A HISTORY OF SURREY 



Bele. Thru mis. 



French." A John Beel and his wife Suzanna of 



Frensham were alive 1418-14.22." Then the 



descent of the manor becomes a broken story, but 



it is still in the hands of the original family at a 



later date. Fragments 



exist of the manorial court 



rolls of 1437, 1443, and 



1483, but with no names 



of the lords.2' In 1570 a 



Mr. Beale was still lord of 



the manor.'s In 1571 



Robert Beale conveyed the 



manor to Benedict Jaye.'' 



This was probably only a 



mortgage, for in 1583 



Robert Beale was still 



holding the manor, and conveyed the same to Sir 



Thomas Bowyer in that year.'o This Thomas 



Bowyer was evidently the Sir Thomas Bowyer of 



Leythorn, in North Mundham parish, Sussex, to 



whose son the manor passed in the seventeenth 



century." 



But between 1583 and 1609 the manor must 

 have passed out of the Bovyyer family, for in the 

 latter year James Fuller and Katherine his wife 

 conveyed it to Anthony Radcliffe and his heirs." 

 In the following year Anthony Radcliffe conveyed 

 a third part of the manor to Richard Smythe." 

 By 1616 the whole manor had evidently passed to 

 the Smythe family, for in 

 August of that year Wil- 

 liam Smythe conveyed it 

 to Robert Birch, a cousin 

 of Sir Thomas Bowyer.'* 

 The same Robert Birch, on 

 his death in 1627, wdlled 

 the manor to his wife 

 Margaret, and on her death 

 to their son Francis, then 

 aged seven years and 

 more. In default of heirs 

 to Francis the manor was 



to pass to John Bowyer, second son of Robert's 

 cousin Sir Thomas Bowfyer, and in default of heirs 

 to the said John to Thomas Bowyer, eldest son of 

 the same cousin." Evidently both Francis Birch 



Bowyer. GoU a bend 

 voir vtitb catises table. 



and John Bowyer died without hein, for in 1651 

 Sir Thomas Bowyer junior clearly was holding the 

 manor, and conveyed land in Frensham Beale to 

 Henry Goreinge." In 1656 Sir Thomas Bowyer, 

 Robert Bickerstaffe and Priscilla his wife conveyed 

 the manor, evidently by way of mortgage)^ to 

 Thomas Farrington.»» On the death of Sir 

 Thomas Bowyer the manor passed to his daughter 

 Anne, who was in possession in 1664." Thii 

 Anne Bowryer was betrothed to an Edward Morley, 

 whom she married in 1665. In 1664 she under- 

 took in return for a settlement by Mr. Morley of 

 £300 a year, to convey the estate to Sir William 

 Morley and John Wells as trustees for her till her 

 marriage, and then to settle it upon her husband. 

 In 1665 the estate was conveyed to Richard Yonge 

 and John Truster as trustees for Edward Morley 

 and his heirs. <» Mr. Morley neglected to settle 

 the stipulated sum, but mortgaged the estate to 

 Henry Doble.*' On her husband's death in 1667 

 Anne Morley resumed possession,*' and held it 

 till her death in 1679, when she left Henry Belling- 

 hara, her cousin, her heir. Sir William Morley, 

 however, paid off Doble's mortgage and entered 

 into possession.*' The Court Rolls extant from 

 1688 onwards prove that Sir William Morley 

 held the manor in conjunction with a Sir 

 Thomas Hussey up to 1697. In that year Mr. 

 BeUingham, afterwards Sir Henry, recovered the 

 estate by an action at law from Sir William Morley. 

 Sir Thomas Hussey, however, evidently held in- 

 dependently, for in 1698 he conveyed his ' moiety 

 of the manor of Frensham Beale, otherwise Ferns- 

 ham Beele,* to Morgan Randyll and George 

 Beale.** Sir Henry Bellingham sold the rest of 

 the estate, including the manor house, to George 

 Leach in 1701. The latter sold it in 1704 to 

 Caleb Woods, a maltster of Guildford, who died in 

 171 3, leaving the manor to his son John Woods, 

 merchant, of London, subject to annuities of £100 

 to his wife and a daughter.*' Caleb Woods 

 apparently acquired the other moiety of the manor 

 in 1704, for in 1703 a court was held with Morgan 

 Randyll, George Beale, Caleb Woods, and George 

 Leach as lords, but after that Caleb Woods alone 

 held the court, as did his son John after him.** 



>' Pat. 12 Edw. III. pt. ii. m. 

 3d. 



=« Feet of F. Surr. 6-9 Hen. V. 46. 

 A John Bele is named in Feet of F. 

 Surr. lo-ii Hen. IV. 64, but not 

 called of Frensham. 



^ These are in the hands of Richard 

 Mason, Esq., of Famham, steward of 

 the manor. 



23 Loseley MS. 20 April 1570. A 

 letter from Robert, Earl of Leicester, 

 referring to Mr. Beale, ' lord of the 

 manor,' who is oppressing an inhabi- 

 tant of Famham (sic) hy demanding an 

 exorbitant fine of ^^21 for the surrender 

 of a copyhold, instead of the customary 

 40*. By the custom of the manor of 

 Frensham Beale, recited at the court 

 baron^ the fine on surrender by a tenant 

 is not to amount to more than one and 

 a half year's rent and not more than 

 two years' rent on a transfer by death. 

 Probably Mr. Beale was in want of 



money and was trying to increase the 

 ordinary fine. 



** Jaye lived at Waverley Abbey ; 

 he was Serjeant of the Woodyard to the 

 queen. Buried at Famham 21 May, 

 1586 (Farnham Registers). 



"> Recov. R. East. 25 Eliz. 



"^ In 1644 Sir Thomas Bowj-er's 

 estate was sequestered. In March 

 1650 he died when in prosecution of 

 his appeal before the Barons of the 

 Exchequer against his sequestration, 

 leaving a wife and thirteen children and 

 debts of ,^8,000 to be raised by the 

 sale of his lands. His son Sir Thomas 

 claimed and was granted one-fifth of 

 the estate in 1651, and in 1652 the 

 sequestration was discharged on pay- 

 ment of fine at one-third {S.P. Cat. 

 Com. for Compounding^ pt. ii. 833), 



« Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich. 6 

 Jas. I. 



» Ibid. Surr. Hil. 6 Jas. I. 



610 



3* Inq. p.m. 4 Chas, I. ccccxlix. 66. 



35 Ibid. 



3« Feet of F. Surr. Trin. 2 Chas. II. 



" The estate was evidently consider- 

 ably impoverished owing to the heavy 

 fine to discharge sequestration, added 

 to the debts left by the late Sir Thomas 

 [S.P. Cat. Com. for Compounding, pt. ii. 



833). 



38 Feet of F. Hil. 8 Chas. II. 



3» Manorial roll referred to by Man- 

 ning and Bray, iii, 166, but not extant. 



*^ Manning and Bray, iii. 166. 



*l Ibid. 



*2 Ibid. 



•3 Manning and Bray, iii, 167-8, 

 from deeds and manorial rolls not now 

 existing. 



** Feet of F. Surr. East. 10 Will, 

 and Mary. 



*5 Will proved 13 Miy,i7i3(P.C.C.). 



*' Manor R. and deeds in custody 

 of Richard Mason, Esq., of Famham. 



