A HISTORY OF SURREY 



HASCOMBE 



Hascumbe (xiv cent.). 



Hascombe parish, about 12 miles south of Guild- 

 ford, contains 1,587 acres. It is in two portions, 

 one nearly three-quarters of a mile from north to 

 south and half a mile from east to west ; the other 

 half a mile each way, with tongues of the parishes of 

 Bramley and Dunsfold separating them. Of these 

 two portions the north-western is rather larger than 

 the south-eastern. The whole is bounded by Godal- 

 ming and Bramley on the north, by Godalming on 

 the west, by Dunsfold and Alfold on the south, 

 and by Bramley and Cranleigh on the east. The 

 north-western portion is almost entirely on the Green- 

 sand and Atherfield Clay, and contains Hascombe Hill, 

 formerly, from a large beech tree, known as Hascombe 

 High Beech, which is 624 ft. above the sea. A tele- 

 graphic semaphore formerly stood here. The south- 

 eastern portion is on the Wealden Clay. Hascombe 

 village and church lie in a valley north of Hascombe 

 Hill. The school was opened in 1867. 



Park Hatch, the seat of Mr. Joseph Godman, is on 

 the southern slope of Hascombe Hill, in a deer park 

 of about 200 acres. Hall Place, the seat of Mr. E. L. 

 Rowcliffe, is in the south-eastern detached portion of 

 the parish. The old disused Wey and Arun Canal 

 skirts this part of the parish. In 1884 Lambert's 

 Farm, which abuts on the village street, was transferred 

 from Hambledon to Hascombe. 



There are no old houses or cottages of special 

 architectural interest in the village, but many are to 

 be found in the surrounding hamlets and lanes of a 

 highly picturesque character. 



Mr. Ralph Nevill notes that ' Hoe Farm is a timber 

 house, rudely framed with great curved struts, and has 

 ... a look as if it might be of unusual age. Such 

 framing is often shown in manuscripts.' 



On Hascombe Hill, at the western end, is an ancient 

 camp. It is roughly rectangular, following the slope 

 of the hill, and from the curiously regular form of 

 the ground it makes a sort of square of 200 yds. 

 Water was procurable a little way down the hill. 

 Lieut.-Colonel Godwin Austen has found sling stones 

 on the hill, rounded flint pebbles, where no such 

 should be geologically, and Mr. Godman found a 

 good flint arrow-head lower down the southern slope. 

 H4SCOMBE was held of the joint 

 MANORS lords of Bramley. 1 Richard and John of 

 Hascombe were tenants of Bramley in 

 1241-2,' but Hascombe probably did not separate 

 from Bramley till early in the next century. 3 In 

 1306-7 Henry Hussey bought the reversion of the 



manor of Hascombe from Henry Sturmy, to whom 

 it should have descended at the death of Joan wife 

 of John of Wintershull, who had already obtained a 

 release of other lands in Bramley and Hascombe. 4 

 This Joan was probably the wife of Walter of 

 Huntingfield, of whose grant the manor is said 

 to have come to Henry Hussey in the inquisition 

 of 1 349- 



In 1 307 Henry Hussey obtaineda grant of free warren 

 in Danhurst and Hascombe. 5 In 1331 he was 

 succeeded by his son Henry, afterwards Sir Henry 

 Hussey, kt., 6 who died seised of Hascombe in 1 349, 

 his heir being his grandson Henry, son of his son Mark, 

 aged six years. 7 This Henry Hussey, or his cousin of 

 the same name/' died seised in 1409, and was succeeded 

 by his son Henry, 8 who held for life with remainder 

 to his son Nicholas for life and reversion to Henry 

 elder brother of Nicholas. 9 Henry was outlawed and 

 forfeited his rights in 1454.' Nicholas was sheriff of 

 Surrey and Sussex, victualler of Calais, and Lieutenant 

 of Guisnes Castle under Henry VI. Edward IV 

 seized Hascombe, alleging that Nicholas had refused 

 to render account since the change of dynasty," but 

 pardoned him in 1467." Nicholas Hussey left two 

 daughters, Catherine wife of Reginald Bray, and Alice 

 or Constance, wife of Henry Level. 13 Probably the 

 co-heiresses sold Hascombe to the Coverts, for William 



3* &* - 



f f f f f 



HUSSET. Barry er- 

 mine and gulei. 



COVIRT. Gales afesse 

 ermine between three mart- 

 lets or. 



Covert died seised of it in 1494." His son John, who 

 died in 1 503, bequeathed his lands, failing his heirs male, 

 to his cousin Richard Covert. 16 Giles Covert 1Sa was in 

 possession of the manor in I547, 16 died in 1556, and 

 was succeeded by his brother Richard. 17 The manor 

 was then successively owned by Anthony, who died 

 in 1631, John, and Anthony Covert." The last 

 lived at Hascombe about i654, 19 and was succeeded 

 by John Covert,* whose son Anthony sold the rever- 

 sion to John Fawkes of Guildford. 11 His son John 



1 Chan. Inq. p.m. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. i, 

 no. 77 ; ibid, to Hen. IV, 17 ; ibid. (Ser. 

 2), cxiv, 42. 



a Assize R. 37, m. 21 d. 



8 Feet of F. Surr. I Edw. II, 1 1. 



* Ibid. 34 Edw. I, 3 and 12. 



6 Charter R. 35 Edw. I, m. 16. 



' Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. Ill ( ist not.), 

 no. 66. 



7 Ibid. 23 Ed-w. Ill, pt. i, no. 77. 



" a Compare manor of Freefolk (f.C.H. 

 Hants, iv), and tee De Banco R. Mil. 2 



Hen. VII, m. 430 ; Mich. 3 Hen. VII, 

 m. 154. 



8 Chan. Inq. p.m. 10 Hen. IV, no. 17. 



Add. Chart. 18726. 



10 Ech. Inq. p.m. (Ser. i), 32-3 Hen. 

 VI, file 1801, no. 2. He had previously 

 conveyed the manor to Richard Bitterley 

 and John Hole. Anct. D., B 4199. 



11 Enr. Accti. (Foreign), 5 Edw. IV, 

 no. 99 P. 



la Ca/. Pat. 1467-77, p. 20. 



" Winton Epi. Reg. Fox, i, foL 30. 



102 



14 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), , 38. 



15 Ibid, xxiii, 263. 



JSa Son of Giles, nephew of John, HarL 

 Soc. Publ. xliii, 39. 



16 Mi8C.Bks.(Ld.Rev.),vol.i90,fol. 143. 



17 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cxiv, 42. 



18 Feet of F. (Sum), Hil. 31 Eliz. \ 

 HiL I4ja. I ; Hil. 1654. 



M Add. MS. 6167, foU 252. 

 *> Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 34 Chas. II. 

 81 Aubrey, Nat. Hist, and Antij. of Surr* 

 iv, 93. 



