CROWHURST
Croherst and Crauhurste (xiii cent.); Croweherst
(xv cent.).
Crowhurst is a small parish 2 miles east of Godstone station and 24 miles from London, with a
village of scattered farms and houses. The stream
called Gibbs Brook which forms part of the boundary
between Crowhurst and Oxted was called the Gippes
River, (fn. 1) and flows into the Eden, thence to the
Medway. The parish is about 2¼ miles from east to
west and 1¾ miles from north to south, and contains
2,112 acres of land and 7 acres of water. It is
entirely on the Wealden Clay, and is one of the places
on that formation which do not appear as parishes
until the 13th century, and were probably scarcely
inhabited at the time of the Domesday Survey. It
was then no doubt part of Oxted, to which the manor
was subordinate. The dedication of the church to
St. George indicates a consecration not earlier than
the third Crusade. Probably at an earlier date the
parish was all forest. It is still well wooded, although
there is some good corn land. No Inclosure Act has
been passed. The parish is mainly agricultural, but
there are brick and tile works. It was in the iron-producing district, but there is no record of iron-foundries or forges in Crowhurst. In the church,
however, is a cast-iron grave slab.
The Redhill and Tonbridge branch of the South-Eastern railway crosses the northern part of the parish,
but has no station within it. The road from Oxted to
Limpsfield traverses it from north to south, but the
parish is and always has been secluded and out of the
way of traffic. The Gainsfords, who held the manor
for so long, and lived at Crowhurst Place as their
principal seat, were a leading family in Surrey in
the 15th century. They represented the county four
times, Blechingley three times, Guildford once, and
Southwark once, in the Parliaments between 1430
and 1478, and they were nine times sheriff between
1460 and 1537.
The village consists of scattered farms and houses
along the road from Oxted to Limpsfield, most of
them being of brick or half-timber with tiled roofs,
and of some antiquity. The church stands well above
the level of the road, from which it is approached from
the south by a small flight of steps cut in the bank.
In the churchyard is a hollow yew tree measuring
about 33 ft. in diameter about 3 ft. from the ground.
Early in the 19th century a bench was fixed inside
the tree, giving sitting room for about a dozen persons.
An iron cannon ball found in the middle of the tree
is still preserved there.
Opposite the church stands the Mansion House,
formerly the seat of the Angell family, but now a
farm-house. It is a 16th-century L shaped house,
originally of half-timber and brick, but much of it has
been rebuilt in brick. The hall occupies the south-west corner of the house and has in its east wall a large
open fireplace. It was originally entered directly by a
door from the outside, but now by a passage leading from
the entrance porch. On the north side of the passage
is a small parlour, to the east of which is an inclosed
staircase leading up to the bedrooms. The doors at
either end of the passage are of the 16th century, and
they are practically the only original detail left on
this floor. The west or principal front was entirely
rebuilt in the 17th century and is of brick. It has a
central porch, above which is a small projecting bay
carried up in a pointed gable, while lighting the rooms
on the north of this front is another bay carried up
in a similar manner and stopping on the main wall,
which is also at this end finished in a pointed gable.
The windows on the south were inserted in the 18th
century when the older windows were apparently
blocked up. The entrance to the porch is semicircular, the arch springing from moulded abaci and
having a projecting keystone, while running round the
bottom of the porch is a moulded base. The front
entrance doorway is of oak; it is four-centred with
sunk triangular panels in the spandrels. The south
front has been entirely hung with tiles; the upper
part of the north front as far as the end of the kitchen
is treated in a similar manner, while the east end of
the building with an old malt-house adjoining is of
half-timber construction with brick nogging, though
this has been much restored and the south wall
rebuilt in modern brickwork. The chimneys are all
of brick and the roofs are tiled.
Among the older farm-houses in the parish are
Chellows Park Farm, Stocks, Pike's Farm, and Moat
House on the borders of the parish, which all have
remains of moated defences.
The schools (National) were built in 1862.
MANORS
There is no mention of Crowhurst
in the Domesday Survey, and it was
probably then included in the manor of
Oxted, of which manor CROWHURST was held.
Land and rent in Crowhurst were held in the 13th
century by John de Titsey and afterwards by Thomas
de Titsey, (fn. 2) but the first family who can be certainly
proved to have held the manor after it became
separated from Oxted is that of Stangrave. In 1278–9
Robert son of John de Stangrave, jun., granted a
messuage and about 70 acres of land in Crowhurst and
10 acres in Lingfield to Luke de Oxted (Hexsted);
Luke quitclaimed to Robert and his heirs 3 acres of
this tenement lying in the southern part of the field
called Waveresham. (fn. 3) Robert de Stangrave held the
advowson of the church (q.v.) towards the end of
this century, and in 1303 received a grant of free
warren in his demesne lands of Crowhurst. (fn. 4) In 1338
Robert de Stangrave and Joan his wife conveyed the
manor of Crowhurst to John
Gainsford and Margaret his
wife. (fn. 5) Later in the same year
Robert also granted them a
messuage, a carucate of land
and 10 marks rent in Crowhurst. (fn. 6) John Gainsford received licence for the celebration of divine service in the
oratory of his manor of Crowhurst shortly after. (fn. 7) This
family continued to hold
Crowhurst for nearly four
centuries. John Gainsford
and Margery held as late as
1348, (fn. 8) and were succeeded
by their son John, whose wife seems to have been
named Christine, as Sir John Gainsford, described as
the son of John and Christine, afterwards held Crowhurst and was alive as late as 1418. (fn. 9) His son, later
called John Gainsford, sen., died in 1450, and was
succeeded by his son John, who married twice. He was
knight of the shire in 1452 and died in 1460. (fn. 10) The
heads of the two succeeding generations were both
knighted. Sir John Gainsford, grandson of the above
John, was twice Sheriff of Surrey and died in 1540,
having married six times. (fn. 11) His heir was Thomas, his
son by his fourth wife, Joan Poliver. (fn. 12) Thomas had
two children, a son John, who was an idiot from
birth, and who died in 1559, (fn. 13) and a daughter
Anne, who married William Forster. (fn. 14) Apparently
some settlement was made at the death of John.
Anne Forster and her children never held the main
manor here, which seems to have passed to her father's
half-brother Erasmus, son of Sir John Gainsford by
Grace Warham his sixth wife. (fn. 15) In 1669 the manor
was held by Erasmus Gainsford, grandson of the last
Erasmus, and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Richard
Dayne. (fn. 16) They settled it in that year on their son
John on his marriage with Ann Gape. (fn. 17) The issue
by this marriage was a daughter Elizabeth, who
afterwards married Henry Christmas. (fn. 18) John Gainsford married a second wife, by whom he had two
sons, who died without issue, having both held Crowhurst successively for a short period, and a daughter
Mirabella. (fn. 19) At the death of the sons a dispute
arose between the daughters of the first and second
wife as to the terms of the settlement in 1669. (fn. 20)
Sir Cresswell Levinz, who had sat as a justice of
Common Pleas from 1681 to 1686, gave a decision
in favour of the first wife's daughter in October
1699. (fn. 21) In 1701 Henry and Elizabeth Christmas
and Mirabella Hill, widow, levied a fine apparently
for the purpose of quitclaiming Mirabella's right in
the manor (fn. 22) ; a recovery was suffered in the same
year, Henry and Elizabeth Christmas being called
to warranty. (fn. 23) Henry Christmas by will, dated
8 October 1705, devised his lands in Crowhurst to
his father in trust for sale for the payment of a
mortgage due upon them. (fn. 24) The estates, however,
remained in the family for some time longer. Henry
Christmas died in 1706, leaving two children,
Gainsford, who married Elizabeth Weston, and
Mary, afterwards wife of Thomas Bates. (fn. 25) Gainsford
Christmas made a settlement on his wife, believing,
apparently, that the entail descended to him by his
father's will; he died without issue in 1716, his
sister being his heir. (fn. 26) According to Manning this
settlement and will were the cause of various suits in
Chancery, but finally Mary Bates remained in possession until 1720, when she with Elizabeth, widow
of Gainsford Christmas and since married to Richard
Skryne, entered into an agreement to sell the manor
to Edward Gibbon, grandfather of the historian, one
of the directors of the South Sea Company. Before
the transaction was complete, however, the South Sea
Bubble burst, and by Act of Parliament the estates
of the directors were vested in trustees to be sold for
the benefit of creditors. A claim was entered on
behalf of Mary Bates for the remainder of the
purchase-money and was allowed. In 1723 Thomas
and Mary Bates with Richard and Elizabeth Skryne
conveyed the manor to Sir John Eyles and the other
trustees, who sold in the following year to the
Duchess of Marlborough; she made it part of the
endowment for a house built by her at St. Albans for
the widows of officers and known as the Marlborough
Almshouses. (fn. 27) All manorial rights seem to have
now lapsed.
Gainsford of Crowhurst. Argens a cheveron gules between three running greyhounds sable with golden collars.
The house called CROWHURST PLACE was
apparently acquired by the Gainsfords in 1418 when
it was conveyed to them by John atte Hall and
Joan, (fn. 28) and afterwards descended with the manor in
the Gainsford family. Aubrey describes Crowhurst
Place as a house 'built of timber after the old fashion
and moated about. The hall is open to the top and
the several windows have been full of escutcheons.' (fn. 29)
It was put up for sale with the manor in the
18th century, and was, according to Manning, included in the property sold to the Duchess of
Marlborough in 1723. (fn. 30)
John Gainsford, who died in 1450, had a younger
son William, member for Surrey in the year of his
father's death, from whom descended the Gainsfords
of Cowden in Kent. The Rev. George Gainsford
of Hitchin, a descendant of this family, bought
Crowhurst Place about 1905. He died in 1910,
and his son the Rev. G. B. Gainsford is the present
owner. (fn. 31)
The house is situated on a secluded site almost at
the summit of a gradual slope about a mile to the
south of Crowhurst Church. It faces the east and is
entirely surrounded by a moat.
The original house was erected circa 1450, and,
despite many 17th-century alterations and recent
use as a farm-house, much of the structure is well
preserved. It is now well cared for by its present
occupier, Mr. George Crawley, who has judiciously
restored it, removed many modern accretions and
added the heating chamber. It is built of half-timber and brick with roofs of tiles and stone slates.
The main building is two stories high and is
rectangular in plan with a lower wing on the north
extending on the north as far as the moat and westwards some 30 ft. in front of the main block. The
original house was entirely of brick and half-timber
and consisted of a hall the full width and height of the
building with a withdrawing room and staircase to
the bedrooms over, on the south, while at the other
end of the hall were the screens with the buttery and
pantries, another staircase and a passage through to the
kitchen wing on the north.
The first alteration, early in the 17th century,
included the destruction of the old and the building
of the present kitchen and certain internal alterations
to obtain more space. The date 1639 on a stone
lying in the front of the house is probably that of
the enlargement. Much later in the century the
whole external character of the mediaeval building
was destroyed, when the south, east and west walls
of the lower part of the house, and in some parts on
the first floor as well, were entirely rebuilt in brick
with a stone plinth in places, and in most cases new
windows were inserted. The nondescript 'jobbing'
character of the work in the north wing makes the
date uncertain, but in the main it is probably 17th-century work. The partitions to the buttery and
pantries on the north side of the hall were no doubt
demolished in the 17th century to form the room
now used as a study, but the old staircase to the bedrooms in this end of the house was not pulled down
until comparatively recent years, while the present
staircase was built two years ago.
The main entrance is through the modern porch
into the passage, which contains an original window
and from which the hall opens on the south.
The hall measures about 25 ft. by 23 ft. 8 in.,
and is now as originally the full height of the house,
but until recently it was divided into three floors.
At the north end of the east wall is a large open
fireplace (evidently added in the 17th century), and
on the west are two 17th-century oak-mullioned
windows, one above the other. Built into the north
and south walls at the first floor level are heavily-moulded beams, above which is the original half-timber walling, with the oak uprights nearly the same
width as the panels, which are plastered. In the
south end of the east wall are two original door
frames. There was no dais
at the south end of the hall,
but boxed out from the
south wall there still remains an original oak seat
with a panelled front and
solid top. Along the south
wall above the seat is some
16th-century oak panelling, but this is not carried
right up to the moulded
beam at the first floor
level, the intervening space
being covered with plain
oak boarding. In the
upper part of the east end
of the wall a small modern
oriel window looks into
the hall from the bedroom
above the withdrawing
room. The hall roof is a
rare example of mediaeval
joinery, and is perhaps the
finest of its kind in the
county. The roof is
divided into two bays by
a central truss, and one
built into each of the end
walls, consisting of a moulded tie-beam supported by
curved braces, above which are small uprights tenoned
into the beam at the foot, and at the head into
moulded timbers running up to the ridge, at the
centre of the roof slope. There are three moulded
purlins in each slope, and the wall-plates are also
moulded, but the ridge is plain. The lowest space
between the purlins is coved, the next is flat, and
the two uppermost are coved. All are oak panelled
between hollow-chamfered styles. In the second
division are curved wind braces. To the north of
the centre truss are traces of a louvre opening, now
boarded over.
The parlour or withdrawing room measures nearly
29 ft. by 16 ft. 6 in., and has on the east and west
three-light casement windows, and in its south wall
a three-centred stone fireplace of late 16th-century
date carved with an arabesque enrichment, while on
the north wall is some 17th-century panelling. The
ceiling of this room is original, and is divided into
six panels by heavily-moulded beams, one running
centrally across the room east and west, into which
are mitred two cross beams of the same section and
moulded beams in the north and south walls. All
the joists of the floor over are moulded. They are
laid close together, and in the four easternmost panels
run north and south across the room, but in the two
western panels in the opposite direction. The floor
boards are laid longitudinally between the joists,
which are grooved to receive them and show through
in the ceiling. There still remain on this ceiling
considerable traces of the original colour decoration,
a lozenge pattern, mostly green and red, unfortunately
much defaced by whitewash, which has now been
removed.
The kitchen, originally the whole height of the
house and divided into two bays by large oak posts
in the north and south walls supporting a truss, was
recently divided into two stages, the upper containing
bedrooms. It is lighted from the north by a six-light 17th-century window, to the west of which
is a doorway opening on to a rough timber bridge
crossing the moat, while in the east wall is a large
open stone fireplace. The door in the north wall
is original, as is also the door in the west wall opening into a small sitting-room. In the low extension
on the west side of the kitchen are store rooms.
Plan of Crowhurst Place
The bedroom in the south-west corner is the most
complete of the original rooms in the house, having
retained all its 15th-century panelling and fittings
with the exception of the two west windows. The
framing timbers of the walls form the rails and styles
of the panelling. This is divided horizontally into
two by a heavily-moulded rail 8½ in. deep, while
the uprights, which are tenoned at the foot into an
unmoulded sill and at the head into the soffit of the
cornice, average about 5½ in. wide, have hollow-chamfered edges, and are placed close together with
wood panels of about the same width between them.
The ceiling is divided into eight panels by deep
heavily-moulded beams, which mitre with a cornice
of the same section running right round the room.
The ceiling joists have hollow-chamfered edges, and
run north and south across the room. In the north
wall is a stone fireplace with a continuously moulded
four-centred head and jambs stopping upon chamfered
plinths.
In some of the windows are several fragments of
old heraldic glass. In the south light of the bottom
window lighting the hall is a 15th-century shield:
Gules a fesse ermine between three martlets or, with
the difference of a ring on the fesse, for Covert impaling Gainsford and de la Poyle. In the fourth
light from the south is a German achievement,
apparently of 16th-century date; the shield is Argent
a cross checky argent and sable. In the fifth light is
a small piece of early glass, Argent a lion gules;
while in the end light is a shield of Gainsford and
de la Poyle impaling Gules a cheveron between three
martlets argent, for Wakehurst. The glazing in the
window lighting the staircase at the south-west corner
of the hall is of 17th-century date, and contains the
Prince of Wales's feathers with the motto on the scroll
at the bottom 'HIC DIEN' (sic) on a field of yellow
lozenges, each one painted with the Gainsford badge,
a grapnel with double flukes.
In the study window are also some fragments of
old glass, including Gainsford and de la Poyle
quarterly, and a shield Party sinister bendwise ermine
and ermines a lion or.
Spanning the moat in front of the house is a small
stone bridge of two arches. To the south-west and
west of the house are two old barns that appear to
have been erected at the same time as the house
itself. They are both of half-timber and brick construction, with tile and stone slate roofs. The barn
at the south-west is divided horizontally into two.
The open roofs to both structures are well worthy of
notice.
Mention of a mill in Crowhurst occurs in 1241,
when Stephen the miller held it of William de
Adburton for a rent of 11s. annually. (fn. 32) In 1406
William atte Hurst granted the mill called 'Crowherstmelle,' which he had obtained from the family
of Marchant, to John Gainsford. (fn. 33)
In 1347 John de Horne granted to John Gainsford and Margaret his wife the rents and services of
John at Grove for the tenements which the latter
held of John de Horne in Crowhurst. (fn. 34) Joan
daughter and heir of John at Grove married John
de Tonbrige, and in 1375 they conveyed the lands
called ATGROVE to John de Cobham of Devon, (fn. 35)
from whom they passed to William de Staffhurst. (fn. 36)
Joan, a daughter and heir of the latter, with John
atte Halle her husband, conveyed the tenement in
1420 to John Bierden and Elizabeth heir of John de
Cobham of Hever. (fn. 37) The land passed from the
Bierdens to Sir Thomas Leukenor and John Schelle,
who conveyed it in 1434 to John Gainsford, when it
was apparently merged in the manor of Crowhurst. (fn. 38)
Manning suggests that the name survives in Blackgrove Farm, (fn. 39) the property of the Gainsford family
in 1706. (fn. 40)
The earliest mention of the manor of CHELLOWS
(Chelewes, xiv cent.; Chelhous, xvii cent.) occurs in
1359, when an inquisition on the lands of Adam de
Puttenden showed that he held land of John Gainsford with suit at his court of Chellows. (fn. 41) From this
time until the 16th century the manor was held by
the Gainsford family, (fn. 42) who were tenants under the
lords of Oxted. On the division of the Crowhurst
lands at the death of John, son and heir of Thomas
Gainsford, in 1559, Chellows became the property of
Anne sister of John, and afterwards wife of William
Forster. They held as late as 1585, (fn. 43) and after their
death William their son, who was knighted in 1603,
held the manor. (fn. 44) The latter with his wife Margaret
conveyed the manor in 1612 to John Hatcher, (fn. 45) from
whom it passed in the following year to John Courthope. (fn. 46) This family held until 1711, (fn. 47) when John
Courthope and Anne his wife conveyed to Henry
Shove. (fn. 48) Shove died in 1738, having devised Chellows to his nephew Thomas Saunders. (fn. 49) The latter
held a court in that year. (fn. 50) He conveyed in 1770
to Robert Burrow, (fn. 51) whose trustees sold in 1794 to
Sir Thomas Turton. Sir Thomas made an exchange
of the manor with John Nicholls in 1797, receiving in
return part of the rectory. (fn. 52) It was afterwards held
by James Donovan, who died in 1831 and was succeeded by his son, (fn. 53) and as late as 1865 Chellows was
still held by this family. (fn. 54)
The manor-house is now a farm-house called
Chellows Park Farm.
A rental of Crowhurst Manor made in 1431,
and given in the cartulary of the Gainsford family,
records that William de Innyngfeld held a messuage
and 13 acres of this manor, the land being 'next
the manor of RUGGE.' (fn. 55) It seems probable that
this is the estate which was held in the 14th
century by the family of Rugge. In 1316 Roger son
of Gilbert de Rugge gave John de Neuman and
Beatrice his wife a messuage with all buildings in
Crowhurst, a wood called Ruggegros and other lands
there, and the reversion of many parcels of land
demised by him to various persons for life. (fn. 56) In
1331 John de Neuman granted all his lands in
Crowhurst to John Gainsford, to whom John son
of Robert de Rugge quitclaimed his right. (fn. 57) There
is no other record of the 'manor' of Rugge, and it
is probable that these lands when in possession of the
Gainsfords became part of the main manor. An
episode concerning the family of Rugge occurred in
1345, when John Gainsford and John de Hadresham
were commissioned to make inquiries touching information to the effect 'that John son of Elias de Rugge
of Crowhurst has carried away treasure of gold and
silver in no small quantity, lately found under the
ground at Crowhurst, which pertains to the king by
law and custom of the realm.' (fn. 58)
An 18th-century rental of the manor of Chellows
shows that there was at that time an extent of land
called Infields, lying mostly in Crowhurst, but also
partly in Tandridge and Lingfield, and consisting of
smaller parcels called the Mote, Newlands and Maynmead. (fn. 59) The part called Newlands in Tandridge
(q.v.) seems undoubtedly to have been that held by
Nicholas de Malmeyns, and afterwards by the Gainsfords, and to have been the most important portion,
as it was held as a manor. Possibly the whole land
called Infields had formerly belonged to the family of
Innyngfield, which seems to have had considerable
property here in the 12th and 13th centuries; but
the various parcels were afterwards under different
owners, and the manorial rights, if there were any
such, seem to have become appropriated to the parcel
called Newlands. (fn. 60)
CHURCH
The church of ST. GEORGE consists
of a chancel 21 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft., a nave
33 ft. 8 in. by 18 ft. 1 in., a south aisle
17 ft. 5 in. by 9 ft., a south porch 9 ft. by 7 ft. and a
small timber spire over the west end of the nave. It
is built of rubble with ashlar dressings.
Though small it is one of the most interesting
churches in the district, having escaped practically
untouched from the ravages of the 19th-century
restorers. Although the earliest detail in the building
dates from the latter part of the 12th century, the
nave belongs to a church of much earlier date and
probably formed the body of a small church consisting
of a nave having an eastern apsidal termination erected
either late in the 11th or early in the following
century. The first enlargement appears to have been
made about 1190, when the south aisle was added,
and following on this addition, at the beginning of
the 13th century the chancel was built. The church
was thus left until early in the 15th century, the building then being thoroughly restored, the east end of
the chancel rebuilt, and many new windows inserted.
From the following entry in the church registers,
'On ye twentyth one and two and twentyth daies of
January 1652, part of ye Body of Crowhurst Church,
which had been in heaps a long time, was made plain
and repaired,' the church appears to have been partially
rebuilt in the 17th century, but the shortness of
time in which the work was effected shows that it was
not of a very considerable character and probably only
included the rebuilding of the south wall of the aisle,
which is much thinner than any of the other walls of
the church and buttressed by massive brick buttresses.
A wall was built at the same time across the west end
of the south aisle, making the aisle smaller and forming
a south porch.
In recent years the building has been twice restored,
in 1852 and again in 1886, but at both these dates
the work done was only in the nature of general
repairs.
The chancel has diagonal buttresses of two stages
at the angles of the east wall. The east window is
pointed and of three cinquefoiled lights under a vertical
traceried head. In the north wall are two windows;
the easternmost, of late 16th-century date, is of three
three-centred lights under a square head and has a
moulded wooden plate enriched with small battlements
cut in the solid along its topmost member, fixed to
the wall under the sill on the inside, but the window
in the west end of the wall is a small lancet, the inner
jambs of which have been completely restored, but the
outer jambs and rear arch are original though scraped.
There are also two windows in the south wall. The
eastern one is of four four-centred cinquefoiled lights
under a square head. It is of mid-15th-century date,
but the other window in the south wall is a small
lancet, the inner jambs of which have been entirely
restored. Under the former is an elaborate late 15th-century tomb of John Gainsford. Above the tomb,
springing from jambs of the same section, is a moulded
semi-elliptical cinquefoiled arched recess, within a
square head surmounted by an embattled cornice.
The east spandrel contains a large leaf with the head
and wing of a small angel below, and the west spandrel
has a strange sea monster, below which is a monkey
with a long tail. The mouldings of the main arch
are continued down the jambs. The four spandrels
formed between the arch and the foils, which are
cusped, are carved with grotesque heads and monsters.
The mouldings of the jambs and main arch are carved
with various devices including double and single
grapnels (the Gainsford badge), acorns, leaves, &c.
Plan of Crowhurst Church
To the west of this is another tomb, which
apparently was never used, standing in a recess. The
lower part is divided into three square panels, each
filled with a quatrefoil containing a lozenge, upon
which is a Purbeck marble slab. Above is a four-centred arch having a panelled soffit with a square
head surmounted by a moulded cornice. In the
spandrels are quatrefoils filled with carved leaves.
There is no chancel arch, the small piece of
walling between the roofs of the chancel and nave
being carried on one of the roof trusses.
The nave is lighted from the north by three
windows and from the west by one. The centre
window on the north, of two cinquefoiled ogee lights,
is of the 14th century and contains some old glass
with the arms of Gainsford; the others are modern.
There are no windows in the south wall, the east end
being occupied by a large pointed arch opening into
the south aisle, while in the west end is the entrance
doorway. The arch opening into the aisle is of one
unmoulded order, having chamfered angles, and
springs from chamfered and quirked abaci, which are
cut off on either side flush with the wall face; the
responds have stopped chamfers.
The south doorway is pointed and of one square
order and set in the western bay of the earlier semicircular rear arch, within which, above the apex of
the doorway, is an uncarved tympanum. The three-light pointed window in the west wall is of the same
date and similar in design to the east window of
the chancel, but has its tracery flush with the
outer face of the wall and a continuously moulded
rear arch.
The south aisle and porch, which are under one
roof and have their south wall continuous, are built
of coursed rubble, but have abutting on the south
four massive brick buttresses, the two eastern ones of
which have stone copings and are of 17th-century
date, but the two western ones are later.
In the east wall of the south aisle is a segmental-headed window of two cinquefoiled ogee lights with a
quatrefoil above, like that in the north wall of the
nave, but set in the jambs of a late 12th-century
window, having small angle shafts and a semicircular
rear arch. The northern capital is plain, but that of
the other shaft has crude stiff-leaf foliage. In the
south wall of the aisle is a small re-set trefoiled
opening with widely splayed jambs.
In the south side of the east respond of the arch is
a mediaeval iron staple, probably a lamp-bracket.
The opening into the porch is pointed and of one
continuous unmoulded order.
Across the west end of the nave are two oak frames—one against the west wall and the other about 9 ft.
out—carrying the spire. The eastern frame is composed of four posts with a cross-beam and carved
braces, some of which are modern, as is also the
tracery in the spandrels. The western is similar, but
the modern braces are straight instead of curved.
The spire is square at the roof level but octagonal
above. The frame is old, but the weather-boarding,
lights and shingles are modern.
The roofs are eaved and are all original. Those
of the chancel and nave are of the trussed rafter type
and are tiled, but the aisle and porch have a lean-to
roof covered with stone slates, although in a continuous slope with the roof of the nave.
The pulpit is modern, but contains some old
timbers.
The font is of 13th-century date. The bowl,
which is cut out of one stone, is broached from square
to octagonal, the apex of each broach reaching to the
top of the octagon. It has a central circular stem
and smaller detached angle shafts without capitals or
bases on a square base.
In the east window are some fragments of old glass,
those in three of the tracery lights having cherubim
and those in the main lights various mutilated Gainsford shields and quarterings. The tracery lights are
of the late 15th and the heraldic glass of the 16th
century.
Against the north wall of the chancel is a stone
altar tomb with panelled sides containing shields in
quatrefoils. On the Purbeck marble top slab is a
brass to John Gainsford the elder, who died 19 July
1450. The figure above the inscription is in armour,
the head on a helm and the feet on a lion. Above
this again is a quartered shield of Gainsford and
de la Poyle.
In the Purbeck slab on the tomb against the south
wall of the chancel is the brass figure of a man in
15th-century plate armour with his feet resting on
the back of a dog. Below the figure is the following
black letter inscription: 'Hic jacet Johannès
Gaynesford Armiger Et Anna uxor eius filia | Richardi
Wakeherst qui quidem Johannes obiit in festo
Translacionis | Sancti Thome martiris anno domini
MoCCCCoLX quorum animabus propicietur Deus.' In
the top sinister corner of the slab is a shield like the
one on the altar tomb on the south side of the
chancel. The lower part of the tomb is panelled and
contains shields of Wakehurst, Gainsford, and Gainsford quartering de la Poyle.
In the chancel floor is a singular slab of cast-iron
with a raised inscription to Anne Forster, great-great-granddaughter of the above John Gainsford,
as follows:—
HER : LIETH : ANE : EORST
R : DAVGHTER : AND :
HEYR : TO : THOMAS :
GAYNSEORD : ESQUIER
DECEASED : XVIII : OE :
IANVARI : 1591 : LEAVYNG
BEHIND : HER : II : SONES :
AND : V : DAUGHTERS
To the east of the inscription is a shrouded figure
between four shields, those at the head containing
figures of two boys, and of two girls respectively,
while of those at the feet the dexter has the arms of
Gainsford, and the sinister, quarterly 1 and 4, a lion
rampant (Forster), 2 a fesse between two cheverons,
3 Gainsford. The husband of this Anne obtained by
the marriage lands at Crowhurst. (fn. 61)
In the nave is a brass to Richard Cholmeley, butler
to James I and Charles I, who died 13 August 1634.
The arms are engraved above the inscription, and
the brass was laid down by John brother of Richard
Cholmeley. (fn. 62)
There is in the floor of the chancel a slab to John
Angell, who died in 1670. In a Latin inscription he
is stated to have been 'Provisor Publicus (quod vulgo
Caterer audit) et itidem Windsorii Castri supremus
Janitor.'
In the floor of the south aisle is a brass inscribed in
black letters to Anne wife of John Gainsford of
Crowhurst and daughter of Thomas Fiennes. On the
north wall of the chancel is an elaborate black and
white marble tablet with a Latin inscription to
Thomasin wife of Richard Marryott of the parish of
St. Clement Danes; she was daughter of John Angell
and died 1675; also to her daughter Elizabeth, who
died aged twelve in the same year.
On the south wall of the chancel is a mural tablet
to Justinian Angell, fifth son of John Angell. He
married Elizabeth eldest daughter of John Scaldwell
of Brixton Causeway, and died in 1680. Above the
inscription are the arms of Angell, Or a fesse indented
of three points azure with a bend gules over all
impaling Scaldwell, Argent powdered with stars azure
a cross formy fitchy azure. There are also two hatchments of members of the Gainsford family used as
memorial tablets, with epitaphs.
There are three bells: the treble and second have
no maker's mark or inscription. The tenor is by
Thomas Mears, 1795.
The plate consists of a small silver chalice of 1638,
inscribed on the foot 'Crowhurst Church in Surrey
Anô 1638,' and having a cover paten of the same
date, a large paten of 1722, a silver flagon of 1736
inscribed 'The gift of William Angell of the Middle
Temple London and of Barfield Place in the
County of Berks: Esqr, one of the Verderers of the
Forest of Windsor, eldest Son of Johne Angell of
Stockwell in the County of Surrey Esqr. Ano Dom:
1736,' and having a quartered shield (1) Angell,
(2) A bend engrailed between six roses, (3) Ermine
a bend with three roses thereon, (4) Scaldwell; and
a pyx of 1903.
The registers previous to 1813 are in four
volumes: (1) all entries 1567 to 1637; (2) the
same 1637 to 1682, only fragmentary entries between
1645 and 1660; (3) the same 1683 to 1749; (4)
baptisms 1745 to 1812, marriages and burials 1749
to 1812.
ADVOWSON
The church is mentioned for the
first time in the Taxation of 1291,
when it was taxed at 100s. (fn. 63) The
advowson was held with the manor until the end of
the 13th century, when Robert de Stangrave enfeoffed
Henry de Guldeford and his heirs of it, together with
5 acres of land, (fn. 64) and he in 1299 granted it to the
Prior and convent of Tandridge. (fn. 65) They appropriated
the church in 1304, (fn. 66) but apparently did not ordain
a vicarage. The priory continued to hold until the
dissolution of the house. (fn. 67) In 1538 the king granted
the churches of Tandridge and Crowhurst to John
Rede, reserving £12, to be paid to two chaplains to
serve the cures. (fn. 68) Rede, who died in 1545, (fn. 69) was
succeeded by his son John, who in 1576 conveyed
the rectory to Richard Bostock. (fn. 70) He sold in 1577
to Edward Johnson. In 1584 it was held by Anne
Johnson, widow, who was a daughter of Thomas
Allen. (fn. 71) It afterwards passed to Edward Atfield, who
received licence to alienate to Francis Wallis in 1589. (fn. 72)
How it passed from the latter to Sir William Forster,
grandson on his mother's side of Thomas Gainsford of
Crowhurst (q.v.), is not evident, but in 1618 Forster,
with his son and daughter-in-law, conveyed to William
Angell, who died in 1629 seised of the rectory and
of an estate in Crowhurst. (fn. 73) The property continued
to be held by this family. (fn. 74) In 1784 John Angell
of Stockwell, great-great-grandson of William, devised
all his property in Crowhurst and elsewhere to the
male heir, if any such were living, of William Angell,
the first purchaser of the property. (fn. 75) His will led to
many lawsuits, including, according to Manning,
eleven ejectment causes, two or three suits in Chancery
and one or two in the Exchequer. (fn. 76) The estates in
Crowhurst were, however, held against all claimants
by the Rush family, who were near relatives, through
females, of John Angell. (fn. 77) This family held the
rectory until about 1862, when it passed to the Earl
of Cottenham. (fn. 78) The living is now in the gift of the
present Earl of Cottenham, being styled a vicarage
under the terms of the Act of 1868. (fn. 79)
CHARITIES
Alexander Holloway, who died
before 1618 (see monument to his
wife in Sanderstead Church), left 10s.
a year for a charity sermon on Palm Sunday and 20s.
to the poor. Nicholas Gainsford in 1705 left £2 a
year to the poor. Mr. Thomas Sutton left 10s. a
year to poor widows. The first was charged upon
Holdfast in Edenbridge, the second on Gutlands in
Crowhurst, the third on Longbridge in Lingfield.
Gainsford's legacy seems to have been diverted to the
Duchess of Marlborough's almshouses in St. Albans
after she acquired the manor. Smith's charity is
distributed as in other Surrey parishes.