A HISTORY OF SURREY 



before being notified. 1 The main road in the 

 county, east to west, ran along the downs, and the 

 road from Guildford to Epsom runs through Merrow 

 village. 



Of existing houses the inn near the church, 'The 

 Horse and Groom,' is much the most curious. The 

 newel staircase and the interior suggest a date as old 

 as the I Jth century. There is some old panelling, 

 and the exterior bears the date 1615. A great part 

 of Clandon Park is in Merrow parish. Among 

 modern houses Levylsdene is the residence of Sir 

 C. H. Stuart Rich, bart. ; Woodlands, of Mr. James 

 Cholmeley-Russel ; Merrow House was the seat of 

 the late Miss Thrupp. 



There is a Congregational chapel, built in 1876. 

 The National School was built in 1853 and enlarged 

 in 1886; the Infants' School in New Down Road 

 was built in 1884 and, enlarged in 1896. 



There is no mention of MERROW 

 M4NOR (Merwe, xiii cent.) in Domesday Book ; 

 probably it formed part of Stoke at that 

 date, since both were royal demesne. Henry II 

 granted part of his demesne land at Merrow to 

 William de St. John,' who granted it to Walter 

 son of Ingard for one knight's fee. Walter had two 

 daughters, of whom the elder married Roger Craft 

 and had half the land which at the time of the 

 Testa de Nevill was held by Roger the heir of Roger 

 Craft.* The other daughter and co-heiress died 

 young, and her land was granted to William de 

 Feogieres, who afterwards forfeited it to Richard I. 4 

 John granted it to William de Leycester, 6 whose 

 holding in Merrow was assessed early in the 1 3th 

 century at 4.' 



Merrow was thus divided into three portions, in the 

 hands of the king, William de Leycester, and Roger 

 Craft respectively ; the over- 

 lordship of the second had 

 apparently passed to the priory 

 of Boxgrove by successive 

 grants of the St. Johns. Roger 

 Craft granted his portion to 

 the Templars in 1241.' By 

 charter (c. 12 50-60) Henry III 

 confirmed Boxgrove and the 

 Templars in possession, and 

 granted the royal third to 

 the Benedictine Priory of 

 nuns of Ivinghce in Bucking- 

 hamshire, with th: advow- 

 son. 8 The grant was confirmed by Edward I.* 



The first grant of land in Merrow to the priory 

 of Boxgrove in Sussex was made apparently in the 

 time of Henry II, when William de St. John gave 

 half a virgate of land for the sustenance of fifteen 

 monks. 10 It should be noted that the family of 

 St. John was connected by ties of marriage with the 

 de Haia family who founded Boxgrove Priory." In 

 the time of Richard I Simon de Seynluz granted 

 property in Merrow, which he had acquired of the 



X 



THE TEMFLAM. Ar- 

 gent a cross gules and a 

 chief sable. 



xU 



THE HdSPITALLtRS. 



Gules a cross argent. 



gift of William de St. John, to Boxgrove j " it 

 comprised four messuages, six tofts, one carucate 

 of land, 30 acres of pasture, 10 acres of wood, and 

 121. rent. 



Cravenhurst in Merrow was held by Elgar de 

 Utterworth (in Cranleigh) in 1285," and Lucia de 

 Say gave I js. a year out of Cravenhurst in Merrow to 

 the Templars. 1 ' The fortunes 

 of Cravenhurst are otherwise 

 unknown. 



After the dissolution of the 

 Templars, their lands passed 

 to the Hospitallers. All three 

 manors in Merrow were thus 

 ecclesiastical property, and after 

 the Dissolution they all seem 

 to have been acquired by the 

 Westons of Sutton. Henry 

 VIII granted a lease of the 

 Hospitallers' Manor (TEMPLE 

 COURT) for sixty years to Sir Richard Weston. 15 

 Queen Mary restored the Hospitallers, and resumed 

 this manor, which she granted to Sir Thomas 

 Tresham, the prior, and the order in 1557." The 

 order was again dissolved on the accession of Elizabeth, 

 and the manor was re-granted to Sir Henry Weston 

 of Sutton in 1559." In 1564 he was granted the 

 Boxgrove manor, 18 and in 1582 he presented to the 

 living. The rectory manor, which had been in the 

 hands of the nuns of Ivinghoe, had therefore come to 

 him probably by purchase from Sir John Daunce 1 * 

 (or Dauncey), for the latter presented to the rectory 

 in 1561 and 1562.* It does not seem quite certain 

 however whether the land M in Merrow belonging to 

 the priory had not already been amalgamated with 

 the rest of the property. At any rate Sir Henry 

 Weston died in 1593 seised of Merrow, Temple 

 Court, and Boxgrove." Sir Richard Weston, his 

 grandson, the famous agriculturist and canalizer of 

 the Wey, recusant and delinquent in the Civil War, 

 sold Temple House, but not the manor, to Sir 

 Richard Onslow in 1642. His son John sold the 

 Boxgrove part to George Duncombe of Weston in 

 Albury (q.v.). It passed through his family to the 

 Steeres and to the Chatfields, finally rejoining the rest 

 in the hands of Lord Onslow." 



The church of ST. JOHN THE 

 CHURCH EVANGELIST consists of a chancel 

 1 8 ft. 5 in. by 1 6 ft., with north and south 

 chapels each 1 9 ft. 5 in. by 14 ft., a nave 40 ft. 3 in. 

 by 19 ft. 10 in., with north and south aisles 1 3 ft. 2 in. 

 wide, and a west tower 1 1 ft. 5 in. square. There is 

 also a north porch. 



The church is almost entirely modern, having been 

 rebuilt in 1842 with the exception of the south arcade 

 and the south chapel. There are, however, a few 

 remains of a 1 2th-century building, which have been 

 re-used. Probably the church of this date consisted 

 merely of a chancel and nave, to which were added 

 at the beginning of the 1 3th century a south aisle and 



1 Surr. Arch. Call, xiii, 26. 



I Testa tie Nevill (Rec. Com.), 225. 

 Ibid. 'Ibid. 'Ibid. 

 'Red Bk. ofExch. (Roll Sen), ii, 562. 

 * Feet of F. SUIT. 25 Hen. Ill, no. 37. 

 8 Cott. MS. Claud. A. vi, foL 102. 



9 Pat. 8 Edw. I, m. 2. 



10 Dugdale, M on. iv, 646. 



II Suss. Arch. Coll. xv, 20. 



"Cal. Par. 1343-5, p. 534. 



"Pipe R. 31 Hen. II. 



"Dugdale, Men. vi, 833. 



"Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 79, no. 



"Pat. 4 & 5 Phil, and Mary, pt. xiv. 

 l ~ Ibid. 2 Eliz. pt. viii. 



18 Ibid. 6 Eliz. pt. x. 



19 Manning and Bray, op. cit. iii, 60. 



358 



'"Winton Epis. Reg. Home, foL zk r 

 6k. 



21 There was land besides the advowson. 

 See above and Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. 

 Com.), 207. 



m Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxxir, 90. 



" Manning and Bray, op. cit iii, 60,. 

 61 ; Frederic Harrison, Annals of an aid 

 Manor House t 121. 



