GODALMING HUNDRED 



CHIDDINGFOLD 



the southern wall. The western lancet has a sill- 

 transom, below which is a low side window, at present 

 glazed, but the rebate and hooks for the shutter 

 remain. In the same wall, to the east, are a good 

 trefoil-headed piscina of c. 1260, and the original 

 piscina with oak credence shelf, nearer to the altar, 

 which has been turned into an aumbry. This wall 

 and the east wall have a chamfered plinth and the 

 original buttresses, with their stone water-tables, in 

 good preservation. 



The work to the chancel was either altered soon 

 after its erection, or, more probably, resumed after 

 suspension for lack of funds or some other reason. 

 Then, in about 1260, the north chapel was built, and 

 the present east window put in the chancel. It will 

 be noted that the wall between the chancel and chapel 

 is thinner than the outer walls, which seems to indi- 

 cate that the two had been planned at the same time, 

 although built with an interval. The eastern part of 

 the partition wall is blank ; the western has two 

 pointed arches of two orders a chamfer and a hollow 

 resting upon an octagonal column and semi- 

 octagonal responds, only the column having a capital 

 and base of plain section. The space to the west- 

 ward was pierced in 1870 with another smaller arch, 

 thus making a second column in place of the respond. 

 The windows of this chapel are practically new, except 

 that in the east wall, which has been renewed upon the 

 old lines. It is of two trefoiled lights with a quatre- 

 foil in the head. The east window of the chancel, 

 very gracefully proportioned, of three trefoiled lights 

 with three trefoiled circles over, within an inclosing 

 arch and hood-moulding, is a most valuable example 

 of its period, c. 1260. In 1870, very reprehen- 

 sibly, its lights were shortened about i8in. There 

 was a circular gable-light in the east wall before 1870, 

 of which a modern copy, as an unpierced panel, has 

 been preserved. 



The chancel arch had originally low responds, 

 which were raised about 3 ft. when the whole arch 

 was shifted and reconstructed in 1870. The arch 

 itself, which is of two orders, with bold roll and hollow 

 mouldings on its western and chamfers on the eastern 

 face, has been rebuilt on the original lines. The 

 outer order of the jambs has a roll moulding with 

 good stops, and the capitals, of a fine bold section, 

 have their abacus continued as an impost to the outer 

 order of the arch. 68 



Ip is somewhat difficult to fix a date for the tower 

 before the alterations of 1870 masked its character, 

 but jthe 1 7th century may be hazarded approximately, 

 as ids windows before they were altered had segmental- 

 ardfied heads, and there was a parapet with obelisks at 

 the! angles, resembling that at the neighbouring church 

 of Witley. It may have superseded an earlier stone 



rer, or perhaps one of timber. 

 The north aisle in its present form is entirely 

 tieiv, save for the lancet of c. 1 200 rebuilt in its 

 veit wall, and is of discordant character especially 

 a wheel window in its east gable. Originally 

 .us aisle had a lean-to roof like that of the north 



wpel. 



' The roof over the chancel is in the main that of 



e i 3th century, and still retains its richly-moulded 



cambered tie-beams and king-posts. The nave roof, 

 also with moulded tie-beams and wall-plates, is per- 

 haps as old, but owing to the great height it is difficult 

 to speak with certainty. The aisle and chapel roofs 

 appear to have been renewed in 1870. 



At this time also the seating and fittings generally 

 were renewed, but a few old seats, perhaps as old as 

 the 1 7th century, were worked in ; and in the vestry 

 is preserved one of much older date, with scrolled tops 

 to the ends, resembling in design the remarkable late 

 13th-century nave seats at Dunsfold hard by. A 

 Jacobean communion-table now stands in the vestry. 

 There is a 13th-century font, disused, besides the 

 modern one. 



The church contains few ancient monuments, but in 

 the churchyard is the grave of the mother of Dr. Young, 

 the author of Night Tkoughti. 



The registers date from I 563. 



Among the church plate are a cup and paten of 

 1 66 1 (probably a thank-offering by Dr. Layfield on 

 his reinstatement in the rectory after a long perse- 

 cution by the Puritans), and a handsome silver flagon 

 of tankard shape, bearing the hall-marks of 1 747. 



Of the eight bells one is probably of the second half 

 of the I Jth century, and is inscribed in black letter : 



Sancts. Trinitas Ora Pro Nobis 



The second is by Richard Eldridge, 1622 ; the third 

 by Bryan Eldridge, 1656 ; the fourth by Samuel 

 Knight, 1699 ; and the tenor by William Eldridge, 

 undated. Of the three modern bells one is by Mears 

 & Stainbank, 1 870 ; two by Warner & Sons, 1 894. 

 The church is not mentioned in 

 JDrOWSON the Domesday Survey. Chidding- 

 fold was then parochially part of 

 Godalming, of which it was later a chapelry. It 

 was in existence late in the 1 2th century, for circa 

 1 1 80 Ralph de Lechlade granted the church of 

 Chiddingfold with the chapel of Piperham (i.e. Hasle- 

 mere) to his clerk, Geoffrey de Lechlade, to hold 

 for an annual pension of I Ib. of wax ; and a vicar 

 was instituted in 1 1 85.'' Again, a few years later, 

 Savaric, Archdeacon of Northampton, bestowed the 

 church and chapel upon Richard son of Richard for 

 a similar rent to Ralph de Lechlade. 70 A pension 

 of 2 marks was conveyed, after the death of Ralph, 

 to Thomas de Chebeham by Philip, Canon of 

 Heytesbury, of which prebend Godalming was a 

 member." In a survey of Godalming Rectory taken 

 in 1 2 20 Chiddingfold is still called a chapel, the 

 chaplain being appointed by the rector of God- 

 aiming, to whom he paid loot, yearly, while the 

 pound of wax was still due to Godalming Church. 71 

 In 1291, however, the church of Chiddingfold with its 

 chapel was assessed at 20." The right of presenta- 

 tion rested with the Deans of Salisbury, until it was 

 transferred to the Bishop of Winchester when the 

 Ecclesiastical Commissioners acquired Godalming 

 Rectory in l846(q.v.). 



In 1852 the advowson was transferred from the 

 Bishop of Winchester to the Bishop of Lichfield, 7 * and, 

 finally, in May 1872, was exchanged with the 

 Crown, in whom the right of presentation is now 

 vested. 75 



88 The work recallt that of the chancel 

 rch of the tame date in Clympinj Church, 

 ussex. 



69 Rig. of St. Osmund (Rolls Ser.), i, 



268, 301-3 ; Winton Epis. Reg. Wood- 

 lock, fol. ii, i z. 



7 Ibid. 301. 



f Ibid. 297. 



15 



7 Ibid. 



7* PofH Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), zo8. 

 1* Lund. Go*. 4 June 1852, p. 1578. 

 7 s Ibid. 5 May 1873, p. 2265. 



