Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/580

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

��himself stands in front, directing Jezebel to be thrown down.

To the eastward of this are the remains of another subject, also apparently of the latter part of the 1 2th century the Scourging of Our Lord. The bound figure of Christ is discernible, and also a particularly vigorous drawing of the ' executioner,' whose pose and brutal expression, as he swings his whole body round to bring down the scourge with full force, is admirably rendered. His clothes are shown as spotted with the sacred blood. 49

In the quatrefoil of the east window is preserved the only piece of ancient glass in the church. This, which is mentioned by Cracklow (though wrongly described as ' the Virgin holding a Crucifix ' ), depicts God the Father holding forth the Son upon the Cross. The date of this interesting fragment is the latter part of the i 5th century. The lower lights are filled with stained glass.

A fitting of particular interest has unhappily dis- appeared quite lately. This was a wooden balance- lever, fixed to the wall-plate on the north side of the chancel. It projected about 1 6 in. from the face of the plate, and its underside was gently curved, the end being rounded off. Three holes were visible in the end as though for the purpose of suspending either the pyx or a lamp before the Sacrament. 47

The font is modern, and there are no monuments of any importance or antiquity.

There are many small crosses scratched upon the stonework of windows and doors.

There are two bells in the small turret, one quite plain, and the other bearing a curious ' puzzle ' in- scription which has defied all the efforts at interpre- tation of Mr. Stahlschmidt and other campanologists. It reads : svvz HCVVO viz JIHOIE. The plain bell is probably mediaeval, and the other looks like the work of an 1 8th-century itinerant founder perhaps the same who has left us the fourth bell at Woking, inscribed I.F. 1766.

Among the church plate is a most graceful cup of 1570, beautifully designed, a model of elegance. It bears the usual foliage strap-work band between plain fillets, which, interlacing, divide it three times : there is also a silver ' paten with a foot,' of the same date and of the usual shape, bearing a band of ' hyphens.' Both are in good preservation and have been well cared for. Besides there are a pewter paten and a tankard-shaped flagon, both dating from the latter part of the 1 7th century.

��The register of burials dates from 1605, that of marriages from 1666, and of births from 1670.

In 1258 the Abbot of Westminster conveyed the advowson of the chapel of Pyrford, with that of Horsell, to the Prior of Newark next Guildford. The grant included common of pasture for all animals in the common pasture in the vills belonging to the said churches except in ' Wathelisham ' and Townesley, in which they were not to have common of pasture for pigs. The prior paid 40 marks to the abbot in re- turn. 48

Before 1 262 both chapels had been annexed to the church of Woking, which was in the hands of the same prior and convent, 49 and they remained so until the Dissolution. 60 During this time the duty of finding a chaplain devolved upon the vicar of Woking. In the 141)1 century it was found that the latter had omitted to provide a chaplain, and he was commanded to do so by reason of ' the composition made on that behalf to provide a chaplain to perform divine service in the chapel of Pyrford dependent on his church and to administer the sacraments to the parishioners in the said hamlet of Pyrford on pain of excommunication.' 51 It is probable that the chapel of Pyrford remained attached to the church of Woking for some time after the Dissolution, as no separate trace of it appears then. The date of the trans- ference of the chapel from the benefice of Woking to that of Wisley, to which it has since been appen- dent, is not certain. The first evidence of it is in 1631, when the king presented, by lapse, to Wisley and the chapel of Pyrford, 5 ' and again in i6j<). si In 1656 Sir Robert Parkhurst of Pyrford and Wisley, and the inhabitants of those parishes, petitioned against the intended union of the parishes of Wisley with Byfleet," desiring the union of Wisley with Pyrford. 55 Despite this petition, however, the trustees for the main- tenance of ministers issued an order in the following year for the union of Byfleet with Wisley, the church of Byfleet to serve for both parishes, no mention being made of Pyrford. 66 George Bradshaw, of the same name as the incumbent presented to Wisley and Pyrford in 1639, was appointed in 1648 to Wisley, 57 and died in possession of Wisley and Pyrford in 1668. The next presentation was to both places by Sir Robert Park- hurst, and the advowson passed with the manor to the Onslow family.

Smith's Charity is distributed as in . o. .

other Surrey parishes.

��tf These paintings bear a considerable resemblance to some of 12th-century date upon the west wall of East Clandon Church, one being the Last Supper.

J ' In Sussex a similar balance-lever, doubtless used for one or other of these purposes, still remains in the roof timbers of the chancel of West Grinstead Church, although stupidly concealed from view by i modern boarded ceiling. This is illus-

��trated in a paper on the church by the late Mr. J. L. Andre, F.S.A., in Suts. Arch. Coll. xxiviii, 56. The same three holes in the end of the lever are shown in Mr. Andre's drawing.

Feet of F. Surr. East. 42 Hen. III.

"KC.H. Surr. ii, 103.

50 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 33.

6I Egerton MS. 2033, foL 151.

5a Winton Epis. Reg. Neile, fol. 364.

��* Ibid. Curie, fol. 54*.

M A change projected by Wolsey (Reg. fol. job), which had not, however, appar- ently taken effect.

56 Cat. S.P. Dam. 1656-7, p. 4; Mac. MS. Lambeth, dccccxci, 126, 135, 236.

" Cal. S.P. Dam. 1657-8, p. 82 ; Misc. MSS. Lambeth, dccccxc, 69 ; mxv, 21.

VLorJi' Journals, x, 588.

��436

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