Editing Leatherhead (section)

===Governance===
The medieval history of Leatherhead is complex, since the parish was divided into a number of manors.<ref name=O_Connell/> The town appears in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 as ''Leret'' and was held by Osbern de Ow as a [[mesne lord]] to [[William the Conqueror|William I]]. Its Domesday assets were one church, belonging to [[Ewell]], and {{convert|40|acre|m2|abbr=on}} of land. It was valued at an annual income of £1.<ref name=Surrey_Domesday/><ref name=Leatherhead_Domesday>{{cite web|url= https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ1656/leatherhead/ |title= Leatherhead |author= Powell-Smith A |year= 2011 |publisher= Open Domesday |access-date= 20 November 2020 |archive-date= 15 January 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190115191008/https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ1656/leatherhead/ |url-status= live}}</ref> To the south was the manor of Thorncroft, which was held by [[Richard fitz Gilbert|Richard]] son of [[Gilbert, Count of Brionne|Gilbert]] as [[tenant-in-chief]].<ref name=Thorncroft_Domesday>{{cite web |url= https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ1655/thorncroft/ |title= Thorncroft |author= Powell-Smith A |year= 2011 |publisher= Open Domesday |access-date= 31 January 2021 |archive-date= 16 January 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190116072014/https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ1655/thorncroft/ |url-status= live }}</ref> To the north was the manor of Pachesham, subdivided into two parts, each of which was held by a mesne lord to the tenant-in-chief, [[Odo of Bayeux|Bishop Odo of Bayeux]].<ref name=Surrey_Domesday/><ref name=Pachesham_Domesday>{{cite web |url= https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ1558/pachesham/ |title= Pachesham |author= Powell-Smith A |year= 2011 |publisher= Open Domesday |access-date= 31 January 2021 |archive-date= 16 January 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190116025429/https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ1558/pachesham/ |url-status= live }}</ref> Finally there are sporadic mentions in surviving documents of a manor called "Minchin", which may have belonged to [[Kilburn Priory]] in [[Middlesex]].<ref name=Benger_1953_Mansion>{{cite journal |last1= Benger |first1= FB |year= 1953 |title= Pen sketches of old houses in this district: The Mansion, Leatherhead |url= https://leatherheadhistoryarchive.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/VOL_1_NO_7_1953.pdf |journal= Proceedings of the Leatherhead & District Local History Society |volume= 1 |issue= 7 |pages=7–12 |access-date= 7 February 2021 }}</ref><ref name=|Harvey_1962_Cartographical_Survey>{{cite journal |last1= Harvey |first1= John |year= 1962 |title= A cartographical survey of the area: VIII Leatherhead in 1782 |url= https://leatherheadhistoryarchive.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/VOL_2_NO_6_1962.pdf |journal= Proceedings of the Leatherhead & District Local History Society |volume= 2 |issue= 6 |pages=169–170 |access-date= 8 February 2021 }}</ref>

For the majority of its history, Thorncroft Manor appears to have remained as a single, intact entity, with the exception of the [[subinfeudation]] of [[Bocketts Farm]], which took place before 1300.<ref name=Blair_Bocketts>{{cite journal |last1= Blair |first1= WJ |year= 1977 |title= A military holding in twelfth-century Leatherhead: Bockett Farm and the origins of Pachensham Parva |url= https://leatherheadhistoryarchive.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/VOL_4_NO_1_1977.pdf |journal= Proceedings of the Leatherhead & District Local History Society |volume= 4 |issue= 1 |pages= 3–12 |access-date= 31 January 2021 }}</ref><ref name=Lowther_>{{cite journal |last1= Lowther |first1= Anthony |last2= Ruby |first2= AT |last3= Renn |first3= Renn |year= 1984 |title= Pachensham, Leatherhead: The excavation of the medieval moated site known as 'The Mounts' |url= https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-379-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_74/surreyac074_001-045_lowther.pdf |journal= Surrey Archaeological Collections |volume= 74 |pages= 1–45 |access-date= 31 January 2021 |archive-date= 31 January 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210131221238/https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-379-1%2Fdissemination%2Fpdf%2Fvol_74%2Fsurreyac074_001-045_lowther.pdf |url-status= live }}</ref> In 1086, the manor was held by Richard fitz Gilbert and it passed through his family (the [[de Clare|Clares]]) to his granddaughter, Margaret de Clare, who married into the [[de Montfitchet]] family of Essex. Her great-grandson, [[Richard de Montfichet]], sold the manor to John de Cheresbure in around 1190 and it was next purchased by [[Philip Basset]] and his second wife, [[Ela Longespée|Ela, Countess of Warwick]] in around 1255.<ref name=Blair_Bocketts/> In 1266, they granted Thorncroft (which provided an income of £20 per year) to [[Walter de Merton]], who used it to endow [[Merton College, Oxford|the college in Oxford]] that he had founded in 1264.<ref name=Amt_2009>{{cite journal |last1= Amt |first1= Emilie |year= 2009 |title= Ela Longespee's roll of benefits: Piety and reciprocity in the thirteenth century |jstor=27832088 |journal= Traditio |volume= 64 |pages= 1–56 |doi= 10.1017/S0362152900002245 }}</ref> Merton College remained the lords of the manor until 1904<ref name=Garnier_2008>{{cite journal |last1= Garnier |first1= Richard |year= 2008 |title= Thorncroft Manor, Leatherhead |url= https://georgiangroup.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GGJ_2008_06_GARNIER.pdf |journal= The Georgian Group Journal |volume= XVI |pages= 59–88 |access-date= 31 January 2021 |archive-date= 31 January 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210131221239/https://georgiangroup.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GGJ_2008_06_GARNIER.pdf |url-status= live }}</ref> and the continuity of ownership ensured that an almost complete set of [[manorial roll]]s from 1278 onwards has been preserved.<ref name=Harvey_Court_Roll>{{cite journal |last= Harvey |first= John |year= 1962|title= The Court Rolls of Leatherhead: The earliest surviving Court Roll of the Manor of Pachenesham |journal= Proceedings of the Leatherhead and District Local History Society |url= https://leatherheadhistoryarchive.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/VOL_2_NO_6_1962.pdf |volume= 2 |issue= 6 |pages= 170–173 |access-date= 30 January 2021}}</ref> In 1497, [[Richard FitzJames]], the [[List of wardens of Merton College, Oxford|Warden of the College]], authorised the expenditure of £37 for a new [[manor house]], which was used until the [[Georgian era]].<ref name=Garnier_2008/>

In contrast, the manor of Pachesham became fragmented as the Middle Ages progressed. By the time of the Domesday Book, it was already divided into two parts, the smaller of which was later referred to as "Pachenesham Parva". No written record of either part of the manor survives from the subsequent 200 years, but in 1286 land belongong to Pachesham was recorded as passing to Eustace de Hacche. De Haache rebuilt the manor house in around 1293, which he enclosed with a [[moat]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Ruby |first1= A.T. |year= 1957 |title= The Manor of Pachenesham, Leatherhead |url= https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-379-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_55/surreyac055_007-017_ruby.pdf |journal= Surrey Archaeological Collections |volume= 55 |pages= 7–17 |doi= 10.5284/1068894 |access-date= 17 February 2021 |archive-date= 28 February 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210228115332/https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-379-1%2Fdissemination%2Fpdf%2Fvol_55%2Fsurreyac055_007-017_ruby.pdf |url-status= live }}</ref> Excavations of the manor house site (now known as The Mounts) in the mid-20th century provided evidence of several medieval buildings, including a hall, a chapel and a probable stable block.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Renn |first1= D. F. |last2= Lowther |first2= A. |last3= Ruby |first3= A. T. |year= 1984 |title= Pachenesham, Leatherhead: The excavation of the medieval moated site known as 'The Mounts' |url= https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-379-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_74/surreyac074_001-045_lowther.pdf |journal= Surrey Archaeological Collections |volume= 74 |pages= 1–45 |access-date= 17 February 2021 |archive-date= 31 January 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210131221238/https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-379-1%2Fdissemination%2Fpdf%2Fvol_74%2Fsurreyac074_001-045_lowther.pdf |url-status= live }}</ref> The value of the manor appears to have declined in the mid-14th century and, in 1386, it was let to William Wimbledon for an annual sum of £20. In 1393, one year after a serious fire had destroyed much of Leatherhead, Wimbledon defaulted on the rent and was accused of dismantling several of the manor buildings. From the start of the 15th century, the land was divided between twelve lessees and the manor then disappears from the historical record.<ref name=Vardey_1988_pp52-55>{{harvnb|Vardey|1988|pp=52–55}}</ref>

Surviving records of Pachenesham Parva from around 1330 suggest that it covered an area of {{convert|46|ha|acre|abbr=on|sigfig=3}} on the east bank of the River Mole, to the north west of the town centre.<ref name=Vardey_1988_p46>{{harvnb|Vardey|1988|p=46}}</ref> The manor appears to have remained intact through the Middle Ages and land was added to the estate as the remainder of Pachesham was broken up. By the early 17th century, the area was known as Randalls Farm and, in 1805, the associated land totalled {{convert|182|ha|acre|abbr=on|sigfig=2}}.<ref name=Vardey_1988_p128>{{harvnb|Vardey|1988|p=128}}</ref>

[[Tudor period#Local government|Reforms during the Tudor period]] replaced the day-to-day administration of towns such as Leatherhead in the hands of the [[vestry]] of the parish church.<ref name=Kümin_1996_pp250-255>{{harvnb|Kümin|1996|pp=250–255}}</ref><ref name=Heath_Parish>{{cite journal |last1= Heath |first1= Linda |year= 2000 |title= Leatherhead: Church and Parish, from the 17th to the 19th century |url= https://leatherheadhistoryarchive.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/VOL_6_NO_4_2000.pdf |journal= Proceedings of the Leatherhead & District Local History Society |volume= 6 |issue= 4 |pages= 81–87 |access-date= 7 February 2021 }}</ref> The vestry was charged with appointing a parish [[constable]], maintaining a [[village lock-up|lock-up]] and organising a basic fire service. Until 1834, it also administered [[poor relief]] and was responsible for building a [[workhouse]] on Kingston Road in 1808.<ref name=Heath_Parish/><ref name=Vardey_1988_pp113-116>{{harvnb|Vardey|1988|pp=113–116}}</ref>

[[File:Wesley House, Leatherhead - Surrey.jpg|thumb|right|[[Wesley House, Leatherhead|Wesley House]], Bull Hill, the former headquarters of the Leatherhead UDC]]
During the 19th century, local government reforms gradually removed the duties of running of the town's infrastructure and services from the vestry. The [[Poor Law Amendment Act 1834]] placed the workhouse in the care of a [[board of guardians]] at [[Epsom]]<ref name=Vardey_1988_pp178-179>{{harvnb|Vardey|1988|pp=178–179}}</ref> and the [[Local Government Act 1888]] transferred many administrative responsibilities to the newly formed [[Surrey County Council]]. The Leatherhead [[Urban district (England and Wales)|Urban District Council]] (UDC) was formed six years later<ref name=Vardey_1988_p148>{{harvnb|Vardey|1988|p=148}}</ref> and in 1903 the county council was placed in charge of the town's [[National school (England and Wales)|National schools]].<ref name=Vardey_1988_p182>{{harvnb|Vardey|1988|p=182}}</ref> The [[Local Government Act 1972]] created [[Mole Valley|Mole Valley District Council]], by combining the UDCs of Leatherhead and [[Dorking]] with the majority of the Dorking and [[Horley]] Rural District.<ref name=Jackson_1991_p103>{{harvnb|Ettinger|Jackson|Overell|1991|p=103}}</ref>