A HISTORY OF SURREY 



the inner court, supported by two brass dragons, and 

 having a lead-lined marble basin on three steps. A 

 ' belcone ' in the middle of the privy gallery seems to 

 have been specially designed to give a view of this 

 fountain. 



In addition to these two courts was a third and 

 smaller kitchen court, adjoining the outer court on 

 the east. The lay-out of the grounds is described. 

 In front of the outer court was a stone balustrade 

 with a bowling-green, ' railed with good postes, 

 rails, and lattices of wood,' from which an avenue 

 of trees led directly to the park gate. The privy 

 garden, inclosed by a 1 4-foot brick wall, lay round 

 and adjoining unto the three outsides of the inward 

 court,' and was divided into 'allyes, quarters, and 

 rounds set about with thorne edges,' rather neglected 

 at the time, as was to be expected, but easily capable 

 of repair. To the north lay the kitchen garden, 

 also walled, and to the west a wilderness, its trees 

 lately felled by ' one Mr. Bond, one of the contractors 

 for sale of the late king's goods.' 6> North of the 

 wilderness was an orchard. 



In the privy garden, on the west side of the great 

 turret at the west angle of the inner court, was a 

 marble basin with a pelican through which the water 

 was supplied, and near it a ' piramide ' or spired pin- 

 nacle of marble. There were also two other marble 

 ' piramides ' called the ' Fawlcon perches,' having be- 

 tween them a white marble fountain set round with 

 'six trees called black trees, which trees beare no 

 fruite but only a very pleasant flower.' 



In the highest part of the park was a foursquare 

 banqueting house, timber-built in three stories, with 

 three cellars on the ground floor, a hall and three other 

 rooms above, and on the top floor five rooms, with a 

 lantern on the roof. Nearly all the rooms were 

 panelled and amply lighted, and at each of the four 

 corners of the house was a ' belcone placed for pros- 

 pect.' The banqueting house was surrounded by a 

 brick wall with projecting angle bastions. This wall 

 is the only part now remaining. There were also a 

 well-house, ' with a wheel for winding up of water,' 

 and a wash-house close by. 



Other buildings in the park were the under-house- 

 keeper's house, with the saucery house for the yeomen 

 of the saucer, and a well-house with a deep well, the 

 stables, 'a little remote upon the north-east,' with 

 barns and outhouses, and the keeper's lodge. 



All the buildings were in a very good state, and ' not 

 fit to be demolished or taken down,' and the value of 

 their materials was estimated at 7,020. 



By 1665 Evelyn speaks of the gardens as 'ruined,' 

 and though he remarks upon the wonderful preserva- 

 tion of the bas-reliefs in plaster, considering their age, 

 he implies that they were perishing. The house must 

 have needed a great outlay to keep it in repair. The 

 description and the picture alike convey the idea of 

 a somewhat barbaric magnificence overloaded with 

 ornament. 



The house was destroyed by orders of the Duchess 

 of Cleveland, but not immediately after she received 



it. 43 That some of it, or of the separate banqueting 

 house, was standing about the time of James II is 

 proved by a MS. note in Aubrey's Wiltshire, by P. le 

 Neve, Norrey, who writes : ' I saw it in James II's 

 time or thereabouts. It was done with plaister work 

 made of rye dough, in imagery, very costly.' " As 

 late as 1757 the foundations of it could be traced 

 round the courtyards. 643 



Of the original church the exact site 

 CHURCH cannot be determined at the present day. 

 It was, with the old manor-house, at the 

 foot of the downs between the villages of Cheam and 

 Ewell." It was swept away with the rest of the vil- 

 lage in the reign of Henry VIII to make room for the 

 palace and park of Nonsuch. 



The present church of ST. MARY THE VIRGIN 

 is an unfinished building dating from 1895, and situ- 

 ated at Worcester Park. It is in the style of the I3th 

 century, and has flint-faced walls with bands of red 

 brick and dressings of stone. It consists of an apsidal 

 chancel, with organ chamber, south chancel-aisle, nave 

 and aisles of three bays out of the five requisite to 

 complete the building, the west end being closed by a 

 temporary brick wall and west porch. The chancel 

 has a wood-vaulted ceiling ; its east walls are lined with 

 marble ; the reredos is of white marble and alabaster. 

 Carved oak screens span the chancel arch. The nave 

 has a clearstory of lancets and a panelled oak ceiling. 

 The roofs are tiled. Over the nave roof is an oak 

 fleche with a spirelet covered with lead. The pulpit 

 is of carved stone ; the font of stone with marble 

 shafts. The churchyard is a triangular grass plot in 

 which stands a tall elm and a few young trees. The 

 communion plate is electro-plated, and consists of a 

 cup, two patens, and a flagon. 



The church of Cuddington was 

 4DVOWSON granted in the early I zth century by 

 Hugh de Laval to Bernard the Scribe 

 in trust for the Prior and convent of Merton, by whom 

 it was retained from that date until the Dissolution. 48 

 By a charter dating between 1 186 and 1 198 the prior 

 and convent granted to one, Master Hamo, a lease of 

 the church for four years in consideration of 6 silver 

 marks per annum." In 1284 Pope Martin IV, upon 

 a petition from the prior and convent, pleading 

 poverty, consented to their appropriating the church 

 to their own uses, reserving, however, a suitable susten- 

 tation for a vicar, and sufficient for the payment of 

 ecclesiastical dues and other burdens, this appropriation 

 being confirmed by letters patent in 1 309." The 

 church was valued at 14. 131. ^.d. in the Taxation of 

 1 29 1. 5 * In 1311 an episcopal ordinance was issued 

 for the endowment of a vicarage, and Low Thomas of 

 Kingston, priest, was presented to the same. 60 



In 1346 a suit took place between the king and the 

 Prior of Merton, the king claiming the presentation to 

 the vicarage by reason of the last vicar having resigned 

 at a time when the temporalities of the monastery 

 were in the king's hands during a vacancy of the 

 priorship." The court adjudged the presentation to 

 the king. 



45 Evelyn on his visit in 1665 re- 

 marked on the destruction of trees. 



48 The Duchess of Cleveland, sup- 

 planted in Charles's favour by the Duchess 

 of Portsmouth, resided abroad 1677 to 

 1684. It may have been after her return 

 to England that she completed the de- 



struction to raise money. She survived 

 till 1709. 



54 Gent. Mag. 1837, ii, 1465 Aubrey, 

 Wiln. ii, 218. 



543 Pocock's Travelt in England (Camd. 

 Soc.), ii, 262. 



56 Survey communicated by Mr. Whate- 

 ley to Mr. Manning. 



270 



66 H. C. Heale, Rec. ofMtran Priory, 9. 

 Ibid. 43. 



48 Ibid. 166 ; Col. Pat. 1307-13, p. 162. 

 * Pofc Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 270*. 



60 H. C. Hcales, Rec. of Merton Priory, 

 Ixviii. 



61 Cal. Pat. 1345-8, pp. 168, 232 ; De- 

 Banco R. 348, m. 4411. 



