A HISTORY OF SURREY 



date, but they have been much restored and are 

 largely of new material. That on the south side 

 appears in Cracklow's view very much as at present. 



The timber bell-tower, standing on huge oak posts 

 worked into a series of hollow mouldings, rises from 

 the floor of the nave at its western end and occupies 

 the western bay of the arcades, its width across the 

 nave (20 ft. 6 in.) being considerably greater than 

 from west to east (l I ft. 6 in.). It is spanned both 

 ways by arched braces, those on the sides being much 

 lower and forming complete four-centred arches. 

 The framework of the bell-chamber above and of the 

 spire is ancient, and the whole forms a most interest- 

 ing piece of mediaeval carpentry, the date of which 

 may be placed at about 1500." The bell-cage is 

 coeval. 



The present west window of the nave, a dispro- 

 portionately large one of five lights, replaces a simple 

 two-light opening, having been inserted, together 

 with its glass, quite lately as a memorial. 



All the roofs of nave, south aisle, and chancel are of 

 massive oak timbers, the spaces between the rafters 

 being plastered. Such roofs are difficult to date pre- 

 cisely, but these may well be as old as the beginning 

 of the 1 4th century. 



The chancel screen is a restoration, incorporating 

 parts of one of 15th-century date, and great part of 

 the oak seating is of the same period, the bench-ends 

 being of a plain square shape, with a moulded cap- 

 ping. The pulpit is an interesting example of 

 Jacobean date, retaining its sound-board, suspended 

 by a scrolled iron rod. 



No ancient paintings are now visible, but in the 

 works of 1845, on removing the whitewash, traces of 

 a Crucifixion were found over the east window of the 

 chancel, and a diaper of flower pots with lilies and 

 roses on the north side of the nave. These were un- 

 fortunately covered up again, and in recent years the 

 chancel walls have been elaborately painted with 

 diaper patterns and figures. All the glass now in the 

 church is modern. 



The altar is raised on three steps above the chancel, 

 the latter, however, being on the same level as the 

 nave. 



Few churches in Surrey have such an interesting 

 font. It is in Bargate stone, tub-shaped, with a broad 

 shallow base of recessed section round which winds a 



cable-moulding, the upper part of the bowl having an 

 arcade of eight circular-headed arches on square piers 

 with small square imposts incised in a very shallow 

 fashion. Within each arch is a Maltese cross on a 

 long stem. A similar ornament was added to the 

 ancient font in St. Martha's Chapel (q.v.) in 1 849 by 

 Mr. Woodyer. The date of the font is about 1 1 oo, 

 and its design in the matter of the arcade and crosses 

 is remarkably like that of the early font in Yapton 

 Church, Sussex. 



The most ancient monument within or without 

 the church is to a yeoman family, the Didelsfolds, 

 dating from 1670. The monument of Francis Dor- 

 rington is of 1693. In the churchyard is a slab said 

 to cover the grave of the last of the glass manufac- 

 turers. A few incised marks may be found on the 

 pillars of the south arcade and on one of the splays of 

 the opening in the north wall of the chancel. The 

 parish chest is of 1687. 



The registers of burials date from 1658, of bap- 

 tisms from 1 66 1, and among other items of interest 

 contain several certificates for touching for the king's 

 evil. 



Besides three pieces of 1819, 1820, and 1821, 

 there are a silver chalice and paten-cover of 1570, 

 and a pewter tankard-shaped flagon dated 1664. A 

 curious pewter almsdish and a pewter plate have been 

 lost between 1839 and 1876. 



Of the three bells the treble and tenor are by 

 Bryan Eldridge, of 1631 and 1625, and the second 

 is by William Eldridge, 1714. 



The advowson belonged to the 

 ADVQWSON lords of Shalford Manor, and is men- 

 tioned in the grant of that manor to 

 John son of Geoffrey. 14 Richard son of John in- 

 herited the advowson, which formed a part of his 

 widow's dower, and at her death descended to the 

 successive Earls of Ormond, lords of Shiere Vachery, 36 

 till early in the 1 6th century, when Edmund Bray 

 presented to Alfold. 57 Either he or his descendants 

 seem to have sold it, and it afterwards continually 

 changed hands. In 1 68 1 Elizabeth Holt, and in 1694 

 Christopher Coles, presented, and in 1711 it was in 

 the gift of Jacob Whitehead. William Elliott pre- 

 sented in 1 80 1, and the Rev. William Elliott in 

 1817. The present patron is Sir Henry Harben of 

 Warnham. 



BRAMLEY 



Bronlei, Brunlei, Brunlege, Brolege (xi cent.), 

 Bromlegh, Bromley, Bromle, (xiii cent.). 



Bramley was originally a part of the ecclesiastical 

 parish of Shalford, with a separate chapel since 

 probably the nth century at least, for there may be 

 work of that or the I2th century in the church, and 

 it would seem to be one of the three churches in 

 Bramley Manor in 1086. It was a distinct civil 

 parish from Shalford before it was ecclesiastically 

 separated in 1844. The parish lies south-east of 

 Guildford, about 3 miles. It is about 5 miles 

 north to south, and 2 miles from east to west, but 



tapers towards the south. It contains 4,510 acres 

 of land, and 34 of water. It is bounded on the 

 north by Shalford, on the east by Wonersh and Cran- 

 leigh, on the south by Hascombe and Dunsfold, on 

 the west by Godalming and an outlying part of 

 Dunsfold. The soil is the Lower Greensand over 

 the great part of the parish, this soil rising into hills 

 of some elevation on the borders of Godalming 

 parish to the west. Southwards occurs a rather wider 

 outcrop of Atherfield clay than is usually seen in 

 the neighbourhood, but the Wealden clay is in the 

 south-east. 



84 The timber towers of Dunsfold and 

 Thursley (q.v.) in Surrey, of the same 

 date and character, should be compared 



with this ; probably they are all the work 

 of the same gild. 



85 See under Shalford. 



80 



86 Egerton MSS. 203 2, fol. 131 ; 2033, 

 fol. 72 ; 2034, fol. 72, 113 ; Feet of F. 

 Surr. 10 Hen. VU, 31. 



8 ? Egerton MS. 2034, fol. 159. 



