168 THE BRIGHTON ROAD 



Reigate, dropping its intermediate name of 

 Cherchefelle on Ridgegate, became variously Reigate, 

 Riggate, and Reygate in the thirteenth century. The 

 name obviously indicates a gate — that is to say, a 

 road — over the ridge of the downs ; presumably that 

 road upon which Gatton, the " gate-town," stood. 

 Strongly supporting this theory, Wray Common and 

 Park are found on the line of road between Reigate and 

 Gatton. If we select " Reygate " from the many 

 variants of the place-name, and place it beside that of 

 Wray Common, we get at once the phonetic link. 



When Reigate lost the two members it sent to 

 Parliament, it lost much more than the mere distinction 

 of being represented. It lost free drinks and money to 

 jingle in its pockets, for it was openly corrupt — in 

 fact, neither better nor worse than most other 

 constituencies. What else, when you consider it, 

 could be expected when the franchise was so limited 

 that the electors were a mere handful, and votes by 

 consequence were individually valuable. In short, 

 the best safeguard against bribery is to so increase the 

 electorate that the purchase of votes is beyond the 

 capacity of a candidate's pockets. 



Modern circumstances have, indeed, so wrought 

 with country towns of the Reigate type that they are 

 merely the devitalised spooks of their former selves, 

 and Reigate would long ere this have been on the verge 

 of extinction, had it not been within the revivifying 

 influence of the suburban area. It is due to the Wen, 

 as Cobbett would call it, that Reigate is still at once so 

 old-world and so prosperous. It is surrounded by 

 semi-suburban estates, but is in its centre still the 

 Reigate of that time when the coaches came through, 

 when royalty and nobility lunched at the still-existing 

 ' W T hite Hart," and when fifty miles made a long day's 

 journey. 



Reigate town was the property, almost exclusively, 

 of the late Lady Henry Somerset. By direction of her 

 heir, Somers Somerset, it was, in October, 1921, sold 

 at auction in several lots. 



