WOKING HUNDRED 



ASH 



The Royal Military College, founded by Frederick, 

 Duke of York, was removed under his direction to 

 Sandhurst, close to this neighbourhood (but in Berk- 

 shire), in 1812. The houses which grew up near it 

 in Surrey were called after him, York Town. When 

 under a later royal commander-in-chief, the Duke of 

 Cambridge, the Staff College was built in 1862, the 

 extension of York Town was called Cambridge 

 Town, but was soon changed to Camberley for postal 

 convenience, and under that name has become the 

 most important place of the district. 



Schools (Provided) were built at York Town in 

 1883 ; at Camberley in 1897 ; at Camberley, Infants, 

 in 1902. There is a Roman Catholic school, built in 

 1877. There was a Church school at York Town 

 from 1818 to 1883. 



Frimley, York Town, and Camberley form an urban 



district under an Urban District Council, by the Act 



of 1 894. 



It seems probable that the manor of 



MANORS 4SH (Esche, xii cent. ; Asshe, Assche, 



xiv cent.) was included under Henley 



in the land which the Domesday Commissioners say 



that Azor granted for his soul to Chertsey in the time 



of King William.' The fact that the parish was 



known as Ash by Henley in 



the 1 4th century "lends colour 



to the suggestion that Henley 



in early times was regarded as 



the more important place. 

 Ash was definitely asserted 



to be the property of the ab- 



bey in 1279, when the abbot 



with his men was declared to 



be quit of all forest dues in 



his vill of Ash. 4 The chartu- 



lary of Chertsey Abbey 4 re- 



cords that shortly after the 



statute, ' vulgarly called Mort- 



main,' 1 1 acres in Ash with 



sufficient common pasture for 



his flocks and herds were held 



by Robert de Zathe, while 



Geoffrey de Bacsete (Bagshot) 



and his brother William had 



28. The Atwaters of West 



Clandon also held land in 



Ash.' 



In 1537 the abbey granted 



Ash with its other lands to 



Henry VIII,' and for a few 



years it seems to have re- 



' . , 



mamed as Crown property. 

 Edward VI, however, shortly 



CHIRTSIY ABBEY. 

 Party or and argent 

 St. Pautt miord having 

 iti hilt or crossed with 

 St. Pear's kijn gules and 

 axure. 



WINCHUT.R COLLIGE. 



Argent two cneveront 



,J t ^^^ , hru rtm 



after his accession granted it to Winchester College,' 

 which still holds it. 



There is no mention of a mill under Henley in 

 Domesday Book, but it is certain that a mill existed 

 at Ash from comparatively early times, for in 1322 

 the Abbot of Chertsey ordered a new windmill to be 

 built at Ash. 9 Windmills were comparatively new 

 in England then, and it may have been in place of 

 a small water-mill of earlier date. There seems no 

 later record of it. 



HENLET (xi cent, onwards ; Henle, xiv cent. ; 

 Suth henle and Henle on the Heth) was granted in 

 William's reign to Chertsey by Azor, a wealthy 

 Englishman who had retained land after the Con- 

 quest. 10 



It would appear that before the 1 4th century the 

 abbey had sublet the manor and certain lands at 

 Fremelesworth (Frimley) to a family who were 

 known as ' of Henley.' Deeds in the possession of 

 Mr. Woodroffe of Poyle (q.v.), quoted by Man- 

 ning," refer to a John of Henley, and in 1 306 to a 

 William de Henley, and in 1324 William enfeoffed 

 Edward II of it." The document further states 

 that since the transfer the rent of 22*. 8</. and 12 

 measures (lagenae) of honey ls due to the abbey 

 had been in arrears, which furnishes a significant 

 comment on the lawlessness of the end of the reign of 

 Edward II. In 1338 Edward III granted the manor 

 to John de Molyns, together with view of frank- 

 pledge and fines for breach of the assize of bread and 

 ale. 14 In the next year other privileges followed, 

 including the right of erecting gallows on the soil of 

 the manor, and of passing judgement on malefactors 

 apprehended there. 15 



In 1 343 the manor was reported to be in the 

 king's hands owing to ' the rebellion ' of John de 

 Molyns, who was one of the ministers disgraced in 

 1340 for alleged misappropriation of money, and the 

 abbot took advantage of his tenant's disgrace to renew 

 his demands for rent ; he pointed out that Henley 

 had been held of his church since the time of its 

 foundation for the service of paying a sum of money 

 with twelve gallons of honey yearly, and suit at the 

 abbey's court at Ash. 16 The rent is said to have been 

 wrongfully withdrawn by John de Molyns. 



John de Molyns' disgrace appears to have been of 

 only short duration. In 1343 the manor was again 

 granted to him to hold in the same way as before, 1 ' 

 and the next year he obtained a confirmation of that 

 grant. 18 Possibly the manor or part of it may have 

 been granted to Henry de Stoughton 19 during de 

 Molyns' disgrace; at any rate, in 1349 Henry re- 

 leased to him all his right in the manor." Some two 

 years later John granted Henley to the king in return 



V.C.H. Surr. i, 311*1. 



Cal. Pat. 1381-5, p. 385. 



4 Plac. di Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 744. 



Exch. K.R. Misc. Bks. vol. 25, fol. 

 30. See also Feet of F. Surr. 32 Hen. Ill, 



3. 



' Feet of F. Surr. 8 Edw. II, 29. 



1 Feet of F. Div. Co. Trio. 29 Hen. 

 VIII. * Pat. 5 Edw. VI, pt. T. 



> Exch. K.R. Misc. Blc.. vol. 25, foL 

 170. 



M y.C.H. Surr. i, 311. It ii true that 

 * Henlei ' is included with other lands of the 

 original grant to Chertsey by Frithwald, 

 lubregulus of Surrey, c. 675, in a char- 

 ter which ii dated 727 (Birch, Cart. Sax. 



i, 64). But this charter, attested by two 

 kings who were reigning and one of whom 

 died fifty-two years earlier, and by a 

 Bishop Humfrith who was not a bishop 

 till seventeen years later, includes land 

 which was certainly granted to Chertsey 

 at later dates. It is a composition of 

 some time after the Conquest. The 

 early Chertsey charters are more than 

 suspicious. The abbey was sacked by the 

 Danes once or twice. The earliest in 

 reputed date (Birch, op. cit. i, 5 5-8) 

 grants land in Chertsey, Thorpe, Egham, 

 and Chobham only, giving the boundaries 

 in English, which is not English of the 

 7th century, and mentioning Giffreus de 



341 



la Croix, who was alive when Tetta de 

 Nevill was compiled, and the hedge of 

 Windsor Park. But these may contain 

 a re-edited form of the traditional earliest 

 grants. See under Chertsey. 



11 Hilt, of Surr. iii, 69. 



11 Chan. Inq. p.m. I Edw. Ill (2nd 

 nos.), no. 143. 



18 Coll. To fog. et Gen. iv, 164. 



14 Chart. R. I z Edw. Ill, m. 4, no. J. 



15 Ibid. 13 Edw. Ill, m. 5, no 10. 

 " Cal. Pat. 1343-5, p. 89. 



W Ibid. 543. 



u Chart. R. 20 Edw. Ill, no. 141. 



19 Lord of Stoughton in Stoke (q.v.). 

 80 Close, 23 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 9. 



