REIGATE HUNDRED
��CHIPSTEAD
���CHERTBEY ABBEY. Party or and argent St. Paufi nvord argent, itt Hit or, croued v/itA St. Peter't keyt gulti and t- vure.
��of the lands of Purbright and Lovelane, 67 until its dissolution in 1538, when the abbot and twelve monks were transferred by the king to his new foundation at Bisham, which was endowed with the abbey lands. In the following year the new monas- tery also surrendered to the king. 68
The immediate tenants of the manor before 1066 were Turgis and Ulf, the land of the former belonging to the abbey, while Ulf could 'seek what lord he pleased.' The two estates seem to have been united later, and were held from the abbot by William de Wateville, who, however, relinquished the land before 1086. It was then farmed out at 4O/. 69 In the 1 3th century Peter de Pirifrith, from whom it must have taken the name of Purbright, held one quarter of a knight's fee in Chipstead of the abbot. 70 Peter granted one carucate of land in Chipstead to Thomas de Leukenore m 1247, and in 1252-3 he gave 10 librates of land there to Joan the daughter of Henry Lovel for the yearly rent of a pair of white gloves." In 1291 the manor of Purbright was amongst the possessions of Hamo de Gatton, his son and heir, also Hamo, being at that time twenty-six years of age. 7 '
The next reference to Purbright is given by Man- ning and Bray, who quote the Court Rolls of Coulsdon. According to these one Gilbert Malevyle was dis- trained in 1360 for fealty for lands in Chipstead called Puribrit, and again in 1389 Sir Thomas Brewes was distrained for the same cause. These lands were probably the manor, for Coulsdon was held at that time by Chertsey Abbey, and a tithing-man for Chipstead was chosen at the Coulsdon court leet. 74 Nothing further appears touching the descent of this manor until 1 505, when one-half of it was in the possession of Anne and Roger Leigh, Purbright, presumably, having been divided at the same time as Chipstead between them and the Scotts" (q.v.). In I 590 it was in the hands of Thomas Best, who, in his will dated 1 1 March of that year, left it to his wife Ann for eighteen years, while she brought up his son and heir William. 76 In 1 6 1 8 William Best died seised of the manor of Purbright, which was said to be held of the lords of the manors of Gatton, Coulsdon, and Merstham. 77 His son and heir Wil- liam, who at his father's death was aged a little over four years, 78 conveyed the manor to the use of Sir Samuel Owfield and his wife Katherine, with re- mainder to their sons, and in Katherine's will dated 1662, and proved 1664, she confirmed the settlement of the property on her second son Samuel. 79 About three years later the Owfields conveyed Purbright to Thomas Manning and Samuel Salter, 60 possibly trustees for Sir John Thompson, afterwards Lord Haversham,
��'7 Index, Winton Epis. Reg. ; Egerton MSS. 2031-34,!, fol. 6 1 ; ii, fol. 46, &c. ; Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 56 ; Exch. K.R. Misc. Bics. xxv, fol. 30, &c. In a confirmation of thee tithes by William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester, 1107-29, they are said to have been given to the ibbey by Robert Oil of Larreu.
��L. and P. Hen. VIII, xii (2), g. 1311 (22) ; Dugdale, Man. vi, $26. y.C.H. Surr. i, 310. 7 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 220*,
22.lt.
7 Feet of F. Surr. East. 32 Hen. Ill ; Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 133.
1* Chan. Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. I, no. 25.
193
��who sold it in 1704 to Mr. Docminique. 81 With Chipstead it became the property of William Jolliffe, but was sold in lots by the present Lord Hylton.
The church of ST. MARGARET is CHURCH a fine cruciform building, with a chancel 30 ft. by 1 6 ft. 10 in., crossing 1 6 ft. loin, square ; north transept ijft. loin, by 1 4 ft. 4 in. ; south transept 15 ft. 3 in. by 146. 4 in. ; nave 53 ft. 9 in. by 17 ft.; north aisle 52 ft. by 9 ft. 5 in. ; south aisle 53 ft. 2 in. by 7ft. 10 in., and a south porch, all the measurements being internal.
The west wall of the nave, from the evidence of a doorway formerly existing here, and shown by Man- ning and Bray (drawing dated 1 794), appears to be in part of 1 2th-century date, and the north doorway of the nave, now reset in the north aisle, is work of c. 1 1 80. The north aisle itself is a modern addition, as is the south porch, and the south transept has been for the most part rebuilt, but all the rest of the church belongs apparently to one design consisting of chancel, central tower with transepts, and nave with south aisle, begun early in the 1 3th century, and carried through without any obvious pause in the work. The north transept is not square with the tower, for some reason which is not now clear, but otherwise the setting out is very regular and there is no deviation from the axis of the old work. The outer walls of the south aisle have perhaps been rebuilt in the 1 5th century, and there has been a good deal of modern repair, the tower bearing the dates 1631, 1827, and 1903.
The stone chiefly used is the firestone of the district, which while very good for internal work stands the weather badly, and has had to be very largely renewed.
The east window of the chancel is of partly restored 15th-century work, of three cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a two-centred head ; at the angles of the inner sill are the moulded bases of a 13th-century shaft belonging to the original east window, probably a group of three lancets.
In the side walls of the chancel are tall and very narrow lancets, five on each side according to the original design, but one on the south-west has been destroyed for the insertion of a modern priest's door with a round window over it, the rear arch of which is that of the old lancet. The external jambs and heads are chamfered and rebated and have all been renewed, but the firestone weathers badly and is already crumbling to pieces. The inside splays are original and have triangular heads instead of two- centred or segmental rear arcades, a very unusual feature. Beneath the sills is a plain roll string-course, and the external hood-moulds run as horizontal strings between the windows.
Near the east end of the south wall is an aumbry with jambs, sill, and square head rebated for a shutter. To the west of this is a 13th-century piscina with a circular basin and a chamfered trefoil head. On either side of the western half of the chancel is a stone seat contemporary with the rest of the work,
��7* Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii, 145. 7< Ibid.
?' Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 21 Hen. VII. 7 P.C.C. 28 Kidd.
77 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), dix, i68a.
78 Ibid. 7p.C.C. 117, Bruce.
80 Close, 19 Chas. II, pt. ii, no. 31.
81 Ibid. 3 Anne, pt. i, no. 14.
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