BOOK IV. proposed to the lords of those manors, to apply to parliament for an act to make it a county bridge, if those lords would contribute to the first expense. They accordingly agreed to give £400, and the materials of the old bridge, with leave to dig on the wastes for sand and clay to make bricks. An act was passed, and the foundation was laid on the 15th of July, 1782.

Esher

Manor.

ESHER, a pleasant village, sixteen miles from Westminster bridge, is on the road through Kingston to Portsmouth. In 1821, the population was, two hundred and five houses, and one thousand one hundred and eight inhabitants.

In this parish there was formerly a manor belonging to the bishops of Winchester. It was originally given by the conqueror to the abbey of St. Leofrid, to find two priests to say mass here for the souls of his predecessors; and it was afterwards sold by the abbot to the bishops of Winchester, who withdrew the chantry. Here those prelates had a park, in which William Wainflete, when bishop, between 1447 and 1486, built a stately brick house, on the bank of the Mole. His arms, with those of his see, carved in stone, were placed over the gate-house, and in several other parts of the building. On the timber-work in the hall, not unlike that of Westminster-hall, were several angels carved, supporting escutcheons, in two of which were scrolls, with "Tibi Christe;" and in the windows, frequently, "Sit Deo Gratia." * Here the bishops occasionally resided. Wolsey, when appointed to the see of Winchester in 1528, ordered the house here to be repaired, and some parts of it rebuilt, purposing to make it his retreat when the king resided at Hampton court. Aubrey, iii. 120.

Hither he first retired after his disgrace, and continued CHAP. I. for several weeks at this mansion, till he obtained permission to remove to Richmond. In 1538, this manor was purchased of Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, by Henry VIII. who made it part of the manor and chase of Hampton court. In a survey of it, taken in the beginning of the next reign, it is said that here was a and adjoining to it a

This

mansion house sumptuously built;
park, called Esher park, about three miles in circum-
ference, stocked with deer. On the accession of Queen
Mary, Gardiner prevailed on her to restore this estate
to his see, of which it was once more purchased by
Queen Elizabeth, who, in her twenty-fifth year, 1583,
gave it to Charles Lord Howard of Effingham.
house and park were sold separately from the manor by
one of the subsequent proprietors. At what time this
mansion was pulled down is not known. In 1729, when
it was purchased by Thomas Pelham, Esq., brother to
the duke of Newcastle, nothing was standing but the
gate-house, to which he made additions in the same
style. In 1804, it became the property of Lord Sondes,
eldest son of his daughter Grace, who, next year, sold
the estate in parcels. The house and park, containing
about one hundred and fifty acres, were bought by John
Spicer, Esq. The former stood in a flat situation, near
the Mole. The additions made by Mr. Pelham were
pulled down by Mr. Spicer; but he has left the original
gate-house standing, and erected a new mansion on ele-
vated ground, which commands a view of the park and
of the surrounding country.

In what is now called Sandon farm, in this parish, Hospital. adjoining to the common, known by the general name of Ditton marsh, was once a hospital or priory, founded by Robert de Wateville, in the beginning of the reign

BOOK IV. of Henry II. Its possessions were considerably augmented in the time of Henry III., by William de Perci, who gave land and rents for the maintenance of six chaplains. From Bishop Edingdon's Register, as quoted by Lowth, in his life of William of Wykham, it appears, that in the beginning of 1349, the master and all the brethren of this hospital died of the great plague, which then raged in England, and swept away half of the people and nine-tenths of the clergy. Notwithstanding the benefaction conferred on this institution, it gradually became so reduced, that in 1436, leave was given to the bishop of Winchester to unite it with the hospital of St. Thomas, Southwark.

Advowson.

Church.

The prior and convent of St. Swithin conveyed the advowson of the church of Esher to the bishop of Winchester and his successors, which Edward I. confirmed in 1284. In 1330, a composition was made between John de Rutherwic, abbot of Chertsey, and the convent there, and Gilbert de Swalclyve, rector of Esshe, by John Stratford, bishop of Winchester, of the tithes of lands of William de Watervyle, in Esshe, for which the rector was to pay to the convent, 13s. 4d. a year. In the same year John Stratford, bishop of Winchester, certifies, that the abbot and convent of Chertsey are entitled to the great and small tithes coming from the lands of William de Esshe Watervyle, and twenty acres within the bounds of the parish church of Esshe, and that the rector and his successors should hold them in farm, under a rent of 13s. 4d. By Mr. Latton's restoration of the impropriate tithes, this is now a rectory. It is in the deanery of Ewell, valued in the twentieth year of Richard I. at twelve marcs; in the king's books, at £9. 18s, 4d.

The church stands on a small knoll in the village, and