BLETCHINGLEY, or BLECHINGLEY, a borough
and parish (formerly a market-town), in the first division
of the hundred of TANDRIDGE, county of SURREY,
24 miles (E.) from Guildford, and 20 (S.) from London,
containing 1187 inhabitants. The town is pleasantly situated
on an eminence commanding an extensive prospect
of the South Downs and other parts of Sussex:
it is of considerable antiquity, and had a castle, erected
soon after the Conquest, by Gilbert, Earl of Clare, which
was demolished by Prince Edward after the battle of
Lewes, which took place in 1264, and the foundations
alone are now remaining. The market has long been
discontinued: fairs are held on June 22nd and November
2nd, for horses and hogs, and for the sale of lean
cattle brought from Scotland and Wales. The Croydon
rail-road passes through the northern part of the parish.
A bailiff and other officers for the internal regulation
of the town are appointed at the court leet of the lord
of the manor. The borough received the elective franchise
in the 23rd of Edward I., since which time it has
continued to return two members to parliament: the
right of election is vested in the burgage-holders, in
number one hundred and thirty. Matthew Russell,
Esq. is patron of the borough; there is no returning
officer, the bailiff taking no part in elections. The livBLE
ing is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Surrey, and
diocese of Winchester, rated in the king's books at
£19. 19. 4£., and in the patronage of the Rev. J. Kenrick.
The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a spacious
and venerable structure, in the early style of English
architecture, with a low tower; it had a lofty spire,
which was destroyed by lightning in 1606. Near the
church is a charity school for twenty-five boys, founded
by Mr. John Whatman, who, in the 8th of Elizabeth,
endowed it with a messuage now producing £23 per
annum, to which Mr. Bostock, of Tandridge, added a
house and garden for the master. Almshouses for ten
aged men and women were built by the inhabitants, in
1668, to which the rector, Dr. Charles Hampton, added
another, and gave a rent-charge of £1.6. 8., for supplying
the alms-people with fuel. This town is near a
Roman road, and at a short distance, in the parish of
Caterham, is a fortification, called the Cardinal's Cap.
At Pendhill, in this parish, some workmen discovered
part of the foundations of a Roman bath, the different
apartments in which were paved, and some of the walls
lined with Roman tiles. There are inconsiderable vestiges
of the residence of Earl Godwin, who retreated to
this place when his estates in Kent were inundated by
the sea.