A HISTORY OF SURREY 



near Runnimede. 1 The great Roman road from 

 the Thames Valley to the south-west crossed the 

 Thames near Staines and ran through Egham parish 

 along the border of the counties of Surrey and 

 Berkshire towards Easthampstead Plain in Berkshire, 

 where it exists as the Devil's Highway. The line of 

 the road was carefully explored about 1840 by Mr. 

 Wyatt Edgell of Milton Place, Egham, and some 

 officers of the Military College, Sandhurst. It ran 

 through Virginia Water, an artificial lake of much 

 later construction, past Englefield Green to the Thames. 

 There is no doubt that the Roman station Ad Pontes, 

 or Pontibus, was near Staines, and from its name appears 

 to have been the passage of the Thames before other 

 bridges were made. The road which comes out of 

 Sussex through Somersbury and Ewhurst (q.v.) would 

 lead here if continued in a nearly straight line. 

 Nevertheless the Roman bridge has disappeared. The 

 earliest record of a bridge at Staines seems to date from 

 the reign ofHenry III, 1 229,* though the Danes crossed 

 here in 1009,' uniting their forces, which had been on 

 both sides of the river, without the aid of their ships, 

 which were on the coast of Kent. It is not, of course, 

 decisive evidence that the Roman bridge still stood, for 

 they may have used ferry-boats. A new stone bridge 

 was built in 17916, but almost at once gave way 

 from insufficient foundations ; fortunately the old 

 wooden bridge was still standing. An iron bridge was 

 next built, and opened in 1803. This immediately 

 cracked, and was closed. Another iron bridge was 

 built in 1807, and the old wooden bridge pulled 

 down. This failed in 1829, and the new stone 

 bridge was built by Rennie and opened in 1 8 3 2 . Egham 

 Causeway, leading from the town of Egham to the bridge 

 of Staines, was constructed in the time ofHenry III. 4 It 

 was used both as a highway and also as a dyke, to prevent 

 the inundation of the surrounding country by the 

 River Thames. In 13503 commission was appointed 

 to find the persons responsible for the repair of the 

 causeway damaged by flood. 5 As a result of the 

 inquiry it was stated that the causeway had been con- 

 structed by a certain Thomas de Oxenford, at his 

 own expense, in the reign of Henry HI, for the ease- 

 ment of men crossing by the King's Way at Rede- 

 wynd (v. Chertsey), which had formerly been the 

 highway, and which had fallen into a bad condition. 

 Thomas de Oxenford had not only built, but had also 

 repaired his causeway, and the commission of 1350 

 therefore declared that no man was bound to repair 

 the same except of his own free will. 6 In 1385 the 

 causeway was found to be ' so destroyed and broken 

 that the loss of all the adjacent country is to be feared,' 

 whereupon the Sheriff of Surrey was ordered to make 

 public proclamation ' that all persons, ecclesiastical as 

 well as secular, shall each, according to the extent of 

 his holding, cause the same to be repaired with all 

 haste.' J Frequent attempts were made to shift the 

 burden of this work on to the Abbot and convent oi 

 Chertsey, but it was decided that although they fre- 

 quently undertook the repair ' out of charity, they 

 were in no wise responsible.'* In 1392, however, 



the abbot declared that, in spite of this decision, he 

 was still charged by the ' procurance and malevolent 

 instigation of his adversaries ' with the repair, and 

 prayed for remedy. 9 In the ijth century the repairs, 

 both for the causeway and for Staines Bridge, were 

 effected by Thomas Stanes, John Edmed, William 

 Mulso and others, to whom grants of ' pontage ' for 

 terms of years were made, the proceeds of which were 

 to be applied to this particular purpose. 10 



Reverting to the history of Egham, Englefield 

 Green in this parish was not the scene of the 

 battle with the Danes in 871 ; this was fought at 

 Englefield near Reading. Runnimede, however, is in 

 Egham, and one of the greatest events in English his- 

 tory was consummated on Surrey soil. The charter 

 itself is the witness that it was given in Runnimede. 

 Magna Cham Island, as the name of the island in 

 the Thames, is a comparatively late name. 



Egham lay in the confines of the forest of 

 Windsor. The dispute about the boundaries of the 

 forest finally left some of the parish and of the county 

 of Surrey within it. The boundary perambulated in 

 1226 is for some distance the boundary of Berkshire 

 and Surrey, but in its later course, where it runs from 

 Thornhill to Harpesford, and then ' along the water 

 to Inggfield ' (Englefield) it followed the stream 

 which runs into Virginia Water. The county 

 boundary, now at all events, lies a little north-west of 

 this. Harpesford Bridge must from the description 

 have been on this stream, most likely where the 

 Roman road crossed it, and would now therefore be 

 covered by Virginia Water. Virginia Water was made 

 by William, Duke of Cumberland, when he was ranger 

 of Windsor Park (appointed 12 July 1746), between 

 his return to England from the Netherlands, 1 748, and 

 his taking command in Germany, 1757. The dam 

 confining the water broke down in 1768, and caused a 

 disastrous flood. Thomas Sandby, an architect a.id 

 surveyor whom the duke had employed in military 

 surveying in Scotland and Flanders, was made by him 

 deputy ranger of the Park, and was really responsible 

 for laying out Virginia Water. He was the first 

 Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy. 



Among the old houses in Egham parish the most 

 notable is Fosters, or Great Fosters, or Foster House. 

 It is said traditionally, and probably untruly, to have 

 been a hunting-lodge of Queen Elizabeth." 



The Place, about a quarter of a mile north-east of 

 Egham church, where Sir John Den ham lived, was 

 pulled down about forty years ago. 



An Act of 181314 inclosed commons and common 

 fields and pastures at Egham and on Runnimede." 

 The award is dated 1 2 June 1817. The common 

 fields were at Egham and Hythefield, and are men- 

 tioned by Stevenson " as more highly rented than 

 usual. The Act and award specially preserved 

 rights of pasturage for certain people in the great 

 common meadows, Runnimede, Long Mead, and 

 Great Mead, provided always that inclosures should be 

 thrown down to enable the horse-races held there to 

 be continued as usual. 



1 F~.C.H.Surr. i, 251-3. 

 ' Pat. 12 Hen. Ill, m. 2. 



' Angl.-Sax. Chron. sub anno 1009. 



4 Chan. Misc. Inq. file 164 (2nd nos.), 

 no. 51. 



* Cal. of Pat. 1348-50, p. 515. 



'' Chan. Misc. Inq. file 164 (2nd nos.), 

 no. 51. 



' Cal. Pat. 1381-5, p. 601. 



8 Ibid. 1391-6, p. 165. 



'Ibid. 



10 Ibid. 1436-41, p. 78 ; 1461-7, p. 12. 

 The statement in Manning and Bray, op. 

 cit. iii, 256, and in Brayley, op. cic. ii, 

 275, that the Inq. p.m. 24 Edw. Ill, 51, 



420 



declares Thomas de Oxenford to have built 

 Staines bridge as well as Egham Causeway 

 is not the fact; it only states that he made 

 the causeway. 



yide infra. 



11 Stat. 54 Geo. Ill, cap. 153. 



" View of the Agric. of Surr. 1809. 



