A HISTORY OF SURREY 



MERTON PRIORV. Or 

 fretty azure tvitft eaglet 

 argent at the crossings of 

 the fret. 



canons of Merton before 1291, as in the Taxation 

 of Pope Nicholas they were rated 1 3/. 4^. in respect 

 of it." In the 141)1 century 

 reference is found to the Prior 

 of Merton's lands and tene- 

 ments in Ashtead. 71 The 

 Commissioners of Henry VIII 

 valued the farm at 6 per 

 annum." At the dissolution 

 of the monastery in 1538 it 

 passed to the Crown, 74 and 

 Queen Mary gave it to Anne 

 Duchess of Somerset for life. 75 



In 1578 Elizabeth grant- 

 ed it to Robert Newdigate 

 and Arthur Fountain, 76 who 

 afterwards conveyed it to 



Francis Newdigate, husband of the late Duchess of 

 Somerset. He died without issue, having devised it to 

 Henry grandson of his eldest brother. Henry granted 

 the manor to George Cole (1604)," who is mentioned 

 as holding it of the king as of 1 is minor of East 

 Greenwich, and leaving it by will to his second son 

 Thomas. 79 In 1650 Thomas conveyed it to John 

 Wall in trust for Peter Evans, 79 who died 1661, leav- 

 ing a son and heir Peter. This Peter conveyed the 

 estate to Leonard Wessell, 80 and it was sold by him 

 to Robert Knightley (afterwards knighted), whose 

 grandson John (1713) suffered a recovery of the 

 manor, and probably sold it to Aquila Wyke, 81 who 

 settled it on his daughter on her marriage with 

 Charles Brown ; she died childless, and it descended 

 to Aquila Dackambe as heir-at-law of Aquila Wyke. 

 His grandson of the same name held it. It is now 

 part of the Ashtead Park estate. 



There was a customary messuage in Ashtead called 

 ' le Howse ' alias Talworth, and also a tenement 

 called ' Dicks,' which were the subject of a lawsuit in 

 the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 81 



The church of ST. GILES has a 

 CHURCH chancel 29 ft. 3 in. by 13 ft. 4 in. inside, 

 north vestry, north chapel (now organ- 

 chamber) ; nave, 53 ft. 2 in. by i8ft. gin. ; north 

 transept, 34 ft. 2 in. deep by I 5 ft. 10 in. wide, and a 

 short aisle, 17 ft. 9 in. wide, connecting it with the 

 organ-chamber ; south porch, and west tower 1 1 ft. 5 in. 

 by i o ft. 3 in. 



A number of Roman bricks mixed with the flint 

 and stone of the south wall of the nave, and a 

 window on the north side with Roman bricks in the 

 head (as at Fetcham), removed in 1862, suggest an 

 early origin for the building, and there is a slight 

 change in the walling west of the south doorway and 

 porch, pointing to the lengthening of the nave before 

 the tower was added. The chancel is not set square 

 with the nave, but bends southward, and was probably 

 rebuilt in the 1 3th century, a lancet window formerly 

 in its walls having been removed, it is said, to the 

 modern vestry. 



The arch in the north wall of the chancel appears 

 to be old, and probably opened into a 15th-century 



chapel ; but Cracklow's plan (1829) shows the church 

 as consisting only of chancel, nave, north porch, and 

 west tower, the last having been built in the early 

 part of the i6th century. The north transept dates 

 from 1862, and in 1891 a general restoration took 

 place, when the vestry was added, and all the windows 

 which had not previously been modernized were re- 

 placed by new work. 



The chancel has an east window of three trefoiled 

 lights under a pointed segmental arch, a south-east 

 window of two trefoiled lights, and a^ square-headed 

 south-west window of three cinquefoiled lights, all the 

 tracery being modern. The chancel arch is also 

 modern, with square jambs and a pointed two- 

 chamfered arch, and the axial line of the chancel is to 

 the south of that of the nave and also deflects to the 

 south. 



The nave retains no ancient features beyond the 

 south wall already mentioned, and the south doorway, 

 which is of the 1 5th century, with moulded jambs and 

 two-centred arch. The jambs inside retain the old 

 draw-bar holes. 



The tower is of three stages, and is coated with 

 cement ; its two western angle-buttresses and the 

 south-east stair-turret are of brick ; the west doorway 

 is of two hollow-chamfered orders, and has a three- 

 centred arch in a square head with a modern label ; 

 the door is also old, and has vertical ribs studded 

 with square-headed nails. The window over it is a 

 modern one of three plain lights under a square head, 

 and in the second stage are two modern lancets piercing 

 the west wall. The third stage is lighted on each side 

 by similar lancets, and the parapet is of flint and 

 stone, and is embattled. 



The cedarwood of the roofs came from Woodcote 

 Park, and the design is intended to reproduce 15th- 

 century work ; the chancel has arched and foiled 

 trusses and a panelled ceiling with moulded ribs and 

 carved bosses. The nave has traceried trusses with 

 angels at the wall-plates, and is likewise panelled, and 

 the transept has a similar roof; the faint aromatic 

 smell of the wood is exceedingly pleasant. 



The 1 8th-century altar-table was brought from 

 Woodcote Hall, and has shaped, curved legs, and 

 the octagonal font is of the 1 5th century, with 

 quatrefoiled panels on the bowl inclosing roses and 

 shields ; on the chamfer beneath are carved faces and 

 shields alternately ; the stem is also panelled and 

 the base moulded, and over it is a tall, modern oak 

 canopy. 



The glass in the east window of the chancel comes 

 from Herck near Maestricht, and appears to date from 

 c. 1550 ; the main subject is the Crucifixion, with the 

 figures of St. Mary and St. John ; at the foot are panels 

 with (i) St. George and the Dragon, (2) St Anne, the 

 Virgin and Child, (3) an abbess kneeling, behind her 

 a Cistercian abbot with a small dog by his side ; and 

 a shield charged quarterly (i) sable (?) a lion gules ; 



(2) quarterly I and 4 argent a lion sable, z sable 

 a lion or, 3 barry of six, over all a lion sable ; 



(3) gules five fusils in fesse argent ; (4) gules ten 



H Pope Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 206. 



" Each, of Pleas, Plea R. 25 Edw. Ill, 

 m. 17 ; 27 Edw. Ill, m. 8 d. 



"> Valar Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 48 ; 

 Dugdale, Mon. vi, 24.8. 



"See Mins. Accts. SUIT. rot. IIJ, 

 m. J3d. (29-jr Hen. VIII). 



" Pat. 2 & 3 Philip and Mary, pt. viii, 

 m. 22 ; Mins. Accts. Mich, a 4k ] to 

 Mich. 3 & 4 Philip and Mary. 



" 6 Pat. 20 Eliz. pt. ii, m. 19. 



77 Feet of F. Surr. Hil. I Jas. I. 



7 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccvi, 

 S 6. 



250 



"' Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 1650; Hist, 

 AtSS. Com. Ref. xi, App. ii, 1 64. 



80 Feet of F. SUIT. Hil. 23 & 24 Chas. II. 



81 Brayley, Surr. iv, 401. 



91 Chan. Proc. Eliz. Gg. 4, no. 47; 

 G g. 10, no. 49 ; Ct. of Req. bdle. 96, 

 DO. 3. 



