GODLEY HUNDRED 



BYFLEET 



ef the nave is of two bays, the middle pillar being 

 circular with a moulded capital, and the pointed 

 arches are of two chamfered orders. West of the 

 arcade is a modern lancet window. Of the two 

 south windows the first is a modern one of three 

 lights and tracery under a pointed head ; the second 

 is a 15th-century window of three trefoiled lights 

 under a square head, the middle light being wider 

 than the others ; it has modern mullions and sill. 

 Between the windows is a small trefoiled niche 

 formerly a piscina, which was found at the restoration 

 of the church beneath the ruins of the chancel. The 

 west doorway is modern, of 13th-century style. The 

 north aisle has a single-light window at each end and 

 two two-light windows in the side wall. 



The walling of the south wall of the nave is of 

 conglomerate and of the west wall of roughly squared 

 blocks of Heath stone. The roof of the nave is old, 

 with plain collar beams which were formerly plastered. 

 Over the west end is an old bell-turret covered with 

 modern boarding, including the upper half of the 

 west gable ; the vertical face of the turret is seen 

 inside the nave with its old timbers ; it is capped 

 by a modern wood spire covered with oak shingles. 



The west porch probably dates from the 141)1 cen- 

 tury ; its sides are open, with five square bays divided 

 by hollow-chamfered mullions ; the entrance has a 

 pointed arch formed by two solid pieces of wood with 

 hollow-chamfered edges ; the barge-board of the gable 

 over is foiled with rounded points, the middle foil 

 being of ogee shape. 



The altar table and font are modern ; but the 

 pulpit is a I jth-century one with carved and moulded 

 panels. 



The church contains no ancient monuments. 



There are three bells ; the oldest, which is the 

 second, has this inscription in capitals on the shoulder : 

 4 + Fraternitas fecit me in honore beate Mareie ' ; 

 it is said to have been brought from the abbey of 

 Chertsey, to which Bisley formerly belonged, and was 

 probably cast early in the 1 4th century. The treble 

 is by Thomas Swaine 1781 and the tenor by William 

 Eldridge 1710. 



The communion plate includes a silver cup of 

 i 570 with a cover paten of 1569 ; the cup is a finely 

 chased example, but somewhat misshapen ; there are 

 also a plate of 1795 and a small paten of 1872. 



The first book of the registers is a vellum copy 

 beginning in 1561 and contains baptisms to 1672, 

 burials to 1669, and marriages to 1670; also some 

 briefs for 1 66 1 and tithe rents of 1625 ; the second 

 book has baptisms from 167310 1755, marriages 1673 

 to 1753, and burials from 1673 to 1757 ; the third 

 contains burials from 1678 to 1812; the fourth 

 has marriages from 1754 to 1807 ; the fifth, baptisms 

 and burials 1760 to 1806, whence all three are 

 continued in the later books; there are also a few loose 

 sheets with accounts of 1673 and from 1682 to 1773. 



The site of the church is about half a mile east of 

 the village in an isolated position. The churchyard 

 is small and surrounds the buildings ; there are 

 several large trees on its boundaries, and near the 

 porch is a yew-tree. 



The church of Bisley was in the 

 JDrOfTSON possession of the abbey of Chertsey 

 before 1284,3$ in that year Geoffrey 

 de Lucy was patron and held it of the abbey." 

 Later the church came into the king's hands, prob- 

 ably at the same time as did the hamlet of Bisley. 

 Presentations by the king or by the Prince of Wales 

 date from the year 1346." A pension of 3 Ib. of 

 wax and an annual rent of i8</. remained due to the 

 monastery from the church of Bisley. 15 



In 1620 the grant to Sir Edward Zouch of the 

 manor of Bisley included the advowson, rectory, and 

 church, and, in addition, the I SJ. rent to Chertsey 

 Monastery," which at the Dissolution had been 

 surrendered to the Crown. The rectory and 

 advowson remained in the hands of the lord of the 

 manor until the latter half of the 1 8th century, since 

 when the patronage appears to have changed hands. 

 Henry Foster held it in 1800, the trustees of John 

 Thornton in 1810," and in 1889 the trustees of 

 Mrs. P. Smith. It is at present in the gift of trustees. 

 Smith's Charity is distributed as in 

 CHARITIES other Surrey parishes. In 1506 

 Isabella Campion of Bisley left 

 Brachmead in Chobham for the repairs of Bisley 

 Church." In 1711 the Rev. Andrew Lament, D.D., 

 rector of Bisley, left jioo to be invested in land for 

 the benefit of the poor of Bisley. The land is known 

 as Queen Lane. The Dead Hill estate, producing 

 about 16 a year for the poor, was left at an unknown 

 time." 



BYFLEET 



Biflet (xi cent.) ; Byflete (xiv cent.). 



Byfleet is a village 5 miles south of Chertsey, 

 2 miles south-west of Weybridge Station. The 

 parish, roughly triangular in form, is bounded on the 

 north by Chertsey and Weybridge, on the east by 

 Walton-on-Thames, on the south by Wisley and 

 Pyrford. It measures 3 miles from east to west and 

 a mile and a half from north to south at the eastern 

 border, becoming narrower towards the west. It con- 

 tains 2,04; acres of land and 30 of water. The soil 

 is mainly the drift sand and gravel and alluvium of the 



Wey valley, but on the east it abuts upon the rising 

 ground of the Bagshot Sands which form St. George's 

 Hill in Walton parish and Cobham Common. The 

 natural River Wey and the artificial navigation both 

 pass through the parish, and much of the ground is 

 low and easily flooded by the former. The main 

 line of the London and South Western Railway passes 

 through the western part of the parish, and there is a 

 station, Byfleet and Woodham. There are about 

 40 acres of common. Maps of the 1 7th century mark 

 an iron mill on ths old river where Byfleet corn mill 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. iz Edw. I, no. 16 ; 

 Exch. K.R. Misc. Bks. z;, fol. 4.9. 



14 Cal. Pat. 1346-9, p. i; Egcrton 

 MS. 1031. 



Exch. K.R. Misc. Bks. z;, foU 13 5 

 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, $6. 

 " Pat. 18 Jas. I, pt. vi, m. i. 

 W Int. Bks. (P.R.O.). 



399 



18 Tablet in church, contemporary. 



19 Dr. Lament left also 50 to be 

 invested in land for the minister* of 

 Bisley for erer (tablet in church). 



