REIGATE HUNDRED
��MERSTHAM
��Elinerugge, et Johanna uxor eij qui quidera Thomas obit xxvn die marcii A dnl M v vn quoru*) ai 1 abus ppicietur de*). Amen.' 8 *
He is shown as in armour, but with head and hands uncovered, and without spurs, and his wife wears the ordinary dress of the period. Of the four shields of arms which originally lay at the corners of the slab, the lower one on the right only remains : it bears Cheeky argent and sable, impaling Lozengy and a chief with a saltire with the ends cut off charged with five roundels, which seem to be the arms of Ovcrton.
In the chancel is the brass effigy to Sir John Newdegate, 1498. It is unusually small and the figure, which is badly proportioned, is in armour, the head resting on a helmet. The Newdegate arms are Gules three lions' paws razed or. The inscription, in black letter, runs : 'Hie lacet Johes Newdegate Armiger nup dfis de Herfeld in Com Midd q' obiit xxi" die mens ] Februarii A dHi MCCCC LXXXXVIII FA regni reg Hen? VII, xmj, cui ) afe rjpiciet? de.' The manor of Harefield, Middlesex, was acquired by the Newdegates in the i<|.th century. They took their name from the village of Newdigate in this part of Surrey, where also they held lands from an early date.
There is also a brass to Peter and Richard Best, two children of Nicholas Best of Alderstead, 1585-7. The figure of Peter, who is represented as a little child in a quaint long gown with a handkerchief tied to his girdle, still remains, but that of his brother was stolen about 1839. It represented a ' chrysom ' child. 87 The inscription, in Roman capitals, runs : ' Here lyeth the bodyes of Peter Best and Rychard Best his brother sonnes of Nycolas Best & Elizabeth his wyfe of Alderstead in y* Parryshe of Merstham in the countie of Surrey w"* Peter deceased the xii" 1 day of August A Dm 1585. And the said Rychard his brother deceased the xxii th of June A" D5i 1587.'
There is a stone let into the east wall of the south chapel which is engraved with the arms and crests of Southcote and Waldegrave, and bears the initials i. M. s., denoting the purchase of the manor of Albury from Leonard Dannett in 1579 by John Southcote. The stone appears to have been shifted from the Albury Manor chapel to that of the manor of Alderstead. A piece of carving from old London Bridge is preserved in the church.
The bells, five in number, are inscribed : I. Bryanvs Eldridge me fecit 1657 ; 2. jff Sancta
��Katerina Ora Pro Nobis ; 3. Robertus + mot + me + fecit + 1597 O> 4- Paclc & Chapman of London Fecit Nich s Feldwick & Jn Eastland Church Wardens 1774; 5. Bryan Eldridge made mee 1640. Nicholas Best Richard Sharp Chvrch War- dens.
No. z is a 14th-century bell, resembling others at Chelsham and Limpsfield.
Among the church plate is a silver cup of 1623 bearing the inscriptions : ' Deo sacrauit & gregi suo dedit i623;'and 'Tho : Goad Si" Theol" D r Rector eccliae pochialis de Mestham Comitat Surrey.' There is a paten of 1714 given by the Rev. Henry Mills, M.A., rector, in 1728. He was rector from 172410 1742, and was buried in the chancel. There is also a silver flagon of 1762, the gift of Jer. Milles, D.D., rector, 1763. Besides these there are many modern pieces.
The registers date from 1539, though not con- tinuous at the beginning, and irregularly kept, especi- ally under the Commonwealth. They are printed by the British Record Society.
The right of presentation to the ADVQWSQN church of Merstham has always belonged and still belongs to the Archbishop of Canterbury. 88
The earliest mention of a church there occurs in Domesday. In 1255 dispensation to hold the living of Merstham at the same time as that of ' Gerolweston ' was granted at the request of the archbishop to his physician, Master William de Twytham. 89 In 1 294 the parson there was Robert de Segre, 90 who, having purchased land in Merstham from the prior and several other persons, took possession of it without the king's licence, after the passing of the Statute of Mortmain ; the same thing was done by his successor, Edward Dacre, who petitioned for pardon and obtained it at the price of 6t. M. ai
Under Henry VIII the rectory-house with orchard, garden, and 9 acres of glebe-land was worth 2^2 14*. \d. The tithes of grain amounted to 12 3/. Afd. Tithes of pigs and geese came to 6t. SJ. A yearly payment of \6J. was required by the Prior of Christchurch, and 6s. %J. was due to the Arch- deacon of Surrey for procurations, &c. With the rest of the tithes, oblations, &c., the living was worth in all 22 is. S<t."
Smith's Charity is distributed as in other Surrey parishes.
��CHARITIES
��88 Hit will, dated the same day and year as those of his death given on the brass, contains the direction that he should be buried in the 'North Chauncell,' and there the brass remained probably till as late as 1840.
s ' Woodcuts of both children appear
��in Haines's Manual of Monumental Brasiet t 219. An earlier chrysom child remains at Stoke D'Abernon, illustrated in Surr. Arch. Cull, xx, 46.
Cat. Pat. 1330-4, pp. 477, 481 ; Wykekam'i Rig. (Hants Rec. Soc.), i, 146 ; last Bks. P.R.O. 1723, &c.
��89 Cal. of Papal Letters, i, 325.
90 Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 122.
91 Ibid. 1345-8, p. 271 ; Abhrcv. Rot Orig. (Rec. Com.), ii, 190.
98 Valor Etcl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 43.
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