

COPTHORNE HUNDRED 



FETC 



passed with Richard's share of the manor to the 

 d'Abernons, and is probably referred to in the grant 

 by Adam le Jeune to Sir John d'Abernon in 1293 of 

 ' my half of the mill which is called cutte, with half 

 of the pond and of the ditches pertaining thereto.' 61 

 In the bailiff's account of Sir Edmund Bray's 

 manor of Fetcham and Letherhead for 1514-15, 

 the water-mill called cutt-mill is said to be let out 

 for j5, and is probably the same as that conveyed by 

 Arthur Moore to Jabez Cellier 61 in 1717. The 

 flour-mill which exists at the present day near Lether- 

 head Bridge, and which is worked by the overflow 

 from a spring-pond, probably stands upon the ancient 

 site. 



On the bishop's manor in Domesday were also the 

 sixth part of a mill and the third part of another mill. 

 These were probably fractions of the dues from the 

 Pachevesham mills 63 in the Mole between the manors. 

 The manor of C4NNON COURT probably re- 

 presents that portion of Fetcham which had been 

 held of Edward the Confessor by Oswold, brother of 

 Wulfwold, Abbot of Chertsey, and was retained by 

 him in chief after the Conquest. 64 By the 1 2th 

 century, however, it appears to have been acquired 

 by Merton Priory, which had possessions in Fetcham 

 as early as 1167, when William, Prior of Merton, 

 made a grant of certain tenements in Fetcham to 

 one Guarnerius, 64 and in 1178 Robert, Prior of 

 Merton, conceded to Alexander, a clerk of Fetcham, 

 certain lands in the manor, amounting to a quarter 

 of a virgate, which Gilbert le Blond had given him 

 in fee and inheritance at a quit-rent of I zd. a year. 66 

 In 1291 the possessions of the prior at Fetcham and 

 Letherhead were taxed at 3," and in 1301 the 

 tenants of Fetcham contributed 6s. %d. towards the 

 loan of 50 from the prior to Edward I. 68 In the 

 reign of Henry VIII the manor was let out at farm 

 for the sum of .13 6t. 8</. by the prior, who had in 

 addition 6s. s,d. for perquisites from the court. 69 The 

 priory was dissolved in I538, 70 and in 1541 the 

 manor was granted in tail male to Uriah Brereton 

 (who already held the manor of Fetcham in right of 

 his wife Joan late wife of Sir Edmund Bray), to be 

 held of the king for a tenth part of a knight's fee 

 and a yearly rent of 6 is. lod." It appears to 

 have formed part of the marriage portion of Jane, 

 granddaughter of Joan, who married Thomas Vin- 

 cent," and from this date it continued with the lords 

 of Fetcham. In 1 700 ' Cannon Farme ' is included 

 in the estates of Thomas Vincent. 71 This property 

 appears to have been leased out at various times. 



In 1560 John Edsawe complained that his father 

 of the same name had occupied the site and demesne 

 lands of the manor of Fetcham called Cannon Court 

 by lease from the Prior and convent of Merton for a 

 term of twenty-one years to commence in the year 

 1 543, but that he, the plaintiff, had been forcibly dis- 



possessed by his stepmother and her sons. Whereupon 

 an award was made that John should for the remainder 

 of his term occupy certain parcels of land, including 

 two closes, of which one called ' Cokkes Close,' con- 

 taining 6 acres, probably represents the wood now 

 known as Cocklane Shaw, while the other, called 

 ' Bykney," also containing 6 acres, is frequently men- 

 tioned in connexion with this manor. 74 (See below.) 

 It was probably this manor which Francis Crosse, 

 of Stoke D'Abernon, who must have been a lessee, 

 granted in 1582 under the name of ' the manner place, 

 fermehouse and lands of Fetcham ' to John Dewe of 

 Fetcham, who assigned his interest by lease to Robert 

 Gavell of Cobham. 74 



The prior had a grant of free warren in his 

 demesne lands of Fetcham in 1 252, and the privi- 

 lege is mentioned as appurtenant to the manor in 

 1590 and in 1607." 



At the time of the Domesday Survey, Oswold 

 received 6s. 6d. from a mill, 78 which passed with his 

 manor to Merton Priory, and in 1 167 William, Prior 

 of Merton, granted his part in the mill at Fetcham, 

 with a certain acre of land, to one Guarnerius, the 

 latter rendering 5/. yearly and grinding all the 

 corn required for the use of the priory free of 

 charge. 7 ' 



In the accounts of the prior's manor for 1537-8 

 certain lands called Bykney Magna are stated to be 

 farmed for i 6s. 8</., M and in the grant of the 

 manor in 1541, following the dissolution of the 

 priory, a reservation was made of the lands and 

 meadows called ' Moche Bykney,' parcel of the manor, 

 and then or lately in the tenure of Christopher 

 Parker. 81 In 1544 Sir Anthony Browne, son of 

 Sir Wistan Browne of Abbess Roding and Langenhoe 

 in Essex, received a grant of the tenement of Great 

 Bickney in Fetcham to be held of the Crown in 

 chief by socage at an annual rent of zs. 8d., being 

 valued at 1 6s. SJ. per annum. 8 ' Later documents 

 refer to it as a manor. In 1714 Dr. Hugh Short- 

 rudge suffered a recovery of the ' manors of Slyfield 

 and Bigney,' M and by a deed of trust dated 1715 

 between Dr. Shortrudge and Sir Francis Vincent the 

 manor of Great Bickney was included among certain 

 estates vested for charitable purposes. 84 The tenement 

 of Great Bickney was afterwards held by the Howards, 

 together with the manor of Fetcham, with which it 

 was sold to James Laurell in iSoi, 64 and passed with 

 Fetcham to the Hankey family. 



The mansion known as FETCH4M PARK is 

 said to have been built by one of the Vincent family, 

 by whom it was sold to Arthur Moore the famous 

 economist and politician, who in 1718 enlarged the 

 property and planted the park ; but his profuse ex- 

 penditure more than exceeded his means, and he died 

 in 1730 'broken in all respects but in his parts and 

 spirit.' M The property was put up for sale by his son 



" Add. Chart. 5573. 



* a Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. i, 

 480 ; Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 3 Geo. I. 



68 V.C.H. Surr. i, 304. 



64 Ibid. 327*. 



6i H. C. Heales, Rec. of Merlon Priory, 

 24-5. 



66 Cott. MS. Cleop. C. vii, 20. 



6 " Poff Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 206. 



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

 187. 



69 Ibid. App. clii, p. cxxxv ; Valor Eccl. 

 (Rec. Com.), ii, 4.3. 



7 V.C.H. Surr. ii, 101. 



n L. and P. Hen. VIII, xvi, g. 678 (20) } 

 Pat. 32 Hen. VIII, pt. viii, m. 23. 



7 Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 32 Eliz. 



7 Will P.C.C. Nod, 147. 



1* Ct. of Req. bdle. 77, no. 66. 



?' Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A. 12297. 



' Chart. R. 36 Hen. Ill, m. n. 



" Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 32 Elir. ; Hil. 

 5 J- I- 



2 8 7 



V.C.H. Surr. i, 327*. 



" Add. MSS. 6167, fol. 112. 



80 H. C. Heales, Rec. of Merton Priory, 

 App. clii, p. cxxvii. 



81 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xvi, g. 98 (40). 

 " a Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. i, 



482; L. and P. Hen. fill, xix (i), 

 g. 1035 (13). 



88 Recov. R. Mich, i Geo. I, rot. 66. 



81 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. \, 

 479 ; ii, 700. M Ibid, i, 482. 



M Diet. Nat. Biog. 



