TITSEY
Ticesie (xi cent.); Tichesey and Tycheseye (xiii
and xiv cent.); Tytsay (xv cent.).
Titsey is a small parish 21 miles south of London,
on the eastern border of Surrey. It measures 2½
miles from north-west to south-east and rather over
a mile the other way. It contains 1,988 acres. The
northern part of the parish is on the Chalk Downs,
which at Botley Hill and Coldharbour Green are
from 850 ft. to 881 ft. above the sea. The southern
face of the chalk is steep and commands fine views
across the Weald. The site of the original village
was on the narrow strip of Upper Green Sand where
Titsey Place stands, and the parish reaches southwards over the Gault, here wider than in some parts
of Surrey. The road along the edge of the chalk
from Woldingham to Tatsfield, past Coldharbour
Green, and the Croydon and Westerham road pass
through the parish. The ancient track called the
Pilgrims' Way runs at the base of the chalk. The
name seems here to be old; a farm called Pilgrims'
Lodge is close to the road.
Neolithic flints and a green-stone neolithic hammer
have been found in Titsey. The most notable relic
of antiquity is the Roman villa, apparently converted
into a fulling mill (fn. 1) ; fuller's earth is found in most
of the places on the Upper Green Sand in eastern
Surrey. The greater number of the objects found
in excavation were transferred on loan, in 1910–11,
to the Surrey Archaeological Society's Museum at
Guildford. From an erroneous statement of Aubrey's,
often repeated, a camp has been supposed to exist on
Botley Hill. The statement probably refers to the
entrenchment in Henley Wood or to the excavations
on Worms Heath, both in Chelsham. The alternative name Battle Hill for Botley Hill is a corruption.
A John de Botteley had land in the neighbourhood
in 1263, (fn. 2) and William Bottlegh in 1385. (fn. 3)
The parish of Titsey is entirely agricultural. No
inclosure award has been made for it. The manorhouse stands near the site of the old church, and
the old rectory stood close by. This was burnt
down about 1840, and the present rectory was built
at some distance from here in 1842. (fn. 4) Near the
manor-house was a mill turned by a stream which
rises near the house and flows in a considerable
volume to the Medway, also a malt-house and several
cottages. These were probably removed by Sir John
Gresham when he built the new house. The largest
group of houses, scarcely to be called a village, stands
near the new church. When Brayley wrote he
mentioned a school at Titsey, founded and supported
by Mr. William Leveson-Gower. This was apparently Limpsfield school, which the Titsey children
attend.
There are some 17th-century cottages on the south
side of Chevonny Road and opposite the church is a
brick and flint cottage in the gable of which is
'E L 1673.'
MANORS
The first mention of TITSEY is
found in 962, when Byrhtric and his
wife Ælfswithe by their last will bequeathed 'Tydiceseg' to Wulfsige. (fn. 5) In the time of
King Edward the Confessor (fn. 6) it was held by Goltovi
and in 1086 (fn. 7) by Hamon the Sheriff. From the
latter it descended to his niece Mabel, who married
Robert the illegitimate son of Henry I, later created
Earl of Gloucester. (fn. 8) The manor thus formed part of
the honour of Gloucester. The Earls of Gloucester
subinfeudated at an early date to two tenants, both of
whom held by the service of two knights' fees. (fn. 9) Early
in the 13th century one of the tenants was Hamon de
Valoines, who in 1237 leased the manor to John de
Gatesden for seven years at a rent of £46 of silver. (fn. 10)
Hamon appears to have been succeeded in the
possession of these two fees by Thomas de Valoines,
Hugh de Nevill having the custody of them during
the latter's minority. (fn. 11) Apparently about the middle
of the 13th century the manor was held by John de
Valoines, probably son of Thomas, who conveyed it
to Richard de Clare Earl of Gloucester, subject to his
wife's dower. (fn. 12) Gilbert de Clare, son of Richard,
died in 1295 seised of the manor of Titsey. (fn. 13) In
the inquisition on the younger Gilbert de Clare,
taken after his death in 1314, the extent is given as a
capital messuage, 100 acres of arable land, 4½' acres of
meadow, 40 acres of pasture, 20 acres of wood and
41s. 2¼d. rent; the manor was charged with a yearly
payment of 10 marks to Basilia widow of Hamon in
recompense of the third which belonged to her
as dower. (fn. 14) On the division of lands among Gilbert's
heirs Titsey was allotted to Margaret wife of Hugh
de Audley and descended through her to the Earls of
Stafford and Buckingham, (fn. 15) with whom it remained
until the attainder of Henry Duke of Buckingham in
1483, when it passed into the king's hands. (fn. 16) After
Henry's death his widow Katherine daughter of
Earl Rivers married Jasper Duke of Bedford, (fn. 17) and in
1485 the king granted the manor of Titsey and other
lands to her for life in recompense for lordships and
lands left her by the will of the Duke of Bedford. (fn. 18)
On the attainder of Edward Duke of Buckingham in
1521 it was returned (fn. 19) that Titsey had long been of
the inheritance of Sir William Uvedale and his
ancestors and that the duke had only a rent out of the
manor, so that it appears that the Uvedales, the
holders of the other manor (see below), had, justly
or unjustly, acquired the land of the Dukes of
Buckingham and had added them to their own
manor of Titsey. The above-mentioned rent was
granted by Henry VIII to John Bourchier Lord
Berners in 1528 and was confirmed in 1532. (fn. 20)
The other part of the original manor of Titsey
was held probably as early as the 12th century by the
family called Titsey. In 1189–90 mention is found
of a Geoffrey de Titsey in Tandridge Hundred (fn. 21) and
both John and Geoffrey held two knights' fees there
early in the 13th century. (fn. 22) Later the manor was in
the possession of Thomas de Titsey, the last male
representative of the family, who held it of Joan
Countess of Gloucester and Hertford by two knights'
fees and suit every three weeks at her court of
Camberwell. (fn. 23) There was a capital messuage in the
manor, which, together with a garden, was worth
13s. 4d. and the pleas of court were worth 2s. a year. (fn. 24)
Thomas, who died before 25 July 1297, had three
sisters, Margaret wife of John de Malevyle, Alice wife
of Gilbert Etton, and Elizabeth wife of John de
Horne. (fn. 25) Presumably his sisters Margaret and Elizabeth predeceased him, as on his death in 1297
John de Malevyle, Roger de Horne and Alice Etton (fn. 26)
were his heirs. In Hilary term of the same year
Eustace de Malevyle conveyed a messuage, 149 acres
of land and 47s. rent in Titsey to Gilbert Etton and
Alice his wife for their lives. (fn. 27) Eustace appears to
have been a minor at this date, as in 1302 a grant
of the lands late John de Malevyle's in Titsey was
made on payment of 20 marks to Geoffrey de Lee
during the minority of John's heir. (fn. 28) In 1305
Gilbert and Alice Etton, together with Eustace de
Malevyle, made over two parts of a third of the
manor and advowson of Titsey to John Uvedale,
who married Isabel daughter of Gilbert and Alice
Etton, and by the same deed a third part of the
third of the manor was conveyed to the said John by
John Westwyk and Margery his wife (next of kin to
Alice) and Eustace, the latter portion, however, not
to be entered into by John Uvedale until the death
of Elizabeth wife of John Horton and evidently
widow of Thomas de Titsey, who held it in dower
of the heritage of Margery Westwyk. (fn. 29)
John de Uvedale thus acquired two-thirds of the
manor and in 1304 he received a grant of free warren (fn. 30)
in his demesne lands of Titsey and Bedlested. (fn. 31) At
the death of Earl Gilbert in 1314 (fn. 32) he is mentioned
in the inquisition as holding the manor together with
John de Horne. In 1311 a complaint was made by
Katherine de Malevyle that Sir John de Horne and
others had assaulted and maimed her at Titsey, and
justices were appointed to hear the matter. (fn. 33) In
1318 John Uvedale settled lands in Titsey and the
advowson of that church on himself and his wife
Isabel and their heirs (fn. 34) ; he died before 6 April
1322 holding the manor, then worth £10 a year,
leaving a son and heir Peter, aged twenty-six. (fn. 35)
Isabel survived her husband and in 1334 paid a relief
of 75s. for her parents Gilbert and Alice Etton for
the third part of the manor of Titsey. (fn. 36) In 1340
her second son John Uvedale released to her (fn. 37) all his
right to the lands in Titsey which she held for life.
She probably outlived her two elder sons Peter and
John, as neither appears ever to have held Titsey.
In 1347, at the death of Hugh de Audley Earl of
Gloucester, Sir Thomas Uvedale, Andrew Peverel,
Stephen Malevyle and Roger de Stalkynden (Stannyngdene) were holding two fees in Titsey and Camberwell. (fn. 38) Three years earlier Sir Thomas was in Gascony
on the king's service, (fn. 39) and during a great part of his
life he was employed in France in the conduct of State
affairs. (fn. 40) In 1350 Elias Goddard and his wife Alice
released a sixth part of Titsey Manor (which possibly
represents a co-heiress's share of John de Horne's
third), with the advowson of the church, to him, (fn. 41)
and in 1364 John de Rydinghersh made over to him
all his lands in Titsey which Sir Thomas held for
life by grant of John's father John de Rydinghersh. (fn. 42)
Sir Thomas died in 1367 and by his will desired his
wife to complete the building of the parish church,
and expressed a wish to be buried there in the
middle of the chapel of St. James. (fn. 43) He had been
married four times and had settled Titsey on his
fourth wife Benedicta, who in 1370 released to his
son and heir John all her lands elsewhere on condition she might retain Titsey unmolested. (fn. 44) In
1398 John, together with William Creswyck, appears
as holding two knights' fees in Titsey (fn. 45) of the Earl of
Stafford. John married the daughter of Sir John
de Scures and died before 1417, in which year John
Stalkynden released to John Uvedale all his right in
the manor of Titsey which Sir Thomas Uvedale and
Margaret his wife, the grandparents, and John
Uvedale, the father of the said John, had by the gift
of Roger Stalkynden, John's father. (fn. 46) He was holding two and a half knights' fees in Titsey in 1428. (fn. 47)
His brother William, who died in 1449, (fn. 48) was
described as of Titsey in 1434. (fn. 49) Sir Thomas
Uvedale son of John was the next owner of Titsey;
he married Elizabeth daughter of Sir Henry
Norbury, kt., and widow of William Sidney, (fn. 50) and in
1473 settled the manor of Titsey on her for life.
She died in 1488, (fn. 51) and William, then aged thirtythree, son of Sir Thomas by a former wife, became
possessed of the manor. He had married Anne
Sidney daughter of William Sidney and of his stepmother Elizabeth, (fn. 52) and was distinguished both as a
soldier and a courtier. (fn. 53) He died on 2 January 1524–5
and was succeeded by his son William, (fn. 54) who, however,
did not long enjoy possession, as he died in 1528,
leaving by his wife Dorothy daughter of Thomas
Troyes three daughters and five sons. (fn. 55) The fourth
son William became involved in Sir Henry Dudley's
plot, was found guilty of high treason and executed
at Tyburn on 28 April 1556. (fn. 56) The eldest son
Arthur, who was twenty-four years old at his father's
death, (fn. 57) married Agnes daughter of Edmund Hazlewood, and had by her a son William, who married
Helen daughter of Sir John Gresham. (fn. 58) His property
was much reduced, as his manors, including that of
Titsey, were charged by his father with an annuity
of £20 each to his four younger brothers. (fn. 59) In
1534 he sold the manor of Titsey with the advowson
of the church to Sir John Gresham. (fn. 60) The date of
his death is uncertain, but he probably died in the
latter part of 1537. (fn. 61) Sir John Gresham, the purchaser of Titsey, was a descendant of an ancient
Norfolk family, and at his death in 1556 was succeeded by his eldest son William, who by his will (fn. 62)
bequeathed Titsey to his wife Beatrice for life, with
remainder to his younger son Thomas in tail-male.
William died on 20 June 1579, (fn. 63) his widow
surviving him twenty-six years. (fn. 64) Thomas in 1587
married Mary daughter of John Lennard (fn. 65) and was
knighted on 23 July 1603. (fn. 66) He died on 4 July
1630, (fn. 67) having by a deed dated 15 December 1612
settled (fn. 68) the manor and advowson of Titsey on his son
John and his wife Elizabeth, in tail, with contingent
remainders to his younger sons Edward and Thomas.
Sir John, knighted 1 February 1616–17, (fn. 69) died without issue in 1643 and was succeeded by his brother
Edward, then aged fifty. (fn. 70) Edward married twice,
and by his second wife, Mary daughter of Edward
Campion of Putney, (fn. 71) had a son Marmaduke, who,
coming into possession of Titsey on his father's death
in 1647, (fn. 72) represented East Grinstead and Blechingley
in Parliament and was created a baronet on 31 July
1660. (fn. 73) He married in 1647 Alice daughter of
Richard Corbet, Bishop of Norwich, (fn. 74) and died in
1696, leaving Titsey to his eldest son Edward in tailmale, with remainder to his younger sons Charles and
William. (fn. 75) Sir Edward married Elizabeth daughter
of Andrew Henley, and leaving only one daughter
Elizabeth, who died unmarried, he, on his death in
1709, was succeeded by his brother Charles. (fn. 76) Sir
Charles married Mary daughter of William Godfrey,
M.D., of Ongar, (fn. 77) and had eight children by her. He
died on 1 April 1718. Titsey descended (fn. 78) to his
eldest son Sir Marmaduke, and he in 1738 conveyed
the manor with free fishing, court leet, court baron,
view of frankpledge and the advowson of the church
to John Godfrey, (fn. 79) whom he appointed, together with
Mr. Mompesson, executor of his will dated 4 June
1741. (fn. 80) In 1724 Gresham married at the Fleet,
London, Anne daughter of William Hoskins of Barrow
Green, Oxted. (fn. 81) He died in January 1741–2 and
was succeeded by his eldest son Charles, who was lost
in the East India ship Mumford in 1750. (fn. 82) As he
was under age and unmarried at the time of his death
the manor came into possession of his brother Sir
John, who in 1765 married Henrietta Maria daughter
of Sir Kenrick Clayton of Marden. Sir John pulled
down the old manor-house of Titsey in 1775 (fn. 83) and
built the one now standing on the same site, and
also removed the church, which adjoined the house,
to its present position across the road. (fn. 84) He died
20 September 1801, and left Titsey to his wife for
life with remainder to his daughter Catherine Maria. (fn. 85)
Lady Gresham died in 1804, (fn. 86) and in the same year her
daughter married William Leveson-Gower at St.
George's, Hanover Square, (fn. 87) by which marriage Titsey
came into the possession of that family. William
died in 1851, (fn. 88) leaving a son William, who married
Emily daughter of Sir F. H. Doyle, and at his death
in 1860 was succeeded by his son Mr. Granville
William Gresham Leveson-Gower, (fn. 89) the well-known
archaeologist, who excavated the Roman villa in the
grounds of Titsey, and who wrote accounts of the
families of Uvedale and Gresham. He married
Sophia daughter of Chandos first Lord Leigh, (fn. 90) and
on his death in 1895 the manor came into the hands
of his son Mr. Granville Charles Gresham Leveson-Gower, the present owner.
Leveson-Gower. Quarterly: 1 and 4, Barry of eight or and gules a cross paty sable, for Gower; 2 and 3, Azure three laurel leaves or, for Leveson.
Titsey Place is beautifully placed in a park on the
slopes of the Upper Green Sand, sheltered on the
north by the Chalk Downs.
The house, built by Sir John
Gresham between 1770 and
1780, was considerably altered
in 1831–2 and the diningroom wing was added in
1856. Over the chimneypiece in the entrance hall are
four carved oak panels with
the Gresham motto, probably
of rather a later date than
1578, and in the sideboard
is a shield with the initials
'w.g.' (William Gresham,
who died in 1579) with his
crest on an esquire's helmet. (fn. 91)
One bedroom is also fitted up
with oak panelling with a
carved mantelpiece of 16th or 17th-century date. In
the house are portraits of Sir Thomas Gresham, the
founder of the Royal Exchange, and of William
Gresham of Titsey, his first cousin, both by Cornelius
Kettel. In the house are kept a silver-gilt betrothal
ring of the 15th century, found in the garden in
1738, and a man's wedding ring of the 16th century.
The earliest mention of CHEVELERS is found in
a rental of Titsey in 1401, when John atte Berne
paid 5s. a year for a messuage, 10 acres and one piece
of land under the Grove with the Hawe at Chevelers. (fn. 92)
Later it was called the manor of Chevelers, and was
in the possession of Sir William Uvedale at his death
in 1528. (fn. 93) He left to each of his four younger sons
£20 a year, payable partly out of this manor. In
1610 the Sir William Uvedale of that date conveyed
the manor of Chevelers alias Chifflers, together with
free warren in Titsey and elsewhere, to William
Leigh on the payment of £140 (fn. 94) ; but this may have
been a mortgage, as in 1623 an indenture regarding
this manor was made between Sir William Uvedale
and Sir Thomas Gresham. (fn. 95) It is now known as
Cheverells Farm and is in the tenure of Mr. James
McBey.
In 1331 Sir William Henley, kt., granted his lands
and tenements in Titsey on the hills called Longdowne
and Geraldsdowne, with a grove called Geralds Grove
and 7 acres of land in Pychardesfeld, and 4s. yearly
rent issuing out of land there called Bernersland
belonging to John de Bottelegh, to Sir John de
Ifield, kt., and Margery his wife and her issue, with
remainder to John son of John Wakehurst and his
issue. (fn. 96)
CHURCH
The modern church of ST. JAMES
takes the place of a church built (fn. 97) in
1775–6 when the original building,
which stood in the grounds of Titsey Place, was pulled
down. It was built in 1861 from the design of J. L.
Pearson, R.A., and consists of a chancel, memorial
chapel, vestry, nave, south tower and south porch.
The materials are Limpsfield sandstone with Bath
stone dressings, and the interior is banded with Bath
stone and Godstone green firestone, while the chancel
arch and windows and the vaulting of the chapel have
shafts of Devonshire and Galway marble.
The tower has a shingled spire. Under the
chancel arch are some 14th-century encaustic tiles
taken from the floor of the original church. There
are also some 13th and 14th-century fragments of
masonry from the old building in the Leveson-Gower
chapel. On either side of the chancel is a 13th-century tomb-slab with a foliated cross. That on the
south has also a star in one corner.
On a slab under the east window of the Leveson-Gower chapel is a brass to 'Wyllm' Gresham, 1579,
son and heir of Sir John Gresham, and to Beatrice
Gybbone his wife, by whom he had children, James,
William, Thomas and John, Mary Elizabeth and
'Sysselley.' The date is scratched on the brass and
is later than the inscription, above which are the
kneeling figures of the man and his wife with their
children, and in the four corners are shields of
Gresham and a fesse dancetty between six eagles'
heads razed. In the nave are the indents of a man,
his wife and children (boys and girls), shields and
inscriptions.
On the north wall of the nave, opposite the south
entrance doorway, is a large mural monument to Sir
John Gresham, who died 26 May 1643, aged fiftysix, and his wife Elizabeth eldest daughter of Sir
Thomas Bishopp of Parham, Sussex, kt. and bart.,
who died 5 June 1664, as recorded on a slab close
by.
In the north chapel are several recent monuments
to members of the Leveson-Gower family.
The three bells are by Gillett Bland & Co. of
Croydon; the tenor and second were cast in 1882,
but the treble, although recast at the same time, still
bears its old inscription, 'R.I. R.K. J.T. J.P.
1640 BE,' and was no doubt cast originally by
Bryan Eldridge.
The plate consists of a silver chalice and cover
paten of 1569, a silver flagon of 1674 inscribed
'Domina Alicia Gresham Eccl: de Titsey D.D.
Jan. 14, 1678. Sanguinis una tui relevet me guttula
Jesu,' above which are the arms of Gresham impaling
Corbet; and a silver paten which was given by the
Rev. Antony Crowdy, M.A., rector of the parish in
1867. There is also a small pewter coffin chalice
which was dug up in the old churchyard in 1872
and which probably dates from the 13th century.
The registers previous to 1812 are in three volumes:
(1) baptisms 1579 to 1730, marriages 1581 to 1731,
burials 1586 to 1731; (2) baptisms and burials 1731
to 1812, marriages 1735 to 1749; (3) marriages
1754 to 1811.
ADVOWSON
The advowson of the church
appears to have been claimed by the
owners of both manors. In 1237
Hamon de Valoines granted it with his manor to
John de Gatesden for a term of seven years. (fn. 98) After
Thomas de Titsey's death in 1297, when his
three sisters and their heirs held the manor, the
presentations seem to have been made by each in
turn, John de Malevyle presenting in 1323. (fn. 99) After
the death of Gilbert de Clare in 1314 numerous
presentations were made by the Crown and afterwards revoked, (fn. 100) and in 1322 an order was made
that the advowson of Titsey should not be further
meddled with and that the issues were to be restored,
as they were held of others than the king, having
been granted to John Uvedale, (fn. 101) and henceforth the
advowson went with the manor. In 1804 the
inhabitants of Titsey made a composition with the
rector to pay £200 a year in lieu of all manner of
tithes belonging to the rectory. (fn. 102)
CHARITIES
William Peters of Oxted in 1834
left £200 for bread, fuel, clothing, &c.,
to be given to the poor at Christmas.
In 1775 the parish bought some land at Warlingham,
the rent of which was used for the poor and is still
applied in relief of the rates.
Smith's charity is distributed as in other Surrey
parishes.