A HISTORY OF SURREY 



The college was built at the west end of 

 the churchyard, with a first storey of free- 

 stone, but above that brick and timber. 

 Aubrey, writing in 1 7 19, describes the court 

 and cloister of the buildings as nearly perfect. 

 On I March 1449 license was granted to 

 Anne Cobham, lady of Starburgh, Sir John 

 Fortescue, chief justice, Edward Sackville, 

 Gervase Clifton, and others to alienate to 

 the college the manors of Hexstede and Bylys- 

 hough, with appurtenances, and five mes- 

 suages, two watermills, 128 acres of land, 

 and ltd. rent in Lingfield." 



The Valor of 1535 gave the clear annual 

 value as £"] 5 . Provost Culpepper surrendered 

 the college to Henry VIII. on 26 April 1544. 

 The surrender is signed, in addition to the 

 provost, by Anthony Sharde, priest ; Richard 

 Augur, clerk ; and by Maurice Wells, Richard 

 Rowell, and Thomas Woody.* 



There are two inventories among the 

 Loseley charters of this college ; the one is 

 a small roll, endorsed — " Inventory of the 

 household goods cloaths money farming stock 

 etc. of Jn° Robson M' of the College of 

 Lyngfield i Aug. 1524"; and the other is 

 an inventory of seven pages taken upon the 

 dissolution of the house in 1544. These 

 documents were printed in 1880 by Mr. 

 Granville Leveson-Gower.' The church 

 was exceptionally rich in copes and vest- 

 ments. 



Provosts 

 John Acton, 1431 ■* 

 John Wyche," died 1445 

 John Wetecote, died 1469 

 John Bow, appointed 1469' 

 David William, died 149 1 

 John Knoyle, instituted 1491,'died 1503 

 Robert Blynkynsop, resigned 1520 

 John Robson, instituted 1520, died 1524 

 Edward Culpepper, LL.D., instituted 



1524,' and surrendered 1544 

 The pointed oval fourteenth century seal * 

 represents St. Peter seated in a canopied 



' Pat. 27 Hen. VI. pt. ii. m. 28. 



» Dept. Keepers' Reports, viii. app. ii. 28 ■ 

 Rymer's Fccdera, rv. 66. ' 



3 Surrey Arch. Coll. vii. 228-245. 



• Winton. Epis. Reg., Waynflete, ii. f. 133 



« Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr., ii. 353 

 gives this name and date from a gravestone then 

 in the church. 



' Ibid, and Winton. Epis. Reg., Waynflete. 



' Ibid. Courtney, f. 42b. Knoyle was pre- 

 sented by Sir Edward Burgh in right of Anne his 

 wife. 



s Ibid. Fox, iv. ff. 6b, ^cb, 6q 



" B.M.lxii.6i. 



I?8 



niche, with tiara, in the left hand a patri- 

 archal cross, and the right hand raised in 

 blessing. In the base a half-length priest 

 praying ; and below this the arms of Cob- 

 ham the founder. Legend imperfect : — 



.... COLLEGII SCI PETRI. 



19. COLLEGE OF MALDEN 

 The great Walter de Merton, Chancellor 

 of England, Bishop of Rochester, and founder 

 of Merton College, the celebrated foundation 

 at Oxford, whose charter of incorporation was 

 obtained in 1264, was memorable as being 

 the first in this kingdom to incorporate a 

 body of persons for purposes of study, and to 

 attempt to raise the condition of the secular 

 clergy by bringing them into close connec- 

 tion with an academical course of study.*" 

 This, however, was not the primary form of 

 the great founder's intention ; but, as for a few 

 months Surrey had the honour of being the 

 first seat of the munificent educational scheme 

 of the learned Chancellor, some mention 

 must be here made of the brief-lived experi- 

 mental foundation initiated at Maiden, and 

 continued for ten years further on admini- 

 strative lines. 



Among the Maiden title deeds in the 

 Merton muniment room is a document 

 assigning that manor, together with Chessing- 

 ton and Farley, for the sustentation of John 

 de la Clythe and seven other nepotes, who are 

 termed scholares in scolis degentes, and are stated 

 to be living under an ordinance approved by 

 the king, by the feudal lord, by the Bishop of 

 Winchester, and by the Chapter of Win- 

 chester. This charter bears no date, but 

 Bishop Hobhouse, with much ingenuity, has 

 shown that it is of the year 1263, and prob- 

 ably of the month of September. From 

 this document we learn that Walter de 

 Merton placed eight of his nephews in his 

 manor house of Maiden, under a warden and 

 chaplains, binding them down to a life of 

 study and rule. It was intended to be per- 

 petual in its benefits, for the vacancies as they 

 occurred were to be filled up by relatives 

 {comanguinei), or in default by others, who 

 were to be nominated during his lifetime by 

 the founder. Richard, Earl of Gloucester, 

 his feudal lord, commended the institution to 

 the protection of his successors." 



In the original ordinance Walter reserved 

 to himself and his household the occasional 

 use of the manor house of Maiden and of 



»» Bishop Hobhouse's Life of Walter de Merton 

 (1859), 9- 



" Hohhouae's Life of Walter de Merton ii. See 

 also Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi. 545-9, ' 



