Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/372

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���A HISTORY OF SURREY

��the Crown. In 1558 Queen Mary granted the rectory to John Bishop of Winchester, 101 but he was deprived in 1559 and died in January 1560, and it reverted to the Crown. In 1560 Elizabeth granted the rectory and church to Thomas Reve and George Evelyn and their heirs, to be held in chief by the service of a fortieth part of a knight's fee. 105 These were probably trustees, for soon after Nicholas Saunders was seised of the rectory, from whom Sir William Gardiner purchased it, 10 * and left it by will, proved 1622,10 his son, 105 who was holding it in 1628. m A descendant of his of the same name sold it to Barton Holliday in 1 69 1, 107 who conveyed it to Sir Richard Bulkeley, bart. 108 A few years after Sir W. Lewen bought it, and in 1722 devised it to his nephew George, whose daughter and sole heir married, in 1736, Sir Richard Glyn of London, 109 and with her it passed to the Glyn family, with whom it still re- mains.

When the rectory was granted to Thomas Reve and George Evelyn in 1560, the sum of 11 was reserved out of the profits, to be annually paid to the vicar. 110 The vicarage fell very low after that time, for we have the humble petition of the inhabitants and parishioners of Ewell for the ' relief of the most miserable state of their poor vicarage ' the vicar was Richard Williamson, 111 who held the living from April 1584 to April 1589.

There was a chapel in the far-removed hamlet of Kingswood, which had existed long before the middle of the 1 5th century ; for when the vicarage of Ewell was endowed in 1458, it is mentioned as of long stand- ing. It was then stipulated that the vicar should not be obliged to minister to the hamlet of Kingswood or to celebrate Mass in the chapel there ; that when any of the Sacraments of the Church were to be adminis- tered to the people of that place, the rectors (Prior and convent of Newark) should provide a priest for the purpose ; and in case of the death of any inhabi- tant of Kingswood and his removal to Ewell for burial, the vicar should meet the body at Provost's Cross, on the south side of Ewell, which had been the custom

��from ancient time. 112 The subsequent history of this chapel remains obscure.

Smith's Charity is distributed as in

CHARITIES other Surrey parishes. Mr. Thomas

Dickenson's rent-charge of z 21. for

the poor, presented as existing in 1725, was left in

1631.

Mr. Mason, in 1733, gave 3 a year from South Sea Stock for the poor.

Two fields, Chamber Mead and Parish Close, were rented for the benefit of the poor from an unknown date.

In 1725 Mr. David White left money for educat- ing poor children. There was no school at Ewell, and the bequest led to protracted Chancery suits, with no benefit to the parish till 1816, when Mr. Brom- field's bequest had also became available for a school.

Mr. Bromfield, by will of 1773, left .350 for the vicar of Ewell, or, if he did not preach on Sundays at evensong, for the poor not receiving parish relief, and five shares in the Sun Fire Office for six poor widows and the education of ten poor children.

Mrs. Hellena Tindall, in 1798, left 1,758 I9/. 6d. Three per Cent. Stock for widows and poor not receiving parish relief.

Bromfield's charity is, according to a scheme sanc- tioned by the Charity Commissioners, 3 January 1905, divided between a payment made to the vicar, educational purposes, and poor relief. Under the second head prizes and exhibitions for the higher education of scholars are given, and a balance is held over to provide against possible demands under the Act of 1902. White's bequest is now held in reserve for the same contingency. Chamber Mead was sold in 1883, and the price invested in consols, the income being applied in relief of the poor rate. Parish Close, awarded to the parish under the Inclosure Act of 1 80 1, was exchanged in 1885 for a field at Beggar's Hill, which is let in allotments, the rent, 8, being also used for the relief of the poor rate. The total of the charities amounts to over 300 a year, given in bread, clothing, and school scholarships and prizes.

��FETCHAM

��Feecham (xi cent.) ; Fecham (xiii cent.) ; Feecham (xiv cent.); Fetcham, 1499.

Fetcham is a small parish and village, the latter a mile from Letherhead. It measures nearly 4 miles from north to south, and under 2 miles from east to west, tapering to the south, and includes 1,817 acres of land and 22 of water. Roreing House Farm, a small detached portion of Great Bookham, was trans- ferred to Fetcham under the Act of 1882. The Mole forms part of the eastern and northern boundary. The village lies on the Woolwich Beds at the foot of the chalk, but the greater part of the parish to the south is upon the chalk hills, and the northern part and eastern fringe are upon the London Clay and the alluvium of the Mole. It is a purely agricultural

��parish. The mill, close to Letherhead, is worked by the overflow of a pond formed by several strong springs rising in it, which runs into the Mole in the course of a few yards. The springs do not seem to be connected with the swallows in the bed of the Mole, as they are unaffected by the rising or falling of the river. Fetcham Downs were a large tract of open chalk down, of which much has been inclosed, cultivated, or planted. The road from Letherhead to Guildford passes through the parish, and also the South- Western Railway from Effingham Junction to Letherhead. The London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway line to Dorking also just touches the parish.

Fetcham is rich in prehistoric antiquities. Anglo-

��tM Pat. 5 & 6 Phil, and Mary, pt. iv.

1M Pat. 2 Eliz. pt. iv.

104 Chan. Proc. Eliz. LI. i, 38.

104 Brayley, Surr. iv, 380.

��Feet of F. Surr. East. 4 Chas. 1 5 East. 7 Chas. I.

'W Feet of F. Mich. 3 Will, and Mary. 108 Rccov. R. Hil. 4 Anne, rot 231. 108 G.E.C. Baronetage, v, 114.

284

��110 Brayley, Surr. iv, 380.

111 Hist. MSS. Cam. Ref. vii, App. 666a ; Loseley MSS. ii, 14.

112 Winton Epis. Reg. Wayneflete, i (2), foL 52.

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