WOTTON HUNDRED 



WOTTON 



Duke of Norfolk. The present occupier is Mr. Sidney 

 Ricardo. The original house was built by the side of 

 the valley, which runs northward from near the tower 

 towards Wotton Hatch, in 1 740, by Theodore Jacob- 

 sen, a Dutch merchant resident in England. A stream 

 was artificially diverted to form what is now a pictur- 

 esque waterfall, and a fountain and other ornamental 

 waterworks were made in front of the house. These, 

 with part of the garden, mark its former site. The 

 original house was neglected, and by 1 845 had become 

 ruinous. It was pulled down before 1855, but a 

 steward's house on the estate, lying a little farther north, 

 was let as a gentleman's house, and 

 has been enlarged to form the pre- 

 sent Tillingbourne House. 



Tanhurst, on the south-western 

 slope of Leith Hill, late the resi- 

 dence of Mrs. Cazalet, formerly of 

 Greenhurst, Capel, is the property 

 of Lady Vaughan Williams, wife of 

 Lord Justice Williams and daughter 

 of the late Mr. Edmund Lomax. 

 Before 1795 it was bought by 

 Mr. William Philip Perrin, owner 

 also of Parkhurst (see Abinger) and 

 Leith Hill Place. The next owner 

 was Sir H. Fitzherbert, during 

 whose ownership the eminent Sir 

 Samuel Romilly rented the house 

 up to the time of his death in 1 8 1 8. 

 It was bought by Mr. E. Lomax 

 (see Shiere) in 1827.* Mr. Lomax, 

 who was twice married, died in 

 1839, and left Netley in Shiere to 

 Mrs. Fraser, Parkhurst in Abinger 

 to Mrs. Scarlett, children of his 

 first wife, and Tanhurst to Lady 

 Vaughan Williams, daughter of his 

 second wife. Lord Justice and 

 Lady Vaughan Williams reside at 

 High Ashes on the same property. 



Jayes Park, close to Ockley 

 Green, is the seat of Mr. Henry 

 Lee Steere, lord of the manor of 

 Ockley, but this house is in Wot- 

 ton. Jayes was the seat of the 

 Steere family for many genera- 

 tions. Mr. Lee Steere, who died in 

 1 784, left it to the son of his daugh- 

 ter and of Mr. Richard Witts, 

 Lee Steere Witts. On reaching 

 his majority in 1 795 he assumed the 

 name of Steere, and the family 

 have resided ever since at Jayes. 



The schools were built in 1852, 

 rebuilt in 1874, and enlarged in 

 1885. 



The ecclesiastical parish of Okewood formed from 

 Wotton, Ockley, and Abinger in 1853 is a district 

 formerly very difficult of access owing to the clay lanes. 

 In addition to the parish church there is a Congrega- 

 tional chapel and a national school built in 1873. 



Hale House, containing some old parts, is the pro- 

 perty of Mr. H. Lee Steere of Ockley, and the residence 

 of Mr. Henry P. Powell. This is no doubt the place 

 belonging to Edward de la Hale (died 1431), who 



restored Okewood Chapel (vide infra). In the Ockley 

 Court Rolls, 1648, it appears that a Mr. Steere had 

 lately built a good house at Hale, of which part re- 

 mains in the present house. 



Redford is the seat of Lady Abinger. Leith Vale 

 was the seat of the late Miss Cooper Brown (ob. 1907), 

 who was for many years churchwarden of Okewood. 



According to Domesday, Harold held 



MANOR WOTTON T.R.E., and at the time of 



the Survey Oswald, an Englishman, held 



it. 4 It is noteworthy that in 1086 Richard de 



Tonbridge, the ancestor of the Clares, Earls of 



WOTTON CHURCH : THE WEST TOWER FROM THE SOUTH 



Gloucester, who afterwards held Wotton in chief, 

 was already holding there one hide of Oswald.* 

 Richard is known to have gained possession of other 

 parts of Oswald's land, and he even sublet some of 

 Oswald's former possessions at Mickleham to him. 7 

 The overlordship of Wotton seems to have always 

 afterwards been with the honour of Clare. 8 



The first immediate lord of whom there is mention 

 is Ralph de Camoys, who owed one knight's service 



* Bill of tale. 



y.C.H. Surr. i, 328,1. 



Ibid. 



' Ibid. 283 and 3170. 



155 



8 Chan. Inq. p.m. 43 Hen. Ill, no. 28; 

 ibid. 49 Edw. Ill (ntpt. 2nd not.), no. 46. 



