KINGSTON HUNDRED 



is of oak, cedar, and olive wood, the last brought 

 from Palestine. The font, of Devonshire marble and 

 mosaic with an oak cover, and the stained east window, 

 were presented by Mr. Thomas Hare and Mrs. Hare 

 of Gosbury Hill. The roofs are tiled. 



The church of ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, 

 Kingston Vale, is a small building dating from 1 86 1. 

 It is built of stock and red brick with stone 

 dressings, and consists of a chancel, nave, aisles, organ 

 chamber, vestry, &c., and has a small bell-turret of 

 wood over the east end of the nave. 



CHRIST CHURCH, New Maiden, is a stone 

 building, begun in 1866 and finished in 1893. It is 

 in the style of the 1 3th century, and consists of a 

 chancel, vestries, &c., nave, north and south aisles, 

 and a west baptistery and porches ; arcades of six 

 bays divide the nave from the aisles ; each bay of the 

 north aisle has a transverse gabled roof, while the 

 south aisle has a lean-to roof ; the end bay of the 

 south aisle forms a sort of western transept. 



The church of Kingston is said 

 JDrOiVSONS to have been part of the grant made 

 by Gilbert Norman to his founda- 

 tion of Merton Priory , 64J and in the early 1 3th century 

 was reported to have been given a long time before 

 that date. 444 The priory certainly had land here in 

 1177-86, and this may have been the manor of 

 Kingston-Canbury (q.v.), which later was called a 

 'parcel of the rectory.'"* In 1231-8 an allowance 

 was made to the vicar, but this was given as a gratuity 

 and not as his right ; "" an endowment, however, was 

 made in 1 303, when among other grants was 

 that of two quarters of wheat, one quarter of barley, 

 and one quarter of oats from the prior's grange of 

 Canbury. 447 The vicar's complaint that the allowance 

 was insufficient reached the bishop, and the dispute 

 was not finally settled until 1375."* In the middle 

 of the 1 4th century the king claimed the patronage 

 during the vacancy following the death of the prior, 549 

 and established his rights after some litigation. 650 The 

 patronage for the next turn was granted by the 

 prior in 1 5 1 6 to Jasper Horsey and John and Richard 

 Bowie, citizens of London," 1 and in 1536 an assign- 

 ment was made to Sir Nicholas Carew and Sir Thomas 

 Cheyney ; Sir Nicholas presented in 1 5 36,*" but after 

 his attainder in 1538 the advowson, rectory, and 

 Canbury Manor came into the hands of the Crown. 561 

 The rectory was the subject of various Crown leases, 654 

 and was bought for 4,000 by Sir John Ramsay in 

 1618. 546 He was created Baron of Kingston-upon- 

 Thamesand Earl of Holderness in 1620, and obtained 

 a grant of the advowson in 1622 ; * 66 he married 

 Martha daughter of Sir William Cockayne and died 

 without issue in 1626."' The rectory, manor, and 

 advowson then passed, under a settlement, 6 ** to his 



KINGSTON- 

 UPON-THAMES 



wife, who married as her second husband Montague, 

 Lord Wi Hough by. 6 * 8 They assigned the advowson for 

 a term to one Abraham Chamberlayne, merchant, 

 who presented to the living in I632. 660 



On the death of the Countess of Holderness with- 

 out heirs in 1 64O, 661 the advowson, rectory, and manor 

 came into the hands of the Crown and were granted 

 to William Murray, created Earl of Dysart in 1643.*" 

 In the following year he assigned them to the Earl of 

 Elgin in trust for his daughters, 66 * who in 1656-7 

 made a settlement of them, 564 and in 1662 Lord 

 Maynard, husband of one of these daughters, 

 with others, presented to the living. 666 The family 

 of Ramsay had rights in the manor of Canbury, 

 the rectory, and advowson, which Patrick Ramsay 

 and Elizabeth his wife conveyed to the Earl of 

 Elgin in 1652 ; ** John Ramsay and Alice his 

 wife conveyed them to John Ramsay in 166^.."' 

 Four years later the right of patronage was 

 in dispute between John Ramsay and Elizabeth, 

 Countess of Dysart, daughter of William Murray. 6 * 8 

 Lady Dysart presented Thomas Willis, whose institu- 

 tion was hindered by a caveat entered by John 

 Ramsay, with the result, as the bailiffs bitterly com- 

 plained, that they had been ten months without a 

 minister, and that the disaffected assembled at their 

 meetings. 609 The dispute was settled in 1670, when 

 the countess and the other heirs of William Murray 

 quitclaimed their rights to John Ramsay." He 

 sold the manor, rectory, and advowson in 

 1671 to Nicholas Hardinge. 671 On the death of 

 Dr. Willis in 1692 the right of presentation was 

 again questioned, but Nicholas Hardinge established 

 his claim, 67 * and in 1692 presented his cousin Gideon 

 Hardinge, father of Nicholas Hardinge the Latin 

 scholar, 67 * who, as clerk of the House of Commons, 

 arranged the Commons' Journals in their present form. 574 

 This Nicholas inherited the estate from his kinsman 

 of the same name, and lived at Canbury in the early 

 1 8th century. He was the father of George Hardinge 

 (1743-1816) the author, the senior justice of Brecon, 576 

 who had no children, and after making a settlement of 

 the manor, rectory, and advowson in 1 78 1, 676 sold 

 them in 1786 to King's College, Cambridge, 677 the 

 present patrons. 



The chapelries of Kew, Sheen, Petersham, East 

 Molesey, and Thames Ditton remained annexed to the 

 church of Kingston until the i8th century ; they 

 were separated by Act of Parliament obtained in 

 1 769.' 



A chapel of St. Augustine in the parish of Kingston 

 is mentioned in 1422, but its site is not now known. 67 ' 



The bishop of the diocese is the patron of St. 

 Luke's Church, Gibbon Road. The advowson of 

 St. Mark's, Surbiton, is vested in the donors, Messrs. 



" Dugdale, Man. vi, 247. 



* Healei, Early Hist of the Church 

 of Kingston,' Surr, Arch. Coll. viii, 130. 



MS Pat. ii Eliz. pt ii, m. 10. 



"'Surr. Arch. Call, viii, 16. 



"7 Ibid. 10 i Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 

 ii, 36. 



"OSurr. Arth. Coll. viii, 28-3*. 



' Ibid. 24. 



M JW Bk. 20 Ediv. Ill (Rolls Sen), 

 pt i, 20-5 i Cl. Pat. 1345-8, p. 350. 



Surr. Arth. Coll. viii, 37. 



u> Winton Epis. Reg. Gardiner, fol. 44 1. 



M Valor Eect. (Rec. Com.), ii, 36. 



'" L. and P. Hen. VIII, xviii (i), p. 

 557 ; Pat II Eliz. pt ii, m. 10. 



"Harl. Chart. 79 G. 8. 



" Cal. S.P. Darn. 1619-23, p. 374. 



"7 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccixxvi, 

 68. 



558 Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bkt. xxiv, 

 151. 



"G.E.C. Peerage, iv, 238. 



'>Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). 



M1 G.E.C. Peerage, iv, 238. 



562 Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. xxiv, 

 151. 



KS Cal. Com. for Compounding, 2553. 



Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 1656. 



" s lnst Bks. (P.R.O.). 



666 Feet of F. Surr. East. 165*. 



7Ibid. Hil. 1664. 



548 Cal. S.P. Dam. 1668-9, P- 9 6 i G.E.C. 

 Pterage. 



U'Cal. S.P. Dom. 1668-9, PP- 9 6 > 9*, 

 '77. 184,434. 



Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 22 Chas. II. 



'71 Ibid. Trin. 23 Chas. II. 



W Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.) ; Cal. S.P. Dom. 

 1691-2, p. 478. 



'7* Manning and Bray, Surr. i, 383. 



"I* Diet. Nat. Biog. 



Ibid. 



'7Recov. R. Hil. 21 Geo. Ill, rot. 

 316. 



*77 Manning and Bray, Surr. i, 397. 



'78 p r i va t e Act, 9 Geo. Ill, cap. 65. 



'7'Surr. Arch. Coll. viii, 57. 



65 



