Cuddington
The Nonsuch site has been occupied since the Stone Age. During the Roman
period a number of villas were built here as the site was convenient both to the springs on Epsom Downs and to Stane
Street, the Roman highway which ran from Chichester to London Bridge. Later the site became known by the Anglo Saxon
name of Cuddington.
At the time of the Norman Conquest two thirds of the Manor was held by Harold's brother Earl Leofwine. William was to give the land to his half brother, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent and the manor was held for him by Ilbert de Laci whose son forfeited his estates when found guilty of treason by Henry I. The manor was passed to Hugh Laval whose son, Guy, forfeited the estate in 1203 when he supported the French against John. Thus the estate passed into the hands of William de St Michel whose descendants were to adopt the name of Cuddington.
At the time of the Norman Conquest two thirds of the Manor was held by Harold's brother Earl Leofwine. William was to give the land to his half brother, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent and the manor was held for him by Ilbert de Laci whose son forfeited his estates when found guilty of treason by Henry I. The manor was passed to Hugh Laval whose son, Guy, forfeited the estate in 1203 when he supported the French against John. Thus the estate passed into the hands of William de St Michel whose descendants were to adopt the name of Cuddington.
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The next two centuries passed peaceably. The most famous resident during this time was the founder of Merton College, Oxford, Walter de Merton, who became the Rector of Cuddington in 1232. By the time of Henry VIII's interest in the site the basic manor house described in the fourteenth century had been replaced by a pleasant, newly built, fifteenth century manor house. The estate included four large farmhouses and, although there appear to have been few tenants, there was a large church which predated 1100 and had been expanded on four separate occasions . . . . |