Page:Surrey Archaeological Collections Volume 1.djvu/181

 another solution, to any of these—one which points out that Mr. Grumbridge's house, Mr. Lacoste's barn and farm-yard, with all the supposed remains of the abbey, are even now in an island, which was, I feel persuaded, more fully marked in ancient times.

This Ceroti Insula, with Surrey, of which it formed a portion, was, in the seventh century, a part or dependence of the kingdom of Mercia, or Mid Angles, which was converted to Christianity about the middle of that century, through the marriage of the son and heir of Penda, king of Mercia, to the daughter of Oswald, the zealous Christian king of Northumbria. It was about this time that parishes, as we now understand the word, were first formed in England. At first, each kingdom formed but one parish, which again was divided into what we should now call dioceses, the cathedral being for a time the only church, the bishop sending his priests travelling about the country, to instruct the people and administer the rites of Christianity. Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, towards the close of the seventh century, was the great instrument of accomplishing the formation of parishes, to which the influence his great talents and learning gave him, contributed not a little. This was effected in great part, by inducing the great proprietors, to erect and endow churches, of which they retained the patronage.

Such seems to have been the origin of Chertsey Abbey. It appears from documents, purporting to be the deeds of foundation, that, in 666, Erithwold, petty king of the Surreians under Wulpher, king of Mercia, built the monastery in conjunction with Erkenwall, afterwards bishop of London; which means, no doubt, that Erithwold built a church of which Erkenwall was appointed the incumbent, and that to this church was