A HISTORY OF SURREY 



Underneath the castle and in the hill south of it 

 are very extensive galleries in the chalk, known as the 

 Caverns. A large cave of about 45 ft. by 20 ft. and 

 9 ft. high leads to these passages, which run as far as 

 I 20 ft. in different directions horizontally. They are 

 quarries, whence the street is named, from which the 

 harder strata of chalk were excavated for the castle 

 and other early buildings. A perpendicular shaft has 

 been sunk into them at one place which, by the 

 discolouring of the chalk, seems to have been a cess- 

 pit," probably in connexion with the gaol above. 



The origin of the borough of 

 BOROUGH Guildford is somewhat obscure. 

 There is little in the Domesday 51 

 account to suggest that it had attained the status of a 

 borough at that time ; but the fact of its containing 

 ' seventy-five closes wherein dwelt one hundred and 

 seventy-five homagers' is sufficient to show that 

 it was already a place of considerable importance. 

 The town also possessed the characteristic often found 

 in mediaeval boroughs of including houses which, for 

 purposes of jurisdiction and the like, formed part of 

 manors outside the walls. 61 The word ' bnrgum ' 

 was not used by the Commissioners in their descrip- 

 tion of Guildford, although it is found in other parts 

 of the Survey ; and instead of being above the king's 

 land, where the boroughs of the county were usually 

 placed," it merely forms the first item in that section. 

 In the Burghal Hidage attributed to the loth century 

 a borough seems to be placed at Eashing, ' Mid-Esch- 

 ingum" (compare Alfred's will, ' at ^Escengum')," and 

 its importance may have passed to Guildford, unless 

 this clearly tribal name be taken to have then covered 

 the country as far as Guildford. 



Before 1130, however, Guildford had asserted its 

 right to the name of borough, for in that year the 

 sheriff made account for loos, 'deauxilio burgi de 

 Geldeford.' " This sum continued fairly constant 

 throughout the reign of Henry II, 56 rising in 1 165 to 

 1 6os. odd," and occasionally to 1 o marks.* 8 In the 

 reign of John it was tallaged once for 30 marks, 49 and 

 on another occasion for 35 marks. 60 It is a sign of 

 the growth of the town that there were Jews here in 

 1187." 



The first recorded charter to Guildford occurs in 

 1257, when Henry III granted to the 'good men of 

 Guildford ' that they and their goods ' should be free 

 from arrest for debt ' with certain conditions. 61 In the 

 same year they also gained the privilege of having 



the county court always held in Gnildford. 63 The 

 pnbt homines of Guildford evidently already existed 

 as a corporate body, for the charter to Kingston of 

 1256 grants to that town a gild merchant 'to be 

 held as the Pnbi Homines of Guildford hold it.' M 

 In 13 40 Edward III inspected their charter 65 and 

 made them further concessions ; M they also obtained 

 a second charter from him in I346. 67 



The year 1367 marked a distinct epoch in the 

 history of the town, for at that time the burgesses 

 were granted the right of holding their town at 

 fee farm. 68 In the year before they had petitioned for 

 an inquiry into the profits received by John Brocas, 

 who had formerly farmed the town as the king's 

 deputy." At the same time the king confirmed the 

 gild merchant according to the ancient custom and 

 according to the custom of Winchester. 70 Henry VI 

 in 1423 inspected and confirmed the charters of his 

 predecessors, including one of Richard II." Probably 

 the latter refers to Richard's renewal of the Guildford 

 charters" which had been burnt at the time of 

 Wat Tyler's rising." A charter of incorporation was 

 granted by Henry VII in 1488, the style being the 

 mayor and good men of Guildford." 4 The charters 

 were confirmed at the same time ; and they were again 

 confirmed by Elizabeth in 15 80, including one 

 granted by Henry VIII and one by Edward VI." 



In 1603 the corporation petitioned the king to the 

 effect that the late queen had agreed that the mayor, 

 the late mayor for one year, and two others of the 

 corporation, and a fifth person skilled in the law, should 

 be justices for the borough, but died before her inten- 

 tion could be fulfilled. The petition was granted in 

 consideration of the importance of the road through 

 the town leading to Portsmouth and Chichester. 

 By another petition, in 1626, the mayor and burgesses 

 requested a renewal of their charters, and also that 

 the demolished Castle and the districts of Stoke-above- 

 Bars and Stoke Lanes might be included in the 

 borough. 77 Those districts were apparently the resort 

 of bad characters, 78 who made use of separate justice 

 to the prejudice of the king's town of Guildford." 

 In the next year Charles I confirmed the former 

 charters and granted the extension of jurisdiction, 89 

 which, however, seems never to have taken effect.* 1 

 In 1686 the mayor and good men of the town 

 surrendered their former charters to James II, and 

 received a new one, 8 * which was annulled by the 

 proclamation of 1688. From this date until the 



Major-Gen. E. R. James, The Guild- 

 ford Caverns (Guildford, 1871). 



61 y.C.H. Surr. i, 295*. 



M Ibid. See also Maitland, Domesday 

 Bk. and Beyond, 179 et seq. ; Engl. Hist. 

 Rev. Jan. 1896, p. 17. 



48 Maitland, Domesday Bk. and Beyond, 

 179 et seq. 



M Ibid. 188, 503. N.B. On p. 188 

 Prof. Maitland overlooked a misprint of 

 Eastling for Eashing. 



M Mag. Rot. Scac. 3 1 Hen. I (Rec. Com.) 

 52. See also a writ of c. 1130 directed 

 to the burgesses of Guildford (Add. 

 Chart. 19572). 



M Gt. Roll of the Fife, 2-4 Hen. II 

 (Rec. Com.), 12, 94 ; Pipe R. See. Putl. 

 i 47 i *i i68;xv, 163; xvi, 145; xviii, 

 142, Ac. 



"' Ibid, viii, in. 



68 Ibid, i, 156 ; xix, 9;. 



* Pipe R. 12 John, m. 15. 



* Ibid. 1 6 John, m. 3 d. 



l Ibid. 33 Hen. II, m. 3 d. 



Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, p. 456. 



88 Ibid. It was no doubt already usu- 

 ally held there, in spite of the complaint 

 (Assize Roll, 873, 43 Hen. Ill) that 

 Letherhead was the old place. A charter 

 of Hen. II to the Bishop of Salisbury 

 (Registers of St. Osmund [Rolls Ser.], i, 238) 

 refers to the county court at Guildford. 



M Confirmed Pat. 17 Edw. IV, pt. i, m. 

 42. For the connexion between gild 

 merchant and corporation, see Pollock 

 and Maitland, Hist. Engl. Law, i, 669 

 et seq. 



Chart. R. 14 Edw. Ill, m. i. 



A fair. See below. 



67 Chart. R. 20 Edw. Ill, m. 3, no. 7. 



68 Ibid. 39-40 Edw. Ill, no. ie, 7 ; 

 also Orig. R. 41 Edw. Ill, m. 31. 



89 Chan. Inq. p.m. 40 Edw.III ( 1st no.), 

 no. 59. 



560 



" Chart R. 39-40 Edw. Ill, m. 2, no. 

 2 ; Orig. R. 41 Edw. Ill, m. I. 



71 Cal. Pat. 1422-9, p. 158. 



79 Parl. R. iii, 646. 



W Ibid. 



7< Conf. R. 4 Hen. VII, pt. ii, no. 16. 



76 Ibid. 19-33 E'' z> P*- " no - 7' 



78 The Letters Patent are copied in the 

 Town Books, and are countersigned 

 "Ellesmere," who was Lord Chancellor 

 24 July 1603. 



" Cal. S.P. Don. 1625-6, p. 474. 



78 Unless 4 malefactores ' be used merely 

 in its original sense ; ' ubi malefactores 

 laceUnt et confugiunt ' (Pat. 3 Chas. I, 

 pt. xxxvii, no. 3). 



' Pat. 3 Chas. I, pt. xxxvii, no. 3. 



" Ibid. 



81 Par/. Papers, Rep. on Manic. Corp. 

 1835, p. 2871 et seq. 



w Pat 2 Ja. II, pt. Ti. 



