A HISTORY OF SURREY 



Byfleet were used for paper-making in the lyth cen- 

 tury." Aubrey states that the Earl of St. Albans 

 owned a mill here," but this is probably a mistake." 

 Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans, did, however, live 

 in the manor-house here. John Evelyn records a 

 visit to 'my lord St. Alban's house at Byflete, an 

 old large building,' on 24 August 1678. He also 

 visited the paper-mills at Byfleet on the same day, 

 and gives a description of the process employed there 

 for paper-making. 66 The present mill is a corn-mill. 



The manor-house known as the King's House was 

 built by Sir Anthony Browne, keeper of the park 

 (vide infra). It was sold with other Crown lands 

 during the Commonwealth, as ' Byfleete house, situated 

 about the middle of Byfleete park, upon the river of 

 Byfleete.' 663 



According to Aubrey, Queen Anne of Denmark, 

 when the manor was settled on her by James I, began 

 to build ' a noble house of brick,' w afterwards com- 

 pleted by Sir James Fullerton, one of Prince Charles's 

 trustees under the grant of 1617. It was built where 

 the old manor-house had stood, and Evelyn in 

 1678 speaks of it as 'an old large building.' 58 

 The forecourt, garden-wall and gateway, and part of 

 the existing manor-house are of early lyth-century 

 date, but the house was rebuilt about 1724-34. A 

 tile stamped with the former date and a halfpenny of 

 the latter date, embedded in the mortar, bear out the 

 evidence of the style. Part of it was pulled down 

 early in the igth century. 



The first mention of the PARK of 

 PARK Byfleet occurs in 1337; it was probably 

 not imparked before the manor came into 

 the king's hands. In 1337 John de Chestre was 

 granted the custody of the park and warren of 

 Byfleet, with a robe worth a mark, or a mark, every 

 year for his fee and zd. daily for his wages. 6 ' Norden 

 gives an interesting account of the park in 1607 

 when Sir Edward Howard was keeper. It was 

 stated to lie partly within and partly without the 

 bounds of the forest of Windsor, and was 3^ miles 

 in circuit. There were about 1 60 fallow deer, about 

 36 of antler, and 14 buck. He also adds that 'the 

 Hooping birde, vulgarly held ominous, much frequent- 

 eth this park.' w 



In 1337 the park of Byfleet was included in 

 the grant of the manor to the Prince of Wales, 61 

 and was henceforth held, with the manor, by the 

 Crown. The grant of 1672 to Queen Catherine 

 includes the park, but there appears to be no subse- 

 quent mention of it. Most of it had evidently been 

 inclosed before the inclosure award of 1800, but a 

 small part of it has always remained as open land 

 round the manor-house. 



Grants of the custody of the king's park were made 

 at intervals from the 1 4th to the 1 7th century. 

 Writs of aid to cut and sell underwood were occasion- 



ally issued. 63 In 1 507 John Stoughton, late bailiff 

 of the king's manor of Byfleet, was charged with 

 committing waste of timber, having been ordered to 

 cut down ' 50 great oaks worth 50^. in the king's 

 wood at Byfleet.' 6 * In 1513 John Wheler was 

 appointed keeper of the park, 65 but he surrendered his 

 patent, which in 1527 was transferred to Sir William 

 Fitz William and Sir Anthony Browne. 66 Sir Anthony 

 Browne apparently spent much of his time there, 67 

 and died at the manor-house in I548. 68 In 16043 

 grant of the park for life was made to Sir Edward 

 Howard, the king's cup-bearer ; 69 the reversion being 

 granted to his brother, Sir Charles, in i6i3. 70 



The church of ST. MARY THE 

 CHURCH VIRGIN consists of a chancel 1 9 ft. 6 in. 

 byl 2 ft. 7 in., south chapel and baptistery, 

 south vestry, nave 42 ft. 10 in. by 17 ft. 2 in., north 

 porch and south aisle 19 ft. I in. wide, all internal 

 dimensions. 



The chancel and nave seem to have been built early 

 in the 1 4th century, and are of very plain detail. 

 The dressings of the windows, &c. are all of chalk, and 

 have a very sharp appearance suggesting that they 

 have either been completely renewed in modern times 

 or that the old material has been recut ; the south 

 aisle and the remainder of the building are quite mod- 

 ern, but the side windows of the aisle are those formerly 

 in the south wall of the nave. 



The east window of the chancel is of three lights 

 with plain heads and intersecting tracery under a two- 

 centred arch, and the two north windows are each of 

 two plain lights under a two-centred arch ; below the 

 first is a plain square recess. On the south side are 

 two modern arches opening to the organ chamber, the 

 eastern arch containing two plain sedilia, which seem 

 entirely modern, and a piscina with a cinquefoiled head 

 partly restored and a sixfoiled drain in a project- 

 ing sill ; at the back is a modern quatrefoil piercing, 

 and the backs of the sedilia are also pierced. The 

 chancel arch has chamfered jambs and a double 

 chamfered pointed arch, the inner order being cor- 

 belled off at the springing line. 



The three north windows of the nave are similar 

 to those of the chancel, and the doorway between the 

 second and third windows is of chalk in two cham- 

 fered orders and has a pointed head ; outside is a 

 modern porch of wood. The south arcade is of four 

 bays having round pillars and responds with moulded 

 bases and carved capitals, and pointed two-chamfered 

 arches ; the west window of the nave is also like the 

 others^-of two lights. 



The south aisle is wider than the nave and opens 

 by two arches into the south chapel and organ cham- 

 ber. Its three side windows resemble those in the 

 opposite wall, and it has a modern south doorway ; 

 the west window is of four plain lights with intersect- 

 ing tracery. The organ chamber has a two-light east 



146. 



('jf. MSS. Com. Rtf. xiii, App. v, 



54 Aubrey, Nat. Hist, and Antiq, ofSurr. 

 iii, 194. 



55 Hi. MSS. Com. Ref. xiii, App. v, 

 436. 



56 V.C.H. Surr. ii, 418. 



56a Close, 1653, pt. v, no. 2. 



W Aubrey, Hat.Hitt. and Antiq. of Surr. 

 iii, 194 ; Dorney House, on the wharf, is 

 said by Aubrey to have been the place 

 where Henry VIII was nursed as an infant. 

 It was not, however, according to the 



same authority, the same as the manor- 

 house of Byfleet, referred to above, known 

 as the King's House, which probably re- 

 ceived its name from the kings who had 

 dwelt there earlier (See Surr. Arch. Coll. 

 iv, pp. xxiii-iv). An exhaustive account 

 of Byfleet Manor House is contained in 

 Surr. Arch. Coll. XX, 153-68. 



"Diary, 24 Aug. 1678. 



"CV. Pat. 1334-8, p. 383. 



Harl. MS. 3749. 



61 Chart R. 1 1 Edw. Ill, m. 28, no. 60. 



6a C/. Pat. 1377-81, pp. 216, 236, 



4O2 



614; 1388-92, pp. 90, 183, 398, &c. ; 

 Hist. MSS. Com. Rtf. vii, App. i, vide 

 manor. 



63 Cal. Pat. 1377-81, p. 614. 



84 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xxi, 45 (2). 



65 L. and P.Htn. rill, i, 3675. 



68 Ibid, iv, g. 3324. 



"Ibid, vii, 1198; xi, 461 ; xiii (i), 

 p. 580; xvii, 976. 



61 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



l) Cal. S.P. Dom. 1603-10, p. 169. 



"Ibid. 1580-1625, p. 535 ; 1611-18, 

 pp. 202, 598. 



