Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/128

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

��very common occurrence in the beginning of the I jth century. The chancel arch is lofty, pointed, of two chamfered orders upon stop-chamfered jambs, having square-edged moulded imposts at the spring- ing. On the south side of this arch are traces of a squint, which formerly opened into the south transept. The door to the vestry on the north of the chancel is modern, and it does not appear that there was ever a priest's door. The roofs of both chancel and nave are ancient, of collar-beam con- struction, with braces and struts, and of somewhat flat pitch that of the former being only 45 de- grees.

The destroyed transeptal chapel on the south had a single lancet in each wall, and on either side of the nave before its enlargement was a plain blocked door- way of later date than the I zth-century door in the west wall.

In 1850 the north aisle was added in the style of the early 1 4th century, and in 1875 the south aisle followed, being prolonged into what had been the transeptal chapel, which was rebuilt, and vestries were built to the east of the tower. The west front, with its ' Norman ' windows, is modern. The present font is modern, as is also the chancel screen.

In the chancel windows is some heraldic and pattern glass, noticed by Cracklow in 1824, parts of which are ancient.

��There are many monuments of late 1 7th and i8th- century date to the Ludlow family.

There are a silver paten of 1592 and a cup and paten-cover of 1664, besides more modern pieces, among the church plate.

There are six bells.

The registers of baptisms and marriages date from 1566, with three baptisms, entered later, in 1563, 1564, and 1565 respectively. In 1676 Bishop Morley for the first time licensed a burial-ground round the chapel of Bramley. 1 " The register of burials begins from that year.

The parish church was probably ADVQWSQN one of the three churches contained in Bishop Odo's fee in io86. 186 Until 1 844 Bramley was a chapelry of Shalford, but in that year it was constituted a separate parish under Sir Robert Peel's Act for establishing parishes.

In Thorncombe Street were five

CHARITIES cottages built and owned by the

parish. They are described by one

who remembers them as disgracefully bad. They

were sold by the parish in 1837.

Mrs. Finchett in 1815 left .100 stock to trustees to provide a dole of bread yearly for the poor.

Smith's Charity exists as in other Surrey parishes. About 22 ioi. in all is distributed in bread and clothing.

��CRANLEIGH

��Cranlygh, Cranleigh, Cranlegh, Cranle (xiii cent.). 1 Cranley till recently. Cranleigh of late years to avoid confusion in post and railway with Crawley.

Cranleigh, a parish 8 miles south-west of Guildford, bounded on the north by Shere, Albury, and Wonersh, on the west by Alford and Hascombe, on the east by Ewhurst, on the south by the county of Sussex, con- tains 7,697 acres of land and 6 1 of water. It measures rather under 6 miles from north to south, just under 4 from east to west.

The northern part of the parish rises to about , 700 ft. above the sea in Winterfold Hill, part of the great stretch of the heath and fir upland called Hurt Wood adjoining Blackheath to the north, and east- ward rising still higher in Ewhurst, Holmbury, and Leith Hills, in Ewhurst, Ockley, and Wotton re- spectively. This part of the parish is Greensand. From the base of the hills to the Sussex border the soil is Wealden Clay, with superficial patches of sand and gravel. The village is on the latter, on Cran- leigh Common, part of which is one of the best cricket pitches in Surrey. Smithwood Common is to the north-west of the village. Small detached parts of Cranleigh were added to Albury and Wonersh, and part of the border at Moxley was added to Shere 24 March 1884.'

The village is traversed by the road from Guildford to Horsham. The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway line from Guildford to Horsham, opened in 1865, passes through the parish, which contains two stations, Cranleigh and Baynards. The

��disused Wey and Arun Canal runs through the parish. On the clay are extensive brick and tile works. Formerly Cranleigh was a great seat of the iron industry. 3 The oak timber of Vachery was a valuable property sold to London merchants in the 1 5 th century. 4 Vachery Pond, an artificially-made lake covering 6 1 acres, was used as a reservoir for the Wey and Arun Canal, and was probably enlarged for that purpose. But it is marked on the map before the canal existed, and was certainly made as a forge or hammer pond. Hammer Farm is on the stream, which is dammed up to make it, a little lower down. A fish-pond is mentioned at Vachery in the I3th century,' but it need not have been so extensive, probably was not, as the subsequent reservoir, even if it is included in this.

A Baptist chapel was built in 1889, and there is a small Wesleyan mission chapel on the common.

A few old-fashioned gabled and tile-hung houses remain near the church, including the post office, and another with a half-timber wing. Ancient houses of important families, now represented by farm-houses, also existed at Vachery (near Baynards in Ewhurst) and Knowle, and the north and south transeptal chapels in the church are still known respectively as the Vachery and Knoll (or Knowle) chapels. A house called Sansoms has some old panelling and other features of interest internally, although the exterior has been modernized.

There is a very picturesque 16th-century cottage at the south end of the village, but the houses have mostly

��185 The licence is in the parish cheit. " V.C.H. Surr. i, 301. > Add. MS. (B.M.), 7606.

��* Loc. Govt. Bd. Order 16532.

V.C.H. Surr. ii, 272.

86

��4 Anct. D. (P.R.O.), C. 242.

' Chan, Inq. p.m. 25 Edw. I, no. 50.

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