SPELTHORNE HUNDRED 



The convent of SS. Mary and Scholastica, belonging 

 to an Anglican community of nuns living under 

 the rule of St. Benedict, was founded in 1868 by 

 Father Ignatius. 8 It was supported mainly by the 

 sale of plain needlework and church embroidery 

 worked by the sisters, and there was a small 

 orphanage and day school attached to it. The 

 establishment was broken up and removed in 



1873-' 



The hamlet of Feltham Hill lies on the southern 

 borders of the parish, and is composed mainly of 

 a few private houses standing in their own 

 grounds. Mr. Alfred William Smith, one of the 

 chief landowners in Feltham, lives at The Park in 

 Feltham Hill. The old Manor House at Feltham 

 is the residence of another landowner, Mr. Robert 

 Smith. 



William Wynne Ryland, the well-known en- 

 graver, who was the first to use the chalk or dotted 

 line in his art, is buried in the churchyard. He 

 was executed at Tyburn in 1793 for forging 

 bonds of the East India Company. 10 Mrs. Frances 

 Marie Kelly (Charles Lamb's 'Barbara S '), actress 

 and founder of the School of Acting in Dean 

 Street, Soho, spent the last years of her life at Ross 

 Cottage, and is buried at Feltham. She died in 

 1882." 



The parish is known chiefly for the Middlesex 

 Industrial School for Boys, which occupies a large 

 tract of ground in the south-west between the 

 roads to Ashford and to East Bedfont. It was 

 built in 1859 to hold about 1,000 boys, and con- 

 sists of a large principal building, a chapel, in- 

 firmary, workshops, gas factory, residences for 

 officers, and other detached buildings. About 70 

 acres of land are cultivated by the institution. 

 There are ivory works near the village, and a cart- 

 ridge factory stands on the banks of the River 

 Crane. Saw mills have been erected near the 

 station, and there is a large gravel pit lying near the 

 railway line. A considerable portion of the parish 

 is cultivated by nursery and market gardeners. 

 The soil is gravel on a subsoil of gravel. The 

 following place-names occur : Swanne, Fullers 

 and Loom Pit Closes, Mark Corner, the Greth. 



FELTHAM is mentioned in a 

 MANORS charter of King Edgar as one of the 

 members of Staines which had been 

 given to Westminster Abbey by OfFa King of 

 Mercia." This charter is, however, of doubtful 

 origin, 13 and though Feltham may have belonged 

 to Westminster at an early date, yet it is not 

 mentioned among the manors belonging to Staines 

 in the confirmatory charter of Edward the Confes- 

 sor," the authenticity of which is not questioned. 



According to the Domesday Survey there were 



FELTHAM 



two manors in Feltham before the Conquest ; one 

 consisting of 5 hides was held by a vassal of King 

 Edward, the other, consisting of 7 hides, was held 

 by a vassal of Earl Harold. 14 Both were given by 

 the Conqueror to Robert Count of Mortain, and 

 were held by him as one manor. 16 The Mortain 

 lands were forfeited to Henry I after the rebellion 

 of Count Robert's son, William, in 1 104." Felt- 

 ham seems to have been granted shortly after to 

 the Redvers family, who held it of the king in 

 chief. The grant was probably made to Richard 

 de Redvers, who received many gifts of land in 

 return for his services to Henry I before the 

 latter's accession, 18 and Richard's son, Baldwin de 

 Redvers, held land in Feltham, while his daughter 

 Hawise de Roumare, Countess of Lincoln, gave the 

 church to St. Giles in the Fields. 19 The manor 

 apparently descended in the direct male line, and 

 came eventually to William de Vernon,* also known 

 as de Ripariis, or Rivers, the second son of Baldwin 

 de Redvers, who succeeded to the family estates 

 and title of Earl of Devon after the death of his 

 elder brother's sons, the youngest of whom died in 

 1184." William de Vernon died in 1216," and 

 Feltham seems to have passed through the marriage 

 of his daughter Joan ** to Hubert de Burgh," the 

 justiciar of England. In 1228 the latter conveyed 

 all his right in the manor to Henry III, together 

 with his right in Kempton Manor in Sunbury 

 parish, in exchange for the manors of Aylsham in 

 Norfolk and Westhall in Suffolk." From this 

 time Feltham was closely associated with Kemp- 

 ton, and as part of that manor lay within the juris- 

 diction of its larger neighbour. 86 In 1245 Richard 

 de Ponte, by virtue of his office as custodian of 

 Kempton Manor, was granted an exemption from 

 all customs and services due from 2 virgates and 

 \\ acres of land in Feltham, with a reduction of 

 rent from I if. <^\d. to 5*." In 1440 Robert 

 Manfield, then keeper of the manor, and William 

 Pope were granted I a/, a day from the profits of 

 the towns of Feltham and Kempton by reason of 

 their office of bearing the rod before the king and 

 the Knights of the Garter at the Feast of St. 

 George.* 8 The king extended the protection in 

 1445 to all the men, tenants and residents in his 

 manor of Feltham, with the assurance that their 

 corn, hay, horse and carriages and other goods and 

 chattels should not be seized for the king's use 

 during a term of ten years.* 9 



Feltham was annexed by Henry VIII to the 

 manor of Hampton Court, 30 and it was held of 

 that manor in 1594 and as late as 1631. In 

 1594 the 'perquisites and issues of the courts, all 

 franchises, privileges, emoluments, and heredita- 

 ments ' in Feltham were granted to Sir William 



8 Bertouch, Life of Father Ignatius, 

 393- Ibid. 539. 



10 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



11 Ibid, xxx, 349. 



11 Cott. MS. Faust. A. iii. 

 V.C.H. Land, i, 4 34. 

 14 Cott. MS. Faust A. iii ; Titus A. 

 Tiii. 



Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 128. 

 Ibid. 



1? Diet. Nat. Biog. xxnx, 117. 



18 Orderic Vitalis, Hiit. Etc!, iii, 51; 

 iv, 95, no. 



HarLMS. 4015. 



10 Cal. Clou, 1227-31, p. 149. 



41 Diet. Nat. Biog. xlvii, 385 ; 

 G.E.C. Complete Peerage, iii, 101. 



*> Ibid. 



28 Cal. Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), i, 52. 



84 Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. 149. 



315 



25 Ibid. pp. 133, 140; Cal. Chart. 

 1226-57, p. 82. 



86 P.R.O. Ct. R. portf. 191, no. 41, 

 4*. 43- 



"7 Cal. Chart. 1226-57, P- * 8 7- 



88 Cal. Fat. 1436-41, p. 458. 



59 Pat. 24 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 23. 



L.and P. Hen. VIII, xv, 498 (36); 

 Pat 36 Eliz. pt xix, m. 22 ; Pat. 7 

 Chas. I, pt. vii, no. 2. 



