A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



into the Paddocks and Bushey Park. Most of 

 them are Crown property. In 1 707 Steele either 

 rented or built himself a house called The Hovel 

 at Hampton Wick, 3 * to which there are numerous 

 allusions in his letters to his wife, but the house 

 has probably been pulled down, as it is not possible 

 to identify it now." 1 



Besides the River Thames there is a considerable 

 amount of ornamental water in the parks and 

 gardens of the palace, and the Longford or King's 

 River (now known according to the Ordnance 

 map as the 'Queen's or Cardinal's River') which 

 was cut in the reign of Charles I M for bringing a 

 better water supply to the palace. 



The ferry from the Surrey side of the river to 

 Hampton Court M used to be an important hold- 

 ing, farmed out on lease with the ferry opposite 

 Hampton Church. The office of ferryman was 

 looked upon as a lucrative appointment, though 

 \os. a quarter for ferrying over all the workmen 

 and labourers to the palace does not seem a great 

 sum ; M but the ' fines due (to the king) for leasing 

 the manor of East Molesey, Surrey, the two ferries 

 called Hampton Court ferry and Hampton ferry 

 and the fishing in Cobham River,' amounted in 

 the 1 7th century to 448 , 37 It was not till 1750 

 that a petition was presented to the House of 

 Commons for permission to build a bridge across 

 the Thames at Hampton Court. A Bill was 

 passed in April i75O, M and the bridge was built 

 and opened for the use of the public in December 

 I753- 39 There are two prints, published in 1753 

 and 1754, which show the picturesque structure 

 of the first bridge, composed of seven wooden 

 arches, but it seems to have been extremely defec- 

 tive and unpractical, and in 1778 it was replaced 

 by a more solid though equally picturesque erec- 

 tion which consisted of eleven arches,' also of 

 wood, standing on piles and surmounted by a low 

 parapet. It remained till 1865, when it was re- 

 moved, and the present inartistic iron bridge was 

 erected in its place. 41 The tolls levied were on an 

 exorbitant scale, and brought the owners a yearly 

 income of about ^3,000. In 1876 the Metro- 

 politan Board of Works purchased the bridge for 

 ^50,000, and on 8 July 1876 it was declared 

 ' free for ever.' 



Hampton Court Station (London and South 



Western Railway) is on the Surrey side of the rirer 

 near the bridge, in the parish of East Molesey. 

 Hampton Station (Thames Valley line) is on the 

 west side of the parish, beyond Hampton Church. 

 There is also a station at Hampton Wick (London 

 and South Western Railway branch line). 



The Wesleyan chapel in Hampton was biylt in 

 1880, and will hold about 400 people. In 

 Hampton Hill are Congregational and Primitive 

 Methodist chapels. 



HONOUR OF H4MPTON COURT. In 

 1539 Hampton Court was created an ' Honour ' 

 by Act of Parliament." It was among the 

 ' statutory ' as opposed to ' feudal ' honours " 

 created by Henry VIII." The lands annexed to 

 Hampton Court were partly confiscated monastic 

 property, but some of them were obtained by 

 purchase or attaint. 



The following are the manors and lands annexed 

 to the manor of Hampton Court by the Act 

 creating the honour. In Surrey the manors of 

 Walton on Thames, Walton Leghe, Oatlands (with 

 lands in Weybridge, Walton, and Chertsey) ; the 

 manors of Byfleet and Weybridge (with lands and 

 tenements in Walton) ; East Molesey, West 

 Molesey, Sandown, Weston, Imworth (or Imber 

 Court), and Esher ; " lands at Heywood and the 

 fee-farm of the borough of Kingston-on-Thames. 

 In Middlesex the manors of Hanworth and Kemp- 

 ton, Feltham, and Teddington, with the parks of 

 Hanworth and Kempton, and lands in Hampton, 

 Kempton, Feltham, and Teddington." 



In the following year further manors were 

 attached to the honour, i.e. Nonsuch, Ewell, East 

 and West Cheam with lands in Coddington, 

 Ewell, and Maldon ; the manors of Banstead, Wal- 

 ton on the Hill, Sutton, Epsom, Beddington and 

 Coulsdon, Wimbledon with its members, Duns- 

 ford, Balham, Wandsworth, and Battersea, all in 

 Surrey ; and in Middlesex, Haliford, Ashford, 

 Laleham, Isleworth with its members, the site of 

 the late monastery of Syon, and other lands in 

 Hampton, Sunbury, Walton, Hanworth, Shepper- 

 ton, Feltham, Kingston on Thames, Brentford, 

 Hounslow, and Hanworth. 47 At later dates addi- 

 tional manors and lands were annexed, such as 

 Norbury Manor in Croydon, 43 Rockingham Forest 

 in Northamptonshire, 49 the manor of Billets in 



M Aitkcn, Lift of Richard Steele, i, 

 216, 343-4- 



933 A custom, which has now entirely 

 died out, was instituted in 1 8-6 of 

 holding a monster meeting of b. cycles 

 on the Green every year. They were the 

 old hijh bicycles before the Safety ' 

 patent was invented. The Green 

 used to be covered with shining wheels 

 like the inside of a mammoth watch. 

 The great joke of the occasion waa the 

 attempt of crowds of bicyclists to 

 carry their machines past the toll- 

 keeper on the bridge, and pay only the 

 small fee of foot-passengers ; Ripley, 

 op. cit. 138. 



84 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, App. 77 

 (House of Lords Calendar, 1653). 



84 The earliest lease seems to be one 

 in 1545, to Thomas Sheparde of 'Mul- 



sey Surrey,' in which the *mill called 

 StentemylF is also mentioned 5 L, and 

 P. Hen. VIII, xir, 55. 



M HarI. MSS. 1656, F. 232 (temp. 

 Chas. II). 



" Cal. SJ". Dam. 1667, pp. 88, 145, 

 462, 527. 



88 Gent. Mag. xx, 41, 186 ; Lysons, 

 M.idd, Parishes, 75. 



89 Law, Hilt. Hampton Court Palacr, 

 iii, 286 et seq. The owner was a Mr. 

 James Clarke, who held the lease till 



'775- 



40 Brayley, Hist, of Surr. ii, 307. 



41 It was then the property of Mr. 

 Thomas Newland Allen, and its building 

 cost 11,176. The engineer was E. T. 

 Murray, of Westminster Chambers. 



Stat. 31 Hen. VIII, cap. ;. 



48 Comyn, Digest of Law, iv, 459 



322 



et seq. ' Honours ' ; Madox, Baronia 

 Anglica (ed. 1736), 8 ; Pollock and 

 Maitland, Hist. Engl. Law, i, 260 ; 

 Jacobs, Laiv Dictionary, * Honour ' 

 (.829). 



44 Stat. 31 Hen. VIII, cap. 5 ; 37 

 Hen. VIII, cap. 18 ; 14-15 Hen. 

 VIII, cap. 1 8 ; 23 Hen. VIII, cap. 30 ; 

 33 Hen. VIII, cap. 37, 38. 



45 Esher was the property of the see 

 of Winchester, bought by Henry in 

 1538 ; L. and P. Hen. PHI, xiii (i), 

 778 -, (2), 444 ; Close, 30 Hen. VIII, 

 pt. i, m. 27 d. 



48 Stat. of Realm, iii, 721 et eq. (31 

 Hen. VIII, cap. 5). 



*1 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xv, 498 



(3)- 



Ibid, rix (i), 647. 



49 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1601-3, P- '3 1 ' 



