A HISTORY OF SURREY 



of Divine service,' and there was a monthly conventicle of 400 or 500 

 at the house of a Quaker. In St. Mary's parish, Guildford, 60 to 100 

 Anabaptists met; at Weybridge above 100 Presbyterians. At Newdi- 

 gate 100 ' Presbyterians and Quakers,' a curious combination, met, among 

 them the widow of the late rector. At Dorking there were four 

 meetings of about 300 Presbyterians, of about 100 Independents, of 

 about 50 Anabaptists, and of Quakers. The last was probably really in 

 Capel, where there were Quaker meetings of which records remain, 

 otherwise these must be added. Mr. Wood, late rector of North 

 Chapel in Sussex, presided over the Presbyterians of Dorking at his own 

 house. Mr. Feake, a noted Fifth Monarchy man who had driven even 

 Cromwell to repressive measures against him, preached to the Indepen- 

 dents.' In 1680 and in 1683 there are notices in the Loseley Papers of 

 conventicles in St. Nicholas parish, Guildford, and in Stoke next Guild- 

 ford, the latter attended by inhabitants of Worplesdon. There is a tra- 

 dition that Banyan used to visit Guildford, staying with a friend in a 

 house in Quarry Street. If true, the Anabaptist congregation in St. 

 Mary's parish, in which Quarry Street lies, may have heard him. Godal- 

 ming was clearly very largely inhabited by nonconformists, and they 

 must have formed a very considerable part of the population of Dorking. 

 Some smaller meetings were possibly overlooked, but the people of the 

 whole of the east of the county were clearly content to take things 

 ecclesiastical as they found them, the monthly meeting at Home, and 

 a notice that there has been no meeting at Blechingley ' since Edmund 

 Blundell the Anabaptist went away from thence,' being the only excep- 

 tions. The Conventicle Act notwithstanding, it is clear that meeting 

 houses were built and that congregations assembled openly. Under the 

 Cabal Ministry, who agreed at least in this that they were not Anglican, 

 there was a good deal of practical toleration. 



How many of these meetings became the origin of permanently 

 organized nonconformist congregations is an interesting question. The 

 Quakers of the Dorking neighbourhood, of Capel parish especially, 

 seem to have a continuous history and a troubled one, for they got into 

 difficulties even after the Toleration Act by their refusal to pay tithe, 

 and in 1 690 Anne Bax, widow, suffered distress for refusing to contribute 

 to the cost of the militia. Nevertheless, as usually happened, many of the 

 Quaker families were prosperous people. At Reigate and at Guildford 

 they also continued to meet. 



The Indulgence of 1672 reveals some more Separatist congregations 

 in Surrey. Independents received licences in Southwark, at Winchester 

 Yard, and in a house on London Bridge ; Anabaptists at Gadbrook near 

 Betchworth and in Croydon ; ' Presbyterians and Independents, one 

 congregation,' " at Mortlake ; Presbyterians at Maid's Lane, Southwark, 



1 The returns are in the Archbishop's Library at Lambeth. Mr. A. R. Bax printed the part 

 relating to Surrey in the County Arch. Trans., vol. xiii. pt. ii. 



* Does that mean that the Voluntary Associations of Baxter's invention, by which Presbyterians 

 and Independents were to be united, had been attempted in Surrey \ 



40 



