COPTHORNE HUNDRED 



ASHTEAD 



the remainder escheated to the Crown. Philip, Earl 

 of Arundel, son of the duke, prayed the queen to 

 grant him the remainder that he might sell the 

 manor to pay his debts ; 45 she granted the site and 

 demesne lands to William Dixe in trust for him, 46 and 

 in 1582 Philip conveyed these to Lord Henry Sey- 

 mour, second son of Edward, Duke of Somerset, for 

 1,390." He sold them to John Ballett, 48 who, 

 according to the plea of Edward Darcy in a suit 

 which took place in 1 60 1, conveyed them in 1593 to 

 Edward Darcy and his wife Elizabeth. 49 



In 1 60 1 Henry Newdigate laid claim to the site 

 and demesnes of the manor on the ground that Philip, 

 late Earl of Arundel, and William Dixe had sold them 

 to Francis Newdigate, second husband of the late 

 Duchess of Somerset. Francis dying without issue 

 was succeeded by his nephew John ; this John con- 

 veyed the premises to his son Henry, the plaintiff, 

 and his heirs after him. He affirmed that the deed 

 of conveyance had come into the hands of Edward 

 Darcy, who took possession of the premises ; * Edward 

 Darcy evidently proved his title, for he still had the 

 site of the manor in 1605." In 1639 it was in the 

 possession of Christopher Fitzgerald and his wife 

 Mary, who in that year conveyed it to Henry, Lord 

 Maltravers." 



Meanwhile the queen in 1595 granted the manor 

 to Elizabeth Darcy and her sons Robert and Chris- 

 topher for their lives, 53 but James I soon after his 

 accession restored Thomas son of the attainted Philip, 

 Earl of Arundel, to his blood and the title of Earl 

 of Arundel and Surrey, 64 and granted the manor to 

 him," and he probably acquired the site and demesne 

 lands. His mother and he exhibited their bill in 

 Chancery against Richard Turner, Augustine Otway, 

 and others, tenantsof the manor, to ascertain the customs 

 depending upon view of the Court Rolls of the manor 

 of Ashtead ; M the matter was referred to the At- 

 torney-General Coventry, who settled it as follows : 



1. That the copyholders' estates should be reduced 

 to be estates of inheritance in fee simple, and that in 

 regard thereof the lord of the manor should have 

 two years' value of the copyhold tenements accord- 

 ing to a moderate valuation. 



2. That all the fines ought to be arbitrable. 



3. That heriots ought to be paid for copyholds 

 that have no messuages upon them in the same way 

 as for messuages and lands. 



4. That copyholders might take timber upon their 

 customary tenements (except the coppices of which 

 the lords used to have the woods) for reparation of 

 their houses, and for ploughbote, firebote, and other 

 botes incident by law and custom, without assign- 

 ment by the lord's officers, as long as they committed 

 no waste or needless consumption of the timber and 

 woods growing upon their lands. 



This opinion was, by the consent of all parties, 

 ratified and confirmed on 20 November 1622 by 



John, Lord Bishop of Lincoln, Lord Keeper of the 

 Great Seal, and by a decree in Chancery the de- 

 fendants and their heirs and assigns were bound to 

 carry out the decision." 



Thomas, who in 1644 was created Earl of 

 Norfolk, was succeeded by his son Henrv whose 

 son Thomas (1652) settled the manor on Henry, 

 Earl of Kingston, and others in trust fori s wife. 58 

 Charles II restored this Thomas to the title of 

 Duke of Norfolk ; he died unmarried (1677), 

 and was succeeded by his brother Henry." In 

 1679 a bill was brought before the House of 

 Lords for vesting this manor among other of his 

 estates in trustees for the payment of certain mort- 

 gages and debts, with power to sell for that purpose. 

 The bill appears to have dropped ; *" but in 1 680 

 the duke sold Ashtead Manor to Sir Robert 

 Howard, kt.," son of the first Earl of Berkshire, who 

 the following year received licence to inclose a com- 

 mon-way leading from Epsom to Ashtead, and to 

 hold the same so inclosed to himself and heirs on con- 

 dition that he provided a similar road elsewhere or on 

 his own land. 6 * Sir Robert immediately built a new 

 house, which Evelyn visited in i684.' 3 His only son 

 and heir died in 1701, leaving the manor to his widow 

 Diana, daughter of the Earl of Bradford ; she married 

 William Fielding, and after the death of the son of 

 her first marriage, Thomas Howard, restored the 

 manor, with the site, free fishery, and free warren, to 

 the Howard family, settling it on Henry Bowes, Earl 

 of Berkshire, 64 with remainder to his fifth son, 

 Thomas Howard, in tail male. This Thomas, who 

 eventually succeeded to the earldom of Berkshire, left 

 no son, and the manor of Ashtead passed to the 

 daughter of an elder brother; she married (1783) 

 Richard Bagot, who assumed the name of Howard 

 and held Ashtead in right of his wife. He rebuilt 

 the manor-house almost completely in 1790. Their 

 only daughter and heir married the Hon. Colonel Fulk 

 Greville Upton, who also took the name of Howard. 64 

 She survived till 1877. The manor then passed to 

 her cousin, Lieut.-Colonel Ponsonby Bagot. He sold 

 it in 1880 to Mr., afterwards Sir Thomas, Lucas, 

 who sold it in 1889 to Mr. Pantia Ralli, the present 

 lord of the manor. 



A park was inclosed before 1650, when it was 

 included in a conveyance of the manor. 66 It is 

 mentioned also in a settlement of 1693." In a 

 survey of Great Ashtead M of the reign of Edward VI 

 it is mentioned that the farmers of the site of the 

 manor rendered the equivalent of 1 2 couple of 

 rabbits and 1 2 pairs of pigeons, probably in respect 

 of the warren of Ashtead. 



By the custom of the manor the copyholds descend 

 to the youngest son,' 9 and daughters of copyholders 

 are co-heirs. 70 



LITTLE ASHTEAD, or PRIOR'S FARM, * 

 reputed manor, was in the possession of the Prior and 



45 Manning and Bray, Surr. ii, 628* 

 44 Pat. 23 Eliz. pt. vii, m. 10. 

 *> Close, 2+ Eliz. pt. xix. 



48 Pat. 36 Eliz. pt. vii, m. 26. 



49 Chan. Proc. Eliz. Nn. 3, no. 31. 

 Ibid. 



61 Pat. 3 Jas. I, pt viii ; Feet of F. DIY. 

 Co. Trin. 3 Jas. I. 



*' Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 15 Chas. I. 



M Pat. 37 Eliz. pt. iv, m. II j Col. 

 S.P. Dam. 1595-7, P- 8. 



" G.E.C. Peerage, vi, 54. He was 



created Earl of Norfolk by Charles I in 

 1644. 



64 Pat I Jas. I, pt xvii, m. 37. 



M Chan. Decrees A 1621, p. 524 d, 



7 Add. MS. 6167, fol.49. 



68 Feet of F. Div. Co. Trin. 1652. 



M G.E.C. ftirage, vi, 55. 



60 Hitt. MSS. Com. Rtp. xi, App. ii, 1 39 j 

 Recov. R. Mich. 32 Chas. II, rot. 256. 



61 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 32 Chas. II. 

 " Pat. 33 Chas. II, pt. vi, no. n. 



" Evelyn, Diary, ii Dec. 1684. 



249 



44 Recov. R. Hil. I Geo. II, rot 124. 



65 Brayley, Surr. iv, 394. 



66 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 32 Chas II ; 

 see Com. Pleas D. Enr. Mich. 32 Chas. II, 

 m. 11-14. 



*> Feet of F. Surr. East 5 Will, and 

 Mary. 



Surv. of Edw. VI. Land Revenue 

 Office, Surr. vol. 2. 



88 Ct of Req. bdle. 94, no. 8. 



7 Add. MS. 6167, fol.43. 



32 



