Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/273

 REIGATE HUNDRED

��GATTON

��he obtained licence to inclose the manor, 360 acres of land, 40 acres of meadow, and land at Merstham, to- gether with a grant of free warren there. 7 * It has already been stated that the Copleys lived for some time at Gatton. Aubrey, writing late in the 1 7th century, mentions a fine manor-house there, and states that it was built on the site of a former castle ; but of this there is no proof." The house, then known as Gatton Place, was the residence of Dr. George New- land. 78 The present Gatton Park is a very fine example of the Italian style of house. It seems to have been begun by Sir Mark Wood, owner in 1808, whose predecessor, Mr. Petrie, had pulled down part of the older house. 7 ' The house of Sir Mark Wood was a good deal reconstructed, if not quite re- built on a grander scale, by Lord Monson, for what are known as Sir Mark Wood's cellars are outside the wall of the present house. Lord Monson, who died in 1841, left it unfinished, and it was completed by his successor. The Marble Hall, entirely lined by Italian marbles, is very fine, and there was a good collection of pictures and statuary.

UPPER G4TTON was the property of Samuel Ow- field, afterwards Sir Samuel, who represented Gatton in every Parliament from 1623 till his death in I644- 80 He acquired the neighbouring manor of Chipstead (q.v.), and Upper Gatton was the seat of the lords of that manor and descended with it till after the death of the Rev. James Tattersall in 1 784, when Chipstead was sold to William Jolliffe, and Upper Gatton to Lord Newhaven, owner of Lower Gatton, with which it has remained united. The house of Upper Gatton is surrounded now by a park of loo acres in the parishes of Gatton and Chipstead. 81

The church of ST. ANDREW has a CHURCH chancel 1 2 ft. 4 in. deep by 1 2 ft. wide, nave 48 ft. 6 in. by 4oft., small north and south transepts, the latter containing the vestry, a north-west porch, and a west tower 8 ft. square. The general appearance is that of an early 19th-century Gothic building, almost every trace of antiquity being absent. There is, however, a piscina in the chancel which seems to be of late 13th-century date, and the east window of the north transept may be of 15th- century date, and a good part of the walling of the nave and chancel is probably ancient. The font at the west end under the tower has a band of good 1 3th- century foliage below the bowl, though it is otherwise much altered. The most noteworthy part of the building is the woodwork, which was brought together and presented to the church by the late Lord Monson in 1834.

The altar table and pulpit came from Nuremberg. The latter is carved with the Descent from the Cross, in three panels ; it projects from a gallery over the vestry in the south transept, from which it is entered, and is finished with a pendant below. On the altar table is another part of the same scene, showing the women at the foot of the cross. The chancel is lined with oak panelling, the framing, cornice, &c. of which are modern, but the panels, for the most part old, of late French Gothic work : there are three ranges of

��twelve panels on each side, the lowest being plain linen panels, the middle ones also linen panels but of a much more elaborate character, while the top panels have very rich tracery of various designs, containing lilies, crowned U's, diaper pattern, passion emblems, &c. ; two have AO and another IHS.

The nave is seated quirewise : there are three rows of seats on each side, the highest being a set of sixteen stalls backed by panelling and a canopy, and divided by arms carved with cherubs' heads; they are fitted with misericordes carved somewhat plainly in foliage and faces ; the second row is divided into three blocks, the two western of which have stalls like those of the back row ; and the front row has plain open benches. The panelling behind the stalls, brought from Belgium, has traceried heads of elaborate and delicate character ; and the cornice has a moulded top member in which is an inscription in Gothic lettering bearing the date 1515. At the west end of the nave is a screen below the organ gallery ; it is divided into five bays, the middle one with a pair of doors ; each bay is sub- divided into four openings with cinquefoiled heads and tracery.

The front of the organ gallery over is modern, but a high screen rising above it contains some old tracery of the same character as the rest. The north transept is used as a private pew to the hall adjoining, and contains some panelling with 17th-century strapwork carving ; and the door of the vestry in the south transept space is made up with some elaborate linen panelling. Beside the altar table there are two chairs in the sanctuary, with carving like that of the sur- rounding panelling, and the altar rails are carved and traceried ; they are said to have been brought from Tongres. The church also possesses some good early 16th-century glass, brought from a religious house at Aerschot near Louvain. There are two bells ; the smaller only is rung, and was made by William Eld- ridge in 1665. The other is used as a clock bell and is hung high up in the wooden spire.

The plate is all of modern date and includes a cup of 1825,3 standing paten of 1835, an almsdish of the same date, and a small flagon of 1870.

The registers date from 1599.

There is a clump of fir-trees in the churchyard screening the church from the hall adjoining. Part of the churchyard was destroyed by Sir George Cole- brooke, brother and successor to Sir James Colebrooke, to improve the access to the house, close by which the church stands.

A church at Gatton is mentioned ADVOWSON in the Domesday Survey. 81 The advowson evidently belonged to Herfrey as lord of the manor, for he granted it to the priory of St. Pancras founded at Lewes by Wil- liam de Warenne. 83 The gift was confirmed by the successive lords of Gatton in the 1 3th century. 84 In 1291 the church was valued at 10," and a yearly pension of 30*. was due from it to the priory.*

The advowson apparently remained vested in the prior until the surrender of his house in November I537, 87 and in February 1537-8 it was among the

��76 Chart. R. 27-39 Hen - VI > no - +' H Hist, and An [if. of Surr. iv, 217.

78 Private Act, 24 Geo. HI, cap. 39.

79 Manning and Bray, op. cit. ii, 233, ay that one Moffatt, who did not buy the estate, began to pull down the house.

80 It was possibly divided from the

��original manor when the Copley estates were sequestrated for recusancy in the early 171)1 century.

91 From deeds of Lord Hylton commu- nicated by him. M f.C.H. Surr. i, 30317.

m Anct. Chart. (Pipe R. Soc.), 13 ; cf. r.C.H. Su,,. ii, 64.

199

��M Cott. MS. Vesp. F. iv, 173-4.

K Pofe Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 208.

M Cott. MS. Vep. F. xv, 174, 198; Valor Eecl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 46.

87 Egerton MSS. 2033,^1.99; 2034, fol. 16, 53, and 87 ; V.C.H. Sun. ii, 69-

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