COPTHORNE HUNDRED
��CHESSINGlt
��included among the monastic lands under the name of the ' Manor of Friern,' and valued at 6."
In 1538 the manor was surrendered to the king by John Dobbys the abbot, 64 and in 1547 was granted to John Rychbell, 46 to hold in chief for a fortieth part of a knight's fee." John Rychbell died seised of it in 15 54, leaving a son and heir William Rychbell, aged six years. 58 In 1575 William Rychbell alienated to Henry Harvey, 49 who died seised of the manor in 1589, leaving a son and heir William. 60 The latter was succeeded in 1590 by his son William Harvey, 61 who in 1594 conveyed it to William Haynes. 6 * From this date the descent of the manor follows that of Chessington down to the time of Thomas Hatton, who sold Chessington (vide supra} in 1742, but not Fream. He died in 1746. Fream was bought shortly afterwards by Mr. Christopher Hamilton, with whom lived Samuel Crisp, Miss Burney's friend. Mr. Hamilton was succeeded by his sister, who died in 1797. The house was called Chessington Hall by Mr. Hamilton, and the property has since been known by that name. It was used as a farm, and the old house, said to date from 1520, became ruinous and was pulled down in 1833-4. The present house was then built on the old foundations ; the old brickwork is visible in the cellars. Mr. Horatio Chancellor bought Fream or Chessington Hall in 1851 and still owns it."
In 1 279 Edmund Earl of Cornwall claimed in Chessington his free monthly court of the honour of Wallingford, return of the king's writs, view of frankpledge, and the right to imprison in his Castle of Walling- ford all taken and convicted of felony in Chessington, and was confirmed in all these liberties, save only the free monthly court. 64 In 1300 the same earl is stated to have 4_f. from a certain view taken at Easter in Beddington and Chessington, and pertaining to the honour of Wallingford. 64
In 1359 the Abbot of Boxley had a charter for free warren in Chessington, 66 and the grant to John Rychbell in 1547 included court leet, view of frankpledge, and warren in Fream and Chessington."
The deed of alienation from William Rychbell to Henry Harvey in 1575 included among the appur- tenances to the manor one water-mill, two dove- houses, and twenty fisheries. 68
The church of ST. MARY THE CHURCH VIRGIN consists of a chancel 24ft. 1 1 in. by 1 1 ft. II in. with a small north vestry, and a nave ^.2 ft. 3 in. by 15 ft. 2 in. with a south aisle 1 2 ft. wide, and a south porch. Over the west end of the nave is a wooden bell-turret.
The south aisle was added in 1870, and the north vestry is also modern, but the rest of the building dates from the beginning of the 1 3th century, with later 1 3th-century alterations, and a few inserted windows, &c., of more recent date. The nave has been lengthened, but the completeness of the renewal of the external stonework throughout the church has
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destroyed all evidence. The walls are of flint rubble and the roofs are tiled.
A sketch in the church, c. 1 740, shows it with no aisle, but with a west doorway to the nave and a large south porch of wood. Cracklow says that there was a pointed arch like the chancel arch be- tween the nave and the wooden belfry, and the date 1636 on the ceiling, and Manning and Bray note that this date was on the north side of the ceiling.
The east window of the chancel is a 1 6th or 1 7th- century insertion, of two plain lights with threecentred heads, and to the north of it is a large semi- octagonal moulded image bracket of 1 5th-century date. There is a narrow lancet with a semicircular rear arch about midway in the north and south walls, of early 13th-century date, these being probably the only side-windows in the chancel as first built. To the east a wider lancet has been inserted in both cases, having a wooden lintel on the inside, and this altera- tion seems to have taken place about the middle of the 1 3th century. At the same time two recesses were made in the south wall near the west end, each about 3 ft. 6 in. wide by I ft. deep, and each lighted
���r imiiiiu.if iu.miMiMHjMimiii.ii
��N & v e
Modern Wood Are&di
��DM
South Aisle
����lie* EH Modern .
��5csJe of Feet. PLAN OF CHESSINGTON CHURCH
by a small lancet at the back. Their object is clearly to give more room for seats, the chancel being less than 1 2 ft. wide.
In the north wall part of a similar recess remains, but it has been cut through to make a doorway into the vestry ; to the west of it is an original door- way, with plain chamfered jambs and semicircular head, adjoining which is a small square opening, rebated externally, and of the same date as the door- way. Its internal jambs are splayed, and it doubtless belongs to the category of low side-windows, though of unusual character. At the north-east of the chan- cel is a locker with rebated jambs in which is one of the hanging hooks for the wooden door, and a groove for a wooden shelf. The vestry has small modern single lights in its east and west walls and a two- light window with a wood frame to the north. The chancel arch has old masonry in its jambs, probably re-used from the earlier and narrower opening, and the arch, which is two-centred and of one chamfered
��H falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 79.
" Feet of F. Div. Co. HiL 29 Hen. VIII.
Orig. R. (L.T.R.), 38 Hen. VIII, pt. iii, no. 5.
Pat. 38 Hen. VIII, pt iii, m. 8.
��68 Inq. p.m. 2 & 3 Philip and Mary, pt. ii, no. 61.
Feet of F. SUIT. HiL 17 Eliz. 5 Pat. 1 8 Eliz. pt. xi, m. 20.
60 Inq. p.m. 34 Eliz. pt. i, no. 50.
61 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxxvii, 2OI.
��265
��' Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 36 & 37 Eliz. 68 Information from Mr. Chancellor. M Plac. de Qua ffarr. (Rec. Com.), 741. t5 Inq. p.m. 28 Edw. I, no. 44. 68 Cal. Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), 183. W Pat. 38 Hen. VIII, pt iii, m. 8. 68 Feet of F. Sure. HiL 17 Eliz.
34
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