Chobham

The first mention we have of the district of Chobham is implied in the 673AD charter granting land to Chertsey Abbey. Listed are Cherot's Eyot (Chertsey), Thorp, Egham and Chobham. We don't know exactly what area the district of Chobham covered in those times. The bounds normally appearing with this charter are suspect and appear to date from the 9/10th century.

Since King Edgar's charter of 967 includes Frimley and Bisley in Chobham, we can assume that the district of Chobham extended as far west as the natural barrier formed by the Blackwater and as far south as the neighbouring hundred of Woking.

At the time of the Domesday Survey, the vill (administrative district) of Chobham appears to have included West End, Bisley, Horsell and Frimley.

Recorded Chobham bounds of this time are very similar to that of the modern parishes of Chobham and West End together. But since neither parishes or manors existed at that time it is difficult to know what was being defined by the bounds.

After Domesday, Chobham Manor comprised essentially the modern parishes of Chobham and West End, but without the lands held by the sub-manors of Aden, Stannards and Pentecost. The common fields, meadows and wasteland made up a large part of it.

Early Lords of the Manor

Domesday records the Abbot himself as the holder of the vill. By about 1250, the de Bagshot family, hereditary foresters of Windsor Forest, held Hesle Manor (Stannards) ^{1 Vol XII xlvii}and maybe also Chobham Manor from the Abbot ^{1 Vol XII
lxxv}but lost them in 1255 upon failure of the male line. ^{1 Vol XII xlvii}In 1309, the de Hams who held Hesle Manor (Stannards) and Ham in Cherstey, gave up an area, which appears to be centred on modern Chobham Park, to the Abbot; did this include the manor house and lordship of the manor?

The Manor House

Towards the end of the thirteenth century, and probably before, we can deduce that the manor house was in the vicinity of present-day Chobham Park since the Chertsey Cartulary tells us that the Abbot's manor court lay in the SE of the parish adjacent to Stanners. ^{1 Vol XII 634.} Also in 1421 "next to the meadow of the manor of Chobham called Southemoremed" (present-day Sowmoor) ^{1 Vol XII 816.}

A detailed history of Chobham Park can be found in this site in the section on 'houses'.

The Manor Falls into Private Hands

The following is a summary of the relevant sections of the Victoria County History.

In 1537, during the dissolution of Chertsey Abbey, the church, with the rectorial tithes and advowson, were surrendered to the Crown by John Cordrey, Abbot of Chertsey. Later in the same year the rectorial tithes were granted to the same monks in their new monastery at Bisham.

When Bisham in turn was dissolved in 1538, the tithes and advowson of the church were returned to the Crown which granted them to the Dean and Chapter of the cathedral church of St. Paul, London, who held them, by the service of one knight's fee, to the use of the chaplains of two chantries in the church of St. Paul.

When chantries were abolished, the rectory tithes and advowson returned to the Crown; an effort made by the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's in 1587 to recover them proved ineffectual, as they remained in the Crown until 1620.

The Tithes are Separated

A grant of the rectory tithes alone had been made to William James in 1551 for twenty-one years, reversion being granted in 1564 to William Haber and Richard Duffield, from whom it passed immediate to Owen Bray of Aden in Chobham, who died in 1568 possessed of it. His grandson was Owen Bray, who conveyed it in 1638 to Sir Thomas White, from whom it descended to the Woodroffes. The latter conveyed it to Elizabeth and Philip Beauchamp in 1687. After this date the rectorial tithes appear to have been divided. Sir Anthony Thomas Abdy of Chobham Place purchased a part of the great tithes of Anthony Beauchamp before 1774. At the beginning of the 20th century the owners of the tithes were Sir Neville Abdy and Sir Henry le Marchant, the owner of Chobham Place.

During the reign of Elizabeth, Christopher Heneage appears to have had a grant of the manor.^{3 p415}

In 1614 James I granted the manor, including rents, to Sir George More to be held as of the manor of East Greenwich. ^{3 p415}

In 1620 the advowson was granted with the Manor to Sir Edward Zouch, and it remained in the possession of the lord of the manor until 1752, when some of the Onslow property was sold, including the advowsons of Chobham and Bisley. They passed together for a time (see Bisley), Henry Forster presenting in 1800, and the Thornton family in 1810 and 1833. Ownership eventually passed to the Earl of Onslow who sold the Advowson separately - it came into the gift of the Rev. W. Tringham and eventually to the Bishop of Guildford.

So in the passage of time, the Manor of Chobham had lost its manor house, then tithes and finally advowson. All that was left was ownership of the waste or common land. In 1936, Lord Onslow transferred ownership of even this to Surrey County Council.

Chobham Manor

Extent

Early Lords of the Manor

The Manor House

The Manor House is Separated

The Manor Falls into Private Hands

The Tithes are Separated