A HISTORY OF SURREY 



These were the arms of the celebrated John Evelyn 

 and his wife. He was not then the owner of Wotton 

 House, as he did not succeed his elder brother George 

 till 1699. Another paten, inscribed : 'The gift of 

 Lee Steere Steere, Esq'. To the Parish of Wootton,' 

 is probably of the date 1724. A third dates from 

 1857. There is a cup of 1753, and a handsome 

 silver flagon of 1706, tankard-shaped, with a high lid, 

 and bearing the arms of Evelyn and Browne as on the 

 paten of 1685, encircled by stiff feathering, with the 

 inscription : ' The Gift of Mary Evelin, widdow of 

 John Evelin Late of Wootton Esq.' It was presented 

 in memory of her husband, who died in 1705. 



The pierced cast-bronze plate, now used as an 

 almsdish or collection-plate, is a beautiful but very 

 unsuitable ornament of the church, being adorned 

 with figures of nude gods and goddesses riding on 

 dolphins and sea-monsters. It is a recent gift to the 

 church. 



The bells are three in number, the first inscribed : 



(J( ORA MBNTE PIA PRO NOBIS VIRGO MARIA. The 



second has : ^ >J< tjf o ffc t%f IOHANNES CHRISTI 



PLAN OF OKEWOOD CHAPEL 



CARE DIGNARE PRO NOBIS ORARE. Both are of the 



latter part of the I4th century, and Mr. Stahlschmidt 

 considers that they were cast by a Reading or London 

 founder. The third bell, by Richard Eldridge, bears 

 the inscription : OUR HOPE is IN THE LORD 1602 RE.' 



The ancient CH4PEL of ST. JOHN THE 

 BAPTIST, OKEWOOD, is practically shut in by a 

 small oak wood, except on the south side. It is 

 perched upon the top of a hillock, round which winds 

 a tiny stream, and is approached on one side by a 

 rustic bridge. The churchyard is very picturesque, 

 and contains many old trees, and some cypresses of 

 more recent growth. There are a few wooden ' bed- 

 heads ' and a number of 18th-century headstones and 

 table-tombs. The chapel itself is most picturesque, 

 especially as viewed from the south-west or south-east, 

 and is built of local sandstone rubble, plastered with 

 the original coat of yellow-coloured mortar, the 

 windows and other dressings in the old part being in 

 hard chalk and firestone, the roofs covered with 

 Horsham slabs, diminishing in size towards the ridge, 



and the wooden bell-turret at the west end being of 

 oak boarding, crowned by a squat spirelet of oak 

 shingles. The modern parts are quite in keeping 

 with the old. 



The plan, as originally built in about 1220, was a 

 simple parallelogram, of nave and chancel, under one 

 roof, without structural division, 56ft. 6 in. long by 

 20 ft. wide internally, the side walls being 2 ft. 6 in. 

 and the east and west 3 ft. in thickness. There were, 

 till the modern alterations, a door on the north and 

 four lancet windows, the same number and a priest's 

 door on the south, while in the west wall were a door 

 and window of three lights, and in the east wall 

 another three-light window of 15th-century date. In 

 the western part of the south wall is a rudely-formed 

 window of 18th-century date. 68 The original roof, 

 with massive tie-beams and wall-plates, still remaining, 

 is probably of the later period ; the popular tradition 

 being that Edward de la Hale, whose brass remains 

 in the chancel, in thankfulness for the escape of his 

 son, who, while hunting in the forest, was attacked 

 by a wild boar and nearly killed, founded the existing 

 chapel on the site of the averted tragedy. This, 

 however, is an incorrect version, as there is a 

 record of the presentation of Sir Walter de 

 Fancourt to the chapel in 1290, and there can 

 be no doubt that the little chapel had then 

 been standing for some seventy years. What is 

 fairly certain is that Edward de la Hale en- 

 dowed the chapel with lands, re- roofed and 

 repaired it, and put the windows and a door- 

 way in the end walls. In the early years of the 

 1 8th century, about 1709, the chapel is re- 

 corded to have fallen into a condition of 

 dilapidation, when if was repaired, and a num- 

 ber of rough buttresses added (some of which 

 still remain), by the care of two neighbouring 

 yeomen, Mr. Goffe and Mr. Haynes, who sold 

 three of the bells to help the work. John 

 Evelyn is stated to have had a hand in an earlier 

 reparation. 69 His representative, the late 

 Mr. W. J. Evelyn, restored the building in 

 1867, and it was further restored and enlarged 

 at his cost by the addition of a north aisle and 

 a vestry in 1879. Although this extension was 

 necessary, and was carried out with unusual respect 

 for the ancient windows, door, &c., which were re- 

 built in the same relative positions in the new wall, 

 it is to be regretted for the unavoidable destruction of 

 some very interesting early wall-paintings found on 

 the walls and window-splays. 



The south wall shows the original work, particu- 

 larly in a pair of well-preserved lancet windows in the 

 chancel. Beneath these on the inside, and apparently 

 originally round the entire chapel, is a string-course 

 of keel or pear-shape section. The windows have 

 peculiar heads internally, i.e. straight-sided, or tri- 

 angular, instead of arched, as in the chancel of 

 Chipstead Church, Surrey, of slightly earlier date. 

 They are rebated externally to receive the glass. 

 There is a good piscina near to these with a credence 

 shelf over, beneath a trefoiled head. It has two drains, 

 dished in a square form. The opening is bordered 

 by a bold bowtel moulding between two hollows, and 

 is i ft. S in. wide, while that of the credence niche 

 over it, which is simply chamfered on the edges, is 



* 8 Probably made in 1709. 



" In Evelyn'j Diary is the entry, under 

 14 July 1701 : 'I lubicrib'd towardi re- 



162 



building Oakwood Chapel, now after zoo 

 years almost fallen down.* 



