A HISTORY OF SURREY 



very common occurrence in the beginning of the 

 I jth century. The chancel arch is lofty, pointed, of 

 two chamfered orders upon stop-chamfered jambs, 

 having square-edged moulded imposts at the spring- 

 ing. On the south side of this arch are traces 

 of a squint, which formerly opened into the south 

 transept. The door to the vestry on the north of 

 the chancel is modern, and it does not appear that 

 there was ever a priest's door. The roofs of both 

 chancel and nave are ancient, of collar-beam con- 

 struction, with braces and struts, and of somewhat 

 flat pitch that of the former being only 45 de- 

 grees. 



The destroyed transeptal chapel on the south had 

 a single lancet in each wall, and on either side of the 

 nave before its enlargement was a plain blocked door- 

 way of later date than the I zth-century door in the 

 west wall. 



In 1850 the north aisle was added in the style of 

 the early 1 4th century, and in 1875 the south aisle 

 followed, being prolonged into what had been the 

 transeptal chapel, which was rebuilt, and vestries were 

 built to the east of the tower. The west front, with 

 its ' Norman ' windows, is modern. The present font 

 is modern, as is also the chancel screen. 



In the chancel windows is some heraldic and 

 pattern glass, noticed by Cracklow in 1824, parts of 

 which are ancient. 



There are many monuments of late 1 7th and i8th- 

 century date to the Ludlow family. 



There are a silver paten of 1592 and a cup and 

 paten-cover of 1664, besides more modern pieces, 

 among the church plate. 



There are six bells. 



The registers of baptisms and marriages date from 

 1566, with three baptisms, entered later, in 1563, 

 1564, and 1565 respectively. In 1676 Bishop 

 Morley for the first time licensed a burial-ground 

 round the chapel of Bramley. 1 " The register of 

 burials begins from that year. 



The parish church was probably 

 ADVQWSQN one of the three churches contained 

 in Bishop Odo's fee in io86. 186 

 Until 1 844 Bramley was a chapelry of Shalford, but 

 in that year it was constituted a separate parish under 

 Sir Robert Peel's Act for establishing parishes. 



In Thorncombe Street were five 



CHARITIES cottages built and owned by the 



parish. They are described by one 



who remembers them as disgracefully bad. They 



were sold by the parish in 1837. 



Mrs. Finchett in 1815 left .100 stock to trustees 

 to provide a dole of bread yearly for the poor. 



Smith's Charity exists as in other Surrey parishes. 

 About 22 ioi. in all is distributed in bread and 

 clothing. 



CRANLEIGH 



Cranlygh, Cranleigh, Cranlegh, Cranle (xiii cent.). 1 

 Cranley till recently. Cranleigh of late years to avoid 

 confusion in post and railway with Crawley. 



Cranleigh, a parish 8 miles south-west of Guildford, 

 bounded on the north by Shere, Albury, and Wonersh, 

 on the west by Alford and Hascombe, on the east by 

 Ewhurst, on the south by the county of Sussex, con- 

 tains 7,697 acres of land and 6 1 of water. It 

 measures rather under 6 miles from north to south, 

 just under 4 from east to west. 



The northern part of the parish rises to about 

 , 700 ft. above the sea in Winterfold Hill, part of the 

 great stretch of the heath and fir upland called Hurt 

 Wood adjoining Blackheath to the north, and east- 

 ward rising still higher in Ewhurst, Holmbury, and 

 Leith Hills, in Ewhurst, Ockley, and Wotton re- 

 spectively. This part of the parish is Greensand. 

 From the base of the hills to the Sussex border the 

 soil is Wealden Clay, with superficial patches of sand 

 and gravel. The village is on the latter, on Cran- 

 leigh Common, part of which is one of the best 

 cricket pitches in Surrey. Smithwood Common is to 

 the north-west of the village. Small detached parts 

 of Cranleigh were added to Albury and Wonersh, 

 and part of the border at Moxley was added to Shere 

 24 March 1884.' 



The village is traversed by the road from Guildford 

 to Horsham. The London, Brighton and South 

 Coast Railway line from Guildford to Horsham, 

 opened in 1865, passes through the parish, which 

 contains two stations, Cranleigh and Baynards. The 



disused Wey and Arun Canal runs through the parish. 

 On the clay are extensive brick and tile works. 

 Formerly Cranleigh was a great seat of the iron 

 industry. 3 The oak timber of Vachery was a valuable 

 property sold to London merchants in the 1 5 th 

 century. 4 Vachery Pond, an artificially-made lake 

 covering 6 1 acres, was used as a reservoir for the Wey 

 and Arun Canal, and was probably enlarged for that 

 purpose. But it is marked on the map before the 

 canal existed, and was certainly made as a forge or 

 hammer pond. Hammer Farm is on the stream, 

 which is dammed up to make it, a little lower down. 

 A fish-pond is mentioned at Vachery in the I3th 

 century,' but it need not have been so extensive, 

 probably was not, as the subsequent reservoir, even if 

 it is included in this. 



A Baptist chapel was built in 1889, and there is 

 a small Wesleyan mission chapel on the common. 



A few old-fashioned gabled and tile-hung houses 

 remain near the church, including the post office, 

 and another with a half-timber wing. Ancient houses 

 of important families, now represented by farm-houses, 

 also existed at Vachery (near Baynards in Ewhurst) 

 and Knowle, and the north and south transeptal 

 chapels in the church are still known respectively as 

 the Vachery and Knoll (or Knowle) chapels. A 

 house called Sansoms has some old panelling and other 

 features of interest internally, although the exterior 

 has been modernized. 



There is a very picturesque 16th-century cottage at 

 the south end of the village, but the houses have mostly 



185 The licence is in the parish cheit. 

 " V.C.H. Surr. i, 301. 

 > Add. MS. (B.M.), 7606. 



* Loc. Govt. Bd. Order 16532. 



V.C.H. Surr. ii, 272. 



86 



4 Anct. D. (P.R.O.), C. 242. 



' Chan, Inq. p.m. 25 Edw. I, no. 50. 



