KINGSTON HUNDRED 



LONG DITTON 



the Thames to the north. It is rather over 2 miles 

 from north to south, less than a mile broad, and 

 contains 896 acres of land. The parish is traversed 

 by the road from Kingston to Guildford, and the 

 main line of the London and South Western Railway 

 runs through it. The soil is chiefly London clay, 

 but to the north is Thames alluvial gravel and sand, 

 and it contains two patches of Bagshot Sand in the 

 southern part. Long Ditton gives one of the few 

 examples in Surrey of an ancient church and village 

 standing on the London Clay. 



The parish is now agricultural and residential. A 

 large number of small country houses and villas have 

 been built in the parish during the last thirty years. 



The only house of archaeological interest is the 

 rectory, of which the greater part is half-timber, 

 probably of the 1 6th century. The interior was 

 re-arranged and refitted in the 1 8th century, and 

 modern wings have been added. The original plan 

 appears to have been of an L-shape, the main portion 

 lying east and west, and the wing containing the 

 kitchen, &c., being at the east end and projecting to 

 the south. The main building had two rooms appar- 

 ently, with large fireplaces as now; but an l8th- 

 century stair has been inserted in the one, and the 

 other has an 18th-century passage on its south side 

 from the present stair hall to a doorway or to a wing 

 now displaced by the modern drawing-room wing at 

 the west end. The kitchen and another room filled 

 the east wing, but the rooms there are now all more 

 or less re-arranged, and a modern dining-room wing 

 projects to the north at the same end. The south 

 front of the main house has plain vertical uprights 

 and curved brackets brought out in support of the 

 overhanging first floor, which projects 2 ft. beyond the 

 lower part. The window frames generally are of 

 1 8th-century insertion. The western third of this 

 front has been modernized, a main post having been 

 inserted before an 18th-century passage window, now 

 blocked. The porch in the angle of the two wings 

 appears to be as old as the rest, but has an 18th-cen- 

 tury doorway ; the front over the porch also projects 

 2 ft. beyond the ground story. The front of the 

 east wing is of one plane throughout ; the two 

 ground-floor windows are ancient retaining their 

 iron frames and old fasteners, but the upper win- 

 dows have sash frames like the others. The back 

 of the house (north front) is also all in one plane, 

 and some of the old heavy posts reach from the floor 

 to the eaves. There is an 18th-century moulded 

 cornice of wood. The roofs are tiled. In one of 

 the south windows of the first floor is some old 

 stained and heraldic glass of several dates. There 

 are also a man in the dress of the time of Charles I 

 and four large diamond quarries with square flowers. 

 In the garden to the north is a summer-house con- 

 structed of some Elizabethan or early lyth-century 

 woodwork. On the south side stands an ancient yew 

 tree probably as old as the house. 



The Manor House, Ditton Hill, is the residence 

 of Baron O. E. von Ernsthausen ; Woodstock, Ditton 

 Hill, of Mr. C. L. L. Smith. 



A few industries are carried on in Long Ditton. 

 Messrs. Barr & Sons' nurseries are partly included in 



it ; some barge building is carried on upon the 

 Thames, and the Lambeth Water Works reservoirs 

 are also partly in the parish. 



A Primitive Methodist chapel was built in 1875, 

 and in 1889 a mission hall for revival services. A 

 workmen's club was established in 1883. The 

 schools, National, were founded in 1840. The 

 present schools were built in 1874. 



Talworth is the eastern portion of Long Ditton 

 parish, separated from the rest by Hook in 

 Kingston. It is on the London Clay, and has an 

 area of 1,193 acres. On the eastern borders is 

 the Hogsmill Stream, which early in the igth-cen- 

 tury here worked the Gunpowder Mills, commonly 

 called Maiden Mills, of Mr. Taylor. The original 

 powder mills of the Evelyns may have been on the 

 same site. 1 According to Manning and Bray* Tal- 

 worth always elected separate parochial officers. It 

 is now ecclesiastically in Surbiton, to which it was 

 annexed in 1876 ;itwas made a civil parish in 1895,* 

 but is included in the Surbiton Urban District. 

 Since the sale of the Earl of Egmont's property it has 

 been covered with small houses. 



There was an inclosure act for Talworth in 1 8 1 8, 

 the award being made on 2 February 1820.* The 

 manors had originally been all open fields.' 



St. Matthew's National Schools were opened in 1 8 80. 



The manor of LONG DITTON, which 



MANORS under King Edward the Confessor was 



held by Almar, in 1086 formed part of 



the possessions of Richard de Tonbridge, of whom 



it was held by Picot. The extent then included a 



mill, and a rent of 500 herrings payable from a 



house in Southwark. 7 



The overlordship passed through Eleanor, sister 

 and co-heir of Gilbert de Clare, who died in 1314,' 

 to the Despensers.' Isabel, daughter of Thomas le 

 Despenser, married Richard Beauchamp, Earl of 

 Warwick, 10 and was the mother of Anne, wife of Sir 

 Richard Nevill, the Kingmaker. In 1 474 the estates 



CLARE. Or 



eheverons gules. 



thru 



DISPENSER. Argent 

 quartered tvith gules 

 fretty or a bend sable 

 o-ver all. 



BIAUCHAMP. Gulei 

 a Jesse betvaeen six cross- 

 lett or. 



NEVILL. Gulet a sal- 



tire argent and a label 

 gpbony argent and azure. 



> y.C.H. Surr.i's, 311, 317. 



Hilt, of Surr. Hi, 1 5. 



4 Local Govt. Bd. Order 32638. 



* Blue Bk. Incl. Awards. 



* Chan. Inq. Misc. file 103, no. 18. 

 IV. CM. Surr. i, 317. 

 ' See Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Ed w. II, no. 

 68 (m. 65). 



Ibid. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. ii (ist noi.), no. 

 169 ; 49 Edw. Ill, pt. ii (lit nos.), no. 46. 



10 See Chan. Inq. p.m. 18 Hen. VI, 

 no. 3. 



