A HISTORY OF SURREY 



lived there. He sold it to Lord Huntingtower, heir 

 apparent of the Earl of Dysart, who predeceased his 

 father in 1833. In 1 8 34 it was sold by the executors 

 of Lord Huntingtower to the Commissioners of Woods 

 and Forests, by whom it was entirely destroyed and 

 its grounds incorporated with the park. The site of 

 the house was close to some cedars on the slope of 

 the hill. 



The present Petersham Lodge, a handsome Georgian 

 mansion, has no relation to the original house ; it is 

 situated close by the river bank and was purchased in 

 1902 by Sir Max Waechter to preserve the view from 

 Richmond Hill, and presented to the Richmond 

 Corporation, who leased it at a nominal rent to 

 Queen Mary for a governesses' home. 



PETERSH4M HOUSE, next to the church, is a 

 brick structure dating from about 1680, but with later 

 fittings. The entrance, hall was decorated by Verrio, 

 but the painting has been badly restored. The house 

 contains some good marble fireplaces by the Adams, 

 one with marble inlay, and some good white marble 

 reliefs by Flaxman. In the grounds is a curious 

 narrow bridge of brick. 



There are several good 1 8th-century houses in the 

 village, such as Douglas House, once the residence 

 of Lady Caroline Gilt the novelist, who died here 

 in 1857, and Rutland House. Elm Lodge was a 

 favourite summer retreat of Charles Dickens, who 

 there wrote the greater part of Nicholas Nickleby. 



At Bute House lived the Earl of Bute, minister 

 of George III. The estate was bought by the late 

 Mrs. Warde of Petersham House as a memorial to 

 her father, in order to preserve the foreground of 

 the view from Richmond Hill. The house has been 

 demolished, the foundations alone being left to show 

 its size and position. There are also several cottages 

 of an early date, as the Farm Lodge with its shaped 

 gables. 



The Petersham Institute and Church Room, and 

 the New Church, have been built on the Bute House 

 Estate. 



The Petersham Schools (British) were built by Lord 

 John Russell in 1842, when he was living at Pem- 

 broke Lodge in Richmond Park. 



The first mention of PETERSH4M 

 M4NOR occurs in the alleged grant from Frith- 

 wold subregulus of Surrey and Bishop 

 Erkenwald to Chertsey Abbey, 18 which included ten 

 mansae at Petersham. This was confirmed by Athel- 

 stan in 93 3,'" by Edgar in 967," and by Edward the 

 Confessor in 1062." At the time of the Domesday 

 Survey the Abbot of Chertsey held it in demesne for 

 four hides, though in the time of Edward the Con- 

 fessor it had been assessed for ten hides. There was 

 a church and a fishery of 1,000 eels and 1,000 lam- 

 preys." In 1 324 the abbot was granted protection 

 in his manor in Petersham." In 1415 the Abbot of 

 Chertsey surrendered this manor to the Crown, 



together with the advowson of Ewell," and the 

 lordship of Petersham, annexed to the manor of 

 Sheen (now Richmond), formed part of the jointure 

 of Elizabeth Woodville, queen of Edward IV, in 

 1466." In 1479-80 the manor was held at farm 

 by Robert RadclyfT,* 6 and in 1483-4 by Henry 

 Dain." In 1518 the custody of the manor, together 

 with Ham and Sheen, was leased by the Crown to 

 Richard Brampton to hold for twenty years at a 

 rental of 23 6s. 4</.,' 9 and this grant having been 

 cancelled in 1522, the same manors were in that 

 year leased for thirty years to Massi Villiarde, serjeant 

 of the king's pleasure water, and Thomas Brampton, 19 

 the grant being subsequently renewed for forty years 

 in the name of Sir Nicholas Carew. 80 In 1541 

 Henry VIII, on the occasion of his divorce from 

 Anne of Cleves, granted to the latter the manors of 

 Sheen, Petersham, and Ham with the Island of 

 Crowell and Richmond Park to hold for life." In 

 1 546 Anne granted a lease of these estates at farm to 

 David Vincent, steward of the king in his privy 

 chamber, who in the reign of Edward VI made over 

 the remainder of his interest in the same to Gregory 

 Lovell, who was holding them in I 564." In 1607 " 

 the same estates were granted at farm to Sir Thomas 

 Gorges, who in 1608 transferred the lease to George 

 Cole. 34 In 1610 the manor was granted by James I 

 to Henry Prince of Wales," and after his death to 

 trustees for Prince Charles," through whom it returned 

 to the Crown. George Cole, 

 the lessee, died at Petersham 

 in 1624," and in 1629 the 

 name of his widow, Frances 

 Cole, appears on the court 

 rolls as lady of the manor. 88 

 In 1635 the court baron and 

 view of frankpledge were held 

 in the name of Gregory Cole, 

 son of the above, who mar- 

 ried Jane daughter of William 

 Blighe of Botathan, co. Corn- 

 wall,' 9 and in this year con- 



COLI. Argent a bull 

 fassant table in a border 

 sable bezany. 



ceded to his brother Thomas Cole of the parish of 

 St. Dunstan in the West, London, gentleman, all his 

 capital messuage in Petersham with dovecotes and all 

 tenements held by copy of court roll of the manor 

 of Petersham. 40 In the next year, however, the court 

 baron was held in the name of William Murray, 

 who had received a lease from Queen Henrietta 

 Maria, to whom Charles I had granted the manor, 

 and to this court came the above-mentioned Gregory, 

 Jane, and Thomas, and having been examined alone 

 and secretly by the steward, surrendered up their 

 tenancy of the above premises in Petersham. 41 



William Murray had been the whipping-boy of 

 Charles I while Prince of Wales, and continued his 

 friend and favourite and his faithful supporter in his 

 later adversities. In 1639, in consideration of the 



18 Birch, Cart. Sax. i, 64 ; Kemble, 

 Corf. Difl. 988. 



Kemble, Cad. Difl. 363. 



* Ibid. 802 ; Birch, Cart. Sax. iii, 

 469. 



Kemble, Cod. Difl. 812. 



V.C.H. Surr. i, 308. 



38 Cal. Pat. 1324-7, p. 53. 



41 Close, 3 Hen. V, m. 31 d. 



Cal. Pat. 1461-7, p. 525 ; 14.67-77, 

 p. 64. 



26 Wins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 1904, 

 no. 5. 



*> Mint. Accti. Duchy of Lane. bdle. 

 41, no. 799. 



Pat. 14 Hen. VIII, pt. i, m. 5. 



L. and P. Hen. VIII, iii (2), p. 1 134 j 

 Pat. 14 Hen. VIII, pt. i, m. ;. 



80 Add. Chart. 22631. 



' L. and P. Hen. fill, xvi, p. 717. 



82 Memo. R. Mich. 6 Eliz. rot. 96. 



88 Pat. 5 Ja. i, pt. xxvi, m. 20. 



53 



84 Parl. Surv. Surr. no. 3 1. 

 84 Pat. 8 Ja. I, pt. xli, m. 2. 

 88 Pat. 14 Jas. I, pt. jut, m. 2. 

 *f Mon. Inscr. Petersham Church ; 

 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccvi, ;6. 



88 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr, \, 

 439- 



89 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. z), ccccvi, 56. 



40 Ct. R. portf. 205, no. I. 



41 Ibid. 



