Burstow
Burstow is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England. Its largest settlement is Smallfield. Smallfield is ENE of Gatwick Airport and the M23 motorway, southwest of Oxted and east of Horley. Crawley is a nearby large commercial town, southwest of Burstow and southwest of Smallfield. Towards the outside of the London commuter belt, some residents commute to the capital by road or rail from here as London is to the north or Horley railway station is accessible.
History
Etymology
Burstowe and Burghstowe appear in the ; Byrstowe appears in the 15th century and Bristowe is seen as an alternative to Burstow in the 17th century.Roman and pre-Roman settlements
No artefacts are held in or referred to in the Surrey Archaeological Society predating the Anglo Saxon era in this parish.Dark and Middle Ages
The first mention of Burstow is in a church record of 1121 the north and part of the west walls of the nave, with the west half of the north wall of the chancel, are for the most part of approximately 1210 in architecture; however its listing gives its date as 12th century references including Nicholas Pevsner's Buildings of England.Manors
Burstow Manor
Records exist referring to this manor in the 13th century which is today the Grade II* listed building with tightly surrounding wide moat, Burstow Lodge formerly taking up the north of all the parish land.Stephen de Burstow, whose name appears in the seals as Stephen Fitz Hamo, held the manor in the latter part of the 12th century, and that he was succeeded by his son Roger and his grandson John, the latter holding until and during the reign of Henry III, his descendant John de Burstow while Lord here served with the Black Prince during the wars with the French. A Charter of in 1247 gave the manor free warren, weekly markets and an annual three-day Michaelmas fair. In 1366 the reversion of the manor was given by Richard de Burstow to Sir Nicholas de Loveyne before passing to his son-in-law, Sir Philip St Clere. When Sir Philip St. Clere died in 1408, very shortly after his wife, he was holding the manor of Burstow 'of the Archbishop of Canterbury by paying £6 yearly at his manor of Wimbledon. His second son placed the manor in trust to three trustees for his heir's benefit 'in order to defraud the King' of the fee which was payable annually on the manor. His son-in-law Sir John Gage died in possession of the manor in 1475, which passed in turn to his son William and then to William's son, who was another Sir John Gage. Sir Edward Gage was his son and next Lord of the Manor, who as Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex was instrumental in the persecution of Protestants by Mary I who died in his last year as sheriff; he died in 1568. His grandson sold the manor to Sir Edward Culpepper of Wakehurst holding it from 1614 to 1640 when his son Sir William Culpeper, 1st Baronet of Wakehurst inherited it and became a Baronet. A family asset until the fourth Baronet sold Burstow Manor in 1696 to Sir William Raines LLD, whose son sold it in 1733 to Joseph Kirke whose death led to it belonging to James Harris, after which his son Christopher ran the manor followed by his son James until 1808. Then Thomas followed by his son John Hugh Bainbridge; by 1870 it was acquired by Henry Kelsey of Burstow Park, uniting what remained of the two estates. On death in 1888 Alfred Howard Lloyd held the manor until at least 1911 and also bought Burstow Lodge.
Burstow Park
Burstow Park was a detached possession of the manor of Wimbledon. Hubert who was Archbishop of Canterbury until 1205 was mentioned as seized of this manor in a Charter relating to land to the south of Burstow Park. A commission was issued in 1328 against evildoers who had entered the parks of his manors at Croydon, Wimbledon, Wyke and Burstow. In 1531 Burstow Park was leased to Sir John Gage for 80 years, reserving the deer to the archbishop until the following Christmas. Thomas Cranmer exchanged the Wimbledon manor with Henry VIII in 1535. In 1590 Elizabeth granted to Sir Thomas Cecil and his heirs the manor of Wimbledon and "all those our lands in Bristowe alias Burstowe called le Parke", after whom indebted Treasurer-at-War Sir Thomas Shirley held; however his trustees released the land to Elizabeth in satisfaction of £800 11s. 8d. remaining due to her, which she then obtained from the next buyers: William Bowes and others. Passing by Quarles, Turner and Infield, Falconer and Payne in whose possession a park is mentioned as still existing in 1649. John Payne was holding it and owing to a dispute it was bought by his cousin John Smith and during this 18th century period it passed then to Walter Harris, Daniel Hailes and Thomas Dickson, in the 19th century it passed to Henry Kelsey, who died in 1827, and whose son, of Burstow Court Manor owned the estate in 1841 and held it as a farm until death in 1887 when Alfred Lloyd bought it. Burstow Park is considered the manor house of Burstow Court Manor, as well as of Burstow Park, but is probably not the most ancient manor-house of the former.Burstow Lodge
Burstow Lodge was another manor; made up of "a messuage, 360 acres of land, 12 acres of meadow, 10 acres of wood, and 20s" in 1329 when it was given to Roger son of Ralph Salaman, was held of the Burstow family for 26s. and in suit of manorial court. Later owners surnames in order were Codyington; Codyngton with an alternative surname of St Myghell; Fromond ; Richard Walmesley; Lord Petre; Melancthon Saunders relation to the then Lord of the Manor of Charlwood however by 1911 it was no longer a manor.Redehall ''formerly spelt Redhall''
John de Wysham's manor of Redehall consisted in 1332 of 1 messuage, of land, acres of meadow, and 22s. rent in Burstow known as the manor of Redhall near Burstow, which he held, jointly with Hawisia his wife, of John de Burstow, his son John was knighted and gave it to John Pecche, alderman of London. Redehall manor passed out of the hands of the Pecches and became the property of the Welles family. In 1650 it was Edward Payne the elder's and Hannah his wife's and it continued to be held by this family until the late 18th century. Thomas Holles Payne, by his will, proved in May 1800, devised the "manor of Redhall, including a capital messuage or mansion-house called Redhall, and a messuage called Cophall" to Sophia Elizabeth Beard. Although in 1911 the house was surrounded "by a broad moat inclosing a considerable area of ground" a development of smaller houses has replaced it in Burstow.Post Reformation
, astronomer and cleric was rector of Burstow from 1684 until his death in 1719, was appointed in 1675 by Charles II to be the first Astronomer Royal. His accurate measurements of star positions and the movements of the moon, made in the newly opened Royal Observatory, Greenwich, contributed to making possible the safe navigation of shipping around the world. Flamsteed is buried in Burstow Church and a star that commemorates him is in the large window above the altar. Before the charity commission amalgamated most charities in 1908 there were local charities for the poor. In 1718 John Flamsteed left money to buy new coats for two poor Christian people – in 1728 his widow Margaret Flamsteed left money for clothing for two poor women. In 1975 a Flamsteed festival took place in the village.Smallfield had its own smithy where horses were shod and other work was carried out. This stood in Weatherhill Road opposite where the present bus shelter stands, and in its place are Georgian architecture, classical-style houses.
Post Industrial Revolution
Although there was a marked period of growing population and industrialization in Britain, in 1911 the entire parish was described by a topographer as "purely agricultural, with a few brickfields" – which was due to accessible underlying clay in parts of the parish. The village was as then not at all compact; there were a few houses near the church, others spread to north or south or were a few scattered farms. In 1911 Copthorne was briefly, as not historically before then, included in the parish.The decorated Second Boer War and World War I officer Alexander Kearsey was born at Burstow Hall just west of the border in the west of Shipley Bridge neighbourhood in Crawley district.
Smallfield Hospital was built early in World War II on land beside Broadbridge Lane for use by the Canadian Army to treat their wartime casualties and briefly served as a state-run hospital. In 1962 it was used in filming a scene of The Password is Courage which starred Dirk Bogarde. In its place is the 'Canadian' housing estate: Toronto Drive, Ontario Drive and Alberta Drive are named for the many Canadians who used the hospital during the war.
By 1911 there were Baptist chapels at Burstow and at Fernhill, and a mission room near Smallfield. The hamlet of Fernhill was moved into West Sussex and the Borough of Crawley in 1990.
Geography
Burstow village centre which consists of the south of Redehall Road, east of Broadbridge Lane and of Church Street are south of Smallfield village, which is its largest settlement.Burstow stream and Copthorne stream rise near the parish in West Sussex and join in fields by Wellfield Copse just before entering the parish, passing by Shipley Bridge lane, where a its bridge running east–west towards Shipley Bridge neighbourhood which straddles the border with Horley then passing between Mushroom Farm, Church Lane and the two abandoned moated sites by the Church and large Rectory, which is now two buildings.
Smallfield commences directly east of the M23 which bypasses Redhill and Crawley. Above much of the green buffers of the parish is the take-off/landing flight path to Gatwick Airport, to the west. The nearest larger settlement is Horley, some 2 miles or 3 km to the west.