Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/426

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

��the grant is very suspicious (see Chertsey). In 1086 it was held of the Abbot of Chertsey by Oswold, who had it in the time of Edward the Confessor ; n but Chertsey does not appear to have exerted any over- lordship after this date, and it is possible that Oswold had merely placed himself under the protection of Abbot Wulfwold, who was his brother." Oswold or one of his successors apparently sub-infeudated, for La Leigh appears subsequently as held of the manor of Wotton, which was among Oswold's possessions in 1086." Early in the I2th century Oswold de la Leigh, the immediate tenant, granted to Hugh, Abbot of Chertsey, a tithe of his demesne lands in Effing- ham. 79 In the reign of John, Maud de Camoys had custody of the heir of Gilbert de la Leigh and of his tenement in Effingham-La-Leigh and Polesden. 80

In 1285 Nicholas le Gras had a grant of free warren in the manor of ' La Leye,' 81 which he held at fee-farm of William de la Leigh, who in that year recovered it from him, Nicholas having for two years failed to pay his farm. 81 John de la Leigh, son of William, was acting in the service of Humphrey de Bohun in 1 3 14," and in 1320 released all his right in the manor of La Leigh to Master John Walewayn, 84 apparently with remainder as in Effingham Place Court, to William de Bohun, who in 1328 had a grant of free warren in all the demesne lands of Effingham and La Leigh. 85 La Leigh then descended with Effingham Place Court to Lawrence Downe, who died seised of it in I^J$. M From this date there is no trace of La Leigh as a separate manor, and it apparently became amalgamated with Effingham Place Court.

The moated inclosure in Lee Wood (already men- tioned) is probably the site of the old manor-house of La Leigh.

Aubrey, writing in 1718, mentions a small fair at Effingham on the feast of St. Lawrence (10 August), 87 the patron saint of the church, which was transferred before the end of the 1 5th century to 15 July, 98 and has since been abandoned.

The church of ST. LAWRENCE has CHURCH a chancel 26ft. 7 in. by i6ft. i in., south organ chamber and vestry, nave 43 ft. by 21 ft. 6 in., south transept 27 ft. 6 in. deep by 1 8 ft. loin, wide, south aisle 8ft. 6 in., south porch and a west tower 8 ft. 9 in. by 8 ft. I in. ; these dimensions are within the walls.

Owing to the great amount of modern reconstruc- tion which the building has undergone the history of the fabric is for the greater part lost, but enough remains to prove that it dates at least from the 1 3th century, the large south transept having the remains of windows of that date ; no old features are left in the nave, but the proportion of two squares is sugges- tive of a 12th-century date. The chancel was re- paired about 1388, but has an early 14th-century window at the north-west, and the masonry of the walls may be considerably earlier. No other details are left to give a clue to the history of the building,

��but the tower appears to have been built (or rebuilt) in 1757, on the evidence of a stone recording that date ; it was again reconstructed in 1888 ; a brass inscription on the wall states that it was erected at that time. The nave was wholly modernized in 1888, the south aisle added, and the chancel partly rebuilt ; the vestry, east of the transept, was added in 1899.

The east window of the chancel is a modern one of three lights under a traceried pointed head ; but the north-east and south-east windows clearly belong to the work of 1388, which was done by order of William of Wykeham, and in their simple and rather heavy detail have much of the spirit of his work at Winchester Cathedral. Each is of two cinquefoiled pointed lights with a quatrefoiled spandrel under a two-centred segmental arch ; the inner jambs and mullions are moulded, and the outer are double- chamfered with a moulded label. The north-west window is an earlier one of two trefoiled pointed lights with a plain pierced spandrel on a two-centred arch ; the jambs are of two chamfers, and the label is a filleted round. A modern archway with moulded and shafted jambs and a four-centred arch opens into the organ-chamber at the south-west, and the chancel arch is also modern with similar jambs and a two- centred arch.

The nave has three modern north windows each of two lights with foiled spandrels in pointed heads. The south arcade, also modern, is of four bays with round pillars of grey stone having white stone moulded bases and capitals ; the arches are pointed and of two chamfered orders.

The organ chamber has a doorway in its west wall to the transept, and another in its south wall to the vestry ; this has an outer doorway on the east and a three-light south window.

The transept has a 15th-century window at the south-east, now looking into the vestry, of two cinquefoiled lights under a square head with a label. In the south wall is a small square piscina with a pro- jecting corbel basin, 1 1 in. by I o in., probably con- temporary with the transept. Of the two lancets which pierce this wall the eastern has modern jambs inside and old jamb stones outside and the western old inner jambs and modern outer ; only one light existed here formerly, and the two seem to have been made from it. In the west wall are two lancets, of which the north one has old inner jambs and modern outer, and the other is wholly modern. The walls of the transept are unusually thick, the south wall being 3 ft. 6 in. ; the others have been thinned above a line about 6 ft. above the floor, but they were originally over 3 ft. thick. The south-west angle seems to have fallen into disrepair in the 1 7th or i8th century, as it has been repaired with red brick, and the square buttresses supporting the angles are modern. The aisle has two lancets in the south wall and a west window of two lights and tracery, all modern. The south-west doorway is also modern. East of it is an

��7 V.C.H. Surr. i, 309*. n Ibid. 283.

" 9 See Cat. Inq. Edw. II, 192 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. IV, no. 14.

7 9 Misc. Bks. (Exch. K.R.), xxv, 35.

80 Abbre-v. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 72.

11 Col. Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), 114. M De Banco R. 60, m. 127.
 * Cal. Pat, 1313-17, p. 113.

��84 Cat. Close, 1318-23, p. 342. Wil- liam's widow Maud married Walter de Geddyng (See Assize R. no. 888). He had a grant of free warren in the demesne lands of Effingham in 1305 (Chart. R. 3 3 Edw. I, m. 90) and died in 1311 (Chan. Inq. p.m. file 26, no. 29). Maud, who was remarried to Roger de Strctton, was still holding the manor in dower in 1320.

��Walter de Geddyng, her grandson, and at that date her heir, quitclaimed all right in the reversion to John de Walewayn. Feet of F. Surr. 14 Edw. II, no. 18.

85 Chart. R. 2 Edw. Ill, no. 60.

88 Chan. Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. IV, no. 14,

8 ? Aubrey, Collections for Surr. ii, 282.

83 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. ii, 709.

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