A HISTORY OF SURREY 



In the Taxation of Pope Nicholas and in Wykeham's 

 Register the spiritualities of Chipstead were rated at 

 18 l$i. \d., the tithes being l ijs. 4</. 96 In 1428 

 the church was taxed at 2 1 6s. 8</. and paid a subsidy of 

 l ijs. 4</. 9r Under Henry VIII the value was nearly 

 the same, being 18 3/. 6J. ; 2s., however, was due 

 yearly to the Bishop of Winchester and "js. 1\d. for 

 the procurations of the archdeacon, reducing the net 

 value to 1 7 1 3*. i o \d. Of this, the house and grounds 



were worth 30*.; the tithes of grain amounted to 9. 

 and private baptisms brought in about 6s. Sd. yearly. 95 

 The commissioners of 1658 recommended the 

 union of Chipstead and Kingswood in Ewell. 



Smith's Charity is distributed as 

 CHARITIES in other Surrey parishes. Christo- 

 pher Shaw, embroiderer, who died 

 31 July 1618, and was buried at Chipstead, left an 

 annual rent-charge of 1 6s. for the poor. 



GATTON 



Gatetune (x cent.) ; Gatone (xi cent.) ; Gatton 

 (xii cent.). 



Gatton is a small parish 2 miles north-east from 

 Reigate. It is bounded on the north by Chipstead, 

 on the east by Merstham, on the south by Reigate, 

 and on the west by Kingswood in Ewell. It is on 

 the crest and southern slope of the chalk downs, and 

 extends southwards on to the Upper Green Sand and 

 Gault. The church and such village as there is 

 stand on the Green Sand. The parish measures 

 about a mile from east to west, and a trifle more from 

 north to south, and contains 1,200 acres of land and 

 32 of water. A tongue of the parish ran southwards, 

 south of Merstham to the boundary of Nutfield, but 

 was added to Merstham (q.v.) in 1899. 



The situation of Gatton is highly picturesque. The 

 upper part of the parish, on the chalk hills, is upwards 

 of 700 ft. above the sea. A great part of the centre 

 of the parish is taken up by Gatton Park, which 

 covers 550 acres, nearly a half of the whole acreage. 

 In it is the lake formed by damming up water from 

 small springs which ultimately flow down to the Mole. 

 There are two other ponds. The parish is very well 

 wooded with various kinds of trees. 



The village is represented by a small group of 

 houses at the north-eastern gate of the park ; but there 

 is no shop, no public-house, and now no school. 

 There are five gentlemen's houses, one vacant, besides 

 Gatton Park and the rectory, and one farm. There 

 were undoubtedly other houses in the ground now 

 covered by the park, but though Gatton was a 

 borough there is no evidence that it was ever a place 

 of any importance or of any large population. 



The so-called town hall is an open portico 

 supported on pillars in the pseudo-classical style, and 

 may date from the i8th century, when the proprietor 

 was usually the only voter. In it now is an urn 'in 

 memory of the deceased borough.' 



The same stone which is dug at Merstham is also 

 found and worked in Gatton parish. 



The road which skirts the north-eastern side of 

 Gatton Park is apparently part of the old line of 

 communication along the chalk downs, and the 

 Ordnance map marks it as called in Gatton, 'The 

 Pilgrims' Way.' This does not appear to be justified. 

 The old way left the present road at a point near the 

 north-east corner of the park and crossed the park to 

 the present lodge, whence it continues still eastward 

 to Merstham. The old line of road is clearly visible 

 in the park. In the northern part of the parish 



British coins have been found, some way north of the 

 old road. Close to the former school, much nearer 

 the road and lodge entrance to the park just men- 

 tioned, both British and Roman coins have been 

 found. In the park, near Nutwood House, is an 

 ancient well which has what is supposed to be Roman 

 masonry round the upper part. Roman tiles have 

 been picked up, and the late rector, Mr. Larken, had 

 a bronze ring which he found in the park, which was 

 said by the late Sir A. W. Franks of the British Museum 

 to be part of Roman ornamental horse trappings, 

 intended to hold two straps together. There is 

 therefore reason to believe that Gatton was occupied 

 during the Roman dominion in Britain. 



Practically the whole of Gatton is the property of 

 the lord of the manor. Upper Gatton, standing in 

 a park, was formerly the capital mansion of a separate 

 manor (see below). It is now the seat of Mr. 

 Alfred Benson. Nutwood Lodge is the seat of Capt. 

 Charles Francis Cracroft Jarvis. The house called 

 Gatton Tower is used as the rectory. The old rectory 

 near the church was pulled down by Sir James Cole- 

 brooke, owner 175161, who also turned most of the 

 glebe into the lake which he made, and altered the 

 interior of the church, destroying all the old monu- 

 ments. The Tower was originally what its name 

 indicates, and probably built as a summer-house for 

 the view on an eminence in the park, but has had 

 a house attached to it. 



There is now no school. The late Lord Oxenbridge 

 supported a national school of about twenty children. 

 It was started as an infant school about fifty years 

 ago and made a mixed school about ten years later. 

 It was his private property and sold with the estate. 

 After the Act of 1902 it was discontinued. The few 

 children attend Merstham or Chipstead School. 



So far as can be judged from some- 

 BOROUGH what scanty records there appear to 

 be no traces of burgage tenure in 

 Gatton before the middle of the l$th century, 

 when it first sent two burgesses to Parliament, and 

 subsequently there are no signs of a corporate 

 community except in respect of the distinct Parlia- 

 mentary representation of the ' borough.' 



In 1086 the only tenants of the manor were 

 6 villeins and 3 bordars * and later extents do not 

 show any peculiarity of tenure. The town inhabi- 

 tants, numbering seventeen, were assessed in 1332 for 

 a tenth as a town, instead of the fifteenth then levied 

 from rural districts, 1 but the term ' borough ' was 



96 Pope Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 207 ; 

 Wykcham't Reg. i, 379. 

 7 Feud, Aids, ii, 114. 

 * Vtlar Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 46. 



' V.C.H. Surr. i, 303. 



9 Lay Subs. R. bdle. 184, no. 4, m. 

 3, ii. But the assessment is very low, 

 3 o;. 2</., less than rural parishes like 



Merstham, which was not of much greater 

 size than Gatton and was assessed at 



196 



