GODALMING HUNDRED 



GODALMING 



the quaintly laudatory style so often met with in 

 monuments of this period. 



In the south transept is a tablet to the Rev. Owen 



Manning, Canon of Lincoln, rector of Peper Harow 



and vicar of Godalming for thirty-seven years, joint 



author of Manning and Bray's History of Surrey, who died 



in 1 80 1. He is buried in the churchyard. 



The Registers of Godalming, edited by Mr. H. E. 

 Maiden, have been published by the Surrey Parish 

 Register Society (vol. ii), and extracts from them in 

 a paper on the church by the late Major Heales, 

 F.S.A.*" b They commence in 1582, but copies of 

 earlier entries are to be found in Symmes's MS. in the 

 British Museum, among which is : 



' 1 541, July 7, Sir James Wall, Soul Priest of Godal- 

 ming, was buryed.' *" 



The famous Nicholas Andrews, ' Vic. de Godalmyn,' 

 has signed each page of vol ii, from March 1636 to 

 1642. In the plague-year, 1666, there are many 

 entries of deaths due to ' y e great sickness,' which, no 

 doubt owing to the proximity of the Portsmouth road, 

 must have spread from London with fatal effect. 



Besides more modern pieces, there are patens of 

 1685 and 1722 among the church plate, and a fine 

 silver alms basin of 1632. 



The bells have all been recast in the 1 8th and igth 

 centuries. Prior to 1849 or 1850 there was a unique 

 survival (so far as Surrey is concerned) of a sanctus bell, 

 hung externally at the base of the south-east side of the 

 spire. This now does duty at the cemetery chapel. 

 It was cast by Richard Phelps in 1724. 



The church of St. John the Baptist, Busbridge, is 

 of Bargate stone with chalk quoins and windows in 

 13th-century style. There is a central tower. It was 

 consecrated in 1867. 



The church of St. John the Evangelist, Farncombe, 

 is of Bargate stone, with a bell-turret but no tower 

 or spire, in 13th-century style. It was consecrated 

 in 1 849. The Rev. Charles C. R. Dallas, rector 1859- 

 80, was as an ensign in the 32nd Foot wounded at 

 Quatre Bras. The church was built upon land given 

 by the late James More Molyneux which had escheated 

 to him as lord of the manor owing to the tenant 

 having committed murder. 



The church of St. Mary the Virgin, Shackleford, 

 is of Bargate stone in a good 13th-century style, built 

 by Sir Gilbert Scott. It is cruciform, with north and 

 south aisles divided from the nave by arcades of four 

 arches. A central tower and spire were built in 

 1865. 



The ancient site of the parish church was Minster 

 Field at Tuesley. A chapel dedicated in honour of 

 the Virgin Mary was still standing in a ruinous state 

 there in 1220, and its memory was preserved by 

 celebrations on the Purification, the Vigil of the 

 Assumption, and the Nativity of the Virgin. There 

 was also a burying-ground there.* 39 After the dis- 



solution of free chapels under Edward VI, the chapel 

 in Godalming called Oldminstcr, with a cemetery 

 round it, was leased to Laurence Eliot.' 40 The 

 foundations of this chapel, which have been un- 

 covered in recent years, prove it to have been 

 stone-built, with a nave 21 ft. by 14 ft., and a 

 chancel 1 1 ft. long, of the same width as the nave, 

 and separated from it by a wall with an arch or door 

 in it. The nave itself was divided up the centre 

 longitudinally by a wall or foundation, and many 

 ancient interments were found within this area, the 

 skeletons being disposed from east to west. The 

 close called ' Chapel Fields ' is mentioned with the 

 Eliots' manor of Busbridge in May 1622 ;"' it is close 

 to Minster Field. A fair was held on Lady Day at 

 the Old Minster as late as the 1 6th century. 



GODALMING RECTORT was a separate fee in 

 the time of Edward the Confessor, when Ulmaer held it 

 of the king. In 1086 it consisted of a church and three 

 hides, and was held of Godalming Manor by Ranulph 

 Flambard, who became chief adviser of William II ; 

 he also held the church at Tuesley,' and Tuesley 

 was parcel of the rectory manor.' 41 Ranulph fled 

 from Henry I to Duke Robert of Normandy ; and 

 though he was pardoned by Henry in 1 1 o6,' 44 he does 

 not appear to have regained entire possession of his lands, 

 for a few years later '" the king granted Ranulph's fee in 

 Godalming, Tuesley, Enton, and Guildford, together 

 with Heytesbury co. Wilts, to the church of St. Mary, 

 Salisbury, as a prebend on condition that Ranulph 

 should hold the churches for life as a canon of Salis- 

 bury.' 46 It was known as the prebend of Heytesbury, 

 and, Ranulph Flambard having died in 1128,"' the 

 prebend was annexed to the possessions of the Deans 

 of Salisbury.* 43 The cathedral obtained a confirma- 

 tion of Godalming Church and a grant of 30 librates 

 of land in Godalming in 1 157 in return for the castle 

 of Devizes.* 4 ' The rectory was impropriate to the 

 dean by 1 2 8 5 . In a visitation of the manor dated 1220 

 it is stated that there had been a vicar there for a long 

 time, but he had never been residentiary.* 40 



The estate and the advowson were leased fre- 

 quently. In a dispute between the lessee (Mr. Castil- 

 lion) and the vicar in 1578 some curious evidence 

 was given of the former state kept by the dean when 

 he visited the rectory house, then ruined, north of the 

 church. He spent ' 30 hogsheads of drink at Christ- 

 mas.' * sl A picturesque old house which stood here 

 till about 1860 must have been a successor to the one 

 described. The dispute continued till 1628. The 

 final decree in Chancery preserves the survey of the 

 rectory manor made in 1622."* 



The manor remained the property of the successive 

 Deans of Salisbury till the Act of 1649 abolishing 

 deans and chapters. Whilst it belonged to the State 

 a survey of the rectory manor was taken.' 55 It in- 

 cluded, besides the right of presentation and tithes, the 



"7 b Surr. Arch. Coll. iv, 105. 



""Add. MS. 6167 ; being part of 'Col- 

 Icctiont for a History of Surrey ' made by 

 Mr. Symmes, an attorney of Guildford, 

 in about the year 1670. 



' Reg. of St. Oimund (Roll Ser.), i, 

 297. 



""Misc. Bks. (Land Rev.), vol. 190, 

 fol. 237. 



Harl. Chart. 57 H. 43. 



> V.C.H. Surr. i, 298*. 



448 Reg. of St. Osmund, fol. 42. 



3 



tH Diei. Nat. Siog. xir, 237. 



844 Between 1109 and 1117. 



* 8 Sarum Chart, and Doe. (Roll Ser.), 3. 



W Diet. Nat. Biog. xix, 237. 



448 Sarum Chart, and Doc. (Rolli Ser.), 

 358. 



" Ibid. 29. Manning and Bray state 

 that this grant referred to the manor of 

 Godalming, but mention it only made of 

 the church with its appurtenances. The 

 deed is clearly one of restoration, an amic- 

 able settlement of the late disputes as to 



41 



the cathedral's property. See ibid. 22 ; 

 Pipe R. I Ric. I (Rec. Com.), 216 ; 2 Hen. 

 II, 10 ; 4 Hen. II, 161 ; ibid. (Pipe R. 

 Soc.), i, 55 ; iv, 42 et seq. ; Tata de 

 Ne-uill (Rec. Com.), 225. 



450 Reg. of St. Otmund (Rolls Ser.), i, 297. 



*"LoseIey MSS. ii, 31; ix, 55, and 

 a loose paper. 



454 Chan. Decrees, 3 Chas. I, No. 247/4. 

 The survey is quoted by Manning and 

 Bray, Hist, of Surr. i, 644. 



848 Proc. of the Surr. Arch. Soc. ii, 50. 





