A HISTORY OF SURREY 



is in good condition. The other has been 

 opened. The ordnance map marks three tumuli east 

 of the road, but this is the only one visible now. 



Historically, Letherhead has claimed consideration 

 as the old county town, but it is doubtful whether the 

 County Court was ever held there continuously. In 

 12593 complaint was made that the County Court 

 was held at Guildford instead of at Letherhead, 

 ' Comitatus qui semper solebat teneri apud Leddrede.' ' 

 But it may be remarked that the mediaeval semper 

 is a loose term, and it is quite certain that in 1195 

 the king's justices had sat at Guildford, not Letherhead, 

 and in 1 202 Guildford Castle was the county gaol. 



Letherhead was quite possibly the meeting-place 

 of the Hundred Court of Copthorne.* It is also 

 geographically near the centre of the county, and a 



' THE RUNNING HORSE," LETHERHEAD. 



convenient place for the meetings of influential people 

 in Surrey, as in 1642 on the eve of the Civil Wars,' 

 and in 1685 for a county election, though Evelyn 

 seems rather to complain of the election being held 

 at an obscure place. 7 



A character famous at least in literary history lived 

 at Letherhead, Eleanor Rummyng, celebrated by 

 Skelton, poet-laureate to Henry VIII, in the poem 

 called The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummynge. Her 

 traditionary inn is now called ' The Running Horse,' 

 and is near the bridge. Part of the fabric is as old as 

 the 1 6th century, and there is no reason to doubt 

 that the brewster was a real woman. The name 

 Rumming occurs in the Lay Subsidy assessments in 



the neighbourhood, and is in the parish registers as 

 late as 1 669. A John Skelton was assessed in Kingston 

 in 1524-5, but the poet was in orders, so this is 

 probably not the same man. 



Letherhead Bridge is carried on fourteen arches, 

 with stone piers and brick parapets, over a wide part 

 of the Mole, where formerly there was a ford. 

 According to a common practice, the bridge used to 

 be closed by a bar except in flood time, when the 

 ford was dangerous. In 1362 a licence was granted 

 to collect money for the repair of a bridge here. 8 An 

 unknown benefactor left land in Fetcham for its 

 repair, but in 1782 an Act was passed 9 making it a 

 county bridge, providing for its widening, and for the 

 sale of the land given for its maintenance. As it is 

 said to have been let at the time for 1 8/. a year, 10 the 

 parishes of Letherhead and Fetcham, in which 

 the bridge lies, must have really kept it up. 



Letherhead had a large common on the downs, 

 common fields on the slope of the chalk, a com- 

 mon meadow by the river, a common called 

 Letherhead Common, which still exists, and is 

 mentioned above, and a common on the manor 

 of Thorncroft. Under an Act of 1859 the 

 common fields were inclosed : the date of the 

 award was 20 November 1 862 ; and the com- 

 mons were inclosed by an award of 4 May 

 1865." The common fields were among the 

 last extensive common fields in the county. 



There are a large number of gentlemen's 

 houses in the parish besides those belonging to 

 the old manors. Gravel Hill is the seat of 

 Admiral Booth ; Cherkley Court was that of 

 the late Mr. A. Dixon ; The Priory is that of 

 Mr. A. H. Tritton, J.P. ; Pachesham Park, of 

 Mr. F. C. Ramsey; Wrydelands, of Mr. S. Le 

 Blanc Smith ; Givons, formerly Gibbon's Grove, 

 of Mr. H. P. Sturgis. Letherhead Court, at 

 the western extremity of the parish, is a large 

 ladies'-school, kept by Miss Tullis. 



St. John's School, Letherhead, was established 

 first in St. John's Wood in 1852, and after 

 being held at Clapton from 1858 to 1872, was 

 moved to Letherhead. It provides a gratuitous 

 education to a certain number of sons of clergy 

 of the Church of England, receives clergymen's 

 sons beyond the number of foundationers on low 

 terms, and admits other boys also. The founda- 

 tion depends upon voluntary support. It is 

 carried on as a first-class public school. The 

 head master is the Rev. E. A. Downes, University 

 College, Oxford. The buildings, begun in 1872, 

 and added to in 1890 and 1894., are in 16th- 

 century style in brick with stone dressing. There is 

 a handsome chapel. 



The School for the Blind, Highlands Road, was 

 founded in St. George's Fields, 1 799, incorporated by 

 royal charter in 1826, and removed to Letherhead in 

 1902. The first stone of the new buildings was laid 

 by H.R.H. the Princess Christian. 



The Literary and Scientific Institute was given by the 

 late Mr. Abraham Dixon, of Cherkley Court, in 1 892. 

 All Saints' chapel of ease, on the Kingston Road, 

 was built in 1889 by the late Sir Arthur Blomfield. 



4 Assize R. 873, 43 Hen. III. 



s Possibly in the manor of Thorncroft, 

 i.e. Tornccroft ; in Domesday Torne- 

 cmst.i, named from the sheriff's tourn. 



6 Loseley MS. vi, 81, 133. 



^ Diary, 8 April, 1685. 



8 Pat. 35 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 24. 



294 



9 22 Geo. Ill, cap. 17. 



10 Manning and Bray, Surr. ii, 666. 



11 Blue Bk. End. Awards. 



