GODLEY HUNDRED 



In 1325 a coroner was granted to Godley Hundred, owing to the 

 difficulty which the abbot and convent had hitherto experienced in dealing 

 with the prisoners at Chertsey gaol (q.v.). 11 



When the abbey was dissolved in 1537 the hundred passed to the 

 Crown. 12 James I granted it in 1609 to George Salter and John Williams, 

 who conveyed it in the same year to William Garweye. 13 Two years later it 

 passed from Garweye to John Hammond, 14 to whom the site of the abbey 

 (q.v.) had previously been granted. Profits of the hundred court and com- 

 mon fines within the hundred were included in the grant thus made. From 

 John Hammond the hundred 

 passed to his son Robert, who 

 in 1620 conveyed it to Prince 

 Charles. 14 Charles as king 

 granted it to Queen Henrietta 

 Maria, with reversion to the 

 Crown, for ninety-nine years. 18 

 It was sold during the Com- 

 monwealth as the 'hundred alias 

 the half-hundred of Godley,' 

 to John Blackwell. 17 



In 1672 the hundred, for 

 the remainder of the term of 

 ninety-nine years granted by 

 Charles I, was granted to Queen 

 Catherine, consort of Charles II, 

 for her life, with reversion to 

 the Crown. 18 The hundred 

 was still in the Crown in the 

 early igth century," but was 

 probably sold together with all 

 the land at Chertsey which be- 

 longed to the Crown, in i827. 20 The hundred court of Godley was 

 always held at Hardwick in Chertsey from the time of the Abbots of 

 Chertsey until as late as 1827." Manning states that in his time this 

 hundred court was still held, as it always had been, on Whit-Tuesday at 

 Hardwick ; constables, tithing-men, and ale-tasters were chosen for the 

 various parishes, the occasion giving rise to a gathering popularly known 

 as Hardwick Fair. After 1827 and as late as 1841 this court leet was 

 held at the Swan Inn at Chertsey. 32 It has not now been held for at least 

 eighteen years. 



11 Cott. MS. Vitell. A. xiii, fol. i 2 i . " Feet of F. Div. Co. Trin. 29 Hen. VIII. 



11 Pat. 7 Jas. I, pt. xvi, m. i ; Close, 7 Jas. I, pt. xxix. " Close, 9 Jas. I, pt. ii, m. 8. 



14 Com. Pleas D. Enr. Hil. 17 Jas. I, m. 32. 

 " Pat. 5 Chas. I, pt. xv ; Ct. R. (P.R.O.), bdle. 204, nos. 47, 53. 



17 Close, 1652, pt. xlvi, no. 12. 19 Pat. 24 Chas. II, pt. ix, m. I. 



" Manning and Bray, Hist. ofSurr. iii, 220. M E. W. Brayley, Tofog. Hist. f. Stirr. ii, 189. 



11 Manning and Bray, Hiit. ofSurr. iii, 220 (quoting from a Ct. R. of 1446 in possession of Le Neve) ; 

 Ct. R. (P.R.O.), bdle. 204, no. 53. 



" E. W. Brayley, Tofog. Hiit. ofSurr. ii, 189. 



INDEX MAP 



TO THE 



HUNDRED 



OP 



GODLEY 



397 



