MICKLEHAM
Michelham and Micelham (xi cent.); Mikeleham
(xii cent.); Mikelham and Micheham (xiii cent.);
Mykeleham (xiv cent.).
Mickleham is a small parish and village midway
between Dorking and Letherhead, and 21 miles
from London. It measures about 3 miles east and
west and 2 miles from north to south, and contains
2,825 acres.
The village lies in the Mole valley, and the parish
comprises the valley and the downs rising on either
side of it, where the Mole makes its way in a deep
depression through the chalk downs. The soil in the
valley is river alluvium, calcareous rubble, sand, and
Wealden Clay washed down by the Mole, and on
either side is chalk, with some small patches of brickearth on the higher parts. The valley is peculiarly
picturesque (see Frontispiece of Vol. II). On the
west side the well-wooded slopes of Norbury Park
rise in places steeply from the stream, and at
its southern extremity on the east the side of Box
Hill is almost precipitous in places, particularly
'The Whites,' overlooking Burford, which consists of loose chalk thickly overgrown with box
and yew. Elsewhere it sweeps upwards in smooth,
grassy slopes, studded with box, yew, and other darkfoliaged trees and shrubs. Amid thick woods of box,
yew, and beech on the summit, overlooking Dorking,
is a fort and magazine recently constructed, and still
more recently abandoned. The well-known view
from the top extends southward over the Weald, which,
from that height, seems to drop away into a plain
bounded by the South Downs, while to the southwest Redlands, and other hills near Dorking, covered
with wood, rise to the greater height of Leith Hill.
Ranmore Common and Norbury face the spectator
from the east across the valley. The top of Box Hill
is not more than 700 ft. above the sea, but the steep
descents to the east and south, and the absence of any
high ridge of sand immediately in front of it, give an
impression of greater elevation. Dr. Burton, who in
1752 wrote in Greek of his travels through Surrey
and Sussex, calls it, with pardonable exaggeration, the
brow of a mountain.
On a spur of Box Hill, overlooking Juniper Hall,
is a round tower, said to have been built by Mr. Thomas
Broadwood.
It is in Mickleham chiefly that the River Mole
burrows in the way which has suggested the popular
etymology of its name. (fn. 1) From the foot of Box
Hill at Burford to Norbury Park there are
holes, called swallows, through which the water
sinks, making its way by subterranean clefts in the
chalk. Some of these swallows are in the bed of
the stream, others in bays in the banks of the
river, which only come into operation in times of
flood. One of the largest of these latter is in Fredley
Meadows, some 200 yards up-stream from the railway
bridge, close to which, before the pathway from
Dorking to Mickleham was diverted, stood the wooden
'Praybridge.' Near Thorncroft, in Letherhead, the
water rises again in the bed of the stream. In normal
summers the bed of the river for 3 or 4 miles is dry
ground and stagnant water. In the grounds of Burford House and Fredley are hollows some way from
the stream, in which the water rises when the river is
full. The peculiarity of the river, that its whole volume
normally ran underground for some miles, has been
exaggerated. The Mole is well known by the notice
of poets, Spenser and Drayton writing at length upon
it, and Milton and Pope mentioning it. Miss Drinkwater-Bethune of Thorncroft privately printed a
poem, 'The Mole or Emlyn Stream,' in 1839, with
sensible topographical and antiquarian notes, which
deserves to be better known.
In Norbury Park is a famous grove of giant yews
of great age, known as the Druid's Walk, which no
doubt mark part of the track which, leaving the main
east and west road, called in modern times 'The
Pilgrim's Way,' near Bagden Farm, crossed the river
near the Priory, and thence led over Letherhead
Downs to Epsom and London. Norbury is also noted
for some giant beeches.
On Box Hill, and north of it upon Mickleham
Downs, is a great deal of still open grass-land, though
plantations and inclosures upon the downs have curtailed it greatly in recent years.
The main road from Dorking to London traverses
the Mickleham valley. This was made a passable
road in 1755. (fn. 2) Up to that time it
was not available for wheeled traffic
in bad weather, (fn. 3) and to judge from
the traces of the old road it needed
courage to drive along it at all. Till
the bridge at Burford Bridge, together
with the approach to it, was raised
some twenty years ago, it was frequently overflowed by the Mole in
time of flood.
The old west and east line of communication across the country by the
chalk downs passed south of the village, past Bagden Farm and Chapel
Farm, to a ford on the river south of
Burford Lodge, at the foot of Box Hill.
The London, Brighton, and South
Coast Railway line from London to
Portsmouth also passes through the
Mickleham valley. The line was completed in 1867. There is a station at
West Humble in Mickleham, now called
Box Hill and Burford Bridge, to distinguish it from Box Hill on the South
Eastern line, more than a mile distant.
Mickleham is fairly rich in antiquities. In 1788 William Bray, the
historian of Surrey, became possessed
of some brass Roman coins of the later
Empire, which had recently been
ploughed up on Bagden Farm, (fn. 4) and
neolithic flakes are not uncommon
both about this place, near Norbury,
and on Box Hill. The ancient road
which, as the Roman Stone Street,
runs from Sussex past Ockley to Dorking
(q.v.) headed for the Mole valley
through a gap in the chalk, though
it does not appear that it has been
actually traced between Dorking and
Burford Bridge. A ford over the Mole
is still visible at the place where Burford Bridge stands, and a little further
north, at Juniper Hall, a lane leaves
the present road on the right and
ascends the downs. It is called Pebble
Lane. At the point where it emerges
upon the high ground it becomes a
well-marked track carried on a causeway over declivities. Flints with cement clinging to them occur upon it,
as farther south on the same road in
Capel (q.v.). It is still a bridle road,
and leads in nearly a straight line to
Epsom race-course. After this point
it is supposed to have led to the right,
in a curve following the top of the
downs, past Banstead to Woodcote.
It probably represents a British trackway utilized by the Romans as the
line of a small road, though the Roman way probably continued straight
on at Epsom towards Ewell, and so
to London. In 1780, when Juniper Hall was being built, two skeletons
and a spear-head were found, called by Brayley
'exuviae of warfare,' (fn. 5) but were probably AngloSaxon interments, as at Fetcham (q.v.). At Chapel
Farm, near West Humble, in Mickleham, are the
very ruinous remains of part of the east, south, and
west walls of a chapel. The history of its origin
and decay is obscure. The priory of Reigate possessed a messuage and rents which were called the
manor of West Humble, and the chapel has been
supposed to have been built by the priory. But it
more probably belonged to Merton, which held the
manor of Polesden Lacy. In 1566 lands called
Capel were held with this manor, (fn. 6) and these would
appear to be Chapel Farm, close by which the
remains stand. The building is about 48 ft. by
16 ft.; the greater part of the gabled west wall, a
portion of the south wall, and part of the east wall
still stand; the material is flint and sandstone. There
are no architectural details left, excepting a small light
in the head of the west gable, too much worn to be
dated; it has one jamb, and part of what appears to
have been a trefoiled head. Below it is a round hole,
and in the east wall a gap formed by a single light, of
which no dressings remain; also another gap in the
south wall. The flints of the walling are not split,
and are set in fairly even courses. The building
probably dates from the 13th century.
Course of the River Mole, showing the Larger "Swallows."
The Running Horse Inn, in the days before the
advent of railways, was a favourite stabling for horses
racing at Epsom. On Mickleham Downs were, until
recently, some training gallops.
At the beginning of the French Revolution Mickleham became the refuge of several distinguished French
émigrés. M. de Narbonne, ex-minister of war, was
the most celebrated among them, and Talleyrand also
was here for a short time, and Madame de Staël.
Juniper Hall had been taken by some of them, but
several settled in other houses. Among them was
M. d'Arblay, who married Fanny Burney, famous then
as the authoress of 'Evelina.' M. and Madame
d'Arblay, after a stay at Great Bookham, settled at a
newly-built house in West Humble, which they named
Camilla Lacey, because it was provided by the profits
of 'Camilla,' her third novel. It is now occupied by
Mr. Leverton Harris.
Fredley Cottage was the home of Mr. Richard
Sharp, F.R.S., M.P., known from his talents as
'Conversation Sharp.' During his lifetime many
celebrated men visited Mickleham. He died in
1853. On a tree in the garden are the initials
W. W. carved in the bark by Wordsworth.
James Mill and his son John Stuart Mill lived for
a time in a house behind the Running Horse Inn.
Hazlitt stayed at the Burford Bridge Hotel; there
also Keats wrote the latter part of 'Endymion,' and
Nelson spent some of his last days in England. It
was then called 'The Fox and Hounds' and has since
been very much enlarged. The literary traditions of
Mickleham were continued by Charles Mackay, who
lived in a cottage at the foot of Box Hill, since destroyed, and by the residence of the late Mr. George
Meredith at Flint Cottage, where he died in 1909.
The Grove, the seat of Mr. Edward Arnold, on the
border of Dorking and Mickleham, was once the
residence of the Marquis Wellesley. But the old
house has been pulled down.
Mickleham Hall is now the residence of Mr.
H. H. Gordon Clark, J.P.; Norbury, of Mr. Leopold
Salomons, J.P.; High Ashurst, of the Dowager
Countess of Harrowby; Burford Lodge, with its
famous collection of orchids, of Sir Trevor Lawrence,
bart.; Juniper Hall, famous for its cedars of Lebanon,
of Mr. George McAndrew; Juniper Hill, of Mr. L.
Cunliffe; The Priory, of Mrs. Grissell; Fredley, of
Mrs. Kay and Miss Drummond.
'The Old House,' now the residence of Mr. Gordon
Pollock, is situated on the east side of the main road
south of the church; it bears the date 1636. It is
of two stories and an attic, and is built entirely of
red brick. Its west front towards the road has a
slightly projecting wing at each end with moulded
strings and cornices and shaped gables, and there are
two similar gables in the main block. The present
entrance is in the south wing and is modern; the
windows are square with modern wood frames and
have moulded brick labels, those on the gables to the
third story having pediments over them. The garden
or east front is practically on one plane, with a gable
head at either end and a small middle gable; each of
the side gables has three shallow brick pilasters with
moulded capitals formed by breaking the string-course
or cornice at the foot of the gables round the pilasters.
To the south of the building is a modern extension.
The arrangement of the rooms has been somewhat
altered since the house was built, and there is nothing
of note inside excepting one original brick fire-place
with moulded jambs and three-centred arch; this was
discovered a short time ago. The original gateway of
the grounds towards the road has some good posts
with carved brick Ionic capitals.
In a deed of 1585–6 reference is made to Mickleham Common Fields. No Inclosure Act or Award
seems to be in existence. Inclosure of waste on
Mickleham Downs has taken place bit by bit.
Mickleham Village Hall was built by Mrs. and
Miss Evans of Dalewood, in memory of the late
Mr. David Evans.
The school, national, was built by subscription in
1844 and enlarged in 1872. There is a small infants'
school at West Humble.
MANORS
MICKLEHAM alias HIGH ASHURST alias LITTLEBURGH.—At the
time of the Domesday Survey one of
the two manors then called Mickleham was held of
Odo, Bishop of Bayeux. (fn. 7) After his forfeiture under
William II the manor was held of the king in chief,
the tenant paying 12s. yearly on St. Andrew's Day
for ward of Rochester Castle. (fn. 8)
Ansfrig had held Mickleham under the Confessor,
and Nigel held it under the bishop, (fn. 9) but there is no
trace of subsequent tenants until the Testa de
Nevill, which under the heading of escheats gives
Robert and Matthew de Micheham holding a hide
in Mickleham by the grant of 'King Henry the
Elder.' (fn. 10) This was the nucleus of the considerable
property of the family in Mickleham in later reigns.
Documents of the time of Edward I show that
Robert de Mickleham held a messuage, 20 virgates
of land, 10 acres of pasture, and 2 acres of wood in
Mickleham. (fn. 11) Robert's property descended to his son
Gilbert, (fn. 12) who augmented it by his marriage with Alice
daughter of Peter de Rival, with whom he received
30 acres of land and rent and services of John Adrian
and others. (fn. 13) He and his wife were also conjointly
enfeoffed by William de Bures of 4s. rent of assize. (fn. 14)
He died in 1292 or 1293, (fn. 15) and was succeeded by
his son John. In 1332 John conveyed the manor of
Mickleham (certain premises afterwards known as the
manor of Fredley excepted) to Roger de Apperdele.
Roger son of Roger de Apperdele settled it on his son
Richard to hold during his father's lifetime. (fn. 16) Richard
evidently died without issue, as it came to his brother
John, (fn. 17) who forfeited Mickleham when he was outlawed as a felon in 1366. (fn. 18) The king, having the
manor as an escheat, granted it, first to Simon de
Bradestede, (fn. 19) then to William Croyser. (fn. 20) Afterwards
Roger de Apperdele appears to have tried to regain
the manor by denying that he had made any grant
to his sons. (fn. 21) Evidently he was not successful, as
Edward III about that time granted it to William,
Bishop of Winchester. (fn. 22) Before this date Fredley and
West Humble (see below) had both been separated
from the manor of Mickleham, which is now referred
to as half, and sometimes as two thirds or two parts.
In 1402 the bishop received pardon for alienating
what is termed half the manor to Nicholas Wykeham (fn. 23)
and five other clerks. (fn. 24) From these clerks the manor
or portion of the manor passed to another clerk,
John Brommesgrove, described as holding two parts
of the manor. (fn. 25) Brommesgrove, in 1431, alienated
it to Lawrence Doune, who is said to have held twothirds of the manor. (fn. 26) Half of this was bought from
him by Ralph Wymeldon and Isabel his wife in
1464. (fn. 27) In 1481 Richard Wymeldon died seised of
a third of the manor known subsequently as Littleburgh alias Mickleham. (fn. 28) He left a son Thomas,
whose daughter Isabel married Thomas Stydolf. (fn. 29) The
other part of the manor, which belonged to Laurence
Doune, seems to have been acquired by William
Ashurst, who held it in 1485. (fn. 30) Together with
land which William Ashurst already held in Mickleham (fn. 30a) it descended under the name of Mickleham
alias High Ashurst to his son John. (fn. 31) In 1511
William brother of John Ashurst quitclaimed his
right to Robert Gaynesford, whose son Henry in
1535 conveyed it to Thomas Stydolf. (fn. 32) From this
time Littleburgh and Ashurst are sometimes treated
separately and sometimes as different names for the
same manor.
In 1538 Thomas Stydolf appears as owner of two
parts of one part of the manor of Mickleham, formerly
the land of John de Mickleham, Henry Burton and
John Walk being trustees, to his use. (fn. 33) At his
death in 1545 he is described as holding a third
of the manor of Mickleham alias High Ashurst. (fn. 34)
John Stydolf succeeded his father Thomas, being
followed by his son, another Thomas, who was
succeeded by his son, Sir Francis. (fn. 35)
Wymeldon. Argent a cheveron azure between three eagles sable.
Stydolf. Argent a chief sable with two wolves' heads razed or therein.
John Evelyn gives an account of a visit to Sir
Francis Stydolf at Mickleham in August 1655. He
says: 'I went to Boxhill to see those rare natural
bowers, cabinets, and shady walks in the box copses:
hence we walked to Mickleham, and saw Sir F.
Stidolph's seate environ'd with elme-trees and walnuts
innumerable, and of which last he told us they receiv'd
a considerable revenue. Here are such goodly walkes
and hills shaded with yew and box as render the
place extremely agreeable, it seeming from these evergreens to be summer all the winter.' (fn. 36) This description is one that might have been written
yesterday, for Surrey's lovely hill is still as fair in
winter as in summer.
In the following century Sir Richard Stydolf
left two daughters, Frances wife of James, Lord
Astley, (fn. 37) and Margaret wife of James Tryon, and
to the two sons of the latter, Charles and James
Tryon, the Stydolf lands descended. (fn. 38) In 1705
the two sons made a partition of the property, the manor of Mickleham alias High Ashurst
alias Littleburgh
falling to James. (fn. 39) From James
Tryon, according to Manning and Bray, the manor
descended to his nephew, Charles Tryon, whose son
Charles, in 1766, sold it to Anthony Chapman of
London for £35,000. Chapman sold Mickleham Manor
to Benjamin Bond Hopkins of
Paine's Hill in 1775, and he
in 1779 (fn. 40) sold it to Charles
Talbot, afterwards a baronet.
He died in 1798. His family
held the manor till 1871,
when the baronetcy being extinct the Misses Talbot sold it
to Mr. R. H. Mackworth Praed,
the present lord. Mickleham Hall, built by Sir C. H.
Talbot, was bought at the
same time by the late Mr. Gordon W. Clark, and is
now the seat of his son, Mr. H. H. Gordon Clark. (fn. 41)
Talbot, baronet. Gules a lion in a border engrailed or with the difference of a crescent.
Meanwhile Ashurst had been separated, as a reputed manor, but bearing the name of Mickleham,
and had been sold by Chapman in 1776 to Mr. Robert
Botall. (fn. 42) From him it passed to George Morgan, (fn. 43)
and in 1804 was conveyed by John Morgan to
F. R. V. Villebois. (fn. 44) In 1817 it was bought by
Mr. Andrew Strahan, the king's printer. In 1855
it was purchased from his nephew by Sir Henry
Muggeridge; it passed in 1862 to Sir Richard Glass,
and in 1872 to J. C. Wilson. It is now the seat of
the Dowager Countess of Harrowby. (fn. 45)
NORBURY
NORBURY was evidently the estate in Mickleham
which in 1086 belonged to Richard son of Earl
Gilbert; it was then assessed for two hides. (fn. 46) From
Richard de Tonbridge the overlordship descended to
the De Clares, Earls of Gloucester, (fn. 47) from them to
the Despensers, (fn. 48) and in the reign of Henry VI belonged to their descendant Isabel, Countess of Warwick. (fn. 49) As her ultimate heir was Anne Beauchamp
who married Warwick the King-maker, the
overlordship must have fallen to the Crown after
his death and attainder in 1471; but in the
16th century it was said to belong to the warden
and scholars of Merton College, Oxford, and Norbury to be held as of their manor of Thorncroft; (fn. 50)
this is evidently an error.
At the time of the Domesday Survey Norbury
was held under Richard de Tonbridge by Oswold,
who had formerly been the tenant under Edward
the Confessor. The next holder of whom anything is known was Odo de Dammartin, who during
the 12th century granted to the monks of St. Pancras a third of his tithe in Mickleham. (fn. 51) His
daughter, Alice de Dammartin, held half a fee
there, (fn. 52) and Margery widow of Odo de Dammartin
had as her dower, among other lands, the manor of
Mickleham. (fn. 53)
From the Dammartins the manor passed to William
Husee, who in 1314 held 'the manor called Le
North Bury' in Mickleham as half a knight's fee of
Earl Gilbert de Clare. (fn. 54) He was granted free warren
there by Edward II, (fn. 55) and had licence for an oratory
in his manor between 1323 and 1333. (fn. 56)
In 1349 the manor was held by Isabel Husee, (fn. 57) and
in 1376 by another William Husee. (fn. 58) The next
holder of Norbury appears in Thomas Stydolf, who
died seised of it in 1545. (fn. 59) He has been connected by
Manning and Bray with William Husee, in direct descent. According to these historians Isabel daughter of
William Husee married William Wymeldon, the grandchild of whose son Ralph, Isabel Wymeldon, married
Thomas Stydolf who died in 1545. (fn. 60) The Stydolfs
held Norbury with their other Mickleham manors
until the latter half of the 17th century. (fn. 61) In 1705
the manor became the property of James Tryon, grandson of Sir Richard Stydolf. (fn. 62) According to Manning
and Bray James Tryon devised Norbury to his nephew
Charles Tryon, who settled it upon his wife. She
lived at Norbury till 1764, and then granted her life
interest to her son Charles, (fn. 63) who with his wife Rebecca, in 1765, levied a fine to Sewallis Shirley. (fn. 64) In
1766 the estate was sold (according to Manning and
Bray) to Anthony Chapman, who sold it to William
Locke in 1774. Mr. Locke built the present house. (fn. 65)
In 1819 his son sold Norbury to Mr. E. R. Robinson,
who, however, sold it again in 1822 to Mr. E. Fuller
Maitland, who exchanged it with Mr. H. P. Sperling
for Park Place, near Henley-on-Thames. Mr. Sperling made great improvements in the beautiful grounds.
In 1848 he sold it to Mr. Thomas Grissell, whose
family sold it in 1890 to Mr. Leopold Salomons. (fn. 66)
FREDLEY
FREDLEY.—In 1336 John de Mickleham, after
having granted the manor of Mickleham with the
exception of a messuage, 120 acres of land, and
4 acres of wood, to Roger de Apperdele, granted
the excepted premises, also under the name of the
'manor of Mickleham,' (fn. 67) to his son-in-law John
Dewey, husband of Margery de Mickleham. (fn. 68)
In 1365 John Frychele or Fridlee alias Dewey
settled a house, 80 acres of land, and 4 acres of wood
in Mickleham on himself and his wife Joan, by Hugh
atte Sonde, his feoffee. (fn. 69) The manor was held by his
son and grandson John Dewey and Roger Dewey alias
Fridlee. (fn. 70) Roger Fridlee granted the manor to James
Janyn and Nicholas Glover, who enfeoffed John
Wydoweson and Isabel his wife. (fn. 71)
In 1449 John Wydoweson was in possession of
the manor then first called the manor of Fredley
(Frydelees) in Mickleham, (fn. 72) and the following year
he and his wife Isabel granted the manor (then simply
styled Mickleham) to William Wydoweson. (fn. 73) A
William Wydewson presented to the living in 1492, (fn. 74)
so was perhaps still holding Fredley. He is buried in
Mickleham Church, where his wife also was buried in
1513.
Nothing more is known of the manor till 1528, when
Sir John Mordaunt granted a lease of land in it, (fn. 75) and
in 1571 Lewis, Lord Mordaunt, his grandson, alienated
the manor to William Lever or Leaver. (fn. 76) From William
Leaver the manor of Fredley descended to his son and
grandson, John and Thomas Leaver, the latter inheriting it in 1640. (fn. 77) Documentary evidence of the
descent is wanting, but according to Manning and
Bray Thomas Leaver left sisters, Mary and Joan
Leaver, as his heirs. The former married Edward
Arnold, (fn. 78) the latter Edward Turner. The Arnolds
in 1682 sold their moiety to Mr. John Spencer of
Dorking, who in 1691 purchased Turner's moiety.
On the same authority Spencer devised to Margaret
wife of Gilbert Parker. (fn. 79) They sold Fredley to
Samuel Hawkes in 1721. (fn. 80) Hawkes, according to
Manning and Bray, was succeeded by his nephew
Samuel Lamb, by whom Fredley was again sold in
1762 to Cecil Bisshop, afterwards Sir Cecil Bisshop,
and Susannah his wife. (fn. 81) Cecil Bisshop is distinguished for building the famous Juniper Hall on
the site of the old Royal Oak Inn. This fine old
house afforded a kindly shelter to French émigrés in
troubled times. (fn. 82) Sir Cecil Bisshop died in 1779.
Mr. David Jenkinson, a lottery agent, bought the
property, and built Juniper Hill. In 1803, on the
death of his son, the property was broken up. Mr.
Worrall bought Juniper Hall and sold it in 1814
to Mr. Thomas Broadwood, from whom it was
bought by Miss Beardmore. Her heir conveyed it
in 1868 to Mr. F. Richardson, who in 1882 sold
it to Mr. George McAndrew. Juniper Hill was
bought by Sir Lucas Pepys, bart., M.P., who married
the Countess of Rothes and took the name of Leslie.
It passed through them and Colonel Lambton to
Mr. J. H. Bryant in 1884, and in 1899 to Mr. Leonard Cunliffe.
A third portion was ultimately bought by Mr.
Sharp, F.R.S., 'Conversation Sharp.' He left it to
his adopted daughter, Mrs. Drummond, who built
the house now called Fredley. It is the property of
her daughter, Mrs. Kay.
As early as 1253 the priory of Reigate held a tenement in Mickleham of Robert de Watevile. (fn. 83) Their
property, afterwards known as the manor of WEST
HUMBLE, was augmented by the grant of John de
Mickelham, who gave to the Prior and convent of
Reigate a house and 1s. 8d. rent with the advowson
of the church in Mickleham. (fn. 84) Licence for the
alienation was granted by the king in 1345 at the
request of Queen Philippa. (fn. 85) The priory held their
land until the Dissolution. Before that event, earlier
in the reign of Henry VIII, it had been leased by the
priory, under the name of the manor of 'West Humble
in Mikelham,' to Thomas Stydolf for 99 years.
Stydolf's right in certain lands in Mickleham was contested by John Arnold, who declared that he had been
unjustly ousted by Stydolf from the peaceful occupation of his land in Mickleham, leased to him, so he
said, for 99 years, by the Prior of Reigate in the
March of 1521. (fn. 86) He accused Stydolf of having set
his servants to kill him, one of whom assaulted him
with a sword and 'strake' him 'upon the raynes of
his bak' and 'there cut his coot,' his enemies' intention being to cut his head off, and 'playe at the foteball therewith,' according to the admission of Stydolf's
own daughters. Stydolf's reply was that the lease of
the lands in question had been made to him in
August 1516. (fn. 87) An audit of rents of the late priory of
Reigate in 1537 shows three years' rent from Thomas
Stydolf and John Stydolf his son for the manor of
West Humble £15 15s. (fn. 88)
After the dissolution of Reigate Priory the Stydolfs
remained as tenants of the manor, which they held of
Lord William Howard and his successors, (fn. 89) to whom
the lands of the dissolved priory were granted in
1551. (fn. 90) The lease seems to have been renewed at
the end of the ninety-nine years, as in 1681 a rent
of £6 3s. 8d. was still paid to the successors of the
Howards. (fn. 91)
The Stydolfs now held the three manors in Mickleham—Norbury, High Ashurst, and West Humble—
all Mickleham, in fact, except Fridley. As Norbury and
Ashurst, so West Humble passed, in Anne's reign, to
the grandson of Sir Richard Stydolf, (fn. 92) James Tryon,
whose nephew, Charles Tryon, in the reign of
George III, 1765, levied a fine of the same manor to
Sewallis Shirley for purpose of sale. (fn. 93) According to
Manning and Bray the manor was sold to Chapman in 1776, in 1780 to Hopkins, and in 1781 to
Sir Francis Geary of High Polesden, who died in
1796, being succeeded by his son Sir William, who
sold to Richard Brinsley Sheridan in 1809. In 1816,
after Sheridan's death, it was sold to Mr. Thomas
Hudson, along with Chapel Farm, which was in Polesden Lacy Manor. The manorial rights and part of
the property were sold by Mrs. Hudson's trustees in
1874 to Mr. J. Leverton Wylie, by whom courts were
held occasionally. He died recently, and his relative,
Mr. F. Leverton Harris, is now lord of the manor.
In the reign of John the priory of Merton held
land in Polesden, (fn. 94) later described as the manor of
POLESDEN LACY. (fn. 95) At the dissolution of the
monastery in 1538 the manor was granted by
Henry VIII to William Sackvyle, who purchased the
manor of Polesden Lacy and farms called Capelland
and Bowetts. (fn. 96) William Sackvyle died in 1556. (fn. 97) His
son in the same year had licence to alienate the manor
and messuages and land called Capelland and Bowetts
to Gilbert and Richard Sackvyle, (fn. 98) by whom it was
sold to Henry Stydolf in 1564. (fn. 99) He died without
male issue, (fn. 100) having settled the manor on a certain
John Stydolf, with remainder to his brothers
William and Thomas
successively. (fn. 101) William died in seisin
of it at the end of
Elizabeth's reign; (fn. 102)
Thomas himself, at
his death in 1603,
only possessed land
in Polesden, which
descended to his son
Sir Francis Stydolf. (fn. 103)
William Stydolf, son
of William, had Polesden Lacy in 1657. (fn. 104)
His son Sigismund
Stydolf in 1689 settled
the manor on himself
and his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir
Francis Rolle, and at
his death left it to his
wife. (fn. 105) She married
three times, her third husband being Thomas Edwin,
upon whom she settled the manor after her death,
in default of issue from the marriage. She died in
1734, and as she left no children Mr. Edwin became seised of the manor, which descended to his
nephew Charles Edwin. (fn. 106) Charles Edwin bequeathed
his estates to his wife Lady Charlotte, with remainder
to his issue, in default to his sister Catherine Edwin
and her male issue, and in default to his nephew
Charles Windham. Lady Charlotte died in 1777,
and Catherine Edwin being dead without issue,
Charles Windham succeeded to the estates and took
the name of Edwin. In 1784 he sold the manor
to Admiral Sir Francis Geary, who held the manor
of High Polesden in Great Bookham, after which
the descent of the two manors is identical (q.v.).
CHURCH
The church of ST. MICHAEL consists of a chancel 28 ft. 9 in. by 16 ft.
9 in., with vestries on the north side
and a circular organ-chamber on the south; a nave
42 ft. by 17 ft. 10 in., with a north aisle 30 ft.
6 in. by 15 ft. 6 in., at the east end of which is a
chantry 16 ft. by 10 ft.; a south aisle 7 ft. 6 in.
wide, and a west tower 16 ft. 7 in. by 14 ft. 2 in.,
having over its west doorway a porch 10 ft. 9 in. by
8 ft. 7 in.
The oldest part of the building is the west tower,
dating from c. 1140, while the chancel is some forty
years later. All the rest of the church except the
west porch, a 15th-century addition, and the north
chapel, which is of early 16th-century date, has been
rebuilt in modern times—1872 and 1891—the north
aisle having been widened at the latter date. A
former north doorway was taken away in 1891, and
has been set up in the grounds of Fredley, in the
parish.
Plan of Mickleham Church
Parts of a large circular column with a scalloped
capital, now in the tower, were found in excavating
for the new arcade, and show that an aisle existed in
the 12th century, evidently on the south side, as the
north aisle was a very late addition, none existing
when Manning and Bray wrote.
The chancel has a marked deviation to the south
from the line of the nave and tower, and doubtless
replaced a narrower building coeval with or older
than the west tower. Its east wall is almost entirely
modern, and contains three round-headed lights with
a circular wheel-window over, in 12th-century
style. The north and south walls of the chancel are
for the most part old, and in each are two roundheaded windows, modern on the outside, but with
old internal jambs having shafts at the angles with
moulded bases and carved foliate capitals of several
types, c. 1180.
The rear arches are semicircular, and have moulded
outer orders with billet-moulded labels, which continue between the windows as a string-course. Below
the sills of the windows is another string, being in
section a keeled roll.
Mickleham Church: West Tower and Porch
Near the east ends of both walls are rectangular
lockers with plain rebated jambs and square heads,
fitted with modern doors; and between the two
north windows is a modern doorway leading to the
vestries, with moulded jambs and pointed arch.
At the west end of the south wall of the chancel is
a modern opening to the organ-chamber in 12th-century style, and above it an open arcade of interlacing round arches.
The organ-chamber is circular on plan, lighted by
four narrow round-headed windows, and by a series
of small circular windows high in the wall. On the
west side of the chamber is a tall narrow opening to
the south aisle with a semicircular arch and scalloped
capitals.
The chancel arch is semicircular, and is of three
orders, the two inner ones being modern and having
moulded edge rolls, but the outer order on the west
face is a pretty piece of late 12th-century work, with
a lozenge pattern with leaf-carving in the spandrels
between it and the label, which has a line of dogtooth ornament on the chamfer. The jambs are of
old stonework and quite plain, with modern scalloped
capitals and corbels.
The north and south arcades of the nave are entirely modern, and are of four bays with semicircular
arches and round columns having moulded bases and
scalloped or carved capitals, with corbels to correspond
at each end. The eastern bay on the
north side opens to the north chapel,
and instead of a column has a square
pier to take the western arch of the
chapel.
The chantry has an early 16th
century east window of four cinquefoiled lights with a traceried fourcentred head and a moulded label, the
inner jambs being worked with a large
casement moulding, and on the north
side of the window is a canopied niche,
now without a base; the canopy has
trefoiled ogee arches with crockets and
finials and small crocketed pinnacles between. Manning and Bray note that
in their time there was a corresponding
niche on the south side. Two plaster
figures of St. Peter and St. Paul, now
in the vestry, are said to have stood in
these niches.
Against the north wall of the chapel
is a canopied tomb, which is described
below; and to the west of it a plain
contemporary doorway with a threecentred arch; while above it is a window of two cinquefoiled lights in a
square head. The arch opening to the
aisle is modern, and corresponds to the
adjacent arches of the nave arcade.
The north aisle has two modern
windows in its north wall, each having
three cinquefoiled ogee lights under a
square head; and at the west end of
the aisle is a modern doorway.
The three windows of the south
aisle are likewise modern, except the
small west window, which is old work
reset, its inner splayed jambs and rear arch being
perhaps of 13th-century date.
The tower opens to the nave by a modern round-headed arch, and has in its north wall a modern twolight window of 12th-century design.
In the south wall of the tower near the west end is
an old doorway, now leading into a cupboard in the
wall, but originally intended to open to the stairs to
the belfry.
The 12th-century west doorway in the tower has
jambs of two square orders with engaged shafts having
scalloped capitals and chamfered abaci; the arch is
semicircular, and has a heavy roll between two plain
orders. It opens to a porch with small loop-lights in
each side wall, and a western arch with chamfered
jambs and a modern moulded label.
The tower is low in proportion to its width, and
has on the north, south, and west two small lights,
one above the other, which have what seem to be
16th-century heads externally, but retain their 12th-century rear arches.
On the east face is one window of the same character just above the nave roof. The western angles of
the tower are strengthened by pairs of deep buttresses,
which have been largely rebuilt, but their internal
angles have old stones; they are probably 15th-century additions, and the tower is finished with a low
pyramidal roof from which rises a slender octagonal
shingled spire. The roof of the nave and the west
porch are covered with Horsham stone slabs, while
the chancel and organ-chamber are tiled, and the
aisles have lead roofs and stone parapets.
The fittings of the church are for the most part
modern. In the pulpit are five panels carved in highrelief, representing scenes from the New Testament.
At the angles are figures in canopied niches, and the
moulded cornice has a form of acanthus-leaf ornament
in low-relief.
In the north chapel is some panelling from
St. Paul's School in London, c. 1680.
The font is of 13th-century date, and has a shallow
square bowl with tapering sides ornamented with
arcades in low-relief, and standing on a central and
four angle shafts with moulded bases. Near the font
is an old wooden eagle lectern fixed to a modern iron
stem and base; and on the south wall of the chancel
is the banner and helmet of Sir Francis Stydolf, who
died in 1655.
The tomb in the north chapel is a panelled Purbeck
marble altar-tomb in a canopied recess, the panels
being square with feathered quatrefoils inclosing
shields, once painted, but now almost plain. The
recess above has a four-centred head with tracery
spandrels, and a cornice with a vine-trail and a Tudor
flower cresting. On a brass plate in the recess is the
following inscription: 'Here lyth the body of
Wyllyam Wyddowsoun cytezein and mercer of londn
& of ye parych of Mekyllham late patorne & also here
lythe ye body of Jone hys wyfe the wyche dyssesyd
the xxvii day of septebyr the vth yere of kyng hary the
VIII on whoys soullys god have mercy ame.'
Above is the figure of a man in a long fur-trimmed
cloak praying at a desk. A scroll issues from his
mouth on which is the prayer: 'Dne deus miserere
su[per] animabs.' To his right is a woman with a long
head-dress and a tight-fitting dress with a loose waistbelt; on the scroll from her mouth is, 'Ihs xps
miserere sup animabs.' Between the two figures is a
brass shield on which are the arms of the Mercers'
Company, and above are indents for other shields
now lost.
There are two floor-slabs near the east end of the
nave, one to Thomas Tooth, who died in 1685, and
the other to Peter de Lahay, 1684. Near the west
end of the nave is a mediaeval coffin-lid on which is
the indent of a long cross with foliated ends.
In the west porch are two marble coffin-slabs of the
14th century, with raised crosses, and edges which
are twice hollow-chamfered. On one of them are
remains of an inscription in Gothic capitals. . . . ICY
DEU DALME EIT MERCI AMEN.
The tower contains three bells, the treble being by
C. and G. Mears, 1850. The second has the inscription, 'Bryanus Eldridge me fecit 1624,' and the
third has 'Wilhelmus Carter me fecit 1610' in
Gothic capitals.
The plate is as follows: Two cups, one of 1666
and the other of 1870; two patens, one of 1701 and
the other a year later; and two flagons, the first
being of 1614 and the other of 1702. There is also
an almsdish of 1700.
There are four books of registers, the first a long
paper volume containing very irregular entries; first
is a group of burials from 1612 to 1629, then there
are baptisms from 1549 to 1629, and next come
more burials from 1549 to 1605, and finally baptisms,
marriages, and burials from 1634 to 1660. At the other
end of the book are some briefs, churchwardens' accounts,
&c. The second book, which is mostly a copy on
parchment of the first, contains baptisms from 1549
to 1698, with a gap between 1658 and 1660;
marriages from 1549 to 1713, with a gap between
1647 and 1663; and burials from 1549 to 1712,
with a gap as in the baptisms. At the other end are
accounts and tithe rents from 1637. The third book
contains baptisms and burials from 1713 to 1812
and marriages from 1713 to 1753, and the fourth
book continues the marriages from 1754 to 1812.
Mr. Samuel Woods, one of the founders of the
London Institution, who lived in Mickleham, made
an index to the registers.
The churchyard surrounds the church, and it is
entered from the road at the north-west corner and
by a lych-gate at the south-west corner.
ADVOWSON
A church at Mickleham is mentioned in the Domesday Survey. (fn. 107)
At the time of the taxation of Pope
Nicholas it was assessed at £18 13s. 4d. (fn. 108) The
early owners and patrons of the church were the De
Micklehams, John de Mickleham presenting in the
14th century. (fn. 109) He alienated the advowson in 1344 (fn. 110)
to Reigate Priory that prayers might be daily sung
in the priory church for the souls of his family, and
the priors presented continuously until the Dissolution,
with two exceptions, when Laurence Doune and
William Wydoweson presented in the 15th century. (fn. 111)
Wydoweson claimed the advowson, which he said
John de Mickleham had alienated to John Dewey,
from whose descendants it had passed to himself. (fn. 112)
The owners of Fridley Manor had claimed some
right in it in 1449, (fn. 113) and William Wydoweson
presented in 1492. (fn. 114) Henry VIII after the dissolution of Reigate Priory granted the advowson of the
rectory and parish church of Mickleham, with West
Humble Manor, to Lord William Howard and
Margaret his wife. (fn. 115) It passed by descent to Elizabeth,
Countess of Peterborough. (fn. 116) Charles, Viscount Mordaunt of Avalon, her grandson, sold the advowson
to John Parsons in 1681, (fn. 117) and in 1698 Sir John
Parsons presented to the living. (fn. 118) The next presentation, in 1744, was made by Thomas Walton,
merchant of London, hac vice. According to Manning and Bray, Parsons devised the rectory to his
daughters, Sarah wife of James Dunn, and Anne,
who married John Hynde Cotton, afterwards
knighted. (fn. 119) Sir John Hynde Cotton presented in
1771, (fn. 120) and sold the advowson to Sir Charles
Talbot in 1786, (fn. 121) and Lady Talbot, the widow of
Sir Charles, presented in 1800 and 1802. In 1813
Mr. Henry Burmester presented his son, having bought
the next presentation from Sir George Talbot. (fn. 122)
It passed with the manor till 1899, when Mr. H. H.
Gordon Clark of Mickleham Hall bought the advowson from Mr. Praed.
CHARITIES
Smith's Charity is distributed as
in other Surrey parishes. In 1586
Richard Woodstock left 5s. annually charged on land
in Mickleham common fields for the repair of the
church. It appears that the fields were by the river.
After the parish was brought into the Dorking
Union by the Poor Law of 1834 the old poorhouse at Bytom Hill became useless, and proposals
were made for converting it into an almshouse. The
matter was delayed till the old building fell down,
and it was not till 1851 that the almshouses were
actually opened, built chiefly by the generosity of
Sir George Talbot, and endowed by Miss Talbot.
They were burnt down in 1864, and were rebuilt
by Mr. H. P. Grissell of Norbury, whose family
further endowed them. They accommodate eight
persons.