GODALMING HUNDRED 



and Jane Payne, inherited Rokeland, which ultimately 

 passed to Thomas Clarke, 147 who sold ' the manor of 

 Rokeland ' and a house called Rokehouse to Thomas 

 Carrill in I585- 1 * 8 Six years later the Carrills alien- 

 ated Rokeland to John Westbrook, 149 whose descendants 

 held it for nearly a century. 140 In 1674 Richard 

 and William Westbrook sold it to Thomas Smith of 

 Witley, 151 with which manor it has since descended. 



The church of ALL S4INTS stands 

 CHURCHES upon a gentle slope on one side of the 

 village. The churchyard is beautiful 

 and has some fine trees; and the cottages at the south- 

 eastern angle, with the church stile, combine to make 

 a most picturesque and oft-painted group, the square 

 tower and slender spire of the church appearing be- 

 hind. There are many lyth and 18th-century grave- 

 stones in the churchyard. 



The church is built of local sandstone rubble, with 

 dressings of the same or Bargate stone ; brick and Bath 

 stoc.e have been partly used for modern additions. 

 Horsham slabs still remain upon the roofs, together 

 with ordinary tiles, and the 

 spir e is covered with oak shingles. 



The church consists of nave, 

 44 ft. 6 in. by 1 8 ft. 6 in. with 

 north and south transepts (the 

 south, which is ancient, being 

 1 3 ft. 9 in. by 1 5 ft. 6 in.), 

 central tower (about 14 ft. 

 square) and spire, chancel, 26 ft. 

 6 in. long, by I 5 ft. 2 in., and 

 north chapel known as the Wit- 

 ley Manor Chapel, originally 

 lyft. by 156. The nave is 

 the oldest part of the building, 

 and probably the plan and main 

 structure of this date from the 

 last quarter of the 1 1 th cen- 

 tury. The central tower, tran- 

 septs, and chancel belong to the 

 next period, 1 1 90, while the 

 north chapel was added and 

 other alterations made in the 

 first half of the 1 4th century. 

 There is a porch on the south 

 of the nave, patched work of 

 19th-century date, and another giving access to the 

 north transept of more recent date. This transept 

 has been thrown out on an enlarged scale, and a 

 short aisle and vestry built in 1890 on the north of 

 the nave. Before these extensions the insertion of 

 ' churchwarden ' windows, &c., in the early part of 

 the I gth century, and a severe ' restoration ' in 1 844 

 had robbed the church of some of its interest. 



Externally, the most ancient feature is the south 

 doorway within the porch, which preserves its jambs 

 and their plain heavy nook-shafts, with cushion 

 capitals, of date c. 1080. Part of the abacus is plain 

 except for a small moulding, but the rest, of a slightly 

 later date, has been carved with another moulding and 

 the star-pattern. 16 * The original semicircular arch 

 has been replaced by a rude pointed one, apparently 

 of early igth-century date. The substance of the 

 nave walls, which are unusually lofty for a church of 



WITLEY 



this size, is of the latter part of the nth century, but 

 no windows of this period are now visible, they having 

 been replaced by large two-light openings of 'church- 

 warden ' character. The west window and the 

 doorway below are apparently of 15th-century date. 

 On the gable of the south porch, which is a modern 

 antique, is an ancient oak barge-board, perhaps as old 

 as the latter part of the I4th century, but belonging 

 originally to a demolished house in the village. 



The south window of the south transept is a 

 ' churchwarden ' insertion, but in the west and east 

 walls are small narrow lancets, dating from about 1 1 90. 

 The eastern is set with a pointed-arched recess on the 

 inside, indicating the position of the chapel altar. 

 This transept retains its original roof of somewhat 

 acute pitch. 



Above the crossing rises the tower, of solid dignified 

 square form, in two stages, without buttresses. It is 

 built like the rest of the church of local rubble, with 

 Bargate stone quoins and other dressings. At the 

 south-east angle is a circular stair-turret of modern 



Sca-le of feet 



WITLEY CHURCH 



GROUND PLAN 



date, and in the lower stage are lancet windows with 

 pointed heads. A string-course of half-round section 

 separates the stages, and upon this stand, in each face, 

 two round-headed openings divided by a broad mul- 

 lion : these are chamfered and rebated. The tower 

 is crowned by a coped parapet resting upon a corbel, 

 and at the angles are small obelisks or pinnacles, 

 evidently 1 7th-century additions ; the corbels of the 

 parapet being variously moulded and coeval with the 

 tower. 



The shingled spire is of 1 4th or 15th-century date. 

 Altogether this tower is one of the most interesting 

 studies in early masonry in Surrey. Within it rests 

 upon plain pointed arches, worked in clunch, and 

 having steeply chamfered imposts and narrow chamfers 

 to the piers. 



In the south wall of the chancel, at its western end, 

 is a trefoiled lancet, which old photographs show to 



147 In the above-mentioned survey 

 Thomas Clarke's name is inserted in the 

 margin as heir of Richard son of Walter 

 Roke. 



148 Close, 27 Eliz. pt. viii. 



""Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 33 Eliz. 



150 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccclxxiii, 



141 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 26 Chat. II. 

 "'Illustrated in V.C.H. Surr. ii, 

 448. 



74- 



6 7 



