WOKING
Wocingas (viii cent.); Wochinges (xi cent.);
Wokynge, Wockynge, Wochynghe, &c. (xiii and xiv
cent.).
Woking is a large parish giving its name to the hundred, 6 miles north from Guildford. It contains 8,802
acres, and is in extreme dimensions 6 miles from east
to west and 4 miles from north to south. It is
bounded on the north by Bisley and Horsell, on the
east by Pyrford and Send and Ripley, on the south
by Worplesdon, on the west by Pirbright. There is
still a little open land about Woking Heath, but it is
being covered rapidly with houses. Farther west
there is more open land towards Pirbright Common
and Brookwood. The soil is mainly Bagshot Sand,
with alluvium in the Wey Valley. The river and
the artificial navigation run through the parish. The
Basingstoke Canal also runs through it. It is traversed
by the main line of the South Western Railway, made
in 1838, and carried by a branch to Guildford from
a station at Woking Junction in 1845. Worplesdon
Station on this line to Guildford, and Brookwood
Station on the main line, are also in Woking Parish.
The road also from Guildford to Chertsey passes
through it.
Woking is ruled by an Urban District Council
under the Local Government Act of 1894. In 1901
part of Horsell was added to the Woking district. (fn. 1)
There are eighteen members chosen from five wards.
The parish is agricultural, where not occupied by
new houses on the former waste. A certain number
of small businesses have grown up in the new town.
In Old Woking Village is an extensive printing establishment of Messrs. Unwin, the Gresham Press.
Old Woking Mill is a paper mill. Woking Broad Mead
is the old common pasture of 150 acres along the
river, also called Send Mead. It is on the border of
the parishes, and Woking and Send have rights in it.
The old practice was, after the hay was cut, to
close it till 18 September, then to throw it open to
pasture for the occupiers till March, when it was
closed again for the grass to grow. The waste in
Sutton in Woking was inclosed in 1803. (fn. 2) The Inclosure Awards of 29 September 1815, Pyrford
and Woodham, and that of Sutton in Woking, 1803,
affected waste in the parish of Woking.
The parish was divided into nine tithings: Town
Street, the old village; Heathside, the rising ground
north of it towards the railway; Goldsworth or Goldings,
to the west of Woking Junction; Kingfield, north-west
of Woking; Sackleford, at the west end of Woking
Street; Mayfield, south-west; Hale End, near Goldings; Crastock, in the part of the parish near Brookwood; and Sutton, on the Wey.
The character of the parish has been entirely
transformed in about sixty years by the railway.
Woking village lies on the river (on the old river,
not on the navigation), and is out of the way, on no
frequented road. It was a market town, but obscure
even when Aubrey wrote, and is probably quite
unknown to many people who pass through or stay
in the modern Woking near the railway. In
addition to the market house of 1665, which still
stands in Woking village street, there are other picturesque old houses, notably a considerable brick
gabled house of the 17th century, near the west end.
On the hill above Hoe Bridge Place stood a brick
beacon tower, said to have been built by Sir Edward
Zouch to burn a light for directing messengers for
James I, when staying with him, across the trackless
wastes from Oatlands. It was more probably a beacon
tower for the public service. It was ruinous and
inaccessible for many years in the 19th century, and
was finally taken down in 1858.
Whitmoor House is the property of Mr. Philip
Witham, owner of a considerable estate in Woking.
Sutton Park Cottage is the seat of Sir Joseph Leese,
K.C., M.P.; Little Frankley, Hook Heath, of the
Rt. Hon. Alfred Lyttelton, K.C., M.P.; Uplands,
Maybury, of Sir A. T. Arundel, K.C.S.I.; Hook Hill,
Hook Heath, belongs to His Grace the Duke of
Sutherland; and Fishers Hill is a modern house built
by the Right Hon. G.W. Balfour for his own occupation.
St. Edward's Roman Catholic Church in Sutton
Park was built by Captain Salvin in 1876. There
is an iron Roman Catholic chapel, St. Dunstan's, in
Woking Town. There is a Baptist chapel built
in 1879. Mount Hermon Congregational Church
was built in 1903. There are also two chapels of
the Wesleyans at Woking and Knapp Hill, three of
the Primitive Methodists at Brookwood, Maybury,
and Woking, and a meeting-place of the Plymouth
Brethren. The Mosque at Maybury was built in
1889. The extensive buildings here were opened as
the Dramatic College for the training of actors in
1865; but failing to answer its purpose the place was
transformed by the exertions of Dr. G. W. Leitner, in
1886, into the Oriental Institute, for the accommodation of Indian subjects of the Crown visiting England, with two separate departments for high-caste
Hindus and for Mohammedans respectively. The
Public Hall, Woking, was built by a company in
Commercial Road in 1896.
The Mayford Industrial School, for destitute boys
not convicted of crime, was established at Wandsworth
in 1867, removed to Byfleet in 1871, and to its
present site near the line to Guildford south of Woking Town in 1886. It accommodates over one
hundred boys, and has a farm and workshops. A
cottage hospital was opened in 1893 in the Bath
Road, and was transferred to quarters in the Chobham
Road in 1897 as the Victoria Cottage Hospital, in
commemoration of the Diamond Jubilee. St. Peter's
Memorial Home, for sick poor, in connexion with the
Kilburn Sisterhood, was opened in 1885 and enlarged
in 1894, with additional rooms for ladies in bad
health and narrow circumstances. At Brookwood is
the Surrey County Asylum for Pauper Lunatics,
opened in 1867 and much enlarged in 1903. It
has a water tower 90 ft. high, which forms a conspicuous landmark. The convict prisons, male and
female, at Knapp Hill, first opened in 1859, are now
transformed into barracks. An Orphanage for the
children of servants of the London and South-Western
Railway was opened close to Woking Junction in 1909.
Woking Waterworks Company was established in
1882. It draws its chief supply from the chalk near
Clandon.
Brookwood Necropolis adjoins the Brookwood
Station. In 1854 a company purchased 2,000 acres
in Woking and Pirbright, of which 400 acres have
been laid out as a cemetery, and well planted with
rhododendrons and conifers. In 1889 the Woking
Crematorium was built. A public recreation ground
was laid out in 1906–7 between Woking Town and
Old Woking Village.
The oldest provided school in the village of Woking
was opened in 1848 as a Church school. It was
enlarged in 1901. St. John's was built as a Church
school in 1870 and enlarged in 1876. Maybury
was built in 1874, by the first elected School Board,
and enlarged in 1881, 1886, and 1893. Knapp Hill
was built in 1877, enlarged in 1884. Westfield was
built in 1884, and enlarged in 1891 and 1895;
the infants' school was built in 1896. Goldsworth
Road was built in 1898.
MANORS
The manor of WOKING seems to
have been Crown property from very
early times. When the Domesday Survey
was taken Woking was in the king's hands, and the
Confessor was also reported to have held it. (fn. 3) It
remained in the hands of the Crown for several
centuries. King John shortly after his accession made
a grant of the manor of Woking to Alan Basset, (fn. 4) who
held it for half a knight's fee. His eldest son Gilbert
was holding it in 1236–7. (fn. 5) He died in 1242. It
was held by his brother Fulk, (fn. 6) who was Bishop of
London and died in 1259. His younger brother
Philip succeeded. (fn. 7) On the death of Philip, who
left no heirs male, the manor descended to Aliva
his daughter, who was married twice. Her first
husband was Hugh le Despenser the Justiciar, killed
at Evesham, (fn. 8) to whom she bore the son who was
afterwards popularly known as the elder Despenser. (fn. 9) She married, secondly, Roger Bigod, Earl of
Norfolk, (fn. 10) against whom Elaine, wife of Philip Basset,
brought a suit for the dower which she ought to have
enjoyed in Woking Manor. (fn. 11) Aliva's death, which
occurred in 1281, was the signal for a dispute over
her estates. (fn. 12) The earl brought a suit against Hugh le
Despenser, Aliva's son and heir, on the grounds that
he himself had had issue by his wife, but withdrew
his claim. (fn. 13)
Hugh le Despenser was executed in 1326 in the
troubled time when Edward II was deposed, and
Woking reverted to the Crown. Edward III in the
first year of his reign granted the manor of Woking,
then said to have been forfeited by Hugh le Despenser,
to his uncle, Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent. (fn. 14)
Under Mortimer's régime, however, Edmund was
soon afterwards attainted and executed. (fn. 15) His son
Edmund was restored in 1330, but died in 1333 (fn. 16)
while yet a minor, and was succeeded by his brother
John. After John's death without issue in 1352 (fn. 17)
the manor became the right of his sister Joan, (fn. 18) then
married to Sir Thomas Holand, who was summoned to
Parliament as Earl of Kent in her right. (fn. 19) But his
widow Elizabeth kept part of it as dower till her death
in 1410–11. (fn. 20) The son of Joan and Thomas was
Thomas, second Earl of Kent in the Holand line. (fn. 21)
Joan died in 1386, and although the king is named
as her heir in the inquisition taken after her death, (fn. 22)
many of her lands apparently passed to her other son;
Thomas de Holand was certainly holding Woking at
the time of his death some ten years later. (fn. 23) In the
next year the Despensers released to Thomas his son
and heir all rights which they possessed in Woking
Manor. (fn. 24)
After the accession of Henry IV Thomas, whom
Richard had created Duke of Surrey and whom
Henry had deprived of the dignity, joined in the
conspiracy of 1400 against the king and was beheaded
as a traitor, and Woking was forfeited among his other
lands. (fn. 25) Henry IV, however, restored it to Alice
widow of Earl Thomas, (fn. 26) and she continued to hold
until her death in 1416. (fn. 27) She left her husband's
four sisters as co-heirs, and it seems as though
some deed of partition must have been made, since
Woking Manor remained intact in the possession of
the Beaufort Dukes of Somerset, (fn. 28) who descended
from Margaret, one of the co-heirs aforesaid. (fn. 29)
Edmund, Duke of Somerset, son of Margaret, was
slain at the first battle of St. Albans, (fn. 30) and it was
recorded at the time of his death that he held Woking
Manor of the king by the service of paying him one clove
gillyflower a year. He was
succeeded by his son Henry, (fn. 31)
who also embraced the Lancastrian cause, and was attainted
in 1461, restored in 1463, but
beheaded after the battle of
Hexham in 1464, and attainted after his death by an
Act annulling his former restoration.
Beaufort. France quartered with England in a border gobony argent and azure.
Woking passed to the Crown.
The rightful heir, Margaret
Beaufort, daughter of John
first Duke of Somerset, was restored to her lands at
the accession of her son Henry VII, and she seems
to have spent most of her time at Woking, (fn. 32) where
the existing remains, though they are on the lines of
the moated house described in extents of the 14th
century, seem to be chiefly of about her date.
At Margaret's death in 1509 the manor once
more became Crown property. (fn. 33) Henry VIII appears to
have made it a favourite residence, to judge from the
number of his letters which are dated thence, (fn. 34) and it
was when Wolsey was on a visit to his royal master
at Woking that he received the news of his nomination
to the Sacred College. (fn. 35)
The Tudors continued to hold Woking in demesne,
for it was Elizabeth's own house in 1583. (fn. 36) James I,
however, made a grant of it in 1620 to Sir Edward
Zouch, who died in 1634. (fn. 37) From him the manor
passed to his son James, who married Beatrice
daughter of Lord Mountnorris. (fn. 38) He died in 1643,
leaving two sons, of whom Edward, the elder, died in
1658, (fn. 39) and James, the second son, succeeded to the
inheritance at his brother's death. (fn. 40) This James
became a person of mark in the county of Surrey; he
filled the office of High Sheriff, and Symmes, the
local historian of the time, speaks of him with considerable respect. (fn. 41) He died in 1708. In 1671
James had granted the reversion of his property to
the king, and Charles II leased it for 1,000 years to
Lord Grandison, among others, to hold in trust for
his cousin, the notorious Duchess of Cleveland, and
her children. (fn. 42) She held a court in 1709, but died
the same year. The trustees held courts down to the
year 1715, when they conveyed Woking to John
Walter, who held his first court in May 1716. He
was followed by his son Abel Walter, who in 1748
obtained an Act of Parliament (fn. 43) granting him the fee
simple in place of the 1,000 years' lease which his
father purchased. He sold to Lord Onslow in 1752. (fn. 44)
It has remained in the Onslow family down to the
present day.
Domesday Book mentions the existence of a mill at
Woking. At the end of the 14th century the manor
possessed a water-mill and a fulling-mill (fn. 45) ; it seems
possible, however, that one of these was really in
Sutton, and should be identified with the mill which
was there at the time of the Survey. Henry VIII
leased Woking mills to Thomas Spencer, (fn. 46) and the
water-mill was again granted out by Elizabeth (fn. 47) and
James I. (fn. 48) The fact that the two mills were separated
after the grant of Sutton Manor to Sir Richard Weston
again seems to suggest that one of these mills was in
Sutton. This one would then be the mill near
Trigg's Lock, the other the mill on the old river just
south of Woking village.
Henry VI in 1451 granted to Edmund Duke of
Somerset and his heirs the privilege of having a fair
every Whit Tuesday. (fn. 49)
James Zouch in 1662 received the grant of a fair
on 12 September and a weekly market on Friday, (fn. 50)
and in 1665 he built the market-house which still
stands in Woking village street.
The old royal residence at Woking Park lay down
the river a mile from old Woking village. An early
14th-century survey was seen by Symmes (fn. 51) in very
bad condition, and copied. It has now perished. It
appears from it that there were extensive buildings,
with two chapels, within a double moat. The double
moat is shown in the survey of Woking Park by
Norden of 1607, (fn. 52) and the remains of it are still
visible at Woking Park Farm. There were a cornmill and a fulling-mill on the manor, and a deer
park. The park extended from the manor-house
along the river to Woking village and up over the high
ground nearly to the present railway line. In addition to the royal visits mentioned above, (fn. 53) Edward VI
was there in 1550, (fn. 54) and Elizabeth in 1569 (fn. 55) and 1583. (fn. 56)
In what is now a farm building is a brick gateway of the
earlier 15th century, much dilapidated, leading into a
building with a barrel vault of small bricks of a rather
later date, and communicating with what is now a
barn of old chalk, brick, and timber work. But the
whole is in very bad repair. Sir Edward Zouch, probably finding the manor-house in a ruinous state, built a
new house with two courtyards nearly a mile away on
higher ground at Hoe Bridge Place. James Zouch his
grandson built a third house contiguous to this, on a
smaller scale, the date of which is fairly determined
by mythological paintings on the staircase attributed
to Antonio Verrio, who decorated Hampton Court
for James II and William III, and by a painting on
the ceiling of a drawing-room, attributed to Sir Godfrey Kneller, and certainly celebrating the peace of
Ryswick under allegorical forms. Some part of the
second house perhaps remains in the stable buildings
and its foundations. James Zouch died in 1708, and
Hoe Bridge Place passed to his niece Sophia, who in
1718 conveyed it to James Field, who sold it in 1730
to John Walter; he cleared away the remains of the
second house and altered the existing building. It
is now the residence of Mr. F. H. Booth, who has
made further alterations. The park was destroyed at
the time of the Civil Wars, when the Zouch family
was royalist. (fn. 57)
The manor of SUTTON was held at the time of
Domesday by Robert Malet; Wenesi had held it of
King Edward. (fn. 58) Robert's lands were confiscated for
his adherence to the side of Duke Robert in 1102.
Sutton, which was held as of the honour of Eye, was
granted to Stephen, afterwards king. It passed to his
only surviving son William, who married the heiress
of de Warenne. On his death, 1159, it reverted to
the Crown, (fn. 59) and although it was still of the honour
of Eye was granted separately by Henry II to a certain Master Urric. (fn. 60) His son died without heirs, and
King John granted Sutton to Gilbert Basset, son of
the holder of Woking. (fn. 61) It descended to his brother
Fulk, Bishop of London, and to his younger brother
Philip, (fn. 62) and to Aliva, Philip's daughter, who married
first Hugh le Despenser, and secondly Roger Bigod,
Earl of Norfolk, who claimed it after her death in
1281, (fn. 63) but whose claim was disallowed in favour of
Hugh, Aliva's son by her first husband. It was forfeited with Woking, and with it was granted by
Edward III to the Earl of Kent. They continued
to be held together for nearly 200 years. In 1521
however Henry VIII granted Sutton to Sir Richard
Weston, (fn. 64) at whose house he was afterwards forced to
take refuge when an outbreak of the sweating sickness
drove him from Guildford. (fn. 65) The manor remained
in the Weston family until the
end of the 18th century, when
Melior Mary Weston, the last
of her line, bequeathed it to
John Webbe on condition that
he assumed the name and arms
of Weston. (fn. 66) The male line
of Webbe-Weston became extinct in 1857. The manor
passed to F. H. Salvin of Croxdale, Durham, a grandson of
the first John Webbe-Weston.
He died in 1904, and was succeeded by his niece's son, Mr.
Philip Witham.
Weston of Sutton. Ermine a chief azure with five bezants there-in.
Owing no doubt of Woking and
Sutton having being held together before the reign
of Henry VIII, the old manor-house of Sutton
had been allowed to fall into decay. In 1329,
after the death of Edmund, Earl of Kent, the house
was ruinous and worth nothing. It stood near
St. Edward's Chapel, a quarter of a mile from Sutton
Place. The field is called Manor Field, and traces
of foundations, old encaustic tiles, and an old well
exist.
Sutton Place was built by Sir Richard Weston,
most probably about 1523–5, at one of the most
interesting periods of English architectural history,
and is from every point of view a notable house.
Alike in detail and in plan it shows the meeting of
the old and new schools; the ornament is Italian, but
the construction is Gothic. There is a hall which had
screens, kitchen, and offices after the mediaeval type,
but its plan is affected by the desire for exact symmetry and balance which its external elevation to the
courtyard shows, and in place of stone all windows,
parapets, etc., are of terra cotta.
The plan was quadrangular, four ranges of buildings,
with the gatehouse and entrance on the north, inclosing a court 81 ft. square. The hall and kitchen
were in the south wing, the great chamber and
principal rooms in the east wing, and on the
north and west were sets of living rooms called
lodgings. A fire damaged the north and east wings
in 1560, and they were never thoroughly repaired,
and the north wing with its gatehouse, after standing
in a ruinous state for many years, was pulled down in
1782, throwing the courtyard open to the north, as
it remains to-day.
Though the general arrangement of the original
house is certain, many points in it are far from being
so, and some of these are of particular importance in
the history of house-planning. An inventory of 1542,
taken at the death of the builder, Sir Richard Weston,
is unfortunately not so explicit as could be wished,
making no mention of a great hall or dining chamber
of any sort, and, as in the contemporary inventory of
the Vyne in Hampshire, the word 'chamber' seems
to be used for ground- and first-floor rooms alike.
The great hall as it appears to-day is a fine room two
stories in height (31 ft.), 51 ft. long by 25 ft. wide,
lighted on the north by three-light windows and
a four-light bay window in each story, and on the
south by two three-light windows and a four-light bay
also in each story. The exact repetition of these
windows may perhaps be set down to the exigencies
of symmetry, for, especially in the bays, the internal
effect is far from satisfactory, but the fact that all the
details of panelling, etc., are of the early part of the
17th-century raises a question as to whether there
was not a first floor over the hall in its original state.
The fact that the hall chimney-stack on the south
side has not one but three chimneys points in the
same direction. The hall fireplace accounts for one
of these, and though it is true that there is a cellar
under the hall, it is most unlikely that it should have
had two fireplaces, and the former existence of a first-floor fireplaces seems therefore very probable.
The upper floor of the east wing is now arranged
as a 'long gallery,' 152ft. by 21ft., but although
Wolsey had built galleries at Hampton Court before
this time, it seems clear that such a room formed no
part of the 16th-century house here. Its present
form dates only from 1878, and part of it was used
as a chapel during the 19th-century.
In spite of the evidences of Italian influence, the
general aspect of the house is Gothic, showing everywhere the simple directness and absence of ostentation which mark the mediaeval English country house.
The gatehouse was a stately building, as existing
drawings show, being nearly twice as high as the rest
of the house, but its treatment was absolutely straightforward, and no attempt was made to impress anyone
approaching the house with a sense of magnificence,
all the elaborate ornament being characteristically
reserved for the inner walls of the courtyard. Even
here there is a certain artlessness in the way it is used
which is entirely native to the soil. The hall doorway, flanked by three-light windows and distinguished
by a double row of terra-cotta amorini above its head,
is framed by a pair of half-octagonal terra-cotta buttresses running up beyond the general lines of the
elevations, and capped by domed pinnacles, having
between them a high embattled parapet, forming as
it were the centrepiece to the whole design. Yet the
very centre of the composition, the facade of the first
floor over the hall doorway, where a Palladian architect would have put forth his full strength, is a blank
expanse of brickwork.
Plan of Sutton Place
The original windows are all of three lights, except
in the projecting bays, and are worked in terra-cotta.
All have transoms with trefoiled heads beneath them,
but the upper lights on the first floor are trefoiled,
while those on the ground floor are cinquefoiled.
Heads, sills, and mullions are enriched with a line of
Italian ornament in low relief, adding a peculiar distinction to the work. The line of the first floor is
marked by a string-course of Gothic section decorated
with tuns (a Weston rebus) set in Italian floral
scrollwork, and there is a similar string-course at the
base of the parapet, but without ornament, except
on the façade of the hall. On the east and west sides
of the courtyard this string runs just over the first-floor window-heads and below it and between the
windows is a line of lozenge-shaped panels with leaf
ornament. On the hall façade, as formerly on the
south front of the gatehouse range, the string is at a
higher level, and the line of lozenge-shaped panels
runs unbroken over the windows. The parapet itself
is solid, ornamented with similar lozenge panels or
with quatrefoiled panels; its outline was originally
broken by pinnacles, of which only the stumps now
remain, while the higher parapet above the hall
door has a further band of trefoiled panels containing
amorini, and lozenge panels on the battlements. The
masonry of the half-octagonal buttresses which flank
it is moulded with cusped panels containing the
initials of the builder, R.W., or bunches of grapes,
and the same detail occurs on the bays at either end
of the façade of the hall, and on the north ends of the
east and west wings; otherwise the external elevations of the house have no ornament, except the south
elevation, where the existing parapet of the hall block
is, however, of mid-17th-century date. The modelling of the floral ornament leaves little to be desired;
but that on the quoins is markedly inferior, and the
amorini are very stiff and clumsy and evidently some
way from their Italian originals. That a good deal
of this renaissance work was carried out by English
workmen is known, as at Hampton Court, where,
however, Richard Ridge and his fellow workmen
wrought the pendants of the great hall roof of
Henry VIII in masterly style; but here at Sutton
it must be confessed that the lesson has not been so
thoroughly learned.
The terra-cotta work has, with little exception,
stood nearly four centuries of English weather in a
wonderful way. A good deal of the window tracery,
especially on the external elevations, was at one time
or another taken out and replaced by sash-windows,
but these in their turn have nearly all given way to
modern copies of the original work.
It seems probable that the principal alterations to
the house, other than those of quite recent date, took
place in the 17th century, after the sale of Clandon
in 1641, and of Gatton in 1654, when John
Weston had command of money. The parapet on
the south side of the hall, with its large mill-rind
crosses, is clearly of this time, the crosses being the
arms of Copley, whose heiress married John Weston
in 1637. A great deal of panelling in the house is
also of this time, and the impaled arms of Weston
and Copley are painted over the fireplace in the small
hall in the west wing. The second or kitchen court
was doubtless added at this time; being set against
the west side of the house, it is quite unpretentious,
and makes no attempt to harmonize with the 16th-century work.
The partition walls dividing the original house
were as usual of timber, the only internal masonry
walls being those which separated the north and south
wings from the east and west. Apart, therefore, from
the fire of 1560, the chances of alteration of the
original arrangements must have been many, particularly as regards the staircases, none which now exist
being older than the 17th century. The disposition
of the house at present is that the principal entrance
is from the court at the south end of the west wing,
the doorway opening to a narrow lobby which leads
directly to the small hall on the north, and going
northward from the hall are successively a staircase,
the dining-room, and the smoking-room. The diningroom is furnished with very good oak panelling, a
recent importation, but the stair, which is good
18th-century work, has its south wall covered with
early 17th-century panelling which seems to be in
situ. The drawing-room is on the ground floor at
the south-west angle of the old building, a fine
modern room, and between it and the great hall is
a lobby opening to a staircase in a projecting bay, the
woodwork showing its date to be c. 1700. This with
the other staircases is doubtless part of the work of
John Weston, 1701–30.
The great hall is approximately two squares on plan,
and its arrangement, as already noted, is abnormal, as
its entrance doorways on the north and south are two
bays east of the line of the screens, and could never
have opened into anything of the nature of a passage.
The present panelling is in part of Jacobean date,
and the rest of later 17th-century work with 18th-century alterations. From the inventory of 1542
it is clear that the hall was hung with tapestry, and there
was probably no panelling in the first instance. But
the principal attraction of the hall is its glass; a great
deal of this was evidently put in after the marriage
of Richard Weston and Mary Copley in 1637, but
some pieces are of earlier date, and may be in their
original position, in which case they must have been
made about 1530. Some also, which may have come
from the royal manor-house at Woking, are apparently
older than this, and there are Onslow arms and others
which are doubtless added from various sources.
The set of Tudor arms and badges is extremely
good, and the arms of Richard III as Duke of
Gloucester also occur. The glass was repaired in
1724 by John Weston, and again in 1844. (fn. 66a) The
fireplace is part of the original work, and has in its
spandrels the Weston rebus and the pomegranate.
The east wing, as already noted, was practically
abandoned for a long time, and only partly refitted
early in the 18th century by John Weston, to whom
the fine staircase at its south end is due. The stairhead and the long gallery take up the whole of the
upper floor, and the tapestries and panelling are of
great interest; about half of the lower floor is now
made into a library. The house is full of fine furniture, pictures, etc., which cannot here be adequately described. The quadrangle of offices on the west side of the
house is said to be the work of John Weston, 1652–90,
and though quite unpretending, is very picturesque.
The principal gardens lie to the west of it, and part
of their inclosing walls is of 16th-century date and
of the same character as the house, but the lay-out
of the Tudor garden is unfortunately not now recoverable. The house is now the residence of Lord
Northcliffe, to whom the recent restoration is due.
There was a mill at Sutton in the time of Domesday, which does not however appear to be mentioned
afterwards. It may perhaps be included with the
Woking mills (q.v.).
The manor of CRANSTOCK, CRASTOCK or
BRIDLEY was apparently the land recorded in the
extent of Woking Manor (fn. 67) as bought by Fulk Basset
of the fee of Pirbright, which was part of the honour
of Clare; for Cranstock owed suit and service to the
Lord of Pirbright. (fn. 68) Both Pirbright and Woking were
granted to Edmund, Earl of Kent, (fn. 69) and Pirbright
descended to Joan his daughter, who married Edward,
Prince of Wales, of whom Cranstock was held in
1366. There was apparently always a sub-tenancy,
for in 1219 Gilbert de Chayham and Alice his
wife granted half a hide in Cranstock to William
de Cranstock, (fn. 70) and some years later Ralph son of
William de Tinchingfeld leased the manor of Cranstock to Roger son of William de Cranstock for life. (fn. 71)
Apparently the manor did not remain long with
either of these families, for in 1321 a certain Lambert
de Thrikyngham sold it to John de Latimer and Joan
his wife, with remainder to their son Edmund. (fn. 72)
The manor remained as a possession of the Latimers
for some little time; in 1366 Robert Latimer died
seised of it, leaving Robert his son and heir, then
only a child. (fn. 73)
Little can be traced of the history of Cranstock for
some time after the death of Robert Latimer. In
1469 it appears in the hands of John White, who died
in that year, leaving his son Robert as his heir. (fn. 74)
In 1531 Henry White conveyed to Walter Champyon,
William Roche, Thomas Pierpoint and Anthony Eliot,
possibly as trustees, (fn. 75) and until the beginning of the
next century the manor seems to have remained with
them and their successors. In 1611 William Engler
and William Skynner released to James Hobson, (fn. 76)
and Christopher Hobson, presumably the heir of
James, sold in 1641 to Francis Williamson. (fn. 77) He
in 1652 joined with his wife Martha in conveying
the manor to Paul Carell (fn. 78) (or Caryll), who held his
first court in August 1652, and Paul Carell is said to
have bequeathed the manor to his cousin John of
Great Tangley Manor, Wonersh. (fn. 79) John was also
seised of Bramley Manor and other Surrey lands, most
of which were divided at his death among his three
daughters and co-heirs, Lettice wife of John Ramsden,
Elizabeth wife of Peter Farmer, and Margaret wife
of Henry Ludlow. Cranstock was among the lands
divided. (fn. 80)
Between 1678 and 1680 John Child of Guildford
purchased three parts of the manor, which passed to
his son Leonard, who died in 1730. Leonard left it
to his nephew Charles, who held a court in 1742.
He sold it to John Tickner about 1758, and from
him it was purchased by Richard (? Philip) Hollingworth, who sold it to Sir Fletcher Norton, first Lord
Grantley. (fn. 81) Lord Grantley's Surrey estates were sold
about 1884. Major Ewings' trustees sold Bridley or
Crastock to Mr. Garton in 1894, who conveyed it in
1900 to Mr. Richards. Most of the land has been
bought by Mr. Anderson, who resides at Bridley
Manor. (fn. 82)
In the 13th century Geoffrey de Pourton held
MAYFORD in chief of the king, (fn. 83) by grand serjeanty.
In 1231 and 1238 the sheriff accounted for 10s. 3d.
from the land of the late Henry Kinton in Mayford. (fn. 84) Henry Kinton and Walter de Langeford
were Geoffrey's heirs. (fn. 85) Walter de Langeford sold
his moiety to John de Gatesden. (fn. 86) The serjeanty
was acquired by Fulk Basset, (fn. 87) and in the survey of
Woking in 1280–1, (fn. 88) Mayford is called part of
Woking Manor. It remained hereafter attached
to Woking.
The tithing of Mayford appears in 1666. (fn. 89) Tenements in Mayford occur frequently in Feet of
Fines.
The reputed manor of RUDEHALL or HOLLANDS, really a part of Woking, possibly originated
in land held by William de la Rude in Woking in the
13th century. (fn. 90) It is at Hale End, which is perhaps
a corruption of Holland or Hollands. In the reign
of Henry VIII the Heyward family released their
rights in the manor of Rudehall to John Grover. (fn. 91)
In 1601 William Grover conveyed it to William
Collyer, (fn. 92) and in 1622 it passed to Sir Edward
Zouch. (fn. 93) It afterwards came into the hands of the
Covert family, who were holding it in 1690, (fn. 94) when
they sold it to Robert Royden. (fn. 95) Royden in 1724
alienated it to John Coussmaker. (fn. 96) In 1745 Nathanael Newnham conveyed it to William Collyer, (fn. 97)
who in 1748 sold it to Philip Hollingworth (fn. 98) (see
Cranstock, above). It probably subsequently descended
in the same way as Cranstock.
CHURCHES
The parish church of ST. PETER
has a chancel 28 ft. by 20 ft. 1 in.,
modern north vestry, nave 49 ft. 8 in.
by 29 ft. 11 in., south aisle 12 ft. 8 in. wide, south
porch, and west tower 12 ft. 9 in. square—all inside
measurements.
The earliest part of the building dates from the
beginning of the 12th century, at which time it consisted of an aisleless nave, the present one, and a chancel; the latter was probably smaller than the present
chancel, which is a rebuilding of about a hundred and
twenty years later. The lower part of the existing
tower was also added in the 13th century, about 1240,
and may have had a timber upper stage until the present stone addition over it was built about 1340.
The east window of the chancel is an insertion of
the second quarter of the 14th century, and is a fine
example of the style; it is set rather to the south of
the axial line of the chancel, and this may have been
a piece of subtlety on the part of the builders to make
it appear central with the nave, as it will be noticed
that the centre line of the nave passes through that of
the window, which it would not have done had it
been in the middle of the wall. The large window
in the north wall of the nave is of the same period,
but has modern tracery. At the beginning of the
15th century the south aisle was added, with the
present arcade, and at the same time the chancel arch
was widened to its utmost limits. Soon after this the
rood loft was set up and a passage way pierced through
the wall above the east respond, the bases of the
chancel arch being cut to accommodate the screen.
Two other windows were inserted in the north wall
in the same century, the easternmost evidently to
light the north nave altar.
Plan of Woking Church
The west gallery was put up in 1622, and the
south porch was probably added at the same time;
when the modern vestry was built the 13th-century
lancet, displaced by the organ arch, was reset in its
east wall. A certain amount of necessary restoration
to several of the windows has been carried out and
other work done to put the building in good repair.
The only entrance to the church (a fairly large one)
besides the small door in the vestry is that in the west
wall of the nave, approached through the tower.
The 14th-century east window is one of three trefoiled
lights under a two-centred arch filled with flowing
tracery, now modern; it has two chamfered orders
outside and a scroll-mould label; the inside jambs
are old and the pointed rear arch is chamfered. In
the north wall is a plain square locker, partly restored;
the 13th-century lancet in this wall has its glass two
inches from the outside, but a groove in the jambs
shows that it had formerly been set farther in. On
the south side are two original lancet windows like
that opposite. Below the first is a modern arched
recess with an old sill having a piscina drain in the
west half, and a plain surface on the east, while between the windows is a blocked doorway not visible
outside owing to the modern coating of cement; it
has a segmental arched head inside of square section
like the jambs, and is probably contemporary with the
windows. At the west end of this wall is a low
window of a single trefoiled light with much deeper
chamfered jambs outside; it has been a good deal
knocked about, but is probably a 14th-century
insertion.
The vestry has a three-light window in its north
wall, the reset 13th-century lancet already mentioned
in its east, and a doorway to the west. In the
vestry are preserved two bases of small shafts contemporary with the early nave, and one 13th-century
base.
The chancel arch has semi-octagonal jambs with
moulded bases and capitals of a heavy section, the
latter with ogee abaci; the wall above is evidently of
the date of the arch and not older work pierced, and
the arch is of three chamfered orders, the inner order
considerably wider than the others.
The first of the four north windows of the nave is
a 15th-century insertion of two trefoiled lights under
a square head with sunk spandrels; the window is set
low in the wall and the wall below the sill thinned
to form a recess for the nave altar. The second
window is a large 14th-century insertion of three
lights; the outer order of the double chamfered
jambs is old, but the tracery is modern; the inner
quoins of the jambs and the pointed chamfered rear
arch are also old. The third window is another 15th-century insertion of two cinquefoiled lights with a
quatrefoil over in a four-centred arch, and the last or
north-west window is of the 13th century, with two
plain pointed lights and a pierced spandrel over in a
two-centred arch; like the third window the jambs
are of a single chamfered order outside.
The south arcade is of three bays with octagonal
pillars, fine massive work in chalk, with simple details
and semi-octagonal responds, the bases, capitals, and
arches being of similar detail to those of the chancel
arch. The bases have been mutilated in the responds;
on the south side of the east respond the base mould is
splayed back to the wall instead of ending square, but
there seems no obvious reason for the treatment. The
haunch above this respond is pierced by a square
passage-way through the wall to the former rood loft.
The west doorway of the nave is part of the original
work; its jambs have been cut to enable the door to
open outwards, and were originally of two orders; in
the angles of the remaining order are round shafts with
chamfered bases and cushion capitals, the chamfered
abaci of which have been much mutilated for the
fitting of the door; the arch is round and of one order
with a large edge roll and no label.
The wood door itself is evidently very old, and probably with its iron work contemporary with the doorway. It is made of oak planks, half an inch thick,
bound together by iron straps of ornamental design on
both faces, the hinge straps being the least important
part of the work. There are five large horizontal
bands, three of which are attached to large C-straps
like those shown in early MSS.; all the bands and
straps have forked and curled ends, and small curled
sprigs of iron spring from them at irregular intervals.
In the upper part of the door are a cross, a saltire, and
a spider's web with an insect in it. The rounded
head of the door is fixed, but probably opened with
the rest originally, when it was hung in the east side
of the doorway.
The east window of the south aisle is one of three
lights under a traceried pointed head; all modern outside except the outer order of the head and the upper
half of the jambs; the inner jambs, quoins, and the
pointed chamfered rear arch are old. In the south
wall is a piscina with a cinquefoiled pointed arch in a
square head with sunk spandrels; half of the sill with
its round basin has been cut away. The three south
windows are alike, each of two cinquefoiled lights with
a quatrefoil over; all three are wholly modern
outside, but have old inner jambs and pointed rear
arches, the latter being almost straight-sided. The
middle window has been reduced a half for the insertion below it of a doorway with a two-centred
segmental arch; it was probably inserted shortly
before the 17th-century porch was built, and is now
blocked up. The porch is of narrow red bricks with
a stepped gable and has an outer archway with moulded
jambs and elliptical arch, flanked by low small arched
recesses. The side walls were pierced by windows
with wood frames, but that in the east wall is now
filled in and the porch used as a boiler room for
heating purposes. The west window of the aisle
resembles the others and is entirely modern outside;
in its flat inner sill is set the plain round drain of a
piscina, which must have been brought to the church
from elsewhere.
The tower has no break or string-course in its
height, the lower part being strengthened by pairs of
angle buttresses. The west doorway has jambs of two
orders, the outer hollow chamfered, the inner square,
the two-centred arch has a much decayed scroll mould
label; the door is a modern one, but has a handle and
plate inscribed R D F V 1731. The window over is
a square one of brick, probably of the 17th century.
The first-floor chamber is lighted by a small rectangular light in each wall, that to the south having been
repaired with brick; and over these on the north and
west sides are clock faces. The windows of the bellchamber are each of two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil above in a two-centred head; the north window
is old, but the others are partly or wholly modernized;
the parapet is embattled and has a moulded string-course. The lower part (less than a half) of the tower
is of flint and iron conglomerate with stone quoins
and dressings; the buttresses, which are of two stages,
have been repaired in places with brick and are covered
with tiles; the bottom of the north wall has also been
patched in brick, while the upper part of the tower is
of square-coursed rubble or rough ashlar.
The north wall of the nave is a good specimen of
early masonry, built of whole flints and pieces of iron-stone conglomerate, but the chancel walls have been
newly cemented outside, and their character thus
hidden.
The roof of the chancel is gabled, and has a modern
plaster panelled ceiling with moulded wood ribs and
moulded tie-beam; the nave has a plastered collar-beam
ceiling and modern trusses dividing it into three bays.
The gabled aisle roof also had a modern ceiling, but
the plaster has been stripped off, revealing the old
timbers. The gallery at the west end has an inscription
upon it recording its erection by Sir Edward Zouch
in 1622; it runs right across the west end of the
nave and aisle, the front being carried on five oak posts;
but only that part which is in the nave is old.
The altar-table has thin turned legs, and is probably
of the 18th century, but the pulpit is six-sided and
evidently of the same date as the gallery. The font is
modern, of carved and panelled stone on marble shafts.
In the tower is an ancient oak chest of plain design
with a plain strap to the lock.
In the quatrefoil in the head of the middle
window of the south aisle is a fragment of old glass,
probably original with the aisle—a six-petalled double
rose, yellow and white, a piece of border with a lozengy
or fret pattern, and other flowers.
In the blocked doorway of the south aisle is set a
small brass inscription which reads:—'Pray for the
soules of John Shadhet et Isabell hys wyfe the which
John decessed the XI day of Marche yn the yere of
our lord MVcXXVII on whos soullŷ Jhu have mercy.'
Above it are two standing figures praying; the man has
long hair, and wears a long fur-trimmed cloak with
sleeves; the lady has a long linen head dress, fur cuffs,
and a loose belt about her dress at the waist with ends
reaching to the ground; below is part of an indent,
probably that of the children. By the side of this
brass is another inscription:—'Pray for the soules of
Henry Purdon and Johan hys wyfe which Henry deceessed the VII day of Noveber the yer of ō lord
MVcXXIII on whose soules Jhu have mercy, Amen.'
Over it were two figures, but that of the man is missing;
the lady is dressed like the other. Between these two
brasses are the figures of four girls.
In the chancel is a brass inscription to Sir Edward
Zouch who died in 1634; it has a long eulogistic
epitaph in Latin; also a mural monument to Sir John
Lloyd, bart., who died in 1663. There are several later
monuments.
There are six bells: the treble, second, third and
fifth were cast by William Eldridge 1684, the fourth
is dated 1766 and has the initials I F cut in; this is
said to have been cast near the church; the tenor was
by Eldridge 1684, but was recast by Warren in 1887.
The church possesses no old plate, the set in use
comprising two silver cups and a standing paten of 1837,
a plate of 1805, and a plated flagon.
The first book of the registers contains baptisms,
marriages, and burials from 1653 to 1672; the second
has baptisms from 1673 to 1770, marriages 1673 to
1754, and burials 1673 to 1786; the third has marriages 1754 to 1763; fifth, marriages 1763 to 1787; sixth,
the same to 1812; seventh, baptisms from 1770 and
burials from 1787, both to 1808; eighth, baptisms 1809
to 1812; and ninth, burials for the same period.
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST'S CHURCH, of stone
in 13th-century style, was built by Sir Gilbert, then
Mr., Scott, in 1842 at Goldsworth, and enlarged in
1879 and 1883.
The present church of CHRIST CHURCH parish
was built in red brick in 1889.
ST. PAUL'S, MAYBURY HILL, built of red
brick with Bath stone windows and quoins, was
erected in 1895 as a chapel of ease to Christ
Church.
An iron church, Holy Trinity, was built at Knapp
Hill in 1855.
ADVOWSONS
The church of Woking from early
times seems to have had the Prior
and convent of Newark in Send as
its patrons. (fn. 99) After the dissolution of that monastery
in the 16th century, it generally followed the history
of the manor. A few exceptions must, however, be
noted. Thus it was granted by Philip and Mary to
John White, Bishop of Winchester. (fn. 100) Elizabeth
seems to have resumed the patronage, and towards the
end of her reign granted it to Francis Aungier, (fn. 101) afterwards Baron Longford. Under James I two persons,
named respectively Francis Maurice and Francis
Phelips, (fn. 102) received it from the Crown, but this grant
was possibly in trust for the lord of the manor, for
James Zouch presented in 1637, (fn. 103) and from that date
it has been united with the manor.
The parish of St. John the Baptist was formed from
the old parish in 1884. The living is in the gift of
the vicar of Woking.
Christ Church parish was formed out of the same district in 1893. In 1877 it was served by a temporary
church. The living is in the gift of trustees.
CHARITY
Of old charities only Smith's, distributed as in other Surrey parishes,
appears to exist.