Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/384

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

��is in good condition. The other has been opened. The ordnance map marks three tumuli east of the road, but this is the only one visible now.

Historically, Letherhead has claimed consideration as the old county town, but it is doubtful whether the County Court was ever held there continuously. In 12593 complaint was made that the County Court was held at Guildford instead of at Letherhead, ' Comitatus qui semper solebat teneri apud Leddrede.' ' But it may be remarked that the mediaeval semper is a loose term, and it is quite certain that in 1195 the king's justices had sat at Guildford, not Letherhead, and in 1 202 Guildford Castle was the county gaol.

Letherhead was quite possibly the meeting-place of the Hundred Court of Copthorne.* It is also geographically near the centre of the county, and a

���' THE RUNNING HORSE," LETHERHEAD.

convenient place for the meetings of influential people in Surrey, as in 1642 on the eve of the Civil Wars,' and in 1685 for a county election, though Evelyn seems rather to complain of the election being held at an obscure place. 7

A character famous at least in literary history lived at Letherhead, Eleanor Rummyng, celebrated by Skelton, poet-laureate to Henry VIII, in the poem called The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummynge. Her traditionary inn is now called ' The Running Horse,' and is near the bridge. Part of the fabric is as old as the 1 6th century, and there is no reason to doubt that the brewster was a real woman. The name Rumming occurs in the Lay Subsidy assessments in

��the neighbourhood, and is in the parish registers as late as 1 669. A John Skelton was assessed in Kingston in 1524-5, but the poet was in orders, so this is probably not the same man.

Letherhead Bridge is carried on fourteen arches, with stone piers and brick parapets, over a wide part of the Mole, where formerly there was a ford. According to a common practice, the bridge used to be closed by a bar except in flood time, when the ford was dangerous. In 1362 a licence was granted to collect money for the repair of a bridge here. 8 An unknown benefactor left land in Fetcham for its repair, but in 1782 an Act was passed 9 making it a county bridge, providing for its widening, and for the sale of the land given for its maintenance. As it is said to have been let at the time for 1 8/. a year, 10 the parishes of Letherhead and Fetcham, in which the bridge lies, must have really kept it up.

Letherhead had a large common on the downs, common fields on the slope of the chalk, a com- mon meadow by the river, a common called Letherhead Common, which still exists, and is mentioned above, and a common on the manor of Thorncroft. Under an Act of 1859 the common fields were inclosed : the date of the award was 20 November 1 862 ; and the com- mons were inclosed by an award of 4 May 1865." The common fields were among the last extensive common fields in the county.

There are a large number of gentlemen's houses in the parish besides those belonging to the old manors. Gravel Hill is the seat of Admiral Booth ; Cherkley Court was that of the late Mr. A. Dixon ; The Priory is that of Mr. A. H. Tritton, J.P. ; Pachesham Park, of Mr. F. C. Ramsey; Wrydelands, of Mr. S. Le Blanc Smith ; Givons, formerly Gibbon's Grove, of Mr. H. P. Sturgis. Letherhead Court, at the western extremity of the parish, is a large ladies'-school, kept by Miss Tullis.

St. John's School, Letherhead, was established first in St. John's Wood in 1852, and after being held at Clapton from 1858 to 1872, was moved to Letherhead. It provides a gratuitous education to a certain number of sons of clergy of the Church of England, receives clergymen's sons beyond the number of foundationers on low terms, and admits other boys also. The founda- tion depends upon voluntary support. It is carried on as a first-class public school. The head master is the Rev. E. A. Downes, University College, Oxford. The buildings, begun in 1872, and added to in 1890 and 1894., are in 16th- century style in brick with stone dressing. There is a handsome chapel.

The School for the Blind, Highlands Road, was founded in St. George's Fields, 1 799, incorporated by royal charter in 1826, and removed to Letherhead in 1902. The first stone of the new buildings was laid by H.R.H. the Princess Christian.

The Literary and Scientific Institute was given by the late Mr. Abraham Dixon, of Cherkley Court, in 1 892. All Saints' chapel of ease, on the Kingston Road, was built in 1889 by the late Sir Arthur Blomfield.

��4 Assize R. 873, 43 Hen. III.

s Possibly in the manor of Thorncroft, i.e. Tornccroft ; in Domesday Torne- cmst.i, named from the sheriff's tourn.

��6 Loseley MS. vi, 81, 133.

^ Diary, 8 April, 1685.

8 Pat. 35 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 24.

294

��9 22 Geo. Ill, cap. 17.

10 Manning and Bray, Surr. ii, 666.

11 Blue Bk. End. Awards.

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