Executor photos on Flickr

Problem was, I didn't have the photo with me so I could triangulate the plant with the church in the background. Instead, I (wrongly) assumed that it would be growing on a wall, so spent the morning looking on every wall in the churchyard, and nothing found.

But St Mary was open.

And I just had the 50mm with me, but I was delighted inside to find the harsh orange lights under the tower have been replaced with something kinder.

I did meet a warden who was very interested in the plant tale, and other stories, so I didn't get round to photograph everything, but did see the old clock mechanism for the first time, not sure where that had been kept up to now.

And the remains of St Eanswythe, or almost certainly her remains, now dated to the mid 7th century are in a niche in the Chancel ready for placing somewhere befitting a Kentish Queen.

A superb location in a leafy churchyard away from the busy shopping centre, and yet much more of a town church than that of a seaside resort. It was originally a thirteenth-century building, but so much has happened to it that today we are left with the impression of a Victorian interior. Excellent stained glass by Kempe, mosaics by Carpenter and paintings by Hemming show the enthusiasm of Canon Woodward, vicar from 1851 to 1898. His efforts encouraged others to donate money to beautify the building in an almost continuous restoration that lasted right into the twentieth century They were spurred on by the discovery, in 1885, of the bones of St Eanswythe, in a lead casket which had been set into the sanctuary wall. She had founded a convent in the town in the seventh century and died at the age of twenty-six.

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Folkestone+1

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FOLKESTONE.

THE parish of Folkestone, which gives name to this hundred, was antiently bounded towards the south by the sea, but now by the town and liberty of Folkestone, which has long since been made a corporation, and exempt from the jurisdiction of the hundred. The district of which liberty is a long narrow slip of land, having the town within it, and extending the whole length of the parish, between the sea shore and that part of the parish still within the jurisdiction of the hundred, and county magistrates, which is by far the greatest part of it.

THE PARISH, which is about three miles across each way, is situated exceedingly pleasant and healthy. The high chalk, or down hills uniclosed, and well covered with pasture, cross the northern part of it, and from a sine romantic scene. Northward of these, this part of the parish is from its high situation, called the uphill of Folkestone; in this part is Tirlingham, the antient mansion of which has been some years since pulled down, and a modern farm-house erected in its stead; near it is Hearn forstal, on which is a good house, late belonging to Mr. Nicholas Rolse, but now of Mr. Richard Marsh; over this forstal the high road leads from Folkestone to Canterbury. The centre of the parish is in the beautiful and fertile vale called Folkestone vale, which has downs, meadows, brooks, marshes, arable land, and every thing in small parcels, which is sound in much larger regions; being interspersed with houses and cottages, and well watered by several fresh streams; besides which, at Ford forstall, about a mile northward from the town, there rises a strong chalybeat spring. This part of the parish, by far the greatest part of it, as far as the high road from Dover, through it, towards Hythe, is within the jurisdiction of the hundred of Folkestone, and the justices of the county. The small part on the opposite, or southern side of that road is within the liberty of the town or corporation of Folkestone, where the quarry or sand hills, on the broken side of one of which, the town is situated, are its southern maritime boundaries. These hills begin close under the chalk or down hills, in the eastern part of this parish, close to the sea at Eastware bay, and extend westward along the sea shore almost as far as Sandgate castle, where they stretch inland towards the north, leaving a small space between them and the shore. So that this parish there crossing one of them, extends below it, a small space in the bottom as far as that castle, these quarry, or sand hills, keeping on their course north-west, from the northern boundary of Romney Marsh, and then the southern boundary of the Weald, both which they overlook, extending pretty nearly in a parallel line with the chalk or down hills.

The prospect over this delightful vale of Folkestone from the hill, on the road from Dover as you descend to the town, is very beautiful indeed for the pastures and various fertility of the vale in the centre, beyond it the church and town of Hythe, Romney Marsh, and the high promontory of Beachy head, boldly stretching into the sea. On the right the chain of losty down hills, covered with verdure, and cattle seeding on them; on the lest the town of Folkestone, on the knole of a hill, close to the sea, with its scattered environs, at this distance a pleasing object, and beyond it the azure sea unbounded to the sight, except by the above-mentioned promontory, altogether from as pleasing a prospect as any in this county.

FOLKESTONE was a place of note in the time of the Romans, and afterwards in that of the Saxons, as will be more particularly noticed hereafter, under the description of the town itself. By what name it was called by the Romans, is uncertain; by the Saxons it was written Folcestane, and in the record of Domesday, Fulchestan. In the year 927 king Athelstane, son of king Edward the elder, and grandson of king Alfred, gave Folkstane, situated, as is mentioned in the grant of it, on the sea shore, where there had been a monastery, or abbey of holy virgins, in which St. Eanswith was buried, which had been destroyed by the Danes, to the church of Canterbury, with the privilege of holding it L. S. A. (fn. 1) But it Seems afterwards to have been taken from it, for king Knute, in 1038, is recorded to have restored to that church, the parish of Folkstane, which had been given to it as above-mentioned; but upon condition, that it should never be alienated by the archbishop, without the licence both of the king and the monks. Whether they joined in the alienation of it, or it was taken from them by force, is uncertain; but the church of Canterbury was not in possession of this place at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in 1080, being the 14th year of the Conqueror's reign, at which time it was part of the possessions of the bishop of Baieux, the conqueror's half-brother, under the general description of whose lands it is thus entered in it:

In Limowart lest, in Fulcbestan hundred, William de Acris holds Fulchestan. In the time of king Edward the Consessor, it was taxed at forty sulings, and now at thirty-nine. The arable land is one hundred and twenty carucates. In demesne there are two hundred and nine villeins, and four times twenty, and three borderes. Among all they have forty-five carcates. There are five churches, from which the archbishop has fifty-five shillings. There are three servants, and seven mills of nine pounds and twelve shillings. There are one hundred acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of forty bogs. Earl Godwin held this manor.

Of this manor, Hugo, son of William, holds nine sulings of the land of the villeins, and there he has in demesne four carucates and an half, and thirty-eight villeins, with seventeen borderes, who have sixteen carucates. There are three churches, and one mill and an half, of sixteen shillings and five-pence, and one saltpit of thirty pence. Wood for the pannage of six bogs. It is worth twenty pounds.

Walter de Appeuile holds of this manor three yokes and twelve acres of land, and there he has one carucate in demesne, and three villeins, with one borderer. It is worth thirty shillings.

Alured holds one suling and forty acres of land, and there he has in demesne two carucates, with six borderers, and twelve acres of meadow. It is worth four pounds.

Walter, son of Engelbert, holds half a suling and forty acres, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with seven borderers, and five acres of meadow. It is worth thirty shillings.

Wesman holds one suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, and two villeins, with seven borderers having one carucate and an half. It is worth four pounds.

Alured Dapiser holds one suling and one yoke and six acres of land, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with eleven borderers. It is worth fifty shillings.

Eudo holds half a suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with four borderers, and three acres of meadow. It is worth twenty shillings.

Bernard de St. Owen, four sulings, and there he has in demesne three carucates, and six villeins, with eleven borderes, having two carucates. There are four servants, and two mills of twenty-four shillings, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of two bogs.

Of one denne, and of the land which is given from these suling to ferm, there goes out three pounds. In the whole it is worth nine pounds.

Baldric holds half a suling, and there he has one carucate, and two villeins, with six borderers having one carucate, and one mill of thirty pence. It is worth thirty shillings.

Richard holds fifty-eight acres of land, and there he has one carucate, with five borderers. It is worth ten shillings.

All Fulchestan, in the time of king Edward the Consessor, was worth one hundred and ten pounds, when he received it forty pounds, now what he has in demesne is worth one hundred pounds; what the knights hold abovementioned together, is worth forty-five pounds and ten shillings.

¶It plainly appears that this entry in Domesday does not only relate to the lands within this parish, but to those in the adjoining parishes within the hundred, the whole of which, most probably, were held of the bishop of Baieux, but to which of them each part refers in particular, is at this time impossible to point out. About four years after the taking of the above survey, the bishop was disgraced, and all his possessions consiscated to the crown. After which, Nigell de Muneville, a descendant of William de Arcis, mentioned before in Domesday, appears to have become possessed of the lordship of Folkestone, and as such in 1095, being the 9th year of king William Rusus, removed the priory of Folkestone from the bail of the castle to the place where it afterwards continued. His son William dying in his life-time s. p, Matilda his sole daughter and heir was given in marriage with the whole of her inheritance, by king Henry I. to Ruallanus de Albrincis, or Averenches, whose descendant Sir William de Albrincis, was become possessed of this lordship at the latter end of that reign; and in the 3d year of the next reign of king Stephen, he confirmed the gifts of his ancestors above-mentioned to the priory here. He appears to have been one of those knights, who had each a portion of lands, which they held for the de sence of Dover castle, being bound by the tenure of those lands to provide a certain number of soldiers, who should continually perform watch and ward within it, according to their particular allotment of time; but such portions of these lands as were not actually in their own possession were granted out by them to others, to hold by knight's service, and they were to be ready for the like service at command, upon any necessity whatever, and they were bound likewife, each knight to desend a certain tower in the castle; that desended by Sir William de Albrincis being called from him, Averenches tower, and afterwards Clinton tower, from the future owners of those lands. (fn. 2) Among those lands held by Sir William de Albrincis for this purpose was Folkestone, and he held them of the king in capitle by barony. These lands together made up the barony of Averenches, or Folkestone, as it was afterwards called, from this place being made the chief of the barony, caput baroniæ, as it was stiled in Latin; thus The Manor of Folkestone, frequently called in after times An Honor, (fn. 3) and the mansion of it the castle, from its becoming the chief seat or residence of the lords paramount of this barony, continued to be so held by his descendants, whose names were in Latin records frequently speit Albrincis, but in French Avereng and Averenches, and in after times in English ones, Evering; in them it continued till Matilda, daughter and heir of William de Albrincis, carried it in marriage to Hamo de Crevequer, who, in the 20th year of that reign, had possession given him of her inheritance. He died in the 47th year of that reign, possessed of the manor of Folkestone, held in capite, and by rent for the liberty of the hundred, and ward of Dover castle. Robert his grandson, dying s. p. his four sisters became his heirs, and upon the division of their inheritance, and partition of this barony, John de Sandwich, in right of his wife Agnes, the eldest sister, became entitled to this manor and lordship of Folkestone, being the chief seat of the barony, a preference given to her by law, by reason of her eldership; and from this he has been by some called Baron of Folkestone, as has his son Sir John de Sandwich, who left an only daughter and heir Julian, who carried this manor in marriage to Sir John de Segrave, who bore for his arms, Sable, three garbs, argent. He died in the 17th year of Edward III. who, as well as his son, of the same name, received summons to parliament, though whether as barons of Folkestone, as they are both by some called, I know not. Sir John de Segrave, the son, died possessed of this manor anno 23 Edward III. soon after which it appears to have passed into the family of Clinton, for William de Clinton, earl of Huntingdon, who bore for his arms, Argent, crusulee, situchee, sable, upon a chief, azure, two mullets, or, pierced gules; which coat differed from that of his elder brother's only in the croslets, which were not borne by any other of this family till long afterwards, (fn. 4) died possessed of it in the 28th year of that reign, at which time the mansion of this manor bore the name of the castle. He died s. p. leaving his nephew Sir John de Clinton, son of John de Clinton, of Maxtoke, in Warwickshire, his heir, who was afterwards summoned to parliament anno 42 Edward III. and was a man of great bravery and wisdom, and much employed in state affairs. He died possessed of this manor, with the view of frank-pledge, a moiety of the hundred of Folkestone, and THE MANOR OF WALTON, which, though now first mentioned, appears to have had the same owners as the manor of Folkestone, from the earliest account of it. He married Idonea, eldest daughter of Jeffry, lord Say, and at length the eldest coheir of that family, and was succeeded in these manors by his grandson William, lord Clinton, who, anno 6 Henry IV. had possession granted of his share of the lands of William de Say, as coheir to him in right of his grandmother Idonea, upon which he bore the title of lord Clinton and Saye, which latter however he afterwards relinquished, though he still bore for his arms, Qnarterly, Clinton and Saye, with two greybounds for his supporters. After which the manor of Folkestone, otherwise called Folkestone Clinton, and Walton, continued to be held in capite by knight's service, by his descendants lords Clinton, till Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, which title he then bore, together with Elizabeth his wife, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. conveyed these manors, with other premises in this parish, to Thomas Cromwell lord Cromwell, afterwards created earl of Essex, on whose attainder two years afterwards they reverted again to the crown, at which time the lordship of Folkestone was stiled an honor; whence they were granted in the fourth year of Edward VI. to the former possessor of them, Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite, for the meritorious services he had performed. In which year, then bearing the title of lord Clinton and Saye, he was declared lord high admiral, and of the privy council, besides other favours conferred on him; and among other lands, he had a grant of these manors, as abovementioned, which he next year, anno 5 Edward VI. reconveyed back to the crown, in exchange for other premises. (fn. 5) He was afterwards installed knight of the garter, by the title of Earl of Lincoln and Baron of Clinton and Saye; and in the last year of that reign, constable of the tower of London. Though in the 1st year of queen Mary he lost all his great offices for a small time, yet he had in recompence of his integrity and former services, a grant from her that year, of several manors and estates in this parish, as well as elsewhere, and among others, of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, together with the castle and park of Folkestone, to hold in capite; all which he, the next year, passed away by sale to Mr. Henry Herdson, citizen and alderman of London, who lest several sons, of whom Thomas succeeded him in this estate, in whose time the antient park of Folkestone seems to have been disparked. His son Mr. Francis Herdson alienated his interst in these manors and premises to his uncle Mr. John Herdson, who resided at the manor of Tyrlingham, in this parish, and dying in 1622, was buried in the chancel of Hawking church, where his monument remains; and there is another sumptuous one besides erected for him in the south isle of Folkestone church. They bore for their arms, Argent, a cross sable, between four fleurs de lis, gules. He died s. p. and by will devised these manors, with his other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to his nephew Basill, second son of his sister Abigail, by Charles Dixwell, esq. Basill Dixwell, esq. afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, a part of the estate devised to him by his uncle, where, in the 3d year of king Charles I. he kept his shrievalty, with great honor and hospitality; after which he was knighted, and in 1627, anno 3 Charles I. created a baronet; but having rebuilt the mansion of Brome, in Barham, he removed thither before his death. On his decease unmarried, the title of baronet became extinct; but he devised these manors, with the rest of his estates, to his nephew Mark Dixwell, son of his elder brother William Dixwell, of Coton, in Warwickshire, who afterwards resided at Brome. He married Elizabeth, sister and heir of William Read, esq. of Folkestone, by whom he had Basill Dixwell, esq. of Brome, who in 1660, anno 12 Charles II. was created a baronet. His son Sir Basill Dixwell, bart. of Brome, about the year 1697, alientated these manors, with the park-house and grounds, and other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to Jacob Desbouverie, esq. of LondonHe was descended from Laurence de Bouverie, de la Bouverie, or Des Bouveries, of an antient and honorable extraction in Flanders, (fn. 6) who renouncing the tenets of the Romish religion came into England in the year 1567, anno 10 Elizabeth, and seems to have settled first at Canterbury. He was a younger son of Le Sieur des Bouveries, of the chateau de Bouverie, near Lisle, in Flanders, where the eldest branch of this family did not long since possess a considerable estate, bearing for their arms, Gules, a bend, vaire. Edward, his eldest son, was an eminet Turkey merchant, was knighted by king James II. and died at his seat at Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, in 1694. He had seven sons and four daughters; of the former, William, the eldest, was likewife an eminent Turkey merchant, and was, anno 12 queen Anne, created a baronet, and died in 1717. Jacob, the third son, was purchaser of these manors; and Christopher, the seventh son, was knighted, and seated at Chart Sutton, in this county, under which a further account of him may be seen; (fn. 7) and Anne, the second daughter, married Sir Philip Boteler, bart. Jacob Desbouverie afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, and dying unmarried in 1722, by his will devised these manors, with his other estates here, to his nephew Sir Edward Desbouverie, bart. the eldest brother son of Sir William Desbouverie, bart. his elder brother, who died possessed of them in 1736, s. p. on which his title, with these and all his other estates, came to his next surviving brother and heir Sir Jacob Desbouverie, bart. who anno 10 George II. procured an act to enable himself and his descendants to use the name of Bouverie only, and was by patent, on June 29, 1747, created baron of Longford, in Wiltshire, and viscount Folkestone, of Folkestone. He was twice married; first to Mary, daughter and sole heir of Bartholomew Clarke, esq. of Hardingstone, in Northamptonshire, by whom he had several sons and daughters, of whom William, the eldest son, succeeded him in titles and estates; Edward is now of Delapre abbey, near Northamptonshire; Anne married George, a younger son of the lord chancellor Talbot; Charlotte; Mary married Anthony, earl of Shastesbury; and Harriot married Sir James Tilney Long, bart. of Wiltshire. By Elizabeth his second wife, daughter of Robert, lord Romney, he had Philip, who has taken the name of Pusey, and possesses, as heir to his mother Elizabeth, dowager viscountess Folkestone, who died in 1782, several manors and estates in the western part of this county. He died in 1761, and was buried in the family vault at Britford, near Salisbury, being succeeded in title and estates by his eldest son by his first wife, William, viscount Folkestone, who was on Sept. 28, anno 5 king George III. created Earl of Radnor, and Baron Pleydell Bouverie, of Coleshill, in Berkshire. He died in 1776, having been three times married; first, to Harriot, only daughter and heir of Sir Mark Stuart Pleydell, bart. of Colefhill, in Berkshire. By her, who died in 1750, and was buried at Britford, though there is an elegant monument erected for her at Coleshill, he had Hacob, his successor in titles and estates, born in 1750. He married secondly, Rebecca, daughter of John Alleyne, esq. of Barbadoes, by whom he had four sons; William-Henry, who married Bridget, daughter of James, earl of Morton; Bartholomew, who married MaryWyndham, daughter of James Everard Arundell, third son of Henry, lord Arundell, of Wardour; and Edward, who married first Catherine Murray, eldest daughter of John, earl of Dunmore; and secondly, Arabella, daughter of admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle. His third wife was Anne, relict of Anthony Duncombe, lord Faversham, and daughter of Sir Thomas Hales, bart. of Bekesborne, by whom he had two daughters, who both died young. He was succeeded in titles and estates by his eldest son, the right hon. Jacob Pleydell Bouverie, earl of Radnor, who is the present possessor of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, with the park-house and disparked grounds adjacent to it, formerly the antient park of Folkestone, the warren, and other manors and estates in this parish and neighbourhood.

FOLKESTONE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary and St. Eanswith, consists of three isles and three chancels, having a square tower, with a beacon turret in the middle of it, in which there is a clock, and a peal of eight bells, put up in it in 1779. This church is built of sand-stone; the high chancel, which has been lately ceiled, seems by far the most antient part of it. Under an arch in the north wall is a tomb, with the effigies of a man, having a dog at his feet, very an tient, probably for one of the family of Fienes, constables of Dover castle and wardens of the five ports; and among many other monuments and inscriptions, within the altar-rails, are monuments for the Reades, of Folkestone, arms, Azure, a griffin, or, quartering gules, a pheon between three leopards faces, or; for William Langhorne, A.M. minister, obt. 1772. In the south chancel is a most elegant monument, having the effigies of two men kneeling at two desks, and an inscription for J. Herdson, esq. who lies buried in Hawkinge church, obt. 1622. In the south isle a tomb for J. Pragels, esq. obt. 1676, arms, A castle triple towered, between two portcullises; on a chief, a sinister hand gauntled, between two stirrups. In the middle isle a brass plate for Joane, wife of Thomas Harvey, mother of seven sons (one of which was the physician) and two daughters. In the north wall of the south isle were deposited the remains of St. Eanswith, in a stone coffin; and under that isle is a large charnelhouse, in which are deposited the great quantity of bones already taken notice of before. Philipott, p. 96, says, the Bakers, of Caldham, had a peculiar chancel belonging to them in this church, near the vestrydoor, over the charnel-house, which seems to have been that building mentioned by John Baker, of Folkestone, who by his will in 1464, ordered, that his executors should make a new work, called an isle, with a window in it, with the parishioners advice; which work should be built between the vestry there and the great window. John Tong, of Folkestone, who was buried in this church, by will in 1534, ordered that certain men of the parish should be enfeoffed in six acres of land, called Mervyle, to the use of the mass of Jhesu, in this church.

On Dec. 19, 1705, the west end of this church, for the length of two arches out of the five, was blown down by the violence of the wind; upon which the curate and parishioners petitioned archbishop Tillot son, for leave to shorten the church, by rebuilding only one of the fallen arches, which was granted. But by this, the church, which was before insufficient to contain the parishioners, is rendered much more inconvenient to them for that purpose. By the act passed anno 6 George III. for the preservation of the town and church from the ravages of the sea as already noticed before. After such works are finished, &c. the rates are to be applied towards their repair, and to the keeping in repair, and the support and preservation of this church.

¶This church was first built by Nigell de Muneville, lord of Folkestone at the latter end of king Henry I. or the beginning of king Stephen's reign, when he removed the priory from the precinct of the castle to it in 1137, and he gave this new church and the patronage of it to the monks of Lolley, in Normandy, for their establishing a cell, or alien priory here, as has been already mentioned, to which this new church afterwards served as the conventual church of it. The profits of it were very early appropriated to the use of this priory, that is, before the 8th of king Richard II. anno 1384, the duty of it being served by a vicar, whose portion was settled in 1448, at the yearly pension of 10l. 0s. 2½d. to be paid by the prior, in lieu of all other profits whatsoever. In which state this appropriation and vicarage remained till the surrendry of the priory, in the 27th year of king Henry VIII. when they came, with the rest of the possessions of it, into the king's hands, who in his 31st year demised the vicarage and parish church of Folkestone, with all its rights, profits, and emoluments, for a term of years, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, who assigned his interest in it to Anthony Allcher, esq. but the fee of both remained in the crown till the 4th year of king Edward VI. when they were granted, with the manor, priory, and other premises here, to Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite; who the next year conveyed them back again to the crown, in exchange for other premises, (fn. 23) where the patronage of the vicarage did not remain long; for in 1558, anno 6 queen Mary, the queen granted it, among several others, to the archbishop. But the church or parsonage appropriate of Folkestone remained longer in the crown, and till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange, among other premises, to archbishop Parker, being then in lease to lord Clinton, at the rent of 57l. 2s. 11d. at which rate it was valued to the archbishop, in which manner it has continued to be leased out ever since, and it now, with the patronage of the vicarage, remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury; the family of Breams were formerly lessees of it, from whom the interest of the lease came to the Taylors, of Bifrons, and was sold by the late Rev. Edward Taylor, of Bisrons, to the right hon. Jacob, earl of Radnor, the present lessee of it.

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol8/pp152-188

Barford Norfolk by jmc4 - Church Explorer

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Here lieth John Sidley / Sedley of Barford in this county esq who departed this life September the 28 AD 1681 aged 71

John born in 1611 was the son of Martin Sedley 1652 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/kvs6Z1 and Bridget daughter of Sir John Pettus of Norwich 1614 & Bridget Curteys flic.kr/p/mkXs8x

John Sedley was High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1658.

He m Elizabeth www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/Z0o02b daughter of Sir William Spring and Elizabeth daughter of Sir William Smith and Bridget Fleetwood, at Theydon Mount

Children

1. William b1640 m Ann heiress of Peter Witherick and Ann Boreman and coheiress of her grandfather Edmund Boreman, Alderman of Norwich

2. Martin sold the Barford estate and moved from Norfolk

3. Elizabeth b1646 m Thomas Weld at Wymondham

4. John 1649-1711 of Morley St Peter executor of his father's will m Anne ............

5. Isaac b 1655

6. Bridget b/d 1657 aged 11 days

7. Katharine 1657-1659 aged 15 months

8. Bridget b 1659.

9. Ann died as a infant.

reganettinger.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/the-house-of-sping-w... - Church of St Bololph Barford Norfolk

Rutan Journeay House by Emilio Guerra

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Tottenville, Staten Island, New York City, New York

The Rutan-Journeay House at 7647 Amboy Road, built ca. 1848, is a rare survivor of early Tottenville, an important 19th-century town on Staten Island’s South Shore. This vernacular clapboard cottage merges older local building traditions with newer Greek Revival modes. Its doorway and porch are excellent examples of the Greek Revival style. The front porch features four square pillars and simple, but sophisticated, railings, in original condition. Sharing architectural forms with other early Tottenville houses, it is one of the best-preserved houses representing the early building traditions of Staten Island’s South Shore.

The Rutan-Journeay House is one of the earliest documented houses of newly created Tottenville, and the first on Amboy Road. Through its first two owners the house has close ties to the shipbuilding industry, which flourished in Tottenville from its beginnings in the 1840s through the early 20th century. Shipbuilding and ship repair were important partners of the oyster industry that created the town.

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

Tottenville

Tottenville is located on the shore of the Arthur Kill near Ward’s Point, the southwestern tip of Staten Island and the southernmost point in New York City and New York State. Far from the urban culture of Manhattan, Tottenville remains an isolated village. Across the Arthur Kill lies the city of Perth Amboy, New Jersey. South of Ward’s Point is the Raritan Bay. The village of Tottenville came into being around 1840. Its economy and culture arose from oyster fishing, shipbuilding and ship repair, and agriculture. Its trade routes with New Jersey and New York City linked it to the metropolitan region and the greater world. It became the largest town in Westfield, the historic name for this quarter of Staten Island. Even today, though encroached upon by modern suburban culture, the feeling of a small coastal town prevails with characteristics unlike any other place on Staten Island. Tottenville residents prize their isolated location.

Before There Was Tottenville

Long before Europeans arrived in the New World, Native Americans of the Lenni Lenape group of the Delaware Nation were attracted to the beauty of the elevated shoreline and the abundance of oysters growing in the Arthur Kill and Raritan Bay. Major archaeological evidence of their encampments and burial grounds has been found on Ward’s Point. By 1670 the Lenape had sold their land to European colonists and had departed from Staten Island.

Christopher Billopp, an Englishman, was the first European to settle in the area. He arrived in New York harbor with Major Edmund Andros in 1674. Andros became the Royal Governor of New York and Billopp, an officer in the British navy, was commissioned Lieutenant. In 1677 Billopp laid claim to 932 acres on Staten Island, soon thereafter building an imposing two-story stone house on the shore overlooking Perth Amboy. In 1687 he was given a royal charter for 1600 acres (including the original 932 acres) and made Lord of the Manor of Bentley. The manor would include today’s Tottenville, Richmond Valley, Pleasant Plains and part of Prince’s Bay. Billopp owned slaves and as captain of the ship Depthford he was involved in the slave trade. Although Billopp stayed on Staten Island only intermittently, his wife apparently lived in the manor house and improved his land for farming. His grandson Thomas Farmar, who changed his surname to Billopp, inherited the manor in 1732 and lived there full time. Thomas Farmar Billopp also owned slaves. Thomas’s son Christopher Billopp (17321827) lived in the stone house through much of the American Revolution. During his ownership the house was plundered by both Hessian soldiers and American patriots and Christopher sought refuge in his father-in-law’s house nearby. During one of these raids the patriots carried off Billopp’s cattle, horses and a slave. Little else is known about the actual daily life of the manor. The Billopp House was the meeting place for the Peace Conference held on Sept. 11, 1776. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Edward Rutledge met with Lord Howe. The conference was unsuccessful and the war continued. (Today the Billopp House, a designated New York City Landmark, is called the Conference House.) In 1782 Christopher Billopp began to sell large portions of the manor. Among the buyers were members of the Totten family. In 1783 Billopp left Staten Island.

The Totten Family

John Totten (d. 1785), a weaver, was probably the first Totten to settle on Staten Island. In 1767 he purchased land on Prince’s Bay from the executors of the estate of Thomas Billopp. Gilbert Totten (ca. 1740-1819), John Totten’s son, purchased four parcels in what would become Tottenville. Gilbert was a farmer and according to the 1790 census owned five slaves. Gilbert and Mary Butler Totten, his wife, were among the founders of the Woodrow Methodist Church, the mother church of Methodism on Staten Island. Impressive Greek Revival obelisks mark their graves in the church’s cemetery.

Tottenville, the Town the Oyster Built

Gilbert Totten’s home farm was in the northeastern part of what would become Tottenville. Gilbert and Mary were the parents of eight children. One of their sons, John Totten Sr. (1771-1846), also a farmer, married Anne (Nancy) Cole (1773-1840) and had 12 children, five of whom can be documented as significant to Tottenville’s history. They are James Totten (1797-1879), blacksmith; John Totten Jr. (1801-1872), oysterman; Abraham C. Totten (18041877), “mariner”; Ephraim J. Totten (1806-1891), sea captain and merchant; and William Totten (b.1813), shipbuilder and shipyard superintendent. These vocations clearly indicate the family’s affiliation with oyster fishing and maritime trades.

The creation and growth of Tottenville in the 1840s were fueled by the increasing demand for fresh oysters. As New York’s population grew and oyster beds became depleted from over harvesting it was discovered that oyster “seed” (young oysters) could be brought from other locations in New York harbor, Long Island, and the Chesapeake Bay and “planted” in the waters off Staten Island. The brackish water of Prince’s Bay and parts of the Raritan River and the Arthur Kill was ideal for growing oysters. The young oysters were allowed to grow for a year or more and harvested in the fall. The success of this systematic oyster “farming” fostered the growth of Staten Island’s maritime industry. The first documented instance of oyster planting in New York harbor occurred in 1825 in Prince’s Bay.

Other parts Staten Island, including Mariner’s Harbor, also grew at a swift pace through the 19th century because of this industry. Sandy Ground, the African American community also in Westfield, came into being about 1850. By 1880 African American oystermen from Virginia and Maryland had located there. Tottenville also attracted several black oystermen. The Cooley family from Virginia settled in Tottenville after Abraham Cole Totten, a mariner sailing regularly to the South, sold them property. Residences of other free black oystermen have recently been identified in a survey of Tottenville.

According to one local history, the name “Tottenville” may have been in use as early as 1832. The Bethel Methodist Church, Tottenville’s first church, was built in 1841 on land given by John Totten Sr. The church was a social as well as a religious center. In 1852 one of their famous oyster suppers netted $275.10. The first printed reference to the name “Tottenville” is found on Butler’s Map of 1853. This map shows an unnamed street, today’s Main Street, leading to “Totten’s Landing.” with about 20 houses, and another 20 houses on what became Amboy Road.

Oystermen required ships and ship repair facilities and this industry became a dominant employer in the town, second only to the oyster industry itself. By the end of the 19th century there were at least eight shipbuilding or repair shops on the Arthur Kill in Tottenville. The first of these, Butler and Sleight’s Shipyard, located near today’s Ward’s Point, may have begun operation as early as 1833 when the land was purchased by Daniel Butler. William Totten’s shipyard beside Totten’s Landing probably began operation soon after he and his brother James purchased their waterfront site in 1836. The William H. and James M. Rutan Shipyard began about 1847. The site of the Rutan Shipyard adjoins the Henry H. Biddle House, (a designated New York City Landmark). James M. Rutan built 7647 Amboy Road in 1848.

These early Tottenville ship repair and shipbuilding companies were built for small wooden vessels. Each facility had a “marine railway” to bring the boats onto the shore. The railway consisted of two iron rails running from the beach out into the water. A boat would be moved into position over the rails and then pulled by teams of horses toward the shallow water into a cradle and up onto the beach. The largest boats were schooners, large two-masted sailing vessels that could go down the coast to Virginia to secure Chesapeake Bay oyster seed or even to England with fresh oysters. Sloops and catboats were smaller sailing vessels with one mast. Skiffs were light enough to be rowed.

The further growth and diversification of Tottenville were assured in 1860 when it became the terminus of the Staten Island Railroad, which afforded access to Staten Island’s North Shore and Manhattan. For many decades the Staten Island Railroad operated the ferryboat Maid of Perth to Perth Amboy. Several hotels/boarding houses were located in Tottenville on Main Street near Totten’s Landing. By the 1880s Tottenville had entered the golden age of oyster fishing, as the following period source indicates:

To arrive in Tottenville is to become sensible of the importance of the oyster. Anchored out in the Kill; made fast to the little wharves; under sail in the offing, white-hulled oyster sloops meet the eye on every side. Below the bluffs, the beach is lined with oyster floats, upon which the bivalves in the fall are taken to the fresher waters of New Jersey rivers to be fattened for the market; oyster shells are everywhere. The largest and most comfortable houses in and about the village, we are told, belong to oystermen, active and retired, whose modest fortunes have been raked from the great oyster-beds covering the bottom of the Lower Bay from Staten Island to Keyport. .... Here the oyster is king.

A major new industry, Atlantic Terra Cotta, opened its factory in Tottenville in 1897. By 1906 it employed over 450 men. The Tottenville Copper Company, also a large employer, was established in 1900. Later it became the Nassau Smelting Company. The oyster industry, and shipbuilding and ship repair, continued into the 20th century.

Oyster beds were declared unsafe due to water pollution. About 1915 “authorities found that some shipments from the bay were making people as far away as Chicago sick with typhoid fever and intestinal diseases.... New York dealers became reluctant to purchase oysters from the bay. The industry declined, and finally in 1925 oyster planters abandoned the bay amid much negative newspaper publicity about polluted oysters being sold.” The closing marked the end of an era.

The rise of the automobile brought suburban life and more change. The Outerbridge Crossing opened in 1928. The opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in 1964 and the construction of interstate highways on Staten Island fostered rapid population growth on the South Shore. Tottenville has been discovered by upwardly mobile homeowners seeking a suburban retreat.

Early Owners of 7647 Amboy Road

James Madison Rutan (1816-1914), the original owner of 7647 Amboy Road, was born near Tottenville. His parents were Henry Seguine Rutan and Rachel Kingsland Rutan, both formerly of New Jersey. The Rutan family had immigrated to America from France in the late 18th century. Henry arrived on Staten Island as a youth in 1809. He was a ship carpenter and c. 1820 established a ship repair business near Rossville, Staten Island. James M. and his older brother, William Henry Rutan, (1814-1869) were ship carpenters like their father. In 1847 William Henry Rutan purchased property on the Arthur Kill waterfront near today’s Biddle House and soon added to it, establishing there a ship repair and shipbuilding business. The 1855 census lists William H. and J. M. Rutan as “shipbuilders,” having real estate valued at $4000, tools and machinery, $2000, 10,000 cubic feet of timber, $4200, 30,000 feet of plank and 156 tons of iron valued at $1200. During the previous year they had built a 300-ton schooner valued at $10,000 and repaired 50 other schooners or sloops, work estimated at $4500. With 12 employees they are the largest employer listed for that part of Westfield.

After his brother’s death in 1869, James M. Rutan carried on the business with his son and brother-in-law. Their younger brother, Melancthon F. Rutan (1829-1908), was also a ship carpenter. The business was sold in 1880. James M. Rutan and other members of the Rutan family are buried in the Bethel Methodist Church Cemetery. All evidence of the shipyard has disappeared from the Arthur Kill beach.

James M. Rutan married Leah Crocheron in 1840. They lived at 7647 Amboy Road for several years and later at 76 Satterlee Avenue opposite the shipyard. William H. Rutan and his wife Mary Johnson Cole Rutan lived nearby at 5 Shore Road, an historic house now owned by the New York City Parks Department.

On March 25, 1850, John S. Journeay, a prosperous blacksmith, purchased 7647 Amboy Road from James M. Rutan. Born in New York, Journeay was about 30 years old and married to Maria B. Journeay. A progenitor of the Journeay family arrived in America on the Spotted Cow in 1663. Members of the family are found on Staten Island as early as 1678. It has not been determined which branch of the Journeay family, John S. Journeay was descended from. All branches of the Journeay family living on Staten Island, according to the 1790 census, owned slaves. Several families of this name lived in Westfield in the 19th century.

The 1855 Census lists the Journeay and Lamond Company as “ship blacksmiths.” Walling’s map of 1859 shows “Journeay’s Shipyard” on the Arthur Kill east of Totten’s wharf. The little that is known about John S. Journeay and members of his family can be gleaned from entries in the 1860 Census for Westfield. They describe John S. Journeay as “Boss Blacksmith” with real property valued at $2000 and personal property at $400. Also listed is Robert S. Journeay, aged 35, as “Boss Ship Builder.” Perhaps John S, the blacksmith, and Robert S., the shipbuilder, are partners in Journeay’s Shipyard. David Journeay, aged 69, is listed as a blacksmith as well, with real estate valued at $5000. Perhaps he was the father and partner in this blacksmithing, shipbuilding family.

John S. Journeay’s second wife, Isabel, born in England of Scotch parents, inherited the house after John’s death ca. 1890. The 1900 Census indicates that three family members and three boarders were living in the household. One boarder was a machinist at the S. S. White Dental Factory, Prince’s Bay, and another a cigar salesman.

The Design of 7847 Amboy Road

The house at 7647 Amboy Road was constructed around 1848 as a simple three-bay, one and one-half story, clapboard cottage. Its rectangular plan of hall and parlor, with gable roof and end placement of the chimney, follows a tradition of vernacular residential architecture on Staten Island since the first houses appeared in the late 17th century. Its modernity is found in its wide Greek Revival doorway and porch. Its small second-story windows reflect both vernacular building traditions and the Greek Revival style. The front porch is original. The wing on the west side was probably added in 1850 when Rutan acquired an additional 12 feet on the west side of his lot. A lean-to was added behind the west wing sometime later in the 19th century and four wings were built onto the rear of the house in the 20th century.

The small second-story windows are likely a holdover from Dutch vernacular house framing of the 18th century, with which the builder may have been familiar and which more upto-date builders had rejected. The Dutch farmhouse frame was composed of “bents,” whose vertical posts extend well above the first floor, but not to a full floor height on the second floor. The small windows are made possible by this low wall space.

The small second-story windows also relate to the “eyebrow windows” of the Greek Revival style seen in Staten Island houses of the 1830s and 1840s. Eyebrow windows may be seen in the Stephens House and Store, (a designated New York City Landmark) at Historic Richmond Town. Here at the Rutan-Journeay House they are not placed in the frieze, to light the attic, but are in the main wall below it. A design for a farmhouse in Minard Lafever’s Young Builder’s General Instructor (1829) shows three small horizontally shaped windows placed below the frieze and an illustration of “an unimproved farmhouse” (i.e. old-fashioned) from A. J. Downing’s Albany Cultivator (1846) shows three windows similar to Lafever’s placed well below the frieze.

The horizontality of the house, emphasized by the front wing, reflects the farmhouse tradition more than the village or town traditions and underscores the rural atmosphere of early Tottenville. The lot, which is wider than the usual 25-foot village lot, allowed the builder to place the wide elevation of the house across the front. This long front placement of the house is, however, also seen on several other smaller Tottenville lots. The Theodore F. and Elizabeth J. DeHart House, (a designated New York City Landmark) at 134 Main Street built in 1849, is of a very similar design and construction. Here we see the same broad placement of the house on the lot, the Greek Revival doorway, the low second-floor windows, and the adjoining wing. In this house the original porch (probably with square Greek Revival columns) was replaced in the 1870s by an elaborate wraparound porch with beveled-edge posts and cutwork decoration. The similarities of the two houses suggest a common carpenter-builder.

Although the name of the builder who constructed the Rutan-Journeay House and the DeHart House is not documented, Isaac P. Bedell, a “house carpenter” active in Tottenville at this time, seems a likely candidate. Israel Butler, a Richmond Valley carpenter, could also have been the builder.

The Greek Revival style was first used by builders on Staten Island in the 1830s in public buildings like Sailors’ Snug Harbor (1831) and the Third County Courthouse at Richmond (1837). (The Third County Courthouse and portions of Sailors’ Snug Harbor are designated New York City Landmarks.) Private residences include simple three-bay houses from the late 1830s in Stapleton and Richmond. Jasper Cropsey (1823-1900), the Hudson River School painter who grew up in Rossville and practiced architecture briefly, designed the Greek Revival Moravian Church in New Dorp in 1843. By 1850 this style was no longer new, but its popularity continued. The Greek Revival style, chosen for the earliest buildings in Tottenville, is also exemplified in the large porticoed houses earlier mentioned, the William H. Rutan House (ca. 1848) and the Henry H. Biddle House.

Although plan books by Asher Benjamin and Minard Lafever popularized the Greek Revival style throughout America, rarely did local builders use plans exactly as presented, rather they chose aspects of the designs that suited their needs and mixed designs freely. Lafever presented only two complete houses in Modern Builder’s Guide (1833). Daniel D. Reiff in Houses from Books (2001) states, “most Greek Revival houses are very different from Lafever’s two plates. In fact, one of the most popular vernacular types for farmhouses and small urban dwellings has very little in common with either Lafever design: no freestanding columns, one rather than two wings, and an abbreviated pediment with the horizontal member interrupted to allow the insertion of windows in the half-story above.”

Later Owners of 7647 Amboy Road

Mabelle Fried became the owner of the house upon Isabel Journeay’s death in 1907. No further information is available about her. On Nov. 11, 1919, David H. Couch and Esther Couch, his wife, purchased the house from Mabelle S. Fried of Manhattan. David, supervisor of an asphalt company, was born in North Carolina. His wife was born in Ohio. On Jan. 19, 1921, William H. Brown Sr. purchased the property. Brown was a shipbuilder and owner of Brown’s Shipyard in Tottenville. Residing on Hopping Avenue nearby, he probably purchased the house for his son William H. Brown Jr. or as an investment. On June 9, 1925, Heyward E. Canney and Olive Ring Cannery, his wife, of Eltingville, Staten Island, purchased the property. Howard, a “private bank secretary,” was born in Massachusetts.

On March 23, 1934, Mary L. Tiethohl, of Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, purchased the house. She was a Tottenville High School teacher. On Jan. 30, 1970, Richard S. Wilson and Gail, his wife, became the owners and on Feb. 1, 1984 John and Allida Scotti, the present owners, purchased the house.

Description

The house at 7647 Amboy Road is a five-bay clapboard cottage with a four-columned porch. It rests on a low foundation that is today hidden from view by shrubs. Two wings were added in the 19th century: one on the west parallel with the main block and a lean-to in the back. In the 20th century an early kitchen wing was probably removed and four additions were made in the rear of the house.

The main block of the house is one and one-half stories, three bays wide and two bays deep. It has a gable roof, the long side facing the street. One brick chimney stands on the east end. All the roofs are clad in a light grey, non-historic asphalt shingles. A single-story porch with a shed roof extends across the front. The walls are sheathed with clapboard painted blue. The exposure of the clapboard varies from four to six inches. The two first-floor sash windows on the front are six-over- six panes as is a single window on the east elevation. The windows have plain architraves and sills. Three small second-floor windows facing the front are made of a single sash, three panes wide. They are placed well below the frieze. Two six-over-six second-floor sash windows are located on the east end. The front windows have original black-painted, solid paneled shutters with wrought iron tie backs. Modern white-painted aluminum storm windows cover all the sash. Shutters on the east elevation are reproductions.

On the primary façade the single-story porch is supported by four square columns in the Greek Revival style. It has a beautifully simple handrail with delicate square spindles. The hollow columns are marked at the bottom with two-tiered stepped bases and at the top by capitals composed of multiple moldings increasing in size as they reach upward. The handrail is composed of two pieces, a half-round board attached to the top edge of the rail. The bottom rail is peaked to shed water and the spindles are cut to join the peak. The porch floor is of contemporary flagstone with a brick border. The ceiling of the porch is made of the original tightly fitted wide planks. The porch posts support a plain entablature, above which is the Yankee gutter. The porch posts and railing are in remarkably fine condition.

The porch is one step up from the sidewalk. The front doorway sheltered by the porch is in the Greek Revival style with plain broad outer pilasters supporting the entablature and narrower pilasters directly beside the door opening. The pilasters have simple blocked bases and capitals. Between the pilasters are narrow sidelights of three glass panes. Below the panes is a coffered panel. The shallow entablature is divided by one molding. The cornice is composed of two moldings. The original six-paneled door is behind the modern aluminum storm door.

A shallow undivided frieze marks the wall of the main block. The cornice holds the Yankee gutter. This cornice-gutter has a classical return at each end. The gutter and frieze are reproductions of the original.

On the east façade of the main block the exposure of the clapboard varies from seven to eight and one-half inches. The gable end of the roof extends very slightly and is strengthened with a single molding.

The north façade is partially hidden by the kitchen addition. There is a six-over-six sash window on the first floor near the corner of the building. On the second floor window there is a modern sash, with two-over-two horizontal panes. The second floor window is near the middle of the wall. The west façade is hidden by the west wing.

The west wing, also of one and one-half stories, is joined against the main block and flush with its façade. Like the main block, the wing has a gable roof, although the pitch of the roof is about one foot lower. This is not noticed at first glance from the street. On the first floor facing the street are two six-over-six sash windows slightly smaller than those of the main block. On the second floor there are two small three-pane windows like those of the main block. The west elevation has a single six-over-six pane window on the first floor near the rear of the wing. The second floor has two six-over-six pane windows evenly spaced within the wall. The windows have black painted shutters held back by wrought iron tie backs. The exposure of the clapboard vary from eight to nine inches.

Directly behind the west wing and flush with it is a one-story rear addition. This addition is one bay deep and has a single six-over-six window on the west elevation. The north and east elevation of the lean-to are hidden by later additions.

Adjoining the lean-to in the rear is a one-room addition built ca. 1984 from the design of architect Donald Rowe. Plans for this addition are in the Building Department. Originally intended as a dining room, it is now used as a bedroom. This one-story addition has a shed roof sloping to the west. The west façade of the wing is set back slightly from the west façade of the lean-to. The siding is flush vertical boards. The west façade has one horizontal window of two horizontal panes. The north façade facing the back yard has a three-part shallow bay window. The south elevation is hidden by the lean-to and the east elevation is hidden by an eastern wing.

Attached to the main block in the rear is a two-story wing with a gable roof. It is nearly square in plan with one bay on each side. This wing provides part of a modern kitchen on the first floor and a bathroom on the second floor. It is enclosed by other parts of the house on the first floor and exposed on three sides on the second floor. There is one small window on each of the three exposed sides. A modern glass bay window for plants covers the north window. The siding is clapboard.

Extending out from the two-story rear wing alongside the northwest wing is a one-story gable roof addition with skylights. The south and west elevations are hidden by other parts of the building. The north elevation holds a large double window and a door leading onto a terrace. A shallow continuous hood extends over both the door and windows. The east elevation has a single vertical batten door with small window in it.

Extending out from the east side of the two-story rear wing is an addition to the kitchen. This addition, added in 1987, has a shed roof with skylights. The south and west elevations are enclosed by other parts of the house. The north elevation is partly exposed with a triangular window near the roof line. The east elevation has a double window.

The house is located on a deep rectangular, slightly irregular lot with a frontage of 67 feet. The east boundary is 214.8 feet, the west 209.8 feet and the rear 74.8 feet. The lot slopes slightly upward from the street and downward beyond the house to the back yard. The house stands about 15 feet from the modern sidewalk. The front porch is approached by a modern concrete sidewalk. The asphalt driveway leads to a free-standing modern non-historic one-car garage. In the back yard there is a small modern non-historic garden house. It stands midway near the western boundary. It has two bays, a door and window, with a gable roof facing the house and a flat roof addition in the rear.

- From the 2009 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report