COPTHORNE HUNDRED 



CHESSINGTON 





Cisendene and Cisedune (xi cent.), Chissendon 

 (xii cent.), Chesinden (xiii cent.), Chesingdon (xiv 

 cent.), Chyssyndon (xv cent.). 



Chessington is a very small village about 3 miles 

 south from Surbiton Station, and 2 miles west of Ewell. 

 The parish, which is a chapelry to Maiden, measures 

 3 miles from north-east to south-west, and barely a 

 mile in any part from north-west to south-east, and 

 contains 1,645 acres. This includes a detached part 

 of Maiden, round the farm called Rushett, which lies 

 south of Chessington, and was added to the parish in 

 1884.' 



The soil is entirely London Clay, undulating con- 

 siderably. A brook which flows into the Hoggs- 

 mill stream runs through the parish, which is 

 traversed throughout by the road from Kingston to 

 Letherhead. Rushett Common now only exists as 

 roadside waste on each side of this road. 



On a little hill covered with wood south-east of 

 the church, and on the other side of the stream, is a 

 small inclosure or camp, about 100 yds. by 30 yds. 

 in extent. Brayley 1 says that a Roman brass coin 

 was found near it, and that it was known as Castle 

 Hill. If so, the name has been disused, and it is 

 now called Four Acres Wood. The stream has 

 hollowed out a valley in the clay close by, and across 

 the valley there was thrown a very substantial dam, 

 perhaps the site of the mill of which Robert de 

 Watevile held half in 1086. But the dam, now cut 

 through at each end, is more than enough for a mill- 

 dam, and may have been made a pool for the better 

 protection of this side of the fortification above. 



In the 1 8th century Mr. Samuel Crisp, the friend of 

 Dr. Burney, lived at Chessington Hall, and Miss Burney 

 is said to have written part of CeciRa in a summer- 

 house in the garden which is still standing. Her 

 father composed the epitaph upon Mr. Crisp which 

 is in the church, and her Diary contains many refer- 

 ences to him and to her visits to the house. 



The inclosure was made by an award dated I August 

 1825.' A map in possession of Mr. Chancellor of 

 Chessington Hall shows the parish largely cut up into 

 very small holdings of villagers whose names correspond 

 to those in the earlier registers. 



Chessington Hall is now the seat of Mr. Horatio 

 Chancellor ; Chessington Lodge of Mr. D. R. Came- 

 ron ; Strawberry Hill of Mr. A. E. Clerk. 



A Church of England school was founded by sub- 

 scription in 1822, and for a time was divided into 

 two parts for primary and more advanced teaching. 

 The latter was discontinued about fifty years ago. 

 The present building was erected in 1863. 



There is an iron parish room in the village. 



The manor of CHESSINGTON was 

 MANORS held in the reign of Edward the Con- 

 fessor by one Erding, and in 1086 by 



Richard de Tonbridge, ancestor of the Clares, Earls 

 of Gloucester. 4 In 1439 it was included among the 

 knights' fees held by Isabel Countess of Warwick, 

 through descent from Eleanor wife of Hugh le Des- 

 penser and co-heiress of Gilbert de Clare * ; after the 

 death and attainder of Richard Nevill, husband of 

 Anne daughter and heiress of Isabel, the over- 

 lordship apparently escheated to the Crown. 



In 1086 Robert de Watevile was holding this 

 manor under Richard de Tonbridge, 6 and his de- 

 scendants continued to hold both this manor and 

 Maiden until 1240, when a grant of Maiden, 

 evidently including Chessington, of which a whole or 

 a part was a member of that manor, was made by 

 William de Watevile and Peter de Maiden, his sub- 

 tenant, to Walter de Merton,' who received a grant of 

 free warren there in 1249.'' In 1262 licence was 

 granted by Richard de Clare for the presentation of 

 Maiden with its member of Chessington to the ' House 

 of Scholars ' which Walter de Merton was founding 

 at Maiden, 8 and in 1264 Walter de Merton assigned 

 them by charter to this house, for the support of 20 

 scholars at Oxford.' The manors thus became part of 

 the endowment of Merton College, Oxford, the 

 estate at Chessington being subsequently known as 

 CHESSINGTON PARK. 



In 1287 Richard de Merplesdon, Warden of the 

 House of the Scholars of Merton, in Oxford, was 

 holding 3 fees in Farley, Maiden, and Chessington, 

 of William de Watevile, as mesne lord between the 

 said Richard and Gilbert de Clare. 10 In 1279 the 

 master and scholars of Merton claimed Chessington as 

 a park pertaining to their manor of Maiden, with 

 warren in all their demesne lands there by charter of 

 Henry III." 



Edward I confirmed these estates to the scholars 

 of Merton in 1290," and they are mentioned among 

 the fees held by Merton 

 College of the descendants of 

 Richard de Clare in 1314," 

 1375," 1428," and 1439." 

 In 1578 the college ceded 

 their manors of Maiden and 

 Chessington Park for a term 

 of 5,000 years to the Earl of 

 Arundel, from whom they 

 passed to Lord Lumley, and 

 shortly after to the family of 

 Goode. As a result of legal 

 proceedings commenced against 

 Sebastian Goode in 1621, with 

 a view to evading the terms 

 of this lease, the college finally recovered this estate 

 in 1707, and retain it to the present day." 



In 1086 Robert de Watevile was holding of 

 Gilbert de Clare in Chessington half a mill worth ios., 



MERTON COLLEGE, 

 OXFORD. Or three che- 

 verons party and counter' 

 coloured azure and gules. 



1 Local Govt. Bd. Order 16490. 

 8 Hht. ofSurr. iv, 402. 

 Blue Bk. Incl. Awards. 

 f.C.H. Surr. i, 317*. 

 Exch. Inq. p.m. 18 Hen. VI, no. 3. 

 V.C.H. Surr. i, 317*. 

 Feet of F. Surr. 31 Hen. Ill, no. 306 j 

 Kilner, Acct. of Pythagoras School, 157, 

 1 60. 



" a Cat. Chart. R. 1226-57, p. 34.5. 



8 Kilner, Acct. of Pythagoras School, 

 157; Hey wood, Foundation Charters of 

 Merton College, Oxford, 3 ; Part. R. (Rec. 

 Com.), i, II*. 



9 Harl. Chart. 53, H. 12. Chesington 

 is not mentioned by name in thii charter, 

 being evidently included in Maiden. 



10 De Banco R. East. 1 5 Edw. I. 



263 



11 Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 741 j 

 Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, P- 345- 



13 Cal. Chart. R. 1257-1300, p. 354. 



13 Exch. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. II, no. 68. 



11 Chan. Inq. p.m. 49 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, 

 no. 46. ls Feud. Aids, v, 122. 



" Exch. Inq. p.m. 18 Hen. VI, pt. iii. 



W Kilner, Acct. of Pythagoras School, 

 64-5. 



