Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/310

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

the castle. Manning and Bray, apparently quoting MSS. in the hands of Mr. Glover, the antiquarian solicitor of Reigate, and Aubrey say that there were three chapels in Reigate town. 1 The chapel of St. Thomas of Canterbury stood where the Town Hall stands in the middle of High Street, at the east end.'

At the western end of the High Street stands the Red Cross Inn, an ancient building much modernized, which was probably the hospice of the Canterbury pilgrims. In Slipshoe Street, West Street, and Bell Street are other old houses, half timber, tile-hung or brick fronted, the tile-hanging taking the form of diamond scales. There are several picturesque old inns with Georgian fronts, such as ' The Crown,' ' The Swan,' and 'The Grapes.'

A deed of 1 588 referred to the old Market Place at the west end of High Street'. The new one was there- fore in existence then, but the present ugly brick building was put up in 1708." At the place where the old Market House stood, between West Street and Slipshoe Lane, are parts of a very old clunch wall, and within their line is a pit, once a saw-pit, now a motor pit, in the side of which appears early stone vaulting, the remains of an old crypt or cellar. The chapel of the Holy Cross was said to be represented by two old houses at the end of High Street, looking down it eastward, which were recently demolished to improve the entrance into West Street. St. Law- rence's Chapel is said to have been in Bell Lane. Here, next the ' White Hart,' in a chemist's shop occupied by Mr. Fisher, are the remains of the stone corbels and tie-beams of a wide spanned roof, and the party walls of the house are very thick and ancient. 4 Opposite the present entrance to the castle is Cage Yard, where till recently a two-storied house of deten- tion for accused persons was standing. Access to the town from the north, and now from the railway station, was materially improved in 1823 by driving a tunnel under the eastern part of the castle hill, whereby traffic came directly info High Street oppo- site Bell Lane, or Bell Street as it is now called, instead of circling round the castle. The northern approach to the tunnel, however, destroyed part of the eastern outworks of the castle. As in the case of other Surrey towns a large number of gentlemen's houses have sprung up of late in the outskirts of Reigate, and the streets have been in several places widened by the pulling down of old-fashioned houses. Slipshoe Lane, however, still retains some ancient cottages.

The town is spreading along the valley and north- wards, and there are many good modern houses, as well as several new churches and chapels.

Among the larger houses, Minster Lea is the seat of Lady Jennings ; The Wilderness of Mr. J. W. Fresh- field; Northcote of Mr. F. C. Pawle.J.P.; Shermanbury of Sir John Watney ; Normanton of Mr. F. E. Barnes, J.P. ; Woodhatch House of Mr. R. P. Evans, J.P. ; Colley of Mr. W. H. Nash, J.P. Near Redhill, High Trees is the residence of Mr. M. Marcus ; Redstone Manor of Miss Webb ; Shenley of Major Foster, J.P. ; The Mount of Mr. E. C. P. Hall, J.P. ; Lome House of Captain Brodie.

Reigate might have been served by the Brigh- ton line, when it was first projected, but opposed its too near approach to the town. It remained 2 miles from the railway at Redhill, till in 1849 the South Eastern Railway Company made the branch line from Redhill to Reading, with a station at Reigate. The road from Crawley to Reigate was the first turnpike road in Surrey, made in 1696,* but was then only passable for horses in the southern part. It is the road which enters Reigate by Bell Street. The communication to London went on up Nutley Lane, and so up Reigate Hill. But the present road up the hill was made in 1755.* The road from Rei- gate to Merstham, into the new road to Croydon, by way of Wray's Common, was made in 1 807.' The communication of the London road with the town was improved by the tunnel made in 1823.

The borough was constituted a municipal borough in 1863, four years before it was destroyed finally as a parliamentary borough by the second Reform Act. The municipal buildings were erected in 1902 at a cost of over 2 5,000. In 1861 the Public Hall had been built at a cost of 5,000. It contains a library, and accommodates a literary institution and friendly societies. The cemetery adjoining the churchyard was opened in 1855.

The Isolation Hospital is in Horley parish ; it was opened in 1 900 ; Mrs. Kitto's Free Convalescent Home was moved to South Park in Reigate in 1880.

The Brabazon Home for invalid members of the Girls' Friendly Society was founded in 1885. It is in Lesbourne Road, and was founded by The Countess of Meath. The Victoria Almshouses were built by public subscription to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of her late Majesty. They stand in Deerings Road.

Reigate and Redhill neighbourhoods have yielded a great number of prehistoric remains, and there was clearly a large settlement of primitive people on the dry soil. Between 1848 and 1860 Mr. John Shelley made large discoveries of Neolithic flakes near Redhill Junction, on ground now covered by houses, and two sites of barrows were opened, revealing at 1 8 in. below the soil calcined bones, burnt flints, and a corn crusher. Sir John Evans described them to the Society of Antiquaries. 8 But various implements, including leaf-shaped arrow-heads, a hammer, and traces of hut floors were also found. 9 Two bronze armlets and British coins have also been found on Reigate Heath, 10 and on the heath are seven barrows, four easily visible, and three less clearly marked but discernible. There are pine trees on them, and guide books say that when the trees were planted glass beads and ashes were found. Flint flakes occur on the spot, which is a sand-hill to which the flints have been brought.

The subsequent history of Reigate is to be found in the possession of the manor and castle by the Earls of Warenne and Surrey.

From the utter destruction of the

C4STLE stonework it is impossible to date the

castle, which has always belonged to the

lords of the manor. It occupies a natural sand-hill,

1 Manning and Brny, op. cit. i, 288-9 i cf. Symmes, Add. MS. (B.M.), 6167.

2 In 1873 old foundations were found under and in front of the Town Hall.

8 Local information.

1 Personal observation. Mr. Fisher's

shop is undoubtedly an ancient building formerly comprising only one large cham- ber running east and west. It probably was the chapel. Some niches and other feature suggest an early 14th-century date.

230

'Stat. 8 Will. Ill, cap. ij. 'Stat. 28 Ceo. II, cap. 28. " Stat. 47 Ceo. Ill, cap. 25.

8 Proc. (Ser. 2), i, 69-72.

9 Ibid. ; Evans, Stone Imp, 244, 277, 378. i" Ibid.