A HISTORY OF SURREY 



snowe, 11 and were held by the sheriff of the county, who received the profits 

 and accounted for them to the public exchequer ; the lord might also call 

 and keep a court leet in any of the townships or tithings in the hundreds 

 which paid a common fine. The surveyors stated that they could not 

 discover that a three-weekly court had ever been held for the hundreds, 

 although they believed the lord thereof might hold one if he pleased. 



BETCHWORTH 



Becesworde (xi cent.), Beceswrde (xii cent.), Beches- 

 worth (xiii cent.). 



Betchworth is a parish midway between Dorking 

 and Reigate, about 3 miles from each, 26 miles 

 from London. It is bounded on the north by 

 Mickleham, Headley, and Walton on the Hill, 

 on the east by Buckland and Reigate, on the 

 south by Leigh, on the west by Dorking. It measures 

 4 miles from north to south, and 2 miles from 

 east to west, and contains 3,713 acres of land and 30 

 of water. It is traversed by the River Mole, which 

 runs in a circuitous course from south-east to north- 

 west ; and the Gadbrook, a tributary of the Mole, 

 forms part of the southern boundary. It is, charac- 

 teristically of all the parishes on the southern escarp- 

 ment of the chalk, placed on the three soils, the 

 northern part being on the summit and slope of the 

 chalk downs, the central part with the old village and 

 church being on the sands, and the southern part on 

 the Wealden Clay. The chalk furnishes the chief 

 industry. Chalkpits and limeworks have existed for 

 time out of mind, and the very extensive works of the 

 Dorking Grey Stone and Lime Company are in the 

 parish, where lime is burnt and cement manufactured 

 on a large scale. There are also brickyards in the parish, 

 which is, however, mostly agricultural and residential. 

 Gadbrook Common is to the south of the parish, and 

 there is open down-land to the north, interspersed 

 with plantations, Betchworth Clump, a group of 

 beeches, standing up conspicuously on the crest of 

 the chalk hill. The Duke's Grove is a fir plantation 

 below Brockham Warren, planted by a Duke of Nor- 

 folk. The road from Dorking to Reigate passes 

 through the parish. A line of yew trees on the side 

 of the chalk has been taken to mark an ancient way 

 leading from the ford of the Mole along the downs, 

 but if such existed the continuity has been interrupted 

 by the chalkpits and limeworks. A lane coming 

 from the south, and leading to a formerly existing 

 wooden bridge over the Mole in Wonham Park, is 

 called Pray Lane. 



The Redhill and Reigate branch of the South 

 Eastern Railway cuts the parish from east to west, and 

 there is a station at Betchworth, opened in 1 849. 



There seem to be no records of prehistoric remains 

 in Betchworth. A palimpsest brass, with the arms of 

 the Fitz Adrians, under-tenants of Brockham, on the 

 reverse, was found in the church, and is now in the 

 British Museum. Historically the manors have been 

 transferred from one hundred to another. In Domes- 



day part of Betchworth was held with Thorncroft and 

 counted with that manor in Copthorne. This is 

 probably West Betchworth, now in Dorking parish and 

 Wotton Hundred. Another manor, East Betchworth, 

 with a church, was counted in Wotton Hundred. 

 The transference of East Betchworth to Reigate before 

 1279 ' may be connected with its acquisition by the de 

 Warennes, lords of Reigate. The tenants did villein 

 service in Reigate, mowing a meadow called Friday's 

 Mead. 



The parish of Betchworth has become a favourite 

 residential neighbourhood. Broome Park, south of the 

 railway, is the property of Lady Louisa Fielding. The 

 park comprises about 80 acres. It was formerly the 

 residence of Sir Benjamin Brodie, the eminent doctor. 

 The second baronet removed to Brockham Warren, 

 formerly the seat of Mr. Mackley Brown. Broome 

 Park was sold to General the Hon. Sir Percy R. B. 

 Fielding after 1891. On the site was an old house, 

 now absorbed in or superseded by later buildings. 

 There was also a small house on another site called 

 the Temple, now pulled down. A mantelpiece in the 

 house is said to have been brought from it, and has 

 the crest of Briscoe, a greyhound seizing a hare, upon 

 it. The Old House, an 18th-century house on the 

 east of the village street, is the seat of the Rev. Walter 

 Earle. Captain Morris, of the Life Guards, well 

 known in the latter part of the l8th and earlier igth 

 century as a writer of convivial songs, lived in Betch- 

 worth. 



The inclosure award for Betchworth Common 

 fields and waste is dated 30 April 1815, pursuant to 

 the Act 52 Geo. Ill, cap. 60. The fields which lie 

 north of the church and west of the village are still in 

 fact open fields. 



The inclosure award of Shellwood Manor * included 

 waste in Betchworth parish, that is about Gadbrook 

 Common. A conveyance of Wonham Manor, 1689, 

 naming the Upper and Lower Great Field of 2 5 acres, 

 and the Great South Field, 1 1 acres, seems to show 

 open fields also in that manor, but when they were 

 inclosed is unknown. 



There was a parish school which was enlarged in 

 1850,' but existed before that date, supported partly 

 by endowments from a Mr. Reynolds and the Duke 

 of Norfolk. The present provided school was built 

 in 1871 and enlarged in 1885. 



Brockham Green is a district formed from Betch- 

 worth, and made into an ecclesiastical parish in 1848. 

 The village, clustered round the green, about I miles 



11 Undersnowe was a place between God- 

 itone, Ozted, and Tandridge, where three 

 ways meet, near the south-east corner of 



Rooksnest Park, in Tandridge Hun- 

 dred. 



1 Assize R. 877, m. 56. 



1 66 



* xz Jan. 1854. See Blue Ek, Incl. 

 Awards. 



8 Return at Farnham. 



