The 1618 Survey

William Cecil Earl of Exeter was, amongst many other titles, Lord of the Manor of Wimbledon, which included the parish of Mortlake. In 1617 he commissioned a survey of the Manor. It was carried out by Raph Creswell with a jury panel whose Mortlake members comprised Henry Bourne, Robert Poole of the High Street, John Thompson of Cromwell House, and William Childe of East Sheen.

The Survey is not available locally as it was retained by the Lord of the Manor, Earl Spencer, in his own archives at Althorp. However, in 1953 the then Earl allowed Maurice Cockin access to the document. Cockin included a chapter on the Mortlake part of the survey in his Mortlake and her Church: a Story Book. The chapter is reproduced here.

The Survey, along with other records from Althorp, is now in the Northamptonshire Archives.