Ewhurst History Research

Ewhurst History Society is interested in research into all aspects of local history.

Ewhurst & Ellen's Green war memorials

Ewhurst resident Andy Bailey has embarked on a project to research the lives and stories of all those whose names are recorded on the Ewhurst war memorial. During the first phase he is concentrating on the fallen of the First World War and is appealing for information. Andy writes....

I am currently researching Ewhurst during the First World War, the men who served, and the men who did not return. My concern is that with the passage of time, these men may only be remembered by relatives and the future village may only identify this period with a list of names on the war memorial. I would like to make more information available to whoever may show interest in the future, so that the memory of these local men may endure.

In all likelihood this will take the form of an internet site and some form of printed material to be held within the village for future reference.

If you can assist with any piece of information, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, please do not hesitate to contact Andy Bailey at: Andys320@hotmail.com

Houses of Ewhurst and Ellen's Green

Our current project is researching the history of individual houses in the parish and we hope to publish a book in a few years time. As part of our general research we have been looking at Manorial records, Census records and the Tithe Map, and now have a detailed file of information.

Bibliography of Ewhurst references

Click here for an extensive bibliography of references to Ewhurst, its houses and inhabitants in books and other publications. The document is in Adobe Acrobat PDF format, for which you will need Acrobat Reader. This is freely available at www.adobe.com

Manorial Records

The parish of Ewhurst is covered by seven manors - Gumshall Towerhill, Gumshall Netley, Somersbury, Coneyhurst, Pollingfold, Vachery, and Westland.

Manors developed as a feudal system of land holding during the Saxon period. The principal manor in this area was the Manor of Gumesele which originally included the present day Gomshall, Shere, Ewhurst and Cranleigh, but by the time of the Norman Conquest had been split into two - Shere (including Cranleigh) and Gumesele (including Ewhurst). Shere was held by Edith, the widow of Edward the Confessor, but Gumsesle was a Royal Manor held by King Harold himself. In 1154, Henry II divided the Manor of Gumesele into three - West Gomshall, East Gomshall and Somersbury. Somersbury was wholly within what is now Ewhurst parish and both of the Manors of Gomshall held parcels of land in Ewhurst. In 1240 West Gomshall was granted to the Abbey of Netley in Hampshire and became known as Gomshall Netley. East Gomshall was granted to The Abbey of St Mary Graces, Tower Hill, London in 1376 and became known as Gomshall Towerhill. After the dissolution both Manors were acquired by the Bray family, who already held Shere Eboracum (Shere) and Shere Vachery (Cranleigh). The Bray family still hold the title of Lord of the Manor.

Smaller manors were created by a process known as subinfeudation. Pollingfold was a sub-manor held from Gomshall Towerhill. and Coneyhurst was a sub-manor held from Somersbury. Breach and Maybanks are both described as manors in the Victoria County History, but no records survive for them. Breach was held from Gomshall Netley and Maybanks from Pollingfold. In addition parts of the western side of the parish were included in the manor of Shere Vachery and the Manor of Westland which was part of the Evelyn Estates held land in Ellen's Green.

Ewhurst History Society has extracts from manorial records relating to houses and land in Ewhurst, but because of the complexity of the holdings there is also some overlap with neighbouring parishes of Cranleigh, Shere, Abinger and Rudgwick.

Census

We have transcripts of the Ewhurst Census for 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, & 1891.

Tithe Map

We have a transcript of the Tithe Apportionment for the Parish.