List of pedigrees Bland of Northern Neck Va. Nicholas of Roundway Hester of Fleming Co Ky Thruston Author's DNA match comparisons |
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My17. Nicholas Mynne b c 1430 London d 1528
m Joan MARSTON was born about 1430 in of, London, England, and daughter of William Marston of Horton, who died in 1511, or Catherine Knyvett b about 1508, widow of William Farmer, daughter of Sir Thomas Knyvett of Buckenham and Muriel Howard . Joan Marston remarried after the death of Nicholas to William Saunders of Ewell. She died in 1540. |
Mynne Coat of Arms | |||||||||||||||
My16 | Sir John Mynne b 1503/1528 Herford
d 1585
m1 Dorothy Curzon dau of Thomas Curzon b c 1490 Croxall Manor Derbyshire m Elizabeth Lygon m2 Alice Standish or Hale b: c 1525 in England + 1 ch |
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My15-1 | Sir William Mynne b c 1525 d 1618
m Margaret Jermy dau of Francis Jermy of Brightwell and Elizabeth FitzWilliam |
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My15-1-1 | John Mynne b c 1598 | |||||||||||||||
My15-1-2 | Jane Mynne b c 1612
m Thomas Hanson |
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My15-1-3 | Elizabeth Mynne
m1 Sir Henry Berkeley 1st Baronet m2 Sir Hugh Wyndham |
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My15-1-4 | William Mynne, the elder | |||||||||||||||
My15-1-5 | Thomas Mynne | |||||||||||||||
My15-1-6 | Nicholas Mynne | |||||||||||||||
My15-1-7 | William Mynne, the younger | |||||||||||||||
My15-1-8 | Dorothy Mynne | |||||||||||||||
My15-1-9 | Frances Mynne
m y Mytton |
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My15 |
George Mynne b c 1529 in England (?1558
in Hertfordshire Co., England seems more likely)
m Elizabeth Wroth b: 24 Jan 1574 in England She was born about1554 d 24 June1574 Died: 20 MAY 1581 in Hertfordshire, England |
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My14-1 | Mary MYNNE was born about 1575 in Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire, England. | |||||||||||||||
My14-2 | Susan MYNNE b c 1576 in Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire, d 1579. | |||||||||||||||
My14-3 | Robert MYNNE b 6 Apr 1578 in Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire, England. | |||||||||||||||
My14 | Anne MYNNE b c 1680
m George Calvert 1st Baron Baltimore |
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My14-5 | John MYNNE b c 1580 in Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire, England. possibly the John Mynne who married Alice Hale see below | |||||||||||||||
My14-6 | George MYNNE b 1581 in Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire, England | |||||||||||||||
My15-2 | Susan Mynne b 1535 d 1564
m John Darnall b 1531 Hertfordshire d 1605 Hertingfordbury | -1 Henry Darnall b 1564 hertfordshire d there 1607 | ||||||||||||||
My15-3 | John Mynne b 1558 d 1574 | |||||||||||||||
Three Mynnes of Horton, Surrey, Nicholas, William and John appear on
the roll
of Students admitted to THE INNER TEMPLE.
for 1595 and 1597. There was also a Nicholas Mynne as servant of Oxford who was almost certainly a member of the family of Nicholas Mynne who died 1528. As there is no mention of Joan Marston having had a child by Nicholas Mynne in these wills we may presume that his children were by his first wife, Catherine Knyvett. Alice Standish was the daughter of
x STANDISH was born about 1494 in London, England. |
That the younger George Mynne became a man
of many parts may be seen from G. E. Aylmer's detailed article about him
in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [www.oxforddnb.com - accessible
via Surrey Libraries website]: Mynne has been described variously as merchant,
draper, dyer, clothier, royal servant, politician, ironmaster, moneylender,
clerk of the hanaper in chancery [an office of the Court of Chancery where
writs were kept in an "hanaper" or "hamper"] and extortionist. In a legal
case, touched upon later, concerning the charge of extortion it was observed
with some hauteur: "The person of Mr Mynne: a gent; no disparagement nor
stain to him to have been a woollen draper as long as he carries himself
honestly and with integrity; if otherwise, a great many younger brothers
descended of ancient gentry in ill condition. The stain of gentry is to
commit base actions; and this it seems he did after he had the place that
would otherwise have made him a gentleman." Elsewhere, one finds him characterised
as an "extraordinarily versatile projector" [meaning deviser of money-making
schemes] and aspirant patentee, particularly in relation to development
of the use of madder as a dyestuff. Another reference has him as "allegedly
an aggressive and potentially ruthless wheeler-dealer on the London scene".
Mynne's brother in law, George Calvert, having trained as a lawyer,
entered the service of Sir Robert Cecil (created 1st Earl of Salisbury
in 1605) and subsequently gained appointment to several offices under James
1 before being knighted, 1617, and named as Secretary of State during 1619.
[Vide John D. Kruger, Oxford DNB] It seems likely that George Mynne's progress
owed much to the powerful influence of his sister's husband.
Horton Manor, Surrey, came into the possession of another line of the
Mynne family from the 16th century, by marriage, and had been settled on
Alice Hale when she became betrothed to aJohn
Mynne. By 1626, however, the latter had fallen into debt and the estate
was sold to George Mynne of Lincoln's Inn, the subject of this article,
who was already living in Woodcote Park. Around the same time, George Mynne
married Ann Parkhurst, a daughter of Sir Robert Parkhurst of Pyrford, later
Lord Mayor of London, whose Will dated 28 June 1636 remarks that both his
daughters were by then "firmly advanced in marriage". The Woodcote estate
was extended over the border to Ashtead to embrace 14 acres of freehold
land known as Lanthornes on the north-east side of what is presently called
Farm Lane. In Pepys' Diary an entry for 14 July 1667 about a visit to Ashtead
records: "So to our coach, and through Mrs Minne's wood, and we looked
upon Mr Eveling's house [Woodcote], and so over the common and through
Epsum towne to our inne…"
Anne (Mynne) Calvert having died in 1621, "aged 42 years 9 months and
18 days", was buried at St Mary the Virgin, Hertingfordbury, Herts. The
standing of her husband, George Calvert, at Court had been on the wane
before he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1624 but his loyalty to the
King was recognised by elevation to Baron Baltimore in Ireland prior to
James I's demise, March 1625. Baltimore then concentrated his attentions
on the New World until he too died in London on 15 April 1632 and was interred
at St. Dunstan in the West. As recently as the year 2000, a bill was promoted
to amend the law of Maryland by modifying the official description of the
State's Great Seal with an intention of recognising Anne Mynne's role in
Maryland's history and to re-define the quarters of the seal incorporating
"the crosslet or cross botany and color red" as derived from the Mynne
coat of arms; rather than [as the present writer, in agreement with John
T. Marck - www.marylandtheseventhstate.com - , believes to be correct]
from the Crossland family to which her mother in law, Alicia Calvert, belonged.
Following the accession of Charles 1 to the throne, and a loss of Baltimore's
protection, George Mynne ran into a number of difficulties: for example,
on 30 January 1636/7, " by sentence and order in the high court of Starre
chamber" he was suspended from holding the office of clerk of the hanaper
although immediately reinstated to his "privilege and pre-eminence at his
Majesty's gracious pleasure". The suspension in fact dated back to 1634
when Sir Richard Young(e), a Gentleman of the King's Privy Chamber, had
been granted a right to execute the office during a sequestration which
resulted from Mynne having been found guilty of exaction and extortion
of excessive fees. Mynne pursued extended legal proceedings against this
"disseisor" but failed to recover the position before, in 1643 being unattended
(and "worth £1,000 p.a."), it was assumed by Sir William Allenson,
a "godly alderman" elected to the Long Parliament by the freemen of York,
before the latter's tenure was confirmed by Ordinance of the Commonwealth
during the Summer of 1644. Having gained the confidence of the Army, Allenson
was appointed a Commissioner for the trial of King Charles but judiciously
evaded direct involvement, and arraignment as a regicide, to live out the
rest of his days in obscurity.
Professor Aylmer mentions that Mynne supported the royalist cause during
the English Civil War. Notable assistance, admitted by a servant on 21
November 1646 because his Master "lieth sick at Epssham", was a loan to
"his Majesty of six thousand Poundsworth of Iron" and payment of contributions.
Another source indicates that Mynne had supplied cavalier forces with 400
tonnes of iron at the start of hostilities and arranged for iron and wire
to be secreted in various parts of the country worth £40,000. In
1647, a spy was rewarded for her help in the "discovery" of George Mynne's
"wyre" - re-termed "delinquency" in parliamentary intelligence. Heavy financial
penalties were levied by way of composition of the offence.
George Mynne died in 1648 without leaving a will and his son, also named
George, survived him only until 1652. By a will dated 18 May 1663 of Anne
Mynne, widow of Epsom, co-heiresses to the family's real estate became
her daughters Elizabeth (b 1629), who had married Richard Evelyn, Esq.,
during the year of her father's demise, and Anne (b. 1634), wife of Sir
John Lewknor, M.P. for Midhurst. After Lewknor died in 1669, she remarried
Sir William Morley of Halnaker, Sussex.
One moves on to consider further Richard Evelyn and his family. John
Evelyn's Diary mentions a journey to Woodcote on 16 August 1648 to attend
his brother Richard's wedding to a "co-heir of Esquire Minn, lately deceased,
by whom he had a great estate both in land and money on the death of a
brother. The coach, in which the bride and the bridegroom were, was overturned
in coming home but no harm was done" Tragically, although the couple subsequently
had four sons none of these prospective heirs survived infancy. Richard
himself lived until 7 March 1669/70, his final illness being described
in his brother John's Diary, - on 21 March, his body is reported to have
been carried for interment within the chapel in Epsom Church belonging
to Woodcote House. The funeral train consisted of twenty carriages, each
drawn by six horses, and innumerable people. The late Richard's surviving
daughter (Mary) Ann Evelyn (b. 1653) married, 29 June 1670, William Montagu,
"eldest son of Mr Attorney Montagu" [Sir William, 1619-1706] but, for 17
February 1688, there is a further Diary entry of "the sad news of my niece
Montagu's death at Woodcote". As matter of local interest, Richard Evelyn's
widow, Dame Elizabeth, is credited with gaining a right from 1684 [to enhance
its attractions as a spa] for Epsom to hold a Friday Market as well as
two fairs annually, on Michaelmas Day and St James' Day, each of three
days duration. The grant was renewed by James II together with the establishment
of a court of pie-powder [French, pied poudreux (dusty foot) = vagabond]
to administer summary justice at each of the fairs so that disputes with
pedlars and hawkers might be settled on the spot. After her husband's death,
legal disputes arose with his family notably in relation to alleged "fraude
and unworthy dealing" to break the entailment of Baynards Park (in which
a life interest had come with Richard as part of a Marriage Settlement
dated 20 May 1648): the relict, Elizabeth (Mynne) Evelyn, first contemplated
leaving her real estate to William Montagu, Junr., but after her daughter
died the widower is said to have "lived dissolutely and scandalously with
another woman". Thus Montagu came to be disinherited but, as John, "the
Horticulturist", is reported to have complained, bitterly on 17 May 1688,
his sister-in-law persisted in looking for beneficiaries who were not Evelyns-
again, "through the fraude and unworthy dealing…(and) persuasion of my
sister, contrary to the intent of her husband, my brother". Eventually,
Elizabeth (Mynne) Evelyn's will dated 22 January 1691, proved 3 August
1692, left "Manor lands and tenements in Ebisham and Ewell etc. [Epsom
Manor inherited from her mother, Mrs Ann (Parkhurst) Mynne] in trust for
the benefit of her sister, Dame Anne (Mynne) Morley, as a life interest
(lasting until her demise on 6 June 1704), with remainder first to Anne's
son from her first marriage, John Lewknor, and secondly for John Parkhurst
of Catesby, Northants. John Parkhurst in fact succeeded to that estate
following John Lewknor's death on 19 February 1706. The Manor of Horton
and "capital messuage called Woodcote House", with which primarily this
article is concerned, were bequeathed to Charles Calvert, 3rd Lord Baltimore,
described as "kinsman" because Elizabeth (Mynne) Evelyn was the grand niece
of Anne Mynne wife of 1st Lord Baltimore, George Calvert.
In gratitude, Lord Baltimore commissioned a memorial tablet set up at
the east end of the south aisle of Epsom Church. This was moved in the
course of re-building circa 1824 but the inscription is recorded as having
been:- M.S. Elizabethae Evelyn relictae Richardi Evelyn de Woodcott, Armigeri
ex stemmate Mynniano oriundae feminae, tam pietate quam hospilitate , celeberrimae
de Ebbisham et de Horton Domineae. Consangguineae meritissimae Carolus
Calvert, Baro de Baltimore posuit. Obiit anno Christi, aetatis 63, mensis
Jan. 29. A photograph may be found on page 6 of Charles Abdy's Epsom Past.
Brian Bouchard © 2008
Member of Leatherhead and District Local History Society
http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/MynneG.html
EPSOM
Evesham (xi cent.); Ebbesham (xiii cent.); Ebsham, Ebesham, and Ebbesham
(xiv cent.); Ebbisham, Eppesham, and Ebsame (xvi cent.); Ebsham (xvii cent.
and xviii cent.); Epsom (late xvii cent.).
Epsom is a town 16 miles north-east of Guildford, 7 miles south-by-east
of Kingston, 15 miles from London. The parish measures 4 miles from north
to south, and 2 miles from east to west, and contains 4,413 acres. It lies
upon the chalk downs, the Woolwich and Thanet Beds, and the London Clay.
The church is on the chalk, but the greater part of the old village is
on a patch of gravel and sand of the Thanet Beds. The building of later
days has had a tendency to spread up the chalk. A branch of the Hoggsmill
River flows from Epsom. Besides agriculture, brick-making and brewing are
carried on; but the chief importance of Epsom since it ceased to be a small
country village has been, first, that of a wateringplace; and, secondly,
that of a horse-racing town. Epsom Common is still to a great extent open
ground, lying on the clay, and adjoining Ashtead Common to the west of
the town. Epsom Downs are a noble expanse of chalk country, comprising
944 acres of open land.
The road from London to Dorking passes through Epsom. This road was
evidently passable for carriages when Epsom was a fashionable watering-place,
in the latter part of the 17th century; but it was not passable, except
with difficulty, beyond Epsom till 1755, when an Act (fn. 1) was passed
for carrying on the turnpike road from the watch-house in Epsom. In the
same year (fn. 2) the road from Epsom to Ewell, and thence into the Kingston
road, was re-made.
The London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway came to Epsom by the
Croydon and Epsom line in 1847. The Epsom Downs branch was opened in 1865.
The London and South-Western Railway came to Epsom in 1859. The stations
of the two companies are some distance apart, but the lines converge just
before reaching the London and South-Western Railway Station, and continue
together till Letherhead, the Brighton extension to Horsham having obtained
running powers over the South-Western Railway line.
Epsom is now a flourishing country town. It was constituted an urban
district under the Public Health Act of 1848 on 19 March 1850. By the Local
Government Act of 1894 it was put under a Local District Council of nine
members, increased to twelve in 1903. It is essentially a town, supplied
with gas by the Epsom and Ewell Gas Company, formed 1839; with electric
light by a company in Church Street; with water from the chalk by works
belonging to the Council. There is a cemetery in Ashley Road, first opened
in 1871. The County Court was built in 1848; the Town Hall, in red brick
and terra cotta, in 1883. The Technical Institute and Art School was opened
in 1897. The sewage of the town is disposed of by an irrigation system
on part of the Epsom Court farm lands, the purified effluent is discharged
into the Hoggsmill River. The District Council's Isolation Hospital is
in the Hook Road. The Union Workhouse is near the Dorking Road. Horton
Manor, lying west of the town, has been acquired by the London County Council
for an asylum, and the Manor Asylum has been built for 2,100 patients.
The Colony for Epileptics, in the same neighbourhood, lying partly in Ewell
Parish, was opened in 1902, and can accommodate 366 patients in separate
houses. A large suburb of cottages is growing up in the neighbourhood of
the asylums. There is another outlying hamlet about Epsom Common.
The wide High Street is still a picturesque feature of the town. Up
till 1848 a watch-house, with a sort of wooden steeple, stood in the middle
of it, where the present clock tower stands. There was also a large pond,
drained in 1854. In this street, as well as in South Street and Church
Street, are many interesting old houses and inns. A fair is still held
in the town on 25 July and the two following days.
Historically, Epsom was unimportant till the 17th century. Neolithic
flakes and implements have been found, but few only, near Woodcote. Toland,
in his letter descriptive of Epsom in 1711, speaks of Roman remains at
Epsom Court Farm. The old trackway (see under Mickleham) which came over
the Downs headed for the western side of Epsom Race-course, but is not
to be clearly traced beyond it. It is called the Portway in a rental of
1495–6. (fn. 3) When the church was being enlarged in 1907 a dene hole
was discovered in the churchyard. The depth was some 16 ft. to the bottom
of the shaft, and chambers ran each way from the bottom of the shaft for
12 ft. or 13 ft. The shaft and most of the chambers had been filled in
with loose soil, and a mediaeval grave had been dug to a great depth and
reached the top of one of the chambers, whence the bones found there had
been let through to the bottom. Nothing else was found but a little loose
charcoal, and two or three small pieces of hand-made pottery.
Epsom Well, to the discovery of which the place owed its later fame,
is on Epsom Common, some distance from the village. It is in the London
Clay. Water charged with sulphate of magnesia is not uncommonly found in
this soil, as at Jessop's Well, on Stoke D'Abernon Common, which is probably
as powerful as the Epsom spring. The situation of Epsom, however, on the
edge of the downs, made it a pleasant resort, and so gave greater fame
to its waters. The current story is that the well was discovered in 1618
by one Henry Wicker, who observed that cattle would not drink of it. Dudley
North, third Lord North, asserts in his Forest of Varieties, published
in 1645, that he first made the Tunbridge Wells and Epsom waters known
to the world at large. Aubrey drank the water in 1654. After the Restoration
the Epsom Wells became a fashionable resort, Epsom being nearer to London
than Tunbridge Wells. Nonsuch, so long as it remained standing, was a royal
house in the near neighbourhood, and it was an easy ride from Hampton Court.
Charles II, James II, as Duke of York, and Prince George of Denmark, all
visited Epsom. Pepys, of course, went there; he paid his first visit in
1663, when the town was so full that he had to seek a lodging in Ashtead.
In 1667, he writes, on 14 July, 'to Epsom by eight o'clock to the Well,
where much Company. And to the town, to the King's Head; and hear that
my lord Buckhurst and Nelly' (Nell Gwynne) 'are lodged at the next house,
and Sir Charles Sedley with them; and keep a merry house.' In 1663 he had
remarked on the large number of citizens 'that I could not have thought
to have seen there; that they ever had it in their heads or purses to go
down thither.' The New Inn in High Street dates from about this period.
It is now called Waterloo House, and is occupied by shops. It is now mainly
an 18th-century two-story building of red brick with plastered quoins,
and a low gable in the middle of the front; in the roof are attics lighted
by good dormer windows. There is a good gable end over the original entrance,
which led into a narrow courtyard in the centre, whence there is an exit
at the opposite end. On the first floor, approached by a fine staircase
with carved balusters, was the Assembly or Ball Room, now cut up by partitions.
In 1690 Mr. Parkhurst, lord of the manor, built an Assembly Room at the
Wells, erected other buildings, and planted avenues of elms and limes,
which were mostly cut down for timber in the early 19th century. The popularity
and fashion of Epsom at this time is sufficiently attested, not merely
by the names of visitors, but by the announcement in the Gazette, 19 June
1684, that a daily post would go to and from Epsom and Tunbridge Wells
respectively and London during the season for drinking the waters, that
is, during May, June, and July. This was the earliest daily post outside
London.
In 1711, Toland, the famous deistical writer, gives a very flowery
description of the beauties of Epsom in a letter to 'Eudena.' But by this
date Epsom had come to rely upon its general attractions for pleasure seekers,
rather than upon its medicinal waters. A quack doctor named Levingston
sank a rival well, of no particular quality, near the town in 1706, built
an Assembly Room and shops near it, and in 1715 got a lease of the old
well and closed it till his death in 1727. Queen Anne visited Epsom during
this period, but the place decayed as a fashionable resort. The neighbouring
gentry, however, used to visit the old well when it was reopened, after
1727. Clearly it continued to be a very different kind of place from any
other country town in Surrey. In 1725 Bishop Willis, in his Visitation
questions, asked for the names of resident gentry in every parish, and
for Epsom, Lord Yarmouth, Lord Guilford, Lord Baltimore, Sir John Ward,
eight gentlemen, and eight well-to-do widows are returned, whilst nothing
like the same number are returned for any other parish; eight for Kew is
the nearest to it. The invention of sea-bathing, about 1753, was finally
fatal to Epsom as a watering-place. The Old Well House, however, was not
pulled down till 1804, when a private house was built on the spot, a successor
to which still occupies the ground. A part of the old brickwork seems to
survive in one of the greenhouses in the garden.
Among the recreations of Epsom in its glory were gambling, cudgel-playing,
foot-races, cock-fighting, and catching a pig by the tail, besides horse-racing.
Robert Norden's map, of the 17th century, marks 'the Race,' extending in
a straight line from Banstead Downs on to Epsom Downs. In 1648 a horse-race
on Banstead Downs, evidently a usual occurrence, was made the prelude to
Lord Holland's rising against the Parliament. (fn. 4) The races were one
of the regular diversions of the company at the Wells, and they used to
witness two or three heats in the morning, return to dinner in the middle
of the day, and come up to the Downs for more heats in the afternoon. These
were run in 1730 either on the old straight course, or on what Toland in
1711 calls the 'new orbicular course.' In those days the runners started
above Langley Bottom behind the Warren, and, going outside the Bushes,
ran by way of Tattenham Corner to the winning-chair. The original Derby
course was the last mile and a half of this track, the starting-post being
out of sight of the grand stand. The Derby and the Oaks races were founded
in 1780 and 1779 respectively, and were called after the Earl of Derby
and his seat at Banstead.
In 1846 Mr. Henry Dorling, the clerk of the course, made, on the advice
of Lord George Bentinck, a course for the Derby, the whole of which lies
on the eastern side of the Warren and in full view of the stands. This,
which is now known as the old course, was used until 1871. For the present
Derby course, first used in 1872, the horses start on slightly higher ground
at the high-level starting-post, and run into the old course at the mile-post.
The first half-mile and the last five furlongs of this track are in the
manor of Epsom; that part of it above the Bushes, from the City and Suburban
starting-post to the old five-furlong start, lying on Walton Downs within
the manor of Walton, is owned by the Epsom Grand Stand Association.
The antiquities and history of the race-meetings have been sufficiently
treated already. (fn. 5) The popularity of the races survived the popularity
of the wateringplace. Dr. Burton (fn. 6) speaks enthusiastically of the
crowds of spectators, even from London, and, as he is writing in Greek,
is irresistibly reminded of the Olympic Games. Greater crowds than ever
used to attend now flock to Epsom races, for the population within reach
is larger, and the means of access by railway much facilitated. But probably
the almost national importance of the Derby reached its height in the last
generation. It was while Lord Palmerston and Lord Derby were political
leaders that the House of Commons regularly adjourned for the Derby day.
The fashion outlived Lord Palmerston, but it ceased under Mr. Gladstone's
rule, and not even in joke can London now be said to be empty on the Derby
day.
As a result of the races, rather than that of the old watering-place
life, Epsom is an extension of London into Surrey. The county is now permeated
by Londoners, but up to about thirty years ago the speech of the country
was different north and south of a line drawn about Epsom. An exact demarcation,
of course, could not be made.
Epsom Common Fields, which were on the slopes of the chalk in front
of the present Medical College, between it and the town, were among the
last to survive in Surrey. They were inclosed by an Award of 4 September
1869, under an Act of 1865. (fn. 7) A certain amount of inclosure on the
lower part of the downs and on Epsom Common has been made, probably from
the watering-place era onwards, by private purchase and arrangements.
Woodcote House is the residence of the Rev. E. W. Northey, J.P.; Woodcote
Grove, of Mr. A. W. Aston, J.P.; Hookfield, of Mr. B. Braithwaite, J.P.;
The Wells, of Mrs. Jamieson. This last is a new house on the site of the
old well-house. Pit Place is the seat of Mr. W. E. Bagshaw. The lions at
the entrance and some interior work are said to be from Nonsuch. It was
the scene of the well-known story of Lord Lyttelton's apparition.
The Roman Catholic Church (St. Joseph's), Heathcote Road, was built
in 1857.
The Congregational church, in Church Street, has taken the place of
a Presbyterian chapel, where a congregation met, it is said, from James's
Indulgence in 1688, and certainly in 1725. (fn. 8) No trace is found of
it after 1772. In 1815 the old chapel, which had been closed, was bought
and fitted up for a Congregational church. In 1825 it was rebuilt. (fn.
9) It was again rebuilt in 1904, in red brick with stone dressings, in
a quasi-Decorated style. It has chancel, nave, aisles, and tower with a
small spire. The first stone was laid by Mr. Evan Spicer. There are also
chapels of the Wesleyans and Baptists, and a Baptist congregation meets
in the Gymnasium Hall.
Epsom College, incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1855, and by a
new Act in 1895, is a first-class public school, with fifty foundation
scholarships open to the orphans of medical men, and taking the sons of
medical men at a slight reduction. There are five leaving scholarships
to the universities, and ten to the hospitals. The buildings are of red
brick and Caen stone in 16th-century style, fitted with chapel, laboratories,
gymnasium, swimming-bath, and all the accessories of a school. They occupy
a fine site on the downs east of the town.
A National School was built in 1828, but a school had been carried
on certainly since before 1725.
The present elementary schools are Hook Road (boys), built in 1840
as a mixed school in place of the one above, enlarged in 1886 and 1896;
Ladbrooke Road (girls), built in 1871, recently enlarged; West Hill (infants),
built in 1844, enlarged in 1872; Hawthorne Place (infants), built in 1893;
Hawthorne Place (junior), built in 1904, a temporary iron building. The
schools are under a committee of trustees of charities and elected managers.
They are endowed, by the original bequest of Mr. John Brayne in 1693, with
land in Fetcham, for teaching poor children to read and write, and binding
them as apprentices; by bequest of Mr. David White (see also Ewell) in
1725, with a freehold estate; by bequest of Mrs. Elizabeth Northey, in
1764, with £100 for books; by Mr. Thyar Pitt, with £225; by
Mrs. J. Elmslie, with £105 by gift, 1851, and one-fourteenth part
of £1,236 15s. 1d. by will in 1858, both sums to the infants' school.
MANORS
In 727 Frithwald, subregulus of Surrey, and Bishop Erkenwald, are said
to have granted to their newly founded abbey of Chertsey twenty mansas
of land in Epsom: (fn. 10) this was confirmed by King Edgar in 967, (fn.
11) and in the Domesday Survey EPSOM is mentioned among the possessions
of Chertsey Abbey. (fn. 12) Henry I granted the abbot leave to keep dogs
on all his land inside the forest and outside, to catch foxes, hares, pheasants,
and cats, and to inclose his park there and have all the deer he could
catch, also to have all the wood he needed from the king's forests. (fn.
13) In the reign of Edward I the abbot's right to free warren in Epsom
was called in question, and it was found that only in his park he had the
right; (fn. 14) this was confirmed later (1285). (fn. 15) In 1291 the abbot
resumed the possession of 9 acres of land (part of the demesne land of
the abbey) which he, or a predecessor, had granted to Hugh de la Lane.
(fn. 16) In 1323–4 the abbot brought a suit against John de la Lane, bailiff
of the queen, for distraining him by 1,500 sheep, for his default in not
appearing when impleaded in the queen's court of Banstead, and driving
them as far as Banstead, where for lack of nourishment some of them died;
the abbot was adjudged £1 in compensation. (fn. 17)
Chertsey Abbey. Party or and argent St. Paul's sword argent its hilt
or crossed with St. Peter's keys gules and azure.
Grants of land in Epsom were made to the abbot in 1338 by Peter atte
Mulle and Richard de Horton. (fn. 18) In 1535 the rents of the manor were
valued at £20 12s. 5½d. (fn. 19) and the perquisites of the
court amounted to £2 10s. 4d.; two years later the manor was surrendered
to the king. (fn. 20)
Henry VIII granted it in 1537 to Sir Nicholas Carew, K.G., in tail
male; (fn. 21) but in 1539, in consequence of his attainder, the manor
returned to the Crown, and the next year was annexed to the honour of Hampton
Court. (fn. 22) Queen Mary, however, granted it in 1576 to Francis Carew
(afterwards knighted), (fn. 23) eldest son of Nicholas, (fn. 24) and his
heirs male, with reversion to the queen and her successors. (fn. 25) In
1589 the reversion (Francis Carew being unmarried) (fn. 26) was granted
to Edward Darcy, groom of the Privy Chamber (fn. 27) and son of Carew's
sister Mary, (fn. 28) who held the manor after the death of Sir Francis
in 1611 and died seised in 1612, (fn. 29) having settled it on his wife
Mary with remainder to his second son Christopher and contingent remainder
to his eldest son Robert. (fn. 30)
Robert died in 1618 (fn. 31) seised of the reversion of the manor after
the death of Mary widow of Edward, from which it appears that Christopher,
who was alive in 1623, (fn. 32) must have quitclaimed to Robert. Robert's
widow and son Edward levied a fine of the manor in 1632. (fn. 33) The rent
of the manor (£40) was settled on Queen Anne by James I, (fn. 34)
and on Queen Catherine by Charles II. (fn. 35) Edward Darcy sold the manor
to Mrs. Anne Mynne, widow of George Mynne of Horton Manor, (fn.
36) and daughter of Sir Robert Parkhurst, and she left it by will to her
daughter Elizabeth wife of Richard Evelyn, brother to John Evelyn the diarist.
He resided at Woodcote. Courts of the manor were held in his name in 1667
and 1668. (fn. 37) Elizabeth survived him and held courts as lady of the
manor until 1691; (fn. 38) she, at her death in 1692, devised the estate
to Christopher Buckle of Banstead and his son Christopher as trustees for
her sister Ann for her life, with remainder first to her nephew John Lewknor
and then to John Parkhurst of Catesby, co. Northants. (fn. 39) The trustees
held the courts of the manor until 1706, (fn. 40) when John Parkhurst succeeded
to the estate; his grandson John was holding it in 1725. (fn. 41) This
John devised the manor to Sir Charles Kemys Tynte, bart., and another trustee
for his wife Ricarda during her lifetime, after her death to be sold and
the proceeds divided between his two younger sons. (fn. 42) He died in
1765, and in 1770 the manor was sold to Sir Joseph Mawbey, bart., (fn.
43) who was succeeded by his son John in 1798. John had no male heir, and
was followed first by his daughter Emily and then by Ann, in right of whom
her husband, John Ivett Briscoe, (fn. 44) held the manor till past the
middle of the 19th century. It was afterwards held by his trustees, and
then went to Charles Vernon Strange, who held it in 1874. From him it passed
to James Stuart Strange, who died in 1908 leaving three daughters.
Two mills were in existence at the time of Domesday, (fn. 45) but only
one is afterwards mentioned in the records of the manor. (fn. 46) Charles
II granted Elizabeth Evelyn, then lady of the manor, the right to hold
a weekly market and two fairs at Epsom; the grant was renewed by James
II, together with a grant to hold a court of pie-powder at each of the
fairs. (fn. 47)
Epsom Court, the old manor-house, was not sold with the property in
1770, but by a family arrangement descended to the Rev. John Parkhurst,
eldest son of John and Ricarda Parkhurst (see above), and the great tithes
and the advowson went with it. It is now a farm-house.
The manor of HORTON in this parish belonged to the Abbot and convent
of Chertsey, but there seem to be no early records relating to it, (fn.
48) unless the lands granted by Richard de Horton in 1338 (vide supra)
formed part of it.
According to a charter of the early 15th century, the Abbot and convent
of Chertsey owned the hamlet or township of Horton, co. Surrey, with 168
acres of land, 60 acres of pasture lying in common fields of Horton and
in two fields called West Crofts and Sampsones, 3 acres of wood called
Burnet Grove, 13s. 8d. rent of free tenants there, and 12s. 3d. rent proceeding
from the manor of Brettgrave and the lands of Adam Whitlokke in Ewell and
100 acres furze and heath in 'Ebbesham Common' opposite the township of
Horton; also another small parcel of land containing 1 rood in 'Ebbesham'
near the parish church, parcel of a tenement called Rankyns, with court
and view of frankpledge there, 'wayf and strayf' fines, &c. These lands
together made the manor of Horton. (fn. 49)
In 1440 the abbot granted it to John Merston, the king's esquire, and
his wife Rose, and their heirs, to hold of the king by payment of 3d. yearly
for all service. Free warren in all the demesne lands of Horton was also
granted by the king to John and Rose, and licence to inclose 100 acres
of land for a park. (fn. 50)
After the death of Rose, who survived her husband, the manor passed
to William Merston and his wife Anne; (fn. 51) he died in 1495, leaving
a son William, (fn. 52) who inherited on his mother's death. He died in
January 1511–12, leaving Horton to his wife Beatrice for her life, with
remainder to his daughter Joan and her heirs. (fn. 53) Joan married first
Nicholas
Mynne, (fn. 54) secondly William Sander of Ewell, (fn. 55) and died
in 1540 leaving a son John by her first marriage, during whose minority
William Sander was granted an annuity of £4 issuing from the manor
of Horton, with wardship and marriage of the said John. (fn. 56) This John
Mynne was holding the manor in 1564; (fn. 57) he died in 1595, (fn. 58)
leaving a son and heir William, (fn. 59) whose son John succeeded his father
in 1618. (fn. 60) John married Alice daughter of William Hale and settled
various lands and tenements on her, among them the manor-house of Horton;
(fn. 61) but in order to pay his debts he with the consent of William Hale
sold these estates (fn. 62) to George Mynne (fn. 63) of Woodcote (1626).
George Mynne left two daughters, co-heiresses; (fn. 64) Elizabeth married
Richard Evelyn (fn. 65) and Anne married Sir John Lewknor. On the division
of the estate the manor of Horton fell to the share of Elizabeth, (fn.
66) who, having survived her husband and children, left the manor to Charles
Calvert, (fn. 67) fourth Lord Baltimore, a great-grandson of Anne, daughter
of George Mynne of Hertingfordbury, a connexion of her family. (fn. 68)
Mynne. Sable a fesse dancetty paly argent and gules of six pieces.
Trotter of Horton. Argent a crescent gules and a chief indented azure
with three pierced molets argent therein.
The old manor-house of Horton was a large building surrounded by a
moat. It was in the low ground north of Epsom. The Mynnes seem to have
lived at Woodcote, for Richard Evelyn married their heiress there in 1648,
(fn. 72) and he is said to have rebuilt the house at Woodcote. (fn. 73)
Later, when Woodcote Park had been separated from Horton, Mr. John
Trotter, owner of Horton, built a new mansion, called it Horton Place,
and inclosed land around it for a park. (fn. 74)
The manor of BRETTGRAVE (Bruttegrave, Bertesgrave, Brottesgrave, Bryddesgreve,
xiv and xv cent.) belonged to the abbey of Chertsey as parcel of their
manor of Epsom. (fn. 75) It was held of the Abbot of Chertsey in the reign
of Henry III by John de Tichemarsh. (fn. 76) Later in the century it was
in the tenure of Reginald de Imworth, who died before 1287, leaving a son
John, then a minor. (fn. 77) In a suit brought in 1346 by the Abbot of
Chertsey against Nicholas de Tonstall, Joan his wife, and Thomas de Saye,
this John was said to have granted the manor in fee to Henry Gerard, chaplain,
and John his illegitimate son, who were holding in the reign of Edward
II by services due. (fn. 78) After the death of John son of Henry, John
the then abbot entered upon the manor as an escheat, (fn. 79) and continued
his seisin until forcibly and unlawfully disseised by Joan and her first
husband, Henry de Saye, who carried off his crops, impounded the beasts
from his ploughs, and otherwise persecuted him, until by a writing he released
his right in the manor. As the release was obtained by force, and without
the consent of the convent, it was not held valid by the jurors, and the
abbot recovered seisin of the manor with damages. In the same year the
abbot and convent received licence to grant the manor to Guy de Bryan the
younger to be held of the king in chief by the rent of 8s. 3d.; (fn. 80)
they probably reserved to themselves a rent of 12s. 3d. from the manor,
as this is afterwards stated to belong to their manor of Horton, (fn. 81)
and this may have led to Brettgrave being considered a parcel of the manor
of Horton, which was denied by the jurors in an inquisition taken in 1517.
(fn. 82) Guy de Bryan had licence to have Mass celebrated in his chapel
in Brettgrave in Epsom in 1348, (fn. 83) but in the same year enfeoffed
John Gogh and other clerks of the manor, (fn. 84) probably in trust for
Henry, Earl of Lancaster, who in 1350 received a grant of free warren in
his demesne lands of Brettgrave. (fn. 85) Henry was created Duke of Lancaster
in 1352, and died seised of the manor in 1361. (fn. 86) He left no son,
and his eldest daughter Maud, wife of the Duke of Bavaria, dying the following
year, (fn. 87) the estates passed to her only sister Blanche, wife of John
of Gaunt, Earl of Richmond, (fn. 88) created Duke of Lancaster in 1362,
father of Henry IV. (fn. 89) The manor thus became part of the Duchy of
Lancaster, leases of it being granted by successive kings. (fn. 90) Ultimately
the fee-simple seems to have been acquired by William Merston, whose father
John Merston (vide Horton) had held the lease of it. (fn. 91) William died
in January 1511–12. (fn. 92) It descended through his daughter Joan, wife
of Nicholas Mynne, to John Mynne, the great-grandson of Joan. (fn. 93)
He sold it with the manor of Horton to George Mynne, (fn. 94) whose daughter
and coheir Elizabeth, wife of Richard Evelyn, owned it in 1652. (fn. 95)
From that time it may have been merged with the manor of Horton, (fn. 96)
for now no trace of the manor or place of that name can be found. In a
survey of Epsom (fn. 97) a boundary point is Brettegravesherne—that is,
Brettegrave's Corner, otherwise called Wolfrenesherne. The next mark on
the boundary is Abbot's Pit, which on an old map is the name for the disused
chalk-pit called Pleasure Pit on the Ordnance map. (fn. 97a)
Duchy of Lancaster. England with a label azure.
The estate called DURDANS in this parish, held of the manor of Horton,
is probably the property consisting of a messuage, a dovecote, two gardens,
two orchards, 12 acres of land with meadow, pasture, and wood, which Sir
William Mynne, lord of Horton, conveyed to Elizabeth, Lady Berkeley, in
1617. (fn. 98) She in 1634–5 settled Durdans on her daughter Theophila,
wife of Sir Robert Coke, and her heirs and assigns. (fn. 99) Theophila
died without issue, Sir Robert Coke surviving. He, by his will of 1652,
left Durdans to his nephew George Berkeley, afterwards Earl of Berkeley;
he also devised a messuage called the Dog House, in Epsom, which he had
lately acquired (probably by fine from John and Thomas Hewett), (fn. 99a)
to be fitted up as a library and kept for any of the ministers of the county
of Surrey, to use on week-days between sun-rising and sun-setting. (fn.
100) The books left for this purpose however, (which probably formed part
of the library of his father, the famous lawyer, Sir Edward Coke), seem
to have remained at Durdans until 1682, when George, Earl of Berkeley,
gave all or part of them to Sion College. (fn. 100a) George, Earl of Berkeley,
entertained Charles II here in 1662, when John Evelyn records in his diary
being invited to meet the King and Queen, Duke and Duchess, Prince Rupert,
Prince Edward, and abundance of noblemen. (fn. 101) Charles II also dined
with the Earl of Berkeley at Durdans in 1664. (fn. 101a) This was probably
at the old house, for the Earl of Berkeley is said to have built a new
residence with materials from the palace of Nonsuch, (fn. 102) which was
pulled down by the Duchess of Cleveland after 1669. During the Earl's tenure
of Durdans, it was the scene of the notorious intrigue between his daughter,
Lady Henrietta Berkeley, and her brother-in-law, Lord Grey of Wark. (fn.
103) By will of 1698 the earl left the property to his son Charles, afterwards
earl, who in 1702 sold Durdans with 'the little park paled in' to Charles
Turner of Kirkleatham, co. York. He in 1708 conveyed it to John, Duke of
Argyll and Earl of Greenwich, reserving the Dogghouse or Dagghouse Farm.
(fn. 103a) Before 1712 it seems to have been acquired by Lord Guilford,
(fn. 103b) and Bishop Willis's Visitation calls him a resident of Epsom
in 1725. His son, Lord North and Guilford, succeeded him in 1729. He was
lord of the bedchamber to Frederick, Prince of Wales, from 1730 to 1751,
during which time the prince seems to have had a loan or lease of the house,
(fn. 103c) but the tradition that he owned it is incorrect.
Alderman Belchier pulled down Lord Berkeley's house after 1747. The
new house was bought by Mr. Dalbiac in 1764, and later, in 1799, was acquired
by Mr. George Blackman, who sold it in 1819 to Sir Gilbert Heathcote, bart.,
M.P. From the cousins and heirs of his son Arthur Heathcote it was bought
by Lord Rosebery in 1874, (fn. 104) and he is the present owner.
Primrose, Earl of Rosebery. Vert three primroses or within the royal
tressure of Scotland for Primrose, quartered with Argent a lion sable with
a forked tail for Cressy.
The capital messuage of WOODCOTE in Epsom was held of the manor of
Horton. (fn. 105) In the first half of the 16th century it belonged to
one John Ewell of Horton, and continued in his family until 1591, when
it was the cause of litigation between Agnes Tyther, a descendant of John
Ewell, and Roger Lamborde. (fn. 106) It was in the possession of John Mynne,
lord of the manor of Horton, in 1597, and he settled it on his son William
on his marriage. (fn. 107) It passed with Horton Manor to Elizabeth wife
of Richard Evelyn (1648), who built there a new mansion. Mrs. Evelyn bequeathed
Woodcote to Lord Baltimore, a remote connexion of her family. (fn. 108)
After the seventh Lord Baltimore left England in 1771 it was sold to Mr.
Monk, then to Mr. Nelson, in 1777 to Mr. Arthur Cuthbert, and in 1787 to
Mr. Lewis Teissier, a merchant of London, having been separated from the
manor of Horton. Mr. Teissier's son, created by Louis XVIII the Baron de
Teissier, was owner at the beginning of last century. (fn. 109) It was
sold by the Baron de Teissier in 1855 to Mr. Robert Brookes, and is now
the property of his son, Mr. Herbert Brookes, J.P.
CHURCHES
The church of ST. MARTIN has a nave with aisles and a north-west tower;
the church has lately been considerably enlarged eastward, the new work
consisting of an addition to the nave, a chancel and north chapel, a south
organ chamber, and aisles. The only old part of the present building is
the tower, which dates from the 15th century, but has been recased and
much modernized. The present nave and aisles were built in 1824, when the
old church was pulled down; a print of about this date shows it to have
had a nave with a north aisle, and a north-west tower. The chancel was
evidently of the 13th century, and had a lancet window midway in its north
wall, but all the other windows shown in the chancel and aisle are wide
ugly single lights fitted with iron casements. The aisle had been raised
to contain a gallery and a second tier of windows added. The nave of 1824
has arcades of four bays with plastered piers and arches; the aisles are
lighted by two-light pointed windows, and are filled with wooden galleries,
shortly to be removed. The walling of the nave and aisles is of flint and
stone, and that of the new portion is of rubble with stone and brick dressings,
the chancel and nave having alternate bays of cross and barrel vaulting;
the new work is soon to be extended to the present nave and aisles. The
jambs of the openings into the tower from the nave and north aisle are
moulded and the arches are blocked. The tower is of flint and stone, and
has cemented angle buttresses and a north-west octagonal stair turret;
an old oak door opens into the turret, the steps of which are inscribed
with various names and 18th-century dates, and a stone records the recutting
of the steps in 1737. The bell-chamber is lighted by plain pointed windows
of two lights, and surmounted by a plain parapet, from which rises a very
slender wooden spire covered with oak shingles.
Under the tower is a 15th-century font; it is octagonal with quatrefoiled
sides to the bowl and a hollowed under-edge on which are carved heads,
a shield, a fish, &c. There is also a fine chest of carved mahogany;
on the lid are carved—in the middle—Adam and Eve in the garden, and in
the two side panels David and Goliath; on the front are other figures in
late 16th-century dress.
On the floor on the north side is a small brass with an inscription
to William Marston, or Merston, 1511, and there are wall monuments to Richard
Evelyn of Wootton, 1669; Robert Coke of Nonsuch, grandson of Lord Chief
Justice Coke, 1681; Robert Coke, 1653; Richard Evelyn, 1691; and others.
There are eight bells: the treble is by Samuel Knight, 1737; the second
by R. Phelps, 1714; the third by Thomas Janaway, 1781; the fourth has no
date, and is inscribed: 'Although I am but small I will be heard above
them all'; the fifth is dated 1737; the sixth by R. Phelps, 1714; the seventh
by Thomas Swain, 1760; and the tenor by Richard Phelps, 1733.
The plate is all modern, consisting of a chalice and paten of 1904
given by the parishioners, and a chalice and paten given by Lord Rosebery
in 1907, besides six Sheffield plate almsdishes and two cups and an almsdish
about a hundred years old.
The first book of the registers contains baptisms and marriages from
1695 to 1749 and burials to 1750; the second repeats the baptisms from
1695 to 1749 and the marriages from 1695 to 1719; the third has baptisms
and burials from 1750 to 1773 and marriages 1750 to 1754; the fourth, baptisms
1773 to 1812; fifth, burials 1773 to 1812; the sixth, marriages 1754 to
1783; and the seventh continues them to 1812.
The greater part of the churchyard, which surrounds the building, lies
to the north of it. The west entrance is towards the road, and is approached
by a flight of stone steps and a flagged landing. There are several large
trees about it.
CHRIST CHURCH, originally built as a chapel of ease to the parish church
in 1843, is now the church of a separate parish. It was rebuilt in 1876.
It is a small building of flint and stone situated on the edge of Epsom
Common, and consists of a small chancel with a north transept and south
organ chamber, nave of four bays with north and south aisles and a clearstory,
and a south-west tower and porch. At the west end is a passage-way containing
the font. There are eight bells by Mears & Stainbank, 1890.
ST. JOHN'S, chapel of ease to St. Martin's, is a small building of
red brick and stone, off East Street, erected in 1884.
ST. BARNABAS, Hook Road, is a chapel of ease to Christ Church.
ADVOWSON
Two churches on the abbey estate are mentioned in Domesday, (fn. 110)
but all trace of one has disappeared; there was a Stamford Chapel in Epsom,
near or on the lord's waste, close to where Christ Church, Epsom, now stands,
belonging to Chertsey Abbey, which may have been the second church. (fn.
111) Licence to appropriate was granted to the convent by a bull of Clement
III, (fn. 112) 1187–91, and a vicarage was ordained before 1291. (fn. 113)
A further endowment was carried into effect in 1313 (fn. 114) when John
Rutherwyk the then abbot was inducted. (fn. 115) In 1537, when Henry VIII
acquired Epsom Manor from the convent of Chertsey, the rectory and the
advowson of the church were included, (fn. 116) and he granted them with
the manor to Sir Nicholas Carew, (fn. 117) from which time they have always
been included in the grants and sales of the manor till 1770, when the
manor went to Sir Joseph Mawbey, and the great tithes and advowson to John
Parkhurst. They descended to the Rev. Fleetwood Parkhurst, vicar of Epsom,
1804–39. The advowson has since belonged to the Rev. Wilfred Speer and
Captain Speer, and now belongs to Mr. H. Speer.
In 1453 John Merston received a grant for founding a chantry in Epsom
Church, to be called 'Merston's Chantry,' and for purchasing lands to the
value of 20 marks for the use of it. (fn. 118) There is no record of the
chantry at the time of the suppression under Edward VI.
CHARITIES
Smith's Charity is distributed as in other Surrey parishes.
In 1691 Mrs. Elizabeth Evelyn left a rent-charge of £10 a year
for clothing six poor women.
Since 1692 the rent of a piece of land called Church Haw has been received
by the churchwardens, now by the local authority, for the use of the poor.
In 1703 Mr. John Levingston, the quack doctor mentioned above, built
almshouses for twelve poor widows in East Street on a piece of land granted
by the parish. The almshouses were rebuilt about 1863. They are further
supported by the Church Haw rent, by that of 'Workhouse Field,' the site
of the old parish workhouse, and by the bequests of Samuel Caul (£500)
in 1782, Mr. Langley Brackenbury (£300) in 1814, Mr. Story (£100),
1834, Mrs. Margaret Knipe (£300), 1834, the last to be devoted to
this purpose after providing for the upkeep of vaults and monuments in
the church.
In 1728 Mrs. Mary Dundas left copyhold premises in Epsom for providing
coals.
In 1790 Mrs. Elizabeth Culling left £150, part of which was to
be set aside to accumulate, for the church, vicar, sexton, churchwardens,
and the surplus for apprenticing children and for bread.
In 1803 Mrs. Mary Rowe left £188 18s. 11d. for bread and meat
and firing.
In 1835 Sir James Alexander left £200 for clothing for five men
and five women, who had to appear in church.
In 1884 Baron De Teissier left £90 for six poor communicants.
Mittendorf House was presented to the National Incorporated Society
for Waifs and Strays (Dr. Barnardo's Homes) by Miss Mittendorf.
Epsom and Ewell Cottage Hospital was built in 1889 by public subscription.
From: 'Parishes: Epsom', A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3
(1911), pp. 271-278. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42966
In 1537, as part of the process of his suppression of lesser monasteries, Henry VIII "purchased" rather than confiscated the lands of Chertsey Abbey. Epsom was immediately granted to Sir Nicholas Carew, K.G., in tail male [meaning only sons could inherit], but in 1539, in consequence of his attainder, the manor returned to the Crown, and the next year was annexed to the honour of Hampton Court. In this period, a Tudor house appears to have been constructed within the former monastic deer-park. The capital messuage of Woodcote in Epsom, held of the sub-manor of Horton, then entered during the first half of the 16th century into the ownership of one John Ewell of Horton, and continued in his family until 1591, when it was the cause of litigation between Agnes Tyther, a descendant of John Ewell, and Roger Lamborde. This estate is reported to have come into the possession of John Mynne, lord of the manor of Horton, before 1597, and he settled it on his son William on his marriage.
A pedigree of Merston and Mynn in relation to the manor of Horton may be found in Manning and Bray's History of Surrey. The John Mynne, who had been holding the manor of Horton in 1564, died in 1595 leaving a son and heir William (born circa 1561), who was knighted 23 July 1603.
Sir William Mynne died in 1618 survived by nine children (John, born circa 1598, William the elder, Thomas, Nicholas, William the younger, Elizabeth, Frances, Dorothy and Jane). His will provided for the eldest son, John, to inherit his manors, tenements, hereditaments and lands but the estate was charged with various annuities for the younger children and substantial amounts to be paid as dowries when the daughters married. Elizabeth described as a daughter of Sir William Minn of Woodcott, Surrey, and the widow of Sir Henry Berkeley of Wymondham, Leicestershire, became the second wife of Sir Hugh Wyndham, judge of common pleas, and Jane (born circa 1612) entered into a union with Thomas Hanson, citizen and grocer, at St Peter le Poer, London on 2 August 1631. John Mynne himself married Alice daughter of William Hale and settled various lands and tenements on her, among them the manor house of Horton. During the first quarter of the 17th century the mansion at Woodcote Park passed from the Horton branch of the Mynne family to a kinsman, George. Futher, in order to pay his debts and with the consent of William Hale, John sold the remaining Horton estate to George Mynne "of Woodcote" during 1626. George Mynne left two daughters, as co-heiresses Elizabeth who married Richard Evelyn and Anne married to Sir John Lewknor. On the division of his personal estate the manor of Horton fell to the share of Elizabeth who, having survived her husband and children, eventually left this manor, with Woodcote Park, to Charles Calvert, third Lord Baltimore, a great-grandson of Anne, daughter of George Mynne of Hertingfordbury, "a connexion of her family". Epsom manor itself had descended to Edward Darcy who sold it to Mrs. Anne Mynne, widow of George Mynne of Horton Manor and daughter of Sir Robert Parkhurst: she left it by will to her daughter Elizabeth (as mentioned above) wife of Richard Evelyn, brother to John Evelyn the diarist. The Evelyns decided to reside at Woodcote and Richard commissioned the building of a new mansion there. As already noted, Mrs. Evelyn bequeathed Woodcote to Charles Calvert, 3rd Lord Baltimore. He had held office as Governor of Maryland between 1661 & 1675, again in 1676, and from 1679 to 1684. Having been deprived of the province of Maryland in the Revolution of 1689, he was outlawed 1691/2. During 1694 named but not arrested in relation to the fabricated plot of Titus Oates and the Lancashire plot, he escaped arrest. Baron Baltimore then rose to the rank of Brigadier-General by 1696 and was promoted Major General in1704. He died 21 February 1714/5, aged 77, before being interred at St. Pancras. Celia Fiennes provides a description from about 1712 of "Lord Baltimores in Woodcut Green encompassed with a wall at the entrance, a breast wall with pallisadoes, large courts one within the other, and a back way to the stables where there is a pretty horse pond; the house is old but low, though large run over much ground; as I drove by the side saw broad chimneys on the end and at due distance on the side on both ends the sides of a court which terminated in a building on which there is a lead with railes and barristers." Woodcote Park descended with the title to Benedict Leonard Calvert, 4th Lord Baltimore, but his tenure was brief because he died less than two months later, 16 April 1715. Biographical details are available from the Dictionary of National Biography accessible through the Surrey Libraries website. Charles Calvert, 5th Lord Baltimore, born 1699, (whose details may also be found in the DNB) succeeded. His brothers complained that he "pulled down everything" and "finished nothing" so that on 6 July 1724 Woodcote was found to be in disorder. Shortly before his death in 1751, Charles had gone on to engage John Vardy to design a stone-fronted Palladian range across the east front of the house. His son, Frederick, inherited the building whilst work was in progress before, according to Horace Walpole, spending a fortune making the interior 'tawdry' and 'ridiculous' in the 'French' style.