WOKING HUNDRED 



MERROW 



In the nave hangs a very good brass chandelier said 

 to have been presented by William III ; it bears the 

 following inscription : ' Martin Kaisinx et Anne 

 Chacon son epouse, 1652 : Pour parvenir au roiaume 

 sans fin j'esper en Dieu. Fai a Namur par Pierre 

 Rock maistre fondeur de cuivre et potin.' In the 

 south chapel is an ancient chest with plain iron bands 

 around it. 



In the east window of the chancel are two small 

 panels of 13th-century glass, one of the martyrdom 

 of St. Katherine, and the other of the Last Supper, 

 and in the 14th-century north window is the kneeling 

 figure of a man wearing a mail hauberk, plate arm 

 and leg defences, and a surcoat of his arms ; below is 

 the inscription : 'Jacobus Berners patronus istius 

 eccl'ie.' Above is his crest, a lion standing. The 

 date must fall between 1361 and 1388, when James 

 Berners was beheaded. 



On the east wall of the nave is a small panel of 

 English alabaster of I 5th-century date ; it represents 

 the Nativity. On the floor are two small brass 

 inscriptions ; one is inscribed : ' Pray for ye soules of 

 Martyn Whyth and Annes his wyf ye which Martyn 

 decessid ye xi day of May ye 3ere of oure Lord 

 MCCCCC & vi on whos sowles ihtl have mercy Amen,' 

 while the other reads : ' Hie jacet Henricus Darckam 

 qui obiit ix die August! A dni Mviui"cui' ie 

 ppicietur deus.' There are two large monuments in 

 the south chapel, one on the east wall to Edward 

 Nicholas, 1669, and the other on the south side to 

 John and Penelope Nicholas, who died in 1 704 and 

 1703 respectively. 



There are three bells, hung in an old cage ; the 

 first is by Bryan Eldridge, 1645, the second by Wil- 



liam Eldridge, 1687, and the third by Bryan Eldridge, 

 1621 ; the last is cracked and disused. 



The communion plate comprises a silver cup and 

 stand paten of 1634 and a large flagon and stand 

 paten of 1666. 



The first book of the registers contains baptisms from 

 1605 to 1754, marriages from 1 600 to 1754, and 

 burials from 1600 to 1686 ; the second repeats the 

 baptisms and burials from 1653 to 1660, and the mar- 

 riages for 1654. The third has burials from 1682 to 

 1783, of which ten years were omitted. The fourth 

 has marriages from 1754 to '7^3> the ^^ tn baptisms 

 from 1755 to 1783, the sixth continues them to 

 1812 ; and the seventh has marriages from 1784 to 

 1812 ; the eighth has burials to 1812. 



The churchyard surrounds the building and runs a 

 long way to the south, evidently a modern extension. 

 The roadway passes to the north of the church and 

 along it are some tall elm trees. 



There was a church at West Hors- 

 JDrOWSON ley at the time of Domesday. Ed- 

 ward II claimed the presentation in 

 1309, and actually presented twice, 53 but the arch- 

 bishop ordered the Bishop of Winchester to institute 

 the nominee of Christina Berners. 54 This rector, 

 Roger de Berners, a relative clearly, was removed for 

 dilapidating the church and rectory and for marriage in 

 1317." The lord of the manor has presented since. 

 Smith's Charity is distributed as in 

 CHARITIES other Surrey parishes. 



The Rev. Weston Fullerton in 

 1817 gave 3,200 in the 3 per cents, for the relief 

 of three men and three women, housekeepers of sixty 

 years of age and upwards. 



MERROW 



Merwe and Merewe (xiii cent.) ; Merroe (xviii 

 cent.). 



Merrow is a village 2 miles east of Guildford. The 

 parish is bounded on the north-west by Worplesdon, 

 on the north-east by Send and Ripley, on the east by 

 West Clandon, on the south by Albury and St. Martha's, 

 on the west by Stoke. It measures about I J miles 

 from east to west, and 2 miles from north to south. 

 It contains 1,792 acres. The southern boundary of 

 the parish is on the ridge of the chalk down. It 

 extends northward over the Woolwich and Thanet 

 Beds to the London Clay. The village is just on 

 the lower border of the chalk. 



Merrow Common is open roadside land, with many 

 trees upon it, in the northern part of the parish. The 

 Guildford and Cobham line of the London and South- 

 western Railway intersects it. Merrow Downs, to 

 the south, are a fine expanse of chalk down, partly 

 covered by trees and brushwood. Newlands Corner, 

 where the road from Albury passes up the down, is 

 famous for the view. St. Martha's, crowned by 

 the church, is to the right ; the valley at the foot 

 of the chalk escarpment runs eastward with the spire 

 of Shere Church appearing among the trees. The 

 Leith Hill range is across the south-eastern horizon. 

 In front the rising ground of the sand, at a lower 

 level than the chalk, is backed by the woodlands of 



the Weald, with the Sussex Downs beyond. Hind- 

 head and Blackdown are to the south-west, Crooks- 

 bury Hill and the high ground near Farnham to the 

 west. 



Further north upon the downs the old Guildford 

 race-course can still be traced. The races used to take 

 place on the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday after 

 Whitsunday. William III gave a King's Plate of 

 100 guineas, which, having apparently lapsed under 

 Queen Anne, was renewed by King George I. The 

 races used to fill Guildford with a crowd of visitors, 

 but the growth of Epsom and establishment of Ascot, 

 near the same time, diminished this popularity. The 

 Plate, however, was given as a Queen's Plate in 

 Queen Victoria's reign. The grand stand was taken 

 down more than sixty years ago, and the last meeting 

 was held in 1870. 



At a very early period Merrow was clearly an 

 inhabited place. Neolithic flints are not un- 

 common. There is one large round barrow, or 

 possibly two barrows, rifled, at Newlands Corner. 

 In the valley in the downs, called Walnut Tree 

 Bottom, are earthbanks and a barrow opened by 

 General Pitt-Rivers, in which a sepulchral urn was 

 found. Near here the remains of an extensive ceme- 

 tery with Roman-British urns was found in 1895. 

 Unfortunately much of the find was lost or destroyed 



Pat. 2 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 7, 3. 



" Winton Epii. Reg. Woodlock, fol. lit. 



357 



M Ibid. Sendale, fol. 170, zok, 13*. 



