Parishes: Wandsworth

WANDSWORTH

Wendleswurthe (vii cent.); Wendlesurd, Wandelesorde, Wandesorde (xi cent.); Wandlewrth, Wenleswrorth (xii cent.); Wandelesworth, Wendesworth (xiii cent.); Wendlesworth, Wandsworth (xiv cent.); Wansworth alias Wandlesworthe (xvii cent.).

The area of the civil parish of Wandsworth covers not quite 2,445 acres. (fn. 1) Nearly 232 of these were returned in 1905 as permanent grass, whilst there were 8½ acres of woodland and 5 still cultivated as arable land. The soil is the alluvium of the Thames and Wandle, a gravel terrace originally deposited by the river forming the higher ground. The altitude of the parish averages about 50 ft. above the ordnance datum except in the east and south-east, where it rises to 100 ft. The River Wandle (fn. 2) enters it from the south and flows northwards into the Thames. The stream is probably named from the place, not the place from the stream, as is generally supposed. Wendel was no doubt the name of a man. The upper part of the stream is crossed by the main line of the London and SouthWestern railway, which runs north-east from the station of Earlsfield and Summers Town towards Clapham Junction. Other branches of this railway intersect Wandsworth, the Wimbledon and Fulham line which has a station at Southfields in the southwest, and the East Putney and Wimbledon new line running from East Putney station just beyond the borders of Putney to the Windsor branch, on which stands Wandsworth station.

Between the Wandle and the main railway line a densely populated district extends southwards. This incloses St. Peter's Hospital, founded in 1618 at Newington by the Fishmongers' Company, (fn. 3) and endowed by various members of the company and also Mount Nod, the burying-place of many Huguenots, (fn. 4) and the workhouse of the Wandsworth Union (which comprises Wandsworth, Clapham and Battersea) in Earlsfield. Two open spaces—Spencer Park, which is maintained by the joint subscriptions of the residents surrounding it, (fn. 5) and Wandsworth Common, (fn. 6) now under the control of the London County Council— stretch along the western side of this part of the railway, east of which again are the Royal Victoria Patriotic Asylum for Girls, built in 1857, (fn. 7) the prison and the County of Middlesex Lunatic Asylum. The last of these stands in the south-east corner of the parish, where till recent times the hamlet of Garratt, now a network of new streets, preserved some rural characteristics. In the High Street, which connects the East and West Hills, stands the parish church of All Saints, a short distance west of the Wandle. Beyond it Wandsworth spreads again westwards to the borders of Putney, being now very much built over about the West Hill, but still preserving some open ground to the south where Putney Heath and Wimbledon Park extend within its borders. On West Hill is the Royal Hospital for Incurables, which occupies the house which belonged to a Hamburg merchant, Mr. Rücker, in the early 19th century, but which has been much altered and enlarged.

In the tracts of common land which inclose it on the east and west the parish still preserves something of its ancient features. The position of the different estates of which it was once composed (see Manors below) can be approximately determined. The lands which formed part of the manor of Battersea seem to have lain partly between Putney on the west and the Thames on the north and partly in the east of the parish, where they included the West Heath, (fn. 8) now Wandsworth Common, and were bordered by Streatham and Wimbledon. (fn. 9) Downe, more closely connected in its history with Battersea than the other Wandsworth manors, and extending into that parish, spread apparently from the north-east southwards (judging from the position of Downe Lodge on the west of the Wandle), and occupied both sides of the upper stream, whilst Allfarthing was situated in the east and southeast, and Dunsford, with its hamlet of Garratt, in the south of the parish. (fn. 10) Garratt, which was known in the 18th century for its mock elections and mock mayors, (fn. 11) still bears the same name, whilst Allfarthing Lane, Down Lodge Hall and Dunsford Farm preserve, or until recent days preserved, the memory of the manors with which they were once connected.

As there was no bridge over the Thames in the parish until 1864, when an Act was passed to construct one and make a road from its extremity to join the Wandsworth road to London, (fn. 12) we must look for the old village not here but on the banks of the Wandle, once famous as a trout stream, (fn. 13) and of considerable value for its fishery in the 15th and 16th centuries. (fn. 14) In early times it seems to have been crossed by a ford at the spot in the present High Street where in 1602 Queen Elizabeth had a bridge built. (fn. 15) Here most of the village lay on the road to Kingston between the East and West Hills, and with the ancient church of All Saints on the left of the stream as its centre. The situation of Wandsworth on a river which has always been of great importance to Surrey industries (fn. 16) developed its trade at an early date. (fn. 17) Allfarthing Manor had shops on it in 1366, (fn. 18) and at the beginning of the 17th century the mill boats were a source of livelihood not only to the boatmen who worked them but also to 'many poore haglers' whose wares they conveyed. (fn. 19) The name of another industry established in the 16th century by Dutch refugees, who kept their manufacture of brass plates for fryingpans and other utensils 'a mystery,' (fn. 20) still survives in Frying Pan Creek, near land which was once osier ground belonging to the church. (fn. 21) About a century after the Dutchmen came a colony of French Protestants, who carried on a flourishing trade in hats. (fn. 22) Calico-printing and bleaching were also introduced into the parish by foreigners, (fn. 23) and before the close of the 18th century some 500 persons were employed in factories and mills. (fn. 24) Outside the village, however, most of the land was used in almost equal proportions for agriculture and pasture, with the exception of 218 acres in the hands of market gardeners, (fn. 25) some of them probably growing in Garratt its staple commodities of 'cabbages, carrots and cauliflowers.' (fn. 26) The advent of the first iron railway in England, authorized by an Act of 1801 to run from Ram Field through the parish towards Croydon, (fn. 27) must have helped to increase the artisan population of Wandsworth. In 1831, when there were 6,879 persons living here, it was found that 909 families were engaged in trade and only 164 in agriculture. It is probable that many of the remaining 497 were the families of the gentry and citizens of London who had suburban residences on the East and West Hills. (fn. 28) As late as 1864 Wandsworth was described by a popular novelist as a small old-fashioned town with country lanes and by-ways branching off from its quaint High Street, (fn. 29) but its rural characteristics have vanished since that date with most of its old houses. One of these, the Manor House on the summit of the East Hill, built probably about 1670 for a Low Country refugee, Peter Paggen, (fn. 30) was taken down in 1890. Long before that date the Sword House, at the foot of the West Hill, so called from its decoration with Highland claymore by one of the victors of Culloden, (fn. 31) and another building, the traditional home of Jane Shore, which as the depository of the arms of the Loyal Wandsworth volunteers gave its name to Armoury Yard behind the parish church, had disappeared, (fn. 32) and very little that is ancient now remains in the parish. (fn. 33) By the Local Government Act of 1888 the parish was included in the County of London, and under the London Government Act of 1899 the metropolitan borough of Wandsworth, which includes the civil parishes of Clapham, Putney, Streatham and Tooting Graveney, was formed. In 1891 the population numbered 113,244 persons, and ten years later it had increased to 179,877.

Some prehistoric and Roman remains have been found in Wand worth. (fn. 34) Among place-names once known in the parish are Heyford, possibly a hamlet (fn. 35) (xii to xvii cent.); Sholand, Eldworth, Eldewell, Goodrichesbury, La Beche, Rustmershohe, Alkerysgore, Grendweg, Bladworth, le Neyte, Templefurlong (xiv cent.); Berkyngesdonne (xiv and xv cent.) (fn. 36); Walterscroft (xv cent.); le lambe super le Hoope and Furnyvall (xv to xvii cent.); Crouchhalle (xv and xvi cent.); Dunshill and Austin Croft, which survive to the present day in Duntshill and Austin Roads, Quick, Hukbramble, le Rame, (fn. 37) Wyllyfeldes, Fryeres Mordoch (xvi cent.); Savage Farm or le Savage, probably from Robert Savage, a Wandsworth tenant of Westminster Abbey in the 14th century (fn. 38) (xvi to xix cent.); Sherningdales (xvi and xvii cent.); Bib Hearon, Starch Hill, Withicombe Coppice, Pinfold (xvii cent.); Drunhenbridge and Burntwood (xvii cent.), the former surviving till the last century in Drunhen Bridge Close and the latter still giving its name to Burntwood Lane, Bigden or Bigon Bridge (xvii and xviii cent.); Shermadine, Applegarth (xviii cent.); Isle of Providence, Lady Close, Beadle Hook (xix cent., but probably of earlier origin), besides the common fields, Bridgefield, Northfield and Southfield. (fn. 39) Southfields is now a separate district.

Two meetings of some historical interest took place at Wandsworth. Here in August 1392 a deputation of London citizens tendered their submission to Richard II, who had deposed their mayor and sheriffs for refusing him a loan, (fn. 40) and more than a century later Wolsey met the ambassadors of the Emperor Maximilian at 'Wandsworth town's end.' (fn. 41) Like the neighbouring parishes of Wimbledon and Putney, though in far less degree, Wandsworth has associations with Thomas Cromwell. (fn. 42) Voltaire lived here between 1726 and 1729, (fn. 43) and George Eliot wrote ' The Mill on the Floss' at Holly Lodge, Southfields, her home in 1859 and 1860. (fn. 44) William Loe, chaplain in ordinary to James I in 1618 and vicar of Wandsworth thirteen years afterwards, is also remembered for his religious verse. (fn. 45) Another divine who held this living later in the same century and was a popular preacher was Nathaniel Resbury. (fn. 46) William Massey, miscellaneous writer and translator, kept a boarding-school in the parish in the 18th century, (fn. 47) as too somewhat later did John Whitehead, afterwards Wesley's physician and biographer. (fn. 48) Among other names of note associated with Wands worth are those of Francis Grose the antiquary, (fn. 49) Henry Moseley the naturalist, (fn. 50) Tom Taylor, dramatist and editor of Punch, (fn. 51) and the journalist and politician Samuel Lucas. (fn. 52) Garrick is said to have lived on Wandsworth Common, and Charles Dibdin, the songwriter, in a house in the parish called Cedar Cottage. (fn. 53)

More local interest surrounds the memory of Henry Smith, citizen and alderman of London, who has been described as 'one of the greatest philanthropists of Stuart times.' (fn. 54) A native of Wandsworth, he was buried in the parish church in January 1628, his benefactions to this and other Surrey villages being there recorded on his monument. (fn. 55) Smith was born in Wandsworth in 1549, and died at the age of seventy-nine years. He does not appear to have been connected with the Smith family of Dunsford Manor in Wandsworth. He was by trade a silversmith (but a member of the Salters' Company), and was elected an alderman of London 9 February 1609. He lived in Silver Street, Cheapside. The house built on the site of his shop after the Great Fire was occupied by a refiner for over a century. In his lifetime he gave £1,000 each to the towns of Farnham, Guildford, Kingston, Dorking, Croydon and Godalming. In 1620 he vested all his property, except £500 a year and his house, in trustees, reserving to himself the power of appointing the rents and profits for charitable purposes. The original eleven trustees were headed by Robert Earl of Essex and Richard Earl of Dorset. In 1626 he executed a deed, his trust having been confirmed by a decree in Chancery 20 June 1625, whereby he directed the income of his estates to be applied to the relief of aged, poor or infirm people, married persons with more children than their labour can maintain, poor orphans, poor persons maintaining themselves and their families by labour and putting forth their children to apprentice at the age of fifteen, bad characters being excluded from benefit. In 1627 he made his will, leaving £1,000 to be laid out in land for the ransoming of Turkish prisoners, £1,000 for the relief of his poor kindred, his sisters' children being mentioned as his nearest kin; £500 to buy land for the poor of Wandsworth, £1,000 in like manner for Reigate, £1,000 for Richmond, £10,000 to buy impropriations for the relief and maintenance of godly preachers and the furtherance of knowledge and religion, £100 to be lent to poor persons in parcels of £20 at a time. After his death his trustees purchased land for these purposes, and in 1641 allotted the sums in poor relief to a great number of parishes, but chiefly in Surrey, where every parish received a benefaction except Wanborough, St. Martha's and Tatsfield. The two former had probably no separate parochial existence at the time; the last is very small, on the borders of Kent, and perhaps escaped their notice. As the apportionment was by his trustees the popular story that he had some personal grudge against these parishes must be dismissed. The trust was reconstituted by a decree in Chancery in December 1874. The estates now vested in the general trustees are the tithe rents of Alfriston and Mayfield in Sussex, applied in benefactions to poor clergy, producing in 1874 £875 17s. 6d. a year; the estates called Bexhill, Eastbrooke, Iwood, Telscombe, Warbleton and Worth in Sussex, Kempsing in Kent, Clayhall in Surrey, Longney in Gloucestershire, Longstock in Hants, and Thurlaston in Leicestershire applied to the parishes in Surrey and elsewhere, producing in 1874 £9,817 14s. 5d. a year; the Kensington estate, comprising Onslow Square and about 80 acres in the neighbourhood, applied in allowances and relief to his poor kindred, producing in 1874 £10,642 10s. 9d. a year. The poor kindred were fortunate in the assignation by the trustees of a farm in Kensington to their relief in 1641. The relief of Turkish prisoners, which needed support in 1628 when the Barbary Corsairs were sometimes even in British seas, has long ceased to be an object of charity. (fn. 56)

MANORS

Before the Norman Conquest all Wandsworth, with the exception of the berewick of Battersea Manor in this parish and Dunsford, was held of Edward the Confessor by six sokemen. (fn. 57) Their land came after the Conquest to Ansculf the Sheriff, and in 1086 was in the possession of his son William Fitz Ansculf, (fn. 58) of whom it was held by four tenants, Ansfrid, Heldred, Ulward and Walter the vineyard keeper. The legality of Ansculf's and William's tenure, however, was questionable, (fn. 59) and it has been supposed that this holding, including estates known later as Downe, Allfarthing, Barking and Finches, was afterwards confiscated by William I and granted to Westminster Abbey, (fn. 60) a theory corroborated both by the scanty evidence for the existence of any considerable estate in the parish which did not in some way come under the abbot's jurisdiction, (fn. 61) and by the fact that all the important grants in Wandsworth to this house of which record survives were lands already held of him. (fn. 62) But it seems more likely that the Domesday holding of William FitzAnsculf may be wholly or partly represented by the manor of Downe in Wandsworth, over which the overlordship of William Fitz Ansculf's successors survived as late as the 13th century, when Downe, though then held of the abbot, was described 'as a fief of the honour of Dudley,' (fn. 63) of which the successors of William Fitz Ansculf were lords. (fn. 64) The other manors in Wandsworth would then, as seems to have been the case from their tenure, have originally formed part of the abbot's manor of Battersea, which in 1086 extended into this parish (and may possibly afterwards have included some of William FitzAnsculf's holding). (fn. 65)

DOWNE or DOWNBURYS was held of the Abbot of Westminster from the 13th century, if not earlier, by various persons bearing the surname of Downe. One Henry Downe, or de la Doune, in 1199 won a suit touching land in this parish, (fn. 66) and Roger Downe acted as juror the next year, (fn. 67) but whether they held the manor is uncertain. More is known about Robert Downe, the abbot's tenant here for the third of a knight's fee in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 68) He acquired two small Wandsworth estates in 1229 and 1234, (fn. 69) and about the same time held land in the parish of the manor of Battersea. (fn. 70) Among the tenants of the same manor in 1268 Richard Downe is named, (fn. 71) and about ten years later Roger Downe was accused of appropriating a plot of the king's highway in Wandsworth. (fn. 72) He was in the abbot's service in Battersea in 1277, (fn. 73) and three years later was engaged in a suit against a certain Matilda Downe concerning a small Wandsworth estate. (fn. 74) The last Wandsworth landowner of this name seems to have been another Robert Downe of Wandsworth, who acquired a messuage here in 1353, (fn. 75) and in 1358 owed £20, which had to be levied from his property in Surrey. (fn. 76) Possibly he owned, and then or afterwards on account of his financial difficulties parted with, the manor of Downe or La Doune, (fn. 77) which twenty-two years later was granted by Robert Tynesford of Wandsworth and his wife Alice to John Whitwell and Thomas Parnel, chaplain. (fn. 78) In 1377 Thomas Parnel conveyed it to the Abbot of Westminster, of whom it was said to be held immediately, (fn. 79) and the manor of Downe continued to be held by the abbey until its surrender, (fn. 80) at which time it was associated with the office of the treasurer of the outlying lands. The site had been leased by the abbot in 1526 to John Hill, and sublet by Hill in 1532 to Robert Paty, against whom he afterwards appealed to the Star Chamber for forcibly excluding him from the premises. (fn. 81) John Hill's lease was in force until 1550, (fn. 82) but had expired by 1555, when the site of Downe was granted by Philip and Mary to William Handley for twenty-one years. (fn. 83) In 1582 a similar grant was made by Elizabeth to Stephen Ayre. (fn. 84) In 1591 she gave the reversion of the site and the manor itself to William Cammock, (fn. 85) who sold both the next year to Sir Thomas Cecil, son and heir of Elizabeth's minister William Cecil. (fn. 86) From that date until 1639 Downe descended with the manor of Wimbledon (q.v.). In the latter year it was conveyed by the co-heirs of Viscount Wimbledon to Christopher Seymour and Richard Stretton, (fn. 87) trustees probably for Thomas Hewitt, who is said to have been the actual purchaser. (fn. 88) He or his heir of the same name, with his wife Frances, in 1698 sold the manor of Downe to Elizabeth Howland, (fn. 89) the widowed mother of the Duchess of Bedford, to whose heirs it afterwards came, following the descent of Tooting Bec in Streatham (q.v.) until 1792, when Francis Duke of Bedford is said to have sold it to George Earl Spencer, (fn. 90) in whose possession it was united with the manors of Battersea and Wandsworth (q.v.).

The manor afterwards known as ALLFARTHING appears in the second half of the 14th century as three separate fees in the possession of Westminster Abbey. (fn. 91) Lands in the first of these, in which in the course of time the other two became almost entirely merged, seem to have been held of the abbot by John and Gilbert of Allfarthing, tenants of his manor of Battersea, the former early in the reign of Henry III, (fn. 92) the latter about 1268. (fn. 93) Their name does not seem to occur again, but part of a Wandsworth estate which John de Molyns, lord of Stoke Pogis, (fn. 94) acquired in 1334 of John son of Robert de Domelton (fn. 95) was called Allfarthing, (fn. 96) and from 1366 onwards the manor of Allfarthing was accounted for among the possessions of the Abbot of Westminster. (fn. 97) The name of BARKING or BARKING FEE, the second holding, is found in the name of a tenant, John of Barking, who with his wife Alice and of her right held lands in Wandsworth in 1248 (fn. 98) and until 1253. (fn. 99) John was a tenant of the abbey in 1249, when the tithes of his land were assigned to the vicar of Wandsworth in the division then made, (fn. 100) and Alice was amongst the Wandsworth free tenants of the Battersea Manor in 1268. (fn. 101) She may have been succeeded by Peter of Barking, who served as a juror here about 1320. (fn. 102)

In 1368 and 1369 the abbot's court was held in the fee of Barking, then apparently a separate manor, and from that time it remained one of the Westminster possessions. (fn. 103)

Of FINCHES there seems to be no trace before 1354, when Roger Finch, citizen and vintner of London, sold his lands and all his other possessions in Wandsworth, among which suits and services are named, to Sir Robert Longham and others, (fn. 104) from whom they perhaps passed to Richard Rook of Westminster. A considerable estate in Wandsworth and Battersea, of which by far the larger part lay in Wandsworth and was held of the Abbot of Westminster as of his manor of Battersea, was conveyed by Richard to the abbey in 1366. (fn. 105) In 1378 another Richard Rook with others held a court at Finches, (fn. 106) and two years later they conveyed nearly 300 acres of land in Battersea and Wandsworth, held chiefly of his manor of Battersea, to the abbot. (fn. 107) From that date Finches seems to have been merged in Barking Fee, one court being held for the two until 1403, (fn. 108) when Allfarthing was included with them. (fn. 109) The three estates were afterwards almost always treated as one manor, known until the end of the 15th century as Allfarthing Finches and Barking Fee, (fn. 110) but in later times generally as Allfarthing only. Under that title it was valued amongst the possessions of the abbey in 1535, when the prior claimed it as parcel of his revenues, although the abbot had already accounted for it. (fn. 111) It was by that time the most valuable possession of their house in Wandsworth, its farm being valued at £26 12s. 4d., whilst other rents in the parish amounted to £20 19s. 4d. (fn. 112) and Downe brought in only £6 6s. 8d. (fn. 113) Allfarthing, though not mentioned by name, was certainly included in the manors of Battersea and Wandsworth which Henry VIII annexed to the honour of Hampton Court in 1540, when they were declared to be in his hands by the gift and surrender of the late abbot, (fn. 114) since it was described as parcel of that honour until 1628. (fn. 115) It had been leased in 1534 for sixty years to Thomas Cromwell, (fn. 116) head steward four years later, if not at that date, of the monastery (fn. 117); but after his attainder no fresh lease seems to have been granted until 1570, when Queen Elizabeth gave it for a term of thirty-one years to Elizabeth Snow, a widow, (fn. 118) and perhaps the mother of one Edward Snow who died at the manor of Allfarthing in 1587. (fn. 119) A fresh lease of twenty-one years after the expiration of Elizabeth Snow's was granted in 1594 to John Bowyer, (fn. 120) who was in occupation until 1621, (fn. 121) and possibly later. (fn. 122)

In 1624 Allfarthing was included in a grant to Charles Prince of Wales, (fn. 123) probably with the intention that it should afterwards be given to Endymion Porter, a gentleman of his bedchamber, who had been for years in the Duke of Buckingham's service, and had attended the prince on his journey into Spain. (fn. 124) It was settled by the king at his son's request on certain trustees, (fn. 125) who were in nominal possession in 1626, when the reversion of John Bowyer's lease was granted to Endymion Porter for thirty-one years from 1646. (fn. 126) Two years later the trustees settled the manor itself on Endymion, (fn. 127) at whose petition Charles I shortly afterwards granted the reversion and remainder to his younger son Thomas Porter. (fn. 128) Endymion, who derived considerable revenues from the manor before the outbreak of the war, (fn. 129) was stigmatized by the Long Parliament in 1642 as a person 'of evil fame and disaffected to the public peace and prosperity of the Kingdom.' He was expelled from the Parliament, in which he sat as member for Droitwich, and excepted from an offer to receive the king's supporters on their submission. (fn. 130) He was with the king at Oxford and elsewhere, but had left the country before January 1648, when his wife was in town to negotiate for his composition with the Long Parliament. (fn. 131) Before the close of the year he was allowed to return for the same purpose, (fn. 132) and Evelyn records his meeting with him a few months after. (fn. 133) He őied in 1649. He had suffered great pecuniary losses for his delinquency, and the manor of Allfarthing was heavily mortgaged and in 1652 was sold. (fn. 134) It seems to have been afterwards recovered by his son and heir George, (fn. 135) and in 1663 the annual rent due to the Crown from it was granted to the Earl of Sandwich. (fn. 136) From George Porter, who died in 1683, (fn. 137) Allfarthing descended through his son and heir another George to his grandson John, lord in 1723, (fn. 138) when a settlement of it was made on his marriage with Catherine Sutton. (fn. 139) He was succeeded by his only son and heir a second John Porter in or before 1764, in which year the manor was chargeable with an annual payment of £400 to his widow and the gross sum of £5,000 for his five daughters. (fn. 140) The daughters' portions had been paid before 1771, and a fresh settlement of Allfarthing was then made on the younger John's marriage with Mary eldest daughter of Cosmo Nevill. (fn. 141) After his death without issue the manor seems to have come to Pierce, son of his sister Eleanor by her husband Pierce Walsh, who took the name of Porter. (fn. 142) He was succeeded in 1809 by his son Pierce Walsh Porter, who sold the manor in 1811 to Mr. White, who sold in 1816 to Earl Spencer. (fn. 143)

A grant of free warren in his demesne lands in Allfarthing and Wandsworth was made to John de Molyns in 1334. (fn. 144) View of frankpledge and court leet, expressly excluded from the 16th-century leases, (fn. 145) were amongst the appurtenances of this manor in the grants to Endymion and Thomas Porter. (fn. 146) There was a capital messuage here from the 16th to the 19th century, (fn. 147) but this has now been taken down. (fn. 148) The tenants of the manor enjoyed common pasture in the commons or waste called Wandsworth East and West Heaths and in Garratt and Heyford Greens. (fn. 149) The Allfarthing woodland, reserved by the Crown, whilst the manor was only leased, (fn. 150) was a very fruitful source of revenue to Endymion Porter. (fn. 151) In 1771 a water mill in the parish belonged to his heir John Porter. (fn. 152)

A few records are preserved of a manor in Wandsworth which, chiefly on the ground of the grant of free warren to John de Molyns, (fn. 153) has been identified with Allfarthing. (fn. 154) Such scanty evidence, however, as survives leads rather to the conclusion that it was originally part of Downe Manor and held of the Abbot of Westminster. In 1440 Roger and James Fiennes acquired from John Bitterley and his wife Julia 4 hides of land and other tenements in Wandsworth, the inheritance of Julia, (fn. 155) and in 1444 and again in 1448 Roger was presented as a defaulter for suit at the abbot's court of Downe. (fn. 156) He was succeeded in or before 1461 by Sir Robert Fiennes, (fn. 157) his son, according to one genealogy, (fn. 158) who also held of the abbot in Allfarthing from 1483 to 1485. (fn. 159) In 1486, on the death of Joan Lady Dacre, widow of Sir Roger Fiennes' son Richard, (fn. 160) it was found that a manor in Wandsworth had been assigned by Richard and Joan to Robert Fiennes, husband of Philippa, Joan's sister. (fn. 161) It reverted, however, to Thomas Fiennes Lord Dacre, grandson and heir of Richard and Joan, (fn. 162) another defaulter at the abbot's court of Downe in 1498, (fn. 163) and was sold by him to Sir Reginald Bray in 1502. (fn. 164) Sir Reginald's heir was his niece Margery, (fn. 165) who with her husband William Lord Sandys is said to have been sued by the Abbot of Westminster in 1538 for a Wandsworth manor. (fn. 166) That some such dispute took place is evident from a letter of Lord Sandys addressed to Cromwell, wherein he states that as the abbot will not come to terms about Wandsworth he has 'entered into the manor' (fn. 167); but, as no later trace of his occupation survives, it is probable that a compromise was effected and the estate had come to the abbot before the surrender of January 1540. (fn. 168)

DUNSFORD—An estate in Wandsworth was held of Edward the Confessor by Swein and then assessed for 1 hide. (fn. 169) Before 1086 this had been given by Ingulf the monk to the abbey of St. Wandrille in the diocese of Rouen. (fn. 170) As no later mention of any possession of this house in Wandsworth occurs, it is possible that Ingulf's gift was afterwards transferred to Merton Priory, (fn. 171) which held some land here in 1242. (fn. 172) The Ecclesiastical Taxation of 1291 shows that the prior's estate of Dunsford was then valued at £3 10s., (fn. 173) and its tenants ten years later contributed 10s. towards a loan to Edward I. (fn. 174) Some tenements in Wandsworth held of the prior with suit at his Dunsford court were alienated to him by Richard Clere in 1372, (fn. 175) and by 1535 the possessions of the house in Wandsworth and Dunsford formed an estate of considerable value. (fn. 176) On the surrender of Merton Priory in 1538 (fn. 177) Dunsford Manor was granted to Charles Duke of Suffolk, (fn. 178) who sold it the next year to Thomas Cromwell for £403 6s. 8d. (fn. 179) He was attainted in 1540 and almost immediately Dunsford was annexed to Hampton Court as one of the manors which the king had purchased of Cromwell. (fn. 180) It remained in the Crown until 1563, (fn. 181) when Queen Elizabeth granted it to Lord Robert Dudley, (fn. 182) by whom it was shortly afterwards sold to Sir William Cecil. (fn. 183) John Swift, who bought the manor of Cecil early in 1564, (fn. 184) conveyed it five years later to Thomas Smith. (fn. 185) Between 1569 and 1576 a suit in Chancery was brought against the new lord by Thomas Wilford, (fn. 186) who had acquired a lease of this manor from Robert Kirwen, the last tenant of Merton Priory, (fn. 187) and was ejected by Thomas Smith on the pretext of failure to pay his rent, but in reality because he had allowed the place to fall into ruin. (fn. 188) Thomas Smith died in 1576, when Dunsford descended to his son George, (fn. 189) and on his death in 1638 to another Thomas Smith, George's son and heir. (fn. 190) It is said that the second Thomas held the manor until his death in 1657 or 1658 and was succeeded by his son George, (fn. 191) who sold it in 1664 to Sir Alan Brodrick. (fn. 192) It came before or in 1712, either by conveyance or as a trust, to the elder brother of Alan, Thomas Brodrick Viscount Midleton, who held it with Alan's sons St. John and Alan. (fn. 193) St. John Brodrick died in 1728 shortly before his father, and the younger Alan second Viscount succeeded his uncle in the family estates of Midleton and Wandsworth in 1730. (fn. 194) From him they descended through his son and heir George to another George created Baron Brodrick of Peper Harow in 1796, and on his death in 1836 to his son and heir George Alan, who died without male issue twelve years later. (fn. 195) He was succeeded in the peerage by Charles grandson of the third viscount, great-uncle of the present Viscount Midleton.

An estate known from the 16th century as THE GARRETT seems to be the tenement near Dunsford of which the site was rented at £4 in 1535, when it belonged to Merton Priory. (fn. 196) It was let by the prior to John Bowland not long afterwards, (fn. 197) and was included in the grant to Robert Dudley of the manor of Dunsford, (fn. 198) with which it afterwards descended. (fn. 199) The name survives in Garratt Lane.

A considerable part of this parish belonged to the manor of Battersea (q.v.), and as 'the berewick named Wandsworth' was granted with it by William I to the abbey of Westminster. (fn. 200) It was then so integral a part of Battersea that the Domesday Survey contains no reference to Wandsworth as an estate belonging to Westminster beyond the mention of its toll amongst the revenues of the abbey from that manor, (fn. 201) and, although from the 13th to the 19th century the plural form is sometimes used to describe the Westminster lands in the two parishes, (fn. 202) there seems no good reason to assume that the estate of the Conqueror's grant was subsequently resolved into separate manors. (fn. 203) From 1067 to the present day this part of Wandsworth has followed the descent of the manor of Battersea (q.v.).

An estate in Wandsworth granted in 1455 by Matilda Fysshe, widow, to John Stanley (fn. 204) came afterwards to the see of York, (fn. 205) descending with the lands held by the archbishop in Battersea and Bridges. (fn. 206) The tenements and lands of the see of York in Wandsworth were sold in 1648 to Thomas Andrews for £186 17s. 6d., (fn. 207) but reunited with its Battersea estate at the Restoration, both coming into the possession of Earl Spencer in 1814. (fn. 208)

In 1086 there were seven mills on the Abbot of Westminster's manor of Battersea, (fn. 209) of which some must certainly have been situated in Wandsworth. One of these, a fulling mill, farmed in 1303 for 23s. 4d., (fn. 210) was granted by the abbot in 1366 to William Furnival and his wife Thomasine. (fn. 211) It had reverted to the abbey before 1535, when it was valued at 58s., (fn. 212) and was still in use about forty years later. (fn. 213) Two corn mills under one roof, leased in 1526 by the controller of Wolsey's household (fn. 214) to William Wilson under the condition of grinding corn for the adjoining bakehouse, (fn. 215) seem to be identical with the abbot's mills known in 1535 as Lampitt and Adhyns. (fn. 216) These, which under the various titles of the New Mills and the Upper or Over Mills passed from one lessee to another and were the occasion of two suits in Chancery, (fn. 217) were granted by Queen Elizabeth to John Glascock in 1559, (fn. 218) and held by Laurence Caldwell at his death in 1628, (fn. 219) grants of the rent due from them to the Crown having been made in 1609, 1612 and 1614 to Edward Ferrer, Martin Freeman and William Whitmore respectively. (fn. 220)

Besides these three water mills there was a windmill, apparently the corn mill, which belonged with them to the abbot's Battersea manor in 1535. (fn. 221) A brazil mill, which is mentioned in the Wandsworth churchwardens' accounts of 1571, and had become a corn mill in 1610, retained its old title a century later. (fn. 222) Another mill here on the Wandle was known in 1610 as the Lower Mill. (fn. 223) At the end of the 17th century there was a windmill in the parish which had been removed here to a site near the Thames from Wimbledon Heath. (fn. 224) The Windmills shot was close to the site of the present Wandsworth station. (fn. 225)

CHURCHES

The church of ALL SAINTS consists of a modern chancel with an apsidal end, south organ chamber and north passage aisle, nave and aisles with galleries over, west tower, north-west vestries and a south porch. It is built in the classic Renaissance style.

With the exception of the north aisle and tower the church was entirely rebuilt in 1779–80, the north aisle, which was added to the old building in 1724, being incorporated in the new design, and the tower—a rebuilding of 1629–30—left standing. This tower was 'repaired and heightened' in 1841, but the repairing was of such a drastic character that the tower now has the appearance of one erected early in the Victorian era.

In 1859 the galleries were repewed. Previous to 1899 the east wall of the chancel was flush with the east walls of the aisles, the chancel being continuous with the nave, into which the sanctuary projected; but in that year the present chancel was added with the north passage aisle and south organ chamber, the quire vestry built and the ceiling of the nave raised.

The chancel is lighted by three small lunettes in the wall of the apse and clearstory windows in the side walls. It is built of yellow bricks and is plastered inside, with stone dressings, and ceiled by a semicircular barrel vault continued right down the nave.

The nave is divided into five bays by 'Adam' Doric columns standing on square plinths and supporting a frieze and an enriched cornice, from which springs, over the nave, the modern plaster barrel vault. The columns are of wood painted in imitation of marble.

The south aisle is the same length as the nave, but the north aisle only extends along the four easternmost bays, the end bay accommodating the clergy vestry. Both aisles are built of yellow bricks, have flat ceilings, and are lighted from the sides by large semicircular windows. The windows on the north have red brick dressings. In the east wall of the church were originally three round-headed windows, one in the nave and one in each of the aisles, but since the addition of the new chancel only the one in the north aisle remains. The south aisle has parapet walls with a stone cornice at the wall head, but the north aisle has an eaved roof.

The tower is externally faced with yellow bricks with stone dressings. The bottom story is used as an entrance vestibule. On each side of the top stage or bell chamber is an open arcade of three arches carried on Doric columns and surmounted by an entablature with an open balustrade, having vases at the four corners. The lower part, which is of a simple design, was all refaced in 1841. The interior is also of brick. A semicircular arch opening into the nave has been plastered over on the east side, forming a wall at the back of the gallery over the west end of the nave.

The galleries extend along the westernmost bays of the aisles and have panelled fronts.

A double row of columns having capitals enriched with two bands of acanthus leaves, supporting a frieze and modillioned cornice, covered by a slate roof, constitute the south porch. The cornice over the south end of the porch is carried up in a pointed pediment of the same pitch as the roof.

On the north wall of the passage aisle to the chancel is a stone slab in which is an interesting brass of a man in plate armour, with his hands in prayer and his feet resting on the back of a lion. From a narrow belt is suspended a long sword, while in place of the usual dagger hangs a mace head downwards. The brass is in a very bad condition, the head being missing, and the engraved lines are in many places totally effaced. Round the stone is the following marginal inscription, which unfortunately is much mutilated and part missing : 'hic jacet Nichūs . . . arma qui obiit vicesimo sexto die Januar' Anno dĈ milli'mo CCCC°XX° Cujus anime . . . Amen Paternoster.' The words serviens regis Henrici used to be legible after his name. There are matrices for four shields.

On the east end of the north wall of the north passage aisle to the chancel is an elaborate mural monument to Henry Smith with an account of the charities which he founded :

'Here lyeth The Body of Henry Smith Esquire Sometime Citizen And | Alderman of London who departed this life the 3rd day of January | A°Dni. 1627. being then near the age of 79 years. Whome while he | lived gave unto these Several Townes in Surrey following; One | Thousand pounds apiece to buy lands for perpetuity for ye Reliefe | And setting the poor people a worke in the said townes. Viz, To | the towne of Croydon one thousand pounds, to the towne of | Kingstone one thousand pounds, to the towne of Guilford one thou | sand pounds, to the towne of Darkin [Dorking] one thousand pounds, to the | towne of Farneham one thousand pounds, & by his last will & testament | did further give & devise to buy lands for perpetuity for the | Reliefe & setting their Poore a worke unto the towne of Ryegate | one thousand pounds, unto the towne of Richmond one especyaltye | or debt of a thousand pounds, and unto this towne of Wandsworth | wherein he was born, the sum of five hundred pounds for ye same uses | as before, & did further will and bequeath one thousand to buy lands | for perpetuity to redeeme poor captives & prisoners from ye Turkish | Tyranie, & not here stinting his charity and bounty did also Give | and bequeath the most part of his estate being to a great value | for the purchasing lands of Inheritance for ever for ye reliefe | of the poor and setting them a worke. A pattern worthy the | Imitation of those whome God hath blessed with the abundance of | the Goods of this life to follow him herein.'

On the wall next to the above monument is a somewhat similar mural monument to Susanna Powell with shields of arms of Powell and Hayward.

The inscription states that she was daughter of 'Thomas Hayward of Wandsworth Yeoman of ye Guard unto King Henry ye 8, to King Edward ye 6, to Queen Mary, & Queen Elizabeth.' She married John Powell of Wandsworth, gent., who was servant to Queen Elizabeth and King James. She died 19 February 1630.

These two monuments were formerly on the east wall of the chancel, the Smith monument on the south side of the east window, the Powell monument on the north. They were moved to their present position when the new chancel was added, while a mural monument to Sir Thomas and Lady Brodrick, which used to be on the east wall of the north aisle, was at the same time removed to the church at Peper Harow.

On the east wall of the north aisle is a much mutilated mural tablet to John Powell, husband of the said Elizabeth, who died in 1611, but the inscription is now entirely obliterated. On the monument are the arms of Powell impaling Hayward.

In the floor at the east end of the nave is a brass of Robert Knaresborough, patron of the living, who died in 1611. There is another of John Powell, also of 1611. Both these were also servants of Queen Elizabeth.

There is another with an inscription in Latin elegiacs, unidentified.

In the floor in the middle of the nave is a small brass plate inscribed:
'Depositum Henri Smith
Senatoris Londinensis.'

On the west wall of the north aisle is a small stone slab with the following inscription :

' Here by lieth the body of Thomas Moseley reader of this | parish, and his sonn in law W^m Taton | and his grandchild; he departed y^e 13 | day of June 1681.'

Among other monuments, some of the 17th century, is one on the east wall of the north aisle by P. Scheemakers to Samuel Palmer, a fellow of the Royal Society, many years a surgeon and afterwards treasurer to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, born 1670, died 1738.

On the same wall is a mural monument to Edward Barker, one of the barons of the Exchequer, born 1671, died 1759.

There is a peal of eight bells by T. Mears, 1842.

The plate consists of a silver-gilt chalice of 1707 with a foot belonging to an earlier cup inscribed 'The Guift of Robert Stone and Anne his wife 1630,' and a cover paten inscribed with the date 1634; a 1707 silver cup of similar design with a cover paten evidently of the same date, but the date letter is obliterated; a silver-gilt paten of 1703; two silvergilt flagons of 1630, both inscribed ' The gift of Susanna Powell,' with the arms : a cheveron and in chief a lion, a molet for difference; two silver-gilt plates, 1874; and a brass alms-basin.

The registers (fn. 226) previous to 1813 are in six volumes: (i) marriages 1603 to 1726, baptisms 1603 to 1713, burials 1603 to 1678; (ii) baptisms 1713 to 1787, marriages 1727 to 1753, burials 1727 to 1787; (iii) marriages 1754 to 1788; (iv) marriages 1788 to 1812; (v) baptisms 1788 to 1812; (vi) burials 1788 to 1812.

Summers Town was formed as an ecclesiastical district from the ancient parish in 1845. The church of ST. MARY, in Garratt Lane, is built in a free treatment of the style of the end of the 15th century; it has a chancel, north and south vestries connected by a passage east of the chancel, nave, north and south aisles, about half of a south-east tower, and west porches with a baptistery between. The walls are of red brick with stone dressings, the roofs are covered with slates.

The church of ST. ANNE was built as a chapel of ease to the parish church in 1824, but had a parish assigned to it in 1847. It occupies a large rectangular site with roads on three sides of it in St. Anne's Hill. It is of classic design, having a small apsidal chancel with a round chancel arch, vestries, &c., and a large square nave with galleries on three sides supported on square pilasters, above which fluted columns standing on square pedestals are carried up to the flat ceiling. The gallery fronts are open balustrades. At the west end is a large portico with four Ionic pillars supporting a stone frieze and pediment, over which rises a circular tower. The walls are of stock brick with stone dressings. The nave was probably erected at the beginning of the 19th century; the chancel and vestries were rebuilt in 1896.

The church of HOLY TRINITY, West Hill, which is a chapel of ease to All Saints, is a large building of rag and Bath stone in the style of the 14th century. It consists of a chancel, nave with clearstory, low aisles, north and south transepts, vestries, porches, &c., and a north-west porch-tower of three stages surmounted by an octagonal stone spire. The south aisle and transept are dated 1872 and the tower 1887.

The ecclesiastical district of ST. PAUL was formed from All Saints in 1877. (fn. 227) The church, which stands in Augustus Road, Wimbledon Park, is a red brick and stone building in the style of the 14th century. The church was begun about 1880 and finished some fifteen years later, and consists of a chancel, northeast chapel, south-east vestry, &c., nave and aisles, and porches. The roofs are tiled; over the chancel arch is a wood and copper flèche.

The ecclesiastical district of ST. STEPHEN was also formed from All Saints in 1878. (fn. 228) The church, which is in Manfred Road, Upper Richmond Road, is a medium-sized red brick building with stone dressings, erected in 1881 in the style of the 13th century; it has an apsidal chancel with north and south transepts, nave with a clearstory of lancet windows, low north and south aisles and a south-west porch. The roofs are slated.

A mission church in connexion with St. Stephen's stands at the corner of Fawe Park Road in Putney Bridge Road; it is built of red brick with stone window heads, &c., in 13th-century style. The church is on the first floor, the ground floor story containing a hall, &c.

The consolidated chapelry of ST. FAITH was formed from St. Anne's parish in 1884. (fn. 229) The church, in Ebner Road, East Hill, is a building of red brick and stone in the style of the 13th century. It has a chancel and nave, both with a clearstory of lancet windows, low aisles, west baptistery and a tall north-west tower with a small flèche above it. There is no churchyard.

The consolidated chapelry of ST. MARY MAGDALENE was formed from St. Anne's in 1889. (fn. 230) The church, in Trinity Road, Wandsworth Common, was erected in 1889 of stock brick with red brick and stone dressings in early 13th-century style. It consists of a chancel with aisles, nave with clearstory and low aisles. Two bells hang in a cote above the west gable. The roofs are tiled.

The consolidated chapelry of ST. ANDREW, Earlsfield, was formed from St. Mary, Summers Town, and St. Anne in 1890. (fn. 231) The church was built in 1890 and 1902 of stock and red brick with stone dressings in the style of the 13th century. It is a large building having a continuous chancel and nave, north organ chamber, south chapel, north-east vestry, nave and low north and south aisles. An arcade of five bays with circular stone pillars and red brick arches divides the nave from each aisle, and one of two bays separates the chancel from each of its aisles. Above is a clearstory. On either side of the west gable towards the road are small turrets. The roofs have boarded ceilings and are covered with tiles. The chapel is closed off by iron screens.

In 1898 a district chapelry was assigned to the church of ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS, Southfields. The church is a building of red brick and stone in the style of the 15th century, begun in 1897 and finished in 1905. It has a continuous chancel and nave, with a clearstory lighted by square-headed windows, and a large west window of nine lights and tracery, low aisles, porches, vestries, &c. The roof of the main portion is covered with tiles, and a flèche rises above the entrance to the chancel. The aisle roofs are covered with slates.

The church of ST. BARNABAS, Southfields, was begun in 1906 and is still incomplete. It has a chancel and nave with aisles to both; the nave has a tall clearstory. Toothings are left in the walls for a future north-west tower. The walls are of red brick with stone dressings; the roofs are covered with slates, and a flèche stands above the chancel arch.

Wandsworth was the scene of a very important step in the history of the Puritan party in the Church of England. Bancroft recorded that in 1572 the Puritans 'erected a Presbytery' at Wandsworth, (fn. 232) and Heylyn says 'this first establishment they endorsed by the name of the Orders of Wandsworth.' (fn. 233)

Heylyn says also that Low Country refugees had a meeting here, but the evidence is wanting. No conventicle is noted here in 1669, nor was any licensed in 1672, but there was a French church for the Huguenots, (fn. 234) who settled in Wandsworth in considerable numbers after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, (fn. 235) which continued until 1787. (fn. 236) The old site was purchased for a Congregational chapel in 1808. A new chapel was built in 1860, and the old building was pulled down in 1882; the Memorial Hall now stands on its site. (fn. 237)

A Friends' Meeting House was built here in 1673, and succeeded in 1778 by another on the same site, which is still in use. (fn. 238) There are three Baptist chapels, the earliest of which, on West Hill, dates from 1821. (fn. 239) There is also a Congregational chapel at Earlsfield. (fn. 240) The Wesleyans have an old chapel in High Street, which dates from 1772, and two of later origin. (fn. 241) Wandsworth has also a Roman Catholic church and Unitarian and Primitive Methodist chapels. (fn. 242)

ADVOWSONS

It has been supposed that the parish church dates from before the Norman Conquest. (fn. 243) It seems to have belonged to Westminster Abbey with that part of Wandsworth which was included in the manor of Battersea, (fn. 244) but no record of it earlier than the second half of the 12th century survives. Laurence, abbot from 1153 or 1160 to 1175, (fn. 245) appropriated the churches of Battersea and Wandsworth to the infirmary of Westminster, (fn. 246) and they were confirmed to the infirmarer by Alexander III, pope from 1159 to 1181, and by his successor Lucius III, whose pontificate lasted until 1185. (fn. 247) After Laurence's death 6 marks from the pension of the two churches were assigned to the celebration of his anniversary. (fn. 248) A vicarage was ordained in or before 1249, when the tithes were divided between the vicar and abbot. (fn. 249) To the vicar were assigned the altarage and offerings, the rents of the tenants of the church, the tithes of a meadow on the east of the water of Wandsworth, the corn tithes of the lands of Heyford and Dunsford, and the tithes of the lands of William Fawkes, William son of Harvey of Wandsworth and John of Barking; whilst the abbot retained all other tithes of corn, with the tithes of a meadow on the west of the water and of the free land of the church, together with the tithes of salmon. (fn. 250) Presentations to the vicarage were made by the abbots (fn. 251) until 1539, when John Griffith, the vicar, was with his chaplain and servant and a Franciscan friar hanged at St. Thomas Watering, (fn. 252) most probably for denying the royal supremacy. (fn. 253) The advowson came to the Crown with the manor of Battersea (fn. 254) and Wandsworth in 1540, and remained amongst its possessions until 1558, when four days before her death Queen Mary granted it to the Bishop of Winchester. (fn. 255) It does not appear that the bishop ever entered into possession. Queen Elizabeth presented in 1561, (fn. 256) and twenty years later included the advowson of Wandsworth in a grant to Edmund Downing and Peter Ashton. (fn. 257) By them it was probably conveyed either to Miles or Robert Knaresborough. A lease of the rectory granted by the abbot to one John Philpot had been transferred in 1538 to Miles, (fn. 258) who at some date between 1561 and 1581 was accused of misappropriating the vicar's tithes. (fn. 259) He was possibly the father of Robert Knaresborough who presented in 1585 and 1596 (fn. 260) and was described on his monument in the church as late servant of Queen Elizabeth and formerly patron. (fn. 261) After his death in 1611 (fn. 262) the advowson came to Susan Powell, (fn. 263) widow of another of Queen Elizabeth's servants, (fn. 264) and when she died in 1630 (fn. 265) to her cousin and next heir Sibyl wife of Anthony Stertevant. (fn. 266) In 1633 it was settled by Anthony and Sibyl on themselves, with remainder to Sibyl's daughter Dorcas Cason, after whose death it was to be sold for the benefit of her children. (fn. 267) This took effect in 1648, when Thomas Andrews became patron. (fn. 268) He and apparently his heir of the same name after him (fn. 269) presented until 1687, and in 1699 the advowson belonged to Nathaniel Andrews, (fn. 270) possibly as trustee for the two daughters of Thomas Andrews, one of whom, Mary wife of John Acworth, was in possession in 1713. (fn. 271) The other sister Martha died without issue in 1711. Mrs. Acworth died in 1713. (fn. 272) Her grandson Thomas Andrews Acworth (fn. 273) was patron in 1778, (fn. 274) and is said to have been succeeded five years later by his three sisters and co-heirs, (fn. 275) presumably the Harriet Acworth, Anne wife of Harry Sedgwick and Sophia wife of Edward Thornton who owned the advowson in 1785. (fn. 276) From them the patronage had come before 1829 to the Rev. W. Borrodaile, then incumbent, (fn. 277) and remained in his family until 1844. (fn. 278) The Rev. Dr. Pemberton, patron from 1844 to 1853, (fn. 279) was succeeded by Dr. Robinson, who held the advowson in 1872. (fn. 280) The Rev. J. Buckmaster, another Wandsworth vicar, and his representatives after him were patrons until 1888, (fn. 281) since which year the living has been in the gift, first of Mr. Reed and then of his executors. (fn. 282)

The rectory from the time of Abbot Laurence (fn. 283) until 1540 seems to have been appropriated to the house of the sick brothers of Westminster. (fn. 284) The title of the abbot, which was called in question in 1372, was then established by the production of the instrument of appropriation. (fn. 285) After the surrender of the abbey the rectorial tithes descended with the advowson, until John Acworth sold them to the trustees of the Marshall charity in or before 1738. (fn. 286) There was a vicarage-house here in 1535, (fn. 287) and another was built for John Griffith, the vicar, before his execution, when the greater part was still unpaid for. (fn. 288)

William Sharparowe, a miller of Southwark, in 1526 left money for a trental of masses, and for a priest to sing masses for a year for himself, his parents and his children in Wandsworth Church. (fn. 289) About this time there was a hermit in the parish. (fn. 290)

The patronage of the churches of St. Anne, St. Faith, St. Mary Magdalene and St. Andrew, Earlsfield, belongs to the Bishop of Southwark, the advowsons of St. Mary, Summers Town, St. Paul, Wimbledon Park, St. Stephen, and St. Michael and All Angels, Southfields, are in the hands of trustees.

CHARITIES

The charities mentioned below are administered under a scheme of the Charity Commissioners 12 March 1895 under the title of the Consolidated Charities, comprising the charities of

1. Elizabeth Tyroe, founded by will proved in the P.C.C. 4 October 1624, consisting of two-fifths of the rents of four houses, Nos. 77 to 83 High Street, Wandsworth, amounting to £68 16s. a year.

2. Mrs. Susanna Powell, will, 1630, consisting of a rent-charge of £22 16s. issuing out of the rectorial tithes of Wandsworth.

3. Henry Smith, will, 1627, and Elizabeth Blackwell, the real estate consisting of three cottages and about 113 acres of land at Carshalton, producing £200 a year or thereabouts.

4. Henry Smith's Thurlaston Estate, being twentytwo hundred and twentieths of the net income thereof, amounting to about £54 a year.

5. Nicholas Tonnet and Sir Alan Brodrick, kt., about 1680, formerly consisting of an estate at Willesden, which was sold in 1874 and proceeds invested with the official trustees (see below).

6. Mrs. Catherine Paggen, will about 1727, legacy of £50, and Mrs. Catherine Morrice, will about 1744, legacy of £50.

7. Margaret Hodshon, will, proved in the P.C.C. 1779, legacies of £50 for the charity school and £200 for apprenticing.

8. Henry Goodwin, will, proved in 1809, legacy of £500. These legacies are included in the stock mentioned below.

9. Mary Wood, will, proved in the P.C.C. 1814, legacy of £600 for providing £10 a year for the School of Industry for Girls, residue for the poor and £350 consols for the said school, which ceased to exist in 1866.

By an order of the court, 8 February 1899, a sum of £1,291 10s. 8d. consols was transferred to the official trustees in respect of these legacies.

10. Sarah Sophia Forsyth, will, proved at London, 1859, legacy of £200 (less duty) included in stock mentioned below.

In the result of the dealings with the abovementioned endowments the official trustees hold in respect of the eleemosynary branch of the Consolidated Charities a sum of £17,942 17s. 8d. London County 3 per cent. stock and £7,721 17s. 11d. consols, producing £731 6s. 8d. yearly, and a sum of £1,239 10s. 10d. consols in respect of the educational branch, producing £30 19s. 8d. yearly.

After payment of outgoings and expenses, and of the yearly sums of £5 to the vicar and £1 to the parish clerk, the net income of the charities is applied as follows: The income of Margaret Hodshon's charity and £2 out of the income of Susanna Powell's charity, amounting together to £11 14s. 8d., are applied in aid of the funds of the Technical Institute; 3s. per month as bread money is paid to each of twenty-five poor widows, and twenty-five pensioners receive stipends at the rate of from 6s. to 10s. per week. The sum of £15 a year is likewise given to the Wandsworth Nursing Association. Under clause 35 of the scheme, subject as aforesaid, the trustees are authorized to apply the income of the charities for the general benefit of the poor in one or more of the modes therein defined.

The charity of Francis Millington, founded by will, 1692, and augmented by John Emilie in 1704, was formerly under the administration of the governing body appointed under the Special Act 22 Geo. III of Christ's Hospital, and is now regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners, 25 May 1909.

The scheme directs that the endowments shall be administered by the trustees of the Consolidated Charities.

The trust funds consist of £1,318 17s. 5d. Local Loans 3 per cent. stock, £5,565 7s. 1d. India 3 per cent. stock and £633 3s. 5d. consols, which are held by the official trustees.

The annual dividends, amounting to £222 6s. 8d., are applied in pensions to thirty-six almsmen at £4 each and in gifts of great-coats to the same almsmen.

Church Estates.

—These estates, the rents of which were from a very early period applied for the repairs and other purposes connected with the parish church, consisted of two properties, one of which was known as the Bridgefield Estate and the other as the Church House Estate, the former being ascribed to the gift of John Warner, otherwise John Lincoln, who by a deed dated 20 January 1493 granted his lands in Wandsworth known as 'le Lambe super le Hoop' to feoffees upon the trusts of his will. (fn. 291)

The Bridgefield Estate formerly consisted of a messuage and garden ground on the north side of the High Street at Ram Corner (now the corner of High Street and Red Lion Street) and certain osier and other lands, and the Church House Estate consisted of a house and garden ground on the south side of the High Street, nearly opposite the church and certain pieces of meadow and osier land.

The trust properties now consist of Nos. 58 to 66 (even Nos.) High Street, annual letting value £250, and Nos. 77 to 83 (odd Nos.), annual letting value £172, of which two-fifths is apportioned to the Consolidated Charities in respect of Elizabeth Tyroe's charity.

The official trustees also hold £3,069 11s. 11d. consols in respect of these charities, producing £76 14s. 4d. yearly.

The income of the church estates is carried towards the general expenses of the parish church. The dividends on a sum of £84 13s. consols belonging to Sir Henry St. John's charity and of a sum of £105 10s. 10d. consols, also held by the official trustees, belonging to Viscount St. John's charity are carried to the same account.

In 1897 George Nind by will, proved at London 24 March, demised and bequeathed the residue of his real and personal estate to trustees upon trust to apply the income thereof to such purposes calculated to increase the efficiency of the Church of England in the parishes of St. Anne, All Saints, St. Faith, St. Andrew (Earlsfield), St. Mary (Summers Town), St. Paul and St. Barnabas, St. Michael (Southfields) and St. Stephen, Wandsworth, or any other Church of England parish for the time being in Wandsworth, including the provision of clerical or lay help; also in deserving objects of charity. All payments to be made so far as possible on or about 16 May, the date of testator's birthday.

The net residuary estate after payment of the duties exceeded £58,000, which was represented by government, municipal and railway securities producing £1,800 a year or thereabouts in the names of special trustees, three in number, of which £1,400 is under a declaration of trust, 15 November 1897, executed by the special trustees, applied in salaries of curates and parish nurses working in the eight districts above-named and towards the expenses of missionrooms therein, and as to £250 for the purposes mentioned in another declaration of trust of 13 June 1899, including grants for the relief of the poor.

An annual payment of £50 is also made to the Garratt Lane Infant School. See below.

All Saints' Free and Auxiliary National Schools. (fn. 292)

—The school endowments consist of the site and buildings in Putney Bridge Road, formerly called Love Lane, and a sum of £2,165 1s. 9d. consols with the official trustees, arising from the sale in 1860 of an estate at Asharst, Kent, acquired under the will of William Wicks, who died about the year 1715. One moiety of the dividends, amounting to £27 1s. 2d., is applied as to £20 a year in providing clothing for twelve boys attending the school, and the balance in aid of the general school expenses, and the other moiety under an order of the Charity Commissioners, 30 March 1860, is paid to the treasurer of St Anne's National Schools. See under district of St. Anne's.

These schools also benefited under the wills of Elizabeth Barchard, proved in the P C.C. 26 February 1827, and William Williams, proved in the P.C.C. 9 January 1845, and by a gift of Arthur Pryor for the general purposes thereof.

In 1893 Marian Barker by will, proved at London 1 August, gave to the vicar and churchwardens of All Saints £300, now represented by £331 9s. 7d. Metropolitan Consolidated £2 10s. per cent. stock, with the official trustees, the annual dividends, amounting to £8 5s. 8d., to be applied in the distribution of blankets, flannel, or coals at Christmas time.

St. Anne's.

—The National schools consist of site and buildings near St. Anne's Hill, comprised in deed, 30 September 1858 (enrolled) and a moiety of the dividends on £2,165 1s. 9d. consols, amounting to £27 1s. 2d., which is applied as to £20 in providing clothing for twelve boys attending the school and the balance in aid of the general school income. See All Saints' Free and Auxiliary National Schools above. The official trustees also hold a sum of £600 consols, producing £15 a year in trust for these schools.

The Garratt Lane Infant School, now used as a Sunday school, (fn. 293) is known as the Mission Hall, Iron Mill Place, and is managed by the vicar and churchwardens, being supported in part by church offertories and by a yearly grant of £50 from Nind's Wandsworth Church trust. See above.

There is a sum of £284 12s. 3d. consols, representing a gift of Miss Dubuisson to the St. Anne's Maternity Society, standing in the names of the Rev. Norman Campbell and another, the annual dividends of which amount to £7 2s. in aid of the funds of the Maternity Societies for St. Anne's and St. Faith.

In 1880 James Barker by will, proved at London, 30 July, bequeathed to the rector and churchwardens a legacy of £100, and on the death of his sister, Marian Barker (which event happened in 1893), a further sum of £300, the income thereof to be applied in the distribution of blankets and flannel in the winter months. The legacies are represented by £406 4s. 5d. consols, with the official trustees, producing £10 3s. yearly, which is applied for the benefit of St. Anne, St. Faith and St. Andrew's, Earlsfield.

St. Mary, Summers Town.

—In 1845 Joshua Stanger by deed gave £200 consols, now £250 consols with the official trustees, the annual dividends amounting to £6 5s. to be applied as a church repair fund. In 1893 the church referred to in the deed was pulled down and a temporary iron church erected. The dividends have been accumulated.

St. Stephen.

—In 1885 John Fry Jenks by his will, proved at London, 28 April, bequeathed £750 stock, now £750 consols, in the names of Edward Chester and two others, producing £18 15s. a year, the dividends on £650 part thereof—subject to the keeping in repair testator's grave in Norwood Cemetery—to be received by the licensed curate or curates for their own use, and the dividends on £100, other part thereof, in gifts of money or articles in kind to poor of over fifty years of age resident in the ecclesiastical district of St. Stephen's.