THE HUNDRED OF GODLEY
��CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF
��BISLEY CHOBHAM PYRFORD
BYFLEET EGHAM THORPE'
CHERTSEY HORSELL
The hundred or half-hundred of Godley is made up of lands which, with the exception of 'Pyrford and Horsell, formed part of the early grants to the monastery of Chertsey. 2 The town of Chertsey, which formed the nucleus of the hundred, has occasionally lent its name to the latter. Bisley, which , was parcel of the manor of Byfleet, and Horsell, which was and is included in the manor of Pyrford, are apparently not mentioned as separate townships in the hundred until about the i6th century. 3 Otherwise the hun- dred seems to have remained unchanged from its earliest formation until the present day. A detailed and somewhat lengthy account of the boundaries of Godley Hundred in 1446 is found in a cartulary of Chertsey Abbey * ; they appear to coincide very generally with those of the present time.
The hundred of Godley was granted to the Abbot and convent of Chertsey by Edward the Confessor, to be held free of all dues and exactions and with full jurisdiction, with privileges of soc, sac, tol, team, infangthef, &c. s Pyrford is the only manor in the hundred named in Domesday which was not held by Chertsey Abbey. The grant was confirmed by succeeding kings. 6 Later on however the abbot ceased to exercise jurisdiction throughout the entire hundred as the king had certain rights in his manor of Byfleet. A rental of 1319 states that before the manor of Byfleet came to the king, the lord of it did suit at the abbot's hundred court of Godley, and the free tenants of Byfleet, Bisley, &c., and fifteen customary tenants came to view of frank pledge at Godley. 7 The Abbot of Westminster had also full jurisdiction in his manor of Pyrford ; and all his men, for the tenements which they held of the abbot and his cells, were declared to be ' free from all scot and geld and from all aids of the sheriffs and their ministers, &c., quit of shire and hundred courts, swainmotes, pleas and suits, assizes, views, &c.' 8
The hundred of Godley was free from all interference by the sheriffs or other king's officers provided that the king's mandates when brought to the abbot were executed by the latter's bailiff. 9 In 12801 the privilege of return of writs having been refused an inquiry was held concerning the matter and resulted in the abbot's favour. 10
1 Pop. Ret. 1831. The chapelry of Frimley, which, although included in this hundred, was in the parish of Ash, Woking Hundred, until 1866 (when it was made a separate parish), is given under Ash, q.v.
Birch, Cart. Sax. i, 55, 64. * Lay Subs. R. SUIT. 17 Hen. VIII, bdle. 184, no. 162.
Exch. K. R. Misc. Bks. xxv, fol. 74. 5 Cart. Antiq. D 7, 8 ; Cott. MS. Vitell. A. xiii, fol. 501.
y.C.H. Surr. ii, 56 ; Cal. Chart. 1257-1300, p. 306 ; Cott. MS. Vitell. A. xiii, fol. 53-69.
Rentals and Surv. (P.R.O.), bdle. 623.
Cott. MS. Faust. A. iii, fol. 83 et passim ; Plac. de Qua Warr. (Rec. Com.), 745.
Cal. Chart. 1257-1300, p. 306. 10 Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 Edw. I, no. 40.
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