BLACKHEATH HUNDRED 



SHERE 



There are five bells of 1789, and one of 1866, all 

 by the firm of Warner. When the six were complete 

 they each bore a part of the verse : 



' Thy glory Lord we will resound j to all the 

 listening nations round | and with our tongues | our 

 voices raise | to Thee O God | in songs of praise.' 



Before 1789, four, dated 16 13, by Robert Eldridge, 

 bore the verse : 



' Lord plead my cause against my foes | Confound 

 their force and might | Fight on my part against my 

 foes | That seek with me to fight." 



In the Edwardian inventory eight bells and a 

 ' sawnce ' bell are mentioned. 



The registers begin in 1564, but there are no 



marriages till 1581. There is a gap between 1651 and 



1653, and the marriages are lost from 1754 to 1782. 



The church is mentioned in the 



dDrOWSON Domesday Survey. 78 In 12 24 it was 



stated that the king's ancestors had 



always presented to Shalford and its chapelries, but 



that Ralph de Fay, lord of Shalford, last presented in 

 the time of the war." 



It was granted with the rectory to the Hospital of 

 St. Mary Without Bishopsgate in 1304-5. After 

 the Dissolution it passed into the possession of various 

 persons. 80 Towards the close of the 1 7th century the 

 Crown presented and continues to do so. 61 



There seems to have been a chapel attached to the 

 manor of Shalford Bradestan, for in 1374-5 Ellen, 

 mother of Sir Robert Bradestan, held in dower the 

 chancel of the chapel there. 8 ' 



Smith's Charity is distributed as 

 CHARITIES in other Surrey parishes. Many 

 small rents and payments were due to 

 the church. 81 



In 1715 Dr. Shortrudge, Sir Francis Vincent, and 

 others settled the residue of the profits on estates in 

 Hertfordshire on the vicars of Shalford, Great Book- 

 ham, Etfingham, and Letherhead, on condition of 

 their reading prayers in church on Wednesdays and 

 Fridays, and preaching appropriate sermons on 30 Jan- 

 uary and on Good Friday. (See Great Bookham.) 



SHERE 



Essira (xi cent.) ; Sire, Schyre (xiii cent.) ; Shire and 

 Shyre (xiv cent.); Shire (xv cent.); Shire and Shiere 

 (xviii cent.) ; Shere (xix cent.). 



The parish of Shere is midway between Guildford 

 and Dorking. The village is 6 miles east of the 

 former, and 6 miles west of the latter. The parish 

 is bounded on the north by East Clandon and West 

 Horsley, on the east by Abinger, on the south by 

 Ewhurst and Cranleigh, on the west by Albury. 

 It is about 4^ miles from north to south, and 

 from 2 to l\ miles from east to west, and contains 

 6,400 acres of land and 12 of water. The Tilling- 

 bourne stream runs from east to west through the 

 northern part of it. The soil exhibits the usual 

 characteristics of a parish south of the Chalk. The 

 northern part is Chalk, on the downs, and the parish 

 extends southward over the Upper Greensand and 

 Gault, and the Lower Greensand, which forms the 

 largest portion ; but it does not quite reach the 

 Atherfield and Wealden Clays. Ewhurst and Cran- 

 leigh on the Clay, parishes of a later date, 1 were no 

 doubt partly in the original parish of Shere. There 

 is an ancient and picturesque mill at Shere, and in 

 the hamlet of Gomshall a tannery and a brewery. 

 Iron was once worked in Shere. 1 The parish is 

 now, however, essentially agricultural, the land in the 

 valley between the chalk downs and the sand hills 

 being fertile. The only special industry is the raising 

 of watercresses in ponds fed from the Tillingbourne. 

 Great quantities of this are grown, and sometimes sent 

 away to great distances. The downs to the north 

 are mostly open grass, or wooded, and rise to 600 or 

 700 ft. above the sea, while to the south are great 

 expanses of open heather and firwoods on the sand- 

 hills, Hurtwood Common, and parts of Holmbury and 

 Ewhurst Hills, at an elevation of more than 700 ft. 

 in their highest points. Part of Albury Park is in 



the parish. The road from Guildford to Dorking 

 goes through the northern part of the parish ; the 

 Redhill and Reading branch of the South Eastern 

 Railway runs nearly parallel to it. Gomshall and 

 Shere station was opened in 1 849. In Gomshall is 

 a Congregational chapel, founded in 1825. 



No important discoveries of prehistoric remains 

 seem to have been made in the parish. Neolithic 

 flint implements, however, occur near Holmbury 

 Hill, but five parishes were formerly so closely inter- 

 mixed here that it is difficult to assign the discoveries 

 to any one. 



Shere has often been called one of the most beau- 

 tiful villages in England ; certainly few can surpass it 

 in Surrey for a combination of those qualities that go 

 to make up the ideal village. It lies in the valley of 

 the Tillingbourne, immediately beneath the Albury 

 Downs, sheltered from the north by the hills, and 

 bounded on the west by the beautiful domain of 

 Albury Park. Happily the presence of the Duke of 

 Northumberland's seat at Albury Park, and the wise 

 action of other local landowners, have operated to 

 keep the speculating builder at arm's length, and such 

 additions as have been made to the old village in 

 recent years have not seriously detracted from its 

 charm. Shere is, therefore, the haunt of painters, 

 many of them residents in and around, and samples 

 of their handiwork may be inspected in the ancient 

 Black Horse Inn, the building itself being partly of 

 1 6th-century date, with a great open fireplace under 

 an arched beam, and other ancient features. In front 

 of this inn are two old elms, and the view looking 

 past them to the church, with its tall timber spire 

 and lych-gate, is far-famed. 



Aubrey mentions ' the extraordinary good parsonage 

 house,' which still remains at the western end of the 

 village, near the stream, although no longer used as 



. Surr. i, 3194. 



" 9 Maitland, Bractons Note Bk. 913. 

 Ralph was lord of Bramley, with land in 

 Shalford. 



80 Winton Epis. Reg. quoted by Manning 

 and Bray, op. cit. ii, 107. Amongst the 



patrons was George Austen, who died 

 seised of the advowson, and whose son 

 John presented to the church in 1621; 

 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccucvii, 90 ; 

 Feet of F. Suir. Mich. 20 Jas. I. 

 81 Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). 



Ill 



81 Chan. Inq. p.m. 48 Edw. Ill, Add. 

 no. 42. 



" Churchwardens' Bks. quoted by Man- 

 ning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii, 103. 



1 In V.C.H. Surr. ii, 8, 9. 



'Ibid. 270. 



