FARNHAM HUNDRED 



..'r?^^ 



and Sir Robert More.' When the bishop's estates 

 had passed into the hands of the Ecclesiastical 

 Commissioners, the latter sold the ponds in 1888 

 to Mr. Combe of Pierrepont.a There was an- 

 other large pond called Abbot's Pond, in Frensham, 

 on the borders of Elsted, made by damming up the 

 stream which still forms Stockbridge Pond just 

 below the site of the original Abbot's Pond. As 

 the name implies, it was made for Waverley, by a 

 grant from Bishop Walter Raleigh." In 1841 the 

 dam burst and caused a destructive inundation.'" 

 It was not repaired, and the pond was completely 

 drained. 



Frensham was a chapelry of Farnham church 

 from the early thirteenth century." In 1 291 

 ' Farnham cum capella ' certainly meant Farnham 

 with Frensham chapel, and the probability is with 

 Elsted also. '2 At any rate Frensham chapel then 

 existed,i3 but was not taxed separately. The 

 chapelry seems to have 



become in some sense a " ' . ' 



parish in the sixteenth 

 century.'* It was under 

 the archdeacon as rector 

 of Farnham, who appointed 

 a curate, or let the ad- 

 vowson writh the tithes, 

 and disposed of the tithes 

 up to 1868, when the last 

 lease of the tithes fell in. 



The parish of Frensham 

 is divided into the tithings 

 of Frensham to the north, 

 Churt or Cherte south- 

 west, and Pitfold on the 

 south-east. There is no 

 village of Frensham. What 

 is called ' the street ' with 

 the church, is situated 

 close to the southern 

 branch of the Wey, less 



than a mile from the Hampshire border. Spreak- 

 ley and Shortfield Common are hamlets to the 

 north. Batt's Corner, another hamlet, lies to the 

 west. Half a mile lower down the river than the 

 church is the hamlet of Mill Bridge. 



The manor of FRENSHAM 

 MANORS BEALE (Fernnshim Bealexvi. cent.) 

 was of great extent, reaching from 

 Binsted in Hampshire to Elsted and Thursley. 

 A great deal of it has been enfranchised. It is not, 

 and probably never was, continuous ; its acreage 



FRENSHAM 



is unknown. The manor house of Frensham 

 Beale, or Beale's Place, where the courts were held 

 down to 1894, stands about a quarter of a mile 

 west of Frensham church, a few hundred yards 

 from the county boundary, close to Frensham 

 Mill, on a knoll above the river. It is now a farm 

 house, and is built of local sandstone, much re- 

 placed and repaired with brick in the lower storey, 

 while the upper part is weather tiling on timber 

 and plaster." The name of the manor is clearly 

 connected with the family of le Bel, Bel, Bele or 

 Beale.'" In 11 89 Richard of London owed one 

 mark for entry in the Great Roll that he had suc- 

 cessfully claimed land in the king's court against 

 Jokele, brother to Warin the clerk" This is 

 repeated in the Roll of 1 190 with the name of 

 Richard's father, Hugh le Bel added.'" In 1192 

 Richard of London, son of Hugh de Bel, owed 

 half a mark for the same.'" A James le Bel ap- 



Frensham Pond. 



pears in 1241 "> and in 1258 2' with land in 

 Frensham. 



In 1300 James le Bel held half a knight's fee of the 

 bishop in his manor of Farnham.22 Possibly, if not 

 probably, these lands were those held as a manor by 

 John Bel in 1326, when licence was given him to 

 hear divine service in his manor of Frensham.'" 

 In 1336 Johnle Beel appears again as holding Fren- 

 sham and Elsted.2« In 1338 John son of John le 

 Beel was accused of breaking the bishop's park 

 when the latter was at Southampton fighting the 



' Ibid. 



" Information from Mr. Richard 

 Mason, solicitor to the estate. 



" Between 1239 and 1250. 



'» Brayley, Hiit. of Surr. v. 289, 

 published within seven years of the acci- 

 dent. It belonged to Lord Montague 

 with the rest of the Waverley property 

 when Aubrey wrote (Aubrey, Perambu- 

 lation, iii. 368). Aubrey in this pas- 

 sage speaks of Lord Montague's iron 

 hammer at Pope Hole in Frensham 

 rather as if it were connected with the 

 pond, but it is a long way off on the 

 Sussex border. 



" Cal. of Papal Letters, i. 279, etc. 



II 



See further account of Farnham parish, 

 p. 581. 



'2 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), p. 

 208b, and see above. 



'" Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), ii. 323. 



'^ See account of Farnham parish, 

 p. 581. 



'j* Aubrey says that he saw here the 

 arms of Hen. VII. or Hen. VIII. in 

 'baked earth' a yard square. This 

 does not exist. 



'" The name also survives in Beales- 

 wood Common, part of Batt's Corner, 

 some way to the west near the county 

 border line. Possibly this was included 

 in the ancient tithing of Bele. 



609 



IT Pipe R. 35 Hen. II. m. 13. 

 '8 Ibid. 2 Ric. I. m. 13d. 

 1" Ibid. 4 Ric. I. m. 8d. 

 ™ Feet of F. Surr. 25-26 Hen. IH. 

 269. 



21 Ibid. 42-43 Hen. III. 97. 



22 Epis. Reg. John dc Pontoise, 156b. 



23 Epis. Reg. Stratford, 13a. This 

 is doubly interesting, showing that John 

 son of James (Feet of F. Surr. 8—9 

 Edw. II. 149] had his holding recog- 

 nized as a separate manor, and that 

 possibly Frensham church had ceased 

 to be considered a mere chapel of Farn- 

 ham, 



2* Feet of F. Surr. 10 Edw. III. 54. 



n 



