A HISTORY OF SURREY 



In 1703 Mr. John Levingston, the quack doctor 

 mentioned above, built almshouses for twelve poor 

 widows in East Street on a piece of land granted by 

 the parish. The almshouses were rebuilt about 1863. 

 They are further supported by the Church Haw 

 rent, by that of 'Workhouse Field,' the site of the 

 old parish workhouse, and by the bequests of Samuel 

 Caul (.500) in 1782, Mr. Langley Brackenbury 

 (j3) in 1814, Mr. Story (100), 1834, Mrs. 

 Margaret Knipe (300), 1834, the last to be de- 

 voted to this purpose after providing for the upkeep 

 of vaults and monuments in the church. 



In 1728 Mrs. Mary Dundas left copyhold premises 

 in Epsom for providing coals. 



In 1790 Mrs. Elizabeth Culling left 150, part 



of which was to be set aside to accumulate, for the 

 church, vicar, sexton, churchwardens, and the surplus 

 for apprenticing children and for bread. 



In 1803 Mrs. Mary Rowe left 188 1 8*. lid. 

 for bread and meat and firing. 



In 1835 Sir James Alexander left 200 for cloth- 

 ing for five men and five women, who had to appear 

 in church. 



In 1884 Baron De Teissier left 90 for six poor 

 communicants. 



Mittendorf House was presented to the National 

 Incorporated Society for Waifs and Strays (Dr. Bar- 

 nardo's Homes) by Miss Mittendorf. 



Epsom and Ewell Cottage Hospital was built in 

 1889 by public subscription. 



EWELL 



Etwelle (xi cent.) ; Awell (xii cent.) ; Ewell 

 (Testa de Nevill). 



Ewell is a village a mile north-east of Epsom and 

 5 miles south-east of Kingston. The parish is nearly 

 4 miles from north to south, and almost a mile wide, 

 and contains 2,427 acres. This is the compact 

 parish of Ewell, excluding the detached liberty of 

 Kingswood, which is treated separately. The parish 

 lies in the ordinary position of the neighbourhood as 

 regards soils. The southern part is on the chalk 

 downs ; the old village was on the extremity of the 

 chalk, on a tongue of that soil extending into the 

 Thanet Sand, and the parish crosses the Thanet and 

 Woolwich Beds, reaching on to the London Clay. 

 There is a strong spring, one of the principal sources 

 of the Hoggsmill River, which rises in the village and 

 has good trout ; other springs feed the same stream. 

 There are extensive brick, tile, and pottery works, 

 called the Nonsuch Works, and two flour mills worked 

 by water and steam. There were formerly also gun- 

 powder mills, which have now ceased to exist.' 



The roads from Kingston to Epsom and from 

 London to Epsom meet in Ewell. The Wimbledon 

 and Letherhead branch of the London and South- 

 Western Railway and the Portsmouth line of the 

 London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway, opened 

 respectively in 1859 and 1847, both pass through the 

 parish, the stations being about a mile apart. 



Ewell was a market town when Speed's map was 

 made (early 1 7th century) and when Aubrey wrote. 

 In 1 6 1 8 Henry Lloyd, lord of the manor, was granted 

 licence to hold a market in Ewell. 1 A curious entry 

 exists in the parish registers for 1654 of banns pub- 

 lished in Ewell Market, preparatory to a marriage 

 before a justice of the peace, Mr. Marsh of Dorking. 

 The market was held on Thursdays. It seems to 

 have died a natural death early in the 1 9th century, 

 the small market-house which stood at the intersection 

 of Church Street and High Street having been 

 removed at a slightly earlier date. The old watch- 

 house, however, is still to be seen, facing the place 

 where the market-house stood. Fairs are said to have 

 been held on 1 2 May and 29 October in a field near 

 the Green Man Inn.' The village of Ewell still 



retains some of the picturesque appearance of an old 

 market town. 



Pits have been found in Ewell containing Roman 

 pottery, bones, and a few other remains, which have 

 been taken to the British Museum. Ewell lay possibly 

 on the Roman road from Sussex to the Thames, 

 diverted at Epsom from the British trackway, though 

 it is matter of inference rather than proof. 



It was probably once a place of some importance, as 

 it gave its name to one of the old Surrey deaneries, 

 but in Domesday there is no church named. Lether- 

 head Church, however, we are told was annexed to 

 the king's manor of Ewell. Shelwood Manor in 

 Leigh was also part of Ewell Manor. 4 



Richard Corbet, Bishop of Oxford from 1628 to 1632, 

 and of Norwich from 1632 to 1635, was born at Ewell 

 in 1582. He was the son of a gardener, but became a 

 Queen's scholar at Westminster, and then a student of 

 Christ Church. As a bishop he is said to have had 

 'an admirable grave and reverend aspect,' but it is 

 told of him that after he was a Doctor of Divinity he 

 disguised himself as a ballad singer in Abingdon 

 market. He was certainly a wit, and to some extent 

 a poet ; his Iter Boreale and Journey into France show 

 the former, the Fairies' farewell the latter character. 



Amongst the modern houses is Ewell Castle, 

 built by Mr. Thomas Calverley in 1814 in an imita- 

 tion castellated style. It is now vacant. The grounds, 

 which extend into Cuddington parish, cover part of 

 the former Nonsuch Park, and include the site of the 

 Banqueting House, which stood apart from the palace 

 of Nonsuch, and the remains of the pool called 

 Diana's Bath. Ewell Court is the seat of Mr. J. H. 

 Bridges, J.P. ; Tayle's Hill of Major E. F. Coates, 

 M.P. ; Rectory House of Sir Gervas Powell Glyn, 

 bart. ; Purberry Shot of Mr. W. M. Walters. 



The inclosure of common fields (707 acres) and of 

 waste (495 acres) was carried out in 1 80 1. 6 The 

 common fields lay east of the village. 



There is a Congregational chapel in the village, 

 with a school and lecture hall adjoining, built in 1864. 

 Archbishop Sheldon's Returns in 1669' show that 

 there was a Nonconformist congregation of fifty, 

 ministered to by Mr. Batho, the ex-rector of Ewell. 



1 In connexion with the industries of 

 the parish may be noted an inquisition 

 taken in 1390 on the death of Thomas 

 Stapelton, which records that he held in 

 Ewell one messuage, 12 acres of land and 



' unum instrumentum pro textoribus voca- 

 tum Handwork'; Chan. Inq. p.m. 14 

 Ric. II, no. 69. 



3 Cal. S.P. Dam. 1637, p. 40. 



8 Local Information. 



2 7 8 



1 Testa dc Nevill (Rec. Com.), 225 ; 

 Coram Rege R. 10 Hen. Ill, rot. g. 

 6 Act 41 Geo. Ill, cap. 41. 

 V.C.H. Surr. ii, 39. 



