GODLEY HUNDRED 



EGHAM 



is no further mention of a chapel. As, however, it 

 seems to have been dedicated in honour of St. Lawrence, 

 it may probably be identified with the present church 

 of St. Lawrence, in which case the church was pre- 

 sumably Bisley Church (q.v.). 



The church of St. Lawrence remained in the 

 hands of the monks until the surrender of the abbey 

 in 1537-" A vicarage was ordained there in 1330 

 by Abbot John de Rutherwyk, and was augmented 

 in l-fzj. 68 Among the pensions due to the abbot and 

 convent was an annual one of I os. and 6 Ib. of wax, 

 which was paid by Chobham vicarage. 69 This pen- 

 sion, previously amounting to 2Os. and 6 Ib. of wax, 

 had been reduced in 1230.' In 1537 the church, 

 with the rectory and advowson, were surrendered to 

 the Crown by John Cordrey, Abbot of Chertsey. 71 

 Later in the same year a grant of the rectory was 

 made to the new foundation at Bisham." The grant 

 must have included the advowson of the church, as in 

 1538 the abbot received licence to alienate both from 

 the monastery to Sir Thomas Pope, treasurer of the 

 Court of Augmentations. He, in his turn, alienated 

 them to the Dean and Chapter of the cathedral church 

 of St. Paul, London, who held them, by the service 

 of one knight's fee, to the use of the chaplains of 

 two chantries in the church of St. Paul." At the 

 suppression of the chantries the rectory and advowson 

 returned to the Crown ; an effort made by the Dean 

 and Chapter of St. Paul's in 1587 to recover them 

 proved ineffectual," as they remained in the Crown 

 until 1620. A grant of the rectory alone had been 

 made to William James in 1551 for twenty-one years, 

 reversion being granted in 1564. to William Haber 

 and Richard Durfield, from whom it passed imme- 

 diately to Owen Bray of Aden in Chobham, who died 



in 1568 possessed of it. 78 His grandson was Owen 

 Bray, who conveyed it in 1 638 to Sir Thomas White," 

 from whom it descended to the Woodroffes. 7 ' The 

 latter conveyed it to Elizabeth and Philip Beauchamp 

 in 1687." After this date the rectorial tithes appear 

 to have been divided. Sir Anthony Thomas Abdy 

 of Chobham Place purchased a part of the great tithes 

 of Anthony Beauchamp before \jj^. w The present 

 impropriators are Sir Neville Abdy and Sir Henry 

 le Marchant, the owner of Chobham Place. 



In 1620 the advowson was granted with the manor 

 to Sir Edward Zouch, 81 and it remained in the posses- 

 sion of the lord of the manor until 1 752,*' when some 

 of the Onslow property was sold, including the advow- 

 sons of Chobham and Bisley. They passed together 

 for a time ** (see Bisley), Henry Forster presenting in 

 1800, and the Thornton family in 1810 and I833- 84 

 The vicarage is now in the gift of the Rev. W. 

 Tringham. 



Valley End was formed into an ecclesiastical parish 

 separate from Chobham and Windlesham in 1868. 

 The living is in the gift of the Bishop of Winchester. 



West End became a parish in 1895. The vicarage 

 is in the gift of Miss Tringham. 



The older charities include Smith's, 

 CHARITIES distributed as in other Surrey parishes. 

 In 1721 Gainsford Thomas of 

 Chobham Place left by will a charge on land of 4 

 a year for the poor, and for teaching a child or child- 

 ren to read and write and keep accounts, and also 

 three cottages for the poor. These do not, however, 

 now exist. 



In 1722 Mrs. Mary Hope left $ a year for teach- 

 ing girls, and 10 guineas a year charged on land for 

 the poor. 



EGHAM 



Egeham (xi cent.). 



Egham is a small town near the Thames, 5 miles 

 from Windsor and 4 miles north-west of Chertsey. 

 The parish is bounded on the north-east by the 

 Thames, on the south-east by Thorpe and Chertsey, on 

 the south-west by Chobham, on the north-west by 

 Berkshire. It measures about 5 miles from south- 

 west to north-east, and about 3 miles from north-west 

 to south-east. It contains 7,624 acres of land and 

 162 of water. It is divided into four tithings, the 

 Town Tithing in the northern part of the parish, 

 Strode in the southern part, the Hythe in the 

 north-eastern part along the Thames, Englefield, 

 the western part. The soil is Bagshot sand with the 

 gravel and alluvium of the Thames Valley. The 

 Bagshot sand rises into considerable eminences, of 

 which by far the most famous is Coopers Hill, 

 remarkable not for its actual height but for its position 

 above the Thames Valley, affording views from Windsor 



to London, and celebrated by Sir John Denham, 

 a native of Egham, in his well-known poem, which 

 was written on the spot just before the Civil War and 

 published in 1643. 



The old south-western road from London came 

 across Staines Bridge and through Egham parish, and 

 the place was important for inns in coaching days ; 

 notorious also for the robberies committed on the 

 road, so that according to Aubrey Egham had paid 

 more in compensation for robberies than any other 

 parish in England. 



The Reading and Wokingham branch of the London 

 and South Western Railway, opened in 1856, has 

 stations at Egham and Virginia Water. The line from 

 Woking to Egham was begun in 1 88 1. 



The Thames Valley and the less barren stream 

 beds in the Bagshot sand were inhabited in early 

 times. A polished stone celt has been found near 

 Egham, and a bronze spear-head in the Thames 



6 " Ibid. fol. 25 ; Cott. MS. Vitell. A. 

 xiii ; Col. of Papal Litters, i, 6 ; Valor Eccl. 

 (Rec. Com.), ii, 56. 



8 Exch. K.R. Misc. Bks. voL 25, fol. 



45. 4- 



69 Ibid. vol. 25, fol. 32, 44 ; Pope Nich. 

 Tax (Rec. Com.), 208. 



70 Exch. K..R. Misc. Bks.voL 25,^1.44*. 



71 Feet of F. Div. Co. Trin. 29 

 Hen. VIII. 



7J L. and P. Hen. nil, xii (2), p. 469. 

 78 Pat. 29 Hen. VIII, pt. v, m. 26 ; 

 Feet of F. Surr. East 30 Hen. VIII. 

 74 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. i, 55*. 



76 Pat. 7 Eliz. pt. ii, m. 15. 



78 Will proved Nov. 1568 ; Chan. Inq. 

 p.m. (Ser. 2), cxlviii, 22. 



77 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 13 Chas. I. 



78 Manning and Bray, Hiit. of Surr. iii, 

 195. 



419 



Recov. R. Mich. 3 Jas. II. 



MP.C.C. 126 Alexander (will of Sir 

 Ant. Abdy). 



81 Pat 1 8 Jas. I, pt. vi, m. I. 



"Feet of F. Div. Co. Hil. 16 & 17 

 Cha. II ; Inst. Bks. P.R.O. 



88 Pat. 33 Chas. II, pt. ix, no. 6, m. 

 22-3 ; Pat. 22 Geo. II, pt. iii, no. 14 j 

 Close, 26 Geo. II, pt. iii, m. 9. 



" Inst. Bks. P.R.O. 



