FARNHAM HUNDRED 



ton was admitted on Colonel Mordaunt's sur- 

 render. He enlarged the house and called it 

 Pierrepont Lodge, after his family name.^' In 

 1772 the duke surrendered in favour of Ascanius 

 William Senior.^s Mr. Senior surrendered in 

 1777, and Thomas James Storer was admitted.^" 

 Mr. Storer surrendered in 1782, and Sir William 

 Meredith, Bart., was admitted.'" He surrendered 

 in 1785, and Ralph Winstanley Wood was admitted. 

 He was already resident, and is described as ' of 

 Pierrepont Lodge ' in the roll."' The land in- 

 cluded Tankersford and abutted upon Hillage 

 Common field, a common field now forgotten, but 

 probably in the grounds of Pierrepont. Mr. 

 Wood built a new house on a place called High- 

 field, and is described as of Highfield Place when 

 he surrendered in 1820.'^ Pierrepont Lodge was 

 rebuilt by Mr. Wood,'' who was a wealthy man at 

 one time, but lost his money by the failure of one 

 of his sons-in-law, John Tayler, an East India 

 merchant, in whose busi- 

 ness he had embarked his 

 fortune. 9* Another son- 

 in-law, Crawford Davison, 

 bought Pierrepont. He 

 died in 1836, and his son, 

 Crawford Davison, parted 

 writh it to Richard Henry 

 Combe in 1864. Mr. 

 Combe enfranchised the 

 copyhold in 1885 's shortly 

 before he bought the 

 manorinl888. In his life- 

 time an extensive breed- 

 ing stud of thoroughbred horses was kept at 

 Pierrepont. Mr. Combe died in 1900. His 

 widow, Mrs. Combe, resides at Pierrepont, and is 

 lady of the manor of Frensham Beale. 



Though the hamlet above this is called Mill 

 Bridge, there is no appearance or record of a mill. 

 Frensham Beale Mill is a long way higher up the 

 stream. The ford is opposite what is now Pierre- 

 pont Farm. Frensham Priory, on the right bank, 

 is a house where Mr. Crawford Davison, the 

 younger, resided before he sold Pierrepont, which 

 was let. It is an old house, but it was never a 

 priory. On the left bank of the river, on high 

 ground nearly opposite the church, is a house now 

 called St. Austin's, the seat of Miss Moidtrie. A 

 part of it is of the sixteenth century, wdth good 

 woodwork inside. The Vicarage house was a very 

 old building of considerable size, far too large for 

 an original priest's house. It was unfortunately 

 nearly destroyed by fire a few years ago. In the 

 dining-room ceiling is a very fine oak beam, and on 

 another beam a Tudor Rose carved in oak. In the 

 garden are two narrow parallel fishponds. If there 



Combe. Azure a pale 

 ermine betvjeen fwo tilting 

 spears gold with three lions 

 passant gules on the pale. 



FRENSHAM 



was any house belonging to Waverley Abbey in 

 Frensham it most likely was here. 



The tithing of CHURT (Cherte xiv. cent.) lies 

 two miles to the south of Frensham Church close to 

 the Hampshire border. On the Common are 

 three curious conical sand hills called ' The Devil's 

 Jumps.' One of these perhaps was the old 

 Borough Hill in the tithing, where it is said the 

 inhabitants could knock on a great stone and ask 

 for a loan of utensils, or even a yoke of oxen, and 

 could be sure to find them when they reached 

 home, provided that they had faithfully promised 

 to return the articles.'" Some one, however, so 

 the story goes, borrowed a large cauldron, still kept 

 at Frensham Church, and neglected to return it."' 

 Thus the supernatural loan office ceased ! The 

 probability is that the whole story originated from 

 the name Kettlebury Hill in Elsted, doubtless 

 named after a man. Aubrey is very vague in his 

 topography, and ' Borough Hill in Churt a mile 

 hence ' may be Kettlebury Hill in Elsted two and 

 a half miles off, quite as well as one of the Devil's 

 Jumps, which are one and a half miles away from 

 Frensham Church. 



From the thirteenth century to the time when 

 it was included in Frensham parish, Churt was a 

 tithing of the manor of Farnham.'s In the extant 

 court roUs there is frequent mention of Churt 

 heath and Churt common, as for instance in 1540 

 when John Baker was forbidden at the court leet 

 ' to overburden the common of the tenants of the 

 lord of Churt with his beasts.' " In a subsidy 

 roU of the fourteenth century Churt, as a tithing 

 of Farnham, was assessed at ^^3 91. oji.!"" 



In 1693 the tithing was involved in an important 

 law suit. Mr. John Salmon, then lessee of the tithes 

 of Frensham including Churt, filed a Bill in the 

 Exchequer in 1692 against Richard Denyer, senior, 

 and Richard Denyer, junior, to the effect that 

 they had cut wood in the tithing of Churt at places 

 called Quinnott's Mead and Quinnott's Moor with- 

 out accounting for the tithe to him.i'i The de- 

 fence was that Churt was in the Weald, and wood- 

 land in the Weald was by prescription exempt 

 from tithe unless specially made subject to it by a 

 grant. The Court of Exchequer sent the two 

 issues of fact, whether Churt was in the Weald, 

 and whether woodlands in the Weald were tithe 

 free, for trial before a jury at the King's Bench. 

 A verdict for the defendants on both points was 

 returned. Mr. John Salmon obtained a fresh 

 trial before a special jury, but with the same result. 

 Whereupon in 1693 the Exchequer dismissed his 

 bill.!"' The case is interesting as showing that 

 the Weald extended beyond the Wealden clay, and 

 that probably the district had been uninhabited 

 after the time when the parochial apportionment 



*' Manor R. Frensham Beale, in cus- 

 tody of Mr. Richard Mason, Farnham. 

 W Ibid. 



89 Ibid. 



90 Ibid. 

 » Ibid. 



92 Ibid. 



93 Manning and Bray, iii. 167. 



9* From papers relating to the Tayler 

 family in possession of Mr. Martin Ware 



of Tilford House, and family informa- 

 tion in possession of the editor. 



95 He enfranchised it at the cost of 

 ^1,500 to obviate a heriot if he 

 should die holding a copyhold. 



9* Aubrey, Antiquities of Surrey, 

 vol. iii. 



97 The cauldron or kettle is a big 

 mediaeval cooking pot that might have 

 come from anywhere. 



613 



98 EccU Com. Rent R. Bpric. of 

 Winton. 



99 Ibid. Ct. R. bdle. 85, No. 3. 

 199 V.C.H. Surr. i. 442. 



191 The places so named seem to be 

 locally forgotten. 



192 Wood, Hist, of Tithe Causes in 

 the Exchequer, i. 302, Exch. Dep. 4 

 Will, and Mary Mich. 12. 



