A HISTORY OF SURREY 



In later times we have a striking instance of outside influence in 

 the beautiful church of Dunsfold/ belonging to the last quarter of the 

 thirteenth century. This may be ascribed to the August.nian priory of 

 s" Marf at Spital without Bishopsgate, London, to which the advowson 



was eiven by Edward I. ^ , 



The niaterials of which the churches of the county were con- 

 structed have now to be considered. In pre-Conquest times timber 

 must have been used very extensively in the county. The reasons for 

 this were that much of the area of the county was then forest land, 

 the roads were bad, and there was but little opportunity for water 

 carriage except along the northern boundary, while the building stones 

 ^ afterwards so extensively used do 



^here Cb' 



not appear to have been quarried 

 in any systematic fashion. The 

 numerous timber towers, bell- 

 cotes, and porches must be re- 

 garded as the natural outcome of 

 this early use of timber, which in 

 some cases affected even the main 

 fabric. Thus at Frimley, down 

 to the middle of the nineteenth 

 century, the old timber and plaster 

 church was still standing, being 

 then about three hundred years 

 old. One Surrey church — Hasle- 

 mere — formerly possessed oak 

 pillars and framework instead of 

 stone arcades between the nave 

 and aisle, but it has been rebuilt 

 within recent years. The great 

 abundance of timber in most parts 

 of the county should have made 

 naturally for fine roofs, but for 

 various reasons these are neither 

 so numerous nor so elaborate as 

 might be expected. For roof 

 coverings (besides thatch, tiles, stone, slates and lead) oak shingles were 

 much in use, and there was an extensive and organized trade in fashion- 

 ing these among the oak woods and commons round Farley in east 

 Surrey. The vertical faces of timber-framed churches must in early 

 times have been ' hung ' with them. Another material was anciently 

 much in use in Surrey and Sussex for church roofs, viz. the picturesque 

 stone ' healing ' known as Horsham slabs. The roofs of Albury, Ashtead, 

 Betchworth, Chiddingfold, Cranley, Fetcham, Leigh, Reigate, Send and 

 Witley churches are instances where these slabs remain. Although 





' Surr. Arch. Coll. liii. i. 



