A HISTORY OF SURREY 



crosslet with roundei ends to the base and a long stem. 

 It is marginally inscribed in Lombardic characters : 

 ' Sire Richard Le Petit ladis Persone de cest eiglise ici 

 gist Receyve sa alme Isu christ.' It is of Sussex 

 marble and is of mid -I 3th-century date. 



On the south-east wall of the chancel are the remains 

 of a painting of the same date as the vaulting. It is 

 a portion of a representation of ' The adoration of the 

 Lamb.' At the bottom is a crowned and cloaked 

 figure playing a harp, probably one of the twenty- 

 four elders ; above this is a tier of figures of the 

 redeemed and then two tiers of angels, those in the 

 lower tier playing musical instruments. In the last 

 two cases and in the first only one figure remains, and 

 only a few of the second-tier figures are left. On 

 the one old pillar of the nave is painted a crucifix ; 

 this is nearly obliterated. In the museum of the 

 Surrey Archaeological Society at Guildford is preserved 

 a sketch of a painting which was discovered in the 

 nave altar recess which was destroyed in 1 866. 

 It consisted of the bearded figure of an archbishop in 

 mass vestments, before whom a knight in armour was 

 kneeling. Over the head of the figure was the partly 

 obliterated name of ' S. T [H] o M A s ' in Lombardic 

 capitals. 



In the window of the present tower are collected 

 some fragments of old glass mainly of 15th-century 

 date. Amongst others is the figure of an angel play- 

 ing a fiddle, and also of St. Anne teaching the Virgin. 

 There are also some old quarries painted with the 

 ' bray ' or hemp-brake badge of the Brays in 

 the modern screen between the chapel and the aisle. 

 There are also some shields of arms, including 

 those of the Dabernons ; Croyser impaling Daber- 



non; Norbury impaling Croyser ; Haleighwell impaling 

 Norbury ; Bray impaling Haleighwell ; Lyfield 

 impaling Bray ; Vincent impaling Lyfield ; Vincent ; 

 Vincent impaling Paulet, &c. On an iron bracket 

 in the chapel is a surcoat with a funeral helm. 



There are three bells. The treble is by William 

 Eldridge, 1687. The second was cast by Warner & 

 Son in 1866. The third bears the initials i. s. and 

 was probably cast by Joan Sturdy, c. 1450. 



The church plate consists of a cup with cover, two 

 patens, a flagon, and an alms basin, all electro plated. 



The registers of baptisms and burials date from 

 1619, those of marriages from 1620. 



There was a church on the 

 ADVOWSQll manor at the time of the Domes- 

 day Survey. 64 The advowson of the 

 rectory went always with the manor" till 1746, 

 when it was included with certain lands in a term of 

 500 years created by the marriage settlement of Sir 

 Francis Vincent for raising portions for younger chil- 

 dren. 56 When sold under that authority about thirty 

 years later it was purchased by Paul Vaillant, a 

 gentleman of a Huguenot family, Sheriff of London." 

 He died in 1802, and in the following year it was 

 sold by his executors, under the description of ' a neat 

 house, thirty acres of glebe, and the great and small 

 tithes of the parish,' to the Smith family,* 8 one of 

 whom held the manor. It was acquired, with the 

 manor, by the Rev. F. P. Phillips. His son, Mr. F. A. 

 Phillips, held it until his death in 1908. 



Smith's Charity is distributed as in 

 CHARITIES other Surrey parishes. In 1786 land 

 worth 3/. a year for the use of the 

 poor, donor unknown, was returned. 



THAMES DITTON 



Ditone (xi cent.) ; Ditton-on-Thames (xv cent.). 



Thames Ditton ' is a village on the banks of the 

 Thames, a mile and a half from Kingston, of which 

 it was once a chapelry, separated by Act of Parlia- 

 ment in 1769. The parish measures 3 miles from 

 north to south and about a mile and a half from east 

 to west. It contains 2,964 acres of land and 17 of 

 water. The greater part of the parish is on the 

 gravel, sand, and alluvium of the Thames valley, the 

 southern portion on the London clay. Ditton Marsh 

 (that is March or boundary) is a common partly in 

 the parish on the borders of Esher. The main line 

 of the London and South Western Railway runs 

 through the parish, and the branch line to Hampton 

 Court separates from the main line in it. On this 

 there is a Thames Ditton station. 



Considerable finds of bronze implements have been 

 made in the bed of the Thames and in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Dittons, but it was not recorded precisely 

 whether they were in Thames Ditton or Long Ditton 

 parish, or in the bed of the river exactly opposite 

 Thames Ditton and Kingston parishes.* The river 

 drift has yielded evidence of considerable population 

 in prehistoric times. A primitive canoe was found 



in the river a few years ago, but efforts to obtain it 

 for the Kingston Museum have so far failed. Thames 

 Ditton is now, with Esher and Long Ditton, an urban 

 district, formed in iSg,. 3 There is an unusual amount 

 of common land in the parish. The Inclosure Act of 

 1 799 * inclosing Walton and Walton Leigh (see Walton) 

 included land in Ditton Marsh ; that for Kingston * 

 and Imber Court Manor inclosed waste and 50 acres 

 of common fields in Thames Ditton. 



At Weston Green, south of the village, is the chapel 

 of ease of St. Nicholas, a plain red-brick building 

 constructed in 1901, on a site given by Mr. S. 

 Went. A Congregational chapel was built in 1804, 

 and restored in 1887. Mr. H. Speerofthe Manor 

 House erected the drinking fountain in 1879 and the 

 Village Hall in 1887. 



Twenty years ago Thames Ditton was a pictur- 

 esque small village, but the older houses are now 

 rapidly disappearing to make room for small riverside 

 villas and bungalows. There are, however, still some 

 1 6th- and 17th-century houses and cottages near the 

 Manor House. The Swan Inn, next to the ferry, 

 is well known to all lovers of the river and remains as 

 it was in the days when the household of George II 



. Surr. i, 318*. 



45 For references, ee above under the 

 descent of the manor, and Inst. Bks. P.R.O. 

 1620, 1665, 1690, 1732. 



66 Manning and Bray, Surr, ii, 726. 



WInst. Bks. P.R.O. 1801. 



58 Braylejr, Hist. Surr. ii, 4.60. 



1 Called also Ember-and-Weston (S.P. 

 Dom. 1644, p. 6j),and Imber-Ditton 

 (Recov. R. Trin. 8 Geo. Ill, rot. 310) 



462 



from the names of two of its ma- 

 nors. 



*V.C.H. Surr. i, 251-3. 



Local Govt. Bd. Order no. 32638. 



4 39-40 Geo. Ill, cap. 86, 



6 48 Geo. Ill, cap. 134. 



