COPTHORNE HUNDRED 



November 1661, he confirmed the possession of the 

 school to trustees for the parish, and left 6 i 3/. \d. 

 a year charged on land called Clarke's and Squire's 

 Piece, for teaching four children. Mr. George Booth, 

 who had acquired the land, left 100 by will, 

 31 December 1 68 1, to teach three more children. 

 His executors obtained a decree in Chancery, February 

 1683, enabling them on the payment of 200 to free 

 the land in Newdigate from the charge, and to acquire 

 an estate called Scallow, in Worth, Sussex, which was 

 to be held in trust for the purposes of the school. 

 The master was elected by the parishioners. 86 In 

 1838 the school had become ruinous, and Mr. J. T. 

 Broadwood of Lyne rebuilt it and endowed it with 

 200 more. In 1872 the present school building 

 was erected. 



The Rev. George Steere, founder of the school, 

 was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1599, 

 and appointed rector by King James in 1610. He 

 copied out the earlier registers into the present book. 

 In 1614 he repaired and ceiled the chancel at his 



WALTON-ON- 

 THE-HILL 



own cost, and in 1627 contributed to two new 

 windows. He held the living through the Civil War, 

 and was nominated a member of the Dorking Presby- 

 terian Classis in 1648." He was buried 13 January 

 1662."" 



He further, by his will, left an exhibition of 10 a 

 year for a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, to 

 be chosen by the incumbents of Newdigate, Ockley, 

 Dorking, and Rusper from Newdigate, or, in default 

 of a fit candidate, from a circle of 1 5 miles round 

 Newdigate Church. The payment was charged upon 

 an estate called Blackbrooks in Dorking, and Manning 

 and Bray state that ' it continues to be paid when 

 there is a claimant to it.' The late Rev. L. S. Kennedy, 

 rector of Newdigate, made special inquiries after it, 

 but in vain ; neither the Charity Commissioners 

 nor Trinity College have any record or knowledge 

 of it. 



Modern charitable effort is exemplified by the 

 establishment in Newdigate of a farm colony in con- 

 nexion with the Church Army. 



WALTON-ON-THE-HILL 



Waltone (xi cent.) ; Wauton (xiii cent.), Waleton 

 and Walleton (xiii and subsequent cents.). 



Walton, called Walton-on-the-Hill to distinguish it 

 from Walton-on-Thames, is a village 5 miles north- 

 west of Reigate, 4$ miles south of Epsom, and a 

 parish lying entirely upon the high ground on the 

 top of the chalk hills. It measures over 3 miles from 

 north to south, and I mile from east to west, being, 

 roughly, a parallelogram. It contains 2,606 acres. 

 The subsoil is chalk, but in the greater part of the 

 parish the chalk is covered by brick earth, clay, and 

 gravel. 



The parish is agricultural, and like the neighbour- 

 ing hill parishes, formerly fed large numbers of sheep. 



Walton Heath is a large expanse of open land, 

 613 ft. above the sea at one point, much overgrown 

 by gorse, and is continuous with Banstead Heath ; 

 over it extend some training gallops. The situation 

 is a very fine one, with bracing air and extensive 

 views, and has been utilized for a golf club and 

 links, which have more than a local celebrity. In 

 the northern part of the parish Walton Downs are 

 open land in continuation of Epsom Downs, and a 

 small part of Epsom Racecourse is in Walton parish. 



The road from Dorking to Croydon crosses the 

 parish. 



The village lies compactly round the church, at a 

 height of 580 ft. above the sea. 



In accordance with the practice in some other hill 

 parishes, as Banstead (q.v.), land in the weald was 

 attached to the manors in Walton. It is still so con- 

 nected, and lies in Horley and Charlwood. No mill 

 is mentioned in Domesday, but if there was one it 

 was in the weald. There is no stream capable 

 of turning the smallest mill in Walton parish ; the 

 water is wholly derived from wells and ponds. The 

 name Mere Pond, on the boundary of Walton and 

 Banstead, may be noticed. 



This poor water supply, except at great expense 

 and trouble of sinking deep wells, interfered no 

 more with early settlement in the neighbour- 

 hood than it did in Banstead and Headley. A 

 few neolithic flakes and one knife have been 

 found in the parish ; ' and there are consider- 

 able Roman remains. In 1772 Mr. Barnes contri- 

 buted to the Society of Antiquaries' a notice of 

 discoveries of Roman remains on Walton Heath, 

 about a mile west of the road from Reigate to 

 London, and half a mile east of the pool called Pint- 

 mere Pond. They included a small brass figure of 

 Aesculapius, the memory of which is preserved in 

 Walton as ' a golden image,' and tiles, a coin of Ves- 

 pasian, and fragments of glass and metal. Further 

 digging on the spot took place in 1808,* resulting in 

 the discovery of part of the flue of a hypocaust and 

 more tiles; and again, it is said, in 1864. The 

 remains were surrounded by a rectangular inclosure, 

 of which two sides are fairly perfect. At a point 

 further south on the heath Roman coins have been 

 found. 



There are three more rectangular inclosures, which 

 may fairly be mentioned here, as being connected in 

 all probability with the settlement of which this villa 

 was part, though they are actually over the border of 

 Banstead parish. Two of these are south of the two 

 windmills south of Tadworth. They are well-marked, 

 nearly square inclosures, with a mound and ditch and 

 gateways to the east or south-east. They are east of 

 the road from Betchworth to Banstead. The third is 

 west of the road, and very close to Walton village ; 

 but though on land known commonly as Walton 

 Heath, is actually on the Banstead side of the boun- 

 dary. It is larger than the others, less well-preserved, 

 and with a gateway to the north-west. Roman tiles 

 may be found in or near all three. These inclosures 

 have been commonly referred to as the ' Roman 



86 Local record! and Bishop Willis's 

 Visitation Answers, 1725. 



87 Shaw, Church under the Commonwealth, 



.433- 



88 Registers. 



3'5 



1 Neolithic Man in North-EaitSurrey,i 32. 



8 Arch, ix, 108. 



8 Manning and Bray, Surr. ii, 64$. 



