WOTTON HUNDRED 



DORKING 



Dorking. 68 In 1262 Hawisia widow of John de 

 Gatesden, the name of a Clare tenant, 69 sued Robert 

 Basset for a third part of a mill and 40 acres of land 

 as her dower in Hamsted and Dorking. 70 In 1314 

 Gilbert de Clare, killed at Bannockburn, was seised 

 of Hamsted, held of him by Agnes de Badeshull." 

 Hugh le Despenser, sister's son to Gilbert, died seised 

 of it in 1350, when it was held by John deWarblyng- 

 ton of the honour of Clare." In 1560-1 John 

 Caryll sold land in Hamsted to Sir Thomas Browne of 

 Betchworth. 7 * The description places it at the west 

 end of Dorking, where Hamsted Lane, an old name, 

 preserves its memory. 



The manor of MILTON (xi et seq. cent. Middle- 

 ton) was held of William Fitz Ansculf by a certain 

 Baldwin at the time of the Domesday Survey ; Uluric 

 held it of King Edward. 74 It passed with the honour 

 of Dudley from William Fitz Ansculf to the family of 

 Somery ; early in the 1 3th century one Simon Fitz 

 Giles owed one knight's service for Milton to the 

 honour of Dudley. 74 



The manor was possibly granted to the nuns of 

 Kilburn by Roger de Somery, 76 for their prioress was 

 found to hold lands of him at his death ; there is, how- 

 ever, reason to suppose that they had gained possession 

 of it somewhat earlier, since Margery, Prioress of 

 Kilburn, was seised of a knight'sfeein Milton in 1232." 

 Again, in 1 269, Matilda, a prioress whom Dugdale 

 omits from his list, 78 had transactions touching the 

 moiety of a virgate of land in Milton. 7 * 



The manor remained with the nuns until the dis- 

 solution of the monasteries, when the king exchanged 

 it for other Surrey lands with John Carleton of Walton 

 on Thames, and Joyce his wife. 80 From John Carle- 

 ton the manor passed to Richard Thomas, who was 

 holding it in I552. 81 Richard Thomas continued to 

 hold under Philip and Mary ; ** his tenure was not, 

 however, popular among his tenants, who were in- 

 dignant at his having inclosed lands on Milton Com- 

 mon otherwise known as Anstey Heath, where the 

 aforesaid tenants had had common of pasture from time 

 immemorial. Waterden Wood is also mentioned. 

 Anstey Farm and Waterden lie on the two sides of 

 the road in Milton Manor near Coldharbour. Milton 

 Gore, close by, is the only part of the heath in ques- 

 tion now uninclosed. 



It is probable that the grant to Richard Thomas 

 was only for a period of years, for at the death of his 

 widow Katharine, who had subsequently become the 

 wife of Saunders Wright, it reverted to the Crown. 83 

 Queen Elizabeth in 1599 gave it to Ralph Lathom. 8 * 

 The grant, however, was cancelled before it took 

 effect, and the next year the manor passed from the 

 Crown to George Evelyn 8S in consideration of some 

 700. From that time it descended with Wotton 

 in the Evelyn family. 



Milton Court, the seat of the late Mr. L. M. 



Rate (ob. 1907), is the old manor-house of Milton. 

 It is a fine Jacobean house, mostly of brick, with 

 wings projecting in front and behind and a projecting 

 portico in front, showing five gables to the front, over 

 the wings and portico ; and between these, to the 

 back, there are three gables, the chimneys occupying 

 the intermediate spaces on this side. The gables are 

 all of the rounded pattern common in Kent and the 

 Netherlands. The house was rebuilt by Richard 

 Evelyn, and completed in 1611 (accounts in posses- 

 sion of Mr. Rate). There was no high hall, but a 

 gallery ran along the front of the house with a pro- 

 jecting bay over the porch. This has been altered 

 into a drawing-room and other rooms. The stair- 

 case in the east wing is a very fine specimen of 

 Jacobean woodwork. Mr. Rate bought the house in 

 1864, and it was restored under the direction of the 

 late C. Burgess. 



The manor of WEST BETCHWORTH was held 

 by Richard de Tonbridge at the time of the Domes- 

 day Survey, and the overlordship appears to have re- 

 mained with the honour of Clare. 86 In the I3th 

 century John de Wauton held half a knight's fee in 

 Betchworth of that honour ; 87 he subsequently for- 

 feited his lands to the king, who in 1291 made a 

 grant of them to John de Berewyk. 88 At John's 

 death in 1 3 1 3 his heir was found to be his grandson 

 Roger Husee, then a minor. 89 Roger died seised in 

 I362, 90 and was succeeded by his brother John, who 

 died a few years later leaving his son John as his 

 heir. 91 This John conveyed the manor to Richard 

 Earl of Arundel. 9 * It remained in the Arundel 

 family until 1487, when it was sold to Thomas 

 Browne. 93 It was still in the possession of the 

 Brownes in the time of Elizabeth, 94 and from that 

 date appears to have descended with the portion of 

 Dorking Manor which was in their hands. 



Betchworth Castle, now only a picturesque ruin, 

 perched on a bank above the Mole, and almost con- 

 cealed by trees and creepers, was built, or, more prob- 

 ably, rebuilt, by Sir Thomas Browne. Judging by the 

 print in Watson's ' Memoirs,' the mansion which, in 

 the middle of the I5th century, replaced an earlier 

 fortified house or castle, must have been extremely 

 picturesque with its battlemented gables, clustered 

 chimneys and oriel windows, standing among lawns 

 and gardens descending to the Mole. The ivy is 

 disintegrating the walls, and almost the only architec- 

 tural feature is the arch of a fireplace. A remarkably 

 fine avenue of lime trees leads to the ruin. 



The Domesday Survey records that Abbot ^Ethel- 

 rige had held tVESTCOTE of King Edward ; also 

 that Ralph de Fougeres then held it." 



In the 1 3th century Westcote (villa de Westcote) 

 was terra Normannorum held by Gilbert de Aquila and 

 taken into the hands of King Henry III. The Earl 

 of Warenne and Surrey had paid a fine and held it 



V.C.H. Surr. i, 298. 



69 Testa tie Nevil!( Rec. Com.), 219. John 

 de Gatesden alto had lands in Hamsted 

 (Feet of F. Surr. 33 Hen. Ill, 379). 



7 Assize R. 47 Hen. Ill, Surr. m. f . 



'! Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. II, 68, m. 

 63. 



7> Ibid. 23 Edw. Ill (2nd pt. 1st nos.), 

 no. 169. 



? 8 Manning and Bray, Hist. Surr. i, 566. 



7< r.C.H. Surr. i, 322,1. 



Ibid. 



7 Chan. Inq. p.m. i Edw. I, no. 15. 



77 Feet of F. SUIT. Trin. 32 Hen. Ill, 

 no. 49. 



7 8 Man. Angl. iii, 424. 



7 Feet of F. Surr. Mil. 53 Hen. Ill, 

 no. 2;. 



"0 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xv, g. 733 

 (48). 



81 Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 6 Edw. VI. 



8a Star. Chamb. Proc. Phil, and Mary, 

 bdle. 6, no. 4;. 



88 Pat. 41 Eliz. pt. x, m. 25. 



M Ibid. 



84 Pat. 42 Eliz. pt. xvi, m. I. 



147 



43 



90 

 M 

 M 

 99 

 94 



88. 

 M 



1 V.C.H. Surr. i, 319*. 



Testa de Neiiill (Rec. Com.), 221. 

 1 Chart. R. 19 Edw. I, m. 84. 

 ' Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. II, no. 



Ibid. 35 Edw. Ill, pt. i, no. 98. 

 Ibid. 44 Edw. Ill (ist not.), no. 33. 

 Close, 47 Edw. Ill, m. 16. 

 Feet of F. Surr. 1 5 Hen. VI, no. 8. 

 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccliii, 



r.C.H. Surr. i, 326*. 



