Tooting

TOOTING.

Name.

In all records the name of this place is written with the addition of Graveney, which should more properly be Gravenel, being the name of a family who had considerable property here in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. I find no satisfactory derivation of the word Tooting (fn. 1), or, as it is written in Doomsday-book, Totinge. Ing is a frequent termination, and signifies a meadow.

Situation, boundaries, &c.

Tooting Graveney lies in the western division of Brixton hundred, and is situated on the road to Epsom about six miles from Westminster-bridge. The parish is bounded by that of Streatham on the east; Mitcham on the south and west; and Wandsworth on the north. The land is principally arable, and the soil, chiefly gravel intermixed with clay. Tooting is assessed the sum of 163 l. to the land-tax, which is at the rate of 1 s. in the pound.

Manors.

It appears that there were two manors in this parish at the time of the Conquest, exclusive of that of Tooting Bec, which belonged to Streatham. One of them had been held of King Edward by Swain. After Edward's death it was given by Swain to Earl Wallef, who sold it to Alnod a Londoner. Alnod gave it to the church of Westminster, under which it was held at the time of the survey by Osbert, who paid no taxes. This manor, which contained only one ploughland and a half, valued at 40 s. was probably joined afterwards either to that of Tooting Bec or Tooting Graveney.

Manor of Tooting Graveney.

The other manor contained three ploughlands, and was held at the time of the survey by Haimo the Sheriff, under the Abbot of Chertsey. It was valued at three several periods at 40s. 20 s. and 70 s. This manor appears to have been held in King John's reign under the same abbey by Richard Gravenel (fn. 2), and at subsequent periods by the families of Lodelowe and Dymock (fn. 3). After the suppression of monasteries it seems to have been kept for some time in the hands of the crown, and to have been granted by Queen Elizabeth to James Harrington (fn. 4), who soon aliened it to Sir Henry Maynard (fn. 5); from the Maynards it passed to Sir James Bateman, alderman of London, and after his death successively to Abraham Atkins, Esq. (fn. 6) of Clapham, and Percival Lewis, Esq. of Putney. It was purchased of the latter about twenty years ago by Morgan Rice, Esq. the present proprietor.

Bartholomew de Castello had a grant of free warren in Tooting in the reign of Edward I. (fn. 7)

The church.

The church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a small structure, and consists of a nave, chancel, and south aisle. On the north side is a low circular tower, with a small spire.

Monuments.

In the chancel is the monument of Esther, wife of Sir James Bateman, Knt. Lord Mayor of London, who died in 1709; and the tombs of Isaac Brand, Esq. who died in 1712; his son, who was killed by a fall from his horse, in 1701; and William, son of Timothy Turner, rector of this parish, who died in 1714.

Sir John Hepdon.

On the north wall of the church was the monument of Sir John Hepdon, Knt. who died in 1670. He was twice Envoy to the Emperor of Russia, and employed in various foreign negotiations during the reign of Charles I. and Charles II. This monument has been re moved into the belfry. In the nave are the tombs of Samuel Pashler, Gent. who died in 1759; and Mrs. Elizabeth Jennings, who died in 1779. Aubrey (fn. 8) mentions also that of Deputy Joseph Scriven, who died in 1704.

On the east wall of the south aisle is a brass plate to the memory of William Fitzwilliam, Esq. who died in 1597. On the south wall is the monument of Frances, wife of John Rice, who died in 1790; and on a pillar of the nave that of Ralph Plumbe, Esq. who died in 1776, and Samuel Plumbe, Esq. who died in 1784.

Churchyard.

In the church-yard are the tombs of Sir John Maynard, K. B. who died in 1658, and his son, Sir John Maynard, Knt. who died in 1664; Sarah, wife of John Crichton, M.D. (no date); Robert Papworth, of London, Gent. who died in 1755; the Reverend Thomas Barron, curate of this parish, who died in 1766; Peter Hamond, Esq. who died in 1769; John Greenway, Esq. of the Middle Temple, who died in 1781; and Page Keble, Esq. who died at Port l'Orient, in his return from Bengal, in 1786.

Rectory.

The church of Tooting is in the diocese of Winchester, and deanery of Southwark. The benefice is a rectory, the advowson of which was formerly given to the monastery of St. Mary Overie by Hamon de Gravenel (fn. 9). After the suppression of that convent it was granted by Edward VI. to Edward Lord Clinton and Say (fn. 10), by whom it seems to have been very soon aliened to Sir Richard Sackville (fn. 11). It continued in the Sackville family till the middle of the last century (fn. 12). George Earl of Berkeley appears to have been the proprietor in 1683 (fn. 13). It afterwards came into the possession of Sir James Bateman (fn. 14), and continued to be annexed to the manor till Mr. Lewis sold it to the Reverend Nicholas Brady, whose daughter married the Reverend Henry Allen, who thus became possessed of the patronage of the living of which he is the present incumbent. The rectory was taxed at 40 s. in 1291 (fn. 15); it is rated in the King's books at 81. 8s. 6½d. and was valued at 52 l. per annum in the year 1658 (fn. 16). The prior of St. Mary Overie formerly received a pension of 4 l. per annum out of this rectory (fn. 17). There is a terrier of the glebe in the registry at Winchester.

Samuel Lisle Bishop of Norwich.

Samuel Lisle, who was instituted to this rectory in the year 1720, was promoted to the bishopric of St. Asaph in 1743, and translated to Norwich in 1748. He died the ensuing year.

Parish register.

The earliest date of the parish register is 1555.

Comparative state of population.

The population of this village appears to have increased during the last century in a greater proportion than that of any other place which has been described. The present number of houses is about 150.

There are no entries of burials in the years 1603 and 1665.

Extracts from the Register.

Sir John Maynard.

"Sir John Maynard died the 29th of July, and was buried the 31st of that month, 1658." He was brother of the first Lord Maynard, and was made Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Charles I. He had a seat in the House of Commons in the year 1640, where having given offence to the prevailing party, he was impeached of high treason and committed to the Tower. Some little tracts ascribed to him are extant (fn. 18).

"Phæbe, the daughter of Joshua Gearing, Gent. was baptised in the parish church of St. Austin, London, but the place being burnt by the raging fire, it was desired by the parents that she should be registered in this book—1666."

Benefactions.

This parish receives 2 l. per annum out of Mr. Henry Smith's benefactions. John Maynard, Esq. in 1659 gave 20s. per annum to the poor (fn. 19). Isaac Brand, Esq. in 1712 gave an annuity of 3 l. to be divided between twelve poor persons on Easter Sunday. Sir James Bateman, in 1718, gave the interest of 100 l. for apprenticing children. Thomas Man, in 1721, gave a sum of money out of the rent of some tenements in Kingston, to purchase annually six chaldrons of coals, to be divided between twelve poor persons. John Rogers, Esq. in 1778, gave 200 l. to which his widow added 13 l. 6s. 8d. to be laid out in Government securities, and the interest (which amounts to 10 l.) to be divided among poor housekeepers not receiving alms; and Mrs. Martha Chivers gave the sum of 200 l. to the same purpose.

Bateman's alms-houses.

The alms-houses founded by Sir James Bateman's mother in 1709 for six poor women, have been pulled down, and the benefaction is lost to the parish.

Charity-school. Dissenters meeting-house. Queen Elizabeth.

A charity-school is now building by public subscription.

A new meeting-house is building for the presbyterian dissenters.

Queen Elizabeth visited Tooting in the year 1600 (fn. 20); it is probable that she was the guest of Sir Henry Maynard, who was then lord of the manor.

Lords North and Grey.

The Lords North and Grey had a seat in this parish for many years (fn. 21).