BLACKHEATH HUNDRED 



ALBURY 



including peeps of the little Tillingbourne stream and 

 of the lake before the house, with its swans ; the half- 

 ruined ancient church, almost hidden by its stately 

 cedars, and the house make this park, though its area 

 is but small, one of the loveliest in Surrey. The 

 gardens also merit the praise bestowed on them by 

 William Cobbett : 'Take it altogether,' he says, 'this 

 certainly is the prettiest garden I ever beheld. There 

 was taste and sound judgment at every step in the 

 laying out of this place.' The famous John Evelyn, 

 in 1667, at the request of Thomas Howard, Earl of 

 Arundel and Duke of Norfolk, 'designed the plot of 

 the canal and garden, with a crypt through the hill.' 

 Although the canal has been drained, a terrace of 

 beautiful green sward, about a quarter of a mile in 

 length, remains, together with the ' crypt,' and a 

 wonderful yew hedge, ' or rather,' as Cobbett writes, 

 'a row of small yew trees, the trunks of which are 

 bare for about 8 or I o ft. high, and the tops of 

 which form one solid head of about I oft. high, while 

 the bottom branches come out on each side of the 

 row about 8 ft. horizontally. This hedge or row,' 

 he adds, ' is a quarter of a mile long. There is a 

 nice, hard sand road under this species of umbrella ; 

 and summer and winter, here is a most delightful 

 walk.' ' 



The Catholic Apostolic Church, close to Albury 

 Park, is a cruciform building, with a western tower 

 and an octagonal chapter-house, designed in a starved 

 imitation of late I 5th-century architecture, and built 

 about 1 840 by Mr. Drummond. Immediately oppo- 

 site, on the south side, is a fine old timber-framed 

 house, with square and circle patterns in its main 

 gable, moulded barge-boards, projecting upper stories 

 and mullioned windows, recalling the design of Great 

 Tangley, in Wonersh parish, a few miles to the west. 

 This was no doubt an important house at one time. 

 In and around Albury are many half-timber cottages 

 and houses, as at Madgehole, Jelleys, Colman's Hol- 

 low, Mayor House Farm, and Shophouse Farm. 4 

 Pit House is another ancient house with an old roof not 

 far from the site of a Roman settlement. Many years 

 ago there was in Albury village an important house 

 called Weston House after the ancient family of that 

 name, who held the manor for centuries. Its stair- 

 case, of Spanish mahogany, was re-erected in the 

 County Club at Guildford. This was at the west 

 end of Weston Street, and is not to be confused with 

 Weston House, still standing, at the east end. 



Weston House, in Weston Street, is the seat of 

 Mr. W. W. Wright ; Weston Lodge, of Colonel 

 Martindale ; Dalton Hill, of Colonel Malthus. 



Albury has had several distinguished residents. 

 William Oughtred, the famous mathematician of his 

 day, was rector from 1610 to 1 660, holding the pre- 

 ferment through the Civil War time till he died in 



possession a month after the Restoration. Samuel 

 Horsley, afterwards Bishop of Rochester and of 

 St. Asaph, was rector 1 77480. The Rev. Edward 

 Irving resided a good deal in the parish when the 

 Catholic Apostolic Church was being founded. Mr. 

 Martin Tupper was a resident till a few years before 

 his death, and composed his once-famous Proverbial 

 Philosophy here. The scene of his romance, Stephen 

 Langton, is laid in the neighbourhood, but embodies no 

 real local history. 



The history of ALBVRT M4NOR 

 MANORS before the Conquest is obscure. It is 

 quite uncertain whether the two 

 'mansae' in Albury, held by Chertsey before the 

 Conquest, and attributed (falsely) to the grant of 

 Frithwald of the 7th century,' were part of their East 

 Clandon Manor reaching into this parish or at one of 

 the two other places in Surrey called ' Aldeberie.' 



In Domesday it appears that Azor held it of the Con- 

 fessor, and it was granted after the Conquest to Richard 

 de Tonbridge, ancestor of the de Clares and their de- 

 scendants, 6 in whom the overlordship was vested till it 

 lapsed in the 1 6th century. 7 Roger D'Abernon was 

 tenant under Richard, 8 and his descendants were 

 lords of the manor for more than five centuries. 9 In 

 the i 3th century 10 it formed the dower of Joan widow 

 of Ingram D'Abernon. John 

 D'Abernon obtained a grant 

 of free warren here in 1253." 

 The manor passed with Eliza- 

 beth daughter and co-heir of 

 William D'Abernon, who died 

 in 1359, to the Croyser fami- 

 ly," and through Elizabeth's 

 granddaughter Anne to Henry 

 Norbury." From them it de- 

 scended to Joan wife of Sir 

 Urian Brereton," who con- 

 veyed it in 1550-1 to Henry 



Foisted and his wife Alice in consideration of an 

 annuity to Joan and her heirs. 15 The manor was so 

 settled that after the death of Alice, who survived 

 her husband, it remained to Vincent, son and heir 

 of Edward Randall. 16 His estates descended to Sir 

 Edward Randall of Edlesborough, Buckinghamshire," 

 who sold the manor in 1633-4 to J onn Gresham of 

 Fulham. 18 In 1638 John Gresham and George Dun- 

 combe conveyed it to the trustees of Thomas, Earl 

 of Arundel. 19 After some delay, owing to the se- 

 questration of the earl's estates," during which time 

 George Duncombe resumed possession and held courts, 

 Mr. Henry Howard paid the purchase money to the 

 Duncombes before 1655," and acquired Albury. He 

 was grandson to the Earl of Arundel, and later 

 succeeded as Duke of Norfolk. He conveyed it to 

 trustees for sale in 1 680." It was purchased by 



D'ABERNON. 



a cAeveron or. 



Azure 



' Cobbett, Rural Walks and Rides. 



* Old Cottages and Domestic Architecture 

 in South-'west Surr. (2nd ed.), 91. 



4 Birch, Cart. Sax. i, 39. 



* y.C.H.Surr.i, 3193. 



^ Excirpta e Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), i, 

 272 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. II, no. 68 ; 

 ibid. 3 Hen. V, no. 37 ; ibid. (Ser. 2), 

 cclxxiii, 99. 



8 V.C.H.Surr.\, 3190. 



* The detailed history is coincident with 

 that of Stoke D'Abernon (q.v.). 



" Add. Chart. (B.M.), 5562. 

 11 Cat. of Chart. R. i, 435. 



11 Chan. Inq. p.m. 18 Ric. II, no. 108. 



Feet of F. Div. Co. 14 Hen. VI, 184; 

 Add. Chart. (B.M.), 5618. 



" See account of the family under Stoke 

 D'Abernon. 



15 Feet of F. Div. Co. Mich. 3 Edw. VI. 

 The annuity descended to Joan's daughters, 

 Mary wife of Sir Robert Peckham, and 

 Anne wife of Sir George Cobham. The 

 latter's son, Sir John Cobham, forfeited 

 his share to the Crown. James I granted 

 it to Sir Edward Randall, then lord of 

 Albury, and to others ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 

 (Ser. 2), clxix, 40 ; Pat. 3 Jas. I, pt. xxr. 



73 



18 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cxci, 78 ; 

 Chan. Proc. Eliz. R r, x, 54. 



11 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cclxxiii, 99. 



18 Close, 9 Chas. I, pt. xli, no. 1 1 8. 

 Gresham mortgaged it immediately to 

 George Duncombe of Albury ; Close, 10 

 Chas. I, pt. xxviii, m. 33. 



Feet of F. Surr. Mil. 13 Chan. I. 



80 Cal. of Com. for Compounding iv, 

 2471. 



u Evelyn's Diary, 10 Aug. 1655 ; cf. 

 19 June 1662. 



m Close, 32 Chas. II, pt. xiv, no. 10. 



10 



