THE RECTORS & VICARS of
St MARTIN of TOURS, EPSOM
As described on our main page for St Martin’s (which, until the creation of the parish of Christ Church Epsom Common in 1874, was the parish church for the whole of Epsom), its history stretches back to Saxon times. Information about its early centuries is understandably minimal.
There is, however, a fairly complete record of St Martin’s Rectors or Vicars (mainly identical roles, the main distinction being the way the “living” is funded) since the late 13th Century. This is set out on a framed and beautifully calligraphed wall chart at the back of the church between the main entrance and the room under the tower.
The heading of the wall chart at the rear of St Martin’s.
Photograph by Roger Morgan © 2019
The heading of the chart is pictured above. The coats of arms on the left are those of the Diocese of Guildford (under which Epsom has come since the diocese was created in 1927 from part of Epsom’s former Diocese of Winchester) and of the Borough of Epsom & Ewell. On the right is an image of St Martin famously sharing his cloak with a beggar.
Under the main title is a brief summary of the church’s history:
Dedication: St. Martin (circa 316-397) Bishop of Tours. The name was formerly EBESHAM, EBBISHAM or EPPESHAM. Epsom Manor belonged to Chertsey Abbey from before the Norman Conquest to the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Two Churches are mentioned as existing in the Manor in Domesday Book, compiled in 1085-6.
Licence obtained for the appropriation of the Rectory to the Abbey in 1292. Appropriation took effect in 1313. Vicarage endowed in 1331.
Under that heading is the following list. The few highlighted links lead to separate pages on this site about the individual. More information about many of the others listed here may be found on our pages about the Advowson (the right to nominate a candidate) and the Old Vicarage.
|
PATRONS |
RECTORS or VICARS |
DATES of INCUMBENCY |
| Roger Ryburgh | was “perpetual vicar” according to 2nd Edw. 1. 1273-4 | |
| Roger de Grava | was Rector 25 April 1285 | |
| William de Broughton | was Rector 5 December 1307 and 26 June 1310 | |
| William de Ivory | was presented by the King 1310 | |
| John Rutherwick | was inducted in 1314 | |
| Richard Prior | was Vicar in 1331 when endowed with Mansion and 15 acres | |
| FOUNDATION | Richard Prior | |
| Abbot and Convent of Chertsey | John le Rede | was Vicar 13 December 1333 |
| Richard (? Prior) | was Vicar 12 July 1346 & in 1348 | |
|
(Register 1345 – 1366 lost. Black Death 1349) |
||
| Roger Springete | exchanged for St Peter wihout Southgate, Winchester, with | |
| William Stystede | 28 April 1382 | |
| John Alwyn | exchanged for Horley with | |
| William West | 18 February 1399, resigned 1402 | |
| William Byttesby | 3 June 1402 exchanged for St Nicholas Hertford with | |
| Richard Huyet | in 1406 | |
| John Dalton | 28 November 1406 | |
| Bartholomew at Wode | resigned 1412 | |
| Thomas Clerk | 29 September 1412 | |
|
(Registers 1415-1446 are lost. About this time the Church |
||
| Simon Kene | resigned 1455 | |
| John Fowke | 8 November 1455, resigned 1461 | |
| Thomas Hewe | 31 July 1461, resigned 1463 | |
| Thomas Cooke | 22 February 1463-4, died 1485 | |
| John Wowenne, Wawen or Owen |
4 October 1485 – died 1491 | |
| Robert Dalton | 7 February 1491-2 | |
|
(Register 1492-1500 lost.) |
||
| Thomas Denys | was Vicar 1534 | |
|
(The Reformation and Dissolution of the Monasteries 1536-1540) |
||
| Thomas Chyttes [also Chylde, Child(e) or Chylte] |
7 February 1543-4 | |
| Robert Cole | . . . died 1603 | |
| Sir Francis Carew | Thomas Boyer, LL,N. | 14 May 1603 |
| Geo.Tho. Boyes, or Boyce, LL.B. |
11 June 1612, died 1631 | |
| Edward Darcy of Dartford | Edward Bright, M.A. | 23 May 1631 |
| Samuel Scudamore, M.A. | 23 July 1637 | |
|
(Register 1643-1664 lost. Civil War 1642-1649) |
||
| Robert Yewell | . . . died 1669 | |
| Richard Evelyn | John Mosehouse, B.A. | 11 March 1669-1670 |
| Sir Christopher Buckle, Christopher Buckle, junior, and Ann, wife of Sir William Morley |
Owen Ludgater, B.A. | 31 May 1697 – died 16 September 1703 |
| Ann Morley, widow, and the Buckles, father and son | James Stokes, M.A. | 28 February 1703-4 |
| The two Buckles, and John Lewknor | Heighes Woodford | 20 November 1704, died 1725 |
| John Parkhurst | John Price | 11 June 1725 – 1782 |
| Samuel Glasse, D.D. | 7 December 1782, resigned | |
| Jonathan Boucher, M.A. | 20 January 1785, died 26 April 1804 |
|
| Mrs. S. Altham | Fleetwood Parkhurst | 16 July 1804 |
|
(In 1824-5 the Church was rebuilt, the “Curate”, the Rev. John Derby, being in charge and living at the Vicarage.) |
||
| Capt. Speer, and by purchase of the next presentation. | Benjamin Bradney Bockett, M.A. | 1839 to 1883 |
|
[NOTE: In 1843, St Martin’s established Christ Church as a “Chapel of Ease” for the growing numbers living on Epsom Common and, in 1874, Christ Church became a separate parish. In 1899, Christ Church established St Barnabas as a “Chapel of Ease” to serve the growing north of Epsom, and this became a free-standing parish in 1917.] |
||
| John Samuel | 1 October 1883, died 19 March 1904 | |
| Hannibal Speer | Waldegrave Bainbridge-Bell, M.A. (Pemb. Coll. Cam.) | 12 June 1904 |
|
(In 1907-8 the Church was more than doubled in area, and the old galleries removed.) |
||
| Mrs. Litchfield Speer | Clive Robertson Pattison Muir M.A. (Gonville & Caius. Cam.) | 17 May 1924, resigned Sept 1938 |
|
(In 1925 the Advowson was purchased by Arthur Moore, Esq. J.P. sometime Churchwarden and was presented to the Bishop as a memorial to his late wife Lucy Mabel Moore.) |
||
| The Lord Bishop of Guildford | Hugh Compton Warner, M.A. | 6 Dec. 1938, resigned 30 Sept. 1950 |
| The Lord Bishop of Guildford | William Guy Howard, M.A. | 1 December 1950 |
| The Lord Bishop of Guildford | William Henry Purcell, M.A. | 16 December 1963 |
| The Lord Bishop of Guildford | Frederick Walter Crooks, M.A. | 11 March 1969 |
| The Lord Bishop of Guildford | Austen Geoffrey Shrives, B.D., M.Th. | 10 September 1974 |
| The Archbishop of Canterbury | Peter John Lloyd, T.D. | 11 March 1985 |
| The Lord Bishop of Guildford | David Alan Smethurst, M.Phil., B.D. | 2 October 1993 |
| The Lord Bishop of Guildford | Simon John Talbott, B.D. | 24 May 2001 |
| The Lord Bishop of Guildford | Nicholas Parish, M.A., B.A., Dip.H.E. | 24 November 2014 |
Roger Morgan, 2019