Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/631

 ELMBRIDGE HUNDRED

��WEYBRIDGE

��chantry, demised the rectory to John Carleton and Joyce his wife for forty-one years. Edward VI in 1552 granted a lease to Hugh Rogers at a reserved rent of 22 I t,i. 8J. After Rogers' death his wife Anne married George Sneyde, and they assigned their interest in the advowson to Richard Drake. 1 " Philip and Mary granted the advowson and rectory in 1558 to John Bishop of Winchester. 1 " In 1622 Thomas Watson died seised of it, or more probably of a lease of it, 111 for the Crown presented in 1623. In or about 1624 Richard Uridge, then vicar of Walton, asked for a reference to the Bishop of Winchester that the parson impropriate might be caused to increase the endow- ment of the vicarage. 1 " The Crown presented to the living throughout the i/th and 1 8th centuries, 116 but the Rev. W. K. Bussell, the vicar, is now patron.

The rectory of Walton was granted in 1584 to Richard Drake and his son Francis Drake for their lives. 1 " In 1594 a lease for thirty-one years was made to William Askewe, to begin after the expiration of the Drakes' lease. 1 " It was granted in 1 609 to Francis Morrice and Francis Phillips, 118 probably trustees, for in 1622 Thomas Watson died seised of the rectory. 11 * It was ultimately re-acquired by the Drakes. Francis Drake (see the manor) by his will of 1698 left it to his son William. Adria, only daughter of William Drake, married Denton Boate, and died without issue in 1754. She left the rectory to Christopher D'Oyley of the Inner Temple, who was buried at Walton. 130 His widow received a share of the waste at the time of the inclosure in 1 800 as lady of the Rectory Manor. In 1803 she sold most of the estate, and the tithes were bought by the various proprietors. The land inclosed from the waste was reserved for the payment to the vicarage appointed in 1413.

Smith's Charity is distributed as in CHARITIES other Surrey parishes.

In the church are records of the following bequests :

By the will of Thomas Fennes, dated 8 February

��1635-6, a tenement in Bishopsgate Street, now pro- ducing 500 a year (worth 10 a year when Fennes died in 1644), and land in this parish were left for the benefit of the poor.

In 1744, by will dated 1729, Mrs. Elizabeth Kirby left 200, which was increased to 336 by Jeremiah Brown of Apps Court, for ten poor widows, six nominated by the vicar and churchwardens, four by the owner of Apps Court. It was laid out in the purchase of land at Effingham, which in 1830 was exchanged for land in this parish.

The Apps Court Trust (see above) was settled in 1903.

Michael Kneebone, by will dated 1771, gave 350 3 per cent, consols for ten poor widows.

On the inclosure of 1800, land called Sandy Field containing 8 a. I r. 1 7 p. was given to the church- wardens and overseers for their expenses.

The overseers have also two small plots of land, on the south side of the road to Hersham and in Hersham respectively, the rents of which they may apply to their general expenses. The rent of a plot in West Molesey is applied by the churchwardens to the repairs of the church.

Over and above these, 189 acres were set apart for the poor at the inclosure of 1800. Part was sold to the railway, the rest is let as allotment ground and the rent distributed in coals.

William Sherwood, by will in 1822, left 716 igs. 6J. the interest of which is distributed to poor widows and other poor persons, and i to the vicar for a sermon.

In 1831 and 1862 Charles Smith and Miss Middle- ton left 150 for two poor widows and the sick poor.

In 1724 the vicar returned to Bishop Willis m that Baron Hilton, by an undated bequest, had left 16 yearly to the poor, secured upon lands in the bishopric of Durham. The Barons Hilton, so called by courtesy, but not peers of the realm, were owners of Hilton Castle. The last died in 1746. This benefaction appears to be lost.

��WEYBRIDGE

��WebrigeandWebruge, 1086; Waybrugg (xii cent.); Weybrigge juxta Byflet (xiv cent.).

The village of Weybridge is 8J miles south-west of Kingston. The parish is bounded on the north by the Thames. It measures 3 miles from north to south and I mile from east to west, and contains 1,330 acres of land and 41 of water. It is bounded on the west by the natural stream of the Wey, and for a short distance by the artificial navigation. The Wey joins the Thames on the borders of the parish. The soil is Bagshot sand on the south, where St. George's Hill is partly in the parish. In the valleys of the Thames and Wey it is gravel and alluvium.

On the Wey are seed-crushing mills, and there are also extensive nurseries, but before the Inclosure Act

��of 1 800 more than a third of the parish was waste, and a good deal of open land still remains, with izj acres of allotments for the poor.

The road from London to Chertsey passes through Weybridge and crosses the river by a bridge which gave its name to the place. 1 The bridge dates back to very early times. In 1235 Henry III granted to William son of Daniel Pincerna, for his homage and service, two mills on the River Wey, one above the ' bridge of Wey,' and the other at Feyreford, at an annual rent of five silver marks.' In 1571 commis- sioners were appointed to report on the condition of the bridge. They stated that for some years it had been so decayed as to be unsafe for passengers, and that it was now ruinous. If the queen should be at her house at Oatlands and the waters should rise, ' as

��121 Exch. Spec. Com. Surr. 26 Eliz. no. 1250.

1M Pat. 5 & 6 PhiL and Mary, pt. iv.

188 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cccicv, 119.

mffijf. AfSS. Com. Rcf. xii,App. i, 171.

"Int. Bks. (P.R.O.), 1623, 1633, 1685, 1717, 1723, 1777.

��""Pat. 26 Eliz. pt. xri, m. 21. 1J 7Pat 36 Eliz. pt. xx, m. 12. l *> Pat. 7 Ja. I, pt. ii, m. 22. 199 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), CCCXCT, 119. "O Drake Wills in Manning and Bray, op. cit ii, 771.

475

��181 Visit, answers at Farnham Castle.

1 Emleybridge over the Mole, or Emlyn, which gives its name to the hundred, was on the same road.

1 Chart R. 19 Hen. Ill, m. 2 ; Cart Antiq. A. 29.

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