A HISTORY OF SURREY 



CHARITIES 



Henry Smith's Charity applies to 

 this parish, and was augmented by an 

 annuity of 1 01., paid by the parish officers since the 

 sale of Poors' Land for the benefit of the new work- 



house circa 1 794, but this has not been paid for many 

 years. Ballard's (before 1850) and Callingham's 

 (1898) chanties are for the repair of graves, the residue 

 distributed to the poor, &c. 



COMPTON 



Contone (xi cent.). 



Compton parish, 2 miles north-west of Godalming, 

 4 miles west by south of Guildford, is about 2^ miles 

 from north to south, I J miles from east to west, and 

 contains 1,995 acres. The northern part of the 

 parish extends over the narrow chalk ridge of the 

 Hog's Back, the main part is in the Green Sand, 

 with a considerable outcrop of the Atherfield Clay 

 in the eastern part. On the west the land rises to- 

 wards the high ground about Puttenham Heath. 

 Compton Common lies east of the village. North- 

 east of the village, south of the Hog's Back, are two 

 eminences in the sand, one Budburrow Hill, now 

 crowned by the mortuary chapel, the other Rowbury 

 Hill, near the house of the late Mr. G. F. Watts, 

 R.A., called Limnerslease. These are apparently 

 referred to by Aubrey (167 3) and Coxe (circa 1726) as 

 Robin Hood's Butts, and connected with an apocry- 



COMPTON : OLD INN 



16 



phal story of a French invasion, and defeat of the 

 invaders. The time indicated is that of the invasion 

 of Louis of France in 1216, but there was no battle 

 at Compton, and the hills are natural. It is said 

 that skeletons were found here, but if so they were 

 only interments of probably Anglo-Saxon date. Neo- 

 lithic flint implements and flakes are not uncommon 

 on the north side of the parish. 



In the wood to the north-west of the village, at 

 the foot of the Hog's Back, are very extensive caves, 

 excavated in the Green Sand. Within the memory of 

 the last generation sand was brought from them for 

 sale to builders in Guildford, and they were probably 

 excavated for the sand ; but local tradition also con- 

 nects them with the smuggling trade, and calls them 

 Smugglers' Store-houses. It is not impossible that 

 they were used for such a purpose, as the extensive 

 cellars under several old farm-houses and cottages 

 below the chalk ridge in 

 Surrey pretty certainly 

 were used. 



The parish is wholly 

 agricultural, except for one 

 recently introduced in- 

 dustry. The late Mr. 

 G. F. Watts, R.A., who 

 resided at Limnerslease, 

 to the north of the parish 

 church, and Mrs. Watts 

 started a pottery and terra- 

 cotta-making school, which 

 continues.. The pupils 

 trained at it were em- 

 ployed in the decoration 

 of the mortuary chapel 

 in the cemetery, which 

 Mr. Watts built. This 

 is in brick and terra- 

 cotta, from his own de- 

 signs, on the side of the 

 hill, about half a mile from 

 the church. The style is 

 a sort of neo-Byzantine. 



There are one or two 

 ancient timber houses of 

 some interest in the (vil- 

 lage, which chiefly cpn- 

 sists of a winding street 

 straggling away to the 

 south of the church. One 

 of these, formerly the in? , 

 a good deal 'restored ' 

 stands on a raised bap , 

 so high above the roi ! 

 that a basement story f ' 

 stone is entered by a doc f. 

 on the street, the ground! 

 floor being approached by 

 another door on the bank 

 above. The first floor and 1 . 



