BLACKHEATH HUNDRED 





William, Earl of Ulster, in 1334, when it is described 

 as ' two watermills under one roof.' "' It is mentioned 

 again in 1382.'" 



One mill is mentioned in Gomshall in 1086. It 

 was probably on the site of Netley Mill. In the 

 1 3th century there was a water-mill belonging to 

 4 Estcourt ' in Gomshall." 3 



The church of ST. J4MES lies 

 CHURCHES somewhat to the east of the village 

 street. It is mentioned in the Domes- 

 day Survey." 4 



The church is second to none in Surrey for beauty 

 and antiquarian interest. Its situation, on a bank 

 above the stream, which flows on its northern side, 

 with a screen of tall young elms between, and a back- 

 ground of more ancient trees, and the wooded hillside, 

 is very lovely ; and the churchyard, not too trim or 

 level, with a number of ancient monumental stones 

 and a few wooden ' bed-heads,' bounded by a low 

 stone wall, with a modern but picturesque lych-gate 

 on the west, makes a charming setting. 



The church is built of Bargate rubble, with iron- 

 stone rubble, flints, and miscellaneous materials, some 

 probably derived from Roman buildings on Farley 

 Heath, the dressings being of Bargate stone, firestone 

 and clunch, and the south and west porches are of 

 brick and timber. The modern vestries on the north 

 of the nave are built of stone and brick. The roofs 

 are tiled, except that of the south aisle, which is 

 roofed with Horsham slabs, and the spire is covered 

 with oak shingles. 1 * 4 A good deal of the original 

 thin coat of yellow plaster remains on the walls. 

 Few churches in Surrey have survived the era of 

 destructive restoration with such small loss to their 

 antiquity as Shere ; indeed, what mischief has been 

 done is traceable to the ' churchwarden ' period or 

 even earlier ; the exception to this observation is the 

 incongruous group of vestries built against a blank, 

 and probably very early, wall on the north of the 

 nave. 



The plan offers many interesting problems. It 

 consists of a nave, 40 ft. 9 in. long, and 1 8 ft. 6 in. 

 wide at the west, widening out to 19 ft. 6 in. at the 

 east ; a broad south aisle, 45 ft. 9 in. by 1 6 ft. 3 in. ; 

 a central tower, with floor-space of about 1 5 ft. 

 square; a chancel, 32 ft. long by 19 ft. 2 in. ; a 

 south chancel, opening out of the chancel, tower and 

 south aisle, 36 ft. long by 1 6 ft. 9 in. ; a shallow 

 transeptal recess on the north of the tower in place 

 of the original transept ; and west and south porches, 

 with the modern vestries, before alluded to, on the 

 north of the nave. In addition, there would appear 

 to have been in the mediaeval period an anchorite's 

 cell on the north side of the chancel. 



The oldest part of the church is the north wall of 

 the nave, but whatever original features, in the shape 

 of windows or door, it may have possessed, have been 

 obliterated, and therefore its date is somewhat a 

 matter of speculation. If not earlier, it may date 

 from the last quarter of the nth century. To this 

 nave a tower was added, probably on the site of the 

 earlier chancel as at Albury, hard by in about 

 1150. The internal square of this is almost exactly 

 the same as at Albury, and it has on its north side, in 

 the middle stage, a very similar round-arched window, 



SHERE 



with two sub-lights, originally divided by a small 

 column, as in that tower. On the south side is a 

 single-light opening of the same date. Three un- 

 usually wide and long round-headed openings occur 

 above a string-course, or set-off, in each face of the 

 bell-chamber, and over these there was, perhaps, in 

 the first instance, a low parapet, corbelled out, in- 

 closing a squat, pyramidal roof, both features giving 

 place at a later period to the timber spire. Parts of 

 one of the first tower arches can be traced on the 

 south side. Owing to the failure of the crossing 

 arches because of the weight of the top story, these 

 arches, early in the I4th century, were replaced by 

 wide and lofty pointed ones on the east and west, 

 and by smaller ones on the other sides. The first 

 arches were circular and probably of two orders, with 

 a hood-moulding. The great thickness of these tower 

 walls 4 ft. on the ground is noteworthy. 



The circular stair at the south-west angle of the 

 tower, originally external, is now, of course, within 

 the aisle. It retains two loopholes for lighting, and 

 a small door with a pointed arch. On the southern 

 side the head of one of the original flat buttresses 

 appears above the roof, beneath the string that runs 

 below the bell-chamber. The whole tower was 

 probably completed soon after 1 150. 



The izth-century transepts may have been roofed 

 with span roofs at right angles to those of nave and 

 chancel (before the aisle was thrown out) ; or, which 

 seems on the whole the more probable, with span 

 roofs set parallel to the axis of nave and chancel, as at 

 St. Mary's, Guildford. In either case there would 

 appear to have been apsidal ends to these chapels as 

 at Guildford, and there may have been an apse to the 

 chancel itself. Certain ashlaring with a curved face, 

 built in as old material into the 14th-century chancel, 

 may well have formed part of the destroyed apses. 

 Among the few relics externally of this 12th-century 

 work, besides the tower, are the bases of the two flat 

 and narrow pilaster buttresses, on the south side, the 

 western at what would have been the west end of 

 these transepts or chancel aisles, and the eastern at 

 the chord of the apse. These are composed of 

 different kinds of stone clunch or firestone, and 

 Bargate stone as though they had been altered and 

 perhaps heightened at a later date. Another very 

 remarkable survival consists of the curiously-shaped 

 rafter-ends a roll set within a broad hollow almost 

 unique in their way, in the piece of roof over this 

 portion : this roof being in itself evidence for the 

 second theory as to the original form taken by these 

 chancel aisles. The fine marble font and south door- 

 way are also of this period, but perhaps of slightly 

 later date, c. 1 1 70. This doorway, the most beautiful 

 of its period in Surrey,"* must have been originally 

 placed in the unpierced south wall of the nave, and 

 shifted out to its present position, when the aisle was 

 built, in about 1 200. It shows very few traces of 

 having been moved, and all the stones appear to have 

 been correctly rebuilt. The doorway is extremely 

 elegant in proportions and detail, and consists of a 

 circular arch of two orders, with a hood-moulding, 

 the outer order resting upon a Sussex marble shaft 

 with abacus, capital, and base of the same material, 

 the abacus being carried round the inner order, as an 



m Chan. Inq. p.m. 7 Edw. Ill, no. 



39- 



Ibid. 5 Ric. II, 00.43. 



10 Egerton MS. 2033, foL 63. 



1 y.C.H. Surr. I, 298j. 



Ias In Cracklow's view the roofs are 



117 



all covered with Horsham slabs ; see 

 pott. 



M Illustrated in V.C.H. Surr. ii, 433. 



