In 1189–90 Nigel le Broc held land called TROTTESWORTH of the Abbot of Chertsey for the fourth part of a knight's fee, and at some period during the latter half of the 12th century Maurice de Trotteswrth and others held land in Surrey of the abbot for the same service. Maurice de Trotteswrth and others held land in Surrey of the abbot for the same service.
In 1252 a dispute arose between Richard Russel of Trottesworth and the Abbot of Chertsey concerning view of frankpledge in the hundred of Godley. It was finally agreed that Richard and his heirs should come to view of frankpledge at Godley Hill every yeare at the feast of the Epiphany. The abbot in return granted him a certain marsh called Losehall. During the 13th century Richard Russel held this ¼ knight's fee in Trotsworth or Troccesworth.
In 1303 the Abbot of Chertsey granted to Richard de Graveney of Thorpe and his heirs land in Thorpe described as 'a certain place in Lupinbrok lying between the land of Henry de Middleton called Renebrug and the pasture of Thomas de Sodyngton,' for which an annual rent of 2s. 8d. was to be paid to the monastery, and in 1339 Alice wife of Richard de Graveney held land in Thorpe, including a mill, for her lifetime, with remainder to her children Reginald and Alice and the heirs of Reginald. This may have been the land which was later known as the manor of GRAVENEY, but further trace of this family in Thorpe does not appear, and the manor passed to the family of Thorpe, who were lords of Graveney during the 15th century. John Thorpe, son of John Thorpe, left the manor to his daughter Alice, who married Robert Osberne, from whom she was divorced. She afterwards married — Flemyng, probably between 1442 and 1456.
Egham Causeway, leading from the town of Egham to the bridge of Staines, was constructed in the time of Henry III. It was used both as a highway and also as a dyke, to prevent the inundation of the surrounding country by the River Thames. In 1350 a commission was appointed to find the persons responsible for the repair of the causeway damaged by flood. As a result of the inquiry it was stated that the causeway had been constructed by a certain Thomas de Oxenford, at his own expense, in the reign of Henry III, for the easement of men crossing by the King's Way at Redewynd (v. Chertsey), which had formerly been the highway, and which had fallen into a bad condition. Thomas de Oxenford had not only built, but had also repaired his causeway, and the commission of 1350 therefore declared that no man was bound to repair the same except of his own free will.
The first definite reference to the manor of MILTON does not occur until the middle of the 14th century, 1348, when Matilda Gatelyn, or Gacelyn, received licence from the bishop to celebrate divine service in the oratory of her manor of Middleton. The history of land, which evidently formed the nucleus of Milton manor as in 1299 Henry de Middleton and Matilda his wife held a messuage, a mill, and lands in Egham and Thorpe. A record occurs in 1319 showing that John Gatelyn and Matilda, together with Thomas son of Henry de Middleton, disseised the Abbot of Chertsey of various lands, of which, however, he afterwards regained possession. After the death of Matilda the manor probably reverted to Thomas, her son by her first husband, as in the early 16th century the manor was still in possession of the Middletons.
There were Thorpe lands called Redwynde in Thorpe which were granted for life to John the Parker in 1377 for keeping the king's deer. The Water of Redwynde is the old name of the stream which skirts the parish and joins the Bourne Brook in Chertsey. In 1385 the causeway was found to be 'so destroyed and broken that the loss of all the adjacent country is to be feared,' whereupon the Sheriff of Surrey was ordered to make public proclamation 'that all persons, ecclesiastical as well as secular, shall each, according to the extent of his holding, cause the same to be repaired with all haste.' In 1392, however, the abbot declared that, in spite of this decision, he was still charged by the 'procurance and malevolent instigation of his adversaries' with the repair, and prayed for remedy.
In 1428 John Tendale held in Egham ¼ part of a knight's fee which Margaret de Trottesworth formerly held of the Abbot of Chertsey. In 1189–90 Nigel le Broc held land called TROTTESWORTH of the Abbot of Chertsey for the fourth part of a knight's fee. The manor afterwards passed to the monastery of Abingdon in Berkshire, though the date of the conveyance is not apparent. At the suppression of this monastery in 1538 the manor of Trottesworth in Thorpe and Egham, with a tenement called le Strande, was valued at £5 3s. 4d. Among the possessions of the priory of Broomhall in Berkshire when it became escheat to the Crown in 1522 were certain tenements in Egham and Thorpe, including 32 acres of meadow in Egham, of which the priory had apparently been seised for some time.
A lawsuit concerning various feoffments of the GRAVENEY manor made by Alice Flemyng lasted for many years. The heiresses of Alice Flemyng were her cousins Maud wife of William Revell, and Ela wife of Robert Blount. They were certainly living as late as 1471, and presumably held the manor after Alice's death. It appears probable that the manor passed from these families, by marriage of female heirs, to the families of Wykes and Aughton, as in 1526–7 the manor, then referred to for the first time by the alternative name of HALL PLACE, was conveyed to John Chambers, clerk, and others, by Robert and Margaret Wykes; a quitclaim being made from Robert and Margaret and the heirs of Margaret, from Joan Aughton, a widow, and the heirs of Joan, and from Henry Wykes. In 1543 Sir Anthony Browne and Richard Millis received licence to alienate the manor to the Dean and College of St. Stephen's, Westminster and Merton were separated about 1547 disolve of the manor.
The old south-western road from London came across Staines Bridge and through Egham parish, and the place was important for inns in coaching days; notorious also for the robberies committed on the road, so that according to Aubrey Egham had paid more in compensation for robberies than any other parish in England. Among the old houses in Egham parish the most notable is Fosters, or Great Fosters, or Foster House. It is said traditionally, and probably untruly, to have been a hunting-lodge of Queen Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth granted the site of the manor of Egham to William Grene in 1579 for a period of twenty-one years. In 1545 the manor was granted to John Broxholme, John Bellew and others in trust for Anthony Bond. The next yeare Anthony Bond leased Trottesworth to William Knight for a term of eighty-one years, dating from 1552. Bond sold the manor to the Crown shortly afterwards, and in 1555 Anne, Duchess of Somerset, received a life grant of it. She died in 1587. William Knight was still in possession of the lease in 1588, when the queen granted the reversion to James Bond for a period of twenty-one years.
On the death of Elizabeth More, who married, as her third husband, Sir Thomas Egerton, the HALL PLACE manor was therefore divided, one half going to Brian Annesley, the other half, in which he had remitted his claim, to Francis Wolley, son and heir of Elizabeth by her second husband. The manor of GRAVENEY, but further trace of this family in Thorpe does not appear, and the manor passed to the family of Thorpe, who were lords of Graveney during the 15th century. Sir Francis Wolley died in 1609, and left his share of the manor to William Minterne his cousin, with remainder to Elizabeth, daughter of William. She married Sir Francis Leigh, and their son Wolley Leigh inherited the whole of the manor of Hall Place in 1627, his grandfather, William Minterne, having acquired to himself and his heirs the moiety of the manor left to Brian Annesley. Hall Place was henceforth held with the manor of Thorpe; it apparently ceased to be regarded as a separate manor, and the whole was called Thorpe and Hall Place in the division of 1768.
In Egham, as in the other riverside lands belonging to the monastery, the abbot and convent had constructed weirs for catching fish. Certain MILTON lands belonging to the manor were sold about this time by Henry de Middleton to Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester and founder of the college of Corpus Christi, Oxford, and these lands, together with the manor of Middleton or Milton, were granted to the college in 1518, in 1622 Trumpes Mill of Corpus Christi on the stream divides the parishes of Egham and Thorpe. A water-mill known as Trumpes Mill was granted with the manor to the college of Corpus Christi. Tithes from it to the value of 21s. 4d. remained due to the almoner of Chertsey Abbey until the Dissolution.
The name BROOMEHALL in Egham is as old as the perambulation of the forest boundaries in 1226. Among the possessions of the priory of Broomhall in Berkshire when it became escheat to the Crown in 1522 were certain tenements in Egham and Thorpe, including 32 acres of meadow in Egham, of which the priory had apparently been seised for some time. In October 1522 the king granted the site and possessions of the late priory to the Master and Fellows of St. John's College, Cambridge. The deed included a 'manor' in Egham which was undoubtedly the land previously referred to.
Egham manor was included in all subsequent confirmations of the abbey land, and was held with those of Chertsey, Thorpe, and Chobham (q.v.) until the surrender of the abbey in 1537, since which time the manor of Egham has remained in the Crown. At the survey of the priory's possessions in 1535 the manor of Parnish in Surrey was valued at £5 2s. 6d. The estates of the priory, which were soon afterwards surrendered, were granted in 1537 to the monks of Chertsey in the new foundation at Bisham, but reverted to the Crown at the final suppression of this monastery in 1538. In 1544 the college sold to the king a portion of their land in Egham, about 44 acres, called Knowle Grove.
Henry VIII granted the manor of Parnish from Egham to Andrew Lord Windsor in 1539 for life, with remainder to his sons William, Edmund, and Thomas. William Lord Windsor sold this manor and others to the king for £1,000 in 1544. Edward VI granted it in 1550 to Sir Thomas Smith, a settlement on the latter's heirs being made in 1577. With the Chertsey manors Egham was leased to Sir William Fitz William in 1550 for thirty years, and after his death the lease was renewed to his widow Joan, who died in 1574. The PARK OF POTENALL or PORTNALL belonged anciently to the Crown. It is not clear when it was imparked, but in 1485 the office of parker in the king's park of Potenall in the forest of Windsor was given to John Molle. In 1528 Henry VIII granted the park to Sir William Fitz William and his heirs, 'for the service of one red rose annually.' During the latter half of the 18th century it is referred to as a manor held by families named Walker and Day. In 1550 Thorpe manor was leased for thirty years to William Fitz William, who was afterwards knighted. In 1569 his widow Joan received a twenty-one years' lease of the lands. She died in 1574.
Land at THORPE, '5 mansas in loco qui dicitur Thorp,' was given to the abbey of Chertsey by Frithwald before 675, in which charter the boundaries of Thorpe are given. The manor of Thorpe is included with those of Chertsey, Egham, and Chobham in all subsequent confirmations of this grant made to the abbey. In 1086 it was held by the abbey as 7 hides, having been assessed in King Edward's time for 10, its value at both periods being £12. and remained with the abbey until the Dissolution in 1537. thirty-years' lease of the manor had been granted by the abbot to Richard Wykes in 1509, and in 1530 Maud Broke also received a grant for the same number of years, to date from the expiration of Richard Wykes's tenancy. She afterwards married Thomas Ford, and they entered into possession in 1539, when they sold their lease to John Balnet. A dispute concerning the stock, cattle, and stable implements, &c., which belonged to the manor, but which Wykes refused to hand over to the new tenants, terminated in favour of Wykes. In 1587 James Bond, described as queen's tenant of the manor of Thorpe, received an order to alter a dove-house there. A grant of the site of the manor for thirty years had been made in 1571 to Henry Radecliffe, but in 1596 a further grant for twenty-one years was made to John Hibberd.
In 1610 William Minterne received a grant of Thorpe. James I granted the manor itself to Henry, Prince of Wales, and after his death to Sir Francis Bacon and others, in trust for Prince Charles for a term of ninety-nine years. Thorpe and Hall Place later united and of Wolley Leigh, grandson and heir of William Minterne, by his daughter Elizabeth, who had married Sir Francis Leigh, both manors have remained in this family since that time.
A survey of Egham Manor in 1622 includes land called Broomhall Piece, the property of St. John's, and in the tenure of William Minterne. The college still holds the manor of Broomhall, in Egham.
THE BAGSHOT sand rises into considerable eminences, of which by far the most famous is Coopers Hill, remarkable not for its actual height but for its position above the Thames Valley, affording views from Windsor to London, and celebrated by Sir John Denham, a native of Egham, in his well-known poem, which was written on the spot just before the Civil War and published in 1643. Fosters or Inworths became a separate holding, for in 1622, when Sir John Doddridge was holding the messuage and lands called Fosters, Sir John Denham had the site of the manor of Imworth whose estates were sequestered, and in 1648 conveyed to John Thynne. Thynne remained in possession, and his son was resident at Imworth in 1673. Sir John Denham the elder had rebuilt the house. This is called the Place or Parsonage House by Aubrey, because DENHAM held the rectory without the vicarage. The Place, about a quarter of a mile north-east of Egham church, where Sir John Denham lived, was pulled down about forty years ago in the twentieth century. The manor remained in Harcourt family until 1652, when it was sold by Thomas Smith, the nephew of the original grantee, to John Lee, from whom it passed to his son John. Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of this son, married Sir Philip Harcourt, she being his second wife. Their son was John Harcourt of Ankerwick, and the manor has remained in this family since that time.
In the 17th and 18th centuries occasional record is found of a reputed manor called WICK, or EGHAM WICK, in Egham. In 1618 Edward Anthony and William Willis sold the manor, which included two messuages or farms, to Francis Anthony and his heirs. In 1768 it was the property of the Rev. William Robert Jones and Elizabeth his wife, and was apparently held in the right of Elizabeth. They sold it as the 'manor or reputed manor of Egham' in 1782 to John Pitt and his heirs.
PORTNALL manor so called was conveyed in 1791 to Mr. Lowndes whose family owned property in Chertsey and Egham fifty years later. Part of the estate, however, was in the hands of Dr. Jebb, Dean of Londonderry. The site of the original park was probably not exactly where Portnall Park now is, but in Portnall Warren, where Norden's map marks Valley Wood. An Act of 1813–14 inclosed commons and common fields and pastures at Egham and on Runnimede. The award is dated 12 June 1817. The common fields were at Egham and Hythefield, and are mentioned by Stevenson as more highly rented than usual. The Act and award specially preserved rights of pasturage for certain people in the great common meadows, Runnimede, Long Mead, and Great Mead, provided always that inclosures should be thrown down to enable the horse-races held there to be continued as usual.