A HISTORY OF SURREY 



the grant is very suspicious (see Chertsey). In 1086 

 it was held of the Abbot of Chertsey by Oswold, who 

 had it in the time of Edward the Confessor ; n but 

 Chertsey does not appear to have exerted any over- 

 lordship after this date, and it is possible that Oswold 

 had merely placed himself under the protection of 

 Abbot Wulfwold, who was his brother." Oswold or 

 one of his successors apparently sub-infeudated, for 

 La Leigh appears subsequently as held of the manor 

 of Wotton, which was among Oswold's possessions in 

 1086." Early in the I2th century Oswold de la 

 Leigh, the immediate tenant, granted to Hugh, Abbot 

 of Chertsey, a tithe of his demesne lands in Effing- 

 ham. 79 In the reign of John, Maud de Camoys had 

 custody of the heir of Gilbert de la Leigh and of his 

 tenement in Effingham-La-Leigh and Polesden. 80 



In 1285 Nicholas le Gras had a grant of free 

 warren in the manor of ' La Leye,' 81 which he held 

 at fee-farm of William de la Leigh, who in that year 

 recovered it from him, Nicholas having for two years 

 failed to pay his farm. 81 John de la Leigh, son of 

 William, was acting in the service of Humphrey de 

 Bohun in 1 3 14," and in 1320 released all his right in 

 the manor of La Leigh to Master John Walewayn, 84 

 apparently with remainder as in Effingham Place 

 Court, to William de Bohun, who in 1328 had a grant 

 of free warren in all the demesne lands of Effingham 

 and La Leigh. 85 La Leigh then descended with 

 Effingham Place Court to Lawrence Downe, who 

 died seised of it in I^J$. M From this date there is 

 no trace of La Leigh as a separate manor, and it 

 apparently became amalgamated with Effingham Place 

 Court. 



The moated inclosure in Lee Wood (already men- 

 tioned) is probably the site of the old manor-house 

 of La Leigh. 



Aubrey, writing in 1718, mentions a small fair at 

 Effingham on the feast of St. Lawrence (10 August), 87 

 the patron saint of the church, which was transferred 

 before the end of the 1 5th century to 15 July, 98 and 

 has since been abandoned. 



The church of ST. LAWRENCE has 

 CHURCH a chancel 26ft. 7 in. by i6ft. i in., 

 south organ chamber and vestry, nave 

 43 ft. by 21 ft. 6 in., south transept 27 ft. 6 in. deep 

 by 1 8 ft. loin, wide, south aisle 8ft. 6 in., south 

 porch and a west tower 8 ft. 9 in. by 8 ft. I in. ; 

 these dimensions are within the walls. 



Owing to the great amount of modern reconstruc- 

 tion which the building has undergone the history of 

 the fabric is for the greater part lost, but enough 

 remains to prove that it dates at least from the 1 3th 

 century, the large south transept having the remains 

 of windows of that date ; no old features are left in 

 the nave, but the proportion of two squares is sugges- 

 tive of a 12th-century date. The chancel was re- 

 paired about 1388, but has an early 14th-century 

 window at the north-west, and the masonry of the 

 walls may be considerably earlier. No other details 

 are left to give a clue to the history of the building, 



but the tower appears to have been built (or rebuilt) 

 in 1757, on the evidence of a stone recording that 

 date ; it was again reconstructed in 1888 ; a brass 

 inscription on the wall states that it was erected at 

 that time. The nave was wholly modernized in 

 1888, the south aisle added, and the chancel partly 

 rebuilt ; the vestry, east of the transept, was added 

 in 1899. 



The east window of the chancel is a modern one 

 of three lights under a traceried pointed head ; but 

 the north-east and south-east windows clearly belong 

 to the work of 1388, which was done by order of 

 William of Wykeham, and in their simple and rather 

 heavy detail have much of the spirit of his work at 

 Winchester Cathedral. Each is of two cinquefoiled 

 pointed lights with a quatrefoiled spandrel under a 

 two-centred segmental arch ; the inner jambs and 

 mullions are moulded, and the outer are double- 

 chamfered with a moulded label. The north-west 

 window is an earlier one of two trefoiled pointed 

 lights with a plain pierced spandrel on a two-centred 

 arch ; the jambs are of two chamfers, and the label 

 is a filleted round. A modern archway with moulded 

 and shafted jambs and a four-centred arch opens into 

 the organ-chamber at the south-west, and the chancel 

 arch is also modern with similar jambs and a two- 

 centred arch. 



The nave has three modern north windows each 

 of two lights with foiled spandrels in pointed heads. 

 The south arcade, also modern, is of four bays with 

 round pillars of grey stone having white stone moulded 

 bases and capitals ; the arches are pointed and of two 

 chamfered orders. 



The organ chamber has a doorway in its west 

 wall to the transept, and another in its south wall to 

 the vestry ; this has an outer doorway on the east 

 and a three-light south window. 



The transept has a 15th-century window at the 

 south-east, now looking into the vestry, of two 

 cinquefoiled lights under a square head with a label. 

 In the south wall is a small square piscina with a pro- 

 jecting corbel basin, 1 1 in. by I o in., probably con- 

 temporary with the transept. Of the two lancets 

 which pierce this wall the eastern has modern jambs 

 inside and old jamb stones outside and the western 

 old inner jambs and modern outer ; only one light 

 existed here formerly, and the two seem to have been 

 made from it. In the west wall are two lancets, of 

 which the north one has old inner jambs and modern 

 outer, and the other is wholly modern. The walls of 

 the transept are unusually thick, the south wall being 

 3 ft. 6 in. ; the others have been thinned above a line 

 about 6 ft. above the floor, but they were originally 

 over 3 ft. thick. The south-west angle seems to have 

 fallen into disrepair in the 1 7th or i8th century, as 

 it has been repaired with red brick, and the square 

 buttresses supporting the angles are modern. The 

 aisle has two lancets in the south wall and a west 

 window of two lights and tracery, all modern. The 

 south-west doorway is also modern. East of it is an 



7 V.C.H. Surr. i, 309*. 

 n Ibid. 283. 



" 9 See Cat. Inq. Edw. II, 192 ; Chan. 

 Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. IV, no. 14. 



7 9 Misc. Bks. (Exch. K.R.), xxv, 35. 



80 Abbre-v. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 72. 



11 Col. Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), 114. 

 M De Banco R. 60, m. 127. 

 ** Cal. Pat, 1313-17, p. 113. 



84 Cat. Close, 1318-23, p. 342. Wil- 

 liam's widow Maud married Walter de 

 Geddyng (See Assize R. no. 888). He 

 had a grant of free warren in the demesne 

 lands of Effingham in 1305 (Chart. R. 

 3 3 Edw. I, m. 90) and died in 1311 (Chan. 

 Inq. p.m. file 26, no. 29). Maud, who 

 was remarried to Roger de Strctton, was 

 still holding the manor in dower in 1320. 



Walter de Geddyng, her grandson, and at 

 that date her heir, quitclaimed all right in 

 the reversion to John de Walewayn. Feet 

 of F. Surr. 14 Edw. II, no. 18. 



85 Chart. R. 2 Edw. Ill, no. 60. 



88 Chan. Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. IV, no. 14, 



8 ? Aubrey, Collections for Surr. ii, 282. 



83 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii, 

 709. 



