REIGATE HUNDRED 



lapse in 1634 because Christopher Best had not sued 

 out livery of the advowson. 158 Henry Lord Mowbray, 

 grandson of Ann, Dowager Countess of Arundel, 15 ' 

 presented in 1 64O, 160 and this family seems to have 

 acquired Burton's share also, as in 1658 the Earl of 

 Arundel held a full third turn of presentation, the 

 other two-thirds of the advowson being held, as has 

 been said, by John and Thomas Turner. 161 In 1660 

 the Crown presented. 161 According to Manning, Henry 

 Lord Maltravers, Earl of Norwich, and Henry Howard 

 his son granted the next turn to West and Keck in 

 trust for Burbury in i6j6, 163 and in 1677 John and 

 Thomas Turner granted their turn to Henry Hesketh, 

 who afterwards purchased Burbury's interest and sold 

 to William Hollingsworth. 164 The latter presented 

 in 1711 and again in 1 73 1. 165 Lord Mowbray 166 

 finally conveyed his share to William Beckford in 



REIGATE 



trust for Sir Lionel Jenkins who, by will, devised 

 it to Jesus College, Oxford. The Turners' share 

 descended with the manor (q.v.), and after the death 

 of William Hollingsworth presentation was made both 

 by Joseph Cooke, as lord of the manor, and by Jesus 

 College. The case was brought before a commission 

 of six clergy and six laymen, but as these decided 

 equally in favour of the college and lord of the manor, 

 nothing was settled. 167 Finally, however, a decision in 

 Cooke's favour seems to have been made, as his incum- 

 bent continued to hold the living. 168 The college 

 afterwards treated with him for purchase, but the 

 transaction was not completed until after his death, 

 his sisters conveying to the college shortly after 1 74O. lei 

 Jesus College has since held the advowson. 170 



Smith's Charity is distributed as in 



. .. . . 



other Surrey parishes. 



REIGATE 



Cherchefelle or Crechesfeld (xi-xii cent.) ; Reygate 

 (xiii cent.) ; Reigate or Riegate (xvii-xviii cent.). 



Reigate is a municipal borough, formerly a parlia- 

 mentary borough, 6 miles east from Dorking, and 23 

 miles south by road from London. The parish is 

 bounded by Kingswood in Ewell and Gatton on the 

 north, by Nutfield on the east, by Horley, Buckland 

 (detached), and Leigh on the south, by Betchworth 

 and Buckland on the west. It measures 4 miles east 

 and west, by 3 miles north and south, and contains 

 5,871 acres of land and 34 of water. The parish 

 extends from the crest of the chalk, over the Upper 

 Green Sand, the Gault, Lower Green Sand and 

 Atherfield Clay, on to the Wealden Clay. The top 

 of the down where the suspension bridge crosses the 

 old London road is 700 ft. above the sea, and the 

 highest point of Reigate Hill is 762 ft. ; the level in 

 the town of Reigate, which lies on the Lower Green 

 Sand, is 270 ft. South of the town is a ridge of 

 sand, the western end of which, Park Hill, is 41 1 ft., 

 the eastern, Redhill Common, 478 ft. above the sea. 

 The land then falls to under 200 ft. in the southern 

 part of the parish. The depression in the chalk and 

 tand to the east of the parish is taken advantage of 

 by the railway and the new London road. Four 

 hundred and eighty acres of common exist still on 

 Reigate Heath to the west, Wray Common to the 

 north-east, Redhill Common to the east, Earlswood 

 and Petridge Wood Common, the latter on the 

 borders of Horley, to the south-east. The last two 

 were woodland in the Weald, but the trees were cut 

 down in the 1 7th century by Lord Monson. 



Redhill and Earlswood Commons were in part 

 inclosed by an Award of 15 July 1886, as part of the 

 scheme for making them a public park. Numerous 

 ancient encroachments on the waste are represented 

 by houses, cottages, and gardens about Earlswood 

 Common, Wray Common, and Reigate Heath. 



The industry of Reigate was formerly that of a 

 country market town ; oatmeal is said to have been 

 made in large quantities, and the fine sand of the soil 

 was and is in demand for building, gardening, and 

 glass-making. But in general industries have now 

 rather gravitated towards Redhill, the new town in 

 the eastern part of the parish (q.v.), where are brew- 

 eries, tanneries, timber yards, printing works, fullers' 

 earth works, and the necessary adjuncts of a large 

 railway station. 



The old town of Reigate consisted of one main 

 street, the High Street, running east and west, south 

 of the eminence on which the castle stood, and north 

 of the opposite ridge on the lower part of which was 

 the priory. Bell Lane ran from the south to the 

 eastern corner of High Street, the newer Town Hall 

 stands at the intersection of the two. Nutley Lane 

 ran north from the western end of High Street, up 

 the hill, to join the old main road east and west on 

 the chalk downs, which only in modern times has 

 been called the Pilgrims' Way. The name Reigate 

 is not in Domesday ; it is there evidently represented 

 by the place called Cherchefelle. The town is mani- 

 festly the creation of the lords of the castle, consisting 

 of a row of houses clustering for protection under the 

 walls of the fortress and faced by a religious house, 

 and may be compared with Lewes, which lies between 

 a castle and a religious foundation of the same lords, 

 the Earls ofWarenne and Surrey. The church of 

 the original Cherchefelle stood south-eastward of the 

 castle, on a sandy knoll not unlike that on which the 

 castle stands, but lower. The habitations clustered under 

 the castle, not near the church. The High Street retains 

 its name and position ; eastward it is continued as 

 Church Street, westward as West Street. These were 

 east and west lines of communication. Bell Lane, 

 High Street, and Nutley Lane, now the London road, 

 were north and south lines, equally dominated by 



158 Winton Epis. Reg. Neile, fol. ga. As 

 Christopher Bert died in 1598 this was 

 rather a flagrant case of raking up of old 

 claims by the Crown, characteristic of the 

 period of personal government, when the 

 rule ' nullum tempus regi obstat ' was 

 pushed to an extreme. 



li9 G.E.C. Peerage. 



160 See note 157. 



161 Surr. Arch. Coll. jcvii, 98. 

 163 Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). 



168 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. 

 ii, 275. "< Ibid. 



> Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). The Visitation 

 of 1715 says the Hollingsworths had the 

 advowson for two lives only. 



229 



lw Henry Howard was created Lord 

 Mowbray in 1679. 



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

 274 (quoting from Mr. Cooke's papers in 

 private hands). 



l8 Ibid. 



' Ibid. 



17 Inst. Bks. (P.R O.). 



