houses Lockner Holt
and Brantyngeshay in the part of the parish which
reaches Blackheath to the south are the residences of
Mrs. Sellar and Mr. H. W. Prescott, respectively.
The elementary school was opened in 1873. There
are one or two old houses in the hamlet of Chilworth.
Some of these are probably due to the settlement here
in Elizabeth's reign of workmen employed under Sir
Polycarp Wharton in the manufacture of gunpowder.
There are two reputed manors in St.
MANORS Martha Chilworth, to the south, and
Tyting, to the north, of St. Martha's Hill.
CHllWORTH (Celeorde, xi cent. ; Chele worth, xiii
and xiv cents.) was held by Alwin under Edward the
Confessor, and after the Conquest came with Bramley,
in which it lay, into the hands of Odo, Bishop of
Bayeux.* It was afterwards held of the lords of
Bramley by the tenants of Utworth Manor 5 (q.v.), with
which it descended till 1614, at which date Sir John
Morgan, who was knighted at Cadiz in 1596," sold
Inst. Bki. (P.R.O.).
Ibid.
Brayley, Hist. ofSurr. v, 127.
a9 Diet. Nat. Biog, xxrvii, 34.6.
1 ' Taxatio Ealtiiatiea,' Cott. MS. Ti-
berius C. x. which is nearly contemporary
with 1291.
1 Settlement on the marriage of John
Morgan of Chilworth.
8 Y.C.H. Surr. ii, 301.
IO4
4 Ibid, i, 301.
& It is first recorded as being in their
possession in 1240-1 ; Feet of F. Surr.
25 Hen. Ill, 7.
6 S.P. Dom. Eliz. cclir, 84.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
ST. MARTHA'S
SPENCER, Earl Spen-
cer. Argent quartered
with gules fretty or over
all a bend sable ivith three
scallops argent thereon.
Utworth but retained Chilworth. 7 Sir John's
daughter Anne married Sir Edward Randyll, 8 whose
son Sir Morgan Randyll, kt., was seised of the manor
in 16401, when he was proved insane. 9 His
brother, Vincent Randyll, succeeded him. 10 His son
Morgan Randyll, who was for some years member of
Parliament for Guildford, sold the manor in 1720 to
Richard Houlditch, a director of the South Sea
Company." After the company's failure the direc-
tors' lands were sold to indem-
nify its victims. The estates
of Richard Houlditch were
purchased by Sarah, Dowager
Duchess of Marlborough, who
bequeathed them to her grand-
son John, Earl Spencer, 11 who
was succeeded in 1746 by his
son John, afterwards Viscount
Althorp." His son sold the
manor in 1796 to Edmund
Hill," from whom it passed
to William Tinkler, whose son
William owned it in 1841."
It was sold in 1 845, together
with Weston in Albnry, to
Mr. Henry Drummond, and is now in the possession
of the Duke of Northumberland. 16
On the south side of St. Martha's Hill stands the
manor-house of Chilworth, which has an ornamental
brick gable and porch. On the site of this was a cell
belonging to the priory of Newark, and St. Martha's
was probably always served by a canon resident
here. Their large walled and terraced gardens and
stewponds for fish still remain.
TTTING (Tetinges, xi cent ; Tiling, xiii cent.) was
held by Elmer the Huntsman before the Conquest, and
afterwards became a possession
of Bishop Osbern of Exeter,
who had been chaplain to
Edward the Confessor. 17 It
was held by the successive
Bishops of Exeter till 1548.
In 1234-5 John l fi Chanu
and his wife Katherine quit-
claimed to William Bishop of
Exeter Katherine's rights in
a carucate of land in Tyt-
ing. 18 From time to time this
manor was assessed among the
Bishop's temporalities." In
August 1549 John Veysey,
then Bishop of Exeter, sold the freehold to Thomas
Fisher. 10 He shortly afterwards conveyed it to
Henry Polsted," whose son Richard, together with
SEK OF EXETER. Gules
St. Pouts sword erect sur-
mounted by St, Peter* s keys
crossed saltirttvisc.
William Morgan, was in possession in 1571." He
married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William More of
Loseley, and had from him an assignment of a ninety-
nine years' lease which Sir William and Henry Weston
are said to have acquired in February 1566-7."
Richard Polsted died in 1576," and in the next year
Francis Polsted alienated Tyting to Sir William
More, probably as trustee for Elizabeth (Polsted), 15 but
William Morgan's interest still continued, for in 1602
he died seised of lands and tenements called 'Tiling.' K
Early in the same century bolh Sir George More,
son of Sir William More, and Ann Randyll, grand-
daughler of William Morgan, joined wilh George
Duncombe in a conveyance of ihe manor to John
Astrete or Street," who is said to have been holding
the estate in l6o2. 18 He was succeeded by his son
John. 19 John Street and George Duncombe conveyed
to Francis Williamson in 1637. He sold to Vincent
Rundyn, and ihe latter to George Duncombe of
Albury, who by his will of 1672 left in il Irust for his
family, Richard Symmes being one of the truslees. 30
Manning and Bray say that it was conveyed in 1710
to Abraham Woods, from ihe trustees of whose son
William it came to Philip Carteret Webb, in 1747.
From Mr. Webb il descended to his son, John Smith
Webb," who sold it to Robert Austen of Shalford, 31
in whose family it still remains.
ST. MARTHA'S Chapel, 3 ' a well-
CHURCH known landmark for all the country side,
stands upon the summit of a ridge of
Greensand, about 5 70 ft. above the sea. Although called
a chapel, it seems always to have possessed the rights of
a parish church ; and it is probably lo be identified
with one of the ihree churches mentioned in Domes-
day as standing on the manor of Bramley, then held
by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, who may well have built
the original of the present building. The site itself
is an extremely ancient one, and several circular earth-
works still remain on St. Martha's Hill.
The building as we now see it is largely of modern
date, an object-lesson of the mischievous results of
fanciful restoration, the nave, which had long lain in
ruins, being rebuilt in a pseudo-' Norman ' style, and
the chancel and iransepl largely reconstructed in
1848. The chancel and transepts had remained
intacl unlil about 1846, although the nave was a
roofless ruin, and only fragments of the large west
tower existed ; but in thai year part of the roof fell
in and services wera suspended. The then Lord
Loraine co-operated with two other neighbouring
county gentlemen, Mr. H. Currie, of Wesl Horsley,
and Mr. R. A. C. Godwin Austen, of Shalford, to
rebuild the ruined nave and restore the eastern limb,
the last fragmenis of the western tower being at the
" Feet of F. Surr. Hil. n Jas. I.
8 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccxxxvii,
7-
9 Ibid, ccccxcii, 15.
10 Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 1649.
Ibid. Mich. 7 Geo. I.
u True Copy of the Last Will and
Testament of Sarah, late Duchess Dowager
of Marlborougb (ed. 1 744), 2 et eq.
u Collins, Peerage (ed. 1779), i, 340.
14 Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, IX 8.
" Bray ley, Topog, Hist, of Surr. v, 131.
18 See account of Albury.
W V.C.It. Surr. i, 300.7. In the
Domesday Survey Tyting is accounted
for in Woking Hundred. In Speed's
map of Surrey, 1676, Tyting is just
within the boundary of Woking Hun-
dred.
18 Feet of F. Surr. 19 Hen. Ill, 19.
19 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 207 ;
Esch. Inq. (Ser. i), file 1760, no. I.
Pat. 3 Edw. VI, pt, vi, m. 16 et
seq.
81 Feet of F. Surr. East 5 Edw. VI.
M Loseley MS. x, 59.
93 Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 119.
The lease had been granted by Veysey to
Sir Edmund Walsingham in 2 Edw. VI
(1548). Elizabeth Polsted paid money
to Henry Weston shortly after 1576
(Loseley MS. iz, 36).
105
Loseley MS. x, 59.
* Feet of F. SUIT. Mich. 19 & 20 Eliz.
x Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cclxxxi, 85.
* Feet of F. Surr. East. 6 Jas. I ; Hil.
19 Jas. L
98 Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 119.
99 W. and L. Inq. p.m. xxxix, 94.
80 Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 119,
from Symmes Add. MS. 6167. From
Symmes' position as trustee the account is
probably correct.
81 Recov. R. Trin. 25 Geo. III.
89 Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 119.
88 ' Saynt Marter ' is the title given in
the inventory of church goods taken in
the reign of Edward VI.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
same time removed This tower, which seems to
have been very massive and large, is shown in ruins
in the engraving published in Grose's Antiquities, from
a sketch taken in 1763," it having been thrown down
by a severe explosion at the Chilworth gunpowder
factories in that year. This view shows part of the
vault (apparently a plain quadripartite one without
ribs) as then existing, and beneath is a circular square-
edged arch opening into the nave. The simple character
of this arch, which was devoid of ornament except
for a chamfered impost at the springing, suggests that
it may have been part of Bishop Odo's work of the
last decades of the 1 1 th century ; and a small round-
headed window in the south wall of the nave, shown
in Cracklow's view of 1824, coincides very well with
this date. There seems to have been a plain early
doorway in the north and south walls, features that
together with the windows have been reproduced in
some sort in the new work. The nave, built on the
old foundations, measures 45 ft. in length by 1 5 ft. I in.
at the west, and 1 6 ft. at the east ; the central cross-
ing, 1 2 ft. 6 in. by 1 3 ft. 6 in. wide ; the north
transept, 1 1 ft. 8 in. by 1 2 ft., and the south transept,
1 2 ft. 8 in. by 1 2 ft. ; while the chancel is 2 3 ft.
PLAN OF ST. MARTHA'S OR CHILWORTH CHURCH
long by 1 6 ft. 8 in. The thickness of the present west
wall (3 ft. 6 in .) represents that of the walls of the de-
stroyed western tower. The transept and crossing
walls are 2 ft. 3 in. on an average.
The authority for the present central tower is
very questionable, and in any case its ' Norman ' style
is out of keeping with the plain early pointed arches
on which it stands, parts of which are original work
of circa 1 1 90.
Probably the first chancel was apsidal, and this
square space represented the quire.
There is no window in the west wall of the north
transept or the north wall of the chancel, and all the
other windows are restorations. It is on record that
foundations were discovered in the ground to the
east of the transepts, probably those of chapels, perhaps
apsidal. Three aumbries were found in the chancel, and
two stone coffin-lids, with floriated crosses, much worn,
were dug up, and now lie on the floor of the chancel.
Two buttresses against the south wall of the chancel
are probably not mediaeval, but a sort of buttress
projection in the angle between that wall and the
east wall of the south transept was possibly made to
allow of a squint being pierced from the transept to
command the high altar.
There is reason to believe that the barrel-shaped
font, of sandstone, is the one described by Manning
and Bray as at Elstead Church, whence it had dis-
appeared before 1845. The St. Martha's font was
brought ' from another church,' where it had been
thrown out into the churchyard in 1 849, and the
carving added on the spot. The original was early
Norman, like that at Thursley. 35
The silver cup and paten bear the London hall-
marks of 1780.
The bells are all modern.
An iron church in Chilworth hamlet was built in
1896 and is served from Shalford.
St. Martha's was probably one of
ADVQW&QN the three churches appurtenant to
Bramley in 1 08 7, 3Sa and the advowson
alienated by the lord of Bramley, at the time when
Chilworth was granted out to
the lords of Utworth, for Elias
of Utworth " owned late in the
1 2th century, and granted it to
the Priory of St. Thomas the
Martyr at Aldebury." The
priory retained the advowson
until its surrender in 1538.**
In the episcopal registers of
1463 record is kept of an in-
dulgence granted to pilgrims to,
or benefactors of, the church of
St. Martha and All Holy Mar-
tyrs. 39 After the surrender of
the priory the advowson seems
to have become the property of
the lords of Chilworth Manor,
with which it has since de-
scended.
The church in 1291 is called ecclesia not capella,
and the canons of Newark were endowed with all
the usual parochial revenues in 1 262.' They pre-
sented a vicar previous to 1330," and as late as
1412." Latterly it was a donative, probably from
the time of the Dissolution, and an annuity was
paid to a curate by the patron. The duty was
usually done by the incumbent of some neighbour-
ing parish or his curate. The registers are in
consequence imperfect, entries being in existence
in Wonersh, Albury, and elsewhere referring to
St. Martha's ; but there is a register with some
entries of baptisms and burials from 1779, an< ^ ^
marriages from 1794. Since 1849 it has been
attached to Albury, and the rector of Albury, the
Rev. H. E. Crossley, was instituted by the Bishop
of Winchester as rector of Albury and vicar of St.
Martha's in 1904.
81 In an engraving by Hill, probably
made between 1740 and 1750, published
in the Eccl. Topog. of Surr., all four walls
of the tower are shown as standing. Rus-
sel, Hist, of Guildford, mentions that there
were three bells in the tower, and that most
of the materials were carried off by Lord
Spencer's steward 'to mend the roads.'
85 Information of the late Rev. J. R.
Charlsworth and of the late Mr. H.
Woodyer.
*> r.C.H. Surr. i, 3014.
86 See under Utworth.
" i.e. the priory of Newark j Maitland,
B radon's Nott Bk. 928,
1 06
88 See V.C.H. Surr. ii, 104.
89 Bishop Waynflete's Register, quoted
by Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 119.
40 Winton Epis. Reg. Waynflete i (2),
fol. 83.
41 Ibid. Stratford, fol. I2O.
4a Ibid. Beaufort Inst. fol. 923.
VIEW SHOWINR ST. MARTHA'S HILL
ST. MARTHA'S CHAPEL FROM THE SOUTH-WEST
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
SHALFORD
SHALFORD
Scaldefor (xi cent.) ; Scaudeford (xiii cent.) ;
Shaldeford (xiv cent.) ; Shalforde (xvi cent).
The parish of Shalford lies south-east of Guildford.
It is intersected by the River Wey from south to
north, and the Tillingbourne running east and west
joins the Wey close to the village. It is bounded on
the north by St. Mary's and Holy Trinity parishes,
Guildford, and by Stoke ; on the east by Chilworth ;
on the south-east by Wonersh ; on the south by Bram-
ley ; on the south-west by Godalming ; on the west
by St. Nicholas Guildford. The parish contains
about 2,560 acres. It is 6 miles long from north to
south, 2 miles broad, generally, with a narrow tongue
running out further to the west.
The soil is chiefly the Lower Greensand, with an
outcrop of Gault, and also of Wealden Clay at Shal-
ford Park. But like all the parishes on the southern
side of the chalk range the northern boundary ex-
tends on to the chalk down, where a suburb of
Guildford, called Warwick's Bench, is in Shalford
parish, not included in Guildford Borough.
Shalford Common is a stretch of open grass ex-
tending from near Tangley Manor in Wonersh to the
Wey. Trunley Common and Gosden Common are
almost touching it to the south-west of the parish,
and part of Peasemarsh Common is in Shalford to
the west. From near Shalford village towards
St. Martha's Hill, the Chantry Woods, so named
from part of them having formed the endowment of
the Norbrigge Chantry in Trinity Church, Guildford,
are a wooded ridge on the highest part of the Green-
sand. Half the parish is open common or wood.
The old Common Fields, finally inclosed in 1803,
lay between Shalford village and Guildford, on the
east side of the road. On the west side is Shalford
Park. This road intersects the parish, and divides on
Shalford Common, leading south to Horsham, east to
Dorking.
The parish is also intersected by the Red Hill and
Reading Branch of the South Eastern Railway. Shal-
ford Station was opened in 1849. The London
Brighton and South Coast and London and South
Western Railways intersect the parish, but there are no
stations upon them. The canal, made in 1813, con-
necting the Wey and the Arun, left the former river
in Shalford parish. It became unnavigable about 1870,
and is now quite abandoned.
There is a brewery at Broadford on the Wey. At
Summersbury there is a tannery, which has been estab-
lished over a century. 1 Cloth-making was carried on
at Shalford in the 1 7th century.' There are chalk
pits and lime kilns on the slope of the downs, in the
northern part of the parish.
In 1086 there were three mills at Shalford.* One
water-mill only is mentioned in an extent of East
Shalford in 1332.' When the manor was divided
the lords of each moiety had half the mill. In 1547
Christopher More of Loseley held the mill, which
had recently belonged to Robert Wintershull. 6 This
is Pratt's mill now existing on the Tillingbourne.
The other two mills seem to have been upon the
River Wey, near Unstead, and near the weir above
St. Catherine's lock 6 respectively, being referred to in
a lawsuit in 1379 between the inhabitants of Shalford
and Robert de Chisenhale, &c. r
A cottage near the old way from St. Catherine's
Ferry to St. Martha's Hill, isolated from the village
by the old Common Fields, is traditionally called the
Pest House. It is usually known now as Cyder House
Cottage. In the last house of the parish on the left-
hand side of Quarry Hill on the road into Guildford,
John Bunyan is said to have held a meeting.
Neolithic implements and a few Roman coins have
been found near East Shalford Manor House, 8 and
palaeolithic implements have been found between the
Chantry Woods and the chalk down.
Opposite the church is an old house called Dib-
nersh, the residence of the Misses Morris. It
formerly belonged to the Buncombe family (see Al-
bury and Ockley), and was sold to Mr. Robert
Austen in 1755.
Bradstone Brook is the seat of Mr. J. H. Renton j
it was built in 1791 by Mr. Thomas Gibson.
Gosden House, the property of Mr. F. E. Eastwood,
is the residence of Mr. S. Christopherson. A con-
siderable number of small gentlemen's houses have
been built in the parish, and a large residential suburb
of Guildford is springing up about Pewley Hill in
Shalford.
There is a Wesleyan chapel on Shalford Common,
originally established in 1843. A new building was
erected in 1895. Near the eastern border of the
parish is a small iron church where services are held,
and another on the borders of Peasemarsh.
The cemetery was opened in 1886. The Village
Hall, presented by Mr. Edward Ellis of Summers-
bury in 1886, is near the station. It contains a
refreshment room, meeting room, and reading room.
The school was built as a Church of England
school in 1855. In 1 88 1 it was transferred to a
school board, and the buildings were enlarged in
1882.
Shalford is one of the prettiest and most charm-
ingly situated villages in Surrey, lying as it does in.
the midst of water meadows, with tall poplars and
other fine trees, between the River Wey and its tribu-
tary the Tillingbourne. The village consists of a
winding street of picturesque old cottages, with a few
others straggling up side lanes and down to the water.
The Seahorse Inn is a pleasant old-world hostelry
with square-leaded panes to the windows. Many of
the cottages appear to have been smartened up as to
their fronts in the beginning of the 1 9th century,
but the backs and interiors show them to be really
old. A short lane leads down to the little water-
mill, tile-hung almost to the ground, and having a
large projecting upper story carried on wooden pillars.
It is probable that its proximity to Guild-
1 y.C.H. Surr.
1 Ibid, ii, 344.
'Ibid, i, 3194.
, 34>.
4 Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. Ill (znd no*.)
no. 84.
*Mic. Bki. (Erch. L.T.R.), vol. 168,
p. 72.
107
'Estate map 1617 ftnet Col. Godwin*
Austen.
' Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 99.
y.C.H. Surr. i, 253.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
ford made Shalford a favourite country retreat, and
that this accounts for there being several houses of
some pretension. Among others, near to the mill, is
one which as it does not face the road is easily over-
looked. It has a gable of stone with very ornamental
brick dressings, and this and the other gables, which
are curved and pedimental, bear a close resemblance
to the early examples of brickwork in Godalming,
Guildford, Farnham, &c., and both inside and out it
has many points in common with the old manor-
house of Slyfield, in Great Bookham parish.
This house, called Old House, but formerly Mill
House, has some good mullioned windows with lead
glazing, in square and diamond panes, and a good
door-head. It is panelled in nearly all the rooms, and
there is a particularly fine 1 staircase, very like that at
Slyfield, with rusticated newels, and instead of balus-
ters pierced arabesque scroll-work cut out of the solid.
As a relic of the past, the stocks and whipping-post,
shaded by the yew tree under the churchyard wall,
are of interest.
The manor of SHALFORD or EAST
MANORS SHALFORD 9 was held jointly by two
brothers in the time of Edward the
Confessor. 10 In 1087 it was held by Robert (possibly
de Wateville) of Richard de
Tonbridge." The latter was
the ancestor of the de Clares,
and the manor continued to
be held of the honour of
Clare." It is probable that
the de Watevilles were the
under-tenants until the reign
of Henry II, when Robert de
Wateville is said to have sold
the manor to Robert de Dun-
stanville. 13 Walter de Dun-
stanville gave the manor with
his sister Alice in marriage, but repossessed himself
of it, whereupon Gilbert Bassett, son of Alice, ob-
tained a confirmation of his rights from King John."
Richard de Camvill and his wife Eustacea (daughter
and heiress of Gilbert Bassett) are said to have had
the custody of Shalford during the minority of the
heir of Walter de Dunstanville." Richard's daughter
Idonea married William Longesp6e son of the Earl of
Salisbury," and with him seems to have retained the
manor " in spite of continued suits by a certain
Sibyl. 18 Finally, William Longesp6e granted the manor
to John son of Geoffrey, Earl of Essex." His son
John died seised of it, leaving a brother and heir
Richard," whose widow Emma, afterwards wife of
CLARE. Or three ehe-
uerons gules.
Robert de Montalt, 11 held it in dower." She conveyed
her right in it to Hugh le Despenser the younger, to
whom Idonea Crumbwell, one of the heirs of Isabel
LoNGEspf K. Azure six
lioncels or.
DESPCNS&R. Argent
quartered 'with gules
fretty or with a bend
sable over all.
sister and co-heir of Richard son of John,** also released
her claim in that moiety of the manor which should
have descended to her at the death of Emma de
Montalt," this conveyance being forced on her
against her will.* 4 Robert, Lord Clifford, the other co-
heir of Isabel,* 6 made no quitclaim to the Despensers.
Therefore when, at the forfeiture of the latter's estates,
Shalford was taken into the king's hands," this
moiety remained with Robert Clifford and became
the manor of Shalford Clifford.' 8
SHALFORD CLIFFORD was settled by Robert,
Lord Clifford, on his youngest son Thomas for life.' 9
In 1373 Sir Roger Clifford, kt., second son, but ulti-
mately heir, of Robert, conveyed the reversion at his
brother's death to his own son Thomas and his
wife Elizabeth, 30 who survived her husband."
Their grandson and heir, Thomas, Lord Clifford,
was killed at St. Albans in 1455, leaving a son
and heir John, Lord Clifford, who was killed at
CLIFTORD, Earl of
Cumberland. Cheeky or
and azure afesse gules.
BROWNE, Viscount
Montagu. Sable three
lions passant bendivays
bet-ween double catises
argent.
8 In contra-diitinction to the rectory
manor of West Shalford ; Early Chan.
Proc. liii, 119.
10 V.C.H. Surr. i, 3190. They are said
to have lived ' in Una curia.'
" Ibid.
14 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 219 ;
Chan. Inq. p.m. 25 Edw. I, 50 ; ibid. 18
Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 50 ; ibid. (Ser. 2),
x, 164.
u Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 59.
Quoting 'Plac. de Banco, East. 14 Hen. Ill,
in pell, scacc. reg. reman, rot. 19,' but this
reference cannot be verified.
14 Cal. Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), i, 41.
" Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 47.
Rot. Lit. Pat. (Rec. Com.), i, 178* j
Rot. Lit. Claus. (Rec. Com.), ii, 123, 138.
*7 Tata de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 2 1 9.
18 She is said to have been the second
wife of Walter de Dunstanville. She
appears first as Sibyl wife of Ingram de
Pratellis and afterwards as Sibyl Ferrars ;
Close, 10 Hen. Ill, m. 5 ; ibid. 12 Hen.
Ill, m. 13 d, 3 d.
19 Deed then in possession of Sir John
Nicholas quoted by Symmea ; Add. MS.
6167, fol. 370.
20 Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Edw. I, no. 47.
M Pat. 29 Edw. I, m. 32.
M Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. Ill (2nd
nos.), no. 61.
83 Chan. Inq. p.m. 25 Edw. I, no. 50.
Feet of F. Surr. 17 Edw. II; Cal. Pat.
34 Cal. of Pat. 1330-4, p. 440. Ap-
parently restitution was not made to
Idonea.
108
* Pat. 7 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 27 ;
Chan. Inq. p.m. 25 Edw. I, no. 50. Robert
was brother and heir of Roger son of
Isabel ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. Ill
(2nd nos.), no. 61. Roger forfeited his land:
before his death in 1 344, and with them
the reversion of Shalford 5 Pat 1 5 Edw. II,
m. 7.
W Esch. Accts. 5-8 Edw. Ill, ii, 54, m.
II ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. Ill (2nd
nos.), no. 61.
48 The temporary custody of the other
half was granted to William Hatton j
Esch. Accts. 5-8 Edw. Ill, ii, 54, m. n.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. Ill (ist
nos.), no. 50.
80 Feet of F. Surr. 2 Ric. II, 1 5. The
conveyance was not complete till 1379.
M Chan. Inq. p.m. 1 3 Hen. VI, no. 42.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
SHALFORD
Ferrybridge and attainted in 1461." His lands were
granted to an usher of Edward IV, Nicholas Gaynes-
ford, 33 who was himself attainted at the accession of
Richard III." The manor was granted by that
king to Sir John Neville. 34 On the accession of
Henry VII it was restored to Henry, Lord Clifford,
' the shepherd lord,' with the other possessions of his
father, John, Lord Clifford. 36 His grandson Henry,
second Earl of Cumberland, sold Shalford to Sir
Anthony Browne in January 1 5434." Sir Anthony
had inherited Shalford Bradestan, the other moiety of
the original manor. Thus the two moieties were re-
united and descended to Sir Anthony's son, who was
created Viscount Montagu in I554-* 8 Francis,
third viscount, sold the manor to Sir John Nicholas
in 1677." In 1733 the executors of Edward Nicholas,
his son, who died in 1726, sold the manor to Thomas,
Lord Onslow, 40 in whose family it has since remained,
the present owner being William Hillier, Earl of
Onslow.
When the manor was taken into the king's hands
in 1333 (vide supra) the custody of SH4LFORD
BR4DEST4N, the second moiety of Shalford, was
granted successively to William
Hatton, Henry Hussey, and
Thomas de Ponings. 41 The
last held it for life. At his
death it was granted in tail to
Sir Thomas de Bradestan,
from whom it obtained the
name of Shalford Bradestan.
He was succeeded in 1360
by his grandson and heir
Thomas," who died a minor
in 1374, l eav ' n g an infant
daughter Elizabeth, 41 who mar-
ried Walter de la Pole. 44 He
died seised of Shalford Bradestan in right of his wife in
1434." Their grandson Sir Edmund Ingaldesthorp,
kt., inherited the manor. 4 * At his death in 1456
his widow Joan held the manor in dower, her hus-
band's heirs being the children of his daughter Isabel,
Marchioness Montagu. One of these, Lucy Fitz
William, inherited Shalford Bradestan at Joan's death
in 1494," and bequeathed it to her son William
Fitz William and his wife Mabel 48 for life, with rever-
sion to her son Sir Anthony Browne, who had pur-
chased the other part of Shalford Clifford (vide supra), so
that the whole was reunited and descended as above.
The demesne of the whole manor called East Shalford
Manor was purchased in 1779 by Robert Austen,
BRADESTAN. Argent a
quarter gules with a rote
or therein.
AUSTEN OF SHALFORD.
Azure a chcvcron argent
benveen three choughs or.
and is the property of Colonel Godwin Austen, his
descendant.
There was a custom that the
lord of Shalford might tally
his bond-tenants loos, year-
ly. 49 In the 1 3th century John
son of Geoffrey, lord of Shiere,
unjustly appropriated view of
frankpledge to himself there. 50
The right of free warren was
appurtenant to the manor. 41
In the 1 4th century the lords
of Shalford Clifford and Brade-
stan paid Romscot to the vicar
of Shalford. 4 '
The early history of the reputed manor of UN-
STEAD (Townhampstead, Ownstead, or Unsted,
xvi cent.) is obscure. In 1256-7 William de
Wintershull acquired land in Dunsfold, Hascombe,
Bramley, and ' Tunchamstede,' from Geoffrey de
Braboeuf." Late in the 1 3th century William son
of Eustace of East Catteshull granted lands in East
Catteshull in Bramley to John son of Ralph de Ton-
hamstede, in exchange for land called Pinnokesland. 54
In 1385 William Webbe complained at the Godalm-
ing Hundred Court of trespass upon his land at
' Tunhamstede.' " Later in the 1 5th century Henry
Stoughton was seised of Unstead, and his son Thomas
was in possession in 1459-90.
Thomas had a son Gilbert, and in 1517 Gilbert
Stoughton died seised of Unstead, held of the manor
of Selhurst (or Wintershull), his son Laurence being
his heir. 46
In 1 547 Laurence Stoughton conveyed it to John
Parvish, jun., in exchange for lands in Stoke. 47 John
Parvish of Unstead was buried in I583. 48 His
nephew Thomas Parvish sold the manor in 1588 to
his cousin Henry Parvish, citizen and haberdasher of
London, who died 4 August 1593, having settled his
estate on his sons and their heirs female. 59
The capital messuage was bought in 1608 by Sir
George More of Loseley from Gabriel Parvish, son
of Henry, 60 and he in 1609 conveyed to George
Austen, 61 who died seised of it in 1621, and was
succeeded by his son John. 61 He sold it in 1626
to the trustees of Henry Smith's Charity in Godalm-
ing, 63 and they conveyed it to the Corporation of
Godalming for a sewage farm in 1894.
The reputed manor was apparently divided among
the Parvish family, and Unstead Manor Farm was
a possession of the Onslow family during the I7th
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Edw. IV, no. 52.
M Pat. 5 Edw. IV, pt. ii, m. 5 j I Edw.
IV, pt. iii, m. 7.
4 Harl. MS. 433, fol. 145.
Ibid. fol. 168.
M Material, for Hitt. of Hen. VII (Rolls
Ser.), i, 117.
W L. and P. Hen. VIII, xix (i), 80 (64).
58 Cal. S.P. Dam. 1547-80, p. 63. Sir
Anthony Browne's widow married Lord
Clinton, Lord High Admiral, who in 1558
peaks of his manor of Shalford Clifford j
Hitt. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, App. 614.
The queen granted ' all lands and tene-
ments by name of Shalford or Shalford
Clifford to Thomas Butter as 'concealed
lands' (Pat. 33 Eliz. pt. v, m. I et seq.),
but Viscount Montagu probably made his
claim good, and remained in possession.
Recov. R. Mich. 29 Chas. II, m. 56.
40 Close, 7 Ceo. II, pt. vii, m. 46.
41 Esch. Accts. 5-8 Edw. Ill, ii, 54, m.
64 et seq.
49 Chan. Inq. p.m. 34 Edw. Ill (lit
not.), no. 61.
48 Ibid. 48 Edw. Ill (ist not.), no. 10.
44 Pat. 19 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 17.
41 Chan. Inq. p.m. 12 Hen. VI, no. 33.
* Cal. Inj. f.m. Hen. VII, i, 96. He
was son and heir of Margaret, daughter of
Elizabeth and Walter de la Pole. Mar-
garet had married Thomas Ingaldesthorp.
47 Ibid. 483 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 35 Hen.
VI, no. 20.
48 Sir William Fitz William,created Earl
of Southampton, died 1542. His widow
Mabel, Countess of Southampton, was hold-
ing in 1 546. See Losterford in Wonersh.
4 Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. Ill (2nd
nos.), no. 84.
109
*> Plac. de Quo War, (Rec. Com.}, 742.
51 Feet of F. SUIT. Trin. 26 Eliz.
Chan. Inq. p.m. 48 Edw. Ill (ist
nos.), no. 10.
Feet of F. Surr. 50 Hen. Ill, 193.
54 Add. Chart. 17279.
M Godalming Hund.R. I June, 8 Ric. II.
58 Ct. R. of Selhurst at Loseley, Feast
of St. Edward the King, 8 Hen. VIII, and
deeds quoted by Manning and Bray, op.
cit. ii, 99. But part of Unstead was held
of the manor of Stonebridge in Shalford.
W Feet of F. Surr. HiU 1 & 2 Edw. VI.
58 Parish Registers.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2),ccixxvi, 74.
50 Close, 6 Jas. I, pt. i, no. 7.
Ibid. 7 Jas. I.
Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxcvii, 90.
63 Com. Pleai D. Enr. Trin. 4 Chat. I,
m. 23.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
and 1 8th centuries. 64 It was exchanged by George,
first Earl of Onslow, with John Sparkes, from whom
it eventually came to Captain Albemarle Bertie, 64
who sold it in 1 800 to Captain William Pierrepont. 66
He conveyed it to Mr. H. Trowers. It is now
part of the property of Mr. L. Phillips. The farm
is on the right-hand side of the road leading from the
Portsmouth road to Bramley, formerly called Trowers.
SH4LFORD RECTORr M4NOR. King John
granted to John of Guildford, parson of Shalford, a
yearly fair to be held in the church and church-
yard on the vigil, day, and morrow of the Assump-
tion. The parson took no toll, but claimed the
stakes fixed in the cemetery and his fee outside,
and held pleas for merchants staying in his
fee. When the fair grew so large that it extended
into Bramley Manor, the lords of Bramley took the
stakes of merchants in their fee, and also held courts
for them. 67 In 1304-5 Ed-
ward I granted two messuages
and land with the services of
free tenants in Shalford and
the advowson of Shalford to
the Hospital of St. Mary
Without Bishopsgate. 68 The
prior evidently leased the rec-
tory from time to time. Roger
Elliot, who had obtained such
a lease in 1475 6, complained
that the prior forced him, be-
ing ' a stranger not acqueynted
in the Cite of London and ferr
from his frendes and wife,' to
pay his rent a second time. 69
After the Dissolution Queen Elizabeth granted the
rectory of Shalford with court leet, view of frank-
pledge, law-days, and assize of bread and ale, to her
secretary John Wolley. 70 He sold it in 1590 to his
brother-in-law, George More," afterwards Sir George
More, from whom it was purchased in 1 599 by John
Austen," who built Shalford House on a place called
the Timber Yard, on the rectory manor, 1 608-10."
The rectory still remains in the possession of his
descendants. George Austen died at Shalford in 1621,
leaving a son John, who inherited the rectory
manor." Robert Austen and his mother Elizabeth
were in possession in 1714, at which date Robert
Austen was living in the ' Parsonage House.' " The
present owner is Lieut.-Colonel Henry Haversham
Godwin Austen, of Nore, Bramley.
The house of Shalford Park is said to be close to the
site of the old rectory manor-house, but the actual
site was called the Timber Yard. In 1 609 Sir George
More conveyed the manor of Unstead to George Aus-
ten, subject to redemption on the payment of 800
in 161 1, in the tenement of the said Austen, ' now in
building upon a parcel of land called the Tymber
Yarde parcel of the parsonage of Shulforde in the
Parish of Shulforde.' 76 Colonel Godwin Austen, lord
of the manor, has the building accounts from 1 60 8 to
1610, showing that it was built in stone and brick.
HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY
WITHOUT BISHOPSGATE.
Party argent and sable a
mill-rind cross counter-
coloured -with a martlet
gules in the quarter.
The house was much altered, and a top story added by
Sir Henry Edmund Austen, who succeeded, as a minor,
in 1797. The front part of the house, now quite
modernized in appearance, is internally of the original
date ; but the carved wooden mantelpiece in the
room to the left of the front door, bearing the date
1631, was brought from elsewhere. The oak room,
on the right hand of the front door, has good panel-
ling, mantelpiece, and ceiling of the later 1 7th cen-
tury. The carved mantelpiece bears the curious
motto Heyme incalesco, aestate refrigero which, as Mr.
Ralph Nevill remarks, is ' a proof that our ancestors
were sufficiently alive to the advantages of open fire-
places.' The library was originally the kitchen. The
mantelpiece bears the date 1 68 1, and the iron fire-
back has the royal arms of Charles II. The dining-
room was built by the late owner in 1875. The
mantelpiece, chalk, with the date 1609, was brought
from Tyting Farm. 77 There was a fine gallery of
pictures, some of which are still in the house, which
is at present let as a private hotel.
The church of ST. MART is the
CHURCH third that has stood on the present
site since 1789, in which year the
mediaeval building, possibly retaining parts of that
mentioned in Domesday, was rebuilt. A view of
the church from the south-east, as it appeared in
1780, shows a picturesque irregular building of cruci-
form plan, having a short and rather high nave with
a south porch, a central tower, and shingled spire,
apparently of 1 2th or 13th-century date, beneath
which is a transept, or rather two transeptal chapels,
conjoined, and having a double-gabled roof, with
1 5th-century windows, and a longish chancel with a
priest's door and a three-light east window of 1 5th-
century date.
In 1789 the church was rebuilt in local stone
rubble with brick dressings a very ugly, heavy
structure having a squat tower with domed roof of
copper, surmounted by a cupola. There was no chancel,
only an alcove or shallow apse, projecting from the
east end of the nave. Cracklow's view of 1824 pre-
serves the memory of this building, which, in 1847,
was in its turn entirely demolished to make way for
the present structure, an ambitious but unsatisfactory
example of the 1 3th-century style. This consists of
nave, aisles, transepts, and chancel, with south porch
and tower with shingled spire at the north-west
angle. The whole building is excessively high ia
proportion to its length, and the detail is starved
and bad.
There are no monuments of any interest except
some tablets to the Austens and to the local family of
the Eliots, of I7th and 18th-century dates.
The old font is at present turned upside down, and
placed as a mounting block outside the vicarage. It
may shortly be restored to the church. There are two
pieces of old glass, preserved from the original church,
showing the arms of Canterbury and Winchester.
The church plate is of the i8th century, and of no>
great interest.
" Feet of F. Div. Co. Hit 22 Chas.
I; ibid. Mich. 1649; ibid. Mich. 28
Chas. I.
65 Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 99.
66 Feet of F. Surr. East. 41 Geo. III.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. I, no. 69.
68 Chart. R. 33 Edw. I, 49. The ad-
vowson is mentioned in the conveyance
of Shalford Bradestan to Hugh le De-
spenser by Idonea de Crumbwell, but the
lords of Shalford Bradettan never pre-
sented.
69 Early Chan. Proc. liii, 119.
7 Pat. 31 Eliz. pt. xvii.
71 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 32 & 35
Eliz.
110
Ibid. Hil. 41 Eliz.
7* Accounts penes Col. Godwin Austen,.
and a deed at Loseley.
" 4 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxcvii, 90.
7 s Exch. Dep. Mich. 9 Anne, 3 ; ibid..
Mich, i Geo. I, 5.
' 6 Close, 7 Jas. I, no. 1981.
77 Information of Col. Godwin Austen.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
SHERE
There are five bells of 1789, and one of 1866, all
by the firm of Warner. When the six were complete
they each bore a part of the verse :
' Thy glory Lord we will resound j to all the
listening nations round | and with our tongues | our
voices raise | to Thee O God | in songs of praise.'
Before 1789, four, dated 16 13, by Robert Eldridge,
bore the verse :
' Lord plead my cause against my foes | Confound
their force and might | Fight on my part against my
foes | That seek with me to fight."
In the Edwardian inventory eight bells and a
' sawnce ' bell are mentioned.
The registers begin in 1564, but there are no
marriages till 1581. There is a gap between 1651 and
1653, and the marriages are lost from 1754 to 1782.
The church is mentioned in the
dDrOWSON Domesday Survey. 78 In 12 24 it was
stated that the king's ancestors had
always presented to Shalford and its chapelries, but
that Ralph de Fay, lord of Shalford, last presented in
the time of the war."
It was granted with the rectory to the Hospital of
St. Mary Without Bishopsgate in 1304-5. After
the Dissolution it passed into the possession of various
persons. 80 Towards the close of the 1 7th century the
Crown presented and continues to do so. 61
There seems to have been a chapel attached to the
manor of Shalford Bradestan, for in 1374-5 Ellen,
mother of Sir Robert Bradestan, held in dower the
chancel of the chapel there. 8 '
Smith's Charity is distributed as
CHARITIES in other Surrey parishes. Many
small rents and payments were due to
the church. 81
In 1715 Dr. Shortrudge, Sir Francis Vincent, and
others settled the residue of the profits on estates in
Hertfordshire on the vicars of Shalford, Great Book-
ham, Etfingham, and Letherhead, on condition of
their reading prayers in church on Wednesdays and
Fridays, and preaching appropriate sermons on 30 Jan-
uary and on Good Friday. (See Great Bookham.)
SHERE
Essira (xi cent.) ; Sire, Schyre (xiii cent.) ; Shire and
Shyre (xiv cent.); Shire (xv cent.); Shire and Shiere
(xviii cent.) ; Shere (xix cent.).
The parish of Shere is midway between Guildford
and Dorking. The village is 6 miles east of the
former, and 6 miles west of the latter. The parish
is bounded on the north by East Clandon and West
Horsley, on the east by Abinger, on the south by
Ewhurst and Cranleigh, on the west by Albury.
It is about 4^ miles from north to south, and
from 2 to l\ miles from east to west, and contains
6,400 acres of land and 12 of water. The Tilling-
bourne stream runs from east to west through the
northern part of it. The soil exhibits the usual
characteristics of a parish south of the Chalk. The
northern part is Chalk, on the downs, and the parish
extends southward over the Upper Greensand and
Gault, and the Lower Greensand, which forms the
largest portion ; but it does not quite reach the
Atherfield and Wealden Clays. Ewhurst and Cran-
leigh on the Clay, parishes of a later date, 1 were no
doubt partly in the original parish of Shere. There
is an ancient and picturesque mill at Shere, and in
the hamlet of Gomshall a tannery and a brewery.
Iron was once worked in Shere. 1 The parish is
now, however, essentially agricultural, the land in the
valley between the chalk downs and the sand hills
being fertile. The only special industry is the raising
of watercresses in ponds fed from the Tillingbourne.
Great quantities of this are grown, and sometimes sent
away to great distances. The downs to the north
are mostly open grass, or wooded, and rise to 600 or
700 ft. above the sea, while to the south are great
expanses of open heather and firwoods on the sand-
hills, Hurtwood Common, and parts of Holmbury and
Ewhurst Hills, at an elevation of more than 700 ft.
in their highest points. Part of Albury Park is in
the parish. The road from Guildford to Dorking
goes through the northern part of the parish ; the
Redhill and Reading branch of the South Eastern
Railway runs nearly parallel to it. Gomshall and
Shere station was opened in 1 849. In Gomshall is
a Congregational chapel, founded in 1825.
No important discoveries of prehistoric remains
seem to have been made in the parish. Neolithic
flint implements, however, occur near Holmbury
Hill, but five parishes were formerly so closely inter-
mixed here that it is difficult to assign the discoveries
to any one.
Shere has often been called one of the most beau-
tiful villages in England ; certainly few can surpass it
in Surrey for a combination of those qualities that go
to make up the ideal village. It lies in the valley of
the Tillingbourne, immediately beneath the Albury
Downs, sheltered from the north by the hills, and
bounded on the west by the beautiful domain of
Albury Park. Happily the presence of the Duke of
Northumberland's seat at Albury Park, and the wise
action of other local landowners, have operated to
keep the speculating builder at arm's length, and such
additions as have been made to the old village in
recent years have not seriously detracted from its
charm. Shere is, therefore, the haunt of painters,
many of them residents in and around, and samples
of their handiwork may be inspected in the ancient
Black Horse Inn, the building itself being partly of
1 6th-century date, with a great open fireplace under
an arched beam, and other ancient features. In front
of this inn are two old elms, and the view looking
past them to the church, with its tall timber spire
and lych-gate, is far-famed.
Aubrey mentions ' the extraordinary good parsonage
house,' which still remains at the western end of the
village, near the stream, although no longer used as
. Surr. i, 3194.
" 9 Maitland, Bractons Note Bk. 913.
Ralph was lord of Bramley, with land in
Shalford.
80 Winton Epis. Reg. quoted by Manning
and Bray, op. cit. ii, 107. Amongst the
patrons was George Austen, who died
seised of the advowson, and whose son
John presented to the church in 1621;
Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccucvii, 90 ;
Feet of F. Suir. Mich. 20 Jas. I.
81 Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.).
Ill
81 Chan. Inq. p.m. 48 Edw. Ill, Add.
no. 42.
" Churchwardens' Bks. quoted by Man-
ning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii, 103.
1 In V.C.H. Surr. ii, 8, 9.
'Ibid. 270.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
the rectory. It is an ancient timber-framed building,
as to which Aubrey repeats a tradition that it was
built upon woolpacks, ' in the same manner as our
Lady's Church at Salisbury was ; ' 3 and in his day
the house was ' encompassed about with a large and
deep moat, which is full of fish.'
When every other house or cottage is old and
interesting it is difficult to mention all, but a few
may be singled out as presenting specially noteworthy
features, or as typical of the others. The large
number of ancient cottages is perhaps accounted for
by the statement that Aubrey makes, that there was
here a very ancient manufacture of fustian. Another
cause certainly was that such important families as the
Butlers, Earls of Ormond, the Audleys, and the Brays,
had their mansions in Shere, and gave employment
to lesser folk in their neighbourhood.
One or two of the houses in the village retain
their ancient bargeboards to the gables. These are
massive stack of flues having a diagonal member on
each face of the square, with a good head and base
mould. The half-timber front is now hidden by
rough-cast. Another old house on the road to
Gomshall is noteworthy for an overhanging gable,
and for the fact that the spaces between the timbers
are filled with flints, instead of plaster or bricks.
Most of the other old houses in the village are covered
with rough-cast, which is coloured locally in a pleasant
shade of buff. 4
Wolven's Farm, which lies some miles to the east of
Albury village, is a fine example of the I yth-century
brick house, with panelled chimneys, mullioned win-
dows with leaded lights, and a double-storied porch
with a brick pediment to its upper window. In this
and other details the house closely resembles Crossways
Farm, Abinger, about 2 miles distant.
Local tradition says that Hound House, in the
royal manor of Gomshall in Shere, was named from
SHERE VILLAGE
variously treated : one, which might well be of 1 5th-
century date, or even older, being pierced with tre-
foils ; another is foliated, with the points of the
cusping rounded so as to give a continuous wavy
line. In Shere itself a very old cottage in Lower
Lane shows a joist-board (i.e. a moulded board
covering the projecting ends of the joists carrying
the upper story) of late ijth-century character.
There is also an old house, long and low, with an
overhanging gabled wing on the right, and a hipped-
roof wing to the left end, on which side is a par-
ticularly fine chimney, with crow-stepped base and a
the keeping of the king's hounds there, but there is no
record of it apparently. It is, however, known that
hounds were kept here about 1800, and some old
stone kennel troughs have been found.
The village is historically interesting as the seat of
the Bray family (vtJe Infra).
It seems strange that Gomshall, which has always
been a place of considerable population and import-
ance, should never have had a church of its own.
Holmbury St. Mary is the name now given to the
two hamlets of Felday in Shere, and Pitland Street in
Shere and Abinger, which were erected into aa eccle-
8 This tradition is so constantly met
with that there can be no doubt it is an-
Bridge, would appear to be more prob-
able) that the foundations of the structure
other way of saying that the house, or were actually laid on wool-sacks filled
church, or bridge, was erected from the with concrete, a method of construction
proceeds of a tax on wool ; or else (which still frequently employed in watery ites.
in this case at least, as in that of London
112
* This buff-coloured plastering is very
characteristic of Western Surrey. Other
examples may be noted in Godalming,
Ockley, Guildford, Chobham, Woking,
and Letherhead.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
SHERE
siastical parish, made up from portions of Shere,
Ockley, Abinger, Ewhurst, Cranleigh, and Ockham, 28
September 1878. The schools (Church of England)
were built in 1860 and enlarged in 1900. There is
a Congregational chapel.
This neighbourhood was formerly one of the
wildest in Surrey. Sheep-stealers, smugglers, and
poachers found a refuge in these remote hills. Some
of the cottages have, still existing, very large cellars
(excavated easily in the sandy hill), which are far too
large for any honest purpose, and were no doubt
made for storing smuggled goods till they could be
conveniently taken on to London. Of late years the
picturesque neighbourhood has attracted many visitors,
who have built large houses. Joldwyns is the seat of
Sir William Paget Bowman, bart., Holmbury of
Mr. W. Joynson Hicks, Holmdale of Mr. Barlow
Webb, Aldermoor of Mr. H. T. Willis, R.A., Hurt-
wood Cottage of Mr. Frank Walton, R.I., A.R.A.
These houses are all included in the modern extension
of Abinger, but belong to this district, the church of
which is in Shere.
Peaslake is a hamlet of Shere, lying at the bend of
the valley between Holmbury and Ewhurst Hills,
which shared formerly the inaccessibility of Felday
and its wild character. It has been more recently
brought into the circle of civilization, and a road
from Ewhurst, practicable for wheels, has been brought
into it since district councils were instituted. It was
formerly accessible from the north, but was on the
edge of the accessible country with no real road
beyond. A Working Men's Institute was erected in
1891 by the Misses Spottiswoode of Drydown, in
many other ways benefactors to the neighbourhood.
Of late years several new houses have been built. Peas-
lake School was founded by Lord Ashcombe, Mr. Justice
Bray, the Misses Spottiswoode, and others in 1870.
At Shere the principal residents, besides those already
named, are : at Burrows Lea, Sir Herbert Barnard ;
at Ridgeway, Lady Arthur Russell ; at Hurstcote,
Mr. Somerset Beaumont ; at Shere Lodge, Miss Locke
King ; at Hazel Hatch, The Hon. Emily Lawless; and
at Burrows Cross, Mr. Benjamin W. Leader, R.A.
The parish hall was built by subscription to com-
memorate the Diamond Jubilee of 1 897.
It is not right to dismiss the parish of Shere with-
out mentioning that it was the birthplace, ultimate
home, and deathplace of William Bray, the county
historian, who was born here 1736, and died 1832.
He completed and supplemented the already volumin-
ous labours of Manning, and if slips and omissions do
occur in their work it is difficult to over-estimate
their industry and care, and their general accuracy is
wonderful, considering especially the absence of those
catalogues, indexes, and printed calendars which aid
the modern topographer and genealogist.
There are four manors in the parish
MANORS of Shere or Shiere, viz., Shiere Vachery, 4
Shiere Ebor, Gomshall Netley, and
WARENNE, Earl of
Surrey. Cheeky or and
azure.
Towerhill. The two former are moieties of the original
manor of SHIERE, which, under Edward the Confessor,
had belonged to his queen, Edith. She held it till her
death, when William I appropriated it, together with
all her lands. 6 In 1086 the king held it in demesne,
but William Rufus granted it to
William de Warenne when he
endowed him with the earldom
of Surrey.' The overlordship
continued with the successive
Earls of Surrey, of whom the
manor was held as of Reigate
Castle. 8
The actual tenant early in
the 1 3th century was Roger
de Clare.' In 1 2434 he con-
veyed the manor to John son
of Geoffrey, a younger son of
Geoffrey Fitz Peter, Earl of
Essex, in return for a life-rent paid at Shere Church. 10
In 1246 John de Gatesden, who had apparently
acquired this rent at the same time as the manor of
Lasham," remitted it to John son of Geoffrey."
The manor, having passed from John to his son and
grandsons," was divided into moieties at the death
of Richard son of John. 14 The one moiety, Shiere
Vachery, was assigned to his sister Joan Butler ; the
other, afterwards known as Shiere Eboracum or Ebor,
to his nephew Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster. 15
SHIERE VACHERT descended at Joan Butler's
death to her son Edmund Butler, 1 * who was succeeded
by his son James, first Earl of
Ormond, and his wife Elea-
nor. 17 Their son James, Earl
of Ormond, inherited Shiere,
which descended from him to
his son James. 18 The latter's
son, the 'White Earl,' 19 granted
it to his son James, 50 whom
Henry VI created Earl of
Wiltshire in 1449 in reward
for his fidelity to the interests
of the house of Lancaster.
He succeeded his father as azure.
Earl of Ormond, and was be-
headed after Towton in 1461. Shiere, being thus
forfeited to the king, was granted by him to John,
Lord Audley in 1467," in tail male. Nevertheless,
John, brother of the late earl, was restored as Earl of
Ormond, although apparently not to his estates. He
died in 1478. His brother Thomas, also attainted after
Towton, was restored in blood by the first Parliament
of Henry VII, and in 1486 granted the manor to
Sir Reginald Bray, kt., reserving to himself the right
of easement when staying within the lordship of
Shiere."
Sir Reginald Bray, statesman of the reign of
Henry VII, was Lord Treasurer of England, director
of the king's great building operations at St. George's
BUTLER, Earl of Or-
mond. Or a chief indented
* So called since it included the hamlet
of Vachery in Cranleigh.
* f.C.H. Surr. \, 279, 29811.
' Ibid, i, 340. Hi original Surrey
endowment consisted of the lands of
Queen Edith.
8 Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Edw. I, no. 47 ;
31 Edw. I, no. 32 ; 6 Ric. II, no. 15 ;
31 Hen. VI, no. II.
* Tula de Ne-uill (Rec. Com.), 2 20, 2 2 1 b.
10 Feet of F. Div. Co. 28 Hen. Ill,
199.
11 See Lasham in Odiham Hundred
(V.C.H. Hant, iv).
ls Feet of F. Div. Co. 30 Hen. Ill, 62.
18 For an account of John son of Geof-
frey and his descendants, see East Shal-
ford.
14 Chan. Inq. p.m. 25 Edw. I, no. 504.
15 Fine R. 27 Edw. I, m. I.
"3
Chan. Inq. p.m. 31 Edw. I, no. 32 ;
Inq. a.q.d. civ, 7.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. i Edw. Ill (ut
nos.), no. 8 ; Feet of F. Div. Co. 3 Edw.
111,51.
18 Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Ric. II, no. 15.
Ibid. 7 Hen. V, no. 49.
Ibid. 31 Hen. VI, no. 1 1.
Pat. 7 Edw. IV, pt. i, m. 6.
M Anct. D. (P.R.O.), C, 3273.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
BRAY, of Shiere. Ar-
gent a cheveron between
three eaglet' legs rasud
Chapel, Windsor, and at Westminster, but especially
notable as being, with Cardinal Morton, probably the
true author of Henry's successful policy. Lord Audley
was, however, in actual posses-
sion of Shiere Vachery, and
gave compensation to Sir Regi-
nald Bray in the form of an
annual rent of jio. !3 He
died in 1491, and was buried
in Shere Church, and his son
James, Lord Audley, received
the profits of the manor in
1497, whilst encamped with
the Cornish rebels at Black-
heath." He was leader of
the rebellion, and must have
marched through Shere on
his way with the insurgents
from Guildford to Kent. Consequently the manor
was again forfeit to the Crown, but seems to have
been restored to Sir Reginald, who had perhaps a
lawful claim from the Earl of Ormond's grant, and
was Henry's chief supporter, and most trusted ser-
vant. He had no children, and left this manor,
among others, by will, in 1503, to his nephew
Edmund Bray," summoned to Parliament as Lord
Bray in 1529. From him Shiere Vachery passed by
sale, in 1535, to his brother Sir Edward Bray.* 6 He
died in 1558, and his son Edward in 1581. Reginald,
son of Edward, was baptized in 1555, and his eldest
son Edward, baptized in 1580," died seised of
Shiere in i635. w His son Edward was dealing with
it seven years later, 89 and in 1676 Edward Bray, his
wife Susan, and their son Edward were in posses-
sion. 30 Edward Bray the elder was buried at Shere in
1679. Edward the son was also buried therein 1714.
In 1723 Edward and Benjamin Bray his surviving
sons were owners of the manor." Benjamin died un-
married. Edward had an elder son George in holy
orders, who was succeeded in 1803 by his brother
William, the historian of Surrey. His great-grandson,
Sir Reginald More Bray, Judge of the High Court,
is now owner.
The manor-house, certain lands, and the advowson
of the church at Cranleigh were sold owing to a family
quarrel between Sir Edward (who died in 1581) and
his stepmother, Jane daughter of Sir Matthew Brown.
Sir Edward resided at Baynards (q.v.).
At the time of the partition of the lands of Richard
son of John, his nephew Richard de Burgh, Earl of
Ulster, received a moiety of Shiere," which ultimately
became the manor of SHIERE EBOR or EBOR4-
CUM. This descended to William, Earl of Ulster,
whose daughter Elizabeth married the son of Edward
III, Lionel, Duke of Clarence," and then, through the
marriage of their daughter Philippa with Edmund
Mortimer, Earl of March, to Roger, Earl of March,
who was declared heir to the throne in 1385." The
moiety passed to his daughter Anne, to whose son
Richard, Duke of York', it owes the name of ' Ebor.'
The Duke of York seems to have held this manor
jointly with his wife Cecily, and with her conveyed
it to Sir Thomas Brown and other trustees in 1448-
9, 3S perhaps in trust for some of his very numerous
family. However, after the death of Richard and
the accession of his son to the throne as Edward IV,
Sir George Brown, son of the original trustee, released
all right in the manor to Cecily, 36 who continued to
hold it till her death in 1495," when it descended to
Henry VII as heir of Edward IV. 38 During the
reign of Henry VIII, Shiere formed part of the dower
of his successive queens," until, after the execution of
Katharine Howard, he granted it with other lands to
John Cokkof Broxbourne. 40 The latter conveyed it in
1 544 to William Fitz William and his wife Joan," who
alienated it to Sir Edward Bray in 1548." Thus for a
MORTIMER. Btrrryor
and azure a chief or -with
tvjo pales between two
gyrons assure and a scut-
cheon argent over all.
RICHARD, Duke of
York. France quartered
'with England with the
difference of a label argent
having three roundels gules
on each point.
short time the manors of Shiere Vachery and Ebor were
owned by one lord, who also possessed Gomshall Netley
and Towerhill. He bequeathed Shiere Ebor to his
fourth wife Mary, 43 who married Edmund Tilney, Mas-
ter of the Revels to Queen Elizabeth." After her death
the manor passed to Edward Bray, grandson and heir of
Sir Edward, 45 who sold it in 1 609 to William Risbridger,
perhaps a descendant of the William Risbridger who
under Henry VIII had held demesne lands of Shiere
in lease. 46 John Risbridger died holding the manor
of Shiere Ebor and a tenement called Shiere Farm
in 1631." The manor remained in this family till
1754, when William Risbridger sold to William
Wakeford. In 1761 it was conveyed to Thomas
Page, 48 who sold it in 1771 to William Bray, 49 who
subsequently succeeded to Shiere Vachery. Since
then the two manors have followed the same descent.
The land is still called ' The Queen's Hold.'
About 1276 the original manor of Shiere had appur-
tenant to it six and a half fees. Of these fees there were
some at a distance (e.g. Benetfield, co. Sussex, and
Lasham, co. Hants M ). View of frankpledge was a
Rentals and Surv. R. 828.
Ibid.
35 P.C.C. 26 Blamys.
98 Chan. Proc. (Eliz.), G g, X, 44.
W Wonersh Par. Reg.
88 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccclxxv,
44-
Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 1 8 Chas. I.
Ibid. Hit. 28 & 29 Chas. II.
81 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 20 Geo. I.
81 Fine R. 27 Edw. I, m. I.
* CW. Pat. 1340-3, p. 187.
84 Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Ric. II, no. 43 ;
22 Ric. II, no. 34.
'* See Feet, of F. Div. Co. 27 Hen.
VI, 343-
88 Close, 12 Edw. IV, m. 21 d.
8 " Mini. Accts. bdle. 1114, no. 15.
Ibid.(Hen. VII),bdle. 1423 to 1447.
L. and P. Htn. mi, i, 155 ; vii,
352 ; xv, 144 (2) ; xvii, 1154 (33).
> Ibid, rix (i), 80 (48).
Ibid. 278 (76).
Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 2*3 Edw. VI.
114
48 P.C.C. 22 Darcy.
44 Chan. Proc. Eliz. B b, xiv, 54.
45 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 7 Jas. I.
46 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xvii, 1 1 54 (33).
*1 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccclxii, 17.
48 The conveyance was made by
Morgan Morse, probably as agent for
William Wakeford ; see Feet of F. Surr.
Mich. 2 Geo. III.
49 Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 523.
50 Chan. Inq. p.m. 7 Edw. Ill, no. 39 ;
7 Edw. Ill (additional), no. 89.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
SHERE
privilege claimed by John son of Geoffrey, 51 and at
the division of the manor was assigned to the
Butlers, who held it once a year. 6 ' Both Shiere
Vachery and Ebor had court baron," and the lords
of Shiere Vachery were granted a market on Tuesdays
and an annual fair in 1 309,** and free warren in
1330."
The manor of GOMSH4LL lies on the Tilling-
bourne to the east of Shere village. In early times it
was royal demesne. Earl Harold had it, and after
the Conquest King William held it in demesne. Odo,
Bishop of Bayeux, wrongfully annexed half a hide
which had belonged to this manor to his manor of
Bramley. 56 It is mentioned with lands granted to the
Earl of Warenne in 1154 and 1 1 5 5-6." He probably
resigned Gomshall with his other English lands to
Henry II,' 8 who granted it in moieties to Robert de
Wendenale and to William de Clere. M Under
Richard I William Malveisin's lands in Gomshall were
escheat to the Crown, 60 and they or others appear
to have been given to the Dapifer of Ponthieu, 61
Ingram de Fontains, who held one moiety of the
manor, while William Malveisin had the other. 6 *
Ingram's lands were escheat to the Crown in or before
II94. 6 * Richard I granted the manor in moieties to
William de Es and Alan Trenchmere. 64 The moiety
of William de Es became the manor of Gomshall
Netley, and the other was known later as Gomshall
Towerhill. 65
GOMSH4LL NETLET, the moiety of Gomshall
granted by King Richard to William de Es, 66 was held
in 1217 by Eustace de Es, w and in 1233 passed from
him to Sir Matthias Besille, kt, 68 who granted it to the
abbey of Netley, co. Hants. 69 Thus it came to be
called Gomshall Netley. In the Taxation of 1291
10 is returned as the abbey's annual income from
'Gomshall Grange.' In 1332 the Abbot of
Netley's tenants in Gomshall complained that he
had exacted other services from them than he ought,
since they were tenants in ancient demesne. 71 After
the suppression of the abbey Henry VIII granted to
Sir Edward Bray the reversion of Gomshall Netley at
the termination of a seventy years' lease, which John
Redforde and his wife Thomasina had obtained
from the abbey in 1502." Since this time it
has descended in the same family with Shiere
Vachery, and is now in the possession of Mr. Justice
Bray.
The old manor-house was separated from the
manor about 1640. It is a farm, usually called King
John's Lodge, and stands opposite to the modern
house of Netley. It is largely of 16th-century date,
and possibly occupies the site of the Saxon aula.
This house has a fine chimney, rising from the
ground with a stack of diagonally-placed flues on
its flint and rubble base. At either end of the
front is a projecting gabled wing, that on the left
having some good square and circle pattern-work in
its timber construction, resembling that at Great
Tangley in Wonersh parish. The upright timbering
of the main portion between these wings seems to
indicate a date early in the 1 6th, or possibly late in
the I Jth century, the pattern-work in the wing being
nearly a hundred years later. Modern windows
and other injudicious alterations have somewhat altered
the ancient character of this house, but the old door,
with a flat-arched head, still remains in the left
wing.
The present Netley House was built by Mr.
Edmund Shallet Lomax about, or shortly before,
1800, and is now the residence of Col. Eraser.
GOMSH4LL TOWERHILL. Alan Trenchmere
possibly held his moiety for life only," for by 1205
he was succeeded by William de Braose, who had a
grant of it in tail." William's family was starved to
death, and he himself driven into exile by John; he
died abroad, and John evidently gave his moiety of
Gomshall to Peter de Maulay." William's son, the
Bishop of Hereford, took part in the civil war against
John, and extorted the restoration of the family
estates to himself in trust for his nephew. 76 After
his death this manor was granted to Rowland de
Bloet. 77
In 1218 Reginald Braose, the bishop's younger
brother, had the manor,' 8 from which his widow
claimed dower in 1230," and
William Braose was holding
it in 1 2 8 1 j 80 and conveyed it
to a sub-tenant, John Savage.
William Braose was still living
in 1311, when John Savage
died, leaving a young son,
Roger, 8 ' who, having been im-
prisoned for felony in New-
gate, broke prison and forfeited
his estates." In 1332 the
king committed the custody
of the manor to John Pul-
teney, Lord Mayor of London, who did the cus-
tomary service for it to John de Ifield. 83 A year
having elapsed, the manor was restored to the over-
lord, John de Ifield." At John's death the king
granted this manor for life to Eleanor, Countess of
Ormond,* 6 then lady of Shiere, and obtained from
John of Ifield's heirs a release of their rights in it. 86
At her death Edward III granted the custody of the
BRAOSE. Assure cru-
sily and a lion or.
Close, 38 Hen. Ill, m. ijd.
SJ Chan. Inq. p.m. 12 Edw. Ill (nt
mi'.), no. 40.
M Ibid. 7 Edw. Ill, no. 39 ; 31 Edw. I,
no. 82.
M Chart. R. 3 Edw. II, m. 7, no. 1 9.
" Ibid. 3 Edw. Ill, m. 5, no. 13.
y.C.H. Surr. i, 2984.
W RtJ Bk. of the Excb. (Roll* Ser.),
654, 666.
8 See V.C.H. Surr. i, 342.
M Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 125.
M fife R. i Ric. /(Rec. Com.), 1 1, 117.
61 Ibid. 216.
M Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 225.
M Pipe R. 6 Ric. I, m. I.
M Tata de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 325,
says that King Richard gave it to William
de Es and Alan Trenchmere, and that
after Alan's death John gave his share
first to William de Braose and afterwards
to Peter Maulay.
64 Curia Regis R. 113, m. 27 d.
M Rot. Cane. 3 John (Rec. Com.), 28.
7 Cal.Pat. 1216-25, p. 53.
8 Cal. Chart. R. i, 174.
69 Anct. D. (P.R.O.), D. 131,200.
'<> Pope Nicb. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 214.
7 1 De Banco R. 290, m. 276.
7" L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii, (i), 646 (39).
7' Rot. Cane. 3 John (Rec. Com.), 28 5
Pipe R. 2 John, m. 15 d.
7< Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), i, 1 34*.
7* Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 225.
"5
7 Rot. Lit. Claui. (Rec. Com.), i, 232*.
7? Ibid. 238*.
78 Ibid. 348.
7' Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. 389.
80 Chart. R. 9 Edw. I, no. 24.
81 Cal. Close, 1307-13, p. 430.
ra Abbrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com. ), ii,
59-
88 Ibid, ii, 56; Cal. Close, 1330-3, p.
436. John of Ifield appears to have
succeeded William de Braose in the over-
lordship.
84 Cal. Close, 1330-3, p. 515.
85 Abbrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), ii,
159.
8 Anct, D. (P.R.O.), A. 3974, 3975,
3976.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
manor to Peter Atwood for life, 67 and, subsequently,
to Thomas Stowes. 88 In founding the abbey of
St. Mary Graces near the Tower of London in 1376
the king endowed it with the reversion of this
moiety of Gomshall. Hence it obtained the name
of Gomshall Towerhill. 83
In 1539, after the dissolution of the abbey, the
king granted Gomshall Towerhill to Sir Edward
Walsingham, 90 who conveyed it to Sir Edward Bray
in I55O. 91 In 1589 it was granted as 'concealed
lands' to Walter Coppinger and others. 91 It was,
however, restored to its former owners, for Sir Edward
Bray conveyed it to trustees for the use of his wife
Mary for life, with final reversion to his grandson and
heir Edward in tail male," and since that time it has
remained, with Shiere Vachery, in the Bray family.
Towerhill is an old and picturesque farmhouse
close to the station.
In 1086, when Gomshall was royal demesne, the
villeins there were exempt from the sheriff's jurisdic-
tion. 94 Both Netley and Towerhill had court baron. 95
Eleanor Countess of Ormond had view of frankpledge
in Gomshall Towerhill. 96 In 1281 William Braose
was granted free warren there. 97
SUTTON was in 1086 in Wotton Hundred. It
is a hamlet now chiefly in Shere parish, but with a
few cottages in Abinger parish and Wotton Hundred.
It is apparently the land in Wotton called ' Sudtone '
which the Bishop of Bayeux had rated in his manor
of Bramley. 98 It was subsequently associated with
Holehurst or Holdhurst, in Cranleigh, a parish non-
existent in 1086 (Holdhurst Manor extends beyond
Cranleigh parish), and Sutton was called Holdhurst at
Down, or the manor of Downe, to distinguish it from
the rest of Holdhurst in the Weald. 99 It may once
have been held with the rest of Holdhurst (see under
Cranleigh), but Richard Hill died holding Downe in
1551, and his son Edmund Hill was in possession
in 1554.' He was alive in 1582, and Richard
Hill his son, who married Elizabeth daughter of the
first Sir Richard Onslow of the family in Surrey, was
in possession c. 1586.*' Richard conveyed it in
1595 to Ralph Hill. 10 ' He conveyed it to Edward
Allford, who sold it to William Leigh of Abinger and
Thames Ditton in i6o9. 103 From this family it was
conveyed, c. 1620, to Oliver Huntley, who sold it
in the following year to Richard Holman. The latter
conveyed it to Henry Hilton in l636. lM The Hus-
sey family seem to have acquired an interest in Sutton
as early as 1 646, when Sir William Smyth, bart., and
his wife Mary, whose interests were possibly derived
from Henry Hilton, transferred their rights in one-
third of the manor to Peter Hussey. 105 Thomas Hus-
sey of London, who is said to have acquired the whole
manor, was buried at Shere in 1655. He left a son
Peter, who was visited at Sutton by John Evelyn,
August 1 68 1 . 106 He died 1 684, and his son Peter (who
died in I/24 107 ) left a daughter Mary, who in 1720
married Edward Bugden. Before 1728 Sutton was
sold to Edward Pike Heath. His niece Frances
married the Hon. Henry Knight, and they sold it to
Mr. Edmund Shallet between 1750 and 1 76 1. 10 *
Mr. Shallet was sheriff of the county in 1758. His
daughter married Caleb Lomax. For the later descent
see under Wotton.
There was a house at Sutton of considerable size,
which was pulled down by Mr. Edmund Shallet
Lomax, son of Mr. Shallet's daughter and heir, when
he built Netley (see above), but the remains of the
walled garden and some other fragments are con-
spicuous upon the left-hand side of the road leading
from Gomshall station towards Holmbury St. Mary.
There was a second WESTON Manor, to be dis-
tinguished from that in Albury, near the parsonage
house of Albury, but lying in a detached part of
Shere parish, and called Weston in Shere. In
the Weston genealogy taken, it is said, from the
College of Arms, 109 a Thomas de Weston, living c.
1305, and his son Thomas are described as lords of
the manor of ' Weston in Shire.' It would seem
that the family must have been early divided, for
others are described as of ' Weston in Albury.' "
William Weston held it of the abbey of Netley at
his death in I483. 1 " Edmund Pope, a descendant, no
doubt, of Joan wife of Thomas Pope, 1 " sold it in 1 540
to John Risbridger of Albury, 113 whose son John sold
it the same year to Thomas Baker. 114
In 1621 it formed part of the portion of Mary
daughter of George Hyer on her marriage with Robert
Boothby. 115 In 1 709 William Boothby conveyed it to
George Wheeler. 116 Dr. William Shaw purchased a
moiety from Bridges Baldwin and his wife Frances in
1746."' Dr. Shaw's son sold the manor in 1804 to
the Hon. Robert Clive, a younger son of the first
Lord Clive (who died in 1833), who improved the
house. 118 The house was at one time the residence
of Elias Ashmole the antiquary. The manor seems
to be non-existent, and the house is pulled down.
In the Domesday Survey two mills are mentioned
at Shere. 119 In the 1 3th century there was still a
water-mill there. 120 It formed part of the rents
granted to Richard, Earl of Ulster, being held by
8 ~ Abbrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), ii,
288.
88 Pat. R. 12 Ric. II, pt. i, m. I.
Dugdale, Mm. v, 718 ; Cal. Pat.
1385-9, p. 539.
"> L. and P. Hen. VIII, xiv (i), 1354
(5)-
91 Chan. Inq. p.m. ccilvii, 72.
" Pat. 31 Eliz. pt. vii, m. 31.
93 Chan. Proc. (Eliz.), Bb xiv, 54.
" y.C.. Surr. i, 2 9 8a.
95 The Court Rolls for 1481 and 1504
re at the Public Record Office ; Gen.
Ser. cciv, 50, 51.
96 Abbrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), ii,
159.
" Chart. 9 Edw. I, no. 24.
"3 V.C.H. Surr. i, 305*.
99 See Harl. Chart. 78 G. 535 79 F.
3 8a, b; 75 H. 41.
100 Misc. Bks. (L.T.R.), vol. 168,
fol. 69.
Harl. Chart. 78 G. 53.
1M Ibid. 79 F. 380, A.
108 Ibid. 75 H. 41 ; see under Abinger.
These transactions had only to do with
Sutton alias Holdhurst alias Holhurst at
Down in Shere, Abinger, and Ewhurst,
not with Holdhurst in Cranleigh (q.v.).
I" Feet of F. Surr. East. 18 Jas. I;
Mich. 19 Jas. I ; Trin. 12 Chas. I.
106 Ibid. Mil. 21 Chas. I. It is said,
however, that it was Thomas Hussey
who purchased the whole manor ; Man-
ning and Bray, op. cit. i, 497.
106 Diary, 30 Aug. 1681.
10 7 For Hussey pedigree see the parish
registers and monuments in Shere Church.
108 Manning and Bray, op. cit. iii,
497-8.
116
109 Printed in Brayley, op. cit. ii, 8 1, &c.
110 Ibid.
"1 Cal. Inj.fM.Hen. VU, i, 162.
lla See under Wetton in Albury.
118 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 32 Hen.
VIII.
"< Add. Chart. (B.M.), 28236.
lu Feet of F. Div. Co. Mich. 20 Jas.
I ; Close, 19 Jas. I, pt. xiii, no. 7.
" 6 Ibid. Surr. Mich. 8 Anne.
"7 Recov. R. Mich. 20 Geo. II, m. 38.
Dr. Shaw is said to have obtained the
manor from a niece of a former pro-
prietor ; Manning and Bray, Hist, of
Surr. ii, 127.
118 Ibid, ii, 1 88 ; Brayley, op. cit. v,
1 60.
9 V.C.H. Surr. i, 2 9 8.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 25 Edw. I,
no. 500.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
William, Earl of Ulster, in 1334, when it is described
as ' two watermills under one roof.' "' It is mentioned
again in 1382.'"
One mill is mentioned in Gomshall in 1086. It
was probably on the site of Netley Mill. In the
1 3th century there was a water-mill belonging to
4 Estcourt ' in Gomshall." 3
The church of ST. J4MES lies
CHURCHES somewhat to the east of the village
street. It is mentioned in the Domes-
day Survey." 4
The church is second to none in Surrey for beauty
and antiquarian interest. Its situation, on a bank
above the stream, which flows on its northern side,
with a screen of tall young elms between, and a back-
ground of more ancient trees, and the wooded hillside,
is very lovely ; and the churchyard, not too trim or
level, with a number of ancient monumental stones
and a few wooden ' bed-heads,' bounded by a low
stone wall, with a modern but picturesque lych-gate
on the west, makes a charming setting.
The church is built of Bargate rubble, with iron-
stone rubble, flints, and miscellaneous materials, some
probably derived from Roman buildings on Farley
Heath, the dressings being of Bargate stone, firestone
and clunch, and the south and west porches are of
brick and timber. The modern vestries on the north
of the nave are built of stone and brick. The roofs
are tiled, except that of the south aisle, which is
roofed with Horsham slabs, and the spire is covered
with oak shingles. 1 * 4 A good deal of the original
thin coat of yellow plaster remains on the walls.
Few churches in Surrey have survived the era of
destructive restoration with such small loss to their
antiquity as Shere ; indeed, what mischief has been
done is traceable to the ' churchwarden ' period or
even earlier ; the exception to this observation is the
incongruous group of vestries built against a blank,
and probably very early, wall on the north of the
nave.
The plan offers many interesting problems. It
consists of a nave, 40 ft. 9 in. long, and 1 8 ft. 6 in.
wide at the west, widening out to 19 ft. 6 in. at the
east ; a broad south aisle, 45 ft. 9 in. by 1 6 ft. 3 in. ;
a central tower, with floor-space of about 1 5 ft.
square; a chancel, 32 ft. long by 19 ft. 2 in. ; a
south chancel, opening out of the chancel, tower and
south aisle, 36 ft. long by 1 6 ft. 9 in. ; a shallow
transeptal recess on the north of the tower in place
of the original transept ; and west and south porches,
with the modern vestries, before alluded to, on the
north of the nave. In addition, there would appear
to have been in the mediaeval period an anchorite's
cell on the north side of the chancel.
The oldest part of the church is the north wall of
the nave, but whatever original features, in the shape
of windows or door, it may have possessed, have been
obliterated, and therefore its date is somewhat a
matter of speculation. If not earlier, it may date
from the last quarter of the nth century. To this
nave a tower was added, probably on the site of the
earlier chancel as at Albury, hard by in about
1150. The internal square of this is almost exactly
the same as at Albury, and it has on its north side, in
the middle stage, a very similar round-arched window,
SHERE
with two sub-lights, originally divided by a small
column, as in that tower. On the south side is a
single-light opening of the same date. Three un-
usually wide and long round-headed openings occur
above a string-course, or set-off, in each face of the
bell-chamber, and over these there was, perhaps, in
the first instance, a low parapet, corbelled out, in-
closing a squat, pyramidal roof, both features giving
place at a later period to the timber spire. Parts of
one of the first tower arches can be traced on the
south side. Owing to the failure of the crossing
arches because of the weight of the top story, these
arches, early in the I4th century, were replaced by
wide and lofty pointed ones on the east and west,
and by smaller ones on the other sides. The first
arches were circular and probably of two orders, with
a hood-moulding. The great thickness of these tower
walls 4 ft. on the ground is noteworthy.
The circular stair at the south-west angle of the
tower, originally external, is now, of course, within
the aisle. It retains two loopholes for lighting, and
a small door with a pointed arch. On the southern
side the head of one of the original flat buttresses
appears above the roof, beneath the string that runs
below the bell-chamber. The whole tower was
probably completed soon after 1 150.
The izth-century transepts may have been roofed
with span roofs at right angles to those of nave and
chancel (before the aisle was thrown out) ; or, which
seems on the whole the more probable, with span
roofs set parallel to the axis of nave and chancel, as at
St. Mary's, Guildford. In either case there would
appear to have been apsidal ends to these chapels as
at Guildford, and there may have been an apse to the
chancel itself. Certain ashlaring with a curved face,
built in as old material into the 14th-century chancel,
may well have formed part of the destroyed apses.
Among the few relics externally of this 12th-century
work, besides the tower, are the bases of the two flat
and narrow pilaster buttresses, on the south side, the
western at what would have been the west end of
these transepts or chancel aisles, and the eastern at
the chord of the apse. These are composed of
different kinds of stone clunch or firestone, and
Bargate stone as though they had been altered and
perhaps heightened at a later date. Another very
remarkable survival consists of the curiously-shaped
rafter-ends a roll set within a broad hollow almost
unique in their way, in the piece of roof over this
portion : this roof being in itself evidence for the
second theory as to the original form taken by these
chancel aisles. The fine marble font and south door-
way are also of this period, but perhaps of slightly
later date, c. 1 1 70. This doorway, the most beautiful
of its period in Surrey,"* must have been originally
placed in the unpierced south wall of the nave, and
shifted out to its present position, when the aisle was
built, in about 1 200. It shows very few traces of
having been moved, and all the stones appear to have
been correctly rebuilt. The doorway is extremely
elegant in proportions and detail, and consists of a
circular arch of two orders, with a hood-moulding,
the outer order resting upon a Sussex marble shaft
with abacus, capital, and base of the same material,
the abacus being carried round the inner order, as an
m Chan. Inq. p.m. 7 Edw. Ill, no.
39-
Ibid. 5 Ric. II, 00.43.
10 Egerton MS. 2033, foL 63.
1 y.C.H. Surr. I, 298j.
Ias In Cracklow's view the roofs are
117
all covered with Horsham slabs ; see
pott.
M Illustrated in V.C.H. Surr. ii, 433.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
impost, and the capitals carved with early stiff-leaf
foliage. All the remainder is delicately wrought in
clunch, both orders of the arch displaying an enriched
cheveron on the face, with a roll moulding on the
angle, and a plain cheveron on the soffits. The en-
riched cheverons have foliage patterns within them.
The hood-moulding has a small half-moon sinking
carried as a pattern round its outer member, and at-
the top a head, now defaced, is inserted. The
masonry is fine-jointed and fine-axed, both marks of
the date. The dials and other scratchings on the
stonework are noted later. On the inside is a plain
circular arch, much loftier than that of the outer
opening. There must have been a doorway or an
arch of this same enriched cheveron pattern at
Merstham Church, abouf 1 5 miles to the eastward
along the same road, judging from the voussoirs now
lying loose in the north chapel. 1 * 7
The next period is that of about 1200, when the
aisle was thrown out on the south of the nave, and
an arch pierced in what had been the west wall
of the south transept or chancel aisle. The three
flat buttresses, of three stages, at the west end of the
aisle, belong to this date. The west doorway of the
nave is of the same period, and has a richly-moulded
arch of two orders, acutely pointed, with Sussex or
Purbeck marble capitals and shafts to the outer order.
The inner order of the jambs is square on plan, with
a square capital, this and the other having square
abaci and crochet foliage. The arch at the east end
of the aisle has two orders, richly moulded, with
similar capitals, and among the mouldings of both is
the keel-shaped moulding. The jambs, with their
delicate shafts, bases, and capitals, are entirely of
marble, four shafts to each side. The light and
fragile character of this arch gives a clue to the entire
disappearance of the corresponding arcade, which has
been replaced by the three existing ugly pointed
arches on octagonal piers. They are cased all over in
plaster, both piers and arches (as was also the arch at
the end of the aisle), and possibly the remains of the
original work are still in existence beneath the
plaster. Three of the lancets of this date remain,
two in the aisle and one in the west wall of the nave.
They are in Bargate stone, with broad chamfers to
the outside opening. A lancet and a curious pointed
arched recess " 8 in the north wall of the nave, at its
eastern end, are of about the same date. A pair of
lancets in the western bay of the chancel aisle, broad
openings with flat internal arches, would appear to be
later c. 1250.
At the eastern end of the south chancel south wall
is a two-light tracery window of graceful and some-
what unusual design. It is of two trefoiled lights,
with a small trefoil in the head, the tracery and arch
being worked on three distinct planes : externally
there is a hood-moulding of scroll and bead section.
The east window of the same south chancel is of
similar character and has three trefoil-headed lights,
the central wider than the others, the spaces over
being occupied by two irregular trefoils and four small
quatrefoils within a large circle. There are two coeval
buttresses at the south-east angle of the rectangular east
end of the south chancel. Probably this square-ended
chapel, which is referred to in wills as the Lady
Chapel, superseded the apse about 1 300, at which date
it became necessary to rebuild the tower arches, an
additional archway being pierced between the new
square-ended chapel and the chancel. The lofty
octagonal timber spire 57 ft. in height from the
nave floor a magnificent piece of mediaeval car-
pentry, was also probably added then or soon after-
wards. It would appear to have been covered with
lead originally, and retained a part of the ancient lead
work until the middle of the last century, together
with oak shingles.
These extensive alterations were probably under-
taken at the instance of the rich abbey of Netley, to
whom the advowson of Shere was sold by Roger de
Clare in 1243. To Netley Abbey, therefore, is
probably due the rebuilding of the chancel in its
present form, with its beautiful tracery windows
executed in hard chalk, between 1300 and I32O. 1IS
The details of the work show that it was begun
shortly after the square east end of the Lady Chapel,
and the new windows of the chancel were made to
harmonize with the recently completed tracery win-
dows of the chapel. This is very noticeable in the
case of the great east window, which, with minor
variations, is almost a replica of that in the east wall
of the Lady Chapel. Its central light is of ogee
form, cinquefoiled, and the side lights have rather
ugly flat trefoiled heads with a cinquefoiled figure
above, but the same circle, filled with four quatrefoils,
which is the chief feature in the other, appears in this
window also. The diagonal buttresses of the east
wall and the buttress on the north side are of this
date. The side windows, of two lights, have tracery
of the ordinary net type. A piscina of this date,
with ogee trefoiled head and credence shelf, remains
in the south wall. In the western bay of the north
wall are two curious squints, one with a quatrefoil
aperture and the other, close by to the eastward,
a square opening. Both communicated with an
anchorite's cell, or a sacristy, whichever it may have
been, which stood on this side, and was probably
built at the same time as the chancel. Its roof was a
lean-to, but its area is uncertain. 1 * The oblique
squint with the square head must have been used, in
any case, for commanding a view of the high altar ;
while the quatrefoil may have served the purpose of
communicating the recluse.
Slightly later again, in c. 1330, the north transept
was shortened and brought to its present form of a
mere recess between the enlarged buttresses of the
tower, which at this time superseded the flat buttresses
of c. ii 50. The beautiful four-light window, of
flowing tracery, executed in hard chalk, which has
weathered admirably, has no hood-moulding exter-
nally, unlike the others, and bears other traces of
"7 At at Canterbury Cathedral (the
Aquae Cattellum of the monastery), the
arched recesses in the east wall of the nave
at Barfreston Church, and the chapel in
Dover Castle. In the last-named the same
stiff-leaf capitals, of somewhat French cha-
racter, occur. Cf. also the capitals in the
wooden screen at Compton Church, Surrey.
las This recess and its little window
were probably made for the double pur-
pose of inclosing a tomb and giving
space for an altar flanking the earlier
west arch of the tower.
129 It is possible, however, that the
chancel had been rebuilt in the I jth
century, and that the monks of Netley
118
only remodelled it and put in tracery
windows.
180 Other possible anchorites' cells,
which may have been either sacristies or
chambers for the display of relics to the
Canterbury pilgrims in some cases, ex-
isted, or can be traced, at Blechingley,
Chessington, Compton, and Letherhead.
33 l
h -^
1 'a
B
o
o
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
SHERE
different handiwork, although the design has been
kept in harmony with the chancel windows.
The church of the middle of the 1 4th century
remains substantially unaltered, save for the insertion
of windows in the nave and the rebuilding of the
porches. A three-light window, in the west wall of
the aisle, of handsome character, with a deep hollow
and recessed tracery, dates from the last quarter of the
1 4th century. Another, of two lights, with a square
head, in the west gable of the nave is of an ordinary
I 5th-century type ; and a third, in the south wall of the
aisle, of three lights, with an ugly flat segmental head,
is dated by the inscription on a brass remaining in
the south aisle : ' Pray for the soullis of Olever Sandes
and lone his wife, ye which made this wyndow and this
auter, which Olev' dyed ye VII. day of Noveber, ye
yer of Our Lord MVXII, on whos soil JhQ have m'cy.'
There was another window, of later date, high up in
the north wall of the nave, near its eastern end, but
this has been renewed in a quasi- 13th-century style in
recent years. The window in the south aisle to the
cast of that of 1 5 1 2 is a two-light nondescript opening,
originally a lancet, with a square mullion and jambs,
probably of 18th-century date, to which period the
quaint external door to the gallery with its flight of
steps, to the east of the south porch, also belongs.
From the churchwardens' accounts '" we learn that,
in 1 547, the porch probably that at the west end
was renewed, and in spite of modern patchings the
substance of this remains. The fine panelled door of
the inner doorway, well studded with nails, and
having a good key-plate, bears in the upper part a
small shield of arms two bends and a canton, im-
paling a bend with the date 1626. At the north-
west angle of the nave is a huge tapering brick
buttress, erected in the i8th century.
The south porch, although its roof appears to be of
old timber, is of comparatively modern brickwork.
The door of the inner doorway, rough oak-boarding
nail-studded, is possibly of 12th-century date.
The ancient oak roofs, of plain character, remain
throughout. Those of the chancel and Lady Chapel
are of trussed collar construction. The interesting
detail of the rafter ends of 1 2th-century date on the
outh side has been above noticed. In the tower is a
fine bell-cage, probably as old as the 141)1 century,
although altered in 1895 to admit two new bells.
The doorway to the tower stairs has a door made up
of the carved rails of some 17th-century pews. Of
the chancel screen, concerning which we have the
testimony in the churchwardens' accounts that it
was made in the eighteenth year of Henry VII, there
are no remains, but in Brandon's Parish Churches*
it is described as then (1848) in existence 'a
plain Perpendicular rood-screen with its doors.' No
other ancient woodwork or mediaeval fittings remain,
except the very interesting chest now in the south
porch. 131 It bears a general resemblance to the one
at Godalming, especially in the stop-chamfered framed
ends, and the lid works with a pin-hinge. There is
an elaborate locking arrangement, and inside are
remains of two hutches for money and valuables.
The date is about I zoo, and it belongs to a group of
early 13th-century chests that were probably made in
obedience to the command of Pope Innocent III,
to collect alms for the help of poor Crusaders.
The oak gallery at the west end is of 1 8th-century
date.
The church must have been at one time rich in
colour, judging from the fragments of wall-painting
that remain. Practically all has been destroyed
except a very graceful spray of vine pattern, painted
in dark red on the soffit of the arch to the chancel
east window.
In several windows there are remains of ancient
glass, of 1 3th, I4th, and 15th-century dates. In the
south aisle one of the lancets has some good square
quarries of green glass, with a rose or cinquefoil
within border-lines, coeval with, or only slightly later
than, the early 1 3th-century opening. Another
variety is diamond-shaped, with grisaille foliage pat-
terns. In the quatrefoils and interspaces of the Lady
Chapel and chancel east windows are the evangelistic
symbols, the arms of England, Butler, Warenne, and
Clare, and other ornaments contemporary with the
early 14th-century stonework. These are some of
the best of the little ancient glass left in Surrey.
Other windows retain red roses, the Lancastrian badge,
probably placed here by James, the second Earl of
Ormond, in whose family the manor of Shiere was
vested in the I5th century. The device of the Brays,
who afterwards succeeded to the estates the bray, or
flax-crusher appears on the quarries of another win-
dow. 133 In the great east window the lower lights
are filled with good modern glass.
The ancient floor levels appear to have been pre-
served, together with a good deal of old stone-paving.
There are two steps at the eastern tower arch, another
at the access to the sanctuary, and two to the altar
platform in the Lady Chapel. From the church-
wardens' accounts we know that besides this altar
and that of the high chancel there was an altar to
St. Nicholas (perhaps that in the south aisle), and
images of St. Anthony, St. Roche, St. John the Bap-
tist, and our Lady of Pity.
Close to the west respond of the aisle arcade stands
the beautiful font of Purbeck marble, mounted on a
stone base-block and step. Its date may be either
that of the south doorway c. 1 1 70 or of the aisle
c. 1 200 probably the former. The upper part
of the bowl is square with three scallopings, beneath
which it changes into a circular form of a bold round
section, and the parts left at the angles are carved
into the foliated capitals of the four corner-shafts,
which, with a stout central drum, support the bowl.
These rest upon a continuous base-moulding, which
ul Itm payed for the carryeng of tym-
bre to the Pytt and for ij. sawyers that
dyd hclpe lade yt for the new porch, iji.
Itm payed to the lawyer for the sawyng
of tymber for the porche, iiijj. viijt/.
Itm payed for the lawying of the porche
at another tyme, iiiji. iiijj.
Itm payed for naylles for the selles of
the kastors of the porche, \\]d.
Itm payed for the naylles for to tacte
on the bordei, iiij</.
Itm for iij. lode of tymber for the porche,
xij..
Itm for the carryeng of the same tymber
to the churche, x./.
Itm for expences in meatt and drynke
when the old porche was taken downe
and the tettyng of the new porche up,
xij</.
Itm payed to John Fraunces for the
workyng and framyng of the porch, xxxi.
Itm for iiij. lytell bordei whyche wai
framyd in the porche, and for the tymber
of the box, iiijj.
The last item refers to the 'poore
men's boxe,' which was made in the
same year, at a cost of v. xjJ.
>" Op. cit. 98.
IM Described and illustrated in Arch.
Journ. Ixiv, 172, 173.
1M Similar quarries, painted with the
device of the Brays, are to be found at
Stoke D'Abernon.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
has a deep hollow between two round members, and
is carried separately round the shafts and drum. 131
The oldest monument is a small brass to Robert
Scarclyff, rector, 1412, in mass vestments. In his
lengthy will, preserved at Lambeth, he directs that
his body be buried in the chancel of ' Schire ' Church,
to the south-west of the tomb of Master John
Walter. 1 " He leaves special vestments to this church,
and a picture, with a representation of the Trinity,
the Blessed Mary, and St. Christopher in four
divisions, to stand at the Lady altar. There are also
bequests of various kinds to the poorer parishioners
and others, and the residue of his effects were to be
divided among poor couples of Shere, and in marriage
portions for poor maidens of the parish.
Until 1 747, when it was taken down and the brass
effigy laid on the chancel floor, there was on the south
side of the chancel an altar tomb to John Touchet,
Lord Audley, who died 20 September 1491. The
upper half of the brass, 1 9^ in. long, showing a man
in plate armour, alone remains, together with part of
the inscription. At the east end of the Lady Chapel
is a small brass to the wife of John Redfford ; and
one to Oliver Sandes is fixed to the window-sill of the
north transept.' 36
Besides these there is an early 1 7th-century tablet,
with a pediment over it, to the right of the great east
window ; and in the chancel and Lady Chapel are a
few others of no great age or importance. Among
these are some monuments to the Brays and Dun-
combs. Against the south wall of the chancel is a
tablet to the memory of William Bray, joint author
of Manning and Bray's History of Surrey, who died in
1832, at the great age of ninety-seven.
There are two small dial-marks, 5 in. in diameter,
on the lower stones of the eastern of the two pilaster
buttresses on the south chancel wall ; and on one of
the stones, which is a piece of Reigate or firestone,
is a mason's mark, the letter R upside down. On
the south doorway, also of the 1 2th century, are five
or six dial-marks, two being very regularly scratched
on the stone, and of the same size as those on the
buttress. There are also a number of small crosses
cut in the jambs of this doorway. The toolmarks on
this door are very well preserved.
The only ancient articles of church plate are the
very graceful silver cup and paten-cover of 1 569, now
in use at the daughter church of Peaslake.
All the six mediaeval bells mentioned in the inven-
tory of Edward VI's commissioners were recast in
1590, but so badly that, according to the church-
wardens' accounts, a suit was instituted against the
founder. They were recast by Richard Phelps in 1712,
and two new ones have lately been added to the ring.
The registers now extant date from 1591. A
volume from 1545 to 1590 has perished in the last
hundred years.
Curious churchwardens' accounts are preserved,
dating from 1500. Copious extracts have been
printed from them by Manning and Bray. 1 * 7 The
most curious thing recorded in them is the possession
by the parish of two bows, which were hired out for
the benefit of the rood light. The common idea
that every peasant possessed a war bow, and could
use it, is untrue. A load of wood was cut, at
Vachery, for remaking the rood-loft, in 1506. One
entry states that the entire church was re-roofed with
'shingles' in about 1500. By 'shingles' in this
instance stone slabs are undoubtedly intended.
The accounts show that there were lights before the
rood, St. John, and St. Nicholas, besides the sepulchre
light. Church ales were held at Whitsuntide, and in
1 504 i 81. %d. was taken for drinking at the feast from
visitors from Ewhurst, Wotton, Abinger, and Albury.
The church of ST. MART at Felday is in the old
Shere parish. It was built of local stone and Sussex
marble in 1879, at the expense and from the designs
of the late Mr. Street, R.A. The style is 1 3th cen-
tury. It consists of a nave, side aisles separated from
the nave by arcades of three pointed arches, a chancel,
and raised north annexe to the chancel. There is a
screen at the west end, and a chancel screen of oak.
The interior is highly decorated, and there are nine
windows of stained glass. There is a turret at the
west end, and six bells. The church stands upon a
steep declivity, and the fall of the ground has been
utilized to introduce two vestries and a sexton's room
under the east end. The vestries communicate with
the chancel, and the raised north annexe is above
them. In the churchyard is a finely-sculptured
churchyard cross.
The church of ST. MARK Peaslake was opened as
a chapel of ease to Shere in 1889. It is of Weald
stone, and has a nave and chancel with apsidal end, a
bell-turret of wood, and three bells.
The advowson of the original
JDrOWSONS parish church was in dispute be-
tween the Abbots of Netley and the
lords of Shiere Vachery from the 1 3th till the i6th
century. Roger de Clare sold it to the abbey in
I243- 118 In 1 244 the abbot had licence to appro-
priate the church," 9 and the king confirmed the
advowson to the abbey in 12501 ; uo but the appro-
priation was not carried into efFect. 141 In 1253 the
abbey is said to hold the patronage 'at the king's
request. 714 * In 12589 John son of John, lord of
Shiere Vachery, proved his claim to present as lord of
the manor, but allowed the abbey to present for one
turn. Consequently, in 1277-8, the abbot again
brought forward his claim, but failed to prove it ; 14 *
and for some years the lords of Shiere Vachery con-
tinued to present; 144 but between 1346 and 1366
the abbot presented twice, 146 after which James, Earl
of Ormond, disputed his claim, 146 but without success,,
for the abbey presented in 1379-So, 147 and again in
!39O, 148 and continued to do so till John Lord Audley
144 This font is illustrated by a good
tcel engraving in Hussey, Churches of
Kent, Sun. and Surr. 341.
136 This John Walter, the immediate
predecessor of Robert Scarclyff, willed to be
buried in the chancel before the image of
St. James, and bequeathed all his blocks
of hewn stones lying about the manse of
his rectory to the repair of the steps before
the high altar of the church, and all hit
flanks, or Eitricba hordes, at hit rectory
to the repair of the ceiling of the high
chancel of the church. Estricbei hordes
means deal boards imported from eastern
countries.
186 In the British Museum (Add. MSS.
32490, D. 9; K. 33 ; QQ. 22, 31) are
preserved rubbings of the brasses before
they were mutilated.
"" Op. cit. i, 529, &c.
V.C.H. Surr. ii, 146 ; Feet of F.
Surr. 29 Hen. Ill, 23.
I2O
lw Cal. of Papal Letters, i, 211.
140 Cart. Antiq. L. 26.
41 Cal. of Papal Letters, i, 283.
Ibid.
48 De Banco R. 19, m. 61.
44 Egerton MS. 2032, fol. 286, -j\a.
4 * Ibid. 2033, fol. 3011.
46 Wykeham's Reg. (Hants Rec.
i, 61 ; ii, 600.
"' Ibid, i, 105.
148 Ibid, i, 176.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
WONERSH
again claimed the right."' The dispute was only
settled when Sir Edmund Bray presented in 1518.
Before the next presentation came the abbey was dis-
solved. The advowson descended with Shiere Vachery
till Morgan Randyll bought it in 1677 14 for Thomas
Duncomb, 140a who was then rector. It was leased or
sold for occasions by the Duncomb family, but re-
mained with them till Thomas Duncomb sold it to
John Smallpeice in 1831 IS1 for the Rev. D. C.
Delasfone, rector, with which the former sale may
be compared. Mr. Justice Bray is the present
patron.
There was a chantry of our Lady in Shere Church.
In the 1 4th century the rector was responsible for find-
ing a chaplain at the altar of St. Mary in his church.' 81
The chantry was maintained from the profits of the
' Chantry House,' which was granted after the sup-
pression of chantries to Henry Foisted. 141 It descended
with his manor of Albury (q.v.). IM
Early in the 141)1 century Christine daughter of
William ' called the Carpenter ' had licence to dwell
in Shere Churchyard as an anchoress. 164
The living of St. Mary Felday is in the gift of the
bishop
Mr. Thomas Gatton left .400 in
CHARITIES 1758 to educate poor children. In
1 842 Mr. Lomax added to the endow-
ment, and a school was established on the scheme of
the National Society. The present buildings date
from 1877, and were enlarged in 1898.
Smith's Charity exists as in other Surrey parishes.
In 1657 Mr. Maybank left 26 for the poor ot
Shere, which was invested in land in Cranleigh.
At some date unknown, but probably before
I7I4, IM Mrs. Charity Duncomb left money invested
in land in Cranleigh, bringing in l 6s. per annum,
to provide bread weekly for poor widows.
In 1 746 the Rev. George Duncomb left 6 a year
out of his freehold in Shere, l \s. to buy bread for
the poor of Shere, i i6/. for the poor of Albury,
2 1 3/. for teaching children, js. for the parish
clerk.
In 1784 Francis Haybitle, farm labourer of Peas-
lake, left a rent-charge of 1 5/. a year on a cottage in
Shere to provide bread for the poor.
In 1818 Charles Hammond gave 100 to be in-
vested in the Funds, and the interest applied to the
improvement of the psalmody in Shere Church.
WONERSH
Wonherche (xiv tent.) ; Ognersh and Ignersh (xvi
and xvii cents.).
Wonersh is a village about 3^ miles south by
east of Guildford. The parish is bounded on the
north by Shalford and St. Martha's, on the east
by Albury, on the south by Cranleigh, on the
west by Bramley and the ecclesiastical parish of
Graffham, formed from Bramley and an outlying part
of Dunsfold. It measures rather over 5 miles from
north-west to south-east, and at the widest part a
little over z miles from east to west ; it tapers to-
wards the south. The northern part of the parish is
upon the Greensand, with an outcrop of Atherfield
Clay at its base. The southern part reaches on to
the Wealden Clay. About the village itself, however,
the soil is sand and gravel washed down by a tribu-
tary of the Wey, which, rising in Cranleigh parish,
traverses Wonersh and falls into the Wey in Shal-
ford. The road from Guildford to Cranleigh and
Horsham traverses the parish, and the disused Wey
and Arun Canal also. The London, Brighton
and South Coast line from Guildford to Horsham
cuts the southern part of it. Bramley station on
this line is close to the village of Wonersh, though in
Bramley parish. The two villages are curiously close
to each other. The parish is agricultural, and there
is a good deal of waste land. Part of the heath-
covered high ground of Blackheath is included in
Wonersh, also part of Shalford Common, Shamley
Green, once spelt Shamble Lea, and part of Smith-
wood Common in the south end of it. Along th&
road to Guildford is a great extent of roadside waste.
Wonersh was one of the flourishing seats of the-
clothing trade in West Surrey. The special manufac-
ture was blue cloth, dyed, no doubt, with woad,
licence to grow which was asked in the neighbour-
hood in the 1 6th century. 1 Her Majesty objected
to the too free growth of woad as prejudicial to her
customs.' The blue cloth of Wonersh commanded
a sale in the Canary Islands, among other places.
Aubrey 8 tells the story of how the market was lost
by the dishonesty of the makers in stretching their
webs. But the clothing trade was dwindling irv
the whole neighbourhood in the I7th century, 4 and
Wonersh only shared in the general decay.
Prehistoric remains are rather abundant. Numerous
palaeolithic flints have been found in the drift gravel
near the stream, neolithic implements and flakes ajre
abundant, especially on Blackheath and near Chint-
hurst Hill. In 1900 a small round barrow was
opened on Blackheath. It had contained a cinerary
urn, broken to pieces when found, in which were
burnt bones. The urn had been inclosed by flat
slabs of ironstone. In the barrow were two neolithic
flints, a round disc, and an axe-head or hammer of
rude make. 5
There is a Congregational chapel in Wonersh.
St. John's Seminary, built as a place of education for
Roman Catholic clergy for the diocese of Southwark,
was opened in 1891. It stands near the road to
149 Egerton MS. 2034, fol. 88a.
Recov. R. Mil. 28 & 29 Chas. II,
m. 150.
I5to See Manning and Bray, op. cit. i,
519.
> Feet of F. SUIT. East. I & 2 Will. IV.
1M Egerton MS. 2033, fol. 63.
168 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. i), cvi, 56 ;
cclxxiii, 99.
114 Close, 10 Chas. I, pt. xxviii, m. 33 ;
32 Chas. II, pt. xiv, no. 10.
155 Egerton MS. 2032, fol. 74. Com-
pare the account of the cell adjoining the
north wall of the church.
1M Before 1714, for in 1786 Thomas
Duncomb, rector, did not know when she
died. His father, grandfather, and great-
grandfather had been rectors before him,
121
dying in 1764, 1746, and 1714 respec-
tively, and none of them left widows.
1 At Unstead ; Loseley MSS. (i Apr.
1586), vii, 29 B.
3 See Loseley MSS. (10 Apr. 1585), xii,
60. A letter from the council on the subject.
* Nat. Hiit. and Antij. ofSurr.(ed. 1718),
iv, 97. 4 See V.C.H. Surr. ii, 344-8..
Surr. Arch. Coll. XT, 156.
16
A HISTORY OF SURREY
Cranleigh between Wonersh and Shamley Green. It
is built in the Italian Renaissance style, and will
accommodate over one hundred students as well as
the teaching staff.
On Blackheath is a Franciscan monastery with
accommodation for students, built in 1892 ; this is
WONERSH : THE POST-OFFICE, SHAMLEY GREEN
a. handsome building with a chapel of stone in the
Renaissance style.
The churchyard is closed to interments. The
cemetery, between the village and Blaclcheath, was
given by Mrs. Sudbury of Wonersh Park in 1900.
Burials previously took place in the new churchyard
at Shamley Green.
There is a Liberal club in the village.
Among the many interesting old cottages and
houses in the village are two or three with very
perfect half-timber fronts, having projecting upper
stories showing the ends of the floor-joists, with
boldly-curved brackets, or jutty-pieces, at intervals,
ogee-curved braces, and in one case a recessed centre
flanked by projecting wings, of which one has been
removed recently. Several good chimneys of various
patterns are noteworthy. On the eastern side of the
village is a good example of early 18th-century archi-
tecture with hipped roof and sash windows.
Shamley Green, an outlying hamlet, contains a
most interesting collection of old houses and cottages,
some of which have evidently seen better days. The
post-office 6 presents a charming study in roof-lines,
and has a fine pair of chimneys and a timber-framed
gable of very sharp pitch, filled in with brick. This
gable possesses a good foliated barge-board of early
character, very like one in the rear of West Horsley
Place and another at Alfold. At the top of the Green
is another good timber house with a projecting gable
with a moulded bressummer on brackets
and a barge-board of tracery work in
the form of small quatrefoils pierced
through the solid board. There is a
good chimney, rising from the ground,
with moulded brick bases to the shafts
of the flues. More interesting still is a
house with a half-timber front, a good
projecting window, and a fine chimney.
On the left side of the front is a wing
of rubble and brick with tile-hung gable ;
the centre braces and a gable on the
right are framed in squares, with braces
cut into ogee curves. 7 The gable is
framed on a bressummer, and has a bold
projection on spurs or brackets, the soffit
being coved in plaster with moulded
wooden ribs. The curved braces occur
in the gable-end also, and the gable is
framed with a rich barge-board of pierced
quatrefoils set in moulded circles, re-
sembling that in the before-mentioned
example. In the apex of both gables
is a clever arrangement for concealing
the junction of the two sides of the
barge-board. The story beneath this
gable rests upon an elaborately moulded
joist-board or bressummer. The ground
story has been built out in brickwork.
This house may date from about 1500.*
Wonersh Park is a beautifully-tim-
bered park through which runs a small
stream. It formerly belonged to Richard
Gwynn, who died in 1701, aged seventy-
two. 9 His heiress was Susan Clifton,
whose daughter and heiress Trehane married in 1710
Sir William Chappie, serjeant-at-law in 1723, who
became a judge of the King's Bench in 1737 and
died in 1745. He probably rebuilt the house. Sir
William's eldest son, William, is said '"to have been
unmarried. In the Wonersh Registers his mar-
riage is entered, but is erased with such success that
though his name and parentage are legible that of the
lady is entirely gone, and the details of the probable
mesalliance are consequently
lost. All Sir William's sons
died without issue, except one,
whose two daughters prede-
ceased him. His surviving
daughter Grace therefore be-
came his heiress, and married
in 1741 Fletcher Norton of
Grantley in Yorkshire, who
was Solicitor-General in 1761,
Attorney - General in 1763,
Speaker of the House of
Commons 1770, being then
M.P. for Guildford, and was
NORTON, Lord Grant-
ley. Azure a sleeve er-
mine tvitll a bend gules
over all.
' Illustrated by Mr. Nevill in his Old
Cottage and Domestic Architecture in South-
ivest Surr.
1 A common fashion in half-timber
houses, at e.g. in a small house at Lin- 8 Old Cottages and Farmhouses in Surr.
sted, Kent ; at East Mascalls, Sussex ; and by Davie and Green, has good photographs
in cottages in Wonersh, West Horsley, of this house. 9 Parish Registers.
and East Clandon, Surrey.
122
10 Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, ill.
WONERSH VILLAGE
WONF.RSH : OLD HOUSES, SHAMLEV GREKN
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
WONERSH
created Lord Grantley in 1782. His family held
Wonersh Park till 1884, when it was sold to
Mr. Sudbury, husband of Mrs. Sudbury, the present
owner. The house contains some pictures of note,
and i a good example of early I yth-century architec-
ture, inclosing the remains of a much older house.
On the floor above the state rooms is a long gallery,
and the staircase is so placed as to suggest its being
part of the original plan. The western wing contains
a fine suite of reception-rooms. Sir Fletcher Norton
added a library and billiard-room of noble propor-
tions, and further additions in the shape of an eastern
wing were made about 1836.
The 'Grantley Arms' public-house is a fine old
timbered house, with curiously arched wooden heads
to the gable windows. It may be of 15th-century
date in part. Plunks, another early house, has a
double-gabled front, dating from the end of the i;th
or the beginning of the 1 6th century. There is a
quatrefoil barge-board here also, and doubtless good
half-timber work is behind the present plaster face.
The joist-board, of good section, is also a noticeable
feature. The rear of the house is of more ordinary
character, but a picturesque medley of roofs, gables,
and chimneys.
Other old cottages and houses lie scattered around
the lanes and hamlets in Wonersh parish, including
good cottages at Blackheath ; a long timber farm-
house at Halldish, or Aveldersh ; Northcote Farm,
Hull Hatch, an old timber-framed house, and Reel
Hall.
The schools (National) at Norley Common were
built in 1840 and enlarged in 1884. The infant
school at Lawns Mead was opened in 1890, that at
Blackheath in 1892.
The ecclesiastical parish of Shamley Green was
separated from Wonersh in 1 88 1. A Congregational
chapel was built there in 1870.
Wood Hill, in the same parish district, is the resi-
dence of Captain Sparkes, R.N., C.M.G., J.P., one
of the principal landowners in the whole parish.
Longacre is the residence of Sir Charles Cros-
thwaite, K.C.S.I. ; Willinghurst of Captain Ramsden,
D.L., J.P.
The original Wonersh Schools, built in 1 840, are
in this part of the parish.
Wonersh is not named in Domes-
Mj4NORS day. All the subsequent manors were
included in the manors of Bramley
and Shalford.
TJNGLEr or GRE4T T4NGLET (Tangeley,
xiii cent.) was originally parcel of the manor of
Bramley." In 1238-9 Walter of Tangley and his
wife Maud were dealing with land in Worplesdon."
In the same years Ernald son of Richard of
Tangley was proved to be nephew and heir of John
of Burningfold. 13 This Ernald held a messuage and
a virgate of land in Bramley of William Brokere and
his wife Edith." About 1315-16 Sir Robert Fitz
BURLEY. Sable a thief
argent three tilting spears
paleui'sse counter-coloured.
Pain held ' a tenement called Tangelee ' by lease from
Roland Vaux, who held it for life by right of his wife,
then deceased. 15 Tangley then came into the posses-
sion of the Burley family. John
Burley and his wife Agatha
were dealing with land in
Wonersh, and the service of
Richard Tigenor, William
Loxley,and others in 1 367-8."
In 1542 another John Burley
and his wife Katherine were
seised of Tangley." In 1545
John Burley entailed the re-
version of it, after the death
of himself and his wife Sybil,
on Richard Carrill of Bram-
ley. 18 John son of Richard
Carrill inherited the manor after the death of Sybil,
who survived her husband. 19 Thenceforward its de-
scent is identical with that of the Carrills' manor of
Bramley till 1677, when, at the partition of John
Carrill's estates, it was assigned to his daughter Lettice,
wife of John Ramsden.* In 1693-4 they sold it to
John and Leonard Child." In 1759 John's great-
grandson Charles Searle sold the manor to Sir
Fletcher Norton," with whose estates it has since
descended."
In 1 808 court leet and court baron are mentioned
as appurtenant to the manor."
The manor-house, where Hester wife of John
Carrill lived during her widowhood," is very ancient.
It lies in the northern part of the parish, and has been
made the subject of innumerable paintings, and has also
been well described and illustrated.* 6 The moat by
which the present house is surrounded would appear to
have been intended for purposes of defence as well as
to drain away the water from the house, which lies
somewhat low. Remains of stone buildings have been
discovered. Within late years the house has twice
been enlarged, having been rescued by its late owner,
Mr. Wickham Flower, from the somewhat neglected
state into which it had sunk as a mere farm-house, and
surrounded by flower-gardens and covered walks.
The south front, built in 1582 by John Carrill, can
challenge comparison with any ancient house of its
class in Surrey. This is not, however, the earliest
part of the house : although subdivided into three
floors in 1582, the hall, of the middle of the 1 5th
century, with its original open roof, remains. It
was of four unequally spaced bays, and the framed
principals of the roof can be seen in the bedrooms.
They consist of heavily-cambered tie-beams, I ft. 8 in.
deep in the centre by I o in., having under them a
four-centred arch of solid timber, 4 in. thick, serving
as braces to the massive story-posts, loin, by 9 in.,
on which the beams rest. A short king-post, with
an arched brace 3 in. thick from each face, rises from
the centre of the beam to support the collar and Icon
beams. The width of this hall was 20 ft., and its
11 Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 Edw. II, 63, where
Tangley is said to be ' in eadem tenura
de Bromlcgh."
12 Feet of F. Surr. 23 Henry III.
18 Chan. Inq. p.m. 23 Hen. Ill, no. 77.
14 Feet of F. Surr. 9 Edw. I, 1 2.
Everard son of Richard Tangley is said to
have been the heir of John of Bromfeld,
1288-9, Chancellors' R. 17 Edw. I, 20.
14 Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 Edw. II, no. 63.
> Feet of F. Div. Co. 41 Edw. Ill, 676.
Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 33 Hen. VIII.
18 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), clxxv, 74.
19 W. and L. Inq. p.m. 10 Jas. I, xlvi, 9.
Exch. Spec. Com. 6485.
a Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 4 & 5 Will,
and Mary.
M Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, no.
28 See under Bramley.
M Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, no.
I2 3
u It was said to be much decayed in
1670-1. Exch. Dep. Hil. 21-22 Chas. II,
26.
86 By the late Mr. Charles Bailey (Surr.
Arch. Coll. iv, 278) ; Mr. Ralph Nevill,
F.S.A. (Old Cottage and Domestic Architec-
ture in South-west Surr. 82, &c.) ; Messrs.
Davie and Green (Old Cottages and Farm-
houses in Surr.) 5 and in Country Life (2 1 Jan.
1905).
A HISTORY OF SURREY
length, including the musicians' gallery, which was
built out as an upper floor over the entry or vestibule,
29 ft. This hall, as was commonly the case, must
have had a central hearth, the smoke from the wood
fires finding its way out at the upper windows, or
through a louvred turret in the roof. The original
front door still remains. Doubtless there were various
outbuildings and offices, beside double-storied wings
with parlours and sleeping apartments, which have
been either removed to make way for the later
additions, or so masked as to be indistinguishable
from them. The new front of 1582 was built on
in advance of the old hall. It is of two stories, and
its elevation consists of two gables of unequal size
with a smaller gable between, below which is the
porch entered by a wide doorway, having a four-
centred arch. The most interesting features of this
front are the barge-boards with moulded hip-knobs, or
pendants, at the apex ; the overhanging upper stories;
the mullioned and transomed oriels and other windows,
some on carved brackets ; and the ' square and circle '
patterns of the timber framework. The latter is
in some cases enriched with shallow carving of fleurs-
de-lys a very rare feature in half-timber treatment.
Many other details worth notice might be cited, such
as a doorway in the garden wall, chimneys (one with
a crow-stepped base), panelling, doors, and internal
fittings. It is now the property of Colonel
Kennard.
LITTLE T4NGLET was assigned to Elizabeth
Ludlow at the partition of John CarrilPs estates.* 7
After her daughter Elizabeth's death it was sold to
William Hammond of Bramley. 28 It is now the
residence of Mr. Cowley Lambert, F.R.G.S.
The reputed manor of CHINTHURST (Chilt-
hurst xvi cent.) formed, together with a moiety of
Loseley, the dower assigned to Thomasine widow of
William Sidney by his son William in 1452.* 9 It
had then lately been held by John Hover. It passed
with Loseley to Sir Christopher More in 1532, and
descended to his son so William More of Loseley, who
exchanged it in 1557 for Foisted Manor in Compton
with John Wight and his wife Agnes." John Wight,
a descendant of this John (see Arlington), sold the
manor to John Sparkes of Gosden in 1791." The
manor was then held successively by his son and grand-
son, both being his namesakes. 35 It is now the seat of
Mr. W. V. Cooper.
HALLDISH is a small farm in Shamley Green.
In the 1 4th century indulgence was granted to
Bartholomew of ' Haveldersh ' and his wife Joan,
who were buried in Wonersh churchyard.* 4 In the
1 7th century it was in the possession of the Dun-
combe family, and descended with Weston in Albury
to Nathaniel Sturt and his wife Anne. 35 Their grand-
son, the Rev. George Chatfield, was owner in 1808."
It was purchased before 1841 by Henry Drummond
of Albury," and belongs to the Duke of Northumber-
land his grandson.
Green Place, the present residence of Mrs. Leighton,
was reported in the 1 7th century to have been ' some-
time a fair and large house now ruinated,' and formerly
the property of Baron Roos. 38 It was the property of
the Elyots, afterwards of Busbridge, in the 1 5th
century.* 9 Thomas and Henry Elyot have brasses
in Wonersh Church.
LOSTERFORD in Wonersh is called a manor in
the 1 6th century. In 1547 John Scarlet died seised
(inter aha) of the manor of Losterford, held of the
Countess of Southampton (Fitz William) as of the
manor of Shalford Bradestan. 40 He left a son John
aged seven years and upwards. In 1576 Thomas
Paston bought a moiety of the manor of Losterford
and Wykes of John Scarlet."
In 1579 William Tycknor bought the manor of
Losterforde afias Lastarforde of Nicholas and Thomas
Parson, no doubt the same as Paston above. 41 Loster-
ford House is now the residence of Colonel Cust.
ROWLEYS, another reputed manor, was bought
by Robert Harding, goldsmith, in 1 508, of Humphrey
Sydney. Robert's son William had a daughter Cathe-
rine (see Bramley), who married Richard Onslow, in
whose family Rowleys descended," till in 1806 the
Earl of Onslow sold it to Richard Sparkes, 44 who was
succeeded by his son John Sparkes."
The church of ST. JOHN THE
CHURCHES BAPTIST is approached by a short
lane from the village street, through
iron gates in the lofty inclosing wall of Wonersh Park,
its churchyard adjoining the park. The churchyard
is surrounded by noble old trees and is beautifully kept.
The old parts of the church are built of ironstone
rubble, conglomerate, chalk rag, Bargate rubble and
other materials, with hard chalk or clunch for the
dressings and a good deal of what seems to be Caen
stone in the inside of the chancel and north chapel.
The roofs are tiled. The nave and south aisle (thrown
into one area and under one roof) and the transeptal
chapel on the south were largely rebuilt in 1793 by
the then Lord Grantley it is said from plans by his
butler in red brick and in the plainest sort of
meeting-house style.
In the alterations of 1793, the end of the chancel
was cut off so as to make it coterminous with the
transeptal chapels, a small alcove being built out to
contain the altar. In the recent restoration (190 1 2)
some of the worst of these mutilations were undone,
the chancel being extended to what was probably its
original length, and the north chapel or chancel aisle,
which had also been reduced in length, prolonged
eastward on the old foundations.
The present dimensions therefore are : nave
39 ft. 6 in. by 20 ft., or, with the space that originally
formed an aisle on the south, 30 ft. 6 in. in width ;
chancel, 32 ft. 5 in. by 20 ft. 3 in. ; north chapel,
21 ft. 5 in. by 14 ft. 5 in. ; tower, on the north of
the nave, opening into it and into the chapel, 1 3 ft.
9 in. by 1 3 ft. 5 in. ; and south chapel (now used as
organ-chamber and vestry), 2 1 ft. 3 in. by 1 8 ft.
The tower, somewhat unusually placed on the north
v Exch. Spec. Com. 6485.
88 Close, 25 Ceo. II, pt. i, no. 5.
" Harl. Chart. 56 B 25.
80 See under Loseley ; also Chan. Inq.
p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixxxix, 134. Feet of F.
Surr. Mich. 5 Edw. VI.
81 Com. Pleas D. Ear. East. 4*5 Phil,
and Mary, m. 367.
" Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 3 1 Ceo. III.
88 Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 1 1 1 ;
Brayley, Tofog. Hist, of Surr. v, 148.
84 Index to Epis. Reg. of Winchester ;
Egerton MS. 2032, fol. 128.
85 Feet of F. Surr. East. 10 Geo. I.
88 Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 108.
8 ? Brayley, Tofog. Hist, of Surr. v, 148.
88 Add. MS. (B.M.), 6167, fol. 467.
Harl. MS. 1561, foL zii.
124
40 Inq. p.m. Wards and Liveries, I Edw.
VI, iii, n.
41 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 1 8 Elit.
Ibid. Mil. 21 Eliz.
48 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccclv, 96 ;
and Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, no.
44 Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, in;
Recov. R. East. 44 Geo. Ill, m. 231.
41 Brayley, Tofog, Hiit. of Surr. v, 148.
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
WONERSH
side of the nave at its eastern end,* 6 and with its
western wall askew, is in three stages, the topmost,
which is embattled and contains the bells, being an
addition of 1 7 5 1 , and taking the place of a shingled spire.
The upper stage is of brick and rubble, with broad
brick string-courses and wide, round-headed, louvred
openings. A peculiarity of the lower stages is that
there are no dressed stone quoins to the angles, which
are formed of thin layers of ironstone rubble, the
construction resembling that of the late 12th-century
church at Wisley. As however, all the openings are later
insertions, it is difficult to pronounce with certainty
as to its date : but it seems to have been built up
against a nave of pre-Conquest date, in which traces
of round-headed windows finished in
plaster were discovered in 1901. This
nave was probably that of the chapel
built in pre-Conquest times, or at any
rate before the close of the 1 1 th cen-
tury. The early windows were not
preserved at the restoration. Until the
early years of the 1 3th century this
tower was detached on three sides. It
opens into the nave by a plain square-
edged pointed arch, having chamfered
abaci, and this may date from about
1 1 80. Early in the 1 3th century the
chancel was also rebuilt, on a much
wider and larger plan. The fine lofty
chancel arch, of unusually bold span,
shows by its mouldings that it was exe-
cuted about 1 220, and there are the
outlines of three blocked lancets in each
of the side walls of the chancel, a piece
of string-course on its north wall, and
remains of a low side window or priest's
door on the south, which agree with
that date. At about the same time the
lancet that lights the ground story of
the tower was inserted, replacing per-
haps a smaller and earlier opening.
Towards the close of the I3th cen-
tury a chapel was thrown out on the
south of the chancel, and as evidence
of this the arch of communication be-
tween the two, with characteristically
moulded capitals, remains. The piers
and arch are of the same section, of two
orders with narrow chamfers, and the
capital is really no more than an impost
moulding breaking their junction. No-
thing but this arch remains of the chapel,
which was rebuilt in brick in 1793.
In about 1400 perhaps slightly earlier a corre-
sponding chapel was made on the north side, opening
to the chancel and tower by somewhat elaborately
moulded arches, of two orders, with shafts having
moulded capitals and bases. A good image-niche of
this period, with ogee cinquefoiled head and carved
brackets, remains high up in the south wall of this
chapel, and hard by is a roughly formed squint having
a piscina in its sill ; while eastward of both on the
chancel side is a door, low in the wall, with a flight
of steps leading to what was perhaps a charnel behind
the altar, paved with tiles of various dates. This is
shown in an 1 8th-century engraving as having a
low lean-to roof of stone, just above the ground,
with two small lancet slits under gablets abutting
against the east wall of the chapel. This curious
and rare roofing was destroyed in 1793. Another
curious doorway, also of this period, now blocked, is
set beneath the lancet window in the north wall of the
tower. It also is very low down in the wall and is
planned to open outwards : the head is pointed
within a square, with a shield and foliage in one
spandrel : its presence here is hard to explain, but
probably it was merely inserted in the 1 8th century,
being brought from elsewhere in the church, as Crack-
low's view shows a small porch, now no longer
WONERSH CHURCH FROM THE NORTH
existing, against this wall of the tower. The door
to the rood-loft, also of 15th-century date, is visible,
its sill being at a height of some 8 ft. from the floor,
in the south wall of the tower, close to the west face
of the chancel arch ; and on the opposite side, against
the east wall of the nave, is some wrought clunch,
which has formed the jamb of an opening at the
corresponding level through the south wall of the
nave. This wall, with its arcade to the aisle, was
removed when the nave was gutted in 1793. A
lancet to the west of the tower in the north wall
appears to be modern, and the only ancient feature
"The neighbouring church of Bramley
hasa tower similarly placed and other exam-
ples of northern towers occur at West Clan-
don and (originally) Tooting : while towers
125
on the south of the nave are found at Fet-
cham, Godstone, and LingticLi.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
in this wall is a large embattled corbel, set at some
height above the floor towards the western end. The
soffit of the chancel arch retains a groove for a boarded
tympanum, which originally formed a background for
the rood and attendant images.
The modern extensions of the chancel and north
chapel are in excellent taste and in general conformity
with the old work : they include a fine east window,
piscina, and sedilia, new windows in the chancel and
north chapel, and a door in the latter.
In 1793 the nave and the space formerly occupied
by the aisle were re-roofed under one span, with great
queen-post trusses, and the whole ceiled. The ceiling
has now been removed, exposing the somewhat naked
constructional timbers. The roofs of the chancel and
north chapel are modern (except for a moulded beam,
of 1 5th-century date, in the former, which, however,
appears to have crowned a screen or rood gallery), and
are elaborately ornamented with bosses, on which are
carved sacred emblems, shields of arms, &c., the whole
PLAN OF WONERSH CHURCH
being coloured and gilt. The painted glass is all
modern and exceptionally good, especially that in the
east window of the north chapel, with figures of St.
George and St. Alban. A few slight traces of me-
diaeval colour decoration remain, as on the voussoirs of
the chancel arch. The altar-pace in the north chapel
is paved with old tiles dating from the 1 3th to the
1 5th centuries. The chancel is paved in black and
white marble, laid in squares and patterns, and the
sanctuary is raised three steps above the nave. The
chapel altar is brought forward to allow of the passage
way behind it. Both the chancel and chapel altars
have stone slabs, incised with the five crosses, on
wooden framework, that of the high altar being hand-
somely carved in several woods. The chancel seats
are elaborately carved in oak, with figures of saints as
finials to the stall-ends, and the nave and tower are
seated with benches in elm, very beautifully figured.
There are one or two pieces of old oak beams lying in
the ' crypt ' passage behind the chapel altar, and within
the arch to the south chapel is a good plain oak screen
of 15th-century date, having moulded work, but no
tracery. This has been copied in a modern screen in
the opposite arch. There is a fine old Flemish
chandelier hanging in the centre of the chancel, and
in the north chapel is a pair of Georgian altar-
candlesticks.
The font, of cup-shaped bowl, stem and base, is a
restoration in sandstone, incorporating a curious band
of ribbed work in a coarse grit-stone below the bowl,
which, from its archaic character, may be of pre-Con-
quest date. This font was found buried beneath the
floor at the restoration.
In the nave, aisle, and chapels are a few old slabs
and ledgers, some with armorial panels. There is a
large Purbeck marble altar-tomb in the north chapel,
of 15th-century date, probably that of the founder of
the chapel, but without name or inscription of any
kind. Its sides are ornamented with quatrefoiled
tracery panelling and shields, originally filled with
coats-of-arms in latten, but these have all disappeared.
An earthenware jar, now in the vestry, was found
under the floor near this tomb. It is
r-> said that the person interred in the
tomb was embalmed, as the cassia used
in the embalming still exudes from the
tomb in damp weather. In the south
chapel, now the vestry, is another
altar-tomb with a marble slab to the
memory of Robert Gwynn, a ' Filezar
of London,' with a fine heraldic panel
and the date 1701. Built into the
west wall of the nave are the frag-
ments of a fine Elizabethan mural
monument, with cornice pilasters and
a foliaged scroll-work panel of good
design : the inscription is missing.
One of the grave-slabs, now missing,
recorded the death of one of the
Carills of Tangley, and the rhyming
epitaph ended with the line, 'Caryll
sings carols in the heavenly quire.'
On the floor of the chancel is a
brass with figures of a civilian and
wife and an imperfect inscription to
' Thomas Elyot de Wonersh ' and
his wife Alicia, dated 146 . An-
other, with figures of a civilian and
lady and groups of twelve sons and eleven daughters,
bearing date 1503, is to Henry Elyot and Johanna his
wife. Within the chancel rails are two small brass
inscriptions, to Elizabeth, one of the daughters of
Thomas Blennerhayset, 1513; and to Elizabeth,
daughter of Henry Bossevile : ' who died the 9 daye
of February 1578, beinge 27 dayes olde."
Some of the tool marks on the I 2th and I 3th cen-
tury arches are very well preserved, and on the arch
between the tower and the nave is a dial, or incised
circle.
The bells are modern.
Among the church plate are a silver cup and cover,
with the usual band of arabesque foliage round the
bowl of the latter, and the date 1569. with the corre-
sponding hall-marks. Another silver paten bears the
hall-marks of 1 8 1 1 , with the inscription noteworthy
for the date : ' Ut dignius celebretur Eucharistia in
Eccl. par. de Wonersh in Com. Surriensi, haec Patina
Deo dicata est A.D. 1812. Gul H. Cole Vicario.
J. Sparkes et E. Chitty Sacrorum Custodibus.'
The registers date from 1539.
126
BLACKHEATH HUNDRED
WONERSH
Christ Church Shamley Green was built in 1864 as
a chapel of ease to Wonersh. It is in the 13th-cen-
tury style, of sandstone with a west turret and spire.
On Blackheath is a chapel of ease to the parish
church. It is built of stone in Italian Gothic or
Romanesque style.
The church of Wonersh was
JDrOWSONS formerly a chapel of Shalford, and
as such was in the presentation of the
king. 47 In I 304-5 Edward I granted it to the Hospital
of St. Mary without Bishopsgate and called it a church
in his charter. 48 The Prior of St. Mary held the advow-
son till the Dissolution, when it came into the hands
of the Crown. 49 In 1590 Queen Elizabeth granted it
with Shalford rectory to her secretary Sir John Wolley. 50
His son and heir Sir Francis Wolley died holding the
advowson in 1609.*' George Duncombe was dealing
with it in 1650, Roger Duncombe in 1677, and
George Duncombe in 1693." In 1765 George
Duncombe sold it to Sir Fletcher Norton, whose son,
William Lord Grantley, held it in 1808." It was
acquired by Lord Ashcombe after the sale of the
Grantley estates, and presented by him to Selwyn
College, Cambridge.
Shamley Green was formed into a parish from
Wonersh in 1 88 1 .** The living is in the gift of Lord
Ashcombe.
Smith's charity is distributed as in
CHARITIES other Surrey parishes. Mr. John
Austen of Shalford left money for
poor relief in 1620. Mr. Henry Chennell of Wonersh
left land, the produce to be devoted to putting six
poor boys to school, in 1672. Mr. Gwynne of London
gave land and bank stock, in 1698, to put four poor
boys to school and to distribute bread to fifteen poor
persons every Sunday after service.
The charities are now (1908) being amalgamated
under a scheme by the Charity Commissioners.
4 7 Maitland, Braetan'i Note Bk. 9135
Cul. Pat. 1116-25, P- 497-
48 Chart. R. 33 Edw. I, no. 49.
49 Egerton MS. 2031, fol. 118; ibid.
2033, fol. 42 j ibid. 2034, fol. 176.
60 Pat. 32 Eliz. pt. xvii.
81 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxlix, 74 ;
ccciv, 60,
M Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 1650 ; Mich.
29 Chat. II ; Hil. 4 & 5 Will, and Mary.
53 Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii,
113.
M Census 1891. Administrative and An-
cient Co. i, 350.
127
THE HUNDRED OF WOTTON
ABINGER
CAPEL
CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF
DORKING
OCKLEY
WOTTON '
Wotton Hundred 8 (Odeton, xi cent. ; Wodetone, until xvi cent.) was found
by the Domesday Commissioners to include Dorking, Sutton in Shiere, part of
Compton in Sussex, Burgham, Wyke, Worplesdon, Betchworth, Milton,
Anstie Farm, Abinger, and Paddington. Of these, Sutton in Shiere was shortly
afterwards attached by the Bishop of Bayeux
to his manor of Bramley in Blackheath
Hundred, 8 while Compton, as the county
borders became more settled, was presum-
ably included in Sussex with the other lands
of Roger de Montgomery, who held it at
the time of the Survey. It has been sug-
gested that Burgham, Wyke, and Wor-
plesdon owed their inclusion in Wotton
Hundred 4 to a clerical error, and it was
possibly due to the same cause that Ockley
at the time of the Survey was placed in
Woking. It seems probable that ' Beche-
worth ' refers to East Betchworth, now in
Reigate Hundred : Milton and Anstie
Farm are both in Dorking parish.
The sheriffs courts were held in
Dorking, whence the usual later name. The hundred does not appear
to have been alienated from the Crown until it was granted by James I
to Sir Edward Zouche, 1620, at the same time and in the same manner
as the hundreds of Blackheath and Woking (see under Blackheath Hundred),,
and likewise descended to Earl Onslow.
1 Population Returns, 1831, ii, 636.
1 The hundred appears as Dorking Hundred in Norden's Map of Surrey (1610), given in y.C.H. Surr. i >
while the name Wotton is alternative to Blackheath, by a mere error of Norden's.
1 y.C.H. Surr. i, 305*. 4 Ibid. 3 1 3*.
INDEX MAP
TO THE
HUNDRED
or
WOTTON
128
WOTTON HUNDRED
ABINGER
ABINGER
Abinceborne (xi cent.) ; Abinworth, Abyngworth
(xiii cent.) ; Abyngeworth (xv cent.).
Abinger is a parish bounded on the north by West
Horsley and Effingham, on the east by Wotton and
Ockley, on the south by the county of Sussex, on
the west by Ewhurst and Shiere. It is 9 miles from
north to south, and varies from i to \ mile from
east to west. It contains 7,560 acres. The church is
8 miles south-west of Dorking. Abinger, Wotton,
and Ockley were formerly much intermixed, but on
5 December 1879' a long outlying strip of Ockley
between Abinger and Ewhurst, and two smaller
portions of Ockley isolated in Abinger, were added to
Abinger ; at the same date ' a part of Wotton on the
Sussex border was added to Abinger. On 2 5 March
1883 * a very small curiously outlying piece of Ock-
ham and two very small portions of Cranleigh and
Ewhurst, near the eastern slope of Holmbury Hill,
were added to Abinger. The northern portion of
the parish is on the chalk downs, nearly 700 ft. above
the sea. It runs southward over the narrow Upper
Green Sand and Gault, and on the western side of Lei th
Hill on the Lower Green Sand rises to over 800 ft.
on High Ashes Hill. Abinger Church is 550 ft.
above the sea, and is the highest old parish church in
Surrey, except Tatsfield. The southern part of the
parish sinks rapidly down to the Wealden Clay.
The streams which rise in the parish flow to the
Tillingbourne, which runs from Leith Hill to join the
Wey at Shalford, and in the other direction to the
head waters of the Arun. The parish is agricultural ;
but at Abinger Hammer, on the Tillingbourne, was
an iron forge. 4 The South Eastern Railway, Redhill
and Reading branch, and the road from Dorking to
Guildford traverse the northern part of the parish.
The ancient remains in Abinger, since the extension
of the parish in 1879-83, are extensive and interest-
ing. Neolithic flints, including a fine axe-head in
private possession, have been found about Holmbury
Hill. In a field near Abinger Hall a small Roman
villa was found in 1877, with some coins of Con-
stantine the Great and his family. The remains were
left open, and Dr. Darwin used the Roman mosaic floors
in situ for observations upon the work of earthworms,
aided in his investigation by his niece, Miss Wedgwood
of Leith Hill Place. The remains mostly perished
from exposure, or were removed, and the remainder
is now covered up again. It appeared to be a small
country house, of no great pretensions.
On Holmbury Hill now in Abinger, but m
Ockley when the old Surrey histories were written is
a considerable earthwork, covering almost exactly 10
acres, 857 ft. above the sea. The four sides are
nearly opposite the cardinal points. The western,
northern, and eastern ditches make nearly three sides
of a square, but the southern side follows the irregular
contour of the steep slope of the hill. There are
double banks and ditches on the north and west,
where the ground outside is nearly as high as the in-
side, and double, or treble, scarped banks on the
south, obscured by diggings for sand. On the east,
where the ground falls more rapidly, is a bank and
ditch, with a low outside bank to it, but no ditch
visible beyond. There is a poor water supply inside.
1 Loc. Goyt. Bd. Order no. 9951.
3
ABINGER : CROSSWAYS FARM HOUSE
' By Order no. 9951. * By Order no. 14281.
I2Q
4 V.C.H. Surr. ii, 170-1.
'7
A HISTORY OF SURREY
near the east side, and an abundant supply a little
way down the hill. The entrance was at the north-
west corner, by a causeway across the ditches, the
banks being raised slightly to command it on either
side. 4 The arrangement of the old parishes about it
was curious, and can scarcely be fortuitous. The
work was in Ockley, which was also outside it to the
south-east. Ewhurst was bounded by the works on
the south-west. Shiere enveloped it to the north-
west, north, and east, bounded by its ditches. But
across a strip of 200 yds. of Shiere on the east were
three patches of Ewhurst, Cranleigh, and the far-
distant Ockham, and just outside these the old parish
of Abinger. An archer on the banks in Ockley
parish could have shot into four other parishes with
ease, and nearly into Abinger. The bits of
Ewhurst, Cranleigh, and Ockham were on habitable
ground, with wood and water.
The visitor to Holmbury Hill is not usually
interested in the banks and ditches as his first object.
It commands what may fairly challenge the place of
the finest view in Surrey. The whole expanse of the
Weald, with the South Downs as a background, from
Portsdown Hill to Lewes ; the adjacent range of sand
hills, with Leith Hill forming a half distance on the
one hand and Pitch Hill on the other ; the Hindhead
range, with Hampshire behind it, crossing the
western distance ; the chalk hills to the north and the
country beyond them offer a panoramic view only
surpassed by that from Leith Hill, which, 100 ft.
higher, here cuts off the country to the east. But the
growth of trees on the back of Leith Hill intercepts
the sight northward, except from the top of the
tower. The immediate foreground to Holmbury
Hill is more broken and picturesque. The Pilgrims'
Way from Winchester to Canterbury passes north
of the parish at the foot of the North Downs.
Close to the west end of Abinger Church, by the
farm which was the old manor-house of Abinger, is a
mound which seems to have been raised from a ditch
round it, part of which remains as a pond. It is
marked on the Ordnance map (6-in.) as a barrow ;
but it is large for a barrow, and perhaps not too
small for a fortress a mota, standing, as often happened,
close by the church. It has never been explored.
At Abinger Cross Ways is a fine old brick house,
dating from the latter half of the lyth century.
Abinger Hatch, the well-known inn, has ancient
features, and there are many picturesque farms and
cottages, especially to the south, in the Weald.
Abinger Hall, under the chalk down in the north of
the parish, has succeeded a small house called Daniells
belonging to a family named Dibble, many of whom
occur in the Parish Registers. It was bought by the
Dowager Countess of Donegal after the death of her
husband in the War of the Spanish Succession, 1 706,
and she resided here 'during her son's minority,"
which terminated in 1716. It was in the hands of
her grandson, John Chichester, whose heir was his
elder brother Arthur, first Marquis and fifth Earl of
Donegal, who about 1783 sold it with 1 6 acres of
land to Captain Pitts of the Engineers, who had
previously bought other land in the neighbourhood.'
He rebuilt the house, then called Paddington House,
on the site of the present cricket ground. This house
was built in 1783." Captain Pitts sold it in 1797 to
Commodore Robinson of the H.E.I.C. Marine
Service, who died in 1803.' His executors sold it to
Mr. Shardon, who died in l8lo. 10 In 1 8 14 it was
bought by Sir James Scarlett, who became chief
baron of the Exchequer, was created Lord Abinger,
and died 1844. The third Lord Abinger sold it in
1867 to Mr. Gwynne, who sold it to Thomas Farrer,
subsequently Lord Farrer, in 1869. He built the
present Abinger Hall in 1872. The second Lord
Farrer now resides there.
At the north-eastern edge of Pasture Wood, adjoin-
ing the Common, is a house called Parkhurst, which
in 1766 belonged to John Spence, "formerly of
Wandsworth, Dyer," who sold it in that year to
Richard Durnford, of Gracechurch Street, pin-maker.
He in the year 1799 sold the property to Charles
Lynd, of Berners Street, from whom it passed to his
nephew and heir, Charles Lynd, of Belfast, and
was by him conveyed in 1786 to the Right
Honourable George Lord Macartney, whose greatest
service was that of going on the first embassy to
China in 1792. In 1795 he sold Parkhurst to
William Philip Perrin, who partly rebuilt and
enlarged the house, and with great public spirit
made good the road hereabout at his expense. 11 On
Mr. Perrin's death in 1820 he left Parkhurst to his
nephew, Sir Henry FitzHerbert, by whom in 1838
it was sold to Mr. Edmund Lomax, of Netley Park,
Shiere, who had resided at Parkhurst since before
1827. Mr. Lomax died in 1847, leaving the estate
to his daughter, Mrs. Peter Scarlett, from whom it
passed to her son, Colonel Leopold Scarlett. He in
1884 sold the property to Colonel T. H. Lewin, its
present owner, who considerably enlarged the house
and gardens. There is a priest's hiding-place in the
north-west corner of the older portion of the house.
Parkhurst is remarkable for possessing the first
larch trees introduced into the south of England.
Tradition has it that the seedlings were sent to
Lord Macartney, the then owner of Parkhurst, by
John, Duke of Atholl, in 1780. The trees stand in
the Long Meadow, on the east side of the park. The
largest is I oft. 6 in. in circumference, and n8ft.
high. The park contains remarkably fine timber.
In all the earlier documents relating to Parkhurst
prior to 1 8 14 it is described as ' a tenement and farm,'
but after that year it takes the style of ' mansion.'
The celebrated scene in Bulwer Lytton's novel, My
Novel, where Riccabocca is put in the stocks, is laid at
Abinger Church, near Parkhurst, where the stocks are
to be seen to this day. During Mr. Spence's tenure
of Parkhurst he was visited there by the French
philosopher, Jean Jacques Rousseau, who stayed with
him some days, but being haunted by fear of spies
fled in terror, having accidentally met the curate of
Abinger, who he was persuaded was an emissary of
the Government. Mr. William Bray, the dis-
tinguished historian of Surrey, left some diaries
which have been privately printed, in which the fol-
lowing entry occurs: 'July 23, 1759. To the
"Hatch" to dinner, Mr. Evelyn, Mr. Godschal,
Mr. Bridges, Mr. Steere, Mr. Spence," Mr. Cour-
fi Surr. Arch, Coll, rvii, 71.
8 Manning and Bray, Hitt. of Surr.
ii, 136.
' Inform, from Lord Farrer.
8 Leaden tablet found in the founda-
tions inscribed Henry Pledge November 1 8,
1783. Tbit House was till.
9 Monument in church. 10 Ibid.
130
11 Manning and Bray, Surr. ii, 136.
13 'Of Parkhurst, where Rousseau was
his guest for some time.' This note is
in Mr. Bray's handwriting.
WOTTON HUNDRED
ABINGER
tenay, and Mr. Walsh there ; left at 7 ; paid for
dinner and wine, 4*. 6J.' "
The house called Pasture Wood, built fifteen years
since, is the seat of Mr. F. J. Mirrielees. Feldemore
is the seat of Mr. Edwin Waterhouse. High Ashes
is the seat of Lord Justice Vaughan-Williams ; it
was a small farm-house, which he has improved.
The schools (National) were built in 1863, and
the school at Abinger Hammer in 1873.
At the time of the Domesday Survey
MANORS 4BINGER was held by William Fitz
Ansculf, who also held the honour of
Dudley. In the time of King Edward a huscarle
had held it of the king." From Fitz Ansculf the
overlordship evidently passed with Dudley through
the Pagenels to the Somery family, who held it at
least as late as the 1 3th century. The lord of
Abinger owed suit to their court at Bradfield. 14
Early in the 1 3th century Gilbert de Abingworth
(Abinger) held one knight's fee in Surrey ; ls his name
is also found in a list of the jurors in a suit concerning
land in Tilings. 17 Possibly he was connected with
the family of Jarpenvill, who appear about this time
in the history of Abinger. Geoffrey de Jarpenvill
shortly afterwards held a knight's fee in Abinger; 18
and in 1273 David de Jarpenvill was holding Abinger
Manor." At David's death, 1293, the manor, which
should have passed to his daughters, fell into the
hands of his brother Thomas, who in 1295 settled it
on himself, with remainder to his son Roger and Nora
his wife." Evidently Roger succeeded his father
before 1316, for about that date he was concerned in
a dispute touching the church of Abinger," and in
1322 he was holding the manor." Ten years later
he made a settlement on his son Thomas and Avice
his wife, daughter of William de Latimer. The
effect of this settlement, however, was nullified by a
suit brought against Thomas de Jarpenvill in 1 348
by Margaret wife of Henry de la Marlere, and
Margery wife of William de Harpesbourne,the daugh-
ters of Joan daughter of David de Jarpenvill, who had
married Geoffrey Fitz Waryn. 15 Also in 1360 Sir
John de Aylesbury, knight, the great-grandson of
Margaret, another daughter of David de Jarpenvill,
asserted his claim against Thomas and Avice." The
plaintiffs apparently succeeded in ousting Thomas de
Jarpenvill, for some years later Hugh son of Margaret
de la Marlere released his right in Abinger Manor to
Sir John de Aylesbury, 14 a course which was also
followed by Margery Franklin, formerly the wife of
William de Harpesbourne.* 6 Sir John de Aylesbury,
who filled the office of high sheriff for the county of
Buckingham," died in 1409 seised of the manor of
Abinger,* 8 and was succeeded by his son Thomas, who
held until his death in 141 8. John son and heir of
Thomas, who was a minor at the time of his father's
death, died in 1422,' leaving Hugh his son and heir,
an infant, who survived his father only about a year."
The heirs of Hugh were his father's two sisters, Isabel
wife of Sir Thomas Chaworth, knight, and Eleanor
Aylesbury. Evidently in some ensuing division of
the property " Abinger fell to the share of Eleanor,
and through her marriage with Sir Humphrey Stafford
passed into his family.'* Eleanor's son Humphrey,
V
X
AYLISBURV. Azure
a cross argent.
STAFFORD. Or a che-
veron gulel.
who had been one of the leaders in Lord Level's
Worcestershire rising, was attainted and executed at
Tyburn in 1486 ;" his lands, including the manor of
Abinger, were granted to Sir John Guldeford, knight,"
who, however, does not seem to have retained them
long, for in 1511 another grant was made, to Sir
Richard Jermigan.* 6 Before 1546, however, Abinger
passed again into the possession of the Staffords ; in
that year Humphrey, presumably the son of that
Humphrey who was attainted under Henry VII,
having been restored to his father's lands died in
possession," leaving Humphrey his son and heir,
whose death took place two years later. 38 In 1551 Sir
William Stafford and his wife Dorothy, and Sir Hum-
phrey Stafford (presumably son and heir of the last-
named Humphrey) and his wife Elizabeth sold the
manor to Thomas and Edward Elrington. Thomas
Elrington held a court in 1563." In 1578 and
1580 Thomas and Edward alienated in two moieties*
to Richard Brown of Cranleigh, trustee for Richard
Hill, and William Morgan of Chilworth. Hill and
Morgan held a court as joint lords in 1586, and in
1589 William Morgan settled his moiety on his son
John, 41 who settled it on his daughter Anne on her
marriage with Edward Randyll of Chilworth 1602."
He was knighted, and in 1622 conveyed his moiety
to Richard Evelyn. 43 The other moiety, which was
sold in 1580 by the Elringtons to Richard Browne 44
in trust for Edmund Hill of Sutton in Shiere, was
conveyed by his son Richard in 1595 to Sir Oliph
18 Inform kindly supplied by Lieut.-
Col. T. H. Lcwin of Parkhurst.
" y..C.H.Surr. i, jzza.
15 Chan. Inq. p.m. I Edw. I, no. 15.
" Red Bk. of Exch. (Roll. Ser.), ii,
560.
" Rot. Cur. Reg. (Rec. Com.), i, 140.
18 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 220.
19 Chan. Inq. p.m. I Edw. I, no. 1 5.
80 Feet of F. SUIT. 23 Edw. I, no. 44.
11 Egerton MSS. 2031, fol. 46.
B Feet, of F. Surr. 6 Edw. Ill, no. 13.
" Parl. R. (Rec. Com.), vi, 191.
14 De Banco R. 421, m. 265 d.
" Close, 30 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 9 d.
"Close, i Ric. II, m. i6d. Man-
ning and Bray (Surr. ii, 137) jay that
Thomas de Jarpenvill conveyed the manor
to Sir John Aylesbury by charter, 44 Edw.
III. This may have been by way of an
agreement after the suit.
Cal.Pat. 1381-5, p. 481.
88 Chan. Inq. p.m. 1 1 Hen. IV, no. 9.
Ibid. 6 Hen. V, no. 35.
80 Ibid. 10 Hen. V, no. 3.
81 Ibid. 2 Hen. VI, no. II.
Fine R. 2 Hen. VI, m. I.
88 Although no actual record of this
marriage has been found, the circumstan-
tial evidence seems fairly conclusive i
Humphrey Stafford left a widow Eleanor,
and her son Humphrey inherited Abinger j
Cal. Pat. 1476-85, p. II.
84 See Bacon, Hist, of Hen. Vll (ed.
'878), 333-
Pat. 2 Hen. VII, pt. i, m. 18.
" L. and P. Hen. VIII, i, 214.
*l Exch. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), bdle. 1093,
no. I.
88 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixxxvii, 77.
89 Feet of F. SUIT. East. 5 Edw. VI.
40 Pat. 21 Eliz. pt. vi ; Feet of F. SUIT.
Hil. 22 Eliz.
41 A settlement on John's marriage
with Anne Lumsford, widow, daughter of
John Love of Winchelsea ; Chan. Inq.
p.m. (Ser. 2), cclxxxi, 85.
4 " Ibid, ccccxxxvii, 72.
48 Deeds in possession of the late Mr.
W. J. Evelyn. Despite the inquisitions of
1603 George Evelyn was then possessed
of only the other moiety.
44 Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 22 Eliz. ;
Trin. 23 Eliz.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
Leigh of Addington, 46 to avoid making sale ' of any
lands of his more ancient inheritance.' This convey-
ance was probably in trust, for in the same year it
was acquired by George Evelyn of Wotton. 46 The
whole manor is still in the possession of the Evelyn
family. 47
The Domesday entry for PADDINGTON (Patis-
dene, Patinden, xii cent. ; Padyngden, xvi cent.),
afterwards known as PADDINGTON PEMBROKE,
states that William Fitz-Ansculf then held it, and that
a huscarle had held it of King Edward. 48 The over-
lordship passed, as in the case of Abinger, with the
honour of Dudley. 49
The first notice of immediate lords of the
manor occurs in 1188, when William Buffere 50 paid
seven pounds fourteen shillings towards the ferm
of Paddington. William Buffere gave shelter
to a certain outlaw named Avice Wylekin,
which occasioned the forfeiture of his lands to the
Crown. 51 A grant was then made to Alan Trencher-
man, lord of Gomshall, who is described as holding
the 'vill' of Paddington ;** his tenure marks the
beginning of a close connexion which apparently
existed between a portion of Paddington and the
manor of Gomshall. At Alan's death Paddington
reverted to the Crown, and was then granted to
William de Braose, 58 who fell under King John's dis-
pleasure, and had to flee from England. He died
abroad, and his wife and son were put to death by
order of King John." Paddington meanwhile was
granted to Peter de Maulay," but afterwards Giles,
Bishop of Hereford, a younger son of William de
Braose, succeeded in recovering it. 66 Reginald, bro-
ther of Giles, was the next
lord ; he was succeeded by
his son William," who met
his death in the Welsh wars.
Paddington then passed to
Eva, daughter of William de
Braose, who had married Wil-
liam de Cantlow," and on
the death of her son George
without issue the manor passed
to John, son of his sister
Joan by Henry de Hast-
ings. 59 John de Hastings died
seised in 1325, leaving a son and heir Lawrence. 60
Part of the manor seems to have been leased by Law-
rence to his nephew, William de Hastings, whose
tenure was probably, by the date of his death, ended
by the Black Death of 1 349. The inquisition on
his death is among the many evidences of the
severity of the visitation, for it records that
almost all the tenants were then dead. 61 John
son and heir of Lawrence committed Paddington
to the charge of trustees, who apparently held it for
HASTINGS, Earl of
Pembroke. Or a ileeve
gules.
ABINGER : MILL HOUSE
* Feet of F. Surr. Hit 37 Elii. ; Close,
37 Eliz. pt. vi.
W. J. Evelyn, eq., Deeds.
4 ' For an account of the family, ee
under Wotton.
8 V.C.H. Surr. i, J22J.
Chan. Inq. p.m. 19 Edw.I, no. 14.
40 Pipe R. 34 Hen. Ill, m. 2 d.
" Testa de Nrvill (Rec. Com.), 224.
M Pipe R. 2 John, m. 1 5 d.
" Rot. Cart. (Rec. Com.), i, 1 34*.
" Matt. Parit, Ckron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.),
5*3. S3 1 -*-
Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 224.
132
w Cal. Pat. 1225-32, pp. 194, 205 j
Rot. Lit. Claus. i, 238*.
7 Pat. 32 Hen. Ill, m. 10. Ibid.
69 Exch. Inq. (Ser. i), file 2, no. 7.
60 Chan. Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. II, no. 83,
m. 6-7.
l Ibid. 23 Edw. Ill (znd pt. istnos.), 37.
WOTTON HUNDRED
ABINGER
\/
NIVILL. Gules a sal-
tire argent with a rose
gules thereon.
his heirs. His widow Anne was holding part of
Paddington in dower at her death in 1384 ; she left
a son and heir John, who was then fifteen years of
age. 65 John married Philippa, daughter of the Earl
of March, 64 but had no issue ; and after his death in
1590 Philippa became the wife of Richard, Earl of
Arundel, and held Paddington in dower. 65 After the
death of Richard, 66 who held the manor for life, the
trustees enfeoffed by John de Hastings the elder re-
leased the manor to William de Beauchamp, his
kinsman, on condition of his assuming the title of Earl
of Pembroke, 67 from which title it took the name of
Paddington Pembroke. After the death of William
his wife Joan held Padding-
ton in dower, 68 and at her
death it passed to the family
of Nevill by the marriage of
Edward Nevill with Elizabeth
daughter of Richard Beau-
champ, the son of William and
Joan. 69 Edward Nevill died
seised in I476, 70 leaving George
Nevill his son and heir, then
aged thirty-six. Probably the
manor remained in the hands
of the Nevills from this
time until it passed to the Evelyns, since George
Nevill, lord of Abergavenny, was holding it in the time
of Elizabeth, 71 and it formed part of the possessions of
the Edward Nevill who died in 1623." Six years later
Henry Nevill, lord of Abergavenny, conveyed the
manor to Richard Evelyn," from whom it descended
with Wotton to the present owner.
The manor of PADDINGTON BK.AT, which
still retains a separate identity, may perhaps be
identified with the three hides which were held of
Paddington Manor by a certain Hugh, a homager,
in 1086. Later they seem to have been held in
demesne by William and Eva de Cantlow, who, in
1250, sub-enfeoffed Adam de Gurdon of the ' manor '
of Paddington." Adam de Gurdon died in 1305,"
leaving a daughter and heir Joan, aged ' 40 and
more.' No record of Joan's death has been found,
but in 1 3 37 Agnes de Gurdon, presumably a kins-
woman, died seised, leaving as her heir Thomas son
of Thomas de Syndlesham. 76 He was followed by
his son Thomas, "who died in 1361, and his kinsman
Robert de Lenham is named as his heir in the in-
quisition taken after his death. 78 There is, however,
record of a conveyance by Thomas de Syndlesham
of his share in the manor during his lifetime to one
John Kingesfold, who afterwards alienated to William
Rykhill. 79 The next lord of whom there is record,
after William Rykhill, is a certain Robert White,
who was holding about 1475.* His daughter Alice,
by her marriage with Sir John Yonge, brought her
share in Paddington to his family, and it was inherited
BRAY. Argent a ckeve-
ron between three eagles'
legs torn of at tile thigh
sable.
by her son John Yonge, who in 1492 conveyed it to
John Leigh. 81
After the death of John Leigh in I524 81 his
nephew and heir of the same name ceded his Surrey
property to the king in return for lands in other
counties ; "* and the king soon after granted Padding-
ton to Sir William Roche, 84 from whom it ultimately
passed to the family of Bray,
and thus obtained its name of
Paddington Bray. In 1556
Owen Bray alienated to Owen
Elrington, 84 with whom he
was connected by marriage. 86
Edward Elrington alienated
the manor in two moieties as
in the case of Abinger, and
here also one moiety passed to
William Morgan. 87 John Mor-
gan, the son of William, sold
his share inPaddington to Sir
Christopher Parkins, 88 whose
widow Anne transferred it to
Richard Evelyn in i624. 89 The other moiety passed
with the second moiety of Abinger to the Evelyn
family through the hands of Richard Browne, Richard
Hill, and Oliph Leigh.
Some land in Paddington belonged to the mon-
astery of St. Mary Graces on Tower Hill, 90 and was
after the Dissolution granted to John Leigh under
the title of ' Paddington Manor.' 91 It seems pos-
sible that this land was identical with the hide of
land in Gomshall which was said in 1086 to be in
the hundred of Wotton. 91
There was a water-mill at Paddington which is
first mentioned in Domesday as worth 6s., and again
in the inquisition taken after the death of Adam
de Gurdon as worth lo/. 3^. Possibly it stood on the
site of the existing mill on the Tillingbourne just
above Abinger Hammer.
The church of ST. JAMES con-
CHURCHES sists of a chancel 29 ft. 7 in. long and
1 8 ft. wide, a large north chapel with
arcade of three bays 38 ft. 4 in. long and 17 ft. gin.
wide, a south vestry and organ bay, a nave 47 ft. 9 in.
long and 1 8 ft. wide, a south porch and western bell-
turret. The roofs are covered with Horsham slates.
The present nave is that of an early 12th-century
church which had a chancel smaller than the present
one. About 1220 this chancel was rebuilt and made
equal in width to the nave, and a north chapel was
added at the same time or very soon after. From
that date the building remained little altered to
modern times, when a south vestry and organ bay were
added and a south porch built (1857). The bell-turret
is old, but of uncertain date. The east window of
the chancel consists of three modern lancets. Below
the sill is a moulded string-course with bosses which
* a Chan. Inq. p.m. 49 Edw. Ill, no. 70.
Ibid. 7 Ric. II, no. 67.
61 Placita in Cancellaria, 270.
65 Cloie, 21 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 6, 7.
65 Chan. Inq. p.m. 21 Ric. II, no. 2.
6 ? Cal. Pat. 1399-1401, p. 444. He
never was Earl of Pembroke.
68 Chan. Inq. p.m. 14 Hen. VI, no. 35.
' Ibid. 12 Hen. IV, no. 34.
7 Ibid. 1 6 Edw. IV, no. 66.
"' Exch. Dep. Trin. 28 Eliz. no. 14.
7' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccclix, 157.
' doie, 5 Chii. I, pt. xxvi, no. II.
' 4 Feet of F. Surr. 34 Hen. Ill, 10.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 33 Edw. I, no. 25.
1* Chan. Inq. p.m. II Edw. Ill (lit
nos.), no. 3;.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 23 Edw. Ill (2nd
part, ist nos.), no. 137.
Chan. Inq. p.m. 36 Edw. Ill (pt. 2,
lit nos.), no. 37.
' De Banco R. no. 574, m. 379 d.
90 Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 52, no. 44.
81 Feet of F. Surr. 5 Hen. VII, no. 25.
w Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xl, 12.
L. and P. Hen. VIII, xix ( i ), g. go (20).
133
"Ibid, xix (2), g. 166(53).
84 Pat. 3 & 4 Phil, and Mary, pt. vi.
m. II.
*>L. and P. Hen. fill, xvii, 1154)
Harl. Sac. Publ. xliii, 178.
W Pat. 21 Eliz. pt vi ; Feet of F. Surr.
Hil. 22 Eliz.
88 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 1 5 Jas. I.
' Ibid. East. 22 Jas. I.
90 Partic. for Grants (Aug. Off.), 708.
M Ibid.
M r.C.H. Surr. i, 298*.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
runs round the south wall as far as the vestry, break-
ing up to form labels over a trefoiled piscina and a
single chamfered sedile, both being modern. Above
is a single trefoiled window in new stone. The
arcade to the chapel is of three bays with pointed
arches of two chamfered orders with hollow labels,
and has been reworked and in part rebuilt. The
pillars are round, with moulded capitals and bases.
In the east wall of the chapel are three 13th-century
lancets with chamfered rear arches, and in the north
wall three similar lancets, but with external rebates.
At the west end of the north wall is a small modern
porch over a doorway which has a pointed arch of
two orders with a label, the inner order having a raised
zigzag moulding. The outer order has jamb-shafts
with foliate capitals and shafts, one capital and per-
haps a little of the label being late 12th-century
work, but all the rest is modern or reworked. It is
clearly not in its original position. In the west wall
of the chapel is a lancet with an external rebate like
those on the north.
There is no chancel arch. On the south side the
nave wall sets back a few inches at the east, but a few
feet down the nave regains its original I zth-century
thickness, though setting back here and on the north
side a little below the windows. Of these there
are three in the north and south walls, short and
narrow round-headed lights set high in the wall.
They date from the beginning of the I2th century,
but have been a good deal repaired. The south wall
has at the east a late 15th-century square-headed win-
dow of three trefoiled lights, inserted to light an altar,
and the south door is in modern 13th-century style.
There is a blocked round-headed west doorway show-
ing internally only, and above it a modern three-light
window of 14th-century style.
The organ chamber on the south side of the chancel
has an arcade of one sub-divided bay. In the south
wall are two modern lancets ; the vestry adjoining it
has an outer doorway, a modern lancet opening from
the chancel, and another on the external wall. The
chancel and north chapel roofs are modern, but that
of the nave is old, with canted sides, boarded, and
with simple beaded fillets, perhaps of 1 7th-century
date. The font at the west of the nave is modern,
in I 3th-century style ; and the fittings are all modern
except the altar table, which has some carving appar-
ently of 18th-century date.
There are three bells ; two bear the inscription
' William Eldridge made mee, 1 674 ' ; the third
was recast by Mears and Stainbank in 1880, but
was probably originally of the same date as the
others.
The plate consists of a silver cup, with cover paten,
a plate, and a flagon, all with the London hall-mark of
1 736. They are inscribed, ' The gift of the Countess
of Dongall and the Earl her son.' There is a brass
almsdish presented in 1880 by Miss M. A. Roe.
The Registers date from 1599.
At Forest Green, a common with scattered houses
about it, in this district, 3 miles to the south, for-
merly an outlying part of Ockley, is a small church
consisting of a nave and chancel, in brick with, stone
dressings, built by Mr. Ernest Hensley, of Sprats-
ham on the borders of Wotton and Abinger, in 1897,
in memory of his son who died by an accident.
There is no mention in Domes-
4DPOWSONS day Book of a church in Abinger ;
no record of it has been found until
a presentation by Adam de Gurdon at some date between
1282 and I3O4. 95 In the I4th century the church
appears as the parish church of Abinger alias the
parish church of Paddington ; " and the fact that it
served the spiritual needs of both manors probably
accounts for alternate presentation by either lord.
Accordingly, between 1305 and 1316, Thomas de
Jarpenvill presented to the church ; 9S and about the
same time his son Roger occasioned grave scandal by
laying violent hands upon the rector. The next pre-
sentation was made by one Henry de Somerburie ;
the living, however, once more fell vacant before
1316, and presentation was then made by Roger de
Jarpenvill. 96 It is possible that the more intricate
succession to the manor of Paddington may account
for the tenants' apparent carelessness in taking their
turn at nominating ; at any rate, the next presenta-
tion was again made by a member of the Jarpenvill
family. Some time before 1366 Thomas de Syndle-
sham, the Paddington tenant, took advantage of his
turn, and shortly afterwards Thomas de Jarpenvill
presented. 97 About this date we find a pronounce-
ment of the union of the two halves, 98 and from that
time the advowson, with an occasional variation,
remained in the hands of the lords of Abinger, and
is now in the gift of Mr. Evelyn. The exceptions to
be noted are a presentation by the Crown in 1638 ;
by one Henry Herbert in 1683 ; and by Joseph OfHey
in 1685."
Smith's Charity is distributed as in
CHAR11T
other Surrey parishes.
CAPEL
The parish of Capel is bounded on the north by
Dorking, of which it was formerly a part, on the east
by Leigh and Newdigate, on the south by the county
of Sussex, on the west by Wotton and Ockley. A
part of Capel lying across the north of Ockley sepa-
rates that parish from Dorking. The body of Capel
parish is 4 miles from north to south and \\ miles
east to west, but this projecting tongue makes the
breadth at the north end 3 miles. It contains
5,680 acres of land and 1 5 of water. The soil of
93 Egcrton MS. 2031, fol. i.
94 De Banco R. 574, m. 379 d.
the greater part is Wealden Clay, but the north-west
part abuts upon the high Green Sands of Leith Hill
and Coldharbour Common, rising to 900 ft. above
the sea. In this part of the parish there was a land-
slip in the reign of Elizabeth, recorded by Camden
and Aubrey, when the sand slipped upon the under-
lying clay and made a precipitous scar in the side of
the hill, even now visible for many miles from the
southward. The place was called Constable's Mosses ;
Constable resided at a farm still called Mosses. The
Ibid. m. 46.
96 Egerton MS. 2033, fol. I.
'34
"7 Ibid.
98 Ibid.
99 Inst. Bk. (P.R.O.).
ABINGER : PARKHURST
ABINGER CHURCH : NAVE LOOKING EAST
WOTTON HUNDRED
road running under or across this landslip from Cold-
harbour to Leith Hill since 1896 a public road,
before that date private (though a public footpath
existed and a public bridle-track crossed it) is called
Cockshott's Road, from a farm at the end of it ; and
may fairly claim to be among the most picturesque
roads in the south of England. The road slipped
again badly about 1866. Capel parish is traversed
by the main road from Dorking to Horsham, made
in 1755, and the northern part by the old road from
London to Arundel through Coldharbour, diverted
since 1896 in its course from Coldharbour Common
towards Ockley as a part of the transactions for open-
ing Cockshott's Road. The London, Brighton, and
South Coast Railway line to Portsmouth passes through
the parish, in which lies Holmwood Station, opened
in 1867. The parish is agricultural except for small
brick and tile works. There are open commons at Beare
Green, Misbrook's Green, Clark's Green, and Cold-
harbour Common or Mosses' Hill, so called from the
farm mentioned above. Many small pieces of waste were
brought into cultivation early in the igth century.
There is one conspicuous work of antiquity in the
parish now. On the hill called Anstiebury, formerly
Hanstiebury, above Coldharbour, 800 ft. above the
sea taken from Dorking and added to Capel by the
Local Government Act of 1894 is a fin; prehistoric
fortification. A nearly circular top of a hill has been
surrounded by banks and ditches, triple upon the
most exposed sides, but probably never more than
single and now completely obliterated for a short
space on the south, where the slope is nearly perpen-
dicular, and where some old digging for sandstone
seems to have gone on. The space inside the inner
bank is about 1 1 acres, the shape an ellipse, roughly
speaking. The hill is thickly planted. Mr. Walters,
of Bury Hill, Dorking, owned it and began the
planting which makes the shape of the works harder
to see, in summer time especially. There is a damp
spot inside where a water supply might have been
found, and a good water supply in a shallow well
in a cottage garden close outside it. The entrance to
the north-east, where a grass road comes through the
banks, is not the original entrance, but was made
when part of the interior was cultivated, after
Mr. Walters' time, for access by carts. The entrance
was more probably on the north side, nearly opposite
the gate which leads into the wood from Anstie Lane.
A path here crosses the banks diagonally, flanked in
its course by the innermost bank, here higher than
elsewhere. Flint arrow-heads are said to have been
found in or near the works, and also coins near it,
but exact records are lacking.
The work is the largest of its kind in Surrey, next
to the inclosure on St. George's Hill.
Anstie Farm, north-east of the hill on the high
ground, 1 still held of the manor of Milton, is no
doubt Hanitega, held of that manor in 1086, but it is in
Dorking parish, not Capel. The land reached down
to the Roman road eastward, and to the old road from
Dorking westward. Either might be the ' highway '
which probably named the place.
The Stone Street enters Capel close by Bucking-
hill Farm and leaves it close to Anstie Grange Farm.
It has been traced for the entire length in the parish,
CAPEL
and excavated by the writer. Two or three feet of
the centre of the causeway were found intact in the
ground, made of flints set in cement, as hard as a
wall. It is unused now throughout, except for a very
few yards near Beare, where it coincides with a private
road. In the field opposite Beare its course is very
visible. It goes up the hill in the copse called Round
Woods in a slight cutting ; it leaves the new house
called Minnick Fold on the right and Minnick Wood
Farm on the left. It was excavated in Perry Field,
the field beyond, which was not cultivated until
after 1824.
Capel was the old Waldeburgh or Waleburgh
borough of Dorking ; the borough or tithing in the
Weald. It was a chapelry of Dorking till late 1 3th
or early 141(1 century.'
The (National) school was built in 1826 and
enlarged in 1872.
There is a Wesleyan chapel, and a Friends' meet-
ing house.
The Society of Friends was early established, and is
still well represented in Capel. The Bax family, who
lived at Pleystowe and Kitlands at opposite ends of
the parish, were among Fox's earliest converts, and
are often mentioned in his Journal. The Steeres and
Constables were other families of Friends. At Pley-
stowe a meeting was held which was as old as any in
the county ; a burying-ground was made on Richard
Bax's ground there in 1672. The meeting house
in Capel was built in 1725.*
There are a number of important old houses in
and around the parish. One of these is still called
Temple Elfande, or Elfold. The name belonged to a
manor of the Templars transferred to the Hospitallers
which had no preceptory attached. 4 The name Tour-
nament Field, and other such names occurring in the
18th-century leases, are most likely an invention of
the Cowpers in the 1 7th century. For tournaments,
always forbidden by law, would not have been
habitually held at a small preceptory, had there been
one here, of which there is no evidence. The
present house is in substance of mid- 16th-century
date, and was built by Sir Richard Cowper. It
is built of narrow red bricks and half-timber work,
chiefly covered with tile-hanging, and with stone
slabs on the roofs, and was evidently much larger
at one time, as, besides an entire wing, now long
since pulled down, foundations of out-buildings and
of garden and courtyard walls are met with in
digging. A curious feature outside is a cross-shaped
loophole over the front entrance. Some excellent
and rare encaustic tiles, 5$ in. square, have been
dug up lately on the site, the patterns of which help
to give the date of the house as not long after 1541.
The character of the older chalk fireplaces inside con-
firms this date. There are also the usual farm-house
fireplace, with a great beam over the opening, of
great width and depth, several large carved oak
brackets supporting the beam-ends of the upper
stories, the pilasters of a stone doorway, and many
original doors of good design, besides panelling of
several dates. The loftiness of some of the rooms
on the first floor is noteworthy, as are the coved or
cradled plaster ceilings of the upper passages. It had
for long sunk to the position of a mere farm-house
1 Manning and Bray, Surr. i, 570, curi-
ously misdescribed Anstie Farm as ' at the
foot of the hill southward,' confusing it
with Kitlands.
9 See the account of the advowson.
135
' Books lately in custody of Mr. Marsh
of Dorking.
* See Lewes MS. 200, foL 64.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
before passing into the hands of the present tenant,
Captain Harrison, R.N.
Aldhurst Farm, rather nearer to the village, is
another ancient house, although of less consideration.
It has evidently been extended and partially rebuilt
more than once, but the nucleus is still that of an
early 16th-century timber house, with very low ceil-
ings and stone-slab roof. Inside, an old staircase and
some good doors are to be seen. In the wooded
bottom to the south-west several fine footprints of the
iguanodon were found in grubbing up trees some years
ago, and are now preserved here.
Taylor's is a picturesque house still retaining as
a nucleus the timber open-roofed hall of mid- 14th-
century date, and also an oak screen of roughly
gouged-out timbers and moulded beams of the same
exceptionally early date. There are good panelled
rooms of later date, and the 1 5th, i6th, and 17th-
century additions all present interesting features.
Externally most of the timber construction is masked
by modern tile hanging.
Greenes is another ancient house, once much
larger, and still showing a timber hall about 1 8 ft.
wide internally, divided up at a later date into floors,
but still boasting some fine massive oak trusses and
story-posts, with moulded arched braces and king-posts
over. A smaller hall, about 1 5 ft. wide, detached
from the other, and now used as a stable, appears to
be but a fragment of a range of timber buildings. It
also has a series of huge roof-trusses of king-post
construction and arched braces of four-centred shape.
These two halls appear to be of late 14th-century and
early 15th-century date respectively.
Osbrooks, formerly Holbrooks and Upbrooks, after
passing through the farm-house stage, has of late
years been carefully restored, and now presents a
most interesting example of the country gentle-
man's house of the end of the l6th or an early
part of the iyth century. It is mostly of timber
framing, filled in with herring-bone brickwork. Its
tiled roofs and good groups of chimneys, the many
gables with their barge-boards, the mullioned win-
dows, and the porch with open balustrades to the
sides, combine to produce, with the wooded glen and
winding stream in the rear, a most picturesque whole.
Bonet's or Bonnet's Farm is another ancient house
of quite exceptional beauty and interest, although
shorn of its ancient proportions. The present front
has been modernized, but in the rear are two fine
gables, projecting with brackets over the ground and
first floors. These show timber framing, with an
oriel window, stone-slab roofs, leaded glazing, and
two exceptionally good brick chimneys.
Other old farm-houses and cottages in the parish,
such as Pleystowe and Ridge, are well worthy of
examination for the features of antiquity to be
found in them ; and in Capel village a picturesque
piece of half-timber work, with a good chimney
and roof, may be noted among others. There
are now two old inns the Crown Inn, origi-
nally a farm-house, adjoining the churchyard on the
south, and the ' King's Head.' The former has
half-timber gables, with pendants at the apex of the
barge-boards, on one of which is carved ' W S. 1687.'
Broomells is now a new house. The name, as
Brome, occurs in a charter of the 1 3th century. 4 "
It is not to be confounded with Broome Hall, the
seat of Sir A. Hargreaves Brown, bart. The latter
large house, in a commanding situation under Leith
Hill, was mainly built by Mr. Andrew Spottiswoode,
the king's printer, circa 1830. It was afterwards the
seat of Mr. Labouchere, and then of Mr. Pennington,
M.P. for Stockport. Sir A. Hargreaves Brown made
extensive additions to it. It used to be called Lower
House, but it is mentioned by Aubrey as Broomhall.
Kitlands, the property of Mr. A. R. Heath, is on
the site of a farm which is mentioned in the Court
Rolls in 1437. The house was reconstructed by
degrees by Mr. Serjeant Heath, who bought it in
1824, and by Mr. D. D. Heath, his son, uncle
to the present owner. But part of the interior is the
old timber building of circa 1500. The place was
held by the Bax family from 1622 to 1824, a very
unusually long tenure of the same farm by a yeoman
family, notwithstanding many vague statements of
other immemorial holdings.
Arnolds, formerly called Arnold's Beare, was rebuilt
by Mr. Bayley in 1885. Mrs. Bayley, his widow,
has recently sold it. The Arnolds were also land-
holders in Betchworth. Beare, now called Beare-
hurst, the seat of Mr. Longman, and Beare Green, near
Holmwood Station, show that the name Beare, which
occurs in the Court Rolls of the I4th century, was
widely spread. A Walter de la Bere had land in
Ewekene (Capel) in 1263.*
Lyne House, the seat of Mr. Evelyn Broadwood,
is a property bought by Mr. James Tschudi Broad-
wood circa 1792.
On the border, within a few yards of Sussex, is
Shiremark Mill, built in 1774 out of the materials
of the old Manor Mill at Mill House on Clark's
Farm. 6
Coldharbour is an ecclesiastical district formed in
1850. The church and the principal cluster of cot-
tages stand in Capel parish. The body of the village
is still called The Harbour, but Crocker's Farm and
the cottages opposite used to be called Little Anstie,
as opposed to Anstie Farm (vide supra).
The church is higher above the sea than any other
in Surrey over 800 ft. and the sea is visible from
the churchyard, through Shoreham Gap. The old
road from London to Arundel ran through Cold-
harbour. The original line below the church was in
the ravine at the lower side of the common, quite
impassable for wheels. In the old title deeds it is
referred to as the King's High Way. The village is
as picturesque as any in England. On a stone in a
cottage wall, in Rowmount, are the initials 'J. C.
(John Constable) 1562." The stone has been placed
in a later wall. Constable's Farm was the house on
the road a few yards higher up the hill, which may
very well date from before that time.
The endowed school was founded by Mr. Robert
Barclay of Bury Hill before 1819, with 50 a year
from Government stock. It was further supported
by subscriptions, and enlarged in 1846, 1851, 1860,
and 1888. It was a free school from the beginning,
but the endowment used to provide not only pay for
the teacher, but a gown and bonnet for the girls, and
smock-frock and boots for the boys annually. The
infant school was built by Mr. John Labouchere in
1851. It was endowed by his family after his death
Bray ley, Hilt. Surr. v, 73.
6 Assize R. 47 Hen. Ill, Surr.
'J-
R. Deeds in possession of late Rev. T. R.
O'Fflahertie of Capel.
136
CAPEL : SONET'S FARM
WOTTON HUNDRED
CAPEL
KNIGHTS or ST. JOHN.
Gules a cross argent.
in 1862. It is now brought under one management
with the endowed school.
CAPEL was, and is, for the most part,
MANORS in the manor of Dorking, though it also
extends into Milton Manor. Parochially
it was all included in Dorking.
From a suit in 1279 it appears that in the reign of
Henry III John de Elefold had granted lands in Capel
to the Master of the Templars in England, and his
son Thomas in that year withdrew from an attempt to
recover them. 7 In 1 308, when
the Templars' lands were seized,
Temple Elfold was among
them. 8 The land was known
later as the manor of TEMPLE
ELF4NDE. With the rest
of the Templars' lands it passed
to the Knights of St. John of
Jerusalem, in accordance with
a suggestion made by Pope
John XXII. 9 The Chartu-
lary of St. John of Jerusa-
lem 10 describes it in 1308
as held of the Earl of Warenne, but no service was
done and no ecclesiastical benefice was supported by
it. There was a house, and the total value was
4 i it. 2d. a year. It remained with the Knights
of St. John till the dissolution of the order, 1539,
when it appears as Temple Elphaud, in Surrey."
After the Dissolution it was granted to John
Williams and Antony Stringer, who conveyed almost
immediately to William Cowper l> of London, who
also held land at Horley and in Charlwood, Surrey.
The Cowper, or (more usu-
ally) Cooper, family continued
to hold for nearly two centuries.
In March 1590-1 John Cow-
per, serjeant-at-law, the son of
William Cowper, died, seised
of a capital messuage in Capel
called Temple Elephant. 13 In
the next year John's brother
Richard, who had the reversion
of the estate after the death
of John's widow Julian, who
survived Richard," also died,
leaving Richard his son and
heir, who was then aged eigh-
teen. 15 The younger Richard,
afterwards knighted, 16 married, first, Elizabeth Young,
to whose father Richard the elder had mortgaged
Temple Elfold, and secondly, Elizabeth daughter of
Sir Thomas Gresham. He died seised in 1 625."
His son Richard Cowper or Cooper settled Temple
Elfold on Barbara Miller his wife, on his marriage in
1646. She died without issue the same year, and
Richard resettled the estate on his second wife Sarah
COWPIR of Temple
Eltande. Argent a bend
engrailed between two
lions sable "with three
roundels argent on the
bend.
BROADWOOD of Capel.
Ermine two pales vairy
or and gules and a chief
vert -with a ring between
two Jir trees torn up by
the roots or therein.
Knightley, in 1 647. His son and heir by her, John,
settled it on his marriage with Elizabeth Lewin in
1 67 1. 18 Their son John sold
it to Ezra Gill of Eashing
in I7z8. 19 Ezra Gill settled
the manor, manor-house, and
park of 1 44 acres, on 1 6 April
1729, in anticipation of his
marriage with Mary Woods, 20
who died 1767, when the
estate passed to her son Wil-
liam Gill. He died in 1815,
and was succeeded by his bro-
ther Henry Streeter Gill, who
died in 1 8 1 8." His daughter
married J. H. Frankland, who
assumed the name of Gill.
They sold Temple Elfold in
1833 to Mr. James Tschudi Broadwood of Lyne
Capel, whose great-grandson is the present owner.
The reputed manor of HENFOLD in Capel
appears first in the reign of Henry VIII. In 1511
and 1512 the manor of Aglondes More and Hen-
fold, in East Betchworth, Buckland, and Capel, was
conveyed by Robert Gaynsford to Sir Henry Wyatt.**
This was Sir Henry Wyatt, father to Sir Thomas
Wyatt the poet, who in 1 540 conveyed it to Robert
Young." Robert died seised of it in 1 548, leaving
his grandson John, then nine years old, to succeed
him. 84 John died in 1629, leaving a son and heir
William," who succeeded him. Henfold, however, was
probably not a real manor. In 1776 in a court roll of
the manor of West Betchworth, and again in 1823,
Henfold is mentioned as in the manor, being broken
up into several holdings. The name Aglondes More
has disappeared. The house called Henfold, in Capel,
is the seat of Mrs. Farnell Watson, and is in the manor
of West Betchworth. 116
The church of St. John the Baptist
CHURCHES (until the early part of the 1 6th cen-
tury dedicated in honour of St. Law-
rence) stands on the west of the main road that
runs north and south through the village, and
opposite to the road that forks off to the east in the
direction of Temple Elfold. It is on somewhat
elevated ground, although the surrounding country is
flat, and commands pretty and extensive views of
wooded and pastoral scenery. The churchyard,
bounded on the east and south by a stone wall, is
entered through a modern lych-gate, and also by a stone
stile, ancient at least in idea. A great slab near it
bears the ripple-marks which are often met with in
this locality. The path to the south door is of stone
flags. There is a fine old yew, and also a number of
cypresses, and among the gravestones are many of the
1 7th and l8th centuries.
Until its enlargement in 1865 the church presented
"' Anize R. no. 879, m. 14.
8 Dugdale, Man. vi (2), 833.
9 J. Delaville le Roulx, Doc. concernant
les Tcm fliers, p. 50, no. xxxviii.
10 Cotton MS. Nero, E. vi, fol. 141.
11 Exch. Mini. Accts. 31 & 32 Hen.
VIII, no. 114, Midd.
" L.andP. Hen. VIII, riii (i), g. 346
(3), and g. 226 (79.)
18 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxxviii, 64.
14 Deed of 1601 in possession of the late
Rev. T. R. O'Fflahertie of Capel. Richard
the elder had mortgaged his reversion and
Richard the younger reclaimed it.
14 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cczxxiii, 104..
16 The name ' Lady Cooper," no doubt
Elizabeth Gresham, is scratched with a
diamond upon an existing window at
Temple Elfold.
>' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccxix, 30.
18 Deeds copied by the late Rev. T. R.
O'Fflahertie of Capel.
19 Deeds quoted by Manning and Bray,
Hist, of Surr. iii, 597.
137
90 Deed communicated by Mr. Percy
Woods, C.B.
" V.C.H. Surr. ii, 61 1 ; Feet of F. Surr.
Trin. 55 Geo. III.
Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 3 Hen. VIII ;
East. 4 & 5 Hen. VIII.
" Ibid. Trin. 32 Hen. VIII.
M Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixxxvii,
64.
16 Ibid, cccclxxv, 97.
48 Rolls copied by the Rev. T. R. O'Ffla-
hertie of Capel.
18
A HISTORY OF SURREY
a very good example of the hamlet-chapel of the late
1 2th or early I3th century.* 7 Even now, in spite of
a new aisle, vestries, and organ-chamber on the north
side, and other modern alterations, its ancient propor-
tions and character can be made out without much
difficulty. It consisted originally of a nave, 42 ft. 3 in.
long by 22ft. gin. broad, with a western porch, and
a chancel 25ft. long by 156. gin. in width, with
roofs of comparatively low pitch on account of the
exceptional breadth of the nave, and a timber-framed
bell-turret at the west end, terminating in a short oak-
shingled spire. The roofs were covered with Horsham
slabs, and the walls were built of local hard sandstone
rubble, plastered, with dressings of hard chalk and
fire-stone from the neighbouring hills. Cracklow's
view of 1824 shows the church in this state, with the
three lancet windows in the south wall of the chancel
and the curious diagonal buttresses at the angles of
the nave. The chancel had a wooden-framed east
window under a circular head ; there was no porch
to the south door (which was the same as the pre-
sent), the spire of the bell-turret was not so tapering
as now, and a curious late vestry is shown attached to
the south side of the west porch. As to the nave
windows, what appears to be the base of an original
lancet is shown to the west of the old south door,
and above it a wooden three-light opening, evidently
made to light the western gallery, while to the east of
the doorway is another three-light window, with a
square hood moulding, which looks like a 16th-century
insertion.
With regard to the north and west sides of the
building, not shown in Cracklow's view, it is not
difficult to reconstruct the plan on paper with the aid
of the features still remaining in the actual church.
The massive west wall, no less than 4 ft. thick,
remains much as it was erected about 1190. The
other walls of the nave are 3 ft. in thickness, and
those of the chancel 2 ft. 9 in., both dimensions being
exceptional for a comparatively small aisleless building.
Originally the church had no buttresses, and it seems
probable that it was lighted by three lancet windows
on the north side of the nave and two on its southern
side, of which now no trace remains, the present
windows being all modern. The west and south
doorways are original features, and most interesting.
We cannot now say if there was the usual north door-
way in the nave, as the aisle of 1865 has made a
clean sweep of any such ancient features, but it seems
improbable that there would be three doors in such a
comparatively small building. The two that remain
are interesting, the western being slightly the
narrower 3 ft. 6 in. wide, while the southern
measures 3 ft. 10$ in. The height of the internal
opening of the western, which has a semicircular
head, is altogether exceptional, nearly 1 2 ft. The
external arch is set much lower, leaving that peculiar
tympanum between the two heads so often met with,
and the reason for which is one of the minor problems
of ecclesiology. Sometimes, as at Trotton Church,
Sussex, a consecration cross has been found painted
in this blank space. These doorways also have the
additional peculiarity that the two apex stones of the
external arches are left as projecting blocks on the
inside, as though meant to be carved. This is found
also in the south doorway of Wanborough Chapel,
in the west of the county. 18 Both the west and south
doorways are in hard clunch, or fire-stone, somewhat
sharply pointed, and of one order. They have hood-
mouldings, without stops or return ends at the
springings, of three sides of an octagon in section, the
inner side being embellished with a continuous border
of dog-tooth ornament. The original tooling, where
left, shows somewhat coarse vertical and diagonal
lines, done with the broad chisel and axe. The
effect of these severely simple but well-proportioned
doorways is enhanced by their retaining their original
wrought-iron strap-hinges, both lower and upper
hinges having two small ornamental straps with curled
ends on either side of them. The hinge-straps them-
selves terminate in similar scrolls. The latch and
drop-ring handle of the western door appears to be
old also, and are perhaps original. Although the
boarding on which this ironwork is mounted is modern,
the plain ledges across the backs appear to be old.
There are three steps down into the church at the
west end and two at the south door ; the latter is set
to the east of the centre of the nave, instead of to the
west.
The original chancel arch has disappeared, and its
place has been taken by a wider one of early 14th-
century design in fire-stone, which appears to be
modern. We may surmise that the ancient arch had
square jambs, and resembled in design the two door-
ways. The present tracery window in the east wall
is also entirely modern, and replaces the wood-framed
opening of the churchwarden era, shown in Cracklow's
view, which latter, in all probability, displaced two
lancet openings of the same character as those in the
side walls. There were probably three of these in
either wall, but those on the north side have been
destroyed in making the organ chamber and vestries.
The three lancets in the south wall of the chancel are
the only original windows left in the church. They
are very interesting examples of their period (c. 1 1 90),
and have happily passed unscathed through the ordeal
of restoration. Like the rest of the original ashlaring,
their dressings are worked in clunch and firestone.
They have sharply-pointed heads to the external
openings, the curves being so slight as almost to
present the appearance of straight lines, 19 and are
rebated both inside and out, which implies that the
glazing was originally placed against the outer rebate
(instead of, as now, in a groove), and that the inner
rebate was occupied by a shutter. It is not often
that this double rebate is found. The internal heads
are splayed equally with the jambs and are almost
semicircular in outline, the point of the arch being so
slight as to be unnoticeable.
Beneath the easternmost lancet is a pretty little
piscina of the same period. It has a segmental head
beneath a blind trefoil arch of horse-shoe outline,
The drain has a small circular dishing. The aumbry,
of similar form, in the opposite wall is modern. In
about 1 300 diagonal buttresses with gabled capping-
stones were added to the angles of the nave. To the
^ The chapel mentioned in the con-
firmation of Henry of Blois (see advow-
lon) must have been a timber building,
erected perhaps earlier in the I2th cen-
tury, and probably it would be much
smaller than the stone chapel that suc-
ceeded it.
98 Possibly the projecting stones were
left to prevent the door being lifted bodily
off its hinges.
" In this they recall the lancets of
the chancel at Chipstead, where the in-
ternal heads are gabled or triangular in
form.
WOTTON HUNDRED
CAPEL
same period belongs the western porch, so far as its
walls are concerned. The doorway, with its pointed
segmental head, and the square loophole in the
northern wall, are of this date, but the remarkable roof
is a survival of the original timber porch, the walls
being built anew, probably because of the exposed
situation. Each separate rafter is shaped as a bold
horseshoe trefoil, as though built for a barge board.
There is something very suggestive of Saracenic art in
the whole look of this roof.
Of the original font, the Sussex marble base alone
remains, being built in against the nave wall, west of
the south porch. It shows the common arrangement
of four angle shafts and a central drum, through
which the drain was pierced, the latter making a large
hole in the base. Doubtless the bowl was of square
form, with perhaps a shallow arcade cut round the
sides, according to the common type, of which so
many examples remain in the home counties. 30 The
modern font is made of serpentine, with some little
carving and gilding.
The roofs of the chancel and nave are both
ancient, and possibly coeval with the original build-
ing. They are of trussed collar construction, with
massive tie-beams and wall plates, the latter being of
enormous scantling, and worked with double hollows
in the chancel, exactly the same as at West Clandon
chancel. The posts and beams of the timber bell-
turret, and its carved braces, appear to have been
partially renewed. The copings to the gables are
modern.
In pre-Reformation wills an altar of our Lady and
an image of the same are specified. This altar was
probably on the south of the chancel arch on the
nave side. An image of St. Lawrence (and probably
an altar) stood in the chancel.
To the south wall of the chancel are affixed two
monuments of some interest, the eastern being that
of John Cowper and his wife, date I 590. It is com-
posed of alabaster, with panels of black marble, on
which is cut the inscription, the whole retaining
the original colouring in a very perfect state. At
the apex, within a circular disc, is a shield of Cowper
impaling argent a fesse between three trefoils sable,
which are the arms of Blackdenn. This shield
is festooned with twisted red ribbons, and stands
within a broken pediment, beneath which and an
entablature bordered by black marble columns is a
circular arch. Within this are the kneeling figures
of John Cowper and his wife, facing each other at a
fald-stool of graceful design, on which are prayer-
books. The husband is represented in the scarlet
robe of a serjeant-at-law, with a coif and a cloak
over his shoulder. The wife's figure, kneeling on a
cushion, in the ruff, stomacher, and fardingale of the
period, is uncoloured probably an indication that
the monument was put up during her widowhood,
and that thus the effigy was not completed as to
colouring by her descendants. The inscription in
the two panels reads :
HEARE LYET BVRYED NEER TO THIS MONvl!NT
IOHN COWPER LATE SERIEANT AT LAWE DECEASED WHO
WAS BORNE AT HORLYE IN Y E COVNTY OF SVRREY IN
AO DO : 1539. & AT HIS AGE OF 26 YEARS TORE TO
WIEFE IVLYAN THE DAVGTER OF CVTHBERT BLACKDENN
ESQUIOR AND THEN BEGAN TO STVDDY THE CoSTSN LAWE
IN THE INNER TEMPLE AND THER c5lNVED Z\ YEARES
WHICH TIME HE SPENT IN THIS MANNER . 8 YEARES
VNDER THE BARR 8 YEARS AT THE BARR AND 8
YEARS AT THE BENCHE AND THEN WAS CALLED TO BE
SERIEANT AT THE LAWE IN W CH DEGREE HE CONTYNVED
ONE YEARE AND A HAVLFE AND THEN ENDE D HIS LIEFB
THB 15 DAYE OF MARCHE A I59O, BEING THEN OF THE
AGE OF 51 YEARS.
NEC PRIMVS NEC VLT1MVS MVLTI
ANTECESSERVNT ET OMNES SEQVENTVR.
Below the inscription panels is an apron of scroll-
work in alabaster.
The other monument, to the westward, is also
finely designed, according to its period, and is in
Sicilian marble, with Corinthian columns and pedi-
ment, having at top a cartouche, bearing the family
arms, and over it the crest of a black lion holding a
silver tilting-spear. The inscription is as follows :
" Underneath lyeth the body of ROB T COWPER late of
London, Gent, a younger son of RICHARD COWPER late
of Temfle Elfont, Esq' (by SARAH Eldest daughter of
w" KNIGHTLEY late of Kingston Esq r ) who was Son &
Heir of s" RICHARD COWPER Kn', by Dame ELIZ. z d
Daughter of s" THOMAS GRESHAM K" He Dyed y"
3 d of May 1720, In the 65"* year of his Age. To
whose Memory this Monum' was Erected by his
3 Neices, the Daughters & Coheirs of RICHARD
COWPER late of London Gent. Viz' Sarah the Eldest
Daughter Wife of John Vincent of Hampstead in the
County of Midd" Brewer, Mary y" 2 d Daughter, wife
of Henry Ashton of Hackney in y same County of
Midd. Gent, and Hannah the youngest Daughter wife
of RICHARD DAWSON of Lambttk in the County of
Surry Glass maker."
In addition to these monuments, Manning and
Bray give the following :
' On a brass plate in capitals ' :
'HERE LYETH THE BODY OF DAME ELIZABETH, THE
SECOND DAUGHTER OF SIR THOMAS GRESHAM OF LYMS-
FEILD IN THE COUNTY OF SURREY, KNT., AND WIFE OF
SIR RICHARD COWPER OF CAPEL IN THE SAID COUNTY,
KNT. SHEE DECEASED THE XX OF AUGUST ANNO
DOMINI 1633.'
' On a brass plate, on a gravestone, in capitals ' :
' HERE LYETH INTERRED THE BODY OF SARAH COWPER,
WIFE OF RICHARD COWPER, OF TEMPLE ELFANT IN SURREY,
ESQ., ELDEST DAUGHTER OF WILLIAM KNIGHTLEY OF
KINGSTONE-UPON-THAMES, ESQ., HAVING HAD ISSUE SEAVEN
SONNES & ONE DAUGHTER, AND DECEASED THE 3 DAY OF
NOVEMBER IN THE 38 YEAR OF HER AGE, ANNO DOMINI
1662.'
' On a black marble grave-stone in the chancel in
capitals, is this inscription' :
' SARAH, DAUGHTER OF JOHN COWPER ESQ., AGED 9
MONTHS. DIED THE 22 AUGUST 1676.'
' On the floor ' :
'WILLIAM HEWITT, 1760.'
o A at Beddington, Great Bookham, West Clandon, Frensham, Merstham, Mickleham, Scale, and Worplesdon in
Surrey ; and many others in Kent, Sussex, Middlesex, &c.
139
A HISTORY OF SURREY
There are no remains of ancient wall paintings or
glass, but in the nave, chancel, and north aisle are
many modern stained glass windows, by Clayton &
Bell and other firms, some very good (as in the aisle
and the side windows of the chancel), others of poor
quality. The seating, pulpit, reredos, and other
fittings are all also modern, but in the vestry are pre-
served a number of carved pew doors, of 1 7th-century
date, worked up into a cupboard ; also a wrought
iron hour-glass stand.
The registers date from 1653.
Among the plate is a two-handled cup, of date
about 1 65 5, evidently a porringer, and very similar in
design and size to one in use as a communion cup at
Winterborne Whitchurch, Dorset, which is dated
1653. There is some repouss6 ornamentation in
circles on the bowl, with traces of gilding, and the
handles are S-shaped. Beneath the foot is engraved
a Tudor rose within a beaded circle. The bowl has
at some time been soldered to the foot, which
was probably higher originally. There are patens
of 1781 and 1786, some modern pieces; and a
pewter plate bearing (i) the name RICHARD KING, and
devices of two bears or badgers flanked by fluted
columns ; (2) a crowned rose, with a word beginning
' GRA . . ' ; and (3), s over BE.
Of the six bells two are I gth century, two are by
Thomas Mears, and dated 1797, and no. 4 and 5
bear the following inscriptions respectively :
'OUR HOPE IS IN THE LORD R.E. 1605,' and ' OMNIA
HABENT FINEM R.E. I 593,'
the initials in both cases being those of Richard
Eldridge, a well-known Surrey founder.
CHRIST CHURCH, COLDH4RBOUR, was built
in 1 848 at the expense of Mr. Labouchere, of Broome
Hall. The Duke of Norfolk gave the ground in the
waste of the manor. It has a plain nave and chancel
in 13th-century style, with rather a fine pointed arch
between them. The church is of local stone, with
chalk dressings. There is a stone bell-turret on the
west end. It was refitted, and an organ chamber
added in 1904 by Sir A. Hargreaves Brown in
memory of his mother. The heads on the corbels at
the spring of the arch over the east window outside
are portraits of Mr. John Labouchere the founder
and of Mrs. Labouchere.
Capel was originally a chapelry of
Dorking. The chapel, which gives
its name to the parish, seems first
mentioned in a confirmation by Henry de Blois,
Bishop of Winchester 1129-71, of the grants of
churches, &c., given to the Priory of Lewes by the
Earls of Warenne. He confirms to them ' Ecclesiam
de Dorking cum Capella de la Wachna.' The charter
is witnessed by Robert, Archdeacon of Surrey, who
witnessed the charter of Henry to Waverley in
1130." This seems to be Capel ; for in 1361 Adam
atte Plesshette granted land which had been held by
Edith Pipestre of the grant of Maurice de Ewekne
lying in the parish ' Capelle de Ewekene,' along with
land in Ockley at Henhurst which is on the border
of Capel." In Pope Nicholas's taxation of 1291
' Dorking cum Capella ' is the style of Dorking
parish ; so that it would appear that Capel became
first called a separate parish between 1291 and 1361.
This was possibly about 1334-7, when the church of
Dorking with Capel was transferred from Lewes
Priory to Reigate Priory, just founded by the last
Earl of Warenne and Surrey. 8 * The tithes of Capel
were let immediately afterwards ; ** and the whole
revenue was entirely at the disposal of the priory, and
was granted to Lord William Howard with Reigate
Priory at the Dissolution. The lay impropriator hence-
forth paid what he chose to the curate-in-charge of
Capel. This state of things existed until 1868, when
an endowment was raised by neighbouring landowners.
Charles Lord Howard of Effingham, son of Lord
William Howard, leased the rectory, as it was called,
and possibly the advowson also, to John Cowper, 28
May 1587. Julian Cowper, John's widow, conveyed
to Richard Cowper, John's nephew and eventual
heir, in 1603." The Cowpers of Temple Elfold
in Capel conveyed the lease to other persons for terms
of years only, and in 1644 Mr. Richard Cowper had
the advowson, and engaged in a lively controversy
with the Committee of Plundered Ministers, declin-
ing to pay anybody else than the Rev. John Allen,
whom they had removed.* 6 He carried his point,
and though the committee kept the man of their
choice, they had to pay him out of the estates of the
Chapter of Winchester. 87 But for an interval, while
the controversy was proceeding, Capel baptisms and
burials were performed at Newdigate, there being no
parson in Capel. In 1660 the Cowper leases ex-
pired, and the rectory of Capel was, with others, con-
firmed to the Earl of Peterborough, as heir of Lord
William Howard. 88 His daughter Mary sold in 1677 to
Sir John Parsons. The widow of his son Humphrey
settled it on her daughter Anne, wife of Sir John
Hynde Cotton. In 1 766 they sold to John Rogers for
^5,700, subject to the payment of 20 a year to the
curate. He died 1778, leaving it to his wife, who
married secondly William Chivers, to whom it was
conveyed. William Chivers died 1805, when it
descended to his nephew Noah Chivers, who con-
veyed in 1812 to the Duke of Norfolk. His heir
sold in 1844 to Charles Webb, who died 1869,
leaving his property in trust ; and the advowson and
rectory are now in the hands of his trustees. 89
Coldharbour is an ecclesiastical district formed in
1850 under 7 & 8 Viet. cap. 94, from portions of the
parishes of Capel, Dorking, Wotton, and Ockley.
The living is in the gift of the trustees of Mr.
John Labouchere.
Smith's Charity is distributed as in
CHARITIES other Surrey parishes.
Capel Cottage Hospital was built
by the widow of the Rev. John Broadwood in 1 864.
It is maintained chiefly by public subscription.
81 Exch. T.R. B g fol. 49. The volume
is also lettered Cartae Antiquae de Prior-
atu de Lewes.
8a Charter in possession of the late
Rev. T. R. O'Fflahertie, Vicar of Capel.
Compare Manning and Bray, Surr. iii,
App. cxxx ; 'land in the parishes of
Dorking and Ewekenes ' in a charter of
1481. 'Ewekenes,' now usually spelt
Eutons, is a farm in Capel ; there are re-
mains of a moat near it.
88 Winton Epis. Reg. Orlton, i, fol.
57 d. But in 1508 it was still called a
chapel of Dorking.
84 Winton Epis.Rcg.Edendon,ii,fol.4i-z.
85 Deed at Loseley reciting the former
lease to John Cowper.
w Add. MS. (B.M.), 15669, fol. n.
14.0
*> Bodl. MSS. 323, p. 171 j 325, p.
2*3 i 327, P- 58-
88 Pat. iz Chas. II, pt. xviii, no. 16.
Pro concessione Johanni Vicecomiti Mor-
daunt, in trust for his elder brother the
earl's daughter Mary. (See above.)
89 Abstract of title to rectory and glebe
of Capel. Sold in 1910 to Mr. Crisp of
Godalming.
WOTTON HUNDRED
DORKING
In 1871 Mr. Charles Webb of Clapham was com-
memorated by his family in the building of alms-
houses for six aged couples.
Mr. Thomas Summers, of Horsham, left 100 in
1807, which was invested in 3 per cent, consols.
The income provides bread for the poor (see Broking
also). The vicar and churchwardens of Capel, who
were trustees of Smith's and Summers' Charity,
obtained leave from the Charity Commissioners to
devote the funds to a more useful purpose, the bread
having been distributed among a large number of
people quite well able to provide for themselves, or
given to the poor in such quantities that they could
not consume it while it was good. All the bakers in
the parish had to be employed, and the baker in
Coldharbour (q.v.) sent bread three miles and a half
to Capel, which was given to the Coldharbour people
who had walked the same distance to receive it, and
who carried it back to a hundred yards from where it
was baked. The Parish Council, however, on becom-
ing manager of parochial charities restored the bread
dole.
DORKING
Dorchinges (xi cent.) ; Dorkinges (xiii cent.) ;
Dorking (xviii cent.).
Dorking is a market town 23^ miles south-west of
London, 1 2 miles east of Guildford. The market was
claimed by the Earl of Warenne and Surrey in 1 278 as
of immemorial antiquity. 1 The parish is bounded on
the north by the two Bookhams and Mickleham, on
the east by Betchworth, on the south by Capel, on
the west by Wotton. It contains 1,329 acres of
land and 10 of water, and is about 5 miles from
north to south and 4 from east to west, but is slightly
narrower towards the south. Capel, which lies south
of it, was anciently part of the parish, and for the
most part of the manor. The parish extends over the
usual succession of soils in this part of Surrey. The
northern part is on the chalk downs, partly capped
by gravel and sand. The town and church are on
the sand, the southern part is on the Wealden clay.
From the high chalk down about Denbies, and
from Ranmore Common on the north-west border of
the parish, the views are beautiful and extensive.
Between the spectator and the steep side of Box Hill,
immediately to the east, the transverse valley of the
Mole runs through the chalk range. Southward lies
Dorking in the valley between the chalk and the well-
wooded sand hills, which rise to the fir-tree clad
heights of Redlands Wood, and to Anstiebury and
1 Leith Hill beyond. The lower ground of the Weald,
thickly wooded, extends south-eastwards, and the
horizon is marked by the South Downs near Lewes.
The boundary of the sand and the clay runs north
and south for some way on the southern side of
Dorking. The Redlands Woods are a steep sand
ridge of north and south direction covered with fir
trees, with a silver fir, Ia probably the tallest tree in
the county, standing up above them all, while east
of it extends the Holmwood Common, a high open
common on the clay, thickly studded with hollies and
furze bushes, with occasional houses dotted about it.
The Glory Woods, a favourite resort of Dorking
people, are on the sand hills nearer to the town.
There is a small common close to the town called
Cotmandene, formerly famous as the cricket ground
where the great Dorking players, who did so much
for the Surrey eleven, were trained. Caffyn, who
first taught scientific cricket to the Australians, was
one of them, and Jupp and the two Humphreys
were among the last. Milton Heath is another com-
mon west of Dorking. Towards the high ground of
the Leith Hill range parts of Broad Moor, Cold-
harbour Common, and the plantation called the
Warren are in Dorking parish.
Dorking town consisted till recently of one long
street, High Street, which bifurcated at the south-
west end into West Street and South Street, the road
to Guildford passing out of the former, that to Hors-
ham out of the latter. In the last thirty or forty years
a good deal of building has broadened out the town, as
well as extended it at both ends.
The parish was divided into six tithings called
Boroughs ; namely, East Borough, including West
Betchworth, at the east end of the' town ; Chipping
Borough, the body of the town, a name which justi-
fies the Earl of Warenne's claim to an ancient market;
Milton Borough, lying west ; Westcote Borough, still
farther west and south-west ; Holmwood Borough,
to the south ; and Walde or Wold or Wale Borough,
farther south still, but now known as Capel parish,
and distinct from Dorking.' But in the i.fth and
1 5th centuries, when Milton and Westcote were
separate manors, both the views of frankpledge held
in Dorking recognized the Chipping Borough, East
Borough, Waldeborough, and Forreyn Borough only
as tithings. 3 The names are the same in the view
of frankpledge of 7 October 1597, but on 27 Sep-
tember 1598 the names are changed to Chipping
Borough, East Borough, Capel and Homewood
Borough. The last therefore answers to Forreyn
Borough, as also appears by local names in the latter
tithing.
The town is administered as an urban district under
the Local Government Act of 1894, which superseded
a local board established in 1881. The Act of 1894
separated the urban district from Dorking rural parish,
which is administered by a rural parish council.
The parish is almost entirely residential and agri-
cultural. But there are lime works on the chalk,
though not so extensive as those in neighbouring
parishes, a little brick-making, water-mills (corn) at
Pixham Mill, and timber and saw-mills.
Poultry rearing is an ancient pursuit of the neigh-
bourhood, and the Dorking fowls with an extra claw
are a well-known breed, which it is not necessary to
derive from Roman introduction.
Sand of fine texture and often in veins of pink
colour is also dug about Dorking, and some exten-
1 Plot, de Qua War. (Rec. Com.),
745. la Dead in 1939.
1 Dorking Manorial Rolls, I4th, 151(1,
nd 1 6th centuries panim. The first five
boroughs were confirmed and denned by
a County Council order, 26 July 1894,
under the provisions of the Loc. Govt.
Act, 56 & 57 Viet. cap. 73.
141
e.g. View of frankpledge, 7 Oct.
1 6 Hen. VI, in Dorking Manorial
Rolls.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
sive caverns were formerly excavated for this purpose
under parts of the present town.
The road from London to Horsham passes through
Dorking, and continues over the Holmwood Common.
This is the turnpike which was made in 1755 * in
response to the astounding statement of the people of
Horsham that if they wanted to drive to London
they were compelled to go round to Canterbury.
Arthur Young justly described it as the worst instance
of the want of communication which he had heard
of in England. 4 The Act was for the making of a
road from Epsom, through Letherhead, Dorking, and
Capel, with a branch to Ockley. The old road from
Dorking into Sussex went up Boar Hill to Cold-
harbour, and down to Ockley. 6 This road was
impassable for wheeled traffic as late as the earlier part
of the I gth century, when it was such a narrow
ravine that bearers carrying a coffin had to walk in
single file with the coffin slung on a pole. It was
repaired about 1830, chiefly at the instance of
Mr. Serjeant Heath of Kitlands, Capel, who threat-
ened to prosecute the parish. The road from Reigate
to Guildford passes through Dorking from east to west.
The South Eastern Railway, Redhill and Reading
branch, has two stations in Dorking, Box Hill and
Dorking, opened in 1849. In 1867 the London
Brighton and South Coast Railway, Portsmouth
branch, was brought through Dorking, where there is
a station near the Box Hill station of the South
Eastern Railway.
The ancient road called Stone Street (see in Ockley
on the name) ran through Dorking. It is to be
traced in much of its course by flint pavement which
is found in draining and field work. It is laid down
fairly correctly upon the Ordnance Map. It enters
Dorking parish close to Anstie Grange Home Farm
(not to be confounded with Anstie Farm), and runs
along the side of the hill under the Redlands Woods,
and above the Holmwood Common. Folly Farm
lies just west of it. Near Dorking it has not been
accurately observed, but it has no relation to the
direction of the streets. Drainage operations show
that it left South Street to the east, and crossed West
Street just opposite the yard occupied by Messrs. Stone
& Turner ; a foot passage opposite their premises is
just on the line. It continued in a straight line for
Pebble Lane, where there is little doubt that it
mounted to the chalk hills, and is represented still by
the old bridle way over Mickleham Downs to Epsom
race-course ; it must have left Dorking Church to the
south-east. Manning and Bray 7 say that the flints
were found north-east of the church in a nursery
garden, and sold to the road surveyor. But the
description is vague and not incompatible with its
having passed the church as described. It has not been
traced in the north part of Dorking parish.
The prehistoric fortified hill of Anstiebury, formerly
in Dorking parish, was included in Capel by the
Local Government Act of 1894, and has been de-
scribed under Capel.
There is a barrow, unopened apparently, on Milton
Heath, north of the road. Camden says that Roman
coins were found in Dorking churchyard, and others
4 Act 28 Geo. II, cap. 45.
5 In 1622 Sir Robert More wrote to
his father, Sir George, that he could not
drive from beyond Horsham to Loseley as
he had intended, because it had rained,
but that he hoped to find a way round by
East Grinstead, Godttone, and Reigate
(Loseley MSS. vol. i, p. 14.9). It would
seem that the clay roads had become worse
by 1750.
6 Ogilvy, Bk. of Roads ; Burton, Iter
Surriense, &c.
142
have been mentioned. In 1817 a find of 700
Anglo-Saxon coins was made in Winterfold Hanger,
on Lower Merriden Farm, west of Redlands Wood. 9
The town of Dorking used to consist of many
houses of respectable antiquity, but has been much
modernized of late. The ' Old King's Head ' is a
fine brick Jacobean building, standing at the west end
of the High Street, on the north side. It used to be
called the ' Chequers,' and received its later name in
1660. The licence was withdrawn about 1800,
renewed about 1850, and is now again withdrawn.
It is usually said to be the original of Dickens' ' Mar-
quis of Granby,' but at the time when the Pickwick
Papers were written it was not an inn at all. Oppo-
site the ' Old King's Head,' just before High Street
divides into West Street and South Street, was the
old ' Bull Ring.'
A few old houses are to be found in the High
Street and side streets, but most of them have been
re-fronted or otherwise modernized, and a comparison
with the sister towns of Letherhead, Guildford, and
Godalming, is in this respect very disappointing. In
the town itself perhaps the most interesting old houses
are the White Horse Inn anciently the ' Cross
House,' from its sign, the cross of the Knights of St.
John,' a quaint, low structure largely of timber and
plaster, with three gables, and a large courtyard open-
ing from the High Street, probably on a very ancient
site, and as it stands perhaps 400 years old. The
town abounds in ancient hostelries of lesser size, such
as the ' Red Lion ' (originally ' The Cardinal's Cap ')
and the ' Black Horse,' and in the side streets are
one or two small half-timber houses with overhanging
upper stories.
The gallows used to stand on a hill called Gallows
Hill on the left-hand side of the road going towards
Coldharbour by way of Boar Hill. A house now
occupies the spot. It is marked in the map of
Ogilvy's Book of Roads. The parish registers of 1625
to 1669 record at intervals the burial of persons
hanged there when the Assizes were held in the town.
The old market-house stood in the street opposite
the ' Red Lion.' Pictures show a gabled, probably
16th-century building, of the same type as the
Farnham market-house, but the original wooden
supports had been changed for brick arches at the
west end ; they remained under the east end. It was
demolished in 1813.
The market on Thursdays, claimed by John de
Warenne in 1 278, is still held on the spot in the street.
There is a fair, also existing in 1278, on Ascension
Day. Down to ten years ago the practice of Shrove
Tuesday football continued in the streets of Dorking.
Shop windows were barricaded, all business suspended,
and the town given over to a very tumultuous game.
When the practice became known through the
papers as a curiosity surviving here, idle people came
from a distance to assist. The nuisance, always great,
was intolerable, and it was suppressed with some
difficulty by the police. But the year 1907 is said
to have been the first in which no attempt was made
to continue it. In 1830 there was a very serious
riot in Dorking during the Swing Riots. 10
' Hist, of Surr. iii, App. jclvi.
8 V.C.H. Surr. i, 272.
9 It was held of the manor of St. John
of Jerusalem, Clerkenwell.
10 y.C.H. Surr. i, 429.
WOTTON HUNDRED
DORKING
St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church was rebuilt in
1895 chiefly at the expense of the Duke of Norfolk.
The original temporary building had been erected by
the Duchess of Norfolk in 1872. There is a Congre-
gational chapel in West Street, representing an ancient
congregation formed in 1662 under the Rev. James
Fisher, the ejected minister of Fetcham, at whose
house a small body of Nonconformists met in 1669,
but the minister who was licensed in 1672 under the
Indulgence was Mr. Feake, a Fifth Monarchy man,
who had been imprisoned under the Protectorate.
There was a congregation of Presbyterians under the
Rev. John Wood, late rector of North Chapel in
Sussex, meeting at his house. 11 This Presbyterian
body does not seem to have survived," but after the
death of Mr. Wood at an advanced age in 1693,
became merged in the Congregational body. A
chapel was built in 1719. In 1834 this was pulled
down and rebuilt, and much improved and altered in
1874."
Congregational schools were built in 1858.
There is a Baptist chapel, built in 1869 ; and a
Wesleyan chapel, built in 1850. Wesley made the
first of ten visits here in 1764, and in 1772 opened
a chapel in Church Street, now converted into cot-
tages.
The Society of Friends were strong in the Dork-
ing neighbourhood about the time of their founda-
tion. Possibly the first meetings of the Friends in
Surrey were held at the house of Thomas Bax, in
Capel, near Dorking. There had been a Friends'
meeting at Bax's house for upwards of twenty years
in i677. Ita Fox, however, records in his journal a
meeting at Reigate in 1655, which may precede
this. The Old Friends' Meeting House in West
Street, Dorking, bore the date 1709. The present
meeting house near Rose Hill was built in 1846.
There is a meeting of Plymouth Brethren in a
chapel in Hampstead Road, opened in 1863.
The cemetery was opened
in 1856.
The Public Hall in West
Street was built by a company
for meetings and entertain-
ments in 1872.
Denbies is the residence of
the Hon. Henry Cubitt, the
lord-lieutenant. It stands upon
the brow of the chalk down,
close to Ranmore Common
and church. The church,
however, is in Great Bookham
parish (q.v.). Denbies com-
mands fine views over the weald
and the back of the Leith Hill range, and of Box Hill,
which faces it from across the Mole Valley. Ash-
combe, from which the peerage of Ashcombe is
named, was a piece of land lying close to it, and
Ashcombe Hill was the old name of the brow. Denby
was probably a farmer who lived there. The farm-
house was bought in 1754 by Mr. Jonathan Tyers,
the founder of Vauxhall Gardens, who laid out the
grounds in what was intended to be a style appealing
to serious reflections, with a temple, two skulls, in-
CUBITT. Checkered or
and gules a pile argent
with a lion't head razed
sable thereon.
BARCLAY. Azure a
cheveron argent <with
three crosses formy argent
in the chief.
scriptions and verses of the tombstone kind, much
admired then and very absurd, a sort of Lenten
Vauxhall. Mr. Tyers died in 1 767, and the estate
was sold to the Hon. Peter King. His son Lord
King sold it in 1781 to Mr. James White, who sold
it in 1787 to Mr. Denison, whose son William Joseph
Denison was M.P. for West Surrey. After Mr. Deni-
son's death in 1849 it was bought by Mr. Thomas
Cubitt, who built the present house. He was father
to Lord Ashcombe, the father of the present owner.
Bury Hill (in Westcote
borough) is the seat of Mr.
Robert Barclay, representative
of the ancient Scottish house
of Barclay of Urie. The name
is as old as the 1 4th century,"
but no trace or record of a
fortification can now be
found. 145 The ground was
part of the waste of the manor
of Milton. Mr. James Walter
was buying land in Milton
Manor in 1 75 3," and he built
the house then and planted the
grounds. Mr. Walter died
in 1780, when Viscount Grimston, his daugh-
ter's husband, succeeded him here. In 1812 he sold
it to Mr. Robert Barclay, great-grandfather of the
present owner. The Nower, a favourite walk for
Dorking people, is a hill adjoining this property.
The Rookery, the property of Mr. Brooke, is the
seat of Mr. Lionel Bulteel. An estate here was
bought in 1759 by Mr. David Malthus, who built
the house and laid out the grounds with the ponds
and waterfalls, which make it a picturesque place.
The Rev. Thomas Malthus, the economist, his
son, was born here in 1766. In 1768 it was
bought by Mr. Richard Fuller, banker, of Lon-
don, of the family of the Fullers of Tandridge,
Surrey (q.v.), and was sold by the executors of his
great-grandson, Mr. George Fuller, in 1893. The
old name of the valley where the Rookery stands was
Chartgate, or Chartfield.
Milton Heath (in Milton borough), the seat of
Mr. J. Carr Saunders, was built by the late Mr. James
Powell, of the Whitefriars Glass Works.
Deepdene (in Holmwood borough), lately the seat of
Lilian, Duchess of Marlborough, was originally built
by the Hon. Charles Howard, after coming into pos-
session of a part of the manor in 1652. In 1655
Evelyn visited him, and admired the gardens which he
had already begun to lay out in the deep valley which
gives the place its name. It is probable that there
was already a small house on the spot. Some thirty
years later Aubrey saw and admired the landscape
gardening, then evidently far more advanced. Mr.
Howard died in 1713 (he was buried at Dorking,
according to the inscription at Deepdene, in 1714);
his son Henry Charles Howard died in 1720. His
second son Charles succeeded as Duke of Norfolk in
1777 and rebuilt the house. His son Charles, eleventh
duke, sold it in 1791 to Sir William Burrell, bart.,
whose son Sir Charles sold it in 1 806 to Mr. Thomas
Hope. Mr. Hope largely altered the house, and
" V.C.H. Surr. ii, 40.
13 They are not recorded in Bishop
Willis' Visitation, 1724-5.
u Information from the late Rev. J. S.
Bright, Congregational minister, Dorking.
*" Papers formerly in possession of
Mr. March of Dorking.
14 Dorking Court Rolls, passim.
141 A Roman station has been gratuitously
supposed to be here ; Gent. Mag. Apr, I S 44..
15 Court Rolls, Milton Manor.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
began the great collection of paintings and statuary
carried on by his son, the late Mr. Beresford Hope,
who also added to the house and built the Italian
south-western front.
Charte Park, formerly called the Vineyard, was the
property of the Sondes or Sonds family, after they had
parted with Sondes Place. 16 The late Mr. Beresford
Hope bought Charte Park, and threw it into the
grounds of Deepdene, pulling down the house.
Westcott, also spelt Westcote, and erroneously
Westgate, is one of the Dorking boroughs (vide supra),
and with Milton was made into an ecclesiastical parish
in 1852 (vide infra). A considerable village existed
before then, and many houses have since been built.
In Squire's Wood, south of Westcote, is Mag's Well,
one of the sources of Pip Brook, which runs through
Dorking to the Mole. 'It was formerly of some
repute as a medicinal spring, and is strongly impreg-
nated with iron. A building, now gone to ruin,
existed over it, and within the writer's memory chil-
dren still bathed in it.
Holmwood Borough was the ancient division of
Dorking, to the south of the town. The ancient
spelling in the Court Rolls is invariably Homewood,
the numerous hollies have led to the change in the
name. But as far back as 1329 the reeves' accounts
include carriage of firewood from ' Dorkynge Ywode
vel Homewode' to Kingston, where the distinction
between the ' High Wood,' the skirts of the big forest
of the Weald, and the ' Home Wood,' sufficiently
explains the name. In 1562 Kingston still depended
upon this neighbourhood for firewood." Manning
and Bray state, however, that Dorking was supplied
lately with coal from Kingston ; showing a curious
reversal of former relations.
The Holmwood Common is a large high-lying
common thickly covered with furze bushes and hollies,
about 600 acres in extent. Defoe states that it was
as lately as the time of James II the haunt of wild deer.
Agricultural writers of a hundred years ago marked it
down as good cornland wasted.
The school of the parish of St. Mary Magdalen,
Holmwood, was built in 1844, and enlarged in 1870
and 1 8 84. That now in the parish of St. John the
Evangelist was built in 1849 and enlarged in 1875
and 1883.
A great number of gentlemen's houses surround
the Holmwood Common, and some standing upon it
represent the original intrusions of squatters upon the
waste of the manor confirmed by lapse of time.
Holmwood Park was the seat of the late Mrs. Gough
Nichols, widow of the celebrated antiquary. Francis
Larpent, Judge Advocate-General to Wellington's army
in Spain and the South of France, formerly lived here.
Oakdale is the seat of Lady Laura Hampton ; Oak-
dene of Mr. Augustus Perkins ; Redlands of Colonel
Helsham Jones ; Anstie Grange of Mr. Cuthbert
E. Heath ; Moorhurst, an ancient farm on the
border of the old parishes of Dorking and Capel,
of the Hon. W. Gibson, who has opened a small
Roman Catholic chapel there. It is the property of
Mr. Cuthbert E. Heath, of Anstie Grange.
The present condition of the Holmwood i in
curious contrast with what was its state not more than
100 years ago, when the road to Horsham running
over the desolate common was a frequent scene of
highway robbery, and was openly used by smugglers.
William Dudley, of Coldharbour, who died in 1902,
aged nearly 101, told the writer that a man with whom
he worked had been a witness when the turnpike
keeper boldly refused to open his gate at night to a
body of smugglers with kegs of brandy on their horses.
In the Domesday Survey DORKING
MANORS was in the hands of the king. Milton and
Westcote were even then separate manors.
It had been held by Edith, widow of the Confessor,
and like the other holdings of the late queen in Surrey,
was granted to William de Warenne I, when he was
created Earl of Surrey. 18 His original Surrey endow-
ment consisted of the manors which had been Edith's,
Dorking, Reigate, Shiere, Fetcham. But one Edric
had held Dorking, or part of it, at some previous
time, and had given two hides out of it to his daughters.
In 1086 Richard of Ton bridge held one of these hides
no doubt Hamsted Manor, which belonged sub-
sequently to the Clares. The other hide was probably
Bradley Manor, the lands of which lie in Holmwood
tithing and Mickleham.
Richard I appears to have confirmed the grant of
Edith's lands to the Earls of Surrey, 19 and in 1237
William de Warenne is recorded as holding Dork-
ing." 1 John de Warenne claimed it in 1278 as held
by his ancestors from before legal memory. 11 In
1347 John de Warenne died seised of the manor. 11
WARENNE, Earl of
Surrey. Checkered or
and azure.
FITZ ALAN, Earl of
Arundel. Gules a lion
He was succeeded by his nephew Richard, Earl
of Arundel, who died in 1376," leaving another
Richard as his son and heir. About this time the
Arundel lands began to pass through a period of vicis-
situde. Richard, Earl of Arundel, was attainted in
1397 and beheaded, after a long series of open
altercations with the king," and Dorking was granted
to Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham," after-
wards Duke of Norfolk, his son-in-law. He was
banished in 1398 and died in exile in 1400. On the
accession of Henry IV, Thomas, son of the unfortunate
Richard, was restored. He died on 1 3 October 1415,
leaving three sisters as co-heirs:* 6 first Elizabeth, the
second wife of Thomas Mowbray, first Duke of Norfolk,
whose share in the property descended in moieties to
her son John, second Duke of Norfolk, and to Joan,
her daughter by a second husband, Sir Robert Gonshill.
16 In 1515-16 John Sondes of Charte
alienated Sondes Place to John Carjrll ;
and in 1 594 Michael Sondes wa heir to
the copyhold of Sir Thomas Sondes of
Charte ; Dorking Ct. R.
V V.C.H. Surr. ii, 264.
18 Ibid, i, 298.
19 Cart. Antiq. , 29.
M Feet of F. Div. Co. *> Hen. Ill, no.
236.
nPlac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.),
"75-
82 Chan. Inq.p.m. 21 Edw. Ill (ist nos.)
no. 23.
M G.E.C. Complete Peerage.
44 Diet. Nat. Biog. iix, 98.
85 Pat. 21 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 5.
* Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Hen. V, no. 54.
WOTTON HUNDRED
This Joan became the ancestress of the Earls of
Derby by her marriage with Sir Thomas Stanley."
MOWBRAY, Duke of
Norfolk. England with
a Intel argent.
STANLEY, Earl of
Derby. Argent a bend
azure with three hart?
headi caboued or there*
on.
The second co-heir of Thomas, Earl of Arundel,
was Joan Beauchamp, Lady Abergavenny ; her share
descended to her granddaughter Elizabeth, afterwards
the wife of George Nevill, who thus gained the lands
and title of Abergavenny. Margaret, wife of Sir
Roland Lenthale, was the third heir, but her claim to
part of the inheritance lapsed at the death of her son
Edmund, who died without issue IS before July 1 447.
The history of the manor is obscure, even with the
aid of the Court Rolls placed at the service of in-
vestigators by the courtesy of successive Dukes of
Norfolk. For the rolls are far from continuous, and
generally lack the name of the lord or lords whose
courts are held. It is obvious, however, that on the
death of Thomas, Earl of Arundel,in 1415, his widow,
Beatrix of Portugal, held the manor as dower. 3 " The
courts were held for a Domlna (feminine) from 1413
to 1431, when there is a break of five years. In 1435
and 1438 Dominus, in the masculine singular is used,
probably Roland Lenthale, for his son Edmund. In
1 444 Domini begins, the Bishop of Bath and Wells
and others," feoffees of Edmund Lenthale." This
trust seems to have expired between 26 March
1450 and 21 July 1450, for Domini is used in the
former, Dominus in the latter. The singular is used
till 15 February 1451, after which the manor was
divided, courts being henceforth held for Domini
when the number is distinguished at all. In 1528
the question was raised in the court baron (17 Sep-
tember 1528) 'whether Edmund Lenthale deceased
was while alive sole holder of the manor of Dorking
or holder with others.' Unfortunately it was not
answered in the extant records, but it would seem
likely that he was sole holder, and that after his death
the manor went to John Mowbray, third Duke of
DORKING
Norfolk. The inquisition taken after the latter's
death in 1 46 1 is unfortunately now missing," and the
entry in the calendar is insufficient. In 1468 M John,
Duke of Norfolk, and his wife Elizabeth had a grant
of certain privileges, including return of writs, within
their manor of Dorking. 34
This Duke of Norfolk died in 1475," leaving an
only child Anne, who was for some years betrothed
to Richard, Duke of York, who perished in the
Tower. She died unmarried in 1480," and mem-
bers of the Nevill and Stanley families, as well as
descendants of Margaret and Isabel, daughters of the
first duke, appear as her co-heirs. A partition of
Dorking was probably then made. 38
In a document of I 5 3 1 George Nevill, Lord Aber-
gavenny, is mentioned 38 as being one of the joint holders
of the manor of Dorking. Again, later in the 1 6th
century, Henry Nevill was in possession of part of
the manor, 40 and on I August 1587*' Edward Nevill,
Lord Abergavenny, held his first court, with no indi-
cation of being only a joint holder, and in 1623 died
seised " of the manor of ' Dorking Capel,' not that he
was concerned only with the part of the manor in
Capel, for the court chose bedells for Dorking and for
Capel, and tenants from both attended. Edward
NevilFs son Henry seems to have conveyed his share
of the manor to the Howard family."
The family of Stanley, Earls of Derby, in like
manner again became involved in the history of Dork-
ing at the death of Anne Mowbray. In 1622 Thomas,
Earl of Derby, died seised of a moiety," which appa-
rently consisted of two quarter parts. In order to
explain his possession of more than one quarter it is
necessary to consider the third co-heir of Anne Mow-
bray, namely, William, Lord Berkeley. This William
was the son of Isabel daughter of the first Mowbray,
Duke of Norfolk," and although there seems no actual
record of his own connexion with Dorking Manor, his
son Maurice was seised of a fourth part in I5O4.' 6 It
seems as though he must have shortly afterwards con-
veyed his portion to the Earls of Derby, first because,
as stated above, they were afterwards seised of two
quarter parts ; secondly, because the Berkeleys are not
again found in possession ; and thirdly, because lands
did undoubtedly pass from the one family to the
other." 7
However, that may have been, it seems that two
quarter parts were in the possession of the Earls of
Derby. In 1586 Henry, Earl of Derby, conveyed one
quarter to Sir Thomas Browne,* 8 and in 1594 Henry's
son Ferdinand died seised of the other quarter. 49 The
portion which remained in the Derby family was
"*> Diet. Nat. Stag, liv, 75.
38 Chan. Inq. p.m. 29 Hen. VI, no. 27.
Aug. Off. Anct. Chart, i, 24.
80 She died in 1439 seised of Dorking;
Chan. Inq. p.m. 18 June 1440 (copy).
Perhaps even then there was a division.
81 1 8 July 1447, a tripartite indenture
was made between Lenthale's trustees,
the Duke of Norfolk and Lord Aber-
gavenny, giving the profits of the manor
to the trustees till such time as Lenthale's
debts were paid by them, and providing
for masses for his soul. The inquisition
p.m. was apparently postponed till, as we
should say, the estate was wound up ; D.
in Aug. Off. Anct. Chart, i, 234.
M Ct.R. 14 Dec. 23 Hen. VI.
88 Cal. of Chan. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Com.),
iv, 316.
84 Chart. R. 8-10 Edw. IV, m. 14.
15 The Roll of 14 Sept 1468 ends up
with some accounts and ' To my lorde of
Norfolk yi Audytores.' The plural will
used in the Court Rolls may refer to him
and his wife.
86 Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. IV, no. 58.
"7G.E.C. Complete Peerage.
88 The Nevills were descended from
Joan sister of the Earl of Arundel, who
died 1416, the Stanleys from Elizabeth
daughter of his sister Elizabeth. The
partition did not apparently extend to an
actual apportionment of the holdings.
Tenants admitted to the manor do fealty
' to the lords ' collectively, one court
baron was held for the whole, and one
view of frankpledge, and the dues were
probably divided.
145
89 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), li, 48.
40 Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 159, no.
n.
41 This was after Philip, Earl of Arundel
(heir to the Duke of Norfolk),was thrown
into the Tower, but before he was at-
tainted (1589).
49 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxcix,
'57-
48 They were in possession in 1652 ;
H. K. S. Causton, Hnvard Papers,
365.
44 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xxxix, no.
45 Diet. Nat. Biog. xxxix, 225.
48 Feet of F. Div. Co. Trin. 1 9 Hen. VII.
*! Diet. Nat. Biog. liv, 78.
48 Feet of F. SUIT. Trin. 28 Eliz.
49 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxlii,
88.
19
A HISTORY OF SURREY
apparently conveyed to the Howards some time during
the I yth century, 60 since the Browne moiety was the
only one which did not belong to them in the time
of George II."
Sir Thomas Browne died in 1 597 seised of one por-
tion of the manor, which passed to his son Matthew. 51
It appears at intervals in the possession of the Browne
family, and finally, about 1690, on the death of Sir
Adam Browne, without male issue, passed from his
family by the marriage of his daughter Margaret with
William Fenwick. 65 At her death, according to Man-
ning and Bray, 64 this part of the manor passed by sale
to Abraham Tucker, and from him, by the marriage of
one of his daughters, to his grandson Sir Henry St.
John Mildmay, who sold it in 1797 to the Duke of
Norfolk."
The remaining portion of the manor passed at the
death of Anne Mowbray into the family of Howard.
Margaret daughter of the first Mowbray duke, and
sister of that Isabel who married into the Berkeley
family, became the wife of Sir
Robert Howard, and to her son
John her share in the Dorking
manor now passed. 66 John was
a keen partisan of Richard III,
who in 1483 revived the title
of Duke of Norfolk in his fav-
our. 67 He met his death at
the battle of Bosworth Field,
and his lands, by an Act of at-
tainder in the first Parliament
of Henry VII, lapsed to the
Crbwn." His son Thomas, also
attainted then, was restored in
blood in 1488, and to the earl-
dom and his estates in 1489. In 1 5 1 4 he was created
Duke of Norfolk. His son Thomas, third Duke of
Norfolk in the Howard line, was attainted under
Henry VIII, and only escaped execution by the timely
death of the king ; his lands, however, were forfeited,
and his portion in Dorking Manor was granted by
Edward VI to Henry Duke of Suffolk. 69 Under
Queen Mary the duke was restored to his possessions.
From that time this portion seems to have remained
in the family of Howard ; the other portions were
gradually joined to it until, in 1797, the whole
manor was in the possession of the Duke of Norfolk,
with whose descendants it has since remained.
The earls had a manor-house in Dorking ; but
though Aubrey mentions traces of a castle, there are
neither records nor visible remains. The Town Fields
were on the south side of the town, towards the direc-
tion of the modern workhouse. The common meadow
and pasture was on the north by the Pip Brook ; but
it is worthy of notice that as early as the 1 4th and
1 5th centuries the manorial rolls tell us that the
villeins of the manor held land in severally, this custom
being specially noticeable in Waldeborough, where
there seem to have been no common fields. The rights
HOWARD, Duke of
Norfolk. Gules a bend
between six crossletsfitchy
argent.
of the lord over a villein tenantry, chivage, marriage,
and so on, were then in full force. In 1442-3 the
homage are bidden to produce a fugitive female villein.
It is needless to say that there is no evidence of the
outrageous droit de seigneur mentioned by Aubrey.
In the court held 30 December, 5 Henry VI (1426),
Johanna Brekspere paid 6s. 8J. for licence to marry
whom she would. But as early as the accounts ren-
dered for 132930, customary services, carrying, reap-
ing, &c., and xxii plena opera appear commuted for
money payments. The custom of the manor was
Borough English, and daughters were eo-heiresses. A
court baron was held every three weeks, and a court
leet and a view of frankpledge twice a year.
In 1278 John de Warenne claimed and was allowed
free warren in all his demesne lands in Dorking. 60 The
lord had, however, an inclosed warren, which was
often mentioned in the Court Rolls owing to the inhabi-
tants stealing rabbits from it. Under Henry V and
Henry VI the warren was let out at farm. Possibly
the lord had an inclosed park, for in the courts of
8 February and 1 6 August 1283 persons are accused
of breaking the earl's park ; but in the first instance
the fine pro fractura parcl is only 6d., in the second
2Of., so / anus may only be the pound, or some small
inclosure. No record of imparking or disimparking
seems to exist. If there was a park it must have been
near Charte Park of later times, where Park Copse,
Park Farm, and Park Pale Farm, all to the east of
Charte Park, may show that this is only part of a for-
merly more extensive inclosure.
BRADLET was a small reputed manor held by
service of half a knight's fee of the manor of Reigate. 61
A Thomas de Bradley appears in a dispute in the court of
Dorking of 1283. Mr. Bray had deeds in his possession
showing a settlement, by John de Bradley and Maud
his wife, on William son of Richard Bradley in 1 340,
and another settlement of land in Bradley 1389-90,
by Nicholas Slyfield, on John Penros. 62 It passed to
the Sondes of Sondes Place, Dorking, and appears as
a manor in the time of Edward IV, 63 and is also
mentioned in an inquisition taken after the death
of Robert Sondes in I53O. 64 It seems to have re-
mained in the Sondes family until the middle of the
1 7th century, when Sir George Sondes conveyed it to
William Delawne, 66 but perhaps by way of mort-
gage only, for Lewis, created Lord Sondes 1760, seems
to have sold it rather later than that to Henry Talbot.
He sold it to Mr. Walter, M.P., who was buying much
land in the district. 66 It was certainly possessed by
Mr. Walter of Bury Hill and his son-in-law Viscount
Grimston, who sold it to Mr. Denison of Denbies, in
which estate it remains. It has had no courts held
within the memory of man. It is now the property
of the Hon. Henry Cubitt of Denbies, the lord-
lieutenant. 67
There seems to have been a small manor called
H4MSTED in Dorking. In Domesday Richard of
Tonbridge held one hide which had been detached from
60 H. K. S. Causton (Howard Papers,
365) states that Charles Howard in 1652
found himself heir to three fourth parts of
the manor of Dorking, two of which had
been purchased by his grandfather Thomas,
Earl of Arundel.
51 Recov. R. Mich. 14 Geo. II, rot.
211.
52 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. z), ccliii,
88.
M Feet of F. Surr. HiL 4 & 5 Will, and
Mary.
M Hist. Surr. i, 558.
" Ibid.
58 Diet Nat. Biog. xxviii, 42.
W Ibid.
58 Par/. R. (Rec. Com.), vi, 410.
Pat. 6 Edw. VI, pt. ii.
60 Assize R. apud Guildford, 7 Edw. I,
rot. 28.
146
81 Survey of manor of Reigate taken
I Apr. 1623, 21 Jas. I.
M Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. i,
563.
" Feet of F. Div. Co. file 74, no. 64.
64 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ii, 48.
65 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 1654.
66 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. i,
564.
" Inform from Lord Ashcombe.
_
DORKING: OLD MARKKT HOUSE, PULLED DOWN IN
DORKING : MILTON COURT, c. 1845
DORKINC, : MILTON COURT, STAIRCASE, c. 1845
WOTTON HUNDRED
DORKING
Dorking. 68 In 1262 Hawisia widow of John de
Gatesden, the name of a Clare tenant, 69 sued Robert
Basset for a third part of a mill and 40 acres of land
as her dower in Hamsted and Dorking. 70 In 1314
Gilbert de Clare, killed at Bannockburn, was seised
of Hamsted, held of him by Agnes de Badeshull."
Hugh le Despenser, sister's son to Gilbert, died seised
of it in 1350, when it was held by John deWarblyng-
ton of the honour of Clare." In 1560-1 John
Caryll sold land in Hamsted to Sir Thomas Browne of
Betchworth. 7 * The description places it at the west
end of Dorking, where Hamsted Lane, an old name,
preserves its memory.
The manor of MILTON (xi et seq. cent. Middle-
ton) was held of William Fitz Ansculf by a certain
Baldwin at the time of the Domesday Survey ; Uluric
held it of King Edward. 74 It passed with the honour
of Dudley from William Fitz Ansculf to the family of
Somery ; early in the 1 3th century one Simon Fitz
Giles owed one knight's service for Milton to the
honour of Dudley. 74
The manor was possibly granted to the nuns of
Kilburn by Roger de Somery, 76 for their prioress was
found to hold lands of him at his death ; there is, how-
ever, reason to suppose that they had gained possession
of it somewhat earlier, since Margery, Prioress of
Kilburn, was seised of a knight'sfeein Milton in 1232."
Again, in 1 269, Matilda, a prioress whom Dugdale
omits from his list, 78 had transactions touching the
moiety of a virgate of land in Milton. 7 *
The manor remained with the nuns until the dis-
solution of the monasteries, when the king exchanged
it for other Surrey lands with John Carleton of Walton
on Thames, and Joyce his wife. 80 From John Carle-
ton the manor passed to Richard Thomas, who was
holding it in I552. 81 Richard Thomas continued to
hold under Philip and Mary ; ** his tenure was not,
however, popular among his tenants, who were in-
dignant at his having inclosed lands on Milton Com-
mon otherwise known as Anstey Heath, where the
aforesaid tenants had had common of pasture from time
immemorial. Waterden Wood is also mentioned.
Anstey Farm and Waterden lie on the two sides of
the road in Milton Manor near Coldharbour. Milton
Gore, close by, is the only part of the heath in ques-
tion now uninclosed.
It is probable that the grant to Richard Thomas
was only for a period of years, for at the death of his
widow Katharine, who had subsequently become the
wife of Saunders Wright, it reverted to the Crown. 83
Queen Elizabeth in 1599 gave it to Ralph Lathom. 8 *
The grant, however, was cancelled before it took
effect, and the next year the manor passed from the
Crown to George Evelyn 8S in consideration of some
700. From that time it descended with Wotton
in the Evelyn family.
Milton Court, the seat of the late Mr. L. M.
Rate (ob. 1907), is the old manor-house of Milton.
It is a fine Jacobean house, mostly of brick, with
wings projecting in front and behind and a projecting
portico in front, showing five gables to the front, over
the wings and portico ; and between these, to the
back, there are three gables, the chimneys occupying
the intermediate spaces on this side. The gables are
all of the rounded pattern common in Kent and the
Netherlands. The house was rebuilt by Richard
Evelyn, and completed in 1611 (accounts in posses-
sion of Mr. Rate). There was no high hall, but a
gallery ran along the front of the house with a pro-
jecting bay over the porch. This has been altered
into a drawing-room and other rooms. The stair-
case in the east wing is a very fine specimen of
Jacobean woodwork. Mr. Rate bought the house in
1864, and it was restored under the direction of the
late C. Burgess.
The manor of WEST BETCHWORTH was held
by Richard de Tonbridge at the time of the Domes-
day Survey, and the overlordship appears to have re-
mained with the honour of Clare. 86 In the I3th
century John de Wauton held half a knight's fee in
Betchworth of that honour ; 87 he subsequently for-
feited his lands to the king, who in 1291 made a
grant of them to John de Berewyk. 88 At John's
death in 1 3 1 3 his heir was found to be his grandson
Roger Husee, then a minor. 89 Roger died seised in
I362, 90 and was succeeded by his brother John, who
died a few years later leaving his son John as his
heir. 91 This John conveyed the manor to Richard
Earl of Arundel. 9 * It remained in the Arundel
family until 1487, when it was sold to Thomas
Browne. 93 It was still in the possession of the
Brownes in the time of Elizabeth, 94 and from that
date appears to have descended with the portion of
Dorking Manor which was in their hands.
Betchworth Castle, now only a picturesque ruin,
perched on a bank above the Mole, and almost con-
cealed by trees and creepers, was built, or, more prob-
ably, rebuilt, by Sir Thomas Browne. Judging by the
print in Watson's ' Memoirs,' the mansion which, in
the middle of the I5th century, replaced an earlier
fortified house or castle, must have been extremely
picturesque with its battlemented gables, clustered
chimneys and oriel windows, standing among lawns
and gardens descending to the Mole. The ivy is
disintegrating the walls, and almost the only architec-
tural feature is the arch of a fireplace. A remarkably
fine avenue of lime trees leads to the ruin.
The Domesday Survey records that Abbot ^Ethel-
rige had held tVESTCOTE of King Edward ; also
that Ralph de Fougeres then held it."
In the 1 3th century Westcote (villa de Westcote)
was terra Normannorum held by Gilbert de Aquila and
taken into the hands of King Henry III. The Earl
of Warenne and Surrey had paid a fine and held it
V.C.H. Surr. i, 298.
69 Testa tie Nevil!( Rec. Com.), 219. John
de Gatesden alto had lands in Hamsted
(Feet of F. Surr. 33 Hen. Ill, 379).
7 Assize R. 47 Hen. Ill, Surr. m. f .
'! Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. II, 68, m.
63.
7> Ibid. 23 Edw. Ill (2nd pt. 1st nos.),
no. 169.
? 8 Manning and Bray, Hist. Surr. i, 566.
7< r.C.H. Surr. i, 322,1.
Ibid.
7 Chan. Inq. p.m. i Edw. I, no. 15.
77 Feet of F. SUIT. Trin. 32 Hen. Ill,
no. 49.
7 8 Man. Angl. iii, 424.
7 Feet of F. Surr. Mil. 53 Hen. Ill,
no. 2;.
"0 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xv, g. 733
(48).
81 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 6 Edw. VI.
8a Star. Chamb. Proc. Phil, and Mary,
bdle. 6, no. 4;.
88 Pat. 41 Eliz. pt. x, m. 25.
M Ibid.
84 Pat. 42 Eliz. pt. xvi, m. I.
147
43
90
M
M
99
94
88.
M
1 V.C.H. Surr. i, 319*.
Testa de Neiiill (Rec. Com.), 221.
1 Chart. R. 19 Edw. I, m. 84.
' Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. II, no.
Ibid. 35 Edw. Ill, pt. i, no. 98.
Ibid. 44 Edw. Ill (ist not.), no. 33.
Close, 47 Edw. Ill, m. 16.
Feet of F. Surr. 1 5 Hen. VI, no. 8.
Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccliii,
r.C.H. Surr. i, 326*.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
for his sister the wife of Gilbert. 96 Later John de
Gatesden (see Hamsted Manor) held it. 97 He died
in 1269 or before, when a survey of the manor was
taken, late in his hands. 98 His daughter Margaret
married Sir William Pagenel, but it would seem that
the Latimer family had some previous claim upon
Westcote, for in 1 306 Alice widow of William le
Latimer sued William Pagenel and Margaret his wife
for dower in Westcote Manor, which had been
granted by Latimer to Pagenel and his wife. Pagenel
acknowledged her claim and granted her lands in
Leicestershire to the required amount. 99 In 1317
William Pagenel died seised of the manor, leaving
John his brother and heir, then fifty years of age. 100
In 1355 Eva widow of Edward St. John, and for-
merly wife of William Pagenel, who was probably the
son of John Pagenel, died seised of one-third of West-
cote Manor which she held in dower. Her heir was
Laurence de Hastings, lord of Paddington Pembroke
(q.v.), with which Westcote descended from that
time. 101
There was a mill at Westcote at the time of the
Domesday Survey ; it is also mentioned in the in-
quisition taken at the death of Laurence de Hastings
in 1 348, when it was stated to be a water-mill. 10 '
At the time of Alice le Latimer's suit (q.v.) the
manor was valued at forty pounds odd.
George I granted to John Evelyn the privilege of
holding two annual fairs in his manor of Westcote,
on 15 April and 28 October. 108
Westcote retains many picturesque old houses of
the 1 6th, 1 7th, and l8th centuries, including some
with gables of Bargate stone rubble and ornamental
brick ; and a farm-house with fine brick chimneys
dating from about 1670.
SONDES PLACE, in Milton borough, the vicar-
age house since 1839, belonged to a family of
Sondes, who migrated to Surrey in the I5th cen-
tury, and who were ancestors of the present Lord
Sondes. In 1590 John Carill, of Warnham, conveyed
Sondes Place for 1,000 to John Cowper of Capel,
Serjeant - at - Law. 104 Cowper possibly sold it to
Christopher Gardiner, who died about 1 597, and is
described as of Dorking, 106 and whose son Christopher,
baptized I 595, 106 resided at Sondes Place. The latter
married Elizabeth daughter of Sir Edward Onslow
of Knowle in Cranleigh. 10 ' William Gardiner of
Croydon, by deed of 1678, granted the manor or
lordship of Sondes Place to Francis Brocket. 108
The parish church is approached by
CHURCHES a little stone-flagged alley from the
High Street, and stands in the midst
of a large and prettily kept churchyard, no longer used
for burials, in which are numerous gravestones and
railed tombs, some of 1 7th and 18th-century dates.
It is dedicated to ST. M4RTIN, and is, as it stands,
absolutely modern, having been rebuilt in 1835-7
(the chancel excepted), and the nave, till then an un-
sightly structure of brick and compo, with slender iron
columns and many galleries, again rebuilt in 1873
from the designs of Mr. H. Woodyer, who in 1 866
had rebuilt the ancient chancel. In 18357 the
central tower had been rebuilt, or remodelled, and
crowned with a lofty spire, which it had not before
possessed, and these features, which were not repro-
duced in the original position in the later re-edification,
were replaced by a lofty western tower and spire,
erected to the memory of Dr. Samuel Wilberforce,
Bishop of Oxford, and then of Winchester, who was
killed by a fall from his horse near Dorking in 1873.
The present church, which is constructed of black
flints and Bath stone, is a handsome and spacious
edifice in a somewhat mixed style of I3th and i<).th-
century Gothic architecture, consisting of a lofty
clearstoried nave, with western tower and spire,
porches, transepts, chancel and vestries. Nearly all
the windows are filled with stained glass of varying
merit, and there are many elaborate fittings, including
altar and reredos, pulpit, lectern and choir stalls, font
and chancel screen of oak, in commemoration of
Wm. Henry Joyce, M.A., vicar, 1850-70, beneath
which is a brass to his memory.
The floor and lower parts of the walls of the old
church remain in vaults under the present church. It
was a large and picturesque structure, occupying much
the same area as the present, cruciform, with a central
tower, north and south aisles to the nave, under lean-to
roofs, and a south porch, built of local rubble and
flints plastered externally, with dressings of firestone,
and having the old Horsham slate on all the roofs,
except the chancel and north transept. The nave
was about 65 ft. by 30 ft., its aisles being between
12 and 14 ft. long, the north transept about 27 ft. by
23 ft. wide, the south transept 26 ft. by 23 ft., the
central tower about 27 ft. square, and the chancel
40 ft. by 22 ft. Probably little or nothing remained
of the building recorded in Domesday, except as old
material worked up on the walls ; but the chancel
seems to have retained to the last at the angles of the
east end four flat pilaster buttresses of mid- 12th-
century character. To a date towards the close of
the same century the lower part of the central tower
and the remarkable north transept appear to have
belonged. The latter is well shown in a carefully
accurate steel engraving forming the frontispiece to
Hussey's Churches of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. 103 The
design of this transept end consisted of a lofty gable
with a small lancet in the upper part, below which
was a pilaster buttress with steeply sloped weathering,
this buttress being pierced at about half its height
with a longer lancet, 110 and similar lancets flanking it
right and left, while at the angles were other pilaster
buttresses. In the eastern wall of the same transept
there were three lancets of like proportions and a
pilaster buttress. There appears to have been some
early work in the south transept also, but masked by
alterations made in the repairs of 1674 and 1762,
when a large circular-headed window was inserted in
the gable end, a huge, unsightly buttress erected against
the south-east angle of the tower, and the upper part
of the central tower was altered. Evidence is scanty
as to other work of the earlier periods, especially as to
96 Testa dt Nrvill (Rec. Com.), 2ZJ.
7 Ibid. 229.
98 Chan. Inq. p.m. 53 Hen. Ill, no.
19.
99 De Banco R. 161, m. 145.
100 Chan. Inq. p.m. 10 Edw. II, no. 61.
101 In William Pagenel's inquisition, the
Hastings family are mentioned as being
overlords, so that the manor probably
reverted to them on the failure of heirs
in the Pagenel family.
1M Chan. Inq. p.m. 22 Edw. Ill (ist
nos.), no. 47.
108 Pat. 12 Geo. I, pt. ii.
"" Close, 32 Eliz. pt. vi. los Will.
Dorking Reg. W Ibid.
148
Com. Pleas D. Enr. 30 Chas. II),
m. 5. The present Sondes Place is an-
other house.
109 Corroborated by old pen drawings in
the writer's possession.
110 Cf. the tower buttresses at Clymping,
Sussex, similarly pierced with early lancets,
in work of c. 1170.
ABINGER CHURCH FROM THE SOUTH-EAST, c. 1845
DORKING: ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH, CHOIR, c. 184;
DORKING: ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH, CHANCEL, c. 1845
WOTTON HUNDRED
DORKING
the nave arcades and crossing arches, but they were
probably of late izth or early 13th-century date. In
the first half of the I4th century considerable altera-
tions were effected. A clearstory of coupled lights
having ogee, trefoiled, and cinquefoiled heads was
formed on both sides of the nave, and other windows
inserted, in about 1 340. The chancel at this time
received a fine large east window of five lights, the
central higher than the others, with flowing tracery in
the head resembling that of the east window in Witley
Church. 111 The windows in the south wall, of three
and two lights, with square heads, may have belonged
to the same or a slightly later date. The upper story
of the tower, although its parapet had been made
plain in 1762, retained two-light windows with
pointed heads of I 5th-century character, and in the
east wall of the south transept, the south wall of the
south aisle, with its porch, and the west wall of the
nave, were other windows of the 1 5th century. If it
seems hard to forgive the 1835 rebuilding of the nave,
it is almost impossible to excuse the destruction of the
ancient chancel, with its fine east window, in 1866.
The north aisle had no windows in its wall, but was
lit by wooden dormers in the roof.
The monuments in the old church prior to its
demolition do not appear to have been of great
importance. Aubrey records many tombstones as exist-
ing on the floor of the church in his time (1673, &c.),
some of which bore the indents of brasses. These
have all disappeared. The following mural monu-
ments have been preserved and set up in the new
church : (l) The Howard monument, to the memory
of Charles Howard of Greystoke Castle and of Deep-
dene, 111 fourth son of Henry Frederick, Earl of
Arundel (died 3 1 March 1713), and Mary his wife
(died 7 November 1695); of Henry Charles Howard,
his son and heir (died 10 June 1720), and Mary his
wife (died 7 October 1747) ; and of Mary Anne
Howard, the late wife of Charles Howard, jun. (died
28 May 1768). (2) A monument, removed from a
mausoleum formerly in the churchyard, to the second
wife of Henry Talbot, son of a Bishop of Durham,
who purchased Charte Park in 1746 and died in 1784.
(3) To Abraham Tucker, author of A Picture of
Artless Love and Ike Light of Nature Pursued, who
lived at his estate of Betchworth Castle till his death
in 1774. (4) A brass plate to Jeremiah Markland
(1693-1776), the classical scholar, who lived at
Milton Court.
The registers date from 1538.
The church plate is all modern, presented recently
by the Rt. Hon. George Cubitt, M.P., of Denbies,
now Lord Ashcombe. There is a ring of eight bells,
of which no. 2, 3 and 4 are dated 1709 and bear the
names of William Fenwicke, Mrs. Margaret Fenwicke,
John Hollier and John Pinny, 'benefactors'; while
no. 5 has the inscription, ' JOHN WILNER MADE ME 1 626.'
The others are modern. The ' pancake ' bell used to
be rung between 1 1 o'clock and noon on Shrove
Tuesday down to the early part of the 1 9th century.
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH was built in 1X57 fora
new district on the south side of the town. It is a
stone building, consisting of a nave and chancel, in
quasi 14th-century style, with a small bell-turret at
the west end.
ST. MARY MAGDALENE'S CHURCH, HOLM-
WOOD, was built in 1838. It was successively en-
larged in 1842, 1846, 1848, and 1863. Mr. James
Park Harrison was the original architect, and the
church is a successful imitation of 13th-century style,
built in sandstone, with a tower to the south-west.
The sites for church, parsonage, and school were given
by the Duke of Norfolk.
The church of ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST,
NORTH HOLMWOOD,v/M built, in 1875, of stone
in an intended 12th-century style, with a tower and
spire.
The church of HOLT TRINITY, rTESTCOTE,
was consecrated in 1852. It was built by Sir Gilbert
Scott in 1 4th-century style. It is of stone, with a small
western turret. Mr. Charles Barclay gave I, ooo to the
building, and Lady Mary Leslie 1,000 endowment.
The clock was put up to commemorate the Jubilee of
1887. The parsonage house was built at the sole
expense of the late Mr. Charles Barclay, of Bury Hill;
the Westcote Schools (National) by subscription in
1854 ; an infant school by subscription in 1882.
St. John's Chapel, the Countess of Huntingdon's
Connexion, was built by Mr. John Worsfold in 1 840,
and endowed with 40 a year, a house, small glebe,
and a benefaction for charities.
The advowson of the church of
ADPOWSON Dorking was attached first to the
Priory of Lewes, l:s and then, in 1334,
to the Priory of Holy Cross at Reigate until the disso-
lution of the monasteries. 114 It was then granted to Lord
William Howard," 4 created Lord Howard of Effing-
ham. Charles second Lord Howard of Effingham,
created Earl of Nottingham, inherited from his father.
His eldest son William having died in his lifetime, his
daughter Elizabeth, by marriage the Countess of
Peterborough, inherited, 116 and conveyed it in 1657
to her son, John Mordaunt, 11 ' an ardent Royalist,
to whom Charles II shortly afterwards granted the
titles of Baron Mordaunt of Reigate and Viscount
Mordaunt of Avalon, as a reward for his many
services. 118
In 1 660 Dorking with Capel (q.v.) and other churches
was confirmed to John Mordaunt in trust for Mary
daughter of his brother the Earl of Peterborough. 11 '
Mary sold it in 1677 to Sir John Parsons. The widow
of his son Humphrey settled it on her daughter Anne,
wife of Sir John Hynde Cotton, who conveyed it to
him. He sold it in 1766 to Mr. Edward Walter of
Bury Hill. At his death in 1780 it descended to his
daughter and her husband Viscount Grimston. The
latter sold in 1789 to the Duke of Norfolk." The
rectorial tithes were bought by various people in lots,
among whom were the late Mr. Rate of Milton Court
and Mr. Williamson of Guildford. The advowson to
the vicarage remained with the Dukes of Norfolk till the
Right Hon. G. Cubitt, M.P., now Lord Ashcombe,
bought it about 1865, and it remains in his hands.
The vicarage of St. Paul is in the gift of trustees.
111 Illuttrated by the late J. L. Andre,
F.S.A. in Surr. Areh. Call, xiy, I. For
Witley tee V.CM. Surr. ii, 456. The
east window of Mickleham Church, prior
to 1872, exhibited a similar design, and
Ila See ante under Deepdene.
118 Cott. MS. Vesp. F, XT, fol. i8A.
114 Pat. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 34 ; and
Winton Epis. Reg. Orleton, i, fol. 57d.
" L. and P. Hen. fill, xvi, g. 947
11 7 Feet of F. Surr. East. 1657.
118 G.E.C. Comfltte Peerage, T, 368.
119 Pat. 12 Chas. II, pt. xviii, m. 16.
110 Abstract of title to Capel Rectory
till 1766 ; Manning and Bray, Hist. Surr.
the west window of the tower at Cran- (12) ; xvii, g. 443 (5). [67. iii, 593 ; private information.
Icigh belongs to the same group. nt Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccclxxxii,
149
A HISTORY OF SURREY
The district of St. Mary, Holmwood, was taken
out of Dorking and Capel parishes and erected into a
separate parish in 1838. The living is in the gift of
the Bishop of Winchester.
The parish of St. John, North Holmwood, was
formed in 1874 from the northern part of the parish
of St. Mary. The Bishop of Winchester is patron of
this living also.
The parish of Holy Trinity, Westcote, was formed
with Milton, in 1852. The living is in the gift of
Mr. Robert Barclay of Bury Hill.
Smith's charity exists, but unlike the
CHARITIES usual practice in the other Surrey
parishes is administered by the parish,
not by the trustees. The Rev. Samuel Cozens,
Presbyterian minister in Dorking 1656-9, who prob-
ably resigned before 1662, left land at Chislet in
Kent which was added to Smith's land.
Cotmandene Almshouses for eighteen poor persons
were erected on land given to the vicar and church-
wardens by the Hon. Charles Howard of Deepdene
and Sir Adam Browne of Betchworth Castle in 1677,
and were endowed by Mrs. Susannah Smith. A decree
in Chancery established the legacy in 1718. Mr.
William Ansell left 200 consols in 1 830. Mr. Richard
Lowndes of Rose Hill left 320 consols in 1831.
Messrs. Joseph and John Sanders gave 700 consols
in 1839 to the same object.
In 1 706 Mr. William Hutton left 61, a year accru-
ing out of a copyhold in Brockham for bread to the
poor on Good Friday.
In 1725 Mrs. Margaret Fenwick left by will 800
which was laid out in the purchase of a farm called
Fordland in Albury, for the apprenticing of poor
children, providing a marriage portion for maid-ser-
vants who had lived blamelessly in the same family for
seven years, and the residue to the poor in alms.
Summers' Charity was founded in 1807 by Mr.
Thomas Summers, a hatter of Horsham, who used to
travel between Horsham and Dorking. He left 100
each to Horsham, Dorking, and Capel. The money
was laid out in buying 134 3 per cent, consols, and
the income is devoted to buying bread for the poor.
An annuity of zot. for forty poor widows is charged
upon a piece of land called Poor Folks' Close in
Dorking, but the benefactor is unknown.
Dorking Cottage Hospital, containing seventeen
beds and three cots for children, was built in 1871 on
land given at a nominal rent by Mrs. Hope of Deep-
dene. It is supported by voluntary contributions and
payment of patients. The Right Hon. G. Cubitt, M.P.
(Lord Ashcombe), gave 1,000 towards the building.
OCKLEY
Aclea (x cent.), Hoclei (xi cent.), Okeley (xiii
cent.), Occle, Ockel (xiv cent.), Okkeleghe, Hock-
legh (xv cent.), Okeleigh, Okeley (xii cent.), and
many other variations.
Ockley is 7 miles south-west of Dorking. It has
been bounded since 1879, when the outlying portions
were consolidated with neighbouring parishes, by
Abinger and Wotton on the west, by Capel on the
north and east, and by the county of Sussex on the
south. In 1901 ' a further rectification of the
boundary with Wotton and Abinger was made.
The parish contains 2,992 acres, and measures about
4. miles from north-east to south-west, and about l^
miles from west to east. Since the outlying portions
on Holmbury and Leith Hills have been separated the
parish is entirely on the Wealden Clay, but in the
northern part considerable beds of paludinae, forming
the conglomerate called Sussex marble, occur.
The parish is agricultural, except for a little brick
and tile making.
The Portsmouth line of the London, Brighton,
and South Coast Railway passes through its eastern
side. Ockley and Capel Station, in Ockley, was
opened in 1867. Through the whole length of the
parish the Roman road from London to Chichester,
called the Stone Street, runs. For a considerable
distance it is still used, but at both extremities of
the parish the modern roads turn off abruptly from
it, though the old line has been traced through the
fields and copses. Ockley Church, Ockley Court, the
remains of a fortified place to be noted presently, and
probably the original Ockley village, lay a little
distance off the road to the east. Along the line of
what is called in the manorial rolls Stone Street
Causeway, and all round Ockley Green, a large
stretch of open common lying along the west side of
the road, cottages and houses sprang up. These are
now known as Ockley village, but were formerly
called Stone Street. 8 There is no doubt that near
here was fought the great battle in which Ethelwulf
and Ethelbald defeated the Danes, probably in 851.
It was at Aclea, among the Suthrige, according to the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and the existence of the
road explains the movements of the armies. 8 The
discovery of human remains on Etherley Farm in
1882 may place the actual scene of conflict on the
dry hillside north-west of Ockley Green.* Ockley in
Surrey does not seem, however, to be the scene of the
Synod of the 8th century ; the circumstances of
which point to a place in the north of England.
On the far side of the field north of Ockley
Church, among some trees, is an earthwork. It was
apparently a pear-shaped inclosure with the broader
end to the east. The length is nearly 300 ft. At
the eastern end is a broad mound with an extension
thrown back at a right angle to face north. Outside
this north-eastern angle is a ravelin or platform with
traces of a ditch round it. The southern side is
bounded by a stream in an artificially-straightened
ravine. The eastern front may have been covered
with an inundation. On the northern side only the
traces of a ditch remain, but in the angle where this
joins the stream, to the west, are traces of a small
mound. West of this angle again are traces of an
1 By Local Govt. Bd. Order, no.
42600.
a As e.g. in Burton, Iter Surrienst, 175 1,
Rocque's map, 1770, and the map in
Gibson's Camden, 1695. N.B. The
modern spelling Stane Street is an affecta-
tion. The natives call it Staan Street, as
they call Dorking Barking, but the old
spelling is Stone, and the local family
name derived from it is Stonestreet.
ISO
r.C.H.Surr.\, 331,332.
4 Ibid. The remains were in Wotton
parish, but Ockley is very much nearer to
the eitc than Wotton.
OCKLEY GREEN, WELL, c. 1845
DORKING CHURCH, BEFORE 1835
WOTTON HUNDRED
OCKLEY
artificial bank, perhaps to make another inundation.
Aubrey in the lyth century recognized the ' mole
and mote ' of a castle, and a small castle of the De
Clares, built in Stephen's time and dismantled by
Henry II, is not impossible. It is a likely spot, near
a main road, which was then no doubt in use for its
whole length.
Aubrey has preserved a tradition, repeated and
ridiculed by later writers, that there was a castle here
destroyed by the Danes, who placed battering engines
on Bury Hill. All who notice the story take Bury
Hill to be Anstiebury Camp, 2 miles or more away.
But where the road ascends from Ockley towards
Dorking, just before the branch to Coldharbour goes
off on the left, the hill was called Bury Hill. 4a It is very
much nearer, under half a mile away instead of over
two, and although too far for a catapult to act, it is
not an impossible camp for some force attacking a
strong place near Ockley Church. Danes may be, of
course, any enemy, described by that name from con-
fusion of traditions.
In the southern part of the parish, near Oakdale
Farm, is a considerable moated inclosure with a
double moat on two sides. The lane near it is called
Smugglers' Lane. It is a way out of Sussex which
avoids the high road.
Dotted about on the village green are several houses
and cottages embowered in trees ; and some of the
trees along the main road are also of great size and
beauty. Opposite to the turning that leads to the
church is a picturesque old cottage with rough-cast
walls and stone-slab roof, and several others in the
village street are evidently of some antiquity. But it
is the group of exceptionally fine old farm-houses
within the borders of the parish which specially
demand attention.
The finest of these is King's Farm, in the south-
west of the parish, a large rambling structure, chiefly
of half-timber, but largely covered with weather
tiling, with overhanging stories, projecting oriel bay
windows, having moulded bressummers and shaped
brackets and tall chimney stacks the shafts of the
chimneys set diamond-wise upon square bases. Almost
equally interesting are Boswell's or Bosell Farm,
close to King's Farm, and Buckinghill Farm, in
the north of the parish, both having overhanging
timber-framed gables and stone-slab roofs. Hoi-
brooks is another ancient farm-house. All have
great open fireplaces and other characteristics of
a past age, and their remoteness from railways and
main roads has aided to preserve their primitive
character. One called Trouts, though close to the rail-
way line, is not easily accessible. It used to be known
as Farley lands. 4 On a beam in the kitchen was
lately a carved inscription :
' LOOK WELL TO THY HOUSE IN EVERY DEGREE
AND AS THY MEANS ARE SO LET THY SPENDINGS BE
I 5 . .'
Eversheds is an old farm-house and reputed manor, in
the eastern part of the parish. It was the property
of an old yeoman family named Evershed. Mr. John
Evershed bought the manor of Ockley, as noted below,
in 1694, and Eversheds was sold with the manor in
1717. Its claim to be a manor rests only upon a
mistaken identification with the Arseste of Domesday.
Evershed is a place-name which gives its name to a
family. Eversheds is the house of an Evershed. Arseste
is possibly Hartshurst, a farm in Wotton under Leith
Hill.
Vann is the seat of Mrs. Campbell. It was held
of Ockley Manor by a family named Margesson in
the 1 7th century. Vann Pond is an extensive sheet
of water, made by damming a stream in a narrow
valley, with a view to providing water-power for a
linen mill in the 1 8th century; but the mill was
never built.
Elderslie, on Ockley Green, is the seat of Mr. J.
W. Arbuthnot. Mr. George Arbuthnot, grand-
father of the present owner, resided there and died
in 1843. The fountain on the green was built by
Miss Jane Scott, governess in the Elderslie family, in
1841.
The present Rectory House, by the side of the
Stone Street Causeway, was built at his own expense
by the Rev. Thomas WoodroofFe shortly after he was
instituted as rector in 1784. The older rectory was
I mile further south, 2 miles from the church.
This was not the original rectory, but was a farm-
house on the glebe.
The Domesday Survey Sa records that
MANOR OCKLET (Ockley, Okeleigh, Ocklie,
Hokeleye, Okkle, Ockele, &c.) was held
by Ralph of Richard of Tonbridge, and that Almar
held it of King Edward ; also that Richard himself
held half a hide in this manor. The manor is here
put under the heading of Woking Hundred. This
may probably be merely a mistake ; but it is worth
notice that Manning and Bray record that there was
land in Ockley held of East Horsley Manor, in
Woking Hundred, 6 and there was an isolated bit of
Ockham parish inclosed in Ockley, Ockham being also
in Woking and a manor of Richard of Tonbridge.
This may be Richard's half-hide, valueless because
it was on the barren slope of Holmbury Hill.
In the early 1 3th century Alice daughter of Odo
de Dammartin held inter alia one knight's fee in Ockley
of the honour of Clare. 7 She held Tandridge also,
and her lands passed to the Warblington family. 8
It seems probable that one of Alice's predecessors
enfeoffed the Malemayns family with Ockley, to be
held by one knight's fee of their manor of Tand-
ridge, 9 for they seem to have been already established
in Ockley, as well as else-
where in Surrey. In 1213
Walter, Prior of Merton,
made an exchange with Ni-
cholas Malemayns of land in
Ockley. 10 In 1241 John de
Plessets paid 100 marks for
the custody of the land and
heirs of Nicholas Male-
mayns. 11 Nicholas Malemayns
in 1278 claimed to have a MALIMAYNS. Gules
park in Ockley in his ma- thret right hands or.
nor. 1 * In 1293 the king
presented to the living of Ockley on the grounds
of his custody of the lands and heirs of Nicholas
43 Local information.
6 Westcote Ct. R. 5 Nov. 1736.
' y.C.H. Surr. i, 320*.
Hat. of Surr. ii, 162.
7 Ttita de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 219.
8 John de Warbleton had a wife Alice ;
Vriothesley, Pedigree* from Plea R. 285.
9 Chan. Inq. p.m. 33 Edw. Ill, no. 41.
10 Feet of F. Surr. 14 John, no. 42.
11 Fine R. 25 Hen. Ill, m. 16 ; but
this was not only in Ockley.
" Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 744.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
Malemayns, ' tenant in chief.' " The reason why
he is called tenant-in-chief may be explained by a
possible minority of the Warblington heir and also
by the fact that in 1289-90, when the Earl of Glou-
cester married Joan of Acre, daughter of Edward I,
he surrendered all his lands to his royal father-in-law.
He received a grant back of most of them, but not all,
the same year. The king clearly reserved some
manors in his own hands till his daughter's son should
be of age ; when the earl died in 1295 Ockley does
not appear in his Inquisitio as part of his lands. When,
however, the son of his royal marriage, the young earl,
was killed at Bannockburn, 1314, Ockley was one of his
fees," together with several other Surrey manors which
are not mentioned in connexion with his father.
Edward I is said to have presented the manor
by patent 15 to Nicholas Malemayns. No such
entry is in the Patent Rolls, but in a Charter Roll of
20 January 1 296 it appears that Nicholas Malemayns
surrendered Ockley to the Crown, and that the king,
after holding it for some time, re-granted it to him
and his heirs by his wife Alice. In 1 300 a grant
was made to Nicholas Malemayns of the assize of
bread and ale and view of frankpledge in his manor
of Ockley, as his ancestors had them, 16 and in 1 302 he
received a grant of free warren, a weekly market on
Tuesdays, and a fair on the feast of St. Margaret (the
patron saint of the church)." Nicholas died at an
unknown date. Another Nicholas died in 1350.
This Nicholas Malemayns married Alice and left
three daughters : Beatrice, who married Otho de
Graunson ; Catherine, who married Sir Henry
Newdigate ; Parnel, who married Sir Thomas
Sentomer. The manor was divided between them.
When Sir Otho de Graunson died in 1359, seised of
one-third of the manor, it was said to be held of the
manor of Tandridge, in spite of Nicholas Male-
mayns having been called tenant-in-chief. The
succession to the various parts is very uncertain ;
but Beatrice the widow of Sir Otho de Graunson, the
Newdigates, the descendants of Sir Thomas Sen-
tomer, and in 1450 Richard Wakehurst, presented to
the living. The heirs of the Graunsons do not appear
again ; but they may be represented by Margaret,
wife of John de Gaston (or Garton), who in 1368
conveyed one-ninth of the manor to William Newdi-
gate. 18 The Newdigates continued to present to the
living at intervals till 1407. Meanwhile Parnel
Malemayns and Sir Thomas Sentomer had two daugh-
ters, Alice and Elizabeth. The latter disappears ; Alice
married Sir William Hoo. His son Thomas granted
Ockley to his brother John and John Glemham.
Glemham, the survivor, or his heir, enfeoffed Sir
Thomas Hoo, Lord Hoo and Hastings, who died 148 1.
He left four daughters, but by a previous arrangement
the manor passed to Richard Culpepper. Whether
he represented any of the other branches or not is
unknown. Probably the rights of the others, much
CULPEPPER. Argent
a bend engrailed gules.
broken up, had been conveyed to the Hoos, 19 or for-
gotten.
Ockley remained in the possession of the Cul-
pepper family until the time of Charles I, when it
was sold to George Duncombe,
of Weston, 10 who held his
first court in 1638. He died
in 1646, and was succeeded by
his grandson George, son of
his elder son John, deceased.
This George held his first
court in 1 648, but on his death
soon afterwards, childless, the
estate went to his uncle George
of Shalford, who held his first
court in 1654. He in his life-
time conveyed it to his second
son, Francis, who held his first court 22 March
1658-9. Francis was created a baronet in 1662.
He died before his father, in 1670; his widow
Hester and her second husband, Thomas Smyth,
held a court October 1671. Sir William Duncombe,
her son, succeeded 1 in 1675, and in 1694 sold the
manor to Edward Bax of Capel. Bax retained the
manor-house and a little land round it, which was
now separated from the manor, and in 1695 sold the
manor to John Evershed, of an old yeoman family,
which appears, in different holdings, in the rolls and
parish books."
John Evershed received from Queen Anne a grant
of three fairs yearly at Stonestead Causeway, 6 Octo-
ber, 10 May, and 3 June." Evershed in 1717 con-
veyed to John Young," who in the same year released
to Thomas Moore or More. 14 Thomas More held
courts till 1734. His nephew William 26 held courts
till 1 745, and died in 1 746. He left the manor in trust
for Frederick son of Lord North of Guildford (who
held courts 1746-9), but the estate was sold under
a private Act in 1751 to Frank Nicholls, Ph.D.,
who had some lively controversy with the tenants on
the subject of heriots." Dr. Nicholls died in 1778,
and was succeeded by his son John. He sold in 1784
to Lee Steere of Jays in Wotton, who died before
the conveyance was completed, leaving his interest
in the estate to his grandson Lee Steere Witts, who
took the name of Steere. His great-great-grandson
(Mr. H. C. Lee Steere) is the present owner. 18
Ockley Court, the residence of Mrs. Calvert,
widow of Colonel Calvert, is the old manor-house of
Ockley. In 1 744 Nathaniel, son of Edward Bax, sold
it to Mr. Thomas Tash, who died in 1770. His son
William married a Miss Calvert, and having no children
left the property to his wife. She left it to her relative
(? nephew) Charles Calvert of Kneller Hall, Middle-
sex, M.P. for Southwark. He died in 1833. His son
Charles William succeeded, and was followed by his
brother Colonel A. M. Calvert. His son Mr. W. A.
Calvert lived recently at Broomells in Capel.
w Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 33.
14 Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. II, no. 68.
Ockley is here said to be held by Thomas
de Warblington, of whom Malemayns was
evidently holding as sub-tenant.
15 Inq. Misc. Chan, file 329, 20 Edw.
IV, no. 103.
16 Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 535.
" Charter R. 30 Edw. I, no. 15.
18 Feet of F. Surr. 42 Edw. Ill,
no. 14.
19 See Inq. of 20 Edw. IV.no. 103, for
descent to Lord Hoo.
Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 13 Chas. I.
M From Ct. R. See History of the Bax
family and Edward Ban's account book
furnished by Mr. A. R. Bax.
aa Rot. Orig. 2 Anne, pt. i, m. I.
*> Feet of F. Surr. East. 3 Geo. I.
M Ibid. Mich. 4 Geo. I.
85 Manning and Bray, Surr, ii, 163.
" Ibid.
152
*7 On the usual point, whether the
tenant holding more than one copyhold
owed a separate heriot on each or one for
the whole.
28 Mr. Richard Symmes, whose MSS.
(B.M. Add. MSS.no. 6167) were used by
Manning and Bray, was steward of the
manor 1662-82, and Mr. Bray was
steward under Dr. Nicholls up to 1788.
All the existing Court Rolls have been
examined.
b.
O
a
x
U
O
Pi
X
h
I
B
O
<*
a
x
U
u
O
WOTTON HUNDRED
OCKLEY
Holebrook is a farm in Ockley. William le
Latimer (vide Wotton), who died in 1327, held
Holebrook in Ockley of Nicholas Malemayns by
payment of ^oJ. a year."
ST. MARGARET is prettily situ-
CHURCHES ated in a well-kept churchyard
abutting upon the high road, and
surrounded by some exceptionally fine trees. The
site is level and low-lying, at some distance from the
present village, and close to a patch of woodland.
It must originally have been surrounded by woods.
The building is of sandstone and rubble, dug from
the neighbouring hills, with a small admixture of
clunch, or hard chalk. Before 1873 it consisted only
of a nave about 40 ft. by 22 ft., and a short chancel
2 2 ft. wide by 1 9 ft. long, with a large tower, about
176. square internally, and a porch on the south of
the nave ; but in that year it was enlarged by the
addition of a spacious north aisle, with an arcade of
pointed arches, and an organ-chamber and vestries on
the north of the chancel, while the chancel itself was
nearly doubled in length.
There is no trace in the walls of work earlier than
the beginning of the 1 4th century, to which date the
nave and chancel both originally belonged.
There are two windows at present in the south
wall of the chancel, one of which, to the west, is
partly ancient and indicates a date of about 1 300.
It is of two lights, cinquefoiled, and has a trefoiled
spherical triangle, inclosing a trefoil, in the head.
In the eastern window, which may have been removed
from the north wall at the enlargement, the latter
figure has six foliations. The roof and all other
features in the chancel are modern.
The south wall of the nave appears to be slightly
later circa 1 3 20 and has two good buttresses and
two well-proportioned traceried windows, each of two
lights. The eastern of these retains the original net
tracery, executed in local sandstone, but that to the
west has been restored. Next to it eastward is the
south entrance doorway, which is a plain example of
the same date. It is approached through a most
picturesque porch of open oak framework on a base
of herringbone brick and timber. This has an arched
opening to the front and two others on the sides, with
arched braces inside, and the sides are partly filled in
with a rail and turned balusters. The foliated barge-
board is a restoration of that shown in Cracklow's
view. Although probably not earlier than the first
half of the 1 7th century, this porch retains all the
spirit of the mediaeval carpentry in design and execu-
tion. The framework is put together with projecting
oak pins, and the roof, of somewhat flat pitch, retains
its heavy stone healing.
The massive western tower is another instance of
the clinging to a traditional style. It is rude Gothic
of 1 700 that being the date, with the name
WILLIAM BVTLER SEifc, inscribed on the slope of a but-
tress on the west wall. William Butler was a leading
parishioner, perhaps churchwarden, in 1 700. The
builder was Edward Lucas. The parish account
books give the date as 1 699, when the contract for
building was signed. The heads of the twin open-
ings in the upper stage and of those below are
elliptical or obtusely pointed, while in the interior
the arch of the nave and the blind arches in the
other walls are pointed, but with classical mouldings
and imposts. The present battlements were heigh-
tened at the restoration of 1873..
There is a curious square-headed two-light window
of diminutive proportions next to the buttresses at
the south-east end of the nave. Its openings, though
only 8 in. wide, are further protected by stanchions and
cross-bars. Its height from the floor removes it from
the class known as low side-windows, but it corresponds
very curiously with similar openings at Send and
Woking churches in Surrey, which also occur in the
eastern part of the nave and in the neighbourhood of
an altar. All are of late date (c. 1480 to 1520).
The nave roof is of early 14th-century date and
retains its original moulded tie-beams and plates.
That of the chancel is modern, but both are ' healed '
with Horsham slabs.
In the eastern window of c. 1320 in the south
wall of the nave is preserved some good glass with
crocketed canopy-work, borders, and grisaille quarries
of coeval date. There are no old wall-paintings.
One or two ledgers with heraldry and some tablets
of late 1 7th and early 18th-century dates remain in
the tower, but with these exceptions the church is-
remarkably destitute of ancient monuments.
The registers date from 1539. They and the
parish account books (which commence in 1683) are
very full, and contain many curious entries.
Besides modern pieces, the church plate includes a
silver cup and paten of 1614 and a paten of 1716.
There are six bells, all dated 1701, hung in a good
solid cage, which is of the same date.
St. John's Church on Ockley Green was consecrated
5 December 1872 by Bishop Wilberforce. It is a
plain building of stone, with pointed windows and a
bell-turret. The first reference to
ADrOWSON the church of Ockley is in the Taxatio
of Pope Nicholas, 1291.
In 1 293 the king presented to it on behalf of
Nicholas Malemayns his ward. 30 The advowson re-
mained with the manor until
1694 when Sir William Dun-
combe, at the same time that he
sold the manor, sold the advow-
son to John Constable of Ock-
ley. Edward Bax, who bought
the manor (q.v.), was a
Quaker, and would not buy
the advowson. Constable sold
it in 1711 to Edward Bingdon
of Dorking, who left it in 1719
in trust for his sons James and
Edward. It was sold in 1724
for 1,000 to Clare Hall,
Cambridge. 31 The College
probably then knew nothing of the ancient ownership
of Richard de Tonbridge, ancestor of their foundress.
Smith's Charity is distributed as in
CHARITIES other Surrey parishes.
In 1624 Mr. Henry Spooner left a
rent-charge of IO/. a year to the poor of the parish.
In 1731 Mrs. Elizabeth Evershed left 100 to be
invested in land to provide education 'according to
the canons of the Church of England ' for poor
children of the parish. With other benefactions of
the late Mr. George Arbuthnot and the late Mr. Lee
Steere, this provides an endowment of about
a year for the schools.
CLARE COLLEGE, CAM-
BRIDGE. CLARE impaling
DE BURGH all in a border
table with drofi or.
29 Chan. Inq. p.m. I Edw. Ill, no. 56.
3
80 Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p.
153
33. M College Bks., communicated by the Matter.
20
A HISTORY OF SURREY
WOTTON
Odetone and Wodeton (xi cent.) ; Wodetone, Wo-
dinton and Woditon (xiii cent.) ; Wodeton (xv
cent.) ; Wodyngton, Wootton, and Wotton (xvi
cent, and onwards).
Wotton parish is bounded on the north by Effing-
ham and Little Bookham, on the east by Dorking,
Capel, and Ockley, on the south and west by Abinger.
It formerly had a detached portion on the Sussex
border, now attached to Abinger (see Abinger parish).
The parish is still over 6 miles long from north to
south, and never more than a little over a mile broad,
and in places less. It contains 3,782 acres of land and
14 of water. The church is 3 miles west-by-south of
Dorking, and 9 miles east-by-south of Guildibrd. The
Redhill and Reading branch of the South Eastern
Railway and the road from Dorking to Guildford pass
through the north of it. Two branches of the
Tillingbourne rise in the northern slopes of Leith
Hill, and run first from south to north and then
east to west towards the Wey, uniting at Wotton
House. The streams on the other slope of Leith
Hill run to the Arun. The parish has the usual
apportionment of soil in this part of Surrey.
The northern boundary is on the summit of the
chalk, here 5 77 ft. above the sea, the parish then
crosses the Upper Green Sand and Gault ; the church,
manor-house, and such compact village as exists are on
the Lower Green Sand, and it reaches across this soil
on to the Wealden Clay. It is now purely agricul-
tural and residential, but iron mills, a wire mill, and
perhaps gunpowder mills formerly existed in it. 1
The most striking feature of the parish now is un-
doubtedly the natural beauty which makes it the
favourite resort of all lovers of the picturesque near
London. The traveller, on foot or horseback (the
road is not one for wheels), passing from the chalk
country sees in front of him an ascending mass of
broken sand hills, thickly planted with conifers and
other trees upon their northern side. Leaving Wotton
House on the right a bridle road leads through a
forest of beeches alongside a succession of trout-
pools, up the valley where John Evelyn first began
the ornamental planting of his brother's grounds.
Friday Street Pond, an old millpond with a cluster of
cottages by it, is a Swiss lake in miniature. Passing on by
another hamlet, King George's Hill, so named from a
now extinct public-house, the path leads out on to
the heather-covered common of Leith Hill. A view
opens gradually to the west, as the ground ascends,
but it is not till the traveller reaches the southern
brow of the hill that the panorama bursts suddenly
upon him. The summit of Leith Hill is the highest
spot in the south-east of England, 967 ft. above the
sea. The tower, which is not on exactly the highest
point, but somewhat south of it, was intended to bring
the height up to 1 ,000 ft., and has more than done so.
It was built by Mr. Richard Hull of Leith Hill Place,
in or before 1765, who acquired from Sir John Evelyn
of Wotton the top of the hill, part of the waste of the
manor of Wotton. 1 Two rooms were fitted up in it by
Mr. Hull, and a staircase led to the upper room. Mr.
Hull, dying in 1 772, was buried under the lower room,
by his own direction. A stone in the wall of the tower
used to record the fact. After his death the tower
was uncared for and became ruinous and a haunt for
disorderly characters. In 1796 Mr. Philip Henry
Perrin of Leith Hill Place repaired it and raised it a
few feet, adding a coping, but built up the door, filled
up the interior for half the height with earth and stones,
and left the upper part a mere shell. In 1 864 Mr. W.
Evelyn of Wotton again repaired it, built the upper
room, added a battlement, and made the top accessible,
first, by means of a turret and staircase, then, when that
was closed for a time, by an outside wooden staircase,
and then by the turret stair again. The view from the
top of the tower is more comprehensive than that
from the hill, looking over the trees to the north,
which obstruct the latter. The ground falls very
abruptly to the south, giving a peculiar impression of
height above the Weald below. The greater part of
the county of Sussex, much of Kent as far as Ashford,
Essex, the Laindon Hills, Middlesex, St. Paul's Cathe-
dral, Highgate, Hampstead, and Harrow, Hertfordshire,
Dunstable Down in Bedfordshire, the Chilterns in
Buckinghamshire, Nettlebed in Oxfordshire, Berkshire,
Hampshire, Inkpen in Wiltshire, and the sea through
Shoreham Gap, are visible in clear weather.* But though
the view from the tower is necessarily the most ex-
tensive in Surrey, those from the western parts of
Leith Hill are more picturesque, looking as they do
over the more broken foreground afforded by Holmbury
Hill. The small ditches round the tower, sometimes
ignorantly mistaken for an ancient encampment, were
made by the Royal Engineers, who were encamped
here in 1844, correcting the Ordnance Survey. The
cottages near the foot of the hill are collectively known
in the neighbourhood as The Camp.
In addition to the ground near the top of the hill,
there is a very large extent of open country, covered
with heather and conifers, in Wotton parish. The
part on the east side of the parish is called Broadmoor.
A fine polished neolithic flint found near the tower
is preserved at Leith Hill Place. The present writer
has found a very considerable number of flint flakes
and a few implements not very far from the tower.
In Deer Leap Wood, to the north of Wotton House,
in what was part of the park attached to it, is a mound
with traces of a double ditch round it. The mound
is about 12 to 14 ft. high, and about 90 yds. in cir-
cumference. It seems to have been dug into, but no
record of exploration is to be found. It is marked as
a barrow on the 6-in. Ordnance map.
At the southern foot of Leith Hill, a jar containing
about thirty gold coins of Henry VIII, Edward VI,
and Elizabeth was found in 1837. The coins are at
Wotton House.
Tillingbourne, or Lonesome, as it used to be called,
or earlier still Filbrook Lodge, is the property of the
1 V.C.H. Surr, ii, 236, 312, &c., and tate, Leith Hill Place, q.v., under successive storation, and the Court Rolls of the manor
Evelyn's Letter to Aubrey vol.
Aubrey's Surr.
of changes of ownership till Mr. Wedgwood
sold it to Mr. Evelyn in the last century.
speak of the tower as existing in 1765.
3 Copy of the bearings of various points
Mr. Hull bought the land on which the The inscription on the Tower gives the taken by the Royal Engineers in 1844, in
Tower stands. It remained part of his e- date 1766, but the 66 is an evident re- the possession of Mr. Maiden.
154
WOTTON HUNDRED
WOTTON
Duke of Norfolk. The present occupier is Mr. Sidney
Ricardo. The original house was built by the side of
the valley, which runs northward from near the tower
towards Wotton Hatch, in 1 740, by Theodore Jacob-
sen, a Dutch merchant resident in England. A stream
was artificially diverted to form what is now a pictur-
esque waterfall, and a fountain and other ornamental
waterworks were made in front of the house. These,
with part of the garden, mark its former site. The
original house was neglected, and by 1 845 had become
ruinous. It was pulled down before 1855, but a
steward's house on the estate, lying a little farther north,
was let as a gentleman's house, and
has been enlarged to form the pre-
sent Tillingbourne House.
Tanhurst, on the south-western
slope of Leith Hill, late the resi-
dence of Mrs. Cazalet, formerly of
Greenhurst, Capel, is the property
of Lady Vaughan Williams, wife of
Lord Justice Williams and daughter
of the late Mr. Edmund Lomax.
Before 1795 it was bought by
Mr. William Philip Perrin, owner
also of Parkhurst (see Abinger) and
Leith Hill Place. The next owner
was Sir H. Fitzherbert, during
whose ownership the eminent Sir
Samuel Romilly rented the house
up to the time of his death in 1 8 1 8.
It was bought by Mr. E. Lomax
(see Shiere) in 1827.* Mr. Lomax,
who was twice married, died in
1839, and left Netley in Shiere to
Mrs. Fraser, Parkhurst in Abinger
to Mrs. Scarlett, children of his
first wife, and Tanhurst to Lady
Vaughan Williams, daughter of his
second wife. Lord Justice and
Lady Vaughan Williams reside at
High Ashes on the same property.
Jayes Park, close to Ockley
Green, is the seat of Mr. Henry
Lee Steere, lord of the manor of
Ockley, but this house is in Wot-
ton. Jayes was the seat of the
Steere family for many genera-
tions. Mr. Lee Steere, who died in
1 784, left it to the son of his daugh-
ter and of Mr. Richard Witts,
Lee Steere Witts. On reaching
his majority in 1 795 he assumed the
name of Steere, and the family
have resided ever since at Jayes.
The schools were built in 1852,
rebuilt in 1874, and enlarged in
1885.
The ecclesiastical parish of Okewood formed from
Wotton, Ockley, and Abinger in 1853 is a district
formerly very difficult of access owing to the clay lanes.
In addition to the parish church there is a Congrega-
tional chapel and a national school built in 1873.
Hale House, containing some old parts, is the pro-
perty of Mr. H. Lee Steere of Ockley, and the residence
of Mr. Henry P. Powell. This is no doubt the place
belonging to Edward de la Hale (died 1431), who
restored Okewood Chapel (vide infra). In the Ockley
Court Rolls, 1648, it appears that a Mr. Steere had
lately built a good house at Hale, of which part re-
mains in the present house.
Redford is the seat of Lady Abinger. Leith Vale
was the seat of the late Miss Cooper Brown (ob. 1907),
who was for many years churchwarden of Okewood.
According to Domesday, Harold held
MANOR WOTTON T.R.E., and at the time of
the Survey Oswald, an Englishman, held
it. 4 It is noteworthy that in 1086 Richard de
Tonbridge, the ancestor of the Clares, Earls of
WOTTON CHURCH : THE WEST TOWER FROM THE SOUTH
Gloucester, who afterwards held Wotton in chief,
was already holding there one hide of Oswald.*
Richard is known to have gained possession of other
parts of Oswald's land, and he even sublet some of
Oswald's former possessions at Mickleham to him. 7
The overlordship of Wotton seems to have always
afterwards been with the honour of Clare. 8
The first immediate lord of whom there is mention
is Ralph de Camoys, who owed one knight's service
* Bill of tale.
y.C.H. Surr. i, 328,1.
Ibid.
' Ibid. 283 and 3170.
155
8 Chan. Inq. p.m. 43 Hen. Ill, no. 28;
ibid. 49 Edw. Ill (ntpt. 2nd not.), no. 46.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
for Wotton to the honour of Clare, 9 and in 1235
made a grant of land in Wotton, 10 while in 1241 he
was definitely reported to be seised of the manor."
It is known, however, that in the reign of King John
one Ralph de Camoys claimed that part of the vill of
Tansor (Northants) had been granted to his grand-
father by Roger de Clare" and it is possible that
Wotton may have been granted at the same time. In
1259 Ralph died, leaving Ralph his son and heir aged
forty. 13 The younger Ralph was succeeded some
twenty years later by his son John," from whom
Wotton apparently passed to the family of Fancourt,
probably by sale, since the impoverishment of the
Camoys family at that date is a matter of common
knowledge. 16 Walter de Fancourt was seised of the
manor in I28o, 16 and presented a priest to Okewood
Chapel in 1290." In 1306 Matilda his widow,
who had married one Henry le Perkes, 18 claimed
dower in the manor of Wotton from William le
Latimer, into whose hands it had by that time
passed. 19
William le Latimer died in 1 3 27,* leaving William
his son and heir, aged twenty-six.* 1 This William
survived his father only eight years,** and during the
minority of his son, another William, the manor seems
to have been in the custody of Thomas Latimer,**
who was probably uncle to the heir. Thomas, pos-
sibly in return for his custodianship, retained the
manor during the term of his life ; at his death in
1 356 it passed into the possession of William," who was
then twenty-six years old. William conveyed it to
trustees in 1377. At his death in 1381 " he left
Wotton by will to his cousin, Thomas de Camoys,* 6
who presented to the living in 1382." Thomas
ooo
LATIMIR.
erou paty or.
Gules a
CAMOYS. Argent a
chief gules viith thru
roundels argent therein.
enfeoffed certain trustees of the manor, who curiously
enough bore the same surnames as those to whom
William Latimer had released in 1 377.**
Thomas de Camoys died seised in March 1422,"
and Hugh his grandson and next heir survived him
only five years. 10 Wotton, however, is not mentioned
among Hugh's possessions at his death. Roger lord
of Camoys, probably a younger son of Thomas, was
in possession shortly after the death of Hugh, 81 and
in 14.29 he released all his rights in the manor to
Thomas Morestede." The dispersion of the Camoys'
lands after the death of Thomas de Camoys is well
known,* 3 and its occurrence immediately before the
Civil War, which wrought so much confusion in
landed property, increases the difficulty of tracing
them.
According to Manning and Bray, 34 who give a
contemporary court roll as their authority, Wotton
was held by Sir William Estfield in 1444. In 1479
Stephen Middleton was in possession, and some five
years later it was held by Humphrey de Bohun.* 5 Sir
David Owen, a natural son of Owen Tudor, married
as his first wife the heiress of the Bohuns of Mid-
hurst, 38 and Wotton perhaps passed to him with his
wife or was bought by him, for it became his property,
and he left it to Henry son of his third wife Anne
Devereux, 37 and after him to his son John by the same
wife. Sir Owen died in 1542. John held courts from
1548 to IS53- 38 His son Henry held courts in I 568
and 1579, when he and Elizabeth his wife conveyed
the estate to George Evelyn of Long Ditton, 39 in
whose family it has since re-
mained.
Wotton House, the home
and birthplace of the famous
John Evelyn, is built, like so
many old houses, in a hollow.
There is nothing visible in the
present rambling and irregular
building of older date than the
close of the 1 6th century, and
even such parts of this date as
remain are so surrounded by
later additions as to be distin-
guished only with difficulty.
Besides rebuildings and extensions of the I7th and
1 8th centuries, the east wing, which had been
destroyed, was added on an enlarged plan by Mr.
W. J. Evelyn in 1864. Thus, although the core of
the house is ancient, but little remains visible exter-
nally of the house in which John Evelyn lived, and
which he helped to render famous by the beautiful
gardens, largely of his own creation. These in part
remain, although greatly altered in later times. For-
tunately two drawings, still at Wotton, from John
Evelyn's own hand, give a minute record of the
house, with its moat and artificial waters, as they
appeared in the middle of the 1 7th century. 40 In
EVILYN of Wotton.
Avure a griffon passant
and a chief or.
> Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 219.
10 Feet of F. SUIT. 19 Hen. Ill, no. 20.
11 Ibid. Div. Co. 25 Hen. Ill, no. 170.
Plac. Abbrev. (Rec. Com.), 82.
11 Chan. Inq. p.m. 4] Hen. Ill, no. 28.
" Ibid. 5 Edw. I, no. i.
u Cal. Close, 1279-88, pp. 52-4, &c.
18 Feet of F. Surr. 8 Edw. I, no. 10.
W Wykeham's Register.
is De Banco R. 161, m. 183.
" Ibid.
80 Chan. Inq. p.m. I Edw. Ill (itt nos.),
no. 56. Ibid.
88 Ibid. 9 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 51.
Feet of F. Surr. 26 Edw. Ill, no. 7.
M Chan. Inq. p.m. 29 Edw. Ill (lit
nos.), no. 30.
55 Exch. Inq. p.m.(Ser.l), file457,no. I.
Hart. MS. 6148, fol. 139.
V ITjkeham'i Register (Hants Rec.
Soc.), i, 132.
88 Close, 1 3 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 1 2 d.
89 Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 Hen. V, no. 29.
o Ibid. 5 Hen. VI, no. 16.
l Close, 7 Hen. VI, m. 7 d.
88 Ibid ; see alto Feet of F. Surr.
1 1 Hen. VI, no. 20.
*> The difficulty of tracing the direct
Camoys line was experienced at the time of
the reviYal of the Camoys barony in 1838.
4 Hist, of Surr. ii, under Wotton. Bray
was steward of Wotton.
85 Chan. Inq. p.m. i Ric. Ill, no. 26.
Possibly some light may be thrown on
these changes of ownership by the fact
that in 1465 (Close, 4 Edw. IV, m. n d.)
I S 6
one Thomas Middleton being enfeoffed
to the use of William Estfield, kt., de-
mised property in Middlesex to Hum-
phrey Bohun. This entry seems at any
rate to prove the existence of some re-
lationship between those three persons
which may explain their having been con-
nected with the manor in turn.
Suss. Arch. Soc. Coll. vii, 25.
7 See Sir David's will, printed in Suss.
Arch. Coll. vii, 38. *> Ct. Rolls.
Cat. Anct. D. iii, 75 (A45io).
40 Surr. Arch. Call, xvii, 70. One bears
the title, in John Evelyn's writing, 'The
prospect of the old house at Wotton,
1640 ' ; the other ' A Rude draght of Wot-
ton Garden before my Bro : altered it &
as it was 1640 ; South.'
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WOTTON HUNDRED
WOTTON
Abbot's Hospital, Guildford, is a poor oil painting of
Wotton House from the north of about the same
date. The Elizabethan house, apparently, was of
brick, with tiled roofs pantiles in some cases mul-
lioned windows, and tall stacks of chimneys. It was
built in a rambling fashion with long ranges of stab-
bling and outbuildings, including a dovecote. It was
surrounded by a moat which was enlarged into a
swan pool in the rear of the house, and the view of
the garden front shows a low terrace wall following the
moat, with some little summer-houses, a rustic temple,
and a formal flower garden. There is also a large
oriel window with a high leaded roof projecting over
a stone entrance doorway, marked on the drawing,
' Hall dore to the Garden.' Among the many trea-
sures in the present house is the Prayer Book used by
Charles I on the scaffold. There are also the MSS.
of John Evelyn and a Bible of three volumes filled
with notes. In the library his large and curious col-
lection of books remains, many of the bindings display-
ing his device of intertwined palm, olive, and oak
branches, with the motto, ' Omnia explorate, meliora
retinete.' Kneller's fine half-length portrait of John
Evelyn is in the drawing-room, together with his son
and Mrs. Godolphin, his 'deare friend,' whose
worthy life ' he has ' consecrated to posterity.'
There are several ancient houses of minor import-
ance in the parish ; one with gables and stone-mul-
lioned windows, set in an old-world garden at a
corner of the high road, is specially noteworthy.
There was a mill at Wotton in the time of Domes-
day, which reappeared among the possessions of
William le Latimer in 1337. It does not seem to
occur elsewhere. It was possibly on the site of the
old disused mill-dam at Friday Street, or on the
stream higher up, where an old dam, now cut, and
former pond are visible. The mill (this or both
these) at Wotton was afterwards used for manufac-
turing purposes of different kinds.
The manor of GOSTERWOOD (Gostrode, xiv
cent.) in Wotton should probably be identified with
the hide of land in Wotton which was held by
Corbelin of Richard de Tonbridge at the time of the
Domesday Survey." In 1280 Nicholas Malemayns
acquitted Henry de Somerbury of services which were
exacted from him in connexion with his free tene-
ment in Wotton." Henry died seised of this tene-
ment in 1317, and it is recorded that he did suit
for it at Nicholas Malemayn's court at Ockley.* 3
In 1337 another Henry de Somerbury, who died in
that year, had this holding in his possession ; it then
appears as ' Gostrode in the vill of Wotton.' "
From that time the material for the history of
Gosterwood is scanty. In 1527 Robert Draper and
Elizabeth his wife conveyed it to Henry Wyatt and
others, and it is then for the first time called a
manor." Richard Hill died seised of it" in 1550,
leaving it to his son Edmund, who was still hold-
ing it in 1 574," when he settled it on his wife
Catherine Brown. This son Richard conveyed it in
1593 to George Evelyn, in whose descendants it has
remained.
LEITH HILL PLACE is in the outlying part of
Ockley, which was inclosed in Wotton and added to
this parish in 1879. ^ ' s traditionally the head of a
manor, but this is erroneous. It stands in the manor
of Wotton, and not in the manor of Ockley, as other
outlying parts of the parish were.
The house was a gentleman's house of very con-
siderable antiquity, to judge from the sketch of its old
state furnished by Mr. Perrin to Manning and Bray's
history. The sketch was dated 1700, and shows a
16th-century front upon probably an older house.
There was a secret chamber in the wall, usually
called a priest's hole, only accessible by a trap-door,
but this has now been opened into the adjoining
room.
The builder is unknown. The site of the house
was originally called Welland, but Leith is mentioned
among the properties which fenced Ockley churchyard
in 1628. In 1664 Mrs. Mary Millett, widow, of
Harrow, Middlesex, settled Leith Hill Place on
herself for life, with remainder to Henry Best of
Gray's Inn. Katherine daughter and heir of Henry
Best married Henry Goddard of Richmond, co.
York. In 1706 they sold to John Worsfold of
Ockley, who sold it to Colonel Folliott,* 8 after-
wards General Folliott, who was a justice of the
peace resident in Ockley parish as early as 1728."
He altered the house of Leith Hill Place to its pre-
sent form. His admission as a tenant of Wotton
Manor is not on record, as the court rolls are not
complete so early. Two acres of the waste were
granted to him in 1742. He died in 1748, his
only child Susanna having died in 1743." In 1760
John Folliott, his heir, alienated Welland to Richard
Hull, who built Leith Hill Tower in 1765, receiving
a grant of the Tower and 4 acres of waste. 61 In
1777 Richard Hull alienated to Harry Thompson. 5 *
In 1788 Thompson's heirs alienated to Philip W.
Perrin, owner and resident at Parkhurst. During his
ownership the house was let as a school. Mr. Perrin
died in 1 824, and his heir was Sir Henry Fitzherbert,
who sold in 1829 to John Smallpeice, who conveyed
it in 1847 to Josiah Wedgwood, a descendant of the
great Wedgwood and cousin and brother-in-law to
Charles Darwin. His daughters Miss Wedgwood and
Mrs. Vaughan Williams reside there now.
The reputed manor of ROOKHAM (Rokenham,
xiv cent.) in the parishes of Ockley and Wotton may be
connected with the grant of two crofts made by Thomas
de Rokenham to his son John in 1314." These lands
evidently passed to the Newtimber family in the same
century, for in 1399 Robert Newtimber conveyed to
trustees a messuage and two curtilages, with other
lands and tenements at Rookham, which were said to
have formerly belonged to John de Rokenham. 54 In
1418 the trustees of Thomas de Pinkhurst, whose
family had held property in Rookham for some years, 55
released his lands to Robert Newtimber. 66
y.C.H. Surr. i, 338*.
Feet of F. Surr. 8 Edw. I, no. 10.
* Chan. Inq. p.m. II Edw. II, no. 50.
44 Ibid. 1 1 Edw. Ill (nt nos.), no. 39.
Feet of F. Surr. Mil. 18 Hen. VIII.
48 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), rcii, 79.
*1 Recov. R. Hil. 17 Eliz.
48 Manning and Bray, Hitt. of Surr. in,
App. clvi.
Ockley Pariih Bki.
40 Family tomb of General Folliott in
Ockley churchyard and registers.
61 The inicription on the tower ayi
1766, but the grant of the tower is 1765.
w Richard Hull died 1772, aged eighty-
three (inicription formerly visible in the
tower), so this Richard was hii heir.
Manning and Bray (loc. cit.) lay that
'57
General Folliott's widow and Mary Har-
loehis niece told to Richard Hull in 1754,
and that Hull's heirs sold to Thompion
in 1773. This it not compatible with
the court roll, unless the site of the
house had been separated from the manor.
It is supposed now to be in the manor.
Add. Chart, gozi. M Ibid. 18687.
Ibid. 18654. " Ibid. 18702.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
Apparently Rookham passed from the Newtimbers
to the family of Hale," since in 1537 Thomas Bourgh,
grandson of Elizabeth sister of Henry at Hale, granted
OJt rent from lands called Rookham and Newtimber in
Ockley and Wotton. 69 From him the estate passed to
John Caryl), who in 1560 made a settlement of the
' minor of Rookham ' on his son Thomas." It seems
probable that the manor soon afterwards ceased to
exist as a separate entity ; for in 1610 a certain John
Hayne died seised of 'lands called Frenches, late
parcel of the tenement called Rookham in Wotton.'
These lands are stated to have comprised 1 8 acres in
extent. 60 Hayne also held lands in Ockley called
Millmeades, alias Ruckingham meades, but in the
Ockley Court Rolls of 1648 William Hayne holds
these of Ockley Manor, while Rookham in Wotton is
unmentioned ; they were not therefore part of this
manor and are still included in Ockley Manor.
his death (1558), being the jointure of his widow
Jane. Their son Sir Edward, his son Reginald, and
Lady Bray conveyed the reversion to Thomas God-
man of Letherhead. In 1601 he conveyed it to
John Aleyn, whose son Henry conveyed to George
Evelyn of Wotton. 64
The church of ST. JOHN THE
CHURCHES EF4NGELIST is not mentioned in
Domesday, but from certain evidence
in the existing structure it was probably standing in
the 1 1 th century. It is most beautifully situated on
the summit of a steep ridge, its east and south sides
overlooking a beautiful green valley and the hillside
opposite, which has all the appearance of the wild
down-land country of Sussex or Dorset, with patches
of bracken and blackberry bushes and clumps of fine
park-like trees, many, no doubt, of John Evelyn's own
planting. In the hollow behind this hill, to the south
CHAPEL OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, OKKWOOD, FROM THE SOUTH-WEST
Rookham is a farm south of Okewood Hill, just
north of the Sussex border, upon the edge of the
detached part of Wotton parish now added to Abinger,
east of Ockley. Rucknam Mead and the old Rucken-
ham contributed to the repair of Ockley churchyard
fence in l628. 61
WESTLJND was in Wotton, Abinger, Cranleigh,
Albury, Ewhurst, and Wonersh. The courts were
held at Okewood Hill in Wotton. In 1424-5 John
Newdigate was owner, and granted a lease of it. 6 '
In 1494 John Newdigate conveyed it to Ralph
Leigh of Paddington in Abinger, 6 * with which it
passed to Sir Edward Bray. It was separated after
east, lies Wotton House. The churchyard is sur-
rounded by noble trees here, again, in some cases, of
Evelyn's planting. Two grand old beeches, with
wide-spreading boughs, that formed a conspicuous
feature, immediately to the north-east of the church,
have unhappily been cut down within recent years ;
other fine beeches are to be seen to the west of the
church, and there is a very beautiful avenue of limes
and horse-chestnuts leading to the south porch. The
churchyard contains a number of old wooden ' bed-
heads,' and a number of curiously-carved 18th-century
head-stones, some table-tombs and other memorials
ancient and modern, among the latter being many
7 Probably Edward de la Hale, the
benefactor of Okewood Chapel (q.v.), was
i member of this family, as the places
ire all close together.
58 Add. Chart. 18792.
"Ibid. 18846.
60 W. & L. Inq. p.m. bdle. 36, no. 163.
Ockley Pari.h Bks.
63 Manning and Bray, Hitt. of Surr. ii,
'53-
I 5 8
M Feet of F. Surr. 9 Hen. VII, 33.
84 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii,
152. (Bray was steward of the manor.)
From Ct. R. and deeds of Mr. Evelyn.
WOTTON HUNDRED
WOTTON
stones to the family of the late Sir Edward Vaughan-
Williams. The most interesting of the older monu-
ments is a beautifully-carved urn, of white marble,
bearing cherubs' heads, which marks the grave of
William Glanville nephew of John Evelyn, on the
north side of the churchyard.
The church is largely covered with ivy, especially
the tower ; and however picturesque the covering, it
is much to be regretted, as causing slow but sure
injury to the fabric, and hiding interesting features
and marks of age. The walls are for the most part
constructed of hard yellow Bargate stone rubble, still
covered generally with a thin coat of ancient plaster
or mortar, with dressings of Bargate stone and fire-
stone. The modern parts are faced with the same
rubble and with dressings of a ruddy sandstone and
Bath stone, the vestry on the north being of old red
brickwork. The roofs are still covered with Horsham
slabs, except the porch and vestries, which are tiled.
From the fiat conical roof of the tower rises a pic-
turesque square wooden superstructure, also covered
with a flat-pitched conical roof.
In plan the church consists of a western tower,
1 1 ft. from east to west internally, by 1 5 ft. from north
to south ; nave, 3 3 ft. long by 1 8 ft.
wide ; chancel, 1 9 ft. long by 1 5 ft.
wide ; a short aisle opening by a
single arch from the north side of
the nave at its eastern end, 17 ft. 6 in.
long by 1 3 ft. 6 in. wide, and com-
municating with the Evelyn Chapel,
on the north side of the chancel, 1 9 ft.
long by 146. 6 in. wide. From this
again a comparatively modern door
opens into a second mortuary chapel
recently turned into a parish room for
vestry meetings. On the south side
of the tower is an exceptionally roomy
porch, rebuilt, but upon old founda-
tions, and a modern vestry on the
south side of the chancel. With all
these alterations and additions, the
plan of the simple tower, nave, and
chancel of the early church re-
mains.
The walls of the nave are of
exceptional height (over 1 8 ft.), and
they and the lower part of the tower
are in all probability of pre-Conquest date ; other
indications of this period being the huge stones of
which the quoin on the north-west of the nave and
the piers of the tower arch are constructed. The
plain, rude arch itself, of exceptional height and of
flattened horseshoe outline, springing from a point
about 6 in. within the line of the jambs, with rudely-
chamfered imposts, returned at the ends, is quite
consistent with this early date. Both arch and piers
are square-edged. The comparative thinness of the
east and west walls of the tower (2 ft. 4. in.), taken
with their height, and the piers and arch being built
of through stones all tooled with the pick, instead
of the axe or chisel are other indications of the early
date claimed, which may well be about 1050. The
upper courses of stones in the piers are in Bargate
stone, all the rest being in firestone." In the south
wall of the tower, to the west of the later doorway,
is a small early window, now blocked, unfortunately
invisible on the outside owing to the ivy. The north
and south walls of the tower are considerably thicker
than the east and west over 3 ft. on the north and
3 ft. on the south and there is a set-back of a few
inches at a height of about 8 ft. from the floor. As
usual in early towers, there is no staircase. The
upper windows are plain, square-headed openings,
much hidden by the ivy, but perhaps of 13th-century
date.
A peculiar and very puzzling feature is the blocked
arch in the west wall of the tower, corresponding to
that in the east wall. It is a few inches north of the
centre of the tower, and while the piers have cham-
fered imposts similar to those of the eastern archway,
the arch itself is obtusely pointed. This, however,
may be due to its crown having been reset at the time
when it was blocked up and the early 13th-cen-
tury window inserted within it. The puzzle is into
what this arch originally opened ; and as all traces
above ground of the building have vanished, the
suggestion can only be offered tentatively that a por-
c 1030
LC.I19O-
VTO- 122O
C.183O
DftTES-
~ c.iaso
PLAN OF WOTTON CHURCH
ftV/,such as has been found in this position at St. Peter's,
Barton-on-H umber, and other pre-Conquest churches,
may have stood here on the western side of the tower.
A little excavation would throw light on the nature of
this annexe.
The two buttresses at either disengaged angle of
the tower appear to be ancient features modernized,
excepting, possibly, that on the south face, which may
be original, but here again the ivy prevents any
examination. The north wall of the nave is blank for
more than half its length, but a careful search might
disclose an original window behind the plaster.
The south porch, which is built against the wall of
the tower, is modern in its present form, but is upon
the lines of an older structure. The well-known
reference in Evelyn's Diary to his having been in-
65 The masonry of the piers has some-
thing of the appearance of 'long and
short' work, a well-known characteristic
of pre-Conquest building. Some of the
' long ' stones are over 2 ft. in height, the
' short ' ones being less than half that
dimension. There is a close resemblance
between this arch and the early chancel
'59
arches, of horse-shoe shape (both pre-
Conquest or late iith century) at Elated
and Chithurst, Sussex.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
structed in the rudiments of learning from the age of
four years by one Frier by name in the porch of Wotton
Church, applies in all likelihood, not to the prede-
cessor of this porch, but to the tower, which is spacious,
and forms a sort of porticus, or lobby, to the nave.
In the south wall of the tower, within the porch,
is a very remarkable doorway. It is wide, with a
pointed head of somewhat distorted shape, and of two
orders with a hood-moulding and shafts to the jambs.
The hood-moulding has a member of pear-shaped
section, and there is another such member in the
outer order, flanked by quirked hollows. The inner
order has a chamfer on the edge, but projecting from
its angle, worked on the face of the chamfer are a
series of minutely-carved little busts, each only about
3 in. in height, representing laymen and ecclesiastics,
four on either side of the arch. The bottom one on
each side is a modern restoration ; the others appear
to represent a pope (with the tall extinguisher-shaped
head-dress of the period), a king, a priest, a nobleman,
a queen (with crown and wimple), and a pilgrim. The
voussoirs on which these are carved are of green fire-
stone, and the alternate voussoirs are chalk, the sand-
stones alternating in the outer order. The impost
moulding is carried round the chamfer, and forms the
abacus of the shaft capital. This is circular with
moulded upper part and necking, the intervening
space being filled with vertical concave flutings, in
this detail and the alternation of the arch stones
recalling the south arcade of the nave at Alding-
bourne Church, Sussex work of the same date
c. 11901210. The shafts have moulded annulets
and bases. 86 The inner jambs and arch of the door-
way appear to have belonged to an earlier opening,
the arch being semicircular and a good deal worn,
but it is possibly of the same date as the outer arch.
A hideous cast-iron gate, apparently put here at the
restoration of 1858, disfigures this curious and
beautiful doorway, and every time it is opened cuts
into its arch-stones.
Of the original chancel arch, destroyed in the
same disastrous period to make way for the present
wide and lofty arch, no very full information is attain-
able, but it would appear to have been a narrow,
square-edged opening, perhaps not more than 6 ft. in
width, and, flanking it on either side, tall pointed-
arched altar recesses were found, of which the outline
of half of the arches can still be seen. They were
then blocked up so that the original depth, which
was probably not more than a foot, can only be
guessed.
The church seems to have been largely remodelled,
the chancel practically rebuilt, and the aisle with its
chancel or chapel added on the north side about
1210. The existing triplet of lancets in the east
wall of the chancel is entirely modern, replacing a
three-light probably of the 141)1 or 1 5th century, but
portions of the original group of three lancets that
preceded this were found in the wall at the 1858
restoration. In the south wall of the chancel is a
small sedile under a plain, pointed arm, and in the
southern part of the east wall a simple piscina, both
of c. 1 2 10. Above the sedile is a two-light window,
a pair, of lancets, under one arch internally, worked
in firestone, and now opening into the modern
vestry. These are shown in an old engraving of the
church prior to 1858. Beyond them, to the west, is
a single lancet, shown in the same engraving, beneath
which, and divided from it by a sill transom, is a
wider square or oblong opening rebated for a shutter,
which is one of the best instances in Surrey of the
low side window. Unfortunately the firestone of
this and the lancet window over it was exchanged for
Bath stone at the ' restoration," at which time the low
side window was brought to light and unblocked. 67
There is now no iron grate in the opening, and the
present shutter is modern and fanciful in design.
The chancel of c. 1210 opened to the north chapel
by a wide pointed arch, which, since about the
beginning of the I yth century, has been blocked up
and used as a screen for displaying the monuments of
the Evelyn family within the chapel. This arch is
of two orders, with narrow chamfers to arch and piers,
and with an impost moulding of very peculiar section
carried round the chamfers, the piers standing upon a
moulded plinth similarly treated. In the restoration
of 1858 the blank wall within the arch was filled with
tracery in stone and marbles of very inappropriate
character. The arch that opens from the nave into the
aisle is of the same date and character, and its imposts
are of the same sec. ion. There was a third arch of
this period between the aisle and the eastern chapel
of which the outlines are still traceable in the wall.
Possibly it showed signs of failure or was inconveniently
large, for at about the same time that the arch in the
chancel was blocked up this was partly filled in, and a
small arch, preserving something of the character of
the original, but clumsily imitated, was inserted within
it, the older imposts redressed, or copies of them, being
used.
The chapel beyond has two blocked lancets in its
northern wall and three in the east, all of c. 1210,
and the latter are particularly good and well-preserved
examples of the period. They are rebated externally
for a wooden frame, and have obtusely pointed external
heads, with the internal splays radiating equally round
the jambs and heads a mark of early date. The
central lancet is slightly higher than the others. In
the western part of the north wall of this chapel is a
small square recess, perhaps an aumbry, but it is
simply chamfered without any rebate. There is above
this, and beneath the sill of the lancets, a string-
course of semicircular section, which is also carried
along the walls of the aisle. Instead of being mitred
where it jumps to a higher level here, the horizontal
portion of the string-course is butted up against the
vertical strip in a very unusual manner. In both the
north and west walls of this aisle is a lancet of similar
character to the foregoing, and, in the western part
of the north wall, a nicely-proportioned doorway of
two chamfered orders. All the masonry in this
chapel and aisle is in the original firestone, delicately
tooled with a broad chisel, and with extremely fine
joints.
The nave, prior to 1858, had in its south wall a
window of two lancets under one pointed internal
arch, which still remains, towards the western end.
Eastward of this was a three-light opening of ijth or
66 For an illustration of this doorway
see y.C.H. Surr, ii, 432. The resem-
blance to the work at Aldingbourne is so
marked, even to the use of firestone and
chalk in the alternate voussoirs, that the
tame masons must have been employed.
6 ' See a contemporary woodcut and
account of the church in the Illus. Land.
160
News for 1858. For a drawing of the
low side window, see Surr. Arch. Coll,
xiv, 96.
WOTTON CHURCH FROM THE SOUTH-EAST, c. 1845
WOTTON HOUSE
(From Brayley's ' Jiittory of Surrey')
WOTTON HUNDRED
WOTTON
16th-century date, with a square head and hood-
moulding ; and beyond this to the east was another
three-light window, transomed, under a segments!
arch, and apparently of late 1 7th-century date. The
two large windows of 13th-century design in the
eastern part of the south wall replace those last
described.
To the end of the 1 7th century belongs the brick
vestry, or mortuary chapel of the Evelyn family, on
the north of the chapel proper. It is of thin bricks,
and has a circular window in its east gable, and a
door between it and the chapel, a modern doorway,
lately inserted, being pierced in its northern wall.
The roofs of the nave and chancel are modern and
incongruous. The seating, pulpit, font, and all other
fittings are also modern, with the sole exception of an
interesting oak screen, with bannisters, and iron
spikes or prickets for candles at the top, separating the
chapel from the aisle. This bears the date 1632, and
is almost the only bit of screenwork of its period
' remaining in Surrey. Within the chapel is preserved
a font of white marble, with circular fluted basin on
a tall baluster stem of about the same date, but
possibly as old as the date of John Evelyn's birth in
1620. Cracklow records that 'in one of the south
windows was formerly this fragment in black letter,
" Orate pro anima Johannis de la Hale." '
John Evelyn's tomb in the north chapel is coffin-
shaped and quite plain, about 3 ft. from the floor in
the eastern part of the chapel, and his wife's, of the
same plain design, is to the westward and close to the
south wall. Their coffins are said to be inclosed in
these tombs above ground. He died on 27 February
in 1705-6, in his eighty-sixth year, and his wife
Mary, daughter of Sir Richard Browne, ambassador of
Charles I at Paris, on 9 February 1 708-9. The inscrip-
tions are upon the white marble covering slabs, and that
on John Evelyn's runs thus : ' Here lies the body of
John Evelyn, Esq., of this place . . . Living in an
age of extraordinary events and revolutions, he learnt,
as himself asserted, this truth, which pursuant to his
intention is here declared : that all is vanity which is
not honest, and that there is no solid wisdom but in
real piety.' Evelyn's own desire was to be buried
' within the oval circle of the laurel grove planted by
me at Wotton,' or, if this were not possible, in this
chapel, where his ancestors lay : ' but by no means in
the new vault lately joining to it.'
Besides these there are several inscribed ledgers upon
the floor with heraldic panels, one, in brass, near the
east end, bearing the griffon and chief of Evelyn and
the bars and martlets of Ailward with a fine piece of
mantling. On the south wall, near its west end, is
the beautiful monument of George Evelyn, the
purchaser of Wotton, who died in 1603, aged
seventy-seven. It is of alabaster, with panels of black
slate or ' touch,' on which are the inscriptions, now
hardly decipherable, and is divided into three com-
partments. In the centre, high up, under a circular
arch, is the kneeling figure in armour of George
Evelyn. Above the cornice is a medallion bearing his
coat-of-arms, and a helm and mantling, and the crest
of a griffon passant. On the rounded pediments of the
side compartments (within which are skulls) are
draped urns, and within the recesses below, under
heavy entablatures and circular arches, are the figures
of his two wives kneeling and facing towards him.
Rose, the first, bore him ten sons and six daughters,
and Joan, the second, six sons and two daughters.
Beneath each figure is an inscription panel, and below
is a long panel on which the twenty-four children
are carved in low relief, all kneeling ; a narrow
inscription panel and some carved scrolls and con-
soles completing the design. The whole monument,
an excellent example of the taste of its time, retains
the original colouring and gilding.
Adjoining this, to the east, is the very fine monu-
ment (alabaster, coloured, with slate panels) of
Richard Evelyn, fourth son of George Evelyn, high
sheriff of Surrey and Sussex in 1634, and his wife
Eleanor Stansfield, with their five children. Richard,
the father of the celebrated diarist, died in 1640.
Fat nude boys in contemplation support the upper
pedimented entablature over the principal cornice,
and in the centre at the summit is a draped female
figure, blindfolded ; other ' virtues ' in attitudes of
grief flank the boys. Two large and beautiful draped
angels, one holding a flaming heart and the other an
open book, are drawing back the curtains to display
the kneeling figures of Richard Evelyn and his wife.
He is habited in the doublet, trunk-hose, and heavy
cloak of his time, with his hair falling in curls over a
deep collar. He kneels on a cushion with hands
joined in prayer before a draped prayer-desk, facing
his wife, whose flowing head-dress, falling in long
folds behind, and gracefully-gathered gown, are
charming examples of the lady's dress of the period.
Their three sons and two daughters, in the panel
below, kneel on cushions before another desk, the
centre figure of the boys being the celebrated John.
All the heraldry which includes a very fine coat with
mantling and a helm bearing the griffon crest in the
panel at the top and the smaller architectural orna-
ments, such as the consoles and scroll-work at the
bottom, are models of delicate and spirited carving,
and the figures of the angels and the husband and
wife are among the best of that age. The original
colouring is very perfect.
Opposite to these is the monument of Elizabeth
Darcy, daughter of Richard Evelyn, who died in
1634. It is in the same taste as the foregoing, and
probably by the same sculptor, who may well have
been the celebrated Nicholas Stone. The bust of the
lady, weeping, looks out from a curtained recess, and
below her is the recumbent figure of her dead babe
in its cot.
On the south side of the chancel is a tablet to
Dr. Bohun, 1716, presented to the living in 1701 by
John Evelyn. The inscription tells us that he left
the sum of 20 for the poor of Wotton, and a similar
sum for the decoration of the altar. He is described
by Evelyn as 'a learned person, and excel ent
preacher.' Elsewhere in the chancel and nave are a
number of later 1 8th and 19th-century monuments,
and in the brick mortuary chapel of the Evelyns is a
large white marble monument, by Westmacott, to the
memory of Captain Evelyn, who died in 1829,
bearing a striking inscription by Dr. Thomas Arnold
of Rugby.
On the jambs of the door in the north aisle are a
few early marks, such as a small cross.
The registers of baptisms and burials date from
1596, and of marriages from 1603.
The communion plate is chiefly of 1 7th and 1 8th-
century dates. The oldest piece is a silver paten of
1685, bearing the arms of Evelyn impaling Browne.
161
21
A HISTORY OF SURREY
These were the arms of the celebrated John Evelyn
and his wife. He was not then the owner of Wotton
House, as he did not succeed his elder brother George
till 1699. Another paten, inscribed : 'The gift of
Lee Steere Steere, Esq'. To the Parish of Wootton,'
is probably of the date 1724. A third dates from
1857. There is a cup of 1753, and a handsome
silver flagon of 1706, tankard-shaped, with a high lid,
and bearing the arms of Evelyn and Browne as on the
paten of 1685, encircled by stiff feathering, with the
inscription : ' The Gift of Mary Evelin, widdow of
John Evelin Late of Wootton Esq.' It was presented
in memory of her husband, who died in 1705.
The pierced cast-bronze plate, now used as an
almsdish or collection-plate, is a beautiful but very
unsuitable ornament of the church, being adorned
with figures of nude gods and goddesses riding on
dolphins and sea-monsters. It is a recent gift to the
church.
The bells are three in number, the first inscribed :
(J( ORA MBNTE PIA PRO NOBIS VIRGO MARIA. The
second has : ^ >J< tjf o ffc t%f IOHANNES CHRISTI
PLAN OF OKEWOOD CHAPEL
CARE DIGNARE PRO NOBIS ORARE. Both are of the
latter part of the I4th century, and Mr. Stahlschmidt
considers that they were cast by a Reading or London
founder. The third bell, by Richard Eldridge, bears
the inscription : OUR HOPE is IN THE LORD 1602 RE.'
The ancient CH4PEL of ST. JOHN THE
BAPTIST, OKEWOOD, is practically shut in by a
small oak wood, except on the south side. It is
perched upon the top of a hillock, round which winds
a tiny stream, and is approached on one side by a
rustic bridge. The churchyard is very picturesque,
and contains many old trees, and some cypresses of
more recent growth. There are a few wooden ' bed-
heads ' and a number of 18th-century headstones and
table-tombs. The chapel itself is most picturesque,
especially as viewed from the south-west or south-east,
and is built of local sandstone rubble, plastered with
the original coat of yellow-coloured mortar, the
windows and other dressings in the old part being in
hard chalk and firestone, the roofs covered with
Horsham slabs, diminishing in size towards the ridge,
and the wooden bell-turret at the west end being of
oak boarding, crowned by a squat spirelet of oak
shingles. The modern parts are quite in keeping
with the old.
The plan, as originally built in about 1220, was a
simple parallelogram, of nave and chancel, under one
roof, without structural division, 56ft. 6 in. long by
20 ft. wide internally, the side walls being 2 ft. 6 in.
and the east and west 3 ft. in thickness. There were,
till the modern alterations, a door on the north and
four lancet windows, the same number and a priest's
door on the south, while in the west wall were a door
and window of three lights, and in the east wall
another three-light window of 15th-century date. In
the western part of the south wall is a rudely-formed
window of 18th-century date. 68 The original roof,
with massive tie-beams and wall-plates, still remaining,
is probably of the later period ; the popular tradition
being that Edward de la Hale, whose brass remains
in the chancel, in thankfulness for the escape of his
son, who, while hunting in the forest, was attacked
by a wild boar and nearly killed, founded the existing
chapel on the site of the averted tragedy. This,
however, is an incorrect version, as there is a
record of the presentation of Sir Walter de
Fancourt to the chapel in 1290, and there can
be no doubt that the little chapel had then
been standing for some seventy years. What is
fairly certain is that Edward de la Hale en-
dowed the chapel with lands, re- roofed and
repaired it, and put the windows and a door-
way in the end walls. In the early years of the
1 8th century, about 1709, the chapel is re-
corded to have fallen into a condition of
dilapidation, when if was repaired, and a num-
ber of rough buttresses added (some of which
still remain), by the care of two neighbouring
yeomen, Mr. Goffe and Mr. Haynes, who sold
three of the bells to help the work. John
Evelyn is stated to have had a hand in an earlier
reparation. 69 His representative, the late
Mr. W. J. Evelyn, restored the building in
1867, and it was further restored and enlarged
at his cost by the addition of a north aisle and
a vestry in 1879. Although this extension was
necessary, and was carried out with unusual respect
for the ancient windows, door, &c., which were re-
built in the same relative positions in the new wall,
it is to be regretted for the unavoidable destruction of
some very interesting early wall-paintings found on
the walls and window-splays.
The south wall shows the original work, particu-
larly in a pair of well-preserved lancet windows in the
chancel. Beneath these on the inside, and apparently
originally round the entire chapel, is a string-course
of keel or pear-shape section. The windows have
peculiar heads internally, i.e. straight-sided, or tri-
angular, instead of arched, as in the chancel of
Chipstead Church, Surrey, of slightly earlier date.
They are rebated externally to receive the glass.
There is a good piscina near to these with a credence
shelf over, beneath a trefoiled head. It has two drains,
dished in a square form. The opening is bordered
by a bold bowtel moulding between two hollows, and
is i ft. S in. wide, while that of the credence niche
over it, which is simply chamfered on the edges, is
* 8 Probably made in 1709.
" In Evelyn'j Diary is the entry, under
14 July 1701 : 'I lubicrib'd towardi re-
162
building Oakwood Chapel, now after zoo
years almost fallen down.*
WOTTON HUNDRED
WOTTON
only I ft. 5^ in. in width. There is also a small
plain piscina of the first period in the south wall of
the nave, beneath a lancet window and a square
aumbry, of like date, originally in the north wall of
the chancel, and now in the north aisle.
The ancient doorway and lancet windows of
c. 1 2 20, re-set in the rebuilt north wall, are good
examples of their period. The north doorway, which
retains its ancient oak door, and the priest's door on
the south, now opening into the vestry, are plain to
the point of rudeness. The western doorway, of
c. 1430, within a modern porch, is wide and low,
with a four-centred arch, which, with the jambs, is
simply moulded. The door, of wide oak boards, with
plain strap-hinges, is coeval, and the east and west
windows, with cinquefbil-headed lights under square
heads, also of the later date, are of the plainest
character. In the flooring of the chancel and modern
north chapel are a number of stone ' sets,' alternately
white and yellow, apparently part of an ancient
floor.
The arcade, of three arches in the nave and of two
in the chancel, with a wide pier marking the junction,
is, of course, modern, as are also the east and west
windows of the aisle. The large raking buttresses on
the south, east, and west sides date from the 1 8th
century; and between the two on the east wall a
sexton's shed has been inserted. There is a small
modern gallery at the west end, and above this rises
the bell-turret, also of modern date, which, with its
silvery oak shingles, makes a very pleasing feature.
The main roof, as before mentioned, is ancient,
that of the aisle being, of course, new; the seating and
aJl other furniture being likewise modern.
In the last restoration the walls and window-splays
were found to be covered with ancient paintings
figure subjects and scroll-work patterns of unusual
excellence chiefly of the early part of the 1 3th
century, but some of 1 4th and 15th-century dates.
As most of these occurred upon the north wall, they
were unhappily destroyed when it was pulled down,
but tracings were made which are said to be still in
existence. On the north wall were two pairs of large
figures, and on the east wall two single figures, two
others, with ornamental patterns, being painted over
the south door of the chancel. St. George and the
dragon, on the south wall, near the west end, of 15th-
century date, is mentioned among the destroyed sub-
jects, 89 " and on the eastern part of the south wall of the
chancel is still preserved the Visitation, the figures of
St. Mary and St. Elizabeth being drawn in coarse red
outline, about life-size, with red drapery. At the
west end, on the north, west, and south walls,
'numerous small figures, parts of a large subject,' said
to have been of 15th-century date, were uncovered,
but were not preserved.
In the two lancets on the south side of the chancel
are preserved some rare and beautiful fragments of
ancient glass. That in the eastern of the two is of
early 13th-century date, coeval with the window in
which it stands. It is grisaille pattern work, the
design being in large diamonds, almost the width of
the opening, inclosed in white borders. Sprays of
stiff-leaf foliage, with bunches of fruit, fill the diamond
spaces, which are a deep, rich grey-green in places.
In the western are fragments of two dates, including
some very elegant natural leafage of early 14th-century
character, and a flaming sun, a rose, and some flowered
quarries of the 1 5th century.
A good late- 17th-century chest is preserved in the
church.
There are no monuments of special interest or
antiquity with the exception of the interesting brass
to Edward de la Hale, 1431, which lies in the
chancel floor, and is now covered by a trap-door.
The figure is unusually small, only I ft. 5^ in. in
height, and has been very delicately engraved. It
shows him in plate-armour, with his gauntleted hands
joined in prayer, a helm of pointed oval shape, a
collar of SS, roundels at the armpits, skirt of laces,
and long-toed sollerets, with one rowelled spur. A
long sword against his left side is slung from the right
hip, and a dagger is suspended on the right side ; his
feet rest upon a lion. Above the head is a curved
scroll bearing the words, IHU MERCY, and at the foot
is an inscription plate now set upside down
Hie IACET EDWARDUS DE LA HALE ARMIG' DE COM
SURR'
Qui OBIIT VIII . DIE MENSIS SEPTEMBR* ANNO DNI
MlLLO.
CCCC. XXXI . CuiUS ANIME p'pICIETUR DEUS AMEN.
The registers date only from 1670.
Of the plate in use at the chapel, the oldest piece,
a silver cup, with a disproportionately large and deep
bowl, dates from 1794. It bears the usual star orna-
ment, and on the other side are the arms of the
Evelyns of Wotton, with the inscription : ' The Gift
of Mr. and Mrs. Evelyn of Wotton to Oakwood
Church, Surrey, 6 January 1878.' The other pieces
are dated 1837 and 1844, with similar ornament,
arms and inscription ; there is also a brass almsdish.
In the library at Wotton House are preserved some
other pieces, replaced by the foregoing, viz.: a plated
cup, and a cup, paten, plate and flagon of pewter, the
plate bearing the date 1692, which appears from the
marks to be that of the other pewter pieces. There
is little doubt that they were all provided at the time
of the repair of the chapel in 1701.
The one bell is modern.
Wotton Church is mentioned in
4DVOIVSONS the Taxation of Pope Nicholas, 1 291.
William Latimer presented in I 3O4, 70
and again in 1305." In 1306 divers malicious
persons broke into the parson's house, and even carried
their atrocities to the length of killing one of his
servants." From this time onwards the advowson
appears to have followed the descent of the manor.
Queen Philippa, to whom the custody of William
Latimer had apparently been granted, presented in
1345:" the advowson was granted with the manor
to Thomas Morstede in 1429," belonged afterwards to
the Owens," and passed with the manor to the Evelyn
family."
The presentation of the chapel of Okewood " went
with that of Wotton.' 8
" Traces of this have lately been found
by Mrs. Shearme, wife of the vicar.
70 Winton Epis. Reg. Pontoise, fol. 410.
' Ibid. Woodlock, fol. 3*.
" Col. Pat, 1301-7, p. 479,
' Ibid. 1345-8, p. 250.
7* Cloc, 7 Hen. VI, no. 7 d.
7* Feet of F. Hil. 14 Eliz.
7 Ibid. Surr. Trin. 21 Eliz.
77 Okewood is no doubt the correct
spelling. A small stream which rises in
Ockley and Wotton, and flows past the
I6 3
chapel, is called the Oke. Compare
Okehampton on the Oke in Devonshire.
It joins the Arun.
'<> Close, 9 Hen. V, m. 17 ; 7 Hen. VI,
m. 7.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
Edward de la Hale endowed the chapel with lands
which in I $478 were valued at I zoi. 6J. a year.
The chapel was suppressed in 1547," and the lands,
chapel and chapel-house granted to Henry Polstede
and William More. 80 The materials of the chapel were
valued for sale. A pension of loot, was granted to the
'chantry priest,' Hamlet Slynn. 91 The inhabitants
petitioned against the destruction of the chapel, and
obtained its restoration to them for use as a church. 8 *
In 1 560-1 a petition to the same effect was presented,
reciting the former facts, and adding that the former
priest was not then there. Elizabeth granted a perpetual
payment of 3 (>s. 8^. from the Exchequer to the
priest officiating at Okewood, which is still received. 81
In 1723 Sir John Evelyn, the patron, and Richard
Miller, esq., gave 200 in aid of the endowment. In
1725 Dr. Godolphin, Dean of St. Paul's, and Sir Wil-
liam Perkins of Chertsey, gave 100 each, and in 1741
Mr. Offley, rector of Abinger, left two farms to
trustees for the repair of the building, the surplus to
go to the curate in charge, provided that he held two
services every Sunday." The conditions were not
fulfilled in the latter part of the 1 8th century, when
the services were very irregularly performed. A
cottage near the chapel, called Chapel House, is the
traditional home of the priest. But there was no
later parsonage house till 1884, when the present
vicarage was built by Lord Ashcombe. The ecclesi-
astical parish of Okewood was formed in 1853 ol
parts of the old parishes of Wotton, Abinger, and
Ockley, upon the Sussex border. The chapel was in
the outlying part of Wotton, which was united to
Abinger civil parish in 1879.
In 1717 William Glanville, nephew
CHARITIES to John Evelyn, left by will a rent-
charge on a farm near Pul borough to
provide 40;. each for five poor boys who, on the
anniversary of his death, should attend at his tomb-
stone in Wotton churchyard and repeat from memory
the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Command-
ments, read I Cor. xv., and write two verses of the
same chapter. The two best performers receive in
addition 10 each to apprentice them to some trade.
Wotton boys under 1 6 years old have the first chance,
but failing suitable claimants from Wotton, Shiere,
Abinger, Cheam, Epsom, and Ashtead parishes, and
the tithing of Westcote, Dorking have the next right
of competing.
Smith's Charity is distributed as in other Surrey
parishes.
" By Act of I Edw. VI, cap. 14.
80 By Act of Pat. z Edw.VI, pt. i, m. 31.
SI Exch. Anct. Misc. no. 82, m. 3,
I Edw. VI.
M Aug. Decrees, Misc. Bk. vol. 105,
fol. 231.
39 Ezch. Memo. R. East. 3 Eliz. rat.
116.
9< Paperj preserved at Okewood Vicar-
age, formerly at Wotten House.
164
THE HUNDRED OF REIGATE
BETCHWORTH
BUCKLAND
BURSTOW
CHARLWOOD
CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF
CHIPSTEAD
GATTON
HORLEY
LEIGH
MERSTHAM
NUTFIELD
REIGATE 1
This hundred was known as the hundred of Cherchefelle at the time of
the Domesday Survey and afterwards. The name Reigate occurs in 1199.*
In 1086 Buckland, Chipstead, Gatton, Merstham, Nutfield, and. Reigate
(Cherchefelle) were placed in this hundred, which also included Orde, which
has been identified with the parish of Worth in Sussex; 8 possibly, however,
it represents North and South Worth in
Merstham (see under that parish). Charl-
wood was probably included in Merstham,
of which manor it was a member (see
account of Charlwood). The chief manor
in Leigh (q.v.) appears, shortly after the
Survey, as a member of Ewell, and was
probably so regarded in 1086 also. Bur-
stow and Horley (q.v.) were in Wimble-
don and Banstead. Part of Betchworth
appears in Wotton Hundred,* but was in-
cluded in Reigate Hundred before 1279.'
The hundred seems to have always
been a royal one.* A grant of the office
of bailiff of this hundred with that of
Tandridge was made in 1485 to Thomas
Body. 7 To a lay subsidy levied in 1546
the hundreds of Tandridge and Reigate
contributed together 420 los. 8</., of
which 2 35 5 s - 8</. was raised in Reigate Hundred. 8 A lease of the farm
of the two hundreds for twenty-one years was made in 1617 to Thomas
Hunt. 9 A Parliamentary Survey 10 made in 1651 shows that the certainty
money due from both hundreds annually amounted to 4 i^s. 6d., whilst
profits of court, amercements, and other perquisites were valued annually
at 8 13^. Afd. The courts leet for both hundreds were kept at Under-
1 The parish of Newdigate, which is partly in this hundred, is treated under Copthorne Hundred,
INDEX MAP
TO THE
HUNDRED
OF
REIGATE
/. Surr. i, 297, note 4.
4 Assize R. 877, m. 56.
7 Mat. for Hist, of Hen. WI (Rolls Ser.), i, 256.
' Pat. I 5 Jas. I, pt. xxxi, no. 44.
1 Ibid, i, 3160. 4 Ibid, i, 3210.
Ibid. 878, m. 34.
' Lay Subsidies, Surr. bdle. 185, no. zzo.
w Parl. Surv. Surr. no. 3.
165
A HISTORY OF SURREY
snowe, 11 and were held by the sheriff of the county, who received the profits
and accounted for them to the public exchequer ; the lord might also call
and keep a court leet in any of the townships or tithings in the hundreds
which paid a common fine. The surveyors stated that they could not
discover that a three-weekly court had ever been held for the hundreds,
although they believed the lord thereof might hold one if he pleased.
BETCHWORTH
Becesworde (xi cent.), Beceswrde (xii cent.), Beches-
worth (xiii cent.).
Betchworth is a parish midway between Dorking
and Reigate, about 3 miles from each, 26 miles
from London. It is bounded on the north by
Mickleham, Headley, and Walton on the Hill,
on the east by Buckland and Reigate, on the
south by Leigh, on the west by Dorking. It measures
4 miles from north to south, and 2 miles from
east to west, and contains 3,713 acres of land and 30
of water. It is traversed by the River Mole, which
runs in a circuitous course from south-east to north-
west ; and the Gadbrook, a tributary of the Mole,
forms part of the southern boundary. It is, charac-
teristically of all the parishes on the southern escarp-
ment of the chalk, placed on the three soils, the
northern part being on the summit and slope of the
chalk downs, the central part with the old village and
church being on the sands, and the southern part on
the Wealden Clay. The chalk furnishes the chief
industry. Chalkpits and limeworks have existed for
time out of mind, and the very extensive works of the
Dorking Grey Stone and Lime Company are in the
parish, where lime is burnt and cement manufactured
on a large scale. There are also brickyards in the parish,
which is, however, mostly agricultural and residential.
Gadbrook Common is to the south of the parish, and
there is open down-land to the north, interspersed
with plantations, Betchworth Clump, a group of
beeches, standing up conspicuously on the crest of
the chalk hill. The Duke's Grove is a fir plantation
below Brockham Warren, planted by a Duke of Nor-
folk. The road from Dorking to Reigate passes
through the parish. A line of yew trees on the side
of the chalk has been taken to mark an ancient way
leading from the ford of the Mole along the downs,
but if such existed the continuity has been interrupted
by the chalkpits and limeworks. A lane coming
from the south, and leading to a formerly existing
wooden bridge over the Mole in Wonham Park, is
called Pray Lane.
The Redhill and Reigate branch of the South
Eastern Railway cuts the parish from east to west, and
there is a station at Betchworth, opened in 1 849.
There seem to be no records of prehistoric remains
in Betchworth. A palimpsest brass, with the arms of
the Fitz Adrians, under-tenants of Brockham, on the
reverse, was found in the church, and is now in the
British Museum. Historically the manors have been
transferred from one hundred to another. In Domes-
day part of Betchworth was held with Thorncroft and
counted with that manor in Copthorne. This is
probably West Betchworth, now in Dorking parish and
Wotton Hundred. Another manor, East Betchworth,
with a church, was counted in Wotton Hundred.
The transference of East Betchworth to Reigate before
1279 ' may be connected with its acquisition by the de
Warennes, lords of Reigate. The tenants did villein
service in Reigate, mowing a meadow called Friday's
Mead.
The parish of Betchworth has become a favourite
residential neighbourhood. Broome Park, south of the
railway, is the property of Lady Louisa Fielding. The
park comprises about 80 acres. It was formerly the
residence of Sir Benjamin Brodie, the eminent doctor.
The second baronet removed to Brockham Warren,
formerly the seat of Mr. Mackley Brown. Broome
Park was sold to General the Hon. Sir Percy R. B.
Fielding after 1891. On the site was an old house,
now absorbed in or superseded by later buildings.
There was also a small house on another site called
the Temple, now pulled down. A mantelpiece in the
house is said to have been brought from it, and has
the crest of Briscoe, a greyhound seizing a hare, upon
it. The Old House, an 18th-century house on the
east of the village street, is the seat of the Rev. Walter
Earle. Captain Morris, of the Life Guards, well
known in the latter part of the l8th and earlier igth
century as a writer of convivial songs, lived in Betch-
worth.
The inclosure award for Betchworth Common
fields and waste is dated 30 April 1815, pursuant to
the Act 52 Geo. Ill, cap. 60. The fields which lie
north of the church and west of the village are still in
fact open fields.
The inclosure award of Shellwood Manor * included
waste in Betchworth parish, that is about Gadbrook
Common. A conveyance of Wonham Manor, 1689,
naming the Upper and Lower Great Field of 2 5 acres,
and the Great South Field, 1 1 acres, seems to show
open fields also in that manor, but when they were
inclosed is unknown.
There was a parish school which was enlarged in
1850,' but existed before that date, supported partly
by endowments from a Mr. Reynolds and the Duke
of Norfolk. The present provided school was built
in 1871 and enlarged in 1885.
Brockham Green is a district formed from Betch-
worth, and made into an ecclesiastical parish in 1848.
The village, clustered round the green, about I miles
11 Undersnowe was a place between God-
itone, Ozted, and Tandridge, where three
ways meet, near the south-east corner of
Rooksnest Park, in Tandridge Hun-
dred.
1 Assize R. 877, m. 56.
1 66
* xz Jan. 1854. See Blue Ek, Incl.
Awards.
8 Return at Farnham.
REIGATE HUNDRED
BETCHWORTH
west of Betchworth village, is picturesque and flourish-
ing. The church, built on land given by Mr. Hope
of Deepdene, is of I 3th-century style, of stone, with a
central tower and spire.
Brockham Warren is the residence of Sir Benjamin
Brodie, bart. ; Brockham Park of Mr. Robert Gordon,
J.P. ; Brockham Court of Mrs. Davidson ; Brockham
House of Mr. Henry Foley. Brockham Court was
built by a former Duke of Norfolk on the site of the
old manor-house, 4 having been separated from the
manor. Brockham Bridge over the Mole is repaired
by the county to the value of two-thirds, and the
remaining third by the district council, Brockham
being a contributory area. Brockham Home and
Industrial School was established in 1 859 by Mrs. Way
of Wonham Manor, Betchworth, for orphan girls from
eleven to sixteen, who are trained for domestic service
and afforded a home later when out of place. An
Infants' Home was added by Miss Way in 187*.
The two are under the management of the same com-
mittee of ladies.
There is a Particular Baptist Chapel in Brockham.
A school was built in 1830, and rebuilt in 1840.'
After the passingof the Education Act of 1 870 a School
Board was formed for Betchworth, and the present
provided school at Brockham was built in 1879 and
enlarged in 1901.
At the time of the Domesday Survey,
MANORS Becesworde, which is probably E4ST
BETCHWORTH, was stated to be in
the hundred of Wotton ;" ' Richard de Ton bridge, lord
of Clare, himself held ' Becesworde ' in demesne.' It
was assessed for 2 hides and valued at 8. In King
Edward's time it had been held by Cola, when it was
assessed at 6 hides and worth 9." It subsequently
passed to the de Warennes, probably before 1 1 99, as
Earl Hamelin de Warenne and his wife held the church
in East Betchworth (q.v.) before that date. It is possible
that the manor had passed from Richard de Tonbridge
to William de Warenne when the latter was created
first Earl of Surrey by William II in 1088. It is
afterwards described as being, with the castle and
town of Reigate and manor of Dorking, 'parcel of the
county of Surrey,' ' and Dorking at least (q.v.) probably
formed part of the original endowment made at the
creation of the earldom of Surrey. 10 Betchworth was
held with Reigate by succeeding Earls of Warenne
and Surrey." The surrender of those manors to the
king in 1316 by John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey,
their re-grant to the earl with remainder to his
illegitimate sons, and their final inheritance by Richard
Earl of Arundel, nephew and legitimate heir of John
de Warenne, is fully dealt with under Reigate (q.v.).
John de Warenne died in 1347," but it was not
until the death in 1361 of his widow, the Dowager
Countess of Surrey, that the Earl of Arundel succeeded
to his uncle's earldom."
A settlement on the sons of Richard was made in
1366," and on his death his eldest son Richard
succeeded to the manor and was seised of it at the
time of his disgrace and death in 1397, when his
estates became forfeit to the Crown. 16 His eldest son
Thomas, to whom his father's title and estates were
restored in 1400," died without issue in 1415, and
his lands were divided among his three sisters and
co-heirs, Elizabeth Duchess of Norfolk, then wife of
Sir Gerrard Osflete or Ufflete, kt., Joan de Beauchamp,
Lady Abergavenny, and Margaret wife of Sir Roland
Leynthale, kt. 17 The manor of East Betchworth
appears to have been assigned to his second sister,
Joan wife of William Lord Abergavenny. She died in
1434, and was succeeded by her son Richard, whose
daughter and heir Elizabeth married Edward Nevill,
son of Ralph, Earl of Westmorland. 18 Nevill received
the lands of his wife's inheritance, and afterwards took
the title of Lord Abergavenny. 19 He died seised of
the manor of East Betchworth in 1466, leaving his
son George as heir.* The manor remained in
possession of this family throughout the next century.
In the reign of Henry VIII, when a muster was made
of able men who, with wea-
pons and harness, were meet to
serve the king, it was stated
that Betchworth with Brock-
ham could contribute thirty-
seven men." In 1629 Henry,
ninth Lord Abergavenny,"
conveyed the manor fori,o 80
to Sir Ralph Freeman," Mas-
ter of Requests. Freeman also
held other offices under the
Crown, being in 1629 Audi-
tor of the Imprests and
afterwards Master-Worker of
the Mint." He married
Catherine Bret. 85 Of his two sons, George died in
1678, and Ralph held the manor in 1684." The
latter's sons Francis and George held courts in 1707
and 1715 respectively, but died without issue.
Elizabeth daughter and eventually sole heir to Ralph
Freeman carried the manor to the family of Bouverie
NEVH.L, Lord Aber-
gavenny. Gules a sal-
tire argent vaith a rose
gules thereon.
FREEMAN. Azurt BOUVERIE. Party
three lozenges argent. fessewise or and argent
an eagle sable ivith PWQ
heads and on his breast
a scutcheon gules with a
bend vair.
by her marriage with Christopher, younger son of Sir
Edward Des Bouverie." Christopher Bouverie, after-
4 Local information from Mr. J. R.
Corbett.
' Return at Farnham.
* y, ide supra.
1 y.C.Ji. Surr. i, 321.
8 Ibid, i, 311 and note.
Cal. Close, 1348-9, p. 316.
10 V.C.H. Surr. i, 298, note 2.
Red Bk. of Excb. (Rolls Ser.), 561 ;
Ca/..PaM3oi-7,p.95; 1307-13^.531.
11 Chan. Inq. p.m. 21 Edw. HI
(ist nos.), no. 58.
18 G.E.C. Pwajr, &c. ; see under Surrey.
14 Feet of F.Div.Co. 4.0 Edw. Ill, no. 17.
** Chan. Inq. p.m. 21 Ric. II, no. 137,
m. I le ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
18 Diet. Nat. Biog.
17 Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Hen. V, no. 54.
18 G.E.C. Peerage.
" Ibid.
I6 7
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 16 Edw. IV, no. 65.
n L. and P. Hen. fill, xiv (i), 294.
M Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxcii,
132; cccxcix, 157.
88 Close, 5 Chas. I, pt, xxvi, m. 12.
84 Dict.Nat.Biog.; HarlAoc.Publ. xv,29J.
Ibid, i Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 1652.
" Hart. Soc. Put!, xv, 295 i Feet of F.
Surr. East. 36 Chas. II.
" Wotton, English Bar, iv, 150.
A HISTORY OF SURREY
wards knighted by Queen Anne, died in 1732-3 ; his
eldest son Freeman died unmarried in 1734, when
lit se;ond son John inherited the property.* 9 John
died in 1750 while 'on his travels in Turkey.' 18
His sisters, Anne wife of John Hervey and Elizabeth
Bouverie, 30 held the manor in 1 75 2," when according
to Manning the manor was limited to the Herveys.
Christopher, last surviving son of John Hervey and
Anne, died without issue in I786, 3 ' having devised
the manor to his aunt, Elizabeth Bouverie, who in
turn devised the manor and mansion-house at
Betchworth to a distant cousin, the Hon. William
Henry Bouverie, 3 * who belonged to the elder branch
of this family, and whose son Charles succeeded to the
manor in 1 8o6. 34 It was still in the latter's possession
in 1816," but was sold in the following year, accord-
ing to Brayley, to the Rt. Hon. Henry Goulburn,"
in whose family it has since remained, Major Henry
Goulburn, grandson of the above-menticned Henry,
being present lord of the manor."
John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, seems to have
had free warren in his demesne lands at Betchworth, 88
as three times during the early i/fth century he made
complaint of the trespasses committed in his free
warren there.** The Domesday Survey records the
existence of a mill at Betchworth which was valued
at icu. 40 In 1287-8 William de Aguillon granted
to Ralph de Hengham and his heirs a mill which
was to be held for the annual rent of one rose. 41 No
further trace of this mill is apparent ; it is possible
that it was situated on the land called Aglonds (vide
Aglonds More), of which mention occurs in the I5th
century, and to which de Aguillon possibly gave his
name.
The manor-house of East Betchworth was built by
Sir Ralph Freeman in the reign of Charles I. It was
called Betchworth Place, and therefore probably
superseded an older manor-house on another site.
It is a fine 17th-century mansion of red brick, and
contains some antiquities brought from Italy by
Mr. John Hervey in the i8th century.
In 1409 a conveyance was made by Stephen
Hervey and his wife Agnes to William Asshurst, junior,
of a messuage, 20 acres of land, and zoJ. rent in East
Betchworth." This probably represents the reputed
manor of LE MORE, of which John son of William
Asshurst died seised, together with land called Aglonds,
in 1 507, his father having held the lands before him."
In 1499 Le More, afterwards known as Aglonds More,
or More Place, had been settled on Agnes wife of
John Asshurst, the reversion being to his brother and
heir William. 44 Agnes apparently married John
Skinner, senior, as her second husband, as in 1 5 1 2 the
manor was stated to belong to John Skinner and Agnes
for the life of Agnes, 46 and seems to have been conveyed
from the trustees of Agnes's marriage settlement to Sir
Henry Wyatt and Sir John Leigh and John Skinner
for 200 marks of silver. 46 The next record of Aglonds
More shows that in 1547 John Woodman of Colley
died seised of the manor, which he held of the Earl of
Arundel as of the manor of Colley. 47 He left as heir his
son Richard, who married Julia Huntley of Woodman-
Sterne, 48 and was in turn succeeded by his son and
grandson, both called William. 49 The grandson mar-
ried Winifred Balam, and was succeeded by his second
son Richard. 50 In 1650 a warrant was issued for the
Council of State and Admiralty Committee to appre-
hend Richard Woodman, described as of More Place
in the parish of Betchworth, on the grounds that he
and John White, a weaver, had harboured a stranger
from Germany, supposed to be a Papist, who was
also to be arrested and brought with the other two
before the Council. Search was to be made for arms
and ammunition, and all books and papers were to be
seized." In 1706-7 Richard Woodman, probably
the son of the man referred to above, was holding the
manor," and in 1739 a conveyance was made to the
trustees of John Bouverie, then a minor, 53 who also
held the manor of East Betchworth (q.v.). Bouverie's
sister Elizabeth held both manors in 1752," after her
brother's death, and Aglonds More has since that
time descended with the manor of East Betchworth, 65
Major Goulburn being now lord of the manor. More
Place has been occupied for fifty years by Mr. J. R.
Corbett, well known as a breeder of Jersey cattle.
The house was one of the old timber-framed houses
with very massive oak beams, probably dating from the
time of Henry VI. On the north side was a lofty hall,
broken up as far back as the 1 7th century into rooms.
The tie-beams of the hall roof are still visible in the
attics. At the same date probably the house had a
southern side built on to it. The timbers in the
ceilings of this are Spanish chestnut. There is a good
Jacobean mantelpiece. The octagonal turret to the
south was added more recently.
At the beginning of the 1 3th century BROCKH4M
was in the possession of the de Warenne family, as
between the years 1219 and 1225 William de War-
enne enfeoffed Thomas son of Ralph Niger of the
land of Brockham, to be held for the rent of 6o/.
sterling, together with a virgate of land in East Betch-
worth, lately in the tenure of Adam son of John le
Brabazun, for which a rent of 40^. or a pair of gloves
furred with grey was to be given yearly." The manor
was held of the heirs of the Earl of Warenne and
Surrey as late as 1609 for the same annual payment
88 Wotton, English Bar, iv, 1 50 ; Gent.
Mig. 1733, p. 461 LanJ. Mag. 1734,
p. 'J66.
" 9 Gent. Mag. 1750, p. 525.
80 Wotton, English Bar, iv, 150.
81 Feet of F. Div. Co. Mich. 26 Geo. II.
M Manning and Bray, Hist, if Surr. i,
206.
"P.C.C. 635 Walpole (will of Eliz.
Bouverie).
M Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr, ii,
206.
Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 57 Geo. III.
86 E. W. Brayley, Tofog. Hist of Surr.
iv, 250.
87 Burke, Landed Gentry.
88 Cal. Pat. 1301-7, p. 95; 1307-13,
p. 531 ; 1 321-4, p. 448.
Ibid.
V.C.H. Surr. i, 321.
41 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 1 5 Edw. I.
Ibid. East. 10 Hen. IV.
48 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xx, 24.
"Ibid,
Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 3 Hen. VIII ;
East. 4 Hen. VIII.
Feet of F. Surr. East. 4 Hen. VIII
(See Asshurst in Mickleham).
47 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixxxvii,
48 Ibid. ; Surr. Arch. Coll. vii, 330 ;
Harl. Sac. Full, xliii, 108.
Harl. Soc. Publ. xliii, 108.
M Ibid.
" Cal. S.P. Dam. 1650, p. 530. Thomas
Woodman, of Betchworth, gentleman, was
168
a suspected person in 1655 j B.M. Add.
MS. 34013.
M Recov. R. East. 5 Anne, rot. 159.
48 Close, 13 Geo. II, pt. xix, no. 16.
The deed states that the conveyance
was from Anthony Wibard ; he was
probably a trustee for Woodman, as
according to Manning the transfer in
1739 was from Woodman himself, and
there is moreover no evidence of a sale
from Woodman to Wibard between the
years 1707 and 1739.
" Feet of F. Div. Co. Mich. 26
Geo. II.
* s Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii,
209; Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 57 Geo. III.
M Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii,
209 (quoting from deed in private hands).
REIGATE HUNDRED
BETCHWORTH
of 6oi. a It passed from Thomas Niger to Giles
Niger or le Neyr. 58 Apparently Thomas Niger left a
widow, Agnes, who married John son of Adrian, as
in 12423 John Adrian and Agnes his wife were
holding a third of the manor as Agnes's dower. 59 At
the same date William de Fakeham, who had evidently
been enfeoffed by Giles le Neyr, granted the other
two-thirds to John Adrian, a right of dower being
however reserved to Julia wife of Giles le Neyr. 60
Three years afterwards Giles le Neyr quitclaimed all
right in the manor to Adrian. 61 Confirmation of
this transfer was made to Adrian and his heirs by
John son of William de Warenne in I254. 61 John
ADRIAN. Argent tvjo
bar: 'wavy gules and a
chief cheeky or and azure.
FROWVK. Azure a
cheveron between three
leopards heads or.
grandson of John Adrian seems to have married
Margaret daughter of Henry Frowyk, and in 1348
a settlement was made by which the manor, failing
other heirs, was to revert to Henry Frowyk and his
heirs." John Adrian held the manor until after 1356,
in which year he received licence from the bishop to
celebrate mass in his house at Brockham. 65 He appar-
ently died without issue, as by 1377 the manor had
come into the possession of Henry de Frowyk, who
shortly before his death in 1378 made a settlement
by which the reversion was granted to Henry son of
Thomas de Frowyk in fee.* 6 This second Henry
was evidently the grandson of the first, whose son
Thomas predeceased his father. 67 Henry the grand-
son died in 1386, leaving two sons, the elder of
whom, Thomas, continued the senior branch of the
family, holding Oldford in Middlesex, land in Hert-
fordshire, and then or later South Mimms, while from
the younger descended the Frowyks of Gunnersbury. 68
The manor of Brockham remained in the elder
branch of the family, as the will of the elder son
Thomas, proved in 1448, states that the manors of
Oldford and Brockham were to remain in the hands
of feoffees for a year, his debts being paid from
the issues therefrom, after which Brockham was to
remain to his wife Elizabeth for her life, reverting
to his son Henry and his issue. 69 Henry was succeeded
by his son Thomas, and the latter by his son Henry,
who married Ann Knolles and died in 1527, leaving
as sole heir his daughter Elizabeth, wife of John
Coningsby, who was holding it with her husband in
1530.' In 1547 Elizabeth settled an annuity of
27 on Mary, widow of her brother Thomas, who
had predeceased his father. 71 Elizabeth Coningsby
married William Dodd as her second husband, but at
her death she was succeeded in the lordship of Brock-
ham by Henry Coningsby, her son by her first husband,
who was knighted in 1 5 85." Sir Henry died in
1 5 90 and was succeeded by his eldest son Ralph, 7 *
who held until 1 606, in which year he joined with
his brothers Philip and Henry in conveying the
manor to Thomas Wight, 76 who died seised of it in
1 609. His son, Gabriel Wight, succeeded him,' 7 and
the manor remained in this family, passing from father
to son, until the end of the 1 8th century. 78 In 1793
Henry Wight, the last surviving son of William
Wight, died without issue. 79 He devised his Surrey
estate to his sister, Lady Elizabeth Harington, for her
life. After her death one-half was to remain succes-
sively to Elizabeth White, a kinswoman, and to John
Wight of Brabceuf (Arlington), q.v., for their lives,
remainder to right heirs of testator. The other half
was devised to William Martin and his heirs or, failing
them, was to descend with the first half. The where-
abouts of Martin being unknown, advertisement for
him was to be made in the London Gazette.*" This
was done 91 after the death, in 1 794, of Elizabeth
Harington, who had married the Rev. John Chaundler
as her second husband e> and had held Brockham after
her brother's death. 85 John Wight inherited a
moiety in 1 794, and, according to Manning, the other
moiety was claimed shortly afterwards by the two
daughters of William Martin, Elizabeth and Sarah
wife of William Hibbet, and they, with John Wight,
held the manor in iSoS. 84
Elizabeth appears to have given
up her share soon after, as in
1809 William Hibbet and
Sarah were in full possession of
a moiety of the manor, the
other moiety being still held
by John Wight. 85 The entire
manor afterwards became the
property by purchase of Henry
T. Hope of Deepdene, who
held it in 1844." In 1878,
O/\O
HOPI or DtrpniNi.
Azure a cheveron or
between three bezants.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccix, 189.
" Feet of F. SUIT. 27 Hen. Ill, no. 1 1 .
" Ibid. Ibid.
Ibid. 30 Hen. Ill, no. 32.
M Add. Chart. 24551, 24552.
88 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii,
209.
' Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 22 Edw. III.
65 Egcrton MS. 2033, fol. 47 ; Manning
and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii, 209.
M Ibid, quoting from private deeds.
6 ?F. C. Can, 'South Mimms, 1 Lend,
ind Midd. Arch. Soc. 70 5 Harl. MS. 1546,
fol. 57*.
68 F. C. Ca. 'South Mimms,' Land.
end Midd. Arch. Soc. 70 ; Harl. MS.
1546, fol. 57* ; Manning and Bray, Hist,
of Surr. ii, 209 ; Chauncey, Hist, of Herts.
"Will of Thomas Frowyk, P.C.C. Bk.
Rowse, 13.
7F. C. Cass, 'South Mimms,' Land,
and Midd. Arch. Soc. 70 ; Rccov. R. Hil.
22 Hen. VIII; P.C.C. Porch, 18 (will
of H. Frowyk, 1527). Manning lays
that by 1515 the manor of Brockham had
patted to the younger branch of the family,
that is, to the Frowyks of Gunnersbury,
and that Elizabeth Coningsby wai the
heiress of this branch. This, however,
from the relationships mentioned in the
wills, etc. referred to above, would seem to
be impossible.
7 1 Feet of F. Surr. Hil. I Edw. VI ;
Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii, 209.
? a Berry, Hern. Gen. 163; Harl. Sof.
Publ. xxii, 45 ; Shaw, Knights of Engl.
ii, 83.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxxiii, 51.
7* Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 39 Eliz. ; Mich.
44 & 45 Eliz.
169
7* Ibid. East. 4 Ja. I.
T Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2.), cccix, i8a
"Ibid.
' Visit, if Surr. (Harl. Soc. xliii), 81
Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 14 Chas. II ; Man-
ning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii, 21 1 ; Re-
cov. R. East. 6 Geo. Ill ; Baker, Hist,
ef Northants, ii, 23.
' Baker, loc. cit
T.C.C. Dodwell, 534.
**Lond.Gaz. 1795,1796.
m Scc note 80.
88 Feet ofF. Surr. Trin. 34 Geo. III.
M Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii,
XII.
86 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 49 Geo. Ill ;
Rov. R. Trin. 49 Geo. Ill, rot. 305,
'7-
E. W. Brayley, Hist, of Surr. iv,
251.
22
A HISTORY OF SURREY
after his decease, it was in the hands of his trustees, 8 '
and is now held by his grandson Lord Henry Francis
Pelham-Clinton-Hope.
In 1199 William de Wonham received a grant
from Walter de Lingfield of half a virgate of
land, afterwards included in the manor of fFON-
HAM in Betchworth, to hold for the annual rent
of 4/. M The name of Wonham also occurs as
that of witness to a deed early in the 1 3th cen-
tury. 89 It is probable that this family there-
fore held land in Betchworth for several centuries.
Manning states that a William Wonham held
manorial courts in 1533 and in 1552." In 1622
a William Wonham died seised of the ' manor,
capital messuage and farm of Wonham,' and was
succeeded by his grandson, 91 who held the manor
until 1646, in which year he conveyed it to
Andrew Cade. 9 * The deed of conveyance records
the name of the manor as ' Wonham alias the borough
of Wonham,' by which title it is afterwards known.
In 1678 the manor was held by Andrew Cade and
Mary his wife. 93 He was, according to Manning, the
cousin and heir of the first Andrew. The second
Andrew Cade seems to have left a daughter and heir
Anne, who married Henry Royall, as the latter, with
his wife, quitclaimed the manor in 1687 from them-
selves and the heirs of Anne to John Coldham, 91 who
was presumably a trustee. 95
It would seem that Henry Royall and Anne left
three daughters and co-heirs, of whom Ann wife of
Darby Daniell and Rebecca wife of Daniel Cox con-
veyed their shares to Richard Hutchinson in 1690
and 1 694 M in trust. Richard Broomhall, second
husband of Rebecca Cox, held a court in 1 696.
In 1711 Richard Hutchinson joined with Rebecca
Broomhall, widow of Daniel Cox, and Frances Evelyn,
the third heiress, widow, in a sale to William Arnold. 97
The manor passed soon after to John Taylor, who
held his first court in 1721, from whom it descended
to his son, also called John. 98 In 1 75 I it was conveyed
by the latter's widow Dorothy, then wife of John
Rapley, to J ohn Luxford, the sale including ' the
capital messuage or tenement wherein Rebecca Broom-
hall formerly dwelt ' and appurtenances, including the
names of the Hop Ground Moors and Fight Lake. 99
Luxford by will (proved 13 June 1775) devised his
houses and lands in East Betchworth and elsewhere to
his sister Jane and her husband Abraham Langham,
in trust for his nieces and heirs Elizabeth Lang-
ham and Ann, Mary, Harriet, and Elizabeth Luxford,
with remainder to his nephew James Luxford. 100
In 1788 all these parties conveyed to the Hon.
Charles Marsham. 101 Brayley states that Mr. Mar-
sham, afterwards Earl of Romney, sold the estate in
1793 to John Stables, who lived at More Place, and
from whom it was purchased in 1804 by J. H. Up-
ton, Viscount Templetown. 10 *
In 1840 Wonham Manor was bought by Mr.
Albert Way, F.S.A., who married Emmeline daughte-
of Lord Stanley of Alderley. Their only daughter,
Alithea, married her cousin Mr. Albert Way, who died
in 1884, leaving a son of the same name. The Hon.
Mrs. Way, who survived till 1906, was lady of the
manor. It is still (1910) in the hands of her trustees
for sale. 103 The manor-house is old, but much
modernized.
A water-mill called Wonham's is mentioned
at the beginning of the I4th century. In 1328
Edward III granted a confirmation in mortmain to
the priory of Reigate of divers grants, including that
of the ' water-mill at Wonham with pond, water-
courses, &c., in East Betchworth, formerly in the
tenure of William de London and Roger de London,
and of 261. %d. yearly rent there granted them by
Roger son of Roger de London of Reygate.' 1M At
the surrender of Reigate Priory Wonham's water-mill
and lands there, which had been demised to farm to
William Hevyr, were valued at 53*. 4< 106 The
water-mill does not appear to have passed to the
owner of the manor of Wonham at once, 10 ' but was
included among the appurtenances by 1678 107 and has
since passed with the manor.
The church of ST. MICH4EL is set
CHURCH among charming surroundings, the large
and pretty churchyard being bordered on
the south and west by lofty elms and other trees. It is
approached from the north by a village street of pictur-
esque old cottages, some of which are half-timbered.
There are a good many ancient head-stones among
the monuments, and besides other notabilities lies
buried here Captain Morris, who died in 1838,
aged 93, famous in his day as a song-writer, and par-
ticularly as the author of the well-known lines in
which ' the sweet shady side of Pall Mall ' is pre-
ferred to all the charms of the country-side, including
the oaks, beeches, and chestnuts of Betchworth. There
is a modern lych-gate on the north. The church is
built of chalk rubble, quarried from the neighbouring
hills, with dressings of clunch and firestone, which
have stood very well on the north side, but have
weathered badly, especially in the modern work, on
the south and west. Bath stone has been used for
most of the modern dressings. The roofs are still
covered entirely with the ancient Horsham stone slabs.
As now standing the building consists of nave,
60 ft. 3 in. by 2 1 ft. 9 in., with north and south
aisles, 7 ft. 8 in. and 8 ft. 8 in. wide respectively, and
south and west porches, a chancel 3 3 ft. 4 in. by
1 7 ft. 6 in., with a large south chapel co-terminous,
1 3 ft. 4 in. at its widest, a tower between the chapel
and the south aisle of the nave about 1 4 ft. 6 in.
square, and modern vestry and transept on the north
of nave and chancel. This plan, in which there
are many puzzling irregularities, was brought to its
present form in the restoration of about 1850, prior
to which the tower was central between the nave and
chancel. It was then removed bodily to its present
position, much to the bewilderment of students of
archaeology, who without knowledge of what was done
must find the plan a very difficult one to decipher.
W E. W. Brayler, Hitt. o/Sarr. iv, 151
(ed. E. Walford, 1878).
88 Feet of F. Surr. file i, no. 36, 10
Ric. I.
8 Add. Chart. 24586.
90 Manning and Bray, Hitt. of Surr. II,
212.
M Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxciv, 48.
81 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 22 Chas. I.
93 Ibid. East. 30 Chai. II.
* Ibid. Mil. 2 & 3 Jas. II.
Vide infra.
x Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 2 Will. nd
Mary ; Mich. 6 Will, and Mary.
"7 Ibid. 10 Anne.
98 Close, 25 Geo. II, pt. iii, m. 20.
Ibid.
M P.C.C. Alexander, 237.
I 7
H Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 28 Geo. III.
1M Brayley, Hist, of Surr. iv, 251.
108 Local information.
1M Cal. Pat. 1327-30, p. 326.
" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 63 ;
Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, 519.
1M Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 22 Chas. I.
W Ibid. East. 30 Chas. II.
REIGATE HUNDRED
BETCHWORTH
From the fact that a church is mentioned in
Domesday and that a capital or base of a pre-Conquest
shaft is to be seen built into a modern window, 108 it
is practically certain that there was a Saxon church,
and that of stone. It probably had a fairly large
nave and a short, narrow chancel, which, as
in the case of Godalming, was, after the Conquest,
transformed into a low tower, with a new chancel
built out to the eastward. One of the arches of this
tower, with two square orders and cushion capitals
having chamfered abaci, was rebuilt when the tower
was shifted, and now opens from the tower into the
south aisle of the nave. Its character suggests the date
of c. 1080. Early in the 1 3th century the church was
greatly enlarged. The nave received first a south aisle
of c. I zoo, and perhaps slightly later one on the north
side. A clearstory was added on both sides, with ir-
regular circular windows, 109 the chancel was rebuilt
or extended eastwards, an aisle or Lady chapel being
added on the south, all within the first quarter of the
1 3th century, to which date the three lancet windows
in the north wall of the chancel and the arches open-
ing to the south chapel belong. They are pointed, of
two orders, the outer square-edged, and the inner
chamfered, on octagonal and circular capitals and
heavy round columns with shallow octagonal re-
sponds. The present chancel arch is of this
date, but would appear to have been rebuilt higher
and wider at the restoration of 1850; the arches
immediately adjoining it in the nave were made
at this latter date, to give access to the transept
and the rebuilt tower. Piers and arches are of three
recessed chamfered orders, the moulded imposts, of a
characteristic section, which take the place of capitals,
being returned round the chamfers, as at Wotton and
elsewhere. The chancel has a slight inclination in the
axis of its plan towards the north, and its walls diverge
as they go eastward to the extent of I ft. The present
east window of geometrical tracery is modern, and re-
places one of 15th-century date shown in Cracklow's
view ; and similarly the east window of the Lady
chapel, also of 15th-century date, was in 1850 ex-
changed for one with net tracery. This change,
though ill-judged, may have been in the nature of a
restoration, as one at least of the three windows in
the south wall of the chapel retains ancient tracery
of this character (c. 1320). Its companions, right
and left, do not appear in Cracklow's view, but
may have been blocked up at that date, 1824.
The nave arcades are of about 1200, with circular
and octagonal piers and responds, having moulded
capitals and bases of varying sections, supporting
pointed arches of two orders with narrow chamfers.
The aisles are narrow in proportion to the wide
nave, and were perhaps even narrower originally,
as all the windows in their walls are of later date.
Probably they were at first mere passages, 6 ft. or so
in width, and were widened to the extent of about
2 ft. (as a break in the west wall of the south aisle
seems to indicate) early in the 1 4th century, when
the Lady chapel windows were inserted. The
newer windows, which no doubt replaced early lancets,
were not all made at the same time : those in the
south wall of the south aisle are two-light tre-
foil-headed openings, with a cusped vesica-shaped
quatrefoil over, under a plain hood-moulding (c.
1320) ; while the single-light windows in the west
wall of both aisles, and two similar openings in the
north wall of the north aisle, having cusped ogee heads,
are slightly later, c. 1330, and a remarkably beautiful
two-light window in the eastern part of the same
wall, having net tracery and a scroll section hood
moulding, is of the same date. Another two-light
opening to the westward between the two single-light
windows, also an admirable example of its period,
dates from about 1 390. It has cinquefoiled heads
under a pointed segmental arch, and the terminals of
the hood-moulding are carved into heads, which ap-
pear to represent cowled canons perhaps in refer-
ence to the connexion of the church with the priory
of St. Mary Overy, Southwark.
The western porch is modern, and contains nothing
worthy of remark : that on the south side is also modern,
replacing one of brick. Most of the features of the
tower, externally and internally, date only from its
rebuilding, in a new position, in 1850; but, owing to
the poor quality of the stone used, the tower has
already assumed a deceptive appearance of antiquity.
Its belfry lights in Cracklow's view are apparently of
1 5th-century date, while the present are of early 1 3th-
century design.
The roofs appear to be modern throughout, but
the timber ceiling over the tower, with heavily-
moulded beams, is of 15th-century date, and appears
to have been shifted with the tower. In the chancel
are the remains of a piscina : there must have been
three or four more in pre-Reformation times. A
holy-water stoup of 14th-century character is to
be seen near the south doorway. The pulpit of
marbles and glass mosaic, needless to say, is new,
so also are the font, the chancel stalls, the lectern
and stone reredos sculptured with the Last Supper.
Into the modern seating of the nave are worked
some panels carved with the linen-fold pattern,
of early 16th-century date. In the vestry is pre-
served a remarkable chest, hewn out of an oak
trunk of great size, roughly squared, and bound
round with seven massive iron straps. It bears a
general resemblance to the similarly fashioned chests at
Newdigate and Burstow in this part of Surrey ; and
while there is no reas 
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