A HISTORY OF SURREY 



NUTFIELD 



Notfelle (xi cent.) ; Notfeud, Nutfield and Not- 

 feld (xiii cent.) ; Nutefeld and Nuttefeld (xiv 

 cent.). 



Nutfield is a village 3 J miles east of Reigate. The 

 parish is bounded on the north by Gatton and Merst- 

 ham, on the east by Blechingley and Burstow, on 

 the south by a detached portion of (formerly) Horne, 

 on the west by Horley and Reigate. It measures 

 5 miles from north to south, 2 miles from east to 

 west in the northern part, and less than l mile in the 

 southern part. It contains 3,576 acres. 



The parish of Nutfield extends from the Upper 

 Green Sand at the foot of'the chalk range, over the 

 Gault, the outcrop of which is wider here than is usually 

 the case in Surrey, the Lower Green Sand, and the 

 Wealden Clay, which forms the soil of the lower half 

 of the parish. On the ridge of the Lower Green 

 Sand there is a considerable width of the sandy clay 

 known as the Sandgate Beds. This is the soil in 

 which fullers' earth is found. It is in Nutfield that this 

 has been most extensively worked, but it occurs, more 

 or less, wherever the Sandgate Beds can be traced, and 

 can be followed from West Surrey to Maidstone ; its 

 existence no doubt had a great deal to do with the 

 formerly flourishing clothing trade of Surrey. The 

 quality of the earth dug from the Nutfield pits, as 

 well as the quantity, made them famous. 1 The in- 

 dustry was formerly of great importance, though not 

 now so considerable ; fullers' earth is still in demand 

 however, owing to its peculiar properties in absorbing 

 oil and grease. Pits are still worked in Nutfield 

 parish, and close to the parish in Reigate. The 

 Fullers' Earth Union, and the Surrey Fullers' Earth 

 Company, are the principal proprietors.* 



The village and church of Nutfield lie upon the 

 Green Sand hill on the road between Blechingley and 

 Reigate, which follows the top of the ridge, and a 

 probably an ancient way. There is scarcely any open 

 ground in the parish. A branch of the Mole traverses 

 the southern part. The South Eastern Railway, Red- 

 hill and Tunbridge branch, runs through the parish 

 from east to west ; it was opened in 1 842, but the 

 station, at South Nutfield, some distance from Nut- 

 field village, was only opened twenty years ago. 



The hamlet called Ham, 2 miles south-west of 

 Nutfield village, was an outlying part of Blechingley, 

 added to Nutfield in 1 894.* 



The history of Nutfield, so far as it exists, is the his- 

 tory of the fullers' earth industry. But in 1755 about 

 900 Roman brass coins of the later empire were found in 

 an earthen vessel crushed by a wheel in the road between 

 Nutfield and Ham. 4 As roads were usually mended 

 with stone from the nearest quarter, the vessel was 



probably brought with the stone from the Upper 

 Sand ridge. 



No Inclosure Act or Award is known. When 

 Manning and Bray wrote, 5 there was waste at Nut- 

 field Marsh where certain tenants only had rights of 

 common. 



The ridge of the hill at Nutfield offers a pleasant 

 situation for houses, of which there are several of a 

 good character. Nutfield Court is the seat of Mr. J. 

 T. Charlesworth ; Nutfield Priory, which stands in a 

 park, of Mrs. Fielden ; Woolpits, where was an old 

 house, of Mr. Frederick Scrutton ; Holmsdale House of 

 Miss Sharwood. The Rev. E. Sandford, instituted in 

 1792, rebuilt the rectory ; it stands in a small park. 

 At South Nutfield, nearer the railway, a large number 

 of gentlemen's houses have been built of late years. 



There is a cemetery under Parish Council manage- 

 ment. 



The school (national) was built in 1863. 



South Nutfield, or Lower Nutfield, is an ecclesias- 

 tical district in the middle part of the parish, near to 

 and south of the railway. It was made an ecclesias- 

 tical district in 1888. The church (Christ Church) 

 consecrated in 1888, is in 13th-century style, in red 

 brick, consisting of nave, chancel, and north porch, 

 with a shingled belfry and spire. The church stands 

 near the old hamlet of Ridge Green. 



An infant school (Church of England) was opened 

 in 1889. 



The southern part of the parish is in the ecclesiasti- 

 cal district of Outwood, formed in 1 870 (see Burstow). 

 At the time of the Domesday Survey 

 MANORS NUTFIELD was held of the king by Ida 

 of Lorraine, wife of Count Eustace II of 

 Boulogne. 6 Nutfield was afterwards held of the 

 Crown as of the honour of Boulogne, 7 when that 

 honour came to the king by forfeiture. 8 In the time 

 of King Edward Ulwi had held Nutfield for 13$ 

 hides ; it was afterwards assessed for 3, but its value 

 had increased from 13 to \ 5.' There were I o serfs 

 attached to the land, a somewhat large proportion. 10 



During the reign of Henry I the manor was 

 granted by the king, at the petition of the Countess 

 Ida, to the priory of St. Wulmar at Boulogne." In 

 1195 Hubert de Anestie rendered account to the Ex- 

 chequer of 16 for the farm of Nutfield, held of the 

 abbot, and of 4 of that farm for the past year when 

 the land was seized into the hands of the King of 

 England because the abbot was of the land of the 

 King of France. 1 * Hubert de Anestie, still living in 

 1211-12, when he held the lordship of Nutfield, 1 * 

 left as heiress Denise, who married Warin de Mon- 

 chensey." In 1246-7 the Abbot of St. Wulmar 



1 Topley, Geol. of the Weald, 1 30-3. 



*y.C.H.Surr. 11,279-80. 



By Loc. GovL Bd. Order 31855. 



4 Manning and Bray, Hitr. of Surr. ii, 

 266, and local information. 



b Hist, of Surr. ii, 266. 



*y.C.H. Surr. i, 312/1, and note 5. 



1 Vide infra ; Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. II, 

 file 34, no. 7. 



8 After the death of William son of 

 King Stephen in 1159 the honour was 

 in diminio Regii j Pipe Roll 8 Hen. II, 

 m. i d. 



See note 6. 



urr. i, 3i4,n. 2. 



11 Cart. Antiq. A. 30. 



"Pipe R. 7 Ric. I, m. 18 d. 



"Red Bk. of Exch. (Rolls Ser.), 582. 



14 Ibid. 500 ; Cal. of Chart. 1226-57, P- 

 288 ; Abbrcv. Plac. (Rec. Com.) 252. 

 This Warin de Monchcnsey is stated, in 

 the pedigrees, to have married Joan, sister 

 of the Earl of Pembroke, by whom he 

 had a daughter Joan. It is, however, quite 

 evident from the documents above cited 

 that he must have married, as his second 



222 



wife, Denise who was the mother of his 

 son William. A pedigree of the Mon- 

 chenseys in Lansd. MS. 860, fol. 166, con- 

 fuses this Denise de Anestie, who married 

 into the family, with the Denise who 

 married Hugh de Vere and who was really 

 granddaughter of the first Denise. Hu- 

 bert de Anestie's wife was also called 

 Denise (Add. Chart. 24606), but it was 

 certainly his daughter, not his widow, who 

 married Warin de Monchensey. See also 

 note on Holilond, infra. 



