Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/331

 COPTHORNE HUNDRED

��ASHTEAD

��the remainder escheated to the Crown. Philip, Earl of Arundel, son of the duke, prayed the queen to grant him the remainder that he might sell the manor to pay his debts ; 45 she granted the site and demesne lands to William Dixe in trust for him, 46 and in 1582 Philip conveyed these to Lord Henry Sey- mour, second son of Edward, Duke of Somerset, for 1,390." He sold them to John Ballett, 48 who, according to the plea of Edward Darcy in a suit which took place in 1 60 1, conveyed them in 1593 to Edward Darcy and his wife Elizabeth. 49

In 1 60 1 Henry Newdigate laid claim to the site and demesnes of the manor on the ground that Philip, late Earl of Arundel, and William Dixe had sold them to Francis Newdigate, second husband of the late Duchess of Somerset. Francis dying without issue was succeeded by his nephew John ; this John con- veyed the premises to his son Henry, the plaintiff, and his heirs after him. He affirmed that the deed of conveyance had come into the hands of Edward Darcy, who took possession of the premises ; * Edward Darcy evidently proved his title, for he still had the site of the manor in 1605." In 1639 it was in the possession of Christopher Fitzgerald and his wife Mary, who in that year conveyed it to Henry, Lord Maltravers."

Meanwhile the queen in 1595 granted the manor to Elizabeth Darcy and her sons Robert and Chris- topher for their lives, 53 but James I soon after his accession restored Thomas son of the attainted Philip, Earl of Arundel, to his blood and the title of Earl of Arundel and Surrey, 64 and granted the manor to him," and he probably acquired the site and demesne lands. His mother and he exhibited their bill in Chancery against Richard Turner, Augustine Otway, and others, tenantsof the manor, to ascertain the customs depending upon view of the Court Rolls of the manor of Ashtead ; M the matter was referred to the At- torney-General Coventry, who settled it as follows :

1. That the copyholders' estates should be reduced to be estates of inheritance in fee simple, and that in regard thereof the lord of the manor should have two years' value of the copyhold tenements accord- ing to a moderate valuation.

2. That all the fines ought to be arbitrable.

3. That heriots ought to be paid for copyholds that have no messuages upon them in the same way as for messuages and lands.

4. That copyholders might take timber upon their customary tenements (except the coppices of which the lords used to have the woods) for reparation of their houses, and for ploughbote, firebote, and other botes incident by law and custom, without assign- ment by the lord's officers, as long as they committed no waste or needless consumption of the timber and woods growing upon their lands.

This opinion was, by the consent of all parties, ratified and confirmed on 20 November 1622 by

��John, Lord Bishop of Lincoln, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and by a decree in Chancery the de- fendants and their heirs and assigns were bound to carry out the decision."

Thomas, who in 1644 was created Earl of Norfolk, was succeeded by his son Henrv whose son Thomas (1652) settled the manor on Henry, Earl of Kingston, and others in trust fori s wife. 58 Charles II restored this Thomas to the title of Duke of Norfolk ; he died unmarried (1677), and was succeeded by his brother Henry." In 1679 a bill was brought before the House of Lords for vesting this manor among other of his estates in trustees for the payment of certain mort- gages and debts, with power to sell for that purpose. The bill appears to have dropped ; *" but in 1 680 the duke sold Ashtead Manor to Sir Robert Howard, kt.," son of the first Earl of Berkshire, who the following year received licence to inclose a com- mon-way leading from Epsom to Ashtead, and to hold the same so inclosed to himself and heirs on con- dition that he provided a similar road elsewhere or on his own land. 6 * Sir Robert immediately built a new house, which Evelyn visited in i684.' 3 His only son and heir died in 1701, leaving the manor to his widow Diana, daughter of the Earl of Bradford ; she married William Fielding, and after the death of the son of her first marriage, Thomas Howard, restored the manor, with the site, free fishery, and free warren, to the Howard family, settling it on Henry Bowes, Earl of Berkshire, 64 with remainder to his fifth son, Thomas Howard, in tail male. This Thomas, who eventually succeeded to the earldom of Berkshire, left no son, and the manor of Ashtead passed to the daughter of an elder brother; she married (1783) Richard Bagot, who assumed the name of Howard and held Ashtead in right of his wife. He rebuilt the manor-house almost completely in 1790. Their only daughter and heir married the Hon. Colonel Fulk Greville Upton, who also took the name of Howard. 64 She survived till 1877. The manor then passed to her cousin, Lieut.-Colonel Ponsonby Bagot. He sold it in 1880 to Mr., afterwards Sir Thomas, Lucas, who sold it in 1889 to Mr. Pantia Ralli, the present lord of the manor.

A park was inclosed before 1650, when it was included in a conveyance of the manor. 66 It is mentioned also in a settlement of 1693." In a survey of Great Ashtead M of the reign of Edward VI it is mentioned that the farmers of the site of the manor rendered the equivalent of 1 2 couple of rabbits and 1 2 pairs of pigeons, probably in respect of the warren of Ashtead.

By the custom of the manor the copyholds descend to the youngest son,' 9 and daughters of copyholders are co-heirs. 70

LITTLE ASHTEAD, or PRIOR'S FARM, * reputed manor, was in the possession of the Prior and

��45 Manning and Bray, Surr. ii, 628* 44 Pat. 23 Eliz. pt. vii, m. 10.
 * > Close, 2+ Eliz. pt. xix.

48 Pat. 36 Eliz. pt. vii, m. 26.

49 Chan. Proc. Eliz. Nn. 3, no. 31. Ibid.

61 Pat. 3 Jas. I, pt viii ; Feet of F. DIY. Co. Trin. 3 Jas. I.


 * ' Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 15 Chas. I.

M Pat. 37 Eliz. pt. iv, m. II j Col. S.P. Dam. 1595-7, P- 8.

" G.E.C. Peerage, vi, 54. He was

��created Earl of Norfolk by Charles I in 1644.

64 Pat I Jas. I, pt xvii, m. 37.

M Chan. Decrees A 1621, p. 524 d,

7 Add. MS. 6167, fol.49.

68 Feet of F. Div. Co. Trin. 1652.

M G.E.C. ftirage, vi, 55.

60 Hitt. MSS. Com. Rtp. xi, App. ii, 1 39 j Recov. R. Mich. 32 Chas. II, rot. 256.

61 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 32 Chas. II. " Pat. 33 Chas. II, pt. vi, no. n.

" Evelyn, Diary, ii Dec. 1684.

249

��44 Recov. R. Hil. I Geo. II, rot 124.

65 Brayley, Surr. iv, 394.

66 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 32 Chas II ; see Com. Pleas D. Enr. Mich. 32 Chas. II, m. 11-14.

Mary.
 * > Feet of F. Surr. East 5 Will, and

Surv. of Edw. VI. Land Revenue Office, Surr. vol. 2.

88 Ct of Req. bdle. 94, no. 8.

7 Add. MS. 6167, fol.43.

32

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