AN ITINERARY THROUGH LEE. 87 
the manor to.his grandson, Freeman Sondes, of Lees Court, 
Sheldwich, Kent, who, dying young, the property came to his 
father, Sir George Sondes, Kt., who was created Earl of Faver- 
sham. He left two daughters, and the manor eventually came, in 
1709, to Catherine the younger, who married Lewis Watson, Earl 
of Rockingham, 
The manor remained in the possession of this family until 
1798, when Lewis Thomas, second Baron Sondes, sold Lee, 
Shroffold and Bankers to Sir Francis Baring, Bart., from whom 
they have descended to the present Earl of Northbrook. 
The manor Pound formerly stood on the eastern side of Burnt 
Ash Road, near Lee Green. At the Court Leet a bailiff, ale- 
conner, and hogwarden were chosen. The meetings seem to 
have been regularly held until about 1809. In 1841 the jurors ~ 
were again summoned, but since then the Court has lapsed. 
The quit-rents, which represent the money payments in lieu of 
personal service of the free tenants amounted to about £40 
a year. 
With this preliminary sketch of the lords of the Manor of Lee, 
we will cross Lee Bridge and proceed by way of Belmont Hill. 
Lee Bridge, built in 1792, has been replaced in recent years by an 
iron girder bridge. The whole of the roadway here has been 
considerably raised to keep it above the level of the Quaggy, 
which in times past was wont to overflow its banks and flood the 
surrounding country. 
Belmont Hill is called Lewisham Lane on Rocque’s map of 
1745. In the return of church property made in 1634 to the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury it is styled Lee Lane or Butt Lane. The 
land on the right-hand side of the hill and at the lower end of 
the left-hand side, as far as Belmont Road, is the property of the 
Earl of St. Germans, but from Belmont Road to Boyne Road there 
is an estate which is part of the endowment of Morden College. 
On this site was one of those mounts dear to the folk of the early 
part of the 19th century, from which in those days a very pictur- 
esque view could be obtained. In 1830, a house was built on the 
spot by Mr. George L. Taylor, Surveyor of the Dockyards, and 
called ‘‘Belmont,” which thereupon gave its name to the road. 
The house was afterwards occupied by Mr. John Wainewright, 
and pulled down in 1907, when Boyne Road and Caterham Road 
Were made and the estate built over. The road was formerly a 
narrow and somewhat steep country lane, the only houses being 
“Lee Grove’ (‘*The Cedars”) and the Rectory, with the church. 
The crown of the’ hill was cut down in 1830, and the road 
straightened to the lodge gates of ‘‘The Cedars”; subsequently 
it was diverted so as to skirt the gardens of that house. 
‘‘The Cedars,” formerly known as ‘‘ Lee Grove,” was originally 
a small house, where dwelt one Will Prat, who was a well-known 
~~ London character and sheriff in 1734, and he died here in 1746. 
In 1733 it belonged to Mr. John Lucas, and in 1766 to Mr. Thomas 
