BLACKHEATH HUNDRED 



SHERE 



privilege claimed by John son of Geoffrey, 51 and at 

 the division of the manor was assigned to the 

 Butlers, who held it once a year. 6 ' Both Shiere 

 Vachery and Ebor had court baron," and the lords 

 of Shiere Vachery were granted a market on Tuesdays 

 and an annual fair in 1 309,** and free warren in 



1330." 



The manor of GOMSH4LL lies on the Tilling- 

 bourne to the east of Shere village. In early times it 

 was royal demesne. Earl Harold had it, and after 

 the Conquest King William held it in demesne. Odo, 

 Bishop of Bayeux, wrongfully annexed half a hide 

 which had belonged to this manor to his manor of 

 Bramley. 56 It is mentioned with lands granted to the 

 Earl of Warenne in 1154 and 1 1 5 5-6." He probably 

 resigned Gomshall with his other English lands to 

 Henry II,' 8 who granted it in moieties to Robert de 

 Wendenale and to William de Clere. M Under 

 Richard I William Malveisin's lands in Gomshall were 

 escheat to the Crown, 60 and they or others appear 

 to have been given to the Dapifer of Ponthieu, 61 

 Ingram de Fontains, who held one moiety of the 

 manor, while William Malveisin had the other. 6 * 

 Ingram's lands were escheat to the Crown in or before 

 II94. 6 * Richard I granted the manor in moieties to 

 William de Es and Alan Trenchmere. 64 The moiety 

 of William de Es became the manor of Gomshall 

 Netley, and the other was known later as Gomshall 

 Towerhill. 65 



GOMSH4LL NETLET, the moiety of Gomshall 

 granted by King Richard to William de Es, 66 was held 

 in 1217 by Eustace de Es, w and in 1233 passed from 

 him to Sir Matthias Besille, kt, 68 who granted it to the 

 abbey of Netley, co. Hants. 69 Thus it came to be 

 called Gomshall Netley. In the Taxation of 1291 

 10 is returned as the abbey's annual income from 

 'Gomshall Grange.' In 1332 the Abbot of 

 Netley's tenants in Gomshall complained that he 

 had exacted other services from them than he ought, 

 since they were tenants in ancient demesne. 71 After 

 the suppression of the abbey Henry VIII granted to 

 Sir Edward Bray the reversion of Gomshall Netley at 

 the termination of a seventy years' lease, which John 

 Redforde and his wife Thomasina had obtained 

 from the abbey in 1502." Since this time it 

 has descended in the same family with Shiere 

 Vachery, and is now in the possession of Mr. Justice 

 Bray. 



The old manor-house was separated from the 

 manor about 1640. It is a farm, usually called King 

 John's Lodge, and stands opposite to the modern 

 house of Netley. It is largely of 16th-century date, 

 and possibly occupies the site of the Saxon aula. 



This house has a fine chimney, rising from the 

 ground with a stack of diagonally-placed flues on 

 its flint and rubble base. At either end of the 

 front is a projecting gabled wing, that on the left 

 having some good square and circle pattern-work in 

 its timber construction, resembling that at Great 

 Tangley in Wonersh parish. The upright timbering 

 of the main portion between these wings seems to 

 indicate a date early in the 1 6th, or possibly late in 

 the I Jth century, the pattern-work in the wing being 

 nearly a hundred years later. Modern windows 

 and other injudicious alterations have somewhat altered 

 the ancient character of this house, but the old door, 

 with a flat-arched head, still remains in the left 

 wing. 



The present Netley House was built by Mr. 

 Edmund Shallet Lomax about, or shortly before, 

 1800, and is now the residence of Col. Eraser. 



GOMSH4LL TOWERHILL. Alan Trenchmere 

 possibly held his moiety for life only," for by 1205 

 he was succeeded by William de Braose, who had a 

 grant of it in tail." William's family was starved to 

 death, and he himself driven into exile by John; he 

 died abroad, and John evidently gave his moiety of 

 Gomshall to Peter de Maulay." William's son, the 

 Bishop of Hereford, took part in the civil war against 

 John, and extorted the restoration of the family 

 estates to himself in trust for his nephew. 76 After 

 his death this manor was granted to Rowland de 

 Bloet. 77 



In 1218 Reginald Braose, the bishop's younger 

 brother, had the manor,' 8 from which his widow 

 claimed dower in 1230," and 

 William Braose was holding 

 it in 1 2 8 1 j 80 and conveyed it 

 to a sub-tenant, John Savage. 

 William Braose was still living 

 in 1311, when John Savage 

 died, leaving a young son, 

 Roger, 8 ' who, having been im- 

 prisoned for felony in New- 

 gate, broke prison and forfeited 

 his estates." In 1332 the 

 king committed the custody 

 of the manor to John Pul- 



teney, Lord Mayor of London, who did the cus- 

 tomary service for it to John de Ifield. 83 A year 

 having elapsed, the manor was restored to the over- 

 lord, John de Ifield." At John's death the king 

 granted this manor for life to Eleanor, Countess of 

 Ormond,* 6 then lady of Shiere, and obtained from 

 John of Ifield's heirs a release of their rights in it. 86 

 At her death Edward III granted the custody of the 



BRAOSE. Assure cru- 

 sily and a lion or. 



Close, 38 Hen. Ill, m. ijd. 



SJ Chan. Inq. p.m. 12 Edw. Ill (nt 

 mi'.), no. 40. 



M Ibid. 7 Edw. Ill, no. 39 ; 31 Edw. I, 

 no. 82. 



M Chart. R. 3 Edw. II, m. 7, no. 1 9. 



" Ibid. 3 Edw. Ill, m. 5, no. 13. 



y.C.H. Surr. i, 2984. 



W RtJ Bk. of the Excb. (Roll* Ser.), 

 654, 666. 



8 See V.C.H. Surr. i, 342. 



M Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 125. 



M fife R. i Ric. /(Rec. Com.), 1 1, 117. 



61 Ibid. 216. 



M Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 225. 



M Pipe R. 6 Ric. I, m. I. 



M Tata de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 325, 



says that King Richard gave it to William 

 de Es and Alan Trenchmere, and that 

 after Alan's death John gave his share 

 first to William de Braose and afterwards 

 to Peter Maulay. 



64 Curia Regis R. 113, m. 27 d. 



M Rot. Cane. 3 John (Rec. Com.), 28. 



7 Cal.Pat. 1216-25, p. 53. 



8 Cal. Chart. R. i, 174. 



69 Anct. D. (P.R.O.), D. 131,200. 



'<> Pope Nicb. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 214. 



7 1 De Banco R. 290, m. 276. 



7" L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii, (i), 646 (39). 



7' Rot. Cane. 3 John (Rec. Com.), 28 5 

 Pipe R. 2 John, m. 15 d. 



7< Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), i, 1 34*. 



7* Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 225. 



"5 



7 Rot. Lit. Claui. (Rec. Com.), i, 232*. 



7? Ibid. 238*. 



78 Ibid. 348. 



7' Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. 389. 



80 Chart. R. 9 Edw. I, no. 24. 



81 Cal. Close, 1307-13, p. 430. 



ra Abbrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com. ), ii, 



59- 



88 Ibid, ii, 56; Cal. Close, 1330-3, p. 

 436. John of Ifield appears to have 

 succeeded William de Braose in the over- 

 lordship. 



84 Cal. Close, 1330-3, p. 515. 



85 Abbrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), ii, 

 159. 



8 Anct, D. (P.R.O.), A. 3974, 3975, 

 3976. 



