GODALMING HUNDRED 



ARTINGTON 



by More of the Sidney moiety, which he after- 

 wards held. In 1515-16 Sir Christopher More 

 acquired the rights of John Twistleton, goldsmith, of 

 London, probably a mortgagee ; and before 153 2-3 

 he had evidently purchased this moiety in addi- 

 tion to the other (vide infra), for William son 

 of Humphrey Sidney then released all his rights 

 to him. 60 



The other moiety was in the hands of a John 

 Strode and Katherine his wife in 1429, and of 

 Katherine widow of John and John her son in 1435, 

 and of a Robert Strode in 1454 5- 81 They, in 

 granting a lease of land bounded by William Sidney's 

 land, spoke of ' nostra pan de manerio de Losele,' 

 and gave the grant at Loseley. This moiety there- 

 I fore may possibly have included the manor-house, 

 and may have been the Bures moiety. Robert 

 Strode, heir of Thomas Strode, conveyed to trustees, 

 8 October I476, 51 and by this means no doubt the 

 moiety was acquired by John Westbroke, for John 

 Westbroke held his first court at Loseley in i^Si." 

 John Westbroke was summoned to warrant the 

 manor of Loseley to Gilbert Stoughton and Thomas 

 Purvoche in isoo, 84 and on 31 October 1508 John 

 Westbroke of Godalming sold to Christopher More, 

 gentleman, all his moiety of Loseley Manor, reserv- 

 ing an annuity to himself and his wife Elizabeth for 

 life. 86 Christopher More held 

 his first court at Loseley 



1 1 January I joS-g. 86 In 

 1 530 he had licence to inclose 



12 acres of land and a grant 

 of free warren and free fishery 

 within the park, of which this 

 may have been the nucleus. 87 

 Sir Christopher More died 

 1549. His son William be- 

 gan to build the present 

 house, which was completed 

 in I569. 88 William, who was 

 knighted in 1576, was the 



most trusted agent of Elizabeth's Government in 

 Surrey, and a special favourite of the queen. The 

 lords lieutenant, the two Lords Howard of Effing- 

 ham, and the Council, seem to have remitted all 

 business to him. He also acquired much property 

 in the county and elsewhere. In 1570 the Earl 

 of Southampton was removed to his custody and 

 remained at Loseley for three years. 89 Queen 

 Elizabeth visited the house three times, in 1576, 

 1583, and again in 1591." Sir William's son and 

 heir, Sir George More, kt., who succeeded to the 

 estate in 1600," was Lieutenant of the Tower, and 

 represented both Guildford and Surrey county in 

 Parliament, as his father had done before him.** He 

 was twice visited by James I at Loseley .** He died 

 and was buried in the Loseley Chapel, St. Nicholas, 



MORI of Loseley. A- 

 xure a cross argent with 

 five marflfts sable thereon. 



Guildford, in 1632, his heir being Poynings, son 

 of his eldest son Sir Robert More, kt., who had 

 predeceased his father." Loseley remained the r. ra- 

 perty of his heirs male till 1689, when at the death 

 of Robert More, the then holder, his sister and sole 

 surviving heiress, Margaret wife of Sir Thomas 

 Molyneux, 94 inherited the manor. Their eldest son, 

 Sir William More-Molyneux, died 1760. His eldest 

 son James had died the year before. His son 

 Thomas More-Molyneux died unmarried in 1776, 

 and left the property to his sisters in succession, and 

 then to James Freeman afias Molyneux, son of Jane 

 Freeman, who was afterwards the wife of Samuel 

 Hill of Duke Street, gentleman. James, son of 

 Thomas, became owner in 1802, as James More- 

 Molyneux, and died 1823. His son James died 1874. 

 William More-Molyneux, son of James, 8 * 1 died 1907. 

 The present owner is Mrs. More-Molyneux McCowan, 

 daughter of his brother, Admiral Sir Robert More- 

 Molyneux. 



View of frankpledge was held at Loseley by the 

 Bishop of Salisbury as lord of Godalming ; * and 

 thus when the Mores of Loseley obtained Godalm- 

 ing they also obtained the right of view of frankpledge 

 on their manor of Loseley. There was an oratory 

 in this manor from the end of the I4th century, 

 when Robert de Dol had licence to hear mass there." 

 Sir George More enlarged the new house and added 

 a chapel where he held licence for services in 1605." 

 But this extension became ruinous, and was pulled 

 down by the late Mr. James More-Molyneux about 

 1835. 



Loseley lies about 2 miles to the south-west of Guild- 

 ford. There was certainly a moated house near this 

 site at a much earlier date, but the present mansion was 

 built from the ground between 1563 and 1 569, by Sir 

 William More. Sir Christopher More, who came 

 out of Derbyshire, must have occupied from about 

 I 5 1 5 an older house which probably stood on the site 

 of the lawn to the south of the present house, and he 

 obtained in 1530 a licence to empark. The 'park' 

 still remains, and forms with its green turf, flower- 

 gardens, and trees, gathering on the west into a great 

 avenue which is perhaps more like a forest ride a 

 worthy setting for the fine old house. 



As originally planned, the house of 1563 was to 

 have occupied three sides of a square, a central gate- 

 house and flanking walls, with perhaps minor offices, 

 forming the fourth side, thus leaving a great open 

 quadrangle in the middle. In conformity with this 

 clinging to earlier traditions in planning is the style 

 of architecture in which the house is built, which leans 

 to the older Gothic in all its forms, rather than to 

 the Renaissance. 



The original plan was never fully carried out, but 

 was confined in execution to the main block of 

 the south side of the square, thus giving the principal 



80 Copy of Inq. p.m. and deeds at 

 Loseley. 



81 Deeds at Loteley. 



85 Ibid. 



88 Fragment of roll there, 



84 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 1 5 Hen. VII, 

 13 ; De Banco R. 15 Hen. VII, m. xi. 



"Add. Chart. 13557. More was, as 

 we have seen, simultaneously acquiring 

 the Sidney moiety. 



86 Loseley MSS. 



* Pat. Hen. VIII, pt, ii. m. 3. 



The present park is much more than 1 1 

 acres. 



88 See Arch, xxxri, 294, where there 

 is printed an account of the expenses 

 of building Loseley House, and also an 

 inventory of the goods of William More 

 in 1556. 



89 Kempe, Loieley MSS. 129 et seq. 



90 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, App. 

 629, 638, 649. 



91 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cclxiv, 179. 

 91 Return of Members of Purl. pt. i. 



98 Diet. ffat. Biog. xxrriii, 414. 



M Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccxjutrii, 

 106. 



95 Inscription in church of St. Nicholas, 

 Guildford. 



** The writer desires to acknowledge 

 his obligations to this gentleman for the 

 free use of his MSS. 



Hist. MSS. Com. Rtf. rii, App. 599, 

 600, &c. 



*! Egerton MS. 2033, foL 53*. 



98 Licence at Loseley. 



