A HISTORY OF SURREY 



1300 or thereabouts mentions William, son of 

 William le Verir of Chudyngfaud. 



In 135 1 we have the actual evidence of the 

 records as to the importance of the Chidding- 

 fold industry. To obtain glass for the windows 

 of St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, which 

 was then being built, commissioners had been 

 sent to many of the English counties, but 

 seem to have met with considerable difficulty. 

 John Alemayne of Chiddingfold however 

 was able to supply them with a large quantity. 

 On 30 October 135 1 three * hundreds ' and 

 three pondera ot white glass were purchased 

 from him. Each of these hundreds, the record 

 tells us, consisted of twenty-four pondera, and 

 the weight of the pondus was five pounds. 

 At I2J. the hundred, or 6d. the pondus, the 

 cost of this quantity amounted to ^i ijs. 6d. 

 The cost of carriage from Chiddingfold to 

 Westminster was 6f., and in addition there 

 were the expenses of a mounted man, who 

 superintended the provision of the glass, at is. 

 a day for the seven days he took in going, 

 staying at Chiddingfold and returning. Simi- 

 larly on 7 November Alemayne provided 

 thirty-six pondera of the same description ot 

 glass at the same rate, and again on 1 2 Decem- 

 ber a further quantity of sixty pondera was 

 purchased at Chiddingfold.' 



On 23 January 1355-6 four hundreds of 

 glass were bought at Chiddingfold of the same 

 maker for the windows of St. George's Chapel 

 at Windsor, which Edward III. was then 

 building. The price of each hundred of this 

 was 13J. \d? We are not told of what 

 description this glass was, but as both at 

 Westminster and Windsor it was painted on 

 its arrival from Chiddingfold, it was probably 

 the same white glass in both cases. In this 

 case the later account shows a rise in its value 

 during the four years which had elapsed since 

 the purchase of the St. Stephen's glass. The 

 items in the two accounts which relate to the 

 painting of the glass at the several works are 

 curious. The first process was to wash the 

 panes with ale, for which there are several 

 entries of payment. This is said to harden 

 or congeal the glass as well as to clean it.^ 



followrs : height, 1 2 in. ; diameter of base, 1 1 in. ; 

 diameter of mouth, 9 in. The crucible varied in 

 thickness from z\ in. at base to \ in. under the 

 lip. The lip projected inwards, proving that a 

 wood fire was used. Part of a similar crucible has 

 been found in Shillinglee Park, about 8 ft. below 

 the surface, near the site of another Chiddingfold 

 glasshouse. 



' Exch. K. R. Accts. bdle. 471, No. 6. 



' Ibid. bdle. 492, No. 29. 



' ' In cervisio empto um pro lavacione tabu- 

 larum vitri quam pro congelacione vitri — viiid.' 



To increase its whiteness silver filings were 

 used. The articles supplied to the painters 

 include also gum arable, cinobar and jet. 



Chiddingfold belonged to a wide glass- 

 making district which extended into Sussex, 

 where the chief centres of the industry were 

 at Kirdford, Wisborough Green, Loxwood 

 and Petworth. In Surrey Ewhurst and Alfold 

 were besides Chiddingfold connected with the 

 industry.* Chiddingfold, Mr. Hartshorne 

 observes, immediately joins the tract of country 

 geologically known as ' Hastings Sand,' and 

 was well placed for common glass-making. 

 The dense forest with which the district was 

 mainly covered supplied an abundance of 

 cheap fuel for the furnaces.' This fact was 

 probably the chief cause of the establishment 

 of the industry in this district, as it was of that 

 of more than one other Wealden industry. 

 That there was early some inter-communica- 

 tion between the different glass-making centres 

 of this district may be inferred from the (act 

 that a Chiddingfold man, John Shertere — the 

 name appears in various forms — took a lease in 

 conjunction with a certain Robert Pikeboussh 

 of some woods in Kirdford for the purpose of 

 providing fuel for a glasshouse there. In 

 1380 Shertere (or Schurterre) was dead, and 

 his widow Joan, in the minority of their son, 

 engaged for six years a Staffordshire man, John 

 Glasewryth, to manage the glasshouse in her 

 behalf. The terms of the agreement are 

 interesting, for they show that both window 

 glass and glass vessels were made in this dis- 

 trict in the fourteenth century. Glasewryth, 

 who was to work at his own charges, agreed 

 to receive for his labour 20(/.for every sheu ( ?)' 

 of ' brodeglas ' and bd, for every hundred of 

 glass vessels made. 



The family of Schurterre or Shorter seems 

 to have lived on at Chiddingfold during the 

 fifteenth century and to have continued their 

 glass-making. They were followed by the 

 Ropleys, of whom Henry Ropley in 1495 is 

 described as a * glass-caryour.' The Ropleys 

 in their turn gave place to the Peytos. In 

 1535 John Paytow (or Peyto) of Chidding- 

 fold died, and in his will bequeathed to his 

 son John ' \os. of suche things as shall come 

 and be made of the glashe hows and all my 

 toylls (tools) and moulds as belongeth to the 

 glashe hows.'^ 



* A. Hartshorne, F.S.A., Old English Glasses, 

 «56. 6 Ibid. 150. 



« Possibly ' shev.' A ' shefFe ' was an old 

 measure in use in the steel trade, and was equiva- 

 lent to thirty gads, a gad being a rod of ten feet. 

 Ex inf. Rev. T. S. Cooper. 



• Prob. Archd. C. of Surrey, 4 April 1536 (Heats, 

 150), 



296 



