A HISTORY OF SURREY 



bowl. Near this is a passage preserving the name 

 of tie Bishop's Hall, once the property of the 

 Bishop* of Winchester. Probably it first came 

 into their hands in 1202, when Bishop Godfrey 

 paid 14*. to Osbert Horo for three messuages, retain- 

 ing two and letting the other to Osbert. 53 The 

 Bishop'i Hall was soon deserted and was leased to 

 tenants, certainly from 1392"; as Leland put it, 

 ' now it i turned into a commune Dwelling House 

 of a Tounisch man. Sum Bishop, wery of it, did 

 neglect the House and began to build at Asher near 

 the Tamise side 2 or 3 miles above Kingston.'" 

 In the time of William of Wykeham it was described 

 as between a lane leading to the Thames on the south, 

 a tenement on the north, and the river on the west.' " 

 In 1533 the master of the chapel of St. Mary Magda- 

 lene leased a toft and garden abutting on 'le 

 Byshoppe Hawe ' on the north, the Thames on the 

 west, and the tenement of Richard Benson on the 

 east " ; this last was described as situated between the 

 highway and Bishop's Hall. 48 These descriptions prove 

 that the hall faced the river and can have had no fron- 

 tage to Thames Street. Sold to Henry VIII with other 

 lands of the see, it was granted in 1544 as a garden 

 and lands to Richard Borole, barber-surgeon, and John 

 Howe, grocer, of London," but in 1567 Mr. Starr 

 paid 3/. \d. to the bailiffs and freemen for ' Bisshopes 

 Hall,' 6 * and in 1670 Robert Viall paid 8s. for a 

 tenement so called. By 1804 no traces of the build- 

 ing remained," and the site is now occupied by stables 

 and yards. Probably Thames Street has always been 

 one of the chief shopping districts ; in 1430-1 John 

 Cheeseman was accused of making an encroachment 

 on Thames Street by putting out there a porch and 

 butt or movable counter." At the south end of the 

 street a turn brings the market-place into view. 

 Standing here it is difficult to believe that the turmoil 

 of London is but 1 2 miles away ; only a few modern 

 shop-fronts proclaim this present century, and even they 

 do not hide the high-pitched roofs which show above 

 the stucco of the walls and assert their age. A map 

 ascribed to the 17th century suggests that the market- 

 place originally extended to the Horse Fair as one 

 open space with the church in the midst. Purprestures 

 seem to hare brought the town to its present state at 

 an early period, for the houses round the market- 

 place and churchyard were held in burgage. Prob- 

 ably here, as elsewhere, each trade had a particular 

 pitch for its booths, which it retained when the stalls 

 were replaced by houses, and hence the Butchery, 

 Cook Row, in the market-place, and the Apple Market, 

 an excellent example of the results of encroachment. 

 Close to the town hall from at least the I7th to the 

 1 9th century stood a small octagonal building 61 of red 

 brick with a high roof covered with tiles and sup- 

 ported on pillars, which thus formed an open space 

 beneath. Its purpose is forgotten, but it may be 

 suggested that it was to this that reference was made 

 in 1685 when the toll of the Oat Market was leased 

 at a rent of 4 a year ' to the use of the chamber and 



of the Maior for the repairing, supporting, maintain- 

 ing and amending the house over the said toll of the 

 said Gate-Market called ye pillory-house.' M The Malt 

 Market also is mentioned in 1670" and points to a 

 trade very prosperous here in this and the following 

 century ; the Wool and Leather Markets paid rent to 

 the bailiffs and freemen in 1417-18, and the Cheese 

 Market is also mentioned. 



One of the oldest houses in Kingston is a butcher's 

 shop at the corner of the passage leading to the Apple 

 Market. It is a house of three stories, the ground 

 floor converted into the shop, the first floor over- 

 hanging and the top gabled ; these are all cemented 

 and have modern windows. On the side to the alley 

 the upper stories also overhang and are cemented. In 

 the wall are remains of a 15th-century wood window 

 with a cinquefoiled ogee arch and a traceried head ; 

 the window head probably dates the whole building. 

 An inn on the other side of the passage, in the Apple 

 Market, may have been as old, but has been almost 

 completely modernized. No. 5 Market Place, just 

 opposite (now belonging to Messrs. Hide & Co. 

 furniture dealers, etc.), formerly the Castle Inn men- 

 tioned in 1537," retains an early 17th-century 

 staircase from the ground to the second floor ; the 

 heavy square newels have carved and panelled sides 

 and ball tops, the carriages or sloping strings are 

 carved as laurel wreaths. The handrails are heavy, 

 and the space between the strings and handrails is 

 filled in with heavy foliage, roses, and other subjects; 

 at the head of the first flight are three tuns, and 

 on the first floor is a Bacchus seated on a tun and 

 holding up a cup, and there are other human figures 

 worked in with the foliage. Various initials, evidently 

 original, are scattered over the work ; on one newel 

 head IORPGVP, on another newel CB EB SB AB ; 

 in a true lover's knot N B S ; on a human face in a 

 third newel FV and HB ; on a fourth TS, TI, and 

 another GD. The building has been modernized 

 in front, but the back towards a courtyard is un- 

 altered ; it is of narrow bricks with moulded eaves, 

 cornices, &c. Some of the bricks have initial letters 

 in relief, like the stairs ; among others SB and AB 

 appear again, and the dates 1651 and 1656 (? 1636). 

 The 1 8th-century outside gallery of the inn is also 

 retained. In 1769 it paid \i. loJ. quit-rent, 08 and 

 remained in use as an inn until converted into dwelling- 

 houses in the middle of the I gth century. Backing 

 on to the south-east of the church is another row of 

 three old houses converted into shops ; they are of 

 timber plastered over, and have overhanging second 

 floors above which are four gabled heads. 



The town hall was built in 1838-40; in 1837 

 the proposal that a new site should be chosen was 

 fiercely opposed by the townsfolk, 69 who finally had 

 their way. The old town hall, red brick and gabled, 

 probably dated from the i6th century, and had 

 beneath it an open market-stead extended on the 

 south by a sort of shed ; in 1670 Benjamin Woodfall 

 paid l for his shop under the Court Hall, 70 or 



M Feet of F. Surr. 4 John, no. 493 j cf. 

 Cott. MS. Clerp. C. vii, foL 9*. 67. 



6-1 Manning and Bray, Surr. i, 345. 



w Leland, I fin. vi, fol. 25. 



M Manning and Bray, Surr. i, 345. 



w Add. Chart. 23531. 



48 Chan. Inq. p.n>. (Ser. 2), Ixixvii, 89. 



L. and P. Hen. VIII xix (i), g. 

 1035 (25). 



60 Doc. of Corp. Chamberlain's Accts. 

 1567, 1670. 



61 Manning and Bray, Surr. i, 345. 

 Doc. of Corp. Ch. Bks. 



88 Shown in a sketch by Rowlandson in 

 the Municipal Art Gallery and Museum. 



84 Doc. of Corp. Ct. of AsstmMy Bk. 

 28 Oct. 1685; cl. Chamberlain's Accts. 

 1670, 1679. 



490 



s Doc. of Corp. Chamberlain's AccU. 

 1670. 



Lansd. MS. zz6, fol. 64-9*. 

 ' fahr Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 36. 



88 Doc. of Corp. Quit Rent Bk. 1769. 



89 Doc. of Corp. Ct. of Assembly Bk. i 

 Mar. 1837. 



70 Doc. of Corp. Chamberlain's Accts. 

 1670. 



