Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/375

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

��COPTHORNE HUNDRED

��FETC

��passed with Richard's share of the manor to the d'Abernons, and is probably referred to in the grant by Adam le Jeune to Sir John d'Abernon in 1293 of ' my half of the mill which is called cutte, with half of the pond and of the ditches pertaining thereto.' 61 In the bailiff's account of Sir Edmund Bray's manor of Fetcham and Letherhead for 1514-15, the water-mill called cutt-mill is said to be let out for j5, and is probably the same as that conveyed by Arthur Moore to Jabez Cellier 61 in 1717. The flour-mill which exists at the present day near Lether- head Bridge, and which is worked by the overflow from a spring-pond, probably stands upon the ancient site.

On the bishop's manor in Domesday were also the sixth part of a mill and the third part of another mill. These were probably fractions of the dues from the Pachevesham mills 63 in the Mole between the manors. The manor of C4NNON COURT probably re- presents that portion of Fetcham which had been held of Edward the Confessor by Oswold, brother of Wulfwold, Abbot of Chertsey, and was retained by him in chief after the Conquest. 64 By the 1 2th century, however, it appears to have been acquired by Merton Priory, which had possessions in Fetcham as early as 1167, when William, Prior of Merton, made a grant of certain tenements in Fetcham to one Guarnerius, 64 and in 1178 Robert, Prior of Merton, conceded to Alexander, a clerk of Fetcham, certain lands in the manor, amounting to a quarter of a virgate, which Gilbert le Blond had given him in fee and inheritance at a quit-rent of I zd. a year. 66 In 1291 the possessions of the prior at Fetcham and Letherhead were taxed at 3," and in 1301 the tenants of Fetcham contributed 6s. %d. towards the loan of 50 from the prior to Edward I. 68 In the reign of Henry VIII the manor was let out at farm for the sum of .13 6t. 8</. by the prior, who had in addition 6s. s,d. for perquisites from the court. 69 The priory was dissolved in I538, 70 and in 1541 the manor was granted in tail male to Uriah Brereton (who already held the manor of Fetcham in right of his wife Joan late wife of Sir Edmund Bray), to be held of the king for a tenth part of a knight's fee and a yearly rent of 6 is. lod." It appears to have formed part of the marriage portion of Jane, granddaughter of Joan, who married Thomas Vin- cent," and from this date it continued with the lords of Fetcham. In 1 700 ' Cannon Farme ' is included in the estates of Thomas Vincent. 71 This property appears to have been leased out at various times.

In 1560 John Edsawe complained that his father of the same name had occupied the site and demesne lands of the manor of Fetcham called Cannon Court by lease from the Prior and convent of Merton for a term of twenty-one years to commence in the year 1 543, but that he, the plaintiff, had been forcibly dis-

��possessed by his stepmother and her sons. Whereupon an award was made that John should for the remainder of his term occupy certain parcels of land, including two closes, of which one called ' Cokkes Close,' con- taining 6 acres, probably represents the wood now known as Cocklane Shaw, while the other, called ' Bykney," also containing 6 acres, is frequently men- tioned in connexion with this manor. 74 (See below.) It was probably this manor which Francis Crosse, of Stoke D'Abernon, who must have been a lessee, granted in 1582 under the name of ' the manner place, fermehouse and lands of Fetcham ' to John Dewe of Fetcham, who assigned his interest by lease to Robert Gavell of Cobham. 74

The prior had a grant of free warren in his demesne lands of Fetcham in 1 252, and the privi- lege is mentioned as appurtenant to the manor in 1590 and in 1607."

At the time of the Domesday Survey, Oswold received 6s. 6d. from a mill, 78 which passed with his manor to Merton Priory, and in 1 167 William, Prior of Merton, granted his part in the mill at Fetcham, with a certain acre of land, to one Guarnerius, the latter rendering 5/. yearly and grinding all the corn required for the use of the priory free of charge. 7 '

In the accounts of the prior's manor for 1537-8 certain lands called Bykney Magna are stated to be farmed for i 6s. 8</., M and in the grant of the manor in 1541, following the dissolution of the priory, a reservation was made of the lands and meadows called ' Moche Bykney,' parcel of the manor, and then or lately in the tenure of Christopher Parker. 81 In 1544 Sir Anthony Browne, son of Sir Wistan Browne of Abbess Roding and Langenhoe in Essex, received a grant of the tenement of Great Bickney in Fetcham to be held of the Crown in chief by socage at an annual rent of zs. 8d., being valued at 1 6s. SJ. per annum. 8 ' Later documents refer to it as a manor. In 1714 Dr. Hugh Short- rudge suffered a recovery of the ' manors of Slyfield and Bigney,' M and by a deed of trust dated 1715 between Dr. Shortrudge and Sir Francis Vincent the manor of Great Bickney was included among certain estates vested for charitable purposes. 84 The tenement of Great Bickney was afterwards held by the Howards, together with the manor of Fetcham, with which it was sold to James Laurell in iSoi, 64 and passed with Fetcham to the Hankey family.

The mansion known as FETCH4M PARK is said to have been built by one of the Vincent family, by whom it was sold to Arthur Moore the famous economist and politician, who in 1718 enlarged the property and planted the park ; but his profuse ex- penditure more than exceeded his means, and he died in 1730 'broken in all respects but in his parts and spirit.' M The property was put up for sale by his son

��" Add. Chart. 5573.

  • a Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. i,

480 ; Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 3 Geo. I.

68 V.C.H. Surr. i, 304.

64 Ibid. 327*.

6i H. C. Heales, Rec. of Merlon Priory, 24-5.

66 Cott. MS. Cleop. C. vii, 20.

6 " Poff Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 206.

88 A. C. Heales, Rec. of Merton Priory, 187.

��69 Ibid. App. clii, p. cxxxv ; Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 4.3.

7 V.C.H. Surr. ii, 101.

n L. and P. Hen. VIII, xvi, g. 678 (20) } Pat. 32 Hen. VIII, pt. viii, m. 23.

7 Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 32 Eliz.

7 Will P.C.C. Nod, 147.

1* Ct. of Req. bdle. 77, no. 66.

?' Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A. 12297.

' Chart. R. 36 Hen. Ill, m. n.

" Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 32 Elir. ; Hil. 5 J- I-

2 8 7

��V.C.H. Surr. i, 327*.

" Add. MSS. 6167, fol. 112.

80 H. C. Heales, Rec. of Merton Priory, App. clii, p. cxxvii.

81 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xvi, g. 98 (40). " a Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. i,

482; L. and P. Hen. fill, xix (i), g. 1035 (13).

88 Recov. R. Mich, i Geo. I, rot. 66.

81 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. \, 479 ; ii, 700. M Ibid, i, 482.

M Diet. Nat. Biog.

�� �