Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/150

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

��same time removed This tower, which seems to have been very massive and large, is shown in ruins in the engraving published in Grose's Antiquities, from a sketch taken in 1763," it having been thrown down by a severe explosion at the Chilworth gunpowder factories in that year. This view shows part of the vault (apparently a plain quadripartite one without ribs) as then existing, and beneath is a circular square- edged arch opening into the nave. The simple character of this arch, which was devoid of ornament except for a chamfered impost at the springing, suggests that it may have been part of Bishop Odo's work of the last decades of the 1 1 th century ; and a small round- headed window in the south wall of the nave, shown in Cracklow's view of 1824, coincides very well with this date. There seems to have been a plain early doorway in the north and south walls, features that together with the windows have been reproduced in some sort in the new work. The nave, built on the old foundations, measures 45 ft. in length by 1 5 ft. I in. at the west, and 1 6 ft. at the east ; the central cross- ing, 1 2 ft. 6 in. by 1 3 ft. 6 in. wide ; the north transept, 1 1 ft. 8 in. by 1 2 ft., and the south transept, 1 2 ft. 8 in. by 1 2 ft. ; while the chancel is 2 3 ft.

���PLAN OF ST. MARTHA'S OR CHILWORTH CHURCH

��long by 1 6 ft. 8 in. The thickness of the present west wall (3 ft. 6 in .) represents that of the walls of the de- stroyed western tower. The transept and crossing walls are 2 ft. 3 in. on an average.

The authority for the present central tower is very questionable, and in any case its ' Norman ' style is out of keeping with the plain early pointed arches on which it stands, parts of which are original work of circa 1 1 90.

Probably the first chancel was apsidal, and this square space represented the quire.

There is no window in the west wall of the north transept or the north wall of the chancel, and all the other windows are restorations. It is on record that foundations were discovered in the ground to the east of the transepts, probably those of chapels, perhaps apsidal. Three aumbries were found in the chancel, and two stone coffin-lids, with floriated crosses, much worn,

��were dug up, and now lie on the floor of the chancel. Two buttresses against the south wall of the chancel are probably not mediaeval, but a sort of buttress projection in the angle between that wall and the east wall of the south transept was possibly made to allow of a squint being pierced from the transept to command the high altar.

There is reason to believe that the barrel-shaped font, of sandstone, is the one described by Manning and Bray as at Elstead Church, whence it had dis- appeared before 1845. The St. Martha's font was brought ' from another church,' where it had been thrown out into the churchyard in 1 849, and the carving added on the spot. The original was early Norman, like that at Thursley. 35

The silver cup and paten bear the London hall- marks of 1780.

The bells are all modern.

An iron church in Chilworth hamlet was built in 1896 and is served from Shalford.

St. Martha's was probably one of ADVQW&QN the three churches appurtenant to Bramley in 1 08 7, 3Sa and the advowson alienated by the lord of Bramley, at the time when Chilworth was granted out to the lords of Utworth, for Elias of Utworth " owned late in the 1 2th century, and granted it to the Priory of St. Thomas the Martyr at Aldebury." The priory retained the advowson until its surrender in 1538.** In the episcopal registers of 1463 record is kept of an in- dulgence granted to pilgrims to, or benefactors of, the church of St. Martha and All Holy Mar- tyrs. 39 After the surrender of the priory the advowson seems to have become the property of the lords of Chilworth Manor, with which it has since de- scended.

The church in 1291 is called ecclesia not capella, and the canons of Newark were endowed with all the usual parochial revenues in 1 262.' They pre- sented a vicar previous to 1330," and as late as 1412." Latterly it was a donative, probably from the time of the Dissolution, and an annuity was paid to a curate by the patron. The duty was usually done by the incumbent of some neighbour- ing parish or his curate. The registers are in consequence imperfect, entries being in existence in Wonersh, Albury, and elsewhere referring to St. Martha's ; but there is a register with some entries of baptisms and burials from 1779, an< ^ ^ marriages from 1794. Since 1849 it has been attached to Albury, and the rector of Albury, the Rev. H. E. Crossley, was instituted by the Bishop of Winchester as rector of Albury and vicar of St. Martha's in 1904.

��81 In an engraving by Hill, probably made between 1740 and 1750, published in the Eccl. Topog. of Surr., all four walls of the tower are shown as standing. Rus- sel, Hist, of Guildford, mentions that there were three bells in the tower, and that most of the materials were carried off by Lord Spencer's steward 'to mend the roads.'

��85 Information of the late Rev. J. R. Charlsworth and of the late Mr. H. Woodyer.


 * > r.C.H. Surr. i, 3014.

86 See under Utworth.

" i.e. the priory of Newark j Maitland, B radon's Nott Bk. 928,

1 06

��88 See V.C.H. Surr. ii, 104.

89 Bishop Waynflete's Register, quoted by Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 119.

40 Winton Epis. Reg. Waynflete i (2), fol. 83.

41 Ibid. Stratford, fol. I2O.

4a Ibid. Beaufort Inst. fol. 923.

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