A HISTORY OF SURREY 



the rectory. It is an ancient timber-framed building, 

 as to which Aubrey repeats a tradition that it was 

 built upon woolpacks, ' in the same manner as our 

 Lady's Church at Salisbury was ; ' 3 and in his day 

 the house was ' encompassed about with a large and 

 deep moat, which is full of fish.' 



When every other house or cottage is old and 

 interesting it is difficult to mention all, but a few 

 may be singled out as presenting specially noteworthy 

 features, or as typical of the others. The large 

 number of ancient cottages is perhaps accounted for 

 by the statement that Aubrey makes, that there was 

 here a very ancient manufacture of fustian. Another 

 cause certainly was that such important families as the 

 Butlers, Earls of Ormond, the Audleys, and the Brays, 

 had their mansions in Shere, and gave employment 

 to lesser folk in their neighbourhood. 



One or two of the houses in the village retain 

 their ancient bargeboards to the gables. These are 



massive stack of flues having a diagonal member on 

 each face of the square, with a good head and base 

 mould. The half-timber front is now hidden by 

 rough-cast. Another old house on the road to 

 Gomshall is noteworthy for an overhanging gable, 

 and for the fact that the spaces between the timbers 

 are filled with flints, instead of plaster or bricks. 

 Most of the other old houses in the village are covered 

 with rough-cast, which is coloured locally in a pleasant 

 shade of buff. 4 



Wolven's Farm, which lies some miles to the east of 

 Albury village, is a fine example of the I yth-century 

 brick house, with panelled chimneys, mullioned win- 

 dows with leaded lights, and a double-storied porch 

 with a brick pediment to its upper window. In this 

 and other details the house closely resembles Crossways 

 Farm, Abinger, about 2 miles distant. 



Local tradition says that Hound House, in the 

 royal manor of Gomshall in Shere, was named from 



SHERE VILLAGE 



variously treated : one, which might well be of 1 5th- 

 century date, or even older, being pierced with tre- 

 foils ; another is foliated, with the points of the 

 cusping rounded so as to give a continuous wavy 

 line. In Shere itself a very old cottage in Lower 

 Lane shows a joist-board (i.e. a moulded board 

 covering the projecting ends of the joists carrying 

 the upper story) of late ijth-century character. 

 There is also an old house, long and low, with an 

 overhanging gabled wing on the right, and a hipped- 

 roof wing to the left end, on which side is a par- 

 ticularly fine chimney, with crow-stepped base and a 



the keeping of the king's hounds there, but there is no 

 record of it apparently. It is, however, known that 

 hounds were kept here about 1800, and some old 

 stone kennel troughs have been found. 



The village is historically interesting as the seat of 

 the Bray family (vtJe Infra). 



It seems strange that Gomshall, which has always 

 been a place of considerable population and import- 

 ance, should never have had a church of its own. 



Holmbury St. Mary is the name now given to the 

 two hamlets of Felday in Shere, and Pitland Street in 

 Shere and Abinger, which were erected into aa eccle- 



8 This tradition is so constantly met 

 with that there can be no doubt it is an- 



Bridge, would appear to be more prob- 

 able) that the foundations of the structure 



other way of saying that the house, or were actually laid on wool-sacks filled 



church, or bridge, was erected from the with concrete, a method of construction 



proceeds of a tax on wool ; or else (which still frequently employed in watery ites. 

 in this case at least, as in that of London 



112 



* This buff-coloured plastering is very 

 characteristic of Western Surrey. Other 

 examples may be noted in Godalming, 

 Ockley, Guildford, Chobham, Woking, 

 and Letherhead. 



