I hate to break it to you, but the dog days are never over!

Sincerely,

hopeless.

Mother and daughter, Asian elephants at Chester Zoo, UK.

But you've just got one, not 88. So drive safely!

but not forgotten. On the way to the north teepees, there were some old tree carcasses worth photographing.

It seems there are always nooks and corners of the county in which to find churches.

 

Sheldwch is part of a benefice with Leaveland and Badlesmere, but before last weekend I had only visited the latter, having missed the former when planning a tour last year.

 

It is a fine and grand building, beside the main road. And has good parking, which is nice.

 

But I found it locked. Coming out of the porch I got talking to a lady about the church, and she advised me to go to see the retired priest who lived the other side of the village.

 

So I did.

 

He did better than letting me have the church key, he came to open it for me.

 

I talked to the lady for about half an hour, about churches and orchids, and to the priest for another 15 minutes. So in all, this visit took nearly two hours.

 

A very pleasant way to spend a morning though.

 

The priest showed me the two fabulous brasses, hidden away under some old carpet and a collection of hand sweepers. Well worth the effort of seing them.

 

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Sheldwich is a village and civil parish in the Swale District of Kent, see Sheldwich Wikipedia

Sheldwich St James is an Ancient Parish in the Diocese of Canterbury and includes the settlements of North Street, Sheldwich Lees and the hamlet of Gosmere. The parish is part of the Selling with Throwley Sheldwich with Badlesmere group of churches.

The church dates from the 12th century and was extended in the 14th century with the tower added in the 15th century. It was restored in 1888 and a porch added in 1899.

 

The church of St James Sheldwich has been designated a grade II* listed building by English Heritage, British listed building.

 

www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Sheldwich,_Kent_Genealogy

 

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SHELDWICH

THE next parish northward from Badlesmere is Sheldwich, which is written in antient charters, Schyldwic.

 

The high road from Faversham to Ashford leads through this parish, from the former of which it is distant between five and six miles, it lies mostly on high and even ground, to which the land rises from the London road, in rather a pleasant and healthy country, the greatest part of it on a chalky soil, having much poor land in it, and that covered with slints, though in the northern part of it, where the chalk prevails less, there is some tolerable fertile land; in the eastern part, where the hill rises, there is much rough ground, and adjoining woodland. The church stands close to the Ashford road, along which the houses are dispersed, as they are in that leading to Sheldwich lees, and round it mostly neat chearful dwellings. The Lees, which is about a quarter of a mile distance on the left side of the Ashford road, has a pleasant look from the trees planted on it, leading to Leescourt, at the further part of it, not unpleasantly situated, for though the fine front of it faces the east, with no great prospect, except towards a rough and barren hill, which rises at no great distance, yet towards the north and north-east it has a beautiful view over its own planted grounds, towards a wide extent of fertile country, and the channel beyond it. At the boundary of the parish, next to Badlesmere, on the Ashford road, is the manor house of Lords, which has been modernized and made a neat genteel residence by the present possessor of it.

 

There is yearly a running match on Sheldwich lees, which first took its rise from the will of Sir Dudley Diggs, in 1638, who left by it twenty pounds, to be paid yearly out of the rent of Selgrave manor, to two young men and two maids, who on May 19, should run a tye at Old Wives lees, in Chilham, and prevail. In pursuance of which the two young men and maids run at Old Wives lees yearly, on the Ist of May, and the same number at Sheldwich lees on the Monday following each by way of trial, and the two of each sex which prevail at each of those places, run for the ten pounds at Old Wives lees as above-mentioned, on the 19th of May. (fn. 1)

 

MR. JACOB, in his Plantæ Faver Shamienses, notices several scarce plants in this parish, to which the reader is referred.

 

THIS PLACE was given by the name of Schyldwic, in 784 by Alcmund, king of Kent, to Wetrede, abbot, and the convent of Raculf Cestre, or Reculver, as twelve plough-lands, with all its appurtenances, free from all secular service and all regal tribute, excepting the repelling of invasions, and the repairing of bridges and castles.

 

This monastery seems in 949 to have been annexed to Christ-church, in Canterbury, by king Edred; but this estate of Sheldwich does not appear ever to have come into the possession of the latter, no notice being taken of it in any of the charters or records relating to it, nor have I seen how it passed afterwards, till the time of its becoming the property of the family of Atte-Lese, in the reign of Edward I. when this estate, which seems to have comprehended the manor of Sheldwich, became the property of that family which, from their residence at the Lees here, had assumed the name of At-Lese, their mansion here being called Lees-court, a name which this manor itself soon afterwards adopted, being called THE MANOR OF LEESCOURT, alias SHELDWICH. Sampson Ate-Lese was possessed of it in the 27th year of the above reign, and bore for his arms, Gules, a cross-croslet, ermine. His son, of the same name, left several children and Lora his wife surviving, who afterwards married Reginald de Dike, who in her right resided at Lees-court, where he kept his shrievalty in the 29th year of king Edward III.'s reign.

 

Sir Richard At-Lese, the eldest son, at length succeeded to this manor, and resided at Lees-court. He served in parliament for this county in the 40th year of that reign, and the next year was sheriff of it. He died in 1394, anno 18 Richard II. and was buried, with Dionisia his wife, in the north chancel of Sheldwich church, where their essigies and inscription in brass still remain. He died s. p. and by his will gave his manor of Lese, among others, to John, son of Richard Dane, and his heirs male, remainder to the heirs male of Lucy his niece, one of the daughters and coheirs of his brother Marcellus At-Lese, then the wife of John Norton, esq. the other daughter Cecilia married Valentine Barrett.

 

By the above will, this manor at length came into the possession of their son William Norton, esq. who resided both at Lees-court and at Faversham, where he died in the 9th year of king Edward IV. and was buried in the church of Faversham, leaving two sons, Reginald, who by his will became his heir to this manor, and Richard, who was likewise of Sheldwich, and dying anno 1500, was buried in Faversham church. (fn. 2) Reginald, the eldest son, of Lees-court, left two sons, John, who succeeded him in this manor, and William, who was of Faversham, and ancestor to the Nortons, of Fordwich. Sir John Norton, the eldest son, lived in the reign of Henry VIII. and resided at first at Lees-court, but marrying Joane, one of the daughters and coheirs of John Northwood, esq. of Northwood, in Milton, he removed thither, whose grandson Sir Thomas Norton, of Northwood, about the reign of king James I. alienated this manor to Sir Richard Sondes, of Throwley, whose son Sir George Sondes, K. B. succeeding him in it, pulled down great part of the old mansion of Lees-court, soon after the death of king Charles I. and completed the present mansion of Lees-court, the front of which is built after a design of Inigo Jones, to which he afterwards removed from the antient mansion of his family at Throwley.

 

He was a man of great power and estate in this county, being a deputy-lieutenant, and sheriff in the 13th year of Charles I. in which year the difficult business of ship-money was agitated, in the levying of which he conducted himself with such justice and moderation, as gained him much reputation and esteem of the gentry. (fn. 3) Being a man strictly loyal in his principles, he underwent during the unsurpation much persecutation, as well in regard to his person as estates, all which may be learned from the Narrative which he printed in 1655, on the death of his two sons, which is rather an apology for his own conduct on some accusations of immorality, brought against him by the fanatic ministers of those times in it, says, he had three fair houses in his own hands, all well furnished, and at least 2000l. per annum about them, his lands all well stocked; that he had at least one hundred head of great cattle, half an hundred horses, some of them worth 40 or 50l. a piece, besides five hundred sheep and other stock, about 1000 quarters of wheat and malt in his garners, and ten barnes, none of the least, all full of good corn, and great quantities of flax and hops; that as to his housekeeping, his house was open at all times to rich and poor, twenty poor people at least were relieved in it weekly, the lowest proportion in his house, whether he was there or not, was every week a bullock of about fifty stone, a quarter of wheat, and a quarter of malt for drink, which made about a barrel a day for his household; that he had employed for near thirty years labourers and workmen continually, to the amount of at least 1000l. a year.

 

He says, that in the time of the troubles he had been injured in his goods and estates near 40,000l. in value, all that he had as above-described having been seized and taken at one time, together with his plate and jewels, and the rents and profits of his estates for seven years together, during the two first years of which neither himself nor his children had any thing out of them, and at last to prevent his estates being sold he was forced to compound for them, by paying the sum of 3500l. for his delinquency; besides which, he sussered much in his person, being imprisoned for several years, at first on shipboard, and afterwards, with many other royalists, in Uppor castle, near Rochester.

 

After the restortation, he was, in recompence of his former sufferings for the royal cause, created by king Charles II. in his 28th year, anno 1676, earl of Faversham, viscount Sondes, of Lees-court, and baron of Throwley, for his life, with remainder to his sonin-law Lewis, lord Duras, and his heirs male, the year after which he died at Lees-court, and was buried in the family vault in the south chancel of Throwley church. Sir George Sondes had been twice married; first to Jane, daughter and heir of Sir. Ralph Freeman, of Aspeden, in Hertfordshire, lord mayor of London anno 9 king Charles I. by whom he had two sons, George and Freeman, who were both in 1655, whilst youths, cut off by untimely deaths, the youngest murdering the eldest whilst asleep in his bed in this house, for which horrid deed he was tried at the assizes then holding at Maidstone, and being convicted, was executed for the crime at Pennendenheath on the day fortnight afterwards, and interred in the neighbouring church of Bersted. (fn. 4)

 

Sir George Sondes married secondly Mary, daughter of Sir William Villars, bart. of Brokesby, by whom he had two daughters, who became his coheirs, of whom Mary, the eldest, married Lewis de Duras, marquis of Blanquefort, in France, and baron of Holdenby, in this kingdom, and Catherine, the youngest, married the hon. Lewis Watson, afterwards on his father's death, lord, and then earl of Rockingham.

 

On Sir George Sondes's death, this manor, with the rest of his estates in this county, descended to Lewis, lord Duras, in right of his wife Mary. He had been naturalized by parliament in 1664, and created in 1672 baron Duras, of Holdenby, in Northamptonshire. He bore for his arms, quarterly, first and fourth, Argent, a lion rampant, gules; second and third, Argent, a bend, azure. On the death of his father-in-law without male issue, he succeeded, by limitation of the patent, to the title of earl of Faversham. In the 1st year of James II. he was elected a knight of the garter, and in 1688 made general of the king's forces, in which post he continued at the revolution. He survived his wife some years, and died in 1709, s. p. and possessed of this manor, for on his wife the countes's death who died in 1687, the house of lords had adjudged the estates of the Sondes's to her surviving husband, the earl of Faversham, though she had never been with child. The late Daniel, earl of Winchelsea, a man as wife and experienced as most of his time, used to affirm, that there were but two instances on the journals of that house, which could cast the least imputation on the honor of it, and that this was one of them. Upon which this manor, with Lees-court, and the rest of the estates in this county, late belonging to Sir George Sondes, became the property of Lewis, lord Rockingham, by virtue of the limitation made of them on his second daughter Catherine, on failure of issue by his first daughter Mary, which Catherine was afterwards married to lord Rockingham, but had deceased in 1695 as above-mentioned. The family of Watson was originally of Cambridgeshire, a branch of which settled at the latter end of king Henry the VIIIth's reign, at Rockinghamcastle, in Northamptonshire. Sir Lewis Watson, of Rockingham-castle, was created a baronet anno 19 James I. and afterwards, for his loyalty and services to the king in his troubles, was created lord Rockingham, anno 20 Charles I. By his second wife Eleanor, sister of George, earl of Rutland, he left one son Edward, and six daughters; which Edward, lord Rockingham, married Anne, eldest daughter of Thomas Wentworth, earl of Stafford, and died in 1691. By her he had four sons and four daughters; of the former, Lewis was created earl of Rockingham, and married Catherine, youngest daughter of Sir George Sondes, as above-mentioned; Thomas was heir to his uncle William, earl of Strafford, by his will, in pursuance of which he assumed the name and arms of Wentworth, whose son was created earl of Malton, and afterwards marquis of Rockingham, the two other sons died young.

 

Lewis, lord Rockingham, resided afterwards at Lees-court, in 1705 he was made lord-lieutenant and custos rotulorum of this county; and on king George's accession he was in 1714, created earl of Rockingham, viscount Sondes, of Lees-court, and baron of Throwley. He died in 1724, and was buried at Rockingham, having had two sons, Edward and George, the latter of whom died s. p. and four daughters; of the latter, Mary married Wrey Sanderson, of Lincolnshire, grandson and heir apparent of viscount Castleton; Anne died young; Arabella married Sir Robert Furnese, bart. and Margaret in 1725 John, lord Monson, ancestor of the present Lewis-Thomas, lord Sondes, as will be further mentioned hereafter.

 

Of the sons, Edward, viscount Sondes, the eldest, died in 1721, in his father's life-time, and was buried in Throwley church, having married in 1708 Catherine, the eldest of the five daughters and coheirs of Thomas Tuston, earl of Thanet, by whom he left three sons, and a daughter Catherine, married in 1729 to Edward Southwell, esq. of Kings Weston, in Gloucestershire.

 

Lewis, the eldest son, succeeded his grandfather in the possession of his estates and as second earl of Rockingham, and in 1737 was made lord-lieutenant and custos rotulorum of this county. He died in December, 1745, having married in 1736 Catherine, daughter of Sir Robert Furnese, bart. of Waldershare, afterwards remarried in 1751 to Francis, earl of Guildford, by whom he had no issue, upon which this manor, among the rest of his intailed estates, descended to his next and only surviving brother Thomas, (Edward the youngest having died before unmarried) who became the third earl of Rockingham, and succeeded his brother likewise as lord-lieutenant and custos rotulorum of this county. He enjoyed his honors but a short time, for he died in the February following, 1746, unmarried, upon which the title of earl, &c. became extinct, and the barony of Rockingham descended to his kinsman Thomas Watson Wentworth, earl of Malton, afterwards created Marquis of Rockingham.

 

But this manor, with the seat of Lees-court, and the rest of his estates in this county and elsewhere, were devised by him to his first cousin Lewis Monson, second son of John, lord Monson, by Margaret his wife, youngest daughter of Lewis, first earl of Rockingham, and aunt to earl Thomas above-mentioned, whom he enjoined to take on him the surname, and use the arms of Watson.

 

The family of Monson, or Munson, as they were antiently written, were seated in the county of Lincoln as early as the reign of king Edward III. when they were denominated of East Reson, in that county, soon after which they were seated at South Carlton, near Lincoln, in which church there are several memorials of them. A younger son of this family was Sir William Monson, an admiral of the English navy in the reigns of queen Elizabeth and king James I. a man of untainted reputation for conduct and bravery, who lived till the year 1642, but his issue is extinct in the male line. He compiled large Tracts on Naval Affairs, in six books, which are published in a collection of voyages, printed in 1703 and 1745.

 

At length the principal line of this family, of whom several had been from time to time knighted, and had served in different parliaments, descended down to Sir Thomas, eldest surviving son and heir to Sir John Monson, and brother of the admiral above-mentioned, who was created a baronet in 1611, and had the character of a person of fine breeding and a most accomplished gentleman. He died in 1641, and was buried with his ancestors at South Carlton, having married Margaret, daughter of Sir Edmund Anderson, chief justice of the common pleas, by whom he had issue four sons and three daughters; of the former, Sir John Monson, bart. the eldest son, became in 1645 possessed of Burton, in Lincolnshire, which became the family residence of his descendants; one of whom, Sir John Monson, K. B. was in 1728, anno 1 George II. created lord Monson, and afterwards made a privy counsellor. He died in 1748, having married the lady Margaret Watson, youngest daughter of Lewis, first earl of Rockingham, who survived him, and dying in 1752, was buried beside her husband, at South Carlton, in Lincolnshire. They left three sons, John, who succeeded him as lord Monson; Lewis, possessor of Lees manor and court, created lord Sondes, as before-mentioned; and George, who was a general in the army, and died some years since in the East-Indies. (fn. 5)

 

Lewis Monson Watson, before-mentioned, thus becoming possessed of this manor and seat, was in 1754 chosen to represent this county in parliament, in which year he was appointed one of the auditors of the imprest, and by letters patent, bearing date May 20, 1760, anno 33 George II. was created Lord Sondes, baron of Lees-court, to him and his heirs male. In 1752 he married Grace, second surviving daughter of the hon. Henry Pelham, who died in 1777, by whom he had four sons, Lewis-Thomas, born in 1754; Henry now in the army; Charles, who died young; and George, in holy orders. Lord Sondes died in 1795, having before his death settled this manor and seat on his eldest son the hon. Lewis-Thomas Watson, who afterwards resided here, and in 1785 married Mary, only daughter and heir of Richard Milles, esq. of Nackington, by whom he has several children. On his father's death he succeeded to the title of lord Sondes, being the present possessor of this manor and seat, at which he resides. He bears for his arms, quarterly, first and fourth, Watson, argent, on a chevron engrailed, azure, between three martlets, sable, as many crescents, or; second and third, Monson, or, two chevrons, gules.

 

For his supporters, on the dexter side, a griffin, argent, gorged with a ducal coronet, or; on the smister, a bear, proper, gorged with a belt, buckled, with strap pendent, argent, charged with two crescents, or. For his crest, A griffin's head erased, argent, gorged as the dexter supporter above-mentioned.

 

COPESHAM SOLE, alias COPSHOLE FARM, is an estate in this parish, which remained for several centuries in the possession of the family of Belk, written originally Bielke, and descended out of Sweden, who bore for their arms, Gules, a chevron between three leopards faces, argent. Stephen de Belk is mentioned in the Testa de Nevil, as having paid respective aid for land in this part of Kent at the marriage of Isabel, sister to king Henry III. in the 20th year of that reign. Valentine and John Belk were of Sheldwich in the reign of queen Elizabeth, in the 9th year of which they purchased of Edward Livesey several parcels of land in this parish and Selling.

 

John, the eldest son of Valentine Belk, gent. resided at Sheldwich, and died possessed of this estate in 1633, and was buried in the great chancel of this church. His son William Belk, D. D. was prebendary of Canterbury, and dying in 1676, was buried in that cathedral, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Sir Thomas Hardres, a son Thomas Belk, D. D. who succeeded his father in that dignity, and married in 1677 Anne, daughter of Sir Henry Oxenden. He died in 1712, and was buried near his father, having by his will devised this estate to his neice May, daughter of his brother Mr. Anthony Belk, auditor to the chapter of that church. She in 1713 married Mr. Bryan Bentham, gent. of Chatham, whose sons Edward and Bryan afterwards became possessed of it under their mother's marriage settlement; Edward in 1752 conveyed his moiety to his brother Bryan, and he by his will in 1767 devised the whole of it to his brother Edward for life, remainder to his nephew, son of Edward-William Bentham, who alienated it, with Southouse lands in this parish likewise, in 1775, to Lewis, lord Sondes, whose son the right hon. Lewis-Thomas is the present possessor of it.

 

LORDS is a manor situated about a mile southward of Sheldwich church, on the Ashford high road, which had formerly owners of that name, in which it continued till Richard II. when it was come into the possession of Giles, a family who bore for their arms, Per pale, azure and gules, a griffin passant, or; one of whom, in the preceding reign, had been steward to the abbot of Lesnes, in which name this manor continued till the year 1678, when Christian Giles, marrying Mr. Thomas Hilton, gent. of Sheldwich, entitled him to it. He was the son of Mr. Thomas Hilton, gent. of Faversham, at which place his ancestors had been for some generations, as appears by the parish register, before which they resided at Throwley, in the register of which they are likewise mentioned, almost at the beginning of it in 1558, being the last year of queen Mary's reign. He afterwards resided here, and was succeeded in it by his son Mr. Giles Hilton, gent. who in 1702 married Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. John Law, by whom he had three sons and three daughters; of the former, John succeeded him in this manor; William was of Faversham, and married Mary Oldfield, by whom he had no issue; and Robert was of Selling, and left by his wife Elizabeth Chambers, of the same place, two sons, Thomas Gibbs Hilton, of Selling, who married Anne, daughter of Mr. Stephen Jones, of Faversham, by whom he has seven sons, and John, who married Eleanor, daughter of Mr. John Cobb, of Sheldwich, and two daughters, Elizabeth-Farewell and Christian. Mr. John Hilton, the eldest son, resided at Lords, where he died unmarried in 1780, being much noted for his generous housekeeping and old English hospitality. By his will he gave this manor to his brother Mr. Robert Hilton, for life, remainder in tail to his nephew Mr. John Hilton, second son of his brother above-mentioned, which Mr. John Hilton, since his father's death in 1782, is become the possessor of it, and now resides in it.

 

SELGRAVE, now usually called Selgrove, is a manor situated both in this parish and in that of Preston, but it has of long time been separated into moieties, and has become two distinct manors, of which that lying within this parish, at the north-east boundary of it, was formerly the property of the family of St. Nicholas, one of whom, Laurence St. Nicholas, paid aid for it in the 20th year of Edward III. being then held of the honor of Gloucester. After which it seems to have come into the possession of Roger Norwood, of Northwood, in Milton, in whose descendants it remained for several generations, and till it came at length by one of the two sisters and coheirs of John Northwood, in marriage to John Barley, esq. of Hertfordshire, from one of which name it was alienated to Clive, of Copton, in the adjoining parish of Preston. Soon after which, this manor seems to have come into the hands of the crown, and king Charles I. in his 7th year, granted it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, of Tunstall, in fee, who soon afterwards conveyed it to Sir Dudley Diggs, of Chilham-castle, who died possessed of it in 1638, and by a codicil to his will devised the sum of twenty pounds yearly for a running match at Old Wives lees, in Chilham, to be paid out of the profits of the lands of that part of this manor, which had escheated to him after the death of lady Clive, and by purchase from Sir Christopher Clive, these lands being in three pieces, lay in the parishes of Preston and Faversham, and contain about forty acres, and are commonly called the running lands. After Sir Dudley Diggs's death the manor of Selgrave descended to his two sons, Thomas and John Diggs, esqrs. who about 1641 alienated it to Sir George Sondes, K. B. since which it has descended, in like manner as Lees-court, in this parish, described before, to the right hon. Lewis Thomas, lord Sondes, the present owner of it.

 

A borsholder is chosen yearly for this part of the manor of Selgrave, by the name of the borsholder of the borough of Selgrave, at the court leet holden for the hundred and manor of Faversham.

 

The sheerway, called Portway, alias Porters, alias Selgrave-lane, leading from Copton to Whitehill, in Ospringe, seems to separate this moiety of the manor from the other.

 

HUNTINGFIELD is a small court held in this parish, which seems to be an appendage to the manor of that name in Easling, and to have continued with it part of the possessions of the free chapel or college of St. Stephen, in Westminster, till its dissolution in the 1st year of Edward VI. since which it has continued in the like chain of ownership as that in Easling, to the family of Grove, of Tunstall, in which it continued down to Richard Grove, esq. of London, who at his death in 1792 s. p. devised it by his will to William Jemmet, gent. of Ashford, and William Marshall, of London, who are the present possessors of it.

 

THE MANOR OF LITTLES, antiently called Lydles, which is situated in the north-west part of this parish, and in those of Throwley and Preston adjoining, was formerly owned by the family of At-Lese, one of whom, Richard At-Lese, possessed it, as appears by the chartulary of Knolton manor in the 49th year of king Edward III. How long it continued in his descendants I have not found, but in much later times it came into the possession of the Chapmans, of Molash, from which it was alienated, with other estates in this neighbourhood, by Edward, Thomas, and James Chapman, to Christopher Vane, lord Barnard, who died in 1723, leaving two sons, Gilbert, who succeeded him in title and in his estates in the North of England, and William, who possessed his father's seat of Fairlawn, and the rest of his estates in this county, having been in his father's life-time created viscount Vane, of the kingdom of Ireland. He left an only son William, viscount Vane, who dying in 1789 s. p. gave it by his will to David Papillion, esq. of Acrise, who is the present owner of it. (fn. 6)

 

SHEPHERDS FORSTAL is an estate in the north-east part of this parish, which takes its name from the green or fostal of that name near which it is situated, and was for many descents in the possession of the family of Ruck, one of whom lies buried at Rye, and was a person of some note in the reign of Henry VIII. being bow-bearer to that prince, and bore for his coat armour, as appears by his grave-stone, Sable, a plain cross, argent, between four fleurs de lis, or. The last of this name, who possessed this estate, was Nicholas Ruck, who about the latter end of queen Elizabeth's reign dying s. p. gave it to his nephew Mr. Nicholas Oliver, who soon after the death of Charles I. passed it away, with other estates in the adjoining parishes of Selling, to the president and fellows of Corpus Christi college, in Oxford, in whom it still continues vested.

 

A BRANCH of the FAMILY OF SOUTHOUSE, of Selling, resided for some generations in this parish. Robert, son of Henry Southouse, of Selling, by his will in 1475, anno 16 Edward IV. devised it to John his son his tenement in Sheldwich, remainder to his son Robert; in after times, Henry, son of Henry Southouse, of this parish, died in 1705, and was succeeded in his estates here by his eldest son Henry, who died in 1720, leaving one son and four daughters; several of this name, descendants of this branch of the family, yet remain in these parts. Part of their lands called Southouse, came afterwards into the possession of Mr. John Hilton, of Lords, who sold them to Lewis, lord Sondes, whose son the right hon. Lewis-Thomas, lord Sondes, is the present possessor of them. Another parcel of them, called Southouse-lands, came into the hands of the owners of Copersole farm, in this parish, and were owned with it by Mr. Brian Bentham, whose grandson Edward William Bentham, in 1775, passed them away to Lewis, lord Sondes, whose son the right hon. LewisThomas, lord Sondes, is the present possessor of them.

 

Charities.

THERE is the sum of 40s. a year, payable on St. Barnabas's day, out of a farm called Bellhorn, in Throwley, towards the relief of the poor of this parish, the donor of which is unknown.

 

SHELDWICH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Ospringe.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. James, is a handsome building, consisting of one isle and one chancel, with a chapel in the middle of the south side of the isle, and a small chapel on the north side of the chancel. The steeple, which is a tower, stands at the west end, having a beacon-tower on the top, on which is a small leaden spire and vane. There are four bells in it. In the south chancel are two arches in the south wall, which seem to have been for tombs. On the pavament is a brass plate, with the figures, for John Cely and Isabel his wife; he died in 1429; there is only one part of a coat of arms left, being a coat full of eyes, impaling a coat gone. In the isle are memorials for Southouse, and in the great chancel for Belk, and one with a brass plate, having the figure in brass for Joane, once wife of William Marrys, obt. 1431, under her a coat nebulee, and at one corner a coat per pale, and fess, indented. In the north-east chancel, a stone with the figures in brass, with a lion under his feet, for Sir Richard Atte-Lese, and Dionisia his wife; he died in 1394. Near it is a large stone, with very old French capitals round the edge of it, but mostly obliterated. The coat of arms of Atte-Lees is in several places of the north windows of the isle, and there were formerly in the windows of this church several other shields of arms, all which have been defaced.

 

The church of Sheldwich, or Cheldwich, as it was antiently written, was once accounted only as a chapel to the church of Faversham, as an appendage to which it was given, with it, by William the Conqueror in his 5th year, to the abbey of St. Augustine, and was included in the several confirmations made afterwards of that church to the abbey. When this chapel became an independent church, I have not seen, but it was certainly before the 8th year of Richard II. when it was rated as a distinct vicarage, to the tenth and the parsonage of it, was become appropriated to the abovementioned abbey, to which the patronage of the vicarage likewise belonged. In which state this church continued till the general suppression of religious houses, when it came with the rest of the possessions of the abbey, anno 30 king Henry VIII. into the hands of the crown; after which, the king, by his dotation charter, in his 33d year, settled both the church appropriate of Sheldwich, and the advowson of the vicarage, among other premises, on his new-founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, with whom the inheritance of the parsonage remains, the present lessee being the right hon. lord Sondes; but the advowson of the vicarage the dean and chapter retain in their own hands, and are the present patrons of it.

 

It appears by the endowment of the vicarage of Faversham, in 1305, that the vicar of that parish was entitled to all manner of oblations to be made by the thirteen inhabitants of certain tenements in the hamlet of Schelwych, in the chapel of that hamlet annexed to the above-mentioned church, and to be made within the tithing of Schelwych parish, the names of which tenements have been already specifically named before, under the description of the church of Faversham, to which the reader is referred.

 

¶It is a vicarage of the clear yearly certified value of forty pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 13s. 8d. In 1587 the communicants here were 120; in 1640 it was valued at forty pounds, communicants 160. The vicar receives an annual payment of five pounds, from the dean and chapter of Canterbury, in augmentation of his vicarage. It is exempt from the payment of procurations to the archdeacon.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol6/pp481-498

... but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."

 

Please view in large and kindly give your feedback and suggestions. Thanks.

 

Used a spare car headlight to create the silhouette of the spoon and fork which were placed on a green cling film.

 

[IMG_3959]

Mũi Né is a coastal fishing town in the Bình Thuận Province of Vietnam. The town, with approximately 25,000 residents is a ward of the city of Phan Thiết. Mui Ne and the other wards of Phan Thiet that stretch along the coast for approximately 50 kilometers have been transformed into a resort destination since the mid 1990s, when many visited the area to view the solar eclipse of October 24, 1995. Most notably, tourism has developed in the area from the city center to Mũi Né, which has more than a hundred beach resorts, as well as restaurants, bars, shops and cafes.

 

Mũi Né ward has two beaches; Ganh Beach and Suoi Nuoc Beach, both with a number of resorts and a few shops and restaurants. But the most highly developed area is Rang Beach in Ham Tien ward, which extends west of Mui Ne. Strong sea breezes make all three beaches very popular for kitesurfing and windsurfing. The tourist season is from December to April The average temperature is 27 °C, and the climate is hot and dry much of the year.

____________________________________________

 

Mui Ne is a traditional fishing town in Binh Thuan Province that became a ward of the City of Phan Thiet in 1999. The name Mui Ne is often erroneously used as the general name for the main resort area in Phan Thiet along Mui Ne Bay, 220 km northeast of Ho Chi Minh City (South Vietnam).

 

Mui Ne is a coastal fishing community in Bình Thuận Province which is part of the South Central Coast of Vietnam. The town, with approximately 25,000 residents is a ward of the city of Phan Thiết. Mui Ne and the other wards of Phan Thiet that stretch along the coast for approximately 50 km have been transformed into a resort destination since the mid 1990s, when many discovered the area during the solar eclipse of October 24, 1995. Most notably, tourism has developed in the area from the city center of Phan Thiet to Mui Ne, including Phu Hai and Ham Tien wards along Phan Thiet Bay. The dense resort area along Phan Thiet Bay and beyond now boasts over two hundred beach resorts and hotels, as well as guest houses, backpacker hostels, restaurants, bars, shops and cafes.

 

In 2018 the Prime Minister approved the master plan to develop Mui Ne (Binh Thuan) as a National Tourist Site with a size of around 14,760 ha by 2025, with an orientation towards 2030.

 

An area of 1,000 ha has been defined as a core area for the establishment and development of functional areas for the tourism sector. Mui Ne National Tourism Site will be developed in an environmentally responsible way with a focus on protecting existing natural resources and environments, landscapes, and in particular the ecosystem in the Bau Trang tourist area (White Sand Dunes) as well as the sand dunes along the sea shore.

 

UNDERSTAND

Northeast of Phan Thiet the coastal road climbs over the slope of a Cham tower-topped hill and descends into the long, sandy crescent of Mui Ne Bay. The formerly little-inhabited beach southwest of the historic fishing village of Mui Ne proper has seen some serious development in the last 15 years. Now it is a 15 km long strip of resorts that line up like pearls on Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, shaded by coconut palms. The main resort strip lies between the addresses of 2 and 98 Nguyen Dinh Chieu and is called Ham Tien. Like Mui Ne it is now a ward of the city of Phan Thiet which stretches over 50 km of coastline to the south and to the west of the original city center of Phan Thiet.

 

At the shoreline, nature moves the sand around, much to the dismay of some developers. Beach sand tends to migrate up and down the coast seasonally, leaving some (but not all) spots with just a concrete breakwater rather than sandy beach. There is always a good sandy beach somewhere along this 15 km beach. Accommodations at higher addresses tend to be smaller and less expensive, somewhat removed from the main tourist section and more mixed in with local life. If a sandy beach is important to you, some research is called for before booking in the area, especially after the tropical storm season. This research is important as without the beach there is little for non-kite-surfers to do in Mui Ne.

 

Quite a few bargain and "backpacker" hotels have popped up on the inland side of the road, across from the shoreline resorts. If you stay on the inland side, you will need to pass though one of the resorts to reach the beach, which might or might not result in some hassle from the guards. The resorts jealously guard their lounge chairs and palapas, though the beach itself is open to everyone.

 

Mui Ne Bay has become very popular with Russian tourists. Major Russian tour operators who bring busloads of tourists to Ham Tien and Mui Ne from the airports in Cam Ranh and Ho Chi Minh City have bought up several hotels along the main road and fill them year-round with Russian charter tour groups. English and Russian menus are common in most restaurants, and many stores and hotels are advertising and catering specifically to the Russian-speaking tourists, especially along the lowered numbered area of the strip on Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street which some guidebooks have rebaptised "Little Moscow."

 

GET IN

BY BUS

Most overseas visitors reach Ham Tien and Mui Ne via "open tour" buses that run between Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang. Most depart from Ho Chi Minh City between 07:30 and 09:00 (07:30 for Sinh Cafe's air conditioned bus) and arrive at Ham Tien and Mui Ne at about 13:00. In the opposite direction, buses typically depart from Mui Ne and Ham Tien around either 14:00 or 02:00 and arrive in Ho Chi Minh City approximately five hours later. Joe's Cafe is a good place to catch an outgoing night bus as it offers full service all night and you never know how late the bus will be. Outside Ho Chi Minh City, the coach will stop at a petrol station with a large shop and stalls selling snacks, drinks, and fruit.

 

The buses stop in the heart of the tourist strip in Ham Tien, so there is no need to take a taxi. The cost is about 105,000 dong each way, and tickets are sold all over the tourist districts of both Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang. If you are traveling to Ho Chi Minh City from Mui Ne and Ham Tien, you will most likely be put on an already full bus traveling from Nha Trang. As you are not assigned a seat, you may not be able to sit with any traveling companions, and at some of the less scrupulous travel agents you may not even get a real seat. You might get a mat at the back of the bus with four other people.

 

Public buses from both destinations also travel to the Mui Ne area, though finding the departure stations and figuring out the schedule is difficult for visitors. It's not worth the trouble unless you have a strong need to depart at a different time of day other than when the open tour bus leaves. Travel agencies play dumb because they don't earn anything from helping you find a public bus. The main bus station in Phan Thiet is at Từ Văn Tư, Phú Trinh and a taxi from there to the tourist strip can cost more than your bus ticket from HCMC!

 

BY TRAIN

A train runs daily from Ho Chi Minh City to Phan Thiet, departing around 06:30 and arriving five hours later. The return trip leaves Phan Thiet around 13:30. The cost is quite modest at around 60,000 dong per person each way (similar to the bus). The train station in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon Railway Station) is in District 3, about 3 km from the centre. The railway station in Phan Thiet is about 5 km (80,000 dong taxi ride) from the beginning of the Ham Tien resort strip, and taxis are abundant to take you there. The railway also sometimes runs a mid-sized bus from the station to Mui Ne for 25,000 dong per person. Tickets are sold on the train, though the announcement might be made in Vietnamese only, and you need to watch carefully for the ticket sellers to pass by.

 

The train has regular carriages operated by the state railways, and sometimes other carriages booked and operated by private companies. The latter have somewhat larger seats for a higher price, but fall short of luxury. The regular carriages are a bit cramped for the Western-sized body. When the train is not full, railway staff usually packs everyone into one carriage, leaving another one empty, and then run a side business selling "upgrades" to the quiet, empty carriage. The entire train will be jammed on holidays.

 

Overall, the train is probably less comfortable and convenient than the open-tour bus, though it has some advantages. You get a better view of the countryside and avoid the endless honking of horns and lunatic driving of the bus drivers.

 

BY TAXI

You might consider coming to Mui Ne from Saigon by taxi, instead of open bus. The departure times of the open buses might not suit your schedule. They are also slow sometimes, because the driver makes stops at rather bad restaurants where he receives commission. The ride by taxi takes 4-5 hours, depending on road conditions, and will cost US$70-100, depending on your ability to bargain. Talk to taxi drivers in the airport to get best prices.

 

Fare from Tan Son Nhut Airport to Mui Ne by SATSCO is US$100/trip.

 

GET AROUND

You can't get lost in Mui Ne and Ham Tien, since the whole place consists of one long strip along a main street, Nguyen Dinh Chieu. Motorbike taxis are present everywhere and their drivers will bug you each time you leave the hotel or walk along the road. Along the tourist strip it is much cheaper to stop a xe om as long as you know how to bargain. It can be hard for Western tourists to get appropriate prices (10,000-15,000 dong is more than enough to pay for a ride from one place to another along the main strip). Taxis are also abundant, with fares slightly higher than Ho Chi Minh City, but still reasonable (starting at around 20,000 dong).

 

You can rent motorbikes and bicycles at many resorts and tour agencies. Since traffic is light, motorbikes or bicycles are a pleasant way to explore the surroundings. Motorbikes cost anywhere from 60,000-150,000 dong per day depending on how late in the day you start, how many hours you need, and age/type of motorbike (automatics can cost 230,000 dong). The locals say it's getting harder to rent because of bike thefts and police driving license enforcement. Your hotel might rent to you, which may be a bit more convenient since they already have your passport. Western tourists should avoid taking a rented motorbike to the White Sand Dunes if you are not in the possession of a Vietnamese driver's license. The Mui Ne police is known for stopping all motorbikes on the road leading to Bau Trang (White Lake) and collect at least 1 million dong from any foreigner not able to provide at least an international driver's license.

 

Be careful when riding a bike in Ham Tien and Mui Ne. Traffic is light, especially during the summer months, but nobody pays any attention to traffic rules. For example, it's common to see Vietnamese riders turning left from the right lane. Also, Vietnamese riders don't stop or even look when entering the main road from secondary one. The increase in big motor coaches shuttling Russain tourists in and out of Ham Tien and the uncontrolled jeeps used to bring hundreds of tourists to the White Sand Dunes every day contribute to increased risks for motorbikes and pedestrians along Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street in particular. Traffic fatalities are not uncommon. Rumors are that up to 30 people die every month in accidents. If you plan to ride a bike here, investment in medical insurance, if you can get it, is a wise move.

 

Even-numbered addresses are on the sea side of the street, and odd numbers on the inland side. Even and odd addresses are not aligned, thus 39 on the odd side can be several hundred metres from 40 on the even side.

 

SEE

CHAM TOWER

The Poshanu Cham Tower in Phu Hai ward (Thap Po Sah Inu) is a derelict remainder of the ancient Cham culture that was built in the 8th century. It is still in use for religious and social gatherings by the local Cham population, especially during the annual Kate festival.

Fish Sauce Plants, where the famous nuoc mam (fish sauce) is produced. Big jars harbour the concoction that, after months in the blazing sun, is sold all over Vietnam to add some spice to the food.

The famous Red Sand Dunes (Doi Cat), on the main coastal road a short distance north of the fishing town at the north end of Mui Ne Bay, about 10 km from the main resort strip. The whole region is fairly sandy, with orange sand threatening to blow onto the coastal road in some spots. The dunes that visitors visit are about 50 ha (1/2 km²) of open sand on a hillside with ten-meter undulations, staffed by dusty children with plastic slides, who will offer instruction and assistance if you want to slide on the sand. Caution is recommended since a number of tourists have lost money, cameras or cell phones in the sand or through theft and pick-pocketing on the dunes. The sand dunes offer nice views of the sea coast to the north. On the opposite side of the road are a series of small cafes (illegally built but tolerated by the local police), where you can park your vehicle for a small fee if you ride there on your own. Most day tours sold by local tour operators include a stop at the dunes. The trip by taxi from the main resort strip in Ham Tien is about 170,000 dong each way, and less by xe om. It is reachable by bicycle in 30-45 minutes, passing the Fairy Stream on the way. From the resorts on Malibu Beach (Ganh Beach) it is just a short 5 to 10 minute walk to the bottom of the dunes.

Mui Ne Market (Chợ Mũi Né) and fishing harbor (Lang chai Mui Ne). If you are staying on the resort strip in Ham Tien or Phu Hai wards, don't miss out to visit this once quiet "fishing village" but nowadays bustling town, at the northeast end of Mui Ne Bay. The coastal road leads straight into the town (with a left turn required at the first red light to continue up the coast). If you arrive during the dry "winter" season, don't miss the harbor overlook at the entrance to Mui Ne with a splendid view of hundreds of colorful fishing boats moored in the bay. The boats move to the other side of the "Shelter Cape" (English translation of "Mui Ne") during the monsoon season from May through October, when the wind direction changes from mainly northeast to mainly southwest. Further along into town, just off the main road, there is a colorful local market. If you take your transport just down to the water, you will reach the fishing harbor, where you can purchase fresh seafood (if you have any means to cook it) or purchase steamed crabs, shellfish, etc. to eat on the spot from local vendors. Walking along the beach, you'll pass by fishermen sorting out their catch, ship-wharves and, at the southern end of town, a section where clams have been rid of their shells for many years, so the sand on the beach is by now substituted with littered shells. Be prepared to encounter piles and stretches of rubbish on the beach.

The Fairy Stream (Suoi Tien) is a little creek that winds its way through bamboo forests, boulders and the dunes behind the village, in parts resembling a miniature version of the Grand Canyon. Local children will want to accompany you to show you the way (and of course earn a dollar or so), but since you're just following the stream, there's little need. For the most part, the stream is about ankle-deep and no more than knee-deep even at its deepest. It is sandy with few stones and can be walked comfortably barefooted. You can climb up the red sand hills overlooking the river valley and even walk there parallel to the river, however, the sand may be hot on a sunny day, so bring some footwear. Walking upstream for about 20 minutes, you will reach a small waterfall into at most waist-deep water, great to take a refreshing bath before heading back. To reach the stream, head along the main road towards the east until you cross a small bridge. The stream is underneath, you will see a sign pointing towards a path to the left, go that way to reach an easy place to enter the stream. By bicycle it's about 15 minutes from the main resort strip and shouldn't be more than 20,000 dong by xe om. You can enter somewhere along the beach or at the bridge where you will be charged 10,000 dong for entry (although entrance is officially free) and 5,000 dong for motorcycle parking.

The White Sand Dunes are approximately 45 km away from the Ham Tien tourist strip to the northeast, and some 24 km from the Red Sand Dunes and nearby resorts on the east side of the Mui Ne peninsula (GPS 11.068254 108.428513). Trips are offered by any tourist agency along the resort stretch for 4x4 or quad drives, as well as by some resorts with their own vehicles. While too far away for a bicycle trip especially in summer, a motorbike trip can bring you there. Make sure to bring an international driver's licence if you do not own a Vietnamese one (driving without Vietnamese driver's license is illegal in Vietnam), the local police is well-known for stopping foreigners on motorbikes on their way to and from the White Sand Dunes and extort a fine (up to 1 million dong) or sometimes even confiscate the motorbike. Entrance is a 10,000 dong fee.

 

DO

KITE SURFING

Kitesurfing is offered by many outfitters and hotels. Kite surfing instruction is available, starting at US$60/hour, beginners package of 7 lessons start at US$350. From November till March you generally will have strong winds every day. The Winds in Mui Ne emerge by thermal movements, after the shores got warmed by the sun. You will have perfect wind everyday from 11:00 until the late evening. Gusty winds are seldom. With strong winds, the sometimes choppy waves can be as high as 4 m and more. The water is free of rocks, which makes it relatively safe to kite. However in the peak season there up to 300 kiters in the water at the same time. Beginners and Students, who mainly practice close to the beach front makes things a bit more dangerous. So watch out for other kitersurfers and swimmers and control the speed, in particularly because swimmers are difficult to see when waves are high. Accidents between kitesurfers or between kitesurfers and Swimmers happen from time to time and medical facilities are limited in terms of their equipment and abilities.

 

There are several kitesurfing schools along the beach, which all employ beach boys who will help you to start and launch the kite. It is widely common to tip the beach boys with US$1/day. If you bring your own equipment and don't want to carry it from and to your hotel every day, you can store it at one of the kitesurfing schools for US$20/week or US$60/month, including usage of their compressors and shower facilities.

 

If you are a beginner but already can practice independent without an instructor, you might avoid the area around Sunshine Beach Hotel/Sankara/Wax, because there are too many kite surfers and swimmers which may lead to accidents, particularly if you can not fully control the kite. Try the western part of beach front around the Kitesurfing School Windchimes. There are less kiters in this area and you can practice without bringing you and others into danger.

 

There is a place called "wave spot" or "Malibu beach" (10.92676, 108.29500). It is suitable only for intermediate/advanced kiters, but its much less crowded there.

 

OTHERS

All-terrain vehicle. You can ride one on white sand dunes.

Cooking classes, 400,000 dong/hr. If you want to learn to cook Vietnamese food, check cooking classes near C2SKY kitesurfing school (opposite Kim Shop). You will learn to cook pancakes, Pho Bo soup, shrimp salad and fresh spring rolls. All ingredients are ready, you'll just mix them under supervision of Vietnamese cook.

Day tours, US$10-13. Travel agents and restaurants abound with day tour offerings. The standard half day tour takes in the fishing village, fairy stream, and the red and while sand dunes. Tours normally start at either 17:00 or 14:30 so you can watch the sunrise/sunset over the sand dunes.

Balloon riding, ☏ +841208536828, ✉ booking@vietnamballoons.com. 05:00-08:00. Mui Ne is the only place in Vietnam where you can fly hot air balloons. A balloon company has European management, balloons, and pilots. Most flights take place over white sand dunes. When the winds in dunes are too strong, flights take place from Phan Thiet city centre. (updated Jan 2018 | edit)

Sailing, 108 Huynh Thuc Khang. Manta Sail Training Centre was newly founded in 2010 and water sport has been gaining popularity since then. Classes are available at US$50/hour for individuals with certified international and local instructors. The sailing area is safe, quiet, with no swimmers and only a few advanced kitesurfers. edit

Surfing. Sometimes you get good waves in mornings of windy season. Lessons, day trips and rentals are available, don't hesitate to ask around. While Mui Ne is not the best destination for surfing, it can be good place to give it a try.

Swimming. The sea is wonderfully warm, but it can be quite rough, with large waves and a strong rip tide. When the tide is in, there is not much of a beach to speak of. When wind is blowing it can be quite chilly to even think of swimming. The area between kilometre markers 11 and 13 has the largest stretch of enduring sandy beach. Since large waves normally emerge after 11:00 you might prefer to swim in the early morning hours, when the water is flat and free of Kitesurfers. Most mid-range and top-end resorts have swimming pools for their guests. Some are open for day users starting at 80,000 dong per day. But you can always behave as guest from this hotel and buy a few drinks for these 80,000 dong.

Water sports. Most outfitters offer a host of water sports including kayaking, paddle surfing, and jet ski rental.

Windsurfing. If you like to do some windsurfing, go to eastern part of Mui Ne. Starting from Hai Au resort, there are some hotels that are offering good place to water start, rent or store your gear.

 

BUY

Along the Mui Ne strip are several small nameless shops; all selling the same sundries and souvenirs. You can find packaged snacks (Oreos, cakes, biscuits, ice cream, etc.), liquor, clothing, and souvenirs.

 

Anything beyond very basic necessities should be brought with you. There is a small pharmacy, but it would be wise to bring your own first aid kit.

 

Standard souvenirs offered include wooden and lacquered bowls, wooden statues, snake whiskey, and pearl necklaces. Compared with Ho Chi Minh City, souvenirs are almost five times more expensive in Mui Ne. The same small wooden bowl selling for US$3 in HCMC is US$14 in Mui Ne.

 

Several travel agencies along the strip also double as used book stores. Most have a few shelves of English books, along with a small selection in German and French. Books cost 80,000-100,000 dong and most shops will give a 50% discount if you trade in a book.

 

Coop Mart, Phan Thiet (corner of Nguyen Tat Thanh and Tran Hung Dao), ☏ +84 62 3835440, +84 62 3835455. 08:00-21:30. A large, Western-style grocery store that also sells books, jewellery and necessities.

 

EAT

Every resort area in Ham Tien and Mui Ne is surrounded by restaurants specializing in seafood. The food is invariably fresh, well-prepared, and served in friendly and interesting surroundings. By all means get out of your hotel and try one of the local restaurants. The best restaurants are a motorbike ride away, found outside of the tourist/resort district on the ocean.

1 Bo Ke Street (Go to the fishing village past the Tien Dat Hotel until you see many small cafes near seashore). This is a street full of local cafes that serve BBQ seafood. Prices are very cheap and choice is wide. Scallops with onion and garlic sauce are must-to-have here. If you're a fussy about hygiene, don't bother coming here. edit

Joe's (The Art Cafe), 86 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St, Ham Tien (Across from Shades Resort), ☏ +84 62 374 3447. 24 hr daily. Joe's is the only place open 24/7 in Mui Ne. It's a cosy old farmhouse cafe offering Western fare. A Canadian developed the menu, and the pancakes with maple syrup (50,000 dong including coffee) are great. The sandwiches with home cut fries and salad (60,000 dong) are also recommended. Two movies are shown each evening in the pillow-filled loft. Free Wi-fi, exhibits and live performances. A great place to have your bus pick you up at 02:00 when you head out and great for a chill spot for after party breakfast or a romantic glass of wine. A 24-hr supermarket is part of the complex. Joe is on the strip, offering now even accommodation. Drinks 10,000 - 60,000 dong, meals 50,000 - 120,000 dong. edit

Lâm Tòng, 92 Nguyễn Đinh Chiêu (Right on the beach next to Jibes under some shady palms), ☏ +84 62 384 7598. You can even sit at tables in the sand. There's a little hut with hammocks strung. Try one of the pancakes (bánh xèo) with condensed milk (sữa đặc), the fried fish with lemon, and the chicken fried in fish sauce. edit

2 Pho Bo and sandwiches, Bo Ke St (Go past Bo Ke St in the direction of Pogo Bar, small pavilion on the right). The only place to have food at night (since Joe's doesn't serve food at night anymore). They serve nice sandwiches with chicken and scrambled eggs (30,000 dong). Also you can have pho bo here. edit

3 Santimatti Pizzeria, 83 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St. Classic Italian cuisine. Place is nice looking, with a good atmosphere. Locals and long stayers enjoy a 10% discount with membership card. Owner is on-site, so expect good service. edit

4 Sindbad Kebap, Nguyen Dinh Chieu (opposite Pogo Bar). Good beef/chicken/veggie kebabs, shawarma and tsatsiki. edit

Smoky House, 125 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St. Offers large, high-quality meals, and offers all customers free ice cream. edit

Snow Restaurant, Club and Sushi Bar, 109 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St. 10:00-02:00. Famous for its cool air-conditioned hall that is unique in Mui Ne. European, Japanese, Russian and Vietnamese cuisines, including exotic dishes such as filet of crocodile. Lounge still open after 22:00, cinema-sessions in the evening. Free Wi-Fi, free pool, and free transfer by Taxi Mai Linh to the restaurant and back to hotel. edit

The Terrace Restaurant, 21 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St (in front of Anantara Resort), ☏ +84 62 3741293, ✉ admin@herbalhotelmuinevietnam.com. 08:00-23:00. The restaurant's first floor is fully air conditioned and the terrace on the upper floor is an open concept with a a nice view. It serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. The restaurant specializes in sushi, fresh seafood and Vietnamese food and the bar serves beer, wine and cocktails. US$3-15. (updated Jul 2016

 

DRINK

Deja Vu Restaurant and Shisha Bar, 21 Nguyen Dinh Chieu (Opposite Anantara Resort), ☏ +84 62 374 1160, +84 913327232, ✉ dejavuvn@gmail.com. 11:00 - 24:00. Family restaurant focused on good food and entertainment for all the ages. Daily live music, cozy garden with kids area. Seafood, European food, Vietnamese food, kids menu, exotic food, cocktails, shisha- culture show "Folklore night" (show + dinner) every W 20:00. Exotic food show every F 19:00. edit

DJ Station (El Vagabundo), 120C Nguyen Dinh Chieu (300 m to the right when facing Sinh Cafe). 09:00-03:00. Ocean view terrace area, dining area and large dance floor. Happy hour 18:00-21:00 means selected cocktails are 30,000 dong, and regular priced cocktails are all buy-one-get-one-free. It's a popular backpacker place and usually very crowded weekends. edit

Pogo Bar, 138 Nguyen Dinh Chieu. Popular place once, but you can still expect surfers and expats. Cocktails and buckets are cheap, but not tasty. edit

Mooney's Irish Bar, 121 Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, Phường Hàm Tiến, Thành phố Phan Thiết, Bình Thuận, Vietnam (almost opposite Joe's Cafe), ☏ +84 91 402 65 96. 18:00-02:00. A small establishment run by a genuine Irishman (which marks it out from many 'Irish' pubs in Asia), an affable chap form just outside Dublin. There's a pool table, but the best thing to do is order a beer and have a chat with Liam. (updated Jul 2018 | edit)

The Crown and Anchor, 117c Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Ham Tien Phan Thiet (about 2 minutes from Mooney's Irish Bar.). 16:00-23:45. A new establishment that promises a lot. Great design, long bar, games room with pool, darts and table football. Brian from the English Midlands and Adele from Kyrgyzstan are the friendly hosts. Live sports and Sunday Roasts are popular features. (updated Jul 2018 | edit)

Old Fashioned Bar, 151 Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, Phường Hàm Tiến, Thành phố Phan Thiết, Bình Thuận, ☏ +84 368 307 432. 08:00-03:00. Classic bar. Large territory: bar, hookah, restaurant area, cinema, air-conditioned room of a coffee shop, rooftop. European cuisine. Live music. The largest bar in Muine with the largest selection of coffee, tea, alcohol, cocktails and services. Located near the BOKE site.

 

SLEEP

Mui Ne and Ham Tien have over 200 accommodations to choose from, in every price category (US$5-200), along the main ocean strip of Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Huynh Thuc Khang ("HTK"). Small guest houses, family-run beach hotels and some big luxury resorts can also be found east of the town center of Mui Ne proper, along the road leading to the Red Sand Dunes, where Ganh Beach offers long sandy beaches and excellent kite-surfing on the east side of the Mui Ne peninsula.

 

Accommodations at higher addresses of Nguyen Dinh Chieu towards HTK and Mui Ne ward tend to be smaller and less expensive, somewhat removed from the main tourist section in Ham Tien and more mixed in more with local life. If a sandy beach is important to you, some research is called for before booking in that area. Many "beach side" resorts are actually against a sloping cement wall that leads into the sea. The sand itself migrates up and down the long coast seasonally leaving some areas with expansive beaches and others with little at any given time.

 

A few budget hotels have popped up on the inland side of the road, across from the beach side resorts. If you stay on the inland side, you will need to pass though one of the resorts to reach the beach, which might or might not result in some hassle from the guards. The resorts jealously guard their lounge chairs and palapas, though the beach itself is open to everyone. If all else fails, you can always access a nice sandy stretch of beach via the Wax Bar at 68 Nguyen Dinh Chieu.

 

Remember that during Tet (Vietnamese New Year), hotels and resorts are booked way in advance.

 

BUDGET

Go past the Pogo Bar in the direction of the fishing village to find the best budget hotels (as low as US$5 a day for adouble room with air-con).

 

Bao Trang, Nguyen Dinh Chieu (Turn right when exiting from Sinh Cafe). Small bungalows with a beach frontage. From US$10. edit

Guest House 20, 20 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, ☏ +84 62 374 1440, ✉ guesthouse20@yahoo.com.vn. Very nice guest house on main strip without beach access. Also organise tours and transport for you. Very friendly staff, family-owned and operated. From US$15. (updated Mar 2015 | edit)

Hon Di Bungalows, 70 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, ☏ +84 62 847 014, ✉ hdhongdi@yahoo.com. Has simple but nice bungalows with fan and attached bath. There is a shady courtyard strung with hammocks, and four of the bungalows are directly facing the beachfront. A small restaurant and Internet access cater to your needs. US$10-12. edit

Keng Guesthouse, 185 Nguyen Dinh Chieu (About 100 m east of Phuoc Thien Pagoda), ☏ +84 62 374 3312, ✉ yongkeng999@yahoo.com. Simple, clean guest house with all the usual facilities on the quiet end of the main strip. About 15 min walk to the bar and restaurant area. Friendly English speaking owner. Dorm 100,000 dong, rooms from 160,000 dong. edit

Lan Anh, Huynh Tân Phát (Coming from Phan Thiet, turn left when entering the village, in the corner where there's a business called Nhà Tho). Local guesthouse in the village, a couple of kilometres from the resorts and beaches, but close to shops, market and street food stalls. Perfect for experiencing local life. Owner family can barely understand English but are nice. Room with 2 double beds, fan, fridge, toilet, and TV. Free Wi-Fi. 150,000 dong. edit

Mai Am Guesthouse, 148 Nguyen Dinh Chieu. Beachfront bungalows with air-con, working shower, mosquito net, and nothing more. Clean pool. Beach seating with chairs and mats, although some of furniture is falling apart. Can hear next door bar till 03:00 nightly which may bother some. Also, they have monkey cages in the courtyard for some reason. US$10-15. edit

Thien Son, 102 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, ☏ +84 62 384 7187, +84 91 861 0727. Guest house just down the road from Joe's cafe with clean, large rooms. Can get breakfast for about US$1. Very friendly people, though English is limited. Also organises tours to sand dunes (depends on size of group, but from US$4-9) as well as buses to Saigon and Nha Trang. From US$12. edit

1 Nam Chau Boutique Resort - Mui Ne Passion ((Formerly Nam Chau Resort)), Khu phố 5, Mũi Né (Coming from the Red Sand Dunes go down the hill towards the town of Mui Ne, the resort lies right after the Pandanus Resort on the left hand side of the road (ca. 600 m from the dunes). Coming from the town center of Mui Ne (Mui ne market or Fishing Village) turn left at the red light (in front of Blue Shell Resort), continue for about 200 m (entrance after Malibu Resort on the right hand side).), ☏ +84 252 3849 323, ✉ sales@namchauresort.com. Rustic beach resort with 48 rooms offering free WiFi, refrigerators, and TVs with cable channels in a 3-ha tropical garden on the beach in Mui Ne. Inexpensive restaurant, beach bar organising disco parties on weekends. Swimming pool, ongoing activities including kite-boarding and SUP. From US$11 for shared accommodations. Dormitories in cottages, private bungalows available.

 

MID-RANGE

Ngoc Suong Marina Hotel, Nguyen Dinh Chieu (Across the road from TM Brothers Cafe, beside Tien Dat Resort). On the beach, with an excellent swimming pool. Rooms have mosquito nets, air-con, satellite TV, and en suite bath. US$40 including breakfast. edit

Novela Muine Resort & Spa, 96A Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, Hàm Tiến, Phan Thiết (In the center of Muine Resort), ☏ +84623743456, ✉ sales@novelaresort.com. US$50 including breakfast.

 

SPLURGE

2 Anantara Mui Ne Resort, Mui Ne Beach, KM10 Ham Tien Ward, Phan Thiet City, ☏ +84 62 374 1888, ✉ muine@anantara.com. The resort includes 89 rooms, suites and pool villas designed according to Vietnamese tradition. US$105. (updated Jan 2017)

3 Blue Ocean Resort, 54 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, ☏ +84 62 3847 322. Has various rooms and bungalows. Only metres from many of the kite surfing schools, particularly Windchimes, which is directly outside the property. 2,770,000 - 8,100,000 dong. (updated Mar 2016 | edit)

Cham Villas Boutique Luxury Resort, 32 Nguyen Dinh Chieu. Has 6 villas with beach front view and 12 villas with garden view. Each villa has a king size bed, bathtub overlooking a small private garden, and a large private patio with comfortable club chairs and a day bed. edit

Grace Boutique Resort, 144A Nguyen Dinh Chieu. Has the look of a Mediterranean villa. There are only 14 rooms, all with sea views. Well-trained staff, a beautiful garden, and a charming pool. Rates include daily breakfasts. Discounts are offered during the low season and for long-term stays. It is advisable to book well ahead during the holidays. edit

4 Pandanus Resort, Block 5, Mui Ne (The average driving time from the center or airport in Ho Chi Minh City to the resort is approximately four hours. Can be reached in 20 mins by car via main road Vo Nguyen Giap from Phan Thiet city center (25 km). At the roundabout below the Red Sand Dunes turn right. The resort is the second on the left (ca. 150 m). Coming from Ham Tien and the Mui Ne fishing village take Huynh Tan Phat at the red light to another red light in from of Blue Shell Resort. Turn left, the resort will be on the right hand side after approx. 400 m.), ☏ +84 252 3849 849, ✉ pandanus@pandanusresort.com. Check-in: 14:00, check-out: 12:00 noon. 134 renovated rooms including 24 bungalows with outdoor bathtub in a relaxing beachside environment: 10 ha of lush tropical gardens within walking distance of the Red Sand Dunes. Phan Thiet's largest free-form swimming pool, 2 restaurants, 3 bars incl. lounge with live entertainment, two live bands, spa (indoor and outdoor). Weekly seafood BBQ buffets by the pool, All Inclusive package, weddings, special events, team building, tours and excursions, transfer service. Complimentary bicycle rental. Daily complimentary walking tour of Mui Ne fishing town, free shuttle service to Mui Ne, Fairy Stream and Ham Tien tourist strip. Jet Ski, surfboards, kiteboarding nearby. US$60-310 including Mui Ne's biggest breakfast buffet (based on room type and number of guests). Group discounts, All Inclusive package, honeymoon packages and special event rates available.. (updated Dec 2017 | edit)

5 The Sailing Bay Beach Resort, 107 Ho Xuan Huong St, ☏ +84 8 6282 4567, ✉ resorts@thesailingbay.com. 192 rooms with sea views, all-day restaurant, open-air beach club, a grand ballroom that accommodates 400 guests and a fully equipped board meeting room for 40 guests. On-site water sports facility with a professional international team managing board sailing, kite surfing and other activities. US$100-644 including breakfast (low-season). edit

Shades Resort, 98A Nguyen Dinh Chieu (Across from Joe's Cafe). Has 8 studios/apartments with kitchens, Jacuzzi or rainshower, preloaded computers, 42 inch flatscreen TVs and a lovely view. The site includes a swimming pool and a bar with Bon Cafe coffees made with fresh milk from Dalat. Rate includes daily breakfast, bottled water, and laundry service. US$45-200. edit

The Cliff Resort, 5, Phu Hai Ward, Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan (Along the Nguyễn Thông road to Mũi Né), ☏ +84 252 3719 111 (HCMC), +84 24 3936 5065 (Hanoi), ✉ reservation@thecliffresort.com.vn. Check-out: 12:00. A resort complex that has many different room designs in different prices, the more big and beautiful they are, the more expensive they are. All guests can enjoy the big pool in the middle and can have access to the Mui Ne beach. The location is near Phan Thiet. US$100-500.

 

WIKI VOYAGE

ATTENTION: There is very strong adult themes such as rape (I am trying to make people more aware family and child rape ), guts, language, and everything else under the rainbow. So here, don't say I didn't warn you. Also this is in its editing stage so point out any grammar mistakes.***

 

It is normal to think your life is insanity; even if it is not. It is normal to feel alone, but there is always somebody with you. It is not normal to break away from everything else when you get sucked into a portal-monster-thingy, and then travel thousand years into the future in a weird land. I learned that my home, Eve City, was destroyed a thousand years ago by a thing called Envy. Basically, I got sucked into this thing and now I am a thousand years into the future. Oh great. Now I have to learn about these new people and their new beliefs. I just want to go home.

 

Well, I’ve been stuck in this little town named Basil for two entire boring days. I got to know everybody here expect that derfecter girl, I thought her name was Yuko or Yuki or something like that, who was always inside the temple. She was all of the people’s hopes. They say if we hear her prayer song thing when outside the temple she could continue her journey to become a dumbldorian and then dumbldorians can defeat the evil monster Envy. “Tyler, come on you sleepy head get up!”

“Fine,” I responded to Wilden’s request. Wilden was a player on the local basketball team in Basil, and his team always won. But, I figured out that his younger brother just died a couple months ago because he was attacked by Envy because he was one of the warriors who protected South America with all his might. Yet, I did not know what the warriors were called.

“You aren’t up yet!” I hated that he kept annoying me to get up when it was only 6:30 in the morning, and I usually woke up at 1:00 in the afternoon. So, I always told that to Wilden before this, but he would never listen to me.

“I’m getting up, gosh!” Then I just forced myself to jump out of my comfy bed and my feet touched the ice cold ground. It felt kind of good, but now I was freezing my butt off.

“Get ready because...well because you need to because it is daytime.” He really didn’t need to tell me that because I already knew that. Well I was already because I didn’t have time to pack anything before I got stucked into Envy. “And, here is a new outfit because you were wearing that outfit for a really long time.” Wilden gave me a new outfit, and it was hideous, and he was also wearing it because it was his team uniform for basketball. Yellow jacket shirt thing and black skin tight shorts with a wacky design on it.

“Okay, can I be alone to change?”

“Alright,” he said while he left the room. Right then I just wanted to go back home to Eve City, back home. Back home I was a semi-famous actor in a t.v show named UnDead, and my character’s name was Mack. Now I knew that would be pointless in my new life. So, I changed after I was thinking a while about my old home and Mack McDonald.

“I need to get back soon or who knows what will happen...” After that, I opened the door to go outside. Who knew what awaited outside the door of density. But, it made my life change forever. It made me think about things more.

 

“Yuni, it’s her prayer hear it! HEAR IT!” A little girl pulled on my shorts signaling me to come with her to see the derfecter. The thoughts in my head said that this girl would be just a geek that would be dead in the first episode of UnDead. The girl was looking at me with such innocence.

“Alright, alright, I hear it.” She started to pull me over to the Town Square. I wondered where were her parents at this time. Of course I knew her because her name was Suki and she was the youngest of five children. Which that was weird because I was also the youngest of five children. But, my eldest sister, Jenna, disappeared ten years ago, and nobody knows what happened to her. I hated her. Then my father disappeared, Jack, five years later. I hated him also. Now I was missing, but the city was destroyed and the rest of my family probably was dead. Crybaby, that what them two always called me. They were right.

“Come on, Tyler!” Suki started pulling on my shorts again, so I decided to go with her. She was smiling. She was so happy that it made me happy inside. But, I still wasn’t that excited because I still thought this girl would be a stupid geek that was also an attention whore who wanted a boyfriend that had a weird bowl hair cut. Turns out I was wrong. Never judge something until you know what it is or you would be sorry; I learned that lesson the hard way, the very, very hard way that was well very hard.

We finally made it to Town Square where the derfecter was supposed to be. I didn’t see anything but a bunch of townsfolk standing there watching something that I couldn’t see. “I am proud to finally reach the name of dumbldorian. I will follow my mother’s path to defeat Envy and make this world peaceful once again!” I still couldn’t see Yuni’s face because of the big crowd of people.

“Oh, my god! This is so awesome, Tyler! I can’t believe this is actually happening. happening right now. We’re listening to Yuni give a freaking speech!” Suki yelled. This girl seemed to overreact to hearing Yuni--she did hear her talk everyday besides the last two days.

“I know, kid, I k-”

“The world will experience peace once again, and everybody will be happy. Envy will be defeated once again!” The crowd proudly clapped, and I still couldn’t see her face. I still thought she was just another attention whore, still.

“Now thou shall bring’st fourth a dumbldorian magician. An apprentice of Gandalia himself. A Renaissance Woman. Thee art thy best in all of the town. All of the land. All of the universe and life as we knowest ith. Thy is..... the one and only magista unicron...Yuni!!!! Now she shall perform thy traditional spell dance of Yunidfgkgc, thy first person to defeat Envy.” Now I thought was she, and was about to do one of those weird ballet dances only geeks did when they were forced to by their geeky parents. But, I was once again wrong. I always seemed to be wrong about everything then, but I was also naive back then.

“Alright Sir Hootsalot,” she responded. I still couldn’t see her face or clothes or anything. “Oh Madame Andrea you came!”

“Of course, I am one of your protectors. I was also your dad and mom’s protector. You know that I will never leave your side or the side of anybody else in your family. Elder Kirami is also here but you know he is way too shy to show his face here. I believe Commander Luka is in the crowd with her husband Captain Wilden.” Gosh, this Andera girl sure loved to talk. Then I heard footsteps, and a women I didn’t know exited Town Square, Andera. Her hair was red and short and her face was covered by her black cloth.

“Cool! Andera came! She is so cool but she will NEVER show her face to anybody!” Suki tried to run to Andrea, but I stopped her. Now I just wanted to know how Yuni looked like, but, once again, I couldn’t see her. So, I forced my way to the front with Suki. Then that was when I saw her face for the first time. Her hair was a color of a raven and so were her eyes and lips, unicron have naturally black lips, and her skin was like snow. The outfit she was wearing was a navy blue dress with glitter splattered all over it.

“Wow,” I whispered to myself.

“Ain’t she pretty, Tyler, I always thought was pretty.” The girl’s lips and eyes were big because she was a combination of a person and a unicorn, and all unicorns have big lips and eyes for some reason unknown. But, then she started dancing.

“Oh my god.” Everybody was in wow when Yuni started to float, and when magical balls started to surround her creating every color of the rainbow. She then created water out of thin air, so she put it in the ocean which was nearby. This dance took hours, but every moment I was in awe. It wasn’t because of the things Yuni was doing, but it was because of her beauty.

“I love it when I see this.” Suki told me that when I was staring at Yuni’s performance. “I knew you would like it too. It is just pretty looking at Yuni do this.”

“Yes, it is.”

“This is why I love it when people become powerful because I get to see them do this.” Yuni was still dancing in the beautiful afternoon sky, and it was 1:00. When things were normal this was when I would wake up to start my day because filming always started at 6:00 for UnDead. It was near the season finale I remember, and it was getting epic, which was a bummer because I would never figure out how it ended.

Hours later:

The show stopped, but I didn’t want it to stop. But, it was starting to get dark out, and that was when people were scared and hid in their homes. When Yuni got off the stage me and Suki ran to talk to her. “YUNI, THAT WAS AMAZING!”

“Well, thank you Suki,” she answered with a voice of a perfect angel. I loved her voice, her everything.

“You’re welcome! I am so sorry Rikku couldn’t come because she would enjoyed it. But, she joined the Ali Vran with dad and Andru.”

“I’m sure she-” A plane then landed in the middle of Town Square because all the other people were at their homes watching for Envy. Three people stepped out of the aircraft, one of them running towards us. The other two were just walking.

“OH MY GOD! Suki you grew up so much! I can’t believe you are seven because you are getting so big! Do you miss me?” The girl picked up Suki and tossed her in the air after hugging her.

“Yes I do, Rikku!” This girl had a cheery feeling around her. Her blonde hair was exactly like Suki’s, and well they looked exactly alike because they both also had tan skin and green eyes.

“Oh brother and pops are coming. They are tired after a long day of treasure hunting...OH MY THERE IS FINALLY SOMEBODY ELSE WITH BLONDE HAIR! Who is he?” She was clearly talking to me. Well, I knew this town enough to know that Suki’s family and I were the only people with blonde hair in the town Basil. It was annoying that everybody either had red, black, or brown hair in this town; I felt alone with my super blonde hair.

“Oh, hey Suki how’s my girl?” Suki came running up to a man who also had blonde hair, and the man next to him looked exactly like her. Tan, blonde, green. Seems like that all that family has those things in their appearance.

“Oh hey cuz, and hey sis,” the other man greeted. So, Yuni is Rikku, Suki, and Andru cousin...okay, they looked nothing alike. I didn’t know the other two siblings because they were always at home because they were sick or injured or something. They went to close to Envy when they were doing their pickup jobs at the park in Sentra Faira and were lucky they didn’t die painfully.

“Guys this here is Tyler Fern. He is from Eve City-”

“Wait, Suki Eve City was destroyed by Envy thousand years ago,” Yuni interrupted.

“Yeah, Yuni. Um, he is from a thousand years ago. Yeah,” Suki answered.

After that:

Because Andru, Rikku, Yuni, and Pops heard that I was from a thousand years ago they took me to Commander Lucka’s place to talk about it because it was weird. I finally arrived at Luka’s after watching Yuni all the time. We walked there, and I didn’t know how much time it took; if I had to guess it probably took thirty minutes. “Well, here is her place guys.”

“Knock on the door, Yuni,” Pops commanded. So, Yuni did, and Wilden answered it. I knew they had a little three year old named Violet, and I saw her playing with a teddy bear and a moxie girl.

“You are welcomed. Come in please.” We came into the house, well mansion thing. It was super huge and gothic. I guessed Lucka liked dark stuff because Wilden said she did a little while back. “What do you want?”

“We want Luka and Tyler to talk in private about...you know what probably.”

“About him being from a destroyed city called Eve. Let me get her.” He walked up the stairs to get his wife, and I waited with the others. Of course, I passed the time by looking at Yuni, nobody seemed to notice. Okay, I had a big crush on her. Somebody call the love police.

“Here I am. Tyler come over to my workroom.” Luka had black hair like Yuni and river blue eyes. Her baby looked a lot like her, but the child had Wilden’s facial features.

We, Luka and I, entered Luka’s workroom:

It was like one of those places that you go to get your hands read or cards picked or whatever else, told your future. “Sit down, Tyler. Anywhere, but the big purple seat.” I sat down in a blue seat, and it hurt my back it was very uncomfortable.

“What are we doing?” I asked Luka.

“Talk about your life. Talk about your family. Talk about anything you remember about Eve City. Talk about it now.” So, I told her about my childhood about my family and job and Eve City. “Now what about this place?”

“Um-”

“Don’t worry I won’t be offended about anything that you say, freaking anyTHING.” I didn’t trust this girl enough to tell her what I really thought. I didn’t trust her enough to tell about my feelings for Yuni.

“It’s fine, but I sure miss my home.” Gosh, I could've told her my real feelings; I could’ve I hated my place to my guts. The only reasons I still want to be in this place is Yuni; she was HOT with her revealing dress on.

“You’re lying, I can tell. You like Yuni, and you hate this place to your guts and want to get the h*ll out of here. Also you don’t trust me enough to tell me this type of information.” How did she know that, I wondered. “I can read minds you know, Tyler. I should’ve told you that.”

“That’s kind of creepy.”

“I can focus on one mind, and gather all the info I need, and then leave at will. Why do you think i’m so good at this? I could even read multiple at the same time.” Oh great, that's just freaky. No matter what she could read my mind and know all my dirtiest secrets I tell nobody. Looks like I got to learn how to trust her, I told myself. I needed to learn to have a better life in this new place.

“Well, can I go now?”

“You can go now or learn the truth that even I don’t know,” Luka answered. So, I went out the door thinking that this was a complete waste of time. Then Luka came out also. “I have to tell you something!”

“What?”

“You can come one of her protectors, you know? It would make you both happy if you joined her team,” she whispered so nobody else would hear. I didn’t think I was up for the job, but I accepted anyways by nodding my head. “Plus, something inside me tells me that you are in great danger that you cannot escape no matter what you do.”

“It is probably nothing, Luka.” But, she looked really serious when she said that I was in danger, and I should have listened to her more often because that would have solved many problems.

“You’re wrong, Tyler, you are in serious danger. That’s why Wilden and I are coming with you and Luka after the finals in basketball. Maybe you can come see the game?” Luka started to walk away to where the others were at. I knew she knew something I did not.

“But, Luka, who would take c-”

“Emmett, our friend, will take care of Violet. Now go home, Tyler. The finals for Wilden are tomorrow and he needs his sleep. You and your friends also need to go, and I will inform Yuni that you are coming with her.” She then continued her walk to where the others were at, the living room. I decided I can go because Luka was taking care of business for me, and I was tired because I wasn’t used to this type of stuff happening to me. Because, for the whole day I was standing up while I usually did nothing but act back in Eve City.

“Okay.” But, I had my doubts about leaving because I wanted to know what the complete truth was; I knew that it was too late to go back now. There was no turning back.

I went outside:

The sky was eaten by darkness and stars. I guessed that it was about 12:30 A.M. It was a new day, and no wonder Luka wanted me to go. The stars reminded me about Yuni’s eternal beauty, she was even more stunning than the stars themselves. “Tyler, wait up!” When I turned around I saw Yuni running towards me. I then wondered if Yuni could read my mind, probably not. But, it would be weird if she could.

“Okay,” I responded. That word seemed to be my response for every question that night. She caught up to me.

“I hate the dark, it reminds me of the Shade.” Even though she was complaining I still liked the moment. For Pete’s sake, I just learned something new about her. “But, I hate Envy even more. I will stop at nothing to stop that monster once and for all.” She stared into my eyes. Something then destroyed that moment.

“YUNIE, WAIT UP! DON’T WANDER ALONE IN THE FREAKING DARK NIGHT!” Rikku came sprinting down the path. She just had to ruin that moment, didn’t she? Her blonde hair was bouncing around like a ball being played by four year olds. “Look I found a sphere; a sphere that looks unique!” She took out a red shining circular object from out of her ball. “I wonder what’s in it and why it is so hot.”

“Me too. Play it, Rikku.” Yuni walked over to where Rikku was standing, and so did I. When Rikku squeezed the sphere it started to show a movie-like footage. I was standing there in awe because it was beautiful, but I still did not understand how a crystal ball thing can play a movie when it was just a normal sphere.

It was showing a man with a girl that looked a lot like Yuni less the uber-hotness. Everything was a reddish color, so you couldn’t tell what their hair, skin, or eye color was. They were warning the viewer about a thing they called Tusan, Nathan’s slave. Then they explained that when Envy is defeated it gets reborn by feeding off a host of a random person that was nearby Envy when it gets defeated, and the person hosted will technically turn into Envy without their free will. Just because Tusan, Nathan, was playing with the strings with a monstrous thing.

“What the! Mom...dad! Why didn’t you tell me this earlier,” Yuni yelled at the top of her lungs. After that, she began crying. Tears were flowing down her cheeks like they were rivers. She reminded me how I used to be ten years ago, but I was still like that now. Just nothing bad happened to me lately. “Tusan...I have to start my journey now to avenge my parents!”

“You promised Wliden you would go to the final, Yunnie. Plus, Andera and Kirami aren’t here. We will all meet at the finals, and then we can go on the journey altogether as one excited group.” Rikku put her hand on Yuni’s shoulder and wiped the tear off of Yuni’s face. Yuni stopped crying, looking at her cousin. It surprised me that they were COUSINS, Rikku wasn’t even a unicron.

“I just can’t believe my parents would hide something that big from me, their own daughter. We used to tell everything to each other.” Another tear went down Yuni’s amazing face. She once again started to cry. Crybaby, that word hunted my head. Forever and ever and ever. At least I was not the only crybaby in that cruel world.

“We have to go home, guys, it’s getting late,” I commanded. Yuni grabbed my hand.

“My home is the temple.”

“No, Yuni you can stay with me. You know where I live right, Tyler, right? Come on we have to go!” Rikku ran leaving us behind in the darkness. If she ran off in our journey, I wondered, would she do it for a good reason? I put that thought out of head, and then started walking.

“So you are from the infamous Eve City?”

“Yes.” I was a little annoyed about why she asked me that freaking annoying question. Didn’t Wilden tell her he found me on the bench unconscious, laying there all wet and sandy. He brought me back to his village to see if I was alright, and he discovered that I was from thousand years ago somehow. Like, I didn’t tell him, yet then I remembered Luka could read my mind. The girl with a man’s name could read my mind.

“How was it there? I heard they had tall buildings everywhere with lights all over the place with a stadium that shined like the sun along with a huge movie studio.” She let go of my hand. “And, they did this!” Her hands went up in the air, yelled like a fan girl, and she smiled. “I wished we did that.”

“Yes.” Now I was answering everything with yes. The basketball stadium there was the brightest thing I ever seen in my entire life. All the seats were filled when the people there were rooting for the team that they liked. It was loud. I lived near to it, and sometimes I couldn’t go to sleep at night because how loud and light the stadium was. I will always remember those sleepless nights filled with stupid people.

“It is very different now, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“You say yes to everything don’t ya?” she questioned me. Yes, that was my word of the night.

“No, I don’t say yes to everything.” All Yuni did was giggle. Well, I don’t know why she giggled, but I loved her giggle. It was one of those innocent types of giggles that were super high. All unicrons had that type of innocent laugh. I knew this because I read a book on unicrons. I didn’t know everything, gosh, I was a normal seventeen year old boy.

“I thought so, come on we have to go to Rikki’s house or she is going to freak out. You never want to see her freak out, EVER. Rikku gets freaking insane when she does.” Then we started to walk once again. Yuni was still more beautiful then all of the bright stars in the sky. But, something seemed wrong with her; it was probably because her parents hid that big secret from her and she was depressed about that.

After getting home:

My bed was calling for me because it was almost 1:oo in the mourning. Only five hours of sleep, crap. So, I went to bed because I didn’t have any pajamas to sleep in. The bed felt compty. “Time to go to bed.” I closed my eyes.

 

Five hours later:

I woke up, and somehow I was on a boat that was on the water. “Where am I!?” I screamed when I opened my eyes.

“A boat...oh no. Stay there!” I saw that Luka was the one with me, and though a small window I saw Envy, I could point out that giant circle thing with a face from anywhere. That freaking cloud monster thing was coming our way. We had to go. For some reason I got out of bed, I didn’t listen to Luka. I needed to check if Yuni was okay because I knew she was here. And, I saw her, standing on the deck.

“Help me, guys! We have to keep this boat floating or we all will die. Come on!” Recognizing that it was Yuni, I ran out of my room. Yuni was right there with her wooden staff. She had a red shirt with glitter on it and jeans.

“Yuni!”

“Tyler, help me here. Do you have anything to fight with?” Wilden then ran up to me with a sword. He put it the weapon in my hands, and ran off. Yuni nodded her head while I noticed her black hair was in a side ponytail.

“How can I help you?” It felt weird that I had a sword in my hands. The only sword I ever held before that moment was a fake sword for my television show UnDead. The blade was sharp, it was heavy, I could kill something with it. Then I looked up; Envy was still there, laughing at us ants with silence. Wait, that made no sense.

“We have to get away from Envy or he will kill us all. Plus, I don’t have the powers to kill it yet.” She started to rise up her staff. After that, she rose it above her head and she summoned a dragon. It was red like her shirt and beautiful like her. “But, just in case, we have to get ready to fight this thing. Come on, Fira, we have to do this!”

“Alright!” Luka came. The look on her face told me that she was angry, probably because I ignored her simple demand. Envy was getting closer and closer to the boat. Any second he would of been on top of us, overpowering the puny humans on board.

“Hold on,” Wilden demanded. The boat violently turned around in circles. The fast circling motion was like a ride in an amusement park people threw up on. Rikku was hoping tightly on a rope looking a little green.

“We are going to make this, we are going to make this.” I kept telling myself that over and over again. I thought it was the end for me. But, I looked over to Yuni. Even then she was simply stunning, even though she was about to throw up with all the spinning happening.

“Yeah,” Yuni answered. Her hands were holding onto the side of the boat. The wind made her ponytail go out of her hair and now it was down. I liked it better when her hair was down. Yuni slowly inched to me and held my hand. If I died I would die happy now. Our heads were together, but I didn’t know if she liked me or not.

“Yes.” I wanted to kiss her. I knew she wouldn’t like that because we just meet yesterday afternoon and she probably liked things to go nice and slow, not fast. The urge, it was so overpowering. Luckily, I fought the overwhelming urge to kiss her lips. The wind was fierce because Envy was close, and now we were stuck in a circular motion of the joy ride. We would be that way until we were too far away from Envy to make its random wind powers ineffective to us. The monster was coming closer and closer to us; it was time to play that legendary Jaws movies music. My final moments were about to come, the shark of the skies was about to take its bite of doom.

“We will live through this.” As she said that, Yuni closed her eyes in sheer terror. My eyes were still on her. Beauty was in the eye of the beholder. Yuni was the definition of beauty in the inside and outside. It was kind of wicked that I found somebody stunning when they were scared to death, but I did this moment. Even when she was frightened Yuni looked hot as the sun on the day of the end of the world.

“I know.”

“Guys, Envy is going the other way,” Rikku pointed out. The wind had stop blowing; we were all alright. “Is Yunnie okay Tyler?”

“Yes.”

“You say yes to everything, don’t ya?” Okay, now Rikku had also noticed that I said yes often. Somehow, they saying that made me think about my dad and my eldest sister. Crybaby, you ain’t nothing but a big crybaby. That was all they called me just because I used to get very emotional about everything they did to me when I was younger. But, then Yuni let go of my hand and went to her cousin Rikku. My perfect moment was over.

“No, I don’t, Rikku.” I said no to my dad and Jenna when they called me a crybaby. No, no, no. No i’m not one I am just having one of those things in my early life! Those memories will haunt me forever, but yet I would praise them for they were the only thing I had left of Eve City.

“Good.” She hugged Yuni and patted her on the back once again. Rikku was protective over Yuni, a little bit too protective.

“Yes.” Wait, there I went again with saying yes all the time.

“Are you sure yes isn’t the only thing you say?” Rikku and Yuni questioned at the same time.

“Yes.” Then I realized I shouldn't have just said that. It just proved their point about me saying yes about everything. I slapped myself in the head. Why did I just do that? Those girls were smart, way smarter than me. All they did was laugh when I answered their question.

“Guys, stop doing that back there we still have to see if Envy is anywhere near us,” Wilden commanded. Luka appeared again to stare us down with her soul piercing eyes. We needed to be more serious about our situation. She pointed to a broken rope and then looked at me. I knew she wanted me to do something with that rope.

“Replace that rope with this one, Tyler.” She placed a rope in my hand. Wilden and Luka sure liked giving stuff to me, but I did not like it whatsoever. It was getting annoying.

“Yes.” Why did I always say yes those days, those good old days? I wished I said okay or something like that. But, no I had to always freaking said yes or no back then.

“Well, don’t just stand there get to it because Envy can come back and that rope can be our d*mn demise. That would be REALLY bad and that b*tch, Dee, who is next in line, would have to take the freaking d*mn journey besides of Yuni, the only girl practicing that wasn’t a complete a*shole.” I always wondered where the rest of Wilden’s team was, but I guess they took different boats because they had families of their own to protect. And, dang, Luka loved to cuse a lot. Yeah, I was just going to stay on her good side.

new that whatever the reason was it was not good.

“Envy payed Mika and Kenzie a visit.” Then tears were falling from her eyes again. I wasn’t annoyed about her always crying because I used to all the time until dad and Jenna vanished from thin air at random times. Somehow that made me not cry anymore and I became a strong boy. But, I still hated them both with all my guts.

“What about Envy?” There was always something bad happening when people said that name. Gosh, I hated that name.

“He destroyed another town, Tolo Town. I had dear friends there and well they are probably all dead. Dead, they are all DEAD.” She couldn’t stop crying, so I knew she cared about her old friends.

“How do you know this?”

“Luka said she saw Tolo being destroyed and I have to make all the dead go to the Netherrealm, Shade’s liar, or Tauros, Shade’s hideout, or MARKA will take them.” Yuni rested her elbow onto the edge of the boat, and stared at the endless blue sea. I knew she really cared about other people’s safety, and she wanted nobody else to die or she would be in even more pain then she was in right at that moment.

“What does MARKA, whoever they are, do to them?” The thing they did to the dead shocked me. No wonder she wanted to go there immediately.

“They turn them into monsters or to the really powerful ones things they call dark priests.” She got something from out of her jean pocket. It was a round blue thing. It showed a picture of a normal person.

“Why are you showing me this?”

“To show you what they do to the innocent souls that should not belong to them.” She pressed a small button on her round thing. The picture showed a great beast that skin was scales and with teeth so sharp it would cut anything. It’s eyes were still human, but it was scary. Who would do this to a person? Wait, MARKA would. “We shouldn’t see them on our journey, but after that its fair game. Their leader, Nathan I believe his name is, will stop at nothing to kill all of us, the defeated of Envy.” Okay, I did not want to see these people, but if I did I would give them a piece of their own medicine or atleast try to beat them.

“Okay, we should go.”

“Wilden is going there. But, for some weird reason, now he wants us all to call him W.” That was weird especially for a guy who was all about being serious. It was totally nuts. Yuni started to walk away once again. Away from reality.

“Wait, what do the Dark Priest look like?” I asked. She turned suddenly around, and telling by the look on her face it was bad.

“Nobody knows. JK, they actually look like humans just covered with d*mn black Shade. At least, that is what people think they look like.”

When we arrived at Tolo Town:

The whole place was like a war zone. Houses were blown over and were in millions of pieces. Blood was everywhere you stepped and looked. The docks were mostly under water. Knowing kids and babies were there, I wanted to cry but I forced myself not to. I was no longer a crybaby; I was no longer a crybaby. “Rest in peace Kenzie and Mika,” Yuni cried. Everybody bowed their heads down but me.

“This is messed up.” All of the others looked at me funny after I made that remark. It wasn’t like I was saying I think they deserved it. They just were sad and all of them were mourning, oh, it wasn’t sad. These thoughts in my head were so d*mn confusing!

“Poor Kenzie, Mika, and Michelina; Suki would be so devastated when I tell her that they died because of Envy.” Rikku seemed most depressed out of all of them. There were a billion teardrops on my face, and I thought it was impossible to make Rikku cry, the puffball of the group. I guessed wrong again. I should have just stopped judging people before I knew them.

“I’m sorry for your lost, and i’m sure Kenzie, Mika, and Michelina were very good people with souls that belonged to the Good.” There were no survivors, Luka checked everywhere with her powers. Envy killed every single breathing soul in that village. Everybody was probably having a good day until Envy attacked. Then everybody screamed for help, but it was too late when help finally arrived. But, now we could do them a favor and make sure MARKA doesn’t turn any of them into monsters.

“I just need a little bit more time before I can send them to the other places, guys.” Yuni dropped to the ground. She didn’t care about the fact that she landed in a pile of blood; she just needed to have time to cope with her lost. Once again, Rikku comforted her grieving cousin. And, I did too. It seemed like it was the right thing to do.

“You can take as long as you like,” Rikku said while hugging her. I just patted her on the shoulder.

“Can I be alone?”

“Well, we only have four hours until the game starts, and we have to meet Andrea and Kirami there also before it starts,” Wilden answered. So, Yuni picked up her staff from wherever she kept it.

“I’m ready then, W.”

“You can have more time if you like, Yuni,” he responded. I really thought she needed more time to cope too, and so did Rikku. Yuni got up and then ran over to the ocean and went into it. The waves made her sandals and the bottom of her jeans wet. But, I was still admiring her hotness. Okay, I was really into her it freaking hurt.

“I can do it now. This game means a lot to you, and I won’t make you miss it because I was mourning old friends which I hadn’t seen for years.” Yuni raised up her staff above her head, crying.

“Wait, Yunnie! I want to get something here.” Rikku went running off to one of the destroyed houses. Then she appeared again with a pearl bracelet she found. The pearl were the color of clouds.

“Kenzie’s necklace! You can wear it I have enough bracelet,” Yuni shouted to Rikku.

“I will never take it off, ever.” The girl put the bracelet around her wrist. It looked really good on her, but it would have looked better on Yuni, of course. The pearls glistened in the sunlight. It could be the sparkle in the Shade.

“Can I start now?” Her staff was still above her stunning head. There were tears on her face because of her friends’ deaths.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Do you ever say anything but yes?” Luka questioned. Oh great, I thought, now she thinks I say yes too much. Just great.

“I actually do.” I finally learned how to not say yes. I was no longer a yes man, but now I was a clueless man. Even Einstein was once clueless, and then he became the wizkid of all time.

“I would like to start now. It would be bad of MARKA gets even more monsters. But, sometimes people live forever if unsent. If they don’t get captured by MARKA, and everything without a soul is useless to them.” I didn’t know why she was going on about MARKA and immortality.

“It is going to start, Tyler.” Luka put her hand on my shoulder. “Don’t be afraid by what you see.” Then, of all things, Yuni danced. The waves were dancing around her and souls of people came towards her.

“Kenzie! NO!” Rikku tried to grab a girl with short brown hair, tan skin, and green eyes but Luka let go of me to stop her. “No, no, NO! You too Mika.” She stared at a girl around Suki’s age who had brown hair, pale skin, and green eyes. The poor woman started to sob like how I used to when dad and Jenna yelled at me. The souls turned into shooting stars when they reached Yuni and go off in the distance. That was hard to watch.

“I told you to be prepared, but I see you’re crying.” Luka wiped away the tear that I cried off of my pale face. And, looked into my eyes. “Do not hide who you’re really are, Tyler.” She went onto the boat after she comforted me with Wilden. So, I decided to go to the boat since this was just creepy. People die, and Yuni dances. That is a little bit creepy. Yuni was going out of the water, and Rikku was on her knees. Rikku’s hand was still reached out.

“This is a reasonable time.” I was still looking at Yuni. This time she was the one comforting Rikku. “Completely reasonable.”

“It is going to be alright,” Yuni said to Rikku.

“No, it isn’t. All of us will die one time or another even if we’re immortal. Immortals can still die inside. Envy really out did himself this time.” She got up, and grabbed Yuni’s hand.

“I can give you more time if you like, Rikku.” Yuni got up, and stayed there, waiting for an answer.

“Yunni, I must go on.” Rikku grabbed onto her necklace, looking at it. It must of

been one of her friend’s favorite bracelet or something. “We need to go. MARKA is probably coming right this moment.” I wondered why MARKA knew where every dark soul was. But, I guess we still had to go.

“We can stay a little longer,” Yuni pleaded.

“No, for all we know MARKA can murder us in cold blood and turn us into one of them.” Rikku then got up, and ran over to the boat. I continued to walk towards the boat until I noticed Yuni wasn’t coming.

“Why aren’t you coming?” I questioned. She just stayed there glaring at something.

“MARKA monsters are here!” When I turned around I saw a foe right behind me, breathing down my neck. It wanted to end another life. So, I started to run, but Yuni wouldn’t come. She stood on her ground with her staff ready.

“Yuni, we have to go now!”

“Tyler, we have to fight now. There would be one less foe to worry about. The soul will go to its rightful place at last!” She summoned one of her dragon; both of them were ready to fight. Then another foe flew in front of me. “I will fight this one and you will fight that one over there. Come on, we’re trapped if we don’t fight these stupid things!”

“Alright.” Then there was a bright blinding light. Right before I could even hit that thing it fell onto the ground, and seconds later Yuni’s hit the ground before she could fight. “What the heck?”

“I never leave friends behind. They are coming; we have to go now!” I then saw that it was Rikku. Rikku defeated and killed the beasts in the matter of seconds. That was so awesome, she knew how to kick butt. “I ain’t waiting all day.” People came onto the island; it was the MARKA workers. So, we hurried onto the boat before any of the MARKA workers could see us. We ran as fast as the wind because we were scared; all of us were scared out of our mind. Then we reached the boat, rejoiced.

   

but I hope whoever dines here has a good dentist on speed dial. It's tough to get all the buckshot out of a slug.

 

Where else? South Jersey ! Bradway's Store in Quinton, woo hoo!

Last but not least, my favourite shots from our latest shoot.

This woman has such a fierce, empowering gaze that is ever so softly illuminated by her new glass eyes. I love how the red roses clash with her hair and the black backdrop complements her otherwise dark features.

 

I sincerely hope you've enjoyed all the pictures. I managed to accomplish a lot this weekend, now I'll go into photography-hibernation for a while^^

 

Lune is an Iplehouse Carina

But if you're Gooey, you -can- sit on broken glass.

 

Awesome outfit by DollsAhoy, who is tagged in this photo!

2014 is drawing to a close... this year I completed a 52 weeks project. Less stressful than a 365 but easy enough to let time go and having to do something late last night. Hope I can get my shots in earlier next year.

 

1. 2014: 1/52 Out with the old, 2. 2014: 2/52 Square, 3. 2014: 3/52 Skies over lake Råsta, 4. 2014: 4/52 Transport, 5. 2014: 5/52 A bad spell, 6. 2014: 6/52 Ticking away..., 7. 2014: 7/52 They go together..., 8. 2014: 8/52 Along for the cross processing, 9. 2014: 9/52 One colour, 10. 2014: 10/52 Four times as sour, 11. 2014: 11/52 Local love, 12. 2014: 12/52 Under ice, 13. 2014: 13/52 Enjoying the wine, 14. 2014: 14/52 Layers, 15. 2014: 15/ 52 Defender of time, 16. 2014: 16/52 Multiple eggs, 17. 2014: 17/52 Geometry breaking down, 18. 2014: 18/52 Lovley day in the park, 19. 2014: 19/52 Unexpected landscape, 20. 2014: 20/52 Watching sports, 21. 2014: 21/52 Falling apart at the seams, 22. 2014: 22/52 Seeds of lily, 23. 2014: 23/52 It's in the beard, 24. 2014: 24/52 Brenzier method, 25. 2014: 25/52 The eternal sunshine of the freed lens, 26. 2014: 26/52 Eat and repeat, 27. 2014: 27/52 A well deserved rest, 28. 2014: 28/52 Light from the book, 29. 2014: 29/52 Kungsgatan miniature, 30. 2014: 30/52 High key, 31. 2014: 31/52 Food porn, 32. 2014: 32/52 Calling you up from Blecktornsgränd, 33. 2014: 33/52 Movie poster, 34. 2014: 34/52 Natural frame, 35. 2014: 35/52 Through the low keyhole, 36. 2014: 36/52 X marks the spot, 37. 2014: 37/52 Dressing up, 38. 2014: 38/52 Going home, 39. 2014: 39/52 Selective colour, 40. 2014: 40/52 Wildlife, 41. 2014: 41/52 Two sides of the story, 42. 2014: 42/52 Anger, 43. 2014: 43/52 Hello darkness my old friend, 44. 2014: 44/52 What's hiding in the darkness, 45. 2014: 45/52 The four elements, 46. 2014: 46/52 Unprocessed metal, 47. 2014: 47/52 Missed opportunites, 48. 2014: 48/52 Thanksgiving, 49. 2014: 49/52 Close up portrait, 50. 2014: 50/52 Closing in on christmas, 51. 2014: 51/52 Contre Jour, 52. 2014: 52/52 Retrospective

More vehicles for the display I'm working on with my friend Robin Sather. Also qualifies for the LUGNuts "All But Four challenge" (Think dualies)

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It took me a few minutes to understand this.

Everyone is sleeping. But me.

In the fresh air the empty pool looks so tempting.

And a bit scary too.

Everything can happen in the night.

Even the strangest.

A midnight bath ?

 

Tout monde dort. Sauf moi.

Cette piscine dans la douce fraîcheur de la nuit est une réelle tentation.

Une vague source de danger et de mystère aussi.

Tant de choses arrivent sous le manteau sombre de la nuit...

Envie d'un bain de minuit ?

 

Cala Barca, Mallorca

St Helens Corporation Transport BUT Trolleybus BDJ47. After the closure of the St Helens system the bus saw further service in Bradford.

 

For more photographs of the North West Museum of Road Transport please click here: www.jhluxton.com/Classic-Buses/North-West-Museum-of-Road-...

I suppose I have been driving up and down the A143 for the last 33 years, and I have noticed the sign to Mendham the very first time I drove down there, as Mendham was also the surname of one of the Norwich City players at this time.

 

But it wasn't until a friend posted a shot of the church from the air, that the thought of visiting it entered my little head. (www.flickr.com/photos/john_fielding/)

 

Anyway, I turned off the main road into the lane that leads to Mendham, the lane shrinking to a width of just wider than the car, before it plunged down a valley side to the now dry water meadows before a bridge took me over the river and from Norfolk into Suffolk.

 

The church was at the entrance to the village, guarded by a pillbox, looking over the lane now, but 75 years ago would have covered fire on the lane and bridge that spans the mighty river Waveney, which must be some ten feet side at this point.

 

The church was open, and despite the gloomy day, I could see lots of interest, including a blocked squint, but not too sure about that east window, but then I'm no expert.

 

-----------------------------------------

 

(Introduction: In 2007, I started revisiting the churches of Suffolk. It was interesting to look back at what I'd written when I'd first come this way. Back then, by the time I got to Mendham in 2002, the journey was almost complete. Here, and on the entry for neighbouring Weybread, there is a demob-happy irreverence which suggests I was happy for the journey to be coming to an end. In truth, I think I was exhausted, and it would actually be another year before I started on Norfolk. But that was in the future. I came to Mendham in the days before I owned a digital camera, which was the main reason for going back. Apart from replacing the old photographs and adding lots of new ones, I have left the account pretty much as I wrote it in 2002. This entry seems to have an uncharacteristic number of side-swipes at other villages, and the Countryside Alliance, who were at that time making themselves rather unpleasant. Perhaps they have been proved right, who can say? Anyway, this is what I wrote.)

 

2002: Mendham, for me, is synonymous with civilisation. I had come here from Bungay, one of my favourite East Anglian towns, and I had made the choice there to travel onwards on the Suffolk side of the Waveney, even though the more direct trip on the Norfolk side would take me through Earsham and Redenhall. This was because I wanted to visit Flixton, where the 19th century church of St Mary is a direct copy by Salvin of the Saxon church at Sompting in Sussex. Out of Flixton, I could stay on the main road, or try and take a short cut through the Saints.

Now, anyone who knows Suffolk will tell you that no one takes a short cut through the Saints. This elaborate maze of twelve villages is connected by threadlike roads without name, direction or purpose, that lead you into farmyards and then peter out, or double back on themselves, so you see yourself across the fields trying to get to somewhere other than the place where you are. The Saints were created by a Zen Buddhist God to demonstrate the futility of life.

 

But I ambled on, aiming for the easily recognisable tower of the church of St George, South Elmham St Cross, which would lead me to my intended destination. The road lurched and dipped, straining to throw me off down some unmarked byway, but I held to my course. I had a map, a sense of direction, and would not be diverted from reaching St George. And then I got there, and it turned out to be South Elmham St Peter.

 

I stopped for a moment, exasperated. Looking at the map, it was easy to see where I had gone wrong (they do this to you, the Saints, they point out your inadequacies) but I was now 4 miles further east than I should have been. I found a lane that led me down into South Elmham St Margaret, and resisted the temptation to head off of this road, which was the correct one.

 

Okay, then I didn't. I was going to stick to it, but a sudden lane pointed to St Cross. So I took it. Instantly, it narrowed, dipped, and sent me hurtling into a tunnel overgrown with hawthorn. The road surface disappeared under a sea of mud, obviously left over from the winter ploughing. My bike cheerfully sprayed the slurry all up the front of me. Now, I'm a reasonable man - well, mostly. But I have no time for the Countryside Alliance mob, and howled in execration, something along the lines of "----ing farmers, why can't they keep their mud on their ----ing fields where it belongs", which caused mild consternation to the donkey skulking under a tree at the bottom of the dip.

 

I climbed up the other side of the valley - and at the top of the rise there was a proper road, and a sign saying Mendham 2 and I knew I was free. With a cry of "YES!" I headed on into Mendham, a large and civilised place, which was birthplace and home to the artist Sir Alfred Munnings. Right beside the Waveney sits the pretty church of All Saints in a delightful graveyard.

 

The first impression is a neat, substantial building, and indeed this is a major 19th century restoration that was done well. The 14th tower is slightly older than the body of the church it stands against, but the chancel is late 19th century. The going over the rest of the church received 20 years earlier was at the hands of our old friend Richard Phipson, and the headstops on the porch will instantly remind us of his contemporary work at St Mary le Tower, Ipswich.

 

It is a big church, and the inside is pretty much all the work of Phipson in his 'see, I can be surprisingly creative when I try' period. So it is very Victorian, although I thought the roof angels were superb despite this. They bear shields with a complete set of Passion symbols. The chancel arch is very striking, being wooden, and based on a pair of arch braces. There is a fine memorial to William Godbold, as well as a number of lovely brasses to the Freston family, which don't seem to get mentioned in books on the subject. Best of all, I think, is the 1880s east window by Ward and Hughes depicting the Ascension.

 

Mortlock thought the painting of the Presentation in the Temple was probably Venetian, dating from the early 17th century. In general, this is a crisp, spare, simple interior, a cool place to pause in the middle of a busy journey.

 

Back outside again, the graveyard has something that no other graveyard in Suffolk has. The western edge drops straight into the Waveney, and against this edge is a pill box, a machine gun emplacement from the Second World War (or, at least, I'm guessing it was built to repel Nazi invaders, rather than anything that might come across from the Norfolk side).

 

My next port of call was Weybread, just three miles away - but five if I stayed in the narrow winding lanes on the Suffolk bank, so I took a deep breath, screwed up my courage, and crossed the river into Norfolk.

  

All Saints, Mendham, is situated between Bungay and Harleston, Norfolk, just south of the border. I found it open.

 

Simon Knott 2002 (revised and updated 2007)

  

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/mendham.htm

-----------------------------------------

 

edham, adjoins east to Brockdish, on the great road; and is originally a hamlet and chapelry to Mendham, which is a very extensive place; the parish church stands just over the river, and so is in Suffolk; but this hamlet and the adjacent part between it and the parish church, on the Norfolk side, were no less than two miles and five furlongs long, and seven furlongs broad, at the Conqueror's survey, and paid 7d. to the geld or tax; and the part on the Norfolk side (exclusive of the bounds of this ancient hamlet) was called Scotford, or the part at the ford, (over which there is a good brick bridge built, called Shotford bridge at this day,) and for many ages had a rector presented to it, who served in the church of Mendham, by the name of the rector of Shotford portion in Mendham.

 

Part of Herolveston or Harleston then belonged to Mendham also; and now, that part of the town opposite to the south side of the chapel, on which the publick-house called the Pye stands, is in Mendham.

 

Mendham parish church is dedicated to All the Saints, and was originally a rectory, one turn of which, was in Sir William de Huntingfield, founder of the priory here, to which he gave it, and the other in Sir Thomas de Nedham, who gave it to William Prior of the Holy Trinity at Ipswich, and the convent there, to which it was appropriated by Thomas de Blundeville Bishop of Norwich, in 1227, when the vicarage was settled to consist of a messuage and 24 acres of land, 6 acres of meadow and marsh, with all the alterage belonging to the church, and the tithes of the mills, hay, turf, and fish, and all sorts of pulse, and 10s. per annum rent; viz. from the Lady Eve de Arches half a mark, &c. (fn. 1) and the said Prior was to pay all dues to the bishop and archdeacon, except synodals; (fn. 2) and Henry de Diss, chaplain, the first vicar here, was presented by the Prior of Ipswich. The account of this church in Norwich Domesday is thus; the Prior of the Holy Trinity of Ipswich hath the moiety of the church of Mendham, appropriated to his convent, and hath a house and two carucates of land, and receives the tithes of the demeans of Sir Thomas de Nedham; this was valued formerly at 15 marks. The Prior of Mendham hath the other moiety, and receives the tithes of Sir William de Hunting field, and his moiety is valued at ten marks. Sir Thomas de Clare is patron of the third part, which the vicar holds of the fee of Cockfield, and is valued at tive marks.

 

The chapel of St. Peter at Nedham was in all probability founded by the Nedham family, and most likely, by Sir Thomas de Nedham himself, for his own tenants; and being so far from the mother-church of Mendham, was made parochial, and hath separate bounds, officers, administration of sacraments, and burial; it is under the episcopal, but exempt from the archidiaconal jurisdiction; for it pays neither synodals, procurations, nor Peter-pence: and in 1329, a perpetual composition and agreement was made between the parishioners of the mother-church of Mendham, and those of the chapel of Nedham; by which, in lieu of all reparations and dues to the parish of Mendham, they agreed to pay 18d. every Easter-day, towards the repairs of Mendham church, as an acknowledgment that they were members of it. In 1411, the parishioners of Nedham, complained to Pope John XXIII. that their chapel was not well served, though the Prior of Mendham was well paid his tithes; upon which, a bull directed to Alexander de Totington Bishop of Norwich, issued; (fn. 3) commanding him to oblige the Prior of Mendham to find, and give security to him, that that convent would always find a parochial chaplain resident in Nedham, well and duly to serve the chapel there: and ever since, the impropriator of Mendham nominates the parish chaplain. In 1603, it was returned that

 

Mr. Andrew Wily, clerk, was curate, that there were 220 communicants, and that it was an impropriation; the herbages being reserved for the maintenance of the minister, who hath now the vicarial tithes, amounting to about 14l. per annum, for which it is served once every fortnight;

 

The Rev. Mr. John Tracey being the present curate.

 

The steeple is round at bottom and octangular at top, and hath four bells in it; the south porch and nave are tiled; there are several stones, but none with inscriptions on them, all their brasses being reaved: the chancel was wholly rebuilt in 1735, of brick, and tiled (though less than the old one was) by William Freston, Esq. who is interred in it; for whom there is a mural monument on the south side, with the

 

Crest of Freston, viz. a demi-greyhound arg. collared sab. and his arms,

 

Az. on a fess or, three leopards heads gul. which were first granted to the Frestons of Yorkshire, (fn. 4) impaling

 

Kedington, and this inscription,

 

Memoriæ sacrum, Gulielmi Freston de Mendham in Agro Norfolciensi, Armigeri, qui ex hac Vitâ demigravit 26° Die Oct. A. D. MDCCXXXIXo. Ætatis LVo. Et Margarettæ Uxoris Charissimæ, Filiæ et Herædis Henrici Kedington, Armigeri, quæ nimio ob Mariti obitum indulgens Dolori, Die 2do. Julij animam efflavit Anno Dni. DCCXLIo. Ætatis LIo. Vincula Amoris inter eos arctissima ut ad Amorem mutuum nihil posset accedere. Ex his nati sunt octo Liberi, Quorum sex jam Superstites; Maria Filia natû maxima, 20° Die Mensis Junij mortem obijt A. D. MDCCXL. Æt. XVII. Et in hoc Adesto (cum Johanne Fratre Infantulo) humata jacet. Hoc Monumentum Pietatis Ergo Coke Freston Filius natû maximus posuit.

 

Anno Domini MDCCXLVI.

 

This chapelry hath a lete held in it by the Duke of Norfolk's steward, it being in his Grace's liberty, who is lord paramount in right of his hundred of Earsham, over all the Norfolk part of Mendham; and in 1285, Roger Bigot, then lord of the hundred, had free-warren allowed him here.

 

The abbot and convent of Sibton in Suffolk had a fishery, and water-mill called Fryer's Mill, in this place; (fn. 5) which was let with their grange and manor of Weybrede in Suffolk; which in 1611, belonged to George Hering of Norwich.

 

This hamlet originally belonged to the Abbot of Bury, (fn. 6) and was infeoffed by one Frodo at the Conquest, whose descendants took the sirname of Nedham, and contrary to the common rule, gave their name to this place; it should seem that the family extinguished in several heiresses, by the many parts or manors it was divided into; and now there are four manors still subsisting here.

 

The first is a very small one, called Sileham Comitis, ex Parte Norfolk; and was originally part of the Earl's manor of Sileham, from which it was separated, and now belongs to Mr. James Bransby of Shotesham.

 

The second is called Denison's, or Denston's manor: this was given to the priory of Mendham, to which it belonged till its Dissolution.

 

This monastery was founded in King Stephen's time, by Will. son of Rog. de Hunting field, with the approbation of Roger his son and heir, who gave the whole isle of Mendham, called Medenham, or the village of meadows, to the monks of Castleacre, on condition they should erect a church of stone, and build a convent by it, and place at least eight of their monks there: in the place called Hurst, or Bruningsherst, being then a woody isle on the Suffolk side of the river; accordingly, monks being placed there, the founder ordered that they should be subject to Castleacre monks, as a cell to that house, in the same manner as Castleacre itself was, to the monastery of St. Pancras at Lewes in Suffolk; and that to the church of Cluni or Clugny in France: but after the death of the founder, the Prior of Castleacre covenanted with Roger de Hunting field his son, (who was also a great benefactor,) to maintain at least eight monks at Mendham, and not to depose the Prior there, unless for disobedience, incontinence, or dilapidations of the house.

 

Their founder gave the whole island of St. Mary of Mendham, with Ulveshage and the Granges there; and many other lands, rents, and homages; and all his lands in Crochestune, and his homagers there, which were all to be employed by the Prior, to the maintenance of Mendham monks, except half a mark of silver to be paid yearly to the priory of Castleacre, as an acknowledgment of their depending as a cell to that monastery; (fn. 7) he gave them also, St. Margaret's church at Linstede, and St. Peter's there; the moiety of the church of Trideling; an aldercarr and 11 acres by the mill, of Thomas de Mendham; and the third part of the tithes of his demeans in Suttorp; and 5s. rent in Bradenham; together with all his right in the church of Mendham: to all which, William the Dean of Redenhall, and others, were witnesses. And Stephen de Saukeville released all his right in Hurst. In 1239, Richard son of Benedict, after his decease, settled a messuage and 60 acres of land on this priory. In 1386, Sir Robert de Swillington, Knt. Sir Roger Bois, Knt. John Pyeshale, clerk, and Robert de Ashfield, settled the patronage of this monastery, on Isabel Countess of Suffolk. This house and all its revenues, were given by King Henry VIII. together with the lands of the dissolved priories of Ankerwick in Lincolnshire, and Little Marlow in Buckinghamshire, to the then newly restored monastery at Bisham or Butlesham in Berkshire, in 1537, (fn. 8) by way of augmentation to the value of 661l. 14s. 9d. per annum for the maintenance of an abbot and 13 monks of the Benedictine order. But that monastery was short-lived and soon fell; and this house, &c. in 1539, was granted to Charles Duke of Suffolk, and with it, this manor of Denston's, which, 2d 3d Philip and Mary, was conveyed to Richard Freston Esq. and Anne his wife, and he was lord of it in 1567; and it continued in his family some time: it now belongs to Mrs. Frances Bacon of Earlham, widow.

 

The prior was taxed for all his temporals in Mendham on the Norfolk side, at 4l. 12s. 11d.

 

From the rolls of this manor, I find the following Priors of Mendham, to have kept courts here.

 

1239, John. 1250, Simon. 1336. Nic. Cressi; he died this year, and Sir Rog. de Hunting field, patron of the priory, kept a court during the vacancy.

 

1340, John de Waltun; succeeded in 1342, by Henry de Berlegh. 1353, William. 1382, John de Tomston. 1400, Robert. 1420, John Betelee succeeded. 1449, Sir Tho. Rede. 1487, Sir Tho Pytte. 1501, Sir Tho. Bullock. 1523, Simon. Robert Howton, sub-prior, and Sir Ric. Pain, monk.

 

The third manor is called Bourt's and was owned by Daniel Bourt in 1345, and after by John le Straunge and Thomas de Hales, who held it at half a fee of the heirs of Roger de Hunting field; it after belonged to the Grices of Brockdish, for which family I refer you thither. In 1600, Thomas Pawlet, Esq. conveyed it to Thomas Leigh and John Godfrey; and it now belongs to Sir Edmund Bacon of Gillingham, Bart.

 

The fourth manor is called Gunshaw's, which see at p. 348.

 

To this hamlet, joins the aforesaid portion of Mendham, called

 

Shotford in Mendham,

Which contains two manors, called Whitendons, or the Whitehills, and Seameares, each of which originally presented alternately to the portion of Shotford in Mendham church.

 

Rectors of Shotford portion.

 

1317, Ralf son of Sir William de Ingham, accolite. Lady Maroya, relict of Sir John de Ingham, Knt. for this turn

 

1318, Walter of Ipswich, priest.

 

1328, Jeffry de Swanton.

 

1332, Roger Nicole, priest. John son of Robert de Ingham, attorney to Sir Oliver Ingham, Knt.

 

1339, Roger de Hempstede.

 

1347, Robert at Wode. Lady Isabel Queen of England.

 

1349, Giles Arches of Mendham, to the rectory of the third part of the church of Mendham, called Shotford portion in Norfolk. Sir Roger Lord Strange of Knokyn, Knt. He resigned in 1350, and the Lady Joan le Strange gave it to

 

Robert de Harwoode; afterwards the noble Sir Miles Stapleton, Knt. having the whole advowson, gave it to Mendham priory; and on the 3d of July, 1385, it was appropriated to the monastery of the blessed Virgin Mary at Mendham, and no vicarage ordained, so that the Prior received all tithes whatever of the whole portion, paying a pension of 6s. 8d. yearly to the Bishop, and finding a chaplain to perform a third part of the service in Mendham church: which service was after turned into that of a chantry priest, who was to officiate in St. Mary's chapel on the east side of Mendham churchyard; and that service ceased in Edward the Sixth's time, and the chapel was granted by the Crown into lay hands, and is now used as a malt-house.

 

The manor of Semere's

 

At the Conqueror's survey, belonged to Roger of Poictou, third son of Roger de Montgomery Earl of Arundel, and was held in the Confessor's time by a freeman named Ulfriz: (fn. 9) it was then valued at 10s. and after at 20. It divided into two parts, one belonged in 1311, to Alice and Edmund de Sancto Mauro or Seymor, Knt. and Joan his wife, from which family it took its name: this Sir Edmund, in 1335, infeoffed it with the manors of Sileham and Esham, and their advowsons, in Sir John Wing field, Knt. as trustee; and Laurence Seymour, parson of the united churches of Sileham and Esham, and Ralf his brother, released all their right; and the next year, Sir John released them to John son and heir of Sir Edward Seymour, Knt. It appears, that in 1291, John de Brampton held the other part of Elizabeth de Ingham at half a fee, and that it then divided, the one half continuing in the Inghams, of which Sir John Ingham, Knt. was lord, and Maroya or Mariona, his widow, in 1217. In 1331, Sir Oliver Ingham, Knt. and it passed with that family, till Sir Miles Stapleton gave it to Mendham priory, when it became joined to Denston's in Nedham. The other part, now Semere's manor, was sold to Sir John Wingfield by Laurence de Seymor; and in 1349, John Garlek and Sara his wife conveyed their third parts of Sileham, Esham, and this manor, and their advowson, to him. In 1401, Edw. Hales was lord; in 1551, it was sold to Henry Floteman, and it is now owned by John Kerrich of Bury M. D.

 

Whitendons, or Wichendons manor,

 

Belonged to Humfry, a freeman of Edric's in the Confessor's time; and to Robert Malet, lord of the honour of Eye, in the Conqueror's; (fn. 10) it after belonged to a family sirnamed De Arcubus; and in 1226, William de Arches and Eve his wife gave it to the Priory of the Holy Trinity at Ipswich; in which house it continued till its dissolution, when it came to the Crown, and the first year of Edward VI. 1546, he granted the advowson of Sileham and its appurtenances, this manor of Wichendon, and all the tithes and glebes, in Mendham, Nedham, and Metfield, late in the tenure of Richard Freston, Esq. to the said Richard and his heirs; (fn. 11) who upon this grant, came and settled in the manor-house here; and his descendants have continued in it to this time.

 

This Richard, in 1534, (fn. 12) appears to be treasurer, and a great favourite of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk; and an intimate acquaintance of Sir Rob. Budde, who was master of Wingfield college, and chaplain to his grace; and by his interest it was, that he obtained several great grants from the Crown; (fn. 13) among which, he had Denston's manor in Nedham, and many lands belonging to Mendham priory: he was afterwards knighted, and lies buried with Dame Anne Coke his wife, in Mendham chancel, for whom there is a monument against the east part of the north wall, with the arms of Freston impaling Coke, which shows that he outlived his wife, and died in 1557; and was succeeded by

 

Richard, his son and heir, who married Cecily, daughter of Thomas Felton, Esq.; (fn. 14) she lies buried in the chancel, under a stone, on which is her effigies, and the following inscriptions in Roman capitals on brass plates:

 

Cecilia Freston, (fn. 15) Filia Thomæ Felton Arm. Uxor dicti Ricardi, viro Amore Charissima, habuerunt sex Filios et 2 Filias et obdormivit in Domino 6 Sep. 1615. Christus mihi Vita.

 

An adjoining stone hath the arms of Freston with a mullet, impaling Felton, and his image in brass, and this,

 

Ricardus Freestone Armiger, (fn. 16) vir singulari Pietate, Eraditione, et Integritate, qui obdormivit in Domino 27 Nov. 1616. mors mihi lucrum.

 

William Freston, Esq. their eldest son, inherited; and in 1620, settled the manor on Alban Pigot, Esq. with the patronage of Nedham chapel; and the same year, Sir Robert Heath, Knt. recovered it against Pigot, and conveyed it to Freston again; he died soon after, and

 

Richard his brother inherited, and died seized of this and Denston's manor in 1634; (fn. 17) he is buried under a stone in the chancel, with his crest and arms, impaling in fess, an inescutcheon, on which a plain cross between three crosslets formy fitché, the sharpened parts pointing towards the inescutcheon; and on a brass plate this,

 

Animam Creatori, Marmoreo presenti Monumento, Ricardus Freston (dum vixit, in Agro Norfolciensi Armiger) Corporis Reliquias, amicis omnibus sui desiderium, 20 Dec. A. D. 1634, reliquit, non procul a cujus dextrâ, Pater Materque ejus requiescunt. Vitam vixit summâ cum Pietate, tum morum probitate, laudabilem Amicitiam magnâ cum Sinceritate coluit.

 

By this lies a stone with Freston's arms single.

 

Hic jacet Corpus Richardi Freston Armigeri, Filij Richardi Freeston de Mendham in Agro Norfolciensi Armigeri, qui hinc translatus est ad supera, Flore Juventutis suæ, vir summis dotibus Animi et Corporis, recumbens in Christi merita, obijt 14 Augusti 1648.

 

Anthony Freston, brother of the said Richard, (fn. 18) was buried Oct. 13, 1655; Lydia his wife lies buried in the chancel under a stone, with the arms of Freston impaling on a chief indented, two hands cooped at the wrist.

 

Ledia Wife of Anthony Freston, younger son of Richard Freston Esq; ob. 22 Mar. 1651.

 

Anthony, son of the said Anthony, married Bridget, (fn. 19) daughter of Henry Coke, Esq. of Thorington in Suffolk, and Margaret Lovelace his wife; which Henry was son to Sir Edward Coke and Dame Bridget Paston his wife, and had a daughter,

 

Penelope, late wife of John Smith of Cratfield in Suffolk, buried here in 1681, æt. 51, whose marble lies in the altar rails, and hath

 

Smith's crest, viz. an arm cooped at the shoulder, holding a chaplet; the arms are, Barry of six arg. and sab. in chief three barnacles of the 2d, (which coat was granted to the Smiths of Lincolnshire,) quartering a chevron ingrailed between three garbs, and a lion rampant impaling Freston.

 

Eliz. Daughter of Anthony Freston Esq; and Bridget his Wife, was buried May 4, 1716, æt. 62.

 

Theophila their youngest daughter, married James Rant, Esq. and is buried here with this,

 

Hic jacet Sepulta Theophila Uxor Jacobi Rant Armigeri, Filii natû quarti, Gvlielmi Rant de Yelverton in Com. Norf. Armigeri, et Elizæ. Uxoris secundæ: Theophila prædicta, minima natû Filia fuit, Antonij Freston de Mendham in Com. Norf. Armigeri, et Brigidæ Uxoris ejus, E Vitâ excessit 12° Die Aprilis A.D. 1721, Ao Æt. 55. Duos Filios superstites reliquit, viz. Frestonum et Gulielmum.

 

Si quæris, Lector, qualis sub marmore dormit Fœmina! Scito brevi, casta, benigna, pia.

 

Rant's arms as in vol. i. p. 204, impaling Freston.

 

Over the south chancel door is a mural monument thus inscribed,

 

Beneath this Monument lyeth interred the Body of Edward Freston, Gent. youngest Son of Anthony Freston of Mendham in the County of Norfolk, Esq; and Bridget his Wife, Daughter of Henry Coke of Thorington in the County of Suffolk, Esq; he died 28 Day of Dec. 1708, Ao, Æt. 43. As also the Body of Elizabeth the Wife of Edward Freston, and Daughter of John Sayer of Pulham St. Mary the Virgin, in the County of Norfolk, Gent. she died the 25 Day of Sept. 1727, Ao Æt. 55.

 

Freston's crest and arms, impaling Sayer, as at p. 31, vol. iv. and crest on a cap of maintenance, a dragon's head erased vert.

 

Another monument more west, against the south wall, hath the arms of Freston impaling,

 

Cooke, or, a chevron ingrailed between three cinquefoils az. on a chief of the 2d, a lion passant guardant az.

 

M. S. Sub hoc marmore conditæ sunt reliquiæ Richardi Freston, Arm. hominis adprimè pij; mariti Uxoris amantissimi, Parentis, propitij, et clementis Domini: Vis plura Lector? Scies, hoc Monumentum a Maria Uxore ejus, Filia viri colendissimi, Domini Gulielmi Cooke, in Agro Norfolciensi, quondam Baronetti; Amoris et Pietatis Ergo extructum, ut omnes qui huc venient et intuentur, tam clari exempli memores sint et æmuli, et Vitâ cum eo fruantur æternâ, obijt 22 Junij 1721, æt. 68.

 

William Freston and Margaret Kedington his wife, who are buried in Nedham chapel as before, left this manor, impropriation, and a good estate, to

 

Coke Freston, Esq. their eldest son, who now owns them, and dwells in the site of the manor, called Wichingdon-hall.

 

In the Suffolk part of Mendham, there are four manors; the first is called

 

Mendham's-Hall, or Mendham-Hall,

 

From the ancient lords of it, who took their sirname from the town: it originally belonged to the Abbot of Bury, and was infeoffed by Baldwin Abbot there, in Hugh de Vere, of whom Nicholas de Menham had it; in 1205, William de Mendham, and in 1239, Benedict son of Serlo de Mendham conveyed a messuage and 10 acres to the prior of Ipswich, who had obtained in 1230 a release from Robert Byhurt, of all his right in Mendham advowson. In 1285 Thomas de Mendham, who was lord also in 1306; in 1312, John de Mendham had it; in 1318, John son of John de Mendham, and Christian his wife, sold it to the lord of

 

Kingshall in Mendham, (fn. 20)

 

To which it hath been joined ever since. This manor belonged to the King, according as its name intimates, and was settled by Edw. I. on Queen Eleanor his first wife, after whose death it came to the Veres Earls of Oxford; and Sir Robert Vere, in 1314, sold it to Sir John de Fresingfield, Knt. son of Seman de Fresingfield; at which time, Robert son of John de Mendham, released to him all right in Mendham's-Hall manor; and in 1317, Sir John sold them to Sir Walter de Norwich, Knt. and his heirs, the Earl of Oxford releasing all right; Sir John de Insula, or L'isle, Sir John de Foxele, and Sir John Abel, Knts. Barons of the King's Exchequer, Sir John Muteford, justice of the King's Bench, and others, being witnesses. In 1353, Sir John de Huntingfield held those manors late of Thomas Earl of Oxford, at half a fee. In 1363, it was presented that William de Huntingfield held the river Waghene as a separate fishing, from Mendham bridge to King's-hall mill, and that he had the fishery there, as belonging to his manor of King's-hall. In 1369, Will. de Huntingfield held it for life; and in 1370, John Deyns, rector of Toft in Lincolnshire, and Richard Wright of Holbech, chaplain, his trustees, released to Roger de Huntingfield, who, with his trustees, John de Seckford, parson of Somercotes, John de Linstede, parson of Cawston, Tho. Horne, rector of Huntingfield, and others, soon after, settled them on Mendham priory: in which they continued to its dissolution, and then were granted to Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk, and his heirs, by King Henry VIII. in 1540, along with the lete of Metfield, and

 

The manor of Mendham Priory,

 

Which was given to it by its founder. They after belonged to the Frestons, and in 1551, Richard Freston was lord; in 1619, Sir Thomas Holland of Quidenham, Knt. sold to Edw. Ward of Mendham in Suffolk, Esq. the site of Mendham priory manor, now called Mendham'shall, &c. Kings-hall meadow, &c. the park, the manor of Mendhamhall, &c. with the letes thereto belonging, situate in Mendham, Withersdale, and Waybrede; all which, he purchased of Anthony Gosnold of Clopton, Esq. Anthony Gosnold of Swillington, Gent. Robert Gosnold of Ottley in Suffolk, Esq. Thomas Laurence of St. James's in S. Elmham, Gent. Michael Wentworth of Rogersthorpe in Yorkshire, Esq. Thomas Wales of Thorp in Norfolk, yeoman, and Loye Browne of Norwich: and the said Thomas, and Dame Mary his wife, sued a fine, and passed a recovery to the use of the said Edward Ward the elder, and his heirs; together with the fishery in the river Wayveneth. It came afterwards to the Baxters, and thence to the Gardiners of Norwich; and was sold by Richard Berney, Esq. recorder of Norwich, executor to Stephen Gardiner, Esq. late recorder there, to the Rev. Mr. Thomas Whitaker, late rector of Fresingfield, whose widow now owns them. They have a lete here, and another in Metfield, belonging to them; they give dower, and the eldest son is heir.

 

I find the following memorials relating to the Baxters in this church:

 

Depositum Stephani Baxter Generosi, qui decessit 12 Die Sept. 1696, æt. 79,

 

On a neat mural monument are the arms of

 

Godbold, az. two long bows in saltier or. Crest, an arm cooped at the shoulder az.

 

M.S. V. C.mi. D. Gulielmi Godbold Militis, ex illustri et perantiquâ Prosapiâ oriundi, qui post septennem peregrinationem, animi excolendi Gratiâ, per Italiam, Greciam, Palœstinam, &c. in solo natali in bonarum Literarum Studijs consenescens, morte repentinâ obijt Londini, Mense Aprilis Ao MDCXIIIC. Ætatis LXIXo. Hoc Monumentum designavit vir integerrimus, et sinceræ Probitatis Exemplar, Thomas Baxter Generosus, quem Testamenti sui Curatorem instituit; ipso autem Thomâ, morte subitaneâ perempto, collapso super eum Equo, nocte intempestivâ et tenebrosâ. IIII Calendas Septemb. MDCXC. Franciscus Gardiner de Civitate Norwicensi Armiger, ejusdem Thomœ Baxter sororis maritus, et Testamenti Curator, posuit. Baxter with a label of three, (see p. 212,) impaling D'eye, as in vol. ii. p. 345.

 

Hic reposita, beatam præstolatur Resurrectionem Fæmina, Pietate et Virtute insignis, Elizabetha Filia Thomœ Dey, de Insula, sive Eay in Agro Suffolciensi Armigeri, Uxor Thomæ Baxter de Mendham in eodem Agro Generosi, cui prolem edidit Masculam unam, alteramque fœminam, Quarum utramque ipso die lustrico et renata simul et denata est, annos nata triginta sex, nupta plus minus septendecem; obijt 27 Dec. 1681.

 

The next manor here, is called

 

Walsham-Hall,

 

From Gilbert de Walsham, who held it of the Abbot of Bury in the time of King Ric. I. at one fee; and lately it belonged to the Hobarts, who lived in the site of it, till Anthony Hobart, Gent. sold it to Mr. Robert Bransby, senior, of Shotesham, who sold it to Mrs. Sarah Woogan, wife of the Rev. Mr. Holmes, rector of Fresingfield, who now owns it.

 

I find the following account of the Hobarts buried here:

 

In the chancel on brass plates, Hobart's arms with a label of three.

 

William Son of James Hobart of Mendham Esq; died 9 March 1641. aged 3 Months.

 

Hobart with a crescent, on a stone at the east end of the nave, part of which is covered by a seat.

 

Hic expectant Christi adventum relliquiæ Jacobi Hobart Arm. (Filij unici Edwardi Hobart, dum vixit de Langley in Agro Norfolciensi Armigeri) qui Vitâ per 57 annos, piè justè, et sobriè peractâ, Patriam repetijt 20 Aug. Ao 1669: Cujus fœlici memoriæ, castissima illius Uxor, Brigetta (Gulielmi Spring, nuper de Pakenham Suffolciâ Militis Filia,) hoc &c.

 

An adjoining stone hath the arms of Hobart impaling Spring, as at vol. ii. p. 485.

 

Resurrectionem in Christo hic expectat Brigetta, Jacobi Hobart Arm. Relicta, Filiaque Gulielmi Spring nuper de Pakenham in Agro Suffolciensi Militis, quæ dum vixit Pietatem coluit et 26° Die Jan. placidè in Domino obdormivit A0 Sal. 1671.

 

Vivit post Funera Virtus.

 

On a black marble in the south isle,

 

Hic jacet Jacobus Filius et Hæres, Jacobi Hobart nuper de Mendham, Armigeri, ultimo Die Martij ad Cœlestem Patriam emigravit Ao Xti. 1673, æt. 23.

 

Animam Cœlo, Corpus humo reddidit.

 

Miles another Son, buried Jun. 8, 1686.

 

Edward Hobart, Esq; Son of James Hobart of Mendham, Esq; did 4 Nov. 1711, æt. 60. James his eldest son died 7 Aug. 1676, æt. 1 Mens. Sarah a Daughter 1689. Thomas a Son 1698, æt. 1 An. And John, Anthony, and Elizabeth, other Children buried here, and Lydia a Daughter in 1691.

 

Lydia Daughter of Edward Hobart Esq; and Penelope his Wife, died 31 Oct. 1680, æt. 1 An. 7 Mens.

 

Her Time was short, the longer is her Rest, God calls them soonest, whom he loves best.

 

There is an under manor or free-tenement, called Midletonhall, in this town, which belongs to Mrs. Whitaker, and is a good old seat; here Richard de Midleton lived in 1373, and William his son in 1390, who was succeeded by William his son; on whose marriage in 1392, it was settled on Margaret his wife, with estates in South-Elmham and Redenhale: this family always sealed with a fess erm. between three croslets; and it continued in it a long time. In 1457, William Midleton owned it, and Robert Midleton in 1467, who lived here in 1491. In 1558, Henry Reppes of Mendham died seized of it, and of Thorney manor in Stow in Suffolk, and gave them to Anne Wodehouse, alias Reppes, for life, with remainder to John Reppes, son of his brother Francis, remainder to John Reppes his brother, &c. In 1562, Ric. Whetley, rector of Homersfield, leased his rectory to Bassingbourn Gawdy of Midleton-hall in Mendham, Esq. by whom it was sold, and so became joined to the other manors.

 

There is an ancient seat here called Oaken-hill, (but no manor,) in which the family of the Batemans have resided ever since the time of William Bateman Bishop of Norwich; and William Bateman, only son of William Bateman, Gent. of Mendham, lately deceased, now dwells there: (see vol. iii. p. 506;) most of this family have had the christian name of William, ever since the Bishop's time.

 

Mendham church is a good building, with a square tower and five bells; having its nave, two isles, and south porch leaded, and chancel tiled, in which are the following memorials, besides those already taken notice of:

 

In the north isle window, France and England in a bordure gul. impaling or, an eagle displayed sab. quartering Morley.

 

And this on a stone,

 

M. S. Aliciæ Filiæ Henrici Borret de Stradbrook in Agro Suffolciensi Generosi, ob. 4 Oct. 1690, æt. 49.

 

Expectans ultimum Sonum Tubæ.

 

On a mural monument against the north chancel wall,

 

In medio hujus-ce Templi Tramite, juxta Cineres matris suæ Pientissimæ, Theop. Rant, suos etiam voluit deponi Frestonus Rant Armiger, cum quo unà sepeliuntur Urbanitas, et suavissima Facetiarum copia, cum quo unà abripiuntur ditissima placendi vena, animusque arctioris Amicitiæ necessitudini accomodalus, Hoc Juvene adempto, vix alterum reperies, aut literarum Scientiâ præcellentiorem aut humanitate Parem, cum difficilem Legis Angliœ Doctrinam, universum ferè Quinquennium apud Hospitium Grayense Studio sanè Laudabili prosecutus est, acerba suis, luctuosa sodalibus, gravis omnibus, labori vitæque mors Finem imposuit 23° Sept. Ao 1728, æt. suæ 27°. Et Luctûs et Pietatis Monumentum, Pater suus amantissimus, Jacobus Rant Armiger, hoc marmor posuit.

 

James Rant, Esq. his father, is since dead, and buried by him, and Will. Rant, Esq. his only surviving son, now lives in MendhamPriory, which is situated just by the river Waveney, about five furlongs south-west of the church, where there is a good old chapel still left, which is kept clean and neat; but there is no manor remaining with the site.

 

In the chancel,

 

Tirrel impales a chevron between three stags passant. James Tirrel Esq; May 22, 1656, 48. and left behind him his dear Consort his 2d Wife, and two Daughters by her, Eliz. and Jane. Eliz. his Widow died 1697. James his Son 1640.

 

In the churchyard are memorials for William Bateman, Gent. Jan. 9, 1659, æt. 70.

 

Hic spe plenâ resurgendi, situm est depositum mortale Johannis Kerrich Clerici Rectoris de Sternefield in Comitatû Suffolciæ, Qui, dum vixit, Dei Gloriam et animarum Salutem sedulò Studuit ob. 14 Maij. A. D. 1691, æt. 28°. Hic juxta jacet etiam Henricus Kerrich Frater supradicti Johannis qui obijt Apr. 17°, A.D. 1687, æt. 18. John Kerrich ob. June 24 1704, æt. 72. Mary his Wife, ob. 18 March 1708, æt. 76. James their Son 29 Apr. 1715, æt. 44.

 

In 1469, Walter Nyche or Neech of Mendham, was buried in AllSaints church there, before St. Nicholas's altar, and gave 12d. to every monk of Mendham, and five marks for a new tabernacle at St. Nicholas's altar; he owned an estate here, which had continued many generations in his family. In 1610, 21 Jan. Anne Neech married to William Bateman, Gent. to whose family the estate now belongs. He left Katerine his wife, Alice and Margaret, his daughters; and three sons, Robert, John le Senior, priest, and John le Junior; from whom descended the Rev. Mr. Anthony Neech, late rector of Snitterton, of whom in vol. i. p. 110, 421.

 

The vicarage stands in the King's Books at 5l. 5s. 2d. ob. and being sworn of the clear yearly value of 23l. 4s. 7d. is capable of augmentation, and was augmented accordingly by the Rev. Mr. Whitaker, late rector of Fresingfield, the patron, who presented his nephew, the Rev. Mr. Thomas Whitaker, the present vicar.

 

Vicars here.

 

1228, Henry de Diss, the first vicar, presented by the Prior of Ipswich, as were all the succeeding vicars to the Dissolution.

 

1305, Walter le Shepherd.

 

1318, Benedict.

 

1320, Hervy del Welle of Mendham.

 

1329, William son of John Gibbs of Kenford, who resigned in

 

1347, to John de Reppes, priest, in exchange for Shelton mediety.

 

1364, Edward de Flete.

 

1394, John de Hunstanton.

 

1505, Sir Jeffery Lowen.

 

1534, Will. Grave.

 

1631, Thomas Trendle, buried here 18 June the same year.

 

1632, George Fen.

 

1653, Mr. John Harward, minister.

 

1671, John Mayhew, sequestrator.

 

1677, Mr. Ric. Jennings, sequestrator, succeeded by Mr. Child, sequestrator; who was succeeded by the present vicar's predecessor,

 

Mr. Seth Turner, who was presented by Mr. Stephen Baxter,-and was vicar above 50 years; he is buried here.

 

Medefield, or Metfield, (fn. 21)

Is also another hamlet and parochial chapel of Mendham, the great tithes of which, belong to the impropriator there, who nominates and pays the stipendiary chaplain. The Rev. Mr. John Mendham, vicar of Weybrede, hath it now; and I am informed, there is a good house and glebe given to the serving minister since the Reformation.

 

The chapel is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and hath a square tower, clock, and three bells; on the biggest is this,

 

Munere Baptiste, Benedictus sit chorus iste.

 

The south porch, nave, and chancel, are leaded. There are stones for John Norton 1609. Anne wife of John Francklin, Gent. daughter of William and Elizabeth Blobold, Gent. 1636, and left John, William, Elizabeth, and Anne. Will. Browne 1660, 70.

 

Francis Smallpeece Esq; Son and Heir of Tho. Smallpeece Esq; and Anne his Wife. 1652.

 

Smallpeece, S. a chevron ingrailed between three cinquefoils ar. Crest, a bird rising.

 

But this hamlet is of chief remark, as being the ancient seat of the Jermys.

 

It seems this manor, called

 

Metefield In Mendham,

 

Was anciently of the fee of the abbot of Holm, of whom it was held in the time of Richard I. at half a fee, by Hugh Burd; after which, it was escheated to the Crown, and was granted to Thomas de Brotherton, son to King Edward I. who married Alice, daughter of Sir Roger Hales of Harwich, Knt. whose sister Joan, (fn. 22) married to Sir John Germyn or Jermy, Knt.; and in 1325, the said Thomas conveyed to his brother-in-law, Sir John Jermy, Knt. two parts of this manor, and the third part to his wife, for the assignment of her dower. In 1353, Sir John Germy, Knt. held it at a quarter of a fee of the manor of King's-hall in Mendham. In 1385, Sir Will. Jermy, Knt. was buried here; Elizabeth his wife survived him. In 1428, Sir John Jermy, Knt. and Margaret Mounteney his wife, owned this and Withersdale manors; and he it was, that rebuilt this church and manor-house, where he placed the matches of his family in the windows; and his own arms are carved several times on the timber of the roof, and are still in several windows, and in stone on the font; he died in 1487, and was buried at the north-east corner of the chancel; his inscription was cut in old text letters on his stone, but it is so worn and broken, that this only remains,

 

Johannes Jermy Miles quondam Dominus et qui obiit

 

By his will in Register Aleyn, fo. 330, which is dated at BukenhamFerry, Oct. 24, 1487, he appointed to be buried here, and gave a legacy to this church, and those of Bukenham-Ferry and Hasingham, of which he was patron; he ordered 100 marks to be distributed to the poor on his burial day, and gave the manor and advowsons of Bukenham and Hasingham, to be sold, after his wife Margaret's death: he gave 200 marks to the Abbot of St. Bennet at the Holm in Ludham, to found a chantry priest to sing mass daily there, for him and his family for ever; he is called Sir John Jermy, senior, Knt.

 

Sir John Jermy, junior, Knt. his son and heir, married Elizabeth, daughter of Will. Wroth of Enfield, Esq. and had two sons; from Thomas, the younger son, descended the Jermys of Bayfield in Norfolk, under which place I design an ample account of the family. And

 

John Jermy, Esq. the eldest son, continued the family at Metfield; he married Isabel, daughter of John Hopton, Esq. and lies buried in the chancel by his grandfather, with this on a brass plate on his stone;

Orate pro animabus Johannis Jermy et Jsabelle Uroris sue, unius Filiarum Johannis Nopton Armigeri, qui quidem Johannis obiit riiio Die Januarii Anno Domini Mo vc iiii. Quorum anima- bus propicietur Deus Amen. (fn. 23)

 

Jermy, arg. a lion rampant guardant gul. impaling Hopton, as at vol. iii. p. 553.

 

Edmund Jermy, Esq. his son and heir, married a daughter of William Booth, Esq. and left Sir John Jermy of Metfield and Brightwell, Knight of the Bath; (fn. 24) who by Margaret, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Teye, Knt. had Francis Jermy of Brightwell, Esq. who by Eliz. daughter and coheir of Sir William Fitz-Williams of Ireland, Knt. had Sir Thomas Jermy, Knight of the Bath; who by Jane, daughter and heiress of Edward Stuart or Styward, of Teversham in Cambridgeshire, had four sons, Thomas, Edmund, John, and William, of which,

 

Thomas, his eldest son, settled here, for whom there is an altar tomb at the north-east corner of this chancel, with the arms of Jermy, and a griffin proper for the crest, and this,

 

Thomas Jarmy Esq; Sonne and Heire of Sir Thomas Jarmy Knight of the noble Order of the Bath. 21 Dec. 1652.

 

Since which time, the manor hath been sold from the family, and now belongs to Walter Plommer, Esq.

 

¶I have an account, which says, that more gentlemen kept coaches in Mendham, than in any place in Suffolk, and that in 1642, many cavileers in these parts, raised a sum for the King; among which in this town, Richard Baxter, Gent. lord, 30l. Rob. Harper 30l. William Bateman, senior, 10l. James Terrold. Gent. 10l. William Jacob 20l. Will. Herring 3l. &c. Thomas Jermy, Esq. 20l. Anthony Freston, Gent. 5l.

 

In Charles the Second's time, Sir William Godbould lived here, and Colonel John Hobard; and Edward Ward, Esq. justice of the peace, in K. James the Second's time.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol5...

But quite normal in Vietnam

But at tonights concert Nick sang You Belong With Me! I'm sorry but thats so Niley.

"Your on the phone with your boyfriend, he's upset. He's going off about something that you said. He doesn't get your humor like I do!"

 

Miley boyfriend? Check.

Selena boyfriend? Single.

 

Oh Nick call Miley.

 

Also...

Can't Have You

Catch Me

& more.

 

:) <33

 

Fit in the roofless house?

My foot hurts. It has hurt for about 3 months now. Not excruciating pain or anything, but enough to make me limp sometimes and need to take a bit of Advil. I had tripped and rather badly banged up my middle toe back when it started, but after this long even a badly broken toe should have healed.

 

So, I finally went to the podiatrist for the first time this afternoon. (It was a bit of a runaround getting a referral from my primary care doctor). The office visit was less than pleasant because they made me wait for WAY too long before seeing me (the whole visit took over 2 hours of my day, and only about 20 minutes of that was spent interacting with any actual doctor or even with the nurse. Watching four different people who each arrived after me get taken to the back before me, then to be told "sorry for the wait, we're just waiting for a room to open up.." was rather insulting actually. I understand being backed up from earlier appointments, but that many folks showing up as much as a full half-hour later than me, signing in and getting seen in less than 5 minutes? Why exactly do you give times for appointments? grrr.)

 

And after all that, the most they can tell me for sure is nothing's broken. *sigh* I got that gem of knowledge from my own doctor months ago thanks. Anything more helpful than that? Somewhat... The best theory is that this is probably not pain due to my toe injury and is more an issue of my working all day on my feet on a concrete shop floor. The area of pain is apparently common of stress in that exact situation. It may have been exacerbated by hurting my toe because that changed the way I would stand to take pressure off the toes, which put stress on my foot differently than it was used to.

 

So how do I treat it? The doctor made an odd homemade wrap-pad-insole kinda thing (I can't explain it better than that) that should keep pressure off the portion of my foot where it hurts. If that is effective in making it feel better over the course of this week I can have a more permanent insole made for my shoe that would do the same thing. If the basic padding-type one doesn't help enough the next step would be to look at custom orthotic insoles. I'm hoping not to go that far. I'm encouraged by the simple fact that with the wrap-thing on I definitely limp a bit less than without it, so I suspect it is helping and perhaps will give my foot the time to rest and heal even while I need to still be walking around and standing for hours on end able to do my job.

My first HDR photo, hope u like it :)

 

I've tuned it into shadows ... Most of you might not like the darkness of the clouds ... but if you really focus you'll find out that what I mean is ...

"Light of Day and Dark of Night" and thats my idea of the photo ... I didn't want to do a repeated one, I wanted to make a unique one :)

...Ashes ashes, time to go down

Honey do you want me now?

Can't take it anymore, need to put you to bed

Sing you a lullaby where you die at the end

Milk and Cookies -Melanie Martinez

 

I went out for a bit with my dad this afternoon, and brought a couple of my lovelies with me. ^^

I think I'm in love with Lizzy in a babydoll. ♥

 

I'm also in love with Melanie Martinez but you know whatever. ^^;;

  

But, I warn you, it's addictive!

dolldivine.com/pinup.html

 

... but not really warm enough to get naked. Although to their credit they did take advantage of a couple of hours of sun and warmth. I think it was a case of "we've come all this way to a naturist resort so we're gonna get out of these clothes at least once".

 

(Taken on our guests camera)

I visit Stockbury a lot in the spring and early summer, to see the local orchids and other wild flowers. But have only been inside the church once before, and only taken wide angle shots.

 

So, long overdue for a return.

 

Stockbury overlooks the northern end of the A249, just before it reaches the Medway towns and the M2, but is set high on the wooded down above the traffic, and although the noise never quite fades away, it is a distant hum.

 

St Mary sits on the very edge of the down, as the lane tumbles down to join the main road below, but the churchyard, and church are an oasis of calm and tranquility.

 

------------------------------------------

 

A fire of 1836 and a restoration of 1851 have left their marks on this prominent Downland church. The east wall of the chancel contains three lancets, of nineteenth-century origin, which contain some lovely glass of the early years of the twentieth century. To the north and south of the chancel are transepts separated by nicely carved screens. The southern transept is the more picturesque, for its roof timbers are exposed and below, in its east wall, are three sturdy windows of which the centre one is blocked. The west end of the nave is built up to form a platform upon which stands the organ. On either side of the chancel arch are typical nineteenth-century Commandment Boards, required by law until the late Victorian era, with good marble shafting to mirror the medieval work in the chancel.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Stockbury

 

-------------------------------------------

 

STOCKBURY

IS the next parish northward from Hucking. It is called in the survey of Domesday, Stochingeberge, in later records, Stockesburie, and now Stockbury.

 

The western, which is by far the greatest part of it, lies in the hundred of Eyhorne, and division of West Kent, the remainder of it in that of Milton, and division of East Kent, over which part that manor claims, but the church and village being in the former district, the parish is esteemed as being in the former division of the county.

 

This parish lies on each side of the valley, called from it Stockbury valley, along which the high road leads from Key-street to Detling-hill, and thence to Maidstone; hence it extends on the hills on each side, for more than a mile. It lies mostly on high ground, and though exposed to the northern aspect, is not, especially on the northern side of the valley, near so bleak and cold as the parishes on the hills, lately before-described, nor is the soil, though much like them, and very flinty in general, quite so poor; and on the north side next to Hartlip and Newington, there is some land much more fertile, partaking more of the loam, and much less mixed with flints; the sides of the valley are covered with coppice woods, which extend round the western boundary of the parish, where there is some uninclosed. downe, being poor ruffit land, and a wild and dreary country.

 

On the north side of the valley, close to the summit of the hill, is the church, with the court-lodge near it, and a small distance further, on the north side of the parish, the village called Stockbury-street, in which stands the parsonage, and a little further Hill-greenhouse, the residence of William Jumper, esq. having an extensive prospect northward over the neighbouring country, and the channel beyond it, the former owners of which seat will be mentioned in the description of Yelsted manor hereafter; at a small distance southward from hence are the two hamlets of Guilsted and South-streets, situated close to the brow of the hill adjoining to the woods.

 

On the south side of the valley the woodland continues up the hills, westward of which is the hamlet of Southdean-green adjoining the large tract of woodland called Binbury wood. The manor of Southdean belongs to Mr. John Hudson, of Bicknor. On the eastern side of the woodland first mentioned is the hamlet of Pett, at the south-east boundary of the parish, which was formerly the property and residence of a family of that name, Reginald atte Pett resided here, and by his will in 1456 gave several legacies to the church towards a new beam, a new bell called Treble, the work of the new isle, and the making a new window there. Near it is a small manor called the Yoke of Hamons atte Deane, and upon these hills the small manors are frequently called Yokes.

 

There is a fair for pedlary, toys, &c. formerly on St. Mary Magdalen's day, July 22, but now by the al teration of the style, on August 2, yearly, which is held by order of the lord of the manor on the broad green before the Three Squirrels public-house in Stockbury valley.

 

On June 24, 1746, hence called the Midsummer storm, the most dreadful tempest happened that was ever remembered by the oldest man then living. The chief force of it was felt in the northern part of the middle of the county, and in some few parts of East Kent. It directed its course from the southward, and happily spread only a few miles in width, but whereever it came, its force was irresistible, overturning every thing in its way, and making a general desolation over every thing it passed. The morning was very close and hot, with a kind of stagnated air, and towards noon small, bright, undulated clouds arose, which preceded the storm, with a strong south wind; it raised a torrent, and the flashes of lightning were incessant, like one continued blaze, and the thunder without intermission for about fifteen or twenty minutes. When the tempest was over, the sky cleared up, and the remainder of the day was remarkably bright and serene. From an eminence of ground the passage of the storm might easily be traced by the eye, by the destruction it had made, quite to the sea and the waters of the Swale to which it passed. Neither the eastern or western extremities of the county felt any thing of it.

 

This place, at the time of taking the general survey of Domesday, in the year 1080, was part of the extensive possessions of Odo, the great bishop of Baieux, the Conqueror's half brother, under the general title of whose lands it is thus described:

 

The same Ansgotus, de Rochester, holds of the bishop (of Baieux) Stockingeberge. It was taxed at two sulings. The arable land is. In demesne there are two carucates, and five villeins, with nine borderers having two carucates. There is a church, and two servants, and one mill of sixty-four pence. Wood for the pannage of fifteen hogs. In the time of king Edward the Consessor, and afterwards, it was worth four pounds, now six pounds. Elveva held it of king Edward.

 

After the bishop's forfeiture of all his lands, which happened about four years afterwards, this place came into the possession of the family of Auberville, being held by them of Roger de St. John, as one knight's fee. Roger de Aubervill, for de Albrincis, was a man who held large possessions at the time of the general survey before-mentioned. William de Aubervill, his descendant, in 1192, anno 4 Richard I. founded the priory of Langdon, in this county, and his descendant of the same name died possessed of the manor of Stokinburie in the 36th year of Henry III. holding it by knight's service.

 

He left an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried it in marriage to Nicholas de Criol, a man of eminence in his time, who attending Edward I. at the siege of Carlaverock, in Scotland, was there made a knight banneret for his services performed at it, and in the 21st year of it he was allowed, by the justices itinerant, to have free-warren for all his estate here, except one plough-land, which was called Stannerland. He died possessed of this manor in the 31st year of that reign, and Philipott says many of their deeds bore teste, from their castle of Stockbury, which means no more, than its being one of the castellated seats of the family, as did his grandson John, in the 9th year of king Edward III. at which time he spelt his name Keryell.

 

After which it remained in his descendants down to Sir Thomas Kiriell, knight of the garter, eminent for his services to the house of York, during the reign of Henry VI. but being taken prisoner at the battle of Bernards-heath, near St. Albans, sought anno 38 king Henry VI. in which the Yorkists were defeated, he was, by the queen's order, beheaded, notwithstanding the king had granted him his life, when it was found by inquisition, that he held this manor of the king in capite by knight's service, by homage, and paying to the ward of Rochester castle yearly, and to the king's court of Mylton. He died without male issue, leaving two daughters his coheirs, one of whom, Elizabeth, carried this manor in marriage to John Bourchier, whom she survived, and afterwards died possessed of it in the 14th year of Henry VII. holding it in manner as before-mentioned. Soon after which it appears to have been alienated to Robert Tate, who died possessed of it in the 16th year of that reign, holding it by the like service. His descendant William Tate, who in the reign of James I. alienated it to Sir Edward Duke, of Cosington, in Aylesford, whose widow held it in jointure at the time of the restoration of king Charles II.

 

Her son, George Duke, esq. alienated it to John Conny, surgeon, and twice mayor of Rochester, and son of Robert Conny, of Godmanchester, in Huntingdonshire. John Conny, together with his son Robert Conny, of Rochester, M. D. conveyed it in 1700 to Thomas Lock, gent. of Rochester, who bore for his arms, Parted per fess, azure, and or, a pale counterchanged, three falcons, volant of the second, and his widow Prudentia, together with her three sons and coheirs in gavelkind, Robert, Thomas, and Henry, in 1723, passed it away by sale to Sir Roger Meredith, bart. of Leeds-abbey, who dying s.p. in 1738, left it by will to his niece Susanna Meredith, in tail general, with divers remainders over, in like manner as Leedsabbey before-described, with which it came at length, by the disposition of the same will, the intermediate remainders having ceased, to William Jumper, esq. of Hill-green-house, in this parish, who resided at Leeds-abbey, and afterwards joined with Sir Geo. Oxenden, bart. in whom the fee of it, after Mr. Jumper's death without male issue, was become vested, in the conveyance of this manor in fee to John Calcraft, esq. of Ingress, who died in 1772, and by his will devised it to his son John Calcraft, and he sold it in 1794 to Flint Stacey, esq, of Maidstone, the present owner of it.

 

YELSTED, or as it is spelt, Gillested, is a manor in this parish, which was formerly part of the possessions of the noted family of Savage, who held it of the family of Auberville, as the eighth part of one knight's fee. John de Savage, grandson of Ralph de Savage, who was with Richard I. at the siege of Acon, obtained a charter of free-warren for his lands here in the 23d year of Edward I. Roger de Savage, in the 5th year of Edward II. had a grant of liberties for his demesne lands here, and Arnold, son of Sir Thomas Savage, died possessed of it in the 49th year of king Edward III. and left it to his son Sir Arnold Savage, of Bobbing, whose son Arnold dying s.p. his sister Elizabeth became his heir. She was then the wife of William Clifford, esq. who in her right became possessed of this manor among the rest of her inheritance, and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of king Henry VIII.'s reign, when Lewis Clifford, esq. alienated it to Knight, whose descendant Mr. Richard Knight, gent, of Helle-house, in this parish, died possessed of it in 1606, and was buried in this church; his descendant William Knight leaving an only daughter and heir Frances, widow of Mr. Peter Buck, of Rochester, who bore for his arms, Argent, on a bend, azure, between two cotizes, wavy, sable, three mullets, or. He died soon after the death of Charles I. when she entered into the possession of this manor, after whose death her heirs passed it away by sale to Sir William Jumper, commissioner of his Majesty's navy at Plymouth. He had been knighted in 1704, for his services, as well at he taking of Gibraltar, as in the naval engagement with the French afterwards, being at both commander of the Lenox man of war, who died at Plymouth, where he was buried in 1715. He bore for his arms, Argent, two bars gemelles, sable, between three mullets of six points, pierced, gules. His son, William Jumper, esq. was of Hill-green-house, as it is now called, and died in 1736, leaving by Jane his wife, daughter of Thomas Hooper, gent. one son, William Jumper, esq. of Hill-green, likewise, who sold it, about 1757, to the Rev. Pierce Dixon, master of the mathematical free school at Rochester, and afterwards vicar of this parish, who died possessed of it in 1766, leaving it in the possession of his widow, Mrs. Grace Dixon, (daughter of Mr. Broadnax Brandon, gent. of Shinglewell), who soon afterwards remarried with Mr. Richard Hull, of London, who resided at Hill-green-house, and afterwards sold this manor, together with that seat, to William Jumper, esq. the former owner of it, who now resides here, and is the present possessor of both of them.

 

COWSTED is another manor in Stockbury, which was antiently written Codested, and was possessed by a family who took their surname from it, and resided here. They bore for their arms, Gules, three leopards heads, argent; which coat was afterwards assumed by Hengham. William de Codested died possessed of this manor in the 27th year of Edward I. holding it of the king in capite by the service of one sparrow-hawk, or two shillings yearly at the king's exchequer, as did his son William de Codestede in the 3d year of king Edward III. when it was found by inquisition, that he held this manor by the above-mentioned service, and likewise a burgage in Canterbury, of the king, of the serme of that city, and that Richard de Codestede was his brother and next heir, whose son John de Codestede, vulgarly called Cowsted, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, leaving an only daughter and heir, married to Hengham, he became in her right possessed of it, and assumed her arms likewise.

 

His descendant, Odomarus de Hengham, resided here, who dying in 1411, anno 13 Henry IV. was buried in Christ-church, Canterbury, and it continued in his name till the reign of Henry. VI. when it was car ried, partly by marriage and partly by sale, by Agnes, a sole daughter and heir to John Petyte, who afterwards resided here, and dying in 1460, lies buried with her within the Virgin Mary's chapel, or south chancel, in this church. One of his descendants, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, sold it to Osborne, and Edward Osborne, gent. died possessed of it in 1622, and lies buried in the north chancel of this church. He bore for his arms, Quarterly, argent, and azure, in the first and fourth quarter, an ermine spot, sable; over all, on a cross, or, five annulets, sable; whose son, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Mary, she entitled her husband, William Fagg, to the possession of it.

 

His descendant, John Fagg, esq. of Wiston, in Sussex, was created a baronet on December 11, 1660, and died in 1700, leaving three sons, Sir Robert, his successor; Charles, ancestor of the present baronet, of whom an account will be given under Chartham; and Thomas, who married Elizabeth, widow of John Meres, esq. by whom he left a son John Meres Fagg, esq. of whom an account will be given under Brenset. (fn. 1) Sir Robert Fagg, bart. his successor, left one son Robert, and four daughters, one of whom married Gawen Harris Nash, esq. of Petworth, in Sussex, and Elizabeth, another daughter, was the second wife of Sir Charles Mathews Goring, bart. of that county. Sir Robert Fagg, bart. the son, dying s.p. in 1740, devised this manor, with that of Cranbrooke, in Newington, and other estates in these parts, and in Sussex, to his sister Elizabeth, who entitled her husband Sir Charles Mathews Goring, bart. above-mentioned, to the possession of them. He left by her a son Charles Goring, esq. of Wiston, in Sussex, who sold this manor, with his other estates in this parish and Newington, to Edward Austen, esq. who is the present possessor of them.

 

IT APPEARS by the antient ledger book of the abbey of St. Austin's; near Canterbury, that the abbot and convent were antiently possessed of A PORTION OF TITHES issuing from the manor of Cowsted in Stockbury, which portion continued part of the possessions of the monastery till the dissolution of it, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. when the abbey, with all its revenues, was surrendered up into the king's hands.

 

This portion of tithes, or at least part of it, consisting of the great tithes of two hundred and thirty five acres of land, was afterwards granted in fee to Petytt, from which name it was alienated, with the manor of Cowsted, to Osborne, and it passed afterwards with it in like manor down to Sir Robert Fagg, bart. on whose death s. p. in 1740, one of his sisters entitled her husband Gawen Harris Nash, esq. by his will, to the possession of it, whose son alienated it to Charles Goring, esq. before-mentioned, and he sold it to Edward Austen, esq. the present owner of it.

 

NETTLESTED is an estate here, which by the remains of the antient mansion of it, situated in Stockburystreet, appears to have been once a seat of some note. The family of Plot, ancestors to that eminent naturalist Dr. R. Plot, possessed it, at least as early as the reign of Edward IV. when William Plot resided here, where his descendants continued till Robert Plot, gent. of Nettlested, having, in the 2d year of queen Elizabeth, purchased Sutton barne in the adjoining parish of Borden, removed thither. His heirs alienated Nettlested to Mr. Richard Allen, of Stockbury, whose descendant Thomas Allen, afterwards, with Gertrude his wife, anno 9 George I. alienated it to Mr. John Thurston, of Chatham, whose son Mr. Thomas Thurston, of that place, attorney-at-law, conveyed it to that learned antiquary John Thorpe, M. D. of Rochester, who died possessed of it in 1750, and was buried in the chancel belonging to this estate, on the north side of Stockbury church. He left one son John Thorpe, esq. of Bexley, whose two daughters and coheirs, Catherina-Elizabeth married to Thomas Meggison, esq. of Whalton near Morpeth, in Northumberland, and Ethelinda-Margaretta married to Cuthbert Potts, esq. of London, are the present possessors of it. (fn. 2)

 

THERE is a portion of tithes, which consists of those of corn and hay growing on forty acres of the lands belonging to the estate of Nettlested, which formerly belonged to the almonry of St. Augustine's monastery, and is called AMBREL TANTON, corruptly for Almonry Tanton. After the dissolution of the above-mentioned monastery, this portion was granted by Henry VIII. in his 36th year, to Ciriac Pettit, esq. of Colkins, who anno 35 Elizabeth, passed it away to Robert Plot; since which it has continued in the same succession of owners, that Nettlested, above-described, has, down to the two daughters and coheirs of John Thorpe, esq. of Bexley, before-mentioned, who are the present owners of it.

 

Charities.

A PERPETUAL ANNUITY of 2l. 10s. per annum was given in 1721, by the will of Mrs. Jane Bentley, of St. Andrew's, Holborne, and confirmed by that of Edward Bentley, esq. (fn. 3) her executor, payable out of an estate in the parish of Smeeth. which was, in 1752, the property of Mrs. Jane Jumper, and now of Mr. Watts; to be applied for the use of three boys and three girls, to go to school to some old woman in this parish, for four years, and no longer, and then 40s. more from it to buy for each of them a bible, prayer-book, and Whole Duty of Man.

 

MR. JAMES LARKIN, of this parish, gave by will an annuity, payable out of the lands of Mr. James Snipp, to the poor of this parish, of 1l. per annum produce.

 

SIX ACRES OF LAND, near South-street, were given by a person unknown to the like use, of the yearly produce of 2l. 8s. vested in the minister and churchwardens.

 

AN UNKNOWN PERSON gave for the use of the poor a cottage on Norden green, in this parish, vested in the same, of the annual produce of 1l.

 

AN UNKNOWN PERSON gave for the like use a field; containing between two and three acres, lying near Dean Bottom, in Bicknor, now rented by Robert Terry, vested in the same, and of the annual produce of 12s.

 

A COTTAGE in the street was given for the use of the poor, by an unknown person, vested in the same, and of the annual produce of 1l.

 

The number of poor constantly relieved are about thirty-six, casually fifteen.

 

STOCKBURY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sittingborne.

 

The church, which is both large and losty, is very antient, and consists of a middle and two narrow side isles, a high chancel, and two cross ones. The pillars and arches in it are more elegant than is usual in country churches, and the former, on the north side, are of Bethersden marble, rude and antient. It has a square tower at the west end, in which hangs a peal of six bells, and is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen. In the great chancel lie buried several of the Hoopers, Knights, Bentleys, and Jumpers. The south chancel belongs to the Cowsted estate, in which lie buried the Pettits and Osbornes, and in the north chancel belonging to the Nettlested estate, Dr. Thorpe and his wife, formerly owners of it.

 

The church of Stockbury was part of the antient possessions of the priory of Leeds, to which it was given, soon after its foundation, by William Fitzhelt, the patron of it.

 

Hubert Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, in the reign of king Richard I. confirmed this gift, and appropriated this church to the use of the priory, reserving, nevertheless, from the perpetual vicar of it, the annual pension of one marc, to be paid by him to the prior and convent. Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, confirmed the above in 1237, anno 22 Henry III. and granted to them the further sum of ten marcs from it, to be paid half yearly by the vicar of it, (fn. 4) which grants were further confirmed by the succeeding archbishops.

 

The church and vicarage of Stockbury remained part of the possessions of the above-mentioned priory till the dissolution of it, in the reign of Henry VIII. when it came, with the rest of the revenue of that house, into the king's hands.

 

After which, the king, by his donation-charter, in his 33d year, settled both the parsonage and advowson of the vicarage of the church of Stockbury on his newerected dean and chapter of Rochester, with whom they now remain.

 

¶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 the rectory or parsonage of Stockbury, late belonging to the dean and chapter of Rochester, consisted of a fair dwelling-house, dove house, and other necessary buildings, yards, &c. and the tithes belonging to it, all which were valued at eighty pounds per annum, and the glebe-lands, containing one hundred and forty-four acres, were worth, with the above, 132l. 10s. all which premises were let by the dean and chapter, anno 16 king Charles I. to John Hooper, for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of 14l. 5s. 4d. That the lesse was bound to repair the chancel; and that the vicarage was excepted, worth fifty pounds per annum. (fn. 5)

 

The presentation to the vicarage of this church is reserved by the dean and chapter, in their own hands; (fn. 6) but the parsonage continued to be leased out to the family of Hooper, who resided there; several of whom lie buried in this church, particularly John, son of James Hooper, gent. of Halberton, in Devonshire, which John was receiver of the fines, under king Philip and queen Mary, for the Marches, of Wales, and died in 1548. He married Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Roberts, of Glassenbury. At length, by marriage of one of the daughters of Walter Hooper, esq. it passed to William Hugessen, esq. eldest son of John Hugessen, esq. of Stodmarsh. He resided here till his father's death, when he removed to Stodmarsh, and he is the present lessee of this parsonage, under the dean and chapter.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol5/pp572-585

A couple of weeks back, we met a couple in a pub in Canterbury, and they had been out exploring the city and said they were disappointed by the cathedral.

 

Not enough labels they said.

 

That not withstanding, I thought it had been some time since I last had been, so decided to revisit, see the pillars of Reculver church in the crypt and take the big lens for some detail shots.

 

We arrived just after ten, so the cathedral was pretty free of other guests, just a few guides waiting for groups and couples to guide.

 

I went round with the 50mm first, before concentrating on the medieval glass which is mostly on the south side.

 

But as you will see, the lens picked up so much more.

 

Thing is, there is always someone interesting to talk to, or wants to talk to you. As I went around, I spoke with about three guides about the project and things I have seen in the churches of the county, and the wonderful people I have met. And that continued in the cathedral.

 

I have time to look at the tombs in the Trinity Chapel, and see that Henry IV and his wife are in a tomb there, rather than ay Westminster Abbey. So I photograph them, and the Black Prince on the southern side of the chapel, along with the Bishops and Archbishops between.

 

Round to the transept and a chance to change lenses, and put on the 140-400mm for some detailed shots.

 

I go round the cathedral again.

 

Initially at some of the memorials on the walls and the canopy of the pulpit, but it is the windows that are calling.

 

At least it was a bright, sunny day outside, which meant light was good in the cathedral with most shots coming out fine with no camera shake.

 

As I edit the shots I am stunned at the details of windows so high up they mostly seem like blocks of colour.

 

And so far, I have only just started to edit these shots.

 

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St Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, arrived on the coast of Kent as a missionary to England in 597AD. He came from Rome, sent by Pope Gregory the Great. It is said that Gregory had been struck by the beauty of Angle slaves he saw for sale in the city market and despatched Augustine and some monks to convert them to Christianity. Augustine was given a church at Canterbury (St Martin’s, after St Martin of Tours, still standing today) by the local King, Ethelbert whose Queen, Bertha, a French Princess, was already a Christian.This building had been a place of worship during the Roman occupation of Britain and is the oldest church in England still in use. Augustine had been consecrated a bishop in France and was later made an archbishop by the Pope. He established his seat within the Roman city walls (the word cathedral is derived from the the Latin word for a chair ‘cathedra’, which is itself taken from the Greek ‘kathedra’ meaning seat.) and built the first cathedral there, becoming the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Since that time, there has been a community around the Cathedral offering daily prayer to God; this community is arguably the oldest organisation in the English speaking world. The present Archbishop, The Most Revd Justin Welby, is 105th in the line of succession from Augustine. Until the 10th century, the Cathedral community lived as the household of the Archbishop. During the 10th century, it became a formal community of Benedictine monks, which continued until the monastery was dissolved by King Henry VIII in 1540. Augustine’s original building lies beneath the floor of the Nave – it was extensively rebuilt and enlarged by the Saxons, and the Cathedral was rebuilt completely by the Normans in 1070 following a major fire. There have been many additions to the building over the last nine hundred years, but parts of the Quire and some of the windows and their stained glass date from the 12th century. By 1077, Archbishop Lanfranc had rebuilt it as a Norman church, described as “nearly perfect”. A staircase and parts of the North Wall – in the area of the North West transept also called the Martyrdom – remain from that building.

 

Canterbury’s role as one of the world’s most important pilgrimage centres in Europe is inextricably linked to the murder of its most famous Archbishop, Thomas Becket, in 1170. When, after a long lasting dispute, King Henry II is said to have exclaimed “Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?”, four knights set off for Canterbury and murdered Thomas in his own cathedral. A sword stroke was so violent that it sliced the crown off his skull and shattered the blade’s tip on the pavement. The murder took place in what is now known as The Martyrdom. When shortly afterwards, miracles were said to take place, Canterbury became one of Europe’s most important pilgrimage centres.

 

The work of the Cathedral as a monastery came to an end in 1540, when the monastery was closed on the orders of King Henry VIII. Its role as a place of prayer continued – as it does to this day. Once the monastery had been suppressed, responsibility for the services and upkeep was given to a group of clergy known as the Chapter of Canterbury. Today, the Cathedral is still governed by the Dean and four Canons, together (in recent years) with four lay people and the Archdeacon of Ashford. During the Civil War of the 1640s, the Cathedral suffered damage at the hands of the Puritans; much of the medieval stained glass was smashed and horses were stabled in the Nave. After the Restoration in 1660, several years were spent in repairing the building. In the early 19th Century, the North West tower was found to be dangerous, and, although it dated from Lanfranc’s time, it was demolished in the early 1830s and replaced by a copy of the South West tower, thus giving a symmetrical appearance to the west end of the Cathedral. During the Second World War, the Precincts were heavily damaged by enemy action and the Cathedral’s Library was destroyed. Thankfully, the Cathedral itself was not seriously harmed, due to the bravery of the team of fire watchers, who patrolled the roofs and dealt with the incendiary bombs dropped by enemy bombers. Today, the Cathedral stands as a place where prayer to God has been offered daily for over 1,400 years; nearly 2,000 Services are held each year, as well as countless private prayers from individuals. The Cathedral offers a warm welcome to all visitors – its aim is to show people Jesus, which we do through the splendour of the building as well as the beauty of the worship.

 

www.canterbury-cathedral.org/heritage/history/cathedral-h...

 

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History of the cathedral

THE ORIGIN of a Christian church on the scite of the present cathedral, is supposed to have taken place as early as the Roman empire in Britain, for the use of the antient faithful and believing soldiers of their garrison here; and that Augustine found such a one standing here, adjoining to king Ethelbert's palace, which was included in the king's gift to him.

 

This supposition is founded on the records of the priory of Christ-church, (fn. 1) concurring with the common opinion of almost all our historians, who tell us of a church in Canterbury, which Augustine found standing in the east part of the city, which he had of king Ethelbert's gift, which after his consecration at Arles, in France, he commended by special dedication to the patronage of our blessed Saviour. (fn. 2)

 

According to others, the foundations only of an old church formerly built by the believing Romans, were left here, on which Augustine erected that, which he afterwards dedicated to out Saviour; (fn. 3) and indeed it is not probable that king Ethelbert should have suffered the unsightly ruins of a Christian church, which, being a Pagan, must have been very obnoxious to him, so close to his palace, and supposing these ruins had been here, would he not have suffered them to be repaired, rather than have obliged his Christian queen to travel daily to such a distance as St. Martin's church, or St. Pancrace's chapel, for the performance of her devotions.

 

Some indeed have conjectured that the church found by St. Augustine, in the east part of the city, was that of St.Martin, truly so situated; and urge in favor of it, that there have not been at any time any remains of British or Roman bricks discovered scattered in or about this church of our Saviour, those infallible, as Mr. Somner stiles them, signs of antiquity, and so generally found in buildings, which have been erected on, or close to the spot where more antient ones have stood. But to proceed, king Ethelbert's donation to Augustine was made in the year 596, who immediately afterwards went over to France, and was consecrated a bishop at Arles, and after his return, as soon as he had sufficiently finished a church here, whether built out of ruins or anew, it matters not, he exercised his episcopal function in the dedication of it, says the register of Christ-church, to the honor of Christ our Saviour; whence it afterwards obtained the name of Christ-church. (fn. 4)

 

From the time of Augustine for the space of upwards of three hundred years, there is not found in any printed or manuscript chronicle, the least mention of the fabric of this church, so that it is probable nothing befell it worthy of being recorded; however it should be mentioned, that during that period the revenues of it were much increased, for in the leiger books of it there are registered more than fifty donations of manors, lands, &c. so large and bountiful, as became the munificence of kings and nobles to confer. (fn. 5)

 

It is supposed, especially as we find no mention made of any thing to the contrary, that the fabric of this church for two hundred years after Augustine's time, met with no considerable molestations; but afterwards, the frequent invasions of the Danes involved both the civil and ecclesiastical state of this country in continual troubles and dangers; in the confusion of which, this church appears to have run into a state of decay; for when Odo was promoted to the archbishopric, in the year 938, the roof of it was in a ruinous condition; age had impaired it, and neglect had made it extremely dangerous; the walls of it were of an uneven height, according as it had been more or less decayed, and the roof of the church seemed ready to fall down on the heads of those underneath. All this the archbishop undertook to repair, and then covered the whole church with lead; to finish which, it took three years, as Osbern tells us, in the life of Odo; (fn. 6) and further, that there was not to be found a church of so large a size, capable of containing so great a multitude of people, and thus, perhaps, it continued without any material change happening to it, till the year 1011; a dismal and fatal year to this church and city; a time of unspeakable confusion and calamities; for in the month of September that year, the Danes, after a siege of twenty days, entered this city by force, burnt the houses, made a lamentable slaughter of the inhabitants, rifled this church, and then set it on fire, insomuch, that the lead with which archbishop Odo had covered it, being melted, ran down on those who were underneath. The sull story of this calamity is given by Osbern, in the life of archbishop Odo, an abridgement of which the reader will find below. (fn. 7)

 

The church now lay in ruins, without a roof, the bare walls only standing, and in this desolate condition it remained as long as the fury of the Danes prevailed, who after they had burnt the church, carried away archbishop Alphage with them, kept him in prison seven months, and then put him to death, in the year 1012, the year after which Living, or Livingus, succeeded him as archbishop, though it was rather in his calamities than in his seat of dignity, for he too was chained up by the Danes in a loathsome dungeon for seven months, before he was set free, but he so sensibly felt the deplorable state of this country, which he foresaw was every day growing worse and worse, that by a voluntary exile, he withdrew himself out of the nation, to find some solitary retirement, where he might bewail those desolations of his country, to which he was not able to bring any relief, but by his continual prayers. (fn. 8) He just outlived this storm, returned into England, and before he died saw peace and quientness restored to this land by king Canute, who gaining to himself the sole sovereignty over the nation, made it his first business to repair the injuries which had been done to the churches and monasteries in this kingdom, by his father's and his own wars. (fn. 9)

 

As for this church, archbishop Ægelnoth, who presided over it from the year 1020 to the year 1038, began and finished the repair, or rather the rebuilding of it, assisted in it by the royal munificence of the king, (fn. 10) who in 1023 presented his crown of gold to this church, and restored to it the port of Sandwich, with its liberties. (fn. 11) Notwithstanding this, in less than forty years afterwards, when Lanfranc soon after the Norman conquest came to the see, he found this church reduced almost to nothing by fire, and dilapidations; for Eadmer says, it had been consumed by a third conflagration, prior to the year of his advancement to it, in which fire almost all the antient records of the privileges of it had perished. (fn. 12)

 

The same writer has given us a description of this old church, as it was before Lanfranc came to the see; by which we learn, that at the east end there was an altar adjoining to the wall of the church, of rough unhewn stone, cemented with mortar, erected by archbishop Odo, for a repository of the body of Wilfrid, archbishop of York, which Odo had translated from Rippon hither, giving it here the highest place; at a convenient distance from this, westward, there was another altar, dedicated to Christ our Saviour, at which divine service was daily celebrated. In this altar was inclosed the head of St. Swithin, with many other relics, which archbishop Alphage brought with him from Winchester. Passing from this altar westward, many steps led down to the choir and nave, which were both even, or upon the same level. At the bottom of the steps, there was a passage into the undercroft, under all the east part of the church. (fn. 13) At the east end of which, was an altar, in which was inclosed, according to old tradition, the head of St. Furseus. From hence by a winding passage, at the west end of it, was the tomb of St. Dunstan, (fn. 14) but separated from the undercroft by a strong stone wall; over the tomb was erected a monument, pyramid wife, and at the head of it an altar, (fn. 15) for the mattin service. Between these steps, or passage into the undercroft and the nave, was the choir, (fn. 16) which was separated from the nave by a fair and decent partition, to keep off the crowds of people that usually were in the body of the church, so that the singing of the chanters in the choir might not be disturbed. About the middle of the length of the nave, were two towers or steeples, built without the walls; one on the south, and the other on the north side. In the former was the altar of St. Gregory, where was an entrance into the church by the south door, and where law controversies and pleas concerning secular matters were exercised. (fn. 17) In the latter, or north tower, was a passage for the monks into the church, from the monastery; here were the cloysters, where the novices were instructed in their religious rules and offices, and where the monks conversed together. In this tower was the altar of St. Martin. At the west end of the church was a chapel, dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary, to which there was an ascent by steps, and at the east end of it an altar, dedicated to her, in which was inclosed the head of St. Astroburta the Virgin; and at the western part of it was the archbishop's pontifical chair, made of large stones, compacted together with mortar; a fair piece of work, and placed at a convenient distance from the altar, close to the wall of the church. (fn. 18)

 

To return now to archbishop Lanfranc, who was sent for from Normandy in 1073, being the fourth year of the Conqueror's reign, to fill this see, a time, when a man of a noble spirit, equal to the laborious task he was to undertake, was wanting especially for this church; and that he was such, the several great works which were performed by him, were incontestable proofs, as well as of his great and generous mind. At the first sight of the ruinous condition of this church, says the historian, the archbishop was struck with astonishment, and almost despaired of seeing that and the monastery re edified; but his care and perseverance raised both in all its parts anew, and that in a novel and more magnificent kind and form of structure, than had been hardly in any place before made use of in this kingdom, which made it a precedent and pattern to succeeding structures of this kind; (fn. 19) and new monasteries and churches were built after the example of it; for it should be observed, that before the coming of the Normans most of the churches and monasteries in this kingdom were of wood; (all the monasteries in my realm, says king Edgar, in his charter to the abbey of Malmesbury, dated anno 974, to the outward sight are nothing but worm-eaten and rotten timber and boards) but after the Norman conquest, such timber fabrics grew out of use, and gave place to stone buildings raised upon arches; a form of structure introduced into general use by that nation, and in these parts surnished with stone from Caen, in Normandy. (fn. 20) After this fashion archbishop Lanfranc rebuilt the whole church from the foundation, with the palace and monastery, the wall which encompassed the court, and all the offices belonging to the monastery within the wall, finishing the whole nearly within the compass of seven years; (fn. 21) besides which, he furnished the church with ornaments and rich vestments; after which, the whole being perfected, he altered the name of it, by a dedication of it to the Holy Trinity; whereas, before it was called the church of our Saviour, or Christ-church, and from the above time it bore (as by Domesday book appears) the name of the church of the Holy Trinity; this new church being built on the same spot on which the antient one stood, though on a far different model.

 

After Lanfranc's death, archbishop Anselm succeeded in the year 1093, to the see of Canterbury, and must be esteemed a principal benefactor to this church; for though his time was perplexed with a continued series of troubles, of which both banishment and poverty made no small part, which in a great measure prevented him from bestowing that cost on his church, which he would otherwise have done, yet it was through his patronage and protection, and through his care and persuasions, that the fabric of it, begun and perfected by his predecessor, became enlarged and rose to still greater splendor. (fn. 22)

 

In order to carry this forward, upon the vacancy of the priory, he constituted Ernulph and Conrad, the first in 1104, the latter in 1108, priors of this church; to whose care, being men of generous and noble minds, and of singular skill in these matters, he, during his troubles, not only committed the management of this work, but of all his other concerns during his absence.

 

Probably archbishop Anselm, on being recalled from banishment on king Henry's accession to the throne, had pulled down that part of the church built by Lanfranc, from the great tower in the middle of it to the east end, intending to rebuild it upon a still larger and more magnificent plan; when being borne down by the king's displeasure, he intrusted prior Ernulph with the work, who raised up the building with such splendor, says Malmesbury, that the like was not to be seen in all England; (fn. 23) but the short time Ernulph continued in this office did not permit him to see his undertaking finished. (fn. 24) This was left to his successor Conrad, who, as the obituary of Christ church informs us, by his great industry, magnificently perfected the choir, which his predecessor had left unfinished, (fn. 25) adorning it with curious pictures, and enriching it with many precious ornaments. (fn. 26)

 

This great undertaking was not entirely compleated at the death of archbishop Anselm, which happened in 1109, anno 9 Henry I. nor indeed for the space of five years afterwards, during which the see of Canterbury continued vacant; when being finished, in honour of its builder, and on account of its more than ordinary beauty, it gained the name of the glorious choir of Conrad. (fn. 27)

 

After the see of Canterbury had continued thus vacant for five years, Ralph, or as some call him, Rodulph, bishop of Rochester, was translated to it in the year 1114, at whose coming to it, the church was dedicated anew to the Holy Trinity, the name which had been before given to it by Lanfranc. (fn. 28) The only particular description we have of this church when thus finished, is from Gervas, the monk of this monastery, and that proves imperfect, as to the choir of Lanfranc, which had been taken down soon after his death; (fn. 29) the following is his account of the nave, or western part of it below the choir, being that which had been erected by archbishop Lanfranc, as has been before mentioned. From him we learn, that the west end, where the chapel of the Virgin Mary stood before, was now adorned with two stately towers, on the top of which were gilded pinnacles. The nave or body was supported by eight pair of pillars. At the east end of the nave, on the north side, was an oratory, dedicated in honor to the blessed Virgin, in lieu, I suppose, of the chapel, that had in the former church been dedicated to her at the west end. Between the nave and the choir there was built a great tower or steeple, as it were in the centre of the whole fabric; (fn. 30) under this tower was erected the altar of the Holy Cross; over a partition, which separated this tower from the nave, a beam was laid across from one side to the other of the church; upon the middle of this beam was fixed a great cross, between the images of the Virgin Mary and St. John, and between two cherubims. The pinnacle on the top of this tower, was a gilded cherub, and hence it was called the angel steeple; a name it is frequently called by at this day. (fn. 31)

 

This great tower had on each side a cross isle, called the north and south wings, which were uniform, of the same model and dimensions; each of them had a strong pillar in the middle for a support to the roof, and each of them had two doors or passages, by which an entrance was open to the east parts of the church. At one of these doors there was a descent by a few steps into the undercroft; at the other, there was an ascent by many steps into the upper parts of the church, that is, the choir, and the isles on each side of it. Near every one of these doors or passages, an altar was erected; at the upper door in the south wing, there was an altar in honour of All Saints; and at the lower door there was one of St. Michael; and before this altar on the south side was buried archbishop Fleologild; and on the north side, the holy Virgin Siburgis, whom St. Dunstan highly admired for her sanctity. In the north isle, by the upper door, was the altar of St. Blaze; and by the lower door, that of St. Benedict. In this wing had been interred four archbishops, Adelm and Ceolnoth, behind the altar, and Egelnoth and Wlfelm before it. At the entrance into this wing, Rodulph and his successor William Corboil, both archbishops, were buried. (fn. 32)

 

Hence, he continues, we go up by some steps into the great tower, and before us there is a door and steps leading down into the south wing, and on the right hand a pair of folding doors, with stairs going down into the nave of the church; but without turning to any of these, let us ascend eastward, till by several more steps we come to the west end of Conrad's choir; being now at the entrance of the choir, Gervas tells us, that he neither saw the choir built by Lanfranc, nor found it described by any one; that Eadmer had made mention of it, without giving any account of it, as he had done of the old church, the reason of which appears to be, that Lanfranc's choir did not long survive its founder, being pulled down as before-mentioned, by archbishop Anselm; so that it could not stand more than twenty years; therefore the want of a particular description of it will appear no great defect in the history of this church, especially as the deficiency is here supplied by Gervas's full relation of the new choir of Conrad, built instead of it; of which, whoever desires to know the whole architecture and model observed in the fabric, the order, number, height and form of the pillars and windows, may know the whole of it from him. The roof of it, he tells us, (fn. 33) was beautified with curious paintings representing heaven; (fn. 34) in several respects it was agreeable to the present choir, the stalls were large and framed of carved wood. In the middle of it, there hung a gilded crown, on which were placed four and twenty tapers of wax. From the choir an ascent of three steps led to the presbiterium, or place for the presbiters; here, he says, it would be proper to stop a little and take notice of the high altar, which was dedicated to the name of CHRIST. It was placed between two other altars, the one of St. Dunstan, the other of St. Alphage; at the east corners of the high altar were fixed two pillars of wood, beautified with silver and gold; upon these pillars was placed a beam, adorned with gold, which reached across the church, upon it there were placed the glory, (fn. 35) the images of St. Dunstan and St. Alphage, and seven chests or coffers overlaid with gold, full of the relics of many saints. Between those pillars was a cross gilded all over, and upon the upper beam of the cross were set sixty bright crystals.

 

Beyond this, by an ascent of eight steps towards the east, behind the altar, was the archiepiscopal throne, which Gervas calls the patriarchal chair, made of one stone; in this chair, according to the custom of the church, the archbishop used to sit, upon principal festivals, in his pontifical ornaments, whilst the solemn offices of religion were celebrated, until the consecration of the host, when he came down to the high altar, and there performed the solemnity of consecration. Still further, eastward, behind the patriarchal chair, (fn. 36) was a chapel in the front of the whole church, in which was an altar, dedicated to the Holy Trinity; behind which were laid the bones of two archbishops, Odo of Canterbury, and Wilfrid of York; by this chapel on the south side near the wall of the church, was laid the body of archbishop Lanfranc, and on the north side, the body of archbishop Theobald. Here it is to be observed, that under the whole east part of the church, from the angel steeple, there was an undercrost or crypt, (fn. 37) in which were several altars, chapels and sepulchres; under the chapel of the Trinity before-mentioned, were two altars, on the south side, the altar of St. Augustine, the apostle of the English nation, by which archbishop Athelred was interred. On the north side was the altar of St. John Baptist, by which was laid the body of archbishop Eadsin; under the high altar was the chapel and altar of the blessed Virgin Mary, to whom the whole undercroft was dedicated.

 

To return now, he continues, to the place where the bresbyterium and choir meet, where on each side there was a cross isle (as was to be seen in his time) which might be called the upper south and north wings; on the east side of each of these wings were two half circular recesses or nooks in the wall, arched over after the form of porticoes. Each of them had an altar, and there was the like number of altars under them in the crost. In the north wing, the north portico had the altar of St. Martin, by which were interred the bodies of two archbishops, Wlfred on the right, and Living on the left hand; under it in the croft, was the altar of St. Mary Magdalen. The other portico in this wing, had the altar of St. Stephen, and by it were buried two archbishops, Athelard on the left hand, and Cuthbert on the right; in the croft under it, was the altar of St. Nicholas. In the south wing, the north portico had the altar of St. John the Evangelist, and by it the bodies of Æthelgar and Aluric, archbishops, were laid. In the croft under it was the altar of St. Paulinus, by which the body of archbishop Siricius was interred. In the south portico was the altar of St. Gregory, by which were laid the corps of the two archbishops Bregwin and Plegmund. In the croft under it was the altar of St. Owen, archbishop of Roan, and underneath in the croft, not far from it the altar of St. Catherine.

 

Passing from these cross isles eastward there were two towers, one on the north, the other on the south side of the church. In the tower on the north side was the altar of St. Andrew, which gave name to the tower; under it, in the croft, was the altar of the Holy Innocents; the tower on the south side had the altar of St. Peter and St. Paul, behind which the body of St. Anselm was interred, which afterwards gave name both to the altar and tower (fn. 38) (now called St. Anselm's). The wings or isles on each side of the choir had nothing in particular to be taken notice of.— Thus far Gervas, from whose description we in particular learn, where several of the bodies of the old archbishops were deposited, and probably the ashes of some of them remain in the same places to this day.

 

As this building, deservedly called the glorious choir of Conrad, was a magnificent work, so the undertaking of it at that time will appear almost beyond example, especially when the several circumstances of it are considered; but that it was carried forward at the archbishop's cost, exceeds all belief. It was in the discouraging reign of king William Rufus, a prince notorious in the records of history, for all manner of sacrilegious rapine, that archbishop Anselm was promoted to this see; when he found the lands and revenues of this church so miserably wasted and spoiled, that there was hardly enough left for his bare subsistence; who, in the first years that he sat in the archiepiscopal chair, struggled with poverty, wants and continual vexations through the king's displeasure, (fn. 39) and whose three next years were spent in banishment, during all which time he borrowed money for his present maintenance; who being called home by king Henry I. at his coming to the crown, laboured to pay the debts he had contracted during the time of his banishment, and instead of enjoying that tranquility and ease he hoped for, was, within two years afterwards, again sent into banishment upon a fresh displeasure conceived against him by the king, who then seized upon all the revenues of the archbishopric, (fn. 40) which he retained in his own hands for no less than four years.

 

Under these hard circumstances, it would have been surprizing indeed, that the archbishop should have been able to carry on so great a work, and yet we are told it, as a truth, by the testimonies of history; but this must surely be understood with the interpretation of his having been the patron, protector and encourager, rather than the builder of this work, which he entrusted to the care and management of the priors Ernulph and Conrad, and sanctioned their employing, as Lanfranc had done before, the revenues and stock of the church to this use. (fn. 41)

 

In this state as above-mentioned, without any thing material happening to it, this church continued till about the year 1130, anno 30 Henry I. when it seems to have suffered some damage by a fire; (fn. 42) but how much, there is no record left to inform us; however it could not be of any great account, for it was sufficiently repaired, and that mostly at the cost of archbishop Corboil, who then sat in the chair of this see, (fn. 43) before the 4th of May that year, on which day, being Rogation Sunday, the bishops performed the dedication of it with great splendor and magnificence, such, says Gervas, col. 1664, as had not been heard of since the dedication of the temple of Solomon; the king, the queen, David, king of Scots, all the archbishops, and the nobility of both kingdoms being present at it, when this church's former name was restored again, being henceforward commonly called Christ-church. (fn. 44)

 

Among the manuscripts of Trinity college library, in Cambridge, in a very curious triple psalter of St. Jerome, in Latin, written by the monk Eadwyn, whose picture is at the beginning of it, is a plan or drawing made by him, being an attempt towards a representation of this church and monastery, as they stood between the years 1130 and 1174; which makes it probable, that he was one of the monks of it, and the more so, as the drawing has not any kind of relation to the plalter or sacred hymns contained in the manuscript.

 

His plan, if so it may be called, for it is neither such, nor an upright, nor a prospect, and yet something of all together; but notwithstanding this rudeness of the draftsman, it shews very plain that it was intended for this church and priory, and gives us a very clear knowledge, more than we have been able to learn from any description we have besides, of what both were at the above period of time. (fn. 45)

 

Forty-four years after this dedication, on the 5th of September, anno 1174, being the 20th year of king Henry II.'s reign, a fire happened, which consumed great part of this stately edifice, namely, the whole choir, from the angel steeple to the east end of the church, together with the prior's lodgings, the chapel of the Virgin Mary, the infirmary, and some other offices belonging to the monastery; but the angel steeple, the lower cross isles, and the nave appear to have received no material injury from the flames. (fn. 46) The narrative of this accident is told by Gervas, the monk of Canterbury, so often quoted before, who was an eye witness of this calamity, as follows:

 

Three small houses in the city near the old gate of the monastery took fire by accident, a strong south wind carried the flakes of fire to the top of the church, and lodged them between the joints of the lead, driving them to the timbers under it; this kindled a fire there, which was not discerned till the melted lead gave a free passage for the flames to appear above the church, and the wind gaining by this means a further power of increasing them, drove them inwardly, insomuch that the danger became immediately past all possibility of relief. The timber of the roof being all of it on fire, fell down into the choir, where the stalls of the manks, made of large pieces of carved wood, afforded plenty of fuel to the flames, and great part of the stone work, through the vehement heat of the fire, was so weakened, as to be brought to irreparable ruin, and besides the fabric itself, the many rich ornaments in the church were devoured by the flames.

 

The choir being thus laid in ashes, the monks removed from amidst the ruins, the bodies of the two saints, whom they called patrons of the church, the archbishops Dunstan and Alphage, and deposited them by the altar of the great cross, in the nave of the church; (fn. 47) and from this time they celebrated the daily religious offices in the oratory of the blessed Virgin Mary in the nave, and continued to do so for more than five years, when the choir being re edified, they returned to it again. (fn. 48)

 

Upon this destruction of the church, the prior and convent, without any delay, consulted on the most speedy and effectual method of rebuilding it, resolving to finish it in such a manner, as should surpass all the former choirs of it, as well in beauty as size and magnificence. To effect this, they sent for the most skilful architects that could be found either in France or England. These surveyed the walls and pillars, which remained standing, but they found great part of them so weakened by the fire, that they could no ways be built upon with any safety; and it was accordingly resolved, that such of them should be taken down; a whole year was spent in doing this, and in providing materials for the new building, for which they sent abroad for the best stone that could be procured; Gervas has given a large account, (fn. 49) how far this work advanced year by year; what methods and rules of architecture were observed, and other particulars relating to the rebuilding of this church; all which the curious reader may consult at his leisure; it will be sufficient to observe here, that the new building was larger in height and length, and more beautiful in every respect, than the choir of Conrad; for the roof was considerably advanced above what it was before, and was arched over with stone; whereas before it was composed of timber and boards. The capitals of the pillars were now beautified with different sculptures of carvework; whereas, they were before plain, and six pillars more were added than there were before. The former choir had but one triforium, or inner gallery, but now there were two made round it, and one in each side isle and three in the cross isles; before, there were no marble pillars, but such were now added to it in abundance. In forwarding this great work, the monks had spent eight years, when they could proceed no further for want of money; but a fresh supply coming in from the offerings at St. Thomas's tomb, so much more than was necessary for perfecting the repair they were engaged in, as encouraged them to set about a more grand design, which was to pull down the eastern extremity of the church, with the small chapel of the Holy Trinity adjoining to it, and to erect upon a stately undercroft, a most magnificent one instead of it, equally lofty with the roof of the church, and making a part of it, which the former one did not, except by a door into it; but this new chapel, which was dedicated likewise to the Holy Trinity, was not finished till some time after the rest of the church; at the east end of this chapel another handsome one, though small, was afterwards erected at the extremity of the whole building, since called Becket's crown, on purpose for an altar and the reception of some part of his relics; (fn. 50) further mention of which will be made hereafter.

 

The eastern parts of this church, as Mr. Gostling observes, have the appearance of much greater antiquity than what is generally allowed to them; and indeed if we examine the outside walls and the cross wings on each side of the choir, it will appear, that the whole of them was not rebuilt at the time the choir was, and that great part of them was suffered to remain, though altered, added to, and adapted as far as could be, to the new building erected at that time; the traces of several circular windows and other openings, which were then stopped up, removed, or altered, still appearing on the walls both of the isles and the cross wings, through the white-wash with which they are covered; and on the south side of the south isle, the vaulting of the roof as well as the triforium, which could not be contrived so as to be adjusted to the places of the upper windows, plainly shew it. To which may be added, that the base or foot of one of the westernmost large pillars of the choir on the north side, is strengthened with a strong iron band round it, by which it should seem to have been one of those pillars which had been weakened by the fire, but was judged of sufficient firmness, with this precaution, to remain for the use of the new fabric.

 

The outside of this part of the church is a corroborating proof of what has been mentioned above, as well in the method, as in the ornaments of the building.— The outside of it towards the south, from St. Michael's chapel eastward, is adorned with a range of small pillars, about six inches diameter, and about three feet high, some with santastic shasts and capitals, others with plain ones; these support little arches, which intersect each other; and this chain or girdle of pillars is continued round the small tower, the eastern cross isle and the chapel of St. Anselm, to the buildings added in honour of the Holy Trinity, and St. Thomas Becket, where they leave off. The casing of St. Michael's chapel has none of them, but the chapel of the Virgin Mary, answering to it on the north side of the church, not being fitted to the wall, shews some of them behind it; which seems as if they had been continued before, quite round the eastern parts of the church.

 

These pillars, which rise from about the level of the pavement, within the walls above them, are remarkably plain and bare of ornaments; but the tower above mentioned and its opposite, as soon as they rise clear of the building, are enriched with stories of this colonade, one above another, up to the platform from whence their spires rise; and the remains of the two larger towers eastward, called St. Anselm's, and that answering to it on the north side of the church, called St. Andrew's are decorated much after the same manner, as high as they remain at present.

 

At the time of the before-mentioned fire, which so fatally destroyed the upper part of this church, the undercrost, with the vaulting over it, seems to have remained entire, and unhurt by it.

 

The vaulting of the undercrost, on which the floor of the choir and eastern parts of the church is raised, is supported by pillars, whose capitals are as various and fantastical as those of the smaller ones described before, and so are their shafts, some being round, others canted, twisted, or carved, so that hardly any two of them are alike, except such as are quite plain.

 

These, I suppose, may be concluded to be of the same age, and if buildings in the same stile may be conjectured to be so from thence, the antiquity of this part of the church may be judged, though historians have left us in the dark in relation to it.

 

In Leland's Collectanea, there is an account and description of a vault under the chancel of the antient church of St. Peter, in Oxford, called Grymbald's crypt, being allowed by all, to have been built by him; (fn. 51) Grymbald was one of those great and accomplished men, whom king Alfred invited into England about the year 885, to assist him in restoring Christianity, learning and the liberal arts. (fn. 52) Those who compare the vaults or undercrost of the church of Canterbury, with the description and prints given of Grymbald's crypt, (fn. 53) will easily perceive, that two buildings could hardly have been erected more strongly resembling each other, except that this at Canterbury is larger, and more pro fusely decorated with variety of fancied ornaments, the shafts of several of the pillars here being twisted, or otherwise varied, and many of the captials exactly in the same grotesque taste as those in Grymbald's crypt. (fn. 54) Hence it may be supposed, that those whom archbishop Lanfranc employed as architects and designers of his building at Canterbury, took their model of it, at least of this part of it, from that crypt, and this undercrost now remaining is the same, as was originally built by him, as far eastward, as to that part which begins under the chapel of the Holy Trinity, where it appears to be of a later date, erected at the same time as the chapel. The part built by Lanfranc continues at this time as firm and entire, as it was at the very building of it, though upwards of seven hundred years old. (fn. 55)

 

But to return to the new building; though the church was not compleatly finished till the end of the year 1184, yet it was so far advanced towards it, that, in 1180, on April 19, being Easter eve, (fn. 56) the archbishop, prior and monks entered the new choir, with a solemn procession, singing Te Deum, for their happy return to it. Three days before which they had privately, by night, carried the bodies of St. Dunstan and St. Alphage to the places prepared for them near the high altar. The body likewise of queen Edive (which after the fire had been removed from the north cross isle, where it lay before, under a stately gilded shrine) to the altar of the great cross, was taken up, carried into the vestry, and thence to the altar of St. Martin, where it was placed under the coffin of archbishop Livinge. In the month of July following the altar of the Holy Trinity was demolished, and the bodies of those archbishops, which had been laid in that part of the church, were removed to other places. Odo's body was laid under St. Dunstan's and Wilfrid's under St. Alphage's; Lanfranc's was deposited nigh the altar of St. Martin, and Theobald's at that of the blessed Virgin, in the nave of the church, (fn. 57) under a marble tomb; and soon afterwards the two archbishops, on the right and left hand of archbishop Becket in the undercrost, were taken up and placed under the altar of St. Mary there. (fn. 58)

 

After a warning so terrible, as had lately been given, it seemed most necessary to provide against the danger of fire for the time to come; the flames, which had so lately destroyed a considerable part of the church and monastery, were caused by some small houses, which had taken fire at a small distance from the church.— There still remained some other houses near it, which belonged to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine; for these the monks of Christ-church created, by an exchange, which could not be effected till the king interposed, and by his royal authority, in a manner, compelled the abbot and convent to a composition for this purpose, which was dated in the year 1177, that was three years after the late fire of this church. (fn. 59)

 

These houses were immediately pulled down, and it proved a providential and an effectual means of preserving the church from the like calamity; for in the year 1180, on May 22, this new choir, being not then compleated, though it had been used the month be fore, as has been already mentioned, there happened a fire in the city, which burnt down many houses, and the flames bent their course towards the church, which was again in great danger; but the houses near it being taken away, the fire was stopped, and the church escaped being burnt again. (fn. 60)

 

Although there is no mention of a new dedication of the church at this time, yet the change made in the name of it has been thought by some to imply a formal solemnity of this kind, as it appears to have been from henceforth usually called the church of St. Thomas the Martyr, and to have continued so for above 350 years afterwards.

 

New names to churches, it is true. have been usually attended by formal consecrations of them; and had there been any such solemnity here, undoubtedly the same would not have passed by unnoticed by every historian, the circumstance of it must have been notorious, and the magnificence equal at least to the other dedications of this church, which have been constantly mentioned by them; but here was no need of any such ceremony, for although the general voice then burst forth to honour this church with the name of St. Thomas, the universal object of praise and adoration, then stiled the glorious martyr, yet it reached no further, for the name it had received at the former dedication, notwithstanding this common appellation of it, still remained in reality, and it still retained invariably in all records and writings, the name of Christ church only, as appears by many such remaining among the archives of the dean and chapter; and though on the seal of this church, which was changed about this time; the counter side of it had a representation of Becket's martyrdom, yet on the front of it was continued that of the church, and round it an inscription with the former name of Christ church; which seal remained in force till the dissolution of the priory.

 

It may not be improper to mention here some transactions, worthy of observation, relating to this favorite saint, which passed from the time of his being murdered, to that of his translation to the splendid shrine prepared for his relics.

 

Archbishop Thomas Becket was barbarously murdered in this church on Dec. 29, 1170, being the 16th year of king Henry II. and his body was privately buried towards the east end of the undercrost. The monks tell us, that about the Easter following, miracles began to be wrought by him, first at his tomb, then in the undercrost, and in every part of the whole fabric of the church; afterwards throughout England, and lastly, throughout the rest of the world. (fn. 61) The same of these miracles procured him the honour of a formal canonization from pope Alexander III. whose bull for that purpose is dated March 13, in the year 1172. (fn. 62) This declaration of the pope was soon known in all places, and the reports of his miracles were every where sounded abroad. (fn. 63)

 

Hereupon crowds of zealots, led on by a phrenzy of devotion, hastened to kneel at his tomb. In 1177, Philip, earl of Flanders, came hither for that purpose, when king Henry met and had a conference with him at Canterbury. (fn. 64) In June 1178, king Henry returning from Normandy, visited the sepulchre of this new saint; and in July following, William, archbishop of Rhemes, came from France, with a large retinue, to perform his vows to St. Thomas of Canterbury, where the king met him and received him honourably. In the year 1179, Lewis, king of France, came into England; before which neither he nor any of his predecessors had ever set foot in this kingdom. (fn. 65) He landed at Dover, where king Henry waited his arrival, and on August 23, the two kings came to Canterbury, with a great train of nobility of both nations, and were received with due honour and great joy, by the archbishop, with his com-provincial bishops, and the prior and the whole convent. (fn. 66)

 

King Lewis came in the manner and habit of a pilgrim, and was conducted to the tomb of St. Thomas by a solemn procession; he there offered his cup of gold and a royal precious stone, (fn. 67) and gave the convent a yearly rent for ever, of a hundred muids of wine, to be paid by himself and his successors; which grant was confirmed by his royal charter, under his seal, and delivered next day to the convent; (fn. 68) after he had staid here two, (fn. 69) or as others say, three days, (fn. 70) during which the oblations of gold and silver made were so great, that the relation of them almost exceeded credibility. (fn. 71) In 1181, king Henry, in his return from Normandy, again paid his devotions at this tomb. These visits were the early fruits of the adoration of the new sainted martyr, and these royal examples of kings and great persons were followed by multitudes, who crowded to present with full hands their oblations at his tomb.— Hence the convent was enabled to carry forward the building of the new choir, and they applied all this vast income to the fabric of the church, as the present case instantly required, for which they had the leave and consent of the archbishop, confirmed by the bulls of several succeeding popes. (fn. 72)

 

¶From the liberal oblations of these royal and noble personages at the tomb of St. Thomas, the expences of rebuilding the choir appear to have been in a great measure supplied, nor did their devotion and offerings to the new saint, after it was compleated, any ways abate, but, on the contrary, they daily increased; for in the year 1184, Philip, archbishop of Cologne, and Philip, earl of Flanders, came together to pay their vows at this tomb, and were met here by king Henry, who gave them an invitation to London. (fn. 73) In 1194, John, archbishop of Lions; in the year afterwards, John, archbishop of York; and in the year 1199, king John, performed their devotions at the foot of this tomb. (fn. 74) King Richard I. likewise, on his release from captivity in Germany, landing on the 30th of March at Sandwich, proceeded from thence, as an humble stranger on foot, towards Canterbury, to return his grateful thanks to God and St. Thomas for his release. (fn. 75) All these by name, with many nobles and multitudes of others, of all sorts and descriptions, visited the saint with humble adoration and rich oblations, whilst his body lay in the undercrost. In the mean time the chapel and altar at the upper part of the east end of the church, which had been formerly consecrated to the Holy Trinity, were demolished, and again prepared with great splendor, for the reception of this saint, who being now placed there, implanted his name not only on the chapel and altar, but on the whole church, which was from thenceforth known only by that of the church of St. Thomas the martyr.

  

On July 7, anno 1220, the remains of St. Thomas were translated from his tomb to his new shrine, with the greatest solemnity and rejoicings. Pandulph, the pope's legate, the archbishops of Canterbury and Rheims, and many bishops and abbots, carried the coffin on their shoulders, and placed it on the new shrine, and the king graced these solemnities with his royal presence. (fn. 76) The archbishop of Canterbury provided forage along all the road, between London and Canterbury, for the horses of all such as should come to them, and he caused several pipes and conduits to run with wine in different parts of the city. This, with the other expences arising during the time, was so great, that he left a debt on the see, which archbishop Boniface, his fourth successor in it, was hardly enabled to discharge.

 

¶The saint being now placed in his new repository, became the vain object of adoration to the deluded people, and afterwards numbers of licences were granted to strangers by the king, to visit this shrine. (fn. 77) The titles of glorious, of saint and martyr, were among those given to him; (fn. 78) such veneration had all people for his relics, that the religious of several cathedral churches and monasteries, used all their endeavours to obtain some of them, and thought themselves happy and rich in the possession of the smallest portion of them. (fn. 79) Besides this, there were erected and dedicated to his honour, many churches, chapels, altars and hospitals in different places, both in this kingdom and abroad. (fn. 80) Thus this saint, even whilst he lay in his obscure tomb in the undercroft, brought such large and constant supplies of money, as enabled the monks to finish this beautiful choir, and the eastern parts of the church; and when he was translated to the most exalted and honourable place in it, a still larger abundance of gain filled their coffers, which continued as a plentiful supply to them, from year to year, to the time of the reformation, and the final abolition of the priory itself.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol11/pp306-383

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I have never been one of those mothering, nurturing, indulgent girlfriends but when my boyfriend had knee surgery and needed help at home I was hopeful that I could cope with a week of not calling him a c**t (out loud). Perhaps I could also manage to look after him.

 

To my delight, the first thing that I discovered as a carer was that it would be necessary to sleep in the spare room to allow the invalid to lie sprawled without risk of the operation site being kicked in the night. I didn’t even have to use any of my usual excuses for this special treat. This carer thing might not be so bad.’ I thought as I snuggled up in a nice, peaceful, empty bed, leaving him lying prone in the other room, unable to move.

“Just call me if you need anything at all darling.” I called to him across the landing. Then I put my earplugs in.

 

I had an excellent night’s sleep. I don’t know about him but when I went into his room he hadn’t moved and was still alive so success all round.

 

On the first day of being a carer I got up half an hour early to make him coffee and toast and a banana smoothie for elevenses. As I helped him out of bed my voice was singing with positivity and delight. I went down the stairs before him and braced myself to break his fall if he stumbled. I stood outside the shower in case he slipped; “Here’s the shampoooooo! And here is the conditionerrrrrrrr!” I poured out measured globs right into his very hands. “Now scrub your front botty and back botty!” I helped him put on his compression stocking. I was as gentle as a fairy. It took ages, gradually feeding the nylon millimetre by millimetre up his limb. The touch of my fingers was as soft as petals.

 

My enthusiasm soon began to wane though.

 

By the third day, his breakfast was some stale fruit loops. I stood impatiently outside the shower and kicked the shampoo bottle towards his feet. “That’s long enough now, you’re done. Don’t bother with conditioner no one is going to see you. No need to scrub down there, I’m not going near that end of you for at least a week anyway.” I bunched his stocking up into a two-inch wodge and figured that a bit of a run up would give it momentum up the leg. The seat he was on was pushed backwards with the force of my application; my knuckles were white with the pressure I was applying. When he mentioned that I was causing him tremendous pain by bending his knee I grabbed his ankle with one hand and held it steady while my other hand pushed ever harder. Once I had got it over the heel I stopped. “You can do the rest now.”

 

I was angry that the socks he wanted me to put on him every day were so tight. I told him he needed bigger, looser ones. I looked in his drawer for some whose elastic had perished. No luck.

 

On the fourth day when he wanted yet another shower I blurted out; “You don’t need a shower, you haven’t done anything.”

 

By the fifth day I still got up half an hour early, but now it was so that I could leave for work before he had managed to get out of bed and down the stairs.

 

On the first day I returned home from work, laden with delicious foods for the invalid. I came rushing into the living room to greet him and tend to his every need. By the fifth day when I came home I knew that he would be sat on the sofa and couldn’t have gone anywhere else so I didn’t go and greet him until I was two glasses of wine in.

 

On the first day I went out and bought him two pairs of lovely soft, comfy house trousers and I was thrilled when he wanted to put them straight on. By the third day he wanted to change into the clean pair. Thinking about how long it would take to help him out of his trousers and how I needed to leave for work I said; “For god’s sake you don’t need to change into fresh trousers already you can stay in those ones until I get home.” And I flung the other trousers out of his reach. The power was getting to me. Never before had I been able to stop him from changing his trousers, never before had I wanted to stop him, but now I felt like a god – ‘YOU SHALL NOT CHANGE YOUR TROUSERS UNTIL I DEEM IT SO.’

 

On the first day I was all official and bossy-nurse about his exercises; “Right, It’s E X E R C I S E time!” Are you ready? First one . . . .

 

“It’s too soon to do them. It’s only been a day.”

 

“But darling, it says here to start doing them straight away, come on let’s try this first one together and get your beautiful knee back to full strength.”

 

On the third day he questioned yet again every exercise he was supposed to do.

 

“Ok, so clench and release your buttocks ten times.”

 

“Well I don’t need to clench both do I, I only have one bad side.”

 

“If you can clench just one buttock, fine, but the blood clot may be hiding in the buttock that you don’t clench and you might die and you haven’t bothered to sort out your will yet have you?”

 

By the fifth day I flung the exercise instruction sheet at him and said, “Do them, don’t do them, I don’t care, but I imagine farting counts as exercise so I’m sure you’ll do much more than your required quota.”

 

At the end of the week it was necessary for me to rejoin him in the non-marital bed. For five days he had slept diagonally across a king size mattress with his leg propped up under ALL the pillows. I went to bed first. I don’t think that the carer is meant to go to bed before the caree, but I need to squirrel away some pillows. I lay worrying about the logistics. ‘So if he lies on the right hand side of me, his bad left knee is in the middle of the bed, closest to me. What if I roll over and clonk it?’ I could just imagine the yell that he would emit, or rather I could imagine a yelp and then absolute silence because it would be so incredibly painful that he couldn’t even articulate it audibly. I therefore slept like I was bivouacking, on the outer three inches of the bed crossing my arms and legs to stop them flailing dangerously in the night.

 

After a week I was about ready to kill us both. Not only had I lost all enthusiasm, so had he. The thankyous and grateful puppy eyes had stopped and now he just expected things done for him that he had always been perfectly able to do himself. And I was waiting for him to get better. What if I was caring for him and he was only going to deteriorate? I know now that I could never look after a partner in circumstances of illness, old age, or idleness. No matter how much I loved them at the start, at the end of just one week my barely concealed negative characteristics of intolerance, impatience, and grouchiness would rise to the top. I would be the wife that bailed out just before my husband could no longer put his socks on. But I wouldn’t want anyone else to have to look after me either. I couldn’t bear to see the love dribble away to be replaced by duty. I would want my loved one to remember me when I was able to leave the room in a huff under my own steam, without requiring help.

 

Loved ones and relatives should never be given the job of carer. You can only adequately ‘care’ for someone that you don’t officially care about. If you are being paid, you get on with the job and nothing is personal. If you are doing the caring for the love of the person, to show your dedication to them that love will rapidly drain away. My utterly insignificant experience of being a carer for a piddly week was enough to make me realise just how hard it would be to be a full time carer. There are too many conflicts, you try to be selfless in doing everything for him, but you, secretly, in return want him to be uber grateful to you. He can’t possibly say thank you endlessly, for every single thing, but deep down really you want him to. I started to become suspicious of him, After a week, when he was due to be mobile again I wondered whether he was using the ‘I’m not allowed to get up’ excuse long after it was no longer applicable. I started to get annoyed that once he started to get up and move about he was willing to do things only partially. He could take his dirty plate over to the dishwasher, but he wasn’t able to put it inside.

 

Five days after the op and I had started to shout at him to stop limping.

 

Operation number two (requiring a whole month of lolling on the sofa) is coming up. I can’t promise I won’t call him a c**t this time.

 

but it didn't like me back.

 

My friend Kate made me take a 'brisk walk' today. I'm pretty sure Kate is trying to kill me. (again)

  

I thought I had visited St Mary years ago. And indeed I had, or stood on the green in front of it, but didn't set foot inside.

 

This I didn't realise until Saturday when I was standing outside it looking at the row of cottages leading to the lych gate, I knew the scene was new to me.

 

The drizzle was still falling, so I could not linger in the churchyard, and scampered along the south side of the building, looking for the porch, but there wasn't one. Instead a simple door near to the chancel gave way when I turned the handle, after stepping over the void that acts as a drain for rainwater falling from the roof.

 

I tried hard to find the lightswitches, as in the gloom of the early afternoon, it was almost dark inside. Even when I found the switches in the south chapel, there seemed to be no power to them, so the church remained in half darkness.

 

What I did see, and was dazzled by, were tiles used to line the lower part of the chancel walls, like a mosaic, creating fantastic patterns.

 

-----------------------------------------

 

A mainly thirteenth century church restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott. There is a high window which originally shed light onto the Rood figures (see also Capel le Ferne). Some medieval glass survives in the heads of the windows in the chancel showing angels holding crowns. The west window was designed by Morris and Co in 1874 to commemorate a former Rector, whilst the south chapel has a set of continental glass brought here by the Beckingham family from their house in Essex. Above the nave arcade is a good set of murals including a figure of St Nicholas. The famous Elizabethan theologian Richard Hooker is commemorated in the chancel.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Bishopsbourne

 

-------------------------------------------

 

Bishopsbourne is another example of a parish church belonging to the church (the archbishop, in this case), which was totally rebuilt on a large(r) scale in the 13th century (cf. Chartham). The chancel, as rebuilt, was as wide as the nave, and there is no chancel arch (and probably never has been).

The nave and chancel both show at least two phases of work of about the mid to later 13th century, so it seems likely that a rebuilding programme was being carried on in stages during the 2nd half of the 13th century (no sign exists, above-ground, of the earlier church).

Perhaps the earliest visible work are the two pairs of two-light windows on either side of the chancel. They have geometrical tracery and all sit on an internal moulded string course (there is medieval glass at the top of all these windows). This string course rises up in the east wall, and has on it the five-light east window, within trefoiled lancets, which is perhaps slightly later in date. There is also a late 13th century piscina at the east end of the south wall (though with a 19th century back wall). Externally the N.E. and S.E. corners of the chancel have angle buttresses, but these are heavily restored. It is also just possible that there were further geometrical windows further west in the chancel, which were covered/removed when the 15th century additions were made.

In the nave, as John Newman has pointed out, the two slender arcades have slight differences (N. capitals more complex than the S. ones). Also that the nave abaci are undercut, while the chancel string course is not. Originally the south arcade was at least three bays long (ie. longer than the present nave), but on the north this is not so clear. The aisles themselves are very narrow, with shed roofs continuing the slope of the main nave roof (though this shape may only be 15th century when the aisles were remodelled). The only surviving feature of the 13th century in the outer aisle walls (again heavily restored externally in the 19th century) is the north doorway with its niche (called a stoup by some writers, but not necessarily one) immediately to the east. This doorway has slightly projecting pilasters on either side, and the whole was covered by a porch until 1837.

The second main phase of work took place in the later 15th century. First, the whole of the west end of the church was demolished and a new tower was constructed with diagonal buttresses. The tower is of three main stages with the top stage rendered. The whole of the south face is mostly rendered. As this was being built, short walls were erected from the eastern diagonal buttresses to the 13th century arcade (ie. leaving the western ends of the aisles outside). (This is perhaps due to a population decrease in the parish). New west walls (containing two light perpendicular square headed windows) to the shortened aisles were also built, and four new 2-light perpendicular windows were inserted into the outer aisle walls. Along the top of the inside of the aisles walls a new moulded timber stringcourse was made (the roofs were perhaps also remade, but they are hidden beneath plaster in the aisles, and the main nave roof was replaced in 1871). At the west end of the nave the new short north and south walls contain five 3-light windows with perpendicular tracery under a 2-centred arch in their heads. On the upper nave walls, above the arcade, are remains of some fine painted figures on a painted 'ashlar' background. These were perhaps painted after the 15th century rebuilding (a date of around 1462 for the rebuilding is perhaps suggested by the will of William Harte (see below). At the extreme west end of the nave are two areas (N. and S.) of in situ medieval floor tiles. It is just possible that they predate the tower building work. (They must continue eastwards under the pews). There is also a 15th cent. octagonal font bowl (on a 1975 base). The southern chapel (the Bourne Pew after the Reformation) with its diagonal buttresses and 3-light east window is also 15th century but it was very heavily restored in c. 1853 (date over new S. door). It has a separate roof (and plaster ceiling). The rectangular N. addition with a plinth is also 15th century and was perhaps built as a vestry. It had an external door and only a small door into the chancel until the rebuilding of 1865, when a massive new arch was put in to accommodate a new organ (earlier the organ was under the tower arch). At this time also a totally new pitched roof was built over the vestry, perhaps replacing a low pitched 15th century roof. There is a high up window on the north side above the pulpit, with some old glass in it.

A new boiler house was dug under the western half of the vestry (in the 1880s - date on radiator), and its N.W. corner was rebuilt, incorporating a fireplace and chimney. The cut through N. chancel wall (and foundation) can be seen in the boiler room below.

The door into the Rood loft is in the S.E. corner of the nave.

In 1871-2 a major restoration took place under Scott, when the boarded wagon roofs were put in (nave and chancel) and new pews were installed (and choir stalls). The c. 18th century pulpit was remodelled and has its larger tester removed. The west window contains 1874 Morris & Co glass with figures by Burne Jones. There is also much c. 1877 mosaic work on the lower chancel walls and a large Reredos. The chancel floor was also raised.

 

BUILDING MATERIALS (Incl. old plaster, paintings, glass, tiles, etc.):

The main building materials are flintwork with Rag and Caenstone quoins/jambs, etc. However much of this has been removed externally by the heavy 19th century restoration. The nave arcades are of Reigate stone. The 15th century tower has fine large quoins of Kent Rag (Hythe/Folkestone stone with boring mollusc holes), and a few reused pieces of Caen, Reigate and Roman brick.

The south chapel was "partly of brick" in 1846 (Glynne) but this has now gone in the Restoration. There is also some fine early post-medieval glass in the east window of this chapel.

 

(For medieval glass, wall paintings and floor tiles ,see above).

 

(Also 15th century choir stalls, see below). There are also the arms and Cardinals Cap of Cardinal Morton (hence 1494-1500) in the S.W. chancel window.

 

There are now 4 bells (2 J Hatch of 1618; Christopher Hodson 1685 and Robert Mot 1597). The later from St. Mary, Bredman, Canterbury was installed in 1975 (a cracked bell was 'discarded').

 

A late medieval brass (of John and Elizabeth Colwell) lies under the organ - another of 1617 (John Gibon) is under the choir stalls.

 

EXCEPTIONAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCH To Richard Hooker (1633) - originally on N chancel wall and moved to S chancel will c. 1865.

 

Also John Cockman (+1734) - also on N. chancel wall and moved to E. wall of N. aisle c. 1865 (when the organ was put under new vestry arch).

 

Also a fine Purbeck marble (14th century) grave slab under the N.E. corner of the tower.

 

There are also two fine 15th century (c. 1462) stall fronts in the chancel with carved panels and ends (and 'poppy heads'). The added Victorian choir stalls copy them.

 

CHURCHYARD AND ENVIRONS:

Shape: Rectangular

 

Condition: Good

 

Earthworks:

enclosing: drop on N. and W. sides (?Ha-Ha) into Bourne Park adjacent:

 

Building in churchyard or on boundary: Lychgate of 1911

 

HISTORICAL RECORD (where known):

Earliest ref. to church: Domesday Book

 

Evidence of pre-Norman status (DB, DM, TR etc.):

 

Late med. status: Rectory

 

Patron: The Archbishop

 

Other documentary sources: Test. Cant. (E. Kent 1907) 23 mentions 'one piece of that stone on which the Archangel Gabriel descended when he saluted the 'BVM' to the Image of the BVM of the church of Bourne. Towards the work of the Church of Bourne, of the stalls and other reparations, 4 marcs. Wm. Haute (1462). Also 'Beam, now before altar of B. Mary in the church' (1477) and Lights of St. Mary, St. Katherine and St. Nicholas (1484) and light of Holy Cross (1462) and 'The altar of St. Mary and St. Nicholas in the nave' (1476).

 

SURVIVAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DEPOSITS:

Inside present church: Good - main nave and chancel floor raised in 19th century (earlier levels should be intact beneath (except where burials, etc.).

 

Outside present church: Drainage trench cut round outside of church.

 

Quinquennial inspection (date\architect): October 1987 David Martin

 

ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT:

The church and churchyard: A fine 13th and 15th century church, with an impressive collection of medieval wall paintings, stained glass, floor tiles and pew fronts inside. The 13th century architectural details of the chancel windows and nave arcade are very good. There are, no doubt, the remains of the earlier church beneath.

 

The wider context: One of a group of fine later 13th century rebuildings (cf. Hythe, Chartham, Adisham, etc.)

REFERENCES: Notes by FC Elliston Erwood, Arch. Cant. 62 (1949), 101-3 (+ plan) + S. R. Glynne Notes on the Churches of Kent (1877), 130-1 (He visited in 1846); Hasted IX (1800), 335-7; Newman BOE (N.E. and E Kent) (3rd ed. 1983) 144-5.

 

Guide book: by Miss Alice Castle (1931, rev. 1961, 1969, 1980) - no plan.

 

Plans & drawings: Early 19th century engraving of interior looking W. NW (before restoration).

 

DATES VISITED: 25th November 1991 REPORT BY: Tim Tatton-Brown

 

www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/01/03/BIS.htm

 

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BISHOPSBORNE

LIES the next parish eastward from Bridge, described before, in the hundred of that name. It is called in Domesday, Burnes, that is, borne, from the bourn or stream which rises in it, being the head of the river, called the Lesser Stour; and it had the name of Bishopsborne from its belonging to the archbishop, and to distinguish it from the several other parishes of the same name in this neighbourhood. There is but one borough in this parish, namely, that of Bourne.

 

THIS PARISH lies about five miles eastward from Canterbury, just beyond Bridge, about half a mile from the Dover road, and the entrance of Barham downs in the valley on the left hand, where the church and village, the parsonage, the mansion and grounds of Bourne place, and the seat of Charlton at the opposite boundary, with the high hills behind them, topped with woods, from a most pleasing and luxuriant prospect indeed. In this beautiful valley, in which the Lesser Stour rises, and through which the Nailbourne at times runs, is the village of Bourne-street, consisting of about fifteen houses, and near it the small seat of Ofwalds, belonging to Mr. Beckingham, and now inhabited by his brother the Rev. Mr. Beckingham, and near it the church and court-lodge. On the rise of the hill is the parsonage, an antient building modernized, and much improved by the present rector Dr. Fowell, and from its whiteness a conspicuous object to the road and Barham downs. About a mile distant eastward, in the vale, close to the foot of the hills, is Charlton, in a low and damp situation, especially when the nailbourne runs. On the opposite side of the church westward, stands the ornament of this parish, the noble mansion of Bourne-place, (for several years inhabited by Sir Horace Mann, bart. but now by William Harrison, esq.) with its paddocks, grounds, and plantations, reaching up to the downs, having the bourn, which is the source of the Lesser Stour, which rises here in the front of it, directing its course from hence to Bridge, and so on by Littleborne, Ickham and Wickham, till it joins the Greater Stour river. This valley from this source of the bourn upwards, is dry, except after great rains, or thaws of snow, when the springs of the Nailbourn occasionally over flow at Liminge and Elham, and directing their course through this parish descend into the head of the bourn, and blend their waters with it. From this valley southward the opposite hills rise pretty high to the woodland, called Gosley wood, belonging to Mr. Beckingham, of large extent, and over a poor, barren and stony country, with rough healthy ground interspersed among it, to the valley at the southern boundary of the parish, adjoining to Hardres; near which is the house of Bursted, in a lonely unfrequented situations, hardly known to any one.

 

THE MANOR OF BOURNE, otherwise Bishopsborne, was given by one Aldhun, a man of some eminence in Canterbury, from his office of præfect, or bailiff of that city, (qui in hac regali villa bujus civitatis prafectus suit), (fn. 1) to the monks of Christ-church there, towards the support of their refectory. After which, anno 811, the monks exchanged it, among other estates, with archbishop Wlfred, for the manor of Eastry, and it continued part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in which it is thus entered, under the title of the archbishop's lands:

 

In Berham hundred, the archbishop himself holds Burnes in demesne. It was taxed for six sulings. The arable land is fifty carucates. In demesne there are five carucates, and sixty-four villeins, with fifty-three borderers having thirty carucates and an half. There is a church, and two mills of eight shillings and six pence, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of fifteen hogs. Of herbage twenty-seven pence. In its whole value, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth twenty pounds, now thirty pounds.

 

The manor of Bishopsborne appears by the above entry to have been at that time in the archbishop's own hands, and it probably continued so as long as it remained part of his revenues, which was till the 35th year of king Henry VIII. when archbishop Cranmer, by an act specially passed for the purpose, exchanged this manor with the park, grounds and soil of the archbishop in this parish, called Langham park, with Thomas Colepeper, sen. esq. of Bedgbury, who that year alienated it to Sir Anthony Aucher, of Otterden, who gave this manor, with the rest of his possessions in this parish, to his second son Edward. Since which it has continued in the same line of ownership as Bourne-place, as will be more particularly mentioned hereafter, down to Stephen Beckingham, esq. the present owner of it. A court leet and court baron is held for this manor.

 

BOURNE-PLACE, formerly called the manor of Hautsbourne, is an eminent seat in this parish, for the manor has from unity of possession been for many years merged in the paramount manor of Bishopsborne. It was in very early times possessed by a family who took their name from it. Godric de Burnes is mentioned in the very beginning of the survey of Domesday, as the possessor of lands in it. John de Bourne had a grant of free-warren and other liberties for his lands in Bourne and Higham in the 16th year of king Edward I. He left an only daughter Helen, who carried this estate in marriage to John de Shelving, of Shelvingborne, whose grandson, of the same name, died anno 4 Edward III. at which time this manor had acquired from them the name of Shelvington. He left an only daughter and heir Benedicta, who carried it in marriage to Sir Edmund de Haut, of Petham, whose son Nicholas Haut gave to William, his youngest son, this estate of Bishopsborne, where he afterwards resided, and died in 1462, having been knight of the shire and sheriff of this county. From him it descended down to Sir William Haut, of Hautsborne, sheriff in the 16th and 29th year of king Henry VIII. whose son Edmund dying unmarried in his life-time, his two daughters, Elizabeth, married to Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgbury, and Jane, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, of Allington-castle, became his coheirs, and on the division of their estates, this of Hautsborne was allotted to the former, and her hus band Thomas Colepeper, in her right, became possessed of it, and having acquired the manor of Bishopsborne by exchange from the archbishop, anno 35 Henry VIII. immediately afterwards passed away both that and Hautsborne to Sir Anthony Aucher, of Otterden, whose family derived their origin from Ealcher, or Aucher, the first earl of Kent, who had the title of duke likewise, from his being intrusted with the military power of the county. He is eminent in history for his bravery against the Danes, in the year 853. They first settled at Newenden, where more of the early account of them may be seen. He at his death gave them to his second son Edward, who afterwards resided here at Shelvington, alias Hautsborne, as it was then called, whose great-grandson Sir Anthony Aucher was created a baronet in 1666, and resided here. He left surviving two sons Anthony and Hewitt, and two daughters, Elizabeth, afterwards married to John Corbett, esq. of Salop, LL. D. and Hester, to the Rev. Ralph Blomer, D. D. prebendary of Canterbury. He died in 1692, and was succeeded by his eldest son, who dying under age and unmarried, Hewitt his brother succeeded him in title and estate, but he dying likewise unmarried about the year 1726, the title became extinct, but his estates devolved by his will to his elder sister Elizabeth, who entitled her husband Dr. Corbett afterwards to them, and he died possessed of the manor of Bishopsborne, with this seat, which seems then to have been usually called Bourneplace, in 1736, leaving his five daughters his coheirs, viz. Katherine, afterwards married to Stephen Beckingham, esq. Elizabeth, to the Rev. Thomas Denward; Frances, to Sir William Hardres, bart. Antonina, to Ignat. Geohegan, esq. and Margaret-Hannah-Roberta, to William Hougham, esq. of Canterbury, the four latter of whom, with their respective husbands, in 1752, jointed in the sale of their shares in this estate to Stephen Beckingham, esq. above-men tioned, who then became possessed of the whole of it. He married first the daughter of Mr. Cox, by whom he had the present Stephen beckingham, esq. who married Mary, daughter of the late John Sawbridge, esq. of Ollantigh, deceased, by whom he had an only daughter, who married John-George Montague, esq. eldest son of John, lord viscount Hinchingbrooke, since deceased. By his second wife Catherine, daughter of Dr. John Corbet, he had two daughters, Charlotte and Catherine, both married, one to Mr. Dillon and the other to Mr. Gregory; and a son John Charles, in holy orders, and now rector of Upper Hardres. They bear for their arms, Argent, a sess, crenelle, between three escallop shells, sable. He died in 1756, and his son Stephen Beckingham, esq. above-mentioned, now of Hampton-court, is the present owner of the manor of Bishopsborne, and the mansion of Bourneplace.

 

BURSTED is a manor, in the southern part of this parish, obscurely situated in an unfrequented valley, among the woods, next to Hardres. It is in antient deeds written Burghsted, and was formerly the property of a family of the same name, in which it remained till it was at length sold to one of the family of Denne, of Dennehill, in Kingston, and it continued so till Thomas Denne, esq. of that place, in Henry VIII.'s reign, gave it to his son William, whose grandson William, son of Vincent Denne, LL. D. died possessed of it in 1640, and from him it descended down to Mr. Thomas Denne, gent. of Monkton-court, in the Isle of Thanet, who died not many years since, and his widow Mrs. Elizabeth Denne, of Monktoncourt, is the present possessor of it.

 

CHARLTON is a seat, in the eastern part of this parish, which was formerly the estate of a family named Herring, in which it continued till William Herring, anno 3 James I. conveyed it to John Gibbon, gent. the third son of Thomas Gibbon, of Frid, in Bethers den, descended again from those of Rolvenden, and he resided here, and died possessed of it in 1617, as did his son William in 1632, whose heirs passed it away to Sir Anthony Aucher, bart. whose son Sir Hewitt Aucher, bart. in 1726, gave it by will to his sister Elizabeth, and she afterwards carried it in marriage to John Corbett, LL. D. of Salop, who died possessed of it in 1735, leaving his window surviving, after whose death in 1764 it came to her five daughters and coheirs, who, excepting Frances, married to Sir William Hardres, bart. joined with their husbands in the sale of their respective fifth parts of it in 1765, to Francis Hender Foote, clerk, who resided here. Mr. Foote was first a barrister-at-law, and then took orders. He married Catherine, third daughter of Robert Mann, esq. of Linton, by whom he had three sons, John, mentioned below, who is married and has issue; Robert, rector of Boughton Malherb, and vicar of Linton, who married Anne, daughter of Dobbins Yate, esq. of Gloucestershire, and Edward, in the royal navy; and three daughters, of whom two died unmarried, and Catherine, the second, married first Mr. Ross, and secondly Sir Robert Herries, banker, of London. Mr. Foote died possessed of them in 1773, leaving his wife Catherine surviving, who possessed them at her death in 1776, on which they descended to their eldest son John Foote, esq. of Charlton, who in 1784, purchased of the heirs of lady Hardres, deceased, the remaining fifth part, and so became possessed of the whole of it, of which he is the present owner, but Mr. Turner now resides in it.

 

Charities.

MRS. ELIZABETH CORBETT, window, executrix of Sir Hewit Aucher, bart. deceased, in 1749, made over to trustees, for the use and benefit of the poor, a tenement called Bonnetts, and half an acre of land adjoining, in this parish; now occupied by two poor persons, but if rented, of the annual value of 3l.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about eleven, casually seven.

 

THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.

 

¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is a large building, consisting of three isles and three chancels, having a tower steeple at the west end, in which are four bells. This church is a large handsome building, but it is not kept so comely as it ought to be. In the chancel is a monument for Richard Hooker, rector of this parish, who died in 1600; on it is his bust, in his black gown and square cap. A monument for John Cockman, M. D. of Charlton. His widow lies in the vault by him, obt. 1739; arms, Argent, three cocks, gules, impaling Dyke. Memorial for Petronell, wife of Dr. John Fowell, the present rector, second daughter of William Chilwich, esq. of Devonshire, obt. 1766. She lies buried in a vault under the altar. A large stone, twelve feet long, supposed to be over the remains of Mr. Richard Hooker. A memorial on brass for John Gibbon, gent. of this parish, obt. 1617; arms, Gibbon, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, impaling Hamon, of Acrise, quartering Cossington. Memorials for Mrs. Jane Gibbon, his wife, obt. 1625, and for William Gibbon, gent. obt. 1632. A memorial for William Gresham, obt. 1718. In one of the windows are the arms of the see of Canterbury impaling Warham. In the middle isle, in the south wall, above the capital of the pillar, opposite the pulpit, is a recess, in which once stood the image of the Virgin Mary, the patron saint of this church, to which William Hawte, esq. by will anno 1462, among the rest of his relics, gave a piece of the stone on which the archangel Gabriel descended, when he saluted her, for this image to rest its feet upon. On the pavement near this, seemingly over a vault, is a stone with an inscription in brass, for William, eldest son of Sir William Hawt. A memorial for Farnham Aldersey, gent. of this parish, only son of Farnham Aldersey, gent. of Maidstone, obt. 1733. Memorials for several of the Dennes, of this parish. In a window of the south isle, are the arms of Haut, impaling Argent, a lion rampant-guardant, azure. The south chancel is inclosed and made into a handsome pew for the family of Bourne-place, under which is a vault appropriated to them. The window of it eastward is a very handsome one, mostly of modern painted glass; the middle parts filled up with scripture history, and the surrounding compartments with the arms and different marriages impaled of the family of Beckingham. On each side of this window are two ranges of small octagon tablets of black marble, intended for the family of Aucher, and their marriages, but they were not continued. In the church-yard, on the south side, is a vault for the family of Foote, of Charlton, and a tomb for Mrs. Elizabeth Corbett, obt. 1764; arms, Corbett, which were Or, two ravens, sable, within a bordure, gules, bezantee. At the north-east corner of the church-porch are several tombs for the Dennes.

 

The church of Bishopsborne, with the chapel of Barham annexed, was antiently appendant to the manor, and continued so till the exchange made between the archbishop and Thomas Colepeper, in the 35th year of king Henry VIII. out of which the advowson of this rectory was excepted. Since which it has continued parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury to the present time, his grace the archbishop being the present patron of it.

 

This rectory, (including the chapel of Barham annexed to it) is valued in the king's books at 39l. 19s. 2d. and the yearly tenths at 3l. 19s. 11d. In 1588 here were communicants one hundred. In 1640 one hundred and forty-eight, and it was valued, with Barham, at two hundred and fifty pounds per annum.

 

Church of Bishopsborne with the Chapel of Barhan annexed.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol9/pp328-337

 

-----------------------------------------

 

Richard Hooker (March 1554 – 3 November 1600) was an English priest in the Church of England and an influential theologian.[2] He was one of the most important English theologians of the sixteenth century.[3] His defence of the role of redeemed reason informed the theology of the seventeenth century Caroline Divines and later provided many members of the Church of England with a theological method which combined the claims of revelation, reason and tradition.[3] Scholars disagree regarding Hooker's relationship with what would later be called "Anglicanism" and the Reformed theological tradition. Traditionally, he has been regarded as the originator of the Anglican via media between Protestantism and Catholicism.[4]:1 However, a growing number of scholars have argued that he should be considered as being in the mainstream Reformed theology of his time and that he only sought to oppose the extremists (Puritans), rather than moving the Church of England away from Protestantism.

 

This sermon from 1585 was one of those that triggered Travers attack and appeal to the Privy Council. Travers accused Hooker of preaching doctrine favourable to the Church of Rome when in fact he had just described their differences emphasising that Rome attributed to works "a power of satisfying God for sin;..." For Hooker, works were a necessary expression of thanksgiving for unmerited justification by a merciful God.[11] Hooker defended his belief in the doctrine of Justification by faith, but argued that even those who did not understand or accept this could be saved by God.

 

Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie is Hooker's best-known work, with the first four books being published in 1594. The fifth was published in 1597, while the final three were published posthumously,[2] and indeed may not all be his own work. Structurally, the work is a carefully worked out reply to the general principles of Puritanism as found in The Admonition and Thomas Cartwright's follow-up writings, more specifically:

 

Scripture alone is the rule that should govern all human conduct;

Scripture prescribes an unalterable form of Church government;

The English Church is corrupted by Roman Catholic orders, rites, etc.;

The law is corrupt in not allowing lay elders;

'There ought not to be in the Church Bishops'.[12]

Of the Lawes has been characterised as "probably the first great work of philosophy and theology to be written in English."[13] The book is far more than a negative rebuttal of the puritan claims: it is (here McAdoo quotes John S. Marshall) 'a continuous and coherent whole presenting a philosophy and theology congenial to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and the traditional aspects of the Elizabethan Settlement."[14]

 

Quoting C. S. Lewis,[15] Stephen Neill underlines its positive side in the following terms: Hitherto, in England, "controversy had involved only tactics; Hooker added strategy. Long before the close fighting in Book III begins, the puritan position has been rendered desperate by the great flanking movements in Books I and II. . . . Thus the refutation of the enemy comes in the end to seem a very small thing, a by-product."[16]

 

It is a massive work that deals mainly with the proper governance of the churches ("polity"). The Puritans advocated the demotion of clergy and ecclesiasticism. Hooker attempted to work out which methods of organising churches are best.[2] What was at stake behind the theology was the position of the Queen Elizabeth I as the Supreme Governor of the Church. If doctrine were not to be settled by authorities, and if Martin Luther's argument for the priesthood of all believers were to be followed to its extreme with government by the Elect, then having the monarch as the governor of the church was intolerable. On the other side, if the monarch were appointed by God to be the governor of the church, then local parishes going their own ways on doctrine were similarly intolerable.

 

In political philosophy, Hooker is best remembered for his account of law and the origins of government in Book One of the Politie. Drawing heavily on the legal thought of Thomas Aquinas, Hooker distinguishes seven forms of law: eternal law ("that which God hath eternally purposed himself in all his works to observe"), celestial law (God's law for the angels), nature's law (that part of God's eternal law that governs natural objects), the law of reason (dictates of Right Reason that normatively govern human conduct), human positive law (rules made by human lawmakers for the ordering of a civil society), divine law (rules laid down by God that can only be known by special revelation), and ecclesiastical law (rules for the governance of a church). Like Aristotle, whom he frequently quotes, Hooker believes that humans are naturally inclined to live in society. Governments, he claims, are based on both this natural social instinct and on the express or implied consent of the governed.

 

The Laws is remembered not only for its stature as a monumental work of Anglican thought, but also for its influence in the development of theology, political theory, and English prose.

 

Hooker worked largely from Thomas Aquinas, but he adapted scholastic thought in a latitudinarian manner. He argued that church organisation, like political organisation, is one of the "things indifferent" to God. He wrote that minor doctrinal issues were not issues that damned or saved the soul, but rather frameworks surrounding the moral and religious life of the believer. He contended there were good monarchies and bad ones, good democracies and bad ones, and good church hierarchies and bad ones: what mattered was the piety of the people. At the same time, Hooker argued that authority was commanded by the Bible and by the traditions of the early church, but authority was something that had to be based on piety and reason rather than automatic investiture. This was because authority had to be obeyed even if it were wrong and needed to be remedied by right reason and the Holy Spirit. Notably, Hooker affirmed that the power and propriety of bishops need not be in every case absolute.

 

King James I is quoted by Izaak Walton, Hooker's biographer, as saying, "I observe there is in Mr. Hooker no affected language; but a grave, comprehensive, clear manifestation of reason, and that backed with the authority of the Scriptures, the fathers and schoolmen, and with all law both sacred and civil."[17] Hooker's emphasis on Scripture, reason, and tradition considerably influenced the development of Anglicanism, as well as many political philosophers, including John Locke.[2] Locke quotes Hooker numerous times in the Second Treatise of Civil Government and was greatly influenced by Hooker's natural-law ethics and his staunch defence of human reason. As Frederick Copleston notes, Hooker's moderation and civil style of argument were remarkable in the religious atmosphere of his time.[18] In the Church of England he is celebrated with a Lesser Festival on 3 November and the same day is also observed in the Calendars of other parts of the Anglican Communion.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hooker

 

But first...

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

 

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

 

[Galatians 5:13-18 NIV]

 

5 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

 

1. Like it or not, we are ALL sinners: As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.” (Romans 3:10-12 NLT)

 

2. The punishment for sin is death: When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. (Romans 5:12 NLT)

 

3. Jesus is our only hope: But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8 NLT) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 NLT)

 

4. SALVATION is by GRACE through FAITH in JESUS: God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT)

 

5. Accept Jesus and receive eternal life: If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9 NLT) But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12 NLT) And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. (1 John 5:11-12 NLT)

 

Read the Bible for yourself. Allow the Lord to speak to you through his Word. YOUR ETERNITY IS AT STAKE!

Deboxing Pocahontas. She has been freed from the large plastic spacer, but her right foot is still attached to a small plastic piece at the base. She is also tied to the doll stand that supports her, and her shawl is tied down in various places. There are also two rubber bands around her hair, which are in two sections. The rubber bands are removed, and her hair moved out of the way so I can remove the wire around her waist. Her golden crown has come apart in the back. The tiny post on one end that goes into a tiny hole on the other end doesn't stay in very well. Her shawl is raised so we can undo the wire around her left leg, tying her to the doll stand. Her right foot is freed from the plastic holder on the base, and now she can be freed from the doll stand. She is placed face down on a counter to continue the deboxing process. First I cut the plastic fasteners tying the shawl to itself and to her dress. I leave alone a couple of the fasteners that tighten the shawl around her wrists, so that the shawl doesn't fall off her arms.

 

Deboxing the Pocahontas and John Smith Doll Set. The slip cover and acrylic covers have been taken off, so the dolls are in clear view in the display case. The dolls are attached to the built in doll stands, and to the plastic and cardboard backing. Then the backing was opened up by cutting the tape holding it together on the edges. The tabs and wires are now accessible so the dolls can be removed from the backing. The backing was cut off from the base after the dolls were freed from the backing. The dolls are now attached to the large plastic spacer and two smaller ones, by rubber bands, plastic t-tabs and wires. They are now removed from plastic spacers. John Smith can now be taken from the doll stand. Pocahontas is still attached to the doll stand by additional restraints. Photo taken in daylight.

 

Photos of my Limited Edition Pocahontas and John Smith 12'' Designer Doll Set. Second of five releases in the 2014 Disney Fairytale Designer Collection. I purchased them in store on the release day, Tuesday Sept. 30, 2014. They are #1352 of 6000, and cost $129.95. I think these dolls follow the artwork very well, and look very good together. I like the colors and textures of Pocahontas' outfit and accessories much better than the original Designer Pocahontas doll (released in October 2011). I also think her face is prettier and her expression gentler and more natural. John Smith also has a good expression, and doesn't look as bland as most of the other Designer Princes. The couple are presented side by side in the box, so are both very well shown.

 

Pocahontas and John Smith Doll Set - Disney Fairytale Designer Collection

US Disney Store

Released in stores 2014-09-30

Released online 2014-10-01

Purchased in store 2014-09-30

#1352 of 6000

 

$129.95

Item No. 6070040901072P

 

Free spirit

The noble Powhatan Indian, Pocahontas, has never looked more beautiful than she does paired here with the adventurous John Smith. This elegant set of Disney Fairytale Designer Collection dolls is the result when their two worlds become one.

 

Magic in the details...

 

Please Note: Purchase of this item is limited to 1 per Guest.

 

As part of the Disney Fairytale Designer Collection this pair of Pocahontas and John Smith dolls were carefully crafted by artists inspired by Disney's 1995 movie. Pocahontas and John Smith have been reimagined in exquisite detail with these limited edition dolls. Brought to life with thoughtful attention, they uniquely capture the essence of the fairytale couple, creating a one of a kind set that will be a treasured keepsake of collectors, Disney fans and every princess at heart.

 

• Global Limited Edition of 6000

• Includes Certificate of Authenticity

• A golden braided feather headdress adorns Pocahontas' wind-swept long, black hair

• Teal blue signature necklace with a feather charm

• Highly detailed embroidered bodice

• Matching light tan suede skirt with beaded fringe details

• Layered suede wrap belt with sculpted feathers

• Deep chocolate brown suede shawl with tonal leaf flocking

• Dramatic make-up and rooted eyelashes

• John Smith wears a quilted blue suede tunic

• Weathered boots and tan suede satchel with gold buckle

• Dolls sold in a special keepsake display case with intricate details on the base, including a golden plate with the names of Pocahontas and John Smith

• Includes special Disney Fairytale Designer Collection Gift Bag

• Part of the Disney Fairytale Designer Collection

 

* Intended for adult collectors -- Not a child's toy.

 

The bare necessities

 

• Plastic / polyester

• Pocahontas: 11 1/2'' H

• John Smith: 12'' H

• Imported

But not a blue mood.

#rivercolne

The curlew's onomatopoeic call is one of the most evocative and distinctive of calls - "I take my gladness in the cry of the gannet/and the sound of the curlew instead of the laughter of men" are lines from the poem The Seafarer which exists in manuscript from AD 1000, but probably originated much earlier.

So this is my display. Most of the pics I took of it are crappy, but it's all I've got seeing as i didnt have enough time between completion and the fair to take some, and it... didn't make it home.

Before the haters start hating on how accurate this is, I based it off of one of the draw areas along the Normandy coast, where there would be a break in the cliffs. These areas were heavily protected by pillboxes, trenches, bunkers and the such because they were the few areas that the allies could get their tanks and other armor of the beach. So it's supposed to look like this.

A very cute, but shy, girl selling frozen oranges at the Festival. I think she's the first person who has ever asked, "What do you want my picture for?" I answered, "Well, you're quite attractive and I post my renfaire pics on-line." Hope she sees this and likes it.

(More details later, as time permits)

 

***************************

 

As I've noted in other sets of photos here on Flickr, I've been lucky enough to visit Rome dozens of times since I first celebrated a solitary birthday there back in 1972. Since then, I've often come alone (usually on business trips to lecture about various aspects of software development), and I've sometimes managed to bring various children and/or my wife. This time, like many other trips, I was alone.

 

On most of my trips, I make a point of visiting Piazza del Popolo at least once -- because there are always interesting scenes to photograph, with a combination of tourists, students, lovers, and amateur musicians. This time, there was a Michael Jackson impersonator -- who, at least from a distance, seemed to mimic MJ's fluid moves pretty well. And there was an electric guitarist, but it turned out that he could only play instrumentals -- and he tended to play the same songs, over and over again.

 

I photographed people in Piazza del Popolo on the first and last days of my visit; but I also spent a couple hours in Piazza Santa Margarita in Trastevere, where there was a wedding underway. And I strolled a block or two from my hotel to Piazza Cavour, where the entire piazza had been off-limits for years because of reconstruction work. But the reconstruction is over, the piazza is open, and I was lucky enough to be there during the "golden hour" before sunset, where I got some interesting photos of the local people enjoying a balmy early-summer evening.

 

On Sunday morning, I decided to visit the enormous "flea market" at Porta Portensa, where I did my best to get a few interesting shots of the shoppers, tourists, and long rows of merchant stalls filled with various forms of cheap, tacky merchandise. It was quite an experience...

 

As I have on past occasions, I took thousands of photos during my week-long visit, from which I select a few dozen to upload to Flickr. Hopefully they'll give you a sense of what it's like here in the Eternal City ...

Acrylic on board, 12" x 12"

Ladyfest [ISMs show]

POUND Gallery (Seattle)

March 2003

 

I named my pet canary Onan, because he spills his seed upon the ground.

---Dorothy Parker

 

Genesis 38:8-10

And Judah said unto Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up an heir to your brother.”

But Onan knew that the heir would not be his [under Hebraic law, the offspring produced would belong to his brother’s family line]; and it came to pass, when he went in to his brother's wife, that he spilled his seed on the ground, lest he should give an heir to his brother.

And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: therefore he killed him also.

 

Onanism is an old-fashioned term for masturbation, although the story of Onan has nothing to do with self-pleasure. (The story is, however, the basis for centuries of religious rule against contraception.)

It has been said that everyone practices the Science of Onanism: Mark Twain himself delivered a speech with that title in 1879 to the Stomach Club, a society of American writers and artists in Paris. There are hundreds of terms for this act, and god bless the folks who collect them all and make web pages for lazy artists to research late into night. Historically most of the words for this activity have been very male defined, but it is heartening to realize that the girls are rapidly catching up to the boys! I thought it would be entertaining to try to illustrate a few of them literally, so here you get two “Isms” for the price of one: euphemisms for Onanism.

  

  

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Johnny played to the crowds for laughs. It was a totally spontaneous characteristic, never rehearsed or forced, he had a natural talent for gaining a person's confidence and reeling them in, a devine gift for making observations and spitting them back out like a spent force. Everyone loved Johnny, they couldn't help but fall for his cheeky face and smiling eyes, the bold bravado and sense of assurance and self confidence that won over hearts and minds with consummate ease. I don't think I ever really hated him. Fear is separate from hatred, don't you think? I guess I always looked up to him being my older brother and all. Seven years the difference between us, he the strong one, me the ghost. Everybody loved Johnny.

 

In the summer of sixty four I entered the world, a tiny bundle of unplanned flesh and bones, pissing and screaming as the midwife handed me to my tired and emotional mother, laying me across her chest, beneath her sweaty facial features and red eyes, exhausted from all of the pushing and cursing that accompanied my less than text book birth. I don't think my mother ever truly forgave me for the scalpel blade that ripped at her flesh, the stitches that scarred her delicate abdomen or the invasive hands and suction cup that pulled for all it's worth to spin me around and retrieve me from her womb. It was raining when I was born. Five twenty five in the afternoon on January fourteenth, a violent storm lashing the pretty little village and it's cowering inhabitants as my father stayed away, preferring instead the comfort of the four walls of his workplace. Men were different back then, times were too. Childbirth was women's work, and husbands didn't need to be holding their wives hands and sobbing like a baby down at the business end of things, in touch with heir feminine sides as perhaps they need to be these days. At least hat's what my father would have me believe back then. Naturally I don't recall the events of my birth, I mean who would, these are the details that were subsequently given to me as I progressed through my happy childhood in the countryside that was to shape and protect me through my formative years.

 

My parents only wanted the one child, and in Johnny they had found the perfect son to mould into a mini-me of my proud and studious father. An heir to the family business, a gold painted addition to the 'J.S Lane & son' sign writing above my fathers humble little watch and clock repair empire, he was doted on, loved and adored. Then I guess I had to come along and throw a spanner in the proverbial works. A vacation to Paris, family unity, love in the air and a little caution thrown to the wind. or else some rogue birth control pills that were ineffectual. My childhood was normal enough, and my parents never once uttered a single word of disappointment in me, it was more in their actions and glances exchanged, my father never a man for any form of bodily contact being old school, army type, stiff upper lip and arms tucked behind his back as he faced the wall, his stern words rebounding off the garish wallpaper when he admonished me. And that seemed to happen a lot as I recall. You know, I can honestly say that I don't recall a single occasion that my father kissed me as a child, nor held me in a chance embrace, or called me 'son'. A second child just was not on the agenda, plans altered, the harmony unbalanced, the sibling rivalry to the fore.

 

Johnny hated me with a passion, though I always looked up to him and hoped that one day we would become good friends and myself something more than a punch bag both physically and emotionally. I was the butt of his jokes and a source for constant humiliation at school when he'd be sent to collect me each afternoon. I was his little puppet, and try as I might, I never quite managed to alter his, or my parents feelings towards me. I never wanted any part of the family business. If the truth be told I couldn't stand the musty smell of the old shop front, all those antique cuckoo clocks and Seiko watches that lined the cabinets like an army of soldiers and my father sitting at his desk beneath the light, looking old before his time as he sucked on a pipe filled with Old Holborn tobacco that rose into the air in plumes of chocking smoke. I'd be taken there after school and made to wait until closing time before we could al head home for tea, my brother full of life and cracking jokes, the bond between he and my father so evident and unbreakable. Was I jealous? I don't know that I'd describe my feelings as such. I felt left out, an outsider to the family, as though it was my fault that I had been born, a threat to the macho understanding of a father and his first born son. I was almost a rival to their love and Johnny always made sure that I was kept at arms length.

 

My only comfort was living life by the seafront that captivated my eyes and soul, seduced me with it's beauty and magnificence and offered me a safe haven in the form of a giant cave that only I knew existed. Accessible at high tide with my little wooden rowing boat, the soft sand welcomed me inside to a further stretch of dark seawater into which one day I dived headlong in the name of curiosity, taken to an underwater world of spider crabs and seaweed and up into a recessed cavern that became the focal point of my childhood pleasure. Away from Jonny I was king to rule, my own secret hideaway that even he could not contaminate nor destroy. The seventies were fun for me, safer days, less red tape and warning signs, protocol and health and safety doctrines to prevent me from having some fun. Gawdy tank tops that were worse than something your own grandmother would knit, seventeen and twenty one inch flared jeans and platform shoes. I didn't ask for much from life. I was truly happy there in my cave capturing seashells, writing my name on the walls, being free of the stigma and shackles of my family life. Seventy three and David Bowie was in the charts with 'Life on Mars' reissued on orange labelled RCA vinyl from 'Hunky Dory' a couple of years earlier. I can recall the excitement of each new single he released and the aroma of the freshly cut vinyl. I used to grab the Hoover and sing into the handle, miming badly, just a stupid nine year old doing dumb assed things. Johnny, aged sixteen, now spent most of his time at he shop, attending to the jobs that my father gave to him whilst Mother worked part time at the local Infant school to break the tedium of her monotonous existence, taking crafty G&T's each afternoon from the Gordon's bottle hidden oh so neatly behind the front room book cabinet in the little darkened recess, and flirting for attention with the PE teacher at the school.

 

The beatings continued along with the humiliation and name calling and Johnny always came out of any shit he landed in, smelling sweetly of roses, whilst I could do no right, it seemed at the time. But I had my cave and my little boat, and trinkets that I had moved there in sealed plastic bags that made my cave feel personal and home. But things can change in the blink of an eye I guess. What once seemed rock solid and so exquisitely personal can be laid bare, ruined, broken up in front of you in the blink of an eye, and I should have know that my big brother would seek to dominate and destroy all that I held secret and dear even though he had everything in life that he could possibly desire, including a stupid sibling as his fall guy.

 

Standing here now, almost forty years after the events of that fateful day, eyes surveying the confines of the outer section of my little cave with the same wonderment and wide eyes excitement as back then when I was no more than a snotty kid, I feel a certain numbness to the whole sequence of events, a detachment from reality almost as deep and abiding as the attachment I felt with my own family as I grew to dislike and despise them for how they treated me. Resigned acceptance, belligerent disregard, blatant indifference and the turning of the cheek to my requests to be heard, to be loved, to be wanted. I'm transported back to August 25th nineteen seventy three, me in my polkadot swimming trunks, standing here with Johnny ahead of me laughing and teasing me, aggressive stance and hands that slapped my face so hard I think I can still feel the sting, even now. He'd followed me and discovered my secret and now sought to destroy everything that was precious to me. I screamed in pain, tears streaming down my face, yelling that he'd never get to my comfort spot as I dived into the water and began to navigate the precarious channel through the rocks that lead to my personal Utopia of sand and memories.

 

Precarious, yes. But not to the sinuous flesh of a nine year old who had made that perilous journey through the seaweed that grappled and grabbed at my ankles each and every time, and the sharp bend in the jagged rocks where I almost turned back on myself and down through a gulley to the light of the cave end. The as larger framed and older boy with a lack of navigational skills, such distractions might snag and obscure, a t-shirt might perhaps snag on a jutting rock, and air and water mingle and mix in lungs that were ill prepared for being immersed so long as limbs flailed and tried desperately to free themselves.

 

I never really meant to cause Johnny any real harm. Nor did I actually kill him. The water did that as his lungs filled and he swallowed more than he could expel, nostrils drowning as his eyes bulged and his body became lifeless as it was impaled upon the gulley, a host of spider crabs witness to his final demise, the final crowd of crustaceans that he played out to. A terrible accident, a fluke as two brothers played in a cave, a distraught father who's entire world came crashing down around him that glorious August day and a mother too drunk and scented in sex as she lay in the arms of her lover to comprehend the death of her beloved eldest son until she'd sobered up well enough to grieve and realise just how little she liked this mess of a life.

 

Forty seven and lined with life's journey on these feature both physically and emotionally. This homecoming is of pleasure and pain as I retrace the footsteps of my childhood to this little cave that saved me from the madness and delivered me from the pain of life itself. The little shop has long since gone, changed hands, façade repainted, wood replaced with double glazing and plastic and now a boutique selling hand mad flower power bags that hark back to the era of my birth. My parents are marked by respectful headstones though I only visited once, maybe twice. Flowers for the dead seems such a waste of beauty and life to me, and it's not as though they get the benefit of the damn things, is it. The water still sits in the rear of the cave, and I have half a mind to dive in and swim through that gulley to remember my past, but I know that these old limbs would struggle somewhat these days. Times change, memories soften and the bitterness and acrimonious feelings are eroded like the sea to jagged rock faces, all smoothed and appealing.

 

I smile wryly as I recount the events that fateful day. Yeah, sure, fate played her part all right, and I'm grateful to her for my salvation. You know, Johnny played to the crowds, and then some. He could have had it all if not for his greed and insecurities, his hatred of the runt created in the heat of a passion that was a lie, so shallow and unworthy of his cruellest intentions. And me? I'm all grown up and doing just fine now with the money salvaged from the sale of the family business, a wife and kids who love me and I love back in oceans of touch and words. Just look at that little runt now.........

 

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Written April 11th 2011

 

Photograph taken on April 10th 2011 in Botany Bay, Broadstairs, Kent, England

 

Nikon D700 14mm 1/100s f/16.0 iso200

 

Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF, UV filter

 

the small bullet that came out of the shadows & cast long shadow & help start the Great War WW1. It was close to this size

But a lot od detail work done

7/8