COPTHORNE HUNDRED
��MICKLEHAM
��has on the north, south, and west two small lights, one above the other, which have what seem to be 16th-century heads externally, but retain their 12th- century rear arches.
On the east face is one window of the same charac- ter just above the nave roof. The western angles of the tower are strengthened by pairs of deep buttresses, which have been largely rebuilt, but their internal angles have old stones ; they are probably 1 5th-cen- tury additions, and the tower is finished with a low pyramidal roof from which rises a slender octagonal shingled spire. The roof of the nave and the west porch are covered with Horsham stone slabs, while the chancel and organ-chamber are tiled, and the aisles have lead roofs and stone parapets.
The fittings of the church are for the most part modern. In the pulpit are five panels carved in high- relief, representing scenes from the New Testament. At the angles are figures in canopied niches, and the moulded cornice has a form of acanthus-leaf ornament in low-relief.
In the north chapel is some panelling from St. Paul's School in London, c. 1680.
The font is of 1 3th-century date, and has a shallow square bowl with tapering sides ornamented with arcades in low-relief, and standing on a central and four angle shafts with moulded bases. Near the font is an old wooden eagle lectern fixed to a modern iron stem and base ; and on the south wall of the chancel is the banner and helmet of Sir Francis Stydolf, who died in 1655.
The tomb in the north chapel is a panelled Purbeck marble altar-tomb in a canopied recess, the panels being square with feathered quatrefoils inclosing shields, once painted, but now almost plain. The recess above has a four-centred head with tracery spandrels, and a cornice with a vine-trail and a Tudor flower cresting. On a brass plate in the recess is the following inscription : ' Here lyth the body of Wyllyam Wyddowsoun cytezein and mercer of londn & of ye parych of Mekyllham late patorne & also here lythe ye body of Jone hys wyfe the wyche dyssesyd the xxvii day of septebyr the v' h yere of kyng hary the VIII on whoys soullys god have mercy ame.'
Above is the figure of a man in a long fur-trimmed cloak praying at a desk. A scroll issues from his mouth on which is the prayer : ' Dne deus miserere sup animabs.' To his right is a woman with a long head-dress and a tight-fitting dress with a loose waist- belt ; on the scroll from her mouth is, ' Ihs xps miserere sup animabs.' Between the two figures is a brass shield on which are the arms of the Mercers' Company, and above are indents for other shields now lost.
There are two floor-slabs near the east end of the nave, one to Thomas Tooth, who died in 1685, and the other to Peter de Lahay, 1684. Near the west end of the nave is a mediaeval coffin-lid on which is the indent of a long cross with foliated ends. In the west porch are two marble coffin-slabs of the 1 4th century, with raised crosses, and edges which are twice hollow-chamfered. On one of them are
��remains of an inscription in Gothic capitals. . . . ICY
DEU DALME EIT MERCI AMEN.
The tower contains three bells, the treble being by C. and G. Mears, 1850. The second has the in- scription, ' Bryanus Eldridge me fecit 1624,' and the third has ' Wilhelmus Carter me fecit 1610* in Gothic capitals.
The plate is as follows : Two cups, one of 1666 and the other of 1870 ; two patens, one of 1701 and the other a year later ; and two flagons, the first being of 1614 and the other of 1702. There is also an almsdish of 1700.
There are four books of registers, the first a long paper volume containing very irregular entries ; first is a group of burials from 1612 to 1629, then there are baptisms from 1549 to 1629, and next come more burials from 1549 to 1605, and finally baptisms, marriages, and burials from 1 634 to 1 660. At the other end of the book are some briefs, churchwardens' accounts, &c. The second book, which is mostly a copy on parchment of the first, contains baptisms from 1549 to 1698, with a gap between 1658 and 1660 ; marriages from 1549 to 1713, with a gap between 1647 and 1663 ; and burials from 1549 to 1712, with a gap as in the baptisms. At the other end are accounts and tithe rents from 1637. The third book contains baptisms and burials from 1713 to 1812 and marriages from 1713 to 1753, and the fourth book continues the marriages from 1754 to 1812.
Mr. Samuel Woods, one of the founders of the London Institution, who lived in Mickleham, made an index to the registers.
The churchyard surrounds the church, and it is entered from the road at the north-west corner and by a lych-gate at the south-west corner.
A church at Mickleham is men- JDyOWSON tioned in the Domesday Survey. 107 At the time of the taxation of Pope Nicholas it was assessed at 18 13*. 4^. 108 The early owners and patrons of the church were the De Micklehams, John de Mickleham presenting in the 1 4th century. 109 He alienated the advowson in 1 344 no to Reigate Priory that prayers might be daily sung in the priory church for the souls of his family, and the priors presented continuously until the Dissolution, with two exceptions, when Laurence Doune and William Wydoweson presented in the I 5th century. 111 Wydoweson claimed the advowson, which he said John de Mickleham had alienated to John Dewey, from whose descendants it had passed to himself." 1 The owners of Fridley Manor had claimed some right in it in 1449,"* and William Wydoweson presented in 1492. "' Henry VIII after the dissolu- tion of Reigate Priory granted the advowson of the rectory and parish church of Mickleham, with West Humble Manor, to Lord William Howard and Margaret his wife." 5 It passed by descent to Elizabeth, Countess of Peterborough." 6 Charles, Viscount Mor- daunt of Avalon, her grandson, sold the advowson to John Parsons in l68l, 117 and in 1698 Sir John Parsons presented to the living. 118 The next presen- tation, in 1744, was made by Thomas Walton,
��V.C.H. Surr. i, 304.
X" Paft Nich. Tax (Rec. Com.), 208.
109 Egerton MS. 2032.
110 Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. Ill (2nd not.), no. 86.
111 Egerton MS. 2034.
��118 De Banco, Mich. 5 Edw. IV ; 44 Hen. VI, m. 619.
" Feet of F. Surr. 28 Hen. VI, no. 30.
- 14 Vide supra under Fridley.
lu Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. vii, m. I ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cxcvii, 75.
39
��118 Pat. 12 Chas. II, pt. xviii, no 16 ; In. Bks. (P.R.O.). She presented in 1669.
"7 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 33 Chas. II.
us Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). He levied a fine in 1681 to Grace Pierpoint.
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