Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/309

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REIGATE HUNDRED

��lapse in 1634 because Christopher Best had not sued out livery of the advowson. 158 Henry Lord Mowbray, grandson of Ann, Dowager Countess of Arundel, 15 ' presented in 1 64O, 160 and this family seems to have acquired Burton's share also, as in 1658 the Earl of Arundel held a full third turn of presentation, the other two-thirds of the advowson being held, as has been said, by John and Thomas Turner. 161 In 1660 the Crown presented. 161 According to Manning, Henry Lord Maltravers, Earl of Norwich, and Henry Howard his son granted the next turn to West and Keck in trust for Burbury in i6j6, 163 and in 1677 John and Thomas Turner granted their turn to Henry Hesketh, who afterwards purchased Burbury's interest and sold to William Hollingsworth. 164 The latter presented in 1711 and again in 1 73 1. 165 Lord Mowbray 166 finally conveyed his share to William Beckford in

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trust for Sir Lionel Jenkins who, by will, devised it to Jesus College, Oxford. The Turners' share descended with the manor (q.v.), and after the death of William Hollingsworth presentation was made both by Joseph Cooke, as lord of the manor, and by Jesus College. The case was brought before a commission of six clergy and six laymen, but as these decided equally in favour of the college and lord of the manor, nothing was settled. 167 Finally, however, a decision in Cooke's favour seems to have been made, as his incum- bent continued to hold the living. 168 The college afterwards treated with him for purchase, but the transaction was not completed until after his death, his sisters conveying to the college shortly after 1 74O. lei Jesus College has since held the advowson. 170

Smith's Charity is distributed as in

. .. . .

other Surrey parishes.

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��Cherchefelle or Crechesfeld (xi-xii cent.) ; Reygate (xiii cent.) ; Reigate or Riegate (xvii-xviii cent.).

Reigate is a municipal borough, formerly a parlia- mentary borough, 6 miles east from Dorking, and 23 miles south by road from London. The parish is bounded by Kingswood in Ewell and Gatton on the north, by Nutfield on the east, by Horley, Buckland (detached), and Leigh on the south, by Betchworth and Buckland on the west. It measures 4 miles east and west, by 3 miles north and south, and contains 5,871 acres of land and 34 of water. The parish extends from the crest of the chalk, over the Upper Green Sand, the Gault, Lower Green Sand and Atherfield Clay, on to the Wealden Clay. The top of the down where the suspension bridge crosses the old London road is 700 ft. above the sea, and the highest point of Reigate Hill is 762 ft. ; the level in the town of Reigate, which lies on the Lower Green Sand, is 270 ft. South of the town is a ridge of sand, the western end of which, Park Hill, is 41 1 ft., the eastern, Redhill Common, 478 ft. above the sea. The land then falls to under 200 ft. in the southern part of the parish. The depression in the chalk and tand to the east of the parish is taken advantage of by the railway and the new London road. Four hundred and eighty acres of common exist still on Reigate Heath to the west, Wray Common to the north-east, Redhill Common to the east, Earlswood and Petridge Wood Common, the latter on the borders of Horley, to the south-east. The last two were woodland in the Weald, but the trees were cut down in the 1 7th century by Lord Monson.

Redhill and Earlswood Commons were in part inclosed by an Award of 15 July 1886, as part of the scheme for making them a public park. Numerous ancient encroachments on the waste are represented by houses, cottages, and gardens about Earlswood Common, Wray Common, and Reigate Heath.

��The industry of Reigate was formerly that of a country market town ; oatmeal is said to have been made in large quantities, and the fine sand of the soil was and is in demand for building, gardening, and glass-making. But in general industries have now rather gravitated towards Redhill, the new town in the eastern part of the parish (q.v.), where are brew- eries, tanneries, timber yards, printing works, fullers' earth works, and the necessary adjuncts of a large railway station.

The old town of Reigate consisted of one main street, the High Street, running east and west, south of the eminence on which the castle stood, and north of the opposite ridge on the lower part of which was the priory. Bell Lane ran from the south to the eastern corner of High Street, the newer Town Hall stands at the intersection of the two. Nutley Lane ran north from the western end of High Street, up the hill, to join the old main road east and west on the chalk downs, which only in modern times has been called the Pilgrims' Way. The name Reigate is not in Domesday ; it is there evidently represented by the place called Cherchefelle. The town is mani- festly the creation of the lords of the castle, consisting of a row of houses clustering for protection under the walls of the fortress and faced by a religious house, and may be compared with Lewes, which lies between a castle and a religious foundation of the same lords, the Earls ofWarenne and Surrey. The church of the original Cherchefelle stood south-eastward of the castle, on a sandy knoll not unlike that on which the castle stands, but lower. The habitations clustered under the castle, not near the church. The High Street retains its name and position ; eastward it is continued as Church Street, westward as West Street. These were east and west lines of communication. Bell Lane, High Street, and Nutley Lane, now the London road, were north and south lines, equally dominated by

��158 Winton Epis. Reg. Neile, fol. ga. As Christopher Bert died in 1598 this was rather a flagrant case of raking up of old claims by the Crown, characteristic of the period of personal government, when the rule ' nullum tempus regi obstat ' was pushed to an extreme.

li9 G.E.C. Peerage.

��160 See note 157.

161 Surr. Arch. Coll. jcvii, 98. 163 Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.).

168 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii, 275. "< Ibid.

> Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). The Visitation of 1715 says the Hollingsworths had the advowson for two lives only.

229

��lw Henry Howard was created Lord Mowbray in 1679.

167 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii, 274 (quoting from Mr. Cooke's papers in private hands).

l8 Ibid.

' Ibid.

17 Inst. Bks. (P.R O.).

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