A HISTORY OF SURREY 



FiTrwiLLiAM. Loaengy 

 tilver and gules ; some- 

 times borne with a molet 

 for difference. 



In 1543 the earl died, leaving the estate to his half- 

 brother Sir Anthony Browne," who died in 1549, 

 leaving it to his son Anthony," created Viscount 

 Montague in 1554." During the tenure of the 

 latter the great dilapida- 

 tion of the building began, 

 as narrated above, but the 

 place was still habitable, 

 and there is no evidence 

 of any new house having 

 been then built out of the 

 ruins. Benedict Jay, the 

 keeper of the Queen's 

 woodyard, who held the 

 manor of Frensham Beale 

 from 1571 to 1583, lived, 

 possibly from 1583 until 

 his death in 1586, in ' an 

 Abbey called Waverley.' 

 After his death Richard Harding dwelt in the said 

 abbey, and after him William Pyke,*' a suspected 

 recusant and a person of bad repute who was 

 accused in 1 590 of having taken ' many and great 

 carpes ' out of Frensham Ponds.'» In 1592 Lord 

 Montague died, and was succeeded by his grandson 

 Anthony, second Viscount Montague,^'' who in 

 1609 in conjunction with his brother John Browne 

 and Sir Edward BeUingham conveyed the estate 

 of Waverley to John Coldham.>' This was evi- 

 dently the final step in the transaction. 



The late Viscount had died seised of Waverley 

 among various other estates in Hampshire, Sussex 

 and Surrey." The greater part of his whole 

 possessions passed to his grandson Anthony and his 

 wife Jane. At the same time some of the manors 

 went to his own wife Magdalen for her lifetime, 

 others, probably including Waverley, though this 

 is not definitely stated in the inquisition, passed 

 to his son Anthony's widow Mary, mother of the 

 new Viscount, for her lifetime, with remainders, 

 not stated in the inquisition, according to the will 

 of the late Viscount. The possibility is that 

 either by some special clause in the wall, or by some 

 special concession of the heir, Waverley passed to 

 Mary's second son John Browne, who evidently 

 held it in 1606. For in that year John Browne 

 conveyed the estate to Sir Edward BeUingham of 

 New Timber, Sussex." On 2 February, 1609, 

 Sir Edward BeUingham conveyed the same to 

 John Coldham in consideration of £2,800." In 

 the same year by a recovery John Coldham's title 

 was assured against any right of John Browne.'^ 

 Then in the same year, every one who had any 

 pretension to a right in the estate, the Viscount, 

 Edward BeUingham and John Browne, joined in 

 conveying the same to John Coldham, whose title 

 was thus doubly secured. In 1618 a further 



Coldham. Azuri a 

 moltt silver pierced gulei. 



transaction was made by which John Q>ldham 

 obtained a rent of £2.S out of the Manor of 

 Waverley. This rent had evidently been retained 

 by John Browne, and had passed to his son Wil- 

 liam." In 1623 John Coldham held Waverley,*' 

 and the estate remained 

 in the Coldham family 

 for four generations. In 

 1638 Richard Coldham, 

 son and successor of John, 

 died seised of the site and 

 capital messuage of the late 

 abbey of Waverley, leaving 

 his son Richard as his heir.'s 

 In 1 691 George Coldham 

 ' of Waverley ' died and 

 was buried at Frensham.'" 

 On 13 September 1 720 

 Mary, widow of George Coldham, and Peter her 

 son, sold the estate for £10,000 to John Aislabie, 

 ChanceUor of the Exchequer. Aislabie was deeply 

 implicated in the South Sea Bubble and resigned 

 the ChanceUorship in January 1721. On 8 March 

 foUoviring he was expelled from the House of 

 Commons and his name removed from the list of 

 the Privy Council. An Act was passed on 25 July 

 confiscating his property (except that acquired 

 before i October 171 8) for the benefit of the 

 sufferers by the South Sea failure. By some means 

 Waverley did not faU within the terms of this Act ; 

 possibly Aislabie saw difficulties ahead ; however, 

 he appears to have claimed that as this deed of sale 

 had not been enroUed in Chancery, it was void. 

 By a second deed dated I April 1725, reciting the 

 former one, the estate was again conveyed to him 

 and his heirs *» for the before mentioned price. 

 Peter Coldham appears from Bishop WiUis' Visit- 

 ation Articles to have been resident in the parish in 

 March 1725, so that it is possible that Aislabie did 

 not enter upon possession till the date of the second 

 conveyance after his difficulties with regard to the 

 South Sea Bubble were over. 



Bishop Pococke, writing in 1754," says of Waver- 

 ley, ' The estate was Mr. Aislabie's, who built the 

 house, and made the plantations and other im- 

 provements ; it was then Mr. Child's and now 

 belongs to Mr. Hunter. . . . Mr. Hunter has 

 added wings to the house. The house is a fine 

 piece of architecture of Campbell's, on one of 

 Palladio's designs.' As CampbeU died in 1729, 

 Mr. Aislabie must have begun rebuilding immedi- 

 ately after the completion or confirmation of his 

 title in 1725. Manning and Bray erroneously at- 

 tributed the buUding of the hotise to Mr. Hunter.*' 



Either Aislabie or his executors sold the estate to 

 a Mr. Child," whose son or nephew Charles sold 

 it to Thomas Orby Hunter in 1747." Mr. Orby 



» Inq. p.m. 36 Hen. VIII. C. vol. 

 Ixx. No. 29. 



M Ibid. 3 Edw. VI. Ixxiii. 143. 

 ^ Cal. S. P. Dom. 2 Mary, p. 63. 

 •* Loseley MS. 7 March 1591. 

 •* Ibid. 9 March 1590. 

 ^ Inq. p.m. 35 Eliz. ccxxxv. 110, 

 »l Feet of F. Surr. Hil. 6 Jas. I. 

 " luq. p.m. 35 Eliz. cciociT. no. 



33 Com. Pleas. Recov. R. Hil. 6 Jas. 

 I. m. i/d. Indenture made on 12 Feb. 

 3 Jas. I. quoted. 



'* Ibid. 



35 Ibid. m. 99. 



»« Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 16 Jas. 1. 

 Com. Pleas. Deeds Enr. Mich. 16 Jas. I. 



" Surr. yisit. 1623 (Harl. Soc). 



3* Inq. p.m. 14 Chas. I. ccccljuutviii. 

 151. 



624 



3» Aubrey, iii. 363, quoting the in- 

 scription on his tomb. 



*» Close, No. 5294. 



*^ Travels in Engl. li. 16 J. Camden 

 Soc. 1889. 



" Manning and Bray, iii. i ;2. 



« Ibid. Mr. Child was the »0D of 

 John Child, threetimes mayor of Guild- 

 ford, 1676-81-91. 



" Ibid. 



