COPTHORNE HUNDRED 



MICKLEHAM 



and a spear-head were found, called by Brayley 

 'exuviae of warfare," but were probably Anglo- 

 Saxon interments, as at Fetcham (q.v.). At Chapel 

 Farm, near West Humble, in Mickleham, are the 

 very ruinous remains of part of the east, south, and 

 west walls of a chapel. The history of its origin 

 and decay is obscure. The priory of Reigate pos- 

 sessed a messuage and rents which were called the 

 manor of West Humble, and the chapel has been 

 supposed to have been built by the priory. But it 

 more probably belonged to Merton, which held the 

 manor of Polesden Lacy. In 1566 lands called 

 Capel were held with this manor, 6 and these would 

 appear to be Chapel Farm, close by which the 

 remains stand. The building is about 48 ft. by 

 1 6 ft. ; the greater part of the gabled west wall, a 

 portion of the south wall, and part of the east wall 

 still stand ; the material is flint and sandstone. There 

 are no architectural details left, excepting a small light 

 in the head of the west gable, too much worn to be 

 dated ; it has one jamb, and part of what appears to 

 have been a trefoiled head. Below it is a round hole, 

 and in the east wall a gap formed by a single light, of 

 which no dressings remain ; also another gap in the 

 south wall. The flints of the walling are not split, 

 and are set in fairly even courses. The building 

 probably dates from the I 3th century. 



The Running Horse Inn, in the days before the 

 advent of railways, was a favourite stabling for horses 

 racing at Epsom. On Mickleham Downs were, until 

 recently, some training gallops. 



At the beginning of the French Revolution Mickle- 

 ham became the refuge of several distinguished French 

 Emigres. M. de Narbonne, ex-minister of war, was 

 the most celebrated among them, and Talleyrand also 

 was here for a short time, and Madame de Stael. 

 Juniper Hall had been taken by some of them, but 

 several settled in other houses. Among them was 

 M. d'Arblay, who married Fanny Burney, famous then 

 as the authoress of Evelina.' M. and Madame 

 d'Arblay, after a stay at Great Bookham, settled at a 

 newly-built house in West Humble, which they named 

 Camilla Lacey, because it was provided by the profits 

 of ' Camilla," her third novel. It is now occupied by 

 Mr. Leverton Harris. 



Fredley Cottage was the home of Mr. Richard 

 Sharp, F.R.S., M.P., known from his talents as 

 'Conversation Sharp.' During his lifetime many 

 celebrated men visited Mickleham. He died in 

 1853. On a tree in the garden are the initials 

 W. W. carved in the bark by Wordsworth. 



James Mill and his son John Stuart Mill lived for 

 a time in a house behind the Running Horse Inn. 

 Hazlitt stayed at the Burford Bridge Hotel ; there 

 also Keats wrote the latter part of ' Endymion,' and 

 Nelson spent some of his last days in England. It 

 was then called ' The Fox and Hounds ' and has since 

 been very much enlarged. The literary traditions of 

 Mickleham were continued by Charles Mackay, who 

 lived in a cottage at the foot of Box Hill, since de- 

 stroyed, and by the residence of the late Mr. George 

 Meredith at Flint Cottage, where he died in 1909. 

 The Grove, the seat of Mr. Edward Arnold, on the 

 border of Dorking and Mickleham, was once the 



residence of the Marquis Wellesley. But the old 

 house has been pulled down. 



Mickleham Hall is now the residence of Mr. 

 H. H. Gordon Clark, J.P. ; Norbury, of Mr. Leopold 

 Salomons, J.P. ; High Ashurst, of the Dowager 

 Countess of Harrowby ; Burford Lodge, with its 

 famous collection of orchids, of Sir Trevor Lawrence, 

 bart. ; Juniper Hall, famous for its cedars of Lebanon, 

 of Mr. George McAndrew ; Juniper Hill, of Mr. L. 

 Cunliffe ; The Priory, of Mrs. Grissell ; Fredley, of 

 Mrs. Kay and Miss Drummond. 



' The Old House,' now the residence of Mr. Gordon 

 Pollock, is situated on the east side of the main road 

 south of the church ; it bears the date 1636. It is 

 of two stories and an attic, and is built entirely of 

 red brick. Its west front towards the road has a 

 slightly projecting wing at each end with moulded 

 strings and cornices and shaped gables, and there are 

 two similar gables in the main block. The present 

 entrance is in the south wing and is modern ; the 

 windows are square with modern wood frames and 

 have moulded brick labels, those on the gables to the 

 third story having pediments over them. The garden 

 or east front is practically on one plane, with a gable 

 head at either end and a small middle gable ; each of 

 the side gables has three shallow brick pilasters with 

 moulded capitals formed by breaking the string-couise 

 or cornice at the foot of the gables round the pilasters. 

 To the south of the building is a modern extension. 

 The arrangement of the rooms has been somewhat 

 altered since the house was built, and there is nothing 

 of note inside excepting o*ie original brick fire-place 

 with moulded jambs and three-centred arch ; this was 

 discovered a short time ago. The original gateway of 

 the grounds towards the road has some good posts 

 with carved brick Ionic capitals. 



In a deed of 1585-6 reference is made to Mickle- 

 ham Common Fields. No Inclosure Act or Award 

 seems to be in existence. Inclosure of waste on 

 Mickleham Downs has taken place bit by bit. 



Mickleham Village Hall was built by Mrs. and 

 Miss Evans of Dalewood, in memory of the late 

 Mr. David Evans. 



The school, national, was built by subscription in 

 1844 and enlarged in 1872. There is a small infants' 

 school at West Humble. 



MICKLEHAM alias HIGH 4SH- 

 M4NORS URST alias LITTLEBURGH.At the 

 time of the Domesday Survey one of 

 the two manors then called Mickleham was held of 

 Odo, Bishop of Bayeux. 7 After his forfeiture under 

 William II the manor was held of the king in chief, 

 the tenant paying 1 2/. yearly on St. Andrew's Day 

 for ward of Rochester Castle. 8 



Ansfrig had held Mickleham under the Confessor, 

 and Nigel held it under the bishop, 9 but there is no 

 trace of subsequent tenants until the Testa de 

 Nevill, which under the heading of escheats gives 

 Robert and Matthew de Micheham holding a hide 

 in Mickleham by the grant of ' King Henry the 

 Elder.' 10 This was the nucleus of the considerable 

 property of the family in Mickleham in later reigns. 



Documents of the time of Edward I show that 

 Robert de Mickleham held a messuage, 20 virgates 



6 Op. cit. iv, 457. 



* See manor of Polesden Lacy. 



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



8 Exch. Ear. of Inq. rot. 4, m. 7, 



21 Edw. I j Testa dt Nevill (Rec. Com.), Henry I is probably meant. Henry II is 

 zz8 5 Chan. Inq. p.m. zi Edw. I, no. 38. called in Teita de Nevill 'Henricus rex 

 ' vr H. Surr. i, 304. pater Domini Regis.' 



... . , . 

 10 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 2z8. 



33 



