 From at least the year 1278 its historic bulky northern definition formed part of the dominant estate of Laleham across the river, its manor, to which it was linked by a ferry until the early 20th century.Accordingly, as to this section its owner in period from the mid-19th until the early 20th century was the Earl of Lucan; however when its manor house was sold to become Laleham Abbey, a short-lived nunnery, its tenants had taken it over or it was sold for public works.The southern greater part of the land commonly marked today as the Burway or Laleham Burway was the Abbey Mead, kept since the seventh century among many square miles of land and other institutions such as priories, chantries and churches of Chertsey Abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries.