During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries St. Peter Chertsey abbey was engaged in many disputes, the settlement of which, involving litigation and papal arbitration. Up to the end of the thirteenth century there was a marked absence of appropriation in connection with this house. The taxation roll of 1291 shows that the annual value of the various Surrey manors of the abbey amounted to £135 19s. 8d. There was in addition an income of £7 0s. 7d. from temporalities in seven London parishes, and £7 from the diocese of Salisbury. The Bishop of Winchester in 1292 permitted the abbot and convent to retain to their own uses the church of Bookham which was of their patronage, then void by the resignation of John of London, the late rector, so that they presented a suitable person to perform divine service there. The grant which was confirmed by the Crown, recited the permission granted to the abbey by Pope Clement III. in 1190 whereby they might retain in their own hands the parish churches of Bookham, Epsom, Ewell, Waltham, Horley, Cobham, and Coulsdon, and the chapels of Chertsey and 'Wetesdon.' Abbot Alan was one of the signatories to the re-issue of Magna Carta in 1225. In 1313 licence was obtained from the king for the appropriation of the churches of Horley and Epsom, and in 1380 Richard allowed the convent to appropriate the church of Ewell, the three churches being already of their advowson. John de Benham obtained the church of White Waltham, Berkshire, in 1348.
The advowson of the vicarage of West Ham was apparently not then given to the abbey, but descended with the Montfitchet estates at least until 1254, when Richard de Montfitchet (d. 1267) was listed as the patron. The abbey did, however, acquire it by 1334, and held it until the Dissolution, since when it has been vested in the Crown. The architecture of All Saints church shows that by the 15th century it was of good size, fit for a populous parish near London. During the later Middle Ages there are occasional references to clergy assisting or deputizing for the vicars. During the Middle Ages the parish of All Saints included the whole of West Ham except the precincts of Stratford Abbey, which constituted a separate parish of about 24 a., with its own church of St. Mary and All Saints. The rectory of All Saints also remained with the abbey until the Dissolution. After the Dissolution the rectory was permanently split up.
ADEN is a house and small estate in CHOBHAM, sometimes called a manor in title-deeds. A John Ardern held land in Chobham in 1331. John Danaster, baron of the Exchequer, died seised of the manor of Aden in 1540. His daughter Anne, then aged two, afterwards married Owen Bray, second son of Sir Edward Bray of Shiere. Their son Edward had a son Owen, whose daughter married a Mr. Sear, and their daughter married Mr. Johnson. The manor was sold to General Broome, and then to Mr. Jerram the vicar of Chobham in 1808.
In 1273 Edward I. addressed a mandate to Abbot Bartholomew bidding him attend at Kingston on the following Monday and see to the due observance of the king's prohibition of a tournament, which it was proposed to hold on that day. If not able to go personally, he was to send the sub-prior and cellarer or two discreet monks.
The administration of the successor of Abbot Bartholomew was marked by great increase of the estates held by the abbey, and much improvement of their property and buildings, due to the energy and administrative ability of John de Rutherwyk (1307-46) who was noted for the many improvements which he carried out in his domain, surrounded the manor-house of Chobham with running water in the first yeare of his rule as abbot. The grant of Chobham to Sir George More and the later grants include land in Chobham called Langshott, Chabworth, Hill Grove, and Buttes, and a pond called Gratins Pond, also called Craches or Crathors Pond or the Greate Pond. A mill called Hurst Mill in Chobham was conveyed to the abbot by John de Hamme in the early 14th century. In 1311 he presented the conventual church of Chertsey with red velvet vestments, and a few years later had the tabula hanging above the high altar painted, and bought images of St. Catherine and St. Margaret and a new pastoral staff. By his care also the chapel at Chobham and the chancel at Epsom church were repaired, and a new chancel built at Egham. With the exception of the yeare 1335, during the whole of his rule, which lasted nearly thirty-nine years, the abbot's ardour as a landlord suffered no check. In that yeare a spirit of discontent seems to have manifested itself among the brethren, for a complaint was made containing among other things that the abbot had acquired many possessions, the value and extent of which they were unable to estimate. 'The abbot,' it is stated, 'being not a little troubled in his mind ceased from such acquisition, and rested that yeare from the labours of his body and the fatigues of his heart.'
The manor of STANNARDS, STANYORS, or FORDS was held of the abbey of Chertsey with the manor of Ham next Chertsey by John de Hamme and Alina his wife from the feoffment of Thomas de Saunterre in 1307. During the reigns of Edward II and Edward III it was held, under the de Hammes, by a family of the name of Ford, whose name became attached to that of the manor, which in later times always appears under the name of the manor of Stanners and Fords.