A HISTORY OF SURREY 



GAVELL. Sable an 

 eagle argent and a chief 

 or with three pheont table 

 therein. 



to George Bigley, gentleman, and Elizabeth his wife. 16 

 Early in the next reign it came into the hands of 

 Robert Gavell, 17 through his marriage with Dorothy, 

 one of the daughters and co-heiresses of Bigley. His 

 immediate descendants held it under an entail " for 

 upwards of a hundred and 

 fifty years." In 1708 Robert 

 Gavell, senior, together with 

 his son and heir - apparent, 

 Robert Gavell, junior, con- 

 veyed the manor and several 

 farms (reserving the manor- 

 house, known as Cobham 

 Court, and the farm attached 

 to it, being demesne lands of 

 the manor) to Frances, Vis- 

 countess Lanesborough,* and 

 she in 1719 bequeathed it 

 to her second grandson, James 

 Fox, with remainder to 

 other grandsons." James Fox died without issue in 

 1753, and was succeeded by his brother, Sackville 

 Fox, who died in 1760, and who left an only son 

 James, in whom the estate ultimately became vested." 

 This gentleman in 1778 sold Cobham to Robert 

 Mackreth, and he next year sold it to Thomas Page,* 3 

 who then held a farm called Poynters in Cobham 

 parish. Before his death in 1781 Mr. Page left his 

 estates to trustees for sale, giving the option of purchase 

 to his eldest son Thomas." The latter bought the 

 manor and farms belonging to it, and enlarged the 

 house of Poynters for his own residence. He died 

 in 1 842 and left one daughter by his marriage with 

 Catherine Brooksbank. Miss Page died in 1860, 

 leaving the manor to her cousin Francis John Mount. 

 On his death in 1903 his elder brother William George 

 Mount succeeded under Miss Page's will, and made 

 over the property in 1904. to his fourth son, Francis 

 Mount, the present lord of the manor of Cobham.' 5 

 Cobham Court, with its attached farm, descended 

 from the Gavells to the Woods of Littleton, co. 

 Middlesex. It continued in the family of Wood 

 till the middle of the last century, and is now the seat 

 of Mr. Philip Warren. 



In 1535 the manor was valued at 37 9/. 8</. 

 per annum." In 1708 the appurtenances of the 

 manor included two water grist-mills.* 6 " 



The lord had view of frankpledge. Constables and 

 tithing-men were elected for the tithings of Street 

 Cobham, Church Cobham, and Downeside, and one 

 pinder and one ale-taster." 



Henry VIII visited Cobham on several occasions.* 8 



There appears to be no early history of the reputed 

 manor of HEYWOOD in Cobham. A family named 

 ' Heiwude ' held land so called in 1 206 " and two 



grants of land there occur in the 1 4th century" by 

 William de Horwode, who was perhaps one of the 

 same family. 



A certain John Prudhomme held lands in Heywood 

 in Cobham in I 3 1 7. In 1 3 3 1 the Prior and convent 

 of Newark by Guildford acquired from him lands in 

 Cobham, amounting altogether to 80 acres of land 

 and 20 acres of wood. These lands were held of 

 Henry de Somerbury, who held of Henry atte 

 Downe, who held of the abbey of Chertsey. 30 * 



In 1594 James Sutton died seised of 'a messuage 

 called Heywood ' in Cobham, which he held of the 

 Crown." In 1711 Katherine Gyles, widow, and 

 Thomas Machell quitclaimed to Robert Porter and 

 his heirs, for 320, the manor of Heywood with its 

 appurtenances, including a i fishery in the River Mole." 

 The small property now called Heywood Park, near 

 Fairmile Common, belonged to Lord Iveagh, and 

 was recently sold by him to Mr. Hartmann. 



It is almost equally difficult to trace the history of 

 the manor ofDOWNE. A certain Deodatus de Dunes 

 held land at Cobham in the early part of the 1 3th cen- 

 tury," and it seems possible that the manor of Doneham 

 (? = Downe) which is mentioned in 1280** may 

 have been this manor. The 

 name of Thomas atte Downe 

 occurs in 1 340," another 

 Thomas Downe or Donne of 

 Cobham is mentioned in the 

 1 5th century,* and a third 

 in 1565. This last 'Thomas 

 Adowne ' held the mill on the 

 River Mole called Downe Mill 

 in Cobham." But in 1395 

 the manor of Downe in Cob- 

 ham was in the possession of 

 Thomas Colney. 38 The name 

 of Downe Common was fami- 

 liar in Cobham in the 1 7th 



century, 39 and this part of the parish is called Downe- 

 side from this family. Their house, formerly called 

 Downe Place, is now known as Cobham Park. 40 



A piece of land called ' NORTH ff^OOD with 

 Serichecroft and two acres of land in the field of 

 Barett' was granted by Gilbert Walsh to the church 

 of St. Swithun and William de Raleigh, Bishop of 

 Winchester, in the 1 3th century." This was prob- 

 ably the land held in 1086 by William de Wate- 

 ville of the abbey of Chertsey, and considered part of 

 the manor of Esher. The bishop's successors held 

 this land till 1538, when Bishop Gardiner was obliged 

 to hand it over to the king along with the manor of 

 Esher. 43 Northwood was restored to the see of Win- 

 chester by Queen Mary. 44 With Esher (q.v.) it was 

 re-acquired by the Crown in 1582-3. 



DOWNE. Azure three 

 hulls' headt or cut off at 

 the neck and having 

 crotvns argent. 



16 Pat. I Mary, pt. vi, m. 29. 

 *' Ibid. 7 Eliz. pt. vi, m. 6. 



18 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. z), ccxlii, 33. 



19 Harl. MS. 1561, fol. 42. 



90 See Recov. R. East. 7 Anne, rot. 1 10. 



u Will, proved P.C.C. 9 June 1721. 



" Com. Pleas D. Enr. Mich. 18 Geo. 

 Ill, m. 8. 



Ibid. Mich. 20 Geo. Ill, m. 32. 

 Page held his first court in 1779. 



84 See Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 21 Geo. 

 HI. 



15 Information kindly communicated by 

 Mr. Mount. 



* Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 56. 



* a Recov. R. East. 7 Anne, rot. no. 



Ct. R. of Cobham. 



*>/.. and P. Hen. fill, i, 5383 ; xv, 

 633 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, App. 

 603*. 



Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 8 John, no. 



*5- 



80 Ibid. Hil. 34 Edw. I, 5, 29 ; Harl. 

 Chart. 58, B. 40. 



a Harl. Chart. 58, B. 40 ; Pat 

 5 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 24 ; Feet of F. 

 Surr. Mich. 5 Edw. Ill ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 

 5 Edw. Ill (2nd nos.), no. 66. 



81 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxl, 36. 

 M Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 10 Anne. 



444 



83 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 8 John, no. 

 25 ; East. 5 Hen. Ill, no. 1 1. 



84 Abbre-u. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 199. 



85 Feet of F. Div. Co. Hil. 14 Edw. 

 Ill, no. 95. 



88 Pat. 12 Hen. VI, pt. ii, m. 26; 

 Anct. D. (P.R.O.) A. 9505. 

 ' Feet of F. Surr. East. 7 Eliz. 



88 Ibid. Surr. Mich. 19 Ric. II, no. 32. 



89 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxvi, 59. 



40 Brayley, Hist, of Surr. ii, 410. 



41 Cal. Pat. 1313-17, p. 676. 



V.C.H. Surr. i, 307, and note. 



43 L. and P. Hen. VIII, niii (i), 778. 



44 Pat. I Mary, pt. ix, m. 18. 



