A HISTORY OF SURREY 



order, also has some old stones, but the abaci are 

 entirely modern. 



There are four windows in the north wall of the 

 nave, but no traces of a doorway. The western of 

 the four windows is a single light with a semicircular 

 rear arch, probably contemporary with the early 

 windows in the chancel, but that next it to the east 

 has a wooden lintel inside, and is perhaps of the later 

 ijth-century date. The north-east window, of two 

 pointed lights, may be a 15th-century insertion, and 

 the fourth window, a little to the west, is also of two 

 lights, and perhaps late 13th-century work. The 

 complete renewal of all the outer stonework makes 

 any dating doubtful. The west window is a modern 

 triplet of lancets, and there is no trace of a west 

 doorway. 



The modern wooden arcade between the nave and 

 the south aisle is of three bays with pairs of posts 

 carrying the plates of the nave and aisle roofs, and 

 the only old feature in the aisle is the south doorway, 

 which has chamfered jambs and a two-centred head, 

 probably of I 3th-century date. 



The porch is constructed of wood with plaster 

 panels resting on low flint and stone walls. 



The bell-turret on the west end of the nave is 

 finished with a small octagonal shingled spire. 



Two panels of English alabaster carving are pre- 

 served in the church, both of the 1 5th century, and 

 probably from the Nottingham workshops. One, in 

 the vestry, is part of a representation of the Nativity, 

 and the other, on the south wall of the chancel, very 

 much repaired, shows the Annunciation. 



The font has a 13th-century moulded base from 

 which rise a modern circular stem and four small 

 detached shafts supporting a modern square bowl. 

 All the other internal fittings are modern, the lectern 

 being in the form of an angel with the book-rest on 

 its wings. It was presented in 1898 and was carved 

 in London. 



There are eight bells in the turret which were 

 cast by Warner in 1894. 



The oldest piece of plate is an Elizabethan cup of 

 1568 which is kept at Maiden. It is not quite 3^ in. 

 high, and probably one of the smallest Elizabethan 

 cups in existence. There are also two plated patens, 

 a plated cup, flagon, and salver, two brass almsdishes, 

 and a pewter flagon dated 1635. 



Of the four books of registers the first contains 

 baptisms from 1656 to 1754, marriages 1656 to 

 1756, with a gap between 1749 and 1756, and 

 burials from 1656 to 1751. The second book con- 

 tains baptisms 1754 to 1791, and burials 1752 to 

 1812, the third has marriages, not on printed forms, 

 from 1756 to 1811, and the fourth contains bap- 

 tisms from 1791 to 1812. 



The church of Chessington has 

 JDrOrfSON always been a chapel to Maiden, and 



was confirmed with that church to j 

 Merton Priory by Eudo de Maiden ** (of whom 

 Peter de Maiden [see manor] was the cousin and 

 heir). 



In 1265 the priory made over the advowson of 

 the church of Maiden to Walter de Merton, 70 who 

 assigned it as part of the endowment of Merton 

 College, which has held the advowson both of Maiden 

 and of the annexed chapelry of Chessington ever 

 since. In 1279 a vicarage for Maiden and Ches- 

 sington was ordained by Nicholas of Ely, Bishop of 

 Winchester." In a survey of church lands taken 

 1649-58 the chapelry of Chessington is stated to 

 be worth 60 per annum, and the commissioners 

 appointed to make inquiries recommended that the 

 chapelry should be divided from Maiden and made a 

 parish by itself. 71 This suggestion was, however, 

 never complied with. 



In 1595 the tithes of sheaves, grain, and hay in 

 Chessington were conveyed by Thomas Vincent to 

 Edward Carleton, together with the manor of Bere- 

 well in Kingston, 78 and a lease was still held by the 

 owners of that manor in 1774.'* 



Smith's Charity is distributed as in 

 . . . 



other Surrey parishes. 



CUDDINGTON 



Codintone (xi cent.) ; Cudintone, Codington 

 (xiii cent.) ; Codynton or Codyngton (xiv cent.). 



Cuddington measures nearly 4 miles from north- 

 west to south-east, and is scarcely a mile in breadth. 

 It contains 1,859 ac res, and extends over the usual 

 variety of soils, the southern part being upon the 

 chalk downs, the centre on the Woolwich and Thanet 

 beds, the rest upon the London clay. There is no 

 village of Cuddington ; Henry VIII pulled down the 

 church, the old manor-house, and the village, to make 

 Nonsuch Palace. 1 It appears possible from its position 

 that the destroyed church and village were in this 

 neighbourhood, and if this was the case they were 

 placed in the usual situation, close to the foot of 

 the chalk, either on the chalk itself or on the Thanet 

 beds. There is no instance, on the northern side of 

 the chalk-hills, where the parishes extend from the 

 chalk on to the clay, of the old church and village 



being on the clay. It is unlikely that Cuddington 

 was differently placed from the others, but no map 

 older than the time of Henry VIII exists. The 

 Manor Farm is on the chalk and the Thanet sand, 

 and may show the neighbourhood of the old manor- 

 house. 



The South Western Railway line from Wimbledon 

 to Letherhead crosses the parish, with a station at 

 Worcester Park, opened in 1859 > anc ^ l ^ e London, 

 Brighton, and South Coast Railway line to Epsom 

 passes through it. This was first opened as the 

 Croydon and Epsom Railway in 1848. 



The early history, and the history of the inclosure, 

 are summed up together in the story of Nonsuch 

 Palace. 



After the destruction of Nonsuch in 1671-2 the 

 land in the parks was thrown into farms, of which 

 more than one had evidently existed before outside 



88 A. C. Heales, Rec. of Merton Priarji, 

 27. 7 Ibid. App. p. Ixxix. 



ft Percival, Stat. of Merton College, 130. 



Surr, Arch. CM. xvii, 101, 10 

 > Feet of F. Surr. East. 37 Eli*. 

 < Ibid. Mich. 14 Geo. III. 



266 



1 Most of the parks were on the clay 5 

 the site of the palace was on the Thanet 

 and. 



