West Barnes: Origins and Extent

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WEST BARNES

West Barnes represents the western grange of Merton priory within its manor of Merton, the eastern grange being situated near the priory itself, on the banks of the Wandle.

The earliest extant mention of West Barnes is in a document from 1292 explaining that a local tax official for the Hundred of Brixton had made excessive demands which were noticed by his associates before any payments were made. However, he had used his position to receive 1000 herrings from a fish merchant and four bushels of wheat and four of oats from brother William de la Westberne of Merton, as well as 15 shillings from the Marshal of the Prince of Wales which should have gone towards paying for the prince’s lodgings. The offender was sentenced to imprisonment but paid a fine.¹

It is next found as 'Westbarnys' in the manorial court roll for 1505, in describing the boundaries of the adjoining Combestrode Mead, part of the demesne lands of the priory. At the next court 30.10.1505 a John Pratt was presented for not repairing a footbridge leading from Hoppyng Mede in Combe Hoppyng.² Hoppyng and Hoppyng Mede were part of the later West Barns estate. [There were other Hopping lands across the Beverley Brook in Kingston.]

Among the Merton priory records is a lease of 10 April 1532, by which the Prior and convent granted the rectory and tithes of Kingston parish to Richard Thomas for 21 years at an annual rent of £54 6s. The lessee was to have yearly, by assignment of the Prior, ten cartloads of wood from the woods at Berwell, Hertyngdon, Westbarns or Combe. ³

The wood of Westbarns was also an important element in the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535/6, where it was entered with other Surrey wooodland, and was valued at £2. This compared with £1 10s for Hertington, £1 10s for Hook, £2 10s for Molesey, £3 for Berwell, £4 for Combe and £5 for Kingswood. Westbarnes itself was valued at £21 6s 0d, including £3 6s 8d a year 'for the farm of certain land and holdings being in the hand of the lord Prior'.⁴

¹ J F Willard Surrey Taxation Returns (1922, 1931) p.xxxv

The Records of Merton Priory

⁴ Valor Ecclesiasticus (1814) II p.48