St Peter, Boughton Monchelsea, Kent
St Peter, Boughton Monchelsea, is one of a series of parish churches built on a sandstone ridge overlooking the Kentish Weald. It is one of them which was closed on my last visit to the area, so on Heritage Weekend I returned, and found it open and very friendly.
A volunteer had cleared some of the vegetation in the churchyard, and was making busy with a bonfire, whose smoke lazily crept through the boughs of ancient trees down the slope of the down.
--------------------------------------------
A church whose interior does not quite deliver all its picturesque exterior promises. The situation on the end of the sandstone ridge with far-ranging views is wonderful - and the lychgate is one of the oldest in the county, probably dating from the fifteenth century. Inside the results of a serious fire in 1832 and subsequent rebuildings are all too obvious. The plaster has been stripped from the walls and the rubble stonework disastrously repointed, whilst the poor quality mid-nineteenth-century glass installed by Hardman's studio is not typical of the usual high quality of that firm's output. However, the stone and alabaster reredos is just the right scale for the chancel, and compliments the medieval aumbry, piscina and sedilia. There is also a good range of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century memorials including a large piece at the west end by Scheemakers to commemorate Sir Christopher Powell (d. 1742).
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Boughton+Monchelsea
------------------------------------------
BOUGHTON MONCHENSIE
LIES the next parish northward from Hedcorne. It is written in Domesday, Boltone; in later records, Bocton, and sometimes West Bocton; and now usually Boughton. It has the addition of Monchensie, (commonly pronounced Monchelsea) to it from the family of that name, antiently possessors of it, and to distinguish it from the other parishes of the same name within this county; and it is sometimes called, in the neighbourhood of it, Boughton Quarry, from the large quarries of stone within it.
THIS PARISH lies upon the lower or southern ridge, commonly called the Quarry hills, which cross it, the summit of them being the northern boundary of the Weald, so much therefore of this parish as is below it is within that district. The church stands about half way down of the hill southward, and close to the churchyard is the antient mansion of Boughton-place, pleasantly situated, having an extensive prospect southward over the Weald, in a park well wooded and watered; from hence the parish extends into the Weald, towards that branch of the Medway which flows from Hedcorne towards Style-bridge and Yalding, over a low deep country, where the soil is a stiff clay like that of Hedcorne before-described. Northward from Boughtonplace, above the hill, the parish extends over Cocksheath, part of which is within its bounds, on the further side of it is a hamlet called Boughton-green, and beyond it the seat of Boughton-mount, the grounds of which are watered by the stream, which rises near Langley park, and having lost itself under ground, rises again in the quarries here, and flowing on through Lose, to which this parish joins here, joins the Medway a little above Maidstone. These large and noted quarries, usually known by the name of Boughton quarries, are of the Kentish rag-stone, of which the soil of all this part of the parish, as far as the hills above-mentioned consists, being covered over with a fertile loam, of no great depth. At the end of Cocksheath eastward is the hamlet of Cock-street, usually called, from a public-house in it, Boughton Cock, when the soil becomes a red earth, much mixed with rotten flints; a little to the southward of which, at the edge of the heath is the parsonage, with some coppice wood adjoining, and on the brow of the hill, at the eastern bounds of the parish, the seat of Wiarton, having an extensive prospect over the Weald.
THIS PARISH was part of those possessions given by William the Conqueror, on his accession to the crown of England, to his half-brother Odo, bishop of Baieux, whom he likewise made earl of Kent, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in the survey of Domesday, taken about the year 1080:
Hugh, grandson of Herbert, holds of the bishop of Baieux Boltone. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is two carucates. In demesne there is nothing. But five villeins have five carucates there, and two acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of twenty hogs. There is a church. In the time of king Edward the Consessor, and afterwards, it was worth eight pounds, now six pounds. Alunin held it of earl Goduine.
Four years after the taking the above-mentioned survey, the bishop of Baieux was disgraced, and all his possessions were consiscated to the crown.
After which, this manor came into the possession of the family of Montchensie, called in Latin records, De Monte Canisio, the principal seat of which was at Swanscombe, in this county. (fn. 1) William, son of William de Montchensie, who died anno 6 king John, was possessed of this manor, and it appears that he survived his father but a few years, for Warine de Montchensie, probably his uncle, succeeded to his whole inheritance in the 15th year of that reign. Soon after which this manor passed into the possession of the family of Hougham, of Hougham, in this county.
OUGHTON MONCHENSIE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sutton.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, is a small building, having a handsome square tower at the west end.
This church was given to the priory of Leeds, soon after the foundation of it by Henry de Bocton, and was afterwards appropriated to it, with the licence of the archbishop, before the reign of king Richard II. at which time the parsonage of it was valued at ten pounds, and the vicarage of it at four pounds yearly income, (fn. 4) both which remained part of the possessions of the priory till the dissolution of it in the reign of king Henry VIII. when it came, with the rest of the possessions of that house, into the king's hands, who by his dotation-charter in his 33d year, settled both the parsonage and advowson of the church of Bocton on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, part of whose possessions they now remain.
The lessee of the parsonage is Mrs. Eliz. Smith; but the presentation to the vicarage, the dean and chapter reserve to themselves.
¶On the abolition of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. this parsonage was surveyed by order of the state in 1649, when it was returned, that it consisted of the scite, which, with the tithes, was worth 56l. 3s. 4d. that the glebe land of twenty-nine acres and two roods was worth 8l. 16s. 8d. per annum, both improved rents; which premises were let anno 14 Charles I. to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, by the dean and chapter, for twenty one years, at the yearly rent of 13l. 10s. The lessee to repair the chancel of the parish church, and the advowson was excepted by the dean and chapter out of the lease.
The vicarage is valued in the king's books at 7l. 13s. 4d. and the yearly tenths at 15s. 4d. per annum. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds per annum. Communicants, 177. In 1649 it was surveyed, with the parsonage, by order of the state, and valued at thirty pounds per annum, clear yearly income. (fn. 5)
The vicar of this church in 1584, but his name I have not found, was deprived for non-conformity; though he was so acceptable to the parishioners, that they, to the number of fifty-seven, made a petition to the lord treasurer, to restore their minister to them.
St Peter, Boughton Monchelsea, Kent
St Peter, Boughton Monchelsea, is one of a series of parish churches built on a sandstone ridge overlooking the Kentish Weald. It is one of them which was closed on my last visit to the area, so on Heritage Weekend I returned, and found it open and very friendly.
A volunteer had cleared some of the vegetation in the churchyard, and was making busy with a bonfire, whose smoke lazily crept through the boughs of ancient trees down the slope of the down.
--------------------------------------------
A church whose interior does not quite deliver all its picturesque exterior promises. The situation on the end of the sandstone ridge with far-ranging views is wonderful - and the lychgate is one of the oldest in the county, probably dating from the fifteenth century. Inside the results of a serious fire in 1832 and subsequent rebuildings are all too obvious. The plaster has been stripped from the walls and the rubble stonework disastrously repointed, whilst the poor quality mid-nineteenth-century glass installed by Hardman's studio is not typical of the usual high quality of that firm's output. However, the stone and alabaster reredos is just the right scale for the chancel, and compliments the medieval aumbry, piscina and sedilia. There is also a good range of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century memorials including a large piece at the west end by Scheemakers to commemorate Sir Christopher Powell (d. 1742).
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Boughton+Monchelsea
------------------------------------------
BOUGHTON MONCHENSIE
LIES the next parish northward from Hedcorne. It is written in Domesday, Boltone; in later records, Bocton, and sometimes West Bocton; and now usually Boughton. It has the addition of Monchensie, (commonly pronounced Monchelsea) to it from the family of that name, antiently possessors of it, and to distinguish it from the other parishes of the same name within this county; and it is sometimes called, in the neighbourhood of it, Boughton Quarry, from the large quarries of stone within it.
THIS PARISH lies upon the lower or southern ridge, commonly called the Quarry hills, which cross it, the summit of them being the northern boundary of the Weald, so much therefore of this parish as is below it is within that district. The church stands about half way down of the hill southward, and close to the churchyard is the antient mansion of Boughton-place, pleasantly situated, having an extensive prospect southward over the Weald, in a park well wooded and watered; from hence the parish extends into the Weald, towards that branch of the Medway which flows from Hedcorne towards Style-bridge and Yalding, over a low deep country, where the soil is a stiff clay like that of Hedcorne before-described. Northward from Boughtonplace, above the hill, the parish extends over Cocksheath, part of which is within its bounds, on the further side of it is a hamlet called Boughton-green, and beyond it the seat of Boughton-mount, the grounds of which are watered by the stream, which rises near Langley park, and having lost itself under ground, rises again in the quarries here, and flowing on through Lose, to which this parish joins here, joins the Medway a little above Maidstone. These large and noted quarries, usually known by the name of Boughton quarries, are of the Kentish rag-stone, of which the soil of all this part of the parish, as far as the hills above-mentioned consists, being covered over with a fertile loam, of no great depth. At the end of Cocksheath eastward is the hamlet of Cock-street, usually called, from a public-house in it, Boughton Cock, when the soil becomes a red earth, much mixed with rotten flints; a little to the southward of which, at the edge of the heath is the parsonage, with some coppice wood adjoining, and on the brow of the hill, at the eastern bounds of the parish, the seat of Wiarton, having an extensive prospect over the Weald.
THIS PARISH was part of those possessions given by William the Conqueror, on his accession to the crown of England, to his half-brother Odo, bishop of Baieux, whom he likewise made earl of Kent, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in the survey of Domesday, taken about the year 1080:
Hugh, grandson of Herbert, holds of the bishop of Baieux Boltone. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is two carucates. In demesne there is nothing. But five villeins have five carucates there, and two acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of twenty hogs. There is a church. In the time of king Edward the Consessor, and afterwards, it was worth eight pounds, now six pounds. Alunin held it of earl Goduine.
Four years after the taking the above-mentioned survey, the bishop of Baieux was disgraced, and all his possessions were consiscated to the crown.
After which, this manor came into the possession of the family of Montchensie, called in Latin records, De Monte Canisio, the principal seat of which was at Swanscombe, in this county. (fn. 1) William, son of William de Montchensie, who died anno 6 king John, was possessed of this manor, and it appears that he survived his father but a few years, for Warine de Montchensie, probably his uncle, succeeded to his whole inheritance in the 15th year of that reign. Soon after which this manor passed into the possession of the family of Hougham, of Hougham, in this county.
OUGHTON MONCHENSIE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sutton.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, is a small building, having a handsome square tower at the west end.
This church was given to the priory of Leeds, soon after the foundation of it by Henry de Bocton, and was afterwards appropriated to it, with the licence of the archbishop, before the reign of king Richard II. at which time the parsonage of it was valued at ten pounds, and the vicarage of it at four pounds yearly income, (fn. 4) both which remained part of the possessions of the priory till the dissolution of it in the reign of king Henry VIII. when it came, with the rest of the possessions of that house, into the king's hands, who by his dotation-charter in his 33d year, settled both the parsonage and advowson of the church of Bocton on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, part of whose possessions they now remain.
The lessee of the parsonage is Mrs. Eliz. Smith; but the presentation to the vicarage, the dean and chapter reserve to themselves.
¶On the abolition of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. this parsonage was surveyed by order of the state in 1649, when it was returned, that it consisted of the scite, which, with the tithes, was worth 56l. 3s. 4d. that the glebe land of twenty-nine acres and two roods was worth 8l. 16s. 8d. per annum, both improved rents; which premises were let anno 14 Charles I. to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, by the dean and chapter, for twenty one years, at the yearly rent of 13l. 10s. The lessee to repair the chancel of the parish church, and the advowson was excepted by the dean and chapter out of the lease.
The vicarage is valued in the king's books at 7l. 13s. 4d. and the yearly tenths at 15s. 4d. per annum. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds per annum. Communicants, 177. In 1649 it was surveyed, with the parsonage, by order of the state, and valued at thirty pounds per annum, clear yearly income. (fn. 5)
The vicar of this church in 1584, but his name I have not found, was deprived for non-conformity; though he was so acceptable to the parishioners, that they, to the number of fifty-seven, made a petition to the lord treasurer, to restore their minister to them.