A HISTORY OF SURREY 



In the part of the Lady chapel now used as a vestry 

 are three small brass plates, also mural, one of which 

 bears the inscription 



HIC JACET THOMAS MORSTXD ET ALEANORA UX* El'. 



A'I'AB' P'PICIETUR DB'. AME. 



The others are to the memory of Mrs. Bridgett 

 Browne, 1627, and to Peter Gade, 1679. In the 

 other part of the chapel (south wall) is a monument 

 to Gabriel Wight, of Brockham, 1621 ; another to 

 Stephen Harvey, 1618 ; and in the nave is a tablet 

 to Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, bart., the famous 

 surgeon, 1862. 



The six bells were recast in 1876, before which 

 date there seem to have been five, one bearing 

 the inscription, SIT NOMEN' DOMINI BENEDICTUM ; an- 

 other ROBERTUS MOT ME FECIT 1 590 ; and the others 

 of 1667, 1721, and 1750. 



Among the plate is a cup of 1639 and another of 

 about the same date with an inscription round the 

 upper part : ' This belongeth to the Parish of St. 

 Bridgett,' i.e. St. Bride, in the City of London. 

 There are two silver flagons of 1639 and patens of 

 1715 and 1776, besides a few pieces of modern plate, 

 given by the same donor who presented the cup 

 formerly belonging to St. Bride's, Fleet Street. 



The registers date from 1558, with certain gaps 

 and damaged portions. They contain an explana- 

 tory note to the effect that about this time (in the 

 early i8th century) the register was damaged owing 

 to the vicar's greyhound bitch rearing a litter in 

 the parish chest. 



The Domesday Survey records the 

 JOrOtTSON existence of a church at Betchworth 

 (which must be East Betchworth), 

 held at that time by Richard de Tonbridge, lord of 

 Clare. 1 " It afterwards passed to the family of de 

 Warenne. Earl Hamelin and 

 his wife Isabella, daughter and 

 heir of the third Earl de 

 Warenne, gave the church of 

 East Betchworth to the priory 

 of St. Mary Overy, South- 

 wark, before 1199; '" confir- 

 mation of this and . divers 

 other grants to the priory was 

 made during the 1 4th and 

 15th centuries. 1 " 



A vicarage was ordained be- 

 fore 1377, as in that year an 

 inquiry concerning the vicar of 

 Betchworth was held by an 



official of the Bishop of Winchester. The inquiry 

 was directed at the instance of the parishioners them- 

 selves, who alleged that the vicar did not proceed in 

 orders, wasted the goods of the vicarage, suffered the 

 house of residence to go to ruin, kept a mistress, 

 revealed the secrets of the confessional, and left the 

 church unserved. 11 * The vicar seems to have resigned 

 in consequence, as in the June following the inquiry, 

 which was held in February, William Spencer was 



PRIORY or ST. MART 

 OyiRr. Argent a cross 

 indented ?ulei with a lo- 

 zenge gules in the quar- 

 ter. 



DEAN AND CANONS 

 or ST. GEORGE, WIND- 

 SOR. Argent a croa 

 gules. 



instituted vicar, owing to the resignation of John de 

 Westone. 1 " 



The convent of St. Mary Overy retained possession 

 of the advowson until the Dissolution. 1 " 



In 1545 Henry VIII made a grant in fee to 

 Thomas Burnell and William his son of the rectory, 

 late in the tenure of Sir Nicholas Carew, knight, 

 deceased, and of the advowson, to be held of the king 

 by the service of one fortieth part of a knight's fee, 

 and for the yearly rent of ig/. 11 ' The king in the 

 following year granted this 

 yearly rent to Roland Hill 

 and his heirs. 118 Both these 

 grants, however, appear to 

 have been annulled, or else 

 surrender was made to the 

 Crown, as Edward VI, in the 

 first year of his reign, granted 

 both rectory and church to 

 William Franklin, Dean of the 

 King's Free Chapel of St. 

 George the Martyr in Windsor 

 Castle, and the chapter of the 

 same and their successors. 11 * 

 The presentation to the church has remained with 

 the Dean and Chapter of Windsor until the present 

 day. 110 



In 1634 or 1635, when a certain Robert Tourney 

 was vicar, the rectory being demised to one Daniel 

 Leare, the parishioners of Betchworth petitioned for 

 the augmentation of the vicarage out of the impropriate 

 parsonage ; the vicarage, formerly worth 30, having 

 been decreased to 10 by the augmentation of the 

 parsonage. 1 ' 1 On 10 May 1637, when the case was 

 heard, the Dean and Chapter of Windsor offered an 

 annual sum of 5 for the augmentation of the vicarage, 

 a like offer being made by Leare, and it was therefore 

 ordered that the said I o should be duly assured to 

 the vicar and his successors. 1 " 



The Parliamentary Report of 1658 says that the 

 Poor Knights of Windsor were patrons. 1 " This is 

 either a confusion, or the patronage of the abolished 

 chapter had been conveyed to them. 



In 1715 Hugh Griffiths, vicar, rebuilt the vicarage. 

 Smith's Charity is distributed as in 

 CHARITIES other Surrey parishes. 



In 1660 Mr. Richard Arnold by 

 will left the rent of land at Steyning in Sussex to pro- 

 vide clothing for ten poor people not given to drunken- 

 ness. This land has been sold. 



In 1662 Mr. Andrew Cade left 100 by will to 

 provide bread for the poor. 



In 1662 Mr. Richard Arnold's daughter Mary 

 gave 30;. a year charged on land at Medley Bottom in 

 Betchworth to provide bread. 



In 1706 Mr. Richard Hutton left the rent of a 

 cottage to provide bread distributed on Good 

 Friday. In 1725 the return to Bishop Willis's 

 visitation calls the cottage John Parkhurst's house. 



In 1725 Mrs. Margaret Fenwicke of Betchworth 

 Castle left 200 to buy lands, to provide for appren- 



"1 r.C.H.Surr. i, 321. 



11J Ibid, note ; Pat. 3 Edw. IV, pt. iii, 

 m. 21. 



118 Cal. Pat. 1388-92, p. Ill ; 1461-7, 

 j>. 307. 



114 fTykdiam's Reg. (Hants Rec. Soc.), 

 ii, 266. 



i Ibid, i, 86. 



"' Egerton MSS. 2031-4 ; rTykeham't 

 Reg. (Hants Rec. Soc.), i, 86, 101, 132, 

 240 ; Valor Ecel. (Rec. Com.), ii, 62. 



"7 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xx (i), 620 ; 

 Pat. 36 Hen. VIII, pt. xx. From the 

 terms of the grant it seems probable that 

 Carew had a lease of the rectory only ; he 

 never held the advowson. 



172 



Pat. 38 Hen. VIII, pt. ix, m. 39. 



118 Pat. I Edw. VI, pt. v, m. 17. 



Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.), 1614-1835; 

 Clergy Lilts. 



1M Cal. S.P. Dam. 1634-5, p. 422 ; 

 1636-7, p. 241. 



w Ibid. 1637, p. 95. 



la * Lambeth Registers, vol. 21, no. 5. 



