PUTTENHAM
Potenham and Putenham (xiii cent.).
Puttenham is a village on the south side of the
Hog's Back, 4½ miles west of Guildford, 5½ miles
east of Farnham. The parish is roughly triangular.
The base from north-east to south-west is nearly 3 miles
long; the line from the apex to the middle of the base,
north-west to south-east, is under 2 miles. The west
side is longer than the northern side. It contains
1,931 acres of land and 29 acres of water. The village
lies in the north-east angle of the parish. The northern
part of the parish is on the chalk of the Hog's Back
ridge, though, as is almost invariably the case, the
village is not on the chalk. The rest of the parish is
Upper Green Sand, Gault, and Lower Green Sand,
which is the predominating soil.
The views from the upper ground are extremely
picturesque, embracing the Hindhead and Blackdown
ranges, and extending over Sussex to the South Downs,
while the foreground is broken and diversified with
woods and heaths. Puttenham Heath, however, to
the east of the parish, is mostly covered with turf, and
a nine-hole golf course has been made on it, with a
club-house opened in 1897. Puttenham Common,
to the south-west, is a true heath, covered with heather,
fern, and furze, and rising to over 300 ft. above the
sea, with a deep depression between it and the chalk
to the northward.
The parish is purely agricultural. Chalk was dug
on the Hog's Back. The district of the famous Farnham hops extends into Puttenham. The northern
boundary of the parish is the road along the ridge of
the Hog's Back. One sign of the antiquity of the road
is the frequency with which it forms the old parish
boundaries. Captain James, R.E., traced the so-called
Pilgrims' Way through the parish below the chalk.
It went on as a lane to Seale, and has been converted
since 1903 into a good road.
On Puttenham Heath is a fairly large tumulus
called Frowsbury, which has never been explored.
Neolithic flints are not uncommon near it. On
Puttenham Common is a considerable entrenchment,
with one bank and ditch. It is of about 530 ft. on
the south, east, and west sides, but the north-east
angle is slightly obtuse, the south-west angle slightly
acute, so that the east and west sides are not parallel,
and the north side is shorter than the other. On the
west there is no distinct bank, and no ditch, but the
hill falls sharply to a stream in the grounds of Hampton Lodge, and has been perhaps artificially scarped.
The water below is within missile range of the
entrenchment. Romano-British pottery and a rude
pavement were found near this, to the north-east, in
1870. Many neolithic flints have been found on
the borders of the parish, near Shoelands, a little
further north.
There is a cemetery with a chapel on Puttenham
Heath, opened in 1882. The schools were built
in 1850.
MANORS
There are four manors or reputed
manors in Puttenham; Puttenham Bury
and Puttenham Priory—moieties of one
manor, Rodsell and Shoelands. Of these Rodsell
alone is mentioned in the Domesday Survey.
The main manor of PUTTENHAM was a member
of the manor of Bramley in Blackheath Hundred. (fn. 1) It
is uncertain whether it was included with Rodsell in
1086 or whether the 'two manors' of Wanborough
recorded in Domesday were Wanborough and Puttenham, or whether it was included in Bramley. It
seems to have followed the history of Bramley, for
it was in the king's hands in the 12th century, since,
c. 1199, Geoffrey Bocumton exchanged 15 librates of
land, which he had had in Puttenham by the king's gift,
for 12 librates of land in Stoke by Guildford. (fn. 2) The lands
of Ralph de Fay, lord of Bramley under Henry II,
were in 1203 granted to Robert de Barevill. (fn. 3) Robert
was sued for land in Puttenham by Geoffrey de
Roinges before the
time of this grant, (fn. 4)
and evidently established his rights, for
in 1221 the king gave
Robert de Barevill
ten oaks towards the
mending and rebuilding of his houses in
Puttenham. (fn. 5) Ralph
de Fay's lands were
restored and descended to his son Ralph, (fn. 6)
who was succeeded by
John de Fay, his son,
in 1223. (fn. 7) At John's
death his lands were
divided between his
two sisters, Maud
wife of Roger de
Clere and Philippa
Neville. (fn. 8) Puttenham,
however, had been
assigned to Ralph de
Fay's widow Beatrice,
in dower. It was seized in 1241 owing to her
excommunication, but restored in 1242. It was
again taken into the king's hands in 1246. (fn. 9) Puttenham was then divided between the two sisters, Philippa
and Maud. Philippa's moiety was afterwards called
Puttenham Bury, while her sister's portion became
the manor of Puttenham Priory.
Philippa Neville gave PUTTENHAM BURY
with Bramley in free marriage with her daughter
Beatrice to William of Wintershull. (fn. 10) For the next
300 years Puttenham Bury and Bramley followed
the descent which is given under Bramley. (fn. 11) In
1541 Edmund Pope, a lineal descendant of William of Wintershull and his wife Beatrice, sold both
manors. (fn. 12) Bury was purchased in 1541 by Robert
Lusher of Cheam and his wife Elizabeth, who also
bought Puttenham Priory in 1544. (fn. 13) His father
Thomas was holding Shoelands, but Robert predeceased
him, dying in 1545. (fn. 14) His widow Elizabeth, aunt
of Sir Olliph Leigh (see below), married George
Beaumont, (fn. 15) and retained for life an allowance out of
Puttenham Bury Manor, (fn. 16) and the whole of Puttenham
Priory, (fn. 17) which she leased to her son Thomas Beaumont in 1587. (fn. 18) Robert's son, Nicholas Lusher, died
26 May 1566, leaving an infant son Nicholas. (fn. 19) His
lands were therefore taken into the queen's hands
during the minority of the heir. She leased the demesne lands of Puttenham Bury and Shoelands to Mary,
Nicholas Lusher's widow. (fn. 20) In 1610 Nicholas, son
and heir of Nicholas Lusher, and his son Richard sold
the two manors of Puttenham and the manor of
Shoelands to Sir Olliph Leigh of Addington and his
brother Sir John Leigh. (fn. 21) Sir Olliph died 1612.
His son Sir Francis and the latter's uncle Sir John
held the estates in coparceny, and demised a part of
Shoelands to one Nicholas Harding. They then
divided them, Sir John taking the two Puttenhams,
and Sir Francis Shoelands. On Sir John's death in
1624, Sir Francis took the whole. (fn. 22) Sir Francis
Leigh, having married Elizabeth daughter and heir
of William Minterne of Thorpe, conveyed the manor
of Puttenham Bury in 1625 to his father-in-law for
life, with reversion to his younger son Francis Leigh,
and failing his male issue to his elder son Wolley
Leigh, later an ardent Royalist. William Minterne
died in 1627, and bequeathed all his lands, with the
exception of one-half of Shoelands, to Wolley Leigh. (fn. 23)
Francis Leigh having died without children in 1637, (fn. 24)
Wolley should have succeeded to all the manors. But
some rearrangement of trusts must have been made.
Sir Francis Leigh the father was still alive, and it is
he who held a court in 1643. (fn. 25) Sir Francis died
1645, and Wolley Leigh very soon after him. In
1645 the estate was conveyed by Thomas Leigh,
Wolley's half-brother, or son, to William Leigh,
another half-brother, (fn. 26) whose widow, Lydia Leigh,
was lady of the manor as early as 1661, and held
courts up to 1711, when she was buried at Puttenham.
Puttenham Common, looking to Hindhead
In 1728 Jasper Jones and his wife Frances were in
possession of the two manors. (fn. 27) Frances was only
daughter and heir of Francis Leigh of the Middle
Temple, son of the said William and Lydia. She
and her husband sold the manors in 1744 with
Bury Farm to Brigadier-General James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the colony of Georgia. (fn. 28) He
sold the manors in 1761 to Thomas Parker, (fn. 29) who
rebuilt the Manor House, since called the Priory;
but parts of an older house of Elizabethan or
Jacobean date, including a shaped gable of Bargate
stone and brick, remain at the back. In 1775 he
sold the whole property. Admiral Cornish bought
the Manor House and some other property, and after
his death in 1816 it was sold to his wife's nephew
Richard Sumner, who died in 1870. His son Mr.
Morton Cornish Sumner owned it, and died before
1880. His widow died recently, and the owner now
is Mr. Ferdinand F. Smallpeice. The manors were
bought by Mr. Nathaniel Snell, from whom they
were bought by Mr. E. B. Long with Hampton
Lodge in 1799. He was
succeeded by Mr. H. L.
Long and by Mr. Mowbray Howard of Hampton Lodge, vide infra.
Mr. F. F. Smallpeice has
since bought the manors.
Puttenham
PUTTENHAM PRIORY or PRIOR
PUTTENHAM
PRIORY or PRIOR
was the moiety of the
original manor of Puttenham which Maud de Fay,
one of the sisters of John
de Fay, inherited. She
granted it in 1248 to the
Priory of Newark by
Guildford. (fn. 30) In 1279 the
prior claimed assize of
bread and ale and view
of frankpledge in his
manor of Puttenham. (fn. 31)
At the time of the surrender of the priory in
1538 the farm of the
manor of Puttenham was
£6. (fn. 32) The king thus
being in possession of the
manor as part of the
lands late of Newark
Priory, granted it to
Edward Elrington and
Humphrey Metcalfe in
exchange for other lands
in various counties. (fn. 33) On
the sites of Puttenham
and other manors granted
at the same time there
grew two hundred oaks
and elms, 'part timber
and most part usually
croppyd and shrude of
sixty and eighty years
growthe,' of which a great
many were reserved 'by
custome of olde tyme' to the farmer for the repair
of the houses on the manors (fn. 34) (for which compare
the grant by Henry III to Robert de Barevill, above).
In 1544 Edward Elrington and Humphrey Metcalfe
sold the manor to Robert and Elizabeth Lusher, then
owners of Puttenham Bury. Thenceforward the two
manors generally follow the same descent.
The lords of Puttenham Priory seem to have had
view of frankpledge and assize of bread and ale in
their manor. (fn. 35) William of Wintershull and his wife
Beatrice also had view of frankpledge in Puttenham. (fn. 36) Both Puttenham Bury and Priory had courts
baron. (fn. 37)
RODSELL
RODSELL lies to the south of the parish between
Shackleford in Godalming and Cut Mill. Under
Edward the Confessor Tovi held it. Bishop Odo of
Bayeux held it in demesne after the Conquest, (fn. 38) and
added it to the land which he held out in farm at
Bramley. (fn. 39) The bishop's lands fell to the Crown at
his final exile, and with them Bramley. The history of
the holding from this time is obscure. In 1273 William
Palmer of Rodsell obtained from John son of William
a lease for life of a messuage and half a virgate of land
in Puttenham. (fn. 40) In 1508 William Lusher held the
manor of 'Redsale' (evidently
Rodsell by the context). (fn. 41) In
1568 William Lusher, son and
heir of George Lusher, had a
rent-charge on lands in Rodsell and Puttenham. (fn. 42) Richard
Wyatt purchased lands in Puttenham from Sir John and Sir
Francis Leigh, who were connected by marriage with the
Lushers, (fn. 43) and Richard's son
Francis Wyatt died in 1634
holding the manor and farm
of Rodsell, (fn. 44) which he had
settled on his wife Timothea
in April 1621. (fn. 45) He also held the wood called
Prior's Wood in Puttenham and Compton. His
son Richard entered upon the manor after his mother's
death. (fn. 46) He died in June 1645, leaving a younger
brother Francis, who was his heir. (fn. 47) Francis died
in 1673. His son Francis died in 1723, having
survived his son, also Francis, who died in 1713, aged
twenty-six. The latter's elder son Richard married
Susan daughter of Sir Thomas Molyneux of Loseley,
and died s.p. in 1753. His younger brother William died in 1775, and his son Richard in 1784.
Richard son of Richard died unmarried in 1816.
His heir, another Richard, of Horsted Keynes, sold
Rodsell in 1819 to Edward Beeston Long, who was
followed by his son Henry Lawes Long of Hampton
Lodge. (fn. 48) It is now the property of Mr. Mowbray
Howard of Hampton Lodge.
Lusher. Gules three martlets or and a chief or with three molets azure therein.
SHOELANDS
SHOELANDS (Sholaund, xiii cent.; Sheweland,
xvi cent.; Sholand and Shoeland, xvii and xviii
cents.) was probably a sub-manor of Burgham, for
its tenants paid rent to the lord of Burgham. (fn. 49) In
1235 Ralph Attewood granted to John de Fay land
in Shoelands. (fn. 50) The lords of Burgham in 1251 were
William of Wintershull and Beatrice his wife, (fn. 51) and
when, at that date, Peter de Ryvall granted a carucate
of land and 5s. rent in Shoelands and Puttenham to
the Prior and church of Selborne, co. Hants, for ever,
William of Wintershull and his wife confirmed the
land to the priory to be held of them and their
heirs by rent of a gilded spur yearly within a week
of the Nativity of John the Baptist (June 24). (fn. 52)
The rent of the gilded spur is mentioned in an extent of the Wintershulls' lands dated 1287. The
men of the priory in Shoelands and Puttenham
were to be free from view of frankpledge. At the
same time William and Beatrice released to the prior
all their claim to the road which led from a certain
close (bega) at 'Otteford,' before the prior's gate at
Shoelands as far as the house of Ralph Du Bois. (fn. 53)
This was probably a right of way to the main road
in the Down, up the existing steep and certainly
ancient lane.
For some time the priory remained in possession
of Shoelands, paying an annual rent of 6d., (fn. 54) probably
in lieu of the gilded spurs. In 1338 Ralph Poynaunt
incurred the greater excommunication for stealing an
ox from the manor of the Prior and convent of Selborne
at 'Schoulonde.' (fn. 55) The priory was suppressed owing
to its poverty, and by Waynflete's influence added
to the foundation of Magdalen College in 1484. (fn. 56)
Thomas Lusher was tenant of some Hampshire lands
under the priory, 1462, and just before the foundation of Magdalen Shoelands had been granted for
life to Richard Lusher. (fn. 57) Apparently it was somehow
retained, for it never belonged to Magdalen, and William
Lusher was seised of it late in the 15th century. From
him it descended to his son Thomas. Thomas's son
Robert, the purchaser of the Puttenham manors, predeceased his father in 1545, leaving a son Nicholas
aged ten. (fn. 58) After Thomas's death his grandson Nicholas
entered upon the manor, and in 1561 was sued by
his uncle William for a rent from the manor, which
he claimed as bequeathed him by Robert. (fn. 59) After
the death of Nicholas Lusher in 1566 Shoelands was
taken into the queen's hands, the demesne lands being
leased with those of Puttenham Bury to Mary
Lusher, (fn. 60) Nicholas's widow. Their son Nicholas was
knighted after 1580, and his son Richard Lusher of
Shoelands was admitted as a student at the Inner
Temple in 1602. Shoelands seems to have been sold
with Puttenham Bury and Priory to Sir Olliph and
Sir John Leigh. Sir Francis, the son of the former (see
Puttenham Bury), conveyed a moiety of it in February
1615–16 to William Minterne to the use of his wife
Bridget Minterne, with remainder to Francis Leigh and
contingent remainder to Wolley Leigh. (fn. 61) Wolley
Leigh died seised of the reversion of this portion of
the manor, (fn. 62) his grandmother Bridget Minterne and
his father Sir Francis Leigh being still alive, and of
the other half on his father's death.
Sir Thomas Leigh, Wolley Leigh's son apparently,
dealt with one moiety only
in 1661, (fn. 63) and again in 1665. (fn. 64)
Sir Thomas Leigh died in
1677, leaving a son Sir John
Leigh, bart. He was succeeded about 1692 by his son
Sir John Leigh, born 1681,
married 1700, and in 1703
a recovery was suffered by Sir
John to Sir Stephen Lennard,
father of his son's wife. (fn. 65) He
died in 1737. The recovery
probably barred the entail,
and Shoelands is not specifically mentioned in the last Sir John's will.
Leigh. Or a cheveron sable with three lions argent thereon.
The other moiety was apparently sold to John
Caryll of Tangley, whose son-in-law Henry Ludlow
was in possession in 1695. (fn. 66) It descended in his
family till 1767, when the whole manor apparently
was part of the property assigned to Giles Strangways. (fn. 67)
He sold it to the tenant, Francis Simmonds, whose
grandson Thomas, a yeoman farmer, was the owner in
1806. (fn. 68) In 1823 he sold to Mr. E. H. Long, and
the property has passed, as Puttenham, to Mr. Mowbray Howard. Thomas Packington, who has been
described as an owner, was merely a tenant about
1623. (fn. 69)
Shoelands House bears the date 1616 or 1618 over
the porch. The date has been replaced after removal.
The house was therefore partly built by William Minterne or his son-in-law Sir Francis Leigh, or by Thomas
Packington (of Shoelands in Visitation of 1623). It
has a fine mullioned window, blocked now, to the
south, an old chimney-stack on the same side, and a
Jacobean staircase with good carving of about the
same date. This work probably marks a rebuilding
of an older house, when the
staircase was put in to reach
rooms built over an old high
hall the rafters of which are
visible in one place in the wall
of an upper room.
There are no mills given in
the survey of Rodsell (fn. 70) in 1086,
though there are five given
under Bramley. (fn. 71) In 1587
there were no fewer than four
mills in Puttenham Priory, (fn. 72)
and about the same time there
was one water-mill in Puttenham Bury Manor. (fn. 73) This may
have been Cutt Mill, which
was afterwards in the possession
of Francis and Richard Wyatt. (fn. 74)
The family of Frollebury seems to have been of
some importance in Puttenham during the 13th and
14th centuries. In 1296 William Frollebury and
his wife Joan had two messuages and land there,
which they held of Thomas son of William Frollebury. (fn. 75) Stephen Frollebury and his wife Katharine
held the same land in 1340. (fn. 76) Frollesbury is an
existing house in Puttenham.
CHURCH
The church of ST. JOHN THE
BAPTIST stands high above the road,
the ground rising in steep banks round
it on the south and east. The churchyard, which is
bordered on the south by a low wall and the grounds
of the manor-house (commonly called Puttenham
Priory) has some fine trees and shrubs, and is carefully
kept.
The building is of local sandstone rubble with dressings of hard chalk, mostly replaced on the outside by
Bath stone; parts of the north aisle and the chancel are
plastered, and the roofs are tiled. In plan the church
consists of a long and very narrow nave 52 ft. 3 in.
by 16 ft. 9 in., and chancel 29 ft. 2 in. by 12 ft. 6 in.;
these probably represent the extent of the early church. (fn. 76a)
On the north of the nave is an aisle about 7 ft. wide,
opening to the nave by an arcade of four arches, representing the first extension in the latter part of the 12th
century: and on the north of the chancel is a chapel
29 ft. 7 in. by 13 ft. 6 in., partly opened to the chancel by a pair of small arches—an addition of about
1200.
At the eastern end of the south side of the nave
is a transeptal chapel, 12 ft. square, added about
1330; and the west tower, very large and massive
in proportion to the church, dates from the early
part of the 15th century. The south porch in its
present form is modern, dating from the general restoration of the building in 1861. The north chapel
seems to have been largely rebuilt at the beginning of
the 19th century.
Judging by the different levels of the arcade bases,
which increase in height from west to east, the ancient
floor of the nave must have been laid on an inclined
plane, following the natural slope of the ground, and
there is reason to believe that this sloping floor remained
till 1861.
Puttenham: Shoelands Manor House
The church is entered from the south by a roundheaded doorway built of clunch, very much retooled.
It is of two moulded orders, the outer standing upon
a shaft with square abacus and scalloped capital of
unusual design. The abacus is continued as an impost
moulding across the inner order of jamb and arch,
which are plain except for a quirked bead on the angle.
A round-headed window to the west appears to be
modern, but may be a copy of one found at the restoration; and the traceried windows to the east of the
porch are quite modern. The north arcade, in chalk
or clunch, is of four semicircular arches of a single
square order without a label, an unusual number, necessitated by the lowness of the wall through which
they were pierced: a diminutive arch has been pierced
through the east respond at the restoration. The
piers are circular and their bases have square sub-bases
with angle spurs and chamfered plinths. The capitals
are square, with chamfered abaci and somewhat irregular scalloping of the common pattern, the capital of the
west respond only differing from the others in having
the scalloping concave with a small round-topped
cresting just above the necking. (fn. 76b) The modern
plastering is cut with scalloped edging round the arches
— an ancient feature found at Compton, but here
probably only borrowed. There are no ancient
windows in the aisle, which is lit by dormers of modern
date, and the door in the north wall is modern.
Puttenham Church: Ground Plan
The west tower wears a somewhat battered appearance from the friable nature of the sandstone of
which it is built, and most of the windows and other
dressings inside and out, including the lofty arch to
the nave, have been renewed in Bath stone. It has a
large square stair-turret on the south side, and is
finished by a plain parapet of modern date.
The transept chapel, which is shown in Cracklow's
view (c. 1824) as having a large square window with a
wooden frame in its south wall, now has a poor three-light traceried opening of discordant character in its
place; but the three-light window in its east wall and
the small single-light opening to the west are original early 14th-century features, though a good deal
touched up. The last-named seems to have been rebated
for a shutter. The thinness of the transept walls
(1 ft. 10 in.) is exceptional.
The date of the chancel arch is if anything some-what earlier than that of the chancel, which may be
placed at about 1200. It is pointed, of two orders
chamfered like the jambs, which have no shafts, but
only an impost moulding at the springing. Its setting
out on plan shows some irregularity. A string-course
of a round section remains within the chancel, and on
the north side are the two arches to the chapel. These
are of one pointed order, with narrow chamfers, and
the central column has a circular moulded capital and
base. The east window and the buttresses flanking it
are modern, but the two castern windows in the south
wall are apparently restorations, and follow the lines of
the east window of the transept. An 18th-century
engraving shows three-light windows in the east walls
of the chancel and north chapel, both apparently
of early 14th-century character. The two eastern
windows in the south wall of the chancel, now
restored in stone, are shown as plain wooden
frames in this old view. The piscina is also restored.
The window in the western part of the south wall
of the chancel is ancient, built of chalk, and dates
from about 1400. It is of three lights with six small
lights over, under a square hood-moulding, which
terminates on one side in the bust of an angel and
on the other in that of a mitred bishop or abbot.
The westernmost of the three lights has its sill
lowered in a very peculiar manner to serve as a low side
window—a feature very noticeable in Cracklow's view.
This light alone retains the original iron stanchions
and cross-bars, and the lower part has the mullions
rebated for a shutter.
The windows in the north wall and the door in
the east wall of the north chapel are insertions of the
early part of the 19th century, the former probably
replacing lancets. A blocked recess with an oak lintel
in its west wall seems to have been a door of communication between the chapel and the aisle. The floor
of the chapel is raised above that of the chancel, and
there is a platform or altar-pace at the east end.
The roof is ceiled.
Both the nave and the chancel roofs are ancient and
of massive oak timbers. The chancel roof, of rafters,
collars and struts, has large moulded plates and tiebeams excessively cambered, and is perhaps of 14th-century date.
The font, seating, quire stalls, and other fittings are
all modern, and a very large organ, bracketed out
overhead, blocks up the narrow chancel. (fn. 77) The altar
is well raised, as, owing to the site, there are four steps
between the sacrarium and the nave.
In the chancel is the small brass of a priest in mass
vestments inscribed: 'Hic jacet d[ominus] Edward' Cranford'
quonda' Rector isti' Eccl[esiae]. qui obijt viijo die mens'
Augusti Anno d[omini] Millõ. cccco. xxxjo cui' a[nimae] p'piciet'
deus. Amen.'
In the north chapel is a small stone with indents of
man and wife and the brass inscription below; the
date may be about 1504 (fn. 77a) :—'Hic jacent Ricardus
Lussher et Etheldreda uxor ejus quorum animabus
propicietur Deus.'
Also a large slab of Sussex marble bearing in Roman
capitals the inscription: 'Hic jacet sepultū corpus
dominæ Dorotheae unius filiarum Joh[annis]; Hunt de
lindon in Co[mitatu] Rutland armigeri nup' uxoris charissimae Nicholai Lussher militis cui quatuor pēp'it filios
totidemque puellas nempe Ricardū, Gulielmū Nichos
laū, Mariam et Annā adhuc superstites Joha[nn]em
Janām et Johānam, in cunabilis defunctos, et de hac
vita decessit 18 Feb: 1604 orans ut ignoscat ei peccata
sua Omnipotens et Misericors Dominus.'
Aubrey gives another inscription as existing in his
day on a slab in the north chapel to Nicholas Lusher
of Shoeland, esq., son and heir of Robert Lusher,
who died in 1566.
There is also a small brass, with the arms of Wyatt
impaling Burrell, to Francis Wyatt, 1634, now set in a
marble slab on the chancel wall; it came from a stone
in the middle of the north chapel, which formed the
burial spot of the Wyatts of Rodsell.
Fixed to the sill of the westernmost window of the
chancel is an oblong brass plate, with an inscription
to the memory of Henry Beedell and his son Henry,
both rectors of Puttenham, who died respectively in
1636 and 1692. Besides these there are one or two
ledgers bearing heraldry and some marble tablets
of more recent dates.
The registers date from 1562.
The only ancient pieces of church plate—a silver
cup and paten, dated respectively 1636 and 1674, are
of interest from their association with the Beedells,
father and son. The paten is known to have been
given by the son, 'who gave back to the church the
alienated or chantry lands which his father, the preceding rector, had purchased. Perhaps he also gave
the cup.' (fn. 77b)
The bells are all modern.
ADVOWSON
There was no church here at the
time of the Domesday Survey so far as
is known. The advowson probably belonged subsequently to the lord of the manor. The
king seems to have possessed it before 1305, when he
granted it with Shalford, Wonersh, and Dunsfold
churches to the Hospital of St. Mary without Bishopsgate. (fn. 78) In 1342 the prior and brethren of the hospital
had licence to appropriate the churches of Puttenham
and Dunsfold, (fn. 79) but apparently the appropriation was
never carried out, for the living was a rectory in 1535.
The annual pension due from the rectory at this time
was 20s. (fn. 80) In 1537 Thomas Elliott obtained a lease
of this pension together with Shalford rectory for
ninety-nine years. (fn. 81) St. Mary without Bishopsgate
was taken into the king's hand at the time of the Dissolution, but when Queen Elizabeth granted Shalford
Rectory to John Wolley (fn. 82) she retained the advowson
of Puttenham, which has ever since belonged to the
Crown. In 1694 Thomas Swift, Jonathan Swift's
'little parson cousin,' became rector.
Richard Lusher presented the parsonage to the
church. His gift consisted of a house, garden, and croft
lying on 'Gildowne,' and half an acre of land at Rodsmill (Rodsell) in a field called the 'Pece.' They were
given to the parson on condition that he should sing
or say thirty masses yearly in the parish church, and also
a Placebo and Dirige on Thursday before the Nativity
of the Virgin Mary (September 8). (fn. 83) After the suppression of chantries by Edward VI these premises
were leased by the king to Henry Polsted and William
More. No provision seems to have been made for
the parsonage till Henry Beedell, rector early in the
17th century, bought back the parsonage, which his
son Henry, who succeeded his father as rector, gave
to the parish, (fn. 84) confirming the gift in his will. (fn. 85) The
two Henry Beedells, father and son, held the living
from 1598 to 1692.
Manning and Bray quote a will in the Archdeacon's
office, by which a certain Stephen Burdon, an innkeeper of Southwark in 1503, directed 6s. 8d. to be
paid for an image of St. Roke to be given to Puttenham Church. (fn. 86)
In 1725 the return was that there was no chapel,
no lecturer, no curate, no Papist, one Quaker, no
gentleman, 'nor any school but what teaches children
to read and write.' (fn. 86a)
CHARITIES
The charities are Smith's Charity,
founded 1627 for the relief of the
deserving poor, and a small sum employed in the same way from the rent of the golf-links.
Mr. Richard Wyatt, 1619, left two nominations to
the Carpenters' Company's Almshouses at Godalming
to this parish.
Mr. Robert Avenell, 1733, left money with a trustee for the relief of the deserving poor, but this seems
to have disappeared.
In 1725, in answer to Bishop Willis's Visitation, the
churchwardens returned that there were rents of about
£4 from lands called the Church Lands applied to the
relief of the poor.