WISLEY
Wiselei (xi cent.); Wyseleye (xiii cent).
Wisley is a small parish 4 miles south-west from
Weybridge station. It contains 1,076 acres. In
shape it is roughly triangular, the apex southwards,
and each side about two miles in length. It is
bounded on the north by Walton-on-Thames and
Byfleet, on the east by Cobham and Ockham,
on the south and west by Ockham and Pyrford. The
soil is mainly the alluvium, sand, and gravel of the
Wey valley; the old natural course of the river runs
through it, and Wisley Common on the south-east
side is on the patch of Bagshot Sand which makes
St. George's Hill and Cobham Common. There is
no village of Wisley; merely some scattered farms and
cottages. The road from London to Guildford,
through Cobham and Ripley, passes through the
parish.
Neolithic flints have been found in Wisley. One
fine polished celt is in the Archaeological Society's
Museum, Guildford. In 1906 an ancient dug-out
canoe was found in the old river bed of the Wey. It
is still, 1911, in the possession of the farmer on whose
land it was found.
The parish is ecclesiastically attached to Pyrford.
Slade Farm and a cottage were transferred from
Wisley to Ockham 25 March 1883. (fn. 1) The children
of Wisley Common attend Byfleet School.
Fox Warren is the seat of Mrs. Charles Buxton.
MANOR
The manor of WISLEY was held at
the time of Domesday by Oswold, lord
of Wotton; (fn. 2) and the overlordship follows
the descent of Wotton (q.v.). Early in the 13th
century Roger de Somerey was holding in sub-fee
and demised the manor to Robert de Briwes, (fn. 3) who
in 1243 leased it to Walter le Basle and Denise
his wife. (fn. 4) Apparently this grant was for Walter's
life, since Denise after her husband's death gave up
her rights in the manor. (fn. 5)
Robert de Briwes died in
1275 holding it of Ralph
Camoys of Wotton, and left a
son and heir John, then forty
years of age. (fn. 6) In 1282 John
effected a settlement of the
manor on his daughter Beatrice, (fn. 7) who soon after became
the wife of Robert son of William Burnel. (fn. 8)
Camoys. Argent a chief gules with three bezants therein.
The exact date at which
Wisley passed from the
Briwes family is uncertain. (fn. 9)
Lands in Somerset held by John de Briwes in 1285
were less than twenty years later in the possession
of Robert Fitz Payne, (fn. 10) to whom Wisley ultimately
passed. (fn. 11) In 1328 Robert Burnel, who had acquired
the manor in right of his wife Beatrice, brought an
action against Robert Fitz Payne, who had apparently
ousted him from it. (fn. 12) The end of the suit has not
been discovered, but since the Fitz Paynes remained
in possession, they evidently established their right to
the estate.
Robert Fitz Payne married Ela daughter of Sir
Guy de Bryan, (fn. 13) but had no male heirs, and at Ela's
death in 1355 the manor passed to her cousin (fn. 14)
Robert second son of Lord Grey of Codnor, under the
terms of a settlement made in 1324. (fn. 15) Robert de
Codnor assumed the name of Fitz Payne (fn. 16) and died
seised of the manor in 1392, (fn. 17) when the manor passed
to his daughter Isabel, wife of Richard de Poynings.
She did not long survive her father, but died seised of
the manor in 1393, (fn. 18) holding of Thomas de Camoys,
lord of Wotton. She left a son and heir Robert then
fourteen years old. In 1434 Robert de Poynings settled
the manor on his daughter Eleanor on her marriage with
Henry Percy, son and heir of the Earl of Northumberland. (fn. 19) She died in 1483,
and was succeeded in the possession of the manor by her
son Henry Earl of Northumberland. (fn. 20) The earl was murdered in a riot in 1489, and
shortly afterwards a dispute
arose among the descendants
of Sir Guy de Bryan touching
the lands inherited from him. (fn. 21)
Two of the parties in this
suit were the Earls of Northumberland and Ormond, and
in the ensuing division of property Wisley was evidently assigned to Ormond, for John
Covert died in 1503 seised of the manor by Ormond's
grant. (fn. 22) At Covert's death the manor passed to his
son John, who died in 1503, (fn. 23) leaving only daughters.
Wisley passed to his cousin Richard Covert, who died
in 1547. (fn. 24) The manor then became the property
of Giles Covert, a distant cousin of Richard, who retained possession until his death in 1556, (fn. 25) when he was
succeeded by his brother Richard. (fn. 26) Richard Covert
in 1594 joined with his son Anthony in conveying
the manor to Sir John Wolley and Elizabeth his wife,
daughter of Sir William More. (fn. 27) On the death of
Sir John in 1596 his son and heir Francis, then
thirteen years old, succeeded him. (fn. 28) Francis died
without lawful issue in 1609, leaving descendants of
his father's three sisters-in-law as his heirs. (fn. 29) Wisley
passed to Sir Arthur Mainwaring, son of his mother's
sister Anne, who was in possession in 1610. (fn. 30)
Wisley Church from the South-east
Covert. Gules a fesse ermine between three martlets or.
Sir Arthur conveyed the manor in 1641 to Sir Robert
Parkhurst, (fn. 31) who died in 1651. His son died in
1674, and in 1677 it was sold to Denzil Onslow. (fn. 32)
It passed under his will, after his widow's death
in 1729, to Thomas Lord Onslow, and early in the
19th century it was exchanged for the manor of
Papworth in Send with Lord King, (fn. 33) whose descendant the Earl of Lovelace is the present owner.
Plan of Wisley Church
A mill and a fishery were attached to the manor
at the time of Domesday; they do not, however,
appear again. (fn. 34)
In 1252 Robert de Briwes received a grant of free
warren in his demesne lands of Wisley, provided that
the lands were not in the king's forest. (fn. 35) Wisley,
partly on the west bank of the Wey (old river), was
to that extent in the forest of Windsor.
In 1199 King John granted the Earl of Leicester
the right of free chase in Wisley; (fn. 36) and various members of the royal family seem to have enjoyed rights
there at different times. (fn. 37)
CHURCH
The dedication of the church of WISLEY has been lost. It is a very small
building consisting of a chancel 15 ft. 7 in.
by 11 ft. 4 in., and a nave 31 ft. 5 in. by 14 ft. 1 in.,
both of late 12th-century date, to which has been added
a wooden north porch, probably in the 17th century,
and a small modern south vestry. The church was
restored in 1872.
The east wall of the chancel has a two-light window,
c. 1600, with a transom, set in the splayed jambs of
the original round-headed 12th-century opening, the
head of which has remains of ' masonry pattern'
decoration, every third course being ornamented with
four-leaved flowers as a diaper. The north and south
walls of the chancel have each two 12th-century
round-headed windows, repaired in the heads and
sills, with splayed jambs and semicircular rear arches,
also having remains of colour. At the south-east
of the chancel is a square patch of the diaper
pattern left free from whitewash, giving it the effect
of a cross. At the south-west there is a blocked
square-headed window low down in the wall, which
seems to be a 13th-century insertion.
The chancel arch has jambs and semicircular arch
of one plain order with a chamfered abacus at the
springing, and on the west face of the jambs are
incomplete two-centred arched recesses, adjoined by
others in the north and south walls of the nave; they
seem to be of 13th-century date, and were designed
to give more room for the nave altars. In
the north recess is a small star, the remains
of painted decoration.
The side walls of the nave have each
one window which is similar to the east
window of the chancel, and the north
doorway has been almost entirely restored
in Bath stone, the only old parts being the
12th-century label, and the inner jambs
and splayed head. The outer jambs are
of two recessed orders with detached shafts
having moulded bases and scalloped capitals, and the semicircular arch has zigzag
ornament. The north porch is of plain
timber construction, the lower portion
being filled with modern brickwork.
The round-headed doorway to the vestry
in the south wall is quite plain, and seems
to be modern. Near its east jamb is a low
round-headed recess of uncertain date, and
west of the doorway is a consecration cross
painted on the wall, which seems to be one
of the original set. In the west wall of the nave are
two round-headed windows with original inner jambs
and rear arches, but modern outside, with small
shafts in the jambs. Over the west end of the nave
is a small wooden bell-turret containing one bell, and
capped by an octagonal spire which, with the sides of
the turret, is covered with shingles. All the walls
are built with a dark brown ironstone conglomerate
roughly plastered, and have no dressed stone angles,
and the roofs, which retain much of their old timbers,
are tiled. The internal fittings are all modern except
a late 16th-century wrought-iron hour-glass bracket
fixed on the wall near the pu pit.
The plate comprises a cup of 1713, a paten of
1714, and a plated flagon.
There are two books of registers, the first containing
entries of baptisms, marriages, and burials from 1666
all mixed together; after which follow separately
marriages from 1669 to 1752, baptisms from 1670 to
1798, and burials from 1699 to 1798. The second
book contains marriages from 1754 to 1812. The
baptisms and burials from 1798 to 1812 are missing.
There is also a book of churchwardens' accounts
from 1669, and in another book are the affidavits for
persons buried in woollen from 1680 to 1697.
ADVOWSON
There was a church at Wisley at
the time of Domesday. (fn. 38) The advowson followed the descent of the manor
(though the Black Prince presented in 1345 and in
1370) until the beginning of the 19th century, when
the manor was transferred to Lord King. The
Onslow family then retained the advowson and still
hold it. The living is now held with Pyrford.
CHARITIES
Smith's Charity is distributed as in
other Surrey parishes.
The parish books record the request,
2 May 1837, to the Poor Law Commissioners for
leave to sell a double tenement which had belonged
to the parish from time immemorial, and a single
tenement erected on land inclosed from the waste
about thirty years before, for the advantage of the
parish. The present advantage resulting is unknown.