The overlordship of the manor of TALWORTH, or TALWORTH COURT, was from 1086, when Talworth formed part of the possessions of Richard de Tonbridge, vested in the family of Clare, passing thence to the Despensers, Beauchamps, and Nevills.
In 1086 Picot held under Richard de Tonbridge the land that had formerly been held by Alwin in Talworth, while Ralph held that land in Talworth which Edmer had formerly held. The first of these holdings was probably Talworth Court. Early in the 13th century, William Picot appears as witness to a charter of Peter de Talworth, by whom 12 acres in this place were granted to the hospital of St. Thomas of Southwark, and the Picots were still holding land there in 1291, when Henry Picot (Pycoch) granted 8 acres in Talworth to the Prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. But the manor of Talworth was probably held by the above-mentioned Peter de Talworth (who granted the advowson to Merton), and later by a family named Planaz. Among the fees of the Testa de Nevill was half a fee in Ditton and Talworth, held of the honour of Clare by John de Planaz, and in 1255 Ralph de Planaz, brother of John, demanded suit at his court of Talworth and foreign service from the Prior of Merton, who held of him the eighth part of a knight's fee there. In 1314 Herbert de Borhunte held the manor of Talworth of Gilbert de Clare, by service of the third part of a knight's fee, this property being the hereditament of his wife, who may be the Joan widow of Henry de Saye who in 1316 held the vill of Talworth. She possibly afterwards married Thomas Corbett, who with Joan his wife in 1320 granted the manor of Talworth to Hugh le Despenser, junior (the overlord in right of his wife), who had also acquired the manor of Turberville, henceforth reckoned a member of Talworth. Turberville, which was held of the manor of Sheen, was about 1312 in the tenure of John de Berewyk, whose heir at his death was Roger son of John de Husee, aged five years.
Directly after the death of John de Berewyk, Hubert de Swynesford his 'groom' entered into the manor, and afterwards granted it to Walter de Waldeshelf. Hugh le Despenser, junior, coveting the manor, then contrived to obtain a grant of it from Waldeshelf. From this date Turberville was annexed to the manor of Talworth, which had also another member called Wyke. After the death and forfeiture of Hugh le Despenser an extent of the manor of Talworth with its members Wyke and Turberville was taken in 1327, whereby it appears that at Talworth there was a moated mansion-house with a gateway and drawbridge, which contained two halls (aule), six chambers, kitchen and scullery, bake-house and brew-house and a chapel. Beyond the moat were the lands pertaining, and two granges, two ox-houses with stable and pig-sty, a garden and a water-mill. Suit was rendered to this manor by tenants holding thirty-two and a half knights' fees, and the quarter of a fee. At Wyke there was a messuage, various lands and tenants. To the messuage at Turberville a chapel was attached. The mill which was known as 'Brayest Mulne' was held of the lord of Long Ditton. In the same yeare Talworth was granted to Edmund Earl of Kent, who in 1330 was sentenced to death on a charge of being engaged in a plot to assist his brother the king, Edward II, who was said to have escaped from Berkeley, but in reality because he opposed the rule of Mortimer and the queen-mother. He died seised of the manor of Talworth with its members Wyke and Turberville, held of the honour of Gloucester by service of the fourth part of a knight's fee.
In 1330 Roger Husee petitioned the king for the manor of Turberville, as the heir of John de Berewyk, but this petition had apparently no effect. In 1330 Bartholomew de Burghersh was granted Talworth for life; but this grant must have been revoked when the young Earl of Kent was restored in his blood and honours in the yeare following the overthrow of Mortimer. The king then granted to Margaret wife of the late Earl of Kent the custody of the manor, to hold for John the younger son of Edmund, although Edmund the elder son did not die until 1333. William de Arderne in 1332 sued the countess, apparently without success, for the manor of Wyke, which was still held by her as a member of Talworth in 1347, and John Earl of Kent died in 1352 seised of the manor and its members. His sister Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent, was his heir. This Joan and her husband, Thomas de Holand, granted the manor of Talworth for life to Sir Otho de Holand, his younger brother, who died in 1359, when the manor reverted to Sir Thomas de Holand, who died in 1360, leaving his son Thomas as heir. The lastnamed Thomas died in 1397 seised of the manor of Talworth held of Lord le Despenser, and also seised of a toft, two carucates of land and a water-mill in the parish of Kingston, called 'Turbelvyle,' held of the king for 18s. rent at his manor of Sheen. He left a son Thomas through whom once more Talworth became an escheat. This last Thomas de Holand was created Duke of Surrey in 1397, and was in favour with Richard II, but after that king's deposition his title of duke was annulled, and grants were rescinded that had been made to him since the meeting of the preceding Parliament.
Joining in a conspiracy against Henry IV he was taken at Cirencester and executed by the inhabitants there in January 1399–1400. He was attainted and his estates were confiscated. Alice, his father's widow, was holding the manor at her death in 1416, and as his brother Edmund, who was apparently allowed to succeed to Thomas's estates, died without issue in 1408, the manor passed eventually to Sir John de Nevill, kt., son of Ralph first Earl of Westmorland, who had married Elizabeth, one of the sisters of this last-named Thomas de Holand. She died in January 1422–3, and Ralph de Nevill the second Earl of Westmorland was her son and heir. He granted the manor for the rent of a rose to his son John, who married Anne daughter of John Holand, Duke of Exeter, and died in March 1450–1 without issue. Anne being left a widow married her late husband's heir, who was his uncle Sir John de Nevill, kt. At her death in 1486 she was holding the manor, her son and heir being Ralph third Earl of Westmorland. He settled the manor on his son Ralph and his son's wife Edith, but Ralph dying before him in 1498, the manor reverted to him and passed at his death to his grandson Ralph then aged four years, subject, however, to the life-interest of Edith, who married Thomas, Lord Darcy.
Queen Elizabeth by her letters patent confirmed the manor to Ralph's son Henry fifth Earl of Westmorland in 1559, and he in the same yeare granted it to Sir Ambrose Cave under the name of Talworth alias Talworth Court. Sir Ambrose in 1564 conveyed the manor to George Evelyn. The manor remained with the Evelyn family until the death of Sir Edward Evelyn, bart., in 1692, who left three heirs; Edward Hill son of his daughter Anne, Mary wife of Sir William Glynne, bart., and Penelope wife of Sir Joseph Alston. By his will he devised this manor as Talworth or Talworth Court to Dame Mary Glynne. Both Mary and her son William predeceased Sir William Glynne, who devised the manor of Talworth or Talworth Court to his brother Sir Stephen Glynne. He conveyed it in 1724 to Hugh Viscount Falmouth and others, trustees of the will of Sir William Scawen, in trust for Thomas Scawen. From Thomas it descended to James Scawen his son, who in 1777 mortgaged the manor to Robert Waters of Whitehaven, and it was sold by his trustees in 1781 to Nathaniel Polhill, tobacconist, M.P. for Southwark. He died in 1782, and Nathaniel his son and heir died in the following November, leaving an infant son. This son dying just before he would have come of age in April 1802, the estate came to his uncle John Polhill, owner in 1810. Before 1835 the manor was bought by the fourth Earl of Egmont. The land was sold before the death of the seventh earl in 1897, and a number of small houses were built upon it by a building company. Talworth Court was burnt down in April 1911.
Holand. England in a border argent.
Nevill, Earl of West morland. Gules a saltire argent.The manor of NORTH TALWORTH may be identified with the land which previous to the Conquest had been held by Edmer, and in 1086 was held by Ralph of Richard de Tonbridge. Afterwards it seems to have been held under the Clares by the Dammartins and in 1314 appears among the fees held of Gilbert de Clare by Thomas de Warblington, who held the manors of Tandridge, North Talworth, and Ockley by service of three and a half knights' fees. John de Warblington held the same of Hugh le Despenser in 1349, and the three manors were in 1376 held by Alice the widow of John de Warblington.
In 1440 they formed part of the fees of Isabel, Countess of Warwick, daughter of Thomas le Despenser, grandson of Hugh, being described as those which Thomas de Warblington formerly held. There seems to be no further trace of this manor, the overlordship of which was in the same hands as that of Long Ditton, with which perhaps it was united, unless it be the property in Talworth of which John Danaster, baron of the Exchequer, died seised in 1540, which he settled on his daughter Anne, afterwards the wife of Owen Bray of Chobham. Manning and Bray say that Danaster's land was held in 1571 by Margaret Lambard (Lambert), whose heir was Christopher Muschamp. Christopher married a daughter of a Margaret Lambert, who was also apparently his cousin. He died in 1587. His will was dated from his capital messuage of Talworth, and he held lands in Carshalton, Beddington, Sutton, and Wallington 'eidem capitali messuagio spectantes.' His widow Dorothy, who had been apparently his second wife, had a life interest with reversion to his son Henry.
The priory of Merton held a manor in Talworth, called by Manning and Bray SOUTH TALWORTH, which was also part of the Clare fee. At an early date Huelmus le Fleming acquired a virgate of land in Talworth from Robert, Prior of Merton, which the prior had before received from Hugh son of Isold. In 1255 the Prior of Merton held the eighth part of a knight's fee in Talworth of Ralph de Planaz, for which he denied that he owed suit of court at the manor of Talworth, and in 1314 among the fees of Gilbert de Clare was a manor of Talworth held by the Prior of Merton by the service of a quarter of a knight's fee, value 100s. In 1349, 1376, and 1440, the inquisitions on the Clares and their descendants mention the same fee.
Merton Priory. Or fretty azure with eagles argent on the fret
At its dissolution the priory held rents of assize in Kingston, Ditton, Talworth, Chessington, Hook, and elsewhere amounting to £1 16s. 1˝d. These were annexed to the honour of Hampton Court. The Knights of St. John in the reign of Henry III held a knight's fee in Talworth of which they had been enfeoffed by Henry Kyryel. Their prior in that reign was fined for withdrawing his men of Talworth so that they did not render suit at the king's court at Kingston, nor pay tallage when due. In 1294 Henry Pycot granted 8 acres in Talworth to the prior of this order.
A church existed at Long Ditton at the time of the Domesday Survey.
The church of ST. MARY is a building of Godalming stone in the style of the 13th century, consisting of a chancel, chamber, vestry, nave, transepts, aisles, and south porch. It was erected in 1878–80 some distance to the north of a former building on a neighbouring site; the foundations of this are still visible, and some portions of its chancel walls still stand. It was of a small Greek-cross plan and built of brick in the place of the ancient building, which dated partly from the 12th century and which had fallen into a bad state of decay. Nothing remains to show the size and appearance of the ancient church, but from the disposition of the churchyard it must have been very small, no larger than the 18th-century building. Some of the floor slabs and mural monuments have been left in their original places in the 18th-century remains. The earliest is a slab to Thomas Evelyn, 1659, and there are others to Sir Edward Evelyn, bart., 1692, Lady Mary Evelyn, 1696, Lady Anne Evelyn, 1669, and to other members of the same family, also to Anthony Balam, February 1691–2, Mary infant daughter of Sir William Glynne, bart., 1692, and other later slabs, besides some modern mural tablets. Several ancient brasses were removed to the new building and are now affixed to the walls. John Haymer was rector of the church from 1492 to 1535.
The communion plate consists of a silver cup dated 1659 but without a hall-mark, a stand paten with the hall-mark of 1770, 'The gift of a worthy person to the parish of Long Ditton,' a large silver flagon of 1715, a smaller cup and stand paten of 1894, and a salver of 1856. The first book of the registers is a parchment volume containing baptisms, marriages and burials 1564 to 1655, the second is a large paper book with baptisms 1659 to 1812, marriages 1659 to 1752, and burials 1658 to 1812; the third is a paper copy of part of the second book, from 1695 to 1710; the fourth has marriages from 1754 to 1793, and the fifth continues them to 1812. There is also a book of churchwardens' accounts and vestry minutes dating from 1663, but it gives little information as to the repairs to and state of the fabric; there were many repairs carried out in 1675
The advowson was claimed by the Prior of Merton at the end of the 13 th century against the lord of the manor of Long Ditton as having been granted by Peter de Talworth to the Priory of Merton and confirmed by King Henry the elder. The Priors of Merton presented until the Dissolution, but did not appropriate the church. Edward VI granted the advowson of the rectory to David Vincent and the advowson then followed the descent of the manor of Long Ditton. Anne Evelyn, widow, presented in 1662 and 1665. Sir Evelyn Alston sold the advowson to Sir James Clarke in 1700. An Act of Parliament was passed in 1753 for the sale of the advowson after the death of the Rev. Joseph Clarke, and it was then sold, according to Manning and Bray, to Mrs. Pennicott. George Elers, as a trustee for Mrs. Pennicott, presented in 1750, but he with Mary his wife sold the advowson in 1767 to New College, Oxford, to which it still belongs.