GODALMING HUNDRED 



COMPTON 



OOP 



JENYN. Argent a 

 fesie gules "with three be- 

 xanls thereon. 



granted land to Thomas his son ; Richard de Foisted 

 was a witness. 109 They were perhaps then tenants of 

 the Wintershulls. In 1424 Joan then wife of William 

 Catton and Agnes Basset, sisters and co-heirs of 

 Thomas Wintershull, to whom Walter Wintershull's 

 estates had descended, sued John Loxley for the 

 manor, 110 and again in 1441 Agnes Bassett and 

 John Weston son of Joan Catton disputed it 

 against John Jenyn. The latter claimed to be 

 enfeoffed of it, jointly with Bernard Jenyn of 

 Braboeuf, who is said to have married Elizabeth 

 daughter of John Loxley, son of Robert Loxley, 

 half-brother of Thomas Win- 

 tershull. 111 The Jenyns seem 

 to have made good their claim 

 to the manors, for Thomas 

 Jenyn, son of Bernard, held 

 it at his death in March 

 1508-9."' He left an infant 

 son John, afterwards knighted, 

 who died in 1545."* His 

 widow married Stephen Adams, 

 who was holding the manor 

 in her right a few years after 

 Sir John's death. 1 " It was 

 ultimately inherited by Agnes, 



or Anne, niece of Sir John and wife of John Wight 

 (or Weight), 116 who sold it to Sir William More of 

 Loseley in 15 58," from which time its history has 

 been coincident with that of Loseley. 



Court baron was attached to Westbury, East- 

 bury, Field Place, and Polsted, 117 but there seems to 

 be no record of courts held for Down, which was 

 not called a manor till I386." 8 The court of Pol- 

 sted was held during the I yth century in a meadow 

 under a walnut tree. 119 In 1249 the 

 tenant of Compton had estovers in the 

 wood of Compton towards the repair of 

 the house of the court of Compton.' 1JO 



In the Godalming Hundred Rolls, 1 " it 

 appear, that in the I4th, I5th, and i6th 

 centuries the tithing-man and tithings of 

 Compton attended at the hundred courts 

 at Godalming. But a view of frankpledge 

 was held regularly at Compton on the 

 Thursday after St. Matthew's Day, when 

 the tithings of Eastbury, Westbury, and 

 Polsted and of part of Hurtmore in 

 Compton were represented. On 22 Sep- 

 tember 1453, no one attended from 

 Polsted ' eo quod nullus est residens neque 

 inhabitans super eandem dec-nam,' and 

 the same is recorded of Hurtmore in God- 

 aiming the same year. But on 1 8 Sep- 

 tember 1483 the tenant of Polsted paid 

 %d. at the Godalming court, fro sua secta 

 relaxanda, and the tithing of Hurtmore 

 appears later, but no tithing-man for 

 Polsted. The inhabitants of the manors, 



which were also tithings in Compton, owed suit to 

 the court at Godalming (q.v.), when the Bishop of 

 Salisbury, lord of the manor as well as of the hundred, 

 held courts which from an early period combined 

 the functions of a court baron and a hundred court. 



In 1547 it was stated that the lords of Down had 

 failed to pay suit to Godalming for many years. 1 " 



The church of ST. NICHOLAS 

 CHURCH is built on a spur of sand hill rising 

 out of the valley in which the village 

 stands. The east end of the building is approached 

 from the road by the steep path overshadowed 

 with cypresses and other trees, and the church- 

 yard, which is very picturesque and well-wooded, 

 shares in the undulating nature of the site. Be- 

 hind the church to the west are some fine cedars 

 and other trees. The church, which is one of the 

 most interesting in the county, is built of Bargate 

 stone, flints, and chalk, with Bath stone used in the 

 modern work. A good deal of the exterior is covered 

 with a brownish plaster ; the roofs are tiled and the 

 spire of the western tower is shingled. Nearly all 

 the internal dressings are in clunch or hard chalk. 



The church was restored in 1843, under Mr. 

 H. Woodyer, and further works were carried out in 

 1869 and 1906. It consists of a western tower 

 about I o ft. square internally ; nave 47 ft. 6 in. long 

 by 1 8 ft. at its western end and i6ft. 6 in. at the 

 eastern ; north and south aisles, of the same length, 

 7ft. 3 in. wide, south porch, and chancel 27ft. 

 (originally 28 ft.), by 13 ft. at its western end. The 

 eastern part of the chancel is vaulted and separated 

 from the western by a low arch. It is of two stories, 

 the upper forming a chapel over the sanctuary, a 

 very rare feature in this country. On the north is a 



COMPTON CHURCH FROM THE SOUTH-EAST 



109 Deed at Loseley. 

 M De Banco R. 655 (Mich. 3 Hen. VI), 

 m. 123. 



'j 11 Ibid. 724, m. 477. It is possible 



thai} John Loxley claimed it as a descen- 



dai^t of Alice, widow of Thomas Winters- 



hpll and wife of Henry Loxley ; if so 



,ere must have been some definite settle- 



ent on Alice by the Wintershulls, and 



.is seems unlikely since Polsted is not 



mentioned in the inquisition taken upon 

 her death. Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Ric. II, 

 24. 



ua Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xxv, 48. 



" Ibid. Ixxii, 96. 



Misc.Bks. (Exch. T.R.), clxix, 109*. 



113 See under Braboeuf in Arling- 

 ton. 



" Feet of F. Surr. East. 4 & 5 Phil, 

 and Mary. 



21 



W Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. II, 57 5 

 Add. MS. (B.M.) 6171. 



118 Chan. Inq. p.m. 10 Ric. II, 46. 



"'Add. MS. (B.M.), 6171. 



M Feet of F. Surr. 33 Hen. Ill, I. 



1M Loseley MSS. 



"Misc. Bks. (Exch. L.T.R.), clxix, 

 1 1 3*. 



