GODLEY HUNDRED 



BYFLEET 



to hold for life without rent, he having ' become the 

 king's vassal and done homage.' sl The duke after- 

 wards granted the manor and park to Roger Walden, 

 Dean of York and Treasurer of England, and John 

 Walden his brother, for their lives, on condition that 

 he, the duke, might lodge there with his household 

 whenever he should come there. Richard's grants were 

 annulled by Parliament in 1399, and Byfleet was 

 granted to Henry the son of the king." Roger and 

 John Walden surrendered their estate in the manor 

 for jioo to Sir Francis Court, who was a trusted 

 friend of Prince Henry, and Joan his wife. Both 

 Walden and Court entered the premises without the 

 king's licence, for which offence they were pardoned 

 in 1401, Sir Francis and his wife receiving a con- 

 firmation of the grant to hold the manor for life, all 

 fees, advowsons, wards, marriages, reliefs, escheats, 

 franchises, liberties, warrens, reversions, &c., being 

 included. 18 Sir Francis Court presented to the 

 church during the time he held the manor." 



Byfleet continued to be granted by the Kings of 

 England to their eldest sons until the time of Henry 

 VIII. 18 The last-named king is said to have spent 

 much of his boyhood at Byfleet." As king, he 

 granted the manor in 1533 to Katharine of Aragon, 

 whom he had divorced in that year, 80 she being 

 styled Princess Dowager of Wales. Sir Anthony 

 Browne was at this time keeper of the manor." 



In 1537, when the monastery of Chertsey sur- 

 rendered to the Crown,* 2 the deed of surrender in- 

 cluded among the manors belonging to the abbey 

 that of Byfleet. This cannot refer to the manor, 

 which was already in the king's hands. Certain rents, 

 however, had remained due to the monastery when 

 the manor passed to the Crown in the I4th century, 

 since mention of ' assize rents in Byflete ' occurs in 

 the accounts of the surrendered abbey in I538. 33 

 It was possibly those due from certain lands in Byfleet 

 which were surrendered to the Crown as the manor 

 of Byfleet in 1537, although there may have been 

 some reminiscence of the overlordship which the 

 abbey had undoubtedly held even when the manor 

 was in royal hands. 34 It is also certain that several 

 lands and tenements referred to in the above- 

 mentioned deed of surrender as ' manors ' did not 

 really occupy that standing. 15 



At the erection of the king's manor of Hampton 

 Court into an honour in 1539 Byfleet was included 

 in the possessions allotted to it. 36 Queen Elizabeth 

 visited Byfleet in 1576.'' James I granted the manor 

 to Henry, Prince of Wales, and, after his son's death, to 

 Anne of Denmark, his consort. 38 In 1617 the re- 

 version of the manor, after her death, was granted to 

 Sir Francis Bacon and others, for the term of ninety- 

 nine years, in trust for Charles Prince of Wales." 

 During the Commonwealth the manor and park of 



HEP 



Byfleet were sold as Crown lands to Thomas 

 Hammond. 40 



After the Restoration Byfleet, again in the Crown, 

 seems to have been held by Queen Henrietta Maria 

 until her death in 1669." 



In 1672 the lands were granted to Lord Hollis 

 and others to hold in trust for Queen Catherine of 

 Braganza for her life, and afterwards for Charles II 

 and his heirs." In 1694 Sir John Buckworth was 

 accused, as lord of the manor of Byfleet, of neglect in 

 repairing a bridge over the Wey within the said 

 manor. It was found, however, that he was not re- 

 sponsible for such repair, as he was only a ' termer 

 for years ' in the manor under a ' lease made by the 

 late queen mother's trustees.' 43 There is very little 

 trace of the manor after this time. According to 

 Manning, Byfleet was usually let to owners of Oat- 

 lands, and in 1 804 Frederick, Duke of York, then own- 

 ing Oatlands, purchased Byfleet with Walton and Wey- 

 bridge, by Act of Parliament." 

 The estate passed at the death 

 of the Duke of York to E. Ball- 

 Hughes, who in 1829 sold a 

 considerable portion of the 

 land to Loid King, whose 

 younger son, the Hon. P. J. 

 Locke King, inherited the land 

 so purchased in 1833. Mr. 

 Hughes, however, remained 

 lord of the manor of Byfleet 

 until after 1841." At the 

 present time Mr. H. F. Locke 

 King is one of the principal 

 landowners at Byfleet ; Mrs. 



Rutson owns the Manor House, bought in 1891; 

 and Messrs Paine & Brettell, solicitors, of Chertsey, 

 are owners of the manor. 



The grant of the manor made to John of Eltham, 

 Earl of Cornwall, in 1330 was supplemented by a 

 further grant of all corn whether sown or for seed, 

 livery of servants, plough-cattle and cart-horses, which 

 had been in the manor when it was granted to him." 

 Free warren was granted with the manor to the 

 Prince of Wales in 1337," and was included in later 

 grants to the king's eldest son. 



In the Domesday Survey mention is made of a mill 

 at Byfleet worth 5/., and of ij fisheries worth 325 

 eels. 48 Geoffrey de Lucy, who held under the abbey 

 in 1284, owned both the mill and fisheries, as in an 

 account of his property made in that year the site 

 of the mill was valued at 1 8s., the miller's rent was 

 1 2</., and the value of the fisheries 3/. 49 Perquisites 

 of the court were also his. 60 In 1279 he claimed 

 assize of bread and ale in his manor," and in 1284 

 he was in receipt of a toll of brewers called le 

 Schench." Mills known as the King's Mills at 



KING. Sable thrtt 

 spearheads argent viith 

 draft of thud and a 

 chief or ivith three battle- 

 axes azure therein. 



M Cal. Pat. 1391-6, p. 315. 



85 Rymer, Foedcra, viii, 93. 



* Cal. Pat. 1401-5, p. 30. 



v Egerton MS. 2033. 



" Parl. R. (Rec. Com.), iii, 668 ; 

 Close, i Hen. IV, pt. i, m. 27 ; Parl. R. 

 (Rec. Com.), v, 357 ; vi, 13 ; Chan. Inq. 

 p.m. (Ser. 2), xxii, 32. 



" Aubrey, Nat. Hitt. and Antiq. of Surr. 

 iii. 



80 Star, of the Realm, iii, 485. 



il Mint. Accts. of Crown lands, Div. 

 Co. 28-9 Hen. VIII, rot. 53, m. I. 



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

 VIII. 



"Mins. Accti. Surr. 29-30 Hen. VIII, 

 rot. 1 1 5, m. 36. 



M FeuJ. Aids, vi, 123; Rentals and Surv. 

 (P.R.O.), bdle. 623. 



fi</< Chertsey. 



"Stat. 31 Hen. VIII, cap. 5. 



"Hiit. MSS. Com. Ref. vii, App. i, 

 629. 



88 Pat 13 Jas. I, pt. xxix. 



' Exch. L.T.R. Orig. R. 14 Jas. I, pt. 

 iv, rot. 126. 



"Close, 1653, pt. T, no. 2. 



401 



41 Cal. S.P. Dam. 1694-5, p. 48. 

 411 Pat. 24 Chas. II, pt. ix, m. i. 

 13 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1694-5, pp. 14, 48. 



44 Manning and Bray, Hitt. of Surr. iii, 

 1 80. 



45 E. W. Brayley, To fog. Hitt. of Surr. 

 iii, 155. 



48 Cal. Pat. 1 3 30-4, p. 184. 



"> Chart. R. II Edw. Ill, no. 28. 



**V.C.Il. Surr. i, 310. 



4 *Inq. p.m. 12 Edw. I, no. 16. 



40 Cal. Inq. p.m. ii, 3 1 3, 3 14. 



u flat, de Qua Warr. (Rec. Com.), 743. 



* a See note 50. 



5' 



