Final shots from Stockbury. Might be a rest for church shots for a wile.

 

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

 

So, long overdue for a return.

 

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

 

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

 

Looking at this shot especially, I see that the roof supports seem to have been built into the former clerestory windows?

 

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

 

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

 

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STOCKBURY

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Charities.

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

¶On the abolition of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. this parsonage was surveyed, by order of the state, in 1649, when it was returned, that the rectory or parsonage of Stockbury, late belonging to the dean and chapter of Rochester, consisted of a fair dwelling-house, dove house, and other necessary buildings, yards, &c. and the tithes belonging to it, all which were valued at eighty pounds per annum, and the glebe-lands, containing one hundred and forty-four acres, were worth, with the above, 132l. 10s. all which premises were let by the dean and chapter, anno 16 king Charles I. to John Hooper, for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of 14l. 5s. 4d. That the lesse was bound to repair the chancel; and that the vicarage was excepted, worth fifty pounds per annum. (fn. 5)

 

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

 

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

A brief visit before the arrival of Flying Scotsman, and the church was open!

 

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There are few churches in Kent that display transepts without a central tower. When in the fifteenth century a tower was built it was added to the west end of the existing nave. Two excellent hagioscopes are cut through either side of the chancel arch, whilst the south transept contains some eighteenth-century monuments by the celebrated sculptor Michael Rysbrack. The most famous memorial at Chartham is the brass to Sir Robert de Septvans (d. 1306), one of the oldest and largest memorial brasses in the country, showing the cross-legged knight with flowing locks. The chancel windows show excellent medieval tracery which has preserved much of its late thirteenth-century glass.

 

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

 

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CHARTHAM,

CALLED in Domesday, Certeham, lies the next parish eastward from Chilham. The greatest part of it is in the hundred of Felborough, and some small part of it, viz. the manor of Horton, in the hundred of Bridge and Petham.

 

THE PARISH of Chartham is pleasantly situated, a great part of it in the sertile vale of pastures through which the river Stour takes its course, between a continued series or range of losty hills, over which this parish extends; the high road from Canterbury to Ashford leads through it, mostly on high ground, from which there is a most pleasing view of the vale and river beneath, as well as of the oppo site hills, whose summits are cloathed with the rich foliage of the contiguous woods. Though the soil in the valley is rich pasture, yet the hills are poor and barren, those rising from the vale are chalk, further on they are a cludgy red earth, mixed with slints, much covered with coppice woods, and a great deal of rough land, with broom and heath among it, bordering on a dreary country. The parish is large, and is supposed to be about twelve miles in circumterence. It contains about ninety-seven houses, and five hundred inhabitants. The village of Chartham is situated close on the side of the river Stour, the houses of it are mostly built round a green, called Charthamgreen, having the church and parsonage on the south side of it. On this green was till within these few years, a large mansion house most of which being burnt down, the remains have since been known by the name of Burnt house. It was formerly the residence of the Kingsfords, several of whom lie buried in this church, whose arms were, Two bends, ermine. At length William Kingsford, esq. in 1768, sold it to William Waller, who alienated it in 1786 to Mr. Robert Turner, as he did again to Allen Grebell, esq. who sold it in 1795 to Mr. John Gold, the present owner of it. Near it is a handsome modern-built house, formerly the property and residence of Dr. John-Maximilian Delangle, rector of this parish and prebendary of Canterbury, and from him usually named the Delangle house. He died possessed of it in 1729. It was late the property of John Wotton, esq. who died in August, 1798, and devised it to Mary, the wife of Benjamin Andrews, gent. of Stouting, for her life; and after her decease to Thomas Wotton, gent. of the Tile-lodge farm, in Sturry, and his heirs for ever. On the river Stour here, is a paper-mill, belonging to the dean and chapter of Canterbury. In 1763, William Pearson, the lessee by will, gave this leasehold estate to his wife Sarah for life, remainder to his son Thomas Pearson, his executors, &c. Sarah Pearson renewed the lease in her own name in 1765. In 1766 Thomas Pearson sold the lease to his brother James Pearson absolutely, after the death of their mother, and of the said Thomas pearson, and Elizabeth his wife, or any after-taken wife, without issue of the said Thomas. In 1767 the said Thomas Pearson and Elizabeth, sold all their interest in the premises to David Ogilvy. In the same year the said Thomas and James assigned the premises to the said Ogilvy, by way of mortgage, redeemable by James if Thomas died without issue. In 1768 James became a bankrupt. In 1789, Sarah and James being both dead, Ogilvy renewed the lease in his name. In 1792 Ogilvy, Thomas Pearson, and the surviving assigness, under James Pearson's commission, assigned the premises absolutely, to Edward Pain, paper-maker, of Chartham, (son of Leeds Pain, deceased) who now holds the lease, and occupies the estate.

 

That part of this village on the opposite side of the river Stour, is called Rattington, being in the borough of that name. The northern part of this parish is mostly high ground, and covered with woods, extending almost up to the high Boughton road to London, through which the boundaries of it are very uncertain, from the different growths of the high wood in them; and there have been several contests relating to the bounds in this part of the parish, on account of the payment of tithes to the rector of Chartham; the lands without the bounds of it on the north side being exempt from all tithes whatever, as being within the king's antient forest of Blean, now usually called the ville of Dunkirk. Among them are the two hamlets, called Chartham hatch and Bovehatch, vulgarly Bowhatch; and near the former a large hoath, the soil of which is sand and gravel, and, from the poorness of it, but of little value. This hoath, as well as the lands near it, called Highwood, both claim, as I am informed, an exemption from paying tithes, as part of the manor of Densted.

 

Among the woods at the north-west boundaries of the parish, is a house and grounds called the Fishponds, which, though now gone to ruin, were formerly made and kept at a large expence, by Samuel Parker, gent. the grandson of Dr. Parker, bishop of Oxford, and rector of this church, who resided here. It is now in the joint possession of Mrs. Bridges, of Canterbury, and William Hammond, esq. of St. Alban's, in this county.

 

About a mile west from Densted, in the northwest part of this parish, is a stream of water, called the Cranburne, which is a strong chalybeate. It rises among the woods on the south side of the high London road, running through the fifth-ponds beforementioned, and thence into the river Stour, near Whitehall, a little below Tonford.

 

On the opposite side of the valley, close to the river Stour, is the hamlet of Shalmsford-street, built on the Ashford high road, and the bridge of the same name, of stone, with five arches, repaired at the expence of the hundred of Felborough, over which the abovementioned road leads; and at a small distance above it is a very antient corn-mill, called Shalmsford-mill, formerly belonging to the prior and convent of Christchurch, and now to the dean and chapter of Canterbury. There are two more hamlets on the hills of the southern parts of this parish, one at Mystole, and the other at Upperdowne, near it, behing which this parish reaches some distance among the woods, till it joins Godmersham and Petham.

 

There is a fair annually held at Chartham on St. Peter's day, June 29.

  

Plan of Chartham Downs

 

On the chalky downs, called Chartham Downs, adjoining the south side of the Ashford road, about four miles from Canterbury, being high and dry ground, with a declivity towards the river Stour; there are a great number of tumuli, or barrows near, one hundred perhaps of different sizes near each other, this spot being described in the antient deeds of the adjoining estates by the name of Danes banks. Several of them have at times been opened, and the remains of bodies, both male and female, with various articles of trainkets, &c. have been found in them. Beyond these, on the contiguous plain, called Swadling downs, still more southward, there are three or four lines of intrenchments which cross the whole downs from east to west, at different places, and there is a little intrenchment in the road, under Denge wood, a little eastward above Julliberies grave.

 

Various have been the conjectures of the origin of these barrows, some have supposed them to have been those of the Britons, slain in the decisive battle with Cæsar, under Cassivelawn, others that this place was the spot appropriated for the burial of the Roman garrison at Canterbury, whilst others suppose them to have belonged to the Danes, who might be opposed here in their attempts to pass the river Stour, in their further progress into this island.

 

In the year 1668, in the sinking of a new well at Chartham, there was found, about seventeen feet deep, a parcel of strange and monstrous bones, together with four teeth, perfect and sound, but in a manner petrified and turned into stone, each as big as the first of a man. These are supposed by learned and judicious persons, who have seen and considered them to be the bones of some large marine animal, which had perished there; and it has been by some conjectured, (fn. 1) that the long vale, of twenty miles or more, through which the river Stour runs, was formerly an arm of the sea (the river, as they conceive, being named Stour from astuarium); and lastly, that the sea having by degrees filled up this vale with earth, sand, and coze, and other matter, ceased to discharge itself this way when it broke through the isthmus between Dover and Calais. Others have an opinion, that they were the bones of elephants, abundance of which were brought over into Britain by the emperor Claudius, who landed near Sandwich, who therefore might probably come this way in his march to the Thames, the shape of these teeth agreeing with a late description of the grinders of an elephant, and their depth under ground being probably accounted for by the continual washing down of the earth from the hills.

 

IN THE YEAR 871, duke Elfred gave to archbishop Ethelred, and the monks of Christ-church, the parish of Chartham, towards their cloathing, as appears by his charter then made, or rather codicil; and this gift of it was confirmed to them in the year 1052, by king Edward the Confessor; and it continued in their possession at the time of taking the general survey of Domesday, in the year 1084, in which it is thus entered, under the title of Terra Monachorum Archiepi, i. e. lands of the monks of the archbishop, as all lands belonging to that monastery were.

 

In Feleberg hundred, the archbishop himself holds Certeham. It was taxed at four sulings. The arable land is fourteen carucates. In demesne there are two, and sixty villeins, with fifteen cottagers, having fifteen carucates and an half. There is a church and one servant, and five mills and an half of seventy shillings, and thirty acres of meadow, and wood for the pannage of twenty-five bogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and when he received it, it was worth twelve pounds, now twenty pounds, and yet it pays thirty pounds.

 

The possessions of the priory here were after this augmented by Wibert, who became prior in 1153, who restored to it the great wood of Chartham, con taining forty acres, which the tenants had long withheld. After which, in the reign of king Edward I. THIS MANOR OF CHARTHAM, with its appurtenances, was valued at thirty-four pounds, (fn. 2) at which time there appears to have been a vincyard here, plentifully furnished with vines, belonging to the priory, as there were at several of their other manors; and in the 25th year of the same reign Robert Winchelsea, archbishop of Canterbury, having fallen under the king's displeasure, dismissed most of his family, and lived privately here at Chartham with one or two priests, and went almost every Sunday and holiday to preach in several of the adjoining churches.

 

King Edward II. by his charter in his 10th year, granted and confirmed to the prior of Christ-church, free-warren in all his demesne lands in this manor among others, which he or any of his predecessors had acquired since the time of his grandfather, so that the same were not within the bounds of his forest.

 

The buildings on this manor were much augmented and repaired both by prior Chillenden, about the year 1400, and by prior Goldston, who about the year 1500 rebuilt the prior's stables here and his other apartments with brick. This manor continued part of the possessions of the priory till its dissolution in the 31st year of Henry VIII. when it was surrendered into the king's hands, with whom this manor did not continue long, for the king settled it, among other premises, in his 33d year, on his new-erected dean and chapter of Canterbury, part of whose inheritance it still continues.

 

A court leet and court baron are regularly held for this manor by the dean and chapter, but the courtlodge and demesnes of the manor are demised by them on a beneficial lease. At the time of the dissolution, anno 30 Henry VIII. Thomas Thwayts was lessee of it. John Baker, esq. of St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, is the present lessee.

 

THE DEANRY is a large antient seat, situated adjoining to the court-lodge, being part of those possessions belonging to the late priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury, and was formerly the capital mansion of their manor here, being made use of most probably as a place of residence and retirement for the prior himself; and it was most probably to this house that archbishop Winchelsea retired, as has been mentioned before, in king Edward the 1st.'s reign, whilst under that king's displeasure. In which state it remained till the dissolution, when it came, with the adjoining meadows belonging to it, among the rest of the possessions of the priory in this parish, into the hands of the crown, and was next year settled by the king on his new-erected dean and chapter of Canterbury; after which it seems to have been allotted to and made use of in like manner as it was by the priors before, by the deans of Canterbury, for their country residence; in particular dean Bargrave resided much at this mansion, in the windows of which his arms, with the quarterings of his family alliances, in several shields, remained till within these few years. The consusion of the times which immediately followed his death, preventing the residence of any dean here, this mansion seems to have fallen into the hands of the chapter, who soon afterwards leased it out, with a reservation of a part of the yearly rent to the dean and his successors; and it has continued under the like demises to the present time, though there have been several attempts made by succeeding deans to recover the possession of it to themselves. The Whitfields were for some length of time lessees of it, afterwards the Lefroys, then Mr. Lance, and after him Mr. Coast, who greatly augmented and improved this mansion, and resided in it till he sold his interest in it to John Thomson, esq. and he conveyed it in 1797 to William Gilbee, esq. the present lessee of it.

 

There was a large chapel belonging to this mansion, which was taken down in 1572.

 

DENSTED is a manor, situated among the woods in the northern part of this parish, next to Harbledown, in the ville of its own name, part of which extends into that parish likewise. It was antiently part of the estate of the family of Crevequer, and was given in the 47th year of Henry III. by Hamo de Crevequer, to the priory of Leeds, founded by one of his ancestors, which gift was confirmed, together with the tithes of Densted, to the priory at several different times, by the several archbishops, and by the priors and convent of Christ-church, (fn. 3) and the revenue of it was increased here in the 8th year of king Richard II. when Robert Bovehatch being convicted of felony, was found to have held some lands at Densted, which upon forfeiture, were granted by the king to it. The prior and convent continued owners of this manor, with those other lands here, and in king Henry the VIIIth.'s reign, demised it for ninety-nine years to Paul Sidnor, (fn. 4) in which state it remained till their dissolution in the 32d year of that reign, when it came, with the rest of their possessions, into the king's hands, who granted it in his 37th year, with all the tenements called Densted, belonging to this manor, to John Tufton, esq. to hold in capite by knight's service, who, about the 3d year of king Edward VI. alienated his interest in it to Richard Argall, whose descendant John Argall sold it, about the beginning of king James I.'s reign, to Sir John Collimore, of Canterbury, who in 1620, conveyed it to trustees, to be sold for the payment of his debts; and they conveyed it to Thomas Steed, esq. who in the reign of king Charles I. passed it away to Sir Thomas Swan, of Southfleet; in whose descendants it continued, till at length the widow of Sir William Swan, at her death, devised it, among his other estates, alike between his and her own relations, one of whom marrying John Comyns, esq. afterwards knighted, and chief baron of the exchequer, he became in her right possessed of this manor, being descended from the Comyns's, of Dagenham, in Essex, in which county he resided, and bore for his arms, Azure, a chevron, ermine, between three garbs, or. On his death in 1740, he devised it to his eldest nephew and heir John Comyns, esq. of Highlands, in Essex, (son of his brother Richard, serjeant-at law) who died possessed of it in 1760, leaving by his second wife, an only son, Richard-John Comyns, esq. whose heirs conveyed it by sale to Thomas Lane, esq. one of the masters of chancery, who died possessed of it in 1773, on which it descended to his two sons Thomas and William, and the former having purchased the latter's interest in it, died, leaving his widow surviving, who is now in the possession of this estate for her life; but the reversion of it in see, after her death, is vested in the younger brother above-mentioned, Mr. William Lane, gent. of London.

 

A court baron is held for this manor.

 

The lands belonging to this manor consist of about four hundred acres; the whole of which, excepting seven acres in Highwood which are titheable, is subject only to a composition yearly to the rector of Chartham, in lieu of all tithes whatever.

 

HOWFIELD is a manor in this parish, lying in the north-east part of it, adjoining to Toniford. It was formerly spelt in antient records both Haghefelde and Hugeveld, and was part of the possessions of the priory of St. Gregory, most probably at its foundation in 1084. However that be, this manor was confirmed to it, among the rest of its possessions, by the name of Haghefelde, together with the mill of Toniford, by archbishop Hubert, who died in 1206; (fn. 5) and in this state it remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when, by the act passed in the 27th year of it, this priory was suppressed among other religious houses, whose revenues did not amount to the clear yearly value of two hundred pounds, Christopher Hales, esq. afterwards knighted, and attorney-general, being then lessee of this manor, under a lease for ninety-nine years, from the prior and convent; and he had that year a grant from the king of it in see, with all privileges and immunities belonging to it, to hold by fealty only. Sir Christopher Hales was likewise master of the rolls, being the son of Thomas Hales, A.M. second son of Henry Hales, of Hales-place, whose eldest son John was ancestor of the Hales's, of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, Tenterden, and other parts of this county. He left three daughters his coheirs, who became jointly entitled to this manor, with a tenement called Bovehoth, and other lands in Chartham. At length the whole interest of it, on a division of their estates, was assigned to the youngest daughter Mary, who entitled her husband Alexander Colepeper, esq. to it. He left an only daughter by her, Anne, who carried it in marriage to Sir John Culpeper, of Wigsell, and he alienated it to the family of Vane, or Fane, in which it was in the year 1638, and in the year following Mary, countess dowager of Westmoreland, widow of Sir Francis Fane, earl of Westmoreland, joined with her son Mildmay, earl of Westmoreland, in the sale of it to William Man, esq. of Canterbury, afterwards knighted, whose ancestors had been settled there from the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign. They bore for their arms, Or, a chevron, ermines, between three lions, rampant guardant, sable; and there were of this name of Man, who were aldermen of the ward of Westgate in that city, as early as king Edward III.'s reign. (fn. 6) He in 1688, with his son William Man, esq. conveyed it to John Denew, gent. of Canterbury, whose ancestors were antiently written De New, and bore for their arms, Or, five chevronels, azure; whose grandson John Denew, esq. dying in 1750, s.p. devised it by will to his wife Elizabeth, and she at her death in 1761, gave it to one of her late husband's sisters and coheirs, Elizabeth, married to Mr. Edward Roberts, of Christ's hospital, London; their eldest son Mr. Edward Roberts died possessed of it in 1779, leaving three sons, Edward, George, and William, when it devolved to his eldest son Edward-William Roberts, who sold it in 1796 to George Gipps, esq. of Harbledown, M.P. for Canterbury, who is the present owner of it.

 

The demesne lands of this manor claimed and enjoyed an exemption from all manner of tithes till almost within memory; but by degrees tithes have been taken from most of them, and at present there are not more than twenty acres from which none are taken.

 

SHALMSFORD-STREET is a hamlet in this parish, built on each side of the Ashford road, near the river Stour, and the bridge which takes its name from it, at the western boundary of this parish. It was antiently called Essamelesford, and in the time of the Saxons was the estate of one Alret, who seems to have lost the possession of it after the battle of Hastings; for the Conqueror gave it, among many other possessions, to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half brother, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in the record of Domesday:

 

In Ferleberg hundred, Herfrid holds of the see of the bishop, Essamelesford. It was taxed at half a suling. The arable land is one carucate. In demesne there is one carucate, and three villeins, with one borderer having one carucate. There are three servants, and eight acres of meadow. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was valued at sixty shillings, and afterwards forty shillings, now sixty shillings. Alret held it of king Edward.

 

Four years after the taking of the above survey, the bishop of Baieux was disgraced, and all his lands and possessions were confiscated to the king's use. Soon after which this estate seems to have been separated into two manors, one of which was called from its situation.

 

THE MANOR OF SHALMSFORD-STREET, and afterwards, from its possessors, the mansion of Bolles, a family who had large possessions at Chilham and the adjoining parishes. At length, after they were become extinct here, which was not till about the beginning of the reign of queen Elizabeth, this manor came into the name of Cracknal, and from that in the reign of king James I. to Michel, one of whose descendants leaving two daughters and coheirs, one of them married Nicholas Page, and the other Thomas George; and they made a division of this estate, in which some houses and part of the lands were allotted to Thomas George, whose son Edward dying s.p. they came to Mr. John George, of Canterbury, who sold them to Mr. Wm. Baldock, of Canterbury, and he now owns them; but the manor, manor-house, and the rest of the demesne lands were allotted to Mr. Nicholas Page, and devolved to his son Mr. Thomas Page. He died in 1796, and devised them to Mr. Ralph Fox, who now owns them and resides here. The court baron for this manor has been long disused.

 

ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE of the road, about twenty rods from the bridge, stood an antient seat, which was taken down about thirty-five years ago, though there is a malt house remaining on the scite of it, which has evident marks of antiquity, and of its having been once made use of as part of the offices belonging to it. In the windows of the old house were several coats of arms, that most frequent being the coat and crest of Filmer, with a crescent for difference. This seat, with the lands belonging to it, was for a great length of time owned by the Mantles, and continued so till Mary Mantle carried it in marriage to Mr. Stephen Church, of Goodnestone, the present owner of it.

 

THE MANOR OF SHALMSFORD BRIDGE was the other part of the bishop of Baieux's estate here, described as above in Domesday, and was that part of it which was by far of the most eminent account, and was so called not only to distinguish it from that lastmentioned, but from its situation near the bridge of this name over the river Stour, on the opposite or west side of it next to Chilham, in which parish much of the lands belonging to it lie. It was antiently accounted a member of the manor of Throwley in this county, as appears by the inquisition taken after the death of Hamo de Gatton, owner of that manor in the 20th year of king Edward I. when Roger de Shamelesford was found to hold it as such of him by knight's service. His descendant William de Shalmelesford, who possessed it in the beginning of the reign of Edward II. leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she carried it in marriage to John Petit, who resided here, and died before the 20th year of the next reign of king Edward III. bearing for his arms, Gules, a chevron, between three leopards faces, argent. In his descendants, who resided at Shalmesford, this manor continued down to Thomas Petit, esq. of Canterbury, who died possessed of it in 1625, (fn. 7) leaving his three sisters his coheirs, who became entitled to this manor in undivided thirds. They were married afterwards, Catherine to Michael Belke; Elizabeth to Giles Master, of Woodchurch; and Dorothy first to William Master, secondly to John Merryweather, and thirdly to Parker, of Northfleet. Michael Belke above-mentioned, whose ancestors were originally of Coperham-Sole, in Sheldwich, having purchased another third of this manor, became entitled to two thirds of it, which continued in his descendants down to Dr. Thomas Belke, prebendary of Canterbury, who died in 1712, and his heirs sold them to Mr. Hatch, of that city, who was befor possessed of the other third part of this manor, which he had under his father Mr. John Hatch's will, who had purchased it of one of the descendants of Mr. Thomas Petyt, before-mentioned, and thus became entitled to the whole property of it. He died in 1761, and by will devised it to his great nephew, Mr. John Garling Hatch, of Chartham, who sold it to Mr. Joseph Saddleton. He died in 1795 intestate, leaving Elizabeth his widow, and Joseph their only son, who are the present owners of it.

 

Mystole is a handsome well-built seat, situated on the green of that name, in the south-west part of this parish, about a mile and an half from the church of Chartham. It was built by John Bungey, prebendary of Canterbury, who was rector of this church, and married Margaret Parker, the archbishop's niece, by whom he had several sons and daughters. He bore for his arms, Azure, a lion, passant-guardant, or, between three bezants, (fn. 8) and dying here possessed of it in 1596, was buried in this church. His eldest son Jonas Bungey succeeded him here, and in his descendants it continued till it was at length sold to Sir John Fagge, of Wiston, in Sussex, who was created a baronet on Dec. 11, 1660. But before this purchase, there were those of this name settled in this parish, as appears by their wills, and the marriage register-book in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury, as early as the year 1534, in both which they are stiled gentlemen. He left a numerous family, of whom only three sons survived; Sir Robert, his successor in title; Charles, who will be mentioned hereaster; and Thomas, ancestor of John Meres Fagge, esq. late of Brenset. Sir John Fagge died in 1700, and by will devised this seat of Mystole, with his other estates in this and the adjoining parishes, to his second son Charles Fagge, esq. of Canterbury, before-mentioned, who continued to bear the family arms, being Gules, two bends, vaire. His only surviving son Charles Fagge, esq. resided here, and married Elizabeth, youngest daughter of William Turner, esq. of the White Friars, Canterbury. His son Sir William Fagge, bart. resided at Mystole, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Abraham Le Grand, gent. of Canterbury, who died in 1785. He died in 1791, having had one son John, and two daughters, Helen, married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, prebendary of Canterbury, but since removed to Winchester; and Sarah to Edwin Humphry Sandys, gent. of Canterbury. He was succeeded by his only son the Rev. Sir John Fagge, bart. who married in 1789 Anne, only daughter and heir of Daniel Newman, esq. of Canterbury, barrister-at law, and recorder of Maidstone. He now resides at Mystole, of which he is the present possessor.

 

HORTON MANOR, sometime written Horton Parva, to distinguish it from others of the same name in this county, is a manor in that part of this parish which lies within the hundred of Bridge and Petham. It has by some been supposed to have been once a parish of itself, but without any reason; for it was from the earliest times always esteemed as a part of the parish of Chartham.

 

At the time of taking the survey of Domesday, about the year 1080, this manor was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, the Conqueror's half-brother, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in it, being then accounted within the bounds of the adjoining hundred of Felborough:

 

In Ferleberge hundred, Ansfrid holds of the bishop, Hortone. It was taxed at half a suling. The arable land is one carucote. There is in demesne . . . . and thirteen villeins having half a carucate. There is one servant, and two mills of one marc of silver, and eight acres of mea dow, and one hundred acres of coppice wood. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth forty shillings, afterwards thirty shillings, now one hundred shillings, Godric held it of king Edward.

 

On the bishop's disgrace, about four years afterwards, this manor, among the rest of his possessions, was confiscated to the crown, and was granted thence to the family of Crevequer, of whom it was held by that of Northwood, of Northwood, in this county. John de Northwood died possessed of it in the 14th year of Edward II. In whose descendants it continued down to Roger de Northwood, whose widow Agnes entitled her second husband Christopher Shuckborough, esq. of Warwickshire, to the possession of it, and they afterwards resided here. He bore for his arms, A chevron, between three mullets, pierced. She died in the 6th year of king Henry IV. anno 1404, and he alienated it three years afterwards to Gregory Ballard, whose descendant Thomas Ballard, kept his shrievalty here anno 31 Henry VI. and dying in 1465, lies buried in St. Catherine's church, near the Tower. Robert Ballard was found by inquisition anno 14 king Henry VII. to hold at his death this manor of the king, as of his honor of the castle of Dover, by the service of one sparrow-hawk yearly. They bore for their arms, Sable, a griffin rampant segreant, ermine, armed and membered, or. At length it descended down to Nicholas Ballard, who in the 4th year of Philip and Mary, passed it away to Roger Trollop, esq. and he sold it, in the 2d year of queen Elizabeth, to Sir Edward Warner, then lieutenant of the tower, who died possessed of it in the 8th year of that reign, holding it of the king in capite by knight's service. Robert Warner, esq. was his brother and next heir, and sold it, in the 16th year of that reign, to Sir Roger Manwood, (fn. 9) chief baron of the exchequer, whose son Sir Peter Manwood, K.B. in the reign of king James I. alienated it to Christopher Toldervye, esq. who resided here, and dying in 1618, s.p. was buried in Ash church, near Sandwich, bearing for his arms, Azure, a fess, or, in chief, two cross croslets of the second. By his will he devised it to his brother John Toldervye, gent. of London; on whose death likewise s.p. it devolved by the limitations in the above will to Jane his eldest sister, then married to Sir Robert Darell, of Calehill, who in her right became entitled to it, and from him it has at length descended down to Henry Darell, esq. of Calehill, the present owner of this manor.

 

The chapel belonging to this manor is still standing, at a small distance south-west from the house. It had more than ordinary privileges belonging to it, having every one the same as the mother church, excepting that of burial, and its offices. It consists of one isle and a chancel, with a thick wall at the west end, rising above the roof, and shaped like a pointed turret, in which are two apertures for the hanging of two bells. It has been many years disused as a chapel, and made use of as a barn.

 

This chapel, like many others of the same sort, was built for the use of the family residing in the mansion of the manor, which being, as well as the ceremonies of the religion of those times, very numerous, rendered it most inconvenient for them to attend at the parish church, at so great a distance, in all kind of seasons and weather. But after the reformation, when great part of such ceremonies ceased, and the alteration of the times not only lessened the number of domestics, but even the residence of families, by degrees, at these mansions; these chapels became of little use, and being maintained at the sole charge of the owners of the estates on which they were built, they chose rather to relinquish the privilege of them, than continue at the expence of repairs, and finding a priest to officiate in them.

 

In the reign of king Richard II. there was a great contest between John Beckford, rector of Chartham, and Christopher Shuckborough, lord of this manor, concerning the celebration of divine offices in this chapel; which was heard and determined in 1380, before the archbishop's official, that all divine offices might be celebrated in it, exceptis tantum defunctorum sepulturis et exequiis. These were more than ordinary privileges; it being usual, even in chapels which had the right of sepulture granted to them, to oblige the inhabitants to baptize and marry, and the women to have their purifications at the mother church.

 

There is a composition of 6l. 14s. paid by the occupier of this manor, to the rector of Chartham, in lieu of all tithes whatever arising from it.

 

Charities.

THERE are no charitiesor alms houses belonging to this parish, excepting the legacy by the will of Thomas Petit, esq. of Canterbury, in 1626. to this parish, Chilham, and St. George's, Canterbury, jointly for the benefit of young married people for ever; a full account of which has been given before, under Chilham, p. 141.

 

There is a school lately set up in this parish, for the teaching of children reading, writing, and arithmetic.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about forty-five, casually 60.

 

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

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is a large, handsome building, of one isle and a chancel, with a cross isle or transept. It has a tower steeple at the west end, in which are five bells and a clock. Besides other monuments and memorials in this church, there are in the chancel memorials for the Kingsfords; for Margaret, daughter of Sir Samuel Peyton, knight and baronet, wife of Thomas Osbern, esq. obt. 1655; for Jane, daughter of Arthur Barham, esq. wife of Thomas Osbern, esq. obt. 1657; several for the dis ferent rectors, and a monument for Dr. Delangle, 1724; a large grave-stone with the figure of a man in his armour, cross-legged, with his sword and spurs, in full proportion, inlaid in brass, with his surcoat of arms, viz. Three wheat-skreens, or fans, being for one of the Septvans family; and on the north side is an antient tomb, under an arch hollowed in the wall. In the north cross isle is a grave-stone, which has been very lately robbed of its brasses, excepting the impalements of one coat, being the arms of Clifford. It had on it the figure of a woman, with an inscription for Jane Eveas, daughter of Lewys Clifforht Squyre, obt. 1530. The chancel is very handsome, and there has been some good painted glass in the windows of it, of which there are yet some small remains. In the south chancel the family of Fagge lie buried; in it there is a monument for the late Sir William and his lady, and a most superb monument of excellent sculpture and imagery, having the figures, in full proportion of Sir William Young, bart. and his lady; Sarah, sister of Sir William Fagge before-mentioned, who died in 1746, æt. 18, in the same year in which she was married. He died in the West-Indies in 1788, and was brought over and buried beside her, and the above-mentioned monument which had laid by in the church ever since her death was repaired and placed here.

 

The church of Chartham was part of the antient possessions of the see of Canterbury, and continues so at this time, his grace the archbishop being the present patron of it.

 

In a terrier of 1615, it appears there was then here a parsonage-house, barn, gardens, and meadow, in all about two acres; certain closes containing thirty-eight acres, and a little piece of wood-land adjoining to it; some of which glebe-land has since that time been lost, the rector now enjoying nor more than thirty acres of it.

 

Part of the parsonage-house seems very antient, being built of flint, with ashlar-stone windows and door cases, of antient gothic form. It was formerly much larger, part of it having been pulled down, by a faculty, a few years ago.

 

An account of the lands in this parish, which claim an exemption of tithes, has already been given before, under the description of the respective lands, as well as of the chapel of Horton, and the composition for tithes from that manor.

 

¶This rectory is valued in the king's books at 41l. 5s. 10d. and the yearly tenths at 4l. 2s. 7d. In 1640 it was valued at one hundred and twenty pounds. Communicants three hundred. It is now worth about three hundred and fifty pounds per annum.

Inscribed - "Hi Jim and Sandra / Great to say hello! / Mickey Spillane"

 

Frank Morrison Spillane; (March 9, 1918 – July 17, 2006), better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American crime novelist, called the "king of pulp fiction". His stories often feature his signature detective character, Mike Hammer. More than 225 million copies of his books have sold internationally. Spillane was also an occasional actor, once even playing Hammer himself in the 1965 film The Girl Hunters.

 

Frank Morrison Spillane was born March 9, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York, and primarily raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Spillane was the only child of his Irish bartender father, John Joseph Spillane, and his Scottish mother, Catherine Anne. During his late adolescence, his family returned to Brooklyn, where he graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in 1936. He started writing while in high school, briefly attended Fort Hays State College in Kansas and worked a variety of jobs, including summers as a lifeguard at Breezy Point, Queens, and a period as a trampoline artist for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. During World War II, Spillane enlisted in the Army Air Corps, becoming a fighter pilot and a flight instructor. He was first stationed at the air base in Greenwood, Mississippi, where he met and married first wife Mary Ann Pearce in 1945. He also met two younger writers, Earle Basinsky and Charlie Wells, who would become his protégés; each published two hardboiled-noir novels in the Spillane style in the early 1950s.

 

Spillane claims that he started being published as an author of slicks where he was credited under house names, then went "lower" to the pulps, then went lower still as a writer for comic books. While working as a salesman in Gimbels department store basement in 1940, he met tie salesman Joe Gill, who later found a lifetime career in scripting for Charlton Comics. Gill told Spillane to meet his brother, Ray Gill, who wrote for Funnies Inc., an outfit that packaged comic books for different publishers.

 

Spillane soon began writing an eight-page story every day. He concocted adventures for major 1940s comic book characters, including Captain Marvel, Superman, Batman, and Captain America. In the early 1940s, working for Funnies, Inc., he wrote two-page text stories which were syndicated to various comic book publishers, including Timely Comics. At one point, Spillane estimated he wrote fifty of these "short-short stories," which were intended to fulfill a postal regulation requiring comic books to have at least two pages of text to qualify for a second-class mailing permit.

 

During the 1980s, he appeared in Miller Lite beer commercials. In the 1990s, Spillane licensed one of his characters to Tekno Comix for use in a science-fiction adventure series, Mike Danger. In his introduction to the series, Spillane said he had conceived of the character decades earlier but never used him.

 

In 1983, Spillane received the lifetime achievement award from the Private Eye Writers of America. He also received an Edgar Allan Poe Grand Master Award in 1995. The television series MASH had an episode devoted to Mickey Spillane and his books.

 

Spillane died on July 17, 2006, at his home in Murrells Inlet, of pancreatic cancer. After his death, his friend and literary executor, Max Allan Collins, began editing and completing Spillane's unpublished typescripts, beginning with a non-series novel, Dead Street (2007).

 

LINK to video - Mickey Spillane for Miller Lite - www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cPi3xVRr10

 

LINK to video - Miller Lite Beer Commercial - Mickey Spillane with Bob Uecker and Rodney Dangerfield - www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vqf7Mr8384

 

LINK to video - Mickey Spillane 02/11/04 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-zYLYyVHms

Holding a fan, one of 3 daughters holding shields denoting their marriages, round the side of the tomb of Sir Humphrey Bradbourne 1513-1581 and wife Elizabeth Turville. www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/2Q337L (Tw o were unmarried)

"Here lieth the bodies of Sir Humpry Bradburn Knight died the 17 of April in the year of our God 1581 and Dame Elizabeth his wife and daughter of Sir William Turville of Newhall in the county of Leicester Knight who died May the 28th 1598"

The tomb was moved into this chapel c1840 after originally being in the family mausoleum in the south transept

The guide says a Spanish connection is alluded to by the pomegranate decorating the hilt of his dagger. www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/mGR6Ek

Humphrey was the son & heir of John Bradbourne 1523 of Bradbourne and Lea by Isabella daughter and coheir of Richard Cotton of Ridware.

On his paternal side he was the great grandson of Sir John Bradbourne 1488 and Anne Vernon 1499 whose monument is nearby www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/L9fq7m

On his mother's side he was the great grandson of Nicholas Longford & Joan Warren (whose arms are in the stained glass here www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/XEE1W3

 

A minor on the death of his father, Bradbourne succeeded to an inheritance consisting of the manor of Bradbourne and other property in the west of Derbyshire, as well as the manor of Hough and a small amount of other land in Staffordshire, the whole being valued at £99 a year. It is not known who purchased his wardship or when he had livery of these lands. His appointment in 1538 to the Derbyshire commission of the peace marks the beginning of his career in shire administration, and six years later he was called upon to supply 20 men for the Earl of Hertford’s expedition against Scotland. He himself served as a captain and was knighted by Hertford, being the only member of his family so honoured. In 1557 he was one of the Derbyshire gentlemen who certified to the 5th Earl of Shrewsbury the number of men each could supply for service on the borders, his own quota being 12 billmen and three bowmen.

 

He m Elizabeth daughter of Sir William Turville of Aston Flamville Leics & Newhall, by 2nd wife Jane Warburton www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/1M08C3

Children - 9 sons (4 in armour holding shields, 2 in civilian robes, 3 infants) & 6 daughters (4 holding shields indicating their marriage)

1. William 1547 m1 Joan Fleetwood ; m2 Tabitha www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/540jQa daughter of Thomas Cockayne 1592 & Dorothy Ferrers www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/kD33tB : m3 Frances Priest

2. George Bradborne b 1530

3. Francis Bradburne b 1532

4. John Bradburne b 1534

5. Hugh Bradburne b 1536

6. Nicholas Bradburne 1540 - 1553

7. Humphrey Bradbourne b 1545

8. Edward b 1547

9. Anthony b 1551

1. Ann 1542 - 1599 m (1st wife) Sir Humphrey 1607 son of John Ferrers & Barbara daughter of Francis Cockayne 1536 & Dorothy Marrow flic.kr/p/dBpGjH ; Humphrey m2 Elizabeth Longford widow of Humphrey Dethick of Hartshorne www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/EP590F ( dispositions of the property by Sir Humphrey Ferrers after his own death and that of his wife, Lady Elizabeth, and his brother, William Bradbourne. It is Sir Humphrey's intention that after his death his wife will have the lands for her jointure; after her death, his "daughter Ferrers" will have them for her jointure; subsequently the lands shall descend unto his next male heir or, in the case of lack of issue, unto his wife's heirs)

2. Elizabeth m Sir John Cotton of Landwade 1620 son of John Cotton 1593 flic.kr/p/9CZ6h6

3. Jane m Henry Sacheverell

www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/4jV2Ew

 

Although he remained a justice of the peace for over 40 years, for most of this time Bradbourne was not of the quorum, probably because of his religion. In the report to the Privy Council on the justices of Derbyshire compiled in 1564, he was named as one of the two ‘adversaries to religion’ in the shire. His disaffection is more likely to have been of a Catholic than of a Puritan kind, since Henry Vernon, the other justice so described, was a Catholic whereas Richard Blackwell, whom the signatories recommended for dismissal, was seemingly a Puritan and was defended by the bishop. Bradbourne was an executor of Vernon’s will of 1568. Although his religion had not prevented him from serving two terms as sheriff, it was only in his later years that he was entrusted with such special commissions as the investigation of 1578 into local animosity towards (Sir) John Zouche II.4

 

It was with Sir Thomas Cokayne that Bradbourne had sat in his first Parliament, that of March 1553 called under the aegis of the Duke of Northumberland: a man of his conservative views can hardly have felt at home in such an assembly. He would have found more congenial his next and last Parliament, the fourth of Mary’s reign, although the manoeuvres of the opposition would probably have offended him and it is not surprising that his name is absent from the list of them. His fellow-knight in that Parliament, Vincent Mundy, was to be one of those commissioned in 1556 and 1557 to investigate a dispute, which had already reached the Star Chamber, between Bradbourne and his cousin Aden Beresford over a brook which ran through their adjacent properties. Bradbourne was involved in a number of other suits in both Chancery and Star Chamber, including one in the reign of Henry VIII when he was charged with enclosing common land. In February 1557 he appeared before the barons of the Exchequer to meet an accusation of maintaining retainers in blue livery who accompanied him to the local sessions of the peace and the assizes. The case was brought by Thomas Gravenor, a husbandman of Bentley: Bradbourne asked for trial by jury but no further process is recorded.5

 

Humphrey's death gave suspicion of foul play. Three days after his death the Privy Council ordered an investigation of a ‘dangerous practice taken in hand by certain lewd persons, whereby is intended the destruction of the person of Sir Humphrey Bradbourne and conveying away of his goods’. A charge of murder was made against a yeoman of Lea, Richard Haughton, for allegedly having smeared Bradbourne’s right leg with an ointment containing poison which, after a lapse of 3 years proved fatal. - the result of this charge is not known.

 

By his will of 8 Oct. 1580 Humphrey had appointed as sole executrix his wife Elizabeth and as overseer Sir John Manners of Bakewell www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/E1w2d2

Humphrey asked for a tomb of alabaster with ‘pictures of myself, my wife and all my children ... set thereupon’, This was made by Richard and Gabriel Royley of Burton on Trent who were "popular and inexpensive"

- Church of St Oswald, Ashbourne Derbyshire

 

www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member...

www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bradbourne-4 ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LZ1S-CBL/anne-bradbourne-15...

The Burgtheater at Dr.-Karl -Lueger-Ring (from now on, that means 2013, Universitätsring) in Vienna is an Austrian Federal Theatre. It is one of the most important stages in Europe and after the Comédie-Française, the second oldest European one, as well as the greatest German speaking theater. The original 'old' Burgtheater at Saint Michael's square was utilized from 1748 until the opening of the new building at the ring in October, 1888. The new house in 1945 burnt down completely as a result of bomb attacks, until the re-opening on 14 October 1955 was the Ronacher serving as temporary quarters. The Burgtheater is considered as Austrian National Theatre.

Throughout its history, the theater was bearing different names, first Imperial-Royal Theater next to the Castle, then to 1918 Imperial-Royal Court-Burgtheater and since then Burgtheater (Castle Theater). Especially in Vienna it is often referred to as "The Castle (Die Burg)", the ensemble members are known as Castle actors (Burgschauspieler).

History

St. Michael's Square with the old K.K. Theatre beside the castle (right) and the Winter Riding School of the Hofburg (left)

The interior of the Old Burgtheater, painted by Gustav Klimt. The people are represented in such detail that the identification is possible.

The 'old' Burgtheater at St. Michael's Square

The original castle theater was set up in a ball house that was built in the lower pleasure gardens of the Imperial Palace of the Roman-German King and later Emperor Ferdinand I in 1540, after the old house 1525 fell victim to a fire. Until the beginning of the 18th Century was played there the Jeu de Paume, a precursor of tennis. On 14 March 1741 finally gave the Empress Maria Theresa, ruling after the death of her father, which had ordered a general suspension of the theater, the "Entrepreneur of the Royal Court Opera" and lessees of 1708 built theater at Kärntnertor (Carinthian gate), Joseph Karl Selliers, permission to change the ballroom into a theater. Simultaneously, a new ball house was built in the immediate vicinity, which todays Ballhausplatz is bearing its name.

In 1748, the newly designed "theater next to the castle" was opened. 1756 major renovations were made, inter alia, a new rear wall was built. The Auditorium of the Old Burgtheater was still a solid timber construction and took about 1200 guests. The imperial family could reach her ​​royal box directly from the imperial quarters, the Burgtheater structurally being connected with them. At the old venue at Saint Michael's place were, inter alia, several works of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as well as Franz Grillparzer premiered .

On 17 February 1776, Emperor Joseph II declared the theater to the German National Theatre (Teutsches Nationaltheater). It was he who ordered by decree that the stage plays should not deal with sad events for not bring the Imperial audience in a bad mood. Many theater plays for this reason had to be changed and provided with a Vienna Final (Happy End), such as Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet. From 1794 on, the theater was bearing the name K.K. Court Theatre next to the castle.

1798 the poet August von Kotzebue was appointed as head of the Burgtheater, but after discussions with the actors he left Vienna in 1799. Under German director Joseph Schreyvogel was introduced German instead of French and Italian as a new stage language.

On 12 October 1888 took place the last performance in the old house. The Burgtheater ensemble moved to the new venue at the Ring. The Old Burgtheater had to give way to the completion of Saint Michael's tract of Hofburg. The plans to this end had been drawn almost 200 years before the demolition of the old Burgtheater by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach.

The "new" K.K. Court Theatre (as the inscription reads today) at the Ring opposite the Town Hall, opened on 14 October 1888 with Grillparzer's Esther and Schiller's Wallenstein's Camp, was designed in neo-Baroque style by Gottfried Semper (plan) and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer (facade), who had already designed the Imperial Forum in Vienna together. Construction began on 16 December 1874 and followed through 14 years, in which the architects quarreled. Already in 1876 Semper withdrew due to health problems to Rome and had Hasenauer realized his ideas alone, who in the dispute of the architects stood up for a mainly splendid designed grand lodges theater.

However, created the famous Viennese painter Gustav Klimt and his brother Ernst Klimt and Franz Matsch 1886-1888 the ceiling paintings in the two stairwells of the new theater. The three took over this task after similar commissioned work in the city theaters of Fiume and Karlovy Vary and in the Bucharest National Theatre. In the grand staircase on the side facing the café Landtmann of the Burgtheater (Archduke stairs) reproduced ​​Gustav Klimt the artists of the ancient theater in Taormina on Sicily, in the stairwell on the "People's Garden"-side (Kaiserstiege, because it was reserved for the emperor) the London Globe Theatre and the final scene from William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". Above the entrance to the auditorium is Molière's The Imaginary Invalid to discover. In the background the painter immortalized himself in the company of his two colleagues. Emperor Franz Joseph I liked the ceiling paintings so much that he gave the members of the company of artists of Klimt the Golden Cross of Merit.

The new building resembles externally the Dresden Semper Opera, but even more, due to the for the two theaters absolutely atypical cross wing with the ceremonial stairs, Semper's Munich project from the years 1865/1866 for a Richard Wagner Festspielhaus above the Isar. Above the middle section there is a loggia, which is framed by two side wings, and is divided from a stage house with a gable roof and auditorium with a tent roof. Above the center house there decorates a statue of Apollo the facade, throning between the Muses of drama and tragedy. Above the main entrances are located friezes with Bacchus and Ariadne. At the exterior facade round about, portrait busts of the poets Calderon, Shakespeare, Moliere, Schiller, Goethe, Lessing, Halm, Grillparzer, and Hebbel can be seen. The masks which also can be seen here are indicating the ancient theater, furthermore adorn allegorical representations the side wings: love, hate, humility, lust, selfishness, and heroism. Although the theater since 1919 is bearing the name of Burgtheater, the old inscription KK Hofburgtheater over the main entrance still exists. Some pictures of the old gallery of portraits have been hung up in the new building and can be seen still today - but these images were originally smaller, they had to be "extended" to make them work better in high space. The points of these "supplements" are visible as fine lines on the canvas.

The Burgtheater was initially well received by Viennese people due to its magnificent appearance and technical innovations such as electric lighting, but soon criticism because of the poor acoustics was increasing. Finally, in 1897 the auditorium was rebuilt to reduce the acoustic problems. The new theater was an important meeting place of social life and soon it was situated among the "sanctuaries" of Viennese people. In November 1918, the supervision over the theater was transferred from the High Steward of the emperor to the new state of German Austria.

1922/1923 the Academy Theatre was opened as a chamber play stage of the Burgtheater. On 8th May 1925, the Burgtheater went into Austria's criminal history, as here Mentscha Karnitschewa perpetrated a revolver assassination on Todor Panitza.

The Burgtheater in time of National Socialism

The National Socialist ideas also left traces in the history of the Burgtheater. In 1939 appeared in Adolf Luser Verlag the strongly anti-Semitic characterized book of theater scientist Heinz Kindermann "The Burgtheater. Heritage and mission of a national theater", in which he, among other things, analyzed the "Jewish influence "on the Burgtheater. On 14 October 1938 was on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Burgtheater a Don Carlos production of Karl-Heinz Stroux shown that served Hitler's ideology. The role of the Marquis of Posa played the same Ewald Balser, who in a different Don Carlos production a year earlier (by Heinz Hilpert) at the Deutsches Theater in the same role with the sentence in direction of Joseph Goebbels box vociferated: "just give freedom of thought". The actor and director Lothar Müthel, who was director of the Burgtheater between 1939 and 1945, staged 1943 the Merchant of Venice, in which Werner Kraus the Jew Shylock clearly anti-Semitic represented. The same director staged after the war Lessing's parable Nathan the Wise. Adolf Hitler himself visited during the Nazi regime the Burgtheater only once (1938), and later he refused in pure fear of an assassination.

For actors and theater staff who were classified according to the Reich Citizenship Law of 1935 as "Jews ", were quickly imposed stage bans, within a few days, they were on leave, fired or arrested. The Burgtheater ensemble ​​between 1938 and 1945 did not put up significant resistance against the Nazi ideology, the repertoire was heavily censored, only a few joined the Resistance, as Judith Holzmeister (then also at the People's Theatre engaged) or the actor Fritz Lehmann. Although Jewish members of the ensemble indeed have been helped to emigrate, was still an actor, Fritz Strassny, taken to a concentration camp and murdered there.

The Burgtheater at the end of the war and after the Second World War

In summer 1944, the Burgtheater had to be closed because of the decreed general theater suspension. From 1 April 1945, as the Red Army approached Vienna, camped a military unit in the house, a portion was used as an arsenal. In a bomb attack the house at the Ring was damaged and burned down on 12th April 1945 completely. Auditorium and stage were useless, only the steel structure remained. The ceiling paintings and part of the lobby were almost undamaged.

The Soviet occupying power expected from Viennese City Councillor Viktor Matejka to launch Vienna's cultural life as soon as possible again. The council summoned on 23 April (a state government did not yet exist) a meeting of all Viennese cultural workers into the Town Hall. Result of the discussions was that in late April 1945 eight cinemas and four theaters took up the operation again, including the Burgtheater. The house took over the Ronacher Theater, which was understood by many castle actors as "exile" as a temporary home (and remained there to 1955). This venue chose the newly appointed director Raoul Aslan, who championed particularly active.

The first performance after the Second World War was on 30 April 1945 Sappho by Franz Grillparzer directed by Adolf Rott from 1943 with Maria Eis in the title role. Also other productions from the Nazi era were resumed. With Paul Hoerbiger, a few days ago as Nazi prisoner still in mortal danger, was shown the play of Nestroy Mädl (Girlie) from the suburbs. The Academy Theatre could be played (the first performance was on 19 April 1945 Hedda Gabler, a production of Rott from the year 1941) and also in the ball room (Redoutensaal) at the Imperial Palace took place performances. Aslan the Ronacher in the summer had rebuilt because the stage was too small for classical performances. On 25 September 1945, Schiller's Maid of Orleans could be played on the enlarged stage.

The first new productions are associated with the name of Lothar Müthel: Everyone and Nathan the Wise, in both Raoul Aslan played the main role. The staging of The Merchant of Venice by Müthel in Nazi times seemed to have been fallen into oblivion.

Great pleasure gave the public the return of the in 1938 from the ensemble expelled Else Wohlgemuth on stage. She performaed after seven years in exile in December 1945 in Clare Biharys The other mother in the Academy Theater. 1951 opened the Burgtheater its doors for the first time, but only the left wing, where the celebrations on the 175th anniversary of the theater took place.

1948, a competition for the reconstruction was tendered: Josef Gielen, who was then director, first tended to support the design of ex aequo-ranked Otto Niedermoser, according to which the house was to be rebuilt into a modern gallery theater. Finally, he agreed but then for the project by Michael Engelhardt, whose plan was conservative but also cost effective. The character of the lodges theater was largely taken into account and maintained, the central royal box but has been replaced by two balconies, and with a new slanted ceiling construction in the audience was the acoustics, the shortcoming of the house, improved significantly.

On 14 October 1955 was happening under Adolf Rott the reopening of the restored house at the Ring. For this occasion Mozart's A Little Night Music was played. On 15 and on 16 October it was followed by the first performance (for reasons of space as a double premiere) in the restored theater: King Ottokar's Fortune and End of Franz Grillparzer, staged by Adolf Rott. A few months after the signing of the Austrian State Treaty was the choice of this play, which the beginning of Habsburg rule in Austria makes a subject of discussion and Ottokar of Horneck's eulogy on Austria (... it's a good country / Well worth that a prince bow to it! / where have you yet seen the same?... ) contains highly symbolic. Rott and under his successors Ernst Haeusserman and Gerhard Klingenberg the classic Burgtheater style and the Burgtheater German for German theaters were finally pointing the way .

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Burgtheater participated (with other well-known theaters in Vienna) on the so-called Brecht boycott.

Gerhard Klingenberg internationalized the Burgtheater, he invited renowned stage directors such as Dieter Dorn, Peter Hall, Luca Ronconi, Giorgio Strehler, Roberto Guicciardini and Otomar Krejča. Klingenberg also enabled the castle debuts of Claus Peymann and Thomas Bernhard (1974 world premiere of The Hunting Party). Bernhard was as a successor of Klingenberg mentioned, but eventually was appointed Achim Benning, whereupon the writer with the text "The theatrical shack on the ring (how I should become the director of the Burgtheater)" answered.

Benning, the first ensemble representative of the Burgtheater which was appointed director, continued Klingenberg's way of Europeanization by other means, brought directors such as Adolf Dresen, Manfred Wekwerth or Thomas Langhoff to Vienna, looked with performances of plays of Vaclav Havel to the then politically separated East and took the the public taste more into consideration.

Directorate Claus Peymann 1986-1999

Under the by short-term Minister of Education Helmut Zilk brought to Vienna Claus Peymann, director from 1986 to 1999, there was further modernization of the programme and staging styles. Moreover Peymann was never at a loss for critical contributions in the public, a hitherto unusual attitude for Burgtheater directors. Therefore, he and his program within sections of the audience met with rejection. The greatest theater scandal in Vienna since 1945 occurred in 1988 concerning the premiere of Thomas Bernhard's Heldenplatz (Place of the Heroes) drama which was fiercly fought by conservative politicians and zealots. The play deals with the Vergangenheitsbewältigung (process of coming to terms with the past) and illuminates the present management in Austria - with attacks on the then ruling Social Democratic Party - critically. Together with Claus Peymann Bernhard after the premiere dared to face on the stage applause and boos.

Bernard, to his home country bound in love-hate relationship, prohibited the performance of his plays in Austria before his death in 1989 by will. Peymann, to Bernhard bound in a difficult friendship (see Bernhard's play Claus Peymann buys a pair of pants and goes eating with me) feared harm for the author's work, should his plays precisely in his homeland not being shown. First, it was through permission of the executor Peter Fabjan - Bernhard's half-brother - after all, possible the already in the schedule of the Burgtheater included productions to continue. Finally, shortly before the tenth anniversary of the death of Bernard it came to the revival of the Bernhard play Before retirement by the first performance director Peymann. The plays by Bernhard are since then continued on the programme of the Burgtheater and they are regularly newly produced.

In 1993, the rehearsal stage of the Castle theater was opened in the arsenal (architect Gustav Peichl). Since 1999, the Burgtheater has the operation form of a limited corporation.

Directorate Klaus Bachler 1999-2009

Peymann was followed in 1999 by Klaus Bachler as director. He is a trained actor, but was mostly as a cultural manager (director of the Vienna Festival) active. Bachler moved the theater as a cultural event in the foreground and he engaged for this purpose directors such as Luc Bondy, Andrea Breth, Peter Zadek and Martin Kušej.

Were among the unusual "events" of the directorate Bachler

* The Theatre of Orgies and Mysteries by Hermann Nitsch with the performance of 122 Action (2005 )

* The recording of the MTV Unplugged concert with Die Toten Hosen for the music channel MTV (2005, under the title available)

* John Irving's reading from his book at the Burgtheater Until I find you (2006)

* The 431 animatographische (animatographical) Expedition by Christoph Schlingensief and a big event of him under the title of Area 7 - Matthew Sadochrist - An expedition by Christoph Schlingensief (2006).

* Daniel Hoevels cut in Schiller's Mary Stuart accidentally his throat (December 2008). Outpatient care is enough.

Jubilee Year 2005

In October 2005, the Burgtheater celebrated the 50th Anniversary of its reopening with a gala evening and the performance of Grillparzer's King Ottokar's Fortune and End, directed by Martin Kušej that had been performed in August 2005 at the Salzburg Festival as a great success. Michael Maertens (in the role of Rudolf of Habsburg) received the Nestroy Theatre Award for Best Actor for his role in this play. Actor Tobias Moretti was awarded in 2006 for this role with the Gertrude Eysoldt Ring.

Furthermore, there were on 16th October 2005 the open day on which the 82-minute film "burg/private. 82 miniatures" of Sepp Dreissinger was shown for the first time. The film contains one-minute film "Stand portraits" of Castle actors and guest actors who, without saying a word, try to present themselves with a as natural as possible facial expression. Klaus Dermutz wrote a work on the history of the Burgtheater. As a motto of this season served a quotation from Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm: "It's so sad to be happy alone."

The Burgtheater on the Mozart Year 2006

Also the Mozart Year 2006 was at the Burgtheater was remembered. As Mozart's Singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail in 1782 in the courtyard of Castle Theatre was premiered came in cooperation with the Vienna State Opera on the occasion of the Vienna Festival in May 2006 a new production (directed by Karin Beier) of this opera on stage.

Directorate Matthias Hartmann since 2009

From September 2009 to 2014, Matthias Hartmann was Artistic Director of the Burgtheater. A native of Osnabrück, he directed the stage houses of Bochum and Zurich. With his directors like Alvis Hermanis, Roland Schimmelpfennig, David Bösch, Stefan Bachmann, Stefan Pucher, Michael Thalheimer, came actresses like Dorte Lyssweski, Katharina Lorenz, Sarah Viktoria Frick, Mavie Hoerbiger, Lucas Gregorowicz and Martin Wuttke came permanently to the Burg. Matthias Hartmann himself staged around three premieres per season, about once a year, he staged at the major opera houses. For more internationality and "cross-over", he won the Belgian artist Jan Lauwers and his Need Company as "Artists in Residence" for the Castle, the New York group Nature Theater of Oklahoma show their great episode drama Live and Times of an annual continuation. For the new look - the Burgtheater presents itself without a solid logo with word games around the BURG - the Burgtheater in 2011 was awarded the Cultural Brand of the Year .

Since 2014, Karin Bergmann is the commander in chief.

Many places like to wear their connections with Charles Dickens visibly, but I find it hard to believe anywhere does it more completely than Blundeston.

 

Blundeston is mentioned in David Copperfield, and there has been a strong movement by the local parish planners to ensure that most street names now have a Dicken connection. I know this a a colleague of mine resisted the overtures to name their new dwellings something Dickensian, but stuck with the family name after all.

 

I also have family connections with Blundeston, and indeed a distant relation is on the war memorial, but he is one of the branch that has an extra D in their name, the first one I have ever seen. My name is very mis-spelt, and the double D variation the most common.

 

Anyway, late one afternoon, I arrive in Blundeston to visit the church, and see, or notice the pound for the first time. Situated on a road junction, the brick-built circular enclosure was once used to corral livestock. It is a rare survivor, and the first time I had noticed it.

 

It is a fine round-towered church, with plenty of interest inside, and the medieval (I guess) glass in the porch the first of many. Some unusual tessellated tiling in the chancel, but the sanctuary is now a book shop and the altar brought forward.The font, at least to my eyes, looks Norman, and is impressive, as is the arts and crafts window, but I guess this is where Simon puts me right on many points.....

 

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

 

"I was born at Blunderstone, in Suffolk. There is nothing half so green as I know anywhere, as the grass of that churchyard; nothing half so shady as its trees; nothing half so quiet as its tombstones. The sheep are feeding there, when I kneel up to look out. Here is our pew in the church. What a high-backed pew! With a window near it, out of which our house can be seen.

I look up at the monumental tablets on the wall, and try to think of Mr Bodgers late of this parish, and what the feelings of Mrs Bodgers must have been, when affliction sore, long time Mr Bodgers bore, and physicians were in vain. I look to the pulpit, and think what a good place it would be to play in, and what a castle it would make, with another boy coming up the stairs to attack it..."

 

- Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

 

Blundeston is these days a very pleasant outer suburb of Lowestoft, although wise planners have kept a cordon sanitaire between it and the rampaging new estates of Oulton and Gunton. Everything here is very trim and polite, although St Mary itself has a rather more primitive air about it. Its narrow, tapering tower rises up sharply beside the steeply banked roof of its nave, for all the world like a Cornish tin mine or Derbyshire mill. This is an ancient building. The tower, at least the lower part, is clearly Saxon, and here inside there are some other ancient details.

 

You step into a church which is much bigger than it might appear from the outside, with a gentle High Church feel to it. The nave was widened in the late medieval period, and although there is no aisle or arcade, the tower has been left offset. The font dates from the 12th century, a plain, octagonal bowl set on 8 relief legs. The tower arch is earlier, and beside it there is a very curious detail. A circular squint hole, about 12 inches across, about 5 feet from the floor in the north-west corner. It is obviously intended to line up with something outside the church, but what, exactly? There is one exactly like it, in the same position, two miles away at Lound. They do not align with each other, though. Perhaps an outdoor Easter sepulchre? or to enable an internal sepulchre to be seen on Good Friday, when the church was out of use?

 

Above the south door, the arms of Charles II are very curious. They have been reused as a hatchment at some point, but the overpainting has faded to reveal the true origin. An altar against the north wall is dedicated to St Andrew, in memory of the nearby former church at Flixton, which was destroyed in a storm early in the 18th century. The font in the churchyard here comes from Flixton, too.

And the memorials? Well, I'm afraid there is no 'Mr Bodgers, late of this parish', and probably never was. The high-backed pews are all gone, and although the pulpit would certainly make an excellent castle, it post-dates Dickens's (and Copperfield's) time. The grass is still lush and green in the churchyard though, and much wilder than the neatly trimmed lawns of the very pleasant houses that surround it.

  

Simon Knott, June 2008

 

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/Blundeston.htm

 

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Blundeston.

There are two manors here—those of Blundeston Hall, and Gonville's. The former was held by a family which took their name from the place, and retained it, with the patronage of the church, till the end of the reign of Edward III. In the ninth of Edward I., Robert de Blundeston was lord; (fn. 1) and in the twenty-third of Edward III., in the year 1348, there was a conveyance from Osbertus, Rector of the church of Blundeston, and Oliverus de Wysete, to William, the son of Robert de Blundeston, and the heirs of his body, of the manor of Blundeston, with all the lands and appurtenances in Blundeston, Oulton, and Flixton; together with the advowson of the church of the village of Blundeston, with the appurtenances; all which were formerly of Robert de Blundeston; to hold to the said William and the heirs of his body lawfully begotten. From this family the manor and advowson passed to that of Yarmouth; Henry Yarmouth, of Blundeston, presenting to the church in 1438. Humphrey Yarmouth, his descendant, on the 1st of December, 1570, conveyed to William Sydnor the manor of Blundeston, cum pertinentibus, and all other his manors, tenements, liberties, swanmarks, and hereditaments in Blundeston, Corton, Lound, Somerleyton, Flixton, Lowestoft, and Gunton, or elsewhere, and all other his manors and hereditaments, in the said towns, in fee. The manor, &c., and the messuages, were found to be holden of Sir John Heveningham, of his manor of South Leet, in soccage. (fn. 2) The said William Sydnor, by deed indented 6th of October, twenty-sixth of Elizabeth, 1584, in consideration of a jointure to Elizabeth, late wife of Henry Sydnor, his son, and heir apparent, did enfeoff John Read, and others, and their heirs, of a house called Gillam's, and 90 acres of land in Blundeston and Flixton; a meadow of 12 acres in Flixton; a marsh called Wrentham's, and 41 acres of land in Blundeston; two other messuages and 9 acres of land in Blundeston; a house called Chamber's, and 104 acres of land in Henstead. And of the manor called Blundeston; and the manor of Fritton with the appurtenances, to their uses; viz., as to the manor of Blundeston with the appurtenances, to the use of the said William for life; and after to the use of the said Henry, and his heirs male by the said Elizabeth, his wife; and after to the right heirs of the said William. The marriage between the aforesaid Henry Sydnor and Elizabeth was solemnized on the 1st of February, twenty-seventh of Elizabeth. He died during his father's lifetime, in December, 1611. William Sydnor, the father, died on the 26th of August, 1612. By his will, dated the 26th of March, in the same year, being "then of Christ's Church, but late of Blundeston," he gave to the poor of Blundeston, Henstead, Fritton, Belton, Conisford at the Gate (Norwich), Berstete St. John's, 20 shillings to each parish, and to Trowse on this side the Bridge 10 shillings. He desired "his body to be buried in the chauncell of the parishe church of Blundeston." He gave unto Dorothy Sydnor, his daughter, £ 200 of lawful English money, some furniture, and £10 in gold, to be paid within fourteen days; a cup of silver with three feet, and a cover. To Alice Goldsmithe, his daughter, all her mother's apparell, and £10 in gold, &c. Among other bequests, he leaves to William Sydnor, his grandchild, some furniture, and a great carved chest which lately came from Blundeston, and his next best salt-cellar. After leaving annuities to his servants, he directed "that his house in Christ's Church in all things be mayntayned and kept as usually he did for the entertainment of his children; and such of his children and servants as would stay and live orderly, and do their service honestly, during the time of their stay; for which they were to have their wages. The charges of such housekeeping to be defrayed by his executors; and he desired that Dorothy Sydnor, his daughter, during the said month should have the government of the said house." (fn. 3)

 

By an inquisition, held the 30th of August, in the twelfth of James I., when the death of William Sydnor was returned, it was found that William, the son of Henry, his eldest son, then deceased, was his next heir, and of the age of 24 years and more. And that the said William, eldest, was seized in fee of the manor of Blunston, alias Blundeston, with the appurtenances in Blundeston, Corton, Gunton, Lowestoft, Oulton, Ashby, Flixton, Bradwell, Burgh, Fritton, Belton, Herringfleet, Lound, Somerleyton, Hopton, and Gorleston.

 

On the 13th of February, eleventh of James I., William Sydnor, the grandson, in consideration of a marriage with Anne Harborne, did covenant with William Harborne, her father, to convey to him, Sir Anthony Drury, and others, and their heirs, the manor of Fritton, with the appurtenances, in Suffolk, and all lands, tenements, &c., of the said William, in Fritton, or in the towns adjoining, to the use of himself and his heirs until the marriage, and after the marriage to the use of himself and the said Anne, for jointure, and the heirs male of his body, with several remainders over to Robert, Thomas, and Henry, his brothers, Edmund, William, Francis, and Paul Sydnor, his uncles, and the heirs male of every of their several bodies. And after to the use of the right heirs of the said William Sydnor, the grandfather. And the manor of Blundeston, with the rights, members, and appurtenances, in Suffolk, and all lands, tenements, and other hereditaments, &c., of the said William Sydnor, the grandson, in Blundeston, or in the towns adjoining, or any of them, to and for the like uses, and estates, and remainders as before; omitting only the said Anne, and her estates, for life. In the following year a fine was levied in pursuance, by the said William Sydnor, his uncle, and the heirs of Sir Anthony, of the manors of Fritton and Blundeston, with the appurtenances. By the Office of the ninth of Charles I., after the death of William Sydnor, the grandson, it was found that he died, seized, on the 13th of June, eighth of Charles I., 1632, without issue male. By the same Office, Elizabeth, Anne, Sarah, Mary, Hester, Susanna, Abigail, and Lydia, were found to be the daughters and co-heiresses of the said William Sydnor, and that Elizabeth, the eldest, was, at her father's death, under eleven years of age, and all the rest under fourteen years of age. (fn. 4) On the 3rd of July, in the tenth of Charles I., the King, by ind're under the seal of the Court of Wards, granted to Anthony Bury, for a fine of 200 marks, the custody, wardship, and marriages of the said co-heiresses, to his own use. On the 2nd of July, tenth of Charles, the King, by another ind're, under the seal of the said Court, granted and leased to him, in consideration of £10, the manor of Henstead Pierpoind's, and two acres in Blundeston, during the minority of the said co-heiresses, at the yearly rent of £ 2. 6s. 8d. On the 20th of November, in the same year, this Anthony Bury, by ind're, assigned all his interests to Dr. Talbot, who married the said Anne, mother of the said co-heiresses, to his own use, for £330 paid, besides £100 for Bury, to the receiver of the Court of Wards, for leave of the King's fine. In Michaelmas Term, 1640, there was a decree in the Court of Wards, against Sir John Wentworth, who, in his answer to the information of the attorney of the wards on behalf of the said co-heiresses, denied they had the manor of Blundeston, but confessed they had the manor of Gonville's, in Blundeston, and that their father purchased that of one Jettor. But the Court decreed that the said co-heiresses had the manor of Blundeston, and also the manor of Gonville's. And such possession as the father of the said wards had in Blundeston great water, and fishing, is by the decree settled with the wards during their minority, and until livery sued. And Sir John desired not to fish in right of a tenement in Blundeston, which was his father's. As to the wards' suit as touching an hoorde, some lands in Fritton, and other matters, they are left to trial at law.

 

Elizabeth, Anne, Sarah, Mary, Hester, Susanna, Abigail, and Lydia Sydnor, the eight daughters and co-heiresses of William Sydnor, of Blundeston, by fine levied, and recovery suffered, and by deed dated the 19th of December, 1651, conveyed the said manors in Blundeston and Fritton to hold to William Heveningham, Esq., his heirs and assigns, for ever.

 

¶The family of Sydnor, from whom Blundeston thus passed, appears to have originated from — Sydnor, who married a daughter of Sir John Berney, of Reedham, in Norfolk. The following pedigree is derived from an abstract of the title of the estates, sold by the eight daughters and co-heiresses of William Sydnor, made in 1651; except the marriages of the eight daughters, which are added from the abstract continued to 1663, at which time Sarah was married to William Castleton. The other daughters had been all married before that date.

 

William Sydnor, the purchaser of Blundeston, as appears from bequests in his will, left three daughters, namely, Dorothy Sydnor, Alice Sydnor, who married Henry Goldsmith, and left issue Charles Goldsmith; and Elizabeth Sydnor, who married W. Doans, and left a son, William. Henry Sydnor, who died in his father's lifetime, left also three daughters, Elizabeth, Catharine, and Alice.

 

William Heveningham, Esq., who purchased the manors of Blundeston and Fritton of the Sydnors, was in the year 1661 convicted and attainted of high treason, as has been already shown under Mutford, &c. By letters patent, dated 28th September, thirteenth Charles II., the King did give unto Brian, Viscount Cullen, Sir Thomas Fanshaw, Sir Ralph Banks, Knights, Edward Pitt, and Charles Cornwallis, Esqrs., among other manors and lands, the said manors of Blundeston and Fritton; to hold to them, the said Brian, Viscount Cullen, &c., and their heirs, for ever. The said Brian, Viscount Cullen, &c., by their deed-poll, dated 3rd October, thirteenth Charles II., made between them, the said Brian, Viscount Cullen, &c., George, Earl of Bristol, Henry, Earl of Dover, and Margaret Heveningham, wife of the said William Heveningham, which was also signed by His Majesty's sign manual, did declare the use of the aforesaid letters patent to be to the intent that the said Brian, Viscount Cullen, &c., should, either by perception of the profits or sale of the aforesaid manors of Blundeston and Fritton, amongst others, raise £11,000 for the said Earl of Bristol, and several other trusts therein comprised: the remainder to be for the use of the said Mary, wife of the said William. The said William Heveningham, and Mary his wife, in Michaelmas Term, thirteenth Charles II., levied a fine, and suffered a recovery of the said manors of Blundeston and Fritton, inter alia. And by indenture, dated 24th of October, thirteenth of Charles II., the said William and Mary declared that the said fine and recovery should be to the use of the said Brian, Viscount Cullen, Sir Thomas Fanshaw, Sir Ralph Banks, Edward Pitt, and Charles Cornwallis, and their heirs, for ever.

 

In the 10th and 11th of December, 1662, fourteenth of Charles II., appear a lease and release from the Earl of Bristol, Brian, Viscount Cullen, Sir Thomas Fanshaw, Sir Ralph Banks, Edward Pitt, and Charles Cornwallis, unto Sir John Tasburgh, of the manor of Blundeston, and the capital house called Blundeston Hall, and the manor of Fritton, alias Freton Paston's, and all that manor called Blundeston, alias Gunville's, alias Scroope Hall, alias Gunville's Blundeston, with all the rights, members, and appurtenances to the said manors belonging; and the advowson of the churches, rectories, and vicarages of Blundeston and Fritton aforesaid; and courts-leet and view of frank-pledge, &c., to hold to him and his heirs, for ever. Consideration, £4000 in hand, and £4000 to be paid as therein named. On the 27th of December, 1662, the said William Heveningham and Mary his wife did grant, release, and confirm all and every the said manors of Blundeston, Fritton, and Blundeston Gunville's, to the said John Tasburgh, and his heirs, for ever.

 

These estates next passed to the Allins; for, on the 20th July, 1668, are letters of attorney from Thomas Allin, of Lowestoft, Knt., to Richard London, &c., to receive livery of seizin of John Tasburgh, of Bodney, in Norfolk, Esq., of all his manors, messuages, lands and fruits, and hereditaments situated in Blundeston, Fritton, Corton, or any other town adjoining. Sir Thomas Allin held his first court baron for these manors on the 3rd of November, 1668. (fn. 5)

 

On the 9th of July, 1712, the trustees of Richard Allin, under a deed authorizing them to sell lands to satisfy his debts, sold a messuage and about 76 acres of land at Blundeston and Fritton, of the yearly rent of £39. 10s., to Gregory Clarke, for £663; and on the 30th of August following, two other pieces of land, containing 13 acres, of the yearly rent of £5. 10s., to the same Gregory Clarke, for £100. These estates were afterwards purchased by Sir Ashurst Allin, Bart., who resided there; and were by him devised to his daughter, Frances Allin, for life. On the 29th of September, 1714, Blundeston Hall-farm, lands and decoy, of the yearly rent of £217. 2s. 6d., were sold to William Luson, merchant, the consideration money being £3691. 2s. 6d., who devised them to Robert Luson, his son, who, by his will of the 1st of May, 1767, bequeathed them to his eldest daughter, Maria, in fee, who married George Nicholls, Esq., by whom this estate was sold to Robert Woods, who, by his will, dated July 4th, 1780, devised the same to his wife to sell, and in 1791, she conveyed it to Thomas Woods in fee. Other estates in Blundeston were by Robert Luson devised to his second daughter, Hephzibah, who married Nathaniel Rix, Esq. An estate at Blundeston, and Corton, and Lound, he devised to Elizabeth, his daughter, who afterwards married Cammant Money, by whom the second property was sold to J. B. Roe, and the first to J. Manship. (fn. 6) The Decoy farm, at Blundeston, was, by the executors of Robert Luson, under the powers in the will contained, sold to William Berners, Esq., of Woolverstone Hall, whose son, Charles, resold it to Thomas Morse, Esq. (fn. 7) The manor of Fritton, and an estate of the annual value of £173, were sold to Samuel Fuller, Esq., for £ 2660. (fn. 8)

 

The manors of Blundeston Hall and Gunville's united, as will be presently shown, remained with the Allins, and passed with their other estates to the family of Anguish. From the Anguishes they descended to Lord Sydney Osborne, who sold them, in 1844, to Samuel Morton Peto, Esq.

 

The Manor of Gonville's, in Blundeston,

¶was the lordship of John, the son of Nicholas de Gunville or Gonville, in the fourteenth of Edward III., in the month of March in which year is a "note of time" of this manor between the aforesaid John, who is styled the son of Nicholas Gonvyll, chyvaler, and Johan, his wife, complainants, and William de Gonvyll, parson of the church of Thelnethan, John Gonvyll, parson of the church of Lylyng, Osbert, parson of the church of Blundeston, and Thomas de Kalkhyll, deforcients, of 24 messuages, 332 acres of land, 16 acres of meadow, &c., in Gorleston, Louystoft, Barneby, Little Yarmouth, and Hopton, to John, son of Nicholas and Johan, and the heirs of their bodies; and remainder, after the decease of John and Johan, to the right heirs of John, the son of Nicholas. (fn. 9) The manor remained with this ancient line till it passed, in the early part of the fifteenth century, to Sir Robert Herling, Knt., who married Joan or Jane, the heiress of the Gonvilles, as the subjoined pedigree will show.

 

Sir Robert Herling, and Joan his wife, held the manor of Gonville's in 1420, as we learn from an inquisitio ad quod damnum, taken in that year. "Robtus Harlyng, miles, et Johanna, uxor ejus, tempore ultimi pascigii d'ni Henr. Regis nunc ad partes Norman: seiziti fuerunt de mn'o vocat Gunvilles manor: cum p'tin: in villis de Blundeston, Olton, et Flyxton, in d'mico suo ut de feodo." (fn. 10) Sir Robert Herling left a daughter and heiress, Anne, who was thrice married; first, to Sir William Chamberlain, Knight of the Garter; secondly, to Sir Robert Wingfield, Knt., who in 1474 settled, amongst divers manors and estates in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, the manors of Gnateshall, Corton, Newton, Lound, and Blundeston, with Lound advowson, in Suffolk, on themselves and their trustees. He died seized of these in 1480. In 1492, Anne, his widow, married, thirdly, John, Lord Scroop, of Bolton, who died in 1494. (fn. 11) On her death, without issue, the manor of Gonville's went to Margaret, her father's sister, the wife of Sir Robert Tuddenham, Knt. (fn. 12) On the 4th of April, sixth of James I., Robert Jettor conveyed to William Sydnor the site, manor, or member of a manor, called Blundeston, Gunvilles Blundeston, or Gunvilles cum pertin: and a close called Gunvilles, reputed the site of the said manor, containing six acres; another close called the Home-close, in Blundeston, and four several fish-ponds, with several waters and fishings in Blundeston and Flixton, and with covenant to levy a fine thereof to the use of the said William Sydnor, and his heirs. William Sydnor's eight daughters and co-heiresses conveyed it to William Heveningham. Both manors in this parish being thus united, were granted, with the advowson, to Lady Heveningham's trustees in 1661, as already shown.

 

Early in the seventeenth century, Sir Butts Bacon, created a Baronet on the 29th of July, 1627, possessed an estate and resided at Blundeston. He married Dorothy, daughter of Sir Henry Warner, of Parham, in Suffolk, Knt., and widow of William, second son of Sir Henry Jermyn, Knt., by whom he had three sons, Charles and Clement, who died without issue, and Sir Henry Bacon, his successor. He had also two daughters, Anne, the wife of Henry Kitchingman, of Blundeston Hall, and Dorothy, who married William Peck, of Cove. Sir Butts died in 1661, and his widow in 1679. They lie buried in Blundeston church. Soon after the year 1700, the estate of the Bacons was sold to the Allins of Somerleyton; and in 1770 became the property of Frances, the daughter of the Rev. Ashurst Allin, of whose executors it was purchased by Nicholas Henry Bacon, Esq., the second surviving son of the late Sir Edmund Bacon, Bart., of Raveningham, in Norfolk, who sold it in 1832 to Charles Steward, Esq., an officer in the Honourable East India Company's service, who is the present possessor. He married his first-cousin, Harriet, the only daughter, by his first wife, of Ambrose Harbord Steward, Esq., of Stoke Park, near Ipswich, High Sheriff for Suffolk in 1822, by whom he has an only son, Charles John.

 

The mansion erected on this estate has been termed at different periods Sydnors, and Blundeston Villa, but is now designated Blundeston House. The spot is more celebrated for the loveliness of its scenery than the grandeur of the residence, which is simply a good substantial house, erected in a style of unpretending architecture. But its verdant lawns and ample sparkling lake bear testimony of a long subjection to the hand of taste, which evidently still controls. The domain was many years the residence of the late Rev. Norton Nicholls. Mr. Mathias, an author well known by his 'Observations on the Character and Writings of Gray,' in a letter to a friend, occasioned by the death of this "rare and gifted man," terms his villa here "an oasis." Speaking of what Mr. Nicholls had perfected at Blundeston, he says, "if barbarous taste should not improve it, or some more barbarous land-surveyor level with the soil its beauties and its glories, (it) will remain as one of the most finished scenes of cultivated sylvan delight which this island can offer to our view." An aged pollard oak, and a summer-house placed at the termination of the lake, are said to have been favourite haunts of Gray, who was an occasional guest of Mr. Nicholls at Blundeston. In 1799, this gentleman entertained here the gallant Admiral Duncan, soon after his return to Yarmouth, crowned with the laurels won at Camperdown. Mr. Nicholls died on the 22nd of November, 1809, aged 68, and was buried at Richmond church, in Surrey. The vicinity of Blundeston House, while tenanted by Dr. Saunders, was some years since the scene of an unfortunate accident, which deprived that gentleman of life. Being in the act of reloading his double-barrelled gun, a favourite dog fawning upon him, sprung the trigger of the second barrel, and discharged the contents into his master's body. Dr. Saunders's melancholy fate is recorded in the 'Suffolk Chronicle' of October the 15th, 1814.

 

¶The lake, or Blundeston Great Water, as it is called in ancient writings, was the subject of a dispute in the reign of James I., very similar to that recorded at Ashby, as we learn from the following "exemplification of interrogatories to be administered on the part and behalf of John Ufflet, Gent., Henry Winston, Henry Doughtie, and Anne his wife, Thomas Stares, and Anthony Thornwood, complainants, against William Sydnor, Esq., and Henry Sydnor, Gent., deforcients; and of depositions taken at Lowestoft, on the 15th of March, in the seventh of James I., before Anthony Shardelow, William Southwell, William Cuddon, and Benedict Campe, Gents., by virtue of His Majesty's commission out of the Court of Chancery, to them directed. Richard Burman deposed, inter alia, that he knew the great water in Blundeston, called the common fenne, or common water, and the piece of ground called Hempwater green, containing about three acres; that the said water contained about sixteen or seventeen acres. That the messuage wherein Henry Sydnor then dwelt was sometimes of Maister Yarmouth. That the water and green had always been reputed as common. That the inhabitants fished in the water; wetted their hemp therein, and dried it on the green, and fed their cattle thereon. William Pynne deposed, inter alia, that he did not know that the said William Sydnor or Humphrey Yarmouth had any manor in the said towne; nor that there were more manors therein than the manor of Mr. Jettor, called Gunvilles. Robert Jettor deposed that the water is called the common water of Blundeston in a court-roll of the manor of Blundeston Gonville, dated the thirty-first of Henry VIII., and that he did not know that Mr. Yarmouth, or the defendants, had any manor in Blundeston, or that there was any other manor therein than his, called Blundeston Gonvilles. John Wood deposed, inter alia, that the said William Sydnor had obtained the leases from divers owners of sundry messuages or dwelling-houses in Blundeston, of their interests of their fishing in the said great water about twenty years sithence, and that he had before that sued some of the inhabitants of the said towne for having fished therein. That he and another, then churchwardens of Blundeston, did sell the alders growing in or near the said water, and did convert the money to the reparations of the town-house, and that other inhabitants did take poles, splints, and other wood growing there, &c. That he had heard that Mr. Yarmouth did keep courts in Blundeston, and had tenants therein, and that this deponent did hold of Mr. Sydnor, who had Mr. Yarmouth's estate, three acres of land, &c., and that Mr. Jettor had a manor in Blundeston, &c. Interrogatories to be administered to the witnesses to be produced on the part and behalf of William Sydnor, Esq., and Henry Sydnor, Gent., complainants, against Henry Winston, &c., deforcients. Inter alia. Do you know that Humphrey Yarmouth, Esq., deceased, was seized of the manor of Blundeston in Blundeston, and of land covered with water, containing forty acres, and which, on his death, descended to Henry Yarmouth, his son, also dead; who sold the same to William Sydnor; and that they severally held courts-baron, &c. And whether Humphrey Yarmouth, and Henry Yarmouth, his son, and William Sydnor afterwards, did not present to the living on the death or resignation of the incumbents. If the house wherein Henry Sydnor then dwelt was not called Blundeston Hall in court-rolls and writings. Whether, in the twenty-eighth of Elizabeth, in a controversy between the said William Sydnor, lord of Blundeston, and owner of the water, with the inhabitants as to the same being common or not, the dispute was not referred to Sir Edward Coke, then Attorney-General, and afterwards Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and to Richard Godfrey, Esq. Whether in the thirty-first of Elizabeth there was not a similar dispute, and that it was amicably settled by the said Henry Winston and certain others of the inhabitants agreeing to release their rights of fishing in the water, and that they should have in lieu thereof, a certain driftway thereto from the highway, near the mansion of the said William Sydnor, and a certain piece of land at the end of the said water, containing three acres, for their use, and the feed thereof; and to wet hemp in the water, and dry the same on the said three acres of land, and might dig the soil and carry it away therefrom, and also from Mill Hill, in Belton Heath, and the timber, &c., growing on the said way for repairing the town-house; and whether the said agreement was not carried into execution; and if complainants did not for twelve years quietly enjoy the water, &c., after the execution of the releases. And whether, before the agreement, the inhabitants had a right to take the land, gravel, &c.; and if complainant did not clear the water, and make a bank, &c., for the fowl to breed, &c."

 

he Church at Blundeston,

which is a rectory dedicated to St. Mary, and now consolidated with the adjoining benefice of Flixton, is valued in the King's books at £13. 6s. 8d. It is a singular edifice, comprising a nave and chancel, with a remarkably high-pitched roof, covered with thatch. The tower, which is circular and small in diameter, rises but little above the ridge of the nave, and looks more like a chimney than a steeple. It exhibits decided marks of Norman erection, and was probably attached to an earlier edifice than the present church, which, apparently incorporating the north wall of the ancient nave, seems raised on a wider ground-plan, thereby bringing the apex of the western gable to the southward of the tower, and producing a very inharmonious effect. The masonry of both nave and chancel is composed of large squared flints, but the walls of the latter bulge outwards in a threatening angle, and foretell a speedy dissolution. The interior is lofty and effective, and very neatly kept; and a carved oaken screen beneath the chancel arch is well deserving of observation. The lower compartments of this screen were in olden days richly painted and gilt, as the accidental discovery of one portion, by the removal of some boards, fortunately evinces. This splendid example of ancient art forms an illustration to the present work, and has been engraved from the faithful pencil of the late Miss Dowson, of Yarmouth. St. Peter pointing to the keys of Heaven and Hell, and an angel with uplifted hands assuring us of our salvation through the passion of Christ, occupy the two compartments of a pointed arch, richly backed by a crimson ground, diapered with gold. There is a stiffness in the attitude of each figure, and a harshness of outline visible here, as in the works of more celebrated artists, even at a later period; but these paintings are, nevertheless, extremely interesting, as illustrating the success of art in England in the fifteenth century. There is a small piscina in the chancel, and some oaken benches in the body of the church of excellent workmanship, and an ancient benetura near the south door. In the tower hang two bells, one of which was brought from the ruinated church of the adjoining village of Flixton. The body of the church, which presents a far less fearful aspect than the chancel, has lately undergone considerable renovation, and is indebted to the zeal of Mr. Steward for the preservation of many of its ancient features.

 

Reginald Wynstone, by his last will, dated the 14th of April, 1438, leaves his body to be buried within the church of Blundeston, and constitutes William Wynstone and John Wynstone, his sons, his executors. In the Lansdowne MSS. (fn. 13) is a note, taken apparently about the year 1573, of several armorial cognizances which then ornamented the windows of this building. "In the chancel windows. Arg. a lion sable. FitzOsbert and Jerningham. Quarterly, arg. and b. quarterly indented, a bend gules. Arg. a cross engrailed gules. Bloundeville, or and b. quarterly, indented, a bend gules, sided with Gurney. Gules, 3 gemelles or, a canton ermine, billetted sable. Sable a cross sarsele or, betwixt four scallops arg. Sable, a chevron arg. between 3 cinquefoils or."—"In the church, gul. a lion argent. Arg. 3 buckles lozengy gules, Jernegan. Gu. and b. pale, on a fess wavy arg., 3 crescents sab. betwixt three crosses pale or. Blundeville and Inglos. Erm. on a chevron sab., 3 crescents or, syded with Nownton. Sir Ed. Jenney, erm. a bend gul. cotised or, quartering sab. a chevr. twyxt 3 buckles argent. Or and g. barre unde. Castell, gu., 3 castells arg. Sab. a chev. gules, droppe or, twixt 3 cinquefoils pserd ermine. Or and b. checke. Paston, Bolaine, Nawton, and Barney, Nawton and Howard. Or 3 chev. gu., on each 3 ermines arg. sided with Nawton. Sampson syded with Felbrig. Felbrig, on his shoulder a mullet arg. Bedingfeld quartering Tuddenham, and one of Knevett single."

 

Monuments.—There is an old floor-stone with a cross, but no other ancient memorials, in this church. Among the more modern are the following:

 

Robertus Snelling, Rector, obt. Sep. 12, 1690, æt. 65. Hic jacet Butts Bacon, Baronettus, Nicholai Bacon, Angliæ Baronetti primi filius septimus, qui obiit Maij 29, 1661. Dorothea Bacon, his widow, obt. Sep. 4, 1679. Arms. Bacon.

 

Elizabeth, daughter of John Burkin, of Burlingham, died Jan. 26, 1735. She was first married to the Rev. Mr. Gregory Clarke, and after his decease to the Rev. Mr. Thomas Carter.

 

¶Samuel Luson, died July 7, 1766, aged 33. Luson bears, quarterly, 1st and 4th, az. and gul., 3 sinister hands arg., 2nd and 3rd, erm., 3 roses. . . . Sarah Keziah Thurtell, died May 29th, 1833, aged 18 years. William Wales, died June 8, 1710, aged 63. Gregory Clarke, Christi minister, died 3 Ides of Jan. 1726, aged 45. William Sydnor, Esq., died 1613. Robert Brown, died Sep. 6, 1813, aged 52 years. Mary, his daughter, Aug. 18, 1812, aged 22 years. Sarah, wife of John Clark, widow of the above Robert Brown, died Nov. 16, 1818, aged 59. Elizabeth, second wife of James Thurtell, of Flixton, died June 15, 1823, aged 75 years. Elizabeth, wife of John Clark, died Jan. 28, 1801, aged 28 years. John Clark, died Oct. 7, 1826, aged 57 years. Stephen Saunders, M. D., born 17th Oct. 1777, died 1st Oct. 1814. Timothy Steward, of Great Yarmouth, died 25th of June, 1836. Mary, his wife, daughter of John Fowler, and Ann, his wife, died 22 Jan. 1837. Arms. Steward, quarterly, 1st and 4th. Or, a fess chequee arg. and az.; 2nd and 3rd, arg., a lion ramp. gules, debruised with a bendlet raguly or, impales Fowler, az. on a fess between 3 lions pass. guard, or, as many crosses patonce sable.

 

The registers of Blundeston commence in 1558. They contain several notices of monies collected by Brief in aid of sufferers by fire in distant parts of England. Among others, "To a loss by fire at ye head of ye Cannon-gate at Edinburgh, in North Britain, Jan. 13, 1708/9, 1s. 6d." The advowson of Blundeston with Flixton was sold in 1844, by Lord Sydney Osborne, to Thomas Morse, Esq., of Blundeston.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/suffolk-history-antiq...

1805 Will of "Shadrack Going" [SHADRACH GOWEN], abt. 1737-1805] of Patrick County, Virginia from the Patrick County, Virginia Will Book 1, pages 80-81, Reel 14, found at The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia. Transcribed by Christopher Walker, November 9, 2017©.

 

"Shadrack Going" [Shadrach Gowen] is an ancestor of mine. He was a "free negro". The family name is variously known as Gowen/Going/Goins. Writer, Paul Heinegg, has traced the Goins family all the way back to a Michael Gowen, a black indentured servant born in 1635 in York County, Virginia. The Goins family is notorious for the "Melungeon" mythology that has grown up around them.

 

Paul Heinegg in his book, “Free African Americans in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware”, Genealogical Publishing, 2005, had this to say about Shadrack Going’s 1805 will: “On 24 July 1806 his children Jerusha, John, David Smith, James, Fanny, Claiborne, Shadrick and Leaborne Gowing were in Grainger County, Tennessee, when they appointed Henry Howell to sue Obediah Gowing for settling the property unfairly and submitting a will which was not Shadrack Gowing's”. The lawsuit that the Going children brought against their brother, Obediah, can be found in the Patrick County, Virginia Deed Book #3, pages 83 & 87 available at The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

 

Page 80

 

In the name of God Amen I Shadrack Going of the County of Patrick & State of Virginia Being sick & weak in Body but of Perfect sense & memory & calling to mind that as is appointed for all men such to Die & to end all future desputs [disputes] I make this my last will & testament. In the fear of the lord 1st that is to say I will that after my death there shall Be a Descent [sic] christian Burial & my animal body committed to the Ground in a christian manner & my sole [soul] I recommend into the hand of that God who give it: 2nd I will that all my Just debts shall be paid & out of the money that I leave behind. 3rd I will & Bequeath & give to my beloved wife Hannah Going one Bed & Household & kitchen furniture and the youse [use] of one sorrel mare & possession of my house that I now live in & her suporte [sic] out of my plantation during her natural life or widowhood, & after her death her Bed & household furniture & kitchenware to be Eekwill [equally] Divided Between Jerushe Going [1760-Unknown] & Keziah Going. Article the 4th I give & Bequeath my plantation whereon I now live on on [sic] both sides of little dan river to my Beloved son Obediah Going [1777-Unknown] I also give him my Hackle & one sorrel stud & one sorrel mare & colt only he is to let his mother have the youse [use] of the mare when she wishes to ride I also give him one bed furniture & plantation working tools & I also give him four head of cattle in order to suporte [sic] himself & his mother & after her death to belong to him & all my Hogs shall be for the youse [use] of the family. Article the 5th I will & Bequeath & give my Beloved daughter Keziah Going 1 Rone [sic] horse one saddle & Bridle one Bed furniture & also one cow. Article the 6th I will & give to Rebecca Going daughter of Fanny Going wife of Edmund Bowlin one cow.

Turn up at page 81

 

Page 81

Article the 7th I give my Beloved son John Going [abt. 1760-Unknown] five shillings Article 8th I give to my son David Smith Going [1754-1840] five shillings. Article the 9th I also Give my son James Going five shillings Article the 10th I also Give Fanny Bowlin wife of Edmund Bowlin five shillings Article 11th I also give my son Claborne Going five shillings. Article the 12th I also Give my beloved son Laban Going [1764-1850] five shillings, Article the 13th I also Give to my son Shadrack Going five shillings. Article the 14th I also give Hannah Beazley [Beasley] wife of Thomas Beazley [Beasley] five shillings—and I also discharge the s.d [said] Thomas Beazley from paying me or every of my heirs such after my death. Article the 15th my upper plantation on the south side of little dan down to the old road I have all ready [sic] given to Shadrack Beazley [Beasley] son of Thomas Beazley & wife, By virtue of a deed which shall remain good & warranted Article the 16th I also give to my son Caleb Going five shillings, & I also apoint [sic] Wm William Carter and Wm Burge executors of this my last will & testament & I also desire all other wills and Petitions? and declare them void & of no effect [of] s.d [said] persons to this date. In witness whereof I set my hand and seal this fourth day of June one thousand eight hundred & five. Signed Sealed & delivered

Shadrack Going (his mark)

 

In the presence of

Teste

David Picklesimer?

Wm Coomer (his mark)

Henry? Adams (his mark)

 

Patrick County December Court 1805—This will was proved in Court by the witnesses thereto to be the act & will of the said Shadrack Going dec.d [deceased] and ordered to be recorded

Teste

Sam Staples, Cl. P.C. [Samuel Staples (1762-1825), Clerk Patrick County]

 

The Burgtheater on the Dr.-Karl -Lueger-Ring (from now on, Universitätsring) in Vienna is an Austrian Federal Theatre. It is one of the most important stages in Europe and after the Comédie-Française, the second oldest European, as well as the largest German speaking theater. The original 'old' Burgtheater on Michaelerplatz was recorded from 1748 until the opening of the new building at the ring in October, 1888. The new house was completely on fire in 1945 as a result of bomb attacks, until the re-opening on 14 October 1955 was the Ronacher as temporary quarters. The Burgtheater is considered Austrian National Theatre.

Throughout its history, the theater was wearing different names, first kk Theater next to the castle, then to 1918 K.K. Court-Burgtheater and since then Burgtheater. Especially in Vienna it is often referred to as "The Castle (Die Burg)" , the ensemble members are known as Castle actors (Burgschauspieler). Director of the House since 2009, Matthias Hartmann.

History

St. Michael's Square with the old K.K. Theatre beside the castle (right) and the Winter Riding School of the Hofburg (left)

The interior of the Old Burgtheater, painted by Gustav Klimt. The people are represented in such detail that the identification is possible.

The 'old' Burgtheater at St. Michael's Square

The original castle theater was set up in a ball house that was built in the lower pleasure gardens of the Imperial Palace of the Roman-German King and later Emperor Ferdinand I in 1540, after the old house 1525 fell victim to a fire. Until the beginning of the 18th Century was played there the Jeu de Paume, a precursor of tennis. On 14 March 1741 finally gave the Empress Maria Theresa, who after the death of her father ruled a general theater lock order, the "Entrepreneur of the Royal Court Opera" and lessees of 1708 built theater at Kärntnertor, Joseph Karl Selliers, permission to change the ballroom into a theater. Simultaneously, a new ball house was built in the immediate vicinity, which todays Ballhausplatz is bearing its name.

In 1748, the newly designed "theater next to the castle" was opened. 1756 major renovations were made, inter alia, a new rear wall was built. The Auditorium of the Old Burgtheater was still a solid timber construction and took about 1200 guests. The imperial family could reach her ​​royal box directly from the imperial quarters with them the Burgtheater was structurally connected. At the old venue at Michael's place were, inter alia, several works of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as well as Franz Grillparzer were premiered .

On 17 February 1776, Emperor Joseph II declared the theater to the German National Theatre (Teutsches Nationaltheater). It was he who ordered by decree that the pieces should not treat sad events to bring the imperial audience in a bad mood. Many pieces had changed and therefore a Vienna Final (Happy End) is provided, such as Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet. From 1794, the theater was bearing the name K.K. Court Theatre next to the castle.

1798 the poet August von Kotzebue was appointed as head of the Burgtheater, but after discussions with the actors he left Vienna in 1799. Under German director Joseph Schreyvogel was introduced German instead of French and Italian as a new stage language.

On 12 In October 1888 the last performance in the old house took place. The Burgtheater ensemble moved to the new venue on the ring. The Old Burgtheater had to give way to the completion of Michael's tract of Hofburg. The plans to this end had been drawn almost 200 years before the demolition of the old Burgtheater by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach.

The "new" K.K. Court Theatre (as the inscription reads today) on the ring opposite the Town Hall, opened on 14th in October 1888 with Esther of Grillparzer and Schiller's Wallenstein's Camp, it was designed in neo-Baroque style by Gottfried Semper (plan) and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer (facade), who had already designed the Imperial Forum in Vienna together. Construction began on 16 December 1874 and followed through 14 years, in which the architects quarreled. Already in 1876 Semper withdrew due to health problems to Rome and had Hasenauer realized his ideas alone, who in the dispute of the architects stood up for a mainly splendid designed grand lodges theater.

However, created the famous Viennese painter Gustav Klimt and his brother Ernst Klimt and Franz Matsch 1886-1888 the ceiling paintings in the two stairwells of the new theater. The three took over this task order for similar work in the city of Fiume theaters and Karlovy Vary and in the Bucharest National Theatre. In the grand staircase at the café Landtmann side facing the Burgtheater (Archduke stairs) reproduced ​​Gustav Klimt the artists of ancient theater in Taormina in Sicily, in the stairwell on the "People's Garden"-side (Kaiserstiege, because it was reserved for the emperor), the London Globe Theatre and the final scene from William Shakespeare's " Romeo and Juliet" . Above the entrance to the auditorium is Molière's The Imaginary Invalid to discover. In the background the painter immortalized in the company of his two colleagues. Emperor Franz Joseph I liked the ceiling paintings so much that he gave the members of the company of artists of Klimt the Golden Cross of Merit.

The new building resembles externally the Dresden Semper Opera, but even more, due to the for the two theaters absolutely atypical cross wing with the ceremonial stairs, Semper Munich project from the years 1865/1866 for a Richard Wagner Festspielhaus on the Isar. Above the middle section, a loggia, which is framed by two side wings, and is divided from a stage house with a gable roof and auditorium with a tent roof. Across the center house is decorated with a statue of Apollo, the facade, the towers between the Muses of drama and tragedy. Over the main entrances are located friezes with Bacchus and Ariadne. On the exterior round busts can be seen the poet Calderon, Shakespeare, Moliere, Schiller, Goethe, Lessing, Halm, Grillparzer, and Hebbel. The masks are also to be seen here, indicating the ancient theater, also adorn the side wings allegories: love, hate, humility, lust, selfishness, and heroism. Although since 1919, the theater was named the Burgtheater, the old saying KK Hofburgtheater over the main entrance still exists. Some pictures of the old gallery of portraits having been hung in the new building are still visible today - but these images were originally small, they had to be "extended" to make them work better in high space. The locations of these "supplements" are visible as fine lines on the canvas.

The Burgtheater was initially well received due to its magnificent appearance and technical innovations such as electric lighting of the Viennese, but soon criticism of the poor acoustics was loud. Finally, in 1897 the auditorium was rebuilt to reduce the acoustic problems. The new theater was an important meeting place of social life and soon counted among the "sanctuaries" of the Viennese. In November 1918, the supervision on the theater was transferred from the High Steward of the emperor to the new state of German Austria.

1922/1923 the Academy Theatre was opened as a chamber play stage of the Burgtheater. 8th May 1925 was the Burgtheater in Austria's criminal history, as here Mentscha Karnitschewa perpetrated a revolver assassination on Todor Panitza .

The Burgtheater in time of National Socialism

The National Socialist ideas also left traces in the history of the Burgtheater. Appeared in 1939 in Adolf Luser Verlag the strongly anti-Semitic embossed book of theater scientist Heinz Kindermann "The Burgtheater. Heritage and mission of a national theater", in which he, among other things, analyzed the "Jewish influence "on the Burgtheater. On 14 October 1938 was the 50th anniversary of the opening of Burgtheater a production of Don Carlos of Karl-Heinz Stroux shown that served the Hitler's ideology. The role of the Marquis of Posa played the same Ewald Balser, who 'railed in a different Don Carlos production a year earlier (by Heinz Hilpert) at the Deutsches Theater in the same role with the set direction of Joseph Goebbels box: "Enter the freedom of thought". The actor and director Lothar Müthel, who was director of the Burgtheater between 1939 and 1945, staged 1943 Merchant of Venice, in which Werner Kraus Shylock the Jew clearlyanti-Semitic represented. The same director staged after the war Lessing 's parable Nathan the Wise. Adolf Hitler himself visited during the Nazi regime the Burgtheater only once (1938), and later he refused out of fear of an assassination.

For actors and theater staff who were classified according to the Reich Citizenship Law of 1935 as "Jewis ", were quickly imposed banned from performing, they were on leave, fired or arrested within days. The Burgtheater ensemble made ​​between 1938 and 1945 no significant resistance against the Nazi ideology, the game plan was heavily censored, actively just joined the Resistance, as Judith Holzmeister (then also at the National Theatre committed ) or the actor Fritz Lehmann. Although Jewish members of the ensemble indeed have been helped to emigrate, was still an actor, Fritz Strassny, taken to a concentration camp and murdered there.

The Burgtheater end of the war and after the Second World War

In summer 1944, the Burgtheater had to be closed because of the general arranged theater lock. From 1 April 1945 as the Red Army approached Vienna, outsourced a military unit in the house, a portion was used as an arsenal. In a bomb attack the house at the Ring was damaged and burned on 12th April 1945 it burned completely. Auditorium and stage were useless, only the steel structure remained. The ceiling paintings and part of the lobby were almost undamaged.

The Soviet occupying power expected from Viennese City Councillor Viktor Matejka to bring Vienna 's cultural life as soon as possible again. The council called for 23 April (a state government did not yet exist), a meeting of all Viennese cultural workers into the town hall. Result of the discussions was that in late April 1945 eight cinemas and four theaters took up the operation again, including the Burgtheater. The house took over the Ronacher Theater, which was understood by many castle actors as "exile" as a temporary home (and remained there to 1955). This Venue chose the newly appointed director Raoul Aslan, who championed particularly active.

The first performance after the Second World War was on 30 April 1945 by Franz Grillparzer, Sappho, directed by Adolf Rott from 1943 with Maria Eis in the title role. Other productions from the Nazi era were resumed. With Paul Hoerbiger, a Nazi prisoner a few days ago still in mortal danger, was shown the piece of Nestroy Mädl (Girlie) from the suburbs. The Academy Theatre was recorded (the first performance was on 19 April 1945 Hedda Gabler, a production of Rott in 1941) and also in the ball room (Redoutensaal) at the Imperial Palace took performances place. Aslan had the Ronacher rebuilt in the summer because the stage was too small for classical performances. On 25 September 1945, Schiller's Maid of Orleans could be played on the larger stage.

The first new productions are associated with the name of Lothar Müthel: Anyone and Nathan the Wise, in both Raoul Aslan played the main role. The staging of The Merchant of Venice by Müthel to Nazi times seemed to be forgotten.

Great pleasure gave the public the return of the in 1938 from the ensemble expelled Else Wohlgemuth on stage. She performaed after seven years of exile in December 1945 in Clare Biharys The other mother in the Academy Theater. 1951 opened the Burgtheater its doors for the first time, but only the left wing, where the celebrations of the 175th anniversary of the theater took place.

1948, a competition was announced for the reconstruction: Josef Gielen, who was then director, first tended to support the design of ex aequo-ranked Otto Niedermoser, after which the house into a modern theater rank should be rebuilt. Finally, he agreed but then for the project by Michael Engelhardt, whose plan was conservative, but also cost effective. The character of the lodges theater was largely taken into account and maintaining the central royal box has been replaced by two ranks, and with a new slanted ceiling construction in the audience was the acoustics, the weakness of the home, improved significantly.

On 14 October 1955 was happening under Adolf Rott the reopening of the restored house on the Ring. For this occasion Mozart's A Little Night Music was played. On 15 and on 16 In October it was followed by the first performance (for reasons of space as a double premiere) in the restored theater: King Ottokar's Fortune and End of Franz Grillparzer, staged by Adolf Rott. A few months after the signing of the Austrian State Treaty was the choice of this piece, which explores the beginning of Habsburg rule in Austria and Ottokar of Hornecks eulogy on Austria (... it's a good country / Well worth that a prince among thread! / where have you already seen the same?... ) contains highly symbolic. Rott and under his successors Ernst Haeusserman and Gerhard Klingenberg the classic Burgtheater style and the Burgtheater German for German theaters were finally pointing the way .

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Burgtheater participated (with other well-known theaters in Vienna) on the so-called Brecht boycott.

Gerhard Klingenberg internationalized the Burgtheater, he invited renowned stage directors such as Dieter Dorn, Peter Hall, Luca Ronconi, Giorgio Strehler, Roberto Guicciardini and Otomar Krejča. Klingenberg also enabled the castle debuts by Claus Peymann and Thomas Bernhard (1974 world premiere of The Hunting Party). Bernhard Klingenberg's successor was talking, but eventually was appointed Achim Benning, whereupon the writer with the text "The theatrical shack on the ring (how I should become the director of the Burgtheater)" answered.

Benning, the first ensemble representative of the Burgtheater, was appointed Director, continued Klingenberg's way of Europeanization by other means, brought directors such as Adolf Dresen, Manfred Wekwerth or Thomas Langhoff to Vienna, looked with performances of plays of Vaclav Havel in the then politically separated East and took more account of the public taste .

Directorate Claus Peymann 1986-1999

Under the from short-term Minister of Education Helmut Zilk to Vienna fetched Claus Peymann, director from 1986 to 1999, there was further modernization of the match schedule and staging styles. Moreover Peymann was never at a loss for words for critical messages to the public, a hitherto unusual attitude for Burgtheater directors. Therefore, he and his program met with sections of the audience's rejection. The largest theater in Vienna scandal since 1945, this when in 1988 conservative politicians and zealots fiercely fought the premiere of Thomas Bernhard's Heldenplatz (Place of the Heroes) drama. The play deals with the past and illuminates the present management in Austria - with attacks on the then ruling Social Democratic Party - critically. Together with Claus Peymann Bernhard raised after the premiere to a challenge on the stage to applause and boos .

Bernard, to his home country bound in love-hate relationship, prohibited the performance of his plays in Austria before his death in 1989 by will. Peymann , to Bernhard bound in a difficult friendship (see Bernhard's play Claus Peymann buys a pair of pants and goes eating with me) feared harm for the author's work, should his pieces precisely in his home not being shown. First, it was through permission of the executor Peter Fabjan - Bernhard's half-brother - after all, possible the already in the Schedule of the Burgtheater included productions to continue. Finally, shortly before the tenth anniversary of the death of Bernard it came to the revival of the Bernhard piece Before retirement by the opening night director Peymann. The pieces by Bernhard are since continued on the board of the Burgtheater and they are regularly re-released.

In 1993, the sample stage of the castle theater was opened in the arsenal (architect Gustav Peichl) . Since 1999, the castle theater has been run as a limited liability.

Directorate Klaus Bachler 1999-2009

On Peymann followed in 1999 as director Klaus Bachler. He is a trained actor, but was mostly as a cultural manager (director of the Vienna Festival) active. Bachler moved the theater as a cultural event in the foreground and he engaged for this purpose directors such as Luc Bondy, Andrea Breth, Peter Zadek and Martin Kušej.

Were among the unusual "events" of the Directorate Bachler

* The Theatre of Orgies and Mysteries by Hermann Nitsch with the performance of 122 Action (2005 )

* The recording of the MTV Unplugged concert with Die Toten Hosen for the music channel MTV (2005, under the title available only to visit )

* John Irving's reading from his book at the Burgtheater Until I find you (2006)

* The 431 animatographische (animatographical) Expedition by Christoph Schlingensief and a big event of it under the title of Area 7 - Matthew Sadochrist - An expedition by Christoph Schlingensief (2006).

* Daniel Hoevels cut in Schiller's Mary Stuart accidentally his throat ( December 2008). Outpatient care is enough.

Jubilee Year 2005

In October 2005, the Burgtheater celebrated the 50th Anniversary of its reopening with a gala evening and the performance of Grillparzer King Ottokar's Fortune and End, directed by Martin Kušej that had been performed in August 2005 at the Salzburg Festival as a great success. Michael Maertens (in the role of Rudolf of Habsburg ) received the Nestroy Theatre Award for Best Actor for his role in this piece. Actor Tobias Moretti was awarded in 2006 for this role with the Gertrude Eysoldt Ring.

Furthermore, there were on 16th October 2005 the open day on which the 82-minute film "burg/private. 82 miniatures" of Sepp Dreissinger was shown for the first time. The film contains one-minute film "Stand portraits" of Castle actors and guest actors who, without saying a word, try to present themselves as a natural expression. Klaus Dermutz wrote a work on the history of the Burgtheater. As a motto this season was a quotation from Lessing's Minna von Barn-helm: "It's so sad to be happy alone."

The Burgtheater to the Mozart Year 2006

Also the Mozart Year 2006 was thought at the Burgtheater. As Mozart's Singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail in 1782 in the courtyard of Castle Theatre was premiered came in cooperation with the Vienna State Opera, the Vienna Festival in May 2006, a new production (directed by Karin Beier ) of this opera to the stage.

Directorate Matthias Hartmann since 2009

Since September 2009, Matthias Hartmann is Artistic Director of the Burgtheater. A native of Osnabrück, he directed the playhouses of Bochum and Zurich. With his directors like Alvis Hermanis, Roland Schimmelpfennig, David Boesch, Stefan Bachmann, Stefan Pucher, Michael Thalheimer and actresses like Dorte Lyssweski, Katharina Lorenz, Sarah Viktoria Frick, Mavie Hoerbiger, Lucas Gregorowicz and Martin Wuttke came firmly to the castle. Matthias Hartmann himself staged around three premieres per season, about once a year, he staged at the major opera houses. For more internationality and "cross-over ", he won the Belgian artist Jan Lauwers and his Need Company as "Artists in Residence" for the castle, the New York group Nature Theater of Oklahoma show their great episode drama live and Times of an annual continuation. For the new look - the Burgtheater presents itself without a solid logo with word games around the BURG - the Burgtheater in 2011 was awarded the Cultural Brand of the Year .

www.mariachiproductions.org/basel2012/index.php/tournamen...

The Burgtheater at Dr.-Karl -Lueger-Ring (from now on, Universitätsring) in Vienna is an Austrian Federal Theatre. It is one of the most important stages in Europe and after the Comédie-Française, the second oldest European one, as well as the greatest German speaking theater. The original 'old' Burgtheater at Saint Michael's square was utilized from 1748 until the opening of the new building at the ring in October, 1888. The new house in 1945 burnt down completely as a result of bomb attacks, until the re-opening on 14 October 1955 was the Ronacher serving as temporary quarters. The Burgtheater is considered as Austrian National Theatre.

Throughout its history, the theater was bearing different names, first Imperial-Royal Theater next to the Castle, then to 1918 Imperial-Royal Court-Burgtheater and since then Burgtheater (Castle Theater). Especially in Vienna it is often referred to as "The Castle (Die Burg)", the ensemble members are known as Castle actors (Burgschauspieler).

History

St. Michael's Square with the old K.K. Theatre beside the castle (right) and the Winter Riding School of the Hofburg (left)

The interior of the Old Burgtheater, painted by Gustav Klimt. The people are represented in such detail that the identification is possible.

The 'old' Burgtheater at St. Michael's Square

The original castle theater was set up in a ball house that was built in the lower pleasure gardens of the Imperial Palace of the Roman-German King and later Emperor Ferdinand I in 1540, after the old house 1525 fell victim to a fire. Until the beginning of the 18th Century was played there the Jeu de Paume, a precursor of tennis. On 14 March 1741 finally gave the Empress Maria Theresa, ruling after the death of her father, which had ordered a general suspension of the theater, the "Entrepreneur of the Royal Court Opera" and lessees of 1708 built theater at Kärntnertor (Carinthian gate), Joseph Karl Selliers, permission to change the ballroom into a theater. Simultaneously, a new ball house was built in the immediate vicinity, which todays Ballhausplatz is bearing its name.

In 1748, the newly designed "theater next to the castle" was opened. 1756 major renovations were made, inter alia, a new rear wall was built. The Auditorium of the Old Burgtheater was still a solid timber construction and took about 1200 guests. The imperial family could reach her ​​royal box directly from the imperial quarters, the Burgtheater structurally being connected with them. At the old venue at Saint Michael's place were, inter alia, several works of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as well as Franz Grillparzer premiered .

On 17 February 1776, Emperor Joseph II declared the theater to the German National Theatre (Teutsches Nationaltheater). It was he who ordered by decree that the stage plays should not deal with sad events for not bring the Imperial audience in a bad mood. Many theater plays for this reason had to be changed and provided with a Vienna Final (Happy End), such as Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet. From 1794 on, the theater was bearing the name K.K. Court Theatre next to the castle.

1798 the poet August von Kotzebue was appointed as head of the Burgtheater, but after discussions with the actors he left Vienna in 1799. Under German director Joseph Schreyvogel was introduced German instead of French and Italian as a new stage language.

On 12 October 1888 took place the last performance in the old house. The Burgtheater ensemble moved to the new venue at the Ring. The Old Burgtheater had to give way to the completion of Saint Michael's tract of Hofburg. The plans to this end had been drawn almost 200 years before the demolition of the old Burgtheater by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach.

The "new" K.K. Court Theatre (as the inscription reads today) at the Ring opposite the Town Hall, opened on 14 October 1888 with Grillparzer's Esther and Schiller's Wallenstein's Camp, was designed in neo-Baroque style by Gottfried Semper (plan) and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer (facade), who had already designed the Imperial Forum in Vienna together. Construction began on 16 December 1874 and followed through 14 years, in which the architects quarreled. Already in 1876 Semper withdrew due to health problems to Rome and had Hasenauer realized his ideas alone, who in the dispute of the architects stood up for a mainly splendid designed grand lodges theater.

However, created the famous Viennese painter Gustav Klimt and his brother Ernst Klimt and Franz Matsch 1886-1888 the ceiling paintings in the two stairwells of the new theater. The three took over this task after similar commissioned work in the city theaters of Fiume and Karlovy Vary and in the Bucharest National Theatre. In the grand staircase on the side facing the café Landtmann of the Burgtheater (Archduke stairs) reproduced ​​Gustav Klimt the artists of the ancient theater in Taormina on Sicily, in the stairwell on the "People's Garden"-side (Kaiserstiege, because it was reserved for the emperor) the London Globe Theatre and the final scene from William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". Above the entrance to the auditorium is Molière's The Imaginary Invalid to discover. In the background the painter immortalized himself in the company of his two colleagues. Emperor Franz Joseph I liked the ceiling paintings so much that he gave the members of the company of artists of Klimt the Golden Cross of Merit.

The new building resembles externally the Dresden Semper Opera, but even more, due to the for the two theaters absolutely atypical cross wing with the ceremonial stairs, Semper's Munich project from the years 1865/1866 for a Richard Wagner Festspielhaus above the Isar. Above the middle section there is a loggia, which is framed by two side wings, and is divided from a stage house with a gable roof and auditorium with a tent roof. Above the center house there decorates a statue of Apollo the facade, throning between the Muses of drama and tragedy. Above the main entrances are located friezes with Bacchus and Ariadne. At the exterior facade round about, portrait busts of the poets Calderon, Shakespeare, Moliere, Schiller, Goethe, Lessing, Halm, Grillparzer, and Hebbel can be seen. The masks which also can be seen here are indicating the ancient theater, furthermore adorn allegorical representations the side wings: love, hate, humility, lust, selfishness, and heroism. Although the theater since 1919 is bearing the name of Burgtheater, the old inscription KK Hofburgtheater over the main entrance still exists. Some pictures of the old gallery of portraits have been hung up in the new building and can be seen still today - but these images were originally smaller, they had to be "extended" to make them work better in high space. The points of these "supplements" are visible as fine lines on the canvas.

The Burgtheater was initially well received by Viennese people due to its magnificent appearance and technical innovations such as electric lighting, but soon criticism because of the poor acoustics was increasing. Finally, in 1897 the auditorium was rebuilt to reduce the acoustic problems. The new theater was an important meeting place of social life and soon it was situated among the "sanctuaries" of Viennese people. In November 1918, the supervision over the theater was transferred from the High Steward of the emperor to the new state of German Austria.

1922/1923 the Academy Theatre was opened as a chamber play stage of the Burgtheater. On 8th May 1925, the Burgtheater went into Austria's criminal history, as here Mentscha Karnitschewa perpetrated a revolver assassination on Todor Panitza.

The Burgtheater in time of National Socialism

The National Socialist ideas also left traces in the history of the Burgtheater. In 1939 appeared in Adolf Luser Verlag the strongly anti-Semitic characterized book of theater scientist Heinz Kindermann "The Burgtheater. Heritage and mission of a national theater", in which he, among other things, analyzed the "Jewish influence "on the Burgtheater. On 14 October 1938 was on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Burgtheater a Don Carlos production of Karl-Heinz Stroux shown that served Hitler's ideology. The role of the Marquis of Posa played the same Ewald Balser, who in a different Don Carlos production a year earlier (by Heinz Hilpert) at the Deutsches Theater in the same role with the sentence in direction of Joseph Goebbels box vociferated: "just give freedom of thought". The actor and director Lothar Müthel, who was director of the Burgtheater between 1939 and 1945, staged 1943 the Merchant of Venice, in which Werner Kraus the Jew Shylock clearly anti-Semitic represented. The same director staged after the war Lessing's parable Nathan the Wise. Adolf Hitler himself visited during the Nazi regime the Burgtheater only once (1938), and later he refused in pure fear of an assassination.

For actors and theater staff who were classified according to the Reich Citizenship Law of 1935 as "Jews ", were quickly imposed stage bans, within a few days, they were on leave, fired or arrested. The Burgtheater ensemble ​​between 1938 and 1945 did not put up significant resistance against the Nazi ideology, the repertoire was heavily censored, only a few joined the Resistance, as Judith Holzmeister (then also at the People's Theatre engaged) or the actor Fritz Lehmann. Although Jewish members of the ensemble indeed have been helped to emigrate, was still an actor, Fritz Strassny, taken to a concentration camp and murdered there.

The Burgtheater at the end of the war and after the Second World War

In summer 1944, the Burgtheater had to be closed because of the decreed general theater suspension. From 1 April 1945, as the Red Army approached Vienna, camped a military unit in the house, a portion was used as an arsenal. In a bomb attack the house at the Ring was damaged and burned down on 12th April 1945 completely. Auditorium and stage were useless, only the steel structure remained. The ceiling paintings and part of the lobby were almost undamaged.

The Soviet occupying power expected from Viennese City Councillor Viktor Matejka to launch Vienna's cultural life as soon as possible again. The council summoned on 23 April (a state government did not yet exist) a meeting of all Viennese cultural workers into the Town Hall. Result of the discussions was that in late April 1945 eight cinemas and four theaters took up the operation again, including the Burgtheater. The house took over the Ronacher Theater, which was understood by many castle actors as "exile" as a temporary home (and remained there to 1955). This venue chose the newly appointed director Raoul Aslan, who championed particularly active.

The first performance after the Second World War was on 30 April 1945 Sappho by Franz Grillparzer directed by Adolf Rott from 1943 with Maria Eis in the title role. Also other productions from the Nazi era were resumed. With Paul Hoerbiger, a few days ago as Nazi prisoner still in mortal danger, was shown the play of Nestroy Mädl (Girlie) from the suburbs. The Academy Theatre could be played (the first performance was on 19 April 1945 Hedda Gabler, a production of Rott from the year 1941) and also in the ball room (Redoutensaal) at the Imperial Palace took place performances. Aslan the Ronacher in the summer had rebuilt because the stage was too small for classical performances. On 25 September 1945, Schiller's Maid of Orleans could be played on the enlarged stage.

The first new productions are associated with the name of Lothar Müthel: Everyone and Nathan the Wise, in both Raoul Aslan played the main role. The staging of The Merchant of Venice by Müthel in Nazi times seemed to have been fallen into oblivion.

Great pleasure gave the public the return of the in 1938 from the ensemble expelled Else Wohlgemuth on stage. She performaed after seven years in exile in December 1945 in Clare Biharys The other mother in the Academy Theater. 1951 opened the Burgtheater its doors for the first time, but only the left wing, where the celebrations on the 175th anniversary of the theater took place.

1948, a competition for the reconstruction was tendered: Josef Gielen, who was then director, first tended to support the design of ex aequo-ranked Otto Niedermoser, according to which the house was to be rebuilt into a modern gallery theater. Finally, he agreed but then for the project by Michael Engelhardt, whose plan was conservative but also cost effective. The character of the lodges theater was largely taken into account and maintained, the central royal box but has been replaced by two balconies, and with a new slanted ceiling construction in the audience was the acoustics, the shortcoming of the house, improved significantly.

On 14 October 1955 was happening under Adolf Rott the reopening of the restored house at the Ring. For this occasion Mozart's A Little Night Music was played. On 15 and on 16 October it was followed by the first performance (for reasons of space as a double premiere) in the restored theater: King Ottokar's Fortune and End of Franz Grillparzer, staged by Adolf Rott. A few months after the signing of the Austrian State Treaty was the choice of this play, which the beginning of Habsburg rule in Austria makes a subject of discussion and Ottokar of Horneck's eulogy on Austria (... it's a good country / Well worth that a prince bow to it! / where have you yet seen the same?... ) contains highly symbolic. Rott and under his successors Ernst Haeusserman and Gerhard Klingenberg the classic Burgtheater style and the Burgtheater German for German theaters were finally pointing the way .

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Burgtheater participated (with other well-known theaters in Vienna) on the so-called Brecht boycott.

Gerhard Klingenberg internationalized the Burgtheater, he invited renowned stage directors such as Dieter Dorn, Peter Hall, Luca Ronconi, Giorgio Strehler, Roberto Guicciardini and Otomar Krejča. Klingenberg also enabled the castle debuts of Claus Peymann and Thomas Bernhard (1974 world premiere of The Hunting Party). Bernhard was as a successor of Klingenberg mentioned, but eventually was appointed Achim Benning, whereupon the writer with the text "The theatrical shack on the ring (how I should become the director of the Burgtheater)" answered.

Benning, the first ensemble representative of the Burgtheater which was appointed director, continued Klingenberg's way of Europeanization by other means, brought directors such as Adolf Dresen, Manfred Wekwerth or Thomas Langhoff to Vienna, looked with performances of plays of Vaclav Havel to the then politically separated East and took the the public taste more into consideration.

Directorate Claus Peymann 1986-1999

Under the by short-term Minister of Education Helmut Zilk brought to Vienna Claus Peymann, director from 1986 to 1999, there was further modernization of the programme and staging styles. Moreover Peymann was never at a loss for critical contributions in the public, a hitherto unusual attitude for Burgtheater directors. Therefore, he and his program within sections of the audience met with rejection. The greatest theater scandal in Vienna since 1945 occurred in 1988 concerning the premiere of Thomas Bernhard's Heldenplatz (Place of the Heroes) drama which was fiercly fought by conservative politicians and zealots. The play deals with the Vergangenheitsbewältigung (process of coming to terms with the past) and illuminates the present management in Austria - with attacks on the then ruling Social Democratic Party - critically. Together with Claus Peymann Bernhard after the premiere dared to face on the stage applause and boos.

Bernard, to his home country bound in love-hate relationship, prohibited the performance of his plays in Austria before his death in 1989 by will. Peymann, to Bernhard bound in a difficult friendship (see Bernhard's play Claus Peymann buys a pair of pants and goes eating with me) feared harm for the author's work, should his plays precisely in his homeland not being shown. First, it was through permission of the executor Peter Fabjan - Bernhard's half-brother - after all, possible the already in the schedule of the Burgtheater included productions to continue. Finally, shortly before the tenth anniversary of the death of Bernard it came to the revival of the Bernhard play Before retirement by the first performance director Peymann. The plays by Bernhard are since then continued on the programme of the Burgtheater and they are regularly newly produced.

In 1993, the rehearsal stage of the Castle theater was opened in the arsenal (architect Gustav Peichl). Since 1999, the Burgtheater has the operation form of a limited corporation.

Directorate Klaus Bachler 1999-2009

Peymann was followed in 1999 by Klaus Bachler as director. He is a trained actor, but was mostly as a cultural manager (director of the Vienna Festival) active. Bachler moved the theater as a cultural event in the foreground and he engaged for this purpose directors such as Luc Bondy, Andrea Breth, Peter Zadek and Martin Kušej.

Were among the unusual "events" of the directorate Bachler

* The Theatre of Orgies and Mysteries by Hermann Nitsch with the performance of 122 Action (2005 )

* The recording of the MTV Unplugged concert with Die Toten Hosen for the music channel MTV (2005, under the title available)

* John Irving's reading from his book at the Burgtheater Until I find you (2006)

* The 431 animatographische (animatographical) Expedition by Christoph Schlingensief and a big event of him under the title of Area 7 - Matthew Sadochrist - An expedition by Christoph Schlingensief (2006).

* Daniel Hoevels cut in Schiller's Mary Stuart accidentally his throat (December 2008). Outpatient care is enough.

Jubilee Year 2005

In October 2005, the Burgtheater celebrated the 50th Anniversary of its reopening with a gala evening and the performance of Grillparzer's King Ottokar's Fortune and End, directed by Martin Kušej that had been performed in August 2005 at the Salzburg Festival as a great success. Michael Maertens (in the role of Rudolf of Habsburg) received the Nestroy Theatre Award for Best Actor for his role in this play. Actor Tobias Moretti was awarded in 2006 for this role with the Gertrude Eysoldt Ring.

Furthermore, there were on 16th October 2005 the open day on which the 82-minute film "burg/private. 82 miniatures" of Sepp Dreissinger was shown for the first time. The film contains one-minute film "Stand portraits" of Castle actors and guest actors who, without saying a word, try to present themselves with a as natural as possible facial expression. Klaus Dermutz wrote a work on the history of the Burgtheater. As a motto of this season served a quotation from Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm: "It's so sad to be happy alone."

The Burgtheater on the Mozart Year 2006

Also the Mozart Year 2006 was at the Burgtheater was remembered. As Mozart's Singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail in 1782 in the courtyard of Castle Theatre was premiered came in cooperation with the Vienna State Opera on the occasion of the Vienna Festival in May 2006 a new production (directed by Karin Beier) of this opera on stage.

Directorate Matthias Hartmann since 2009

Since September 2009, Matthias Hartmann is Artistic Director of the Burgtheater. A native of Osnabrück, he directed the stage houses of Bochum and Zurich. With his directors like Alvis Hermanis, Roland Schimmelpfennig, David Bösch, Stefan Bachmann, Stefan Pucher, Michael Thalheimer, came actresses like Dorte Lyssweski, Katharina Lorenz, Sarah Viktoria Frick, Mavie Hoerbiger, Lucas Gregorowicz and Martin Wuttke came permanently to the Burg. Matthias Hartmann himself staged around three premieres per season, about once a year, he staged at the major opera houses. For more internationality and "cross-over", he won the Belgian artist Jan Lauwers and his Need Company as "Artists in Residence" for the Castle, the New York group Nature Theater of Oklahoma show their great episode drama Live and Times of an annual continuation. For the new look - the Burgtheater presents itself without a solid logo with word games around the BURG - the Burgtheater in 2011 was awarded the Cultural Brand of the Year .

 

Many places like to wear their connections with Charles Dickens visibly, but I find it hard to believe anywhere does it more completely than Blundeston.

 

Blundeston is mentioned in David Copperfield, and there has been a strong movement by the local parish planners to ensure that most street names now have a Dicken connection. I know this a a colleague of mine resisted the overtures to name their new dwellings something Dickensian, but stuck with the family name after all.

 

I also have family connections with Blundeston, and indeed a distant relation is on the war memorial, but he is one of the branch that has an extra D in their name, the first one I have ever seen. My name is very mis-spelt, and the double D variation the most common.

 

Anyway, late one afternoon, I arrive in Blundeston to visit the church, and see, or notice the pound for the first time. Situated on a road junction, the brick-built circular enclosure was once used to corral livestock. It is a rare survivor, and the first time I had noticed it.

 

It is a fine round-towered church, with plenty of interest inside, and the medieval (I guess) glass in the porch the first of many. Some unusual tessellated tiling in the chancel, but the sanctuary is now a book shop and the altar brought forward.The font, at least to my eyes, looks Norman, and is impressive, as is the arts and crafts window, but I guess this is where Simon puts me right on many points.....

 

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"I was born at Blunderstone, in Suffolk. There is nothing half so green as I know anywhere, as the grass of that churchyard; nothing half so shady as its trees; nothing half so quiet as its tombstones. The sheep are feeding there, when I kneel up to look out. Here is our pew in the church. What a high-backed pew! With a window near it, out of which our house can be seen.

I look up at the monumental tablets on the wall, and try to think of Mr Bodgers late of this parish, and what the feelings of Mrs Bodgers must have been, when affliction sore, long time Mr Bodgers bore, and physicians were in vain. I look to the pulpit, and think what a good place it would be to play in, and what a castle it would make, with another boy coming up the stairs to attack it..."

 

- Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

 

Blundeston is these days a very pleasant outer suburb of Lowestoft, although wise planners have kept a cordon sanitaire between it and the rampaging new estates of Oulton and Gunton. Everything here is very trim and polite, although St Mary itself has a rather more primitive air about it. Its narrow, tapering tower rises up sharply beside the steeply banked roof of its nave, for all the world like a Cornish tin mine or Derbyshire mill. This is an ancient building. The tower, at least the lower part, is clearly Saxon, and here inside there are some other ancient details.

 

You step into a church which is much bigger than it might appear from the outside, with a gentle High Church feel to it. The nave was widened in the late medieval period, and although there is no aisle or arcade, the tower has been left offset. The font dates from the 12th century, a plain, octagonal bowl set on 8 relief legs. The tower arch is earlier, and beside it there is a very curious detail. A circular squint hole, about 12 inches across, about 5 feet from the floor in the north-west corner. It is obviously intended to line up with something outside the church, but what, exactly? There is one exactly like it, in the same position, two miles away at Lound. They do not align with each other, though. Perhaps an outdoor Easter sepulchre? or to enable an internal sepulchre to be seen on Good Friday, when the church was out of use?

 

Above the south door, the arms of Charles II are very curious. They have been reused as a hatchment at some point, but the overpainting has faded to reveal the true origin. An altar against the north wall is dedicated to St Andrew, in memory of the nearby former church at Flixton, which was destroyed in a storm early in the 18th century. The font in the churchyard here comes from Flixton, too.

And the memorials? Well, I'm afraid there is no 'Mr Bodgers, late of this parish', and probably never was. The high-backed pews are all gone, and although the pulpit would certainly make an excellent castle, it post-dates Dickens's (and Copperfield's) time. The grass is still lush and green in the churchyard though, and much wilder than the neatly trimmed lawns of the very pleasant houses that surround it.

  

Simon Knott, June 2008

 

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/Blundeston.htm

 

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Blundeston.

There are two manors here—those of Blundeston Hall, and Gonville's. The former was held by a family which took their name from the place, and retained it, with the patronage of the church, till the end of the reign of Edward III. In the ninth of Edward I., Robert de Blundeston was lord; (fn. 1) and in the twenty-third of Edward III., in the year 1348, there was a conveyance from Osbertus, Rector of the church of Blundeston, and Oliverus de Wysete, to William, the son of Robert de Blundeston, and the heirs of his body, of the manor of Blundeston, with all the lands and appurtenances in Blundeston, Oulton, and Flixton; together with the advowson of the church of the village of Blundeston, with the appurtenances; all which were formerly of Robert de Blundeston; to hold to the said William and the heirs of his body lawfully begotten. From this family the manor and advowson passed to that of Yarmouth; Henry Yarmouth, of Blundeston, presenting to the church in 1438. Humphrey Yarmouth, his descendant, on the 1st of December, 1570, conveyed to William Sydnor the manor of Blundeston, cum pertinentibus, and all other his manors, tenements, liberties, swanmarks, and hereditaments in Blundeston, Corton, Lound, Somerleyton, Flixton, Lowestoft, and Gunton, or elsewhere, and all other his manors and hereditaments, in the said towns, in fee. The manor, &c., and the messuages, were found to be holden of Sir John Heveningham, of his manor of South Leet, in soccage. (fn. 2) The said William Sydnor, by deed indented 6th of October, twenty-sixth of Elizabeth, 1584, in consideration of a jointure to Elizabeth, late wife of Henry Sydnor, his son, and heir apparent, did enfeoff John Read, and others, and their heirs, of a house called Gillam's, and 90 acres of land in Blundeston and Flixton; a meadow of 12 acres in Flixton; a marsh called Wrentham's, and 41 acres of land in Blundeston; two other messuages and 9 acres of land in Blundeston; a house called Chamber's, and 104 acres of land in Henstead. And of the manor called Blundeston; and the manor of Fritton with the appurtenances, to their uses; viz., as to the manor of Blundeston with the appurtenances, to the use of the said William for life; and after to the use of the said Henry, and his heirs male by the said Elizabeth, his wife; and after to the right heirs of the said William. The marriage between the aforesaid Henry Sydnor and Elizabeth was solemnized on the 1st of February, twenty-seventh of Elizabeth. He died during his father's lifetime, in December, 1611. William Sydnor, the father, died on the 26th of August, 1612. By his will, dated the 26th of March, in the same year, being "then of Christ's Church, but late of Blundeston," he gave to the poor of Blundeston, Henstead, Fritton, Belton, Conisford at the Gate (Norwich), Berstete St. John's, 20 shillings to each parish, and to Trowse on this side the Bridge 10 shillings. He desired "his body to be buried in the chauncell of the parishe church of Blundeston." He gave unto Dorothy Sydnor, his daughter, £ 200 of lawful English money, some furniture, and £10 in gold, to be paid within fourteen days; a cup of silver with three feet, and a cover. To Alice Goldsmithe, his daughter, all her mother's apparell, and £10 in gold, &c. Among other bequests, he leaves to William Sydnor, his grandchild, some furniture, and a great carved chest which lately came from Blundeston, and his next best salt-cellar. After leaving annuities to his servants, he directed "that his house in Christ's Church in all things be mayntayned and kept as usually he did for the entertainment of his children; and such of his children and servants as would stay and live orderly, and do their service honestly, during the time of their stay; for which they were to have their wages. The charges of such housekeeping to be defrayed by his executors; and he desired that Dorothy Sydnor, his daughter, during the said month should have the government of the said house." (fn. 3)

 

By an inquisition, held the 30th of August, in the twelfth of James I., when the death of William Sydnor was returned, it was found that William, the son of Henry, his eldest son, then deceased, was his next heir, and of the age of 24 years and more. And that the said William, eldest, was seized in fee of the manor of Blunston, alias Blundeston, with the appurtenances in Blundeston, Corton, Gunton, Lowestoft, Oulton, Ashby, Flixton, Bradwell, Burgh, Fritton, Belton, Herringfleet, Lound, Somerleyton, Hopton, and Gorleston.

 

On the 13th of February, eleventh of James I., William Sydnor, the grandson, in consideration of a marriage with Anne Harborne, did covenant with William Harborne, her father, to convey to him, Sir Anthony Drury, and others, and their heirs, the manor of Fritton, with the appurtenances, in Suffolk, and all lands, tenements, &c., of the said William, in Fritton, or in the towns adjoining, to the use of himself and his heirs until the marriage, and after the marriage to the use of himself and the said Anne, for jointure, and the heirs male of his body, with several remainders over to Robert, Thomas, and Henry, his brothers, Edmund, William, Francis, and Paul Sydnor, his uncles, and the heirs male of every of their several bodies. And after to the use of the right heirs of the said William Sydnor, the grandfather. And the manor of Blundeston, with the rights, members, and appurtenances, in Suffolk, and all lands, tenements, and other hereditaments, &c., of the said William Sydnor, the grandson, in Blundeston, or in the towns adjoining, or any of them, to and for the like uses, and estates, and remainders as before; omitting only the said Anne, and her estates, for life. In the following year a fine was levied in pursuance, by the said William Sydnor, his uncle, and the heirs of Sir Anthony, of the manors of Fritton and Blundeston, with the appurtenances. By the Office of the ninth of Charles I., after the death of William Sydnor, the grandson, it was found that he died, seized, on the 13th of June, eighth of Charles I., 1632, without issue male. By the same Office, Elizabeth, Anne, Sarah, Mary, Hester, Susanna, Abigail, and Lydia, were found to be the daughters and co-heiresses of the said William Sydnor, and that Elizabeth, the eldest, was, at her father's death, under eleven years of age, and all the rest under fourteen years of age. (fn. 4) On the 3rd of July, in the tenth of Charles I., the King, by ind're under the seal of the Court of Wards, granted to Anthony Bury, for a fine of 200 marks, the custody, wardship, and marriages of the said co-heiresses, to his own use. On the 2nd of July, tenth of Charles, the King, by another ind're, under the seal of the said Court, granted and leased to him, in consideration of £10, the manor of Henstead Pierpoind's, and two acres in Blundeston, during the minority of the said co-heiresses, at the yearly rent of £ 2. 6s. 8d. On the 20th of November, in the same year, this Anthony Bury, by ind're, assigned all his interests to Dr. Talbot, who married the said Anne, mother of the said co-heiresses, to his own use, for £330 paid, besides £100 for Bury, to the receiver of the Court of Wards, for leave of the King's fine. In Michaelmas Term, 1640, there was a decree in the Court of Wards, against Sir John Wentworth, who, in his answer to the information of the attorney of the wards on behalf of the said co-heiresses, denied they had the manor of Blundeston, but confessed they had the manor of Gonville's, in Blundeston, and that their father purchased that of one Jettor. But the Court decreed that the said co-heiresses had the manor of Blundeston, and also the manor of Gonville's. And such possession as the father of the said wards had in Blundeston great water, and fishing, is by the decree settled with the wards during their minority, and until livery sued. And Sir John desired not to fish in right of a tenement in Blundeston, which was his father's. As to the wards' suit as touching an hoorde, some lands in Fritton, and other matters, they are left to trial at law.

 

Elizabeth, Anne, Sarah, Mary, Hester, Susanna, Abigail, and Lydia Sydnor, the eight daughters and co-heiresses of William Sydnor, of Blundeston, by fine levied, and recovery suffered, and by deed dated the 19th of December, 1651, conveyed the said manors in Blundeston and Fritton to hold to William Heveningham, Esq., his heirs and assigns, for ever.

 

¶The family of Sydnor, from whom Blundeston thus passed, appears to have originated from — Sydnor, who married a daughter of Sir John Berney, of Reedham, in Norfolk. The following pedigree is derived from an abstract of the title of the estates, sold by the eight daughters and co-heiresses of William Sydnor, made in 1651; except the marriages of the eight daughters, which are added from the abstract continued to 1663, at which time Sarah was married to William Castleton. The other daughters had been all married before that date.

 

William Sydnor, the purchaser of Blundeston, as appears from bequests in his will, left three daughters, namely, Dorothy Sydnor, Alice Sydnor, who married Henry Goldsmith, and left issue Charles Goldsmith; and Elizabeth Sydnor, who married W. Doans, and left a son, William. Henry Sydnor, who died in his father's lifetime, left also three daughters, Elizabeth, Catharine, and Alice.

 

William Heveningham, Esq., who purchased the manors of Blundeston and Fritton of the Sydnors, was in the year 1661 convicted and attainted of high treason, as has been already shown under Mutford, &c. By letters patent, dated 28th September, thirteenth Charles II., the King did give unto Brian, Viscount Cullen, Sir Thomas Fanshaw, Sir Ralph Banks, Knights, Edward Pitt, and Charles Cornwallis, Esqrs., among other manors and lands, the said manors of Blundeston and Fritton; to hold to them, the said Brian, Viscount Cullen, &c., and their heirs, for ever. The said Brian, Viscount Cullen, &c., by their deed-poll, dated 3rd October, thirteenth Charles II., made between them, the said Brian, Viscount Cullen, &c., George, Earl of Bristol, Henry, Earl of Dover, and Margaret Heveningham, wife of the said William Heveningham, which was also signed by His Majesty's sign manual, did declare the use of the aforesaid letters patent to be to the intent that the said Brian, Viscount Cullen, &c., should, either by perception of the profits or sale of the aforesaid manors of Blundeston and Fritton, amongst others, raise £11,000 for the said Earl of Bristol, and several other trusts therein comprised: the remainder to be for the use of the said Mary, wife of the said William. The said William Heveningham, and Mary his wife, in Michaelmas Term, thirteenth Charles II., levied a fine, and suffered a recovery of the said manors of Blundeston and Fritton, inter alia. And by indenture, dated 24th of October, thirteenth of Charles II., the said William and Mary declared that the said fine and recovery should be to the use of the said Brian, Viscount Cullen, Sir Thomas Fanshaw, Sir Ralph Banks, Edward Pitt, and Charles Cornwallis, and their heirs, for ever.

 

In the 10th and 11th of December, 1662, fourteenth of Charles II., appear a lease and release from the Earl of Bristol, Brian, Viscount Cullen, Sir Thomas Fanshaw, Sir Ralph Banks, Edward Pitt, and Charles Cornwallis, unto Sir John Tasburgh, of the manor of Blundeston, and the capital house called Blundeston Hall, and the manor of Fritton, alias Freton Paston's, and all that manor called Blundeston, alias Gunville's, alias Scroope Hall, alias Gunville's Blundeston, with all the rights, members, and appurtenances to the said manors belonging; and the advowson of the churches, rectories, and vicarages of Blundeston and Fritton aforesaid; and courts-leet and view of frank-pledge, &c., to hold to him and his heirs, for ever. Consideration, £4000 in hand, and £4000 to be paid as therein named. On the 27th of December, 1662, the said William Heveningham and Mary his wife did grant, release, and confirm all and every the said manors of Blundeston, Fritton, and Blundeston Gunville's, to the said John Tasburgh, and his heirs, for ever.

 

These estates next passed to the Allins; for, on the 20th July, 1668, are letters of attorney from Thomas Allin, of Lowestoft, Knt., to Richard London, &c., to receive livery of seizin of John Tasburgh, of Bodney, in Norfolk, Esq., of all his manors, messuages, lands and fruits, and hereditaments situated in Blundeston, Fritton, Corton, or any other town adjoining. Sir Thomas Allin held his first court baron for these manors on the 3rd of November, 1668. (fn. 5)

 

On the 9th of July, 1712, the trustees of Richard Allin, under a deed authorizing them to sell lands to satisfy his debts, sold a messuage and about 76 acres of land at Blundeston and Fritton, of the yearly rent of £39. 10s., to Gregory Clarke, for £663; and on the 30th of August following, two other pieces of land, containing 13 acres, of the yearly rent of £5. 10s., to the same Gregory Clarke, for £100. These estates were afterwards purchased by Sir Ashurst Allin, Bart., who resided there; and were by him devised to his daughter, Frances Allin, for life. On the 29th of September, 1714, Blundeston Hall-farm, lands and decoy, of the yearly rent of £217. 2s. 6d., were sold to William Luson, merchant, the consideration money being £3691. 2s. 6d., who devised them to Robert Luson, his son, who, by his will of the 1st of May, 1767, bequeathed them to his eldest daughter, Maria, in fee, who married George Nicholls, Esq., by whom this estate was sold to Robert Woods, who, by his will, dated July 4th, 1780, devised the same to his wife to sell, and in 1791, she conveyed it to Thomas Woods in fee. Other estates in Blundeston were by Robert Luson devised to his second daughter, Hephzibah, who married Nathaniel Rix, Esq. An estate at Blundeston, and Corton, and Lound, he devised to Elizabeth, his daughter, who afterwards married Cammant Money, by whom the second property was sold to J. B. Roe, and the first to J. Manship. (fn. 6) The Decoy farm, at Blundeston, was, by the executors of Robert Luson, under the powers in the will contained, sold to William Berners, Esq., of Woolverstone Hall, whose son, Charles, resold it to Thomas Morse, Esq. (fn. 7) The manor of Fritton, and an estate of the annual value of £173, were sold to Samuel Fuller, Esq., for £ 2660. (fn. 8)

 

The manors of Blundeston Hall and Gunville's united, as will be presently shown, remained with the Allins, and passed with their other estates to the family of Anguish. From the Anguishes they descended to Lord Sydney Osborne, who sold them, in 1844, to Samuel Morton Peto, Esq.

 

The Manor of Gonville's, in Blundeston,

¶was the lordship of John, the son of Nicholas de Gunville or Gonville, in the fourteenth of Edward III., in the month of March in which year is a "note of time" of this manor between the aforesaid John, who is styled the son of Nicholas Gonvyll, chyvaler, and Johan, his wife, complainants, and William de Gonvyll, parson of the church of Thelnethan, John Gonvyll, parson of the church of Lylyng, Osbert, parson of the church of Blundeston, and Thomas de Kalkhyll, deforcients, of 24 messuages, 332 acres of land, 16 acres of meadow, &c., in Gorleston, Louystoft, Barneby, Little Yarmouth, and Hopton, to John, son of Nicholas and Johan, and the heirs of their bodies; and remainder, after the decease of John and Johan, to the right heirs of John, the son of Nicholas. (fn. 9) The manor remained with this ancient line till it passed, in the early part of the fifteenth century, to Sir Robert Herling, Knt., who married Joan or Jane, the heiress of the Gonvilles, as the subjoined pedigree will show.

 

Sir Robert Herling, and Joan his wife, held the manor of Gonville's in 1420, as we learn from an inquisitio ad quod damnum, taken in that year. "Robtus Harlyng, miles, et Johanna, uxor ejus, tempore ultimi pascigii d'ni Henr. Regis nunc ad partes Norman: seiziti fuerunt de mn'o vocat Gunvilles manor: cum p'tin: in villis de Blundeston, Olton, et Flyxton, in d'mico suo ut de feodo." (fn. 10) Sir Robert Herling left a daughter and heiress, Anne, who was thrice married; first, to Sir William Chamberlain, Knight of the Garter; secondly, to Sir Robert Wingfield, Knt., who in 1474 settled, amongst divers manors and estates in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, the manors of Gnateshall, Corton, Newton, Lound, and Blundeston, with Lound advowson, in Suffolk, on themselves and their trustees. He died seized of these in 1480. In 1492, Anne, his widow, married, thirdly, John, Lord Scroop, of Bolton, who died in 1494. (fn. 11) On her death, without issue, the manor of Gonville's went to Margaret, her father's sister, the wife of Sir Robert Tuddenham, Knt. (fn. 12) On the 4th of April, sixth of James I., Robert Jettor conveyed to William Sydnor the site, manor, or member of a manor, called Blundeston, Gunvilles Blundeston, or Gunvilles cum pertin: and a close called Gunvilles, reputed the site of the said manor, containing six acres; another close called the Home-close, in Blundeston, and four several fish-ponds, with several waters and fishings in Blundeston and Flixton, and with covenant to levy a fine thereof to the use of the said William Sydnor, and his heirs. William Sydnor's eight daughters and co-heiresses conveyed it to William Heveningham. Both manors in this parish being thus united, were granted, with the advowson, to Lady Heveningham's trustees in 1661, as already shown.

 

Early in the seventeenth century, Sir Butts Bacon, created a Baronet on the 29th of July, 1627, possessed an estate and resided at Blundeston. He married Dorothy, daughter of Sir Henry Warner, of Parham, in Suffolk, Knt., and widow of William, second son of Sir Henry Jermyn, Knt., by whom he had three sons, Charles and Clement, who died without issue, and Sir Henry Bacon, his successor. He had also two daughters, Anne, the wife of Henry Kitchingman, of Blundeston Hall, and Dorothy, who married William Peck, of Cove. Sir Butts died in 1661, and his widow in 1679. They lie buried in Blundeston church. Soon after the year 1700, the estate of the Bacons was sold to the Allins of Somerleyton; and in 1770 became the property of Frances, the daughter of the Rev. Ashurst Allin, of whose executors it was purchased by Nicholas Henry Bacon, Esq., the second surviving son of the late Sir Edmund Bacon, Bart., of Raveningham, in Norfolk, who sold it in 1832 to Charles Steward, Esq., an officer in the Honourable East India Company's service, who is the present possessor. He married his first-cousin, Harriet, the only daughter, by his first wife, of Ambrose Harbord Steward, Esq., of Stoke Park, near Ipswich, High Sheriff for Suffolk in 1822, by whom he has an only son, Charles John.

 

The mansion erected on this estate has been termed at different periods Sydnors, and Blundeston Villa, but is now designated Blundeston House. The spot is more celebrated for the loveliness of its scenery than the grandeur of the residence, which is simply a good substantial house, erected in a style of unpretending architecture. But its verdant lawns and ample sparkling lake bear testimony of a long subjection to the hand of taste, which evidently still controls. The domain was many years the residence of the late Rev. Norton Nicholls. Mr. Mathias, an author well known by his 'Observations on the Character and Writings of Gray,' in a letter to a friend, occasioned by the death of this "rare and gifted man," terms his villa here "an oasis." Speaking of what Mr. Nicholls had perfected at Blundeston, he says, "if barbarous taste should not improve it, or some more barbarous land-surveyor level with the soil its beauties and its glories, (it) will remain as one of the most finished scenes of cultivated sylvan delight which this island can offer to our view." An aged pollard oak, and a summer-house placed at the termination of the lake, are said to have been favourite haunts of Gray, who was an occasional guest of Mr. Nicholls at Blundeston. In 1799, this gentleman entertained here the gallant Admiral Duncan, soon after his return to Yarmouth, crowned with the laurels won at Camperdown. Mr. Nicholls died on the 22nd of November, 1809, aged 68, and was buried at Richmond church, in Surrey. The vicinity of Blundeston House, while tenanted by Dr. Saunders, was some years since the scene of an unfortunate accident, which deprived that gentleman of life. Being in the act of reloading his double-barrelled gun, a favourite dog fawning upon him, sprung the trigger of the second barrel, and discharged the contents into his master's body. Dr. Saunders's melancholy fate is recorded in the 'Suffolk Chronicle' of October the 15th, 1814.

 

¶The lake, or Blundeston Great Water, as it is called in ancient writings, was the subject of a dispute in the reign of James I., very similar to that recorded at Ashby, as we learn from the following "exemplification of interrogatories to be administered on the part and behalf of John Ufflet, Gent., Henry Winston, Henry Doughtie, and Anne his wife, Thomas Stares, and Anthony Thornwood, complainants, against William Sydnor, Esq., and Henry Sydnor, Gent., deforcients; and of depositions taken at Lowestoft, on the 15th of March, in the seventh of James I., before Anthony Shardelow, William Southwell, William Cuddon, and Benedict Campe, Gents., by virtue of His Majesty's commission out of the Court of Chancery, to them directed. Richard Burman deposed, inter alia, that he knew the great water in Blundeston, called the common fenne, or common water, and the piece of ground called Hempwater green, containing about three acres; that the said water contained about sixteen or seventeen acres. That the messuage wherein Henry Sydnor then dwelt was sometimes of Maister Yarmouth. That the water and green had always been reputed as common. That the inhabitants fished in the water; wetted their hemp therein, and dried it on the green, and fed their cattle thereon. William Pynne deposed, inter alia, that he did not know that the said William Sydnor or Humphrey Yarmouth had any manor in the said towne; nor that there were more manors therein than the manor of Mr. Jettor, called Gunvilles. Robert Jettor deposed that the water is called the common water of Blundeston in a court-roll of the manor of Blundeston Gonville, dated the thirty-first of Henry VIII., and that he did not know that Mr. Yarmouth, or the defendants, had any manor in Blundeston, or that there was any other manor therein than his, called Blundeston Gonvilles. John Wood deposed, inter alia, that the said William Sydnor had obtained the leases from divers owners of sundry messuages or dwelling-houses in Blundeston, of their interests of their fishing in the said great water about twenty years sithence, and that he had before that sued some of the inhabitants of the said towne for having fished therein. That he and another, then churchwardens of Blundeston, did sell the alders growing in or near the said water, and did convert the money to the reparations of the town-house, and that other inhabitants did take poles, splints, and other wood growing there, &c. That he had heard that Mr. Yarmouth did keep courts in Blundeston, and had tenants therein, and that this deponent did hold of Mr. Sydnor, who had Mr. Yarmouth's estate, three acres of land, &c., and that Mr. Jettor had a manor in Blundeston, &c. Interrogatories to be administered to the witnesses to be produced on the part and behalf of William Sydnor, Esq., and Henry Sydnor, Gent., complainants, against Henry Winston, &c., deforcients. Inter alia. Do you know that Humphrey Yarmouth, Esq., deceased, was seized of the manor of Blundeston in Blundeston, and of land covered with water, containing forty acres, and which, on his death, descended to Henry Yarmouth, his son, also dead; who sold the same to William Sydnor; and that they severally held courts-baron, &c. And whether Humphrey Yarmouth, and Henry Yarmouth, his son, and William Sydnor afterwards, did not present to the living on the death or resignation of the incumbents. If the house wherein Henry Sydnor then dwelt was not called Blundeston Hall in court-rolls and writings. Whether, in the twenty-eighth of Elizabeth, in a controversy between the said William Sydnor, lord of Blundeston, and owner of the water, with the inhabitants as to the same being common or not, the dispute was not referred to Sir Edward Coke, then Attorney-General, and afterwards Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and to Richard Godfrey, Esq. Whether in the thirty-first of Elizabeth there was not a similar dispute, and that it was amicably settled by the said Henry Winston and certain others of the inhabitants agreeing to release their rights of fishing in the water, and that they should have in lieu thereof, a certain driftway thereto from the highway, near the mansion of the said William Sydnor, and a certain piece of land at the end of the said water, containing three acres, for their use, and the feed thereof; and to wet hemp in the water, and dry the same on the said three acres of land, and might dig the soil and carry it away therefrom, and also from Mill Hill, in Belton Heath, and the timber, &c., growing on the said way for repairing the town-house; and whether the said agreement was not carried into execution; and if complainants did not for twelve years quietly enjoy the water, &c., after the execution of the releases. And whether, before the agreement, the inhabitants had a right to take the land, gravel, &c.; and if complainant did not clear the water, and make a bank, &c., for the fowl to breed, &c."

 

he Church at Blundeston,

which is a rectory dedicated to St. Mary, and now consolidated with the adjoining benefice of Flixton, is valued in the King's books at £13. 6s. 8d. It is a singular edifice, comprising a nave and chancel, with a remarkably high-pitched roof, covered with thatch. The tower, which is circular and small in diameter, rises but little above the ridge of the nave, and looks more like a chimney than a steeple. It exhibits decided marks of Norman erection, and was probably attached to an earlier edifice than the present church, which, apparently incorporating the north wall of the ancient nave, seems raised on a wider ground-plan, thereby bringing the apex of the western gable to the southward of the tower, and producing a very inharmonious effect. The masonry of both nave and chancel is composed of large squared flints, but the walls of the latter bulge outwards in a threatening angle, and foretell a speedy dissolution. The interior is lofty and effective, and very neatly kept; and a carved oaken screen beneath the chancel arch is well deserving of observation. The lower compartments of this screen were in olden days richly painted and gilt, as the accidental discovery of one portion, by the removal of some boards, fortunately evinces. This splendid example of ancient art forms an illustration to the present work, and has been engraved from the faithful pencil of the late Miss Dowson, of Yarmouth. St. Peter pointing to the keys of Heaven and Hell, and an angel with uplifted hands assuring us of our salvation through the passion of Christ, occupy the two compartments of a pointed arch, richly backed by a crimson ground, diapered with gold. There is a stiffness in the attitude of each figure, and a harshness of outline visible here, as in the works of more celebrated artists, even at a later period; but these paintings are, nevertheless, extremely interesting, as illustrating the success of art in England in the fifteenth century. There is a small piscina in the chancel, and some oaken benches in the body of the church of excellent workmanship, and an ancient benetura near the south door. In the tower hang two bells, one of which was brought from the ruinated church of the adjoining village of Flixton. The body of the church, which presents a far less fearful aspect than the chancel, has lately undergone considerable renovation, and is indebted to the zeal of Mr. Steward for the preservation of many of its ancient features.

 

Reginald Wynstone, by his last will, dated the 14th of April, 1438, leaves his body to be buried within the church of Blundeston, and constitutes William Wynstone and John Wynstone, his sons, his executors. In the Lansdowne MSS. (fn. 13) is a note, taken apparently about the year 1573, of several armorial cognizances which then ornamented the windows of this building. "In the chancel windows. Arg. a lion sable. FitzOsbert and Jerningham. Quarterly, arg. and b. quarterly indented, a bend gules. Arg. a cross engrailed gules. Bloundeville, or and b. quarterly, indented, a bend gules, sided with Gurney. Gules, 3 gemelles or, a canton ermine, billetted sable. Sable a cross sarsele or, betwixt four scallops arg. Sable, a chevron arg. between 3 cinquefoils or."—"In the church, gul. a lion argent. Arg. 3 buckles lozengy gules, Jernegan. Gu. and b. pale, on a fess wavy arg., 3 crescents sab. betwixt three crosses pale or. Blundeville and Inglos. Erm. on a chevron sab., 3 crescents or, syded with Nownton. Sir Ed. Jenney, erm. a bend gul. cotised or, quartering sab. a chevr. twyxt 3 buckles argent. Or and g. barre unde. Castell, gu., 3 castells arg. Sab. a chev. gules, droppe or, twixt 3 cinquefoils pserd ermine. Or and b. checke. Paston, Bolaine, Nawton, and Barney, Nawton and Howard. Or 3 chev. gu., on each 3 ermines arg. sided with Nawton. Sampson syded with Felbrig. Felbrig, on his shoulder a mullet arg. Bedingfeld quartering Tuddenham, and one of Knevett single."

 

Monuments.—There is an old floor-stone with a cross, but no other ancient memorials, in this church. Among the more modern are the following:

 

Robertus Snelling, Rector, obt. Sep. 12, 1690, æt. 65. Hic jacet Butts Bacon, Baronettus, Nicholai Bacon, Angliæ Baronetti primi filius septimus, qui obiit Maij 29, 1661. Dorothea Bacon, his widow, obt. Sep. 4, 1679. Arms. Bacon.

 

Elizabeth, daughter of John Burkin, of Burlingham, died Jan. 26, 1735. She was first married to the Rev. Mr. Gregory Clarke, and after his decease to the Rev. Mr. Thomas Carter.

 

¶Samuel Luson, died July 7, 1766, aged 33. Luson bears, quarterly, 1st and 4th, az. and gul., 3 sinister hands arg., 2nd and 3rd, erm., 3 roses. . . . Sarah Keziah Thurtell, died May 29th, 1833, aged 18 years. William Wales, died June 8, 1710, aged 63. Gregory Clarke, Christi minister, died 3 Ides of Jan. 1726, aged 45. William Sydnor, Esq., died 1613. Robert Brown, died Sep. 6, 1813, aged 52 years. Mary, his daughter, Aug. 18, 1812, aged 22 years. Sarah, wife of John Clark, widow of the above Robert Brown, died Nov. 16, 1818, aged 59. Elizabeth, second wife of James Thurtell, of Flixton, died June 15, 1823, aged 75 years. Elizabeth, wife of John Clark, died Jan. 28, 1801, aged 28 years. John Clark, died Oct. 7, 1826, aged 57 years. Stephen Saunders, M. D., born 17th Oct. 1777, died 1st Oct. 1814. Timothy Steward, of Great Yarmouth, died 25th of June, 1836. Mary, his wife, daughter of John Fowler, and Ann, his wife, died 22 Jan. 1837. Arms. Steward, quarterly, 1st and 4th. Or, a fess chequee arg. and az.; 2nd and 3rd, arg., a lion ramp. gules, debruised with a bendlet raguly or, impales Fowler, az. on a fess between 3 lions pass. guard, or, as many crosses patonce sable.

 

The registers of Blundeston commence in 1558. They contain several notices of monies collected by Brief in aid of sufferers by fire in distant parts of England. Among others, "To a loss by fire at ye head of ye Cannon-gate at Edinburgh, in North Britain, Jan. 13, 1708/9, 1s. 6d." The advowson of Blundeston with Flixton was sold in 1844, by Lord Sydney Osborne, to Thomas Morse, Esq., of Blundeston.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/suffolk-history-antiq...

Many places like to wear their connections with Charles Dickens visibly, but I find it hard to believe anywhere does it more completely than Blundeston.

 

Blundeston is mentioned in David Copperfield, and there has been a strong movement by the local parish planners to ensure that most street names now have a Dicken connection. I know this a a colleague of mine resisted the overtures to name their new dwellings something Dickensian, but stuck with the family name after all.

 

I also have family connections with Blundeston, and indeed a distant relation is on the war memorial, but he is one of the branch that has an extra D in their name, the first one I have ever seen. My name is very mis-spelt, and the double D variation the most common.

 

Anyway, late one afternoon, I arrive in Blundeston to visit the church, and see, or notice the pound for the first time. Situated on a road junction, the brick-built circular enclosure was once used to corral livestock. It is a rare survivor, and the first time I had noticed it.

 

It is a fine round-towered church, with plenty of interest inside, and the medieval (I guess) glass in the porch the first of many. Some unusual tessellated tiling in the chancel, but the sanctuary is now a book shop and the altar brought forward.The font, at least to my eyes, looks Norman, and is impressive, as is the arts and crafts window, but I guess this is where Simon puts me right on many points.....

 

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"I was born at Blunderstone, in Suffolk. There is nothing half so green as I know anywhere, as the grass of that churchyard; nothing half so shady as its trees; nothing half so quiet as its tombstones. The sheep are feeding there, when I kneel up to look out. Here is our pew in the church. What a high-backed pew! With a window near it, out of which our house can be seen.

I look up at the monumental tablets on the wall, and try to think of Mr Bodgers late of this parish, and what the feelings of Mrs Bodgers must have been, when affliction sore, long time Mr Bodgers bore, and physicians were in vain. I look to the pulpit, and think what a good place it would be to play in, and what a castle it would make, with another boy coming up the stairs to attack it..."

 

- Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

 

Blundeston is these days a very pleasant outer suburb of Lowestoft, although wise planners have kept a cordon sanitaire between it and the rampaging new estates of Oulton and Gunton. Everything here is very trim and polite, although St Mary itself has a rather more primitive air about it. Its narrow, tapering tower rises up sharply beside the steeply banked roof of its nave, for all the world like a Cornish tin mine or Derbyshire mill. This is an ancient building. The tower, at least the lower part, is clearly Saxon, and here inside there are some other ancient details.

 

You step into a church which is much bigger than it might appear from the outside, with a gentle High Church feel to it. The nave was widened in the late medieval period, and although there is no aisle or arcade, the tower has been left offset. The font dates from the 12th century, a plain, octagonal bowl set on 8 relief legs. The tower arch is earlier, and beside it there is a very curious detail. A circular squint hole, about 12 inches across, about 5 feet from the floor in the north-west corner. It is obviously intended to line up with something outside the church, but what, exactly? There is one exactly like it, in the same position, two miles away at Lound. They do not align with each other, though. Perhaps an outdoor Easter sepulchre? or to enable an internal sepulchre to be seen on Good Friday, when the church was out of use?

 

Above the south door, the arms of Charles II are very curious. They have been reused as a hatchment at some point, but the overpainting has faded to reveal the true origin. An altar against the north wall is dedicated to St Andrew, in memory of the nearby former church at Flixton, which was destroyed in a storm early in the 18th century. The font in the churchyard here comes from Flixton, too.

And the memorials? Well, I'm afraid there is no 'Mr Bodgers, late of this parish', and probably never was. The high-backed pews are all gone, and although the pulpit would certainly make an excellent castle, it post-dates Dickens's (and Copperfield's) time. The grass is still lush and green in the churchyard though, and much wilder than the neatly trimmed lawns of the very pleasant houses that surround it.

  

Simon Knott, June 2008

 

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/Blundeston.htm

 

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Blundeston.

There are two manors here—those of Blundeston Hall, and Gonville's. The former was held by a family which took their name from the place, and retained it, with the patronage of the church, till the end of the reign of Edward III. In the ninth of Edward I., Robert de Blundeston was lord; (fn. 1) and in the twenty-third of Edward III., in the year 1348, there was a conveyance from Osbertus, Rector of the church of Blundeston, and Oliverus de Wysete, to William, the son of Robert de Blundeston, and the heirs of his body, of the manor of Blundeston, with all the lands and appurtenances in Blundeston, Oulton, and Flixton; together with the advowson of the church of the village of Blundeston, with the appurtenances; all which were formerly of Robert de Blundeston; to hold to the said William and the heirs of his body lawfully begotten. From this family the manor and advowson passed to that of Yarmouth; Henry Yarmouth, of Blundeston, presenting to the church in 1438. Humphrey Yarmouth, his descendant, on the 1st of December, 1570, conveyed to William Sydnor the manor of Blundeston, cum pertinentibus, and all other his manors, tenements, liberties, swanmarks, and hereditaments in Blundeston, Corton, Lound, Somerleyton, Flixton, Lowestoft, and Gunton, or elsewhere, and all other his manors and hereditaments, in the said towns, in fee. The manor, &c., and the messuages, were found to be holden of Sir John Heveningham, of his manor of South Leet, in soccage. (fn. 2) The said William Sydnor, by deed indented 6th of October, twenty-sixth of Elizabeth, 1584, in consideration of a jointure to Elizabeth, late wife of Henry Sydnor, his son, and heir apparent, did enfeoff John Read, and others, and their heirs, of a house called Gillam's, and 90 acres of land in Blundeston and Flixton; a meadow of 12 acres in Flixton; a marsh called Wrentham's, and 41 acres of land in Blundeston; two other messuages and 9 acres of land in Blundeston; a house called Chamber's, and 104 acres of land in Henstead. And of the manor called Blundeston; and the manor of Fritton with the appurtenances, to their uses; viz., as to the manor of Blundeston with the appurtenances, to the use of the said William for life; and after to the use of the said Henry, and his heirs male by the said Elizabeth, his wife; and after to the right heirs of the said William. The marriage between the aforesaid Henry Sydnor and Elizabeth was solemnized on the 1st of February, twenty-seventh of Elizabeth. He died during his father's lifetime, in December, 1611. William Sydnor, the father, died on the 26th of August, 1612. By his will, dated the 26th of March, in the same year, being "then of Christ's Church, but late of Blundeston," he gave to the poor of Blundeston, Henstead, Fritton, Belton, Conisford at the Gate (Norwich), Berstete St. John's, 20 shillings to each parish, and to Trowse on this side the Bridge 10 shillings. He desired "his body to be buried in the chauncell of the parishe church of Blundeston." He gave unto Dorothy Sydnor, his daughter, £ 200 of lawful English money, some furniture, and £10 in gold, to be paid within fourteen days; a cup of silver with three feet, and a cover. To Alice Goldsmithe, his daughter, all her mother's apparell, and £10 in gold, &c. Among other bequests, he leaves to William Sydnor, his grandchild, some furniture, and a great carved chest which lately came from Blundeston, and his next best salt-cellar. After leaving annuities to his servants, he directed "that his house in Christ's Church in all things be mayntayned and kept as usually he did for the entertainment of his children; and such of his children and servants as would stay and live orderly, and do their service honestly, during the time of their stay; for which they were to have their wages. The charges of such housekeeping to be defrayed by his executors; and he desired that Dorothy Sydnor, his daughter, during the said month should have the government of the said house." (fn. 3)

 

By an inquisition, held the 30th of August, in the twelfth of James I., when the death of William Sydnor was returned, it was found that William, the son of Henry, his eldest son, then deceased, was his next heir, and of the age of 24 years and more. And that the said William, eldest, was seized in fee of the manor of Blunston, alias Blundeston, with the appurtenances in Blundeston, Corton, Gunton, Lowestoft, Oulton, Ashby, Flixton, Bradwell, Burgh, Fritton, Belton, Herringfleet, Lound, Somerleyton, Hopton, and Gorleston.

 

On the 13th of February, eleventh of James I., William Sydnor, the grandson, in consideration of a marriage with Anne Harborne, did covenant with William Harborne, her father, to convey to him, Sir Anthony Drury, and others, and their heirs, the manor of Fritton, with the appurtenances, in Suffolk, and all lands, tenements, &c., of the said William, in Fritton, or in the towns adjoining, to the use of himself and his heirs until the marriage, and after the marriage to the use of himself and the said Anne, for jointure, and the heirs male of his body, with several remainders over to Robert, Thomas, and Henry, his brothers, Edmund, William, Francis, and Paul Sydnor, his uncles, and the heirs male of every of their several bodies. And after to the use of the right heirs of the said William Sydnor, the grandfather. And the manor of Blundeston, with the rights, members, and appurtenances, in Suffolk, and all lands, tenements, and other hereditaments, &c., of the said William Sydnor, the grandson, in Blundeston, or in the towns adjoining, or any of them, to and for the like uses, and estates, and remainders as before; omitting only the said Anne, and her estates, for life. In the following year a fine was levied in pursuance, by the said William Sydnor, his uncle, and the heirs of Sir Anthony, of the manors of Fritton and Blundeston, with the appurtenances. By the Office of the ninth of Charles I., after the death of William Sydnor, the grandson, it was found that he died, seized, on the 13th of June, eighth of Charles I., 1632, without issue male. By the same Office, Elizabeth, Anne, Sarah, Mary, Hester, Susanna, Abigail, and Lydia, were found to be the daughters and co-heiresses of the said William Sydnor, and that Elizabeth, the eldest, was, at her father's death, under eleven years of age, and all the rest under fourteen years of age. (fn. 4) On the 3rd of July, in the tenth of Charles I., the King, by ind're under the seal of the Court of Wards, granted to Anthony Bury, for a fine of 200 marks, the custody, wardship, and marriages of the said co-heiresses, to his own use. On the 2nd of July, tenth of Charles, the King, by another ind're, under the seal of the said Court, granted and leased to him, in consideration of £10, the manor of Henstead Pierpoind's, and two acres in Blundeston, during the minority of the said co-heiresses, at the yearly rent of £ 2. 6s. 8d. On the 20th of November, in the same year, this Anthony Bury, by ind're, assigned all his interests to Dr. Talbot, who married the said Anne, mother of the said co-heiresses, to his own use, for £330 paid, besides £100 for Bury, to the receiver of the Court of Wards, for leave of the King's fine. In Michaelmas Term, 1640, there was a decree in the Court of Wards, against Sir John Wentworth, who, in his answer to the information of the attorney of the wards on behalf of the said co-heiresses, denied they had the manor of Blundeston, but confessed they had the manor of Gonville's, in Blundeston, and that their father purchased that of one Jettor. But the Court decreed that the said co-heiresses had the manor of Blundeston, and also the manor of Gonville's. And such possession as the father of the said wards had in Blundeston great water, and fishing, is by the decree settled with the wards during their minority, and until livery sued. And Sir John desired not to fish in right of a tenement in Blundeston, which was his father's. As to the wards' suit as touching an hoorde, some lands in Fritton, and other matters, they are left to trial at law.

 

Elizabeth, Anne, Sarah, Mary, Hester, Susanna, Abigail, and Lydia Sydnor, the eight daughters and co-heiresses of William Sydnor, of Blundeston, by fine levied, and recovery suffered, and by deed dated the 19th of December, 1651, conveyed the said manors in Blundeston and Fritton to hold to William Heveningham, Esq., his heirs and assigns, for ever.

 

¶The family of Sydnor, from whom Blundeston thus passed, appears to have originated from — Sydnor, who married a daughter of Sir John Berney, of Reedham, in Norfolk. The following pedigree is derived from an abstract of the title of the estates, sold by the eight daughters and co-heiresses of William Sydnor, made in 1651; except the marriages of the eight daughters, which are added from the abstract continued to 1663, at which time Sarah was married to William Castleton. The other daughters had been all married before that date.

 

William Sydnor, the purchaser of Blundeston, as appears from bequests in his will, left three daughters, namely, Dorothy Sydnor, Alice Sydnor, who married Henry Goldsmith, and left issue Charles Goldsmith; and Elizabeth Sydnor, who married W. Doans, and left a son, William. Henry Sydnor, who died in his father's lifetime, left also three daughters, Elizabeth, Catharine, and Alice.

 

William Heveningham, Esq., who purchased the manors of Blundeston and Fritton of the Sydnors, was in the year 1661 convicted and attainted of high treason, as has been already shown under Mutford, &c. By letters patent, dated 28th September, thirteenth Charles II., the King did give unto Brian, Viscount Cullen, Sir Thomas Fanshaw, Sir Ralph Banks, Knights, Edward Pitt, and Charles Cornwallis, Esqrs., among other manors and lands, the said manors of Blundeston and Fritton; to hold to them, the said Brian, Viscount Cullen, &c., and their heirs, for ever. The said Brian, Viscount Cullen, &c., by their deed-poll, dated 3rd October, thirteenth Charles II., made between them, the said Brian, Viscount Cullen, &c., George, Earl of Bristol, Henry, Earl of Dover, and Margaret Heveningham, wife of the said William Heveningham, which was also signed by His Majesty's sign manual, did declare the use of the aforesaid letters patent to be to the intent that the said Brian, Viscount Cullen, &c., should, either by perception of the profits or sale of the aforesaid manors of Blundeston and Fritton, amongst others, raise £11,000 for the said Earl of Bristol, and several other trusts therein comprised: the remainder to be for the use of the said Mary, wife of the said William. The said William Heveningham, and Mary his wife, in Michaelmas Term, thirteenth Charles II., levied a fine, and suffered a recovery of the said manors of Blundeston and Fritton, inter alia. And by indenture, dated 24th of October, thirteenth of Charles II., the said William and Mary declared that the said fine and recovery should be to the use of the said Brian, Viscount Cullen, Sir Thomas Fanshaw, Sir Ralph Banks, Edward Pitt, and Charles Cornwallis, and their heirs, for ever.

 

In the 10th and 11th of December, 1662, fourteenth of Charles II., appear a lease and release from the Earl of Bristol, Brian, Viscount Cullen, Sir Thomas Fanshaw, Sir Ralph Banks, Edward Pitt, and Charles Cornwallis, unto Sir John Tasburgh, of the manor of Blundeston, and the capital house called Blundeston Hall, and the manor of Fritton, alias Freton Paston's, and all that manor called Blundeston, alias Gunville's, alias Scroope Hall, alias Gunville's Blundeston, with all the rights, members, and appurtenances to the said manors belonging; and the advowson of the churches, rectories, and vicarages of Blundeston and Fritton aforesaid; and courts-leet and view of frank-pledge, &c., to hold to him and his heirs, for ever. Consideration, £4000 in hand, and £4000 to be paid as therein named. On the 27th of December, 1662, the said William Heveningham and Mary his wife did grant, release, and confirm all and every the said manors of Blundeston, Fritton, and Blundeston Gunville's, to the said John Tasburgh, and his heirs, for ever.

 

These estates next passed to the Allins; for, on the 20th July, 1668, are letters of attorney from Thomas Allin, of Lowestoft, Knt., to Richard London, &c., to receive livery of seizin of John Tasburgh, of Bodney, in Norfolk, Esq., of all his manors, messuages, lands and fruits, and hereditaments situated in Blundeston, Fritton, Corton, or any other town adjoining. Sir Thomas Allin held his first court baron for these manors on the 3rd of November, 1668. (fn. 5)

 

On the 9th of July, 1712, the trustees of Richard Allin, under a deed authorizing them to sell lands to satisfy his debts, sold a messuage and about 76 acres of land at Blundeston and Fritton, of the yearly rent of £39. 10s., to Gregory Clarke, for £663; and on the 30th of August following, two other pieces of land, containing 13 acres, of the yearly rent of £5. 10s., to the same Gregory Clarke, for £100. These estates were afterwards purchased by Sir Ashurst Allin, Bart., who resided there; and were by him devised to his daughter, Frances Allin, for life. On the 29th of September, 1714, Blundeston Hall-farm, lands and decoy, of the yearly rent of £217. 2s. 6d., were sold to William Luson, merchant, the consideration money being £3691. 2s. 6d., who devised them to Robert Luson, his son, who, by his will of the 1st of May, 1767, bequeathed them to his eldest daughter, Maria, in fee, who married George Nicholls, Esq., by whom this estate was sold to Robert Woods, who, by his will, dated July 4th, 1780, devised the same to his wife to sell, and in 1791, she conveyed it to Thomas Woods in fee. Other estates in Blundeston were by Robert Luson devised to his second daughter, Hephzibah, who married Nathaniel Rix, Esq. An estate at Blundeston, and Corton, and Lound, he devised to Elizabeth, his daughter, who afterwards married Cammant Money, by whom the second property was sold to J. B. Roe, and the first to J. Manship. (fn. 6) The Decoy farm, at Blundeston, was, by the executors of Robert Luson, under the powers in the will contained, sold to William Berners, Esq., of Woolverstone Hall, whose son, Charles, resold it to Thomas Morse, Esq. (fn. 7) The manor of Fritton, and an estate of the annual value of £173, were sold to Samuel Fuller, Esq., for £ 2660. (fn. 8)

 

The manors of Blundeston Hall and Gunville's united, as will be presently shown, remained with the Allins, and passed with their other estates to the family of Anguish. From the Anguishes they descended to Lord Sydney Osborne, who sold them, in 1844, to Samuel Morton Peto, Esq.

 

The Manor of Gonville's, in Blundeston,

¶was the lordship of John, the son of Nicholas de Gunville or Gonville, in the fourteenth of Edward III., in the month of March in which year is a "note of time" of this manor between the aforesaid John, who is styled the son of Nicholas Gonvyll, chyvaler, and Johan, his wife, complainants, and William de Gonvyll, parson of the church of Thelnethan, John Gonvyll, parson of the church of Lylyng, Osbert, parson of the church of Blundeston, and Thomas de Kalkhyll, deforcients, of 24 messuages, 332 acres of land, 16 acres of meadow, &c., in Gorleston, Louystoft, Barneby, Little Yarmouth, and Hopton, to John, son of Nicholas and Johan, and the heirs of their bodies; and remainder, after the decease of John and Johan, to the right heirs of John, the son of Nicholas. (fn. 9) The manor remained with this ancient line till it passed, in the early part of the fifteenth century, to Sir Robert Herling, Knt., who married Joan or Jane, the heiress of the Gonvilles, as the subjoined pedigree will show.

 

Sir Robert Herling, and Joan his wife, held the manor of Gonville's in 1420, as we learn from an inquisitio ad quod damnum, taken in that year. "Robtus Harlyng, miles, et Johanna, uxor ejus, tempore ultimi pascigii d'ni Henr. Regis nunc ad partes Norman: seiziti fuerunt de mn'o vocat Gunvilles manor: cum p'tin: in villis de Blundeston, Olton, et Flyxton, in d'mico suo ut de feodo." (fn. 10) Sir Robert Herling left a daughter and heiress, Anne, who was thrice married; first, to Sir William Chamberlain, Knight of the Garter; secondly, to Sir Robert Wingfield, Knt., who in 1474 settled, amongst divers manors and estates in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, the manors of Gnateshall, Corton, Newton, Lound, and Blundeston, with Lound advowson, in Suffolk, on themselves and their trustees. He died seized of these in 1480. In 1492, Anne, his widow, married, thirdly, John, Lord Scroop, of Bolton, who died in 1494. (fn. 11) On her death, without issue, the manor of Gonville's went to Margaret, her father's sister, the wife of Sir Robert Tuddenham, Knt. (fn. 12) On the 4th of April, sixth of James I., Robert Jettor conveyed to William Sydnor the site, manor, or member of a manor, called Blundeston, Gunvilles Blundeston, or Gunvilles cum pertin: and a close called Gunvilles, reputed the site of the said manor, containing six acres; another close called the Home-close, in Blundeston, and four several fish-ponds, with several waters and fishings in Blundeston and Flixton, and with covenant to levy a fine thereof to the use of the said William Sydnor, and his heirs. William Sydnor's eight daughters and co-heiresses conveyed it to William Heveningham. Both manors in this parish being thus united, were granted, with the advowson, to Lady Heveningham's trustees in 1661, as already shown.

 

Early in the seventeenth century, Sir Butts Bacon, created a Baronet on the 29th of July, 1627, possessed an estate and resided at Blundeston. He married Dorothy, daughter of Sir Henry Warner, of Parham, in Suffolk, Knt., and widow of William, second son of Sir Henry Jermyn, Knt., by whom he had three sons, Charles and Clement, who died without issue, and Sir Henry Bacon, his successor. He had also two daughters, Anne, the wife of Henry Kitchingman, of Blundeston Hall, and Dorothy, who married William Peck, of Cove. Sir Butts died in 1661, and his widow in 1679. They lie buried in Blundeston church. Soon after the year 1700, the estate of the Bacons was sold to the Allins of Somerleyton; and in 1770 became the property of Frances, the daughter of the Rev. Ashurst Allin, of whose executors it was purchased by Nicholas Henry Bacon, Esq., the second surviving son of the late Sir Edmund Bacon, Bart., of Raveningham, in Norfolk, who sold it in 1832 to Charles Steward, Esq., an officer in the Honourable East India Company's service, who is the present possessor. He married his first-cousin, Harriet, the only daughter, by his first wife, of Ambrose Harbord Steward, Esq., of Stoke Park, near Ipswich, High Sheriff for Suffolk in 1822, by whom he has an only son, Charles John.

 

The mansion erected on this estate has been termed at different periods Sydnors, and Blundeston Villa, but is now designated Blundeston House. The spot is more celebrated for the loveliness of its scenery than the grandeur of the residence, which is simply a good substantial house, erected in a style of unpretending architecture. But its verdant lawns and ample sparkling lake bear testimony of a long subjection to the hand of taste, which evidently still controls. The domain was many years the residence of the late Rev. Norton Nicholls. Mr. Mathias, an author well known by his 'Observations on the Character and Writings of Gray,' in a letter to a friend, occasioned by the death of this "rare and gifted man," terms his villa here "an oasis." Speaking of what Mr. Nicholls had perfected at Blundeston, he says, "if barbarous taste should not improve it, or some more barbarous land-surveyor level with the soil its beauties and its glories, (it) will remain as one of the most finished scenes of cultivated sylvan delight which this island can offer to our view." An aged pollard oak, and a summer-house placed at the termination of the lake, are said to have been favourite haunts of Gray, who was an occasional guest of Mr. Nicholls at Blundeston. In 1799, this gentleman entertained here the gallant Admiral Duncan, soon after his return to Yarmouth, crowned with the laurels won at Camperdown. Mr. Nicholls died on the 22nd of November, 1809, aged 68, and was buried at Richmond church, in Surrey. The vicinity of Blundeston House, while tenanted by Dr. Saunders, was some years since the scene of an unfortunate accident, which deprived that gentleman of life. Being in the act of reloading his double-barrelled gun, a favourite dog fawning upon him, sprung the trigger of the second barrel, and discharged the contents into his master's body. Dr. Saunders's melancholy fate is recorded in the 'Suffolk Chronicle' of October the 15th, 1814.

 

¶The lake, or Blundeston Great Water, as it is called in ancient writings, was the subject of a dispute in the reign of James I., very similar to that recorded at Ashby, as we learn from the following "exemplification of interrogatories to be administered on the part and behalf of John Ufflet, Gent., Henry Winston, Henry Doughtie, and Anne his wife, Thomas Stares, and Anthony Thornwood, complainants, against William Sydnor, Esq., and Henry Sydnor, Gent., deforcients; and of depositions taken at Lowestoft, on the 15th of March, in the seventh of James I., before Anthony Shardelow, William Southwell, William Cuddon, and Benedict Campe, Gents., by virtue of His Majesty's commission out of the Court of Chancery, to them directed. Richard Burman deposed, inter alia, that he knew the great water in Blundeston, called the common fenne, or common water, and the piece of ground called Hempwater green, containing about three acres; that the said water contained about sixteen or seventeen acres. That the messuage wherein Henry Sydnor then dwelt was sometimes of Maister Yarmouth. That the water and green had always been reputed as common. That the inhabitants fished in the water; wetted their hemp therein, and dried it on the green, and fed their cattle thereon. William Pynne deposed, inter alia, that he did not know that the said William Sydnor or Humphrey Yarmouth had any manor in the said towne; nor that there were more manors therein than the manor of Mr. Jettor, called Gunvilles. Robert Jettor deposed that the water is called the common water of Blundeston in a court-roll of the manor of Blundeston Gonville, dated the thirty-first of Henry VIII., and that he did not know that Mr. Yarmouth, or the defendants, had any manor in Blundeston, or that there was any other manor therein than his, called Blundeston Gonvilles. John Wood deposed, inter alia, that the said William Sydnor had obtained the leases from divers owners of sundry messuages or dwelling-houses in Blundeston, of their interests of their fishing in the said great water about twenty years sithence, and that he had before that sued some of the inhabitants of the said towne for having fished therein. That he and another, then churchwardens of Blundeston, did sell the alders growing in or near the said water, and did convert the money to the reparations of the town-house, and that other inhabitants did take poles, splints, and other wood growing there, &c. That he had heard that Mr. Yarmouth did keep courts in Blundeston, and had tenants therein, and that this deponent did hold of Mr. Sydnor, who had Mr. Yarmouth's estate, three acres of land, &c., and that Mr. Jettor had a manor in Blundeston, &c. Interrogatories to be administered to the witnesses to be produced on the part and behalf of William Sydnor, Esq., and Henry Sydnor, Gent., complainants, against Henry Winston, &c., deforcients. Inter alia. Do you know that Humphrey Yarmouth, Esq., deceased, was seized of the manor of Blundeston in Blundeston, and of land covered with water, containing forty acres, and which, on his death, descended to Henry Yarmouth, his son, also dead; who sold the same to William Sydnor; and that they severally held courts-baron, &c. And whether Humphrey Yarmouth, and Henry Yarmouth, his son, and William Sydnor afterwards, did not present to the living on the death or resignation of the incumbents. If the house wherein Henry Sydnor then dwelt was not called Blundeston Hall in court-rolls and writings. Whether, in the twenty-eighth of Elizabeth, in a controversy between the said William Sydnor, lord of Blundeston, and owner of the water, with the inhabitants as to the same being common or not, the dispute was not referred to Sir Edward Coke, then Attorney-General, and afterwards Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and to Richard Godfrey, Esq. Whether in the thirty-first of Elizabeth there was not a similar dispute, and that it was amicably settled by the said Henry Winston and certain others of the inhabitants agreeing to release their rights of fishing in the water, and that they should have in lieu thereof, a certain driftway thereto from the highway, near the mansion of the said William Sydnor, and a certain piece of land at the end of the said water, containing three acres, for their use, and the feed thereof; and to wet hemp in the water, and dry the same on the said three acres of land, and might dig the soil and carry it away therefrom, and also from Mill Hill, in Belton Heath, and the timber, &c., growing on the said way for repairing the town-house; and whether the said agreement was not carried into execution; and if complainants did not for twelve years quietly enjoy the water, &c., after the execution of the releases. And whether, before the agreement, the inhabitants had a right to take the land, gravel, &c.; and if complainant did not clear the water, and make a bank, &c., for the fowl to breed, &c."

 

he Church at Blundeston,

which is a rectory dedicated to St. Mary, and now consolidated with the adjoining benefice of Flixton, is valued in the King's books at £13. 6s. 8d. It is a singular edifice, comprising a nave and chancel, with a remarkably high-pitched roof, covered with thatch. The tower, which is circular and small in diameter, rises but little above the ridge of the nave, and looks more like a chimney than a steeple. It exhibits decided marks of Norman erection, and was probably attached to an earlier edifice than the present church, which, apparently incorporating the north wall of the ancient nave, seems raised on a wider ground-plan, thereby bringing the apex of the western gable to the southward of the tower, and producing a very inharmonious effect. The masonry of both nave and chancel is composed of large squared flints, but the walls of the latter bulge outwards in a threatening angle, and foretell a speedy dissolution. The interior is lofty and effective, and very neatly kept; and a carved oaken screen beneath the chancel arch is well deserving of observation. The lower compartments of this screen were in olden days richly painted and gilt, as the accidental discovery of one portion, by the removal of some boards, fortunately evinces. This splendid example of ancient art forms an illustration to the present work, and has been engraved from the faithful pencil of the late Miss Dowson, of Yarmouth. St. Peter pointing to the keys of Heaven and Hell, and an angel with uplifted hands assuring us of our salvation through the passion of Christ, occupy the two compartments of a pointed arch, richly backed by a crimson ground, diapered with gold. There is a stiffness in the attitude of each figure, and a harshness of outline visible here, as in the works of more celebrated artists, even at a later period; but these paintings are, nevertheless, extremely interesting, as illustrating the success of art in England in the fifteenth century. There is a small piscina in the chancel, and some oaken benches in the body of the church of excellent workmanship, and an ancient benetura near the south door. In the tower hang two bells, one of which was brought from the ruinated church of the adjoining village of Flixton. The body of the church, which presents a far less fearful aspect than the chancel, has lately undergone considerable renovation, and is indebted to the zeal of Mr. Steward for the preservation of many of its ancient features.

 

Reginald Wynstone, by his last will, dated the 14th of April, 1438, leaves his body to be buried within the church of Blundeston, and constitutes William Wynstone and John Wynstone, his sons, his executors. In the Lansdowne MSS. (fn. 13) is a note, taken apparently about the year 1573, of several armorial cognizances which then ornamented the windows of this building. "In the chancel windows. Arg. a lion sable. FitzOsbert and Jerningham. Quarterly, arg. and b. quarterly indented, a bend gules. Arg. a cross engrailed gules. Bloundeville, or and b. quarterly, indented, a bend gules, sided with Gurney. Gules, 3 gemelles or, a canton ermine, billetted sable. Sable a cross sarsele or, betwixt four scallops arg. Sable, a chevron arg. between 3 cinquefoils or."—"In the church, gul. a lion argent. Arg. 3 buckles lozengy gules, Jernegan. Gu. and b. pale, on a fess wavy arg., 3 crescents sab. betwixt three crosses pale or. Blundeville and Inglos. Erm. on a chevron sab., 3 crescents or, syded with Nownton. Sir Ed. Jenney, erm. a bend gul. cotised or, quartering sab. a chevr. twyxt 3 buckles argent. Or and g. barre unde. Castell, gu., 3 castells arg. Sab. a chev. gules, droppe or, twixt 3 cinquefoils pserd ermine. Or and b. checke. Paston, Bolaine, Nawton, and Barney, Nawton and Howard. Or 3 chev. gu., on each 3 ermines arg. sided with Nawton. Sampson syded with Felbrig. Felbrig, on his shoulder a mullet arg. Bedingfeld quartering Tuddenham, and one of Knevett single."

 

Monuments.—There is an old floor-stone with a cross, but no other ancient memorials, in this church. Among the more modern are the following:

 

Robertus Snelling, Rector, obt. Sep. 12, 1690, æt. 65. Hic jacet Butts Bacon, Baronettus, Nicholai Bacon, Angliæ Baronetti primi filius septimus, qui obiit Maij 29, 1661. Dorothea Bacon, his widow, obt. Sep. 4, 1679. Arms. Bacon.

 

Elizabeth, daughter of John Burkin, of Burlingham, died Jan. 26, 1735. She was first married to the Rev. Mr. Gregory Clarke, and after his decease to the Rev. Mr. Thomas Carter.

 

¶Samuel Luson, died July 7, 1766, aged 33. Luson bears, quarterly, 1st and 4th, az. and gul., 3 sinister hands arg., 2nd and 3rd, erm., 3 roses. . . . Sarah Keziah Thurtell, died May 29th, 1833, aged 18 years. William Wales, died June 8, 1710, aged 63. Gregory Clarke, Christi minister, died 3 Ides of Jan. 1726, aged 45. William Sydnor, Esq., died 1613. Robert Brown, died Sep. 6, 1813, aged 52 years. Mary, his daughter, Aug. 18, 1812, aged 22 years. Sarah, wife of John Clark, widow of the above Robert Brown, died Nov. 16, 1818, aged 59. Elizabeth, second wife of James Thurtell, of Flixton, died June 15, 1823, aged 75 years. Elizabeth, wife of John Clark, died Jan. 28, 1801, aged 28 years. John Clark, died Oct. 7, 1826, aged 57 years. Stephen Saunders, M. D., born 17th Oct. 1777, died 1st Oct. 1814. Timothy Steward, of Great Yarmouth, died 25th of June, 1836. Mary, his wife, daughter of John Fowler, and Ann, his wife, died 22 Jan. 1837. Arms. Steward, quarterly, 1st and 4th. Or, a fess chequee arg. and az.; 2nd and 3rd, arg., a lion ramp. gules, debruised with a bendlet raguly or, impales Fowler, az. on a fess between 3 lions pass. guard, or, as many crosses patonce sable.

 

The registers of Blundeston commence in 1558. They contain several notices of monies collected by Brief in aid of sufferers by fire in distant parts of England. Among others, "To a loss by fire at ye head of ye Cannon-gate at Edinburgh, in North Britain, Jan. 13, 1708/9, 1s. 6d." The advowson of Blundeston with Flixton was sold in 1844, by Lord Sydney Osborne, to Thomas Morse, Esq., of Blundeston.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/suffolk-history-antiq...

I have been to Throwley on at least three previous occasions, the fourth was going to be during Ride and Stride in September, but another crawler told me it had failed to open as per the list.

 

St Michael and All Angles is a large and from the outside and interesting looking church, looked like it had a story to tell. So, last week, I contacted the wardens through the CofE A church Near You website, I got a reply and a date and time agreed for Saturday morning.

 

We arrived 15 minutes early, and it was as locked as ever, but on a fine if frosty morning took the time to study the church ad churchyard, and saw yet more fine details we had missed previously.

 

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St Michael & All Angels is the parish church of Throwley. The first church on the site was probably built between 800 and 825. This would have been a small wooden structure, barely distinguishable from a farm building.

 

After the Norman Conquest in 1066 this was replaced by a Romanesque stone structure.

 

This was still small, but as the population of the parish increased the church was enlarged, until in about 1510 it reached its present size. Since then its appearance has changed little, although an extra storey was added to the tower - now far seen - in the 1860s.

 

The church has an elaborate Romanesque west entrance; its east window in the chancel, by Curtis, Ward & Hughes of Soho, London, is a memorial to Throwley men who gave their lives in the First World War.

 

In the Harris chapel is the church's newest stained-glass window, commemorating Dorothy Lady Harris who died in 1981. It was designed and executed in the Canterbury Cathedral Workshops by Frederick Cole (see pictures on left).

 

The church has more than its fair share of fine 16th to 19th century monuments, mainly to members of the local Sondes and Harris families, and these are all described.

 

www.faversham.org/community/churches/throwley.aspx

 

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TQ 95 NE THROWLEY THROWLEY

ROAD

(west side)

4/181

Church of

St. Michael

and All

24.1.67 Angels

 

GV I

 

Parish Church. C12, C13 north chapel, C14 south chapel, C15

nave arcades, restored 1866 and tower heightened. Flint and

plain tiled roofs. Chancel, north and south chapels, nave and

aisles, south tower and south porch. West doorway, C12, with

attached shafts and 3 orders, the outer panelled with X's on

circles, the centre roll moulded with the blocks offset and

alternately projecting, the inner with more X's on circles,

with 2 offset buttresses either side of doorway. South aisle

with plinth, string course and parapet, 3 offset buttresses and

C15 Perpendicular windows. South tower of 2 stages with square

south-eastern stair turret and C16 moulded brick surround

sundial. Water spouts on each corner in the 4 Evangelical

symbols. Half-timbered C19 south porch, south doorway with

rolled and double hollow chamfered surround, and outer surround

with label and quatrefoil spandrels. North aisle under 1 roof

with nave, with C15 fenestration, and C19 chimney to north west.

North and south chapels with C14 cusped 'Y' tracery fenestration,

with hollow chamfered and ogee drip moulds. Chancel east

window C19 curvilinear style. Interior: 2 bay nave arcades,

double hollow chamfered arches on octagonal piers. C12 single

arches to north and south eastern bay, that to south recessed

and double chamfered through tower wall. Barrel roof.

Chamfered arch on corbels from south aisle to tower, itself

with corbel table on south wall, and triple arch through to south

chapel C19 chancel arch. Chancel with 2 bay double chamfered

arcade to north chapel with octagonal capitals on round piers, and

single double chamfered arch on round responds to south chapel.

Fittings: hollow chamfered piscina and sedile in window reveal in

chancel and cusped recess in north wall. C19 reredos and altar

rail. Cusped piscina and four centred arched wall recess in

south chapel. Choir stalls, some C19, the four on the south C15

with carved misericords. Monuments: south chapel C16 chest tomb,

with shields in panelled sides, moulded plinth, lozenge-shaped

flowers, fluting and frieze. Chest tomb, Sir George Sondes,

Earl of Faversham, d.1677. Black marble with blank panelled sides.

Inscription on the top panel (made 1728). Standing monument,

Sir Thomas Sondes, died 1592. Marble tomb chest, gadrooned with

achievements on side panels. Kneeling alabaster figures of

knight and his Lady on opposite sides of central prayer desk,

carrying inscription. Mary Sondes, died 1603. Smaller and

identical to Sir Thomas Sonde's monument, with 2 adults and 2

infant sons and daughters on either side of sarcophagus. Misplaced

scrolled and enriched carved achievement on floor to east of

those monuments. Wall plaque, Captain Thomas Sondes, died 1668.

Black and white marble, with draped apron, swagged and draped

sides with military trophies. Broken segmental pediment with male

bust. Signed W.S. (B.0.E. Kent II, p.477 suggests William Stanton).

North chapel C16 chest tomb, moulded plinth, panelled sides with

shields (1 panel reset in south chapel south wall). Early C16

tomb recess with moulded jambs, with rope work, crenellated,

with late Perpendicular motifs in spandrels, and tomb with 3

panelled recesses with 2 shields on each panel. Wall plaque,

Charles Harris, d.1814, by Flaxman. White plaque on white

background; dead soldier lifted from the grave by Victory, with

palms and cannon in background. Statue, to George, first Lord

Harris, life size soldier with sword and plans, on four foot

plinth. By George Rennie, 1835. Nave, wall plaque, Stephen

Bunce, d.1634. Black plaque on coved base and apron. Foliated

sides. Scrolled nowy cornice and pediment with achievement.

(See B.O.E. Kent II, 1983, 476-7.)

  

Listing NGR: TQ9883454254

 

www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-176587-church-of-st-m...

 

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LIES the next parish north-eastward from Stalisfield. It is called in the record of Domesday, Trevelei, in later records Truley and Thruley, in Latin ones Trulega and Truilla; it is now written both Throwley and Throwleigh.

 

THROWLEY is mostly situated on high ground, it is a more pleasant and open country than that last described, for though wild and romantic among the hills and woods, it is not so dreary and forlorn, nor the soil so uncomfortable, being much drier. Besides it has a more chearful and brighter aspect from the width of the principal valley which leads through it, from north to south, whence the hills rise on each side, with smaller delves interspersed among them. There is a good deal of wood-ground, mostly of beech, interspersed at places with oak and hazel, with some good timber trees of oak among them, especially in the northern and southern parts; much of the former belongs to the dean and chapter of Canterbury. The soil is mostly chalk, the rest a heavy tillage land of red cludy earth, the whole mixed with quantities of flint stones. There are some level lands, especially in the disparked grounds of Throwley park, which are tolerably good, much more so than those in the other parts of the parish; on the east side of the park are the foundations of the antient seat of the Sondes's, with the church close to them, the whole lying on high ground, with a good prospect of the surrounding country; not far from it is Town place, now only a farm-house. There is no village, excepting the few houses in Abraham-street may be so called, the rest of the houses, which are mostly cottages, standing dispersed throughout it, either single, or built round the little greens or softalls, of which there are several in different parts of the parish. On a larger one of these called Wilgate-green, there is a house belonging to the estate of Mr. Philerenis Willis's heirs, and another larger antient one, which with the estate belonging to it, was formerly the property of the Chapmans, and sold by them to Christopher Vane, lord Barnard, in 1789, gave it, with his other estates in this county, to David Papillon, esq. of Acrise, the present owner of it. (fn. 1)

 

There was a family named Wolgate, from whose residence here this green seems to have taken its name of Wolgate, or Wilgate-green. After they had remained here for some generations they ended in a daughter, for Mr. Ralph Wolgate dying in 1642, his daughter Anne married Mr. William Genery, and entitled him to her father's possessions here, at Posiers, in Borden, and other parts of this county. The Woodwards seem afterwards to have possessed their estate here, several of whom lie buried under a tomb in Throwley church-yard.

 

About half a mile distant south-westward from Wilgate-green, in Abraham-street, there is a seat, called, from its high situation and expensive prospect, BELMONT; it was built in the year 1769, by Edward Wilks, esq. storekeeper of the royal powdermills at Faversham, who inclosed a paddock or shrubbery round it, and occasionally resided here, till he alienated it in 1779 to John Montresor, esq. the present proprietor, who resides in it.

 

THE BEECH TREE flourishes in the greatest plenty, as well single to a large size, as in stubs in the coppice woods, which consist mostly of them, as well in these parts as they do in general on the range of chalk hills throughout this county, in some places extending two or three miles in width, and in others much more. The large tracts of ground in this and other counties, overspread with the beech-tree, the random situation of their stubs, and other circumstances which occur in viewing them, are strong proofs of their being the indigenous growth of this island, notwithstanding Cæfar's premptory assertion, in his Commentaries, of there being none here in this time. The Britons, he says, had every material for use and building, the same as the Gauls, excepting the fir and the beech. The former there is positive proof of his being grossly mistaken in, which will in some measure destroy that implicit credit we might otherwise give to his authority, as to the latter; indeed, the continued opposition he met with from the Britons, during his short stay here, assorded him hardly a possibility of seeing any other parts of this country than those near which he landed, and in the direct track through which he marched to wards Coway-stakes; too small a space for him to form any assertion of the general products of a whole country, or even of the neighbouring parts to him. Of those he passed through, the soil was not adapted to the growth of the beech tree; from which we may with great probability suppose, there were none growing on them, nor are there any throughout them, even at this time, a circumstance which most likely induced him to suppose, and afterwards to make the assertion beforementioned.

 

The slints, with which the cold unfertile lands in these parts, as well as some others in this county, are covered, have been found to be of great use in the bringing forward the crops on them, either by their warmth, or somewhat equivalent to it. Heretofore the occupiers of these lands were anxious to have them picked up and carried off from their grounds, but experiencing the disadvantage of it in the failure of their crops, they, never practice it themselves, and submit to the surveyors of the highways taking them off with great reluctance.

 

In the parish there are quantities of the great whitish ash coloured shell snail, which are of an unusual large size; they are found likewise near Darking, in Surry, and between Puckeridge and Ware, in Hertsordshire. They are not originally of this island, but have been brought from abroad, many of them are at this time observed in different parts of Italy.

 

MR. JACOB, in this Plantœ Favershamienses, has enumerated several scare plants observed by him in this parish, besides which, that scarce one, the Orchis myodes, or fly satrition, has been found here, growing on the side of the path, in a small wood, midway between the church and Wilgate green.

 

THIS PLACE, at the taking of the general survey of Domesday, about the 15th years of the Conqueror's reign, was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, and earl of Kent, the king's half brother, under the general title of whose lands it is thus described in it:

 

Hersrid holds Trevelai. It was taxed at three sulings. The arable land is eight carucates. In demesne there is one, and twenty-four villeins, with five borderers having six carucates and an half. There is a church, and five servants. Wood for the pannage of twenty bogs, and in the city three houses of thirty-two pence. In the time of king Edward the Conssessor it was worth seven pounds, and afterwards six pounds. Ulnod held it of king Edward.

 

On the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, about four years afterwards, this among his other estates, became consiscated to the crown.

 

After which it was held of the king in capite, by barony, by Jeffry de Peverel, and together with other lands made up the barony of Peverel, as it was called, being assigned to him for the defence of Dover-castle, for which purpose he was bound to maintain a certain number of soldiers from time to time for the desence of it, and to repair and defend at this own charge a particular tower or turret there, called afterwards Turris Gattoniana, or Gatton's tower.

 

In the reign of king Henry III. Robert de Gatton, who took his name from the lordship of Gatton, in Surry, of which his ancestors had been some time owners, was in possession of the manor Thrule, and died in the 38th year of that reign, holding it by knight's service of the king, of the honor of Peverel, by reason of the escheat of that honor, &c. (fn. 2) He was succeded in it by this eldest son Hamo de Gatton, who resided here, and served the office of sheriff in the 14th year of Edward I. His eldest son of the same name left one son Edmund, then an instant, who afterwards dying under age, his two sisters became his coheirs, and divided his inheritance, of which Elizabeth entitled her husband William de Dene to this manor, and all the rest of the estates in Kent; and Margery entitled her husband Simon de Norwood to Gatton, and all the other estates in Surry.

 

William de Dene had a charter of free warren for his lands in Thurley, in the 10th year of Edward II. He died anno 15 Edward III. then holding this manor by the law of England, as of the inheritance of Elizabeth his late wife deceased, of the king in capite, as of the castle of Dover, by knight's service, and paying to the ward of that castle. His son Thomas de Dene died possessed of it in the 23d year of that reign, leaving four daughters his coheirs, of whom Benedicta, the eldest, married John de Shelving, and entitled him to this manor, on whose death likewise without male issue, his two daughters became his coheirs, of whom, Joane married John Brampton, alias Detling, of Detlingcourt, and Ellen married John de Bourne, the former of whom, in his wife's right, became possessed of this manor. He lest only one daughter Benedicta his heir, who carried it in marriage to Thomas at Town, who was possessed of much land about Charing, and bore for his arms, Argent, on a chevron, sable, three crosscrostess, ermine, which coat is in the windows of Kennington church, impaled with Ellis, of that place. He removed hither in the reign of Henry VI. and built a feat for his residence in this parish, about a quarter of a mile from the church, which he named, from himself, Town-place, soon after which he died, leaving his possessions to his three daughters and coheirs, of whom Eleanor was married to Richard Lewknor, of Challock; Bennet to William Watton, of Addington, and Elizabeth to William Sondes, of this parish and of Lingfield, in Surry, in which county his ancestors had been seated as early as the reign of Henry III. at Darking, where their seat was named, from them, Sondes-place. (fn. 3) Upon the division of their inheritance, the manor of Throwley was allotted to William Sondes, and Town-place, with the lands belonging to it in Throwley, to Richard Lewknor, who sold it to Edward Evering, the eldest son of Nicholas, third son of John Evering, of Evering, in Alkham, and his daughter and heir Mary marrying in 1565, with John Upton, of Faversham, entitled him to this estate, which he very soon afterwards alienated to Shilling, from whom it as quickly afterwards passed by sale to Anthony Sondes, esq. of this parish, whose ancestor William Sondes, on the division of the inheritance of the daughters and coheirs of Thomas at Town as before mentioned, had become possessed of the manor of Throwley, and the antient mansion of it, in which he afterwards resided, and dying in 1474, anno 15 Edward IV. was buried in the north chapel of this church, though he ordered by his will a memorial for himself to be put up in the church of Lingfield. The family of Sondes bore for their arms, Argent, three blackmores heads, couped, between two chevronels, sable, which, with the several quarterings borne by them, are painted on their monuments in this church.

 

His descendant, Anthony Sondes, esq. of Throwley, in the 31st year of Henry VIII. procured his lands in this county to be disgavelled, by the act then passed, and died in 1575, having married Joane, daughter of Sir John Fineux, chief justice of the king's bench, by whom he had two sons, Thomas and Michael, and two daughters.

 

He was succeeded by his eldest son Sir Thomas Sondes, sheriff anno 22 Elizabeth, who founded the school in this parish. He died in 1592, leaving issue only by his second wife, one daughter Frances, married to Sir John Leveson, so that on his death without male issue, his only brother Sir Michael Sondes, of Eastry, succeeded to this manor and seat of his ancestors, in which he afterwards resided. He was sheriff in the 26th year of queen Elizabeth's reign, and died in the 16th year of king James I. having had by his first wife Mary, only daughter and heir of George Fynch, esq. of Norton, six sons and six daughters.

 

Sir Richard Sondes, the eldest son, resided at Throwley, where he died in the 8th year of Charles I. having had by his two wives a numerous issue, of both sons and daughters. He was succeeded in this manor and seat, with the rest of his estates, by his eldest son Sir George Sondes, who was made a knight of the Bath at the coronation of king Charles I. soon after which he began to rebuild his seat of Lees-court, in Sheldwich, and fixed his residence there, under the description of which a more particular account of him and his descendants may be seen. Not long after which this seat was entirely pulled down, and the park adjoining to it disparked. The foundations of the former still remain, and the disparked lands still retain the name of Throwley park.

 

Sir George Sondes was afterwards created Earl of Faversham, Viscount Sondes, of Lees court, and Baron of Throwley, whose two daughters became his coheirs; Mary was married to Lewis, lord Duras, marquis of Blanquefort, and afterwards earl of Faversham, and Katherine to Lewis Watson, esq. afterwards earl of Rockingham, who each successively, in right of their respective wives, inherited this manor and estate, which has since descended in like manner as Lees-court, in Sheldwich, to the right hon. Lewis-Thomas, lord Sondes, and he is the present possessor of this manor, with Town-place and the estate belonging to it. Acourt baron is held for this manor.

 

The denne of Toppenden, alias Tappenden, in Smarden, in the Weald, is an appendage to the manor of Throwley, and is held of it.

 

WILDERTON, alias Wolderton, called also in antient deeds Wilrinton, is a manor in this parish, which was once part of the possessions of the eminent family of Badlesmere, of which Bartholomew de Badlesmere was possessed of it in the reign of Edward II. of whom, for his services in the Scottish wars, he obtained in the 9th year of it many liberties and franchises for his different manors and estates, among which was that of free-warren in the demesne lands of this manor of Wolrington. (fn. 4) Having afterwards associated himself with the discontented barons, he was taken prisoner, and executed in the 16th year of that reign. By the inquisition taken after his death, which was not till anno 2 Edward III. at which time both the process and judgement against him was reversed, it was found that he died possessed of this manor, among others, which were then restored to his son Giles de Badlesmere, who died in the 12th year of Edward III. s. p. being then possessed of this manor. Upon which his four sisters became his comanor fell to the share of Margery, wife of William, manor fell to the share of Margery, wife of William, lord Roos, of Hamlake, who survived her husband, and died in the 37th year of Edward III. possessed of it, as did her grandson John, lord Roos, in the 9th year of Henry V. leaving no issue by Margaret his wife, who survived him, and had this manor assigned to her as part of her dower. She afterwards married Roger Wentworth, esq. whom she likewise survived, and died anno 18 Edward IV.

 

On the death of John, lord Roos, her first husband, s. p. the reversion of this manor, after her death, became vested in Thomas his next surviving brother and heir, whose son Thomas afterwards became a firm friend to the house of Lancaster, for which he was attainted anno 1 Edward IV. and his lands were consiscated to the crown.

 

On the death of Margaret, the widow of Roger Wentworth, esq. the manor of Wulrington, but whether by grant or purchase, I have not found, came into the possession of Richard Lewknor, of Challock, owner likewise of Town-place, as before-mentioned, who sold it to Edward Evering, already mentioned before, whose daughter and heir Mary marrying in 1565 with Mr. John Upton, of Faversham, entitled him to it. He joined with his brother Nicholas Upton, in 1583, in the sale of the manor-house, with all the demesne lands belonging to it, excepting one small piece called the manor-croft, and a moiety of the ma nor, which, from its situation, from that time was known by the name of NORTH-WILDERTON, to Anthony Terry, of North Wilderton, yeoman, upon whose death it came to his four sons, Arnold, William, Thomas, and George Terry, who in 1601 made a partition of their father's estates, in which this manor was allotted to Arnold Terry, and William his brother, from whom it descended to Anthony Terry, of Ospringe, who in 1689 sold it to Mr. Thomas Knowler, of Faversham, who devised it to his sister Abigail for her life, and after her death to John Knowler, gent. of Ospringe, in fee. She afterwards married John Bates, and they, together with John Knowler above-mentioned, about the year 1694, joined in the sale of it to Mr. Edward Baldock, of Aylesford, and Bennet his wife. He survived her, and by deed of gift in 1717, vested the fee of it in his son Edward Baldock, who passed it away to Mr. Thomas Greenstreet, of Norton, whose niece Elizabeth marrying with Mr. Thomas Smith, of Gillingham, entitled him to this manor, which has been since sold to John Montresor, esq. of Belmont, in this parish, the present owner of it. A court baron is held for this manor.

 

There was antiently a chapel at this manor of Wilrintune, as appears by a charter, dated anno 1217, lately in the treasury of St. Bertin's monastery at St. Omers, concerning the privilege of a bell to it.

 

BUT THE REMAINING MOIETY of the manor, with a small crost called the manor-croft, lying at the west end of Hockstet green, remained with John Upton, and thenceforward acquired the name of SOUTH, alias GREAT WILDERTON. After whose death it came to his eldest son John Upton, who died possessed of it in 1635, and was buried with his ancestors in Faversham church. They bore for their arms, Quarterly, sable, and or; in the first and fourth quarters, a cross flory, argent, each charged with a trefoil, azure. (fn. 5)

 

John Upton, his eldest son, inherited this manor, and at his death in 1664, by his will gave it to his daughter Anne, wife of Charles Castle, gent. who in 1688 devised it to her brother-in-law George Naylor, and George White, the former of whom becoming solely possessed of it, in 1705 devised it to his nephew Mr. John Dalton, gent. of St. Edmundsbury, for his life, and afterwards to his son Thomas Dalton, and his issue, in consequence of which it descended to Benjamin Shuckforth, of Diss, in Norfolk, who in 1741 sold it to Mr. Giles Hilton, of Lords, in Sheldwich, on whose death it descended to his three sons, John, William, and Robert Hilton, the youngest of whom, Mr. Robert Hilton, as well as by the devise of his two elder brothers, afterwards became the sole proprietor of this manor. He died in 1782, and his son Mr. John Hilton, of Sheldwich, as next in the entail, succeeded to it, and is the present possessor of it.

 

IN THE REIGN of king Stephen there was AN ALIEN PRIORY established in this parish, as a cell to the Benedictine abbey of St. Bertin, at St. Omers, the capital of Artois, in Flanders, William de Ipre, in 1153, having given this church, with that of Chilham, to it for that purpose; which gift was confirmed by king Stephen the same year, as it was by the several archbishops afterwards, and by the charters of Henry II. and III. The charter of this gift was till lately in the treasury of the monastery of St. Bertin, as were all the others hereafter mentioned relating to this church and priory.

 

There are very few formal foundations of these cells, the lands of them being usually granted to some monastery abroad, as an increase to their revenues, after which, upon some part of them they built convenient houses, for the reception of a small convent. Some of these cells were made conventual, having a certain number of monks, who were mostly foreigners, and removeable at pleasure, sent over with a prior at their head, who were little more than stewards to the superior abbey, to which they returned the revenues of their possessions annually; others were permitted to chuse their own prior, and these were entire societies within themselves, and received their revenues for their own use and benefit, paying perhaps only a yearly pension as an acknowledgement of their subjection, or what was at first the surplusage to the foreign house.

 

The cell at Throwley was of the former sort, for which reason, during the wars between England and France, as their revenues went to support the king's enemies, these kind of houses were generally seized on by the king, and restored again upon the return of a peace. (fn. 6)

 

In the 25th year of king Edward I. Peter, prior of Triwle, as it was spelt in the record, made fine to the king at Westminster, and had a privy seal for his protection, by which he had the custody of his house and possessions committed to his care, to retain them during the king's pleasure, answering to his exchequer for the profits of them, according to the directions of him and his council.

 

The scite of this priory was that of the parsonage of the church of Throwley, which, with that of Chilham, seems to have been all their possessions in this kingdom. These were valued in the 8th year of king Richard II. anno 1384, each at forty pounds annually, and their temporalities at 20s. 6d. at which time the parsonage of Throwley was become appropriated to this cell, and a vicarage was endowed in it. In which situation this priory remained till the general suppression of the alien priories throughout England, in the 2d year of Henry V. anno 1414, which was enacted in the parliament then held at Leicester, and all their houses, revenues, &c. were given to the king and his heirs for ever. (fn. 7)

 

This priory, with its possessions, seems to have remained in the hands of the crown till Henry VI. in his 22d year, settled them on the monastery of Sion, in Middlesex, founded by his father Henry V. with which they continued till the general suppression of religious houses, this being one of those greater monasteries dissolved by the act of the 31st year of king Henry VIII. How this priory was disposed of afterwards by the crown, may be further seen hereafter, under the description of the parsonage of the church of Throwley.

 

The only remains left of this priory are some few foundations, and two walls of flint, which support a building, standing behind the parsonage-house and garden.

 

THERE IS A FREE SCHOOL in this parish, the house of which is situated adjoining to the church-yard, which was founded by Sir Thomas Sondes, who died in 1592, who by his will devised a house and six poundes per annum to the master of it, to dwell in, and as a recompence for his pains; but having charged his executors and not his heirs to the fulfilling of this bequest, and charged the payment of the above sum, among other charitable legacies, on several leasehold estates, the terms of which expired in his nephew Sir Richard Sondes's time, and the house having tumbled down for want of repairs, Sir George Sondes, son of Sir Richard above-mentioned, thought it unreasonable, as he had none of the estates, that he should be bound to maintain the school; however, he voluntarily paid the master his salary, and gave him a house to live in, both which have been continued by the possessors of Throwley manor to this time, as far as I can learn, as of their own free gift.

 

The present right hon. lord Sondes appoints the schoolmaster as such during pleasure, and pays him a salary of twelve pounds per annum, besides which, he allots him an house and garden, worth about six pounds per annum, which his lordship repairs from time to time, and for which no parochial or church-dues are paid. There are at present fourteen boys taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, gratis, in this school, which though taken mostly from the parishes of Throwley, Badlesmere, and Leveland, are not confined to those parishes.

 

Charities.

 

CATHERINE, LADY SONDES, gave by will the sum of 40s. a year, to be received yearly on St. Barnabas's day, towards the relief of the poor, payable from a farm in it, called Bell-horn, now belonging to lord Sondes, and now of that annual produce.

 

THERE WERE three alms-houses in this parish, the gift of one of the Sondes family; one of them was some time since burnt down, and has not been rebuilt, but lord Sondes allows the person nominated to it the value of it in money yearly.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about thirty, casually double that number.

 

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

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Michael, consists of three isles and three chancels. The steeple is a square tower, and stands in the centre of the south side of it, in which there is a peal of six bells, given in 1781, at the expence of Mr. Montresor, of Belmont. In the south isle is a memorial for Francis Hosier Hart, gent. obt. 1761, leaving three daughters, Mary, Elizabeth, and Diana Hosier. In the middle isle is a small monument for Stephen Bunce, esq. of this parish, one of the Antients of New-Inn, who died there in 1634, and was buried in St. Clement's church, London. In the middle chancel there are two stalls of wood, which are not fixed, and in the north isle three more of the like sort, joined together, with a desk before them, which seem to have been removed from the chancel, and were both intended for the use of the religious of the priory here. In the middle of this chancel is a memorial for Dr. Thomas Horsemonden, patron and rector of Purleigh, in Essex, prebendary of Lincoln, &c. who died anno 1632. In the north and south chancel are several monuments for the family of Sondes, with their essigies, arms and quarterings; one of them in the latter, a plain altar tomb of black marble for Sir George Sondes, earl of Faversham, his lady and descendants; many more of this family, as appears by the parish register, are buried in the vault underneath, but the family of Watson burying at Rockingham, this vault has not been opened for several years. The north and south chancels above-mentioned belonged, one to the possessors of Throwley manor, the other to those of Townplace, but they both belong now to lord Sondes.

 

There were formerly in the windows the arms of Sondes, Finch, and Gatton, and in the north window this inscriptin, Pray for the good estate of Alice Martyn, the which did make this window, MCCCCXLV.

 

In the church yard, at the west end of the north isle, there is a circular door-case of stone, having several bordures of Saxon ornaments carved round it. In the church-yard is an altar tomb for William Woodward, gent. of Wilgate-green, obt. 1681, and Anne his wife.

 

It appears by the will of William Sondes, esq. anno 1474, that this church had then constantly burning in it lights, dedicated to St. Michael, the Holy Trinity, the Holy Cross, St. Mary, St. Thomas, St. Christopher, St. George, St. Katherine, St. Margaret, St. Mary Magdalen, and St. Nicholas.

 

An account of the antient patronage of the church of Throwley has already been given, as first belonging to the alien priory here, and then to the monastery of Sion, to the time of the dissolution of the latter in the 31st year of Henry VIII. the year after which, the king granted the rectory, with the advowson of the vicarage of the church of Throwley, to the prebendary of Rugmer, in the cathedral church of St. Paul, London, in exchange for lands belonging to that prebend, to be inclosed within the king's park of Marybone, in pursuance of an act then passed. Since which this parsonage and advowson have continued part of the abovementioned prebend. The former is leased out by the present prebendary to the right hon. lord Sondes, but the advowson of the vicarage he retains in his own hands, and is the present patron of it.

 

¶There was a rent of 4l. 18s. 4d. reserved from the parsonage by king Henry VIII. nomine decimœ, which was granted by queen Elizabeth, in her third year, to archbishop Parker, among other premises, in exchange for several manors, lands, &c. belonging to that see, which rent still continues part of the revenue of the archbishopric.

 

A vicarage was endowed here in 1367, anno 42 king Edward III. by archbishop Langham, at which time the chapel of Wylrington belonged to it. (fn. 8)

 

It is valued in the king's books at 7l. 11s. 8d. and the yearly tenths at 15s. 2d.

 

In 1578 there were one hundred and eighty communicants here. In 1640 it was valued at forty-five pounds, communicants two hundred and twenty.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol6/pp445-461

William Browne c1410 - 1489 and wife Margaret 1489 lye on the south chapel floor in their original place where he asked in his will of 17th February 1489 to be buried . General wool merchant, Mayor, Justice of the Peace, Sherriff, Benefactor. Acquired during his lifetime around 200 properties and 10,000 acres of land including the Manor of Lilford

He and his brother John 1475 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/B6W946 restored, embellished and enlarged the 13c church of All Saints c1475 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/yg1Ck0 after major damage by lancastrians during the Wars of the Roses..

Browne's hospital www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/N8Uh6c , an almshouse in Broad Street adjacent to where he lived and which is still in use today was founded in November 1493 on his instructions after his death by his widow Margaret, Thomas Stokke, clerk, her brother and other executors which was dedicated to pray their souls and also for the Queen, Sir Reynold Bray and wife Katherine, Thomas Stokke and William Elmes,

William who died on 14th April 1489 stands on 2 woolsacks, over his head is his motto "X me spede" (Christ speed me) and at his feet the family crest of a stork on a woolsack. Over Margaret are the words "Dere Lady help at need"

A long inscription translates -

"Since Thou alone art King of kings, Lord of lords

All that is and will be shall be subjected to Thy will

My body entered the earth, but my spirit to Thee

hastens to run. Thou God, accept me,

Who put my hope in Thee, Son of God, gentle Father

and Holy Ghost thundering from on high - accept and receive me, I have sinned, I have done much evil, and rue this

Thou God accept and receive me who is calling out to Thee !

Enter not, Lord, in judgement, unless beforehand

Thou deignest to give me of Thy redeeming grace, which is enough and since for the sake of the salvation of our souls

Thou, King, wast on earth, receive me, my God! "

 

William was the son of John Browne 1442, wool merchant, and wife Margery / Margaret 1460 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/z1Zb1N

He m Margaret 1489 heiress daughter of Agnes 1465 & John Stock / Stokke / Stokes of Warmington

Children

1. Elizabeth c1441-1511 m John Elmes 1497 of Henley-on-Thames, merchant of the Staple of Calais (parents of Margaret Elmes 1571 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/30591z )

2. Agnes died young

Elizabeth inherited the majority of his wealth and land, estimated to be around 6,000 acres in total and 50 houses (at today’s value worth around £50 million), the balance of land having been endowed to the Alms houses / Hospital. One of the manors inherited by Elizabeth was the Manor of Lilford, which the Elmes family owned until 1711. The wealth of William Browne was thus the basis on which Lilford Hall was built by his grandson and executor William Elmes in 1495, and indeed its' extension in 1635.

www.pegasus-onlinezeitschrift.de/2010_1/erga_1_2010_lamp-...

www.lilfordhall.com/ElmesFamily/William-Browne.asp - Church of All Saints, Stamford Lincolnshire

THE Church at Cliffe is dedicated to St. Helen and bears the distinction of being the only church in Kent dedicated to that Saint. It stands in a prominent position at the edge of the Hoo peninsula overlooking the extensive marshes which at this point stretch some two miles to the Thames.

 

The village seems at one time to have been of greater importance than it is to-day. Lambarde describes it as a large town in his day in spite of a disastrous fire which had destroyed many of the houses about 1520, a fire from the effects of which it appears never to have recovered.

 

The Manor of Cliffe belonged from very early times to the Prior and Convent of Christ Church, Canterbury, who were also the owners of the advowson, and thus became concerned with the upkeep of the church. At the Dissolution the Manor passed to George Brooke, Lord Cobham, though the Archbishop of Canterbury is still the patron of the living. Among the Rectors of Cliffe were several men of distinction, some of whom probably never visited the parish. From an early date there seems to have been a perpetual vicarage attached to the church, but when it became merged in the Rectory is uncertain.

 

Of the first church at Cliffe there is no definite record. It is sometimes said to have been founded by Offa, king of Mercia, in the latter part of the eighth century, though the only evidence for this appears to be the presumed identification of the place with the Cloveshoo of the Saxon Chronicle, where various synods of the Saxon Church were held in the eighth and ninth centuries. Without attempting to suggest a solution of this very debatable point, it can only be said that the evidence in favour of Cliffe appears to rest on at least as good authority as that of the rival claimants—Abingdon in Berkshire, and Clifton Hoo in Bedfordshire. There is moreover good reason to think that Cliffe was less inaccessible than might be supposed in mediaeval times. There still remain traces of a causeway across Higham Marsh, which must at one time have led to a ferry, thus affording an easy means of approach from Essex and the Midlands.

 

The earliest undisputed documentary reference to a church at Cliffe is in the Domesday Survey. It was evidently a building of more than usual importance for it is expressly stated that two ministers were in charge. Of this building, however, not a vestige remains, though there can be little doubt that from it the present plan has, on more or less recognised lines, been developed.

 

The plan as it exists to-day is complete, and consists of a nave with wide aisles, north and south transepts, chancel, western tower and south porch. The church is one of the largest in Kent, and is a striking example of a parish church whose size and splendour could have borne but little relation to the actual needs of the locality. It was the product of an age whose zeal for church building was limited only by the funds available. The total internal length from east to west is 182 feet, while the width across the transept is 82 feet. The exterior has been the subject of somewhat extensive restoration, which has robbed it of much of its ancient appearance. The south aisle differs from that on the north in having an embattled parapet, similar to that of the porch. The walls of the tower and transepts are faced with flint rubble with little attempt at regular coursing. The later work of the nave and chancel, though extensively refaced, is composed of alternate courses of dressed flints and stone ; the latter, a soft ragstone from the lower green sand formation which, quarried probably from the outcrop a few miles to the south, has weathered badly in many places. A variety of other materials is noticeable, some of which appear to have been reused from the earlier church. A block of Caen stone in the east wall of the chancel, and several pieces in the north wall, have obviously been reused, while a single piece of calcareous tufa can be seen in the north wall of the transept; Reigate stone is also fairly abundant.

 

It is not till one enters the church, that its size is fully realised. The absence of pews over a large part of the nave, with the fact that the nave arcade is carried past the crossing without a break, and the absence of a chancel arch, all combine to emphasise its spaciousness. The impression

gathered from a superficial survey of the interior is that of a thirteenth century church with considerable additions in the fourteenth century, but a more careful inspection shows at least one trace of an earlier building. The arch from the north aisle into the transept, which has been partially cut away when the thirteenth century nave arcade was constructed, is certainly of late twelfth century date and must therefore have survived from an earlier church. Before, however, considering the development of the ground plan, it is necessary to refer briefly to the chief features of architectural interest which call for notice.

 

The porch is of a fairly common type, with an upper room, approached by a stair turret from the south aisle. It measures internally 11 feet 5 inches from east to west by 16 feet from north to south, and is apparently of late fifteenth century date. On the right of the inner doorway are the remains of a holy water stoup. The room above has been considerably modernised, and there is nothing to indicate its original use. Occasionally an altar is found in the porch chamber, which, however, in this case would seem more likely to have been used for storing the church goods.

 

The north and south aisles of the nave are 19 feet 10 inches and 18 feet wide respectively, and are thus considerably wider than the nave itself. They contain a fine series of Decorated windows, those at the end of either aisle being particularly interesting examples of three lights. The church as a whole is very rich in windows of this period, which form in themselves an interesting study in design. The south aisle has a stone bench running along its south and west walls.

 

The tower is entered from the nave by a plain thirteenth century arch, and measures approximately 15 feet 6 inches from east to west by 17 feet 6 inches from north to south (interior measurements). The lower stage, which is shut off from the church by a screen, and is now used as a vestry, is lit by three narrow lancets, one in each of the disengaged walls. The roof is a simple quadripartite vault, without any boss at the intersection of the ribs, which are carried on shafts supported on corbels set in the four angles. The lower part of the tower is apparently thirteenth century work, and somewhat earlier than the transepts. The flat, clasping buttresses appear to be original, though now entirely re-faced, and might in themselves suggest a transitional date for the base of the tower. The upper part has been rebuilt at a much later date, and contains a Perpendicular window. Like most towers of the period, it is probable that there was originally no structural stairway leading to the upper stages, access to which had to be obtained by means of a ladder, though the existing doorway to the modern stair turret appears to be of fairly early date.

 

The transepts deserve special consideration on account of the very interesting work which they contain. Their date cannot be later than about 1260 and there are some grounds for thinking that the south transept may be slightly the earlier of the two. The east wall of the south transept is

divided into two bays by blind arches, supported on slender banded shafts, with a narrow lancet window in the centre of each arch. A somewhat similar arrangement exists on the east wall of the north transept, though in this case the central shaft is not carried to the ground, but rests midway on a moulded bracket, below which is a piscina with a trefoil head of the same date. The treatment of the west wall of the north transept is very similar to that of the east, but the arches are much narrower, and the arrangement has been somewhat interfered with by a later widening of the nave aisle. In the south transept the arcading on the west wall is somewhat plainer, and the banded shafts have been dispensed with. Although similar in general design, certain details point to the south transept being slightly the earlier. The string course below the windows, which is continued round the shafts of the mural arcading, is a plain scroll moulding, while in the north transept a fillet is substituted, and the central bands on the shafts of the arcading are of a more elaborate character. The triple lancet windows at the ends of either transept are modern, and replaced two large fifteenth-century windows, which are shown in several early views.

 

The north transept was formerly shut off from the rest of the church by a screen, and used for holding the Rector's Court. In mediaeval times, and down to 1845, the Rector of Cliffe had a peculiar jurisdiction within his parish. He was exempt from all ecclesiastical authority other than personal visitation from the Archbishop of Canterbury. The wills of parishioners were proved in the local court, and the official seal of the Peculiar is still preserved in the Rochester Museum.

 

The chancel, which appears to have been rebuilt entirely in the middle of the fourteenth century, is complete, save for the insertion of a modern east window, which replaced an extraordinarily ugly eighteenth-century aperture of brick. The remaining windows are all fine examples of Decorated work, the tracery of which shows a distinctly Flamboyant tendency. The eastern pair affords interesting examples of Kentish tracery. All have good hood-mouldings with

grotesques at the ends. Beneath the windows is a stringcourse, which terminates at the altar rails with a grotesque head on either side. That on the north has been renewed, but the southern one represents the battered head of a monk.

 

The chief interest in the chancel, however, is its fittings. In the south wall is a series of three very beautiful fourteenth century sedilia, with a piscina of uniform character, recessed in the wall and ascending eastward. They are divided by slender buttressed shafts, supporting elaborately carved ogee canopies, and surmounted by crockets and finials. Beneath the canopies are trefoiled arches, and behind these the roof is carved in imitation of sexpartite vaulting.

 

Opposite in the north wall is a fine late-fourteenth century tomb of early Perpendicular character, which is often referred to as an Easter sepulchre, for which purpose it may well have been used. The wide cinquefoil arch is surmounted by an elaborate embattled cornice, supported on narrow

buttressed shafts, and terminating with a carved head at either end ; circles with internal cuspings fill the spandrils of the arch.

 

Immediately west of this tomb is a blocked doorway which led to an adjoining building, now demolished. The exterior wall at this point is of a different character from the rest of the chancel walls, and apparently of earlier date. It is composed of a variety of material, including pieces of Caen stone, which probably came from the earlier church, and suggests that this section of wall and the chapel, of which it formed part, survived the re-building of the chancel in the fourteenth century. The two adjoining buttresses have been constructed out of sections of the eastern and western walls of the chapel, and serve to indicate its approximate size. The position of its low roof is clearly shown by the stone corbels which remain at a height of 7 feet 8 inches from the ground. The floor must have been somewhat lower than the present ground level, as the small piscina in the exterior of the chancel wall is now only two feet from the ground. In the base of the westernmost of the two buttresses is a niche, now scarcely eighteen inches from the ground, which may originally have been used as a holy water stoup, since it was close to the entrance to the chapel. This small building probably served the joint purpose of a Sacristy and Chapel. That it contained an altar there can be no doubt from the piscina already noted.

 

It may possibly be referred to in the will of Richard Elys, who in 1468 left 12 pence to the light of the Blessed Mary in the chapel and 4 pence to the light of the Blessed Mary near the pulpit, though one of the transepts may of course have been here intended. Such evidence as there is on the other hand seems to point to the chapel having been pulled down at the time of the rebuilding of the chancel or soon afterwards. The blocked doorway in the chancel wall was originally carried down to the present ground level on the exterior, so that there must have been some steps in the thickness of the wall leading down into the chapel. The date of this doorway, which was probably contemporary with the building to which, it led, is uncertain. It is certainly earlier than the adjoining late-fourteenth-century tomb, as parts have been cut away when the latter was inserted, and the use of somewhat small stones points to an earlier rather than a later date. Its details on the other hand include the wave moulding which is usually taken to be characteristic of the Decorated period, or one might otherwise be inclined to think that it formed part of the thirteenth century chancel. The filling on the exterior is certainly not modern, and the fact that a plinth has been inserted when the doorway was blocked up, to match that round the rest of the chancel evidently with the intention, which was never carried out, of continuing it along the section of earlier walling where the chapel stood, seems to suggest that this work was undertaken about the same time as the rebuilding of the chancel.

 

We are now in a position to consider the probable development of the ground plan, which, though somewhat conjectural for the earlier period, has left some interesting and unmistakable traces of its later history. In the entire absence of remains of the early Norman church, one is forced to rely for the identification of its position on analogy with other buildings of similar type. The first church of which we have any record in all probability consisted of a simple nave and square- ended chancel. The three easternmost bays of the existing nave arcade would preserve the line of

the north and south walls of the church, while the chancel would occupy the interior of the present crossing. There is nothing to show the position of the west wall, but it would have been approximately in a line with the present north and south doors. Towards the close of the twelfth century north and south aisles, about half the width of the present ones, were probably added by piercing the original walls with arches, and about the same time a small chapel or aisle appears to have been built to the north of the original chancel, and the existing arch constructed so as to give access into it. This arch, which cannot be later than about 1200, is obviously much earlier than the present transept and must therefore have communicated with an earlier building on its site. Some evidence in support of this came to light during the restoration of the north transept in 1864. The foundations of an early wall four feet thick were found beneath the present floor running parallel and close to its eastern wall. At a distance of 15 feet from the chancel wall it appears to have been met by another wall at right angles to it. Unfortunately no further record was made of this discovery, but it establishes beyond doubt the existence of a building in this position, to which the arch in question opened. It is possible that this was the chancel arch of a late twelfth century church, and that the foundations were those of the former chancel, though such a theory would be more difficult to reconcile with the later development of the plan. Moreover on the assumption that there already existed a building on the north of the original chancel when the thirteenth-century builders decided to remodel the church, it is possible to account for the hitherto unexplained fact that the north transept is wider than the south by some three feet. The normal development of the thirteenth century produced a cruciform church. A new and longer chancel, and north and south transepts, were built around the small twelfth century chancel, while the nave and aisles were lengthened by the removal of the west wall some 20 feet further west, and a tower erected to the west of this. These extensive works could not of course have been simultaneous.

 

The tower appears to be somewhat earlier than the transepts, so that presumably the lengthening of the west end was undertaken first, and at the same time an Early English arcade, extending an additional bay westward, was inserted in place of the twelfth century arches. Contrary to what was frequently the case in churches of this type, there was clearly never any intention to erect a central tower over the crossing, since the abutments are far too weak to have supported the weight. This weakness would account for the presence of the strainer arch of oak, which must

have been inserted sometime in the fifteenth century.

 

With the completion of this work the early builders grew more ambitious. Almost immediately the work on the new chancel and transepts must have begun. A temporary hoarding was probably erected, shutting off the nave and the altar, transferred there until the new works were finished. The chancel and the south transept were probably first erected, as the sites were free of buildings ; the width of the latter being determined by the size of the former chancel and the chapel on the north. When the work was completed attention was directed towards the north transept, which, according to the usual practice, would have been rebuilt round the earlier building, the foundations of which were discovered in 1864, thus accounting for its slight extra width. Probably towards the end of the century the small chapel, the remains of which have already been mentioned, was built on the north of the new chancel.

 

Considerable alterations were undertaken in the fourteenth century, the principal of which were the rebuilding of the thirteenth century chancel, and the widening of the nave aisles. The latter was a very frequent form of improvement at this period, and was usually occasioned by the desire

for extra space to set up additional altars so as to meet the enormous increase in the popularity of Chantry bequests. At Cliffe the effect of this widening is clearly shown on the already completed design of the transepts. In the north transept one of the lancets was cut away, and a short pointed arch springing from shafts, which do not reach the ground, inserted in its place. The apex of the original lancet still remains in the wall above. In the south transept a similar alteration in plan is treated somewhat differently. A segmental arch, here reaching to the ground, and opening into the extended aisle, was inserted within the earlier bund arch in the west wall of the transept. This also necessitated the removal of an original lancet, the head of which can be seen occupying the space between the original arch and the later insertion. The windows in the nave all appear to be of this date. Probably contemporary with this extension of the aisles, was the heightening of the nave to allow for the clerestory with its row of single splayed lancets. The junction of this work with the old can be clearly seen immediately above the arcading. The thirteenth century roof of the nave was about on a level with those of the aisles, as the small window in the east face of the tower, which now looks into the church, must originally have looked out over the roof. The line of the fourteenth roof, which was erected at the time that the clerestory was added, can be seen on the wall of the tower, passing across the window opening. Below this the position of the third roof, erected 1732, can also be seen. This roof, which was almost flat, was replaced by the present one about forty years ago.

 

The rebuilding of the chancel would appear to have been undertaken at the same time as extension of the aisles, to judge from the similarity of the external stonework. This would again have necessitated the use of the nave for services, and it is probable that either at this time, or during the earlier work on the interior of the transepts, the round headed arch, which can be seen on the exterior of the north wall of the north transept, was constructed for the convenience of the masons while the ordinary entrances were not available. That this arch or doorway, which has sometimes been said to be of Norman origin, was really of a much later date, and of a purely temporary character, seems to be shown by a close inspection of its construction. The position is not in the centre of the wall while the arch itself is made up of a variety of material including large flints, pieces of Beigate stone and a single block of calcareous tufa, the latter doubtless coming from the early church. Further, the fact that the filling of the arch' seems to be of much the same character as the adjoining walls points to it only having been used for a comparatively short time. Everything in fact indicates that it was a purely temporary arrangement used during the construction of the transepts, or the later chancel, and filled up as soon as the work was completed. A somewhat similar, though smaller, arch in the exterior of the south wall of the tower was probably of a similar nature, though its purpose is conjectural, and it may have had some connection with original stairs to the upper floors. By the end of the fourteenth century the church was practically complete. The porch was added early in the following century, and the large Perpendicular windows, which formerly existed at the ends of the transepts, inserted. At the same time the upper part of the west tower was rebuilt. Certain work also seems to have been in progress about this time in the chancel, for in the will of the Rector in 1413 a sum of money was left towards that object. Exactly what resulted from the bequest one cannot say.

 

The subsequent additions were chiefly in the nature of modern insertions. The eighteenth century saw many acts of destruction which are duly entered in the parish registers. In 1730, during the Rectorship of George Green, the old high-gabled roofs were taken down, the lead recast, and an

almost flat roof substituted. Two years later the east window was demolished and a hideous brick opening substituted, and at the same time the old timber roof of the chancel, which, since it bore his arms, had probably been erected during the time of Archbishop Arundel, who occupied the See from 1396 to 1414, was pulled down, and both the nave and chancel ceiled. During this period also the two enormous brick buttresses, which are shown in some early views, were erected on the north and south sides of the tower. The church was in this condition when Sir Stephen Glynne visited it in 1857. Subsequent restorations have been extensive, though for the most part necessary. The brick buttresses to the Tower were removed shortly after Sir Stephen Glynne's visit, and the present circular stair turret erected in the place of the southern one. The chancel was restored in 1875, when traces of the original reredos were discovered, and the jambs of the original east window, which were of Reigate stone and about 15 feet apart, were found in situ. The present window was erected in place of the eighteenth century one in 1884, and at the same time the flat lead roofs of the nave and chancel were removed, and the present high-pitched tiled roofs substituted. Finally a small building, without any communication with the church, has been erected in recent years to the east of the north transept. During these successive restorations much of the external walls has been refaced from time to time, and the whole of the upper part of the east wall of the chancel which was pulled down in 1732, was rebuilt when the present window was inserted.

 

It is somewhat difficult now to picture the appearance of the interior of the church in mediaeval times. A brilliant colour scheme evidently played an important part in the general effect. Many of the piers of the nave arcades, which are apparently constructed of hard chalk, still show traces of a bold chevron pattern in red and yellow, and, together with the extensive wall paintings, slight traces of which still remain in the transepts, and the brilliance of the mediaeval glass, must have combined to give a very rich effect to the interior. Of the ancient glass very little remains. Dr.

Grayling mentions some fourteenth century borders in the chancel windows, which seem to have disappeared. In the central window of the north aisle is a small piece of ancient glass representing a ship with fish in the water beneath, which is said to have been found many years ago in a shed in the churchyard. In the top of the adjoining window is a fifteenth century figure of the Virgin and Child. A coat of arms in another window is mentioned by Thorpe, but this also seems to have disappeared. The wall paintings, though now very indistinct, were evidently much clearer until

comparatively recent times. On the east wall of the north transept, in the space between the southernmost of the two lancets and the arch in which it is placed, is one of these paintings, divided into five panels, depicting the Martyrdom of St. Edmund. Very little of it can now be made out, though the whole of this transept showed traces of colour at the time of the restoration of 1864. Some remains of a painting in a similar position in the south transept can still be seen, and are said to represent the Last Judgment.

 

Several bequests for the provision and upkeep of lights before the various altars add a little to our knowledge of the interior in mediaeval times. Of the various saints to whom lights were dedicated in the church Our Lady was of course the most popular. We have already seen that two altars

were dedicated to her. One of these is again mentioned in 1483, when Robert Qwikerell left 20 pence "to the Parish Church of Cleue and to the ligth of Our Lady besyde the pulpett there" and also a similar amount to the lights of St. Laurence and St. George. Richard Elys in 1469 also

mentions lights of St. Christopher, St. John and St. James, while in 1509 Steven Tudor bequeathed to the high altar of St. Elyn 20 pence, and to the light of St. Elyn 12 pence.

 

Of the position of these various lights one cannot speak with any certainty. That to St. Christopher would have been near the main entrance to the church, while the light of the patron saint, St. Helen, would have been in the Chancel, probably over the high altar. Remains of a piscina in four other places in the church prove the former existence of altars in these positions. That in the Sacristy has already been mentioned. At least one altar stood in each of the transepts, while a small piscina, apparently constructed of broken window tracery at the east end of the south aisle, testifies to another. An altar probably stood in a corresponding position in the north aisle. This disposition would exactly account for the number of lights mentioned in early wills. Besides the lights burning before the altars, there would also be a light before the great Rood over the entrance to the chancel. Some of the lower panels of the original rood screen survive. Above, and partly supported by, the screen was the rood loft, which was already in existence as early as 1413, when it is mentioned in conjunction with the great rood itself and its attendant figures in the will of Nicholas de Ryssheton, Canon of Sarum and Rector of Cliffe. The small fifteenth century doorway with a fourcentred arch, which gave access to it, can still be seen high up in the north wall just east of the entrance of the chancel, and the original stairs remain in good condition, though the entrance from the church has been blocked up and covered over with plaster.

 

The furniture in the church has suffered much from “restoration" and other causes. Six of the ancient stalls remain, three on each side of the chancel, though panelling at the backs and all the seats except two are modern. The sides terminate in carved heads, some of which have been

renewed, while the two original miserecords are carved with grotesques. The Communion rails are Jacobean, though somewhat repaired. They are of the fairly common baluster type with a central bulge. The pulpit is a very fine piece of Renaissance carving, and retains the original stand for the hour glass, though the glass itself is modern; on it is the date 1636.

 

Besides the fragments of the original rood screen there is another screen shutting off the vestry under the tower.

 

The font, which has been moved from its original position, is 3 feet 4£ inches in height, and apparently of late-fourteenth century date. The perfectly plain octagonal bowl has concave sides, around the lower edge of which is a hollow chamfer. The bowl is supported by an octagonal, buttressed stem on a plain base. On the westernmost pillar of the south arcade can still be seen the bracket and chain by which the font cover was raised, indicating its original position.

 

The monuments in the church are few, and call for little comment. In the floor at the west end of the north aisle are two flat coffin-shaped stones with early fourteenth century French inscriptions in Lombardic capitals. The one on the north is probably the earlier, judging from the very rough

characters which are now scarcely legible. It commemorated Eleanor de Olive, of whom nothing is known. The other stone shows traces of brass, and is inscribed in memory of Joan, wife of John Earn. These stones are described in the Gentleman's Magazine, and old rubbings of them exist among the collection of the Society of Antiquaries. There are three brasses of seventeenth century date, one of which is thought to have been engraved locally.

 

Two wills are of interest in connection with early burials in the church. In 1376 Robert de Walton, Rector of Cliffe, desired to be buried in the church of Olyve at the entrance to the quire. Some years later, in 1387, Thomas de Lynton, a subsequent rector, directed that he should be buried in the chancel near the entrance, and between the entrance to the quire and the tomb of Master Robert Walton, late Rector, and he ordered that a handsome marble monument should be placed over his body at the discretion of his executors. It seems not unlikely however that his executors favoured a brass monument. In the chancel is the stone matrix of what must once have been a very fine brass of about this period, representing a priest under a canopy. Another smaller matrix of an ecclesiastic is close to the pulpit.

 

Of the church plate the most important piece is a very beautiful paten of silver gilt of the early part of the sixteenth century. In the centre, worked in coloured enamels, is a seated figure of God the Father holding before Him a figure of the crucifixion. The extreme rarity of pre-reformation

plate is not generally recognised, and the example at Cliffe is one of the finest English patens in existence. At some period or other the paten at Cliffe served as a chalice cover, and it is even said to have been used as an alms dish, which would account for its numerous signs of wear. The other plate is of seventeenth century and later date, and of no particular interest.

 

It remains for me to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. F. O. Blliston Erwood for several suggestions and for the photographs which illustrate this paper. The present account is intended to supplement, but not to supplant altogether, an article on Cliffe Church, by the Rev. I. Gr. Lloyd, a former Rector, which appeared in Vol. XI. of Arch. Cant., where reference should be made for further particulars.

 

www.cliffehistory.co.uk/martin.html

A brief visit before the arrival of Flying Scotsman, and the church was open!

 

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There are few churches in Kent that display transepts without a central tower. When in the fifteenth century a tower was built it was added to the west end of the existing nave. Two excellent hagioscopes are cut through either side of the chancel arch, whilst the south transept contains some eighteenth-century monuments by the celebrated sculptor Michael Rysbrack. The most famous memorial at Chartham is the brass to Sir Robert de Septvans (d. 1306), one of the oldest and largest memorial brasses in the country, showing the cross-legged knight with flowing locks. The chancel windows show excellent medieval tracery which has preserved much of its late thirteenth-century glass.

 

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

 

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CHARTHAM,

CALLED in Domesday, Certeham, lies the next parish eastward from Chilham. The greatest part of it is in the hundred of Felborough, and some small part of it, viz. the manor of Horton, in the hundred of Bridge and Petham.

 

THE PARISH of Chartham is pleasantly situated, a great part of it in the sertile vale of pastures through which the river Stour takes its course, between a continued series or range of losty hills, over which this parish extends; the high road from Canterbury to Ashford leads through it, mostly on high ground, from which there is a most pleasing view of the vale and river beneath, as well as of the oppo site hills, whose summits are cloathed with the rich foliage of the contiguous woods. Though the soil in the valley is rich pasture, yet the hills are poor and barren, those rising from the vale are chalk, further on they are a cludgy red earth, mixed with slints, much covered with coppice woods, and a great deal of rough land, with broom and heath among it, bordering on a dreary country. The parish is large, and is supposed to be about twelve miles in circumterence. It contains about ninety-seven houses, and five hundred inhabitants. The village of Chartham is situated close on the side of the river Stour, the houses of it are mostly built round a green, called Charthamgreen, having the church and parsonage on the south side of it. On this green was till within these few years, a large mansion house most of which being burnt down, the remains have since been known by the name of Burnt house. It was formerly the residence of the Kingsfords, several of whom lie buried in this church, whose arms were, Two bends, ermine. At length William Kingsford, esq. in 1768, sold it to William Waller, who alienated it in 1786 to Mr. Robert Turner, as he did again to Allen Grebell, esq. who sold it in 1795 to Mr. John Gold, the present owner of it. Near it is a handsome modern-built house, formerly the property and residence of Dr. John-Maximilian Delangle, rector of this parish and prebendary of Canterbury, and from him usually named the Delangle house. He died possessed of it in 1729. It was late the property of John Wotton, esq. who died in August, 1798, and devised it to Mary, the wife of Benjamin Andrews, gent. of Stouting, for her life; and after her decease to Thomas Wotton, gent. of the Tile-lodge farm, in Sturry, and his heirs for ever. On the river Stour here, is a paper-mill, belonging to the dean and chapter of Canterbury. In 1763, William Pearson, the lessee by will, gave this leasehold estate to his wife Sarah for life, remainder to his son Thomas Pearson, his executors, &c. Sarah Pearson renewed the lease in her own name in 1765. In 1766 Thomas Pearson sold the lease to his brother James Pearson absolutely, after the death of their mother, and of the said Thomas pearson, and Elizabeth his wife, or any after-taken wife, without issue of the said Thomas. In 1767 the said Thomas Pearson and Elizabeth, sold all their interest in the premises to David Ogilvy. In the same year the said Thomas and James assigned the premises to the said Ogilvy, by way of mortgage, redeemable by James if Thomas died without issue. In 1768 James became a bankrupt. In 1789, Sarah and James being both dead, Ogilvy renewed the lease in his name. In 1792 Ogilvy, Thomas Pearson, and the surviving assigness, under James Pearson's commission, assigned the premises absolutely, to Edward Pain, paper-maker, of Chartham, (son of Leeds Pain, deceased) who now holds the lease, and occupies the estate.

 

That part of this village on the opposite side of the river Stour, is called Rattington, being in the borough of that name. The northern part of this parish is mostly high ground, and covered with woods, extending almost up to the high Boughton road to London, through which the boundaries of it are very uncertain, from the different growths of the high wood in them; and there have been several contests relating to the bounds in this part of the parish, on account of the payment of tithes to the rector of Chartham; the lands without the bounds of it on the north side being exempt from all tithes whatever, as being within the king's antient forest of Blean, now usually called the ville of Dunkirk. Among them are the two hamlets, called Chartham hatch and Bovehatch, vulgarly Bowhatch; and near the former a large hoath, the soil of which is sand and gravel, and, from the poorness of it, but of little value. This hoath, as well as the lands near it, called Highwood, both claim, as I am informed, an exemption from paying tithes, as part of the manor of Densted.

 

Among the woods at the north-west boundaries of the parish, is a house and grounds called the Fishponds, which, though now gone to ruin, were formerly made and kept at a large expence, by Samuel Parker, gent. the grandson of Dr. Parker, bishop of Oxford, and rector of this church, who resided here. It is now in the joint possession of Mrs. Bridges, of Canterbury, and William Hammond, esq. of St. Alban's, in this county.

 

About a mile west from Densted, in the northwest part of this parish, is a stream of water, called the Cranburne, which is a strong chalybeate. It rises among the woods on the south side of the high London road, running through the fifth-ponds beforementioned, and thence into the river Stour, near Whitehall, a little below Tonford.

 

On the opposite side of the valley, close to the river Stour, is the hamlet of Shalmsford-street, built on the Ashford high road, and the bridge of the same name, of stone, with five arches, repaired at the expence of the hundred of Felborough, over which the abovementioned road leads; and at a small distance above it is a very antient corn-mill, called Shalmsford-mill, formerly belonging to the prior and convent of Christchurch, and now to the dean and chapter of Canterbury. There are two more hamlets on the hills of the southern parts of this parish, one at Mystole, and the other at Upperdowne, near it, behing which this parish reaches some distance among the woods, till it joins Godmersham and Petham.

 

There is a fair annually held at Chartham on St. Peter's day, June 29.

  

Plan of Chartham Downs

 

On the chalky downs, called Chartham Downs, adjoining the south side of the Ashford road, about four miles from Canterbury, being high and dry ground, with a declivity towards the river Stour; there are a great number of tumuli, or barrows near, one hundred perhaps of different sizes near each other, this spot being described in the antient deeds of the adjoining estates by the name of Danes banks. Several of them have at times been opened, and the remains of bodies, both male and female, with various articles of trainkets, &c. have been found in them. Beyond these, on the contiguous plain, called Swadling downs, still more southward, there are three or four lines of intrenchments which cross the whole downs from east to west, at different places, and there is a little intrenchment in the road, under Denge wood, a little eastward above Julliberies grave.

 

Various have been the conjectures of the origin of these barrows, some have supposed them to have been those of the Britons, slain in the decisive battle with Cæsar, under Cassivelawn, others that this place was the spot appropriated for the burial of the Roman garrison at Canterbury, whilst others suppose them to have belonged to the Danes, who might be opposed here in their attempts to pass the river Stour, in their further progress into this island.

 

In the year 1668, in the sinking of a new well at Chartham, there was found, about seventeen feet deep, a parcel of strange and monstrous bones, together with four teeth, perfect and sound, but in a manner petrified and turned into stone, each as big as the first of a man. These are supposed by learned and judicious persons, who have seen and considered them to be the bones of some large marine animal, which had perished there; and it has been by some conjectured, (fn. 1) that the long vale, of twenty miles or more, through which the river Stour runs, was formerly an arm of the sea (the river, as they conceive, being named Stour from astuarium); and lastly, that the sea having by degrees filled up this vale with earth, sand, and coze, and other matter, ceased to discharge itself this way when it broke through the isthmus between Dover and Calais. Others have an opinion, that they were the bones of elephants, abundance of which were brought over into Britain by the emperor Claudius, who landed near Sandwich, who therefore might probably come this way in his march to the Thames, the shape of these teeth agreeing with a late description of the grinders of an elephant, and their depth under ground being probably accounted for by the continual washing down of the earth from the hills.

 

IN THE YEAR 871, duke Elfred gave to archbishop Ethelred, and the monks of Christ-church, the parish of Chartham, towards their cloathing, as appears by his charter then made, or rather codicil; and this gift of it was confirmed to them in the year 1052, by king Edward the Confessor; and it continued in their possession at the time of taking the general survey of Domesday, in the year 1084, in which it is thus entered, under the title of Terra Monachorum Archiepi, i. e. lands of the monks of the archbishop, as all lands belonging to that monastery were.

 

In Feleberg hundred, the archbishop himself holds Certeham. It was taxed at four sulings. The arable land is fourteen carucates. In demesne there are two, and sixty villeins, with fifteen cottagers, having fifteen carucates and an half. There is a church and one servant, and five mills and an half of seventy shillings, and thirty acres of meadow, and wood for the pannage of twenty-five bogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and when he received it, it was worth twelve pounds, now twenty pounds, and yet it pays thirty pounds.

 

The possessions of the priory here were after this augmented by Wibert, who became prior in 1153, who restored to it the great wood of Chartham, con taining forty acres, which the tenants had long withheld. After which, in the reign of king Edward I. THIS MANOR OF CHARTHAM, with its appurtenances, was valued at thirty-four pounds, (fn. 2) at which time there appears to have been a vincyard here, plentifully furnished with vines, belonging to the priory, as there were at several of their other manors; and in the 25th year of the same reign Robert Winchelsea, archbishop of Canterbury, having fallen under the king's displeasure, dismissed most of his family, and lived privately here at Chartham with one or two priests, and went almost every Sunday and holiday to preach in several of the adjoining churches.

 

King Edward II. by his charter in his 10th year, granted and confirmed to the prior of Christ-church, free-warren in all his demesne lands in this manor among others, which he or any of his predecessors had acquired since the time of his grandfather, so that the same were not within the bounds of his forest.

 

The buildings on this manor were much augmented and repaired both by prior Chillenden, about the year 1400, and by prior Goldston, who about the year 1500 rebuilt the prior's stables here and his other apartments with brick. This manor continued part of the possessions of the priory till its dissolution in the 31st year of Henry VIII. when it was surrendered into the king's hands, with whom this manor did not continue long, for the king settled it, among other premises, in his 33d year, on his new-erected dean and chapter of Canterbury, part of whose inheritance it still continues.

 

A court leet and court baron are regularly held for this manor by the dean and chapter, but the courtlodge and demesnes of the manor are demised by them on a beneficial lease. At the time of the dissolution, anno 30 Henry VIII. Thomas Thwayts was lessee of it. John Baker, esq. of St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, is the present lessee.

 

THE DEANRY is a large antient seat, situated adjoining to the court-lodge, being part of those possessions belonging to the late priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury, and was formerly the capital mansion of their manor here, being made use of most probably as a place of residence and retirement for the prior himself; and it was most probably to this house that archbishop Winchelsea retired, as has been mentioned before, in king Edward the 1st.'s reign, whilst under that king's displeasure. In which state it remained till the dissolution, when it came, with the adjoining meadows belonging to it, among the rest of the possessions of the priory in this parish, into the hands of the crown, and was next year settled by the king on his new-erected dean and chapter of Canterbury; after which it seems to have been allotted to and made use of in like manner as it was by the priors before, by the deans of Canterbury, for their country residence; in particular dean Bargrave resided much at this mansion, in the windows of which his arms, with the quarterings of his family alliances, in several shields, remained till within these few years. The consusion of the times which immediately followed his death, preventing the residence of any dean here, this mansion seems to have fallen into the hands of the chapter, who soon afterwards leased it out, with a reservation of a part of the yearly rent to the dean and his successors; and it has continued under the like demises to the present time, though there have been several attempts made by succeeding deans to recover the possession of it to themselves. The Whitfields were for some length of time lessees of it, afterwards the Lefroys, then Mr. Lance, and after him Mr. Coast, who greatly augmented and improved this mansion, and resided in it till he sold his interest in it to John Thomson, esq. and he conveyed it in 1797 to William Gilbee, esq. the present lessee of it.

 

There was a large chapel belonging to this mansion, which was taken down in 1572.

 

DENSTED is a manor, situated among the woods in the northern part of this parish, next to Harbledown, in the ville of its own name, part of which extends into that parish likewise. It was antiently part of the estate of the family of Crevequer, and was given in the 47th year of Henry III. by Hamo de Crevequer, to the priory of Leeds, founded by one of his ancestors, which gift was confirmed, together with the tithes of Densted, to the priory at several different times, by the several archbishops, and by the priors and convent of Christ-church, (fn. 3) and the revenue of it was increased here in the 8th year of king Richard II. when Robert Bovehatch being convicted of felony, was found to have held some lands at Densted, which upon forfeiture, were granted by the king to it. The prior and convent continued owners of this manor, with those other lands here, and in king Henry the VIIIth.'s reign, demised it for ninety-nine years to Paul Sidnor, (fn. 4) in which state it remained till their dissolution in the 32d year of that reign, when it came, with the rest of their possessions, into the king's hands, who granted it in his 37th year, with all the tenements called Densted, belonging to this manor, to John Tufton, esq. to hold in capite by knight's service, who, about the 3d year of king Edward VI. alienated his interest in it to Richard Argall, whose descendant John Argall sold it, about the beginning of king James I.'s reign, to Sir John Collimore, of Canterbury, who in 1620, conveyed it to trustees, to be sold for the payment of his debts; and they conveyed it to Thomas Steed, esq. who in the reign of king Charles I. passed it away to Sir Thomas Swan, of Southfleet; in whose descendants it continued, till at length the widow of Sir William Swan, at her death, devised it, among his other estates, alike between his and her own relations, one of whom marrying John Comyns, esq. afterwards knighted, and chief baron of the exchequer, he became in her right possessed of this manor, being descended from the Comyns's, of Dagenham, in Essex, in which county he resided, and bore for his arms, Azure, a chevron, ermine, between three garbs, or. On his death in 1740, he devised it to his eldest nephew and heir John Comyns, esq. of Highlands, in Essex, (son of his brother Richard, serjeant-at law) who died possessed of it in 1760, leaving by his second wife, an only son, Richard-John Comyns, esq. whose heirs conveyed it by sale to Thomas Lane, esq. one of the masters of chancery, who died possessed of it in 1773, on which it descended to his two sons Thomas and William, and the former having purchased the latter's interest in it, died, leaving his widow surviving, who is now in the possession of this estate for her life; but the reversion of it in see, after her death, is vested in the younger brother above-mentioned, Mr. William Lane, gent. of London.

 

A court baron is held for this manor.

 

The lands belonging to this manor consist of about four hundred acres; the whole of which, excepting seven acres in Highwood which are titheable, is subject only to a composition yearly to the rector of Chartham, in lieu of all tithes whatever.

 

HOWFIELD is a manor in this parish, lying in the north-east part of it, adjoining to Toniford. It was formerly spelt in antient records both Haghefelde and Hugeveld, and was part of the possessions of the priory of St. Gregory, most probably at its foundation in 1084. However that be, this manor was confirmed to it, among the rest of its possessions, by the name of Haghefelde, together with the mill of Toniford, by archbishop Hubert, who died in 1206; (fn. 5) and in this state it remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when, by the act passed in the 27th year of it, this priory was suppressed among other religious houses, whose revenues did not amount to the clear yearly value of two hundred pounds, Christopher Hales, esq. afterwards knighted, and attorney-general, being then lessee of this manor, under a lease for ninety-nine years, from the prior and convent; and he had that year a grant from the king of it in see, with all privileges and immunities belonging to it, to hold by fealty only. Sir Christopher Hales was likewise master of the rolls, being the son of Thomas Hales, A.M. second son of Henry Hales, of Hales-place, whose eldest son John was ancestor of the Hales's, of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, Tenterden, and other parts of this county. He left three daughters his coheirs, who became jointly entitled to this manor, with a tenement called Bovehoth, and other lands in Chartham. At length the whole interest of it, on a division of their estates, was assigned to the youngest daughter Mary, who entitled her husband Alexander Colepeper, esq. to it. He left an only daughter by her, Anne, who carried it in marriage to Sir John Culpeper, of Wigsell, and he alienated it to the family of Vane, or Fane, in which it was in the year 1638, and in the year following Mary, countess dowager of Westmoreland, widow of Sir Francis Fane, earl of Westmoreland, joined with her son Mildmay, earl of Westmoreland, in the sale of it to William Man, esq. of Canterbury, afterwards knighted, whose ancestors had been settled there from the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign. They bore for their arms, Or, a chevron, ermines, between three lions, rampant guardant, sable; and there were of this name of Man, who were aldermen of the ward of Westgate in that city, as early as king Edward III.'s reign. (fn. 6) He in 1688, with his son William Man, esq. conveyed it to John Denew, gent. of Canterbury, whose ancestors were antiently written De New, and bore for their arms, Or, five chevronels, azure; whose grandson John Denew, esq. dying in 1750, s.p. devised it by will to his wife Elizabeth, and she at her death in 1761, gave it to one of her late husband's sisters and coheirs, Elizabeth, married to Mr. Edward Roberts, of Christ's hospital, London; their eldest son Mr. Edward Roberts died possessed of it in 1779, leaving three sons, Edward, George, and William, when it devolved to his eldest son Edward-William Roberts, who sold it in 1796 to George Gipps, esq. of Harbledown, M.P. for Canterbury, who is the present owner of it.

 

The demesne lands of this manor claimed and enjoyed an exemption from all manner of tithes till almost within memory; but by degrees tithes have been taken from most of them, and at present there are not more than twenty acres from which none are taken.

 

SHALMSFORD-STREET is a hamlet in this parish, built on each side of the Ashford road, near the river Stour, and the bridge which takes its name from it, at the western boundary of this parish. It was antiently called Essamelesford, and in the time of the Saxons was the estate of one Alret, who seems to have lost the possession of it after the battle of Hastings; for the Conqueror gave it, among many other possessions, to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half brother, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in the record of Domesday:

 

In Ferleberg hundred, Herfrid holds of the see of the bishop, Essamelesford. It was taxed at half a suling. The arable land is one carucate. In demesne there is one carucate, and three villeins, with one borderer having one carucate. There are three servants, and eight acres of meadow. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was valued at sixty shillings, and afterwards forty shillings, now sixty shillings. Alret held it of king Edward.

 

Four years after the taking of the above survey, the bishop of Baieux was disgraced, and all his lands and possessions were confiscated to the king's use. Soon after which this estate seems to have been separated into two manors, one of which was called from its situation.

 

THE MANOR OF SHALMSFORD-STREET, and afterwards, from its possessors, the mansion of Bolles, a family who had large possessions at Chilham and the adjoining parishes. At length, after they were become extinct here, which was not till about the beginning of the reign of queen Elizabeth, this manor came into the name of Cracknal, and from that in the reign of king James I. to Michel, one of whose descendants leaving two daughters and coheirs, one of them married Nicholas Page, and the other Thomas George; and they made a division of this estate, in which some houses and part of the lands were allotted to Thomas George, whose son Edward dying s.p. they came to Mr. John George, of Canterbury, who sold them to Mr. Wm. Baldock, of Canterbury, and he now owns them; but the manor, manor-house, and the rest of the demesne lands were allotted to Mr. Nicholas Page, and devolved to his son Mr. Thomas Page. He died in 1796, and devised them to Mr. Ralph Fox, who now owns them and resides here. The court baron for this manor has been long disused.

 

ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE of the road, about twenty rods from the bridge, stood an antient seat, which was taken down about thirty-five years ago, though there is a malt house remaining on the scite of it, which has evident marks of antiquity, and of its having been once made use of as part of the offices belonging to it. In the windows of the old house were several coats of arms, that most frequent being the coat and crest of Filmer, with a crescent for difference. This seat, with the lands belonging to it, was for a great length of time owned by the Mantles, and continued so till Mary Mantle carried it in marriage to Mr. Stephen Church, of Goodnestone, the present owner of it.

 

THE MANOR OF SHALMSFORD BRIDGE was the other part of the bishop of Baieux's estate here, described as above in Domesday, and was that part of it which was by far of the most eminent account, and was so called not only to distinguish it from that lastmentioned, but from its situation near the bridge of this name over the river Stour, on the opposite or west side of it next to Chilham, in which parish much of the lands belonging to it lie. It was antiently accounted a member of the manor of Throwley in this county, as appears by the inquisition taken after the death of Hamo de Gatton, owner of that manor in the 20th year of king Edward I. when Roger de Shamelesford was found to hold it as such of him by knight's service. His descendant William de Shalmelesford, who possessed it in the beginning of the reign of Edward II. leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she carried it in marriage to John Petit, who resided here, and died before the 20th year of the next reign of king Edward III. bearing for his arms, Gules, a chevron, between three leopards faces, argent. In his descendants, who resided at Shalmesford, this manor continued down to Thomas Petit, esq. of Canterbury, who died possessed of it in 1625, (fn. 7) leaving his three sisters his coheirs, who became entitled to this manor in undivided thirds. They were married afterwards, Catherine to Michael Belke; Elizabeth to Giles Master, of Woodchurch; and Dorothy first to William Master, secondly to John Merryweather, and thirdly to Parker, of Northfleet. Michael Belke above-mentioned, whose ancestors were originally of Coperham-Sole, in Sheldwich, having purchased another third of this manor, became entitled to two thirds of it, which continued in his descendants down to Dr. Thomas Belke, prebendary of Canterbury, who died in 1712, and his heirs sold them to Mr. Hatch, of that city, who was befor possessed of the other third part of this manor, which he had under his father Mr. John Hatch's will, who had purchased it of one of the descendants of Mr. Thomas Petyt, before-mentioned, and thus became entitled to the whole property of it. He died in 1761, and by will devised it to his great nephew, Mr. John Garling Hatch, of Chartham, who sold it to Mr. Joseph Saddleton. He died in 1795 intestate, leaving Elizabeth his widow, and Joseph their only son, who are the present owners of it.

 

Mystole is a handsome well-built seat, situated on the green of that name, in the south-west part of this parish, about a mile and an half from the church of Chartham. It was built by John Bungey, prebendary of Canterbury, who was rector of this church, and married Margaret Parker, the archbishop's niece, by whom he had several sons and daughters. He bore for his arms, Azure, a lion, passant-guardant, or, between three bezants, (fn. 8) and dying here possessed of it in 1596, was buried in this church. His eldest son Jonas Bungey succeeded him here, and in his descendants it continued till it was at length sold to Sir John Fagge, of Wiston, in Sussex, who was created a baronet on Dec. 11, 1660. But before this purchase, there were those of this name settled in this parish, as appears by their wills, and the marriage register-book in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury, as early as the year 1534, in both which they are stiled gentlemen. He left a numerous family, of whom only three sons survived; Sir Robert, his successor in title; Charles, who will be mentioned hereaster; and Thomas, ancestor of John Meres Fagge, esq. late of Brenset. Sir John Fagge died in 1700, and by will devised this seat of Mystole, with his other estates in this and the adjoining parishes, to his second son Charles Fagge, esq. of Canterbury, before-mentioned, who continued to bear the family arms, being Gules, two bends, vaire. His only surviving son Charles Fagge, esq. resided here, and married Elizabeth, youngest daughter of William Turner, esq. of the White Friars, Canterbury. His son Sir William Fagge, bart. resided at Mystole, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Abraham Le Grand, gent. of Canterbury, who died in 1785. He died in 1791, having had one son John, and two daughters, Helen, married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, prebendary of Canterbury, but since removed to Winchester; and Sarah to Edwin Humphry Sandys, gent. of Canterbury. He was succeeded by his only son the Rev. Sir John Fagge, bart. who married in 1789 Anne, only daughter and heir of Daniel Newman, esq. of Canterbury, barrister-at law, and recorder of Maidstone. He now resides at Mystole, of which he is the present possessor.

 

HORTON MANOR, sometime written Horton Parva, to distinguish it from others of the same name in this county, is a manor in that part of this parish which lies within the hundred of Bridge and Petham. It has by some been supposed to have been once a parish of itself, but without any reason; for it was from the earliest times always esteemed as a part of the parish of Chartham.

 

At the time of taking the survey of Domesday, about the year 1080, this manor was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, the Conqueror's half-brother, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in it, being then accounted within the bounds of the adjoining hundred of Felborough:

 

In Ferleberge hundred, Ansfrid holds of the bishop, Hortone. It was taxed at half a suling. The arable land is one carucote. There is in demesne . . . . and thirteen villeins having half a carucate. There is one servant, and two mills of one marc of silver, and eight acres of mea dow, and one hundred acres of coppice wood. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth forty shillings, afterwards thirty shillings, now one hundred shillings, Godric held it of king Edward.

 

On the bishop's disgrace, about four years afterwards, this manor, among the rest of his possessions, was confiscated to the crown, and was granted thence to the family of Crevequer, of whom it was held by that of Northwood, of Northwood, in this county. John de Northwood died possessed of it in the 14th year of Edward II. In whose descendants it continued down to Roger de Northwood, whose widow Agnes entitled her second husband Christopher Shuckborough, esq. of Warwickshire, to the possession of it, and they afterwards resided here. He bore for his arms, A chevron, between three mullets, pierced. She died in the 6th year of king Henry IV. anno 1404, and he alienated it three years afterwards to Gregory Ballard, whose descendant Thomas Ballard, kept his shrievalty here anno 31 Henry VI. and dying in 1465, lies buried in St. Catherine's church, near the Tower. Robert Ballard was found by inquisition anno 14 king Henry VII. to hold at his death this manor of the king, as of his honor of the castle of Dover, by the service of one sparrow-hawk yearly. They bore for their arms, Sable, a griffin rampant segreant, ermine, armed and membered, or. At length it descended down to Nicholas Ballard, who in the 4th year of Philip and Mary, passed it away to Roger Trollop, esq. and he sold it, in the 2d year of queen Elizabeth, to Sir Edward Warner, then lieutenant of the tower, who died possessed of it in the 8th year of that reign, holding it of the king in capite by knight's service. Robert Warner, esq. was his brother and next heir, and sold it, in the 16th year of that reign, to Sir Roger Manwood, (fn. 9) chief baron of the exchequer, whose son Sir Peter Manwood, K.B. in the reign of king James I. alienated it to Christopher Toldervye, esq. who resided here, and dying in 1618, s.p. was buried in Ash church, near Sandwich, bearing for his arms, Azure, a fess, or, in chief, two cross croslets of the second. By his will he devised it to his brother John Toldervye, gent. of London; on whose death likewise s.p. it devolved by the limitations in the above will to Jane his eldest sister, then married to Sir Robert Darell, of Calehill, who in her right became entitled to it, and from him it has at length descended down to Henry Darell, esq. of Calehill, the present owner of this manor.

 

The chapel belonging to this manor is still standing, at a small distance south-west from the house. It had more than ordinary privileges belonging to it, having every one the same as the mother church, excepting that of burial, and its offices. It consists of one isle and a chancel, with a thick wall at the west end, rising above the roof, and shaped like a pointed turret, in which are two apertures for the hanging of two bells. It has been many years disused as a chapel, and made use of as a barn.

 

This chapel, like many others of the same sort, was built for the use of the family residing in the mansion of the manor, which being, as well as the ceremonies of the religion of those times, very numerous, rendered it most inconvenient for them to attend at the parish church, at so great a distance, in all kind of seasons and weather. But after the reformation, when great part of such ceremonies ceased, and the alteration of the times not only lessened the number of domestics, but even the residence of families, by degrees, at these mansions; these chapels became of little use, and being maintained at the sole charge of the owners of the estates on which they were built, they chose rather to relinquish the privilege of them, than continue at the expence of repairs, and finding a priest to officiate in them.

 

In the reign of king Richard II. there was a great contest between John Beckford, rector of Chartham, and Christopher Shuckborough, lord of this manor, concerning the celebration of divine offices in this chapel; which was heard and determined in 1380, before the archbishop's official, that all divine offices might be celebrated in it, exceptis tantum defunctorum sepulturis et exequiis. These were more than ordinary privileges; it being usual, even in chapels which had the right of sepulture granted to them, to oblige the inhabitants to baptize and marry, and the women to have their purifications at the mother church.

 

There is a composition of 6l. 14s. paid by the occupier of this manor, to the rector of Chartham, in lieu of all tithes whatever arising from it.

 

Charities.

THERE are no charitiesor alms houses belonging to this parish, excepting the legacy by the will of Thomas Petit, esq. of Canterbury, in 1626. to this parish, Chilham, and St. George's, Canterbury, jointly for the benefit of young married people for ever; a full account of which has been given before, under Chilham, p. 141.

 

There is a school lately set up in this parish, for the teaching of children reading, writing, and arithmetic.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about forty-five, casually 60.

 

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

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is a large, handsome building, of one isle and a chancel, with a cross isle or transept. It has a tower steeple at the west end, in which are five bells and a clock. Besides other monuments and memorials in this church, there are in the chancel memorials for the Kingsfords; for Margaret, daughter of Sir Samuel Peyton, knight and baronet, wife of Thomas Osbern, esq. obt. 1655; for Jane, daughter of Arthur Barham, esq. wife of Thomas Osbern, esq. obt. 1657; several for the dis ferent rectors, and a monument for Dr. Delangle, 1724; a large grave-stone with the figure of a man in his armour, cross-legged, with his sword and spurs, in full proportion, inlaid in brass, with his surcoat of arms, viz. Three wheat-skreens, or fans, being for one of the Septvans family; and on the north side is an antient tomb, under an arch hollowed in the wall. In the north cross isle is a grave-stone, which has been very lately robbed of its brasses, excepting the impalements of one coat, being the arms of Clifford. It had on it the figure of a woman, with an inscription for Jane Eveas, daughter of Lewys Clifforht Squyre, obt. 1530. The chancel is very handsome, and there has been some good painted glass in the windows of it, of which there are yet some small remains. In the south chancel the family of Fagge lie buried; in it there is a monument for the late Sir William and his lady, and a most superb monument of excellent sculpture and imagery, having the figures, in full proportion of Sir William Young, bart. and his lady; Sarah, sister of Sir William Fagge before-mentioned, who died in 1746, æt. 18, in the same year in which she was married. He died in the West-Indies in 1788, and was brought over and buried beside her, and the above-mentioned monument which had laid by in the church ever since her death was repaired and placed here.

 

The church of Chartham was part of the antient possessions of the see of Canterbury, and continues so at this time, his grace the archbishop being the present patron of it.

 

In a terrier of 1615, it appears there was then here a parsonage-house, barn, gardens, and meadow, in all about two acres; certain closes containing thirty-eight acres, and a little piece of wood-land adjoining to it; some of which glebe-land has since that time been lost, the rector now enjoying nor more than thirty acres of it.

 

Part of the parsonage-house seems very antient, being built of flint, with ashlar-stone windows and door cases, of antient gothic form. It was formerly much larger, part of it having been pulled down, by a faculty, a few years ago.

 

An account of the lands in this parish, which claim an exemption of tithes, has already been given before, under the description of the respective lands, as well as of the chapel of Horton, and the composition for tithes from that manor.

 

¶This rectory is valued in the king's books at 41l. 5s. 10d. and the yearly tenths at 4l. 2s. 7d. In 1640 it was valued at one hundred and twenty pounds. Communicants three hundred. It is now worth about three hundred and fifty pounds per annum.

A brief visit before the arrival of Flying Scotsman, and the church was open!

 

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There are few churches in Kent that display transepts without a central tower. When in the fifteenth century a tower was built it was added to the west end of the existing nave. Two excellent hagioscopes are cut through either side of the chancel arch, whilst the south transept contains some eighteenth-century monuments by the celebrated sculptor Michael Rysbrack. The most famous memorial at Chartham is the brass to Sir Robert de Septvans (d. 1306), one of the oldest and largest memorial brasses in the country, showing the cross-legged knight with flowing locks. The chancel windows show excellent medieval tracery which has preserved much of its late thirteenth-century glass.

 

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

 

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CHARTHAM,

CALLED in Domesday, Certeham, lies the next parish eastward from Chilham. The greatest part of it is in the hundred of Felborough, and some small part of it, viz. the manor of Horton, in the hundred of Bridge and Petham.

 

THE PARISH of Chartham is pleasantly situated, a great part of it in the sertile vale of pastures through which the river Stour takes its course, between a continued series or range of losty hills, over which this parish extends; the high road from Canterbury to Ashford leads through it, mostly on high ground, from which there is a most pleasing view of the vale and river beneath, as well as of the oppo site hills, whose summits are cloathed with the rich foliage of the contiguous woods. Though the soil in the valley is rich pasture, yet the hills are poor and barren, those rising from the vale are chalk, further on they are a cludgy red earth, mixed with slints, much covered with coppice woods, and a great deal of rough land, with broom and heath among it, bordering on a dreary country. The parish is large, and is supposed to be about twelve miles in circumterence. It contains about ninety-seven houses, and five hundred inhabitants. The village of Chartham is situated close on the side of the river Stour, the houses of it are mostly built round a green, called Charthamgreen, having the church and parsonage on the south side of it. On this green was till within these few years, a large mansion house most of which being burnt down, the remains have since been known by the name of Burnt house. It was formerly the residence of the Kingsfords, several of whom lie buried in this church, whose arms were, Two bends, ermine. At length William Kingsford, esq. in 1768, sold it to William Waller, who alienated it in 1786 to Mr. Robert Turner, as he did again to Allen Grebell, esq. who sold it in 1795 to Mr. John Gold, the present owner of it. Near it is a handsome modern-built house, formerly the property and residence of Dr. John-Maximilian Delangle, rector of this parish and prebendary of Canterbury, and from him usually named the Delangle house. He died possessed of it in 1729. It was late the property of John Wotton, esq. who died in August, 1798, and devised it to Mary, the wife of Benjamin Andrews, gent. of Stouting, for her life; and after her decease to Thomas Wotton, gent. of the Tile-lodge farm, in Sturry, and his heirs for ever. On the river Stour here, is a paper-mill, belonging to the dean and chapter of Canterbury. In 1763, William Pearson, the lessee by will, gave this leasehold estate to his wife Sarah for life, remainder to his son Thomas Pearson, his executors, &c. Sarah Pearson renewed the lease in her own name in 1765. In 1766 Thomas Pearson sold the lease to his brother James Pearson absolutely, after the death of their mother, and of the said Thomas pearson, and Elizabeth his wife, or any after-taken wife, without issue of the said Thomas. In 1767 the said Thomas Pearson and Elizabeth, sold all their interest in the premises to David Ogilvy. In the same year the said Thomas and James assigned the premises to the said Ogilvy, by way of mortgage, redeemable by James if Thomas died without issue. In 1768 James became a bankrupt. In 1789, Sarah and James being both dead, Ogilvy renewed the lease in his name. In 1792 Ogilvy, Thomas Pearson, and the surviving assigness, under James Pearson's commission, assigned the premises absolutely, to Edward Pain, paper-maker, of Chartham, (son of Leeds Pain, deceased) who now holds the lease, and occupies the estate.

 

That part of this village on the opposite side of the river Stour, is called Rattington, being in the borough of that name. The northern part of this parish is mostly high ground, and covered with woods, extending almost up to the high Boughton road to London, through which the boundaries of it are very uncertain, from the different growths of the high wood in them; and there have been several contests relating to the bounds in this part of the parish, on account of the payment of tithes to the rector of Chartham; the lands without the bounds of it on the north side being exempt from all tithes whatever, as being within the king's antient forest of Blean, now usually called the ville of Dunkirk. Among them are the two hamlets, called Chartham hatch and Bovehatch, vulgarly Bowhatch; and near the former a large hoath, the soil of which is sand and gravel, and, from the poorness of it, but of little value. This hoath, as well as the lands near it, called Highwood, both claim, as I am informed, an exemption from paying tithes, as part of the manor of Densted.

 

Among the woods at the north-west boundaries of the parish, is a house and grounds called the Fishponds, which, though now gone to ruin, were formerly made and kept at a large expence, by Samuel Parker, gent. the grandson of Dr. Parker, bishop of Oxford, and rector of this church, who resided here. It is now in the joint possession of Mrs. Bridges, of Canterbury, and William Hammond, esq. of St. Alban's, in this county.

 

About a mile west from Densted, in the northwest part of this parish, is a stream of water, called the Cranburne, which is a strong chalybeate. It rises among the woods on the south side of the high London road, running through the fifth-ponds beforementioned, and thence into the river Stour, near Whitehall, a little below Tonford.

 

On the opposite side of the valley, close to the river Stour, is the hamlet of Shalmsford-street, built on the Ashford high road, and the bridge of the same name, of stone, with five arches, repaired at the expence of the hundred of Felborough, over which the abovementioned road leads; and at a small distance above it is a very antient corn-mill, called Shalmsford-mill, formerly belonging to the prior and convent of Christchurch, and now to the dean and chapter of Canterbury. There are two more hamlets on the hills of the southern parts of this parish, one at Mystole, and the other at Upperdowne, near it, behing which this parish reaches some distance among the woods, till it joins Godmersham and Petham.

 

There is a fair annually held at Chartham on St. Peter's day, June 29.

  

Plan of Chartham Downs

 

On the chalky downs, called Chartham Downs, adjoining the south side of the Ashford road, about four miles from Canterbury, being high and dry ground, with a declivity towards the river Stour; there are a great number of tumuli, or barrows near, one hundred perhaps of different sizes near each other, this spot being described in the antient deeds of the adjoining estates by the name of Danes banks. Several of them have at times been opened, and the remains of bodies, both male and female, with various articles of trainkets, &c. have been found in them. Beyond these, on the contiguous plain, called Swadling downs, still more southward, there are three or four lines of intrenchments which cross the whole downs from east to west, at different places, and there is a little intrenchment in the road, under Denge wood, a little eastward above Julliberies grave.

 

Various have been the conjectures of the origin of these barrows, some have supposed them to have been those of the Britons, slain in the decisive battle with Cæsar, under Cassivelawn, others that this place was the spot appropriated for the burial of the Roman garrison at Canterbury, whilst others suppose them to have belonged to the Danes, who might be opposed here in their attempts to pass the river Stour, in their further progress into this island.

 

In the year 1668, in the sinking of a new well at Chartham, there was found, about seventeen feet deep, a parcel of strange and monstrous bones, together with four teeth, perfect and sound, but in a manner petrified and turned into stone, each as big as the first of a man. These are supposed by learned and judicious persons, who have seen and considered them to be the bones of some large marine animal, which had perished there; and it has been by some conjectured, (fn. 1) that the long vale, of twenty miles or more, through which the river Stour runs, was formerly an arm of the sea (the river, as they conceive, being named Stour from astuarium); and lastly, that the sea having by degrees filled up this vale with earth, sand, and coze, and other matter, ceased to discharge itself this way when it broke through the isthmus between Dover and Calais. Others have an opinion, that they were the bones of elephants, abundance of which were brought over into Britain by the emperor Claudius, who landed near Sandwich, who therefore might probably come this way in his march to the Thames, the shape of these teeth agreeing with a late description of the grinders of an elephant, and their depth under ground being probably accounted for by the continual washing down of the earth from the hills.

 

IN THE YEAR 871, duke Elfred gave to archbishop Ethelred, and the monks of Christ-church, the parish of Chartham, towards their cloathing, as appears by his charter then made, or rather codicil; and this gift of it was confirmed to them in the year 1052, by king Edward the Confessor; and it continued in their possession at the time of taking the general survey of Domesday, in the year 1084, in which it is thus entered, under the title of Terra Monachorum Archiepi, i. e. lands of the monks of the archbishop, as all lands belonging to that monastery were.

 

In Feleberg hundred, the archbishop himself holds Certeham. It was taxed at four sulings. The arable land is fourteen carucates. In demesne there are two, and sixty villeins, with fifteen cottagers, having fifteen carucates and an half. There is a church and one servant, and five mills and an half of seventy shillings, and thirty acres of meadow, and wood for the pannage of twenty-five bogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and when he received it, it was worth twelve pounds, now twenty pounds, and yet it pays thirty pounds.

 

The possessions of the priory here were after this augmented by Wibert, who became prior in 1153, who restored to it the great wood of Chartham, con taining forty acres, which the tenants had long withheld. After which, in the reign of king Edward I. THIS MANOR OF CHARTHAM, with its appurtenances, was valued at thirty-four pounds, (fn. 2) at which time there appears to have been a vincyard here, plentifully furnished with vines, belonging to the priory, as there were at several of their other manors; and in the 25th year of the same reign Robert Winchelsea, archbishop of Canterbury, having fallen under the king's displeasure, dismissed most of his family, and lived privately here at Chartham with one or two priests, and went almost every Sunday and holiday to preach in several of the adjoining churches.

 

King Edward II. by his charter in his 10th year, granted and confirmed to the prior of Christ-church, free-warren in all his demesne lands in this manor among others, which he or any of his predecessors had acquired since the time of his grandfather, so that the same were not within the bounds of his forest.

 

The buildings on this manor were much augmented and repaired both by prior Chillenden, about the year 1400, and by prior Goldston, who about the year 1500 rebuilt the prior's stables here and his other apartments with brick. This manor continued part of the possessions of the priory till its dissolution in the 31st year of Henry VIII. when it was surrendered into the king's hands, with whom this manor did not continue long, for the king settled it, among other premises, in his 33d year, on his new-erected dean and chapter of Canterbury, part of whose inheritance it still continues.

 

A court leet and court baron are regularly held for this manor by the dean and chapter, but the courtlodge and demesnes of the manor are demised by them on a beneficial lease. At the time of the dissolution, anno 30 Henry VIII. Thomas Thwayts was lessee of it. John Baker, esq. of St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, is the present lessee.

 

THE DEANRY is a large antient seat, situated adjoining to the court-lodge, being part of those possessions belonging to the late priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury, and was formerly the capital mansion of their manor here, being made use of most probably as a place of residence and retirement for the prior himself; and it was most probably to this house that archbishop Winchelsea retired, as has been mentioned before, in king Edward the 1st.'s reign, whilst under that king's displeasure. In which state it remained till the dissolution, when it came, with the adjoining meadows belonging to it, among the rest of the possessions of the priory in this parish, into the hands of the crown, and was next year settled by the king on his new-erected dean and chapter of Canterbury; after which it seems to have been allotted to and made use of in like manner as it was by the priors before, by the deans of Canterbury, for their country residence; in particular dean Bargrave resided much at this mansion, in the windows of which his arms, with the quarterings of his family alliances, in several shields, remained till within these few years. The consusion of the times which immediately followed his death, preventing the residence of any dean here, this mansion seems to have fallen into the hands of the chapter, who soon afterwards leased it out, with a reservation of a part of the yearly rent to the dean and his successors; and it has continued under the like demises to the present time, though there have been several attempts made by succeeding deans to recover the possession of it to themselves. The Whitfields were for some length of time lessees of it, afterwards the Lefroys, then Mr. Lance, and after him Mr. Coast, who greatly augmented and improved this mansion, and resided in it till he sold his interest in it to John Thomson, esq. and he conveyed it in 1797 to William Gilbee, esq. the present lessee of it.

 

There was a large chapel belonging to this mansion, which was taken down in 1572.

 

DENSTED is a manor, situated among the woods in the northern part of this parish, next to Harbledown, in the ville of its own name, part of which extends into that parish likewise. It was antiently part of the estate of the family of Crevequer, and was given in the 47th year of Henry III. by Hamo de Crevequer, to the priory of Leeds, founded by one of his ancestors, which gift was confirmed, together with the tithes of Densted, to the priory at several different times, by the several archbishops, and by the priors and convent of Christ-church, (fn. 3) and the revenue of it was increased here in the 8th year of king Richard II. when Robert Bovehatch being convicted of felony, was found to have held some lands at Densted, which upon forfeiture, were granted by the king to it. The prior and convent continued owners of this manor, with those other lands here, and in king Henry the VIIIth.'s reign, demised it for ninety-nine years to Paul Sidnor, (fn. 4) in which state it remained till their dissolution in the 32d year of that reign, when it came, with the rest of their possessions, into the king's hands, who granted it in his 37th year, with all the tenements called Densted, belonging to this manor, to John Tufton, esq. to hold in capite by knight's service, who, about the 3d year of king Edward VI. alienated his interest in it to Richard Argall, whose descendant John Argall sold it, about the beginning of king James I.'s reign, to Sir John Collimore, of Canterbury, who in 1620, conveyed it to trustees, to be sold for the payment of his debts; and they conveyed it to Thomas Steed, esq. who in the reign of king Charles I. passed it away to Sir Thomas Swan, of Southfleet; in whose descendants it continued, till at length the widow of Sir William Swan, at her death, devised it, among his other estates, alike between his and her own relations, one of whom marrying John Comyns, esq. afterwards knighted, and chief baron of the exchequer, he became in her right possessed of this manor, being descended from the Comyns's, of Dagenham, in Essex, in which county he resided, and bore for his arms, Azure, a chevron, ermine, between three garbs, or. On his death in 1740, he devised it to his eldest nephew and heir John Comyns, esq. of Highlands, in Essex, (son of his brother Richard, serjeant-at law) who died possessed of it in 1760, leaving by his second wife, an only son, Richard-John Comyns, esq. whose heirs conveyed it by sale to Thomas Lane, esq. one of the masters of chancery, who died possessed of it in 1773, on which it descended to his two sons Thomas and William, and the former having purchased the latter's interest in it, died, leaving his widow surviving, who is now in the possession of this estate for her life; but the reversion of it in see, after her death, is vested in the younger brother above-mentioned, Mr. William Lane, gent. of London.

 

A court baron is held for this manor.

 

The lands belonging to this manor consist of about four hundred acres; the whole of which, excepting seven acres in Highwood which are titheable, is subject only to a composition yearly to the rector of Chartham, in lieu of all tithes whatever.

 

HOWFIELD is a manor in this parish, lying in the north-east part of it, adjoining to Toniford. It was formerly spelt in antient records both Haghefelde and Hugeveld, and was part of the possessions of the priory of St. Gregory, most probably at its foundation in 1084. However that be, this manor was confirmed to it, among the rest of its possessions, by the name of Haghefelde, together with the mill of Toniford, by archbishop Hubert, who died in 1206; (fn. 5) and in this state it remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when, by the act passed in the 27th year of it, this priory was suppressed among other religious houses, whose revenues did not amount to the clear yearly value of two hundred pounds, Christopher Hales, esq. afterwards knighted, and attorney-general, being then lessee of this manor, under a lease for ninety-nine years, from the prior and convent; and he had that year a grant from the king of it in see, with all privileges and immunities belonging to it, to hold by fealty only. Sir Christopher Hales was likewise master of the rolls, being the son of Thomas Hales, A.M. second son of Henry Hales, of Hales-place, whose eldest son John was ancestor of the Hales's, of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, Tenterden, and other parts of this county. He left three daughters his coheirs, who became jointly entitled to this manor, with a tenement called Bovehoth, and other lands in Chartham. At length the whole interest of it, on a division of their estates, was assigned to the youngest daughter Mary, who entitled her husband Alexander Colepeper, esq. to it. He left an only daughter by her, Anne, who carried it in marriage to Sir John Culpeper, of Wigsell, and he alienated it to the family of Vane, or Fane, in which it was in the year 1638, and in the year following Mary, countess dowager of Westmoreland, widow of Sir Francis Fane, earl of Westmoreland, joined with her son Mildmay, earl of Westmoreland, in the sale of it to William Man, esq. of Canterbury, afterwards knighted, whose ancestors had been settled there from the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign. They bore for their arms, Or, a chevron, ermines, between three lions, rampant guardant, sable; and there were of this name of Man, who were aldermen of the ward of Westgate in that city, as early as king Edward III.'s reign. (fn. 6) He in 1688, with his son William Man, esq. conveyed it to John Denew, gent. of Canterbury, whose ancestors were antiently written De New, and bore for their arms, Or, five chevronels, azure; whose grandson John Denew, esq. dying in 1750, s.p. devised it by will to his wife Elizabeth, and she at her death in 1761, gave it to one of her late husband's sisters and coheirs, Elizabeth, married to Mr. Edward Roberts, of Christ's hospital, London; their eldest son Mr. Edward Roberts died possessed of it in 1779, leaving three sons, Edward, George, and William, when it devolved to his eldest son Edward-William Roberts, who sold it in 1796 to George Gipps, esq. of Harbledown, M.P. for Canterbury, who is the present owner of it.

 

The demesne lands of this manor claimed and enjoyed an exemption from all manner of tithes till almost within memory; but by degrees tithes have been taken from most of them, and at present there are not more than twenty acres from which none are taken.

 

SHALMSFORD-STREET is a hamlet in this parish, built on each side of the Ashford road, near the river Stour, and the bridge which takes its name from it, at the western boundary of this parish. It was antiently called Essamelesford, and in the time of the Saxons was the estate of one Alret, who seems to have lost the possession of it after the battle of Hastings; for the Conqueror gave it, among many other possessions, to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half brother, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in the record of Domesday:

 

In Ferleberg hundred, Herfrid holds of the see of the bishop, Essamelesford. It was taxed at half a suling. The arable land is one carucate. In demesne there is one carucate, and three villeins, with one borderer having one carucate. There are three servants, and eight acres of meadow. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was valued at sixty shillings, and afterwards forty shillings, now sixty shillings. Alret held it of king Edward.

 

Four years after the taking of the above survey, the bishop of Baieux was disgraced, and all his lands and possessions were confiscated to the king's use. Soon after which this estate seems to have been separated into two manors, one of which was called from its situation.

 

THE MANOR OF SHALMSFORD-STREET, and afterwards, from its possessors, the mansion of Bolles, a family who had large possessions at Chilham and the adjoining parishes. At length, after they were become extinct here, which was not till about the beginning of the reign of queen Elizabeth, this manor came into the name of Cracknal, and from that in the reign of king James I. to Michel, one of whose descendants leaving two daughters and coheirs, one of them married Nicholas Page, and the other Thomas George; and they made a division of this estate, in which some houses and part of the lands were allotted to Thomas George, whose son Edward dying s.p. they came to Mr. John George, of Canterbury, who sold them to Mr. Wm. Baldock, of Canterbury, and he now owns them; but the manor, manor-house, and the rest of the demesne lands were allotted to Mr. Nicholas Page, and devolved to his son Mr. Thomas Page. He died in 1796, and devised them to Mr. Ralph Fox, who now owns them and resides here. The court baron for this manor has been long disused.

 

ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE of the road, about twenty rods from the bridge, stood an antient seat, which was taken down about thirty-five years ago, though there is a malt house remaining on the scite of it, which has evident marks of antiquity, and of its having been once made use of as part of the offices belonging to it. In the windows of the old house were several coats of arms, that most frequent being the coat and crest of Filmer, with a crescent for difference. This seat, with the lands belonging to it, was for a great length of time owned by the Mantles, and continued so till Mary Mantle carried it in marriage to Mr. Stephen Church, of Goodnestone, the present owner of it.

 

THE MANOR OF SHALMSFORD BRIDGE was the other part of the bishop of Baieux's estate here, described as above in Domesday, and was that part of it which was by far of the most eminent account, and was so called not only to distinguish it from that lastmentioned, but from its situation near the bridge of this name over the river Stour, on the opposite or west side of it next to Chilham, in which parish much of the lands belonging to it lie. It was antiently accounted a member of the manor of Throwley in this county, as appears by the inquisition taken after the death of Hamo de Gatton, owner of that manor in the 20th year of king Edward I. when Roger de Shamelesford was found to hold it as such of him by knight's service. His descendant William de Shalmelesford, who possessed it in the beginning of the reign of Edward II. leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she carried it in marriage to John Petit, who resided here, and died before the 20th year of the next reign of king Edward III. bearing for his arms, Gules, a chevron, between three leopards faces, argent. In his descendants, who resided at Shalmesford, this manor continued down to Thomas Petit, esq. of Canterbury, who died possessed of it in 1625, (fn. 7) leaving his three sisters his coheirs, who became entitled to this manor in undivided thirds. They were married afterwards, Catherine to Michael Belke; Elizabeth to Giles Master, of Woodchurch; and Dorothy first to William Master, secondly to John Merryweather, and thirdly to Parker, of Northfleet. Michael Belke above-mentioned, whose ancestors were originally of Coperham-Sole, in Sheldwich, having purchased another third of this manor, became entitled to two thirds of it, which continued in his descendants down to Dr. Thomas Belke, prebendary of Canterbury, who died in 1712, and his heirs sold them to Mr. Hatch, of that city, who was befor possessed of the other third part of this manor, which he had under his father Mr. John Hatch's will, who had purchased it of one of the descendants of Mr. Thomas Petyt, before-mentioned, and thus became entitled to the whole property of it. He died in 1761, and by will devised it to his great nephew, Mr. John Garling Hatch, of Chartham, who sold it to Mr. Joseph Saddleton. He died in 1795 intestate, leaving Elizabeth his widow, and Joseph their only son, who are the present owners of it.

 

Mystole is a handsome well-built seat, situated on the green of that name, in the south-west part of this parish, about a mile and an half from the church of Chartham. It was built by John Bungey, prebendary of Canterbury, who was rector of this church, and married Margaret Parker, the archbishop's niece, by whom he had several sons and daughters. He bore for his arms, Azure, a lion, passant-guardant, or, between three bezants, (fn. 8) and dying here possessed of it in 1596, was buried in this church. His eldest son Jonas Bungey succeeded him here, and in his descendants it continued till it was at length sold to Sir John Fagge, of Wiston, in Sussex, who was created a baronet on Dec. 11, 1660. But before this purchase, there were those of this name settled in this parish, as appears by their wills, and the marriage register-book in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury, as early as the year 1534, in both which they are stiled gentlemen. He left a numerous family, of whom only three sons survived; Sir Robert, his successor in title; Charles, who will be mentioned hereaster; and Thomas, ancestor of John Meres Fagge, esq. late of Brenset. Sir John Fagge died in 1700, and by will devised this seat of Mystole, with his other estates in this and the adjoining parishes, to his second son Charles Fagge, esq. of Canterbury, before-mentioned, who continued to bear the family arms, being Gules, two bends, vaire. His only surviving son Charles Fagge, esq. resided here, and married Elizabeth, youngest daughter of William Turner, esq. of the White Friars, Canterbury. His son Sir William Fagge, bart. resided at Mystole, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Abraham Le Grand, gent. of Canterbury, who died in 1785. He died in 1791, having had one son John, and two daughters, Helen, married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, prebendary of Canterbury, but since removed to Winchester; and Sarah to Edwin Humphry Sandys, gent. of Canterbury. He was succeeded by his only son the Rev. Sir John Fagge, bart. who married in 1789 Anne, only daughter and heir of Daniel Newman, esq. of Canterbury, barrister-at law, and recorder of Maidstone. He now resides at Mystole, of which he is the present possessor.

 

HORTON MANOR, sometime written Horton Parva, to distinguish it from others of the same name in this county, is a manor in that part of this parish which lies within the hundred of Bridge and Petham. It has by some been supposed to have been once a parish of itself, but without any reason; for it was from the earliest times always esteemed as a part of the parish of Chartham.

 

At the time of taking the survey of Domesday, about the year 1080, this manor was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, the Conqueror's half-brother, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in it, being then accounted within the bounds of the adjoining hundred of Felborough:

 

In Ferleberge hundred, Ansfrid holds of the bishop, Hortone. It was taxed at half a suling. The arable land is one carucote. There is in demesne . . . . and thirteen villeins having half a carucate. There is one servant, and two mills of one marc of silver, and eight acres of mea dow, and one hundred acres of coppice wood. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth forty shillings, afterwards thirty shillings, now one hundred shillings, Godric held it of king Edward.

 

On the bishop's disgrace, about four years afterwards, this manor, among the rest of his possessions, was confiscated to the crown, and was granted thence to the family of Crevequer, of whom it was held by that of Northwood, of Northwood, in this county. John de Northwood died possessed of it in the 14th year of Edward II. In whose descendants it continued down to Roger de Northwood, whose widow Agnes entitled her second husband Christopher Shuckborough, esq. of Warwickshire, to the possession of it, and they afterwards resided here. He bore for his arms, A chevron, between three mullets, pierced. She died in the 6th year of king Henry IV. anno 1404, and he alienated it three years afterwards to Gregory Ballard, whose descendant Thomas Ballard, kept his shrievalty here anno 31 Henry VI. and dying in 1465, lies buried in St. Catherine's church, near the Tower. Robert Ballard was found by inquisition anno 14 king Henry VII. to hold at his death this manor of the king, as of his honor of the castle of Dover, by the service of one sparrow-hawk yearly. They bore for their arms, Sable, a griffin rampant segreant, ermine, armed and membered, or. At length it descended down to Nicholas Ballard, who in the 4th year of Philip and Mary, passed it away to Roger Trollop, esq. and he sold it, in the 2d year of queen Elizabeth, to Sir Edward Warner, then lieutenant of the tower, who died possessed of it in the 8th year of that reign, holding it of the king in capite by knight's service. Robert Warner, esq. was his brother and next heir, and sold it, in the 16th year of that reign, to Sir Roger Manwood, (fn. 9) chief baron of the exchequer, whose son Sir Peter Manwood, K.B. in the reign of king James I. alienated it to Christopher Toldervye, esq. who resided here, and dying in 1618, s.p. was buried in Ash church, near Sandwich, bearing for his arms, Azure, a fess, or, in chief, two cross croslets of the second. By his will he devised it to his brother John Toldervye, gent. of London; on whose death likewise s.p. it devolved by the limitations in the above will to Jane his eldest sister, then married to Sir Robert Darell, of Calehill, who in her right became entitled to it, and from him it has at length descended down to Henry Darell, esq. of Calehill, the present owner of this manor.

 

The chapel belonging to this manor is still standing, at a small distance south-west from the house. It had more than ordinary privileges belonging to it, having every one the same as the mother church, excepting that of burial, and its offices. It consists of one isle and a chancel, with a thick wall at the west end, rising above the roof, and shaped like a pointed turret, in which are two apertures for the hanging of two bells. It has been many years disused as a chapel, and made use of as a barn.

 

This chapel, like many others of the same sort, was built for the use of the family residing in the mansion of the manor, which being, as well as the ceremonies of the religion of those times, very numerous, rendered it most inconvenient for them to attend at the parish church, at so great a distance, in all kind of seasons and weather. But after the reformation, when great part of such ceremonies ceased, and the alteration of the times not only lessened the number of domestics, but even the residence of families, by degrees, at these mansions; these chapels became of little use, and being maintained at the sole charge of the owners of the estates on which they were built, they chose rather to relinquish the privilege of them, than continue at the expence of repairs, and finding a priest to officiate in them.

 

In the reign of king Richard II. there was a great contest between John Beckford, rector of Chartham, and Christopher Shuckborough, lord of this manor, concerning the celebration of divine offices in this chapel; which was heard and determined in 1380, before the archbishop's official, that all divine offices might be celebrated in it, exceptis tantum defunctorum sepulturis et exequiis. These were more than ordinary privileges; it being usual, even in chapels which had the right of sepulture granted to them, to oblige the inhabitants to baptize and marry, and the women to have their purifications at the mother church.

 

There is a composition of 6l. 14s. paid by the occupier of this manor, to the rector of Chartham, in lieu of all tithes whatever arising from it.

 

Charities.

THERE are no charitiesor alms houses belonging to this parish, excepting the legacy by the will of Thomas Petit, esq. of Canterbury, in 1626. to this parish, Chilham, and St. George's, Canterbury, jointly for the benefit of young married people for ever; a full account of which has been given before, under Chilham, p. 141.

 

There is a school lately set up in this parish, for the teaching of children reading, writing, and arithmetic.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about forty-five, casually 60.

 

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

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is a large, handsome building, of one isle and a chancel, with a cross isle or transept. It has a tower steeple at the west end, in which are five bells and a clock. Besides other monuments and memorials in this church, there are in the chancel memorials for the Kingsfords; for Margaret, daughter of Sir Samuel Peyton, knight and baronet, wife of Thomas Osbern, esq. obt. 1655; for Jane, daughter of Arthur Barham, esq. wife of Thomas Osbern, esq. obt. 1657; several for the dis ferent rectors, and a monument for Dr. Delangle, 1724; a large grave-stone with the figure of a man in his armour, cross-legged, with his sword and spurs, in full proportion, inlaid in brass, with his surcoat of arms, viz. Three wheat-skreens, or fans, being for one of the Septvans family; and on the north side is an antient tomb, under an arch hollowed in the wall. In the north cross isle is a grave-stone, which has been very lately robbed of its brasses, excepting the impalements of one coat, being the arms of Clifford. It had on it the figure of a woman, with an inscription for Jane Eveas, daughter of Lewys Clifforht Squyre, obt. 1530. The chancel is very handsome, and there has been some good painted glass in the windows of it, of which there are yet some small remains. In the south chancel the family of Fagge lie buried; in it there is a monument for the late Sir William and his lady, and a most superb monument of excellent sculpture and imagery, having the figures, in full proportion of Sir William Young, bart. and his lady; Sarah, sister of Sir William Fagge before-mentioned, who died in 1746, æt. 18, in the same year in which she was married. He died in the West-Indies in 1788, and was brought over and buried beside her, and the above-mentioned monument which had laid by in the church ever since her death was repaired and placed here.

 

The church of Chartham was part of the antient possessions of the see of Canterbury, and continues so at this time, his grace the archbishop being the present patron of it.

 

In a terrier of 1615, it appears there was then here a parsonage-house, barn, gardens, and meadow, in all about two acres; certain closes containing thirty-eight acres, and a little piece of wood-land adjoining to it; some of which glebe-land has since that time been lost, the rector now enjoying nor more than thirty acres of it.

 

Part of the parsonage-house seems very antient, being built of flint, with ashlar-stone windows and door cases, of antient gothic form. It was formerly much larger, part of it having been pulled down, by a faculty, a few years ago.

 

An account of the lands in this parish, which claim an exemption of tithes, has already been given before, under the description of the respective lands, as well as of the chapel of Horton, and the composition for tithes from that manor.

 

¶This rectory is valued in the king's books at 41l. 5s. 10d. and the yearly tenths at 4l. 2s. 7d. In 1640 it was valued at one hundred and twenty pounds. Communicants three hundred. It is now worth about three hundred and fifty pounds per annum.

Official Announcement: 10221 Super Star Destroyer Executor

Sir Robert Houghton 1548- 1624 who bought the "demeans and park" from the Sheltons.

Sir Robert was the 3rd son of John Houghton of Gunthorpe 1584 by Agnes daughter of Robert Playford of Brinton

He was Serjeant at Law and one of the justices of the Kings Bench. At his death at his chambers in Serjeants’ Inn on 6 Feb. 1624 he also held the manors of Leffley, Threxton, Buxhall, Brettenham (from the Felton family) and Heacham.

 

Sir Robert m Mary daughter of rich lawyer Robert Richers 1588 of Wrotham and Elizabeth Cartwright flic.kr/p/dYvNfq daughter of Edmund Cartwright of Ossington by Agnes daughter of Thomas Cranmer www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/8510161707/ , She was the widow of Reginald Peckham d1551 buried at Ossington www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/8513250144/

Children - 2 sons & 3 daughters

1. Francis his heir 1593-April 13th 1629 m Helen ........... leaving a minor son & heir Robert aged 3- 6 years ++

2. John dsp

1. Elizabeth m Robert Bright

2. Mary m Richard Catlin

 

"Debito Honori Optimi Mariti Roberti Houghton Equitis, Judicisque de Regis Banco, cujus Cineris Divi Dunstani Templum infra Londinum Custos est, Hic quoque Locus, cum Filij sit, Patris etiam Monumentum esse Optimo Jure videtur vendicare. Memoriæ piæ, Charissimi Filij nostri Francisci Houghton Armigeri, necnon Helenæ Uxoris ejus (ut quorum Corda conjugalis Amor, Animas, Una Fides (uti spes nostra) in Æternum univit, eorum ossa Unum hoc Sepulchrum condat, conjungat.

Ego Maria Roberti Richers de Rootham in Comitatû Cantij Armigeri Filiæ, bene Merito marito, duobus Filijs, Filiabus tribus, Oh Dolor ! orbata, totiesq; partim Mortua Johanne Houghton, Unico minimoque Natû superstite, Reliquorum Consortij Avida, Potissimum verò Coronam Beatitudinis Anhelans, utq; cum Salvatore Vivam, Dissolutionis cupientissima, hoc Poni Sacrum, meas Reliquias Hìc condier Jussi. Per mortem itur ad Vitam. 1623".

His will, made a few days before his death, requested a burial ‘without funeral pomp’. He gave a life interest in his property at Norwich and his manor of Lessey Suffolk to his wife, with the remainder to his eldest son Francis, to whom he left all his other lands in Norfolk. He bequeathed gifts of money to his wife, daughters and grandchildren and his law books to Francis, whom he appointed sole executor. He was buried at St. Dunstan-in-the-West, London

His widow Mary Rychers erected the monument here at Shelton - Heraldry - Richers arg 3 annulets azure / Houghton 3 azure 2 barrulets arg between 3 helmets or

++ Robert Houghton in his will of 1660 directing his executors Robert Houghton and John Tuthill, to sell first his estates in Sussex and then those in Suffolk to pay his debts, which were numerous. He died leaving an infant heir Charles Houghton, and his father's creditors obtained a decree in Chancery for sale of Leffey Manor and the others in Suffolk. A Bill was afterwards introduced in Parliament, and against this Sir George Pretyman and wife Elizabeth widow of Robert Houghton and mother of heir Charles, presented 2 petitions, saying the Bill would deprive Elizabeth of her dower and ruin her son Charles . The Committee said the parties should desist from any further prosecution

- Church of St Mary Shelton Norfolk

www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member...

www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member...

www.mocavo.co.uk/The-Visitations-of-Hertfordshire-Made-by...

Church of St Andrew, Colebrooke Devon

There was an earlier small Saxon church here consisting of a nave & chancel , arches of which survive in the south wall and 2 Saxon heads were also found in one of the Norman pillars of the south chapel when and arch was restored. .

The first vicar is recorded as Paganus in 1161. Other evidence of c.1170 records a letter by the Bishop Bartholomew of Exeter to King Henry II. about a dispute between himself and lord of the manor Alexander de Colebrooke over who had the rights to the advowson (The right as Patron to nominate a priest). De Colebrooke wanted the Colebrooke Church to be under the control of the Order of the Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, whilst the bishop didn’t want to lose his influence and at the end of the day won the King's approval.

 

By late 13c the church was in a poor state of repair - the chancel was ‘parvum, inhonestum, male fenestratum et male co-opertum ( small, dishonorable, badly windowed and badly roofed) in 1281 and 1301 when funds were found to reroof, renovate, rebulld and extend. The present nave with chancel under a continuous roof & south transept belong to this time - the south transept of c 1300 known as the Horwell Aisle was built and endowed by Sir Walter de Bathe who is buried beneath the south window of this chapel. There are two hagioscopes in the church, one to secure a view of the altar in the south aisle from the nave, and the other that the high altar may be seen from the south transept Chapel.

The east window, dating from c1300, was erected probably in commemoration of Archdeacon Sawbridge, Canon of Exeter, and afterwards Bishop of Winchester. Outside the window are two angels supporting shields bearing the arms of Exeter and Winchester.

The north Copplestone aisle and chapel followed c 1460 built as a private family chantry c1460 by Philip and Walter Coplestone as executors of the will of their father John, who with his wife Elizabeth was buried in the aisle. www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/b708U6BKnZ By late 16c the family had installed a fireplace in there for their comfort (the chimney still exists www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/y0146jg273 ) and their carved prie dieu carved in 1472 for the marriage of Philip Coplestone to heiress Anne Bonville still survives.

The capital between nave and chancel includes and Coplestone arms and the wall above is pierced for the rood gallery (the nave screen was removed in 1805 ( sad !!! ) ). The chapel screen across the north aisle and the parclose of 1460 thankfully still exists.

The 15c font they would have used is also still here , its 17c cover topped with the image of a cleric who has been transformed in 19c into an angel with added wings. www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/s4Qu34H2A0ww.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/936B1J5ar1

 

The four stage tower with north side stair turret, has 6 bells, and was also added in the 15c, on the left inside edge is carved the intials I.C. and the date 1674 possibly for later work done by the Coplestones... (The clock was added in 19c,). Lower on the wall is a slate sundial signed by Harry Hems of Exeter and dated 1889 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/7099sLhU17 . On top is a 19c wrought iron weather vane. www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/vk4797Ed5J

The south porch was erected late 15c / early 16c between 3 small 14c windows.

The rood screen has been removed (a faculty was obtained for its removal, August 17th 1805), but the old opening in the chancel arch for access to the rood loft remains.

Reseating and restoration took place in 1854; minor renovation work c 1890 and tower restored 1925-6.

 

The registers which date from 1558.curiously record that "Ellen Hook buried, August 3rd, but not in woolen as the act was unknown to us" which begs the question If they did not know of the act why should the fact that she was not buried in "woolen" be mentioned? the act had been passed 12 years previously.

I have been to Throwley on at least three previous occasions, the fourth was going to be during Ride and Stride in September, but another crawler told me it had failed to open as per the list.

 

St Michael and All Angles is a large and from the outside and interesting looking church, looked like it had a story to tell. So, last week, I contacted the wardens through the CofE A church Near You website, I got a reply and a date and time agreed for Saturday morning.

 

We arrived 15 minutes early, and it was as locked as ever, but on a fine if frosty morning took the time to study the church ad churchyard, and saw yet more fine details we had missed previously.

 

Dead on time the warden arrived, and was very welcoming indeed. They loved to have visitors she said. Now I know how to contact them, I can see that.

 

She was clearly proud of the church, and rightly so, most impressive was the south chapel with a pair of kneeling couples on top of chest tombs, staring at each other for all eternity.

 

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St Michael & All Angels is the parish church of Throwley. The first church on the site was probably built between 800 and 825. This would have been a small wooden structure, barely distinguishable from a farm building.

 

After the Norman Conquest in 1066 this was replaced by a Romanesque stone structure.

 

This was still small, but as the population of the parish increased the church was enlarged, until in about 1510 it reached its present size. Since then its appearance has changed little, although an extra storey was added to the tower - now far seen - in the 1860s.

 

The church has an elaborate Romanesque west entrance; its east window in the chancel, by Curtis, Ward & Hughes of Soho, London, is a memorial to Throwley men who gave their lives in the First World War.

 

In the Harris chapel is the church's newest stained-glass window, commemorating Dorothy Lady Harris who died in 1981. It was designed and executed in the Canterbury Cathedral Workshops by Frederick Cole (see pictures on left).

 

The church has more than its fair share of fine 16th to 19th century monuments, mainly to members of the local Sondes and Harris families, and these are all described.

 

www.faversham.org/community/churches/throwley.aspx

 

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TQ 95 NE THROWLEY THROWLEY

ROAD

(west side)

4/181

Church of

St. Michael

and All

24.1.67 Angels

 

GV I

 

Parish Church. C12, C13 north chapel, C14 south chapel, C15

nave arcades, restored 1866 and tower heightened. Flint and

plain tiled roofs. Chancel, north and south chapels, nave and

aisles, south tower and south porch. West doorway, C12, with

attached shafts and 3 orders, the outer panelled with X's on

circles, the centre roll moulded with the blocks offset and

alternately projecting, the inner with more X's on circles,

with 2 offset buttresses either side of doorway. South aisle

with plinth, string course and parapet, 3 offset buttresses and

C15 Perpendicular windows. South tower of 2 stages with square

south-eastern stair turret and C16 moulded brick surround

sundial. Water spouts on each corner in the 4 Evangelical

symbols. Half-timbered C19 south porch, south doorway with

rolled and double hollow chamfered surround, and outer surround

with label and quatrefoil spandrels. North aisle under 1 roof

with nave, with C15 fenestration, and C19 chimney to north west.

North and south chapels with C14 cusped 'Y' tracery fenestration,

with hollow chamfered and ogee drip moulds. Chancel east

window C19 curvilinear style. Interior: 2 bay nave arcades,

double hollow chamfered arches on octagonal piers. C12 single

arches to north and south eastern bay, that to south recessed

and double chamfered through tower wall. Barrel roof.

Chamfered arch on corbels from south aisle to tower, itself

with corbel table on south wall, and triple arch through to south

chapel C19 chancel arch. Chancel with 2 bay double chamfered

arcade to north chapel with octagonal capitals on round piers, and

single double chamfered arch on round responds to south chapel.

Fittings: hollow chamfered piscina and sedile in window reveal in

chancel and cusped recess in north wall. C19 reredos and altar

rail. Cusped piscina and four centred arched wall recess in

south chapel. Choir stalls, some C19, the four on the south C15

with carved misericords. Monuments: south chapel C16 chest tomb,

with shields in panelled sides, moulded plinth, lozenge-shaped

flowers, fluting and frieze. Chest tomb, Sir George Sondes,

Earl of Faversham, d.1677. Black marble with blank panelled sides.

Inscription on the top panel (made 1728). Standing monument,

Sir Thomas Sondes, died 1592. Marble tomb chest, gadrooned with

achievements on side panels. Kneeling alabaster figures of

knight and his Lady on opposite sides of central prayer desk,

carrying inscription. Mary Sondes, died 1603. Smaller and

identical to Sir Thomas Sonde's monument, with 2 adults and 2

infant sons and daughters on either side of sarcophagus. Misplaced

scrolled and enriched carved achievement on floor to east of

those monuments. Wall plaque, Captain Thomas Sondes, died 1668.

Black and white marble, with draped apron, swagged and draped

sides with military trophies. Broken segmental pediment with male

bust. Signed W.S. (B.0.E. Kent II, p.477 suggests William Stanton).

North chapel C16 chest tomb, moulded plinth, panelled sides with

shields (1 panel reset in south chapel south wall). Early C16

tomb recess with moulded jambs, with rope work, crenellated,

with late Perpendicular motifs in spandrels, and tomb with 3

panelled recesses with 2 shields on each panel. Wall plaque,

Charles Harris, d.1814, by Flaxman. White plaque on white

background; dead soldier lifted from the grave by Victory, with

palms and cannon in background. Statue, to George, first Lord

Harris, life size soldier with sword and plans, on four foot

plinth. By George Rennie, 1835. Nave, wall plaque, Stephen

Bunce, d.1634. Black plaque on coved base and apron. Foliated

sides. Scrolled nowy cornice and pediment with achievement.

(See B.O.E. Kent II, 1983, 476-7.)

  

Listing NGR: TQ9883454254

 

www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-176587-church-of-st-m...

 

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LIES the next parish north-eastward from Stalisfield. It is called in the record of Domesday, Trevelei, in later records Truley and Thruley, in Latin ones Trulega and Truilla; it is now written both Throwley and Throwleigh.

 

THROWLEY is mostly situated on high ground, it is a more pleasant and open country than that last described, for though wild and romantic among the hills and woods, it is not so dreary and forlorn, nor the soil so uncomfortable, being much drier. Besides it has a more chearful and brighter aspect from the width of the principal valley which leads through it, from north to south, whence the hills rise on each side, with smaller delves interspersed among them. There is a good deal of wood-ground, mostly of beech, interspersed at places with oak and hazel, with some good timber trees of oak among them, especially in the northern and southern parts; much of the former belongs to the dean and chapter of Canterbury. The soil is mostly chalk, the rest a heavy tillage land of red cludy earth, the whole mixed with quantities of flint stones. There are some level lands, especially in the disparked grounds of Throwley park, which are tolerably good, much more so than those in the other parts of the parish; on the east side of the park are the foundations of the antient seat of the Sondes's, with the church close to them, the whole lying on high ground, with a good prospect of the surrounding country; not far from it is Town place, now only a farm-house. There is no village, excepting the few houses in Abraham-street may be so called, the rest of the houses, which are mostly cottages, standing dispersed throughout it, either single, or built round the little greens or softalls, of which there are several in different parts of the parish. On a larger one of these called Wilgate-green, there is a house belonging to the estate of Mr. Philerenis Willis's heirs, and another larger antient one, which with the estate belonging to it, was formerly the property of the Chapmans, and sold by them to Christopher Vane, lord Barnard, in 1789, gave it, with his other estates in this county, to David Papillon, esq. of Acrise, the present owner of it. (fn. 1)

 

There was a family named Wolgate, from whose residence here this green seems to have taken its name of Wolgate, or Wilgate-green. After they had remained here for some generations they ended in a daughter, for Mr. Ralph Wolgate dying in 1642, his daughter Anne married Mr. William Genery, and entitled him to her father's possessions here, at Posiers, in Borden, and other parts of this county. The Woodwards seem afterwards to have possessed their estate here, several of whom lie buried under a tomb in Throwley church-yard.

 

About half a mile distant south-westward from Wilgate-green, in Abraham-street, there is a seat, called, from its high situation and expensive prospect, BELMONT; it was built in the year 1769, by Edward Wilks, esq. storekeeper of the royal powdermills at Faversham, who inclosed a paddock or shrubbery round it, and occasionally resided here, till he alienated it in 1779 to John Montresor, esq. the present proprietor, who resides in it.

 

THE BEECH TREE flourishes in the greatest plenty, as well single to a large size, as in stubs in the coppice woods, which consist mostly of them, as well in these parts as they do in general on the range of chalk hills throughout this county, in some places extending two or three miles in width, and in others much more. The large tracts of ground in this and other counties, overspread with the beech-tree, the random situation of their stubs, and other circumstances which occur in viewing them, are strong proofs of their being the indigenous growth of this island, notwithstanding Cæfar's premptory assertion, in his Commentaries, of there being none here in this time. The Britons, he says, had every material for use and building, the same as the Gauls, excepting the fir and the beech. The former there is positive proof of his being grossly mistaken in, which will in some measure destroy that implicit credit we might otherwise give to his authority, as to the latter; indeed, the continued opposition he met with from the Britons, during his short stay here, assorded him hardly a possibility of seeing any other parts of this country than those near which he landed, and in the direct track through which he marched to wards Coway-stakes; too small a space for him to form any assertion of the general products of a whole country, or even of the neighbouring parts to him. Of those he passed through, the soil was not adapted to the growth of the beech tree; from which we may with great probability suppose, there were none growing on them, nor are there any throughout them, even at this time, a circumstance which most likely induced him to suppose, and afterwards to make the assertion beforementioned.

 

The slints, with which the cold unfertile lands in these parts, as well as some others in this county, are covered, have been found to be of great use in the bringing forward the crops on them, either by their warmth, or somewhat equivalent to it. Heretofore the occupiers of these lands were anxious to have them picked up and carried off from their grounds, but experiencing the disadvantage of it in the failure of their crops, they, never practice it themselves, and submit to the surveyors of the highways taking them off with great reluctance.

 

In the parish there are quantities of the great whitish ash coloured shell snail, which are of an unusual large size; they are found likewise near Darking, in Surry, and between Puckeridge and Ware, in Hertsordshire. They are not originally of this island, but have been brought from abroad, many of them are at this time observed in different parts of Italy.

 

MR. JACOB, in this Plantœ Favershamienses, has enumerated several scare plants observed by him in this parish, besides which, that scarce one, the Orchis myodes, or fly satrition, has been found here, growing on the side of the path, in a small wood, midway between the church and Wilgate green.

 

THIS PLACE, at the taking of the general survey of Domesday, about the 15th years of the Conqueror's reign, was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, and earl of Kent, the king's half brother, under the general title of whose lands it is thus described in it:

 

Hersrid holds Trevelai. It was taxed at three sulings. The arable land is eight carucates. In demesne there is one, and twenty-four villeins, with five borderers having six carucates and an half. There is a church, and five servants. Wood for the pannage of twenty bogs, and in the city three houses of thirty-two pence. In the time of king Edward the Conssessor it was worth seven pounds, and afterwards six pounds. Ulnod held it of king Edward.

 

On the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, about four years afterwards, this among his other estates, became consiscated to the crown.

 

After which it was held of the king in capite, by barony, by Jeffry de Peverel, and together with other lands made up the barony of Peverel, as it was called, being assigned to him for the defence of Dover-castle, for which purpose he was bound to maintain a certain number of soldiers from time to time for the desence of it, and to repair and defend at this own charge a particular tower or turret there, called afterwards Turris Gattoniana, or Gatton's tower.

 

In the reign of king Henry III. Robert de Gatton, who took his name from the lordship of Gatton, in Surry, of which his ancestors had been some time owners, was in possession of the manor Thrule, and died in the 38th year of that reign, holding it by knight's service of the king, of the honor of Peverel, by reason of the escheat of that honor, &c. (fn. 2) He was succeded in it by this eldest son Hamo de Gatton, who resided here, and served the office of sheriff in the 14th year of Edward I. His eldest son of the same name left one son Edmund, then an instant, who afterwards dying under age, his two sisters became his coheirs, and divided his inheritance, of which Elizabeth entitled her husband William de Dene to this manor, and all the rest of the estates in Kent; and Margery entitled her husband Simon de Norwood to Gatton, and all the other estates in Surry.

 

William de Dene had a charter of free warren for his lands in Thurley, in the 10th year of Edward II. He died anno 15 Edward III. then holding this manor by the law of England, as of the inheritance of Elizabeth his late wife deceased, of the king in capite, as of the castle of Dover, by knight's service, and paying to the ward of that castle. His son Thomas de Dene died possessed of it in the 23d year of that reign, leaving four daughters his coheirs, of whom Benedicta, the eldest, married John de Shelving, and entitled him to this manor, on whose death likewise without male issue, his two daughters became his coheirs, of whom, Joane married John Brampton, alias Detling, of Detlingcourt, and Ellen married John de Bourne, the former of whom, in his wife's right, became possessed of this manor. He lest only one daughter Benedicta his heir, who carried it in marriage to Thomas at Town, who was possessed of much land about Charing, and bore for his arms, Argent, on a chevron, sable, three crosscrostess, ermine, which coat is in the windows of Kennington church, impaled with Ellis, of that place. He removed hither in the reign of Henry VI. and built a feat for his residence in this parish, about a quarter of a mile from the church, which he named, from himself, Town-place, soon after which he died, leaving his possessions to his three daughters and coheirs, of whom Eleanor was married to Richard Lewknor, of Challock; Bennet to William Watton, of Addington, and Elizabeth to William Sondes, of this parish and of Lingfield, in Surry, in which county his ancestors had been seated as early as the reign of Henry III. at Darking, where their seat was named, from them, Sondes-place. (fn. 3) Upon the division of their inheritance, the manor of Throwley was allotted to William Sondes, and Town-place, with the lands belonging to it in Throwley, to Richard Lewknor, who sold it to Edward Evering, the eldest son of Nicholas, third son of John Evering, of Evering, in Alkham, and his daughter and heir Mary marrying in 1565, with John Upton, of Faversham, entitled him to this estate, which he very soon afterwards alienated to Shilling, from whom it as quickly afterwards passed by sale to Anthony Sondes, esq. of this parish, whose ancestor William Sondes, on the division of the inheritance of the daughters and coheirs of Thomas at Town as before mentioned, had become possessed of the manor of Throwley, and the antient mansion of it, in which he afterwards resided, and dying in 1474, anno 15 Edward IV. was buried in the north chapel of this church, though he ordered by his will a memorial for himself to be put up in the church of Lingfield. The family of Sondes bore for their arms, Argent, three blackmores heads, couped, between two chevronels, sable, which, with the several quarterings borne by them, are painted on their monuments in this church.

 

His descendant, Anthony Sondes, esq. of Throwley, in the 31st year of Henry VIII. procured his lands in this county to be disgavelled, by the act then passed, and died in 1575, having married Joane, daughter of Sir John Fineux, chief justice of the king's bench, by whom he had two sons, Thomas and Michael, and two daughters.

 

He was succeeded by his eldest son Sir Thomas Sondes, sheriff anno 22 Elizabeth, who founded the school in this parish. He died in 1592, leaving issue only by his second wife, one daughter Frances, married to Sir John Leveson, so that on his death without male issue, his only brother Sir Michael Sondes, of Eastry, succeeded to this manor and seat of his ancestors, in which he afterwards resided. He was sheriff in the 26th year of queen Elizabeth's reign, and died in the 16th year of king James I. having had by his first wife Mary, only daughter and heir of George Fynch, esq. of Norton, six sons and six daughters.

 

Sir Richard Sondes, the eldest son, resided at Throwley, where he died in the 8th year of Charles I. having had by his two wives a numerous issue, of both sons and daughters. He was succeeded in this manor and seat, with the rest of his estates, by his eldest son Sir George Sondes, who was made a knight of the Bath at the coronation of king Charles I. soon after which he began to rebuild his seat of Lees-court, in Sheldwich, and fixed his residence there, under the description of which a more particular account of him and his descendants may be seen. Not long after which this seat was entirely pulled down, and the park adjoining to it disparked. The foundations of the former still remain, and the disparked lands still retain the name of Throwley park.

 

Sir George Sondes was afterwards created Earl of Faversham, Viscount Sondes, of Lees court, and Baron of Throwley, whose two daughters became his coheirs; Mary was married to Lewis, lord Duras, marquis of Blanquefort, and afterwards earl of Faversham, and Katherine to Lewis Watson, esq. afterwards earl of Rockingham, who each successively, in right of their respective wives, inherited this manor and estate, which has since descended in like manner as Lees-court, in Sheldwich, to the right hon. Lewis-Thomas, lord Sondes, and he is the present possessor of this manor, with Town-place and the estate belonging to it. Acourt baron is held for this manor.

 

The denne of Toppenden, alias Tappenden, in Smarden, in the Weald, is an appendage to the manor of Throwley, and is held of it.

 

WILDERTON, alias Wolderton, called also in antient deeds Wilrinton, is a manor in this parish, which was once part of the possessions of the eminent family of Badlesmere, of which Bartholomew de Badlesmere was possessed of it in the reign of Edward II. of whom, for his services in the Scottish wars, he obtained in the 9th year of it many liberties and franchises for his different manors and estates, among which was that of free-warren in the demesne lands of this manor of Wolrington. (fn. 4) Having afterwards associated himself with the discontented barons, he was taken prisoner, and executed in the 16th year of that reign. By the inquisition taken after his death, which was not till anno 2 Edward III. at which time both the process and judgement against him was reversed, it was found that he died possessed of this manor, among others, which were then restored to his son Giles de Badlesmere, who died in the 12th year of Edward III. s. p. being then possessed of this manor. Upon which his four sisters became his comanor fell to the share of Margery, wife of William, manor fell to the share of Margery, wife of William, lord Roos, of Hamlake, who survived her husband, and died in the 37th year of Edward III. possessed of it, as did her grandson John, lord Roos, in the 9th year of Henry V. leaving no issue by Margaret his wife, who survived him, and had this manor assigned to her as part of her dower. She afterwards married Roger Wentworth, esq. whom she likewise survived, and died anno 18 Edward IV.

 

On the death of John, lord Roos, her first husband, s. p. the reversion of this manor, after her death, became vested in Thomas his next surviving brother and heir, whose son Thomas afterwards became a firm friend to the house of Lancaster, for which he was attainted anno 1 Edward IV. and his lands were consiscated to the crown.

 

On the death of Margaret, the widow of Roger Wentworth, esq. the manor of Wulrington, but whether by grant or purchase, I have not found, came into the possession of Richard Lewknor, of Challock, owner likewise of Town-place, as before-mentioned, who sold it to Edward Evering, already mentioned before, whose daughter and heir Mary marrying in 1565 with Mr. John Upton, of Faversham, entitled him to it. He joined with his brother Nicholas Upton, in 1583, in the sale of the manor-house, with all the demesne lands belonging to it, excepting one small piece called the manor-croft, and a moiety of the ma nor, which, from its situation, from that time was known by the name of NORTH-WILDERTON, to Anthony Terry, of North Wilderton, yeoman, upon whose death it came to his four sons, Arnold, William, Thomas, and George Terry, who in 1601 made a partition of their father's estates, in which this manor was allotted to Arnold Terry, and William his brother, from whom it descended to Anthony Terry, of Ospringe, who in 1689 sold it to Mr. Thomas Knowler, of Faversham, who devised it to his sister Abigail for her life, and after her death to John Knowler, gent. of Ospringe, in fee. She afterwards married John Bates, and they, together with John Knowler above-mentioned, about the year 1694, joined in the sale of it to Mr. Edward Baldock, of Aylesford, and Bennet his wife. He survived her, and by deed of gift in 1717, vested the fee of it in his son Edward Baldock, who passed it away to Mr. Thomas Greenstreet, of Norton, whose niece Elizabeth marrying with Mr. Thomas Smith, of Gillingham, entitled him to this manor, which has been since sold to John Montresor, esq. of Belmont, in this parish, the present owner of it. A court baron is held for this manor.

 

There was antiently a chapel at this manor of Wilrintune, as appears by a charter, dated anno 1217, lately in the treasury of St. Bertin's monastery at St. Omers, concerning the privilege of a bell to it.

 

BUT THE REMAINING MOIETY of the manor, with a small crost called the manor-croft, lying at the west end of Hockstet green, remained with John Upton, and thenceforward acquired the name of SOUTH, alias GREAT WILDERTON. After whose death it came to his eldest son John Upton, who died possessed of it in 1635, and was buried with his ancestors in Faversham church. They bore for their arms, Quarterly, sable, and or; in the first and fourth quarters, a cross flory, argent, each charged with a trefoil, azure. (fn. 5)

 

John Upton, his eldest son, inherited this manor, and at his death in 1664, by his will gave it to his daughter Anne, wife of Charles Castle, gent. who in 1688 devised it to her brother-in-law George Naylor, and George White, the former of whom becoming solely possessed of it, in 1705 devised it to his nephew Mr. John Dalton, gent. of St. Edmundsbury, for his life, and afterwards to his son Thomas Dalton, and his issue, in consequence of which it descended to Benjamin Shuckforth, of Diss, in Norfolk, who in 1741 sold it to Mr. Giles Hilton, of Lords, in Sheldwich, on whose death it descended to his three sons, John, William, and Robert Hilton, the youngest of whom, Mr. Robert Hilton, as well as by the devise of his two elder brothers, afterwards became the sole proprietor of this manor. He died in 1782, and his son Mr. John Hilton, of Sheldwich, as next in the entail, succeeded to it, and is the present possessor of it.

 

IN THE REIGN of king Stephen there was AN ALIEN PRIORY established in this parish, as a cell to the Benedictine abbey of St. Bertin, at St. Omers, the capital of Artois, in Flanders, William de Ipre, in 1153, having given this church, with that of Chilham, to it for that purpose; which gift was confirmed by king Stephen the same year, as it was by the several archbishops afterwards, and by the charters of Henry II. and III. The charter of this gift was till lately in the treasury of the monastery of St. Bertin, as were all the others hereafter mentioned relating to this church and priory.

 

There are very few formal foundations of these cells, the lands of them being usually granted to some monastery abroad, as an increase to their revenues, after which, upon some part of them they built convenient houses, for the reception of a small convent. Some of these cells were made conventual, having a certain number of monks, who were mostly foreigners, and removeable at pleasure, sent over with a prior at their head, who were little more than stewards to the superior abbey, to which they returned the revenues of their possessions annually; others were permitted to chuse their own prior, and these were entire societies within themselves, and received their revenues for their own use and benefit, paying perhaps only a yearly pension as an acknowledgement of their subjection, or what was at first the surplusage to the foreign house.

 

The cell at Throwley was of the former sort, for which reason, during the wars between England and France, as their revenues went to support the king's enemies, these kind of houses were generally seized on by the king, and restored again upon the return of a peace. (fn. 6)

 

In the 25th year of king Edward I. Peter, prior of Triwle, as it was spelt in the record, made fine to the king at Westminster, and had a privy seal for his protection, by which he had the custody of his house and possessions committed to his care, to retain them during the king's pleasure, answering to his exchequer for the profits of them, according to the directions of him and his council.

 

The scite of this priory was that of the parsonage of the church of Throwley, which, with that of Chilham, seems to have been all their possessions in this kingdom. These were valued in the 8th year of king Richard II. anno 1384, each at forty pounds annually, and their temporalities at 20s. 6d. at which time the parsonage of Throwley was become appropriated to this cell, and a vicarage was endowed in it. In which situation this priory remained till the general suppression of the alien priories throughout England, in the 2d year of Henry V. anno 1414, which was enacted in the parliament then held at Leicester, and all their houses, revenues, &c. were given to the king and his heirs for ever. (fn. 7)

 

This priory, with its possessions, seems to have remained in the hands of the crown till Henry VI. in his 22d year, settled them on the monastery of Sion, in Middlesex, founded by his father Henry V. with which they continued till the general suppression of religious houses, this being one of those greater monasteries dissolved by the act of the 31st year of king Henry VIII. How this priory was disposed of afterwards by the crown, may be further seen hereafter, under the description of the parsonage of the church of Throwley.

 

The only remains left of this priory are some few foundations, and two walls of flint, which support a building, standing behind the parsonage-house and garden.

 

THERE IS A FREE SCHOOL in this parish, the house of which is situated adjoining to the church-yard, which was founded by Sir Thomas Sondes, who died in 1592, who by his will devised a house and six poundes per annum to the master of it, to dwell in, and as a recompence for his pains; but having charged his executors and not his heirs to the fulfilling of this bequest, and charged the payment of the above sum, among other charitable legacies, on several leasehold estates, the terms of which expired in his nephew Sir Richard Sondes's time, and the house having tumbled down for want of repairs, Sir George Sondes, son of Sir Richard above-mentioned, thought it unreasonable, as he had none of the estates, that he should be bound to maintain the school; however, he voluntarily paid the master his salary, and gave him a house to live in, both which have been continued by the possessors of Throwley manor to this time, as far as I can learn, as of their own free gift.

 

The present right hon. lord Sondes appoints the schoolmaster as such during pleasure, and pays him a salary of twelve pounds per annum, besides which, he allots him an house and garden, worth about six pounds per annum, which his lordship repairs from time to time, and for which no parochial or church-dues are paid. There are at present fourteen boys taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, gratis, in this school, which though taken mostly from the parishes of Throwley, Badlesmere, and Leveland, are not confined to those parishes.

 

Charities.

 

CATHERINE, LADY SONDES, gave by will the sum of 40s. a year, to be received yearly on St. Barnabas's day, towards the relief of the poor, payable from a farm in it, called Bell-horn, now belonging to lord Sondes, and now of that annual produce.

 

THERE WERE three alms-houses in this parish, the gift of one of the Sondes family; one of them was some time since burnt down, and has not been rebuilt, but lord Sondes allows the person nominated to it the value of it in money yearly.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about thirty, casually double that number.

 

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

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Michael, consists of three isles and three chancels. The steeple is a square tower, and stands in the centre of the south side of it, in which there is a peal of six bells, given in 1781, at the expence of Mr. Montresor, of Belmont. In the south isle is a memorial for Francis Hosier Hart, gent. obt. 1761, leaving three daughters, Mary, Elizabeth, and Diana Hosier. In the middle isle is a small monument for Stephen Bunce, esq. of this parish, one of the Antients of New-Inn, who died there in 1634, and was buried in St. Clement's church, London. In the middle chancel there are two stalls of wood, which are not fixed, and in the north isle three more of the like sort, joined together, with a desk before them, which seem to have been removed from the chancel, and were both intended for the use of the religious of the priory here. In the middle of this chancel is a memorial for Dr. Thomas Horsemonden, patron and rector of Purleigh, in Essex, prebendary of Lincoln, &c. who died anno 1632. In the north and south chancel are several monuments for the family of Sondes, with their essigies, arms and quarterings; one of them in the latter, a plain altar tomb of black marble for Sir George Sondes, earl of Faversham, his lady and descendants; many more of this family, as appears by the parish register, are buried in the vault underneath, but the family of Watson burying at Rockingham, this vault has not been opened for several years. The north and south chancels above-mentioned belonged, one to the possessors of Throwley manor, the other to those of Townplace, but they both belong now to lord Sondes.

 

There were formerly in the windows the arms of Sondes, Finch, and Gatton, and in the north window this inscriptin, Pray for the good estate of Alice Martyn, the which did make this window, MCCCCXLV.

 

In the church yard, at the west end of the north isle, there is a circular door-case of stone, having several bordures of Saxon ornaments carved round it. In the church-yard is an altar tomb for William Woodward, gent. of Wilgate-green, obt. 1681, and Anne his wife.

 

It appears by the will of William Sondes, esq. anno 1474, that this church had then constantly burning in it lights, dedicated to St. Michael, the Holy Trinity, the Holy Cross, St. Mary, St. Thomas, St. Christopher, St. George, St. Katherine, St. Margaret, St. Mary Magdalen, and St. Nicholas.

 

An account of the antient patronage of the church of Throwley has already been given, as first belonging to the alien priory here, and then to the monastery of Sion, to the time of the dissolution of the latter in the 31st year of Henry VIII. the year after which, the king granted the rectory, with the advowson of the vicarage of the church of Throwley, to the prebendary of Rugmer, in the cathedral church of St. Paul, London, in exchange for lands belonging to that prebend, to be inclosed within the king's park of Marybone, in pursuance of an act then passed. Since which this parsonage and advowson have continued part of the abovementioned prebend. The former is leased out by the present prebendary to the right hon. lord Sondes, but the advowson of the vicarage he retains in his own hands, and is the present patron of it.

 

¶There was a rent of 4l. 18s. 4d. reserved from the parsonage by king Henry VIII. nomine decimœ, which was granted by queen Elizabeth, in her third year, to archbishop Parker, among other premises, in exchange for several manors, lands, &c. belonging to that see, which rent still continues part of the revenue of the archbishopric.

 

A vicarage was endowed here in 1367, anno 42 king Edward III. by archbishop Langham, at which time the chapel of Wylrington belonged to it. (fn. 8)

 

It is valued in the king's books at 7l. 11s. 8d. and the yearly tenths at 15s. 2d.

 

In 1578 there were one hundred and eighty communicants here. In 1640 it was valued at forty-five pounds, communicants two hundred and twenty.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol6/pp445-461

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

  

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

 

Simon Knott 2002 (revised and updated 2007)

  

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/mendham.htm

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Kedington, and this inscription,

 

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

 

Anno Domini MDCCXLVI.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Shotford in Mendham,

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

 

Rectors of Shotford portion.

 

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

 

1318, Walter of Ipswich, priest.

 

1328, Jeffry de Swanton.

 

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

 

1339, Roger de Hempstede.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

The manor of Semere's

 

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

 

Whitendons, or Wichendons manor,

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Mendham's-Hall, or Mendham-Hall,

 

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

 

Kingshall in Mendham, (fn. 20)

 

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

 

The manor of Mendham Priory,

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

On a neat mural monument are the arms of

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

The next manor here, is called

 

Walsham-Hall,

 

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

 

I find the following account of the Hobarts buried here:

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Vivit post Funera Virtus.

 

On a black marble in the south isle,

 

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

 

Animam Cœlo, Corpus humo reddidit.

 

Miles another Son, buried Jun. 8, 1686.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

And this on a stone,

 

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

 

Expectans ultimum Sonum Tubæ.

 

On a mural monument against the north chancel wall,

 

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

 

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

 

In the chancel,

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Vicars here.

 

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

 

1305, Walter le Shepherd.

 

1318, Benedict.

 

1320, Hervy del Welle of Mendham.

 

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

 

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

 

1364, Edward de Flete.

 

1394, John de Hunstanton.

 

1505, Sir Jeffery Lowen.

 

1534, Will. Grave.

 

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

 

1632, George Fen.

 

1653, Mr. John Harward, minister.

 

1671, John Mayhew, sequestrator.

 

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

 

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

 

Medefield, or Metfield, (fn. 21)

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

 

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

 

Munere Baptiste, Benedictus sit chorus iste.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

It seems this manor, called

 

Metefield In Mendham,

 

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

 

Johannes Jermy Miles quondam Dominus et qui obiit

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

LEGO Star Wars Star Destroyer Imperial Fleet

Monument to Archbishop Matthew Hutton 1605 in the south choir aisle. Above are his arms Hutton impaling the arms of the See of Durham and the See of York.

Below the reclining figure of Matthew Hutton are his 2 sons Timothy & Thomas behind probably their mother Beatrix Fincham (a daughter would surely kneel behind ?)

" You see here, reader, the effigy of his body; would you see also the image of his mind, think of Ambrose or of Augustine, for he possessed the genius and acuteness of the one, the accuracy and judgment of the other."

 

This monument was damaged in the fire of 1829 and restored in 1844 by the then sheriff, Sir Timothy Hutton. It was restored and repainted a second time in 1977 at the expense of the Hutton family.

 

Matthew was born in 1529 the son of Matthew Hutton of Priest Hutton, Warton Lancs

 

He m1 1564 Catherine 1565 daughter of Godfrey Fulnetby by Elisabeth daughter of Edward Goodrich & Jane Williamson; Catherine was a niece of Bishop Thomas Goodrich of Ely.

 

He m2 1567 Beatrix 1582 daughter of Joane & Sir Thomas Fincham 1546 of Marske in Swaledale

Children

1. Timothy 1569 - 1629 m Elizabeth 1625 flic.kr/p/5nn5Pz daughter of George Bowes of Steatham Park, near Stainton Durham by Jane flic.kr/p/4mEPri daughter of Sir John Talbot of Grafton and Albrighton 1555 and Frances Gifford of Chillington www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/2202974045/

2. Thomas b/d 1570

3. Ralph b1574

4. Matthew b150

5. Thomas of Nether Poppleton 1620 flic.kr/p/7LMdE6 m Anne 1651-2 flic.kr/p/7LM7Qp daughter of Sir John Bennet of Dawley

1. Elizabeth 1602 m Richard Remington of Lockington, Prebendary of North Newbold, Yorks & Archdeacon of Cleveland, son of Richard Remington and Agnes Blake

2. Thomasine qt72 - 1599 m (1st wife) Sir William Gee 1611 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/1B41F3

3. Anne d 1576 young

4. Anne b 1577 m Sir John Calverley of Littleburne, Durham,

  

He m3 1582 Frances daughter of Richard Clopton of Long Melford & Margery daughter of William Playters of Sotterley and Jane Jenny flic.kr/p/gya53q ; (Frances was the widow of Martin Bowes 1573 of f Hagthorpe and Babthorpe, with 3 children : Cordelia m John May son of John May and Amy Vowell; Richard m Mary daughter of Robert Brooke; ,& Thomas

 

During his years as Archbishop of York, Matthew continued his tradition of being outspoken to the point of bluntness and he did not hesitate to speak the truth (as he saw it) to any person, including the Queen. When summoned in 1596 to give a sermon at court before the Queen, he spoke on the importance of establishing a royal succession and specifically named the king of Scots To say the Queen was offended by this speech would be a gross understatement. Hutton later told a friend that he left "scarcely knowing whether he were a prisoner or a free man.

Matthew continued up until his death to urge for a relaxation in the persecution of the puritans.

He died 16th January 1605 at Bishopthorpe leaving a landed estate valued at £500 per annum

 

(Third wife Frances Clopton's survived him and lived comfortably. Her will was proved on 3 November 1619. In it she asked to be buried in York Minster, setting aside £100 to cover the costs, and making bequests

1. to her grandson Matthew Bowes, son of her late deceased son Thomas Bowes, her dwelling-house in Coppergate etc "as they were confirmed to mee and Richard Bowes my sonne by Parcivall Levett of Yorke, merchant, and Eliz. his wife. Whereas I am enformed that the estate of the said house is in my saide sonne Richard, for term of his life, as my motherly care towards him hath beene very greate in many wayes, soe as I hold him sufficiently provided for, and whereas I have lent him 800l., he to suffer Mat. Bowes to have the said house."

2. to her grandson Matthew Bowes, her dovecote, garden and orchard near the the church of St Mary's, Castlegate which she bought from John Brook, merchant, deceased

3. to her brother William Clopton, one of her gilt bowls

4. to her daughter Francis Parmeter and Jayne Burton, "either of them, one whyte silver boule (bowl) of the bigger sort"

5. to her grandson Matthew Bowes, the following articles which his late father THoas Bowes had entrusted to her to keep for him: "a long quitting (cushion) of crimson velvett with the Bowes their armes on it, one silver boule (bowl) of the value of twentie nobles whereon the name of the saide Matthewe is graven, two gould rings, one with 30s., & the other with the sparke of a dyamond."

6. to Lady Reade, widow, a velvet cloak and silver bowl

£10 to the poor of York

7. 40 shillings to a godly preacher for a sermon at her funeral

8. the residue to her son Richard Bowes, whom she appointed executor

9. Roger Bellwood of York, "preacher of God's word, and schoolmaster" to her grandson Matthew, to be Matthew's governor until he came of age. Roger Bellwood, Henry Roger of York (clerk), and Thomas Whitney of York gent. were appointed supervisors of the administration of the will).

 

www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hutton-83

- York Minster

Picture with thanks - copyright Andrewrabbott CCL commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Memorial_to_Archbishop_Ma...

   

I have been to Throwley on at least three previous occasions, the fourth was going to be during Ride and Stride in September, but another crawler told me it had failed to open as per the list.

 

St Michael and All Angles is a large and from the outside and interesting looking church, looked like it had a story to tell. So, last week, I contacted the wardens through the CofE A church Near You website, I got a reply and a date and time agreed for Saturday morning.

 

We arrived 15 minutes early, and it was as locked as ever, but on a fine if frosty morning took the time to study the church ad churchyard, and saw yet more fine details we had missed previously.

 

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St Michael & All Angels is the parish church of Throwley. The first church on the site was probably built between 800 and 825. This would have been a small wooden structure, barely distinguishable from a farm building.

 

After the Norman Conquest in 1066 this was replaced by a Romanesque stone structure.

 

This was still small, but as the population of the parish increased the church was enlarged, until in about 1510 it reached its present size. Since then its appearance has changed little, although an extra storey was added to the tower - now far seen - in the 1860s.

 

The church has an elaborate Romanesque west entrance; its east window in the chancel, by Curtis, Ward & Hughes of Soho, London, is a memorial to Throwley men who gave their lives in the First World War.

 

In the Harris chapel is the church's newest stained-glass window, commemorating Dorothy Lady Harris who died in 1981. It was designed and executed in the Canterbury Cathedral Workshops by Frederick Cole (see pictures on left).

 

The church has more than its fair share of fine 16th to 19th century monuments, mainly to members of the local Sondes and Harris families, and these are all described.

 

www.faversham.org/community/churches/throwley.aspx

 

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

 

TQ 95 NE THROWLEY THROWLEY

ROAD

(west side)

4/181

Church of

St. Michael

and All

24.1.67 Angels

 

GV I

 

Parish Church. C12, C13 north chapel, C14 south chapel, C15

nave arcades, restored 1866 and tower heightened. Flint and

plain tiled roofs. Chancel, north and south chapels, nave and

aisles, south tower and south porch. West doorway, C12, with

attached shafts and 3 orders, the outer panelled with X's on

circles, the centre roll moulded with the blocks offset and

alternately projecting, the inner with more X's on circles,

with 2 offset buttresses either side of doorway. South aisle

with plinth, string course and parapet, 3 offset buttresses and

C15 Perpendicular windows. South tower of 2 stages with square

south-eastern stair turret and C16 moulded brick surround

sundial. Water spouts on each corner in the 4 Evangelical

symbols. Half-timbered C19 south porch, south doorway with

rolled and double hollow chamfered surround, and outer surround

with label and quatrefoil spandrels. North aisle under 1 roof

with nave, with C15 fenestration, and C19 chimney to north west.

North and south chapels with C14 cusped 'Y' tracery fenestration,

with hollow chamfered and ogee drip moulds. Chancel east

window C19 curvilinear style. Interior: 2 bay nave arcades,

double hollow chamfered arches on octagonal piers. C12 single

arches to north and south eastern bay, that to south recessed

and double chamfered through tower wall. Barrel roof.

Chamfered arch on corbels from south aisle to tower, itself

with corbel table on south wall, and triple arch through to south

chapel C19 chancel arch. Chancel with 2 bay double chamfered

arcade to north chapel with octagonal capitals on round piers, and

single double chamfered arch on round responds to south chapel.

Fittings: hollow chamfered piscina and sedile in window reveal in

chancel and cusped recess in north wall. C19 reredos and altar

rail. Cusped piscina and four centred arched wall recess in

south chapel. Choir stalls, some C19, the four on the south C15

with carved misericords. Monuments: south chapel C16 chest tomb,

with shields in panelled sides, moulded plinth, lozenge-shaped

flowers, fluting and frieze. Chest tomb, Sir George Sondes,

Earl of Faversham, d.1677. Black marble with blank panelled sides.

Inscription on the top panel (made 1728). Standing monument,

Sir Thomas Sondes, died 1592. Marble tomb chest, gadrooned with

achievements on side panels. Kneeling alabaster figures of

knight and his Lady on opposite sides of central prayer desk,

carrying inscription. Mary Sondes, died 1603. Smaller and

identical to Sir Thomas Sonde's monument, with 2 adults and 2

infant sons and daughters on either side of sarcophagus. Misplaced

scrolled and enriched carved achievement on floor to east of

those monuments. Wall plaque, Captain Thomas Sondes, died 1668.

Black and white marble, with draped apron, swagged and draped

sides with military trophies. Broken segmental pediment with male

bust. Signed W.S. (B.0.E. Kent II, p.477 suggests William Stanton).

North chapel C16 chest tomb, moulded plinth, panelled sides with

shields (1 panel reset in south chapel south wall). Early C16

tomb recess with moulded jambs, with rope work, crenellated,

with late Perpendicular motifs in spandrels, and tomb with 3

panelled recesses with 2 shields on each panel. Wall plaque,

Charles Harris, d.1814, by Flaxman. White plaque on white

background; dead soldier lifted from the grave by Victory, with

palms and cannon in background. Statue, to George, first Lord

Harris, life size soldier with sword and plans, on four foot

plinth. By George Rennie, 1835. Nave, wall plaque, Stephen

Bunce, d.1634. Black plaque on coved base and apron. Foliated

sides. Scrolled nowy cornice and pediment with achievement.

(See B.O.E. Kent II, 1983, 476-7.)

  

Listing NGR: TQ9883454254

 

www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-176587-church-of-st-m...

 

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LIES the next parish north-eastward from Stalisfield. It is called in the record of Domesday, Trevelei, in later records Truley and Thruley, in Latin ones Trulega and Truilla; it is now written both Throwley and Throwleigh.

 

THROWLEY is mostly situated on high ground, it is a more pleasant and open country than that last described, for though wild and romantic among the hills and woods, it is not so dreary and forlorn, nor the soil so uncomfortable, being much drier. Besides it has a more chearful and brighter aspect from the width of the principal valley which leads through it, from north to south, whence the hills rise on each side, with smaller delves interspersed among them. There is a good deal of wood-ground, mostly of beech, interspersed at places with oak and hazel, with some good timber trees of oak among them, especially in the northern and southern parts; much of the former belongs to the dean and chapter of Canterbury. The soil is mostly chalk, the rest a heavy tillage land of red cludy earth, the whole mixed with quantities of flint stones. There are some level lands, especially in the disparked grounds of Throwley park, which are tolerably good, much more so than those in the other parts of the parish; on the east side of the park are the foundations of the antient seat of the Sondes's, with the church close to them, the whole lying on high ground, with a good prospect of the surrounding country; not far from it is Town place, now only a farm-house. There is no village, excepting the few houses in Abraham-street may be so called, the rest of the houses, which are mostly cottages, standing dispersed throughout it, either single, or built round the little greens or softalls, of which there are several in different parts of the parish. On a larger one of these called Wilgate-green, there is a house belonging to the estate of Mr. Philerenis Willis's heirs, and another larger antient one, which with the estate belonging to it, was formerly the property of the Chapmans, and sold by them to Christopher Vane, lord Barnard, in 1789, gave it, with his other estates in this county, to David Papillon, esq. of Acrise, the present owner of it. (fn. 1)

 

There was a family named Wolgate, from whose residence here this green seems to have taken its name of Wolgate, or Wilgate-green. After they had remained here for some generations they ended in a daughter, for Mr. Ralph Wolgate dying in 1642, his daughter Anne married Mr. William Genery, and entitled him to her father's possessions here, at Posiers, in Borden, and other parts of this county. The Woodwards seem afterwards to have possessed their estate here, several of whom lie buried under a tomb in Throwley church-yard.

 

About half a mile distant south-westward from Wilgate-green, in Abraham-street, there is a seat, called, from its high situation and expensive prospect, BELMONT; it was built in the year 1769, by Edward Wilks, esq. storekeeper of the royal powdermills at Faversham, who inclosed a paddock or shrubbery round it, and occasionally resided here, till he alienated it in 1779 to John Montresor, esq. the present proprietor, who resides in it.

 

THE BEECH TREE flourishes in the greatest plenty, as well single to a large size, as in stubs in the coppice woods, which consist mostly of them, as well in these parts as they do in general on the range of chalk hills throughout this county, in some places extending two or three miles in width, and in others much more. The large tracts of ground in this and other counties, overspread with the beech-tree, the random situation of their stubs, and other circumstances which occur in viewing them, are strong proofs of their being the indigenous growth of this island, notwithstanding Cæfar's premptory assertion, in his Commentaries, of there being none here in this time. The Britons, he says, had every material for use and building, the same as the Gauls, excepting the fir and the beech. The former there is positive proof of his being grossly mistaken in, which will in some measure destroy that implicit credit we might otherwise give to his authority, as to the latter; indeed, the continued opposition he met with from the Britons, during his short stay here, assorded him hardly a possibility of seeing any other parts of this country than those near which he landed, and in the direct track through which he marched to wards Coway-stakes; too small a space for him to form any assertion of the general products of a whole country, or even of the neighbouring parts to him. Of those he passed through, the soil was not adapted to the growth of the beech tree; from which we may with great probability suppose, there were none growing on them, nor are there any throughout them, even at this time, a circumstance which most likely induced him to suppose, and afterwards to make the assertion beforementioned.

 

The slints, with which the cold unfertile lands in these parts, as well as some others in this county, are covered, have been found to be of great use in the bringing forward the crops on them, either by their warmth, or somewhat equivalent to it. Heretofore the occupiers of these lands were anxious to have them picked up and carried off from their grounds, but experiencing the disadvantage of it in the failure of their crops, they, never practice it themselves, and submit to the surveyors of the highways taking them off with great reluctance.

 

In the parish there are quantities of the great whitish ash coloured shell snail, which are of an unusual large size; they are found likewise near Darking, in Surry, and between Puckeridge and Ware, in Hertsordshire. They are not originally of this island, but have been brought from abroad, many of them are at this time observed in different parts of Italy.

 

MR. JACOB, in this Plantœ Favershamienses, has enumerated several scare plants observed by him in this parish, besides which, that scarce one, the Orchis myodes, or fly satrition, has been found here, growing on the side of the path, in a small wood, midway between the church and Wilgate green.

 

THIS PLACE, at the taking of the general survey of Domesday, about the 15th years of the Conqueror's reign, was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, and earl of Kent, the king's half brother, under the general title of whose lands it is thus described in it:

 

Hersrid holds Trevelai. It was taxed at three sulings. The arable land is eight carucates. In demesne there is one, and twenty-four villeins, with five borderers having six carucates and an half. There is a church, and five servants. Wood for the pannage of twenty bogs, and in the city three houses of thirty-two pence. In the time of king Edward the Conssessor it was worth seven pounds, and afterwards six pounds. Ulnod held it of king Edward.

 

On the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, about four years afterwards, this among his other estates, became consiscated to the crown.

 

After which it was held of the king in capite, by barony, by Jeffry de Peverel, and together with other lands made up the barony of Peverel, as it was called, being assigned to him for the defence of Dover-castle, for which purpose he was bound to maintain a certain number of soldiers from time to time for the desence of it, and to repair and defend at this own charge a particular tower or turret there, called afterwards Turris Gattoniana, or Gatton's tower.

 

In the reign of king Henry III. Robert de Gatton, who took his name from the lordship of Gatton, in Surry, of which his ancestors had been some time owners, was in possession of the manor Thrule, and died in the 38th year of that reign, holding it by knight's service of the king, of the honor of Peverel, by reason of the escheat of that honor, &c. (fn. 2) He was succeded in it by this eldest son Hamo de Gatton, who resided here, and served the office of sheriff in the 14th year of Edward I. His eldest son of the same name left one son Edmund, then an instant, who afterwards dying under age, his two sisters became his coheirs, and divided his inheritance, of which Elizabeth entitled her husband William de Dene to this manor, and all the rest of the estates in Kent; and Margery entitled her husband Simon de Norwood to Gatton, and all the other estates in Surry.

 

William de Dene had a charter of free warren for his lands in Thurley, in the 10th year of Edward II. He died anno 15 Edward III. then holding this manor by the law of England, as of the inheritance of Elizabeth his late wife deceased, of the king in capite, as of the castle of Dover, by knight's service, and paying to the ward of that castle. His son Thomas de Dene died possessed of it in the 23d year of that reign, leaving four daughters his coheirs, of whom Benedicta, the eldest, married John de Shelving, and entitled him to this manor, on whose death likewise without male issue, his two daughters became his coheirs, of whom, Joane married John Brampton, alias Detling, of Detlingcourt, and Ellen married John de Bourne, the former of whom, in his wife's right, became possessed of this manor. He lest only one daughter Benedicta his heir, who carried it in marriage to Thomas at Town, who was possessed of much land about Charing, and bore for his arms, Argent, on a chevron, sable, three crosscrostess, ermine, which coat is in the windows of Kennington church, impaled with Ellis, of that place. He removed hither in the reign of Henry VI. and built a feat for his residence in this parish, about a quarter of a mile from the church, which he named, from himself, Town-place, soon after which he died, leaving his possessions to his three daughters and coheirs, of whom Eleanor was married to Richard Lewknor, of Challock; Bennet to William Watton, of Addington, and Elizabeth to William Sondes, of this parish and of Lingfield, in Surry, in which county his ancestors had been seated as early as the reign of Henry III. at Darking, where their seat was named, from them, Sondes-place. (fn. 3) Upon the division of their inheritance, the manor of Throwley was allotted to William Sondes, and Town-place, with the lands belonging to it in Throwley, to Richard Lewknor, who sold it to Edward Evering, the eldest son of Nicholas, third son of John Evering, of Evering, in Alkham, and his daughter and heir Mary marrying in 1565, with John Upton, of Faversham, entitled him to this estate, which he very soon afterwards alienated to Shilling, from whom it as quickly afterwards passed by sale to Anthony Sondes, esq. of this parish, whose ancestor William Sondes, on the division of the inheritance of the daughters and coheirs of Thomas at Town as before mentioned, had become possessed of the manor of Throwley, and the antient mansion of it, in which he afterwards resided, and dying in 1474, anno 15 Edward IV. was buried in the north chapel of this church, though he ordered by his will a memorial for himself to be put up in the church of Lingfield. The family of Sondes bore for their arms, Argent, three blackmores heads, couped, between two chevronels, sable, which, with the several quarterings borne by them, are painted on their monuments in this church.

 

His descendant, Anthony Sondes, esq. of Throwley, in the 31st year of Henry VIII. procured his lands in this county to be disgavelled, by the act then passed, and died in 1575, having married Joane, daughter of Sir John Fineux, chief justice of the king's bench, by whom he had two sons, Thomas and Michael, and two daughters.

 

He was succeeded by his eldest son Sir Thomas Sondes, sheriff anno 22 Elizabeth, who founded the school in this parish. He died in 1592, leaving issue only by his second wife, one daughter Frances, married to Sir John Leveson, so that on his death without male issue, his only brother Sir Michael Sondes, of Eastry, succeeded to this manor and seat of his ancestors, in which he afterwards resided. He was sheriff in the 26th year of queen Elizabeth's reign, and died in the 16th year of king James I. having had by his first wife Mary, only daughter and heir of George Fynch, esq. of Norton, six sons and six daughters.

 

Sir Richard Sondes, the eldest son, resided at Throwley, where he died in the 8th year of Charles I. having had by his two wives a numerous issue, of both sons and daughters. He was succeeded in this manor and seat, with the rest of his estates, by his eldest son Sir George Sondes, who was made a knight of the Bath at the coronation of king Charles I. soon after which he began to rebuild his seat of Lees-court, in Sheldwich, and fixed his residence there, under the description of which a more particular account of him and his descendants may be seen. Not long after which this seat was entirely pulled down, and the park adjoining to it disparked. The foundations of the former still remain, and the disparked lands still retain the name of Throwley park.

 

Sir George Sondes was afterwards created Earl of Faversham, Viscount Sondes, of Lees court, and Baron of Throwley, whose two daughters became his coheirs; Mary was married to Lewis, lord Duras, marquis of Blanquefort, and afterwards earl of Faversham, and Katherine to Lewis Watson, esq. afterwards earl of Rockingham, who each successively, in right of their respective wives, inherited this manor and estate, which has since descended in like manner as Lees-court, in Sheldwich, to the right hon. Lewis-Thomas, lord Sondes, and he is the present possessor of this manor, with Town-place and the estate belonging to it. Acourt baron is held for this manor.

 

The denne of Toppenden, alias Tappenden, in Smarden, in the Weald, is an appendage to the manor of Throwley, and is held of it.

 

WILDERTON, alias Wolderton, called also in antient deeds Wilrinton, is a manor in this parish, which was once part of the possessions of the eminent family of Badlesmere, of which Bartholomew de Badlesmere was possessed of it in the reign of Edward II. of whom, for his services in the Scottish wars, he obtained in the 9th year of it many liberties and franchises for his different manors and estates, among which was that of free-warren in the demesne lands of this manor of Wolrington. (fn. 4) Having afterwards associated himself with the discontented barons, he was taken prisoner, and executed in the 16th year of that reign. By the inquisition taken after his death, which was not till anno 2 Edward III. at which time both the process and judgement against him was reversed, it was found that he died possessed of this manor, among others, which were then restored to his son Giles de Badlesmere, who died in the 12th year of Edward III. s. p. being then possessed of this manor. Upon which his four sisters became his comanor fell to the share of Margery, wife of William, manor fell to the share of Margery, wife of William, lord Roos, of Hamlake, who survived her husband, and died in the 37th year of Edward III. possessed of it, as did her grandson John, lord Roos, in the 9th year of Henry V. leaving no issue by Margaret his wife, who survived him, and had this manor assigned to her as part of her dower. She afterwards married Roger Wentworth, esq. whom she likewise survived, and died anno 18 Edward IV.

 

On the death of John, lord Roos, her first husband, s. p. the reversion of this manor, after her death, became vested in Thomas his next surviving brother and heir, whose son Thomas afterwards became a firm friend to the house of Lancaster, for which he was attainted anno 1 Edward IV. and his lands were consiscated to the crown.

 

On the death of Margaret, the widow of Roger Wentworth, esq. the manor of Wulrington, but whether by grant or purchase, I have not found, came into the possession of Richard Lewknor, of Challock, owner likewise of Town-place, as before-mentioned, who sold it to Edward Evering, already mentioned before, whose daughter and heir Mary marrying in 1565 with Mr. John Upton, of Faversham, entitled him to it. He joined with his brother Nicholas Upton, in 1583, in the sale of the manor-house, with all the demesne lands belonging to it, excepting one small piece called the manor-croft, and a moiety of the ma nor, which, from its situation, from that time was known by the name of NORTH-WILDERTON, to Anthony Terry, of North Wilderton, yeoman, upon whose death it came to his four sons, Arnold, William, Thomas, and George Terry, who in 1601 made a partition of their father's estates, in which this manor was allotted to Arnold Terry, and William his brother, from whom it descended to Anthony Terry, of Ospringe, who in 1689 sold it to Mr. Thomas Knowler, of Faversham, who devised it to his sister Abigail for her life, and after her death to John Knowler, gent. of Ospringe, in fee. She afterwards married John Bates, and they, together with John Knowler above-mentioned, about the year 1694, joined in the sale of it to Mr. Edward Baldock, of Aylesford, and Bennet his wife. He survived her, and by deed of gift in 1717, vested the fee of it in his son Edward Baldock, who passed it away to Mr. Thomas Greenstreet, of Norton, whose niece Elizabeth marrying with Mr. Thomas Smith, of Gillingham, entitled him to this manor, which has been since sold to John Montresor, esq. of Belmont, in this parish, the present owner of it. A court baron is held for this manor.

 

There was antiently a chapel at this manor of Wilrintune, as appears by a charter, dated anno 1217, lately in the treasury of St. Bertin's monastery at St. Omers, concerning the privilege of a bell to it.

 

BUT THE REMAINING MOIETY of the manor, with a small crost called the manor-croft, lying at the west end of Hockstet green, remained with John Upton, and thenceforward acquired the name of SOUTH, alias GREAT WILDERTON. After whose death it came to his eldest son John Upton, who died possessed of it in 1635, and was buried with his ancestors in Faversham church. They bore for their arms, Quarterly, sable, and or; in the first and fourth quarters, a cross flory, argent, each charged with a trefoil, azure. (fn. 5)

 

John Upton, his eldest son, inherited this manor, and at his death in 1664, by his will gave it to his daughter Anne, wife of Charles Castle, gent. who in 1688 devised it to her brother-in-law George Naylor, and George White, the former of whom becoming solely possessed of it, in 1705 devised it to his nephew Mr. John Dalton, gent. of St. Edmundsbury, for his life, and afterwards to his son Thomas Dalton, and his issue, in consequence of which it descended to Benjamin Shuckforth, of Diss, in Norfolk, who in 1741 sold it to Mr. Giles Hilton, of Lords, in Sheldwich, on whose death it descended to his three sons, John, William, and Robert Hilton, the youngest of whom, Mr. Robert Hilton, as well as by the devise of his two elder brothers, afterwards became the sole proprietor of this manor. He died in 1782, and his son Mr. John Hilton, of Sheldwich, as next in the entail, succeeded to it, and is the present possessor of it.

 

IN THE REIGN of king Stephen there was AN ALIEN PRIORY established in this parish, as a cell to the Benedictine abbey of St. Bertin, at St. Omers, the capital of Artois, in Flanders, William de Ipre, in 1153, having given this church, with that of Chilham, to it for that purpose; which gift was confirmed by king Stephen the same year, as it was by the several archbishops afterwards, and by the charters of Henry II. and III. The charter of this gift was till lately in the treasury of the monastery of St. Bertin, as were all the others hereafter mentioned relating to this church and priory.

 

There are very few formal foundations of these cells, the lands of them being usually granted to some monastery abroad, as an increase to their revenues, after which, upon some part of them they built convenient houses, for the reception of a small convent. Some of these cells were made conventual, having a certain number of monks, who were mostly foreigners, and removeable at pleasure, sent over with a prior at their head, who were little more than stewards to the superior abbey, to which they returned the revenues of their possessions annually; others were permitted to chuse their own prior, and these were entire societies within themselves, and received their revenues for their own use and benefit, paying perhaps only a yearly pension as an acknowledgement of their subjection, or what was at first the surplusage to the foreign house.

 

The cell at Throwley was of the former sort, for which reason, during the wars between England and France, as their revenues went to support the king's enemies, these kind of houses were generally seized on by the king, and restored again upon the return of a peace. (fn. 6)

 

In the 25th year of king Edward I. Peter, prior of Triwle, as it was spelt in the record, made fine to the king at Westminster, and had a privy seal for his protection, by which he had the custody of his house and possessions committed to his care, to retain them during the king's pleasure, answering to his exchequer for the profits of them, according to the directions of him and his council.

 

The scite of this priory was that of the parsonage of the church of Throwley, which, with that of Chilham, seems to have been all their possessions in this kingdom. These were valued in the 8th year of king Richard II. anno 1384, each at forty pounds annually, and their temporalities at 20s. 6d. at which time the parsonage of Throwley was become appropriated to this cell, and a vicarage was endowed in it. In which situation this priory remained till the general suppression of the alien priories throughout England, in the 2d year of Henry V. anno 1414, which was enacted in the parliament then held at Leicester, and all their houses, revenues, &c. were given to the king and his heirs for ever. (fn. 7)

 

This priory, with its possessions, seems to have remained in the hands of the crown till Henry VI. in his 22d year, settled them on the monastery of Sion, in Middlesex, founded by his father Henry V. with which they continued till the general suppression of religious houses, this being one of those greater monasteries dissolved by the act of the 31st year of king Henry VIII. How this priory was disposed of afterwards by the crown, may be further seen hereafter, under the description of the parsonage of the church of Throwley.

 

The only remains left of this priory are some few foundations, and two walls of flint, which support a building, standing behind the parsonage-house and garden.

 

THERE IS A FREE SCHOOL in this parish, the house of which is situated adjoining to the church-yard, which was founded by Sir Thomas Sondes, who died in 1592, who by his will devised a house and six poundes per annum to the master of it, to dwell in, and as a recompence for his pains; but having charged his executors and not his heirs to the fulfilling of this bequest, and charged the payment of the above sum, among other charitable legacies, on several leasehold estates, the terms of which expired in his nephew Sir Richard Sondes's time, and the house having tumbled down for want of repairs, Sir George Sondes, son of Sir Richard above-mentioned, thought it unreasonable, as he had none of the estates, that he should be bound to maintain the school; however, he voluntarily paid the master his salary, and gave him a house to live in, both which have been continued by the possessors of Throwley manor to this time, as far as I can learn, as of their own free gift.

 

The present right hon. lord Sondes appoints the schoolmaster as such during pleasure, and pays him a salary of twelve pounds per annum, besides which, he allots him an house and garden, worth about six pounds per annum, which his lordship repairs from time to time, and for which no parochial or church-dues are paid. There are at present fourteen boys taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, gratis, in this school, which though taken mostly from the parishes of Throwley, Badlesmere, and Leveland, are not confined to those parishes.

 

Charities.

 

CATHERINE, LADY SONDES, gave by will the sum of 40s. a year, to be received yearly on St. Barnabas's day, towards the relief of the poor, payable from a farm in it, called Bell-horn, now belonging to lord Sondes, and now of that annual produce.

 

THERE WERE three alms-houses in this parish, the gift of one of the Sondes family; one of them was some time since burnt down, and has not been rebuilt, but lord Sondes allows the person nominated to it the value of it in money yearly.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about thirty, casually double that number.

 

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

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Michael, consists of three isles and three chancels. The steeple is a square tower, and stands in the centre of the south side of it, in which there is a peal of six bells, given in 1781, at the expence of Mr. Montresor, of Belmont. In the south isle is a memorial for Francis Hosier Hart, gent. obt. 1761, leaving three daughters, Mary, Elizabeth, and Diana Hosier. In the middle isle is a small monument for Stephen Bunce, esq. of this parish, one of the Antients of New-Inn, who died there in 1634, and was buried in St. Clement's church, London. In the middle chancel there are two stalls of wood, which are not fixed, and in the north isle three more of the like sort, joined together, with a desk before them, which seem to have been removed from the chancel, and were both intended for the use of the religious of the priory here. In the middle of this chancel is a memorial for Dr. Thomas Horsemonden, patron and rector of Purleigh, in Essex, prebendary of Lincoln, &c. who died anno 1632. In the north and south chancel are several monuments for the family of Sondes, with their essigies, arms and quarterings; one of them in the latter, a plain altar tomb of black marble for Sir George Sondes, earl of Faversham, his lady and descendants; many more of this family, as appears by the parish register, are buried in the vault underneath, but the family of Watson burying at Rockingham, this vault has not been opened for several years. The north and south chancels above-mentioned belonged, one to the possessors of Throwley manor, the other to those of Townplace, but they both belong now to lord Sondes.

 

There were formerly in the windows the arms of Sondes, Finch, and Gatton, and in the north window this inscriptin, Pray for the good estate of Alice Martyn, the which did make this window, MCCCCXLV.

 

In the church yard, at the west end of the north isle, there is a circular door-case of stone, having several bordures of Saxon ornaments carved round it. In the church-yard is an altar tomb for William Woodward, gent. of Wilgate-green, obt. 1681, and Anne his wife.

 

It appears by the will of William Sondes, esq. anno 1474, that this church had then constantly burning in it lights, dedicated to St. Michael, the Holy Trinity, the Holy Cross, St. Mary, St. Thomas, St. Christopher, St. George, St. Katherine, St. Margaret, St. Mary Magdalen, and St. Nicholas.

 

An account of the antient patronage of the church of Throwley has already been given, as first belonging to the alien priory here, and then to the monastery of Sion, to the time of the dissolution of the latter in the 31st year of Henry VIII. the year after which, the king granted the rectory, with the advowson of the vicarage of the church of Throwley, to the prebendary of Rugmer, in the cathedral church of St. Paul, London, in exchange for lands belonging to that prebend, to be inclosed within the king's park of Marybone, in pursuance of an act then passed. Since which this parsonage and advowson have continued part of the abovementioned prebend. The former is leased out by the present prebendary to the right hon. lord Sondes, but the advowson of the vicarage he retains in his own hands, and is the present patron of it.

 

¶There was a rent of 4l. 18s. 4d. reserved from the parsonage by king Henry VIII. nomine decimœ, which was granted by queen Elizabeth, in her third year, to archbishop Parker, among other premises, in exchange for several manors, lands, &c. belonging to that see, which rent still continues part of the revenue of the archbishopric.

 

A vicarage was endowed here in 1367, anno 42 king Edward III. by archbishop Langham, at which time the chapel of Wylrington belonged to it. (fn. 8)

 

It is valued in the king's books at 7l. 11s. 8d. and the yearly tenths at 15s. 2d.

 

In 1578 there were one hundred and eighty communicants here. In 1640 it was valued at forty-five pounds, communicants two hundred and twenty.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol6/pp445-461

Had some trouble adjusting the color filters, and am not completely in love with the result, but it gets the job done. Also note that this isn’t my office. I have a tiny cubicle. This is my boss’s office that I used for this shoot on his day off 😜.

 

Instructions are now available at rebrickable.com/users/simplethinker/mocs/

I can remember the days before the A143 was driven between the village and the church, you would head out of Gillingham, past the pub, through Geldeston, now stuck at the end of a dead end lane, and into Kirby Cane, where the road dog-legged round the pub and then out towards Bungay.

 

Now the busy road passes between the village and church, and I only happened to be passing by on account of following the sat nav.

 

I had tried to see inside All Saints once before, a short winter day around Christmas, with the light fading, the flint wall then attracted my attention before trying the ancient door inside the porch.

 

Then, as this day, the door was locked and with no details of a key holder.

 

The Norman doorway deserves to be revisited, as some of the shots I took did not come out, as the carving seems especially fine and still clear.

 

But the church was locked, and so will return some other day when I hope to be luckier.

 

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The first time I ever visited Kirby Cane church, it was in the middle of the night. We were driving past, taking the narrow country lanes between Norwich and Bungay. We came over a rise, and the round tower loomed up before us in the moonlight. I remember getting out and wandering up the path under the dark spreading canopy of the magnificent spruce trees. It was like walking into a Gothick horror story.

Kirby Cane parish contains the sizeable village of Kirby Row, but the church and churchyard are some way off on the other side of the Diss to Yarmouth road. In daylight this is a rather charming spot, although the trees are still magnificent. I can't think of any bigger in a Norfolk graveyard than the one near the gate. The graveyard itself is small, and pleasingly random.

 

And All Saints is a small church, the tower to scale. Its age is revealed by the beautiful Norman south doorway, a common feature around here in this area of small parishes with small churches, although Sam Mortlock points out that this one has an outer ring of decoration which is unique in the county. The door is a little fiddly - you have to get the handle of the latch just right - but you step into a well-maintained interior which is full of light. There is a beautiful roodloft stairway set in the splay of the window on the south side.

 

The font is a fine example from the 14th century. It's traceried panels were probably painted once, and the heads peering from beneath the bowl are all different. The font cover remembers the Coronation of Edward VII, the first there had been of a British monarch in 65 years.The royal arms and a pair of hatchments on the west wall have been restored splendidly - they look almost new - and, indeed, one of them is 20th Century, one of the very last in England.

The furnishings are simple and seemly; the chancel, with its Restoration period communion rails. is elegant in its simplicity. It is all thoroughly fitting for modern Anglican worship. The glass in the east window is stretched to create a shimmering effect, with a single panel of heraldic glass in the middle. On the north side of the chancel is a blocked archway, once that to a chapel, with a tombchest set against it. Can it once have been an Easter sepulchre? It seems hard to believe that it is in its original place.

 

A curiosity is the brass plaque on the chancel floor inscribed in an amateur hand. It tells us that Here lieth the body of John Watson Rector of Kirby Cane who died January 5th Ano Do MDMV - presumably it means MDCV, that is to say 1605. It ends with words which I cannot decode.

 

Simon Knott, July 2009

 

www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/kirbycane/kirbycane.htm

 

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The principal manor in this town was in the abbey of St. Edmund of Bury, to which it was given by Algiva Queen of England, mother of Edward the Confessor. It is to be observed here, that Emma is by historians generally called this King's mother, who first married Etheldred King of England, by whom she had King Edward, and afterwards married Canute King of England, &c.; the Saxon Chronicle calls her Ælgiva Ymma; (fn. 1) and it is probable that she gave it about the year 1020, when King Canute, her lord, was a great benefactor to that abbey.

 

The said abbey held it at the grand survey, and Rafrid of the abbot, with 2 carucates of land, a villain and eleven borderers; there were 2 carucates in demean, 5 carucates among the tenants, and 14 acres of meadow, paunage for 6 swine, the moiety of a mill, &c.; a church endowed with 20 acres in free alms, and 2 parts of a church endowed with 14 acres; 4 runci belonged to the lordship, 4 cows, &c. and 100 sheep. There were also 4 freemen with 3 carucates of land, and 4 carucates and an half, and 3 acres of meadow, valued at 40s. but at the survey at 6l. and the 20 acres of the church at 20d.—It was nine furlongs long, and 5 broad, and paid 10½d. gelt. (fn. 2)

 

Rafrid was succeeded by Godebald de Kirkebia, most likely his son, to whom Anselm, abbot of St. Edmund's Bury, granted this lordship with all its appertenances, and to his heirs, to be held by one fee, sans date; witnesses, Gilbert Blound, Robert de Wridwell, Osward de Thuston, Ralph de Lodnes, Richard de Cadomo, and this grant was confirmed by the letters patent of Henry I.

 

HENRICUS REX Anglie, &c. Episco. Norwic. Sciatis ME concessisse Godeboldo de Churchebey terram de Chirebeiam cum soca, et saca, &c: Test. A. Lino. Espico. Galfrido Cancell. Auberio de Vere, Robto. filio Walteri, Gilb. de Blund, &c.

 

It appears that this King's grant was in the singular number Me concessisse, and not Nos.

 

William, son of Godebold held it temp. King Stephen.

 

In the 8th of Richard I. a fine was levied between Sampson, abbot of Bury, and Alexander, son of Gobald, before Hubt. Archbishop of Canterbury, William de Sca. Maria church, Mr. Thomas de Husseborn, Simon de Pateshull, Richard Heriet, Oger, son of Oger, the King's justices; whereby Alexander agrees to pay 20s. when the scutage for one fee was so taxed, and to do full wardship to Norwich castle. This Alexander left a daughter and heir, Mary, married first to Gilbert de Norfolk, and after to Walter de Cam; Robert de Norfolk, her son, released to her, and Walter her husband, in the 3d of Henry III. all his right in his land here, by fine. (fn. 3)

 

After this, the lordship seems to have been divided, and in the 52d of Henry III. Richard de Thwait, and William de Stockton granted by fine their interest in the advowson of this church to Richard de Cadomo, or de Caam, who gave that name (as lord) to this town.

 

This Richard was descended from Richard de Cadomo, who was living, as is above shown, in the time of King Henry I. and was father of Walter de Cam. King Henry II. in his 30 year, granted to—, son of Thomas Fitz-Bernard, the custody of Mary, the daughter of Walter de Cam, with Wabrigg, (she being 5 years old, and in the custody of the wife of the late Thomas Fitz-Bernard; (fn. 4) ) this Walter had a younger brother, Richard, who was living about the same time, and father of Walter de Cam, who married Mary, daughter and heir of Walter aforesaid; and in the reign of King John, this Walter, and Mary his wife, let to Thomas de Longville, a mill in this town, that she had by inheritance; also a lordship here, as appears from her deed, sans date, whereby she confirmed to persons, lands held of her ancestors, not to be aliened by them, without her consent; and they held it by the 3d part of a fee.

 

Sir Richard de Cam was their son, and inherited this lordship, who lived in the 52d of Henry III. and married Maud, sister of Adam de Mendham; and died about the year 1286, when he made his last will.

 

Walter de Cam, his son and heir, succeeded, was lord in 1287, and in the 22d of Edward I. he and Constance his wife were living in the 31st, and did homage to the abbot of Bury. This Walter, in the 15th of Edward II. sold this manor to Roger Gavel, a burgess of Great Yarmouth, and Constance, his wife, (probably Walter's daughter;) in the following year, Rich. the second son of Walter de Cam, released ot Roger and his wife, all his right; and in the 19th reciting that whereas the said Roger and his wife were to pay to him an annuity of 20s. and to provide him a new robe every winter, he had released the same to them.

 

John, eldest son and heir of Walter, impleaded Roger Gavel, in the 49th of Edward II.; but it appearing that he had also released his right, Roger kept possession. One John de Cam was summoned to parliament in the 28th, 32d, &c. of Edward II. and was of the King's council.

 

Roger Gavel was son of John Gavel, living at Yarmouth, ao. 10 Edward I. son of Jeffrey Gavel, of the said town, by Alice his wife, daughter of Rich. Fastolf; Roger was also lord of Mettingham in Suffolk, in the 5th of Edward III. and father of Edmund, by Constance his wife. Edmund was lord of Kirby in the 10th of Edward III.; in the 17th of that King, he leased the manor of To-How's marsh in Thurverton, to Anselm de Fordele, and William, his son paying him, 5l. per ann. and finding him and Mary his wife, diet at his table, &c. for 2 years. Witnesses, Barth. de Thorp, John de Jernemouth, Thomas Aleyn, John de Wytton, and Hugh de Kymberly, burgesses of Great Yarmouth. In the next year he was in rebellion against the King, riding about Suffolk with banners displayed, imprisoning, and committing many murders, for which he was indicted befor William de Shareshull, &c. the King's justices, and after had a pardon under the broad seal, dated June 29, in the said year.

 

Nicholas Gavel was his son and heir, by Mary his wife, and in the wardship of Nicholas de Wichingham, in the 25th of the said King: he married Catherine, daughter and heir of — Myniot, and was ord of Myniot's manor in Kirkested, in her right.

 

Robert Gavel was their son. Ellen Myniot, widow, mother of Catharine, wife of Nicholas Gavell, released to him, ao. 18 Richard II. all her right in this manor and advowson, which she had of the gift of Nicholas his father; and Catherine his mother was living in the 2d of Henry IV. then the wife of John Godfrey of Chedeston in Suffolk. Robert, by his will. dated February 19, 1439, was buried in the chapel of St. Mary, on the north side of the chancel of this church; Maud, his wife, survived him; her will was proved February 19, 1454.

 

Thomas succeeded his father Robert, was lord of this manor and of Kirksted; by his will, dated December 17, 1461, he orders his body to be buried at the door of the chapel of St. Mary in this church; appoints Heny, his son, and George, his brother, executors; which was proved January 28, 1462. (fn. 5) Emma his wife was living in 1474.

 

Henry Gavell, Gent. inherited this lordship: by his will, dated August, 30, 1474; he was buried in the chapel aforesaid; he bequeaths to Anne, his wife, the manor of Kirby and Ellingham, as long as she continues sole, but if not, then an annuity of 10 marks per annum, and to his mother, Emma, 4 marks per annum Bartholomew, Robert, and Ellen his children mentioned, and proved January 12, following.

 

Bartholomew, son and heir of Henry, was father of Thomas Gavel, the last heir male of this family, and lord in the 12th of Henry VII. by Anne, his wife, daughter of Henry Everard, of Linstead in Suffolk, he left four daughters and coheirs; first, Thomasine, married to Leonard Copledike, Esq. 2d, Dorothy, to Francis Clopton, of Liston in Essex, Esq. 3d, Eleanor, to John Bury, Esq. of Worlingham in Suffolk; and 4th, Elizabeth, to John Cook, Esq.

 

This Thomas, by his will, dated February 16, 1522, was buried in the church of Kirkeby; (fn. 6) and was proved August 9 following. To Thomasine, his eldest daughter, he gives this lordship, who brought it by marriage to Leonard Copledike, Esq. (fn. 7) 2d son of Sir John Copledike of Frampton in Lincolnshire, and of Horham in Suffolk, by Margaret his wife, daughter of — Heton. On the death of this Leonard, (by whom she had a son and heir, John,) she remarried Edward Calthorp, Esq. in 1525; and in the 22d of Henry VIII. this lordship and advowson with 20 messuages, 400 acres of land, 60 of meadow, 300 of pasture, 12 of wood, and 40s. rent per ann. in this town, Elingham, Stockton, Geldeston, and Hale, were settled on the said Edward and Thomasine, for their lives; remainder to John Copledike, son of the said Thomasine, and his heirs. Thomasine died in 1557.

 

Edward was son of Edward Calthorp, Esq. of Ludham, and Anne his wife: in the 4th and 4th of Philip and Mary, he demised to John Copledike, Esq. the site of this manor, which he held for life by the courtesy of England, after the decease of Thomasine, his wife: John paying to him 20l. per ann. in the hall of the said house; Edward was also to have meat and drink for himself, and one servant, as often as he shall reside there; and 2 chambers, one for his own the other for his servant's lodging; with convenient fewel; the keeping of 3 geldings or mares, in summer-time at grass, in the winter in the stable, with hay, &c. and Edward to pay to John 10l. per ann.; in 1557, he died, and was buried by his wife in the chancel of this church, his will being dated May 5, and proved November 5; gives to Edmund his son, all his goods; and to Mary, Grace, and Prudence, his daughters, legacies.

 

¶John Copledike was lord in the 6 of Elizabeth, and held it in capite of the castle of Norwich; he married, first Ellen, daughter and heir of John Woodhouse, Esq. and his 2d wife was Maud, daughter of John Highfield, Esq. of Calais, who died s. p.; by his first wife he left, a daughter and sole heir, Thomasine, who married Humphrey Copledike, Esq. of Hetherset, 5th son of Sir John Copledike, of Harington in Lincolnshire. By an inquisition taken ao. 36 of Elizabeth, the above said John was found to die possessed of it, held of that Queen, by knight's service.

 

Humphrey had several children by his wife Thomasine; but he sold this lordship to Thomas Catelyn of Lakenham by Norwich.

 

ichard Catelyn, Esq. was sheriff of Norwich, in 1531, and alderman of that city; by his will dated August 28, 1556, he wills his body to be buried by his wife, in St. Peter's church of Norwich, and was buried there on November 3 following; his wife was buried there in August 1555.

 

In 1553, he had a patent to bear these arms; p. chevron, azure and or, three lions passant, guardant, in pale, counterchanged; on a chief argent, as many snakes nowed, sable, stinged gules.

 

Richard Catelyn, Esq. was 5th son of Richard, by Elizabeth: in the 4th of Edward VI. he was autumn-reader of Lincoln's Inn, serjeant at law May 19, ao. 1552; steward of the city of Norwich, and King and Queen's serjeant, October 16, 1555; deputy lieutenant and justice of the peace, and one of the commissioners to try the rebels in the reign of Queen Mary; he died before his father, in August, 1556, and was buried in the chancel of Huningham church in Norfolk, and was lord of Huningham Hall, and of Walsoken Popenhow in Norfolk. Barbara, his widow, erected a monument to his memory, which being after decayed, another was erected by Thomas, his 2d son.—He had three daughters; Ann, married to Thomas Derham, Esq. of West Derham; Elizabeth, to Thomas Townsend, Esq. of Testerton, and Lettice, to William Guybon of Fincham. Esq.

 

Richard Catelyn, Esq. first son of the serjeant, was lord of Wolverston Hall in Suffolk, and died March 11th, ao. 43 Elizabeth; he married Dionysia, daughter of Thomas Marsh, Esq. and was father of Philip, who by Dorothy, daughter of — Lawrence, Esq. of — in Cambridgeshire, and Jane his wife, daughter of Sir John Pagrave, Bart. had Richard his son and heir; Richard had also by Dionysia, a 2d son, Sir Nathaniel Catelyn, Knt. recorder of Dublin in Ireland.

 

Philip, by Dorothy, was father of Richard, who, by—, daughter of — Larke of Lincolnshire, had Philip his son, who died unmarried.

 

Thomas Catelyne, Esq. 2d son of the serjeant, married Judith, daughter of Edward Ellington of Theydon Bois in Essex, was lord of Wingfield Hall in Suffolk; in 1604, was lord of Hastings Hall and Whitfoot Hall in Irmingland, and he purchased of Humphrey Copledike, this lordship of Kirkeby.

 

He died in 1636.

 

Richard Catelyn, Esq. son of Thomas, married first Mary, daughter of Sir Robert Houghton, one of the judges of the King's Bench; she died s. p.; his 2d wife was Dorothy, daughter of Sir Henry Nevil of Billingbere in Berkshire, by whom she had a son and heir, Sir Nevil, and Richard who died s. p. also Anne, who married Thomas Leman, Gent. of Wenhaston in Suffolk. Dorothy, married to Leonard Gouch, Gent. of Ersham in Norfolk. Barbara, to Henry Mordaunt of Congham, Esq. Elizabeth who died single.

 

Sir Nevil Catelyne was knighted by King Charles II. at Somersethouse, London, in 1662, lord of this town, and Wingfield castle in Suffolk; he married, first, Dorothy, daughter of Sir Thomas Bedingfield of Darsham in Suffolk; and his 2d wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Houghton of Ranworth, Esq. and had children by both, who died young; his 3d wife was Mary, daughter of Sir William, and sister of Sir Charles Blois, Bart. of Cockfield Hall in Yoxford, Suffolk, and of Grandesburgh: Sir Nevil was buried in this church, on July —, 1702.

 

She survived Sir Nevil, and married Sir Charles Turner of Warham in Norfolk, and were both living here in 1720; and Sir Charles was lord in 1740, and patron.

 

Rafrid (as has been observed) held, at the survey, this lordship of the abbot of Bury, by one fee, and so did Godebald de Kirkeby, and Alexander his son; but after, this fee was divided and held by three different families; the family of De Cam held one 3d part; the Bigots Earls of Norfolk had also an interest in another 3d part which came to the Bigots Lords of Stockton. In the 14th of Edward I. Sir John Bigot, lord of Stockton, claimed view of frank-pledge, assise, free warren, as his ancestors had held of the abbot of Bury; this came to the Garneys, Delapoles, &c. as in Stockton.

 

Another 3d part was in Richard de Thwayt, who, with William de Stockton, granted by fine, in the 52d of Henry III. their interest in the advowson of this church, to Richard de Cam; and Imania, widow of Richard de Thwayt, claimed an interest herein, in the 15th of Edward I.— William, son of Richard de la Grene of Kirkeby, confirmed to Sir Richard de Cam, and Maud his wife, in the sixth of Edward I. for 8 marks, all his lands in this town, Stockton, Hales, &c. with the services, homages, rents, &c. except the capital messuage in Kirkeby. Witness, John de Waleton, master of the hospital of St. Bartholomew, in London; this 3d part was thus united, and so came to Gavel's manor, &c. as above.

 

Ralph Lord Bainard was lord of a manor in this town. When Domesday book was made, Ulmar, a freeman of King Edward, held it with 30 acres of land; Robert, son of Corbun, laid claim to this land, and had livery; there belonged to it 2 borderers, one servus, 2 carucates, and half a carucate of the tenants, &c. with 3 acres of meadow. There were also 8 freemen belonging to the lord's fold, and under his protection, with 20 acres, and 2 carucates and half an acre of meadow; valued at the survey at 40s. but before at 20s. It came to Bainard by an exchange. (fn. 8)

 

By the forfeiture of the Lord Bainard, this came to the Lords FitzWalter, and was called Loot's or Lowt's fee, being held by John Loot, of the Lord Fitz-Walter, in the 3d of Henry III. Roger de Hales had an interest herein about the same time, and John de Hales in the 2d year of Edward III. this was soon after united to the abovementioned manors.

 

About 1266, William de Wendling had a messuage, &c. with several rents, services, here, in Raveningham, &c. which Philip Loot had conveyed to him, and William gave them to the canon of Langley, and were confirmed by Robert Lord Fitz-Walter. Henry Walpole held this Lowt's fee, and owed to the abbot of Langley, in the 12th of Henry VI. 10l. 4s. 2d. arrears of rent for the land and tenements here and in Stockton, formerly George Felbrigg's.

 

Eustace Earl of Bologne, in France, had also a lordship, of which Osmund, a thane of Archbishop Stigand was deprived; Ralph de Beaufoe had an interest in it after Osmund, but at the survey, Warine held it under Eustace.

 

In King Edward's time there was one carucate of land, and a borderer, with one carucate and 3 acres of meadow, &c. and 4 freemen under commendation, with 15 acres and hall a carucate, valued at 15s. (fn. 9)

 

Warine was ancestor of the family of De Meynwarine of Cheshire.

 

The temporalities of Bury abbey here, in 1428, were valued at 11l. 0s. 6d. of the prioress of Campsey 3s. 5d. ob.

 

The Church is a rectory dedicated to All-Saints, and the patronage belonged to the abbot of Bury's manor.

 

In the 14th of Henry III. Walter de Cam and Mary his wife, could not deny on an assise, but that Roger de Tweyt, and Roger de Stockton, were parceners with them in the advowson of this church, of the inheritance which was Alexander's, son of Godebald de Kirkeby, therefore they all presented at this time, which proves that they had it by inheritance. In 1220, there was a composition between the monks of St. Ildevert of Gurnay in France, and Master Walter, dean of Flegg hundred, of the tithe of some sheafs of corn, out of the abbot's manor, held by Sir R. de Cam.

 

In the 52d of Henry III. Richard de Thwait and William de Stockton granted by fine the advowson to Richard de Cam.

 

Rectors.

 

In 1268, Laurence de Monteforti was instituted rector, presented by Richard de Cam.

 

The rector in the reign of Edward I. had a house and a carucate of land, the valor was 15 marks, Peter-pence 22d. carvage 9d.

 

1311, Walter de Hekungham by Walter de Cam: this Walter aliened to the rector three acres of land in the 7th of Edward II.

 

1326, John de Cam, by Roger Gavel.

 

1328, William de Merche. Ditto.

 

1330, Roger Gavel, occurs rector.

 

1351, Robert de Weston, by William de Wychingham, guardian of Nicholas Gavel.

 

1355, John Foucher, by ditto.

 

1361, Nicholas Batchelor, by ditto.

 

1378, William de Redham, by Nicholas Batchelor of Wychingahm, Sir Wythred of Denton, and John Bole of Wodeton, Thomas Storme of Blakeney, and Elen Myniot, (fn. 10) patrons.

 

1379, Nicholas Jacob, by Thomas Storme, and Elen Myniot, and John Wythred chaplain.

 

1389, Walter Gerard, by ditto.

 

1393, Thomas Busk, by Robert Gavel.

 

1418, John Bassys on, by ditto.

 

1420, John Vernon Ditto.

 

1449, Robert Hare, by Thomas Gavel.

 

1497, Thomas Mortimer, by Thomas Gavel.

 

1511, Thomas Grene, by ditto.

 

1540, Robert Hilton, by Edward Calthorpe, Esq. and Thomasine his wife.

 

1565, Thomas Fell, by John Copledyke, Esq.

 

1570, German Gardiner, by ditto.

 

1571, Robert Hill, by ditto.

 

1579, Richard Davison, by ditto; in 1603, he returned 58 communicants.

 

1619, Thomas Potts, A. M. by Richard Catelyn, Esq.

 

1646, John Watson, by Richard Catelyne, Esq. he wrote a book in octavo, called Memoirs of the Stuarts, printed at London in 1689, after his death; he was ejected during the rebellion.

 

1662, John Hardware, by Richard Catelyne, Esq.

 

1690, William Randall, by Sir Nevil Catelyne.

 

1700, Abraham Baker, by ditto.

 

1733, Samuel Baker, by Sir Charles Turner, Knt.

 

In the chancel by the communion table are several grave-stones; one,

 

In memory of Mary, daughter of Sir Robert Houghton, the first wife of Richard Catelyne of Kirby Cane, Esq. by whom she had 2 sons and 2 daughters; Thomas the eldest, a man of great hopes; at 21 was captain of a troop of horse for king Charles I and slain by the rebels at the 2a Newbury fight 1644.—Mary, the eldest daughter, married Edward Ward of Bixley, in Norfolk, Esq. and died without issue; Robert and Judith died young; she died in 1633, in the 45th year of her age.

 

Another,

 

In memory of Judith, daughter of Edward Elrington of Theydon Boys, in Essex, Esq. and wife of Thomas Catelyne, Esq. who dyed in 1615.

 

Thomas Catelyne, Esq. son of Richard Catelyne of Honyngham, serjeant at law to king Philip and queen Mary: by his wife Judith, daughter of Edward Elrington, Esq. &c. he had Richard Catelyne of Kirby Cane, Esq. and Thomas Catelyne of Blofield, Gent.—Barbara, mother of Robert Bendish, Esq. and Judith, mother of Robert Houghton, Gent.; he died in 1636.

 

Exuviæ viri plene memorabilis, Rici. Catelyn, Armigi. qui vitam exuit A°. Ætatis 79, A°. 1662.

 

Quod mortale fuit reliquum est Dorotheæ, Rici. Catelyn, Armigi. uxoris ex prænobili Nevillorum familiâ, in com. Berc. oriundæ, obt. 29 Sept. A°. Ætatis 67, et A°. 1672.

 

Thomas et Nevillus, filij Nevilli Catelyn, Equitis Aurati, et Dorotheæ conjugis redamatæ ex antiquâ familiâ de Bedingfeld, in agro Suffolc. oriundæ, infantes ambo, bimuli, heic præmaturam posuerunt mortalitatem. Thomas in Anno Dni. 1662, Nevillus A°. 1663.

 

M. S. Elizab. Catelyne, cujus pars melior cum Deo, et semper fuit semperq; est futura, quæ dum mortalibus convixit nobis benignum nuper sydus præluxit. Fratris verè germani Nevilli Catelyne, Equitis Aurati, soror; supra quam dici potest dilecta; cujus res domesticas ad annos non paucos, summâ cum prudentiâ administravit.

 

Quam primæva in Deum pietas, piè profusa in pauperes charitas. Intaminata in se castitas, probataq; in omnes relationes bonitas, opimæ famæ reddidere saturam. Cunctorum passim bonorum cum luctu denatam, puriore ævo vere dignam. Terræ parumper peregrinam, sempiternam cæli piè credimus incolam. Obt. Feb. 5°. 1681. Ætat. suæ 41.

 

Amoris nunquam intermorituri tessellam hanc posuit Nevillus Catelyn, Miles.

 

Radulphus filius natu tertius Richardi Catelyn, Armigi. et Dorotheæ uxoris ejus (ex prænobili Nevillorum familiâ) ætate quinquenni diem clausit Ao. Dni. 1645.

 

Against the north wall of the chancel was erected a little tomb of free-stone, which had an epitaph, many years past, through time obliterated; it was,

 

In memory of John Copledike, Esq. who was here buried, April 12, 1593, who left Thomasine, his daughter and co-heir.

 

On the west end of this tomb were the arms of Gavell, sable, a chevron between three garbs, argent, with an impalement now obscure.

 

On the body of the tomb, the single shield of Copledike, argent, a chevron between three cross crosslets, gules:—also Copledike, with his quarterings; 1st, Gavell—2d, a saltire, but obscure—3d, lozengy ermin and gules, Rockeley,—4th, or, a chief gules, with a bend over all, azure, Harrington—5th, azure, a saltire, between four cross crosslets, or, Friskeny, impaling Woodhouse of Kimberley:—also Copledike, with his quarterings, impaling, azure, a chevron between three acorns slipt, or, Hayfield. Copledike's crest here is a goat's head, argent, issuing out of a coronet.

 

Beatam expectans resurrectionem, sub hoc marmore obdormit Gulielmus Randall, A. M. hujus ecclesiæ quondam rector et benefactor Probitate et amicitiâ clarus, et mirè constans, sinceræ et non fucatæ pietatis exemplar. Matildam filiam Johs. Hawys, M. D. duxit, e quá unicam filiam nomine Mariam reliquit. Obt. 13 cal. Apr. Ætat. 49, Ao. salulis 1699.

 

Johs. Hardwar, rector hujus ecclesiæ, hic jacet in spe resurrectionis, cælebs, obt. 21, die Febr. Ao. ætat. 75, salutis 1689.

 

Here rests Margaret, wife of Abraham Baker, rector, and three of their children; she was daughter of the Rev. Mr. Pycroft, late rector of Ditchingham, and died March 20, 1717, aged 36.

 

Here lies the body of Anne, wife of John Chambers of Kirby Cane, Gent. who died Feb. 3, 1681.

 

Sir Nevill Catelyne is buried in a vault here, which he built several years before his death, which was in July 1702, also Mrs. Elizabeth Catelyne, his daughter, was here interred in 1685, as was Mrs. Philippa Culpeper in 1719.

 

In 1559, Thomas Hare, Gent. was here buried, and in 1557, Mrs. Thomasine Calthorp.—Edmund, son of Edward Calthorp, Esq. in 1567.—Mrs. Maud Copledike, wife of John Copledike, Esq. in 1589.

 

In 1286, Sir Richard de Cam was here buried.

 

The present valor is 10l. and pays first fruits and tenths.

 

¶It is generally said that towns beginning with Kirke, signifies that their site is by some church, (fn. 11) but it rather is a compound word, and wrote, as in Domesday, Ker, Che, or Ke; Kerkstead is wrote Ker-chessstead, Ches, or Che, signifies always water, and Ker, is tbe same as Car; thus Carbroke is wrote Cherebroc, and sets forth a clear water, as Kercheby does a dwelling by clear water.

A Saturday morning, and on a second wild goose chase looking for the Wall Pennywort in Folkestone.

 

Problem was, I didn't have the photo with me so I could triangulate the plant with the church in the background. Instead, I (wrongly) assumed that it would be growing on a wall, so spent the morning looking on every wall in the churchyard, and nothing found.

 

But St Mary was open.

 

And I just had the 50mm with me, but I was delighted inside to find the harsh orange lights under the tower have been replaced with something kinder.

 

I did meet a warden who was very interested in the plant tale, and other stories, so I didn't get round to photograph everything, but did see the old clock mechanism for the first time, not sure where that had been kept up to now.

 

And the remains of St Eanswythe, or almost certainly her remains, now dated to the mid 7th century are in a niche in the Chancel ready for placing somewhere befitting a Kentish Queen.

 

A superb location in a leafy churchyard away from the busy shopping centre, and yet much more of a town church than that of a seaside resort. It was originally a thirteenth-century building, but so much has happened to it that today we are left with the impression of a Victorian interior. Excellent stained glass by Kempe, mosaics by Carpenter and paintings by Hemming show the enthusiasm of Canon Woodward, vicar from 1851 to 1898. His efforts encouraged others to donate money to beautify the building in an almost continuous restoration that lasted right into the twentieth century They were spurred on by the discovery, in 1885, of the bones of St Eanswythe, in a lead casket which had been set into the sanctuary wall. She had founded a convent in the town in the seventh century and died at the age of twenty-six.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Folkestone+1

 

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FOLKESTONE.

THE parish of Folkestone, which gives name to this hundred, was antiently bounded towards the south by the sea, but now by the town and liberty of Folkestone, which has long since been made a corporation, and exempt from the jurisdiction of the hundred. The district of which liberty is a long narrow slip of land, having the town within it, and extending the whole length of the parish, between the sea shore and that part of the parish still within the jurisdiction of the hundred, and county magistrates, which is by far the greatest part of it.

 

THE PARISH, which is about three miles across each way, is situated exceedingly pleasant and healthy. The high chalk, or down hills uniclosed, and well covered with pasture, cross the northern part of it, and from a sine romantic scene. Northward of these, this part of the parish is from its high situation, called the uphill of Folkestone; in this part is Tirlingham, the antient mansion of which has been some years since pulled down, and a modern farm-house erected in its stead; near it is Hearn forstal, on which is a good house, late belonging to Mr. Nicholas Rolse, but now of Mr. Richard Marsh; over this forstal the high road leads from Folkestone to Canterbury. The centre of the parish is in the beautiful and fertile vale called Folkestone vale, which has downs, meadows, brooks, marshes, arable land, and every thing in small parcels, which is sound in much larger regions; being interspersed with houses and cottages, and well watered by several fresh streams; besides which, at Ford forstall, about a mile northward from the town, there rises a strong chalybeat spring. This part of the parish, by far the greatest part of it, as far as the high road from Dover, through it, towards Hythe, is within the jurisdiction of the hundred of Folkestone, and the justices of the county. The small part on the opposite, or southern side of that road is within the liberty of the town or corporation of Folkestone, where the quarry or sand hills, on the broken side of one of which, the town is situated, are its southern maritime boundaries. These hills begin close under the chalk or down hills, in the eastern part of this parish, close to the sea at Eastware bay, and extend westward along the sea shore almost as far as Sandgate castle, where they stretch inland towards the north, leaving a small space between them and the shore. So that this parish there crossing one of them, extends below it, a small space in the bottom as far as that castle, these quarry, or sand hills, keeping on their course north-west, from the northern boundary of Romney Marsh, and then the southern boundary of the Weald, both which they overlook, extending pretty nearly in a parallel line with the chalk or down hills.

 

The prospect over this delightful vale of Folkestone from the hill, on the road from Dover as you descend to the town, is very beautiful indeed for the pastures and various fertility of the vale in the centre, beyond it the church and town of Hythe, Romney Marsh, and the high promontory of Beachy head, boldly stretching into the sea. On the right the chain of losty down hills, covered with verdure, and cattle seeding on them; on the lest the town of Folkestone, on the knole of a hill, close to the sea, with its scattered environs, at this distance a pleasing object, and beyond it the azure sea unbounded to the sight, except by the above-mentioned promontory, altogether from as pleasing a prospect as any in this county.

 

FOLKESTONE was a place of note in the time of the Romans, and afterwards in that of the Saxons, as will be more particularly noticed hereafter, under the description of the town itself. By what name it was called by the Romans, is uncertain; by the Saxons it was written Folcestane, and in the record of Domesday, Fulchestan. In the year 927 king Athelstane, son of king Edward the elder, and grandson of king Alfred, gave Folkstane, situated, as is mentioned in the grant of it, on the sea shore, where there had been a monastery, or abbey of holy virgins, in which St. Eanswith was buried, which had been destroyed by the Danes, to the church of Canterbury, with the privilege of holding it L. S. A. (fn. 1) But it Seems afterwards to have been taken from it, for king Knute, in 1038, is recorded to have restored to that church, the parish of Folkstane, which had been given to it as above-mentioned; but upon condition, that it should never be alienated by the archbishop, without the licence both of the king and the monks. Whether they joined in the alienation of it, or it was taken from them by force, is uncertain; but the church of Canterbury was not in possession of this place at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in 1080, being the 14th year of the Conqueror's reign, at which time it was part of the possessions of the bishop of Baieux, the conqueror's half-brother, under the general description of whose lands it is thus entered in it:

 

In Limowart lest, in Fulcbestan hundred, William de Acris holds Fulchestan. In the time of king Edward the Consessor, it was taxed at forty sulings, and now at thirty-nine. The arable land is one hundred and twenty carucates. In demesne there are two hundred and nine villeins, and four times twenty, and three borderes. Among all they have forty-five carcates. There are five churches, from which the archbishop has fifty-five shillings. There are three servants, and seven mills of nine pounds and twelve shillings. There are one hundred acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of forty bogs. Earl Godwin held this manor.

 

Of this manor, Hugo, son of William, holds nine sulings of the land of the villeins, and there he has in demesne four carucates and an half, and thirty-eight villeins, with seventeen borderes, who have sixteen carucates. There are three churches, and one mill and an half, of sixteen shillings and five-pence, and one saltpit of thirty pence. Wood for the pannage of six bogs. It is worth twenty pounds.

 

Walter de Appeuile holds of this manor three yokes and twelve acres of land, and there he has one carucate in demesne, and three villeins, with one borderer. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Alured holds one suling and forty acres of land, and there he has in demesne two carucates, with six borderers, and twelve acres of meadow. It is worth four pounds.

 

Walter, son of Engelbert, holds half a suling and forty acres, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with seven borderers, and five acres of meadow. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Wesman holds one suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, and two villeins, with seven borderers having one carucate and an half. It is worth four pounds.

 

Alured Dapiser holds one suling and one yoke and six acres of land, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with eleven borderers. It is worth fifty shillings.

 

Eudo holds half a suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with four borderers, and three acres of meadow. It is worth twenty shillings.

 

Bernard de St. Owen, four sulings, and there he has in demesne three carucates, and six villeins, with eleven borderes, having two carucates. There are four servants, and two mills of twenty-four shillings, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of two bogs.

 

Of one denne, and of the land which is given from these suling to ferm, there goes out three pounds. In the whole it is worth nine pounds.

 

Baldric holds half a suling, and there he has one carucate, and two villeins, with six borderers having one carucate, and one mill of thirty pence. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Richard holds fifty-eight acres of land, and there he has one carucate, with five borderers. It is worth ten shillings.

 

All Fulchestan, in the time of king Edward the Consessor, was worth one hundred and ten pounds, when he received it forty pounds, now what he has in demesne is worth one hundred pounds; what the knights hold abovementioned together, is worth forty-five pounds and ten shillings.

 

¶It plainly appears that this entry in Domesday does not only relate to the lands within this parish, but to those in the adjoining parishes within the hundred, the whole of which, most probably, were held of the bishop of Baieux, but to which of them each part refers in particular, is at this time impossible to point out. About four years after the taking of the above survey, the bishop was disgraced, and all his possessions consiscated to the crown. After which, Nigell de Muneville, a descendant of William de Arcis, mentioned before in Domesday, appears to have become possessed of the lordship of Folkestone, and as such in 1095, being the 9th year of king William Rusus, removed the priory of Folkestone from the bail of the castle to the place where it afterwards continued. His son William dying in his life-time s. p, Matilda his sole daughter and heir was given in marriage with the whole of her inheritance, by king Henry I. to Ruallanus de Albrincis, or Averenches, whose descendant Sir William de Albrincis, was become possessed of this lordship at the latter end of that reign; and in the 3d year of the next reign of king Stephen, he confirmed the gifts of his ancestors above-mentioned to the priory here. He appears to have been one of those knights, who had each a portion of lands, which they held for the de sence of Dover castle, being bound by the tenure of those lands to provide a certain number of soldiers, who should continually perform watch and ward within it, according to their particular allotment of time; but such portions of these lands as were not actually in their own possession were granted out by them to others, to hold by knight's service, and they were to be ready for the like service at command, upon any necessity whatever, and they were bound likewife, each knight to desend a certain tower in the castle; that desended by Sir William de Albrincis being called from him, Averenches tower, and afterwards Clinton tower, from the future owners of those lands. (fn. 2) Among those lands held by Sir William de Albrincis for this purpose was Folkestone, and he held them of the king in capitle by barony. These lands together made up the barony of Averenches, or Folkestone, as it was afterwards called, from this place being made the chief of the barony, caput baroniæ, as it was stiled in Latin; thus The Manor of Folkestone, frequently called in after times An Honor, (fn. 3) and the mansion of it the castle, from its becoming the chief seat or residence of the lords paramount of this barony, continued to be so held by his descendants, whose names were in Latin records frequently speit Albrincis, but in French Avereng and Averenches, and in after times in English ones, Evering; in them it continued till Matilda, daughter and heir of William de Albrincis, carried it in marriage to Hamo de Crevequer, who, in the 20th year of that reign, had possession given him of her inheritance. He died in the 47th year of that reign, possessed of the manor of Folkestone, held in capite, and by rent for the liberty of the hundred, and ward of Dover castle. Robert his grandson, dying s. p. his four sisters became his heirs, and upon the division of their inheritance, and partition of this barony, John de Sandwich, in right of his wife Agnes, the eldest sister, became entitled to this manor and lordship of Folkestone, being the chief seat of the barony, a preference given to her by law, by reason of her eldership; and from this he has been by some called Baron of Folkestone, as has his son Sir John de Sandwich, who left an only daughter and heir Julian, who carried this manor in marriage to Sir John de Segrave, who bore for his arms, Sable, three garbs, argent. He died in the 17th year of Edward III. who, as well as his son, of the same name, received summons to parliament, though whether as barons of Folkestone, as they are both by some called, I know not. Sir John de Segrave, the son, died possessed of this manor anno 23 Edward III. soon after which it appears to have passed into the family of Clinton, for William de Clinton, earl of Huntingdon, who bore for his arms, Argent, crusulee, situchee, sable, upon a chief, azure, two mullets, or, pierced gules; which coat differed from that of his elder brother's only in the croslets, which were not borne by any other of this family till long afterwards, (fn. 4) died possessed of it in the 28th year of that reign, at which time the mansion of this manor bore the name of the castle. He died s. p. leaving his nephew Sir John de Clinton, son of John de Clinton, of Maxtoke, in Warwickshire, his heir, who was afterwards summoned to parliament anno 42 Edward III. and was a man of great bravery and wisdom, and much employed in state affairs. He died possessed of this manor, with the view of frank-pledge, a moiety of the hundred of Folkestone, and THE MANOR OF WALTON, which, though now first mentioned, appears to have had the same owners as the manor of Folkestone, from the earliest account of it. He married Idonea, eldest daughter of Jeffry, lord Say, and at length the eldest coheir of that family, and was succeeded in these manors by his grandson William, lord Clinton, who, anno 6 Henry IV. had possession granted of his share of the lands of William de Say, as coheir to him in right of his grandmother Idonea, upon which he bore the title of lord Clinton and Saye, which latter however he afterwards relinquished, though he still bore for his arms, Qnarterly, Clinton and Saye, with two greybounds for his supporters. After which the manor of Folkestone, otherwise called Folkestone Clinton, and Walton, continued to be held in capite by knight's service, by his descendants lords Clinton, till Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, which title he then bore, together with Elizabeth his wife, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. conveyed these manors, with other premises in this parish, to Thomas Cromwell lord Cromwell, afterwards created earl of Essex, on whose attainder two years afterwards they reverted again to the crown, at which time the lordship of Folkestone was stiled an honor; whence they were granted in the fourth year of Edward VI. to the former possessor of them, Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite, for the meritorious services he had performed. In which year, then bearing the title of lord Clinton and Saye, he was declared lord high admiral, and of the privy council, besides other favours conferred on him; and among other lands, he had a grant of these manors, as abovementioned, which he next year, anno 5 Edward VI. reconveyed back to the crown, in exchange for other premises. (fn. 5) He was afterwards installed knight of the garter, by the title of Earl of Lincoln and Baron of Clinton and Saye; and in the last year of that reign, constable of the tower of London. Though in the 1st year of queen Mary he lost all his great offices for a small time, yet he had in recompence of his integrity and former services, a grant from her that year, of several manors and estates in this parish, as well as elsewhere, and among others, of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, together with the castle and park of Folkestone, to hold in capite; all which he, the next year, passed away by sale to Mr. Henry Herdson, citizen and alderman of London, who lest several sons, of whom Thomas succeeded him in this estate, in whose time the antient park of Folkestone seems to have been disparked. His son Mr. Francis Herdson alienated his interst in these manors and premises to his uncle Mr. John Herdson, who resided at the manor of Tyrlingham, in this parish, and dying in 1622, was buried in the chancel of Hawking church, where his monument remains; and there is another sumptuous one besides erected for him in the south isle of Folkestone church. They bore for their arms, Argent, a cross sable, between four fleurs de lis, gules. He died s. p. and by will devised these manors, with his other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to his nephew Basill, second son of his sister Abigail, by Charles Dixwell, esq. Basill Dixwell, esq. afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, a part of the estate devised to him by his uncle, where, in the 3d year of king Charles I. he kept his shrievalty, with great honor and hospitality; after which he was knighted, and in 1627, anno 3 Charles I. created a baronet; but having rebuilt the mansion of Brome, in Barham, he removed thither before his death. On his decease unmarried, the title of baronet became extinct; but he devised these manors, with the rest of his estates, to his nephew Mark Dixwell, son of his elder brother William Dixwell, of Coton, in Warwickshire, who afterwards resided at Brome. He married Elizabeth, sister and heir of William Read, esq. of Folkestone, by whom he had Basill Dixwell, esq. of Brome, who in 1660, anno 12 Charles II. was created a baronet. His son Sir Basill Dixwell, bart. of Brome, about the year 1697, alientated these manors, with the park-house and grounds, and other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to Jacob Desbouverie, esq. of LondonHe was descended from Laurence de Bouverie, de la Bouverie, or Des Bouveries, of an antient and honorable extraction in Flanders, (fn. 6) who renouncing the tenets of the Romish religion came into England in the year 1567, anno 10 Elizabeth, and seems to have settled first at Canterbury. He was a younger son of Le Sieur des Bouveries, of the chateau de Bouverie, near Lisle, in Flanders, where the eldest branch of this family did not long since possess a considerable estate, bearing for their arms, Gules, a bend, vaire. Edward, his eldest son, was an eminet Turkey merchant, was knighted by king James II. and died at his seat at Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, in 1694. He had seven sons and four daughters; of the former, William, the eldest, was likewife an eminent Turkey merchant, and was, anno 12 queen Anne, created a baronet, and died in 1717. Jacob, the third son, was purchaser of these manors; and Christopher, the seventh son, was knighted, and seated at Chart Sutton, in this county, under which a further account of him may be seen; (fn. 7) and Anne, the second daughter, married Sir Philip Boteler, bart. Jacob Desbouverie afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, and dying unmarried in 1722, by his will devised these manors, with his other estates here, to his nephew Sir Edward Desbouverie, bart. the eldest brother son of Sir William Desbouverie, bart. his elder brother, who died possessed of them in 1736, s. p. on which his title, with these and all his other estates, came to his next surviving brother and heir Sir Jacob Desbouverie, bart. who anno 10 George II. procured an act to enable himself and his descendants to use the name of Bouverie only, and was by patent, on June 29, 1747, created baron of Longford, in Wiltshire, and viscount Folkestone, of Folkestone. He was twice married; first to Mary, daughter and sole heir of Bartholomew Clarke, esq. of Hardingstone, in Northamptonshire, by whom he had several sons and daughters, of whom William, the eldest son, succeeded him in titles and estates; Edward is now of Delapre abbey, near Northamptonshire; Anne married George, a younger son of the lord chancellor Talbot; Charlotte; Mary married Anthony, earl of Shastesbury; and Harriot married Sir James Tilney Long, bart. of Wiltshire. By Elizabeth his second wife, daughter of Robert, lord Romney, he had Philip, who has taken the name of Pusey, and possesses, as heir to his mother Elizabeth, dowager viscountess Folkestone, who died in 1782, several manors and estates in the western part of this county. He died in 1761, and was buried in the family vault at Britford, near Salisbury, being succeeded in title and estates by his eldest son by his first wife, William, viscount Folkestone, who was on Sept. 28, anno 5 king George III. created Earl of Radnor, and Baron Pleydell Bouverie, of Coleshill, in Berkshire. He died in 1776, having been three times married; first, to Harriot, only daughter and heir of Sir Mark Stuart Pleydell, bart. of Colefhill, in Berkshire. By her, who died in 1750, and was buried at Britford, though there is an elegant monument erected for her at Coleshill, he had Hacob, his successor in titles and estates, born in 1750. He married secondly, Rebecca, daughter of John Alleyne, esq. of Barbadoes, by whom he had four sons; William-Henry, who married Bridget, daughter of James, earl of Morton; Bartholomew, who married MaryWyndham, daughter of James Everard Arundell, third son of Henry, lord Arundell, of Wardour; and Edward, who married first Catherine Murray, eldest daughter of John, earl of Dunmore; and secondly, Arabella, daughter of admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle. His third wife was Anne, relict of Anthony Duncombe, lord Faversham, and daughter of Sir Thomas Hales, bart. of Bekesborne, by whom he had two daughters, who both died young. He was succeeded in titles and estates by his eldest son, the right hon. Jacob Pleydell Bouverie, earl of Radnor, who is the present possessor of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, with the park-house and disparked grounds adjacent to it, formerly the antient park of Folkestone, the warren, and other manors and estates in this parish and neighbourhood.

 

FOLKESTONE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary and St. Eanswith, consists of three isles and three chancels, having a square tower, with a beacon turret in the middle of it, in which there is a clock, and a peal of eight bells, put up in it in 1779. This church is built of sand-stone; the high chancel, which has been lately ceiled, seems by far the most antient part of it. Under an arch in the north wall is a tomb, with the effigies of a man, having a dog at his feet, very an tient, probably for one of the family of Fienes, constables of Dover castle and wardens of the five ports; and among many other monuments and inscriptions, within the altar-rails, are monuments for the Reades, of Folkestone, arms, Azure, a griffin, or, quartering gules, a pheon between three leopards faces, or; for William Langhorne, A.M. minister, obt. 1772. In the south chancel is a most elegant monument, having the effigies of two men kneeling at two desks, and an inscription for J. Herdson, esq. who lies buried in Hawkinge church, obt. 1622. In the south isle a tomb for J. Pragels, esq. obt. 1676, arms, A castle triple towered, between two portcullises; on a chief, a sinister hand gauntled, between two stirrups. In the middle isle a brass plate for Joane, wife of Thomas Harvey, mother of seven sons (one of which was the physician) and two daughters. In the north wall of the south isle were deposited the remains of St. Eanswith, in a stone coffin; and under that isle is a large charnelhouse, in which are deposited the great quantity of bones already taken notice of before. Philipott, p. 96, says, the Bakers, of Caldham, had a peculiar chancel belonging to them in this church, near the vestrydoor, over the charnel-house, which seems to have been that building mentioned by John Baker, of Folkestone, who by his will in 1464, ordered, that his executors should make a new work, called an isle, with a window in it, with the parishioners advice; which work should be built between the vestry there and the great window. John Tong, of Folkestone, who was buried in this church, by will in 1534, ordered that certain men of the parish should be enfeoffed in six acres of land, called Mervyle, to the use of the mass of Jhesu, in this church.

 

On Dec. 19, 1705, the west end of this church, for the length of two arches out of the five, was blown down by the violence of the wind; upon which the curate and parishioners petitioned archbishop Tillot son, for leave to shorten the church, by rebuilding only one of the fallen arches, which was granted. But by this, the church, which was before insufficient to contain the parishioners, is rendered much more inconvenient to them for that purpose. By the act passed anno 6 George III. for the preservation of the town and church from the ravages of the sea as already noticed before. After such works are finished, &c. the rates are to be applied towards their repair, and to the keeping in repair, and the support and preservation of this church.

 

¶This church was first built by Nigell de Muneville, lord of Folkestone at the latter end of king Henry I. or the beginning of king Stephen's reign, when he removed the priory from the precinct of the castle to it in 1137, and he gave this new church and the patronage of it to the monks of Lolley, in Normandy, for their establishing a cell, or alien priory here, as has been already mentioned, to which this new church afterwards served as the conventual church of it. The profits of it were very early appropriated to the use of this priory, that is, before the 8th of king Richard II. anno 1384, the duty of it being served by a vicar, whose portion was settled in 1448, at the yearly pension of 10l. 0s. 2½d. to be paid by the prior, in lieu of all other profits whatsoever. In which state this appropriation and vicarage remained till the surrendry of the priory, in the 27th year of king Henry VIII. when they came, with the rest of the possessions of it, into the king's hands, who in his 31st year demised the vicarage and parish church of Folkestone, with all its rights, profits, and emoluments, for a term of years, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, who assigned his interest in it to Anthony Allcher, esq. but the fee of both remained in the crown till the 4th year of king Edward VI. when they were granted, with the manor, priory, and other premises here, to Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite; who the next year conveyed them back again to the crown, in exchange for other premises, (fn. 23) where the patronage of the vicarage did not remain long; for in 1558, anno 6 queen Mary, the queen granted it, among several others, to the archbishop. But the church or parsonage appropriate of Folkestone remained longer in the crown, and till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange, among other premises, to archbishop Parker, being then in lease to lord Clinton, at the rent of 57l. 2s. 11d. at which rate it was valued to the archbishop, in which manner it has continued to be leased out ever since, and it now, with the patronage of the vicarage, remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury; the family of Breams were formerly lessees of it, from whom the interest of the lease came to the Taylors, of Bifrons, and was sold by the late Rev. Edward Taylor, of Bisrons, to the right hon. Jacob, earl of Radnor, the present lessee of it.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol8/pp152-188

"Here is the place of James Harington, of Exton, Knight with his wife, Lucy, daughter of William Sidney, Knight, by whom he had 18 children, of whom 3 sons and 8 daughters entered into marriage. The eldest son John, Knight, married the heiress of Robert Kelway, surveyor of the Courts of Wards and Liveries.

The second, Henry, Knight, married one of the heiresses of Francis Agar, The third, James, Esquire, one of the heiresses of Roberts Sapcots, Esquire. The eldest daughter, Elizabeth, was married to Edward Montague, Knight, The second, Frances, to William Lee, Knight, The third Margaret, to Don Benito de Sisneros, a Spaniard, of the family of the Dukes of Fantasgo, The fourth, Catharine, to Edward Dimmock, Knight.

The sixth, Mabel, to Andrew Noel, Knight, The seventh, Sarah had for her husband Lord Hastings, heir of the Earl of Huntingdon. The eighth, Theodosia, Lord Dudley of Castle Dudley.

The said James and Lucy lived 50 years in Wedlock. She died first in her 72nd year. He departed this life when eighty years old, in the year of man’s redemption 1591, the 34th of Queen Elizabeth. Both appointed as their sole executor their son James, who, to perform his duty to his parents, and to leave testimony of his filial affection to posterity erected and dedicated this monument to their lasting memory.

If an old family and ancient busts on the walls; if the badge of a Knighthood, the reward of peculiar virtue; if a numerous offspring and the absence of all complaint throughout 50 years of married life; if late decay and a rapid death; lastly, if a happy estate, and more happy than any estate, a liberal hand, untainted honour, reverence for heaven have made either a happy life or a blessed death, they have made both life and death blessed for us. Now when the fates have bid us to have done with life and the stars demand out spirits, the affection of our heir has gathered our ashes and bidden them rest under this mausoleum".

 

James was the son of Sir John of Exton 1589 & Elizabeth daughter of Robert Mutton of Peckleton and Phillippa daughter of Richard Willoughby

He was the grandson of John Harington 1524 and Alice Southill www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/Z0M1j4

He m Lucy daughter of Sir William Sydney of Penshurst & Anne / Agnes daughter of Hugh Pakenham / Packenham / Pagenham www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/863734281/

Children

1. Sir John 1613 m Ann heiress of Robert Kelway 1570 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/V45gL3 (John & Anne received Exton manor on their marriage)

2. Sir Henry m ...... co-heiress of Francis Agar

3. James 1613 m1 Frances 1599 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/F81dXr daughter of Robert Sapcote 1600 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/8U15k6 and either Catherine or Eleanor daughters of William Prestland m2 1601 Anne 1629 daughter of Francis Bernard of Abington, Widow of John D'oyley of Merton who m3 Sir Henry Poole of Kemble & Oaksey 1632 widower of Griselda daughter of Sir Edward Neville, 7th baron Abergavenny and Catherine Brome

1. Elizabeth m Sir Edward Montague 1601 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/016g98 of Weekley & Boughton

2. Frances m Sir William Lee

3. Margaret m Don Benito de Sisneros

5. Catharine m Sir Edward Dimmock / Dymock

6. Mabel c1560-1603 m Sir Andrew Noel son of Sir Andrew Noel and Elizabeth Hopton, bringing Exton estate to the Noels (parents of Lucy wife of William 4th Baron Eure 1646 son of Mary Eure of Ludlow www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/4Z987J & Edward Noel, 2nd Viscount Campden who m Juliana 1680 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/m2ie9z daughter of Baptist Hicks 1st Viscount Campden 1629 of Chipping Campden www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/S9aY17and grandparents of Baptist Noel 3rd Viscount www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/9sXm6d & Charles Noel at Brooke www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/R4U3L6 )

7. Sarah m Francis Baron Hastings heir of Sir George Hastings, 4th Earl of Huntingdon 1604 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/37bp86 Sarah m2 Sir George Kingsmith, m3 Edward 11th Baron Zouche, m4 Sir Thomas Edmondes)

8. Theodosia m Lord Dudley of Castle Dudley.

 

- Church of Saints Peter & Paul, Exton Rutland

 

Now lying against the wall behind the piano and war memorial www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/8EmPyC is the thick stone gravestone slab with the incised figures of Ralph Leeson 1587 & his 2 wives Eiizabeth Dethick & Ursula Poole under their heraldic coats of arms

"Here lieth the bodies of Raphe Leeson, gent, & Elizabeth his wife, sister to Humphrey Dethick of Newhall, esq. She died An Dni 1581; Secondly he married Ursula daughter to Austin Poole of Langely, esq. She died Ano 1586; and ye said

Raphe departed 21 of October 1587

Elizabeth. By her he had i daughter named Ellen.

Ursula. By her he had one son named Robert."

 

Ralph Leeson 1530-1587

He m1 Elizabeth 3rd daughter of Thomas Dethick of Newhall Derbyshire & Anne daughter of Thomas Rolleston and Elizabeth daughter of John Turville of Newhall,

She was the sister of Humphrey Dethick of Newhall & Hartshorne www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/Jr5x6R who m Elizabeth daughter of Ralph Longford & Dorothy Fitzherbert flic.kr/p/6xfByq daughter of Anthony Fitzherbert & Maud / Matilda Cotton flic.kr/p/2kyiD2m

She was the grand daughter of William Dethick & Anne daughter of Humphrey Bradborne / Bradbourne of Hogue

She was the 4 x great grand daughter of Margaret & William Dethick at Burton on Trent www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/212m99

She was also the grand daughter of James Rolleston 1529 of Ashover & Anne Babington 1505 flic.kr/p/2kwZXjy

Children

1. Ellen

 

He m2 Ursula 1560 - 1586 daughter of Augustin Pole of Kings Langley & Cecily daughter of William Bowden

Her father Augustin inherited the family lands at Kings Langley after the death of his childless brother Henry c1558 flic.kr/p/6LqLdm

Children

1. Robert 1585 - 1655 +++ m Jane b1584 daughter of Thomas Gleason & Jane Lowe.

 

(In court case over property in 1585, when Joan Coxe of Packington, called Ralph Leeson ‘a false knave’, the Court of Common Pleas took note that, ‘by reason of the speaking and pronouncement… the same Ralph is not only injured in his good name and fame, but also is grievously harmed in his dealings with divers honest persons’)

 

The slab was most likely made shortly after Ralph's death. He made provision for it in his will and appointed his son and daughter executors, and their uncle Humphrey Dethick of Newhall and Henry Edyell, inn holder of Burton Upon Trent, as supervisors. As his children were minors, Humphrey Dethick proved the will. Edyell who was once a servant of Ralph's uncle Dr William Leeson was a witness to the will of alabasterer Richard Parker of the Royley workshop at Burton On Trent where probably the slab was made.

 

What happened to Ellen & Robert, Who looked after them after the death of their parents ? Did Ellen live to adulthood & marry ?

 

Robert Leeson 1609 - 1694 of Packington, gent., son of Robert & Jane +++ is mentioned in January 1638 when be settled his property here in view of his intended marriage with Sarah Gilbert of Barrow, Derbyshire, the trustees of the settlement being William Gilbert of Barrow, and William Cooper of Chellaston. His son Robert Leeson 1684 - 1747 described as of Hathem, clerk, also made a settlement in 1746, of which Thomas Bowley, of Hathem, surgeon, and Samuel Smith, of Hathem, gardener, were the Trustees ; by this deed Robert settled property in Packington on his eldest son Robert, subject as to part to a life interest for his daughter Elizabeth Parker, and property in Hathern and Long Whatton on his second son Daniel.

 

- Church of the Holy Rood, Packington Leicestershire

www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/ursula-pole-24-198d5lb...

www.stirnet.co.uk/genie/data/british/dd/dethick2.php

archive.org/stream/leicestershirea01unkngoog/leicestershi...

The second Ida Rentoul Outhwaite Children's Library Stained Glass Window features the excerpt from a poem; "When the children go away, leaving earth's gray lonely places, God I know has room for play, in his gracious starry spaces". The hand-painted panel features three Australian native koalas in natty moss green sporting tweeds and red checks playing a round of golf (most fashionable in the 1920s) with three cheeky pixies as their caddies. One of the green tweed koalas smokes a pipe. The red check koala appears not only to have nearly hit one of his companion koalas with his club, but has sent his ball flying right into the nose of a pixie spectator. A rabbit, two laughing kookaburras and a goanna watch the scene with amusement; the kookaburras especially! Peeping from over the ridge, a Metroland 1920s clubhouse with a red tile roof, white walls and dormer windows can just be seen. Executed with a muted palate of mossy greens, reddish browns, pink and golden yellow, the colours of the Australian bush in summertime are truly captured in this pane. All the characters come from the book "Fairyland", published by A. and C. Black in London in 1926.

 

In 1923 with Fitzroy still very much a working class area of Melbourne with pockets of poverty, the parish of St. Mark the Evangelist decided to address the need of the poor in the inner Melbourne suburb. Architects Gawler and Drummond were commissioned to design a two storey red brick Social Settlement Building. It was opened in 1926 by the Vicar of St. Mark the Evangelist, the Reverend Robert G. Nichols (known affectionately amongst the parish as Brother Bill). Known today as the Community Centre, the St. Mark the Evangelist Social Settlements Building looks out onto George Street and also across the St. Mark the Evangelist's forecourt. When it opened, the Social Settlement Building's facilities included a gymnasium, club rooms and children's library.

 

Opened in 1926, the children's library, which was situated in the corner room of the Social Settlements Building, is believed to be the first known free dedicated children's library in Victoria. The library was given to the children of Fitzroy by Mrs. T. Hackett, in memory of her late husband. The library contained over 3,000 books, as well as children's magazines and even comics. The Social Settlements Building was only erected because Brother Bill organised the commitment of £1,000.00 each from various wealthy businessmen and philanthropists around Melbourne. Mrs Hackett's contribution was the library of £1,000.00 worth of books. Another internationally famous resident of the neighbourhood, Australian children's book illustrator Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, then at the zenith of her career, was engaged by the relentless Brother Bill to create something for the library. Ida donated four stained glass windows each with a hand-painted panel executed by her, based upon illustrations from her books, most notably "Elves and Fairies" which was published to great acclaim in Australia and sold internationally in 1916 and "Fairyland" which had been published earlier that year. These four hand painted stained glass windows were equated to the value of £1,000.00, but are priceless today, as they are the only public works of Ida Rentoul Outhwaite ever commissioned that have been executed in this medium. Ida Rentoul Outhwaite was only ever commissioned to create one other public work; a series of four panels executed in watercolour with pencil underdrawing in 1910 for the Prince Henry Hospital's children's wards in Melbourne (now demolished). Of her panels, only two are believed still to be in existence, buried within the hospital archives. The four Ida Rentoul Outhwaite stained glass windows each depict faeries, pixies, Australian native animals and children, taken from her book illustrations. At the time of photographing, the windows - three overlooking George Street and one St. Mark the Evangelist's forecourt - were located in the community lounge, which served as a drop-in lounge and kitchen for Fitzroy's homeless and marginalised citizens. Today the space has been re-purposed as offices for the Anglicare staff who run the St. Mark's Community Centre, possibly as a way to protect the precious windows from coming to any harm. The only down-side to this is that they are not as easily accessed or viewed as when I photographed them, making my original visit to St. Mark the Evangalist in 2009 extremely fortuitous.

 

The Ida Rentoul Outhwaite Children's Library Stained Glass Windows are one of Australia's greatest hidden treasures, which seems apt when you consider that the pixies and faeries they depict are also often in hiding when we read about them in children's books and the faerie tales of our childhood. The fact that they are hidden, because it is necessary to enter a little-known and undistinguished building in order to see them, ensures their protection and survival. The windows are unique, not only because they are the only stained glass windows designed and hand-painted by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, but because they are the earliest and only examples of stained glass art in Australia that deals with theme of childhood.

 

I am indebted to Peter Bourke who ran the St. Mark's Community Centre in 2009 for giving me the privilege of seeing these beautiful and rare windows created by one of my favourite children's book artists on a hot November afternoon, without me having made prior arrangements. I also appreciate him allowing me the opportunity to photograph them in great detail. I will always be grateful to him for such a wonderful and moving experience.

 

Ida Sherbourne Outhwaite (1888 - 1960) was an Australian children's book illustrator. She was born on the 9th of June 1888 in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton. She was the daughter of the of Presbyterian Reverend John Laurence Rentoul and his wife Annie Isobel. Her family was both literary and artistic, and as such, gifted Ida was encouraged from an early age to embrace her talent of drawing. Her elder sister, Annie Rattray Rentoul (1882 - 1978), was likewise encouraged to write, and both would later form a successful partnership. In 1903 six fairy stories written by Annie and illustrated by Ida were published in the ladies' journal "New Idea". The following year the Rentoul sisters collaborated on a book called "Mollie's Bunyip" which was received with instant success because it combined the idea of European faeries, witches and elves and the Australian bush. "Mollie's Staircase" followed in 1906. In 1908 the Rentoul sisters published their first substantial story book, "The Lady of the Blue Beads". On 9 December 1909 Ida married Arthur Grenbry Outhwaite (1875-1938), manager of the Perpetual Executors and Trustees Association of Australia Ltd. (Annie remained unmarried her entire life). After her marriage, Ida was known as Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, but did not publish anything substantial as she established her family and household until part way through the Great War. In 1916 she brought out her first coloured work; "Elves and Fairies", a de luxe edition produced entirely in Australia by Thomas Lothian. The success of the book, with its delicate watercolour plates, was due both to Ida's artistic talent and to the business acumen of her husband, who provided a £400.00 subsidy to ensure a high-quality production and consigned royalties to the Red Cross, thereby encouraging vice-regal patronage. "Elves and Fairies" is still her best known and loved work. Encouraged by her latest success, Ida travelled to Europe after hostilities ended and in 1920 exhibited in Paris and London. The critics compared her to other artists of the golden years of children's illustration such as Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac, thus sealing her international success. She signed a contract with British book publishers A. & C. Black who published five books for her over the next decade, including "The Enchanted Forest" (1921), with text by her husband, and, probably the most popular of all the Rentoul sisters' collaborations, "The Little Green Road to Fairyland" (1922). "The Fairyland of Ida Rentoul Outhwaite" (1926), another sumptuous volume, with text by her husband and sister, was less successful. A. & C. Black also produced a number of postcard series using her illustrations from "Elves and Fairies" as well as her other books published by them. In 1930 the last of her books published by A. & C. Black was released, but already times were changing, and the interest in Ida's work was rapidly fading. Angus & Robertson brought out two more books in 1933 and 1935 but they received relatively little attention. Her last two exhibitions, which between 1916 and 1928 were almost annual events, were held in 1933. The Second World War changed the world, and Ida and Annie's work was relegated to a bygone era, shunned and forgotten. Ida suffered the loss of both of her sons during the war, and she spent her last years sharing a flat in Caulfield with her sister, where, survived by her two daughters, she died on 25 June 1960. She did not live to see the resurgence of interest in her work some twenty-five years later, when in 1985, her picture of "The Little Witch" from "Elves and Fairies" was published on an Australian stamp, opening the fairy world of Ida Rentoul Outhwaite to a whole new generation of children and adults alike.

 

The Burgtheater at Dr.-Karl -Lueger-Ring (from now on, 2013, Universitätsring) in Vienna is an Austrian Federal Theatre. It is one of the most important stages in Europe and after the Comédie-Française, the second oldest European one, as well as the greatest German speaking theater. The original 'old' Burgtheater at Saint Michael's square was utilized from 1748 until the opening of the new building at the ring in October, 1888. The new house in 1945 burnt down completely as a result of bomb attacks, until the re-opening on 14 October 1955 was the Ronacher serving as temporary quarters. The Burgtheater is considered as Austrian National Theatre.

Throughout its history, the theater was bearing different names, first Imperial-Royal Theater next to the Castle, then to 1918 Imperial-Royal Court-Burgtheater and since then Burgtheater (Castle Theater). Especially in Vienna it is often referred to as "The Castle (Die Burg)", the ensemble members are known as Castle actors (Burgschauspieler).

History

St. Michael's Square with the old K.K. Theatre beside the castle (right) and the Winter Riding School of the Hofburg (left)

The interior of the Old Burgtheater, painted by Gustav Klimt. The people are represented in such detail that the identification is possible.

The 'old' Burgtheater at St. Michael's Square

The original castle theater was set up in a ball house that was built in the lower pleasure gardens of the Imperial Palace of the Roman-German King and later Emperor Ferdinand I in 1540, after the old house 1525 fell victim to a fire. Until the beginning of the 18th Century was played there the Jeu de Paume, a precursor of tennis. On 14 March 1741 finally gave the Empress Maria Theresa, ruling after the death of her father, which had ordered a general suspension of the theater, the "Entrepreneur of the Royal Court Opera" and lessees of 1708 built theater at Kärntnertor (Carinthian gate), Joseph Karl Selliers, permission to change the ballroom into a theater. Simultaneously, a new ball house was built in the immediate vicinity, which todays Ballhausplatz is bearing its name.

In 1748, the newly designed "theater next to the castle" was opened. 1756 major renovations were made, inter alia, a new rear wall was built. The Auditorium of the Old Burgtheater was still a solid timber construction and took about 1200 guests. The imperial family could reach her ​​royal box directly from the imperial quarters, the Burgtheater structurally being connected with them. At the old venue at Saint Michael's place were, inter alia, several works of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as well as Franz Grillparzer premiered .

On 17 February 1776, Emperor Joseph II declared the theater to the German National Theatre (Teutsches Nationaltheater). It was he who ordered by decree that the stage plays should not deal with sad events for not bring the Imperial audience in a bad mood. Many theater plays for this reason had to be changed and provided with a Vienna Final (Happy End), such as Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet. From 1794 on, the theater was bearing the name K.K. Court Theatre next to the castle.

1798 the poet August von Kotzebue was appointed as head of the Burgtheater, but after discussions with the actors he left Vienna in 1799. Under German director Joseph Schreyvogel was introduced German instead of French and Italian as a new stage language.

On 12 October 1888 took place the last performance in the old house. The Burgtheater ensemble moved to the new venue at the Ring. The Old Burgtheater had to give way to the completion of Saint Michael's tract of Hofburg. The plans to this end had been drawn almost 200 years before the demolition of the old Burgtheater by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach.

The "new" K.K. Court Theatre (as the inscription reads today) at the Ring opposite the Town Hall, opened on 14 October 1888 with Grillparzer's Esther and Schiller's Wallenstein's Camp, was designed in neo-Baroque style by Gottfried Semper (plan) and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer (facade), who had already designed the Imperial Forum in Vienna together. Construction began on 16 December 1874 and followed through 14 years, in which the architects quarreled. Already in 1876 Semper withdrew due to health problems to Rome and had Hasenauer realized his ideas alone, who in the dispute of the architects stood up for a mainly splendid designed grand lodges theater.

However, created the famous Viennese painter Gustav Klimt and his brother Ernst Klimt and Franz Matsch 1886-1888 the ceiling paintings in the two stairwells of the new theater. The three took over this task after similar commissioned work in the city theaters of Fiume and Karlovy Vary and in the Bucharest National Theatre. In the grand staircase on the side facing the café Landtmann of the Burgtheater (Archduke stairs) reproduced ​​Gustav Klimt the artists of the ancient theater in Taormina on Sicily, in the stairwell on the "People's Garden"-side (Kaiserstiege, because it was reserved for the emperor) the London Globe Theatre and the final scene from William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". Above the entrance to the auditorium is Molière's The Imaginary Invalid to discover. In the background the painter immortalized himself in the company of his two colleagues. Emperor Franz Joseph I liked the ceiling paintings so much that he gave the members of the company of artists of Klimt the Golden Cross of Merit.

The new building resembles externally the Dresden Semper Opera, but even more, due to the for the two theaters absolutely atypical cross wing with the ceremonial stairs, Semper's Munich project from the years 1865/1866 for a Richard Wagner Festspielhaus above the Isar. Above the middle section there is a loggia, which is framed by two side wings, and is divided from a stage house with a gable roof and auditorium with a tent roof. Above the center house there decorates a statue of Apollo the facade, throning between the Muses of drama and tragedy. Above the main entrances are located friezes with Bacchus and Ariadne. At the exterior facade round about, portrait busts of the poets Calderon, Shakespeare, Moliere, Schiller, Goethe, Lessing, Halm, Grillparzer, and Hebbel can be seen. The masks which also can be seen here are indicating the ancient theater, furthermore adorn allegorical representations the side wings: love, hate, humility, lust, selfishness, and heroism. Although the theater since 1919 is bearing the name of Burgtheater, the old inscription KK Hofburgtheater over the main entrance still exists. Some pictures of the old gallery of portraits have been hung up in the new building and can be seen still today - but these images were originally smaller, they had to be "extended" to make them work better in high space. The points of these "supplements" are visible as fine lines on the canvas.

The Burgtheater was initially well received by Viennese people due to its magnificent appearance and technical innovations such as electric lighting, but soon criticism because of the poor acoustics was increasing. Finally, in 1897 the auditorium was rebuilt to reduce the acoustic problems. The new theater was an important meeting place of social life and soon it was situated among the "sanctuaries" of Viennese people. In November 1918, the supervision over the theater was transferred from the High Steward of the emperor to the new state of German Austria.

1922/1923 the Academy Theatre was opened as a chamber play stage of the Burgtheater. On 8th May 1925, the Burgtheater went into Austria's criminal history, as here Mentscha Karnitschewa perpetrated a revolver assassination on Todor Panitza.

The Burgtheater in time of National Socialism

The National Socialist ideas also left traces in the history of the Burgtheater. In 1939 appeared in Adolf Luser Verlag the strongly anti-Semitic characterized book of theater scientist Heinz Kindermann "The Burgtheater. Heritage and mission of a national theater", in which he, among other things, analyzed the "Jewish influence "on the Burgtheater. On 14 October 1938 was on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Burgtheater a Don Carlos production of Karl-Heinz Stroux shown that served Hitler's ideology. The role of the Marquis of Posa played the same Ewald Balser, who in a different Don Carlos production a year earlier (by Heinz Hilpert) at the Deutsches Theater in the same role with the sentence in direction of Joseph Goebbels box vociferated: "just give freedom of thought". The actor and director Lothar Müthel, who was director of the Burgtheater between 1939 and 1945, staged 1943 the Merchant of Venice, in which Werner Kraus the Jew Shylock clearly anti-Semitic represented. The same director staged after the war Lessing's parable Nathan the Wise. Adolf Hitler himself visited during the Nazi regime the Burgtheater only once (1938), and later he refused in pure fear of an assassination.

For actors and theater staff who were classified according to the Reich Citizenship Law of 1935 as "Jews ", were quickly imposed stage bans, within a few days, they were on leave, fired or arrested. The Burgtheater ensemble ​​between 1938 and 1945 did not put up significant resistance against the Nazi ideology, the repertoire was heavily censored, only a few joined the Resistance, as Judith Holzmeister (then also at the People's Theatre engaged) or the actor Fritz Lehmann. Although Jewish members of the ensemble indeed have been helped to emigrate, was still an actor, Fritz Strassny, taken to a concentration camp and murdered there.

The Burgtheater at the end of the war and after the Second World War

In summer 1944, the Burgtheater had to be closed because of the decreed general theater suspension. From 1 April 1945, as the Red Army approached Vienna, camped a military unit in the house, a portion was used as an arsenal. In a bomb attack the house at the Ring was damaged and burned down on 12th April 1945 completely. Auditorium and stage were useless, only the steel structure remained. The ceiling paintings and part of the lobby were almost undamaged.

The Soviet occupying power expected from Viennese City Councillor Viktor Matejka to launch Vienna's cultural life as soon as possible again. The council summoned on 23 April (a state government did not yet exist) a meeting of all Viennese cultural workers into the Town Hall. Result of the discussions was that in late April 1945 eight cinemas and four theaters took up the operation again, including the Burgtheater. The house took over the Ronacher Theater, which was understood by many castle actors as "exile" as a temporary home (and remained there to 1955). This venue chose the newly appointed director Raoul Aslan, who championed particularly active.

The first performance after the Second World War was on 30 April 1945 Sappho by Franz Grillparzer directed by Adolf Rott from 1943 with Maria Eis in the title role. Also other productions from the Nazi era were resumed. With Paul Hoerbiger, a few days ago as Nazi prisoner still in mortal danger, was shown the play of Nestroy Mädl (Girlie) from the suburbs. The Academy Theatre could be played (the first performance was on 19 April 1945 Hedda Gabler, a production of Rott from the year 1941) and also in the ball room (Redoutensaal) at the Imperial Palace took place performances. Aslan the Ronacher in the summer had rebuilt because the stage was too small for classical performances. On 25 September 1945, Schiller's Maid of Orleans could be played on the enlarged stage.

The first new productions are associated with the name of Lothar Müthel: Everyone and Nathan the Wise, in both Raoul Aslan played the main role. The staging of The Merchant of Venice by Müthel in Nazi times seemed to have been fallen into oblivion.

Great pleasure gave the public the return of the in 1938 from the ensemble expelled Else Wohlgemuth on stage. She performaed after seven years in exile in December 1945 in Clare Biharys The other mother in the Academy Theater. 1951 opened the Burgtheater its doors for the first time, but only the left wing, where the celebrations on the 175th anniversary of the theater took place.

1948, a competition for the reconstruction was tendered: Josef Gielen, who was then director, first tended to support the design of ex aequo-ranked Otto Niedermoser, according to which the house was to be rebuilt into a modern gallery theater. Finally, he agreed but then for the project by Michael Engelhardt, whose plan was conservative but also cost effective. The character of the lodges theater was largely taken into account and maintained, the central royal box but has been replaced by two balconies, and with a new slanted ceiling construction in the audience was the acoustics, the shortcoming of the house, improved significantly.

On 14 October 1955 was happening under Adolf Rott the reopening of the restored house at the Ring. For this occasion Mozart's A Little Night Music was played. On 15 and on 16 October it was followed by the first performance (for reasons of space as a double premiere) in the restored theater: King Ottokar's Fortune and End of Franz Grillparzer, staged by Adolf Rott. A few months after the signing of the Austrian State Treaty was the choice of this play, which the beginning of Habsburg rule in Austria makes a subject of discussion and Ottokar of Horneck's eulogy on Austria (... it's a good country / Well worth that a prince bow to it! / where have you yet seen the same?... ) contains highly symbolic. Rott and under his successors Ernst Haeusserman and Gerhard Klingenberg the classic Burgtheater style and the Burgtheater German for German theaters were finally pointing the way .

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Burgtheater participated (with other well-known theaters in Vienna) on the so-called Brecht boycott.

Gerhard Klingenberg internationalized the Burgtheater, he invited renowned stage directors such as Dieter Dorn, Peter Hall, Luca Ronconi, Giorgio Strehler, Roberto Guicciardini and Otomar Krejča. Klingenberg also enabled the castle debuts of Claus Peymann and Thomas Bernhard (1974 world premiere of The Hunting Party). Bernhard was as a successor of Klingenberg mentioned, but eventually was appointed Achim Benning, whereupon the writer with the text "The theatrical shack on the ring (how I should become the director of the Burgtheater)" answered.

Benning, the first ensemble representative of the Burgtheater which was appointed director, continued Klingenberg's way of Europeanization by other means, brought directors such as Adolf Dresen, Manfred Wekwerth or Thomas Langhoff to Vienna, looked with performances of plays of Vaclav Havel to the then politically separated East and took the the public taste more into consideration.

Directorate Claus Peymann 1986-1999

Under the by short-term Minister of Education Helmut Zilk brought to Vienna Claus Peymann, director from 1986 to 1999, there was further modernization of the programme and staging styles. Moreover Peymann was never at a loss for critical contributions in the public, a hitherto unusual attitude for Burgtheater directors. Therefore, he and his program within sections of the audience met with rejection. The greatest theater scandal in Vienna since 1945 occurred in 1988 concerning the premiere of Thomas Bernhard's Heldenplatz (Place of the Heroes) drama which was fiercly fought by conservative politicians and zealots. The play deals with the Vergangenheitsbewältigung (process of coming to terms with the past) and illuminates the present management in Austria - with attacks on the then ruling Social Democratic Party - critically. Together with Claus Peymann Bernhard after the premiere dared to face on the stage applause and boos.

Bernard, to his home country bound in love-hate relationship, prohibited the performance of his plays in Austria before his death in 1989 by will. Peymann, to Bernhard bound in a difficult friendship (see Bernhard's play Claus Peymann buys a pair of pants and goes eating with me) feared harm for the author's work, should his plays precisely in his homeland not being shown. First, it was through permission of the executor Peter Fabjan - Bernhard's half-brother - after all, possible the already in the schedule of the Burgtheater included productions to continue. Finally, shortly before the tenth anniversary of the death of Bernard it came to the revival of the Bernhard play Before retirement by the first performance director Peymann. The plays by Bernhard are since then continued on the programme of the Burgtheater and they are regularly newly produced.

In 1993, the rehearsal stage of the Castle theater was opened in the arsenal (architect Gustav Peichl). Since 1999, the Burgtheater has the operation form of a limited corporation.

Directorate Klaus Bachler 1999-2009

Peymann was followed in 1999 by Klaus Bachler as director. He is a trained actor, but was mostly as a cultural manager (director of the Vienna Festival) active. Bachler moved the theater as a cultural event in the foreground and he engaged for this purpose directors such as Luc Bondy, Andrea Breth, Peter Zadek and Martin Kušej.

Were among the unusual "events" of the directorate Bachler

* The Theatre of Orgies and Mysteries by Hermann Nitsch with the performance of 122 Action (2005 )

* The recording of the MTV Unplugged concert with Die Toten Hosen for the music channel MTV (2005, under the title available)

* John Irving's reading from his book at the Burgtheater Until I find you (2006)

* The 431 animatographische (animatographical) Expedition by Christoph Schlingensief and a big event of him under the title of Area 7 - Matthew Sadochrist - An expedition by Christoph Schlingensief (2006).

* Daniel Hoevels cut in Schiller's Mary Stuart accidentally his throat (December 2008). Outpatient care is enough.

Jubilee Year 2005

In October 2005, the Burgtheater celebrated the 50th Anniversary of its reopening with a gala evening and the performance of Grillparzer's King Ottokar's Fortune and End, directed by Martin Kušej that had been performed in August 2005 at the Salzburg Festival as a great success. Michael Maertens (in the role of Rudolf of Habsburg) received the Nestroy Theatre Award for Best Actor for his role in this play. Actor Tobias Moretti was awarded in 2006 for this role with the Gertrude Eysoldt Ring.

Furthermore, there were on 16th October 2005 the open day on which the 82-minute film "burg/private. 82 miniatures" of Sepp Dreissinger was shown for the first time. The film contains one-minute film "Stand portraits" of Castle actors and guest actors who, without saying a word, try to present themselves with a as natural as possible facial expression. Klaus Dermutz wrote a work on the history of the Burgtheater. As a motto of this season served a quotation from Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm: "It's so sad to be happy alone."

The Burgtheater on the Mozart Year 2006

Also the Mozart Year 2006 was at the Burgtheater was remembered. As Mozart's Singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail in 1782 in the courtyard of Castle Theatre was premiered came in cooperation with the Vienna State Opera on the occasion of the Vienna Festival in May 2006 a new production (directed by Karin Beier) of this opera on stage.

Directorate Matthias Hartmann since 2009

From September 2009 to 2014, Matthias Hartmann was Artistic Director of the Burgtheater. A native of Osnabrück, he directed the stage houses of Bochum and Zurich. With his directors like Alvis Hermanis, Roland Schimmelpfennig, David Bösch, Stefan Bachmann, Stefan Pucher, Michael Thalheimer, came actresses like Dorte Lyssweski, Katharina Lorenz, Sarah Viktoria Frick, Mavie Hoerbiger, Lucas Gregorowicz and Martin Wuttke came permanently to the Burg. Matthias Hartmann himself staged around three premieres per season, about once a year, he staged at the major opera houses. For more internationality and "cross-over", he won the Belgian artist Jan Lauwers and his Need Company as "Artists in Residence" for the Castle, the New York group Nature Theater of Oklahoma show their great episode drama Live and Times of an annual continuation. For the new look - the Burgtheater presents itself without a solid logo with word games around the BURG - the Burgtheater in 2011 was awarded the Cultural Brand of the Year .

Since 2014, Karin Bergmann is the commander in chief.

01.07.2025. This shot was taken from the roof of Tattershall Castle.

 

The building of this church began in 1466 by the executors of Ralph Lord Cromwell.

 

Ralph built Tattershall Castle and then founded a college of priests.

 

The picture also shows one of the lodging houses (now used as the entrance and shop of the National Trust.

A fence (also serving as a wall for a mural...) sits in back of the Giuseppi's Cucina Italiana (Joe's Italian Kitchen), separating that property from the plaza and parking lot in back of it (which has a different owner...) The poster is not sure what viewpoint the mural is painted from, (he's never seen this view...) even allowing for the artist to compress space so that various TJ landmarks are visible. (although it's quite evident that this is looking north, as the Pacific Ocean is on the right, and the border fence is in the background. Taken by a Nikon D610 at ISO 400 with a Nikkor 35-135mm ƒ 3.5-4.5 AF lens. (at 35)

 

If an artistic executor of the artist, or the artist him/herself, has any copyright objections to this photo, Flickr-mail the poster stating that you are such an executor (or artist), state the objection(s), and it will be taken down...

 

While you are contacting the poster anyway, please tell him the name of the artist...

  

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Untitled.

 

8 - 28 November, 2006

*Opening Wed. 8 Nov @ 17h00

 

whatiftheworld...

11 hope st. cape town

+ 27 21 461 2573

  

This November, whatiftheworld (hope st.) is hosting an exhibition of one hundred small canvases painted by our extended creative community. The works will be untitled and anonymous in a bid to cultivate speculation and to encourage appreciation based on the content of the work as opposed to its executor. Expect to find a horde of hot up-and-comers as well as a few established surprises, providing a fertile hunting ground for collectors.

/

The works will be uniformly affordable @ R350 and a percentage of the sales will be donated to local charity ART for Humanity (http://www.afh.org.za/). Art for Humanity has been serving the South African Art community since 1988 when, as an ad-hoc committee called Artists for Human Rights and subsequently as the Projects Committee of Artists for Human Rights Trust, they have engaged with cultural production specifically in the visual arts, to promote human rights awareness regionally and among the global community.

  

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whatiftheworld...

11 hope st

+ 27 21 461 2573

 

www.whatiftheworld.com

(Extract from Macedon Ranges cultural heritage and landscape study. 4 v. 1994.).

.

Henry Suetonius Officer reputedly aquired the Duneira site from

1872-1877 (Blocks 4,5,10,11,14) paying some £84 for 38 acres but

rate listings give Robert Officer as the owner. .

.

Suetonius Henry Officer (1830-1883).

Officer was born in Hullgreen, New Norfolk, Tasmania 1830, the

son of Sir Robert & Lady Officer. He was educated in Edinburgh

with his brother, Charles, and returned to the colonies, seeking

gold in Victoria but eventually settling for pastoralism in

company with his brothers and Charles Miles{ ibid.}. They managed

stations in the Wimmera and the Riverina, James marrying in 1866

and commencing construction of a 20 room homestead at Murray

Downs & Willakool, two adjoining properties fronting the Murray

River. After experimentation with irrigation, via steam pumps and

windmills, he was able to develop extensive orchards and crops. He was also, like his brother, interested in

acclimatisation, having developed an ostrich farm on his property

(Charles was a council member of the Zoological & Acclimatisation

Society for 10 years, president in 1887). .

.

Blighted by illness, Suetonius reputedly moved to Leighwood,

Toorak (Melbourne) in 1881, having erected the first stage of

Duneira at Mount Macedon, but died two years later. However his son, Henry jnr. was

born at South Yarra in 1869 and his next child, Jessie, was born

at Macedon in 1877, indicating that he was in residence at both

places prior to the dates previously supposed..

.

Suetonius probably commissioned the first stage of Duneira to be

erected as a summer house between c1874-6. The architect Levi

Powell is thought to have designed a house for him there around

that date. The first improvements listed on the site were

stables in 1874 when Robert Officer was rated as owning the site. The house was reputedly not occupied regularly

until c1881 when Suetonius moved to Toorak.

However it appears he and his family were in residence at Duneira

by 1877..

.

When Suetonius died in 1883 his wife, Mary Lillias Rigg Officer

(nee Cairns), of Glenbervie, Glenferrie Road, Toorak was the

co-executor of the estate, with merchant Robert Harper; she is

the rate occupier in 1888. Mrs Officer was the

sister of Mrs Robert Harper (Huntly Burn) and Mrs John C lloyd

(Montpelier, later Timsbury): all three houses were reputedly

built in the same period... .

.

The house bricks for the first stage were said to have come from

the Macedon Brick Kiln (once near the Macedon railway station,

set up in c1888-9?) with external walls built in 14" Flemish bond

from slop-moulded bricks (9 inch by 2.1/2). The bricks were reputedly carted

from Macedon by Cogger. The footings were of bluestone

and reputedly dressed sandstone blocks also survive, suggesting

that the first stage was face brick with stone quoins and the

next renovation c1888 added wings and a cement coating to the

whole complex. Floor frames were reputedly supported on stone

dwarf walls and joists were 6x2.1/2 inch jarrah, with flooring

being 6 inch pine}. Seaweed was apparently used for

ceiling insulation..

.

The servants' wing verandah was skillion in form with timber

posts with classical capitals. The main verandah had coupled

posts (rebuilt with single posts) a panelled frieze and slimmer

capitals set just under the frieze rail}. The

balustrade may have been of single cast-iron balusters..

.

Just prior to the sale to the speculator, James Smith Reid in

1890, and during the occupation of Edward Dyer, major additions

were made to the house complex and a reputedly a caretaker's

lodge was placed at the gate (survives, altered c1920s) but this

appears to have been added by Reid in the early 1890s. .

.

The added rooms were reputedly: billiard (32'x24') and dining

rooms, kitchen, servants bathroom, service block with 5 rooms

(engine room, dairy, pantry, store, boiler room, built of

Northcote machine made 9" brickwork). Damp proof coursing was

used in these additions compared to the slate of the first stage

and acetylene gas (engine room) was thought used for lighting

from this period, as reticulated in 1.1.2" mains and 1/2 inch

branches to internal and some external verandah lights.

Cast-iron elaborately detailed water radiators were also used,

with hot water pumped from the boiler room, and later a duplicate

boiler allowed hot water to be reticulated taps in the house{

ibid.}..

.

The description in rate books expands to villa and cottages (on

37 acres) for the first time under Reid in c1893 but the annual

valuation had already peeked in 1888 at £200 in the occupation of

Edward Dyer. An Edward Dyer was listed at that time as a fruiterer in

Burwood Road, Hawthorn..

.

The water supply is from a concrete tank fed by a spring.

Outbuildings include timber clad stables, storerooms,

blacksmith's shop, coachman's room, milking bails, hay shed and a

green house. The stables (extended) were described as having had

a shingled gabled roof (rear skillion) with loft entered via an

external stair at the north end. It had a blacksmith's

shop (altered for garage c1941), carriage and coachman's rooms,

two stores and vertically boarded main doors{ ibid.,p24}. The

milking and hay sheds had hipped roof forms and timber cladding

and frame. The interior was white-washed. The greenhouse

in the secret hedged garden is of a later date, with a timber

frame built up on 11" cavity brickwork walls, with a brick floor

and heated water pipes under each shelf. The boiler is near the

entry..

.

The `Gisborne Gazette' reported on Duneira in 1903 under the

heading of `A Popular Health Resort':.

`Duneira certainly merits a few remarks though beautiful

residences and grounds are by no means rare in that locality..

(when Reid purchased it, it was `little better than a wilderness'

and he had spared no expense to restore it).. After passing the

lodge at the main entrance, a broad serpentine drive leads up to

the house and from there the grounds are laid out in broad

sloping lawns surmounted with choice borders and fringed with

trees which however do not interfere to any great extent with the

view. There is of course no lack of flowers which grow

luxuriantly on the mount but the great feature of Duneira is the lawns, those open green expanses which delight the eye at all times of the year. the secret of this perennial verdure is to be found in the copious water supply with which Macedon is blessed (spring at rear of house, tapped by tunnelling 40m into the hill, ie. grass grows up to base of Monterey pines)..

.

During Reid's time there, the valuation increased marginally in

1899-1900 and again soon after, with Reid's address being given as care of Rosstrevor Magill, South Australia, in c1909-10. JS Reid died in 1922, leaving the property to the management of JS Reid jun (a chemist) and the merchant GL Dewez of Sydney,

his widow Martha Turnbull Reid and William Riggall.

Reid was the son of the Rev. James Reid of Queensland but gained success as a journalist, starting newspapers in gold mining areas such as Gympie, Charters Towers, Etheridge and Wilcannia, NSW. He was at Broken Hill when the Broken Hill P/L commenced, printing their prospectus. He became a director of BHP. His occupation was listed as `speculator' in the early 1900s.

 

In the 1920s Mrs Martha Reid's `little Eden' was described by a touring group of horticulturalists, thus:

`.. a trim green lawn with magnificent Japanese cypress which was voted the finest in Australia; nearby a splendid weeping elm caught the eye; the maples, beech and the horse chestnuts supply fresh tints; majestic Oregons tower towards heaven...

Everywhere soft tinted rhododendrons and azaleas bloomed in the sunshine and near a rock garden decked with flowers of every conceivable hue, myriad tinted tulips thrust up their heads.'.

Again, in 1927, the Victorian Nurserymens & Seedmens Association noted of Duneira:

`...where probably the finest display of rhododendrons is to be seen; these and a magnificent specimen of `Cupressus lawsoniana'

"Aurea" caused us to linger longer than the specified time. The rock garden dotted with a remarkable collection of alpines, several linden trees and pendulous birches were considered to be a feature unparalleled elsewhere in the State Mrs Reid owned it until 1941, selling to Dr Alfred & Betty Alcock (nee Nicholas) of Toorak, being reputedly a gift from Alfred Nicholas.

The auction was in December 1940 when Duneira was described as a substantially constructed brick villa with slate roof containing spacious return verandah, entrance hall, sitting, morning and dining rooms, an excellent billiard room, large glazed vestibule, 5 main bedrooms, two well appointed bathrooms, 4 maids bedrooms, maids' sitting room and bathroom, well appointed kitchen, store rooms and septic sewage, central heating,

private gas service and extensive outbuildings on 38 acres. The 500 metre elm-lined drive was said to be the longest (privately owned?) elm avenue in Australia.

 

Extensive renovations followed the Alcock purchase including electricity, removal of the concave and skillion roof timber verandahs, enlarging of openings, conversion of the billiard room to a lounge, new bathrooms in bedrooms, servants rooms converted, larger kitchen and improved connection to dining, more water storage, covered way to link service wing with house, creation of a new entry point from the courtyard, enlarged stable for cars with barn for machinery store, removal of trees, and the replacement of previously gravelled paths and roads (with open brick drains) with concrete and asphalt. Mrs Alcock remarried (Stuart Wickens) but maintained her interest in the garden, reputedly having created the `secret garden'.

 

Mrs Alcock resold to Keith Allen and R.Lowe in c1977. Keith Allan presumably replaced the verandah, following his reported intention to do so in 1978.

 

Mr & Mrs Laurie Matheson purchased it in 1981, just prior to Matheson's involvement in the Ivanov, Combe affair which caused some controversy in Australia and the 1983 Hope Royal Commission.

In the same period he was noted for a high speed dash in his Ferrari to save Duneira from the 1983 fires.

Matheson was a trade commissioner to eastern Europe (1968-) and later via Heine Brothers (1972-) and his own Commercial Bureau, he negotiated extensively with Russia over trade links. Prior to this, while in the navy, Matheson (then aged 33) had commanded the unit in search of Prime Minister Holt who disappeared at Cheviot beach in 1963. He had been educated at Burnside orphanage and later Yenco agricultural college, NSW. Matheson is credited with having built the reproduction porch entrance from the court yard.

Until recently it was still owned by the widow of Laurence Matheson whose memorial (q.v.) at the Macedon cemetery is so distinctive. The same artist (for the memorial) had provided two statues for the garden depicting the Mathesons but after the recent sale, these were removed.

The East and West Lawns are of central importance to the aesthetic significance of the property, being the major landscaping feature through which the Elm Avenue runs. This comprises approximately ninety Dutch Elms (Ulmus X hollandica) underplanted with bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) and is one of the best surviving examples of a private formal avenue in Victoria. Another strong aesthetic feature of the property are the two northern avenues of sycamores and oaks, and the hedges of mature rhododendrons, holly and Portuguese laurels.

 

The collection of significant trees, includes many large and rare conifers, rhododendrons and other cool climate plants. Besides the avenue of Dutch Elms (Ulmus x hollandica), other significant trees include the Ilex kingiana (Himalayan Holly), Abies procera (Noble Fir), Prunus serrulata 'Shirotae' (Japanese Flowering Cherry). Other important trees include the many Douglas Firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Giant Fir (Abies grandis), Caucasian Fir (Abies nordmanniana), an unusual form of the Norway Spruce (Picea abies), Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), Linden (Tilia X europaea), Montpelier Maple (Acer monspessulanum), Antarctic Beech (Nothofagus moorei) & Cut-leaved Walnut (Juglans regia 'Laciniata') which is extremely rare in cultivation.

 

The Burgtheater at Dr.-Karl -Lueger-Ring (from now on, that means 2013, Universitätsring) in Vienna is an Austrian Federal Theatre. It is one of the most important stages in Europe and after the Comédie-Française, the second oldest European one, as well as the greatest German speaking theater. The original 'old' Burgtheater at Saint Michael's square was utilized from 1748 until the opening of the new building at the ring in October, 1888. The new house in 1945 burnt down completely as a result of bomb attacks, until the re-opening on 14 October 1955 was the Ronacher serving as temporary quarters. The Burgtheater is considered as Austrian National Theatre.

Throughout its history, the theater was bearing different names, first Imperial-Royal Theater next to the Castle, then to 1918 Imperial-Royal Court-Burgtheater and since then Burgtheater (Castle Theater). Especially in Vienna it is often referred to as "The Castle (Die Burg)", the ensemble members are known as Castle actors (Burgschauspieler).

History

St. Michael's Square with the old K.K. Theatre beside the castle (right) and the Winter Riding School of the Hofburg (left)

The interior of the Old Burgtheater, painted by Gustav Klimt. The people are represented in such detail that the identification is possible.

The 'old' Burgtheater at St. Michael's Square

The original castle theater was set up in a ball house that was built in the lower pleasure gardens of the Imperial Palace of the Roman-German King and later Emperor Ferdinand I in 1540, after the old house 1525 fell victim to a fire. Until the beginning of the 18th Century was played there the Jeu de Paume, a precursor of tennis. On 14 March 1741 finally gave the Empress Maria Theresa, ruling after the death of her father, which had ordered a general suspension of the theater, the "Entrepreneur of the Royal Court Opera" and lessees of 1708 built theater at Kärntnertor (Carinthian gate), Joseph Karl Selliers, permission to change the ballroom into a theater. Simultaneously, a new ball house was built in the immediate vicinity, which todays Ballhausplatz is bearing its name.

In 1748, the newly designed "theater next to the castle" was opened. 1756 major renovations were made, inter alia, a new rear wall was built. The Auditorium of the Old Burgtheater was still a solid timber construction and took about 1200 guests. The imperial family could reach her ​​royal box directly from the imperial quarters, the Burgtheater structurally being connected with them. At the old venue at Saint Michael's place were, inter alia, several works of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as well as Franz Grillparzer premiered .

On 17 February 1776, Emperor Joseph II declared the theater to the German National Theatre (Teutsches Nationaltheater). It was he who ordered by decree that the stage plays should not deal with sad events for not bring the Imperial audience in a bad mood. Many theater plays for this reason had to be changed and provided with a Vienna Final (Happy End), such as Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet. From 1794 on, the theater was bearing the name K.K. Court Theatre next to the castle.

1798 the poet August von Kotzebue was appointed as head of the Burgtheater, but after discussions with the actors he left Vienna in 1799. Under German director Joseph Schreyvogel was introduced German instead of French and Italian as a new stage language.

On 12 October 1888 took place the last performance in the old house. The Burgtheater ensemble moved to the new venue at the Ring. The Old Burgtheater had to give way to the completion of Saint Michael's tract of Hofburg. The plans to this end had been drawn almost 200 years before the demolition of the old Burgtheater by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach.

The "new" K.K. Court Theatre (as the inscription reads today) at the Ring opposite the Town Hall, opened on 14 October 1888 with Grillparzer's Esther and Schiller's Wallenstein's Camp, was designed in neo-Baroque style by Gottfried Semper (plan) and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer (facade), who had already designed the Imperial Forum in Vienna together. Construction began on 16 December 1874 and followed through 14 years, in which the architects quarreled. Already in 1876 Semper withdrew due to health problems to Rome and had Hasenauer realized his ideas alone, who in the dispute of the architects stood up for a mainly splendid designed grand lodges theater.

However, created the famous Viennese painter Gustav Klimt and his brother Ernst Klimt and Franz Matsch 1886-1888 the ceiling paintings in the two stairwells of the new theater. The three took over this task after similar commissioned work in the city theaters of Fiume and Karlovy Vary and in the Bucharest National Theatre. In the grand staircase on the side facing the café Landtmann of the Burgtheater (Archduke stairs) reproduced ​​Gustav Klimt the artists of the ancient theater in Taormina on Sicily, in the stairwell on the "People's Garden"-side (Kaiserstiege, because it was reserved for the emperor) the London Globe Theatre and the final scene from William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". Above the entrance to the auditorium is Molière's The Imaginary Invalid to discover. In the background the painter immortalized himself in the company of his two colleagues. Emperor Franz Joseph I liked the ceiling paintings so much that he gave the members of the company of artists of Klimt the Golden Cross of Merit.

The new building resembles externally the Dresden Semper Opera, but even more, due to the for the two theaters absolutely atypical cross wing with the ceremonial stairs, Semper's Munich project from the years 1865/1866 for a Richard Wagner Festspielhaus above the Isar. Above the middle section there is a loggia, which is framed by two side wings, and is divided from a stage house with a gable roof and auditorium with a tent roof. Above the center house there decorates a statue of Apollo the facade, throning between the Muses of drama and tragedy. Above the main entrances are located friezes with Bacchus and Ariadne. At the exterior facade round about, portrait busts of the poets Calderon, Shakespeare, Moliere, Schiller, Goethe, Lessing, Halm, Grillparzer, and Hebbel can be seen. The masks which also can be seen here are indicating the ancient theater, furthermore adorn allegorical representations the side wings: love, hate, humility, lust, selfishness, and heroism. Although the theater since 1919 is bearing the name of Burgtheater, the old inscription KK Hofburgtheater over the main entrance still exists. Some pictures of the old gallery of portraits have been hung up in the new building and can be seen still today - but these images were originally smaller, they had to be "extended" to make them work better in high space. The points of these "supplements" are visible as fine lines on the canvas.

The Burgtheater was initially well received by Viennese people due to its magnificent appearance and technical innovations such as electric lighting, but soon criticism because of the poor acoustics was increasing. Finally, in 1897 the auditorium was rebuilt to reduce the acoustic problems. The new theater was an important meeting place of social life and soon it was situated among the "sanctuaries" of Viennese people. In November 1918, the supervision over the theater was transferred from the High Steward of the emperor to the new state of German Austria.

1922/1923 the Academy Theatre was opened as a chamber play stage of the Burgtheater. On 8th May 1925, the Burgtheater went into Austria's criminal history, as here Mentscha Karnitschewa perpetrated a revolver assassination on Todor Panitza.

The Burgtheater in time of National Socialism

The National Socialist ideas also left traces in the history of the Burgtheater. In 1939 appeared in Adolf Luser Verlag the strongly anti-Semitic characterized book of theater scientist Heinz Kindermann "The Burgtheater. Heritage and mission of a national theater", in which he, among other things, analyzed the "Jewish influence "on the Burgtheater. On 14 October 1938 was on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Burgtheater a Don Carlos production of Karl-Heinz Stroux shown that served Hitler's ideology. The role of the Marquis of Posa played the same Ewald Balser, who in a different Don Carlos production a year earlier (by Heinz Hilpert) at the Deutsches Theater in the same role with the sentence in direction of Joseph Goebbels box vociferated: "just give freedom of thought". The actor and director Lothar Müthel, who was director of the Burgtheater between 1939 and 1945, staged 1943 the Merchant of Venice, in which Werner Kraus the Jew Shylock clearly anti-Semitic represented. The same director staged after the war Lessing's parable Nathan the Wise. Adolf Hitler himself visited during the Nazi regime the Burgtheater only once (1938), and later he refused in pure fear of an assassination.

For actors and theater staff who were classified according to the Reich Citizenship Law of 1935 as "Jews ", were quickly imposed stage bans, within a few days, they were on leave, fired or arrested. The Burgtheater ensemble ​​between 1938 and 1945 did not put up significant resistance against the Nazi ideology, the repertoire was heavily censored, only a few joined the Resistance, as Judith Holzmeister (then also at the People's Theatre engaged) or the actor Fritz Lehmann. Although Jewish members of the ensemble indeed have been helped to emigrate, was still an actor, Fritz Strassny, taken to a concentration camp and murdered there.

The Burgtheater at the end of the war and after the Second World War

In summer 1944, the Burgtheater had to be closed because of the decreed general theater suspension. From 1 April 1945, as the Red Army approached Vienna, camped a military unit in the house, a portion was used as an arsenal. In a bomb attack the house at the Ring was damaged and burned down on 12th April 1945 completely. Auditorium and stage were useless, only the steel structure remained. The ceiling paintings and part of the lobby were almost undamaged.

The Soviet occupying power expected from Viennese City Councillor Viktor Matejka to launch Vienna's cultural life as soon as possible again. The council summoned on 23 April (a state government did not yet exist) a meeting of all Viennese cultural workers into the Town Hall. Result of the discussions was that in late April 1945 eight cinemas and four theaters took up the operation again, including the Burgtheater. The house took over the Ronacher Theater, which was understood by many castle actors as "exile" as a temporary home (and remained there to 1955). This venue chose the newly appointed director Raoul Aslan, who championed particularly active.

The first performance after the Second World War was on 30 April 1945 Sappho by Franz Grillparzer directed by Adolf Rott from 1943 with Maria Eis in the title role. Also other productions from the Nazi era were resumed. With Paul Hoerbiger, a few days ago as Nazi prisoner still in mortal danger, was shown the play of Nestroy Mädl (Girlie) from the suburbs. The Academy Theatre could be played (the first performance was on 19 April 1945 Hedda Gabler, a production of Rott from the year 1941) and also in the ball room (Redoutensaal) at the Imperial Palace took place performances. Aslan the Ronacher in the summer had rebuilt because the stage was too small for classical performances. On 25 September 1945, Schiller's Maid of Orleans could be played on the enlarged stage.

The first new productions are associated with the name of Lothar Müthel: Everyone and Nathan the Wise, in both Raoul Aslan played the main role. The staging of The Merchant of Venice by Müthel in Nazi times seemed to have been fallen into oblivion.

Great pleasure gave the public the return of the in 1938 from the ensemble expelled Else Wohlgemuth on stage. She performaed after seven years in exile in December 1945 in Clare Biharys The other mother in the Academy Theater. 1951 opened the Burgtheater its doors for the first time, but only the left wing, where the celebrations on the 175th anniversary of the theater took place.

1948, a competition for the reconstruction was tendered: Josef Gielen, who was then director, first tended to support the design of ex aequo-ranked Otto Niedermoser, according to which the house was to be rebuilt into a modern gallery theater. Finally, he agreed but then for the project by Michael Engelhardt, whose plan was conservative but also cost effective. The character of the lodges theater was largely taken into account and maintained, the central royal box but has been replaced by two balconies, and with a new slanted ceiling construction in the audience was the acoustics, the shortcoming of the house, improved significantly.

On 14 October 1955 was happening under Adolf Rott the reopening of the restored house at the Ring. For this occasion Mozart's A Little Night Music was played. On 15 and on 16 October it was followed by the first performance (for reasons of space as a double premiere) in the restored theater: King Ottokar's Fortune and End of Franz Grillparzer, staged by Adolf Rott. A few months after the signing of the Austrian State Treaty was the choice of this play, which the beginning of Habsburg rule in Austria makes a subject of discussion and Ottokar of Horneck's eulogy on Austria (... it's a good country / Well worth that a prince bow to it! / where have you yet seen the same?... ) contains highly symbolic. Rott and under his successors Ernst Haeusserman and Gerhard Klingenberg the classic Burgtheater style and the Burgtheater German for German theaters were finally pointing the way .

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Burgtheater participated (with other well-known theaters in Vienna) on the so-called Brecht boycott.

Gerhard Klingenberg internationalized the Burgtheater, he invited renowned stage directors such as Dieter Dorn, Peter Hall, Luca Ronconi, Giorgio Strehler, Roberto Guicciardini and Otomar Krejča. Klingenberg also enabled the castle debuts of Claus Peymann and Thomas Bernhard (1974 world premiere of The Hunting Party). Bernhard was as a successor of Klingenberg mentioned, but eventually was appointed Achim Benning, whereupon the writer with the text "The theatrical shack on the ring (how I should become the director of the Burgtheater)" answered.

Benning, the first ensemble representative of the Burgtheater which was appointed director, continued Klingenberg's way of Europeanization by other means, brought directors such as Adolf Dresen, Manfred Wekwerth or Thomas Langhoff to Vienna, looked with performances of plays of Vaclav Havel to the then politically separated East and took the the public taste more into consideration.

Directorate Claus Peymann 1986-1999

Under the by short-term Minister of Education Helmut Zilk brought to Vienna Claus Peymann, director from 1986 to 1999, there was further modernization of the programme and staging styles. Moreover Peymann was never at a loss for critical contributions in the public, a hitherto unusual attitude for Burgtheater directors. Therefore, he and his program within sections of the audience met with rejection. The greatest theater scandal in Vienna since 1945 occurred in 1988 concerning the premiere of Thomas Bernhard's Heldenplatz (Place of the Heroes) drama which was fiercly fought by conservative politicians and zealots. The play deals with the Vergangenheitsbewältigung (process of coming to terms with the past) and illuminates the present management in Austria - with attacks on the then ruling Social Democratic Party - critically. Together with Claus Peymann Bernhard after the premiere dared to face on the stage applause and boos.

Bernard, to his home country bound in love-hate relationship, prohibited the performance of his plays in Austria before his death in 1989 by will. Peymann, to Bernhard bound in a difficult friendship (see Bernhard's play Claus Peymann buys a pair of pants and goes eating with me) feared harm for the author's work, should his plays precisely in his homeland not being shown. First, it was through permission of the executor Peter Fabjan - Bernhard's half-brother - after all, possible the already in the schedule of the Burgtheater included productions to continue. Finally, shortly before the tenth anniversary of the death of Bernard it came to the revival of the Bernhard play Before retirement by the first performance director Peymann. The plays by Bernhard are since then continued on the programme of the Burgtheater and they are regularly newly produced.

In 1993, the rehearsal stage of the Castle theater was opened in the arsenal (architect Gustav Peichl). Since 1999, the Burgtheater has the operation form of a limited corporation.

Directorate Klaus Bachler 1999-2009

Peymann was followed in 1999 by Klaus Bachler as director. He is a trained actor, but was mostly as a cultural manager (director of the Vienna Festival) active. Bachler moved the theater as a cultural event in the foreground and he engaged for this purpose directors such as Luc Bondy, Andrea Breth, Peter Zadek and Martin Kušej.

Were among the unusual "events" of the directorate Bachler

* The Theatre of Orgies and Mysteries by Hermann Nitsch with the performance of 122 Action (2005 )

* The recording of the MTV Unplugged concert with Die Toten Hosen for the music channel MTV (2005, under the title available)

* John Irving's reading from his book at the Burgtheater Until I find you (2006)

* The 431 animatographische (animatographical) Expedition by Christoph Schlingensief and a big event of him under the title of Area 7 - Matthew Sadochrist - An expedition by Christoph Schlingensief (2006).

* Daniel Hoevels cut in Schiller's Mary Stuart accidentally his throat (December 2008). Outpatient care is enough.

Jubilee Year 2005

In October 2005, the Burgtheater celebrated the 50th Anniversary of its reopening with a gala evening and the performance of Grillparzer's King Ottokar's Fortune and End, directed by Martin Kušej that had been performed in August 2005 at the Salzburg Festival as a great success. Michael Maertens (in the role of Rudolf of Habsburg) received the Nestroy Theatre Award for Best Actor for his role in this play. Actor Tobias Moretti was awarded in 2006 for this role with the Gertrude Eysoldt Ring.

Furthermore, there were on 16th October 2005 the open day on which the 82-minute film "burg/private. 82 miniatures" of Sepp Dreissinger was shown for the first time. The film contains one-minute film "Stand portraits" of Castle actors and guest actors who, without saying a word, try to present themselves with a as natural as possible facial expression. Klaus Dermutz wrote a work on the history of the Burgtheater. As a motto of this season served a quotation from Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm: "It's so sad to be happy alone."

The Burgtheater on the Mozart Year 2006

Also the Mozart Year 2006 was at the Burgtheater was remembered. As Mozart's Singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail in 1782 in the courtyard of Castle Theatre was premiered came in cooperation with the Vienna State Opera on the occasion of the Vienna Festival in May 2006 a new production (directed by Karin Beier) of this opera on stage.

Directorate Matthias Hartmann since 2009

From September 2009 to 2014, Matthias Hartmann was Artistic Director of the Burgtheater. A native of Osnabrück, he directed the stage houses of Bochum and Zurich. With his directors like Alvis Hermanis, Roland Schimmelpfennig, David Bösch, Stefan Bachmann, Stefan Pucher, Michael Thalheimer, came actresses like Dorte Lyssweski, Katharina Lorenz, Sarah Viktoria Frick, Mavie Hoerbiger, Lucas Gregorowicz and Martin Wuttke came permanently to the Burg. Matthias Hartmann himself staged around three premieres per season, about once a year, he staged at the major opera houses. For more internationality and "cross-over", he won the Belgian artist Jan Lauwers and his Need Company as "Artists in Residence" for the Castle, the New York group Nature Theater of Oklahoma show their great episode drama Live and Times of an annual continuation. For the new look - the Burgtheater presents itself without a solid logo with word games around the BURG - the Burgtheater in 2011 was awarded the Cultural Brand of the Year .

Since 2014, Karin Bergmann is the commander in chief.

Not to be confused with the Executive- which was a popular belt less trench coat... the "Allen Grant Car" is still in style.

 

Don't delay though, because it's due back at the American Muscle Car Museum in Melbourne soon.

 

1:64 GreenLight Collectibles:

1963 Shelby Cobra CSX 2703 #96

Sebring Yellow & Black

Coventry Motors

Walnut Creek, California

Racing Hitch and Tow Series 1

 

Race Daze 2021 Drive-Thru

Porky's Famous Firehouse BBQ

City of Mystic Beach

 

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II

Olympus M.14-42mm F3.5-5.6 II R

 

Race on over to the 1stPix Dioramas Instagram:

1stPix Dioramas on Instagram

Thanks to the Nailbourne project, I now understand how the communities and landscape fots in along its length, though that a bubbling noisy stream can just vanish then appear miles away is very difficult to get your head round. The Nailbourne only fully flows in very wet years, but when it does, the beds that are dry now can be several feet deep.

 

But downstream of Littlebourne, where the Nailbourne becomes the Little Stour, it is wider, about six feet wide, clogged with reeds and weeds, but also was used to power to large mills. They both stand, one between Littlebourne and Wickhambreaux, and the other in Wickhambreaux itself, though is now just a house But is a large white clapboard building, with a large wheel.

 

These days, the village looks very prosperous, all grand houses or cottage conversions.

 

From here, the Little Stour makes its way over the marshes which centuries ago was the Wantsum Channel, so Wickhambreaux was almost a seaside town.

 

Od that the only features I remembered from my previous visits was the avenue of pollarded trees and the blue ceiling of the roof. Missed was the glorious glass, especially the fine east window, very art deco.

 

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The interior of this very pretty church is dominated by nineteenth-century work. The whole of the chancel and baptistry is lined with dark brown encaustic tiles, hiding a straightforward fourteenth-century church. The east window is an early example of American Art Nouveau in England, and dominates the entire building. It was designed by Baron Arild Rosenkrantz in 1896. Above the window are stencilled paintings of angels ascending, which can also be seen in the nave, whilst the roof there has a charming star-spangled sky. At the south-west corner is a vestry - screened off by an eighteenth-century screen which may have formed part of the refitting of the chancel paid for by Mary Young. Her monument in the chancel records that 'infirm from her youth she protracted life to the 68th year of her age'. She left £100 for wainscotting and ornamenting the chancel. The interior viewed from the east gives an unusual appearance as the aisles flank the tower (see also Sandhurst).

 

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

 

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WICKHAM BREAUS

LIES adjoining to Littleborne north-eastward, being usally called Wickham Brook. It is likewise called Wickham by Wingham, to distinguish it from the two other parishes of the same name in this county. In Domesday it is written Wicheham, a name derived from its situation near the banks of the river, which runs close to it. There is only one borough in it, viz. the borough of Wickham, which comprehends the whole parish.

 

Wickham is a low, flat, and unpleasant situation, and lying so near the marshes cannot but be unhealthy, the land throughout it is in general good and sertile, especially near the village, where the fields are very large and level ground. The village, in number about twenty houses, stands at the south-east boundary of the parish, built round a green, over which the road leads to Ickham, having the church and court-lodge on one side, and the parsonage, a handsome brick house, on the other. At the further end of the green, the Lesser Stour crosses the road, and turns a corn-mill belonging to the manor, beyond it is only one house, called the Stone-house, being built of squared stones and slints in chequers, and by the arched windows and door-ways seems of some antiquity. The parish stretches a good distance northward, as far as Groveferry, the house of which is within it, and the greater Stour river, over a level of about 500 acres of marsh land, which extend from the river into a sinus, with a ridge of upland on each side, to within a quarter of a mile of the village. North eastward from which is the Saperton, formerly the property of the Beakes's, who resided here as early as king Henry the VIIIth.'s reign; it was sold by them to the Furneses, whence it came by marriage, with Copthall, in this parish, to the St. John's, viscounts Bolingbroke, who have lately sold it, but one of the family of Beake, many of whom lie buried in this church, now occupies it. A little beyond this is Newnham, once accounted a manor, formerly belonging to the Ropers, lords Teynham, afterwards to the Bartholomews, then to Joseph Brooke, esq. of Rochester, and now to his devisee the Rev. John Kenward Shaw Brooke, of Town-Malling.—Hence among the marshes is the hamlet of Grove, through which the road leads across them to the right over the lesser Stour, to Wingham, Ash, and the eastern parts of Kent, and to the left by Grove-ferry over the Greater Stour, to the northern part of the country and the Isle of Thanet. There is no other wood in the parish excepting Trendley park. There is no fair.

 

At the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in the year 1080, this place was part of those possessions with which that king had enriched his half-brother Odo, the great bishop of Baieux. Accordingly it is thus entered in that record, under the general title of his lands:

 

In Donamesford hundred, the bishop himself holds in demesne Wicheham. It was taxed at four sulings. The arable land is eleven carucates. In demesne there are two carucates, and thirty-six villeins, with thirty-two cottagers having nine carucates. There is a church, and one priest who gives forty shillings per annum. There is one park, and two mills of fifty shillings, and two saltpits of thirtytwo pence, and three fisheries of four shillings, and thirtytwo acres of meadow. Pasture for three hundred sheep and for thirty-one beasts. Wood for the pannage of eighty bogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth twenty-five pounds, when he received it twenty pounds, now thirty pounds. There belong to this manor in Canterbury three plats of land paying six shillings and eight pence. Alured Biga held it of king Edward. Moreover there belongs to this manor half a suling of free land, which Sired held of Alured Biga, and Goisfrid, son of Badland, now holds it of the bishop of Baieux, and it is and was worth separately sixty shillings.

 

Four years afterwards the bishop was disgraced, and all his possessions were consiscated to the crown, of which this manor appears afterwards to have been held by the Cliffords. Walter, son of Walter de Clifford, possessed it in the reign of king John, and with Agnes de Cundy, his wife, was a good benefactor to St. Augustine's abbey, and that of St. Radigund. (fn. 1) By the marriage of Margaret, daughter and heir of Walter Clifford, with John de Brewse, it passed into that name, and William de Brewse, or de Braiosa, as they were written in Latin, was possessed of it in the 42d year of king Henry III. His descendant William de Brewse, lord of the honour of Brembre, in Sussex, and of Gower, in Wales, as he stiled himself, whose ancestor came into England with the Conqueror, who gave him the castle of Brember, and whose descendant afterwards, by the marriage with Bertha, daughter and one of the coheirs of Milo, earl of Hereford, became possessed of the castles of Brecknock and Gower likewife, and bore for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant, between twelve cross-croslets, or; though I find by the pedigrees of this family, that his ancestors bore Azure, three bars vaire, argent, and gules. He was several times summoned to parliament in king Edward I.'s reign, as was his son of the same name, both in that and Edward II.'s reign, and died possessed of this manor in the 19th year of the latter. Very soon after which it appears, with the church appendant to it, to have come into the possession of Edmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent, half brother to king Edward II. (fn. 2) After which it descended to his brother John Plantagenet, likewife earl of Kent, it being then held of the king in sergeantry. He died anno 26 Edward III. upon which Joane his sister, commonly called the Fair Maid of Kent, wife of Sir Thomas Holand, became his heir, who in her right not only possessed this manor, but became earl of Kent likewise. She afterwards married Edward the black prince, and died in the 9th year of king Richard II. being succeeded in this manor then held in capite, by Thomas Holand, earl of Kent, her son by her first husband, whose two sons, Thomas and Edward, both earls of Kent, and the former created Duke of Surry, in turn succeeded to it, and the latter dying anno 9 Henry IV. his five sisters became his coheirs, and on a partition made between them, Edmund, earl of March, son of Eleanor, late countess of March, the eldest of them became entitled to this manor in his mother's right, being the last earl of March of this family, for he died s. p. in the 3d year of king Henry VI. being then possessed of it. The year after which, Joane, wife of Sir John Gray, appears by the escheat rolls to have been entitled to it; not long after which it became the property of the family of Tibetot, or Tiptoft, as they were usually called, in whom it continued down to John Tiptost, earl of Worcester, who was attainted and beheaded in 1471, anno 10 Edward IV. king Henry being then restored to the crown. He lest an infant son Edward, who, though he was afterwards restored in blood by king Edward IV. yet I do not find that he was ever reinstated in the possession of this manor, which remained in the crown till the reign of king Henry VIII. who granted it, with the advowson of the church, to Sir Matthew Browne, of Beechworth-castle, who in the 22d year of it, passed it away to Lucy, widow of his uncle Sir Anthony Browne, standard-bearer of England, whose grandson Anthony was, anno I and 2 of Philip and Mary, created viscount Montague, and died possessed of this manor anno 34 Elizabeth, and by his will devised it to his eldest son by his second wife, Sir George Browne, who was of Wickham Breaus, and his grandson Sir George Browne, K. B. leaving two daughters his coheirs, Winifrid, married to Basil Brooks, esq. of Salop, and Eleanor, to Henry Farmer, esq. of Oxfordshire, they joined in the sale of it, at the latter end of Charles II.'s reign, to Sir H. Palmer, bart. of Wingham, who died possessed of it in 1706, s. p. and by his will devised it to his nephew Sir Thomas Palmer, bart. who died in 1723, and by his will gave it to his natural son Herbert Palmer, esq. who married Bethia, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas D'Aeth, bart. of Knowlton, who died in 1760, s. p., having devised this manor, with the advowson of the church appendant, to his widow. She afterwards married John Cosnan, esq. who in her right became possessed of it, and died in 1778, s. p. leaving her furviving, upon which she again became entitled to the possession of it, and continued owner of it till her death in 1797, on which it came to her nephew Sir Narborough D'Aeth, bart. of Knowlton, the present owner of it. A court leet and court baron is held for this manor.

 

Trendley park, now accounted a manor of itself, is situated at the north-west boundary of this parish, being entirely separated from the rest of it by that of Littleborne intervening. It was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, and is noticed in the survey of Domesday, in the description of the manor of Wickham above recited, in which it is mentioned as being then a park; and it should seem that at least part of it was then accounted as appurtenant to that manor; though in the description of the manor of Littleborne, in the same survey, which then belonged to the abbey of St. Augustine, it appears that the bishop had lands belonging to that manor too lying within his park here. Of this manor the bishop of Baieux has in his park as much land as is worth sixty shillings, says the record. In part of the recompence for which, the bishop seems to have given the abbot the manor of Garwinton, in Littleborne, and other land within the manor of Leeds, as may be seen by the entries of both these manors in the same record. Soon after which there was another exchange of land made between the bishop and archbishop Lanfranc, for some which lay within his park of Wikeham. What is remarkable in this instrument is, that it is given in two languages, in Saxon and Latin, but neither is a translation of the other, for both are originals, as was a frequent custom of that time. Appendant to it is the bishop's seal in wax, representing him on one side on horseback, with his sword and spurs, as an earl, and on the other habited as a bishop, with his pastoral staff; being perhaps the only seal of Odo at this time extant. (fn. 3) By all which it appears, that this park is much more antient than that of Woodstock, which has been accounted the first inclosed park in England. How long it continued an inclosed park, I have no where found; but in the beginning of king Henry VI.'s reign it was not so, as appears by the escheat-rolls of the 3d year of it, after the death of Edmund, earl of March, at which time there were two hundred acres of wood in it. He was lord of the manor of Wickham, and Trendley park was chiefly at that time certainly appurtenant to it, and continued so whilst in the possession of the same owners, which it did most probably till the attainder of John Tiptost, earl of Worcester, in the 10th year of king Edward IV. when they both came into the hands of the crown, and though king Henry VIII. afterwards granted the manor of Wickham to Sir Matthew Browne, yet I do not find that Trendley park was granted with it. From which time it has had separate owners. For some time it has been the property of the family of Denne, who continue at this time the owners of it. It lies in an unpleasant, lonely part of the parish, facing Westbere, and consists of three hundred acres of woodland, and a house called the Park-house. There is a high road through the middle of it from Stodmarsh to Canterbury market, which in king Edward II.'s reign, was attempted to be shut up, but the sheriff, with the posse comitatus, was ordered to open it again, as being an antient and allowed high road.

 

Charities.

Andrew Holness, of Seton, in Ickham, by will in 1554, gave to the poor 2s. in money and bread, to be distributed yearly; the churchwardens to take so much yearly out of his lands in Ickham and Wickham, except his house and garden at Seton, in case his executors did not give the same yearly.

 

Henry Sloyden, of Wickham Breaus, by will in 1568, gave for the use of the poor and Littleborne, in equal portions, a piece of land containing six acres and a half in the latter parish, called Church-close, which is distributed twice a year by the respective minister and churchwardens, and is of the annual produce of 4l.

 

John Smith, rector of this parish, by deed in 1656, gave a school-room, and a house and garden for a schoolmaster, in this parish, for teaching the children of it. The master to be chosen from one of his relations in preference, if any such could be found, is vested in the rector and churchwardens of this parish.

 

Sir Henry Palmer, of Bekesborne, by his will in 1611, gave the sum of 10s. to each of the several parishes of Wickham, Stodmarsh, Littleborne, and five others therein mentioned, to be paid into the hands of the minister and churchwardens yearly, out of his manor and lands of Well-court, at Michaelmas, towards the relief of the poor of each of them.

 

Thomas Belke, D. D. rector of this parish, by will in 1712, gave 501. for the putting out of five poor children of this parish apprentices.

 

There are about thirty poor constantly relieved, and casually seventy.

 

This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.

 

¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Andrew, consists of three isles and one chancel, having at the west end a square tower, in which hang six bells. The church is not large, but is handsome and neat. In the middle isle are several memorials for the Beakes, of Saperton. In the south isle for the Larkins, who lived at Grove, in this parish. In the east window are remains of good painted glass, viz. the arms of Edward the black price and of Mortimer, quartered with Burgh, and a representation of Herod's daughter beheading John the Baptist. In the chancel, on the pavement, is the figure of a priest in brass, and inscription, for Henry Welde, rector, obt. 1420. A gravestone, and monument for Alexander Young, B D. rector of this parish, who rebuilt this parsonage-house, and repaired that of Eastchurch, of which he was vicar likewife, at the expence of 2000l. obt. March 21, 1755. A memorial for John Smith, rector, obt. Oct. 28, 1658. In the church-yard are many headstones, and a tombstone for the family of Beake. In the windows of this church there were formerly many different shields of arms, long since demolished.

 

This church was always an appendage to the manor, and continues so at this time, Sir Narborough D' Aeth, bart. owner of the manor of Wickham, being the present patron of it.

 

There was antiently both a rectory and vicarage in this church, which continued till the year 1322, when on a vacancy of the latter, Richard de Newcastle, the rector, petitioned archbishop Walter Reynolds, that they might be consolidated, which was granted, and they have continued in that state to the present time. (fn. 4)

 

This rectory is valued in the king's books at 29l. 12s. 6d. and the yearly tenths at 2l. 19s. 3d. In 1588 it was valued at 250l. communicants one hundred and sixty-three. In 1640 the same. There are eighteen acres of glebe-land.

 

The marsh-lands in this parish, within Wickham and Preston valleys, pay a modus of two-pence an acre, and those within Newnham 1½d. only, in lieu of all tithes.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol9/pp158-166

A Saturday morning, and on a second wild goose chase looking for the Wall Pennywort in Folkestone.

 

Problem was, I didn't have the photo with me so I could triangulate the plant with the church in the background. Instead, I (wrongly) assumed that it would be growing on a wall, so spent the morning looking on every wall in the churchyard, and nothing found.

 

But St Mary was open.

 

And I just had the 50mm with me, but I was delighted inside to find the harsh orange lights under the tower have been replaced with something kinder.

 

I did meet a warden who was very interested in the plant tale, and other stories, so I didn't get round to photograph everything, but did see the old clock mechanism for the first time, not sure where that had been kept up to now.

 

And the remains of St Eanswythe, or almost certainly her remains, now dated to the mid 7th century are in a niche in the Chancel ready for placing somewhere befitting a Kentish Queen.

 

A superb location in a leafy churchyard away from the busy shopping centre, and yet much more of a town church than that of a seaside resort. It was originally a thirteenth-century building, but so much has happened to it that today we are left with the impression of a Victorian interior. Excellent stained glass by Kempe, mosaics by Carpenter and paintings by Hemming show the enthusiasm of Canon Woodward, vicar from 1851 to 1898. His efforts encouraged others to donate money to beautify the building in an almost continuous restoration that lasted right into the twentieth century They were spurred on by the discovery, in 1885, of the bones of St Eanswythe, in a lead casket which had been set into the sanctuary wall. She had founded a convent in the town in the seventh century and died at the age of twenty-six.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Folkestone+1

 

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FOLKESTONE.

THE parish of Folkestone, which gives name to this hundred, was antiently bounded towards the south by the sea, but now by the town and liberty of Folkestone, which has long since been made a corporation, and exempt from the jurisdiction of the hundred. The district of which liberty is a long narrow slip of land, having the town within it, and extending the whole length of the parish, between the sea shore and that part of the parish still within the jurisdiction of the hundred, and county magistrates, which is by far the greatest part of it.

 

THE PARISH, which is about three miles across each way, is situated exceedingly pleasant and healthy. The high chalk, or down hills uniclosed, and well covered with pasture, cross the northern part of it, and from a sine romantic scene. Northward of these, this part of the parish is from its high situation, called the uphill of Folkestone; in this part is Tirlingham, the antient mansion of which has been some years since pulled down, and a modern farm-house erected in its stead; near it is Hearn forstal, on which is a good house, late belonging to Mr. Nicholas Rolse, but now of Mr. Richard Marsh; over this forstal the high road leads from Folkestone to Canterbury. The centre of the parish is in the beautiful and fertile vale called Folkestone vale, which has downs, meadows, brooks, marshes, arable land, and every thing in small parcels, which is sound in much larger regions; being interspersed with houses and cottages, and well watered by several fresh streams; besides which, at Ford forstall, about a mile northward from the town, there rises a strong chalybeat spring. This part of the parish, by far the greatest part of it, as far as the high road from Dover, through it, towards Hythe, is within the jurisdiction of the hundred of Folkestone, and the justices of the county. The small part on the opposite, or southern side of that road is within the liberty of the town or corporation of Folkestone, where the quarry or sand hills, on the broken side of one of which, the town is situated, are its southern maritime boundaries. These hills begin close under the chalk or down hills, in the eastern part of this parish, close to the sea at Eastware bay, and extend westward along the sea shore almost as far as Sandgate castle, where they stretch inland towards the north, leaving a small space between them and the shore. So that this parish there crossing one of them, extends below it, a small space in the bottom as far as that castle, these quarry, or sand hills, keeping on their course north-west, from the northern boundary of Romney Marsh, and then the southern boundary of the Weald, both which they overlook, extending pretty nearly in a parallel line with the chalk or down hills.

 

The prospect over this delightful vale of Folkestone from the hill, on the road from Dover as you descend to the town, is very beautiful indeed for the pastures and various fertility of the vale in the centre, beyond it the church and town of Hythe, Romney Marsh, and the high promontory of Beachy head, boldly stretching into the sea. On the right the chain of losty down hills, covered with verdure, and cattle seeding on them; on the lest the town of Folkestone, on the knole of a hill, close to the sea, with its scattered environs, at this distance a pleasing object, and beyond it the azure sea unbounded to the sight, except by the above-mentioned promontory, altogether from as pleasing a prospect as any in this county.

 

FOLKESTONE was a place of note in the time of the Romans, and afterwards in that of the Saxons, as will be more particularly noticed hereafter, under the description of the town itself. By what name it was called by the Romans, is uncertain; by the Saxons it was written Folcestane, and in the record of Domesday, Fulchestan. In the year 927 king Athelstane, son of king Edward the elder, and grandson of king Alfred, gave Folkstane, situated, as is mentioned in the grant of it, on the sea shore, where there had been a monastery, or abbey of holy virgins, in which St. Eanswith was buried, which had been destroyed by the Danes, to the church of Canterbury, with the privilege of holding it L. S. A. (fn. 1) But it Seems afterwards to have been taken from it, for king Knute, in 1038, is recorded to have restored to that church, the parish of Folkstane, which had been given to it as above-mentioned; but upon condition, that it should never be alienated by the archbishop, without the licence both of the king and the monks. Whether they joined in the alienation of it, or it was taken from them by force, is uncertain; but the church of Canterbury was not in possession of this place at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in 1080, being the 14th year of the Conqueror's reign, at which time it was part of the possessions of the bishop of Baieux, the conqueror's half-brother, under the general description of whose lands it is thus entered in it:

 

In Limowart lest, in Fulcbestan hundred, William de Acris holds Fulchestan. In the time of king Edward the Consessor, it was taxed at forty sulings, and now at thirty-nine. The arable land is one hundred and twenty carucates. In demesne there are two hundred and nine villeins, and four times twenty, and three borderes. Among all they have forty-five carcates. There are five churches, from which the archbishop has fifty-five shillings. There are three servants, and seven mills of nine pounds and twelve shillings. There are one hundred acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of forty bogs. Earl Godwin held this manor.

 

Of this manor, Hugo, son of William, holds nine sulings of the land of the villeins, and there he has in demesne four carucates and an half, and thirty-eight villeins, with seventeen borderes, who have sixteen carucates. There are three churches, and one mill and an half, of sixteen shillings and five-pence, and one saltpit of thirty pence. Wood for the pannage of six bogs. It is worth twenty pounds.

 

Walter de Appeuile holds of this manor three yokes and twelve acres of land, and there he has one carucate in demesne, and three villeins, with one borderer. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Alured holds one suling and forty acres of land, and there he has in demesne two carucates, with six borderers, and twelve acres of meadow. It is worth four pounds.

 

Walter, son of Engelbert, holds half a suling and forty acres, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with seven borderers, and five acres of meadow. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Wesman holds one suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, and two villeins, with seven borderers having one carucate and an half. It is worth four pounds.

 

Alured Dapiser holds one suling and one yoke and six acres of land, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with eleven borderers. It is worth fifty shillings.

 

Eudo holds half a suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with four borderers, and three acres of meadow. It is worth twenty shillings.

 

Bernard de St. Owen, four sulings, and there he has in demesne three carucates, and six villeins, with eleven borderes, having two carucates. There are four servants, and two mills of twenty-four shillings, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of two bogs.

 

Of one denne, and of the land which is given from these suling to ferm, there goes out three pounds. In the whole it is worth nine pounds.

 

Baldric holds half a suling, and there he has one carucate, and two villeins, with six borderers having one carucate, and one mill of thirty pence. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Richard holds fifty-eight acres of land, and there he has one carucate, with five borderers. It is worth ten shillings.

 

All Fulchestan, in the time of king Edward the Consessor, was worth one hundred and ten pounds, when he received it forty pounds, now what he has in demesne is worth one hundred pounds; what the knights hold abovementioned together, is worth forty-five pounds and ten shillings.

 

¶It plainly appears that this entry in Domesday does not only relate to the lands within this parish, but to those in the adjoining parishes within the hundred, the whole of which, most probably, were held of the bishop of Baieux, but to which of them each part refers in particular, is at this time impossible to point out. About four years after the taking of the above survey, the bishop was disgraced, and all his possessions consiscated to the crown. After which, Nigell de Muneville, a descendant of William de Arcis, mentioned before in Domesday, appears to have become possessed of the lordship of Folkestone, and as such in 1095, being the 9th year of king William Rusus, removed the priory of Folkestone from the bail of the castle to the place where it afterwards continued. His son William dying in his life-time s. p, Matilda his sole daughter and heir was given in marriage with the whole of her inheritance, by king Henry I. to Ruallanus de Albrincis, or Averenches, whose descendant Sir William de Albrincis, was become possessed of this lordship at the latter end of that reign; and in the 3d year of the next reign of king Stephen, he confirmed the gifts of his ancestors above-mentioned to the priory here. He appears to have been one of those knights, who had each a portion of lands, which they held for the de sence of Dover castle, being bound by the tenure of those lands to provide a certain number of soldiers, who should continually perform watch and ward within it, according to their particular allotment of time; but such portions of these lands as were not actually in their own possession were granted out by them to others, to hold by knight's service, and they were to be ready for the like service at command, upon any necessity whatever, and they were bound likewife, each knight to desend a certain tower in the castle; that desended by Sir William de Albrincis being called from him, Averenches tower, and afterwards Clinton tower, from the future owners of those lands. (fn. 2) Among those lands held by Sir William de Albrincis for this purpose was Folkestone, and he held them of the king in capitle by barony. These lands together made up the barony of Averenches, or Folkestone, as it was afterwards called, from this place being made the chief of the barony, caput baroniæ, as it was stiled in Latin; thus The Manor of Folkestone, frequently called in after times An Honor, (fn. 3) and the mansion of it the castle, from its becoming the chief seat or residence of the lords paramount of this barony, continued to be so held by his descendants, whose names were in Latin records frequently speit Albrincis, but in French Avereng and Averenches, and in after times in English ones, Evering; in them it continued till Matilda, daughter and heir of William de Albrincis, carried it in marriage to Hamo de Crevequer, who, in the 20th year of that reign, had possession given him of her inheritance. He died in the 47th year of that reign, possessed of the manor of Folkestone, held in capite, and by rent for the liberty of the hundred, and ward of Dover castle. Robert his grandson, dying s. p. his four sisters became his heirs, and upon the division of their inheritance, and partition of this barony, John de Sandwich, in right of his wife Agnes, the eldest sister, became entitled to this manor and lordship of Folkestone, being the chief seat of the barony, a preference given to her by law, by reason of her eldership; and from this he has been by some called Baron of Folkestone, as has his son Sir John de Sandwich, who left an only daughter and heir Julian, who carried this manor in marriage to Sir John de Segrave, who bore for his arms, Sable, three garbs, argent. He died in the 17th year of Edward III. who, as well as his son, of the same name, received summons to parliament, though whether as barons of Folkestone, as they are both by some called, I know not. Sir John de Segrave, the son, died possessed of this manor anno 23 Edward III. soon after which it appears to have passed into the family of Clinton, for William de Clinton, earl of Huntingdon, who bore for his arms, Argent, crusulee, situchee, sable, upon a chief, azure, two mullets, or, pierced gules; which coat differed from that of his elder brother's only in the croslets, which were not borne by any other of this family till long afterwards, (fn. 4) died possessed of it in the 28th year of that reign, at which time the mansion of this manor bore the name of the castle. He died s. p. leaving his nephew Sir John de Clinton, son of John de Clinton, of Maxtoke, in Warwickshire, his heir, who was afterwards summoned to parliament anno 42 Edward III. and was a man of great bravery and wisdom, and much employed in state affairs. He died possessed of this manor, with the view of frank-pledge, a moiety of the hundred of Folkestone, and THE MANOR OF WALTON, which, though now first mentioned, appears to have had the same owners as the manor of Folkestone, from the earliest account of it. He married Idonea, eldest daughter of Jeffry, lord Say, and at length the eldest coheir of that family, and was succeeded in these manors by his grandson William, lord Clinton, who, anno 6 Henry IV. had possession granted of his share of the lands of William de Say, as coheir to him in right of his grandmother Idonea, upon which he bore the title of lord Clinton and Saye, which latter however he afterwards relinquished, though he still bore for his arms, Qnarterly, Clinton and Saye, with two greybounds for his supporters. After which the manor of Folkestone, otherwise called Folkestone Clinton, and Walton, continued to be held in capite by knight's service, by his descendants lords Clinton, till Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, which title he then bore, together with Elizabeth his wife, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. conveyed these manors, with other premises in this parish, to Thomas Cromwell lord Cromwell, afterwards created earl of Essex, on whose attainder two years afterwards they reverted again to the crown, at which time the lordship of Folkestone was stiled an honor; whence they were granted in the fourth year of Edward VI. to the former possessor of them, Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite, for the meritorious services he had performed. In which year, then bearing the title of lord Clinton and Saye, he was declared lord high admiral, and of the privy council, besides other favours conferred on him; and among other lands, he had a grant of these manors, as abovementioned, which he next year, anno 5 Edward VI. reconveyed back to the crown, in exchange for other premises. (fn. 5) He was afterwards installed knight of the garter, by the title of Earl of Lincoln and Baron of Clinton and Saye; and in the last year of that reign, constable of the tower of London. Though in the 1st year of queen Mary he lost all his great offices for a small time, yet he had in recompence of his integrity and former services, a grant from her that year, of several manors and estates in this parish, as well as elsewhere, and among others, of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, together with the castle and park of Folkestone, to hold in capite; all which he, the next year, passed away by sale to Mr. Henry Herdson, citizen and alderman of London, who lest several sons, of whom Thomas succeeded him in this estate, in whose time the antient park of Folkestone seems to have been disparked. His son Mr. Francis Herdson alienated his interst in these manors and premises to his uncle Mr. John Herdson, who resided at the manor of Tyrlingham, in this parish, and dying in 1622, was buried in the chancel of Hawking church, where his monument remains; and there is another sumptuous one besides erected for him in the south isle of Folkestone church. They bore for their arms, Argent, a cross sable, between four fleurs de lis, gules. He died s. p. and by will devised these manors, with his other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to his nephew Basill, second son of his sister Abigail, by Charles Dixwell, esq. Basill Dixwell, esq. afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, a part of the estate devised to him by his uncle, where, in the 3d year of king Charles I. he kept his shrievalty, with great honor and hospitality; after which he was knighted, and in 1627, anno 3 Charles I. created a baronet; but having rebuilt the mansion of Brome, in Barham, he removed thither before his death. On his decease unmarried, the title of baronet became extinct; but he devised these manors, with the rest of his estates, to his nephew Mark Dixwell, son of his elder brother William Dixwell, of Coton, in Warwickshire, who afterwards resided at Brome. He married Elizabeth, sister and heir of William Read, esq. of Folkestone, by whom he had Basill Dixwell, esq. of Brome, who in 1660, anno 12 Charles II. was created a baronet. His son Sir Basill Dixwell, bart. of Brome, about the year 1697, alientated these manors, with the park-house and grounds, and other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to Jacob Desbouverie, esq. of LondonHe was descended from Laurence de Bouverie, de la Bouverie, or Des Bouveries, of an antient and honorable extraction in Flanders, (fn. 6) who renouncing the tenets of the Romish religion came into England in the year 1567, anno 10 Elizabeth, and seems to have settled first at Canterbury. He was a younger son of Le Sieur des Bouveries, of the chateau de Bouverie, near Lisle, in Flanders, where the eldest branch of this family did not long since possess a considerable estate, bearing for their arms, Gules, a bend, vaire. Edward, his eldest son, was an eminet Turkey merchant, was knighted by king James II. and died at his seat at Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, in 1694. He had seven sons and four daughters; of the former, William, the eldest, was likewife an eminent Turkey merchant, and was, anno 12 queen Anne, created a baronet, and died in 1717. Jacob, the third son, was purchaser of these manors; and Christopher, the seventh son, was knighted, and seated at Chart Sutton, in this county, under which a further account of him may be seen; (fn. 7) and Anne, the second daughter, married Sir Philip Boteler, bart. Jacob Desbouverie afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, and dying unmarried in 1722, by his will devised these manors, with his other estates here, to his nephew Sir Edward Desbouverie, bart. the eldest brother son of Sir William Desbouverie, bart. his elder brother, who died possessed of them in 1736, s. p. on which his title, with these and all his other estates, came to his next surviving brother and heir Sir Jacob Desbouverie, bart. who anno 10 George II. procured an act to enable himself and his descendants to use the name of Bouverie only, and was by patent, on June 29, 1747, created baron of Longford, in Wiltshire, and viscount Folkestone, of Folkestone. He was twice married; first to Mary, daughter and sole heir of Bartholomew Clarke, esq. of Hardingstone, in Northamptonshire, by whom he had several sons and daughters, of whom William, the eldest son, succeeded him in titles and estates; Edward is now of Delapre abbey, near Northamptonshire; Anne married George, a younger son of the lord chancellor Talbot; Charlotte; Mary married Anthony, earl of Shastesbury; and Harriot married Sir James Tilney Long, bart. of Wiltshire. By Elizabeth his second wife, daughter of Robert, lord Romney, he had Philip, who has taken the name of Pusey, and possesses, as heir to his mother Elizabeth, dowager viscountess Folkestone, who died in 1782, several manors and estates in the western part of this county. He died in 1761, and was buried in the family vault at Britford, near Salisbury, being succeeded in title and estates by his eldest son by his first wife, William, viscount Folkestone, who was on Sept. 28, anno 5 king George III. created Earl of Radnor, and Baron Pleydell Bouverie, of Coleshill, in Berkshire. He died in 1776, having been three times married; first, to Harriot, only daughter and heir of Sir Mark Stuart Pleydell, bart. of Colefhill, in Berkshire. By her, who died in 1750, and was buried at Britford, though there is an elegant monument erected for her at Coleshill, he had Hacob, his successor in titles and estates, born in 1750. He married secondly, Rebecca, daughter of John Alleyne, esq. of Barbadoes, by whom he had four sons; William-Henry, who married Bridget, daughter of James, earl of Morton; Bartholomew, who married MaryWyndham, daughter of James Everard Arundell, third son of Henry, lord Arundell, of Wardour; and Edward, who married first Catherine Murray, eldest daughter of John, earl of Dunmore; and secondly, Arabella, daughter of admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle. His third wife was Anne, relict of Anthony Duncombe, lord Faversham, and daughter of Sir Thomas Hales, bart. of Bekesborne, by whom he had two daughters, who both died young. He was succeeded in titles and estates by his eldest son, the right hon. Jacob Pleydell Bouverie, earl of Radnor, who is the present possessor of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, with the park-house and disparked grounds adjacent to it, formerly the antient park of Folkestone, the warren, and other manors and estates in this parish and neighbourhood.

 

FOLKESTONE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary and St. Eanswith, consists of three isles and three chancels, having a square tower, with a beacon turret in the middle of it, in which there is a clock, and a peal of eight bells, put up in it in 1779. This church is built of sand-stone; the high chancel, which has been lately ceiled, seems by far the most antient part of it. Under an arch in the north wall is a tomb, with the effigies of a man, having a dog at his feet, very an tient, probably for one of the family of Fienes, constables of Dover castle and wardens of the five ports; and among many other monuments and inscriptions, within the altar-rails, are monuments for the Reades, of Folkestone, arms, Azure, a griffin, or, quartering gules, a pheon between three leopards faces, or; for William Langhorne, A.M. minister, obt. 1772. In the south chancel is a most elegant monument, having the effigies of two men kneeling at two desks, and an inscription for J. Herdson, esq. who lies buried in Hawkinge church, obt. 1622. In the south isle a tomb for J. Pragels, esq. obt. 1676, arms, A castle triple towered, between two portcullises; on a chief, a sinister hand gauntled, between two stirrups. In the middle isle a brass plate for Joane, wife of Thomas Harvey, mother of seven sons (one of which was the physician) and two daughters. In the north wall of the south isle were deposited the remains of St. Eanswith, in a stone coffin; and under that isle is a large charnelhouse, in which are deposited the great quantity of bones already taken notice of before. Philipott, p. 96, says, the Bakers, of Caldham, had a peculiar chancel belonging to them in this church, near the vestrydoor, over the charnel-house, which seems to have been that building mentioned by John Baker, of Folkestone, who by his will in 1464, ordered, that his executors should make a new work, called an isle, with a window in it, with the parishioners advice; which work should be built between the vestry there and the great window. John Tong, of Folkestone, who was buried in this church, by will in 1534, ordered that certain men of the parish should be enfeoffed in six acres of land, called Mervyle, to the use of the mass of Jhesu, in this church.

 

On Dec. 19, 1705, the west end of this church, for the length of two arches out of the five, was blown down by the violence of the wind; upon which the curate and parishioners petitioned archbishop Tillot son, for leave to shorten the church, by rebuilding only one of the fallen arches, which was granted. But by this, the church, which was before insufficient to contain the parishioners, is rendered much more inconvenient to them for that purpose. By the act passed anno 6 George III. for the preservation of the town and church from the ravages of the sea as already noticed before. After such works are finished, &c. the rates are to be applied towards their repair, and to the keeping in repair, and the support and preservation of this church.

 

¶This church was first built by Nigell de Muneville, lord of Folkestone at the latter end of king Henry I. or the beginning of king Stephen's reign, when he removed the priory from the precinct of the castle to it in 1137, and he gave this new church and the patronage of it to the monks of Lolley, in Normandy, for their establishing a cell, or alien priory here, as has been already mentioned, to which this new church afterwards served as the conventual church of it. The profits of it were very early appropriated to the use of this priory, that is, before the 8th of king Richard II. anno 1384, the duty of it being served by a vicar, whose portion was settled in 1448, at the yearly pension of 10l. 0s. 2½d. to be paid by the prior, in lieu of all other profits whatsoever. In which state this appropriation and vicarage remained till the surrendry of the priory, in the 27th year of king Henry VIII. when they came, with the rest of the possessions of it, into the king's hands, who in his 31st year demised the vicarage and parish church of Folkestone, with all its rights, profits, and emoluments, for a term of years, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, who assigned his interest in it to Anthony Allcher, esq. but the fee of both remained in the crown till the 4th year of king Edward VI. when they were granted, with the manor, priory, and other premises here, to Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite; who the next year conveyed them back again to the crown, in exchange for other premises, (fn. 23) where the patronage of the vicarage did not remain long; for in 1558, anno 6 queen Mary, the queen granted it, among several others, to the archbishop. But the church or parsonage appropriate of Folkestone remained longer in the crown, and till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange, among other premises, to archbishop Parker, being then in lease to lord Clinton, at the rent of 57l. 2s. 11d. at which rate it was valued to the archbishop, in which manner it has continued to be leased out ever since, and it now, with the patronage of the vicarage, remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury; the family of Breams were formerly lessees of it, from whom the interest of the lease came to the Taylors, of Bifrons, and was sold by the late Rev. Edward Taylor, of Bisrons, to the right hon. Jacob, earl of Radnor, the present lessee of it.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol8/pp152-188

The US city of Boston acclaims Samuel Adams as a “Brewer and Patriot”. Meanwhile, Leeds can rejoice in its own Samuel, one Ledgard (1874-1952), as a “Brewer and Bus Man”. Such a dual role was surely unique in the annals of enterprise. While I can enjoy a Samuel Adams beer today, Samuel Ledgard’s Nelson Brewery in Armley Road, Leeds, is a distant memory, closing with his death in 1952. Sammy’s brewery was limited to supplying his pub, the Nelson Inn, that was on the same premises. The building survives today, and a blue plaque installed in 2008 celebrates Samuel Ledgard as “the renowned private operator of buses and coaches in Yorkshire, in a remarkable career he was also a farmer, brewer, garage proprietor, quarry owner, haulage contractor and caterer to royalty and the nobility”.

 

The Nelson Inn these days trades as the Grand Valley Bar & Kitchen.

 

Sammy’s buses outlived him, however, at least for a further 15 years, and as a teenage bus spotter, I came to revere the varied but well-presented bus fleet that seemed an integral part of the pretty Wharfedale area, as well as the industrial streets of Leeds and Bradford. A large part of the blue and grey liveried fleet comprised buses bought second-hand from London Transport. Like so many others, I was saddened when the Executors of Samuel Ledgard Ltd., as the bus company was latterly named, decided to sell out to West Yorkshire Road Car Company in October 1967.

 

To my delight, Key Publishing has not forgotten Samuel Ledgard either, and I have bought their commemorative book. Far away from Otley and Armley, I celebrated the memory of Samuel Ledgard and two of his life’s achievements, the beer being one brewed by the Boston Samuel’s successors.

(Extract from Macedon Ranges cultural heritage and landscape study. 4 v. 1994.).

.

Henry Suetonius Officer reputedly aquired the Duneira site from

1872-1877 (Blocks 4,5,10,11,14) paying some £84 for 38 acres but

rate listings give Robert Officer as the owner. .

.

Suetonius Henry Officer (1830-1883).

Officer was born in Hullgreen, New Norfolk, Tasmania 1830, the

son of Sir Robert & Lady Officer. He was educated in Edinburgh

with his brother, Charles, and returned to the colonies, seeking

gold in Victoria but eventually settling for pastoralism in

company with his brothers and Charles Miles{ ibid.}. They managed

stations in the Wimmera and the Riverina, James marrying in 1866

and commencing construction of a 20 room homestead at Murray

Downs & Willakool, two adjoining properties fronting the Murray

River. After experimentation with irrigation, via steam pumps and

windmills, he was able to develop extensive orchards and crops. He was also, like his brother, interested in

acclimatisation, having developed an ostrich farm on his property

(Charles was a council member of the Zoological & Acclimatisation

Society for 10 years, president in 1887). .

.

Blighted by illness, Suetonius reputedly moved to Leighwood,

Toorak (Melbourne) in 1881, having erected the first stage of

Duneira at Mount Macedon, but died two years later. However his son, Henry jnr. was

born at South Yarra in 1869 and his next child, Jessie, was born

at Macedon in 1877, indicating that he was in residence at both

places prior to the dates previously supposed..

.

Suetonius probably commissioned the first stage of Duneira to be

erected as a summer house between c1874-6. The architect Levi

Powell is thought to have designed a house for him there around

that date. The first improvements listed on the site were

stables in 1874 when Robert Officer was rated as owning the site. The house was reputedly not occupied regularly

until c1881 when Suetonius moved to Toorak.

However it appears he and his family were in residence at Duneira

by 1877..

.

When Suetonius died in 1883 his wife, Mary Lillias Rigg Officer

(nee Cairns), of Glenbervie, Glenferrie Road, Toorak was the

co-executor of the estate, with merchant Robert Harper; she is

the rate occupier in 1888. Mrs Officer was the

sister of Mrs Robert Harper (Huntly Burn) and Mrs John C lloyd

(Montpelier, later Timsbury): all three houses were reputedly

built in the same period... .

.

The house bricks for the first stage were said to have come from

the Macedon Brick Kiln (once near the Macedon railway station,

set up in c1888-9?) with external walls built in 14" Flemish bond

from slop-moulded bricks (9 inch by 2.1/2). The bricks were reputedly carted

from Macedon by Cogger. The footings were of bluestone

and reputedly dressed sandstone blocks also survive, suggesting

that the first stage was face brick with stone quoins and the

next renovation c1888 added wings and a cement coating to the

whole complex. Floor frames were reputedly supported on stone

dwarf walls and joists were 6x2.1/2 inch jarrah, with flooring

being 6 inch pine}. Seaweed was apparently used for

ceiling insulation..

.

The servants' wing verandah was skillion in form with timber

posts with classical capitals. The main verandah had coupled

posts (rebuilt with single posts) a panelled frieze and slimmer

capitals set just under the frieze rail}. The

balustrade may have been of single cast-iron balusters..

.

Just prior to the sale to the speculator, James Smith Reid in

1890, and during the occupation of Edward Dyer, major additions

were made to the house complex and a reputedly a caretaker's

lodge was placed at the gate (survives, altered c1920s) but this

appears to have been added by Reid in the early 1890s. .

.

The added rooms were reputedly: billiard (32'x24') and dining

rooms, kitchen, servants bathroom, service block with 5 rooms

(engine room, dairy, pantry, store, boiler room, built of

Northcote machine made 9" brickwork). Damp proof coursing was

used in these additions compared to the slate of the first stage

and acetylene gas (engine room) was thought used for lighting

from this period, as reticulated in 1.1.2" mains and 1/2 inch

branches to internal and some external verandah lights.

Cast-iron elaborately detailed water radiators were also used,

with hot water pumped from the boiler room, and later a duplicate

boiler allowed hot water to be reticulated taps in the house{

ibid.}..

.

The description in rate books expands to villa and cottages (on

37 acres) for the first time under Reid in c1893 but the annual

valuation had already peeked in 1888 at £200 in the occupation of

Edward Dyer. An Edward Dyer was listed at that time as a fruiterer in

Burwood Road, Hawthorn..

.

The water supply is from a concrete tank fed by a spring.

Outbuildings include timber clad stables, storerooms,

blacksmith's shop, coachman's room, milking bails, hay shed and a

green house. The stables (extended) were described as having had

a shingled gabled roof (rear skillion) with loft entered via an

external stair at the north end. It had a blacksmith's

shop (altered for garage c1941), carriage and coachman's rooms,

two stores and vertically boarded main doors{ ibid.,p24}. The

milking and hay sheds had hipped roof forms and timber cladding

and frame. The interior was white-washed. The greenhouse

in the secret hedged garden is of a later date, with a timber

frame built up on 11" cavity brickwork walls, with a brick floor

and heated water pipes under each shelf. The boiler is near the

entry..

.

The `Gisborne Gazette' reported on Duneira in 1903 under the

heading of `A Popular Health Resort':.

`Duneira certainly merits a few remarks though beautiful

residences and grounds are by no means rare in that locality..

(when Reid purchased it, it was `little better than a wilderness'

and he had spared no expense to restore it).. After passing the

lodge at the main entrance, a broad serpentine drive leads up to

the house and from there the grounds are laid out in broad

sloping lawns surmounted with choice borders and fringed with

trees which however do not interfere to any great extent with the

view. There is of course no lack of flowers which grow

luxuriantly on the mount but the great feature of Duneira is the lawns, those open green expanses which delight the eye at all times of the year. the secret of this perennial verdure is to be found in the copious water supply with which Macedon is blessed (spring at rear of house, tapped by tunnelling 40m into the hill, ie. grass grows up to base of Monterey pines)..

.

During Reid's time there, the valuation increased marginally in

1899-1900 and again soon after, with Reid's address being given as care of Rosstrevor Magill, South Australia, in c1909-10. JS Reid died in 1922, leaving the property to the management of JS Reid jun (a chemist) and the merchant GL Dewez of Sydney,

his widow Martha Turnbull Reid and William Riggall.

Reid was the son of the Rev. James Reid of Queensland but gained success as a journalist, starting newspapers in gold mining areas such as Gympie, Charters Towers, Etheridge and Wilcannia, NSW. He was at Broken Hill when the Broken Hill P/L commenced, printing their prospectus. He became a director of BHP. His occupation was listed as `speculator' in the early 1900s.

 

In the 1920s Mrs Martha Reid's `little Eden' was described by a touring group of horticulturalists, thus:

`.. a trim green lawn with magnificent Japanese cypress which was voted the finest in Australia; nearby a splendid weeping elm caught the eye; the maples, beech and the horse chestnuts supply fresh tints; majestic Oregons tower towards heaven...

Everywhere soft tinted rhododendrons and azaleas bloomed in the sunshine and near a rock garden decked with flowers of every conceivable hue, myriad tinted tulips thrust up their heads.'.

Again, in 1927, the Victorian Nurserymens & Seedmens Association noted of Duneira:

`...where probably the finest display of rhododendrons is to be seen; these and a magnificent specimen of `Cupressus lawsoniana'

"Aurea" caused us to linger longer than the specified time. The rock garden dotted with a remarkable collection of alpines, several linden trees and pendulous birches were considered to be a feature unparalleled elsewhere in the State Mrs Reid owned it until 1941, selling to Dr Alfred & Betty Alcock (nee Nicholas) of Toorak, being reputedly a gift from Alfred Nicholas.

The auction was in December 1940 when Duneira was described as a substantially constructed brick villa with slate roof containing spacious return verandah, entrance hall, sitting, morning and dining rooms, an excellent billiard room, large glazed vestibule, 5 main bedrooms, two well appointed bathrooms, 4 maids bedrooms, maids' sitting room and bathroom, well appointed kitchen, store rooms and septic sewage, central heating,

private gas service and extensive outbuildings on 38 acres. The 500 metre elm-lined drive was said to be the longest (privately owned?) elm avenue in Australia.

 

Extensive renovations followed the Alcock purchase including electricity, removal of the concave and skillion roof timber verandahs, enlarging of openings, conversion of the billiard room to a lounge, new bathrooms in bedrooms, servants rooms converted, larger kitchen and improved connection to dining, more water storage, covered way to link service wing with house, creation of a new entry point from the courtyard, enlarged stable for cars with barn for machinery store, removal of trees, and the replacement of previously gravelled paths and roads (with open brick drains) with concrete and asphalt. Mrs Alcock remarried (Stuart Wickens) but maintained her interest in the garden, reputedly having created the `secret garden'.

 

Mrs Alcock resold to Keith Allen and R.Lowe in c1977. Keith Allan presumably replaced the verandah, following his reported intention to do so in 1978.

 

Mr & Mrs Laurie Matheson purchased it in 1981, just prior to Matheson's involvement in the Ivanov, Combe affair which caused some controversy in Australia and the 1983 Hope Royal Commission.

In the same period he was noted for a high speed dash in his Ferrari to save Duneira from the 1983 fires.

Matheson was a trade commissioner to eastern Europe (1968-) and later via Heine Brothers (1972-) and his own Commercial Bureau, he negotiated extensively with Russia over trade links. Prior to this, while in the navy, Matheson (then aged 33) had commanded the unit in search of Prime Minister Holt who disappeared at Cheviot beach in 1963. He had been educated at Burnside orphanage and later Yenco agricultural college, NSW. Matheson is credited with having built the reproduction porch entrance from the court yard.

Until recently it was still owned by the widow of Laurence Matheson whose memorial (q.v.) at the Macedon cemetery is so distinctive. The same artist (for the memorial) had provided two statues for the garden depicting the Mathesons but after the recent sale, these were removed.

The East and West Lawns are of central importance to the aesthetic significance of the property, being the major landscaping feature through which the Elm Avenue runs. This comprises approximately ninety Dutch Elms (Ulmus X hollandica) underplanted with bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) and is one of the best surviving examples of a private formal avenue in Victoria. Another strong aesthetic feature of the property are the two northern avenues of sycamores and oaks, and the hedges of mature rhododendrons, holly and Portuguese laurels.

 

The collection of significant trees, includes many large and rare conifers, rhododendrons and other cool climate plants. Besides the avenue of Dutch Elms (Ulmus x hollandica), other significant trees include the Ilex kingiana (Himalayan Holly), Abies procera (Noble Fir), Prunus serrulata 'Shirotae' (Japanese Flowering Cherry). Other important trees include the many Douglas Firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Giant Fir (Abies grandis), Caucasian Fir (Abies nordmanniana), an unusual form of the Norway Spruce (Picea abies), Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), Linden (Tilia X europaea), Montpelier Maple (Acer monspessulanum), Antarctic Beech (Nothofagus moorei) & Cut-leaved Walnut (Juglans regia 'Laciniata') which is extremely rare in cultivation.

A Saturday morning, and on a second wild goose chase looking for the Wall Pennywort in Folkestone.

 

Problem was, I didn't have the photo with me so I could triangulate the plant with the church in the background. Instead, I (wrongly) assumed that it would be growing on a wall, so spent the morning looking on every wall in the churchyard, and nothing found.

 

But St Mary was open.

 

And I just had the 50mm with me, but I was delighted inside to find the harsh orange lights under the tower have been replaced with something kinder.

 

I did meet a warden who was very interested in the plant tale, and other stories, so I didn't get round to photograph everything, but did see the old clock mechanism for the first time, not sure where that had been kept up to now.

 

And the remains of St Eanswythe, or almost certainly her remains, now dated to the mid 7th century are in a niche in the Chancel ready for placing somewhere befitting a Kentish Queen.

 

A superb location in a leafy churchyard away from the busy shopping centre, and yet much more of a town church than that of a seaside resort. It was originally a thirteenth-century building, but so much has happened to it that today we are left with the impression of a Victorian interior. Excellent stained glass by Kempe, mosaics by Carpenter and paintings by Hemming show the enthusiasm of Canon Woodward, vicar from 1851 to 1898. His efforts encouraged others to donate money to beautify the building in an almost continuous restoration that lasted right into the twentieth century They were spurred on by the discovery, in 1885, of the bones of St Eanswythe, in a lead casket which had been set into the sanctuary wall. She had founded a convent in the town in the seventh century and died at the age of twenty-six.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Folkestone+1

 

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FOLKESTONE.

THE parish of Folkestone, which gives name to this hundred, was antiently bounded towards the south by the sea, but now by the town and liberty of Folkestone, which has long since been made a corporation, and exempt from the jurisdiction of the hundred. The district of which liberty is a long narrow slip of land, having the town within it, and extending the whole length of the parish, between the sea shore and that part of the parish still within the jurisdiction of the hundred, and county magistrates, which is by far the greatest part of it.

 

THE PARISH, which is about three miles across each way, is situated exceedingly pleasant and healthy. The high chalk, or down hills uniclosed, and well covered with pasture, cross the northern part of it, and from a sine romantic scene. Northward of these, this part of the parish is from its high situation, called the uphill of Folkestone; in this part is Tirlingham, the antient mansion of which has been some years since pulled down, and a modern farm-house erected in its stead; near it is Hearn forstal, on which is a good house, late belonging to Mr. Nicholas Rolse, but now of Mr. Richard Marsh; over this forstal the high road leads from Folkestone to Canterbury. The centre of the parish is in the beautiful and fertile vale called Folkestone vale, which has downs, meadows, brooks, marshes, arable land, and every thing in small parcels, which is sound in much larger regions; being interspersed with houses and cottages, and well watered by several fresh streams; besides which, at Ford forstall, about a mile northward from the town, there rises a strong chalybeat spring. This part of the parish, by far the greatest part of it, as far as the high road from Dover, through it, towards Hythe, is within the jurisdiction of the hundred of Folkestone, and the justices of the county. The small part on the opposite, or southern side of that road is within the liberty of the town or corporation of Folkestone, where the quarry or sand hills, on the broken side of one of which, the town is situated, are its southern maritime boundaries. These hills begin close under the chalk or down hills, in the eastern part of this parish, close to the sea at Eastware bay, and extend westward along the sea shore almost as far as Sandgate castle, where they stretch inland towards the north, leaving a small space between them and the shore. So that this parish there crossing one of them, extends below it, a small space in the bottom as far as that castle, these quarry, or sand hills, keeping on their course north-west, from the northern boundary of Romney Marsh, and then the southern boundary of the Weald, both which they overlook, extending pretty nearly in a parallel line with the chalk or down hills.

 

The prospect over this delightful vale of Folkestone from the hill, on the road from Dover as you descend to the town, is very beautiful indeed for the pastures and various fertility of the vale in the centre, beyond it the church and town of Hythe, Romney Marsh, and the high promontory of Beachy head, boldly stretching into the sea. On the right the chain of losty down hills, covered with verdure, and cattle seeding on them; on the lest the town of Folkestone, on the knole of a hill, close to the sea, with its scattered environs, at this distance a pleasing object, and beyond it the azure sea unbounded to the sight, except by the above-mentioned promontory, altogether from as pleasing a prospect as any in this county.

 

FOLKESTONE was a place of note in the time of the Romans, and afterwards in that of the Saxons, as will be more particularly noticed hereafter, under the description of the town itself. By what name it was called by the Romans, is uncertain; by the Saxons it was written Folcestane, and in the record of Domesday, Fulchestan. In the year 927 king Athelstane, son of king Edward the elder, and grandson of king Alfred, gave Folkstane, situated, as is mentioned in the grant of it, on the sea shore, where there had been a monastery, or abbey of holy virgins, in which St. Eanswith was buried, which had been destroyed by the Danes, to the church of Canterbury, with the privilege of holding it L. S. A. (fn. 1) But it Seems afterwards to have been taken from it, for king Knute, in 1038, is recorded to have restored to that church, the parish of Folkstane, which had been given to it as above-mentioned; but upon condition, that it should never be alienated by the archbishop, without the licence both of the king and the monks. Whether they joined in the alienation of it, or it was taken from them by force, is uncertain; but the church of Canterbury was not in possession of this place at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in 1080, being the 14th year of the Conqueror's reign, at which time it was part of the possessions of the bishop of Baieux, the conqueror's half-brother, under the general description of whose lands it is thus entered in it:

 

In Limowart lest, in Fulcbestan hundred, William de Acris holds Fulchestan. In the time of king Edward the Consessor, it was taxed at forty sulings, and now at thirty-nine. The arable land is one hundred and twenty carucates. In demesne there are two hundred and nine villeins, and four times twenty, and three borderes. Among all they have forty-five carcates. There are five churches, from which the archbishop has fifty-five shillings. There are three servants, and seven mills of nine pounds and twelve shillings. There are one hundred acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of forty bogs. Earl Godwin held this manor.

 

Of this manor, Hugo, son of William, holds nine sulings of the land of the villeins, and there he has in demesne four carucates and an half, and thirty-eight villeins, with seventeen borderes, who have sixteen carucates. There are three churches, and one mill and an half, of sixteen shillings and five-pence, and one saltpit of thirty pence. Wood for the pannage of six bogs. It is worth twenty pounds.

 

Walter de Appeuile holds of this manor three yokes and twelve acres of land, and there he has one carucate in demesne, and three villeins, with one borderer. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Alured holds one suling and forty acres of land, and there he has in demesne two carucates, with six borderers, and twelve acres of meadow. It is worth four pounds.

 

Walter, son of Engelbert, holds half a suling and forty acres, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with seven borderers, and five acres of meadow. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Wesman holds one suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, and two villeins, with seven borderers having one carucate and an half. It is worth four pounds.

 

Alured Dapiser holds one suling and one yoke and six acres of land, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with eleven borderers. It is worth fifty shillings.

 

Eudo holds half a suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with four borderers, and three acres of meadow. It is worth twenty shillings.

 

Bernard de St. Owen, four sulings, and there he has in demesne three carucates, and six villeins, with eleven borderes, having two carucates. There are four servants, and two mills of twenty-four shillings, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of two bogs.

 

Of one denne, and of the land which is given from these suling to ferm, there goes out three pounds. In the whole it is worth nine pounds.

 

Baldric holds half a suling, and there he has one carucate, and two villeins, with six borderers having one carucate, and one mill of thirty pence. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Richard holds fifty-eight acres of land, and there he has one carucate, with five borderers. It is worth ten shillings.

 

All Fulchestan, in the time of king Edward the Consessor, was worth one hundred and ten pounds, when he received it forty pounds, now what he has in demesne is worth one hundred pounds; what the knights hold abovementioned together, is worth forty-five pounds and ten shillings.

 

¶It plainly appears that this entry in Domesday does not only relate to the lands within this parish, but to those in the adjoining parishes within the hundred, the whole of which, most probably, were held of the bishop of Baieux, but to which of them each part refers in particular, is at this time impossible to point out. About four years after the taking of the above survey, the bishop was disgraced, and all his possessions consiscated to the crown. After which, Nigell de Muneville, a descendant of William de Arcis, mentioned before in Domesday, appears to have become possessed of the lordship of Folkestone, and as such in 1095, being the 9th year of king William Rusus, removed the priory of Folkestone from the bail of the castle to the place where it afterwards continued. His son William dying in his life-time s. p, Matilda his sole daughter and heir was given in marriage with the whole of her inheritance, by king Henry I. to Ruallanus de Albrincis, or Averenches, whose descendant Sir William de Albrincis, was become possessed of this lordship at the latter end of that reign; and in the 3d year of the next reign of king Stephen, he confirmed the gifts of his ancestors above-mentioned to the priory here. He appears to have been one of those knights, who had each a portion of lands, which they held for the de sence of Dover castle, being bound by the tenure of those lands to provide a certain number of soldiers, who should continually perform watch and ward within it, according to their particular allotment of time; but such portions of these lands as were not actually in their own possession were granted out by them to others, to hold by knight's service, and they were to be ready for the like service at command, upon any necessity whatever, and they were bound likewife, each knight to desend a certain tower in the castle; that desended by Sir William de Albrincis being called from him, Averenches tower, and afterwards Clinton tower, from the future owners of those lands. (fn. 2) Among those lands held by Sir William de Albrincis for this purpose was Folkestone, and he held them of the king in capitle by barony. These lands together made up the barony of Averenches, or Folkestone, as it was afterwards called, from this place being made the chief of the barony, caput baroniæ, as it was stiled in Latin; thus The Manor of Folkestone, frequently called in after times An Honor, (fn. 3) and the mansion of it the castle, from its becoming the chief seat or residence of the lords paramount of this barony, continued to be so held by his descendants, whose names were in Latin records frequently speit Albrincis, but in French Avereng and Averenches, and in after times in English ones, Evering; in them it continued till Matilda, daughter and heir of William de Albrincis, carried it in marriage to Hamo de Crevequer, who, in the 20th year of that reign, had possession given him of her inheritance. He died in the 47th year of that reign, possessed of the manor of Folkestone, held in capite, and by rent for the liberty of the hundred, and ward of Dover castle. Robert his grandson, dying s. p. his four sisters became his heirs, and upon the division of their inheritance, and partition of this barony, John de Sandwich, in right of his wife Agnes, the eldest sister, became entitled to this manor and lordship of Folkestone, being the chief seat of the barony, a preference given to her by law, by reason of her eldership; and from this he has been by some called Baron of Folkestone, as has his son Sir John de Sandwich, who left an only daughter and heir Julian, who carried this manor in marriage to Sir John de Segrave, who bore for his arms, Sable, three garbs, argent. He died in the 17th year of Edward III. who, as well as his son, of the same name, received summons to parliament, though whether as barons of Folkestone, as they are both by some called, I know not. Sir John de Segrave, the son, died possessed of this manor anno 23 Edward III. soon after which it appears to have passed into the family of Clinton, for William de Clinton, earl of Huntingdon, who bore for his arms, Argent, crusulee, situchee, sable, upon a chief, azure, two mullets, or, pierced gules; which coat differed from that of his elder brother's only in the croslets, which were not borne by any other of this family till long afterwards, (fn. 4) died possessed of it in the 28th year of that reign, at which time the mansion of this manor bore the name of the castle. He died s. p. leaving his nephew Sir John de Clinton, son of John de Clinton, of Maxtoke, in Warwickshire, his heir, who was afterwards summoned to parliament anno 42 Edward III. and was a man of great bravery and wisdom, and much employed in state affairs. He died possessed of this manor, with the view of frank-pledge, a moiety of the hundred of Folkestone, and THE MANOR OF WALTON, which, though now first mentioned, appears to have had the same owners as the manor of Folkestone, from the earliest account of it. He married Idonea, eldest daughter of Jeffry, lord Say, and at length the eldest coheir of that family, and was succeeded in these manors by his grandson William, lord Clinton, who, anno 6 Henry IV. had possession granted of his share of the lands of William de Say, as coheir to him in right of his grandmother Idonea, upon which he bore the title of lord Clinton and Saye, which latter however he afterwards relinquished, though he still bore for his arms, Qnarterly, Clinton and Saye, with two greybounds for his supporters. After which the manor of Folkestone, otherwise called Folkestone Clinton, and Walton, continued to be held in capite by knight's service, by his descendants lords Clinton, till Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, which title he then bore, together with Elizabeth his wife, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. conveyed these manors, with other premises in this parish, to Thomas Cromwell lord Cromwell, afterwards created earl of Essex, on whose attainder two years afterwards they reverted again to the crown, at which time the lordship of Folkestone was stiled an honor; whence they were granted in the fourth year of Edward VI. to the former possessor of them, Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite, for the meritorious services he had performed. In which year, then bearing the title of lord Clinton and Saye, he was declared lord high admiral, and of the privy council, besides other favours conferred on him; and among other lands, he had a grant of these manors, as abovementioned, which he next year, anno 5 Edward VI. reconveyed back to the crown, in exchange for other premises. (fn. 5) He was afterwards installed knight of the garter, by the title of Earl of Lincoln and Baron of Clinton and Saye; and in the last year of that reign, constable of the tower of London. Though in the 1st year of queen Mary he lost all his great offices for a small time, yet he had in recompence of his integrity and former services, a grant from her that year, of several manors and estates in this parish, as well as elsewhere, and among others, of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, together with the castle and park of Folkestone, to hold in capite; all which he, the next year, passed away by sale to Mr. Henry Herdson, citizen and alderman of London, who lest several sons, of whom Thomas succeeded him in this estate, in whose time the antient park of Folkestone seems to have been disparked. His son Mr. Francis Herdson alienated his interst in these manors and premises to his uncle Mr. John Herdson, who resided at the manor of Tyrlingham, in this parish, and dying in 1622, was buried in the chancel of Hawking church, where his monument remains; and there is another sumptuous one besides erected for him in the south isle of Folkestone church. They bore for their arms, Argent, a cross sable, between four fleurs de lis, gules. He died s. p. and by will devised these manors, with his other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to his nephew Basill, second son of his sister Abigail, by Charles Dixwell, esq. Basill Dixwell, esq. afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, a part of the estate devised to him by his uncle, where, in the 3d year of king Charles I. he kept his shrievalty, with great honor and hospitality; after which he was knighted, and in 1627, anno 3 Charles I. created a baronet; but having rebuilt the mansion of Brome, in Barham, he removed thither before his death. On his decease unmarried, the title of baronet became extinct; but he devised these manors, with the rest of his estates, to his nephew Mark Dixwell, son of his elder brother William Dixwell, of Coton, in Warwickshire, who afterwards resided at Brome. He married Elizabeth, sister and heir of William Read, esq. of Folkestone, by whom he had Basill Dixwell, esq. of Brome, who in 1660, anno 12 Charles II. was created a baronet. His son Sir Basill Dixwell, bart. of Brome, about the year 1697, alientated these manors, with the park-house and grounds, and other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to Jacob Desbouverie, esq. of LondonHe was descended from Laurence de Bouverie, de la Bouverie, or Des Bouveries, of an antient and honorable extraction in Flanders, (fn. 6) who renouncing the tenets of the Romish religion came into England in the year 1567, anno 10 Elizabeth, and seems to have settled first at Canterbury. He was a younger son of Le Sieur des Bouveries, of the chateau de Bouverie, near Lisle, in Flanders, where the eldest branch of this family did not long since possess a considerable estate, bearing for their arms, Gules, a bend, vaire. Edward, his eldest son, was an eminet Turkey merchant, was knighted by king James II. and died at his seat at Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, in 1694. He had seven sons and four daughters; of the former, William, the eldest, was likewife an eminent Turkey merchant, and was, anno 12 queen Anne, created a baronet, and died in 1717. Jacob, the third son, was purchaser of these manors; and Christopher, the seventh son, was knighted, and seated at Chart Sutton, in this county, under which a further account of him may be seen; (fn. 7) and Anne, the second daughter, married Sir Philip Boteler, bart. Jacob Desbouverie afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, and dying unmarried in 1722, by his will devised these manors, with his other estates here, to his nephew Sir Edward Desbouverie, bart. the eldest brother son of Sir William Desbouverie, bart. his elder brother, who died possessed of them in 1736, s. p. on which his title, with these and all his other estates, came to his next surviving brother and heir Sir Jacob Desbouverie, bart. who anno 10 George II. procured an act to enable himself and his descendants to use the name of Bouverie only, and was by patent, on June 29, 1747, created baron of Longford, in Wiltshire, and viscount Folkestone, of Folkestone. He was twice married; first to Mary, daughter and sole heir of Bartholomew Clarke, esq. of Hardingstone, in Northamptonshire, by whom he had several sons and daughters, of whom William, the eldest son, succeeded him in titles and estates; Edward is now of Delapre abbey, near Northamptonshire; Anne married George, a younger son of the lord chancellor Talbot; Charlotte; Mary married Anthony, earl of Shastesbury; and Harriot married Sir James Tilney Long, bart. of Wiltshire. By Elizabeth his second wife, daughter of Robert, lord Romney, he had Philip, who has taken the name of Pusey, and possesses, as heir to his mother Elizabeth, dowager viscountess Folkestone, who died in 1782, several manors and estates in the western part of this county. He died in 1761, and was buried in the family vault at Britford, near Salisbury, being succeeded in title and estates by his eldest son by his first wife, William, viscount Folkestone, who was on Sept. 28, anno 5 king George III. created Earl of Radnor, and Baron Pleydell Bouverie, of Coleshill, in Berkshire. He died in 1776, having been three times married; first, to Harriot, only daughter and heir of Sir Mark Stuart Pleydell, bart. of Colefhill, in Berkshire. By her, who died in 1750, and was buried at Britford, though there is an elegant monument erected for her at Coleshill, he had Hacob, his successor in titles and estates, born in 1750. He married secondly, Rebecca, daughter of John Alleyne, esq. of Barbadoes, by whom he had four sons; William-Henry, who married Bridget, daughter of James, earl of Morton; Bartholomew, who married MaryWyndham, daughter of James Everard Arundell, third son of Henry, lord Arundell, of Wardour; and Edward, who married first Catherine Murray, eldest daughter of John, earl of Dunmore; and secondly, Arabella, daughter of admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle. His third wife was Anne, relict of Anthony Duncombe, lord Faversham, and daughter of Sir Thomas Hales, bart. of Bekesborne, by whom he had two daughters, who both died young. He was succeeded in titles and estates by his eldest son, the right hon. Jacob Pleydell Bouverie, earl of Radnor, who is the present possessor of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, with the park-house and disparked grounds adjacent to it, formerly the antient park of Folkestone, the warren, and other manors and estates in this parish and neighbourhood.

 

FOLKESTONE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary and St. Eanswith, consists of three isles and three chancels, having a square tower, with a beacon turret in the middle of it, in which there is a clock, and a peal of eight bells, put up in it in 1779. This church is built of sand-stone; the high chancel, which has been lately ceiled, seems by far the most antient part of it. Under an arch in the north wall is a tomb, with the effigies of a man, having a dog at his feet, very an tient, probably for one of the family of Fienes, constables of Dover castle and wardens of the five ports; and among many other monuments and inscriptions, within the altar-rails, are monuments for the Reades, of Folkestone, arms, Azure, a griffin, or, quartering gules, a pheon between three leopards faces, or; for William Langhorne, A.M. minister, obt. 1772. In the south chancel is a most elegant monument, having the effigies of two men kneeling at two desks, and an inscription for J. Herdson, esq. who lies buried in Hawkinge church, obt. 1622. In the south isle a tomb for J. Pragels, esq. obt. 1676, arms, A castle triple towered, between two portcullises; on a chief, a sinister hand gauntled, between two stirrups. In the middle isle a brass plate for Joane, wife of Thomas Harvey, mother of seven sons (one of which was the physician) and two daughters. In the north wall of the south isle were deposited the remains of St. Eanswith, in a stone coffin; and under that isle is a large charnelhouse, in which are deposited the great quantity of bones already taken notice of before. Philipott, p. 96, says, the Bakers, of Caldham, had a peculiar chancel belonging to them in this church, near the vestrydoor, over the charnel-house, which seems to have been that building mentioned by John Baker, of Folkestone, who by his will in 1464, ordered, that his executors should make a new work, called an isle, with a window in it, with the parishioners advice; which work should be built between the vestry there and the great window. John Tong, of Folkestone, who was buried in this church, by will in 1534, ordered that certain men of the parish should be enfeoffed in six acres of land, called Mervyle, to the use of the mass of Jhesu, in this church.

 

On Dec. 19, 1705, the west end of this church, for the length of two arches out of the five, was blown down by the violence of the wind; upon which the curate and parishioners petitioned archbishop Tillot son, for leave to shorten the church, by rebuilding only one of the fallen arches, which was granted. But by this, the church, which was before insufficient to contain the parishioners, is rendered much more inconvenient to them for that purpose. By the act passed anno 6 George III. for the preservation of the town and church from the ravages of the sea as already noticed before. After such works are finished, &c. the rates are to be applied towards their repair, and to the keeping in repair, and the support and preservation of this church.

 

¶This church was first built by Nigell de Muneville, lord of Folkestone at the latter end of king Henry I. or the beginning of king Stephen's reign, when he removed the priory from the precinct of the castle to it in 1137, and he gave this new church and the patronage of it to the monks of Lolley, in Normandy, for their establishing a cell, or alien priory here, as has been already mentioned, to which this new church afterwards served as the conventual church of it. The profits of it were very early appropriated to the use of this priory, that is, before the 8th of king Richard II. anno 1384, the duty of it being served by a vicar, whose portion was settled in 1448, at the yearly pension of 10l. 0s. 2½d. to be paid by the prior, in lieu of all other profits whatsoever. In which state this appropriation and vicarage remained till the surrendry of the priory, in the 27th year of king Henry VIII. when they came, with the rest of the possessions of it, into the king's hands, who in his 31st year demised the vicarage and parish church of Folkestone, with all its rights, profits, and emoluments, for a term of years, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, who assigned his interest in it to Anthony Allcher, esq. but the fee of both remained in the crown till the 4th year of king Edward VI. when they were granted, with the manor, priory, and other premises here, to Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite; who the next year conveyed them back again to the crown, in exchange for other premises, (fn. 23) where the patronage of the vicarage did not remain long; for in 1558, anno 6 queen Mary, the queen granted it, among several others, to the archbishop. But the church or parsonage appropriate of Folkestone remained longer in the crown, and till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange, among other premises, to archbishop Parker, being then in lease to lord Clinton, at the rent of 57l. 2s. 11d. at which rate it was valued to the archbishop, in which manner it has continued to be leased out ever since, and it now, with the patronage of the vicarage, remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury; the family of Breams were formerly lessees of it, from whom the interest of the lease came to the Taylors, of Bifrons, and was sold by the late Rev. Edward Taylor, of Bisrons, to the right hon. Jacob, earl of Radnor, the present lessee of it.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol8/pp152-188

A Saturday morning, and on a second wild goose chase looking for the Wall Pennywort in Folkestone.

 

Problem was, I didn't have the photo with me so I could triangulate the plant with the church in the background. Instead, I (wrongly) assumed that it would be growing on a wall, so spent the morning looking on every wall in the churchyard, and nothing found.

 

But St Mary was open.

 

And I just had the 50mm with me, but I was delighted inside to find the harsh orange lights under the tower have been replaced with something kinder.

 

I did meet a warden who was very interested in the plant tale, and other stories, so I didn't get round to photograph everything, but did see the old clock mechanism for the first time, not sure where that had been kept up to now.

 

And the remains of St Eanswythe, or almost certainly her remains, now dated to the mid 7th century are in a niche in the Chancel ready for placing somewhere befitting a Kentish Queen.

 

A superb location in a leafy churchyard away from the busy shopping centre, and yet much more of a town church than that of a seaside resort. It was originally a thirteenth-century building, but so much has happened to it that today we are left with the impression of a Victorian interior. Excellent stained glass by Kempe, mosaics by Carpenter and paintings by Hemming show the enthusiasm of Canon Woodward, vicar from 1851 to 1898. His efforts encouraged others to donate money to beautify the building in an almost continuous restoration that lasted right into the twentieth century They were spurred on by the discovery, in 1885, of the bones of St Eanswythe, in a lead casket which had been set into the sanctuary wall. She had founded a convent in the town in the seventh century and died at the age of twenty-six.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Folkestone+1

 

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FOLKESTONE.

THE parish of Folkestone, which gives name to this hundred, was antiently bounded towards the south by the sea, but now by the town and liberty of Folkestone, which has long since been made a corporation, and exempt from the jurisdiction of the hundred. The district of which liberty is a long narrow slip of land, having the town within it, and extending the whole length of the parish, between the sea shore and that part of the parish still within the jurisdiction of the hundred, and county magistrates, which is by far the greatest part of it.

 

THE PARISH, which is about three miles across each way, is situated exceedingly pleasant and healthy. The high chalk, or down hills uniclosed, and well covered with pasture, cross the northern part of it, and from a sine romantic scene. Northward of these, this part of the parish is from its high situation, called the uphill of Folkestone; in this part is Tirlingham, the antient mansion of which has been some years since pulled down, and a modern farm-house erected in its stead; near it is Hearn forstal, on which is a good house, late belonging to Mr. Nicholas Rolse, but now of Mr. Richard Marsh; over this forstal the high road leads from Folkestone to Canterbury. The centre of the parish is in the beautiful and fertile vale called Folkestone vale, which has downs, meadows, brooks, marshes, arable land, and every thing in small parcels, which is sound in much larger regions; being interspersed with houses and cottages, and well watered by several fresh streams; besides which, at Ford forstall, about a mile northward from the town, there rises a strong chalybeat spring. This part of the parish, by far the greatest part of it, as far as the high road from Dover, through it, towards Hythe, is within the jurisdiction of the hundred of Folkestone, and the justices of the county. The small part on the opposite, or southern side of that road is within the liberty of the town or corporation of Folkestone, where the quarry or sand hills, on the broken side of one of which, the town is situated, are its southern maritime boundaries. These hills begin close under the chalk or down hills, in the eastern part of this parish, close to the sea at Eastware bay, and extend westward along the sea shore almost as far as Sandgate castle, where they stretch inland towards the north, leaving a small space between them and the shore. So that this parish there crossing one of them, extends below it, a small space in the bottom as far as that castle, these quarry, or sand hills, keeping on their course north-west, from the northern boundary of Romney Marsh, and then the southern boundary of the Weald, both which they overlook, extending pretty nearly in a parallel line with the chalk or down hills.

 

The prospect over this delightful vale of Folkestone from the hill, on the road from Dover as you descend to the town, is very beautiful indeed for the pastures and various fertility of the vale in the centre, beyond it the church and town of Hythe, Romney Marsh, and the high promontory of Beachy head, boldly stretching into the sea. On the right the chain of losty down hills, covered with verdure, and cattle seeding on them; on the lest the town of Folkestone, on the knole of a hill, close to the sea, with its scattered environs, at this distance a pleasing object, and beyond it the azure sea unbounded to the sight, except by the above-mentioned promontory, altogether from as pleasing a prospect as any in this county.

 

FOLKESTONE was a place of note in the time of the Romans, and afterwards in that of the Saxons, as will be more particularly noticed hereafter, under the description of the town itself. By what name it was called by the Romans, is uncertain; by the Saxons it was written Folcestane, and in the record of Domesday, Fulchestan. In the year 927 king Athelstane, son of king Edward the elder, and grandson of king Alfred, gave Folkstane, situated, as is mentioned in the grant of it, on the sea shore, where there had been a monastery, or abbey of holy virgins, in which St. Eanswith was buried, which had been destroyed by the Danes, to the church of Canterbury, with the privilege of holding it L. S. A. (fn. 1) But it Seems afterwards to have been taken from it, for king Knute, in 1038, is recorded to have restored to that church, the parish of Folkstane, which had been given to it as above-mentioned; but upon condition, that it should never be alienated by the archbishop, without the licence both of the king and the monks. Whether they joined in the alienation of it, or it was taken from them by force, is uncertain; but the church of Canterbury was not in possession of this place at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in 1080, being the 14th year of the Conqueror's reign, at which time it was part of the possessions of the bishop of Baieux, the conqueror's half-brother, under the general description of whose lands it is thus entered in it:

 

In Limowart lest, in Fulcbestan hundred, William de Acris holds Fulchestan. In the time of king Edward the Consessor, it was taxed at forty sulings, and now at thirty-nine. The arable land is one hundred and twenty carucates. In demesne there are two hundred and nine villeins, and four times twenty, and three borderes. Among all they have forty-five carcates. There are five churches, from which the archbishop has fifty-five shillings. There are three servants, and seven mills of nine pounds and twelve shillings. There are one hundred acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of forty bogs. Earl Godwin held this manor.

 

Of this manor, Hugo, son of William, holds nine sulings of the land of the villeins, and there he has in demesne four carucates and an half, and thirty-eight villeins, with seventeen borderes, who have sixteen carucates. There are three churches, and one mill and an half, of sixteen shillings and five-pence, and one saltpit of thirty pence. Wood for the pannage of six bogs. It is worth twenty pounds.

 

Walter de Appeuile holds of this manor three yokes and twelve acres of land, and there he has one carucate in demesne, and three villeins, with one borderer. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Alured holds one suling and forty acres of land, and there he has in demesne two carucates, with six borderers, and twelve acres of meadow. It is worth four pounds.

 

Walter, son of Engelbert, holds half a suling and forty acres, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with seven borderers, and five acres of meadow. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Wesman holds one suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, and two villeins, with seven borderers having one carucate and an half. It is worth four pounds.

 

Alured Dapiser holds one suling and one yoke and six acres of land, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with eleven borderers. It is worth fifty shillings.

 

Eudo holds half a suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with four borderers, and three acres of meadow. It is worth twenty shillings.

 

Bernard de St. Owen, four sulings, and there he has in demesne three carucates, and six villeins, with eleven borderes, having two carucates. There are four servants, and two mills of twenty-four shillings, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of two bogs.

 

Of one denne, and of the land which is given from these suling to ferm, there goes out three pounds. In the whole it is worth nine pounds.

 

Baldric holds half a suling, and there he has one carucate, and two villeins, with six borderers having one carucate, and one mill of thirty pence. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Richard holds fifty-eight acres of land, and there he has one carucate, with five borderers. It is worth ten shillings.

 

All Fulchestan, in the time of king Edward the Consessor, was worth one hundred and ten pounds, when he received it forty pounds, now what he has in demesne is worth one hundred pounds; what the knights hold abovementioned together, is worth forty-five pounds and ten shillings.

 

¶It plainly appears that this entry in Domesday does not only relate to the lands within this parish, but to those in the adjoining parishes within the hundred, the whole of which, most probably, were held of the bishop of Baieux, but to which of them each part refers in particular, is at this time impossible to point out. About four years after the taking of the above survey, the bishop was disgraced, and all his possessions consiscated to the crown. After which, Nigell de Muneville, a descendant of William de Arcis, mentioned before in Domesday, appears to have become possessed of the lordship of Folkestone, and as such in 1095, being the 9th year of king William Rusus, removed the priory of Folkestone from the bail of the castle to the place where it afterwards continued. His son William dying in his life-time s. p, Matilda his sole daughter and heir was given in marriage with the whole of her inheritance, by king Henry I. to Ruallanus de Albrincis, or Averenches, whose descendant Sir William de Albrincis, was become possessed of this lordship at the latter end of that reign; and in the 3d year of the next reign of king Stephen, he confirmed the gifts of his ancestors above-mentioned to the priory here. He appears to have been one of those knights, who had each a portion of lands, which they held for the de sence of Dover castle, being bound by the tenure of those lands to provide a certain number of soldiers, who should continually perform watch and ward within it, according to their particular allotment of time; but such portions of these lands as were not actually in their own possession were granted out by them to others, to hold by knight's service, and they were to be ready for the like service at command, upon any necessity whatever, and they were bound likewife, each knight to desend a certain tower in the castle; that desended by Sir William de Albrincis being called from him, Averenches tower, and afterwards Clinton tower, from the future owners of those lands. (fn. 2) Among those lands held by Sir William de Albrincis for this purpose was Folkestone, and he held them of the king in capitle by barony. These lands together made up the barony of Averenches, or Folkestone, as it was afterwards called, from this place being made the chief of the barony, caput baroniæ, as it was stiled in Latin; thus The Manor of Folkestone, frequently called in after times An Honor, (fn. 3) and the mansion of it the castle, from its becoming the chief seat or residence of the lords paramount of this barony, continued to be so held by his descendants, whose names were in Latin records frequently speit Albrincis, but in French Avereng and Averenches, and in after times in English ones, Evering; in them it continued till Matilda, daughter and heir of William de Albrincis, carried it in marriage to Hamo de Crevequer, who, in the 20th year of that reign, had possession given him of her inheritance. He died in the 47th year of that reign, possessed of the manor of Folkestone, held in capite, and by rent for the liberty of the hundred, and ward of Dover castle. Robert his grandson, dying s. p. his four sisters became his heirs, and upon the division of their inheritance, and partition of this barony, John de Sandwich, in right of his wife Agnes, the eldest sister, became entitled to this manor and lordship of Folkestone, being the chief seat of the barony, a preference given to her by law, by reason of her eldership; and from this he has been by some called Baron of Folkestone, as has his son Sir John de Sandwich, who left an only daughter and heir Julian, who carried this manor in marriage to Sir John de Segrave, who bore for his arms, Sable, three garbs, argent. He died in the 17th year of Edward III. who, as well as his son, of the same name, received summons to parliament, though whether as barons of Folkestone, as they are both by some called, I know not. Sir John de Segrave, the son, died possessed of this manor anno 23 Edward III. soon after which it appears to have passed into the family of Clinton, for William de Clinton, earl of Huntingdon, who bore for his arms, Argent, crusulee, situchee, sable, upon a chief, azure, two mullets, or, pierced gules; which coat differed from that of his elder brother's only in the croslets, which were not borne by any other of this family till long afterwards, (fn. 4) died possessed of it in the 28th year of that reign, at which time the mansion of this manor bore the name of the castle. He died s. p. leaving his nephew Sir John de Clinton, son of John de Clinton, of Maxtoke, in Warwickshire, his heir, who was afterwards summoned to parliament anno 42 Edward III. and was a man of great bravery and wisdom, and much employed in state affairs. He died possessed of this manor, with the view of frank-pledge, a moiety of the hundred of Folkestone, and THE MANOR OF WALTON, which, though now first mentioned, appears to have had the same owners as the manor of Folkestone, from the earliest account of it. He married Idonea, eldest daughter of Jeffry, lord Say, and at length the eldest coheir of that family, and was succeeded in these manors by his grandson William, lord Clinton, who, anno 6 Henry IV. had possession granted of his share of the lands of William de Say, as coheir to him in right of his grandmother Idonea, upon which he bore the title of lord Clinton and Saye, which latter however he afterwards relinquished, though he still bore for his arms, Qnarterly, Clinton and Saye, with two greybounds for his supporters. After which the manor of Folkestone, otherwise called Folkestone Clinton, and Walton, continued to be held in capite by knight's service, by his descendants lords Clinton, till Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, which title he then bore, together with Elizabeth his wife, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. conveyed these manors, with other premises in this parish, to Thomas Cromwell lord Cromwell, afterwards created earl of Essex, on whose attainder two years afterwards they reverted again to the crown, at which time the lordship of Folkestone was stiled an honor; whence they were granted in the fourth year of Edward VI. to the former possessor of them, Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite, for the meritorious services he had performed. In which year, then bearing the title of lord Clinton and Saye, he was declared lord high admiral, and of the privy council, besides other favours conferred on him; and among other lands, he had a grant of these manors, as abovementioned, which he next year, anno 5 Edward VI. reconveyed back to the crown, in exchange for other premises. (fn. 5) He was afterwards installed knight of the garter, by the title of Earl of Lincoln and Baron of Clinton and Saye; and in the last year of that reign, constable of the tower of London. Though in the 1st year of queen Mary he lost all his great offices for a small time, yet he had in recompence of his integrity and former services, a grant from her that year, of several manors and estates in this parish, as well as elsewhere, and among others, of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, together with the castle and park of Folkestone, to hold in capite; all which he, the next year, passed away by sale to Mr. Henry Herdson, citizen and alderman of London, who lest several sons, of whom Thomas succeeded him in this estate, in whose time the antient park of Folkestone seems to have been disparked. His son Mr. Francis Herdson alienated his interst in these manors and premises to his uncle Mr. John Herdson, who resided at the manor of Tyrlingham, in this parish, and dying in 1622, was buried in the chancel of Hawking church, where his monument remains; and there is another sumptuous one besides erected for him in the south isle of Folkestone church. They bore for their arms, Argent, a cross sable, between four fleurs de lis, gules. He died s. p. and by will devised these manors, with his other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to his nephew Basill, second son of his sister Abigail, by Charles Dixwell, esq. Basill Dixwell, esq. afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, a part of the estate devised to him by his uncle, where, in the 3d year of king Charles I. he kept his shrievalty, with great honor and hospitality; after which he was knighted, and in 1627, anno 3 Charles I. created a baronet; but having rebuilt the mansion of Brome, in Barham, he removed thither before his death. On his decease unmarried, the title of baronet became extinct; but he devised these manors, with the rest of his estates, to his nephew Mark Dixwell, son of his elder brother William Dixwell, of Coton, in Warwickshire, who afterwards resided at Brome. He married Elizabeth, sister and heir of William Read, esq. of Folkestone, by whom he had Basill Dixwell, esq. of Brome, who in 1660, anno 12 Charles II. was created a baronet. His son Sir Basill Dixwell, bart. of Brome, about the year 1697, alientated these manors, with the park-house and grounds, and other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to Jacob Desbouverie, esq. of LondonHe was descended from Laurence de Bouverie, de la Bouverie, or Des Bouveries, of an antient and honorable extraction in Flanders, (fn. 6) who renouncing the tenets of the Romish religion came into England in the year 1567, anno 10 Elizabeth, and seems to have settled first at Canterbury. He was a younger son of Le Sieur des Bouveries, of the chateau de Bouverie, near Lisle, in Flanders, where the eldest branch of this family did not long since possess a considerable estate, bearing for their arms, Gules, a bend, vaire. Edward, his eldest son, was an eminet Turkey merchant, was knighted by king James II. and died at his seat at Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, in 1694. He had seven sons and four daughters; of the former, William, the eldest, was likewife an eminent Turkey merchant, and was, anno 12 queen Anne, created a baronet, and died in 1717. Jacob, the third son, was purchaser of these manors; and Christopher, the seventh son, was knighted, and seated at Chart Sutton, in this county, under which a further account of him may be seen; (fn. 7) and Anne, the second daughter, married Sir Philip Boteler, bart. Jacob Desbouverie afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, and dying unmarried in 1722, by his will devised these manors, with his other estates here, to his nephew Sir Edward Desbouverie, bart. the eldest brother son of Sir William Desbouverie, bart. his elder brother, who died possessed of them in 1736, s. p. on which his title, with these and all his other estates, came to his next surviving brother and heir Sir Jacob Desbouverie, bart. who anno 10 George II. procured an act to enable himself and his descendants to use the name of Bouverie only, and was by patent, on June 29, 1747, created baron of Longford, in Wiltshire, and viscount Folkestone, of Folkestone. He was twice married; first to Mary, daughter and sole heir of Bartholomew Clarke, esq. of Hardingstone, in Northamptonshire, by whom he had several sons and daughters, of whom William, the eldest son, succeeded him in titles and estates; Edward is now of Delapre abbey, near Northamptonshire; Anne married George, a younger son of the lord chancellor Talbot; Charlotte; Mary married Anthony, earl of Shastesbury; and Harriot married Sir James Tilney Long, bart. of Wiltshire. By Elizabeth his second wife, daughter of Robert, lord Romney, he had Philip, who has taken the name of Pusey, and possesses, as heir to his mother Elizabeth, dowager viscountess Folkestone, who died in 1782, several manors and estates in the western part of this county. He died in 1761, and was buried in the family vault at Britford, near Salisbury, being succeeded in title and estates by his eldest son by his first wife, William, viscount Folkestone, who was on Sept. 28, anno 5 king George III. created Earl of Radnor, and Baron Pleydell Bouverie, of Coleshill, in Berkshire. He died in 1776, having been three times married; first, to Harriot, only daughter and heir of Sir Mark Stuart Pleydell, bart. of Colefhill, in Berkshire. By her, who died in 1750, and was buried at Britford, though there is an elegant monument erected for her at Coleshill, he had Hacob, his successor in titles and estates, born in 1750. He married secondly, Rebecca, daughter of John Alleyne, esq. of Barbadoes, by whom he had four sons; William-Henry, who married Bridget, daughter of James, earl of Morton; Bartholomew, who married MaryWyndham, daughter of James Everard Arundell, third son of Henry, lord Arundell, of Wardour; and Edward, who married first Catherine Murray, eldest daughter of John, earl of Dunmore; and secondly, Arabella, daughter of admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle. His third wife was Anne, relict of Anthony Duncombe, lord Faversham, and daughter of Sir Thomas Hales, bart. of Bekesborne, by whom he had two daughters, who both died young. He was succeeded in titles and estates by his eldest son, the right hon. Jacob Pleydell Bouverie, earl of Radnor, who is the present possessor of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, with the park-house and disparked grounds adjacent to it, formerly the antient park of Folkestone, the warren, and other manors and estates in this parish and neighbourhood.

 

FOLKESTONE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary and St. Eanswith, consists of three isles and three chancels, having a square tower, with a beacon turret in the middle of it, in which there is a clock, and a peal of eight bells, put up in it in 1779. This church is built of sand-stone; the high chancel, which has been lately ceiled, seems by far the most antient part of it. Under an arch in the north wall is a tomb, with the effigies of a man, having a dog at his feet, very an tient, probably for one of the family of Fienes, constables of Dover castle and wardens of the five ports; and among many other monuments and inscriptions, within the altar-rails, are monuments for the Reades, of Folkestone, arms, Azure, a griffin, or, quartering gules, a pheon between three leopards faces, or; for William Langhorne, A.M. minister, obt. 1772. In the south chancel is a most elegant monument, having the effigies of two men kneeling at two desks, and an inscription for J. Herdson, esq. who lies buried in Hawkinge church, obt. 1622. In the south isle a tomb for J. Pragels, esq. obt. 1676, arms, A castle triple towered, between two portcullises; on a chief, a sinister hand gauntled, between two stirrups. In the middle isle a brass plate for Joane, wife of Thomas Harvey, mother of seven sons (one of which was the physician) and two daughters. In the north wall of the south isle were deposited the remains of St. Eanswith, in a stone coffin; and under that isle is a large charnelhouse, in which are deposited the great quantity of bones already taken notice of before. Philipott, p. 96, says, the Bakers, of Caldham, had a peculiar chancel belonging to them in this church, near the vestrydoor, over the charnel-house, which seems to have been that building mentioned by John Baker, of Folkestone, who by his will in 1464, ordered, that his executors should make a new work, called an isle, with a window in it, with the parishioners advice; which work should be built between the vestry there and the great window. John Tong, of Folkestone, who was buried in this church, by will in 1534, ordered that certain men of the parish should be enfeoffed in six acres of land, called Mervyle, to the use of the mass of Jhesu, in this church.

 

On Dec. 19, 1705, the west end of this church, for the length of two arches out of the five, was blown down by the violence of the wind; upon which the curate and parishioners petitioned archbishop Tillot son, for leave to shorten the church, by rebuilding only one of the fallen arches, which was granted. But by this, the church, which was before insufficient to contain the parishioners, is rendered much more inconvenient to them for that purpose. By the act passed anno 6 George III. for the preservation of the town and church from the ravages of the sea as already noticed before. After such works are finished, &c. the rates are to be applied towards their repair, and to the keeping in repair, and the support and preservation of this church.

 

¶This church was first built by Nigell de Muneville, lord of Folkestone at the latter end of king Henry I. or the beginning of king Stephen's reign, when he removed the priory from the precinct of the castle to it in 1137, and he gave this new church and the patronage of it to the monks of Lolley, in Normandy, for their establishing a cell, or alien priory here, as has been already mentioned, to which this new church afterwards served as the conventual church of it. The profits of it were very early appropriated to the use of this priory, that is, before the 8th of king Richard II. anno 1384, the duty of it being served by a vicar, whose portion was settled in 1448, at the yearly pension of 10l. 0s. 2½d. to be paid by the prior, in lieu of all other profits whatsoever. In which state this appropriation and vicarage remained till the surrendry of the priory, in the 27th year of king Henry VIII. when they came, with the rest of the possessions of it, into the king's hands, who in his 31st year demised the vicarage and parish church of Folkestone, with all its rights, profits, and emoluments, for a term of years, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, who assigned his interest in it to Anthony Allcher, esq. but the fee of both remained in the crown till the 4th year of king Edward VI. when they were granted, with the manor, priory, and other premises here, to Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite; who the next year conveyed them back again to the crown, in exchange for other premises, (fn. 23) where the patronage of the vicarage did not remain long; for in 1558, anno 6 queen Mary, the queen granted it, among several others, to the archbishop. But the church or parsonage appropriate of Folkestone remained longer in the crown, and till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange, among other premises, to archbishop Parker, being then in lease to lord Clinton, at the rent of 57l. 2s. 11d. at which rate it was valued to the archbishop, in which manner it has continued to be leased out ever since, and it now, with the patronage of the vicarage, remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury; the family of Breams were formerly lessees of it, from whom the interest of the lease came to the Taylors, of Bifrons, and was sold by the late Rev. Edward Taylor, of Bisrons, to the right hon. Jacob, earl of Radnor, the present lessee of it.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol8/pp152-188

A Saturday morning, and on a second wild goose chase looking for the Wall Pennywort in Folkestone.

 

Problem was, I didn't have the photo with me so I could triangulate the plant with the church in the background. Instead, I (wrongly) assumed that it would be growing on a wall, so spent the morning looking on every wall in the churchyard, and nothing found.

 

But St Mary was open.

 

And I just had the 50mm with me, but I was delighted inside to find the harsh orange lights under the tower have been replaced with something kinder.

 

I did meet a warden who was very interested in the plant tale, and other stories, so I didn't get round to photograph everything, but did see the old clock mechanism for the first time, not sure where that had been kept up to now.

 

And the remains of St Eanswythe, or almost certainly her remains, now dated to the mid 7th century are in a niche in the Chancel ready for placing somewhere befitting a Kentish Queen.

 

A superb location in a leafy churchyard away from the busy shopping centre, and yet much more of a town church than that of a seaside resort. It was originally a thirteenth-century building, but so much has happened to it that today we are left with the impression of a Victorian interior. Excellent stained glass by Kempe, mosaics by Carpenter and paintings by Hemming show the enthusiasm of Canon Woodward, vicar from 1851 to 1898. His efforts encouraged others to donate money to beautify the building in an almost continuous restoration that lasted right into the twentieth century They were spurred on by the discovery, in 1885, of the bones of St Eanswythe, in a lead casket which had been set into the sanctuary wall. She had founded a convent in the town in the seventh century and died at the age of twenty-six.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Folkestone+1

 

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FOLKESTONE.

THE parish of Folkestone, which gives name to this hundred, was antiently bounded towards the south by the sea, but now by the town and liberty of Folkestone, which has long since been made a corporation, and exempt from the jurisdiction of the hundred. The district of which liberty is a long narrow slip of land, having the town within it, and extending the whole length of the parish, between the sea shore and that part of the parish still within the jurisdiction of the hundred, and county magistrates, which is by far the greatest part of it.

 

THE PARISH, which is about three miles across each way, is situated exceedingly pleasant and healthy. The high chalk, or down hills uniclosed, and well covered with pasture, cross the northern part of it, and from a sine romantic scene. Northward of these, this part of the parish is from its high situation, called the uphill of Folkestone; in this part is Tirlingham, the antient mansion of which has been some years since pulled down, and a modern farm-house erected in its stead; near it is Hearn forstal, on which is a good house, late belonging to Mr. Nicholas Rolse, but now of Mr. Richard Marsh; over this forstal the high road leads from Folkestone to Canterbury. The centre of the parish is in the beautiful and fertile vale called Folkestone vale, which has downs, meadows, brooks, marshes, arable land, and every thing in small parcels, which is sound in much larger regions; being interspersed with houses and cottages, and well watered by several fresh streams; besides which, at Ford forstall, about a mile northward from the town, there rises a strong chalybeat spring. This part of the parish, by far the greatest part of it, as far as the high road from Dover, through it, towards Hythe, is within the jurisdiction of the hundred of Folkestone, and the justices of the county. The small part on the opposite, or southern side of that road is within the liberty of the town or corporation of Folkestone, where the quarry or sand hills, on the broken side of one of which, the town is situated, are its southern maritime boundaries. These hills begin close under the chalk or down hills, in the eastern part of this parish, close to the sea at Eastware bay, and extend westward along the sea shore almost as far as Sandgate castle, where they stretch inland towards the north, leaving a small space between them and the shore. So that this parish there crossing one of them, extends below it, a small space in the bottom as far as that castle, these quarry, or sand hills, keeping on their course north-west, from the northern boundary of Romney Marsh, and then the southern boundary of the Weald, both which they overlook, extending pretty nearly in a parallel line with the chalk or down hills.

 

The prospect over this delightful vale of Folkestone from the hill, on the road from Dover as you descend to the town, is very beautiful indeed for the pastures and various fertility of the vale in the centre, beyond it the church and town of Hythe, Romney Marsh, and the high promontory of Beachy head, boldly stretching into the sea. On the right the chain of losty down hills, covered with verdure, and cattle seeding on them; on the lest the town of Folkestone, on the knole of a hill, close to the sea, with its scattered environs, at this distance a pleasing object, and beyond it the azure sea unbounded to the sight, except by the above-mentioned promontory, altogether from as pleasing a prospect as any in this county.

 

FOLKESTONE was a place of note in the time of the Romans, and afterwards in that of the Saxons, as will be more particularly noticed hereafter, under the description of the town itself. By what name it was called by the Romans, is uncertain; by the Saxons it was written Folcestane, and in the record of Domesday, Fulchestan. In the year 927 king Athelstane, son of king Edward the elder, and grandson of king Alfred, gave Folkstane, situated, as is mentioned in the grant of it, on the sea shore, where there had been a monastery, or abbey of holy virgins, in which St. Eanswith was buried, which had been destroyed by the Danes, to the church of Canterbury, with the privilege of holding it L. S. A. (fn. 1) But it Seems afterwards to have been taken from it, for king Knute, in 1038, is recorded to have restored to that church, the parish of Folkstane, which had been given to it as above-mentioned; but upon condition, that it should never be alienated by the archbishop, without the licence both of the king and the monks. Whether they joined in the alienation of it, or it was taken from them by force, is uncertain; but the church of Canterbury was not in possession of this place at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in 1080, being the 14th year of the Conqueror's reign, at which time it was part of the possessions of the bishop of Baieux, the conqueror's half-brother, under the general description of whose lands it is thus entered in it:

 

In Limowart lest, in Fulcbestan hundred, William de Acris holds Fulchestan. In the time of king Edward the Consessor, it was taxed at forty sulings, and now at thirty-nine. The arable land is one hundred and twenty carucates. In demesne there are two hundred and nine villeins, and four times twenty, and three borderes. Among all they have forty-five carcates. There are five churches, from which the archbishop has fifty-five shillings. There are three servants, and seven mills of nine pounds and twelve shillings. There are one hundred acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of forty bogs. Earl Godwin held this manor.

 

Of this manor, Hugo, son of William, holds nine sulings of the land of the villeins, and there he has in demesne four carucates and an half, and thirty-eight villeins, with seventeen borderes, who have sixteen carucates. There are three churches, and one mill and an half, of sixteen shillings and five-pence, and one saltpit of thirty pence. Wood for the pannage of six bogs. It is worth twenty pounds.

 

Walter de Appeuile holds of this manor three yokes and twelve acres of land, and there he has one carucate in demesne, and three villeins, with one borderer. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Alured holds one suling and forty acres of land, and there he has in demesne two carucates, with six borderers, and twelve acres of meadow. It is worth four pounds.

 

Walter, son of Engelbert, holds half a suling and forty acres, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with seven borderers, and five acres of meadow. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Wesman holds one suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, and two villeins, with seven borderers having one carucate and an half. It is worth four pounds.

 

Alured Dapiser holds one suling and one yoke and six acres of land, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with eleven borderers. It is worth fifty shillings.

 

Eudo holds half a suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with four borderers, and three acres of meadow. It is worth twenty shillings.

 

Bernard de St. Owen, four sulings, and there he has in demesne three carucates, and six villeins, with eleven borderes, having two carucates. There are four servants, and two mills of twenty-four shillings, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of two bogs.

 

Of one denne, and of the land which is given from these suling to ferm, there goes out three pounds. In the whole it is worth nine pounds.

 

Baldric holds half a suling, and there he has one carucate, and two villeins, with six borderers having one carucate, and one mill of thirty pence. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Richard holds fifty-eight acres of land, and there he has one carucate, with five borderers. It is worth ten shillings.

 

All Fulchestan, in the time of king Edward the Consessor, was worth one hundred and ten pounds, when he received it forty pounds, now what he has in demesne is worth one hundred pounds; what the knights hold abovementioned together, is worth forty-five pounds and ten shillings.

 

¶It plainly appears that this entry in Domesday does not only relate to the lands within this parish, but to those in the adjoining parishes within the hundred, the whole of which, most probably, were held of the bishop of Baieux, but to which of them each part refers in particular, is at this time impossible to point out. About four years after the taking of the above survey, the bishop was disgraced, and all his possessions consiscated to the crown. After which, Nigell de Muneville, a descendant of William de Arcis, mentioned before in Domesday, appears to have become possessed of the lordship of Folkestone, and as such in 1095, being the 9th year of king William Rusus, removed the priory of Folkestone from the bail of the castle to the place where it afterwards continued. His son William dying in his life-time s. p, Matilda his sole daughter and heir was given in marriage with the whole of her inheritance, by king Henry I. to Ruallanus de Albrincis, or Averenches, whose descendant Sir William de Albrincis, was become possessed of this lordship at the latter end of that reign; and in the 3d year of the next reign of king Stephen, he confirmed the gifts of his ancestors above-mentioned to the priory here. He appears to have been one of those knights, who had each a portion of lands, which they held for the de sence of Dover castle, being bound by the tenure of those lands to provide a certain number of soldiers, who should continually perform watch and ward within it, according to their particular allotment of time; but such portions of these lands as were not actually in their own possession were granted out by them to others, to hold by knight's service, and they were to be ready for the like service at command, upon any necessity whatever, and they were bound likewife, each knight to desend a certain tower in the castle; that desended by Sir William de Albrincis being called from him, Averenches tower, and afterwards Clinton tower, from the future owners of those lands. (fn. 2) Among those lands held by Sir William de Albrincis for this purpose was Folkestone, and he held them of the king in capitle by barony. These lands together made up the barony of Averenches, or Folkestone, as it was afterwards called, from this place being made the chief of the barony, caput baroniæ, as it was stiled in Latin; thus The Manor of Folkestone, frequently called in after times An Honor, (fn. 3) and the mansion of it the castle, from its becoming the chief seat or residence of the lords paramount of this barony, continued to be so held by his descendants, whose names were in Latin records frequently speit Albrincis, but in French Avereng and Averenches, and in after times in English ones, Evering; in them it continued till Matilda, daughter and heir of William de Albrincis, carried it in marriage to Hamo de Crevequer, who, in the 20th year of that reign, had possession given him of her inheritance. He died in the 47th year of that reign, possessed of the manor of Folkestone, held in capite, and by rent for the liberty of the hundred, and ward of Dover castle. Robert his grandson, dying s. p. his four sisters became his heirs, and upon the division of their inheritance, and partition of this barony, John de Sandwich, in right of his wife Agnes, the eldest sister, became entitled to this manor and lordship of Folkestone, being the chief seat of the barony, a preference given to her by law, by reason of her eldership; and from this he has been by some called Baron of Folkestone, as has his son Sir John de Sandwich, who left an only daughter and heir Julian, who carried this manor in marriage to Sir John de Segrave, who bore for his arms, Sable, three garbs, argent. He died in the 17th year of Edward III. who, as well as his son, of the same name, received summons to parliament, though whether as barons of Folkestone, as they are both by some called, I know not. Sir John de Segrave, the son, died possessed of this manor anno 23 Edward III. soon after which it appears to have passed into the family of Clinton, for William de Clinton, earl of Huntingdon, who bore for his arms, Argent, crusulee, situchee, sable, upon a chief, azure, two mullets, or, pierced gules; which coat differed from that of his elder brother's only in the croslets, which were not borne by any other of this family till long afterwards, (fn. 4) died possessed of it in the 28th year of that reign, at which time the mansion of this manor bore the name of the castle. He died s. p. leaving his nephew Sir John de Clinton, son of John de Clinton, of Maxtoke, in Warwickshire, his heir, who was afterwards summoned to parliament anno 42 Edward III. and was a man of great bravery and wisdom, and much employed in state affairs. He died possessed of this manor, with the view of frank-pledge, a moiety of the hundred of Folkestone, and THE MANOR OF WALTON, which, though now first mentioned, appears to have had the same owners as the manor of Folkestone, from the earliest account of it. He married Idonea, eldest daughter of Jeffry, lord Say, and at length the eldest coheir of that family, and was succeeded in these manors by his grandson William, lord Clinton, who, anno 6 Henry IV. had possession granted of his share of the lands of William de Say, as coheir to him in right of his grandmother Idonea, upon which he bore the title of lord Clinton and Saye, which latter however he afterwards relinquished, though he still bore for his arms, Qnarterly, Clinton and Saye, with two greybounds for his supporters. After which the manor of Folkestone, otherwise called Folkestone Clinton, and Walton, continued to be held in capite by knight's service, by his descendants lords Clinton, till Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, which title he then bore, together with Elizabeth his wife, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. conveyed these manors, with other premises in this parish, to Thomas Cromwell lord Cromwell, afterwards created earl of Essex, on whose attainder two years afterwards they reverted again to the crown, at which time the lordship of Folkestone was stiled an honor; whence they were granted in the fourth year of Edward VI. to the former possessor of them, Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite, for the meritorious services he had performed. In which year, then bearing the title of lord Clinton and Saye, he was declared lord high admiral, and of the privy council, besides other favours conferred on him; and among other lands, he had a grant of these manors, as abovementioned, which he next year, anno 5 Edward VI. reconveyed back to the crown, in exchange for other premises. (fn. 5) He was afterwards installed knight of the garter, by the title of Earl of Lincoln and Baron of Clinton and Saye; and in the last year of that reign, constable of the tower of London. Though in the 1st year of queen Mary he lost all his great offices for a small time, yet he had in recompence of his integrity and former services, a grant from her that year, of several manors and estates in this parish, as well as elsewhere, and among others, of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, together with the castle and park of Folkestone, to hold in capite; all which he, the next year, passed away by sale to Mr. Henry Herdson, citizen and alderman of London, who lest several sons, of whom Thomas succeeded him in this estate, in whose time the antient park of Folkestone seems to have been disparked. His son Mr. Francis Herdson alienated his interst in these manors and premises to his uncle Mr. John Herdson, who resided at the manor of Tyrlingham, in this parish, and dying in 1622, was buried in the chancel of Hawking church, where his monument remains; and there is another sumptuous one besides erected for him in the south isle of Folkestone church. They bore for their arms, Argent, a cross sable, between four fleurs de lis, gules. He died s. p. and by will devised these manors, with his other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to his nephew Basill, second son of his sister Abigail, by Charles Dixwell, esq. Basill Dixwell, esq. afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, a part of the estate devised to him by his uncle, where, in the 3d year of king Charles I. he kept his shrievalty, with great honor and hospitality; after which he was knighted, and in 1627, anno 3 Charles I. created a baronet; but having rebuilt the mansion of Brome, in Barham, he removed thither before his death. On his decease unmarried, the title of baronet became extinct; but he devised these manors, with the rest of his estates, to his nephew Mark Dixwell, son of his elder brother William Dixwell, of Coton, in Warwickshire, who afterwards resided at Brome. He married Elizabeth, sister and heir of William Read, esq. of Folkestone, by whom he had Basill Dixwell, esq. of Brome, who in 1660, anno 12 Charles II. was created a baronet. His son Sir Basill Dixwell, bart. of Brome, about the year 1697, alientated these manors, with the park-house and grounds, and other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to Jacob Desbouverie, esq. of LondonHe was descended from Laurence de Bouverie, de la Bouverie, or Des Bouveries, of an antient and honorable extraction in Flanders, (fn. 6) who renouncing the tenets of the Romish religion came into England in the year 1567, anno 10 Elizabeth, and seems to have settled first at Canterbury. He was a younger son of Le Sieur des Bouveries, of the chateau de Bouverie, near Lisle, in Flanders, where the eldest branch of this family did not long since possess a considerable estate, bearing for their arms, Gules, a bend, vaire. Edward, his eldest son, was an eminet Turkey merchant, was knighted by king James II. and died at his seat at Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, in 1694. He had seven sons and four daughters; of the former, William, the eldest, was likewife an eminent Turkey merchant, and was, anno 12 queen Anne, created a baronet, and died in 1717. Jacob, the third son, was purchaser of these manors; and Christopher, the seventh son, was knighted, and seated at Chart Sutton, in this county, under which a further account of him may be seen; (fn. 7) and Anne, the second daughter, married Sir Philip Boteler, bart. Jacob Desbouverie afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, and dying unmarried in 1722, by his will devised these manors, with his other estates here, to his nephew Sir Edward Desbouverie, bart. the eldest brother son of Sir William Desbouverie, bart. his elder brother, who died possessed of them in 1736, s. p. on which his title, with these and all his other estates, came to his next surviving brother and heir Sir Jacob Desbouverie, bart. who anno 10 George II. procured an act to enable himself and his descendants to use the name of Bouverie only, and was by patent, on June 29, 1747, created baron of Longford, in Wiltshire, and viscount Folkestone, of Folkestone. He was twice married; first to Mary, daughter and sole heir of Bartholomew Clarke, esq. of Hardingstone, in Northamptonshire, by whom he had several sons and daughters, of whom William, the eldest son, succeeded him in titles and estates; Edward is now of Delapre abbey, near Northamptonshire; Anne married George, a younger son of the lord chancellor Talbot; Charlotte; Mary married Anthony, earl of Shastesbury; and Harriot married Sir James Tilney Long, bart. of Wiltshire. By Elizabeth his second wife, daughter of Robert, lord Romney, he had Philip, who has taken the name of Pusey, and possesses, as heir to his mother Elizabeth, dowager viscountess Folkestone, who died in 1782, several manors and estates in the western part of this county. He died in 1761, and was buried in the family vault at Britford, near Salisbury, being succeeded in title and estates by his eldest son by his first wife, William, viscount Folkestone, who was on Sept. 28, anno 5 king George III. created Earl of Radnor, and Baron Pleydell Bouverie, of Coleshill, in Berkshire. He died in 1776, having been three times married; first, to Harriot, only daughter and heir of Sir Mark Stuart Pleydell, bart. of Colefhill, in Berkshire. By her, who died in 1750, and was buried at Britford, though there is an elegant monument erected for her at Coleshill, he had Hacob, his successor in titles and estates, born in 1750. He married secondly, Rebecca, daughter of John Alleyne, esq. of Barbadoes, by whom he had four sons; William-Henry, who married Bridget, daughter of James, earl of Morton; Bartholomew, who married MaryWyndham, daughter of James Everard Arundell, third son of Henry, lord Arundell, of Wardour; and Edward, who married first Catherine Murray, eldest daughter of John, earl of Dunmore; and secondly, Arabella, daughter of admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle. His third wife was Anne, relict of Anthony Duncombe, lord Faversham, and daughter of Sir Thomas Hales, bart. of Bekesborne, by whom he had two daughters, who both died young. He was succeeded in titles and estates by his eldest son, the right hon. Jacob Pleydell Bouverie, earl of Radnor, who is the present possessor of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, with the park-house and disparked grounds adjacent to it, formerly the antient park of Folkestone, the warren, and other manors and estates in this parish and neighbourhood.

 

FOLKESTONE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary and St. Eanswith, consists of three isles and three chancels, having a square tower, with a beacon turret in the middle of it, in which there is a clock, and a peal of eight bells, put up in it in 1779. This church is built of sand-stone; the high chancel, which has been lately ceiled, seems by far the most antient part of it. Under an arch in the north wall is a tomb, with the effigies of a man, having a dog at his feet, very an tient, probably for one of the family of Fienes, constables of Dover castle and wardens of the five ports; and among many other monuments and inscriptions, within the altar-rails, are monuments for the Reades, of Folkestone, arms, Azure, a griffin, or, quartering gules, a pheon between three leopards faces, or; for William Langhorne, A.M. minister, obt. 1772. In the south chancel is a most elegant monument, having the effigies of two men kneeling at two desks, and an inscription for J. Herdson, esq. who lies buried in Hawkinge church, obt. 1622. In the south isle a tomb for J. Pragels, esq. obt. 1676, arms, A castle triple towered, between two portcullises; on a chief, a sinister hand gauntled, between two stirrups. In the middle isle a brass plate for Joane, wife of Thomas Harvey, mother of seven sons (one of which was the physician) and two daughters. In the north wall of the south isle were deposited the remains of St. Eanswith, in a stone coffin; and under that isle is a large charnelhouse, in which are deposited the great quantity of bones already taken notice of before. Philipott, p. 96, says, the Bakers, of Caldham, had a peculiar chancel belonging to them in this church, near the vestrydoor, over the charnel-house, which seems to have been that building mentioned by John Baker, of Folkestone, who by his will in 1464, ordered, that his executors should make a new work, called an isle, with a window in it, with the parishioners advice; which work should be built between the vestry there and the great window. John Tong, of Folkestone, who was buried in this church, by will in 1534, ordered that certain men of the parish should be enfeoffed in six acres of land, called Mervyle, to the use of the mass of Jhesu, in this church.

 

On Dec. 19, 1705, the west end of this church, for the length of two arches out of the five, was blown down by the violence of the wind; upon which the curate and parishioners petitioned archbishop Tillot son, for leave to shorten the church, by rebuilding only one of the fallen arches, which was granted. But by this, the church, which was before insufficient to contain the parishioners, is rendered much more inconvenient to them for that purpose. By the act passed anno 6 George III. for the preservation of the town and church from the ravages of the sea as already noticed before. After such works are finished, &c. the rates are to be applied towards their repair, and to the keeping in repair, and the support and preservation of this church.

 

¶This church was first built by Nigell de Muneville, lord of Folkestone at the latter end of king Henry I. or the beginning of king Stephen's reign, when he removed the priory from the precinct of the castle to it in 1137, and he gave this new church and the patronage of it to the monks of Lolley, in Normandy, for their establishing a cell, or alien priory here, as has been already mentioned, to which this new church afterwards served as the conventual church of it. The profits of it were very early appropriated to the use of this priory, that is, before the 8th of king Richard II. anno 1384, the duty of it being served by a vicar, whose portion was settled in 1448, at the yearly pension of 10l. 0s. 2½d. to be paid by the prior, in lieu of all other profits whatsoever. In which state this appropriation and vicarage remained till the surrendry of the priory, in the 27th year of king Henry VIII. when they came, with the rest of the possessions of it, into the king's hands, who in his 31st year demised the vicarage and parish church of Folkestone, with all its rights, profits, and emoluments, for a term of years, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, who assigned his interest in it to Anthony Allcher, esq. but the fee of both remained in the crown till the 4th year of king Edward VI. when they were granted, with the manor, priory, and other premises here, to Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite; who the next year conveyed them back again to the crown, in exchange for other premises, (fn. 23) where the patronage of the vicarage did not remain long; for in 1558, anno 6 queen Mary, the queen granted it, among several others, to the archbishop. But the church or parsonage appropriate of Folkestone remained longer in the crown, and till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange, among other premises, to archbishop Parker, being then in lease to lord Clinton, at the rent of 57l. 2s. 11d. at which rate it was valued to the archbishop, in which manner it has continued to be leased out ever since, and it now, with the patronage of the vicarage, remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury; the family of Breams were formerly lessees of it, from whom the interest of the lease came to the Taylors, of Bifrons, and was sold by the late Rev. Edward Taylor, of Bisrons, to the right hon. Jacob, earl of Radnor, the present lessee of it.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol8/pp152-188

The Burgtheater at Dr.-Karl -Lueger-Ring (from now on, Universitätsring) in Vienna is an Austrian Federal Theatre. It is one of the most important stages in Europe and after the Comédie-Française, the second oldest European one, as well as the greatest German speaking theater. The original 'old' Burgtheater at Saint Michael's square was utilized from 1748 until the opening of the new building at the ring in October, 1888. The new house in 1945 burnt down completely as a result of bomb attacks, until the re-opening on 14 October 1955 was the Ronacher serving as temporary quarters. The Burgtheater is considered as Austrian National Theatre.

Throughout its history, the theater was bearing different names, first Imperial-Royal Theater next to the Castle, then to 1918 Imperial-Royal Court-Burgtheater and since then Burgtheater (Castle Theater). Especially in Vienna it is often referred to as "The Castle (Die Burg)", the ensemble members are known as Castle actors (Burgschauspieler).

History

St. Michael's Square with the old K.K. Theatre beside the castle (right) and the Winter Riding School of the Hofburg (left)

The interior of the Old Burgtheater, painted by Gustav Klimt. The people are represented in such detail that the identification is possible.

The 'old' Burgtheater at St. Michael's Square

The original castle theater was set up in a ball house that was built in the lower pleasure gardens of the Imperial Palace of the Roman-German King and later Emperor Ferdinand I in 1540, after the old house 1525 fell victim to a fire. Until the beginning of the 18th Century was played there the Jeu de Paume, a precursor of tennis. On 14 March 1741 finally gave the Empress Maria Theresa, ruling after the death of her father, which had ordered a general suspension of the theater, the "Entrepreneur of the Royal Court Opera" and lessees of 1708 built theater at Kärntnertor (Carinthian gate), Joseph Karl Selliers, permission to change the ballroom into a theater. Simultaneously, a new ball house was built in the immediate vicinity, which todays Ballhausplatz is bearing its name.

In 1748, the newly designed "theater next to the castle" was opened. 1756 major renovations were made, inter alia, a new rear wall was built. The Auditorium of the Old Burgtheater was still a solid timber construction and took about 1200 guests. The imperial family could reach her ​​royal box directly from the imperial quarters, the Burgtheater structurally being connected with them. At the old venue at Saint Michael's place were, inter alia, several works of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as well as Franz Grillparzer premiered .

On 17 February 1776, Emperor Joseph II declared the theater to the German National Theatre (Teutsches Nationaltheater). It was he who ordered by decree that the stage plays should not deal with sad events for not bring the Imperial audience in a bad mood. Many theater plays for this reason had to be changed and provided with a Vienna Final (Happy End), such as Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet. From 1794 on, the theater was bearing the name K.K. Court Theatre next to the castle.

1798 the poet August von Kotzebue was appointed as head of the Burgtheater, but after discussions with the actors he left Vienna in 1799. Under German director Joseph Schreyvogel was introduced German instead of French and Italian as a new stage language.

On 12 October 1888 took place the last performance in the old house. The Burgtheater ensemble moved to the new venue at the Ring. The Old Burgtheater had to give way to the completion of Saint Michael's tract of Hofburg. The plans to this end had been drawn almost 200 years before the demolition of the old Burgtheater by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach.

The "new" K.K. Court Theatre (as the inscription reads today) at the Ring opposite the Town Hall, opened on 14 October 1888 with Grillparzer's Esther and Schiller's Wallenstein's Camp, was designed in neo-Baroque style by Gottfried Semper (plan) and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer (facade), who had already designed the Imperial Forum in Vienna together. Construction began on 16 December 1874 and followed through 14 years, in which the architects quarreled. Already in 1876 Semper withdrew due to health problems to Rome and had Hasenauer realized his ideas alone, who in the dispute of the architects stood up for a mainly splendid designed grand lodges theater.

However, created the famous Viennese painter Gustav Klimt and his brother Ernst Klimt and Franz Matsch 1886-1888 the ceiling paintings in the two stairwells of the new theater. The three took over this task after similar commissioned work in the city theaters of Fiume and Karlovy Vary and in the Bucharest National Theatre. In the grand staircase on the side facing the café Landtmann of the Burgtheater (Archduke stairs) reproduced ​​Gustav Klimt the artists of the ancient theater in Taormina on Sicily, in the stairwell on the "People's Garden"-side (Kaiserstiege, because it was reserved for the emperor) the London Globe Theatre and the final scene from William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". Above the entrance to the auditorium is Molière's The Imaginary Invalid to discover. In the background the painter immortalized himself in the company of his two colleagues. Emperor Franz Joseph I liked the ceiling paintings so much that he gave the members of the company of artists of Klimt the Golden Cross of Merit.

The new building resembles externally the Dresden Semper Opera, but even more, due to the for the two theaters absolutely atypical cross wing with the ceremonial stairs, Semper's Munich project from the years 1865/1866 for a Richard Wagner Festspielhaus above the Isar. Above the middle section there is a loggia, which is framed by two side wings, and is divided from a stage house with a gable roof and auditorium with a tent roof. Above the center house there decorates a statue of Apollo the facade, throning between the Muses of drama and tragedy. Above the main entrances are located friezes with Bacchus and Ariadne. At the exterior facade round about, portrait busts of the poets Calderon, Shakespeare, Moliere, Schiller, Goethe, Lessing, Halm, Grillparzer, and Hebbel can be seen. The masks which also can be seen here are indicating the ancient theater, furthermore adorn allegorical representations the side wings: love, hate, humility, lust, selfishness, and heroism. Although the theater since 1919 is bearing the name of Burgtheater, the old inscription KK Hofburgtheater over the main entrance still exists. Some pictures of the old gallery of portraits have been hung up in the new building and can be seen still today - but these images were originally smaller, they had to be "extended" to make them work better in high space. The points of these "supplements" are visible as fine lines on the canvas.

The Burgtheater was initially well received by Viennese people due to its magnificent appearance and technical innovations such as electric lighting, but soon criticism because of the poor acoustics was increasing. Finally, in 1897 the auditorium was rebuilt to reduce the acoustic problems. The new theater was an important meeting place of social life and soon it was situated among the "sanctuaries" of Viennese people. In November 1918, the supervision over the theater was transferred from the High Steward of the emperor to the new state of German Austria.

1922/1923 the Academy Theatre was opened as a chamber play stage of the Burgtheater. On 8th May 1925, the Burgtheater went into Austria's criminal history, as here Mentscha Karnitschewa perpetrated a revolver assassination on Todor Panitza.

The Burgtheater in time of National Socialism

The National Socialist ideas also left traces in the history of the Burgtheater. In 1939 appeared in Adolf Luser Verlag the strongly anti-Semitic characterized book of theater scientist Heinz Kindermann "The Burgtheater. Heritage and mission of a national theater", in which he, among other things, analyzed the "Jewish influence "on the Burgtheater. On 14 October 1938 was on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Burgtheater a Don Carlos production of Karl-Heinz Stroux shown that served Hitler's ideology. The role of the Marquis of Posa played the same Ewald Balser, who in a different Don Carlos production a year earlier (by Heinz Hilpert) at the Deutsches Theater in the same role with the sentence in direction of Joseph Goebbels box vociferated: "just give freedom of thought". The actor and director Lothar Müthel, who was director of the Burgtheater between 1939 and 1945, staged 1943 the Merchant of Venice, in which Werner Kraus the Jew Shylock clearly anti-Semitic represented. The same director staged after the war Lessing's parable Nathan the Wise. Adolf Hitler himself visited during the Nazi regime the Burgtheater only once (1938), and later he refused in pure fear of an assassination.

For actors and theater staff who were classified according to the Reich Citizenship Law of 1935 as "Jews ", were quickly imposed stage bans, within a few days, they were on leave, fired or arrested. The Burgtheater ensemble ​​between 1938 and 1945 did not put up significant resistance against the Nazi ideology, the repertoire was heavily censored, only a few joined the Resistance, as Judith Holzmeister (then also at the People's Theatre engaged) or the actor Fritz Lehmann. Although Jewish members of the ensemble indeed have been helped to emigrate, was still an actor, Fritz Strassny, taken to a concentration camp and murdered there.

The Burgtheater at the end of the war and after the Second World War

In summer 1944, the Burgtheater had to be closed because of the decreed general theater suspension. From 1 April 1945, as the Red Army approached Vienna, camped a military unit in the house, a portion was used as an arsenal. In a bomb attack the house at the Ring was damaged and burned down on 12th April 1945 completely. Auditorium and stage were useless, only the steel structure remained. The ceiling paintings and part of the lobby were almost undamaged.

The Soviet occupying power expected from Viennese City Councillor Viktor Matejka to launch Vienna's cultural life as soon as possible again. The council summoned on 23 April (a state government did not yet exist) a meeting of all Viennese cultural workers into the Town Hall. Result of the discussions was that in late April 1945 eight cinemas and four theaters took up the operation again, including the Burgtheater. The house took over the Ronacher Theater, which was understood by many castle actors as "exile" as a temporary home (and remained there to 1955). This venue chose the newly appointed director Raoul Aslan, who championed particularly active.

The first performance after the Second World War was on 30 April 1945 Sappho by Franz Grillparzer directed by Adolf Rott from 1943 with Maria Eis in the title role. Also other productions from the Nazi era were resumed. With Paul Hoerbiger, a few days ago as Nazi prisoner still in mortal danger, was shown the play of Nestroy Mädl (Girlie) from the suburbs. The Academy Theatre could be played (the first performance was on 19 April 1945 Hedda Gabler, a production of Rott from the year 1941) and also in the ball room (Redoutensaal) at the Imperial Palace took place performances. Aslan the Ronacher in the summer had rebuilt because the stage was too small for classical performances. On 25 September 1945, Schiller's Maid of Orleans could be played on the enlarged stage.

The first new productions are associated with the name of Lothar Müthel: Everyone and Nathan the Wise, in both Raoul Aslan played the main role. The staging of The Merchant of Venice by Müthel in Nazi times seemed to have been fallen into oblivion.

Great pleasure gave the public the return of the in 1938 from the ensemble expelled Else Wohlgemuth on stage. She performaed after seven years in exile in December 1945 in Clare Biharys The other mother in the Academy Theater. 1951 opened the Burgtheater its doors for the first time, but only the left wing, where the celebrations on the 175th anniversary of the theater took place.

1948, a competition for the reconstruction was tendered: Josef Gielen, who was then director, first tended to support the design of ex aequo-ranked Otto Niedermoser, according to which the house was to be rebuilt into a modern gallery theater. Finally, he agreed but then for the project by Michael Engelhardt, whose plan was conservative but also cost effective. The character of the lodges theater was largely taken into account and maintained, the central royal box but has been replaced by two balconies, and with a new slanted ceiling construction in the audience was the acoustics, the shortcoming of the house, improved significantly.

On 14 October 1955 was happening under Adolf Rott the reopening of the restored house at the Ring. For this occasion Mozart's A Little Night Music was played. On 15 and on 16 October it was followed by the first performance (for reasons of space as a double premiere) in the restored theater: King Ottokar's Fortune and End of Franz Grillparzer, staged by Adolf Rott. A few months after the signing of the Austrian State Treaty was the choice of this play, which the beginning of Habsburg rule in Austria makes a subject of discussion and Ottokar of Horneck's eulogy on Austria (... it's a good country / Well worth that a prince bow to it! / where have you yet seen the same?... ) contains highly symbolic. Rott and under his successors Ernst Haeusserman and Gerhard Klingenberg the classic Burgtheater style and the Burgtheater German for German theaters were finally pointing the way .

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Burgtheater participated (with other well-known theaters in Vienna) on the so-called Brecht boycott.

Gerhard Klingenberg internationalized the Burgtheater, he invited renowned stage directors such as Dieter Dorn, Peter Hall, Luca Ronconi, Giorgio Strehler, Roberto Guicciardini and Otomar Krejča. Klingenberg also enabled the castle debuts of Claus Peymann and Thomas Bernhard (1974 world premiere of The Hunting Party). Bernhard was as a successor of Klingenberg mentioned, but eventually was appointed Achim Benning, whereupon the writer with the text "The theatrical shack on the ring (how I should become the director of the Burgtheater)" answered.

Benning, the first ensemble representative of the Burgtheater which was appointed director, continued Klingenberg's way of Europeanization by other means, brought directors such as Adolf Dresen, Manfred Wekwerth or Thomas Langhoff to Vienna, looked with performances of plays of Vaclav Havel to the then politically separated East and took the the public taste more into consideration.

Directorate Claus Peymann 1986-1999

Under the by short-term Minister of Education Helmut Zilk brought to Vienna Claus Peymann, director from 1986 to 1999, there was further modernization of the programme and staging styles. Moreover Peymann was never at a loss for critical contributions in the public, a hitherto unusual attitude for Burgtheater directors. Therefore, he and his program within sections of the audience met with rejection. The greatest theater scandal in Vienna since 1945 occurred in 1988 concerning the premiere of Thomas Bernhard's Heldenplatz (Place of the Heroes) drama which was fiercly fought by conservative politicians and zealots. The play deals with the Vergangenheitsbewältigung (process of coming to terms with the past) and illuminates the present management in Austria - with attacks on the then ruling Social Democratic Party - critically. Together with Claus Peymann Bernhard after the premiere dared to face on the stage applause and boos.

Bernard, to his home country bound in love-hate relationship, prohibited the performance of his plays in Austria before his death in 1989 by will. Peymann, to Bernhard bound in a difficult friendship (see Bernhard's play Claus Peymann buys a pair of pants and goes eating with me) feared harm for the author's work, should his plays precisely in his homeland not being shown. First, it was through permission of the executor Peter Fabjan - Bernhard's half-brother - after all, possible the already in the schedule of the Burgtheater included productions to continue. Finally, shortly before the tenth anniversary of the death of Bernard it came to the revival of the Bernhard play Before retirement by the first performance director Peymann. The plays by Bernhard are since then continued on the programme of the Burgtheater and they are regularly newly produced.

In 1993, the rehearsal stage of the Castle theater was opened in the arsenal (architect Gustav Peichl). Since 1999, the Burgtheater has the operation form of a limited corporation.

Directorate Klaus Bachler 1999-2009

Peymann was followed in 1999 by Klaus Bachler as director. He is a trained actor, but was mostly as a cultural manager (director of the Vienna Festival) active. Bachler moved the theater as a cultural event in the foreground and he engaged for this purpose directors such as Luc Bondy, Andrea Breth, Peter Zadek and Martin Kušej.

Were among the unusual "events" of the directorate Bachler

* The Theatre of Orgies and Mysteries by Hermann Nitsch with the performance of 122 Action (2005 )

* The recording of the MTV Unplugged concert with Die Toten Hosen for the music channel MTV (2005, under the title available)

* John Irving's reading from his book at the Burgtheater Until I find you (2006)

* The 431 animatographische (animatographical) Expedition by Christoph Schlingensief and a big event of him under the title of Area 7 - Matthew Sadochrist - An expedition by Christoph Schlingensief (2006).

* Daniel Hoevels cut in Schiller's Mary Stuart accidentally his throat (December 2008). Outpatient care is enough.

Jubilee Year 2005

In October 2005, the Burgtheater celebrated the 50th Anniversary of its reopening with a gala evening and the performance of Grillparzer's King Ottokar's Fortune and End, directed by Martin Kušej that had been performed in August 2005 at the Salzburg Festival as a great success. Michael Maertens (in the role of Rudolf of Habsburg) received the Nestroy Theatre Award for Best Actor for his role in this play. Actor Tobias Moretti was awarded in 2006 for this role with the Gertrude Eysoldt Ring.

Furthermore, there were on 16th October 2005 the open day on which the 82-minute film "burg/private. 82 miniatures" of Sepp Dreissinger was shown for the first time. The film contains one-minute film "Stand portraits" of Castle actors and guest actors who, without saying a word, try to present themselves with a as natural as possible facial expression. Klaus Dermutz wrote a work on the history of the Burgtheater. As a motto of this season served a quotation from Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm: "It's so sad to be happy alone."

The Burgtheater on the Mozart Year 2006

Also the Mozart Year 2006 was at the Burgtheater was remembered. As Mozart's Singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail in 1782 in the courtyard of Castle Theatre was premiered came in cooperation with the Vienna State Opera on the occasion of the Vienna Festival in May 2006 a new production (directed by Karin Beier) of this opera on stage.

Directorate Matthias Hartmann since 2009

From September 2009 to 2014, Matthias Hartmann was Artistic Director of the Burgtheater. A native of Osnabrück, he directed the stage houses of Bochum and Zurich. With his directors like Alvis Hermanis, Roland Schimmelpfennig, David Bösch, Stefan Bachmann, Stefan Pucher, Michael Thalheimer, came actresses like Dorte Lyssweski, Katharina Lorenz, Sarah Viktoria Frick, Mavie Hoerbiger, Lucas Gregorowicz and Martin Wuttke came permanently to the Burg. Matthias Hartmann himself staged around three premieres per season, about once a year, he staged at the major opera houses. For more internationality and "cross-over", he won the Belgian artist Jan Lauwers and his Need Company as "Artists in Residence" for the Castle, the New York group Nature Theater of Oklahoma show their great episode drama Live and Times of an annual continuation. For the new look - the Burgtheater presents itself without a solid logo with word games around the BURG - the Burgtheater in 2011 was awarded the Cultural Brand of the Year .

Since 2014, Karin Bergmann is the commander in chief.

The most beautiful women in TV and Movie History now become Barbie Collector Dolls created by acclaimed re-paint Artist Donna Brinkley.

 

Farrah Leni Fawcett is known as the world's Sexiest Star of all time... she will forever be one of Hollywood's greatest Icons. She was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, the younger of two daughters.[3] Her mother, Pauline Alice January 30, 1914 – March 4, 2005), was a homemaker, and her father, James William Fawcett (October 14, 1917 – August 23, 2010), was an oil field contractor. Her sister was Diane Fawcett Walls (October 27, 1938 – October 16, 2001), a graphic artist. She was of Irish, French, English, and Choctaw Native American ancestry. Fawcett once said the name Ferrah was made up by her mother because it went well with their last name.

 

A Roman Catholic, Fawcett's early education was at the parish school of the church her family attended, St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Corpus Christi. She graduated from W. B. Ray High School in Corpus Christi, where she was voted Most Beautiful by her classmates her Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior years of High School. For three years, 1965–68, Fawcett attended the University of Texas at Austin, living one semester in Jester Center, and she became a sister of Delta Delta Delta Sorority. During her Freshman year, she was named one of the Ten Most Beautiful Coeds on Campus, the first time a Freshman had been chosen. Their photos were sent to various agencies in Hollywood. David Mirsch, a Hollywood agent called her and urged her to come to Los Angeles. She turned him down but he called her for the next two years. Finally, in 1968, the summer following her junior year, with her parents' permission to try her luck in Hollywood, Farrah moved to Hollywood. She did not return.

 

Upon arriving in Hollywood in 1968 she was signed to a $350 a week contract with Screen Gems. She began to appear in commercials for UltraBrite toothpaste, Noxema, Max Factor, Wella Balsam shampoo and conditioner, Mercury Cougar automobiles and Beauty Rest matresses. Fawcett's earliest acting appearances were guest spots on The Flying Nun and I Dream of Jeannie. She made numerous other TV appearances including Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, [Mayberry RFD]] and The Partridge Family. She appeared in four episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man with husband Lee Majors, The Dating Game, S.W.A.T and a recurring role on Harry O alongside David Janssen. She also appeared in the Made for TV movies, The Feminist and the Fuzz, The Great American Beauty Contest, The Girl Who Came Giftwrapped, and Murder of Flight 502.

 

She had a sizable part in the 1969 French romantic-drama, Love Is a Funny Thing. She played opposite Raquel Welch and Mae West in the film version of, Myra Breckinridge (1970). The film earned negative reviews and was a box office flop. However, much has been written and said about the scene where Farrah and Raquel share a bed, and a near sexual experience. Fawcett co-starred with Michael York and Richard Jordan in the well-received science-fiction film, Logan's Run in 1976.

 

In 1976, Pro Arts Inc., pitched the idea of a poster of Fawcett to her agent, and a photo shoot was arranged with photographer Bruce McBroom, who was hired by the poster company. According to friend Nels Van Patten, Fawcett styled her own hair and did her make-up without the aid of a mirror. Her blonde highlights were further heightened by a squeeze of lemon juice. From 40 rolls of film, Fawcett herself selected her six favorite pictures, eventually narrowing her choice to the one that made her famous. The resulting poster, of Fawcett in a one-piece red bathing suit, was a best-seller; sales estimates ranged from over 5 million[12] to 8 million to as high as 12 million copies.

 

On March 21, 1976, the first appearance of Fawcett playing the character Jill Munroe in Charlie's Angels was aired as a movie of the week. Fawcett and her husband were frequent tennis partners of producer Aaron Spelling, and he and his producing partner thought of casting Fawcett as the golden girl Jill because of his friendship with the couple. The movie starred Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Fawcett (then billed as Farrah Fawcett-Majors) as private investigators for Townsend Associates, a detective agency run by a reclusive multi-millionaire whom the women had never met. Voiced by John Forsythe, the Charles Townsend character presented cases and dispensed advice via a speakerphone to his core team of three female employees, whom he referred to as Angels. They were aided in the office and occasionally in the field by two male associates, played by character actors David Doyle and David Ogden Stiers. The program quickly earned a huge following, leading the network to air it a second time and approve production for a series, with the pilot's principal cast except David Ogden Stiers.

Fawcett's record-breaking poster that sold 12 million copies.

 

The Charlie's Angels series formally debuted on September 22, 1976. Fawcett emerged as a fan favorite in the show, and the actress won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Performer in a New TV Program. In a 1977 interview with TV Guide, Fawcett said: When the show was number three, I thought it was our acting. When we got to be number one, I decided it could only be because none of us wears a bra.

 

Fawcett's appearance in the television show boosted sales of her poster, and she earned far more in royalties from poster sales than from her salary for appearing in Charlie's Angels. Her hairstyle went on to become an international trend, with women sporting a Farrah-do a Farrah-flip, or simply Farrah hair Iterations of her hair style predominated American women's hair styles well into the 1980s.

 

Fawcett left Charlie's Angels after only one season and Cheryl Ladd replaced her on the show, portraying Jill Munroe's younger sister Kris Munroe. Numerous explanations for Fawcett's precipitous withdrawal from the show were offered over the years. The strain on her marriage due to her long absences most days due to filming, as her then-husband Lee Majors was star of an established television show himself, was frequently cited, but Fawcett's ambitions to broaden her acting abilities with opportunities in films have also been given. Fawcett never officially signed her series contract with Spelling due to protracted negotiations over royalties from her image's use in peripheral products, which led to an even more protracted lawsuit filed by Spelling and his company when she quit the show.

 

The show was a major success throughout the world, maintaining its appeal in syndication, spawning a cottage industry of peripheral products, particularly in the show's first three seasons, including several series of bubble gum cards, two sets of fashion dolls, numerous posters, puzzles, and school supplies, novelizations of episodes, toy vans, and a board game, all featuring Fawcett's likeness. The Angels also appeared on the covers of magazines around the world, from countless fan magazines to TV Guide (four times) to Time Magazine.

 

The series ultimately ran for five seasons. As part of a settlement to a lawsuit over her early departure, Fawcett returned for six guest appearances over seasons three and four of the series.

 

In 2004, the television movie Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels dramatized the events from the show with supermodel and actress Tricia Helfer portraying Fawcett and Ben Browder portraying Lee Majors, Fawcett's then-husband.

 

In 1983, Fawcett won critical acclaim for her role in the Off-Broadway stage production of the controversial play Extremities, written by William Mastrosimone. Replacing Susan Sarandon, she was a would-be rape victim who turns the tables on her attacker. She described the role as the most grueling, the most intense, the most physically demanding and emotionally exhausting of her career. During one performance, a stalker in the audience disrupted the show by asking Fawcett if she had received the photos and letters he had mailed her. Police removed the man and were able only to issue a summons for disorderly conduct.

 

The following year, her role as a battered wife in the fact-based television movie The Burning Bed (1984) earned her the first of her four Emmy Award nominations. The project is noted as being the first television movie to provide a nationwide 800 number that offered help for others in the situation, in this case victims of domestic abuse. It was the highest-rated television movie of the season.

 

In 1986, Fawcett appeared in the movie version of Extremities, which was also well received by critics, and for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.

 

She appeared in Jon Avnet's Between Two Women with Colleen Dewhurst, and took several more dramatic roles as infamous or renowned women. She was nominated for Golden Globe awards for roles as Beate Klarsfeld in Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story and troubled Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton in Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story, and won a CableACE Award for her 1989 portrayal of groundbreaking LIFE magazine photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White in Double Exposure: The Story of Margaret Bourke-White. Her 1989 portrayal of convicted murderer Diane Downs in the miniseries Small Sacrifices earned her a second Emmy nomination[20] and her sixth Golden Globe Award nomination. The miniseries won a Peabody Award for excellence in television, with Fawcett's performance singled out by the organization, which stated Ms. Fawcett brings a sense of realism rarely seen in television miniseries (to) a drama of unusual power Art meets life.

 

Fawcett, who had steadfastly resisted appearing nude in magazines throughout the 1970s and 1980s (although she appeared topless in the 1980 film Saturn 3), caused a major stir by posing semi-nude in the December 1995 issue of Playboy.[citation needed] At the age of 50, she returned to Playboy with a pictorial for the July 1997 issue, which also became a top seller. The issue and its accompanying video featured Fawcett painting on canvas using her body, which had been an ambition of hers for years.

 

That same year, Fawcett was chosen by Robert Duvall to play his wife in an independent feature film he was producing, The Apostle. Fawcett received an Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Actress for the film, which was highly critically acclaimed.

 

In 2000, she worked with director Robert Altman and an all-star cast in the feature film Dr. T the Women, playing the wife of Richard Gere (her character has a mental breakdown, leading to her first fully nude appearance). Also that year, Fawcett's collaboration with sculptor Keith Edmier was exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, later traveling to The Andy Warhol Museum. The sculpture was also presented in a series of photographs and a book by Rizzoli.

 

In November 2003, Fawcett prepared for her return to Broadway in a production of Bobbi Boland, the tragicomic tale of a former Miss Florida. However, the show never officially opened, closing before preview performances. Fawcett was described as vibrating with frustration at the producer's extraordinary decision to cancel the production. Only days earlier the same producer closed an Off-Broadway show she had been backing.

 

Fawcett continued to work in television, with well-regarded appearances in made-for-television movies and on popular television series including Ally McBeal and four episodes each of Spin City and The Guardian, her work on the latter show earning her a third Emmy nomination in 2004.

 

Fawcett was married to Lee Majors, star of television's The Six Million Dollar Man, from 1973 to 1982, although the couple separated in 1979. During her marriage, she was known and credited in her roles as Farrah Fawcett-Majors.

 

From 1979 until 1997 Fawcett was involved romantically with actor Ryan O'Neal. The relationship produced a son, Redmond James Fawcett O'Neal, born January 30, 1985 in Los Angeles.[26] In April 2009, on probation for driving under the influence, Redmond was arrested for possession of narcotics while Fawcett was in the hospital.[citation needed] On June 22, 2009, The Los Angeles Times and Reuters reported that Ryan O'Neal had said that Fawcett had agreed to marry him as soon as she felt strong enough.

 

From 1997 to 1998, Fawcett had a relationship with Canadian filmmaker James Orr, writer and producer of the Disney feature film in which she co-starred with Chevy Chase and Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Man of the House. The relationship ended when Orr was charged with and later convicted of beating Fawcett during a 1998 fight between the two.

 

On June 5, 1997, Fawcett received negative commentary after giving a rambling interview and appearing distracted on Late Show with David Letterman. Months later, she told the host of The Howard Stern Show her behavior was just her way of joking around with the television host, partly in the guise of promoting her Playboy pictoral and video, explaining what appeared to be random looks across the theater was just her looking and reacting to fans in the audience. Though the Letterman appearance spawned speculation and several jokes at her expense, she returned to the show a week later, with success, and several years later, after Joaquin Phoenix's mumbling act on a February 2009 appearance on The Late Show, Letterman wrapped up the interview by saying, I'm sorry you couldn't be here tonight and recalled Fawcett's earlier appearance by noting we owe an apology to Farrah Fawcett.

 

Fawcett's elder sister, Diane Fawcett Walls, died from lung cancer just before her 63rd birthday, on October 16, 2001.[33] The fifth episode of her 2005 Chasing Farrah series followed the actress home to Texas to visit with her father, James, and mother, Pauline. Pauline Fawcett died soon after, on March 4, 2005, at the age of 91.

 

Fawcett was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006, and began treatment, including chemotherapy and surgery. Four months later, on her 60th birthday, the Associated Press wire service reported that Fawcett was, at that point, cancer free.

 

Less than four months later, in May 2007, Fawcett brought a small digital video camera to document a doctor's office visit. There, she was told a malignant polyp was found where she had been treated for the initial cancer. Doctors contemplated whether to implant a radiation seeder (which differs from conventional radiation and is used to treat other types of cancer). Fawcett's U.S. doctors told her that she would require a colostomy. Instead, Fawcett traveled to Germany for treatments described variously in the press as holistic aggressive and alternative. There, Dr. Ursula Jacob prescribed a treatment including surgery to remove the anal tumor, and a course of perfusion and embolization for her liver cancer by Doctors Claus Kiehling and Thomas Vogl in Germany, and chemotherapy back in Fawcett's home town of Los Angeles. Although initially the tumors were regressing, their reappearance a few months later necessitated a new course, this time including laser ablation therapy and chemoembolization. Aided by friend Alana Stewart, Fawcett documented her battle with the disease.

 

In early April 2009, Fawcett, back in the United States, was hospitalized, with media reports declaring her unconscious and in critical condition, although subsequent reports indicated her condition was not so dire. On April 6, the Associated Press reported that her cancer had metastasized to her liver, a development Fawcett had learned of in May 2007 and which her subsequent treatments in Germany had targeted. The report denied that she was unconscious, and explained that the hospitalization was due not to her cancer but a painful abdominal hematoma that had been the result of a minor procedure. Her spokesperson emphasized she was not at death's door adding - She remains in good spirits with her usual sense of humor ... She's been in great shape her whole life and has an incredible resolve and an incredible resilience. Fawcett was released from the hospital on April 9, picked up by longtime companion O'Neal, and, according to her doctor, was walking and in great spirits and looking forward to celebrating Easter at home.

 

A month later, on May 7, Fawcett was reported as critically ill, with Ryan O'Neal quoted as saying she now spends her days at home, on an IV, often asleep. The Los Angeles Times reported Fawcett was in the last stages of her cancer and had the chance to see her son Redmond in April 2009, although shackled and under supervision, as he was then incarcerated. Her 91-year-old father, James Fawcett, flew out to Los Angeles to visit.

 

The cancer specialist that was treating Fawcett in L.A., Dr. Lawrence Piro, and Fawcett's friend and Angels co-star Kate Jackson – a breast cancer survivor – appeared together on The Today Show dispelling tabloid-fueled rumors, including suggestions Fawcett had ever been in a coma, had ever reached 86 pounds, and had ever given up her fight against the disease or lost the will to live. Jackson decried such fabrications, saying they really do hurt a human being and a person like Farrah. Piro recalled when it became necessary for Fawcett to undergo treatments that would cause her to lose her hair, acknowledging Farrah probably has the most famous hair in the world but also that it is not a trivial matter for any cancer patient, whose hair affects [one's] whole sense of who [they] are. Of the documentary, Jackson averred Fawcett didn't do this to show that 'she' is unique, she did it to show that we are all unique ... This was ... meant to be a gift to others to help and inspire them.

 

The two-hour documentary Farrah's Story, which was filmed by Fawcett and friend Alana Stewart, aired on NBC on May 15, 2009.[47] The documentary was watched by nearly nine million people at its premiere airing, and it was re-aired on the broadcast network's cable stations MSNBC, Bravo and Oxygen. Fawcett earned her fourth Emmy nomination posthumously on July 16, 2009, as producer of Farrah's Story.

 

Controversy surrounded the aired version of the documentary, with her initial producing partner, who had worked with her four years earlier on her reality series Chasing Farrah, alleging O'Neal's and Stewart's editing of the program was not in keeping with Fawcett's wishes to more thoroughly explore rare types of cancers such as her own and alternative methods of treatment. He was especially critical of scenes showing Fawcett's son visiting her for the last time, in shackles, while she was nearly unconscious in bed. Fawcett had generally kept her son out of the media, and his appearances were minimal in Chasing Farrah.

 

Fawcett died at approximately 9:28 am, PDT on June 25, 2009, in the intensive care unit of Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, with O'Neal and Stewart by her side. A private funeral was held in Los Angeles on June 30. Fawcett's son Redmond was permitted to leave his California detention center to attend his mother's funeral, where he gave the first reading.

 

The night of her death, ABC aired an hour-long special episode of 20/20 featuring clips from several of Barbara Walters' past interviews with Fawcett as well as new interviews with Ryan O'Neal, Jaclyn Smith, Alana Stewart, and Dr. Lawrence Piro. Walters followed up on the story on Friday's episode of 20/20. CNN's Larry King Live planned a show exclusively about Fawcett that evening until the death of Michael Jackson several hours later caused the program to shift to cover both stories. Cher, a longtime friend of Fawcett, and Suzanne de Passe, executive producer of Fawcett's Small Sacrifices mini-series, both paid tribute to Fawcett on the program. NBC aired a Dateline NBC special Farrah Fawcett: The Life and Death of an Angel; the following evening, June 26, preceded by a rebroadcast of Farrah's Story in prime time. That weekend and the following week, television tributes continued. MSNBC aired back-to-back episodes of its Headliners and Legends episodes featuring Fawcett and Jackson. TV Land aired a mini-marathon of Charlie's Angels and Chasing Farrah episodes. E! aired Michael and Farrah: Lost Icons and the The Biography Channel aired Bio Remembers: Farrah Fawcett. The documentary Farrah's Story re-aired on the Oxygen Network and MSNBC.

 

Larry King said of the Fawcett phenomenon,

TV had much more impact back in the '70s than it does today. Charlie's Angels got huge numbers every week – nothing really dominates the television landscape like that today. Maybe American Idol comes close, but now there are so many channels and so many more shows it's hard for anything to get the audience, or amount of attention, that Charlie's Angels got. Farrah was a major TV star when the medium was clearly dominant.

 

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner said Farrah was one of the iconic beauties of our time. Her girl-next-door charm combined with stunning looks made her a star on film, TV and the printed page.

 

Kate Jackson said,

She was a selfless person who loved her family and friends with all her heart, and what a big heart it was. Farrah showed immense courage and grace throughout her illness and was an inspiration to those around her... I will remember her kindness, her cutting dry wit and, of course, her beautiful smile...when you think of Farrah, remember her smiling because that is exactly how she wanted to be remembered: smiling.

 

She is buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

 

The red one-piece bathing suit worn by Farrah in her famous 1976 poster was donated to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (NMAH) on February 2, 2011.[65] Said to have been purchased at a Saks Fifth Avenue store, the red Lycra suit made by the leading Australian swimsuit company Speedo, was donated to the Smithsonian by her executors and was formally presented to NMAH in Washington D.C. by her longtime companion Ryan O'Neal.[66] The suit and the poster are expected to go on temporary display sometime in 2011–12. They will be made additions to the Smithsonian's popular culture department.

 

The famous poster of Farrah in a red swimsuit has been produced as a Barbie doll. The limited edition dolls, complete with a gold chain and the girl-next-door locks, have been snapped up by Barbie fans.

 

In 2011, Men's Health named her one of the 100 Hottest Women of All-Time ranking her at No. 31

"Here lieth entombed James Harington esq: the youngest sone of Sir James Harington of Exton, knight, & Fruncis his first wife, one of ye daughters & coheires of Robert Sapcots of Elton in countie of Huntingdon esq: by whome he had issue sixteen children viz. nyne sones & seaven daughters which said Fraunces deceased in September 1599 and the said James Harington decessed the 2 of February 1613"

Monument erected in his lifetime probably on the death of Frances.

 

James was the son of Sir James Harington and Lucy www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/03e3L7 daughter of Sir William Sydney & Anne daughter of Hugh Pakenham / Packenham and Anne Clement

He m Frances was the daughter of Robert Sapcote 1600 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/8U15k6 and either Catherine or Eleanor daughters of William Prestland

Children - 8 sons & 5 daughters

1. Edward 2nd bart 1574-1653 m Margery daughter of John D'Oyley +++ & Anne Bernard

2. Sir Sapcote Harington of Rand 1586-1629 m1 Jane 1619 flic.kr/p/4iVR8s daughter of Sir William Samwell of Upton 1628, Auditor of the Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth m2 Jane Woodward

3.John 1611-dsp 1662 m Frances daughter of Terringham Norwood of Ashwood

4. William

5. Robert

6. Henry

7. James

1. Theodosia b1584 m Henry Ascough / Ayscough of Blyborough

2. Bridget m Sir Anthony Markham of Sedgebrook son of John Markham & Mary daughter of Sir Anthony Thorold 1594 flic.kr/p/qZmVLP of Marston Thorold

3. Anne m1 Sir Thomas Foljambe m2 Sir John Molyneux of Haughton

4. Eleanor m Sir Henry Clinton

 

He m2 1601 Anne 1629 daughter of Francis Bernard of Abington, Widow of John D'oyley of Merton +++ who m3 Sir Henry Poole of Kemble & Oaksey 1632 widower of Griselda daughter of Sir Edward Neville, 7th baron Abergavenny and Catherine Brome

(Anne was the sister in law of Alice Chubnoll of Turvey flic.kr/p/hXBNdr 1st wife of her brother Richard Bernard )

 

Early in 1603 he travelled north with his brother to meet the new King James from Scotland, who knighted him at Grimston Yorkshire, and he was among the first baronets, paying a first instalment of £360. .

Calling himself ‘a worm and no man, clothed with earth, full of sin’, he asked to be buried with ‘as little cost as may be’. Though wealthy he left only 40s. to the poor of Ridlington and a similar sum to those of Merton. Having assured his principal estates to his son Edward, he bequeathed a life interest in Thornbury and Morton to his wife, together with household stuff. He provided annuities for his wife and 4 of his younger sons, and left Gunthorpe, Knossington, Oldebury and a few small properties, in all worth £10,000, to his executors, his sons Edward and Sapcote, to pay his debts and legacies. These included £2,000 to one daughter, £1,000 to another, £500 to his second son, and £1,500 to his five youngest sons. He left a colt to his nephew Lord Harington and nominated him supervisor of the will.

www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member...

 

In 1825 a band of Shawnee Indians traveled east to meet with the Great White Father in Washington. Along the way the group camped on grounds owned by Thomas James, a Chillicothe, Ohio banker and merchant. Their decorative face paint interested him very much. The Indians told Thomas of a great valley with tall trees, swift flowing waters and the rich, colored earth used to paint the markings on their faces.

Upon their return trip from Washington, the Indians invited Mr. James to journey west to see this valley and its’ offerings. James sent Samuel Massey, his business partner, to inspect the hematite mine and enormous spring. His favorable report led to the construction of the Maramec Iron Works in 1826.

In 1843 Thomas James sent his son, William, to manage the Maramec Iron Works. He remained there until operations ceased and the Iron Works closed in 1876. At its peak, the company town had an estimated population of over 500.

Accessible ore, water power, and an abundant hardwood forest used for charcoal made the valley an advantageous site. However, the remoteness of markets and insufficient modes of transportation were major challenges for Thomas to overcome in his efforts to successfully operate the Iron Works.

In the early days Maramec iron was used for kettles, plows, and other utensils that could be hauled in wagons. Eventually products such as bar and pig iron were floated down the Meramec and Gasconade Rivers to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. When the railroad arrived, the iron-laden oxen teams traveled to stops at St. James and Gray Summit to use this new form of shipping.

By the Middle 1850’s, modernized hot-blast furnaces, coke fuel, and the opening of Sault Ste. Marie Canal were affecting the need for Maramec iron. Fortunately, the tremendous demands brought on by the Civil War helped keep the Maramec Iron Works in business until 1876 when the furnaces finally grew cold.

Following the death of William James in 1912, his granddaughter, Lucy Wortham James, acquired ownership of Maramec Spring along with the forest and farmlands surrounding it in 1920. Upon her death in 1938, she made her residuary estate a part of a Trust and authorized creation of the James Foundation.

To her executors she wrote: As this is considered to be the most beautiful spot in Missouri, it is my great hope that you will arrange that it may ever be in private, considerate control, and ever open to the enjoyment of the people.

 

The Postcard

 

A postally unused postcard that was produced by Curt Teich of Chicago on behalf of the Mammoth Cave Operating Committee. The man standing in the left-hand boat appears to be playing a trumpet.

 

The following is printed on the divided back of the card:

 

"Echo River is the largest body

of water yet discovered in Mammoth

Cave, and a boat ride on this river

down on the lowest level is an

unforgettable experience.

Here, 360 feet underground, is

found several species of eyeless

fish."

 

In the space for the stamp it states:

 

"Place Once Cent

Stamp Here."

 

Mammoth Cave National Park

 

Mammoth Cave National Park is an American national park in west-central Kentucky, encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest-known cave system in the world.

 

Since the 1972 unification of Mammoth Cave with the even-longer system under Flint Ridge to the north, the official name of the system has been the Mammoth–Flint Ridge Cave System.

 

The park was established as a national park on the 1st. July 1941, and a World Heritage Site on the 27th. October 1981.

 

The Green River runs through the park. Mammoth Cave is the world's longest known cave system with more than 400 miles (640 km) of surveyed passageways. It is nearly twice as long as the second-longest cave system, Mexico's Sac Actun underwater cave.

 

The Geology of Mammoth Cave

 

Mammoth Cave developed in thick Mississippian-aged limestone strata capped by a layer of sandstone, which has made the system remarkably stable. New discoveries and connections add several miles to the cave's known length each year.

 

At one valley bottom in the southern region of the park, a massive sinkhole has developed. Known as Cedar Sink, the sinkhole features a small river entering one side and disappearing back underground at the other side.

 

Visiting Mammoth Cave

 

The National Park Service offers several cave tours to visitors. Some notable features of the cave, such as Grand Avenue, Frozen Niagara, and Fat Man's Misery, can be seen on lighted tours ranging from one to six hours in length.

 

Two tours, lit only by visitor-carried paraffin lamps, are popular alternatives to the electric-lit routes. Several "wild" tours venture away from the developed parts of the cave into muddy crawls and dusty tunnels.

 

The Echo River Tour, one of the cave's most famous attractions, took visitors on a boat ride along an underground river. The tour was discontinued for logistic and environmental reasons in the early 1990's.

 

Mammoth Cave in Prehistory

 

The story of human beings in relation to Mammoth Cave spans five thousand years. Several sets of Native American remains have been recovered from Mammoth Cave, or other nearby caves in the region, in both the 19th. and 20th. centuries. Most mummies found represent examples of intentional burial, with ample evidence of pre-Columbian funerary practice.

 

An exception to purposeful burial was discovered when in 1935 the remains of an adult male were discovered under a large boulder. The boulder had shifted and settled onto the victim, a pre-Columbian miner, who had disturbed the rubble supporting it.

 

The remains of the ancient victim were named "Lost John" and exhibited to the public into the 1970's, when they were interred in a secret location in Mammoth Cave for reasons of preservation as well as emerging political sensitivities with respect to the public display of Native American remains.

 

Research beginning in the late 1950's led by Patty Jo Watson, of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, has done much to illuminate the lives of the late Archaic and early Woodland peoples who explored and exploited caves in the region.

 

Preserved by the constant cave environment, dietary evidence yielded carbon dates enabling Watson to determine the age of the specimens. An analysis of their content allows determination of the relative content of plant and meat in the diet of either culture over a period spanning several thousand years. This analysis indicates a timed transition from a hunter-gatherer culture to plant domestication and agriculture.

 

Another technique employed in archaeological research at Mammoth Cave, was experimental archaeology, in which modern explorers were sent into the cave using the technology that was employed by the ancient cultures whose leftover implements lie discarded in many parts of the cave. The goal was to gain insight into the problems faced by the ancient people who explored the cave.

 

Ancient human remains and artifacts within the caves are protected by various federal and state laws. One of the most basic facts to be determined about a newly discovered artifact is its precise location and situation. Even slightly moving a prehistoric artifact contaminates it from a research perspective. Explorers are properly trained not to disturb archaeological evidence, and some areas of the cave remain out-of-bounds for even seasoned explorers, unless the subject of the trip is archaeological research on that area.

 

Besides the remains that have been discovered in the portion of the cave accessible through the Historic Entrance of Mammoth Cave, the remains of cane torches used by Native Americans, as well as other artifacts such as drawings, gourd fragments, and woven grass moccasin slippers are found in the Salts Cave section of the system in Flint Ridge.

 

Though there is undeniable proof of their existence and use of the cave, there is no evidence of further use past the archaic period. Experts and scientists have no answer as to why this is, making it one of the greatest mysteries of Mammoth Cave to this day.

 

Earliest Written History

 

The 31,000-acre (13,000 ha) tract known as the "Pollard Survey" was sold by indenture on the 10th. September 1791 in Philadelphia by William Pollard. 19,897 acres (8,052 ha) of the Pollard Survey between the North bank of Bacon Creek and the Green River were purchased by Thomas Lang, Jr..

 

Lang was a British American merchant from Yorkshire, England. He bought the land on the 3rd. June 1796 for £4,116, but the land was lost to a local county tax claim during the War of 1812.

 

Legend has it that the first European to visit Mammoth Cave was either John Houchin or his brother Francis Houchin, in 1797. While hunting, Houchin pursued a wounded bear to the cave's large entrance opening near the Green River.

 

Some Houchin Family tales have John Decatur "Johnny Dick" Houchin as the discoverer of the cave, but this is highly unlikely because Johnny Dick was only 10 years old in 1797, and was unlikely to be out hunting bears at such a tender age.

 

His father John is the more likely candidate from that branch of the family tree, but the most probable candidate for discoverer of Mammoth Cave is Francis "Frank" Houchin, whose land was much closer to the cave entrance than his brother John's.

 

There is also the argument that their brother Charles Houchin, who was known as a great hunter and trapper, was the man who shot the bear and chased it into the cave. The shadow over Charles's claim is the fact that he was residing in Illinois until 1801.

 

Contrary to this story is Brucker and Watson's 'The Longest Cave', which asserts that the cave was certainly known before that time. Caves in the area were certainly known before the discovery of the entrance to Mammoth Cave. Even Francis Houchin had a cave entrance on his land very near the bend in the Green River known as the Turnhole, which is less than a mile from the main entrance to Mammoth Cave.

 

The land containing this historic entrance was first surveyed and registered in 1798 under the name of Valentine Simons. Simons began exploiting Mammoth Cave for its saltpeter reserves.

 

Mammoth Cave in the 19th. Century

 

In partnership with Valentine Simon, various other individuals owned the land through the War of 1812, when Mammoth Cave's saltpeter reserves became significant due to the Jefferson Embargo Act of 1807 which prohibited all foreign trade.

 

The blockade starved the American military of saltpeter and therefore gunpowder. As a result, the domestic price of saltpeter rose and production based on nitrates extracted from caves such as Mammoth Cave became more lucrative.

 

In July 1812, the cave was purchased from Simon and other owners by Charles Wilkins and an investor from Philadelphia named Hyman Gratz. Soon the cave was being mined for calcium nitrate on an industrial scale, utilizing a labor force of 70 slaves to build and operate the soil leaching apparatus, as well as to haul the raw soil from deep in the cave to the central processing site.

 

A half-interest in the cave changed hands for ten thousand dollars (equivalent to over $150,000 in 2020). After the war when prices fell, the workings were abandoned and it became a minor tourist attraction centering on a Native American mummy discovered nearby.

 

When Wilkins died his estate's executors sold his interest in the cave to Gratz. In the spring of 1838, the cave was sold by the Gratz brothers to Franklin Gorin, who intended to operate Mammoth Cave purely as a tourist attraction, the bottom long having since fallen out of the saltpeter market.

 

Gorin was a slave owner, and used his slaves as tour guides. One of these slaves would make a number of important contributions to human knowledge of the cave, and become one of Mammoth Cave's most celebrated historical figures.

 

Stephen Bishop, an African-American slave and a guide to the cave during the 1840's and 1850's, was one of the first people to make extensive maps of the cave, and named many of the cave's features.

 

Stephen Bishop was introduced to Mammoth Cave in 1838 by Franklin Gorin. Gorin wrote, after Bishop's death:

 

"I placed a guide in the cave – the celebrated and

great Stephen, and he aided in making the discoveries.

He was the first person who ever crossed the Bottomless

Pit, and he, myself and another person whose name I have

forgotten were the only persons ever at the bottom of

Gorin's Dome to my knowledge.

After Stephen crossed the Bottomless Pit, we discovered

all that part of the cave now known beyond that point.

Previous to those discoveries, all interest centered in

what is known as the 'Old Cave' ... but now many of the

points are but little known, although as Stephen was wont

to say, they were 'grand, gloomy and peculiar'."

 

In 1839, Dr. John Croghan of Louisville bought the Mammoth Cave Estate, including Bishop and its other slaves from their previous owner, Franklin Gorin. Croghan briefly ran an ill-fated tuberculosis hospital in the cave in 1842-43, the vapors of which he believed would cure his patients. A widespread epidemic of tuberculosis ultimately claimed the life of Dr. Croghan in 1849.

 

Throughout the 19th. century, the fame of Mammoth Cave grew so much that the cave became an international sensation. As a result of the growing renown of the cave, the cave boasted famous visitors such as actor Edwin Booth (his brother, John Wilkes Booth, assassinated Abraham Lincoln in 1865), singer Jenny Lind (who visited the cave on the 5th. April 1851), and violinist Ole Bull who together gave a concert in one of the caves. Two chambers in the caves have since been known as "Booth's Amphitheatre" and "Ole Bull's Concert Hall".

 

By 1859, when the Louisville and Nashville Railroad opened its main line between these cities, Colonel Larkin J. Procter owned the Mammoth Cave Estate. He also owned the stagecoach line that ran between Glasgow Junction (Park City) and the Mammoth Cave Estate. This line transported tourists to Mammoth Caves until 1886, when he established the Mammoth Cave Railroad.

 

Early 20th. century: The Kentucky Cave Wars

 

The difficulties of farming life in the hardscrabble, poor soil of the cave-country influenced local owners of smaller nearby caves to see opportunities for commercial exploitation, particularly given the success of Mammoth Cave as a tourist attraction.

 

The "Kentucky Cave Wars" was a period of bitter competition between local cave owners for tourist money. Broad tactics of deception were used to lure visitors away from their intended destination to other private show caves. Misleading signs were placed along the roads leading to the Mammoth Cave. A typical strategy during the early days of automobile travel involved representatives (known as "cappers") of other private show caves hopping aboard a tourist's car's running board, and leading the passengers to believe that Mammoth Cave was closed, quarantined, caved in or otherwise inaccessible.

 

In 1906, Mammoth Cave became accessible by steamboat with the construction of a lock and dam at Brownsville, Kentucky.

 

In 1908, Max Kämper, a young German mining engineer, arrived at the cave by way of New York. Kämper had just graduated from technical college and his family had sent him on a trip abroad as a graduation present. Originally intending to spend two weeks at Mammoth Cave, Kämper spent several months.

 

With the assistance of Stephen Bishop, Kämper produced a remarkably accurate instrumental survey of many kilometers of Mammoth Cave, including many new discoveries. Reportedly, Kämper also produced a corresponding survey of the land surface overlying the cave: this information was to be useful in the opening of other entrances to the cave, as soon happened with the Violet City entrance.

 

The Croghan family suppressed the topographic element of Kämper's map, and it is not known to survive today, although the cave map portion of Kämper's work stands as a triumph of accurate cave cartography: not until the early 1960's and the advent of the modern exploration period would these passages be surveyed and mapped with greater accuracy.

 

Kämper returned to Berlin, and from the point of view of the Mammoth Cave country, disappeared entirely. It was not until the turn of the 21st. century that a group of German tourists, after visiting the cave, researched Kämper's family and determined his fate: the young Kämper was killed in trench warfare in the Great War on the 10th. December 1916 at the Battle of the Somme.

 

Famed French cave explorer Édouard-Alfred Martel visited the cave for three days in October 1912. Without access to the closely held survey data, Martel was permitted to make barometric observations in the cave for the purpose of determining the relative elevation of different locations. He identified different levels of the cave, and correctly noted that the level of the Echo River within the cave was controlled by that of the Green River on the surface.

 

Martel lamented the 1906 construction of the dam at Brownsville, pointing out that this made a full hydrogeologic study of the cave impossible. Among his precise descriptions of Mammoth Cave, Martel suggested that Mammoth Cave was connected to Salts and Colossal Caves: this would not be proven correct until 60 years after Martel's visit.

 

In the early 1920's, George Morrison created, via blasting, a number of entrances to Mammoth Cave on land not owned by the Croghan Estate. Absent the data from the Croghan's secretive surveys, performed by Kämper, Bishop, and others, which had not been published in a form suitable for determining the geographic extent of the cave, it was now conclusively shown that the Croghans had been for years exhibiting portions of Mammoth Cave which were not under land they owned. Lawsuits were filed and, for a time, different entrances to the cave were operated in direct competition with each other.

 

In the early 20th. century, Floyd Collins spent ten years exploring the Flint Ridge Cave System (the most important legacy of these explorations was the discovery of Floyd Collins' Crystal Cave and exploration in Salts Cave) before dying at Sand Cave, Kentucky, in 1925.

 

While exploring Sand Cave, Floyd dislodged a rock onto his leg while in a tight crawl-way and was unable to be rescued before dying of starvation. Attempts to rescue Collins created a mass media sensation; the resulting publicity would draw prominent Kentuckians to initiate a movement which would soon result in the formation of Mammoth Cave National Park.

 

The National Park Movement (1926–1941)

 

As the last of the Croghan heirs died, momentum grew among wealthy citizens of Kentucky for the establishment of Mammoth Cave National Park. Private citizens formed the Mammoth Cave National Park Association in 1924. The park was authorized on the 25th. May 1926.

 

Donated funds were used to purchase some farmsteads in the region, while other tracts within the proposed national park boundary were acquired by right of eminent domain. In contrast to the formation of other national parks in the sparsely populated American West, thousands of people were forcibly relocated in the process of forming Mammoth Cave National Park. Often eminent domain proceedings were bitter, with landowners paid what were considered to be inadequate sums. The resulting acrimony still resonates within the region to this day.

 

The New Entrance, closed to visitors since 1941, was reopened on the 26th. December 1951, becoming the entrance used for the beginning of the Frozen Niagara tour.

 

The longest cave (1954–1972)

 

By 1954, Mammoth Cave National Park's land holdings encompassed all lands within its outer boundary with the exception of two privately held tracts. One of these, the old Lee Collins farm, had been sold to Harry Thomas of Horse Cave, Kentucky, whose grandson, William "Bill" Austin, operated Collins Crystal Cave as a show cave in direct competition with the national park, which was forced to maintain roads leading to the property. Condemnation and purchase of the Crystal Cave property seemed only a matter of time.

 

In February 1954, a two-week expedition under the auspices of the National Speleological Society was organized at the invitation of Austin: this expedition became known as C-3, or the Collins Crystal Cave Expedition.

 

The C-3 expedition drew public interest, first from a photo essay published by Robert Halmi in the July 1954 issue of True Magazine, and later from the publication of a double first-person account of the expedition, 'The Caves Beyond: The Story of the Collins Crystal Cave Expedition' by Joe Lawrence, Jr. (then president of the National Speleological Society) and Roger Brucker.

 

The expedition proved conclusively that passages in Crystal Cave extended toward Mammoth Cave proper, at least exceeding the Crystal Cave property boundaries. However, this information was closely held by the explorers: it was feared that the National Park Service might forbid exploration were this known.

 

In 1955 Crystal Cave was connected by survey with Unknown Cave, the first connection in the Flint Ridge system.

 

Some of the participants in the C-3 expedition wished to continue their explorations past the conclusion of the C-3 Expedition, and organized as the Flint Ridge Reconnaissance. This organization was incorporated in 1957 as the Cave Research Foundation. The organization sought to legitimize the cave explorers' activity through the support of original academic and scientific research. Notable scientists who studied Mammoth Cave during this period include Patty Jo Watson.

 

In March 1961, the Crystal Cave property was sold to the National Park Service for $285,000. At the same time, the Great Onyx Cave property, the only other remaining private inholding, was purchased for $365,000. The Cave Research Foundation was permitted to continue their exploration through a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Park Service.

 

Colossal Cave was connected by survey to Salts Cave in 1960, and in 1961 Colossal-Salts cave was similarly connected to Crystal-Unknown cave, creating a single cave system under much of Flint Ridge. By 1972, the Flint Ridge Cave System had been surveyed to a length of 86.5 miles (139.2 km), making it the longest cave in the world.

 

During the 1960's, the Cave Research Foundation (CRF) exploration and mapping teams found passageways in the Flint Ridge Cave System that penetrated under Houchins Valley and came within 800 feet (240 m) of known passages in Mammoth Cave.

 

In 1972, CRF Chief Cartographer John Wilcox pursued an aggressive program to finally connect the caves, fielding several expeditions from the Flint Ridge side as well as exploring leads in Mammoth Cave.

 

On a July 1972 trip, deep in the Flint Ridge Cave System, Patricia Crowther—with her slight frame of 115 pounds (52 kg)—crawled through a narrow canyon later dubbed the "Tight Spot", which acted as a filter for larger cavers.

 

A subsequent trip past the Tight Spot on the 30th. August 1972, by Wilcox, Crowther, Richard Zopf, and Tom Brucker discovered the name "Pete H" inscribed on the wall of a river passage with an arrow pointing in the direction of Mammoth Cave. The name is believed to have been carved by Warner P. "Pete" Hanson, who was active in exploring the cave in the 1930's. Hanson had been killed in World War II. The passage was named Hanson's Lost River by the explorers.

 

Finally, on the 9th. September 1972, a six-person CRF team of Wilcox, Crowther, Zopf, Gary Eller, Stephen Wells, and Cleveland Pinnix (a National Park Service ranger) followed Hanson's Lost River downstream to discover its connection with Echo River in Cascade Hall of Mammoth Cave.

 

With this linking of the Flint Ridge and Mammoth Cave systems, the "Everest of Speleology" had been climbed. The integrated cave system contained 144.4 miles (232.4 km) of surveyed passages and had fourteen entrances.

 

Recent Discoveries

 

Further connections between Mammoth Cave and smaller caves or cave systems have followed, notably to Proctor/Morrison Cave beneath nearby Joppa Ridge in 1979.

 

Proctor Cave was discovered by Jonathan Doyle, a Union Army deserter during the Civil War, and was later owned by the Mammoth Cave Railroad, before being explored by the CRF. Morrison cave was discovered by George Morrison in the 1920's. This connection pushed the frontier of Mammoth exploration southeastward.

 

At the same time, discoveries made outside the park by an independent group called the Central Kentucky Karst Coalition or CKKC resulted in the survey of tens of miles in Roppel Cave east of the park.

 

Discovered in 1976, Roppel Cave was briefly on the list of the nation's longest caves before it was connected to the Proctor/Morrison's section of the Mammoth Cave System on the 10th. September 1983. The connection was made by two mixed parties of CRF and CKKC explorers. Each party entered through a separate entrance and met in the middle before continuing in the same direction to exit at the opposite entrance. The resulting total surveyed length was near 300 miles (480 km).

 

On the 19th. March 2005, a connection into the Roppel Cave portion of the system was surveyed from a small cave under Eudora Ridge, adding approximately three miles to the known length of the Mammoth Cave System.

 

The newly found entrance to the cave, now termed the "Hoover Entrance", had been discovered in September 2003, by Alan Canon and James Wells. Incremental discoveries since then have pushed the total to more than 400 miles (640 km).

 

It is certain that many more miles of cave passages await discovery in the region. Discovery of new natural entrances is a rare event: the primary mode of discovery involves the pursuit of side passages identified during routine systematic exploration of cave passages entered from known entrances.

 

Related and Nearby Caves

 

At least two other massive cave systems lie short distances from Mammoth Cave: the Fisher Ridge Cave System and the Martin Ridge Cave System.

 

The Fisher Ridge Cave System was discovered in January 1981 by a group of Michigan cavers associated with the Detroit Urban Grotto of the National Speleological Society. So far, the Fisher Ridge Cave System has been mapped to 125 miles (201 km).

 

In 1976, Rick Schwartz discovered a large cave south of the Mammoth Cave park boundary. This cave became known as the Martin Ridge Cave System in 1996, as new exploration connected the 3 nearby caves of Whigpistle Cave (Schwartz's original entrance), Martin Ridge Cave, and Jackpot Cave.

 

As of 2018, the Martin Ridge Cave System had been mapped to a length of 34 miles (55 km), and exploration continues.

 

Biology and Ecosystem

 

The following species of bats inhabit the caverns: Indiana bat, gray bat, little brown bat, big brown bat, and the eastern pipistrelle bat.

 

All together, these and more rare bat species such as the eastern small-footed bat had estimated populations of 9–12 million just in the Historic Section.

 

While these species still exist in Mammoth Cave, their numbers are now no more than a few thousand at best. Ecological restoration of this portion of Mammoth Cave, and facilitating the return of bats, is an ongoing effort. Not all bat species here inhabit the cave; the red bat is a forest-dweller, and is found underground only rarely.

 

Other animals which inhabit the caves include: two genera of crickets, a cave salamander two genera of eyeless cave fish, a cave crayfish, and a cave shrimp.

 

Common fossils of the cave include crinoids, blastoids, and gastropods. The Mississippian limestone has yielded fossils of more than a dozen species of shark. In 2020, scientists reported the discovery of part of a Saivodus Striatus, a species comparable in size to a modern great white shark.

 

The Mammoth Cave Name

 

The cave's name refers to the large width and length of the passages connecting to the Rotunda just inside the entrance. The name was used long before the extensive cave system was more fully explored and mapped, to reveal a mammoth length of passageways.

 

No fossils of the woolly mammoth have ever been found in Mammoth Cave, and the name of the cave has nothing to do with this extinct mammal.

 

Currently Available Tours

 

Currently (2022) available tours operating in Mammoth Cave are:

 

-- Accessible Tour

-- Cleaveland Avenue Tour

-- Discovery Self-Guided

-- Domes and Dripstones Tour

-- Extended Historic Tour

-- Frozen Niagara Tour

-- Gothic Avenue Tour

-- Grand Avenue Tour

-- Grand Historic Tour

-- Great Onyx Lantern Tour

-- Historic Tour

-- Mammoth Passage Tour

-- River Styx Tour

-- Star Chamber Tour

-- Violet City Lantern Tour

-- Wondering Woods Tours.