Chertsey Cartulary Records

The 14th C Chertsey Cartulary mentions three mills in this area; Horsted, Hurst and Chobham mills. In chronological sequence the Cartulary records:

Date	Entry in records	Reference
1307	part of an Island at Hurstmyll with the crop of an alder bed in parish of Chobham in exchange for the whole moor and meadow in the place which is called Stanoresmed	Cart 634
1308/9	The abbot leases in perpetuity from Sir John de Hamme the mill, pond and fishery at Hurst for half a mark yearly - a mill he formerly shared with Sir John.	Cart 762
1308	The Abbot constructed a new mill called Hurst mylle (in Chobham)	Cart 477
1308	The Abbot constructed a new mill called Hurstmyll (in Chobham)	Cart 767
1322	John de Arderne gives to Richard Pentecost one piece of land called le Eytes and one piece of land called Le Perke and the whole land which I had in Ebbemed with the appurtenances in Chabeham.	Cart 812
1328	the Abbot constructed anew the mill at Horsted in Chobham ('purchased and reconstructed' - Lansdowne)	Cart 562
1330	Admission of Walter atte Felde to 1/2 rood of purpresture next Hokeslane.	CCR 184
1334	Abbot purchases: from Hugh de Fellegh a certain meadow called le Redemede at Horstedemull and it contains one acre and one rood lying between the King’s way on the eastern part and the meadow of Walter atte Field on the western part and the mill on the southern part and the land of Robert de Hale on the northern part and a meadow called le Eyte next Horstedemulle and it contains 3 roods lying between the pond of the said mill on the southern part and the meadow of Robert de Hale on the northern part	Cart 773
1334	Surrender by Hugh de Fellegh, brother and heir of John de Fellegh, of: Meadow called le Redemed at Horstedemulle, of 14 acre Meadow called le Eyte next Horstedemulle, of 3 roods.	CCR 601

1335	Admission of John Atte Hurst to piece of meadow called Halemed of 1.5 acres next mill of Horstede, surrendered by Thomas atte Wode, in bondage. Fine: 2s. rent 1d.	CCR 695
1338	Admission of Thomas, son of William de Bradele, to 6 acres of land and pasture next Horstedemulle, in various parcels, surrendered by Simon de Wassheforde. Fine : 6s. 8d. Increase of rent: 2d. Pledges William atte Felde, Thomas de Bradele	959
1339	the Abbot made a new mill at Hurst in Chobham	Cart 575
1342	Admission of Ralph le Broke to messuage formerly of John Payn, once of Roger de Forde, with curtilage and garden adjoining, and all arable, which was John's in la Lye, and Mullecroft and la Perke. Fine: 20s. Pledges: Robert Payn, John Cuppyng, John atte Hurst.	CCR 1323
1342	Abbot and Convent gives to Peter le Forester of Chabeham 2 places of their meadow one called le Redemed lies next Horstedemulle between William atte Westfield’s meadow on western part and by the king’s highway from Guildford to Windsor on the eastern part and contains in itself one acre and one rood. the other le Lyttelmed, formerly of Hugh de Felleghe … bounded on S. by Mullepond and on N. by Robert atte Hale’s meadow .. contains in itself half an acre .....	Cart. 786
1342	the abbot leases to Peter le Forester of Chobham for a term of 7 years, 2 pieces of meadow in Chobham formerly held by Hugh de Felleghe: le Redemed next Horstedemulle containing 1 acre 1 rood. Bounded on W by William atte Westfeld's meadow and on E by the King's highway from Guildford to Windsor Le Lyttlemed containing 0.5 acre bounded on S by le Mullepond and on N by Robert atte Hale's meadow	Cart 1299
1343	Note that Ralph atte Lane paid 6s. 8d. fine to retain possession of part of land he recently held and alienated by licence to Adam atte Hurst, i.e. a parcel of meadow called le Mulleparrok, adjacent to tenement atte Byrchette. He had sold the tenement to atte Hurst, but contention has arisen as to whom meadow belonged to.	CCR 1449
1343	Note that Adam atte Hurst lately bought from Ralph atte Lane a tenement late of Ralph atte Byrchette, save for 2 places called le Lyttlemed and le Parrok' next Chobham mulle, which he retained and this cause much trouble for a long time. Now agreement has been reached. The 2 places shall be burdened de cetero of 8d. rent annually in discharge [exonerationem] of lands and tenements so rented to aforesaid Adam.	CCR 1456
1343	Surrender by Adam atte Hurst of grove late of tenement of Ralph atte Byrchette, next the King's highway on S. from mill called Chobhammulle towards town of Chertsey, on N. next tenement called le Godyngeslond.	CCR 1534
1344	Purchase by the Abbot of Adam atte Hurst's grove late of tenement of Ralph atte Byrchette, at the King's highway from mill called Chobhammulle towards town of Chertsey on S. , on N. next tenement called le Godyngeslond.	Cart 793
1346	Admission of Walter atte Mulle to place of land and pasture called le Mulleparrok, next Chabehammulle, surrendered by Ralph in le Lane, in bondage. Fine : 5s. Increased rent : 2d. Pledge : William atte Felde.	1686
1347	Admission of William atte Lane to place of land, 3 perches by 2 perches next Chabehammulle surrendered by his brother, Ralph. Fine 12d.in 12d. in bondage. Increased rent : 1d. and 1d.to 1d. to tenement of Ralph at Christmas.Pledges : Ralph atte Lane, Adam atte Hurst.	CCR 1792
1420	Walter Horstede, son and heir of Walter Horstede of Windsor quitclaims all his right in all the lands tenements rents and services .. in Chabeham called Horstedes ... which ought to descend to me after the death of Thomas Horstede my uncle ....	Cart. 815
1444	Abbot grants to Nicholas atte Broke of Chabeham one parcel of land called Milleparrok .. to hold .. to the end of 200 years	Cart 822
1446	hokemyll'whele (Hook Mill?) is mentioned the perambulations of Godley Hundred bounds.

Mill Names

So the sequence of names is Hurst, Horstede, Chobham, Hook. It is interested that, with the exception of the 1339 entry which is from the Lansdowne Cartulary and rather suspect, each mill name appears in one period only and does not overlap into another period. This may simply be a fluke, but the probability of this happening with three items randomly selected is 1:750. So we can be reasonably confident that there was only one mill at any one time. There are several possibilities here:

We may be dealing with just one mill whose name changes through this period. Perhaps with different owners since Hurst and Horstede are family names in the Cartulary. . But if the Abbot built and owned Hurst and Horstede mills, as the records suggest, why would he call them after a family name? A possibility is that the mills are named after the family the Abbot leased them to - but why is Hurst mill so named when it is leased by Sir John de Hamme? The Abbot might name the mills for their location names - Hurst meant 'wood' and Horstede meant 'field of the horses'. And just to make things even more complicated, the locations could be named after the family that originally owned the area! Of course there could be a combination of all the above: it is interesting that the cartulary entries seem to indicate that 'Hurst' and 'Chobham' were names (Hurstmyll, Chobhammulle) whilst 'mill at Horstede' and 'mill of Horstede' seem to indicate a place name.
We could be seeing several mills that replace each other in turn - it is obvious from the amount of rebuilding that these medieval mills had rather a short life. They were probably wooden buildings and the machinery of mill wheels and stones puts great stress on a building.
Also it was the custom for mills to be licensed; it is possible that the licence was transferred to different owners or even different mills and only one mill would be operational at any given period. Mills that had lost their license would cease to function and fall into decay.
It is also possible that the Cartulary only records the business of mills which the Abbey owns and that therefore there were other private mills not on the Abbey's demesne which are not recorded.

However, there is a problem with 2 and 3. If there were other private mills one would expect the mills to be mentioned in passing in the descriptions of land boundaries. But we do not find this happening. It is true that Chobham Mill is only ever mentioned in terms of defining land locations but no other 'Abbey' mill is mentioned during the period of this mill. The same argument can be used against the existence of other decaying or unlicensed mills. Hence the probability for there being just one mill at any one time is high.

Location

Regarding location the picture is confusing. There are only two references in the Cartulary which identify the geographic position of the mill(s). One refers to Horsted mill being by Halemed (the meadow by Halebourne?), another refers to it being on the west of the Guildford-Windsor road - which may be the current Windsor Road in Chobham or a road closer to the mill - or even a road over Clappers bridge. The 1607 Norden map shows a possible Guildford road approaching Chobham from Chobham Ridges and then through Streets Heath to Clappers. This route would make the long-suspected mill site at St Julians a possibility; the 1845 Tithe map even shows fields called 'Hurst' nearby.

There are three references to Chobham Mill being beside a park and two for Horsted Mill being beside Redemed (red meadow?) and one for being beside Le Eyte (island?). There are no references to the location of Hurst Mill. The locations and the frequency of mention can be summarised as:

1308-33 Hurst; no mention of location
1334-42 Horsted mill beside Redemed(2), Le Eyte(2), Halemed(1) and the highway from Guildford to Windsor(1).
1343-47 Chobham mill beside (mulle)parrok (2) and Lyttlemed, on highway to Chertsey(1)

As with mill names, there is no overlap of locations between periods. By that I mean we don't see, for instance, Hurst Mill described as being beside the park and then later Horsted Mill also being beside the park. The statistical analysis used above to prove that there was only one mill at one time can here indicate that each mill was built in a separate location. Well that's sorted then isn't it? However, now this is a very long shot, but there could be just one location if it was not just the mill whose name was changed but also the fields around. For instance, if 'Redemed' became the 'Mulleparrok' and the small meadow of Le Eyte became Lyttlemed. Well this is a possibility but is there any evidence?

The last reference to Redemed in the Cartulary and Court Rolls is in 1342; whilst Mulleparrok is first mentioned 1343 (a parcel of meadow called le Mulleparrok CCR1449, and as late as 1444 - Milleparrok).
And what of Le Eyte? In 1334, Cartulary 773 describes Le Eyte as being 3 roods (3/4 of an acre) and having the meadow of Robert atte Hale to the north; and Horstede Mill pond to the south. In 1342, Cartulary 786 & 1299 describes Lyttelmed as being half an acre and having the meadow of Robert atte Hale to the north and the mill pond to the south.

So the possibility is that at some time around 1342/43 the mill and its surrounding land changed name. Perhaps the mill and its surrounding land was accumulated into an estate with the pretensions of a park (parrok).

We have mentions in 1330 Hook Lane and 1446 of Hook Mill so Hook does not appear to be synonymous with Hurst or Horsted.

Timeline

By 1307 Hurst Mill was in operation. It was a joint venture between the Abbot and Sir John de Hamme, but in 1308 the Abbot bought out Sir John share and rebuilt the mill.

In 1322 John de Arderne gives to Richard Pentecost (who held the manor of Pentecost) land called le Eytes beside the mill and land called Le Perke.

1330 Hook Lane first mentioned.

In 1334 the Abbot purchases from Hugh de Fellegh a meadow called le Redemede at Horstedemull and a small meadow called le Eyte next Horstedemulle

1339, 21 years after its rebuild the mill is rebuilt again.

1342, the Abbot leases two pieces of Redemede and Lyttlemed to Peter le Forester.

1343 Ralph atte Lane had to pay a fee to confirm that he was the legal holder of a parcel of meadow called le Mulleparrok which he recently subleased to Adam atte Hurst - except for just 2 pieces. About this time 'Chobham Mill' is the term used to describe the mill.

1346 Walter atte Mulle leases a piece of the land and pasture called le Mulleparrok, next Chabehammulle

1444 The Abbot still holds Milleparrok; he grants to Nicholas atte Broke of Chabeham one parcel of land called Milleparrok .. to hold .. to the end of 200 years

1446 Hook Mill first mentioned

Conclusion

So we can now be confident that there was only one mill in existence at any one time and that there was probably only one location: it lay west of the road to Windsor , beside the meadow at Halebourne, beside a 14 acre meadow called Redemed that was later converted to an enclosed pasture or meadow (park). A highway ran from the mill to Chertsey (probably an extension of the Chertsey Rd). During the construction of the estate the Guildford/Windsor road may have been diverted from being adjacent to the mill to its current position. This would explain the eastwards loop in Chertsey Road just north of Millbourne bridge. We then have the intriguing possibility that when this happened the mill became known as Chobhammulle because it lay in the new estate called 'Chobham Estate' or similar? If this estate was pretentious enough to have a mini park then it may have been pretentious enough to call itself 'Chobham House' or 'Chobham Manor House'.

Later it may have developed into a capital manor outside of the demesne because in 1420 "Walter Horstede of Windsor quitclaims all his right in all the lands tenements rents and services .. at Horsted" which seems to indicate that he received rather than gave services (Cart. 815).