Tottenville, Staten Island, New York City, New York, United States

 

The George Cunningham Store at 173 Main Street, Tottenville, built c. 1892, is a rare and intact vernacular commercial building in the Queen Anne style from a significant period of development for Tottenville and its downtown Main Street. Its robust bay windows with decorative brackets are rare survivors of a once popular feature of early American commercial architecture. The building also features a distinctive decorated gable end that gives this small one-story building great presence on the street. It is the best preserved of the early shops remaining on Tottenvilleís Main Street and perhaps one of the few shops with bay windows remaining in New York City.

 

In the 19th century, Tottenville became the largest town on Staten Islandís South Shore. It was founded in the 1840s on the industries of oyster fishing and shipbuilding. The 1890s, when this shop was built, were an expansive era in Tottenvilleís history. On a prestigious residential block, the little shop represented the emerging commercial success of the townís Main Street. From 1892 to 1913, for 21 years, this was George G. Cunninghamís Butcher Shop. From 1913 to 1957, for 44 years, it was Benjamin Williamsís Real Estate and Insurance Office. Their combined occupancy spanning 65 years documented Main Streetís long-lasting commercial viability.

 

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

 

Tottenville

 

Tottenville is located on the shore of the Arthur Kill near Wardís 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 a small isolated village. Across the Arthur Kill lies the city of Perth Amboy, New Jersey. South of Wardís Point is 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 Wardís 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 and made Lord of the Manor of Bentley. The manor would include todayís Tottenville, Richmond Valley, Pleasant Plains and part of Princeís 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 Thomasís son Christopher Billopp 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-lawís house nearby. During one of these raids the patriots carried off Billoppís 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. 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 , a weaver, was probably the first Totten to settle on Staten Island. In 1767 he purchased land on Princeís Bay from the executors of the estate of Thomas Billopp. Gilbert Totten , John Tottenís 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 style obelisks mark their graves in the churchís cemetery.

 

Tottenville, the Town the Oyster Built

 

The creation and growth of Tottenville in the 1840s were fueled by the increasing demand for fresh oysters. As New Yorkís population grew and oyster beds became depleted from over harvesting it was discovered that oyster ìseedî could be brought from other locations in New York harbor, Long Island, and the Chesapeake Bay and ìplantedî in the waters off Staten Island. The brackish water of Princeís 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 ìfarmingî fostered the growth of Staten Islandís maritime industry. The first documented instance of oyster planting in New York harbor occurred in 1825 in Princeís Bay. Mariners Harbor on the North Shore also grew at a swift pace through the 19th century because of the oyster industry.

 

Sandy Ground, the African American community in Westfield, came into being about 1850. By 1880 African American oystermen from Virginia and Maryland had located there. Tottenville also attracted black oystermen. The Cooley family from Virginia settled in Tottenville after Abraham Cole Totten, a mariner sailing regularly to the South, sold property to them. Other free black oystermen have recently been identified in an historic resources survey of Tottenville now underway.

 

According to one local history, the name ìTottenvilleî may have been in use as early as 1832. The Bethel Methodist Church, Tottenvilleís first church, was built in 1841 on land given by John Totten Sr. The first printed reference to the name ìTottenvilleî is found on Butlerís Map of 1853. This map shows an unnamed street, todayís Main Street, 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 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 Islandís 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 Tottenís 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 ìauthorities 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.î 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, along with the rest of Staten Island has seen dramatic population growth.

 

History of Main Street

 

In 1834, when John Totten Jr. purchased a five and one-half acre waterfront property, he gained the ìprivilege of a road to and from the main public road,î todayís Amboy Road. In 1836 when his brothers James and William purchased a six-acre riverfront lot adjoining Johnís to the east there was a ìright to passî between the two properties to the main road. John Totten Jr. built Tottenís Dock about 1837 and his brothers established a shipbuilding and repair facility on their property. The dock gave access to the waterways of the region, assuring the commercial success of Tottenville. With steamships to Manhattan stopping here and the ferry to Perth Amboy, the dock became the focus of the emerging town.

 

The road leading from the dock to Amboy Road was for many years unnamed. By 1845 John Totten Jr. had divided his property into building lots and the new owners built houses facing this road. By 1859 the road was called ìTotten Street.î The name Main Street appears intermittently in the 1880s and 1890s, and was finally made official in 1897.

 

Main Street runs straight in a northwesterly direction from Amboy Road to the Arthur Kill. The street is divided by two cross streets creating three large blocks. The northern end, terminating at Tottenís Dock, is known as lower Main Street. The townís first commercial area developed here. In the late 19th century the middle section of the street was dubbed ìQuality Rowî because of the large residences built there by elite members of the community. The Theodore F. and Elizabeth De Hart House at 134 Main Street and the Dr. Walker Washington House at 127 Main Street are located here. The southern end of the street is could be called upper Main Street. This area became predominately commercial in the first decades of the 20th century and remains so today.

 

Beginning in the 1960s, the historic character of the street was greatly compromised by the demolition of historic homes and the construction of town houses and insensitive commercial buildings, making the surviving and intact nineteenth and early twentieth century buildings rare reminders of Tottenvilleís historic development.

 

Commercial Development of Main Street

 

Tottenvilleís first commercial buildings were constructed on the east side of Main Street near Tottenís Landing. Wallingís Map, 1859, shows ìE. J. Tottenís Storeî on the east side of Main Street and ìL. S. Hoppingís Storeî on the west side. These pioneer buildings were demolished before 1900. The Staten Island Railroad, running from Vanderbiltís Landing in Clifton to Tottenville, was completed in 1860. Its Tottenville station was located on the east side of Main Street. Commercial buildings soon went up nearby, including stores, hotels and a bank.

 

By 1895 the east side of lower Main Street was one continuous commercial row. Some of these buildings are still standing, but greatly altered. In 1896, when the Staten Island Railroad moved its station and terminus to Bentley Street, the character of lower Main Street changed and its commercial viability declined.

 

By the 1870s a few commercial buildings had been built in this residential section of middle Main Street, which begins on the other side of Broadway . The 1874 atlas shows D. S. Deckerís house and store at todayís 145 Main Street. This store was right on the sidewalk. The owner lived in the house on the same lot. It was destroyed before 1917. The Pepper and Joline General Store, 180 Main Street, at the corner of what would become Arents Avenue, was in place by 1874. W. Woodís store and Post Office at todayís 179 Main Street was on the opposite side of the same corner. In 1882 druggist Rinalder Fisher built 103 Main Street on the northeast corner of Main Street and Arthur Kill Road. This three-story brick building was the largest commercial building in Tottenville for many years. It still stands but its shop front has been disfigured. The shop at 173 Main Street, the subject of this report, was built ca.1892 as a butcher shop for Georgenia and George Cunningham. The small shop was built in front of, but to the right of and not connected with, the residence already on the property. The commercial development of this section of Main Street continued through the 1920s. In 1895 Rinalder Fisher built 111 Main Street near his earlier building. It may have been used by the coal dealers, Cole Brothers, and was later acquired by them. In the 1940s Benjamin F. Bedell and Marie P. Bedell purchased the building for their grocery store and residence. They later purchased and resided in the Theodore F. and Elizabeth De Hart House at 134 Main Street, across the street from the store.

 

Twentieth-century buildings on this section of Main Street were more monumental in scale. In 1915 the Tottenville National Bank purchased W. Woodís store at 179 Main Street and constructed a new building there designed by the architectural firm Slee and Bryson of Brooklyn. Built of limestone, this is the most impressive commercial building ever erected in Tottenville. It still stands today and is a branch of the Richmond County Savings Bank. Organized in 1906, the Tottenville National Bank was originally located on lower Main Street. In 1922 New York City constructed the 123rd Police Precinct at 116 Main Street. This large limestone building was designed by Staten Island architect James Whitford. It still fulfills its original purpose.

 

The development of upper Main Street started in 1909 when the Huguenot Masonic Lodge built their building, designed by Staten Island architects Charles Schmeiser and Charles

 

U. Thrall, at 234-236 Main Street. For a time this building, which features handsome terra cotta decorations, housed the Post Office on its street floor. Soon after 1915, at 190 Main Street, the Richmond County Federal Savings and Loan Association built a building designed by James Whitford. In the 1920s several large commercial buildings were constructed on both sides of Main Street near Amboy Road. ìThe Flats,î a large three-story apartment building at 239-241 Main Street, went up around 1923 and the Stadium Theatre at 217 Main Street opened in 1927. In the 20th century upper Main Street, together with Amboy Road nearby, became the primary commercial section of Tottenville. It flourished until the 1960s when several of its major stores moved to the shopping center on todayís Page Avenue. The Staten Island Mall opened in 1973, further diminishing Main Street commerce.

 

Early Owners of 173 Main Street

 

On Feb. 11, 1892, Georgenia Cunningham , wife of George G. Cunningham , a butcher, purchased the William B. Butler property on the east side of Main Street. The property, with a 58-foot frontage, included the Butler house . Soon after purchasing the property they built the butcher shop on the right side of the lot. A directory from 1893-94 lists Cunningham as the owner of a meat market on Main Street, Tottenville.

 

George G. Cunningham was born in Northfield, Staten Island. His father, Charles Cunningham, was born in Scotland. His mother Elizabeth was born in New York State. Charles Cunningham is listed in the 1850 census as the proprietor of an ìOyster Saloonî in Northfield. Son George is one year old. By 1860 George, aged 10, is living with Nicholas and Eliza Van Pelt in Northfield. Nicholas Van Peltís vocation is ìfancy D[ry] G[oods] store.î It appears that Charles Cunningham had died and that Elizabeth had married Nicholas Van Pelt.

 

By 1870 George, aged 20, is living in Tottenville with John and Malinda Sharrot. John Sharrot was a butcher. George was in all likelihood apprenticed to Sharrot to learn the butcher trade. The John Sharrot home, located at 198 Main Street, is standing today. The small shop still standing in front of the house may be the original butcher shop, but this is not certain. It has not been determined when George established his own butchering business, nor when he married Georgenia. After her death George remarried around 1898, but by 1910 he is again a widower. On Oct. 29, 1913, George Cunningham sold the Main Street house and shop. On the same day the land on which the shop stood was made a separate lot and sold to Benjamin Williams.

 

Benjamin Williams, a successful Tottenville businessman, was born around 1871 in Newport, Kentucky. He attended schools in Cincinnati, Ohio, and New Brunswick, New Jersey, before settling on Staten Island ca. 1888. His wife, Elizabeth, was born in Pennsylvania. In the Standard Directory of Richmond County, 1893-94, his vocation is listed as ìinsurance,î a business he practiced for the rest of his life. Subsequent directories also specify ìreal estate.î

 

Precisely why he came to Tottenville is not known. His arrival in the late 1880s is indicative of Tottenvilleís growing prosperity and its attraction to professional businessmen. On Oct. 24, 1902, Williams purchased a lot at 73 Hopping Avenue. He soon built a house and came to reside at this prestigious address. He may have done business at more than one address, for some Staten Island directories give office addresses both on Main Street and Arthur Kill Road. He was a representative of the Insurance Company of North America for over 60 years. In 1906 Williams was one of the organizers of the Tottenville National Bank. He became vice president and later president of the bank board. He was treasurer of the Richmond County Savings and Loan Association and a member of the Chase Manhattan Bank advisory board when that bank took over the Tottenville bank in the 1950s. Benjamin Williams died on December 29, 1957. In 1958 Williamsís executor sold the shop at 173 Main Street to David Becker, who sold it two months later to the Roselli Fuel Company.

 

The Design of 173 Main Street

 

Shop bay windows with supporting brackets were found on American commercial buildings in the late 18th century and throughout the 19th century. The bracketed bay window brought the display area into the street, capturing the attention of passersby. The Ayscough Gun Shop at Colonial Williamsburg, an original 18th-century building, has one small multi-paned bay window supported with simple structural brackets. The Eltingville Store at Historic Richmond Town, built c. 1860 has one bay window supported by decorative brackets. This window is quite similar to the windows at 173 Main Street, except that it is multi-paned.

 

According to 1940 tax photographs, nearly all the commercial buildings on lower Main Street had bay windows, as had several buildings on middle Main Street. On lower Main Street, No. 77, c. 1860, survives, but greatly altered, its shop windows shorn off. On middle Main Street, No. 103 is standing but it too has lost its shop windows. No. 111, ca. 1895, has its bracketed shop windows enclosed in aluminum. Only 173 Main Street has its windows intact.

 

Middle Main Street stores built in the early twentieth century do not have bay windows. No. 169, built ca. 1910 on the north side of 173 Main Street, has wide plate glass windows, the center section canted in toward the central doorway. No. 175 on the south side, also built ca. 1910, had a similar design for its display windows.

 

Bay shop windows exist elsewhere on Staten Islandís commercial streets. Several can be found intact today in Tompkinsville: 9-11 Corson Street and 53 Victory Boulevard, both built ca. 1880, have bracketed bay shop windows. In Clifton, 1253 Bay Street also survives, its bay windows in a fine state of preservation. These are three-story, three-bay commercial buildings.

 

Gable end decoration similar to that of 173 Main Street is found on numerous Queen Anne style houses in Tottenville. The house at 236 Lee Avenue, built ca. 1894, has barge boards with a circle motif and spindles at the peak, as does 5301 Arthur Kill Road, built ca. 1896. Ready-made gable decoration could be ordered from catalogs such as that published by Blumer & Kuhn Stair Co., Chicago, 1893. Although 173 Main Street is much smaller than a typical Queen Anne residence, its fish-scale clad gable, robust barge boards and elaborate spindle decoration justify its being described as a Queen Anne shop.

 

The designer or builder of 173 Main Street has not been documented. Documentation may eventually come to light about the many carpenters practicing in Tottenville: Sixteen Tottenville carpenters are listed in the Standard Directory of Richmond County, 1893-94. The George Cunningham Store with its bracketed bay windows and Queen Anne style decorated gable remains a rare, intact example of Tottenvilleís late-nineteenth century commercial architecture.

 

Description

 

The George Cunningham Store at 173 Main Street is a small, three-bay, one-story commercial building composed as a single rectangular block. The end of its gable roof faces the street. The brick foundation has four courses above ground. The foundation stands about 18 inches away from the property line with the bay windows extending out to the property line. The brick entrance steps of two risers with shallow stoop extend part way into a modern concrete sidewalk. The stoop has a modern iron railing. There are no landscape features.

 

The front faÁade is composed of a central door with a bracketed bay window on either side. Each bay window projects beyond the faÁade about 20 inches, supported by a pair of heavy brackets. The sides of the bay window are slightly canted inward. The total width of the central portion of each window is 49 inches. The hipped convex roofs of the bay windows are covered with non-historic material. The central window of each bay has one sheet of glass. The sides are divided by a center muntin, creating a one-over-one sash. Above these windows are transom windows now filled with plywood. The brackets supporting the bay windows have ogee curves whose carved rays reach toward the edge. The brackets are canted inward echoing the side windows above. The windowsills are covered with aluminum. The wall beneath each bay window has two recessed rectangular panels.

 

The doorway is marked by slender fluted pilasters five and one-half inches wide with plain rectangular bases and capitals. The thin cornice is undecorated. The transom is filled with plywood. A non-historic aluminum storm door hides the inner door, which is also non-historic.

 

The attic wall of the gable end is covered with fish-scale shaped wood shingles. The lower edge flares outward slightly. A small square multi-paned window lights the attic. Cutwork barge boards and a scroll with a series of cutout circles decorate the edge of the roof and the peak is screened with multiple turned spindles.

 

The northern elevation. The clapboard on the wall has a four and one-half inch exposure. There is one window near the front. A door near the back is filled with plywood. There are no visible gutters. The roof is clad in non-historic shingles.

 

The southern elevation. The clapboard wall has one window near the front. The window surround is plain, as is the sill. A drip board is on top. The window is filled with plywood and an air conditioner is mounted at the top of the window opening. There is no door on this elevation.

 

The east elevation is not visible.

 

- From the 2008 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

Flat Black Face, Black Anodized Barrel and LIp

Laser Etching Option

St Peter, Titchfield, Hampshire

 

The grand monument to the 1st Earl of Southampton, his wife and son. Construction by Richard Stevens of Southwark was begun in 1582 at a cost of £1000. Originally the tomb should have been two, but this request was ignored and the family are respresented together. in the vault below is also buried the 3rd, 4th and 5th Earl.

 

Inscription panels:

Middle Panel: "Heere lyeth ye Right Honorable Ladye Jane countess of Southampton daughter of William Cheyne of Chessamboyes in ye county of Buckingham esquier, wyffe unto ye Right Honorable Sir Thomas Wryotheslye knight of the most Honorable order of ye Garter Baron of Tytchfyelde Earle of Southampton, and Lorde Chancellor of Englande which Ladye Jane dyed the 15the day of ---- in the year of our Lorde God 1574."

 

Right Panel: "Heere lyeth ye bodye of ye Right Honorable Henry Wryothesley Baron of Titchfyelde and Earle of Southampton who tooke to wyfe Marye Browne daughter of Syr Anthonie Brown Viscounte Mountacute and of ye Ladye Jane Ratclyffe his wyfe one of ye daughters of Robert, Earle of Sussex. By Marye he had issue ye Right Honorable Henrie Earle of Southampton now living. Marie Married unto Thomas Arundell esquire sonne and heyre of Sir Matthew Arundell of Warder Castell in ye countie of Wilte: knight.

This Henrie Earle of Southampton ended his lyfe at his house at Wychell ye fourth day of October in ye 36 yeare of his age in ye 21 yeare of ye raigne off our Soveraigne Lady Queen Elizabeth and in ye year of 1562 Our Lord God.

Left Panel: Heere lyeth ye bodye of ye Right Honorable Sir Thomas Wryotheslye soone of William Wryotheslye esquire who or his virtue and waorthynes was created knight of the Honorable Order of the Garter Baron of Titchfyeld Earle of Southampton Chancellor of Englande, one of ye Honorable Privie Counsell unto Kinge Henrie the 8 and Kinge Edwrad the 6 and one of the especiallie choosen and trusted exectors of the last will and testament of kinge henrie the 8. By Ladye Jane his wyfe he had issue Henrie Earle of Southampton. Elizabeth maryed unto Thomas Fitzwaters afterwards Earle of Sussex. Marye married unto Rychard Lystell esquier. Katherine maryed uno Thomas Cornwallys esquire and Mabell maryed unto Sye Walter Sandes knight besydes divers other children which dyed unmaried. This Thomas Earle of Southampton dyed the 30 day of ---- AD1551.

 

Details:

Jane Cheney was the daughter of William Cheney of Chesham Bois in Buckinghamshire and Emma Walwyn. She was taught to read and right and was known to have owned the 1532 edition of Chaucer.

1527 she married Thomas Wriothesley who was created Earl in 1547.

Jane at court was Senior Attending Lady to Katherine Parr and Attendant to Queen Mary on State Occassions. As widow she inherited several estates mostly in Hampshire including Titchfield Abbey, Micheldever and Southampton House in Holborn.

In 1551 Henry's school master was arrested on the instruction of the Privy Council for sending suspicious messages abroad. As a result Henry was taken into the guardianship of the Earl of Pembroke. Then in 1564 jaane refused to let Henry go to Court when he was summond, so the Privy Council was once again forced to issue a special order to have Henry removed form his mothers home. in 1566 he married without his mothers consent.

In 1556 A dinner was held by Jane at Titchfield, present was Christopher Ashton, John Bedell, Thomas White, Richard Rythe, all of whome were engaged in a plot to overthrow Queen MAry, as was he cousin Henry Peckham (x1556). Somehow jane managed to survive being surrounded by treasonous suspects.

when she died she left her prayer book with inscriptions and verses from friends to her daughter Katherine. She also left jewelery to her daughter, daughter-in-law and granddaughter.

 

Thomas Wriothesley (21 Dec 1505 - 30 July 1560) was born in London to william Wrythe and Agnes Drayton. He entered the service of Thomas Cromwell and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey at a young age and as such prospered after the dissolution of the monastries receiving several pieces of land between Southampton and Winchester.

By 1530 he was clerk of the Signet and in 1539 was Henry VIIIs ambassador in Brussels. In 1540 he was made one of the Kings Principal Secretaries and was knighted. By 1542 it was saif that he govered almost everything in england. in 1543 he negotiated alliance between Spain and England. In 1544 he was created Baron of Titchfield, lord Privy Seal and Lord Chancellor where he became notorious for the persecution of Anne Askew who alleged he operated the rack which she was tortured on. He was executor to the Kings will and was created Earl in 1547, at which point the men he appointed in his place as Lord chancellor rose up and managed to deprive him of his offices. He managed to get some of his ofices back and lead to the fall of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset.

He and Jane had five daughters: Elizabeth d.1554, Anne (never married), Mary d.1561, Katherine and Mabel.

And three sons: William d.1537 aged 2, Anthony d.1543, and Henry.

 

Henry (2nd Earl) (24 April 1545 - 4 Oct 1581)

His godparents were Henry Viii, Princess MAry, Charles Brandon and Henry Fitzalan. He Married in 1566 Marye Brwone (29 Nov 1528 - 19 Oct 1592) daughter of Anthony Browne 1st Viscount Montagu and lady Jane Radcliffe. When Henry died she later married Sir Thomas Heneage and then William Hervey, 1st Baron Hervey. They had Two sons and 1 daughter, the eldest being Henry who became 3rd Earl.

 

Henry (3rd) (6 Oct 1573 - 10 Nov 1624) was born at Cowdray House in Sussex. It is considered that Shakespeares first narrative poems - The Rape of Lucrece and Venus & Adonis were dedicated to him. It is also considered that the 'fair youth' of the sonnets was also Southampton. 1585-9 he was at St Johns College, Cambridge, and at 17 he was presented to the Court where he was soon befriend by the Earl of Essex as well as distinguished by the Queen favour. In 1596-7 he was on the exxpedition to Cadiz and Azores and was distiguished by his couragous acts. However, in 1598 he was brawling in court with Ambrose Willoughby. He also attended Principal Secretary Robert Cecil in Paris. In 1599 he went to Ireland with Essex in the Nine year War and once again was distinguished by his actions. Essex made him General of horse but the Queen later cancelled this title. He became involved in the Essex Plot and was sentenced to death in 1601. Cecil saved him and had the sentence commuted to life in the Tower.

Under James I he was allowed to return to court and had honours bestowed upon him. in 1605 he entertained Queen Anne at Southampton House with Loves Labours Lost. In 1603 he was brawling at court again this time with Lord grey and he was thrown back in prison. He was also implicated in the Mian Plot and Bye Plot. He was completly disgraced when he oppossed the Duke of Buckingham in 1621.

In 1614 he volunteered to serve in the German Protestant Army and in 1617 led an attack against the Barbary Pirates.

He later developed his properties and became involved in the East indida company and the New England Company whilst supporting the efforts of Henry Hudson to find the Northwest passage. He later became involved in the Virginia Company and colonisation helping to create Jamestown.

In 1624 he was fighting in the Low Countires against the Spanish when his son fell ill with a fever and died. 5 days later he died of the same at Bergen-op-zoom. Both are buried in Titchfield.

He married Elizabeth Vernon (11 Jan 1572 - 23 Nov 1655) in 1598. She was a lady in waiting to the Queen and when she fell prgenant they secretly married. The Queen discovered this and had them both put in the Fleet prison. They were never favoured again. They had two daughter and two sons: Penelope, Anne, James and Thomas.

  

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

CHARTHAM,

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

  

Plan of Chartham Downs

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

A court baron is held for this manor.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Charities.

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

It’s been since 2018 when I first built the Simplethinker Desk-Scale Millennium Falcon.

 

Just like last year with LEGO’s Executor and mine, when they released the Starship Collection Millennium Falcon, I decided mine needed some TLC, including borrowing some parts and techniques from the official one. I’m keeping it the same style so it’s different than most Falcons, but I’m still really proud of how it looks.

 

What do you think?

The hull is a part of the model that almost did not change since the beginning, because there was not much ways to do it at this scale.

 

The same goes for the city that had minor changes so far.

 

What is giving me a hard time since the begining it the stern and associated thrusters. Difficult to understand the overall shape. I modifed them several times (both position and how they look like), but it would seem that I reached a satisfying compromise: not perfectly accurate but this looks good.

 

The white parts are the one not added to the real model yet. I have most of them in stock but i'll need a new part order. Did not find a bley shovel for the greebles, that would have been funny. i'll see to have this appearing somewhere else.

(+) www.flickr.com/photos/midea_foto/albums

www.hollacemetzger.com

 

. . . . . .

 

"Impressionist" (low-resolution), inland images taken on a remedial digital tablet amidst a New Year winter stay in Παλαιά Φώκαια (Palaia Fokaia), between some months in Κυψέλη (Kipséli) and a week in the Παλαιό Φάληρο (Palaio Faliro) area of Athens proper, before departing for Italy - 1-8 January, 2020.

  

Palaia Fokaia (Παλαιά Φώκαια, "Old Phocaea") is a seaside town in East Attica, Greece, located on the Saronic Gulf coast between Sounio and Anavyssos in the southeastern part of the Attica peninsula, and is part of the greater Athens metropolitan area. Since 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality of Saronikos, of which it is a municipal unit with an area of 22.944 km2 and a population of 3,436. The community of Palaia Fokaia includes the settlements: Thymari - Agia Fotini, Katafygi and the Settlement of the Agricultural Bank of Greece. There are low mountains south and east of the town. It lies 2 km south of Anavyssos, 9 km west of Lavrio and 36 km southeast of Athens centre. Greek National Road 91 (Athens - Sounio) passes through the town. The municipal unit includes the village of Thymari and the small, rocky and deforested island of Patroklos, which is uninhabited.

 

The settlement of Palaia Fokea was created in the 1920s as a settlement of refugees from the Phocaea of Asia Minor, named Palaia Fokaia and not "Nea" as is customary in refugee settlements. In 1250 AD, inhabitants of Fokaia founded a new village 9 km north of Fokaia, which was named Nea Fokaia. In the following years, the settlement that was located in the ancient site was named Palaia Fokaia to distinguish it from the newer one. The refugees who settled in the area of Anavyssos and came from Palaia Fokaia, did not give the settlement they founded the name Nea Fokaia because there was another village in Asia Minor with the namesake. Thus the new settlement retained the name "Palaia Fokaia", which was the name of their particular homeland. The settlement was initially included in the community of Kalivia Thorikou, while from 1947 it was a separate community, and recognized within the borders of the community in 1971 and the settlement of Thymari. The community of Palaia Fokaia occupied an area of 23 sq.km. and had a population of 2,051 inhabitants, according to the 2001 census. In 2011, it was abolished with the implementation of the Kallikratis program, joining the new municipality of Saronikos.

 

. . .

  

Ancient History.

 

Palea Fokea is a city built in the northwest part of the Asia Minor peninsula. It was founded in the 8th BC century by settlers of Fokida led by the Athenian Philogenes. Its inhabitants were adventurous sailors and were the first to build "five-masted ships", light ships with fifty oars, the city being one of the 12 Ionian cities and its merchant navy competing with the Phoenician navy. They gained wealth and power through trade and founded many colonies.

 

The Fokians were the first to travel by ship to Gibraltar and built trading posts in many parts of the Mediterranean. From the 7th century BC began to establish colonies, the most important being: Lampsakos on the shores of the Hellespont, Elea in lower Italy, Alar in 565 BC with a very large port in Corsica, and Tartisos off the coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Another important one is Marseille in 600 BC, which founded new colonies such as Nicaea (C Κυte d'Azur), Olivia (Coast of the Mountains). From Marseilles the letters spread to neighboring peoples and the Phocaeans became the first civilization in the west before the Romans. When in 540 BC, they were conquered by the Persians, they boarded their ships and asked to buy Oinousses, islands of Chios to settle. The Chians, however, refused and so left for their other colonies.

Phocaea also minted the Phocaean stator as a gold coin. Its bay was divided into two ports, the Naval Station (large shore) and Lampitra (Small shore).

Pytheas, a great Greek seafarer, the first to see the glaciers of the B. Ocean, came from Marseilles.

 

1914-1922 Planning and Execution of Persecutions.

Central Asia was the largest part of ecumenical Greece, being 530,000 sq.km., while metropolitan Greece is 130,000 sq.km. So when Greece lost it in 1453 and in 1922 with the persecutions, it lost its economic power and shrank by four-fifths its size and financial strength.

In 1915 Greece, division raged again (1915), Venizelos resigns for the second time, and the central powers (Germany, Austria, Hungary) defeat.

Young Turks believe that their big day has arrived. The German military finds in the face of the neo-Turks the ruthless executor of the most barbaric measures, the recruitment of the Christian population, joining the infamous labor battalions, the displacement of the coastal population, measures of the Turks re-signed by the German general Liman von Sanders. The reason for this anti-Greek attitude was that Turkey was a large and easy-going Asian country - booty for all forms of exploitation. Its geographical location, Mosul's oils and navigation were its targets. These efforts confronted the Greek presence that for centuries held the reins of all economic sectors and especially shipping.

On May 14, 1914, the Minister of Interior of Turkey, Talat, sent a telegram to the Commander-in-Chief of Izmir: "..... It is urgent for political reasons to force the Greeks living on the shores of Central Asia to evacuate their villages and settle in the provinces of Erzurum and others. If they refuse to be transported to the indicated places, you will be pleased to see oral instructions to our Muslim brothers, as for all kinds of deviants force the Greeks to expatriate themselves at will. 'Do not forget to obtain in this case from these immigrants a certificate confirming that they are leaving the hearths of their own initiative so that no political issues arise.'" The plan of the diversions, that is, massacres and persecutions, was implemented in the most brutal and inhuman way by the Turks, the test starting from Palea and Nea Fokea.

Documented by French archaeologist Sartio and the team of Mansier, Carlier and Dandrias, Sartio came from Marseilles and made archeological excavations at that time. In his book "The looting of Phocaea and the expulsion of the Ottoman Greeks of Central Asia" and Mansier in his description, "The last days of Phocaea" plot the massacre and persecution of its inhabitants.

In a document of the Austrian embassy (April 3, 1917): "The Grand Vizier and Foreign Minister asked me and the German ambassador to let our governments know that military reasons of paramount importance are forcing the Turkish government to displace from Ayvalik and its environs, a population of 10 to 15,000 Greeks. The Turkish government has stated that General Liman von Sanders insists on the implementation of this measure. 'Residents should leave their homes within a certain period of time, but they are free to choose the place of their new residence inland.'" The continuation of the document is more revealing, "Under these circumstances, I FORCED the Turkish Ministry of War, where Ember Pasha, as well as the government, resisted the execution of the aforementioned measures."

And then the catastrophe of 1922.

 

Recent History.

Founded by Phocaea, Marseille's inhabitants did not forget their origin in any case, sincerely expressing their love and affection for the ancient Diocese, when in fact they celebrate the third millennium as the founding of their city with magnificent celebrations, and they invited the Mayor of Phocaea of Marseille. The younger inhabitants of Phocaea Asia Minor were sailors but at the same time cultivated the rich land of their region. The main source of prosperity was the salt flats, the richest salt flats in the Mediterranean. P. and N. Fokaia were cities with a Greek population for the most part, P. Fokea with 12,000 inhabitants, 9,000 Greeks and 3,000 Turks and N. Fokea with 7,500 inhabitants, 6,500 Greeks and 1,000 Turks. Here, people spoke only Greek, even the Turks. It had schools, churches and many chapels. The metropolitan church was Agia Irini. Another large church was Agia Triada, Agios Nikolaos and Agios Konstantinos to the north. The church of the Holy Trinity was built by the workers of the saltworks, holding a grand 7-day festival there where local musicians played violins, oud, santouri, organ (lantern), drums.

It was said to be a good life ruined by the Turks in June 1914. The archaeologist Sartio writes: "Her rich nobles left the cities barefoot because these shoes had also been removed. Unheard of sacrileges were committed in the temples". Mansier of the team of archaeologists says: "At night the city was looted. We are told a woman is on the verge of death because she was raped by 17 Turks. A total of 81 people were killed, including 17 women, so that with their own eyes, in the most barbaric times, all the characteristics of the destruction of a city, namely: theft, looting, arson, murder and disgrace of women."About a thousand inhabitants landed on fishing boats and sailed from Phocaea to Mytilene. Others landed on a large French sailboat loading salt from the port of Foca.

El. Iliopoulos, Consul General of England, who arrived in the city two days after its evacuation, was informed that in the canteens of the city butchers were hung pieces of human meat with "G" meatballs - that is, Greek meat. But the catastrophe was complete in 1922. More than 1,500,000 Greeks of ecumenical Greece were made by the order of Germany, the Greek division and the failed advance of King Constantine to the interior of Turkey, north of Turkish atrocity. Thus unpunished to today, Turkey carried out in the same century three genocides of different tribes of Central Asia, the Armenians, the Pontians and the Kurds.

 

The installation in Anavyssos.

Like all Hellenism in Central Asia, the Phocaeans fled to the nearest islands, Athens and Piraeus.

The late Ath. Papoutsis gave the following information on 20/2/1960 to Mr. Ap. "Proteus" and with elections elected Mr. Vassilis Tsouros, military doctor, Panagiotis Zinane, infantry officer, Ath. A. Papoutsis, Evagg. Pouloudas, Anastasios Ananidis and Ioannis Staveras, one of his goals being to choose an area for installation: "We went to Kassandra, Halkidiki, with a week's hassle. But it was far from Athens and the place was uninhabited. We left disappointed, we are Papoutsis Ath, Metalikis A. and X iotis N. We started looking for the installation of Anavyssos."

In Anavyssos, there were salt pans that a company had, recruiting people who knew better about salt production. Finding Christoulis Karapiperis an excellent craftsman, the took a team of 20-25 patriots who all worked. After the first year they had 2,000 tons more salt, the company so pleased it asked asked to hire all the Phocaeans that existed, electing a committee of Hatzis Karpouzis, Ioannis Dede, Ath. Papoutsis to take care of the installation.

At that time Athens - Lavrio had a train. The committee took the train and left Keratea. From there, Anavyssos walked down to the salt pans to see the place and the estates belonging to Petraki Monastery, where everyone could settle, then uninhabited with only one small church, Agios Georgios.

Later asking the Ministry of Agriculture for permission to settle in Anavyssos, they were refused because the area was intended for a team from Aretsou, Constantinople. Finally, on October 15, 1920, by order of the Ministry of Welfare and a boat, they reached the salt pans and stayed in 50 tents. In 10 days other families arrived by boat and took 100 tents, the tented area owned by relatives from Kalivia.

The new settlers went to the Minister and asked him to make a statement in the newspapers, that the Phocaeans will settle in Anavyssos because they are salt bars that produce salt, the statement read in the villages and stopped the settlement's current accounting. The families had come from Chalkida, Volos, Crete, went to Piraeus for work, others made charcoal and many worked in the saltworks. But as soon as the second winter came and they saw that the restoration was not taking place, a few were forced to leave for Piraeus and Athens. With no trees or water on the beach of Anavyssos, they lived from the saltworks and were given tools to immediately open a well. Unfortunately, from October 1924 to March 1926 they remained in tents, 19 months of agony. Every three months they had changes of government, and of the 160 original families, only 90 remained.

In March 1926, Pangalos ordered the arrival of the topographic service of the Ministry of Agriculture to define the settlement. He took 7,500 acres from the Petraki Monastery, 1,000 acres from the Logothetis estate, 400 acres from the area of Agios Georgios, yet they still did not have a church. Mr. Beis had set up 20 shacks for the settlers, the settlers taking materials from these to build their church.

Their President, "Garyfalos Papoutsis, came and we asked him and he sent us 100,000 and we started to build the school. We all helped together and the contractor who built it did not get a single drachma. He was a good man, his name was Hermes Philip. The school was built in 1932. For 4 years we paid a teacher to send the children to school." In 1947, Palaia Fokaia became a Community.

 

Contemporary History.

The first years of the exile, among the other difficulties faced by the refugees, was their non-acceptance by the Greeks of Metropolitan Greece.

The area of P. Fokea - Anavyssos was uninhabited, owned mainly by the Petraki monastery and also rented by the inhabitants and cattle breeders of the surrounding villages for grazing or cultivation. The settlement of the refugees brought several disputes between them, but their cohabitation and acquaintance resulted in mutual respect, acceptance, friendship with good cooperation, coexistence, prestige. Indeed, from the pre-war era, the nomadic cattle breeders began to settle permanently and to add vitality to the life of the village with their strength and hard work. In fact, after 1947, when it became a Community, the life of the village entered an upward course with important infrastructure projects carried out.

In 1954-55 the town's main road opened and connected the village with urban centers, leading to developments in tourism and an increasing population.

.

- from web.archive.org/web/20020806012444/http://www.attikos.gr/...

Draft Will of Emma Adeliza Bedford, Widow, of York Villa, Grange Road, Ramsgate, Kent dated December 1885.

 

Executors: Walter Sydney Stacey, brother and Eliza Culverwell, sister.

 

Beneficiaries: Henry Palmer Chapman, son of late husband’ sister Mary Frances Chapman. Arabella Christiana Jones, Annette Jorgine Andersen, Louise Smith, niece, wife of William Marten Smith, her sister Susan Anne Berg, wife of Joseph Berg, and sister Adelaide Maugham, wife of Thomas Maugham, Sister Rose Wylie, Walter Alexander Hore, her late husband’s half brother of Pole Hore, Wexford, Ireland, Halvor Shansen of Becker Sherbourne, Minnesota, USA. Eliza Carter, wife of Richard Carter, Jane Cole.

 

Two Codicils were made in 1888 and 1890.

 

The effigies of William and Avis Alston of Marlesford, Suffolk, on their memorial, commissioned by their eldest daughter, Avis, in St. Andrew's church, Marlesford, which contains the inscription,

 

To the memory of William Alston Gent who

married Avis, daughter of Jeferie Pitman

of Woodbridge, in the county of Suffolk, Esqr

& had issue 3 sonnes & 5 daughters, Avis the

eldest daughter, who in pious memory

of her deceased parents hath here

erected this monument.

He died the Xth of June 1641

  

William was born c. 1594 at Marlesford, Suffolk, the son of William Alston of Siam Hall, Boxford, Suffolk / Gedding Hall, Polstead, Suffolk, and his wife Marian (- 1641), daughter of Richard Holborow of Bulmer,

William would become a Barrister-at-Law of the Inner Temple.

 

Avis was the daughter of Jeferie Pitman (1561-1627) of Woodbridge, High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1625, and his first wife Alice. Avis was baptised in Woodbridge on 28th. February 1593.

 

The marriage of William and Avis took place on 21st. May 1618 in Woodbridge. They would have 3 sons and 5 daughters together.

 

Samuel, first married Elizabeth Mann and then Alice Nicholson.

 

Thomas married Anne Guilford, a widow from of Chelsea.

 

William married Margaret daughter of Mathew Hammond of Bury Gent.

 

Avis married Sir Thomas Foster, son of Judge Robert Foster of Egham and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edward Burton of Bourne.

 

Mary.

 

Elizabeth married Thomas, son of Edward Mann of Ipswich and Dorothy Mannock.

 

Catherine.

 

Alice.

 

Avis died, aged 40, in 1633, and was buried on 18th. May 1633 in Woodbridge. After her death, William married Margaret, daughter of Henry Groom Gent of Ufford, Suffolk.

 

William died on 10th. June 1641, aged about 47. He is buried in the chancel of St. Andrew's church at Marlesford. He left the following will,

 

" I desire my executors to receive the rents and profits of my mess. tents and heredts in Marlesford and Parham, co. Suff. until my son Samuel be 21 when said Samuel is to have possession of said property.

 

My lands and ten'ts in Aspall or near thereto I give to my son Samuel at the age of 14, my executors to receive the rents of lands and tenements in Framsden and Creatingham co. Suff. during Samuel's minority.

 

The said Samuel not to interfere in any way with the lands left to my son Thomas.

 

My executors to hold in trust for my son Thomas until he is 14, my mess. lands, tenements and heredts in Eyle co. Suff. also until Thomas is 21 my lands and tents in Woodbridge, co. Suff.

 

I give to Margaret my wife my mess. lands &c in Hacheston, near Parham, Suff. with remainder to my son Thomas.

 

Also to my son Thomas my mess lands etc in Walton, co. Suff. said Thomas not to interfere in any with lands left to Samuel.

 

I desire my executors to receive the rents of certain lands in Walton in trust for my dau. Avis until she is 21.

 

My executors to hold in trust for my daughter Elizabeth until she is 21, the rents of my Mess. and lands in Chelmsford co. Essex called the Beerehouse.

 

I give to my dau. Avis L20 yearly, until she is 21 - the same to my dau. Elizabeth - to be paid out of the profits of the lands left to them.

 

I give to my dau. Mary L20 yearly until she is 21.

 

To my dau Avis L500 on her marriage or age of 21

 

to my dau. Eliz. L800.

 

to my dau. Mary L1000.

 

I desire that Margaret my wife may have all goods, chattels, cattle, plate and household stuff, which were hers before our marriage, she to give to my son Thomas and dau. Marie L100 at her decease

 

To the poor of Marlesford 40/-.

 

To the poor of Wickham 40/-."

  

The weekend.

 

At last.

 

And for the weekend, Saturday was to bring sunshine, but Sunday would bring wind and rain.

 

But, as always, no one told Mother Nature, and Saturday was graced with thick and dark cloud.

 

But first: shopping.10% of our weekly shop goes on stuff for the local foodbank. Such things should not be needed, but it is.Around the store, just about everything is well stocked, except the fresh fruit which like it has been most of the year, thin on the ground.

 

Back home to put our goodies away, the to have two breakfasts, forst one of fruit, then followed by bacon.

 

Same every week.

 

And then: time to go out.

 

I am posting my top 50 Kent churches on Twitter, or until that site crashes, and I realise I needed to go back to a couple: Newnham and Wychling. Which meant on the way I could stop to look at Stone Chapel beside what used to be Watling Street, now the old A2, between Faversham and Sittingbourne.

 

A half hour run up the A2, through Faversham. Jools dropped me off at the junction opposite the chapel, and I have to scamper across the main road.

 

That done.

 

I have wanted to visit Stone Chapel just outside of Faversham for some while, but parking here is very difficult.

 

Yesterday, with the plan to visit Newnham and Doddington, it seemed too good an opportunity to visit the ruin.

 

You can see the remains from the old A2, Watling Street, and doesn't look that much, but worth visiting for the project, I thought.

 

In fact, close up it appears to be part Roman or made with Roman remains, the nave walls on both side have layers of clearly Roman tiles.

 

I am currently reading an archaeological paper which doubts the conclusions reached on the English Heritage site.

 

It is a less travelled path across the fields to the copse with the ruins in front. The field had been left fallow, so was full of Annual Mercury, Common Groundsel and a few Shepherd's Purse.

 

Straight away the courses of red Roman tiles were obvious, and even to me, seemed to form a square. The rest of the church was built of flint, and is crumbling still. Not bad for ruins of a building abandoned in the 1530s.

 

Ferns grow out of the mortar, quite a rare ecosystem here in Kent.

 

The stone altar is still in situ in the Chancel, or what remains of it. A step leads down into the nave, and was worn with steps of nearly a thousand years of use.

 

An amazing an mysterious place.

 

I walk back over the field, wait to cross the road and join Jools back in the car. From here it was a ten minute drive to Newnham where I was pretty sure the church would be open.

 

Outside, you can't tell how dull and gloomy it is, but inside a church, then you can tell. In the church, it was dark, almost night, but the camera found things to focus on until I found the lightswitches.

 

The church has no stained glass, and few memorials, but otherwie a few things to see. But good to have visited the first church and it was open.

 

Next up it was one of my favourites: Doddington.

 

A couple of miles further on, and up the hill is the gruesomely dedicated The Beheading of St John the Baptist, though named for the feast day rather than the even itself.

 

A walk over the litter-strewn and narrow lane, and into the churchyard, where the low clapboarded tower is wonderful in itself.

 

But inside an unusual double squint, wall paintings of St Francis and St John the Baptist, a couple of fresh looking hatchings, a realy excentric roal coat of arms of an unknown monarch, but remarkable. In the churchyard, the wardens have worked with Plantlife to create fine wildflower meadows in the churchyard, turning God's Acre into something to support our native flora and fauna.

 

I take 150 or so shots, then walk back to the car, and take Jools to the next target: Wychling.

 

Wychling is a remote church, pretty much without a village, but the church lays back from the road, through a meadow and then through the bare churchyard, the church with its tower hidden by mature trees.

 

The website said it would be open, but I had my doubts, and I was proven right as the porch door was locked.

 

So, it was a long walk back to the car where Jools was waiting.

 

Our final call was to be Hollingbourne, which I seem to remember my last visit was cut short.

 

So, it was just a five mile trip over the downs, so set the sat nav, and off we went. Thing is, roads round there are narrow, and partially flooded after the week of rain, so it was quite the adventure, and a couple of times we said, "NZ Tony would love this", as we went down another road barely wider than the car.

 

The other thing I should mention is that there was a fire at one of the oldest pubs in Kent, in the village. Not that I thought that would be a problem.

 

But it was, as the road past the hotel is closed while they try to secure the building.

 

No matter, if we could get to the M20, turn off at Leeds, then there was another way into the village there.

 

So, down gravel strewn lanes, and others so covered in fallen leaves they were not really roads at all. To the A249, down the hill and onto the motorway for one junction.

 

We turned off and went under the motorway and HS1, only to find the road through the village closed, for different reasons, this side too. Looking at the map, the chuch and a few houses sit isolated in the middle of the two closed roads. Nowhere to park.

 

I gave up, and we decded to drive home.

 

Back to the motorway, and cruise back to the coast through Ashford, Hythe and Folkestone.

 

No firebombing this time, though.

 

Back in time for the second half of the League 1 game featuring the Old Farm Enemy, Ipswich. I turned it on as Town scored their second goal, and so turned it off again.

 

That's not how its supposed to happen.

 

And due to the world cup cancelling out a month of Prem and Championship football, there was no commentary on the radio, nor no videoprinter.

 

All a bit dull.

 

We have dinner: tacos and home made spiced chicken tenders and salsa.

 

It was spicy, but not too spicy.

 

And after that, no football to watch on the tellybox, so we just have Craig on the wireless, playing funk and soul.

 

Jools beats me at crib.

 

And that was it.

 

Phew.

 

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

 

An enchanting church set in a wooded churchyard on the edge of a steep valley. The building displays much of medieval interest due to minimal nineteenth-century interference. The most important feature is the small stone prayer desk next to the westernmost window of the chancel. This window is of the low side variety - the desk proving the window's part in devotional activities. The nearby thirteenth-century lancet windows have a series of wall paintings in their splays, while opposite is a fine medieval screen complete with canopy over the priests' seats. There is also an excellent example of a thirteenth-century hagioscope that gives a view of the main altar from the south aisle, which was a structural addition to the original building. The south chancel chapel belonged to the owners of Sharsted Court and contains a fine series of memorials to them. Most of the stained glass is nineteenth century - some of very good quality indeed. Outside there is a good tufa quoin on the north wall of the nave and a short weatherboarded tower.

 

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

 

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

 

DODDINGTON.

NEXT to that of Linsted south-eastward, is the parish of Doddington, called in the record of Domesday, Dodeham.

 

THIS PARISH is about two miles across each way, it lies the greatest part of it on the hills on the northern side of the high road leading from Faversham through Newnham valley over Hollingborne hill towards Maidstone. It is a poor but healthy situation, being much exposed to the cold and bleak winds which blow up through the valley, on each side of which the hills, which are near the summit of them, interspersed with coppice woods, rise pretty high, the soil is mostly chalk, very barren, and much covered with slint stones. The village stands on the road in the valley, at the east end of it is a good house, called WHITEMANS, which formerly belonged to the family of Adye, and afterwards to that of Eve, of one of whom it was purchased by the Rev. Francis Dodsworth, who almost rebuilt it, and now resides in it. Upon the northern hill, just above the village, is the church, and close to it the vicarage, a neat modern fashed house; and about a mile eastward almost surrounded with wood, and just above the village of Newnham, the mansion of Sharsted, a gloomy retired situation.

 

Being within the hundred of Tenham, the whole of this parish is subordinate to that manor.

 

At the time of taking the above record, which was anno 1080, this place was part of the possessions of Odo, the great bishop of Baieux, the king's half brother; accordingly it is thus entered, under the general title of that prelate's lands:

 

The same Fulbert holds of the bishop Dodeham. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is . . . . . In demesne there is one carucate and seventeen villeins, with ten borderers having two carucates. There is a church, and six servants, and half a fisbery of three hundred small fish, and in the city of Canterbury five houses of seven shillings and ten pence. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth ten pounds. The bishop let it to ferm for ten pounds, when Fulbert received it, six pounds, and the like now . . . . . Sired held it of king Edward.

 

Four years after which the bishop of Baieux was disgraced, and all his effects were consiscated to the crown.

 

PART OF THE above-mentioned estate was, most probably, THE MANOR OF SHARSTED, or, as it was antiently called Sabersted, the seat of which, called Sharsted-court, is situated on the hill just above the village of Newnham, though within the bounds of this parish.

 

This manor gave both residence and name to a family who possessed it in very early times, for Sir Simon de Sharsted died possessed of it in the 25th year of king Edward I. then holding it of the king, of the barony of Crevequer, and by the service of part of a knight's see, and suit to the court of Ledes.

 

Richard de Sharsted lies buried in this church, in the chapel belonging to this manor. Robert de Sharsted died possessed of it in the 8th year of king Edward III. leaving an only daughter and heir, married to John de Bourne, son of John de Bourne, sheriff several years in the reign of king Edward I. whose family had been possessed of lands and resided in this parish for some generations before. In his descendants this estate continued down to Bartholomew Bourne, who possessed it in the reign of Henry VI. in whose descendants resident at Sharsted, (who many of them lie buried in this church, and bore for their arms, Ermine, on a bend azure, three lions passant guardant, or) this estate continued down to James Bourne, esq. who in the beginning of king Charles I.'s reign, alienated Sharsted to Mr. Abraham Delaune, merchant, of London, the son of Gideon Delaune, merchant, of the Black Friars there, who bore for his arms, Azure, a cross of Lozenges, or, on a chief gules, a lion passantguardant of the second, holding in his dexter paw a fleur de lis; which was assigned to him by William Segar, garter, in 1612, anno 10 James I.

 

He resided at Sharsted, in which he was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir William Delaune, who resided likewise at Sharsted, where he died in 1667, and was buried in Doddington church. He was twice married; first to Anne, daughter and only heir of Tho. Haward, esq. of Gillingham, by whom he had an only daughter Anne, heir to her mother's inheritance. His second wife was Dorcas, daughter of Sir Robert Barkham, of Tottenham High Cross, (remarried to Sir Edward Dering) by whom he had a son William, and a daughter Mary, married to colonel Edward Thornicroft, of Westminster.

 

William Delaune, esq. the son, succeeded to this estate, and was knight of the shire for this county. He died in 1739, s.p having married Anne, the widow of Arthur Swift, esq. upon which it passed by the entail in his will to his nephew Gideon Thornicroft, son of his sister Mary, widow of Edward Thornicroft, esq. by whom she had likewise three daughters, Dorcas, Elizabeth, and Anne. This branch of the family of Thornicroft was situated at Milcomb, in Oxfordshire, and was a younger branch of those of Thornicroft, in Cheshire. John Thornicroft, esq. of London, barrister-at-law, was younger brother of Edward Thornicroft, esq. of Cheshire, and father of John, for their arms, Vert, a mascle, or, between four crasscreated a baronet of August 12, 1701, and of colonel Edward Thornicroft above-mentioned. They bore for their arms, Vert, a mascle, or, between four crosscroslets, argent. Lieutenant-colonel Thornicroft was governor of Alicant, when that fortress was besieged in 1709, and perished there, by the explosion of a mine. (fn. 1)

 

Gideon Thornicroft, esq. possessed this estate but a small time, and dying in 1742, s.p. and being the last in the entail above-mentioned, he devised it by his will to his mother, Mrs.Mary Thornicroft, who dying in 1744, by her will devised to her two maiden daughters, Dorcas and Anne, this manor and seat, as well as all the rest of her estates, excepting Churchill farm in Doddington, which she gave to her second daughter Elizabeth, who had married George Nevill, lord Abergavenny, who dieds.p. and lady Abergavenny, in her life-time, made a deed of gift of this farm, to her son Alured Pinke, esq. who now owns it.

 

They possessed this estate jointly till the death of Mrs.Dorcas Thornicroft, in 1759, when she by will devised her moiety of it, as well as the rest of her estates, except the Grange in Gillingham, to her sister Mrs. Anne Thornicroft, for her life, remainder in tail to her nephew Alured Pinke, barrister-at-law, son of Elizabeth, lady Abergavenny, her sister by her second husband Alured Pinke. esq. barrister-at-law, who had by her likewise a daughter Jane, married to the Rev. Henry Shove; upon this Mrs.Anne Thornicroft before-mentioned, became the sole possessor of this manor and estate, in which she resided till her death in 1791, æt. 90, upon which it came to her nephew, Alured Pinke, esq. before-mentioned, who married Mary, second daughter of Thomas Faunce, esq. of Sutton-at-Hone, by whom he has one son Thomas. He bears for his arms, Argent, five lozenges in pale, gules, within a bordure, azure, charged with three crosses pattee, fitchee. He resides here, and is the present possessor of this seat and estate. A court baron is held for this manor.

 

DOWNE-COURT is a manor in this parish, situated on the hill, about half a mile north westward from the church. In the reign of king Edward I. it was in the possession of William de Dodington, who in the 7th year of it did homage to archbishop Peckham for this manor, as part of a knight's fee, held of him by the description of certain lands in Doddington, called Le Downe. His descendant Simon de Dodington, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as appears by the Book of Aid; from him it passed into the family of Bourne, of Bishopsborne, whose ancestors were undoubtedly possessed of lands in this parish, (fn. 2) so early as the reign of Henry III. for archbishop Boniface, who came to the see of Canterbury in the 29th year of it, granted to Henry de Bourne, (fn. 3) one yoke of land, in the parish of Dudingtune, belonging to his manor of Tenham, which land he held in gavelkind, and might hold to him and his heirs, of the archbishop and his successors, by the service of part of a knight's fee, and by rent to the manor of Tenham.

 

His descendant John de Bourne lived in the reign of king Edward I. in the 17th year of which he obtained a charter offree warrenfor his lands in Bourne, Higham, and Doddington, after which he was sheriff in the 22d and the two following years of it, as he was again in the 5th year of king Edward III. His son John de Bourne married the daughter and sole heir of Robert de Sharsted, by which he became possessed of that manor likewise, as has been already related, and in his descendants Downe-court continued till about the latter end of king Henry VI.'s reign, when it was alienated to Dungate, of Dungate-street, in Kingsdown, the last of which name leaving an only daughter and heir, she carried it in marriage to Killigrew, who about the beginning of Henry VIII. ending likewise in two daughters and coheirs, one of whom married Roydon, and the other Cowland, they, in right of their respective wives, became possessed of it in equal shares. The former, about the latter end of that reign, alienated his part to John Adye, gent. of Greet, in this parish, a seat where his ancestors had been resident ever since the reign of Edward III. for he was descended from John de Greet, of Greet, in this parish, who lived there in the 25th year of that king's reign. His grandson, son of Walter, lived there in the reign of Henry V. and assumed the name of Adye. (fn. 4) This family bore for their arms, Azure, a fess dancette, or, between three cherubins heads, argent, crined of the second; which coat was confirmed by-Sir John Segar, garter, anno 11 James I. to John Adye, esq. of Doddington, son and heir of John Adye, esq. of Sittingborne, and heir of John Adye, the purchaser of the moiety of this manor.

 

He possessed this moiety of Downe court on his father's death, and was resident at Sittingborne. He died on May 9, 1612, æt. 66, and was buried in Doddington church, leaving issue by Thomasine his wife, daughter and coheir of Rich. Day, gent. of Tring, in Hertsordshire, one son John, and five daughters.

 

John Adye, esq. the grandson of John, the first purchaser, succeeded at length to this moiety of Downe-court, and resided there, during which time he purchased of the heirs of Allen the other moiety of it, one of which name had become possessed of it by sale from the executors of Cowland, who by his will in 1540, had ordered it to be sold, for the payment of debts and legacies. He died possessed of the whole of this manor and estate, in 1660, and was buried in Nutsted church, of which manor he was owner. He left by his first wife several children, of whom John, the eldest, died s.p. Edward, the second, was of Barham in the reign of king Charles II. under which parish more of him and his descendants may be seen; (fn. 5) and Nicholas was the third son, of whom mention will be made hereafter. By his second wife he had Solomon, who was of East Shelve, in Lenham, and other children.

 

Nicholas Adye, esq. the third son, succeeded to Downe-court, and married Jane, daughter of Edward Desbouverie, esq. Their eldest son, John Adye, succeeded to this manor, at which he resided till he removed to Beakesborne, at the latter end of Charles II.'s reign, about which time he seems to have alienated it to Creed, of Charing, in which name it continued till it was sold to Bryan Bentham, esq. of Sheerness, who devised it to his eldest son Edward Bentham, esq. of the Navy-office, who bore for his arms, Quarterly, argent and gules, a cross story counterchanged; in the first and fourth quarters, a rose, gules, seeded, or, barbed vert; in the second and third quarters, a sun in its glory, or; being the arms given by queen Elizabeth to Thomas Bentham, D.D. bishop of Litchfield, on his being preferred to that see in 1559, the antient family arms of Bentham, of Yorkshire, being Argent, a bend between two cinquefoils, sable. Since his death this estate has by his will become vested in trustees, to fulfil the purposes of it.

 

Charities.

JOHN ADYE, ESQ. gave by will in 1660, 40s. to the poor of this parish, payable yearly out of Capel hill, in Leysdown, the estate of Samuel-Elias Sawbridge, esq.

 

AN UNKNOWN PERSON gave 20s. per annum, payable out of an estate in Doddington, late belonging to the earl of Essingham, and now to the Rev. Francis Dodsworth.

 

TEN SHILLINGS are paid yearly at Christmas, to the poor of this parish, by the lessee of the parsonage by the reservation in his lease.

 

THE REV. MR. SOMERCALES, vicar of this parish, by his will gave an Exchequer annuity of 14l. to be applied to the instructing of poor children in the Christian religion.

 

FORTY HILLINGS are payable yearly at Michaelmas, out of a field formerly called Pyding, now St.John Shotts, belonging to Alured Pinke, esq. towards the repair of the church.

 

A PERSON UNKNOWN gave for the habitation of three poor persons, a house, now containing three dwellings.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about forty-five.

 

DODDINGTON is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the dioceseof Canterbury, and deanry of Ospringe.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. John Baptist, consists of a body and chancel, with a chapel or chantry on the south side of it, belonging to the Sharsted estate. At the west end is a low pointed steeple, in which are six bells. About the year 1650, the steeple of this church was set on fire by lightning, and much damaged. In this church are memorials for the Swalman's, Nicholson's of Homestall, and the Norton's, and in the south, or Sharsted chancel, there is a black marble of an antique form, and on a fillet of brass round the verge of it, in old French capitals, Hic Jacet Ricardus de Saherstada, with other letters now illegible, and memorials for the Bourne's and Delaune's.

 

The church of Doddington was antiently esteemed as a chapel to the church of Tenham, as appears by the Black Book of the archdencon, and it was given and appropriated with that church and its appendages, in 1227, by archbishop Stephen Langton, to the archdeaconry. It has long since been independent of the church of Tenham, and still continues appropriated to the archdeacon, who is likewise patron of the vicarage of it.

 

Richard Wethershed, who succeded archbishop Langton in 1229, confirmed the gift of master Girard, who whilst he was rector of the church of Tenham, granted to the chapel of Dudintune, that the tithes of twenty acres of the assart of Pidinge should be taken for the use of this chapel for ever, to be expended by the disposition of the curate, and two or three parishioners of credit, to the repairing of the books, vestments, and ornaments necessary to the chapel. (fn. 6)

 

It is valued in the king's books at fifteen pounds, and the yearly tenths at 1l. 10s. In the visitation of archdeacon Harpsfield, in 1557, this vicarage was returned to be of the value of twelve pounds; parishioners sixty, housholders thirty-two.

 

In 1569, at the visitation of archbishop Parker, it was returned, that the chapel of Doddington used to be let to farm for forty pounds, and sometimes for less; that there were here communicants one hundred and thirteen, housholders thirty-five. In 1640 the vicarage was valued at thirty pounds; communicants one hundred and seven.

 

¶Archdeacon Parker, at the instance of archbishop Sancrost, by lease, anno 27 Charles II. reserved an additional pension of ten pounds per annum to the vicar. It pays no procurations to the archdeacon. It is now a discharged living in the king's books.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol6/pp307-316

The weekend.

 

At last.

 

And for the weekend, Saturday was to bring sunshine, but Sunday would bring wind and rain.

 

But, as always, no one told Mother Nature, and Saturday was graced with thick and dark cloud.

 

But first: shopping.10% of our weekly shop goes on stuff for the local foodbank. Such things should not be needed, but it is.Around the store, just about everything is well stocked, except the fresh fruit which like it has been most of the year, thin on the ground.

 

Back home to put our goodies away, the to have two breakfasts, forst one of fruit, then followed by bacon.

 

Same every week.

 

And then: time to go out.

 

I am posting my top 50 Kent churches on Twitter, or until that site crashes, and I realise I needed to go back to a couple: Newnham and Wychling. Which meant on the way I could stop to look at Stone Chapel beside what used to be Watling Street, now the old A2, between Faversham and Sittingbourne.

 

A half hour run up the A2, through Faversham. Jools dropped me off at the junction opposite the chapel, and I have to scamper across the main road.

 

That done.

 

I have wanted to visit Stone Chapel just outside of Faversham for some while, but parking here is very difficult.

 

Yesterday, with the plan to visit Newnham and Doddington, it seemed too good an opportunity to visit the ruin.

 

You can see the remains from the old A2, Watling Street, and doesn't look that much, but worth visiting for the project, I thought.

 

In fact, close up it appears to be part Roman or made with Roman remains, the nave walls on both side have layers of clearly Roman tiles.

 

I am currently reading an archaeological paper which doubts the conclusions reached on the English Heritage site.

 

It is a less travelled path across the fields to the copse with the ruins in front. The field had been left fallow, so was full of Annual Mercury, Common Groundsel and a few Shepherd's Purse.

 

Straight away the courses of red Roman tiles were obvious, and even to me, seemed to form a square. The rest of the church was built of flint, and is crumbling still. Not bad for ruins of a building abandoned in the 1530s.

 

Ferns grow out of the mortar, quite a rare ecosystem here in Kent.

 

The stone altar is still in situ in the Chancel, or what remains of it. A step leads down into the nave, and was worn with steps of nearly a thousand years of use.

 

An amazing an mysterious place.

 

I walk back over the field, wait to cross the road and join Jools back in the car. From here it was a ten minute drive to Newnham where I was pretty sure the church would be open.

 

Outside, you can't tell how dull and gloomy it is, but inside a church, then you can tell. In the church, it was dark, almost night, but the camera found things to focus on until I found the lightswitches.

 

The church has no stained glass, and few memorials, but otherwie a few things to see. But good to have visited the first church and it was open.

 

Next up it was one of my favourites: Doddington.

 

A couple of miles further on, and up the hill is the gruesomely dedicated The Beheading of St John the Baptist, though named for the feast day rather than the even itself.

 

A walk over the litter-strewn and narrow lane, and into the churchyard, where the low clapboarded tower is wonderful in itself.

 

But inside an unusual double squint, wall paintings of St Francis and St John the Baptist, a couple of fresh looking hatchings, a realy excentric roal coat of arms of an unknown monarch, but remarkable. In the churchyard, the wardens have worked with Plantlife to create fine wildflower meadows in the churchyard, turning God's Acre into something to support our native flora and fauna.

 

I take 150 or so shots, then walk back to the car, and take Jools to the next target: Wychling.

 

Wychling is a remote church, pretty much without a village, but the church lays back from the road, through a meadow and then through the bare churchyard, the church with its tower hidden by mature trees.

 

The website said it would be open, but I had my doubts, and I was proven right as the porch door was locked.

 

So, it was a long walk back to the car where Jools was waiting.

 

Our final call was to be Hollingbourne, which I seem to remember my last visit was cut short.

 

So, it was just a five mile trip over the downs, so set the sat nav, and off we went. Thing is, roads round there are narrow, and partially flooded after the week of rain, so it was quite the adventure, and a couple of times we said, "NZ Tony would love this", as we went down another road barely wider than the car.

 

The other thing I should mention is that there was a fire at one of the oldest pubs in Kent, in the village. Not that I thought that would be a problem.

 

But it was, as the road past the hotel is closed while they try to secure the building.

 

No matter, if we could get to the M20, turn off at Leeds, then there was another way into the village there.

 

So, down gravel strewn lanes, and others so covered in fallen leaves they were not really roads at all. To the A249, down the hill and onto the motorway for one junction.

 

We turned off and went under the motorway and HS1, only to find the road through the village closed, for different reasons, this side too. Looking at the map, the chuch and a few houses sit isolated in the middle of the two closed roads. Nowhere to park.

 

I gave up, and we decded to drive home.

 

Back to the motorway, and cruise back to the coast through Ashford, Hythe and Folkestone.

 

No firebombing this time, though.

 

Back in time for the second half of the League 1 game featuring the Old Farm Enemy, Ipswich. I turned it on as Town scored their second goal, and so turned it off again.

 

That's not how its supposed to happen.

 

And due to the world cup cancelling out a month of Prem and Championship football, there was no commentary on the radio, nor no videoprinter.

 

All a bit dull.

 

We have dinner: tacos and home made spiced chicken tenders and salsa.

 

It was spicy, but not too spicy.

 

And after that, no football to watch on the tellybox, so we just have Craig on the wireless, playing funk and soul.

 

Jools beats me at crib.

 

And that was it.

 

Phew.

 

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

 

An enchanting church set in a wooded churchyard on the edge of a steep valley. The building displays much of medieval interest due to minimal nineteenth-century interference. The most important feature is the small stone prayer desk next to the westernmost window of the chancel. This window is of the low side variety - the desk proving the window's part in devotional activities. The nearby thirteenth-century lancet windows have a series of wall paintings in their splays, while opposite is a fine medieval screen complete with canopy over the priests' seats. There is also an excellent example of a thirteenth-century hagioscope that gives a view of the main altar from the south aisle, which was a structural addition to the original building. The south chancel chapel belonged to the owners of Sharsted Court and contains a fine series of memorials to them. Most of the stained glass is nineteenth century - some of very good quality indeed. Outside there is a good tufa quoin on the north wall of the nave and a short weatherboarded tower.

 

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

 

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

 

DODDINGTON.

NEXT to that of Linsted south-eastward, is the parish of Doddington, called in the record of Domesday, Dodeham.

 

THIS PARISH is about two miles across each way, it lies the greatest part of it on the hills on the northern side of the high road leading from Faversham through Newnham valley over Hollingborne hill towards Maidstone. It is a poor but healthy situation, being much exposed to the cold and bleak winds which blow up through the valley, on each side of which the hills, which are near the summit of them, interspersed with coppice woods, rise pretty high, the soil is mostly chalk, very barren, and much covered with slint stones. The village stands on the road in the valley, at the east end of it is a good house, called WHITEMANS, which formerly belonged to the family of Adye, and afterwards to that of Eve, of one of whom it was purchased by the Rev. Francis Dodsworth, who almost rebuilt it, and now resides in it. Upon the northern hill, just above the village, is the church, and close to it the vicarage, a neat modern fashed house; and about a mile eastward almost surrounded with wood, and just above the village of Newnham, the mansion of Sharsted, a gloomy retired situation.

 

Being within the hundred of Tenham, the whole of this parish is subordinate to that manor.

 

At the time of taking the above record, which was anno 1080, this place was part of the possessions of Odo, the great bishop of Baieux, the king's half brother; accordingly it is thus entered, under the general title of that prelate's lands:

 

The same Fulbert holds of the bishop Dodeham. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is . . . . . In demesne there is one carucate and seventeen villeins, with ten borderers having two carucates. There is a church, and six servants, and half a fisbery of three hundred small fish, and in the city of Canterbury five houses of seven shillings and ten pence. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth ten pounds. The bishop let it to ferm for ten pounds, when Fulbert received it, six pounds, and the like now . . . . . Sired held it of king Edward.

 

Four years after which the bishop of Baieux was disgraced, and all his effects were consiscated to the crown.

 

PART OF THE above-mentioned estate was, most probably, THE MANOR OF SHARSTED, or, as it was antiently called Sabersted, the seat of which, called Sharsted-court, is situated on the hill just above the village of Newnham, though within the bounds of this parish.

 

This manor gave both residence and name to a family who possessed it in very early times, for Sir Simon de Sharsted died possessed of it in the 25th year of king Edward I. then holding it of the king, of the barony of Crevequer, and by the service of part of a knight's see, and suit to the court of Ledes.

 

Richard de Sharsted lies buried in this church, in the chapel belonging to this manor. Robert de Sharsted died possessed of it in the 8th year of king Edward III. leaving an only daughter and heir, married to John de Bourne, son of John de Bourne, sheriff several years in the reign of king Edward I. whose family had been possessed of lands and resided in this parish for some generations before. In his descendants this estate continued down to Bartholomew Bourne, who possessed it in the reign of Henry VI. in whose descendants resident at Sharsted, (who many of them lie buried in this church, and bore for their arms, Ermine, on a bend azure, three lions passant guardant, or) this estate continued down to James Bourne, esq. who in the beginning of king Charles I.'s reign, alienated Sharsted to Mr. Abraham Delaune, merchant, of London, the son of Gideon Delaune, merchant, of the Black Friars there, who bore for his arms, Azure, a cross of Lozenges, or, on a chief gules, a lion passantguardant of the second, holding in his dexter paw a fleur de lis; which was assigned to him by William Segar, garter, in 1612, anno 10 James I.

 

He resided at Sharsted, in which he was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir William Delaune, who resided likewise at Sharsted, where he died in 1667, and was buried in Doddington church. He was twice married; first to Anne, daughter and only heir of Tho. Haward, esq. of Gillingham, by whom he had an only daughter Anne, heir to her mother's inheritance. His second wife was Dorcas, daughter of Sir Robert Barkham, of Tottenham High Cross, (remarried to Sir Edward Dering) by whom he had a son William, and a daughter Mary, married to colonel Edward Thornicroft, of Westminster.

 

William Delaune, esq. the son, succeeded to this estate, and was knight of the shire for this county. He died in 1739, s.p having married Anne, the widow of Arthur Swift, esq. upon which it passed by the entail in his will to his nephew Gideon Thornicroft, son of his sister Mary, widow of Edward Thornicroft, esq. by whom she had likewise three daughters, Dorcas, Elizabeth, and Anne. This branch of the family of Thornicroft was situated at Milcomb, in Oxfordshire, and was a younger branch of those of Thornicroft, in Cheshire. John Thornicroft, esq. of London, barrister-at-law, was younger brother of Edward Thornicroft, esq. of Cheshire, and father of John, for their arms, Vert, a mascle, or, between four crasscreated a baronet of August 12, 1701, and of colonel Edward Thornicroft above-mentioned. They bore for their arms, Vert, a mascle, or, between four crosscroslets, argent. Lieutenant-colonel Thornicroft was governor of Alicant, when that fortress was besieged in 1709, and perished there, by the explosion of a mine. (fn. 1)

 

Gideon Thornicroft, esq. possessed this estate but a small time, and dying in 1742, s.p. and being the last in the entail above-mentioned, he devised it by his will to his mother, Mrs.Mary Thornicroft, who dying in 1744, by her will devised to her two maiden daughters, Dorcas and Anne, this manor and seat, as well as all the rest of her estates, excepting Churchill farm in Doddington, which she gave to her second daughter Elizabeth, who had married George Nevill, lord Abergavenny, who dieds.p. and lady Abergavenny, in her life-time, made a deed of gift of this farm, to her son Alured Pinke, esq. who now owns it.

 

They possessed this estate jointly till the death of Mrs.Dorcas Thornicroft, in 1759, when she by will devised her moiety of it, as well as the rest of her estates, except the Grange in Gillingham, to her sister Mrs. Anne Thornicroft, for her life, remainder in tail to her nephew Alured Pinke, barrister-at-law, son of Elizabeth, lady Abergavenny, her sister by her second husband Alured Pinke. esq. barrister-at-law, who had by her likewise a daughter Jane, married to the Rev. Henry Shove; upon this Mrs.Anne Thornicroft before-mentioned, became the sole possessor of this manor and estate, in which she resided till her death in 1791, æt. 90, upon which it came to her nephew, Alured Pinke, esq. before-mentioned, who married Mary, second daughter of Thomas Faunce, esq. of Sutton-at-Hone, by whom he has one son Thomas. He bears for his arms, Argent, five lozenges in pale, gules, within a bordure, azure, charged with three crosses pattee, fitchee. He resides here, and is the present possessor of this seat and estate. A court baron is held for this manor.

 

DOWNE-COURT is a manor in this parish, situated on the hill, about half a mile north westward from the church. In the reign of king Edward I. it was in the possession of William de Dodington, who in the 7th year of it did homage to archbishop Peckham for this manor, as part of a knight's fee, held of him by the description of certain lands in Doddington, called Le Downe. His descendant Simon de Dodington, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as appears by the Book of Aid; from him it passed into the family of Bourne, of Bishopsborne, whose ancestors were undoubtedly possessed of lands in this parish, (fn. 2) so early as the reign of Henry III. for archbishop Boniface, who came to the see of Canterbury in the 29th year of it, granted to Henry de Bourne, (fn. 3) one yoke of land, in the parish of Dudingtune, belonging to his manor of Tenham, which land he held in gavelkind, and might hold to him and his heirs, of the archbishop and his successors, by the service of part of a knight's fee, and by rent to the manor of Tenham.

 

His descendant John de Bourne lived in the reign of king Edward I. in the 17th year of which he obtained a charter offree warrenfor his lands in Bourne, Higham, and Doddington, after which he was sheriff in the 22d and the two following years of it, as he was again in the 5th year of king Edward III. His son John de Bourne married the daughter and sole heir of Robert de Sharsted, by which he became possessed of that manor likewise, as has been already related, and in his descendants Downe-court continued till about the latter end of king Henry VI.'s reign, when it was alienated to Dungate, of Dungate-street, in Kingsdown, the last of which name leaving an only daughter and heir, she carried it in marriage to Killigrew, who about the beginning of Henry VIII. ending likewise in two daughters and coheirs, one of whom married Roydon, and the other Cowland, they, in right of their respective wives, became possessed of it in equal shares. The former, about the latter end of that reign, alienated his part to John Adye, gent. of Greet, in this parish, a seat where his ancestors had been resident ever since the reign of Edward III. for he was descended from John de Greet, of Greet, in this parish, who lived there in the 25th year of that king's reign. His grandson, son of Walter, lived there in the reign of Henry V. and assumed the name of Adye. (fn. 4) This family bore for their arms, Azure, a fess dancette, or, between three cherubins heads, argent, crined of the second; which coat was confirmed by-Sir John Segar, garter, anno 11 James I. to John Adye, esq. of Doddington, son and heir of John Adye, esq. of Sittingborne, and heir of John Adye, the purchaser of the moiety of this manor.

 

He possessed this moiety of Downe court on his father's death, and was resident at Sittingborne. He died on May 9, 1612, æt. 66, and was buried in Doddington church, leaving issue by Thomasine his wife, daughter and coheir of Rich. Day, gent. of Tring, in Hertsordshire, one son John, and five daughters.

 

John Adye, esq. the grandson of John, the first purchaser, succeeded at length to this moiety of Downe-court, and resided there, during which time he purchased of the heirs of Allen the other moiety of it, one of which name had become possessed of it by sale from the executors of Cowland, who by his will in 1540, had ordered it to be sold, for the payment of debts and legacies. He died possessed of the whole of this manor and estate, in 1660, and was buried in Nutsted church, of which manor he was owner. He left by his first wife several children, of whom John, the eldest, died s.p. Edward, the second, was of Barham in the reign of king Charles II. under which parish more of him and his descendants may be seen; (fn. 5) and Nicholas was the third son, of whom mention will be made hereafter. By his second wife he had Solomon, who was of East Shelve, in Lenham, and other children.

 

Nicholas Adye, esq. the third son, succeeded to Downe-court, and married Jane, daughter of Edward Desbouverie, esq. Their eldest son, John Adye, succeeded to this manor, at which he resided till he removed to Beakesborne, at the latter end of Charles II.'s reign, about which time he seems to have alienated it to Creed, of Charing, in which name it continued till it was sold to Bryan Bentham, esq. of Sheerness, who devised it to his eldest son Edward Bentham, esq. of the Navy-office, who bore for his arms, Quarterly, argent and gules, a cross story counterchanged; in the first and fourth quarters, a rose, gules, seeded, or, barbed vert; in the second and third quarters, a sun in its glory, or; being the arms given by queen Elizabeth to Thomas Bentham, D.D. bishop of Litchfield, on his being preferred to that see in 1559, the antient family arms of Bentham, of Yorkshire, being Argent, a bend between two cinquefoils, sable. Since his death this estate has by his will become vested in trustees, to fulfil the purposes of it.

 

Charities.

JOHN ADYE, ESQ. gave by will in 1660, 40s. to the poor of this parish, payable yearly out of Capel hill, in Leysdown, the estate of Samuel-Elias Sawbridge, esq.

 

AN UNKNOWN PERSON gave 20s. per annum, payable out of an estate in Doddington, late belonging to the earl of Essingham, and now to the Rev. Francis Dodsworth.

 

TEN SHILLINGS are paid yearly at Christmas, to the poor of this parish, by the lessee of the parsonage by the reservation in his lease.

 

THE REV. MR. SOMERCALES, vicar of this parish, by his will gave an Exchequer annuity of 14l. to be applied to the instructing of poor children in the Christian religion.

 

FORTY HILLINGS are payable yearly at Michaelmas, out of a field formerly called Pyding, now St.John Shotts, belonging to Alured Pinke, esq. towards the repair of the church.

 

A PERSON UNKNOWN gave for the habitation of three poor persons, a house, now containing three dwellings.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about forty-five.

 

DODDINGTON is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the dioceseof Canterbury, and deanry of Ospringe.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. John Baptist, consists of a body and chancel, with a chapel or chantry on the south side of it, belonging to the Sharsted estate. At the west end is a low pointed steeple, in which are six bells. About the year 1650, the steeple of this church was set on fire by lightning, and much damaged. In this church are memorials for the Swalman's, Nicholson's of Homestall, and the Norton's, and in the south, or Sharsted chancel, there is a black marble of an antique form, and on a fillet of brass round the verge of it, in old French capitals, Hic Jacet Ricardus de Saherstada, with other letters now illegible, and memorials for the Bourne's and Delaune's.

 

The church of Doddington was antiently esteemed as a chapel to the church of Tenham, as appears by the Black Book of the archdencon, and it was given and appropriated with that church and its appendages, in 1227, by archbishop Stephen Langton, to the archdeaconry. It has long since been independent of the church of Tenham, and still continues appropriated to the archdeacon, who is likewise patron of the vicarage of it.

 

Richard Wethershed, who succeded archbishop Langton in 1229, confirmed the gift of master Girard, who whilst he was rector of the church of Tenham, granted to the chapel of Dudintune, that the tithes of twenty acres of the assart of Pidinge should be taken for the use of this chapel for ever, to be expended by the disposition of the curate, and two or three parishioners of credit, to the repairing of the books, vestments, and ornaments necessary to the chapel. (fn. 6)

 

It is valued in the king's books at fifteen pounds, and the yearly tenths at 1l. 10s. In the visitation of archdeacon Harpsfield, in 1557, this vicarage was returned to be of the value of twelve pounds; parishioners sixty, housholders thirty-two.

 

In 1569, at the visitation of archbishop Parker, it was returned, that the chapel of Doddington used to be let to farm for forty pounds, and sometimes for less; that there were here communicants one hundred and thirteen, housholders thirty-five. In 1640 the vicarage was valued at thirty pounds; communicants one hundred and seven.

 

¶Archdeacon Parker, at the instance of archbishop Sancrost, by lease, anno 27 Charles II. reserved an additional pension of ten pounds per annum to the vicar. It pays no procurations to the archdeacon. It is now a discharged living in the king's books.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol6/pp307-316

Byss Empire Executor

Detail picture about the hyper engines with on lights

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.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol3/pp190-202

LEGO Star Wars : Super Star Destroyer - Executor

List of 'Honourary Patrons', 'Honourary Presidents' and the Executive of the 1929 Loyalist Celebrations.

 

"Honourary Patrons

Hon. G. Howard Ferguson, B.A., LL.D.

Prime Minister and President of the Council of the Province of Ontario, Minister of Education

J. A. C. Cameron, M.A., LL.B., K.C.

President U.E.L. Association of Canada, Alderman of the City of Toronto

W. S. Morden, B.A., LL.B., K.C.

Vice-President Chrtered Trusts and Executors Company, Past President U.E.L. Association of Canada

 

Honourary Presidents

James. F. Hill, M.P.P.

W. C. Mikel, K.C.

W. E. Tummon, M.P.

Charles E. Hanna, ex-M.P.

W. S. Herrington, K.C.

Col. R. Vanderwater, D.S.O.

W. H. Harvey

Thos. C. Brown, Senator New York State

E. C. Metcalfe

 

Executive

J. S. Harding, President

Capt. V. G. Pearce, Secretary

A. O. Clark, Treasurer

Mayor C. E. Argue, Chairman, General Committee

Reeve C. W. Malley, Chairman Finance Committee

M. Hunt, Chairman Grounds and Decorating Committee

H. M. Rathbun, Chairman Programme Committee

C. J. Brennan

J. Whitton"

 

Page 5 of the souvenir and programme of the 1929 Loyalist Celebrations held in Deseronto, Ontario to mark the 145th anniversary of the arrival of the United Empire Loyalists in Canada.

 

Page 4

Page 6

Underneath the arch between the north chapel and chancel, tomb of Sir David Phillip / Phelip 1450- 1506 and wife Anne Seymark 1533-1510 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/VG480o who is buried Chenies manor Bucks which she inherited ++

This was the site of a chantry set up after his death, licenced in November 1506 to David Cecille one of his executors "to fund a chantry of 2 chaplins or 1 chaplin perpetual for the good estate of the King while he lives and for his soul afterwards and for the soul of Elizabeth his late consort and the soul of the said David and of his father and mother and Anne his wife (when she dies) and all faithful with licence for the said chaplin to acquire in mortmoin lands to the value of 9l a year".

Anne was the co-heiress daughter of Thomas Seymark / Semark of Thornhaugh by Alice daughter of William Lexham

and Margaret Oldhall. She was the ward of Sir Richard Sapcote of Elton Hunts and later firstly married to his 2nd son William Sapcote having a son Guy Sapcote m Margaret daughter of Guy Wolston

Sir David & Anne m c1485 but had no children,

.Coming from a lowly welsh family Sir David served Henry Tudor (late Henry Vll) in France and fought at the Battle of Bosworth. He became a squire to the body and gentleman usher at court and steward to the kings mother Margaret Beaufort at Colley Weston palace near Stamford living nearby at Thornhaugh, He also held the office of Keeper of the Kings Swans in the waters of Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire and was also keeper of the royal forest of Kings Cliffe which bounded his estates and Windsor Park. .In 1499 he was sheriff of Bedford and Buckingham and a benefactor to the church of Holme in Hunts where there was a window inscription "Of your chartie pray for Sir Davy Phelip and my lady his wife, and for all benefactors of this windowe".

His nephew by marriage Richard Cecil www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/z8mxo3 , father of William Cecil, Lord Burghley joined him having married advantageously Alice daughter of John Dicons alderman of Stamford by Margaret Seymark sister of his wife Anne Seymark ++

On the monument is the Dragon of Wales together with crowned Tudor Roses, and the Portcullis emblem of the Beauforts

The Semarks were out of favour after Bosworth and Annes marriage to David Phelip favoured by the Tudors and Ann's inheritance of the Cheyne fortune resulted into a family of position within the Court of Henry VIII.

www.cb5.co.uk/davidphelip.htm - Church of St Mary Stamford Lincolnshire

My friend, Simon, has 909 churches in Norfolk listed, which means that along any road or lane you might just stumble on a flint-built church, nesting at the edge of farmland or in the lea of a wood. Signposts pointing to a village or town is likely to have a church of interest.

 

So, driving down the main road, passing the sign for Smallburgh, I wonder if it might have a church, then I see it don a lane a hundred metres away, so, stop again.

 

A small and simple church, but blocked rood stairs show it is much older than it looks.

 

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

 

Like many East Anglian towers, St Peter's was in a state of disrepair by the late 17th century; flint is a fairly high maintenance material, and lavishing money upon the buildings was frowned upon by the puritans, an attitude reflected in much of the Anglican church itself. And so, it collapsed, taking the western half of the nave with it, to be patched up with the mean-looking tower that Bloomfield saw in the early 19th century.

It was not until 1902 that Walter Tapper's west end was built; Pevsner called it ugly, but I think this is unfair. It is certainly austere, and perhaps sits a little uncomfortably in the rambling graveyard; in truth, there is an urban quality about it.

 

But if not wholly in keeping it is seemly and imparts a certain amount of gravitas not typical of the period. I rather liked it, especially the crossed keys below the bells. No doubt about the patron Saint here.

 

More curious are the windows to south and north of the nave. No aisles here, no clerestory; the walls were heightened, presumably in one campaign, but the windows are a mixture of Perpendicular and Decorated. There is a symmetry to them, the earlier style in the middle flanked by two of the later on both sides of the church. I wondered if the Decorated windows were actually a Victorian conceit, although they appear to be genuine, unlike the tracery of the great east window, which is Victorian.

 

Entering the church, there is a spartan austerity about the interior that matches the west front. This contrasts greatly with the vividly painted roof, which is contemporary with the rebuilt west end, but was painted in the 1920s under the direction of the Rector's wife. The interior is certainly unlike other Norfolk village churches. I'd guess it is something of an acquired taste.

 

Actually, I found the roof quite interesting. In the style of a traditional Norfolk hammerbeam roof (though I assume that the hammerbeams are false) it is painted with texts rather than images - the Te Deum Laudamus to south and north, and Psalm 150 forming a canopy of honour at the east end. I thought this showed that the Rector's wife must have had a good understanding of medieval liturgical dynamics, because general thinking nowadays is that the angel roofs of medieval churches were exactly this; not mere decoration, but a hymn of praise reflecting the devotional activities in the space below. Interestingly, the hammerbeam ends stick out into the air, and ache to have angels on the end of them, but there are none. I wonder if they were ever intended?

 

Despite all this modern rebuilding and redecoration, there are some interesting medieval survivals here. The rood screen dado is painted with eight Saints; they are in very poor condition, but enough survives to make identification of some of them possible. On the north side are St Anthony with his little pig, a King (possibly Henry VI), St Benedict and what must have been a fine St George. On the south side, in rather better condition, are St Giles with a fine leaping hart, St Lawrence with his grid iron and two figures that are almost entirely lost, except that they appear to be the ghosts of bishops.

 

Intriguingly, there are three more panels reset on the east wall. The panels themselves are of different sizes, but they may have come from either the rood loft or from the doors in the screen. One of the figures is certainly St Peter. The other two are Bishops, and it has been conjectured that these two, along with the two faded figures on the screen, might make up the four Latin Doctors: Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose and Gregory, a popular foursome on late medieval Norfolk screens. However, it must be said that one of the figures appears to have the word 'Martin' lettered at the bottom.

I was pleased to find the church open, and the nice lady hoovering inside told me that it always is on a Saturday. She was extremely knowledgeable about the building, which is reassuring, since people who understand a building are more likely to exercise a proper duty of care towards it. And St Peter is not an easy building to love, but it is full of interest. As I said, something of an acquired taste.

 

www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/smallburgh/smallburgh.htm

 

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

 

The chief lordship of this town was at the survey in the abbot of Holm, and held of him by a socman, who had a carucate of free land, and gave it to that abbey in the time of King Edward, and held it after of the abbot: there belonged to it 2 villains, with a carucate and an half, and 2 acres of meadow, valued at 20s. The whole was 10 furlongs long and 12 perches broad, and the gelt was 8d. (fn. 1)

 

The abbot's temporalities in 1428 were valued at 25s. and 7s. in rent at the Dissolution.

 

The family of De Smalburgh were enfeoffed of the greatest part of it soon after the conquest, and claimed the right of patronage belonging to it. In the 12th of Henry III. John de Smalburgh granted to Peter de Brompton and Maud his wife, lands claimed as part of her dower from Henry de Smalburgh, her late husband.

 

In the 5th of Edward I. William, son of Reginald de Smalburgh, was petent, and Bartholomew de Corston and Maud his wife, deforcients, of 3 messuages, lands and rents here, and in Barton; and in the 8th of that King, Thomas de Smalburgh conveyed with Beatrice his wife, to John, son of Walter de Smalburgh, eight messuages, a mill, with several parcels of land here and in Berton.

 

Of this family was Sir William de Smalburgh, who died about the 48th of Edward III.

 

Catt's Manor

 

Was held of the abbot by fealty, and the rent of 4s. per ann. Edmund Bokenham, Esq. who died in 1479, and had lands and a tenement in Smalburgh, called Baxter's, purchased this lordship of the executors of Henry Catt.

 

John Wychingham, Esq. son of John, settled it on Ann his wife in the reign of Henry VII. and came to his daughters and ceheirs. In the 33d of Henry VIII. Christopher Coote. Esq. and Elizabeth his wife, passed it to William Arnold. In 1575, Thomas Pettus, alderman of Norwich, possessed it; and by an inquisition taken at Worsted, January 21, in the 19th of James I. Sir Francis Jones was found to be seised of it in right of his wife, with Trusbut's in this town, and of a fishery called Eale-Set, in Barton Water, and Sutton, valued at 12l. 6s. 8d. per ann.

 

Roger Bigot, ancestor of the Earls of Norfolk, had, on the conquest, the grant of a lordship of which 3 freemen were deprived, who had a carucate of land, with 12 borderers, and 3 socmen who possessed then 3 carucates of meadow, 2 of them were accounted for in Antingham, and the 3d was valued at 10s. (fn. 2) One of them was under the protection of the predecessour of Robert Malet, and the other of St. Bennet of Holm, which abbey had the soc.

 

In the 3d year of Henry III. William de Stalham granted by fine to Robert de Bosco, a carucate of land in this town, Bertham and Dilham, who regranted it to William, to be held of Robert and his heirs, by one knight's fee.

 

This came in the next reign to Sir Jeffrey Withe, by the marriage of Isabel, daughter and coheir of Sir William de Stalham; he was found to hold one fee here and in Dilham, of Sir Robert de Boys; and Sir Robert of Sir Richard de Rokele, who held it of the Earl Marshal. Sir Jeffrey lived at Hepperuth in Suffolk, and was father of Sir Olyver Wythe, who was living in the 16th of Edward I.

 

Jeffrey Wythe, the prior of Norwich, John de Smalburgh, Roger de Gyney, were returned to have lordships here, in the 9th of Edward II. and in the 9th of Edward III. John de Hederset and Elizabeth his wife, convey to Olyver Wythe and Wynesia his wife, 12s. 6d. rent, with the homage and services of Isabel Wyche, William de Felburgh, &c.

 

In 1373, Sir Jeffrey Wythe of Smalburgh gives his body to be buried in the churchyard of the brethren of Mount Carmel, (the White Friars) of Norwich; (fn. 3) his will was proved the last day of February, in the said year; and Alice his wife was executrix; and in 1361, Dame Alice Wythe was buried in that convent, as was Sir Oliver Wythe her husband.

 

Sir John Wythe, by his will, dated on Monday before the feast of St. Peter in Cathedra, (February 22,) desires to be buried in the chancel of Beeston church; names Sibilla his wife; and was proved in the said year, September 30, 1387: he left a daughter and heiress, Amy, or Anne, married to Sir John Calthorp. Sibilla her mother, was daughter and heir of Sir Edmund de Omer, and after the death of Sir John Wythe, was married to Sir William Calthorp. father of Sir John, and surviving Sir William, was buried by her first husband Withe, in the chancel of Beeston on the south side, to which church she was a benefactress, as may be seen in Calthorp.

 

In this family it continued, Sir Philip Calthorp dying lord in 1535; Elizabeth his daughter, being heir to her brother Philip, who died s. p. brought it to Sir Henry Parker by marriage, who had livery of it in the 3d of Edward VI. and was sold by Sir Philip Parker in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to Charles Cornwallis, Esq. who about the 37th of that reign, conveyed it to Thomas Gross, Esq. and Sir Charles le Gross, presented to the rectory in 1620, and Charles le Gross, Esq. in 1693, was lord: he sold it to Giles Cutling, an attorney at Norwich.

 

The heir of Cutling married James Smith, a mercer of Norwich. In 1713, Catherine Smith, widow, presented, as her right, it being an alternate presentation, and is now in Mr. Aufrere.

 

The prior and convent of Norwich had also a lordship here. Gunnora, sister of Hugh Bigot Earl of Norfolk gave them Elstan de Bac, a freeman, for an exchange of whom the said Earl, by deed, sans date, in the reign of King Steven, or Henry II. gave them Godwin de Smalburgh and Alfer, both freemen, (fn. 4) with their lands, to be held as freely of the prior, as they had been of him, and that they might honourably perform yearly his father's anniversary, and for his own soul and of his brothers and sisters, all his ancestors and successors. Richard de Turbeville, Robert de Reymes, Gilbert de Coleville, &c. are witnesses.

 

Pope Alexander III. in 1176, confirmed to John Bishop of Norwich, lands here and in Dilham, of the fee of Earl Hugh.

 

The Earl Warren had an interest here, his manor of Witton, probably extending into this town.

 

William de Heggs and his parceners held the 10th part of a fee of Richard de Berningham, and he of the Earl Warren, about the 20th of Henry III. and John de Hemmesby, and Adam Tucker, held it in the 20th of Edward III. of Oliver Wythe, and he of the Earl. In the 3d of Henry IV. Richard Kirope, and his parceners were in possession of it, held of the heirs of Wythe, and they of the Earl of Arundel.

 

The tenths were 5l.—Deducted 13s. 4d.—Temporalities of the prior of Hickling 11s.

 

The Church is dedicated to St. Peter and is a rectory. By an inquisition taken before the archdeacon of Norfolk, it was found that the church of Smalberge was vacant, and that the abbot of St. Bennet presented last, and that Robert de Smalbergh, Reginald, son of Hugh, Hubert, John and Theobald, sons of William de Smalberge, freemen of the said abbot, say they are the true patrons; (fn. 5) also Jeffrey son of Ralph, William son of Simon, and John son of William de Smalberge, say they are true patrons.

 

But all these by several deeds, sans date, about the time of King John, as I take it, released all their right to the abbot.—Witnesses, Sir Fulk de Baynard, Sir Bryan de Hickling, Sir Richard de Butler, &c.

 

In the reign of Edward I. the abbot was patron. The rector had a manse and 8 acres of land, valued at 13 marks. Peter-pence 10d. The prior of Norwich is said to have a portion of tithe valued at 6s.— The present valor is 10l. 14s. 2d. and is discharged.

 

The Bishop of Norwich has an alternate right of presentation.

 

Rectors.

 

In 1305, Henry Hemenburgh instituted, presented by the abbot of Holm.

 

1316, Robert de Bardelby, junior.

 

1318, Thomas de Bardelby occurs rector in 1326.

 

1346, John de Ludham.

 

1347, Robert de Morton, presented by the King, in the vacancy of an abbot.

 

1349, Roger de Barneburgh, by the King.

 

1365, Robert Druel, by the abbot.

 

1365, Thomas Rand.

 

1367, John de la Walle.

 

1371, Robert Spencer.

 

1409, Oliver Mendham.

 

1438, Richard Palmer.

 

1475, John Keving, late abbot of St. Bennet's.

 

1500, Richard Jordan, on Keving's death.

 

1525, Mr. Christopher Bland, A. M.

 

1525, Mr. William Pay, A.M.

 

1526, John Tacolneston, alias Brown.

 

William Ugge, rector.

 

1557, Mr. Robert Rugge, archdeacon of Suffolk, by the assignees of the Bishop of Norwich.

 

1559, John Rydley, by the Queen.

 

John Fenton occurs in 1596.

 

1602, Henry Woodhouse, LL.D. by the Queen, the see being void; in his return in 1603, he says that the Bishop and Sir Philip Parker, late lord, were patrons alternately.

 

1629, Thomas Hennant, A.M. by Sir Charles le Gross.

 

1659, Edmund Shilling, by Thomas Gross, Esq.

 

1681, Andrew Thexton, by Charles le Gross, Esq.

 

1713, Richard Oram, on Thexton's cession, by Catherine Smith, widow.

 

1762, Richard Humphreys, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, his option.

 

Here was the guild of Jesus, and in the church the picture of Edward the Confessor, in his regalia, and his arms, and the arms of Wythe, azure, three griffins, passant, in pale, or,—and those of Calthorp.

 

In 1677, the steeple fell down, and defaced part of the church; 2 bells were sold to build up a gable, and one left.

 

The Bishop of Norwich is said to have the patronage, on the exchange of the lands (in King Henry VIII.) of the abbot of Holm with the Bishop.

 

¶The church of Smalburgh in Edward the Fourth's time, is said to be 42 paces long and 18 broad.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol1...

So following my Executor model proportion conundrum that made me spamming my new flickr BFF (Jordan Fridal and Fabrice Neaud, the Knights of the Bley Shovel) I borrowed a quality diagram from the latter to make yet another comparison (I am writing more than I am building, not good).

 

I was right to reduce the tail by 3 studs as already explained, but i'll always have a narrower angle for the city aperture (use of 3x12 wedge plates) and a larger angle for the tail (hinge technique with 3x6 wedge plate angled from a 1x4 wedge plate). I'll stick to this because this allows to have a easier hull to build. I can't also increase the length of this aperture because this would require to move forward the ventral aperture of the underside which I can't do at that scale.

 

By the way, with the real model, the junction between both sides of the hull is perfect, unlike the 3D model.

The A-Wing is the fastest Starfighter in Starwars (in the time it was used anyway)

 

In Return of The Jedi you saw an Green Leader's A-Wing crash into the bridge of the Executor (AKA the Super Star Destroyer), which caused it to lose control, and crash into the second Death Star, both destroying the Executor and causing massive damage to the Death Star.

 

On this LEGO model I tried my best to get the shape as close to the original as possible. When i was finished I noticed that there was a small gap in the front of the nose, which i haven't included, so this meant i had to redesign the entire red part of the nose to get it right.

 

I'm really happy with this model, I feel I really nailed the shape of the A-Wing. :-)

 

I hope you guys like it!

Original Photo in the Genealogy Room of the Chanute Public Library

A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written & compiled by William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, copyright 1918

Amos S. Lapham

 

AMOS S. LAPHAM. There are but few members of the bar of Southeastern Kansas who have exceeded the record of Amos S. Lapham, of Chanute, for length and continuity of service, for devotion to the best ethics of the profession and for connection with important litigation. His standing is that of one of the foremost members of the bar of this part of the state.

Judge Lapham was born on a farm in Champaign County, Ohio, April 6, 1845, and is a son of Oziel and Mahala (Steere) Lapham, and belongs to one of America's old and honored families. John Lapham, the great-great-great-great-grandfather of Judge Lapham, was born in 1635, in Devonshire, England, and came to America prior to 1673, for on April 6, of that year, he was married at Providence, Rhode Island, to Mary, the daughter of William Mann. He lived at Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, and Dartmouth, Massachusetts. In the same year he was a freeman and deputy to the general assembly, and in 1675 was constable. He owned several hundred acres of land in the vicinity of Providence, but in 1676, at the outbreak of King Philip's war, removed to Dartmouth, Massachusetts. He was a large landholder for his day, and at the time of his death, in 1710, his estate, of which his wife Mary and son John were executors, was found to be worth $3,000, considered somewhat of a fortune for that time. He had four sons and one daughter. Among his sons was John Lapham, who was born December 13, 1677, in Rhode Island, and died in 1734. He married Mary Russell, April 3, 1700, who was born July 19, 1683. Thomas Lapham, son of John and Mary, and great-great-grandfather of Judge Lapham, was born in Rhode Island about 1710, and was about seventy-four years old when he died in that state. He married Abigail Wilbur, who died aged seventy-four years. The great-grandfather of Judge Lapham, Augustus Lapham, was born November 15, 1750, in Rhode Island and died in that state February 25, 1828. On April 6, 1775, he married Mary Scott, who was born in 1754, and died March 3, 1828. Amos Lapham, grandfather of Judge Lapham, was born in Rhode Island, June 26, 1776, near Smithfield and in 1817 removed to Champaign County, Ohio, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, April 14, 1859. He married Marcy Aldrich, who was born in Rhode Island, and died in Champaign County, Ohio, in November, 1859.

Oziel Lapham was born in Rhode Island, February 29, 1804, and was there educated, reared and married. He remained in New England until 1817, in which year he removed to Champaign County, Ohio, returned to Rhode Island in 1825, and in 1830 came back to Ohio, and for fifty-seven years resided on the same farm, where his death occurred June 26, 1887. His property was located near the Town of Woodstock, and in addition to being a farmer he was for a number of years a school teacher. Mr. Lapham was one of the well known men of his community and was honored and respected by the many who knew him. His political belief made him a democrat, and he was a member of the Universalist Church. In 1827, while still living in Rhode Island, he was married to Mahala Steere, who was born in that state, October 7, 1800, and died in Champaign County, Ohio, 1857. Their children, all born in Champaign County, were as follows: William Dennis, born May 31, 1829, died December 11, 1830; Olive, born December 3, 1832, died February 3, 1849; Eunice, born July 25, 1834, died August 25, 1838; Mary Josephine, born July 30, 1837, died at Woodstock, Ohio, August 19, 1899; John, born July 8, 1841, enlisted in Company I, Forty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died in the Union service during the Civil war, at Fort Meadow Bluff, West Virginia, August 3, 1862; and Amos S., of this notice. Oziel Lapham was married second to Mary M. Perry, of New York State, who died August 10, 1867, in Champaign County, Ohio, being the mother of four children: Lily S., born September 20, 1859, died at Topeka, Kansas, March 23, 1895, as the wife of Henry Ruff, who resided at Washington, District of Columbia, was a clerk in the United States pension office, and died there December 17, 1916; Ala M., born May 19, 1861, married December 28, 1882, Charles Clark, now of Chanute, Kansas, who has been a bridge carpenter for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad for many years; Perry Oziel, born June 7, 1863, died January 11, 1881, at Woodstock Ohio; and Mary, born August 10, 1867, died March 7, 1868. Oziel Lapham was married third to Elizabeth Miller, of Ohio, who died in 1913, at Spokane, Washington, the mother of three children: William M., born July 1870, is a general workman of St. Louis, Missouri; Addie M., born 1872, unmarried and a resident of Chanute; and Arthur, born January 12, 1876, a farmer, died unmarried at Woodstock, Ohio, December 12, 1898.

Amos S. Lapham attended the public schools of Champaign County, Ohio, until between the ages of twelve and thirteen years, and then spent three years in Antioch (Ohio) College. Following this he went to Lombard University, Galesburg, Illinois, for three months, subsequently enrolling as a student at the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, June 27, 1866. Judge Lapham taught school in Miami County, Ohio, for two winter terms before graduation, and after graduation taught one winter term in Drake County, Ohio. He commenced the study of law in the office of John Little, of Xenia, Ohio, who later became attorney general of his state and a member of Congress. In the spring of 1869 Judge Lapham entered the Ohio State and Union Law College, Cleveland, Ohio, and was graduated in June, 1869, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. On July 1 of the same year he was admitted to practice and began his professional duties at Iola, Kansas, where he remained for six months. In June, 1870, he came to New Chicago, now a part of Chanute, opened an office, and here has continued his successful and distinguished career in the practice of civil and criminal law. His offices at this time are in the Lapham Block, which he owns, at the corner of West Main and Lincoln Avenue. In 1875 Judge Lapham was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Kansas, and in March, 1889, to the Supreme Court of the United States. His practice has long been of a decidedly important character, connecting him with prominent litigated interests, the conduct of which has proven his ability.

In October, 1876, Judge Lapham became treasurer of Neosho County, an office which he held until October, 1880. In 1899 he was a candidate for judge of the District Court, and while he met with defeat that year, in June, 1907, was judge of the District Court of Neosho County for that term. In 1908 he was a candidate for state senator. He was one of the presidential electors in 1916. He also served as a member of the Chanute Board of Education for five years and as president of that body for one year. Judge Lapham is well known in fraternal affairs, belonging to Chanute Lodge No. 96, Ancient Order of United Workmen; Chanute Camp No. 852, Modern Woodmen of America; Chanute Lodge No. 110, Knights and Ladies of Security; and the Fraternal Aid Union. Aside from his profession he has numerous business interests, being a stockholder and director in the Santa Fe Investment Company and having a voice in the proceeding of other enterprises. He owns his own comfortable modern residence at No. 823 South Central Avenue, and a farm of 200 acres, 3 1/2 miles northeast of Chanute. He also has oil and gas interests in Kansas and Oklahoma.

On February 14, 1875, Judge Lapham was married near Austin, Kansas, to Miss Josephine Bonham, daughter of Garrett and Julia A. (Claywell) Bonham, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. Bonham was a pioneer farmer of Kansas, whence he came in 1869. To Judge and Mrs. Lapham there have been born seven children, as follows: Walter A., born March 18, 1876, who is engaged in the automobile business at Chanute; Olive Agnes, born September 15, 1877, a graduate of the Kansas University, studied instrumental music in Berlin, Germany, for 1 1/2 years, was then a student under Madame Zeisler, of Chicago, and is now a pianist of that city who is rapidly gaining a national reputation; Lily Ethel, born October 11, 1881, died May 18, 1884; Raymond Oziel, born September 29, 1884, died May 30, 1886; Willard M., born April 16, 1886, died April 19, 1886; John Wilbur, born May 29, 1887, now postmaster of Chanute, and is also associated with his father in the law business; and Mary, born September 16, 1889, who is unmarried and resides with her parents.

  

" Of your Charity praye for the soule of Mr. Edward Watson, Esqr., Justice of Peace and Surveyor General' to three Reverend Fathers in God, that is to say to my Lord William Smith, to my Lord William Attwater, to my Lord John Longland, late successively beying Bishops of Lincoln. Which Edward deceased the X day of October, the year of our Lord MVC XXX on whose soule and on the soule of Mistress Emma his wife Jesu have Mercy."

Edward born in 1490 at Sledmer the son of Edward Watson of Liddington. In 1515 he married Emma daughter and co-heir of Anthony Smith a brother of William Smith, Bishop of Lincoln a great favourite of Henry VII.,

They are here with 5 sons and 10 daughters one born after Edward's death refered to in his will as the child "in my wiffes belly",

1. Henry "monk" of Newstead Abbey

2. Edward b 1516 m Dorothy daughter of Sir Edward Montagu Chief Justice of England flic.kr/p/98fCbc (parents of Edward Watson of Rockingham www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/5362887769/ )

3. Kenelm d1597 inherited Liddington and other Rutland manors and through his sons Anthony (m Elizabeth www.flickr.com/photos/overton_cat/3103656442/ , daughter of Thomas Andrews of Charwelton www.flickr.com/photos/overton_cat/3102732747/ ) and Kenelm was the ancestor of the non-Rockingham Watsons

1. Barbara

2. Mary m Thomas Dudley of Clopton / Clapton (grandparents of Sir Edward Dudley 1632 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/d2MWBj )

3. Bridget m .....Ellyott

4. Susan

5. Margaret

Will - 15 July, 22 Henry VIII, 1530. I Edward Watson of Lidington,co. Rut', mak my testament and last will. My body to be buried inthe chauncell off the parishe churche of Lidington if . me to dyenygh unto Lidington; and if yt fortune me to dye far .I will my body be buried in the parishe churche wher yt happ me to depart. . I will my best horse to the curate where I shall departe. I . . . . . off Lidington in recompence of my duety undoenand to pray for my soul the body off the same churche off Lidingtonfor reparacion therof xls. . ther vjs. viijd.; and to the torchesther vjs. viijd.; and to the sepulcre viijd. To the cath. churche off Lincoln in recompence of my duety undoen

the churche orchauncell where yt shall happen me to be buried for my burial as the custome is honestly to be paid. I will that myn executores cause an hole trigintall off masses to be said in the churche where I shal be buried upon the daye off my buriall if that so may be,orels the next daye or days folowing. And lykwise as many at themonythes mynd, and as many at my yeres day. And I will ther be spenteat the day of my buriall and gyven to prestes, clarkes, and poer people xxl.; and at my monethes mynd xl.; and at my yere day xl. And I will that immediately after my buriyng myn executoures fynd an honest secular preist to pray for my sawlle in the churche where I shal be buried,and all the sowles of all them that I have faren better for, by the spaceoff oon hole yere, having for his salary vjl.; and he to say daily thatyere placebo and dirige, and dayly masse if he can be so disposed at thelest v or vj tymes every wek to say masse.

To my sister, Janett Peerson, vl., and to my sister, dame Sibbell,at sainct Katerens iiijl.; and I will that my wiff owt of suche landesas I haue willed to hyr doo pay to my said sister Sibbell xiijs. iiijd. yerelyduring there two lives. To Richard Brian, my cosyn, iiijl. To JohanSmyth, hys sister, xxs.; and to his sister, maried, at Kyrkham in Yorkshire xxs. To Mylys Parkinson at London vjl. xiijs. iiijd.; and to mycosy, Agnes Smyth, in London xxs.; and to hyr sister my cosyn Isabellin London xxs. To Margaret Erington and Helen Fox, my sisterdowghters. To sir John Williamson the yongar to pray for my sowll xxs.;and to sir John Williamson thelder xxs. To John Panter, my seruauntexx shepe oon of my hakney horses and in mony liijs. iiijd. To JohnWinterbourn oon of my gude furred gownnes, oon of my dowblettesof sylk, oon of my riding cotes, oon of my hakney horsis, xxx gude shepe,the bed I lye in my self beyng in my chambre at London, and in redymoney vjl., in full recompense of all thinges bitwixt hym and me if hewill so accept yt, els this bequest mad to hym to be void; and underthe same maner I forgyve hym all suche money as he aweth me. To Thomas Webster, my seruaunte, oon of my furred gownnes, on of mydowbletes of sylk, To John Lee, and John Fowler my seruauntes. To euery of my other seruantes, men and woman, besides all ther dueties xs. and to every of my god children that will come forthem ij shepe, and to euery pore howshold in Lidington after thediscrecion off myn executores xijd.

I will that sone after my deth myn executoures distribute emonges the pore people at Sledmare, where I was born, iijl. vjs. viijd., and to the brethern and sistern at Kingwoldgraves emong them xxs. Toevery hows off freers in Stamford, Leicester, and Northampton xs. Tothe priour and convent of Laund, the priour and chanons of Brok', thepriour and chanons of Laund, the abbot and convent of Oselueston, and thepriour and convent of Fynneshed xxs. apiece. To the nunnes of Rowellvjs. viijd., the priour of Bradley xs., the priour and convent of Sempinghamxxs. To the nunes of Sempingham xxs. To the abbasse and conventof de Lapray besides Northampton xxs., and to the nunes at Stamford,xs., and to the priour and convent of Newested besides Stamford, xs.,and to the priour and convent of Newested vpon Ancolme xxs. I praythat in every of thies howses may be song a dirigye and masse for mysawll, my ffather, my mother, my lord Smyth, my lord Atwater, andMaster William Smyth, and Master Robert Toneys sowles, all mychildren sowles, and for my brother Simon and William Watson sawles.To the churches of Vppingham, Bisbrok, Seyton, Thorp by the Water,Calcot, and Stok, every of them vjs. viijd.

To Henry Watson, my soon, at Newested, xxl., and will that he haue no moer of my guddes and landes. To Edward my soon cl. To Kenelme my soon cl. To Barbara, Mary, Brigyt, and Susan my dowghters cl.each. To the child in my wives belly cl. Besides that I bequeth to Edward my soon my basen and ewer off silver, my best chayn of gold,my best bed of down, with best coueryng, best fustians, ij best shavingclothes, myn iern bond cofer at London, my bag with sylver ringes,my sperver of sylk, my signet of gold, and j of my best gownnes, [etc.].To Kenelm my soon my greet standing cup with couer gylt at London,my joyned table of waynscot, my best iren bond chest at Lidington,[etc.]. To my gude wiff, Em Watson, ccl., and all my corn, my mylchebestes, all cart, plows and cart horses, all my wood in the parsonage andall my howshold stuff, [etc.], and my leaces off Brok close and theparsonage of Lidington. And I will that all my other plate be deuyded evenly bitwixt my wiff and Edward and Kenelme my sonys. I will that Edward my soon have my leaces of the parsonage of Gidding andof the close at Baggrave; and Kenelme my soon my leace of the parsonage off Multon; and Edward the leace of Tatersall landes in Lutton; andJohn Wynterbourn the leace off the parsonage of Stonysby; John Panter the leace of the lordship of Lindon. And if enny of my childrendeparte owt off this wourdle bifour they haue receyved their said bequestesinto their awen kepinges, then I will the on halff off their said bequestesof moveables be deuyded emonges myn other children then lyving, thethyrd parte ther of I will my wiff haue, and the iiijth parte therof to bedisposed in gude warkes for the sowles above written. And if ennyof my children entre into religion, I will the on halff off allmoveables bequethed to them be deuyded emonges myn other children the third part theroff to the hows they shall so entre into religion inand the iiijth to be disposed as biforsaid for the sowlles bifour rehersed.I will that myn executoures owt of suche rentes as I have apoynted andwilled them to receyve pay yerely to John Winterbourn xls., to John Panter xxvjs. viijd., to Brian Barker xxvjs. viijd., to John Fowler xxs.,and to Thomas Webster xls., my seruauntes during the space of tenyeres next after my departure. To the churche of Lidington all mystok of ledder and bark beyng in my tan hows, and also the use off allmy said tan hows so long as the same stok shall contynewe in yt. AndI will that with the rentes theroff be found a preist to pray for my sawlland the sowles above wrytten, and to teche poer mens children, having yerely for his stipend vjl.; that preist to be put in and owt alway at my wifes pleasur during hir liff; and afterward by myn heiresand the viccar and churchewardons off Lidington; so that myn heiresbe alway of counsaill theroff. And the overplus off the yerely rentesoff that tan hows, the preist found, the stok mayntened, and reparacionsmade, I wilbe disposed yerely in mending highe ways and other gud warkesabowt Lidington for the sowles above written, as my wiff in hir liff andafterward myn heires shall think best. And this to contynewe so longas enny parte of the said stok will endure. And when the prest can nolonger be found, nether of the rentes nor of the stok, then I will the tanyard retourn and go with my fre hold therunto next adioyning, for owtof that I tok yt. And the copi holdes to be sold and disposed for the sawles above wrytten by th advise of my wif and heires.

I will that every of my sonys have ij of my best bows and all myshaftes, and the residew of my bows to be devyded emonges my servauntes.To my brother in lawe, Henry Sapcot, my chamlet cott, oon of mygownnes furred with foynes, oon of my best voisions; and to every ofhis children vjs. viijd. My wife to have the custody and guyding of mychildren and all their gudes and landys so long as she lyveth sole; andif she will mary ageyn, or will not kepe their bequestes, then I will thatother myn executoures deliuer all my children bequestes of guddys intosubtanciall religiouse howses or colledges by wrytinges mad by lernedcounsell ther to be savely kept till they come to full ages; and myne otherexecutors to have the guydinge of my childer and ther landes to the cumeto lawfull age of xxj yeres.

I will that all my euidences and a true copy of this my testamentbe put into a suer cofer under ij or iij kays, and set into Fodringay Collidgeor some other suer place, their to be kept till my children come to fullage, and then iche of them to haue the euidences of the landes willedunto them, and euery of them a copi of this my last will. I mak mynexecutoures my wiff Em Watson, my cosyn Mylis Parkyn' of London,Henri Sapcot and sir Laurance Hodgeson vicar of Lidington; and Mr Doctour Raynes and Thomas Waldram gent. to be supervisoures; andto euery of myn executoures taken upon them thexecucion of my willI gyve xxl. for their laboures and their costes, and eyther of my supervisoures for their costes xls., [etc.].I will that my wif Em Watson haue all my maners, landes and tenements in Muche Giddingand Lutton in Huntingdon and Northampton shires; and all my maner,landes and tenements, in Garthorp in Leic'shier; and all my landes andtenements in Lidington, Seyton, and Thorp in the countie of Rutland,both frehold and copi hold, for terme of hir lif; so that she hold hyrtherwith contented without enny further clayme to enny other parteof my landes, either be title of inioyntour and dowrye. I will that mynexecutoures shall receyve the rentes of all my maners, landes and tenements in Bloneham parishe, Rothersthrop, Rokingham, and Dingley;and of all my landes in Buckland whiche I bowght of Mr Dormer, calledthe Horn, towardes the perfourmance of my will vnto suche tyme asmy childre and other to whom the said landes be willed be of full ageof xxj yeres; and lykwise my executoures to have the revenues to thesame use of all suche landes as I have willed to my wiff in case she departebifour my said children and other to whome the same landes awght bythis my will to discend be of their full ages. And in case myn executouresreceyve enny moer then will perfourme my testament, I will they disposeyt for the helth of my sawll in charitable warkes.

I will that Edward Watson, my soon, when he cummys to lawfullage haue the lordship off Buckland that I bought of my lord of Rutland,and the maner of Knypton that I bought of Mr Stonysby, and after dethof his mother and my will perfourmed, all my maners, landes and ten'tesin Lutton, Muche Gidding, Garthropp, Rokingham, Dingley, and Rothersthrop, to hym and the heires of his body for euer; [remainder] to Kenelmemy soon and to the heires of his body; [remainder] to Em Watson, mywif, for terme of hir liff; [remainder] to the child nowe that she goth with if he be a boy, and to his heirs of his body; els to my dowghters and the heires of their bodies; and for defaute of suche issue, the remayndour of my landes in Buckland to my cosyn Mylis Parkyns in Londonand his heires in ffee; and the remayndour off my maners and landesin Muche Gidding and Lutton to my cosyn Richard Brian and his heiresin fee; and the remayndour off all my maner and landes in Garthropto my cosyn William Brian and his heires for ever in fee; and theremayndor of all my landes in Rokingham to John Wynterbourn andThomas Webster, my clarkes, for terme of their lyves and after to besold and disposed for my soull; and the remayndour of my landesin Dingley to John Panter for terme of his lyff, and after to be sold and disposed for me and the sawles above written; and the remayndouroff all my landes in Roderthorp to Brian Barker, my seruunte, for termeof his lyff, and after to be lykwise sold and disposed; and the remayndourof my landes in Knypton to my brother in lawe, Henry Sapcottes,to the intent he shall ther with found a chauntre in the churche ofLidington for my sowll perpetually to endure. I will that my soon,Kenelme Watson, when he cummys to lawfull age of xxj yeres, haueall my maners, [etc.], in Bollebrykill, Calcot, and Lytle Walton, and themaner off Mantels and, after my will be fulfilled, all my landes in theparishe of Bloneham, [folio 36] to hym and to the heires of his body;the remayndour to Edward Watson, my son, and to the heires of hisbody; the remayndour to the child in my wiffes belly, if yt be a boy,and theires of his body; the remayndour of the maner of Mantels to the colledge of Brasen Nose in Oxford for ever, so that ouer and besidesther former noumbre of fellows ther be euermore oon prest fellowe secularof Yorkshire bourn to pray for my sawlle and the sawlles above wrytten.And for defaute of issue of all my said sonys, I will the lordship offBollebrykhill and all my landes in Calcot and Walton and in Silso besold, and with the money therof a chauntre perpetuall to be foundenin Lidington churche, and the residewe of the money therof cummyngto be disposed for the sawles above written and in defaute of issue ofmy said sonys, I will that the prior and convent of Newested superAncolme haue all my landes in Bloneham, and they for the same to saydaily a masse for all the sawles bifour rehersed. And after the deth of my . . and Thorp frehold . . . son and to the heires of his. . .; and for defaulte of suche issue to Edward my soon and his heires of hys body; and for defaulte of suche issue to . . . And if the child in my wyves body be not a boy or doo not lyve, then I will that after the deth of my wyff John Wynterbourn have my hows andyard land in Thorp, John Panter my hows and yard land in Lidingtoncalled Colstons, Brian Barker my hows and yard land that I bowght ofJerves, Thomas Webster my hows that Parr dwellith in, and John Fowler my cotage that Ete dwelleth in for ever.

Memorandum. 10 October, 22 Henry VIII, A.D. 1530. I EdwardWatson addinge to my testament this scedall annexed, will that all suchlandys lyinge in the town and feldys of Knypton with there commodities,as I lately severally purchesyd of John Blake of Knypton, gent., andThomas Wodford, gent., after my deth that Edward my son when hecummys to his age of xxj yeres shall haue to hym and to his heres of hisbody; [remainder] in like forme as I haue before bequethed the maner ofKnypton. I will that myn executors shall take the proufyttes and issuesof all my maners, landes, [etc.], unto the tyme appoynted by this my willthat my said sonnes shall haue my said landys and wt the issues to pay mydettes and legacies and to performe this my will to this scedall annexed.They beynge witnesse, sir Laurenc Hogeson, vicar of Lidington; Henry Sapcott; George Swillington, gent'; William Smyth of Thorp Langton;John Wynterbourne; and Thomas Webster.

 

effigy monument tomb brass

 

134 Main Street, Tottenville, Staten Island

 

The Theodore F. and Elizabeth J. De Hart House, built ca. 1850, 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 and Gothic Revival modes. Its doorway is an excellent example of the Greek Revival style, while the curvilinear bargeboards are expressions of the Gothic Revival. The richly ornamented 1870s front porch (which probably replaced an earlier porch) features articulated carved posts, cutwork spandrels and an exuberant railing. The entire house is substantially intact. Sharing architectural forms with other Tottenville houses, this is one of the best-preserved houses representing South Shore Staten Island’s early building traditions.

 

Through its succession of owners, the house has close ties to the oyster business which created the town of Tottenville. It was built as an investment on the newly laid-out Totten Street (later called Main Street) by Henry Butler, of a Tottenville family whose ferrymen and millers went back several generations. Three years later it was owned by William H. B. Totten, a grocer, and four years after that by Joseph W. Totten, a partner in an oyster-opening firm. Theodore F. De Hart, an oyster planter, was the owner of longest duration, from 1874 to 1913. 134 Main Street is one of the two oldest houses on this important Tottenville street.

 

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 a small 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. Although Billopp stayed on Staten Island only intermittently, his wife apparently lived in the manor house and his land was improved for farming. His grandson Thomas Farmar, who changed his surname to Billopp, inherited the manor in 1732 and lived there full time.

 

Thomas’s son Christopher Billopp (1732-1827) lived in the stone house through much of the American Revolution (known as Conference House, a designated New York City landmark). During his ownership the house was plundered both by Hessian soldiers and American patriots and Christopher sought refuge in his father-in-law’s house nearby. 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. In 1782, Christopher Billopp began to sell portions of the manor. Among the buyers were members of the Totten family. In 1783 Billopp left Staten Island. Sixty years later, this area would become the village of Tottenville.

 

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 Thomas Billopp. Local historians Charles Leng and William T. Davis say that he was an Englishman, who came to Staten Island from Westchester County.

 

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. In the 1850s two of their great-grandsons resided at different times on Totten Street (later called Main Street) in the small clapboard house that is today’s 134 Main Street.

 

Tottenville, the Town the Oyster Built

 

Gilbert Totten’s original farm was near Dissosway’s mill 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), who married Anne (Nancy) Cole (1773-1840), 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 (1804-1877), “mariner”; Ephraim J. Totten (1806-1891), sea captain and merchant; and William Totten (b.1813), dock and shipyard superintendent. These vocations indicate the family’s affiliation with the oyster fishing and maritime trades.

 

According to one local historian, the name Tottenville may have been in use as early as 1832. The Bethel Methodist Church was built in 1841 on Amboy Road on land given by John Totten, Sr. The church was a social as well as a religious center for Tottenville. 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 Main Street with about 20 houses leading to “Totten’s Landing” on the Arthur Kill. The landing became the terminus for the ferry to Perth Amboy, superseding Billopp’s Landing at the foot of Amboy Road. By the 1870s Main Street had become the locale for homes of the elite. Oysterman John Totten, Jr. and sea captain-merchant Ephraim J. Totten lived there.

 

The oystermen needed ship repair facilities and the first facility, superintended by William Totten, was built at the foot of Main Street alongside Totten’s Landing. Many additional ship repair facilities would be established in the following decades. Shipbuilding was underway by 1847, with the construction of the Rutan family shipyard near the foot of Amboy Road. In 1860 Tottenville became the terminus of the Staten Island Railroad, which afforded access for commuters 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 on Main Street near Totten’s Landing.

 

By the 1880s Tottenville had entered the golden age of oyster fishing, as the 1886 Picturesque Staten Island and Illustrated Sketch Book of Staten Island indicate:

 

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.

 

Comfortable, tidy and sometimes elegant cottages and residences appear on every street of this thriving village. .... It is a pretty little town, and no one can help but be favorably impressed with its appearance; the location is high and dry; the streets which are regularly laid out and well kept, run on a gentle slope to the water. It has also the reputation of being healthful and salubrious.

 

Ship repair and shipbuilding companies flourished into the 20th century. A major new industry, Atlantic Terracotta, opened its factory in 1897. By 1906 it employed over 450 men. The Tottenville Copper Company was also established during this period, later becoming the Nassau Smelting Company.

 

The closing of the Raritan Bay oyster beds in 1925 marked the end of an era. 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 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 134 Main Street

 

Henry Butler (1821-1899) built the house at 134 Main Street after he acquired the lot from John Totten, Jr., for $250 on October 11, 1849. This may be one of the first houses on the street. Butler may have been related to the Totten family through Mary Butler Totten, wife of Gilbert Totten. Isaac Butler, of an earlier generation than Henry Butler, operated the Perth Amboy ferry from 1788 to 1828. After 1803 the Butler family acquired Dissosway’s mill. The “J. J. Butler Store” appears on Main Street on Dripps’ Map of 1850. Henry Butler is listed in the Richmond County Census of Westfield for 1855 and other years, but his vocation is not given.

 

Dripps’ Map of 1850 shows “J. Fischer” residing in the house. The 1855 Census lists James W. Fisher, aged 30, “oysterman.” Apparently Henry Butler built the house as an investment and rented it to Fischer. Butler sold the house four years after purchasing the lot.

 

William H. B. Totten (b. ca. 1831) purchased the house on Nov. 28, 1853. The 1855 Census lists him as merchant, residing in a brick house valued at $3,000 and probably did not live in the 134 Main Street house. It appears that he invested in Tottenville real estate over many years. On Beers’ Atlas of 1887 “W. H. B. Totten” appears beside two Main Street buildings at the corner of Washington Street, which appear to be commercial buildings. In the 1898 atlas he owns these buildings as well as a residence on Broadway nearby and four identical houses around the corner on Butler Avenue. The 1917 atlas shows him also owning waterfront property at the foot of Butler Avenue. At some point William H. B. Totten moved to Manhattan and became a grocer, then a commission merchant and later president of the Irving Savings Bank. His wife was Mary L. Totten. He owned the house for only two and one-half years before selling it to his cousin, Joseph W. Totten.

 

On March 25, 1856, Joseph W. Totten (1832?-1858) purchased the house for $1,400 from W. H. B. Totten. Joseph was the son of John Totten, Jr. and Elizabeth Butler Totten. According to the 1855 Census, he was a partner in an oyster-opening firm that produced 12,000 gallons annually and employed 15 persons. He owned the house for less than three years.

 

On Dec. 16, 1858, the house was sold for $1200 to Mary L. Totten, wife of W. H. B. Totten, the earlier owner. In less than one year she sold the house to Cornelius Dissosway.

 

Cornelius Dissosway (1833-1902) purchased the house for $1,500 on Nov. 28, 1859. He was a ship captain, according to local historian B. J. Joline. He is listed, but without his vocation being given, in the 1865 Census for Westfield, with the value of his house given as $1800. His wife was Mary J. Dissosway. He was a board member of the Woodrow Methodist Church. Beers’ Atlas of 1874 reads “Capt. C. Dissosway” beside a house three doors south of 134 Main Street. He is buried in the Bethel Church cemetery. In the late 18th century his grandfather had owned Dissosway’s mill.

 

Theodore F. De Hart (1830-1913) purchased the house for $2,600 on March 20, 1874. He was the son of Henry De Hart, a Tottenville oysterman. Theodore’s wife was Elizabeth Jane De Hart (1834-1909), daughter of David Decker. Theodore is listed as an “oyster planter” in the 1875 Census along with three of his brothers. Oyster planters acquired oyster seed from Maryland or Virginia and planted them in the waters around Staten Island. Long poles rising from the water marked the presence of oyster beds. There the seed matured over a year’s time and were harvested. De Hart was no doubt the owner of a Staten Island skiff, a small boat designed specifically for use in the waters around the Island and perhaps another larger boat for carrying the oysters to market in Manhattan. The oyster business of the City of New York was centered on the Hudson River at the feet of West 10th and Charles Streets.

 

Theodore De Hart resided at 134 Main Street until his death in 1913. This is the longest residency by far of any owner. Theodore and his wife Elizabeth J. De Hart are buried in the Bethel Methodist Church Cemetery.

 

Mina (also called Elmina) De Hart Cole was the only child of Theodore F. De Hart and Elizabeth J. De Hart. She was residing at 134 Main Street at the time of her father’s death and inherited the house as his sole heir.

 

From 1849 to 1913 the owners of the De Hart House were members of Tottenville families prominent in the town’s most important industry, the oyster industry. Main Street, as its name implies, was Tottenville’s most important street.

 

The Design of 134 Main Street

 

The house at 134 Main Street was constructed around 1850 as a simple three-bay, one- and one-half story, clapboard cottage. Its rectangular plan of hall and parlor, end placement of the fireplace and straight gable roof, follows a long tradition of vernacular residential architecture on Staten Island since the first houses appeared in the late 17th century. Its newness is found in its wide Greek Revival doorway, small low second-story windows and wavy bargeboards at the gable ends. The wing on the south side may be original, or may have been added a short time after the house was built. The dramatic porch on the front and one side of the house and the bay window on the wing are clearly later additions, as are the three rear wings.

 

The small second-story windows probably echo the “eyebrow windows” of the Greek Revival style seen in Staten Island houses of the 1830s and 1840s. An example of eyebrow windows may be seen in the Stephens House and Store (a designated New York City Landmark) at Historic Richmond Town. Here at 134 Main Street they are not placed in the frieze, to light the attic, but are in the main wall below it. A design for a farmhouse found 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” from A. J. Downing’s Albany Cultivator (1846) shows three windows similar to Lafever’s placed well below the frieze. Whether or not our builder knew of these designs cannot be ascertained, but this design is a free interpretation of these forms and emphasizes an older approach to a new idea.

 

The dramatic carved porch posts with plinths and capitals, the railing and the charming scrollwork date most likely to the 1870s, as do the large scroll brackets. Similar posts and brackets are found nearby at 7484 Amboy Road, the James L. and Lucinda Bedell House (ca. 1870), a designated New York City landmark. The teardrop centered in the spandrels is often found in Eastlake decoration. It was a form favored by Tottenville carpenters, as it is found not only on these two houses, but on at least ten other houses in the area.

 

The horizontality of the Main Street house, emphasized by the front wing, reflects the farmhouse tradition more than the village tradition and underscores the rural atmosphere of early Tottenville. The lot size of slightly more than one third of an acre, much 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 seen on several other smaller Tottenville lots.

 

Another house of very similar design is found nearby at 7647 Amboy Road. Here can be seen 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 with square Greek Revival columns survives. The similarities of the two houses suggest a common carpenter-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. While by 1850 this style was no longer new, its popularity continued. The Greek Revival style, chosen for the earliest buildings in Tottenville, is also exemplified in large porticoed houses such as the William H. Rutan House (ca. 1848) and the Henry Hogg Biddle House (ca. 1850, a designated New York City Landmark).

 

Although plan books by Asher Benjamin and Minard Lafever popularized the Greek Revival style throughout America, rarely did local builders use plans 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.

 

This description sounds like 134 Main Street.

 

The Gothic Revival style is rare in Tottenville. Staten Island’s first resident architect, William Ranlett (1806-1865), built several cottages in the Gothic style on the North Shore. Richard Upjohn (1802-1876) designed a Gothic cottage for Thomas Taylor, who owned property near Prince’s Bay, but this house was apparently never built (only a single drawing for it exists today in the collections of the Avery Library). A. J. Davis (1803-1892) designed a Gothic cottage for Mr. Hasbrouck of Concord. A drawing of this house, which still exists today, was published in The Horticulturist, March 1847. Tottenville’s buildings of the 1850s are nearly all in the Greek style and conform to the vernacular carpenter-builder tradition. They are expressive of conservative knowledge and preferences.

 

The wavy bargeboards at the gable ends of the house are usually associated with the Gothic Revival style. Wavy bargeboards are found on at least two other Staten Island houses of the early 1850s, namely the Dr. Samuel MacKenzie Elliott House on Delafield Place in Livingston and the Parsonage at Historic Richmond Town. These two houses (both designated New York City Landmarks) are fully within the Gothic style. The wavy bargeboards at 134 Main Street could have coexisted with the Greek doorway and may be original, making the house an early expression of eclecticism and an example of Gothic Revival details on the South Shore of Staten Island.

 

Later Owners of 134 Main Street

 

Fannie B. Decker may have inherited 134 Main Street through Elizabeth J. De Hart’s daughter, Mina Cole. No deed has been found. Fannie B. Decker may have been a relative of Elizabeth J. De Hart.

 

William Wilson and his wife Margery D. Wilson purchased the property on Jan. 22, 1945 from Fannie B. Decker, then residing in Hampton, Virginia. They were residing in the house at the time of the purchase. The following was written about the house during the Wilson residency:

 

The Cornelius Dissosway mansion ..., now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. William Wilson, was one of Tottenville’s most beautiful residences. Its spacious rooms and French windows are most attractive. Passers-by have paused to note its elegance, when lights have gleamed from within.

 

Maurine J. LeCato of 321 Clove Road purchased the property from the Wilsons on Jan. 26, 1950. On May 8, 1968, Benjamin F. Bedell and Marie Bedell of Tottenville purchased the property from Maurine LeCato. Benjamin Franklin Bedell (1916-ca. 1995) was the owner of a grocery store at 111 Main Street. He was born in Perth Amboy. After service in World War II he purchased the Main Street store and came to live in Tottenville. His grandfather John Bedell owned the first drug store in Tottenville.

 

Description

 

134 Main Street is a white clapboard cottage composed of five rectangular parts with a dramatic porch. It rests on a low foundation, which is hidden from view.

 

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. All the roofs are clad in non-historic asphalt shingles. A single-story, ell-shaped porch with a shed roof extends across the front and north elevations. The walls are sheathed with original white-painted wide clapboard. The first floor sash windows are two-over-two panes and the front windows of the second floor are three panes wide and hinged at the top. These small windows are placed well below the frieze. The sash windows of the north side are six-over-six panes. The architraves on both the first-floor and second-floor windows are plain. There are canted wood sills. All windows have original green painted louvered shutters with wrought-iron tie backs.

 

On the primary façade an elaborate front porch with widely spaced carved wood posts (five along the front and three more along the north side) provides the initial impression of the house. The square white-painted posts are beveled at the edges and divided by large moldings demarcating a pedestal base and a capital. Springing from the capitals are cut-wood spandrels in an elegant scroll pattern forming a low arch. In the center of the arch is a trefoil teardrop. The posts support a plain entablature. Elongated console brackets above each capital reach up to support the cornice hiding the Yankee gutters. Two moldings decorate the cornice. The plank ceiling of the porch is painted light blue. A porch railing extends between the posts at the height of the pedestal bases. Just below the top rail is a wide board with cutouts of alternating diamonds and circles. This board and the lower rail hold turned spindles. The porch posts and rail are remarkably intact.

 

The porch is two steps up from the modern concrete sidewalk with the lower step being a single wide brownstone block. 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 of three parts. Dentils below a molding divide the architrave from the shallow frieze. The cornice is composed of two thick moldings. The original door is hidden by a modern wood black-painted storm door.

 

A shallow frieze marks the wall of the main block. Inserted into the frieze are widely spaced thin brackets holding the cornice and Yankee gutter. This cornice-gutter has a classical return at each end.

 

On the north façade of the main block extends a porch of the same design as that of the main façade, and contiguous with it. Two second-story windows, one on either side of the chimney, have plain architraves and sills.

 

A modern louvered vent is inserted into the attic wall to the right of the chimney. A dramatic curvilinear bargeboard decorates the gable end of roof. The peak of the bargeboard forms a gothic arch. A wide, stepped brick end chimney rises from the body of the house at the peak of the roof. It appears to have been enlarged on its south side and this alteration is banded to the whole with a metal strip.

 

The west façade is partially hidden by the two-story addition. Only the northern end of the west façade is visible. It has one two-over-two sash window on the first floor. The clapboards of the west façade are considerably wider than those of the front and sides.

 

The south façade is mostly hidden by the one and one-half story addition. Its curvilinear bargeboard matches that of the north façade. A large metal triangular louver is at the peak of the attic.

 

The south wing, also of one and one-half stories, is joined flush to the main block of the house, although the height is lower. This wing has a gable roof. On the first floor facing the street is a very large bay window composed of four sash windows, two-over-two panes. On the second floor are three-pane windows like those of the main block. The south elevation has six over six sash windows with louvered shutters. They are covered with modern aluminum storm windows.

 

The south wing contains a large bay window on the first floor, which spans across its entire east façade. It is composed of four, round-headed sash windows. The sash are painted black. Two large windows parallel to the street are two-over-two. Two smaller one-over-one windows are slanted to create the bay. The wall below the windowsills is decorated with moldings in a rectangular shape. The roof of the bay window has a deep cornice with molding. The cornice is supported by heavy sinuous curving brackets, placed below the cornice in the space between each of the windows.

 

On the second story are three small windows similar to those of the main block. Above these windows is a deep plain entablature and cornice holding a Yankee gutter. The cornice returns on each end of the wing. A modern aluminum down spout is located at the northern end of the gutter.

 

The south façade has one six-over-six sash window on the first floor and two on the second floor. The windows are flanked by louvered green-painted shutters. The gable end of the roof is decorated with a curvilinear bargeboard of the same type as that of the main block of the house.

 

The west façade is hidden by the rear wing. The north façade is hidden by the main block of the house.

 

Directly behind the south wing and flush with it is a one-story rear addition. It is two bays deep and two bays wide and has a shed roof. It too is clad with white painted clapboard. Two windows on its south side are obstructed by a modern fence. The one-story rear addition has a shed roof. The south façade has two two-over-two windows with shutters. They are hidden by a modern chain-link fence. The west façade is hidden by a vine-covered lattice structure. The roof of this latticework is supported by large wood cutwork brackets. Partially visible over the rear door is a hood, which is also supported by the same type bracket. The clapboard siding is twice the width of the clapboards on the front and side elevations of the house. The north façade is hidden by the two-story wing. The east façade is hidden by the south wing.

 

Directly behind the main block and flush with it and the second wing is a two-story rear wing. It is one bay deep and two bays wide and has a shed roof. Its roof extends over part of the roof of the main block. The windows are two panes over two panes. The two-story rear wing is joined to the main block of the house. The east façade is hidden. The roof extends over the rear slope of the roof of the main block. On the south façade the first floor is hidden by the one-story rear addition. The second floor of the south façade has one two-over-two sash window with a plain architrave. The walls are covered with wide clapboard. The shed roof has a very thin cornice. A brick chimney rises near the south edge of the roof. It has a tall metal ventilator cap. The first floor of the west façade is hidden by the west wing. The second floor has two two-over-two sash windows each flanked by green louvered shutters. These windows have modern aluminum storm windows. A Yankee gutter extends slightly beyond the wall.

 

The north façade of the two-story rear wing is clad in wide clapboard. A single window on the first floor is composed of two frames side by side with six panes each. It has a plain architrave. There is a twoover-two sash window on the second floor. The second-floor window is spaced somewhat to the right of the lower window, not directly above it. These windows have no shutters. On this wing approximately one and one-half feet of the brick foundation is exposed.

 

Joined behind this two-story wing is a modern small one-story west wing of one bay by one bay. This wing is clad in modern horizontally laid broad synthetic siding painted white. It has modern aluminum windows. This modern non-historic wing extends from the rear two-story wing. The roof is a low gable with wide overhanging eaves. The gable end faces west. The walls and eaves are covered with modern siding painted white. Its east façade is hidden by the two-story wing. The south façade of the wing has one door and no windows. The door is off center, closer to the rear wing. There is a wall light fixture on the west side of the door. On the west façade a modern aluminum window is centered on the wall. The north façade also has one modern aluminum window. Like the door it is not centered on the wall, but closer to the rear wing.

 

The house is located on a rectangular lot with a frontage of 76 feet on Main Street and a depth of 204.60 feet. The lot slops gradually upward from the street. The house stands about 15 feet from the modern sidewalk. An agate concrete sidewalk leading to the porch is three steps up from the public sidewalk. A chain-link fence runs along the southern boundary.

 

A gravel driveway extends along the northern boundary, leading to a non-historic one-car garage. There is a small board and batten structure midway in the backyard near the southern boundary. It has a gable roof. The gable end of one bay faces the street. The side elevation is of two bays. It measures approximately 10 by 20 feet. The southern elevation is on the boundary line. The northern elevation has a single door and a six-over-six window.

 

- From the 2006 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

  

Tottenville, Staten Island, New York City, New York

 

The George Cunningham Store at 173 Main Street, Tottenville, built c. 1892, is a rare and intact vernacular commercial building in the Queen Anne style from a significant period of development for Tottenville and its downtown Main Street. Its robust bay windows with decorative brackets are rare survivors of a once popular feature of early American commercial architecture. The building also features a distinctive decorated gable end that gives this small one-story building great presence on the street. It is the best preserved of the early shops remaining on Tottenville’s Main Street and perhaps one of the few shops with bay windows remaining in New York City.

 

In the 19th century, Tottenville became the largest town on Staten Island’s South Shore. It was founded in the 1840s on the industries of oyster fishing and shipbuilding. The 1890s, when this shop was built, were an expansive era in Tottenville’s history. On a prestigious residential block, the little shop represented the emerging commercial success of the town’s Main Street. From 1892 to 1913, for 21 years, this was George G. Cunningham’s Butcher Shop. From 1913 to 1957, for 44 years, it was Benjamin Williams’s Real Estate and Insurance Office. Their combined occupancy spanning 65 years documented Main Street’s long-lasting commercial viability.

 

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 a small isolated village. Across the Arthur Kill lies the city of Perth Amboy, New Jersey. South of Ward’s Point is 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 style obelisks mark their graves in the church’s cemetery.

 

Tottenville, the Town the Oyster Built

 

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. Mariners Harbor on the North Shore also grew at a swift pace through the 19th century because of the oyster industry.

 

Sandy Ground, the African American community in Westfield, came into being about 1850. By 1880 African American oystermen from Virginia and Maryland had located there. Tottenville also attracted black oystermen. The Cooley family from Virginia settled in Tottenville after Abraham Cole Totten, a mariner sailing regularly to the South, sold property to them. Other free black oystermen have recently been identified in an historic resources survey of Tottenville now underway.

 

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 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, 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 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, along with the rest of Staten Island has seen dramatic population growth.

 

History of Main Street

 

In 1834, when John Totten Jr. purchased a five and one-half acre waterfront property, he gained the “privilege of a road to and from the main public road,” today’s Amboy Road. In 1836 when his brothers James and William purchased a six-acre riverfront lot adjoining John’s to the east there was a “right to pass” between the two properties to the main road. John Totten Jr. built Totten’s Dock about 1837 and his brothers established a shipbuilding and repair facility on their property. The dock gave access to the waterways of the region, assuring the commercial success of Tottenville. With steamships to Manhattan stopping here and the ferry to Perth Amboy, the dock became the focus of the emerging town.

 

The road leading from the dock to Amboy Road was for many years unnamed. By 1845 John Totten Jr. had divided his property into building lots and the new owners built houses facing this road. By 1859 the road was called “Totten Street.” The name Main Street appears intermittently in the 1880s and 1890s, and was finally made official in 1897.

 

Main Street runs straight in a northwesterly direction from Amboy Road to the Arthur Kill. The street is divided by two cross streets creating three large blocks. The northern end, terminating at Totten’s Dock, is known as lower Main Street. The town’s first commercial area developed here. In the late 19th century the middle section of the street was dubbed “Quality Row” because of the large residences built there by elite members of the community. The Theodore F. and Elizabeth De Hart House at 134 Main Street (a designated New York City Landmark) and the Dr. Walker Washington House at 127 Main Street are located here. The southern end of the street is could be called upper Main Street. This area became predominately commercial in the first decades of the 20th century and remains so today.

 

Beginning in the 1960s, the historic character of the street was greatly compromised by the demolition of historic homes and the construction of town houses and insensitive commercial buildings, making the surviving and intact nineteenth and early twentieth century buildings rare reminders of Tottenville’s historic development.

 

Commercial Development of Main Street

 

Tottenville’s first commercial buildings were constructed on the east side of Main Street near Totten’s Landing. Walling’s Map, 1859, shows “E. J. Totten’s Store” on the east side of Main Street and “L. S. Hopping’s Store” on the west side. These pioneer buildings were demolished before 1900. The Staten Island Railroad, running from Vanderbilt’s Landing in Clifton to Tottenville, was completed in 1860. Its Tottenville station was located on the east side of Main Street. Commercial buildings soon went up nearby, including stores, hotels and a bank.

 

By 1895 the east side of lower Main Street was one continuous commercial row. Some of these buildings are still standing, but greatly altered. In 1896, when the Staten Island Railroad moved its station and terminus to Bentley Street, the character of lower Main Street changed and its commercial viability declined.

 

By the 1870s a few commercial buildings had been built in this residential section of middle Main Street, which begins on the other side of Broadway (today’s Arthur Kill Road). The 1874 atlas shows D. S. Decker’s house and store at today’s 145 Main Street. This store was right on the sidewalk. The owner lived in the house on the same lot. It was destroyed before 1917. The Pepper and Joline General Store, 180 Main Street, at the corner of what would become Arents Avenue, was in place by 1874. W. Wood’s store and Post Office at today’s 179 Main Street was on the opposite side of the same corner. In 1882 druggist Rinalder Fisher built 103 Main Street on the northeast corner of Main Street and Arthur Kill Road. This three-story brick building was the largest commercial building in Tottenville for many years. It still stands but its shop front has been disfigured. The shop at 173 Main Street, the subject of this report, was built ca.1892 as a butcher shop for Georgenia and George Cunningham. The small shop was built in front of, but to the right of and not connected with, the residence already on the property. The commercial development of this section of Main Street continued through the 1920s. In 1895 Rinalder Fisher built 111 Main Street near his earlier building. It may have been used by the coal dealers, Cole Brothers, and was later acquired by them. In the 1940s Benjamin F. Bedell and Marie P. Bedell purchased the building for their grocery store and residence. They later purchased and resided in the Theodore F. and Elizabeth De Hart House at 134 Main Street, across the street from the store.

 

Twentieth-century buildings on this section of Main Street were more monumental in scale. In 1915 the Tottenville National Bank purchased W. Wood’s store at 179 Main Street and constructed a new building there designed by the architectural firm Slee and Bryson of Brooklyn. Built of limestone, this is the most impressive commercial building ever erected in Tottenville. It still stands today and is a branch of the Richmond County Savings Bank. Organized in 1906, the Tottenville National Bank was originally located on lower Main Street. In 1922 New York City constructed the 123rd Police Precinct at 116 Main Street. This large limestone building was designed by Staten Island architect James Whitford. It still fulfills its original purpose.

 

The development of upper Main Street started in 1909 when the Huguenot Masonic Lodge built their building, designed by Staten Island architects Charles Schmeiser and Charles

 

U. Thrall, at 234-236 Main Street. For a time this building, which features handsome terra cotta decorations, housed the Post Office on its street floor. Soon after 1915, at 190 Main Street, the Richmond County Federal Savings and Loan Association built a building designed by James Whitford. In the 1920s several large commercial buildings were constructed on both sides of Main Street near Amboy Road. “The Flats,” a large three-story apartment building at 239-241 Main Street, went up around 1923 and the Stadium Theatre at 217 Main Street opened in 1927. In the 20th century upper Main Street, together with Amboy Road nearby, became the primary commercial section of Tottenville. It flourished until the 1960s when several of its major stores moved to the shopping center on today’s Page Avenue. The Staten Island Mall opened in 1973, further diminishing Main Street commerce.

 

Early Owners of 173 Main Street

 

On Feb. 11, 1892, Georgenia Cunningham (1854-1895), wife of George G. Cunningham (1850-1915), a butcher, purchased the William B. Butler property on the east side of Main Street. The property, with a 58-foot frontage, included the Butler house (today’s 169 Main Street). Soon after purchasing the property they built the butcher shop (today’s 173 Main Street) on the right side of the lot. A directory from 1893-94 lists Cunningham as the owner of a meat market on Main Street, Tottenville.

 

George G. Cunningham was born in Northfield, Staten Island. His father, Charles Cunningham, was born in Scotland. His mother Elizabeth was born in New York State. Charles Cunningham is listed in the 1850 census as the proprietor of an “Oyster Saloon” in Northfield. Son George is one year old. By 1860 George, aged 10, is living with Nicholas and Eliza Van Pelt in Northfield. Nicholas Van Pelt’s vocation is “fancy D[ry] G[oods] store.” It appears that Charles Cunningham had died and that Elizabeth had married Nicholas Van Pelt.

 

By 1870 George, aged 20, is living in Tottenville with John and Malinda Sharrot. John Sharrot was a butcher. George was in all likelihood apprenticed to Sharrot to learn the butcher trade. The John Sharrot home, located at 198 Main Street, is standing today. The small shop still standing in front of the house may be the original butcher shop, but this is not certain. It has not been determined when George established his own butchering business, nor when he married Georgenia. After her death George remarried around 1898, but by 1910 he is again a widower. On Oct. 29, 1913, George Cunningham sold the Main Street house and shop. On the same day the land on which the shop stood was made a separate lot and sold to Benjamin Williams.

 

Benjamin Williams, a successful Tottenville businessman, was born around 1871 in Newport, Kentucky. He attended schools in Cincinnati, Ohio, and New Brunswick, New Jersey, before settling on Staten Island ca. 1888. His wife, Elizabeth, was born in Pennsylvania. In the Standard Directory of Richmond County, 1893-94, his vocation is listed as “insurance,” a business he practiced for the rest of his life. Subsequent directories also specify “real estate.”

 

Precisely why he came to Tottenville is not known. His arrival in the late 1880s is indicative of Tottenville’s growing prosperity and its attraction to professional businessmen. On Oct. 24, 1902, Williams purchased a lot at 73 Hopping Avenue. He soon built a house and came to reside at this prestigious address. He may have done business at more than one address, for some Staten Island directories give office addresses both on Main Street and Arthur Kill Road. He was a representative of the Insurance Company of North America for over 60 years. In 1906 Williams was one of the organizers of the Tottenville National Bank. He became vice president and later president of the bank board. He was treasurer of the Richmond County Savings and Loan Association and a member of the Chase Manhattan Bank advisory board when that bank took over the Tottenville bank in the 1950s. Benjamin Williams died on December 29, 1957. In 1958 Williams’s executor sold the shop at 173 Main Street to David Becker, who sold it two months later to the Roselli Fuel Company.

 

The Design of 173 Main Street

 

Shop bay windows with supporting brackets were found on American commercial buildings in the late 18th century and throughout the 19th century. The bracketed bay window brought the display area into the street, capturing the attention of passersby. The Ayscough Gun Shop at Colonial Williamsburg, an original 18th-century building, has one small multi-paned bay window supported with simple structural brackets. The Eltingville Store at Historic Richmond Town, built c. 1860 (a designated New York City Landmark) has one bay window supported by decorative brackets. This window is quite similar to the windows at 173 Main Street, except that it is multi-paned.

 

According to 1940 tax photographs, nearly all the commercial buildings on lower Main Street had bay windows, as had several buildings on middle Main Street. On lower Main Street, No. 77, c. 1860, survives, but greatly altered, its shop windows shorn off. On middle Main Street, No. 103 is standing but it too has lost its shop windows. No. 111, ca. 1895, has its bracketed shop windows enclosed in aluminum. Only 173 Main Street has its windows intact.

 

Middle Main Street stores built in the early twentieth century do not have bay windows. No. 169, built ca. 1910 on the north side of 173 Main Street, has wide plate glass windows, the center section canted in toward the central doorway. No. 175 on the south side, also built ca. 1910, had a similar design for its display windows.

 

Bay shop windows exist elsewhere on Staten Island’s commercial streets. Several can be found intact today in Tompkinsville: 9-11 Corson Street and 53 Victory Boulevard, both built ca. 1880, have bracketed bay shop windows. In Clifton, 1253 Bay Street also survives, its bay windows in a fine state of preservation. These are three-story, three-bay commercial buildings.

 

Gable end decoration similar to that of 173 Main Street is found on numerous Queen Anne style houses in Tottenville. The house at 236 Lee Avenue, built ca. 1894, has barge boards with a circle motif and spindles at the peak, as does 5301 Arthur Kill Road, built ca. 1896. Ready-made gable decoration could be ordered from catalogs such as that published by Blumer & Kuhn Stair Co., Chicago, 1893. Although 173 Main Street is much smaller than a typical Queen Anne residence, its fish-scale clad gable, robust barge boards and elaborate spindle decoration justify its being described as a Queen Anne shop.

 

The designer or builder of 173 Main Street has not been documented. Documentation may eventually come to light about the many carpenters practicing in Tottenville: Sixteen Tottenville carpenters are listed in the Standard Directory of Richmond County, 1893-94. The George Cunningham Store with its bracketed bay windows and Queen Anne style decorated gable remains a rare, intact example of Tottenville’s late-nineteenth century commercial architecture.

 

Description

 

The George Cunningham Store at 173 Main Street is a small, three-bay, one-story commercial building composed as a single rectangular block. The end of its gable roof faces the street. The brick foundation has four courses above ground. The foundation stands about 18 inches away from the property line with the bay windows extending out to the property line. The brick entrance steps of two risers with shallow stoop extend part way into a modern concrete sidewalk. The stoop has a modern iron railing. There are no landscape features.

 

The front façade is composed of a central door with a bracketed bay window on either side. Each bay window projects beyond the façade about 20 inches, supported by a pair of heavy brackets. The sides of the bay window are slightly canted inward. The total width of the central portion of each window is 49 inches. The hipped convex roofs of the bay windows are covered with non-historic material. The central window of each bay has one sheet of glass. The sides are divided by a center muntin, creating a one-over-one sash. Above these windows are transom windows now filled with plywood. (Earlier photographs show that the transoms were composed of small, multi-paned squares.) The brackets supporting the bay windows have ogee curves whose carved rays reach toward the edge. The brackets are canted inward echoing the side windows above. The windowsills are covered with aluminum. The wall beneath each bay window has two recessed rectangular panels.

 

The doorway is marked by slender fluted pilasters five and one-half inches wide with plain rectangular bases and capitals. The thin cornice is undecorated. The transom is filled with plywood. A non-historic aluminum storm door hides the inner door, which is also non-historic.

 

The attic wall of the gable end is covered with fish-scale shaped wood shingles. The lower edge flares outward slightly. A small square multi-paned window lights the attic. Cutwork barge boards and a scroll with a series of cutout circles decorate the edge of the roof and the peak is screened with multiple turned spindles.

 

The northern elevation. The clapboard on the wall has a four and one-half inch exposure. There is one window near the front. A door near the back is filled with plywood. There are no visible gutters. The roof is clad in non-historic shingles.

 

The southern elevation. The clapboard wall has one window near the front. The window surround is plain, as is the sill. A drip board is on top. The window is filled with plywood and an air conditioner is mounted at the top of the window opening. There is no door on this elevation.

 

The east elevation (rear) is not visible.

 

- From the 2008 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

LEGO Star Wars : Super Star Destroyer - Executor

Everything seen here was lifted from the Featured Desktops on Lifehacker.

 

Visual Style: Transblack V1 Final

App Launcher 1: Object Dock with Stacks Docklet

App Launcher 2: Executor

Now Playing: CD Art Display

Side Info: Samurize

Wallpaper: Vertical Desire

 

The sun looking icon in the top-middle is Jing Project. It's used to capture screenshots and videos of specific areas of the screen and upload to various file sharing sites such as Flickr. Not used for this screenshot as it removes itself from the picture automatically.

 

Side Note: VistaGlazz Beta used to patch windows files. Works on 64bit Vista SP1.

More pictures and infos on Mocpages: mocpages.com/moc.php/379103

or on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyXkvjfrduY

 

The Beheading of St. John the Baptist is my favourite dedication of any Kent church seen this far. It sits on the side of a down, above the rest of the village, which is what counts as the main road from Newnham to Lenham.

 

It also sits beside the parkland of Doddington Park, I was told by a local that is well worth a visit to see the gardens.

 

That the church is largely untouched since the 13th century, the clapboarded tower seems to have a new coast of paint and glistened in the early spring sunshine.

 

The churchyard seems now to be a nature reserve, or that wildlife is encouraged. So it is carpeted with snowdrops, with Winter Aconites, Primroses and Crocuses all showing well.

 

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

 

An enchanting church set in a wooded churchyard on the edge of a steep valley. The building displays much of medieval interest due to minimal nineteenth-century interference. The most important feature is the small stone prayer desk next to the westernmost window of the chancel. This window is of the low side variety - the desk proving the window's part in devotional activities. The nearby thirteenth-century lancet windows have a series of wall paintings in their splays, while opposite is a fine medieval screen complete with canopy over the priests' seats. There is also an excellent example of a thirteenth-century hagioscope that gives a view of the main altar from the south aisle, which was a structural addition to the original building. The south chancel chapel belonged to the owners of Sharsted Court and contains a fine series of memorials to them. Most of the stained glass is nineteenth century - some of very good quality indeed. Outside there is a good tufa quoin on the north wall of the nave and a short weatherboarded tower.

 

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

 

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

 

DODDINGTON.

NEXT to that of Linsted south-eastward, is the parish of Doddington, called in the record of Domesday, Dodeham.

 

THIS PARISH is about two miles across each way, it lies the greatest part of it on the hills on the northern side of the high road leading from Faversham through Newnham valley over Hollingborne hill towards Maidstone. It is a poor but healthy situation, being much exposed to the cold and bleak winds which blow up through the valley, on each side of which the hills, which are near the summit of them, interspersed with coppice woods, rise pretty high, the soil is mostly chalk, very barren, and much covered with slint stones. The village stands on the road in the valley, at the east end of it is a good house, called WHITEMANS, which formerly belonged to the family of Adye, and afterwards to that of Eve, of one of whom it was purchased by the Rev. Francis Dodsworth, who almost rebuilt it, and now resides in it. Upon the northern hill, just above the village, is the church, and close to it the vicarage, a neat modern fashed house; and about a mile eastward almost surrounded with wood, and just above the village of Newnham, the mansion of Sharsted, a gloomy retired situation.

 

Being within the hundred of Tenham, the whole of this parish is subordinate to that manor.

 

At the time of taking the above record, which was anno 1080, this place was part of the possessions of Odo, the great bishop of Baieux, the king's half brother; accordingly it is thus entered, under the general title of that prelate's lands:

 

The same Fulbert holds of the bishop Dodeham. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is . . . . . In demesne there is one carucate and seventeen villeins, with ten borderers having two carucates. There is a church, and six servants, and half a fisbery of three hundred small fish, and in the city of Canterbury five houses of seven shillings and ten pence. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth ten pounds. The bishop let it to ferm for ten pounds, when Fulbert received it, six pounds, and the like now . . . . . Sired held it of king Edward.

 

Four years after which the bishop of Baieux was disgraced, and all his effects were consiscated to the crown.

 

PART OF THE above-mentioned estate was, most probably, THE MANOR OF SHARSTED, or, as it was antiently called Sabersted, the seat of which, called Sharsted-court, is situated on the hill just above the village of Newnham, though within the bounds of this parish.

 

This manor gave both residence and name to a family who possessed it in very early times, for Sir Simon de Sharsted died possessed of it in the 25th year of king Edward I. then holding it of the king, of the barony of Crevequer, and by the service of part of a knight's see, and suit to the court of Ledes.

 

Richard de Sharsted lies buried in this church, in the chapel belonging to this manor. Robert de Sharsted died possessed of it in the 8th year of king Edward III. leaving an only daughter and heir, married to John de Bourne, son of John de Bourne, sheriff several years in the reign of king Edward I. whose family had been possessed of lands and resided in this parish for some generations before. In his descendants this estate continued down to Bartholomew Bourne, who possessed it in the reign of Henry VI. in whose descendants resident at Sharsted, (who many of them lie buried in this church, and bore for their arms, Ermine, on a bend azure, three lions passant guardant, or) this estate continued down to James Bourne, esq. who in the beginning of king Charles I.'s reign, alienated Sharsted to Mr. Abraham Delaune, merchant, of London, the son of Gideon Delaune, merchant, of the Black Friars there, who bore for his arms, Azure, a cross of Lozenges, or, on a chief gules, a lion passantguardant of the second, holding in his dexter paw a fleur de lis; which was assigned to him by William Segar, garter, in 1612, anno 10 James I.

 

He resided at Sharsted, in which he was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir William Delaune, who resided likewise at Sharsted, where he died in 1667, and was buried in Doddington church. He was twice married; first to Anne, daughter and only heir of Tho. Haward, esq. of Gillingham, by whom he had an only daughter Anne, heir to her mother's inheritance. His second wife was Dorcas, daughter of Sir Robert Barkham, of Tottenham High Cross, (remarried to Sir Edward Dering) by whom he had a son William, and a daughter Mary, married to colonel Edward Thornicroft, of Westminster.

 

William Delaune, esq. the son, succeeded to this estate, and was knight of the shire for this county. He died in 1739, s.p having married Anne, the widow of Arthur Swift, esq. upon which it passed by the entail in his will to his nephew Gideon Thornicroft, son of his sister Mary, widow of Edward Thornicroft, esq. by whom she had likewise three daughters, Dorcas, Elizabeth, and Anne. This branch of the family of Thornicroft was situated at Milcomb, in Oxfordshire, and was a younger branch of those of Thornicroft, in Cheshire. John Thornicroft, esq. of London, barrister-at-law, was younger brother of Edward Thornicroft, esq. of Cheshire, and father of John, for their arms, Vert, a mascle, or, between four crasscreated a baronet of August 12, 1701, and of colonel Edward Thornicroft above-mentioned. They bore for their arms, Vert, a mascle, or, between four crosscroslets, argent. Lieutenant-colonel Thornicroft was governor of Alicant, when that fortress was besieged in 1709, and perished there, by the explosion of a mine. (fn. 1)

 

Gideon Thornicroft, esq. possessed this estate but a small time, and dying in 1742, s.p. and being the last in the entail above-mentioned, he devised it by his will to his mother, Mrs.Mary Thornicroft, who dying in 1744, by her will devised to her two maiden daughters, Dorcas and Anne, this manor and seat, as well as all the rest of her estates, excepting Churchill farm in Doddington, which she gave to her second daughter Elizabeth, who had married George Nevill, lord Abergavenny, who dieds.p. and lady Abergavenny, in her life-time, made a deed of gift of this farm, to her son Alured Pinke, esq. who now owns it.

 

They possessed this estate jointly till the death of Mrs.Dorcas Thornicroft, in 1759, when she by will devised her moiety of it, as well as the rest of her estates, except the Grange in Gillingham, to her sister Mrs. Anne Thornicroft, for her life, remainder in tail to her nephew Alured Pinke, barrister-at-law, son of Elizabeth, lady Abergavenny, her sister by her second husband Alured Pinke. esq. barrister-at-law, who had by her likewise a daughter Jane, married to the Rev. Henry Shove; upon this Mrs.Anne Thornicroft before-mentioned, became the sole possessor of this manor and estate, in which she resided till her death in 1791, æt. 90, upon which it came to her nephew, Alured Pinke, esq. before-mentioned, who married Mary, second daughter of Thomas Faunce, esq. of Sutton-at-Hone, by whom he has one son Thomas. He bears for his arms, Argent, five lozenges in pale, gules, within a bordure, azure, charged with three crosses pattee, fitchee. He resides here, and is the present possessor of this seat and estate. A court baron is held for this manor.

 

DOWNE-COURT is a manor in this parish, situated on the hill, about half a mile north westward from the church. In the reign of king Edward I. it was in the possession of William de Dodington, who in the 7th year of it did homage to archbishop Peckham for this manor, as part of a knight's fee, held of him by the description of certain lands in Doddington, called Le Downe. His descendant Simon de Dodington, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as appears by the Book of Aid; from him it passed into the family of Bourne, of Bishopsborne, whose ancestors were undoubtedly possessed of lands in this parish, (fn. 2) so early as the reign of Henry III. for archbishop Boniface, who came to the see of Canterbury in the 29th year of it, granted to Henry de Bourne, (fn. 3) one yoke of land, in the parish of Dudingtune, belonging to his manor of Tenham, which land he held in gavelkind, and might hold to him and his heirs, of the archbishop and his successors, by the service of part of a knight's fee, and by rent to the manor of Tenham.

 

His descendant John de Bourne lived in the reign of king Edward I. in the 17th year of which he obtained a charter offree warrenfor his lands in Bourne, Higham, and Doddington, after which he was sheriff in the 22d and the two following years of it, as he was again in the 5th year of king Edward III. His son John de Bourne married the daughter and sole heir of Robert de Sharsted, by which he became possessed of that manor likewise, as has been already related, and in his descendants Downe-court continued till about the latter end of king Henry VI.'s reign, when it was alienated to Dungate, of Dungate-street, in Kingsdown, the last of which name leaving an only daughter and heir, she carried it in marriage to Killigrew, who about the beginning of Henry VIII. ending likewise in two daughters and coheirs, one of whom married Roydon, and the other Cowland, they, in right of their respective wives, became possessed of it in equal shares. The former, about the latter end of that reign, alienated his part to John Adye, gent. of Greet, in this parish, a seat where his ancestors had been resident ever since the reign of Edward III. for he was descended from John de Greet, of Greet, in this parish, who lived there in the 25th year of that king's reign. His grandson, son of Walter, lived there in the reign of Henry V. and assumed the name of Adye. (fn. 4) This family bore for their arms, Azure, a fess dancette, or, between three cherubins heads, argent, crined of the second; which coat was confirmed by-Sir John Segar, garter, anno 11 James I. to John Adye, esq. of Doddington, son and heir of John Adye, esq. of Sittingborne, and heir of John Adye, the purchaser of the moiety of this manor.

 

He possessed this moiety of Downe court on his father's death, and was resident at Sittingborne. He died on May 9, 1612, æt. 66, and was buried in Doddington church, leaving issue by Thomasine his wife, daughter and coheir of Rich. Day, gent. of Tring, in Hertsordshire, one son John, and five daughters.

 

John Adye, esq. the grandson of John, the first purchaser, succeeded at length to this moiety of Downe-court, and resided there, during which time he purchased of the heirs of Allen the other moiety of it, one of which name had become possessed of it by sale from the executors of Cowland, who by his will in 1540, had ordered it to be sold, for the payment of debts and legacies. He died possessed of the whole of this manor and estate, in 1660, and was buried in Nutsted church, of which manor he was owner. He left by his first wife several children, of whom John, the eldest, died s.p. Edward, the second, was of Barham in the reign of king Charles II. under which parish more of him and his descendants may be seen; (fn. 5) and Nicholas was the third son, of whom mention will be made hereafter. By his second wife he had Solomon, who was of East Shelve, in Lenham, and other children.

 

Nicholas Adye, esq. the third son, succeeded to Downe-court, and married Jane, daughter of Edward Desbouverie, esq. Their eldest son, John Adye, succeeded to this manor, at which he resided till he removed to Beakesborne, at the latter end of Charles II.'s reign, about which time he seems to have alienated it to Creed, of Charing, in which name it continued till it was sold to Bryan Bentham, esq. of Sheerness, who devised it to his eldest son Edward Bentham, esq. of the Navy-office, who bore for his arms, Quarterly, argent and gules, a cross story counterchanged; in the first and fourth quarters, a rose, gules, seeded, or, barbed vert; in the second and third quarters, a sun in its glory, or; being the arms given by queen Elizabeth to Thomas Bentham, D.D. bishop of Litchfield, on his being preferred to that see in 1559, the antient family arms of Bentham, of Yorkshire, being Argent, a bend between two cinquefoils, sable. Since his death this estate has by his will become vested in trustees, to fulfil the purposes of it.

 

Charities.

JOHN ADYE, ESQ. gave by will in 1660, 40s. to the poor of this parish, payable yearly out of Capel hill, in Leysdown, the estate of Samuel-Elias Sawbridge, esq.

 

AN UNKNOWN PERSON gave 20s. per annum, payable out of an estate in Doddington, late belonging to the earl of Essingham, and now to the Rev. Francis Dodsworth.

 

TEN SHILLINGS are paid yearly at Christmas, to the poor of this parish, by the lessee of the parsonage by the reservation in his lease.

 

THE REV. MR. SOMERCALES, vicar of this parish, by his will gave an Exchequer annuity of 14l. to be applied to the instructing of poor children in the Christian religion.

 

FORTY HILLINGS are payable yearly at Michaelmas, out of a field formerly called Pyding, now St.John Shotts, belonging to Alured Pinke, esq. towards the repair of the church.

 

A PERSON UNKNOWN gave for the habitation of three poor persons, a house, now containing three dwellings.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about forty-five.

 

DODDINGTON is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the dioceseof Canterbury, and deanry of Ospringe.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. John Baptist, consists of a body and chancel, with a chapel or chantry on the south side of it, belonging to the Sharsted estate. At the west end is a low pointed steeple, in which are six bells. About the year 1650, the steeple of this church was set on fire by lightning, and much damaged. In this church are memorials for the Swalman's, Nicholson's of Homestall, and the Norton's, and in the south, or Sharsted chancel, there is a black marble of an antique form, and on a fillet of brass round the verge of it, in old French capitals, Hic Jacet Ricardus de Saherstada, with other letters now illegible, and memorials for the Bourne's and Delaune's.

 

The church of Doddington was antiently esteemed as a chapel to the church of Tenham, as appears by the Black Book of the archdencon, and it was given and appropriated with that church and its appendages, in 1227, by archbishop Stephen Langton, to the archdeaconry. It has long since been independent of the church of Tenham, and still continues appropriated to the archdeacon, who is likewise patron of the vicarage of it.

 

Richard Wethershed, who succeded archbishop Langton in 1229, confirmed the gift of master Girard, who whilst he was rector of the church of Tenham, granted to the chapel of Dudintune, that the tithes of twenty acres of the assart of Pidinge should be taken for the use of this chapel for ever, to be expended by the disposition of the curate, and two or three parishioners of credit, to the repairing of the books, vestments, and ornaments necessary to the chapel. (fn. 6)

 

It is valued in the king's books at fifteen pounds, and the yearly tenths at 1l. 10s. In the visitation of archdeacon Harpsfield, in 1557, this vicarage was returned to be of the value of twelve pounds; parishioners sixty, housholders thirty-two.

 

¶In 1569, at the visitation of archbishop Parker, it was returned, that the chapel of Doddington used to be let to farm for forty pounds, and sometimes for less; that there were here communicants one hundred and thirteen, housholders thirty-five. In 1640 the vicarage was valued at thirty pounds; communicants one hundred and seven.

 

Archdeacon Parker, at the instance of archbishop Sancrost, by lease, anno 27 Charles II. reserved an additional pension of ten pounds per annum to the vicar. It pays no procurations to the archdeacon. It is now a discharged living in the king's books.

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

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

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

LEGO Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer Fleet

Official Announcement: 10221 Super Star Destroyer Executor

A statue that sits in a niche on the ground floor of the Holiday Inn Dalí in Mexico City, D.F. Mexico. Taken by a Nikon D610 at ISO 400 with a Nikkor 35-135mm ƒ 3.5-4.5 AF lens. (at 53) Exposure is 1/10 sec @ ƒ 3.8.

 

If an artistic executor of the sculptor has any copyright objections to this photo, Flickr-mail the poster stating that you are such an executor, state the objection(s), and it will be taken down...

 

While you are contacting the poster anyway, please tell him the name of the sculptor, and title of the piece...

 

A monument to the founder of the Bangkok city orchestra. (official title unknown to the poster...) The orchestra plays (I understand) free concerts in the building behind the statue. The name of this guy is up there below the statue, but is partly covered in flowers - I'll let you try to read it, as I can't decypher it... Taken by a Nikon D610 at ISO 400 with a Pro-Master 100-400mm ƒ 4.5-6.7 AF-D-type lens. (at 116)

 

(hint: use the lightbox view on a 17" or larger screen...)

 

If an artistic executor of the sculptor has any copyright objections to this photo, Flickr-mail the poster (preferably in English, as he doesn't read Thai...) stating that you are such an executor, state the objection(s), and it will be taken down...

 

While you are contacting the poster anyway, please tell him the name of the sculptor...

  

Up until the end of the eighteenth century rope was only made along very long walkways where strands of hemp were manually twisted together to make rope. A Sunderland school master, Richard Fothergill, invented a machine to do this in 1793. He died soon after and his executor, John Grimshaw improved the design. Grimshaw went into partnership with Rowland Webster, Ralph Hills and Michael Scarf and the company, Grimshaw, Webster and Co., opened a factory on the banks of the River Wear at Deptford in 1794. This was the first rope factory in the world. In 1795 a steam engine, made by Boulton and Watt of Birmingham, was installed. In 1804 the factory produced 800 tons of rope. The machinery was soon adapted and improved upon by the Royal Navy who used it in their own rope works at the Chatham Dockyard.

 

Rope was in great demand not only for use on ships but also at collieries. In the 1840s the company went into wire rope making. The building still exists and was restored in 1986.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Parsons College seal

MottoEst Modus In Rebus

TypePrivate liberal arts

Established1875, closed in 1973

PresidentMillard G. Roberts, 1955–67

LocationFairfield , Iowa , United States

CampusRural

272 acres (110.1 ha)

ColorsGreen and White

NicknameWildcats

AffiliationsNorth Central Association

WebsiteParsons College web site

 

Parsons College was a private liberal arts college located in Fairfield, Iowa. The school was named for its wealthy benefactor, Lewis B. Parsons Sr., and was founded in 1875 with one building and 34 students. Over the years new buildings were constructed as enrollment expanded. The school lost its accreditation in 1948 but regained it two years later. In 1955 the school appointed Millard G. Roberts as its president and this began a period of rapid expansion with the student population rising as high as 5,000 by 1966. There was a turning point, however, in 1966 when Life magazine published an article criticizing the college and its president. Later that year the school lost its accreditation and Roberts was asked to resign as president. Enrollment quickly declined and the college floundered with $14 million in debt and closed under bankruptcy in 1973.

 

History

1875 to 1954

 

Parsons College was named for Lewis B. Parsons, Sr., a wealthy New York merchant who died in 1855 and left much of his estate as an endowment for an institution of higher learning in Iowa. His sons, the executors of Parsons' estate, considered a number of possible locations for the school and 20 years later[1] chose a tract of land just north of Fairfield.[2] The residents of Fairfield promised $27,516 towards the college, and its committee paid W.H. Jordan $13,000 for Henn Mansion building and 20 acres of land.[1]

 

The college opened in 1875 with 34 students who attended classes in the brick home called "the Mansion" that was built in 1857 by Congressman Bernhart Henn. The faculty were three Presbyterian ministers and enrollment grew to 63 students by year end. Alexander G. Wilson was in charge of faculty and held the title of "rector." He also oversaw the college's preparatory department, which later became the Parsons Academy until its closure in 1917. A $7,000 chapel building was erected in 1876,[1] and John Armstrong succeeded Wilson and assumed the title of college president, until August 12, 1879, when he died suddenly. The third president was Thomas Davis Ewing, who served from 1880 to 1890; the Mansion was later renamed Ewing Hall in his honor.[2] A west wing was added to the chapel in 1882 by Des Moines architects Bell & Hackney, and an east wing was added in 1890-91 with a $15,000 donation from W. R. Ankeny of Des Moines, for whom the chapel was renamed Ankeny Hall.[3]

 

The first football game played at Parsons was on September 16, 1893. Parsons won by a score of 70-0. This monumental win prompted the construction of Blum stadium for the 1894 season.[citation needed] In 1896 Daniel E. Jenkins became college president at the age of 30 and was the youngest of the 16 who held the title during the school's 98-year history. Ankeny Hall contained the chapel, the library, and the classrooms when it was destroyed by fire in August 1902, leaving the college with only two buildings: Henn Mansion and a newly constructed women's dormitory called Ballard Hall.[1]

 

The college rebounded by raising funds from board members and other local residents for new construction.[1][2] In 1903 Fairfield Hall and Foster Hall were completed and the Carnegie Library was opened in 1907 due in part to a donation from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.[2] These new buildings were in the Beaux Arts-style and were designed by Chicago architect Henry K. Holsman.[1] In 1908, college trustee Theodore Wells Barhydt donated $33,000 for a chapel, which was built in Norman Gothic style and designed by Holsman.[1] It was completed in 1909 and named the Barhydt Memorial Chapel in honor of Barhydt's parents.[2] The chapel included $1,800 worth of art-glass windows.[1] The Trustee Gymnasium opened in 1910[2] and later an extension to the chapel called the Bible Building and later renamed Parsons Hall.[1]

 

Enrollment steadily increased after World War I but declined during the World War II years, and in 1948 Parsons lost its accreditation. The college was strengthened by appointment of college President Tom E. Shearer in 1948, and it regained accreditation in 1950.[2]

1955 to 1973

 

In 1955, the trustees appointed a Presbyterian minister from New York City, Millard G. Roberts, as president of the 357-student college.[4] Over the years, Roberts was both hailed and criticized for his flamboyant management style. His first objective was to increase enrollment, and for ten years Parsons College allegedly had the highest percentage of enrollment increase nationwide. When the number of students reached 1,000, new dormitories were built to keep up with the demand.

 

Roberts instituted the multi-pronged Parsons Plan. Features included:

 

Division of the year into three 4-month trimesters. This gave students more time to delve deeply into their classes.

 

Establishment of the Summer Fine Arts Festival. Each of the three trimesters carried equal academic weight, but the summer trimester included unique art, music, dance, and theater class and performance offerings not available at other times of the year. (Because each trimester carried equal academic weight, students who had to take a term off to work could do so during any term, thereby avoiding the competition for summer jobs.)

 

Division of the student body into three cohorts. The top tier, comprising academic "stars", were offered full scholarships; the bottom two tiers, comprising average and below-average students who couldn't get into (or had flunked out of) other colleges, paid full tuition.

 

The Tutorial system, whereby lectures were conducted by doctorate professors two or three times a week. On the other days of the week, students met with Masters-level tutors who conducted smaller discussion-oriented sessions; students thereby met five days a week.

 

Admission was offered to marginal students right out of high school, who otherwise might not have been able to go to college, as well as to students who had flunked out of other colleges.

 

Among Roberts's innovations was the establishment of the trimester system, which made possible year-round use of the facility and allowed students to reduce the time needed to obtain a degree. He lowered admission requirements and Parsons became known as a school that gave students a second chance. He increased the student-teacher ratio, slashed the academic curriculum, and established recruiters around the country.[2]

 

In 1962, six professors filed a formal complaint against the college. The North Central Association (NCA) conducted an investigation and put the college on probation in 1963. In 1964 student enrollment reached 2,500; the probation was lifted in 1965, and enrollment reached 5,000 students in 1966. Roberts reportedly raided other campuses for "strong faculty" by offering higher salaries and more benefits. By 1966 the college had the third highest-paid faculty in the nation. However, despite huge increases in enrollment, the college debt increased by an average of $100,000 per month during the 12 years that Roberts was president.[2]

Aerial View in 1964

 

In 1966 Life Magazine published an article criticizing Roberts and the college, calling him "The Wizard of Flunk Out U".[5] In 1966, a new football stadium, Blum Stadium was dedicated.

 

In 1967 the NCA revoked the college's accreditation citing "administrative weakness" and a $14 million debt. Roberts responded with threats of a lawsuit, but the faculty voted 101 to 58 to remove Roberts from his position. In June 1967 the board of trustees asked for his resignation. William B. Munson became acting president for two months and was succeeded by Wayne E. Stamper, who served from 1967-1968.[2] The school played its final season of football in 1970. Within a year enrollment had dropped to 2,000 students.[4] The school's enrollment plunged from 5,000 to 1,500, and though accreditation was regained in the spring of that year, the upheaval of the late 1960s had fatally undermined its reputation.[4][6] In 1973, Everett E. Hadley became acting president of the college.[2]

 

Two innovative programs, "Foreign Language - Foreign Service Institute" and "Religious Service Community," attracted new students.[6] However, enrollment dropped to 925 students, the school went into bankruptcy and finally closed in 1973.[4] Over the years Roberts had created satellite colleges that operated under the leadership of Parsons. They were Lea College in Albert Lea, Minn., John J. Pershing College in Beatrice, Neb.; Charles City College in Charles City, Iowa; College of Artesia in Artesia, N.M.; Hiram Scott College in Scottsbluff, Neb.; and Midwestern College in Denison, Iowa. However, by 1973, all had fallen into bankruptcy.[4] In August 1974, the campus was purchased by Maharishi International University.[7][8]

Tottenville, Staten Island, New York City, New York

 

Summary

 

The Theodore F. and Elizabeth J. De Hart House, built ca. 1850, 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 and Gothic Revival modes. Its doorway is an excellent example of the Greek Revival style, while the curvilinear bargeboards are expressions of the Gothic Revival. The richly ornamented 1870s front porch (which probably replaced an earlier porch) features articulated carved posts, cutwork spandrels and an exuberant railing. The entire house is substantially intact. Sharing architectural forms with other Tottenville houses, this is one of the best-preserved houses representing South Shore Staten Island’s early building traditions.

 

Through its succession of owners, the house has close ties to the oyster business which created the town of Tottenville. It was built as an investment on the newly laid-out Totten Street (later called Main Street) by Henry Butler, of a Tottenville family whose ferrymen and millers went back several generations. Three years later it was owned by William H. B. Totten, a grocer, and four years after that by Joseph W. Totten, a partner in an oyster-opening firm. Theodore F. De Hart, an oyster planter, was the owner of longest duration, from 1874 to 1913. 134 Main Street is one of the two oldest houses on this important Tottenville street.

 

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 a small 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. Although Billopp stayed on Staten Island only intermittently, his wife apparently lived in the manor house and his land was improved for farming. His grandson Thomas Farmar, who changed his surname to Billopp, inherited the manor in 1732 and lived there full time. Thomas’s son Christopher Billopp (1732-1827) lived in the stone house through much of the American Revolution (known as Conference House, a designated New York City landmark). During his ownership the house was plundered both by Hessian soldiers and American patriots and Christopher sought refuge in his father-in-law’s house nearby. 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. In 1782, Christopher Billopp began to sell portions of the manor. Among the buyers were members of the Totten family. In 1783 Billopp left Staten Island. Sixty years later, this area would become the village of Tottenville.

 

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 Thomas Billopp. Local historians Charles Leng and William T. Davis say that he was an Englishman, who came to Staten Island from Westchester County.

 

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. In the 1850s two of their great-grandsons resided at different times on Totten Street (later called Main Street) in the small clapboard house that is today’s 134 Main Street.

 

Tottenville, the Town the Oyster Built

 

Gilbert Totten’s original farm was near Dissosway’s mill 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), who married Anne (Nancy) Cole (1773-1840), 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 (1804-1877), “mariner”; Ephraim J. Totten (1806-1891), sea captain and merchant; and William Totten (b.1813), dock and shipyard superintendent. These vocations indicate the family’s affiliation with the oyster fishing and maritime trades.

 

According to one local historian, the name Tottenville may have been in use as early as 1832. The Bethel Methodist Church was built in 1841 on Amboy Road on land given by John Totten, Sr. The church was a social as well as a religious center for Tottenville. 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 Main Street with about 20 houses leading to “Totten’s Landing” on the Arthur Kill. The landing became the terminus for the ferry to Perth Amboy, superseding Billopp’s Landing at the foot of Amboy Road. By the 1870s Main Street had become the locale for homes of the elite. Oysterman John Totten, Jr. and sea captain-merchant Ephraim J. Totten lived there.

 

The oystermen needed ship repair facilities and the first facility, superintended by William Totten, was built at the foot of Main Street alongside Totten’s Landing. Many additional ship repair facilities would be established in the following decades. Shipbuilding was underway by 1847, with the construction of the Rutan family shipyard near the foot of Amboy Road. In 1860 Tottenville became the terminus of the Staten Island Railroad, which afforded access for commuters 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 on Main Street near Totten’s Landing.

 

By the 1880s Tottenville had entered the golden age of oyster fishing, as the 1886 Picturesque Staten Island and Illustrated Sketch Book of Staten Island indicate:

 

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.

 

Comfortable, tidy and sometimes elegant cottages and residences appear on every street of this thriving village. .... It is a pretty little town, and no one can help but be favorably impressed with its appearance; the location is high and dry; the streets which are regularly laid out and well kept, run on a gentle slope to the water. It has also the reputation of being healthful and salubrious.

 

Ship repair and shipbuilding companies flourished into the 20th century. A major new industry, Atlantic Terracotta, opened its factory in 1897. By 1906 it employed over 450 men. The Tottenville Copper Company was also established during this period, later becoming the Nassau Smelting Company.

 

The closing of the Raritan Bay oyster beds in 1925 marked the end of an era. 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 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 134 Main Street

 

Henry Butler (1821-1899) built the house at 134 Main Street after he acquired the lot from John Totten, Jr., for $250 on October 11, 1849. This may be one of the first houses on the street. Butler may have been related to the Totten family through Mary Butler Totten, wife of Gilbert Totten. Isaac Butler, of an earlier generation than Henry Butler, operated the Perth Amboy ferry from 1788 to 1828. After 1803 the Butler family acquired Dissosway’s mill. The “J. J. Butler Store” appears on Main Street on Dripps’ Map of 1850. Henry Butler is listed in the Richmond County Census of Westfield for 1855 and other years, but his vocation is not given.

 

Dripps’ Map of 1850 shows “J. Fischer” residing in the house. The 1855 Census lists James W. Fisher, aged 30, “oysterman.” Apparently Henry Butler built the house as an investment and rented it to Fischer. Butler sold the house four years after purchasing the lot.

 

William H. B. Totten (b. ca. 1831) purchased the house on Nov. 28, 1853. The 1855 Census lists him as merchant, residing in a brick house valued at $3,000 and probably did not live in the 134 Main Street house. It appears that he invested in Tottenville real estate over many years. On Beers’ Atlas of 1887 “W. H. B. Totten” appears beside two Main Street buildings at the corner of Washington Street, which appear to be commercial buildings. In the 1898 atlas he owns these buildings as well as a residence on Broadway nearby and four identical houses around the corner on Butler Avenue. The 1917 atlas shows him also owning waterfront property at the foot of Butler Avenue. At some point William H. B. Totten moved to Manhattan and became a grocer, then a commission merchant and later president of the Irving Savings Bank. His wife was Mary L. Totten. He owned the house for only two and one-half years before selling it to his cousin, Joseph W. Totten.

 

On March 25, 1856, Joseph W. Totten (1832?-1858) purchased the house for $1,400 from W. H. B. Totten. Joseph was the son of John Totten, Jr. and Elizabeth Butler Totten. According to the 1855 Census, he was a partner in an oyster-opening firm that produced 12,000 gallons annually and employed 15 persons. He owned the house for less than three years.

 

On Dec. 16, 1858, the house was sold for $1200 to Mary L. Totten, wife of W. H. B. Totten, the earlier owner. In less than one year she sold the house to Cornelius Dissosway.

 

Cornelius Dissosway (1833-1902) purchased the house for $1,500 on Nov. 28, 1859. He was a ship captain, according to local historian B. J. Joline. He is listed, but without his vocation being given, in the 1865 Census for Westfield, with the value of his house given as $1800. His wife was Mary J. Dissosway. He was a board member of the Woodrow Methodist Church. Beers’ Atlas of 1874 reads “Capt. C. Dissosway” beside a house three doors south of 134 Main Street. He is buried in the Bethel Church cemetery. In the late 18th century his grandfather had owned Dissosway’s mill.

 

Theodore F. De Hart (1830-1913) purchased the house for $2,600 on March 20, 1874. He was the son of Henry De Hart, a Tottenville oysterman. Theodore’s wife was Elizabeth Jane De Hart (1834-1909), daughter of David Decker. Theodore is listed as an “oyster planter” in the 1875 Census along with three of his brothers. Oyster planters acquired oyster seed from Maryland or Virginia and planted them in the waters around Staten Island. Long poles rising from the water marked the presence of oyster beds. There the seed matured over a year’s time and were harvested. De Hart was no doubt the owner of a Staten Island skiff, a small boat designed specifically for use in the waters around the Island and perhaps another larger boat for carrying the oysters to market in Manhattan. The oyster business of the City of New York was centered on the Hudson River at the feet of West 10th and Charles Streets.

 

Theodore De Hart resided at 134 Main Street until his death in 1913. This is the longest residency by far of any owner. Theodore and his wife Elizabeth J. De Hart are buried in the Bethel Methodist Church Cemetery.

 

Mina (also called Elmina) De Hart Cole was the only child of Theodore F. De Hart and Elizabeth J. De Hart. She was residing at 134 Main Street at the time of her father’s death and inherited the house as his sole heir.

 

From 1849 to 1913 the owners of the De Hart House were members of Tottenville families prominent in the town’s most important industry, the oyster industry. Main Street, as its name implies, was Tottenville’s most important street.

 

The Design of 134 Main Street

 

The house at 134 Main Street was constructed around 1850 as a simple three-bay, one- and one-half story, clapboard cottage. Its rectangular plan of hall and parlor, end placement of the fireplace and straight gable roof, follows a long tradition of vernacular residential architecture on Staten Island since the first houses appeared in the late 17th century. Its newness is found in its wide Greek Revival doorway, small low second-story windows and wavy bargeboards at the gable ends. The wing on the south side may be original, or may have been added a short time after the house was built. The dramatic porch on the front and one side of the house and the bay window on the wing are clearly later additions, as are the three rear wings.

 

The small second-story windows probably echo the “eyebrow windows” of the Greek Revival style seen in Staten Island houses of the 1830s and 1840s. An example of eyebrow windows may be seen in the Stephens House and Store (a designated New York City Landmark) at Historic Richmond Town. Here at 134 Main Street they are not placed in the frieze, to light the attic, but are in the main wall below it. A design for a farmhouse found 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” from A. J. Downing’s Albany Cultivator (1846) shows three windows similar to Lafever’s placed well below the frieze. Whether or not our builder knew of these designs cannot be ascertained, but this design is a free interpretation of these forms and emphasizes an older approach to a new idea.

 

The dramatic carved porch posts with plinths and capitals, the railing and the charming scrollwork date most likely to the 1870s, as do the large scroll brackets. Similar posts and brackets are found nearby at 7484 Amboy Road, the James L. and Lucinda Bedell House (ca. 1870), a designated New York City landmark. The teardrop centered in the spandrels is often found in Eastlake decoration. It was a form favored by Tottenville carpenters, as it is found not only on these two houses, but on at least ten other houses in the area.

 

The horizontality of the Main Street house, emphasized by the front wing, reflects the farmhouse tradition more than the village tradition and underscores the rural atmosphere of early Tottenville. The lot size of slightly more than one third of an acre, much 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 seen on several other smaller Tottenville lots.

 

Another house of very similar design is found nearby at 7647 Amboy Road. Here can be seen 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 with square Greek Revival columns survives. The similarities of the two houses suggest a common carpenter-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. While by 1850 this style was no longer new, its popularity continued. The Greek Revival style, chosen for the earliest buildings in Tottenville, is also exemplified in large porticoed houses such as the William H. Rutan House (ca. 1848) and the Henry Hogg Biddle House (ca. 1850, a designated New York City Landmark).

 

Although plan books by Asher Benjamin and Minard Lafever popularized the Greek Revival style throughout America, rarely did local builders use plans 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.

 

This description sounds like 134 Main Street.

 

The Gothic Revival style is rare in Tottenville. Staten Island’s first resident architect, William Ranlett (1806-1865), built several cottages in the Gothic style on the North Shore. Richard Upjohn (1802-1876) designed a Gothic cottage for Thomas Taylor, who owned property near Prince’s Bay, but this house was apparently never built (only a single drawing for it exists today in the collections of the Avery Library). A. J. Davis (1803-1892) designed a Gothic cottage for Mr. Hasbrouck of Concord. A drawing of this house, which still exists today, was published in The Horticulturist, March 1847. Tottenville’s buildings of the 1850s are nearly all in the Greek style and conform to the vernacular carpenter-builder tradition. They are expressive of conservative knowledge and preferences.

 

The wavy bargeboards at the gable ends of the house are usually associated with the Gothic Revival style. Wavy bargeboards are found on at least two other Staten Island houses of the early 1850s, namely the Dr. Samuel MacKenzie Elliott House on Delafield Place in Livingston and the Parsonage at Historic Richmond Town. These two houses (both designated New York City Landmarks) are fully within the Gothic style. The wavy bargeboards at 134 Main Street could have coexisted with the Greek doorway and may be original, making the house an early expression of eclecticism and an example of Gothic Revival details on the South Shore of Staten Island.

 

Later Owners of 134 Main Street

 

Fannie B. Decker may have inherited 134 Main Street through Elizabeth J. De Hart’s daughter, Mina Cole. No deed has been found. Fannie B. Decker may have been a relative of Elizabeth J. De Hart.

 

William Wilson and his wife Margery D. Wilson purchased the property on Jan. 22, 1945 from Fannie B. Decker, then residing in Hampton, Virginia. They were residing in the house at the time of the purchase. The following was written about the house during the Wilson residency:

 

The Cornelius Dissosway mansion ..., now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. William Wilson, was one of Tottenville’s most beautiful residences. Its spacious rooms and French windows are most attractive. Passers-by have paused to note its elegance, when lights have gleamed from within.

 

Maurine J. LeCato of 321 Clove Road purchased the property from the Wilsons on Jan. 26, 1950. On May 8, 1968, Benjamin F. Bedell and Marie Bedell of Tottenville purchased the property from Maurine LeCato. Benjamin Franklin Bedell (1916-ca. 1995) was the owner of a grocery store at 111 Main Street. He was born in Perth Amboy. After service in World War II he purchased the Main Street store and came to live in Tottenville. His grandfather John Bedell owned the first drug store in Tottenville.

 

Description

 

134 Main Street is a white clapboard cottage composed of five rectangular parts with a dramatic porch. It rests on a low foundation, which is hidden from view.

 

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. All the roofs are clad in non-historic asphalt shingles. A single-story, ell-shaped porch with a shed roof extends across the front and north elevations. The walls are sheathed with original white-painted wide clapboard. The first floor sash windows are two-over-two panes and the front windows of the second floor are three panes wide and hinged at the top. These small windows are placed well below the frieze. The sash windows of the north side are six-over-six panes. The architraves on both the first-floor and second-floor windows are plain. There are canted wood sills. All windows have original green painted louvered shutters with wrought-iron tie backs.

 

On the primary façade an elaborate front porch with widely spaced carved wood posts (five along the front and three more along the north side) provides the initial impression of the house. The square white-painted posts are beveled at the edges and divided by large moldings demarcating a pedestal base and a capital. Springing from the capitals are cut-wood spandrels in an elegant scroll pattern forming a low arch. In the center of the arch is a trefoil teardrop. The posts support a plain entablature. Elongated console brackets above each capital reach up to support the cornice hiding the Yankee gutters. Two moldings decorate the cornice. The plank ceiling of the porch is painted light blue. A porch railing extends between the posts at the height of the pedestal bases. Just below the top rail is a wide board with cutouts of alternating diamonds and circles. This board and the lower rail hold turned spindles. The porch posts and rail are remarkably intact.

 

The porch is two steps up from the modern concrete sidewalk with the lower step being a single wide brownstone block. 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 of three parts. Dentils below a molding divide the architrave from the shallow frieze. The cornice is composed of two thick moldings. The original door is hidden by a modern wood black-painted storm door.

 

A shallow frieze marks the wall of the main block. Inserted into the frieze are widely spaced thin brackets holding the cornice and Yankee gutter. This cornice-gutter has a classical return at each end.

 

On the north façade of the main block extends a porch of the same design as that of the main façade, and contiguous with it. Two second-story windows, one on either side of the chimney, have plain architraves and sills.

 

A modern louvered vent is inserted into the attic wall to the right of the chimney. A dramatic curvilinear bargeboard decorates the gable end of roof. The peak of the bargeboard forms a gothic arch. A wide, stepped brick end chimney rises from the body of the house at the peak of the roof. It appears to have been enlarged on its south side and this alteration is banded to the whole with a metal strip.

 

The west façade is partially hidden by the two-story addition. Only the northern end of the west façade is visible. It has one two-over-two sash window on the first floor. The clapboards of the west façade are considerably wider than those of the front and sides.

 

The south façade is mostly hidden by the one and one-half story addition. Its curvilinear bargeboard matches that of the north façade. A large metal triangular louver is at the peak of the attic.

 

The south wing, also of one and one-half stories, is joined flush to the main block of the house, although the height is lower. This wing has a gable roof. On the first floor facing the street is a very large bay window composed of four sash windows, two-over-two panes. On the second floor are three-pane windows like those of the main block. The south elevation has six over six sash windows with louvered shutters. They are covered with modern aluminum storm windows.

 

The south wing contains a large bay window on the first floor, which spans across its entire east façade. It is composed of four, round-headed sash windows. The sash are painted black. Two large windows parallel to the street are two-over-two. Two smaller one-over-one windows are slanted to create the bay. The wall below the windowsills is decorated with moldings in a rectangular shape. The roof of the bay window has a deep cornice with molding. The cornice is supported by heavy sinuous curving brackets, placed below the cornice in the space between each of the windows.

 

On the second story are three small windows similar to those of the main block. Above these windows is a deep plain entablature and cornice holding a Yankee gutter. The cornice returns on each end of the wing. A modern aluminum down spout is located at the northern end of the gutter.

 

The south façade has one six-over-six sash window on the first floor and two on the second floor. The windows are flanked by louvered green-painted shutters. The gable end of the roof is decorated with a curvilinear bargeboard of the same type as that of the main block of the house.

 

The west façade is hidden by the rear wing. The north façade is hidden by the main block of the house.

 

Directly behind the south wing and flush with it is a one-story rear addition. It is two bays deep and two bays wide and has a shed roof. It too is clad with white painted clapboard. Two windows on its south side are obstructed by a modern fence. The one-story rear addition has a shed roof. The south façade has two two-over-two windows with shutters. They are hidden by a modern chain-link fence. The west façade is hidden by a vine-covered lattice structure. The roof of this latticework is supported by large wood cutwork brackets. Partially visible over the rear door is a hood, which is also supported by the same type bracket. The clapboard siding is twice the width of the clapboards on the front and side elevations of the house. The north façade is hidden by the two-story wing. The east façade is hidden by the south wing.

 

Directly behind the main block and flush with it and the second wing is a two-story rear wing. It is one bay deep and two bays wide and has a shed roof. Its roof extends over part of the roof of the main block. The windows are two panes over two panes. The two-story rear wing is joined to the main block of the house. The east façade is hidden. The roof extends over the rear slope of the roof of the main block. On the south façade the first floor is hidden by the one-story rear addition. The second floor of the south façade has one two-over-two sash window with a plain architrave. The walls are covered with wide clapboard. The shed roof has a very thin cornice. A brick chimney rises near the south edge of the roof. It has a tall metal ventilator cap. The first floor of the west façade is hidden by the west wing. The second floor has two two-over-two sash windows each flanked by green louvered shutters. These windows have modern aluminum storm windows. A Yankee gutter extends slightly beyond the wall. The north façade of the two-story rear wing is clad in wide clapboard. A single window on the first floor is composed of two frames side by side with six panes each. It has a plain architrave. There is a twoover-two sash window on the second floor. The second-floor window is spaced somewhat to the right of the lower window, not directly above it. These windows have no shutters. On this wing approximately one and one-half feet of the brick foundation is exposed.

 

Joined behind this two-story wing is a modern small one-story west wing of one bay by one bay. This wing is clad in modern horizontally laid broad synthetic siding painted white. It has modern aluminum windows. This modern non-historic wing extends from the rear two-story wing. The roof is a low gable with wide overhanging eaves. The gable end faces west. The walls and eaves are covered with modern siding painted white. Its east façade is hidden by the two-story wing. The south façade of the wing has one door and no windows. The door is off center, closer to the rear wing. There is a wall light fixture on the west side of the door. On the west façade a modern aluminum window is centered on the wall. The north façade also has one modern aluminum window. Like the door it is not centered on the wall, but closer to the rear wing.

 

The house is located on a rectangular lot with a frontage of 76 feet on Main Street and a depth of 204.60 feet. The lot slops gradually upward from the street. The house stands about 15 feet from the modern sidewalk. An agate concrete sidewalk leading to the porch is three steps up from the public sidewalk. A chain-link fence runs along the southern boundary.

 

A gravel driveway extends along the northern boundary, leading to a non-historic one-car garage. There is a small board and batten structure midway in the backyard near the southern boundary. It has a gable roof. The gable end of one bay faces the street. The side elevation is of two bays. It measures approximately 10 by 20 feet. The southern elevation is on the boundary line. The northern elevation has a single door and a six-over-six window.

 

- From the 2006 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

Flat Black Face, Black Anodized Barrel and LIp

Laser Etching Option

20x11.0 +37 SCSL

Victorian Alpine Huts survey, for Parks Victoria 1994-5.

The Howqua Hills cattle grazing area was opened up by Dr Steele of Mansfield in the late 1860s{ Stephenson: 101f.}. Jim Fry worked as a carrier for the gold mining which was undertaken in the area during the early 1870s, acquiring a former mine manager's house (c1874) and residing with his family on this site for some 54 years{ ibid.}. Marge Allen recorded a horseback journey to Wonnangatta station in 1922, with Ralph and Jim Fry, among others. She visited Mrs Fry who was in residence `..a few hundred yards' from the Howqua Hut where the part camped (Fry's hut shown as on this site on a map drawn retrospectively of the trip ){ Allen: 6}. When Jim died in 1927 his nephew, Fred Fry, took the house, being joined later by Steve, an older brother. Fred built a number of huts in the area (Ritchie's, Gardner's, Upper Jamieson and Schuster's huts) so when his own house was eaten by termites he is thought to have built the present building{ ibid.: 104-6}. A plan attributed to architect SJB Hart, drawn by `P.R.P.' and dated June 1951 shows what was described as a Forests Commission of Victoria Patrol Hut at Howqua{ DCNR file 09/87/110}. Notes on the drawing indicate that the building already existed and an agreement between Fry and the Forests Commission, dated 26 July 1950, stated that Fry held 34% equity in a building on that site{ ibid. `drawn from sketch plan taken on site'}. The plans showed five rooms and a verandah, two rooms with plank floors, one with an earth floor and two (bedrooms?) with T&G (pine) flooring. The roof was corrugated iron over Malthoid and the walls were clad with `plank siding'. There were only three external windows, one either side of the front door and one in one of the rear rooms. Another internal window linked one of the T&G floored rooms with this rear room. The windows were shown in elevation as twin casements and the doors clad with vertical boards; window positions do not always correspond with those of today. Fred's patrol hut (number B236) disappeared from the official files until Fred was reported in a critical condition in the Melbourne Hospital when the Commission found to its surprise that they owned 66% of the hut{ ibid. cites agreement signed by FS Fry and JC Westcott, 26.7.50}. Now empty, the hut had always been known as Fry's. Fred died in 1971, prompting the district forester, Channon, to suggest its retention for public use because of its magnificent site and rich history. The Commission could use it for work crews or a base camp for fire fighting operations. The hut was `quite solid although rough'. Vandals were the main danger while the hut remained unused. Fry's executor, RG Ritchie, was willing to declare the 34% equity nil to allow the Commission to take over the hut. At that time a walking track was being built past the hut and the Commission approached the Federation of Victorian Walking Clubs to express an interest in maintaining and using the hut. The Federation responded with interest, listing potential works as removal of the pine at the east end, cutting earth gutters around the hut to shed water away from the timber posts and possibly adding roof gutters at a later stage. The windows could be reglazed with Perspex and the numerous furnishings (rabbit raps, pack saddles, bush barrow, bush kitchen dresser, etc.) locked in the rear skillion as the basis of a small museum. Another rear room (with earth floor) should have a floor installed to allow its use as a wood store{ letter from E Quinlan, FVWC, 14.11.71 to FCV}. Mansfield forester, HG Brown, also listed works which could be undertaken: rebuild fence using box and messmate to keep cattle away (3 rail & post), remove pines, replace verandah posts/timber members, replace corrugated iron on rear skillion and some 32 split slabs, repair rear window, replace bricks in chimney and dig gutters. The garage on west side of river was in fair condition and the flying fox could be restored. The total cost would be $540{ ibid. FCV report 6.3.72}. Around seven acres were to be set aside around the hut as a reserve to control camping in the area. Just across the Howqua River was the former town of Howqua, with street names such as Lovick, Spring, Fern and North and early allotment holders such as HC & A Lovick (1884, 1886), PO Hanlon (1886) and T Richards. Later land owners in the town included HK Schuster and Fred Fry himself (1951) who held lots 1-5 and 7 of Section 5, facing Spring and Fern Streets{ Howqua Township plan}. Why Fry built on crown land and not on his allotments is unknown. Fred died in May 1971 but by June 1973, nothing had been done about the hut. Brown feared for the hut's future: `This building has a great historic value and is treasured by a large section of the community..'. The hut had also been featured in Neville Shute's `The Far Country'. Brown repeated his dismay a year later as nothing had been done and finally the FCV wrote to him in September 1974 approving expenditure of $750{ ibid. Brown letters 27.6.73, 6.74}. The extra money may have been to cover replacement of the corrugated iron cladding to the skillion with split slabs: a file note suggested that slabs would provide a `better presentation' although not original. Brown reported in mid 1975 that the fence had been built, the pine removed, verandah timbers and replaced and the roof straightened, the chimney repaired with a double thickness of bricks and burnt timbers replaced, the south (skillion) wall reclad with old slabs to harness room, the five broken windows replaced, two broken doors replaced and the flying fox restored with a new landing on the north bank (since removed by DCNR). National Parks Service ranger David Hurley supervised the hut's further refurbishment in 1988-9, with an estimated expenditure of $5830. These works included: new post & rail fence around hut, replacement of damaged floor and bearers in rear room, restumping of rear outside wall, repair of tin on west wall, replacement of metal part of fireplace (with that of Six-mile hut), repoint bricks in fireplace, replace doors in east former bedrooms, replace window in main room, replace two windows in the front bedroom (one window shown in plan 1951), replace a window in the second bedroom (none shown 1951), reconstruct stone footings, and refix corrugated iron. Second hand windows were used from the `Man from Snowy River Two' film set. In 1991 a toilet block was added, based on a design used in the Cathedral State Park (amended to provide a pitched roof) and sited near an old fruit tree, 200-250m from the river. A further tree was removed from near the hut and the yards reconstructed yet again. Fred Fry Born in Mansfield in the late 1890s, Fred died in 1971, receiving a glowing tribute in the `Mansfield Courier'. Like Jim, Fred had used a wagon and team in the Allen Brothers' and later John Ross's carrying business to serve the Woods Point and Gaffneys Creek goldfields. Fred had then acquired his own team and worked until superseded by motor vehicles. Fred then worked as a stockman at Wonnangatta Station until settling at Howqua Hills where he worked for the Forest Commission and later the Lands Department{ ibid.,p106}. He was regarded highly as a bushman. An early photograph of this hut shows a gabled drop-slab hut with sapling frame, a verandah on one side and a skillion at the rear. The attached chimney has a skillion profile at the top and the roof was clad with corrugated iron{ Stephenson: 106}.

I began the Kent church project back in 2008, and Barham was one of the first dozen I visited. I took a few shots, and from then I remember the window showing a very fine St George and a balcony from where the bells are rung giving great views down the church.

 

I have not stepped foot inside a Kent church since the end of September, and so I felt I needed to get back into it, as the orchid season is possibly just four months away, and then I will be lost for months.

 

Barham is like an old friend; it lies on a short cut from the A2 to the Elham Valley, so I pass down here many times a year, zig-zaggin at its western end as the road heads down towards the Nailbourne.

 

You can see the spire from the A2, nestling in the valley below, and yet being so close to a main road, the lane that winds it way through the timber framed and clapboard houses is wide enough to allow just one car to pass at a time.

 

Unusually, there is plentiful parking on the south side of the church, and from there there is a great view of the southern face of the church with its magnificent spire.

 

As hoped, it was open, and the church has so much more than I remember from what, eight years back.

 

Rows of modern chairs have replaced pews, but it looks good like thet. The church has a good collection of Victorian glass, some better than others, and there is that St George window at the western end of the north wall.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol9/pp350-358

Flat Black Face, Black Anodized Barrel and LIp

Laser Etching Option

An old abandoned stone house located on Gist Settlement Road in Gist Settlement. The white flecks in the picture are snowflakes. This little ghost town is fascinating; according to the historical marker down the road from this house, Samuel Gist (1723-1815), a British absentee landowner, stipulated in his will that his 350 Virginian slaves were to be freed, and upon emancipation, be provided land, housing, schools and churches. Gist's executors acquired over 2000 acres of land in Ohio, which included large lots in Brown and Highland Counties. The Highland County Gist Settlement was the last to be purchased and settled (1831 and 1835). As of 2003, descendents of the Gist slaves still lived in parts of the original settlement.