Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/314

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

��they paid. The liberties of the lord within the borough in 1279 included infangtheof, gallows, the custody of prisoners, view of frankpledge, and free warren, which last extended in the case of Reigate over the lands of the freemen as well as the demesne lands of the manor." Return of writs was granted to John Duke of Norfolk, when lord of the manor in 1468."

The first known mention of Reigate as a borough is in 1291, when the men of the borough complained of exactions by the sheriff. 4 " In 1295 they first returned two burgesses to Parliament. 41 The return- ing officers in 14.52 were the two constables." The bailiff of the borough appears to have supplanted them shortly afterwards, for Richard Knight, bailiff, was returning officer in I472. 4 * It has been said that it was customary for the presiding constable to be elected bailiff each year, 41 but the rolls show that the bailiff was not the same man as either constable in certain years at least. The two constables and the bailiff chosen in the lord's court leet 4S were the principal municipal officers until the incorporation charter of 1863 estab- lished a council of mayor, aldermen, and councillors.

From 1295 till 1832 two burgesses were returned for Reigate, the franchise being vested in the burgage holders. 46 Under the Reform Act of 1832 the borough boundary was extended to include the whole parish, 47 and the number of representatives reduced to one, and in 1867 Reigate was disfranchised. 48

The growth of the borough was evidently due to the protection afforded by the castle. It may also have acquired importance through the neighbouring stone quarries worked in the I3th and 1 4-th centuries and its position on cross roads. 49 It was a market town before i2j6, M and shortly afterwards Earl Warenne proved his claim to a prescriptive weekly market on Saturdays and fairs on Tuesday in Pentecost week, the eve and day of St. Lawrence (10 August), and the eve and day of the Exaltation of the Cross (14 September). 51 The first and last continue still. In 1313 John Earl of Surrey had a new grant of a market on Tuesdays, 5 * which is still extant. Another market was established at Red- hill by a private company in 1859," anc ^ ' s now ne '^ on alternate Wednesdays.

A monthly market and a cattle fair on Wednes- days in Easter week were granted to the burgesses in February 1678-9." A fair is still held on 9 December. The weekly market granted to the burgesses seems to have been merged in the Tuesday market.

��The manor of REIG4TE appears in MANORS the Domesday Survey under the name of Cherchefelle. It was then held in de- mesne by the king, and had formerly belonged to Queen Edith." Probably William II granted it to William de Warenne when creating him Earl of Surrey, c. io88. 56 The statement in Tata de Nevitl, that Reigate had pertained to the barony of Earl Warenne from the time of the Conquest, 57 points to its having formed part of the earl's original endow- ment, but the earliest known reference to Reigate Manor as a possession of the Earls of Surrey 48 is that of the inquest of 1212, where it is returned among the lands of William Earl of Surrey, son of Isabel, great-granddaughter of the above-men- tioned earl." An account of the family and its close connexion with the county will be found in the article on the Political History of Surrey. 60

In 1316 John Earl of Surrey surrendered Reigate with other lands to the king and had a regrant for life, with remainder to John de Warenne, his illegitimate son by Maud de Nerford. 61 This settlement was altered in 1326 in favour of his lawful wife Joan, Countess of Bar, granddaughter of Edward I, 6 * who after his death held Rei- gate in dower. 6 * In accord- ance with the settlement of 1326 and a charter of Ed- ward III, 64 it passed at her death in 1351 to the earl's

nephew Richard, Earl of Arundel, 65 afterwards styled Earl of Surrey. His son and heir, Richard, the dis- tinguished naval commander of the later French wars, having incurred the enmity of Richard II fled to Reigate, but having been treacherously persuaded to leave the castle " was arrested, attainted, and be- headed September I397. 67 His lands thus forfeit to the Crown " were granted to John Holand, Duke of Exeter. 69

The latter was himself beheaded at Pleshey for con- spiracy against Henry IV in January 1399-1400, and in the following OctoberThomas,son of the last-named Richard, Earl of Arundel, was restored to his father's honours, and probably to his lands. 7 * After his death, which occurred in 1415," Reigate formed part of the dower of his widow Beatrice."

Soon after her death, which occurred in 1439, par-

��WARENNE. Cheeky or and azure.

��M Plac. de Qua JVar. (Rec. Com.), 737,

745-

Chart. R. 8-10 Edw. IV, no. 14.

40 Assize R. 893.

41 Ret. ofMemb. of Par!, i, 6. Orig. Parl. Ret. 31 Hen. VI. Ret. ofMemt. of Parl. i, 361.

44 Carew, Hist. Acct. of Rights of Elec. 86.

45 In Jan. 1485-6 William Clifton was appointed constable of the castle and bailiff of the 'town' by Hen. VII, to whom was forfeited one-fourth of the manor (see below), Mat. for Hist, of Hen. VII (Rolls Ser.), i, 251 ; but his office may only have been the stewardship of the manor or honour ; Cat. Close, 1313-18, p. 101.

46 Orig. Ret of M.P. 12 Edw. IV ; 31 Chas. II ; Partic. of Present and Proposed Parl. Boroughs, Parl. Papers, 1831-2, ixxvi, 301. It is noteworthy, however, that the electors in 1541-2 were the

��burgesses 'and others of the commonalty gent.'etrten being burgesses' and in 1620-1 the burgesses and inhabitants. (Orig. Ret. 33 Hen. VIII; 18 Jas. I.) 4 < See Parl. Papers, 1831-2, xl, 35.

48 30 & 31 Viet. cap. 102.

49 f.C.H. Surr. ii, 277.

M In that year inquiry was made into the value of tolls paid by the men of the Archbishop of Canterbury at certain fairs or markets ; they paid I mark at Reigate (Misc. Inq. zxxiv, 22).

il Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.) 737.

M Chart. R. 6 Edw. II, no. 66.

53 Report on Mar/tea and Tolls, 1891 xiii (2), 512.

64 Pat. 31 Chas. II, pt. iii, no. 16.

V.C.H. Surr. i, 297.

68 Cf. G.E.C. Baronage, vii, 322. The endowment of the earldom seems to have consisted of all Edith's manors in Surrey.

1 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 226.

234

��53 That it was held by Isabel and her husband Hamelin, Earl Warenne, between 1164 and 1 199 may be deduced from their gift of the church to St. Mary, Southwark, lee below.


 * Red Bk. ofExch. (Rolls Ser.), 561.

M r.C.H. Surr.\, 329.

"HarL Chart. 57, E. 33; Col. Close, 1313-18, p. w,CalPat. 1313-17,^528.

M Ibid. 1324-7, p. 271; Cat. Close,

'3 2 3-7. P- 573-

"Ibid. 1346-9, pp. 314, 316.

64 Cal. Pat. 1345-8, p. 221.

Cf. Feet of F. Div. Co. 40 Edw. HI, 1 7.

56 Citron. S. Albani (Rolls Ser.), ii, (Trokelowe), 202.

6 ~ G.E.C. Peerage, vii, 329.

63 Chan. Inq. p.m. 21 Ric. II, no. 137.

89 Pat. 22 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 23.

"" G.E.C. Peerage.

~> l Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Hen. V, no. 54.

"'Ibid. 1 8 Hen. VI.no. 28.

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