Page:Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.djvu/394

328 by this church of Leret. They state Leatherhed to be mentioned in K. Alfred's will by the name of Leodrede; and to have been known subsequently as Lereda, Lerred, and Ledered; admitting a conviction, that Leret signifies Leathered, but deeming that the church was "annexed" to Ewell. Consult the Note on Leatherhed. The second Domesday church at Epsom and that of Lered may very well represent the parish church of Ewell and the chapel of Kingswood. The latter still stands in the (Clergy List) as a perpetual curacy.

42. .—Of this church the nave was rebuilt about A.D. 1836 or 1837, when the tower, which stood between the nave and the chancel, fell, through inattention to a defect in the wall, whence the interior loose rubbish ran out, and the wall collapsed.

43. .—Brass: John Brock, wife, and five children, 1495. (M. & B.)

44. —Church is mentioned in (D. B.) only casually. "Osbern de Ow holds of the bishop the church of this manor." The same individual held the church of Leret.—(A.D. 1291) "Ecclia de Farnham cum capella." In (Val. Eccl.) the chapels of Frensham, Scale, Elsted, and Bentley in Hants are annexed. Near this place, within the private grounds of G. Nicholson Esq., are the ruins of Waverley abbey. The situation is rather remarkable, and must have been more peculiar at the period of the foundation of the settlement, when the country was so little cultivated, the spot being a green valley near a stream, with poor, heathery ground close to and almost surrounding it. We are informed, that the foundation of Waverley was laid 24 November, A.D. 1128, 29 of K. Henry I, by Will. Giffard, Bp. of Winchester, for twelve Cistercian monks. About 1187 the establishment contained 120 converts or lay brethren, and 70 monks, while it maintained about thirty plough teams constantly at work. The abbey is recorded to have suffered much from floods (the natural consequence of its situation), and it is said, that a new monastery was erected on higher ground. (Annals of Waverley quoted in Monast. IV, 237, 239.) As already noticed the portion now existing is in a very low spot, in fact, a kind of basin, encircled by higher ground; and forasmuch as some of the yet standing walls are of Norm. construction, this fact seems to demonstrate, that, though a new monastery might have been contemplated, that intention was never executed. The buildings of the abbey generally have been most effectually