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MERTON ABBEY COLOUR MILLS BELONGING TO WILLIAM KNIGHT: MAP, [c.1690]
Reference Number: 4079
Descriptive Information about the Record (click to expand) Provenance Presented to Surrey Record Office by Cheshire County Record Office in December 1992. The map was found in Chester City Library in 1992
-Introduction William Knight was a manufacturer of 'white ware' in the parish of St. Botolph, Aldgate, London. According to a deed of 1690 which was in the possession of Llewelyn Jewitt in 1878, Knight purchased land and premises situated 'by the river running from Merton Mill to Wandesworth in the county of Surrey' from Mary Crispe, widow of Ellis Crispe, late of Wimbledon. The deed described Merton Mill as 'formerly used for a Fulling Mill and Brasill Mill and now and of late used for a Colour Mill for Grinding Colours for the Glazeing of White Ware.'
Knight was a London potter of some importance. In 1684 he was appointed 'overseer' of the Will of a John Townsend of Rotherhithe and three years later he was involved in the campaign to limit the importation of foreign earthenware to this country. The Treasury Books contain two petitions on this subject signed by him in 1687 and 1689. In 1693 William Knight testified in support of another potter, John Robins, who was accused of illegally importing fullers earth.
No references have been found relating to the surveyor of the map, Walter Henshaw.
-The records - Bibliography Isabel Davies, 'Seventeenth Century Delftware Potters in St. Olave's Parish Southwark,' Surrey Archaeological Collections LXVI, 23
Peter Eden, Dictionary of Land Surveyors and Local Cartographers of Great Britain and Ireland 1550-1850 (Folkestone, 1979)
Llewellyn Jewitt, The Ceramic Art of Great Britain (1878) i 134-135, 157
Calendar of Treasury Books Preserved in the Public Record Office (28 vols, 1904-1955) vii Part II, 598; ix Part I, 100
Victoria History of the County of Surrey (4 vols, 1902-1912) ii, 285, 295, 367; iv, 66
-Access Conditions There are no access restrictions.
-- Series information for this collection
'A Survey of Ground Pertaining to the Couller Mills at Martins Abby n... Title 'A Survey of Ground Pertaining to the Couller Mills at Martins Abby now belongin unto Mr Will: Knight Containing 15 Acars 3 Rood & 12 perch Walter Henshaw Fecit' The map of Merton Abbey colour mills belonging to William Knight, which is in ink and watercolour on parchment, is viewed with north at the top right hand corner. The title is in a cartouche and a compass next to the plan is ornamented with a purple tulip in its centre. The scale is in feet and is shown by a pair of dividers resting on a rule in the top right corner. Two pairs of horizontal cuts in the parchment, at the bottom left and right corners suggest that the plan was originally attached to a deed and the wording of the title may suggest that the survey was made shortly after William Knight's purchase of the land in 1690. The map was originally folded in two. The map shows the site of the mill buildings and mill wheel. Other features depicted are houses, a tower, gardens, trees, fences, hedges, roads, a bridge and watercourses. Two swans are painted on the water on the bottom of the plan. The cartouche, scale, compass and map are all highly coloured. The background of the document is not coloured but there is a yellow and black border. The names of some plots of land and landowners are written on the map and include 'Harty Feild', 'Mr Peter Rayes', 'Samsons Feild', 'The Ground belonging to Martins Abby' and 'The Wetstars Feild in the Ocupation of Mr Chapman'. Size: 35mm x 85mm Scale: 100 feet equals half an inch Reference 4079/1 Unit Date nd [c.1690] Start Date 16890101 End Date 16911231
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