A HISTORY OF SURREY 



they paid. The liberties of the lord within the 

 borough in 1279 included infangtheof, gallows, the 

 custody of prisoners, view of frankpledge, and free 

 warren, which last extended in the case of Reigate 

 over the lands of the freemen as well as the demesne 

 lands of the manor." Return of writs was granted to 

 John Duke of Norfolk, when lord of the manor in 

 1468." 



The first known mention of Reigate as a borough 

 is in 1291, when the men of the borough complained 

 of exactions by the sheriff. 4 " In 1295 they first 

 returned two burgesses to Parliament. 41 The return- 

 ing officers in 14.52 were the two constables." The 

 bailiff of the borough appears to have supplanted them 

 shortly afterwards, for Richard Knight, bailiff, was 

 returning officer in I472. 4 * It has been said that it 

 was customary for the presiding constable to be elected 

 bailiff each year, 41 but the rolls show that the bailiff 

 was not the same man as either constable in certain 

 years at least. The two constables and the bailiff chosen 

 in the lord's court leet 4S were the principal municipal 

 officers until the incorporation charter of 1863 estab- 

 lished a council of mayor, aldermen, and councillors. 



From 1295 till 1832 two burgesses were returned 

 for Reigate, the franchise being vested in the burgage 

 holders. 46 Under the Reform Act of 1832 the 

 borough boundary was extended to include the whole 

 parish, 47 and the number of representatives reduced to 

 one, and in 1867 Reigate was disfranchised. 48 



The growth of the borough was evidently due to 

 the protection afforded by the castle. It may also 

 have acquired importance through the neighbouring 

 stone quarries worked in the I3th and 1 4-th centuries 

 and its position on cross roads. 49 It was a market 

 town before i2j6, M and shortly afterwards Earl 

 Warenne proved his claim to a prescriptive weekly 

 market on Saturdays and fairs on Tuesday in 

 Pentecost week, the eve and day of St. Lawrence 

 (10 August), and the eve and day of the Exaltation 

 of the Cross (14 September). 51 The first and last 

 continue still. In 1313 John Earl of Surrey had 

 a new grant of a market on Tuesdays, 5 * which is 

 still extant. Another market was established at Red- 

 hill by a private company in 1859," anc ^ ' s now ne '^ 

 on alternate Wednesdays. 



A monthly market and a cattle fair on Wednes- 

 days in Easter week were granted to the burgesses in 

 February 1678-9." A fair is still held on 9 December. 

 The weekly market granted to the burgesses seems to 

 have been merged in the Tuesday market. 



The manor of REIG4TE appears in 

 MANORS the Domesday Survey under the name of 

 Cherchefelle. It was then held in de- 

 mesne by the king, and had formerly belonged to 

 Queen Edith." Probably William II granted it 

 to William de Warenne when creating him Earl of 

 Surrey, c. io88. 56 The statement in Tata de Nevitl, 

 that Reigate had pertained to the barony of Earl 

 Warenne from the time of the Conquest, 57 points to 

 its having formed part of the earl's original endow- 

 ment, but the earliest known reference to Reigate 

 Manor as a possession of the Earls of Surrey 48 is 

 that of the inquest of 1212, where it is returned 

 among the lands of William Earl of Surrey, son 

 of Isabel, great-granddaughter of the above-men- 

 tioned earl." An account of the family and its 

 close connexion with the county will be found in the 

 article on the Political History of Surrey. 60 



In 1316 John Earl of Surrey surrendered Reigate 

 with other lands to the king and had a regrant for 

 life, with remainder to John 

 de Warenne, his illegitimate 

 son by Maud de Nerford. 61 

 This settlement was altered in 

 1326 in favour of his lawful 

 wife Joan, Countess of Bar, 

 granddaughter of Edward I, 6 * 

 who after his death held Rei- 

 gate in dower. 6 * In accord- 

 ance with the settlement of 

 1326 and a charter of Ed- 

 ward III, 64 it passed at her 

 death in 1351 to the earl's 



nephew Richard, Earl of Arundel, 65 afterwards styled 

 Earl of Surrey. His son and heir, Richard, the dis- 

 tinguished naval commander of the later French 

 wars, having incurred the enmity of Richard II fled 

 to Reigate, but having been treacherously persuaded 

 to leave the castle " was arrested, attainted, and be- 

 headed September I397. 67 His lands thus forfeit 

 to the Crown " were granted to John Holand, Duke 

 of Exeter. 69 



The latter was himself beheaded at Pleshey for con- 

 spiracy against Henry IV in January 1399-1400, and 

 in the following OctoberThomas,son of the last-named 

 Richard, Earl of Arundel, was restored to his father's 

 honours, and probably to his lands. 7 * After his 

 death, which occurred in 1415," Reigate formed part 

 of the dower of his widow Beatrice." 



Soon after her death, which occurred in 1439, par- 



WARENNE. Cheeky 

 or and azure. 



M Plac. de Qua JVar. (Rec. Com.), 737, 



745- 



Chart. R. 8-10 Edw. IV, no. 14. 



40 Assize R. 893. 



41 Ret. ofMemb. of Par!, i, 6. 

 Orig. Parl. Ret. 31 Hen. VI. 

 Ret. ofMemt. of Parl. i, 361. 



44 Carew, Hist. Acct. of Rights of Elec. 

 86. 



45 In Jan. 1485-6 William Clifton was 

 appointed constable of the castle and bailiff 

 of the 'town' by Hen. VII, to whom was 

 forfeited one-fourth of the manor (see 

 below), Mat. for Hist, of Hen. VII (Rolls 

 Ser.), i, 251 ; but his office may only 

 have been the stewardship of the manor or 

 honour ; Cat. Close, 1313-18, p. 101. 



46 Orig. Ret of M.P. 12 Edw. IV ; 31 

 Chas. II ; Partic. of Present and Proposed 

 Parl. Boroughs, Parl. Papers, 1831-2, 

 ixxvi, 301. It is noteworthy, however, 

 that the electors in 1541-2 were the 



burgesses 'and others of the commonalty 

 gent.'etrten being burgesses' and in 1620-1 

 the burgesses and inhabitants. (Orig. Ret. 

 33 Hen. VIII; 18 Jas. I.) 

 4 < See Parl. Papers, 1831-2, xl, 35. 



48 30 & 31 Viet. cap. 102. 



49 f.C.H. Surr. ii, 277. 



M In that year inquiry was made into 

 the value of tolls paid by the men of 

 the Archbishop of Canterbury at certain 

 fairs or markets ; they paid I mark at 

 Reigate (Misc. Inq. zxxiv, 22). 



il Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.) 737. 



M Chart. R. 6 Edw. II, no. 66. 



53 Report on Mar/tea and Tolls, 1891 

 xiii (2), 512. 



64 Pat. 31 Chas. II, pt. iii, no. 16. 



V.C.H. Surr. i, 297. 



68 Cf. G.E.C. Baronage, vii, 322. The 

 endowment of the earldom seems to have 

 consisted of all Edith's manors in Surrey. 



1 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 226. 



234 



53 That it was held by Isabel and her 

 husband Hamelin, Earl Warenne, between 

 1164 and 1 199 may be deduced from their 

 gift of the church to St. Mary, Southwark, 

 lee below. 



*Red Bk. ofExch. (Rolls Ser.), 561. 



M r.C.H. Surr.\, 329. 



"HarL Chart. 57, E. 33; Col. Close, 

 1313-18, p. w,CalPat. 1313-17,^528. 



M Ibid. 1324-7, p. 271; Cat. Close, 



'3 2 3-7. P- 573- 



"Ibid. 1346-9, pp. 314, 316. 



64 Cal. Pat. 1345-8, p. 221. 



Cf. Feet of F. Div. Co. 40 Edw. HI, 1 7. 



56 Citron. S. Albani (Rolls Ser.), ii, 

 (Trokelowe), 202. 



6 ~ G.E.C. Peerage, vii, 329. 



63 Chan. Inq. p.m. 21 Ric. II, no. 137. 



89 Pat. 22 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 23. 



"" G.E.C. Peerage. 



~> l Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Hen. V, no. 54. 



"'Ibid. 1 8 Hen. VI.no. 28. 



