BLACKHEATH HUNDRED 



WONERSH 



again claimed the right."' The dispute was only 

 settled when Sir Edmund Bray presented in 1518. 

 Before the next presentation came the abbey was dis- 

 solved. The advowson descended with Shiere Vachery 

 till Morgan Randyll bought it in 1677 14 for Thomas 

 Duncomb, 140a who was then rector. It was leased or 

 sold for occasions by the Duncomb family, but re- 

 mained with them till Thomas Duncomb sold it to 

 John Smallpeice in 1831 IS1 for the Rev. D. C. 

 Delasfone, rector, with which the former sale may 

 be compared. Mr. Justice Bray is the present 

 patron. 



There was a chantry of our Lady in Shere Church. 

 In the 1 4th century the rector was responsible for find- 

 ing a chaplain at the altar of St. Mary in his church.' 81 

 The chantry was maintained from the profits of the 

 ' Chantry House,' which was granted after the sup- 

 pression of chantries to Henry Foisted. 141 It descended 

 with his manor of Albury (q.v.). IM 



Early in the 141)1 century Christine daughter of 

 William ' called the Carpenter ' had licence to dwell 

 in Shere Churchyard as an anchoress. 164 



The living of St. Mary Felday is in the gift of the 

 bishop 



Mr. Thomas Gatton left .400 in 

 CHARITIES 1758 to educate poor children. In 

 1 842 Mr. Lomax added to the endow- 

 ment, and a school was established on the scheme of 

 the National Society. The present buildings date 

 from 1877, and were enlarged in 1898. 



Smith's Charity exists as in other Surrey parishes. 



In 1657 Mr. Maybank left 26 for the poor ot 

 Shere, which was invested in land in Cranleigh. 



At some date unknown, but probably before 

 I7I4, IM Mrs. Charity Duncomb left money invested 

 in land in Cranleigh, bringing in l 6s. per annum, 

 to provide bread weekly for poor widows. 



In 1 746 the Rev. George Duncomb left 6 a year 

 out of his freehold in Shere, l \s. to buy bread for 

 the poor of Shere, i i6/. for the poor of Albury, 

 2 1 3/. for teaching children, js. for the parish 

 clerk. 



In 1784 Francis Haybitle, farm labourer of Peas- 

 lake, left a rent-charge of 1 5/. a year on a cottage in 

 Shere to provide bread for the poor. 



In 1818 Charles Hammond gave 100 to be in- 

 vested in the Funds, and the interest applied to the 

 improvement of the psalmody in Shere Church. 



WONERSH 



Wonherche (xiv tent.) ; Ognersh and Ignersh (xvi 

 and xvii cents.). 



Wonersh is a village about 3^ miles south by 

 east of Guildford. The parish is bounded on the 

 north by Shalford and St. Martha's, on the east 

 by Albury, on the south by Cranleigh, on the 

 west by Bramley and the ecclesiastical parish of 

 Graffham, formed from Bramley and an outlying part 

 of Dunsfold. It measures rather over 5 miles from 

 north-west to south-east, and at the widest part a 

 little over z miles from east to west ; it tapers to- 

 wards the south. The northern part of the parish is 

 upon the Greensand, with an outcrop of Atherfield 

 Clay at its base. The southern part reaches on to 

 the Wealden Clay. About the village itself, however, 

 the soil is sand and gravel washed down by a tribu- 

 tary of the Wey, which, rising in Cranleigh parish, 

 traverses Wonersh and falls into the Wey in Shal- 

 ford. The road from Guildford to Cranleigh and 

 Horsham traverses the parish, and the disused Wey 

 and Arun Canal also. The London, Brighton 

 and South Coast line from Guildford to Horsham 

 cuts the southern part of it. Bramley station on 

 this line is close to the village of Wonersh, though in 

 Bramley parish. The two villages are curiously close 

 to each other. The parish is agricultural, and there 

 is a good deal of waste land. Part of the heath- 

 covered high ground of Blackheath is included in 

 Wonersh, also part of Shalford Common, Shamley 

 Green, once spelt Shamble Lea, and part of Smith- 



wood Common in the south end of it. Along th& 

 road to Guildford is a great extent of roadside waste. 



Wonersh was one of the flourishing seats of the- 

 clothing trade in West Surrey. The special manufac- 

 ture was blue cloth, dyed, no doubt, with woad, 

 licence to grow which was asked in the neighbour- 

 hood in the 1 6th century. 1 Her Majesty objected 

 to the too free growth of woad as prejudicial to her 

 customs.' The blue cloth of Wonersh commanded 

 a sale in the Canary Islands, among other places. 

 Aubrey 8 tells the story of how the market was lost 

 by the dishonesty of the makers in stretching their 

 webs. But the clothing trade was dwindling irv 

 the whole neighbourhood in the I7th century, 4 and 

 Wonersh only shared in the general decay. 



Prehistoric remains are rather abundant. Numerous 

 palaeolithic flints have been found in the drift gravel 

 near the stream, neolithic implements and flakes ajre 

 abundant, especially on Blackheath and near Chint- 

 hurst Hill. In 1900 a small round barrow was 

 opened on Blackheath. It had contained a cinerary 

 urn, broken to pieces when found, in which were 

 burnt bones. The urn had been inclosed by flat 

 slabs of ironstone. In the barrow were two neolithic 

 flints, a round disc, and an axe-head or hammer of 

 rude make. 5 



There is a Congregational chapel in Wonersh. 

 St. John's Seminary, built as a place of education for 

 Roman Catholic clergy for the diocese of Southwark, 

 was opened in 1891. It stands near the road to 



149 Egerton MS. 2034, fol. 88a. 



Recov. R. Mil. 28 & 29 Chas. II, 

 m. 150. 



I5to See Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 

 519. 



> Feet of F. SUIT. East. I & 2 Will. IV. 



1M Egerton MS. 2033, fol. 63. 



168 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. i), cvi, 56 ; 

 cclxxiii, 99. 



114 Close, 10 Chas. I, pt. xxviii, m. 33 ; 

 32 Chas. II, pt. xiv, no. 10. 



155 Egerton MS. 2032, fol. 74. Com- 

 pare the account of the cell adjoining the 

 north wall of the church. 



1M Before 1714, for in 1786 Thomas 

 Duncomb, rector, did not know when she 

 died. His father, grandfather, and great- 

 grandfather had been rectors before him, 



121 



dying in 1764, 1746, and 1714 respec- 

 tively, and none of them left widows. 



1 At Unstead ; Loseley MSS. (i Apr. 

 1586), vii, 29 B. 



3 See Loseley MSS. (10 Apr. 1585), xii, 

 60. A letter from the council on the subject. 



* Nat. Hiit. and Antij. ofSurr.(ed. 1718), 

 iv, 97. 4 See V.C.H. Surr. ii, 344-8.. 



Surr. Arch. Coll. XT, 156. 



16 



