Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/646

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

��was reached. In 1217 the peace between King John and Louis of France was first negotiated at Kingston though signed at Lambeth," and Henry III came herein 1234, 1236," and 1263." In 1238 and 1261" assemblies of the barons were held here. Probably the castle captured by Henry III in 1264 on his march south to Rochester le was built to cover the bridge on land seized from the manor by Gilbert de Clare, who himself had no land nearer than Long Ditton (q.v.), for Kingston was held in demesne. Kingston, probably from its accessibility, was a fa- vourite place for tournaments. 17

In 1323 some rebels from the West Country made a disturbance here, 18 and for the next twenty years the country was in an unquiet state. In 1331 William Inge, Archdeacon of Surrey, complained that he had been attacked by no less than forty-six of the men, fishers, and others of Kingston, and imprisoned in the town, 19 and two years later Thomas Roscelyn applied for redress against several 6f the chief men of Kingston, who had taken away possessions of his worth 200."

��30 ft. of the bridge having b removed before the insurgents' arrival."

Until the 1 6th century the exter history of the town centred in the bridge, but withe occupation of Hampton Court as a royal palace igston gained a new importance as a lodging-place r those con- nected with the court, and accordin many orders were issued respecting infection from t p' a g ue > which attacked the town with great violence 1 '625 and 1636." During the Civil Wars the i>ortance of holding the bridge caused Kingston to b rr ' sone " by Parliamentary troops, except for a brief ace on 14-19 November 1642, when it was held' r the king, and in 1 644 the City regiments were stJflS^. , there." In 1 648 when the Earls of Holland and Peterborough and the Duke of Buckingham made a last effort in the royal cause they rose at Kingston, and after a march to Reigate retreated there again, when a skirmish took place near Surbiton Common, in which Lord Francis Villiers was killed, and the Cavaliers routed.' 6 The Committees for Safety and

���KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES

��In 1346 commissioners were appointed to arrest the ' Roberdesmen, Wastries and Draghlaches,' who were harrying the neighbourhood " and who were perhaps responsible for the destruction of Hartington Coombe." Kingston Bridge played a considerable part in the campaign of 1452, when the Duke of York, who had marched from the West Country and had been refused entry into London, was enabled to cross by it into Surrey and take up his position at Blackheath. Wyatt also used this passage in 1554 when, baulked of his intention to enter the city by way of London Bridge, he marched to Kingston. The extremely flimsy nature of the bridge stood the government in good stead, for considerable delay was caused by some

��Sequestrations for Surrey both sat at Kingston, which from its proximity to London and accessibility has always been a centre for local administration. The 'general sessions' were held here in 1531," and it was an Assize town until 1884;** it was also chosen as a centre by the Surrey County Council, whose fine offices stand in Penrhyn Road.

There is no evidence to determine at what date the great bridge over the Thames was built, but it was already endowed with lands for its maintenance in 1219," when Master William de Coventry was master of the bridge. In 1223 Henry III passing through the town entrusted the work of the bridge to Henry de St. Albans and Matthew son of Geoffrey,"

��Floret Hist. (Rolls Ser. KV), ii, 165. 18 Cal. Pat. 1232-47, pp. 59, 140, 143.

14 Cal. Chart, 1257-1300, p. 46.

15 Cal. Pat. 1232-47, p. 204, Royal and Hiit. Letters ... of the Reign of Htn. Ill (Rolls Ser.), ii, 194.

11 Hemingburgh, Chron. (Engl. Hist. Soc.), ii, 333.

��W Lansd. MS. 225, fol. lot. 11 Cal. Pat. 1321-4, p. 385. 19 Ibid. 1330-4, p. 205. al Ibid. 1345-8, p. 1 80. 82 See below.
 * > Ibid. p. 503.

98 Stow, Annals (ed. 1615), 620. 44 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1625-6, p.67 5 1636-7, p. 138; 1637, p. 370.

488

��86 Ibid. 1642-56, fattim; 1644, pp. 92, 102, 103, 107, 117.

26 Ibid. 1648-9, p. 178; Ditt. Nat. Bhg. xxxviii, 403; The Hurly-Burly l Kingston.

W L. and P. Hen. VIII, v, 429.

88 Land. Gas. 26 June 1884, p. 2781.

Feet of F. SUIT. 3 Hen. Ill, no. 22.

80 Rot. Lit. Claus. (Rec. Com.) i, 558.

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