GREAT BOOKHAM
Bocheham (xi cent.); Bocham (xiii cent.); Bokeham (xvi cent.).
Great Bookham is a village 2 miles south-west of
Letherhead. The parish is bounded on the north by
Stoke D'Abernon and the River Mole, on the east by
Fetcham and Mickleham, on the south by Dorking,
on the west by Little Bookham. It measures 5 miles
from north to south; in the southern part it is a mile
wide, diminishing to half a mile near the north. It
contains 3,281 acres. It extends from the brow of
the Chalk, here capped by clay and gravel, across the
Thanet and Woolwich beds, on which the church and
village lie, over the London Clay, to the alluvium of
the Mole. Bookham Common is still an extensive
open space in the middle of the parish, and Ranmore
Common, on the Chalk Down, is chiefly in Bookham.
In this part of the parish are extensive plantations on
the property of the Hon. Henry Cubitt, Lord Lieutenant of Surrey.
The road from Letherhead to Guildford, and the
London and South-Western Railway between the
same places pass through the parish. Bookham
Station was opened in 1885. Roreing House was
transferred from Great Bookham to Fetcham in 1882.
Neolithic flints are not very uncommon in the
southern part of the parish, and there are cavities in
the chalk which may be caused by collapsed dene
holes. Roman brass coins, of Gallienus chiefly, but
also of some later emperors, are said to have been
found in an earthen pot about 1750, at Bagden Farm. (fn. 1)
Anglo-Saxon interments were found in making the
high road from Letherhead to Guildford in 1758.
These probably belong to the discoveries recently made
in Fetcham (q.v.).
The road (called Paternoster Lane in Mickleham)
which passes Bagden Farm (fn. 2) and leads to a ford in the
Mole in Sir Trevor Lawrence's grounds, is the probable
line of the great west and east road along the Downs,
sometimes now called the Pilgrims' Way.
Bookham Grove, south-west of the church, is the
seat of Mr. Sydney C. Bristowe; Old Dene of Mr.
C. E. Cuthell; Millfield House of Mrs. Hansard;
Merrycourt of Sir Stephen Mackenzie, M.D. Sole
Farm, on the west side of the village street, is a picturesque old-fashioned gabled house. Miss Fanny
Burney, after her marriage with M. D'Arblay, lived
for a short time in a cottage at Bookham.
The kennels of the Surrey Union Foxhounds, of
which Mr. F. G. Colman is master, are in Great
Bookham.
Extensive open fields existed, and were inclosed by
an Act of 1821. The award is dated 19 March 1822. (fn. 3)
An infants' school was built in 1830, and was
enlarged in 1882. A National school with residence
for the master was built in 1856 by Viscountess
Downe, the Hon. Lydia Dawnay, and the Hon. P.
Dawnay, in memory of William Henry, Viscount
Downe.
Ranmore is an ecclesiastical parish, formed in 1860
from the parishes of Great and Little Bookham,
Effingham, Dorking, and Mickleham. It lies upon
the high ground of the chalk range, but extends into
the lower ground towards Dorking and Mickleham.
The church, St. Barnabas, is in Great Bookham.
Near the church is a village dispensary and training
school for domestic servants. Ranmore Common is
a large open space on the brow of the hill.
Great Bookham Church from the South-west
The schools (National) are private property of the
owner of Denbies and were built in 1858, an infants'
department being added in 1874.
MANORS
The earliest alleged mention of
GREAT BOOKHAM is in a charter
dated 675, by which Frithwald, Subregulus of Surrey, and Bishop Erkenwald granted to
Chertsey Abbey twenty dwellings at 'Bocham cum
Effingham.' (fn. 4) The grant was confirmed by Offa in
787, by Athelstan in 933, (fn. 5) by Edgar in 967, (fn. 6) and
by Edward the Confessor in 1062, (fn. 7) and in the
Domesday Survey the manor of 'Bocheham' is included in the possessions of the monastery. (fn. 8) In 1537
it was surrendered to the Crown by John, Abbot of
Chertsey, (fn. 9) with the rest of the monastic lands, and in
1550 was regranted to Lord William Howard, (fn. 10) son of
the Duke of Norfolk, who settled it on his second son,
Sir William Howard, (fn. 11) in whose line it remained until
1801, when it was sold by Richard Howard, last
Earl of Effingham, to James Laurell. (fn. 12) In 1811–12
James Laurell and his wife jointly conveyed the
manor to John Harrison Loveridge, (fn. 13) probably in
trust for Holme Sumner, who in the Court Rolls
appears as lord of the manor until 1828. Within the
next year it was acquired by Louis Bazalgette, who
died in 1830. It was evidently bought from his
executors (fn. 14) by David Barclay, who was lord of the
manor in 1834. His grandson, Mr. H. Barclay,
sold the manor in 1882 to Mr. William Keswick,
M.P., (fn. 15) to whom it now belongs.
The monks of Chertsey obtained a grant of a
weekly market on Tuesday, and a two-days' fair on
the eve and day of Michaelmas. (fn. 16) The latter was
maintained until 1792, but abandoned very shortly
after. (fn. 17)
In the survey of Surrey taken in 1549, it is stated
that John Gardyner, sen., holds in Great Bookham a
curtilage formerly of John Gardyner, on which was
built a horse-mill, and a cottage with a curtilage
formerly belonging to the schoolhouse. (fn. 18)
The reputed manor of EASTWICK in Great Bookham appears to have been held by the Dabernon
family, certainly as early as the reign of Edward I,
and John Dabernon, kt., was holding land in Bookham in 1273. (fn. 19)
In 1327 Sir John Dabernon, his son (see Stoke
D'Abernon), died seised of 80 acres of land in Eastwick
in Bookham, held of the Abbot of Chertsey, leaving
his son and heir of the same name of full age, (fn. 20)
who in 1335 conceded to Robert de Aylynchagh
and Walter atte Welle a curtilage called 'Clerkeshagh' and a field called 'La Vynye' at Aylynchagh
in Great Bookham, (fn. 21) the latter probably representing
the messuage and lands called 'Vines' mentioned as
forming part of the manor of Eastwick in 1571, (fn. 22) and
the name of which is preserved to the present day in
Phenice Farm.
William Dabernon, son of John, died in 1359,
leaving a daughter Elizabeth, wife of William Croyser, (fn. 23) and afterwards of John de Grey de Ruthyn, in
conjunction with whom in 1391 she conveyed the
manor of Eastwick to trustees. (fn. 24) William Croyser,
son of Elizabeth and William, (fn. 25) had a daughter
Anne, (fn. 26) who married first Sir Ingelram Bruyn, (fn. 27) and
afterwards Sir Henry Norbury, in conjunction with
whom in 1436 she conveyed the manor to trustees, (fn. 28)
who in 1439 re-conveyed the manor to Henry and
Anne and their heirs. (fn. 29) Sir John Norbury, son of
Henry and Anne, had a daughter Anne, married to
Sir Richard Haleighwell, (fn. 30) by whom she had a daughter and heir, Joan, or Jane, who settled the manor
upon herself and her first (fn. 31) husband, Sir Edmund
Bray, kt., Lord Bray, for their lives, with remainder
to their son and heir, John, Lord Bray. (fn. 32) The latter
in 1547 sold all his lands in Effingham and Bookham
to Thomas Lyfield, (fn. 33) who married Frances, sister and
co-heir of Lord Bray, (fn. 34) with whom in 1571 he joined
in conveying the manor to Ralph Stevyn. (fn. 35) In 1584
John Stevyn and Elizabeth his wife were in possession of the manor, (fn. 36) and in 1608 Edward Stevyn,
husbandman, son and heir of John Stevyn, yeoman,
deceased, in conjunction with his brothers John,
'shereman,' William, husbandman, Ralph, husbandman, and Richard, weaver, sold the manor and farm
of Eastwick to John Browne of Esher for the sum of
£320. (fn. 37) At a court of survey held for the manor of
Great Bookham in 1614, John Browne was found to
hold the whole and entire manor and demesnes of
Eastwick, with the rents and services of the free and
customary tenants, as it lay intermixed in the parish
and fields of Great Bookham. (fn. 38)
In 1626 John Morrice and Grace his wife and
William Cooke conveyed the manor to Sir Francis
Howard, lord of Great Bookham, who made Eastwick
his residence, and from this date the history of the
manor follows that of Great Bookham until 1809,
when Mr. Laurell (vide Great Bookham) sold Eastwick to Louis Bazalgette, who died in 1830. (fn. 39) In
1833 it was purchased of his executors by Mr. David
Barclay. (fn. 40) His son, Mr. H. D. Barclay, died as
owner of Eastwick in 1873. Mr. H. Barclay, his
son, sold the property, and it now belongs to
Mr. William Keswick, M.P., being merged in the
manor of Great Bookham.
Eastwick Park is the site of the old manor-house,
occupied formerly by the Lords Howard of Effingham.
The old house was re-faced and altered by Mr. James
Laurell after 1801, and further rebuilt by the late
Mr. David Barclay after 1833. There is no vestige
of the older building, but the house is now a good
example of the Italian style.
The manor of SLYFIELD was probably held by
the family of that name of the lords of Great Bookham from very early times, but few records remain to
throw light upon its early history. In 1201 Ralph
son of Walter de Cunton conveyed to William le
Faucier a virgate of land in 'Slifeld,' (fn. 41) and in 1217
William son of Roger Testard proved his claim to
half a hide in 'Slifeld.' (fn. 42)
In 1368 Nicholas atte Houke and Hawisa his wife,
and Walter Rykhous and Alice his wife, made conveyance to Nicholas de Slyfield and his heirs of a
messuage and 50 acres of land in 'Bokeham,' which
Joan widow of Thomas le Frye was holding for life, (fn. 43)
and a later document shows that Nicholas held this
tenement jointly with the manor of Slyfield and its
appurtenances, extending to a watercourse called
Emlyn Streame (the Mole), which marked the
boundary between this manor and Stoke D'Abernon,
and that Nicholas and his ancestors had held the same
from time immemorial. (fn. 44) From this date the manor
continued with the Slyfield family, and Edmund son
of John Slyfield, who was sheriff of the county in
1582, by his will proved in 1590 directed his
executors not to pull down or deface any manner of
wainscot or glass in or about his house of Slyfield. (fn. 45)
In 1598 Henry Slyfield his
son died seised of the capital
messuage, manor or farm called
Slyfields, held of Sir William
Howard as of his manor of
Great Bookham, leaving a son
and heir Edmund, (fn. 46) who in
March 1614 sold the manor
to Henry Breton and his heirs
for the sum of £2,000. (fn. 47) In
November of the same year
Henry Breton conveyed these
premises, for the sum of £380,
to George Shiers, (fn. 48) who died
in 1642 leaving his second son Robert his heir. (fn. 49)
George Shiers, son of Robert, was created a baronet
1684, and, dying unmarried in 1685, aged twentyfive, left his estates to his mother, Elizabeth Shiers,
who died in 1700, having devised this estate to
Hugh Shortrudge, clerk in holy orders, (fn. 50) rector of
Fetcham. The latter suffered a recovery in 1714,
and in 1715 conveyed the estate to trustees for
charitable uses, but chiefly for the benefit of Exeter
College, Oxford, thereby carrying out an intention
of Mrs. Elizabeth Shiers, who is commemorated at
Exeter College, Oxford, as a benefactor. (fn. 51) The present occupants of Slyfield Manor House are Mr. Edward J. M. Gore and the Hon. Mrs. Gore.
Slyfield. Gules a fesse engrailed argent between three saltires or.
Slyfield House is situated on the main road between
Letherhead and Cobham on the banks of the Mole,
and is near Stoke D'Abernon Church. It now consists of quite a small portion of the original house,
which was quandrangular or C-shaped in plan, the
present dwelling-house representing about one-half of
the south side, while the block which is now used as
farm-buildings formed the north-east angle.
Slyfield House, Great Bookham
The arms of Shiers occur in two rooms of the
house, while there is no instance of the Slyfield coat;
and there is nothing to suggest
that any parts of the existing
buildings are earlier than the
advent of the Shiers in 1614.
The house is built of red brick,
the south front being of two
stories divided into bays by
Ionic pilasters standing on high
plinths, and running up to a
moulded cornice under deepprojecting eaves with modillions, with a very picturesque
effect. The pilasters have a
considerable entasis, and at
half height shields in slightly raised brickwork with lions'
heads and fleurs de lis, a treatment recalling Inigo
Jones's work on the west side of Lincoln's Inn Fields.
The western part of this front has a curved brick
gable, and the pilasters are differently treated, having
simple moulded Tuscan capitals; this was evidently
the central feature of the front, the western half being
now represented only by the lower part of its façade
with remains of the pilasters dividing the bays.
The windows have for the most part 18th-century
sashes, but some of the cut-brick heads and sills
remain, and the first-floor window in the gable,
though possibly not original, has an arched head and
square-faced wooden mullions and transom, with
leaded casements. The remainder of the exterior is
of no great interest, a new wing has been added on
to the east end, and the whole of the west wall, in
which is the entrance, is modern.
Shiers of Slyfield, baronet. Or a bend azure between a lion sable and three oak leaves vert with three scallops or on the bend.
The hall is now quite small, being only a fragment
of the original. At the top of the north wall is a
wooden balustrade, which is now blocked up on one
side. All the doors opening into the rooms from the
hall are panelled and hung in solid carved frames.
The landing above is supported by a massive beam
which rests on carved and moulded pilasters, and at
the end of the hall is a massive staircase with large
square-carved newels and moulded tops, and in the
place of balusters there are carved pierced panels of
strapwork. At the foot of the stairs are original doggates.
Outbuildings, Slyfield House, Great Bookham
The drawing and dining rooms on the south side
of the ground-floor are panelled, and the former has
also a fine plaster ceiling with fleurs de lis, swags, &c.,
in guilloche borders, and in the centre is a figure of
'Plenty.' Over the fireplace of this room are the arms
of Shiers carved in oak, impaling those of Rutland of
Mitcham, which are Gules a border engrailed or with
an inescutcheon of the like coat. The dining-room
fireplace has plain black marble jambs and white
marble moulded shelf, and is apparently original.
On the first floor all the rooms are panelled, and
several of them have very fine ceilings, the best one
being in the south-west room over the drawing-room
and entrance. It is coved and has an intricate strapwork design with a central cartouche containing a
winged amorino in a wreath, and others occur in the
ceiling, among swags of fruit, gryphons, &c. The
tympanum at the east end has similar strapwork and
a shield bearing the arms of Shiers with helm, crest,
and mantle.
The bedroom over the dining-room has a flat ceiling with a moulded dentil cornice and wide moulded
ribs enriched with running patterns of fruit and
festoons, and in the centre is a large oval wreath containing a female figure holding a palm branch in her
right hand and some uncertain object in her left.
The room over the kitchen, used as a nursery, has
also an ornamental ceiling with flowered ribs.
The out-buildings to the north-west of the house
are L-shaped, built of brick with the exception of the
lower portion of the north side, which is of flint.
They appear to be of somewhat earlier date than the
rest, perhaps c. 1600, and retain a good deal of Gothic
character.
The front is divided into two stories by a moulded
brick frieze with architrave and cornice, the lower
story having at the east end a pair of rusticated brick
pilasters with Ionic capitals and moulded bases, presumably marking one jamb of an opening now otherwise destroyed, the building having been cut short at
this point and made up with later brickwork. The
windows in both stories are nearly square with moulded
brick labels and wood frames with leaded casements,
the labels in the upper story being continuous, breaking up over the windows and over shallow roundheaded recesses which alternate with the windows in
the eastern part of the range. There is a deep
modillion cornice under the eaves as on the principal
building. The west front is like the north, but is of
brick throughout, and has a plainer cornice and a
doorway with a three-centred head.
The Domesday Survey mentions a mill at Great
Bookham worth 10s., which afterwards became
appurtenant to Slyfield Manor, and with regard to
which a lengthy dispute arose between the Slyfields
and the lords of the manor of Stoke D'Abernon. The
mill, on the Mole, was on the boundary of Stoke
D'Abernon and of the Slyfield property which lies
on the river bank. In the early 16th century John
Slyfield alleged that Sir Edmund Bray had wilfully
turned away from his water corn-mill the stream
called Emlyn Streame, which worked the mill and
which formed the boundary between the manors of
Slyfield and Stoke D'Abernon, and it was represented
that when in 1375 Nicholas Slyfield had granted the
reversion of certain lands in Great Bookham to
William Croyser and Elizabeth his wife, it had been
on the expressed condition that Nicholas and his
heirs should not be disturbed in their possession of a
wharf extending from the north part of the water
running to their mill to the south-east angle of the
wood of the said William and Elizabeth called 'the
parke.' (fn. 52) In 1614 there were appurtenant to the
manor of Slyfield two water corn-mills and one
fulling-mill, called 'Slyfield Mills.' (fn. 53)
The manor of POLESDEN (High Polesden,
Bookham Polesden) was in 1470 conveyed by Thomas
Slyfield and Anne his wife to John Norbury, (fn. 54) who in
1491–2 enfeoffed trustees to hold it to the use of
Robert Castleton and Elizabeth his wife (fn. 55) (daughter
of Sir Henry Norbury (fn. 56) ). John Castleton, son and
heir of Robert and Elizabeth, died in 1545 seised of
the manor of 'Pollesdon,' held of the king as of his
manor of Great Bookham, his son and heir William
Castleton being then aged seven years. (fn. 57) William
Castleton and Elizabeth his wife joined in conveyances
of the manor in 1572 and 1584, (fn. 58) and in 1630
William Castleton (presumably a son of the above)
with Phoebe his wife conveyed the manor to Anthony
Rous and Anne his wife. (fn. 59) Samuel Rous, the son of
Anthony, jointly with Elizabeth his wife, made a
cònveyance of the manor in 1680. (fn. 60) In 1713
Edward Symes and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of
Samuel Rous, (fn. 61) suffered a recovery of the manor, and
in 1723 Elizabeth Symes, then a widow, jointly with
Thomas Harris, her son by her first husband, Thomas
Harris, of Gray's Inn, sold the estate to Arthur
Moore. (fn. 62) He sold to his brother, Col. Thomas
Moore, in 1729. The latter, who died in 1735, was
succeeded by his nephew, William Moore, M.P. for
Banbury, whose executors in 1747 were empowered
by Act of Parliament to sell the estate for the payment of his debts. (fn. 63) It was purchased in the same
year by Francis Geary, (fn. 64) Captain R.N., afterwards Admiral
Sir Francis Geary. He died
in 1796, aged eighty-six. In
1804 it was conveyed by his
son Sir William Geary, bart.,
to the trustees of the Right
Hon. R. B. Sheridan. In the
particulars of the sale in 1804
it is stated that the mansionhouse and principal part of the
land contained about 341 acres,
the terrace walk in the pleasure ground being 900 ft. in
length. Mr. Sheridan died
in 1816, and in 1818 the
estate was purchased by Mr.
Joseph Bonsor, who rebuilt the mansion-house, and
was succeeded in 1835 by his son of the same
name. (fn. 65) It was subsequently bought by Sir Walter
Farquhar, bart., and after his death in 1896 was
acquired by Sir Clinton E. Dawkins, K.C.B. Captain
the Hon. Ronald H. Fulke-Greville bought it in 1906.
The manor of High Polesden was in 1784 united with
the reputed manor of Polesden Lacy in Mickleham,
and is now commonly called Polesden Lacy.
Plan of St. Nicholas's Church, Great Bookham
Bonsor. Six pieces azure and argent with three lions' heads razed or in the azure and a chief indented erminois with three roses gules therein.
CHURCHES
The church of ST. NICHOLAS
has a chancel 34 ft. 8 in. by 17 ft. 6 in.,
north vestry, south chapel 19 ft. by
18 ft. 8 in., nave 52 ft. 8 in. by 18 ft. 9 in., north aisle
48 ft. 10 in. long and 19 ft. wide. The south aisle
forms a continuation of the south chapel, and is of
the same width for 35 ft. 6 in. in length, the remainder
of the aisle at the west end being of the original
5 ft. 9 in. in width. There is a west tower 16 ft. 6 in.
wide by 15 ft. 6 in. deep. All these dimensions are
internal.
The church is mentioned in Domesday, and it is
not improbable that the present nave is of the same
size as that of the 11th-century building, and may
have some of the original stones incorporated in its
walling. The first addition to the plan was a south
aisle and the existing arcade between the years 1140
and 1150, and about one-third of this narrow aisle
still remains at the west. Some thirty or forty years
later a north aisle followed. Two of the pillars of
the north arcade are octagonal, but the middle pillar
is square on its east side and semi-octagonal to the
west; it is evident that the two western bays were
completed first, with the semi-octagonal east respond,
and that the intention was to make this respond into
an octagonal pillar when the two other bays were
added. The octagonal pillars have two whole and
two half scallops on each face of their capitals; it will
be seen that the scallops on the middle pillar were
similarly treated with a view to the ultimate splaying
off of the eastern angles to complete the octagon.
This was, however, not done, and the scallops were
continued round a square-edged block forming the
east half of the column. The reason was perhaps the
difficulty experienced in bringing the arches, cut in
the older and thicker wall, on to the octagonal abaci
of the capitals. It is probable that the west tower
was also an addition of the end of the 12th century.
The next increase was in the chancel, which is a most
valuable instance of dated 14th-century work, an
inscription on its east wall recording that it was built
in 1341 by Abbot John de Rutherwyk, of Chertsey.
Late in the 14th century a south porch with a
parvise over was added. When, late in the 15th
century, a large south chapel was set out, the eastern
half of the aisle was pulled down and the new south
wall brought out to the width of the porch, which
was included in the chapel by the removal of its east
wall and the abolition of its upper chamber. It is
not certain whether the tower was ever carried higher
in masonry than at present; but if so it was pulled
down to its present level and the existing timber
structure and spire built in its place some time in the
15th or following century. A small archway at the
west end of the north wall of the chancel is also of
late 14th-century workmanship; it is very narrow,
and presumably opened into a small chapel, perhaps
made by lengthening the north aisle eastward.
The westernmost bay of the north arcade is now
blocked; this is said to have been done to form a
vestry there (now removed), and dates probably from
the beginning of the last century. The narrow aisle
was pulled down and the present wider one built
about 1845, when the former late 15th-century
windows appear to have been re-used. The vestry is
also a modern addition; and time and weather have
necessitated the repair partly or wholly of many of the
windows and other external stonework.
The east bays of both arcades of the nave have been
altered, probably to accommodate a rood-loft passage,
and are both higher and wider than the rest.
The east window of the chancel is an original one
(c. 1341) of three ogee trefoiled lights under a twocentred head filled with net tracery; the jambs and
arch are double-chamfered outside, and the latter has
a moulded label with large bearded head-stops, nicknamed locally 'the Parson and the Clerk,' of very
coarse rough work, and later in date than the window.
The easternmost of the three north windows (which
are all coeval with the chancel), is of two cinquefoiled sharply-pointed lights with a quatrefoiled spandrel in a two-centred head. The second window is
like it, but has been closed up with stone, doubtless
when the vestry was added; the third window is a
cinquefoiled single light like the others, but somewhat
differently drawn, and perhaps due to a later alteration. Below it is a low-side window. To the west
of it is a late 14th-century arch with semi-octagonal
jambs, moulded bases and capitals, and a moulded
two-centred arch of two orders—a wave mould and a
double ogee—with a wide hollow between. A modern
doorway between the second and third windows opens
into the vestry, which has a two-light east window and
a north doorway.
In the south wall is a piscina with old chamfered
jambs stopped out above the sill, and a modern trefoiled head. The two south windows are like those
opposite, and at the south-west is a wide late 15thcentury arch to the south chapel.
The chancel arch is entirely modernized, and has
plain chamfered jambs, the chamfers on the east side
having splayed stops, and on the west side broach
stops; the arch is pointed and of two chamfered
orders, the inner springing from moulded corbels.
The north arcade of the nave has four bays; the
east respond is square, and of modern stonework with
a chamfered abacus; the first arch is of square section,
and is pointed. The first pillar is octagonal with a
base-mould of two rounds, and a chamfered sub-base,
and the scalloped capital is octagonal with a chamfered abacus; the second pier is square on its east
side, and half-octagonal to the west, the base is as that
of the other pillar, but is not continued round the
east side; the capital is scalloped, with the irregularity in the spacing of the scallops already referred
to on its north and south faces; the third pillar is
partly buried in the filling of the western bay, and it
is octagonal, like the first; and the west respond is
wholly buried. The arches are pointed and of a
single chamfered order, and the filling of the western
bay is pierced by a modern window of two plain
pointed lights.
The south arcade also consists of four bays, and has
a modern square east respond, and an east arch wider
and higher than the rest; the pillars are circular, and
the west respond corresponds with them; the bases
are square with a moulding following the form of the
pillars, and leaf spurs at the angles; the scalloped
capitals are square above, and have chamfered abaci;
and the arches are semicircular of a single square order.
The north aisle is lighted by two north windows,
and one in each end wall; they are all of three cinquefoiled lights under two-centred heads, and appear to
be of late 15th-century date with some modern
stones, though they are said to be entirely modern;
they have a wide casement moulding inside and out.
The east window of the south chapel is apparently
modern, and contains stained glass in memory of
Lord Raglan (Commander-in-Chief in the Crimean
War), dating from 1859; it consists of five cinquefoiled lights with cusped vertical tracery above, in a
two-centred head; the jambs are moulded with a
wide hollow.
In the south wall is a 15th-century piscina with an
eight-foiled basin and stone shelf in a trefoiled ogeeheaded recess with pierced spandrels, and the three
windows on the south side of the chapel or widened
aisle are each of three cinquefoiled lights under segmented heads; they have moulded jambs, arches, and
labels, and have been partly repaired with cement.
The doorway at the south-west corner was that to the
former porch; it has two double ogee orders separated
by a hollow in the jambs and pointed arch. In the
western wall are two windows, one above the other,
each of two cinquefoiled lights, and of modern stonework. The blocked doorways to the former parvise
still remain in place; the lower opens from the
narrow part of the aisle, and the upper is in the west
wall of the wider portion; the stair has been removed. The south-west window (in the narrow
portion of the aisle) is modern, and has two trefoiled
lights with a quatrefoil over in a pointed head. The
west window is a tiny round-headed light dating from
the 12th century, and probably contemporary with
the aisle.
The tower opens to the nave with a depressed
pointed arch, perhaps of late 12th-century date, with
two chamfered orders, at the springing of which has
been a string, now cut away. The base mould is,
however, preserved. In the north wall is a small
modern round-headed light, and the west doorway,
with chamfered jambs and four-centred arch, is perhaps early 16th-century work. Over it is a modern
window of two elliptical-headed lights; and the
angles of the tower are strengthened by heavy buttresses, that at the north end of the west wall being a
raking one of brick, while the others are old, of
stone repaired with brick in places; a modern stair
turret rises in the north-east angle. The masonry
walls stop at the first floor, and the upper part of the
tower is of timber carried up within the lines of the
masonry tower on heavy oak posts from the floor, and
covered with modern boarding; the parts gathered
in over the walls are covered with stone slabs, while
the tower is crowned by an octagonal shingled spire.
Most of the walling of the church is of flint and
stone, but the lower parts of the chancel are faced
with blocks of Heath stone—a crystalline sandstone—
and the north-east angle has some very large quoins in
this stone, and in a pebbly conglomerate deeply
coloured with iron.
The chancel has a modern plastered collar-beam
roof with moulded wood ribs. The nave also has a
plastered collar-beam roof with moulded trusses, apparently modern.
The south chapel roof is gabled and ceiled below,
and dates in part from the building of the aisle and
chapel; it has an old moulded tie-beam over the first
arch of the arcade; the space above the tie is filled
with modern wood tracery; the narrow south aisle
has a flat ceiling, and the north aisle has a modern
gabled roof like the others.
The altar table, chancel screen, pulpit and seats
are all of modern workmanship; across the south
chapel are the remains of the lower part of a 15thcentury oak screen having eight bays of closed panels
with feathered trefoiled heads; the main cusp points
had roses attached, but most of these have been
destroyed; the posts and rails are moulded; some of
the former have panelled buttresses on their faces;
one of the panels has the remains of the original
painting, and the rest contain modern decoration. The
font has a late 12th-century grey marble bowl; it is
square, chamfered and rounded to a circle in its lower
edge, with the plain capitals of four shafts cut out of
the solid; the stem and base are modern.
The oldest of the inscribed stones and monuments
is that in the east wall of the chancel recording the
building of the chancel; it reads:—'Hec: domus:
Abbate fuerat: constructa: Johanne: de Rutherwyka: decus ob: Sancti: Nicholai: Anno: Milleno: triceno bisqz: viceno: primo: [Christe]: ei
paret hinc sedem requiei.'
On the rail of the old screen in the south chapel is
fixed a small brass inscription reading in black letter:—
'Pray for the soule of John Barmsdale and Marion
his wyf the which John desseced in August in the
yere of oure Lord m cccc lxxxi ō whos soules Jhu
have m . .' In the nave floor, near the chancel screen,
is a brass inscribed 'Hic jacet Elizabeth nup ux
Thome Slyfield ac quonda ux Georgii Brewes
armig'i filia Edwardi Seynt John milit' que obiit
xxvii die m[en]s' Augusti Ao d[omin]i Mo 1111c xxxiii'; above
the inscription is the figure of a lady in a cushion headdress, high-waisted loose dress, and loose hanging sleeves.
Under the south arch to the chancel is a brass inscription:—'Here lieth buried Henry Slyfield Esq. and
Elizabeth his wife who was the daughter of Richard
Buckfold citizen of Lond: the said H. was of ye age of
56 yeres and deceased AnoDni 1598 and had issue by
his wife 6 sonnes and 4 daughters.' Over it is his
figure in a gown and ruff, and his hands in prayer; and
her figure in a tight bodice, full farthingale and ruff;
below are the children in one plate. There are three
shields of arms, the first being Slyfield quartering
Weston of West Clandon, Sable a cheveron or between
three lions' heads razed argent; the second has the
quartered coat of Slyfield impaling Buckfold, Party
cheveronwise argent and sable three bucks' heads
countercoloured with their horns or; the third has
Slyfield impaling Cobb, Party cheveronwise gules and
sable with two swans argent in the chief and a herring or in the foot.
Further east is a brass inscription to Elizabeth
Slyfield wife of Edmund Slyfield and daughter of
Walter Lambert, of Carshalton; it bears no date,
but from other sources the date 1597 is known.
On the south side of the east respond of the south arcade is a brass inscription to Edmund Slyfield, who died
1590; it has a quaint epitaph in 50 lines beginning:—
'Of Slyfield Place in Surrey soile
Here Edmond Slyfeld lyes
A stout Esquier who allweys sett
Godes feare before his eyes
A Justice of the Peace he was
From the syxt Kinge Edwards dayes
And worthely for vertues use
Dyd wyn deserved prayse.' …
In the south aisle is a brass inscription to Robert
Shiers, a Bencher of the Inner Temple, who died
in 1668; over the inscription he is represented
in a large brass wearing a lawyer's gown and holding a book; on a shield are the arms of Shiers
impaling a fesse wavy ermine between three crescents
ermine.
There is also a floor slab to Edward Shiers, second
son of Robert Shiers, died 1670, and a large white
marble monument in the north aisle. Robert Shiers,
of Slyfield, died 1668, Elizabeth his wife 1700, and
Sir George Shiers, bart., his son, died 1685. There
is another to Sir Francis Howard, kt., son of Lord
Howard of Effingham, died 1651. Among the later
monuments may be mentioned Colonel Thomas Moore,
of Polesden, 1735; William Moore, 1746; and
Cornet Francis Geary, eldest son of Admiral Geary,
who fell in the American War in 1776, and the monument has a bas-relief showing the incident which
caused his death.
Outside in the churchyard is an ancient coffin-lid
on which is a floriated cross in relief, but without an
inscription; it is probably of the 14th century.
In the tower are two bells, and space where there
was formerly a third; one of them bears no mark or
inscription, the other was cast by William Eldridge in
1675.
The communion plate includes a cup, evidently of
the 17th century, but without a hallmark; the
maker's mark is R A over a star; it has a cable band
on the lower edge of the cup, and a trumpet-shaped
stem; there is also a paten with mark of 1675 dated
1677, a flagon of 1762, and cup of 1859, all of silver;
besides these there exist two pewter plates, one dated
1730.
The first book of the registers is a parchment copy
containing baptisms and marriages from 1632 to
1711 and burials to 1680; the second has baptisms
from 1695 to 1812, marriages 1695 to 1753, and
burials 1680 to 1812; in it is a note that the yew
tree and five walnut trees (south of the churchyard)
were planted in February 1733–4; the third book
has marriages from 1754 to 1812. There is also a
vestry book, in which are recorded the names of all
the churchwardens from 1631.
In 1632 Samuel Cherrie was vicar. In 1633 six of
his parishioners were excommunicated, but the cause
is not given. One of them was absolved in 1635.
The church stands in the midst of a roughly triangular churchyard, the south and west boundaries are
on the road sides, and at their angle is a lych gate of
1897.
The church of ST. BARNABAS, RANMORE,
was built in 1859 by Lord Ashcombe, then Mr. George
Cubitt, from the designs of Sir Gilbert Scott. It is
a handsome stone church, with chancel, nave, and
aisles in 13th-century style, with a tower and spire
which form a conspicuous landmark. The tower is
vaulted and treated as a lantern over the crossing.
ADVOWSON
The church of Great Bookham was
appurtenant to the manor in 1086, (fn. 66)
and in 1292 was confirmed with
its issues to the Abbot and convent of Chertsey, under
letters patent from John de Pontoise, Bishop of Winchester, reciting a bull of Clement II given the
fourth year of his pontificate. (fn. 67)
An endowment of the vicarage in the same year by
Philip de Barthon and John de Pontoise secured to
the vicar all offerings made upon the altar of the
church, with all the small tithes, except hay and wool,
which belonged to the abbot and convent, and a
house near the court once belonging to the rector of
the church. (fn. 68) The rectory and advowson having
been surrendered to the king in 1537 by John, Abbot of
Chertsey, (fn. 69) were regranted in the same year to Bisham,
the new foundation, (fn. 70) and on the dissolution of the
latter a draught was made for a grant to Sir Christopher
More for life, to be held in chief for the twentieth
part of a knight's fee. (fn. 71) This was apparently not
completed, for in 1544 a grant of the rectory and
advowson to Richard and John Sackvile is recorded. (fn. 72)
They seem to have conveyed to Sir Christopher
More, who died in 1549 seised of the rectory. (fn. 73) His
son, William More, in 1560, in conjunction with
Margaret his wife, obtained licence to alienate to
Thomas Lyfield and Frances his wife and their heirs. (fn. 74)
Thomas died in 1596, having settled the rectory and
advowson on his grandson Sir Francis Vincent, (fn. 75) whose
grandson Sir Francis Vincent (fn. 76) in 1657 conveyed it
to Francis and Samuel Rous. (fn. 77) Francis Rous, who
was provost of Eton College, died in 1659, having
bequeathed £40 per annum out of the parsonage or
tithe to maintain two scholars at Pembroke College,
Oxford. The remainder of the tithe he bequeathed
to the minister of the parish, the patronage of the
living to his kinsman Samuel Rous, and his lands and
interest in the parsonage to Colonel Anthony Rous. (fn. 78)
Samuel Rous presented to the living in 1663, (fn. 79) and in
1713 Edward Symes and Elizabeth his wife, of
Polesden, suffered a recovery of a moiety of the rectory,
with all the tithes pertaining thereto and the advowson of the vicarage, together with the manor of
Polesden, (fn. 80) with which it descended until sold by Sir
William Geary in 1803 to James Laurell, who in
1812 conveyed it in trust to John Harrison Loveridge,
together with the manor of Great Bookham. (fn. 81)
Before 1821 the advowson was bought by William
Heberden, M.D., F.R.S., who in that year gave the
living to his son, the Rev. W. Heberden, who succeeded to the advowson also in 1845, and died in
1879. It was bought by the late Viscount Downe,
who died in 1900, and in 1903 by Mr. Arthur Bird,
of the Grange, Great Bookham. (fn. 82)
The living of St. Barnabas is a rectory in the gift
of Lord Ashcombe.
CHARITIES
Smith's charity is distributed as in
other Surrey parishes.
In 1625 Mr. John Brown, of
Great Bookham, left 30s. yearly, charged upon land in
Eastwick Manor.
Sir George Shiers, bart., of Slyfield, left in 1685
an annual rent-charge of £36 3s. (less land tax) upon
land in Hertfordshire for Great Bookham, to
apprentice children, to portion poor maids, and to
relieve the aged poor or those with large families who
had not come upon the rates. It is commemorated
by a tablet in the church, dated 1717.
In 1715, by deed enrolled in chancery, a settlement was made by Dr. Shortrudge, Sir Francis Vincent
and others, of land in Hertfordshire and in Bookham
for the use of various charities, the residue to go to
the vicars of Great Bookham, Effingham, Letherhead,
and Shalford for ever, on condition that they read
the Common Prayer in their churches on Wednesdays
and Fridays; that they preach sermons proper for the
several days on Good Friday and 30 January; that
the vicar of 'Lethered' administers the Holy
Sacrament, according to the form of the Church of
England, in the parish church there on the first Sunday of every month. This charity is commemorated
by a tablet in the church, by order of the trustees.
There is a similar tablet in Shalford Church. The
second condition, as to 30 January, is not now
observed.