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The days drag and the weeks fly by.
It has been a grim week at work, and yet the weekend is here once again.
The cold snap is still here; thick frosts and icy patches, but Sunday afternoon storms will sweep in from the west and temperatures will soar by day to 13 degrees.
But for now it is cold, and colder at nights, the wood burner makes the living room toasty warm, though the rest of the house seems like a fridge in comparison.
Even though we went to bed at nine, we slept to nearly half seven, which meant we were already later than usual going to Tesco.
We had a coffee first, then got dressed and went out into the winter wonderland.
Tesco was more crowded mainly because we were an hour later. There were no crackers for cheese, a whole aisle empty of cream crackers and butter wafers.
There is only so much food you can eat even over Christmas, so the cracker-shortage won't affect us, we have two Dundee cakes, filling for two lots of mince pies and pastry for five lots of sausage rolls.
We won't starve.
We buy another bag of stuff for the food bank, try to get two weeks of stuff so we wont need to go next weekend, just to a farm shop for vegetables, and the butcher for the Christmas order, though on the 25th we are going out for dinner to the Lantern.
Back home for fruit, then bacon butties and another huge brew. Yes, smoked bacon is again in short supply, with just the basic streaky smoked available, but we're not fussy, so that does the trick.
Also, Jools picked up her inhalers for her cough, and so, we hope, the road to recovery begins.
What to do with the day?
Although a walk would have been good, Jools can do no more than ten minutes in freezing conditions before a coughing fits starts, so a couple of churches to revisit and take more shots of.
First on the list was St Leonard in Upper Deal. A church I have only have been inside once. As it was just half ten, there should have been a chance it was open, but no. We parked up and I walked over the road to try the porch door, but it was locked.
No worries, as the next two would certainly be open.
Just up the road towards Canterbury is Ash.
Ash is a large village that the main roads now bypass its narrow streets, and buses call not so frequently.
The church towers over the village, its spire piercing the grey sky. We park beside the old curry hours than burned down a decade ago, is now a house and no sign of damage.
indeed the church was open, though the porch door was closed, it opened with use of the latch, and the inner glass door swung inwards, revealing an interior I had forgotten about, rich Victorian glass let in the weak sunlight, allowing me to take detailed shots. It was far better and more enjoyable than I remembered.
Once I took 200 or so shots, we went back to the car, drove back to the main road, and on to Wingham, where the church there, a twin of Wingham, would also be open too.
And it was.
The wardens were just finishing trimming the church up, and putting out new flowers, it was a bustle of activity, then one by one they left.
got my shots, and we left, back to the car and to home, though we did stop at he farm shop at Aylsham, and all we wanted was some sweet peppers for hash.
We went in and there was the bakery: I bought two sausage rolls, four small pork pies and two Cajun flavours scotch eggs. We got cider, beer, healthy snacks (we told ourselves) and finally found the peppers.
Three peppers cost £50!
Then back home, along the A2.
And arriving back home at one. We feasted on the scotch eggs and two of the pork pies.
Yummy.
There was the third place play off game to watch on the tellybox, the Football league to follow on the radio. We lit the woodburner and it was soon toasty warm.
At half five, Norwich kicked off, and hopes were high as Blackburn had not beaten us in over a decade.
And, yes you guessed it, Norwich lost. Played poorly, and in Dad's words, were lucky to get nil.
Oh dear.
Oh dear indeed.
We have Christmas cake for supper, and apart from the football, as was well with the world.
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A large and impressive church of mainly thirteenth century date over restored in 1847 by the irrepressible William Butterfield. The scale of the interior is amazing - particularly in the tower crossing arches which support the enormous spire. They are an obvious insertion into an earlier structure. The best furnishing at Ash is the eighteenth century font which stands on an inscribed base. For the visitor interested in memorials, Ash ahs more than most ranging from the fourteenth century effigy of a knight to two excellent alabaster memorials to Sir Thomas Harfleet (d 1612) and Christopher Toldervy (d 1618). Mrs Toldervy appears twice in the church for she accompanies her husband on his memorial and may also be seen as a `weeper` on her parents` memorial! On that she is one of two survivors of what was once a group of seven daughters - all her weeping brothers have long since disappeared.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Ash+2
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ASH
LIES adjoining to the last-described parish of Staple northward. It is written in Domesday, Ece, and in other antient records, Aisse, and is usually called Ash, near Sandwich, to distinguish it from Ash, near Wrotham.
The parish of Ash is very large, extending over a variety of soil and country, of hill, dale, and marsh lands, near four miles across each way, and containing more than six thousand acres of land, of which about one half is marsh, the river Stour being its northern bounday, where it is very wet and unwholesone, but the southern or upland part of the parish is very dary, pleasant and healthy. The soil in general is fertile, and lets on an average at about one pound an acre; notwithstanding, there is a part of it about Ash-street and Gilton town, where it is a deep sand. The village of Ash, commonly called Ash-street, situated in this part of it, on high ground, mostly on the western declivity of a hill, having the church on the brow of it, is built on each side of the road from Canterbury to Sandwich, and contains about fifty houses. On the south side of this road, about half a mile westward, is a Roman burial ground, of which further mention will be taken hereaster, and adjoining to it the hamlet of Gilton town, formerly written Guildanton, in which is Gilton parsonage, a neat stuccoed house, lately inhabited by Mr. Robert Legrand, and now by Mrs. Becker. In the valley southward stands Mote farm, alias Brooke house, formerly the habitation of the Stoughtons, then of the Ptoroude's and now the property of Edward Solly, esq. of London.
There are dispersed throughout this large parish many small hamlets and farms, which have been formerly of more consequence, from the respective owners and in habitants of them, all which, excepting East and New Street, and Great Pedding, (the latter of which was the antient residence of the family of solly, who lie buried in Ash church-yard, and bore for their arms, Vert, a chevron, per pale, or, and gules, between three soles naiant, argent, and being sold by one of them to dean Lynch, is now in the possession of lady Lynch, the widow of Sir William Lynch, K. B.) are situated in the northern part of the parish, and contain together about two hundred and fifty houses, among them is Hoden, formerly the residence of the family of St. Nicholas; Paramour-street, which for many years was the residence of those of that name, and Brook-street, in which is Brook-house, the residence of the Brooke's, one of whom John Brooke, esq. in queen Elizabeth's reign, resided here, and bore for his arms, Per bend, vert and sable, two eagles, counterchanged.
William, lord Latimer, anno 38 Edward III. obtained a market to be held at Ash, on a Thursday; and a fair yearly on Lady-day, and the two following ones. A fair is now held in Ash-street on Lady and Michaelmas days yearly.
In 1473 there was a lazar house for the infirm of the leprosy, at Eche, near Sandwich.
¶The manor of Wingham claims paramount over this parish, subordinate to which there were several manors in it, held of the archbishop, to whom that manor belonged, the mansions of which, being inhabited by families of reputation and of good rank in life, made this parish of much greater account than it has been for many years past, the mansions of them having been converted for a length of time into farmhouses to the lands to which they belong.
f this manor, (viz. Wingham) William de Acris holds one suling in Fletes, and there he has in demesne one carucate and four villeins, and one knight with one carucate, and one fisbery, with a saltpit of thirty pence. The whole is worth forty shillings.
This district or manor was granted by archbishop Lanfranc, soon after this, to one Osberne, (fn. 7) of whom I find no further mention, nor of this place, till king Henry III.'s reign, when it seems to have been separated into two manors, one of which, now known by the name of the manor of Gurson Fleet, though till of late time by that of Fleet only, was held afterwards of the archbishop by knight's service, by the family of Sandwich, and afterwards by the Veres, earls of Oxford, one of whom, Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, who died anno 3 Edward III. was found by the escheat-rolls of that year, to have died possessed of this manor of Fleet, which continued in his descendants down to John de Vere, earl of Oxford, who for his attachment to the house of Lancaster, was attainted in the first year of king Edward IV. upon which this manor came into the hands of the crown, and was granted the next year to Richard, duke of Gloucester, the king's brother, with whom it staid after his succession to the crown, as king Richard III. on whose death, and the accession of king Henry VII. this manor returned to the possession of John, earl of Oxford, who had been attainted, but was by parliament anno I Henry VII. restored in blood, titles and possessions. After which this manor continued in his name and family till about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, when Edward Vere, earl of Oxford, alienated it to Hammond, in whose descendants it continued till one of them, in the middle of king Charles II.'s reign, sold it to Thomas Turner, D. D. who died possessed of it in 1672, and in his name and descendants it continued till the year 1748, when it was sold to John Lynch, D. D. dean of Canterbury, whose son Sir William Lynch, K. B. died possessed of it in 1785, and by his will devised it, with the rest of his estates, to his widow lady Lynch, who is the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
Archbishop Lanfranc, on his founding the priory of St. Gregory, in the reign of the Conqueror, gave to it the tithe of the manor of Fleet; which gift was confirmed by archbishop Hubert in Richard I.'s reign. This portion of tithes, which arose principally from Gurson Fleet manor, remained with the priory at its dissolution, and is now part of Goldston parsonage, parcel of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention has been made before.
The other part of the district of Fleet was called, to distinguish it, and from the possessors of it, the manor of Nevills Fleet, though now known by the name of Fleet only, is situated between Gurson and Richborough, adjoining to the former. This manor was held in king John's reign of the archbishop, by knight's service, by Thomas Pincerna, so called probably from his office of chief butler to that prince, whence his successors assumed the name of Butler, or Boteler. His descendant was Robert le Boteler, who possessed this manor in king Ed ward I.'s reign, and from their possession of it, this manor acquired for some time the name of Butlers Fleet; but in the 20th year of king Edward III. William, lord Latimer of Corbie, appears to have been in the possession of it, and from him it acquired the name of Latimers Fleet. He bore for his arms, Gules, a cross flory, or. After having had summons to parliament, (fn. 8) he died in the begening of king Richard II.'s reign, leaving Elizabeth his sole daughter and heir, married to John, lord Nevill, of Raby, whose son John bore the title of lord Latimer, and was summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, till the 9th year of king Henry VI. in which he died, so that the greatest part of his inheritance, among which was this manor, came by an entail made, to Ralph, lord Nevill, and first earl of Westmoreland, his eldest, but half brother, to whom he had sold, after his life, the barony of Latimer, and he, by seoffment, vested it, with this manor and much of the inheritance above-mentioned, in his younger son Sir George Nevill, who was accordingly summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, anno 10 Henry VI. and his grandson Richard, lord Latimer, in the next regin of Edward IV. alienated this manor, which from their length of possession of it, had acquired the name of Nevill's Fleet, to Sir James Cromer, and his son Sir William Cromer, in the 11th year of king Henry VII, sold it to John Isaak, who passed it away to Kendall, and he, in the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, sold it to Sir John Fogge, of Repton, in Ashford, who died possessed of it in 1533, and his son, of the same name, before the end of it, passed it away to Mr. Thomas Rolfe, and he sold it, within a few years afterwards, to Stephen Hougham, gent. of this parish, who by his will in 1555, devised it to his youngest son Rich. Hougham, of Eastry, from one of whose descendants it was alienated to Sir Adam Spracklin, who sold it to one of the family of Septvans, alias Harflete, in which name it continued till within a few years after the death of king Charles I. when by a female heir Elizabeth it went in marriage to Thomas Kitchell, esq. in whose heirs it continued till it was at length, about the year 1720, alienated by one of them to Mr. Thomas Bambridge, warden of the Fleet prison, upon whose death it became vested in his heirs-at-law, Mr. James Bambridge, of the Temple, attorney at-law, and Thomas Bambridge, and they divided this estate, and that part of it allotted to the latter was soon afterwards alienated by him to Mr. Peter Moulson, of London, whose only daughter and heir carried it in marriage to Mr. Geo. Vaughan, of London, and he and the assignees of Mr. James Bambridge last mentioned, have lately joined in the conveyance of the whole fee of this manor to Mr. Joseph Solly, gent. of Sandwich, the present owner of it. There is not any court held for this manor.
In this district, and within this manor of Fleet lastmentioned, there was formerly a chapel of cose to the church of Ash, as that was to the church of Wingham, to which college, on its foundation by archbishop Peckham in 1286, the tithes, rents, obventions, &c of this chapel and district was granted by him, for the support in common of the provost and canons of it, with whom it remained till the suppression of it, anno I king Edward VI. The tithes, arising from this manor of Fleet, and the hamlet of Richborough, are now a part of the rectory of Ash, and of that particular part of it called Gilton parsonage, parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention will be made hereafter. There have not been any remains left of it for a long time part.
Richborough is a hamlet and district of land, in the south-east part of this parish, rendered famous from the Roman fort and town built there, and more so formerly, from the port or haven close adjoining to it.
It was in general called by the Romans by the plural name of Rutupiæ; for it must be observed that the æstuary, which at that time separated the Isle of Thanet from the main land of Kent, and was the general passage for shipping,had at each mouth of it, towards the sea, a fort and haven, called jointly Rutupiæ. That at the northern part and of it being now called Reculver, and that at the eastern, being the principal one, this of Richborough.
The name of it is variously spelt in different authors. By Ptolemy it is written [Patapiaia (?)] urbem; by Tacitus, according to the best reading, Portus, Rutupensis; by Antonine, in his Itinerary, Ritupas, and Ritupis Portum; by Ammianus, Ritupiæ statio; afterwards by the Saxons, Reptacester, and now Richborough.
The haven, or Portus Rutupinus, or Richborough, was very eminent in the time of the Romans, and much celebrated in antient history, being a safe and commodious harbour, stationem ex adverso tranquillam, as Ammianus calls it, situated at the entrance of the passage towards then Thamas, and becoming the general place of setting sail from Britain to the continent, and where the Roman fleets arrived, and so large and extensive was the bay of it, that it is supposed to have extended far beyond Sandwich on the one side, almost to Ramsgate cliffs on the other, near five miles in width, covering the whole of that flat of land on which Stonar and Sandwich were afterwards built, and extending from thence up the æstuary between the Isle of Thanet and the main land. So that Antonine might well name it the Port, in his Itinerary, [Kat exochin], from there being no other of like consequence, and from this circumstance the shore for some distance on each side acquired the general name of Littus Rutupinum, the Rutupian shore. (fn. 9) Some have contended that Julius Cæsar landed at Richborough, in his expeditions into Britain; but this opinion is refuted by Dr. Hasley in Phil, Trans. No. 193, who plainly proves his place of landing to have been in the Downs. The fort of Richborough, from the similarity of the remains of it to those of Reculver, seems to have been built about the same time, and by the same emperer, Serveris, about the year 205. It stands on the high hill, close to a deep precipice eastward, at the soot of which was the haven. In this fortress, so peculiarly strengthened by its situation, the Romans had afterwards a stationary garrison, and here they had likewise a pharos, of watch tower, the like as at Reculver and other places on this coast, as well to guide the shipping into the haven, as to give notice of the approach of enemies. It is by most supposed that there was, in the time of the Romans, near the fort, in like manner as at Reculver, a city or town, on the decline of the hill, south-westward from it, according to custom, at which a colony was settled by them. Prolemy, in his geography, reckons the city Rutpia as one of the three principal cities of Kent. (fn. 10) Orosius. and Bede too, expressly mention it as such; but when the haven decayed, and there was no longer a traffic and resort to this place, the town decayed likewise, and there have not been, for many ages since, any remains whatever of it left; though quantities of coins and Roman antiquities have been sound on the spot where it is supposed to have once stood.
During the latter part of the Roman empire, when the Saxons prevented all trade by sea, and insefted these coasts by frequent robberies, the second Roman legion, called Augusta, and likewise Britannica, which had been brought out of Germany by the emperor Claudius, and had resided for many years at the Isca Silurum, in Wales, was removed and stationed here, under a president or commander, præpositus, of its own, who was subordinate to the count of the Saxon shore, and continued so till the final departure of the Romans from Britain, in the year 410, when this fortress was left in the hands of the Britons, who were afterwards dispossessed of it by the Saxons, during whose time the harbour seems to have began to decay and to swerve up, the sea by degrees entirely deserting it at this place, but still leaving one large and commodious at Sandwich, which in process of time became the usual resort for shipping, and arose a flourishing harbour in its stead, as plainly appears by the histories of those times, by all of which, both the royal Saxon fleets, as well as those of the Danes, are said to sail for the port of Sandwich, and there to lie at different times; (fn. 11) and no further mention is made by any of them of this of Rutupiæ, Reptachester, or Richborough; so that the port being thus destroyed, the town became neglected and desolate, and with the castle sunk into a heap of ruins. Leland's description of it in king Henry VIII.'s reign, is very accurate, and gives an exceeding good idea of the progressive state of its decay to that time. He says, "Ratesburg otherwyse Richeboro was, of ever the ryver of Sture dyd turn his botom or old canale, withyn the Isle of the Thanet, and by Iykelyhod the mayn se came to the very foote of the castel. The mayn se ys now of yt a myle by reason of wose, that has there swollen up. The scite of the town or castel ys wonderful fair apon an hille. The walles the wich remayn ther yet be in cumpase almost as much as the tower of London. They have bene very hye thykke stronge and wel embateled. The mater of them is flynt mervelus and long brykes both white and redde after the Britons fascion. The sement was made of se sand and smaul pible. Ther is a great lykelyhod that the goodly hil abowte the castel and especially to Sandwich ward hath bene wel inhabited. Corne groweth on the hille yn bene mervelous plenty and yn going to plowgh ther hath owt of mynde fownd and now is mo antiquities of Romayne money than yn any place els of England surely reason speketh that this should be Rutupinum. For byside that the name sumwhat toucheth, the very near passage fro Cales Clyves or Cales was to Ratesburgh and now is to Sandwich, the which is about a myle of; though now Sandwich be not celebrated by cawse of Goodwine sandes and the decay of the haven. Ther is a good flyte shot of fro Ratesburg toward Sandwich a great dyke caste in a rownd cumpas as yt had bene for sens of menne of warre. The cumpase of the grownd withyn is not much above an acre and yt is very holo by casting up the yerth. They cawle the place there Lytleborough. Withyn the castel is a lytle paroche chirch of St. Augustine and an heremitage. I had antiquities of the heremite the which is an industrious man. Not far fro the hermitage is a cave wher men have sowt and digged for treasure. I saw it by candel withyn, and ther were conys. Yt was so straite that I had no mynd to crepe far yn. In the north side of the castel ys a hedde yn the walle, now fore defaced with wether. They call it queen Bertha hedde. Nere to that place hard by the wal was a pot of Romayne mony sownd."
The ruins of this antient castle stand upon the point of a hill or promontory, about a mile north-west from Sandwich, overlooking on each side, excepting towards the west, a great flat which appears by the lowness of it, and the banks of beach still shewing themselves in different places, to have been all once covered by the sea. The east side of this hill is great part of it so high and perpendicular from the flat at the foot of it, where the river Stour now runs, that ships with the greatest burthen might have lain close to it, and there are no signs of any wall having been there; but at the north end, where the ground rises into a natural terrace, so as to render one necessary, there is about 190 feet of wall left. Those on the other three sides are for the most part standing, and much more entire than could be expected, considering the number of years since they were built, and the most so of any in the kingdom, except Silchester. It is in shape an oblong square, containing within it a space of somewhat less than five acres. They are in general about ten feet high within, but their broken tops shew them to have been still higher. The north wall, on the outside, is about twice as high as it is within, or the other two, having been carried up from the very bottom of the hill, and it seems to have been somewhat longer than it is at present, by some pieces of it sallen down at the east end. The walls are about eleven feet thick. In the middle of the west side is the aperture of an entrance, which probably led to the city or town, and on the north side is another, being an entrance obliquely into the castle. Near the middle of the area are the ruins of some walls, full of bushes and briars, which seem as if some one had dug under ground among them, probably where once stood the prætorium of the Roman general, and where a church or chapel was afterwards erected, dedicated to St. Augustine, and taken notice of by Leland as such in his time. It appears to have been a chapel of ease to the church of Ash, for the few remaining inhabitants of this district, and is mentioned as such in the grant of the rectory of that church, anno 3 Edward VI. at which time it appears to have existed. About a furlong to the south, in a ploughed field, is a large circular work, with a hollow in the middle, the banks of unequal heights, which is supposed to have been an amphitheatre, built of turf, for the use of the garrison, the different heights of the banks having been occasioned by cultivation, and the usual decay, which must have happened from so great a length of time. These stations of the Romans, of which Richborough was one, were strong fortifications, for the most part of no great compass or extent, wherein were barracks for the loding of the soldiers, who had their usual winter quarters in them. Adjoining, or at no great distance from them, there were usually other, buildings forming a town; and such a one was here at Richborough, as has been already mentioned before, to which the station or fort was in the nature of a citadel, where the soldiers kept garrison. To this Tacitus seems to allude, when he says, "the works that in time of peace had been built, like a free town, not far from the camp, were destroyed, left they should be of any service to the enemy." (fn. 12) Which in great measure accounts for there being no kind of trace or remains left, to point out where this town once stood, which had not only the Romans, according to the above observation, but the Saxons and Danes afterwards, to carry forward at different æras the total destruction of it.
The burial ground for this Roman colony and station of Richborough, appears to have been on the hill at the end of Gilton town, in this parish, about two miles south-west from the castle, and the many graves which have been continually dug up there, in different parts of it, shew it to have been of general use for that purpose for several ages.
The scite of the castle at Richborough was part of the antient inheritance of the family of the Veres, earls of Oxford, from which it was alienated in queen Elizabeth's reign to Gaunt; after which it passed, in like manner as Wingham Barton before-described, to Thurbarne, and thence by marriage to Rivett, who sold it to Farrer, from whom it was alienated to Peter Fector, esq. of Dover, the present possessor of it. In the deed of conveyance it is thus described: And also all those the walls and ruins of the antient castle of Rutupium, now known by the name of Richborough castle, with the scite of the antient port and city of Rutupinum, being on and near the lands before-mentioned. About the walls of Richborough grows Fæniculum valgare, common fennel, in great plenty.
It may be learned from the second iter of Antonine's Itinerary, that there was once a Roman road, or highway from Canterbury to the port of Richborough, in which iter the two laft stations are, from Durovernum, Canterbury, to Richborough, ad portum Rutupis, xii miles; in which distance all the different copies of the Itinerary agree. Some parts of this road can be tracted at places at this time with certainty; and by the Roman burial-ground, usually placed near the side of a high road, at Gilton town, and several other Roman vestigia thereabouts, it may well be supposed to have led from Canterbury through that place to Richborough, and there is at this time from Goldston, in Ash, across the low-grounds to it, a road much harder and broader than usual for the apparent use of it, which might perhaps be some part of it.
Charities.
A person unknown gave four acres and an half of land, in Chapman-street, of the annual produce of 5l. towards the church assessments.
Thomas St. Nicholas, esq. of this parish, by deed about the year 1626, gave an annuity of 11. 5s. to be paid from his estate of Hoden, now belonging to the heirs of Nathaniel Elgar, esq. to be distributed yearly, 10s. to the repairing and keeping clean the Toldervey monument in this church, and 15s. on Christmas-day to the poor.
John Proude, the elder, of Ash, yeoman, by his will in 1626, ordered that his executor should erect upon his land adjoining to the church-yard, a house, which should be disposed of in future by the churchwardens and overseers, for a school-house, and for a storehouse, to lay in provision for the church and poor. This house is now let at 1l. per annum, and the produce applied to the use of the poor.
Richard Camden, in 1642, gave by will forty perches of land, for the use of the poor, and of the annual produce of 15s. now vested in the minister and churchwardens.
Gervas Cartwright, esq. and his two sisters, in 1710 and 1721, gave by deed an estate, now of the yearly value of 50l. for teaching fifty poor children to read, write, &c. vested in the minister, churchwardens, and other trustees.
The above two sisters, Eleanor and Anne Cartwright, gave besides 100l. for beautifying the chancel, and for providing two large pieces of plate for the communion service; and Mrs. Susan Robetts added two other pieces of plate for the same purpose.
There is a large and commodious workhouse lately built, for the use of the poor, to discharge the expence of which, 100l. is taken yearly out of the poor's rate, till the whole is discharged. In 1604, the charges of the poor were 29l. 15s. 11d. In 1779. 1000l.
There is a charity school for boys and girls, who are educated, but not cloathed.
The poor constantly relieved are about seventy-five, casually fifty-five.
This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the dioceseof Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a handsome building, of the form of a cross, consisting of two isles and two chancels, and a cross sept, having a tall spire steeple in the middle, in which are eight bells and a clock. It is very neat and handsome in the inside. In the high or south chancel is a monument for the Roberts's, arms, Argent, three pheons, sable, on a chief of the second, a greybound current of the first; another for the Cartwrights, arms, Or, a fess embattled, between three catherine wheels, sable. In the north wall is a monument for one of the family of Leverick, with his effigies, in armour, lying cross-legged on it; and in the same wall, westward, is another like monument for Sir John Goshall, with his effigies on it, in like manner, and in a hollow underneath, the effigies of his wife, in her head-dress, and wimple under her chin. A gravestone, with an inscription, and figure of a woman with a remarkable high high-dress, the middle part like a horseshoe inverted, for Jane Keriell, daughter of Roger Clitherow. A stone for Benjamin Longley, LL. B. minister of Ash twenty-nine years, vicar of Eynsford and Tonge, obt. 1783. A monument for William Brett, esq. and Frances his wife. The north chancel, dedicated to St. Nicholas, belongs to the manor of Molland. Against the north wall is a tomb, having on it the effigies of a man and woman, lying at full length, the former in armour, and sword by his side, but his head bare, a collar of SS about his neck, both seemingly under the middle age, but neither arms nor inscription, but it was for one of the family of Harflete, alias Septvans; and there are monuments and several memorials and brasses likewise for that family. A memorial for Thomas Singleton, M. D. of Molland, obt. 1710. One for John Brooke, of Brookestreet, obt. 1582, s. p. arms, Per bend, two eagles.—Several memorials for the Pekes, of Hills-court, and for Masters, of Goldstone. A monument for Christopher Toldervy, of Chartham, obt. 1618. A memorial for Daniel Hole, who, as well as his ancestors, had lived upwards of one hundred years at Goshall, as occupiers of it. In the north cross, which was called the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, was buried the family of St. Nicholas. The brass plates of whom, with their arms, are still to be seen. A tablet for Whittingham Wood, gent. obt. 1656. In the south cross, a monument for Richard Hougham, gent. of Weddington, and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Edward Sanders, gent. of Norborne. An elegant monument for Mary, wife of Henry Lowman, esq. of Dortnued, in Germany. She died in 1737, and he died in 1743. And for lieutenant colonel Christopher Ernest Kien, obt. 1744, and Jane his wife, their sole daughter and heir, obt. 1762, and for Evert George Cousemaker, esq. obt. 1763, all buried in a vault underneath, arms, Or, on a mount vert, a naked man, bolding a branch in his hand, proper, impaling per bend sinister, argent and gules, a knight armed on borjeback, holding a tilting spear erect, the point downwards, all counterchanged. On the font is inscribed, Robert Minchard, arms, A crescent, between the points of it a mullet. Several of the Harfletes lie buried in the church-yard, near the porch, but their tombs are gone. On each side of the porch are two compartments of stone work, which were once ornamented with brasses, most probably in remembrance of the Harfleets, buried near them. At the corner of the church-yard are two old tombs, supposed for the family of Alday.
In the windows of the church were formerly several coats of arms, and among others, of Septvans, alias Harflete, Notbeame, who married Constance, widow of John Septvans; Brooke, Ellis, Clitherow, Oldcastle, Keriell, and Hougham; and the figures of St. Nicholas, Keriell, and Hougham, kneeling, in their respective surcoats of arms, but there is not any painted glass left in any part of the church or chancels.
John Septvans, about king Henry VII.'s reign, founded a chantry, called the chantry of the upper Hall, as appears by the will of Katherine Martin, of Faversham, sometime his wife, in 1497. There was a chantry of our blessed Lady, and another of St. Stephen likewise, in it; both suppressed in the 1st year of king Edward VI. when the former of them was returned to be of the clear yearly certified value of 15l. 11s. 1½d. (fn. 13)
The church of Ash was antiently a chapel of east to that of Wingham, and was, on the foundation of the college there in 1286, separated from it, and made a distinct parish church of itself, and then given to the college, with the chapels likewise of Overland and Fleet, in this parish, appurtenant to this church; which becoming thus appropriated to the college, continued with it till the suppression of it in king Edward VI.'s reign, when this part of the rectory or parsonage appropriate, called Overland parsonage, with the advowson of the church, came, with the rest of the possessions of the college, into the hands of the crown, where the advowson of the vicarage, or perpetual curacy of it did not remain long, for in the year 1558, queen Mary granted it, among others, to the archbishop. But the above-mentioned part of the rectory, or parsonage appropriate of Ash, with those chapels, remained in the crown, till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange to archbishop Parker, who was before possessed of that part called Goldston parsonage, parcel of the late dissolved priory of St. Gregory, by grant from king Henry VIII. so that now this parish is divided into two distinct parsonages, viz. of Overland and of Goldston, which are demised on separate beneficial leases by the archbishop, the former to the heirs of Parker, and the latter, called Gilton parsonage, from the house and barns of it being situated in that hamlet, to George Gipps, esq. M. P. for Canterbury. The patronage of the perpetual curacy remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury.
¶At the time this church was appropriated to the college of Wingham, a vicarage was endowed in it, which after the suppression of the college came to be esteemed as a perpetual curacy. It is not valued in the king's books. The antient stipend paid by the provost, &c. to the curate being 16l. 13s. 4d. was in 1660, augmented by archbishop Juxon with the addition of 33l. 6s. 8d. per annum; and it was afterwards further augmented by archbishop Sheldon, anno 28 Charles II. with twenty pounds per annum more, the whole to be paid by the several lessees of these parsonages. Which sum of seventy pounds is now the clear yearly certified value of it. In 1588 here were communicants five hundred; in 1640, eight hundred and fifty. So far as appears by the registers, the increase of births in this parish is almost double to what they were two hundred years ago.
The news was that Jools' cough was little better. She got a mail back from the surgery on Friday saying her (non-urgent) appointment with the doctor was on December 14th. But as we were going to Tesco, she would have a chat with the pharmasist and see about some of the behind the counter stuff.
Winter has arrived, though no snow as yet, but the wind is set in the east, its cloudy and feels raw outside.
I would spend part of the day churchcrawling.
After shopping.
We go to Tesco, Jools really only coming so she could get something for her cough.
With a few bottles of tripel and cider we managed to spend £140. A bag of rice, not white easy cook rice I'll admit, but that's £4.50 now.
Wow.
Back home with the shopping and a bottle of serious cough syrup, we put the shopping away and have breakfast.
No surprise then that Jools wasn't coming out with me, she wanted to get the cough under control, would only take the new syrup when needed as it can make you drowsy.
I had a list of churches, and first up was our local one, St Margaret.
They were having a craft day. I thought it might be a fayre, but was a kid's craft day. Anyway, the church would be open and I could take shots of the memorials and windows.
There were pagan heads at the top of each column, and as corbel stones. The more I looked, the more pagan heads, even at the top of two of the columns, but not all.
No real ancient glass, but good quality Victorian.
The church itself is the triumph, being an early Norman and well preserved.
Although, sadly, the tower is in poor repair and needs reroofing, which is why it is currently encased in scaffolding.
I am sure when we called in at Barham last week, a sign said there was a craft fayre on, so would be open. I would go back, and get some shots, I thought.
Its a half hour drive, if that out of Dover down the A2 and off at the Wingham turning, down the valley and parking outside the church, its spire pointing to heaven.
Inside the church there was no fayre again, just a warden showing a lady round. We all said "hello", and I went about getting shots.
I have been here at least three times, but now take the big lens to get details of the windows and memorials high up, so there are always new details to reveal.
Star item is the window of St George and the dragon, though is hidden in the north-west corner, and best viewed from the stairs to the belltower.
After 20 minutes, the visitor left and the warden turned off the lights, forgetting I was there, but I had my shots.
From Barham its a short drive to Bridge, then along the Nailbourne to Patrixbourne, where I see the door was open, but I had another target: Bekesbourne, the next village along, crossing the dry bed of the bourne, stopping on the lane outside the church. I look left to the Old Palace, but there were no cars parked there, so no point of even knocking, I drove on.
Instead of turning left back to Bridge, I turn right towards Littlebourne, no real idea where I was going.
Littlebourne could wait for another time, I only went back there in 2020, I went to Wingham, driving on towards Sandwich.
I thought, it's a long time since I was at Woodnesborough, I could cut through Ash and go there.
Which is what I did.
I could have stopped at Ash too, that's usually open, but there'll be other times. I have been there twice and got good shots last time for sure.
From Ash, the road climbs, leading to Woodnesborough, Woden's Hill, where there was a hill fort in antiquity. The church is on the highest point, overlooking the marshes of the old Wantsum Channel, and on to Sandwich which when the Channel was still flooded, was on a spit of land.
The church is a marker for miles around due to its cupola, something is shares with Ringwould near to home.
Inside it was so dark, I thought I would need to find the lights, but I could not find them. So, I hoped the camera would cope without.
It did.
But again, I was here really to record the windows, which were rich in detail. I took 215 shots here, 560 in a morning at three churches.
Not bad.
But I was done, what light there was, was fading, even though it was only just after one. I would go home.
Once home I got busy.
I have a taste for beans. Not baked beans, but Boston Beans. I had a recipe, and we got the ingredients that morning, so went about making a huge panful. Three tins of haricot beans, tomatoes, stock, spices, bacon, pork belly, mustard, and black treacle.
Cooked on the hob for an hour, then cooked long and low in the oven for four hours.
What came out looked and tasted like fine Boston Beans. We will be eating these for weeks.
At the same time I make fritters.
The plan was to be all cooked and eaten before the football began at three.
I did it with half an hour to spare, the leftover wine drunk too, meaning I would struggle to stay awake for Holland v USA game. Netherlands win pretty comfortably.
And in the evening, with a soundtrack of funk and soul thanks to Craig, I watch Argentine v Australia, which was a stunning game.
Even better, I sat on the sofa to watch, Cleo eyed me as if to say how dare you take my chosen sleeping place. But she came over, paced around, then lay between the arm of the sofa and my leg. Scully lay on the other side. I had 50% of the household cats.
Happier than I have been for ages.
Best of all was that the syrup worked, stopped the coughing, and Jools fell asleep right off.
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A morning out, revisiting some familiar fairly local churches.
Final visit was to Woodnesborough, aka Woden's Hill, near to Sandwich.
It was open, but no light switch that could be found meant that the church was dark, but the camera coped well.
Woodnesborough sits on the highest point near to the coast, its cupola marking the spot, and visible for miles in all directions.
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The tower makes this church one of the easiest in Kent to identify. It is capped by a little cupola and wooden balustrade of eighteenth-century date that replaced a medieval spire. During the Middle Ages the church was owned by Leeds Priory which invested heavily in the structure, and was no doubt responsible for the excellent sedilia built in about 1350. The canopy is supported by a quadripartite vault in turn supported by angry little heads. Above the sedilia is the cut-off end of a prickett beam. The east window, of Decorated style stonework, has a thirteenth-century hangover in the form of a shafted rere-arch. There are two excellent modern stained glass windows designed by F.W Cole, which show the Creation (1980) and St Francis (1992). The good altar rails are of Queen Anne's reign, as are the splendid Royal Arms.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Woodnesborough
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WOODNESBOROUGH,
¶OR Winsborough, as it is usually called, lies the next parish northward from Eastry, being written in the survey of Domesday, Wanesberge. It took its name according to Verstegan, from the Saxon idol Woden, (and it is spelt by some Wodensborough) whose place of worship was in it; however that may be, the termination of the word berge, or borough, shews it to be of high antiquity.
art of this parish, over which the manor of Boxley claims, is within the jurisdiction of the justices of the town and port of Sandwich, and liberty of the cinque ports; and the residue is in the hundred of Eastry, and jurisdiction of the county of Kent.
There are three boroughs in this parish, viz. Cold Friday, Hamwold, and Marshborough; the borsholders of which are chosen at the petty sessions of the justices, acting at Wingham, for the east division of the lath of St. Augustine.
THIS PARISH is large, being two miles and an half one way, and upwards of a mile and an half the other. The church stands nearly in the centre of it, on high ground. At a small distance from the church is Woodnesborough hill, both of which are sea marks. This hill is a very high mount, seemingly thrown up by art, and consisting of a sandy earth, it has been thought by some to have been the place on which the idol Woden from whom this place is supposed to have taken its name) was worshipped in the time of the Saxons; by others to be the burial place of Vortimer, the Saxon king, who died in 457, whilst others suppose this mount was raised over those who fell in the battle fought between Ceoldred, king of Mercia, and Ina, king of the West Saxons, in the year 715, at Woodnesbeorb, according to the Saxon chronicle, which name Dr. Plot supposes to be Woodnesborough. Vortimer, as our historians tell us, at his death, desired to be buried near the place where the Saxons used to land, being persuaded that his bones would deter them from any attempt in future. Though authors differ much on the place of his burial, yet this mount at Woodnesborough is as probable, or more so, perhaps, than any other, for it was near to, and was cast up so high as to be plainly seen from the Portus Rutupinus, which at that time was the general landing place of the Saxon fleets. Some years ago there were found upon the top of it sundry sepulchral remains, viz. a glass vessel (engraved by the Rev. Mr. Douglas, in his Nænia;) a fibula, (engraved by Mr. Eoys, in his collections for Sandwich;) the head of a spear, and some fragments of Roman vessels. Much of the earth of sand has been lately removed round the sides of it, but nothing further has been found.
At a small distance northward from hence, at the bottom of a short steep hill, lies the village called Woodnesborough-street, and sometimes Cold Fridaystreet, containing thirty four houses. The vicaragehouse is situated in the middle of it, being a new handsome building; almost contiguous to it is a handsome sashed house, belonging to the Jull family, now made use of as a poor-house; through this street the road leads to Sandwich. West ward of the street stands the parsonage-house, late the seat of Oliver Stephens, esq. deceased, and now of his window, as will be further noticed hereafter. Besides the manors and estates in this parish, particularly described, in the western parts of it there are several hamlets, as Somerfield, Barnsole, Coombe, with New-street, Great and Little Flemings, Ringlemere, and the farm of Christians Court.
In the north east part of the parish, the road from Eastry, by the parsonage of Woodnesborough northwestward, divides; one road, which in antient deeds is called Lovekys-street, going towards Ash-street; the other through the hamlet of Marshborough, formerly called Marshborough, alias Stipins, to Each End and Sandwich, the two windmills close to the entrance of which are with in the bounds of this parish. Each, Upper Each, called antiently Upriche, and Each End, antiently called Netheriche, were both formerly accounted manors, and are mentioned as such in the marriage settlement of Henry Whyte, esq. in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign. After the Whytes, these manors passed in like manner as Grove, in this parish, to the James's. Upper Each, or Upriche, has for many years belonged to the family of Abbot, of Ramsgate, and is now the property of John Abbot, esq. of Canterbury. Each End, or Netheriche, belongs, one moiety to the heirs or devisees of the late earl of Strafford, and the other moiety to John Matson, esq. of Sandwich.
¶It cannot but occur to the reader how much this parish abounds with Saxon names, besides the name of Wodens borough, the street of Cold Friday, mentioned before, is certainly derived from the Saxon words, Cola, and Friga, which latter was the name of a goddess, worshipped by the Saxons, and her day Frige-deag, from whence our day of Friday is derived; other places in this parish, mentioned before likewise, claim, surely, their original from the same language.
This parish contains about 3000 acres, the whole rents of it being about 3373l. yearly value. It is very bare of coppice wood; the Old Wood, so called, in Ringleton, being the only one in it. The soil of this parish is very rich and fertile, equal to those the most so in this neighbourhood, particularly as to the plantations of hops, which have much increased within these few years past. The middle of the parish is high ground, and is in general a flat open country of arable common fields. West and south-westward the lands are more inclosed with hedges. North and north-westward of the parsonage, towards Sandwich, they are low and wet, consisting of a large level of marsh land, the nearness of which makes the other parts of this parish rather unhealthy, which is not otherwise very pleasant in any part of it. There was a fair held here yearly, on Holy Thursday, but it has been for some time disused.
In Ringleton field, in this parish, there was found about the year 1514, a fine gold coin, weighing about twelve shillings, with a loop of the same metal to hang it by; on one side was the figure of a young man in armour, a helmet on his head, and a spear over his right shoulder; on the reverse, the figure of Victory, with a sword in her hand, the point downwards.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, consists of a nave, and two isles, having a square tower steeple at the west end, with a modern wooden turret and vane at the top of it, in which are five bells, made in 1676. It had a high spire on the tower, which was taken down some years ago. At the east end of the chancel is a marble tablet for John Cason, esq. of this place, justice of the peace, obt. 1718; John Cason, esq. his son, obt. 1755; arms,Argent, a chevron, sable, between three wolves heads, erased, gules, on an escutcheon of pretence, sable, a chevron, between three fleurs de lis, of the field; another for Thomas Blechenden, of the antient family of that name, of Aldington, in Kent, obt. 1661; arms, Azure, a fess nebulee, argent, between three lions heads erased, or, attired, gules, impalingBoys. On the south side, an antient altar monument with gothic pillars and arches, having had shields and arms, now obliterated. Against the wall, under the canopy, two brass plates, which have been removed to this place, from two grave-stones in the chancel; the first for Sir John Parcar, late vicar of this church, who died the v.day of May, a°o dni m° v° xiij° on the second are Latin verses to the memory of Nichs Spencer, esq. obt. 1593. In the middle of the chancel, a gravestone for William Docksey, esq. of Snellston, in Derbyshire, a justice of the peace, obt. 1760; Sarah his wife, youngest daughter of John Cason, esq. obt. 1774; arms,Or, a lion rampant, azure, surmounted of a bend, argent. On a gravestone on the north side of the chancel, on a brass plate, On a chevron, three quatersoils, between three annulets, quartering other coats, now obliterated, for Master Myghell Heyre, sumtyme vicar of this churche, who dyed the xxii day of July, m° v° xxviii. In the north isle are several memorials for the family of Gillow, arms, A lion rampant, in chief, three fleurs de lis. At the entrance into the chancel, on a grave-stone, on a brass plate, John Hill, gent. of the parish of Nassall, in Staffordshire, obt. 1605. A mural monument for William Gibbs, of this parish, obt. 1777; arms,Argent, three battle axes, in fess, sable. In the church-yard are altar tombs to the memory of the Julls, and for Sladden; one for John Verall, gent. sometime mayor of Sandwich, obt. 1610; and another for John Benchkin, of Pouton, obt. 1639.
There were formerly painted in the windows of this church,Or, a chief indented, azure, for John de Sandwich. Several coats of arms, among which were those of Valence and St. Leger,Argent, three leaves in sinster bend, their points downward, proper.— On a canton, azure, three crescents, or, for Grove.— Argent, three escallops in chief, or, in base a crescent, gules, for Helpestone, usually called Hilpurton, bailiff of Sandwich, in 1299. A shield, being Helpeston's badge, another On a fess engrailed, three cinquefoils, between three garbs, for John Hill, of Nasall, in Staffordshire, who lies buried in this church. —A fess engrailed, three lions rampant, in chief, on the fess, a crescent for difference, for Spencer, customer, of Sandwich. — Quarterly, four coats; first, On a chevron, three quaterfoils; second, Per pale, ermine and argent; third, A cross, between four pomegranates, slipped; sourth,Three bars, wavy, for Michael Heyre, vicar here in 1520.
The church of Woodnesborough was given, in the reign of king Henry I. by a religious woman, one Ascelina de Wodensberg, to the priory of Ledes, soon after the foundation of it; to which deed was witness Robert de Crevequer, founder of the priory, Elias his son, and others; which gift was confirmed by the said Robert, who by his charter, released to the priory all his right and title to it. It was likewise confirmed by archbishop Theobald, and several of his successors, and by king Henry III. by his charter of inspeximus in his 41st year.
Archbishop William Corboil, who came to the see of Canterbury, three years after the foundation of Ledes priory, at the instance and petition of Ascelina above mentioned, who resigned this church into his hands for this purpose, appropriated it to the prior and convent, for the finding of necessary cloaths, for the canons there; and a vicarage was accordingly endowed in it.
There was a controversy between the prior and convent, and Adam, vicar of this church, in 1627, anno 14 Henry II. concerning the great tithes arising from the crofts and curtilages within this parish, which was referred to the prior of Rochester, who was the pope's delegate for this purpose, who determined that the prior and convent of Ledes, as rectors of this church, should receive, without any exception, all the great tithes of wheat, barley, oats, beans, peas, and of every fort of corn arising, or to arise from all lands, crofts, curtilages, or other places whatever, situated within the bounds, of this parish; and that the prior and convent should yearly pay to the said vicar, and his successors, half a seam of barley, and half a seam of beans, at the nativity of our Lord. (fn. 10)
¶After which, this parsonage appropriate,(which appears to have been esteemed as a manor) together with the advowson of the vicarage, remained with the prior and convent of Ledes, till its dissolution in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when it was, with all its lands and possessions, surrendered into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, in his 33d year, settled both parsonage and advowson on his new-founded dean and chapter of Rochester, with whom they remain at this time. On the dissolution of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. this parsonage was surveyed in 1649, when is appeared that the manor or parsonage of Woodnesborough, with the scite thereof, and all manner of tithes belonging to it, with a garden and orchard of one acre, was valued all together at 300l. that the lessee was to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church; that the vicarage was worth fifty pounds per annum. The then incumbent was under sequestration, and there was none to serve the cure; and that the church was then quite ruinated, and in great decay. (fn. 11)
www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol10/pp121-144
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A long and light church, best viewed from the south. Like nearby Ickham it is cruciform in plan, with a west rather than central, tower. Sometimes this is the result of a later tower being added, but here it is an early feature indeed, at least the same age (if not earlier) than the body of the church. Lord Kitchener lived in the parish, so his name appears on the War Memorial. At the west end of the south aisle, tucked out of the way, is the memorial to Sir Basil Dixwell (d 1750). There are two twentieth century windows by Martin Travers. The 1925 east window shows Our Lady and Child beneath the typical Travers Baroque Canopy. Under the tower, affixed to the wall, are some Flemish tiles, purchased under the will of John Digge who died in 1375. His memorial brass survives in the Vestry.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Barham
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Many churches in Kent are well known for their yew trees but St. John the Baptist at Barham is noteworthy for its magnificent beech trees.
The Church guide suggests that there has been a Church here since the 9th Century but the present structure was probably started in the 12th Century although Syms, in his book about Kent Country Churches, states that there is a hint of possible Norman construction at the base of the present tower. The bulk of the Church covers the Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular periods of building. Many of the huge roof beams, ties and posts are original 14th Century as are the three arches leading into the aisle..
In the Northwest corner is a small 13th Century window containing modern glass depicting St. George slaying the dragon and dedicated to the 23rd Signal Company. The Church also contains a White Ensign which was presented to it by Viscount Broome, a local resident. The Ensign was from 'H.M.S. Raglan' which was also commanded by Viscount Broome. The ship was sunk in January, 1918 by the German light cruiser 'Breslau'.
The walls contain various mural tablets. Hanging high on the west wall is a helmet said to have belonged to Sir Basil Dixwell of Broome Park. The helmet probably never saw action but was carried at his funeral.
The floor in the north transept is uneven because some years ago three brasses were found there. According to popular medieval custom engraved metal cut-outs were sunk into indented stone slabs and secured with rivets and pitch. In order to save them from further damage the brasses were lifted and placed on the walls. The oldest dates from about 1370 is of a civilian but very mutilated. The other two are in good condition and dated about 1460. One is of a woman wearing the dress of a widow which was similar to a nun. The other is of a bare headed man in plate armour. These are believed to be of John Digges and his wife Joan.
At the west end of the church is a list of Rectors and Priests-in-Charge - the first being Otho Caputh in 1280. Notice should be made of Richard Hooker (1594), the author of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. The tiles incorporated into the wall were originally in place in the Chancel about 1375. They were left by John Digges whose Will instructed that he was to be buried in the Chancel and "my executors are to buy Flanders tiles to pave the said Chancel".
The 14th century font is large enough to submerse a baby - as would have been the custom of the time. The bowl is octagonal representing the first day of the new week, the day of Christ's resurrection. The cover is Jacobean.
The Millennium Window in the South Transept was designed and constructed by Alexandra Le Rossignol and was dedicated in July 2001. The cost of the project (approximately £6,500) was raised locally with the first donation being made by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey.
The porch contains two wooden plaques listing the names of men from the village who were killed in the Great Wars - among them being Field Marshall Lord Kitchener of Broome Park.
www.barham-kent.org.uk/landmark_church.htm
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ANTIENTLY written Bereham, lies the next parish eastward. There are five boroughs in it, viz. of Buxton, Outelmeston, Derrington, Breach, and Shelving. The manor of Bishopsborne claims over almost the whole of this parish, at the court of which the four latter borsholders are chosen, and the manors of Reculver and Adisham over a small part of it.
BARHAM is situated at the confines of that beautiful country heretofore described, the same Nailbourne valley running through it, near which, in like manner the land is very fertile, but all the rest of it is a chalky barren soil. On the rise of the hill northward from it, is the village called Barham-street, with the church, and just beyond the summit of it, on the further side Barham court, having its front towards the downs, over part of which this parish extends, and gives name to them. At the foot of the same hill, further eastward, is the mansion of Brome, with its adjoining plantatious, a conspicuous object from the downs, to which by inclosing a part of them, the grounds extend as far as the Dover road, close to Denne-hill, and a costly entrance has been erected into them there. By the corner of Brome house the road leads to the left through Denton-street, close up to which this parish extends, towards Folkestone; and to the right, towards Eleham and Hythe. One this road, within the bounds of this parish, in a chalky and stony country, of poor barren land, there is a large waste of pasture, called Breach down, on which there are a number of tumuli, or barrows. By the road side there have been found several skeletons, one of which had round its neck a string of beads, of various forms and sizes, from a pidgeon's egg to a pea, and by it a sword, dagger, and spear; the others lay in good order, without any particular thing to distinguish them. (fn. 1)
In the Nailbourne valley, near the stream, are the two hamlets of Derrington and South Barham; from thence the hills, on the opposite side of it to those already mentioned, rise southward pretty high, the tops of them being covered with woods, one of them being that large one called Covert wood, a manor belonging to the archbishop, and partly in this parish, being the beginning of a poor hilly country, covered with stones, and enveloped with frequent woods.
BARHAM, which, as appears by the survey of Domesday, formerly lay in a hundred of its own name, was given anno 809, by the estimation of seven ploughlands, by Cenulph, king of Kent, to archbishop Wlfred, free from all secular demands, except the trinoda necessitas, but this was for the use of his church; for the archbishop, anno 824, gave the monks lands in Egelhorne and Langeduna, in exchange for it. After which it came into the possession of archbishop Stigand, but, as appears by Domesday, not in right of his archbishopric, at the taking of which survey, it was become part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, under the title of whose lands it is thus entered in it:
In Berham hundred, Fulbert holds of the bishop Berham. It was taxed at six sulings. The arable land is thirty two carucates. In demesne there are three carucates, and fifty two villeins, with twenty cottagers having eighteen carucates. There is a church, and one mill of twenty shillings and four pence. There are twentlyfive fisheries of thirty-five shillings all four pence. Of average, that is service, sixty shilling. Of herbage twenty six shillings, and twenty acres of meadow Of pannage sufficient for one hundred and fifty hogs. Of this manor the bishop gave one berewic to Herbert, the son of Ivo, which is called Hugham, and there be has one carucate in demesne, and twelve villeins, with nine carucates, and twenty acres of meadow. Of the same manor the bisoop gave to Osberne Paisforere one suling and two mills of fifty sbillings, and there is in demesne one carucate, and four villeins with one carucate. The whole of Barbam, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was worth forty pounds, when be received it the like, and yet it yielded to him one hundred pounds, now Berhem of itself is worth forty pounds, and Hucham ten pounds, and this which Osberne bas six pounds, and the land of one Ralph, a knight, is worth forty shillings. This manor Stigand, the archbishop held, but it was not of the archbishopric, but was of the demesne ferm of king Edward.
On the bishop's disgrace four years afterwards, and his estates being confiscated to the crown, the seignory of this parish most probably returned to the see of Canterbury, with which it has ever since continued. The estate mentioned above in Domesday to have been held of the bishop by Fulbert, comprehended, in all likelihood, the several manors and other estates in this parish, now held of the manor of Bishopsborne, one of these was THE MANOR AND SEAT OF BARHAM-COURT, situated near the church, which probably was originally the court-lodge of the manor of Barham in very early times, before it became united to that of Bishopsborne, and in king Henry II.'s time was held of the archbishop by knight's service, by Sir Randal Fitzurse, who was one of the four knights belonging to the king's houshould, who murdered archbishop Becket anno 1170; after perpetrating which, Sir Randal fled into Ireland, and changed his name to Mac-Mahon, and one of his relations took possession of this estate, and assumed the name of Berham from it; and accordingly, his descendant Warin de Berham is recorded in the return made by the sheriff anno 12 and 13 king John, among others of the archbishop's tenants by knight's service, as holding lands in Berham of him, in whose posterity it continued till Thomas Barham, esq. in the very beginning of king James I.'s reign, alienated it to the Rev. Charles Fotherbye, dean of Canterbury, who died possessed of it in 1619. He was eldest son of Martin Fotherby, of Great Grimsby, in Lincolnshire, and eldest brother of Martin Fotherby, bishop of Salisbury. He had a grant of arms, Gules, a cross of lozenges flory, or, assigned to him and Martin his brother, by Camden, clarencieux, in 1605. (fn. 2) His only surviving son Sir John Fotherbye, of Barham-court, died in 1666, and was buried in that cathedral with his father. At length his grandson Charles, who died in 1720, leaving two daughters his coheirs; Mary, the eldest, inherited this manor by her father's will, and afterwards married Henry Mompesson, esq. of Wiltshire, (fn. 3) who resided at Barhamcourt, and died in 1732, s. p. and she again carried this manor in marriage to Sir Edward Dering, bart. of Surrenden, whose second wife she was. (fn. 4) He lest her surviving, and three children by her, Charles Dering, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Farnaby, bart. since deceased, by whom he has an only surviving daughter, married to George Dering, esq. of Rolling, the youngest son of the late Sir Edw. Dering, bart. and her first cousin; Mary married Sir Robert Hilyard, bart. and Thomas Dering, esq. of London. Lady Dering died in 1775, and was succeeded by her eldest son Charles Dering, esq. afterwards of Barhamcourt, the present owner of it. It is at present occupied by Gen. Sir Charles Grey, bart. K. B. commanderin chief of the southern district of this kingdom.
THE MANORS OF BROME and OUTELMESTONE, alias DIGGS COURT, are situated in this parish; the latter in the valley, at the western boundary of it, was the first residence in this county of the eminent family of Digg, or, as they were asterwards called, Diggs, whence it gained its name of Diggs-court. John, son of Roger de Mildenhall, otherwise called Digg, the first-mentioned in the pedigrees of this family, lived in king Henry III.'s reign, at which time he, or one of this family of the same name, was possessed of the aldermanry of Newingate, in Canterbury, as part of their inheritance. His descendants continued to reside at Diggs-court, and bore for their arms, Gules, on a cross argent, five eagles with two heads displayed, sable, One of whom, James Diggs, of Diggs-court, died in 1535. At his death he gave the manor and seat of Outelmeston, alias Diggs-court, to his eldest son (by his first wife) John, and the manor of Brome to his youngest son, (by his second wife) Leonard, whose descendants were of Chilham castle. (fn. 5) John Diggs, esq. was of Diggs-court, whose descendant Thomas Posthumus Diggs, esq. about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, alienated this manor, with Diggs-place, to Capt. Halsey, of London, and he sold it to Sir Tho. Somes, alderman of London, who again parted with it to Sir B. Dixwell, bart. and he passed it away to Sir Thomas Williams, bart. whose heir Sir John Williams, bart. conveyed it, about the year 1706, to Daniel and Nathaniel Matson, and on the death of the former, the latter became wholly possessed of it, and his descendant Henry Matson, about the year 1730, gave it by will to the trustees for the repair of Dover harbour, in whom it continues at this time vested for that purpose.
BUT THE MANOR OF BROME, which came to Leonard Diggs, esq. by his father's will as above-mentioned, was sold by him to Basil Dixwell, esq. second son of Cha. Dixwell, esq. of Coton, in Warwickshire, then of Tevlingham, in Folkestone, who having built a handsome mansion for his residence on this manor, removed to it in 1622. In the second year of king Charles I. he served the office of sheriff with much honour and hospitality; after which he was knighted, and cveated a baronet. He died unmarried in 1641, having devised this manor and seat, with the rest of his estates, to his nephew Mark Dixwell, son of his elder brother William, of Coton above-mentioned, who afterwards resided at Brome, whose son Basil Dixwell, esq. of Brome, was anno 12 Charles II. created a baronet. He bore for his arms, Argent, a chevron, gules, between three sleurs de lis, sable. His only son Sir Basil Dixwell, bart. of Brome, died at Brome,s. p. in 1750, and devised this, among the rest of his estates, to his kinsman George Oxenden, esq. second son of Sir Geo. Oxenden, bart. of Dean, in Wingham, with an injunction for him to take the name and arms of Dixwell, for which an act passed anno 25 George II. but he died soon afterwards, unmarried, having devised this manor and seat to his father Sir George Oxenden, who settled it on his eldest and only surviving son, now Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. who is the present owner of it. He resides at Brome, which he has, as well as the grounds about it, much altered and improved for these many years successively.
SHELVING is a manor, situated in the borough of its own name, at the eastern boundary of this parish, which was so called from a family who were in antient times the possessors of it. John de Shelving resided here in king Edward I.'s reign, and married Helen, daughter and heir of John de Bourne, by whom he had Waretius de Shelving, whose son, J. de Shelving, of Shelvingborne, married Benedicta de Hougham, and died possessed of this manor anno 4 Edward III. After which it descended to their daughter Benedicta, who carried it in marriage to Sir Edmund de Haut, of Petham, in whose descendants, in like manner as Shelvington, alias Hautsborne, above-described, it continued down to Sir William Haut, of Hautsborne, in king Henry VIII's reign, whose eldest daughter and coheir Elizabeth carried it in marriage to Tho. Colepeper, esq. of Bedgbury, who in the beginning of king Edward VI.'s reign passed it away to Walter Mantle, whose window carried it by a second marriage to Christopher Carlell, gent. who bore for his arms, Or, a cross flory, gules; one of whose descendants sold it to Stephen Hobday, in whose name it continued till Hester, daughter of Hills Hobday, carried it in marriage to J. Lade, esq. of Boughton, and he having obtained an act for the purpose, alienated it to E. Bridges, esq. of Wootton-court, who passed away part of it to Sir George Oxenden, bart. whose son Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. of Brome, now owns it; but Mr. Bridges died possessed of the remaining part in 1780, and his eldest son the Rev. Edward Timewell Brydges, is the present possessor of it.
MAY DEACON, as it has been for many years past both called and written, is a seat in the southern part of this parish, adjoining to Denton-street, in which parish part of it is situated. Its original and true name was Madekin, being so called from a family who were owners of it, and continued so, as appears by the deeds of it, till king Henry VI's reign, in the beginning of which it passed from that name to Sydnor, in which it continued till king Henry VIII.'s reign, when Paul Sydnor, who upon his obtaining from the king a grant of Brenchley manor, removed thither, and alienated this seat to James Brooker, who resided here, and his sole daughter and heir carried it in marriage, in queen Elizabeth's reign, to Sir Henry Oxenden, of Dene, in Wingham, whose grandson Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. sold it in 1664, to Edward Adye, esq. the second son of John Adye, esq. of Doddington, one of whose daughters and coheirs, Rosamond, entitled her husband George Elcock, esq. afterwards of Madekin, to it, and his daughter and heir Elizabeth carried it in marriage to Capt. Charles Fotherby, whose eldest daughter and coheir Mary, entitled her two successive husbands, Henry Mompesson, esq. and Sir Edward Dering, bart. to the possession of it, and Charles Dering, esq. of Barham-court, eldest son of the latter, by her, is at this time the owner of it. The seat is now inhabited by Henry Oxenden, esq.
There are no parochial charities. The poor constantly maintained are about forty, casually fifteen.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanryof Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. John Baptist, is a handsome building, consisting of a body and side isle, a cross or sept, and a high chancel, having a slim tall spire at the west end, in which are four bells. In the chancel are memorials for George Elcock, esq. of Madeacon, obt. 1703, and for his wife and children; for Charles Bean, A. M. rector, obt. 1731. A monument for William Barne, gent. son of the Rev. Miles Barne. His grandfather was Sir William Barne, of Woolwich, obt. 1706; arms, Azure, three leopards faces, argent. Several memorials for the Nethersoles, of this parish. In the south sept is a magnificent pyramid of marble for the family of Dixwell, who lie buried in a vault underneath, and inscriptions for them. In the north sept is a monument for the Fotherbys. On the pavement, on a gravestone, are the figures of an armed knight (his feet on a greyhound) and his wife; arms, A cross, quartering six lozenges, three and three. In the east window these arms, Gules, three crowns, or—Gules, three lions passant in pale, or. This chapel was dedicated to St. Giles, and some of the family of Diggs were buried in it; and there are memorials for several of the Legrands. There are three tombs of the Lades in the church-yard, the inscriptions obliterated, but the dates remaining are 1603, 1625, and 1660. There were formerly in the windows of this church these arms, Ermine, a chief, quarterly, or, and gules, and underneath, Jacobus Peccam. Another coat, Bruine and Rocheleyquartered; and another, Gules, a fess between three lions heads, erased, argent, and underneath,Orate p ais Roberti Baptford & Johe ux; which family resided at Barham, the last of whom, Sir John Baptford, lest an only daughter and heir, married to John Earde, of Denton.
¶The church of Barham has always been accounted as a chapel to the church of Bishopsborne, and as such is included in the valuation of it in the king's books. In 1588 here were communicants one hundred and eighty; in 1640 there were two hundred and fifty.
The news was that Jools' cough was little better. She got a mail back from the surgery on Friday saying her (non-urgent) appointment with the doctor was on December 14th. But as we were going to Tesco, she would have a chat with the pharmasist and see about some of the behind the counter stuff.
Winter has arrived, though no snow as yet, but the wind is set in the east, its cloudy and feels raw outside.
I would spend part of the day churchcrawling.
After shopping.
We go to Tesco, Jools really only coming so she could get something for her cough.
With a few bottles of tripel and cider we managed to spend £140. A bag of rice, not white easy cook rice I'll admit, but that's £4.50 now.
Wow.
Back home with the shopping and a bottle of serious cough syrup, we put the shopping away and have breakfast.
No surprise then that Jools wasn't coming out with me, she wanted to get the cough under control, would only take the new syrup when needed as it can make you drowsy.
I had a list of churches, and first up was our local one, St Margaret.
They were having a craft day. I thought it might be a fayre, but was a kid's craft day. Anyway, the church would be open and I could take shots of the memorials and windows.
There were pagan heads at the top of each column, and as corbel stones. The more I looked, the more pagan heads, even at the top of two of the columns, but not all.
No real ancient glass, but good quality Victorian.
The church itself is the triumph, being an early Norman and well preserved.
Although, sadly, the tower is in poor repair and needs reroofing, which is why it is currently encased in scaffolding.
I am sure when we called in at Barham last week, a sign said there was a craft fayre on, so would be open. I would go back, and get some shots, I thought.
Its a half hour drive, if that out of Dover down the A2 and off at the Wingham turning, down the valley and parking outside the church, its spire pointing to heaven.
Inside the church there was no fayre again, just a warden showing a lady round. We all said "hello", and I went about getting shots.
I have been here at least three times, but now take the big lens to get details of the windows and memorials high up, so there are always new details to reveal.
Star item is the window of St George and the dragon, though is hidden in the north-west corner, and best viewed from the stairs to the belltower.
After 20 minutes, the visitor left and the warden turned off the lights, forgetting I was there, but I had my shots.
From Barham its a short drive to Bridge, then along the Nailbourne to Patrixbourne, where I see the door was open, but I had another target: Bekesbourne, the next village along, crossing the dry bed of the bourne, stopping on the lane outside the church. I look left to the Old Palace, but there were no cars parked there, so no point of even knocking, I drove on.
Instead of turning left back to Bridge, I turn right towards Littlebourne, no real idea where I was going.
Littlebourne could wait for another time, I only went back there in 2020, I went to Wingham, driving on towards Sandwich.
I thought, it's a long time since I was at Woodnesborough, I could cut through Ash and go there.
Which is what I did.
I could have stopped at Ash too, that's usually open, but there'll be other times. I have been there twice and got good shots last time for sure.
From Ash, the road climbs, leading to Woodnesborough, Woden's Hill, where there was a hill fort in antiquity. The church is on the highest point, overlooking the marshes of the old Wantsum Channel, and on to Sandwich which when the Channel was still flooded, was on a spit of land.
The church is a marker for miles around due to its cupola, something is shares with Ringwould near to home.
Inside it was so dark, I thought I would need to find the lights, but I could not find them. So, I hoped the camera would cope without.
It did.
But again, I was here really to record the windows, which were rich in detail. I took 215 shots here, 560 in a morning at three churches.
Not bad.
But I was done, what light there was, was fading, even though it was only just after one. I would go home.
Once home I got busy.
I have a taste for beans. Not baked beans, but Boston Beans. I had a recipe, and we got the ingredients that morning, so went about making a huge panful. Three tins of haricot beans, tomatoes, stock, spices, bacon, pork belly, mustard, and black treacle.
Cooked on the hob for an hour, then cooked long and low in the oven for four hours.
What came out looked and tasted like fine Boston Beans. We will be eating these for weeks.
At the same time I make fritters.
The plan was to be all cooked and eaten before the football began at three.
I did it with half an hour to spare, the leftover wine drunk too, meaning I would struggle to stay awake for Holland v USA game. Netherlands win pretty comfortably.
And in the evening, with a soundtrack of funk and soul thanks to Craig, I watch Argentine v Australia, which was a stunning game.
Even better, I sat on the sofa to watch, Cleo eyed me as if to say how dare you take my chosen sleeping place. But she came over, paced around, then lay between the arm of the sofa and my leg. Scully lay on the other side. I had 50% of the household cats.
Happier than I have been for ages.
Best of all was that the syrup worked, stopped the coughing, and Jools fell asleep right off.
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A morning out, revisiting some familiar fairly local churches.
Final visit was to Woodnesborough, aka Woden's Hill, near to Sandwich.
It was open, but no light switch that could be found meant that the church was dark, but the camera coped well.
Woodnesborough sits on the highest point near to the coast, its cupola marking the spot, and visible for miles in all directions.
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The tower makes this church one of the easiest in Kent to identify. It is capped by a little cupola and wooden balustrade of eighteenth-century date that replaced a medieval spire. During the Middle Ages the church was owned by Leeds Priory which invested heavily in the structure, and was no doubt responsible for the excellent sedilia built in about 1350. The canopy is supported by a quadripartite vault in turn supported by angry little heads. Above the sedilia is the cut-off end of a prickett beam. The east window, of Decorated style stonework, has a thirteenth-century hangover in the form of a shafted rere-arch. There are two excellent modern stained glass windows designed by F.W Cole, which show the Creation (1980) and St Francis (1992). The good altar rails are of Queen Anne's reign, as are the splendid Royal Arms.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Woodnesborough
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WOODNESBOROUGH,
¶OR Winsborough, as it is usually called, lies the next parish northward from Eastry, being written in the survey of Domesday, Wanesberge. It took its name according to Verstegan, from the Saxon idol Woden, (and it is spelt by some Wodensborough) whose place of worship was in it; however that may be, the termination of the word berge, or borough, shews it to be of high antiquity.
art of this parish, over which the manor of Boxley claims, is within the jurisdiction of the justices of the town and port of Sandwich, and liberty of the cinque ports; and the residue is in the hundred of Eastry, and jurisdiction of the county of Kent.
There are three boroughs in this parish, viz. Cold Friday, Hamwold, and Marshborough; the borsholders of which are chosen at the petty sessions of the justices, acting at Wingham, for the east division of the lath of St. Augustine.
THIS PARISH is large, being two miles and an half one way, and upwards of a mile and an half the other. The church stands nearly in the centre of it, on high ground. At a small distance from the church is Woodnesborough hill, both of which are sea marks. This hill is a very high mount, seemingly thrown up by art, and consisting of a sandy earth, it has been thought by some to have been the place on which the idol Woden from whom this place is supposed to have taken its name) was worshipped in the time of the Saxons; by others to be the burial place of Vortimer, the Saxon king, who died in 457, whilst others suppose this mount was raised over those who fell in the battle fought between Ceoldred, king of Mercia, and Ina, king of the West Saxons, in the year 715, at Woodnesbeorb, according to the Saxon chronicle, which name Dr. Plot supposes to be Woodnesborough. Vortimer, as our historians tell us, at his death, desired to be buried near the place where the Saxons used to land, being persuaded that his bones would deter them from any attempt in future. Though authors differ much on the place of his burial, yet this mount at Woodnesborough is as probable, or more so, perhaps, than any other, for it was near to, and was cast up so high as to be plainly seen from the Portus Rutupinus, which at that time was the general landing place of the Saxon fleets. Some years ago there were found upon the top of it sundry sepulchral remains, viz. a glass vessel (engraved by the Rev. Mr. Douglas, in his Nænia;) a fibula, (engraved by Mr. Eoys, in his collections for Sandwich;) the head of a spear, and some fragments of Roman vessels. Much of the earth of sand has been lately removed round the sides of it, but nothing further has been found.
At a small distance northward from hence, at the bottom of a short steep hill, lies the village called Woodnesborough-street, and sometimes Cold Fridaystreet, containing thirty four houses. The vicaragehouse is situated in the middle of it, being a new handsome building; almost contiguous to it is a handsome sashed house, belonging to the Jull family, now made use of as a poor-house; through this street the road leads to Sandwich. West ward of the street stands the parsonage-house, late the seat of Oliver Stephens, esq. deceased, and now of his window, as will be further noticed hereafter. Besides the manors and estates in this parish, particularly described, in the western parts of it there are several hamlets, as Somerfield, Barnsole, Coombe, with New-street, Great and Little Flemings, Ringlemere, and the farm of Christians Court.
In the north east part of the parish, the road from Eastry, by the parsonage of Woodnesborough northwestward, divides; one road, which in antient deeds is called Lovekys-street, going towards Ash-street; the other through the hamlet of Marshborough, formerly called Marshborough, alias Stipins, to Each End and Sandwich, the two windmills close to the entrance of which are with in the bounds of this parish. Each, Upper Each, called antiently Upriche, and Each End, antiently called Netheriche, were both formerly accounted manors, and are mentioned as such in the marriage settlement of Henry Whyte, esq. in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign. After the Whytes, these manors passed in like manner as Grove, in this parish, to the James's. Upper Each, or Upriche, has for many years belonged to the family of Abbot, of Ramsgate, and is now the property of John Abbot, esq. of Canterbury. Each End, or Netheriche, belongs, one moiety to the heirs or devisees of the late earl of Strafford, and the other moiety to John Matson, esq. of Sandwich.
¶It cannot but occur to the reader how much this parish abounds with Saxon names, besides the name of Wodens borough, the street of Cold Friday, mentioned before, is certainly derived from the Saxon words, Cola, and Friga, which latter was the name of a goddess, worshipped by the Saxons, and her day Frige-deag, from whence our day of Friday is derived; other places in this parish, mentioned before likewise, claim, surely, their original from the same language.
This parish contains about 3000 acres, the whole rents of it being about 3373l. yearly value. It is very bare of coppice wood; the Old Wood, so called, in Ringleton, being the only one in it. The soil of this parish is very rich and fertile, equal to those the most so in this neighbourhood, particularly as to the plantations of hops, which have much increased within these few years past. The middle of the parish is high ground, and is in general a flat open country of arable common fields. West and south-westward the lands are more inclosed with hedges. North and north-westward of the parsonage, towards Sandwich, they are low and wet, consisting of a large level of marsh land, the nearness of which makes the other parts of this parish rather unhealthy, which is not otherwise very pleasant in any part of it. There was a fair held here yearly, on Holy Thursday, but it has been for some time disused.
In Ringleton field, in this parish, there was found about the year 1514, a fine gold coin, weighing about twelve shillings, with a loop of the same metal to hang it by; on one side was the figure of a young man in armour, a helmet on his head, and a spear over his right shoulder; on the reverse, the figure of Victory, with a sword in her hand, the point downwards.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, consists of a nave, and two isles, having a square tower steeple at the west end, with a modern wooden turret and vane at the top of it, in which are five bells, made in 1676. It had a high spire on the tower, which was taken down some years ago. At the east end of the chancel is a marble tablet for John Cason, esq. of this place, justice of the peace, obt. 1718; John Cason, esq. his son, obt. 1755; arms,Argent, a chevron, sable, between three wolves heads, erased, gules, on an escutcheon of pretence, sable, a chevron, between three fleurs de lis, of the field; another for Thomas Blechenden, of the antient family of that name, of Aldington, in Kent, obt. 1661; arms, Azure, a fess nebulee, argent, between three lions heads erased, or, attired, gules, impalingBoys. On the south side, an antient altar monument with gothic pillars and arches, having had shields and arms, now obliterated. Against the wall, under the canopy, two brass plates, which have been removed to this place, from two grave-stones in the chancel; the first for Sir John Parcar, late vicar of this church, who died the v.day of May, a°o dni m° v° xiij° on the second are Latin verses to the memory of Nichs Spencer, esq. obt. 1593. In the middle of the chancel, a gravestone for William Docksey, esq. of Snellston, in Derbyshire, a justice of the peace, obt. 1760; Sarah his wife, youngest daughter of John Cason, esq. obt. 1774; arms,Or, a lion rampant, azure, surmounted of a bend, argent. On a gravestone on the north side of the chancel, on a brass plate, On a chevron, three quatersoils, between three annulets, quartering other coats, now obliterated, for Master Myghell Heyre, sumtyme vicar of this churche, who dyed the xxii day of July, m° v° xxviii. In the north isle are several memorials for the family of Gillow, arms, A lion rampant, in chief, three fleurs de lis. At the entrance into the chancel, on a grave-stone, on a brass plate, John Hill, gent. of the parish of Nassall, in Staffordshire, obt. 1605. A mural monument for William Gibbs, of this parish, obt. 1777; arms,Argent, three battle axes, in fess, sable. In the church-yard are altar tombs to the memory of the Julls, and for Sladden; one for John Verall, gent. sometime mayor of Sandwich, obt. 1610; and another for John Benchkin, of Pouton, obt. 1639.
There were formerly painted in the windows of this church,Or, a chief indented, azure, for John de Sandwich. Several coats of arms, among which were those of Valence and St. Leger,Argent, three leaves in sinster bend, their points downward, proper.— On a canton, azure, three crescents, or, for Grove.— Argent, three escallops in chief, or, in base a crescent, gules, for Helpestone, usually called Hilpurton, bailiff of Sandwich, in 1299. A shield, being Helpeston's badge, another On a fess engrailed, three cinquefoils, between three garbs, for John Hill, of Nasall, in Staffordshire, who lies buried in this church. —A fess engrailed, three lions rampant, in chief, on the fess, a crescent for difference, for Spencer, customer, of Sandwich. — Quarterly, four coats; first, On a chevron, three quaterfoils; second, Per pale, ermine and argent; third, A cross, between four pomegranates, slipped; sourth,Three bars, wavy, for Michael Heyre, vicar here in 1520.
The church of Woodnesborough was given, in the reign of king Henry I. by a religious woman, one Ascelina de Wodensberg, to the priory of Ledes, soon after the foundation of it; to which deed was witness Robert de Crevequer, founder of the priory, Elias his son, and others; which gift was confirmed by the said Robert, who by his charter, released to the priory all his right and title to it. It was likewise confirmed by archbishop Theobald, and several of his successors, and by king Henry III. by his charter of inspeximus in his 41st year.
Archbishop William Corboil, who came to the see of Canterbury, three years after the foundation of Ledes priory, at the instance and petition of Ascelina above mentioned, who resigned this church into his hands for this purpose, appropriated it to the prior and convent, for the finding of necessary cloaths, for the canons there; and a vicarage was accordingly endowed in it.
There was a controversy between the prior and convent, and Adam, vicar of this church, in 1627, anno 14 Henry II. concerning the great tithes arising from the crofts and curtilages within this parish, which was referred to the prior of Rochester, who was the pope's delegate for this purpose, who determined that the prior and convent of Ledes, as rectors of this church, should receive, without any exception, all the great tithes of wheat, barley, oats, beans, peas, and of every fort of corn arising, or to arise from all lands, crofts, curtilages, or other places whatever, situated within the bounds, of this parish; and that the prior and convent should yearly pay to the said vicar, and his successors, half a seam of barley, and half a seam of beans, at the nativity of our Lord. (fn. 10)
¶After which, this parsonage appropriate,(which appears to have been esteemed as a manor) together with the advowson of the vicarage, remained with the prior and convent of Ledes, till its dissolution in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when it was, with all its lands and possessions, surrendered into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, in his 33d year, settled both parsonage and advowson on his new-founded dean and chapter of Rochester, with whom they remain at this time. On the dissolution of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. this parsonage was surveyed in 1649, when is appeared that the manor or parsonage of Woodnesborough, with the scite thereof, and all manner of tithes belonging to it, with a garden and orchard of one acre, was valued all together at 300l. that the lessee was to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church; that the vicarage was worth fifty pounds per annum. The then incumbent was under sequestration, and there was none to serve the cure; and that the church was then quite ruinated, and in great decay. (fn. 11)
www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol10/pp121-144
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A long and light church, best viewed from the south. Like nearby Ickham it is cruciform in plan, with a west rather than central, tower. Sometimes this is the result of a later tower being added, but here it is an early feature indeed, at least the same age (if not earlier) than the body of the church. Lord Kitchener lived in the parish, so his name appears on the War Memorial. At the west end of the south aisle, tucked out of the way, is the memorial to Sir Basil Dixwell (d 1750). There are two twentieth century windows by Martin Travers. The 1925 east window shows Our Lady and Child beneath the typical Travers Baroque Canopy. Under the tower, affixed to the wall, are some Flemish tiles, purchased under the will of John Digge who died in 1375. His memorial brass survives in the Vestry.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Barham
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Many churches in Kent are well known for their yew trees but St. John the Baptist at Barham is noteworthy for its magnificent beech trees.
The Church guide suggests that there has been a Church here since the 9th Century but the present structure was probably started in the 12th Century although Syms, in his book about Kent Country Churches, states that there is a hint of possible Norman construction at the base of the present tower. The bulk of the Church covers the Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular periods of building. Many of the huge roof beams, ties and posts are original 14th Century as are the three arches leading into the aisle..
In the Northwest corner is a small 13th Century window containing modern glass depicting St. George slaying the dragon and dedicated to the 23rd Signal Company. The Church also contains a White Ensign which was presented to it by Viscount Broome, a local resident. The Ensign was from 'H.M.S. Raglan' which was also commanded by Viscount Broome. The ship was sunk in January, 1918 by the German light cruiser 'Breslau'.
The walls contain various mural tablets. Hanging high on the west wall is a helmet said to have belonged to Sir Basil Dixwell of Broome Park. The helmet probably never saw action but was carried at his funeral.
The floor in the north transept is uneven because some years ago three brasses were found there. According to popular medieval custom engraved metal cut-outs were sunk into indented stone slabs and secured with rivets and pitch. In order to save them from further damage the brasses were lifted and placed on the walls. The oldest dates from about 1370 is of a civilian but very mutilated. The other two are in good condition and dated about 1460. One is of a woman wearing the dress of a widow which was similar to a nun. The other is of a bare headed man in plate armour. These are believed to be of John Digges and his wife Joan.
At the west end of the church is a list of Rectors and Priests-in-Charge - the first being Otho Caputh in 1280. Notice should be made of Richard Hooker (1594), the author of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. The tiles incorporated into the wall were originally in place in the Chancel about 1375. They were left by John Digges whose Will instructed that he was to be buried in the Chancel and "my executors are to buy Flanders tiles to pave the said Chancel".
The 14th century font is large enough to submerse a baby - as would have been the custom of the time. The bowl is octagonal representing the first day of the new week, the day of Christ's resurrection. The cover is Jacobean.
The Millennium Window in the South Transept was designed and constructed by Alexandra Le Rossignol and was dedicated in July 2001. The cost of the project (approximately £6,500) was raised locally with the first donation being made by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey.
The porch contains two wooden plaques listing the names of men from the village who were killed in the Great Wars - among them being Field Marshall Lord Kitchener of Broome Park.
www.barham-kent.org.uk/landmark_church.htm
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ANTIENTLY written Bereham, lies the next parish eastward. There are five boroughs in it, viz. of Buxton, Outelmeston, Derrington, Breach, and Shelving. The manor of Bishopsborne claims over almost the whole of this parish, at the court of which the four latter borsholders are chosen, and the manors of Reculver and Adisham over a small part of it.
BARHAM is situated at the confines of that beautiful country heretofore described, the same Nailbourne valley running through it, near which, in like manner the land is very fertile, but all the rest of it is a chalky barren soil. On the rise of the hill northward from it, is the village called Barham-street, with the church, and just beyond the summit of it, on the further side Barham court, having its front towards the downs, over part of which this parish extends, and gives name to them. At the foot of the same hill, further eastward, is the mansion of Brome, with its adjoining plantatious, a conspicuous object from the downs, to which by inclosing a part of them, the grounds extend as far as the Dover road, close to Denne-hill, and a costly entrance has been erected into them there. By the corner of Brome house the road leads to the left through Denton-street, close up to which this parish extends, towards Folkestone; and to the right, towards Eleham and Hythe. One this road, within the bounds of this parish, in a chalky and stony country, of poor barren land, there is a large waste of pasture, called Breach down, on which there are a number of tumuli, or barrows. By the road side there have been found several skeletons, one of which had round its neck a string of beads, of various forms and sizes, from a pidgeon's egg to a pea, and by it a sword, dagger, and spear; the others lay in good order, without any particular thing to distinguish them. (fn. 1)
In the Nailbourne valley, near the stream, are the two hamlets of Derrington and South Barham; from thence the hills, on the opposite side of it to those already mentioned, rise southward pretty high, the tops of them being covered with woods, one of them being that large one called Covert wood, a manor belonging to the archbishop, and partly in this parish, being the beginning of a poor hilly country, covered with stones, and enveloped with frequent woods.
BARHAM, which, as appears by the survey of Domesday, formerly lay in a hundred of its own name, was given anno 809, by the estimation of seven ploughlands, by Cenulph, king of Kent, to archbishop Wlfred, free from all secular demands, except the trinoda necessitas, but this was for the use of his church; for the archbishop, anno 824, gave the monks lands in Egelhorne and Langeduna, in exchange for it. After which it came into the possession of archbishop Stigand, but, as appears by Domesday, not in right of his archbishopric, at the taking of which survey, it was become part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, under the title of whose lands it is thus entered in it:
In Berham hundred, Fulbert holds of the bishop Berham. It was taxed at six sulings. The arable land is thirty two carucates. In demesne there are three carucates, and fifty two villeins, with twenty cottagers having eighteen carucates. There is a church, and one mill of twenty shillings and four pence. There are twentlyfive fisheries of thirty-five shillings all four pence. Of average, that is service, sixty shilling. Of herbage twenty six shillings, and twenty acres of meadow Of pannage sufficient for one hundred and fifty hogs. Of this manor the bishop gave one berewic to Herbert, the son of Ivo, which is called Hugham, and there be has one carucate in demesne, and twelve villeins, with nine carucates, and twenty acres of meadow. Of the same manor the bisoop gave to Osberne Paisforere one suling and two mills of fifty sbillings, and there is in demesne one carucate, and four villeins with one carucate. The whole of Barbam, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was worth forty pounds, when be received it the like, and yet it yielded to him one hundred pounds, now Berhem of itself is worth forty pounds, and Hucham ten pounds, and this which Osberne bas six pounds, and the land of one Ralph, a knight, is worth forty shillings. This manor Stigand, the archbishop held, but it was not of the archbishopric, but was of the demesne ferm of king Edward.
On the bishop's disgrace four years afterwards, and his estates being confiscated to the crown, the seignory of this parish most probably returned to the see of Canterbury, with which it has ever since continued. The estate mentioned above in Domesday to have been held of the bishop by Fulbert, comprehended, in all likelihood, the several manors and other estates in this parish, now held of the manor of Bishopsborne, one of these was THE MANOR AND SEAT OF BARHAM-COURT, situated near the church, which probably was originally the court-lodge of the manor of Barham in very early times, before it became united to that of Bishopsborne, and in king Henry II.'s time was held of the archbishop by knight's service, by Sir Randal Fitzurse, who was one of the four knights belonging to the king's houshould, who murdered archbishop Becket anno 1170; after perpetrating which, Sir Randal fled into Ireland, and changed his name to Mac-Mahon, and one of his relations took possession of this estate, and assumed the name of Berham from it; and accordingly, his descendant Warin de Berham is recorded in the return made by the sheriff anno 12 and 13 king John, among others of the archbishop's tenants by knight's service, as holding lands in Berham of him, in whose posterity it continued till Thomas Barham, esq. in the very beginning of king James I.'s reign, alienated it to the Rev. Charles Fotherbye, dean of Canterbury, who died possessed of it in 1619. He was eldest son of Martin Fotherby, of Great Grimsby, in Lincolnshire, and eldest brother of Martin Fotherby, bishop of Salisbury. He had a grant of arms, Gules, a cross of lozenges flory, or, assigned to him and Martin his brother, by Camden, clarencieux, in 1605. (fn. 2) His only surviving son Sir John Fotherbye, of Barham-court, died in 1666, and was buried in that cathedral with his father. At length his grandson Charles, who died in 1720, leaving two daughters his coheirs; Mary, the eldest, inherited this manor by her father's will, and afterwards married Henry Mompesson, esq. of Wiltshire, (fn. 3) who resided at Barhamcourt, and died in 1732, s. p. and she again carried this manor in marriage to Sir Edward Dering, bart. of Surrenden, whose second wife she was. (fn. 4) He lest her surviving, and three children by her, Charles Dering, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Farnaby, bart. since deceased, by whom he has an only surviving daughter, married to George Dering, esq. of Rolling, the youngest son of the late Sir Edw. Dering, bart. and her first cousin; Mary married Sir Robert Hilyard, bart. and Thomas Dering, esq. of London. Lady Dering died in 1775, and was succeeded by her eldest son Charles Dering, esq. afterwards of Barhamcourt, the present owner of it. It is at present occupied by Gen. Sir Charles Grey, bart. K. B. commanderin chief of the southern district of this kingdom.
THE MANORS OF BROME and OUTELMESTONE, alias DIGGS COURT, are situated in this parish; the latter in the valley, at the western boundary of it, was the first residence in this county of the eminent family of Digg, or, as they were asterwards called, Diggs, whence it gained its name of Diggs-court. John, son of Roger de Mildenhall, otherwise called Digg, the first-mentioned in the pedigrees of this family, lived in king Henry III.'s reign, at which time he, or one of this family of the same name, was possessed of the aldermanry of Newingate, in Canterbury, as part of their inheritance. His descendants continued to reside at Diggs-court, and bore for their arms, Gules, on a cross argent, five eagles with two heads displayed, sable, One of whom, James Diggs, of Diggs-court, died in 1535. At his death he gave the manor and seat of Outelmeston, alias Diggs-court, to his eldest son (by his first wife) John, and the manor of Brome to his youngest son, (by his second wife) Leonard, whose descendants were of Chilham castle. (fn. 5) John Diggs, esq. was of Diggs-court, whose descendant Thomas Posthumus Diggs, esq. about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, alienated this manor, with Diggs-place, to Capt. Halsey, of London, and he sold it to Sir Tho. Somes, alderman of London, who again parted with it to Sir B. Dixwell, bart. and he passed it away to Sir Thomas Williams, bart. whose heir Sir John Williams, bart. conveyed it, about the year 1706, to Daniel and Nathaniel Matson, and on the death of the former, the latter became wholly possessed of it, and his descendant Henry Matson, about the year 1730, gave it by will to the trustees for the repair of Dover harbour, in whom it continues at this time vested for that purpose.
BUT THE MANOR OF BROME, which came to Leonard Diggs, esq. by his father's will as above-mentioned, was sold by him to Basil Dixwell, esq. second son of Cha. Dixwell, esq. of Coton, in Warwickshire, then of Tevlingham, in Folkestone, who having built a handsome mansion for his residence on this manor, removed to it in 1622. In the second year of king Charles I. he served the office of sheriff with much honour and hospitality; after which he was knighted, and cveated a baronet. He died unmarried in 1641, having devised this manor and seat, with the rest of his estates, to his nephew Mark Dixwell, son of his elder brother William, of Coton above-mentioned, who afterwards resided at Brome, whose son Basil Dixwell, esq. of Brome, was anno 12 Charles II. created a baronet. He bore for his arms, Argent, a chevron, gules, between three sleurs de lis, sable. His only son Sir Basil Dixwell, bart. of Brome, died at Brome,s. p. in 1750, and devised this, among the rest of his estates, to his kinsman George Oxenden, esq. second son of Sir Geo. Oxenden, bart. of Dean, in Wingham, with an injunction for him to take the name and arms of Dixwell, for which an act passed anno 25 George II. but he died soon afterwards, unmarried, having devised this manor and seat to his father Sir George Oxenden, who settled it on his eldest and only surviving son, now Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. who is the present owner of it. He resides at Brome, which he has, as well as the grounds about it, much altered and improved for these many years successively.
SHELVING is a manor, situated in the borough of its own name, at the eastern boundary of this parish, which was so called from a family who were in antient times the possessors of it. John de Shelving resided here in king Edward I.'s reign, and married Helen, daughter and heir of John de Bourne, by whom he had Waretius de Shelving, whose son, J. de Shelving, of Shelvingborne, married Benedicta de Hougham, and died possessed of this manor anno 4 Edward III. After which it descended to their daughter Benedicta, who carried it in marriage to Sir Edmund de Haut, of Petham, in whose descendants, in like manner as Shelvington, alias Hautsborne, above-described, it continued down to Sir William Haut, of Hautsborne, in king Henry VIII's reign, whose eldest daughter and coheir Elizabeth carried it in marriage to Tho. Colepeper, esq. of Bedgbury, who in the beginning of king Edward VI.'s reign passed it away to Walter Mantle, whose window carried it by a second marriage to Christopher Carlell, gent. who bore for his arms, Or, a cross flory, gules; one of whose descendants sold it to Stephen Hobday, in whose name it continued till Hester, daughter of Hills Hobday, carried it in marriage to J. Lade, esq. of Boughton, and he having obtained an act for the purpose, alienated it to E. Bridges, esq. of Wootton-court, who passed away part of it to Sir George Oxenden, bart. whose son Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. of Brome, now owns it; but Mr. Bridges died possessed of the remaining part in 1780, and his eldest son the Rev. Edward Timewell Brydges, is the present possessor of it.
MAY DEACON, as it has been for many years past both called and written, is a seat in the southern part of this parish, adjoining to Denton-street, in which parish part of it is situated. Its original and true name was Madekin, being so called from a family who were owners of it, and continued so, as appears by the deeds of it, till king Henry VI's reign, in the beginning of which it passed from that name to Sydnor, in which it continued till king Henry VIII.'s reign, when Paul Sydnor, who upon his obtaining from the king a grant of Brenchley manor, removed thither, and alienated this seat to James Brooker, who resided here, and his sole daughter and heir carried it in marriage, in queen Elizabeth's reign, to Sir Henry Oxenden, of Dene, in Wingham, whose grandson Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. sold it in 1664, to Edward Adye, esq. the second son of John Adye, esq. of Doddington, one of whose daughters and coheirs, Rosamond, entitled her husband George Elcock, esq. afterwards of Madekin, to it, and his daughter and heir Elizabeth carried it in marriage to Capt. Charles Fotherby, whose eldest daughter and coheir Mary, entitled her two successive husbands, Henry Mompesson, esq. and Sir Edward Dering, bart. to the possession of it, and Charles Dering, esq. of Barham-court, eldest son of the latter, by her, is at this time the owner of it. The seat is now inhabited by Henry Oxenden, esq.
There are no parochial charities. The poor constantly maintained are about forty, casually fifteen.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanryof Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. John Baptist, is a handsome building, consisting of a body and side isle, a cross or sept, and a high chancel, having a slim tall spire at the west end, in which are four bells. In the chancel are memorials for George Elcock, esq. of Madeacon, obt. 1703, and for his wife and children; for Charles Bean, A. M. rector, obt. 1731. A monument for William Barne, gent. son of the Rev. Miles Barne. His grandfather was Sir William Barne, of Woolwich, obt. 1706; arms, Azure, three leopards faces, argent. Several memorials for the Nethersoles, of this parish. In the south sept is a magnificent pyramid of marble for the family of Dixwell, who lie buried in a vault underneath, and inscriptions for them. In the north sept is a monument for the Fotherbys. On the pavement, on a gravestone, are the figures of an armed knight (his feet on a greyhound) and his wife; arms, A cross, quartering six lozenges, three and three. In the east window these arms, Gules, three crowns, or—Gules, three lions passant in pale, or. This chapel was dedicated to St. Giles, and some of the family of Diggs were buried in it; and there are memorials for several of the Legrands. There are three tombs of the Lades in the church-yard, the inscriptions obliterated, but the dates remaining are 1603, 1625, and 1660. There were formerly in the windows of this church these arms, Ermine, a chief, quarterly, or, and gules, and underneath, Jacobus Peccam. Another coat, Bruine and Rocheleyquartered; and another, Gules, a fess between three lions heads, erased, argent, and underneath,Orate p ais Roberti Baptford & Johe ux; which family resided at Barham, the last of whom, Sir John Baptford, lest an only daughter and heir, married to John Earde, of Denton.
¶The church of Barham has always been accounted as a chapel to the church of Bishopsborne, and as such is included in the valuation of it in the king's books. In 1588 here were communicants one hundred and eighty; in 1640 there were two hundred and fifty.
The news was that Jools' cough was little better. She got a mail back from the surgery on Friday saying her (non-urgent) appointment with the doctor was on December 14th. But as we were going to Tesco, she would have a chat with the pharmasist and see about some of the behind the counter stuff.
Winter has arrived, though no snow as yet, but the wind is set in the east, its cloudy and feels raw outside.
I would spend part of the day churchcrawling.
After shopping.
We go to Tesco, Jools really only coming so she could get something for her cough.
With a few bottles of tripel and cider we managed to spend £140. A bag of rice, not white easy cook rice I'll admit, but that's £4.50 now.
Wow.
Back home with the shopping and a bottle of serious cough syrup, we put the shopping away and have breakfast.
No surprise then that Jools wasn't coming out with me, she wanted to get the cough under control, would only take the new syrup when needed as it can make you drowsy.
I had a list of churches, and first up was our local one, St Margaret.
They were having a craft day. I thought it might be a fayre, but was a kid's craft day. Anyway, the church would be open and I could take shots of the memorials and windows.
There were pagan heads at the top of each column, and as corbel stones. The more I looked, the more pagan heads, even at the top of two of the columns, but not all.
No real ancient glass, but good quality Victorian.
The church itself is the triumph, being an early Norman and well preserved.
Although, sadly, the tower is in poor repair and needs reroofing, which is why it is currently encased in scaffolding.
I am sure when we called in at Barham last week, a sign said there was a craft fayre on, so would be open. I would go back, and get some shots, I thought.
Its a half hour drive, if that out of Dover down the A2 and off at the Wingham turning, down the valley and parking outside the church, its spire pointing to heaven.
Inside the church there was no fayre again, just a warden showing a lady round. We all said "hello", and I went about getting shots.
I have been here at least three times, but now take the big lens to get details of the windows and memorials high up, so there are always new details to reveal.
Star item is the window of St George and the dragon, though is hidden in the north-west corner, and best viewed from the stairs to the belltower.
After 20 minutes, the visitor left and the warden turned off the lights, forgetting I was there, but I had my shots.
From Barham its a short drive to Bridge, then along the Nailbourne to Patrixbourne, where I see the door was open, but I had another target: Bekesbourne, the next village along, crossing the dry bed of the bourne, stopping on the lane outside the church. I look left to the Old Palace, but there were no cars parked there, so no point of even knocking, I drove on.
Instead of turning left back to Bridge, I turn right towards Littlebourne, no real idea where I was going.
Littlebourne could wait for another time, I only went back there in 2020, I went to Wingham, driving on towards Sandwich.
I thought, it's a long time since I was at Woodnesborough, I could cut through Ash and go there.
Which is what I did.
I could have stopped at Ash too, that's usually open, but there'll be other times. I have been there twice and got good shots last time for sure.
From Ash, the road climbs, leading to Woodnesborough, Woden's Hill, where there was a hill fort in antiquity. The church is on the highest point, overlooking the marshes of the old Wantsum Channel, and on to Sandwich which when the Channel was still flooded, was on a spit of land.
The church is a marker for miles around due to its cupola, something is shares with Ringwould near to home.
Inside it was so dark, I thought I would need to find the lights, but I could not find them. So, I hoped the camera would cope without.
It did.
But again, I was here really to record the windows, which were rich in detail. I took 215 shots here, 560 in a morning at three churches.
Not bad.
But I was done, what light there was, was fading, even though it was only just after one. I would go home.
Once home I got busy.
I have a taste for beans. Not baked beans, but Boston Beans. I had a recipe, and we got the ingredients that morning, so went about making a huge panful. Three tins of haricot beans, tomatoes, stock, spices, bacon, pork belly, mustard, and black treacle.
Cooked on the hob for an hour, then cooked long and low in the oven for four hours.
What came out looked and tasted like fine Boston Beans. We will be eating these for weeks.
At the same time I make fritters.
The plan was to be all cooked and eaten before the football began at three.
I did it with half an hour to spare, the leftover wine drunk too, meaning I would struggle to stay awake for Holland v USA game. Netherlands win pretty comfortably.
And in the evening, with a soundtrack of funk and soul thanks to Craig, I watch Argentine v Australia, which was a stunning game.
Even better, I sat on the sofa to watch, Cleo eyed me as if to say how dare you take my chosen sleeping place. But she came over, paced around, then lay between the arm of the sofa and my leg. Scully lay on the other side. I had 50% of the household cats.
Happier than I have been for ages.
Best of all was that the syrup worked, stopped the coughing, and Jools fell asleep right off.
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A morning out, revisiting some familiar fairly local churches.
Final visit was to Woodnesborough, aka Woden's Hill, near to Sandwich.
It was open, but no light switch that could be found meant that the church was dark, but the camera coped well.
Woodnesborough sits on the highest point near to the coast, its cupola marking the spot, and visible for miles in all directions.
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The tower makes this church one of the easiest in Kent to identify. It is capped by a little cupola and wooden balustrade of eighteenth-century date that replaced a medieval spire. During the Middle Ages the church was owned by Leeds Priory which invested heavily in the structure, and was no doubt responsible for the excellent sedilia built in about 1350. The canopy is supported by a quadripartite vault in turn supported by angry little heads. Above the sedilia is the cut-off end of a prickett beam. The east window, of Decorated style stonework, has a thirteenth-century hangover in the form of a shafted rere-arch. There are two excellent modern stained glass windows designed by F.W Cole, which show the Creation (1980) and St Francis (1992). The good altar rails are of Queen Anne's reign, as are the splendid Royal Arms.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Woodnesborough
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WOODNESBOROUGH,
¶OR Winsborough, as it is usually called, lies the next parish northward from Eastry, being written in the survey of Domesday, Wanesberge. It took its name according to Verstegan, from the Saxon idol Woden, (and it is spelt by some Wodensborough) whose place of worship was in it; however that may be, the termination of the word berge, or borough, shews it to be of high antiquity.
art of this parish, over which the manor of Boxley claims, is within the jurisdiction of the justices of the town and port of Sandwich, and liberty of the cinque ports; and the residue is in the hundred of Eastry, and jurisdiction of the county of Kent.
There are three boroughs in this parish, viz. Cold Friday, Hamwold, and Marshborough; the borsholders of which are chosen at the petty sessions of the justices, acting at Wingham, for the east division of the lath of St. Augustine.
THIS PARISH is large, being two miles and an half one way, and upwards of a mile and an half the other. The church stands nearly in the centre of it, on high ground. At a small distance from the church is Woodnesborough hill, both of which are sea marks. This hill is a very high mount, seemingly thrown up by art, and consisting of a sandy earth, it has been thought by some to have been the place on which the idol Woden from whom this place is supposed to have taken its name) was worshipped in the time of the Saxons; by others to be the burial place of Vortimer, the Saxon king, who died in 457, whilst others suppose this mount was raised over those who fell in the battle fought between Ceoldred, king of Mercia, and Ina, king of the West Saxons, in the year 715, at Woodnesbeorb, according to the Saxon chronicle, which name Dr. Plot supposes to be Woodnesborough. Vortimer, as our historians tell us, at his death, desired to be buried near the place where the Saxons used to land, being persuaded that his bones would deter them from any attempt in future. Though authors differ much on the place of his burial, yet this mount at Woodnesborough is as probable, or more so, perhaps, than any other, for it was near to, and was cast up so high as to be plainly seen from the Portus Rutupinus, which at that time was the general landing place of the Saxon fleets. Some years ago there were found upon the top of it sundry sepulchral remains, viz. a glass vessel (engraved by the Rev. Mr. Douglas, in his Nænia;) a fibula, (engraved by Mr. Eoys, in his collections for Sandwich;) the head of a spear, and some fragments of Roman vessels. Much of the earth of sand has been lately removed round the sides of it, but nothing further has been found.
At a small distance northward from hence, at the bottom of a short steep hill, lies the village called Woodnesborough-street, and sometimes Cold Fridaystreet, containing thirty four houses. The vicaragehouse is situated in the middle of it, being a new handsome building; almost contiguous to it is a handsome sashed house, belonging to the Jull family, now made use of as a poor-house; through this street the road leads to Sandwich. West ward of the street stands the parsonage-house, late the seat of Oliver Stephens, esq. deceased, and now of his window, as will be further noticed hereafter. Besides the manors and estates in this parish, particularly described, in the western parts of it there are several hamlets, as Somerfield, Barnsole, Coombe, with New-street, Great and Little Flemings, Ringlemere, and the farm of Christians Court.
In the north east part of the parish, the road from Eastry, by the parsonage of Woodnesborough northwestward, divides; one road, which in antient deeds is called Lovekys-street, going towards Ash-street; the other through the hamlet of Marshborough, formerly called Marshborough, alias Stipins, to Each End and Sandwich, the two windmills close to the entrance of which are with in the bounds of this parish. Each, Upper Each, called antiently Upriche, and Each End, antiently called Netheriche, were both formerly accounted manors, and are mentioned as such in the marriage settlement of Henry Whyte, esq. in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign. After the Whytes, these manors passed in like manner as Grove, in this parish, to the James's. Upper Each, or Upriche, has for many years belonged to the family of Abbot, of Ramsgate, and is now the property of John Abbot, esq. of Canterbury. Each End, or Netheriche, belongs, one moiety to the heirs or devisees of the late earl of Strafford, and the other moiety to John Matson, esq. of Sandwich.
¶It cannot but occur to the reader how much this parish abounds with Saxon names, besides the name of Wodens borough, the street of Cold Friday, mentioned before, is certainly derived from the Saxon words, Cola, and Friga, which latter was the name of a goddess, worshipped by the Saxons, and her day Frige-deag, from whence our day of Friday is derived; other places in this parish, mentioned before likewise, claim, surely, their original from the same language.
This parish contains about 3000 acres, the whole rents of it being about 3373l. yearly value. It is very bare of coppice wood; the Old Wood, so called, in Ringleton, being the only one in it. The soil of this parish is very rich and fertile, equal to those the most so in this neighbourhood, particularly as to the plantations of hops, which have much increased within these few years past. The middle of the parish is high ground, and is in general a flat open country of arable common fields. West and south-westward the lands are more inclosed with hedges. North and north-westward of the parsonage, towards Sandwich, they are low and wet, consisting of a large level of marsh land, the nearness of which makes the other parts of this parish rather unhealthy, which is not otherwise very pleasant in any part of it. There was a fair held here yearly, on Holy Thursday, but it has been for some time disused.
In Ringleton field, in this parish, there was found about the year 1514, a fine gold coin, weighing about twelve shillings, with a loop of the same metal to hang it by; on one side was the figure of a young man in armour, a helmet on his head, and a spear over his right shoulder; on the reverse, the figure of Victory, with a sword in her hand, the point downwards.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, consists of a nave, and two isles, having a square tower steeple at the west end, with a modern wooden turret and vane at the top of it, in which are five bells, made in 1676. It had a high spire on the tower, which was taken down some years ago. At the east end of the chancel is a marble tablet for John Cason, esq. of this place, justice of the peace, obt. 1718; John Cason, esq. his son, obt. 1755; arms,Argent, a chevron, sable, between three wolves heads, erased, gules, on an escutcheon of pretence, sable, a chevron, between three fleurs de lis, of the field; another for Thomas Blechenden, of the antient family of that name, of Aldington, in Kent, obt. 1661; arms, Azure, a fess nebulee, argent, between three lions heads erased, or, attired, gules, impalingBoys. On the south side, an antient altar monument with gothic pillars and arches, having had shields and arms, now obliterated. Against the wall, under the canopy, two brass plates, which have been removed to this place, from two grave-stones in the chancel; the first for Sir John Parcar, late vicar of this church, who died the v.day of May, a°o dni m° v° xiij° on the second are Latin verses to the memory of Nichs Spencer, esq. obt. 1593. In the middle of the chancel, a gravestone for William Docksey, esq. of Snellston, in Derbyshire, a justice of the peace, obt. 1760; Sarah his wife, youngest daughter of John Cason, esq. obt. 1774; arms,Or, a lion rampant, azure, surmounted of a bend, argent. On a gravestone on the north side of the chancel, on a brass plate, On a chevron, three quatersoils, between three annulets, quartering other coats, now obliterated, for Master Myghell Heyre, sumtyme vicar of this churche, who dyed the xxii day of July, m° v° xxviii. In the north isle are several memorials for the family of Gillow, arms, A lion rampant, in chief, three fleurs de lis. At the entrance into the chancel, on a grave-stone, on a brass plate, John Hill, gent. of the parish of Nassall, in Staffordshire, obt. 1605. A mural monument for William Gibbs, of this parish, obt. 1777; arms,Argent, three battle axes, in fess, sable. In the church-yard are altar tombs to the memory of the Julls, and for Sladden; one for John Verall, gent. sometime mayor of Sandwich, obt. 1610; and another for John Benchkin, of Pouton, obt. 1639.
There were formerly painted in the windows of this church,Or, a chief indented, azure, for John de Sandwich. Several coats of arms, among which were those of Valence and St. Leger,Argent, three leaves in sinster bend, their points downward, proper.— On a canton, azure, three crescents, or, for Grove.— Argent, three escallops in chief, or, in base a crescent, gules, for Helpestone, usually called Hilpurton, bailiff of Sandwich, in 1299. A shield, being Helpeston's badge, another On a fess engrailed, three cinquefoils, between three garbs, for John Hill, of Nasall, in Staffordshire, who lies buried in this church. —A fess engrailed, three lions rampant, in chief, on the fess, a crescent for difference, for Spencer, customer, of Sandwich. — Quarterly, four coats; first, On a chevron, three quaterfoils; second, Per pale, ermine and argent; third, A cross, between four pomegranates, slipped; sourth,Three bars, wavy, for Michael Heyre, vicar here in 1520.
The church of Woodnesborough was given, in the reign of king Henry I. by a religious woman, one Ascelina de Wodensberg, to the priory of Ledes, soon after the foundation of it; to which deed was witness Robert de Crevequer, founder of the priory, Elias his son, and others; which gift was confirmed by the said Robert, who by his charter, released to the priory all his right and title to it. It was likewise confirmed by archbishop Theobald, and several of his successors, and by king Henry III. by his charter of inspeximus in his 41st year.
Archbishop William Corboil, who came to the see of Canterbury, three years after the foundation of Ledes priory, at the instance and petition of Ascelina above mentioned, who resigned this church into his hands for this purpose, appropriated it to the prior and convent, for the finding of necessary cloaths, for the canons there; and a vicarage was accordingly endowed in it.
There was a controversy between the prior and convent, and Adam, vicar of this church, in 1627, anno 14 Henry II. concerning the great tithes arising from the crofts and curtilages within this parish, which was referred to the prior of Rochester, who was the pope's delegate for this purpose, who determined that the prior and convent of Ledes, as rectors of this church, should receive, without any exception, all the great tithes of wheat, barley, oats, beans, peas, and of every fort of corn arising, or to arise from all lands, crofts, curtilages, or other places whatever, situated within the bounds, of this parish; and that the prior and convent should yearly pay to the said vicar, and his successors, half a seam of barley, and half a seam of beans, at the nativity of our Lord. (fn. 10)
¶After which, this parsonage appropriate,(which appears to have been esteemed as a manor) together with the advowson of the vicarage, remained with the prior and convent of Ledes, till its dissolution in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when it was, with all its lands and possessions, surrendered into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, in his 33d year, settled both parsonage and advowson on his new-founded dean and chapter of Rochester, with whom they remain at this time. On the dissolution of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. this parsonage was surveyed in 1649, when is appeared that the manor or parsonage of Woodnesborough, with the scite thereof, and all manner of tithes belonging to it, with a garden and orchard of one acre, was valued all together at 300l. that the lessee was to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church; that the vicarage was worth fifty pounds per annum. The then incumbent was under sequestration, and there was none to serve the cure; and that the church was then quite ruinated, and in great decay. (fn. 11)
www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol10/pp121-144
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A long and light church, best viewed from the south. Like nearby Ickham it is cruciform in plan, with a west rather than central, tower. Sometimes this is the result of a later tower being added, but here it is an early feature indeed, at least the same age (if not earlier) than the body of the church. Lord Kitchener lived in the parish, so his name appears on the War Memorial. At the west end of the south aisle, tucked out of the way, is the memorial to Sir Basil Dixwell (d 1750). There are two twentieth century windows by Martin Travers. The 1925 east window shows Our Lady and Child beneath the typical Travers Baroque Canopy. Under the tower, affixed to the wall, are some Flemish tiles, purchased under the will of John Digge who died in 1375. His memorial brass survives in the Vestry.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Barham
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Many churches in Kent are well known for their yew trees but St. John the Baptist at Barham is noteworthy for its magnificent beech trees.
The Church guide suggests that there has been a Church here since the 9th Century but the present structure was probably started in the 12th Century although Syms, in his book about Kent Country Churches, states that there is a hint of possible Norman construction at the base of the present tower. The bulk of the Church covers the Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular periods of building. Many of the huge roof beams, ties and posts are original 14th Century as are the three arches leading into the aisle..
In the Northwest corner is a small 13th Century window containing modern glass depicting St. George slaying the dragon and dedicated to the 23rd Signal Company. The Church also contains a White Ensign which was presented to it by Viscount Broome, a local resident. The Ensign was from 'H.M.S. Raglan' which was also commanded by Viscount Broome. The ship was sunk in January, 1918 by the German light cruiser 'Breslau'.
The walls contain various mural tablets. Hanging high on the west wall is a helmet said to have belonged to Sir Basil Dixwell of Broome Park. The helmet probably never saw action but was carried at his funeral.
The floor in the north transept is uneven because some years ago three brasses were found there. According to popular medieval custom engraved metal cut-outs were sunk into indented stone slabs and secured with rivets and pitch. In order to save them from further damage the brasses were lifted and placed on the walls. The oldest dates from about 1370 is of a civilian but very mutilated. The other two are in good condition and dated about 1460. One is of a woman wearing the dress of a widow which was similar to a nun. The other is of a bare headed man in plate armour. These are believed to be of John Digges and his wife Joan.
At the west end of the church is a list of Rectors and Priests-in-Charge - the first being Otho Caputh in 1280. Notice should be made of Richard Hooker (1594), the author of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. The tiles incorporated into the wall were originally in place in the Chancel about 1375. They were left by John Digges whose Will instructed that he was to be buried in the Chancel and "my executors are to buy Flanders tiles to pave the said Chancel".
The 14th century font is large enough to submerse a baby - as would have been the custom of the time. The bowl is octagonal representing the first day of the new week, the day of Christ's resurrection. The cover is Jacobean.
The Millennium Window in the South Transept was designed and constructed by Alexandra Le Rossignol and was dedicated in July 2001. The cost of the project (approximately £6,500) was raised locally with the first donation being made by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey.
The porch contains two wooden plaques listing the names of men from the village who were killed in the Great Wars - among them being Field Marshall Lord Kitchener of Broome Park.
www.barham-kent.org.uk/landmark_church.htm
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ANTIENTLY written Bereham, lies the next parish eastward. There are five boroughs in it, viz. of Buxton, Outelmeston, Derrington, Breach, and Shelving. The manor of Bishopsborne claims over almost the whole of this parish, at the court of which the four latter borsholders are chosen, and the manors of Reculver and Adisham over a small part of it.
BARHAM is situated at the confines of that beautiful country heretofore described, the same Nailbourne valley running through it, near which, in like manner the land is very fertile, but all the rest of it is a chalky barren soil. On the rise of the hill northward from it, is the village called Barham-street, with the church, and just beyond the summit of it, on the further side Barham court, having its front towards the downs, over part of which this parish extends, and gives name to them. At the foot of the same hill, further eastward, is the mansion of Brome, with its adjoining plantatious, a conspicuous object from the downs, to which by inclosing a part of them, the grounds extend as far as the Dover road, close to Denne-hill, and a costly entrance has been erected into them there. By the corner of Brome house the road leads to the left through Denton-street, close up to which this parish extends, towards Folkestone; and to the right, towards Eleham and Hythe. One this road, within the bounds of this parish, in a chalky and stony country, of poor barren land, there is a large waste of pasture, called Breach down, on which there are a number of tumuli, or barrows. By the road side there have been found several skeletons, one of which had round its neck a string of beads, of various forms and sizes, from a pidgeon's egg to a pea, and by it a sword, dagger, and spear; the others lay in good order, without any particular thing to distinguish them. (fn. 1)
In the Nailbourne valley, near the stream, are the two hamlets of Derrington and South Barham; from thence the hills, on the opposite side of it to those already mentioned, rise southward pretty high, the tops of them being covered with woods, one of them being that large one called Covert wood, a manor belonging to the archbishop, and partly in this parish, being the beginning of a poor hilly country, covered with stones, and enveloped with frequent woods.
BARHAM, which, as appears by the survey of Domesday, formerly lay in a hundred of its own name, was given anno 809, by the estimation of seven ploughlands, by Cenulph, king of Kent, to archbishop Wlfred, free from all secular demands, except the trinoda necessitas, but this was for the use of his church; for the archbishop, anno 824, gave the monks lands in Egelhorne and Langeduna, in exchange for it. After which it came into the possession of archbishop Stigand, but, as appears by Domesday, not in right of his archbishopric, at the taking of which survey, it was become part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, under the title of whose lands it is thus entered in it:
In Berham hundred, Fulbert holds of the bishop Berham. It was taxed at six sulings. The arable land is thirty two carucates. In demesne there are three carucates, and fifty two villeins, with twenty cottagers having eighteen carucates. There is a church, and one mill of twenty shillings and four pence. There are twentlyfive fisheries of thirty-five shillings all four pence. Of average, that is service, sixty shilling. Of herbage twenty six shillings, and twenty acres of meadow Of pannage sufficient for one hundred and fifty hogs. Of this manor the bishop gave one berewic to Herbert, the son of Ivo, which is called Hugham, and there be has one carucate in demesne, and twelve villeins, with nine carucates, and twenty acres of meadow. Of the same manor the bisoop gave to Osberne Paisforere one suling and two mills of fifty sbillings, and there is in demesne one carucate, and four villeins with one carucate. The whole of Barbam, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was worth forty pounds, when be received it the like, and yet it yielded to him one hundred pounds, now Berhem of itself is worth forty pounds, and Hucham ten pounds, and this which Osberne bas six pounds, and the land of one Ralph, a knight, is worth forty shillings. This manor Stigand, the archbishop held, but it was not of the archbishopric, but was of the demesne ferm of king Edward.
On the bishop's disgrace four years afterwards, and his estates being confiscated to the crown, the seignory of this parish most probably returned to the see of Canterbury, with which it has ever since continued. The estate mentioned above in Domesday to have been held of the bishop by Fulbert, comprehended, in all likelihood, the several manors and other estates in this parish, now held of the manor of Bishopsborne, one of these was THE MANOR AND SEAT OF BARHAM-COURT, situated near the church, which probably was originally the court-lodge of the manor of Barham in very early times, before it became united to that of Bishopsborne, and in king Henry II.'s time was held of the archbishop by knight's service, by Sir Randal Fitzurse, who was one of the four knights belonging to the king's houshould, who murdered archbishop Becket anno 1170; after perpetrating which, Sir Randal fled into Ireland, and changed his name to Mac-Mahon, and one of his relations took possession of this estate, and assumed the name of Berham from it; and accordingly, his descendant Warin de Berham is recorded in the return made by the sheriff anno 12 and 13 king John, among others of the archbishop's tenants by knight's service, as holding lands in Berham of him, in whose posterity it continued till Thomas Barham, esq. in the very beginning of king James I.'s reign, alienated it to the Rev. Charles Fotherbye, dean of Canterbury, who died possessed of it in 1619. He was eldest son of Martin Fotherby, of Great Grimsby, in Lincolnshire, and eldest brother of Martin Fotherby, bishop of Salisbury. He had a grant of arms, Gules, a cross of lozenges flory, or, assigned to him and Martin his brother, by Camden, clarencieux, in 1605. (fn. 2) His only surviving son Sir John Fotherbye, of Barham-court, died in 1666, and was buried in that cathedral with his father. At length his grandson Charles, who died in 1720, leaving two daughters his coheirs; Mary, the eldest, inherited this manor by her father's will, and afterwards married Henry Mompesson, esq. of Wiltshire, (fn. 3) who resided at Barhamcourt, and died in 1732, s. p. and she again carried this manor in marriage to Sir Edward Dering, bart. of Surrenden, whose second wife she was. (fn. 4) He lest her surviving, and three children by her, Charles Dering, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Farnaby, bart. since deceased, by whom he has an only surviving daughter, married to George Dering, esq. of Rolling, the youngest son of the late Sir Edw. Dering, bart. and her first cousin; Mary married Sir Robert Hilyard, bart. and Thomas Dering, esq. of London. Lady Dering died in 1775, and was succeeded by her eldest son Charles Dering, esq. afterwards of Barhamcourt, the present owner of it. It is at present occupied by Gen. Sir Charles Grey, bart. K. B. commanderin chief of the southern district of this kingdom.
THE MANORS OF BROME and OUTELMESTONE, alias DIGGS COURT, are situated in this parish; the latter in the valley, at the western boundary of it, was the first residence in this county of the eminent family of Digg, or, as they were asterwards called, Diggs, whence it gained its name of Diggs-court. John, son of Roger de Mildenhall, otherwise called Digg, the first-mentioned in the pedigrees of this family, lived in king Henry III.'s reign, at which time he, or one of this family of the same name, was possessed of the aldermanry of Newingate, in Canterbury, as part of their inheritance. His descendants continued to reside at Diggs-court, and bore for their arms, Gules, on a cross argent, five eagles with two heads displayed, sable, One of whom, James Diggs, of Diggs-court, died in 1535. At his death he gave the manor and seat of Outelmeston, alias Diggs-court, to his eldest son (by his first wife) John, and the manor of Brome to his youngest son, (by his second wife) Leonard, whose descendants were of Chilham castle. (fn. 5) John Diggs, esq. was of Diggs-court, whose descendant Thomas Posthumus Diggs, esq. about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, alienated this manor, with Diggs-place, to Capt. Halsey, of London, and he sold it to Sir Tho. Somes, alderman of London, who again parted with it to Sir B. Dixwell, bart. and he passed it away to Sir Thomas Williams, bart. whose heir Sir John Williams, bart. conveyed it, about the year 1706, to Daniel and Nathaniel Matson, and on the death of the former, the latter became wholly possessed of it, and his descendant Henry Matson, about the year 1730, gave it by will to the trustees for the repair of Dover harbour, in whom it continues at this time vested for that purpose.
BUT THE MANOR OF BROME, which came to Leonard Diggs, esq. by his father's will as above-mentioned, was sold by him to Basil Dixwell, esq. second son of Cha. Dixwell, esq. of Coton, in Warwickshire, then of Tevlingham, in Folkestone, who having built a handsome mansion for his residence on this manor, removed to it in 1622. In the second year of king Charles I. he served the office of sheriff with much honour and hospitality; after which he was knighted, and cveated a baronet. He died unmarried in 1641, having devised this manor and seat, with the rest of his estates, to his nephew Mark Dixwell, son of his elder brother William, of Coton above-mentioned, who afterwards resided at Brome, whose son Basil Dixwell, esq. of Brome, was anno 12 Charles II. created a baronet. He bore for his arms, Argent, a chevron, gules, between three sleurs de lis, sable. His only son Sir Basil Dixwell, bart. of Brome, died at Brome,s. p. in 1750, and devised this, among the rest of his estates, to his kinsman George Oxenden, esq. second son of Sir Geo. Oxenden, bart. of Dean, in Wingham, with an injunction for him to take the name and arms of Dixwell, for which an act passed anno 25 George II. but he died soon afterwards, unmarried, having devised this manor and seat to his father Sir George Oxenden, who settled it on his eldest and only surviving son, now Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. who is the present owner of it. He resides at Brome, which he has, as well as the grounds about it, much altered and improved for these many years successively.
SHELVING is a manor, situated in the borough of its own name, at the eastern boundary of this parish, which was so called from a family who were in antient times the possessors of it. John de Shelving resided here in king Edward I.'s reign, and married Helen, daughter and heir of John de Bourne, by whom he had Waretius de Shelving, whose son, J. de Shelving, of Shelvingborne, married Benedicta de Hougham, and died possessed of this manor anno 4 Edward III. After which it descended to their daughter Benedicta, who carried it in marriage to Sir Edmund de Haut, of Petham, in whose descendants, in like manner as Shelvington, alias Hautsborne, above-described, it continued down to Sir William Haut, of Hautsborne, in king Henry VIII's reign, whose eldest daughter and coheir Elizabeth carried it in marriage to Tho. Colepeper, esq. of Bedgbury, who in the beginning of king Edward VI.'s reign passed it away to Walter Mantle, whose window carried it by a second marriage to Christopher Carlell, gent. who bore for his arms, Or, a cross flory, gules; one of whose descendants sold it to Stephen Hobday, in whose name it continued till Hester, daughter of Hills Hobday, carried it in marriage to J. Lade, esq. of Boughton, and he having obtained an act for the purpose, alienated it to E. Bridges, esq. of Wootton-court, who passed away part of it to Sir George Oxenden, bart. whose son Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. of Brome, now owns it; but Mr. Bridges died possessed of the remaining part in 1780, and his eldest son the Rev. Edward Timewell Brydges, is the present possessor of it.
MAY DEACON, as it has been for many years past both called and written, is a seat in the southern part of this parish, adjoining to Denton-street, in which parish part of it is situated. Its original and true name was Madekin, being so called from a family who were owners of it, and continued so, as appears by the deeds of it, till king Henry VI's reign, in the beginning of which it passed from that name to Sydnor, in which it continued till king Henry VIII.'s reign, when Paul Sydnor, who upon his obtaining from the king a grant of Brenchley manor, removed thither, and alienated this seat to James Brooker, who resided here, and his sole daughter and heir carried it in marriage, in queen Elizabeth's reign, to Sir Henry Oxenden, of Dene, in Wingham, whose grandson Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. sold it in 1664, to Edward Adye, esq. the second son of John Adye, esq. of Doddington, one of whose daughters and coheirs, Rosamond, entitled her husband George Elcock, esq. afterwards of Madekin, to it, and his daughter and heir Elizabeth carried it in marriage to Capt. Charles Fotherby, whose eldest daughter and coheir Mary, entitled her two successive husbands, Henry Mompesson, esq. and Sir Edward Dering, bart. to the possession of it, and Charles Dering, esq. of Barham-court, eldest son of the latter, by her, is at this time the owner of it. The seat is now inhabited by Henry Oxenden, esq.
There are no parochial charities. The poor constantly maintained are about forty, casually fifteen.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanryof Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. John Baptist, is a handsome building, consisting of a body and side isle, a cross or sept, and a high chancel, having a slim tall spire at the west end, in which are four bells. In the chancel are memorials for George Elcock, esq. of Madeacon, obt. 1703, and for his wife and children; for Charles Bean, A. M. rector, obt. 1731. A monument for William Barne, gent. son of the Rev. Miles Barne. His grandfather was Sir William Barne, of Woolwich, obt. 1706; arms, Azure, three leopards faces, argent. Several memorials for the Nethersoles, of this parish. In the south sept is a magnificent pyramid of marble for the family of Dixwell, who lie buried in a vault underneath, and inscriptions for them. In the north sept is a monument for the Fotherbys. On the pavement, on a gravestone, are the figures of an armed knight (his feet on a greyhound) and his wife; arms, A cross, quartering six lozenges, three and three. In the east window these arms, Gules, three crowns, or—Gules, three lions passant in pale, or. This chapel was dedicated to St. Giles, and some of the family of Diggs were buried in it; and there are memorials for several of the Legrands. There are three tombs of the Lades in the church-yard, the inscriptions obliterated, but the dates remaining are 1603, 1625, and 1660. There were formerly in the windows of this church these arms, Ermine, a chief, quarterly, or, and gules, and underneath, Jacobus Peccam. Another coat, Bruine and Rocheleyquartered; and another, Gules, a fess between three lions heads, erased, argent, and underneath,Orate p ais Roberti Baptford & Johe ux; which family resided at Barham, the last of whom, Sir John Baptford, lest an only daughter and heir, married to John Earde, of Denton.
¶The church of Barham has always been accounted as a chapel to the church of Bishopsborne, and as such is included in the valuation of it in the king's books. In 1588 here were communicants one hundred and eighty; in 1640 there were two hundred and fifty.
The news was that Jools' cough was little better. She got a mail back from the surgery on Friday saying her (non-urgent) appointment with the doctor was on December 14th. But as we were going to Tesco, she would have a chat with the pharmasist and see about some of the behind the counter stuff.
Winter has arrived, though no snow as yet, but the wind is set in the east, its cloudy and feels raw outside.
I would spend part of the day churchcrawling.
After shopping.
We go to Tesco, Jools really only coming so she could get something for her cough.
With a few bottles of tripel and cider we managed to spend £140. A bag of rice, not white easy cook rice I'll admit, but that's £4.50 now.
Wow.
Back home with the shopping and a bottle of serious cough syrup, we put the shopping away and have breakfast.
No surprise then that Jools wasn't coming out with me, she wanted to get the cough under control, would only take the new syrup when needed as it can make you drowsy.
I had a list of churches, and first up was our local one, St Margaret.
They were having a craft day. I thought it might be a fayre, but was a kid's craft day. Anyway, the church would be open and I could take shots of the memorials and windows.
There were pagan heads at the top of each column, and as corbel stones. The more I looked, the more pagan heads, even at the top of two of the columns, but not all.
No real ancient glass, but good quality Victorian.
The church itself is the triumph, being an early Norman and well preserved.
Although, sadly, the tower is in poor repair and needs reroofing, which is why it is currently encased in scaffolding.
I am sure when we called in at Barham last week, a sign said there was a craft fayre on, so would be open. I would go back, and get some shots, I thought.
Its a half hour drive, if that out of Dover down the A2 and off at the Wingham turning, down the valley and parking outside the church, its spire pointing to heaven.
Inside the church there was no fayre again, just a warden showing a lady round. We all said "hello", and I went about getting shots.
I have been here at least three times, but now take the big lens to get details of the windows and memorials high up, so there are always new details to reveal.
Star item is the window of St George and the dragon, though is hidden in the north-west corner, and best viewed from the stairs to the belltower.
After 20 minutes, the visitor left and the warden turned off the lights, forgetting I was there, but I had my shots.
From Barham its a short drive to Bridge, then along the Nailbourne to Patrixbourne, where I see the door was open, but I had another target: Bekesbourne, the next village along, crossing the dry bed of the bourne, stopping on the lane outside the church. I look left to the Old Palace, but there were no cars parked there, so no point of even knocking, I drove on.
Instead of turning left back to Bridge, I turn right towards Littlebourne, no real idea where I was going.
Littlebourne could wait for another time, I only went back there in 2020, I went to Wingham, driving on towards Sandwich.
I thought, it's a long time since I was at Woodnesborough, I could cut through Ash and go there.
Which is what I did.
I could have stopped at Ash too, that's usually open, but there'll be other times. I have been there twice and got good shots last time for sure.
From Ash, the road climbs, leading to Woodnesborough, Woden's Hill, where there was a hill fort in antiquity. The church is on the highest point, overlooking the marshes of the old Wantsum Channel, and on to Sandwich which when the Channel was still flooded, was on a spit of land.
The church is a marker for miles around due to its cupola, something is shares with Ringwould near to home.
Inside it was so dark, I thought I would need to find the lights, but I could not find them. So, I hoped the camera would cope without.
It did.
But again, I was here really to record the windows, which were rich in detail. I took 215 shots here, 560 in a morning at three churches.
Not bad.
But I was done, what light there was, was fading, even though it was only just after one. I would go home.
Once home I got busy.
I have a taste for beans. Not baked beans, but Boston Beans. I had a recipe, and we got the ingredients that morning, so went about making a huge panful. Three tins of haricot beans, tomatoes, stock, spices, bacon, pork belly, mustard, and black treacle.
Cooked on the hob for an hour, then cooked long and low in the oven for four hours.
What came out looked and tasted like fine Boston Beans. We will be eating these for weeks.
At the same time I make fritters.
The plan was to be all cooked and eaten before the football began at three.
I did it with half an hour to spare, the leftover wine drunk too, meaning I would struggle to stay awake for Holland v USA game. Netherlands win pretty comfortably.
And in the evening, with a soundtrack of funk and soul thanks to Craig, I watch Argentine v Australia, which was a stunning game.
Even better, I sat on the sofa to watch, Cleo eyed me as if to say how dare you take my chosen sleeping place. But she came over, paced around, then lay between the arm of the sofa and my leg. Scully lay on the other side. I had 50% of the household cats.
Happier than I have been for ages.
Best of all was that the syrup worked, stopped the coughing, and Jools fell asleep right off.
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A morning out, revisiting some familiar fairly local churches.
Final visit was to Woodnesborough, aka Woden's Hill, near to Sandwich.
It was open, but no light switch that could be found meant that the church was dark, but the camera coped well.
Woodnesborough sits on the highest point near to the coast, its cupola marking the spot, and visible for miles in all directions.
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The tower makes this church one of the easiest in Kent to identify. It is capped by a little cupola and wooden balustrade of eighteenth-century date that replaced a medieval spire. During the Middle Ages the church was owned by Leeds Priory which invested heavily in the structure, and was no doubt responsible for the excellent sedilia built in about 1350. The canopy is supported by a quadripartite vault in turn supported by angry little heads. Above the sedilia is the cut-off end of a prickett beam. The east window, of Decorated style stonework, has a thirteenth-century hangover in the form of a shafted rere-arch. There are two excellent modern stained glass windows designed by F.W Cole, which show the Creation (1980) and St Francis (1992). The good altar rails are of Queen Anne's reign, as are the splendid Royal Arms.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Woodnesborough
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WOODNESBOROUGH,
¶OR Winsborough, as it is usually called, lies the next parish northward from Eastry, being written in the survey of Domesday, Wanesberge. It took its name according to Verstegan, from the Saxon idol Woden, (and it is spelt by some Wodensborough) whose place of worship was in it; however that may be, the termination of the word berge, or borough, shews it to be of high antiquity.
art of this parish, over which the manor of Boxley claims, is within the jurisdiction of the justices of the town and port of Sandwich, and liberty of the cinque ports; and the residue is in the hundred of Eastry, and jurisdiction of the county of Kent.
There are three boroughs in this parish, viz. Cold Friday, Hamwold, and Marshborough; the borsholders of which are chosen at the petty sessions of the justices, acting at Wingham, for the east division of the lath of St. Augustine.
THIS PARISH is large, being two miles and an half one way, and upwards of a mile and an half the other. The church stands nearly in the centre of it, on high ground. At a small distance from the church is Woodnesborough hill, both of which are sea marks. This hill is a very high mount, seemingly thrown up by art, and consisting of a sandy earth, it has been thought by some to have been the place on which the idol Woden from whom this place is supposed to have taken its name) was worshipped in the time of the Saxons; by others to be the burial place of Vortimer, the Saxon king, who died in 457, whilst others suppose this mount was raised over those who fell in the battle fought between Ceoldred, king of Mercia, and Ina, king of the West Saxons, in the year 715, at Woodnesbeorb, according to the Saxon chronicle, which name Dr. Plot supposes to be Woodnesborough. Vortimer, as our historians tell us, at his death, desired to be buried near the place where the Saxons used to land, being persuaded that his bones would deter them from any attempt in future. Though authors differ much on the place of his burial, yet this mount at Woodnesborough is as probable, or more so, perhaps, than any other, for it was near to, and was cast up so high as to be plainly seen from the Portus Rutupinus, which at that time was the general landing place of the Saxon fleets. Some years ago there were found upon the top of it sundry sepulchral remains, viz. a glass vessel (engraved by the Rev. Mr. Douglas, in his Nænia;) a fibula, (engraved by Mr. Eoys, in his collections for Sandwich;) the head of a spear, and some fragments of Roman vessels. Much of the earth of sand has been lately removed round the sides of it, but nothing further has been found.
At a small distance northward from hence, at the bottom of a short steep hill, lies the village called Woodnesborough-street, and sometimes Cold Fridaystreet, containing thirty four houses. The vicaragehouse is situated in the middle of it, being a new handsome building; almost contiguous to it is a handsome sashed house, belonging to the Jull family, now made use of as a poor-house; through this street the road leads to Sandwich. West ward of the street stands the parsonage-house, late the seat of Oliver Stephens, esq. deceased, and now of his window, as will be further noticed hereafter. Besides the manors and estates in this parish, particularly described, in the western parts of it there are several hamlets, as Somerfield, Barnsole, Coombe, with New-street, Great and Little Flemings, Ringlemere, and the farm of Christians Court.
In the north east part of the parish, the road from Eastry, by the parsonage of Woodnesborough northwestward, divides; one road, which in antient deeds is called Lovekys-street, going towards Ash-street; the other through the hamlet of Marshborough, formerly called Marshborough, alias Stipins, to Each End and Sandwich, the two windmills close to the entrance of which are with in the bounds of this parish. Each, Upper Each, called antiently Upriche, and Each End, antiently called Netheriche, were both formerly accounted manors, and are mentioned as such in the marriage settlement of Henry Whyte, esq. in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign. After the Whytes, these manors passed in like manner as Grove, in this parish, to the James's. Upper Each, or Upriche, has for many years belonged to the family of Abbot, of Ramsgate, and is now the property of John Abbot, esq. of Canterbury. Each End, or Netheriche, belongs, one moiety to the heirs or devisees of the late earl of Strafford, and the other moiety to John Matson, esq. of Sandwich.
¶It cannot but occur to the reader how much this parish abounds with Saxon names, besides the name of Wodens borough, the street of Cold Friday, mentioned before, is certainly derived from the Saxon words, Cola, and Friga, which latter was the name of a goddess, worshipped by the Saxons, and her day Frige-deag, from whence our day of Friday is derived; other places in this parish, mentioned before likewise, claim, surely, their original from the same language.
This parish contains about 3000 acres, the whole rents of it being about 3373l. yearly value. It is very bare of coppice wood; the Old Wood, so called, in Ringleton, being the only one in it. The soil of this parish is very rich and fertile, equal to those the most so in this neighbourhood, particularly as to the plantations of hops, which have much increased within these few years past. The middle of the parish is high ground, and is in general a flat open country of arable common fields. West and south-westward the lands are more inclosed with hedges. North and north-westward of the parsonage, towards Sandwich, they are low and wet, consisting of a large level of marsh land, the nearness of which makes the other parts of this parish rather unhealthy, which is not otherwise very pleasant in any part of it. There was a fair held here yearly, on Holy Thursday, but it has been for some time disused.
In Ringleton field, in this parish, there was found about the year 1514, a fine gold coin, weighing about twelve shillings, with a loop of the same metal to hang it by; on one side was the figure of a young man in armour, a helmet on his head, and a spear over his right shoulder; on the reverse, the figure of Victory, with a sword in her hand, the point downwards.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, consists of a nave, and two isles, having a square tower steeple at the west end, with a modern wooden turret and vane at the top of it, in which are five bells, made in 1676. It had a high spire on the tower, which was taken down some years ago. At the east end of the chancel is a marble tablet for John Cason, esq. of this place, justice of the peace, obt. 1718; John Cason, esq. his son, obt. 1755; arms,Argent, a chevron, sable, between three wolves heads, erased, gules, on an escutcheon of pretence, sable, a chevron, between three fleurs de lis, of the field; another for Thomas Blechenden, of the antient family of that name, of Aldington, in Kent, obt. 1661; arms, Azure, a fess nebulee, argent, between three lions heads erased, or, attired, gules, impalingBoys. On the south side, an antient altar monument with gothic pillars and arches, having had shields and arms, now obliterated. Against the wall, under the canopy, two brass plates, which have been removed to this place, from two grave-stones in the chancel; the first for Sir John Parcar, late vicar of this church, who died the v.day of May, a°o dni m° v° xiij° on the second are Latin verses to the memory of Nichs Spencer, esq. obt. 1593. In the middle of the chancel, a gravestone for William Docksey, esq. of Snellston, in Derbyshire, a justice of the peace, obt. 1760; Sarah his wife, youngest daughter of John Cason, esq. obt. 1774; arms,Or, a lion rampant, azure, surmounted of a bend, argent. On a gravestone on the north side of the chancel, on a brass plate, On a chevron, three quatersoils, between three annulets, quartering other coats, now obliterated, for Master Myghell Heyre, sumtyme vicar of this churche, who dyed the xxii day of July, m° v° xxviii. In the north isle are several memorials for the family of Gillow, arms, A lion rampant, in chief, three fleurs de lis. At the entrance into the chancel, on a grave-stone, on a brass plate, John Hill, gent. of the parish of Nassall, in Staffordshire, obt. 1605. A mural monument for William Gibbs, of this parish, obt. 1777; arms,Argent, three battle axes, in fess, sable. In the church-yard are altar tombs to the memory of the Julls, and for Sladden; one for John Verall, gent. sometime mayor of Sandwich, obt. 1610; and another for John Benchkin, of Pouton, obt. 1639.
There were formerly painted in the windows of this church,Or, a chief indented, azure, for John de Sandwich. Several coats of arms, among which were those of Valence and St. Leger,Argent, three leaves in sinster bend, their points downward, proper.— On a canton, azure, three crescents, or, for Grove.— Argent, three escallops in chief, or, in base a crescent, gules, for Helpestone, usually called Hilpurton, bailiff of Sandwich, in 1299. A shield, being Helpeston's badge, another On a fess engrailed, three cinquefoils, between three garbs, for John Hill, of Nasall, in Staffordshire, who lies buried in this church. —A fess engrailed, three lions rampant, in chief, on the fess, a crescent for difference, for Spencer, customer, of Sandwich. — Quarterly, four coats; first, On a chevron, three quaterfoils; second, Per pale, ermine and argent; third, A cross, between four pomegranates, slipped; sourth,Three bars, wavy, for Michael Heyre, vicar here in 1520.
The church of Woodnesborough was given, in the reign of king Henry I. by a religious woman, one Ascelina de Wodensberg, to the priory of Ledes, soon after the foundation of it; to which deed was witness Robert de Crevequer, founder of the priory, Elias his son, and others; which gift was confirmed by the said Robert, who by his charter, released to the priory all his right and title to it. It was likewise confirmed by archbishop Theobald, and several of his successors, and by king Henry III. by his charter of inspeximus in his 41st year.
Archbishop William Corboil, who came to the see of Canterbury, three years after the foundation of Ledes priory, at the instance and petition of Ascelina above mentioned, who resigned this church into his hands for this purpose, appropriated it to the prior and convent, for the finding of necessary cloaths, for the canons there; and a vicarage was accordingly endowed in it.
There was a controversy between the prior and convent, and Adam, vicar of this church, in 1627, anno 14 Henry II. concerning the great tithes arising from the crofts and curtilages within this parish, which was referred to the prior of Rochester, who was the pope's delegate for this purpose, who determined that the prior and convent of Ledes, as rectors of this church, should receive, without any exception, all the great tithes of wheat, barley, oats, beans, peas, and of every fort of corn arising, or to arise from all lands, crofts, curtilages, or other places whatever, situated within the bounds, of this parish; and that the prior and convent should yearly pay to the said vicar, and his successors, half a seam of barley, and half a seam of beans, at the nativity of our Lord. (fn. 10)
¶After which, this parsonage appropriate,(which appears to have been esteemed as a manor) together with the advowson of the vicarage, remained with the prior and convent of Ledes, till its dissolution in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when it was, with all its lands and possessions, surrendered into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, in his 33d year, settled both parsonage and advowson on his new-founded dean and chapter of Rochester, with whom they remain at this time. On the dissolution of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. this parsonage was surveyed in 1649, when is appeared that the manor or parsonage of Woodnesborough, with the scite thereof, and all manner of tithes belonging to it, with a garden and orchard of one acre, was valued all together at 300l. that the lessee was to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church; that the vicarage was worth fifty pounds per annum. The then incumbent was under sequestration, and there was none to serve the cure; and that the church was then quite ruinated, and in great decay. (fn. 11)
www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol10/pp121-144
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A long and light church, best viewed from the south. Like nearby Ickham it is cruciform in plan, with a west rather than central, tower. Sometimes this is the result of a later tower being added, but here it is an early feature indeed, at least the same age (if not earlier) than the body of the church. Lord Kitchener lived in the parish, so his name appears on the War Memorial. At the west end of the south aisle, tucked out of the way, is the memorial to Sir Basil Dixwell (d 1750). There are two twentieth century windows by Martin Travers. The 1925 east window shows Our Lady and Child beneath the typical Travers Baroque Canopy. Under the tower, affixed to the wall, are some Flemish tiles, purchased under the will of John Digge who died in 1375. His memorial brass survives in the Vestry.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Barham
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Many churches in Kent are well known for their yew trees but St. John the Baptist at Barham is noteworthy for its magnificent beech trees.
The Church guide suggests that there has been a Church here since the 9th Century but the present structure was probably started in the 12th Century although Syms, in his book about Kent Country Churches, states that there is a hint of possible Norman construction at the base of the present tower. The bulk of the Church covers the Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular periods of building. Many of the huge roof beams, ties and posts are original 14th Century as are the three arches leading into the aisle..
In the Northwest corner is a small 13th Century window containing modern glass depicting St. George slaying the dragon and dedicated to the 23rd Signal Company. The Church also contains a White Ensign which was presented to it by Viscount Broome, a local resident. The Ensign was from 'H.M.S. Raglan' which was also commanded by Viscount Broome. The ship was sunk in January, 1918 by the German light cruiser 'Breslau'.
The walls contain various mural tablets. Hanging high on the west wall is a helmet said to have belonged to Sir Basil Dixwell of Broome Park. The helmet probably never saw action but was carried at his funeral.
The floor in the north transept is uneven because some years ago three brasses were found there. According to popular medieval custom engraved metal cut-outs were sunk into indented stone slabs and secured with rivets and pitch. In order to save them from further damage the brasses were lifted and placed on the walls. The oldest dates from about 1370 is of a civilian but very mutilated. The other two are in good condition and dated about 1460. One is of a woman wearing the dress of a widow which was similar to a nun. The other is of a bare headed man in plate armour. These are believed to be of John Digges and his wife Joan.
At the west end of the church is a list of Rectors and Priests-in-Charge - the first being Otho Caputh in 1280. Notice should be made of Richard Hooker (1594), the author of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. The tiles incorporated into the wall were originally in place in the Chancel about 1375. They were left by John Digges whose Will instructed that he was to be buried in the Chancel and "my executors are to buy Flanders tiles to pave the said Chancel".
The 14th century font is large enough to submerse a baby - as would have been the custom of the time. The bowl is octagonal representing the first day of the new week, the day of Christ's resurrection. The cover is Jacobean.
The Millennium Window in the South Transept was designed and constructed by Alexandra Le Rossignol and was dedicated in July 2001. The cost of the project (approximately £6,500) was raised locally with the first donation being made by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey.
The porch contains two wooden plaques listing the names of men from the village who were killed in the Great Wars - among them being Field Marshall Lord Kitchener of Broome Park.
www.barham-kent.org.uk/landmark_church.htm
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ANTIENTLY written Bereham, lies the next parish eastward. There are five boroughs in it, viz. of Buxton, Outelmeston, Derrington, Breach, and Shelving. The manor of Bishopsborne claims over almost the whole of this parish, at the court of which the four latter borsholders are chosen, and the manors of Reculver and Adisham over a small part of it.
BARHAM is situated at the confines of that beautiful country heretofore described, the same Nailbourne valley running through it, near which, in like manner the land is very fertile, but all the rest of it is a chalky barren soil. On the rise of the hill northward from it, is the village called Barham-street, with the church, and just beyond the summit of it, on the further side Barham court, having its front towards the downs, over part of which this parish extends, and gives name to them. At the foot of the same hill, further eastward, is the mansion of Brome, with its adjoining plantatious, a conspicuous object from the downs, to which by inclosing a part of them, the grounds extend as far as the Dover road, close to Denne-hill, and a costly entrance has been erected into them there. By the corner of Brome house the road leads to the left through Denton-street, close up to which this parish extends, towards Folkestone; and to the right, towards Eleham and Hythe. One this road, within the bounds of this parish, in a chalky and stony country, of poor barren land, there is a large waste of pasture, called Breach down, on which there are a number of tumuli, or barrows. By the road side there have been found several skeletons, one of which had round its neck a string of beads, of various forms and sizes, from a pidgeon's egg to a pea, and by it a sword, dagger, and spear; the others lay in good order, without any particular thing to distinguish them. (fn. 1)
In the Nailbourne valley, near the stream, are the two hamlets of Derrington and South Barham; from thence the hills, on the opposite side of it to those already mentioned, rise southward pretty high, the tops of them being covered with woods, one of them being that large one called Covert wood, a manor belonging to the archbishop, and partly in this parish, being the beginning of a poor hilly country, covered with stones, and enveloped with frequent woods.
BARHAM, which, as appears by the survey of Domesday, formerly lay in a hundred of its own name, was given anno 809, by the estimation of seven ploughlands, by Cenulph, king of Kent, to archbishop Wlfred, free from all secular demands, except the trinoda necessitas, but this was for the use of his church; for the archbishop, anno 824, gave the monks lands in Egelhorne and Langeduna, in exchange for it. After which it came into the possession of archbishop Stigand, but, as appears by Domesday, not in right of his archbishopric, at the taking of which survey, it was become part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, under the title of whose lands it is thus entered in it:
In Berham hundred, Fulbert holds of the bishop Berham. It was taxed at six sulings. The arable land is thirty two carucates. In demesne there are three carucates, and fifty two villeins, with twenty cottagers having eighteen carucates. There is a church, and one mill of twenty shillings and four pence. There are twentlyfive fisheries of thirty-five shillings all four pence. Of average, that is service, sixty shilling. Of herbage twenty six shillings, and twenty acres of meadow Of pannage sufficient for one hundred and fifty hogs. Of this manor the bishop gave one berewic to Herbert, the son of Ivo, which is called Hugham, and there be has one carucate in demesne, and twelve villeins, with nine carucates, and twenty acres of meadow. Of the same manor the bisoop gave to Osberne Paisforere one suling and two mills of fifty sbillings, and there is in demesne one carucate, and four villeins with one carucate. The whole of Barbam, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was worth forty pounds, when be received it the like, and yet it yielded to him one hundred pounds, now Berhem of itself is worth forty pounds, and Hucham ten pounds, and this which Osberne bas six pounds, and the land of one Ralph, a knight, is worth forty shillings. This manor Stigand, the archbishop held, but it was not of the archbishopric, but was of the demesne ferm of king Edward.
On the bishop's disgrace four years afterwards, and his estates being confiscated to the crown, the seignory of this parish most probably returned to the see of Canterbury, with which it has ever since continued. The estate mentioned above in Domesday to have been held of the bishop by Fulbert, comprehended, in all likelihood, the several manors and other estates in this parish, now held of the manor of Bishopsborne, one of these was THE MANOR AND SEAT OF BARHAM-COURT, situated near the church, which probably was originally the court-lodge of the manor of Barham in very early times, before it became united to that of Bishopsborne, and in king Henry II.'s time was held of the archbishop by knight's service, by Sir Randal Fitzurse, who was one of the four knights belonging to the king's houshould, who murdered archbishop Becket anno 1170; after perpetrating which, Sir Randal fled into Ireland, and changed his name to Mac-Mahon, and one of his relations took possession of this estate, and assumed the name of Berham from it; and accordingly, his descendant Warin de Berham is recorded in the return made by the sheriff anno 12 and 13 king John, among others of the archbishop's tenants by knight's service, as holding lands in Berham of him, in whose posterity it continued till Thomas Barham, esq. in the very beginning of king James I.'s reign, alienated it to the Rev. Charles Fotherbye, dean of Canterbury, who died possessed of it in 1619. He was eldest son of Martin Fotherby, of Great Grimsby, in Lincolnshire, and eldest brother of Martin Fotherby, bishop of Salisbury. He had a grant of arms, Gules, a cross of lozenges flory, or, assigned to him and Martin his brother, by Camden, clarencieux, in 1605. (fn. 2) His only surviving son Sir John Fotherbye, of Barham-court, died in 1666, and was buried in that cathedral with his father. At length his grandson Charles, who died in 1720, leaving two daughters his coheirs; Mary, the eldest, inherited this manor by her father's will, and afterwards married Henry Mompesson, esq. of Wiltshire, (fn. 3) who resided at Barhamcourt, and died in 1732, s. p. and she again carried this manor in marriage to Sir Edward Dering, bart. of Surrenden, whose second wife she was. (fn. 4) He lest her surviving, and three children by her, Charles Dering, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Farnaby, bart. since deceased, by whom he has an only surviving daughter, married to George Dering, esq. of Rolling, the youngest son of the late Sir Edw. Dering, bart. and her first cousin; Mary married Sir Robert Hilyard, bart. and Thomas Dering, esq. of London. Lady Dering died in 1775, and was succeeded by her eldest son Charles Dering, esq. afterwards of Barhamcourt, the present owner of it. It is at present occupied by Gen. Sir Charles Grey, bart. K. B. commanderin chief of the southern district of this kingdom.
THE MANORS OF BROME and OUTELMESTONE, alias DIGGS COURT, are situated in this parish; the latter in the valley, at the western boundary of it, was the first residence in this county of the eminent family of Digg, or, as they were asterwards called, Diggs, whence it gained its name of Diggs-court. John, son of Roger de Mildenhall, otherwise called Digg, the first-mentioned in the pedigrees of this family, lived in king Henry III.'s reign, at which time he, or one of this family of the same name, was possessed of the aldermanry of Newingate, in Canterbury, as part of their inheritance. His descendants continued to reside at Diggs-court, and bore for their arms, Gules, on a cross argent, five eagles with two heads displayed, sable, One of whom, James Diggs, of Diggs-court, died in 1535. At his death he gave the manor and seat of Outelmeston, alias Diggs-court, to his eldest son (by his first wife) John, and the manor of Brome to his youngest son, (by his second wife) Leonard, whose descendants were of Chilham castle. (fn. 5) John Diggs, esq. was of Diggs-court, whose descendant Thomas Posthumus Diggs, esq. about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, alienated this manor, with Diggs-place, to Capt. Halsey, of London, and he sold it to Sir Tho. Somes, alderman of London, who again parted with it to Sir B. Dixwell, bart. and he passed it away to Sir Thomas Williams, bart. whose heir Sir John Williams, bart. conveyed it, about the year 1706, to Daniel and Nathaniel Matson, and on the death of the former, the latter became wholly possessed of it, and his descendant Henry Matson, about the year 1730, gave it by will to the trustees for the repair of Dover harbour, in whom it continues at this time vested for that purpose.
BUT THE MANOR OF BROME, which came to Leonard Diggs, esq. by his father's will as above-mentioned, was sold by him to Basil Dixwell, esq. second son of Cha. Dixwell, esq. of Coton, in Warwickshire, then of Tevlingham, in Folkestone, who having built a handsome mansion for his residence on this manor, removed to it in 1622. In the second year of king Charles I. he served the office of sheriff with much honour and hospitality; after which he was knighted, and cveated a baronet. He died unmarried in 1641, having devised this manor and seat, with the rest of his estates, to his nephew Mark Dixwell, son of his elder brother William, of Coton above-mentioned, who afterwards resided at Brome, whose son Basil Dixwell, esq. of Brome, was anno 12 Charles II. created a baronet. He bore for his arms, Argent, a chevron, gules, between three sleurs de lis, sable. His only son Sir Basil Dixwell, bart. of Brome, died at Brome,s. p. in 1750, and devised this, among the rest of his estates, to his kinsman George Oxenden, esq. second son of Sir Geo. Oxenden, bart. of Dean, in Wingham, with an injunction for him to take the name and arms of Dixwell, for which an act passed anno 25 George II. but he died soon afterwards, unmarried, having devised this manor and seat to his father Sir George Oxenden, who settled it on his eldest and only surviving son, now Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. who is the present owner of it. He resides at Brome, which he has, as well as the grounds about it, much altered and improved for these many years successively.
SHELVING is a manor, situated in the borough of its own name, at the eastern boundary of this parish, which was so called from a family who were in antient times the possessors of it. John de Shelving resided here in king Edward I.'s reign, and married Helen, daughter and heir of John de Bourne, by whom he had Waretius de Shelving, whose son, J. de Shelving, of Shelvingborne, married Benedicta de Hougham, and died possessed of this manor anno 4 Edward III. After which it descended to their daughter Benedicta, who carried it in marriage to Sir Edmund de Haut, of Petham, in whose descendants, in like manner as Shelvington, alias Hautsborne, above-described, it continued down to Sir William Haut, of Hautsborne, in king Henry VIII's reign, whose eldest daughter and coheir Elizabeth carried it in marriage to Tho. Colepeper, esq. of Bedgbury, who in the beginning of king Edward VI.'s reign passed it away to Walter Mantle, whose window carried it by a second marriage to Christopher Carlell, gent. who bore for his arms, Or, a cross flory, gules; one of whose descendants sold it to Stephen Hobday, in whose name it continued till Hester, daughter of Hills Hobday, carried it in marriage to J. Lade, esq. of Boughton, and he having obtained an act for the purpose, alienated it to E. Bridges, esq. of Wootton-court, who passed away part of it to Sir George Oxenden, bart. whose son Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. of Brome, now owns it; but Mr. Bridges died possessed of the remaining part in 1780, and his eldest son the Rev. Edward Timewell Brydges, is the present possessor of it.
MAY DEACON, as it has been for many years past both called and written, is a seat in the southern part of this parish, adjoining to Denton-street, in which parish part of it is situated. Its original and true name was Madekin, being so called from a family who were owners of it, and continued so, as appears by the deeds of it, till king Henry VI's reign, in the beginning of which it passed from that name to Sydnor, in which it continued till king Henry VIII.'s reign, when Paul Sydnor, who upon his obtaining from the king a grant of Brenchley manor, removed thither, and alienated this seat to James Brooker, who resided here, and his sole daughter and heir carried it in marriage, in queen Elizabeth's reign, to Sir Henry Oxenden, of Dene, in Wingham, whose grandson Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. sold it in 1664, to Edward Adye, esq. the second son of John Adye, esq. of Doddington, one of whose daughters and coheirs, Rosamond, entitled her husband George Elcock, esq. afterwards of Madekin, to it, and his daughter and heir Elizabeth carried it in marriage to Capt. Charles Fotherby, whose eldest daughter and coheir Mary, entitled her two successive husbands, Henry Mompesson, esq. and Sir Edward Dering, bart. to the possession of it, and Charles Dering, esq. of Barham-court, eldest son of the latter, by her, is at this time the owner of it. The seat is now inhabited by Henry Oxenden, esq.
There are no parochial charities. The poor constantly maintained are about forty, casually fifteen.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanryof Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. John Baptist, is a handsome building, consisting of a body and side isle, a cross or sept, and a high chancel, having a slim tall spire at the west end, in which are four bells. In the chancel are memorials for George Elcock, esq. of Madeacon, obt. 1703, and for his wife and children; for Charles Bean, A. M. rector, obt. 1731. A monument for William Barne, gent. son of the Rev. Miles Barne. His grandfather was Sir William Barne, of Woolwich, obt. 1706; arms, Azure, three leopards faces, argent. Several memorials for the Nethersoles, of this parish. In the south sept is a magnificent pyramid of marble for the family of Dixwell, who lie buried in a vault underneath, and inscriptions for them. In the north sept is a monument for the Fotherbys. On the pavement, on a gravestone, are the figures of an armed knight (his feet on a greyhound) and his wife; arms, A cross, quartering six lozenges, three and three. In the east window these arms, Gules, three crowns, or—Gules, three lions passant in pale, or. This chapel was dedicated to St. Giles, and some of the family of Diggs were buried in it; and there are memorials for several of the Legrands. There are three tombs of the Lades in the church-yard, the inscriptions obliterated, but the dates remaining are 1603, 1625, and 1660. There were formerly in the windows of this church these arms, Ermine, a chief, quarterly, or, and gules, and underneath, Jacobus Peccam. Another coat, Bruine and Rocheleyquartered; and another, Gules, a fess between three lions heads, erased, argent, and underneath,Orate p ais Roberti Baptford & Johe ux; which family resided at Barham, the last of whom, Sir John Baptford, lest an only daughter and heir, married to John Earde, of Denton.
¶The church of Barham has always been accounted as a chapel to the church of Bishopsborne, and as such is included in the valuation of it in the king's books. In 1588 here were communicants one hundred and eighty; in 1640 there were two hundred and fifty.
The days drag and the weeks fly by.
It has been a grim week at work, and yet the weekend is here once again.
The cold snap is still here; thick frosts and icy patches, but Sunday afternoon storms will sweep in from the west and temperatures will soar by day to 13 degrees.
But for now it is cold, and colder at nights, the wood burner makes the living room toasty warm, though the rest of the house seems like a fridge in comparison.
Even though we went to bed at nine, we slept to nearly half seven, which meant we were already later than usual going to Tesco.
We had a coffee first, then got dressed and went out into the winter wonderland.
Tesco was more crowded mainly because we were an hour later. There were no crackers for cheese, a whole aisle empty of cream crackers and butter wafers.
There is only so much food you can eat even over Christmas, so the cracker-shortage won't affect us, we have two Dundee cakes, filling for two lots of mince pies and pastry for five lots of sausage rolls.
We won't starve.
We buy another bag of stuff for the food bank, try to get two weeks of stuff so we wont need to go next weekend, just to a farm shop for vegetables, and the butcher for the Christmas order, though on the 25th we are going out for dinner to the Lantern.
Back home for fruit, then bacon butties and another huge brew. Yes, smoked bacon is again in short supply, with just the basic streaky smoked available, but we're not fussy, so that does the trick.
Also, Jools picked up her inhalers for her cough, and so, we hope, the road to recovery begins.
What to do with the day?
Although a walk would have been good, Jools can do no more than ten minutes in freezing conditions before a coughing fits starts, so a couple of churches to revisit and take more shots of.
First on the list was St Leonard in Upper Deal. A church I have only have been inside once. As it was just half ten, there should have been a chance it was open, but no. We parked up and I walked over the road to try the porch door, but it was locked.
No worries, as the next two would certainly be open.
Just up the road towards Canterbury is Ash.
Ash is a large village that the main roads now bypass its narrow streets, and buses call not so frequently.
The church towers over the village, its spire piercing the grey sky. We park beside the old curry hours than burned down a decade ago, is now a house and no sign of damage.
indeed the church was open, though the porch door was closed, it opened with use of the latch, and the inner glass door swung inwards, revealing an interior I had forgotten about, rich Victorian glass let in the weak sunlight, allowing me to take detailed shots. It was far better and more enjoyable than I remembered.
Once I took 200 or so shots, we went back to the car, drove back to the main road, and on to Wingham, where the church there, a twin of Wingham, would also be open too.
And it was.
The wardens were just finishing trimming the church up, and putting out new flowers, it was a bustle of activity, then one by one they left.
got my shots, and we left, back to the car and to home, though we did stop at he farm shop at Aylsham, and all we wanted was some sweet peppers for hash.
We went in and there was the bakery: I bought two sausage rolls, four small pork pies and two Cajun flavours scotch eggs. We got cider, beer, healthy snacks (we told ourselves) and finally found the peppers.
Three peppers cost £50!
Then back home, along the A2.
And arriving back home at one. We feasted on the scotch eggs and two of the pork pies.
Yummy.
There was the third place play off game to watch on the tellybox, the Football league to follow on the radio. We lit the woodburner and it was soon toasty warm.
At half five, Norwich kicked off, and hopes were high as Blackburn had not beaten us in over a decade.
And, yes you guessed it, Norwich lost. Played poorly, and in Dad's words, were lucky to get nil.
Oh dear.
Oh dear indeed.
We have Christmas cake for supper, and apart from the football, as was well with the world.
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A large and impressive church of mainly thirteenth century date over restored in 1847 by the irrepressible William Butterfield. The scale of the interior is amazing - particularly in the tower crossing arches which support the enormous spire. They are an obvious insertion into an earlier structure. The best furnishing at Ash is the eighteenth century font which stands on an inscribed base. For the visitor interested in memorials, Ash ahs more than most ranging from the fourteenth century effigy of a knight to two excellent alabaster memorials to Sir Thomas Harfleet (d 1612) and Christopher Toldervy (d 1618). Mrs Toldervy appears twice in the church for she accompanies her husband on his memorial and may also be seen as a `weeper` on her parents` memorial! On that she is one of two survivors of what was once a group of seven daughters - all her weeping brothers have long since disappeared.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Ash+2
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ASH
LIES adjoining to the last-described parish of Staple northward. It is written in Domesday, Ece, and in other antient records, Aisse, and is usually called Ash, near Sandwich, to distinguish it from Ash, near Wrotham.
The parish of Ash is very large, extending over a variety of soil and country, of hill, dale, and marsh lands, near four miles across each way, and containing more than six thousand acres of land, of which about one half is marsh, the river Stour being its northern bounday, where it is very wet and unwholesone, but the southern or upland part of the parish is very dary, pleasant and healthy. The soil in general is fertile, and lets on an average at about one pound an acre; notwithstanding, there is a part of it about Ash-street and Gilton town, where it is a deep sand. The village of Ash, commonly called Ash-street, situated in this part of it, on high ground, mostly on the western declivity of a hill, having the church on the brow of it, is built on each side of the road from Canterbury to Sandwich, and contains about fifty houses. On the south side of this road, about half a mile westward, is a Roman burial ground, of which further mention will be taken hereaster, and adjoining to it the hamlet of Gilton town, formerly written Guildanton, in which is Gilton parsonage, a neat stuccoed house, lately inhabited by Mr. Robert Legrand, and now by Mrs. Becker. In the valley southward stands Mote farm, alias Brooke house, formerly the habitation of the Stoughtons, then of the Ptoroude's and now the property of Edward Solly, esq. of London.
There are dispersed throughout this large parish many small hamlets and farms, which have been formerly of more consequence, from the respective owners and in habitants of them, all which, excepting East and New Street, and Great Pedding, (the latter of which was the antient residence of the family of solly, who lie buried in Ash church-yard, and bore for their arms, Vert, a chevron, per pale, or, and gules, between three soles naiant, argent, and being sold by one of them to dean Lynch, is now in the possession of lady Lynch, the widow of Sir William Lynch, K. B.) are situated in the northern part of the parish, and contain together about two hundred and fifty houses, among them is Hoden, formerly the residence of the family of St. Nicholas; Paramour-street, which for many years was the residence of those of that name, and Brook-street, in which is Brook-house, the residence of the Brooke's, one of whom John Brooke, esq. in queen Elizabeth's reign, resided here, and bore for his arms, Per bend, vert and sable, two eagles, counterchanged.
William, lord Latimer, anno 38 Edward III. obtained a market to be held at Ash, on a Thursday; and a fair yearly on Lady-day, and the two following ones. A fair is now held in Ash-street on Lady and Michaelmas days yearly.
In 1473 there was a lazar house for the infirm of the leprosy, at Eche, near Sandwich.
¶The manor of Wingham claims paramount over this parish, subordinate to which there were several manors in it, held of the archbishop, to whom that manor belonged, the mansions of which, being inhabited by families of reputation and of good rank in life, made this parish of much greater account than it has been for many years past, the mansions of them having been converted for a length of time into farmhouses to the lands to which they belong.
f this manor, (viz. Wingham) William de Acris holds one suling in Fletes, and there he has in demesne one carucate and four villeins, and one knight with one carucate, and one fisbery, with a saltpit of thirty pence. The whole is worth forty shillings.
This district or manor was granted by archbishop Lanfranc, soon after this, to one Osberne, (fn. 7) of whom I find no further mention, nor of this place, till king Henry III.'s reign, when it seems to have been separated into two manors, one of which, now known by the name of the manor of Gurson Fleet, though till of late time by that of Fleet only, was held afterwards of the archbishop by knight's service, by the family of Sandwich, and afterwards by the Veres, earls of Oxford, one of whom, Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, who died anno 3 Edward III. was found by the escheat-rolls of that year, to have died possessed of this manor of Fleet, which continued in his descendants down to John de Vere, earl of Oxford, who for his attachment to the house of Lancaster, was attainted in the first year of king Edward IV. upon which this manor came into the hands of the crown, and was granted the next year to Richard, duke of Gloucester, the king's brother, with whom it staid after his succession to the crown, as king Richard III. on whose death, and the accession of king Henry VII. this manor returned to the possession of John, earl of Oxford, who had been attainted, but was by parliament anno I Henry VII. restored in blood, titles and possessions. After which this manor continued in his name and family till about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, when Edward Vere, earl of Oxford, alienated it to Hammond, in whose descendants it continued till one of them, in the middle of king Charles II.'s reign, sold it to Thomas Turner, D. D. who died possessed of it in 1672, and in his name and descendants it continued till the year 1748, when it was sold to John Lynch, D. D. dean of Canterbury, whose son Sir William Lynch, K. B. died possessed of it in 1785, and by his will devised it, with the rest of his estates, to his widow lady Lynch, who is the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
Archbishop Lanfranc, on his founding the priory of St. Gregory, in the reign of the Conqueror, gave to it the tithe of the manor of Fleet; which gift was confirmed by archbishop Hubert in Richard I.'s reign. This portion of tithes, which arose principally from Gurson Fleet manor, remained with the priory at its dissolution, and is now part of Goldston parsonage, parcel of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention has been made before.
The other part of the district of Fleet was called, to distinguish it, and from the possessors of it, the manor of Nevills Fleet, though now known by the name of Fleet only, is situated between Gurson and Richborough, adjoining to the former. This manor was held in king John's reign of the archbishop, by knight's service, by Thomas Pincerna, so called probably from his office of chief butler to that prince, whence his successors assumed the name of Butler, or Boteler. His descendant was Robert le Boteler, who possessed this manor in king Ed ward I.'s reign, and from their possession of it, this manor acquired for some time the name of Butlers Fleet; but in the 20th year of king Edward III. William, lord Latimer of Corbie, appears to have been in the possession of it, and from him it acquired the name of Latimers Fleet. He bore for his arms, Gules, a cross flory, or. After having had summons to parliament, (fn. 8) he died in the begening of king Richard II.'s reign, leaving Elizabeth his sole daughter and heir, married to John, lord Nevill, of Raby, whose son John bore the title of lord Latimer, and was summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, till the 9th year of king Henry VI. in which he died, so that the greatest part of his inheritance, among which was this manor, came by an entail made, to Ralph, lord Nevill, and first earl of Westmoreland, his eldest, but half brother, to whom he had sold, after his life, the barony of Latimer, and he, by seoffment, vested it, with this manor and much of the inheritance above-mentioned, in his younger son Sir George Nevill, who was accordingly summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, anno 10 Henry VI. and his grandson Richard, lord Latimer, in the next regin of Edward IV. alienated this manor, which from their length of possession of it, had acquired the name of Nevill's Fleet, to Sir James Cromer, and his son Sir William Cromer, in the 11th year of king Henry VII, sold it to John Isaak, who passed it away to Kendall, and he, in the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, sold it to Sir John Fogge, of Repton, in Ashford, who died possessed of it in 1533, and his son, of the same name, before the end of it, passed it away to Mr. Thomas Rolfe, and he sold it, within a few years afterwards, to Stephen Hougham, gent. of this parish, who by his will in 1555, devised it to his youngest son Rich. Hougham, of Eastry, from one of whose descendants it was alienated to Sir Adam Spracklin, who sold it to one of the family of Septvans, alias Harflete, in which name it continued till within a few years after the death of king Charles I. when by a female heir Elizabeth it went in marriage to Thomas Kitchell, esq. in whose heirs it continued till it was at length, about the year 1720, alienated by one of them to Mr. Thomas Bambridge, warden of the Fleet prison, upon whose death it became vested in his heirs-at-law, Mr. James Bambridge, of the Temple, attorney at-law, and Thomas Bambridge, and they divided this estate, and that part of it allotted to the latter was soon afterwards alienated by him to Mr. Peter Moulson, of London, whose only daughter and heir carried it in marriage to Mr. Geo. Vaughan, of London, and he and the assignees of Mr. James Bambridge last mentioned, have lately joined in the conveyance of the whole fee of this manor to Mr. Joseph Solly, gent. of Sandwich, the present owner of it. There is not any court held for this manor.
In this district, and within this manor of Fleet lastmentioned, there was formerly a chapel of cose to the church of Ash, as that was to the church of Wingham, to which college, on its foundation by archbishop Peckham in 1286, the tithes, rents, obventions, &c of this chapel and district was granted by him, for the support in common of the provost and canons of it, with whom it remained till the suppression of it, anno I king Edward VI. The tithes, arising from this manor of Fleet, and the hamlet of Richborough, are now a part of the rectory of Ash, and of that particular part of it called Gilton parsonage, parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention will be made hereafter. There have not been any remains left of it for a long time part.
Richborough is a hamlet and district of land, in the south-east part of this parish, rendered famous from the Roman fort and town built there, and more so formerly, from the port or haven close adjoining to it.
It was in general called by the Romans by the plural name of Rutupiæ; for it must be observed that the æstuary, which at that time separated the Isle of Thanet from the main land of Kent, and was the general passage for shipping,had at each mouth of it, towards the sea, a fort and haven, called jointly Rutupiæ. That at the northern part and of it being now called Reculver, and that at the eastern, being the principal one, this of Richborough.
The name of it is variously spelt in different authors. By Ptolemy it is written [Patapiaia (?)] urbem; by Tacitus, according to the best reading, Portus, Rutupensis; by Antonine, in his Itinerary, Ritupas, and Ritupis Portum; by Ammianus, Ritupiæ statio; afterwards by the Saxons, Reptacester, and now Richborough.
The haven, or Portus Rutupinus, or Richborough, was very eminent in the time of the Romans, and much celebrated in antient history, being a safe and commodious harbour, stationem ex adverso tranquillam, as Ammianus calls it, situated at the entrance of the passage towards then Thamas, and becoming the general place of setting sail from Britain to the continent, and where the Roman fleets arrived, and so large and extensive was the bay of it, that it is supposed to have extended far beyond Sandwich on the one side, almost to Ramsgate cliffs on the other, near five miles in width, covering the whole of that flat of land on which Stonar and Sandwich were afterwards built, and extending from thence up the æstuary between the Isle of Thanet and the main land. So that Antonine might well name it the Port, in his Itinerary, [Kat exochin], from there being no other of like consequence, and from this circumstance the shore for some distance on each side acquired the general name of Littus Rutupinum, the Rutupian shore. (fn. 9) Some have contended that Julius Cæsar landed at Richborough, in his expeditions into Britain; but this opinion is refuted by Dr. Hasley in Phil, Trans. No. 193, who plainly proves his place of landing to have been in the Downs. The fort of Richborough, from the similarity of the remains of it to those of Reculver, seems to have been built about the same time, and by the same emperer, Serveris, about the year 205. It stands on the high hill, close to a deep precipice eastward, at the soot of which was the haven. In this fortress, so peculiarly strengthened by its situation, the Romans had afterwards a stationary garrison, and here they had likewise a pharos, of watch tower, the like as at Reculver and other places on this coast, as well to guide the shipping into the haven, as to give notice of the approach of enemies. It is by most supposed that there was, in the time of the Romans, near the fort, in like manner as at Reculver, a city or town, on the decline of the hill, south-westward from it, according to custom, at which a colony was settled by them. Prolemy, in his geography, reckons the city Rutpia as one of the three principal cities of Kent. (fn. 10) Orosius. and Bede too, expressly mention it as such; but when the haven decayed, and there was no longer a traffic and resort to this place, the town decayed likewise, and there have not been, for many ages since, any remains whatever of it left; though quantities of coins and Roman antiquities have been sound on the spot where it is supposed to have once stood.
During the latter part of the Roman empire, when the Saxons prevented all trade by sea, and insefted these coasts by frequent robberies, the second Roman legion, called Augusta, and likewise Britannica, which had been brought out of Germany by the emperor Claudius, and had resided for many years at the Isca Silurum, in Wales, was removed and stationed here, under a president or commander, præpositus, of its own, who was subordinate to the count of the Saxon shore, and continued so till the final departure of the Romans from Britain, in the year 410, when this fortress was left in the hands of the Britons, who were afterwards dispossessed of it by the Saxons, during whose time the harbour seems to have began to decay and to swerve up, the sea by degrees entirely deserting it at this place, but still leaving one large and commodious at Sandwich, which in process of time became the usual resort for shipping, and arose a flourishing harbour in its stead, as plainly appears by the histories of those times, by all of which, both the royal Saxon fleets, as well as those of the Danes, are said to sail for the port of Sandwich, and there to lie at different times; (fn. 11) and no further mention is made by any of them of this of Rutupiæ, Reptachester, or Richborough; so that the port being thus destroyed, the town became neglected and desolate, and with the castle sunk into a heap of ruins. Leland's description of it in king Henry VIII.'s reign, is very accurate, and gives an exceeding good idea of the progressive state of its decay to that time. He says, "Ratesburg otherwyse Richeboro was, of ever the ryver of Sture dyd turn his botom or old canale, withyn the Isle of the Thanet, and by Iykelyhod the mayn se came to the very foote of the castel. The mayn se ys now of yt a myle by reason of wose, that has there swollen up. The scite of the town or castel ys wonderful fair apon an hille. The walles the wich remayn ther yet be in cumpase almost as much as the tower of London. They have bene very hye thykke stronge and wel embateled. The mater of them is flynt mervelus and long brykes both white and redde after the Britons fascion. The sement was made of se sand and smaul pible. Ther is a great lykelyhod that the goodly hil abowte the castel and especially to Sandwich ward hath bene wel inhabited. Corne groweth on the hille yn bene mervelous plenty and yn going to plowgh ther hath owt of mynde fownd and now is mo antiquities of Romayne money than yn any place els of England surely reason speketh that this should be Rutupinum. For byside that the name sumwhat toucheth, the very near passage fro Cales Clyves or Cales was to Ratesburgh and now is to Sandwich, the which is about a myle of; though now Sandwich be not celebrated by cawse of Goodwine sandes and the decay of the haven. Ther is a good flyte shot of fro Ratesburg toward Sandwich a great dyke caste in a rownd cumpas as yt had bene for sens of menne of warre. The cumpase of the grownd withyn is not much above an acre and yt is very holo by casting up the yerth. They cawle the place there Lytleborough. Withyn the castel is a lytle paroche chirch of St. Augustine and an heremitage. I had antiquities of the heremite the which is an industrious man. Not far fro the hermitage is a cave wher men have sowt and digged for treasure. I saw it by candel withyn, and ther were conys. Yt was so straite that I had no mynd to crepe far yn. In the north side of the castel ys a hedde yn the walle, now fore defaced with wether. They call it queen Bertha hedde. Nere to that place hard by the wal was a pot of Romayne mony sownd."
The ruins of this antient castle stand upon the point of a hill or promontory, about a mile north-west from Sandwich, overlooking on each side, excepting towards the west, a great flat which appears by the lowness of it, and the banks of beach still shewing themselves in different places, to have been all once covered by the sea. The east side of this hill is great part of it so high and perpendicular from the flat at the foot of it, where the river Stour now runs, that ships with the greatest burthen might have lain close to it, and there are no signs of any wall having been there; but at the north end, where the ground rises into a natural terrace, so as to render one necessary, there is about 190 feet of wall left. Those on the other three sides are for the most part standing, and much more entire than could be expected, considering the number of years since they were built, and the most so of any in the kingdom, except Silchester. It is in shape an oblong square, containing within it a space of somewhat less than five acres. They are in general about ten feet high within, but their broken tops shew them to have been still higher. The north wall, on the outside, is about twice as high as it is within, or the other two, having been carried up from the very bottom of the hill, and it seems to have been somewhat longer than it is at present, by some pieces of it sallen down at the east end. The walls are about eleven feet thick. In the middle of the west side is the aperture of an entrance, which probably led to the city or town, and on the north side is another, being an entrance obliquely into the castle. Near the middle of the area are the ruins of some walls, full of bushes and briars, which seem as if some one had dug under ground among them, probably where once stood the prætorium of the Roman general, and where a church or chapel was afterwards erected, dedicated to St. Augustine, and taken notice of by Leland as such in his time. It appears to have been a chapel of ease to the church of Ash, for the few remaining inhabitants of this district, and is mentioned as such in the grant of the rectory of that church, anno 3 Edward VI. at which time it appears to have existed. About a furlong to the south, in a ploughed field, is a large circular work, with a hollow in the middle, the banks of unequal heights, which is supposed to have been an amphitheatre, built of turf, for the use of the garrison, the different heights of the banks having been occasioned by cultivation, and the usual decay, which must have happened from so great a length of time. These stations of the Romans, of which Richborough was one, were strong fortifications, for the most part of no great compass or extent, wherein were barracks for the loding of the soldiers, who had their usual winter quarters in them. Adjoining, or at no great distance from them, there were usually other, buildings forming a town; and such a one was here at Richborough, as has been already mentioned before, to which the station or fort was in the nature of a citadel, where the soldiers kept garrison. To this Tacitus seems to allude, when he says, "the works that in time of peace had been built, like a free town, not far from the camp, were destroyed, left they should be of any service to the enemy." (fn. 12) Which in great measure accounts for there being no kind of trace or remains left, to point out where this town once stood, which had not only the Romans, according to the above observation, but the Saxons and Danes afterwards, to carry forward at different æras the total destruction of it.
The burial ground for this Roman colony and station of Richborough, appears to have been on the hill at the end of Gilton town, in this parish, about two miles south-west from the castle, and the many graves which have been continually dug up there, in different parts of it, shew it to have been of general use for that purpose for several ages.
The scite of the castle at Richborough was part of the antient inheritance of the family of the Veres, earls of Oxford, from which it was alienated in queen Elizabeth's reign to Gaunt; after which it passed, in like manner as Wingham Barton before-described, to Thurbarne, and thence by marriage to Rivett, who sold it to Farrer, from whom it was alienated to Peter Fector, esq. of Dover, the present possessor of it. In the deed of conveyance it is thus described: And also all those the walls and ruins of the antient castle of Rutupium, now known by the name of Richborough castle, with the scite of the antient port and city of Rutupinum, being on and near the lands before-mentioned. About the walls of Richborough grows Fæniculum valgare, common fennel, in great plenty.
It may be learned from the second iter of Antonine's Itinerary, that there was once a Roman road, or highway from Canterbury to the port of Richborough, in which iter the two laft stations are, from Durovernum, Canterbury, to Richborough, ad portum Rutupis, xii miles; in which distance all the different copies of the Itinerary agree. Some parts of this road can be tracted at places at this time with certainty; and by the Roman burial-ground, usually placed near the side of a high road, at Gilton town, and several other Roman vestigia thereabouts, it may well be supposed to have led from Canterbury through that place to Richborough, and there is at this time from Goldston, in Ash, across the low-grounds to it, a road much harder and broader than usual for the apparent use of it, which might perhaps be some part of it.
Charities.
A person unknown gave four acres and an half of land, in Chapman-street, of the annual produce of 5l. towards the church assessments.
Thomas St. Nicholas, esq. of this parish, by deed about the year 1626, gave an annuity of 11. 5s. to be paid from his estate of Hoden, now belonging to the heirs of Nathaniel Elgar, esq. to be distributed yearly, 10s. to the repairing and keeping clean the Toldervey monument in this church, and 15s. on Christmas-day to the poor.
John Proude, the elder, of Ash, yeoman, by his will in 1626, ordered that his executor should erect upon his land adjoining to the church-yard, a house, which should be disposed of in future by the churchwardens and overseers, for a school-house, and for a storehouse, to lay in provision for the church and poor. This house is now let at 1l. per annum, and the produce applied to the use of the poor.
Richard Camden, in 1642, gave by will forty perches of land, for the use of the poor, and of the annual produce of 15s. now vested in the minister and churchwardens.
Gervas Cartwright, esq. and his two sisters, in 1710 and 1721, gave by deed an estate, now of the yearly value of 50l. for teaching fifty poor children to read, write, &c. vested in the minister, churchwardens, and other trustees.
The above two sisters, Eleanor and Anne Cartwright, gave besides 100l. for beautifying the chancel, and for providing two large pieces of plate for the communion service; and Mrs. Susan Robetts added two other pieces of plate for the same purpose.
There is a large and commodious workhouse lately built, for the use of the poor, to discharge the expence of which, 100l. is taken yearly out of the poor's rate, till the whole is discharged. In 1604, the charges of the poor were 29l. 15s. 11d. In 1779. 1000l.
There is a charity school for boys and girls, who are educated, but not cloathed.
The poor constantly relieved are about seventy-five, casually fifty-five.
This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the dioceseof Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a handsome building, of the form of a cross, consisting of two isles and two chancels, and a cross sept, having a tall spire steeple in the middle, in which are eight bells and a clock. It is very neat and handsome in the inside. In the high or south chancel is a monument for the Roberts's, arms, Argent, three pheons, sable, on a chief of the second, a greybound current of the first; another for the Cartwrights, arms, Or, a fess embattled, between three catherine wheels, sable. In the north wall is a monument for one of the family of Leverick, with his effigies, in armour, lying cross-legged on it; and in the same wall, westward, is another like monument for Sir John Goshall, with his effigies on it, in like manner, and in a hollow underneath, the effigies of his wife, in her head-dress, and wimple under her chin. A gravestone, with an inscription, and figure of a woman with a remarkable high high-dress, the middle part like a horseshoe inverted, for Jane Keriell, daughter of Roger Clitherow. A stone for Benjamin Longley, LL. B. minister of Ash twenty-nine years, vicar of Eynsford and Tonge, obt. 1783. A monument for William Brett, esq. and Frances his wife. The north chancel, dedicated to St. Nicholas, belongs to the manor of Molland. Against the north wall is a tomb, having on it the effigies of a man and woman, lying at full length, the former in armour, and sword by his side, but his head bare, a collar of SS about his neck, both seemingly under the middle age, but neither arms nor inscription, but it was for one of the family of Harflete, alias Septvans; and there are monuments and several memorials and brasses likewise for that family. A memorial for Thomas Singleton, M. D. of Molland, obt. 1710. One for John Brooke, of Brookestreet, obt. 1582, s. p. arms, Per bend, two eagles.—Several memorials for the Pekes, of Hills-court, and for Masters, of Goldstone. A monument for Christopher Toldervy, of Chartham, obt. 1618. A memorial for Daniel Hole, who, as well as his ancestors, had lived upwards of one hundred years at Goshall, as occupiers of it. In the north cross, which was called the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, was buried the family of St. Nicholas. The brass plates of whom, with their arms, are still to be seen. A tablet for Whittingham Wood, gent. obt. 1656. In the south cross, a monument for Richard Hougham, gent. of Weddington, and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Edward Sanders, gent. of Norborne. An elegant monument for Mary, wife of Henry Lowman, esq. of Dortnued, in Germany. She died in 1737, and he died in 1743. And for lieutenant colonel Christopher Ernest Kien, obt. 1744, and Jane his wife, their sole daughter and heir, obt. 1762, and for Evert George Cousemaker, esq. obt. 1763, all buried in a vault underneath, arms, Or, on a mount vert, a naked man, bolding a branch in his hand, proper, impaling per bend sinister, argent and gules, a knight armed on borjeback, holding a tilting spear erect, the point downwards, all counterchanged. On the font is inscribed, Robert Minchard, arms, A crescent, between the points of it a mullet. Several of the Harfletes lie buried in the church-yard, near the porch, but their tombs are gone. On each side of the porch are two compartments of stone work, which were once ornamented with brasses, most probably in remembrance of the Harfleets, buried near them. At the corner of the church-yard are two old tombs, supposed for the family of Alday.
In the windows of the church were formerly several coats of arms, and among others, of Septvans, alias Harflete, Notbeame, who married Constance, widow of John Septvans; Brooke, Ellis, Clitherow, Oldcastle, Keriell, and Hougham; and the figures of St. Nicholas, Keriell, and Hougham, kneeling, in their respective surcoats of arms, but there is not any painted glass left in any part of the church or chancels.
John Septvans, about king Henry VII.'s reign, founded a chantry, called the chantry of the upper Hall, as appears by the will of Katherine Martin, of Faversham, sometime his wife, in 1497. There was a chantry of our blessed Lady, and another of St. Stephen likewise, in it; both suppressed in the 1st year of king Edward VI. when the former of them was returned to be of the clear yearly certified value of 15l. 11s. 1½d. (fn. 13)
The church of Ash was antiently a chapel of east to that of Wingham, and was, on the foundation of the college there in 1286, separated from it, and made a distinct parish church of itself, and then given to the college, with the chapels likewise of Overland and Fleet, in this parish, appurtenant to this church; which becoming thus appropriated to the college, continued with it till the suppression of it in king Edward VI.'s reign, when this part of the rectory or parsonage appropriate, called Overland parsonage, with the advowson of the church, came, with the rest of the possessions of the college, into the hands of the crown, where the advowson of the vicarage, or perpetual curacy of it did not remain long, for in the year 1558, queen Mary granted it, among others, to the archbishop. But the above-mentioned part of the rectory, or parsonage appropriate of Ash, with those chapels, remained in the crown, till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange to archbishop Parker, who was before possessed of that part called Goldston parsonage, parcel of the late dissolved priory of St. Gregory, by grant from king Henry VIII. so that now this parish is divided into two distinct parsonages, viz. of Overland and of Goldston, which are demised on separate beneficial leases by the archbishop, the former to the heirs of Parker, and the latter, called Gilton parsonage, from the house and barns of it being situated in that hamlet, to George Gipps, esq. M. P. for Canterbury. The patronage of the perpetual curacy remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury.
¶At the time this church was appropriated to the college of Wingham, a vicarage was endowed in it, which after the suppression of the college came to be esteemed as a perpetual curacy. It is not valued in the king's books. The antient stipend paid by the provost, &c. to the curate being 16l. 13s. 4d. was in 1660, augmented by archbishop Juxon with the addition of 33l. 6s. 8d. per annum; and it was afterwards further augmented by archbishop Sheldon, anno 28 Charles II. with twenty pounds per annum more, the whole to be paid by the several lessees of these parsonages. Which sum of seventy pounds is now the clear yearly certified value of it. In 1588 here were communicants five hundred; in 1640, eight hundred and fifty. So far as appears by the registers, the increase of births in this parish is almost double to what they were two hundred years ago.
The days drag and the weeks fly by.
It has been a grim week at work, and yet the weekend is here once again.
The cold snap is still here; thick frosts and icy patches, but Sunday afternoon storms will sweep in from the west and temperatures will soar by day to 13 degrees.
But for now it is cold, and colder at nights, the wood burner makes the living room toasty warm, though the rest of the house seems like a fridge in comparison.
Even though we went to bed at nine, we slept to nearly half seven, which meant we were already later than usual going to Tesco.
We had a coffee first, then got dressed and went out into the winter wonderland.
Tesco was more crowded mainly because we were an hour later. There were no crackers for cheese, a whole aisle empty of cream crackers and butter wafers.
There is only so much food you can eat even over Christmas, so the cracker-shortage won't affect us, we have two Dundee cakes, filling for two lots of mince pies and pastry for five lots of sausage rolls.
We won't starve.
We buy another bag of stuff for the food bank, try to get two weeks of stuff so we wont need to go next weekend, just to a farm shop for vegetables, and the butcher for the Christmas order, though on the 25th we are going out for dinner to the Lantern.
Back home for fruit, then bacon butties and another huge brew. Yes, smoked bacon is again in short supply, with just the basic streaky smoked available, but we're not fussy, so that does the trick.
Also, Jools picked up her inhalers for her cough, and so, we hope, the road to recovery begins.
What to do with the day?
Although a walk would have been good, Jools can do no more than ten minutes in freezing conditions before a coughing fits starts, so a couple of churches to revisit and take more shots of.
First on the list was St Leonard in Upper Deal. A church I have only have been inside once. As it was just half ten, there should have been a chance it was open, but no. We parked up and I walked over the road to try the porch door, but it was locked.
No worries, as the next two would certainly be open.
Just up the road towards Canterbury is Ash.
Ash is a large village that the main roads now bypass its narrow streets, and buses call not so frequently.
The church towers over the village, its spire piercing the grey sky. We park beside the old curry hours than burned down a decade ago, is now a house and no sign of damage.
indeed the church was open, though the porch door was closed, it opened with use of the latch, and the inner glass door swung inwards, revealing an interior I had forgotten about, rich Victorian glass let in the weak sunlight, allowing me to take detailed shots. It was far better and more enjoyable than I remembered.
Once I took 200 or so shots, we went back to the car, drove back to the main road, and on to Wingham, where the church there, a twin of Wingham, would also be open too.
And it was.
The wardens were just finishing trimming the church up, and putting out new flowers, it was a bustle of activity, then one by one they left.
got my shots, and we left, back to the car and to home, though we did stop at he farm shop at Aylsham, and all we wanted was some sweet peppers for hash.
We went in and there was the bakery: I bought two sausage rolls, four small pork pies and two Cajun flavours scotch eggs. We got cider, beer, healthy snacks (we told ourselves) and finally found the peppers.
Three peppers cost £50!
Then back home, along the A2.
And arriving back home at one. We feasted on the scotch eggs and two of the pork pies.
Yummy.
There was the third place play off game to watch on the tellybox, the Football league to follow on the radio. We lit the woodburner and it was soon toasty warm.
At half five, Norwich kicked off, and hopes were high as Blackburn had not beaten us in over a decade.
And, yes you guessed it, Norwich lost. Played poorly, and in Dad's words, were lucky to get nil.
Oh dear.
Oh dear indeed.
We have Christmas cake for supper, and apart from the football, as was well with the world.
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A large and impressive church of mainly thirteenth century date over restored in 1847 by the irrepressible William Butterfield. The scale of the interior is amazing - particularly in the tower crossing arches which support the enormous spire. They are an obvious insertion into an earlier structure. The best furnishing at Ash is the eighteenth century font which stands on an inscribed base. For the visitor interested in memorials, Ash ahs more than most ranging from the fourteenth century effigy of a knight to two excellent alabaster memorials to Sir Thomas Harfleet (d 1612) and Christopher Toldervy (d 1618). Mrs Toldervy appears twice in the church for she accompanies her husband on his memorial and may also be seen as a `weeper` on her parents` memorial! On that she is one of two survivors of what was once a group of seven daughters - all her weeping brothers have long since disappeared.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Ash+2
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ASH
LIES adjoining to the last-described parish of Staple northward. It is written in Domesday, Ece, and in other antient records, Aisse, and is usually called Ash, near Sandwich, to distinguish it from Ash, near Wrotham.
The parish of Ash is very large, extending over a variety of soil and country, of hill, dale, and marsh lands, near four miles across each way, and containing more than six thousand acres of land, of which about one half is marsh, the river Stour being its northern bounday, where it is very wet and unwholesone, but the southern or upland part of the parish is very dary, pleasant and healthy. The soil in general is fertile, and lets on an average at about one pound an acre; notwithstanding, there is a part of it about Ash-street and Gilton town, where it is a deep sand. The village of Ash, commonly called Ash-street, situated in this part of it, on high ground, mostly on the western declivity of a hill, having the church on the brow of it, is built on each side of the road from Canterbury to Sandwich, and contains about fifty houses. On the south side of this road, about half a mile westward, is a Roman burial ground, of which further mention will be taken hereaster, and adjoining to it the hamlet of Gilton town, formerly written Guildanton, in which is Gilton parsonage, a neat stuccoed house, lately inhabited by Mr. Robert Legrand, and now by Mrs. Becker. In the valley southward stands Mote farm, alias Brooke house, formerly the habitation of the Stoughtons, then of the Ptoroude's and now the property of Edward Solly, esq. of London.
There are dispersed throughout this large parish many small hamlets and farms, which have been formerly of more consequence, from the respective owners and in habitants of them, all which, excepting East and New Street, and Great Pedding, (the latter of which was the antient residence of the family of solly, who lie buried in Ash church-yard, and bore for their arms, Vert, a chevron, per pale, or, and gules, between three soles naiant, argent, and being sold by one of them to dean Lynch, is now in the possession of lady Lynch, the widow of Sir William Lynch, K. B.) are situated in the northern part of the parish, and contain together about two hundred and fifty houses, among them is Hoden, formerly the residence of the family of St. Nicholas; Paramour-street, which for many years was the residence of those of that name, and Brook-street, in which is Brook-house, the residence of the Brooke's, one of whom John Brooke, esq. in queen Elizabeth's reign, resided here, and bore for his arms, Per bend, vert and sable, two eagles, counterchanged.
William, lord Latimer, anno 38 Edward III. obtained a market to be held at Ash, on a Thursday; and a fair yearly on Lady-day, and the two following ones. A fair is now held in Ash-street on Lady and Michaelmas days yearly.
In 1473 there was a lazar house for the infirm of the leprosy, at Eche, near Sandwich.
¶The manor of Wingham claims paramount over this parish, subordinate to which there were several manors in it, held of the archbishop, to whom that manor belonged, the mansions of which, being inhabited by families of reputation and of good rank in life, made this parish of much greater account than it has been for many years past, the mansions of them having been converted for a length of time into farmhouses to the lands to which they belong.
f this manor, (viz. Wingham) William de Acris holds one suling in Fletes, and there he has in demesne one carucate and four villeins, and one knight with one carucate, and one fisbery, with a saltpit of thirty pence. The whole is worth forty shillings.
This district or manor was granted by archbishop Lanfranc, soon after this, to one Osberne, (fn. 7) of whom I find no further mention, nor of this place, till king Henry III.'s reign, when it seems to have been separated into two manors, one of which, now known by the name of the manor of Gurson Fleet, though till of late time by that of Fleet only, was held afterwards of the archbishop by knight's service, by the family of Sandwich, and afterwards by the Veres, earls of Oxford, one of whom, Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, who died anno 3 Edward III. was found by the escheat-rolls of that year, to have died possessed of this manor of Fleet, which continued in his descendants down to John de Vere, earl of Oxford, who for his attachment to the house of Lancaster, was attainted in the first year of king Edward IV. upon which this manor came into the hands of the crown, and was granted the next year to Richard, duke of Gloucester, the king's brother, with whom it staid after his succession to the crown, as king Richard III. on whose death, and the accession of king Henry VII. this manor returned to the possession of John, earl of Oxford, who had been attainted, but was by parliament anno I Henry VII. restored in blood, titles and possessions. After which this manor continued in his name and family till about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, when Edward Vere, earl of Oxford, alienated it to Hammond, in whose descendants it continued till one of them, in the middle of king Charles II.'s reign, sold it to Thomas Turner, D. D. who died possessed of it in 1672, and in his name and descendants it continued till the year 1748, when it was sold to John Lynch, D. D. dean of Canterbury, whose son Sir William Lynch, K. B. died possessed of it in 1785, and by his will devised it, with the rest of his estates, to his widow lady Lynch, who is the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
Archbishop Lanfranc, on his founding the priory of St. Gregory, in the reign of the Conqueror, gave to it the tithe of the manor of Fleet; which gift was confirmed by archbishop Hubert in Richard I.'s reign. This portion of tithes, which arose principally from Gurson Fleet manor, remained with the priory at its dissolution, and is now part of Goldston parsonage, parcel of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention has been made before.
The other part of the district of Fleet was called, to distinguish it, and from the possessors of it, the manor of Nevills Fleet, though now known by the name of Fleet only, is situated between Gurson and Richborough, adjoining to the former. This manor was held in king John's reign of the archbishop, by knight's service, by Thomas Pincerna, so called probably from his office of chief butler to that prince, whence his successors assumed the name of Butler, or Boteler. His descendant was Robert le Boteler, who possessed this manor in king Ed ward I.'s reign, and from their possession of it, this manor acquired for some time the name of Butlers Fleet; but in the 20th year of king Edward III. William, lord Latimer of Corbie, appears to have been in the possession of it, and from him it acquired the name of Latimers Fleet. He bore for his arms, Gules, a cross flory, or. After having had summons to parliament, (fn. 8) he died in the begening of king Richard II.'s reign, leaving Elizabeth his sole daughter and heir, married to John, lord Nevill, of Raby, whose son John bore the title of lord Latimer, and was summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, till the 9th year of king Henry VI. in which he died, so that the greatest part of his inheritance, among which was this manor, came by an entail made, to Ralph, lord Nevill, and first earl of Westmoreland, his eldest, but half brother, to whom he had sold, after his life, the barony of Latimer, and he, by seoffment, vested it, with this manor and much of the inheritance above-mentioned, in his younger son Sir George Nevill, who was accordingly summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, anno 10 Henry VI. and his grandson Richard, lord Latimer, in the next regin of Edward IV. alienated this manor, which from their length of possession of it, had acquired the name of Nevill's Fleet, to Sir James Cromer, and his son Sir William Cromer, in the 11th year of king Henry VII, sold it to John Isaak, who passed it away to Kendall, and he, in the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, sold it to Sir John Fogge, of Repton, in Ashford, who died possessed of it in 1533, and his son, of the same name, before the end of it, passed it away to Mr. Thomas Rolfe, and he sold it, within a few years afterwards, to Stephen Hougham, gent. of this parish, who by his will in 1555, devised it to his youngest son Rich. Hougham, of Eastry, from one of whose descendants it was alienated to Sir Adam Spracklin, who sold it to one of the family of Septvans, alias Harflete, in which name it continued till within a few years after the death of king Charles I. when by a female heir Elizabeth it went in marriage to Thomas Kitchell, esq. in whose heirs it continued till it was at length, about the year 1720, alienated by one of them to Mr. Thomas Bambridge, warden of the Fleet prison, upon whose death it became vested in his heirs-at-law, Mr. James Bambridge, of the Temple, attorney at-law, and Thomas Bambridge, and they divided this estate, and that part of it allotted to the latter was soon afterwards alienated by him to Mr. Peter Moulson, of London, whose only daughter and heir carried it in marriage to Mr. Geo. Vaughan, of London, and he and the assignees of Mr. James Bambridge last mentioned, have lately joined in the conveyance of the whole fee of this manor to Mr. Joseph Solly, gent. of Sandwich, the present owner of it. There is not any court held for this manor.
In this district, and within this manor of Fleet lastmentioned, there was formerly a chapel of cose to the church of Ash, as that was to the church of Wingham, to which college, on its foundation by archbishop Peckham in 1286, the tithes, rents, obventions, &c of this chapel and district was granted by him, for the support in common of the provost and canons of it, with whom it remained till the suppression of it, anno I king Edward VI. The tithes, arising from this manor of Fleet, and the hamlet of Richborough, are now a part of the rectory of Ash, and of that particular part of it called Gilton parsonage, parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention will be made hereafter. There have not been any remains left of it for a long time part.
Richborough is a hamlet and district of land, in the south-east part of this parish, rendered famous from the Roman fort and town built there, and more so formerly, from the port or haven close adjoining to it.
It was in general called by the Romans by the plural name of Rutupiæ; for it must be observed that the æstuary, which at that time separated the Isle of Thanet from the main land of Kent, and was the general passage for shipping,had at each mouth of it, towards the sea, a fort and haven, called jointly Rutupiæ. That at the northern part and of it being now called Reculver, and that at the eastern, being the principal one, this of Richborough.
The name of it is variously spelt in different authors. By Ptolemy it is written [Patapiaia (?)] urbem; by Tacitus, according to the best reading, Portus, Rutupensis; by Antonine, in his Itinerary, Ritupas, and Ritupis Portum; by Ammianus, Ritupiæ statio; afterwards by the Saxons, Reptacester, and now Richborough.
The haven, or Portus Rutupinus, or Richborough, was very eminent in the time of the Romans, and much celebrated in antient history, being a safe and commodious harbour, stationem ex adverso tranquillam, as Ammianus calls it, situated at the entrance of the passage towards then Thamas, and becoming the general place of setting sail from Britain to the continent, and where the Roman fleets arrived, and so large and extensive was the bay of it, that it is supposed to have extended far beyond Sandwich on the one side, almost to Ramsgate cliffs on the other, near five miles in width, covering the whole of that flat of land on which Stonar and Sandwich were afterwards built, and extending from thence up the æstuary between the Isle of Thanet and the main land. So that Antonine might well name it the Port, in his Itinerary, [Kat exochin], from there being no other of like consequence, and from this circumstance the shore for some distance on each side acquired the general name of Littus Rutupinum, the Rutupian shore. (fn. 9) Some have contended that Julius Cæsar landed at Richborough, in his expeditions into Britain; but this opinion is refuted by Dr. Hasley in Phil, Trans. No. 193, who plainly proves his place of landing to have been in the Downs. The fort of Richborough, from the similarity of the remains of it to those of Reculver, seems to have been built about the same time, and by the same emperer, Serveris, about the year 205. It stands on the high hill, close to a deep precipice eastward, at the soot of which was the haven. In this fortress, so peculiarly strengthened by its situation, the Romans had afterwards a stationary garrison, and here they had likewise a pharos, of watch tower, the like as at Reculver and other places on this coast, as well to guide the shipping into the haven, as to give notice of the approach of enemies. It is by most supposed that there was, in the time of the Romans, near the fort, in like manner as at Reculver, a city or town, on the decline of the hill, south-westward from it, according to custom, at which a colony was settled by them. Prolemy, in his geography, reckons the city Rutpia as one of the three principal cities of Kent. (fn. 10) Orosius. and Bede too, expressly mention it as such; but when the haven decayed, and there was no longer a traffic and resort to this place, the town decayed likewise, and there have not been, for many ages since, any remains whatever of it left; though quantities of coins and Roman antiquities have been sound on the spot where it is supposed to have once stood.
During the latter part of the Roman empire, when the Saxons prevented all trade by sea, and insefted these coasts by frequent robberies, the second Roman legion, called Augusta, and likewise Britannica, which had been brought out of Germany by the emperor Claudius, and had resided for many years at the Isca Silurum, in Wales, was removed and stationed here, under a president or commander, præpositus, of its own, who was subordinate to the count of the Saxon shore, and continued so till the final departure of the Romans from Britain, in the year 410, when this fortress was left in the hands of the Britons, who were afterwards dispossessed of it by the Saxons, during whose time the harbour seems to have began to decay and to swerve up, the sea by degrees entirely deserting it at this place, but still leaving one large and commodious at Sandwich, which in process of time became the usual resort for shipping, and arose a flourishing harbour in its stead, as plainly appears by the histories of those times, by all of which, both the royal Saxon fleets, as well as those of the Danes, are said to sail for the port of Sandwich, and there to lie at different times; (fn. 11) and no further mention is made by any of them of this of Rutupiæ, Reptachester, or Richborough; so that the port being thus destroyed, the town became neglected and desolate, and with the castle sunk into a heap of ruins. Leland's description of it in king Henry VIII.'s reign, is very accurate, and gives an exceeding good idea of the progressive state of its decay to that time. He says, "Ratesburg otherwyse Richeboro was, of ever the ryver of Sture dyd turn his botom or old canale, withyn the Isle of the Thanet, and by Iykelyhod the mayn se came to the very foote of the castel. The mayn se ys now of yt a myle by reason of wose, that has there swollen up. The scite of the town or castel ys wonderful fair apon an hille. The walles the wich remayn ther yet be in cumpase almost as much as the tower of London. They have bene very hye thykke stronge and wel embateled. The mater of them is flynt mervelus and long brykes both white and redde after the Britons fascion. The sement was made of se sand and smaul pible. Ther is a great lykelyhod that the goodly hil abowte the castel and especially to Sandwich ward hath bene wel inhabited. Corne groweth on the hille yn bene mervelous plenty and yn going to plowgh ther hath owt of mynde fownd and now is mo antiquities of Romayne money than yn any place els of England surely reason speketh that this should be Rutupinum. For byside that the name sumwhat toucheth, the very near passage fro Cales Clyves or Cales was to Ratesburgh and now is to Sandwich, the which is about a myle of; though now Sandwich be not celebrated by cawse of Goodwine sandes and the decay of the haven. Ther is a good flyte shot of fro Ratesburg toward Sandwich a great dyke caste in a rownd cumpas as yt had bene for sens of menne of warre. The cumpase of the grownd withyn is not much above an acre and yt is very holo by casting up the yerth. They cawle the place there Lytleborough. Withyn the castel is a lytle paroche chirch of St. Augustine and an heremitage. I had antiquities of the heremite the which is an industrious man. Not far fro the hermitage is a cave wher men have sowt and digged for treasure. I saw it by candel withyn, and ther were conys. Yt was so straite that I had no mynd to crepe far yn. In the north side of the castel ys a hedde yn the walle, now fore defaced with wether. They call it queen Bertha hedde. Nere to that place hard by the wal was a pot of Romayne mony sownd."
The ruins of this antient castle stand upon the point of a hill or promontory, about a mile north-west from Sandwich, overlooking on each side, excepting towards the west, a great flat which appears by the lowness of it, and the banks of beach still shewing themselves in different places, to have been all once covered by the sea. The east side of this hill is great part of it so high and perpendicular from the flat at the foot of it, where the river Stour now runs, that ships with the greatest burthen might have lain close to it, and there are no signs of any wall having been there; but at the north end, where the ground rises into a natural terrace, so as to render one necessary, there is about 190 feet of wall left. Those on the other three sides are for the most part standing, and much more entire than could be expected, considering the number of years since they were built, and the most so of any in the kingdom, except Silchester. It is in shape an oblong square, containing within it a space of somewhat less than five acres. They are in general about ten feet high within, but their broken tops shew them to have been still higher. The north wall, on the outside, is about twice as high as it is within, or the other two, having been carried up from the very bottom of the hill, and it seems to have been somewhat longer than it is at present, by some pieces of it sallen down at the east end. The walls are about eleven feet thick. In the middle of the west side is the aperture of an entrance, which probably led to the city or town, and on the north side is another, being an entrance obliquely into the castle. Near the middle of the area are the ruins of some walls, full of bushes and briars, which seem as if some one had dug under ground among them, probably where once stood the prætorium of the Roman general, and where a church or chapel was afterwards erected, dedicated to St. Augustine, and taken notice of by Leland as such in his time. It appears to have been a chapel of ease to the church of Ash, for the few remaining inhabitants of this district, and is mentioned as such in the grant of the rectory of that church, anno 3 Edward VI. at which time it appears to have existed. About a furlong to the south, in a ploughed field, is a large circular work, with a hollow in the middle, the banks of unequal heights, which is supposed to have been an amphitheatre, built of turf, for the use of the garrison, the different heights of the banks having been occasioned by cultivation, and the usual decay, which must have happened from so great a length of time. These stations of the Romans, of which Richborough was one, were strong fortifications, for the most part of no great compass or extent, wherein were barracks for the loding of the soldiers, who had their usual winter quarters in them. Adjoining, or at no great distance from them, there were usually other, buildings forming a town; and such a one was here at Richborough, as has been already mentioned before, to which the station or fort was in the nature of a citadel, where the soldiers kept garrison. To this Tacitus seems to allude, when he says, "the works that in time of peace had been built, like a free town, not far from the camp, were destroyed, left they should be of any service to the enemy." (fn. 12) Which in great measure accounts for there being no kind of trace or remains left, to point out where this town once stood, which had not only the Romans, according to the above observation, but the Saxons and Danes afterwards, to carry forward at different æras the total destruction of it.
The burial ground for this Roman colony and station of Richborough, appears to have been on the hill at the end of Gilton town, in this parish, about two miles south-west from the castle, and the many graves which have been continually dug up there, in different parts of it, shew it to have been of general use for that purpose for several ages.
The scite of the castle at Richborough was part of the antient inheritance of the family of the Veres, earls of Oxford, from which it was alienated in queen Elizabeth's reign to Gaunt; after which it passed, in like manner as Wingham Barton before-described, to Thurbarne, and thence by marriage to Rivett, who sold it to Farrer, from whom it was alienated to Peter Fector, esq. of Dover, the present possessor of it. In the deed of conveyance it is thus described: And also all those the walls and ruins of the antient castle of Rutupium, now known by the name of Richborough castle, with the scite of the antient port and city of Rutupinum, being on and near the lands before-mentioned. About the walls of Richborough grows Fæniculum valgare, common fennel, in great plenty.
It may be learned from the second iter of Antonine's Itinerary, that there was once a Roman road, or highway from Canterbury to the port of Richborough, in which iter the two laft stations are, from Durovernum, Canterbury, to Richborough, ad portum Rutupis, xii miles; in which distance all the different copies of the Itinerary agree. Some parts of this road can be tracted at places at this time with certainty; and by the Roman burial-ground, usually placed near the side of a high road, at Gilton town, and several other Roman vestigia thereabouts, it may well be supposed to have led from Canterbury through that place to Richborough, and there is at this time from Goldston, in Ash, across the low-grounds to it, a road much harder and broader than usual for the apparent use of it, which might perhaps be some part of it.
Charities.
A person unknown gave four acres and an half of land, in Chapman-street, of the annual produce of 5l. towards the church assessments.
Thomas St. Nicholas, esq. of this parish, by deed about the year 1626, gave an annuity of 11. 5s. to be paid from his estate of Hoden, now belonging to the heirs of Nathaniel Elgar, esq. to be distributed yearly, 10s. to the repairing and keeping clean the Toldervey monument in this church, and 15s. on Christmas-day to the poor.
John Proude, the elder, of Ash, yeoman, by his will in 1626, ordered that his executor should erect upon his land adjoining to the church-yard, a house, which should be disposed of in future by the churchwardens and overseers, for a school-house, and for a storehouse, to lay in provision for the church and poor. This house is now let at 1l. per annum, and the produce applied to the use of the poor.
Richard Camden, in 1642, gave by will forty perches of land, for the use of the poor, and of the annual produce of 15s. now vested in the minister and churchwardens.
Gervas Cartwright, esq. and his two sisters, in 1710 and 1721, gave by deed an estate, now of the yearly value of 50l. for teaching fifty poor children to read, write, &c. vested in the minister, churchwardens, and other trustees.
The above two sisters, Eleanor and Anne Cartwright, gave besides 100l. for beautifying the chancel, and for providing two large pieces of plate for the communion service; and Mrs. Susan Robetts added two other pieces of plate for the same purpose.
There is a large and commodious workhouse lately built, for the use of the poor, to discharge the expence of which, 100l. is taken yearly out of the poor's rate, till the whole is discharged. In 1604, the charges of the poor were 29l. 15s. 11d. In 1779. 1000l.
There is a charity school for boys and girls, who are educated, but not cloathed.
The poor constantly relieved are about seventy-five, casually fifty-five.
This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the dioceseof Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a handsome building, of the form of a cross, consisting of two isles and two chancels, and a cross sept, having a tall spire steeple in the middle, in which are eight bells and a clock. It is very neat and handsome in the inside. In the high or south chancel is a monument for the Roberts's, arms, Argent, three pheons, sable, on a chief of the second, a greybound current of the first; another for the Cartwrights, arms, Or, a fess embattled, between three catherine wheels, sable. In the north wall is a monument for one of the family of Leverick, with his effigies, in armour, lying cross-legged on it; and in the same wall, westward, is another like monument for Sir John Goshall, with his effigies on it, in like manner, and in a hollow underneath, the effigies of his wife, in her head-dress, and wimple under her chin. A gravestone, with an inscription, and figure of a woman with a remarkable high high-dress, the middle part like a horseshoe inverted, for Jane Keriell, daughter of Roger Clitherow. A stone for Benjamin Longley, LL. B. minister of Ash twenty-nine years, vicar of Eynsford and Tonge, obt. 1783. A monument for William Brett, esq. and Frances his wife. The north chancel, dedicated to St. Nicholas, belongs to the manor of Molland. Against the north wall is a tomb, having on it the effigies of a man and woman, lying at full length, the former in armour, and sword by his side, but his head bare, a collar of SS about his neck, both seemingly under the middle age, but neither arms nor inscription, but it was for one of the family of Harflete, alias Septvans; and there are monuments and several memorials and brasses likewise for that family. A memorial for Thomas Singleton, M. D. of Molland, obt. 1710. One for John Brooke, of Brookestreet, obt. 1582, s. p. arms, Per bend, two eagles.—Several memorials for the Pekes, of Hills-court, and for Masters, of Goldstone. A monument for Christopher Toldervy, of Chartham, obt. 1618. A memorial for Daniel Hole, who, as well as his ancestors, had lived upwards of one hundred years at Goshall, as occupiers of it. In the north cross, which was called the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, was buried the family of St. Nicholas. The brass plates of whom, with their arms, are still to be seen. A tablet for Whittingham Wood, gent. obt. 1656. In the south cross, a monument for Richard Hougham, gent. of Weddington, and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Edward Sanders, gent. of Norborne. An elegant monument for Mary, wife of Henry Lowman, esq. of Dortnued, in Germany. She died in 1737, and he died in 1743. And for lieutenant colonel Christopher Ernest Kien, obt. 1744, and Jane his wife, their sole daughter and heir, obt. 1762, and for Evert George Cousemaker, esq. obt. 1763, all buried in a vault underneath, arms, Or, on a mount vert, a naked man, bolding a branch in his hand, proper, impaling per bend sinister, argent and gules, a knight armed on borjeback, holding a tilting spear erect, the point downwards, all counterchanged. On the font is inscribed, Robert Minchard, arms, A crescent, between the points of it a mullet. Several of the Harfletes lie buried in the church-yard, near the porch, but their tombs are gone. On each side of the porch are two compartments of stone work, which were once ornamented with brasses, most probably in remembrance of the Harfleets, buried near them. At the corner of the church-yard are two old tombs, supposed for the family of Alday.
In the windows of the church were formerly several coats of arms, and among others, of Septvans, alias Harflete, Notbeame, who married Constance, widow of John Septvans; Brooke, Ellis, Clitherow, Oldcastle, Keriell, and Hougham; and the figures of St. Nicholas, Keriell, and Hougham, kneeling, in their respective surcoats of arms, but there is not any painted glass left in any part of the church or chancels.
John Septvans, about king Henry VII.'s reign, founded a chantry, called the chantry of the upper Hall, as appears by the will of Katherine Martin, of Faversham, sometime his wife, in 1497. There was a chantry of our blessed Lady, and another of St. Stephen likewise, in it; both suppressed in the 1st year of king Edward VI. when the former of them was returned to be of the clear yearly certified value of 15l. 11s. 1½d. (fn. 13)
The church of Ash was antiently a chapel of east to that of Wingham, and was, on the foundation of the college there in 1286, separated from it, and made a distinct parish church of itself, and then given to the college, with the chapels likewise of Overland and Fleet, in this parish, appurtenant to this church; which becoming thus appropriated to the college, continued with it till the suppression of it in king Edward VI.'s reign, when this part of the rectory or parsonage appropriate, called Overland parsonage, with the advowson of the church, came, with the rest of the possessions of the college, into the hands of the crown, where the advowson of the vicarage, or perpetual curacy of it did not remain long, for in the year 1558, queen Mary granted it, among others, to the archbishop. But the above-mentioned part of the rectory, or parsonage appropriate of Ash, with those chapels, remained in the crown, till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange to archbishop Parker, who was before possessed of that part called Goldston parsonage, parcel of the late dissolved priory of St. Gregory, by grant from king Henry VIII. so that now this parish is divided into two distinct parsonages, viz. of Overland and of Goldston, which are demised on separate beneficial leases by the archbishop, the former to the heirs of Parker, and the latter, called Gilton parsonage, from the house and barns of it being situated in that hamlet, to George Gipps, esq. M. P. for Canterbury. The patronage of the perpetual curacy remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury.
¶At the time this church was appropriated to the college of Wingham, a vicarage was endowed in it, which after the suppression of the college came to be esteemed as a perpetual curacy. It is not valued in the king's books. The antient stipend paid by the provost, &c. to the curate being 16l. 13s. 4d. was in 1660, augmented by archbishop Juxon with the addition of 33l. 6s. 8d. per annum; and it was afterwards further augmented by archbishop Sheldon, anno 28 Charles II. with twenty pounds per annum more, the whole to be paid by the several lessees of these parsonages. Which sum of seventy pounds is now the clear yearly certified value of it. In 1588 here were communicants five hundred; in 1640, eight hundred and fifty. So far as appears by the registers, the increase of births in this parish is almost double to what they were two hundred years ago.
The days drag and the weeks fly by.
It has been a grim week at work, and yet the weekend is here once again.
The cold snap is still here; thick frosts and icy patches, but Sunday afternoon storms will sweep in from the west and temperatures will soar by day to 13 degrees.
But for now it is cold, and colder at nights, the wood burner makes the living room toasty warm, though the rest of the house seems like a fridge in comparison.
Even though we went to bed at nine, we slept to nearly half seven, which meant we were already later than usual going to Tesco.
We had a coffee first, then got dressed and went out into the winter wonderland.
Tesco was more crowded mainly because we were an hour later. There were no crackers for cheese, a whole aisle empty of cream crackers and butter wafers.
There is only so much food you can eat even over Christmas, so the cracker-shortage won't affect us, we have two Dundee cakes, filling for two lots of mince pies and pastry for five lots of sausage rolls.
We won't starve.
We buy another bag of stuff for the food bank, try to get two weeks of stuff so we wont need to go next weekend, just to a farm shop for vegetables, and the butcher for the Christmas order, though on the 25th we are going out for dinner to the Lantern.
Back home for fruit, then bacon butties and another huge brew. Yes, smoked bacon is again in short supply, with just the basic streaky smoked available, but we're not fussy, so that does the trick.
Also, Jools picked up her inhalers for her cough, and so, we hope, the road to recovery begins.
What to do with the day?
Although a walk would have been good, Jools can do no more than ten minutes in freezing conditions before a coughing fits starts, so a couple of churches to revisit and take more shots of.
First on the list was St Leonard in Upper Deal. A church I have only have been inside once. As it was just half ten, there should have been a chance it was open, but no. We parked up and I walked over the road to try the porch door, but it was locked.
No worries, as the next two would certainly be open.
Just up the road towards Canterbury is Ash.
Ash is a large village that the main roads now bypass its narrow streets, and buses call not so frequently.
The church towers over the village, its spire piercing the grey sky. We park beside the old curry hours than burned down a decade ago, is now a house and no sign of damage.
indeed the church was open, though the porch door was closed, it opened with use of the latch, and the inner glass door swung inwards, revealing an interior I had forgotten about, rich Victorian glass let in the weak sunlight, allowing me to take detailed shots. It was far better and more enjoyable than I remembered.
Once I took 200 or so shots, we went back to the car, drove back to the main road, and on to Wingham, where the church there, a twin of Wingham, would also be open too.
And it was.
The wardens were just finishing trimming the church up, and putting out new flowers, it was a bustle of activity, then one by one they left.
got my shots, and we left, back to the car and to home, though we did stop at he farm shop at Aylsham, and all we wanted was some sweet peppers for hash.
We went in and there was the bakery: I bought two sausage rolls, four small pork pies and two Cajun flavours scotch eggs. We got cider, beer, healthy snacks (we told ourselves) and finally found the peppers.
Three peppers cost £50!
Then back home, along the A2.
And arriving back home at one. We feasted on the scotch eggs and two of the pork pies.
Yummy.
There was the third place play off game to watch on the tellybox, the Football league to follow on the radio. We lit the woodburner and it was soon toasty warm.
At half five, Norwich kicked off, and hopes were high as Blackburn had not beaten us in over a decade.
And, yes you guessed it, Norwich lost. Played poorly, and in Dad's words, were lucky to get nil.
Oh dear.
Oh dear indeed.
We have Christmas cake for supper, and apart from the football, as was well with the world.
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A large and impressive church of mainly thirteenth century date over restored in 1847 by the irrepressible William Butterfield. The scale of the interior is amazing - particularly in the tower crossing arches which support the enormous spire. They are an obvious insertion into an earlier structure. The best furnishing at Ash is the eighteenth century font which stands on an inscribed base. For the visitor interested in memorials, Ash ahs more than most ranging from the fourteenth century effigy of a knight to two excellent alabaster memorials to Sir Thomas Harfleet (d 1612) and Christopher Toldervy (d 1618). Mrs Toldervy appears twice in the church for she accompanies her husband on his memorial and may also be seen as a `weeper` on her parents` memorial! On that she is one of two survivors of what was once a group of seven daughters - all her weeping brothers have long since disappeared.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Ash+2
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ASH
LIES adjoining to the last-described parish of Staple northward. It is written in Domesday, Ece, and in other antient records, Aisse, and is usually called Ash, near Sandwich, to distinguish it from Ash, near Wrotham.
The parish of Ash is very large, extending over a variety of soil and country, of hill, dale, and marsh lands, near four miles across each way, and containing more than six thousand acres of land, of which about one half is marsh, the river Stour being its northern bounday, where it is very wet and unwholesone, but the southern or upland part of the parish is very dary, pleasant and healthy. The soil in general is fertile, and lets on an average at about one pound an acre; notwithstanding, there is a part of it about Ash-street and Gilton town, where it is a deep sand. The village of Ash, commonly called Ash-street, situated in this part of it, on high ground, mostly on the western declivity of a hill, having the church on the brow of it, is built on each side of the road from Canterbury to Sandwich, and contains about fifty houses. On the south side of this road, about half a mile westward, is a Roman burial ground, of which further mention will be taken hereaster, and adjoining to it the hamlet of Gilton town, formerly written Guildanton, in which is Gilton parsonage, a neat stuccoed house, lately inhabited by Mr. Robert Legrand, and now by Mrs. Becker. In the valley southward stands Mote farm, alias Brooke house, formerly the habitation of the Stoughtons, then of the Ptoroude's and now the property of Edward Solly, esq. of London.
There are dispersed throughout this large parish many small hamlets and farms, which have been formerly of more consequence, from the respective owners and in habitants of them, all which, excepting East and New Street, and Great Pedding, (the latter of which was the antient residence of the family of solly, who lie buried in Ash church-yard, and bore for their arms, Vert, a chevron, per pale, or, and gules, between three soles naiant, argent, and being sold by one of them to dean Lynch, is now in the possession of lady Lynch, the widow of Sir William Lynch, K. B.) are situated in the northern part of the parish, and contain together about two hundred and fifty houses, among them is Hoden, formerly the residence of the family of St. Nicholas; Paramour-street, which for many years was the residence of those of that name, and Brook-street, in which is Brook-house, the residence of the Brooke's, one of whom John Brooke, esq. in queen Elizabeth's reign, resided here, and bore for his arms, Per bend, vert and sable, two eagles, counterchanged.
William, lord Latimer, anno 38 Edward III. obtained a market to be held at Ash, on a Thursday; and a fair yearly on Lady-day, and the two following ones. A fair is now held in Ash-street on Lady and Michaelmas days yearly.
In 1473 there was a lazar house for the infirm of the leprosy, at Eche, near Sandwich.
¶The manor of Wingham claims paramount over this parish, subordinate to which there were several manors in it, held of the archbishop, to whom that manor belonged, the mansions of which, being inhabited by families of reputation and of good rank in life, made this parish of much greater account than it has been for many years past, the mansions of them having been converted for a length of time into farmhouses to the lands to which they belong.
f this manor, (viz. Wingham) William de Acris holds one suling in Fletes, and there he has in demesne one carucate and four villeins, and one knight with one carucate, and one fisbery, with a saltpit of thirty pence. The whole is worth forty shillings.
This district or manor was granted by archbishop Lanfranc, soon after this, to one Osberne, (fn. 7) of whom I find no further mention, nor of this place, till king Henry III.'s reign, when it seems to have been separated into two manors, one of which, now known by the name of the manor of Gurson Fleet, though till of late time by that of Fleet only, was held afterwards of the archbishop by knight's service, by the family of Sandwich, and afterwards by the Veres, earls of Oxford, one of whom, Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, who died anno 3 Edward III. was found by the escheat-rolls of that year, to have died possessed of this manor of Fleet, which continued in his descendants down to John de Vere, earl of Oxford, who for his attachment to the house of Lancaster, was attainted in the first year of king Edward IV. upon which this manor came into the hands of the crown, and was granted the next year to Richard, duke of Gloucester, the king's brother, with whom it staid after his succession to the crown, as king Richard III. on whose death, and the accession of king Henry VII. this manor returned to the possession of John, earl of Oxford, who had been attainted, but was by parliament anno I Henry VII. restored in blood, titles and possessions. After which this manor continued in his name and family till about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, when Edward Vere, earl of Oxford, alienated it to Hammond, in whose descendants it continued till one of them, in the middle of king Charles II.'s reign, sold it to Thomas Turner, D. D. who died possessed of it in 1672, and in his name and descendants it continued till the year 1748, when it was sold to John Lynch, D. D. dean of Canterbury, whose son Sir William Lynch, K. B. died possessed of it in 1785, and by his will devised it, with the rest of his estates, to his widow lady Lynch, who is the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
Archbishop Lanfranc, on his founding the priory of St. Gregory, in the reign of the Conqueror, gave to it the tithe of the manor of Fleet; which gift was confirmed by archbishop Hubert in Richard I.'s reign. This portion of tithes, which arose principally from Gurson Fleet manor, remained with the priory at its dissolution, and is now part of Goldston parsonage, parcel of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention has been made before.
The other part of the district of Fleet was called, to distinguish it, and from the possessors of it, the manor of Nevills Fleet, though now known by the name of Fleet only, is situated between Gurson and Richborough, adjoining to the former. This manor was held in king John's reign of the archbishop, by knight's service, by Thomas Pincerna, so called probably from his office of chief butler to that prince, whence his successors assumed the name of Butler, or Boteler. His descendant was Robert le Boteler, who possessed this manor in king Ed ward I.'s reign, and from their possession of it, this manor acquired for some time the name of Butlers Fleet; but in the 20th year of king Edward III. William, lord Latimer of Corbie, appears to have been in the possession of it, and from him it acquired the name of Latimers Fleet. He bore for his arms, Gules, a cross flory, or. After having had summons to parliament, (fn. 8) he died in the begening of king Richard II.'s reign, leaving Elizabeth his sole daughter and heir, married to John, lord Nevill, of Raby, whose son John bore the title of lord Latimer, and was summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, till the 9th year of king Henry VI. in which he died, so that the greatest part of his inheritance, among which was this manor, came by an entail made, to Ralph, lord Nevill, and first earl of Westmoreland, his eldest, but half brother, to whom he had sold, after his life, the barony of Latimer, and he, by seoffment, vested it, with this manor and much of the inheritance above-mentioned, in his younger son Sir George Nevill, who was accordingly summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, anno 10 Henry VI. and his grandson Richard, lord Latimer, in the next regin of Edward IV. alienated this manor, which from their length of possession of it, had acquired the name of Nevill's Fleet, to Sir James Cromer, and his son Sir William Cromer, in the 11th year of king Henry VII, sold it to John Isaak, who passed it away to Kendall, and he, in the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, sold it to Sir John Fogge, of Repton, in Ashford, who died possessed of it in 1533, and his son, of the same name, before the end of it, passed it away to Mr. Thomas Rolfe, and he sold it, within a few years afterwards, to Stephen Hougham, gent. of this parish, who by his will in 1555, devised it to his youngest son Rich. Hougham, of Eastry, from one of whose descendants it was alienated to Sir Adam Spracklin, who sold it to one of the family of Septvans, alias Harflete, in which name it continued till within a few years after the death of king Charles I. when by a female heir Elizabeth it went in marriage to Thomas Kitchell, esq. in whose heirs it continued till it was at length, about the year 1720, alienated by one of them to Mr. Thomas Bambridge, warden of the Fleet prison, upon whose death it became vested in his heirs-at-law, Mr. James Bambridge, of the Temple, attorney at-law, and Thomas Bambridge, and they divided this estate, and that part of it allotted to the latter was soon afterwards alienated by him to Mr. Peter Moulson, of London, whose only daughter and heir carried it in marriage to Mr. Geo. Vaughan, of London, and he and the assignees of Mr. James Bambridge last mentioned, have lately joined in the conveyance of the whole fee of this manor to Mr. Joseph Solly, gent. of Sandwich, the present owner of it. There is not any court held for this manor.
In this district, and within this manor of Fleet lastmentioned, there was formerly a chapel of cose to the church of Ash, as that was to the church of Wingham, to which college, on its foundation by archbishop Peckham in 1286, the tithes, rents, obventions, &c of this chapel and district was granted by him, for the support in common of the provost and canons of it, with whom it remained till the suppression of it, anno I king Edward VI. The tithes, arising from this manor of Fleet, and the hamlet of Richborough, are now a part of the rectory of Ash, and of that particular part of it called Gilton parsonage, parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention will be made hereafter. There have not been any remains left of it for a long time part.
Richborough is a hamlet and district of land, in the south-east part of this parish, rendered famous from the Roman fort and town built there, and more so formerly, from the port or haven close adjoining to it.
It was in general called by the Romans by the plural name of Rutupiæ; for it must be observed that the æstuary, which at that time separated the Isle of Thanet from the main land of Kent, and was the general passage for shipping,had at each mouth of it, towards the sea, a fort and haven, called jointly Rutupiæ. That at the northern part and of it being now called Reculver, and that at the eastern, being the principal one, this of Richborough.
The name of it is variously spelt in different authors. By Ptolemy it is written [Patapiaia (?)] urbem; by Tacitus, according to the best reading, Portus, Rutupensis; by Antonine, in his Itinerary, Ritupas, and Ritupis Portum; by Ammianus, Ritupiæ statio; afterwards by the Saxons, Reptacester, and now Richborough.
The haven, or Portus Rutupinus, or Richborough, was very eminent in the time of the Romans, and much celebrated in antient history, being a safe and commodious harbour, stationem ex adverso tranquillam, as Ammianus calls it, situated at the entrance of the passage towards then Thamas, and becoming the general place of setting sail from Britain to the continent, and where the Roman fleets arrived, and so large and extensive was the bay of it, that it is supposed to have extended far beyond Sandwich on the one side, almost to Ramsgate cliffs on the other, near five miles in width, covering the whole of that flat of land on which Stonar and Sandwich were afterwards built, and extending from thence up the æstuary between the Isle of Thanet and the main land. So that Antonine might well name it the Port, in his Itinerary, [Kat exochin], from there being no other of like consequence, and from this circumstance the shore for some distance on each side acquired the general name of Littus Rutupinum, the Rutupian shore. (fn. 9) Some have contended that Julius Cæsar landed at Richborough, in his expeditions into Britain; but this opinion is refuted by Dr. Hasley in Phil, Trans. No. 193, who plainly proves his place of landing to have been in the Downs. The fort of Richborough, from the similarity of the remains of it to those of Reculver, seems to have been built about the same time, and by the same emperer, Serveris, about the year 205. It stands on the high hill, close to a deep precipice eastward, at the soot of which was the haven. In this fortress, so peculiarly strengthened by its situation, the Romans had afterwards a stationary garrison, and here they had likewise a pharos, of watch tower, the like as at Reculver and other places on this coast, as well to guide the shipping into the haven, as to give notice of the approach of enemies. It is by most supposed that there was, in the time of the Romans, near the fort, in like manner as at Reculver, a city or town, on the decline of the hill, south-westward from it, according to custom, at which a colony was settled by them. Prolemy, in his geography, reckons the city Rutpia as one of the three principal cities of Kent. (fn. 10) Orosius. and Bede too, expressly mention it as such; but when the haven decayed, and there was no longer a traffic and resort to this place, the town decayed likewise, and there have not been, for many ages since, any remains whatever of it left; though quantities of coins and Roman antiquities have been sound on the spot where it is supposed to have once stood.
During the latter part of the Roman empire, when the Saxons prevented all trade by sea, and insefted these coasts by frequent robberies, the second Roman legion, called Augusta, and likewise Britannica, which had been brought out of Germany by the emperor Claudius, and had resided for many years at the Isca Silurum, in Wales, was removed and stationed here, under a president or commander, præpositus, of its own, who was subordinate to the count of the Saxon shore, and continued so till the final departure of the Romans from Britain, in the year 410, when this fortress was left in the hands of the Britons, who were afterwards dispossessed of it by the Saxons, during whose time the harbour seems to have began to decay and to swerve up, the sea by degrees entirely deserting it at this place, but still leaving one large and commodious at Sandwich, which in process of time became the usual resort for shipping, and arose a flourishing harbour in its stead, as plainly appears by the histories of those times, by all of which, both the royal Saxon fleets, as well as those of the Danes, are said to sail for the port of Sandwich, and there to lie at different times; (fn. 11) and no further mention is made by any of them of this of Rutupiæ, Reptachester, or Richborough; so that the port being thus destroyed, the town became neglected and desolate, and with the castle sunk into a heap of ruins. Leland's description of it in king Henry VIII.'s reign, is very accurate, and gives an exceeding good idea of the progressive state of its decay to that time. He says, "Ratesburg otherwyse Richeboro was, of ever the ryver of Sture dyd turn his botom or old canale, withyn the Isle of the Thanet, and by Iykelyhod the mayn se came to the very foote of the castel. The mayn se ys now of yt a myle by reason of wose, that has there swollen up. The scite of the town or castel ys wonderful fair apon an hille. The walles the wich remayn ther yet be in cumpase almost as much as the tower of London. They have bene very hye thykke stronge and wel embateled. The mater of them is flynt mervelus and long brykes both white and redde after the Britons fascion. The sement was made of se sand and smaul pible. Ther is a great lykelyhod that the goodly hil abowte the castel and especially to Sandwich ward hath bene wel inhabited. Corne groweth on the hille yn bene mervelous plenty and yn going to plowgh ther hath owt of mynde fownd and now is mo antiquities of Romayne money than yn any place els of England surely reason speketh that this should be Rutupinum. For byside that the name sumwhat toucheth, the very near passage fro Cales Clyves or Cales was to Ratesburgh and now is to Sandwich, the which is about a myle of; though now Sandwich be not celebrated by cawse of Goodwine sandes and the decay of the haven. Ther is a good flyte shot of fro Ratesburg toward Sandwich a great dyke caste in a rownd cumpas as yt had bene for sens of menne of warre. The cumpase of the grownd withyn is not much above an acre and yt is very holo by casting up the yerth. They cawle the place there Lytleborough. Withyn the castel is a lytle paroche chirch of St. Augustine and an heremitage. I had antiquities of the heremite the which is an industrious man. Not far fro the hermitage is a cave wher men have sowt and digged for treasure. I saw it by candel withyn, and ther were conys. Yt was so straite that I had no mynd to crepe far yn. In the north side of the castel ys a hedde yn the walle, now fore defaced with wether. They call it queen Bertha hedde. Nere to that place hard by the wal was a pot of Romayne mony sownd."
The ruins of this antient castle stand upon the point of a hill or promontory, about a mile north-west from Sandwich, overlooking on each side, excepting towards the west, a great flat which appears by the lowness of it, and the banks of beach still shewing themselves in different places, to have been all once covered by the sea. The east side of this hill is great part of it so high and perpendicular from the flat at the foot of it, where the river Stour now runs, that ships with the greatest burthen might have lain close to it, and there are no signs of any wall having been there; but at the north end, where the ground rises into a natural terrace, so as to render one necessary, there is about 190 feet of wall left. Those on the other three sides are for the most part standing, and much more entire than could be expected, considering the number of years since they were built, and the most so of any in the kingdom, except Silchester. It is in shape an oblong square, containing within it a space of somewhat less than five acres. They are in general about ten feet high within, but their broken tops shew them to have been still higher. The north wall, on the outside, is about twice as high as it is within, or the other two, having been carried up from the very bottom of the hill, and it seems to have been somewhat longer than it is at present, by some pieces of it sallen down at the east end. The walls are about eleven feet thick. In the middle of the west side is the aperture of an entrance, which probably led to the city or town, and on the north side is another, being an entrance obliquely into the castle. Near the middle of the area are the ruins of some walls, full of bushes and briars, which seem as if some one had dug under ground among them, probably where once stood the prætorium of the Roman general, and where a church or chapel was afterwards erected, dedicated to St. Augustine, and taken notice of by Leland as such in his time. It appears to have been a chapel of ease to the church of Ash, for the few remaining inhabitants of this district, and is mentioned as such in the grant of the rectory of that church, anno 3 Edward VI. at which time it appears to have existed. About a furlong to the south, in a ploughed field, is a large circular work, with a hollow in the middle, the banks of unequal heights, which is supposed to have been an amphitheatre, built of turf, for the use of the garrison, the different heights of the banks having been occasioned by cultivation, and the usual decay, which must have happened from so great a length of time. These stations of the Romans, of which Richborough was one, were strong fortifications, for the most part of no great compass or extent, wherein were barracks for the loding of the soldiers, who had their usual winter quarters in them. Adjoining, or at no great distance from them, there were usually other, buildings forming a town; and such a one was here at Richborough, as has been already mentioned before, to which the station or fort was in the nature of a citadel, where the soldiers kept garrison. To this Tacitus seems to allude, when he says, "the works that in time of peace had been built, like a free town, not far from the camp, were destroyed, left they should be of any service to the enemy." (fn. 12) Which in great measure accounts for there being no kind of trace or remains left, to point out where this town once stood, which had not only the Romans, according to the above observation, but the Saxons and Danes afterwards, to carry forward at different æras the total destruction of it.
The burial ground for this Roman colony and station of Richborough, appears to have been on the hill at the end of Gilton town, in this parish, about two miles south-west from the castle, and the many graves which have been continually dug up there, in different parts of it, shew it to have been of general use for that purpose for several ages.
The scite of the castle at Richborough was part of the antient inheritance of the family of the Veres, earls of Oxford, from which it was alienated in queen Elizabeth's reign to Gaunt; after which it passed, in like manner as Wingham Barton before-described, to Thurbarne, and thence by marriage to Rivett, who sold it to Farrer, from whom it was alienated to Peter Fector, esq. of Dover, the present possessor of it. In the deed of conveyance it is thus described: And also all those the walls and ruins of the antient castle of Rutupium, now known by the name of Richborough castle, with the scite of the antient port and city of Rutupinum, being on and near the lands before-mentioned. About the walls of Richborough grows Fæniculum valgare, common fennel, in great plenty.
It may be learned from the second iter of Antonine's Itinerary, that there was once a Roman road, or highway from Canterbury to the port of Richborough, in which iter the two laft stations are, from Durovernum, Canterbury, to Richborough, ad portum Rutupis, xii miles; in which distance all the different copies of the Itinerary agree. Some parts of this road can be tracted at places at this time with certainty; and by the Roman burial-ground, usually placed near the side of a high road, at Gilton town, and several other Roman vestigia thereabouts, it may well be supposed to have led from Canterbury through that place to Richborough, and there is at this time from Goldston, in Ash, across the low-grounds to it, a road much harder and broader than usual for the apparent use of it, which might perhaps be some part of it.
Charities.
A person unknown gave four acres and an half of land, in Chapman-street, of the annual produce of 5l. towards the church assessments.
Thomas St. Nicholas, esq. of this parish, by deed about the year 1626, gave an annuity of 11. 5s. to be paid from his estate of Hoden, now belonging to the heirs of Nathaniel Elgar, esq. to be distributed yearly, 10s. to the repairing and keeping clean the Toldervey monument in this church, and 15s. on Christmas-day to the poor.
John Proude, the elder, of Ash, yeoman, by his will in 1626, ordered that his executor should erect upon his land adjoining to the church-yard, a house, which should be disposed of in future by the churchwardens and overseers, for a school-house, and for a storehouse, to lay in provision for the church and poor. This house is now let at 1l. per annum, and the produce applied to the use of the poor.
Richard Camden, in 1642, gave by will forty perches of land, for the use of the poor, and of the annual produce of 15s. now vested in the minister and churchwardens.
Gervas Cartwright, esq. and his two sisters, in 1710 and 1721, gave by deed an estate, now of the yearly value of 50l. for teaching fifty poor children to read, write, &c. vested in the minister, churchwardens, and other trustees.
The above two sisters, Eleanor and Anne Cartwright, gave besides 100l. for beautifying the chancel, and for providing two large pieces of plate for the communion service; and Mrs. Susan Robetts added two other pieces of plate for the same purpose.
There is a large and commodious workhouse lately built, for the use of the poor, to discharge the expence of which, 100l. is taken yearly out of the poor's rate, till the whole is discharged. In 1604, the charges of the poor were 29l. 15s. 11d. In 1779. 1000l.
There is a charity school for boys and girls, who are educated, but not cloathed.
The poor constantly relieved are about seventy-five, casually fifty-five.
This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the dioceseof Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a handsome building, of the form of a cross, consisting of two isles and two chancels, and a cross sept, having a tall spire steeple in the middle, in which are eight bells and a clock. It is very neat and handsome in the inside. In the high or south chancel is a monument for the Roberts's, arms, Argent, three pheons, sable, on a chief of the second, a greybound current of the first; another for the Cartwrights, arms, Or, a fess embattled, between three catherine wheels, sable. In the north wall is a monument for one of the family of Leverick, with his effigies, in armour, lying cross-legged on it; and in the same wall, westward, is another like monument for Sir John Goshall, with his effigies on it, in like manner, and in a hollow underneath, the effigies of his wife, in her head-dress, and wimple under her chin. A gravestone, with an inscription, and figure of a woman with a remarkable high high-dress, the middle part like a horseshoe inverted, for Jane Keriell, daughter of Roger Clitherow. A stone for Benjamin Longley, LL. B. minister of Ash twenty-nine years, vicar of Eynsford and Tonge, obt. 1783. A monument for William Brett, esq. and Frances his wife. The north chancel, dedicated to St. Nicholas, belongs to the manor of Molland. Against the north wall is a tomb, having on it the effigies of a man and woman, lying at full length, the former in armour, and sword by his side, but his head bare, a collar of SS about his neck, both seemingly under the middle age, but neither arms nor inscription, but it was for one of the family of Harflete, alias Septvans; and there are monuments and several memorials and brasses likewise for that family. A memorial for Thomas Singleton, M. D. of Molland, obt. 1710. One for John Brooke, of Brookestreet, obt. 1582, s. p. arms, Per bend, two eagles.—Several memorials for the Pekes, of Hills-court, and for Masters, of Goldstone. A monument for Christopher Toldervy, of Chartham, obt. 1618. A memorial for Daniel Hole, who, as well as his ancestors, had lived upwards of one hundred years at Goshall, as occupiers of it. In the north cross, which was called the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, was buried the family of St. Nicholas. The brass plates of whom, with their arms, are still to be seen. A tablet for Whittingham Wood, gent. obt. 1656. In the south cross, a monument for Richard Hougham, gent. of Weddington, and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Edward Sanders, gent. of Norborne. An elegant monument for Mary, wife of Henry Lowman, esq. of Dortnued, in Germany. She died in 1737, and he died in 1743. And for lieutenant colonel Christopher Ernest Kien, obt. 1744, and Jane his wife, their sole daughter and heir, obt. 1762, and for Evert George Cousemaker, esq. obt. 1763, all buried in a vault underneath, arms, Or, on a mount vert, a naked man, bolding a branch in his hand, proper, impaling per bend sinister, argent and gules, a knight armed on borjeback, holding a tilting spear erect, the point downwards, all counterchanged. On the font is inscribed, Robert Minchard, arms, A crescent, between the points of it a mullet. Several of the Harfletes lie buried in the church-yard, near the porch, but their tombs are gone. On each side of the porch are two compartments of stone work, which were once ornamented with brasses, most probably in remembrance of the Harfleets, buried near them. At the corner of the church-yard are two old tombs, supposed for the family of Alday.
In the windows of the church were formerly several coats of arms, and among others, of Septvans, alias Harflete, Notbeame, who married Constance, widow of John Septvans; Brooke, Ellis, Clitherow, Oldcastle, Keriell, and Hougham; and the figures of St. Nicholas, Keriell, and Hougham, kneeling, in their respective surcoats of arms, but there is not any painted glass left in any part of the church or chancels.
John Septvans, about king Henry VII.'s reign, founded a chantry, called the chantry of the upper Hall, as appears by the will of Katherine Martin, of Faversham, sometime his wife, in 1497. There was a chantry of our blessed Lady, and another of St. Stephen likewise, in it; both suppressed in the 1st year of king Edward VI. when the former of them was returned to be of the clear yearly certified value of 15l. 11s. 1½d. (fn. 13)
The church of Ash was antiently a chapel of east to that of Wingham, and was, on the foundation of the college there in 1286, separated from it, and made a distinct parish church of itself, and then given to the college, with the chapels likewise of Overland and Fleet, in this parish, appurtenant to this church; which becoming thus appropriated to the college, continued with it till the suppression of it in king Edward VI.'s reign, when this part of the rectory or parsonage appropriate, called Overland parsonage, with the advowson of the church, came, with the rest of the possessions of the college, into the hands of the crown, where the advowson of the vicarage, or perpetual curacy of it did not remain long, for in the year 1558, queen Mary granted it, among others, to the archbishop. But the above-mentioned part of the rectory, or parsonage appropriate of Ash, with those chapels, remained in the crown, till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange to archbishop Parker, who was before possessed of that part called Goldston parsonage, parcel of the late dissolved priory of St. Gregory, by grant from king Henry VIII. so that now this parish is divided into two distinct parsonages, viz. of Overland and of Goldston, which are demised on separate beneficial leases by the archbishop, the former to the heirs of Parker, and the latter, called Gilton parsonage, from the house and barns of it being situated in that hamlet, to George Gipps, esq. M. P. for Canterbury. The patronage of the perpetual curacy remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury.
¶At the time this church was appropriated to the college of Wingham, a vicarage was endowed in it, which after the suppression of the college came to be esteemed as a perpetual curacy. It is not valued in the king's books. The antient stipend paid by the provost, &c. to the curate being 16l. 13s. 4d. was in 1660, augmented by archbishop Juxon with the addition of 33l. 6s. 8d. per annum; and it was afterwards further augmented by archbishop Sheldon, anno 28 Charles II. with twenty pounds per annum more, the whole to be paid by the several lessees of these parsonages. Which sum of seventy pounds is now the clear yearly certified value of it. In 1588 here were communicants five hundred; in 1640, eight hundred and fifty. So far as appears by the registers, the increase of births in this parish is almost double to what they were two hundred years ago.
The days drag and the weeks fly by.
It has been a grim week at work, and yet the weekend is here once again.
The cold snap is still here; thick frosts and icy patches, but Sunday afternoon storms will sweep in from the west and temperatures will soar by day to 13 degrees.
But for now it is cold, and colder at nights, the wood burner makes the living room toasty warm, though the rest of the house seems like a fridge in comparison.
Even though we went to bed at nine, we slept to nearly half seven, which meant we were already later than usual going to Tesco.
We had a coffee first, then got dressed and went out into the winter wonderland.
Tesco was more crowded mainly because we were an hour later. There were no crackers for cheese, a whole aisle empty of cream crackers and butter wafers.
There is only so much food you can eat even over Christmas, so the cracker-shortage won't affect us, we have two Dundee cakes, filling for two lots of mince pies and pastry for five lots of sausage rolls.
We won't starve.
We buy another bag of stuff for the food bank, try to get two weeks of stuff so we wont need to go next weekend, just to a farm shop for vegetables, and the butcher for the Christmas order, though on the 25th we are going out for dinner to the Lantern.
Back home for fruit, then bacon butties and another huge brew. Yes, smoked bacon is again in short supply, with just the basic streaky smoked available, but we're not fussy, so that does the trick.
Also, Jools picked up her inhalers for her cough, and so, we hope, the road to recovery begins.
What to do with the day?
Although a walk would have been good, Jools can do no more than ten minutes in freezing conditions before a coughing fits starts, so a couple of churches to revisit and take more shots of.
First on the list was St Leonard in Upper Deal. A church I have only have been inside once. As it was just half ten, there should have been a chance it was open, but no. We parked up and I walked over the road to try the porch door, but it was locked.
No worries, as the next two would certainly be open.
Just up the road towards Canterbury is Ash.
Ash is a large village that the main roads now bypass its narrow streets, and buses call not so frequently.
The church towers over the village, its spire piercing the grey sky. We park beside the old curry hours than burned down a decade ago, is now a house and no sign of damage.
indeed the church was open, though the porch door was closed, it opened with use of the latch, and the inner glass door swung inwards, revealing an interior I had forgotten about, rich Victorian glass let in the weak sunlight, allowing me to take detailed shots. It was far better and more enjoyable than I remembered.
Once I took 200 or so shots, we went back to the car, drove back to the main road, and on to Wingham, where the church there, a twin of Wingham, would also be open too.
And it was.
The wardens were just finishing trimming the church up, and putting out new flowers, it was a bustle of activity, then one by one they left.
got my shots, and we left, back to the car and to home, though we did stop at he farm shop at Aylsham, and all we wanted was some sweet peppers for hash.
We went in and there was the bakery: I bought two sausage rolls, four small pork pies and two Cajun flavours scotch eggs. We got cider, beer, healthy snacks (we told ourselves) and finally found the peppers.
Three peppers cost £50!
Then back home, along the A2.
And arriving back home at one. We feasted on the scotch eggs and two of the pork pies.
Yummy.
There was the third place play off game to watch on the tellybox, the Football league to follow on the radio. We lit the woodburner and it was soon toasty warm.
At half five, Norwich kicked off, and hopes were high as Blackburn had not beaten us in over a decade.
And, yes you guessed it, Norwich lost. Played poorly, and in Dad's words, were lucky to get nil.
Oh dear.
Oh dear indeed.
We have Christmas cake for supper, and apart from the football, as was well with the world.
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A large and impressive church of mainly thirteenth century date over restored in 1847 by the irrepressible William Butterfield. The scale of the interior is amazing - particularly in the tower crossing arches which support the enormous spire. They are an obvious insertion into an earlier structure. The best furnishing at Ash is the eighteenth century font which stands on an inscribed base. For the visitor interested in memorials, Ash ahs more than most ranging from the fourteenth century effigy of a knight to two excellent alabaster memorials to Sir Thomas Harfleet (d 1612) and Christopher Toldervy (d 1618). Mrs Toldervy appears twice in the church for she accompanies her husband on his memorial and may also be seen as a `weeper` on her parents` memorial! On that she is one of two survivors of what was once a group of seven daughters - all her weeping brothers have long since disappeared.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Ash+2
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ASH
LIES adjoining to the last-described parish of Staple northward. It is written in Domesday, Ece, and in other antient records, Aisse, and is usually called Ash, near Sandwich, to distinguish it from Ash, near Wrotham.
The parish of Ash is very large, extending over a variety of soil and country, of hill, dale, and marsh lands, near four miles across each way, and containing more than six thousand acres of land, of which about one half is marsh, the river Stour being its northern bounday, where it is very wet and unwholesone, but the southern or upland part of the parish is very dary, pleasant and healthy. The soil in general is fertile, and lets on an average at about one pound an acre; notwithstanding, there is a part of it about Ash-street and Gilton town, where it is a deep sand. The village of Ash, commonly called Ash-street, situated in this part of it, on high ground, mostly on the western declivity of a hill, having the church on the brow of it, is built on each side of the road from Canterbury to Sandwich, and contains about fifty houses. On the south side of this road, about half a mile westward, is a Roman burial ground, of which further mention will be taken hereaster, and adjoining to it the hamlet of Gilton town, formerly written Guildanton, in which is Gilton parsonage, a neat stuccoed house, lately inhabited by Mr. Robert Legrand, and now by Mrs. Becker. In the valley southward stands Mote farm, alias Brooke house, formerly the habitation of the Stoughtons, then of the Ptoroude's and now the property of Edward Solly, esq. of London.
There are dispersed throughout this large parish many small hamlets and farms, which have been formerly of more consequence, from the respective owners and in habitants of them, all which, excepting East and New Street, and Great Pedding, (the latter of which was the antient residence of the family of solly, who lie buried in Ash church-yard, and bore for their arms, Vert, a chevron, per pale, or, and gules, between three soles naiant, argent, and being sold by one of them to dean Lynch, is now in the possession of lady Lynch, the widow of Sir William Lynch, K. B.) are situated in the northern part of the parish, and contain together about two hundred and fifty houses, among them is Hoden, formerly the residence of the family of St. Nicholas; Paramour-street, which for many years was the residence of those of that name, and Brook-street, in which is Brook-house, the residence of the Brooke's, one of whom John Brooke, esq. in queen Elizabeth's reign, resided here, and bore for his arms, Per bend, vert and sable, two eagles, counterchanged.
William, lord Latimer, anno 38 Edward III. obtained a market to be held at Ash, on a Thursday; and a fair yearly on Lady-day, and the two following ones. A fair is now held in Ash-street on Lady and Michaelmas days yearly.
In 1473 there was a lazar house for the infirm of the leprosy, at Eche, near Sandwich.
¶The manor of Wingham claims paramount over this parish, subordinate to which there were several manors in it, held of the archbishop, to whom that manor belonged, the mansions of which, being inhabited by families of reputation and of good rank in life, made this parish of much greater account than it has been for many years past, the mansions of them having been converted for a length of time into farmhouses to the lands to which they belong.
f this manor, (viz. Wingham) William de Acris holds one suling in Fletes, and there he has in demesne one carucate and four villeins, and one knight with one carucate, and one fisbery, with a saltpit of thirty pence. The whole is worth forty shillings.
This district or manor was granted by archbishop Lanfranc, soon after this, to one Osberne, (fn. 7) of whom I find no further mention, nor of this place, till king Henry III.'s reign, when it seems to have been separated into two manors, one of which, now known by the name of the manor of Gurson Fleet, though till of late time by that of Fleet only, was held afterwards of the archbishop by knight's service, by the family of Sandwich, and afterwards by the Veres, earls of Oxford, one of whom, Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, who died anno 3 Edward III. was found by the escheat-rolls of that year, to have died possessed of this manor of Fleet, which continued in his descendants down to John de Vere, earl of Oxford, who for his attachment to the house of Lancaster, was attainted in the first year of king Edward IV. upon which this manor came into the hands of the crown, and was granted the next year to Richard, duke of Gloucester, the king's brother, with whom it staid after his succession to the crown, as king Richard III. on whose death, and the accession of king Henry VII. this manor returned to the possession of John, earl of Oxford, who had been attainted, but was by parliament anno I Henry VII. restored in blood, titles and possessions. After which this manor continued in his name and family till about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, when Edward Vere, earl of Oxford, alienated it to Hammond, in whose descendants it continued till one of them, in the middle of king Charles II.'s reign, sold it to Thomas Turner, D. D. who died possessed of it in 1672, and in his name and descendants it continued till the year 1748, when it was sold to John Lynch, D. D. dean of Canterbury, whose son Sir William Lynch, K. B. died possessed of it in 1785, and by his will devised it, with the rest of his estates, to his widow lady Lynch, who is the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
Archbishop Lanfranc, on his founding the priory of St. Gregory, in the reign of the Conqueror, gave to it the tithe of the manor of Fleet; which gift was confirmed by archbishop Hubert in Richard I.'s reign. This portion of tithes, which arose principally from Gurson Fleet manor, remained with the priory at its dissolution, and is now part of Goldston parsonage, parcel of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention has been made before.
The other part of the district of Fleet was called, to distinguish it, and from the possessors of it, the manor of Nevills Fleet, though now known by the name of Fleet only, is situated between Gurson and Richborough, adjoining to the former. This manor was held in king John's reign of the archbishop, by knight's service, by Thomas Pincerna, so called probably from his office of chief butler to that prince, whence his successors assumed the name of Butler, or Boteler. His descendant was Robert le Boteler, who possessed this manor in king Ed ward I.'s reign, and from their possession of it, this manor acquired for some time the name of Butlers Fleet; but in the 20th year of king Edward III. William, lord Latimer of Corbie, appears to have been in the possession of it, and from him it acquired the name of Latimers Fleet. He bore for his arms, Gules, a cross flory, or. After having had summons to parliament, (fn. 8) he died in the begening of king Richard II.'s reign, leaving Elizabeth his sole daughter and heir, married to John, lord Nevill, of Raby, whose son John bore the title of lord Latimer, and was summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, till the 9th year of king Henry VI. in which he died, so that the greatest part of his inheritance, among which was this manor, came by an entail made, to Ralph, lord Nevill, and first earl of Westmoreland, his eldest, but half brother, to whom he had sold, after his life, the barony of Latimer, and he, by seoffment, vested it, with this manor and much of the inheritance above-mentioned, in his younger son Sir George Nevill, who was accordingly summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, anno 10 Henry VI. and his grandson Richard, lord Latimer, in the next regin of Edward IV. alienated this manor, which from their length of possession of it, had acquired the name of Nevill's Fleet, to Sir James Cromer, and his son Sir William Cromer, in the 11th year of king Henry VII, sold it to John Isaak, who passed it away to Kendall, and he, in the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, sold it to Sir John Fogge, of Repton, in Ashford, who died possessed of it in 1533, and his son, of the same name, before the end of it, passed it away to Mr. Thomas Rolfe, and he sold it, within a few years afterwards, to Stephen Hougham, gent. of this parish, who by his will in 1555, devised it to his youngest son Rich. Hougham, of Eastry, from one of whose descendants it was alienated to Sir Adam Spracklin, who sold it to one of the family of Septvans, alias Harflete, in which name it continued till within a few years after the death of king Charles I. when by a female heir Elizabeth it went in marriage to Thomas Kitchell, esq. in whose heirs it continued till it was at length, about the year 1720, alienated by one of them to Mr. Thomas Bambridge, warden of the Fleet prison, upon whose death it became vested in his heirs-at-law, Mr. James Bambridge, of the Temple, attorney at-law, and Thomas Bambridge, and they divided this estate, and that part of it allotted to the latter was soon afterwards alienated by him to Mr. Peter Moulson, of London, whose only daughter and heir carried it in marriage to Mr. Geo. Vaughan, of London, and he and the assignees of Mr. James Bambridge last mentioned, have lately joined in the conveyance of the whole fee of this manor to Mr. Joseph Solly, gent. of Sandwich, the present owner of it. There is not any court held for this manor.
In this district, and within this manor of Fleet lastmentioned, there was formerly a chapel of cose to the church of Ash, as that was to the church of Wingham, to which college, on its foundation by archbishop Peckham in 1286, the tithes, rents, obventions, &c of this chapel and district was granted by him, for the support in common of the provost and canons of it, with whom it remained till the suppression of it, anno I king Edward VI. The tithes, arising from this manor of Fleet, and the hamlet of Richborough, are now a part of the rectory of Ash, and of that particular part of it called Gilton parsonage, parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention will be made hereafter. There have not been any remains left of it for a long time part.
Richborough is a hamlet and district of land, in the south-east part of this parish, rendered famous from the Roman fort and town built there, and more so formerly, from the port or haven close adjoining to it.
It was in general called by the Romans by the plural name of Rutupiæ; for it must be observed that the æstuary, which at that time separated the Isle of Thanet from the main land of Kent, and was the general passage for shipping,had at each mouth of it, towards the sea, a fort and haven, called jointly Rutupiæ. That at the northern part and of it being now called Reculver, and that at the eastern, being the principal one, this of Richborough.
The name of it is variously spelt in different authors. By Ptolemy it is written [Patapiaia (?)] urbem; by Tacitus, according to the best reading, Portus, Rutupensis; by Antonine, in his Itinerary, Ritupas, and Ritupis Portum; by Ammianus, Ritupiæ statio; afterwards by the Saxons, Reptacester, and now Richborough.
The haven, or Portus Rutupinus, or Richborough, was very eminent in the time of the Romans, and much celebrated in antient history, being a safe and commodious harbour, stationem ex adverso tranquillam, as Ammianus calls it, situated at the entrance of the passage towards then Thamas, and becoming the general place of setting sail from Britain to the continent, and where the Roman fleets arrived, and so large and extensive was the bay of it, that it is supposed to have extended far beyond Sandwich on the one side, almost to Ramsgate cliffs on the other, near five miles in width, covering the whole of that flat of land on which Stonar and Sandwich were afterwards built, and extending from thence up the æstuary between the Isle of Thanet and the main land. So that Antonine might well name it the Port, in his Itinerary, [Kat exochin], from there being no other of like consequence, and from this circumstance the shore for some distance on each side acquired the general name of Littus Rutupinum, the Rutupian shore. (fn. 9) Some have contended that Julius Cæsar landed at Richborough, in his expeditions into Britain; but this opinion is refuted by Dr. Hasley in Phil, Trans. No. 193, who plainly proves his place of landing to have been in the Downs. The fort of Richborough, from the similarity of the remains of it to those of Reculver, seems to have been built about the same time, and by the same emperer, Serveris, about the year 205. It stands on the high hill, close to a deep precipice eastward, at the soot of which was the haven. In this fortress, so peculiarly strengthened by its situation, the Romans had afterwards a stationary garrison, and here they had likewise a pharos, of watch tower, the like as at Reculver and other places on this coast, as well to guide the shipping into the haven, as to give notice of the approach of enemies. It is by most supposed that there was, in the time of the Romans, near the fort, in like manner as at Reculver, a city or town, on the decline of the hill, south-westward from it, according to custom, at which a colony was settled by them. Prolemy, in his geography, reckons the city Rutpia as one of the three principal cities of Kent. (fn. 10) Orosius. and Bede too, expressly mention it as such; but when the haven decayed, and there was no longer a traffic and resort to this place, the town decayed likewise, and there have not been, for many ages since, any remains whatever of it left; though quantities of coins and Roman antiquities have been sound on the spot where it is supposed to have once stood.
During the latter part of the Roman empire, when the Saxons prevented all trade by sea, and insefted these coasts by frequent robberies, the second Roman legion, called Augusta, and likewise Britannica, which had been brought out of Germany by the emperor Claudius, and had resided for many years at the Isca Silurum, in Wales, was removed and stationed here, under a president or commander, præpositus, of its own, who was subordinate to the count of the Saxon shore, and continued so till the final departure of the Romans from Britain, in the year 410, when this fortress was left in the hands of the Britons, who were afterwards dispossessed of it by the Saxons, during whose time the harbour seems to have began to decay and to swerve up, the sea by degrees entirely deserting it at this place, but still leaving one large and commodious at Sandwich, which in process of time became the usual resort for shipping, and arose a flourishing harbour in its stead, as plainly appears by the histories of those times, by all of which, both the royal Saxon fleets, as well as those of the Danes, are said to sail for the port of Sandwich, and there to lie at different times; (fn. 11) and no further mention is made by any of them of this of Rutupiæ, Reptachester, or Richborough; so that the port being thus destroyed, the town became neglected and desolate, and with the castle sunk into a heap of ruins. Leland's description of it in king Henry VIII.'s reign, is very accurate, and gives an exceeding good idea of the progressive state of its decay to that time. He says, "Ratesburg otherwyse Richeboro was, of ever the ryver of Sture dyd turn his botom or old canale, withyn the Isle of the Thanet, and by Iykelyhod the mayn se came to the very foote of the castel. The mayn se ys now of yt a myle by reason of wose, that has there swollen up. The scite of the town or castel ys wonderful fair apon an hille. The walles the wich remayn ther yet be in cumpase almost as much as the tower of London. They have bene very hye thykke stronge and wel embateled. The mater of them is flynt mervelus and long brykes both white and redde after the Britons fascion. The sement was made of se sand and smaul pible. Ther is a great lykelyhod that the goodly hil abowte the castel and especially to Sandwich ward hath bene wel inhabited. Corne groweth on the hille yn bene mervelous plenty and yn going to plowgh ther hath owt of mynde fownd and now is mo antiquities of Romayne money than yn any place els of England surely reason speketh that this should be Rutupinum. For byside that the name sumwhat toucheth, the very near passage fro Cales Clyves or Cales was to Ratesburgh and now is to Sandwich, the which is about a myle of; though now Sandwich be not celebrated by cawse of Goodwine sandes and the decay of the haven. Ther is a good flyte shot of fro Ratesburg toward Sandwich a great dyke caste in a rownd cumpas as yt had bene for sens of menne of warre. The cumpase of the grownd withyn is not much above an acre and yt is very holo by casting up the yerth. They cawle the place there Lytleborough. Withyn the castel is a lytle paroche chirch of St. Augustine and an heremitage. I had antiquities of the heremite the which is an industrious man. Not far fro the hermitage is a cave wher men have sowt and digged for treasure. I saw it by candel withyn, and ther were conys. Yt was so straite that I had no mynd to crepe far yn. In the north side of the castel ys a hedde yn the walle, now fore defaced with wether. They call it queen Bertha hedde. Nere to that place hard by the wal was a pot of Romayne mony sownd."
The ruins of this antient castle stand upon the point of a hill or promontory, about a mile north-west from Sandwich, overlooking on each side, excepting towards the west, a great flat which appears by the lowness of it, and the banks of beach still shewing themselves in different places, to have been all once covered by the sea. The east side of this hill is great part of it so high and perpendicular from the flat at the foot of it, where the river Stour now runs, that ships with the greatest burthen might have lain close to it, and there are no signs of any wall having been there; but at the north end, where the ground rises into a natural terrace, so as to render one necessary, there is about 190 feet of wall left. Those on the other three sides are for the most part standing, and much more entire than could be expected, considering the number of years since they were built, and the most so of any in the kingdom, except Silchester. It is in shape an oblong square, containing within it a space of somewhat less than five acres. They are in general about ten feet high within, but their broken tops shew them to have been still higher. The north wall, on the outside, is about twice as high as it is within, or the other two, having been carried up from the very bottom of the hill, and it seems to have been somewhat longer than it is at present, by some pieces of it sallen down at the east end. The walls are about eleven feet thick. In the middle of the west side is the aperture of an entrance, which probably led to the city or town, and on the north side is another, being an entrance obliquely into the castle. Near the middle of the area are the ruins of some walls, full of bushes and briars, which seem as if some one had dug under ground among them, probably where once stood the prætorium of the Roman general, and where a church or chapel was afterwards erected, dedicated to St. Augustine, and taken notice of by Leland as such in his time. It appears to have been a chapel of ease to the church of Ash, for the few remaining inhabitants of this district, and is mentioned as such in the grant of the rectory of that church, anno 3 Edward VI. at which time it appears to have existed. About a furlong to the south, in a ploughed field, is a large circular work, with a hollow in the middle, the banks of unequal heights, which is supposed to have been an amphitheatre, built of turf, for the use of the garrison, the different heights of the banks having been occasioned by cultivation, and the usual decay, which must have happened from so great a length of time. These stations of the Romans, of which Richborough was one, were strong fortifications, for the most part of no great compass or extent, wherein were barracks for the loding of the soldiers, who had their usual winter quarters in them. Adjoining, or at no great distance from them, there were usually other, buildings forming a town; and such a one was here at Richborough, as has been already mentioned before, to which the station or fort was in the nature of a citadel, where the soldiers kept garrison. To this Tacitus seems to allude, when he says, "the works that in time of peace had been built, like a free town, not far from the camp, were destroyed, left they should be of any service to the enemy." (fn. 12) Which in great measure accounts for there being no kind of trace or remains left, to point out where this town once stood, which had not only the Romans, according to the above observation, but the Saxons and Danes afterwards, to carry forward at different æras the total destruction of it.
The burial ground for this Roman colony and station of Richborough, appears to have been on the hill at the end of Gilton town, in this parish, about two miles south-west from the castle, and the many graves which have been continually dug up there, in different parts of it, shew it to have been of general use for that purpose for several ages.
The scite of the castle at Richborough was part of the antient inheritance of the family of the Veres, earls of Oxford, from which it was alienated in queen Elizabeth's reign to Gaunt; after which it passed, in like manner as Wingham Barton before-described, to Thurbarne, and thence by marriage to Rivett, who sold it to Farrer, from whom it was alienated to Peter Fector, esq. of Dover, the present possessor of it. In the deed of conveyance it is thus described: And also all those the walls and ruins of the antient castle of Rutupium, now known by the name of Richborough castle, with the scite of the antient port and city of Rutupinum, being on and near the lands before-mentioned. About the walls of Richborough grows Fæniculum valgare, common fennel, in great plenty.
It may be learned from the second iter of Antonine's Itinerary, that there was once a Roman road, or highway from Canterbury to the port of Richborough, in which iter the two laft stations are, from Durovernum, Canterbury, to Richborough, ad portum Rutupis, xii miles; in which distance all the different copies of the Itinerary agree. Some parts of this road can be tracted at places at this time with certainty; and by the Roman burial-ground, usually placed near the side of a high road, at Gilton town, and several other Roman vestigia thereabouts, it may well be supposed to have led from Canterbury through that place to Richborough, and there is at this time from Goldston, in Ash, across the low-grounds to it, a road much harder and broader than usual for the apparent use of it, which might perhaps be some part of it.
Charities.
A person unknown gave four acres and an half of land, in Chapman-street, of the annual produce of 5l. towards the church assessments.
Thomas St. Nicholas, esq. of this parish, by deed about the year 1626, gave an annuity of 11. 5s. to be paid from his estate of Hoden, now belonging to the heirs of Nathaniel Elgar, esq. to be distributed yearly, 10s. to the repairing and keeping clean the Toldervey monument in this church, and 15s. on Christmas-day to the poor.
John Proude, the elder, of Ash, yeoman, by his will in 1626, ordered that his executor should erect upon his land adjoining to the church-yard, a house, which should be disposed of in future by the churchwardens and overseers, for a school-house, and for a storehouse, to lay in provision for the church and poor. This house is now let at 1l. per annum, and the produce applied to the use of the poor.
Richard Camden, in 1642, gave by will forty perches of land, for the use of the poor, and of the annual produce of 15s. now vested in the minister and churchwardens.
Gervas Cartwright, esq. and his two sisters, in 1710 and 1721, gave by deed an estate, now of the yearly value of 50l. for teaching fifty poor children to read, write, &c. vested in the minister, churchwardens, and other trustees.
The above two sisters, Eleanor and Anne Cartwright, gave besides 100l. for beautifying the chancel, and for providing two large pieces of plate for the communion service; and Mrs. Susan Robetts added two other pieces of plate for the same purpose.
There is a large and commodious workhouse lately built, for the use of the poor, to discharge the expence of which, 100l. is taken yearly out of the poor's rate, till the whole is discharged. In 1604, the charges of the poor were 29l. 15s. 11d. In 1779. 1000l.
There is a charity school for boys and girls, who are educated, but not cloathed.
The poor constantly relieved are about seventy-five, casually fifty-five.
This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the dioceseof Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a handsome building, of the form of a cross, consisting of two isles and two chancels, and a cross sept, having a tall spire steeple in the middle, in which are eight bells and a clock. It is very neat and handsome in the inside. In the high or south chancel is a monument for the Roberts's, arms, Argent, three pheons, sable, on a chief of the second, a greybound current of the first; another for the Cartwrights, arms, Or, a fess embattled, between three catherine wheels, sable. In the north wall is a monument for one of the family of Leverick, with his effigies, in armour, lying cross-legged on it; and in the same wall, westward, is another like monument for Sir John Goshall, with his effigies on it, in like manner, and in a hollow underneath, the effigies of his wife, in her head-dress, and wimple under her chin. A gravestone, with an inscription, and figure of a woman with a remarkable high high-dress, the middle part like a horseshoe inverted, for Jane Keriell, daughter of Roger Clitherow. A stone for Benjamin Longley, LL. B. minister of Ash twenty-nine years, vicar of Eynsford and Tonge, obt. 1783. A monument for William Brett, esq. and Frances his wife. The north chancel, dedicated to St. Nicholas, belongs to the manor of Molland. Against the north wall is a tomb, having on it the effigies of a man and woman, lying at full length, the former in armour, and sword by his side, but his head bare, a collar of SS about his neck, both seemingly under the middle age, but neither arms nor inscription, but it was for one of the family of Harflete, alias Septvans; and there are monuments and several memorials and brasses likewise for that family. A memorial for Thomas Singleton, M. D. of Molland, obt. 1710. One for John Brooke, of Brookestreet, obt. 1582, s. p. arms, Per bend, two eagles.—Several memorials for the Pekes, of Hills-court, and for Masters, of Goldstone. A monument for Christopher Toldervy, of Chartham, obt. 1618. A memorial for Daniel Hole, who, as well as his ancestors, had lived upwards of one hundred years at Goshall, as occupiers of it. In the north cross, which was called the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, was buried the family of St. Nicholas. The brass plates of whom, with their arms, are still to be seen. A tablet for Whittingham Wood, gent. obt. 1656. In the south cross, a monument for Richard Hougham, gent. of Weddington, and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Edward Sanders, gent. of Norborne. An elegant monument for Mary, wife of Henry Lowman, esq. of Dortnued, in Germany. She died in 1737, and he died in 1743. And for lieutenant colonel Christopher Ernest Kien, obt. 1744, and Jane his wife, their sole daughter and heir, obt. 1762, and for Evert George Cousemaker, esq. obt. 1763, all buried in a vault underneath, arms, Or, on a mount vert, a naked man, bolding a branch in his hand, proper, impaling per bend sinister, argent and gules, a knight armed on borjeback, holding a tilting spear erect, the point downwards, all counterchanged. On the font is inscribed, Robert Minchard, arms, A crescent, between the points of it a mullet. Several of the Harfletes lie buried in the church-yard, near the porch, but their tombs are gone. On each side of the porch are two compartments of stone work, which were once ornamented with brasses, most probably in remembrance of the Harfleets, buried near them. At the corner of the church-yard are two old tombs, supposed for the family of Alday.
In the windows of the church were formerly several coats of arms, and among others, of Septvans, alias Harflete, Notbeame, who married Constance, widow of John Septvans; Brooke, Ellis, Clitherow, Oldcastle, Keriell, and Hougham; and the figures of St. Nicholas, Keriell, and Hougham, kneeling, in their respective surcoats of arms, but there is not any painted glass left in any part of the church or chancels.
John Septvans, about king Henry VII.'s reign, founded a chantry, called the chantry of the upper Hall, as appears by the will of Katherine Martin, of Faversham, sometime his wife, in 1497. There was a chantry of our blessed Lady, and another of St. Stephen likewise, in it; both suppressed in the 1st year of king Edward VI. when the former of them was returned to be of the clear yearly certified value of 15l. 11s. 1½d. (fn. 13)
The church of Ash was antiently a chapel of east to that of Wingham, and was, on the foundation of the college there in 1286, separated from it, and made a distinct parish church of itself, and then given to the college, with the chapels likewise of Overland and Fleet, in this parish, appurtenant to this church; which becoming thus appropriated to the college, continued with it till the suppression of it in king Edward VI.'s reign, when this part of the rectory or parsonage appropriate, called Overland parsonage, with the advowson of the church, came, with the rest of the possessions of the college, into the hands of the crown, where the advowson of the vicarage, or perpetual curacy of it did not remain long, for in the year 1558, queen Mary granted it, among others, to the archbishop. But the above-mentioned part of the rectory, or parsonage appropriate of Ash, with those chapels, remained in the crown, till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange to archbishop Parker, who was before possessed of that part called Goldston parsonage, parcel of the late dissolved priory of St. Gregory, by grant from king Henry VIII. so that now this parish is divided into two distinct parsonages, viz. of Overland and of Goldston, which are demised on separate beneficial leases by the archbishop, the former to the heirs of Parker, and the latter, called Gilton parsonage, from the house and barns of it being situated in that hamlet, to George Gipps, esq. M. P. for Canterbury. The patronage of the perpetual curacy remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury.
¶At the time this church was appropriated to the college of Wingham, a vicarage was endowed in it, which after the suppression of the college came to be esteemed as a perpetual curacy. It is not valued in the king's books. The antient stipend paid by the provost, &c. to the curate being 16l. 13s. 4d. was in 1660, augmented by archbishop Juxon with the addition of 33l. 6s. 8d. per annum; and it was afterwards further augmented by archbishop Sheldon, anno 28 Charles II. with twenty pounds per annum more, the whole to be paid by the several lessees of these parsonages. Which sum of seventy pounds is now the clear yearly certified value of it. In 1588 here were communicants five hundred; in 1640, eight hundred and fifty. So far as appears by the registers, the increase of births in this parish is almost double to what they were two hundred years ago.
The news was that Jools' cough was little better. She got a mail back from the surgery on Friday saying her (non-urgent) appointment with the doctor was on December 14th. But as we were going to Tesco, she would have a chat with the pharmasist and see about some of the behind the counter stuff.
Winter has arrived, though no snow as yet, but the wind is set in the east, its cloudy and feels raw outside.
I would spend part of the day churchcrawling.
After shopping.
We go to Tesco, Jools really only coming so she could get something for her cough.
With a few bottles of tripel and cider we managed to spend £140. A bag of rice, not white easy cook rice I'll admit, but that's £4.50 now.
Wow.
Back home with the shopping and a bottle of serious cough syrup, we put the shopping away and have breakfast.
No surprise then that Jools wasn't coming out with me, she wanted to get the cough under control, would only take the new syrup when needed as it can make you drowsy.
I had a list of churches, and first up was our local one, St Margaret.
They were having a craft day. I thought it might be a fayre, but was a kid's craft day. Anyway, the church would be open and I could take shots of the memorials and windows.
There were pagan heads at the top of each column, and as corbel stones. The more I looked, the more pagan heads, even at the top of two of the columns, but not all.
No real ancient glass, but good quality Victorian.
The church itself is the triumph, being an early Norman and well preserved.
Although, sadly, the tower is in poor repair and needs reroofing, which is why it is currently encased in scaffolding.
I am sure when we called in at Barham last week, a sign said there was a craft fayre on, so would be open. I would go back, and get some shots, I thought.
Its a half hour drive, if that out of Dover down the A2 and off at the Wingham turning, down the valley and parking outside the church, its spire pointing to heaven.
Inside the church there was no fayre again, just a warden showing a lady round. We all said "hello", and I went about getting shots.
I have been here at least three times, but now take the big lens to get details of the windows and memorials high up, so there are always new details to reveal.
Star item is the window of St George and the dragon, though is hidden in the north-west corner, and best viewed from the stairs to the belltower.
After 20 minutes, the visitor left and the warden turned off the lights, forgetting I was there, but I had my shots.
From Barham its a short drive to Bridge, then along the Nailbourne to Patrixbourne, where I see the door was open, but I had another target: Bekesbourne, the next village along, crossing the dry bed of the bourne, stopping on the lane outside the church. I look left to the Old Palace, but there were no cars parked there, so no point of even knocking, I drove on.
Instead of turning left back to Bridge, I turn right towards Littlebourne, no real idea where I was going.
Littlebourne could wait for another time, I only went back there in 2020, I went to Wingham, driving on towards Sandwich.
I thought, it's a long time since I was at Woodnesborough, I could cut through Ash and go there.
Which is what I did.
I could have stopped at Ash too, that's usually open, but there'll be other times. I have been there twice and got good shots last time for sure.
From Ash, the road climbs, leading to Woodnesborough, Woden's Hill, where there was a hill fort in antiquity. The church is on the highest point, overlooking the marshes of the old Wantsum Channel, and on to Sandwich which when the Channel was still flooded, was on a spit of land.
The church is a marker for miles around due to its cupola, something is shares with Ringwould near to home.
Inside it was so dark, I thought I would need to find the lights, but I could not find them. So, I hoped the camera would cope without.
It did.
But again, I was here really to record the windows, which were rich in detail. I took 215 shots here, 560 in a morning at three churches.
Not bad.
But I was done, what light there was, was fading, even though it was only just after one. I would go home.
Once home I got busy.
I have a taste for beans. Not baked beans, but Boston Beans. I had a recipe, and we got the ingredients that morning, so went about making a huge panful. Three tins of haricot beans, tomatoes, stock, spices, bacon, pork belly, mustard, and black treacle.
Cooked on the hob for an hour, then cooked long and low in the oven for four hours.
What came out looked and tasted like fine Boston Beans. We will be eating these for weeks.
At the same time I make fritters.
The plan was to be all cooked and eaten before the football began at three.
I did it with half an hour to spare, the leftover wine drunk too, meaning I would struggle to stay awake for Holland v USA game. Netherlands win pretty comfortably.
And in the evening, with a soundtrack of funk and soul thanks to Craig, I watch Argentine v Australia, which was a stunning game.
Even better, I sat on the sofa to watch, Cleo eyed me as if to say how dare you take my chosen sleeping place. But she came over, paced around, then lay between the arm of the sofa and my leg. Scully lay on the other side. I had 50% of the household cats.
Happier than I have been for ages.
Best of all was that the syrup worked, stopped the coughing, and Jools fell asleep right off.
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A morning out, revisiting some familiar fairly local churches.
Final visit was to Woodnesborough, aka Woden's Hill, near to Sandwich.
It was open, but no light switch that could be found meant that the church was dark, but the camera coped well.
Woodnesborough sits on the highest point near to the coast, its cupola marking the spot, and visible for miles in all directions.
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The tower makes this church one of the easiest in Kent to identify. It is capped by a little cupola and wooden balustrade of eighteenth-century date that replaced a medieval spire. During the Middle Ages the church was owned by Leeds Priory which invested heavily in the structure, and was no doubt responsible for the excellent sedilia built in about 1350. The canopy is supported by a quadripartite vault in turn supported by angry little heads. Above the sedilia is the cut-off end of a prickett beam. The east window, of Decorated style stonework, has a thirteenth-century hangover in the form of a shafted rere-arch. There are two excellent modern stained glass windows designed by F.W Cole, which show the Creation (1980) and St Francis (1992). The good altar rails are of Queen Anne's reign, as are the splendid Royal Arms.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Woodnesborough
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WOODNESBOROUGH,
¶OR Winsborough, as it is usually called, lies the next parish northward from Eastry, being written in the survey of Domesday, Wanesberge. It took its name according to Verstegan, from the Saxon idol Woden, (and it is spelt by some Wodensborough) whose place of worship was in it; however that may be, the termination of the word berge, or borough, shews it to be of high antiquity.
art of this parish, over which the manor of Boxley claims, is within the jurisdiction of the justices of the town and port of Sandwich, and liberty of the cinque ports; and the residue is in the hundred of Eastry, and jurisdiction of the county of Kent.
There are three boroughs in this parish, viz. Cold Friday, Hamwold, and Marshborough; the borsholders of which are chosen at the petty sessions of the justices, acting at Wingham, for the east division of the lath of St. Augustine.
THIS PARISH is large, being two miles and an half one way, and upwards of a mile and an half the other. The church stands nearly in the centre of it, on high ground. At a small distance from the church is Woodnesborough hill, both of which are sea marks. This hill is a very high mount, seemingly thrown up by art, and consisting of a sandy earth, it has been thought by some to have been the place on which the idol Woden from whom this place is supposed to have taken its name) was worshipped in the time of the Saxons; by others to be the burial place of Vortimer, the Saxon king, who died in 457, whilst others suppose this mount was raised over those who fell in the battle fought between Ceoldred, king of Mercia, and Ina, king of the West Saxons, in the year 715, at Woodnesbeorb, according to the Saxon chronicle, which name Dr. Plot supposes to be Woodnesborough. Vortimer, as our historians tell us, at his death, desired to be buried near the place where the Saxons used to land, being persuaded that his bones would deter them from any attempt in future. Though authors differ much on the place of his burial, yet this mount at Woodnesborough is as probable, or more so, perhaps, than any other, for it was near to, and was cast up so high as to be plainly seen from the Portus Rutupinus, which at that time was the general landing place of the Saxon fleets. Some years ago there were found upon the top of it sundry sepulchral remains, viz. a glass vessel (engraved by the Rev. Mr. Douglas, in his Nænia;) a fibula, (engraved by Mr. Eoys, in his collections for Sandwich;) the head of a spear, and some fragments of Roman vessels. Much of the earth of sand has been lately removed round the sides of it, but nothing further has been found.
At a small distance northward from hence, at the bottom of a short steep hill, lies the village called Woodnesborough-street, and sometimes Cold Fridaystreet, containing thirty four houses. The vicaragehouse is situated in the middle of it, being a new handsome building; almost contiguous to it is a handsome sashed house, belonging to the Jull family, now made use of as a poor-house; through this street the road leads to Sandwich. West ward of the street stands the parsonage-house, late the seat of Oliver Stephens, esq. deceased, and now of his window, as will be further noticed hereafter. Besides the manors and estates in this parish, particularly described, in the western parts of it there are several hamlets, as Somerfield, Barnsole, Coombe, with New-street, Great and Little Flemings, Ringlemere, and the farm of Christians Court.
In the north east part of the parish, the road from Eastry, by the parsonage of Woodnesborough northwestward, divides; one road, which in antient deeds is called Lovekys-street, going towards Ash-street; the other through the hamlet of Marshborough, formerly called Marshborough, alias Stipins, to Each End and Sandwich, the two windmills close to the entrance of which are with in the bounds of this parish. Each, Upper Each, called antiently Upriche, and Each End, antiently called Netheriche, were both formerly accounted manors, and are mentioned as such in the marriage settlement of Henry Whyte, esq. in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign. After the Whytes, these manors passed in like manner as Grove, in this parish, to the James's. Upper Each, or Upriche, has for many years belonged to the family of Abbot, of Ramsgate, and is now the property of John Abbot, esq. of Canterbury. Each End, or Netheriche, belongs, one moiety to the heirs or devisees of the late earl of Strafford, and the other moiety to John Matson, esq. of Sandwich.
¶It cannot but occur to the reader how much this parish abounds with Saxon names, besides the name of Wodens borough, the street of Cold Friday, mentioned before, is certainly derived from the Saxon words, Cola, and Friga, which latter was the name of a goddess, worshipped by the Saxons, and her day Frige-deag, from whence our day of Friday is derived; other places in this parish, mentioned before likewise, claim, surely, their original from the same language.
This parish contains about 3000 acres, the whole rents of it being about 3373l. yearly value. It is very bare of coppice wood; the Old Wood, so called, in Ringleton, being the only one in it. The soil of this parish is very rich and fertile, equal to those the most so in this neighbourhood, particularly as to the plantations of hops, which have much increased within these few years past. The middle of the parish is high ground, and is in general a flat open country of arable common fields. West and south-westward the lands are more inclosed with hedges. North and north-westward of the parsonage, towards Sandwich, they are low and wet, consisting of a large level of marsh land, the nearness of which makes the other parts of this parish rather unhealthy, which is not otherwise very pleasant in any part of it. There was a fair held here yearly, on Holy Thursday, but it has been for some time disused.
In Ringleton field, in this parish, there was found about the year 1514, a fine gold coin, weighing about twelve shillings, with a loop of the same metal to hang it by; on one side was the figure of a young man in armour, a helmet on his head, and a spear over his right shoulder; on the reverse, the figure of Victory, with a sword in her hand, the point downwards.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, consists of a nave, and two isles, having a square tower steeple at the west end, with a modern wooden turret and vane at the top of it, in which are five bells, made in 1676. It had a high spire on the tower, which was taken down some years ago. At the east end of the chancel is a marble tablet for John Cason, esq. of this place, justice of the peace, obt. 1718; John Cason, esq. his son, obt. 1755; arms,Argent, a chevron, sable, between three wolves heads, erased, gules, on an escutcheon of pretence, sable, a chevron, between three fleurs de lis, of the field; another for Thomas Blechenden, of the antient family of that name, of Aldington, in Kent, obt. 1661; arms, Azure, a fess nebulee, argent, between three lions heads erased, or, attired, gules, impalingBoys. On the south side, an antient altar monument with gothic pillars and arches, having had shields and arms, now obliterated. Against the wall, under the canopy, two brass plates, which have been removed to this place, from two grave-stones in the chancel; the first for Sir John Parcar, late vicar of this church, who died the v.day of May, a°o dni m° v° xiij° on the second are Latin verses to the memory of Nichs Spencer, esq. obt. 1593. In the middle of the chancel, a gravestone for William Docksey, esq. of Snellston, in Derbyshire, a justice of the peace, obt. 1760; Sarah his wife, youngest daughter of John Cason, esq. obt. 1774; arms,Or, a lion rampant, azure, surmounted of a bend, argent. On a gravestone on the north side of the chancel, on a brass plate, On a chevron, three quatersoils, between three annulets, quartering other coats, now obliterated, for Master Myghell Heyre, sumtyme vicar of this churche, who dyed the xxii day of July, m° v° xxviii. In the north isle are several memorials for the family of Gillow, arms, A lion rampant, in chief, three fleurs de lis. At the entrance into the chancel, on a grave-stone, on a brass plate, John Hill, gent. of the parish of Nassall, in Staffordshire, obt. 1605. A mural monument for William Gibbs, of this parish, obt. 1777; arms,Argent, three battle axes, in fess, sable. In the church-yard are altar tombs to the memory of the Julls, and for Sladden; one for John Verall, gent. sometime mayor of Sandwich, obt. 1610; and another for John Benchkin, of Pouton, obt. 1639.
There were formerly painted in the windows of this church,Or, a chief indented, azure, for John de Sandwich. Several coats of arms, among which were those of Valence and St. Leger,Argent, three leaves in sinster bend, their points downward, proper.— On a canton, azure, three crescents, or, for Grove.— Argent, three escallops in chief, or, in base a crescent, gules, for Helpestone, usually called Hilpurton, bailiff of Sandwich, in 1299. A shield, being Helpeston's badge, another On a fess engrailed, three cinquefoils, between three garbs, for John Hill, of Nasall, in Staffordshire, who lies buried in this church. —A fess engrailed, three lions rampant, in chief, on the fess, a crescent for difference, for Spencer, customer, of Sandwich. — Quarterly, four coats; first, On a chevron, three quaterfoils; second, Per pale, ermine and argent; third, A cross, between four pomegranates, slipped; sourth,Three bars, wavy, for Michael Heyre, vicar here in 1520.
The church of Woodnesborough was given, in the reign of king Henry I. by a religious woman, one Ascelina de Wodensberg, to the priory of Ledes, soon after the foundation of it; to which deed was witness Robert de Crevequer, founder of the priory, Elias his son, and others; which gift was confirmed by the said Robert, who by his charter, released to the priory all his right and title to it. It was likewise confirmed by archbishop Theobald, and several of his successors, and by king Henry III. by his charter of inspeximus in his 41st year.
Archbishop William Corboil, who came to the see of Canterbury, three years after the foundation of Ledes priory, at the instance and petition of Ascelina above mentioned, who resigned this church into his hands for this purpose, appropriated it to the prior and convent, for the finding of necessary cloaths, for the canons there; and a vicarage was accordingly endowed in it.
There was a controversy between the prior and convent, and Adam, vicar of this church, in 1627, anno 14 Henry II. concerning the great tithes arising from the crofts and curtilages within this parish, which was referred to the prior of Rochester, who was the pope's delegate for this purpose, who determined that the prior and convent of Ledes, as rectors of this church, should receive, without any exception, all the great tithes of wheat, barley, oats, beans, peas, and of every fort of corn arising, or to arise from all lands, crofts, curtilages, or other places whatever, situated within the bounds, of this parish; and that the prior and convent should yearly pay to the said vicar, and his successors, half a seam of barley, and half a seam of beans, at the nativity of our Lord. (fn. 10)
¶After which, this parsonage appropriate,(which appears to have been esteemed as a manor) together with the advowson of the vicarage, remained with the prior and convent of Ledes, till its dissolution in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when it was, with all its lands and possessions, surrendered into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, in his 33d year, settled both parsonage and advowson on his new-founded dean and chapter of Rochester, with whom they remain at this time. On the dissolution of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. this parsonage was surveyed in 1649, when is appeared that the manor or parsonage of Woodnesborough, with the scite thereof, and all manner of tithes belonging to it, with a garden and orchard of one acre, was valued all together at 300l. that the lessee was to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church; that the vicarage was worth fifty pounds per annum. The then incumbent was under sequestration, and there was none to serve the cure; and that the church was then quite ruinated, and in great decay. (fn. 11)
www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol10/pp121-144
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A long and light church, best viewed from the south. Like nearby Ickham it is cruciform in plan, with a west rather than central, tower. Sometimes this is the result of a later tower being added, but here it is an early feature indeed, at least the same age (if not earlier) than the body of the church. Lord Kitchener lived in the parish, so his name appears on the War Memorial. At the west end of the south aisle, tucked out of the way, is the memorial to Sir Basil Dixwell (d 1750). There are two twentieth century windows by Martin Travers. The 1925 east window shows Our Lady and Child beneath the typical Travers Baroque Canopy. Under the tower, affixed to the wall, are some Flemish tiles, purchased under the will of John Digge who died in 1375. His memorial brass survives in the Vestry.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Barham
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Many churches in Kent are well known for their yew trees but St. John the Baptist at Barham is noteworthy for its magnificent beech trees.
The Church guide suggests that there has been a Church here since the 9th Century but the present structure was probably started in the 12th Century although Syms, in his book about Kent Country Churches, states that there is a hint of possible Norman construction at the base of the present tower. The bulk of the Church covers the Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular periods of building. Many of the huge roof beams, ties and posts are original 14th Century as are the three arches leading into the aisle..
In the Northwest corner is a small 13th Century window containing modern glass depicting St. George slaying the dragon and dedicated to the 23rd Signal Company. The Church also contains a White Ensign which was presented to it by Viscount Broome, a local resident. The Ensign was from 'H.M.S. Raglan' which was also commanded by Viscount Broome. The ship was sunk in January, 1918 by the German light cruiser 'Breslau'.
The walls contain various mural tablets. Hanging high on the west wall is a helmet said to have belonged to Sir Basil Dixwell of Broome Park. The helmet probably never saw action but was carried at his funeral.
The floor in the north transept is uneven because some years ago three brasses were found there. According to popular medieval custom engraved metal cut-outs were sunk into indented stone slabs and secured with rivets and pitch. In order to save them from further damage the brasses were lifted and placed on the walls. The oldest dates from about 1370 is of a civilian but very mutilated. The other two are in good condition and dated about 1460. One is of a woman wearing the dress of a widow which was similar to a nun. The other is of a bare headed man in plate armour. These are believed to be of John Digges and his wife Joan.
At the west end of the church is a list of Rectors and Priests-in-Charge - the first being Otho Caputh in 1280. Notice should be made of Richard Hooker (1594), the author of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. The tiles incorporated into the wall were originally in place in the Chancel about 1375. They were left by John Digges whose Will instructed that he was to be buried in the Chancel and "my executors are to buy Flanders tiles to pave the said Chancel".
The 14th century font is large enough to submerse a baby - as would have been the custom of the time. The bowl is octagonal representing the first day of the new week, the day of Christ's resurrection. The cover is Jacobean.
The Millennium Window in the South Transept was designed and constructed by Alexandra Le Rossignol and was dedicated in July 2001. The cost of the project (approximately £6,500) was raised locally with the first donation being made by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey.
The porch contains two wooden plaques listing the names of men from the village who were killed in the Great Wars - among them being Field Marshall Lord Kitchener of Broome Park.
www.barham-kent.org.uk/landmark_church.htm
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ANTIENTLY written Bereham, lies the next parish eastward. There are five boroughs in it, viz. of Buxton, Outelmeston, Derrington, Breach, and Shelving. The manor of Bishopsborne claims over almost the whole of this parish, at the court of which the four latter borsholders are chosen, and the manors of Reculver and Adisham over a small part of it.
BARHAM is situated at the confines of that beautiful country heretofore described, the same Nailbourne valley running through it, near which, in like manner the land is very fertile, but all the rest of it is a chalky barren soil. On the rise of the hill northward from it, is the village called Barham-street, with the church, and just beyond the summit of it, on the further side Barham court, having its front towards the downs, over part of which this parish extends, and gives name to them. At the foot of the same hill, further eastward, is the mansion of Brome, with its adjoining plantatious, a conspicuous object from the downs, to which by inclosing a part of them, the grounds extend as far as the Dover road, close to Denne-hill, and a costly entrance has been erected into them there. By the corner of Brome house the road leads to the left through Denton-street, close up to which this parish extends, towards Folkestone; and to the right, towards Eleham and Hythe. One this road, within the bounds of this parish, in a chalky and stony country, of poor barren land, there is a large waste of pasture, called Breach down, on which there are a number of tumuli, or barrows. By the road side there have been found several skeletons, one of which had round its neck a string of beads, of various forms and sizes, from a pidgeon's egg to a pea, and by it a sword, dagger, and spear; the others lay in good order, without any particular thing to distinguish them. (fn. 1)
In the Nailbourne valley, near the stream, are the two hamlets of Derrington and South Barham; from thence the hills, on the opposite side of it to those already mentioned, rise southward pretty high, the tops of them being covered with woods, one of them being that large one called Covert wood, a manor belonging to the archbishop, and partly in this parish, being the beginning of a poor hilly country, covered with stones, and enveloped with frequent woods.
BARHAM, which, as appears by the survey of Domesday, formerly lay in a hundred of its own name, was given anno 809, by the estimation of seven ploughlands, by Cenulph, king of Kent, to archbishop Wlfred, free from all secular demands, except the trinoda necessitas, but this was for the use of his church; for the archbishop, anno 824, gave the monks lands in Egelhorne and Langeduna, in exchange for it. After which it came into the possession of archbishop Stigand, but, as appears by Domesday, not in right of his archbishopric, at the taking of which survey, it was become part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, under the title of whose lands it is thus entered in it:
In Berham hundred, Fulbert holds of the bishop Berham. It was taxed at six sulings. The arable land is thirty two carucates. In demesne there are three carucates, and fifty two villeins, with twenty cottagers having eighteen carucates. There is a church, and one mill of twenty shillings and four pence. There are twentlyfive fisheries of thirty-five shillings all four pence. Of average, that is service, sixty shilling. Of herbage twenty six shillings, and twenty acres of meadow Of pannage sufficient for one hundred and fifty hogs. Of this manor the bishop gave one berewic to Herbert, the son of Ivo, which is called Hugham, and there be has one carucate in demesne, and twelve villeins, with nine carucates, and twenty acres of meadow. Of the same manor the bisoop gave to Osberne Paisforere one suling and two mills of fifty sbillings, and there is in demesne one carucate, and four villeins with one carucate. The whole of Barbam, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was worth forty pounds, when be received it the like, and yet it yielded to him one hundred pounds, now Berhem of itself is worth forty pounds, and Hucham ten pounds, and this which Osberne bas six pounds, and the land of one Ralph, a knight, is worth forty shillings. This manor Stigand, the archbishop held, but it was not of the archbishopric, but was of the demesne ferm of king Edward.
On the bishop's disgrace four years afterwards, and his estates being confiscated to the crown, the seignory of this parish most probably returned to the see of Canterbury, with which it has ever since continued. The estate mentioned above in Domesday to have been held of the bishop by Fulbert, comprehended, in all likelihood, the several manors and other estates in this parish, now held of the manor of Bishopsborne, one of these was THE MANOR AND SEAT OF BARHAM-COURT, situated near the church, which probably was originally the court-lodge of the manor of Barham in very early times, before it became united to that of Bishopsborne, and in king Henry II.'s time was held of the archbishop by knight's service, by Sir Randal Fitzurse, who was one of the four knights belonging to the king's houshould, who murdered archbishop Becket anno 1170; after perpetrating which, Sir Randal fled into Ireland, and changed his name to Mac-Mahon, and one of his relations took possession of this estate, and assumed the name of Berham from it; and accordingly, his descendant Warin de Berham is recorded in the return made by the sheriff anno 12 and 13 king John, among others of the archbishop's tenants by knight's service, as holding lands in Berham of him, in whose posterity it continued till Thomas Barham, esq. in the very beginning of king James I.'s reign, alienated it to the Rev. Charles Fotherbye, dean of Canterbury, who died possessed of it in 1619. He was eldest son of Martin Fotherby, of Great Grimsby, in Lincolnshire, and eldest brother of Martin Fotherby, bishop of Salisbury. He had a grant of arms, Gules, a cross of lozenges flory, or, assigned to him and Martin his brother, by Camden, clarencieux, in 1605. (fn. 2) His only surviving son Sir John Fotherbye, of Barham-court, died in 1666, and was buried in that cathedral with his father. At length his grandson Charles, who died in 1720, leaving two daughters his coheirs; Mary, the eldest, inherited this manor by her father's will, and afterwards married Henry Mompesson, esq. of Wiltshire, (fn. 3) who resided at Barhamcourt, and died in 1732, s. p. and she again carried this manor in marriage to Sir Edward Dering, bart. of Surrenden, whose second wife she was. (fn. 4) He lest her surviving, and three children by her, Charles Dering, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Farnaby, bart. since deceased, by whom he has an only surviving daughter, married to George Dering, esq. of Rolling, the youngest son of the late Sir Edw. Dering, bart. and her first cousin; Mary married Sir Robert Hilyard, bart. and Thomas Dering, esq. of London. Lady Dering died in 1775, and was succeeded by her eldest son Charles Dering, esq. afterwards of Barhamcourt, the present owner of it. It is at present occupied by Gen. Sir Charles Grey, bart. K. B. commanderin chief of the southern district of this kingdom.
THE MANORS OF BROME and OUTELMESTONE, alias DIGGS COURT, are situated in this parish; the latter in the valley, at the western boundary of it, was the first residence in this county of the eminent family of Digg, or, as they were asterwards called, Diggs, whence it gained its name of Diggs-court. John, son of Roger de Mildenhall, otherwise called Digg, the first-mentioned in the pedigrees of this family, lived in king Henry III.'s reign, at which time he, or one of this family of the same name, was possessed of the aldermanry of Newingate, in Canterbury, as part of their inheritance. His descendants continued to reside at Diggs-court, and bore for their arms, Gules, on a cross argent, five eagles with two heads displayed, sable, One of whom, James Diggs, of Diggs-court, died in 1535. At his death he gave the manor and seat of Outelmeston, alias Diggs-court, to his eldest son (by his first wife) John, and the manor of Brome to his youngest son, (by his second wife) Leonard, whose descendants were of Chilham castle. (fn. 5) John Diggs, esq. was of Diggs-court, whose descendant Thomas Posthumus Diggs, esq. about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, alienated this manor, with Diggs-place, to Capt. Halsey, of London, and he sold it to Sir Tho. Somes, alderman of London, who again parted with it to Sir B. Dixwell, bart. and he passed it away to Sir Thomas Williams, bart. whose heir Sir John Williams, bart. conveyed it, about the year 1706, to Daniel and Nathaniel Matson, and on the death of the former, the latter became wholly possessed of it, and his descendant Henry Matson, about the year 1730, gave it by will to the trustees for the repair of Dover harbour, in whom it continues at this time vested for that purpose.
BUT THE MANOR OF BROME, which came to Leonard Diggs, esq. by his father's will as above-mentioned, was sold by him to Basil Dixwell, esq. second son of Cha. Dixwell, esq. of Coton, in Warwickshire, then of Tevlingham, in Folkestone, who having built a handsome mansion for his residence on this manor, removed to it in 1622. In the second year of king Charles I. he served the office of sheriff with much honour and hospitality; after which he was knighted, and cveated a baronet. He died unmarried in 1641, having devised this manor and seat, with the rest of his estates, to his nephew Mark Dixwell, son of his elder brother William, of Coton above-mentioned, who afterwards resided at Brome, whose son Basil Dixwell, esq. of Brome, was anno 12 Charles II. created a baronet. He bore for his arms, Argent, a chevron, gules, between three sleurs de lis, sable. His only son Sir Basil Dixwell, bart. of Brome, died at Brome,s. p. in 1750, and devised this, among the rest of his estates, to his kinsman George Oxenden, esq. second son of Sir Geo. Oxenden, bart. of Dean, in Wingham, with an injunction for him to take the name and arms of Dixwell, for which an act passed anno 25 George II. but he died soon afterwards, unmarried, having devised this manor and seat to his father Sir George Oxenden, who settled it on his eldest and only surviving son, now Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. who is the present owner of it. He resides at Brome, which he has, as well as the grounds about it, much altered and improved for these many years successively.
SHELVING is a manor, situated in the borough of its own name, at the eastern boundary of this parish, which was so called from a family who were in antient times the possessors of it. John de Shelving resided here in king Edward I.'s reign, and married Helen, daughter and heir of John de Bourne, by whom he had Waretius de Shelving, whose son, J. de Shelving, of Shelvingborne, married Benedicta de Hougham, and died possessed of this manor anno 4 Edward III. After which it descended to their daughter Benedicta, who carried it in marriage to Sir Edmund de Haut, of Petham, in whose descendants, in like manner as Shelvington, alias Hautsborne, above-described, it continued down to Sir William Haut, of Hautsborne, in king Henry VIII's reign, whose eldest daughter and coheir Elizabeth carried it in marriage to Tho. Colepeper, esq. of Bedgbury, who in the beginning of king Edward VI.'s reign passed it away to Walter Mantle, whose window carried it by a second marriage to Christopher Carlell, gent. who bore for his arms, Or, a cross flory, gules; one of whose descendants sold it to Stephen Hobday, in whose name it continued till Hester, daughter of Hills Hobday, carried it in marriage to J. Lade, esq. of Boughton, and he having obtained an act for the purpose, alienated it to E. Bridges, esq. of Wootton-court, who passed away part of it to Sir George Oxenden, bart. whose son Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. of Brome, now owns it; but Mr. Bridges died possessed of the remaining part in 1780, and his eldest son the Rev. Edward Timewell Brydges, is the present possessor of it.
MAY DEACON, as it has been for many years past both called and written, is a seat in the southern part of this parish, adjoining to Denton-street, in which parish part of it is situated. Its original and true name was Madekin, being so called from a family who were owners of it, and continued so, as appears by the deeds of it, till king Henry VI's reign, in the beginning of which it passed from that name to Sydnor, in which it continued till king Henry VIII.'s reign, when Paul Sydnor, who upon his obtaining from the king a grant of Brenchley manor, removed thither, and alienated this seat to James Brooker, who resided here, and his sole daughter and heir carried it in marriage, in queen Elizabeth's reign, to Sir Henry Oxenden, of Dene, in Wingham, whose grandson Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. sold it in 1664, to Edward Adye, esq. the second son of John Adye, esq. of Doddington, one of whose daughters and coheirs, Rosamond, entitled her husband George Elcock, esq. afterwards of Madekin, to it, and his daughter and heir Elizabeth carried it in marriage to Capt. Charles Fotherby, whose eldest daughter and coheir Mary, entitled her two successive husbands, Henry Mompesson, esq. and Sir Edward Dering, bart. to the possession of it, and Charles Dering, esq. of Barham-court, eldest son of the latter, by her, is at this time the owner of it. The seat is now inhabited by Henry Oxenden, esq.
There are no parochial charities. The poor constantly maintained are about forty, casually fifteen.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanryof Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. John Baptist, is a handsome building, consisting of a body and side isle, a cross or sept, and a high chancel, having a slim tall spire at the west end, in which are four bells. In the chancel are memorials for George Elcock, esq. of Madeacon, obt. 1703, and for his wife and children; for Charles Bean, A. M. rector, obt. 1731. A monument for William Barne, gent. son of the Rev. Miles Barne. His grandfather was Sir William Barne, of Woolwich, obt. 1706; arms, Azure, three leopards faces, argent. Several memorials for the Nethersoles, of this parish. In the south sept is a magnificent pyramid of marble for the family of Dixwell, who lie buried in a vault underneath, and inscriptions for them. In the north sept is a monument for the Fotherbys. On the pavement, on a gravestone, are the figures of an armed knight (his feet on a greyhound) and his wife; arms, A cross, quartering six lozenges, three and three. In the east window these arms, Gules, three crowns, or—Gules, three lions passant in pale, or. This chapel was dedicated to St. Giles, and some of the family of Diggs were buried in it; and there are memorials for several of the Legrands. There are three tombs of the Lades in the church-yard, the inscriptions obliterated, but the dates remaining are 1603, 1625, and 1660. There were formerly in the windows of this church these arms, Ermine, a chief, quarterly, or, and gules, and underneath, Jacobus Peccam. Another coat, Bruine and Rocheleyquartered; and another, Gules, a fess between three lions heads, erased, argent, and underneath,Orate p ais Roberti Baptford & Johe ux; which family resided at Barham, the last of whom, Sir John Baptford, lest an only daughter and heir, married to John Earde, of Denton.
¶The church of Barham has always been accounted as a chapel to the church of Bishopsborne, and as such is included in the valuation of it in the king's books. In 1588 here were communicants one hundred and eighty; in 1640 there were two hundred and fifty.
The news was that Jools' cough was little better. She got a mail back from the surgery on Friday saying her (non-urgent) appointment with the doctor was on December 14th. But as we were going to Tesco, she would have a chat with the pharmasist and see about some of the behind the counter stuff.
Winter has arrived, though no snow as yet, but the wind is set in the east, its cloudy and feels raw outside.
I would spend part of the day churchcrawling.
After shopping.
We go to Tesco, Jools really only coming so she could get something for her cough.
With a few bottles of tripel and cider we managed to spend £140. A bag of rice, not white easy cook rice I'll admit, but that's £4.50 now.
Wow.
Back home with the shopping and a bottle of serious cough syrup, we put the shopping away and have breakfast.
No surprise then that Jools wasn't coming out with me, she wanted to get the cough under control, would only take the new syrup when needed as it can make you drowsy.
I had a list of churches, and first up was our local one, St Margaret.
They were having a craft day. I thought it might be a fayre, but was a kid's craft day. Anyway, the church would be open and I could take shots of the memorials and windows.
There were pagan heads at the top of each column, and as corbel stones. The more I looked, the more pagan heads, even at the top of two of the columns, but not all.
No real ancient glass, but good quality Victorian.
The church itself is the triumph, being an early Norman and well preserved.
Although, sadly, the tower is in poor repair and needs reroofing, which is why it is currently encased in scaffolding.
I am sure when we called in at Barham last week, a sign said there was a craft fayre on, so would be open. I would go back, and get some shots, I thought.
Its a half hour drive, if that out of Dover down the A2 and off at the Wingham turning, down the valley and parking outside the church, its spire pointing to heaven.
Inside the church there was no fayre again, just a warden showing a lady round. We all said "hello", and I went about getting shots.
I have been here at least three times, but now take the big lens to get details of the windows and memorials high up, so there are always new details to reveal.
Star item is the window of St George and the dragon, though is hidden in the north-west corner, and best viewed from the stairs to the belltower.
After 20 minutes, the visitor left and the warden turned off the lights, forgetting I was there, but I had my shots.
From Barham its a short drive to Bridge, then along the Nailbourne to Patrixbourne, where I see the door was open, but I had another target: Bekesbourne, the next village along, crossing the dry bed of the bourne, stopping on the lane outside the church. I look left to the Old Palace, but there were no cars parked there, so no point of even knocking, I drove on.
Instead of turning left back to Bridge, I turn right towards Littlebourne, no real idea where I was going.
Littlebourne could wait for another time, I only went back there in 2020, I went to Wingham, driving on towards Sandwich.
I thought, it's a long time since I was at Woodnesborough, I could cut through Ash and go there.
Which is what I did.
I could have stopped at Ash too, that's usually open, but there'll be other times. I have been there twice and got good shots last time for sure.
From Ash, the road climbs, leading to Woodnesborough, Woden's Hill, where there was a hill fort in antiquity. The church is on the highest point, overlooking the marshes of the old Wantsum Channel, and on to Sandwich which when the Channel was still flooded, was on a spit of land.
The church is a marker for miles around due to its cupola, something is shares with Ringwould near to home.
Inside it was so dark, I thought I would need to find the lights, but I could not find them. So, I hoped the camera would cope without.
It did.
But again, I was here really to record the windows, which were rich in detail. I took 215 shots here, 560 in a morning at three churches.
Not bad.
But I was done, what light there was, was fading, even though it was only just after one. I would go home.
Once home I got busy.
I have a taste for beans. Not baked beans, but Boston Beans. I had a recipe, and we got the ingredients that morning, so went about making a huge panful. Three tins of haricot beans, tomatoes, stock, spices, bacon, pork belly, mustard, and black treacle.
Cooked on the hob for an hour, then cooked long and low in the oven for four hours.
What came out looked and tasted like fine Boston Beans. We will be eating these for weeks.
At the same time I make fritters.
The plan was to be all cooked and eaten before the football began at three.
I did it with half an hour to spare, the leftover wine drunk too, meaning I would struggle to stay awake for Holland v USA game. Netherlands win pretty comfortably.
And in the evening, with a soundtrack of funk and soul thanks to Craig, I watch Argentine v Australia, which was a stunning game.
Even better, I sat on the sofa to watch, Cleo eyed me as if to say how dare you take my chosen sleeping place. But she came over, paced around, then lay between the arm of the sofa and my leg. Scully lay on the other side. I had 50% of the household cats.
Happier than I have been for ages.
Best of all was that the syrup worked, stopped the coughing, and Jools fell asleep right off.
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A morning out, revisiting some familiar fairly local churches.
Final visit was to Woodnesborough, aka Woden's Hill, near to Sandwich.
It was open, but no light switch that could be found meant that the church was dark, but the camera coped well.
Woodnesborough sits on the highest point near to the coast, its cupola marking the spot, and visible for miles in all directions.
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The tower makes this church one of the easiest in Kent to identify. It is capped by a little cupola and wooden balustrade of eighteenth-century date that replaced a medieval spire. During the Middle Ages the church was owned by Leeds Priory which invested heavily in the structure, and was no doubt responsible for the excellent sedilia built in about 1350. The canopy is supported by a quadripartite vault in turn supported by angry little heads. Above the sedilia is the cut-off end of a prickett beam. The east window, of Decorated style stonework, has a thirteenth-century hangover in the form of a shafted rere-arch. There are two excellent modern stained glass windows designed by F.W Cole, which show the Creation (1980) and St Francis (1992). The good altar rails are of Queen Anne's reign, as are the splendid Royal Arms.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Woodnesborough
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WOODNESBOROUGH,
¶OR Winsborough, as it is usually called, lies the next parish northward from Eastry, being written in the survey of Domesday, Wanesberge. It took its name according to Verstegan, from the Saxon idol Woden, (and it is spelt by some Wodensborough) whose place of worship was in it; however that may be, the termination of the word berge, or borough, shews it to be of high antiquity.
art of this parish, over which the manor of Boxley claims, is within the jurisdiction of the justices of the town and port of Sandwich, and liberty of the cinque ports; and the residue is in the hundred of Eastry, and jurisdiction of the county of Kent.
There are three boroughs in this parish, viz. Cold Friday, Hamwold, and Marshborough; the borsholders of which are chosen at the petty sessions of the justices, acting at Wingham, for the east division of the lath of St. Augustine.
THIS PARISH is large, being two miles and an half one way, and upwards of a mile and an half the other. The church stands nearly in the centre of it, on high ground. At a small distance from the church is Woodnesborough hill, both of which are sea marks. This hill is a very high mount, seemingly thrown up by art, and consisting of a sandy earth, it has been thought by some to have been the place on which the idol Woden from whom this place is supposed to have taken its name) was worshipped in the time of the Saxons; by others to be the burial place of Vortimer, the Saxon king, who died in 457, whilst others suppose this mount was raised over those who fell in the battle fought between Ceoldred, king of Mercia, and Ina, king of the West Saxons, in the year 715, at Woodnesbeorb, according to the Saxon chronicle, which name Dr. Plot supposes to be Woodnesborough. Vortimer, as our historians tell us, at his death, desired to be buried near the place where the Saxons used to land, being persuaded that his bones would deter them from any attempt in future. Though authors differ much on the place of his burial, yet this mount at Woodnesborough is as probable, or more so, perhaps, than any other, for it was near to, and was cast up so high as to be plainly seen from the Portus Rutupinus, which at that time was the general landing place of the Saxon fleets. Some years ago there were found upon the top of it sundry sepulchral remains, viz. a glass vessel (engraved by the Rev. Mr. Douglas, in his Nænia;) a fibula, (engraved by Mr. Eoys, in his collections for Sandwich;) the head of a spear, and some fragments of Roman vessels. Much of the earth of sand has been lately removed round the sides of it, but nothing further has been found.
At a small distance northward from hence, at the bottom of a short steep hill, lies the village called Woodnesborough-street, and sometimes Cold Fridaystreet, containing thirty four houses. The vicaragehouse is situated in the middle of it, being a new handsome building; almost contiguous to it is a handsome sashed house, belonging to the Jull family, now made use of as a poor-house; through this street the road leads to Sandwich. West ward of the street stands the parsonage-house, late the seat of Oliver Stephens, esq. deceased, and now of his window, as will be further noticed hereafter. Besides the manors and estates in this parish, particularly described, in the western parts of it there are several hamlets, as Somerfield, Barnsole, Coombe, with New-street, Great and Little Flemings, Ringlemere, and the farm of Christians Court.
In the north east part of the parish, the road from Eastry, by the parsonage of Woodnesborough northwestward, divides; one road, which in antient deeds is called Lovekys-street, going towards Ash-street; the other through the hamlet of Marshborough, formerly called Marshborough, alias Stipins, to Each End and Sandwich, the two windmills close to the entrance of which are with in the bounds of this parish. Each, Upper Each, called antiently Upriche, and Each End, antiently called Netheriche, were both formerly accounted manors, and are mentioned as such in the marriage settlement of Henry Whyte, esq. in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign. After the Whytes, these manors passed in like manner as Grove, in this parish, to the James's. Upper Each, or Upriche, has for many years belonged to the family of Abbot, of Ramsgate, and is now the property of John Abbot, esq. of Canterbury. Each End, or Netheriche, belongs, one moiety to the heirs or devisees of the late earl of Strafford, and the other moiety to John Matson, esq. of Sandwich.
¶It cannot but occur to the reader how much this parish abounds with Saxon names, besides the name of Wodens borough, the street of Cold Friday, mentioned before, is certainly derived from the Saxon words, Cola, and Friga, which latter was the name of a goddess, worshipped by the Saxons, and her day Frige-deag, from whence our day of Friday is derived; other places in this parish, mentioned before likewise, claim, surely, their original from the same language.
This parish contains about 3000 acres, the whole rents of it being about 3373l. yearly value. It is very bare of coppice wood; the Old Wood, so called, in Ringleton, being the only one in it. The soil of this parish is very rich and fertile, equal to those the most so in this neighbourhood, particularly as to the plantations of hops, which have much increased within these few years past. The middle of the parish is high ground, and is in general a flat open country of arable common fields. West and south-westward the lands are more inclosed with hedges. North and north-westward of the parsonage, towards Sandwich, they are low and wet, consisting of a large level of marsh land, the nearness of which makes the other parts of this parish rather unhealthy, which is not otherwise very pleasant in any part of it. There was a fair held here yearly, on Holy Thursday, but it has been for some time disused.
In Ringleton field, in this parish, there was found about the year 1514, a fine gold coin, weighing about twelve shillings, with a loop of the same metal to hang it by; on one side was the figure of a young man in armour, a helmet on his head, and a spear over his right shoulder; on the reverse, the figure of Victory, with a sword in her hand, the point downwards.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, consists of a nave, and two isles, having a square tower steeple at the west end, with a modern wooden turret and vane at the top of it, in which are five bells, made in 1676. It had a high spire on the tower, which was taken down some years ago. At the east end of the chancel is a marble tablet for John Cason, esq. of this place, justice of the peace, obt. 1718; John Cason, esq. his son, obt. 1755; arms,Argent, a chevron, sable, between three wolves heads, erased, gules, on an escutcheon of pretence, sable, a chevron, between three fleurs de lis, of the field; another for Thomas Blechenden, of the antient family of that name, of Aldington, in Kent, obt. 1661; arms, Azure, a fess nebulee, argent, between three lions heads erased, or, attired, gules, impalingBoys. On the south side, an antient altar monument with gothic pillars and arches, having had shields and arms, now obliterated. Against the wall, under the canopy, two brass plates, which have been removed to this place, from two grave-stones in the chancel; the first for Sir John Parcar, late vicar of this church, who died the v.day of May, a°o dni m° v° xiij° on the second are Latin verses to the memory of Nichs Spencer, esq. obt. 1593. In the middle of the chancel, a gravestone for William Docksey, esq. of Snellston, in Derbyshire, a justice of the peace, obt. 1760; Sarah his wife, youngest daughter of John Cason, esq. obt. 1774; arms,Or, a lion rampant, azure, surmounted of a bend, argent. On a gravestone on the north side of the chancel, on a brass plate, On a chevron, three quatersoils, between three annulets, quartering other coats, now obliterated, for Master Myghell Heyre, sumtyme vicar of this churche, who dyed the xxii day of July, m° v° xxviii. In the north isle are several memorials for the family of Gillow, arms, A lion rampant, in chief, three fleurs de lis. At the entrance into the chancel, on a grave-stone, on a brass plate, John Hill, gent. of the parish of Nassall, in Staffordshire, obt. 1605. A mural monument for William Gibbs, of this parish, obt. 1777; arms,Argent, three battle axes, in fess, sable. In the church-yard are altar tombs to the memory of the Julls, and for Sladden; one for John Verall, gent. sometime mayor of Sandwich, obt. 1610; and another for John Benchkin, of Pouton, obt. 1639.
There were formerly painted in the windows of this church,Or, a chief indented, azure, for John de Sandwich. Several coats of arms, among which were those of Valence and St. Leger,Argent, three leaves in sinster bend, their points downward, proper.— On a canton, azure, three crescents, or, for Grove.— Argent, three escallops in chief, or, in base a crescent, gules, for Helpestone, usually called Hilpurton, bailiff of Sandwich, in 1299. A shield, being Helpeston's badge, another On a fess engrailed, three cinquefoils, between three garbs, for John Hill, of Nasall, in Staffordshire, who lies buried in this church. —A fess engrailed, three lions rampant, in chief, on the fess, a crescent for difference, for Spencer, customer, of Sandwich. — Quarterly, four coats; first, On a chevron, three quaterfoils; second, Per pale, ermine and argent; third, A cross, between four pomegranates, slipped; sourth,Three bars, wavy, for Michael Heyre, vicar here in 1520.
The church of Woodnesborough was given, in the reign of king Henry I. by a religious woman, one Ascelina de Wodensberg, to the priory of Ledes, soon after the foundation of it; to which deed was witness Robert de Crevequer, founder of the priory, Elias his son, and others; which gift was confirmed by the said Robert, who by his charter, released to the priory all his right and title to it. It was likewise confirmed by archbishop Theobald, and several of his successors, and by king Henry III. by his charter of inspeximus in his 41st year.
Archbishop William Corboil, who came to the see of Canterbury, three years after the foundation of Ledes priory, at the instance and petition of Ascelina above mentioned, who resigned this church into his hands for this purpose, appropriated it to the prior and convent, for the finding of necessary cloaths, for the canons there; and a vicarage was accordingly endowed in it.
There was a controversy between the prior and convent, and Adam, vicar of this church, in 1627, anno 14 Henry II. concerning the great tithes arising from the crofts and curtilages within this parish, which was referred to the prior of Rochester, who was the pope's delegate for this purpose, who determined that the prior and convent of Ledes, as rectors of this church, should receive, without any exception, all the great tithes of wheat, barley, oats, beans, peas, and of every fort of corn arising, or to arise from all lands, crofts, curtilages, or other places whatever, situated within the bounds, of this parish; and that the prior and convent should yearly pay to the said vicar, and his successors, half a seam of barley, and half a seam of beans, at the nativity of our Lord. (fn. 10)
¶After which, this parsonage appropriate,(which appears to have been esteemed as a manor) together with the advowson of the vicarage, remained with the prior and convent of Ledes, till its dissolution in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when it was, with all its lands and possessions, surrendered into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, in his 33d year, settled both parsonage and advowson on his new-founded dean and chapter of Rochester, with whom they remain at this time. On the dissolution of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. this parsonage was surveyed in 1649, when is appeared that the manor or parsonage of Woodnesborough, with the scite thereof, and all manner of tithes belonging to it, with a garden and orchard of one acre, was valued all together at 300l. that the lessee was to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church; that the vicarage was worth fifty pounds per annum. The then incumbent was under sequestration, and there was none to serve the cure; and that the church was then quite ruinated, and in great decay. (fn. 11)
www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol10/pp121-144
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A long and light church, best viewed from the south. Like nearby Ickham it is cruciform in plan, with a west rather than central, tower. Sometimes this is the result of a later tower being added, but here it is an early feature indeed, at least the same age (if not earlier) than the body of the church. Lord Kitchener lived in the parish, so his name appears on the War Memorial. At the west end of the south aisle, tucked out of the way, is the memorial to Sir Basil Dixwell (d 1750). There are two twentieth century windows by Martin Travers. The 1925 east window shows Our Lady and Child beneath the typical Travers Baroque Canopy. Under the tower, affixed to the wall, are some Flemish tiles, purchased under the will of John Digge who died in 1375. His memorial brass survives in the Vestry.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Barham
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Many churches in Kent are well known for their yew trees but St. John the Baptist at Barham is noteworthy for its magnificent beech trees.
The Church guide suggests that there has been a Church here since the 9th Century but the present structure was probably started in the 12th Century although Syms, in his book about Kent Country Churches, states that there is a hint of possible Norman construction at the base of the present tower. The bulk of the Church covers the Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular periods of building. Many of the huge roof beams, ties and posts are original 14th Century as are the three arches leading into the aisle..
In the Northwest corner is a small 13th Century window containing modern glass depicting St. George slaying the dragon and dedicated to the 23rd Signal Company. The Church also contains a White Ensign which was presented to it by Viscount Broome, a local resident. The Ensign was from 'H.M.S. Raglan' which was also commanded by Viscount Broome. The ship was sunk in January, 1918 by the German light cruiser 'Breslau'.
The walls contain various mural tablets. Hanging high on the west wall is a helmet said to have belonged to Sir Basil Dixwell of Broome Park. The helmet probably never saw action but was carried at his funeral.
The floor in the north transept is uneven because some years ago three brasses were found there. According to popular medieval custom engraved metal cut-outs were sunk into indented stone slabs and secured with rivets and pitch. In order to save them from further damage the brasses were lifted and placed on the walls. The oldest dates from about 1370 is of a civilian but very mutilated. The other two are in good condition and dated about 1460. One is of a woman wearing the dress of a widow which was similar to a nun. The other is of a bare headed man in plate armour. These are believed to be of John Digges and his wife Joan.
At the west end of the church is a list of Rectors and Priests-in-Charge - the first being Otho Caputh in 1280. Notice should be made of Richard Hooker (1594), the author of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. The tiles incorporated into the wall were originally in place in the Chancel about 1375. They were left by John Digges whose Will instructed that he was to be buried in the Chancel and "my executors are to buy Flanders tiles to pave the said Chancel".
The 14th century font is large enough to submerse a baby - as would have been the custom of the time. The bowl is octagonal representing the first day of the new week, the day of Christ's resurrection. The cover is Jacobean.
The Millennium Window in the South Transept was designed and constructed by Alexandra Le Rossignol and was dedicated in July 2001. The cost of the project (approximately £6,500) was raised locally with the first donation being made by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey.
The porch contains two wooden plaques listing the names of men from the village who were killed in the Great Wars - among them being Field Marshall Lord Kitchener of Broome Park.
www.barham-kent.org.uk/landmark_church.htm
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ANTIENTLY written Bereham, lies the next parish eastward. There are five boroughs in it, viz. of Buxton, Outelmeston, Derrington, Breach, and Shelving. The manor of Bishopsborne claims over almost the whole of this parish, at the court of which the four latter borsholders are chosen, and the manors of Reculver and Adisham over a small part of it.
BARHAM is situated at the confines of that beautiful country heretofore described, the same Nailbourne valley running through it, near which, in like manner the land is very fertile, but all the rest of it is a chalky barren soil. On the rise of the hill northward from it, is the village called Barham-street, with the church, and just beyond the summit of it, on the further side Barham court, having its front towards the downs, over part of which this parish extends, and gives name to them. At the foot of the same hill, further eastward, is the mansion of Brome, with its adjoining plantatious, a conspicuous object from the downs, to which by inclosing a part of them, the grounds extend as far as the Dover road, close to Denne-hill, and a costly entrance has been erected into them there. By the corner of Brome house the road leads to the left through Denton-street, close up to which this parish extends, towards Folkestone; and to the right, towards Eleham and Hythe. One this road, within the bounds of this parish, in a chalky and stony country, of poor barren land, there is a large waste of pasture, called Breach down, on which there are a number of tumuli, or barrows. By the road side there have been found several skeletons, one of which had round its neck a string of beads, of various forms and sizes, from a pidgeon's egg to a pea, and by it a sword, dagger, and spear; the others lay in good order, without any particular thing to distinguish them. (fn. 1)
In the Nailbourne valley, near the stream, are the two hamlets of Derrington and South Barham; from thence the hills, on the opposite side of it to those already mentioned, rise southward pretty high, the tops of them being covered with woods, one of them being that large one called Covert wood, a manor belonging to the archbishop, and partly in this parish, being the beginning of a poor hilly country, covered with stones, and enveloped with frequent woods.
BARHAM, which, as appears by the survey of Domesday, formerly lay in a hundred of its own name, was given anno 809, by the estimation of seven ploughlands, by Cenulph, king of Kent, to archbishop Wlfred, free from all secular demands, except the trinoda necessitas, but this was for the use of his church; for the archbishop, anno 824, gave the monks lands in Egelhorne and Langeduna, in exchange for it. After which it came into the possession of archbishop Stigand, but, as appears by Domesday, not in right of his archbishopric, at the taking of which survey, it was become part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, under the title of whose lands it is thus entered in it:
In Berham hundred, Fulbert holds of the bishop Berham. It was taxed at six sulings. The arable land is thirty two carucates. In demesne there are three carucates, and fifty two villeins, with twenty cottagers having eighteen carucates. There is a church, and one mill of twenty shillings and four pence. There are twentlyfive fisheries of thirty-five shillings all four pence. Of average, that is service, sixty shilling. Of herbage twenty six shillings, and twenty acres of meadow Of pannage sufficient for one hundred and fifty hogs. Of this manor the bishop gave one berewic to Herbert, the son of Ivo, which is called Hugham, and there be has one carucate in demesne, and twelve villeins, with nine carucates, and twenty acres of meadow. Of the same manor the bisoop gave to Osberne Paisforere one suling and two mills of fifty sbillings, and there is in demesne one carucate, and four villeins with one carucate. The whole of Barbam, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was worth forty pounds, when be received it the like, and yet it yielded to him one hundred pounds, now Berhem of itself is worth forty pounds, and Hucham ten pounds, and this which Osberne bas six pounds, and the land of one Ralph, a knight, is worth forty shillings. This manor Stigand, the archbishop held, but it was not of the archbishopric, but was of the demesne ferm of king Edward.
On the bishop's disgrace four years afterwards, and his estates being confiscated to the crown, the seignory of this parish most probably returned to the see of Canterbury, with which it has ever since continued. The estate mentioned above in Domesday to have been held of the bishop by Fulbert, comprehended, in all likelihood, the several manors and other estates in this parish, now held of the manor of Bishopsborne, one of these was THE MANOR AND SEAT OF BARHAM-COURT, situated near the church, which probably was originally the court-lodge of the manor of Barham in very early times, before it became united to that of Bishopsborne, and in king Henry II.'s time was held of the archbishop by knight's service, by Sir Randal Fitzurse, who was one of the four knights belonging to the king's houshould, who murdered archbishop Becket anno 1170; after perpetrating which, Sir Randal fled into Ireland, and changed his name to Mac-Mahon, and one of his relations took possession of this estate, and assumed the name of Berham from it; and accordingly, his descendant Warin de Berham is recorded in the return made by the sheriff anno 12 and 13 king John, among others of the archbishop's tenants by knight's service, as holding lands in Berham of him, in whose posterity it continued till Thomas Barham, esq. in the very beginning of king James I.'s reign, alienated it to the Rev. Charles Fotherbye, dean of Canterbury, who died possessed of it in 1619. He was eldest son of Martin Fotherby, of Great Grimsby, in Lincolnshire, and eldest brother of Martin Fotherby, bishop of Salisbury. He had a grant of arms, Gules, a cross of lozenges flory, or, assigned to him and Martin his brother, by Camden, clarencieux, in 1605. (fn. 2) His only surviving son Sir John Fotherbye, of Barham-court, died in 1666, and was buried in that cathedral with his father. At length his grandson Charles, who died in 1720, leaving two daughters his coheirs; Mary, the eldest, inherited this manor by her father's will, and afterwards married Henry Mompesson, esq. of Wiltshire, (fn. 3) who resided at Barhamcourt, and died in 1732, s. p. and she again carried this manor in marriage to Sir Edward Dering, bart. of Surrenden, whose second wife she was. (fn. 4) He lest her surviving, and three children by her, Charles Dering, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Farnaby, bart. since deceased, by whom he has an only surviving daughter, married to George Dering, esq. of Rolling, the youngest son of the late Sir Edw. Dering, bart. and her first cousin; Mary married Sir Robert Hilyard, bart. and Thomas Dering, esq. of London. Lady Dering died in 1775, and was succeeded by her eldest son Charles Dering, esq. afterwards of Barhamcourt, the present owner of it. It is at present occupied by Gen. Sir Charles Grey, bart. K. B. commanderin chief of the southern district of this kingdom.
THE MANORS OF BROME and OUTELMESTONE, alias DIGGS COURT, are situated in this parish; the latter in the valley, at the western boundary of it, was the first residence in this county of the eminent family of Digg, or, as they were asterwards called, Diggs, whence it gained its name of Diggs-court. John, son of Roger de Mildenhall, otherwise called Digg, the first-mentioned in the pedigrees of this family, lived in king Henry III.'s reign, at which time he, or one of this family of the same name, was possessed of the aldermanry of Newingate, in Canterbury, as part of their inheritance. His descendants continued to reside at Diggs-court, and bore for their arms, Gules, on a cross argent, five eagles with two heads displayed, sable, One of whom, James Diggs, of Diggs-court, died in 1535. At his death he gave the manor and seat of Outelmeston, alias Diggs-court, to his eldest son (by his first wife) John, and the manor of Brome to his youngest son, (by his second wife) Leonard, whose descendants were of Chilham castle. (fn. 5) John Diggs, esq. was of Diggs-court, whose descendant Thomas Posthumus Diggs, esq. about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, alienated this manor, with Diggs-place, to Capt. Halsey, of London, and he sold it to Sir Tho. Somes, alderman of London, who again parted with it to Sir B. Dixwell, bart. and he passed it away to Sir Thomas Williams, bart. whose heir Sir John Williams, bart. conveyed it, about the year 1706, to Daniel and Nathaniel Matson, and on the death of the former, the latter became wholly possessed of it, and his descendant Henry Matson, about the year 1730, gave it by will to the trustees for the repair of Dover harbour, in whom it continues at this time vested for that purpose.
BUT THE MANOR OF BROME, which came to Leonard Diggs, esq. by his father's will as above-mentioned, was sold by him to Basil Dixwell, esq. second son of Cha. Dixwell, esq. of Coton, in Warwickshire, then of Tevlingham, in Folkestone, who having built a handsome mansion for his residence on this manor, removed to it in 1622. In the second year of king Charles I. he served the office of sheriff with much honour and hospitality; after which he was knighted, and cveated a baronet. He died unmarried in 1641, having devised this manor and seat, with the rest of his estates, to his nephew Mark Dixwell, son of his elder brother William, of Coton above-mentioned, who afterwards resided at Brome, whose son Basil Dixwell, esq. of Brome, was anno 12 Charles II. created a baronet. He bore for his arms, Argent, a chevron, gules, between three sleurs de lis, sable. His only son Sir Basil Dixwell, bart. of Brome, died at Brome,s. p. in 1750, and devised this, among the rest of his estates, to his kinsman George Oxenden, esq. second son of Sir Geo. Oxenden, bart. of Dean, in Wingham, with an injunction for him to take the name and arms of Dixwell, for which an act passed anno 25 George II. but he died soon afterwards, unmarried, having devised this manor and seat to his father Sir George Oxenden, who settled it on his eldest and only surviving son, now Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. who is the present owner of it. He resides at Brome, which he has, as well as the grounds about it, much altered and improved for these many years successively.
SHELVING is a manor, situated in the borough of its own name, at the eastern boundary of this parish, which was so called from a family who were in antient times the possessors of it. John de Shelving resided here in king Edward I.'s reign, and married Helen, daughter and heir of John de Bourne, by whom he had Waretius de Shelving, whose son, J. de Shelving, of Shelvingborne, married Benedicta de Hougham, and died possessed of this manor anno 4 Edward III. After which it descended to their daughter Benedicta, who carried it in marriage to Sir Edmund de Haut, of Petham, in whose descendants, in like manner as Shelvington, alias Hautsborne, above-described, it continued down to Sir William Haut, of Hautsborne, in king Henry VIII's reign, whose eldest daughter and coheir Elizabeth carried it in marriage to Tho. Colepeper, esq. of Bedgbury, who in the beginning of king Edward VI.'s reign passed it away to Walter Mantle, whose window carried it by a second marriage to Christopher Carlell, gent. who bore for his arms, Or, a cross flory, gules; one of whose descendants sold it to Stephen Hobday, in whose name it continued till Hester, daughter of Hills Hobday, carried it in marriage to J. Lade, esq. of Boughton, and he having obtained an act for the purpose, alienated it to E. Bridges, esq. of Wootton-court, who passed away part of it to Sir George Oxenden, bart. whose son Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. of Brome, now owns it; but Mr. Bridges died possessed of the remaining part in 1780, and his eldest son the Rev. Edward Timewell Brydges, is the present possessor of it.
MAY DEACON, as it has been for many years past both called and written, is a seat in the southern part of this parish, adjoining to Denton-street, in which parish part of it is situated. Its original and true name was Madekin, being so called from a family who were owners of it, and continued so, as appears by the deeds of it, till king Henry VI's reign, in the beginning of which it passed from that name to Sydnor, in which it continued till king Henry VIII.'s reign, when Paul Sydnor, who upon his obtaining from the king a grant of Brenchley manor, removed thither, and alienated this seat to James Brooker, who resided here, and his sole daughter and heir carried it in marriage, in queen Elizabeth's reign, to Sir Henry Oxenden, of Dene, in Wingham, whose grandson Sir Henry Oxenden, bart. sold it in 1664, to Edward Adye, esq. the second son of John Adye, esq. of Doddington, one of whose daughters and coheirs, Rosamond, entitled her husband George Elcock, esq. afterwards of Madekin, to it, and his daughter and heir Elizabeth carried it in marriage to Capt. Charles Fotherby, whose eldest daughter and coheir Mary, entitled her two successive husbands, Henry Mompesson, esq. and Sir Edward Dering, bart. to the possession of it, and Charles Dering, esq. of Barham-court, eldest son of the latter, by her, is at this time the owner of it. The seat is now inhabited by Henry Oxenden, esq.
There are no parochial charities. The poor constantly maintained are about forty, casually fifteen.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanryof Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. John Baptist, is a handsome building, consisting of a body and side isle, a cross or sept, and a high chancel, having a slim tall spire at the west end, in which are four bells. In the chancel are memorials for George Elcock, esq. of Madeacon, obt. 1703, and for his wife and children; for Charles Bean, A. M. rector, obt. 1731. A monument for William Barne, gent. son of the Rev. Miles Barne. His grandfather was Sir William Barne, of Woolwich, obt. 1706; arms, Azure, three leopards faces, argent. Several memorials for the Nethersoles, of this parish. In the south sept is a magnificent pyramid of marble for the family of Dixwell, who lie buried in a vault underneath, and inscriptions for them. In the north sept is a monument for the Fotherbys. On the pavement, on a gravestone, are the figures of an armed knight (his feet on a greyhound) and his wife; arms, A cross, quartering six lozenges, three and three. In the east window these arms, Gules, three crowns, or—Gules, three lions passant in pale, or. This chapel was dedicated to St. Giles, and some of the family of Diggs were buried in it; and there are memorials for several of the Legrands. There are three tombs of the Lades in the church-yard, the inscriptions obliterated, but the dates remaining are 1603, 1625, and 1660. There were formerly in the windows of this church these arms, Ermine, a chief, quarterly, or, and gules, and underneath, Jacobus Peccam. Another coat, Bruine and Rocheleyquartered; and another, Gules, a fess between three lions heads, erased, argent, and underneath,Orate p ais Roberti Baptford & Johe ux; which family resided at Barham, the last of whom, Sir John Baptford, lest an only daughter and heir, married to John Earde, of Denton.
¶The church of Barham has always been accounted as a chapel to the church of Bishopsborne, and as such is included in the valuation of it in the king's books. In 1588 here were communicants one hundred and eighty; in 1640 there were two hundred and fifty.
The days drag and the weeks fly by.
It has been a grim week at work, and yet the weekend is here once again.
The cold snap is still here; thick frosts and icy patches, but Sunday afternoon storms will sweep in from the west and temperatures will soar by day to 13 degrees.
But for now it is cold, and colder at nights, the wood burner makes the living room toasty warm, though the rest of the house seems like a fridge in comparison.
Even though we went to bed at nine, we slept to nearly half seven, which meant we were already later than usual going to Tesco.
We had a coffee first, then got dressed and went out into the winter wonderland.
Tesco was more crowded mainly because we were an hour later. There were no crackers for cheese, a whole aisle empty of cream crackers and butter wafers.
There is only so much food you can eat even over Christmas, so the cracker-shortage won't affect us, we have two Dundee cakes, filling for two lots of mince pies and pastry for five lots of sausage rolls.
We won't starve.
We buy another bag of stuff for the food bank, try to get two weeks of stuff so we wont need to go next weekend, just to a farm shop for vegetables, and the butcher for the Christmas order, though on the 25th we are going out for dinner to the Lantern.
Back home for fruit, then bacon butties and another huge brew. Yes, smoked bacon is again in short supply, with just the basic streaky smoked available, but we're not fussy, so that does the trick.
Also, Jools picked up her inhalers for her cough, and so, we hope, the road to recovery begins.
What to do with the day?
Although a walk would have been good, Jools can do no more than ten minutes in freezing conditions before a coughing fits starts, so a couple of churches to revisit and take more shots of.
First on the list was St Leonard in Upper Deal. A church I have only have been inside once. As it was just half ten, there should have been a chance it was open, but no. We parked up and I walked over the road to try the porch door, but it was locked.
No worries, as the next two would certainly be open.
Just up the road towards Canterbury is Ash.
Ash is a large village that the main roads now bypass its narrow streets, and buses call not so frequently.
The church towers over the village, its spire piercing the grey sky. We park beside the old curry hours than burned down a decade ago, is now a house and no sign of damage.
indeed the church was open, though the porch door was closed, it opened with use of the latch, and the inner glass door swung inwards, revealing an interior I had forgotten about, rich Victorian glass let in the weak sunlight, allowing me to take detailed shots. It was far better and more enjoyable than I remembered.
Once I took 200 or so shots, we went back to the car, drove back to the main road, and on to Wingham, where the church there, a twin of Wingham, would also be open too.
And it was.
The wardens were just finishing trimming the church up, and putting out new flowers, it was a bustle of activity, then one by one they left.
got my shots, and we left, back to the car and to home, though we did stop at he farm shop at Aylsham, and all we wanted was some sweet peppers for hash.
We went in and there was the bakery: I bought two sausage rolls, four small pork pies and two Cajun flavours scotch eggs. We got cider, beer, healthy snacks (we told ourselves) and finally found the peppers.
Three peppers cost £50!
Then back home, along the A2.
And arriving back home at one. We feasted on the scotch eggs and two of the pork pies.
Yummy.
There was the third place play off game to watch on the tellybox, the Football league to follow on the radio. We lit the woodburner and it was soon toasty warm.
At half five, Norwich kicked off, and hopes were high as Blackburn had not beaten us in over a decade.
And, yes you guessed it, Norwich lost. Played poorly, and in Dad's words, were lucky to get nil.
Oh dear.
Oh dear indeed.
We have Christmas cake for supper, and apart from the football, as was well with the world.
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A large and impressive church of mainly thirteenth century date over restored in 1847 by the irrepressible William Butterfield. The scale of the interior is amazing - particularly in the tower crossing arches which support the enormous spire. They are an obvious insertion into an earlier structure. The best furnishing at Ash is the eighteenth century font which stands on an inscribed base. For the visitor interested in memorials, Ash ahs more than most ranging from the fourteenth century effigy of a knight to two excellent alabaster memorials to Sir Thomas Harfleet (d 1612) and Christopher Toldervy (d 1618). Mrs Toldervy appears twice in the church for she accompanies her husband on his memorial and may also be seen as a `weeper` on her parents` memorial! On that she is one of two survivors of what was once a group of seven daughters - all her weeping brothers have long since disappeared.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Ash+2
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ASH
LIES adjoining to the last-described parish of Staple northward. It is written in Domesday, Ece, and in other antient records, Aisse, and is usually called Ash, near Sandwich, to distinguish it from Ash, near Wrotham.
The parish of Ash is very large, extending over a variety of soil and country, of hill, dale, and marsh lands, near four miles across each way, and containing more than six thousand acres of land, of which about one half is marsh, the river Stour being its northern bounday, where it is very wet and unwholesone, but the southern or upland part of the parish is very dary, pleasant and healthy. The soil in general is fertile, and lets on an average at about one pound an acre; notwithstanding, there is a part of it about Ash-street and Gilton town, where it is a deep sand. The village of Ash, commonly called Ash-street, situated in this part of it, on high ground, mostly on the western declivity of a hill, having the church on the brow of it, is built on each side of the road from Canterbury to Sandwich, and contains about fifty houses. On the south side of this road, about half a mile westward, is a Roman burial ground, of which further mention will be taken hereaster, and adjoining to it the hamlet of Gilton town, formerly written Guildanton, in which is Gilton parsonage, a neat stuccoed house, lately inhabited by Mr. Robert Legrand, and now by Mrs. Becker. In the valley southward stands Mote farm, alias Brooke house, formerly the habitation of the Stoughtons, then of the Ptoroude's and now the property of Edward Solly, esq. of London.
There are dispersed throughout this large parish many small hamlets and farms, which have been formerly of more consequence, from the respective owners and in habitants of them, all which, excepting East and New Street, and Great Pedding, (the latter of which was the antient residence of the family of solly, who lie buried in Ash church-yard, and bore for their arms, Vert, a chevron, per pale, or, and gules, between three soles naiant, argent, and being sold by one of them to dean Lynch, is now in the possession of lady Lynch, the widow of Sir William Lynch, K. B.) are situated in the northern part of the parish, and contain together about two hundred and fifty houses, among them is Hoden, formerly the residence of the family of St. Nicholas; Paramour-street, which for many years was the residence of those of that name, and Brook-street, in which is Brook-house, the residence of the Brooke's, one of whom John Brooke, esq. in queen Elizabeth's reign, resided here, and bore for his arms, Per bend, vert and sable, two eagles, counterchanged.
William, lord Latimer, anno 38 Edward III. obtained a market to be held at Ash, on a Thursday; and a fair yearly on Lady-day, and the two following ones. A fair is now held in Ash-street on Lady and Michaelmas days yearly.
In 1473 there was a lazar house for the infirm of the leprosy, at Eche, near Sandwich.
¶The manor of Wingham claims paramount over this parish, subordinate to which there were several manors in it, held of the archbishop, to whom that manor belonged, the mansions of which, being inhabited by families of reputation and of good rank in life, made this parish of much greater account than it has been for many years past, the mansions of them having been converted for a length of time into farmhouses to the lands to which they belong.
f this manor, (viz. Wingham) William de Acris holds one suling in Fletes, and there he has in demesne one carucate and four villeins, and one knight with one carucate, and one fisbery, with a saltpit of thirty pence. The whole is worth forty shillings.
This district or manor was granted by archbishop Lanfranc, soon after this, to one Osberne, (fn. 7) of whom I find no further mention, nor of this place, till king Henry III.'s reign, when it seems to have been separated into two manors, one of which, now known by the name of the manor of Gurson Fleet, though till of late time by that of Fleet only, was held afterwards of the archbishop by knight's service, by the family of Sandwich, and afterwards by the Veres, earls of Oxford, one of whom, Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, who died anno 3 Edward III. was found by the escheat-rolls of that year, to have died possessed of this manor of Fleet, which continued in his descendants down to John de Vere, earl of Oxford, who for his attachment to the house of Lancaster, was attainted in the first year of king Edward IV. upon which this manor came into the hands of the crown, and was granted the next year to Richard, duke of Gloucester, the king's brother, with whom it staid after his succession to the crown, as king Richard III. on whose death, and the accession of king Henry VII. this manor returned to the possession of John, earl of Oxford, who had been attainted, but was by parliament anno I Henry VII. restored in blood, titles and possessions. After which this manor continued in his name and family till about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, when Edward Vere, earl of Oxford, alienated it to Hammond, in whose descendants it continued till one of them, in the middle of king Charles II.'s reign, sold it to Thomas Turner, D. D. who died possessed of it in 1672, and in his name and descendants it continued till the year 1748, when it was sold to John Lynch, D. D. dean of Canterbury, whose son Sir William Lynch, K. B. died possessed of it in 1785, and by his will devised it, with the rest of his estates, to his widow lady Lynch, who is the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
Archbishop Lanfranc, on his founding the priory of St. Gregory, in the reign of the Conqueror, gave to it the tithe of the manor of Fleet; which gift was confirmed by archbishop Hubert in Richard I.'s reign. This portion of tithes, which arose principally from Gurson Fleet manor, remained with the priory at its dissolution, and is now part of Goldston parsonage, parcel of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention has been made before.
The other part of the district of Fleet was called, to distinguish it, and from the possessors of it, the manor of Nevills Fleet, though now known by the name of Fleet only, is situated between Gurson and Richborough, adjoining to the former. This manor was held in king John's reign of the archbishop, by knight's service, by Thomas Pincerna, so called probably from his office of chief butler to that prince, whence his successors assumed the name of Butler, or Boteler. His descendant was Robert le Boteler, who possessed this manor in king Ed ward I.'s reign, and from their possession of it, this manor acquired for some time the name of Butlers Fleet; but in the 20th year of king Edward III. William, lord Latimer of Corbie, appears to have been in the possession of it, and from him it acquired the name of Latimers Fleet. He bore for his arms, Gules, a cross flory, or. After having had summons to parliament, (fn. 8) he died in the begening of king Richard II.'s reign, leaving Elizabeth his sole daughter and heir, married to John, lord Nevill, of Raby, whose son John bore the title of lord Latimer, and was summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, till the 9th year of king Henry VI. in which he died, so that the greatest part of his inheritance, among which was this manor, came by an entail made, to Ralph, lord Nevill, and first earl of Westmoreland, his eldest, but half brother, to whom he had sold, after his life, the barony of Latimer, and he, by seoffment, vested it, with this manor and much of the inheritance above-mentioned, in his younger son Sir George Nevill, who was accordingly summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, anno 10 Henry VI. and his grandson Richard, lord Latimer, in the next regin of Edward IV. alienated this manor, which from their length of possession of it, had acquired the name of Nevill's Fleet, to Sir James Cromer, and his son Sir William Cromer, in the 11th year of king Henry VII, sold it to John Isaak, who passed it away to Kendall, and he, in the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, sold it to Sir John Fogge, of Repton, in Ashford, who died possessed of it in 1533, and his son, of the same name, before the end of it, passed it away to Mr. Thomas Rolfe, and he sold it, within a few years afterwards, to Stephen Hougham, gent. of this parish, who by his will in 1555, devised it to his youngest son Rich. Hougham, of Eastry, from one of whose descendants it was alienated to Sir Adam Spracklin, who sold it to one of the family of Septvans, alias Harflete, in which name it continued till within a few years after the death of king Charles I. when by a female heir Elizabeth it went in marriage to Thomas Kitchell, esq. in whose heirs it continued till it was at length, about the year 1720, alienated by one of them to Mr. Thomas Bambridge, warden of the Fleet prison, upon whose death it became vested in his heirs-at-law, Mr. James Bambridge, of the Temple, attorney at-law, and Thomas Bambridge, and they divided this estate, and that part of it allotted to the latter was soon afterwards alienated by him to Mr. Peter Moulson, of London, whose only daughter and heir carried it in marriage to Mr. Geo. Vaughan, of London, and he and the assignees of Mr. James Bambridge last mentioned, have lately joined in the conveyance of the whole fee of this manor to Mr. Joseph Solly, gent. of Sandwich, the present owner of it. There is not any court held for this manor.
In this district, and within this manor of Fleet lastmentioned, there was formerly a chapel of cose to the church of Ash, as that was to the church of Wingham, to which college, on its foundation by archbishop Peckham in 1286, the tithes, rents, obventions, &c of this chapel and district was granted by him, for the support in common of the provost and canons of it, with whom it remained till the suppression of it, anno I king Edward VI. The tithes, arising from this manor of Fleet, and the hamlet of Richborough, are now a part of the rectory of Ash, and of that particular part of it called Gilton parsonage, parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention will be made hereafter. There have not been any remains left of it for a long time part.
Richborough is a hamlet and district of land, in the south-east part of this parish, rendered famous from the Roman fort and town built there, and more so formerly, from the port or haven close adjoining to it.
It was in general called by the Romans by the plural name of Rutupiæ; for it must be observed that the æstuary, which at that time separated the Isle of Thanet from the main land of Kent, and was the general passage for shipping,had at each mouth of it, towards the sea, a fort and haven, called jointly Rutupiæ. That at the northern part and of it being now called Reculver, and that at the eastern, being the principal one, this of Richborough.
The name of it is variously spelt in different authors. By Ptolemy it is written [Patapiaia (?)] urbem; by Tacitus, according to the best reading, Portus, Rutupensis; by Antonine, in his Itinerary, Ritupas, and Ritupis Portum; by Ammianus, Ritupiæ statio; afterwards by the Saxons, Reptacester, and now Richborough.
The haven, or Portus Rutupinus, or Richborough, was very eminent in the time of the Romans, and much celebrated in antient history, being a safe and commodious harbour, stationem ex adverso tranquillam, as Ammianus calls it, situated at the entrance of the passage towards then Thamas, and becoming the general place of setting sail from Britain to the continent, and where the Roman fleets arrived, and so large and extensive was the bay of it, that it is supposed to have extended far beyond Sandwich on the one side, almost to Ramsgate cliffs on the other, near five miles in width, covering the whole of that flat of land on which Stonar and Sandwich were afterwards built, and extending from thence up the æstuary between the Isle of Thanet and the main land. So that Antonine might well name it the Port, in his Itinerary, [Kat exochin], from there being no other of like consequence, and from this circumstance the shore for some distance on each side acquired the general name of Littus Rutupinum, the Rutupian shore. (fn. 9) Some have contended that Julius Cæsar landed at Richborough, in his expeditions into Britain; but this opinion is refuted by Dr. Hasley in Phil, Trans. No. 193, who plainly proves his place of landing to have been in the Downs. The fort of Richborough, from the similarity of the remains of it to those of Reculver, seems to have been built about the same time, and by the same emperer, Serveris, about the year 205. It stands on the high hill, close to a deep precipice eastward, at the soot of which was the haven. In this fortress, so peculiarly strengthened by its situation, the Romans had afterwards a stationary garrison, and here they had likewise a pharos, of watch tower, the like as at Reculver and other places on this coast, as well to guide the shipping into the haven, as to give notice of the approach of enemies. It is by most supposed that there was, in the time of the Romans, near the fort, in like manner as at Reculver, a city or town, on the decline of the hill, south-westward from it, according to custom, at which a colony was settled by them. Prolemy, in his geography, reckons the city Rutpia as one of the three principal cities of Kent. (fn. 10) Orosius. and Bede too, expressly mention it as such; but when the haven decayed, and there was no longer a traffic and resort to this place, the town decayed likewise, and there have not been, for many ages since, any remains whatever of it left; though quantities of coins and Roman antiquities have been sound on the spot where it is supposed to have once stood.
During the latter part of the Roman empire, when the Saxons prevented all trade by sea, and insefted these coasts by frequent robberies, the second Roman legion, called Augusta, and likewise Britannica, which had been brought out of Germany by the emperor Claudius, and had resided for many years at the Isca Silurum, in Wales, was removed and stationed here, under a president or commander, præpositus, of its own, who was subordinate to the count of the Saxon shore, and continued so till the final departure of the Romans from Britain, in the year 410, when this fortress was left in the hands of the Britons, who were afterwards dispossessed of it by the Saxons, during whose time the harbour seems to have began to decay and to swerve up, the sea by degrees entirely deserting it at this place, but still leaving one large and commodious at Sandwich, which in process of time became the usual resort for shipping, and arose a flourishing harbour in its stead, as plainly appears by the histories of those times, by all of which, both the royal Saxon fleets, as well as those of the Danes, are said to sail for the port of Sandwich, and there to lie at different times; (fn. 11) and no further mention is made by any of them of this of Rutupiæ, Reptachester, or Richborough; so that the port being thus destroyed, the town became neglected and desolate, and with the castle sunk into a heap of ruins. Leland's description of it in king Henry VIII.'s reign, is very accurate, and gives an exceeding good idea of the progressive state of its decay to that time. He says, "Ratesburg otherwyse Richeboro was, of ever the ryver of Sture dyd turn his botom or old canale, withyn the Isle of the Thanet, and by Iykelyhod the mayn se came to the very foote of the castel. The mayn se ys now of yt a myle by reason of wose, that has there swollen up. The scite of the town or castel ys wonderful fair apon an hille. The walles the wich remayn ther yet be in cumpase almost as much as the tower of London. They have bene very hye thykke stronge and wel embateled. The mater of them is flynt mervelus and long brykes both white and redde after the Britons fascion. The sement was made of se sand and smaul pible. Ther is a great lykelyhod that the goodly hil abowte the castel and especially to Sandwich ward hath bene wel inhabited. Corne groweth on the hille yn bene mervelous plenty and yn going to plowgh ther hath owt of mynde fownd and now is mo antiquities of Romayne money than yn any place els of England surely reason speketh that this should be Rutupinum. For byside that the name sumwhat toucheth, the very near passage fro Cales Clyves or Cales was to Ratesburgh and now is to Sandwich, the which is about a myle of; though now Sandwich be not celebrated by cawse of Goodwine sandes and the decay of the haven. Ther is a good flyte shot of fro Ratesburg toward Sandwich a great dyke caste in a rownd cumpas as yt had bene for sens of menne of warre. The cumpase of the grownd withyn is not much above an acre and yt is very holo by casting up the yerth. They cawle the place there Lytleborough. Withyn the castel is a lytle paroche chirch of St. Augustine and an heremitage. I had antiquities of the heremite the which is an industrious man. Not far fro the hermitage is a cave wher men have sowt and digged for treasure. I saw it by candel withyn, and ther were conys. Yt was so straite that I had no mynd to crepe far yn. In the north side of the castel ys a hedde yn the walle, now fore defaced with wether. They call it queen Bertha hedde. Nere to that place hard by the wal was a pot of Romayne mony sownd."
The ruins of this antient castle stand upon the point of a hill or promontory, about a mile north-west from Sandwich, overlooking on each side, excepting towards the west, a great flat which appears by the lowness of it, and the banks of beach still shewing themselves in different places, to have been all once covered by the sea. The east side of this hill is great part of it so high and perpendicular from the flat at the foot of it, where the river Stour now runs, that ships with the greatest burthen might have lain close to it, and there are no signs of any wall having been there; but at the north end, where the ground rises into a natural terrace, so as to render one necessary, there is about 190 feet of wall left. Those on the other three sides are for the most part standing, and much more entire than could be expected, considering the number of years since they were built, and the most so of any in the kingdom, except Silchester. It is in shape an oblong square, containing within it a space of somewhat less than five acres. They are in general about ten feet high within, but their broken tops shew them to have been still higher. The north wall, on the outside, is about twice as high as it is within, or the other two, having been carried up from the very bottom of the hill, and it seems to have been somewhat longer than it is at present, by some pieces of it sallen down at the east end. The walls are about eleven feet thick. In the middle of the west side is the aperture of an entrance, which probably led to the city or town, and on the north side is another, being an entrance obliquely into the castle. Near the middle of the area are the ruins of some walls, full of bushes and briars, which seem as if some one had dug under ground among them, probably where once stood the prætorium of the Roman general, and where a church or chapel was afterwards erected, dedicated to St. Augustine, and taken notice of by Leland as such in his time. It appears to have been a chapel of ease to the church of Ash, for the few remaining inhabitants of this district, and is mentioned as such in the grant of the rectory of that church, anno 3 Edward VI. at which time it appears to have existed. About a furlong to the south, in a ploughed field, is a large circular work, with a hollow in the middle, the banks of unequal heights, which is supposed to have been an amphitheatre, built of turf, for the use of the garrison, the different heights of the banks having been occasioned by cultivation, and the usual decay, which must have happened from so great a length of time. These stations of the Romans, of which Richborough was one, were strong fortifications, for the most part of no great compass or extent, wherein were barracks for the loding of the soldiers, who had their usual winter quarters in them. Adjoining, or at no great distance from them, there were usually other, buildings forming a town; and such a one was here at Richborough, as has been already mentioned before, to which the station or fort was in the nature of a citadel, where the soldiers kept garrison. To this Tacitus seems to allude, when he says, "the works that in time of peace had been built, like a free town, not far from the camp, were destroyed, left they should be of any service to the enemy." (fn. 12) Which in great measure accounts for there being no kind of trace or remains left, to point out where this town once stood, which had not only the Romans, according to the above observation, but the Saxons and Danes afterwards, to carry forward at different æras the total destruction of it.
The burial ground for this Roman colony and station of Richborough, appears to have been on the hill at the end of Gilton town, in this parish, about two miles south-west from the castle, and the many graves which have been continually dug up there, in different parts of it, shew it to have been of general use for that purpose for several ages.
The scite of the castle at Richborough was part of the antient inheritance of the family of the Veres, earls of Oxford, from which it was alienated in queen Elizabeth's reign to Gaunt; after which it passed, in like manner as Wingham Barton before-described, to Thurbarne, and thence by marriage to Rivett, who sold it to Farrer, from whom it was alienated to Peter Fector, esq. of Dover, the present possessor of it. In the deed of conveyance it is thus described: And also all those the walls and ruins of the antient castle of Rutupium, now known by the name of Richborough castle, with the scite of the antient port and city of Rutupinum, being on and near the lands before-mentioned. About the walls of Richborough grows Fæniculum valgare, common fennel, in great plenty.
It may be learned from the second iter of Antonine's Itinerary, that there was once a Roman road, or highway from Canterbury to the port of Richborough, in which iter the two laft stations are, from Durovernum, Canterbury, to Richborough, ad portum Rutupis, xii miles; in which distance all the different copies of the Itinerary agree. Some parts of this road can be tracted at places at this time with certainty; and by the Roman burial-ground, usually placed near the side of a high road, at Gilton town, and several other Roman vestigia thereabouts, it may well be supposed to have led from Canterbury through that place to Richborough, and there is at this time from Goldston, in Ash, across the low-grounds to it, a road much harder and broader than usual for the apparent use of it, which might perhaps be some part of it.
Charities.
A person unknown gave four acres and an half of land, in Chapman-street, of the annual produce of 5l. towards the church assessments.
Thomas St. Nicholas, esq. of this parish, by deed about the year 1626, gave an annuity of 11. 5s. to be paid from his estate of Hoden, now belonging to the heirs of Nathaniel Elgar, esq. to be distributed yearly, 10s. to the repairing and keeping clean the Toldervey monument in this church, and 15s. on Christmas-day to the poor.
John Proude, the elder, of Ash, yeoman, by his will in 1626, ordered that his executor should erect upon his land adjoining to the church-yard, a house, which should be disposed of in future by the churchwardens and overseers, for a school-house, and for a storehouse, to lay in provision for the church and poor. This house is now let at 1l. per annum, and the produce applied to the use of the poor.
Richard Camden, in 1642, gave by will forty perches of land, for the use of the poor, and of the annual produce of 15s. now vested in the minister and churchwardens.
Gervas Cartwright, esq. and his two sisters, in 1710 and 1721, gave by deed an estate, now of the yearly value of 50l. for teaching fifty poor children to read, write, &c. vested in the minister, churchwardens, and other trustees.
The above two sisters, Eleanor and Anne Cartwright, gave besides 100l. for beautifying the chancel, and for providing two large pieces of plate for the communion service; and Mrs. Susan Robetts added two other pieces of plate for the same purpose.
There is a large and commodious workhouse lately built, for the use of the poor, to discharge the expence of which, 100l. is taken yearly out of the poor's rate, till the whole is discharged. In 1604, the charges of the poor were 29l. 15s. 11d. In 1779. 1000l.
There is a charity school for boys and girls, who are educated, but not cloathed.
The poor constantly relieved are about seventy-five, casually fifty-five.
This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the dioceseof Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a handsome building, of the form of a cross, consisting of two isles and two chancels, and a cross sept, having a tall spire steeple in the middle, in which are eight bells and a clock. It is very neat and handsome in the inside. In the high or south chancel is a monument for the Roberts's, arms, Argent, three pheons, sable, on a chief of the second, a greybound current of the first; another for the Cartwrights, arms, Or, a fess embattled, between three catherine wheels, sable. In the north wall is a monument for one of the family of Leverick, with his effigies, in armour, lying cross-legged on it; and in the same wall, westward, is another like monument for Sir John Goshall, with his effigies on it, in like manner, and in a hollow underneath, the effigies of his wife, in her head-dress, and wimple under her chin. A gravestone, with an inscription, and figure of a woman with a remarkable high high-dress, the middle part like a horseshoe inverted, for Jane Keriell, daughter of Roger Clitherow. A stone for Benjamin Longley, LL. B. minister of Ash twenty-nine years, vicar of Eynsford and Tonge, obt. 1783. A monument for William Brett, esq. and Frances his wife. The north chancel, dedicated to St. Nicholas, belongs to the manor of Molland. Against the north wall is a tomb, having on it the effigies of a man and woman, lying at full length, the former in armour, and sword by his side, but his head bare, a collar of SS about his neck, both seemingly under the middle age, but neither arms nor inscription, but it was for one of the family of Harflete, alias Septvans; and there are monuments and several memorials and brasses likewise for that family. A memorial for Thomas Singleton, M. D. of Molland, obt. 1710. One for John Brooke, of Brookestreet, obt. 1582, s. p. arms, Per bend, two eagles.—Several memorials for the Pekes, of Hills-court, and for Masters, of Goldstone. A monument for Christopher Toldervy, of Chartham, obt. 1618. A memorial for Daniel Hole, who, as well as his ancestors, had lived upwards of one hundred years at Goshall, as occupiers of it. In the north cross, which was called the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, was buried the family of St. Nicholas. The brass plates of whom, with their arms, are still to be seen. A tablet for Whittingham Wood, gent. obt. 1656. In the south cross, a monument for Richard Hougham, gent. of Weddington, and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Edward Sanders, gent. of Norborne. An elegant monument for Mary, wife of Henry Lowman, esq. of Dortnued, in Germany. She died in 1737, and he died in 1743. And for lieutenant colonel Christopher Ernest Kien, obt. 1744, and Jane his wife, their sole daughter and heir, obt. 1762, and for Evert George Cousemaker, esq. obt. 1763, all buried in a vault underneath, arms, Or, on a mount vert, a naked man, bolding a branch in his hand, proper, impaling per bend sinister, argent and gules, a knight armed on borjeback, holding a tilting spear erect, the point downwards, all counterchanged. On the font is inscribed, Robert Minchard, arms, A crescent, between the points of it a mullet. Several of the Harfletes lie buried in the church-yard, near the porch, but their tombs are gone. On each side of the porch are two compartments of stone work, which were once ornamented with brasses, most probably in remembrance of the Harfleets, buried near them. At the corner of the church-yard are two old tombs, supposed for the family of Alday.
In the windows of the church were formerly several coats of arms, and among others, of Septvans, alias Harflete, Notbeame, who married Constance, widow of John Septvans; Brooke, Ellis, Clitherow, Oldcastle, Keriell, and Hougham; and the figures of St. Nicholas, Keriell, and Hougham, kneeling, in their respective surcoats of arms, but there is not any painted glass left in any part of the church or chancels.
John Septvans, about king Henry VII.'s reign, founded a chantry, called the chantry of the upper Hall, as appears by the will of Katherine Martin, of Faversham, sometime his wife, in 1497. There was a chantry of our blessed Lady, and another of St. Stephen likewise, in it; both suppressed in the 1st year of king Edward VI. when the former of them was returned to be of the clear yearly certified value of 15l. 11s. 1½d. (fn. 13)
The church of Ash was antiently a chapel of east to that of Wingham, and was, on the foundation of the college there in 1286, separated from it, and made a distinct parish church of itself, and then given to the college, with the chapels likewise of Overland and Fleet, in this parish, appurtenant to this church; which becoming thus appropriated to the college, continued with it till the suppression of it in king Edward VI.'s reign, when this part of the rectory or parsonage appropriate, called Overland parsonage, with the advowson of the church, came, with the rest of the possessions of the college, into the hands of the crown, where the advowson of the vicarage, or perpetual curacy of it did not remain long, for in the year 1558, queen Mary granted it, among others, to the archbishop. But the above-mentioned part of the rectory, or parsonage appropriate of Ash, with those chapels, remained in the crown, till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange to archbishop Parker, who was before possessed of that part called Goldston parsonage, parcel of the late dissolved priory of St. Gregory, by grant from king Henry VIII. so that now this parish is divided into two distinct parsonages, viz. of Overland and of Goldston, which are demised on separate beneficial leases by the archbishop, the former to the heirs of Parker, and the latter, called Gilton parsonage, from the house and barns of it being situated in that hamlet, to George Gipps, esq. M. P. for Canterbury. The patronage of the perpetual curacy remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury.
¶At the time this church was appropriated to the college of Wingham, a vicarage was endowed in it, which after the suppression of the college came to be esteemed as a perpetual curacy. It is not valued in the king's books. The antient stipend paid by the provost, &c. to the curate being 16l. 13s. 4d. was in 1660, augmented by archbishop Juxon with the addition of 33l. 6s. 8d. per annum; and it was afterwards further augmented by archbishop Sheldon, anno 28 Charles II. with twenty pounds per annum more, the whole to be paid by the several lessees of these parsonages. Which sum of seventy pounds is now the clear yearly certified value of it. In 1588 here were communicants five hundred; in 1640, eight hundred and fifty. So far as appears by the registers, the increase of births in this parish is almost double to what they were two hundred years ago.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
The days drag and the weeks fly by.
It has been a grim week at work, and yet the weekend is here once again.
The cold snap is still here; thick frosts and icy patches, but Sunday afternoon storms will sweep in from the west and temperatures will soar by day to 13 degrees.
But for now it is cold, and colder at nights, the wood burner makes the living room toasty warm, though the rest of the house seems like a fridge in comparison.
Even though we went to bed at nine, we slept to nearly half seven, which meant we were already later than usual going to Tesco.
We had a coffee first, then got dressed and went out into the winter wonderland.
Tesco was more crowded mainly because we were an hour later. There were no crackers for cheese, a whole aisle empty of cream crackers and butter wafers.
There is only so much food you can eat even over Christmas, so the cracker-shortage won't affect us, we have two Dundee cakes, filling for two lots of mince pies and pastry for five lots of sausage rolls.
We won't starve.
We buy another bag of stuff for the food bank, try to get two weeks of stuff so we wont need to go next weekend, just to a farm shop for vegetables, and the butcher for the Christmas order, though on the 25th we are going out for dinner to the Lantern.
Back home for fruit, then bacon butties and another huge brew. Yes, smoked bacon is again in short supply, with just the basic streaky smoked available, but we're not fussy, so that does the trick.
Also, Jools picked up her inhalers for her cough, and so, we hope, the road to recovery begins.
What to do with the day?
Although a walk would have been good, Jools can do no more than ten minutes in freezing conditions before a coughing fits starts, so a couple of churches to revisit and take more shots of.
First on the list was St Leonard in Upper Deal. A church I have only have been inside once. As it was just half ten, there should have been a chance it was open, but no. We parked up and I walked over the road to try the porch door, but it was locked.
No worries, as the next two would certainly be open.
Just up the road towards Canterbury is Ash.
Ash is a large village that the main roads now bypass its narrow streets, and buses call not so frequently.
The church towers over the village, its spire piercing the grey sky. We park beside the old curry hours than burned down a decade ago, is now a house and no sign of damage.
indeed the church was open, though the porch door was closed, it opened with use of the latch, and the inner glass door swung inwards, revealing an interior I had forgotten about, rich Victorian glass let in the weak sunlight, allowing me to take detailed shots. It was far better and more enjoyable than I remembered.
Once I took 200 or so shots, we went back to the car, drove back to the main road, and on to Wingham, where the church there, a twin of Wingham, would also be open too.
And it was.
The wardens were just finishing trimming the church up, and putting out new flowers, it was a bustle of activity, then one by one they left.
got my shots, and we left, back to the car and to home, though we did stop at he farm shop at Aylsham, and all we wanted was some sweet peppers for hash.
We went in and there was the bakery: I bought two sausage rolls, four small pork pies and two Cajun flavours scotch eggs. We got cider, beer, healthy snacks (we told ourselves) and finally found the peppers.
Three peppers cost £50!
Then back home, along the A2.
And arriving back home at one. We feasted on the scotch eggs and two of the pork pies.
Yummy.
There was the third place play off game to watch on the tellybox, the Football league to follow on the radio. We lit the woodburner and it was soon toasty warm.
At half five, Norwich kicked off, and hopes were high as Blackburn had not beaten us in over a decade.
And, yes you guessed it, Norwich lost. Played poorly, and in Dad's words, were lucky to get nil.
Oh dear.
Oh dear indeed.
We have Christmas cake for supper, and apart from the football, as was well with the world.
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A large and impressive church of mainly thirteenth century date over restored in 1847 by the irrepressible William Butterfield. The scale of the interior is amazing - particularly in the tower crossing arches which support the enormous spire. They are an obvious insertion into an earlier structure. The best furnishing at Ash is the eighteenth century font which stands on an inscribed base. For the visitor interested in memorials, Ash ahs more than most ranging from the fourteenth century effigy of a knight to two excellent alabaster memorials to Sir Thomas Harfleet (d 1612) and Christopher Toldervy (d 1618). Mrs Toldervy appears twice in the church for she accompanies her husband on his memorial and may also be seen as a `weeper` on her parents` memorial! On that she is one of two survivors of what was once a group of seven daughters - all her weeping brothers have long since disappeared.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Ash+2
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ASH
LIES adjoining to the last-described parish of Staple northward. It is written in Domesday, Ece, and in other antient records, Aisse, and is usually called Ash, near Sandwich, to distinguish it from Ash, near Wrotham.
The parish of Ash is very large, extending over a variety of soil and country, of hill, dale, and marsh lands, near four miles across each way, and containing more than six thousand acres of land, of which about one half is marsh, the river Stour being its northern bounday, where it is very wet and unwholesone, but the southern or upland part of the parish is very dary, pleasant and healthy. The soil in general is fertile, and lets on an average at about one pound an acre; notwithstanding, there is a part of it about Ash-street and Gilton town, where it is a deep sand. The village of Ash, commonly called Ash-street, situated in this part of it, on high ground, mostly on the western declivity of a hill, having the church on the brow of it, is built on each side of the road from Canterbury to Sandwich, and contains about fifty houses. On the south side of this road, about half a mile westward, is a Roman burial ground, of which further mention will be taken hereaster, and adjoining to it the hamlet of Gilton town, formerly written Guildanton, in which is Gilton parsonage, a neat stuccoed house, lately inhabited by Mr. Robert Legrand, and now by Mrs. Becker. In the valley southward stands Mote farm, alias Brooke house, formerly the habitation of the Stoughtons, then of the Ptoroude's and now the property of Edward Solly, esq. of London.
There are dispersed throughout this large parish many small hamlets and farms, which have been formerly of more consequence, from the respective owners and in habitants of them, all which, excepting East and New Street, and Great Pedding, (the latter of which was the antient residence of the family of solly, who lie buried in Ash church-yard, and bore for their arms, Vert, a chevron, per pale, or, and gules, between three soles naiant, argent, and being sold by one of them to dean Lynch, is now in the possession of lady Lynch, the widow of Sir William Lynch, K. B.) are situated in the northern part of the parish, and contain together about two hundred and fifty houses, among them is Hoden, formerly the residence of the family of St. Nicholas; Paramour-street, which for many years was the residence of those of that name, and Brook-street, in which is Brook-house, the residence of the Brooke's, one of whom John Brooke, esq. in queen Elizabeth's reign, resided here, and bore for his arms, Per bend, vert and sable, two eagles, counterchanged.
William, lord Latimer, anno 38 Edward III. obtained a market to be held at Ash, on a Thursday; and a fair yearly on Lady-day, and the two following ones. A fair is now held in Ash-street on Lady and Michaelmas days yearly.
In 1473 there was a lazar house for the infirm of the leprosy, at Eche, near Sandwich.
¶The manor of Wingham claims paramount over this parish, subordinate to which there were several manors in it, held of the archbishop, to whom that manor belonged, the mansions of which, being inhabited by families of reputation and of good rank in life, made this parish of much greater account than it has been for many years past, the mansions of them having been converted for a length of time into farmhouses to the lands to which they belong.
f this manor, (viz. Wingham) William de Acris holds one suling in Fletes, and there he has in demesne one carucate and four villeins, and one knight with one carucate, and one fisbery, with a saltpit of thirty pence. The whole is worth forty shillings.
This district or manor was granted by archbishop Lanfranc, soon after this, to one Osberne, (fn. 7) of whom I find no further mention, nor of this place, till king Henry III.'s reign, when it seems to have been separated into two manors, one of which, now known by the name of the manor of Gurson Fleet, though till of late time by that of Fleet only, was held afterwards of the archbishop by knight's service, by the family of Sandwich, and afterwards by the Veres, earls of Oxford, one of whom, Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, who died anno 3 Edward III. was found by the escheat-rolls of that year, to have died possessed of this manor of Fleet, which continued in his descendants down to John de Vere, earl of Oxford, who for his attachment to the house of Lancaster, was attainted in the first year of king Edward IV. upon which this manor came into the hands of the crown, and was granted the next year to Richard, duke of Gloucester, the king's brother, with whom it staid after his succession to the crown, as king Richard III. on whose death, and the accession of king Henry VII. this manor returned to the possession of John, earl of Oxford, who had been attainted, but was by parliament anno I Henry VII. restored in blood, titles and possessions. After which this manor continued in his name and family till about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, when Edward Vere, earl of Oxford, alienated it to Hammond, in whose descendants it continued till one of them, in the middle of king Charles II.'s reign, sold it to Thomas Turner, D. D. who died possessed of it in 1672, and in his name and descendants it continued till the year 1748, when it was sold to John Lynch, D. D. dean of Canterbury, whose son Sir William Lynch, K. B. died possessed of it in 1785, and by his will devised it, with the rest of his estates, to his widow lady Lynch, who is the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
Archbishop Lanfranc, on his founding the priory of St. Gregory, in the reign of the Conqueror, gave to it the tithe of the manor of Fleet; which gift was confirmed by archbishop Hubert in Richard I.'s reign. This portion of tithes, which arose principally from Gurson Fleet manor, remained with the priory at its dissolution, and is now part of Goldston parsonage, parcel of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention has been made before.
The other part of the district of Fleet was called, to distinguish it, and from the possessors of it, the manor of Nevills Fleet, though now known by the name of Fleet only, is situated between Gurson and Richborough, adjoining to the former. This manor was held in king John's reign of the archbishop, by knight's service, by Thomas Pincerna, so called probably from his office of chief butler to that prince, whence his successors assumed the name of Butler, or Boteler. His descendant was Robert le Boteler, who possessed this manor in king Ed ward I.'s reign, and from their possession of it, this manor acquired for some time the name of Butlers Fleet; but in the 20th year of king Edward III. William, lord Latimer of Corbie, appears to have been in the possession of it, and from him it acquired the name of Latimers Fleet. He bore for his arms, Gules, a cross flory, or. After having had summons to parliament, (fn. 8) he died in the begening of king Richard II.'s reign, leaving Elizabeth his sole daughter and heir, married to John, lord Nevill, of Raby, whose son John bore the title of lord Latimer, and was summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, till the 9th year of king Henry VI. in which he died, so that the greatest part of his inheritance, among which was this manor, came by an entail made, to Ralph, lord Nevill, and first earl of Westmoreland, his eldest, but half brother, to whom he had sold, after his life, the barony of Latimer, and he, by seoffment, vested it, with this manor and much of the inheritance above-mentioned, in his younger son Sir George Nevill, who was accordingly summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, anno 10 Henry VI. and his grandson Richard, lord Latimer, in the next regin of Edward IV. alienated this manor, which from their length of possession of it, had acquired the name of Nevill's Fleet, to Sir James Cromer, and his son Sir William Cromer, in the 11th year of king Henry VII, sold it to John Isaak, who passed it away to Kendall, and he, in the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, sold it to Sir John Fogge, of Repton, in Ashford, who died possessed of it in 1533, and his son, of the same name, before the end of it, passed it away to Mr. Thomas Rolfe, and he sold it, within a few years afterwards, to Stephen Hougham, gent. of this parish, who by his will in 1555, devised it to his youngest son Rich. Hougham, of Eastry, from one of whose descendants it was alienated to Sir Adam Spracklin, who sold it to one of the family of Septvans, alias Harflete, in which name it continued till within a few years after the death of king Charles I. when by a female heir Elizabeth it went in marriage to Thomas Kitchell, esq. in whose heirs it continued till it was at length, about the year 1720, alienated by one of them to Mr. Thomas Bambridge, warden of the Fleet prison, upon whose death it became vested in his heirs-at-law, Mr. James Bambridge, of the Temple, attorney at-law, and Thomas Bambridge, and they divided this estate, and that part of it allotted to the latter was soon afterwards alienated by him to Mr. Peter Moulson, of London, whose only daughter and heir carried it in marriage to Mr. Geo. Vaughan, of London, and he and the assignees of Mr. James Bambridge last mentioned, have lately joined in the conveyance of the whole fee of this manor to Mr. Joseph Solly, gent. of Sandwich, the present owner of it. There is not any court held for this manor.
In this district, and within this manor of Fleet lastmentioned, there was formerly a chapel of cose to the church of Ash, as that was to the church of Wingham, to which college, on its foundation by archbishop Peckham in 1286, the tithes, rents, obventions, &c of this chapel and district was granted by him, for the support in common of the provost and canons of it, with whom it remained till the suppression of it, anno I king Edward VI. The tithes, arising from this manor of Fleet, and the hamlet of Richborough, are now a part of the rectory of Ash, and of that particular part of it called Gilton parsonage, parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention will be made hereafter. There have not been any remains left of it for a long time part.
Richborough is a hamlet and district of land, in the south-east part of this parish, rendered famous from the Roman fort and town built there, and more so formerly, from the port or haven close adjoining to it.
It was in general called by the Romans by the plural name of Rutupiæ; for it must be observed that the æstuary, which at that time separated the Isle of Thanet from the main land of Kent, and was the general passage for shipping,had at each mouth of it, towards the sea, a fort and haven, called jointly Rutupiæ. That at the northern part and of it being now called Reculver, and that at the eastern, being the principal one, this of Richborough.
The name of it is variously spelt in different authors. By Ptolemy it is written [Patapiaia (?)] urbem; by Tacitus, according to the best reading, Portus, Rutupensis; by Antonine, in his Itinerary, Ritupas, and Ritupis Portum; by Ammianus, Ritupiæ statio; afterwards by the Saxons, Reptacester, and now Richborough.
The haven, or Portus Rutupinus, or Richborough, was very eminent in the time of the Romans, and much celebrated in antient history, being a safe and commodious harbour, stationem ex adverso tranquillam, as Ammianus calls it, situated at the entrance of the passage towards then Thamas, and becoming the general place of setting sail from Britain to the continent, and where the Roman fleets arrived, and so large and extensive was the bay of it, that it is supposed to have extended far beyond Sandwich on the one side, almost to Ramsgate cliffs on the other, near five miles in width, covering the whole of that flat of land on which Stonar and Sandwich were afterwards built, and extending from thence up the æstuary between the Isle of Thanet and the main land. So that Antonine might well name it the Port, in his Itinerary, [Kat exochin], from there being no other of like consequence, and from this circumstance the shore for some distance on each side acquired the general name of Littus Rutupinum, the Rutupian shore. (fn. 9) Some have contended that Julius Cæsar landed at Richborough, in his expeditions into Britain; but this opinion is refuted by Dr. Hasley in Phil, Trans. No. 193, who plainly proves his place of landing to have been in the Downs. The fort of Richborough, from the similarity of the remains of it to those of Reculver, seems to have been built about the same time, and by the same emperer, Serveris, about the year 205. It stands on the high hill, close to a deep precipice eastward, at the soot of which was the haven. In this fortress, so peculiarly strengthened by its situation, the Romans had afterwards a stationary garrison, and here they had likewise a pharos, of watch tower, the like as at Reculver and other places on this coast, as well to guide the shipping into the haven, as to give notice of the approach of enemies. It is by most supposed that there was, in the time of the Romans, near the fort, in like manner as at Reculver, a city or town, on the decline of the hill, south-westward from it, according to custom, at which a colony was settled by them. Prolemy, in his geography, reckons the city Rutpia as one of the three principal cities of Kent. (fn. 10) Orosius. and Bede too, expressly mention it as such; but when the haven decayed, and there was no longer a traffic and resort to this place, the town decayed likewise, and there have not been, for many ages since, any remains whatever of it left; though quantities of coins and Roman antiquities have been sound on the spot where it is supposed to have once stood.
During the latter part of the Roman empire, when the Saxons prevented all trade by sea, and insefted these coasts by frequent robberies, the second Roman legion, called Augusta, and likewise Britannica, which had been brought out of Germany by the emperor Claudius, and had resided for many years at the Isca Silurum, in Wales, was removed and stationed here, under a president or commander, præpositus, of its own, who was subordinate to the count of the Saxon shore, and continued so till the final departure of the Romans from Britain, in the year 410, when this fortress was left in the hands of the Britons, who were afterwards dispossessed of it by the Saxons, during whose time the harbour seems to have began to decay and to swerve up, the sea by degrees entirely deserting it at this place, but still leaving one large and commodious at Sandwich, which in process of time became the usual resort for shipping, and arose a flourishing harbour in its stead, as plainly appears by the histories of those times, by all of which, both the royal Saxon fleets, as well as those of the Danes, are said to sail for the port of Sandwich, and there to lie at different times; (fn. 11) and no further mention is made by any of them of this of Rutupiæ, Reptachester, or Richborough; so that the port being thus destroyed, the town became neglected and desolate, and with the castle sunk into a heap of ruins. Leland's description of it in king Henry VIII.'s reign, is very accurate, and gives an exceeding good idea of the progressive state of its decay to that time. He says, "Ratesburg otherwyse Richeboro was, of ever the ryver of Sture dyd turn his botom or old canale, withyn the Isle of the Thanet, and by Iykelyhod the mayn se came to the very foote of the castel. The mayn se ys now of yt a myle by reason of wose, that has there swollen up. The scite of the town or castel ys wonderful fair apon an hille. The walles the wich remayn ther yet be in cumpase almost as much as the tower of London. They have bene very hye thykke stronge and wel embateled. The mater of them is flynt mervelus and long brykes both white and redde after the Britons fascion. The sement was made of se sand and smaul pible. Ther is a great lykelyhod that the goodly hil abowte the castel and especially to Sandwich ward hath bene wel inhabited. Corne groweth on the hille yn bene mervelous plenty and yn going to plowgh ther hath owt of mynde fownd and now is mo antiquities of Romayne money than yn any place els of England surely reason speketh that this should be Rutupinum. For byside that the name sumwhat toucheth, the very near passage fro Cales Clyves or Cales was to Ratesburgh and now is to Sandwich, the which is about a myle of; though now Sandwich be not celebrated by cawse of Goodwine sandes and the decay of the haven. Ther is a good flyte shot of fro Ratesburg toward Sandwich a great dyke caste in a rownd cumpas as yt had bene for sens of menne of warre. The cumpase of the grownd withyn is not much above an acre and yt is very holo by casting up the yerth. They cawle the place there Lytleborough. Withyn the castel is a lytle paroche chirch of St. Augustine and an heremitage. I had antiquities of the heremite the which is an industrious man. Not far fro the hermitage is a cave wher men have sowt and digged for treasure. I saw it by candel withyn, and ther were conys. Yt was so straite that I had no mynd to crepe far yn. In the north side of the castel ys a hedde yn the walle, now fore defaced with wether. They call it queen Bertha hedde. Nere to that place hard by the wal was a pot of Romayne mony sownd."
The ruins of this antient castle stand upon the point of a hill or promontory, about a mile north-west from Sandwich, overlooking on each side, excepting towards the west, a great flat which appears by the lowness of it, and the banks of beach still shewing themselves in different places, to have been all once covered by the sea. The east side of this hill is great part of it so high and perpendicular from the flat at the foot of it, where the river Stour now runs, that ships with the greatest burthen might have lain close to it, and there are no signs of any wall having been there; but at the north end, where the ground rises into a natural terrace, so as to render one necessary, there is about 190 feet of wall left. Those on the other three sides are for the most part standing, and much more entire than could be expected, considering the number of years since they were built, and the most so of any in the kingdom, except Silchester. It is in shape an oblong square, containing within it a space of somewhat less than five acres. They are in general about ten feet high within, but their broken tops shew them to have been still higher. The north wall, on the outside, is about twice as high as it is within, or the other two, having been carried up from the very bottom of the hill, and it seems to have been somewhat longer than it is at present, by some pieces of it sallen down at the east end. The walls are about eleven feet thick. In the middle of the west side is the aperture of an entrance, which probably led to the city or town, and on the north side is another, being an entrance obliquely into the castle. Near the middle of the area are the ruins of some walls, full of bushes and briars, which seem as if some one had dug under ground among them, probably where once stood the prætorium of the Roman general, and where a church or chapel was afterwards erected, dedicated to St. Augustine, and taken notice of by Leland as such in his time. It appears to have been a chapel of ease to the church of Ash, for the few remaining inhabitants of this district, and is mentioned as such in the grant of the rectory of that church, anno 3 Edward VI. at which time it appears to have existed. About a furlong to the south, in a ploughed field, is a large circular work, with a hollow in the middle, the banks of unequal heights, which is supposed to have been an amphitheatre, built of turf, for the use of the garrison, the different heights of the banks having been occasioned by cultivation, and the usual decay, which must have happened from so great a length of time. These stations of the Romans, of which Richborough was one, were strong fortifications, for the most part of no great compass or extent, wherein were barracks for the loding of the soldiers, who had their usual winter quarters in them. Adjoining, or at no great distance from them, there were usually other, buildings forming a town; and such a one was here at Richborough, as has been already mentioned before, to which the station or fort was in the nature of a citadel, where the soldiers kept garrison. To this Tacitus seems to allude, when he says, "the works that in time of peace had been built, like a free town, not far from the camp, were destroyed, left they should be of any service to the enemy." (fn. 12) Which in great measure accounts for there being no kind of trace or remains left, to point out where this town once stood, which had not only the Romans, according to the above observation, but the Saxons and Danes afterwards, to carry forward at different æras the total destruction of it.
The burial ground for this Roman colony and station of Richborough, appears to have been on the hill at the end of Gilton town, in this parish, about two miles south-west from the castle, and the many graves which have been continually dug up there, in different parts of it, shew it to have been of general use for that purpose for several ages.
The scite of the castle at Richborough was part of the antient inheritance of the family of the Veres, earls of Oxford, from which it was alienated in queen Elizabeth's reign to Gaunt; after which it passed, in like manner as Wingham Barton before-described, to Thurbarne, and thence by marriage to Rivett, who sold it to Farrer, from whom it was alienated to Peter Fector, esq. of Dover, the present possessor of it. In the deed of conveyance it is thus described: And also all those the walls and ruins of the antient castle of Rutupium, now known by the name of Richborough castle, with the scite of the antient port and city of Rutupinum, being on and near the lands before-mentioned. About the walls of Richborough grows Fæniculum valgare, common fennel, in great plenty.
It may be learned from the second iter of Antonine's Itinerary, that there was once a Roman road, or highway from Canterbury to the port of Richborough, in which iter the two laft stations are, from Durovernum, Canterbury, to Richborough, ad portum Rutupis, xii miles; in which distance all the different copies of the Itinerary agree. Some parts of this road can be tracted at places at this time with certainty; and by the Roman burial-ground, usually placed near the side of a high road, at Gilton town, and several other Roman vestigia thereabouts, it may well be supposed to have led from Canterbury through that place to Richborough, and there is at this time from Goldston, in Ash, across the low-grounds to it, a road much harder and broader than usual for the apparent use of it, which might perhaps be some part of it.
Charities.
A person unknown gave four acres and an half of land, in Chapman-street, of the annual produce of 5l. towards the church assessments.
Thomas St. Nicholas, esq. of this parish, by deed about the year 1626, gave an annuity of 11. 5s. to be paid from his estate of Hoden, now belonging to the heirs of Nathaniel Elgar, esq. to be distributed yearly, 10s. to the repairing and keeping clean the Toldervey monument in this church, and 15s. on Christmas-day to the poor.
John Proude, the elder, of Ash, yeoman, by his will in 1626, ordered that his executor should erect upon his land adjoining to the church-yard, a house, which should be disposed of in future by the churchwardens and overseers, for a school-house, and for a storehouse, to lay in provision for the church and poor. This house is now let at 1l. per annum, and the produce applied to the use of the poor.
Richard Camden, in 1642, gave by will forty perches of land, for the use of the poor, and of the annual produce of 15s. now vested in the minister and churchwardens.
Gervas Cartwright, esq. and his two sisters, in 1710 and 1721, gave by deed an estate, now of the yearly value of 50l. for teaching fifty poor children to read, write, &c. vested in the minister, churchwardens, and other trustees.
The above two sisters, Eleanor and Anne Cartwright, gave besides 100l. for beautifying the chancel, and for providing two large pieces of plate for the communion service; and Mrs. Susan Robetts added two other pieces of plate for the same purpose.
There is a large and commodious workhouse lately built, for the use of the poor, to discharge the expence of which, 100l. is taken yearly out of the poor's rate, till the whole is discharged. In 1604, the charges of the poor were 29l. 15s. 11d. In 1779. 1000l.
There is a charity school for boys and girls, who are educated, but not cloathed.
The poor constantly relieved are about seventy-five, casually fifty-five.
This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the dioceseof Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a handsome building, of the form of a cross, consisting of two isles and two chancels, and a cross sept, having a tall spire steeple in the middle, in which are eight bells and a clock. It is very neat and handsome in the inside. In the high or south chancel is a monument for the Roberts's, arms, Argent, three pheons, sable, on a chief of the second, a greybound current of the first; another for the Cartwrights, arms, Or, a fess embattled, between three catherine wheels, sable. In the north wall is a monument for one of the family of Leverick, with his effigies, in armour, lying cross-legged on it; and in the same wall, westward, is another like monument for Sir John Goshall, with his effigies on it, in like manner, and in a hollow underneath, the effigies of his wife, in her head-dress, and wimple under her chin. A gravestone, with an inscription, and figure of a woman with a remarkable high high-dress, the middle part like a horseshoe inverted, for Jane Keriell, daughter of Roger Clitherow. A stone for Benjamin Longley, LL. B. minister of Ash twenty-nine years, vicar of Eynsford and Tonge, obt. 1783. A monument for William Brett, esq. and Frances his wife. The north chancel, dedicated to St. Nicholas, belongs to the manor of Molland. Against the north wall is a tomb, having on it the effigies of a man and woman, lying at full length, the former in armour, and sword by his side, but his head bare, a collar of SS about his neck, both seemingly under the middle age, but neither arms nor inscription, but it was for one of the family of Harflete, alias Septvans; and there are monuments and several memorials and brasses likewise for that family. A memorial for Thomas Singleton, M. D. of Molland, obt. 1710. One for John Brooke, of Brookestreet, obt. 1582, s. p. arms, Per bend, two eagles.—Several memorials for the Pekes, of Hills-court, and for Masters, of Goldstone. A monument for Christopher Toldervy, of Chartham, obt. 1618. A memorial for Daniel Hole, who, as well as his ancestors, had lived upwards of one hundred years at Goshall, as occupiers of it. In the north cross, which was called the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, was buried the family of St. Nicholas. The brass plates of whom, with their arms, are still to be seen. A tablet for Whittingham Wood, gent. obt. 1656. In the south cross, a monument for Richard Hougham, gent. of Weddington, and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Edward Sanders, gent. of Norborne. An elegant monument for Mary, wife of Henry Lowman, esq. of Dortnued, in Germany. She died in 1737, and he died in 1743. And for lieutenant colonel Christopher Ernest Kien, obt. 1744, and Jane his wife, their sole daughter and heir, obt. 1762, and for Evert George Cousemaker, esq. obt. 1763, all buried in a vault underneath, arms, Or, on a mount vert, a naked man, bolding a branch in his hand, proper, impaling per bend sinister, argent and gules, a knight armed on borjeback, holding a tilting spear erect, the point downwards, all counterchanged. On the font is inscribed, Robert Minchard, arms, A crescent, between the points of it a mullet. Several of the Harfletes lie buried in the church-yard, near the porch, but their tombs are gone. On each side of the porch are two compartments of stone work, which were once ornamented with brasses, most probably in remembrance of the Harfleets, buried near them. At the corner of the church-yard are two old tombs, supposed for the family of Alday.
In the windows of the church were formerly several coats of arms, and among others, of Septvans, alias Harflete, Notbeame, who married Constance, widow of John Septvans; Brooke, Ellis, Clitherow, Oldcastle, Keriell, and Hougham; and the figures of St. Nicholas, Keriell, and Hougham, kneeling, in their respective surcoats of arms, but there is not any painted glass left in any part of the church or chancels.
John Septvans, about king Henry VII.'s reign, founded a chantry, called the chantry of the upper Hall, as appears by the will of Katherine Martin, of Faversham, sometime his wife, in 1497. There was a chantry of our blessed Lady, and another of St. Stephen likewise, in it; both suppressed in the 1st year of king Edward VI. when the former of them was returned to be of the clear yearly certified value of 15l. 11s. 1½d. (fn. 13)
The church of Ash was antiently a chapel of east to that of Wingham, and was, on the foundation of the college there in 1286, separated from it, and made a distinct parish church of itself, and then given to the college, with the chapels likewise of Overland and Fleet, in this parish, appurtenant to this church; which becoming thus appropriated to the college, continued with it till the suppression of it in king Edward VI.'s reign, when this part of the rectory or parsonage appropriate, called Overland parsonage, with the advowson of the church, came, with the rest of the possessions of the college, into the hands of the crown, where the advowson of the vicarage, or perpetual curacy of it did not remain long, for in the year 1558, queen Mary granted it, among others, to the archbishop. But the above-mentioned part of the rectory, or parsonage appropriate of Ash, with those chapels, remained in the crown, till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange to archbishop Parker, who was before possessed of that part called Goldston parsonage, parcel of the late dissolved priory of St. Gregory, by grant from king Henry VIII. so that now this parish is divided into two distinct parsonages, viz. of Overland and of Goldston, which are demised on separate beneficial leases by the archbishop, the former to the heirs of Parker, and the latter, called Gilton parsonage, from the house and barns of it being situated in that hamlet, to George Gipps, esq. M. P. for Canterbury. The patronage of the perpetual curacy remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury.
¶At the time this church was appropriated to the college of Wingham, a vicarage was endowed in it, which after the suppression of the college came to be esteemed as a perpetual curacy. It is not valued in the king's books. The antient stipend paid by the provost, &c. to the curate being 16l. 13s. 4d. was in 1660, augmented by archbishop Juxon with the addition of 33l. 6s. 8d. per annum; and it was afterwards further augmented by archbishop Sheldon, anno 28 Charles II. with twenty pounds per annum more, the whole to be paid by the several lessees of these parsonages. Which sum of seventy pounds is now the clear yearly certified value of it. In 1588 here were communicants five hundred; in 1640, eight hundred and fifty. So far as appears by the registers, the increase of births in this parish is almost double to what they were two hundred years ago.
The days drag and the weeks fly by.
It has been a grim week at work, and yet the weekend is here once again.
The cold snap is still here; thick frosts and icy patches, but Sunday afternoon storms will sweep in from the west and temperatures will soar by day to 13 degrees.
But for now it is cold, and colder at nights, the wood burner makes the living room toasty warm, though the rest of the house seems like a fridge in comparison.
Even though we went to bed at nine, we slept to nearly half seven, which meant we were already later than usual going to Tesco.
We had a coffee first, then got dressed and went out into the winter wonderland.
Tesco was more crowded mainly because we were an hour later. There were no crackers for cheese, a whole aisle empty of cream crackers and butter wafers.
There is only so much food you can eat even over Christmas, so the cracker-shortage won't affect us, we have two Dundee cakes, filling for two lots of mince pies and pastry for five lots of sausage rolls.
We won't starve.
We buy another bag of stuff for the food bank, try to get two weeks of stuff so we wont need to go next weekend, just to a farm shop for vegetables, and the butcher for the Christmas order, though on the 25th we are going out for dinner to the Lantern.
Back home for fruit, then bacon butties and another huge brew. Yes, smoked bacon is again in short supply, with just the basic streaky smoked available, but we're not fussy, so that does the trick.
Also, Jools picked up her inhalers for her cough, and so, we hope, the road to recovery begins.
What to do with the day?
Although a walk would have been good, Jools can do no more than ten minutes in freezing conditions before a coughing fits starts, so a couple of churches to revisit and take more shots of.
First on the list was St Leonard in Upper Deal. A church I have only have been inside once. As it was just half ten, there should have been a chance it was open, but no. We parked up and I walked over the road to try the porch door, but it was locked.
No worries, as the next two would certainly be open.
Just up the road towards Canterbury is Ash.
Ash is a large village that the main roads now bypass its narrow streets, and buses call not so frequently.
The church towers over the village, its spire piercing the grey sky. We park beside the old curry hours than burned down a decade ago, is now a house and no sign of damage.
indeed the church was open, though the porch door was closed, it opened with use of the latch, and the inner glass door swung inwards, revealing an interior I had forgotten about, rich Victorian glass let in the weak sunlight, allowing me to take detailed shots. It was far better and more enjoyable than I remembered.
Once I took 200 or so shots, we went back to the car, drove back to the main road, and on to Wingham, where the church there, a twin of Wingham, would also be open too.
And it was.
The wardens were just finishing trimming the church up, and putting out new flowers, it was a bustle of activity, then one by one they left.
got my shots, and we left, back to the car and to home, though we did stop at he farm shop at Aylsham, and all we wanted was some sweet peppers for hash.
We went in and there was the bakery: I bought two sausage rolls, four small pork pies and two Cajun flavours scotch eggs. We got cider, beer, healthy snacks (we told ourselves) and finally found the peppers.
Three peppers cost £50!
Then back home, along the A2.
And arriving back home at one. We feasted on the scotch eggs and two of the pork pies.
Yummy.
There was the third place play off game to watch on the tellybox, the Football league to follow on the radio. We lit the woodburner and it was soon toasty warm.
At half five, Norwich kicked off, and hopes were high as Blackburn had not beaten us in over a decade.
And, yes you guessed it, Norwich lost. Played poorly, and in Dad's words, were lucky to get nil.
Oh dear.
Oh dear indeed.
We have Christmas cake for supper, and apart from the football, as was well with the world.
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A large and impressive church of mainly thirteenth century date over restored in 1847 by the irrepressible William Butterfield. The scale of the interior is amazing - particularly in the tower crossing arches which support the enormous spire. They are an obvious insertion into an earlier structure. The best furnishing at Ash is the eighteenth century font which stands on an inscribed base. For the visitor interested in memorials, Ash ahs more than most ranging from the fourteenth century effigy of a knight to two excellent alabaster memorials to Sir Thomas Harfleet (d 1612) and Christopher Toldervy (d 1618). Mrs Toldervy appears twice in the church for she accompanies her husband on his memorial and may also be seen as a `weeper` on her parents` memorial! On that she is one of two survivors of what was once a group of seven daughters - all her weeping brothers have long since disappeared.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Ash+2
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ASH
LIES adjoining to the last-described parish of Staple northward. It is written in Domesday, Ece, and in other antient records, Aisse, and is usually called Ash, near Sandwich, to distinguish it from Ash, near Wrotham.
The parish of Ash is very large, extending over a variety of soil and country, of hill, dale, and marsh lands, near four miles across each way, and containing more than six thousand acres of land, of which about one half is marsh, the river Stour being its northern bounday, where it is very wet and unwholesone, but the southern or upland part of the parish is very dary, pleasant and healthy. The soil in general is fertile, and lets on an average at about one pound an acre; notwithstanding, there is a part of it about Ash-street and Gilton town, where it is a deep sand. The village of Ash, commonly called Ash-street, situated in this part of it, on high ground, mostly on the western declivity of a hill, having the church on the brow of it, is built on each side of the road from Canterbury to Sandwich, and contains about fifty houses. On the south side of this road, about half a mile westward, is a Roman burial ground, of which further mention will be taken hereaster, and adjoining to it the hamlet of Gilton town, formerly written Guildanton, in which is Gilton parsonage, a neat stuccoed house, lately inhabited by Mr. Robert Legrand, and now by Mrs. Becker. In the valley southward stands Mote farm, alias Brooke house, formerly the habitation of the Stoughtons, then of the Ptoroude's and now the property of Edward Solly, esq. of London.
There are dispersed throughout this large parish many small hamlets and farms, which have been formerly of more consequence, from the respective owners and in habitants of them, all which, excepting East and New Street, and Great Pedding, (the latter of which was the antient residence of the family of solly, who lie buried in Ash church-yard, and bore for their arms, Vert, a chevron, per pale, or, and gules, between three soles naiant, argent, and being sold by one of them to dean Lynch, is now in the possession of lady Lynch, the widow of Sir William Lynch, K. B.) are situated in the northern part of the parish, and contain together about two hundred and fifty houses, among them is Hoden, formerly the residence of the family of St. Nicholas; Paramour-street, which for many years was the residence of those of that name, and Brook-street, in which is Brook-house, the residence of the Brooke's, one of whom John Brooke, esq. in queen Elizabeth's reign, resided here, and bore for his arms, Per bend, vert and sable, two eagles, counterchanged.
William, lord Latimer, anno 38 Edward III. obtained a market to be held at Ash, on a Thursday; and a fair yearly on Lady-day, and the two following ones. A fair is now held in Ash-street on Lady and Michaelmas days yearly.
In 1473 there was a lazar house for the infirm of the leprosy, at Eche, near Sandwich.
¶The manor of Wingham claims paramount over this parish, subordinate to which there were several manors in it, held of the archbishop, to whom that manor belonged, the mansions of which, being inhabited by families of reputation and of good rank in life, made this parish of much greater account than it has been for many years past, the mansions of them having been converted for a length of time into farmhouses to the lands to which they belong.
f this manor, (viz. Wingham) William de Acris holds one suling in Fletes, and there he has in demesne one carucate and four villeins, and one knight with one carucate, and one fisbery, with a saltpit of thirty pence. The whole is worth forty shillings.
This district or manor was granted by archbishop Lanfranc, soon after this, to one Osberne, (fn. 7) of whom I find no further mention, nor of this place, till king Henry III.'s reign, when it seems to have been separated into two manors, one of which, now known by the name of the manor of Gurson Fleet, though till of late time by that of Fleet only, was held afterwards of the archbishop by knight's service, by the family of Sandwich, and afterwards by the Veres, earls of Oxford, one of whom, Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, who died anno 3 Edward III. was found by the escheat-rolls of that year, to have died possessed of this manor of Fleet, which continued in his descendants down to John de Vere, earl of Oxford, who for his attachment to the house of Lancaster, was attainted in the first year of king Edward IV. upon which this manor came into the hands of the crown, and was granted the next year to Richard, duke of Gloucester, the king's brother, with whom it staid after his succession to the crown, as king Richard III. on whose death, and the accession of king Henry VII. this manor returned to the possession of John, earl of Oxford, who had been attainted, but was by parliament anno I Henry VII. restored in blood, titles and possessions. After which this manor continued in his name and family till about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, when Edward Vere, earl of Oxford, alienated it to Hammond, in whose descendants it continued till one of them, in the middle of king Charles II.'s reign, sold it to Thomas Turner, D. D. who died possessed of it in 1672, and in his name and descendants it continued till the year 1748, when it was sold to John Lynch, D. D. dean of Canterbury, whose son Sir William Lynch, K. B. died possessed of it in 1785, and by his will devised it, with the rest of his estates, to his widow lady Lynch, who is the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
Archbishop Lanfranc, on his founding the priory of St. Gregory, in the reign of the Conqueror, gave to it the tithe of the manor of Fleet; which gift was confirmed by archbishop Hubert in Richard I.'s reign. This portion of tithes, which arose principally from Gurson Fleet manor, remained with the priory at its dissolution, and is now part of Goldston parsonage, parcel of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention has been made before.
The other part of the district of Fleet was called, to distinguish it, and from the possessors of it, the manor of Nevills Fleet, though now known by the name of Fleet only, is situated between Gurson and Richborough, adjoining to the former. This manor was held in king John's reign of the archbishop, by knight's service, by Thomas Pincerna, so called probably from his office of chief butler to that prince, whence his successors assumed the name of Butler, or Boteler. His descendant was Robert le Boteler, who possessed this manor in king Ed ward I.'s reign, and from their possession of it, this manor acquired for some time the name of Butlers Fleet; but in the 20th year of king Edward III. William, lord Latimer of Corbie, appears to have been in the possession of it, and from him it acquired the name of Latimers Fleet. He bore for his arms, Gules, a cross flory, or. After having had summons to parliament, (fn. 8) he died in the begening of king Richard II.'s reign, leaving Elizabeth his sole daughter and heir, married to John, lord Nevill, of Raby, whose son John bore the title of lord Latimer, and was summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, till the 9th year of king Henry VI. in which he died, so that the greatest part of his inheritance, among which was this manor, came by an entail made, to Ralph, lord Nevill, and first earl of Westmoreland, his eldest, but half brother, to whom he had sold, after his life, the barony of Latimer, and he, by seoffment, vested it, with this manor and much of the inheritance above-mentioned, in his younger son Sir George Nevill, who was accordingly summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, anno 10 Henry VI. and his grandson Richard, lord Latimer, in the next regin of Edward IV. alienated this manor, which from their length of possession of it, had acquired the name of Nevill's Fleet, to Sir James Cromer, and his son Sir William Cromer, in the 11th year of king Henry VII, sold it to John Isaak, who passed it away to Kendall, and he, in the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, sold it to Sir John Fogge, of Repton, in Ashford, who died possessed of it in 1533, and his son, of the same name, before the end of it, passed it away to Mr. Thomas Rolfe, and he sold it, within a few years afterwards, to Stephen Hougham, gent. of this parish, who by his will in 1555, devised it to his youngest son Rich. Hougham, of Eastry, from one of whose descendants it was alienated to Sir Adam Spracklin, who sold it to one of the family of Septvans, alias Harflete, in which name it continued till within a few years after the death of king Charles I. when by a female heir Elizabeth it went in marriage to Thomas Kitchell, esq. in whose heirs it continued till it was at length, about the year 1720, alienated by one of them to Mr. Thomas Bambridge, warden of the Fleet prison, upon whose death it became vested in his heirs-at-law, Mr. James Bambridge, of the Temple, attorney at-law, and Thomas Bambridge, and they divided this estate, and that part of it allotted to the latter was soon afterwards alienated by him to Mr. Peter Moulson, of London, whose only daughter and heir carried it in marriage to Mr. Geo. Vaughan, of London, and he and the assignees of Mr. James Bambridge last mentioned, have lately joined in the conveyance of the whole fee of this manor to Mr. Joseph Solly, gent. of Sandwich, the present owner of it. There is not any court held for this manor.
In this district, and within this manor of Fleet lastmentioned, there was formerly a chapel of cose to the church of Ash, as that was to the church of Wingham, to which college, on its foundation by archbishop Peckham in 1286, the tithes, rents, obventions, &c of this chapel and district was granted by him, for the support in common of the provost and canons of it, with whom it remained till the suppression of it, anno I king Edward VI. The tithes, arising from this manor of Fleet, and the hamlet of Richborough, are now a part of the rectory of Ash, and of that particular part of it called Gilton parsonage, parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention will be made hereafter. There have not been any remains left of it for a long time part.
Richborough is a hamlet and district of land, in the south-east part of this parish, rendered famous from the Roman fort and town built there, and more so formerly, from the port or haven close adjoining to it.
It was in general called by the Romans by the plural name of Rutupiæ; for it must be observed that the æstuary, which at that time separated the Isle of Thanet from the main land of Kent, and was the general passage for shipping,had at each mouth of it, towards the sea, a fort and haven, called jointly Rutupiæ. That at the northern part and of it being now called Reculver, and that at the eastern, being the principal one, this of Richborough.
The name of it is variously spelt in different authors. By Ptolemy it is written [Patapiaia (?)] urbem; by Tacitus, according to the best reading, Portus, Rutupensis; by Antonine, in his Itinerary, Ritupas, and Ritupis Portum; by Ammianus, Ritupiæ statio; afterwards by the Saxons, Reptacester, and now Richborough.
The haven, or Portus Rutupinus, or Richborough, was very eminent in the time of the Romans, and much celebrated in antient history, being a safe and commodious harbour, stationem ex adverso tranquillam, as Ammianus calls it, situated at the entrance of the passage towards then Thamas, and becoming the general place of setting sail from Britain to the continent, and where the Roman fleets arrived, and so large and extensive was the bay of it, that it is supposed to have extended far beyond Sandwich on the one side, almost to Ramsgate cliffs on the other, near five miles in width, covering the whole of that flat of land on which Stonar and Sandwich were afterwards built, and extending from thence up the æstuary between the Isle of Thanet and the main land. So that Antonine might well name it the Port, in his Itinerary, [Kat exochin], from there being no other of like consequence, and from this circumstance the shore for some distance on each side acquired the general name of Littus Rutupinum, the Rutupian shore. (fn. 9) Some have contended that Julius Cæsar landed at Richborough, in his expeditions into Britain; but this opinion is refuted by Dr. Hasley in Phil, Trans. No. 193, who plainly proves his place of landing to have been in the Downs. The fort of Richborough, from the similarity of the remains of it to those of Reculver, seems to have been built about the same time, and by the same emperer, Serveris, about the year 205. It stands on the high hill, close to a deep precipice eastward, at the soot of which was the haven. In this fortress, so peculiarly strengthened by its situation, the Romans had afterwards a stationary garrison, and here they had likewise a pharos, of watch tower, the like as at Reculver and other places on this coast, as well to guide the shipping into the haven, as to give notice of the approach of enemies. It is by most supposed that there was, in the time of the Romans, near the fort, in like manner as at Reculver, a city or town, on the decline of the hill, south-westward from it, according to custom, at which a colony was settled by them. Prolemy, in his geography, reckons the city Rutpia as one of the three principal cities of Kent. (fn. 10) Orosius. and Bede too, expressly mention it as such; but when the haven decayed, and there was no longer a traffic and resort to this place, the town decayed likewise, and there have not been, for many ages since, any remains whatever of it left; though quantities of coins and Roman antiquities have been sound on the spot where it is supposed to have once stood.
During the latter part of the Roman empire, when the Saxons prevented all trade by sea, and insefted these coasts by frequent robberies, the second Roman legion, called Augusta, and likewise Britannica, which had been brought out of Germany by the emperor Claudius, and had resided for many years at the Isca Silurum, in Wales, was removed and stationed here, under a president or commander, præpositus, of its own, who was subordinate to the count of the Saxon shore, and continued so till the final departure of the Romans from Britain, in the year 410, when this fortress was left in the hands of the Britons, who were afterwards dispossessed of it by the Saxons, during whose time the harbour seems to have began to decay and to swerve up, the sea by degrees entirely deserting it at this place, but still leaving one large and commodious at Sandwich, which in process of time became the usual resort for shipping, and arose a flourishing harbour in its stead, as plainly appears by the histories of those times, by all of which, both the royal Saxon fleets, as well as those of the Danes, are said to sail for the port of Sandwich, and there to lie at different times; (fn. 11) and no further mention is made by any of them of this of Rutupiæ, Reptachester, or Richborough; so that the port being thus destroyed, the town became neglected and desolate, and with the castle sunk into a heap of ruins. Leland's description of it in king Henry VIII.'s reign, is very accurate, and gives an exceeding good idea of the progressive state of its decay to that time. He says, "Ratesburg otherwyse Richeboro was, of ever the ryver of Sture dyd turn his botom or old canale, withyn the Isle of the Thanet, and by Iykelyhod the mayn se came to the very foote of the castel. The mayn se ys now of yt a myle by reason of wose, that has there swollen up. The scite of the town or castel ys wonderful fair apon an hille. The walles the wich remayn ther yet be in cumpase almost as much as the tower of London. They have bene very hye thykke stronge and wel embateled. The mater of them is flynt mervelus and long brykes both white and redde after the Britons fascion. The sement was made of se sand and smaul pible. Ther is a great lykelyhod that the goodly hil abowte the castel and especially to Sandwich ward hath bene wel inhabited. Corne groweth on the hille yn bene mervelous plenty and yn going to plowgh ther hath owt of mynde fownd and now is mo antiquities of Romayne money than yn any place els of England surely reason speketh that this should be Rutupinum. For byside that the name sumwhat toucheth, the very near passage fro Cales Clyves or Cales was to Ratesburgh and now is to Sandwich, the which is about a myle of; though now Sandwich be not celebrated by cawse of Goodwine sandes and the decay of the haven. Ther is a good flyte shot of fro Ratesburg toward Sandwich a great dyke caste in a rownd cumpas as yt had bene for sens of menne of warre. The cumpase of the grownd withyn is not much above an acre and yt is very holo by casting up the yerth. They cawle the place there Lytleborough. Withyn the castel is a lytle paroche chirch of St. Augustine and an heremitage. I had antiquities of the heremite the which is an industrious man. Not far fro the hermitage is a cave wher men have sowt and digged for treasure. I saw it by candel withyn, and ther were conys. Yt was so straite that I had no mynd to crepe far yn. In the north side of the castel ys a hedde yn the walle, now fore defaced with wether. They call it queen Bertha hedde. Nere to that place hard by the wal was a pot of Romayne mony sownd."
The ruins of this antient castle stand upon the point of a hill or promontory, about a mile north-west from Sandwich, overlooking on each side, excepting towards the west, a great flat which appears by the lowness of it, and the banks of beach still shewing themselves in different places, to have been all once covered by the sea. The east side of this hill is great part of it so high and perpendicular from the flat at the foot of it, where the river Stour now runs, that ships with the greatest burthen might have lain close to it, and there are no signs of any wall having been there; but at the north end, where the ground rises into a natural terrace, so as to render one necessary, there is about 190 feet of wall left. Those on the other three sides are for the most part standing, and much more entire than could be expected, considering the number of years since they were built, and the most so of any in the kingdom, except Silchester. It is in shape an oblong square, containing within it a space of somewhat less than five acres. They are in general about ten feet high within, but their broken tops shew them to have been still higher. The north wall, on the outside, is about twice as high as it is within, or the other two, having been carried up from the very bottom of the hill, and it seems to have been somewhat longer than it is at present, by some pieces of it sallen down at the east end. The walls are about eleven feet thick. In the middle of the west side is the aperture of an entrance, which probably led to the city or town, and on the north side is another, being an entrance obliquely into the castle. Near the middle of the area are the ruins of some walls, full of bushes and briars, which seem as if some one had dug under ground among them, probably where once stood the prætorium of the Roman general, and where a church or chapel was afterwards erected, dedicated to St. Augustine, and taken notice of by Leland as such in his time. It appears to have been a chapel of ease to the church of Ash, for the few remaining inhabitants of this district, and is mentioned as such in the grant of the rectory of that church, anno 3 Edward VI. at which time it appears to have existed. About a furlong to the south, in a ploughed field, is a large circular work, with a hollow in the middle, the banks of unequal heights, which is supposed to have been an amphitheatre, built of turf, for the use of the garrison, the different heights of the banks having been occasioned by cultivation, and the usual decay, which must have happened from so great a length of time. These stations of the Romans, of which Richborough was one, were strong fortifications, for the most part of no great compass or extent, wherein were barracks for the loding of the soldiers, who had their usual winter quarters in them. Adjoining, or at no great distance from them, there were usually other, buildings forming a town; and such a one was here at Richborough, as has been already mentioned before, to which the station or fort was in the nature of a citadel, where the soldiers kept garrison. To this Tacitus seems to allude, when he says, "the works that in time of peace had been built, like a free town, not far from the camp, were destroyed, left they should be of any service to the enemy." (fn. 12) Which in great measure accounts for there being no kind of trace or remains left, to point out where this town once stood, which had not only the Romans, according to the above observation, but the Saxons and Danes afterwards, to carry forward at different æras the total destruction of it.
The burial ground for this Roman colony and station of Richborough, appears to have been on the hill at the end of Gilton town, in this parish, about two miles south-west from the castle, and the many graves which have been continually dug up there, in different parts of it, shew it to have been of general use for that purpose for several ages.
The scite of the castle at Richborough was part of the antient inheritance of the family of the Veres, earls of Oxford, from which it was alienated in queen Elizabeth's reign to Gaunt; after which it passed, in like manner as Wingham Barton before-described, to Thurbarne, and thence by marriage to Rivett, who sold it to Farrer, from whom it was alienated to Peter Fector, esq. of Dover, the present possessor of it. In the deed of conveyance it is thus described: And also all those the walls and ruins of the antient castle of Rutupium, now known by the name of Richborough castle, with the scite of the antient port and city of Rutupinum, being on and near the lands before-mentioned. About the walls of Richborough grows Fæniculum valgare, common fennel, in great plenty.
It may be learned from the second iter of Antonine's Itinerary, that there was once a Roman road, or highway from Canterbury to the port of Richborough, in which iter the two laft stations are, from Durovernum, Canterbury, to Richborough, ad portum Rutupis, xii miles; in which distance all the different copies of the Itinerary agree. Some parts of this road can be tracted at places at this time with certainty; and by the Roman burial-ground, usually placed near the side of a high road, at Gilton town, and several other Roman vestigia thereabouts, it may well be supposed to have led from Canterbury through that place to Richborough, and there is at this time from Goldston, in Ash, across the low-grounds to it, a road much harder and broader than usual for the apparent use of it, which might perhaps be some part of it.
Charities.
A person unknown gave four acres and an half of land, in Chapman-street, of the annual produce of 5l. towards the church assessments.
Thomas St. Nicholas, esq. of this parish, by deed about the year 1626, gave an annuity of 11. 5s. to be paid from his estate of Hoden, now belonging to the heirs of Nathaniel Elgar, esq. to be distributed yearly, 10s. to the repairing and keeping clean the Toldervey monument in this church, and 15s. on Christmas-day to the poor.
John Proude, the elder, of Ash, yeoman, by his will in 1626, ordered that his executor should erect upon his land adjoining to the church-yard, a house, which should be disposed of in future by the churchwardens and overseers, for a school-house, and for a storehouse, to lay in provision for the church and poor. This house is now let at 1l. per annum, and the produce applied to the use of the poor.
Richard Camden, in 1642, gave by will forty perches of land, for the use of the poor, and of the annual produce of 15s. now vested in the minister and churchwardens.
Gervas Cartwright, esq. and his two sisters, in 1710 and 1721, gave by deed an estate, now of the yearly value of 50l. for teaching fifty poor children to read, write, &c. vested in the minister, churchwardens, and other trustees.
The above two sisters, Eleanor and Anne Cartwright, gave besides 100l. for beautifying the chancel, and for providing two large pieces of plate for the communion service; and Mrs. Susan Robetts added two other pieces of plate for the same purpose.
There is a large and commodious workhouse lately built, for the use of the poor, to discharge the expence of which, 100l. is taken yearly out of the poor's rate, till the whole is discharged. In 1604, the charges of the poor were 29l. 15s. 11d. In 1779. 1000l.
There is a charity school for boys and girls, who are educated, but not cloathed.
The poor constantly relieved are about seventy-five, casually fifty-five.
This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the dioceseof Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a handsome building, of the form of a cross, consisting of two isles and two chancels, and a cross sept, having a tall spire steeple in the middle, in which are eight bells and a clock. It is very neat and handsome in the inside. In the high or south chancel is a monument for the Roberts's, arms, Argent, three pheons, sable, on a chief of the second, a greybound current of the first; another for the Cartwrights, arms, Or, a fess embattled, between three catherine wheels, sable. In the north wall is a monument for one of the family of Leverick, with his effigies, in armour, lying cross-legged on it; and in the same wall, westward, is another like monument for Sir John Goshall, with his effigies on it, in like manner, and in a hollow underneath, the effigies of his wife, in her head-dress, and wimple under her chin. A gravestone, with an inscription, and figure of a woman with a remarkable high high-dress, the middle part like a horseshoe inverted, for Jane Keriell, daughter of Roger Clitherow. A stone for Benjamin Longley, LL. B. minister of Ash twenty-nine years, vicar of Eynsford and Tonge, obt. 1783. A monument for William Brett, esq. and Frances his wife. The north chancel, dedicated to St. Nicholas, belongs to the manor of Molland. Against the north wall is a tomb, having on it the effigies of a man and woman, lying at full length, the former in armour, and sword by his side, but his head bare, a collar of SS about his neck, both seemingly under the middle age, but neither arms nor inscription, but it was for one of the family of Harflete, alias Septvans; and there are monuments and several memorials and brasses likewise for that family. A memorial for Thomas Singleton, M. D. of Molland, obt. 1710. One for John Brooke, of Brookestreet, obt. 1582, s. p. arms, Per bend, two eagles.—Several memorials for the Pekes, of Hills-court, and for Masters, of Goldstone. A monument for Christopher Toldervy, of Chartham, obt. 1618. A memorial for Daniel Hole, who, as well as his ancestors, had lived upwards of one hundred years at Goshall, as occupiers of it. In the north cross, which was called the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, was buried the family of St. Nicholas. The brass plates of whom, with their arms, are still to be seen. A tablet for Whittingham Wood, gent. obt. 1656. In the south cross, a monument for Richard Hougham, gent. of Weddington, and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Edward Sanders, gent. of Norborne. An elegant monument for Mary, wife of Henry Lowman, esq. of Dortnued, in Germany. She died in 1737, and he died in 1743. And for lieutenant colonel Christopher Ernest Kien, obt. 1744, and Jane his wife, their sole daughter and heir, obt. 1762, and for Evert George Cousemaker, esq. obt. 1763, all buried in a vault underneath, arms, Or, on a mount vert, a naked man, bolding a branch in his hand, proper, impaling per bend sinister, argent and gules, a knight armed on borjeback, holding a tilting spear erect, the point downwards, all counterchanged. On the font is inscribed, Robert Minchard, arms, A crescent, between the points of it a mullet. Several of the Harfletes lie buried in the church-yard, near the porch, but their tombs are gone. On each side of the porch are two compartments of stone work, which were once ornamented with brasses, most probably in remembrance of the Harfleets, buried near them. At the corner of the church-yard are two old tombs, supposed for the family of Alday.
In the windows of the church were formerly several coats of arms, and among others, of Septvans, alias Harflete, Notbeame, who married Constance, widow of John Septvans; Brooke, Ellis, Clitherow, Oldcastle, Keriell, and Hougham; and the figures of St. Nicholas, Keriell, and Hougham, kneeling, in their respective surcoats of arms, but there is not any painted glass left in any part of the church or chancels.
John Septvans, about king Henry VII.'s reign, founded a chantry, called the chantry of the upper Hall, as appears by the will of Katherine Martin, of Faversham, sometime his wife, in 1497. There was a chantry of our blessed Lady, and another of St. Stephen likewise, in it; both suppressed in the 1st year of king Edward VI. when the former of them was returned to be of the clear yearly certified value of 15l. 11s. 1½d. (fn. 13)
The church of Ash was antiently a chapel of east to that of Wingham, and was, on the foundation of the college there in 1286, separated from it, and made a distinct parish church of itself, and then given to the college, with the chapels likewise of Overland and Fleet, in this parish, appurtenant to this church; which becoming thus appropriated to the college, continued with it till the suppression of it in king Edward VI.'s reign, when this part of the rectory or parsonage appropriate, called Overland parsonage, with the advowson of the church, came, with the rest of the possessions of the college, into the hands of the crown, where the advowson of the vicarage, or perpetual curacy of it did not remain long, for in the year 1558, queen Mary granted it, among others, to the archbishop. But the above-mentioned part of the rectory, or parsonage appropriate of Ash, with those chapels, remained in the crown, till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange to archbishop Parker, who was before possessed of that part called Goldston parsonage, parcel of the late dissolved priory of St. Gregory, by grant from king Henry VIII. so that now this parish is divided into two distinct parsonages, viz. of Overland and of Goldston, which are demised on separate beneficial leases by the archbishop, the former to the heirs of Parker, and the latter, called Gilton parsonage, from the house and barns of it being situated in that hamlet, to George Gipps, esq. M. P. for Canterbury. The patronage of the perpetual curacy remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury.
¶At the time this church was appropriated to the college of Wingham, a vicarage was endowed in it, which after the suppression of the college came to be esteemed as a perpetual curacy. It is not valued in the king's books. The antient stipend paid by the provost, &c. to the curate being 16l. 13s. 4d. was in 1660, augmented by archbishop Juxon with the addition of 33l. 6s. 8d. per annum; and it was afterwards further augmented by archbishop Sheldon, anno 28 Charles II. with twenty pounds per annum more, the whole to be paid by the several lessees of these parsonages. Which sum of seventy pounds is now the clear yearly certified value of it. In 1588 here were communicants five hundred; in 1640, eight hundred and fifty. So far as appears by the registers, the increase of births in this parish is almost double to what they were two hundred years ago.
(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 days drag and the weeks fly by.
It has been a grim week at work, and yet the weekend is here once again.
The cold snap is still here; thick frosts and icy patches, but Sunday afternoon storms will sweep in from the west and temperatures will soar by day to 13 degrees.
But for now it is cold, and colder at nights, the wood burner makes the living room toasty warm, though the rest of the house seems like a fridge in comparison.
Even though we went to bed at nine, we slept to nearly half seven, which meant we were already later than usual going to Tesco.
We had a coffee first, then got dressed and went out into the winter wonderland.
Tesco was more crowded mainly because we were an hour later. There were no crackers for cheese, a whole aisle empty of cream crackers and butter wafers.
There is only so much food you can eat even over Christmas, so the cracker-shortage won't affect us, we have two Dundee cakes, filling for two lots of mince pies and pastry for five lots of sausage rolls.
We won't starve.
We buy another bag of stuff for the food bank, try to get two weeks of stuff so we wont need to go next weekend, just to a farm shop for vegetables, and the butcher for the Christmas order, though on the 25th we are going out for dinner to the Lantern.
Back home for fruit, then bacon butties and another huge brew. Yes, smoked bacon is again in short supply, with just the basic streaky smoked available, but we're not fussy, so that does the trick.
Also, Jools picked up her inhalers for her cough, and so, we hope, the road to recovery begins.
What to do with the day?
Although a walk would have been good, Jools can do no more than ten minutes in freezing conditions before a coughing fits starts, so a couple of churches to revisit and take more shots of.
First on the list was St Leonard in Upper Deal. A church I have only have been inside once. As it was just half ten, there should have been a chance it was open, but no. We parked up and I walked over the road to try the porch door, but it was locked.
No worries, as the next two would certainly be open.
Just up the road towards Canterbury is Ash.
Ash is a large village that the main roads now bypass its narrow streets, and buses call not so frequently.
The church towers over the village, its spire piercing the grey sky. We park beside the old curry hours than burned down a decade ago, is now a house and no sign of damage.
indeed the church was open, though the porch door was closed, it opened with use of the latch, and the inner glass door swung inwards, revealing an interior I had forgotten about, rich Victorian glass let in the weak sunlight, allowing me to take detailed shots. It was far better and more enjoyable than I remembered.
Once I took 200 or so shots, we went back to the car, drove back to the main road, and on to Wingham, where the church there, a twin of Wingham, would also be open too.
And it was.
The wardens were just finishing trimming the church up, and putting out new flowers, it was a bustle of activity, then one by one they left.
got my shots, and we left, back to the car and to home, though we did stop at he farm shop at Aylsham, and all we wanted was some sweet peppers for hash.
We went in and there was the bakery: I bought two sausage rolls, four small pork pies and two Cajun flavours scotch eggs. We got cider, beer, healthy snacks (we told ourselves) and finally found the peppers.
Three peppers cost £50!
Then back home, along the A2.
And arriving back home at one. We feasted on the scotch eggs and two of the pork pies.
Yummy.
There was the third place play off game to watch on the tellybox, the Football league to follow on the radio. We lit the woodburner and it was soon toasty warm.
At half five, Norwich kicked off, and hopes were high as Blackburn had not beaten us in over a decade.
And, yes you guessed it, Norwich lost. Played poorly, and in Dad's words, were lucky to get nil.
Oh dear.
Oh dear indeed.
We have Christmas cake for supper, and apart from the football, as was well with the world.
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A large and impressive church of mainly thirteenth century date over restored in 1847 by the irrepressible William Butterfield. The scale of the interior is amazing - particularly in the tower crossing arches which support the enormous spire. They are an obvious insertion into an earlier structure. The best furnishing at Ash is the eighteenth century font which stands on an inscribed base. For the visitor interested in memorials, Ash ahs more than most ranging from the fourteenth century effigy of a knight to two excellent alabaster memorials to Sir Thomas Harfleet (d 1612) and Christopher Toldervy (d 1618). Mrs Toldervy appears twice in the church for she accompanies her husband on his memorial and may also be seen as a `weeper` on her parents` memorial! On that she is one of two survivors of what was once a group of seven daughters - all her weeping brothers have long since disappeared.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Ash+2
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ASH
LIES adjoining to the last-described parish of Staple northward. It is written in Domesday, Ece, and in other antient records, Aisse, and is usually called Ash, near Sandwich, to distinguish it from Ash, near Wrotham.
The parish of Ash is very large, extending over a variety of soil and country, of hill, dale, and marsh lands, near four miles across each way, and containing more than six thousand acres of land, of which about one half is marsh, the river Stour being its northern bounday, where it is very wet and unwholesone, but the southern or upland part of the parish is very dary, pleasant and healthy. The soil in general is fertile, and lets on an average at about one pound an acre; notwithstanding, there is a part of it about Ash-street and Gilton town, where it is a deep sand. The village of Ash, commonly called Ash-street, situated in this part of it, on high ground, mostly on the western declivity of a hill, having the church on the brow of it, is built on each side of the road from Canterbury to Sandwich, and contains about fifty houses. On the south side of this road, about half a mile westward, is a Roman burial ground, of which further mention will be taken hereaster, and adjoining to it the hamlet of Gilton town, formerly written Guildanton, in which is Gilton parsonage, a neat stuccoed house, lately inhabited by Mr. Robert Legrand, and now by Mrs. Becker. In the valley southward stands Mote farm, alias Brooke house, formerly the habitation of the Stoughtons, then of the Ptoroude's and now the property of Edward Solly, esq. of London.
There are dispersed throughout this large parish many small hamlets and farms, which have been formerly of more consequence, from the respective owners and in habitants of them, all which, excepting East and New Street, and Great Pedding, (the latter of which was the antient residence of the family of solly, who lie buried in Ash church-yard, and bore for their arms, Vert, a chevron, per pale, or, and gules, between three soles naiant, argent, and being sold by one of them to dean Lynch, is now in the possession of lady Lynch, the widow of Sir William Lynch, K. B.) are situated in the northern part of the parish, and contain together about two hundred and fifty houses, among them is Hoden, formerly the residence of the family of St. Nicholas; Paramour-street, which for many years was the residence of those of that name, and Brook-street, in which is Brook-house, the residence of the Brooke's, one of whom John Brooke, esq. in queen Elizabeth's reign, resided here, and bore for his arms, Per bend, vert and sable, two eagles, counterchanged.
William, lord Latimer, anno 38 Edward III. obtained a market to be held at Ash, on a Thursday; and a fair yearly on Lady-day, and the two following ones. A fair is now held in Ash-street on Lady and Michaelmas days yearly.
In 1473 there was a lazar house for the infirm of the leprosy, at Eche, near Sandwich.
¶The manor of Wingham claims paramount over this parish, subordinate to which there were several manors in it, held of the archbishop, to whom that manor belonged, the mansions of which, being inhabited by families of reputation and of good rank in life, made this parish of much greater account than it has been for many years past, the mansions of them having been converted for a length of time into farmhouses to the lands to which they belong.
f this manor, (viz. Wingham) William de Acris holds one suling in Fletes, and there he has in demesne one carucate and four villeins, and one knight with one carucate, and one fisbery, with a saltpit of thirty pence. The whole is worth forty shillings.
This district or manor was granted by archbishop Lanfranc, soon after this, to one Osberne, (fn. 7) of whom I find no further mention, nor of this place, till king Henry III.'s reign, when it seems to have been separated into two manors, one of which, now known by the name of the manor of Gurson Fleet, though till of late time by that of Fleet only, was held afterwards of the archbishop by knight's service, by the family of Sandwich, and afterwards by the Veres, earls of Oxford, one of whom, Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, who died anno 3 Edward III. was found by the escheat-rolls of that year, to have died possessed of this manor of Fleet, which continued in his descendants down to John de Vere, earl of Oxford, who for his attachment to the house of Lancaster, was attainted in the first year of king Edward IV. upon which this manor came into the hands of the crown, and was granted the next year to Richard, duke of Gloucester, the king's brother, with whom it staid after his succession to the crown, as king Richard III. on whose death, and the accession of king Henry VII. this manor returned to the possession of John, earl of Oxford, who had been attainted, but was by parliament anno I Henry VII. restored in blood, titles and possessions. After which this manor continued in his name and family till about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, when Edward Vere, earl of Oxford, alienated it to Hammond, in whose descendants it continued till one of them, in the middle of king Charles II.'s reign, sold it to Thomas Turner, D. D. who died possessed of it in 1672, and in his name and descendants it continued till the year 1748, when it was sold to John Lynch, D. D. dean of Canterbury, whose son Sir William Lynch, K. B. died possessed of it in 1785, and by his will devised it, with the rest of his estates, to his widow lady Lynch, who is the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
Archbishop Lanfranc, on his founding the priory of St. Gregory, in the reign of the Conqueror, gave to it the tithe of the manor of Fleet; which gift was confirmed by archbishop Hubert in Richard I.'s reign. This portion of tithes, which arose principally from Gurson Fleet manor, remained with the priory at its dissolution, and is now part of Goldston parsonage, parcel of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention has been made before.
The other part of the district of Fleet was called, to distinguish it, and from the possessors of it, the manor of Nevills Fleet, though now known by the name of Fleet only, is situated between Gurson and Richborough, adjoining to the former. This manor was held in king John's reign of the archbishop, by knight's service, by Thomas Pincerna, so called probably from his office of chief butler to that prince, whence his successors assumed the name of Butler, or Boteler. His descendant was Robert le Boteler, who possessed this manor in king Ed ward I.'s reign, and from their possession of it, this manor acquired for some time the name of Butlers Fleet; but in the 20th year of king Edward III. William, lord Latimer of Corbie, appears to have been in the possession of it, and from him it acquired the name of Latimers Fleet. He bore for his arms, Gules, a cross flory, or. After having had summons to parliament, (fn. 8) he died in the begening of king Richard II.'s reign, leaving Elizabeth his sole daughter and heir, married to John, lord Nevill, of Raby, whose son John bore the title of lord Latimer, and was summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, till the 9th year of king Henry VI. in which he died, so that the greatest part of his inheritance, among which was this manor, came by an entail made, to Ralph, lord Nevill, and first earl of Westmoreland, his eldest, but half brother, to whom he had sold, after his life, the barony of Latimer, and he, by seoffment, vested it, with this manor and much of the inheritance above-mentioned, in his younger son Sir George Nevill, who was accordingly summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, anno 10 Henry VI. and his grandson Richard, lord Latimer, in the next regin of Edward IV. alienated this manor, which from their length of possession of it, had acquired the name of Nevill's Fleet, to Sir James Cromer, and his son Sir William Cromer, in the 11th year of king Henry VII, sold it to John Isaak, who passed it away to Kendall, and he, in the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, sold it to Sir John Fogge, of Repton, in Ashford, who died possessed of it in 1533, and his son, of the same name, before the end of it, passed it away to Mr. Thomas Rolfe, and he sold it, within a few years afterwards, to Stephen Hougham, gent. of this parish, who by his will in 1555, devised it to his youngest son Rich. Hougham, of Eastry, from one of whose descendants it was alienated to Sir Adam Spracklin, who sold it to one of the family of Septvans, alias Harflete, in which name it continued till within a few years after the death of king Charles I. when by a female heir Elizabeth it went in marriage to Thomas Kitchell, esq. in whose heirs it continued till it was at length, about the year 1720, alienated by one of them to Mr. Thomas Bambridge, warden of the Fleet prison, upon whose death it became vested in his heirs-at-law, Mr. James Bambridge, of the Temple, attorney at-law, and Thomas Bambridge, and they divided this estate, and that part of it allotted to the latter was soon afterwards alienated by him to Mr. Peter Moulson, of London, whose only daughter and heir carried it in marriage to Mr. Geo. Vaughan, of London, and he and the assignees of Mr. James Bambridge last mentioned, have lately joined in the conveyance of the whole fee of this manor to Mr. Joseph Solly, gent. of Sandwich, the present owner of it. There is not any court held for this manor.
In this district, and within this manor of Fleet lastmentioned, there was formerly a chapel of cose to the church of Ash, as that was to the church of Wingham, to which college, on its foundation by archbishop Peckham in 1286, the tithes, rents, obventions, &c of this chapel and district was granted by him, for the support in common of the provost and canons of it, with whom it remained till the suppression of it, anno I king Edward VI. The tithes, arising from this manor of Fleet, and the hamlet of Richborough, are now a part of the rectory of Ash, and of that particular part of it called Gilton parsonage, parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention will be made hereafter. There have not been any remains left of it for a long time part.
Richborough is a hamlet and district of land, in the south-east part of this parish, rendered famous from the Roman fort and town built there, and more so formerly, from the port or haven close adjoining to it.
It was in general called by the Romans by the plural name of Rutupiæ; for it must be observed that the æstuary, which at that time separated the Isle of Thanet from the main land of Kent, and was the general passage for shipping,had at each mouth of it, towards the sea, a fort and haven, called jointly Rutupiæ. That at the northern part and of it being now called Reculver, and that at the eastern, being the principal one, this of Richborough.
The name of it is variously spelt in different authors. By Ptolemy it is written [Patapiaia (?)] urbem; by Tacitus, according to the best reading, Portus, Rutupensis; by Antonine, in his Itinerary, Ritupas, and Ritupis Portum; by Ammianus, Ritupiæ statio; afterwards by the Saxons, Reptacester, and now Richborough.
The haven, or Portus Rutupinus, or Richborough, was very eminent in the time of the Romans, and much celebrated in antient history, being a safe and commodious harbour, stationem ex adverso tranquillam, as Ammianus calls it, situated at the entrance of the passage towards then Thamas, and becoming the general place of setting sail from Britain to the continent, and where the Roman fleets arrived, and so large and extensive was the bay of it, that it is supposed to have extended far beyond Sandwich on the one side, almost to Ramsgate cliffs on the other, near five miles in width, covering the whole of that flat of land on which Stonar and Sandwich were afterwards built, and extending from thence up the æstuary between the Isle of Thanet and the main land. So that Antonine might well name it the Port, in his Itinerary, [Kat exochin], from there being no other of like consequence, and from this circumstance the shore for some distance on each side acquired the general name of Littus Rutupinum, the Rutupian shore. (fn. 9) Some have contended that Julius Cæsar landed at Richborough, in his expeditions into Britain; but this opinion is refuted by Dr. Hasley in Phil, Trans. No. 193, who plainly proves his place of landing to have been in the Downs. The fort of Richborough, from the similarity of the remains of it to those of Reculver, seems to have been built about the same time, and by the same emperer, Serveris, about the year 205. It stands on the high hill, close to a deep precipice eastward, at the soot of which was the haven. In this fortress, so peculiarly strengthened by its situation, the Romans had afterwards a stationary garrison, and here they had likewise a pharos, of watch tower, the like as at Reculver and other places on this coast, as well to guide the shipping into the haven, as to give notice of the approach of enemies. It is by most supposed that there was, in the time of the Romans, near the fort, in like manner as at Reculver, a city or town, on the decline of the hill, south-westward from it, according to custom, at which a colony was settled by them. Prolemy, in his geography, reckons the city Rutpia as one of the three principal cities of Kent. (fn. 10) Orosius. and Bede too, expressly mention it as such; but when the haven decayed, and there was no longer a traffic and resort to this place, the town decayed likewise, and there have not been, for many ages since, any remains whatever of it left; though quantities of coins and Roman antiquities have been sound on the spot where it is supposed to have once stood.
During the latter part of the Roman empire, when the Saxons prevented all trade by sea, and insefted these coasts by frequent robberies, the second Roman legion, called Augusta, and likewise Britannica, which had been brought out of Germany by the emperor Claudius, and had resided for many years at the Isca Silurum, in Wales, was removed and stationed here, under a president or commander, præpositus, of its own, who was subordinate to the count of the Saxon shore, and continued so till the final departure of the Romans from Britain, in the year 410, when this fortress was left in the hands of the Britons, who were afterwards dispossessed of it by the Saxons, during whose time the harbour seems to have began to decay and to swerve up, the sea by degrees entirely deserting it at this place, but still leaving one large and commodious at Sandwich, which in process of time became the usual resort for shipping, and arose a flourishing harbour in its stead, as plainly appears by the histories of those times, by all of which, both the royal Saxon fleets, as well as those of the Danes, are said to sail for the port of Sandwich, and there to lie at different times; (fn. 11) and no further mention is made by any of them of this of Rutupiæ, Reptachester, or Richborough; so that the port being thus destroyed, the town became neglected and desolate, and with the castle sunk into a heap of ruins. Leland's description of it in king Henry VIII.'s reign, is very accurate, and gives an exceeding good idea of the progressive state of its decay to that time. He says, "Ratesburg otherwyse Richeboro was, of ever the ryver of Sture dyd turn his botom or old canale, withyn the Isle of the Thanet, and by Iykelyhod the mayn se came to the very foote of the castel. The mayn se ys now of yt a myle by reason of wose, that has there swollen up. The scite of the town or castel ys wonderful fair apon an hille. The walles the wich remayn ther yet be in cumpase almost as much as the tower of London. They have bene very hye thykke stronge and wel embateled. The mater of them is flynt mervelus and long brykes both white and redde after the Britons fascion. The sement was made of se sand and smaul pible. Ther is a great lykelyhod that the goodly hil abowte the castel and especially to Sandwich ward hath bene wel inhabited. Corne groweth on the hille yn bene mervelous plenty and yn going to plowgh ther hath owt of mynde fownd and now is mo antiquities of Romayne money than yn any place els of England surely reason speketh that this should be Rutupinum. For byside that the name sumwhat toucheth, the very near passage fro Cales Clyves or Cales was to Ratesburgh and now is to Sandwich, the which is about a myle of; though now Sandwich be not celebrated by cawse of Goodwine sandes and the decay of the haven. Ther is a good flyte shot of fro Ratesburg toward Sandwich a great dyke caste in a rownd cumpas as yt had bene for sens of menne of warre. The cumpase of the grownd withyn is not much above an acre and yt is very holo by casting up the yerth. They cawle the place there Lytleborough. Withyn the castel is a lytle paroche chirch of St. Augustine and an heremitage. I had antiquities of the heremite the which is an industrious man. Not far fro the hermitage is a cave wher men have sowt and digged for treasure. I saw it by candel withyn, and ther were conys. Yt was so straite that I had no mynd to crepe far yn. In the north side of the castel ys a hedde yn the walle, now fore defaced with wether. They call it queen Bertha hedde. Nere to that place hard by the wal was a pot of Romayne mony sownd."
The ruins of this antient castle stand upon the point of a hill or promontory, about a mile north-west from Sandwich, overlooking on each side, excepting towards the west, a great flat which appears by the lowness of it, and the banks of beach still shewing themselves in different places, to have been all once covered by the sea. The east side of this hill is great part of it so high and perpendicular from the flat at the foot of it, where the river Stour now runs, that ships with the greatest burthen might have lain close to it, and there are no signs of any wall having been there; but at the north end, where the ground rises into a natural terrace, so as to render one necessary, there is about 190 feet of wall left. Those on the other three sides are for the most part standing, and much more entire than could be expected, considering the number of years since they were built, and the most so of any in the kingdom, except Silchester. It is in shape an oblong square, containing within it a space of somewhat less than five acres. They are in general about ten feet high within, but their broken tops shew them to have been still higher. The north wall, on the outside, is about twice as high as it is within, or the other two, having been carried up from the very bottom of the hill, and it seems to have been somewhat longer than it is at present, by some pieces of it sallen down at the east end. The walls are about eleven feet thick. In the middle of the west side is the aperture of an entrance, which probably led to the city or town, and on the north side is another, being an entrance obliquely into the castle. Near the middle of the area are the ruins of some walls, full of bushes and briars, which seem as if some one had dug under ground among them, probably where once stood the prætorium of the Roman general, and where a church or chapel was afterwards erected, dedicated to St. Augustine, and taken notice of by Leland as such in his time. It appears to have been a chapel of ease to the church of Ash, for the few remaining inhabitants of this district, and is mentioned as such in the grant of the rectory of that church, anno 3 Edward VI. at which time it appears to have existed. About a furlong to the south, in a ploughed field, is a large circular work, with a hollow in the middle, the banks of unequal heights, which is supposed to have been an amphitheatre, built of turf, for the use of the garrison, the different heights of the banks having been occasioned by cultivation, and the usual decay, which must have happened from so great a length of time. These stations of the Romans, of which Richborough was one, were strong fortifications, for the most part of no great compass or extent, wherein were barracks for the loding of the soldiers, who had their usual winter quarters in them. Adjoining, or at no great distance from them, there were usually other, buildings forming a town; and such a one was here at Richborough, as has been already mentioned before, to which the station or fort was in the nature of a citadel, where the soldiers kept garrison. To this Tacitus seems to allude, when he says, "the works that in time of peace had been built, like a free town, not far from the camp, were destroyed, left they should be of any service to the enemy." (fn. 12) Which in great measure accounts for there being no kind of trace or remains left, to point out where this town once stood, which had not only the Romans, according to the above observation, but the Saxons and Danes afterwards, to carry forward at different æras the total destruction of it.
The burial ground for this Roman colony and station of Richborough, appears to have been on the hill at the end of Gilton town, in this parish, about two miles south-west from the castle, and the many graves which have been continually dug up there, in different parts of it, shew it to have been of general use for that purpose for several ages.
The scite of the castle at Richborough was part of the antient inheritance of the family of the Veres, earls of Oxford, from which it was alienated in queen Elizabeth's reign to Gaunt; after which it passed, in like manner as Wingham Barton before-described, to Thurbarne, and thence by marriage to Rivett, who sold it to Farrer, from whom it was alienated to Peter Fector, esq. of Dover, the present possessor of it. In the deed of conveyance it is thus described: And also all those the walls and ruins of the antient castle of Rutupium, now known by the name of Richborough castle, with the scite of the antient port and city of Rutupinum, being on and near the lands before-mentioned. About the walls of Richborough grows Fæniculum valgare, common fennel, in great plenty.
It may be learned from the second iter of Antonine's Itinerary, that there was once a Roman road, or highway from Canterbury to the port of Richborough, in which iter the two laft stations are, from Durovernum, Canterbury, to Richborough, ad portum Rutupis, xii miles; in which distance all the different copies of the Itinerary agree. Some parts of this road can be tracted at places at this time with certainty; and by the Roman burial-ground, usually placed near the side of a high road, at Gilton town, and several other Roman vestigia thereabouts, it may well be supposed to have led from Canterbury through that place to Richborough, and there is at this time from Goldston, in Ash, across the low-grounds to it, a road much harder and broader than usual for the apparent use of it, which might perhaps be some part of it.
Charities.
A person unknown gave four acres and an half of land, in Chapman-street, of the annual produce of 5l. towards the church assessments.
Thomas St. Nicholas, esq. of this parish, by deed about the year 1626, gave an annuity of 11. 5s. to be paid from his estate of Hoden, now belonging to the heirs of Nathaniel Elgar, esq. to be distributed yearly, 10s. to the repairing and keeping clean the Toldervey monument in this church, and 15s. on Christmas-day to the poor.
John Proude, the elder, of Ash, yeoman, by his will in 1626, ordered that his executor should erect upon his land adjoining to the church-yard, a house, which should be disposed of in future by the churchwardens and overseers, for a school-house, and for a storehouse, to lay in provision for the church and poor. This house is now let at 1l. per annum, and the produce applied to the use of the poor.
Richard Camden, in 1642, gave by will forty perches of land, for the use of the poor, and of the annual produce of 15s. now vested in the minister and churchwardens.
Gervas Cartwright, esq. and his two sisters, in 1710 and 1721, gave by deed an estate, now of the yearly value of 50l. for teaching fifty poor children to read, write, &c. vested in the minister, churchwardens, and other trustees.
The above two sisters, Eleanor and Anne Cartwright, gave besides 100l. for beautifying the chancel, and for providing two large pieces of plate for the communion service; and Mrs. Susan Robetts added two other pieces of plate for the same purpose.
There is a large and commodious workhouse lately built, for the use of the poor, to discharge the expence of which, 100l. is taken yearly out of the poor's rate, till the whole is discharged. In 1604, the charges of the poor were 29l. 15s. 11d. In 1779. 1000l.
There is a charity school for boys and girls, who are educated, but not cloathed.
The poor constantly relieved are about seventy-five, casually fifty-five.
This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the dioceseof Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a handsome building, of the form of a cross, consisting of two isles and two chancels, and a cross sept, having a tall spire steeple in the middle, in which are eight bells and a clock. It is very neat and handsome in the inside. In the high or south chancel is a monument for the Roberts's, arms, Argent, three pheons, sable, on a chief of the second, a greybound current of the first; another for the Cartwrights, arms, Or, a fess embattled, between three catherine wheels, sable. In the north wall is a monument for one of the family of Leverick, with his effigies, in armour, lying cross-legged on it; and in the same wall, westward, is another like monument for Sir John Goshall, with his effigies on it, in like manner, and in a hollow underneath, the effigies of his wife, in her head-dress, and wimple under her chin. A gravestone, with an inscription, and figure of a woman with a remarkable high high-dress, the middle part like a horseshoe inverted, for Jane Keriell, daughter of Roger Clitherow. A stone for Benjamin Longley, LL. B. minister of Ash twenty-nine years, vicar of Eynsford and Tonge, obt. 1783. A monument for William Brett, esq. and Frances his wife. The north chancel, dedicated to St. Nicholas, belongs to the manor of Molland. Against the north wall is a tomb, having on it the effigies of a man and woman, lying at full length, the former in armour, and sword by his side, but his head bare, a collar of SS about his neck, both seemingly under the middle age, but neither arms nor inscription, but it was for one of the family of Harflete, alias Septvans; and there are monuments and several memorials and brasses likewise for that family. A memorial for Thomas Singleton, M. D. of Molland, obt. 1710. One for John Brooke, of Brookestreet, obt. 1582, s. p. arms, Per bend, two eagles.—Several memorials for the Pekes, of Hills-court, and for Masters, of Goldstone. A monument for Christopher Toldervy, of Chartham, obt. 1618. A memorial for Daniel Hole, who, as well as his ancestors, had lived upwards of one hundred years at Goshall, as occupiers of it. In the north cross, which was called the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, was buried the family of St. Nicholas. The brass plates of whom, with their arms, are still to be seen. A tablet for Whittingham Wood, gent. obt. 1656. In the south cross, a monument for Richard Hougham, gent. of Weddington, and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Edward Sanders, gent. of Norborne. An elegant monument for Mary, wife of Henry Lowman, esq. of Dortnued, in Germany. She died in 1737, and he died in 1743. And for lieutenant colonel Christopher Ernest Kien, obt. 1744, and Jane his wife, their sole daughter and heir, obt. 1762, and for Evert George Cousemaker, esq. obt. 1763, all buried in a vault underneath, arms, Or, on a mount vert, a naked man, bolding a branch in his hand, proper, impaling per bend sinister, argent and gules, a knight armed on borjeback, holding a tilting spear erect, the point downwards, all counterchanged. On the font is inscribed, Robert Minchard, arms, A crescent, between the points of it a mullet. Several of the Harfletes lie buried in the church-yard, near the porch, but their tombs are gone. On each side of the porch are two compartments of stone work, which were once ornamented with brasses, most probably in remembrance of the Harfleets, buried near them. At the corner of the church-yard are two old tombs, supposed for the family of Alday.
In the windows of the church were formerly several coats of arms, and among others, of Septvans, alias Harflete, Notbeame, who married Constance, widow of John Septvans; Brooke, Ellis, Clitherow, Oldcastle, Keriell, and Hougham; and the figures of St. Nicholas, Keriell, and Hougham, kneeling, in their respective surcoats of arms, but there is not any painted glass left in any part of the church or chancels.
John Septvans, about king Henry VII.'s reign, founded a chantry, called the chantry of the upper Hall, as appears by the will of Katherine Martin, of Faversham, sometime his wife, in 1497. There was a chantry of our blessed Lady, and another of St. Stephen likewise, in it; both suppressed in the 1st year of king Edward VI. when the former of them was returned to be of the clear yearly certified value of 15l. 11s. 1½d. (fn. 13)
The church of Ash was antiently a chapel of east to that of Wingham, and was, on the foundation of the college there in 1286, separated from it, and made a distinct parish church of itself, and then given to the college, with the chapels likewise of Overland and Fleet, in this parish, appurtenant to this church; which becoming thus appropriated to the college, continued with it till the suppression of it in king Edward VI.'s reign, when this part of the rectory or parsonage appropriate, called Overland parsonage, with the advowson of the church, came, with the rest of the possessions of the college, into the hands of the crown, where the advowson of the vicarage, or perpetual curacy of it did not remain long, for in the year 1558, queen Mary granted it, among others, to the archbishop. But the above-mentioned part of the rectory, or parsonage appropriate of Ash, with those chapels, remained in the crown, till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange to archbishop Parker, who was before possessed of that part called Goldston parsonage, parcel of the late dissolved priory of St. Gregory, by grant from king Henry VIII. so that now this parish is divided into two distinct parsonages, viz. of Overland and of Goldston, which are demised on separate beneficial leases by the archbishop, the former to the heirs of Parker, and the latter, called Gilton parsonage, from the house and barns of it being situated in that hamlet, to George Gipps, esq. M. P. for Canterbury. The patronage of the perpetual curacy remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury.
¶At the time this church was appropriated to the college of Wingham, a vicarage was endowed in it, which after the suppression of the college came to be esteemed as a perpetual curacy. It is not valued in the king's books. The antient stipend paid by the provost, &c. to the curate being 16l. 13s. 4d. was in 1660, augmented by archbishop Juxon with the addition of 33l. 6s. 8d. per annum; and it was afterwards further augmented by archbishop Sheldon, anno 28 Charles II. with twenty pounds per annum more, the whole to be paid by the several lessees of these parsonages. Which sum of seventy pounds is now the clear yearly certified value of it. In 1588 here were communicants five hundred; in 1640, eight hundred and fifty. So far as appears by the registers, the increase of births in this parish is almost double to what they were two hundred years ago.
This is the final Kent church of the year, and with these uploads I will have caught up on all my picture taking, I believe.
We only visited St Mildred last year, but I forgot, so we went again in November, on another wonderful late autumn morning.
After visiting, we sat in the churchyard eating sausage rolls, much to the disgust of a couple of other visitors to the church.
Oh well.
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A superb church, which despite a heavy-handed restoration by G.M. Hills (see also Newenden) in 1864 still has much of interest. The nave ceiling is exceptional fifteenth-century work, rather more domestic in feel than is normal in an ecclesiastical building. There are two blocked thirteenth-century windows above the chancel arch - an unusual position to find windows in Kent. The five bay aisles are extremely narrow. The glass in the south aisle windows by Hughes of 1865 are rather fun. In the north chapel is a fine alabaster standing monument to Herbert Whitfield (d. 1622) and his wife. This monument cuts off the base of the north-east window and displays many colourful coats of arms. The chancel screen and pulpit are late nineteenth century and fit in with the medieval architecture better than most works of that period.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Tenterden
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The history of Tenterden itself is lost in time, as is the origin of St. Mildred’s church. Perhaps all that can be said with any confidence is that the story of the town and the story of St. Mildred’s are bound together with each other, with the story of pre-conquest Kent, with the story of Christianity in Kent, and with the story of the ancient Kentish royal house.
Tenet-wara-den (the den of the Thanet folk) was the Wealden area used by the abbey of Minster-in-Thanet for Autumn pig-forage (acorns and beech mast to fatten the pigs for Winter). That abbey was founded by Domne Aefa (“the lady Aebba”?) of the Kentish royal family, and either she herself or her daughter, St. Mildred, was the first abbess. This is within the first century after the arrival in Canterbury of St. Augustine’s mission from Rome. Mildred’s holy reputation was an international one, and there can be no doubt that a church in her name was here from some point in the eighth to tenth centuries. The reign of Canute is the latest possible period and it was almost certainly much earlier. However, we have no record of any incumbent before 1180, and the oldest perceptible fabric of the church is of about that time too.
When you stand in the middle of St. Mildred’s, you see a large building reflecting the prosperity of the town in the later middle ages. The north arcade of the chancel is probably around 1200, but most of the chancel, nave, and aisles is work of the 13th to 15th centuries. The fine wagon-vault ceiling of the nave has been variously stated to be 14th or 15th century (with some Victorian additions). The tower of the church, a prominent Kentish landmark, was probably built by architect Thomas Stanley. This major building work was undertaken in the middle of the 15th century, at the height of Tenterden’s prosperity, it being no coincidence that the town gained a charter and Cinque Port status in support of Rye, at about the same time.
The town’s prosperity was reflected also in the presence of important shipbuilding yards at both Reading Street and Smallhythe, both on the tidal River Rother at that time. The settlement at Smallhythe was sufficiently large to gain its own chapel sometime in the middle ages, but we know nothing of that building, though it was probably dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Smallhythe itself was burnt in a huge fire in 1514, and we know that rebuilding of the chapel began virtually straight away. The current church of St. John the Baptist is a beautiful example of a brick-built Tudor church, box-like (so with an excellent acoustic). It has, during its history, had varying levels of dependence or independence from the town church of St. Mildred.
By the middle of the 19th century, the population was growing fast, and attitudes to worship were changing too. St. Mildred’s lost its box pews, and had the organ moved to its present position. A new church was planned for the hamlet of Boresisle at the northern end of Tenterden, the neat and small Gothic revival church being dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels. Two consequences were, firstly, the acquisition by Kent of another prominent landmark – the graceful spire, and secondly, the name Boresisle fell out of usage and the hamlet itself has ever since been known as “St. Michael’s”.
I do feel it important to append to this account of the Anglican church buildings a brief comment on the other churches of the town. There was always a Roman Catholic presence here, but after the Reformation, there was no church building until the Catholic priest in Tenterden, Canon Currie began, in the 1930s, a determined attempt to put that right, culminating in the building of St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic church in Ashford Road.
The history of “non-conformity” in Tenterden is a major and extensive one. Within a few decades of the development around the 1370s, by John Wyclife at Oxford, of the doctrines later known as “Lollardy”, there were significant numbers of people in Tenterden who ascribed to doctrines regarded as unorthodox. Moreover, following the Reformation of the 1540s to 1560s, there were many who rejected not only Roman ways, but were unhappy with the English church. We know that Tenterden families joined the 17th century exodus to the New World (notably to Massachusetts), and Tenterden acquired its first “non-conformist” chapel around 1700, that building now being the Unitarian church in Ashford Road, and one of Tenterden’s most interesting ancient relics. The nineteenth century saw the building of the Methodist church at West Cross, and two of the three Baptist churches – Zion in the High Street, and the Strict Baptist Jireh Chapel at St. Michael’s. Trinity Baptist in Ashford Road was built in 1928.
Those interested to pursue their enquiries further will find a guide in St. Mildred’s, and there is much information in standard texts of Kent history and architecture.
www.tenterdencofe.org/?page_ref=265
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THIS hundred contains within its bounds THE TOWN AND PARISH OF Tenterden, and part of the parish of Ebeney, containing the borough of Reading, the church of which is in another hundred.
This hundred was antiently accounted one of the Seven Hundreds, and was within the jurisdiction of the justices of the country, from which it was separated by Henry VI. who, on account of the impoverishment of the port and town of Rye, in Sussex, by his letters patent, in his 27th year, incorporated the town and hundred of Tenterden, by the name of the bailiff and commonaltie of the town and hundred of Tenterden, and granted that the same should be a member annexed and united to that town and port, and separated from the county of Kent, and that the bailiff and commonalty of this town and hundred should have for ever, on their contributing to the burthens and exigencies of that port and town from time to time, (fn. 1) many franchises, privileges, and freedoms, and all other liberties, freedoms, and free customs which the barons of the five ports had before that time enjoyed. In which state this town and hundred remained till the 42d year of queen Elizabeth's reign, when the name of their incorporation was changed to that of the mayor, jurats, and commonalty of the town and hundred of Tenterden, by which it continues to be governed at this time.
THE CORPORATION consists of a mayor, twelve jurats, and as many common-councilmen, a chamberlain, and town clerk; the jurisdiction of it being exclusive from the justices of the county. The mayor is chosen yearly on August 29. The election used to be in the town-hall; but that being burnt down by some prisoners in the prison-room over it, it was afterwards made under one of the great old oaks, which are not far from the place, on the other side of the street, where it stood. A neat and elegant hall was finished in 1792, adjoining the Woolpack Inn, in which the mayor has been elected as heretofore, and it is occasionally used as an assembly room by the inhabitants. The mayor is coroner of both the town and hundred; there is no sheriff; the commoners must be resciants, and are chosen by the mayor and two of the jurats; the jurats are all justices of the peace. They hold sessions of oyer and terminer, but cannot try treason. At the sessions holden at Tenterden, August 10, 1785, two men were convicted of burglary, and executed near Gallows-green the 27th following. Both the charters of this corporation being destroyed by the fire of the court-hall in 1660, an exemplification of them was procured anno 12 George III.
The liberty of the court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds, claimed a paramount jurisdiction over this hundred, till the incorporation of the town of Tenterden, and the annexing this hundred to it in the reign of Henry VI. since which the mayor and jurats have been lords of the royalty of it, and continue so at this time.
The parish is divided into six boroughs, each having a borsholder chosen yearly, these are Town Borough, Castweasle, Boresile, Shrubcote, Dumborne, which includes all Smallhyth, and Reading, which is wholly in the parish of Ebene.
THE PARISH of Tenterden lies too near the marshes to be either healthy or pleasant, excepting that part where the town is situated near the northern boundaries of it, on what may be called for this country, high ground; it is about five miles across each way. The soil of it is various, the northern part being sand, towards the east it is a wet stiff clay, and towards the south and west towards the marshes a deep rich mould. The generality of the lands in it are pasture, but there are about one hundred acres of hop-ground dispersed in different parts of it; there is very little wood, and that mostly between the town and Smallhyth, a hamlet formerly of much more consequence, as will be further mentioned hereafter, situated at the southern boundary of it, on the road into the Isle of Oxney, close to the river Rother, which separates that part of this parish from the island. About a mile and a half eastward is the hamlet of Reading-street, built adjoining the high road to Apledore, close to the marshes below it, on the passage over the Rother into Ebeney, and the Isle of Oxney.
On Saturday, Nov. 1, 1755, between ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon (being at the same time that the great bason at Portsmouth was disturbed) several ponds in this parish and neighbourhood, without any sensible motion of the earth, were greatly agitated, the water of them being forced up the banks with great violence, fretting and foaming with a noise similar to the coming in of the tide, so as to terrify many who were near them; some of these waters flowed up three times in this manner, others circled round into eddies, absorbing leaves, sticks, &c. and it was observed that only those ponds were affected, that had springs to supply the waters of them.
THE TOWN OF TENTERDEN is situated nearly in the centre of the parish and hundred. It stands on high ground, neither unpleasant nor unhealthy; the greatest part of it is built on each side of the high road leading from the western parts of Kent and Cranbrooke through this parish south-east to Apledore. A small part of it is paved, where there is a small antient market-place, built of timber; but the market, which is still held on a Friday, is but little frequented, only two millers, and seldom any butchers attending it. It is a well-built town, having many genteel houses, or rather seats, interspersed throughout it, among which are those of the Curteis's, a numerous and opulent family here, who bear for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three bulls heads, caboshed; (fn. 2) the Haffendens, who have been long resident here, and in Smarden and Halden, in this neighbourhood. Bugglesden, in the north part of Boresile borough, in this parish, was very antiently, and till within these few years, their property and residence. Richard Haffenden now resides in a new house, built by his father, called Homewood, at the west end of this town, and in the south part of Boresile borough. They bear for their arms, Chequy, sable and argent, on a bend, sable, three mullets, or; the Staces, who have been resident here from the beginning of the last century, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury, in several of which they are stiled gentlemen; the Blackmores, possessed of Westwell house, a handsome seat at the south east end of the town, built by James Blackmore, esq. in 1711, one of whose descendants afterwards becoming possessed by gift of the seat of Briggins, in Hertfordshire, removed thither, where they have continued ever since, and this of Westwell-house is now occupied by Mr. James Blackmore, the uncle of Thomas Blackmore, esq. of Briggins, who died possessed of it in 1789, having been thrice married. He left by his two first wives three sons and two daughters; his third. wife Anne, daughter of Mr. Tatnall, of Theobalds, now survives him. They bear for their arms, Argent, a fess between three balckmoors heads sideways, couped at the neck, sable; and several others, most of whose wealth, as well as that of the inhabitants of this town in general, has arisen from its near neighbourhood to Romneymarsh, where most of them have some occupation in the grazing business.
The church stands on the north side of the town, which, with the rest of the parish, consists of about three hundred houses, and two thousand inhabitants, of which about five hundred are diffenters, who have two meeting-houses here, one of Presbyterians, the other of Methodistical Baptists.
At the east end of the town is Craythorne-house, which formerly belonged to the Bargraves, and then to the Marshalls, who sold it to the late Mr. John Sawyer, who built a new house here, in which he afterwards resided, and his assigns now possess it. A branch of the family of Whitfield had once their residence in a large house at the east end likewise of this town. John Whitfield resided here, as did his son Herbert, who died in 1622; they were descended from an antient family in Northumberland, and bore for their arms, Argent, on a bend, plain, between two cotizes, ingrailed sable, a mullet, or. At length the heirs of Sir Herbert Whitfield, sold this seat to Wil liam Austen, esq. of Hernden, in this parish. Sir Robert Austen, bart. the last of that name, resided in it, and it now belongs to his heirs, and is made use of as a boarding school for young ladies.
There is a large fair held in this town on the first Monday in May yearly, for cattle, wool, merchandize, and shop goods of all sorts, to which there is a great resort from all the neighbouring country. Most of the road, leading from the town to Smallhyth, particularly the upper part of it, known by the name of Broad Tenterden, is said to have been lined with buildings on each side, and to have been the most populous part of the parish.
THERE ARE several places in this parish worthy notice, the first of them is HALES-PLACE, at the northwest end of this town, which was for many generations the residence of a branch of the family of Hales, who removed hither from their original seat, of the same name, in the adjoining parish of Halden. Henry Hales, who lived in the reign of Henry VI. was born here, and married Juhan, daughter and heir of Richard Capel, of Tenterden, by which he greatly increased his estate in this parish. He had by her two sons, of whom John Hales, the eldest, was of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, esq. and was one of the barons of the exchequer. He had four sons, Sir James Hales, one of the justices of the common pleas, who was of the Dungeon, where his descendants continued many generations afterwards; Thomas, who was seated at Thanington, whose descendant Robert was created a baronet in 1666, and was ancestor of the present Su Philip Hales, bart. Edward, the third son, inherited this seat and his father's possessions in this parish; and William, the fourth son, was of Recolver and Nackington, in this county. Edward Hales, esq. the third son, who inherited this seat and estate at Tenterden, resided at it, and left a son Sir Edward Hales, who was created a baronet on the 29th of June, 1611. He removed his residence from hence to the neighbouring parish of Woodchurch, in which parish he possessed the antient seat of the Herlackendens, in right of his wife Deborah, only daughter and heir of Martin Herlackenden, esq. of that place. His son Sir John Hales, having married Christian, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir James Cromer, of Tunstal, became possessed of the antient seat of the Cromers in that parish, where he resided, and died in his father's life-time, in 1639, whose son Edward Hales succeeded to the title of baronet on his grandfather's death, in 1654 whose heir he was, and resided at Tunstal. His son Sir Edward Hales, bart. having purchased the mansion of St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, resided there, as his descendants have ever since; and from him this seat and estate at Tenterden at length descended down to his great-grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. now of St. Stephen's, who about forty-eight years ago pulled down the greatest part of this antient seat, and fitted up a smaller dwelling or farm-house on the scite of it, which, together with the antient offices or out-buildings of the mansion still remaining, continues part of his possessions.
HERNDEN, formerly spelt Heronden, was once an estate of considerable size in this parish, though it has been long since split into different parcels. The whole of it once belonged to a family of the name of Heronden, whose arms, as appears by the antient ordinaries in the Heralds-office, were, Argent, a heron volant, azure. At length one part of this estate was alienated by one of this family to Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, whose descendant Sir John Baker, knight and baronet, died possessed of it in 1661; but the capital mansion and other principal parts of it remained some time longer in the name of Heronden, one of whom, in the reign of Charles I. alienated some part of it, now called Little Hernden, to Short, a family whose ancestors had resided at Tenterden for some time. In the Heraldic Visitation of this county, anno 1619, is a pedigree of this family, beginning with Peter Short, of Tenterden, who lived in the reign of Henry VIII. They bore for their arms, Azure, a griffin passant, between three estoiles, or. At length one of them sold this part of it to Curteis, whose grandson Mr. Samuel Curteis is now in the possession of it. But the remainder of Hernden, in which was included the principal mansion, situated about a quarter of a mile southward of the town, was at the same time conveyed by sale to Mr. John Austen, the second son of William Austen, esq. of this parish, and elder brother of Robert, created a baronet anno 1660. He afterwards resided here, and dying in 1655, s. p. gave it by will to his nephew Robert Austen, esq. the second son of Sir Robert above-mentioned, by his second wife. He afterwards resided here, and had two sons, Robert and Ralph; the eldest of whom, Robert Austen, esq. resided here, and left three sons, William, of whom hereafter, and Edward and Robert, both of whom afterwards succeeded to the title of baronet. William Austen, esq. the eldest son, inherited Hernden, and in 1729, suffered a recovery of this, as well as all other the Kentish estates comprised in his grandfather's settlement of them, to the use of him and his heirs. He died in 1742, and by will devised it to Mr. Richard Righton, who afterwards resided here, and died possessed of it in 1772, and was buried, as was his wife afterwards, under a tomb on the south side of the church-yard; upon which it came into the hands of his son Benjamin Righton, esq. of Knightsbridge, who in 1782 conveyed Hernden, a farm called Pixhill, and other lands in this parish and Rolvenden, to Mr. Jeremiah Curteis, gent. of Rye, in Sussex, who finding this antient mansion, which seems, by a date remaining on it, to have been built in the year 1585, being the 28th of queen Elizabeth's reign, in a ruinous condition, pulled it down; but the scite of it, together with the lands belonging to it, still remain in his possession.
PITLESDEN, or Pittelesden, as it was antiently spelt, is situated near the west end of this town. It was once a seat of some note, being the residence of a family of that name, who bore for their arms, Sable, a fess, between three pelicans, or, in whose possession it continued till Stephen Pitlesden, (fn. 3) about the reign of Henry VI. leaving an only daughter and heir Julian, she carried it in marriage to Edward Guldeford, esq. of Halden, whose descendant Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter and heir Jane, she entitled her husband Sir John Dudley, afterwards created Duke of Northumberland, to the possession of this manor, and they, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. joined in the conveyance of it to Sir Thomas Cromwell, lord Cromwell, afterwards created Earl of Essex, who passed it away by sale to that king, and it remained in the hands of the crown till king Edward VI. in his 7th year, granted it, with the pend of water, wear and fishery, with the dove-house belonging to it, and all its appurtenances, to Sir John Baker, one of the privy council, to hold in capite by knight's service, in whose family it continued till Sir John Baker, bart. of Sissinghurst, in the reign of king Charles I. conveyed it by sale to Mr. Jasper Clayton, mercer, of London. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Mr. William Blackmore, gent. of this place, who at his death devised it to his daughter Sarah, who entitled her husband Mr. John Crumpe, of Frittenden, to the possession of it for her life, but the remainder, on her death, is vested in her brother Mr. Thomas Blackmore, gent. now of Tenterden.
LIGHTS, formerly called Lights Notinden, is a small manor here, which together with another called East Asherinden, the name of which is now almost forgotten, though there was a family of this name of Asherinden, or Ashenden, as it was afterwards spelt, who were resident in this parish, and were, as appears by their wills, possessed of lands here called Ashenden, so late as the year 1595. These manors belonged partly to a chantry founded in this parish, and partly to the manor of Brooke, near Wye, which was part of the possessions of the priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury; in which state they continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when, on the suppression both of that priory and of the chantry likewise, they were granted by that king to Sir John Baker, his attorneygeneral, whose descendant Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, knight and baronet, died possessed of them in 1661. How long they continued in his descendants, I do not find; but the former is now-become the property of Mr. William Mantell, and the latter belongs to Mr. William Children, who has lately built a house on it, in which he resides.
FINCHDEN is a seat here, situated on the denne of Leigh, at Leigh-green, which was formerly in the possession of a family, who were ancestors of the Finch's, whose posterity still continued till very lately in the possession of it. They were antiently called Finchden, from their seat here; one of them, William de Fyncheden, was chief justice of the king's bench in the 45th year of the reign of Edward III. (fn. 4) though his name in some old law books, which appear to be of that time, is written contractedly Finch, which probably was the original name, though I do not find any connection between this family and the descendants of Vincent Herbert, alias Finch, seated at Eastwell and elsewhere in this county; excepting that they hear the same coat of arms. In later times I find William Finch, gent. of this place, died possessed of it in 1637, and in his direct descendants this seat continued down to Mr. William Finch, gent. who resided in it, and died possessed of it in 1794, s. p. leaving his brother Mr. Richard Finch, of Tenterden, his next heir.
ELARDINDEN is an estate, which was formerly of some account here, and is parcel of the manor of Frid, or Frith, in Bethersden. It was antiently part of the possessions of the noble family of Mayney. Sir John de Mayney, of Biddenden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of Edward III. and in his descendants it continued till the reign of Henry VI. when it was alienated by one of them to William Darell, esq. whose descendant George Darell, esq. conveyed it by sale in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. to Sir John Hales, of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, one of the barons of the exchequer, who gave it to his third son Edward Hales, esq. of Tenterden, in whose descendants it has continued down to Sir Edward Hales of St. Stephens, near Canterbury, the present possessor of it.
THE MANORS OF GODDEN AND MORGIEU are situated in the south-west part of this parish. The former of them was once in the possession of a family of that name, one of whom, Roger de Godden, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as one knight's fee, which he held here of Stephen de la Hey. Soon after which it seems to have passed into the possession of the family of Aucher. How long it continued in this name I have not seen; but in the 36th year of Henry VI. the executors of Walter Shiryngton, clerk, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, having founded a chantry in the chapel near the north door of St. Paul's cathedral, London, which, from the founder, bore the name of Shiryngton's chantry, they purchased both these manors towards the endow ment of it. (fn. 5) These manors remained part of this foundation till the suppression of it, in the 1st year of Edward VI.when coming into the hands of the crown, they were granted by the king, the year afterwards, to Sir Miles Partridge, to hold in capite by knight's service, and he sold them, in the 6th year of that reign, to Thomas Argal; and from his descendant they passed into the possession of Sir John Colepeper, afterwards created lord Colepeper, who died possessed of them in 1660; upon which they came to his second son John, who on his elder brother's death without male issue, succeeded to the title of Lord Colepeper, and dying in 1719 without issue, bequeathed these manors to his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper, of Hollingborne, who by will devised them to her nephew John Spencer Colepeper, esq. of the Charter-house, being the last of the vast possessions of the different branches of this family dispersed over this whole county. He, in 1781, alienated them to Mr. Richard Curteis, of Tenterden, the present possessor of them.
KENCHILL is a seat in this parish, which was formerly the property of the family of Guldeford, one of whom, Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret, and of the garter, possessed it in the reign of Henry VIII. His son Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter Jane, she carried it in marriage to Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, and he, about the 30th year of king Henry VIII.'s reign, conveyed it to that king, who, in his 36th year, granted it to Thomas Argal, to hold in capite by knight's service, on whole decease his son Thomas Argal had possession granted of it, in the 6th year of queen Elizabeth. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Robert Clarkson, esq. of London, who sold it in 1687 to Mr. John Mantell, grazier, of Tenterden, who was one of the instances of the quick accumlation of riches from Romney-marsh; for in fourteen year she had acquired sufficient to become the purchaser of this and other estates, which rented at 800l. per annum. He devised Kenchill by will, together with the manor of East Asherinden, already mentioned before, Dumborne, and other lands in this parish, to his son Reginald, who died possessed of them in 1743, and lies buried in this church-yard. They bear for their arms, Argent, a cross between four martlets, sable, as borne by the family of Horton Monks, excepting, that the latter bore the cross engrailed; and leaving no issue, he gave them to his nephew Mr. Edward Mantell, of Mersham, who left several sons and daughters, who afterwards joined in the sale of their respective interests in them to Mr. William Mantell, the then elder brother; by which means he became entitled to the entire see of Kenchill, with the manor of East Asherinden, and resided at the former of them. He married Anne Marshall, of Mersham, and died in 1789, leaving issue several children. The Rev. Mr. Thomas Mantell, the younger brother, re-purchased Dumborne, of which he is now possessed, having married in 1788 Miss S. Horne, by whom he has one daughter.
THE HAMLET OF SMALLHYTH, commonly called Smallit, is situated somewhat more than three miles from the town of Tenterden, at the southern boundary of this parish, close to the old channel of the river Rother, over which there is a passage from it into the Isle of Oxney. The inhabitants were formerly, by report, very numerous, and this place of much more consequence than at present, from the expressions frequently made use of in old writings of those infra oppidum and intra oppidum de Smallhyth; the prevalent opinion being, that the buildings once extended towards Bullen westward; no proof of which, however, can be brought from the present state of it, as there remain only three or four straggling farm-houses on either side, and a few cottages in the street near the chapel. The sea came up to this place so lately as the year 1509, as is evident by the power then given of burying in this chapel-yard the bodies of those who were cast by shipwreck on the shore of the sea infra predictum oppidum de Smalhyth; which are the very words of the faculty granted for that purpose.
At this place A CHAPEL was built, and was soon afterwards licensed by faculty from archbishop Warham, anno 1509, on the petition of the inhabitants, on account of the distance from their parish church of Tenterden, the badness of the roads, and the dangers they underwent from the waters being out in their way thither; and was dedicated to St. John Baptist. The words of it are very remarkable: And we William, archbishop aforesaid, of the infinite mercy of Almighty God, and by the authority of St. Peter and St. Paul the apostles, and also of our patrons St. Alphage and St. Thomas, remit, &c.
Divine service still continues to be performed in this chapel, which is repaired and maintained, and the salary of the chaplain paid out of the rents of lands in this parish and Wittersham, which are vested in trustees; who pay him the annual produce of them, the rents of them being at this time 52l. 10s. per annum, though it is set down in Bacon's Liber Regis, as only of the clear yearly certified value of forty five pounds. The present curate is Thomas Morphett, appointed in 1773.
Charities.
JOHN WOOD, by will in 1560, gave an annuity of 40s. per annum, out of certain lands in Tenterden, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. payable to the churchwardens, towards the repair of the church; which gift is confirmed by a decree of the court of chancery; the lands being in the occupation of Richard Farby.
LADY JANE MAYNARD GAVE by will in 1660, thirty acres of land in Snave and Rucking, let at 24l. per annum, for putting out poor children apprentices, whose fathers are dead or otherwise disabled by sickness; the overplus to be given to poor, honest and aged widows of this parish, that have not been nor are likely to become chargeable to it.
MR. ANNE SHELTON, widow, by will in 1674, gave nine acres of land in Brookland and Brenset, now let at twelve guineas per annum, to the vicar and churchwardens to put out one or more children, born in Tenterden, apprentices to some honest handicrast trade.
DAME FRANCES NORTON, widow, sister of Judith, wife of Robert Austen the elder, of Heronden, esq. gave by deed in 1719, an estate, of 35l. per annum, in Hollingborne, for the joint benefit in equal moieties of this parish and Hollingborne. Since which, by a commission of charitable uses, in 1748 a farm of 15l. per annum, in Hucking, has been purchased and added to it; the division of the profits of which between them, and the application of them, has been already fully related under the description of the parish of Hollingborne, in the fifth volume of this history, p. 473.
AN ANCESTOR of the family of Heyman, of Somerfield, many years since founded the free school in this town, for teaching the Latin tongue gratis, to so many poor children of this parish as the mayor and jurats should think proper, who are trustees of it, and appoint the master; but at present there are no children on this foundation.
WILLAIM MARSHALL, clerk, about the year 1521, gave 10l. per ann. to be paid the master of this school, out of a messuage and twelve acres of land, in this parish, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. which was confirmed by a decree in the Exchequer, anno 4 queen Anne, and then in the occupation of Thomas Scoone.
JOHN MANTELL,gent in 1702, gave 200l. which was laid out in the purchasing of a piece of fresh marsh land, containing ten acres, in St. Maries, let at 10l. per annum, to be paid to the master of this school.
The south chancel of the church is appropriated to the use of this school.
TENTERDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mildred, is a large handsome building, consisting of two isles and three chancels, having a lofty well-built tower at the west end, which standing on high ground is seen from the country for many miles around it. There are eight bells in it, and a set of musical chimes. The two isles and chancels are all ceiled; the north isle is curiously ceiled with oak and ornamented. There are three galleries in the church. On the front of the steeple are the arms of St. Augustine's monastery, and likewise on a beam over the altar. In the north window a coat, Two chevrons, gules, on a canton, gules, a lion passant, or. In the south window, at the bottom, Or, a saltier, between four mullets, sable; and another, Gules, a bend sinister azure, fretted argent. The monuments and gravestones in this church, as well as the tomb-stones in the church-yard, are so numerous as to be far beyond the limits of this volume. Among them are those belonging to the families of the Austens, Curteis's, Blackmores, Haffendens, and other families mentioned before, as the modern possessors of estates and manors in this parish.
Thomas Petlesden, esq. by will in 1462, appears to have been buried in the chancel of St. Catherine, and gave one hundred marcs to the steeple here, to be paid out of his land, &c. as long as it was a werking. (fn. 6)
Till within these few years there hung a beacon, (a very singular instance remaining of one) over on the top of this steeple. It was a sort of iren kettle, holding about a gallon, with a ring or hoop of the same metal round the upper part of it, to hold still more coals, rosin, &c. It was hung at the end of a piece of timber, about eight feet long. The vanes on the four pinnacles were placed there in 1682. There was formerly a noted dropping stone, in the arch of the door-way going into the bell-lost, which has ceased to drop for many years. By the dropping of it, part of a stone, or two stones rather, were carried off, leaving a considerable rist or hollow where the stones were joined. Upon the water drying in 1720, where it fell underneath, the stone hardened and grew slippery, being probably of the nature of the stelastical water in the Peak of Derbyshire, at Poolshole.
There is a noted saying, that Tenterden steeple was the cause of the Goodwin Sands—which is thus accounted for: Goodwin, earl of Kent, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was owner of much flat land in the eastern part of it, near the isle of Thanet, which was desended from the sea by a great wall, which lands afterwards became part of the possessions of the abbot of St. Augustine's, near Canterbury still retaining the name of Goodwin, their former owner; and the abbot being at the same time owner of the rectory of Tenterden, the steeple of which church he had then began building, had employed during the course of it so much of his care and attention to the finishing of that work, that he neglected the care and preservation of that wall, insomuch, that on Nov. 3, 1099, the sea broke over and ruined it, drowning the lands within it, and overwhelming it with a light sand, still remaining on them, the place retaining to this time the name of the Goodwin Sands, and becoming dreadful and dangerous to navigators. Thus this steeple is said to be the cause of the Goodwin Sands. This is the common tradition; how far consistent with truth, so far as relates to these sands, will be taken notice of in its proper place. (fn. 7)
THE CHURCH of Tenterden was part of the antient possessions of the monastery of St. Augustine, to which it was appropriated in 1259, on condition of a proper portion being assigned for the maintenance of a perpetual vicar of it; and the official of the archbishop, on an inquisition concerning this vicarage, made his return that it then consisted in all tithes, obventions, and oblations belonging to the church; except the tithes of sheaves, corn, and hay, of which latter the vicar should receive yearly four loads from the abbot and convent, and that it was then valued at eighteen marcs and more per annum.
The abbot of St. Augustine took upon himself, about the year 1295, to constitute several new deanries, and apportioned the several churches belonging to his monastery to each of them, according to their vicinity; one of these was the deanry of Lenham, in which this church of Tenterden was included, but this raising great contests between the archbishops and them, it ended in stripping the abbot of these exemptions, and he was by the pope declared to be subject to the archbishop's jurisdiction in all matters whatsoever, which entirely dissolved these new deanries. (fn. 8)
This church had a manor antiently appendant to it, and on a quo warranto in the iter of H. de Stanton, and his sociates, justices itinerant, anno 7 Edward II. the abbot was allowed year and waste, and cattle called weif, in his manor of Tentwardenne among others; and those liberties, with all others belonging to the abbot and convent, were confirmed by letters of inspeximus by Edward III. in his 36th year, and likewise the additional privilege of the chattels of their own tenants condemned and sugitive, within their manor here.
¶In which state this church continued till the general suppression of religious houses, when it came with the rest of the possessions of the abbey of St. Augustine, anno 30 Henry VIII. into the hands of the crown, after which the king, by his dotation charter in his 33d year, settled both the church appropriate of Tenterden, with the manor appendant and all its rights and appurtenances, and the advowson of the vicarage, among other premises, on his new-founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, with whom the inheritance of the parsonage remains. After the death of Charles I. on the dissolution of deans and chapters, this parsonage was surveyed in order for sale; when it appears to have consisted of one great barn, newly erected, on a close of pasture of five acres; together with all the tithes of corn within the parish; and several rents, out of lands and tenements in Tenterden, amounting to 26s. 8d. taken in right of the parsonage, which had been let in 1640 to Sir Edward Hales, at the yearly rent of 20l. 6s. 8d. but that they were worth over and above that rent seventy-eight pounds. That the lessee was bound to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church, and provide for the dean and officers, or pay the sum of 33s. 4d. The present lessee of it is Sir Edward Hales, bart. of St. Stephens, but the advowson of the vicarage the dean and chapter retain in their own hands.
In 1259 this vicarage was valued at thirty marcs, and in 1342 at forty-five marcs. It is valued in the king's books at 33l. 12s. 11d.and the yearly tenths at 3l. 7s. 3½d. In 1588 there were communicants five hundred and eighty-six. In 1640 it was valued at 120l. per annum. Communicants six hundred. It is now double that value.
There is a modus claimed throughout the parish, in the room of small tithes.
Church of St Andrew Thursford Norfolk (Tureforde . Tiresfort in 1086 Domesday book) restored by W Lightly in c1862-65 & partly rebuilt 1870s by a Mr Walker, for Sir Charles Chad & family of Thursford Hall . Only the c1200 north doorway, early 14c tower and 15c south aisle survive
A north aisle was added and chancel rebuilt 1873-74
The raised south transept has the Chad private pews overlooking the chancel altar, underneath is their mausoleum. (The Chad family bought the manor from the executors of William Guybon in the 18c whose family monuments are also here)
Built in 1828 for Chief Justice, Sir John Beverly Robinson this small cottage earned the nickname the Grange, possibly after the grand home of D'Arcy Boulton in York (later Toronto). One of Robinson's roles in the area was the executor of land sales in the Toronto Township, but he also is believed to have used the home as a summer cottage and hunting lodge. Or simply a quiet place to work. Robinson would not spend many years here and by the early 1830s he was mostly centred in Toronto, the house would pass through many hands until landing in the ownership of Harry Adamson. In 1978 the house would be donated to the city of Mississauga and restored and today is home to Heritage Mississauga.
Graflex Pacemaker Crown Graphic - Schneider-Kreuznach Symmar-S 1:5.6/210 - Kodak Tri-X 320 @ ASA-320
Kodak D-76 (Stock) 5:30 @ 20C
Meter: Pentax Spotmeter V
Scanner: Epson V700
Editor: Adobe Photoshop CC
10221 Super Star Destroyer (Star Wars)
Ages 16+. 3,152 pieces.
US $399.99 CA $499.99 DE 399.99 € UK 349.99 £
The Super Star Destroyer Executor has arrived! This jaw-dropping vessel served as command ship at the Battle of Endor and as the personal flagship of Darth Vader in the classic Star Wars movies. With its classic dagger-shaped design, the Executor is among the largest and most powerful vessels in the Star Wars galaxy. With over 3,000 pieces, measuring nearly 50" (124.5 cm) long and weighing nearly 8 pounds (3.5 kg), every aspect of this fantastic LEGO® Star Wars™ model impresses. Includes 4 minifigures: Darth Vader, Admiral Piett, Dengar, Bossk and IG-88.
Includes 4 minifigures: Darth Vader, Admiral Piett, Dengar and Bossk!
Also includes IG-88 figure!
Features over 3,000 pieces!
Measures nearly 50 inches (124.5 cm) long and weighs nearly 8 pounds (3.5kg)!
Includes display stand and data sheet label!
Center section lifts off to reveal command center!
The Super Star Destroyer is on sale from September 1, 2011
Some of you may have noticed my absence over the past few months (or not) and wondered what happened. So many people come and go from Flickr that one person dropping out becomes "invisible". In my case things in life happen which cause you to have to reallocate your priorities and time.
In early February 2015, my mother died after 91 wonderful years, and being the only child, I assumed the duties as the executor of the estate. Along with that came the house, which now was mine. Being that I already own a home I was left with the task of getting Mom's home ready for market to sell it. That is basically what has been going on since February.
Cleaning out was a bittersweet task. There were the memories of course, but there were also the surprises finding thing in drawers and other places that I never knew existed! There was sadness and fun.
After the clean-out came some interior improvements and changes to make the place look more desirable. I worked with a great handyman who helped with this over a period of several weeks. I had to have an old fuel oil tank removed from the ground, along with the associated worrying that it might have leaked over the years (fortunately it had not!), and a bunch of other little tasks (landscaping, etc).
My parents lived here for 45 years. I don't have strong sentimental attachment to the house because I only lived here about 6 of those years, so that makes selling it a bit easier, but I'm sure I'll feel it once I sign the closing papers and realize I can never go there again.
With the home on the market, I'm still pretty busy doing work on my own home, so photography will have to take a back seat probably until the fall. But "I'll be Back".
Elenco: Cristo - Thiago Lacerda, Maria - Fafá de Belém, Pilatos - Sidney Sampaio, Madalena - Vanessa Lóes, ELENCO DA PAIXÃO DE CRISTO 2011
Ordem de aparição em cena
Os Profetas: Moisés e EliasRICARDO MOURÃO
EDNALDO LUCENA
Jesus
THIAGO LACERDA
Os Demônios do Deserto:ARNALDO SIQUEIRA, CLEONES FRANÇA e RENATO JÚNIOR
Pedro
SEVERINO FLORÊNCIO
AndréGILBERTO TRINDADE
Tiago MaiorEDUARDO FILHO
JoãoROBERTO BRANDÃO
FelipeALBERTO BRIGADEIRO
BartolomeuALEXANDRE FARIAS
ToméEDNILSON LEITE
MateusZÉ BARBOSA
Tiago MenorFERNANDO BORGES
TadeuSÉRGIO BRAZ
SimãoIRAN SÉRGIO
JudasJÚLIO ROCHA
HomemJONES MELO
Os Cegos:JOÃO FERREIRA e VICENTE MONTEIRO
Mulher
JULIANA AZEVEDO
As Crianças da Galiléia:JOÃO VICTOR, LETHÍCIA MARINHO, MARIA EDUARDA GOMES, MARIA CLARA GOMES, MIGUEL PACHECO, PEDRO HENRIQUE GOMES e SOPHIA PACHECO.
O Emissário de João BatistaSEBASTIÃO ALVES
Os Vendilhões do Templo:JALL DE OLIVEIRA, JOÃO FERREIRA e WAGNNER SALES.
O Fariseu IANDRÉ RICCARI
O Príncipe ILUCIO LOMBARDI
CaifásRICARDO MOURÃO
AnásEDNALDO LUCENA
José de ArimatéiaVICENTE MONTEIRO
NicodemosJONES MELO
A AdúlteraMARINA PACHECO
Os Escribas do Sinédrio:ANDRÉ LOMBARDI e PLÍNIO PACHECO NETO
Os Fariseus do Sinédrio:JALL DE OLIVEIRA e WAGNNER SALES
Os Príncipes do Sinédrio:CARLOS PINTO e LUCAS NEVES
Os Anciões do Sinédrio:
GIDERSON TENÓRIO, JOÃO FERREIRA e MORSE SAMENTO
Os Guardas Templários:
FABIANO MARANHÃO, JOSÉ RAMOS, JOSÉ DOS SANTOS, MARCELO JOSÉ, ROBERTO CARLOS, e WELTON TIAGO.
Os Soldados Judeus:ADOLFO JOSÉ, ALEXANDRE SOARES, DANILO FRANCISCO, EDIMILSON MARQUES e LUIZ CARLOS LEMOS.
O Demônio do HortoARNALDO SIQUEIRA
Os Guardas Herodianos
CARLOS ANDRÉ, GIDELSON FLORÊNCIO, ISMAEL SILVA e MACIEL ANTONIO.
Os Escravos de HerodesJALL DE OLIVEIRA, GILVAN CÂNDIDO, ROANY CÉZAR ALVES e WELLINGTON ZAMYR
As Escravas de Herodes
ANA PAULA SANTANA, CLÉCIA LIMA e MÉRCIA CORDEIRO.
Os Músicos da Corte:
EDUARDO FILHO, JOÃO FERREIRA, SEBASTIÃO ALVES, IRAN SÉRGIO, JOSÉ EMANOEL, JOSÉ FÁBIO VALENTIM, JOSÉ VULTEMBRG e RONALDO GOMES
O RomanoCARLOS PINTO
HerodesCARLOS REIS
HerodíadesROSEANE TACHILITSKY
As Dançarinas:
FERNANDA SPINDOLA, OBAILÊ SANTANA e VALESCA TEIXEIRA.
Os Dançarinos:CLEONES FRANÇA, LUZIEL COSTA e RENATO JÚNIOR.
As Damas da Corte de Herodes:
ADRIANA BORBA, CAMILLA RIOS, CLAUDIA SOARES, DANIELA TRAVASSOS, ISABELLA PASCHOAL, JULIANA AZEVEDO, KARLA MARTINS, LARA PACHECO, MARINA PACHECO, RAFAELLA CARVALHO, RENATA DE FÁTIMA, RENATA FALCÃO, SUELLEN DESIRÉE, THAYSA ZOOBY, VANINA LUCENA e WILMA GOMES.
Os Convidados de Herodes:
ALBERTO BRIGADEIRO, ALEXANDRE FARIAS, ANDRÉ LOMBARDI, ARNALDO SIQUEIRA, EDNILSON LEITE, EDUARDO FILHO, GILBERTO TRINDADE, LUCAS NEVES, RENATO BRANDÃO, SEVERINO FLORÊNCIO, VICENTE MONTEIRO, WAGNNER SALES e ZÉ BARBOSA.
Os Soldados Romanos:
ARISTON ORLANDO, ANDRÉ ALVES, ANTONIO BATISTA, ANTONIO EDSON, ANTONIO FLORÊNCIO, CARLOS ANDRÉ MOURA, CRISTIANO MARCELO, DENYS MOAB PEREIRA, EDINALDO ARAUJO, EDUARDO JOSÉ, EMANOEL DA SILVA, GILBERTO HIGINO, JOSÉ ADEILSON, JOSÉ ANTONIO BATISTA, JOSÉ CLÁUDIO DE LIMA, JOSÉ CLEYTON, JOSÉ EVERALDO, JOSÉ FLORÊNCIO, JOSÉ JEFFERSON, LUCINALDO PEREIRE, MARCONDES CAVALCANTI, MANOEL LEANDRO, MIZAEL CARNEIRO, NIVALDO COSTA, ROBSON ZEFERINO e ROBSON RODRIGUES.
Os Centuriões:ALBERTO BRIGADEIRO, GILBERTO TRINDADE e JALL DE OLIVEIRA
Os Trombeteiros RomanosARNALDO SIQUEIRA, CRISTIANO ARAÚJO, EDUARDO FILHO e IRAN SÉRGIO
Os Tambores RomanosJOSÉ VULTEMBERG e RONALDO GOMES.
Os Decuriões:LUCIANO LOPES e VALDECI JÚNIOR
Os Cavaleiros Romanos:RAFAEL BRAZ, RONALDO PEREIRA, RENÊ RODRIGUES e SEVERINO AGUIAR.
O Tribuno da Biga RomanaJOSÉ RONALDO PEREIRA
Pilatos
SIDNEY SAMPAIO
Os Executores de Jesus:JULIO ROCHA e WAGNNER SALES
BarrabásSÉRGIO BRAZ
O Escravo de PilatosPLÍNIO PACHECO NETO
O Mau LadrãoALEXANDRE FARIAS
O Bom LadrãoEDNILSON LEITE
MariaFAFÁ DE BELÉM
MadalenaVANESSA LÓES
As Mulheres das Lamentações:ADRIANA BORBA, ANA PAULA SANTANA, CAMILLA RIOS, DANIELA TRAVASSOS, FERNANDA SPÍNDOLA, ISABELLA PASCHOAL, JULIANA AZEVEDO, KARLA MARTINS, OBAILÊ SANTANA, RAFAELLA CARVALHO, RAFAELA DE FÁTIMA, ROSEANE TACHLITSKY e VALESCA TEIXEIRA.
Simão CireneuJOSÉ RAMOS
Os Transeuntes:ANDRÉ LOMBARDI, DANIELA TRAVASSOS, ISABELLA PASCHOAL, JOÃO FERREIRA, JONES MELO, JULIANA AZEVEDO, KARLA MARTINS, MARINA PACHECO, PLÍNIO PACHECO NETO, RAFAELLA CARVALHO, RENATA DE FÁTIMA, SEVERINO FLORÊNCIO e ZÉ BARBOSA.
A Consciência de JudasCARLOS PINTO
Os Servos de Arimatéia
CLEONES FRANÇA, EDUARDO FILHO, FERNANDO BORGES, JOSÉ RAMOS, LUCAS NEVES, LUZIEL COSTA, RENATO JÚNIOR e SÉRGIO BRAZ.
Maria SaloméDANIELA TRAVASSOS
Maria de CleofasROSEANE TACHLITSKY
Os Servos de ArimatéiaALBERTO BRIGADEIRO, CLEONES FRANÇA, EDUARDO FILHO, FERNANDO BORGES, GILBERTO TRINDADE, JOSÉ RAMOS, LUCAS NEVES, LUZIEL COSTA, RENATO JÚNIOR e SÉRGIO BRAZ.
AnjoANDRÉ RICCARI
E O POVO DE FAZENDA NOVA E ARREDORES
Remembrance
Farquhar YOUNG
29th January 1937
Also his dearly loved wife
Mildred Ammon
17th October 1956
William Farquhar YOUNG[1]
Block 10 Plot 415[1]
Aged 70[1]
Occupation: musician[1]
Born New Zealand[1]
Newspaper portrait see comments section below
Mildred Ammore (sic) YOUNG[5]
Block 10 Plot 414[5]
Aged 83[5]
Occupation: Widow[5]
DEATH IN CHRISTCHURCH
Christchurch, last night. Formerly a leading bass singer and elocutionist, Mr. William Farquhar Young, died to-day in Christchurch. He was known throughout the Dominion for his performances in Scottish and Irish concerts, and until recently sang and spoke over the air.
Mr. Young was recognised as having one of the finest bass voices of his time and refused many offers to join opera companies and go abroad. Deceased was for many years in the Post and Telegraph Service and was the first president of the Post and Telegraph Officers’ Association. He was mainly responsible for the establishment of a superannuation system for the Post and Telegraph Department.[4]
Funeral article
paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19370201.2.118?it...
His probate is available online:
www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK9V-K4QR
ALLOWANCE FROM ESTATE
APPLICATION GRANTED BY COURT SON IN POOR HEALTH
An application for an allowance from the estate of William Farquhar Young, music teacher, of Sumner, was made in the Supreme Court yesterday by Claude Farquhar Young, a son, and Ethel Keir Lawrenson, a daughter. The application, which was made under the Family Protection Act, was granted by Mr Justice Northcroft, who directed that the son, stated to be in poor health, should receive £1 a week, and that a contingent allowance should be made to the daughter. Mr W. R. Lascelles appeared for Claude Farquhar Young and Mr T. A. Gresson for Ethel Keir Lawrenson, the latter being joined as a defendant in the petition of the former. The defendants were the Perpetual Trustees Estate and Agency Company. Ltd. (Mr C. S. Thomas), executors of the will, the widow, Mildred Ammon Young (Mr A. W. Brown), six grandchildren of the deceased (Mr J. D. Hutchison), and Sarah Louisa Clark, another legatee (Mr W. J. Sim). Children's Small Legacies Mr Lascelles explained that the testator died on January 29, 1937, leaving an estate valued at about £11,643. He had two children by his first wife, who died in February, 1915, Young remarrying in December of the same year. The two children were Claude Farquhar Young, aged 54. married, with five children, and a daughter, Ethel Keir Lawrenson, aged 52, married, with one child. The will left by the testator bequeathed to his son only a gold watch valued at £6, and to his daughter only a piece of jewellery to be selected by her stepmother. To Miss Sarah Louisa Clark, a masseuse who attended him, the testator left £300, with a further £2OO on the death of the widow if she should survive her. The widow received Clifton House, valued at £1580, a legacy of £1000, and the income from the estate for life. At her death, the testator ordered that the estate should be divided amongst his six grandchildren….[6]
“… is a New Zealander; he was born in Dunedin where he was educated at Halliwell’s School and later at the Dunedin High School. At an early age his talents as an elocutionist and singer were recognised, and he was given every opportunity to develop his art…
...received his early elocutinary (sic) education under Mr William Hoskins, who was Sir Henry Irving’s tutor...”
...also studied under Mrs Scott Siddons, grand-daughter of the famous Sarah Siddons, tragedienne with the famous David Garrick…
...His musical education was attended to by Signor Cheskina, himself a famous operatic artist…
...toured the world several times with many well-known companies…
...has taken prominent parts in all the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, also in such high-class grand operas as “Dr. Bartolo,” “Barber of Seville” … both in New Zealand and abroad….
...The call of is own homeland being very strong...decided some 2- years ago to return and at the present has a very extensive teaching connection in /Christchurch. He is also speech master at St. Andrew’s College, Christchurch…
...A great many of New Zealand’s prominent lecturers and public men, including members of the Bar, have received a great part of their elocutionary training from Mr Young, and the late Justice O.T.J. Alpers, in his book “Cheerful Yesterdays,” published since his death, refers to Mr Farquhar Young’s art in the most eulogistic terms.[7]
1915
Concert given on West Coast in aid of Red Cross
Irish, Scotch and Humorous (sic) Songs. Recitations and Monologues.
paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WCT19150605.2.18.4?i...
The Annual Concert 1917
Farquhar Young's name is a household word in all Celtic homes throughout New Zealand, his services are eagerly competed for by both Scottish and Irish Societies from Auckland to the Bluff, and year after year he appears at some big annual function —equally at Home either on a, Burns' anniversary or St. Patrick's night. The brave stand made by our gallant Gordon Highlanders, when, hopelessly outnumbered, they stopped the first mad rush of the Hun — alas! [3]
CALEDONIAN HALL.
A good programme has been arranged by the Canterbury Caledonian Society for its annual Scottish concert, to be held m the Caledonian Hall to-morrow night. Mrs Farquhar Young will contribute "Sing tae mo the Auld Scotch Sangs," Mr Farquhar Young "My Land," Mr and Mrs Young "John Grumbie," Miss Dorothy Spiller "Afton Water," Mr Bernard Rennell "Scotland My Ain," and Mr Bracey Wilson "Hooch Aye." Messrs H. Blakeley, L. C. Quane, P. Angus, and J. Filer will give a quartet, and Master Leo and Miss Frances Gunther a concertina duet. Highland dances and piping selections will also be contributed. The box plan is at The Bristol and to-morrow at the Caledonian Hall.[2]
MILDRED
Unverified but on family tree as being born September 1874, Kensington Montgomery County, Maryland, United States[11]
1911
Another artist on tour under the Tait management is Miss Mildred Wrighton, who is to support Mr. Joseph Blascheck on his tour of Australia. For several years she has been on the English concert platform, and is described as an accomplished pianist and delightful accompanist, and possesses a charming way of singing a humorous song.[9]
Described as a “society entertainer”[10]
A song “Captain Cupid” was apparently Dedicated to and sung by Miss Mildred Wrighton
cn.imslp.org/wiki/File:PMLP881448-Kahn_Cupid.pdf
Marriage
On January 3rd, at St Paul’s Church, Christchurch, William Farquhar Young to Mildred WRIGHTON, both of Sydenham, Christchurch[8]
SOURCES:
[1]
Christchurch City Council online cemeteries database; heritage.christchurchcitylibraries.com/Cemeteries/interme...
[2]
Press, 10 November 1927; Paperspast portal via National Library of New Zealand website;
paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19271110.2.44?ite...
[3]
Wairarapa Daily Times, 31 December 1917; Paperspast portal via National Library of New Zealand website; paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WDT19171231.2.17.2?i...
[4]
Poverty Bay Herald, 30 January 1937; Paperspast portal via National Library of New Zealand website; paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/PBH19370130.2.116?it...
[5]
Christchurch City Council online cemeteries database; heritage.christchurchcitylibraries.com/Cemeteries/interme...
[6]
Press, 2 August 1938; Paperspast portal via National Library of New Zealand website; paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19380802.2.119?it...
[7]
Hawera Star, 28 August 1928; Paperspast portal via National Library of New Zealand website; paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HAWST19280828.2.21?i....
[8]
Evening Star, 26 January 1916; Paperspast portal via National Library of New Zealand website; paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19160126.2.20?ite...
[9]
Evening Post, 8 April 1911; Paperspast portal via National Library of New Zealand website; paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19110408.2.130?end...
[10]
Evening Star, 19 May 1911; Paperspast portal via National Library of New Zealand website; paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19110519.2.76?end...
1950&items_per_page=100&query=mildred+wrighton&snippet=true&sort_by=byDA&start_date=01-01-1870
[11]
On a cold, but sunny Saturday morning, we cruised the edge of the Romney Marsh, looking for churches.
A second visit to St Margaret, and very much enjoyed.
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A tall and rather plain church with a typical Kentish tower with the staircase on the southeast corner. The churchyard shows examples of so-called `Oven Vaults`. The feature I find most unusual is the east window which seems far too small for the bulk of the east wall - this is even more noticeable inside. It is apparently nineteenth century. On the south wall interior are the two doors that formerly lead to the Rood Loft which obviously ran across the width of the (narrow) aisle too. Outside the wall was thickened to take the staircase (see also Challock). Around the font are some lovely tiles, re-set from their original locations. The church has two chapels. That to the north is the Frid Chapel - owned by the house of the same name whilst the south chapel is the Lovelace chapel built as a chantry chapel in 1460. Its east window has a fine 1960s window of Our Lady and Child with local farming scenes. It is signed by Wippell`s of London. In the south aisle is the MacMichael window showing Christ surrounded by hop bines. The east window is by C E Kempe and Co and dates from 1914. It shows the Crucifixion with St Augustine and St Margaret. Very different in concept is the Millennium window by the John Corley Studios - a wavy green tree beneath medieval fragments. This is obviously a much-loved church and has many features of note.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Bethersden
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BETHERSDEN
IS situated the next parish eastward from Smarden last-described. So much of this parish as is in the boroughs of Hales, Bridge, and Engeham or Povenden, is in the hundred of Blackborne, and west division of this county; and the residue of it, being part in the hundred of Chart and Longbridge, in which the church stands, and part in the hundred of Calehill, is in the eastern division of the county. The liberty of the manor of Wye claims over the borough of Snodehill, in the northern part of this parish.
¶THIS PARISH is situated within the bounds of the Weald, adjoining to Pluckley, at no great distance below the quarry hills southward, and contains about 4000 acres of land. It lies very low and flat; the soil is in most parts of it a stiff miry clay, and the face of the country very unpleasant and dreary; the roads wide, with a considerable breadth of green swerd on each side of them, much like those about Halden and Woodchurch, described before. There is a great deal of coppice wood of oak, with much good timber in them, interspersed throughout the parish, the houses in which are mostly built round the small greens or forstalls in the different parts of it. The head of the river Medway, which rises near Goldwell, in Great Chart, runs along the northern part of it westward towards Smarden, as has been already mentioned. The turnpike road from Tenterden to Halden, crosses this parish over Bull-green, round which there is a hamlet of houses, towards Great Chart, and thence to Ashford north-eastward; but this road, from the natural depth of the soil, and its never having had any improvement made on it since the trust has been created, is, like that part of it at Smarden before-described, hardly passable without the greatest danger, during the winter months; indeed there is a causeway, of the greatest use for the safety of travellers, along the side of it throughout this parish, made of the grey turbinated marble, which abounds in the northern part of it, especially about Frid, where much of this sort has been formerly dug; but those quarries are now but little used. This kind of marble, from its being dug up both here and at Petworth, in Sussex, is known by the names both of the Bethersden and the Petworth marble. It bears a good polish, and is very hard and durable, if dug up in its perpendicular state; but if horizontally, it usually peels off in flakes. It was formerly in great esteem in this county, for decorating the several religious buildings and churches in it; the cathedrals of Canterbury and Rochester abound with it; in which, as well as in many of the churches, most of the antient tombs and monuments of the bishops and gentry are made of it; and in several of the antient mansions, the chimneypieces of the grandest apartments are composed of it. On the south-east side of Bull-green is a house, which has been for some years possessed by the Wilmotts, who bore for their arms, Argent, on a fess, gules, two escallops, between a bull, couchant, or, between three eagles heads, erased. The church stands at a small distance northward from the above green, on a small rise of ground, with the village close to the southward of it, at the east end of which is a good house, called THE Thorne, from a large thorn-tree growing near it, which in the time of king Charles I. belonged to a branch of the family of Whitfield, of Tenterden, one of whom, Francis Whitfield, gent. resided here, and died possessed of it in 1660. His grandson Francis Whitfield, gent. of Thorne-house, died in 1782, leaving two daughters his coheirs, the youngest of whom dying unmarried, the eldest, Elizabeth, became entitled to the whole of it, which she carried in marriage to William Curteis, esq. merchant, of London, youngest son of Edward Curteis, esq. of Tenterden, who has, in right of his wife, the entire property of it.
A fair is kept here yearly on St. Margaret's day, now, by the alteration of the stile, on July 31.
BETHERSDEN is situated within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Margaret, consists of three isles and three chancels, having a tower steeple, with a beacon turret, in which are six bells. In the middle isle of this church lie the Wilmotts, of this parish, and in the middle chancel the Witherdens, both which have been taken notice of before. In this chancel is likewise a gravestone, with brass, and an inscription for William Lovelace, gent. once citizen of London, obt. 1459. On another, the figure of an old man in robes, and an inscription for Thomas, one of the sons of Wm. Lovelace, sergeantat-law, obt. 1591, æt. 28, a much younger age than his figure denotes. And within the altair rails are several memorials for the Dynes, ancestors of those of Milton, Rochester, and Malling, in this county. The south chancel is called the Lovelace chancel, in which several of the Hulses of this parish lie buried. The north chancel is called the Frid chancel, in which the Choutes likewise of this parish lie buried, all whom have been already noticed before.
In a peculiar chancel on the north side of this church, built by one of the Lovelaces, there was a perpetual chantry, founded about the 38th year of Henry VI. anno 1459, by William Lovelace, mercer and merchant adventurer of London, a younger son of this family, who lies buried in the middle chancel of it as before-mentioned, which foundation was confirmed by the above-mentioned king. This chantry was dissolved anno 2 Edward VI. but the tenths of it, being 13s. 0¼d. are still paid to the crown-receiver. (fn. 5)
¶This church was part of the antient possessions of the priory of St. Gregory, founded by archbishop Lanfranc; and archbishop Hubert confirmed this church of St. Margaret of Beatrichesdenne, with the wood and tithes, together with the chapel of Hecchisdenne to it, in king Richard I.'s reign. In the 8th year of Richard II. this church was become appropriated to the above priory, and a vicarage endowed of it. The church, with the advowson of the vicarage, remained part of the possessions of the above-mentioned priory till the dissolution of it in king Henry VIII.'s reign, when it was, with all its lands and possessions, surrendered into the king's hands, where this church and advowson remained among the other possessions of the priory but a small time, for an act passed that year to enable the archbishop to exchange the scite of the late dissolved priory of St. Radigund, with all its possessions, with the king, for the scite of the late dissolved priory of St. Gregory, and the greatest part of its possessions. This church of Bethersden becoming thus part of the revenues of the see of Canterbury, was demised by the archbishop, among the rest of the revenues of the above-mentioned priory, in one great beneficial lease for twenty-one years, in which all advowsons and nominations of churches and chapels were excepted; under which same king of demise it has continued from time to time ever since. Philip, earl of Chesterfield, as heir to the Wottons, was lessee of the above premises, in which this parsonage was included; since whose decease in 1773, his interest in the lease of them has been sold by his executors to George Gipps, esq. of Canterbury, who is the present lessee under the archbishop for them.
The rectory or parsonage of Bethersden, to which there is a manor appendant, pays 6s. 4d. procurations to the archbishop, and 7s. 6d. for the same to the archdeacon of Canterbury.
The vicarage is valued in the king's books at twelve pounds per annum, and the yearly tenths at 1l. 4s. In 1587 there were communicants here three hundred and fifty-two, and it was valued at sixty pounds. In 1640 there were four hundred, and it was then valued at one hundred and twenty pounds. Archbishop Juxon, anno 13 and 28 Charles II. augmented this vicarage with thirty pounds, to be paid yearly by the lessee of the great tithes. There is a modus claimed of four-pence an acre for all land in this parish, (excepting woodland, which claims an exemption from the payment of tithes) paid to the vicar, in lieu of all tithes whatsoever. The lessee of the parsonage claims the tithe of corn only. The archbishop continues the patron of this vicarage.
The vicarage-house, which was built of timber and thatched, was burnt down in 1669, and was rebuilt of brick, as at present, by Jonathan Whiston, vicar, in 1676.
Second weekend of the annual Heritage event. It seems wrong to call it a weekend as it now compromises two weekends and many meedweek events too.
And scanning the events, there were some in Canterbury, so we decide to head to the city for a wander: jools would go shopping while I would go and do some snapping.
Of course there is always shopping first. Off to Tesco to fill the car, then fill the fridge and larder. I am away for three days, nearly four, so not much needed on top of some ready meals for Jools. Still came to seventy quid, mind.
A tub of cheese footballs did fall into the trolley, which helped.
Back home for breakfast of fruit and more coffee, and then off to Canterbury, parking near St Augustine's Abbey, walking to the centre via a subway. We parted, Jools went to Body Shop and a couple of other shops, while I walked down High Street, past the Eastbridge Hospital, Westgate Tower, Canterbury West station to St Dunstan's.
I could say I walked straight there, but I had a quarter of an hour to play with, so when I walked past a pasty shop, I went in for a coffee, and although wasn't really hungry, I did have a pasty anyway.
Once fed and watered, I walk on, up the hill past the station, and on the left was the church, the door already open despite it being only five to nine.
I went in, and found I had the church to myself.
Last time I was here, the Roper Chapel was being renovated and so I couldn't get inside. Important as it is in the chapel that the head of Thomas Moor, beheaded on Tower Hill on orders of Henry VIII. The windows of the chapel have several representation of him and scenes from his life. I snap them all.
I go round with the wide angle lens, now the church is fully open again.
That done, I walk back down into the centre heading for Eastbridge Hospital.
I have been here before, a decade ago, when I went round with just my wide angle lens, and go a few poor shots. So, with it being open for the Heritage Event, it seemed a good idea to go.
The hospital is ancient, it goes without saying, and is still in use.
I have walked up and down High Street in Canterbury dozens of times, and never really thought about what lay behind buildings on the west side.
At Eastbridge the ancient hospital straddles the Stour, or one branch of it, on the other is the timber framed house, Weavers, with the ducking stool further downstream.
I re-visited the hospital, and on the way out was told I could visit the gardens and Greyfriars Chapel at the same time.
A shop, former pawnbrokers, is now a charity shop for the gardens, and through the shop there is an exit to a path beside the river.
This opens out into two acres of gardens, still used to feed the patients in the hospital, and the monks who still live and work here.
There used to be a large priory church here, and there are parts of ancient walls and ruins to be seen, as well as a bridge of the same age.
Over the river, a former lodging building from the 13th century, as been converted into a chapel, Greyfriars, with pillars supporting the building as the river passes through a tunnel under it.
It was rather like walking through a wardrobe into a magical place, with the Stour gently flowing through it, and a few other visitors making their was to the Chapel and surrounding gardens.
We sat for 45 minutes in the meadow waiting for a service to end, so I could get shots. So, we people watched and delighted in Migrant Hawkers flying by.
Franciscan Gardens, Canterbury, Kent The sounds of the city seemed a hundred miles away.
I got the shots once the group of ladies left, and once I had the three shots, we followed sign to the exit, leaving the garden through a plane gate beside the old post office.
Two hundred and sixty Now what?
Well, nothing. Really.
So, we walk back slowly to the car, pay for three hours parking and drive back out of the city, down the A2 to the coast and home.
Back in time to listen to the footy, have a brew and try to avoid eating as we were going out in the evening. As, on Monday, it will be 14 years since we married, and as I will be in another country Monday, we celebrated it two days early.
Or would do come six.
Norwich were going for seven wins in a row, but never really got going against WBA, and fell a goal behind early on. Better in the second half, and drew level thanks to a deflection, but no win. But also, no defeat either.
Franciscan Gardens, Canterbury, Kent I had a shower and put on some clean clothes and a splash of aftershave.
Ready.
I drive us to Jen's, picked her up, then drove slowly to Sandwich, then over the marshes through Preston to Stourmouth.
We were not the only customers; there was a wedding reception, and there were gentlement and boys in three piece suits, and ladies and girls in glamourous gowns and neck-breaking heels. Occasionally the bride would literally sweep through the bar, the train of her dress cleaning as it went. Not sure if what was the right colour.....
We had ordered when I booked the table, a huge pan of paella with chorizo, chicken, ham and shrimp. Jen and I shared a bottle of red, and we ate and watched the comings and goings as the wedding party got ever more rauocus.
We rounded off with a cheeseboard between the three of us, and that was it.
Jools drove us back to Jen's, dropping her off, then back home.
I had decided to open the bottle of port once home, and did. This has been on the shelf since my last trip to Denmark and I saw it at the airport duty free.
It was every bit of good that I hoped it would be.
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The Hospital of St Thomas the Martyr of Eastbridge was founded in the 12th century in Canterbury, England, to provide overnight accommodation for poor pilgrims to the shrine of St Thomas Becket. It is now one of the ten almshouses still providing accommodation for elderly citizens of Canterbury[1] and is a grade I listed building.
The hospital is situated on the King's-bridge, near the Westgate, in Canterbury. It was established sometime after the death of Thomas Becket (1170), possibly as early as 1176, when Canterbury Cathedral became a site of pilgrimage; the hospital provided accommodation for the pilgrims. The earliest name recorded as founder is that of Edward FitzOdbold c. 1190, with further endowments by Archbishop Hubert Walter about 1203.[1] For many years, no special statutes were enacted, nor were any rules laid down for the treatment of pilgrims.
The original building consists of an entrance hall, undercroft, refectory and chapel, all built in around 1190. Like the ancient Entrance Hall beneath it, the Pilgrims’ Chapel dates from the twelfth century, but assumed its present proportions in the fourteenth century. The roof of the Pilgrims’ Chapel is a fine example of its kind: the style of woodwork and joinery indicate that it was built around 1285. The Undercroft's original function was as a dormitory, and architecturally shows the period of time where the round-headed arch was giving way to the Gothic style of pointed arch.
The Refectory is a large open room originally used as a dining space. On the north wall is a painting of Our Lord in Glory between the symbols of the four Evangelists dating from the thirteenth century. This fresco was only uncovered when the chimney and fireplace installed around the time of the dissolution were removed in 1879, and it has been conserved since its revelation.
Approval for the funding of a Chantry Chapel was sanctioned by Archbishop Sudbury in 1375; the original document confirming this endowment is housed in the Canterbury Cathedral archives. (Chantries were abolished in 1547, and this fell into disrepair until it was reclaimed and restored for its original use in 1969.)
Hospital of St. Thomas, Canterbury, old engraving.
In the fourteenth century the hospital was reformed by Archbishop John de Stratford, during the reign of Edward III; he created ordinances, as well as a code of regulations to be acted on concerning pilgrims. He ruled that every pilgrim in health could rest in the hospital for one night at the cost of four pence, that weak and infirm applicants were to be preferred to those with better health, and that women "upwards of forty" should attend to the bedding and administer medicines to the sick. He also appointed a Master in priest's orders, under whose guidance a secular chaplain served. Further lands and revenues from parishes were given by Stratford and by Archbishop Simon Sudbury.[1]
This institution survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries and other religious houses during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, although the pilgrimage to St Thomas of Canterbury did not survive this period. In 1569 Archbishop Matthew Parker issued new ordinances governing the Hospital and its Master which specified the maintenance of twelve beds for the 'wayfaring poor' and established a school in the chapel for twenty boys. This arrangement was confirmed by Archbishop John Whitgift by Act of Parliament in 1584.[1]
The school survived until 1879. The chapel was then little used until its restoration by the Master in 1927. Further restoration work has taken place during the twentieth century. Much of this work was financed by sale of some of the hospital's lands at Blean at the foundation of the University of Kent in the 1960s.[1] A list of the Masters of the Eastbridge Hospital up to the end of the eighteenth century is given by Edward Hasted.
Between 2014–2019, extensive restoration took place to preserve those rooms situated directly over the River Stour. This work was supported by the Viridor Credits scheme, which funds community, heritage, and biodiversity projects. It was formally opened to the public by the Bishop of Dover on 23 March 2019, and named after Archbishop William Juxon, who was a generous benefactor during his tenure, and gave money for an earlier restoration of this part of Eastbridge.
Eastbridge is a functional almshouse to this day, providing accommodation in eight individual apartments in areas of the buildings inaccessible to the public. Eastbridge is administered by Trustees whose main aims are the maintenance of the ancient buildings, which are of national historic interest, and the welfare of the almshouse residents (Indwellers).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastbridge_Hospital_of_St_Thomas_th...
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THE HOSPITAL OF KING'S BRIDGE, ALIAS EASTBRIDGE
IS likewise situated in the same hundred, being exempt from the liberties of the city, and within the jurisdiction of the county of Kent at large. It takes its name from its situation close on the south side of King's bridge. This hospital was formerly called, by both the names of Eastbridge hospital and the hospital of St. Thomas the martyr of Eastbridge; which latter it had, from its being at first erected and endowed by the charity and piety of St. Thomas Becket, in king Henry II.'s reign. (fn. 1) For this we have the testimony of one of his successors, archbishop Stratford; who, upon his new ordination of the hospital, and in the charter of it, acknowledged archbishop Becket to be the first founder and endower of it; besides which, there is no other record extant, or to be found concerning the foundation of this hospital, or the intent why it was erected. (fn. 2) But to look back to the times intervening between these two founders, in which it is recorded, that archbishop Hubert, who sat in this see in king John's reign, was an especial benefactor to it, by the gift of several mills, tithes, and other premises, which were confirmed by the prior and convent of Christ church. In this archbishop's time there was another hospital, neighbouring to this of King's, alias Eastbridge, called Cokyn's hospital, built and en dowed by one William Cokyn, a citizen of Canterbury, whose name in his posterity long survived him, in this city. (fn. 3) This hospital was dedicated to St. Nicholas and the Virgin and martyr St. Catherine; and was situated in the parish of St. Peter, almost directly opposite to the late Black Friars-gate, having had a lane by it, once called Cokyn's lane, though long since shut up, and built upon. This hospital lastmentioned, was built on the scite of a house adjoining to the above William Cokyn's dwelling, or else was turned into one by him. Afterwards, by his charter, he united these two hospitals, and then by another charter, entitled them to all his lands, possessions and chattels, and made them his heirs. This union was confirmed by the bull of pope Innocent III. anno 1203, in which it is called the hospital of St. Thomas of Canterbury; and in Cokyn's grant of union, it is stiled the hospital of St. Nicholas, St. Catherine, and St. Thomas the Martyr of Eastbridge. (fn. 4) Eastbridge hospital becoming thus by union or consolidation possessed of and owners of Cokyn's hospital, it ceased soon afterwards, probably, to be used as one, and was hired or rented out, among the possessions of the hospital of Eastbridge; in which state it continues at this time. (fn. 5)
To return now again to the hospital of St. Thomas of Eastbridge, for which there being no statutes for the government of it, archbishop Stratford, anno 15 Edward III. drew up certain ordinances for that purpose, (fn. 6) the effect of which was, that the hospital being founded for the receiving, lodging and sustaining of poor pilgrims, was then, owing to the negligence of the masters, who had wasted the revenues of it, but meanly endowed, and that the buildings of it were in a ruinous condition: to remedy which, and to continue the charitable intent of it, he decreed, that the church of St. Nicholas, Harbledown, should be for ever appropriated to it; that for the government of this hospital, there should be a master in priest's orders, appointed by the archbishop and his successors, who should keep a proper secular chaplain, or vicar, under him, to be removed at the master's will and pleasure. That such poor pilgrims as happened to die within this hospital, should be buried in Christ church yard, in the place heretofore allotted to them there. That every pilgrim, in health, should have no more than one night's lodging and entertainment, at the expence of 4d. that there should be twelve beds in the hospital, and that some woman, upwards of forty years of age, should look after the beds and provide all necessaries for the pilgrims; that those who were not in health, should be preferred to such as were; that no lepers should be received into it; that if there was a smaller number of pilgrims reforting to the hospital, at any one time, a greater number should be received into it, in lieu of such deficiency, at other times, as far as the revenues of the hospital would allow of it; and further, he inhibited them from having any common seal in the hospital, with several other particular orders and injunction, as may be seen in the instrument more at large.
This hospital had several very liberal benefactors in early times. Among others, Hamo de Crevequer gave the church of Blean to it, which gift was afterwards confirmed by archbishop Stephen Langton, and was afterwards appropriated to it by archbishop Sudbury in 1375, Thomas, lord Roos, of Hamlake, in the 33d year of king Edward III. gave the manor of Blean to it, and the year afterwards Sir John Lee, as appears by the ledger of the hospital, gave to it a messuage, with 180 acres of land and divers rents of assize, in the same parish, for the increase of vorks of piety in it. (fn. 7)
In the year 1362, archbishop Islip founded a perpetual chantry in this hospital, and transferred to it, for the benefit of it, at the request of Bartholomew de Bourne, the chantry founded in the church of Livingsborne, alias Beaksborne, by his ancestor James de Bourne. (fn. 8)
By the instruments of the archbishops Islip and Sudbury, dated in the above year, it appears, by the former, that there was founded in this hospital, a perpetual chantry for divine services; the priest of which was to receive a yearly stipend of ten marcs, of the master of the hospital, out of the revenues of it; for which he was to celebrate divine service, and minister the sacraments and sacramentals in it, to such poor and infirm as should resort hither; and that the priest and his successors should possess the mansion, within the bounds of the hospital, between the infirmary and the great gate of it, and the chamber over it. After which king Edward III, having given a messuage, called the Chaunge, at the time almost wholly in ruins, to Thomas Newe de Wolton, then master of this hospital, and his successors, in aid of the maintenance of the priest who should celebrate in it for his health, for his soul afterwards, and that of John at Lee, who in part founded the chantry, &c. and the said messuage having been repaired and rebuilt by the executors, and at the cost, though charity, of his predecessor, the value of the rent amounted to seven marcs yearly, and would, as it was presumed, amount still higher in future; and it being difficult at that time to find a proper priest, who would undergo the duty and residence required in it, for the salary of ten marcs, the king's piety in augmenting the priest's stipend, was as yet frustrated—Archbishop Simon Sudbury, therefore, by his instrument dated in 1375, in which he recited the above ordination of his predecessor, ordained and decreed, in addition to that before-mentioned, and by the consent of the said Thomas, master of this hospital, and the executors of his predecessor, that the endowment of this chantry of ten marcs, should be augmented with five marcs and an half out of the seven marcs of rent of the messuage given by the king as aforesaid, with power of distress, &c. and whereas the presentation of the chantry of Bourne, united to this hospital, as in the ordination of the first chantry aforesaid made by his predecessor, more plainly appeared, belonged to Bartholomew de Bourne, his heirs, or assigns, before the union; he therefore decreed and ordained, that the presentation and collation to be made to the same, when vacant, should belong to him and his successors, and to the said Bartholomew de Bourne, his heirs, or assigns, alternately; the first turn to belong to the archbishop, because the assigns of Bartholomew de Bourne (fn. 9) had presented the then incumbent to it, &c. (fn. 10)
Though the revenues of this hospital lay chiesly in the parish of Blean, yet it was possessed of other rents, lands and tenements in Canterbury, Harbledown, and in Birchington. It was likewise possessed of lands in Herne, Reculver, Swaycliffe, Chistlet, and Bekesborne, belonging to the before-mentioned chantry, which at the suppression of it were seized on, as such.
By a bull of pope Honorius III. this hospital had the privilege of not paying tithes of their gardens. (fn. 11)
By the return made to the king's commissioners in king Henry VIII.'s reign, it appears, that there was here a neat handsome chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, to which had belonged two bells, to ring to service, as was reported to them by the parson and churchwardens of All Saints; who said further, that this hospital was a parish church, in which there was ministred all sacraments and sacramentals, to the poor people resorting thither, and to the keeper of it, and his household, and all others remaining within the precinct of it, by the chantry priest; the matter of fact was, that this chapel was formerly served by the chantry priest of the chantry in it, mentioned before, to have been transferred to it, who had 10l. 6s. 8d. yearly stipend or wages, besides his mansion or dwelling, which was at the west end of the hospital, of all which it was deprived at the suppression of it by the statute of the 1st year of king Edward VI. (fn. 12) when a pension of six pounds per annum was granted to Nicholas Thompson, alias Campion, the incumbent of it, which was remaining anno 1553. (fn. 13)
The value of the revenues of the hospital itself, as returned anno 26 Henry VIII. according to both Dugdale and Speed, were 23l. 18s. 9⅓d. per annum, but this must have been the clear income, for according to Sancrost's manuscript valor, they amounted in the whole to 43l. 12s. 3d. (fn. 14)
The state of this hospital, as it stood in the time of cardinal Pole, at archdeacon Harpsfield's visitation in 1557, was, as appears by the entry in the book of it; that they were bound to receive way faring and hurt men, and to have eight beds for men, and four for women; to remain for a might, and more, if they were not able to depart; and the master of the hospital to be charged with their burial, and they had twenty lords of wood yearly allowed, and 26s. a year for drink, that there was 10l. land a year, with a mansion, which the priest always had for officiating in the chapel, taken away by the king, and that it was the head church to St. Cosmus and St. Damian Blean, but that they had no ornaments but organs. (fn. 15)
This hospital, though it outlasted the general suppression of most of the foundations of the like sort in the reigns of king Henry VIII. and king Edward VI. yet in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, the lands and tenements belonging to it, as well as the hospital itself, then converted into tenements, were occu pied and possessed by private persons, until archbishop Parker, in the 10th year of that reign, recovered, by his prudent care, some of the lands and possessions, and restored the house again to pious and charitable uses. He framed new ordinances for the government of it, which he wisely contrived should be suitable to those times, as well as agreeable to the first foundation of the hospital, and the former statutes of archbishop Stratford, as far as might be; reserving nevertheless, a power to his successors, archbishops of Canterbury, to revise, alter, abolish and new make all, or any part of them; they are dated May 20, 1569. (fn. 16)
In them it appears, that in consequence of the ordinances of archbishop Stratford, the master of the hospital might take all the profits of it to his own use, bestowing only for the relief of wandering and wayfaring brethren, and poor, in bread and drink, after the rate of 4d. a day, and one night's lodging for twelve persons, if so many came there at one time, in the whole not above 6l. 2s. 6d. per annum, but the archbishop (Parker) by the authority in the above former ordinance concerning the disposition of the profits of this hospital, to him and his successors reserved, to alter and change the same, did by these ordinances in that behalf made, under his hand and seal, not only increase the above sum, to be from thenceforth bestowed on certain poor inhabiting within the county of the city of Canterbury, but also appointed other sums of money thereout, yearly to be paid towards the keeping of a freeschool, for a certain number of poor children of the county of the said city, to be taught to write and read freely within the hospital.
By the same ordinance, as well as by an indenture, between the master of this hospital and the master of Corpus Christi, or Benet college, in Cambridge, dated May 22, anno 11th Elizabeth, the archbishop founded out of the revenues of this hospital, two scholarships, each of the yearly value of 3l. 6s. 8d. that sum to be paid yearly from thence, by the master of the hospital to the master of the college; the two scholars to be chosen, named, examined and approved by the master of this hospital and the dean of Canterbury, if any such there should be; if not, then by the master only, and to be taken from the free-school in Canterbury, being such of the scholars there as were born within Kent, and being sent to Cambridge, should be called Canterbury scholars; who, after their admittance and receipt there, should remain and continue in that college, according to the orders and statutes of it, and should have of the provision of it, convenient chambers, commons, reading and other necessaries, as other scholars in it, according to common custom, for the term of two hundred years next, from the date of the indenture, with other rules and regulations in it relating to them. (fn. 17)
Not long after this, queen Elizabeth issued a commission of charitable uses, to enquire into the state and condition of this hospital, which was done, and a return thereof made accordingly; and again, soon after the death of archbishop Parker, there was a second commission, directed to Sir James Hales and others, who certisied, that the hospital house stood ruinated, and neither master nor brethren were resident, or dwelling of long time. The house was let out into tenements for yearly rent. The beds that were wont to lodge and harbour poor people resorting thither, were gone and sold, contrary to the old order and foundation of the same; and that the hospital was relinquished and concealed from the queen, &c. Upon which, she granted it, with all its revenues, by letters patent, dated July 20, in her 18th year, to John Farnham, one of her gentlemen pensioners, to hold in see farm for ever. —He soon afterwards conveyed his interest in it for 550l. and the release beside of a debt owing by him, to Geo. Hayes. After this, archbishop Whitgift recovered this hospital, with the revenues of it, from Hayes, and then settled it upon a new foundation, so firm and sure, that it has continued to the present time, and remains a perpetual monument of the archbishop's piety and prudence, who may be justly reputed the sounder and restorer of it; (fn. 18) and he framed new ordinances and statutes, for the better government of it, by which the hospital is now ruled. In these it is, among other things, ordered and decreed, that the archbishop should collate the master, who should be in holy orders, and should be instituted and inducted according to the usual form and custom, who should have the lodging known by the name of the master's lodging, in the hospital; and a yearly stipend of 61. 13s. 4d. and twenty loads of wood from the lands belonging to it, to be delivered cost free. That the master should appoint a school-master, who by himself or deputy, should freely instruct twenty poor children of this city, above the age of seven years, to write, read and cast accompts, and to have books, paper, &c. provided for them, out of the prosits of the hospital, and not to remain in the school above three years. The school-master to have a lodging in the hospital, and a stipend of four pounds, and for his further relief, if the master approved of it, to be receiver of the rents, &c. of the hospital; for which he should receive 26s. 8d. and two loads of wood yearly, to be delivered cost free, and one summer livery cloth. That out of the prosits of the hospital, there should be paid for ever, to the two scholars to be taken out of the common school at Canterbury, commonly called the mynte, by the master of the hospital, with the consent of the archbishop, and placed in Benet college, 3l. 6s. 8d. each, according to the former ordinances made of it. That whereas by former ordinances, the master of the hospital was only tied to pay in time of peace, unto the poor passengers, or to such other poor people as the master should think good, thirty pence a week; and in time of war that payment ceasing, to provide twelve beds for the lodging of poor soldiers, passing through this city, within the hospital, for the space of one night only, which is now grown wholly out of use, especially since the loss of Calais; therefore, for the better relief of the poor inhabiting within this city and the suburbs of it, it was ordered, that the former last recited orders should cease, and instead of them, there should be five inbrothers, and five in-sisters, to be permanent and have their habitation in the hospital; and after the space of twenty years next ensuing, there should be five other out-brothers, and five others called out-sisters; each of the said in-brothers and in-sisters to have a several dwelling and lodging within the hospital, and 26s. 8d. by the year, and one load of wood to be delivered cost free, between Midsummer and Michaelmas; and each of the out brothers and out-sisters to have 26s. 8d. by the year only; that the mayor of this city should from time to time, nominate to the master of the hospital for every of the brothers and sisters rooms, when they should be void and unfurnished, two poor persons, men or women, as the places should require, being lame, impotent, blind, or aged, above fifty years of age, who should have inhabited within the city, of suburbs, seven years before; of which two, the master should chuse and admit one; and in default of the mayor's nomi nating for the space of three months, the master to make choice, and admit any, qualisied as above-mentioned. That in the room of every out-brother and sister, the mayor should nominate such persons as above specisied, whereof one at least should be such as had dwelt in the city or suburbs, by the space of three whole years at least, to the end that such as dwelt there, and not within the county of the city, should receive the whole benefit of these ordinances. That the master, out of the profits of the hospital, should repair and sustain it, and every part within the precincts of it, and also sufficiently sustain and maintain the bridge, called the king's bridge, alias Eastbridge, within the city of Canterbury; (fn. 19) and pay to the queen, her heirs and successors, 7l. 10s. yearly, due to her for the pension of a chantry, sometime within the hospital, and all other dues and payments going out of it. That the master should not let for years or lives, the lands or tenements, nor make any woodsales of the wood, without the express consent, in writing, of the archbishop, and should yearly make an accompt to him, if demanded, so that of the surplusage all charges deducted, the portions of the brethren and sisters might be increased at the will of the archbishop, as theretofore had been used. That the in-brethren or sisters, master or schoolmaster, who should die within the precincts of the hospital, might be buried within the church-yard of the cathedral, according to a former agreement made between the archbishop, his predecessor and the then prior and convent of Christ church, with many other orders and re gulations mentioned in them, (fn. 20) all which were confirmed and ordered to be inrolled in chancery, by an act passed in the 27th year of that reign, (fn. 21) by the means of which, the rights of this hospital have been preserved to this time.
There have been some few modern benefactors to this hospital.
Mr. Avery Sabin, sometime an alderman of this city, by his will in 1648, gave a rent charge out of his estate at Monkton, in Thanet, of 20l. per annum, for charitable uses to the poor of this city, of which, ten marcs were assigned yearly to be paid to the five in-brothers and five in-sisters of this hospital. (fn. 22)
Mrs. Elizabeth Lovejoy, widow, by her will in 1694, gave, out of her personal estate, the sum of five pounds yearly to this hospital, to be shared and divided among the poor of it, in like manner as her gift to Cogan's hospital, above-mentioned. Besides which, this hospital receives yearly the sixth part of the interest, due from 1631. 16s. 3d. being the sum due from Mrs. Masters's legacy, who died in 1716, which is vested in the mayor and commonalty, in trust, for the several hospitals in Canterbury, of which a full account may be seen among the charitable benefactions to this city.
In 1708 John Battely, D. D. archdeacon of Canterbury, and master of this hospital, new built three of the sisters lodgings, and did several other great repairs, and at his death left by his will, to the in-brothers and sisters, one hundred pounds, the interest of which he ordered should be proportioned by Mr. John Bradock, of St. Stephen's, and Mr. Somerscales, vicar of Doddington.
Mr. John Bradock, master of this hospital, in 1719 gave by his will, 25l. 13s. 4d. for the better payment of the poor people, at Lady-day and Michaelmas.
Mr. Matthew Brown, of St. Peter's, in Canterbury, in 1721, gave by his will 10s. per annum for ever, to the in brothers and sisters of this hospital.
In 1768, Thomas Hanson, esq. of Crosby-square, London, gave by will, the interest of 500l, for ever, to the in brothers and sisters of this hospital; which being now invested in the 3 per cents. reduced Bank Annuties, produces 17l. 1os. per annum.
Besides these, the hospital had many temporary benefactors, as well towards the repairs of it, as in money; among which were, the archbishops Juxon, Sheldon and Sancrost. The yearly tenths of this hospital amounting to 2l. 7s. 10d. are payable to the archbishop.
In 1691, the yearly revenues of this hospital amounted in the whole to 101l. 5s. 9d. besides which were the fines upon the renewals of the leafes, and alderman Sabine's gift of 13s 4d. a piece, by the year, which came not into the master's hands, but was paid by one of the aldermen of the city.
The present building is antient; it has a decent hall and chapel, where the schoolmaster, who has a good apartment in the house, and is called the reader, instructs twenty boys gratis, in reading, writing, and arithmetic. There are rooms also for five in brothers, and five in-sisters, but some of these rooms are subject to be flooded in a very wet season. (fn. 23) The master has a neat handsome house, sitauted in a court near the hospital, but on the western or opposite side of the river.
¶The antient common seal of this hospital having been for a long time missing, the late master, Dr. Backhouse, at his own expence, supplied the hospital with another in the year 1783.
This is the final Kent church of the year, and with these uploads I will have caught up on all my picture taking, I believe.
We only visited St Mildred last year, but I forgot, so we went again in November, on another wonderful late autumn morning.
After visiting, we sat in the churchyard eating sausage rolls, much to the disgust of a couple of other visitors to the church.
Oh well.
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A superb church, which despite a heavy-handed restoration by G.M. Hills (see also Newenden) in 1864 still has much of interest. The nave ceiling is exceptional fifteenth-century work, rather more domestic in feel than is normal in an ecclesiastical building. There are two blocked thirteenth-century windows above the chancel arch - an unusual position to find windows in Kent. The five bay aisles are extremely narrow. The glass in the south aisle windows by Hughes of 1865 are rather fun. In the north chapel is a fine alabaster standing monument to Herbert Whitfield (d. 1622) and his wife. This monument cuts off the base of the north-east window and displays many colourful coats of arms. The chancel screen and pulpit are late nineteenth century and fit in with the medieval architecture better than most works of that period.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Tenterden
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The history of Tenterden itself is lost in time, as is the origin of St. Mildred’s church. Perhaps all that can be said with any confidence is that the story of the town and the story of St. Mildred’s are bound together with each other, with the story of pre-conquest Kent, with the story of Christianity in Kent, and with the story of the ancient Kentish royal house.
Tenet-wara-den (the den of the Thanet folk) was the Wealden area used by the abbey of Minster-in-Thanet for Autumn pig-forage (acorns and beech mast to fatten the pigs for Winter). That abbey was founded by Domne Aefa (“the lady Aebba”?) of the Kentish royal family, and either she herself or her daughter, St. Mildred, was the first abbess. This is within the first century after the arrival in Canterbury of St. Augustine’s mission from Rome. Mildred’s holy reputation was an international one, and there can be no doubt that a church in her name was here from some point in the eighth to tenth centuries. The reign of Canute is the latest possible period and it was almost certainly much earlier. However, we have no record of any incumbent before 1180, and the oldest perceptible fabric of the church is of about that time too.
When you stand in the middle of St. Mildred’s, you see a large building reflecting the prosperity of the town in the later middle ages. The north arcade of the chancel is probably around 1200, but most of the chancel, nave, and aisles is work of the 13th to 15th centuries. The fine wagon-vault ceiling of the nave has been variously stated to be 14th or 15th century (with some Victorian additions). The tower of the church, a prominent Kentish landmark, was probably built by architect Thomas Stanley. This major building work was undertaken in the middle of the 15th century, at the height of Tenterden’s prosperity, it being no coincidence that the town gained a charter and Cinque Port status in support of Rye, at about the same time.
The town’s prosperity was reflected also in the presence of important shipbuilding yards at both Reading Street and Smallhythe, both on the tidal River Rother at that time. The settlement at Smallhythe was sufficiently large to gain its own chapel sometime in the middle ages, but we know nothing of that building, though it was probably dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Smallhythe itself was burnt in a huge fire in 1514, and we know that rebuilding of the chapel began virtually straight away. The current church of St. John the Baptist is a beautiful example of a brick-built Tudor church, box-like (so with an excellent acoustic). It has, during its history, had varying levels of dependence or independence from the town church of St. Mildred.
By the middle of the 19th century, the population was growing fast, and attitudes to worship were changing too. St. Mildred’s lost its box pews, and had the organ moved to its present position. A new church was planned for the hamlet of Boresisle at the northern end of Tenterden, the neat and small Gothic revival church being dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels. Two consequences were, firstly, the acquisition by Kent of another prominent landmark – the graceful spire, and secondly, the name Boresisle fell out of usage and the hamlet itself has ever since been known as “St. Michael’s”.
I do feel it important to append to this account of the Anglican church buildings a brief comment on the other churches of the town. There was always a Roman Catholic presence here, but after the Reformation, there was no church building until the Catholic priest in Tenterden, Canon Currie began, in the 1930s, a determined attempt to put that right, culminating in the building of St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic church in Ashford Road.
The history of “non-conformity” in Tenterden is a major and extensive one. Within a few decades of the development around the 1370s, by John Wyclife at Oxford, of the doctrines later known as “Lollardy”, there were significant numbers of people in Tenterden who ascribed to doctrines regarded as unorthodox. Moreover, following the Reformation of the 1540s to 1560s, there were many who rejected not only Roman ways, but were unhappy with the English church. We know that Tenterden families joined the 17th century exodus to the New World (notably to Massachusetts), and Tenterden acquired its first “non-conformist” chapel around 1700, that building now being the Unitarian church in Ashford Road, and one of Tenterden’s most interesting ancient relics. The nineteenth century saw the building of the Methodist church at West Cross, and two of the three Baptist churches – Zion in the High Street, and the Strict Baptist Jireh Chapel at St. Michael’s. Trinity Baptist in Ashford Road was built in 1928.
Those interested to pursue their enquiries further will find a guide in St. Mildred’s, and there is much information in standard texts of Kent history and architecture.
www.tenterdencofe.org/?page_ref=265
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THIS hundred contains within its bounds THE TOWN AND PARISH OF Tenterden, and part of the parish of Ebeney, containing the borough of Reading, the church of which is in another hundred.
This hundred was antiently accounted one of the Seven Hundreds, and was within the jurisdiction of the justices of the country, from which it was separated by Henry VI. who, on account of the impoverishment of the port and town of Rye, in Sussex, by his letters patent, in his 27th year, incorporated the town and hundred of Tenterden, by the name of the bailiff and commonaltie of the town and hundred of Tenterden, and granted that the same should be a member annexed and united to that town and port, and separated from the county of Kent, and that the bailiff and commonalty of this town and hundred should have for ever, on their contributing to the burthens and exigencies of that port and town from time to time, (fn. 1) many franchises, privileges, and freedoms, and all other liberties, freedoms, and free customs which the barons of the five ports had before that time enjoyed. In which state this town and hundred remained till the 42d year of queen Elizabeth's reign, when the name of their incorporation was changed to that of the mayor, jurats, and commonalty of the town and hundred of Tenterden, by which it continues to be governed at this time.
THE CORPORATION consists of a mayor, twelve jurats, and as many common-councilmen, a chamberlain, and town clerk; the jurisdiction of it being exclusive from the justices of the county. The mayor is chosen yearly on August 29. The election used to be in the town-hall; but that being burnt down by some prisoners in the prison-room over it, it was afterwards made under one of the great old oaks, which are not far from the place, on the other side of the street, where it stood. A neat and elegant hall was finished in 1792, adjoining the Woolpack Inn, in which the mayor has been elected as heretofore, and it is occasionally used as an assembly room by the inhabitants. The mayor is coroner of both the town and hundred; there is no sheriff; the commoners must be resciants, and are chosen by the mayor and two of the jurats; the jurats are all justices of the peace. They hold sessions of oyer and terminer, but cannot try treason. At the sessions holden at Tenterden, August 10, 1785, two men were convicted of burglary, and executed near Gallows-green the 27th following. Both the charters of this corporation being destroyed by the fire of the court-hall in 1660, an exemplification of them was procured anno 12 George III.
The liberty of the court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds, claimed a paramount jurisdiction over this hundred, till the incorporation of the town of Tenterden, and the annexing this hundred to it in the reign of Henry VI. since which the mayor and jurats have been lords of the royalty of it, and continue so at this time.
The parish is divided into six boroughs, each having a borsholder chosen yearly, these are Town Borough, Castweasle, Boresile, Shrubcote, Dumborne, which includes all Smallhyth, and Reading, which is wholly in the parish of Ebene.
THE PARISH of Tenterden lies too near the marshes to be either healthy or pleasant, excepting that part where the town is situated near the northern boundaries of it, on what may be called for this country, high ground; it is about five miles across each way. The soil of it is various, the northern part being sand, towards the east it is a wet stiff clay, and towards the south and west towards the marshes a deep rich mould. The generality of the lands in it are pasture, but there are about one hundred acres of hop-ground dispersed in different parts of it; there is very little wood, and that mostly between the town and Smallhyth, a hamlet formerly of much more consequence, as will be further mentioned hereafter, situated at the southern boundary of it, on the road into the Isle of Oxney, close to the river Rother, which separates that part of this parish from the island. About a mile and a half eastward is the hamlet of Reading-street, built adjoining the high road to Apledore, close to the marshes below it, on the passage over the Rother into Ebeney, and the Isle of Oxney.
On Saturday, Nov. 1, 1755, between ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon (being at the same time that the great bason at Portsmouth was disturbed) several ponds in this parish and neighbourhood, without any sensible motion of the earth, were greatly agitated, the water of them being forced up the banks with great violence, fretting and foaming with a noise similar to the coming in of the tide, so as to terrify many who were near them; some of these waters flowed up three times in this manner, others circled round into eddies, absorbing leaves, sticks, &c. and it was observed that only those ponds were affected, that had springs to supply the waters of them.
THE TOWN OF TENTERDEN is situated nearly in the centre of the parish and hundred. It stands on high ground, neither unpleasant nor unhealthy; the greatest part of it is built on each side of the high road leading from the western parts of Kent and Cranbrooke through this parish south-east to Apledore. A small part of it is paved, where there is a small antient market-place, built of timber; but the market, which is still held on a Friday, is but little frequented, only two millers, and seldom any butchers attending it. It is a well-built town, having many genteel houses, or rather seats, interspersed throughout it, among which are those of the Curteis's, a numerous and opulent family here, who bear for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three bulls heads, caboshed; (fn. 2) the Haffendens, who have been long resident here, and in Smarden and Halden, in this neighbourhood. Bugglesden, in the north part of Boresile borough, in this parish, was very antiently, and till within these few years, their property and residence. Richard Haffenden now resides in a new house, built by his father, called Homewood, at the west end of this town, and in the south part of Boresile borough. They bear for their arms, Chequy, sable and argent, on a bend, sable, three mullets, or; the Staces, who have been resident here from the beginning of the last century, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury, in several of which they are stiled gentlemen; the Blackmores, possessed of Westwell house, a handsome seat at the south east end of the town, built by James Blackmore, esq. in 1711, one of whose descendants afterwards becoming possessed by gift of the seat of Briggins, in Hertfordshire, removed thither, where they have continued ever since, and this of Westwell-house is now occupied by Mr. James Blackmore, the uncle of Thomas Blackmore, esq. of Briggins, who died possessed of it in 1789, having been thrice married. He left by his two first wives three sons and two daughters; his third. wife Anne, daughter of Mr. Tatnall, of Theobalds, now survives him. They bear for their arms, Argent, a fess between three balckmoors heads sideways, couped at the neck, sable; and several others, most of whose wealth, as well as that of the inhabitants of this town in general, has arisen from its near neighbourhood to Romneymarsh, where most of them have some occupation in the grazing business.
The church stands on the north side of the town, which, with the rest of the parish, consists of about three hundred houses, and two thousand inhabitants, of which about five hundred are diffenters, who have two meeting-houses here, one of Presbyterians, the other of Methodistical Baptists.
At the east end of the town is Craythorne-house, which formerly belonged to the Bargraves, and then to the Marshalls, who sold it to the late Mr. John Sawyer, who built a new house here, in which he afterwards resided, and his assigns now possess it. A branch of the family of Whitfield had once their residence in a large house at the east end likewise of this town. John Whitfield resided here, as did his son Herbert, who died in 1622; they were descended from an antient family in Northumberland, and bore for their arms, Argent, on a bend, plain, between two cotizes, ingrailed sable, a mullet, or. At length the heirs of Sir Herbert Whitfield, sold this seat to Wil liam Austen, esq. of Hernden, in this parish. Sir Robert Austen, bart. the last of that name, resided in it, and it now belongs to his heirs, and is made use of as a boarding school for young ladies.
There is a large fair held in this town on the first Monday in May yearly, for cattle, wool, merchandize, and shop goods of all sorts, to which there is a great resort from all the neighbouring country. Most of the road, leading from the town to Smallhyth, particularly the upper part of it, known by the name of Broad Tenterden, is said to have been lined with buildings on each side, and to have been the most populous part of the parish.
THERE ARE several places in this parish worthy notice, the first of them is HALES-PLACE, at the northwest end of this town, which was for many generations the residence of a branch of the family of Hales, who removed hither from their original seat, of the same name, in the adjoining parish of Halden. Henry Hales, who lived in the reign of Henry VI. was born here, and married Juhan, daughter and heir of Richard Capel, of Tenterden, by which he greatly increased his estate in this parish. He had by her two sons, of whom John Hales, the eldest, was of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, esq. and was one of the barons of the exchequer. He had four sons, Sir James Hales, one of the justices of the common pleas, who was of the Dungeon, where his descendants continued many generations afterwards; Thomas, who was seated at Thanington, whose descendant Robert was created a baronet in 1666, and was ancestor of the present Su Philip Hales, bart. Edward, the third son, inherited this seat and his father's possessions in this parish; and William, the fourth son, was of Recolver and Nackington, in this county. Edward Hales, esq. the third son, who inherited this seat and estate at Tenterden, resided at it, and left a son Sir Edward Hales, who was created a baronet on the 29th of June, 1611. He removed his residence from hence to the neighbouring parish of Woodchurch, in which parish he possessed the antient seat of the Herlackendens, in right of his wife Deborah, only daughter and heir of Martin Herlackenden, esq. of that place. His son Sir John Hales, having married Christian, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir James Cromer, of Tunstal, became possessed of the antient seat of the Cromers in that parish, where he resided, and died in his father's life-time, in 1639, whose son Edward Hales succeeded to the title of baronet on his grandfather's death, in 1654 whose heir he was, and resided at Tunstal. His son Sir Edward Hales, bart. having purchased the mansion of St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, resided there, as his descendants have ever since; and from him this seat and estate at Tenterden at length descended down to his great-grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. now of St. Stephen's, who about forty-eight years ago pulled down the greatest part of this antient seat, and fitted up a smaller dwelling or farm-house on the scite of it, which, together with the antient offices or out-buildings of the mansion still remaining, continues part of his possessions.
HERNDEN, formerly spelt Heronden, was once an estate of considerable size in this parish, though it has been long since split into different parcels. The whole of it once belonged to a family of the name of Heronden, whose arms, as appears by the antient ordinaries in the Heralds-office, were, Argent, a heron volant, azure. At length one part of this estate was alienated by one of this family to Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, whose descendant Sir John Baker, knight and baronet, died possessed of it in 1661; but the capital mansion and other principal parts of it remained some time longer in the name of Heronden, one of whom, in the reign of Charles I. alienated some part of it, now called Little Hernden, to Short, a family whose ancestors had resided at Tenterden for some time. In the Heraldic Visitation of this county, anno 1619, is a pedigree of this family, beginning with Peter Short, of Tenterden, who lived in the reign of Henry VIII. They bore for their arms, Azure, a griffin passant, between three estoiles, or. At length one of them sold this part of it to Curteis, whose grandson Mr. Samuel Curteis is now in the possession of it. But the remainder of Hernden, in which was included the principal mansion, situated about a quarter of a mile southward of the town, was at the same time conveyed by sale to Mr. John Austen, the second son of William Austen, esq. of this parish, and elder brother of Robert, created a baronet anno 1660. He afterwards resided here, and dying in 1655, s. p. gave it by will to his nephew Robert Austen, esq. the second son of Sir Robert above-mentioned, by his second wife. He afterwards resided here, and had two sons, Robert and Ralph; the eldest of whom, Robert Austen, esq. resided here, and left three sons, William, of whom hereafter, and Edward and Robert, both of whom afterwards succeeded to the title of baronet. William Austen, esq. the eldest son, inherited Hernden, and in 1729, suffered a recovery of this, as well as all other the Kentish estates comprised in his grandfather's settlement of them, to the use of him and his heirs. He died in 1742, and by will devised it to Mr. Richard Righton, who afterwards resided here, and died possessed of it in 1772, and was buried, as was his wife afterwards, under a tomb on the south side of the church-yard; upon which it came into the hands of his son Benjamin Righton, esq. of Knightsbridge, who in 1782 conveyed Hernden, a farm called Pixhill, and other lands in this parish and Rolvenden, to Mr. Jeremiah Curteis, gent. of Rye, in Sussex, who finding this antient mansion, which seems, by a date remaining on it, to have been built in the year 1585, being the 28th of queen Elizabeth's reign, in a ruinous condition, pulled it down; but the scite of it, together with the lands belonging to it, still remain in his possession.
PITLESDEN, or Pittelesden, as it was antiently spelt, is situated near the west end of this town. It was once a seat of some note, being the residence of a family of that name, who bore for their arms, Sable, a fess, between three pelicans, or, in whose possession it continued till Stephen Pitlesden, (fn. 3) about the reign of Henry VI. leaving an only daughter and heir Julian, she carried it in marriage to Edward Guldeford, esq. of Halden, whose descendant Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter and heir Jane, she entitled her husband Sir John Dudley, afterwards created Duke of Northumberland, to the possession of this manor, and they, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. joined in the conveyance of it to Sir Thomas Cromwell, lord Cromwell, afterwards created Earl of Essex, who passed it away by sale to that king, and it remained in the hands of the crown till king Edward VI. in his 7th year, granted it, with the pend of water, wear and fishery, with the dove-house belonging to it, and all its appurtenances, to Sir John Baker, one of the privy council, to hold in capite by knight's service, in whose family it continued till Sir John Baker, bart. of Sissinghurst, in the reign of king Charles I. conveyed it by sale to Mr. Jasper Clayton, mercer, of London. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Mr. William Blackmore, gent. of this place, who at his death devised it to his daughter Sarah, who entitled her husband Mr. John Crumpe, of Frittenden, to the possession of it for her life, but the remainder, on her death, is vested in her brother Mr. Thomas Blackmore, gent. now of Tenterden.
LIGHTS, formerly called Lights Notinden, is a small manor here, which together with another called East Asherinden, the name of which is now almost forgotten, though there was a family of this name of Asherinden, or Ashenden, as it was afterwards spelt, who were resident in this parish, and were, as appears by their wills, possessed of lands here called Ashenden, so late as the year 1595. These manors belonged partly to a chantry founded in this parish, and partly to the manor of Brooke, near Wye, which was part of the possessions of the priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury; in which state they continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when, on the suppression both of that priory and of the chantry likewise, they were granted by that king to Sir John Baker, his attorneygeneral, whose descendant Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, knight and baronet, died possessed of them in 1661. How long they continued in his descendants, I do not find; but the former is now-become the property of Mr. William Mantell, and the latter belongs to Mr. William Children, who has lately built a house on it, in which he resides.
FINCHDEN is a seat here, situated on the denne of Leigh, at Leigh-green, which was formerly in the possession of a family, who were ancestors of the Finch's, whose posterity still continued till very lately in the possession of it. They were antiently called Finchden, from their seat here; one of them, William de Fyncheden, was chief justice of the king's bench in the 45th year of the reign of Edward III. (fn. 4) though his name in some old law books, which appear to be of that time, is written contractedly Finch, which probably was the original name, though I do not find any connection between this family and the descendants of Vincent Herbert, alias Finch, seated at Eastwell and elsewhere in this county; excepting that they hear the same coat of arms. In later times I find William Finch, gent. of this place, died possessed of it in 1637, and in his direct descendants this seat continued down to Mr. William Finch, gent. who resided in it, and died possessed of it in 1794, s. p. leaving his brother Mr. Richard Finch, of Tenterden, his next heir.
ELARDINDEN is an estate, which was formerly of some account here, and is parcel of the manor of Frid, or Frith, in Bethersden. It was antiently part of the possessions of the noble family of Mayney. Sir John de Mayney, of Biddenden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of Edward III. and in his descendants it continued till the reign of Henry VI. when it was alienated by one of them to William Darell, esq. whose descendant George Darell, esq. conveyed it by sale in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. to Sir John Hales, of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, one of the barons of the exchequer, who gave it to his third son Edward Hales, esq. of Tenterden, in whose descendants it has continued down to Sir Edward Hales of St. Stephens, near Canterbury, the present possessor of it.
THE MANORS OF GODDEN AND MORGIEU are situated in the south-west part of this parish. The former of them was once in the possession of a family of that name, one of whom, Roger de Godden, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as one knight's fee, which he held here of Stephen de la Hey. Soon after which it seems to have passed into the possession of the family of Aucher. How long it continued in this name I have not seen; but in the 36th year of Henry VI. the executors of Walter Shiryngton, clerk, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, having founded a chantry in the chapel near the north door of St. Paul's cathedral, London, which, from the founder, bore the name of Shiryngton's chantry, they purchased both these manors towards the endow ment of it. (fn. 5) These manors remained part of this foundation till the suppression of it, in the 1st year of Edward VI.when coming into the hands of the crown, they were granted by the king, the year afterwards, to Sir Miles Partridge, to hold in capite by knight's service, and he sold them, in the 6th year of that reign, to Thomas Argal; and from his descendant they passed into the possession of Sir John Colepeper, afterwards created lord Colepeper, who died possessed of them in 1660; upon which they came to his second son John, who on his elder brother's death without male issue, succeeded to the title of Lord Colepeper, and dying in 1719 without issue, bequeathed these manors to his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper, of Hollingborne, who by will devised them to her nephew John Spencer Colepeper, esq. of the Charter-house, being the last of the vast possessions of the different branches of this family dispersed over this whole county. He, in 1781, alienated them to Mr. Richard Curteis, of Tenterden, the present possessor of them.
KENCHILL is a seat in this parish, which was formerly the property of the family of Guldeford, one of whom, Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret, and of the garter, possessed it in the reign of Henry VIII. His son Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter Jane, she carried it in marriage to Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, and he, about the 30th year of king Henry VIII.'s reign, conveyed it to that king, who, in his 36th year, granted it to Thomas Argal, to hold in capite by knight's service, on whole decease his son Thomas Argal had possession granted of it, in the 6th year of queen Elizabeth. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Robert Clarkson, esq. of London, who sold it in 1687 to Mr. John Mantell, grazier, of Tenterden, who was one of the instances of the quick accumlation of riches from Romney-marsh; for in fourteen year she had acquired sufficient to become the purchaser of this and other estates, which rented at 800l. per annum. He devised Kenchill by will, together with the manor of East Asherinden, already mentioned before, Dumborne, and other lands in this parish, to his son Reginald, who died possessed of them in 1743, and lies buried in this church-yard. They bear for their arms, Argent, a cross between four martlets, sable, as borne by the family of Horton Monks, excepting, that the latter bore the cross engrailed; and leaving no issue, he gave them to his nephew Mr. Edward Mantell, of Mersham, who left several sons and daughters, who afterwards joined in the sale of their respective interests in them to Mr. William Mantell, the then elder brother; by which means he became entitled to the entire see of Kenchill, with the manor of East Asherinden, and resided at the former of them. He married Anne Marshall, of Mersham, and died in 1789, leaving issue several children. The Rev. Mr. Thomas Mantell, the younger brother, re-purchased Dumborne, of which he is now possessed, having married in 1788 Miss S. Horne, by whom he has one daughter.
THE HAMLET OF SMALLHYTH, commonly called Smallit, is situated somewhat more than three miles from the town of Tenterden, at the southern boundary of this parish, close to the old channel of the river Rother, over which there is a passage from it into the Isle of Oxney. The inhabitants were formerly, by report, very numerous, and this place of much more consequence than at present, from the expressions frequently made use of in old writings of those infra oppidum and intra oppidum de Smallhyth; the prevalent opinion being, that the buildings once extended towards Bullen westward; no proof of which, however, can be brought from the present state of it, as there remain only three or four straggling farm-houses on either side, and a few cottages in the street near the chapel. The sea came up to this place so lately as the year 1509, as is evident by the power then given of burying in this chapel-yard the bodies of those who were cast by shipwreck on the shore of the sea infra predictum oppidum de Smalhyth; which are the very words of the faculty granted for that purpose.
At this place A CHAPEL was built, and was soon afterwards licensed by faculty from archbishop Warham, anno 1509, on the petition of the inhabitants, on account of the distance from their parish church of Tenterden, the badness of the roads, and the dangers they underwent from the waters being out in their way thither; and was dedicated to St. John Baptist. The words of it are very remarkable: And we William, archbishop aforesaid, of the infinite mercy of Almighty God, and by the authority of St. Peter and St. Paul the apostles, and also of our patrons St. Alphage and St. Thomas, remit, &c.
Divine service still continues to be performed in this chapel, which is repaired and maintained, and the salary of the chaplain paid out of the rents of lands in this parish and Wittersham, which are vested in trustees; who pay him the annual produce of them, the rents of them being at this time 52l. 10s. per annum, though it is set down in Bacon's Liber Regis, as only of the clear yearly certified value of forty five pounds. The present curate is Thomas Morphett, appointed in 1773.
Charities.
JOHN WOOD, by will in 1560, gave an annuity of 40s. per annum, out of certain lands in Tenterden, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. payable to the churchwardens, towards the repair of the church; which gift is confirmed by a decree of the court of chancery; the lands being in the occupation of Richard Farby.
LADY JANE MAYNARD GAVE by will in 1660, thirty acres of land in Snave and Rucking, let at 24l. per annum, for putting out poor children apprentices, whose fathers are dead or otherwise disabled by sickness; the overplus to be given to poor, honest and aged widows of this parish, that have not been nor are likely to become chargeable to it.
MR. ANNE SHELTON, widow, by will in 1674, gave nine acres of land in Brookland and Brenset, now let at twelve guineas per annum, to the vicar and churchwardens to put out one or more children, born in Tenterden, apprentices to some honest handicrast trade.
DAME FRANCES NORTON, widow, sister of Judith, wife of Robert Austen the elder, of Heronden, esq. gave by deed in 1719, an estate, of 35l. per annum, in Hollingborne, for the joint benefit in equal moieties of this parish and Hollingborne. Since which, by a commission of charitable uses, in 1748 a farm of 15l. per annum, in Hucking, has been purchased and added to it; the division of the profits of which between them, and the application of them, has been already fully related under the description of the parish of Hollingborne, in the fifth volume of this history, p. 473.
AN ANCESTOR of the family of Heyman, of Somerfield, many years since founded the free school in this town, for teaching the Latin tongue gratis, to so many poor children of this parish as the mayor and jurats should think proper, who are trustees of it, and appoint the master; but at present there are no children on this foundation.
WILLAIM MARSHALL, clerk, about the year 1521, gave 10l. per ann. to be paid the master of this school, out of a messuage and twelve acres of land, in this parish, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. which was confirmed by a decree in the Exchequer, anno 4 queen Anne, and then in the occupation of Thomas Scoone.
JOHN MANTELL,gent in 1702, gave 200l. which was laid out in the purchasing of a piece of fresh marsh land, containing ten acres, in St. Maries, let at 10l. per annum, to be paid to the master of this school.
The south chancel of the church is appropriated to the use of this school.
TENTERDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mildred, is a large handsome building, consisting of two isles and three chancels, having a lofty well-built tower at the west end, which standing on high ground is seen from the country for many miles around it. There are eight bells in it, and a set of musical chimes. The two isles and chancels are all ceiled; the north isle is curiously ceiled with oak and ornamented. There are three galleries in the church. On the front of the steeple are the arms of St. Augustine's monastery, and likewise on a beam over the altar. In the north window a coat, Two chevrons, gules, on a canton, gules, a lion passant, or. In the south window, at the bottom, Or, a saltier, between four mullets, sable; and another, Gules, a bend sinister azure, fretted argent. The monuments and gravestones in this church, as well as the tomb-stones in the church-yard, are so numerous as to be far beyond the limits of this volume. Among them are those belonging to the families of the Austens, Curteis's, Blackmores, Haffendens, and other families mentioned before, as the modern possessors of estates and manors in this parish.
Thomas Petlesden, esq. by will in 1462, appears to have been buried in the chancel of St. Catherine, and gave one hundred marcs to the steeple here, to be paid out of his land, &c. as long as it was a werking. (fn. 6)
Till within these few years there hung a beacon, (a very singular instance remaining of one) over on the top of this steeple. It was a sort of iren kettle, holding about a gallon, with a ring or hoop of the same metal round the upper part of it, to hold still more coals, rosin, &c. It was hung at the end of a piece of timber, about eight feet long. The vanes on the four pinnacles were placed there in 1682. There was formerly a noted dropping stone, in the arch of the door-way going into the bell-lost, which has ceased to drop for many years. By the dropping of it, part of a stone, or two stones rather, were carried off, leaving a considerable rist or hollow where the stones were joined. Upon the water drying in 1720, where it fell underneath, the stone hardened and grew slippery, being probably of the nature of the stelastical water in the Peak of Derbyshire, at Poolshole.
There is a noted saying, that Tenterden steeple was the cause of the Goodwin Sands—which is thus accounted for: Goodwin, earl of Kent, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was owner of much flat land in the eastern part of it, near the isle of Thanet, which was desended from the sea by a great wall, which lands afterwards became part of the possessions of the abbot of St. Augustine's, near Canterbury still retaining the name of Goodwin, their former owner; and the abbot being at the same time owner of the rectory of Tenterden, the steeple of which church he had then began building, had employed during the course of it so much of his care and attention to the finishing of that work, that he neglected the care and preservation of that wall, insomuch, that on Nov. 3, 1099, the sea broke over and ruined it, drowning the lands within it, and overwhelming it with a light sand, still remaining on them, the place retaining to this time the name of the Goodwin Sands, and becoming dreadful and dangerous to navigators. Thus this steeple is said to be the cause of the Goodwin Sands. This is the common tradition; how far consistent with truth, so far as relates to these sands, will be taken notice of in its proper place. (fn. 7)
THE CHURCH of Tenterden was part of the antient possessions of the monastery of St. Augustine, to which it was appropriated in 1259, on condition of a proper portion being assigned for the maintenance of a perpetual vicar of it; and the official of the archbishop, on an inquisition concerning this vicarage, made his return that it then consisted in all tithes, obventions, and oblations belonging to the church; except the tithes of sheaves, corn, and hay, of which latter the vicar should receive yearly four loads from the abbot and convent, and that it was then valued at eighteen marcs and more per annum.
The abbot of St. Augustine took upon himself, about the year 1295, to constitute several new deanries, and apportioned the several churches belonging to his monastery to each of them, according to their vicinity; one of these was the deanry of Lenham, in which this church of Tenterden was included, but this raising great contests between the archbishops and them, it ended in stripping the abbot of these exemptions, and he was by the pope declared to be subject to the archbishop's jurisdiction in all matters whatsoever, which entirely dissolved these new deanries. (fn. 8)
This church had a manor antiently appendant to it, and on a quo warranto in the iter of H. de Stanton, and his sociates, justices itinerant, anno 7 Edward II. the abbot was allowed year and waste, and cattle called weif, in his manor of Tentwardenne among others; and those liberties, with all others belonging to the abbot and convent, were confirmed by letters of inspeximus by Edward III. in his 36th year, and likewise the additional privilege of the chattels of their own tenants condemned and sugitive, within their manor here.
¶In which state this church continued till the general suppression of religious houses, when it came with the rest of the possessions of the abbey of St. Augustine, anno 30 Henry VIII. into the hands of the crown, after which the king, by his dotation charter in his 33d year, settled both the church appropriate of Tenterden, with the manor appendant and all its rights and appurtenances, and the advowson of the vicarage, among other premises, on his new-founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, with whom the inheritance of the parsonage remains. After the death of Charles I. on the dissolution of deans and chapters, this parsonage was surveyed in order for sale; when it appears to have consisted of one great barn, newly erected, on a close of pasture of five acres; together with all the tithes of corn within the parish; and several rents, out of lands and tenements in Tenterden, amounting to 26s. 8d. taken in right of the parsonage, which had been let in 1640 to Sir Edward Hales, at the yearly rent of 20l. 6s. 8d. but that they were worth over and above that rent seventy-eight pounds. That the lessee was bound to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church, and provide for the dean and officers, or pay the sum of 33s. 4d. The present lessee of it is Sir Edward Hales, bart. of St. Stephens, but the advowson of the vicarage the dean and chapter retain in their own hands.
In 1259 this vicarage was valued at thirty marcs, and in 1342 at forty-five marcs. It is valued in the king's books at 33l. 12s. 11d.and the yearly tenths at 3l. 7s. 3½d. In 1588 there were communicants five hundred and eighty-six. In 1640 it was valued at 120l. per annum. Communicants six hundred. It is now double that value.
There is a modus claimed throughout the parish, in the room of small tithes.
Posting shots of churches we have visited has shown me that my photography has improved now I don't use the ultrawide angle lenses, so many churches need a revisit.
And with the orchid season now at an end, nearly, it is time to turn to churchcrawling.
And the easiest non-Kent church to revisit was Winchelsea, just over the border in East Sussex, also gave us the chance to call in at the fishmongers in Rye for some smoked haddock.
After the early morning coffee and then the rush round Tesco, back home to pack it all away and for me to make bacon butties and another brew.
And then: go west.
Traffic is not so mad now, so it was easy to drive to Folkestone then up the motorway to Ashford, before turning off, past the inland border facility, then out onto the Marsh past Hamstreet.
West of Brookland, the road meanders about, bend after bend, crossing and recrossing the railway until we reach Rye.
We stop to buy the fish, then round the river, over the bridge and out the other side, five miles to Winchelsea, turning off to go up the hill under the old town gate, parking near the village shop.
Whereas Rye was already busy, Winchelsea was quiet, and just past ten meaning the church had just opened.
We walk across the large churchyard through the ruins of the tower and into the church, where the triple wide nave was lines on the north and south walls with fine wall tombs.
I photograph each on in turn, and the corbel heads on each too.
I rephotograph the fine windows too, as despite being modern, they really are on another level.
One or two people come in, a family of three last 30 seconds before the mother and teenage son leave.
After completing the shots, I go out to meet up with Jools so we can walk to the shop to have ice cream, and sit to eat them on a bench looking at the north wall of the church.
After we had finished our ice creams, we climbed back in the car. It wasn't yet half ten. Time for some more churches!
So, after driving back through Rye and into Kent, we call into Brookland so I could check if the tower was open, as I have never found it open. The church was, but the candlesnuff tower was locked.
No worries, there's always New Romney.
I first came here with my friend, Simon, in 2014 when there was a formal dinner being prepared, and a year ago, we arrived just after one to find the building being locked for the day.
We parked opposite and I see the sign advertising a craft and record fair, along with refreshments.
Inside there were stall set up, and people in the Chancel drinking tea and eating cake.
I was able to get shots of some of the memorials and details, which is why I came back, really.
The fair happens on only one Saturday per month, just my luck to pick a day when it was on.
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A wonderful church of grand proportions, the exterior of which is best seen from the east where the three reticulated windows chancel and chapels of the Decorated period may be clearly seen. The nave is Norman, with interesting decoration on the arcades and solid circular piers. The church was owned by Potigny Abbey and in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries it invested heavily in rebuilding the east end, with fine octagonal pillars, piscinae and sedilia in each of the three eastern chapels. Between the chancel and chapels are hagioscope openings. It is interesting that the floor remains unrestored, with brick, tile and old ledger slabs. This is the result of the intervention of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings when John Oldrid Scott started over-restoring the church in 1878. The early aisles must have been very low as the Norman clerestory windows rise straight from the top of the arcade. The best place to see Norman work at New Romney is in the main west door where the zigzag decoration has few parallels in the county.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=New+Romney
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THE TOWN AND PORT OF NEW ROMNEY,
WRITTEN in the survey of Domesday, Romenel, lies the next adjoining southward from Old Romney, to distinguish it from which it was called New Romney. The greatest part of it is within the liberty of the cinque ports, and of the corporation of the town and port of New Romney; another part is within the level of Romney Marsh, and the liberty and jurisdiction of the justices of it; and the residue is within the level of Walland Marsh, and the jurisdiction of the justices of the county.
THE TOWN of New Romney is supposed to owe its origin to the decay of the antient port and haven of Old Romney, which being rendered useless by the withdrawing of the sea from it, that of New Romney became frequented in its stead, and being esteemed a large and commodious harbour for shipping, and the town adjoining to it increasing to a considerable size, and being well filled with inhabitants, it gained the privilege of being one of the cinque ports, and had annexed as members to it Lid, Old Romney, Dengemarsh, and Oswardestone, and that part of the parish of Promhill within this county, with which jointly it was bound to provide five ships, with twenty one men and one boy to each of them. After the battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror, on his march to Dover castle, passed this town, where he is said to have revenged himself on the inhabitants, for having killed some of his men, who by mistake had landed here. (fn. 1) After which this haven seems to have been in danger of ruin; and king Henry III. being informed of its danger of being destroyed, by stoppage from the river at Newenden, directed Nicholas de Handloe to re pair hither in person, with the sheriff of Kent and twenty four knights and lawful men, to examine into it. And among the patent rolls in the tower is one, in consequence of it, for the new making of this port. In this state New Romney, in all probability continued till king Edward I.'s reign, when the river Limen, or Rother, as it was afterwards called, being forced from its old channel hither, by a violent tempest, which destroyed likewise part of the town and several villages near it, and the sea at the same time retiring to a still further distance from it, the haven was soon irretrievably choaked up by the beach and became dry land, and the town itself never regained its former consequence; yet in the regin of king Edward the Confessor, it seems to have been of considerable note; for at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in the 15th year of the Conqueror's reign, which was little more than fourteen years from king Edward's death, it appears by the following mention of it, that there were in it eighty-five burgesses, which belonged to the archbishop's manor of Aldington.
In Romenel there are four times twenty and five burgesses, which belonged to the archbishop's manor of Aldington, and were, and now are worth to the lord sixpounds.
Besides which, Robert de Romenel, who held the manor of Lamport of the archbishop by knight's service, had twenty one burgesses here, which belonged to that manor, and fifty which he held of the bishop of Baieux, as may be seen by the following entries in the same record:
To this manor (viz. Lamport) belong twenty-one burgesses, which are in Romenel, of whom the archbishop has three forfeitures—theft, breach of the peace, and robbery on the highway. But the king has all service from them, and they have all customs and other forfeitures for service of the sea, and they are in the king's hands .
And further, under the general title of the bishop of Baieux's possessions:
The same Robert (de Romenel) has fifty burgesses in the burgh of Romenel, and of them the king has all service, and they are quit from the service of the sea, from all custom except in three—thest, breach of the peace, and forstel .
In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was forty shillings, now fifty shillings. Alsi held it of earl Godwin .
Robert de Romenel certainly took his name from his possessions in this place. He is mentioned several times in the record of Domesday. Albritha de Rumenel, in the reign of king John, was marshal of the king's birds by inheritance, and married William de Iarpenvile; their daughter and heir Alice, married Thomas Fitzbernard, to whom and their heirs for ever, on the petition of their mother, the king granted that office after her death. The latter afterwards gave to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, for her sepulture there, twelve pounds sterling of Old Rumenell and Langport, to be received of Stephen deAudintune, or whomsoever should posses the same. (fn. 2) Camden, in his Remains, says, Sir Robert de Romney, for so the name was afterwards spelt, bore for his arms, in imitation of the family of Criol, Two chevrons, and a canton, to which he added, on the latter, three leopards faces; and so late as the 1st year of king James I. Sir William Rumney, was sheriff of London, and there are some of this name still remaining. But to return, so great a number of burgesses as one hundred and fifty-six, serves to give us an idea of its antient state and populousness, and even at the time of the dreadful tempest which caused its ruin in king Edward I.'s reign, as mentioned before, it is said to have been divided into twelve wards, and to have had in it five parish churches, a priory, and an hospital for the sick. But when the river, by so tremendous a convulsion of nature, which not only destroyed men and cattle, but whole towns and villages, had been driven from its proper channel, and its antient mouth here being stopped up, had opened for itself a nearer passage into the sea by Rye, then the sea began to withdraw itself from this town, which afterwards decayed apace, insomuch, that in king Henry VIII.'s reign the sea was two miles distant from it, and there was only one parish church remaining, and that scarce well maintained. Leland, who wrote his Itinerary in that reign, says, "Rumeney is one of the v portes, and hath bene a netely good haven, yn so much that withyn remembrance of men shyppes have cum hard up to the towne and cast ancres yn one of the church yardes. The se ys now a ii myles fro the towne so sore therby now decayed that where ther wher iii great paroches and chirches sumtyme, is now scant one wel mayteined."
There were certainly four other parish churches besides the present one of St. Nicholas, as will be further mentioned hereafter, to which, on the decay of the others about the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, the parishes belonging to them were, united and made one parish, as at this time. The town stands rather higher than the neighbouring country, on a soil of gravel and sand. There are about one hundred houses in it, which are mostly modern, neatly built of brick, and sashed, and about five hundred inhabitants. It consists principally of one very wide street, well paved, running the whole length of it, and a cross street, in that part of which leading to the church stands the hall, or brotherhood-house, where the mayor, jurats, and commons of the cinque ports and two antient towns usually keep their court, called a brotherhood, of late newly built in a handsome manner, but not large enough to hold the several members to sit there with them in their court, called a guestling, which is therefore kept in the church, usually on the Tuesday after the feast of St. Margaret, being the 20th of July. In the midst of the high-street is the market-place, a neat modern building, the market being kept here weekly on a Saturday; and there is a fair held yearly on the feast of St. Laurence, now, by the alteration of the stile, on August 21. There is an establishment of the customs here, under the out-port of Dover. On the east side of the town is a large common, of about three quarters of a mile in length, called Romney Warren, belonging to the corporation, the soil of which is a deep sand, and the surface of it exceedingly uneven, and thrown up in that form, as to induce us to believe the whole of it was once covered at times by the sea, and then deserted by that inconstant element. It consists of four hundred acres of land. The rest of the grounds round the town are an entire flat of marshes, very fertile; and those on the south side especialy, have a plain appearance of having been left by the sea, and since inclosed and made pasture ground of.
THE CINQUE PORTS were in very early times enfranchised with divers privileges and customs, though of what antiquity they were, or when enfranchised, has not as yet been with any certainty discovered; and therefore; they are held to enjoy all their earliest liberties and privileges as, time out of mind, by prescription, and these were confirmed to them and their members by magna charta, by the stile of, barons of the cinque ports; and again by one general charter of king Edward I. which by inspeximus received confirmation, and sometimes additions from most of the succeeding kings and queens of this realm. New Romney being one of the cinque ports, became thus a corporation by prescription, and in Edward III.'s time was incorporated, by the stile of barons of the town and port of New Romeny; afterwards by that of jurats and commonaltie of the town and port of New Romney; and lastly, by queen Elizabeth, who by her letters patent, in her 5th year, anno 1562, again incorporated this town, by the stile of the mayor, jurats, and commonaltie of the town and port of New Romney, and she by the same letters patent ratified all the privileges which they had enjoyed in the reign of king Edward the Confessor, or any other since. And likewise granted to them the soil of the river Rother, from the entrance of its haven here to Redhill beyond Apledore. The members mentioned in this charter, being a mayor, five jurats, and twentysix freemen, or commoners. But the charters of this corporation, as well as those of the other cinque ports, were in 1685, by the king's command, surrendered up to Colonel Strode, then governor of Dover castle, and were never returned again. By the above-mentioned charter of queen Elizabeth, the corporation is governed at this time. It consists at present of a mayor, ten jurats, (the mayor being one) and fifteen commoners or freemen, together with a chamberlain, recorder, and town clerk. The mayor, who is coroner by virtue of his office, is chosen on Lady-day, March 25th, yearly, and together with the jurats, who are justices within this liberty exclusive of all others, hold a court of general sessions of the peace and gaol delivery, together with a court of the record, the same as at Dover; and it has other privileges, mostly the same as the other corporations within the liberties of the cinque ports. It has the privilege of two maces. The arms of this town and port are, Azure, three lions passant-guardant, in pale, or.
The cinque ports, as well as their two antient towns of Rye and Winchelsea, have each of them the privilege of returning members, usually stiled barons, to parliament; the first returns of which, that are mentioned for any of them, are in the 42d year of king Edward III.
Charities.
MARGREAT, daughter of James Boyes, late wife of William Swan, of St. Nicholas in New Romney, by her will anno 1502, gave every year perpetual, a thousand billets, against Christmas, to be delivered among poor people. to be paid out of her principal messuage, in which the then dwelt, by the possessors of it for ever.
ADRIAN MARDEN, of the town and port of New Romney. by his will in 1554, devised his smiths shop or forge, with the garden adjoining, to the use and intent that there should yearly for ever, be distributed among the poor people of the town, in the presence of the bailiffs, jurats, and churchwardens, the yearly rent of the premises, the reparations thereof being first deducted; and in default of such distribution, or reparation, then he gave the premises to the bailiffs, &c. their successors and assigns, for ever, for the like intent and uses.
ROBERT DODD, of Lid, by his will in 1570, gave his barn and lands in the town of New Romney, to be by the mayor and three of the jurats put to farm yearly for ever, the money thereof to be bestowed upon the reparations of the church of New Romney.
JOHN SOUTHLAND, gent. of New Romney, by his will in 1610, gave all his houses, lands, and tenements, to his executor Thomas Broadnax, of Godmersham, his son-in-law, upon condition that he should make over by due course of law, to remain and continue for ever, the house wherein his schoolmaster then dwelt, and all his houses and lands in the parishes of Harrietsham, Ulcombe, and Smarden, to the only use of a schoolmaster, and the relief of two couple of poor folk, and the said houses and lands his said executor should make a body politique and incorporate, for ever to endure, for their maintenance; the schoolmaster to pay out of those lands to the poor folk, 5l. by half-yearly payments clearly, and to the churchwardens of St. Nicholas, in New Romney, 5l. by like half-yearly payments to the reparations of the church for ever; and he ordered that the schoolmaster should keep the reparations of the houses and the closures, and should teach from time to time two poor children to write and read the English tongue, and cast accoumpt, until they should come to the age of 14 years clearly; and that the poor folk and poor children should be placed and displaced by the mayor from time to time; the schoolmaster to be a scholar of Oxford or Cambridge, sufficient to teach the Latin tougue as well as the English.
This hospital and school-house is situated in St. Nicholas. and is made use of for the residence of the schoolmaster, now called the governor, and the four poor folk. It was incorporated anno 30 Elizabeth. The estates left for the support of it consist of 30 acres of land and 18 acres of wood in Smarden, and one tenement with 51 acres of land in Harrietsham, and one other tenement and 12 acres of land in Ulcombe. The Rev. William Wing Fowle, A. M. of New Romney, is now governor or schoolmaster of it.
THOMAS BAKER, by his will in 1728, gave for the benefit of the four poor persons living in Southlands hospital, to be paid half yearly for ever, the rents of 20 acres of land in Ivychurch, now of the annual product of 25l. which is given away by the mayor and jurats. Likewise 5l. per annum, being part of an annuity of IIl. per annum, out of lands formerly belonging to Epps, but now of the widow Coates, lying in Old and New Romney and Midley, to be given yearly on the 14th day of October, for the benefit of poor persons, so estimated by the mayor and jurats; the same being annually distributed by the mayor of New Romney for the time being.
The poor constantly maintained are about fifty-four.
NEW ROMNEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Limne.
The church, which is exempt from the jurisdiction of the archdeacon, is dedicated to St. Nicholas the bishop. It is very large and handsome, consisting of three isles and three chancels, having a square tower, with four pinnacles on it, at the west end, in which hang eight bells. The church is antient, the pillars between the isles being very large, with circular arches and Saxon ornaments. The tower at the west end seems still more so, having several ranges of small circular arches on the sides, and at the bottom is a circular arch, over a door-way, with zig-zag ornaments. The stone pinnacles on the top are of unequal sizes. On the roof is a stone work, of an octagon form, carried up a few feet only, seemingly for the purpose of continuing a spire of the same form on it. The inside of the church is fitted up exceedingly handsome and elegant. In the middle chancel, on the wainscot, on one side, are painted the arms of Furnese, with the hand of Ulster, impaling Broughe, and underneath Sir Henry Furnese beautified this chancel at his cost, and made the mayor and jurats seats, 1712. On the other side are the arms of Furnese impaling Balam, and underneath, Sir Robert Furnese, bart. combaron, completed the work of this chancel, begun by his fa ther Sir Henry Furnese, in 1713. Throughout the church and chancels are numerous monuments and memorials, mostly for those who have been mayors and jurats of the town, and their families, among which are those of Wilcocke, Martin, Wightwick, Mascall, Coates, Hassenden, Brett, Bassett, Pix, Baker, Cobbe, and Bachelor. In the middle chancel is a memorial for Arthur Kight, A. M. rector and vicar of Newchurch, obt. March 18, 1765. In the south chancel, a memorial for Joseph Philpot, gent. son of Joseph Philpot, of Worde, obt. 1768. A monument in the south chancel for Thomas Lancaster, obt. 1728, arms, Lancaster, argent, two bars, gules, on a canton of the second, a lion passant of the first . A like monument for Isaac Warguin, M. D. born in France, who fled from persecution to New Romney in 1689, where he practised physic, obt. 1725. In the north chancel is a fine tomb of Bethersden marble, with the figures in brass of a man and woman, and behind her of one daughter, for Thomas Smith, jurat, obt. 1610. A tomb of black marble for Thomas Tookey, gent. jurat, and once mayor and bailiff of Yarmouth, obt. 1653, arms at the east end, Tookey, a chevron engrailed, between three estoiles of six points , impaling ermine, on a chief dancette, three crowns . A stone, with a figure in brass, for Thomas Lambarde, of Romene, obt. 1514. Several memorials for the Tookeys. A memorial for Edward Goulstone, esq. sixth son of John, of Widdall, in Hertfordshire, esq. prothonotary of the king's bench, who married Joane, daughter and heir of Thomas Tookey, gent. of Romney; she afterwards married Mr. John Goulstone, late of Tutsham hall, who lies buried here. He died leaving Edward Goulstone, of Tutsham-hall, arms, Goulstone, two bars nebule, over them, on a bend, three balls . In the north isle, several memorials for the Normans, arms, A lion rampant; and for the Durants, arms, Argent, on a cross, gules, five fleurs de lis, or. A stone, with an inscription in brass, the figure gone, for William Holyngbroke, obt. 1375, arms, A chevron, between three estoiles; and several memorials for the Wilsons.
When this town was in its most flourishing state, there were four other parish churches in it besides the present one of St. Nicholas, named St. Laurence, St. Martin, St. John, and St. Michael, all which there is frequent mention of in the several wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. The last of them I find mentioned in wills in the beginning of Henry VIII.'s reign, and the three former as late as the 25th year of it, but before the end of that reign they seem to have been all disused, and the present one of St. Nicholas to have been the only one in use, and to have been accounted the only parochial church of this town and parish of New Romney. Besides the church-yard adjoining to St. Nicholas's church, there are five others belonging to it, viz. that of St. Laurence, in Mr. Russell's land, and of St. Michael in the Hardres land, both near Old Romney; of St. John, St. Martin, and another of St. Laurence converted into a garden, all three in the town of New Romney. All which are now part of the glebe belonging to the vicar of New Romney. The church of St. Nicholas seems to have had some pre-eminence over the others; for though mention is made in the several wills in the Prerogative-office, in Canterbury, of the other churches, their church-yards, and the parish priests and curates of them, yet the several vicars of this church are always stiled in them, from the year 1458 downwards, vicars of New Romney, without any other distinction.
The church of St. Nicholas, of New Romney, was antiently part of the possessions of the abbot and convent of Pontiniac, in France, who had a cell or priory here, to which abbey this church was appropriated before the 8th year of king Richard II. anno 1384, at which time the church appropriate was valued at twenty pounds perannum, and the vicarage, among the small benefices not taxed to the tenth, at four pounds. On the suppression of the above abbey, among the rest of the alien priories, in the 2d year of Henry V. anno 1414, this church, with the advowson of the vicarage, came into the hands of the crown, where it remained till Henry VI. on the petition of archbishop Chicheley, in his 17th year, settled it on the warden and fellows of All Souls college, in Oxford, with whom the parsonage appropriate, and the advowson of the vicarage, still remain.
It appears by the valuation in the king's books, taken anno 26 Henry VIII. that the several parishes before-mentioned in this town, had been before then united to the mother church of St. Nicholas, which was at that time the only parish in it, and that the churches of St. Martin and St. Laurence were accounted but as chapels of ease to it. The vicarage of St. Nicholas, with those chapels, is valued in them at 6l. 16s. 3d. and the yearly tenths at 13s. 7½d. In 1588 it was valued at ninety pounds, communicants three hundred and sixty-one. In 1640, at 105l. the like number of communicants The parsonage is usually demised by the college of All Souls to the vicar for the time being, at the yearly rent of seven pounds, which is nearly the full annual produce of it. There are seven acres of glebe land.
The vicarage of New Romney was endowed by archbishop Arundel, in 1402, and a competent portion assigned to the vicar for his maintenance.
¶There were formerly continual controversies between the vicars of New Romney and their parishioners, concerning the payment of tithes in kind, and especially for setting aside the custom for the payment of two-pence an acre in money, in lieu of tithe-wool and pasturage in kind, other tithes being paid by composition at such rates as could be agreed on; and two suits were commenced in particular, by Knight, vicar, against Brett and Clark, on the same custom, the former in 1637, and the latter in 1640, at the king's bench bar. In the first of which, the jury gave their verdict against the vicar, and in the latter he was nonsuited; but the custom in the latter trial was so plainly proved, that it has been uniformly acquiesced in by the vicars to the present time.
The days drag and the weeks fly by.
It has been a grim week at work, and yet the weekend is here once again.
The cold snap is still here; thick frosts and icy patches, but Sunday afternoon storms will sweep in from the west and temperatures will soar by day to 13 degrees.
But for now it is cold, and colder at nights, the wood burner makes the living room toasty warm, though the rest of the house seems like a fridge in comparison.
Even though we went to bed at nine, we slept to nearly half seven, which meant we were already later than usual going to Tesco.
We had a coffee first, then got dressed and went out into the winter wonderland.
Tesco was more crowded mainly because we were an hour later. There were no crackers for cheese, a whole aisle empty of cream crackers and butter wafers.
There is only so much food you can eat even over Christmas, so the cracker-shortage won't affect us, we have two Dundee cakes, filling for two lots of mince pies and pastry for five lots of sausage rolls.
We won't starve.
We buy another bag of stuff for the food bank, try to get two weeks of stuff so we wont need to go next weekend, just to a farm shop for vegetables, and the butcher for the Christmas order, though on the 25th we are going out for dinner to the Lantern.
Back home for fruit, then bacon butties and another huge brew. Yes, smoked bacon is again in short supply, with just the basic streaky smoked available, but we're not fussy, so that does the trick.
Also, Jools picked up her inhalers for her cough, and so, we hope, the road to recovery begins.
What to do with the day?
Although a walk would have been good, Jools can do no more than ten minutes in freezing conditions before a coughing fits starts, so a couple of churches to revisit and take more shots of.
First on the list was St Leonard in Upper Deal. A church I have only have been inside once. As it was just half ten, there should have been a chance it was open, but no. We parked up and I walked over the road to try the porch door, but it was locked.
No worries, as the next two would certainly be open.
Just up the road towards Canterbury is Ash.
Ash is a large village that the main roads now bypass its narrow streets, and buses call not so frequently.
The church towers over the village, its spire piercing the grey sky. We park beside the old curry hours than burned down a decade ago, is now a house and no sign of damage.
indeed the church was open, though the porch door was closed, it opened with use of the latch, and the inner glass door swung inwards, revealing an interior I had forgotten about, rich Victorian glass let in the weak sunlight, allowing me to take detailed shots. It was far better and more enjoyable than I remembered.
Once I took 200 or so shots, we went back to the car, drove back to the main road, and on to Wingham, where the church there, a twin of Wingham, would also be open too.
And it was.
The wardens were just finishing trimming the church up, and putting out new flowers, it was a bustle of activity, then one by one they left.
got my shots, and we left, back to the car and to home, though we did stop at he farm shop at Aylsham, and all we wanted was some sweet peppers for hash.
We went in and there was the bakery: I bought two sausage rolls, four small pork pies and two Cajun flavours scotch eggs. We got cider, beer, healthy snacks (we told ourselves) and finally found the peppers.
Three peppers cost £50!
Then back home, along the A2.
And arriving back home at one. We feasted on the scotch eggs and two of the pork pies.
Yummy.
There was the third place play off game to watch on the tellybox, the Football league to follow on the radio. We lit the woodburner and it was soon toasty warm.
At half five, Norwich kicked off, and hopes were high as Blackburn had not beaten us in over a decade.
And, yes you guessed it, Norwich lost. Played poorly, and in Dad's words, were lucky to get nil.
Oh dear.
Oh dear indeed.
We have Christmas cake for supper, and apart from the football, as was well with the world.
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A large and impressive church of mainly thirteenth century date over restored in 1847 by the irrepressible William Butterfield. The scale of the interior is amazing - particularly in the tower crossing arches which support the enormous spire. They are an obvious insertion into an earlier structure. The best furnishing at Ash is the eighteenth century font which stands on an inscribed base. For the visitor interested in memorials, Ash ahs more than most ranging from the fourteenth century effigy of a knight to two excellent alabaster memorials to Sir Thomas Harfleet (d 1612) and Christopher Toldervy (d 1618). Mrs Toldervy appears twice in the church for she accompanies her husband on his memorial and may also be seen as a `weeper` on her parents` memorial! On that she is one of two survivors of what was once a group of seven daughters - all her weeping brothers have long since disappeared.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Ash+2
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ASH
LIES adjoining to the last-described parish of Staple northward. It is written in Domesday, Ece, and in other antient records, Aisse, and is usually called Ash, near Sandwich, to distinguish it from Ash, near Wrotham.
The parish of Ash is very large, extending over a variety of soil and country, of hill, dale, and marsh lands, near four miles across each way, and containing more than six thousand acres of land, of which about one half is marsh, the river Stour being its northern bounday, where it is very wet and unwholesone, but the southern or upland part of the parish is very dary, pleasant and healthy. The soil in general is fertile, and lets on an average at about one pound an acre; notwithstanding, there is a part of it about Ash-street and Gilton town, where it is a deep sand. The village of Ash, commonly called Ash-street, situated in this part of it, on high ground, mostly on the western declivity of a hill, having the church on the brow of it, is built on each side of the road from Canterbury to Sandwich, and contains about fifty houses. On the south side of this road, about half a mile westward, is a Roman burial ground, of which further mention will be taken hereaster, and adjoining to it the hamlet of Gilton town, formerly written Guildanton, in which is Gilton parsonage, a neat stuccoed house, lately inhabited by Mr. Robert Legrand, and now by Mrs. Becker. In the valley southward stands Mote farm, alias Brooke house, formerly the habitation of the Stoughtons, then of the Ptoroude's and now the property of Edward Solly, esq. of London.
There are dispersed throughout this large parish many small hamlets and farms, which have been formerly of more consequence, from the respective owners and in habitants of them, all which, excepting East and New Street, and Great Pedding, (the latter of which was the antient residence of the family of solly, who lie buried in Ash church-yard, and bore for their arms, Vert, a chevron, per pale, or, and gules, between three soles naiant, argent, and being sold by one of them to dean Lynch, is now in the possession of lady Lynch, the widow of Sir William Lynch, K. B.) are situated in the northern part of the parish, and contain together about two hundred and fifty houses, among them is Hoden, formerly the residence of the family of St. Nicholas; Paramour-street, which for many years was the residence of those of that name, and Brook-street, in which is Brook-house, the residence of the Brooke's, one of whom John Brooke, esq. in queen Elizabeth's reign, resided here, and bore for his arms, Per bend, vert and sable, two eagles, counterchanged.
William, lord Latimer, anno 38 Edward III. obtained a market to be held at Ash, on a Thursday; and a fair yearly on Lady-day, and the two following ones. A fair is now held in Ash-street on Lady and Michaelmas days yearly.
In 1473 there was a lazar house for the infirm of the leprosy, at Eche, near Sandwich.
¶The manor of Wingham claims paramount over this parish, subordinate to which there were several manors in it, held of the archbishop, to whom that manor belonged, the mansions of which, being inhabited by families of reputation and of good rank in life, made this parish of much greater account than it has been for many years past, the mansions of them having been converted for a length of time into farmhouses to the lands to which they belong.
f this manor, (viz. Wingham) William de Acris holds one suling in Fletes, and there he has in demesne one carucate and four villeins, and one knight with one carucate, and one fisbery, with a saltpit of thirty pence. The whole is worth forty shillings.
This district or manor was granted by archbishop Lanfranc, soon after this, to one Osberne, (fn. 7) of whom I find no further mention, nor of this place, till king Henry III.'s reign, when it seems to have been separated into two manors, one of which, now known by the name of the manor of Gurson Fleet, though till of late time by that of Fleet only, was held afterwards of the archbishop by knight's service, by the family of Sandwich, and afterwards by the Veres, earls of Oxford, one of whom, Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, who died anno 3 Edward III. was found by the escheat-rolls of that year, to have died possessed of this manor of Fleet, which continued in his descendants down to John de Vere, earl of Oxford, who for his attachment to the house of Lancaster, was attainted in the first year of king Edward IV. upon which this manor came into the hands of the crown, and was granted the next year to Richard, duke of Gloucester, the king's brother, with whom it staid after his succession to the crown, as king Richard III. on whose death, and the accession of king Henry VII. this manor returned to the possession of John, earl of Oxford, who had been attainted, but was by parliament anno I Henry VII. restored in blood, titles and possessions. After which this manor continued in his name and family till about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, when Edward Vere, earl of Oxford, alienated it to Hammond, in whose descendants it continued till one of them, in the middle of king Charles II.'s reign, sold it to Thomas Turner, D. D. who died possessed of it in 1672, and in his name and descendants it continued till the year 1748, when it was sold to John Lynch, D. D. dean of Canterbury, whose son Sir William Lynch, K. B. died possessed of it in 1785, and by his will devised it, with the rest of his estates, to his widow lady Lynch, who is the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
Archbishop Lanfranc, on his founding the priory of St. Gregory, in the reign of the Conqueror, gave to it the tithe of the manor of Fleet; which gift was confirmed by archbishop Hubert in Richard I.'s reign. This portion of tithes, which arose principally from Gurson Fleet manor, remained with the priory at its dissolution, and is now part of Goldston parsonage, parcel of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention has been made before.
The other part of the district of Fleet was called, to distinguish it, and from the possessors of it, the manor of Nevills Fleet, though now known by the name of Fleet only, is situated between Gurson and Richborough, adjoining to the former. This manor was held in king John's reign of the archbishop, by knight's service, by Thomas Pincerna, so called probably from his office of chief butler to that prince, whence his successors assumed the name of Butler, or Boteler. His descendant was Robert le Boteler, who possessed this manor in king Ed ward I.'s reign, and from their possession of it, this manor acquired for some time the name of Butlers Fleet; but in the 20th year of king Edward III. William, lord Latimer of Corbie, appears to have been in the possession of it, and from him it acquired the name of Latimers Fleet. He bore for his arms, Gules, a cross flory, or. After having had summons to parliament, (fn. 8) he died in the begening of king Richard II.'s reign, leaving Elizabeth his sole daughter and heir, married to John, lord Nevill, of Raby, whose son John bore the title of lord Latimer, and was summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, till the 9th year of king Henry VI. in which he died, so that the greatest part of his inheritance, among which was this manor, came by an entail made, to Ralph, lord Nevill, and first earl of Westmoreland, his eldest, but half brother, to whom he had sold, after his life, the barony of Latimer, and he, by seoffment, vested it, with this manor and much of the inheritance above-mentioned, in his younger son Sir George Nevill, who was accordingly summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, anno 10 Henry VI. and his grandson Richard, lord Latimer, in the next regin of Edward IV. alienated this manor, which from their length of possession of it, had acquired the name of Nevill's Fleet, to Sir James Cromer, and his son Sir William Cromer, in the 11th year of king Henry VII, sold it to John Isaak, who passed it away to Kendall, and he, in the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, sold it to Sir John Fogge, of Repton, in Ashford, who died possessed of it in 1533, and his son, of the same name, before the end of it, passed it away to Mr. Thomas Rolfe, and he sold it, within a few years afterwards, to Stephen Hougham, gent. of this parish, who by his will in 1555, devised it to his youngest son Rich. Hougham, of Eastry, from one of whose descendants it was alienated to Sir Adam Spracklin, who sold it to one of the family of Septvans, alias Harflete, in which name it continued till within a few years after the death of king Charles I. when by a female heir Elizabeth it went in marriage to Thomas Kitchell, esq. in whose heirs it continued till it was at length, about the year 1720, alienated by one of them to Mr. Thomas Bambridge, warden of the Fleet prison, upon whose death it became vested in his heirs-at-law, Mr. James Bambridge, of the Temple, attorney at-law, and Thomas Bambridge, and they divided this estate, and that part of it allotted to the latter was soon afterwards alienated by him to Mr. Peter Moulson, of London, whose only daughter and heir carried it in marriage to Mr. Geo. Vaughan, of London, and he and the assignees of Mr. James Bambridge last mentioned, have lately joined in the conveyance of the whole fee of this manor to Mr. Joseph Solly, gent. of Sandwich, the present owner of it. There is not any court held for this manor.
In this district, and within this manor of Fleet lastmentioned, there was formerly a chapel of cose to the church of Ash, as that was to the church of Wingham, to which college, on its foundation by archbishop Peckham in 1286, the tithes, rents, obventions, &c of this chapel and district was granted by him, for the support in common of the provost and canons of it, with whom it remained till the suppression of it, anno I king Edward VI. The tithes, arising from this manor of Fleet, and the hamlet of Richborough, are now a part of the rectory of Ash, and of that particular part of it called Gilton parsonage, parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention will be made hereafter. There have not been any remains left of it for a long time part.
Richborough is a hamlet and district of land, in the south-east part of this parish, rendered famous from the Roman fort and town built there, and more so formerly, from the port or haven close adjoining to it.
It was in general called by the Romans by the plural name of Rutupiæ; for it must be observed that the æstuary, which at that time separated the Isle of Thanet from the main land of Kent, and was the general passage for shipping,had at each mouth of it, towards the sea, a fort and haven, called jointly Rutupiæ. That at the northern part and of it being now called Reculver, and that at the eastern, being the principal one, this of Richborough.
The name of it is variously spelt in different authors. By Ptolemy it is written [Patapiaia (?)] urbem; by Tacitus, according to the best reading, Portus, Rutupensis; by Antonine, in his Itinerary, Ritupas, and Ritupis Portum; by Ammianus, Ritupiæ statio; afterwards by the Saxons, Reptacester, and now Richborough.
The haven, or Portus Rutupinus, or Richborough, was very eminent in the time of the Romans, and much celebrated in antient history, being a safe and commodious harbour, stationem ex adverso tranquillam, as Ammianus calls it, situated at the entrance of the passage towards then Thamas, and becoming the general place of setting sail from Britain to the continent, and where the Roman fleets arrived, and so large and extensive was the bay of it, that it is supposed to have extended far beyond Sandwich on the one side, almost to Ramsgate cliffs on the other, near five miles in width, covering the whole of that flat of land on which Stonar and Sandwich were afterwards built, and extending from thence up the æstuary between the Isle of Thanet and the main land. So that Antonine might well name it the Port, in his Itinerary, [Kat exochin], from there being no other of like consequence, and from this circumstance the shore for some distance on each side acquired the general name of Littus Rutupinum, the Rutupian shore. (fn. 9) Some have contended that Julius Cæsar landed at Richborough, in his expeditions into Britain; but this opinion is refuted by Dr. Hasley in Phil, Trans. No. 193, who plainly proves his place of landing to have been in the Downs. The fort of Richborough, from the similarity of the remains of it to those of Reculver, seems to have been built about the same time, and by the same emperer, Serveris, about the year 205. It stands on the high hill, close to a deep precipice eastward, at the soot of which was the haven. In this fortress, so peculiarly strengthened by its situation, the Romans had afterwards a stationary garrison, and here they had likewise a pharos, of watch tower, the like as at Reculver and other places on this coast, as well to guide the shipping into the haven, as to give notice of the approach of enemies. It is by most supposed that there was, in the time of the Romans, near the fort, in like manner as at Reculver, a city or town, on the decline of the hill, south-westward from it, according to custom, at which a colony was settled by them. Prolemy, in his geography, reckons the city Rutpia as one of the three principal cities of Kent. (fn. 10) Orosius. and Bede too, expressly mention it as such; but when the haven decayed, and there was no longer a traffic and resort to this place, the town decayed likewise, and there have not been, for many ages since, any remains whatever of it left; though quantities of coins and Roman antiquities have been sound on the spot where it is supposed to have once stood.
During the latter part of the Roman empire, when the Saxons prevented all trade by sea, and insefted these coasts by frequent robberies, the second Roman legion, called Augusta, and likewise Britannica, which had been brought out of Germany by the emperor Claudius, and had resided for many years at the Isca Silurum, in Wales, was removed and stationed here, under a president or commander, præpositus, of its own, who was subordinate to the count of the Saxon shore, and continued so till the final departure of the Romans from Britain, in the year 410, when this fortress was left in the hands of the Britons, who were afterwards dispossessed of it by the Saxons, during whose time the harbour seems to have began to decay and to swerve up, the sea by degrees entirely deserting it at this place, but still leaving one large and commodious at Sandwich, which in process of time became the usual resort for shipping, and arose a flourishing harbour in its stead, as plainly appears by the histories of those times, by all of which, both the royal Saxon fleets, as well as those of the Danes, are said to sail for the port of Sandwich, and there to lie at different times; (fn. 11) and no further mention is made by any of them of this of Rutupiæ, Reptachester, or Richborough; so that the port being thus destroyed, the town became neglected and desolate, and with the castle sunk into a heap of ruins. Leland's description of it in king Henry VIII.'s reign, is very accurate, and gives an exceeding good idea of the progressive state of its decay to that time. He says, "Ratesburg otherwyse Richeboro was, of ever the ryver of Sture dyd turn his botom or old canale, withyn the Isle of the Thanet, and by Iykelyhod the mayn se came to the very foote of the castel. The mayn se ys now of yt a myle by reason of wose, that has there swollen up. The scite of the town or castel ys wonderful fair apon an hille. The walles the wich remayn ther yet be in cumpase almost as much as the tower of London. They have bene very hye thykke stronge and wel embateled. The mater of them is flynt mervelus and long brykes both white and redde after the Britons fascion. The sement was made of se sand and smaul pible. Ther is a great lykelyhod that the goodly hil abowte the castel and especially to Sandwich ward hath bene wel inhabited. Corne groweth on the hille yn bene mervelous plenty and yn going to plowgh ther hath owt of mynde fownd and now is mo antiquities of Romayne money than yn any place els of England surely reason speketh that this should be Rutupinum. For byside that the name sumwhat toucheth, the very near passage fro Cales Clyves or Cales was to Ratesburgh and now is to Sandwich, the which is about a myle of; though now Sandwich be not celebrated by cawse of Goodwine sandes and the decay of the haven. Ther is a good flyte shot of fro Ratesburg toward Sandwich a great dyke caste in a rownd cumpas as yt had bene for sens of menne of warre. The cumpase of the grownd withyn is not much above an acre and yt is very holo by casting up the yerth. They cawle the place there Lytleborough. Withyn the castel is a lytle paroche chirch of St. Augustine and an heremitage. I had antiquities of the heremite the which is an industrious man. Not far fro the hermitage is a cave wher men have sowt and digged for treasure. I saw it by candel withyn, and ther were conys. Yt was so straite that I had no mynd to crepe far yn. In the north side of the castel ys a hedde yn the walle, now fore defaced with wether. They call it queen Bertha hedde. Nere to that place hard by the wal was a pot of Romayne mony sownd."
The ruins of this antient castle stand upon the point of a hill or promontory, about a mile north-west from Sandwich, overlooking on each side, excepting towards the west, a great flat which appears by the lowness of it, and the banks of beach still shewing themselves in different places, to have been all once covered by the sea. The east side of this hill is great part of it so high and perpendicular from the flat at the foot of it, where the river Stour now runs, that ships with the greatest burthen might have lain close to it, and there are no signs of any wall having been there; but at the north end, where the ground rises into a natural terrace, so as to render one necessary, there is about 190 feet of wall left. Those on the other three sides are for the most part standing, and much more entire than could be expected, considering the number of years since they were built, and the most so of any in the kingdom, except Silchester. It is in shape an oblong square, containing within it a space of somewhat less than five acres. They are in general about ten feet high within, but their broken tops shew them to have been still higher. The north wall, on the outside, is about twice as high as it is within, or the other two, having been carried up from the very bottom of the hill, and it seems to have been somewhat longer than it is at present, by some pieces of it sallen down at the east end. The walls are about eleven feet thick. In the middle of the west side is the aperture of an entrance, which probably led to the city or town, and on the north side is another, being an entrance obliquely into the castle. Near the middle of the area are the ruins of some walls, full of bushes and briars, which seem as if some one had dug under ground among them, probably where once stood the prætorium of the Roman general, and where a church or chapel was afterwards erected, dedicated to St. Augustine, and taken notice of by Leland as such in his time. It appears to have been a chapel of ease to the church of Ash, for the few remaining inhabitants of this district, and is mentioned as such in the grant of the rectory of that church, anno 3 Edward VI. at which time it appears to have existed. About a furlong to the south, in a ploughed field, is a large circular work, with a hollow in the middle, the banks of unequal heights, which is supposed to have been an amphitheatre, built of turf, for the use of the garrison, the different heights of the banks having been occasioned by cultivation, and the usual decay, which must have happened from so great a length of time. These stations of the Romans, of which Richborough was one, were strong fortifications, for the most part of no great compass or extent, wherein were barracks for the loding of the soldiers, who had their usual winter quarters in them. Adjoining, or at no great distance from them, there were usually other, buildings forming a town; and such a one was here at Richborough, as has been already mentioned before, to which the station or fort was in the nature of a citadel, where the soldiers kept garrison. To this Tacitus seems to allude, when he says, "the works that in time of peace had been built, like a free town, not far from the camp, were destroyed, left they should be of any service to the enemy." (fn. 12) Which in great measure accounts for there being no kind of trace or remains left, to point out where this town once stood, which had not only the Romans, according to the above observation, but the Saxons and Danes afterwards, to carry forward at different æras the total destruction of it.
The burial ground for this Roman colony and station of Richborough, appears to have been on the hill at the end of Gilton town, in this parish, about two miles south-west from the castle, and the many graves which have been continually dug up there, in different parts of it, shew it to have been of general use for that purpose for several ages.
The scite of the castle at Richborough was part of the antient inheritance of the family of the Veres, earls of Oxford, from which it was alienated in queen Elizabeth's reign to Gaunt; after which it passed, in like manner as Wingham Barton before-described, to Thurbarne, and thence by marriage to Rivett, who sold it to Farrer, from whom it was alienated to Peter Fector, esq. of Dover, the present possessor of it. In the deed of conveyance it is thus described: And also all those the walls and ruins of the antient castle of Rutupium, now known by the name of Richborough castle, with the scite of the antient port and city of Rutupinum, being on and near the lands before-mentioned. About the walls of Richborough grows Fæniculum valgare, common fennel, in great plenty.
It may be learned from the second iter of Antonine's Itinerary, that there was once a Roman road, or highway from Canterbury to the port of Richborough, in which iter the two laft stations are, from Durovernum, Canterbury, to Richborough, ad portum Rutupis, xii miles; in which distance all the different copies of the Itinerary agree. Some parts of this road can be tracted at places at this time with certainty; and by the Roman burial-ground, usually placed near the side of a high road, at Gilton town, and several other Roman vestigia thereabouts, it may well be supposed to have led from Canterbury through that place to Richborough, and there is at this time from Goldston, in Ash, across the low-grounds to it, a road much harder and broader than usual for the apparent use of it, which might perhaps be some part of it.
Charities.
A person unknown gave four acres and an half of land, in Chapman-street, of the annual produce of 5l. towards the church assessments.
Thomas St. Nicholas, esq. of this parish, by deed about the year 1626, gave an annuity of 11. 5s. to be paid from his estate of Hoden, now belonging to the heirs of Nathaniel Elgar, esq. to be distributed yearly, 10s. to the repairing and keeping clean the Toldervey monument in this church, and 15s. on Christmas-day to the poor.
John Proude, the elder, of Ash, yeoman, by his will in 1626, ordered that his executor should erect upon his land adjoining to the church-yard, a house, which should be disposed of in future by the churchwardens and overseers, for a school-house, and for a storehouse, to lay in provision for the church and poor. This house is now let at 1l. per annum, and the produce applied to the use of the poor.
Richard Camden, in 1642, gave by will forty perches of land, for the use of the poor, and of the annual produce of 15s. now vested in the minister and churchwardens.
Gervas Cartwright, esq. and his two sisters, in 1710 and 1721, gave by deed an estate, now of the yearly value of 50l. for teaching fifty poor children to read, write, &c. vested in the minister, churchwardens, and other trustees.
The above two sisters, Eleanor and Anne Cartwright, gave besides 100l. for beautifying the chancel, and for providing two large pieces of plate for the communion service; and Mrs. Susan Robetts added two other pieces of plate for the same purpose.
There is a large and commodious workhouse lately built, for the use of the poor, to discharge the expence of which, 100l. is taken yearly out of the poor's rate, till the whole is discharged. In 1604, the charges of the poor were 29l. 15s. 11d. In 1779. 1000l.
There is a charity school for boys and girls, who are educated, but not cloathed.
The poor constantly relieved are about seventy-five, casually fifty-five.
This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the dioceseof Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a handsome building, of the form of a cross, consisting of two isles and two chancels, and a cross sept, having a tall spire steeple in the middle, in which are eight bells and a clock. It is very neat and handsome in the inside. In the high or south chancel is a monument for the Roberts's, arms, Argent, three pheons, sable, on a chief of the second, a greybound current of the first; another for the Cartwrights, arms, Or, a fess embattled, between three catherine wheels, sable. In the north wall is a monument for one of the family of Leverick, with his effigies, in armour, lying cross-legged on it; and in the same wall, westward, is another like monument for Sir John Goshall, with his effigies on it, in like manner, and in a hollow underneath, the effigies of his wife, in her head-dress, and wimple under her chin. A gravestone, with an inscription, and figure of a woman with a remarkable high high-dress, the middle part like a horseshoe inverted, for Jane Keriell, daughter of Roger Clitherow. A stone for Benjamin Longley, LL. B. minister of Ash twenty-nine years, vicar of Eynsford and Tonge, obt. 1783. A monument for William Brett, esq. and Frances his wife. The north chancel, dedicated to St. Nicholas, belongs to the manor of Molland. Against the north wall is a tomb, having on it the effigies of a man and woman, lying at full length, the former in armour, and sword by his side, but his head bare, a collar of SS about his neck, both seemingly under the middle age, but neither arms nor inscription, but it was for one of the family of Harflete, alias Septvans; and there are monuments and several memorials and brasses likewise for that family. A memorial for Thomas Singleton, M. D. of Molland, obt. 1710. One for John Brooke, of Brookestreet, obt. 1582, s. p. arms, Per bend, two eagles.—Several memorials for the Pekes, of Hills-court, and for Masters, of Goldstone. A monument for Christopher Toldervy, of Chartham, obt. 1618. A memorial for Daniel Hole, who, as well as his ancestors, had lived upwards of one hundred years at Goshall, as occupiers of it. In the north cross, which was called the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, was buried the family of St. Nicholas. The brass plates of whom, with their arms, are still to be seen. A tablet for Whittingham Wood, gent. obt. 1656. In the south cross, a monument for Richard Hougham, gent. of Weddington, and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Edward Sanders, gent. of Norborne. An elegant monument for Mary, wife of Henry Lowman, esq. of Dortnued, in Germany. She died in 1737, and he died in 1743. And for lieutenant colonel Christopher Ernest Kien, obt. 1744, and Jane his wife, their sole daughter and heir, obt. 1762, and for Evert George Cousemaker, esq. obt. 1763, all buried in a vault underneath, arms, Or, on a mount vert, a naked man, bolding a branch in his hand, proper, impaling per bend sinister, argent and gules, a knight armed on borjeback, holding a tilting spear erect, the point downwards, all counterchanged. On the font is inscribed, Robert Minchard, arms, A crescent, between the points of it a mullet. Several of the Harfletes lie buried in the church-yard, near the porch, but their tombs are gone. On each side of the porch are two compartments of stone work, which were once ornamented with brasses, most probably in remembrance of the Harfleets, buried near them. At the corner of the church-yard are two old tombs, supposed for the family of Alday.
In the windows of the church were formerly several coats of arms, and among others, of Septvans, alias Harflete, Notbeame, who married Constance, widow of John Septvans; Brooke, Ellis, Clitherow, Oldcastle, Keriell, and Hougham; and the figures of St. Nicholas, Keriell, and Hougham, kneeling, in their respective surcoats of arms, but there is not any painted glass left in any part of the church or chancels.
John Septvans, about king Henry VII.'s reign, founded a chantry, called the chantry of the upper Hall, as appears by the will of Katherine Martin, of Faversham, sometime his wife, in 1497. There was a chantry of our blessed Lady, and another of St. Stephen likewise, in it; both suppressed in the 1st year of king Edward VI. when the former of them was returned to be of the clear yearly certified value of 15l. 11s. 1½d. (fn. 13)
The church of Ash was antiently a chapel of east to that of Wingham, and was, on the foundation of the college there in 1286, separated from it, and made a distinct parish church of itself, and then given to the college, with the chapels likewise of Overland and Fleet, in this parish, appurtenant to this church; which becoming thus appropriated to the college, continued with it till the suppression of it in king Edward VI.'s reign, when this part of the rectory or parsonage appropriate, called Overland parsonage, with the advowson of the church, came, with the rest of the possessions of the college, into the hands of the crown, where the advowson of the vicarage, or perpetual curacy of it did not remain long, for in the year 1558, queen Mary granted it, among others, to the archbishop. But the above-mentioned part of the rectory, or parsonage appropriate of Ash, with those chapels, remained in the crown, till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange to archbishop Parker, who was before possessed of that part called Goldston parsonage, parcel of the late dissolved priory of St. Gregory, by grant from king Henry VIII. so that now this parish is divided into two distinct parsonages, viz. of Overland and of Goldston, which are demised on separate beneficial leases by the archbishop, the former to the heirs of Parker, and the latter, called Gilton parsonage, from the house and barns of it being situated in that hamlet, to George Gipps, esq. M. P. for Canterbury. The patronage of the perpetual curacy remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury.
¶At the time this church was appropriated to the college of Wingham, a vicarage was endowed in it, which after the suppression of the college came to be esteemed as a perpetual curacy. It is not valued in the king's books. The antient stipend paid by the provost, &c. to the curate being 16l. 13s. 4d. was in 1660, augmented by archbishop Juxon with the addition of 33l. 6s. 8d. per annum; and it was afterwards further augmented by archbishop Sheldon, anno 28 Charles II. with twenty pounds per annum more, the whole to be paid by the several lessees of these parsonages. Which sum of seventy pounds is now the clear yearly certified value of it. In 1588 here were communicants five hundred; in 1640, eight hundred and fifty. So far as appears by the registers, the increase of births in this parish is almost double to what they were two hundred years ago.
The "golden chapel" was added to the church in 1510 by Sir Henry Vernon as the chapel of the salutation to our lady, with its own endowment. It takes the place of a south transept. This effigy of Sir Arthur Vernon †15 April, 1517, who was rector in Whtichurch {30mi. NW of Tong}, is on the west wall. His will, dated 30 Sep. 1515, desired his body "to be buried in the same parish where I die and to make my stone what my executors thinke best for me and my picture drawn there upon and for the making of my stone I bequest XXX's".
Sword & armour detail -
To John Shirley, knight, best deserving from history and the students of history, most loving to his country and a surviving ornament to his family, destroyed by an untimely death. George Shirley, his first born son, most devoted by nature and by obligations placed this monument of his piety and reverance. He died on the 13th day of September in the year of our Lord 1570 leaving behind four sons and three daughters only surviving, born of Jane his most excellent wife, daughter and heiress of Thomas Lovett knight
(Latin inscription round the edge "Johanni Shirley, armigero, de literis et literarum studiosis optime merito, patriae amantissimo, et familiae suae ornamento, superstite, immatura morte praecepto, Georgius Shirley, primogenitus ejus filius, natura et beneficio devinctissimus, hoc pietatis et observantiae suae monumentum posuit. Obiit vero decimotertio die Septembris anno Dni millesimo quingentissimo septuagesimo quatuor filios et tres filias tantummodo supstites ex Jana lectissima sua conjuge filia et haerede Thomae Lovett armigeri, procreatos, relinquens.) www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/x4Ve9k
John Shirley 1570 son of Francis Shirley 1533-1571 of Ettington & Staunton Harold by Dorothy www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/008T2m daughter of John Giffard of Chillington and Jane Hoord of Bridgnorth www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/9241228030/
His father Francis bought the former priory lands here from the Crown in 1539
John lies in armour, sword by his side, his head resting on a tilting helmet, his feet on a lion . Around the sides are heraldic shields of arms
John m 1558 Jane heiress daughter of Thomas Lovett 1586 www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/5356352947/ of Astwell by Elizabeth daughter of Sir Richard Fermor of Easton Neston & Anne Browne flic.kr/p/hXBKm5 .
They lived at Ragdale Hall
Jane brought several manors to the Shirleys including Astwell Northants, South Newington (Newton) Oxon , Dorington Gloc; and St. Botolph's Bridge Hunts +++
Children
1. George 1559- 1622 m1 Frances www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/K98cLK daughter of Henry 7th Baron Berkeley and Katherine Howard www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/9496809132/ m2 Dorothy www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/2401560660/ daughter of Sir Thomas Wroughton: widow of Henry Unton
2. John dsp studied law at the Inner Temple & Grays Inn; died of wounds received in Flanders, in the service of the King of Spain.
3. Thomas of Gray's Inn, He released his interest in Brailesford, Warks to his brother George upon the settling of Shirley manor upon him for a term of years
4. Ralph b 1562 of Stretton Staffs, died on a pilgrimage to Rome in 1582 intended for the church as a priest, he died before taking orders. His brother George granted him an annuity.
1. .Anne 1567-1624 m1 Roland Wybenbury 1606 of Adderley m2 William Grosvenor 1641 of The Brand Shrops & Norton in Hales (another source, History & Antq. of Leic. says she was unmarried)
2..Dorothy 1571-1609 m George Dyer
3. Elizabeth 1565- 1641 -a nun at Lovain
After John died, Jane m2 William Gray of East Donilands Essex, son of John Graye and Elizabeth Mayhew who in turn m2 Mary f Mary Bode / Boade (Jane & William had 1 son Thomas Graye)
Jane died in August 1582
Alabaster effigy made for £22 by Richard and Gabriel Royley, father and son, of Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire. It wasn't erected until 1585.
The Shirley family bought the manor after it was surrendered to the Crown in 1539 during the Reformation
+++ Agreement 1st May 1563 between Francis Shirley of Staunton Harold, esq., and Thomas Lovett of Astwell esq., in consid: of £400 and of a marriage between John Shirley son and heir of Francis and Jane Lovett, dau. and heiress of Thomas Lovett, that:
1. Thomas Lovett, John Shirley and Jane his wife, and John Lovett (brother of Thomas) shall levy a fine unto William Mathew and Edmund Foster of the manors of Astwell and Falcutt with 7 messuages, 7 tofts, 3 mills, 1 dovecot, 14 gardens, 200 acres of land, 140 acres of meadow, 500 acres of pasture, 200 acres of wood, 300 acres of furze and heath, 10 acres of moor and 10 acres of marsh and fishing, and £10 rent in Astwell and Falcutt by which the property shall pass to Mathew & Foster and his heirs.
2. It is to be held to the use of Thomas Lovett during his life. After his death as much as is of the yearly value of £20 is to be to the use of the same Thomas's executors for 12 years towards the execution of his will and after this the whole property is to be to the use of any future wife or wives of Thomas and after their death to his eldest son, then any other sons, then to the use of John and Jane aforesaid and their heirs with reversion to heirs of Thomas.
3. If Thomas Lovett makes any leases of the same property for not more than 99 years at the accustomed (or greater) rents then Mathew and Foster shall be seised of the same and the terms of leases shall stand.
www.shirleyassociation.com/NewShirleySite/NonMembers/Engl...
books.google.co.uk/books?id=_vQRAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA81&...
effigy monument - Church of St Mary & St Hardulph, Breedon on the Hill, Leicestershire
(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.
On the way back from Oxfordshire, I thought about stopping off somewhere to take some church shots.
I'm sure Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey and Sussex have fine churches just off the motorway, but one had stuck in my head, back in Kent, and that Hever.
What I didn't realise is how hard it was to get too.
I followed the sat nav, taking me off the motorway whilst still in Sussex, then along narrow and twisting main roads along the edge of the north downs, through some very fine villages, but were in Sussex.
Would I see the sign marking my return to the Garden of England?
Yes, yes I would.
Edenbridge seemed quite an unexpectedly urban place, despite its name, so I didn't stop to search for an older centre, just pressing un until I was able to turn down Hever Road.
It had taken half an hour to get here.
St Peter stands by the gate to the famous castle, a place we have yet to visit, and even on a showery Saturday in March, there was a constant stream of visitors arriving.
I asked a nice young man who was directing traffic, where I could park to visit the church. He directed me to the staff car park, meaning I was able to get this shot before going in.
-------------------------------------------
Near the grounds of Hever Castle, medieval home of the Bullen family. Sandstone construction with a nice west tower and spire. There is a prominent chimney to the north chapel, although this is not the usual Victorian addition, but a Tudor feature, whose little fireplace may be seen inside! The church contains much of interest including a nineteenth-century painting of Christ before Caiphas by Reuben Sayers and another from the school of Tintoretto. The stained glass is all nineteenth and twentieth century and includes a wonderfully evocative east window (1898) by Burlisson and Grylls with quite the most theatrical sheep! The south chancel window of St Peter is by Hardman and dated 1877. In the north chapel is a fine tomb chest which displays the memorial brass of Sir Thomas Bullen (d. 1538), father of Queen Anne Boleyn. Just around the corner is a typical, though rather insubstantial, seventeenth-century pulpit with sounding board.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Hever
------------------------------------------------
HEVER.
SOUTH-EASTWARD from Eatonbridge lies Hever, called in the Textus Roffensis, and some antient records, Heure, and in others, Evere.
This parish lies below the sand hill, and is consequently in that district of this county called The Weald.
There is a small part of it, called the Borough of Linckbill, comprehending a part of this parish, Chidingstone, and Hever, which is within the hundred of Ruxley, and being part of the manor of Great Orpington, the manerial rights of it belong to Sir John Dixon Dyke, bart. the owner of that manor.
THE PARISH of Hever is long, and narrow from north to south. It lies wholly below the sand hills, and consequently in the district of the Weald; the soil and face of the country is the same as that of Eatonbridge, last described, the oak trees in it being in great plently, and in general growing to a very large size. The river Eden directs its course across it, towards Penshurst and the Medway, flowing near the walls of Hever castle, about a quarter of a mile southward from which is the village of Hever and the parsonage; near the northern side of the river is the seat of Polebrooke, late Douglass's, now Mrs. Susannah Payne's; and a little farther, the hamlets of Howgreen and Bowbeach; part of Linckhill borough, which is in the hundred of Ruxley, extends into this parish. There is a strange odd saying here, very frequent among the common people, which is this:
Jesus Christ never was but once at Hever.
And then he fell into the river.
Which can only be accounted for, by supposing that it alluded to a priest, who was carrying the bost to a sick person, and passing in his way over a bridge, sell with it into the river.
Hever was once the capital seat and manor of a family of the same name, whose still more antient possessions lay at Hever, near Northfleet, in this county, who bore for their arms, Gules, a cross argent. These arms, with a lable of three points azure, still remained in the late Mote-house, in Maidstone, and are quartered in this manner by the earl of Thanet, one of whose ancestors, Nicholas Tuston, esq. of Northiam, married Margaret, daughter and heir of John Hever of this county. (fn. 1)
William de Heure. possessed a moiety of this place in the reign of king Edward I. in the 2d of which he was was sheriff of this county, and in the 9th of it obtained a grant of free warren within his demesne lands in Heure, Chidingstone, and Lingefield.
Sir Ralph de Heure seems at this time to have possessed the other moiety of this parish, between whose son and heir, Ralph, and Nicholas, abbot of St. Augustine's, there had been, as appears by the register of that abbey, several disputes concerning lands in Hever, which was settled in the 4th year of king Edward I. by the abbot's granting to him and his heirs for ever, the land which he held of him in Hever, to hold by the service of the fourth part of a knight's fee.
William de Hever, in the reign of king Edward III. became possessed of the whole of this manor, and new built the mansion here, and had licence to embattle it; soon after which he died, leaving two daughters his coheirs; one of whom, Joane, carried one moiety of this estate in marriage to Reginald Cobham, a younger son of the Cobhams of Cobham, in this county; (fn. 2) whence this part of Hever, to distinguish it from the other, acquired the name of Hever Cobham.
His son, Reginald lord Cobham, in the 14th year of that reign, obtained a charter for free warren within his demesne lands in Hever. (fn. 3) He was succeeded in this manor by his son, Reginald lord Cobham, who was of Sterborough castle, in Surry, whence this branch was stiled Cobhams of Sterborough.
The other moiety of Hever, by Margaret, the other daughter and coheir, went in marriage to Sir Oliver Brocas, and thence gained the name of Hever Brocas. One of his descendants alienated it to Reginald lord Cobham, of Sterborough, last mentioned, who died possessed of both these manors in the 6th year of king Henry IV.
His grandson, Sir Thomas Cobham, sold these manors to Sir Geoffry Bulleyn, a wealthy mercer of London, who had been lord mayor in the 37th year of king Henry VI. He died possessed of both Hever Cobham and Hever Brocas, in the 3d year of king Edward IV. leaving by Anne, his wife, eldest sister of Thomas, lord Hoo and Hastings, Sir William Bulleyn, of Blickling, in Norfolk, who married Margaret, daughter and coheir of Thomas Boteler, earl of Ormond, by whom he had a son and heir, Thomas, who became a man of eminent note in the reign of king Henry VIII. and by reason of the king's great affection to the lady Anne Bulleyn, his daughter, was in the 17th year of that reign, created viscount Rochford; and in the 21st year of it, being then a knight of the Garter, to that of earl of Wiltshire and Ormond; viz. Wiltshire to his heirs male, and Ormond to his heirs general.
He resided here, and added greatly to those buildings, which his grandfather, Sir Geoffry Bulleyn, began in his life time, all which he completely finished, and from this time this seat seems to have been constantly called HEVER-CASTLE.
He died in the 30th of the same reign, possessed of this castle, with the two manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas, having had by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, one sonGeorge, executed in his life time; and two daughters, Anne, wife to king Henry VIII. and Mary, wife of William Carey, esquire of the body, and ancestor of the lords Hunsdon and the earls of Dover and Monmouth.
On the death of the earl of Wiltshire, without issue male, who lies buried in this church, under an altar tomb of black marble, on which is his figure, as large as the life, in brass, dressed in the robes of the Garter, the king seised on this castle and these manors, in right of his late wife, the unfortunate Anne Bulleyn, the earl's daughter, who resided at Hever-castle whilst the king courted her, there being letters of both extant, written by them from and to this place, and her chamber in it is still called by her name; and they remained in his hands till the 32d year of his reign, when he granted to the lady Anne of Cleves, his repudiated wife, his manors of Hever, Seale, and Kemsing, among others, and his park of Hever, with its rights, members, and appurtenances, then in the king's hands; and all other estates in Hever, Seale, and Kemsing, lately purchased by him of Sir William Bulleyn and William Bulleyn, clerk, to hold to her during life, so long as she should stay within the realm, and not depart out of it without his licence, at the yearly rent of 931. 13s. 3½d. payable at the court of augmention. She died possessed of the castle, manors, and estates of Hever, in the 4th and 5th year of king Philip and queen Mary, when they reverted again to the crown, where they continued but a short time, for they were sold that year, by commissioners authorised for this purpose, to Sir Edward Waldegrave and dame Frances his wife; soon after which the park seems to have have been disparked.
This family of Waldegrave, antiently written Walgrave, is so named from a place, called Walgrave, in the county of Northampton, at which one of them was resident in the reign of king John, whose descendants afterwards settled in Essex, and bore for their arms, Per pale argent and gules. Warine de Walgrave is the first of them mentioned, whose son, John de Walgrave, was sheriff of London, in the 7th year of king John's reign, whose direct descendant was Sir Edward Waldegrave, who purchased this estate, as before mentioned. (fn. 5) He had been a principal officer of the household to the princess Mary; at the latter end of the reign of king Edward VI. he incurred the king's displeasure much by his attachment to her interest, and was closely imprisoned in the Tower; but the king's death happening soon afterwards, queen Mary amply recompensed his sufferings by the continued marks of her favour and bounty, which she conferred on him; and in the 4th and 5th years of that reign, he obtained, as above mentioned, on very easy terms, the castle and manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas; and besides being employed by the queen continually in commissions of trust and importance, had many grants of lands and other favours bestowed on him. But on the death of queen Mary, in 1558, he was divested of all his employments, and committed prisoner to the Tower, (fn. 6) where he died in the 3d year of queen Elizabeth. He left two sons, Charles, his heir; and Nicholas, ancestor to those of Boreley, in Essex; and several daughters.
Charles Waldegrave succeeded his father in his estates in this parish; whose son Edward received the honour of knighthood at Greenwich, in 1607, and though upwards of seventy years of age, at the breaking out of the civil wars, yet he nobly took arms in the king's defence, and having the command of a regiment of horse, behaved so bravely, that he had conferred on him the dignity of a baronet, in 1643; after which he continued to act with great courage in the several attacks against the parliamentary forces, in which time he lost two of his sons, and suffered in his estate to the value of fifty thousand pounds.
His great grandson, Sir Henry Waldegrave, in 1686, in the 1st year of king James II. was created a peer, by the title of baron Waldegrave of Chewton, in Somersetshire, and had several offices of trust conferred on him; but on the Revolution he retired into France, and died at Paris, in 1689. (fn. 7) He married Henrietta, natural daughter of king James II. by Arabella Churchill, sister of John duke of Marlborough, by whom he had James, created earl of Waldegrave in the 3d year of king George II. who, in the year 1715, conveyed the castle and these manors to Sir William Humfreys, bart. who that year was lord mayor of the city of London. He was of Barking, in Essex, and had been created a baronet in 1714. He was descended from Nathaniel Humfreys, citizen of London, the second son of William ap Humfrey, of Montgomery, in North Wales, and bore for his arms two coats, Quarterly, 1st and 4th, sable, two nags heads erased argent; 2d and 3d, per pale or and gules, two lions rampant endorsed, counterchanged.
He died in 1735, leaving by his first wife, Margaret, daughter of William Wintour, of Gloucestershire, an only son and heir, Sir Orlando Humfreys, bart. who died in 1737, having had by Ellen, his wife, only child of colonel Robert Lancashire, three sons and two daughters; two of the sons died young; Robert, the second and only surviving son, had the castle and manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas, and died before his father possessed of them, as appears by his epitaph, in 1736, ætat. 28.
On Sir Orlando's death his two daughters became his, as well as their brother's, coheirs, of whom Mary, the eldest, had three husbands; first, William Ball Waring, of Dunston, in Berkshire, who died in 1746, without issue; secondly, John Honywood, esq. second brother of Richard, of Mark's-hall, who likewife died without issue, in 1748; and lastly, Thomas Gore, esq. uncle to Charles Gore, esq. M.P. for Hertfordshire; which latter had married, in 1741, Ellen Wintour, the only daughter of Sir Orlando Humfreys, above mentioned.
They, with their husbands, in 1745, joined in the sale of Hever-castle and the manors of Hever Cobham and Hever Brocas, to Timothy Waldo. He was descended from Thomas Waldo, of Lyons, in France, one of the first who publicly opposed the doctrines of the church of Rome, of whom there is a full account in the Atlas Geograph. vol. ii. and in Moreland's History of the Evangelical Churches of Piedmont. One of his descendants, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, to escape the persecution of the duke D'Alva, came over to England, where he and his descendants afterwards settled, who bore for their arms, Argent a bend azure, between three leopards heads of the second; of whom, in king Charles II.'s reign, there were three brothers, the eldest of whom, Edward, was knighted, and died without male issue, leaving two daughters his coheirs; the eldest of whom, Grace, married first Sir Nicholas Wolstenholme, bart. and secondly, William lord Hunsdon, but died without issue by either of them, in 1729. The second brother was of Harrow, in Middlesex; and Timothy, the third, was an eminent merchant of London, whose grandsons were Edward, who was of South Lambeth, esq. and died in 1783, leaving only one daughter; and Timothy, of Clapham, esquire, the purchaser of this estate, as above mentioned, who was afterwards knighted, and died possessed of it, with near thirteen hundred acres of land round it, in 1786; he married, in 1736, Miss Catherine Wakefield, by whom he left an only daughter and heir, married to George Medley, esq. of Sussex, lady Waldo surviving him is at this time intitled to it.
The castle is entire, and in good condition; it has a moat round it, formed by the river Eden, over which there is a draw bridge, leading to the grand entrance, in the gate of which there is yet a port cullis, within is a quadrangle, round which are the offices, and a great hall; at the upper end of which, above a step, is a large oak table, as usual in former times. The great stair case leads up to several chambers and to the long gallery, the cieling of which is much ornamented with soliage in stucco; the rooms are all wainscotted with small oaken pannels, unpainted. On one side of the gallery is a recess, with an ascent of two steps, and one seat in it, with two returns, capable of holding ten or twelve persons, which, by tradition, was used as a throne, when king Henry VIII. visited the castle. At the upper end of the gallery, on one side of a large window, there is in the floor a kind of trap door, which, when opened, discovers a narrow and dark deep descent, which is said to reach as far as the moat, and at this day is still called the dungeon. In a closet, in one of the towers, the window of which is now stopped up, there is an adjoining chamber, in which queen Anne Bulleyn is said to have been consined after her dis grace. The entrance to this closet, from the chamber, is now by a small door, which at that time was a secret sliding pannel, and is yet called Anne Bulleyn's pannel.
In the windows of Hever-castle are these arms; Argent, three buckles gules, within the garter; a shield of four coasts, Howard, Brotherton, Warren, and Mowbray, argent three buckles gules; a shield of eight coats, viz. Bulleyn, Hoo, St. Omer, Malmains, Wickingham, St. Leger, Wallop, and Ormond; and one, per pale argent and gules, for Waldegrave. (fn. 8)
It is reported, that when Henry VIII. with his attendants, came to the top of the hill, within sight of the castle, he used to wind his bugle horn, to give notice of his approach.
There was a court baron constantly held for each of the above manors till within these forty years, but at present there is only one, both manors being now esteemed but as one, the circuit of which, over the neighbouring parishes, is very extensive.
SEYLIARDS is an estate here which extends itself into the parishes of Brasted and Eatonbridge, but the mansion of it is in this parish, and was the antient seat of the Seyliards, who afterwards branched out from hence into Brasted, Eatonbridge, Chidingstone, and Boxley, in this county.
The first of this name, who is recorded to have possessed this place, was Ralph de Seyliard, who resided here in the reign of king Stephen.
Almerick de Eureux, earl of Gloucester, who lived in the reign of king Henry III. demised lands to Martin at Seyliard, and other lands, called Hedinden, to Richard Seyliard, both of whom were sons of Ralph at Seyliard, and the latter of them was ancestor to those seated here and at Delaware, in Brasted. (fn. 9)
This place continued in his descendants till Sir Tho. Seyliard of Delaware, passed it away to John Petley, esq. who alienated it to Sir Multon Lambarde, of Sevenoke, and he died possessed of it in 1758; and it is now the property of his grandson, Multon Lambarde, of Sevenoke, esq.
Charities.
A PERSON gave, but who or when is unknown, but which has time out of mind been distributed among the poor of this parish, the sum of 10s. yearly, to be paid out of land vested in the churchwardens, and now of that annual produce.
The Rev. JOHN PETER gave by will, about 1661, the sum of 10s. yearly, to be paid for the benefit of poor farmers only, out of land vested in the rector, the heirs of Wm. Douglass, and the heirs of Francis Bowty, and now of that annual produce.
The Rev. GEORGE BORRASTON, rector, and several of the parishioners, as appears by a writing dated in 1693, purchased, with money arising from several bequests, the names of the donors unknown, except that of WILLIAM FALKNER, to which the parishioners added 15l. a piece of land, the rent to be distributed yearly among the poor of the parish, vested in the rector and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 3l. 12s.
Rev. THOMAS LANCASTER, rector, gave by will in 1714, for buying good books for the poor, and in case books are not wanting for the schooling of poor children at the discretion of the mimister, part of a policy on lives, which was exchanged for a sum of money paid by his executor, being 20l. vested in the minister and churchwardens.
SIR TIMOTHY WALDO gave by will in 1786, 500l. consolidated 3 per cent. Bank Annuities, one moiety of the interest of which to be applied for the placing of some poor boy of the parish apprentice to a farmer, or some handicraft trade, or to the sea service, or in cloathing such poor boy during his apprenticeship, and in case no such poor boy can be found, this moiety to be distributed among such of the industrious poor who do not receive alms. The other moiety to be laid out in buying and distributing flannel waistcoats, or strong shoes, or warm stockings, among such of the industrious or aged poor persons inhabiting within this parish, as do not receive alms, vested in the Salters Company.
HEVER is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester, and being a peculiar of the archbishop, is as such within the deanry of Shoreham. The church, which stands at the east end of the village, is a small, but neat building, consisting of one isle and two chancels, having a handsome spire at the west end of it. It is dedicated to St. Peter.
Among other monuments and inscriptions in it are the following:—In the isle is a grave-stone, on which is the figure of a woman, and inscription in black letter in brass, for Margaret, wife of William Cheyne, obt. 1419, arms, a fess wavy between three crescents.—In the chancel, a memorial for Robert Humfreys, esq. lord of the manor of Heaver, only son and heir of Sir Orlando Humfreys, bart. of Jenkins, in Effex, obt. 1736. Against the wall is a brass plate, with the figure of a man kneeling at a desk, and inscription in black letter for William Todde, schoolmaster to Charles Waldegrave, esq. obt. 1585.—In the north chancel, an altar tomb, with the figure on it at large in brass, of Sir Thomas Bullen, knight of the garter, earl of Wilcher and earl of Ormunde, obt. 1538. A small slab with a brass plate, for ........ Bullayen, the son of Sir Thomas Bullayen.—In the belsry, a stone with a brass plate, and inscription in black letter in French, for John de Cobham, esquire, obt. 1399, and dame Johane, dame de Leukenore his wife, and Renaud their son; near the above is an antient altar tomb for another of that name, on which is a shield of arms in brass, or, on a chevron, three eagles displayed, a star in the dexter point. These were the arms of this branch of the Cobhams, of Sterborough-castle. (fn. 10)
This church is a rectory, the advowson of which belonged to the priory of Combwell, in Goudhurst, and came to the crown with the rest of its possessions at the time of the surrendry of it, in the 7th year of king Henry VIII. in consequence of the act passed that year for the surrendry of all religious houses, under the clear yearly revenue of two hundred pounds. Soon after which this advowson was granted, with the scite of the priory, to Thomas Colepeper, but he did not long possess it; and it appears, by the Escheat Rolls, to have come again into the hands of the crown, and was granted by the king, in his 34th year, to Sir John Gage, to hold in capite by knights service; who exchanged it again with Tho. Colepeper, to confirm which an act passed the year after. (fn. 11) His son and heir, Alexander Colepeper, had possession granted of sundry premises, among which was the advowson of Hever, held in capite by knights service, in the 3d and 4th years of king Philip and queen Mary; the year after which it was, among other premises, granted to Sir Edward Waldegrave, to hold by the like tenure.
Charles Waldegrave, esq. in the 12th year of queen Elizabeth, alienated this advowson to John Lennard, esq. of Chevening, and being entailed to his heirs male, by the last will of Sampson Lennard, esq. his eldest son, under the word hereditament possessed it, and it being an advowson in gross, was never disentailed by Henry, Richard, or Francis, lords Dacre, his descendants, so that it came to Thomas lord Dacre, son of the last mentioned Francis, lord Dacre, afterwards earl of Sussex, in 1673, and at length sole heir male of the descendants of John Lennard, esq. of Chevening, above mentioned; and the same trial was had for the claim of a moiety of it, at the Queen's-bench bar, as for the rest of the earl's estates, and a verdict then obtained in his favour, as has been already fully mentioned before, under Chevening.
The earl of Sussex died possessed of it in 1715, (fn. 12) whose two daughters, his coheirs, on their father's death became entitled to this advowson, and a few years afterwards alienated the same.
It then became the property of the Rev. Mr. Geo. Lewis, as it has since of the Rev. Mr. Hamlin, whose daughter marrying the Rev. Mr. Nott, of Little Horsted, in Sussex, he is now intitled to it.
In the 15th year of king Edward I. this church of Heure was valued at fifteen marcs.
By virtue of a commission of enquiry, taken by order of the state, in 1650, issuing out of chancery, it was returned, that Hever was a parsonage, with a house, and twelve acres of glebe land, which, with the tithes, were worth seventy-seven pounds per annum, master John Petter being then incumbent, and receiving the profits, and that Francis lord Dacre was donor of it. (fn. 13)
This rectory was valued, in 1747, at 1831. per annum, as appears by the particulars then made for the sale of it.
It is valued, in the king's books, at 15l. 17s. 3½d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 10s. 8¾d. It is now of the yearly value of about 200l.
¶The priory of Combwell, in Goudhurst, was endowed by Robert de Thurnham, the founder of that house, in the reign of king Henry II. with his tithe of Lincheshele and sundry premises in this parish, for which the religious received from the rector of this church the annual sum of 43s. 4d.
Second weekend of the annual Heritage event. It seems wrong to call it a weekend as it now compromises two weekends and many meedweek events too.
And scanning the events, there were some in Canterbury, so we decide to head to the city for a wander: jools would go shopping while I would go and do some snapping.
Of course there is always shopping first. Off to Tesco to fill the car, then fill the fridge and larder. I am away for three days, nearly four, so not much needed on top of some ready meals for Jools. Still came to seventy quid, mind.
A tub of cheese footballs did fall into the trolley, which helped.
Back home for breakfast of fruit and more coffee, and then off to Canterbury, parking near St Augustine's Abbey, walking to the centre via a subway. We parted, Jools went to Body Shop and a couple of other shops, while I walked down High Street, past the Eastbridge Hospital, Westgate Tower, Canterbury West station to St Dunstan's.
I could say I walked straight there, but I had a quarter of an hour to play with, so when I walked past a pasty shop, I went in for a coffee, and although wasn't really hungry, I did have a pasty anyway.
Once fed and watered, I walk on, up the hill past the station, and on the left was the church, the door already open despite it being only five to nine.
I went in, and found I had the church to myself.
Last time I was here, the Roper Chapel was being renovated and so I couldn't get inside. Important as it is in the chapel that the head of Thomas Moor, beheaded on Tower Hill on orders of Henry VIII. The windows of the chapel have several representation of him and scenes from his life. I snap them all.
I go round with the wide angle lens, now the church is fully open again.
That done, I walk back down into the centre heading for Eastbridge Hospital.
I have been here before, a decade ago, when I went round with just my wide angle lens, and go a few poor shots. So, with it being open for the Heritage Event, it seemed a good idea to go.
The hospital is ancient, it goes without saying, and is still in use.
I have walked up and down High Street in Canterbury dozens of times, and never really thought about what lay behind buildings on the west side.
At Eastbridge the ancient hospital straddles the Stour, or one branch of it, on the other is the timber framed house, Weavers, with the ducking stool further downstream.
I re-visited the hospital, and on the way out was told I could visit the gardens and Greyfriars Chapel at the same time.
A shop, former pawnbrokers, is now a charity shop for the gardens, and through the shop there is an exit to a path beside the river.
This opens out into two acres of gardens, still used to feed the patients in the hospital, and the monks who still live and work here.
There used to be a large priory church here, and there are parts of ancient walls and ruins to be seen, as well as a bridge of the same age.
Over the river, a former lodging building from the 13th century, as been converted into a chapel, Greyfriars, with pillars supporting the building as the river passes through a tunnel under it.
It was rather like walking through a wardrobe into a magical place, with the Stour gently flowing through it, and a few other visitors making their was to the Chapel and surrounding gardens.
We sat for 45 minutes in the meadow waiting for a service to end, so I could get shots. So, we people watched and delighted in Migrant Hawkers flying by.
Franciscan Gardens, Canterbury, Kent The sounds of the city seemed a hundred miles away.
I got the shots once the group of ladies left, and once I had the three shots, we followed sign to the exit, leaving the garden through a plane gate beside the old post office.
Two hundred and sixty Now what?
Well, nothing. Really.
So, we walk back slowly to the car, pay for three hours parking and drive back out of the city, down the A2 to the coast and home.
Back in time to listen to the footy, have a brew and try to avoid eating as we were going out in the evening. As, on Monday, it will be 14 years since we married, and as I will be in another country Monday, we celebrated it two days early.
Or would do come six.
Norwich were going for seven wins in a row, but never really got going against WBA, and fell a goal behind early on. Better in the second half, and drew level thanks to a deflection, but no win. But also, no defeat either.
Franciscan Gardens, Canterbury, Kent I had a shower and put on some clean clothes and a splash of aftershave.
Ready.
I drive us to Jen's, picked her up, then drove slowly to Sandwich, then over the marshes through Preston to Stourmouth.
We were not the only customers; there was a wedding reception, and there were gentlement and boys in three piece suits, and ladies and girls in glamourous gowns and neck-breaking heels. Occasionally the bride would literally sweep through the bar, the train of her dress cleaning as it went. Not sure if what was the right colour.....
We had ordered when I booked the table, a huge pan of paella with chorizo, chicken, ham and shrimp. Jen and I shared a bottle of red, and we ate and watched the comings and goings as the wedding party got ever more rauocus.
We rounded off with a cheeseboard between the three of us, and that was it.
Jools drove us back to Jen's, dropping her off, then back home.
I had decided to open the bottle of port once home, and did. This has been on the shelf since my last trip to Denmark and I saw it at the airport duty free.
It was every bit of good that I hoped it would be.
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The Hospital of St Thomas the Martyr of Eastbridge was founded in the 12th century in Canterbury, England, to provide overnight accommodation for poor pilgrims to the shrine of St Thomas Becket. It is now one of the ten almshouses still providing accommodation for elderly citizens of Canterbury[1] and is a grade I listed building.
The hospital is situated on the King's-bridge, near the Westgate, in Canterbury. It was established sometime after the death of Thomas Becket (1170), possibly as early as 1176, when Canterbury Cathedral became a site of pilgrimage; the hospital provided accommodation for the pilgrims. The earliest name recorded as founder is that of Edward FitzOdbold c. 1190, with further endowments by Archbishop Hubert Walter about 1203.[1] For many years, no special statutes were enacted, nor were any rules laid down for the treatment of pilgrims.
The original building consists of an entrance hall, undercroft, refectory and chapel, all built in around 1190. Like the ancient Entrance Hall beneath it, the Pilgrims’ Chapel dates from the twelfth century, but assumed its present proportions in the fourteenth century. The roof of the Pilgrims’ Chapel is a fine example of its kind: the style of woodwork and joinery indicate that it was built around 1285. The Undercroft's original function was as a dormitory, and architecturally shows the period of time where the round-headed arch was giving way to the Gothic style of pointed arch.
The Refectory is a large open room originally used as a dining space. On the north wall is a painting of Our Lord in Glory between the symbols of the four Evangelists dating from the thirteenth century. This fresco was only uncovered when the chimney and fireplace installed around the time of the dissolution were removed in 1879, and it has been conserved since its revelation.
Approval for the funding of a Chantry Chapel was sanctioned by Archbishop Sudbury in 1375; the original document confirming this endowment is housed in the Canterbury Cathedral archives. (Chantries were abolished in 1547, and this fell into disrepair until it was reclaimed and restored for its original use in 1969.)
Hospital of St. Thomas, Canterbury, old engraving.
In the fourteenth century the hospital was reformed by Archbishop John de Stratford, during the reign of Edward III; he created ordinances, as well as a code of regulations to be acted on concerning pilgrims. He ruled that every pilgrim in health could rest in the hospital for one night at the cost of four pence, that weak and infirm applicants were to be preferred to those with better health, and that women "upwards of forty" should attend to the bedding and administer medicines to the sick. He also appointed a Master in priest's orders, under whose guidance a secular chaplain served. Further lands and revenues from parishes were given by Stratford and by Archbishop Simon Sudbury.[1]
This institution survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries and other religious houses during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, although the pilgrimage to St Thomas of Canterbury did not survive this period. In 1569 Archbishop Matthew Parker issued new ordinances governing the Hospital and its Master which specified the maintenance of twelve beds for the 'wayfaring poor' and established a school in the chapel for twenty boys. This arrangement was confirmed by Archbishop John Whitgift by Act of Parliament in 1584.[1]
The school survived until 1879. The chapel was then little used until its restoration by the Master in 1927. Further restoration work has taken place during the twentieth century. Much of this work was financed by sale of some of the hospital's lands at Blean at the foundation of the University of Kent in the 1960s.[1] A list of the Masters of the Eastbridge Hospital up to the end of the eighteenth century is given by Edward Hasted.
Between 2014–2019, extensive restoration took place to preserve those rooms situated directly over the River Stour. This work was supported by the Viridor Credits scheme, which funds community, heritage, and biodiversity projects. It was formally opened to the public by the Bishop of Dover on 23 March 2019, and named after Archbishop William Juxon, who was a generous benefactor during his tenure, and gave money for an earlier restoration of this part of Eastbridge.
Eastbridge is a functional almshouse to this day, providing accommodation in eight individual apartments in areas of the buildings inaccessible to the public. Eastbridge is administered by Trustees whose main aims are the maintenance of the ancient buildings, which are of national historic interest, and the welfare of the almshouse residents (Indwellers).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastbridge_Hospital_of_St_Thomas_th...
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THE HOSPITAL OF KING'S BRIDGE, ALIAS EASTBRIDGE
IS likewise situated in the same hundred, being exempt from the liberties of the city, and within the jurisdiction of the county of Kent at large. It takes its name from its situation close on the south side of King's bridge. This hospital was formerly called, by both the names of Eastbridge hospital and the hospital of St. Thomas the martyr of Eastbridge; which latter it had, from its being at first erected and endowed by the charity and piety of St. Thomas Becket, in king Henry II.'s reign. (fn. 1) For this we have the testimony of one of his successors, archbishop Stratford; who, upon his new ordination of the hospital, and in the charter of it, acknowledged archbishop Becket to be the first founder and endower of it; besides which, there is no other record extant, or to be found concerning the foundation of this hospital, or the intent why it was erected. (fn. 2) But to look back to the times intervening between these two founders, in which it is recorded, that archbishop Hubert, who sat in this see in king John's reign, was an especial benefactor to it, by the gift of several mills, tithes, and other premises, which were confirmed by the prior and convent of Christ church. In this archbishop's time there was another hospital, neighbouring to this of King's, alias Eastbridge, called Cokyn's hospital, built and en dowed by one William Cokyn, a citizen of Canterbury, whose name in his posterity long survived him, in this city. (fn. 3) This hospital was dedicated to St. Nicholas and the Virgin and martyr St. Catherine; and was situated in the parish of St. Peter, almost directly opposite to the late Black Friars-gate, having had a lane by it, once called Cokyn's lane, though long since shut up, and built upon. This hospital lastmentioned, was built on the scite of a house adjoining to the above William Cokyn's dwelling, or else was turned into one by him. Afterwards, by his charter, he united these two hospitals, and then by another charter, entitled them to all his lands, possessions and chattels, and made them his heirs. This union was confirmed by the bull of pope Innocent III. anno 1203, in which it is called the hospital of St. Thomas of Canterbury; and in Cokyn's grant of union, it is stiled the hospital of St. Nicholas, St. Catherine, and St. Thomas the Martyr of Eastbridge. (fn. 4) Eastbridge hospital becoming thus by union or consolidation possessed of and owners of Cokyn's hospital, it ceased soon afterwards, probably, to be used as one, and was hired or rented out, among the possessions of the hospital of Eastbridge; in which state it continues at this time. (fn. 5)
To return now again to the hospital of St. Thomas of Eastbridge, for which there being no statutes for the government of it, archbishop Stratford, anno 15 Edward III. drew up certain ordinances for that purpose, (fn. 6) the effect of which was, that the hospital being founded for the receiving, lodging and sustaining of poor pilgrims, was then, owing to the negligence of the masters, who had wasted the revenues of it, but meanly endowed, and that the buildings of it were in a ruinous condition: to remedy which, and to continue the charitable intent of it, he decreed, that the church of St. Nicholas, Harbledown, should be for ever appropriated to it; that for the government of this hospital, there should be a master in priest's orders, appointed by the archbishop and his successors, who should keep a proper secular chaplain, or vicar, under him, to be removed at the master's will and pleasure. That such poor pilgrims as happened to die within this hospital, should be buried in Christ church yard, in the place heretofore allotted to them there. That every pilgrim, in health, should have no more than one night's lodging and entertainment, at the expence of 4d. that there should be twelve beds in the hospital, and that some woman, upwards of forty years of age, should look after the beds and provide all necessaries for the pilgrims; that those who were not in health, should be preferred to such as were; that no lepers should be received into it; that if there was a smaller number of pilgrims reforting to the hospital, at any one time, a greater number should be received into it, in lieu of such deficiency, at other times, as far as the revenues of the hospital would allow of it; and further, he inhibited them from having any common seal in the hospital, with several other particular orders and injunction, as may be seen in the instrument more at large.
This hospital had several very liberal benefactors in early times. Among others, Hamo de Crevequer gave the church of Blean to it, which gift was afterwards confirmed by archbishop Stephen Langton, and was afterwards appropriated to it by archbishop Sudbury in 1375, Thomas, lord Roos, of Hamlake, in the 33d year of king Edward III. gave the manor of Blean to it, and the year afterwards Sir John Lee, as appears by the ledger of the hospital, gave to it a messuage, with 180 acres of land and divers rents of assize, in the same parish, for the increase of vorks of piety in it. (fn. 7)
In the year 1362, archbishop Islip founded a perpetual chantry in this hospital, and transferred to it, for the benefit of it, at the request of Bartholomew de Bourne, the chantry founded in the church of Livingsborne, alias Beaksborne, by his ancestor James de Bourne. (fn. 8)
By the instruments of the archbishops Islip and Sudbury, dated in the above year, it appears, by the former, that there was founded in this hospital, a perpetual chantry for divine services; the priest of which was to receive a yearly stipend of ten marcs, of the master of the hospital, out of the revenues of it; for which he was to celebrate divine service, and minister the sacraments and sacramentals in it, to such poor and infirm as should resort hither; and that the priest and his successors should possess the mansion, within the bounds of the hospital, between the infirmary and the great gate of it, and the chamber over it. After which king Edward III, having given a messuage, called the Chaunge, at the time almost wholly in ruins, to Thomas Newe de Wolton, then master of this hospital, and his successors, in aid of the maintenance of the priest who should celebrate in it for his health, for his soul afterwards, and that of John at Lee, who in part founded the chantry, &c. and the said messuage having been repaired and rebuilt by the executors, and at the cost, though charity, of his predecessor, the value of the rent amounted to seven marcs yearly, and would, as it was presumed, amount still higher in future; and it being difficult at that time to find a proper priest, who would undergo the duty and residence required in it, for the salary of ten marcs, the king's piety in augmenting the priest's stipend, was as yet frustrated—Archbishop Simon Sudbury, therefore, by his instrument dated in 1375, in which he recited the above ordination of his predecessor, ordained and decreed, in addition to that before-mentioned, and by the consent of the said Thomas, master of this hospital, and the executors of his predecessor, that the endowment of this chantry of ten marcs, should be augmented with five marcs and an half out of the seven marcs of rent of the messuage given by the king as aforesaid, with power of distress, &c. and whereas the presentation of the chantry of Bourne, united to this hospital, as in the ordination of the first chantry aforesaid made by his predecessor, more plainly appeared, belonged to Bartholomew de Bourne, his heirs, or assigns, before the union; he therefore decreed and ordained, that the presentation and collation to be made to the same, when vacant, should belong to him and his successors, and to the said Bartholomew de Bourne, his heirs, or assigns, alternately; the first turn to belong to the archbishop, because the assigns of Bartholomew de Bourne (fn. 9) had presented the then incumbent to it, &c. (fn. 10)
Though the revenues of this hospital lay chiesly in the parish of Blean, yet it was possessed of other rents, lands and tenements in Canterbury, Harbledown, and in Birchington. It was likewise possessed of lands in Herne, Reculver, Swaycliffe, Chistlet, and Bekesborne, belonging to the before-mentioned chantry, which at the suppression of it were seized on, as such.
By a bull of pope Honorius III. this hospital had the privilege of not paying tithes of their gardens. (fn. 11)
By the return made to the king's commissioners in king Henry VIII.'s reign, it appears, that there was here a neat handsome chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, to which had belonged two bells, to ring to service, as was reported to them by the parson and churchwardens of All Saints; who said further, that this hospital was a parish church, in which there was ministred all sacraments and sacramentals, to the poor people resorting thither, and to the keeper of it, and his household, and all others remaining within the precinct of it, by the chantry priest; the matter of fact was, that this chapel was formerly served by the chantry priest of the chantry in it, mentioned before, to have been transferred to it, who had 10l. 6s. 8d. yearly stipend or wages, besides his mansion or dwelling, which was at the west end of the hospital, of all which it was deprived at the suppression of it by the statute of the 1st year of king Edward VI. (fn. 12) when a pension of six pounds per annum was granted to Nicholas Thompson, alias Campion, the incumbent of it, which was remaining anno 1553. (fn. 13)
The value of the revenues of the hospital itself, as returned anno 26 Henry VIII. according to both Dugdale and Speed, were 23l. 18s. 9⅓d. per annum, but this must have been the clear income, for according to Sancrost's manuscript valor, they amounted in the whole to 43l. 12s. 3d. (fn. 14)
The state of this hospital, as it stood in the time of cardinal Pole, at archdeacon Harpsfield's visitation in 1557, was, as appears by the entry in the book of it; that they were bound to receive way faring and hurt men, and to have eight beds for men, and four for women; to remain for a might, and more, if they were not able to depart; and the master of the hospital to be charged with their burial, and they had twenty lords of wood yearly allowed, and 26s. a year for drink, that there was 10l. land a year, with a mansion, which the priest always had for officiating in the chapel, taken away by the king, and that it was the head church to St. Cosmus and St. Damian Blean, but that they had no ornaments but organs. (fn. 15)
This hospital, though it outlasted the general suppression of most of the foundations of the like sort in the reigns of king Henry VIII. and king Edward VI. yet in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, the lands and tenements belonging to it, as well as the hospital itself, then converted into tenements, were occu pied and possessed by private persons, until archbishop Parker, in the 10th year of that reign, recovered, by his prudent care, some of the lands and possessions, and restored the house again to pious and charitable uses. He framed new ordinances for the government of it, which he wisely contrived should be suitable to those times, as well as agreeable to the first foundation of the hospital, and the former statutes of archbishop Stratford, as far as might be; reserving nevertheless, a power to his successors, archbishops of Canterbury, to revise, alter, abolish and new make all, or any part of them; they are dated May 20, 1569. (fn. 16)
In them it appears, that in consequence of the ordinances of archbishop Stratford, the master of the hospital might take all the profits of it to his own use, bestowing only for the relief of wandering and wayfaring brethren, and poor, in bread and drink, after the rate of 4d. a day, and one night's lodging for twelve persons, if so many came there at one time, in the whole not above 6l. 2s. 6d. per annum, but the archbishop (Parker) by the authority in the above former ordinance concerning the disposition of the profits of this hospital, to him and his successors reserved, to alter and change the same, did by these ordinances in that behalf made, under his hand and seal, not only increase the above sum, to be from thenceforth bestowed on certain poor inhabiting within the county of the city of Canterbury, but also appointed other sums of money thereout, yearly to be paid towards the keeping of a freeschool, for a certain number of poor children of the county of the said city, to be taught to write and read freely within the hospital.
By the same ordinance, as well as by an indenture, between the master of this hospital and the master of Corpus Christi, or Benet college, in Cambridge, dated May 22, anno 11th Elizabeth, the archbishop founded out of the revenues of this hospital, two scholarships, each of the yearly value of 3l. 6s. 8d. that sum to be paid yearly from thence, by the master of the hospital to the master of the college; the two scholars to be chosen, named, examined and approved by the master of this hospital and the dean of Canterbury, if any such there should be; if not, then by the master only, and to be taken from the free-school in Canterbury, being such of the scholars there as were born within Kent, and being sent to Cambridge, should be called Canterbury scholars; who, after their admittance and receipt there, should remain and continue in that college, according to the orders and statutes of it, and should have of the provision of it, convenient chambers, commons, reading and other necessaries, as other scholars in it, according to common custom, for the term of two hundred years next, from the date of the indenture, with other rules and regulations in it relating to them. (fn. 17)
Not long after this, queen Elizabeth issued a commission of charitable uses, to enquire into the state and condition of this hospital, which was done, and a return thereof made accordingly; and again, soon after the death of archbishop Parker, there was a second commission, directed to Sir James Hales and others, who certisied, that the hospital house stood ruinated, and neither master nor brethren were resident, or dwelling of long time. The house was let out into tenements for yearly rent. The beds that were wont to lodge and harbour poor people resorting thither, were gone and sold, contrary to the old order and foundation of the same; and that the hospital was relinquished and concealed from the queen, &c. Upon which, she granted it, with all its revenues, by letters patent, dated July 20, in her 18th year, to John Farnham, one of her gentlemen pensioners, to hold in see farm for ever. —He soon afterwards conveyed his interest in it for 550l. and the release beside of a debt owing by him, to Geo. Hayes. After this, archbishop Whitgift recovered this hospital, with the revenues of it, from Hayes, and then settled it upon a new foundation, so firm and sure, that it has continued to the present time, and remains a perpetual monument of the archbishop's piety and prudence, who may be justly reputed the sounder and restorer of it; (fn. 18) and he framed new ordinances and statutes, for the better government of it, by which the hospital is now ruled. In these it is, among other things, ordered and decreed, that the archbishop should collate the master, who should be in holy orders, and should be instituted and inducted according to the usual form and custom, who should have the lodging known by the name of the master's lodging, in the hospital; and a yearly stipend of 61. 13s. 4d. and twenty loads of wood from the lands belonging to it, to be delivered cost free. That the master should appoint a school-master, who by himself or deputy, should freely instruct twenty poor children of this city, above the age of seven years, to write, read and cast accompts, and to have books, paper, &c. provided for them, out of the prosits of the hospital, and not to remain in the school above three years. The school-master to have a lodging in the hospital, and a stipend of four pounds, and for his further relief, if the master approved of it, to be receiver of the rents, &c. of the hospital; for which he should receive 26s. 8d. and two loads of wood yearly, to be delivered cost free, and one summer livery cloth. That out of the prosits of the hospital, there should be paid for ever, to the two scholars to be taken out of the common school at Canterbury, commonly called the mynte, by the master of the hospital, with the consent of the archbishop, and placed in Benet college, 3l. 6s. 8d. each, according to the former ordinances made of it. That whereas by former ordinances, the master of the hospital was only tied to pay in time of peace, unto the poor passengers, or to such other poor people as the master should think good, thirty pence a week; and in time of war that payment ceasing, to provide twelve beds for the lodging of poor soldiers, passing through this city, within the hospital, for the space of one night only, which is now grown wholly out of use, especially since the loss of Calais; therefore, for the better relief of the poor inhabiting within this city and the suburbs of it, it was ordered, that the former last recited orders should cease, and instead of them, there should be five inbrothers, and five in-sisters, to be permanent and have their habitation in the hospital; and after the space of twenty years next ensuing, there should be five other out-brothers, and five others called out-sisters; each of the said in-brothers and in-sisters to have a several dwelling and lodging within the hospital, and 26s. 8d. by the year, and one load of wood to be delivered cost free, between Midsummer and Michaelmas; and each of the out brothers and out-sisters to have 26s. 8d. by the year only; that the mayor of this city should from time to time, nominate to the master of the hospital for every of the brothers and sisters rooms, when they should be void and unfurnished, two poor persons, men or women, as the places should require, being lame, impotent, blind, or aged, above fifty years of age, who should have inhabited within the city, of suburbs, seven years before; of which two, the master should chuse and admit one; and in default of the mayor's nomi nating for the space of three months, the master to make choice, and admit any, qualisied as above-mentioned. That in the room of every out-brother and sister, the mayor should nominate such persons as above specisied, whereof one at least should be such as had dwelt in the city or suburbs, by the space of three whole years at least, to the end that such as dwelt there, and not within the county of the city, should receive the whole benefit of these ordinances. That the master, out of the profits of the hospital, should repair and sustain it, and every part within the precincts of it, and also sufficiently sustain and maintain the bridge, called the king's bridge, alias Eastbridge, within the city of Canterbury; (fn. 19) and pay to the queen, her heirs and successors, 7l. 10s. yearly, due to her for the pension of a chantry, sometime within the hospital, and all other dues and payments going out of it. That the master should not let for years or lives, the lands or tenements, nor make any woodsales of the wood, without the express consent, in writing, of the archbishop, and should yearly make an accompt to him, if demanded, so that of the surplusage all charges deducted, the portions of the brethren and sisters might be increased at the will of the archbishop, as theretofore had been used. That the in-brethren or sisters, master or schoolmaster, who should die within the precincts of the hospital, might be buried within the church-yard of the cathedral, according to a former agreement made between the archbishop, his predecessor and the then prior and convent of Christ church, with many other orders and re gulations mentioned in them, (fn. 20) all which were confirmed and ordered to be inrolled in chancery, by an act passed in the 27th year of that reign, (fn. 21) by the means of which, the rights of this hospital have been preserved to this time.
There have been some few modern benefactors to this hospital.
Mr. Avery Sabin, sometime an alderman of this city, by his will in 1648, gave a rent charge out of his estate at Monkton, in Thanet, of 20l. per annum, for charitable uses to the poor of this city, of which, ten marcs were assigned yearly to be paid to the five in-brothers and five in-sisters of this hospital. (fn. 22)
Mrs. Elizabeth Lovejoy, widow, by her will in 1694, gave, out of her personal estate, the sum of five pounds yearly to this hospital, to be shared and divided among the poor of it, in like manner as her gift to Cogan's hospital, above-mentioned. Besides which, this hospital receives yearly the sixth part of the interest, due from 1631. 16s. 3d. being the sum due from Mrs. Masters's legacy, who died in 1716, which is vested in the mayor and commonalty, in trust, for the several hospitals in Canterbury, of which a full account may be seen among the charitable benefactions to this city.
In 1708 John Battely, D. D. archdeacon of Canterbury, and master of this hospital, new built three of the sisters lodgings, and did several other great repairs, and at his death left by his will, to the in-brothers and sisters, one hundred pounds, the interest of which he ordered should be proportioned by Mr. John Bradock, of St. Stephen's, and Mr. Somerscales, vicar of Doddington.
Mr. John Bradock, master of this hospital, in 1719 gave by his will, 25l. 13s. 4d. for the better payment of the poor people, at Lady-day and Michaelmas.
Mr. Matthew Brown, of St. Peter's, in Canterbury, in 1721, gave by his will 10s. per annum for ever, to the in brothers and sisters of this hospital.
In 1768, Thomas Hanson, esq. of Crosby-square, London, gave by will, the interest of 500l, for ever, to the in brothers and sisters of this hospital; which being now invested in the 3 per cents. reduced Bank Annuties, produces 17l. 1os. per annum.
Besides these, the hospital had many temporary benefactors, as well towards the repairs of it, as in money; among which were, the archbishops Juxon, Sheldon and Sancrost. The yearly tenths of this hospital amounting to 2l. 7s. 10d. are payable to the archbishop.
In 1691, the yearly revenues of this hospital amounted in the whole to 101l. 5s. 9d. besides which were the fines upon the renewals of the leafes, and alderman Sabine's gift of 13s 4d. a piece, by the year, which came not into the master's hands, but was paid by one of the aldermen of the city.
The present building is antient; it has a decent hall and chapel, where the schoolmaster, who has a good apartment in the house, and is called the reader, instructs twenty boys gratis, in reading, writing, and arithmetic. There are rooms also for five in brothers, and five in-sisters, but some of these rooms are subject to be flooded in a very wet season. (fn. 23) The master has a neat handsome house, sitauted in a court near the hospital, but on the western or opposite side of the river.
¶The antient common seal of this hospital having been for a long time missing, the late master, Dr. Backhouse, at his own expence, supplied the hospital with another in the year 1783.
This is the final Kent church of the year, and with these uploads I will have caught up on all my picture taking, I believe.
We only visited St Mildred last year, but I forgot, so we went again in November, on another wonderful late autumn morning.
After visiting, we sat in the churchyard eating sausage rolls, much to the disgust of a couple of other visitors to the church.
Oh well.
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A superb church, which despite a heavy-handed restoration by G.M. Hills (see also Newenden) in 1864 still has much of interest. The nave ceiling is exceptional fifteenth-century work, rather more domestic in feel than is normal in an ecclesiastical building. There are two blocked thirteenth-century windows above the chancel arch - an unusual position to find windows in Kent. The five bay aisles are extremely narrow. The glass in the south aisle windows by Hughes of 1865 are rather fun. In the north chapel is a fine alabaster standing monument to Herbert Whitfield (d. 1622) and his wife. This monument cuts off the base of the north-east window and displays many colourful coats of arms. The chancel screen and pulpit are late nineteenth century and fit in with the medieval architecture better than most works of that period.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Tenterden
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The history of Tenterden itself is lost in time, as is the origin of St. Mildred’s church. Perhaps all that can be said with any confidence is that the story of the town and the story of St. Mildred’s are bound together with each other, with the story of pre-conquest Kent, with the story of Christianity in Kent, and with the story of the ancient Kentish royal house.
Tenet-wara-den (the den of the Thanet folk) was the Wealden area used by the abbey of Minster-in-Thanet for Autumn pig-forage (acorns and beech mast to fatten the pigs for Winter). That abbey was founded by Domne Aefa (“the lady Aebba”?) of the Kentish royal family, and either she herself or her daughter, St. Mildred, was the first abbess. This is within the first century after the arrival in Canterbury of St. Augustine’s mission from Rome. Mildred’s holy reputation was an international one, and there can be no doubt that a church in her name was here from some point in the eighth to tenth centuries. The reign of Canute is the latest possible period and it was almost certainly much earlier. However, we have no record of any incumbent before 1180, and the oldest perceptible fabric of the church is of about that time too.
When you stand in the middle of St. Mildred’s, you see a large building reflecting the prosperity of the town in the later middle ages. The north arcade of the chancel is probably around 1200, but most of the chancel, nave, and aisles is work of the 13th to 15th centuries. The fine wagon-vault ceiling of the nave has been variously stated to be 14th or 15th century (with some Victorian additions). The tower of the church, a prominent Kentish landmark, was probably built by architect Thomas Stanley. This major building work was undertaken in the middle of the 15th century, at the height of Tenterden’s prosperity, it being no coincidence that the town gained a charter and Cinque Port status in support of Rye, at about the same time.
The town’s prosperity was reflected also in the presence of important shipbuilding yards at both Reading Street and Smallhythe, both on the tidal River Rother at that time. The settlement at Smallhythe was sufficiently large to gain its own chapel sometime in the middle ages, but we know nothing of that building, though it was probably dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Smallhythe itself was burnt in a huge fire in 1514, and we know that rebuilding of the chapel began virtually straight away. The current church of St. John the Baptist is a beautiful example of a brick-built Tudor church, box-like (so with an excellent acoustic). It has, during its history, had varying levels of dependence or independence from the town church of St. Mildred.
By the middle of the 19th century, the population was growing fast, and attitudes to worship were changing too. St. Mildred’s lost its box pews, and had the organ moved to its present position. A new church was planned for the hamlet of Boresisle at the northern end of Tenterden, the neat and small Gothic revival church being dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels. Two consequences were, firstly, the acquisition by Kent of another prominent landmark – the graceful spire, and secondly, the name Boresisle fell out of usage and the hamlet itself has ever since been known as “St. Michael’s”.
I do feel it important to append to this account of the Anglican church buildings a brief comment on the other churches of the town. There was always a Roman Catholic presence here, but after the Reformation, there was no church building until the Catholic priest in Tenterden, Canon Currie began, in the 1930s, a determined attempt to put that right, culminating in the building of St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic church in Ashford Road.
The history of “non-conformity” in Tenterden is a major and extensive one. Within a few decades of the development around the 1370s, by John Wyclife at Oxford, of the doctrines later known as “Lollardy”, there were significant numbers of people in Tenterden who ascribed to doctrines regarded as unorthodox. Moreover, following the Reformation of the 1540s to 1560s, there were many who rejected not only Roman ways, but were unhappy with the English church. We know that Tenterden families joined the 17th century exodus to the New World (notably to Massachusetts), and Tenterden acquired its first “non-conformist” chapel around 1700, that building now being the Unitarian church in Ashford Road, and one of Tenterden’s most interesting ancient relics. The nineteenth century saw the building of the Methodist church at West Cross, and two of the three Baptist churches – Zion in the High Street, and the Strict Baptist Jireh Chapel at St. Michael’s. Trinity Baptist in Ashford Road was built in 1928.
Those interested to pursue their enquiries further will find a guide in St. Mildred’s, and there is much information in standard texts of Kent history and architecture.
www.tenterdencofe.org/?page_ref=265
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THIS hundred contains within its bounds THE TOWN AND PARISH OF Tenterden, and part of the parish of Ebeney, containing the borough of Reading, the church of which is in another hundred.
This hundred was antiently accounted one of the Seven Hundreds, and was within the jurisdiction of the justices of the country, from which it was separated by Henry VI. who, on account of the impoverishment of the port and town of Rye, in Sussex, by his letters patent, in his 27th year, incorporated the town and hundred of Tenterden, by the name of the bailiff and commonaltie of the town and hundred of Tenterden, and granted that the same should be a member annexed and united to that town and port, and separated from the county of Kent, and that the bailiff and commonalty of this town and hundred should have for ever, on their contributing to the burthens and exigencies of that port and town from time to time, (fn. 1) many franchises, privileges, and freedoms, and all other liberties, freedoms, and free customs which the barons of the five ports had before that time enjoyed. In which state this town and hundred remained till the 42d year of queen Elizabeth's reign, when the name of their incorporation was changed to that of the mayor, jurats, and commonalty of the town and hundred of Tenterden, by which it continues to be governed at this time.
THE CORPORATION consists of a mayor, twelve jurats, and as many common-councilmen, a chamberlain, and town clerk; the jurisdiction of it being exclusive from the justices of the county. The mayor is chosen yearly on August 29. The election used to be in the town-hall; but that being burnt down by some prisoners in the prison-room over it, it was afterwards made under one of the great old oaks, which are not far from the place, on the other side of the street, where it stood. A neat and elegant hall was finished in 1792, adjoining the Woolpack Inn, in which the mayor has been elected as heretofore, and it is occasionally used as an assembly room by the inhabitants. The mayor is coroner of both the town and hundred; there is no sheriff; the commoners must be resciants, and are chosen by the mayor and two of the jurats; the jurats are all justices of the peace. They hold sessions of oyer and terminer, but cannot try treason. At the sessions holden at Tenterden, August 10, 1785, two men were convicted of burglary, and executed near Gallows-green the 27th following. Both the charters of this corporation being destroyed by the fire of the court-hall in 1660, an exemplification of them was procured anno 12 George III.
The liberty of the court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds, claimed a paramount jurisdiction over this hundred, till the incorporation of the town of Tenterden, and the annexing this hundred to it in the reign of Henry VI. since which the mayor and jurats have been lords of the royalty of it, and continue so at this time.
The parish is divided into six boroughs, each having a borsholder chosen yearly, these are Town Borough, Castweasle, Boresile, Shrubcote, Dumborne, which includes all Smallhyth, and Reading, which is wholly in the parish of Ebene.
THE PARISH of Tenterden lies too near the marshes to be either healthy or pleasant, excepting that part where the town is situated near the northern boundaries of it, on what may be called for this country, high ground; it is about five miles across each way. The soil of it is various, the northern part being sand, towards the east it is a wet stiff clay, and towards the south and west towards the marshes a deep rich mould. The generality of the lands in it are pasture, but there are about one hundred acres of hop-ground dispersed in different parts of it; there is very little wood, and that mostly between the town and Smallhyth, a hamlet formerly of much more consequence, as will be further mentioned hereafter, situated at the southern boundary of it, on the road into the Isle of Oxney, close to the river Rother, which separates that part of this parish from the island. About a mile and a half eastward is the hamlet of Reading-street, built adjoining the high road to Apledore, close to the marshes below it, on the passage over the Rother into Ebeney, and the Isle of Oxney.
On Saturday, Nov. 1, 1755, between ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon (being at the same time that the great bason at Portsmouth was disturbed) several ponds in this parish and neighbourhood, without any sensible motion of the earth, were greatly agitated, the water of them being forced up the banks with great violence, fretting and foaming with a noise similar to the coming in of the tide, so as to terrify many who were near them; some of these waters flowed up three times in this manner, others circled round into eddies, absorbing leaves, sticks, &c. and it was observed that only those ponds were affected, that had springs to supply the waters of them.
THE TOWN OF TENTERDEN is situated nearly in the centre of the parish and hundred. It stands on high ground, neither unpleasant nor unhealthy; the greatest part of it is built on each side of the high road leading from the western parts of Kent and Cranbrooke through this parish south-east to Apledore. A small part of it is paved, where there is a small antient market-place, built of timber; but the market, which is still held on a Friday, is but little frequented, only two millers, and seldom any butchers attending it. It is a well-built town, having many genteel houses, or rather seats, interspersed throughout it, among which are those of the Curteis's, a numerous and opulent family here, who bear for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three bulls heads, caboshed; (fn. 2) the Haffendens, who have been long resident here, and in Smarden and Halden, in this neighbourhood. Bugglesden, in the north part of Boresile borough, in this parish, was very antiently, and till within these few years, their property and residence. Richard Haffenden now resides in a new house, built by his father, called Homewood, at the west end of this town, and in the south part of Boresile borough. They bear for their arms, Chequy, sable and argent, on a bend, sable, three mullets, or; the Staces, who have been resident here from the beginning of the last century, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury, in several of which they are stiled gentlemen; the Blackmores, possessed of Westwell house, a handsome seat at the south east end of the town, built by James Blackmore, esq. in 1711, one of whose descendants afterwards becoming possessed by gift of the seat of Briggins, in Hertfordshire, removed thither, where they have continued ever since, and this of Westwell-house is now occupied by Mr. James Blackmore, the uncle of Thomas Blackmore, esq. of Briggins, who died possessed of it in 1789, having been thrice married. He left by his two first wives three sons and two daughters; his third. wife Anne, daughter of Mr. Tatnall, of Theobalds, now survives him. They bear for their arms, Argent, a fess between three balckmoors heads sideways, couped at the neck, sable; and several others, most of whose wealth, as well as that of the inhabitants of this town in general, has arisen from its near neighbourhood to Romneymarsh, where most of them have some occupation in the grazing business.
The church stands on the north side of the town, which, with the rest of the parish, consists of about three hundred houses, and two thousand inhabitants, of which about five hundred are diffenters, who have two meeting-houses here, one of Presbyterians, the other of Methodistical Baptists.
At the east end of the town is Craythorne-house, which formerly belonged to the Bargraves, and then to the Marshalls, who sold it to the late Mr. John Sawyer, who built a new house here, in which he afterwards resided, and his assigns now possess it. A branch of the family of Whitfield had once their residence in a large house at the east end likewise of this town. John Whitfield resided here, as did his son Herbert, who died in 1622; they were descended from an antient family in Northumberland, and bore for their arms, Argent, on a bend, plain, between two cotizes, ingrailed sable, a mullet, or. At length the heirs of Sir Herbert Whitfield, sold this seat to Wil liam Austen, esq. of Hernden, in this parish. Sir Robert Austen, bart. the last of that name, resided in it, and it now belongs to his heirs, and is made use of as a boarding school for young ladies.
There is a large fair held in this town on the first Monday in May yearly, for cattle, wool, merchandize, and shop goods of all sorts, to which there is a great resort from all the neighbouring country. Most of the road, leading from the town to Smallhyth, particularly the upper part of it, known by the name of Broad Tenterden, is said to have been lined with buildings on each side, and to have been the most populous part of the parish.
THERE ARE several places in this parish worthy notice, the first of them is HALES-PLACE, at the northwest end of this town, which was for many generations the residence of a branch of the family of Hales, who removed hither from their original seat, of the same name, in the adjoining parish of Halden. Henry Hales, who lived in the reign of Henry VI. was born here, and married Juhan, daughter and heir of Richard Capel, of Tenterden, by which he greatly increased his estate in this parish. He had by her two sons, of whom John Hales, the eldest, was of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, esq. and was one of the barons of the exchequer. He had four sons, Sir James Hales, one of the justices of the common pleas, who was of the Dungeon, where his descendants continued many generations afterwards; Thomas, who was seated at Thanington, whose descendant Robert was created a baronet in 1666, and was ancestor of the present Su Philip Hales, bart. Edward, the third son, inherited this seat and his father's possessions in this parish; and William, the fourth son, was of Recolver and Nackington, in this county. Edward Hales, esq. the third son, who inherited this seat and estate at Tenterden, resided at it, and left a son Sir Edward Hales, who was created a baronet on the 29th of June, 1611. He removed his residence from hence to the neighbouring parish of Woodchurch, in which parish he possessed the antient seat of the Herlackendens, in right of his wife Deborah, only daughter and heir of Martin Herlackenden, esq. of that place. His son Sir John Hales, having married Christian, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir James Cromer, of Tunstal, became possessed of the antient seat of the Cromers in that parish, where he resided, and died in his father's life-time, in 1639, whose son Edward Hales succeeded to the title of baronet on his grandfather's death, in 1654 whose heir he was, and resided at Tunstal. His son Sir Edward Hales, bart. having purchased the mansion of St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, resided there, as his descendants have ever since; and from him this seat and estate at Tenterden at length descended down to his great-grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. now of St. Stephen's, who about forty-eight years ago pulled down the greatest part of this antient seat, and fitted up a smaller dwelling or farm-house on the scite of it, which, together with the antient offices or out-buildings of the mansion still remaining, continues part of his possessions.
HERNDEN, formerly spelt Heronden, was once an estate of considerable size in this parish, though it has been long since split into different parcels. The whole of it once belonged to a family of the name of Heronden, whose arms, as appears by the antient ordinaries in the Heralds-office, were, Argent, a heron volant, azure. At length one part of this estate was alienated by one of this family to Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, whose descendant Sir John Baker, knight and baronet, died possessed of it in 1661; but the capital mansion and other principal parts of it remained some time longer in the name of Heronden, one of whom, in the reign of Charles I. alienated some part of it, now called Little Hernden, to Short, a family whose ancestors had resided at Tenterden for some time. In the Heraldic Visitation of this county, anno 1619, is a pedigree of this family, beginning with Peter Short, of Tenterden, who lived in the reign of Henry VIII. They bore for their arms, Azure, a griffin passant, between three estoiles, or. At length one of them sold this part of it to Curteis, whose grandson Mr. Samuel Curteis is now in the possession of it. But the remainder of Hernden, in which was included the principal mansion, situated about a quarter of a mile southward of the town, was at the same time conveyed by sale to Mr. John Austen, the second son of William Austen, esq. of this parish, and elder brother of Robert, created a baronet anno 1660. He afterwards resided here, and dying in 1655, s. p. gave it by will to his nephew Robert Austen, esq. the second son of Sir Robert above-mentioned, by his second wife. He afterwards resided here, and had two sons, Robert and Ralph; the eldest of whom, Robert Austen, esq. resided here, and left three sons, William, of whom hereafter, and Edward and Robert, both of whom afterwards succeeded to the title of baronet. William Austen, esq. the eldest son, inherited Hernden, and in 1729, suffered a recovery of this, as well as all other the Kentish estates comprised in his grandfather's settlement of them, to the use of him and his heirs. He died in 1742, and by will devised it to Mr. Richard Righton, who afterwards resided here, and died possessed of it in 1772, and was buried, as was his wife afterwards, under a tomb on the south side of the church-yard; upon which it came into the hands of his son Benjamin Righton, esq. of Knightsbridge, who in 1782 conveyed Hernden, a farm called Pixhill, and other lands in this parish and Rolvenden, to Mr. Jeremiah Curteis, gent. of Rye, in Sussex, who finding this antient mansion, which seems, by a date remaining on it, to have been built in the year 1585, being the 28th of queen Elizabeth's reign, in a ruinous condition, pulled it down; but the scite of it, together with the lands belonging to it, still remain in his possession.
PITLESDEN, or Pittelesden, as it was antiently spelt, is situated near the west end of this town. It was once a seat of some note, being the residence of a family of that name, who bore for their arms, Sable, a fess, between three pelicans, or, in whose possession it continued till Stephen Pitlesden, (fn. 3) about the reign of Henry VI. leaving an only daughter and heir Julian, she carried it in marriage to Edward Guldeford, esq. of Halden, whose descendant Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter and heir Jane, she entitled her husband Sir John Dudley, afterwards created Duke of Northumberland, to the possession of this manor, and they, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. joined in the conveyance of it to Sir Thomas Cromwell, lord Cromwell, afterwards created Earl of Essex, who passed it away by sale to that king, and it remained in the hands of the crown till king Edward VI. in his 7th year, granted it, with the pend of water, wear and fishery, with the dove-house belonging to it, and all its appurtenances, to Sir John Baker, one of the privy council, to hold in capite by knight's service, in whose family it continued till Sir John Baker, bart. of Sissinghurst, in the reign of king Charles I. conveyed it by sale to Mr. Jasper Clayton, mercer, of London. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Mr. William Blackmore, gent. of this place, who at his death devised it to his daughter Sarah, who entitled her husband Mr. John Crumpe, of Frittenden, to the possession of it for her life, but the remainder, on her death, is vested in her brother Mr. Thomas Blackmore, gent. now of Tenterden.
LIGHTS, formerly called Lights Notinden, is a small manor here, which together with another called East Asherinden, the name of which is now almost forgotten, though there was a family of this name of Asherinden, or Ashenden, as it was afterwards spelt, who were resident in this parish, and were, as appears by their wills, possessed of lands here called Ashenden, so late as the year 1595. These manors belonged partly to a chantry founded in this parish, and partly to the manor of Brooke, near Wye, which was part of the possessions of the priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury; in which state they continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when, on the suppression both of that priory and of the chantry likewise, they were granted by that king to Sir John Baker, his attorneygeneral, whose descendant Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, knight and baronet, died possessed of them in 1661. How long they continued in his descendants, I do not find; but the former is now-become the property of Mr. William Mantell, and the latter belongs to Mr. William Children, who has lately built a house on it, in which he resides.
FINCHDEN is a seat here, situated on the denne of Leigh, at Leigh-green, which was formerly in the possession of a family, who were ancestors of the Finch's, whose posterity still continued till very lately in the possession of it. They were antiently called Finchden, from their seat here; one of them, William de Fyncheden, was chief justice of the king's bench in the 45th year of the reign of Edward III. (fn. 4) though his name in some old law books, which appear to be of that time, is written contractedly Finch, which probably was the original name, though I do not find any connection between this family and the descendants of Vincent Herbert, alias Finch, seated at Eastwell and elsewhere in this county; excepting that they hear the same coat of arms. In later times I find William Finch, gent. of this place, died possessed of it in 1637, and in his direct descendants this seat continued down to Mr. William Finch, gent. who resided in it, and died possessed of it in 1794, s. p. leaving his brother Mr. Richard Finch, of Tenterden, his next heir.
ELARDINDEN is an estate, which was formerly of some account here, and is parcel of the manor of Frid, or Frith, in Bethersden. It was antiently part of the possessions of the noble family of Mayney. Sir John de Mayney, of Biddenden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of Edward III. and in his descendants it continued till the reign of Henry VI. when it was alienated by one of them to William Darell, esq. whose descendant George Darell, esq. conveyed it by sale in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. to Sir John Hales, of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, one of the barons of the exchequer, who gave it to his third son Edward Hales, esq. of Tenterden, in whose descendants it has continued down to Sir Edward Hales of St. Stephens, near Canterbury, the present possessor of it.
THE MANORS OF GODDEN AND MORGIEU are situated in the south-west part of this parish. The former of them was once in the possession of a family of that name, one of whom, Roger de Godden, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as one knight's fee, which he held here of Stephen de la Hey. Soon after which it seems to have passed into the possession of the family of Aucher. How long it continued in this name I have not seen; but in the 36th year of Henry VI. the executors of Walter Shiryngton, clerk, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, having founded a chantry in the chapel near the north door of St. Paul's cathedral, London, which, from the founder, bore the name of Shiryngton's chantry, they purchased both these manors towards the endow ment of it. (fn. 5) These manors remained part of this foundation till the suppression of it, in the 1st year of Edward VI.when coming into the hands of the crown, they were granted by the king, the year afterwards, to Sir Miles Partridge, to hold in capite by knight's service, and he sold them, in the 6th year of that reign, to Thomas Argal; and from his descendant they passed into the possession of Sir John Colepeper, afterwards created lord Colepeper, who died possessed of them in 1660; upon which they came to his second son John, who on his elder brother's death without male issue, succeeded to the title of Lord Colepeper, and dying in 1719 without issue, bequeathed these manors to his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper, of Hollingborne, who by will devised them to her nephew John Spencer Colepeper, esq. of the Charter-house, being the last of the vast possessions of the different branches of this family dispersed over this whole county. He, in 1781, alienated them to Mr. Richard Curteis, of Tenterden, the present possessor of them.
KENCHILL is a seat in this parish, which was formerly the property of the family of Guldeford, one of whom, Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret, and of the garter, possessed it in the reign of Henry VIII. His son Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter Jane, she carried it in marriage to Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, and he, about the 30th year of king Henry VIII.'s reign, conveyed it to that king, who, in his 36th year, granted it to Thomas Argal, to hold in capite by knight's service, on whole decease his son Thomas Argal had possession granted of it, in the 6th year of queen Elizabeth. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Robert Clarkson, esq. of London, who sold it in 1687 to Mr. John Mantell, grazier, of Tenterden, who was one of the instances of the quick accumlation of riches from Romney-marsh; for in fourteen year she had acquired sufficient to become the purchaser of this and other estates, which rented at 800l. per annum. He devised Kenchill by will, together with the manor of East Asherinden, already mentioned before, Dumborne, and other lands in this parish, to his son Reginald, who died possessed of them in 1743, and lies buried in this church-yard. They bear for their arms, Argent, a cross between four martlets, sable, as borne by the family of Horton Monks, excepting, that the latter bore the cross engrailed; and leaving no issue, he gave them to his nephew Mr. Edward Mantell, of Mersham, who left several sons and daughters, who afterwards joined in the sale of their respective interests in them to Mr. William Mantell, the then elder brother; by which means he became entitled to the entire see of Kenchill, with the manor of East Asherinden, and resided at the former of them. He married Anne Marshall, of Mersham, and died in 1789, leaving issue several children. The Rev. Mr. Thomas Mantell, the younger brother, re-purchased Dumborne, of which he is now possessed, having married in 1788 Miss S. Horne, by whom he has one daughter.
THE HAMLET OF SMALLHYTH, commonly called Smallit, is situated somewhat more than three miles from the town of Tenterden, at the southern boundary of this parish, close to the old channel of the river Rother, over which there is a passage from it into the Isle of Oxney. The inhabitants were formerly, by report, very numerous, and this place of much more consequence than at present, from the expressions frequently made use of in old writings of those infra oppidum and intra oppidum de Smallhyth; the prevalent opinion being, that the buildings once extended towards Bullen westward; no proof of which, however, can be brought from the present state of it, as there remain only three or four straggling farm-houses on either side, and a few cottages in the street near the chapel. The sea came up to this place so lately as the year 1509, as is evident by the power then given of burying in this chapel-yard the bodies of those who were cast by shipwreck on the shore of the sea infra predictum oppidum de Smalhyth; which are the very words of the faculty granted for that purpose.
At this place A CHAPEL was built, and was soon afterwards licensed by faculty from archbishop Warham, anno 1509, on the petition of the inhabitants, on account of the distance from their parish church of Tenterden, the badness of the roads, and the dangers they underwent from the waters being out in their way thither; and was dedicated to St. John Baptist. The words of it are very remarkable: And we William, archbishop aforesaid, of the infinite mercy of Almighty God, and by the authority of St. Peter and St. Paul the apostles, and also of our patrons St. Alphage and St. Thomas, remit, &c.
Divine service still continues to be performed in this chapel, which is repaired and maintained, and the salary of the chaplain paid out of the rents of lands in this parish and Wittersham, which are vested in trustees; who pay him the annual produce of them, the rents of them being at this time 52l. 10s. per annum, though it is set down in Bacon's Liber Regis, as only of the clear yearly certified value of forty five pounds. The present curate is Thomas Morphett, appointed in 1773.
Charities.
JOHN WOOD, by will in 1560, gave an annuity of 40s. per annum, out of certain lands in Tenterden, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. payable to the churchwardens, towards the repair of the church; which gift is confirmed by a decree of the court of chancery; the lands being in the occupation of Richard Farby.
LADY JANE MAYNARD GAVE by will in 1660, thirty acres of land in Snave and Rucking, let at 24l. per annum, for putting out poor children apprentices, whose fathers are dead or otherwise disabled by sickness; the overplus to be given to poor, honest and aged widows of this parish, that have not been nor are likely to become chargeable to it.
MR. ANNE SHELTON, widow, by will in 1674, gave nine acres of land in Brookland and Brenset, now let at twelve guineas per annum, to the vicar and churchwardens to put out one or more children, born in Tenterden, apprentices to some honest handicrast trade.
DAME FRANCES NORTON, widow, sister of Judith, wife of Robert Austen the elder, of Heronden, esq. gave by deed in 1719, an estate, of 35l. per annum, in Hollingborne, for the joint benefit in equal moieties of this parish and Hollingborne. Since which, by a commission of charitable uses, in 1748 a farm of 15l. per annum, in Hucking, has been purchased and added to it; the division of the profits of which between them, and the application of them, has been already fully related under the description of the parish of Hollingborne, in the fifth volume of this history, p. 473.
AN ANCESTOR of the family of Heyman, of Somerfield, many years since founded the free school in this town, for teaching the Latin tongue gratis, to so many poor children of this parish as the mayor and jurats should think proper, who are trustees of it, and appoint the master; but at present there are no children on this foundation.
WILLAIM MARSHALL, clerk, about the year 1521, gave 10l. per ann. to be paid the master of this school, out of a messuage and twelve acres of land, in this parish, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. which was confirmed by a decree in the Exchequer, anno 4 queen Anne, and then in the occupation of Thomas Scoone.
JOHN MANTELL,gent in 1702, gave 200l. which was laid out in the purchasing of a piece of fresh marsh land, containing ten acres, in St. Maries, let at 10l. per annum, to be paid to the master of this school.
The south chancel of the church is appropriated to the use of this school.
TENTERDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mildred, is a large handsome building, consisting of two isles and three chancels, having a lofty well-built tower at the west end, which standing on high ground is seen from the country for many miles around it. There are eight bells in it, and a set of musical chimes. The two isles and chancels are all ceiled; the north isle is curiously ceiled with oak and ornamented. There are three galleries in the church. On the front of the steeple are the arms of St. Augustine's monastery, and likewise on a beam over the altar. In the north window a coat, Two chevrons, gules, on a canton, gules, a lion passant, or. In the south window, at the bottom, Or, a saltier, between four mullets, sable; and another, Gules, a bend sinister azure, fretted argent. The monuments and gravestones in this church, as well as the tomb-stones in the church-yard, are so numerous as to be far beyond the limits of this volume. Among them are those belonging to the families of the Austens, Curteis's, Blackmores, Haffendens, and other families mentioned before, as the modern possessors of estates and manors in this parish.
Thomas Petlesden, esq. by will in 1462, appears to have been buried in the chancel of St. Catherine, and gave one hundred marcs to the steeple here, to be paid out of his land, &c. as long as it was a werking. (fn. 6)
Till within these few years there hung a beacon, (a very singular instance remaining of one) over on the top of this steeple. It was a sort of iren kettle, holding about a gallon, with a ring or hoop of the same metal round the upper part of it, to hold still more coals, rosin, &c. It was hung at the end of a piece of timber, about eight feet long. The vanes on the four pinnacles were placed there in 1682. There was formerly a noted dropping stone, in the arch of the door-way going into the bell-lost, which has ceased to drop for many years. By the dropping of it, part of a stone, or two stones rather, were carried off, leaving a considerable rist or hollow where the stones were joined. Upon the water drying in 1720, where it fell underneath, the stone hardened and grew slippery, being probably of the nature of the stelastical water in the Peak of Derbyshire, at Poolshole.
There is a noted saying, that Tenterden steeple was the cause of the Goodwin Sands—which is thus accounted for: Goodwin, earl of Kent, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was owner of much flat land in the eastern part of it, near the isle of Thanet, which was desended from the sea by a great wall, which lands afterwards became part of the possessions of the abbot of St. Augustine's, near Canterbury still retaining the name of Goodwin, their former owner; and the abbot being at the same time owner of the rectory of Tenterden, the steeple of which church he had then began building, had employed during the course of it so much of his care and attention to the finishing of that work, that he neglected the care and preservation of that wall, insomuch, that on Nov. 3, 1099, the sea broke over and ruined it, drowning the lands within it, and overwhelming it with a light sand, still remaining on them, the place retaining to this time the name of the Goodwin Sands, and becoming dreadful and dangerous to navigators. Thus this steeple is said to be the cause of the Goodwin Sands. This is the common tradition; how far consistent with truth, so far as relates to these sands, will be taken notice of in its proper place. (fn. 7)
THE CHURCH of Tenterden was part of the antient possessions of the monastery of St. Augustine, to which it was appropriated in 1259, on condition of a proper portion being assigned for the maintenance of a perpetual vicar of it; and the official of the archbishop, on an inquisition concerning this vicarage, made his return that it then consisted in all tithes, obventions, and oblations belonging to the church; except the tithes of sheaves, corn, and hay, of which latter the vicar should receive yearly four loads from the abbot and convent, and that it was then valued at eighteen marcs and more per annum.
The abbot of St. Augustine took upon himself, about the year 1295, to constitute several new deanries, and apportioned the several churches belonging to his monastery to each of them, according to their vicinity; one of these was the deanry of Lenham, in which this church of Tenterden was included, but this raising great contests between the archbishops and them, it ended in stripping the abbot of these exemptions, and he was by the pope declared to be subject to the archbishop's jurisdiction in all matters whatsoever, which entirely dissolved these new deanries. (fn. 8)
This church had a manor antiently appendant to it, and on a quo warranto in the iter of H. de Stanton, and his sociates, justices itinerant, anno 7 Edward II. the abbot was allowed year and waste, and cattle called weif, in his manor of Tentwardenne among others; and those liberties, with all others belonging to the abbot and convent, were confirmed by letters of inspeximus by Edward III. in his 36th year, and likewise the additional privilege of the chattels of their own tenants condemned and sugitive, within their manor here.
¶In which state this church continued till the general suppression of religious houses, when it came with the rest of the possessions of the abbey of St. Augustine, anno 30 Henry VIII. into the hands of the crown, after which the king, by his dotation charter in his 33d year, settled both the church appropriate of Tenterden, with the manor appendant and all its rights and appurtenances, and the advowson of the vicarage, among other premises, on his new-founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, with whom the inheritance of the parsonage remains. After the death of Charles I. on the dissolution of deans and chapters, this parsonage was surveyed in order for sale; when it appears to have consisted of one great barn, newly erected, on a close of pasture of five acres; together with all the tithes of corn within the parish; and several rents, out of lands and tenements in Tenterden, amounting to 26s. 8d. taken in right of the parsonage, which had been let in 1640 to Sir Edward Hales, at the yearly rent of 20l. 6s. 8d. but that they were worth over and above that rent seventy-eight pounds. That the lessee was bound to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church, and provide for the dean and officers, or pay the sum of 33s. 4d. The present lessee of it is Sir Edward Hales, bart. of St. Stephens, but the advowson of the vicarage the dean and chapter retain in their own hands.
In 1259 this vicarage was valued at thirty marcs, and in 1342 at forty-five marcs. It is valued in the king's books at 33l. 12s. 11d.and the yearly tenths at 3l. 7s. 3½d. In 1588 there were communicants five hundred and eighty-six. In 1640 it was valued at 120l. per annum. Communicants six hundred. It is now double that value.
There is a modus claimed throughout the parish, in the room of small tithes.
Thursday, July 13th
Finding and Applying for Federal Jobs
Federal Track
9:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Federal A&B
Description
Unlock the Secrets to Landing Your Federal Dream Job! Master the Art of Federal Job Hunting and Craft the Perfect Federal Resume to Stand Out in the Crowd!
During this session, you will learn:
The difference between a private sector and federal resume
How to document work history and education
Do’s and Dont’s of a federal resume
Developing a master resume
Navigating USAJOBS
The federal hiring process
Speaker
LaShawn Dobbins(Speaker)U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Director of Strategic Talent Recruitment
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Shattering the Glass Ceiling: Career Journeys of AANHPIs to the Senior Executive Service
Federal Track
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM
Federal A&B
Description
AANHPIs represent 7% of the Federal workplace, and hold 5% of the executive leadership positions. Hear from AANHPI women in different Federal agencies and departments on their career paths, how their navigated their way through the process, the different pathways for becoming an executive leader, and challenges and opportunities and how you can position yourself to become a Federal executive.
Speakers
Vivian Chen(Moderator)Chief Learning Officer U.S. Department of Agriculture
Natalie Lui Duncan(Speaker)Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Deputy Assistant Administrator
Emily Su(Speaker)U.S. Department of Energy, Assistant General Counsel for Enforcement
Jiashen You(Speaker)U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Chief Data Officer and Director for the Office of Enterprise Data and Analytics
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Civil Rights, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), Affirmative Employment, and now DEIA? How do these all play out for people of color in general and AANHPIs specifically?
Federal Track
2:15 PM – 3:45 PM
Pan American
Description
Hear from Federal DEIA leaders on how EEO and Civil Rights laws have been enhanced with DEIA principles promoted in the federal workplace through President Biden's issuance of Executive Orders (EOs) which have advanced equity, civil rights, racial justice and equal opportunity throughout all of the Federal Government. In June 2021, the President specifically issued EO 14035, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) in the Federal Workforce so that Agency workforces reflect the diversity of America through its employment policies and practices to ensure that public servants at all levels have an equal opportunity to succeed and lead. This builds on other Equity-related EOs such as EO 13985 Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government. The Federal Government is working to be a model for DEIA, where all employees are treated with dignity and respect through its recruitment, hire, professional development, career advancement and retention of the Nation’s talent with initiatives to remove barriers to equal opportunity. Hear how the Federal Government is ensuring accountability to assure a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible workplaces that yields higher-performing organizations.
Speakers
Javier Inclan(Moderator)National Science Foundation Office of Inspector General, Assistant Inspector General for Management and CIO
Dorris Lin(Speaker)U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Director for Inclusive Diversity
Cyrus Salazar(Speaker)DHS/TSA
Golda Philip(Speaker)Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Senior Advisor for Equity
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Welcome Reception
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Presidential
Description
Kick off the convention with a warm welcome from OCA National and OCA-DC Chapter, and enjoy some appetizers while networking with fellow attendees.
Speakers
Thu Nguyen, Executive Director, OCA
United States Representative, Ted Lieu, California's 36th Congressional District; Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus
United States Representative, Judy Chu, California's 28th congressional district; Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
United States Representative, Grace Meng, New York's Sixth Congressional District
Linda NG, National President, OCA
Scott Sapperstein - AT&T's Assistant Vice President of Public Affairs
Bel Leong-Hong, Past Present of the OCA Greater Washington DC, DNC AAPI Caucus Chair Bel Leong-Hong
Adrienne Ngar-Yee Poon, President, OCA-Greater Washington, DC Chapter, Asian Pacific American Advocates
Ben de Guzman, Director of the Mayor's Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs (MOAPIA)
Claudine Cheng, former OCA National President
Laura Berrocal, Vice President, Policy and External Affairs at Charter Communications
Helen Zia, EXECUTOR - ESTATE OF LILY AND VINCENT CHIN
DEBBIE CHEN, EXECUTIVE VP, OCA
Brandon Tsay, an American hobbyist computer programmer who disarmed the 2023 Monterey Park shooting gunman
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(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 main garden elements are: sweeping lawns, box hedges, weeping beech and cherry, extensive hedges (holly, laurel), a hedged `secret garden' with green house, mature firs, elm and chestnut
avenues. There is also a fountain and a wide spreading weeping elm to the rear of the house, near the tennis court..
.
Significant Trees:.
`Ulmus x hollandica'.
`Prunus' "shirotae".
`Albies procera'.
`Ilex kingiana'.
(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.
(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.
Back in March, the National Churches Trust asked for permission to use some shots of St Andrew before they began renovation work.
A contact just posted some shots, so it it seemed right to go and have a look.
Wickhambreaux is a picture box pretty village with two water mills, a wonderful pub and this fine church among the other grand and listed houses.
Good news is that it was open, and should have been last week but the porch has a door that sticks, apparently.
From a quick visit, hard to see what has been renovated to be honest, but the north west corner, including the font, is still under plastic.
Another very warm welcome.
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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.
Posting shots of churches we have visited has shown me that my photography has improved now I don't use the ultrawide angle lenses, so many churches need a revisit.
And with the orchid season now at an end, nearly, it is time to turn to churchcrawling.
And the easiest non-Kent church to revisit was Winchelsea, just over the border in East Sussex, also gave us the chance to call in at the fishmongers in Rye for some smoked haddock.
After the early morning coffee and then the rush round Tesco, back home to pack it all away and for me to make bacon butties and another brew.
And then: go west.
Traffic is not so mad now, so it was easy to drive to Folkestone then up the motorway to Ashford, before turning off, past the inland border facility, then out onto the Marsh past Hamstreet.
West of Brookland, the road meanders about, bend after bend, crossing and recrossing the railway until we reach Rye.
We stop to buy the fish, then round the river, over the bridge and out the other side, five miles to Winchelsea, turning off to go up the hill under the old town gate, parking near the village shop.
Whereas Rye was already busy, Winchelsea was quiet, and just past ten meaning the church had just opened.
We walk across the large churchyard through the ruins of the tower and into the church, where the triple wide nave was lines on the north and south walls with fine wall tombs.
I photograph each on in turn, and the corbel heads on each too.
I rephotograph the fine windows too, as despite being modern, they really are on another level.
One or two people come in, a family of three last 30 seconds before the mother and teenage son leave.
After completing the shots, I go out to meet up with Jools so we can walk to the shop to have ice cream, and sit to eat them on a bench looking at the north wall of the church.
After we had finished our ice creams, we climbed back in the car. It wasn't yet half ten. Time for some more churches!
So, after driving back through Rye and into Kent, we call into Brookland so I could check if the tower was open, as I have never found it open. The church was, but the candlesnuff tower was locked.
No worries, there's always New Romney.
I first came here with my friend, Simon, in 2014 when there was a formal dinner being prepared, and a year ago, we arrived just after one to find the building being locked for the day.
We parked opposite and I see the sign advertising a craft and record fair, along with refreshments.
Inside there were stall set up, and people in the Chancel drinking tea and eating cake.
I was able to get shots of some of the memorials and details, which is why I came back, really.
The fair happens on only one Saturday per month, just my luck to pick a day when it was on.
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A wonderful church of grand proportions, the exterior of which is best seen from the east where the three reticulated windows chancel and chapels of the Decorated period may be clearly seen. The nave is Norman, with interesting decoration on the arcades and solid circular piers. The church was owned by Potigny Abbey and in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries it invested heavily in rebuilding the east end, with fine octagonal pillars, piscinae and sedilia in each of the three eastern chapels. Between the chancel and chapels are hagioscope openings. It is interesting that the floor remains unrestored, with brick, tile and old ledger slabs. This is the result of the intervention of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings when John Oldrid Scott started over-restoring the church in 1878. The early aisles must have been very low as the Norman clerestory windows rise straight from the top of the arcade. The best place to see Norman work at New Romney is in the main west door where the zigzag decoration has few parallels in the county.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=New+Romney
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THE TOWN AND PORT OF NEW ROMNEY,
WRITTEN in the survey of Domesday, Romenel, lies the next adjoining southward from Old Romney, to distinguish it from which it was called New Romney. The greatest part of it is within the liberty of the cinque ports, and of the corporation of the town and port of New Romney; another part is within the level of Romney Marsh, and the liberty and jurisdiction of the justices of it; and the residue is within the level of Walland Marsh, and the jurisdiction of the justices of the county.
THE TOWN of New Romney is supposed to owe its origin to the decay of the antient port and haven of Old Romney, which being rendered useless by the withdrawing of the sea from it, that of New Romney became frequented in its stead, and being esteemed a large and commodious harbour for shipping, and the town adjoining to it increasing to a considerable size, and being well filled with inhabitants, it gained the privilege of being one of the cinque ports, and had annexed as members to it Lid, Old Romney, Dengemarsh, and Oswardestone, and that part of the parish of Promhill within this county, with which jointly it was bound to provide five ships, with twenty one men and one boy to each of them. After the battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror, on his march to Dover castle, passed this town, where he is said to have revenged himself on the inhabitants, for having killed some of his men, who by mistake had landed here. (fn. 1) After which this haven seems to have been in danger of ruin; and king Henry III. being informed of its danger of being destroyed, by stoppage from the river at Newenden, directed Nicholas de Handloe to re pair hither in person, with the sheriff of Kent and twenty four knights and lawful men, to examine into it. And among the patent rolls in the tower is one, in consequence of it, for the new making of this port. In this state New Romney, in all probability continued till king Edward I.'s reign, when the river Limen, or Rother, as it was afterwards called, being forced from its old channel hither, by a violent tempest, which destroyed likewise part of the town and several villages near it, and the sea at the same time retiring to a still further distance from it, the haven was soon irretrievably choaked up by the beach and became dry land, and the town itself never regained its former consequence; yet in the regin of king Edward the Confessor, it seems to have been of considerable note; for at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in the 15th year of the Conqueror's reign, which was little more than fourteen years from king Edward's death, it appears by the following mention of it, that there were in it eighty-five burgesses, which belonged to the archbishop's manor of Aldington.
In Romenel there are four times twenty and five burgesses, which belonged to the archbishop's manor of Aldington, and were, and now are worth to the lord sixpounds.
Besides which, Robert de Romenel, who held the manor of Lamport of the archbishop by knight's service, had twenty one burgesses here, which belonged to that manor, and fifty which he held of the bishop of Baieux, as may be seen by the following entries in the same record:
To this manor (viz. Lamport) belong twenty-one burgesses, which are in Romenel, of whom the archbishop has three forfeitures—theft, breach of the peace, and robbery on the highway. But the king has all service from them, and they have all customs and other forfeitures for service of the sea, and they are in the king's hands .
And further, under the general title of the bishop of Baieux's possessions:
The same Robert (de Romenel) has fifty burgesses in the burgh of Romenel, and of them the king has all service, and they are quit from the service of the sea, from all custom except in three—thest, breach of the peace, and forstel .
In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was forty shillings, now fifty shillings. Alsi held it of earl Godwin .
Robert de Romenel certainly took his name from his possessions in this place. He is mentioned several times in the record of Domesday. Albritha de Rumenel, in the reign of king John, was marshal of the king's birds by inheritance, and married William de Iarpenvile; their daughter and heir Alice, married Thomas Fitzbernard, to whom and their heirs for ever, on the petition of their mother, the king granted that office after her death. The latter afterwards gave to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, for her sepulture there, twelve pounds sterling of Old Rumenell and Langport, to be received of Stephen deAudintune, or whomsoever should posses the same. (fn. 2) Camden, in his Remains, says, Sir Robert de Romney, for so the name was afterwards spelt, bore for his arms, in imitation of the family of Criol, Two chevrons, and a canton, to which he added, on the latter, three leopards faces; and so late as the 1st year of king James I. Sir William Rumney, was sheriff of London, and there are some of this name still remaining. But to return, so great a number of burgesses as one hundred and fifty-six, serves to give us an idea of its antient state and populousness, and even at the time of the dreadful tempest which caused its ruin in king Edward I.'s reign, as mentioned before, it is said to have been divided into twelve wards, and to have had in it five parish churches, a priory, and an hospital for the sick. But when the river, by so tremendous a convulsion of nature, which not only destroyed men and cattle, but whole towns and villages, had been driven from its proper channel, and its antient mouth here being stopped up, had opened for itself a nearer passage into the sea by Rye, then the sea began to withdraw itself from this town, which afterwards decayed apace, insomuch, that in king Henry VIII.'s reign the sea was two miles distant from it, and there was only one parish church remaining, and that scarce well maintained. Leland, who wrote his Itinerary in that reign, says, "Rumeney is one of the v portes, and hath bene a netely good haven, yn so much that withyn remembrance of men shyppes have cum hard up to the towne and cast ancres yn one of the church yardes. The se ys now a ii myles fro the towne so sore therby now decayed that where ther wher iii great paroches and chirches sumtyme, is now scant one wel mayteined."
There were certainly four other parish churches besides the present one of St. Nicholas, as will be further mentioned hereafter, to which, on the decay of the others about the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, the parishes belonging to them were, united and made one parish, as at this time. The town stands rather higher than the neighbouring country, on a soil of gravel and sand. There are about one hundred houses in it, which are mostly modern, neatly built of brick, and sashed, and about five hundred inhabitants. It consists principally of one very wide street, well paved, running the whole length of it, and a cross street, in that part of which leading to the church stands the hall, or brotherhood-house, where the mayor, jurats, and commons of the cinque ports and two antient towns usually keep their court, called a brotherhood, of late newly built in a handsome manner, but not large enough to hold the several members to sit there with them in their court, called a guestling, which is therefore kept in the church, usually on the Tuesday after the feast of St. Margaret, being the 20th of July. In the midst of the high-street is the market-place, a neat modern building, the market being kept here weekly on a Saturday; and there is a fair held yearly on the feast of St. Laurence, now, by the alteration of the stile, on August 21. There is an establishment of the customs here, under the out-port of Dover. On the east side of the town is a large common, of about three quarters of a mile in length, called Romney Warren, belonging to the corporation, the soil of which is a deep sand, and the surface of it exceedingly uneven, and thrown up in that form, as to induce us to believe the whole of it was once covered at times by the sea, and then deserted by that inconstant element. It consists of four hundred acres of land. The rest of the grounds round the town are an entire flat of marshes, very fertile; and those on the south side especialy, have a plain appearance of having been left by the sea, and since inclosed and made pasture ground of.
THE CINQUE PORTS were in very early times enfranchised with divers privileges and customs, though of what antiquity they were, or when enfranchised, has not as yet been with any certainty discovered; and therefore; they are held to enjoy all their earliest liberties and privileges as, time out of mind, by prescription, and these were confirmed to them and their members by magna charta, by the stile of, barons of the cinque ports; and again by one general charter of king Edward I. which by inspeximus received confirmation, and sometimes additions from most of the succeeding kings and queens of this realm. New Romney being one of the cinque ports, became thus a corporation by prescription, and in Edward III.'s time was incorporated, by the stile of barons of the town and port of New Romeny; afterwards by that of jurats and commonaltie of the town and port of New Romney; and lastly, by queen Elizabeth, who by her letters patent, in her 5th year, anno 1562, again incorporated this town, by the stile of the mayor, jurats, and commonaltie of the town and port of New Romney, and she by the same letters patent ratified all the privileges which they had enjoyed in the reign of king Edward the Confessor, or any other since. And likewise granted to them the soil of the river Rother, from the entrance of its haven here to Redhill beyond Apledore. The members mentioned in this charter, being a mayor, five jurats, and twentysix freemen, or commoners. But the charters of this corporation, as well as those of the other cinque ports, were in 1685, by the king's command, surrendered up to Colonel Strode, then governor of Dover castle, and were never returned again. By the above-mentioned charter of queen Elizabeth, the corporation is governed at this time. It consists at present of a mayor, ten jurats, (the mayor being one) and fifteen commoners or freemen, together with a chamberlain, recorder, and town clerk. The mayor, who is coroner by virtue of his office, is chosen on Lady-day, March 25th, yearly, and together with the jurats, who are justices within this liberty exclusive of all others, hold a court of general sessions of the peace and gaol delivery, together with a court of the record, the same as at Dover; and it has other privileges, mostly the same as the other corporations within the liberties of the cinque ports. It has the privilege of two maces. The arms of this town and port are, Azure, three lions passant-guardant, in pale, or.
The cinque ports, as well as their two antient towns of Rye and Winchelsea, have each of them the privilege of returning members, usually stiled barons, to parliament; the first returns of which, that are mentioned for any of them, are in the 42d year of king Edward III.
Charities.
MARGREAT, daughter of James Boyes, late wife of William Swan, of St. Nicholas in New Romney, by her will anno 1502, gave every year perpetual, a thousand billets, against Christmas, to be delivered among poor people. to be paid out of her principal messuage, in which the then dwelt, by the possessors of it for ever.
ADRIAN MARDEN, of the town and port of New Romney. by his will in 1554, devised his smiths shop or forge, with the garden adjoining, to the use and intent that there should yearly for ever, be distributed among the poor people of the town, in the presence of the bailiffs, jurats, and churchwardens, the yearly rent of the premises, the reparations thereof being first deducted; and in default of such distribution, or reparation, then he gave the premises to the bailiffs, &c. their successors and assigns, for ever, for the like intent and uses.
ROBERT DODD, of Lid, by his will in 1570, gave his barn and lands in the town of New Romney, to be by the mayor and three of the jurats put to farm yearly for ever, the money thereof to be bestowed upon the reparations of the church of New Romney.
JOHN SOUTHLAND, gent. of New Romney, by his will in 1610, gave all his houses, lands, and tenements, to his executor Thomas Broadnax, of Godmersham, his son-in-law, upon condition that he should make over by due course of law, to remain and continue for ever, the house wherein his schoolmaster then dwelt, and all his houses and lands in the parishes of Harrietsham, Ulcombe, and Smarden, to the only use of a schoolmaster, and the relief of two couple of poor folk, and the said houses and lands his said executor should make a body politique and incorporate, for ever to endure, for their maintenance; the schoolmaster to pay out of those lands to the poor folk, 5l. by half-yearly payments clearly, and to the churchwardens of St. Nicholas, in New Romney, 5l. by like half-yearly payments to the reparations of the church for ever; and he ordered that the schoolmaster should keep the reparations of the houses and the closures, and should teach from time to time two poor children to write and read the English tongue, and cast accoumpt, until they should come to the age of 14 years clearly; and that the poor folk and poor children should be placed and displaced by the mayor from time to time; the schoolmaster to be a scholar of Oxford or Cambridge, sufficient to teach the Latin tougue as well as the English.
This hospital and school-house is situated in St. Nicholas. and is made use of for the residence of the schoolmaster, now called the governor, and the four poor folk. It was incorporated anno 30 Elizabeth. The estates left for the support of it consist of 30 acres of land and 18 acres of wood in Smarden, and one tenement with 51 acres of land in Harrietsham, and one other tenement and 12 acres of land in Ulcombe. The Rev. William Wing Fowle, A. M. of New Romney, is now governor or schoolmaster of it.
THOMAS BAKER, by his will in 1728, gave for the benefit of the four poor persons living in Southlands hospital, to be paid half yearly for ever, the rents of 20 acres of land in Ivychurch, now of the annual product of 25l. which is given away by the mayor and jurats. Likewise 5l. per annum, being part of an annuity of IIl. per annum, out of lands formerly belonging to Epps, but now of the widow Coates, lying in Old and New Romney and Midley, to be given yearly on the 14th day of October, for the benefit of poor persons, so estimated by the mayor and jurats; the same being annually distributed by the mayor of New Romney for the time being.
The poor constantly maintained are about fifty-four.
NEW ROMNEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Limne.
The church, which is exempt from the jurisdiction of the archdeacon, is dedicated to St. Nicholas the bishop. It is very large and handsome, consisting of three isles and three chancels, having a square tower, with four pinnacles on it, at the west end, in which hang eight bells. The church is antient, the pillars between the isles being very large, with circular arches and Saxon ornaments. The tower at the west end seems still more so, having several ranges of small circular arches on the sides, and at the bottom is a circular arch, over a door-way, with zig-zag ornaments. The stone pinnacles on the top are of unequal sizes. On the roof is a stone work, of an octagon form, carried up a few feet only, seemingly for the purpose of continuing a spire of the same form on it. The inside of the church is fitted up exceedingly handsome and elegant. In the middle chancel, on the wainscot, on one side, are painted the arms of Furnese, with the hand of Ulster, impaling Broughe, and underneath Sir Henry Furnese beautified this chancel at his cost, and made the mayor and jurats seats, 1712. On the other side are the arms of Furnese impaling Balam, and underneath, Sir Robert Furnese, bart. combaron, completed the work of this chancel, begun by his fa ther Sir Henry Furnese, in 1713. Throughout the church and chancels are numerous monuments and memorials, mostly for those who have been mayors and jurats of the town, and their families, among which are those of Wilcocke, Martin, Wightwick, Mascall, Coates, Hassenden, Brett, Bassett, Pix, Baker, Cobbe, and Bachelor. In the middle chancel is a memorial for Arthur Kight, A. M. rector and vicar of Newchurch, obt. March 18, 1765. In the south chancel, a memorial for Joseph Philpot, gent. son of Joseph Philpot, of Worde, obt. 1768. A monument in the south chancel for Thomas Lancaster, obt. 1728, arms, Lancaster, argent, two bars, gules, on a canton of the second, a lion passant of the first . A like monument for Isaac Warguin, M. D. born in France, who fled from persecution to New Romney in 1689, where he practised physic, obt. 1725. In the north chancel is a fine tomb of Bethersden marble, with the figures in brass of a man and woman, and behind her of one daughter, for Thomas Smith, jurat, obt. 1610. A tomb of black marble for Thomas Tookey, gent. jurat, and once mayor and bailiff of Yarmouth, obt. 1653, arms at the east end, Tookey, a chevron engrailed, between three estoiles of six points , impaling ermine, on a chief dancette, three crowns . A stone, with a figure in brass, for Thomas Lambarde, of Romene, obt. 1514. Several memorials for the Tookeys. A memorial for Edward Goulstone, esq. sixth son of John, of Widdall, in Hertfordshire, esq. prothonotary of the king's bench, who married Joane, daughter and heir of Thomas Tookey, gent. of Romney; she afterwards married Mr. John Goulstone, late of Tutsham hall, who lies buried here. He died leaving Edward Goulstone, of Tutsham-hall, arms, Goulstone, two bars nebule, over them, on a bend, three balls . In the north isle, several memorials for the Normans, arms, A lion rampant; and for the Durants, arms, Argent, on a cross, gules, five fleurs de lis, or. A stone, with an inscription in brass, the figure gone, for William Holyngbroke, obt. 1375, arms, A chevron, between three estoiles; and several memorials for the Wilsons.
When this town was in its most flourishing state, there were four other parish churches in it besides the present one of St. Nicholas, named St. Laurence, St. Martin, St. John, and St. Michael, all which there is frequent mention of in the several wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. The last of them I find mentioned in wills in the beginning of Henry VIII.'s reign, and the three former as late as the 25th year of it, but before the end of that reign they seem to have been all disused, and the present one of St. Nicholas to have been the only one in use, and to have been accounted the only parochial church of this town and parish of New Romney. Besides the church-yard adjoining to St. Nicholas's church, there are five others belonging to it, viz. that of St. Laurence, in Mr. Russell's land, and of St. Michael in the Hardres land, both near Old Romney; of St. John, St. Martin, and another of St. Laurence converted into a garden, all three in the town of New Romney. All which are now part of the glebe belonging to the vicar of New Romney. The church of St. Nicholas seems to have had some pre-eminence over the others; for though mention is made in the several wills in the Prerogative-office, in Canterbury, of the other churches, their church-yards, and the parish priests and curates of them, yet the several vicars of this church are always stiled in them, from the year 1458 downwards, vicars of New Romney, without any other distinction.
The church of St. Nicholas, of New Romney, was antiently part of the possessions of the abbot and convent of Pontiniac, in France, who had a cell or priory here, to which abbey this church was appropriated before the 8th year of king Richard II. anno 1384, at which time the church appropriate was valued at twenty pounds perannum, and the vicarage, among the small benefices not taxed to the tenth, at four pounds. On the suppression of the above abbey, among the rest of the alien priories, in the 2d year of Henry V. anno 1414, this church, with the advowson of the vicarage, came into the hands of the crown, where it remained till Henry VI. on the petition of archbishop Chicheley, in his 17th year, settled it on the warden and fellows of All Souls college, in Oxford, with whom the parsonage appropriate, and the advowson of the vicarage, still remain.
It appears by the valuation in the king's books, taken anno 26 Henry VIII. that the several parishes before-mentioned in this town, had been before then united to the mother church of St. Nicholas, which was at that time the only parish in it, and that the churches of St. Martin and St. Laurence were accounted but as chapels of ease to it. The vicarage of St. Nicholas, with those chapels, is valued in them at 6l. 16s. 3d. and the yearly tenths at 13s. 7½d. In 1588 it was valued at ninety pounds, communicants three hundred and sixty-one. In 1640, at 105l. the like number of communicants The parsonage is usually demised by the college of All Souls to the vicar for the time being, at the yearly rent of seven pounds, which is nearly the full annual produce of it. There are seven acres of glebe land.
The vicarage of New Romney was endowed by archbishop Arundel, in 1402, and a competent portion assigned to the vicar for his maintenance.
¶There were formerly continual controversies between the vicars of New Romney and their parishioners, concerning the payment of tithes in kind, and especially for setting aside the custom for the payment of two-pence an acre in money, in lieu of tithe-wool and pasturage in kind, other tithes being paid by composition at such rates as could be agreed on; and two suits were commenced in particular, by Knight, vicar, against Brett and Clark, on the same custom, the former in 1637, and the latter in 1640, at the king's bench bar. In the first of which, the jury gave their verdict against the vicar, and in the latter he was nonsuited; but the custom in the latter trial was so plainly proved, that it has been uniformly acquiesced in by the vicars to the present time.
Posting shots of churches we have visited has shown me that my photography has improved now I don't use the ultrawide angle lenses, so many churches need a revisit.
And with the orchid season now at an end, nearly, it is time to turn to churchcrawling.
And the easiest non-Kent church to revisit was Winchelsea, just over the border in East Sussex, also gave us the chance to call in at the fishmongers in Rye for some smoked haddock.
After the early morning coffee and then the rush round Tesco, back home to pack it all away and for me to make bacon butties and another brew.
And then: go west.
Traffic is not so mad now, so it was easy to drive to Folkestone then up the motorway to Ashford, before turning off, past the inland border facility, then out onto the Marsh past Hamstreet.
West of Brookland, the road meanders about, bend after bend, crossing and recrossing the railway until we reach Rye.
We stop to buy the fish, then round the river, over the bridge and out the other side, five miles to Winchelsea, turning off to go up the hill under the old town gate, parking near the village shop.
Whereas Rye was already busy, Winchelsea was quiet, and just past ten meaning the church had just opened.
We walk across the large churchyard through the ruins of the tower and into the church, where the triple wide nave was lines on the north and south walls with fine wall tombs.
I photograph each on in turn, and the corbel heads on each too.
I rephotograph the fine windows too, as despite being modern, they really are on another level.
One or two people come in, a family of three last 30 seconds before the mother and teenage son leave.
After completing the shots, I go out to meet up with Jools so we can walk to the shop to have ice cream, and sit to eat them on a bench looking at the north wall of the church.
After we had finished our ice creams, we climbed back in the car. It wasn't yet half ten. Time for some more churches!
So, after driving back through Rye and into Kent, we call into Brookland so I could check if the tower was open, as I have never found it open. The church was, but the candlesnuff tower was locked.
No worries, there's always New Romney.
I first came here with my friend, Simon, in 2014 when there was a formal dinner being prepared, and a year ago, we arrived just after one to find the building being locked for the day.
We parked opposite and I see the sign advertising a craft and record fair, along with refreshments.
Inside there were stall set up, and people in the Chancel drinking tea and eating cake.
I was able to get shots of some of the memorials and details, which is why I came back, really.
The fair happens on only one Saturday per month, just my luck to pick a day when it was on.
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A wonderful church of grand proportions, the exterior of which is best seen from the east where the three reticulated windows chancel and chapels of the Decorated period may be clearly seen. The nave is Norman, with interesting decoration on the arcades and solid circular piers. The church was owned by Potigny Abbey and in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries it invested heavily in rebuilding the east end, with fine octagonal pillars, piscinae and sedilia in each of the three eastern chapels. Between the chancel and chapels are hagioscope openings. It is interesting that the floor remains unrestored, with brick, tile and old ledger slabs. This is the result of the intervention of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings when John Oldrid Scott started over-restoring the church in 1878. The early aisles must have been very low as the Norman clerestory windows rise straight from the top of the arcade. The best place to see Norman work at New Romney is in the main west door where the zigzag decoration has few parallels in the county.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=New+Romney
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THE TOWN AND PORT OF NEW ROMNEY,
WRITTEN in the survey of Domesday, Romenel, lies the next adjoining southward from Old Romney, to distinguish it from which it was called New Romney. The greatest part of it is within the liberty of the cinque ports, and of the corporation of the town and port of New Romney; another part is within the level of Romney Marsh, and the liberty and jurisdiction of the justices of it; and the residue is within the level of Walland Marsh, and the jurisdiction of the justices of the county.
THE TOWN of New Romney is supposed to owe its origin to the decay of the antient port and haven of Old Romney, which being rendered useless by the withdrawing of the sea from it, that of New Romney became frequented in its stead, and being esteemed a large and commodious harbour for shipping, and the town adjoining to it increasing to a considerable size, and being well filled with inhabitants, it gained the privilege of being one of the cinque ports, and had annexed as members to it Lid, Old Romney, Dengemarsh, and Oswardestone, and that part of the parish of Promhill within this county, with which jointly it was bound to provide five ships, with twenty one men and one boy to each of them. After the battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror, on his march to Dover castle, passed this town, where he is said to have revenged himself on the inhabitants, for having killed some of his men, who by mistake had landed here. (fn. 1) After which this haven seems to have been in danger of ruin; and king Henry III. being informed of its danger of being destroyed, by stoppage from the river at Newenden, directed Nicholas de Handloe to re pair hither in person, with the sheriff of Kent and twenty four knights and lawful men, to examine into it. And among the patent rolls in the tower is one, in consequence of it, for the new making of this port. In this state New Romney, in all probability continued till king Edward I.'s reign, when the river Limen, or Rother, as it was afterwards called, being forced from its old channel hither, by a violent tempest, which destroyed likewise part of the town and several villages near it, and the sea at the same time retiring to a still further distance from it, the haven was soon irretrievably choaked up by the beach and became dry land, and the town itself never regained its former consequence; yet in the regin of king Edward the Confessor, it seems to have been of considerable note; for at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in the 15th year of the Conqueror's reign, which was little more than fourteen years from king Edward's death, it appears by the following mention of it, that there were in it eighty-five burgesses, which belonged to the archbishop's manor of Aldington.
In Romenel there are four times twenty and five burgesses, which belonged to the archbishop's manor of Aldington, and were, and now are worth to the lord sixpounds.
Besides which, Robert de Romenel, who held the manor of Lamport of the archbishop by knight's service, had twenty one burgesses here, which belonged to that manor, and fifty which he held of the bishop of Baieux, as may be seen by the following entries in the same record:
To this manor (viz. Lamport) belong twenty-one burgesses, which are in Romenel, of whom the archbishop has three forfeitures—theft, breach of the peace, and robbery on the highway. But the king has all service from them, and they have all customs and other forfeitures for service of the sea, and they are in the king's hands .
And further, under the general title of the bishop of Baieux's possessions:
The same Robert (de Romenel) has fifty burgesses in the burgh of Romenel, and of them the king has all service, and they are quit from the service of the sea, from all custom except in three—thest, breach of the peace, and forstel .
In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was forty shillings, now fifty shillings. Alsi held it of earl Godwin .
Robert de Romenel certainly took his name from his possessions in this place. He is mentioned several times in the record of Domesday. Albritha de Rumenel, in the reign of king John, was marshal of the king's birds by inheritance, and married William de Iarpenvile; their daughter and heir Alice, married Thomas Fitzbernard, to whom and their heirs for ever, on the petition of their mother, the king granted that office after her death. The latter afterwards gave to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, for her sepulture there, twelve pounds sterling of Old Rumenell and Langport, to be received of Stephen deAudintune, or whomsoever should posses the same. (fn. 2) Camden, in his Remains, says, Sir Robert de Romney, for so the name was afterwards spelt, bore for his arms, in imitation of the family of Criol, Two chevrons, and a canton, to which he added, on the latter, three leopards faces; and so late as the 1st year of king James I. Sir William Rumney, was sheriff of London, and there are some of this name still remaining. But to return, so great a number of burgesses as one hundred and fifty-six, serves to give us an idea of its antient state and populousness, and even at the time of the dreadful tempest which caused its ruin in king Edward I.'s reign, as mentioned before, it is said to have been divided into twelve wards, and to have had in it five parish churches, a priory, and an hospital for the sick. But when the river, by so tremendous a convulsion of nature, which not only destroyed men and cattle, but whole towns and villages, had been driven from its proper channel, and its antient mouth here being stopped up, had opened for itself a nearer passage into the sea by Rye, then the sea began to withdraw itself from this town, which afterwards decayed apace, insomuch, that in king Henry VIII.'s reign the sea was two miles distant from it, and there was only one parish church remaining, and that scarce well maintained. Leland, who wrote his Itinerary in that reign, says, "Rumeney is one of the v portes, and hath bene a netely good haven, yn so much that withyn remembrance of men shyppes have cum hard up to the towne and cast ancres yn one of the church yardes. The se ys now a ii myles fro the towne so sore therby now decayed that where ther wher iii great paroches and chirches sumtyme, is now scant one wel mayteined."
There were certainly four other parish churches besides the present one of St. Nicholas, as will be further mentioned hereafter, to which, on the decay of the others about the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, the parishes belonging to them were, united and made one parish, as at this time. The town stands rather higher than the neighbouring country, on a soil of gravel and sand. There are about one hundred houses in it, which are mostly modern, neatly built of brick, and sashed, and about five hundred inhabitants. It consists principally of one very wide street, well paved, running the whole length of it, and a cross street, in that part of which leading to the church stands the hall, or brotherhood-house, where the mayor, jurats, and commons of the cinque ports and two antient towns usually keep their court, called a brotherhood, of late newly built in a handsome manner, but not large enough to hold the several members to sit there with them in their court, called a guestling, which is therefore kept in the church, usually on the Tuesday after the feast of St. Margaret, being the 20th of July. In the midst of the high-street is the market-place, a neat modern building, the market being kept here weekly on a Saturday; and there is a fair held yearly on the feast of St. Laurence, now, by the alteration of the stile, on August 21. There is an establishment of the customs here, under the out-port of Dover. On the east side of the town is a large common, of about three quarters of a mile in length, called Romney Warren, belonging to the corporation, the soil of which is a deep sand, and the surface of it exceedingly uneven, and thrown up in that form, as to induce us to believe the whole of it was once covered at times by the sea, and then deserted by that inconstant element. It consists of four hundred acres of land. The rest of the grounds round the town are an entire flat of marshes, very fertile; and those on the south side especialy, have a plain appearance of having been left by the sea, and since inclosed and made pasture ground of.
THE CINQUE PORTS were in very early times enfranchised with divers privileges and customs, though of what antiquity they were, or when enfranchised, has not as yet been with any certainty discovered; and therefore; they are held to enjoy all their earliest liberties and privileges as, time out of mind, by prescription, and these were confirmed to them and their members by magna charta, by the stile of, barons of the cinque ports; and again by one general charter of king Edward I. which by inspeximus received confirmation, and sometimes additions from most of the succeeding kings and queens of this realm. New Romney being one of the cinque ports, became thus a corporation by prescription, and in Edward III.'s time was incorporated, by the stile of barons of the town and port of New Romeny; afterwards by that of jurats and commonaltie of the town and port of New Romney; and lastly, by queen Elizabeth, who by her letters patent, in her 5th year, anno 1562, again incorporated this town, by the stile of the mayor, jurats, and commonaltie of the town and port of New Romney, and she by the same letters patent ratified all the privileges which they had enjoyed in the reign of king Edward the Confessor, or any other since. And likewise granted to them the soil of the river Rother, from the entrance of its haven here to Redhill beyond Apledore. The members mentioned in this charter, being a mayor, five jurats, and twentysix freemen, or commoners. But the charters of this corporation, as well as those of the other cinque ports, were in 1685, by the king's command, surrendered up to Colonel Strode, then governor of Dover castle, and were never returned again. By the above-mentioned charter of queen Elizabeth, the corporation is governed at this time. It consists at present of a mayor, ten jurats, (the mayor being one) and fifteen commoners or freemen, together with a chamberlain, recorder, and town clerk. The mayor, who is coroner by virtue of his office, is chosen on Lady-day, March 25th, yearly, and together with the jurats, who are justices within this liberty exclusive of all others, hold a court of general sessions of the peace and gaol delivery, together with a court of the record, the same as at Dover; and it has other privileges, mostly the same as the other corporations within the liberties of the cinque ports. It has the privilege of two maces. The arms of this town and port are, Azure, three lions passant-guardant, in pale, or.
The cinque ports, as well as their two antient towns of Rye and Winchelsea, have each of them the privilege of returning members, usually stiled barons, to parliament; the first returns of which, that are mentioned for any of them, are in the 42d year of king Edward III.
Charities.
MARGREAT, daughter of James Boyes, late wife of William Swan, of St. Nicholas in New Romney, by her will anno 1502, gave every year perpetual, a thousand billets, against Christmas, to be delivered among poor people. to be paid out of her principal messuage, in which the then dwelt, by the possessors of it for ever.
ADRIAN MARDEN, of the town and port of New Romney. by his will in 1554, devised his smiths shop or forge, with the garden adjoining, to the use and intent that there should yearly for ever, be distributed among the poor people of the town, in the presence of the bailiffs, jurats, and churchwardens, the yearly rent of the premises, the reparations thereof being first deducted; and in default of such distribution, or reparation, then he gave the premises to the bailiffs, &c. their successors and assigns, for ever, for the like intent and uses.
ROBERT DODD, of Lid, by his will in 1570, gave his barn and lands in the town of New Romney, to be by the mayor and three of the jurats put to farm yearly for ever, the money thereof to be bestowed upon the reparations of the church of New Romney.
JOHN SOUTHLAND, gent. of New Romney, by his will in 1610, gave all his houses, lands, and tenements, to his executor Thomas Broadnax, of Godmersham, his son-in-law, upon condition that he should make over by due course of law, to remain and continue for ever, the house wherein his schoolmaster then dwelt, and all his houses and lands in the parishes of Harrietsham, Ulcombe, and Smarden, to the only use of a schoolmaster, and the relief of two couple of poor folk, and the said houses and lands his said executor should make a body politique and incorporate, for ever to endure, for their maintenance; the schoolmaster to pay out of those lands to the poor folk, 5l. by half-yearly payments clearly, and to the churchwardens of St. Nicholas, in New Romney, 5l. by like half-yearly payments to the reparations of the church for ever; and he ordered that the schoolmaster should keep the reparations of the houses and the closures, and should teach from time to time two poor children to write and read the English tongue, and cast accoumpt, until they should come to the age of 14 years clearly; and that the poor folk and poor children should be placed and displaced by the mayor from time to time; the schoolmaster to be a scholar of Oxford or Cambridge, sufficient to teach the Latin tougue as well as the English.
This hospital and school-house is situated in St. Nicholas. and is made use of for the residence of the schoolmaster, now called the governor, and the four poor folk. It was incorporated anno 30 Elizabeth. The estates left for the support of it consist of 30 acres of land and 18 acres of wood in Smarden, and one tenement with 51 acres of land in Harrietsham, and one other tenement and 12 acres of land in Ulcombe. The Rev. William Wing Fowle, A. M. of New Romney, is now governor or schoolmaster of it.
THOMAS BAKER, by his will in 1728, gave for the benefit of the four poor persons living in Southlands hospital, to be paid half yearly for ever, the rents of 20 acres of land in Ivychurch, now of the annual product of 25l. which is given away by the mayor and jurats. Likewise 5l. per annum, being part of an annuity of IIl. per annum, out of lands formerly belonging to Epps, but now of the widow Coates, lying in Old and New Romney and Midley, to be given yearly on the 14th day of October, for the benefit of poor persons, so estimated by the mayor and jurats; the same being annually distributed by the mayor of New Romney for the time being.
The poor constantly maintained are about fifty-four.
NEW ROMNEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Limne.
The church, which is exempt from the jurisdiction of the archdeacon, is dedicated to St. Nicholas the bishop. It is very large and handsome, consisting of three isles and three chancels, having a square tower, with four pinnacles on it, at the west end, in which hang eight bells. The church is antient, the pillars between the isles being very large, with circular arches and Saxon ornaments. The tower at the west end seems still more so, having several ranges of small circular arches on the sides, and at the bottom is a circular arch, over a door-way, with zig-zag ornaments. The stone pinnacles on the top are of unequal sizes. On the roof is a stone work, of an octagon form, carried up a few feet only, seemingly for the purpose of continuing a spire of the same form on it. The inside of the church is fitted up exceedingly handsome and elegant. In the middle chancel, on the wainscot, on one side, are painted the arms of Furnese, with the hand of Ulster, impaling Broughe, and underneath Sir Henry Furnese beautified this chancel at his cost, and made the mayor and jurats seats, 1712. On the other side are the arms of Furnese impaling Balam, and underneath, Sir Robert Furnese, bart. combaron, completed the work of this chancel, begun by his fa ther Sir Henry Furnese, in 1713. Throughout the church and chancels are numerous monuments and memorials, mostly for those who have been mayors and jurats of the town, and their families, among which are those of Wilcocke, Martin, Wightwick, Mascall, Coates, Hassenden, Brett, Bassett, Pix, Baker, Cobbe, and Bachelor. In the middle chancel is a memorial for Arthur Kight, A. M. rector and vicar of Newchurch, obt. March 18, 1765. In the south chancel, a memorial for Joseph Philpot, gent. son of Joseph Philpot, of Worde, obt. 1768. A monument in the south chancel for Thomas Lancaster, obt. 1728, arms, Lancaster, argent, two bars, gules, on a canton of the second, a lion passant of the first . A like monument for Isaac Warguin, M. D. born in France, who fled from persecution to New Romney in 1689, where he practised physic, obt. 1725. In the north chancel is a fine tomb of Bethersden marble, with the figures in brass of a man and woman, and behind her of one daughter, for Thomas Smith, jurat, obt. 1610. A tomb of black marble for Thomas Tookey, gent. jurat, and once mayor and bailiff of Yarmouth, obt. 1653, arms at the east end, Tookey, a chevron engrailed, between three estoiles of six points , impaling ermine, on a chief dancette, three crowns . A stone, with a figure in brass, for Thomas Lambarde, of Romene, obt. 1514. Several memorials for the Tookeys. A memorial for Edward Goulstone, esq. sixth son of John, of Widdall, in Hertfordshire, esq. prothonotary of the king's bench, who married Joane, daughter and heir of Thomas Tookey, gent. of Romney; she afterwards married Mr. John Goulstone, late of Tutsham hall, who lies buried here. He died leaving Edward Goulstone, of Tutsham-hall, arms, Goulstone, two bars nebule, over them, on a bend, three balls . In the north isle, several memorials for the Normans, arms, A lion rampant; and for the Durants, arms, Argent, on a cross, gules, five fleurs de lis, or. A stone, with an inscription in brass, the figure gone, for William Holyngbroke, obt. 1375, arms, A chevron, between three estoiles; and several memorials for the Wilsons.
When this town was in its most flourishing state, there were four other parish churches in it besides the present one of St. Nicholas, named St. Laurence, St. Martin, St. John, and St. Michael, all which there is frequent mention of in the several wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. The last of them I find mentioned in wills in the beginning of Henry VIII.'s reign, and the three former as late as the 25th year of it, but before the end of that reign they seem to have been all disused, and the present one of St. Nicholas to have been the only one in use, and to have been accounted the only parochial church of this town and parish of New Romney. Besides the church-yard adjoining to St. Nicholas's church, there are five others belonging to it, viz. that of St. Laurence, in Mr. Russell's land, and of St. Michael in the Hardres land, both near Old Romney; of St. John, St. Martin, and another of St. Laurence converted into a garden, all three in the town of New Romney. All which are now part of the glebe belonging to the vicar of New Romney. The church of St. Nicholas seems to have had some pre-eminence over the others; for though mention is made in the several wills in the Prerogative-office, in Canterbury, of the other churches, their church-yards, and the parish priests and curates of them, yet the several vicars of this church are always stiled in them, from the year 1458 downwards, vicars of New Romney, without any other distinction.
The church of St. Nicholas, of New Romney, was antiently part of the possessions of the abbot and convent of Pontiniac, in France, who had a cell or priory here, to which abbey this church was appropriated before the 8th year of king Richard II. anno 1384, at which time the church appropriate was valued at twenty pounds perannum, and the vicarage, among the small benefices not taxed to the tenth, at four pounds. On the suppression of the above abbey, among the rest of the alien priories, in the 2d year of Henry V. anno 1414, this church, with the advowson of the vicarage, came into the hands of the crown, where it remained till Henry VI. on the petition of archbishop Chicheley, in his 17th year, settled it on the warden and fellows of All Souls college, in Oxford, with whom the parsonage appropriate, and the advowson of the vicarage, still remain.
It appears by the valuation in the king's books, taken anno 26 Henry VIII. that the several parishes before-mentioned in this town, had been before then united to the mother church of St. Nicholas, which was at that time the only parish in it, and that the churches of St. Martin and St. Laurence were accounted but as chapels of ease to it. The vicarage of St. Nicholas, with those chapels, is valued in them at 6l. 16s. 3d. and the yearly tenths at 13s. 7½d. In 1588 it was valued at ninety pounds, communicants three hundred and sixty-one. In 1640, at 105l. the like number of communicants The parsonage is usually demised by the college of All Souls to the vicar for the time being, at the yearly rent of seven pounds, which is nearly the full annual produce of it. There are seven acres of glebe land.
The vicarage of New Romney was endowed by archbishop Arundel, in 1402, and a competent portion assigned to the vicar for his maintenance.
¶There were formerly continual controversies between the vicars of New Romney and their parishioners, concerning the payment of tithes in kind, and especially for setting aside the custom for the payment of two-pence an acre in money, in lieu of tithe-wool and pasturage in kind, other tithes being paid by composition at such rates as could be agreed on; and two suits were commenced in particular, by Knight, vicar, against Brett and Clark, on the same custom, the former in 1637, and the latter in 1640, at the king's bench bar. In the first of which, the jury gave their verdict against the vicar, and in the latter he was nonsuited; but the custom in the latter trial was so plainly proved, that it has been uniformly acquiesced in by the vicars to the present time.
Posting shots of churches we have visited has shown me that my photography has improved now I don't use the ultrawide angle lenses, so many churches need a revisit.
And with the orchid season now at an end, nearly, it is time to turn to churchcrawling.
And the easiest non-Kent church to revisit was Winchelsea, just over the border in East Sussex, also gave us the chance to call in at the fishmongers in Rye for some smoked haddock.
After the early morning coffee and then the rush round Tesco, back home to pack it all away and for me to make bacon butties and another brew.
And then: go west.
Traffic is not so mad now, so it was easy to drive to Folkestone then up the motorway to Ashford, before turning off, past the inland border facility, then out onto the Marsh past Hamstreet.
West of Brookland, the road meanders about, bend after bend, crossing and recrossing the railway until we reach Rye.
We stop to buy the fish, then round the river, over the bridge and out the other side, five miles to Winchelsea, turning off to go up the hill under the old town gate, parking near the village shop.
Whereas Rye was already busy, Winchelsea was quiet, and just past ten meaning the church had just opened.
We walk across the large churchyard through the ruins of the tower and into the church, where the triple wide nave was lines on the north and south walls with fine wall tombs.
I photograph each on in turn, and the corbel heads on each too.
I rephotograph the fine windows too, as despite being modern, they really are on another level.
One or two people come in, a family of three last 30 seconds before the mother and teenage son leave.
After completing the shots, I go out to meet up with Jools so we can walk to the shop to have ice cream, and sit to eat them on a bench looking at the north wall of the church.
After we had finished our ice creams, we climbed back in the car. It wasn't yet half ten. Time for some more churches!
So, after driving back through Rye and into Kent, we call into Brookland so I could check if the tower was open, as I have never found it open. The church was, but the candlesnuff tower was locked.
No worries, there's always New Romney.
I first came here with my friend, Simon, in 2014 when there was a formal dinner being prepared, and a year ago, we arrived just after one to find the building being locked for the day.
We parked opposite and I see the sign advertising a craft and record fair, along with refreshments.
Inside there were stall set up, and people in the Chancel drinking tea and eating cake.
I was able to get shots of some of the memorials and details, which is why I came back, really.
The fair happens on only one Saturday per month, just my luck to pick a day when it was on.
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A wonderful church of grand proportions, the exterior of which is best seen from the east where the three reticulated windows chancel and chapels of the Decorated period may be clearly seen. The nave is Norman, with interesting decoration on the arcades and solid circular piers. The church was owned by Potigny Abbey and in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries it invested heavily in rebuilding the east end, with fine octagonal pillars, piscinae and sedilia in each of the three eastern chapels. Between the chancel and chapels are hagioscope openings. It is interesting that the floor remains unrestored, with brick, tile and old ledger slabs. This is the result of the intervention of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings when John Oldrid Scott started over-restoring the church in 1878. The early aisles must have been very low as the Norman clerestory windows rise straight from the top of the arcade. The best place to see Norman work at New Romney is in the main west door where the zigzag decoration has few parallels in the county.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=New+Romney
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THE TOWN AND PORT OF NEW ROMNEY,
WRITTEN in the survey of Domesday, Romenel, lies the next adjoining southward from Old Romney, to distinguish it from which it was called New Romney. The greatest part of it is within the liberty of the cinque ports, and of the corporation of the town and port of New Romney; another part is within the level of Romney Marsh, and the liberty and jurisdiction of the justices of it; and the residue is within the level of Walland Marsh, and the jurisdiction of the justices of the county.
THE TOWN of New Romney is supposed to owe its origin to the decay of the antient port and haven of Old Romney, which being rendered useless by the withdrawing of the sea from it, that of New Romney became frequented in its stead, and being esteemed a large and commodious harbour for shipping, and the town adjoining to it increasing to a considerable size, and being well filled with inhabitants, it gained the privilege of being one of the cinque ports, and had annexed as members to it Lid, Old Romney, Dengemarsh, and Oswardestone, and that part of the parish of Promhill within this county, with which jointly it was bound to provide five ships, with twenty one men and one boy to each of them. After the battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror, on his march to Dover castle, passed this town, where he is said to have revenged himself on the inhabitants, for having killed some of his men, who by mistake had landed here. (fn. 1) After which this haven seems to have been in danger of ruin; and king Henry III. being informed of its danger of being destroyed, by stoppage from the river at Newenden, directed Nicholas de Handloe to re pair hither in person, with the sheriff of Kent and twenty four knights and lawful men, to examine into it. And among the patent rolls in the tower is one, in consequence of it, for the new making of this port. In this state New Romney, in all probability continued till king Edward I.'s reign, when the river Limen, or Rother, as it was afterwards called, being forced from its old channel hither, by a violent tempest, which destroyed likewise part of the town and several villages near it, and the sea at the same time retiring to a still further distance from it, the haven was soon irretrievably choaked up by the beach and became dry land, and the town itself never regained its former consequence; yet in the regin of king Edward the Confessor, it seems to have been of considerable note; for at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in the 15th year of the Conqueror's reign, which was little more than fourteen years from king Edward's death, it appears by the following mention of it, that there were in it eighty-five burgesses, which belonged to the archbishop's manor of Aldington.
In Romenel there are four times twenty and five burgesses, which belonged to the archbishop's manor of Aldington, and were, and now are worth to the lord sixpounds.
Besides which, Robert de Romenel, who held the manor of Lamport of the archbishop by knight's service, had twenty one burgesses here, which belonged to that manor, and fifty which he held of the bishop of Baieux, as may be seen by the following entries in the same record:
To this manor (viz. Lamport) belong twenty-one burgesses, which are in Romenel, of whom the archbishop has three forfeitures—theft, breach of the peace, and robbery on the highway. But the king has all service from them, and they have all customs and other forfeitures for service of the sea, and they are in the king's hands .
And further, under the general title of the bishop of Baieux's possessions:
The same Robert (de Romenel) has fifty burgesses in the burgh of Romenel, and of them the king has all service, and they are quit from the service of the sea, from all custom except in three—thest, breach of the peace, and forstel .
In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was forty shillings, now fifty shillings. Alsi held it of earl Godwin .
Robert de Romenel certainly took his name from his possessions in this place. He is mentioned several times in the record of Domesday. Albritha de Rumenel, in the reign of king John, was marshal of the king's birds by inheritance, and married William de Iarpenvile; their daughter and heir Alice, married Thomas Fitzbernard, to whom and their heirs for ever, on the petition of their mother, the king granted that office after her death. The latter afterwards gave to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, for her sepulture there, twelve pounds sterling of Old Rumenell and Langport, to be received of Stephen deAudintune, or whomsoever should posses the same. (fn. 2) Camden, in his Remains, says, Sir Robert de Romney, for so the name was afterwards spelt, bore for his arms, in imitation of the family of Criol, Two chevrons, and a canton, to which he added, on the latter, three leopards faces; and so late as the 1st year of king James I. Sir William Rumney, was sheriff of London, and there are some of this name still remaining. But to return, so great a number of burgesses as one hundred and fifty-six, serves to give us an idea of its antient state and populousness, and even at the time of the dreadful tempest which caused its ruin in king Edward I.'s reign, as mentioned before, it is said to have been divided into twelve wards, and to have had in it five parish churches, a priory, and an hospital for the sick. But when the river, by so tremendous a convulsion of nature, which not only destroyed men and cattle, but whole towns and villages, had been driven from its proper channel, and its antient mouth here being stopped up, had opened for itself a nearer passage into the sea by Rye, then the sea began to withdraw itself from this town, which afterwards decayed apace, insomuch, that in king Henry VIII.'s reign the sea was two miles distant from it, and there was only one parish church remaining, and that scarce well maintained. Leland, who wrote his Itinerary in that reign, says, "Rumeney is one of the v portes, and hath bene a netely good haven, yn so much that withyn remembrance of men shyppes have cum hard up to the towne and cast ancres yn one of the church yardes. The se ys now a ii myles fro the towne so sore therby now decayed that where ther wher iii great paroches and chirches sumtyme, is now scant one wel mayteined."
There were certainly four other parish churches besides the present one of St. Nicholas, as will be further mentioned hereafter, to which, on the decay of the others about the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, the parishes belonging to them were, united and made one parish, as at this time. The town stands rather higher than the neighbouring country, on a soil of gravel and sand. There are about one hundred houses in it, which are mostly modern, neatly built of brick, and sashed, and about five hundred inhabitants. It consists principally of one very wide street, well paved, running the whole length of it, and a cross street, in that part of which leading to the church stands the hall, or brotherhood-house, where the mayor, jurats, and commons of the cinque ports and two antient towns usually keep their court, called a brotherhood, of late newly built in a handsome manner, but not large enough to hold the several members to sit there with them in their court, called a guestling, which is therefore kept in the church, usually on the Tuesday after the feast of St. Margaret, being the 20th of July. In the midst of the high-street is the market-place, a neat modern building, the market being kept here weekly on a Saturday; and there is a fair held yearly on the feast of St. Laurence, now, by the alteration of the stile, on August 21. There is an establishment of the customs here, under the out-port of Dover. On the east side of the town is a large common, of about three quarters of a mile in length, called Romney Warren, belonging to the corporation, the soil of which is a deep sand, and the surface of it exceedingly uneven, and thrown up in that form, as to induce us to believe the whole of it was once covered at times by the sea, and then deserted by that inconstant element. It consists of four hundred acres of land. The rest of the grounds round the town are an entire flat of marshes, very fertile; and those on the south side especialy, have a plain appearance of having been left by the sea, and since inclosed and made pasture ground of.
THE CINQUE PORTS were in very early times enfranchised with divers privileges and customs, though of what antiquity they were, or when enfranchised, has not as yet been with any certainty discovered; and therefore; they are held to enjoy all their earliest liberties and privileges as, time out of mind, by prescription, and these were confirmed to them and their members by magna charta, by the stile of, barons of the cinque ports; and again by one general charter of king Edward I. which by inspeximus received confirmation, and sometimes additions from most of the succeeding kings and queens of this realm. New Romney being one of the cinque ports, became thus a corporation by prescription, and in Edward III.'s time was incorporated, by the stile of barons of the town and port of New Romeny; afterwards by that of jurats and commonaltie of the town and port of New Romney; and lastly, by queen Elizabeth, who by her letters patent, in her 5th year, anno 1562, again incorporated this town, by the stile of the mayor, jurats, and commonaltie of the town and port of New Romney, and she by the same letters patent ratified all the privileges which they had enjoyed in the reign of king Edward the Confessor, or any other since. And likewise granted to them the soil of the river Rother, from the entrance of its haven here to Redhill beyond Apledore. The members mentioned in this charter, being a mayor, five jurats, and twentysix freemen, or commoners. But the charters of this corporation, as well as those of the other cinque ports, were in 1685, by the king's command, surrendered up to Colonel Strode, then governor of Dover castle, and were never returned again. By the above-mentioned charter of queen Elizabeth, the corporation is governed at this time. It consists at present of a mayor, ten jurats, (the mayor being one) and fifteen commoners or freemen, together with a chamberlain, recorder, and town clerk. The mayor, who is coroner by virtue of his office, is chosen on Lady-day, March 25th, yearly, and together with the jurats, who are justices within this liberty exclusive of all others, hold a court of general sessions of the peace and gaol delivery, together with a court of the record, the same as at Dover; and it has other privileges, mostly the same as the other corporations within the liberties of the cinque ports. It has the privilege of two maces. The arms of this town and port are, Azure, three lions passant-guardant, in pale, or.
The cinque ports, as well as their two antient towns of Rye and Winchelsea, have each of them the privilege of returning members, usually stiled barons, to parliament; the first returns of which, that are mentioned for any of them, are in the 42d year of king Edward III.
Charities.
MARGREAT, daughter of James Boyes, late wife of William Swan, of St. Nicholas in New Romney, by her will anno 1502, gave every year perpetual, a thousand billets, against Christmas, to be delivered among poor people. to be paid out of her principal messuage, in which the then dwelt, by the possessors of it for ever.
ADRIAN MARDEN, of the town and port of New Romney. by his will in 1554, devised his smiths shop or forge, with the garden adjoining, to the use and intent that there should yearly for ever, be distributed among the poor people of the town, in the presence of the bailiffs, jurats, and churchwardens, the yearly rent of the premises, the reparations thereof being first deducted; and in default of such distribution, or reparation, then he gave the premises to the bailiffs, &c. their successors and assigns, for ever, for the like intent and uses.
ROBERT DODD, of Lid, by his will in 1570, gave his barn and lands in the town of New Romney, to be by the mayor and three of the jurats put to farm yearly for ever, the money thereof to be bestowed upon the reparations of the church of New Romney.
JOHN SOUTHLAND, gent. of New Romney, by his will in 1610, gave all his houses, lands, and tenements, to his executor Thomas Broadnax, of Godmersham, his son-in-law, upon condition that he should make over by due course of law, to remain and continue for ever, the house wherein his schoolmaster then dwelt, and all his houses and lands in the parishes of Harrietsham, Ulcombe, and Smarden, to the only use of a schoolmaster, and the relief of two couple of poor folk, and the said houses and lands his said executor should make a body politique and incorporate, for ever to endure, for their maintenance; the schoolmaster to pay out of those lands to the poor folk, 5l. by half-yearly payments clearly, and to the churchwardens of St. Nicholas, in New Romney, 5l. by like half-yearly payments to the reparations of the church for ever; and he ordered that the schoolmaster should keep the reparations of the houses and the closures, and should teach from time to time two poor children to write and read the English tongue, and cast accoumpt, until they should come to the age of 14 years clearly; and that the poor folk and poor children should be placed and displaced by the mayor from time to time; the schoolmaster to be a scholar of Oxford or Cambridge, sufficient to teach the Latin tougue as well as the English.
This hospital and school-house is situated in St. Nicholas. and is made use of for the residence of the schoolmaster, now called the governor, and the four poor folk. It was incorporated anno 30 Elizabeth. The estates left for the support of it consist of 30 acres of land and 18 acres of wood in Smarden, and one tenement with 51 acres of land in Harrietsham, and one other tenement and 12 acres of land in Ulcombe. The Rev. William Wing Fowle, A. M. of New Romney, is now governor or schoolmaster of it.
THOMAS BAKER, by his will in 1728, gave for the benefit of the four poor persons living in Southlands hospital, to be paid half yearly for ever, the rents of 20 acres of land in Ivychurch, now of the annual product of 25l. which is given away by the mayor and jurats. Likewise 5l. per annum, being part of an annuity of IIl. per annum, out of lands formerly belonging to Epps, but now of the widow Coates, lying in Old and New Romney and Midley, to be given yearly on the 14th day of October, for the benefit of poor persons, so estimated by the mayor and jurats; the same being annually distributed by the mayor of New Romney for the time being.
The poor constantly maintained are about fifty-four.
NEW ROMNEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Limne.
The church, which is exempt from the jurisdiction of the archdeacon, is dedicated to St. Nicholas the bishop. It is very large and handsome, consisting of three isles and three chancels, having a square tower, with four pinnacles on it, at the west end, in which hang eight bells. The church is antient, the pillars between the isles being very large, with circular arches and Saxon ornaments. The tower at the west end seems still more so, having several ranges of small circular arches on the sides, and at the bottom is a circular arch, over a door-way, with zig-zag ornaments. The stone pinnacles on the top are of unequal sizes. On the roof is a stone work, of an octagon form, carried up a few feet only, seemingly for the purpose of continuing a spire of the same form on it. The inside of the church is fitted up exceedingly handsome and elegant. In the middle chancel, on the wainscot, on one side, are painted the arms of Furnese, with the hand of Ulster, impaling Broughe, and underneath Sir Henry Furnese beautified this chancel at his cost, and made the mayor and jurats seats, 1712. On the other side are the arms of Furnese impaling Balam, and underneath, Sir Robert Furnese, bart. combaron, completed the work of this chancel, begun by his fa ther Sir Henry Furnese, in 1713. Throughout the church and chancels are numerous monuments and memorials, mostly for those who have been mayors and jurats of the town, and their families, among which are those of Wilcocke, Martin, Wightwick, Mascall, Coates, Hassenden, Brett, Bassett, Pix, Baker, Cobbe, and Bachelor. In the middle chancel is a memorial for Arthur Kight, A. M. rector and vicar of Newchurch, obt. March 18, 1765. In the south chancel, a memorial for Joseph Philpot, gent. son of Joseph Philpot, of Worde, obt. 1768. A monument in the south chancel for Thomas Lancaster, obt. 1728, arms, Lancaster, argent, two bars, gules, on a canton of the second, a lion passant of the first . A like monument for Isaac Warguin, M. D. born in France, who fled from persecution to New Romney in 1689, where he practised physic, obt. 1725. In the north chancel is a fine tomb of Bethersden marble, with the figures in brass of a man and woman, and behind her of one daughter, for Thomas Smith, jurat, obt. 1610. A tomb of black marble for Thomas Tookey, gent. jurat, and once mayor and bailiff of Yarmouth, obt. 1653, arms at the east end, Tookey, a chevron engrailed, between three estoiles of six points , impaling ermine, on a chief dancette, three crowns . A stone, with a figure in brass, for Thomas Lambarde, of Romene, obt. 1514. Several memorials for the Tookeys. A memorial for Edward Goulstone, esq. sixth son of John, of Widdall, in Hertfordshire, esq. prothonotary of the king's bench, who married Joane, daughter and heir of Thomas Tookey, gent. of Romney; she afterwards married Mr. John Goulstone, late of Tutsham hall, who lies buried here. He died leaving Edward Goulstone, of Tutsham-hall, arms, Goulstone, two bars nebule, over them, on a bend, three balls . In the north isle, several memorials for the Normans, arms, A lion rampant; and for the Durants, arms, Argent, on a cross, gules, five fleurs de lis, or. A stone, with an inscription in brass, the figure gone, for William Holyngbroke, obt. 1375, arms, A chevron, between three estoiles; and several memorials for the Wilsons.
When this town was in its most flourishing state, there were four other parish churches in it besides the present one of St. Nicholas, named St. Laurence, St. Martin, St. John, and St. Michael, all which there is frequent mention of in the several wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. The last of them I find mentioned in wills in the beginning of Henry VIII.'s reign, and the three former as late as the 25th year of it, but before the end of that reign they seem to have been all disused, and the present one of St. Nicholas to have been the only one in use, and to have been accounted the only parochial church of this town and parish of New Romney. Besides the church-yard adjoining to St. Nicholas's church, there are five others belonging to it, viz. that of St. Laurence, in Mr. Russell's land, and of St. Michael in the Hardres land, both near Old Romney; of St. John, St. Martin, and another of St. Laurence converted into a garden, all three in the town of New Romney. All which are now part of the glebe belonging to the vicar of New Romney. The church of St. Nicholas seems to have had some pre-eminence over the others; for though mention is made in the several wills in the Prerogative-office, in Canterbury, of the other churches, their church-yards, and the parish priests and curates of them, yet the several vicars of this church are always stiled in them, from the year 1458 downwards, vicars of New Romney, without any other distinction.
The church of St. Nicholas, of New Romney, was antiently part of the possessions of the abbot and convent of Pontiniac, in France, who had a cell or priory here, to which abbey this church was appropriated before the 8th year of king Richard II. anno 1384, at which time the church appropriate was valued at twenty pounds perannum, and the vicarage, among the small benefices not taxed to the tenth, at four pounds. On the suppression of the above abbey, among the rest of the alien priories, in the 2d year of Henry V. anno 1414, this church, with the advowson of the vicarage, came into the hands of the crown, where it remained till Henry VI. on the petition of archbishop Chicheley, in his 17th year, settled it on the warden and fellows of All Souls college, in Oxford, with whom the parsonage appropriate, and the advowson of the vicarage, still remain.
It appears by the valuation in the king's books, taken anno 26 Henry VIII. that the several parishes before-mentioned in this town, had been before then united to the mother church of St. Nicholas, which was at that time the only parish in it, and that the churches of St. Martin and St. Laurence were accounted but as chapels of ease to it. The vicarage of St. Nicholas, with those chapels, is valued in them at 6l. 16s. 3d. and the yearly tenths at 13s. 7½d. In 1588 it was valued at ninety pounds, communicants three hundred and sixty-one. In 1640, at 105l. the like number of communicants The parsonage is usually demised by the college of All Souls to the vicar for the time being, at the yearly rent of seven pounds, which is nearly the full annual produce of it. There are seven acres of glebe land.
The vicarage of New Romney was endowed by archbishop Arundel, in 1402, and a competent portion assigned to the vicar for his maintenance.
¶There were formerly continual controversies between the vicars of New Romney and their parishioners, concerning the payment of tithes in kind, and especially for setting aside the custom for the payment of two-pence an acre in money, in lieu of tithe-wool and pasturage in kind, other tithes being paid by composition at such rates as could be agreed on; and two suits were commenced in particular, by Knight, vicar, against Brett and Clark, on the same custom, the former in 1637, and the latter in 1640, at the king's bench bar. In the first of which, the jury gave their verdict against the vicar, and in the latter he was nonsuited; but the custom in the latter trial was so plainly proved, that it has been uniformly acquiesced in by the vicars to the present time.
This is the final Kent church of the year, and with these uploads I will have caught up on all my picture taking, I believe.
We only visited St Mildred last year, but I forgot, so we went again in November, on another wonderful late autumn morning.
After visiting, we sat in the churchyard eating sausage rolls, much to the disgust of a couple of other visitors to the church.
Oh well.
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A superb church, which despite a heavy-handed restoration by G.M. Hills (see also Newenden) in 1864 still has much of interest. The nave ceiling is exceptional fifteenth-century work, rather more domestic in feel than is normal in an ecclesiastical building. There are two blocked thirteenth-century windows above the chancel arch - an unusual position to find windows in Kent. The five bay aisles are extremely narrow. The glass in the south aisle windows by Hughes of 1865 are rather fun. In the north chapel is a fine alabaster standing monument to Herbert Whitfield (d. 1622) and his wife. This monument cuts off the base of the north-east window and displays many colourful coats of arms. The chancel screen and pulpit are late nineteenth century and fit in with the medieval architecture better than most works of that period.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Tenterden
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The history of Tenterden itself is lost in time, as is the origin of St. Mildred’s church. Perhaps all that can be said with any confidence is that the story of the town and the story of St. Mildred’s are bound together with each other, with the story of pre-conquest Kent, with the story of Christianity in Kent, and with the story of the ancient Kentish royal house.
Tenet-wara-den (the den of the Thanet folk) was the Wealden area used by the abbey of Minster-in-Thanet for Autumn pig-forage (acorns and beech mast to fatten the pigs for Winter). That abbey was founded by Domne Aefa (“the lady Aebba”?) of the Kentish royal family, and either she herself or her daughter, St. Mildred, was the first abbess. This is within the first century after the arrival in Canterbury of St. Augustine’s mission from Rome. Mildred’s holy reputation was an international one, and there can be no doubt that a church in her name was here from some point in the eighth to tenth centuries. The reign of Canute is the latest possible period and it was almost certainly much earlier. However, we have no record of any incumbent before 1180, and the oldest perceptible fabric of the church is of about that time too.
When you stand in the middle of St. Mildred’s, you see a large building reflecting the prosperity of the town in the later middle ages. The north arcade of the chancel is probably around 1200, but most of the chancel, nave, and aisles is work of the 13th to 15th centuries. The fine wagon-vault ceiling of the nave has been variously stated to be 14th or 15th century (with some Victorian additions). The tower of the church, a prominent Kentish landmark, was probably built by architect Thomas Stanley. This major building work was undertaken in the middle of the 15th century, at the height of Tenterden’s prosperity, it being no coincidence that the town gained a charter and Cinque Port status in support of Rye, at about the same time.
The town’s prosperity was reflected also in the presence of important shipbuilding yards at both Reading Street and Smallhythe, both on the tidal River Rother at that time. The settlement at Smallhythe was sufficiently large to gain its own chapel sometime in the middle ages, but we know nothing of that building, though it was probably dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Smallhythe itself was burnt in a huge fire in 1514, and we know that rebuilding of the chapel began virtually straight away. The current church of St. John the Baptist is a beautiful example of a brick-built Tudor church, box-like (so with an excellent acoustic). It has, during its history, had varying levels of dependence or independence from the town church of St. Mildred.
By the middle of the 19th century, the population was growing fast, and attitudes to worship were changing too. St. Mildred’s lost its box pews, and had the organ moved to its present position. A new church was planned for the hamlet of Boresisle at the northern end of Tenterden, the neat and small Gothic revival church being dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels. Two consequences were, firstly, the acquisition by Kent of another prominent landmark – the graceful spire, and secondly, the name Boresisle fell out of usage and the hamlet itself has ever since been known as “St. Michael’s”.
I do feel it important to append to this account of the Anglican church buildings a brief comment on the other churches of the town. There was always a Roman Catholic presence here, but after the Reformation, there was no church building until the Catholic priest in Tenterden, Canon Currie began, in the 1930s, a determined attempt to put that right, culminating in the building of St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic church in Ashford Road.
The history of “non-conformity” in Tenterden is a major and extensive one. Within a few decades of the development around the 1370s, by John Wyclife at Oxford, of the doctrines later known as “Lollardy”, there were significant numbers of people in Tenterden who ascribed to doctrines regarded as unorthodox. Moreover, following the Reformation of the 1540s to 1560s, there were many who rejected not only Roman ways, but were unhappy with the English church. We know that Tenterden families joined the 17th century exodus to the New World (notably to Massachusetts), and Tenterden acquired its first “non-conformist” chapel around 1700, that building now being the Unitarian church in Ashford Road, and one of Tenterden’s most interesting ancient relics. The nineteenth century saw the building of the Methodist church at West Cross, and two of the three Baptist churches – Zion in the High Street, and the Strict Baptist Jireh Chapel at St. Michael’s. Trinity Baptist in Ashford Road was built in 1928.
Those interested to pursue their enquiries further will find a guide in St. Mildred’s, and there is much information in standard texts of Kent history and architecture.
www.tenterdencofe.org/?page_ref=265
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THIS hundred contains within its bounds THE TOWN AND PARISH OF Tenterden, and part of the parish of Ebeney, containing the borough of Reading, the church of which is in another hundred.
This hundred was antiently accounted one of the Seven Hundreds, and was within the jurisdiction of the justices of the country, from which it was separated by Henry VI. who, on account of the impoverishment of the port and town of Rye, in Sussex, by his letters patent, in his 27th year, incorporated the town and hundred of Tenterden, by the name of the bailiff and commonaltie of the town and hundred of Tenterden, and granted that the same should be a member annexed and united to that town and port, and separated from the county of Kent, and that the bailiff and commonalty of this town and hundred should have for ever, on their contributing to the burthens and exigencies of that port and town from time to time, (fn. 1) many franchises, privileges, and freedoms, and all other liberties, freedoms, and free customs which the barons of the five ports had before that time enjoyed. In which state this town and hundred remained till the 42d year of queen Elizabeth's reign, when the name of their incorporation was changed to that of the mayor, jurats, and commonalty of the town and hundred of Tenterden, by which it continues to be governed at this time.
THE CORPORATION consists of a mayor, twelve jurats, and as many common-councilmen, a chamberlain, and town clerk; the jurisdiction of it being exclusive from the justices of the county. The mayor is chosen yearly on August 29. The election used to be in the town-hall; but that being burnt down by some prisoners in the prison-room over it, it was afterwards made under one of the great old oaks, which are not far from the place, on the other side of the street, where it stood. A neat and elegant hall was finished in 1792, adjoining the Woolpack Inn, in which the mayor has been elected as heretofore, and it is occasionally used as an assembly room by the inhabitants. The mayor is coroner of both the town and hundred; there is no sheriff; the commoners must be resciants, and are chosen by the mayor and two of the jurats; the jurats are all justices of the peace. They hold sessions of oyer and terminer, but cannot try treason. At the sessions holden at Tenterden, August 10, 1785, two men were convicted of burglary, and executed near Gallows-green the 27th following. Both the charters of this corporation being destroyed by the fire of the court-hall in 1660, an exemplification of them was procured anno 12 George III.
The liberty of the court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds, claimed a paramount jurisdiction over this hundred, till the incorporation of the town of Tenterden, and the annexing this hundred to it in the reign of Henry VI. since which the mayor and jurats have been lords of the royalty of it, and continue so at this time.
The parish is divided into six boroughs, each having a borsholder chosen yearly, these are Town Borough, Castweasle, Boresile, Shrubcote, Dumborne, which includes all Smallhyth, and Reading, which is wholly in the parish of Ebene.
THE PARISH of Tenterden lies too near the marshes to be either healthy or pleasant, excepting that part where the town is situated near the northern boundaries of it, on what may be called for this country, high ground; it is about five miles across each way. The soil of it is various, the northern part being sand, towards the east it is a wet stiff clay, and towards the south and west towards the marshes a deep rich mould. The generality of the lands in it are pasture, but there are about one hundred acres of hop-ground dispersed in different parts of it; there is very little wood, and that mostly between the town and Smallhyth, a hamlet formerly of much more consequence, as will be further mentioned hereafter, situated at the southern boundary of it, on the road into the Isle of Oxney, close to the river Rother, which separates that part of this parish from the island. About a mile and a half eastward is the hamlet of Reading-street, built adjoining the high road to Apledore, close to the marshes below it, on the passage over the Rother into Ebeney, and the Isle of Oxney.
On Saturday, Nov. 1, 1755, between ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon (being at the same time that the great bason at Portsmouth was disturbed) several ponds in this parish and neighbourhood, without any sensible motion of the earth, were greatly agitated, the water of them being forced up the banks with great violence, fretting and foaming with a noise similar to the coming in of the tide, so as to terrify many who were near them; some of these waters flowed up three times in this manner, others circled round into eddies, absorbing leaves, sticks, &c. and it was observed that only those ponds were affected, that had springs to supply the waters of them.
THE TOWN OF TENTERDEN is situated nearly in the centre of the parish and hundred. It stands on high ground, neither unpleasant nor unhealthy; the greatest part of it is built on each side of the high road leading from the western parts of Kent and Cranbrooke through this parish south-east to Apledore. A small part of it is paved, where there is a small antient market-place, built of timber; but the market, which is still held on a Friday, is but little frequented, only two millers, and seldom any butchers attending it. It is a well-built town, having many genteel houses, or rather seats, interspersed throughout it, among which are those of the Curteis's, a numerous and opulent family here, who bear for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three bulls heads, caboshed; (fn. 2) the Haffendens, who have been long resident here, and in Smarden and Halden, in this neighbourhood. Bugglesden, in the north part of Boresile borough, in this parish, was very antiently, and till within these few years, their property and residence. Richard Haffenden now resides in a new house, built by his father, called Homewood, at the west end of this town, and in the south part of Boresile borough. They bear for their arms, Chequy, sable and argent, on a bend, sable, three mullets, or; the Staces, who have been resident here from the beginning of the last century, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury, in several of which they are stiled gentlemen; the Blackmores, possessed of Westwell house, a handsome seat at the south east end of the town, built by James Blackmore, esq. in 1711, one of whose descendants afterwards becoming possessed by gift of the seat of Briggins, in Hertfordshire, removed thither, where they have continued ever since, and this of Westwell-house is now occupied by Mr. James Blackmore, the uncle of Thomas Blackmore, esq. of Briggins, who died possessed of it in 1789, having been thrice married. He left by his two first wives three sons and two daughters; his third. wife Anne, daughter of Mr. Tatnall, of Theobalds, now survives him. They bear for their arms, Argent, a fess between three balckmoors heads sideways, couped at the neck, sable; and several others, most of whose wealth, as well as that of the inhabitants of this town in general, has arisen from its near neighbourhood to Romneymarsh, where most of them have some occupation in the grazing business.
The church stands on the north side of the town, which, with the rest of the parish, consists of about three hundred houses, and two thousand inhabitants, of which about five hundred are diffenters, who have two meeting-houses here, one of Presbyterians, the other of Methodistical Baptists.
At the east end of the town is Craythorne-house, which formerly belonged to the Bargraves, and then to the Marshalls, who sold it to the late Mr. John Sawyer, who built a new house here, in which he afterwards resided, and his assigns now possess it. A branch of the family of Whitfield had once their residence in a large house at the east end likewise of this town. John Whitfield resided here, as did his son Herbert, who died in 1622; they were descended from an antient family in Northumberland, and bore for their arms, Argent, on a bend, plain, between two cotizes, ingrailed sable, a mullet, or. At length the heirs of Sir Herbert Whitfield, sold this seat to Wil liam Austen, esq. of Hernden, in this parish. Sir Robert Austen, bart. the last of that name, resided in it, and it now belongs to his heirs, and is made use of as a boarding school for young ladies.
There is a large fair held in this town on the first Monday in May yearly, for cattle, wool, merchandize, and shop goods of all sorts, to which there is a great resort from all the neighbouring country. Most of the road, leading from the town to Smallhyth, particularly the upper part of it, known by the name of Broad Tenterden, is said to have been lined with buildings on each side, and to have been the most populous part of the parish.
THERE ARE several places in this parish worthy notice, the first of them is HALES-PLACE, at the northwest end of this town, which was for many generations the residence of a branch of the family of Hales, who removed hither from their original seat, of the same name, in the adjoining parish of Halden. Henry Hales, who lived in the reign of Henry VI. was born here, and married Juhan, daughter and heir of Richard Capel, of Tenterden, by which he greatly increased his estate in this parish. He had by her two sons, of whom John Hales, the eldest, was of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, esq. and was one of the barons of the exchequer. He had four sons, Sir James Hales, one of the justices of the common pleas, who was of the Dungeon, where his descendants continued many generations afterwards; Thomas, who was seated at Thanington, whose descendant Robert was created a baronet in 1666, and was ancestor of the present Su Philip Hales, bart. Edward, the third son, inherited this seat and his father's possessions in this parish; and William, the fourth son, was of Recolver and Nackington, in this county. Edward Hales, esq. the third son, who inherited this seat and estate at Tenterden, resided at it, and left a son Sir Edward Hales, who was created a baronet on the 29th of June, 1611. He removed his residence from hence to the neighbouring parish of Woodchurch, in which parish he possessed the antient seat of the Herlackendens, in right of his wife Deborah, only daughter and heir of Martin Herlackenden, esq. of that place. His son Sir John Hales, having married Christian, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir James Cromer, of Tunstal, became possessed of the antient seat of the Cromers in that parish, where he resided, and died in his father's life-time, in 1639, whose son Edward Hales succeeded to the title of baronet on his grandfather's death, in 1654 whose heir he was, and resided at Tunstal. His son Sir Edward Hales, bart. having purchased the mansion of St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, resided there, as his descendants have ever since; and from him this seat and estate at Tenterden at length descended down to his great-grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. now of St. Stephen's, who about forty-eight years ago pulled down the greatest part of this antient seat, and fitted up a smaller dwelling or farm-house on the scite of it, which, together with the antient offices or out-buildings of the mansion still remaining, continues part of his possessions.
HERNDEN, formerly spelt Heronden, was once an estate of considerable size in this parish, though it has been long since split into different parcels. The whole of it once belonged to a family of the name of Heronden, whose arms, as appears by the antient ordinaries in the Heralds-office, were, Argent, a heron volant, azure. At length one part of this estate was alienated by one of this family to Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, whose descendant Sir John Baker, knight and baronet, died possessed of it in 1661; but the capital mansion and other principal parts of it remained some time longer in the name of Heronden, one of whom, in the reign of Charles I. alienated some part of it, now called Little Hernden, to Short, a family whose ancestors had resided at Tenterden for some time. In the Heraldic Visitation of this county, anno 1619, is a pedigree of this family, beginning with Peter Short, of Tenterden, who lived in the reign of Henry VIII. They bore for their arms, Azure, a griffin passant, between three estoiles, or. At length one of them sold this part of it to Curteis, whose grandson Mr. Samuel Curteis is now in the possession of it. But the remainder of Hernden, in which was included the principal mansion, situated about a quarter of a mile southward of the town, was at the same time conveyed by sale to Mr. John Austen, the second son of William Austen, esq. of this parish, and elder brother of Robert, created a baronet anno 1660. He afterwards resided here, and dying in 1655, s. p. gave it by will to his nephew Robert Austen, esq. the second son of Sir Robert above-mentioned, by his second wife. He afterwards resided here, and had two sons, Robert and Ralph; the eldest of whom, Robert Austen, esq. resided here, and left three sons, William, of whom hereafter, and Edward and Robert, both of whom afterwards succeeded to the title of baronet. William Austen, esq. the eldest son, inherited Hernden, and in 1729, suffered a recovery of this, as well as all other the Kentish estates comprised in his grandfather's settlement of them, to the use of him and his heirs. He died in 1742, and by will devised it to Mr. Richard Righton, who afterwards resided here, and died possessed of it in 1772, and was buried, as was his wife afterwards, under a tomb on the south side of the church-yard; upon which it came into the hands of his son Benjamin Righton, esq. of Knightsbridge, who in 1782 conveyed Hernden, a farm called Pixhill, and other lands in this parish and Rolvenden, to Mr. Jeremiah Curteis, gent. of Rye, in Sussex, who finding this antient mansion, which seems, by a date remaining on it, to have been built in the year 1585, being the 28th of queen Elizabeth's reign, in a ruinous condition, pulled it down; but the scite of it, together with the lands belonging to it, still remain in his possession.
PITLESDEN, or Pittelesden, as it was antiently spelt, is situated near the west end of this town. It was once a seat of some note, being the residence of a family of that name, who bore for their arms, Sable, a fess, between three pelicans, or, in whose possession it continued till Stephen Pitlesden, (fn. 3) about the reign of Henry VI. leaving an only daughter and heir Julian, she carried it in marriage to Edward Guldeford, esq. of Halden, whose descendant Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter and heir Jane, she entitled her husband Sir John Dudley, afterwards created Duke of Northumberland, to the possession of this manor, and they, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. joined in the conveyance of it to Sir Thomas Cromwell, lord Cromwell, afterwards created Earl of Essex, who passed it away by sale to that king, and it remained in the hands of the crown till king Edward VI. in his 7th year, granted it, with the pend of water, wear and fishery, with the dove-house belonging to it, and all its appurtenances, to Sir John Baker, one of the privy council, to hold in capite by knight's service, in whose family it continued till Sir John Baker, bart. of Sissinghurst, in the reign of king Charles I. conveyed it by sale to Mr. Jasper Clayton, mercer, of London. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Mr. William Blackmore, gent. of this place, who at his death devised it to his daughter Sarah, who entitled her husband Mr. John Crumpe, of Frittenden, to the possession of it for her life, but the remainder, on her death, is vested in her brother Mr. Thomas Blackmore, gent. now of Tenterden.
LIGHTS, formerly called Lights Notinden, is a small manor here, which together with another called East Asherinden, the name of which is now almost forgotten, though there was a family of this name of Asherinden, or Ashenden, as it was afterwards spelt, who were resident in this parish, and were, as appears by their wills, possessed of lands here called Ashenden, so late as the year 1595. These manors belonged partly to a chantry founded in this parish, and partly to the manor of Brooke, near Wye, which was part of the possessions of the priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury; in which state they continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when, on the suppression both of that priory and of the chantry likewise, they were granted by that king to Sir John Baker, his attorneygeneral, whose descendant Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, knight and baronet, died possessed of them in 1661. How long they continued in his descendants, I do not find; but the former is now-become the property of Mr. William Mantell, and the latter belongs to Mr. William Children, who has lately built a house on it, in which he resides.
FINCHDEN is a seat here, situated on the denne of Leigh, at Leigh-green, which was formerly in the possession of a family, who were ancestors of the Finch's, whose posterity still continued till very lately in the possession of it. They were antiently called Finchden, from their seat here; one of them, William de Fyncheden, was chief justice of the king's bench in the 45th year of the reign of Edward III. (fn. 4) though his name in some old law books, which appear to be of that time, is written contractedly Finch, which probably was the original name, though I do not find any connection between this family and the descendants of Vincent Herbert, alias Finch, seated at Eastwell and elsewhere in this county; excepting that they hear the same coat of arms. In later times I find William Finch, gent. of this place, died possessed of it in 1637, and in his direct descendants this seat continued down to Mr. William Finch, gent. who resided in it, and died possessed of it in 1794, s. p. leaving his brother Mr. Richard Finch, of Tenterden, his next heir.
ELARDINDEN is an estate, which was formerly of some account here, and is parcel of the manor of Frid, or Frith, in Bethersden. It was antiently part of the possessions of the noble family of Mayney. Sir John de Mayney, of Biddenden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of Edward III. and in his descendants it continued till the reign of Henry VI. when it was alienated by one of them to William Darell, esq. whose descendant George Darell, esq. conveyed it by sale in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. to Sir John Hales, of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, one of the barons of the exchequer, who gave it to his third son Edward Hales, esq. of Tenterden, in whose descendants it has continued down to Sir Edward Hales of St. Stephens, near Canterbury, the present possessor of it.
THE MANORS OF GODDEN AND MORGIEU are situated in the south-west part of this parish. The former of them was once in the possession of a family of that name, one of whom, Roger de Godden, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as one knight's fee, which he held here of Stephen de la Hey. Soon after which it seems to have passed into the possession of the family of Aucher. How long it continued in this name I have not seen; but in the 36th year of Henry VI. the executors of Walter Shiryngton, clerk, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, having founded a chantry in the chapel near the north door of St. Paul's cathedral, London, which, from the founder, bore the name of Shiryngton's chantry, they purchased both these manors towards the endow ment of it. (fn. 5) These manors remained part of this foundation till the suppression of it, in the 1st year of Edward VI.when coming into the hands of the crown, they were granted by the king, the year afterwards, to Sir Miles Partridge, to hold in capite by knight's service, and he sold them, in the 6th year of that reign, to Thomas Argal; and from his descendant they passed into the possession of Sir John Colepeper, afterwards created lord Colepeper, who died possessed of them in 1660; upon which they came to his second son John, who on his elder brother's death without male issue, succeeded to the title of Lord Colepeper, and dying in 1719 without issue, bequeathed these manors to his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper, of Hollingborne, who by will devised them to her nephew John Spencer Colepeper, esq. of the Charter-house, being the last of the vast possessions of the different branches of this family dispersed over this whole county. He, in 1781, alienated them to Mr. Richard Curteis, of Tenterden, the present possessor of them.
KENCHILL is a seat in this parish, which was formerly the property of the family of Guldeford, one of whom, Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret, and of the garter, possessed it in the reign of Henry VIII. His son Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter Jane, she carried it in marriage to Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, and he, about the 30th year of king Henry VIII.'s reign, conveyed it to that king, who, in his 36th year, granted it to Thomas Argal, to hold in capite by knight's service, on whole decease his son Thomas Argal had possession granted of it, in the 6th year of queen Elizabeth. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Robert Clarkson, esq. of London, who sold it in 1687 to Mr. John Mantell, grazier, of Tenterden, who was one of the instances of the quick accumlation of riches from Romney-marsh; for in fourteen year she had acquired sufficient to become the purchaser of this and other estates, which rented at 800l. per annum. He devised Kenchill by will, together with the manor of East Asherinden, already mentioned before, Dumborne, and other lands in this parish, to his son Reginald, who died possessed of them in 1743, and lies buried in this church-yard. They bear for their arms, Argent, a cross between four martlets, sable, as borne by the family of Horton Monks, excepting, that the latter bore the cross engrailed; and leaving no issue, he gave them to his nephew Mr. Edward Mantell, of Mersham, who left several sons and daughters, who afterwards joined in the sale of their respective interests in them to Mr. William Mantell, the then elder brother; by which means he became entitled to the entire see of Kenchill, with the manor of East Asherinden, and resided at the former of them. He married Anne Marshall, of Mersham, and died in 1789, leaving issue several children. The Rev. Mr. Thomas Mantell, the younger brother, re-purchased Dumborne, of which he is now possessed, having married in 1788 Miss S. Horne, by whom he has one daughter.
THE HAMLET OF SMALLHYTH, commonly called Smallit, is situated somewhat more than three miles from the town of Tenterden, at the southern boundary of this parish, close to the old channel of the river Rother, over which there is a passage from it into the Isle of Oxney. The inhabitants were formerly, by report, very numerous, and this place of much more consequence than at present, from the expressions frequently made use of in old writings of those infra oppidum and intra oppidum de Smallhyth; the prevalent opinion being, that the buildings once extended towards Bullen westward; no proof of which, however, can be brought from the present state of it, as there remain only three or four straggling farm-houses on either side, and a few cottages in the street near the chapel. The sea came up to this place so lately as the year 1509, as is evident by the power then given of burying in this chapel-yard the bodies of those who were cast by shipwreck on the shore of the sea infra predictum oppidum de Smalhyth; which are the very words of the faculty granted for that purpose.
At this place A CHAPEL was built, and was soon afterwards licensed by faculty from archbishop Warham, anno 1509, on the petition of the inhabitants, on account of the distance from their parish church of Tenterden, the badness of the roads, and the dangers they underwent from the waters being out in their way thither; and was dedicated to St. John Baptist. The words of it are very remarkable: And we William, archbishop aforesaid, of the infinite mercy of Almighty God, and by the authority of St. Peter and St. Paul the apostles, and also of our patrons St. Alphage and St. Thomas, remit, &c.
Divine service still continues to be performed in this chapel, which is repaired and maintained, and the salary of the chaplain paid out of the rents of lands in this parish and Wittersham, which are vested in trustees; who pay him the annual produce of them, the rents of them being at this time 52l. 10s. per annum, though it is set down in Bacon's Liber Regis, as only of the clear yearly certified value of forty five pounds. The present curate is Thomas Morphett, appointed in 1773.
Charities.
JOHN WOOD, by will in 1560, gave an annuity of 40s. per annum, out of certain lands in Tenterden, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. payable to the churchwardens, towards the repair of the church; which gift is confirmed by a decree of the court of chancery; the lands being in the occupation of Richard Farby.
LADY JANE MAYNARD GAVE by will in 1660, thirty acres of land in Snave and Rucking, let at 24l. per annum, for putting out poor children apprentices, whose fathers are dead or otherwise disabled by sickness; the overplus to be given to poor, honest and aged widows of this parish, that have not been nor are likely to become chargeable to it.
MR. ANNE SHELTON, widow, by will in 1674, gave nine acres of land in Brookland and Brenset, now let at twelve guineas per annum, to the vicar and churchwardens to put out one or more children, born in Tenterden, apprentices to some honest handicrast trade.
DAME FRANCES NORTON, widow, sister of Judith, wife of Robert Austen the elder, of Heronden, esq. gave by deed in 1719, an estate, of 35l. per annum, in Hollingborne, for the joint benefit in equal moieties of this parish and Hollingborne. Since which, by a commission of charitable uses, in 1748 a farm of 15l. per annum, in Hucking, has been purchased and added to it; the division of the profits of which between them, and the application of them, has been already fully related under the description of the parish of Hollingborne, in the fifth volume of this history, p. 473.
AN ANCESTOR of the family of Heyman, of Somerfield, many years since founded the free school in this town, for teaching the Latin tongue gratis, to so many poor children of this parish as the mayor and jurats should think proper, who are trustees of it, and appoint the master; but at present there are no children on this foundation.
WILLAIM MARSHALL, clerk, about the year 1521, gave 10l. per ann. to be paid the master of this school, out of a messuage and twelve acres of land, in this parish, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. which was confirmed by a decree in the Exchequer, anno 4 queen Anne, and then in the occupation of Thomas Scoone.
JOHN MANTELL,gent in 1702, gave 200l. which was laid out in the purchasing of a piece of fresh marsh land, containing ten acres, in St. Maries, let at 10l. per annum, to be paid to the master of this school.
The south chancel of the church is appropriated to the use of this school.
TENTERDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mildred, is a large handsome building, consisting of two isles and three chancels, having a lofty well-built tower at the west end, which standing on high ground is seen from the country for many miles around it. There are eight bells in it, and a set of musical chimes. The two isles and chancels are all ceiled; the north isle is curiously ceiled with oak and ornamented. There are three galleries in the church. On the front of the steeple are the arms of St. Augustine's monastery, and likewise on a beam over the altar. In the north window a coat, Two chevrons, gules, on a canton, gules, a lion passant, or. In the south window, at the bottom, Or, a saltier, between four mullets, sable; and another, Gules, a bend sinister azure, fretted argent. The monuments and gravestones in this church, as well as the tomb-stones in the church-yard, are so numerous as to be far beyond the limits of this volume. Among them are those belonging to the families of the Austens, Curteis's, Blackmores, Haffendens, and other families mentioned before, as the modern possessors of estates and manors in this parish.
Thomas Petlesden, esq. by will in 1462, appears to have been buried in the chancel of St. Catherine, and gave one hundred marcs to the steeple here, to be paid out of his land, &c. as long as it was a werking. (fn. 6)
Till within these few years there hung a beacon, (a very singular instance remaining of one) over on the top of this steeple. It was a sort of iren kettle, holding about a gallon, with a ring or hoop of the same metal round the upper part of it, to hold still more coals, rosin, &c. It was hung at the end of a piece of timber, about eight feet long. The vanes on the four pinnacles were placed there in 1682. There was formerly a noted dropping stone, in the arch of the door-way going into the bell-lost, which has ceased to drop for many years. By the dropping of it, part of a stone, or two stones rather, were carried off, leaving a considerable rist or hollow where the stones were joined. Upon the water drying in 1720, where it fell underneath, the stone hardened and grew slippery, being probably of the nature of the stelastical water in the Peak of Derbyshire, at Poolshole.
There is a noted saying, that Tenterden steeple was the cause of the Goodwin Sands—which is thus accounted for: Goodwin, earl of Kent, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was owner of much flat land in the eastern part of it, near the isle of Thanet, which was desended from the sea by a great wall, which lands afterwards became part of the possessions of the abbot of St. Augustine's, near Canterbury still retaining the name of Goodwin, their former owner; and the abbot being at the same time owner of the rectory of Tenterden, the steeple of which church he had then began building, had employed during the course of it so much of his care and attention to the finishing of that work, that he neglected the care and preservation of that wall, insomuch, that on Nov. 3, 1099, the sea broke over and ruined it, drowning the lands within it, and overwhelming it with a light sand, still remaining on them, the place retaining to this time the name of the Goodwin Sands, and becoming dreadful and dangerous to navigators. Thus this steeple is said to be the cause of the Goodwin Sands. This is the common tradition; how far consistent with truth, so far as relates to these sands, will be taken notice of in its proper place. (fn. 7)
THE CHURCH of Tenterden was part of the antient possessions of the monastery of St. Augustine, to which it was appropriated in 1259, on condition of a proper portion being assigned for the maintenance of a perpetual vicar of it; and the official of the archbishop, on an inquisition concerning this vicarage, made his return that it then consisted in all tithes, obventions, and oblations belonging to the church; except the tithes of sheaves, corn, and hay, of which latter the vicar should receive yearly four loads from the abbot and convent, and that it was then valued at eighteen marcs and more per annum.
The abbot of St. Augustine took upon himself, about the year 1295, to constitute several new deanries, and apportioned the several churches belonging to his monastery to each of them, according to their vicinity; one of these was the deanry of Lenham, in which this church of Tenterden was included, but this raising great contests between the archbishops and them, it ended in stripping the abbot of these exemptions, and he was by the pope declared to be subject to the archbishop's jurisdiction in all matters whatsoever, which entirely dissolved these new deanries. (fn. 8)
This church had a manor antiently appendant to it, and on a quo warranto in the iter of H. de Stanton, and his sociates, justices itinerant, anno 7 Edward II. the abbot was allowed year and waste, and cattle called weif, in his manor of Tentwardenne among others; and those liberties, with all others belonging to the abbot and convent, were confirmed by letters of inspeximus by Edward III. in his 36th year, and likewise the additional privilege of the chattels of their own tenants condemned and sugitive, within their manor here.
¶In which state this church continued till the general suppression of religious houses, when it came with the rest of the possessions of the abbey of St. Augustine, anno 30 Henry VIII. into the hands of the crown, after which the king, by his dotation charter in his 33d year, settled both the church appropriate of Tenterden, with the manor appendant and all its rights and appurtenances, and the advowson of the vicarage, among other premises, on his new-founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, with whom the inheritance of the parsonage remains. After the death of Charles I. on the dissolution of deans and chapters, this parsonage was surveyed in order for sale; when it appears to have consisted of one great barn, newly erected, on a close of pasture of five acres; together with all the tithes of corn within the parish; and several rents, out of lands and tenements in Tenterden, amounting to 26s. 8d. taken in right of the parsonage, which had been let in 1640 to Sir Edward Hales, at the yearly rent of 20l. 6s. 8d. but that they were worth over and above that rent seventy-eight pounds. That the lessee was bound to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church, and provide for the dean and officers, or pay the sum of 33s. 4d. The present lessee of it is Sir Edward Hales, bart. of St. Stephens, but the advowson of the vicarage the dean and chapter retain in their own hands.
In 1259 this vicarage was valued at thirty marcs, and in 1342 at forty-five marcs. It is valued in the king's books at 33l. 12s. 11d.and the yearly tenths at 3l. 7s. 3½d. In 1588 there were communicants five hundred and eighty-six. In 1640 it was valued at 120l. per annum. Communicants six hundred. It is now double that value.
There is a modus claimed throughout the parish, in the room of small tithes.
This is the final Kent church of the year, and with these uploads I will have caught up on all my picture taking, I believe.
We only visited St Mildred last year, but I forgot, so we went again in November, on another wonderful late autumn morning.
After visiting, we sat in the churchyard eating sausage rolls, much to the disgust of a couple of other visitors to the church.
Oh well.
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A superb church, which despite a heavy-handed restoration by G.M. Hills (see also Newenden) in 1864 still has much of interest. The nave ceiling is exceptional fifteenth-century work, rather more domestic in feel than is normal in an ecclesiastical building. There are two blocked thirteenth-century windows above the chancel arch - an unusual position to find windows in Kent. The five bay aisles are extremely narrow. The glass in the south aisle windows by Hughes of 1865 are rather fun. In the north chapel is a fine alabaster standing monument to Herbert Whitfield (d. 1622) and his wife. This monument cuts off the base of the north-east window and displays many colourful coats of arms. The chancel screen and pulpit are late nineteenth century and fit in with the medieval architecture better than most works of that period.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Tenterden
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The history of Tenterden itself is lost in time, as is the origin of St. Mildred’s church. Perhaps all that can be said with any confidence is that the story of the town and the story of St. Mildred’s are bound together with each other, with the story of pre-conquest Kent, with the story of Christianity in Kent, and with the story of the ancient Kentish royal house.
Tenet-wara-den (the den of the Thanet folk) was the Wealden area used by the abbey of Minster-in-Thanet for Autumn pig-forage (acorns and beech mast to fatten the pigs for Winter). That abbey was founded by Domne Aefa (“the lady Aebba”?) of the Kentish royal family, and either she herself or her daughter, St. Mildred, was the first abbess. This is within the first century after the arrival in Canterbury of St. Augustine’s mission from Rome. Mildred’s holy reputation was an international one, and there can be no doubt that a church in her name was here from some point in the eighth to tenth centuries. The reign of Canute is the latest possible period and it was almost certainly much earlier. However, we have no record of any incumbent before 1180, and the oldest perceptible fabric of the church is of about that time too.
When you stand in the middle of St. Mildred’s, you see a large building reflecting the prosperity of the town in the later middle ages. The north arcade of the chancel is probably around 1200, but most of the chancel, nave, and aisles is work of the 13th to 15th centuries. The fine wagon-vault ceiling of the nave has been variously stated to be 14th or 15th century (with some Victorian additions). The tower of the church, a prominent Kentish landmark, was probably built by architect Thomas Stanley. This major building work was undertaken in the middle of the 15th century, at the height of Tenterden’s prosperity, it being no coincidence that the town gained a charter and Cinque Port status in support of Rye, at about the same time.
The town’s prosperity was reflected also in the presence of important shipbuilding yards at both Reading Street and Smallhythe, both on the tidal River Rother at that time. The settlement at Smallhythe was sufficiently large to gain its own chapel sometime in the middle ages, but we know nothing of that building, though it was probably dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Smallhythe itself was burnt in a huge fire in 1514, and we know that rebuilding of the chapel began virtually straight away. The current church of St. John the Baptist is a beautiful example of a brick-built Tudor church, box-like (so with an excellent acoustic). It has, during its history, had varying levels of dependence or independence from the town church of St. Mildred.
By the middle of the 19th century, the population was growing fast, and attitudes to worship were changing too. St. Mildred’s lost its box pews, and had the organ moved to its present position. A new church was planned for the hamlet of Boresisle at the northern end of Tenterden, the neat and small Gothic revival church being dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels. Two consequences were, firstly, the acquisition by Kent of another prominent landmark – the graceful spire, and secondly, the name Boresisle fell out of usage and the hamlet itself has ever since been known as “St. Michael’s”.
I do feel it important to append to this account of the Anglican church buildings a brief comment on the other churches of the town. There was always a Roman Catholic presence here, but after the Reformation, there was no church building until the Catholic priest in Tenterden, Canon Currie began, in the 1930s, a determined attempt to put that right, culminating in the building of St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic church in Ashford Road.
The history of “non-conformity” in Tenterden is a major and extensive one. Within a few decades of the development around the 1370s, by John Wyclife at Oxford, of the doctrines later known as “Lollardy”, there were significant numbers of people in Tenterden who ascribed to doctrines regarded as unorthodox. Moreover, following the Reformation of the 1540s to 1560s, there were many who rejected not only Roman ways, but were unhappy with the English church. We know that Tenterden families joined the 17th century exodus to the New World (notably to Massachusetts), and Tenterden acquired its first “non-conformist” chapel around 1700, that building now being the Unitarian church in Ashford Road, and one of Tenterden’s most interesting ancient relics. The nineteenth century saw the building of the Methodist church at West Cross, and two of the three Baptist churches – Zion in the High Street, and the Strict Baptist Jireh Chapel at St. Michael’s. Trinity Baptist in Ashford Road was built in 1928.
Those interested to pursue their enquiries further will find a guide in St. Mildred’s, and there is much information in standard texts of Kent history and architecture.
www.tenterdencofe.org/?page_ref=265
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THIS hundred contains within its bounds THE TOWN AND PARISH OF Tenterden, and part of the parish of Ebeney, containing the borough of Reading, the church of which is in another hundred.
This hundred was antiently accounted one of the Seven Hundreds, and was within the jurisdiction of the justices of the country, from which it was separated by Henry VI. who, on account of the impoverishment of the port and town of Rye, in Sussex, by his letters patent, in his 27th year, incorporated the town and hundred of Tenterden, by the name of the bailiff and commonaltie of the town and hundred of Tenterden, and granted that the same should be a member annexed and united to that town and port, and separated from the county of Kent, and that the bailiff and commonalty of this town and hundred should have for ever, on their contributing to the burthens and exigencies of that port and town from time to time, (fn. 1) many franchises, privileges, and freedoms, and all other liberties, freedoms, and free customs which the barons of the five ports had before that time enjoyed. In which state this town and hundred remained till the 42d year of queen Elizabeth's reign, when the name of their incorporation was changed to that of the mayor, jurats, and commonalty of the town and hundred of Tenterden, by which it continues to be governed at this time.
THE CORPORATION consists of a mayor, twelve jurats, and as many common-councilmen, a chamberlain, and town clerk; the jurisdiction of it being exclusive from the justices of the county. The mayor is chosen yearly on August 29. The election used to be in the town-hall; but that being burnt down by some prisoners in the prison-room over it, it was afterwards made under one of the great old oaks, which are not far from the place, on the other side of the street, where it stood. A neat and elegant hall was finished in 1792, adjoining the Woolpack Inn, in which the mayor has been elected as heretofore, and it is occasionally used as an assembly room by the inhabitants. The mayor is coroner of both the town and hundred; there is no sheriff; the commoners must be resciants, and are chosen by the mayor and two of the jurats; the jurats are all justices of the peace. They hold sessions of oyer and terminer, but cannot try treason. At the sessions holden at Tenterden, August 10, 1785, two men were convicted of burglary, and executed near Gallows-green the 27th following. Both the charters of this corporation being destroyed by the fire of the court-hall in 1660, an exemplification of them was procured anno 12 George III.
The liberty of the court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds, claimed a paramount jurisdiction over this hundred, till the incorporation of the town of Tenterden, and the annexing this hundred to it in the reign of Henry VI. since which the mayor and jurats have been lords of the royalty of it, and continue so at this time.
The parish is divided into six boroughs, each having a borsholder chosen yearly, these are Town Borough, Castweasle, Boresile, Shrubcote, Dumborne, which includes all Smallhyth, and Reading, which is wholly in the parish of Ebene.
THE PARISH of Tenterden lies too near the marshes to be either healthy or pleasant, excepting that part where the town is situated near the northern boundaries of it, on what may be called for this country, high ground; it is about five miles across each way. The soil of it is various, the northern part being sand, towards the east it is a wet stiff clay, and towards the south and west towards the marshes a deep rich mould. The generality of the lands in it are pasture, but there are about one hundred acres of hop-ground dispersed in different parts of it; there is very little wood, and that mostly between the town and Smallhyth, a hamlet formerly of much more consequence, as will be further mentioned hereafter, situated at the southern boundary of it, on the road into the Isle of Oxney, close to the river Rother, which separates that part of this parish from the island. About a mile and a half eastward is the hamlet of Reading-street, built adjoining the high road to Apledore, close to the marshes below it, on the passage over the Rother into Ebeney, and the Isle of Oxney.
On Saturday, Nov. 1, 1755, between ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon (being at the same time that the great bason at Portsmouth was disturbed) several ponds in this parish and neighbourhood, without any sensible motion of the earth, were greatly agitated, the water of them being forced up the banks with great violence, fretting and foaming with a noise similar to the coming in of the tide, so as to terrify many who were near them; some of these waters flowed up three times in this manner, others circled round into eddies, absorbing leaves, sticks, &c. and it was observed that only those ponds were affected, that had springs to supply the waters of them.
THE TOWN OF TENTERDEN is situated nearly in the centre of the parish and hundred. It stands on high ground, neither unpleasant nor unhealthy; the greatest part of it is built on each side of the high road leading from the western parts of Kent and Cranbrooke through this parish south-east to Apledore. A small part of it is paved, where there is a small antient market-place, built of timber; but the market, which is still held on a Friday, is but little frequented, only two millers, and seldom any butchers attending it. It is a well-built town, having many genteel houses, or rather seats, interspersed throughout it, among which are those of the Curteis's, a numerous and opulent family here, who bear for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three bulls heads, caboshed; (fn. 2) the Haffendens, who have been long resident here, and in Smarden and Halden, in this neighbourhood. Bugglesden, in the north part of Boresile borough, in this parish, was very antiently, and till within these few years, their property and residence. Richard Haffenden now resides in a new house, built by his father, called Homewood, at the west end of this town, and in the south part of Boresile borough. They bear for their arms, Chequy, sable and argent, on a bend, sable, three mullets, or; the Staces, who have been resident here from the beginning of the last century, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury, in several of which they are stiled gentlemen; the Blackmores, possessed of Westwell house, a handsome seat at the south east end of the town, built by James Blackmore, esq. in 1711, one of whose descendants afterwards becoming possessed by gift of the seat of Briggins, in Hertfordshire, removed thither, where they have continued ever since, and this of Westwell-house is now occupied by Mr. James Blackmore, the uncle of Thomas Blackmore, esq. of Briggins, who died possessed of it in 1789, having been thrice married. He left by his two first wives three sons and two daughters; his third. wife Anne, daughter of Mr. Tatnall, of Theobalds, now survives him. They bear for their arms, Argent, a fess between three balckmoors heads sideways, couped at the neck, sable; and several others, most of whose wealth, as well as that of the inhabitants of this town in general, has arisen from its near neighbourhood to Romneymarsh, where most of them have some occupation in the grazing business.
The church stands on the north side of the town, which, with the rest of the parish, consists of about three hundred houses, and two thousand inhabitants, of which about five hundred are diffenters, who have two meeting-houses here, one of Presbyterians, the other of Methodistical Baptists.
At the east end of the town is Craythorne-house, which formerly belonged to the Bargraves, and then to the Marshalls, who sold it to the late Mr. John Sawyer, who built a new house here, in which he afterwards resided, and his assigns now possess it. A branch of the family of Whitfield had once their residence in a large house at the east end likewise of this town. John Whitfield resided here, as did his son Herbert, who died in 1622; they were descended from an antient family in Northumberland, and bore for their arms, Argent, on a bend, plain, between two cotizes, ingrailed sable, a mullet, or. At length the heirs of Sir Herbert Whitfield, sold this seat to Wil liam Austen, esq. of Hernden, in this parish. Sir Robert Austen, bart. the last of that name, resided in it, and it now belongs to his heirs, and is made use of as a boarding school for young ladies.
There is a large fair held in this town on the first Monday in May yearly, for cattle, wool, merchandize, and shop goods of all sorts, to which there is a great resort from all the neighbouring country. Most of the road, leading from the town to Smallhyth, particularly the upper part of it, known by the name of Broad Tenterden, is said to have been lined with buildings on each side, and to have been the most populous part of the parish.
THERE ARE several places in this parish worthy notice, the first of them is HALES-PLACE, at the northwest end of this town, which was for many generations the residence of a branch of the family of Hales, who removed hither from their original seat, of the same name, in the adjoining parish of Halden. Henry Hales, who lived in the reign of Henry VI. was born here, and married Juhan, daughter and heir of Richard Capel, of Tenterden, by which he greatly increased his estate in this parish. He had by her two sons, of whom John Hales, the eldest, was of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, esq. and was one of the barons of the exchequer. He had four sons, Sir James Hales, one of the justices of the common pleas, who was of the Dungeon, where his descendants continued many generations afterwards; Thomas, who was seated at Thanington, whose descendant Robert was created a baronet in 1666, and was ancestor of the present Su Philip Hales, bart. Edward, the third son, inherited this seat and his father's possessions in this parish; and William, the fourth son, was of Recolver and Nackington, in this county. Edward Hales, esq. the third son, who inherited this seat and estate at Tenterden, resided at it, and left a son Sir Edward Hales, who was created a baronet on the 29th of June, 1611. He removed his residence from hence to the neighbouring parish of Woodchurch, in which parish he possessed the antient seat of the Herlackendens, in right of his wife Deborah, only daughter and heir of Martin Herlackenden, esq. of that place. His son Sir John Hales, having married Christian, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir James Cromer, of Tunstal, became possessed of the antient seat of the Cromers in that parish, where he resided, and died in his father's life-time, in 1639, whose son Edward Hales succeeded to the title of baronet on his grandfather's death, in 1654 whose heir he was, and resided at Tunstal. His son Sir Edward Hales, bart. having purchased the mansion of St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, resided there, as his descendants have ever since; and from him this seat and estate at Tenterden at length descended down to his great-grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. now of St. Stephen's, who about forty-eight years ago pulled down the greatest part of this antient seat, and fitted up a smaller dwelling or farm-house on the scite of it, which, together with the antient offices or out-buildings of the mansion still remaining, continues part of his possessions.
HERNDEN, formerly spelt Heronden, was once an estate of considerable size in this parish, though it has been long since split into different parcels. The whole of it once belonged to a family of the name of Heronden, whose arms, as appears by the antient ordinaries in the Heralds-office, were, Argent, a heron volant, azure. At length one part of this estate was alienated by one of this family to Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, whose descendant Sir John Baker, knight and baronet, died possessed of it in 1661; but the capital mansion and other principal parts of it remained some time longer in the name of Heronden, one of whom, in the reign of Charles I. alienated some part of it, now called Little Hernden, to Short, a family whose ancestors had resided at Tenterden for some time. In the Heraldic Visitation of this county, anno 1619, is a pedigree of this family, beginning with Peter Short, of Tenterden, who lived in the reign of Henry VIII. They bore for their arms, Azure, a griffin passant, between three estoiles, or. At length one of them sold this part of it to Curteis, whose grandson Mr. Samuel Curteis is now in the possession of it. But the remainder of Hernden, in which was included the principal mansion, situated about a quarter of a mile southward of the town, was at the same time conveyed by sale to Mr. John Austen, the second son of William Austen, esq. of this parish, and elder brother of Robert, created a baronet anno 1660. He afterwards resided here, and dying in 1655, s. p. gave it by will to his nephew Robert Austen, esq. the second son of Sir Robert above-mentioned, by his second wife. He afterwards resided here, and had two sons, Robert and Ralph; the eldest of whom, Robert Austen, esq. resided here, and left three sons, William, of whom hereafter, and Edward and Robert, both of whom afterwards succeeded to the title of baronet. William Austen, esq. the eldest son, inherited Hernden, and in 1729, suffered a recovery of this, as well as all other the Kentish estates comprised in his grandfather's settlement of them, to the use of him and his heirs. He died in 1742, and by will devised it to Mr. Richard Righton, who afterwards resided here, and died possessed of it in 1772, and was buried, as was his wife afterwards, under a tomb on the south side of the church-yard; upon which it came into the hands of his son Benjamin Righton, esq. of Knightsbridge, who in 1782 conveyed Hernden, a farm called Pixhill, and other lands in this parish and Rolvenden, to Mr. Jeremiah Curteis, gent. of Rye, in Sussex, who finding this antient mansion, which seems, by a date remaining on it, to have been built in the year 1585, being the 28th of queen Elizabeth's reign, in a ruinous condition, pulled it down; but the scite of it, together with the lands belonging to it, still remain in his possession.
PITLESDEN, or Pittelesden, as it was antiently spelt, is situated near the west end of this town. It was once a seat of some note, being the residence of a family of that name, who bore for their arms, Sable, a fess, between three pelicans, or, in whose possession it continued till Stephen Pitlesden, (fn. 3) about the reign of Henry VI. leaving an only daughter and heir Julian, she carried it in marriage to Edward Guldeford, esq. of Halden, whose descendant Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter and heir Jane, she entitled her husband Sir John Dudley, afterwards created Duke of Northumberland, to the possession of this manor, and they, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. joined in the conveyance of it to Sir Thomas Cromwell, lord Cromwell, afterwards created Earl of Essex, who passed it away by sale to that king, and it remained in the hands of the crown till king Edward VI. in his 7th year, granted it, with the pend of water, wear and fishery, with the dove-house belonging to it, and all its appurtenances, to Sir John Baker, one of the privy council, to hold in capite by knight's service, in whose family it continued till Sir John Baker, bart. of Sissinghurst, in the reign of king Charles I. conveyed it by sale to Mr. Jasper Clayton, mercer, of London. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Mr. William Blackmore, gent. of this place, who at his death devised it to his daughter Sarah, who entitled her husband Mr. John Crumpe, of Frittenden, to the possession of it for her life, but the remainder, on her death, is vested in her brother Mr. Thomas Blackmore, gent. now of Tenterden.
LIGHTS, formerly called Lights Notinden, is a small manor here, which together with another called East Asherinden, the name of which is now almost forgotten, though there was a family of this name of Asherinden, or Ashenden, as it was afterwards spelt, who were resident in this parish, and were, as appears by their wills, possessed of lands here called Ashenden, so late as the year 1595. These manors belonged partly to a chantry founded in this parish, and partly to the manor of Brooke, near Wye, which was part of the possessions of the priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury; in which state they continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when, on the suppression both of that priory and of the chantry likewise, they were granted by that king to Sir John Baker, his attorneygeneral, whose descendant Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, knight and baronet, died possessed of them in 1661. How long they continued in his descendants, I do not find; but the former is now-become the property of Mr. William Mantell, and the latter belongs to Mr. William Children, who has lately built a house on it, in which he resides.
FINCHDEN is a seat here, situated on the denne of Leigh, at Leigh-green, which was formerly in the possession of a family, who were ancestors of the Finch's, whose posterity still continued till very lately in the possession of it. They were antiently called Finchden, from their seat here; one of them, William de Fyncheden, was chief justice of the king's bench in the 45th year of the reign of Edward III. (fn. 4) though his name in some old law books, which appear to be of that time, is written contractedly Finch, which probably was the original name, though I do not find any connection between this family and the descendants of Vincent Herbert, alias Finch, seated at Eastwell and elsewhere in this county; excepting that they hear the same coat of arms. In later times I find William Finch, gent. of this place, died possessed of it in 1637, and in his direct descendants this seat continued down to Mr. William Finch, gent. who resided in it, and died possessed of it in 1794, s. p. leaving his brother Mr. Richard Finch, of Tenterden, his next heir.
ELARDINDEN is an estate, which was formerly of some account here, and is parcel of the manor of Frid, or Frith, in Bethersden. It was antiently part of the possessions of the noble family of Mayney. Sir John de Mayney, of Biddenden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of Edward III. and in his descendants it continued till the reign of Henry VI. when it was alienated by one of them to William Darell, esq. whose descendant George Darell, esq. conveyed it by sale in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. to Sir John Hales, of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, one of the barons of the exchequer, who gave it to his third son Edward Hales, esq. of Tenterden, in whose descendants it has continued down to Sir Edward Hales of St. Stephens, near Canterbury, the present possessor of it.
THE MANORS OF GODDEN AND MORGIEU are situated in the south-west part of this parish. The former of them was once in the possession of a family of that name, one of whom, Roger de Godden, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as one knight's fee, which he held here of Stephen de la Hey. Soon after which it seems to have passed into the possession of the family of Aucher. How long it continued in this name I have not seen; but in the 36th year of Henry VI. the executors of Walter Shiryngton, clerk, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, having founded a chantry in the chapel near the north door of St. Paul's cathedral, London, which, from the founder, bore the name of Shiryngton's chantry, they purchased both these manors towards the endow ment of it. (fn. 5) These manors remained part of this foundation till the suppression of it, in the 1st year of Edward VI.when coming into the hands of the crown, they were granted by the king, the year afterwards, to Sir Miles Partridge, to hold in capite by knight's service, and he sold them, in the 6th year of that reign, to Thomas Argal; and from his descendant they passed into the possession of Sir John Colepeper, afterwards created lord Colepeper, who died possessed of them in 1660; upon which they came to his second son John, who on his elder brother's death without male issue, succeeded to the title of Lord Colepeper, and dying in 1719 without issue, bequeathed these manors to his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper, of Hollingborne, who by will devised them to her nephew John Spencer Colepeper, esq. of the Charter-house, being the last of the vast possessions of the different branches of this family dispersed over this whole county. He, in 1781, alienated them to Mr. Richard Curteis, of Tenterden, the present possessor of them.
KENCHILL is a seat in this parish, which was formerly the property of the family of Guldeford, one of whom, Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret, and of the garter, possessed it in the reign of Henry VIII. His son Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter Jane, she carried it in marriage to Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, and he, about the 30th year of king Henry VIII.'s reign, conveyed it to that king, who, in his 36th year, granted it to Thomas Argal, to hold in capite by knight's service, on whole decease his son Thomas Argal had possession granted of it, in the 6th year of queen Elizabeth. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Robert Clarkson, esq. of London, who sold it in 1687 to Mr. John Mantell, grazier, of Tenterden, who was one of the instances of the quick accumlation of riches from Romney-marsh; for in fourteen year she had acquired sufficient to become the purchaser of this and other estates, which rented at 800l. per annum. He devised Kenchill by will, together with the manor of East Asherinden, already mentioned before, Dumborne, and other lands in this parish, to his son Reginald, who died possessed of them in 1743, and lies buried in this church-yard. They bear for their arms, Argent, a cross between four martlets, sable, as borne by the family of Horton Monks, excepting, that the latter bore the cross engrailed; and leaving no issue, he gave them to his nephew Mr. Edward Mantell, of Mersham, who left several sons and daughters, who afterwards joined in the sale of their respective interests in them to Mr. William Mantell, the then elder brother; by which means he became entitled to the entire see of Kenchill, with the manor of East Asherinden, and resided at the former of them. He married Anne Marshall, of Mersham, and died in 1789, leaving issue several children. The Rev. Mr. Thomas Mantell, the younger brother, re-purchased Dumborne, of which he is now possessed, having married in 1788 Miss S. Horne, by whom he has one daughter.
THE HAMLET OF SMALLHYTH, commonly called Smallit, is situated somewhat more than three miles from the town of Tenterden, at the southern boundary of this parish, close to the old channel of the river Rother, over which there is a passage from it into the Isle of Oxney. The inhabitants were formerly, by report, very numerous, and this place of much more consequence than at present, from the expressions frequently made use of in old writings of those infra oppidum and intra oppidum de Smallhyth; the prevalent opinion being, that the buildings once extended towards Bullen westward; no proof of which, however, can be brought from the present state of it, as there remain only three or four straggling farm-houses on either side, and a few cottages in the street near the chapel. The sea came up to this place so lately as the year 1509, as is evident by the power then given of burying in this chapel-yard the bodies of those who were cast by shipwreck on the shore of the sea infra predictum oppidum de Smalhyth; which are the very words of the faculty granted for that purpose.
At this place A CHAPEL was built, and was soon afterwards licensed by faculty from archbishop Warham, anno 1509, on the petition of the inhabitants, on account of the distance from their parish church of Tenterden, the badness of the roads, and the dangers they underwent from the waters being out in their way thither; and was dedicated to St. John Baptist. The words of it are very remarkable: And we William, archbishop aforesaid, of the infinite mercy of Almighty God, and by the authority of St. Peter and St. Paul the apostles, and also of our patrons St. Alphage and St. Thomas, remit, &c.
Divine service still continues to be performed in this chapel, which is repaired and maintained, and the salary of the chaplain paid out of the rents of lands in this parish and Wittersham, which are vested in trustees; who pay him the annual produce of them, the rents of them being at this time 52l. 10s. per annum, though it is set down in Bacon's Liber Regis, as only of the clear yearly certified value of forty five pounds. The present curate is Thomas Morphett, appointed in 1773.
Charities.
JOHN WOOD, by will in 1560, gave an annuity of 40s. per annum, out of certain lands in Tenterden, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. payable to the churchwardens, towards the repair of the church; which gift is confirmed by a decree of the court of chancery; the lands being in the occupation of Richard Farby.
LADY JANE MAYNARD GAVE by will in 1660, thirty acres of land in Snave and Rucking, let at 24l. per annum, for putting out poor children apprentices, whose fathers are dead or otherwise disabled by sickness; the overplus to be given to poor, honest and aged widows of this parish, that have not been nor are likely to become chargeable to it.
MR. ANNE SHELTON, widow, by will in 1674, gave nine acres of land in Brookland and Brenset, now let at twelve guineas per annum, to the vicar and churchwardens to put out one or more children, born in Tenterden, apprentices to some honest handicrast trade.
DAME FRANCES NORTON, widow, sister of Judith, wife of Robert Austen the elder, of Heronden, esq. gave by deed in 1719, an estate, of 35l. per annum, in Hollingborne, for the joint benefit in equal moieties of this parish and Hollingborne. Since which, by a commission of charitable uses, in 1748 a farm of 15l. per annum, in Hucking, has been purchased and added to it; the division of the profits of which between them, and the application of them, has been already fully related under the description of the parish of Hollingborne, in the fifth volume of this history, p. 473.
AN ANCESTOR of the family of Heyman, of Somerfield, many years since founded the free school in this town, for teaching the Latin tongue gratis, to so many poor children of this parish as the mayor and jurats should think proper, who are trustees of it, and appoint the master; but at present there are no children on this foundation.
WILLAIM MARSHALL, clerk, about the year 1521, gave 10l. per ann. to be paid the master of this school, out of a messuage and twelve acres of land, in this parish, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. which was confirmed by a decree in the Exchequer, anno 4 queen Anne, and then in the occupation of Thomas Scoone.
JOHN MANTELL,gent in 1702, gave 200l. which was laid out in the purchasing of a piece of fresh marsh land, containing ten acres, in St. Maries, let at 10l. per annum, to be paid to the master of this school.
The south chancel of the church is appropriated to the use of this school.
TENTERDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mildred, is a large handsome building, consisting of two isles and three chancels, having a lofty well-built tower at the west end, which standing on high ground is seen from the country for many miles around it. There are eight bells in it, and a set of musical chimes. The two isles and chancels are all ceiled; the north isle is curiously ceiled with oak and ornamented. There are three galleries in the church. On the front of the steeple are the arms of St. Augustine's monastery, and likewise on a beam over the altar. In the north window a coat, Two chevrons, gules, on a canton, gules, a lion passant, or. In the south window, at the bottom, Or, a saltier, between four mullets, sable; and another, Gules, a bend sinister azure, fretted argent. The monuments and gravestones in this church, as well as the tomb-stones in the church-yard, are so numerous as to be far beyond the limits of this volume. Among them are those belonging to the families of the Austens, Curteis's, Blackmores, Haffendens, and other families mentioned before, as the modern possessors of estates and manors in this parish.
Thomas Petlesden, esq. by will in 1462, appears to have been buried in the chancel of St. Catherine, and gave one hundred marcs to the steeple here, to be paid out of his land, &c. as long as it was a werking. (fn. 6)
Till within these few years there hung a beacon, (a very singular instance remaining of one) over on the top of this steeple. It was a sort of iren kettle, holding about a gallon, with a ring or hoop of the same metal round the upper part of it, to hold still more coals, rosin, &c. It was hung at the end of a piece of timber, about eight feet long. The vanes on the four pinnacles were placed there in 1682. There was formerly a noted dropping stone, in the arch of the door-way going into the bell-lost, which has ceased to drop for many years. By the dropping of it, part of a stone, or two stones rather, were carried off, leaving a considerable rist or hollow where the stones were joined. Upon the water drying in 1720, where it fell underneath, the stone hardened and grew slippery, being probably of the nature of the stelastical water in the Peak of Derbyshire, at Poolshole.
There is a noted saying, that Tenterden steeple was the cause of the Goodwin Sands—which is thus accounted for: Goodwin, earl of Kent, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was owner of much flat land in the eastern part of it, near the isle of Thanet, which was desended from the sea by a great wall, which lands afterwards became part of the possessions of the abbot of St. Augustine's, near Canterbury still retaining the name of Goodwin, their former owner; and the abbot being at the same time owner of the rectory of Tenterden, the steeple of which church he had then began building, had employed during the course of it so much of his care and attention to the finishing of that work, that he neglected the care and preservation of that wall, insomuch, that on Nov. 3, 1099, the sea broke over and ruined it, drowning the lands within it, and overwhelming it with a light sand, still remaining on them, the place retaining to this time the name of the Goodwin Sands, and becoming dreadful and dangerous to navigators. Thus this steeple is said to be the cause of the Goodwin Sands. This is the common tradition; how far consistent with truth, so far as relates to these sands, will be taken notice of in its proper place. (fn. 7)
THE CHURCH of Tenterden was part of the antient possessions of the monastery of St. Augustine, to which it was appropriated in 1259, on condition of a proper portion being assigned for the maintenance of a perpetual vicar of it; and the official of the archbishop, on an inquisition concerning this vicarage, made his return that it then consisted in all tithes, obventions, and oblations belonging to the church; except the tithes of sheaves, corn, and hay, of which latter the vicar should receive yearly four loads from the abbot and convent, and that it was then valued at eighteen marcs and more per annum.
The abbot of St. Augustine took upon himself, about the year 1295, to constitute several new deanries, and apportioned the several churches belonging to his monastery to each of them, according to their vicinity; one of these was the deanry of Lenham, in which this church of Tenterden was included, but this raising great contests between the archbishops and them, it ended in stripping the abbot of these exemptions, and he was by the pope declared to be subject to the archbishop's jurisdiction in all matters whatsoever, which entirely dissolved these new deanries. (fn. 8)
This church had a manor antiently appendant to it, and on a quo warranto in the iter of H. de Stanton, and his sociates, justices itinerant, anno 7 Edward II. the abbot was allowed year and waste, and cattle called weif, in his manor of Tentwardenne among others; and those liberties, with all others belonging to the abbot and convent, were confirmed by letters of inspeximus by Edward III. in his 36th year, and likewise the additional privilege of the chattels of their own tenants condemned and sugitive, within their manor here.
¶In which state this church continued till the general suppression of religious houses, when it came with the rest of the possessions of the abbey of St. Augustine, anno 30 Henry VIII. into the hands of the crown, after which the king, by his dotation charter in his 33d year, settled both the church appropriate of Tenterden, with the manor appendant and all its rights and appurtenances, and the advowson of the vicarage, among other premises, on his new-founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, with whom the inheritance of the parsonage remains. After the death of Charles I. on the dissolution of deans and chapters, this parsonage was surveyed in order for sale; when it appears to have consisted of one great barn, newly erected, on a close of pasture of five acres; together with all the tithes of corn within the parish; and several rents, out of lands and tenements in Tenterden, amounting to 26s. 8d. taken in right of the parsonage, which had been let in 1640 to Sir Edward Hales, at the yearly rent of 20l. 6s. 8d. but that they were worth over and above that rent seventy-eight pounds. That the lessee was bound to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church, and provide for the dean and officers, or pay the sum of 33s. 4d. The present lessee of it is Sir Edward Hales, bart. of St. Stephens, but the advowson of the vicarage the dean and chapter retain in their own hands.
In 1259 this vicarage was valued at thirty marcs, and in 1342 at forty-five marcs. It is valued in the king's books at 33l. 12s. 11d.and the yearly tenths at 3l. 7s. 3½d. In 1588 there were communicants five hundred and eighty-six. In 1640 it was valued at 120l. per annum. Communicants six hundred. It is now double that value.
There is a modus claimed throughout the parish, in the room of small tithes.