A HISTORY OF SURREY
��near Runnimede. 1 The great Roman road from the Thames Valley to the south-west crossed the Thames near Staines and ran through Egham parish along the border of the counties of Surrey and Berkshire towards Easthampstead Plain in Berkshire, where it exists as the Devil's Highway. The line of the road was carefully explored about 1840 by Mr. Wyatt Edgell of Milton Place, Egham, and some officers of the Military College, Sandhurst. It ran through Virginia Water, an artificial lake of much later construction, past Englefield Green to the Thames. There is no doubt that the Roman station Ad Pontes, or Pontibus, was near Staines, and from its name appears to have been the passage of the Thames before other bridges were made. The road which comes out of Sussex through Somersbury and Ewhurst (q.v.) would lead here if continued in a nearly straight line. Nevertheless the Roman bridge has disappeared. The earliest record of a bridge at Staines seems to date from the reign ofHenry III, 1 229,* though the Danes crossed here in 1009,' uniting their forces, which had been on both sides of the river, without the aid of their ships, which were on the coast of Kent. It is not, of course, decisive evidence that the Roman bridge still stood, for they may have used ferry-boats. A new stone bridge was built in 17916, but almost at once gave way from insufficient foundations ; fortunately the old wooden bridge was still standing. An iron bridge was next built, and opened in 1803. This immediately cracked, and was closed. Another iron bridge was built in 1807, and the old wooden bridge pulled down. This failed in 1829, and the new stone bridge was built by Rennie and opened in 1 8 3 2 . Egham Causeway, leading from the town of Egham to the bridge of Staines, was constructed in the time ofHenry III. 4 It was used both as a highway and also as a dyke, to prevent the inundation of the surrounding country by the River Thames. In 13503 commission was appointed to find the persons responsible for the repair of the causeway damaged by flood. 5 As a result of the inquiry it was stated that the causeway had been con- structed by a certain Thomas de Oxenford, at his own expense, in the reign of Henry HI, for the ease- ment of men crossing by the King's Way at Rede- wynd (v. Chertsey), which had formerly been the highway, and which had fallen into a bad condition. Thomas de Oxenford had not only built, but had also repaired his causeway, and the commission of 1350 therefore declared that no man was bound to repair the same except of his own free will. 6 In 1385 the causeway was found to be ' so destroyed and broken that the loss of all the adjacent country is to be feared,' whereupon the Sheriff of Surrey was ordered to make public proclamation ' that all persons, ecclesiastical as well as secular, shall each, according to the extent of his holding, cause the same to be repaired with all haste.' J Frequent attempts were made to shift the burden of this work on to the Abbot and convent oi Chertsey, but it was decided that although they fre- quently undertook the repair ' out of charity, they were in no wise responsible.'* In 1392, however,
��the abbot declared that, in spite of this decision, he was still charged by the ' procurance and malevolent instigation of his adversaries ' with the repair, and prayed for remedy. 9 In the ijth century the repairs, both for the causeway and for Staines Bridge, were effected by Thomas Stanes, John Edmed, William Mulso and others, to whom grants of ' pontage ' for terms of years were made, the proceeds of which were to be applied to this particular purpose. 10
Reverting to the history of Egham, Englefield Green in this parish was not the scene of the battle with the Danes in 871 ; this was fought at Englefield near Reading. Runnimede, however, is in Egham, and one of the greatest events in English his- tory was consummated on Surrey soil. The charter itself is the witness that it was given in Runnimede. Magna Cham Island, as the name of the island in the Thames, is a comparatively late name.
Egham lay in the confines of the forest of Windsor. The dispute about the boundaries of the forest finally left some of the parish and of the county of Surrey within it. The boundary perambulated in 1226 is for some distance the boundary of Berkshire and Surrey, but in its later course, where it runs from Thornhill to Harpesford, and then ' along the water to Inggfield ' (Englefield) it followed the stream which runs into Virginia Water. The county boundary, now at all events, lies a little north-west of this. Harpesford Bridge must from the description have been on this stream, most likely where the Roman road crossed it, and would now therefore be covered by Virginia Water. Virginia Water was made by William, Duke of Cumberland, when he was ranger of Windsor Park (appointed 12 July 1746), between his return to England from the Netherlands, 1 748, and his taking command in Germany, 1757. The dam confining the water broke down in 1768, and caused a disastrous flood. Thomas Sandby, an architect a.id surveyor whom the duke had employed in military surveying in Scotland and Flanders, was made by him deputy ranger of the Park, and was really responsible for laying out Virginia Water. He was the first Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy.
Among the old houses in Egham parish the most notable is Fosters, or Great Fosters, or Foster House. It is said traditionally, and probably untruly, to have been a hunting-lodge of Queen Elizabeth."
The Place, about a quarter of a mile north-east of Egham church, where Sir John Den ham lived, was pulled down about forty years ago.
An Act of 181314 inclosed commons and common fields and pastures at Egham and on Runnimede." The award is dated 1 2 June 1817. The common fields were at Egham and Hythefield, and are men- tioned by Stevenson " as more highly rented than usual. The Act and award specially preserved rights of pasturage for certain people in the great common meadows, Runnimede, Long Mead, and Great Mead, provided always that inclosures should be thrown down to enable the horse-races held there to be continued as usual.
��1 F~.C.H.Surr. i, 251-3. ' Pat. 12 Hen. Ill, m. 2.
' Angl.-Sax. Chron. sub anno 1009.
4 Chan. Misc. Inq. file 164 (2nd nos.), no. 51.
- Cal. of Pat. 1348-50, p. 515.
Chan. Misc. Inq. file 164 (2nd nos.), no. 51.
��' Cal. Pat. 1381-5, p. 601.
8 Ibid. 1391-6, p. 165.
'Ibid.
10 Ibid. 1436-41, p. 78 ; 1461-7, p. 12. The statement in Manning and Bray, op. cit. iii, 256, and in Brayley, op. cic. ii, 275, that the Inq. p.m. 24 Edw. Ill, 51,
420
��declares Thomas de Oxenford to have built Staines bridge as well as Egham Causeway is not the fact; it only states that he made the causeway.
yide infra.
11 Stat. 54 Geo. Ill, cap. 153.
" View of the Agric. of Surr. 1809.
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