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Bletchingley in Surrey County England History and GeographyBLETCHINGLEY, or BLECHINGLEY, a borough and parish, (formerly a market town), in the first division of the hundred of TANDRIDGE, county of SURREY, 24 miles (E.) from Guildford, and 20 (S.) from London, containing 1187 inhabitants. The town is pleasantly situated on an eminence commanding an extensive prospect of the South Downs and other parts of Sussex; it is of some antiquity, and had a castle erected soon after the Conquest, by Gilbert, Earl of Clare, which was demolished by Prince Edward after the battle of Lewes, which took place in 1264, and the foundations alone are now remaining. The market has long been discontinued: fairs are held, June 22nd and November 2nd, for horses and hogs, and for the sale of lean cattle brought from Scotland and Wales. The Croydon rail-road passes through this parish toward the north. A bailiff and other officers for the internal regulation of the town are appointed at the court leet of the lord of the manor. The borough received the elective franchise in the 23rd of Edward I., since which time it has continued to return two members to parliament: the right of election is vested in the burgage holders, in number 130. Matthew Russell, Esq. is patron of the borough; there is no returning officer, the bailiff taking no part in elections. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Surrey, and diocese of Winchester, rated in the king's books at £19. 19. 4½. The Rev. J. Kenrick, for that turn, was patron in 1803. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a spacious and venerable structure, in the early style of English architecture, with a low tower; it had a lofty spire, which was destroyed by lightning in 1606. Near the church is a charity school for twenty-five boys, founded by Mr. John Whatman, who, in the 8th of Elizabeth, endowed it with a messuage now producing £23 per annum; to which Mr. Bostock, of Tandridge, added a house and garden for the master. Almshouses for ten aged men and women, were built by the inhabitants, in 1668, to which the rector, Dr. Charles Hampton, added another, and gave a rent-charge of £1. 6. 8. per annum, for supplying the alms-people with fuel. This town is near a Roman road, and at a short distance, in the parish of Caterham, is a fortification, called the Cardinal's Cap: at Pendhill, in this parish, some workmen discovered part of the foundations of a Roman bath, the different apartments in which were paved, and some of the walls lined with Roman tiles. There are inconsiderable vestiges of the residence of Earl Godwin, who retreated to this place when his estates in Kent were inundated by the sea. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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