A HISTORY OF SURREY
��wealth the ' Crane ' was the seat of the Committee for Safety for the county, 85 but it seems to have lost its reputation at the end of the century. Close by was the Debtors' Prison. 86
Although West-by-Thames Street, as High Street was called until the igth century, was one of the oldest parts of the town it was considered without the vill in 1253, when the bailiffs complained that the tenants of Merton Priory did not keep watch and perform other duties as did the king's men, and answer was made that they were never accustomed to keep watch beyond the water at the end of the market towards Guildford, which was without the vill ; but only pro homine mortuo did they as others, serve within the vill. 8 ' From the bridge the road slopes gradually towards the river ; picturesque old houses are on either hand, and open gates show glimpses of the river or green trees. One of the most interesting of the houses, that known as King John's Palace 89 or Dairy, stood at the corner of Kingston Hill Road, but was pulled down in 1805. Its name preserved the tradition that there was a palace in this part of the town in the early I 3th cen- tury, with offices stretching into the Bittoms on the east. No record, however, of such a building has been found, though Richard II was certainly staying somewhere in Kingston at the time of the death of Edward III, when the citizens of London came here to greet their new lord. 89 A fruit shop at the northern end of the street shows signs of age ; it is an irregular building with a plastered front and gabled roofs, and close to it is a furniture shop calling itself ' Ye Olde Malt House ' ; its front is modernized, but it has a round malting chimney. There are several other old half-timbered and gabled houses in the street. Among them is a low three storied house now called 'Ye Olde White House,' with plastered front and overhanging upper story, which probably dates from the i6th century. A row of three others are worth notice ; one, now a coal office, is weather-boarded and has an overhanging upper story and a tiled roof with the eaves to the road ; the second is cemented, and has an overhanging upper floor and eaves, it is now used as the works of a boat proprietor ; the third (a butcher's shop) is similar in front, but the side of the house towards a yard on the south is of half-timber filled in with lath and plaster and a little brick ; two of the rearmost windows in this side have four-centred heads and are unglazed. On the other side, in a narrow court, the walls are also of half-timber filled with lath and plaster towards the rear, but with more modern brick towards the front. The upper story overhangs on curved brackets and a moulded facia, the head is gabled and has a good cusped bargeboard. Some of the windows in this side retain their original wood frames. The
��house is evidently work of the 1 6th century. Farther south the road touches the Thames, and here is a wharf alive with the trade of rivercraft.
North of the bridge the towing path is edged with small white houses. Here too are boat-houses, and the bank is covered with small craft. Across the river is a house with embanked garden, then come red wooden sheds, then orchards. Beyond the little houses, and protected from the towing path by a lawn set with sycamores, is Downhall, the property of Mrs. Nuthall, widow of the late Mr. G. W. Nuthall, a grey stuccoed house with jalousies and older kitchens behind. Downhall was held in the I3th century of the manor of Canbury (q.v.) by Lewin and Alan le Mariner, and was afterwards leased to Ralf Wakelin and Beatrice his wife. 90 In 1485-6 it was styled a ' capital messuage ' or ' manor,' and was held of Merton by Robert Skerne, on whose death in that year it passed to Swithin his son." It was conveyed in 1617 by Mildred Bond, widow, and Thomas Bond to Anthony Browne and Matilda his wife." Downhill lies in Canbury ; not far away the ancient tithe-barn stood until sold in 1850 and pulled down. North of this is the railway bridge and station, the gas- works, a recreation ground, and, finally, Ham Common and Ham Fields.
Vicarage Lane takes its name from the old vicarage, which stood here until the modern house was built to replace that given by John Lovekyn to the vicar in I366. 93
In 1513 four Lollards were examined at Kingston, and one Thomas Denys was burned in the market- place on 5 March, the rest submitted. 94 There was a strong element of Puritanism in Kingston. Richard Taverner the controversialist lived at Norbiton, and was probably the Mr. Taverner who bought the rood- screen in 1561." Before 1584 John Udall was lecturer or curate-in-charge, but was deprived of his licence to preach by the High Commission in ijSS.* 6 In the early I yth century Edmund Staunton was vicar for twenty years, but was suspended for a time before 1638," probably for puritanical teaching; he was known as ' the searching preacher,' and was diligent both in catechising and teaching from house to house. 98 In 1658 a strong Puritan, Richard Mayo, was presented to the living. He, though ejected in 1662, kept a separatist congregation together, which was licensed under the Indulgence of 1672." In 1698 his more famous son Daniel Mayo 100 succeeded John Goffe as pastor of the Presbyterian congrega- tion here. He died at Kingston in 1733 and was succeeded in the ministry there by George Wightwick of Lowestoft."" John Townsend, the founder of the London Asylum for Deaf Mutes, came here in 1781 as pastor. 101 The congregation, as was so often the case, became Independent. The chapel in Eden Street
��85 Cal. S.P. Dam. 1644, pp. 41, 165.
86 Merryweather, op. cit. 23.
87 Abbrev. flac, (Rec. Com.), 136.
88 A water-colour sketch of the house, and photographs of many other houses now pulled down in this part of Kingston may be seen at the Municipal Art Gallery and Museum. The oldest part of this house contained brick-work, perhaps of the 1 5th century, and was floored with beams of Spanish chestnut.
89 Holinshed, Ckron. iii, 415.
90 Cott. MS. Cleop. C. vii, fol. 1 14.
91 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser.z), mlxv, 5. Ro-
��bert Skerne was son of William Skerne, who founded the chantry in Kingston Church. William was nephew to Robert Skerne, who died in 1437, and has a brass in the church. Bray says (Surr. i, 375) that this Robert was also of Downhall, but this has not been proved.
9a Feet of F. Surr. East. 1 5 Jas. I,
93 Surr. Arch. Coll. viii, 143.
M Winton Epis. Reg. Fox, iii, fol. 69- 76.
94 Surr. Arch. Coll. viii, 93.
- Diet. Nat. Biog. is mistaken in calling
him vicar. The vicar was Stephen Chat-
492
��field, who became also rector of Charl- wood in 1583 and lived there, but did not give up Kingston.
7 Cal. S.P. Dam. 1637-8, p. 567.
93 Diet. Nat. Biog. liv, 1 1 2.
99 Photograph in the Kingston Munici- pal Library from the original document in the possession of Lady Tangye ; Diet. Nat. Biog. xxxvii, 174 ; f.C.H. Surr. ii, 39, 40.
100 Diet. Nat. Biog. xxxvii, 171.
101 Waddington, Surr. Congregational Hist. 234 (from the Church Bks.).
IM Diet. Nat. Biog. Ivii, 1 06.
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