A Mediaeval Undercroft

The Reigate Undercroft

The following is based on extracts from a paper entitled 'A Madiaeval Undercroft at Reigate'. A shortened version of this is available on this site. We are greatly endebted to Paul Walters for lending us the paper.

Location

The undercroft, a vaulted chamber, which is now underground, is to be found at the south end of Nutley Lane, in West Street, underneath a new office building.

1835 sketch map of the location of the Undercroft

Description

The chamber is oblong, measuring nearly 17ft long and 12ft wide and has north-south disposition. It has roughly-coursed rubble walls that are 9ft high and about 18" thick and a cobbled floor. The ceiling is a segmental or slightly concave stone vault, springing at a height of 5' 3" from the floor and is supported by a series of five massive traverse arches, springing at a height of 4ft and dividing the chamber into five narrow bays (or compartments) and one broader bay that ranges with the entrance at the south end of the west wall. The ceiling of the broad bay and of the third and fourth narrow bays with their supporting arch has entirely disappeared and the northernmost bay with its arch was, in recent times, demolished, but since rebuilt. The arches are of the form that is technically known as three-centred, which is to say that they are not pointed, but semi-optical or oval in shape; the greater part of their contour being segmental, with a small sharper circular curve at the two ends. The small curve at each end springs out of a large square block of stone, of which it is really a part, set in the thickness of the wall at a height of 4ft from the floor - the springing level. The voussoirs, or arch stones between the two springers, are 10" wide, 8" from soffit (undersurface to ceiling) and vary in length from 2ft to over 3ft. The height of the arches is 3ft from the springing-line; 7ft from the floor. The segmental ceiling appears to be a continuous tunnel-vault, resting upon the hidden upper surface of the arches (in reality, it consists of rubble in short courses of thin, rough-hewn stones, which cross between the voussoirs and are made to fit into rebates or notches cut in their side faces. This rubble vaulting forms the panelling of the vault; each compartment springs at each end from a skewback or slope cut on the upper side of the springers. These details are important when considering the date of the building. The chamber was originally lit by two unglazed square windows, one in the east wall and the other in the south wall, both original had iron bars and shutters, the hinge hooks for these still remain in the south wall. Outside the eastern window there is a shaft that was allegedly used for lowering food from above to the occupants in the chamber. Inside the entrance, the western half of the broad first bay of the chamber, the 'lobby' was ceiled with a vault. The eastern half of the same bay presents some puzzling features: It had no vaulted ceiling and there is no rebate to receive panelling. The surface of the great traverse arch is pock-marked, suggesting that it was for some time exposed to weathering. The south-east corner was said to have been a recess covered with a stone slab. The face of the lower part of the wall on wither side of the angle is much smoother than elsewhere in the chamber and on the south wall, the smooth part is bounded at a height of about 3.5ft by a slightly concave course of thin stones. On the right, the edge of the smooth surface slopes down to a stone, which projects come inches above the floor. On the east wall, the smooth part reaches up to the springing-line of the adjoining great arch and upon that line there is a single thin course of the original walling. Although new walling exists above this, there was no original walling; a possible explanation for this is that there was a stairway there, possibly of wood, resting on masonry.

The Undercroft

The Undercroft

Materials

The stone used in the building of the Undercroft came from quarries at Merstham and from Gatton, worked in the formation known as Upper Greensand, which there crops out in a narrow strip along the foot of the chalk escarpment. It is of two kinds, commonly called Firestone and Malm Rock. Firestone, also known at times as 'Reigate Stone', is the more abundant and has been the common building stone of the district since time immemorial. It was the principal material used in the construction of Edward the Confessor's monastery at Westminster, in 13th Century parts of the Abbey, in Winchester Cathedral as well as its Castle and also in many Kentish churches. It is, however, a poor material for outside work as it is very light and is easily disintegrated by atmospheric influences. It is a fine calcareous sandstone of a grey-green hue, containing green silicate of iron (glauconite) and numerous specks of a black mineral and gleaming plates of mica. All of the cut and dressed stone of the Undercroft, as well as most of the rough stone, is Firestone. The malm rock, which occurs in the quarries in thin bands above and below the firestone, is a finer sandstone of light-grey (almost chalky) hue and is composed of the same materials as the firestone, with the exception of the glauconite and with less mica. In the Undercroft, it was used only in the panels of the vault, where it alternates with firestone. Here and there in the wide mortar-joints of the panels, a thin tile is seen (the panelling was probably originally faced with plaster) and the bed-joint of the springer in the south wall is levelled with pieces of tiles. Also, here and there in the walling, there are bits of tile and brick and in the south wall, just above the floor, a 'header' (4ft by 2.5") is seen. Flat mussel shells, found in the neighbourhood are inserted into some of the joints of the arches. The mortar, made of local sand from the Folkestone beds, and showing white particles of imperfectly-burnt lime, is still in fairly good condition.

Form, Craftsmanship and Date

There is no evidence of the date of the Undercroft other than is supplied by the form and craftsmanship. The idea of a 13th Century date, mooted when the chamber was only partly cleared of rubbish, has by general consent, been given up and a 14th Century date seems more likely, although it is possible that the date cannot be put earlier than the second half of the 15th Century and a Tudor period would more accurately define it. There are several indicators for this, including the three-centred arch, which was a favourite of the Flamboyant or late-Gothic period, but did not find favour with English architects, but does occur occasionally. The dressing of the wrought stone affords another remarkable feature of the work, pointing to a late date. Late in the 13th Century and onwards, a bankerman, the mason who worked at his banker/bench, first dressed his stones roughly, generally in cris-cross fashion, wither with the old-fashioned Norman axe or with a "boaster" (a broad chisel, plain or toothed that was brought into England in 1176 by William of Sens). Then he worked the face all over with a "drag" (a fine plate of steel with fine teeth on one edge), giving it an appearance on close inspection as if a fine comb had been drawn over it. This method of dressing soft stones was still in general use in the 15th Century. The exposed faces of the wrought stone in the undercroft were finished in this way, but here and there signs of the preliminary dressing remain visible, indicating that it was done with an uncommon and peculiar tool, called a stone-chopper. The effects of this tool can be seen on the side of the springer just inside the entrance. Similar tooling can be seen in the north chapel of Merstham Church, which is dated c.1572.

A Court House and Market House

A survey in 1869-70 marked the site as "Site of Market House". The privilege of holding a market at Reigate (and receiving the dues thereof) was granted in 1313 by royal charter to the Lord of the manor, John de Warren, Earl of Surrey and this area would be most suitable, being located at the crossing of Upper West Street with the line of Nutley Lane and Slipshoe Street. It was an open space lying in the angle formed by two main avenues of entrance into the town and directly on the line of a third, all meeting at the west end of the High Street and, therefore, easily reached by merchants and travellers coming from all directions. Roads from the north and east, from the direction of Ewell, Banstead, Chipstead and Gatton converged on the Downs to run down Reigate Hill and near the bottom of "London Lane" travellers wishing to go into the market would naturally make a shortcut and track on the line of "Pudding Lane" (Little West Street). Others coming from the direction of Dorking, instead of going onto the "Crossways" would diverge and make a similar short cut along the line of Upper West Street. These two tracks in the 16th Century became known as "The Highway leading from the castle of Reygate towards Dorking". It is possible to visualise the process by which such tracks of short cut eventually, as dwellings and shops were reared beside them, became lanes and then streets; thus the peculiar topography of the market and its surroundings were formed. But older still - older than the market itself - was the trackway on the line of Nutley Lane whereby pilgrims to Canterbury and travellers long before the days of the pilgrims coming from all over the country of the west, whether by the ridgeway along the comb of the Downs or by the summerway on the flanks or at the foot thereof descended from Colley Hill to break their journey at Reigate; direct upon this trackway (still in its upper reach called Pilgrims Way) were the stalls of the market pitched. The Island, or "Middle Row" was the result of the intersection of these two trackways; and through it, two alleys have preserved additional right of way from West Street to the old market. In medieval times, the site must have been far more open than is shown [on the map of 1835] and much more than today. It is probable that the undercroft building standing midway between the two alleys was free and open on all sides except perhaps to the south-west. There is no indication that any building ever stood on the west side or on the east side until 1803 when Mr Charles Holdsworth erected there a builder's shed, composed partly of brick and partly of old worked stones, taken doubtless from the ruins of the superstructure. A recent suggestion that the old market was held in the wide space of the Crossways at the end of the High Street, based on the fact that a few stalls are sometimes set up there cannot be maintained, but this space has its own interesting traditions. To the north of it stands the Red Cross Inn, the successor of a Pilgrim's hostelry and to the east of the inn, three or four modern houses occupy the site of the Chapel of the Holy Cross, which is said to have stood "in the middle of the north side of the principal street, near the west end". In 1718, it was used as a barn and by 1804 it had been pulled down with only its foundations remaining. At the west end of the High Street stood a cottage and a shop that aligned with the butcher's shop (in Park Lane) and faced direct down the street, this was pulled down in 1905 to widen the start of West Street. Those buildings contained probably the remains of very ancient tenements and they left only a narrow opening and alley between an old line of cottages running west from them along West Street and the line of cottages still forming the north side of the street. On 17th Febraury 1922, The Times reported on the rediscovery of the Undercroft and in its account described it as "a 13th Century crypt or dungeon ... formerly under the original Market House ... demolished at the Reformation ... near to an old church wall ... used by the lords of the manor of Reigate for centuries as a dungeon." This date has already been disproved (see above) no remains of the mentioned church wall has been discovered, which means that the Undercroft is unlikely to have been the crypt of a destroyed church. Also, there is no evidence that the chamber was ever used as a dungeon by the lords of the manor. The traditions attached to the building a century or more ago are preserved in Manning and Bray's 'History and Antiquities of Surrey' (1804), in which local information seems to have been obtained from one Richard Glover, FSA, a solicitor of Reigate and a well-known antiquary, expert in the deciphering of MSS; he wrote: "The Market Place of Reigate was antiently at the West end of the Town, near the entrance to a Road called Nutley Lane, till of late years leading from Reigate to London [here he was wrong!]. By a deed in the hands of Mr Glover, dated 10th Dec, 19 Henry VI, William Richard and Johanna his wife of Reigate, granted to Thomas Sexteyn of Reygate a certain tenement with the appurtenances situate within the Borough of Reygate, between the tenement of Thomas Berkle on the East and the Market Place (Forum de Highway leading from the castle of Reygate towards Dorking on the North, and it appears this was used as the Market place in 25 Henry VIII, and this spot is at this day sometimes called 'The Olde Market Place'. Here is a Vault or a Crypt arched and ribbed with free stone, and there is great reason to suppose that the old Market house was erected over it. In a deed in the hands of Mr. Glover dated 20th Jan., 30 Elizabeth, relating to the same tenement, the market place is called 'The Owlde Market Place'. The Market had then been moved to the South (sic) of the Town, and the Chapel which had before been dedicated to St. Thomas Becket, was then used as a market house. This must have first happened at the time of the Reformation, after that place had been discontinued as a place of worship. The Assizes were formerly held in the town, and the Chapel was used as the Court. About the year 1708 the Chapel was taken down and the present building erected, but upon the site of the Chapel. The Clock House was built for a prison for the Felons and others who were brought to the Easter Session held at Reigate; and in 1801, when an enlargement was made for the better accommodation of the prisoners, the workmen came to the foundation of the Chapel."

The identification of the mediaeval market-place with the ground south of the entrance to Nutley Lane seems to be beyond question and it is remarkably confirmed by the fact that a very old house still exists in a position that exactly tallies with the description of the site of the tenement conveyed in 1440 to Thomas Sexteyn. The highway leading from the castle towards Dorking, which lay on the north of the tenement, can be identified with no other road than that now called Upper West Street, while the market-place lay on its west and south sides. On the sketch map, the tenement has been identified with the house now occupied by A. J. Johnson, late Ewens, chimney sweep. It is to be noticed that no mention of a market 'house' is made in the old deeds. The earliest reference to such a market house is made by Bray who, after mentioning, "the vault or crypt", says that there is great reason to suppose that the old market house was erected over it. He does not give his 'great reason'; it appears to be pure supposition, which Palgrave in his 'Handbook to Reigate' (1860) accepted as an established fact - a noteworthy example of the growth of tradition, but nevertheless, the supposition is a sound one and generally accepted as true. However, it is unlikely that a mediaeval market house erected over the undercroft was anything like the market house and Town Hall which Bray and his contemporaries looked upon at the east end of the High Street. This building was erected by Sir Joseph Jekyll, Master of the Rolls, who became possessed of the manor of Reigate in 1717 and died in 1738, on a plan that came into vogue about that time or a little earlier. An early example exists at Ledbury, erected in 1633 on massive oak pillars. The ground stage opened to the surrounding market-place by arches affording space for the erection of stalls under cover, while an upper stage served as a court house and assembly room. The superstructure of the undercroft could not have been used for stalls, but it would seem to have been suitable for use as a general court and a room for the transaction of market business. Soon after the Suppression of the Chapel of St. Thomas was as opted as a Sessions House, and doubtless, as a general court also, probably because it was larger and more convenient than the room previously used. The change in the locus of the market soon followed that of the court. This in itself suggests that a courthouse was associated with the market on the old site. The identification of such a courthouse with the undercroft building is further suggested by the fact that the building seems to have been demolished or allowed to fall into ruin about the same time. Houses built of stone in mediaeval times in some cases had an undercroft, but if our building had been a private house there would seem to be no reason for its abandonment so soon after its erection. Moreover, the design of the undercroft suggests a building suitable for a courthouse and unsuitable for a dwelling-house after its abandonment. One can imagine a superstructure consisting of a single room with wooden ceiling and an entrance on the north side. The undercroft had an independent external entrance, convenient for the introduction of prisoners, and also possibly and internal way of ascent into the courtroom. That the undercroft was used as a "cage" or prison seems evident from the construction of a shaft suitable for the conveyance of food from above down to the dungeon outside the east window. The construction seems to have been no part of the original design, but an afterthought: it may be almost contemporaneous with the original building. Manorial courts, the Court Baron, the Court Leet, and the Customary Court, were usually held in the hall of the Manor House. At Reigate, the castle was the manor house, but the lords of the manor had ceased to reside there - indeed Lambards (quoted by Palgrave) says that in his day, in the reign of Elizabeth, there remained only, "the rnyns and rubbish of an nid Castle" and it is reasonable to imagine that the lord's court had been removed to a building erected for the purpose in a more convenient position. That court, over which the steward presided, had already become a court for general purposes, exercising a purisdiction in local government largely independent of the County Courts and absorbing the functions of various lesser courts. It carried on the administration of the land, fixing the rotation groups and the dates of various agricultural operations. It managed the pastures and quarries, the care of cattle and the breeding of stock. It suppressed nuisances, fined minor offences, chose the local officers and tried petty actions for debt and damages. Such a building would serve equally well as a market house in which the steward or bailiff would supervise such transactions between seller and buyer as needed formal contract, would adjudicate upon any disputes that might arise in the market and would receive stallage and piccage (i.e. toll exacted for breaking the ground in setting up a stall) and other dues accruing out of the market to the lord of the manor. Possible also, though evidence is lacking, there was held here a court of pie powder ("dusty foot"), " a summary court formerly held at markets and fairs to administer justice between itinerant dealers and others temporarily present.

In late mediaeval times, people were still accustomed to transact much business and courts of various kinds were still not infrequently held, in the open air. If market houses of substantial construction had been common in the country we should possess some evidence of them. In the case of this bit of old Reigate, therefore, it is likely that we have a most interesting survival; for traditional and reasonable supposition and the character of the undercroft combine to support the suggestion that it belonged to a building specially erected in the Tudor period to serve the purposes both of a market house and of a court house. The later history of the building is soon told. After its abandonment, the upper part fell into ruins and was demolished whilst the undercroft became a receptacle for rubbish. Eventually, the northern part, with a floor level about 3ft above the original floor was fitted up as a sawpit, the 4th arch being removed for the purpose. Opposite the sawpit, in the west end of the builder's shed, there is a low doorway through which timber was passed to the pit.

Acknowledgements: Canon F C Davies, Mr W H Seth-Smith, Mr E Penfold and Mr C E Salmon and Messrs Stannard for willing consent and cooperation.