A HISTORY OF SURREY 



works.' Partly enclosed in this curving bank are 

 five round barrowrs. They have been recently 

 opened without result ; apparently they had been 

 disturbed before.* On Britt Hill north-east of 

 the village the Rev. Charles Kerry, of Puttenham, 

 discovered a number of neolithic flakes, three 

 barbed arrow-heads, a fine leaf-shaped spear-head, 

 and a celt of Devonshire granite.' 



The earliest recorded mention of Elsted by 

 name is in the foundation charter of Waverley, 

 1 123, when William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester, 

 granted ' two acres of land in Helestede ' to the 

 Abbey.' In 1537 the lands which Waverley had 

 held in Elsted were granted to Sir William Fitz- 

 wilUam.'' Probably after this they passed on as 

 part of the ' site and possession of the late dis- 

 solved abbey ' to the holders of Waverley. ' Other 

 lands in Elsted seem to have been held by various 



is now closed as a mill and used only at a house. 

 There is a pottery at Charles Hill. The woollen 

 industry is said to have flourished here, ai else- 

 where on the Wey. Large flocb of sheep grazed 

 on the commons within living memory. There 

 are few now. The old inns are the Woolpack and 

 the Golden Fleece. In 1666 a place cdled the 

 Dyehouse existed, possibly giving evidence of woad 

 cultivation and a dyeing place. This was then in 

 the tenancy of Henry Peito." 



There are few houses of any importance or age 

 in Elsted. Opposite Westbrook Farm is a smiU 

 timbered house with the marks of a moat round it. 

 At ' Stace/s Farm ' south-west of the green is a 

 possibly seventeenth century window, and there 

 is a good black and white timbered house in the 

 village street, west of the Star Inn. 



The fair, which is said to have been held on St 



,<7fl*>*^^:,-^-.:i 





K.:--i 



■^ 



I 







W" _ 



&! '-^ i^ ^ *— 



Elsted Mill. 



neighbouring landowners. In 1583, for example, 

 John Byrche conveyed two messuages etc. in 

 Elsted to Sir Thomas Bowyer, who was then 

 holding the manor of Frensham Beale." 



Elsted Mill, a corn-mill on the Wey, was prob- 

 ably one of the six mills of Domesday, for it 

 appears in the rent rolls of the bishopric as early 

 as the thirteenth century. »" Rent was paid for the 

 mill and for the weir in the water of Elsted. '• 

 In 1647 the mill was burnt down, but was evidently 

 rebuilt that year or the next." In the nineteenth 

 century it was converted into a paper miU, then 

 into a worsted-fringe manufactory worked in con- 

 junction with ShottermiU, but it did not pay, and 



James' Day, in the seventeenth century,** has long 

 ceased. 



The CHURCH of St. James the 

 CHURCH Great of Elsted stands to the south 

 of the village. It consists of a 

 chancel with a vestry on the south side, a nave of 

 five bays, south aisle, north and south porches, and 

 western belfry. It is built of the local sandstone, 

 with some chalk in the windows and doors, and the 

 roofs are tiled. It is presumably earlier than 1 291, 

 when the Taxation of Pope Nicholas is in error 

 in mentioning Farnham cum cafella, instead of 

 capellif." The chapel was built probably in 

 the middle or early thirteenth century, as that w 



3 S«rr. Arcb. CoU. vii. 193. 



• Ibid. p. 194. 5 Ibid. p. 195. 



« Cal. of Pat. 15 Edw. III. p. 293. 



' Pat. 28 Hen. VIII. pt. 2, m. 9. 



8 Inq. p.m. 35 EUz. ccxxxi-. no. 

 The Browne family held Waverley, and 

 among the appurtenances were lands 

 and tenements in Elsted. 



» Recov. R. 25 Eliz. 



"> Eccl. Com. Rent R. Bpric. of 

 Winton, bdle. 22 et seq. 



" Ibid. e.g. bdle. 35, No. 159,356 ; 

 bdle. +6, No. 159,414. 



'^ From an old note-book formerly 

 belonging to the Paynes of Dyehouse 

 now in the possession of Mr. Frederick 

 Stovold of Lidline Farm {Surr. Arcb. 

 Coll. vii. 193). 



606 



I' Elsted Par. Reg. No. 2. 



»* B.M. Topography, Surrey, 6167, 

 Symme's MS. 1670-80. 



i» The probable explanation of the 

 error, see above for the existence of 

 'c.ipellae'bcforei29l, is that the MS. 

 of Taxatio in the Record Office ii a fif- 

 teenth century copy. 



