FARNHAM HUNDRED 



hold, without any charter, the following liberties 

 in his manor of Famham, with the Hundred : 

 to wit that he held the said manor so freely that 

 no sheriff, or other bailiff of the king had right of 

 entry, except by default of the bishop or his 

 bailiffs ; that he had return of the king's writs, 

 view of frank-pledge, the assize of bread and ale, 

 gallows, and other rights of the Crown ; cognisance 

 executions, or fines of pleas proper to the sheriff, 

 the chattels of felons and outlaws, infangthief and 

 outfangthief, free warren, and a park and market. 

 All this he claimed to hold by prescription^" 

 The jury found that he held all such liberties 

 except that his right of free warren was only from 

 the bank at Tilford to Alice Holt." So in 1282 

 the homage in answer to the articles of assize at 

 Farnham presented that the bishop held these 

 extensive rights." The bishops seem to have 

 enjoyed their rights to the full. They held their 

 own courts, their own view of frank-pledge,'^ they 

 received profits from assize of bread and ale and 

 other jurisdictionary rights," and vindicated their 

 rights of free warren and free chace.'^ 



Beyond the occasional mention of various 

 tenants holding lands in Farnham,'" there can 

 necessarily be little history belonging to the 

 manorial descent. It seems that only twice in 

 its history the manor passed out of the bishops' 

 hands. In March 1551 John Ponet, on his 

 appointment to Winchester in place of Stephen 

 Gardiner, gave up the episcopal manors to the 

 Crown in return for a fixed income of 2,000 marks." 

 But in June of the same year several manors, 

 among which was Farnham, were regranted to the 

 bishop.'* With the reaction under Mary Tudor, 

 when Ponet had fled and Gardiner was restored, 

 this regrant evidently held good for the manors 

 mentioned. When Mary could feel her way more 

 safely and dared to restore more of the church 

 lands, a more comprehensive regrant was made, 

 and that of Farnham manor confirmed to John 

 White, the newly-appointed bishop.'* With the 

 abolition of episcopacy, followed by the Long 

 Parliament ordinances of 1646, the estates of the 



FARNHAM 

 bishops fell into the hands of the highest bidders. 

 Farnham Manor was sold on 25 September 1648 

 to John Farwell and James Gold, for £8,x^s S'-"" 

 But with the restored monarchy episcopal estates 

 came back to their rightful owners. Farnham was 

 given back to Bishop Brian Duppa, who had been 

 translated to Winchester, and who held the see 

 for two years.81 Thenceforward Farnham manor 

 remained in the bishop's possession. 



The Ecclesiastical Commissioners appointed in 

 1836 for the rearrangement of the various dio- 

 ceses curtailed the Bishop of Winchester's income 

 to ^3,6oo,82 and were authorised in 1863 and 

 1890 to sell property formerly belonging to the 

 bishop. 83 In 1879 the bishops were endowed 

 with various lands and tithes in Hampshire and 

 Sussex, and in Farnham in Surrey.s* In 1869 

 the ancient jurisdiction of the bishop in the manor 

 of Farnham was transferred to the Ecclesiastical 

 Commissioners.86 Since then the court leet, 

 now merged in the court baron, is held once in- 

 stead of twice a year before a deputy steward of 

 the Commissioners and two or more tenants. 

 The list of the tenants is revised, and changes of 

 ownership affecting copyholds of the manor are 

 noted.88 



The tithing of CULVERLAND or COMPTON, 

 originally called WEST COMPTON, lies to the 

 south-west of Farnham town. It appears in the 

 earliest subsidy roUs as a tithing of Farnham,^' 

 and in the earliest extant court rolls of the hundred 

 of Farnham Blackheath as sending a tithing-man 

 to the town at the terms of Hock and St. Martin's.'* 

 Again it appears in the Assize Roll of 1280 as under 

 obligation to repair the bridge of Heghe.*" 



On the left bank of the river in this tithing is 

 COMPTON HALL, MOREHOUSE or MOOR 

 PARK,^" which, as before mentioned, was never 

 a park in the strict sense of the word, since the 

 holder did not possess the right of free warren. 

 It was the manor house of an estate described 

 as a manor in 1547, when it was held by the 

 Westbrokes.'* Indeed the Westbroke family seems 

 to have held lands in this parish from an early 



"> Assize R. No. 877, m. 26. 



'» Ibid. 



'2 Ibid. No. 899, m. 5. 



'3 Eccl. Com. Ct. R. Farnham, Bpric. 

 of Winton. '* Ibid. Rent R. 



" (j) Cal. of Pat. 1307, p. 548, 

 Commission of Oyer and Terminer 

 issued to Peter Malore and John Randolf 

 on complaint of Henry Bishop of Win- 

 chester, touching persons who entered his 

 free chace at Farnham, Surrey, [h) Cal. 

 of Pat. 1307-13, p. 311. The like to 

 John de Foxe and Robert de Harwedon 

 touching a breach of the park and free 

 warren of Henry Bishop of Winchester 

 at Farnham on the confines of Surrey 

 and Southampton. 



" Inq. p.m. 45 Hen. III. 42 and 43. 

 Nicholas Bullok held lands in Farnham 

 manor, bought by his grandfather Hugh 

 de Baghesote. There were held of the 

 bishop, £ virgates by ancient tenure, a 

 rent of lOi. zd. for ' Wadepanies^ and 

 various other services ; but 32 acres of 

 new land, land not belonging to the old 



common fields of the manor, indicating 

 the extension of the cultivated area by 

 the thirteenth century, bore a rent of 

 1 8s. 4//. and no other service. 



" V.C.H. Hants, ii. 66. 



'8 Pat. 5 Edw. VI. pt. 6, m. z6. 



'S Pat. 4 and 5 Phil, and Mary, pt. 7, 

 m. 20. 



80 Aud. Off. Declared Accts. bdle. 

 367 (P.R.O.). 



8» V.C.H. Hants, ii. 93. 



82 Lond. Gax. (July 18, 1837, 1825). 



83 Ibid. (Dec. 11, 1863, 6480 j and 

 (Ap. 1, 1870, 1984). 



8* Ibid. (Mar. 7, 1879, 1944)- 

 85 Information from the Eccl. Com. 

 88 Copyholds pass by surrender and 

 admittance, and are held according to 

 the custom of the manor. The fines 

 are fixed, and if at the next court after 

 her husband's death a widow pays J a 

 fine, she is entitled to the estate, even 

 if she remarries. The eldest son suc- 

 ceeds, or in default of sons the eldest 

 daughter. The copyholder can cut 



timber for repairs only by licence. A 

 fifth of oak, ash, or elm cut for sale 

 goes to the lord. 



87 V.C.H. Surr. i. 442. 



•8 Eccl. Com. Ct. R. Bpric. of Win- 

 ton. Hen. VII. bdle. 79, No. 28 et seq. 



89 Assize R. No. 877, m. 53. 'Le 

 Heghe ' was evidently land in Compton 

 tithing, held by Thomas le Tyhelar. 

 The name still survives in the water 

 mill on the Wey called High Mill. 

 In the same roll it is noted that the 

 bridges of Compton and Heghe — be- 

 tween Farnham and Moor Park — the 

 bridge of La Pre near Moor Park and 

 the bridge over the Bourne had not 

 been 'repaired as they ought to be.' 

 The duty to do this fell on the tithings 

 of Compton, Badshot, Crundale and 

 ' Ronfalle." 



80 Manning and Bray, iii. 138. In 

 Speed's map it is More House. 



91 Held by John Scarlett, great 

 nephew of William Westbroke. Vide 

 infra, Inq. p.m. i Edw. VI. Ixxxv. 63. 



