REIGATE HUNDRED 



MERSTHAM 



Passelew, whose wife Christiana or Custance held it 

 in dower after his death, and at the beginning of the 

 following century their son Sir Edmund granted the 

 reversion to Robert, his son by his second wife. 68 In 

 1335 this Robert complained that his step-brother 

 John, then lord of Albury, had broken his close, mowed 

 his grass and carried it away with other of his goods. 67 

 Nothing further is known about this estate until the 

 1 5th century, when according to Manning and Bray, 

 who quote Court Rolls of Merstham, William Best 

 died seised of it in 1487. Richard Best was holding 

 in I522, 68 and in 1572 and 1587 it appears as 

 the property of Nicholas Best. Another Nicholas 

 Best died and was succeeded in 1670 by his son 

 Nicholas. In 1678 it was sold to Joseph Reeve, 

 who bequeathed all his estates to his only son 

 John, making provision for his daughter Sarah, 69 

 who eventually succeeded her brother. She married 

 secondly George Ballard, and in 1749 her ldest 

 son by him sold the estate to Samuel Nicholson. 

 By 1773 it was in the possession of Sir James Col- 

 broke, who died in 1761. His brother Sir George 

 conveyed it to Lord Newhaven. The manor then 

 became the property of John Lefevre, who bequeathed 

 it to his son-in-law Shaw, who took the name of 

 Lefevre and was holding the estate in 1808.' The 

 Rev. W. J. Jolliffe, second son of Mr. JollifFe who 

 bought Merstham, bought Alderstead between 1820 

 and 1830. He died in 1835. His son was the first 

 Lord Hylton, and Alderstead, which was always held 

 of Merstham Manor, was united to it by him in 

 1843." 



In 1522 Sir John Leigh held CHILBERTON 

 (Chylbertons) as a manor of the Prior of Christ- 

 church." According to Manning and Bray, Henry 

 Drake conveyed it to William Franke in 1625. In 

 1658 he by will devised it to his youngest son Wil- 

 liam. In 1 67 7 he and his son conveyed it to William 

 Bowman, who in 1710 left it to his youngest son 

 William. In 1735 Benjamin Bowman conveyed to 

 Charles Docminique, from whom it passed to the 

 Tattersalls and so to the Jolliffes with the main manor." 

 It is called ' the reputed manor of Chilvertons,' but a 

 court has been held for it in recent years. The 

 manor-house, on the west side of Merstham street, is 

 little more than a cottage, with the date 1598 upon 

 it. In 1905 it was bought by Mr. Pazton Watson, 

 who has carefully restored the house. 



In the rental of 1522 and the Court Rolls, NORTH 

 and SOUTH WORTH appear as holdings in Merst- 

 ham Manor. It is possible that an error has been 

 made in treating OrJe, in Reigate Hundred, in 

 the Domesday Survey, as Worth in Sussex, counted 

 in Surrey by error or by an indeterminate boundary. 

 It is at least equally probable that this Worth, now 

 commonly called The Wor, is meant. 



The church of ST. KATHERINE 

 CHURCH stands in a strangely isolated position on 

 the Brighton road, at some distance from 

 the village, upon a green knoll surrounded by tall old 

 elms. A modern lych-gate gives access to the church- 

 yard from the east, and broad gravelled paths lead to 

 the south porch, with long flights of steps from the 



south, rendered necessary by the steep pitch. The 

 churchyard, which has been extended towards the 

 south within the last half-century, and must now be 

 one of the largest in the county, is very nicely planted 

 and carefully tended. It contains a few old and many 

 modern tombstones. The ground rises above the 

 church to the north, and falls rapidly to the southward, 

 and the whole hill is formed of the Merstham stone, 

 lying beneath the chalk, from which the church, with 

 many other local buildings, has been built. 



This stone is, externally and internally, the most 

 conspicuous of the materials used in the building. In 

 the original dressings and walling it appears through- 

 out, mixed in the latter with flints from the chalk, 

 and only partly replaced in the former by Bath stone 

 in modern restorations. All things considered, the 

 old stone has not weathered badly. The south 

 chapel and parts of the chancel are faced with ashlar 

 in this stone. The roofs of the nave and south 

 chapel are covered with stone slabs, probably dug 

 from the neighbouring hills, and like those known as 

 Horsham slabs, the chancel, north chapel, and porch 

 being roofed with tiles, and the aisles with lead. The 

 well-proportioned timber spire is shingled. 



The church consists of nave, 42 ft. 8 in. by 

 1 9 ft. 9 in., with aisles about I ft. longer by 7 ft. 9 in. 

 wide, having a good sized porch 10 ft. by 8 ft. 3 in., and 

 a western tower 1 5 ft. by 14 ft. 9 in., with walls no less 

 than 4ft. 6 in. thick, chancel 30 ft. 6 in. by 1 9 ft., 

 north (or Albury Manor) chapel 21 ft. loin, by 

 1 5 ft. 8 in. and south or St. Katherine's (or Alderstead 

 Manor) chapel, 1 9 ft. gin. by lift. At the west 

 corner of the north aisle vestries have been built with- 

 in recent years. The whole building is of exceptional 

 height and dignity for a Surrey church. 



Probably the predecessor of the present church, that 

 mentioned in Domesday, or one built, perhaps, to- 

 wards the end of the 1 1 th century, consisted of a nave 

 of the same size, with a shorter and narrower chancel. 

 These, with the exception of the angles of the nave 

 walls, were swept away in the closing years of the I 2th 

 century, when a complete new church, substantially 

 that which exists, took the place of the primitive 

 building, the fine massive tower of three stories, the 

 nave arcades of three bays, the lofty chancel arch, and 

 parts of the chancel being the most prominent of the 

 features of this period. The date may be set down at 

 about 1 200, but there are points in the work such 

 as some voussoirs with enriched cheveron ornament 

 now lying loose which suggest a slightly earlier date. 

 In the case of the particular detail referred to, 

 however, it may be that the stones belonged to a 

 doorway inserted in the early nave wall (about 1 1 80) 

 before the aisles were thrown out.' 4 The south porch 

 and north and south chapels were added, and the aisles 

 and chancel greatly altered at various dates between 

 c. 1390 and c. 1500. It is a debatable point whether 

 the aisles were not widened, as well as heightened, in 

 this later period. From the presence of a piscina of 

 the earlier period in the south chapel it is possible that 

 there may have been a smaller chapel on this site, 

 rebuilt in its present form c. 1 500 ; or perhaps the 

 piscina was removed from the end of the south aisle 



"Chan. Inq. I Edw. Ill (ist. not.), 

 no. 35. 



6 " Cal. Pat. 1334-8, p. 105. 



68 Rental, Surr. Arch. Coll. xx, 97. 



M P.C.C. 9 End. 



7 Manning and Bray,H<. of Surr. ii,z6o, 

 261. 71 Lord Hylton, information. 



7" Rental, Surr. Arch. Coll. **, 98. 



78 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii, 

 261, from the Ct. R. 



217 



74 These enriched cheveron voussoirs 

 should be compared with those in the 

 arch of south doorway at Shiere Church 

 (q.v.), illus. in f.C.H. Surr. i, 433. 



28 



