A HISTORY OF SURREY 



and n pointed arch leading into it was inserted in 

 the north wall of the tower. In 1860-61 the south 

 wall of the tower was similarly pierced and a south 

 transept added. At the same time the arches 

 under the tower were all apparently rebuilt, and, 

 as before mentioned, the tower raised one storey ; 

 a vestry was added on the north side of the chancel ; 

 a new east window was inserted ; the north aisle 

 was thrown out si and separated from the nave by 

 four pointed arches ; the gallery and its dormer 

 window were removed ; the nave was lengthened 

 about 10 feet,'' a new window being inserted on the 

 west of the porch, and the church was re-roofed 

 with tiles throughout. 



The font, composed of a square block of chalk 

 with four plain shafts at the angles resting upon a 

 square block of sandstone, is possibly of the date 

 of the original church. The inscription only of 

 some brasses to the WoodrofiEe family taken off the 

 chancel floor is fixed to the north chancel wall. 



The communion plate consists of a silver 

 chalice with the London hall-mark and date 1785, 

 two silver patens with London hall-marks of 1769, 

 a silver flagon with London hall-marks of 1772. 

 The last is inscribed ' The gift of George Wood- 

 roffe, Esq., to the parish of Seal 1773.' This 

 Mr. Woodroffe of Poyle was the last in the male line 

 of his family. He died in 1 779. This plate has 

 been generally disused since 1875, when Mr. T. 

 M. Kitchin, residing at Poyle, brother to Dr. 

 Kitchin, the Dean of Durham (1903), late Dean of 

 Winchester, gave a silver-gilt chalice and paten and 

 two silver-mounted glass flagons all of date 1873. 



At the churchyard gate there used to stand an 

 ale-house kept by the parish clerk, where the con- 

 gregation refreshed themselves before and after 

 service. This was removed early in the nine- 

 teenth century. The old Vicarage house stood 

 in the garden across the road opposite the church- 

 yard gate. It was converted into cottages, and 

 after a considerable interval when there was no 

 vicarage, a new one was built about forty years 

 ago (since i860). The cottages are now pulled 

 down, and the ground occupied as the vicarage 

 kitchen garden. 



The Registers date from 1539, but down to 

 1596 are copied out in one hand. In March 

 1724-25, Martin Gruchy, curate, who was also 

 curate of Elsted, returned to the bishop that the 

 population was 250 ; that the nomination of the 

 curate was in the hands of William Bishop, Esq., 

 of Frensham, lessee of the tithes of Frensham ; that 

 there was one resident gentleman. Captain Dutton, 

 occupying the mansion of Mr. Woodroffe of Poyle ; 

 no school, no nonconformists, no papists, Smith's 

 charity for the relief of poor persons not receiving 

 parish relief. Smith's charity still exists.'' There 

 is a national school, built in 1 850. 



There are curious old churchwardens' accounts, 

 dating from 1559, in the custody of Mr. Robert 

 Mowbray Howard, of Broad Oak, Seale. They 

 record the recasting of the bells mentioned above, 

 and many payments for ringing the bells on all 

 possible occasions. In 1619 the result of a renewal 

 of a fear of war appears in 2s. to the constable, for 

 ' billding the beakon.' In 1636, 15J. id. was laid 

 out for putting up the rails in the chancel, when 

 the Communion Table was placed altarwise. In 

 1639 mats were bought ' for the railes in the 

 chancell ' ; but mats had been bought in 161 1, so 

 that kneeling communion was not a new thing in 

 1 639. In the same year js. was paid for seven foxes' 

 heads. In 1688, is. was spent on beer to celebrate 

 the birth of the prince, and, fickle people ! "js. 6d. in 

 1689 to celebrate the coronation of William and 

 Mary. The bells were rung for both events. But 

 the most curious entry is the detailed account of the 

 expenses of the Whitsun Ales in 1592 and 161 1. 

 The festivities lasted for five days ; lambs, calves, 

 fowls, and beer in floods were consumed. There 

 were ' musitions,' and a ' Vice or Foole ' ; faggots 

 for bonfires and gunpowder for salutes. Half the 

 population was probably drunk. It is significant 

 that among the rare, sometimes three, sometimes 

 six annual occasions when bread and wine are 

 bought for the Holy Communion, Whitsuntide 

 does not appear. That St. Bartholomew's Day 

 appears among the rare occasions suggests that 

 the lost invocation of the church may be to that 

 Saint. 



WAVERLEY 



The extra-parochial liberty of Waverley con- 

 tains 541 acres. It is entirely surrounded by the 

 old parish of Famham, and resembles it in soU and 

 productions. Crooksbury HiU lies upon the west 

 side of it, and there is a considerable amount of 

 barren heath-land, now planted vidth conifers. 



But the northern branch of the Wey intersects it 

 from north to south, and along the river valley 

 the Cistercians enjoyed the use of an extent of 

 fairly fertile land, though some of it was, and is, 

 liable to floods. The extra-parochial liberty 

 appears to correspond to the original grant to the 



SI The aisle does not open into the 

 north transept, but a narrow space in- 

 tervened, which has now been roofed 

 in. 



'» In pulling down the wall here the 

 remains of an old service book in MS. 

 with red and blue initials, but very 

 tragtnentary, were found in a crack 



among the stones. Preserved at Seale 

 Rectory. 



^ There was (Manning and Bray, 

 Hilt, tif Surr. iii. 179) a tombstone at 

 the entrance to the chancel to Mr. 

 William Minchen, who died 30 April, 

 1631, recording that he had bequeathed 

 401. a year to the poor of Seale, to be 



620 



distributed quarterly, in the church 

 porch, charged on his lands at Minning 

 Hatch. All record of this charity and 

 of the land seems to be lost. Mitchen 

 Hall is in part of Godalming parish, 

 which runs north of Pepcrharow, 

 between Shackleford and Hampton 

 Park, and may be the place. 



