A HISTORY OF SURREY 



iron and plates of mica. It is very differently judged 

 by different authorities as a building stone. It in fact 

 differs in quality. It is quite soft when first dug, and 

 requires seasoning, and must be laid as it lay in the 

 quarry, if it is to last. Stone from the Merstham 

 quarries was used in 1259 for the king's palace at 

 Westminster, and in 1359 for Windsor Castle;' 

 also for Old St. Paul's and London Bridge. The 

 Reigate stone frequently mentioned as employed at 

 Windsor and Westminster, and by Henry VIII at 

 Nonsuch, was of the same kind, and no doubt some 

 of it of the same Wealden origin, for John and Philip 

 Prophete, who supplied the stone in the 1 4th cen- 

 tury, were masters of the quarries at Merstham. 1 

 Stone is still worked here. 



Ironstone was found on Merstham Manor as early 

 as the I4th century, and iii 1362 the Earl of Arundel 

 asked permission of the abbot to work it. 4 In a lease 

 at Lambeth 4 of 1396 it appears that the iron was at 

 Charlwood, land at Charlwood being in Merstham 

 Manor. It could not occur in Merstham parish 

 itself, for geological reasons. 



The chalk at Merstham has also been long famous 

 for its lime. The lime produced is not quite equal 

 to the Dorking and Betchworth, but superior to the 

 Guildfbrd product. The lime used to be extensively 

 used as manure, and is still so employed. Cement is 

 also now made from it. 



The mineral works at Merstham helped to bring 

 about improved means of conveyance. The mediaeval 

 line of carriage was by cart to Battersea for conveyance 

 by water to Westminster, and to Kingston for water car- 

 riage to Windsor. In both cases the line lay over 

 a fairly dry and hard country. 6 " In 1 807 the high 

 road to Croydon was improved by Act of Parliament. 6 

 This road, new for a great part of its course, avoided 

 the steep hill into Reigate, which was descended by 

 the Reigate and Sutton road, and also the steeper 

 portion of the Merstham hill, passing by the depression 

 near the west end of the church, cutting off a little 

 of Gatton Park, and entering Reigate over Wray 

 Common. 



Before this road was made, a railroad, worked by horse 

 traction, and following the same depression in the chalk, 

 had been laid down, connecting Merstham with Croy- 

 don, and, by a branch, with Wandsworth. This was 

 opened in 1805, and was perhaps the earliest public 

 railroad in England. Similar lines in the north were 

 used only for particular collieries or mines. Though 

 the Merstham stone and lime works were intended 

 primarily to benefit by the line, it took goods of any 

 ownership or description. Fullers' earth from Nutfield 

 (q.v.) was conveyed upon it ; but through the cost of 

 carriage and transhipment into the trucks, and further 

 removal from the trucks and carriage at the other end, 

 it was said to offer no great saving of expense. The 

 mistake lay in not continuing the line, as was once 

 suggested, to reach the Wey and Arun Canal in West 

 Surrey, and so communicate with the southern coast. 

 Also allowance was not made for the fact that there 

 was no great quantity of goods to furnish a return 

 traffic from the Thames to Merstham. 



The line was taken over at last by the London and 



Brighton and South Eastern Companies, whose joint 

 line runs upon part of it, but near Merstham the old 

 railway is still visible in an inclined cutting. The 

 rails, of course, have been removed. 



The Locomotive Engine Railway was opened in 

 1842. Merstham Tunnel, now doubled, is a well- 

 known feature of the line. There is a station at 

 Merstham. 



Close to the station is a place called Battle Bridge, 

 originally in Gatton, about which traditions, incap- 

 able of verification, have gathered, concerning a defeat 

 of the Danes. It is perhaps worth mentioning that 

 there is an Ockley Wood in the east part of Merst- 

 ham parish. But the great defeat of the Danes in 

 852, 'hard by Ockley Wood,' was no doubt at Ockley 

 in West Surrey. 



Neolithic flints are not uncommon about Merstham. 

 They are very common about Redhill and Reigate, 

 and precise attention to parish boundaries is not paid 

 when flints are picked up. 



The trace of greatest antiquity, perhaps, in the par- 

 ish is connected with communications. An ancient 

 trackway is to be observed along the chalk downs, 

 which, crossing Gatton Park, enters Merstham and is 

 used for some distance as a footpath, but appears in 

 traces only south of the church. The line seems to 

 continue, generally in use, into Chaldon parish, where 

 it was called Pilgrim Lane. This is no doubt part of 

 the old cross-country communication west and east 

 along the Downs, but it is not until it reaches Chaldon 

 that it used to be called the Pilgrims' Way. On 

 the Ordnance map, however, and elsewhere, it is so 

 called from West Surrey onwards. 7 



The village is picturesque, and stands on a hill or 

 plateau at some elevation above the railway and the 

 surrounding valleys. A few old-fashioned cottages 

 remain, notably the half-timbered blacksmith's forge 

 (now converted into a modern house), probably of the 

 latter part of the I Jth century, with a projecting 

 upper story, and massive curved braces and story posts. 8 

 Much rebuilding, including the Feathers Inn, and the 

 development of a picturesque building estate, in 

 which are many well-designed houses, has taken 

 place within recent years. 



Close to the church is Merstham House, the seat of 

 Lord Hylton. At Alderstead, f mile to the north-east, 

 is a picturesque farm-house, which preserves a few old 

 features. There were ancient manor-houses here and 

 at Albury in this parish. 



At Albury Farm, south of the village, are well- 

 marked remains of a moat which surrounded the de- 

 stroyed manor-house of Albury. 



South-west of the church is Court Lodge Mead, 

 where traces of the terraces of the old manor-house 

 garden are still visible. 



There are numerous gentlemen's houiei about 

 Merstham. Merstham House, the property of Lord 

 Hylton, is at present occupied by Mr. Andrew Walker; 

 Battle Bridge House is the seat of Mr. Richard 

 Trower ; the Gables, of Mr. Frederick Adams ; Ockley 

 House, of Mrs. Pelley. 



The property called Netherne ' Lez Nedder ' in 

 1522 has been acquired by the Surrey County 



' Pat. 33 Edw. III.pt. iii, m. 7. 

 8 V.C.H. Surr. ii, 177-8. 



4 Lit. Cant. (Rolls Ser.), vii, 420. 



5 Quoted by Manning and Bray, Hist, 

 of Surr. ii, 255. 



V.C.H. Surr. ii, loc. cit. 



6 47 Geo. Ill, cap. 25. 



1 Manning and Bray (op. cit ii, 253) 

 say that the name Pilgrims' Lane ii used 

 in this parish. 



214 



8 See an excellent wood-cut of this, be- 

 fore it was modernized, in Palgrave't 

 Handbook to Reigate, p. 134. 



