-v 



A HISTORY OF SURREY 



the Crown. In 1558 Queen Mary granted the 

 rectory to John Bishop of Winchester, 101 but he was 

 deprived in 1559 and died in January 1560, and it 

 reverted to the Crown. In 1560 Elizabeth granted 

 the rectory and church to Thomas Reve and George 

 Evelyn and their heirs, to be held in chief by the 

 service of a fortieth part of a knight's fee. 105 These were 

 probably trustees, for soon after Nicholas Saunders 

 was seised of the rectory, from whom Sir William 

 Gardiner purchased it, 10 * and left it by will, proved 

 1622,10 his son, 105 who was holding it in 1628. m 

 A descendant of his of the same name sold it to Barton 

 Holliday in 1 69 1 , 107 who conveyed it to Sir Richard 

 Bulkeley, bart. 108 A few years after Sir W. Lewen 

 bought it, and in 1722 devised it to his nephew 

 George, whose daughter and sole heir married, in 

 1736, Sir Richard Glyn of London, 109 and with her 

 it passed to the Glyn family, with whom it still re- 

 mains. 



When the rectory was granted to Thomas Reve 

 and George Evelyn in 1560, the sum of 11 was 

 reserved out of the profits, to be annually paid to the 

 vicar. 110 The vicarage fell very low after that time, 

 for we have the humble petition of the inhabitants 

 and parishioners of Ewell for the ' relief of the most 

 miserable state of their poor vicarage ' the vicar 

 was Richard Williamson, 111 who held the living from 

 April 1584 to April 1589. 



There was a chapel in the far-removed hamlet of 

 Kingswood, which had existed long before the middle 

 of the 1 5th century ; for when the vicarage of Ewell 

 was endowed in 1458, it is mentioned as of long stand- 

 ing. It was then stipulated that the vicar should not 

 be obliged to minister to the hamlet of Kingswood or 

 to celebrate Mass in the chapel there ; that when any 

 of the Sacraments of the Church were to be adminis- 

 tered to the people of that place, the rectors (Prior 

 and convent of Newark) should provide a priest for 

 the purpose ; and in case of the death of any inhabi- 

 tant of Kingswood and his removal to Ewell for burial, 

 the vicar should meet the body at Provost's Cross, on 

 the south side of Ewell, which had been the custom 



from ancient time. 112 The subsequent history of this 

 chapel remains obscure. 



Smith's Charity is distributed as in 



CHARITIES other Surrey parishes. Mr. Thomas 



Dickenson's rent-charge of z 21. for 



the poor, presented as existing in 1725, was left in 



1631. 



Mr. Mason, in 1733, gave 3 a year from South 

 Sea Stock for the poor. 



Two fields, Chamber Mead and Parish Close, were 

 rented for the benefit of the poor from an unknown 

 date. 



In 1725 Mr. David White left money for educat- 

 ing poor children. There was no school at Ewell, 

 and the bequest led to protracted Chancery suits, with 

 no benefit to the parish till 1816, when Mr. Brom- 

 field's bequest had also became available for a school. 



Mr. Bromfield, by will of 1773, left .350 for the 

 vicar of Ewell, or, if he did not preach on Sundays at 

 evensong, for the poor not receiving parish relief, and 

 five shares in the Sun Fire Office for six poor widows 

 and the education of ten poor children. 



Mrs. Hellena Tindall, in 1798, left 1,758 

 I9/. 6d. Three per Cent. Stock for widows and poor 

 not receiving parish relief. 



Bromfield's charity is, according to a scheme sanc- 

 tioned by the Charity Commissioners, 3 January 

 1905, divided between a payment made to the vicar, 

 educational purposes, and poor relief. Under the 

 second head prizes and exhibitions for the higher 

 education of scholars are given, and a balance is held 

 over to provide against possible demands under the 

 Act of 1902. White's bequest is now held in reserve 

 for the same contingency. Chamber Mead was sold 

 in 1883, and the price invested in consols, the income 

 being applied in relief of the poor rate. Parish Close, 

 awarded to the parish under the Inclosure Act of 

 1 80 1, was exchanged in 1885 for a field at Beggar's 

 Hill, which is let in allotments, the rent, 8, being 

 also used for the relief of the poor rate. The total of 

 the charities amounts to over 300 a year, given in 

 bread, clothing, and school scholarships and prizes. 



FETCHAM 



Feecham (xi cent.) ; Fecham (xiii cent.) ; Feecham 

 (xiv cent.); Fetcham, 1499. 



Fetcham is a small parish and village, the latter a 

 mile from Letherhead. It measures nearly 4 miles 

 from north to south, and under 2 miles from east to 

 west, tapering to the south, and includes 1,817 acres 

 of land and 22 of water. Roreing House Farm, a 

 small detached portion of Great Bookham, was trans- 

 ferred to Fetcham under the Act of 1882. The 

 Mole forms part of the eastern and northern boundary. 

 The village lies on the Woolwich Beds at the foot of 

 the chalk, but the greater part of the parish to the 

 south is upon the chalk hills, and the northern part 

 and eastern fringe are upon the London Clay and the 

 alluvium of the Mole. It is a purely agricultural 



parish. The mill, close to Letherhead, is worked by 

 the overflow of a pond formed by several strong 

 springs rising in it, which runs into the Mole in the 

 course of a few yards. The springs do not seem to 

 be connected with the swallows in the bed of the 

 Mole, as they are unaffected by the rising or falling 

 of the river. Fetcham Downs were a large tract of 

 open chalk down, of which much has been inclosed, 

 cultivated, or planted. The road from Letherhead 

 to Guildford passes through the parish, and also the 

 South- Western Railway from Effingham Junction to 

 Letherhead. The London, Brighton, and South 

 Coast Railway line to Dorking also just touches the 

 parish. 



Fetcham is rich in prehistoric antiquities. Anglo- 



tM Pat. 5 & 6 Phil, and Mary, pt. iv. 



1M Pat. 2 Eliz. pt. iv. 



104 Chan. Proc. Eliz. LI. i, 38. 



104 Brayley, Surr. iv, 380. 



Feet of F. Surr. East. 4 Chas. 1 5 

 East. 7 Chas. I. 



'W Feet of F. Mich. 3 Will, and Mary. 

 108 Rccov. R. Hil. 4 Anne, rot 231. 

 108 G.E.C. Baronetage, v, 114. 



284 



110 Brayley, Surr. iv, 380. 



111 Hist. MSS. Cam. Ref. vii, App. 

 666a ; Loseley MSS. ii, 14. 



112 Winton Epis. Reg. Wayneflete, i 

 (2), foL 52. 



