William Lilly

Member of The Hundred

William Lilly (1602-1681) famous astrologer, predicted the Great Fire of London of 1666. Lilly retired to a small estate in Hersham, and was buried in Walton. In 1652 Lilly was able to buy Hurst Wood, a large house at Hersham, near Walton-on-Thames, for the equivalent of perhaps £150,000 in today's money. On his death in 1681, he left his house to Carleton Whitelock, son of Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke, the parliamentarian lawyer during the Civil War.