Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/672

A HISTORY OF SURREY

to £5 16s. 4½d.^[1] after deducting a £5 rent-charge to the abbey of Waverley. The survey taken on the death of Bishop Burnell in 1292 mentions 220 acres of arable land, a windmill, a dovecote and half of another weir besides that mentioned above.^[2] In 1346 the manor was valued at £3 1s. 2d. yearly and included 60 acres of arable land worth, if well tilled, 4d. per acre ; 40 acres of arable land worth 2d. per acre ; ^[3] 5 acres of meadow and 5 acres of pasture at 1s. per acre ; a weir on the Thames worth 5s. ; and assized rents of free tenants worth 19s. 6d.^[4] The weir and dovecote mentioned above were bestowed by Henry V on the convent of St. Saviour and St. Mary and St. Bridget, Syon, which he founded at Isleworth.^[5]

In a survey taken in 1610 a barn called Court Barne is mentioned, and numerous closes ; common of pasture in Ham Common ; an island called Crowell Ait ; rent of free tenants 64s. 2d. ; assize rent of customary tenants 36s. 7d. ; total yearly value £53 3s. 8d.^[6] In 1650 the manor with its appurtenances was valued at £117 3s. 1d. yearly, the trees on the estate being worth £64 5s.^[7]

There was a hospital for lepers near Kingston in the 13th century, founded by the men of the vill on a site now unknown.^[8] In 1227 the lepers received royal letters of protection,^[9] but the house was abandoned by 1343–4, when it was ruined and escheat to the Crown.^[10] In this year William de Veirdire, valet of the chamber of Queen Philippa, petitioned for a grant of the site called 'Ye old Hospital,'^[11] and appears to have obtained it for life.^[12] He died before 1366–7, when it was valued at 10s. a year and granted for life to Nicholas Gretton, sompter of the king's larder.^[13] In 1392 he was dead, and the croft called 'Spitelland' was granted at a rent of 10s. a year to Robert Clay, yeoman of the spicery.^[14] The grant was confirmed to Robert Spicer alias Clay in 1400;^[15] and a croft, lands and tenements called Spittelland are again mentioned in 1534 as having belonged in the reign of Richard III to John Popyll.^[16] In consequence of his murdering one John Byrde this and other land escheated to the Crown, which appears to have retained it until 1534, when it was granted to Richard Kynwelmershe, mercer, John Crymes, clothworker, and Richard Crymes, haberdasher of London.^[17] No later mention of it has been found.

Rights of free fishery in the creek at Kingston were conveyed by William le Grys and Katharine his wife to John Celye in 1586 ; ^[18] he and William Barkworth sold them in 1612^[19] to William Ryder, whose heirs James Maxwell and Elizabeth his wife, Broome Whorwood and Jane his wife and Ann Ryder parted with them to Benjamin Agar in 1637–8.^[20] They again changed hands in 1641, when they were bought by George Sheeres.^[21] Similar rights were sold by John Evelyn to Anthony Benn in 1605,^[22] and by John Rowle and Elizabeth his wife to Edward Wilmot in 1778.^[23]

CHURCHES

The church of ALL SAINTS is a large building consisting of a chancel 43 ft. by 22 ft. 8 in., north chapel 25 ft. 2 in. by 17 ft. 9 in., now used as a vestry and organ chamber, north-east vestry, south chapel of the same length as the chancel and 20 ft. 4 in. wide with a shallow south transept at its west end 17 ft. 2 in. long by 11 ft. 3 in. deep, central tower 17 ft. square, north transept 27ft. 4 in. by 18 ft. 11 in., south

transept 29 ft. 11 in. by 18 ft. 9 in., nave 73 ft. 6 in. by 20 ft. 6 in., north aisle 18 ft. 11 in. wide, south aisle 21 ft. 3 in. wide, the latter with a small south transept at its east end in line with the transept wall and 10 ft. wide, and a north porch.

Apart from the destroyed chapel of St. Mary there appears to have been on the site of All Saints a 12th-century church, probably successor of the one mentioned in Domesday. A 12th-century doorway is said to have been discovered in the west wall of the nave when the modern restorations were begun about 1865 ; unfortunately it was only discovered to be again destroyed, but a photograph showing it was taken and is preserved in the vestry. This church must have been of considerable size and probably had a central tower, some of the stones of which may be still preserved in the piers and walling of the present one ; it is said that when one of the piers was rebuilt in the restoration of 1877–8 it was found that the visible ashlar work was merely a casing about the older work with which it had no real bond. The south wall of the early nave and the present south arcade probably coincided in position, but the nave was evidently some 2 ft. narrower, the north wall being moved outwards subsequently. There were also probably transepts of a depth equal to the width of the present aisles, but all vestiges of them are destroyed, as also are those of the earlier chancel, excepting for a length of roll mould in the jamb of the arch opening into the north (Holy Trinity) chapel. This length of mould appears to be of 13th-century date and points to the enlargement of the 12th-century chancel by moving the north wall outwards, keeping the south wall in its old position. In fact the widening of both chancel and nave may very well have taken place in the 13th century. If the widening of the chancel took place in the 15th century (the date of the rest of the arch) it seems curious that this short length of mould should have been re-used in a rebuilding when the remainder was so thoroughly destroyed ; but the fact that the mould was already in situ would assist in its preservation.

Before tracing the history of the present fabric, mention should be made of the chapel of St. Mary, which has now disappeared. It stood at the southeast of the church next to the south chapel of

506

1. Add. MS. 6167, fol. 250.
2. Chan. Inq. p.m. 21 Edw. I, no. 50.
3. The decrease of arable acreage is remarkable. In 1383 there were 100 acres. Had 120 acres been enfranchised, or alienated?
4. Chan. Inq. p.m. 21 Edw. I, no. 50.
5. Cal. Pat. 1422–9, p. 205.
6. Land Rev. Misc. Bks. vol. 198, fol. 101 d.
7. Parties. for Sale of Comn. Land (Aug. Off.), R. 18.
8. Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. III (Add.), no. 100.
9. Cal. Pat. 1225–32, p. 116.
10. Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. III (Add.), no. 100.
11. Ibid.
12. Abbrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec.Com.), ii,288.
13. Ibid. In Cal. Pat. 1391–6, p. 58, the name is given as Birton.
14. Cal. Pat. 1391–6, p. 58.
15. Ibid. 1399–1401, p. 292.
16. L. and P. Hen. VIII, vii, g. 1498 (36).
17. Ibid.
18. Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 28 Eliz.
19. Ibid. East. 10 Jas. I.
20. Ibid. East. 13 Chas. I.
21. Ibid. Trin. 17 Chas. I.
22. Ibid. Hil. 2 Jas. I.
23. Ibid. Hil. 18 Geo. III.