All Saints, Maidstone, Kent
Last weekend I realised I would be away for Heritage Weekend, so the plans I was making are all scrapped, however the return to All Saints would be simpler as it is open most lunchtimes, including Saturdays.
So that was the plan.
A quick dash to Tesco for the shopping, which is getting ever more expensive, now would be almost ruinous amounts were it not for me being an international quality export. But seriously, how do families cope?
Back home for breakfast of fruit and another coffee, before I loaded the car with camera gear and set off into the traffic heading for the port. Not as bad as previous weeks, but we did have to got to the motorway along the Alkham Valley and avoiding a cyclist who seemed to thing give way signs at the mini roundabout at the bottom of Whitfield did not apply. Had we have been a second earlier, we would have taken him out, and it wouldn't have been our fault!
The rest of the drive to Maidstone was uneventful, but then we had the joys of the one way system, which I did get wrong, so had to go round one more time to find the right turning past the church and be in the right lane for the car park.
All Saints is open 120 minutes either side of midday four days a week, opening at ten, certainly on Saturdays until the end of September.
I tried to see inside on a cold, damp and grey day at the end of winter, Google had said it was open, but Google had lied. This time I checked the church website to ensure it would be open.
In the end, after arriving at ten past ten, I had the church to myself, and as befitting the county town of Kent, the church is full of interest. Its walls so full of memorials, it would be a task of several hours to photograph them all, so I did a few.
The church has some ancient memorials, of this is one, stares down at mostly empty nave, aisles and chancels.
It took an hour to complete my task, by which time the traffic into town looked horrific, and then it started to rain, so we hurried tot he car and then home.
Traffic was nose to tail entering the town, but we sailed out and back onto the motorway, and then putting along to the coast at 50mph due to the Brexit related contraflow.
Sigh.
To avoid the port, we came back along the Alkham valley, and then to home, getting back just before midday, so put the kettle on for a refreshing brew before I made bacon butties for brunch.
The rest of the day was pretty much taken with football, although Norwich don't play until Sunday, so I listened along and tried to stay awake.
At half five Spurs played Man Utd n a battle to see who was transitioning better. And turned out to be Spurs who ran out 2-0 winners.
We dined on rump steak, fresh corn and potatoes done in the air fryer, which still don't come out crispy, but I think I might have worked out what I'm doing wrong.
We shall see.
--------------------------------------------------
One of the widest churches in Kent, dating from the late fourteenth century when it was granted a College of Canons whose buildings still exist nearby. The tower, which stands to the south of the nave, originally had a tall spire, but this was struck by lightning in 1730 and not replaced. The breathtaking scale of the interior - an aisled nave of six bays, chancel and chapels, is somewhat compromised by the severe wooden roofs inserted by John Loughborough Pearson who restored the church in 1886. A good set of Victorian stained glass includes work by Clayton and Bell, Wailes (1861) and Capronnier (1872). The twenty stalls have excellent misericords, mostly showing coats of arms of those associated with the college. Archbishop William Courtenay (d. 1396) is possibly buried in the chancel, and a brass indent to him survives. Set into the fine sedilia is the tomb of John Wotton (d. 1417), the first master of the college. It incorporates a painting of Wotton being presented to Our Lady. Nearby are graffiti associated with the game of noughts and crosses! There are many other monuments including one to John Astley (d. 1639) by court sculptor Edward Marshall. It depicts two men and women in their shrouds. Astley was Master of the Revels to King James and King Charles. There is also a memorial to Sir Charles Booth (d. 1795) signed by Nollekens.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Maidstone+1
----------------------------------------------------
THE TOWN AND PARISH OF MAIDSTONE.
SOUTH-WESTWARD from Gillingham, the parish of Boxley only intervening, lies the parish and town of Maidstone, concerning the antient name which writers have greatly differed.
Nennius, in his catalogue of the cities of Britain, tells us, this place was called by the Britons, Caer Meguiad, or as others have it, Megwad, no doubt corruptly for Medwag. Camden, (fn. 1) Burton, (fn. 2) Gale, and some few other historians, have supposed it to have been the Roman station, called by Antonine in his Itinerary, Vagniacœ; a name taken from the river here, at that time called Vaga; for this purpose they read the distances of the second iter of Antonine A Vallo ad portum Ritupis, as follows: A Londinio, Noviomago, M. P. X. Vagniacis, M. P. XVIII. Durobrovi M. P. IX. If this place was the Vagniacæ of the Romans, and the above numbers are right, it is situated much about the above distance from Keston, and not quite so much from Crayford, both which have been conjectured to have been the antient Noviomagus; the distance of it from Durobrovis, or Rochester, will ansswer tolerably well. The word Vagniacœ, is supposed by a learned etymologist, (fn. 3) to have been corrupt written in the Itinerary for Maduicœ, which is the same as Med-wœge in the Saxon, and Madüogüiso, in the British tongue; hence in process of time it can to be called Madis and ad Madum, (fn. 4) the river being called Mada and Madus. The Saxons afterwards called led it Medwegston and Medweaggeston; i.e. Maduiacis oppidum, according to Baxter; in English, Medway's town, which name is written, by contraction, in Domesday, Meddestane, as it is at present Maidstone.
THE PARISH of Maidstone is most advantageously situated near the banks of the river Medway, which directs its course through it, being navigable by the contrivance of locks here and for many miles higher up, as far as Tunbridge town. Over the river here there is an unsightly ancient stone bridge of seven arches, supposed to have been first erected by some of the archbishops, lords of the manor. It was repaired in king James I.'s reign by an assessment on the town and parish, but it still remains both narrow and inconvenient. The town is built on the two opposite hills, rising immediately from the banks of the river, but the principal part is on the eastern one, beyond which the hill rises still further to Pinenden heath, part of which is within this parish, which there joins to those of Boxley and Detling. The soil is exceedingly fertile, being in general a loam, thinly spread over an entire bed of quarry stone, commonly called Kentish rag-stone, excepting towards the eastern parts of it, where it becomes a deep sand; in the south east part of it, about Sheppard's-street and Gould's, there is some coppice wood, beyond which are the hamlets of Broadway, Willington-street, and part of Maginford, within the bounds of this parish. The meadows, on the banks of the Medway, are much subject to be flooded by the sudden risings of it, after heavy rains, to the height of several feet perpendicular, but which as suddenly subside. Above the town the course of the river, though it narrows considerably above the lock, just above the bridge, is yet beautiful, and retains a depth of water of near from twelve to fourteen feet; about a mile above the town, near the hamlets of Upper and Lower Tovil, the stream, which rises at Langley, having supplied a chain of mills, flows into the Medway; the former hamlet is situated on an eminence, commanding a pleasing view; the Ana baptists have, in this romantic and rocky situation, made a burial place for their fraternity. At a small distance higher up the river, though on the opposite bank, is the hamlet of Fant, the principal house of which, called Fant house, is the property of Mr. Fowle, who resides in it; and near it a pleasant seat, close to the river, which belongs to Robert Salmon, esq. of Eyhorne-street. In all this vicinity the banks of the river continue highly ornamented with spread ing oaks, while the country round wears an appearance equal to that of a garden, in its highest state of cultivation. The soil, not only adjoining the town, but throughout the neighbourhood of it, is remarkably kind for hops, orchards of fruit, and plantations of filberds, consequently those, especially of the former round it, are very large, and the crops of them abundant, owing to the peculiar nourishment and warmth afforded to the roots of the plants, from the fibres of them penetrating the crevices of the rock. Great part of the wealth and prosperity of Maidstone has arisen from the hop trade, most of the inhabitants of every degree having some hop ground, and many estates have been raised by them from this commodity, which is supposed to have been planted here about the time of the Reformation; sooner than in any other part of this county.
THE TOWN of Maidstone is pleasantly situated, about the middle of the county, thirty-five miles from London, and somewhat more from Dover. It is happily screened by the surrounding hills, arising from the beautiful vale, through which the Medway runs beneath. It is justly noticed for the dryness of its soil and its excellent water, and consequently for its healthiness, its ascent keeping it continually clean and dry. The state of this town, in queen Elizabeth's reign, may be known by the return made to her in the 8th year of it, of the several places in this county where there were any boats, shipping, &c. by which it appears, that there were then here a mayor and aldermen, houses inhabited, 294; landing places, 4; ships and hoys, 5; one of 30 tons, one of 32, one of 40, and one of 50; and persons wholly occupied in the trade of merchandize, 22; since which this town has been continually increasing in size, inhabitants, and wealth, owing to the introduction of the hop-plant, as has been already noticed, the several charters which have been granted to it, and the navigation of the river Medway; insomuch that the houses are now computed to be in number fifteen hundred, and the population of it is said to have increased at this time to upwards of six thousand inhabitants, near one half of which are non-conformists to the established church, both Presbyterians and Anabaptists, each of whom have their respective meeting houses of worship in the town, which dissension in matters of religion unhappily extends to politics, and from the heat of parties, destroys much of that social intercourse and harmony which would otherwise unite the inhabitants of this flourishing town. The principal parts of it stand on the side of a hill, declining towards the west and south; it extends about a mile from north to south, and not quite three quarters from east to west. It was new paved, lighted, and otherwise improved in 1792, in consequence of an act passed the year before for that purpose; though the buildings in it are in general antient, yet there are several handsome modern ones, inhabited by genteel families; and the spacious breadth of the High-street carries with it a grand and at the same time a lightsome and cheerful appearance. The town consists of four principal streets, which intersect each other at the market cross, having several smaller ones leading out of them. The cross, on the top of this building, which is an octagon, though the name still remains, has been some time since taken down. It is now used for a fishmarket, and was formerly called the Corn cross, hav ing been made use of as a corn market till the upper court-house was built for that purpose about the year 1608, by an assessment on the town.
On account of its convenient situation for transacting the public business of the county, it has long been reputed the county or shire town. Near the upper end of the High-street, which is remarkably spacious, leading down to the bridge, besides the upper court hall above mentioned, is a more modern one, a handsome building of stone and brick, built not many years ago at the joint expence of the corporation and the justices of the western division of the county; the former making use of it to transact their public business in, as the latter do whenever the public business of the county requires the use of it. In it are likewise held the assizes for the county, the general quarter sessions for the western parts of Kent, the county meetings for the choice of candidates, to represent the county in parliament, and every other public business relating to it; which right of the justices and inhabitants of the county, to hold their meetings, &c. in it, was settled at the building of it, by an indenture made between them and the corporation. The street, leading towards Coxheath and the Weald of Kent, is called Stone-street, a name which sufficiently proves the antiquity of this town, and its consequence in the time of the Romans. There are three principal conduits, which are supplied with excellent water, conveyed in pipes from a place called Rocky-hill, in the West Borough, on the opposite side of the Medway, at the charge of the corporation. These are placed very conveniently for the service of the inhabitants, one at the upper end of the High-street, near the market cross; a second lower down, being a high octagon stone building with a clock and dial, having a turret at the top of it, and what is called a fish-bell, which is always rung when any fish is brought to market; the third is placed at the lower end of the town. At a small distance from the south side of this street, about the middle of it, on an eminence close to the Medway, stands the church, the antient archiepiscopal palace, and the remains of the college, each forming conspicuous objects to the neighbouring country westward.
Adjoining to the last mentioned court-hall is the prison belonging to the corporation, formerly called the Brambles. (fn. 5) This prison appears to have belonged antiently to the archbishops of Canterbury, and continued so till archbishop Cranmer, in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. exchanged the prison house of this town with that king. (fn. 6) In king Charles I.'s reign it remained in the king's hands; for by his letters patent, in 1631, he granted the office of keeper of it, and the custody of all prisoners there, to John Collins for his life; who, by his will, in 1644, gave his patent of the king's gaol in Maidstone, with all the irons, implements, fees, and appurtenances to his son of the same name.
The public gaol of the western division of the county of Kent was formerly placed most inconveniently in the very middle of the town, to its great annoyance, where it remained till 1736, when on a petition of its inconvenient situation, near the market place, of its being much decayed, and that there was no gaol for debtors, an act was obtained for erecting another in the room of it, together with a bridewell, in another part of the town. This, after some intermission, was accomplished, and a capacious strong building of stone, with large outlets and conveniences for this purpose, has been erected near the out parts of the town, in East-lane, which has been lately still further strengthened and enlarged at a large expence, at the charge of the western division of the county.
THE MARKET, which was first granted to archbibishop Boniface, by king Henry III. in his 45th year, to be held weekly at his manor here, has been confirmed by the several charters to this town, and is now held weekly on a Thursday, for the sale of all kind of provisions, corn, and hops, toll free, with which the town and its neighbourhood for miles round is most plentifully supplied at a very reasonable rate. The mayor is clerk of the market, and when admitted into his office, is sworn duly to execute that part of it. King George II. by letters patent in 1751, granted to the corporation a market, to be held the second Tuesday in every month yearly, for the buying and selling of all manner of sheep and other cattle whatsoever, which continues to be so held at this time; and there is another market held likewise for the sale of hops yearly, at the time of Michaelmas.
THE FAIRS of this town are held four times yearly, viz. Feb. 13, May 12, June 20, and Oct. 27, for horses, bullocks, and other cattle, as well as for wares, haberdashery, and pedlary; but the last is by far the greatest of them, being resorted to by the country for many miles round. The principal part of these fairs is held on a piece of ground, on the bank of the Medway, called the meadow, though the High-street is covered with them likewise. The above piece of ground formerly belonged to the abbot and convent of Boxley, and on the dissolution of that house, coming to the crown, was granted by king Henry VIII. to Sir Thomas Wyatt, who in a great exchange of land, made by him with that king, in his 32d year, sold to him, among other estates in this parish, the piece of land called Caring, containing sixteen acres, and the profits of the fair yearly there, for standing upon it, in Maidstone. In the parliament of the 11th of king Henry VII. the custody of weights and measures, which were then renewed and appointed according to the standard in the exchequer, was com mitted to this town for the county of Kent, and they have continued to be preserved here to the present time.
There are two considerable manufactories of linen thread carried on in this town, a trade introduced here by the Walloons in the 11th year of queen Elizabeth's reign, at the time they fled from the persecution of the duke d'Alva, and took refuge in England. The Walloon families here in 1634, were about fifty, they are now quite worn out, though there are some names remaining, which seem to have derived their origin from them, though the persons that bear them are ignorant whence they had them. The only remembrance of these Walloons now left is the term which the common people give to the flax spun for the threadmen, which at this day they call Dutch work.
Besides which there has been within these few years a Distillery, erected and carried on here to a very large extent, by Mr. George Bishop, from which is produced the well-known Maidstone Geneva, being of such a magnitude, that no less than seven hundred hogs are kept from the surplus of the grains from it.
There is a department of the customs and an office of excise in this town.
Besides the free grammar school, of which a particular account will be given hereafter, there are two boarding-schools for the education of young ladies, all of them of good repute.
¶The navigation of the river Medway is of the greatest advantage to this town, as a considerable traffic is carried on by it from hence to Rochester, Chatham, and so on to London, and from the several large cornmills here abundance of meal and flour is shipped off for the use of those towns, the dock and navy there, as well as great quantities sent weekly to London. The fulling and paper mills in and near this town, of the latter of which, late Mr. Whatman's, at Boxley, is perhaps equal to any in the kingdom, send all their manufacture hither to be transported from hence by water to London. The vast quantities of timber brought hither from the Weald of Kent and its neighbourhood, by land carriage, as well as water, are conveyed from hence by the navigation of the Medway to the dock at Chatham, and other more distant parts. Besides which there are several large hoys, of fifty tons burthen and upwards, which sail weekly to and from London, for the convenience of this town and the adjacent country.
MAIDSTONE is within the diocese of Canterbury and deanry of Sutton, and is exempt from the jurisdiction of the archdeacon.
The church stands at the western part of the town, on the bank of the river Medway. It was at first dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but when archbishop Courtney had rebuilt the chancel, and refitted the rest of it, on his having obtained a licence in the 19th year of king Richard II. to make it collegiate, he dedicated it anew to All Saints.
The stalls for the master and fellows of the college are still remaining in the chancel, in which the arms of archbishop Courtney appear in several places, but no where in the body of the church, which makes it probable the latter was part of the old parish church of St. Mary, and not rebuilt by the archbishop. The church is a large handsome building, consisting of a nave, great chancel, and two side isles; the roof is lofty, and is covered throughout with lead. At the west end it has a handsome well built tower, on which there was a spire covered with lead, near eighty feet high, which was burnt down by lightning, on Nov. 2, 1730. In the tower were eight bells, a clock, and chimes; the bells, in 1784, were new cast into ten, by Chapman and Mears of London.
In the year 1700, the body of the church was neatly and regularly pewed; on each side is a commodious gallery, one of which was built at the expence of Sir Robert Marsham, bart. then one of the repretatives for this town, and afterwards created lord Romney.
There were antiently in this church numbers of inscriptions on brass plates, as well on the monuments as grave stones, which are now almost torn away. In the middle of the great chancel there is a tomb-stone, raised a little above the pavement, with the marks of the portraiture of a bishop, in his mitre and robes, and of an inscription round it, but the brass of the whole is torn away. This is supposed to be the cenotaph of archbishop Courtney, the founder of this church, for it was the custom in those times for persons of eminent rank and quality to have tombs erected to their memory in more places than one.
The archbishop was son of Hugh Courtney, earl of Devonshire, by Margaret, daughter of Humphry Bohun, earl of Essex and Hereford, accordingly the arms of Courtney and Bohun impaled, are in several parts of this chancel. The archbishop died at his palace in Maidstone, in 1396, and in the first part of his will directed his body to be buried in the cathedral church of Exeter, where he had formerly been a prebendary; afterwards, lying on his death bed, he changed his mind in this point, and holding his body unworthy of burial in his metropolitical, or any other cathedral or collegiate church, he wills to be buried in the church yard of his collegiate church at Maidstone, in the place designed for John Boteler, his esquire; but it appears by a leiger book of Christ church, Canterbury, that king Richard II. happening to be then at Canterbury, when the archbishop was to be buried, perhaps at the request of the monks, overruled the archbishops intention, and commanded his body to be there entombed, where he lies, under a fair monument of alabaster, with his portraiture on it, at the feet of the Black Prince. Thus Somner, Godwin, M. Parker, and Camden; but Weever thinks, notwithstanding the above, that he was buried under his tomb in this chancel of Maidstone.
The rectory of this church, with the chapels of Loose and Detling annexed, was appropriated by archbishop Courtney, by the bull of pope Boniface IX. (fn. 11) with the king's licence, in the 19th year of king Richard II. to his new founded college here, but the patronage of the advowson, it seems, he reserved to himself and his successors; in which state it remained till archbishop Cranmer, in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. exchanged the advowson and patronage of the college and church with the king. (fn. 12)
Upon the dissolution of the college, in the 1st year of king Edward VI. the rectory and advowson became both vested in the crown, and the church was left, through the king's favour, to the inhabitants of this town and parish, as it had been before it was made collegiate, the grant of it, together with the church yard being confirmed to them by the charter granted by king James I. in his 2d year, for their parish church and church yard, for the purpose of divine service, burying the dead, &c. as the same was then used.
Whilst the college remained, the parish found no ill effects from the appropriation of the rectory, as the master and fellows caused divine service to be constantly performed in the church, and the cure of the parish to be properly served; but when the college was dissolved, and the great and small tithes appropriated to it were granted away by the crown, the parishioners suffered much from the scantiness of the provision remaining for a person properly qualified to undertake the cure of so large and populous a parish, a small stipend only with the oblations, obventions, &c. being all that was left for the officiating minister, under the title of perpetual curate. King Edward VI. in his 4th year, granted to Sir Thomas Wyatt, among other premises, this rectory of Maidstone, to (fn. 13) hold in capite by knight's service; but he engaging in a rebellion in the 1st year of queen Mary, forfeited it, with the rest of his estates, to the crown, whence the patronage of the curacy was granted by that queen, in her 6th year, to archbishop cardinal Pool, and she demised the rectory of this church for a term of years to Christopher Roper, esq. (fn. 14) the same being then of the value of 81l. (fn. 15)
Queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted the reversion of this rectory in exchange, among other premises, to Matthew, archbishop of Canterbury, at which time it was valued as follows:
The rectory of Maidstone, with the tenths of the chapels of Loose and Detling, the tenths of Loddington and in Estrey were worth yearly 74l. out of which there was paid to the chief priest of Maidstone, 20l. to his two assistants each, 6l. 13s. 4d. to the curates of Loose and Detling each, 2l. 13s. 4d. in all, 38l. 14s. 4d. notwithstanding these deductions, it does not appear that there was after this more than one appointed to officiate here, to whom the archbishop paid a salary of 10l. per annum.
Archbishop Whitgift, in 1583, augmented the curate's salary 10l. per annum. (fn. 16) Archbishop Juxon, in obedience to the directions of king Charles II. in 1660, for augmenting the maintenance of vicars and curates, made an addition of 37l. 6s. 8d. per annum. (fn. 17) Archbishop Sancroft, among other acts of pious beneficence, granted by lease, in 1677, to Humphry Lynd, curate and preacher of Maidstone, for augmentation of his maintenance, all the small tithes of the borough of Week (fn. 18) and Stone within this parish, the commodities of the church-yard, and one moiety of all the small tithes within the town and borough of Maidstone;h notwithstanding which he has a maintenance by no means proportionable to the greatness of his cure and labour.
Upon a trial in the exchequer in 1707, concerning the curate's right to the vicarage tithes of Lodington, it was suggested, that this curacy was worth three hundred pounds per annum; to which it was replied, that the legal dues were not more than one hundred and sixty pounds per ann. (fn. 19) Lodington is situated between three and four miles from Maidstone, and separated by other parishes intervening; it is said, there was once a chapel in it, situated in a spot now called Glover's garden, where of late years some stones and foundations have been dug up. I believe the curates have not enjoyed these tithes for some time.
The rectory is still part of the revenues of the archbishop, who nominates the perpetual curate of this town and parish.
The curacy is not in charge in the king's books.
In the 37th year of queen Elizabeth, Levin Bufkin was farmer of the rectory, under the archbishop. In 1643, Sir Edward Henden, one of the barons of the exchequer, was lessee of it. In 1741, Thomas Bliss, esq. held the lease of it of the archbishop. It afterwards came into the possession of William Horsmonden Turner, by virtue of the limitation of whose will his interest in it is now vested in William Baldwin, esq. of Harrietsham.
THERE WAS ANOTHER CHURCH, or rather a FREE CHAPEL, dedicated to St. Faith, situated in the northernmost part of the town from that above mentioned, being most probably erected for the use of those inhabitants of this parish, who lived at too great a distance to frequent the other. It seems to have been surrendered up into the king's hands, in conformity to the act of the 1st year of king Edward VI. and, with the church-yard, to have been purchased of the crown afterwards by the inhabitants; but whether then used for religious worship does not appear. Some time afterwards it became part of the estate of the Maplesdens, of whom it was purchased in the reign of king James I. by Arthur Barham, esq. who possessed the manor of Chillington, at which time he acknowledged the right of the corporation to use the chapel of St. Faith for divine service, and the chapelyard for burials, if they thought fit; at present only the chancel is standing, which for many years was used for a place of public worship by the Walloons: upon the dispersing of this congregation, by archbishop Laud in 1634, this chapel was shut up for some small time, when it was again made use of by a congregation of Presbyterians, who continued to meet there till about 1735, when they built themselves a meeting house elsewhere. Part of it is now a dwelling house, and the rest of it was some years converted into an assembly room; it is now made use of as a boarding school for young ladies.
The scite and what remains of this fabric was lately the property of the heirs of Sir Tho. Taylor, bart. of the Park-house. It was afterwards purchased by Mr. Samuel Fullager, gent. the heir of whose son, Mr. Christopher Fullager, of this town, is proprietor of it.
THERE were TWO CHANTRIES founded in this church, one by Robert Vinter, in the reign of king Edward III. who gave two estates in this parish, called Goulds and Shepway, for the support of a priest performing certain divine offices in the church of Maidstone, whence it acquired the name of GOULD'S CHANTRY, a full account of which, and of the possessors of those estates, after its suppression to the present owner of them, the Rt. Hon. Charles lord Romney, has already been given in the description of them.
¶The other chantry was founded by Thomas Arundell, archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1405, be ing the 7th of king Henry IV. who that year granted his licence to the archbishop, to found two chantries; one of which, of one chaplain, was in this collegiate church, at the altar of St. Thomas the Martyr, to celebrate daily service for his soul, &c. for which the archbishop granted, that he should have a yearly stipend of ten marcs out of Northfleet parsonage. The advowson or donation remained with the several archbishops of Canterbury till archbishop Cranmer, in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. conveyed his right in it to the king, in exchange for other premises. This chantry was dissolved by the act of the 1st year of king Edward VI. at the same time the college itself was suppressed.
All Saints, Maidstone, Kent
Last weekend I realised I would be away for Heritage Weekend, so the plans I was making are all scrapped, however the return to All Saints would be simpler as it is open most lunchtimes, including Saturdays.
So that was the plan.
A quick dash to Tesco for the shopping, which is getting ever more expensive, now would be almost ruinous amounts were it not for me being an international quality export. But seriously, how do families cope?
Back home for breakfast of fruit and another coffee, before I loaded the car with camera gear and set off into the traffic heading for the port. Not as bad as previous weeks, but we did have to got to the motorway along the Alkham Valley and avoiding a cyclist who seemed to thing give way signs at the mini roundabout at the bottom of Whitfield did not apply. Had we have been a second earlier, we would have taken him out, and it wouldn't have been our fault!
The rest of the drive to Maidstone was uneventful, but then we had the joys of the one way system, which I did get wrong, so had to go round one more time to find the right turning past the church and be in the right lane for the car park.
All Saints is open 120 minutes either side of midday four days a week, opening at ten, certainly on Saturdays until the end of September.
I tried to see inside on a cold, damp and grey day at the end of winter, Google had said it was open, but Google had lied. This time I checked the church website to ensure it would be open.
In the end, after arriving at ten past ten, I had the church to myself, and as befitting the county town of Kent, the church is full of interest. Its walls so full of memorials, it would be a task of several hours to photograph them all, so I did a few.
The church has some ancient memorials, of this is one, stares down at mostly empty nave, aisles and chancels.
It took an hour to complete my task, by which time the traffic into town looked horrific, and then it started to rain, so we hurried tot he car and then home.
Traffic was nose to tail entering the town, but we sailed out and back onto the motorway, and then putting along to the coast at 50mph due to the Brexit related contraflow.
Sigh.
To avoid the port, we came back along the Alkham valley, and then to home, getting back just before midday, so put the kettle on for a refreshing brew before I made bacon butties for brunch.
The rest of the day was pretty much taken with football, although Norwich don't play until Sunday, so I listened along and tried to stay awake.
At half five Spurs played Man Utd n a battle to see who was transitioning better. And turned out to be Spurs who ran out 2-0 winners.
We dined on rump steak, fresh corn and potatoes done in the air fryer, which still don't come out crispy, but I think I might have worked out what I'm doing wrong.
We shall see.
--------------------------------------------------
One of the widest churches in Kent, dating from the late fourteenth century when it was granted a College of Canons whose buildings still exist nearby. The tower, which stands to the south of the nave, originally had a tall spire, but this was struck by lightning in 1730 and not replaced. The breathtaking scale of the interior - an aisled nave of six bays, chancel and chapels, is somewhat compromised by the severe wooden roofs inserted by John Loughborough Pearson who restored the church in 1886. A good set of Victorian stained glass includes work by Clayton and Bell, Wailes (1861) and Capronnier (1872). The twenty stalls have excellent misericords, mostly showing coats of arms of those associated with the college. Archbishop William Courtenay (d. 1396) is possibly buried in the chancel, and a brass indent to him survives. Set into the fine sedilia is the tomb of John Wotton (d. 1417), the first master of the college. It incorporates a painting of Wotton being presented to Our Lady. Nearby are graffiti associated with the game of noughts and crosses! There are many other monuments including one to John Astley (d. 1639) by court sculptor Edward Marshall. It depicts two men and women in their shrouds. Astley was Master of the Revels to King James and King Charles. There is also a memorial to Sir Charles Booth (d. 1795) signed by Nollekens.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Maidstone+1
----------------------------------------------------
THE TOWN AND PARISH OF MAIDSTONE.
SOUTH-WESTWARD from Gillingham, the parish of Boxley only intervening, lies the parish and town of Maidstone, concerning the antient name which writers have greatly differed.
Nennius, in his catalogue of the cities of Britain, tells us, this place was called by the Britons, Caer Meguiad, or as others have it, Megwad, no doubt corruptly for Medwag. Camden, (fn. 1) Burton, (fn. 2) Gale, and some few other historians, have supposed it to have been the Roman station, called by Antonine in his Itinerary, Vagniacœ; a name taken from the river here, at that time called Vaga; for this purpose they read the distances of the second iter of Antonine A Vallo ad portum Ritupis, as follows: A Londinio, Noviomago, M. P. X. Vagniacis, M. P. XVIII. Durobrovi M. P. IX. If this place was the Vagniacæ of the Romans, and the above numbers are right, it is situated much about the above distance from Keston, and not quite so much from Crayford, both which have been conjectured to have been the antient Noviomagus; the distance of it from Durobrovis, or Rochester, will ansswer tolerably well. The word Vagniacœ, is supposed by a learned etymologist, (fn. 3) to have been corrupt written in the Itinerary for Maduicœ, which is the same as Med-wœge in the Saxon, and Madüogüiso, in the British tongue; hence in process of time it can to be called Madis and ad Madum, (fn. 4) the river being called Mada and Madus. The Saxons afterwards called led it Medwegston and Medweaggeston; i.e. Maduiacis oppidum, according to Baxter; in English, Medway's town, which name is written, by contraction, in Domesday, Meddestane, as it is at present Maidstone.
THE PARISH of Maidstone is most advantageously situated near the banks of the river Medway, which directs its course through it, being navigable by the contrivance of locks here and for many miles higher up, as far as Tunbridge town. Over the river here there is an unsightly ancient stone bridge of seven arches, supposed to have been first erected by some of the archbishops, lords of the manor. It was repaired in king James I.'s reign by an assessment on the town and parish, but it still remains both narrow and inconvenient. The town is built on the two opposite hills, rising immediately from the banks of the river, but the principal part is on the eastern one, beyond which the hill rises still further to Pinenden heath, part of which is within this parish, which there joins to those of Boxley and Detling. The soil is exceedingly fertile, being in general a loam, thinly spread over an entire bed of quarry stone, commonly called Kentish rag-stone, excepting towards the eastern parts of it, where it becomes a deep sand; in the south east part of it, about Sheppard's-street and Gould's, there is some coppice wood, beyond which are the hamlets of Broadway, Willington-street, and part of Maginford, within the bounds of this parish. The meadows, on the banks of the Medway, are much subject to be flooded by the sudden risings of it, after heavy rains, to the height of several feet perpendicular, but which as suddenly subside. Above the town the course of the river, though it narrows considerably above the lock, just above the bridge, is yet beautiful, and retains a depth of water of near from twelve to fourteen feet; about a mile above the town, near the hamlets of Upper and Lower Tovil, the stream, which rises at Langley, having supplied a chain of mills, flows into the Medway; the former hamlet is situated on an eminence, commanding a pleasing view; the Ana baptists have, in this romantic and rocky situation, made a burial place for their fraternity. At a small distance higher up the river, though on the opposite bank, is the hamlet of Fant, the principal house of which, called Fant house, is the property of Mr. Fowle, who resides in it; and near it a pleasant seat, close to the river, which belongs to Robert Salmon, esq. of Eyhorne-street. In all this vicinity the banks of the river continue highly ornamented with spread ing oaks, while the country round wears an appearance equal to that of a garden, in its highest state of cultivation. The soil, not only adjoining the town, but throughout the neighbourhood of it, is remarkably kind for hops, orchards of fruit, and plantations of filberds, consequently those, especially of the former round it, are very large, and the crops of them abundant, owing to the peculiar nourishment and warmth afforded to the roots of the plants, from the fibres of them penetrating the crevices of the rock. Great part of the wealth and prosperity of Maidstone has arisen from the hop trade, most of the inhabitants of every degree having some hop ground, and many estates have been raised by them from this commodity, which is supposed to have been planted here about the time of the Reformation; sooner than in any other part of this county.
THE TOWN of Maidstone is pleasantly situated, about the middle of the county, thirty-five miles from London, and somewhat more from Dover. It is happily screened by the surrounding hills, arising from the beautiful vale, through which the Medway runs beneath. It is justly noticed for the dryness of its soil and its excellent water, and consequently for its healthiness, its ascent keeping it continually clean and dry. The state of this town, in queen Elizabeth's reign, may be known by the return made to her in the 8th year of it, of the several places in this county where there were any boats, shipping, &c. by which it appears, that there were then here a mayor and aldermen, houses inhabited, 294; landing places, 4; ships and hoys, 5; one of 30 tons, one of 32, one of 40, and one of 50; and persons wholly occupied in the trade of merchandize, 22; since which this town has been continually increasing in size, inhabitants, and wealth, owing to the introduction of the hop-plant, as has been already noticed, the several charters which have been granted to it, and the navigation of the river Medway; insomuch that the houses are now computed to be in number fifteen hundred, and the population of it is said to have increased at this time to upwards of six thousand inhabitants, near one half of which are non-conformists to the established church, both Presbyterians and Anabaptists, each of whom have their respective meeting houses of worship in the town, which dissension in matters of religion unhappily extends to politics, and from the heat of parties, destroys much of that social intercourse and harmony which would otherwise unite the inhabitants of this flourishing town. The principal parts of it stand on the side of a hill, declining towards the west and south; it extends about a mile from north to south, and not quite three quarters from east to west. It was new paved, lighted, and otherwise improved in 1792, in consequence of an act passed the year before for that purpose; though the buildings in it are in general antient, yet there are several handsome modern ones, inhabited by genteel families; and the spacious breadth of the High-street carries with it a grand and at the same time a lightsome and cheerful appearance. The town consists of four principal streets, which intersect each other at the market cross, having several smaller ones leading out of them. The cross, on the top of this building, which is an octagon, though the name still remains, has been some time since taken down. It is now used for a fishmarket, and was formerly called the Corn cross, hav ing been made use of as a corn market till the upper court-house was built for that purpose about the year 1608, by an assessment on the town.
On account of its convenient situation for transacting the public business of the county, it has long been reputed the county or shire town. Near the upper end of the High-street, which is remarkably spacious, leading down to the bridge, besides the upper court hall above mentioned, is a more modern one, a handsome building of stone and brick, built not many years ago at the joint expence of the corporation and the justices of the western division of the county; the former making use of it to transact their public business in, as the latter do whenever the public business of the county requires the use of it. In it are likewise held the assizes for the county, the general quarter sessions for the western parts of Kent, the county meetings for the choice of candidates, to represent the county in parliament, and every other public business relating to it; which right of the justices and inhabitants of the county, to hold their meetings, &c. in it, was settled at the building of it, by an indenture made between them and the corporation. The street, leading towards Coxheath and the Weald of Kent, is called Stone-street, a name which sufficiently proves the antiquity of this town, and its consequence in the time of the Romans. There are three principal conduits, which are supplied with excellent water, conveyed in pipes from a place called Rocky-hill, in the West Borough, on the opposite side of the Medway, at the charge of the corporation. These are placed very conveniently for the service of the inhabitants, one at the upper end of the High-street, near the market cross; a second lower down, being a high octagon stone building with a clock and dial, having a turret at the top of it, and what is called a fish-bell, which is always rung when any fish is brought to market; the third is placed at the lower end of the town. At a small distance from the south side of this street, about the middle of it, on an eminence close to the Medway, stands the church, the antient archiepiscopal palace, and the remains of the college, each forming conspicuous objects to the neighbouring country westward.
Adjoining to the last mentioned court-hall is the prison belonging to the corporation, formerly called the Brambles. (fn. 5) This prison appears to have belonged antiently to the archbishops of Canterbury, and continued so till archbishop Cranmer, in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. exchanged the prison house of this town with that king. (fn. 6) In king Charles I.'s reign it remained in the king's hands; for by his letters patent, in 1631, he granted the office of keeper of it, and the custody of all prisoners there, to John Collins for his life; who, by his will, in 1644, gave his patent of the king's gaol in Maidstone, with all the irons, implements, fees, and appurtenances to his son of the same name.
The public gaol of the western division of the county of Kent was formerly placed most inconveniently in the very middle of the town, to its great annoyance, where it remained till 1736, when on a petition of its inconvenient situation, near the market place, of its being much decayed, and that there was no gaol for debtors, an act was obtained for erecting another in the room of it, together with a bridewell, in another part of the town. This, after some intermission, was accomplished, and a capacious strong building of stone, with large outlets and conveniences for this purpose, has been erected near the out parts of the town, in East-lane, which has been lately still further strengthened and enlarged at a large expence, at the charge of the western division of the county.
THE MARKET, which was first granted to archbibishop Boniface, by king Henry III. in his 45th year, to be held weekly at his manor here, has been confirmed by the several charters to this town, and is now held weekly on a Thursday, for the sale of all kind of provisions, corn, and hops, toll free, with which the town and its neighbourhood for miles round is most plentifully supplied at a very reasonable rate. The mayor is clerk of the market, and when admitted into his office, is sworn duly to execute that part of it. King George II. by letters patent in 1751, granted to the corporation a market, to be held the second Tuesday in every month yearly, for the buying and selling of all manner of sheep and other cattle whatsoever, which continues to be so held at this time; and there is another market held likewise for the sale of hops yearly, at the time of Michaelmas.
THE FAIRS of this town are held four times yearly, viz. Feb. 13, May 12, June 20, and Oct. 27, for horses, bullocks, and other cattle, as well as for wares, haberdashery, and pedlary; but the last is by far the greatest of them, being resorted to by the country for many miles round. The principal part of these fairs is held on a piece of ground, on the bank of the Medway, called the meadow, though the High-street is covered with them likewise. The above piece of ground formerly belonged to the abbot and convent of Boxley, and on the dissolution of that house, coming to the crown, was granted by king Henry VIII. to Sir Thomas Wyatt, who in a great exchange of land, made by him with that king, in his 32d year, sold to him, among other estates in this parish, the piece of land called Caring, containing sixteen acres, and the profits of the fair yearly there, for standing upon it, in Maidstone. In the parliament of the 11th of king Henry VII. the custody of weights and measures, which were then renewed and appointed according to the standard in the exchequer, was com mitted to this town for the county of Kent, and they have continued to be preserved here to the present time.
There are two considerable manufactories of linen thread carried on in this town, a trade introduced here by the Walloons in the 11th year of queen Elizabeth's reign, at the time they fled from the persecution of the duke d'Alva, and took refuge in England. The Walloon families here in 1634, were about fifty, they are now quite worn out, though there are some names remaining, which seem to have derived their origin from them, though the persons that bear them are ignorant whence they had them. The only remembrance of these Walloons now left is the term which the common people give to the flax spun for the threadmen, which at this day they call Dutch work.
Besides which there has been within these few years a Distillery, erected and carried on here to a very large extent, by Mr. George Bishop, from which is produced the well-known Maidstone Geneva, being of such a magnitude, that no less than seven hundred hogs are kept from the surplus of the grains from it.
There is a department of the customs and an office of excise in this town.
Besides the free grammar school, of which a particular account will be given hereafter, there are two boarding-schools for the education of young ladies, all of them of good repute.
¶The navigation of the river Medway is of the greatest advantage to this town, as a considerable traffic is carried on by it from hence to Rochester, Chatham, and so on to London, and from the several large cornmills here abundance of meal and flour is shipped off for the use of those towns, the dock and navy there, as well as great quantities sent weekly to London. The fulling and paper mills in and near this town, of the latter of which, late Mr. Whatman's, at Boxley, is perhaps equal to any in the kingdom, send all their manufacture hither to be transported from hence by water to London. The vast quantities of timber brought hither from the Weald of Kent and its neighbourhood, by land carriage, as well as water, are conveyed from hence by the navigation of the Medway to the dock at Chatham, and other more distant parts. Besides which there are several large hoys, of fifty tons burthen and upwards, which sail weekly to and from London, for the convenience of this town and the adjacent country.
MAIDSTONE is within the diocese of Canterbury and deanry of Sutton, and is exempt from the jurisdiction of the archdeacon.
The church stands at the western part of the town, on the bank of the river Medway. It was at first dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but when archbishop Courtney had rebuilt the chancel, and refitted the rest of it, on his having obtained a licence in the 19th year of king Richard II. to make it collegiate, he dedicated it anew to All Saints.
The stalls for the master and fellows of the college are still remaining in the chancel, in which the arms of archbishop Courtney appear in several places, but no where in the body of the church, which makes it probable the latter was part of the old parish church of St. Mary, and not rebuilt by the archbishop. The church is a large handsome building, consisting of a nave, great chancel, and two side isles; the roof is lofty, and is covered throughout with lead. At the west end it has a handsome well built tower, on which there was a spire covered with lead, near eighty feet high, which was burnt down by lightning, on Nov. 2, 1730. In the tower were eight bells, a clock, and chimes; the bells, in 1784, were new cast into ten, by Chapman and Mears of London.
In the year 1700, the body of the church was neatly and regularly pewed; on each side is a commodious gallery, one of which was built at the expence of Sir Robert Marsham, bart. then one of the repretatives for this town, and afterwards created lord Romney.
There were antiently in this church numbers of inscriptions on brass plates, as well on the monuments as grave stones, which are now almost torn away. In the middle of the great chancel there is a tomb-stone, raised a little above the pavement, with the marks of the portraiture of a bishop, in his mitre and robes, and of an inscription round it, but the brass of the whole is torn away. This is supposed to be the cenotaph of archbishop Courtney, the founder of this church, for it was the custom in those times for persons of eminent rank and quality to have tombs erected to their memory in more places than one.
The archbishop was son of Hugh Courtney, earl of Devonshire, by Margaret, daughter of Humphry Bohun, earl of Essex and Hereford, accordingly the arms of Courtney and Bohun impaled, are in several parts of this chancel. The archbishop died at his palace in Maidstone, in 1396, and in the first part of his will directed his body to be buried in the cathedral church of Exeter, where he had formerly been a prebendary; afterwards, lying on his death bed, he changed his mind in this point, and holding his body unworthy of burial in his metropolitical, or any other cathedral or collegiate church, he wills to be buried in the church yard of his collegiate church at Maidstone, in the place designed for John Boteler, his esquire; but it appears by a leiger book of Christ church, Canterbury, that king Richard II. happening to be then at Canterbury, when the archbishop was to be buried, perhaps at the request of the monks, overruled the archbishops intention, and commanded his body to be there entombed, where he lies, under a fair monument of alabaster, with his portraiture on it, at the feet of the Black Prince. Thus Somner, Godwin, M. Parker, and Camden; but Weever thinks, notwithstanding the above, that he was buried under his tomb in this chancel of Maidstone.
The rectory of this church, with the chapels of Loose and Detling annexed, was appropriated by archbishop Courtney, by the bull of pope Boniface IX. (fn. 11) with the king's licence, in the 19th year of king Richard II. to his new founded college here, but the patronage of the advowson, it seems, he reserved to himself and his successors; in which state it remained till archbishop Cranmer, in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. exchanged the advowson and patronage of the college and church with the king. (fn. 12)
Upon the dissolution of the college, in the 1st year of king Edward VI. the rectory and advowson became both vested in the crown, and the church was left, through the king's favour, to the inhabitants of this town and parish, as it had been before it was made collegiate, the grant of it, together with the church yard being confirmed to them by the charter granted by king James I. in his 2d year, for their parish church and church yard, for the purpose of divine service, burying the dead, &c. as the same was then used.
Whilst the college remained, the parish found no ill effects from the appropriation of the rectory, as the master and fellows caused divine service to be constantly performed in the church, and the cure of the parish to be properly served; but when the college was dissolved, and the great and small tithes appropriated to it were granted away by the crown, the parishioners suffered much from the scantiness of the provision remaining for a person properly qualified to undertake the cure of so large and populous a parish, a small stipend only with the oblations, obventions, &c. being all that was left for the officiating minister, under the title of perpetual curate. King Edward VI. in his 4th year, granted to Sir Thomas Wyatt, among other premises, this rectory of Maidstone, to (fn. 13) hold in capite by knight's service; but he engaging in a rebellion in the 1st year of queen Mary, forfeited it, with the rest of his estates, to the crown, whence the patronage of the curacy was granted by that queen, in her 6th year, to archbishop cardinal Pool, and she demised the rectory of this church for a term of years to Christopher Roper, esq. (fn. 14) the same being then of the value of 81l. (fn. 15)
Queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted the reversion of this rectory in exchange, among other premises, to Matthew, archbishop of Canterbury, at which time it was valued as follows:
The rectory of Maidstone, with the tenths of the chapels of Loose and Detling, the tenths of Loddington and in Estrey were worth yearly 74l. out of which there was paid to the chief priest of Maidstone, 20l. to his two assistants each, 6l. 13s. 4d. to the curates of Loose and Detling each, 2l. 13s. 4d. in all, 38l. 14s. 4d. notwithstanding these deductions, it does not appear that there was after this more than one appointed to officiate here, to whom the archbishop paid a salary of 10l. per annum.
Archbishop Whitgift, in 1583, augmented the curate's salary 10l. per annum. (fn. 16) Archbishop Juxon, in obedience to the directions of king Charles II. in 1660, for augmenting the maintenance of vicars and curates, made an addition of 37l. 6s. 8d. per annum. (fn. 17) Archbishop Sancroft, among other acts of pious beneficence, granted by lease, in 1677, to Humphry Lynd, curate and preacher of Maidstone, for augmentation of his maintenance, all the small tithes of the borough of Week (fn. 18) and Stone within this parish, the commodities of the church-yard, and one moiety of all the small tithes within the town and borough of Maidstone;h notwithstanding which he has a maintenance by no means proportionable to the greatness of his cure and labour.
Upon a trial in the exchequer in 1707, concerning the curate's right to the vicarage tithes of Lodington, it was suggested, that this curacy was worth three hundred pounds per annum; to which it was replied, that the legal dues were not more than one hundred and sixty pounds per ann. (fn. 19) Lodington is situated between three and four miles from Maidstone, and separated by other parishes intervening; it is said, there was once a chapel in it, situated in a spot now called Glover's garden, where of late years some stones and foundations have been dug up. I believe the curates have not enjoyed these tithes for some time.
The rectory is still part of the revenues of the archbishop, who nominates the perpetual curate of this town and parish.
The curacy is not in charge in the king's books.
In the 37th year of queen Elizabeth, Levin Bufkin was farmer of the rectory, under the archbishop. In 1643, Sir Edward Henden, one of the barons of the exchequer, was lessee of it. In 1741, Thomas Bliss, esq. held the lease of it of the archbishop. It afterwards came into the possession of William Horsmonden Turner, by virtue of the limitation of whose will his interest in it is now vested in William Baldwin, esq. of Harrietsham.
THERE WAS ANOTHER CHURCH, or rather a FREE CHAPEL, dedicated to St. Faith, situated in the northernmost part of the town from that above mentioned, being most probably erected for the use of those inhabitants of this parish, who lived at too great a distance to frequent the other. It seems to have been surrendered up into the king's hands, in conformity to the act of the 1st year of king Edward VI. and, with the church-yard, to have been purchased of the crown afterwards by the inhabitants; but whether then used for religious worship does not appear. Some time afterwards it became part of the estate of the Maplesdens, of whom it was purchased in the reign of king James I. by Arthur Barham, esq. who possessed the manor of Chillington, at which time he acknowledged the right of the corporation to use the chapel of St. Faith for divine service, and the chapelyard for burials, if they thought fit; at present only the chancel is standing, which for many years was used for a place of public worship by the Walloons: upon the dispersing of this congregation, by archbishop Laud in 1634, this chapel was shut up for some small time, when it was again made use of by a congregation of Presbyterians, who continued to meet there till about 1735, when they built themselves a meeting house elsewhere. Part of it is now a dwelling house, and the rest of it was some years converted into an assembly room; it is now made use of as a boarding school for young ladies.
The scite and what remains of this fabric was lately the property of the heirs of Sir Tho. Taylor, bart. of the Park-house. It was afterwards purchased by Mr. Samuel Fullager, gent. the heir of whose son, Mr. Christopher Fullager, of this town, is proprietor of it.
THERE were TWO CHANTRIES founded in this church, one by Robert Vinter, in the reign of king Edward III. who gave two estates in this parish, called Goulds and Shepway, for the support of a priest performing certain divine offices in the church of Maidstone, whence it acquired the name of GOULD'S CHANTRY, a full account of which, and of the possessors of those estates, after its suppression to the present owner of them, the Rt. Hon. Charles lord Romney, has already been given in the description of them.
¶The other chantry was founded by Thomas Arundell, archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1405, be ing the 7th of king Henry IV. who that year granted his licence to the archbishop, to found two chantries; one of which, of one chaplain, was in this collegiate church, at the altar of St. Thomas the Martyr, to celebrate daily service for his soul, &c. for which the archbishop granted, that he should have a yearly stipend of ten marcs out of Northfleet parsonage. The advowson or donation remained with the several archbishops of Canterbury till archbishop Cranmer, in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. conveyed his right in it to the king, in exchange for other premises. This chantry was dissolved by the act of the 1st year of king Edward VI. at the same time the college itself was suppressed.