Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/399

 COPTHORNE HUNDRED

��MICKLEHAM

��and a spear-head were found, called by Brayley 'exuviae of warfare," but were probably Anglo- Saxon interments, as at Fetcham (q.v.). At Chapel Farm, near West Humble, in Mickleham, are the very ruinous remains of part of the east, south, and west walls of a chapel. The history of its origin and decay is obscure. The priory of Reigate pos- sessed a messuage and rents which were called the manor of West Humble, and the chapel has been supposed to have been built by the priory. But it more probably belonged to Merton, which held the manor of Polesden Lacy. In 1566 lands called Capel were held with this manor, 6 and these would appear to be Chapel Farm, close by which the remains stand. The building is about 48 ft. by 1 6 ft. ; the greater part of the gabled west wall, a portion of the south wall, and part of the east wall still stand ; the material is flint and sandstone. There are no architectural details left, excepting a small light in the head of the west gable, too much worn to be dated ; it has one jamb, and part of what appears to have been a trefoiled head. Below it is a round hole, and in the east wall a gap formed by a single light, of which no dressings remain ; also another gap in the south wall. The flints of the walling are not split, and are set in fairly even courses. The building probably dates from the I 3th century.

The Running Horse Inn, in the days before the advent of railways, was a favourite stabling for horses racing at Epsom. On Mickleham Downs were, until recently, some training gallops.

At the beginning of the French Revolution Mickle- ham became the refuge of several distinguished French Emigres. M. de Narbonne, ex-minister of war, was the most celebrated among them, and Talleyrand also was here for a short time, and Madame de Stael. Juniper Hall had been taken by some of them, but several settled in other houses. Among them was M. d'Arblay, who married Fanny Burney, famous then as the authoress of Evelina.' M. and Madame d'Arblay, after a stay at Great Bookham, settled at a newly-built house in West Humble, which they named Camilla Lacey, because it was provided by the profits of ' Camilla," her third novel. It is now occupied by Mr. Leverton Harris.

Fredley Cottage was the home of Mr. Richard Sharp, F.R.S., M.P., known from his talents as 'Conversation Sharp.' During his lifetime many celebrated men visited Mickleham. He died in 1853. On a tree in the garden are the initials W. W. carved in the bark by Wordsworth.

James Mill and his son John Stuart Mill lived for a time in a house behind the Running Horse Inn. Hazlitt stayed at the Burford Bridge Hotel ; there also Keats wrote the latter part of ' Endymion,' and Nelson spent some of his last days in England. It was then called ' The Fox and Hounds ' and has since been very much enlarged. The literary traditions of Mickleham were continued by Charles Mackay, who lived in a cottage at the foot of Box Hill, since de- stroyed, and by the residence of the late Mr. George Meredith at Flint Cottage, where he died in 1909. The Grove, the seat of Mr. Edward Arnold, on the border of Dorking and Mickleham, was once the

��residence of the Marquis Wellesley. But the old house has been pulled down.

Mickleham Hall is now the residence of Mr. H. H. Gordon Clark, J.P. ; Norbury, of Mr. Leopold Salomons, J.P. ; High Ashurst, of the Dowager Countess of Harrowby ; Burford Lodge, with its famous collection of orchids, of Sir Trevor Lawrence, bart. ; Juniper Hall, famous for its cedars of Lebanon, of Mr. George McAndrew ; Juniper Hill, of Mr. L. Cunliffe ; The Priory, of Mrs. Grissell ; Fredley, of Mrs. Kay and Miss Drummond.

' The Old House,' now the residence of Mr. Gordon Pollock, is situated on the east side of the main road south of the church ; it bears the date 1636. It is of two stories and an attic, and is built entirely of red brick. Its west front towards the road has a slightly projecting wing at each end with moulded strings and cornices and shaped gables, and there are two similar gables in the main block. The present entrance is in the south wing and is modern ; the windows are square with modern wood frames and have moulded brick labels, those on the gables to the third story having pediments over them. The garden or east front is practically on one plane, with a gable head at either end and a small middle gable ; each of the side gables has three shallow brick pilasters with moulded capitals formed by breaking the string-couise or cornice at the foot of the gables round the pilasters. To the south of the building is a modern extension. The arrangement of the rooms has been somewhat altered since the house was built, and there is nothing of note inside excepting o*ie original brick fire-place with moulded jambs and three-centred arch ; this was discovered a short time ago. The original gateway of the grounds towards the road has some good posts with carved brick Ionic capitals.

In a deed of 1585-6 reference is made to Mickle- ham Common Fields. No Inclosure Act or Award seems to be in existence. Inclosure of waste on Mickleham Downs has taken place bit by bit.

Mickleham Village Hall was built by Mrs. and Miss Evans of Dalewood, in memory of the late Mr. David Evans.

The school, national, was built by subscription in 1844 and enlarged in 1872. There is a small infants' school at West Humble.

MICKLEHAM alias HIGH 4SH- M4NORS URST alias LITTLEBURGH.At the time of the Domesday Survey one of the two manors then called Mickleham was held of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux. 7 After his forfeiture under William II the manor was held of the king in chief, the tenant paying 1 2/. yearly on St. Andrew's Day for ward of Rochester Castle. 8

Ansfrig had held Mickleham under the Confessor, and Nigel held it under the bishop, 9 but there is no trace of subsequent tenants until the Testa de Nevill, which under the heading of escheats gives Robert and Matthew de Micheham holding a hide in Mickleham by the grant of ' King Henry the Elder.' 10 This was the nucleus of the considerable property of the family in Mickleham in later reigns.

Documents of the time of Edward I show that Robert de Mickleham held a messuage, 20 virgates

��6 Op. cit. iv, 457.


 * See manor of Polesden Lacy.

^ V.C.H. Surr. i, 304.

8 Exch. Ear. of Inq. rot. 4, m. 7,

��21 Edw. I j Testa dt Nevill (Rec. Com.), Henry I is probably meant. Henry II is zz8 5 Chan. Inq. p.m. zi Edw. I, no. 38. called in Teita de Nevill 'Henricus rex ' vr H. Surr. i, 304. pater Domini Regis.'

��... ., . 10 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 2z8.

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