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Digging stuff in a 1950s dump, the Silverwood's Cream Top quarts are hard to find intact since they're almost always broken, these 2 have painted logos and the second I go to clean them it will all wash off, same for the Crush bottle. The Royal Milk Guelph pint I'm quite happy with though, the crude bluish clay marble I'm 99% sure is a Bennington circa 1890.
fragments of bone, wood, metal, ceramic and glass unearthed during recent cellar renovations in an historic, early 19th century residence (la maison Taché) in Montmagny, QC.
It am the weekend again, but after a week off, so one belnds smoothly into the other.
And next week I have a four day trip to the Isle of Wight for work, which will do me good too.
Not much planned for the day, once shopping was done. And I do that as Jools is still coughing and so did not want to go round the supermarket coughing like that.
So, I d the week's shop, though not much needed as I will be away four days, so I am back with three bags of shopping, and we have the usual Saturday breakfast of fruit followed by bacon sandwiches.
Posting shots on other social media showed me many churches had to be revisited. Just about the last one to be thus revisited was Minster-in-Thanet, as the album had 55 shots from two previous visits, and I thought such a large and imposing church deserved more.
So, it was a quiet drive over to Sandwich, taking the bypass round Stonar, then turning off at the delightfully named Sevenscore for the drive along the back lanes into Minster, passing by the Abbey, outside of which was an actual nun, all dressed in cowl and long black gown.
A little further on is St Mary, and parking is easy just outside the churchyard, and although it looked locked, the west door under the tower was unlocked, and inside there were no others inside, so I had it to myself.
I had hoped I had missed whole or fragments of glass, but there was none to be seen, some nice arts and crafts ones of Queen Bertha, which I record. I think I snap everything, so after half an hour we are done.
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Minster Abbey on the Isle of Thanet was founded in AD 669 by Domneva, niece of King Erconbert of Kent. The enormous parish church, built some distance to the south-west of the abbey, dates from two distinct periods. The nave is Norman, a magnificent piece of twelfth-century arcading with tall cylindrical pillars. The chancel and transepts are thirteenth century, with a three-light east window, each one double shafted inside. This end of the church has a simple stone vaulted ceiling which adds greatly to the grandeur. The glass is by Thomas Willement and dates from 1861. Ewan Christian restored the church in 1863 and added vaulted ceilings to the transepts. They had been intended by the medieval designers, but were never built. There is a set of eighteen fifteenth-century stalls with misericords and an excellent sixteenth-century font and cover.
kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Minster+in+Thanet
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MINSTER.
THE next parish to Monkton eastward is Minster, antiently written both Mynstre, and Menstre, being so named from the Saxon word Minstre, signifying a church or monastery. It is divided into two boroughs, viz. Way Borough and Street Borough; the former of which lies on the ascent on the northern side of the street; the latter contains the street and church, with the southern part of the parish.
THIS PARISH is about three miles and an half from east to west, and near as much from north to south. The farms in it are perhaps as large as in any other parish in this county; the occupiers of which are, in general, men of considerable ability. The west part of this parish is bounded by a lynch or balk, which goes quite across the island to Westgate, called St. Mildred's Lynch, an account of which has already been given before, and which is the bounds of this manor from that of Monkton, as well as of the parish. This lynch has formerly been much broader than it is now, many of the farmers, who occupy lands bounding on or near it, having through a coveteous humour, not only dug up the mould or top of it, to lay on their land, but in some places have ploughed upon it. Too many instances of this kind are practised in other places, not only of this island, but of the county in general, so that there is scarce a remembrance left where those balks or lynches have been; such has the greedy avarice of the occupiers been, and this is one instance of the ill consequence of the neglect of the courts leet and baron. The village of Minster lies nearly in the centre of it, on low ground at the foot of the high lands, having the church on the south side of it; northward of the village it rises to high land, being a fine open champion country of uninclosed corn land, on which are situated Minster mill, Allan Grange, and Powcies, the latter at the extremity of the parish, close to which was, till lately, a small grove of oaks, the only one in this island. Lower down, about a mile southward, is Thorne manor, and beyond that Sevenscore farm. At the south-eastern extremity of the parish, and partly in St. Laurence, is Cliffsend, or Clyvesend, so called from its being at the end of the cliff, which extends from Ramsgate; it was antieutly a part of the estate of St. Augustine's monastery, and is called by Thorne in his Chronicle, the manor of Clyvesend. Here are now two considerable farms besides cottages.
About a mile and an half south-east from Minster church, is Ebbsfleet, formerly called by the various names of Hipwines, Ippeds, and Wipped's fleet; this seems to have been a usual place of landing from the ocean in this island; here it is said Hengist and Horsa, the two Saxon generals, first landed with their forces, about the year 449. Here St. Augustine, often called the Apostle of the English, first landed, in the year 596; and here too St. Mildred, of whom mention has been made likewise before, first landed from France, where she had been for instruction in the monastic life; and not many years ago there was a small rock at this place, called St. Mildred's rock, where, on a great stone, her footstep was said, by the monkish writers, to have remained impressed. (fn. 1) Below the church of Minster, southward, is the large level of marshes, called Minster level, at the southern extremity of which runs the river Stour, formerly the Wantsume, which, as has already been noticed before, was antiently of a much greater depth and width than it is at present, flowing up over the whole space of this level, most probably almost to the church-yard fence, being near a mile and an half distance; but the inning of the salts by the landholders, which had been in some measure deserted by the waters of the Wantsume at different places, so far lessened the force of the tide, and of the river waters mixing with it, that it occasioned the sands to increase greatly near this place, where it was at length entirely choaked up, so that a wall of earth was made by the abbot of St. Augustine, since called the Abbot's wall, to prevent the sea at high water overslowing the lands, which now comprehend this great level of marshes, at present under the direction and management of the commissioners of sewers for the district of East Kent. A part of these marsh lands have been much improved by means of shortening the course of the river Stour to the sea, by the cut at Stonar, which lets off the superfluous water in wet seasons with greater expedition, and a very valuable tract of near two hundred acres has been lately inclosed by a strong wall from the sea near Ebbs-fleet. Between the above-mentioned wall and the river Stour lie a great many acres of land, which the inhabitants call the salts, from their being left without the wall, and subject to the overflowing of the tide, so long as it continued to flow all around this island. Over against the church is a little creek, which seems to have been the place antiently called Mynstrefleet, into which the ships or vessels came, which were bound for this place. As a proof of this, there was found some years ago in a dyke bounding on this place, in digging it somewhat deeper than usual, some fresh coals, which very probably had fallen aside some lighter or boat in taking them out of it. (fn. 2)
I ought not to omit mentioning, that on the downs on the north part of this parish, where the old and present windmills were placed, is a prospect, which perhaps is hardly exceeded in this part of the kingdom. From this place may be seen, not only this island and the several churches in it, one only excepted; but there is a view at a distance, of the two spires of Reculver, the island of Sheppy, the Nore, or mouth of the river Thames, the coast of Essex, the Swale, and the British channel; the cliffs of Calais, and the kingdom of France; the Downs, and the town of Deal, the bay and town of Sandwich, the fine champion country of East Kent, the spires of Woodnesborough and Ash, the ruins of Richborough castle, the beautiful green levels of Minister, Ash, &c. with the river Stour winding between them; the fine and stately tower of the cathedral of Canterbury, and a compass of hills of more than one hundred miles in extent, which terminate the sight.
In the marshes on the south of this parish, there was found in 1723, an antique gold ring; on the place of the seal, which seemed to represent an open book, was engraved on one side an angel, seemingly kneeling, and on the other side a woman standing with a glory round her head; on the woman's side was engraved in old English characters, bone; on that of the angel, letters of the same character, but illegible. A fair is kept in this village on a Good Friday for pedlary and toys.
By the return made to the council's letter, by archbishop Parker's order, in the year 1563, there were then computed to be in this parish fifty-three housholds. By an exact account taken of Minster in 1774, there were found to be in this parish one hundred and forty-nine houses, and six hundred and ninety-six inhabitants; of the houses, sixteen were farm-houses, and one hundred and thirty three were inhabited by tradesmen, labourers, and widows.
THE MANOR and ABBEY OF MINSTER was antiently called Thaket manor, and continued so till, from the foundation of the abbey or minster within it, it acquired the name of the manor of Minster, though in the survey of Domesday, taken in the year 1080, it is still called Tanet manor, Kar exoxnv; but I have met with it no where else so late by that name.
This manor was in the year 670 in the possession of Egbert, king of Kent, whose two nephews Ethelred and Ethelbright, sons of his father's elder brother Ermenfride, deceased, (who left likewise two daughters, Ermenburga, called also Domneva, married to Merwald, son of Penda, king of Mercia, and Ermengitha, were left to his care, under promise of their succeeding to the kingdom. These princes were kept under the inspection of one Thunnor, a flattering courtier, who persuaded the king to have them murdered, left they should disturb him in the possession of the throne; which Thunnor undertook and perpetrated. To expiate this crime, the king, by the advice of archbishop Theodore, and Adrian, abbot of St. Augustine's, sent to Domneva, who had taken the vow of chastity on her, to offer her any satisfaction for this crime, when, as an atonement, she requested of the king, according to the custom of those times, to grant her a place in Tenet, where she might build a monastery to their memory, with a sufficient maintenance, in which she, with her nuns, might continually pray for the king's forgiveness, who immediately by his charter, which concludes with a singular curse on the infringers of it, (fn. 3) granted her for the endowment of it full one half of this island, being the eastern part of it, comprehended within the bounds of this manor, and since separated from the western part of the island and manor of Monkton, by a broad bank or lynch, made quite across the island, since called St. Mildred's Lynch, and remaining at this day.
The story of this grant, as told by Thorn, a native of this parish, and a monk of St. Augustine's monastery, in his chronicle of that abbey, is, that Egbert granting Domneva's petition, demanded of her how much land she desired; who replied, as much as her deer could run over at one course; this being granted, the deer was let loose at Westgate, in Birchington, in the presence of the king, his nobles, and a great concourse of people. Among them was Thunnor, the petrator of the murder, who, ridiculing the king for the lavishness of his gift and the method of its decision, endeavoured by every means to obstruct the deer's course, both by riding across and meeting it; but Heaven, continues the chronicler, being offended at his impiety, whilst he was in the midst of his career, the earth opened and swallowed him up, leaving the name of Tunnor's-leap, or Thunor's hyslepe, to the ground and place where he fell, to perpetuate the memory of his punishment, though it was afterwards called Heghigdale. Meanwhile the deer having made a small circle eastward, directed its course almost in a strait line south-westward across the island from one side to the other, running over in length and breadth forty-eight plough-lands; and the king, immediately afterwards delivered up to Domneva the whole tract of land which the deer had run over.
This tract or course of the deer, which included above ten thousand acres of some of the best lands in Kent, is said to have been marked out by the broad bank, or lynch, across the island, since called St. Mildred's Lynch, thrown up in remembrance of it; (fn. 4) but notwithstanding this well-invented story of Thorn, it is more probable that this lynch was made to divide the two capital manors of Minster and Monkton, before this gift to Domneva.
Puteus Thunor, (or Thunor's leap) says the annalist of St. Augustine's monastery, apparet prope Cursum Cervi juxta Aldelond; and the place where the king stood to see this course is represented to be by it, where formerly was a beacon, it being some of the highest land hereabouts, where the king might see the course. This Puteus Thunor, or Thunorslep, is very plainly the old chalk pit, called Minster chalk-pit, which its not unlikely was first sunk when the abbey and church here were built, and the bottom of it in process of time, being overgrown with grass, gave occasion for the invention of this sable of Thunor's being swallowed up by the earth at this place. The name of Thunorslep has been long since obliterated, and even the more modern one of Heghigdate has been long forgotten. Weever says, he lieth buried under an heap of stones, which to that day was called Thunniclam.
Domneva being thus furnished with wealth and all things necessary, founded, in honor of the B.V. Mary, a monastery, or cloyster of nuns, afterwards called ST. MILDRED'S ABBEY, on part of this land, on the south side of the island near the water, in the same placewhere the present parochial church stands. Archbishop Theodore, at the instance of Domneva, consecrated the church of it, and she afterwards appointed the number of nuns to be seventy, and was appointed by the archbishop, the first abbess of it; she died here and was buried on the glebe of the new monastery. Ermengitha, her sister, was after her death sainted, and lived with Domneva, in the abbey here, where she died, and was buried in a place about a mile eastward of it, where the inhabitants have found numbers of bones, and where it is probable, she built some chapel or oratory. In a field or marsh called the twenty acres, a little more than a quarter of a mile eastward of the church of Minster, are several foundations, as if some chapel or oratory had been built there. (fn. 5)
Domneva was succeeded as abbess by her daughter Mildred, who was afterwards sainted. She is said to have been buried in this church. On her death Edburga succeeded in the government of this monastery, who finding it insufficient for so great a number of nuns, built another just by, larger and more stately, which was consecrated by archbishop Cuthbert, and dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul; and to this church she, about the year 750, removed the body of St. Mildred, at whose tomb many miracles were said to be wrought afterwards. Edburga was buried at Minster in her own new church, and was afterwards sainted. She was succeeded as abbess of this monastery by Sigeburga. In her time was the first depredation of the Danes in Thanet; who sell upon the people, laid every thing waste, and pludered the religious in this monastery; from this time they continued their ravages throughout this island almost every year; hence by degrees, this monastery fell to decay, and the nuns decreased in number, being vexed with grief and worn down with poverty, by the continual insults of these merciless pirates, who landed in this island in 978, and entirely destroyed by fire this monastery of St. Mildred, in which the clergy and many of the people were shut up, having fled thither for sanctuary; but they were, together with the nuns, all burnt to death, excepting Leofrune the abbess, who is said to have been carried away prisoner.
The Danes, however, spared the two chapels of St. Mary, and of St. Peter and St. Paul, in one of which divine service was afterwards performed, for the inhabitants of this parish and the adjoining neighbourhood. The antient scite of the monastery, together with this manor, and all the rest of the possessions of it remained in the king's hands, and they continued so till king Cnute, in the year 1027, gave the body of St. Mildred, together with the antient scite of the monastery, this manor and all its land within this island and without, and all customs belonging to this church, to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, which gift was confirmed by king Edward the Confessor. (fn. 6)
The abbot and convent of St. Augustine becoming thus possessed of this manor, fitted up the remains of the abbey to serve as the court-lodge of it; accordingly it has ever since borne the name of Minstercourt. In the survey of Domesday, taken in the 15th year of the Conqueror's reign, anno 1080, this manor is thus described, under the general title of Terra æcclæ Sci Augustini, the land of the church of St. Augustine.
In Tanet hundred. St. Mildred's.
The abbot himself holds Tanet manor, which was taxed at forty-eight sulings. The arable land is sixty-two carucates. In demesne there are two, and one hundred and fifty villeins, with fifty borderers having sixty-three carucates. There is a church and one priest, who gives twenty shillings per annum. There is one salt-pit and two fisheries of three pence, and one mill.
In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth four times twenty pounds, when the abbot received it forty pounds, now one hundred pounds.
Of this manor three knights hold so much of the land of the villeins as is worth nine pounds, when there is peace in the land, and there they have three carucates.
After which king Henry I. granted to the monastery of St. Augustine, about the 4th of his reign, a market, to be yearly held within this their manor of Minster, with all customs, forseitures, and pleas; which was confirmed among other liberties by Edward III. in his 36th year, by inspeximus.
King Henry III. in his 54th year, anno 1270, granted to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, free-warren in all their demesne lands of Minster. (fn. 7) King Edward II. in his 6th year, confirmed to the abbot free-warren in this manor among others, and next year anno 1313, in the iter of H. de Stanton and his sociates, justices itinerant, the abbot, upon a quo warranto, claimed and was allowed sundry liberties therein mentioned, in this manor, among others, and likewise free-warren in all his demesne lands of it, view of frank pledge, and wreck of the sea; one market weekly on a Friday, and one fair yearly on the eve and day of St. Mildred the Virgin, and other liberties therein mentioned; as having been granted and confirmed by divers of the king's predecessors, and allowed in the last iter of J. de Berewick and his sociates, justices itinerant; and that king Edward II. by his charter in his 6th year had sully confirmed all of them, and by the register of this monastery, of about this time, it appears that this manor had within its court the same liberties as those of Chistlet and Sturry. King Edward III. in his 5th year, exempted the abbot's homagers and tenants of this, among other of their manors, from their attendance at the sheriff's tourne, and afterwards by his charter of inspeximus in his 36th year, confirmed to this abbey all the manors and possessions given to it by former kings; and by another charter, the several grants of liberties and confirmations made by his predecessors, among which were those abovementioned; and king Henry VI. afterwards confirmed the same.
Next year the abbot and his servants taking distresses on their tenants of this manor, the tenants, to the number of six hundred, met and continued together for the space of five weeks, having got with them a greater number of people, who coming armed with bows and arrows, swords and staves, to the court of this manor and that of Salmanstone, belonging likewise to the abbot, laid siege to them, and after several attacks set fire to the gates of them. For fear of these violences, the monks and their servants at Salmanstone kept themselves confined there for fifteen days, so that the people enraged at not being able to encompass their ends in setting fire to the houses, destroyed the abbot's ploughs and husbandry utensils, which were in the fields; and cut down and carried away the trees on both these manors.
At the same time they entered into a confederacy and raised money here by tallages and assessments, by means of which they drew to them no small number of others of the cinque ports, who had nothing to lose, so that the abbot dared not sue for justice in the king's courts; but a method it seems was found to punish these rioters, or at least the principal of them, who were fined to the abbot for these damages six hundred pounds, a vast sum in those days, and were imprisoned at Canterbury till the fine was paid. The uneasiness of the tenants under such respective suits and services, seems to have occasioned the abbot and convent to have compounded with them, which they did in the year 1441, anno 20 Henry VI. By this composition the abbot and convent agreed, that the tenants should not in future be distrained for the rents and services they used to pay; but instead of them should pay compositions for every acre of the land called Cornegavel and Pennygavel, (fn. 8) which composition for the Cornegavel and Pennygavel land, continues in force at this time, being sixpence an acre now paid for the Cornegavel land.
In the time of king Richard II. this manor, with its rents and other appurtenances, was valued among the temporalities of the abbot and convent, at 232l. 4s. 3d. per annum; and the quantity of land belonging to it was by admeasurement 2149 acres and one rood.
In which state this manor continued till the final dissolution of the abbey of St. Augustine, which happened in the 30th year of Henry VIII. when it was surrendered, together with the rest of the possessions of the monastery, into the king's hands; at which time the manor and rents were of the value of 276l. yearly. (fn. 9) After which, the see of this manor, with the antient court-lodge of it, formerly the monastery, and then called Minster-court, with all the lands and appurtenances belonging to it, continued in the crown, till king James I. in his 9th year, by his letters patent, granted to Sir Philip Cary, William Pitt, esq. afterwards knighted; and John Williams, citizen and goldsmith of London, this lordship and manor of Menstre, with its rights, members, and appurtenances, late parcel of St. Augustine's monastery, except and reserved to the king's use, all advowsons and patronages of churches, chapels, &c. belonging to this manor; and he granted likewise all the rents of assize called Cornegavel land, in the parish of St. John, parcel of this manor; and the rents of assize of free tenement called Pennygavel land, in the parishes of St. Peter and St. Laurence, (fn. 10) to hold the manor, with its right, members and appurtenances, of the king, as of his manor of East Greenwich, by sealty only, in free and common socage, and not in capite, nor by knight's service; and to hold the rents of assize of the king in capite, by the service of one knight's fee; which grant and letters patent were conconfirmed by an act specially passed for the purpose, that year.
Some years after which, the heirs of the beforementioned Sir Philip Carey and John Williams, then Sir John Williams, bart. of Carmarthenshire, divided this estate; in which division, the manor itself with the court-lodge, part of the demesne lands, royalties, and appurtenances, was allotted to Sir John Williams, bart. (who died in 1668, and was buried in the Temple church, London); whose descendant of the same name, bart. of Carmarthenshire, dying without male issue, his daughter and sole heir, then the widow of the earl of Shelburne, carried it in marriage, at the latter end of king Charles II.'s reign, to Col. Henry Conyngham, afterwards a major-general in king William's reign, who died possessed of it in 1705. He left two sons, William and Henry, and a daughter Mary, married to Francis Burton, esq. of Clare, in Ireland. William, the eldest son of the general, succeeded him in this manor and estate in Minster, but died without surviving issue, upon which this estate descended to Henry Conyngham, esq. his younger brother, second son of the general, who was in 1753, anno 27 George II. created baron Conyngham, of Mount Charles, in Donegall, in Ireland; and afterwards by further letters patent, in 1756, viscount Conyngham, of the same kingdom; and again in 1780, earl Conyngham, and likewise baron Conyngham, of the same kingdom, with remainder of the latter title to his sister's sons. He married Ellen, only daughter of Solomon Merret, esq. of London, by whom he had no issue. He died s.p. in 1781, and was succeeded in his title of baron Conyngham by his nephew Francis Pierpoint Burton Conyngham, eldest son of his sister Mary, by her husband Francis Burton, esq. above-mentioned, which Francis, lord Conyngham, died in 1787, leaving by his wife Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Nathaniel Clements, esq. and sister of Robert, lord Leitrim, (who survived him) two sons, Henry, who succeeded him in title, and Nathaniel, and three daughters, Catherine married to the Rev. John Shirley Fermor, of Sevenoke; Ellen, to Stewart Weldon, esq. and Henrietta.
Henry, so succeeding his father as lord Conyngham, was created in December 1789, viscount Conyngham and baron Conyngham, of Mount Charles, in Donegall, to whom the inheritance of this manor and estate now belongs; but the possession of it for life is vested in the right hon. Ellen, countess dowager Conyngham; widow of Henry, earl Conyngham, above-mentioned. The arms of lord viscount Conyngham are, Argent, a shake-sork, between three mullets, sable. Supporters. The dexter—An horse charged on the breast with an eagle, displayed, or, maned and hoofed of the last. The sinister—A buck proper, charged on the breast with a griffin's head, erased, or, attired and unguled of the last. Crest—Anunicorn's head erased, argent, armed and maned, or. Motto—Over fork over.
A court leet and court baron is held for this manor, by the stile of the courtleet, and view of frank pledge, for the manor of Minster, in the hundred of Ringslow, alias Tenet, and the court baron for the said manor.
The court-lodge, formerly a part of the nunnery, was, after the dissolution of it, made use of as a farmhouse, in which some of the monks of St. Augustine resided, to manage the estate of it, which they kept in their own hands. On the north side of it, which seems to have been the front or entrance, is a handsome stone portal, on the top of which, in the middle, within a circle, are the arms of the abbey of St. Augustine, viz. Sable, a cross, argent. At a small distance from it stood antiently a very large barn, sufficient to hold the corn growing on all the demesnes, being in length 352 feet, and in breadth 47 feet, and the height of the walls 12 feet, with a roof of chesnut. When the estate was divided, 154 feet in length of this building was carried to Sevenscore farm, where it was burnt, by an accident unknown in 1700, and the remaining part here was burnt by lightning afterwards. On the south side of the house stood a chapel, said to have been built by St. Eadburga, the third abbess here. In it the body of St. Mildred is said to have been placed by her, or rather translated from the other monastery. Some of the walls and foundations of this chapel were remaining within the memory of some not long since deceased, but it is now so entirely demolished, that there is nothing to be seen of it, excepting a small part of the tower, and of the stairs leading up into it. Just by these ruins of the tower is a small piece of ground, in which lately in digging for mould, several human bones were dug up. There is a view of the remains of this nunnery in Lewis's Thanet.
THE OTHER PART of this estate, the scite of which lies about a mile eastward from Minster-court, since known by the name of SEVENSCORE, on which is built a substantial farm-house, with large barns and other necessary buildings, was allotted to —Carey, in whose successors viscounts Falkland, this estate continued down to Lucius Ferdinand, viscount Falkland, who not many years since alienated it to Josiah Wordsworth, esq. of London, whose son of the same name died possessed of it about the year 1784, leaving two sisters his coheirs, one of whom married Sir Charles Kent, bart. and the other, Anne, married Henry Verelst, esq. who afterwards, in right of their respective wives, became possessed of this estate in undivided moieties; in which state it still continues, Sir Charles Kent being at this time entitled to one moiety, and Mrs. Verelst, the widow of Henry Verelst, esq. above-mentioned, who died in 1785, and lies buried in this church, being entitled to the other moiety of it.
WASCHESTER is an estate lying at a small distance westward from Minster church, part of which was formerly parcel of the demesnes of the manor of Minster, and was included in king James's grant to Sir Philip Carey, William Pitt, esq. and John Williams, goldsmith, as has been mentioned before in the account of that manor; they in the year 1620, joined in the sale of them to Jeffry Sandwell, gent. of Monkton, who purchased other lands of different persons in this parish, Monkton and Birchington, the whole of which he sold in 1658, to John Peters, M. D. Philip le Keuse, and Samuel Vincent, which two latter alienated their shares soon afterwards to Dr. Peters; at which time all these lands together, not only comprehended Waschester farm, but likewise part, if not the whole of another called Acol. From Dr. Peters this estate descended to Peter Peters, M. D. of Canterbury, who died in 1697, upon which the inheritance of it descended to his sole daughter and heir Elizabeth, who in 1722 carried it in marriage to Thomas Barrett, esq. of Lee, whose second wife she was; he died possessed of it in 1757, upon which it descended to their only daughter and heir Elizabeth, who entitled her husband, the Rev. William Dejovas Byrche, to the fee of it. He died in 1792, leaving an only daughter Elizabeth, married to Samuel Egerton Brydges, esq. of the Middle Temple, barrister-atlaw, but now of Denton-court, who in her right possessed it, and afterwards sold it to Mr. Ambrose Maud, who now owns it.
SHERIFFS COURT is an estate lying somewhat less than a mile westward from Waschester, in the hamlet of Hoo in this parish; it was formerly called Sheriffs Hope, from the hope, or place of anchorage for ships, which sailed in the river Wantsume, which once ran close by this place. It is said by some to have taken its name from its having been part of the possessions of Reginald de Cornhill, who was so long sheriff of this county that he lost his own name and took that of Le Sheriff, from whence this place gained the name of Sheriffs hope, or court. He was sheriff from the 4th to the 9th years of king Richard I. in the last year of that reign and during the whole reign of king John. His arms are on the stone roof of the cloysters at Canterbury, being Two lions passant, debruised of a bendlet, impaling three piles. After this name was extinct here, the family of Corbie became possessed of this estate; one of whom, Robert de Corbie, died possessed of it in the 39th year of king Edward III. whose son Robert Corbie, esq. of Boughton Malherb, leaving a sole daughter and heir Joane, she carried it in marriage to Sir Nicholas Wotton, who, anno 3 Henry V. was lord mayor of London. His descendant Sir Edward Wotton procured his lands in this county to be disgavelled by the acts both of 31 Henry VIII. and 2 and 3 Edward VI. and from him this manor descended to Thomas, lord Wotton, who dying anno 6 Charles I. without male issue, his four daughters became his coheirs, of whom Catherine the eldest carried this estate in marriage to Henry, lord Stanhope, son and heir of Philip, earl of Chesterfield, whose widow Catherine, lady Stanhope, sold it to Henry Paramor. He was the tenant and occupier of Sheriff's court, being the eldest son of John Paramor, of Preston, the grandson of Thomas Paramor, of Paramor-street, in Ash, near Sandwich. They bore for their arms, Azure, a fess embattled, counter embairled, between three etoils of six points, or. (fn. 11) . He left it to his brother Thomas Paramor, whose grandson of the same name died possessed of it in 1652, and was buried with his ancestors in this church; from his heirs this estate was alienated to Thatcher, in which name it continued, till at length it was sold by one of them, to Mr. Robert Wilkins, gent. of St. Margaret's, Rochester, who possessed it for many years. He died without issue, and it has since become the property of Mrs. Terry, the present owner of it.
TO THIS MANOR is appurtenant the small MANOR OF PEGWELL, or COURT STAIRS, in the parish of St. Laurence.
ALDELOND GRANGE, usually called Allen Grange, situated about a mile northwardfrom Minster church, on the open high land, was so called in opposition to Newland Grange, in St. Laurence parish. It was antiently part of the possessions of the abbey of St. Augustine, and was in the year 1197, assigned by Roger, the abbot of it, to the sacristy of the abbey, for the purpose of upholding and maintaining the abbey church, as well in the fabric as ornaments, but on the condition that the sacrist for the time being, should perform all such services to the court of Minster as were due, and had been accustomed to be done for the land of it. (fn. 12)
The measurement of this land, according to Thorne, amounted to sixty-two acres; and to this Grange belong all the tithes of corn and grain, within the limits of the borough of Wayborough, excepting those which are received by the vicar. On the dissolution of the abbey of St. Augustine, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. this estate, then amounting to six score acres, came, with the rest of the possessions of the monastery, into the king's hands, where it did not continue long, for he settled it in his 33d year, by his dotation charter, on his new founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, with whom the inheritance of it continues at this time.
It has been demised by the dean and chapter, on a beneficial lease, the rack rent of it being 413l. per annum, for twenty one years, to Mr. Edward Pett, of Cleve-court, the present lessee of it. Messrs. Jessard and Paramor are the under lessees and occupiers of it.
POWCIES, which stands about half a mile northeastward from Allan grange, was formerly a gentleman's mansion, a large handsome building standing on much more ground than it does at present, with a gate house at the entrance into the court before it; all which being pulled down, a modern farm-house of brick has been built on the antient scite of it.
This seat was once in the possession of the family of Goshall, of Goshall, in Ash, where Sir John Goshall resided in king Edward III.'s reign, and in his descendants it continued till about the reign of king Henry IV. when it was carried in marriage by a female heir to one of the family of St. Nicholas, owners likewise of the adjoining manor of Thorne, in whom it continued down to Roger St. Nicholas, who died in 1484, leaving a sole daughter and heir Elizabeth, who entitled her husband John Dynley, of Charlton, in Worcestershire, to the possession of it. By her he had two sons, Henry and Edward, the eldest of whom succeeded to this estate, which he afterwards alienated, about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, to John Roper, esq. of Linsted, afterwards knighted, and anno 14 James I. created baron of Teynham; whose great grandson Christopher, lord Teynham, in king Charles I.'s reign, conveyed it to Sir Edward Monins, bart. of Waldershare, who died possessed of it in 1663, leaving Elizabeth his widow surviving, who held it in jointure at her death in 1703; upon which it devolved to the heirs and trustees of Susan, his eldest daughter and coheir, late wife of Peregrine Bertie, deceased, second son of Montague, earl of Lindsey; and they, in the reign of king William and queen Mary, joined in the sale of it to Sir Henry Furnese, bart. of Waldershare, who died possessed of it in 1712, as did his son Sir Robert in 1733. After which it became, with his other estates, vested in his three daughters and coheirs, and on a partition of them, anno 9 George II. this estate of Powcies was wholly allotted, among others, to Anne the eldest sister, wife of John, viscount St. John, which partition was confirmed by an act passed next year; after which it descended down to their grandson George, viscount Bolingbroke, who in 1790 alienated it to Mr. Henry and John Harnett, the present possessors of it.
THORNE, or as it is vulgarly called, Thourne, is a manor in this parish, situated about a mile southward from Powcies above mentioned, being so named from the quantity of thorny bushes growing on and about it. This manor was antiently the seat of a family which took their name from it, one of them, Henry de Thorne, was owner of it in the year 1300, anno 29 Edward I. and resided here; against whom it seems complaint was made to the abbot of St. Augustine, that he caused mass to be publicly said in his private oratory, or chapel, (the remains of which are still so entire as to be made use of as a granary, &c.) at this his manor of Thorne, (apud spinam) to the prejudice of the mother church, and the ill example of others; and he accordingly was inhibited from so doing in future, by the archbishop's letters to the vicar of Minster, dated that year. And under the cross in this church, in the north wall of it, is an antient tomb or coffin of solid stone, let into the wall under an arch of antient Saxon ornaments. On the stone which covers the tomb is a cross flory, on each side of which are two blank shields, and round the edge of the stone these words in old French letters: Ici gift Edile de Thorne, que fust Dna del Espine. This seems probable to have been one of the family, owners of this manor.
After this family of Thorne were become extinct here, that of Goshall, of Goshall, in Ash, appear to have been possessors of this manor; in whom it continued till about the reign of king Henry IV. when it went by marriage by a female heir to one of the family of St. Nicholas, in whose descendants it continued down to Roger St. Nicholas, who died in 1474, and as appears by his will, was buried before the image of St. Nicholas, in the chancel of Thorne, at Minster. Roger St. Nicholas, his son and heir, left an only daughter Elizabeth, who entitled her husband John Dynley, esq. of Charlton, in Worcestershire, to the possession of it. After which it continued down in the same owners as Powcies last above-described, till it came into the possession of George, viscount Bolingbroke, who in 1790 alienated it to Mr. Henry Wooton, the present owner of it.
See a custom for the demise of tenements by will within the borough of Menstre, secundum consuetudinem manerii, anno 55 Henry III. Itin. Kanc. rot. 18, in Robinson's Gavelkind, p. 236.
Charities.
THE OCCUPIER of Salmeston Grange, in St. John's parish, is bound by his lease to distribute to six poor inhabitants of the parish of Minster, to be nominated by the minister and churchwardens, in the first week, and on the middle Monday of Lent, to each of them, nine loaves and eighteen herrings; and to three poor people of the same, to each of them, two yards of blanket; and every Monday and Friday in each week, from the Invention of the Holy Cross to the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, to every poor person coming to Salmeston Grange, one dishfull of peas dressed.
THOMAS APPLETON, of Eastry, yeoman, by his will in 1593, gave to the relief of the poor of this parish, the sum of 5l. to be paid to the churchwardens yearly, for the use of the poor people, inhabitants there, fourteen days before Christmas day, the same to be paid out of certain lands belonging to him, called Hardiles, in the parish of Woodnesborough.
RICHARD CLERK, D. D. vicar of Minster, partly by deed in 1625, and partly by will on Nov 6, 1634, gave 120l. to be lent unto four parishioners, born in Minster, whose fathers were deceased, and they not sufficiently stocked, for the term of one, two, or three years, but not exceeding that; the interest arising from it to be divided among the poor of the parish. With this money the trustees purchased houses, which are at present divided into four tenements, besides the parish work-house, called the seoffees houses; and seven other tenements, called Cheap Row, the rent of which is annually distributed in clothing to the poor persons of the parish. They are all at present let to the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, by a lease of 99 years, from 1729, at the rent of 6l. This trust is now vested in Mr. William Fuller, of Doctors Commons, as heir of the last trustee; the trust not having been filled up since the year 1696.
JOHN CAREY, esq of Stanwell, in Middlesex, by will in 1685, gave 10l. per annum to be paid yearly to the churchwardens, out of his farm of Sevenscore; to be disposed of to the poor yearly, on St. Thomas's day.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Westbere.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is a very handsome structure, consisting of a nave and two side isles, a cross sept, and east chancel; the nave is of Saxon, the transept and chancel of gothic architecture; the last is curiously vaulted with stone, and provision was made for the same in the transept, but it was never completed. In it are eighteen collegiate stalis, in good preservation. At the west end of the church is a tall spire steeple, in which is a clock and five bells.
When the Danes plundered and burnt the abbey of Minster, they seem to have spared the two chapels of St. Mary, and of St. Peter and St. Paul, or however the stone work of them was preserved, and not burnt with the roof and other works of timber. The former of these was afterwards made into the present parish church, and has since been considerably enlarged.—The nave or body of the church seems to have been the old building; the pillars of which are thick and short, and the arches all circular, and a low roof was probably upon them, according to the simplicity and plainness of those times; but since the wall has been built higher, as appears by the distance there is, betwixt the top of the arches and the wall plate across; and an handsome chancel added at the east end, and a square tower on the west, with a high spire covered with lead placed on it. The chancel or choir and the middle of the cross are vaulted, and by the footings which are left, it was certainly intended that the whole cross should have been finished in the same manner. The eighteen stalls mentioned before, have very handsome wainscot behind, according to the mode of those times; in these the monks, vicars, and priests used to sit during the performance of divine service. Besides the high altar in this church, there were before the reformation other altars in it, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, St. James, and St. Anne. At these, as likewise before the Holy Cross, were lights constantly burning; for the maintenance of which, there were societies or fellowships, who contributed towards the maintenance of them, and those who died left in their last wills constantly small sums of money for that purpose. Under the middle of the cross was the rood-lost, the going up to which out of the chancel is yet to be seen, as are the mortice holes in which the timbers were put, on which the lost was built. On the north wall of it is the antient tomb of Edile de Thorne. On the pavement, as well as in the church porch, are several large flat gravestones, the inscriptions, if any on them, entirely worn away; they seem very antient, and are not improbably, memorials of some of the religious of this place, but they do not seem always to have lain where they do now. On the front of the tower of the steeple is a shield, carved in the stone work, viz. A fess, between three lion's passant. Among other memorials in this church, in the chancel, is one for Francis, son and heir to Edward Saunders, gent. of Norbourne-court, which Edward married the female heir of Francis Pendrick, esq. by his wife, who was nurse to queen Elizabeth. He died anno 1643; arms, A chevron, between three elephants heads, impaling a saltier, ermine, between three leopards faces. In the middle isle a monument for Bartholomew Sanders, gent. and Mary his wife, daughter of Henry Oxenden, esq. of Wingham; arms, Per chevron, sable and argent, three elephants heads, counterchanged, impaling Oxenden. On a mural monument are the effigies of a man and woman. kneeling at a desk, for Thomas Paramor, esq. sometime mayor of Canterbury, and Anne his first wife; arms, Azure, a fess embattled, between three stars of six points, or, impaling or, on a chevron, three stars of six points, sable, between as many dragons heads, quartered. In the north isle are several memorials for the Paramors. On a wooden frame, near the altar, a memorial for Col. James Pettit, obt. 1730. On the south side of the chancel, a mural monument for Mary, youngest daughter of Robert Knowler, gent. of Herne, wife of John Lewis, vicar of this church, obt. 1719. A memorial for John Lewis, formerly vicar of this church, obt. 1746, æt. 72. A memorial for Elizabeth Blome, daughter and coheir of John Blome, gent. of Sevenoke, obt. 1731; arms, in a lozenge, A cross fitchee, and cinquefoil, quartered with a greybound, current. A mural monument for Harry Verelst, esq. of Aston, in Yorkshire, formerly governor of Bengal, obt. 1785; he married Anne, coheir of Josiah Wordsworth, esq. of Wadworth, in Yorkshire, and of Sevenscore, in this parish, and left by her four sons and five daughters. In the south isle memorials for the Harnetts, Kennetts, and Colemans. In the middle isle are memorials for several of the Jenking's. Leland, in his Itinerary, vol. vii. p. 130 says, S. Florentius jacet in Cemiterio S. Mariæ in Thanet, cujus Tumba Crescit signis. (fn. 13)
On the top of the spire was formerly a globe, and upon that a great wooden cross, covered with lead, over which was a vane, and above that, an iron cross; but about the year 1647, the noted fanatic Richard Culmer, having got the sequestration of this vicarage, took it into his fancy that these were monuments of superstition and idolatry, and got these crosses demolished by two persons of the parish, whom he had hired, after he had himself before day, by moon light, fixed ladders for them to go up and down, from the square of the tower to the top of the spire. But if all the figures of a cross are monuments of idolatry, and to be removed, the poor caitiff has done his work but by halves, or rather not all, when he took down these from the spire and left the church standing, which is itself built in the form of a cross.
The church of Minster was antiently appendant to the manor, and as such was granted with it, first to Domneva, and afterwards became part of the possessions of the abbey founded by her here; and after the destruction of it came with the manor, by king Cnute's grant, to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, to which it became appropriated in the year 1128, anno 29 Henry I. and was at that time assigned, with the chapels of St. John, St. Peter, and St. Laurence, with all rents, tithes, and other things, belonging to them, to the sacristy of that monastery; which regulation was confirmed by archbishop Theobald, and afterwards, in 1168, by pope Alexander, who consigned it to the reparation of the church of the monastery, which had been but just before burnt down. (fn. 14)
In the year 1176, anno 23 Henry II. the tenants of the Halimot, or manor court of Minster, agreed, that from thenceforth they would all cop their corn; and that they and their heirs, then and for ever afterwards, should pay all their tithes lawfully by cops, and all other matters of tithes, which they were accustomed to pay, as amply as they had ever paid them from the time of the dedication of the church of St. Mary of Menstre.
By an agreement entered into in 1182, between the archbishop and the abbot of St. Augustine's, this church was exempted from the payments of all dues and procurations to the archdeacon; and that year the archbishop confirmed this church to the monastery; which agreement was renewed in 1237, by archbishop Edmund; and further, that the abbot and convent should present to the archbishop, in the chapels of St. Peter, St. John, and St. Laurence, fit perpetual chaplains to the altarages in them, provided those altarages were worth ten marcs, with which the chaplains should be content, on pain of forfeiting the same; the vicar of the mother church of Menstre, having a sufficient vicarage taxed from antient time in the same, taking and receiving in right of his vicarage, the tenths of small tithes, viz. of lambs and pigs, and the obventions arising from marriages and churchings, which were forbid at the chapels, and were solemnized, &c. at the mother church only, and the burials of certain corpses, being those of the tenants or occupiers of lands in these chapelries, who were to be buried at Minster, unless the vicar gave leave to the contrary. At the same time the archbishop, with the consent of the archdeacon, confirmed this church to the abbot and convent, together with the several archiepiscopal confirmations of it, and those of the several kings of England. This part above-mentioned of the revenue of the vicarage of Minster, arising from these chapelries, has long since been lost, except that out of Salmestone Grange, amounting to 10s. a year; which, perhaps, might be a composition for the tenths of the small tithes, &c. in them. The altarages above-mentioned were the customary and voluntary offerings at the altar, for some religious office or service of the priest. To augment these, the regular and secular priests invented many things. For it is to be observed, that only a portion of these offerings, to the value of ten marcs, or 6l. 13s. 4d. was what the chaplains of these three chapels were presented to, and that they were accountable for the residue to the abbot and convent, and that if they presumed to detain any more of these offerings beyond that sum, they were to be deprived even of that. For this reason, they were to swear to the abbot and convent, to give a true account of the offerings made at their several altars, on their respective offering days, and in no shape to detriment their parish of Menstre, as to legacies or obventions, personal or predial, but to conserve all the parochial rights of the same, entire and untouched, to the utmost of their power. Then marcs appear now but a small sum for the maintenance of a parish minster; but when the value of money at the time when this composition was made is considered, it will be found to be a handsome and generous allowance to a chaplain, especially as their stipends were then paid by authority; ten marcs were then equal to more than sixty pounds now, and in a council held at Oxford but fifteen years before, it was decreed, that where the churches had a revenue as far as five marcs per annum, they should be conferred on none but such as should constantly reside in person, on the place, as being a sufficient maintenance. In 1348 H. Kinghton informs us, a chaplain's usual stipend was no more than four or five marcs, or two and his board; as for the chaplains of these three chapels, though they were to receive no more than ten marcs of these altarages, they were not excluded the enjoyment of the manses and glebes, given to these chapels when they were first consecrated, which made some addition to their income, and perhaps enabled them to keep a deacon to assist them. (fn. 15)
On the great and principal festivals, the inhabitants of these three chapelries, preceded by their priests and other officers, with their banners, tapers, &c. were used to go in procession to Minster, their mother church, there to join at the solemn mass and other divine service then performed, to make their offerings and pay their accustomed dues, in token of their subjection to their parochial or mother church.
The appropriation of the church of Minster, together with the advowson of the vicarage, continued, in manner as has been already mentioned, with the abbot and convent till the dissolution of their monastery in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. when it was surrendered, together with the rest of the possessions of the monastery, into the king's hands. After the dissolution of the monastery, there could not be said to be any parsonage or appropriation of this church, for the demesne lands of the manor of Minster, which are very extensive in this parish, were subject, as to the tithes of corn, to only a small modus or composition to the vicar, of eighteen shocks or cops of wheat, and eighteen shocks or cops of barley, or thereabouts; and the vicar was intitled, in right of his vicarage, to the corn tithes of the lands in the remaining part of the parish, as will be further noticed hereafter.
When the vicarage of this church was endowed and a vicar instituted, is no where found; but certainly it was before the year 1275; for in the act of consecration of the church or chapel-yard of St. Laurence that year, when that chapel was made parochial, mention is made of the vicar of Menstre, &c. and in the year 1384, anno 8 Richard II. this vicarage was valued at thirty marcs. After the dissolution of the abbey of St. Augustine, the advowson of this vicarage continued in the hands of the crown, till king Edward VI. in his first year, granted it, among other premises, to the archbishop, since which it has continued parcel of the pos sessions of that fee, the archbishop being the present patron of it.
This vicarage is valued in the king's books at 33l. 3s. 4d. and the yearly tenths at 3l. 6s. 8d. In 1588 here were three hundred communicants, and it was valued at 1501. It is endowed with a manse and glebe of about twenty-four acres of land, upland and marsh; all the corn tithes, and other tithes of that part of the parish called Street-borough; and of about one hundred acres in the other borough, called Weyborough, except the corn tithes of the demesnes of the manor of Minster, for which the modus or composition above-mentioned is paid.
¶The land in Minster level, which is pasture, paying but four-pence an acre for tithes, Dr. Richard Clarke, vicar here in 1597, made a composition with his parishioners, by which they obliged themselves to pay him at the vicarage house, within three days after every quarter, after the rate of twelve-pence an acre for their marsh land, or else to lose the benefit of the composition. (fn. 16) Dr. Meric Casaubon, who succeeded Dr. Clarke, would not abide by this composition, but afterwards compounded with the occupiers, at the rate of twelve-pence an acre for the worst of the land, and of fourteen pence and sixteen pence for that which is better; and in the year 1638 he demanded his tithes of the marsh land in kind, or eighteen pence per acre, which was agreed to by the parishioners, and paid by them till the year 1643; when the civil wars being begun, and this county in the power of the parliament, Dr. Casaubon, being continually threatened to be turned out of his vicarage, was content to receive one shilling per acre for the marsh land; in which manner he received it till the end of the year 1644, when this vicarage was sequestered, and one Richard Culmer was put into possession of this vicarage, (fn. 17) who to ingratiate himself with the parishioners, agreed to take no more than twelve pence an acre of them, as did Dr. Casaubon in 1660, on his being restored to this vicarage; at which rate the tithes were afterwards uniformly taken, till the time of the present vicar; the several vicars not being disposed to quarrel with their neighbours, though the land now lets for as much again as it did in Dr. Casaubon's time, viz. at 28s. an acre and upwards. There have been several litigations and issues at law tried between the present vicar, Mr. Dodsworth, and his parishioners, on account of this modus for the marsh land, all which have been decided in the vicar's favor, who set aside the modus of one shilling per acre by the verdict in his favor, and now takes from 1s. 6d. to 2s. 6d. for the grass land, according to its goodness; yet there are ten acres of grass land late in the possession of Josias Fuller Farrer, esq. which never having paid more than four-pence per acre, remain at that composition. The present value of it is about 350l. per annum.
The Burning Tree Mastodon represents the most complete skeleton of American Mastodon ever found. The specimen was discovered on 12 December 1989 by a Flower Excavating Company drag line operator who was digging a new pond on the Burning Tree Golf Course grounds in Heath, southern Licking County, Ohio. The drag line’s shovel caught and damaged the skull. In the following three days, the fossil was excavated during relatively bitter winter cold and blowing winds. Excavation was conducted by the Ohio Historical Society and the Licking County Archaeology & Landmarks Society and volunteers from several organizations.
Locality: grounds of the Burning Tree Golf Course, southern side of Ridgley Tract Road, just west of Lake Drive, south side of Heath, southern Licking County, central Ohio, USA.
The American Mastodon is a extinct species of proboscidean mammal, Mammut americanum (Kerr, 1792) (Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Mammalia, Proboscidea, Mammutidae). The only living proboscideans are the African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) and the Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus) (some researchers have proposed splitting the African Elephant population into two species, Loxodonta africana and Loxodonta cyclotis). Mammut americanum had a widespread distribution during the Pleistocene. Its fossil remains are found from Alaska to Florida, but are most commonly encountered in eastern America. Average statistics reported for the American Mastodon are: ~15 feet long, 9-10 feet tall at the shoulder, ~8,000-10,000 pounds. During life, mastodons were covered with coarse, brownish hair, unlike modern elephants. Thick body hair on Pleistocene proboscideans was an evolutionary adaptation to harsh wintery climates.
Remains of >150 mastodons have been reported in Ohio, but only about a dozen or so are semi-complete. The Burning Tree Mastodon is a ~30 year old male and is 90-95% complete, missing only the right rear leg, a few tail bones, two ribs, and all the toe bones. The lower spine and right rib cage have healed injuries which have been interpreted as the result of battles with other mastodons. Cut marks on some of the ribs indicate that this individual was butchered by early humans. Preserved stomach contents and intestinal contents were also recovered.
Isotopic dating of wood closely associated with the skeleton gives dates of 11,450 to 11,660 years. Isotopic dating of actual bone material gives an 11,390 year date (during the Wisconsinan Glacial Interval of the near-latest Pleistocene).
In addition to being near-complete, the Burning Tree Mastodon is remarkable in other ways. Preserved gut contents indicated a diet of moss, seeds, leaves, water lilies, and swamp grass. Before this discovery, American Mastodons were interpreted as having diets consisting principally of twigs & cones from evergreen trees. Additionally, 38 species of still-living gut bacteria were isolated from preserved intestinal contents. These ancient bacteria were, for a while, considered the oldest known living organisms anywhere on Earth. However, still-living gut bacteria have been isolated from insects in early Cenozoic amber and viable halobacteria have been recovered from Paleozoic and even late Precambrian rock salt.
The original Burning Tree Mastodon skeleton was sold in 1993 for over US$600,000 and now resides in a museum in Japan.
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Primary literature:
Fisher, D.C., B.T. Lepper & P.E. Hooge. 1991. Taphonomic analysis of the Burning Tree Mastodont. Current Research in the Pleistocene 8: 88-91.
Lepper, B.T., T.A. Frolking, D.C. Fisher, G. Goldstein, J.E. Sanger, D.A. Wymer, J.G. Ogden III & P.E. Hooge. 1991. Intestinal contents of a Late Pleistocene mastodont from midcontinental North America. Quaternary Research 36: 120-125.
Fisher, D.C. & B.T. Lepper. 1994. Paleobiology, taphonomy, and archaeology of the Burning Tree Mastodon. Geological Association of Canada, Mineralogical Association of Canada Annual Meeting Program with Abstracts 19: 36.
Goldstein, G. 1994. Isolation of living bacteria from the remains of an 11,000 year old mastodont. Geological Association of Canada, Mineralogical Association of Canada Annual Meeting Program with Abstracts 19: 42.
Fisher, D.C., B.T. Lepper & P.E. Hooge. 1994. Evidence for butchery of the Burning Tree Mastodon. pp. 43-57 in The First Discovery of America, Archaeological Evidence of the Early Inhabitants of the Ohio Area. Columbus. Ohio Archaeological Council.
Frolking, T.A. 1994. Late-Quaternary environments and landscape evolution of the Burning Tree Mastodon site, Licking County, Ohio. Geological Association of Canada, Mineralogical Association of Canada Annual Meeting Program with Abstracts 19: 39.
Lepper, B.T. & D.C. Fisher. 1994. Discovery, recovery, and stratigraphic context of the Burning Tree Mastodon, Licking County, Ohio, USA. Geological Association of Canada, Mineralogical Association of Canada Annual Meeting Program with Abstracts 19: 63.
Morgan, A.V. & J.J. Pilny. 1994. Fossil insects (Coleoptera) from the Burning Tree Mastodon site, Licking County, Ohio. Geological Association of Canada, Mineralogical Association of Canada Annual Meeting Program with Abstracts 19: 79.
Sanger, J.E. & D.S. Rutter. 1994. Paleolimnology of the Burning Tree Mastodont pond. Geological Association of Canada, Mineralogical Association of Canada Annual Meeting Program with Abstracts 19: 98.
Wymer, D.A. & L. Scott. 1994. The Burning Tree Mastodon paleobotany: gut contents and the peat matrix. Geological Association of Canada, Mineralogical Association of Canada Annual Meeting Program with Abstracts 19: 122.
Rhodes, A.N., J.W. Urbance, H. Youga, H. Corlew-Newman, C.A. Reddy, M.J. Klug, J.M. Tiedje & D.C. Fisher. 1998. Identification of bacterial isolates obtained from intestinal contents associated with 12,000-year-old mastodon remains. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 64: 651-658.
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Secondary literature:
Hansen, M.C. 1990. Mastodon skeleton discovered in Licking County. Ohio Geology Winter 1990: 1, 3-4.
Lepper, B.T. 1990. The Burning Tree Mastodon: a nearly complete skeleton from Licking County, Ohio. Mammoth Trumpet 6(1): 7.
Kaczmarek, S. 1991. Mastodon remains yield important discoveries. Echoes [Ohio Historical Society] 30(6): 2-3.
Lafferty, M.B. 1991. The great mastodon question. Columbus Dispatch 12 May 1991: D1.
Anonymous. 1992. The Burning Tree Mastodon - "A time machine into the Ice Age". Ward's Bulletin Spring 1992: 1, 11.
Folger, T. 1992. Oldest living bacteria tell all. Discover January 1992: 30-31.
Feldmann, R.M. and 23 others. 1997 (dated 1996). Fossils of Ohio. Ohio Division of Geological Survey Bulletin 70: xix, 299, 366-367.
Loer, D. 2001. Mastodon left only a memory. Columbus Dispatch 28 January 2001: B1.
Lepper, B.T. 2003. Mastodon bones yield telltale clues to beast's demise. Columbus Dispatch 18 November 2003.
One of the expansion joints on the westbound I-90 East Channel Bridge near Mercer Island, WA is slowly exposed by contracgtor crews. The expansion joint is embedded in concrete nearly a foot deep. Exposing it is hard, time-consuming work.
Contractor crews are replacing the two expansion joints on the bridge because they've outlived their useful lifespan. The joints are 33 years old and deteriorating. There are cracks in the steel and the rubber seal is broken.
Replacing the expansion joints is necessary to preserve the bridge and ensure the safety of drivers.
Workers from Hunt-Fortis Construction, Inc. work on the expansion of Valley Football Center at Oregon State University. On Jan. 25, 2016 bones of a mammoth and other ancient creatures were discovered. Date: Jan. 26, 2016 (photo: Theresa Hogue)
GPS survey instrument is used to precisely mark the location of each underground utility. Data collected from the hand-held device is recorded and reviewed before major duct installation takes place.
A couple of 1940's Land Girls at Beamish Museum are digging enthusiastically in their front garden to plant vegetables to help feed themselves and save on rationing coupons. As the Government of the day put it, "Digging for victory". It's nice to see that they still found time for a smile!
Copyright © 2014 Terry Pinnegar Photography. All Rights Reserved. THIS IMAGE IS NOT TO BE USED WITHOUT MY EXPRESS PERMISSION!
This site isn’t so much for travel narrative as it is for looking at pictures, so I’ll cut out a full day’s narrative, save for this:
Thursday was close to an eleven hour day of travel to get from Yangshuo to Detian. I spent less than 90 minutes shooting at the falls. From Detian (western part of the province on the Vietnamese border), I had to make my way to Beihai (southern, coastal city on the Gulf of Tonkin). It was, in distance, much shorter than Yangshuo-Detian. However, it turned into a reasonably miserable travel day and took about twelve hours (with about five of those hours spent in a bus station waiting room in Nanning). I got to my hotel in Beihai around 9:30 p.m. on Friday night. (I would stay in the same hotel Sunday night as well.)
The only positive to come from Friday’s travel was on the bus from Detian to Daxin (and on to Nanning). There was a very nice girl traveling with her parents who wanted to practice her English who happened to have visited Beihai. I think she said she was from Guangdong, too. Anyway, what I wanted to do most in Beihai was go to Weizhou Island (Weizhou Dao). She suggested (almost implied it was required) that I needed to book tickets on the ferry to Weizhou Dao in advance, so she helped me and called someone she knew in Beihai to reserve a ticket for me at 8:30 on Saturday morning.
I really didn’t know too much about Weizhou Dao, except that it was listed in Lonely Planet as a place to go. I did try to research it online, too, but couldn’t find too many pictures of the island. I found a few, though, and it was enough to convince me that it was worth going. Besides, Beihai honestly didn’t have too many places I was interested in seeing for two days.
So, I decided before the trip that I would come out and spend the night here on Weizhou Island. That turned out to be about the best decision I made for this trip, as it was much better than I was expecting from the lack of information I could find about the place.
I fell in love with this island. The ride across the Gulf of Tonkin takes a little over an hour on a high-speed boat. The cost is 150 RMB, which also includes admission to the island. The island is the remnants of a volcano, I believe, and is a reasonably circular island with a total area of 25-30 square kilometers. So…it’s small.
The port at Weizhou Dao is on the northwest corner of the island. The main city (that is to say the one place where there’s a main street running along the water for about 1 km) is called Nanwan (South Bay). To get around the island, you can either walk, rent a bike, or take a san lun che (tuk tuk). San lun che is the easiest. Depending on where you want to go on the island, it costs between 20 and 40 RMB to go from place to place. There are cars on the island, and people (though not many) do live here year-round, but for public transportation, those are your options, and they’re more than enough.
I think I paid 30 RMB to a guy to get me down to Nanwan. I hadn’t booked anything in advance (though I tried), so went to the first place that Lonely Planet mentioned: Piggybar. This was a very cheap place and as close to a dive as any place I’ve stayed in China.
This was the tropics in June, so the weather was sweltering. It turns out that I wouldn’t be alone in my room. I stopped counting how many cockroaches I killed somewhere after five or so. Big-sized suckers, too. But, that would be later in the day. At night, the electricity constantly cut out. This was only a slight annoyance because it would turn the air conditioner off. Sleeping wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. I also stopped counting how many times the power would go off. (It was never for more than 5 minutes, though.) I certainly don’t fault the Piggybar for this. The power apparently just goes out around Nanwan like that.
I did enjoy the main drag in Nanwan. There are a lot of neat little bars and restaurants (and what seemed like a much nicer hotel about midway along the road). I don’t remember the name of the place, but if I make it back there, I’d definitely stay at that place instead.
After I checked into my room in the morning, I took stock of things, thought the view in the south bay was pretty nice, and headed out for a walk towards the rest of the main drag. As this is an island, almost all restaurants have fresh seafood (which, for anyone who knows me, isn’t appealing…but seafood lovers would be in heaven here). I stopped at a restaurant and grabbed an early lunch of generic non-seafood Chinese food. It was so generic that it was forgettable. Maybe it was huntun, which is like a small dumpling soup. I really don’t remember.
While sitting there in the open-air shade enjoying the view of the sea, three college girls came along on bikes they rented and joined me. They, too, were from Guangdong if I remember correctly. I was beginning to think everyone was from Guangdong, but I know better than that. At any rate, they were friendly and we were talking about what to do around the island.
For me, the most interesting place to photograph was going to be the Catholic church. There are two churches on the island – one Catholic (founded by the French), one protestant (founded by Germans, I believe), both around 100 years old, if not a little older. Of the two, the Catholic church is the much more photogenic of the two, so that was what I was most looking forward to shooting, and that was the first place I was going to head via san lun che. It cost 40 RMB to get there. The girls had bikes, so I told them to try to get there – it was on the opposite side of the island…somewhere in the northeast part, but not on the water. They didn’t quite make it, but no worries. I saw them later, and they told me they did eventually get to it.
I wandered around the church and church grounds, and also the streets in front of it for an hour or so in the early afternoon. The church itself was quiet and peaceful and the street in front of it was lively with lots of vendors.
Besides the church, there are a lot of places with natural beauty on this island. As it’s created from a volcano, there are a lot of fascinating rock formations, but those tend to shoot best in lower light closer to sunrise or sunset. There’s even another small island nearby that you can apparently get boat rides to. While near the church, I was enjoying a map of the island with its scenic spots and their flowery names. I decided to go to one that they called Drippy Red Screen. (After all, who doesn’t want to see a screen that drips like blood?)
Really, it’s called that because it’s a dark-colored rock that, close to sunset, apparently turns a vibrant red. I figured, if this is a good place to see a sunset over the sea, I’m there. I left the church around 3:00, and paid a guy another 40 RMB to wheel me back across to the southwest corner of the island.
Though it was far from sunset, I was all too happy to go rent an umbrella and wooden beach chair for 30 RMB with a “front row view” of the sunset. This was vacation, after all, and what better way to spend it than relaxing next to a beach, people watching. At first, there weren’t too many people around. Just a few groups of entrepreneurs like these who took a little area of the beach and rented the umbrellas/chairs. There were also people who you could pay to take you around on jet skis and things like that. Other than that, just sit back, enjoy a drink, and watch boats drift by in seemingly slow motion. This was a good afternoon.
After a few hours, as it got closer to sunset, the tide started to roll out, though, and my front row view began to take more and more of a back seat. Not to umbrellas, but just to people crowding the view. During the 4 or so hours that I was at the beach here, I did manage to take a walk down the way to the Drippy (Not So) Red Screen closer to sunset to see that it wasn’t quite what they hyped it up to be. (That’s a shock…) I didn’t wander more because, as a lone traveler, I was worried they might sell my spot to someone else, even though I said I’d be back. They didn’t, though, and I returned to my umbrella for a few minutes more. There came a tipping point, though – before sunset – when I made the decision that the sunset wasn’t shaping up to be so spectacular that it would warrant being in this crowded an area, so I eventually abandoned hopes of getting jaw-dropping sunset pictures and made my way back to Nanwan before the rest of the crowd did the same. At least this san lun che would only cost 20 RMB, since Nanwan was barely a 10-15 minute ride away.
Back on Nanwan’s main drag, I had the driver drop me in front of the hotel, but I wasn’t ready to go in. I just wanted to walk along the main road there, and eventually discovered all of these unique indoor-outdoor bars. I stopped and had dinner (fried rice, if I remember) and a mango smoothie that was so good that I had a second one in this neat little restaurant where tourists write their memories on the walls.
After that, I continued down the road – all this as the sunset was turning the sky to a deep blue (and I was, after all, quite pleased with what I was able to see here) – and stopped at another bar for a drink. I had a mojito that was honestly forgettable. It tasted more like carbonated soda water than anything. Not seeing much to do besides drink myself into oblivion (which I don’t care to do), I went back out and enjoyed the last of the day’s light before walking back towards the Piggybar. On the way back, I bumped into my college friends from earlier, who told me they’d enjoyed the island, and they did get to the church after all. On the way back is when the first of the power “flickers” happened with electricity dropping on the island.
Without much to do in my hotel room, I tried to stay as comfortable as possible with the air conditioning that continued to go off. It wasn’t as hard to fall asleep as I imagined, and I fell asleep early, which also gave me an early start the next morning for sunrise over the bay.
After checking out of the hotel, still very early (around 8:00), I set off with my backpack and bag and started the walk uphill. My only goal for Sunday morning on the island was to go to the protestant church and photograph there before heading to the dock and making my way back to Beihai.
It was a nice little walk as the road away from Nanwan does a zigzag straight uphill to give a nice view of the town and bay. Also, like western Guangxi, Weizhou Dao’s “countryside” is nothing but banana farms, which was quite nice to see. I shot there a little bit and, when I tired of walking after an hour or so, flagged down a san lun che and paid 30 RMB for him to take me to the protestant church, then to the dock.
The protestant church, unlike the Catholic one, had a 10 RMB admission, and wasn’t nearly as interesting (for me, at least) as the more famous Catholic church. It was nice, however, and I was glad to see it as my “farewell” to the island. From there, I went to the dock and got a ticket for the first available boat back to Beihai.
I really enjoyed my day and night here on Weizhou Dao and was looking forward to one last, relaxing evening in Beihai before getting back to the daily tedium of Chengdu. But first, one more night to go…
(Calidris alpina) Some of these little birds winter here on Cape Cod. Migrating from Alaska and the Canadian arctic. I love photographing these little ones. They allow us to get within feet of them. They are foraging for worms, mollusks and crustaceans. The female has a longer bill than the male. Unfortunately they are on the IUCN Red list of Threatened Species.
A new science toy that she loves. One digs dinosaur figurines out of three layers of clay, each one representing a Mesozoic period: Cretaceous on top, Jurassic in the middle, Triassic on the bottom.
Hythe is now a large and busy town, stretching from the terminus of the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in the west (and even a little further), to the long sandy beach and coast road that lead to Sandgate and Folkestone. It also creeps west, up the downs and valleys of the North Downs. It also is the start of the Military Canal. Hythe also has a vibrant high street, with many independent shops, as well as both a Sainsbury's and Waitrose. Which speaks about the town's demographic.
It even has an industrial area, where Jools works, and a stony beach which serves as a harbour for a small fleet of fishing boats as the harbour itself silted up in antiquity.
St Leonard itself sits up on the slopes of the down, in a flattened area that was some feat in itself. The church is very large and heavily Victorianised, but well worth an hour or two of anyone's time. And it is most well known for the ossuary which lies beneath the chancel, and is open during the non-winter months.
It is some climb up from the town, up two layers of roads which run parallel with the main street, up steepish steps, past the old Hospital, now two flats call Centuries, until you come to the church, but then there are more steps up to the porch and then into the church itself. And if there hadn't already been too much climbing, there are more steps up to the chancel and side chapels.
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A large civic church, as befits one of the original Cinque Ports. Traces of the Norman building may still be seen in the blocked round-headed windows in the north wall of the nave and the excellent Norman arch at the east end of the south aisle. The chancel is thirteenth century in origin, completed by Pearson in 1886. The pulpit is a great piece of Victorian craftsmanship, designed by George Edmund Street in 1876. The three-light stained glass in the east window is by Wallace Wood and dates from 1951. There are Royal Arms of the reign of William and Mary. The chancel has a triforium gallery, an unexpected find in a parish church. A circular staircase runs from the north-west corner linking the triforium, rood loft and roof. Under the chancel is an interesting processional passage, open to the public during the summer, which contains hundreds of skulls collected from the churchyard during clearances. In the churchyard is the grave of Lionel Lukin, who obtained a patent for his invention - the lifeboat - in 1785.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Hythe
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lthough it is now difficult to imagine, Hythe's rise and development stems from its former role as a busy Channel port.
St Leonard's stands far from the sea today, but when the first Norman church was built, in c.1080, the high Street formed the quayside of the Cinque Port of Hythe.
The earliest known reference to a church in the town is found in the contemporary Doomesday Monarchum. Some writers believe that the north transept, now called St Edmund's Chapel, may have then incorporated a Saxon place of worship; a Saxon-style arch is still plainly visible.
In medieval times St Leonard's was described as "Hethe Chapel" despite possessing a magnificence which other Kentish folk would have envied.
Successive Archbishops of Canterbury held a large estate at Saltwood near Hythe and are believed to have been responsible for the enlargement of the church in c.1120, probably using some of the craftsmen who built the cathedral in Canterbury.
Aisles and transepts were added and a new, more elaborate choir with small apse was fashioned. Entry was through a west door where the interior tower wall still stands. Many Norman features can still be seen; the arches in the south aisle and in the choir vestry, as well as the remains of two windows above the north aisle.
By c.1220 fashions in architectural style had changed. With a growing number of pilgrims visiting the church, further enlargements were carried out. Perhaps in an attempt to build a mini-Canterbury Cathedral, and certainly with that inspiration, the civic pride of the townsfolk gave birth to the present church.
The ambitious project was launched when Hythe was at the height of its prosperity, and the magnificent chancel and ambulatory beneath ( now incorrectly known as the crypt ) are the result.
The only reason we can still see the remains of the previous churches is that the town's prosperity later waned and the plan could not be fully carried out.
Some improvements were made in the 14th Century, notably the building of the tower and the porch with a room above to house the parish priest, but these were on a less lavish scale than before.
During the Reformation the rich decoration which filled the church was stripped away. Wall paintings, rood screen and statues were destroyed, alters removed and pews added for the first time.
Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries the interior would have appeared remarkably plain. Only the iron "Armada" chest which used to contain the parish registers survives as a tangible reminder of the period.
The west tower of the medieval church collapsed in 1739; possibly it had finally succumbed to weakness created by a severe earthquake of 1580. The ferocity of the tremors was reported to have made the church bells ring and caused dangerous cracks in nearby Saltwood Castle.
A newspaper reported: "We learn from Hythe that on Thursday morning last, about eleven o'clock, the steeple of their church fell down, and that they have been busy digging out the bells, being six in number. About ten persons were present when it fell, waiting for keys in the church porch to go up the steeple for a view. But some delay being made in bringing them, they all happily saved their lives, and no other damage than being terribly frightened.
The tower was subsequently reconstructed in 1750, using the old materials, with the south transept being rebuilt the following year, largely through the generosity of the Deedes family, many of whose ancestors are buried there.
There was a clock in the tower before 1413, although the present instrument dates from 1901.
A peal of at least five bells is recorded before the 1480s. Subsequently there were normally eight, two bells being added in 1993 to make the full peal of ten.
In the 18th century the nave was surrounded by galleries to provide enough seating for the town's growing population. Poorer people sat up there while the best pews below were ' rented out ' to wealthier worshippers.
In 1751 the Deedes family rented one such pew for themselves and four more for their servants.
The mayor and the town corporation had their own pews at the front. Present councillors still sit at the front, in the pews with carved poppy-heads.
urial vaults were made outside the church in the later 18th and early 19th cenuries.
In 1875 and 1887 restorations to the church were carried out at a cost of £10,000. Two of the finest
Victorian architects, George Street and John Pearson, were employed. Street designed the Law Courts
in the Strand.
At St Leonard's the two men successfully completed many of the features which the original medieval craftsmen had intended to incorporate before the funds dried up. The vaulting to the chancel and aisle roofs was completed in 1887, albeit five centuries overdue. The present barrel-shaped roof in the nave dates from 1875. The pulpit with its fine Venetian mosaic work, composed of 20,000 pieces, is of the same date.
Many of the fittings introduced at that time were in keeping with the medieval devotional life of the church. Amongst these is an especially fine marble reredos which originally stood behind the alter, but is now situated in the south choir aisle. This is a masterpiece of artistic work, given by a former curate in memory of his wife. There is a Pre-Raphaelite touch in the depiction of the angels, and its deep swirling lines give it an almost sultry appearance. It was carved from a single piece of carrera marble in 1881 by Henry Armstead to the designs of George Street. It was moved to its present position in 1938.
Two features in the church bring the visitor abruptly into the 20th century. In the south aisle a remarkable stained-glass window commemorates 2nd Lieutenant Robert Hildyard who was killed, with over a million others, on the Somme in 1916. The window has a dreamy, surreal effect, and is a fine example of the art nouveau style.
The present fine organ built in 1936 by Harrison & Harrison, is the latest in a long line dating back to the 15th century.
Most visitors are impressed by the main east window which shows Christ, surrounded by angels, ascending to heaven. The Victorian glass which once occupied the space was destroyed in 1940 when a german bomb struck the ground at the east end of the church causing extensive damage.
The present east window was dedicated in 1951 and reflects the long-term role played by the town of Hythe in the front line of England's defence. A Cinque Port ship can be seen in the panel at the bottom left, and an anti-aircraft gun and searchlights in the right-hand panel.
The only structural alteration to the church in the 20th century was the building of the choir vestry on the north side in 1959, enclosing the fine Norman arch of the second church.
St Leonard's maintains a strong musical heritage with concerts and recitals being held regularly in the church. The worship continues to be enriched by a strong choral tradition which stretches back several centuries. The church building is continuously being developed and restored through the fundraising efforts of the parishioners.
St Leonard's church remains passionately committed to discovering God wherever he might be encountered in the word, in sacraments, in the beauty of this place and in the love shared between its parishioners.
New approaches and styles of worship, as well as the traditional forms of service, all seek to deepen further the spiritual health and maturity of the faithful, who keep returning, time and time again, to seek God in a holy place.
www.stleonardschurchhythekent.org/stlh.html
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THE parish of Hythe, at this time within the liberty of the Cinque Ports, and the corporation of the town of Hythe was antiently, with part of the parish of West Hythe, within an hundred of its own name.
It is called in some antient records, Hethe; in Domesday, Hede; and according to Leland, in Latin, Portus Hithinus; Hithe signifying in the Saxon, a harbour or haven. (fn. 1) In the year 1036, Halden, or Half den, as he is sometimes, and perhaps more properly written, one of the Saxon thanes, gave Hethe and Saltwood, to Christ-church, in Canterbury. After which they appear to have been held of the archbishop by knight's service, by earl Godwin; (fn. 2) and after the Norman conquest, in like manner by Hugo de Montfort, one of those who had accompanied William the Conqueror hither, at which time it was accounted only as a borough appurtenant to the manor of Saltwood, as appears by the book of Domesday, taken in the year 1080, where, under the title of lands held of the archbishop by knight's service, at the latter end of the description of that manor, it is said:
To this manor (viz. Saltwood) belong two hundred and twenty-five burgesses in the borough of Hede Between the borough and the manor, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, it was worth sixteen pounds, when he received it eight pounds, and now in the whole twenty-nine pounds and six shillings and four-pence .
Besides which, there appears in the description of the archbishop's manor of Liminge, in the same record, to have been six burgesses in Hede belonging to that manor. Hythe being thus appurtenant to Saltwood, was within the bailiwick of the archbishop, who annually appointed a bailiff, to act jointly for the government of this town and liberty, which seems to have been made a principal cinque port by the Conqueror, on the decay and in the room of the still more antient port of West Hythe, before which it had always been accounted within the liberty of those ports, which had been enfranchised with several privileges and customs, though of what antiquity they were, or when first enfranchised, has not been as yet, with any certainty, discovered; and therefore they are held to enjoy all their earliest liberties and privileges, as time out of mind by prescription. The quota which the port of Hythe was allotted to furnish towards the mutual armament of the ports, being five ships, and one hundred and five men, and five boys, called gromets. (fn. 3)
The archbishop continued in this manner to appoint his bailiff, who acted jointly with the jurats and commonalty of the town and port of Hythe, the senior jurat on the bench always sitting as president, till the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when the archbishop exchanged the manor of Saltwood, together with the bailiwick of Hythe, with the king for other estates elsewhere. After which a bailiff continued to be appointed yearly by the crown, till queen Elizabeth, in her 17th year, granted them a particular charter of incorporation, by the name of mayor, jurats, and commonalty of the town and port of Hythe, under which they continue to be governed at this time; and she likewise granted to the mayor and his successors, all that her bailiwick of Hythe, together with other premises here, to hold by the yearly fee farm of three pounds, by which they are held by the corporation at this time.
The liberty of the town and port of Hytheextends over the whole of this parish, and part of that of West Hythe, which indeed before the harbour of it failed, was the antient cinque port itself, and to which great part of what has been said above of the antient state of Hythe likewise relates, but not over the scite of that church. The corporation consists of a mayor and twelve jurats, of which he is one, and twenty-four common councilmen, together with two chamberlains and a town-clerk. The mayor, who is coroner by virtue of his office, is chosen, as well as the other officcers of the corporation, on Feb. 2d yearly, and, together with the jurats, who are justices within this liberty exclusive of all others, hold a court of general sessions of the peace and gaol delivery, together with a court of record, the same as at Dover; and it has other privileges, mostly the same as the other corporations within the liberties of the five ports. It has the privileges of two maces. The charters of this corporation, as well as those of the other cinque ports, were in 1685, by the king's command, surrendered up to colonel Strode, then governor of Dover castle, and were never returned again.
Hythe has no coat of arms; but the corporation seal represents an antique vessel, with one mast, two men in it, one blowing a horn; and two men lying on the yard arm.
The PRESENT TOWN OF HYTHE is supposed to owe its origin to the decay of the antient ports of Limne and West Hythe, successively, the harbours of which being rendered useless, by the withdrawing of the sea, and their being banked up with sand, occasioned this of Hythe to be frequented in their stead, and it continued a safe and commodious harbour for considerable length of time, till the same fate befel it likewise, and rendered it wholly useless; and whoever, as Lambarde truly observes, considers either the vicissitude of the sea in different places, and the alterations which in times past, and even now, it works on the coasts of this kingdom, will not be surprized that towns bordering upon the sea, and supported by traffic arising from it, are subject in a short time to decay, and become in a manner of little or no consequence; for as the water either flows or forsakes them, so they must of necessity flourish or decay, flowing and ebbing, as it were, with the sea itself. (fn. 4) Thus after the sea had retired from the town of West Hythe and its haven, the former fell to decay, and became but a small village of no resort, and the present town of Hythe, at two miles distance, to which it was continued by a number of straggling houses all along the shore between them, rose to prosperity, and its harbour became equally noted and frequented in the room of it; so that in a short time the houses and inhabitants increased here so greatly, that Leland says there was once a fair abbey in it, and four parishes and their churches, one of which was that of our Lady of Westhithe, which shews that West Hythe was once accounted a part of the town itself. But this must have been in very early times; for long before king Richard II.'s reign, I find it accounted but as one single parish. The town and harbour of Hythe were by their situation always liable to depredation from enemies; in particular, earl Godwin, when exiled, returned in 1052, and ravaging this coast, took away several vessels lying at anchor in this haven, and Romney; and in king Edward I.'s reign, anno 1293, the French shewed themselves with a great fleet before Hythe, and one of their ships, having two hundred soldiers on board, landed their men in the haven, which they had no sooner done, but the townsmen came upon them and slew every one of them; upon which the rest of the fleet hoisted sail, and made no further attempt. In the latter part of king Richard the IId.'s reign, a dreadful calamity happened to it, when more than two hundred houses of it were burnt down in one day; (fn. 5) and five of their ships were lost, and one hundred men drowned, by which misfortunes the inhabitants were so much impoverished and dispirited, that they had thoughts of abandoning the place, and building themselves a town elsewhere; but king Henry IV. by his timely interposition, prevented this, and by charter released them from their quota of shipping for several turns. The following is Leland's description of it, who wrote in king Henry VIII.'s reign, "Hythe hath bene a very great towne yn lenght and conteyned iiii paroches, that now be clene de stroied, that is to say, S. Nicholas paroche, our Lady paroche, S. Michael paroche, and our Lady of West Hithe, the which ys with yn less than half a myle of Lymne hill. And yt may be well supposed that after the haven of Lymne and the great old towne ther fayled that Hithe strayt therby encresed and was yn price. Finally to cownt fro Westhythe to the place wher the substan of the towne ys now ys ii good myles yn lenght al along on the shore to which the se cam ful sumtym, but now by banking of woose and great casting up of shyngel the se is sumtyme a quarter, dim. a myle fro the old shore. In the tyme of king Edw 2 ther were burned by casuelte xviii score houses and mo, and strayt followed a great pestilens, and thes ii thinges minished the towne. There remayn yet the ruines of the chyrches and chyrch yardes. It evidently appereth that wher the paroch chirch is now was sumtyme a fayr abbey, &c. In the top of the chirch yard is a fayr spring and therby ruines of howses of office of the abbey. The havyn is a prety rode and liith meatly strayt for passage owt of Boleyn; yt croketh yn so by the shore a long and is so bakked fro the mayne se with casting of shingil that smaul shippes may cum up a large myle towards Folkestan as in a sure gut." Though Leland calls it a pretty road, yet it then seems to have been in great measure destroyed by the sands and beach cast up on this shore, by the desertion of the sea, for he describes it as being at that time as only a small channel or gut left, which ran within shore for more than a mile eastward from Hythe towards Folkestone, that small vessels could come up it with safety; and the state of the town and trade of it in queen Elizabeth's time, may be seen by a survey made by her order in her 8th year, of the maritime parts of this county, in which it was returned, that there were here, a customer, controller, and searcher, their authority several; houses inhabited, 122; persons lacking habitation, 10; creeks and landing places two; th'on called the Haven, within the liberties; th'other called the Stade, without the liberties. It had of shipping, 17 tramellers of five tunne, seven shoters of 15; three crayers of 30, four crayers of 40; persons belonging to these crayers and other boats, for the most part occupied in fishing, 160.
Soon after this, even the small channel within land, above-mentioned, which served as the only remaining harbour, became likewise swarved up and lost, though it had the advantage of the Seabrook, and other streams, which came down from the down hills, as a back water, to keep it scowered and open; and though several attempts were from time to time afterwards made, at no small expence and trouble, to open it again, yet it never could be effected; and the abovementioned streams, for want of this channel, flow now towards the beach on the shore, and lose themselves imperceptibly among it.
The parish of Hythe, which is wholly within the liberty of the corporation, extends from the sea shore, the southern bounds of it, northward up the hill a very little way beyond the church, which is about half a mile, and from the bridge at the east end of the town westward, about half way up the hill towards Newingreen, being more than a mile and an half. The town, which contains about two hundred houses, is situated exceedingly pleasant and healthy, on the side as well as at the foot of the quarry-hill, where the principal street is, which is of a handsome breadth, and from the bridges at the extremities of it, about half a mile in length. It has been lately new paved, and otherwise much improved. The court-hall and market place are near the middle of it, the latter was built by Philip, viscount Strangford, who represented this port in parliament anno 12 Charles II. His arms those of the five ports; of Boteler; and of Amhurst, who served likewise in parliament for it, and repaired this building, are on the pillars of it. There are two good inns; and near the east end of it St. John's hospital. Higher up on the side of the hill, where the old town of Hythe is supposed once to have stood, are parallel streets, the houses of which are very pleasantly situated; several of them are handsome houses, occupied by genteel families of good account, the principal one of them has been the seat of the family of Deedes for several generations.
This family have resided at Hythe, in good estimation, for upwards of two hundred years; the first of them that I meet with being Thomas Deedes, who by Elizabeth his wife, sister of Robert Glover, esq. Somerset herald, a most learned and judicious antiquary, had one son Julius Deedes, whose youngest son Robert had a grant of arms confirmed to him, and Julius his nephew and their heirs, by Byshe, clarencieux, in 1653, Per fess, nebulee, gules and argent, three martlets, counter changed , which have been borne by the different branches of this family ever since. William, the youngest son but one, left a son William, the first who appears to have resided at Hythe. He died in 1653, and was buried in this church, which has ever since remained the burial place of this family. He had one only son Julius Deedes, esq. who was of Hythe, for which he was chosen in three several parliaments, and died in 1692, having had three sons, of whom William, the eldest, was ancestor to the Deedes's of Hythe, and of St. Stephen's, as will be mentioned hereafter; Henry, the second son, was of Hythe, gent. whose eldest son Julius, was of Hythe, esq. and died without surviving issue, upon which this seat, among the rest of his estates, came by the entail in his will, to his aunt Margaret Deedes, who dying unmarried, they came, by the same entail, to her cousin William Deedes, esq. late of Hythe, and of St. Stephen's, being descended from William, the eldest son of Julius, who died in 1692, and was a physician at Canterbury, whose son Julius was prebendary of Canterbury, and left one son William, of whom hereafter; and Dorothy, married to Sir John Filmer, bart. of East Sutton, by whom she had no issue. William Deedes, esq. the only surviving son before-mentioned, of Hythe and St. Stephen's, possessed this seat at Hythe, with several other estates in this neighbourhood, by the above entail. He married Mary, daughter of Thomas Bramston, esq. of Skreens, in Essex, and died in 1793, leaving surviving two sons, William, of whom hereafter; John, who married Sophia, daughter of Gen. Forbes, and one daughter Mary, unmarried. William Deedes, esq. the eldest son, is now of Hythe, and married Sophia, second daughter of Sir Brook Bridges, bart. by whom he has two sons and three daughters.
Further westward is St. Bartholomew's hospital. Opposite Mr. Deedes's house, but still higher up, with a steep ascent, is the church, the hill reaching much above it northward. On the upper part of this hill, are several springs, which gush out of the rock, and run into the streams which flow at each end of the town. All the houses situated on the side of the hill, have an uninterrupted view of the sea southward, Romney Marsh, and the adjoining country. The houses throughout it are mostly modern built, and the whole has a neat and chearful appearance. There is a boarding-school kept in the town for young ladies, and on the beach there are bathing machines for the accommodation of invalids. There was formerly a market on a Saturday, which has been long since discontinued, though the farmers have for some time held a meeting here on a Thursday, for the purpose of selling their corn; and two fairs yearly, formerly held on the seasts of St. Peter and St. Edmund the King, now, on July 10th and December 1st, for horses and cattle, very few of which are brought, and shoes and pedlary.
¶ Here is a small fort, of six guns, for the protection of the town and fishery, which till lately belonged to the town, of which it was bought by government, but now rendered useless, by its distance from the sea, from the land continuing to gain upon it; the guns have therefore been taken out. Soon after the commencement of the war, three new forts, of eight guns each, were erected, at the distance of a mile from each other, viz. Twis, Sutherland, and Moncrief; they contain barracks for 100 men each. Every summer during the present war a park of royal artillery has been established on the beech between the forts and the town, for the practice of guns and mortars; and here is a branch of the customs, subordinate to the out port of Dover. This town is watered by two streams; one at the east end of it, being the boundary between this parish and Newington; and the other at the west end, called the Slabrooke, which comes from Saltwood, and runs from hence, by a channel lately made for that purpose, into the sea, which has now left this town somewhat more than half a mile, much the same distance as in Leland's time, the intermediate space being entirely beach and shingle-stones, (the great bank of which lines this shore for upwards of two miles in length) on which, at places, several houses and buildings have been erected, and some parts have been inclosed, with much expence, and made pasture ground of, part of which is claimed by different persons, and the rest by the corporation as their property.
The CINQUE PORTS, as well as their two antient towns of Rye and Winchelsea, have each of them the privilege of returning members, usually stiled barons to parliament; the first returns of which, that are mentioned for any of them, are in the 42d year of king Edward III.