KINGSTON HUNDRED 



PETERSHAM 



losses sustained by the inclosure of the New Park, he 

 petitioned that the lease of the manor of Petersham, 

 which had been made out for twenty-seven years, might 

 be exchanged for a grant in perpetuity of the manor." 

 This request was acceded to, and in 1643 Murray 

 was created Earl of Dysart. In the troubles which 

 followed, however, these estates were sequestered," 

 and in 1651 Sir Lionel Tollemache and Elizabeth 

 his wife who, with Katherine, Anne, and Margaret 

 Murray, was one of the four daughters and co-heirs 

 of William and Katherine Murray begged allowance 

 of their title to Ham and Petersham Manors." After 

 the Restoration the same ladies were again pleading 

 for a renewal of the grant of these estates at the same 

 rental of 16 g/. at which they had been held by 

 their father, and they pleaded that none had suffered 

 more in the late times than they, having been twice 

 plundered, sequestered, and forced to purchase their 

 lands at an unreasonable rate." After many renewals 

 of the same petition, 75 acres of land in the manors 

 were granted to them in 1665 at a rent of \d. per 

 acre, 46 and in 1666 a lease of the demesne lands, 

 consisting of 289 acres 27 perches, was bestowed 

 for a term of sixty-one years upon Sir Robert 

 Murray," one of the founders of the Royal Society, 

 extolled by Burnet as ' the worthiest man of the 

 age,' " to hold on behalf of the same persons. Sir 

 Lionel Tollemache died in 1668, and his widow 

 married John, Earl of Lauderdale, who in 1672 

 obtained a grant of the manors of Petersham and 

 Ham in right of his wife for the same rent of 16 91., 

 exception being made, however, of the portion granted 

 as above to Sir Lionel Tollemache." The countess 

 was succeeded by her eldest son Lionel, third Earl 

 of Dysart, and from this date Petersham remained 

 with the Earls of Dysart. Lionel, fifth earl, suffered a 

 recovery of all his estates in Ham and Petersham in 

 1773, and, dying without issue in 1799, was suc- 

 ceeded by his brother Wilbraham Tollemache, sixth 

 earl." On the death of the latter without issue the 

 estate was divided, in accordance with a settlement 

 made by the previous earl, between his sisters, Lady 

 Louisa Manners," Lady Frances Tollemache, and Lady 

 Jane Halliday. 53 The manors have been held since 

 1878 by William John Manners, ninth earl, descen- 

 dant of Lady Louisa Manners, who was herself 

 Countess of Dysart. 



A charter dated 1 464 enumerates certain customs 

 as pertaining to the lordships of West Sheen, 

 Petersham, and Ham. These include the holding of 

 an annual court, fines of a minimum of zd. being 

 imposed on such as failed to attend. On the death of 

 a tenant the inheritance passed by the custom of the 

 manor to his youngest son, or failing such youngest 

 son to his youngest daughter. The quit-rent of the 

 land at Petersham was \d. per acre and 6d. the 

 houses, and the fine one year's quit-rent. The 

 charter is attested by five tenants : John Hart, 

 William Ballet, John Howe, John Brewtell, and 

 William Thorne. 54 A survey of the manor taken in 

 1 649 gives a list of customs granted to the tenants 



of Petersham in 1481 by Edward IV and confirmed 

 by divers monarchs ; namely, that the lord of the 

 manor might ' sell all wood and waste lands to any 

 man by copy, paying a fine to the lord and a yearly 

 quit-rent to the king.' A court baron for the manor 

 was kept at the will of the lord, and a court leet once 

 a year. The youngest son and youngest daughter 

 inherited as above. There was a little common belong- 

 ing to the manor called Petersham Common on the 

 west side of Richmond Hill. In a survey taken in 

 1609 this common is said to contain 200 acres, the 

 tenants having common of pasture there for their 

 cattle, and common of estover." 



In the charter granted by James I to Kingston in 

 1603 it was enacted that the court leet and view of 

 frankpledge should no longer extend into Petersham, 

 and in 1609 the king is said to hold a court 

 leet for Petersham twice yearly, after Easter and 

 Michaelmas. 56 Kingston appears subsequently to have 

 claimed court leet in Petersham, however, for in 

 1628 the bailiffs and freemen of Kingston were con- 

 firmed in their former liberties on condition of 

 relinquishing their court leet in Richmond, Petersham, 

 Ham, and Effingham," and in that year the king 

 appointed Sir Robert Douglas steward of the court 

 leet for the manor of Richmond, at which the tenants 

 of Petersham were to make attendance, the same 

 court to be held twice a year. 68 In the survey taken 

 in 1649 the courts baron and the courts leet were 

 valued at 35 yearly. 59 



The church of ST. PETER is of un- 

 CHURCH usual plan, having a chancel I 5 ft. 6 in. 

 by 15 ft., nave 28 ft. 2 in. east to west 

 by 62 ft. north to south, and west tower 7 ft. square, 

 with a porch to the west of it and a vestry to the 

 north. 



The church is said to have been built in 1505, but 

 a blocked 1 3th-century lancet window in the north 

 wall of the chancel shows that part at least is of 

 much older date. Originally, as it seems, a plain 

 rectangle 15 ft. 6 in. by 43 ft., it was enlarged early 

 in the I7th century by the addition of a south tran- 

 sept and a west tower of red brick. In 1 790 a north 

 transept was added, more than half as long as the 

 church and of a depth nearly as great as its width ; 

 the west porch was then added and the upper half 

 of the tower rebuilt. In 1840 the former south 

 transept gave way to a very much larger one, the east 

 wall of which lines with that of the north transept, 

 while its west wall overlaps the tower. Galleries 

 were inserted, various alterations being made in the 

 north transept, which was heightened and had some 

 of its windows blocked up, and an inclosed staircase 

 was built against the west wall. The vestry north 

 of the tower probably dates from 1 790. 



The chancel is plastered and has diagonal eastern 

 buttresses ; the small blocked lancet in the north wall 

 is rebated and chamfered, and the east and the south 

 windows are each of two lights with wood frames. 

 All the nave windows are round-headed except on 

 the north, where they have been blocked by the 



Cal. S.P. Dom. 1630-9, p. 609. 



a Cal. of Com. for Compounding, 2552. 



Ibid. 2553. 



Cal. S.P. Dom. 1661-2, p. 34. 



48 Ibid. 1664-5, p. 492 ; 1665-6, pp. 



I> 3'5- 



*' Pat. 17 Chat. 1 1, pt. iii, no. 5 ; Cal. 



S.P. Dom. 1665-6, p. 315. 



48 Burnet, Hia. of Hit Ovin Time, ii, 20. 



Pat. 23 Chas. II, pt. x ; Cal. S.P. 

 Dom. 1671-2, pp. 225, 312. 



* Recov. R. Mich. 1 1 Geo. Ill, rot. 35. 



61 See Recov. R. Hil. 40 Geo. Ill, rot. 

 229. 



M See Feet of F. Trin. 51 Geo. III. 



Will P.C.C. 348 Howe. 



S3' 



H Petersham Parish Notes (1886). 

 Parl. Surv. Surr. no. 45. 

 " Land Rev. Misc. Bks. vol. 197, 

 fol. 9911. 



*7 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1628-9, pp. 3*5i 35i 



399- 



68 Ibid. 329, 350. 



69 Parl. Surv. no. 45. 



