Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/240

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

��In the part of the Lady chapel now used as a vestry are three small brass plates, also mural, one of which bears the inscription

HIC JACET THOMAS MORSTXD ET ALEANORA UX* El'.

��A'I'AB' P'PICIETUR DB'. AME.

The others are to the memory of Mrs. Bridgett Browne, 1627, and to Peter Gade, 1679. In the other part of the chapel (south wall) is a monument to Gabriel Wight, of Brockham, 1621 ; another to Stephen Harvey, 1618 ; and in the nave is a tablet to Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, bart., the famous surgeon, 1862.

The six bells were recast in 1876, before which date there seem to have been five, one bearing the inscription, SIT NOMEN' DOMINI BENEDICTUM ; an- other ROBERTUS MOT ME FECIT 1 590 ; and the others of 1667, 1721, and 1750.

Among the plate is a cup of 1639 and another of about the same date with an inscription round the upper part : ' This belongeth to the Parish of St. Bridgett,' i.e. St. Bride, in the City of London. There are two silver flagons of 1639 and patens of 1715 and 1776, besides a few pieces of modern plate, given by the same donor who presented the cup formerly belonging to St. Bride's, Fleet Street.

The registers date from 1558, with certain gaps and damaged portions. They contain an explana- tory note to the effect that about this time (in the early i8th century) the register was damaged owing to the vicar's greyhound bitch rearing a litter in the parish chest.

The Domesday Survey records the JOrOtTSON existence of a church at Betchworth (which must be East Betchworth), held at that time by Richard de Tonbridge, lord of Clare. 1 " It afterwards passed to the family of de Warenne. Earl Hamelin and his wife Isabella, daughter and heir of the third Earl de Warenne, gave the church of East Betchworth to the priory of St. Mary Overy, South- wark, before 1199; '" confir- mation of this and. divers other grants to the priory was made during the 1 4th and 15th centuries. 1 "

A vicarage was ordained be- fore 1377, as in that year an inquiry concerning the vicar of Betchworth was held by an

official of the Bishop of Winchester. The inquiry was directed at the instance of the parishioners them- selves, who alleged that the vicar did not proceed in orders, wasted the goods of the vicarage, suffered the house of residence to go to ruin, kept a mistress, revealed the secrets of the confessional, and left the church unserved. 11 * The vicar seems to have resigned in consequence, as in the June following the inquiry, which was held in February, William Spencer was

���PRIORY or ST. MART OyiRr. Argent a cross indented ?ulei with a lo- zenge gules in the quar- ter.

���DEAN AND CANONS or ST. GEORGE, WIND- SOR. Argent a croa gules.

��instituted vicar, owing to the resignation of John de Westone. 1 "

The convent of St. Mary Overy retained possession of the advowson until the Dissolution. 1 "

In 1545 Henry VIII made a grant in fee to Thomas Burnell and William his son of the rectory, late in the tenure of Sir Nicholas Carew, knight, deceased, and of the advowson, to be held of the king by the service of one fortieth part of a knight's fee, and for the yearly rent of ig/. 11 ' The king in the following year granted this yearly rent to Roland Hill and his heirs. 118 Both these grants, however, appear to have been annulled, or else surrender was made to the Crown, as Edward VI, in the first year of his reign, granted both rectory and church to William Franklin, Dean of the King's Free Chapel of St. George the Martyr in Windsor Castle, and the chapter of the same and their successors. 11 * The presentation to the church has remained with the Dean and Chapter of Windsor until the present day. 110

In 1634 or 1635, when a certain Robert Tourney was vicar, the rectory being demised to one Daniel Leare, the parishioners of Betchworth petitioned for the augmentation of the vicarage out of the impropriate parsonage ; the vicarage, formerly worth 30, having been decreased to 10 by the augmentation of the parsonage. 1 ' 1 On 10 May 1637, when the case was heard, the Dean and Chapter of Windsor offered an annual sum of 5 for the augmentation of the vicarage, a like offer being made by Leare, and it was therefore ordered that the said I o should be duly assured to the vicar and his successors. 1 "

The Parliamentary Report of 1658 says that the Poor Knights of Windsor were patrons. 1 " This is either a confusion, or the patronage of the abolished chapter had been conveyed to them.

In 1715 Hugh Griffiths, vicar, rebuilt the vicarage. Smith's Charity is distributed as in CHARITIES other Surrey parishes.

In 1660 Mr. Richard Arnold by will left the rent of land at Steyning in Sussex to pro- vide clothing for ten poor people not given to drunken- ness. This land has been sold.

In 1662 Mr. Andrew Cade left 100 by will to provide bread for the poor.

In 1662 Mr. Richard Arnold's daughter Mary gave 30;. a year charged on land at Medley Bottom in Betchworth to provide bread.

In 1706 Mr. Richard Hutton left the rent of a cottage to provide bread distributed on Good Friday. In 1725 the return to Bishop Willis's visitation calls the cottage John Parkhurst's house.

In 1725 Mrs. Margaret Fenwicke of Betchworth Castle left 200 to buy lands, to provide for appren-

��"1 r.C.H.Surr. i, 321.

11J Ibid, note ; Pat. 3 Edw. IV, pt. iii, m. 21.

118 Cal. Pat. 1388-92, p. Ill ; 1461-7, j>. 307.

114 fTykdiam's Reg. (Hants Rec. Soc.), ii, 266.

i Ibid, i, 86.

��"' Egerton MSS. 2031-4 ; rTykeham't Reg. (Hants Rec. Soc.), i, 86, 101, 132, 240 ; Valor Ecel. (Rec. Com.), ii, 62.

"7 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xx (i), 620 ; Pat. 36 Hen. VIII, pt. xx. From the terms of the grant it seems probable that Carew had a lease of the rectory only ; he never held the advowson.

172

��Pat. 38 Hen. VIII, pt. ix, m. 39.

118 Pat. I Edw. VI, pt. v, m. 17.

Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.), 1614-1835; Clergy Lilts.

1M Cal. S.P. Dam. 1634-5, p. 422 ; 1636-7, p. 241.

w Ibid. 1637, p. 95.

la * Lambeth Registers, vol. 21, no. 5.

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