Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/84

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

��of Godalming in 1 22 1, 7 nearly eighty years before the lords of Salisbury had a weekly market in Godalming itself. In point of population it does not seem to have even approached the neighbouring " parishes of Witley and Chiddingfold. Although it was not expressly called a borough in the return of 1315,' it is called 'burgus' in 1377.' In 1394 John Waltham, Bishop of Salisbury, had licence to grant a charter to Hasle- mere, giving the town a market on Wednesdays and an annual fair on the eve and day of the Holy Cross, and three succeeding days."

In an account of rents received in Godalming Manor, dated 1543, the 'burgesses' of the 'borough' of Haslemere are said to owe MS. zd. rent for certain lands there," which rent is evidently identical with izs. id. called ' le Burgage Rent' paid to the lord of Godalming by the tenants called the .burgage holders in Haslemere." The inhabitants held by burgage tenure in the 1 4th century when the Court Rolls of Godalming Manor and Hundred begin.

The tenants of the tithing owed suit to the Hun- dred Court of Godalming, but a view of frankpledge was held at Hocktide at Haslemere, and a court leet with it, in the 1 7th century, for the borough." The town was considered a separate manor from Godal- ming, after the charter of 1596 at least.' 5 Separate Court Rolls exist for it.

The burgage-rent was collected annually by the bailiff of the borough, who seems to have been the only officer, for in 1 596, at the time when the Crown was still holding Godalming Manor, Queen Elizabeth addressed a re-grant of the market and fairs to the bailiff and inhabitants of the borough." In the pre- amble to this grant she asserted that the town had sent two burgesses to Parliament from time imme- morial, and confirmed their right to do so in the future. She further recited the charter of Richard II, and as the markets and fair had fallen into disuse, restored to them the market on Tuesdays, the fair, now twice a year on St. Philip and St. James's and Holy Cross Day. Tolls were to be levied, a court of pie powder held, and the tolls to be applied by the bailiffand others to the relief of the poor inhabitants." The original grantees having all died, John Billing- hurst of Coldwaltham, co. Sussex, claimed the right to gather the tolls as heir of John Steede, the last sur- viving grantee. He was accused of misemploying the profits of the fair and market, which seem at that time to have amounted to about j yearly, and a decree was issued in 1662 vesting the trust in the lords of the manor of Godalming for the relief of the poor of Haslemere, an account being given at the court leet of the borough. 18 According to the inscription on

��the almshouses on the common near Lythe Hill, James Gresham, who represented Haslemere in the Parliament of 1678-9, by his 'care and oversight' caused the almshouses, then called the Toll House, to be built in 1676, for the habitation of decayed inhabi- tants of the borough, out of the profits of the market. 19 However, after the death of Sir William More, lord of Godalming, John Billinghurst again tried to make good his claim to the tolls, and obtained a reversal of the former decree, 10 but in 1691 the grant was found to be in favour of the poor of the borough. 11 Thomas Molyneux, then lord of Haslemere Manor, the minis- ter of Haslemere, and others, were appointed trustees," and John Billinghurst ordered to restore 42 I is. which he had collected." The market produced little, being in the centre of a poor country. The view of frankpledge and court baron, held together in this case as at Godalming, give a few interesting glimpses of town management. So anxious were the burgesses to keep down the poor-rate that they decreed at the court of 4 May 1627 that no one in this leet shall let, devise, grant, &c., any messuage, &c., or room, to any ' forriner,' unless he and they can satisfy the bailiff and overseers that he can maintain himself and family penalty 10. This was repeated 7 May 1628. Under Charles I the records of the court were kept in Latin. One result of the Commonwealth is that English was used, as was also the case in Guildford. On 30 April 1652 Puritan opinion forbade any person to set up a game called 'nine holes' in this borough penalty 5*. But cleanliness was some way off godli- ness, for on 10 April 1654 it was ordered that no one was to keep a dunghill standing in the borough above a month penalty izd. On 22 April 1658 the Market House, the Fish Cross, and the Butter Cross, were reported to be very ruinous. Robert Cobden and William Shudd were bound to repair them, under penalty of I o, to be done before the feast of St. Mi- chael the Archangel. This feast survives in all its full sanctity as a date in spite of the opinions then prevailing. After the Restoration Mr. Richard Symmes, the steward of Godalming, had the record of the court kept again in Latin. It is interesting to find that in 1678 among the 'foreign' tradesmen who set up stalls at the market, but who were fined I it. for doing so without the bailiff's leave, was Robert Smyth of Farnham, bookseller. The old Crosses and Town Hall, ruinous in 1658, were pulled down, the two former after 1735. The Town Hall was not pulled down till 1814, when the present hall was built by the two members. For this date there is a plan of the town, a copy of which is pre- served in the present Town Hall.

��7 Rot. Lit. Clam. (Rec. Com.), i, 455.

8 In the earlier Subsidy Rolls Haslemere is not even mentioned. Probably it was included in Godalming at that time. In the returns for the poll tax of 1380, 62 names are given under Haslemere, whereas 238 were returned under Godalming, 133 under Witley, and 176 under Chiddingfold (Lay Subs. R. bdle. 184, no. 29). Nor does it ever seem to have been very exten- sive, for the hearth-tax return of 1674 only accounts for 61 households (ibid. bdle. 1 88, no. 496).

9 Par!. Writs (Rec. Com.), ii (3), 338. The vill of Haslemere is there set down as a possession of the Bishop of Salis- bury.

��10 Mins. Accts. bdle. 1010, no. 7. An account of the manor of Ashurst, wherein one item is given as 301. rent in the hamlet of Chiddingfold and 'in turgode Haselmere.'

11 Chart. R. 15-17 Ric. II, no. 6.

11 Exch. Mins. Accts. 34-5 Hen. VIII, Div. Co. R. 64, m. 20.

u Godalming R. fassim and Misc. Bks. (Land Rev.), cxc, 235.

11 Godalming R. Loseley MSS.

" Fide infra.

" Petty Bag Char. Inq. xxvi, 18.

V Writs of Privy Seal, May, 38 Eliz.

18 Petty Bag Char. Inq. xxvi, 18 ; Hitt. MSS. Com. Ref. vii, App. 679.

" See Char. Cam. Rep. ii; Par!. Papers, 1824, xiv, 635. It was this James Gresham

46

��who persuaded the bailiff to substitute his name for that of Denzil Onslow in the return of burgesses for 1679. See also Loseley MSS. i, 132.

20 Proc. as to Charitable Uses, Confir- mations, &c. 2 Jas. II, 25. On the ground that Elizabeth had intended the profits of the market and fair for the public benefit of the borough and not for the poor only, so that the matter did not come within the cognizance of the Charity Com- missioners who had issued the decree.

81 Chan. Decrees and Orders, Mich. 1691, A 425.

aa Ibid. Hil. !692, A 232.

88 Chan. Rep. 1693, A-D, Chan. Orders and Decrees, Hil. 1693-4, A. 365*.

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