THE HISTORY OF EAST GRINSTEAD - Online Book

The rise and progress of the town and the history of its institutions & people.

	CRIMINAL RECORDS.                                217
	other words, the owner of this " pocket borough." The last Assizes at East Grinstead were held in 1799. The Judges were not the only people who held their Courts at East Grinstead in the olden days. On April 30th, 1605, Archbishop Bancroft, who was distinguished for his opposition to the Puritans, came to the town on his Metropolitical Visitation and deprived ten ministers of their livings. The old Sessions House, with its adjuncts—the lock-up or cage at the west end and the stocks and whipping­post at the east—were removed during 1829. The building materials were taken over to Buckhurst to aid in the construction of the mansion there, and the Judge's chair used in the Court still forms part of the furniture of the De la Warrs' ancestral home. The old Court House was occasionally used by a company of strolling players, and at one time just prior to its demolition an unsuccessful attempt was made to establish a meat and vegetable market therein. The Dukes of Dorset, as owners of the Manor of Imberhorne, long claimed a rent in respect of the Assizes held here. The following interesting entries are copied from the rent roil of the estate:—