is dedicated to St. George. It consists of a nave, with CHAP. I. a chancel at the east end; but on the south, on the outside, the duke of Newcastle, when owner of Claremont, built a chamber pew opening into the church; it has been since divided between that house and Esher place. The chancel windows were formerly famous for their painted glass, but nothing of it remains. At the west end is a low tower, surmounted by a wooden pyramidal spire, having three bells, of which one is said to have been brought from St. Domingo, by Sir Francis Drake. The font is an octagonal basin, on each side of which is carved a rose, supported by a plain octagonal pillar. In the south wall of the chancel is a tomb, with the effigies of a man in complete armour, but no inscription or arms. On the north wall of the chancel is painted the effigies of a lady in weeds, with a book, on a desk, before her; an inscription states that it is to the memory of Lady Lynch.

In the register book, among the entries of those buried in woollen, there is a singular one in 1680: "mem. Mary White was only wrapt up in herbs."

park.

In this parish is Claremont, the residence of his royal Claremont highness the prince of Saxe-Coburg. This seat was purchased by government in 1816, for the country residence of the late Princess Charlotte, and her illustrious consort; the sum paid for it was £69,000, full £30,000 less than it cost the celebrated Lord Clive, for the erection of the mansion and the improvement of the grounds, both of which were executed by Brown. The present structure forms an oblong square of forty-four yards by thirty-four; it occupies a well chosen situation, commanding many fine views, and in the principal front, a flight of thirteen steps leads to the grand entrance, under a pediment, resting on Corinthian columns; there are eight spacious rooms

BOOK IV. on the ground floor, besides the entrance hall and great staircase. The home demesne contains about four hundred and twenty acres; the park and other parts of the estate about one thousand six hundred acres, in several farms. A small Gothic building, that was erected in the garden for the princess, has, since her demise, been converted into a mausoleum, dedicated to her memory; it contains a fine bust of her royal highness, and the windows are ornamented with beautifully painted glass, by Backler.

Stoke

D'Aber non.

Population.

Manor.

Advowson.

STOKE D'ABERNON.-The east part of this parish, which adjoins Leatherhead, is a deep clay; there is a large common, with much oak growing on it, and a celebrated mineral well. On the south side, below the manor house, is a very fine meadow, called the hundred acres, from the quantity of land it contains.

In 1821, the population of Stoke amounted to three hundred and seventeen inhabitants, with fifty houses.

The manor house of Stoke D'Abernon has been, from a period very little, if at all subsequent to the conquest, the habitation of the lords of the manor, and, for about two centuries, the residence of the Vincents. The first proprietor of that family was created a baronet in 1620; and from him the title and estate were transmitted to the late Sir Francis, who died in 1809, leaving two sons, both very young. The house has since been modernized and very much improved.

The advowson always went with the manor, till lately separated. By the settlement made on the marriage of Sir Francis Vincent with the daughter of General Thomas Howard, in 1746, the advowson was included, with certain lands, in a term of five hundred years, created for raising portions for younger children.

In

17-, it became necessary to raise these portions, and CHAP. I. the advowson for the said term was part of the property sold for that purpose. It was purchased by Paul Vaillant, Esq. formerly an eminent bookseller, in London; he presented his son Philip to the church, and dying in 1802, at the age of eighty-seven, he devised it to his executors to be sold. They accordingly put it up to sale, in 1803, as consisting of a neat house, thirty acres of glebe, and the great and small tithes of the parish, then let at £273, but the glebe and tithes worth £452.

The benefice is a rectory. The church, which is dedi- Church. cated to the Virgin Mary, is in the deanery of Ewell. In the valor of Edward I. it is valued at thirteen marcs; in the king's books, at £13. 13s. 11d. It stands on the banks of the Mole, near the mansion house, and is covered with plaster, so as to conceal the materials with which it is built. At the west end is a low tower, over which is an awkward shingled spire. There are two small doors on the north side; the principal entrance was a door within a porch, on the south side, now disused. There are two aisles; at the east end of the south aisle is the chancel, divided from it by a circular arch, the communion table standing on a floor raised one step. At the end of the north aisle is Sir John Norbury's chantry. In the chancel, on the south side, are two lancet windows. At the east end is a large window in compartments, at the bottom of which are several shields of arms in their proper colours. In the south-east window of the north chantry is a small whole-length female figure, a nimbus over her head, and a child, with an open book in her hand, which she also holds with one hand, and with the other seems teaching him to read. In the south chancel are three stones for the D'Abernons, two of which have large whole-length brasses, but much

BOOK IV. damaged by the position of the communion rails. Against the north wall of the north chancel is a monument, bearing the effigies of a person in armour, kneeling before a desk, to the memory of Sir John Norbury. On the floor of this chancel is a brass to the memory of Elyn Bray, daughter of Sir Edmund Bray, and Jane, his wife; it represents the figure of a child wrapped up in swaddling clothes. There are also several other monuments and brasses, in various parts of the church.

Jessop's well.

WaltonuponThames.

Manors.

On Stoke common, is Jessop's well, celebrated for a mineral water of the same nature with that of Cheltenham. Its superior strength appears from its crystals retaining their figure and firmness for a year and a half after they have been formed; and it is generally observed to have an exhilarating effect, probably owing to the steel which it contains. Dr. Adee, an eminent physician of Guildford, in the early part of the last century, asserted, that by a steady and cautious use of this water, some of his patients had been cured even of obstinate scurvy.

WALTON-UPON-THAMES derives its name from the Roman works in that parish. According to the parliamentary returns of 1821, this parish contained three hundred and forty-seven houses, and one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one inhabitants.

Apse court is a mansion, to which belong about two hundred and twenty acres. In the Testa de Nevil, we find that half a hide of land was held in Apse, of the king, in capite, by the service of distributing bread and ale on All Saints' day, for the souls of all the kings of England. On that day the owner still gives a barrel of beer and a quarter of corn in bread to the poor.

Burwood park, formerly the seat of the Lattons, is

an elegant house, built by Sir John Frederick, in a park, CHAP. I. which, with additional purchases made by him, contained three hundred acres, without any road or foot-path, before the late enclosure of the waste ground, which has added to it one hundred and fifty acres. The arms of Latton, and others, are in one of the windows.

Ashley, a mansion, with a park of one hundred and Ashley thirty-six acres, was the seat of Christopher Villiers, earl park. of Anglesea, and afterwards the property of Sir Richard Pyne, lord chief justice of Ireland, who died here in 1710. It shortly after descended to Henry Fletcher, Esq. who was created a baronet in 1802; and dying in 1807, was succeeded in his title and estate by his son, Henry, who pulled down a considerable part of the mansion. The grounds contain fir trees of remarkable height and size.

The beautiful grounds at Pain's hill, which compre- Pain's hill. hend two hundred and thirteen acres, were formed by the honourable Charles Hamilton. A considerable part of these grounds on the north side was taken from the barren heath; the south side is a bank above the river Mole, which runs at the foot of it. Availing himself of the inequalities of the land, he made his plantations and placed his buildings with the utmost judgment; and formed a spacious piece of water, which, though considerably above the level of the river, is supplied from it by a simple, but ingenious contrivance. "There

may be scenes," observes an author in his description of this seat, "where nature has done more for herself; but in no place that I ever saw has so much been done for nature as at Pain's hill. The beauty and unexpected variety of the scene, the happy situation, elegant structure, and judicious form, of the buildings; the flourishing state, uncommon diversity, and contrasted groupage, of