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All along the roads in rural Wales you see beautiful stone walls, often extending as far as the eye can see. “A drystone wall does not use cement or mortar to hold the stones together . The stones are used just as they are found (or quarried) and not dressed (cut to size). Drystone walls created boundaries showing landownership and were also a means of controlling livestock.” The walls are still being built today, to decorate a dwelling or to mark a boundary. Each has the signature style of its builder. They are a part of the proud heritage of Wales and other countries in the British Isles.
I walked around the the Royal Hawaiian Center. This is a sculpture dedicated to Princess Pauahi at Helemoa. It is in the Royal Grove near the stage.
The plaque near the statue reads:
E OLA 'O KALANI E PAUAHILANINUE
May the name of Princess Pauahi Endure
The plaque next to this sculpture reads:
In 1863, Princess Pauhi penned her last will and testament here at Helemoa establishing a permanent legacy of education for Hawaiian children. Today Kamehameha Schools, name for her Great-Grandfather and Hawa'ii's first Monarch, operated three campuses, one each on O'ahu, Maui, and Hawai'i Island, serving students from kindergarten to the 12th Grade, as well as a system of pre-schools throughout the Pae'aina (Hawaiian Islands), public charter school partnerships and post-high scholarships for higher education learners.
Ka 'Ikena Ho'oulu a Pauahi (the inspired vision of Pauahi), the name of the bronze statue honoring Princess Pauahi, was created by master sculptor Dean Kekamakupa'a Lee Roy Browne, a Kamehameha Schools graduate, and installed on December 19, 2007 on the 176th observance of Pauahi's birth. A lei draping ceremony is held every year on the 19th ofDecember to honor here foresight, generosity, and legacy.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernice_Pauahi_Bishop
Bernice Pauahi Pākī Bishop KGCOK RoK (December 19, 1831 – October 16, 1884) was an aliʻi (noble) of the royal family of the Kingdom of Hawaii and a well-known philanthropist.
At her death, her estate was the largest private landownership in the Kingdom of Hawaii, comprising approximately 9% of its total area. The revenues from these lands are used to operate the Kamehameha Schools, which were established in 1887 according to Pauahi's will.
www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60982-d8817587-Rev...
Hawaii 2025,
The gatehouse of the noble estate Gut Testorf in the village of Wangels with its willow tree alley, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Some background information:
Gut Testorf in the village of Wangels in eastern Schleswig-Holstein was founded in 1460 by the long-established noble family von Buchwaldt. The estate, with its manor house, gatehouse, and outbuildings, is a typical example of the estate architecture of Schleswig-Holstein in the 18th century. Gut Testorf is located in the region of Eastern Holstein, about 50 km (31 miles) to the east of the city of Kiel, about 60 km (37 miles) to the north of the city of Lübeck, and about 10 km (6.2 miles) to the south of the Baltic Sea coast.
Since the Middle Ages, the land of the present-day estate was owned by the abbey of Cismar. In 1460, it came into the possession of the family von Buchwaldt, who built a castle-like, fortified manor house here around 1482. The actual estate farming was established from 1565 onward, at which point the estate passed to the noble family von Blome. Around 1606, a new manor house was built on the other side of the courtyard, which was destroyed during the Thirty Years' War in 1644.
The family von Blome left the estate in 1681, and a period of constantly changing owners began. The estate was subsequently owned, among others, by the House of Hesse-Kassel, als well as the noble families von Reventlow, and von Brockdorff. During the 18th century, a new manor house was built. The large gatehouse also dates from the 18th century. In 1879, the estate passed to the noble family von Abercron, who is descended from the noble family Abercromby from Scotland. In 1900, the family von Abercron also acquired the neighboring estate Gut Ehlerstorf. Gut Testorf has been farmed by the family to this day.
The estate complex is located on a courtyard island that is only partially surrounded by moats today. It is divided into two spatial units by the gatehouse and the farm buildings at the front and the adjoining manor house with outbuildings. The island and its surrounding area were designed as a Baroque garden in the 18th century, and parts of its structure have been preserved to this day, such as the rectangular layout of the estate and some lime tree avenues. From 1870, a large landscape park with sightlines extending to the neighboring Hansühn was created.
The present manor house dates from 1774, with vaulted cellars from the original house of 1482 still remaining. The two-story building has a high mansard roof and was significantly renovated and expanded in 1902, with the tower-like annex on the courtyard side dating from this time. To the left and right of the courtyard side are two free-standing wings built in 1771 and 1772. These were used as the gentlemen's house and coach horse stable.
The gatehouse from 1769 was built on the site of the manor house of the family von Blome from 1606. It is a wide, symmetrical building modeled after the gatehouse at Gut Hasselburg. The central part is pavilion-like, flanked on both sides by two stable wings. The courtyard side of the gatehouse is surrounded by two large farm buildings, with the large barn at the core still dating from around 1600. The northern cowhouse was rebuilt in 1888. The old wheat barn with a deep thatched roof is a tall five-aisled two-post building with low side aisles and annexes. The core frame dates from 1670 and in 1767, the barn was expanded. Today, it still shows its original structure with gates and lofts.
The noble estate – similar to the knightly or the chancery estates – refers to a specific type of estate in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. In the once independent Duchy of Lauenburg, the term "noble court" was also used. The noble estates were both agricultural operations and administrative districts. They formed the dominant economic structure of the three duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg from the Middle Ages until their dissolution during the Weimar Republic. Historically, most noble estates are located in the eastern part of the region.
The noble estates originated in the Middle Ages. In Schleswig and Holstein, a knightly class emerged from the most important local families and knights who had settled the land, some of whom came from Saxony. The Schleswig-Holstein knighthood was granted land by the rulers of the region, particularly in the areas formerly inhabited by the tribe of the Wends in the eastern parts of the region. This arrangement benefited both parties.
The knights, often from the Equites Originarii (the original knights), built lowland castles or motte-and-bailey fortifications, which served both as protection for the knight and his family and as a means of securing the land. These simple but fortified residences were usually the nuclei of the later manor houses. In exchange for securing the land, the knights became landowners to whom the resident peasants paid dues and performed labor services on farmsteads called "curia".
Over the centuries, the legal status of the originally free peasants changed. After several waves of the plague had led to a population decline and, as part of the Reformation, church lands had passed to the nobility, the landowners became increasingly concerned with binding their peasants to the land and preventing them from migrating. As a result, many peasants became serfs. Some peasant villages were abandoned, and from these former farmsteads, the later estate villages emerged.
In the Great Regional Matriculation of 1524, King Frederick I of Denmark granted the clergy and the knights the right to exercise judicial authority over their estates, including the "right over life and limb." They were thus granted "high jurisdiction" without interference from the local rulers; this was in contrast to the rest of the empire, where capital punishment was reserved for the monarch and only in exceptional cases could it be delegated to vassals. The practice of serfdom – though it came with obligations of care – was legally confirmed. The estates of the knights granted this privilege were listed in the matriculation as "noble estates," and their owners had a seat in the regional assembly.
The fortified seats of the Middle Ages developed into estates, some of which have been preserved into the present day. The castle-like manor houses evolved in the 17th and 18th centuries into stately residences, increasingly without fortifications. The manor houses were surrounded by farms with gates, barns, stables, and other agricultural buildings, and often estate villages followed. Mills, dairies, and craft businesses were also part of the estates.
The noble estates were largely autonomous within the state structure of Danish-controlled Schleswig-Holstein. The supreme authority over the estate districts alternated between the Danish crown and the ducal house of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf from 1544. Over the 18th century, the significance of the regional assemblies and thus the political influence of the estate owners diminished, but the economic and cultural importance of the estates remained.
In 1804, the Crown Prince Regent Frederick VI issued a decree that abolished serfdom (including compulsory labor and service) on the noble estates in Schleswig and Holstein. The peasants were freed, and over several years, this was implemented. The estate holdings were often converted into leasehold arrangements. In the estate villages, peasant self-administration was ensured until 1867 through a village headman.
With the introduction of the Prussian constitution in 1867, the noble estates lost their judicial authority and were reorganized into estate districts. However, the estate owners remained the "authorities of the lowest administrative level" until the dissolution of the estate districts in 1928, based on their landownership.
After World War I, most of the former time estate villages were separated from the estates, with the peasants becoming free landowners at low rents. After World War II, almost all dairy farms were also separated from the estates. However, many of the once-noble estates continue to exist today, either as agricultural operations or sometimes as tourist attractions. Most of the estates are still in private ownership, with the former estate lands being farmed by the still mostly noble families or often leased. But some of the estates even serve public or cultural purposes.
The estates form a significant feature in the cultural landscape of Schleswig-Holstein. They are often the focal points of former estate villages and, with their farms, access avenues, while the hedgerows that border the fields, are key components of the landscape.
Testorf manor, the main building of the noble estate Gut Testorf in the village of Wangels, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Some background information:
Gut Testorf in the village of Wangels in eastern Schleswig-Holstein was founded in 1460 by the long-established noble family von Buchwaldt. The estate, with its manor house, gatehouse, and outbuildings, is a typical example of the estate architecture of Schleswig-Holstein in the 18th century. Gut Testorf is located in the region of Eastern Holstein, about 50 km (31 miles) to the east of the city of Kiel, about 60 km (37 miles) to the north of the city of Lübeck, and about 10 km (6.2 miles) to the south of the Baltic Sea coast.
Since the Middle Ages, the land of the present-day estate was owned by the abbey of Cismar. In 1460, it came into the possession of the family von Buchwaldt, who built a castle-like, fortified manor house here around 1482. The actual estate farming was established from 1565 onward, at which point the estate passed to the noble family von Blome. Around 1606, a new manor house was built on the other side of the courtyard, which was destroyed during the Thirty Years' War in 1644.
The family von Blome left the estate in 1681, and a period of constantly changing owners began. The estate was subsequently owned, among others, by the House of Hesse-Kassel, als well as the noble families von Reventlow, and von Brockdorff. During the 18th century, a new manor house was built. The large gatehouse also dates from the 18th century. In 1879, the estate passed to the noble family von Abercron, who is descended from the noble family Abercromby from Scotland. In 1900, the family von Abercron also acquired the neighboring estate Gut Ehlerstorf. Gut Testorf has been farmed by the family to this day.
The estate complex is located on a courtyard island that is only partially surrounded by moats today. It is divided into two spatial units by the gatehouse and the farm buildings at the front and the adjoining manor house with outbuildings. The island and its surrounding area were designed as a Baroque garden in the 18th century, and parts of its structure have been preserved to this day, such as the rectangular layout of the estate and some lime tree avenues. From 1870, a large landscape park with sightlines extending to the neighboring Hansühn was created.
The present manor house dates from 1774, with vaulted cellars from the original house of 1482 still remaining. The two-story building has a high mansard roof and was significantly renovated and expanded in 1902, with the tower-like annex on the courtyard side dating from this time. To the left and right of the courtyard side are two free-standing wings built in 1771 and 1772. These were used as the gentlemen's house and coach horse stable.
The gatehouse from 1769 was built on the site of the manor house of the family von Blome from 1606. It is a wide, symmetrical building modeled after the gatehouse at Gut Hasselburg. The central part is pavilion-like, flanked on both sides by two stable wings. The courtyard side of the gatehouse is surrounded by two large farm buildings, with the large barn at the core still dating from around 1600. The northern cowhouse was rebuilt in 1888. The old wheat barn with a deep thatched roof is a tall five-aisled two-post building with low side aisles and annexes. The core frame dates from 1670 and in 1767, the barn was expanded. Today, it still shows its original structure with gates and lofts.
The noble estate – similar to the knightly or the chancery estates – refers to a specific type of estate in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. In the once independent Duchy of Lauenburg, the term "noble court" was also used. The noble estates were both agricultural operations and administrative districts. They formed the dominant economic structure of the three duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg from the Middle Ages until their dissolution during the Weimar Republic. Historically, most noble estates are located in the eastern part of the region.
The noble estates originated in the Middle Ages. In Schleswig and Holstein, a knightly class emerged from the most important local families and knights who had settled the land, some of whom came from Saxony. The Schleswig-Holstein knighthood was granted land by the rulers of the region, particularly in the areas formerly inhabited by the tribe of the Wends in the eastern parts of the region. This arrangement benefited both parties.
The knights, often from the Equites Originarii (the original knights), built lowland castles or motte-and-bailey fortifications, which served both as protection for the knight and his family and as a means of securing the land. These simple but fortified residences were usually the nuclei of the later manor houses. In exchange for securing the land, the knights became landowners to whom the resident peasants paid dues and performed labor services on farmsteads called "curia".
Over the centuries, the legal status of the originally free peasants changed. After several waves of the plague had led to a population decline and, as part of the Reformation, church lands had passed to the nobility, the landowners became increasingly concerned with binding their peasants to the land and preventing them from migrating. As a result, many peasants became serfs. Some peasant villages were abandoned, and from these former farmsteads, the later estate villages emerged.
In the Great Regional Matriculation of 1524, King Frederick I of Denmark granted the clergy and the knights the right to exercise judicial authority over their estates, including the "right over life and limb." They were thus granted "high jurisdiction" without interference from the local rulers; this was in contrast to the rest of the empire, where capital punishment was reserved for the monarch and only in exceptional cases could it be delegated to vassals. The practice of serfdom – though it came with obligations of care – was legally confirmed. The estates of the knights granted this privilege were listed in the matriculation as "noble estates," and their owners had a seat in the regional assembly.
The fortified seats of the Middle Ages developed into estates, some of which have been preserved into the present day. The castle-like manor houses evolved in the 17th and 18th centuries into stately residences, increasingly without fortifications. The manor houses were surrounded by farms with gates, barns, stables, and other agricultural buildings, and often estate villages followed. Mills, dairies, and craft businesses were also part of the estates.
The noble estates were largely autonomous within the state structure of Danish-controlled Schleswig-Holstein. The supreme authority over the estate districts alternated between the Danish crown and the ducal house of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf from 1544. Over the 18th century, the significance of the regional assemblies and thus the political influence of the estate owners diminished, but the economic and cultural importance of the estates remained.
In 1804, the Crown Prince Regent Frederick VI issued a decree that abolished serfdom (including compulsory labor and service) on the noble estates in Schleswig and Holstein. The peasants were freed, and over several years, this was implemented. The estate holdings were often converted into leasehold arrangements. In the estate villages, peasant self-administration was ensured until 1867 through a village headman.
With the introduction of the Prussian constitution in 1867, the noble estates lost their judicial authority and were reorganized into estate districts. However, the estate owners remained the "authorities of the lowest administrative level" until the dissolution of the estate districts in 1928, based on their landownership.
After World War I, most of the former time estate villages were separated from the estates, with the peasants becoming free landowners at low rents. After World War II, almost all dairy farms were also separated from the estates. However, many of the once-noble estates continue to exist today, either as agricultural operations or sometimes as tourist attractions. Most of the estates are still in private ownership, with the former estate lands being farmed by the still mostly noble families or often leased. But some of the estates even serve public or cultural purposes.
The estates form a significant feature in the cultural landscape of Schleswig-Holstein. They are often the focal points of former estate villages and, with their farms, access avenues, while the hedgerows that border the fields, are key components of the landscape.
Michael Davitt is synonymous with the Land League though many Irish people would be hard put to tell you what that was? A fine portrait of a man with a fine moustache taken in New York apparently by Gregg photographers!
Photographers: Gregg - New York
Collection: Irish Political Figures Photographic Collection
Date: Circa 1878
NLI Ref: NPA POLF69
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
The old paddle that's hanging from the roof over the porch says "Seaview Play." It's hardly self explanatory. When I searched that term I came up empty handed. Since I can't approach the history of this charming house from that perspective, I'll provide a comprehensive history of the Long Beach Peninsula instead.
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Long Beach — Thumbnail History
By Jennifer Ott Posted 9/29/2010
HistoryLink.org Essay 9596
Long Beach, in Pacific County, one of Washington's oldest seaside resorts, has drawn visitors, first from Oregon and later from all over the Northwest, to its 28 miles of open beach, clam digging grounds, and town full of attractions, for more than a hundred years.
Hemmed in by hills and water, early visitors had to travel there via sternwheelers and stage coach, and later rail, until the 1920s when roads connected the town to Washington's interior.
Long Beach began as a resort community for wealthy Portlanders. Once Oregon's coastal resort towns began to develop, more visitors from Washington residents began to flock to its beaches.
After declines suffered in the 1980s following the near-failure of razor clam and salmon fisheries and the 1979 energy crisis, Long Beach has shifted its focus to the spectacular local environment and the community's unique history to attract visitors.
A Peninsula and its First People
Pacific County's Long Beach Peninsula extends like a finger between Willapa Bay and the Pacific Ocean, just north of the Columbia River, in the southwest corner of the state. Sediment brought to the ocean by the Columbia River formed the peninsula, which is also known as a bay mouth bar. It was most likely formed at the end of the last ice age, about 15,000 years ago. Over time plants took root, bogs formed in the lower areas, and forest grew on drier ground.
Chinook Indians lived along the Columbia River and around Willapa Bay. They used the ocean side of the peninsula as a highway to travel between villages on the river and villages on the bay side of the peninsula. The hard sands on the beach provided a smooth, unimpeded path for the entire 28-mile length of the peninsula.
The Chinook had been trade intermediaries between tribes from the north and tribes farther inland on the Columbia. When European and American traders began visiting the North Pacific Coast's rivers in search of otter and beaver pelts in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the Chinooks' adeptness at trading stymied the traders' efforts to bargain prices down to a pittance.
Fur traders did not visit the Long Beach Peninsula because it had few of the pelt-bearing mammals they sought, but other traders would later come to the Chinook seeking to trade for wild cranberries, a delicious source of scarce vitamin C, beginning in 1847. After 1852 traders from San Francisco came annually to trade for the berries in the fall.
This sort of trade fit into the Chinooks' annual cycle of gathering and hunting. They already gathered berries to dry and store them for the winter. The Chinook moved around the Lower Columbia River and Willapa Bay with the seasons. Though they had permanent villages, they also went to temporary camps and villages according to when the different resources, such as salmon, camas bulbs, clams, oysters, or berries were available.
None of their settlements were located on the ocean side of the peninsula. This may have been because of its exposure to the rough weather coming off the open ocean. Willapa Bay and the Columbia River offered a plethora of natural resources in more sheltered environments.
William Clark (1770-1838), one of the captains of the Corps of Discovery, traversed the peninsula in 1805, walking up the beach to where Long Beach is today. In his journal he recorded carving his name and the date in a tree. Years later that tree was removed and today it is estimated that the tree was located between today's Chautauqua Lodge and The Breakers condominiums.
Besides the traders coming for pelts and cranberries, very few white Americans came to the Long Beach area until the 1860s when farmers began to claim homesteads.
The Chinook had agreed to cede their lands to the Americans in a treaty made with Superintendent of Indian Affairs Anson Dart (1797-1879) at Tansy Point (across Youngs Bay from today's Astoria) in 1851.
Unfortunately, Congress did not ratify the treaty, which left the Chinook without a treaty and without a reservation. Some members of the tribe moved onto the Quinault Reservation and others onto the Shoalwater Bay Tribes Reservation. Some remained on their lands on the river and the bay. Lacking a treaty, the Chinook have also had to petition the government for recognition. They received it briefly in 2000, but it was rescinded shortly afterward. The issue remains unresolved in 2010.
Stage Coach and Steamer
In 1870 Jonathan Stout (1820-1890) began stage service between Ilwaco and the Oysterville, then the county seat. At that time the beach was nearly a quarter of a mile closer to the future Long Beach townsite than it is today. The north jetty of the Columbia River has caused sand to build up on the peninsula, significantly widening it.
The stage followed a schedule determined by the tide. After driving a few miles on planks on the Indian trail that led through the woods just north of Ilwaco, the stage would cross the beach's dry sand and roll smoothly and swiftly along the wet sand until it was even with Oysterville, at which point it would leave the beach and travel overland to the bay.
Not long after, in 1872, Lewis Loomis (1831-1913) opened hotels where Seaview is today and at Nahcotta, south of Oysterville, on Willapa Bay. Nahcotta had become a landing place for steamers on the bay because extensive shallow water restricted boats' movements in the bay and the channel on the bay's western side approached the shore at its closest point just off Nahcotta.
In 1875 Loomis joined with Astoria ship captain J. H. D. Gray (b. 1839), Portland transportation company owner Jacob Kamm (ca. 1825-1912), and Oysterville farmer John R. Goulter (1840-1921) to form the Ilwaco Navigation Company. They had a steamship, the General Canby, built at South Bend and used it to ferry passengers and freight across the river between Astoria and Ilwaco. Travelers from Portland could take a steamship to Astoria and then travel across the river on the General Canby. In the 1880s the T.J. Potter and the Ocean Wave carried hundreds of Portlanders to Ilwaco on direct routes.
Portland residents came north to the Long Beach Peninsula because neither railroads nor roads had opened to the Oregon coast. For the same reason, very few Washington residents came to the peninsula. The Willapa Hills blocked most overland routes and the water route via the Chehalis River and Grays Harbor entailed considerable difficulty.
Loomis took over the stage route from Stout and also won the contract for carrying mail between Astoria and Olympia. Loomis loaded the mail onto the General Canby at Astoria, carried it on the stage between Ilwaco and Nahcotta, there it was loaded on another Ilwaco Navigation steamer to cross Willapa Bay. A second stage carried the mail overland to the Chehalis River where boats carried it up the Chehalis and then the Black River. A short portage took it to Olympia.
Seaside Tourists
Enough tourists from Portland sought overnight accommodations that hotels began to open on the peninsula. Stout opened Sea View House on property he had claimed under the Homestead Act and other property that he purchased outright. He platted the town of Seaview in 1881.
At about the same time, in 1880, Henry H. (1839-1924) and Nancy (1847-1902) Tinker moved with their three children to a tract of land just north of Seaview. Tinker platted the land and began to develop it as a tourist destination.
At that time, before the north jetty at the mouth of the Columbia was completed in 1916 and caused sand to build up on the peninsula's beaches, the high tide brought the surf up to where the grass-covered dunes lay now. The beach also had a natural formation called the Fishing Rocks that jutted into the water on the south side of town. The Fishing Rocks drew people for fishing and sightseeing. The rocks have since been covered in sand.
In 1883 the Tinkers built a hotel and some cottages on their land. They called the settlement Tinkertown and other hotels grew up around the Tinkers'. In the 1880s a Mr. Merritt from Portland began building the Driftwood Inn, entire hotel built entirely of driftwood gathered from the beach. Tom and Mary Lyniff bought the Driftwood Inn and finished building it. Others built cottages for their own use or to rent to tourists. By 1885, visitors, mostly from Portland, numbered about 5,000 annually.
Enter the Railroad
In the late 1880s and early 1890s, railroads began to enter the coastal areas of Washington and Oregon. The Northern Pacific Railway completed a line to Grays Harbor in 1892 and a line to South Bend in 1893. Likewise, in Oregon, the Astoria & South Coast Railroad was planned for the coast southward from Astoria. All these railroads threatened the Ilwaco Navigation Company's domination of the region's tourist market and its control of freight leaving Willapa Bay.
The Ilwaco Navigation Company decided to build a line from its dock at Ilwaco to the landing at Nahcotta. On July 1888, the first five miles of track reached Tinkertown. The railroad stopped at the Tinker Hotel, which lay so close to the tracks passengers could disembark on a plank laid between the train and the hotel's front door. In August the town's name changed to Long Beach, in reference to the peninsula-long stretch of sandy beach on which it fronted. In just a few months land values skyrocketed from $8 to $10 per acre to $200 per acre.
The railroad, run by the newly renamed Ilwaco Railroad and Steam Navigation Company, ran according to the tides, as the stage had, because the steamships at Ilwaco could only approach the docks at half-tide or higher. It also ran according to the day's distractions. As Lucile McDonald described it in her book, Coast Country: A History of Southwest Washington,
"The train stopped on the slightest excuse — to pick up a family carrying tired children, to shovel drifting sand from the curve at Oceanside, or to shoot a bear spied in a field. Once at Cranberry, passengers waited while the engine crew caught a runaway horse. Another time a woman dropped a ball of yarn out of a coach window; the conductor halted the train, got out, retrieved the wool, and rolled it" (100-101).
It gained nicknames, some friendly, some not, including the Clamshell Railroad and the Irregular Rambling and Never-Get-There Railroad.
In May 1889 the tracks reached Nahcotta. This new line benefited the tourists, the farmers, the oystermen, and the logging and milling companies because it carried both people and freight to the Columbia River. From there people could reach Portland and freight could continue on to various markets.
Becoming a Resort Town
By 1892 the Tinkers had renamed their hotel the Long Beach Hotel. A hundred cottages surrounded it. Just two years later 356 cottages filled Long Beach, along with a school, a Congregational Church, a grocery store, a butcher shop, a bakery, and vegetable wagons that delivered fresh produce.
The Long Beach Hotel burned in 1895 and the Tinkers built a new one in its place. Several other large resort hotels grew up in the area, making Long Beach the center of the summer resorts on the peninsula. The Portland Hotel, Newton's Inn, and the Shelbourne Inn all welcomed visitors. At the Long Beach Hotel in 1900, $9 to $12 per week included three meals per day. Bathrooms were shared.
Joseph M. Arthur, a Portland machinery dealer, built The Breakers Hotel in 1901. The 200-room hotel was built just north of Long Beach at what was then called Tioga, a stop on the Ilwaco railroad line. The hotel burned in 1904, was rebuilt in 1905, and served as one of the more elegant resorts on the peninsula. The original building was demolished in 1924, but other accommodations were built over the years, and The Breakers Resort remains a beach destination in the second decade of the twenty-first century.
Between the 1880s and about 1910, Portland's wealthier residents filled the hotels and cottages at Long Beach. Often families would bring their household to the beach for the summer, with the working fathers commuting each weekend by boat and rail. The Saturday afternoon boat was known as the "husband's special" (Jessett, 15). For years The Oregonian ran a society page that regularly updated readers on the activities of Portlanders in Long Beach.
The peninsula offered a wide range of activities for visitors. First the Canaris Bathhouse, and after, 1912, the Crystal Waters Natatorium, featured indoor seawater pools for swimmers. Cool weather, even in the summer, and strong currents discouraged many from swimming in the surf.
Eleanor Barrows Bower recalled her fond memories of Crystal Waters in a 1967 reminiscence for the Sou'wester. Bower lived in Chinook as a child and remembered taking the Sunday excursion train to Long Beach. A whole host of exciting things awaited her there, but,
"Probably the most thrilling place of all, though, was the natatorium. That was a must as part of the festivities. The fact that the Pacific was a stone's throw away couldn't begin to compete with that swimming pool. We rented suits at twenty-five cents. Dingy gray dresses with baggy bloomers attached for the girls, and stretched-out jersey suits for the boys — they offered no allure to the pulchritude, but the fact we all looked the same gave 'Judy O'Grady and the Colonel's Lady' an equal chance. If you didn't swim in the pool, you could sit up in the balcony and call down caustic remarks to the swimmers below. You could always be sure of meeting everybody there some time before the day was over" (Bower, 29).
She always sent herself a postcard from Long Beach, even though she would beat it home, just for the happy memories it would bring.
Visitors could also rent skiffs on Willapa Bay, rent automobiles for $1 per hour, go to the movie theater, enjoy bonfires at the beach, or just sit on "Rubberneckers Row" and watch people go by. The rented cars could go on the beach once the Washington State Legislature designated the beach a public highway in 1901. The smooth, hard sand proved an enticing speedway, and, one can imagine, a thrill for anyone used to the bone-rattling rides on the region's many dirt roads.
Razor clams and salmon fishing drew thousands to Long Beach from the 1880s until the 1960s and 1970s, when both declined precipitously. Charter boats could be hired at Ilwaco and fishing derbies on the Columbia offered large prizes for the largest salmon caught. Whole families would go clam digging on the beach and then enjoy a clam bake.
After about 1915, Long Beach visitors' demographics began to change. Although many visitors still came from Portland, wealthier Portland families had begun to go to Oregon's ocean resorts, including Seaside and Gearhart. The Spokane, Portland & Seaside Railway carried passengers directly from Portland to Seaside, beginning in 1898. Also, increasing numbers of automobile owners drove to Astoria and took the train from there to Seaside. The fancier resort hotels in Long Beach closed down over the next few years, the Portland after a fire in 1914, and the Breakers in 1920.
During the 1910s and 1920s Long Beach residents began to develop new attractions. In 1920 a paper chase, a game also known as hare and hounds, was held. The game involved someone, the "hare," dropping a trail of paper pieces. The "hounds" would then try to catch the hare by following the paper trail through the woods and dunes and along the beach. In 1913 motorcycle races began on the beach, cheered on by many spectators.
Age of Auto and Motorcycle
Automobiles brought tremendous change to the peninsula. Early on they were just a novelty, but then they began to be a significant transportation mode for visitors coming to the peninsula and a source of entertainment once at the beach. In 1920 car drivers could cross the Columbia on the North Beach Auto Ferry, with a fare of $3 to $4, depending on the size of the car. In 1922 Washington visitors gained better access to Long Beach when a bridge spanning Bear Creek, at the southern end of Willapa Bay, opened. Cars could travel from the interior of the state via a highway over the Willapa Hills through Raymond and South Bend. The Union Pacific, the parent company of the Ilwaco railroad line after 1900, published advertisements touting the "World's Speedway" (Lloyd, Observing Our Peninsula's Past: The Age of Legends through 1931, 89).
Long Beach voted unanimously to incorporate in 1921. The local paper, The Chinook Observer, supported the move, arguing,
"In fact, if Long Beach is to take its rightful place as a leading summer resort it will have to widen its streets, and a municipal organization is necessary to force this to be done. In the height of the summer season the narrow main street there is as hard to navigate as the streets of Jerusalem" (Lloyd, Observing Our Peninsula's Past: The Age of Legends through 1931, 89).
The City of Long Beach's website describes the first mayor, Gilbert Tinker (1879-1959), son of Henry and Nancy, as a "really nice man and great steelhead fisherman" ("Long Beach Historical Facts"). The first council members were S. B. Hunt, C. E. Kinth, J. B. Mack, John B. Pape (ca. 1859-1935), and Joseph McKean (ca.1858-1925). Cars influenced other things about visits to the peninsula. Long Beach residents worked together in 1921 to develop a tract of oceanfront property into the Long Beach Auto Park. They cleared underbrush and small trees to provide places for car campers. In 1925 the city held its first organized auto race on the beach.
A pavilion built for dances proved to be a popular attraction for decades, from at least the 1920s until about the 1950s. The Annual Tourist Ball opened each summer season and the pavilion's manager worked with the Jantzen Beach Pavilion's manager to have the bands schedule for Jantzen Beach also play a night at Long Beach.
On September 10, 1930, the Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company made its last run to Nahcotta. The Washington State Department of Transportation acquired the right-of-way and built a highway (now State Route 103) that followed the railroad's route. Several buildings had to be moved back from the street to make room for traffic. Many of the railroad's passenger cars were sold to area residents, some of whom converted them into cottages. The cars' plush red seats graced a number of residents' front porches.
In addition to cars and motorcycles, the beach also saw airplane traffic. During the summer of 1930 a pilot offered rides on his American Eagle biplane, using the beach as a landing strip. In late August a woman died while rescuing her niece from the airplane's propeller and the city banned airplanes from the beach. Since that left the peninsula without a landing strip, the incident spurred development of the Port of Ilwaco airfield, which was already under consideration.
Motorcycle races on the beach reached a new level of intensity when the Gypsy Tour arrived in Long Beach in 1938. This motorcycle rally featured races and skill competitions such as jumps and "plank rides," which required the rider to drive along a row of planks laid end to end on the beach. The 1940 rally had a top speed of 109 miles per hour. The Chinook Observer
estimated that two to three thousand motorcyclists came to the rally in 1949.
While the town certainly enjoyed the revenue generated by the annual rally, by the mid-1960s that did not outweigh the upheaval caused by what one resident called a "group of hoodlums" (Lloyd, Observing Our Peninsula's Past: The 1930s Through 1980, 119). The rallies ended in 1964.
The Dunes of Long Beach
All of the sands on the Long Beach Peninsula originated in the sediments brought downstream by the Columbia River. Over thousands of years currents carried the sediments north and south from the river's mouth and where they accumulated along the shore. After the Army Corps of Engineers built jetties at the mouth of the river between 1885 and 1916, the rates of accumulation increased and dunes built up more quickly along beaches to the north and south of the river mouth.
During the 1930s the dunes became a problem because they did not have enough vegetation to stabilize them, causing blowing sand to build up in streets and against buildings. Residents and officials of Clatsop County in the northwestern corner of Oregon developed a vegetation program with the Soil Conservation Service in 1935. One component of their project involved planting European dune grass to stabilize the dunes. This grass established quickly on the south side of the river and soon crossed to the north side. The grass ended the blowing sand problem in Long Beach, much to the relief of local residents.
Defense of the Estuary
During World War II, Long Beach's population doubled due to military activity at Fort Columbia, at the river's mouth and at Radar Ridge, near Naselle. Army and Air Force personnel manned the posts to defend the river and harbors from possible enemy attacks.
Today Fort Columbia is a state park and Radar Ridge is open to the public. Visitors make their way to the secluded hilltop for its spectacular views.
The Clams of Long Beach
Razor clam digging had long drawn visitors to Long Beach. In 1940 Long Beach organized the first of many Clam Festivals. Thousands of visitors dug clams, enjoyed clam chowder, and sampled the world's largest clam fritter made in the world's largest fry pan, borrowed from the city of Chehalis. Long Beach chef Wellington W. Marsh (1895-1977) made the world's largest clam fritter using 200 pounds of razor clams, 20 dozen eggs, 20 pounds each of flour, cracker meal, and corn meal, 10 gallons of milk, and 13 gallons of salad oil. A couple of girls helped grease the pan by "skating inside on large slabs of butter" ("Long Beach QR Code Smart Tour"). Cooks used garden hoes and two-foot-square shovels to maneuver the fritter in the pan.
The next year the Chamber of Commerce unveiled a new fry pan, manufacture by Northwest Copper and Sheet Metal Works of Portland. It was 14.6 feet long, including the handle. The pan has not been used for some time, but it still hangs in the middle of a park in Long Beach.
Just a few years later Washington state's Director of Fisheries warned that the coastal razor clam populations could not withstand the current level of harvest. In 1946, diggers had taken six million pounds of clams at Copalis, Grayland, and Long Beach.
Further concerns about clam populations led to a reduction in the limit from 36 to 24 per person per day. Fisheries officials worried particularly about the number of small clams taken from the sand and then thrown away. This waste significantly reduced the number of clams that remained for the next year's season.
The situation came to a head in the mid 1960s. At the urging of resort and business owners who feared the loss of an important tourist attraction if the decline was not stopped, the Department of Fisheries tried various measures to reduce the take of clams so the population could rebound. Over the next decade, they closed the season early, started it late, and limited digging hours. Digging razor clams remains a popular pastime on the Long Beach Peninsula, but the seasons have to be carefully managed and diggers' limits strictly enforced.
The Seashore Conservation Area
About this time a legal battle ensued over the accumulated, or accreted, lands on the ocean side of Long Beach. In 1966 the Washington Supreme Court ruled against a challenge by Ocean Park waterfront land owner Stella Hughes to Washington's shorelands ownership law. The court upheld the state's contention that landowners only held title to land east of the line of high tide as it existed at Washington's statehood in 1889, when the state gained title to the shorelands from the federal government. Hughes appealed the decision and in 1967 the Supreme Court ruled that since landowners whose lands had been granted or sold by the federal government prior to statehood had been granted all the land east of the line of ordinary high tide, their property lines moved with that tide line as land accreted or eroded. On the Long Beach Peninsula this meant that landowners on beaches that had accreted, some significantly, owned the new land.
The State of Washington challenged the landowners' claims, many of who had filed quiet claims to establish their property lines following Hughes' filing of her case, on the basis of adverse possession. This meant that since the landowners had allowed public access for so many years, they had effectively given up their property rights. In June 1968 a large number of landowners, wanting to resolve the legal issue and ensure that the oceanfront remain free of development, granted the state deeds of dedication allowing for public access and use as long as it was limited to recreational use. These deeds encompass the lands about 100 feet east of the line of vegetation on the beach, an area that has been established as the Seashore Conservation Area. Every 10 years the line is resurveyed and adjusted to account for accretion or erosion.
Not all landowners filed deeds of dedication and other tracts along the beach belong to city and state governments. This has led to what some have called the "piano key" nature of landownership on the beach. Moving from north to south beach visitors cross a multitude of jurisdictions, complicating the State Parks' efforts to enforce beach rules and manage the landscape.
After a lull in development during the 1940s and 1950s, property values increased quickly in the 1960s and 1970s. A 1969 Oregonian article compared beachfront property values in the 1940s, about $17 per front foot, to those in 1969, about $250 per front foot. In 1978 the peninsula saw a 23.5 percent increase in real estate transactions. More areas of the peninsula saw development with time-share resorts, hotels, and homes.
Years of Difficulties
Although this development bolstered the peninsula's population and year-round economy to an extent, it did not shield the area from the effects of the gas crisis of 1979. The high energy prices that followed the Iranian Revolution in 1979 caused a 25 percent drop in tourism to Pacific County. Governor Dixy Lee Ray (1914-1994) declared the county and economic disaster area in 1980.
This difficulty compounded the drop in tourism experienced after the sharp decline in the salmon fishery in the mid-1970s. Salmon populations had dropped due to a variety of factors, including historic overharvest, upstream habitat loss, and climatic disruptions, such as El Nino.
Then, in 1974 federal judge George Boldt (1903-1984) issued his decision in the treaty rights case U.S. v. Washington. He ruled that Indian tribes that had signed treaties with the federal government retained rights to one-half of the harvestable fish available each year. Since the commercial and sports fishermen, including thousands who came to the peninsula for the fall and spring runs, were then taking more than half of the harvestable amount, fishing seasons were shortened to make more fish available to tribal fishermen.
New Attractions, New Possibilities
Faced with declining clam and salmon populations, and, thus, declining tourist activities, and the general troubles in the economy, Long Beach residents began to develop new attractions to attract tourism. In 1981 they held a kite festival, which has grown into the Washington State International Kite Festival held each August. The World Kite Museum sponsors events year-round, including the indoor Windless Kite Festival. Long Beach has since added the Blue Grass Festival and a sand castle competition to its annual calendar of events.
In 1990 the city built the Ocean Beach Boardwalk, a half-mile wooden walkway through the dunes. Kiosks and sculptures along its length explain local environment and history and commemorate Captain William Clark's visit to the beach in 1805.
The Boardwalk intersects with the Discovery Trail, an eight-mile walking trail connecting Long Beach with Ilwaco. It was developed beginning in 2002 in preparation for celebrations of the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition that were held in 2005.
In 1995 the City of Long Beach carried out a renovation of its downtown. They added vintage lighting, placed electrical lines underground, and re-landscaped public spaces. According to the city's website, this effort led to the development of design review standards that require an "early seashore architectural theme" ("Long Beach History").
A 2000 report produced by the City of Long Beach identified the peninsula's "open space, wild coastlines, untouched wildlife habitat," and its rich history as the key elements that set the region apart from other vacation destinations (City of Long Beach Dune Management Report, 3). The City's efforts to capitalize on its environmental and historical assets appear to be paying off. Between 1989 and 1995 the peninsula saw a 164 percent increase in tourism revenues. The rugged landscapes that discouraged tourists in the pre-automobile era are now the very things that will draw them to Long Beach.
(A303) Built by Immigrants, 2019
Jeremy Deller
Mixed media
The A303 road runs across the south of England, on a route that runs directly past Stonehenge. Deller's irreverent message applies to both the past and the present. In the present day, it is a literal reminder that Britain relies on migrant labour in many sectors, and that the people behind this labour are often invisible or demonised in the media. Alongside this, Deller also created a partner artwork which reads 'Stonehenge Built by Immigrants', referring to the stone itself which likely to have been transported from Pembrokeshire in Wales. Such statements undermine ideas of 'Englishness' associated with the countryside and sites such as Stonehenge, reflecting the complexity of the real story.*
From the exhibition
Radical Landscapes: Art inspired by the land
(October 2023 - February 2024)
Radical Landscapes is a major exhibition showing over a century of art inspired by the land.
Radical Landscapes is an exhibition that explores the natural world as a space for artistic inspiration, social connection, and political and cultural protest through the lens of William Morris, one of Britain’s earliest and most influential environmental thinkers. Organised in collaboration with Tate Liverpool, the exhibition displays work spanning two centuries and features more than 60 works by artists including JMW Turner, Claude Cahun, Hurvin Anderson, Derek Jarman, Jeremy Deller and Veronica Ryan.
This exhibition offers an expanded view of British landscape art focusing on the early twentieth century until today. Traditional landscape painting is associated with idyllic rural scenes, which can express an artist's appreciation of nature and have helped form perceptions of the national identity. The pictorial conventions of landscape art can also express the status of land ownership, themes of exclusion, or control over nature. Outside of painting, artists have turned to techniques including film, photography, performance and installation art, showing how art can be made in and of the land, rather than by viewing it as a constructed 'scape'.
Radical Landscapes explores the relationship between land, history, and identity. It includes themes of trespass, using art to explore the thresholds between public and private land, showing how these relate to our senses of identity and belonging. The enclosing of rural land and its perceived misuse has triggered protests throughout history, linking to broader arguments around civil freedoms alongside the long shadow of colonialism.
Art can provide a vehicle for learning from and coexisting with nature and with each other. Against the context of the global climate emergency, the natural world is increasingly seen as something to protect and preserve, and many artists have produced work in parallel to the development of the modern environmental movement. All of this has provided fertile ground for artists and activists. Radical Landscapes presents the rural as a site of artistic inspiration as well as a heartland for ideas of freedom, mysticism, experimentation and rebellion.
[*William Morris Gallery]
Taken in the William Morris Gallery
History
The birth and growth of Utrecht
At the beginning of the Christian era, the Romans dominated extensive parts of Europe. In north-west Europe, the Rhine had become the northern border of their empire. A further expansion into the north did not make sense. This explains why the Roman Emperor Claudius commissioned his general Corbulo to set up a line of fortresses along the Rhine in 47 A.D. One of these fortresses or 'castella' became the origin of the later city of Utrecht. It was built at a ford along the Rhine and, consequently, it was called 'Traiectum' , which means 'crossing'. In the local language this developed into Trecht, Uut-trecht (= lowet-Trecht) and, finally, Utrecht.
Even then, its size was only about 125 x 130 meters. It was situated on the site of the present Dom Square and tist surroundings. Santy remains of the stone walls are left. Excavations have shown that during the Roman period, people lived also to the east and to the west of the castellum. They fulfilled the needs of the soldiers who inhabited the fortress in various ways. Thus, they provided them with goods ranging from food to women.
In the 3rd century, the pressure of Germanic tribes from outside the Roman Empire on the fortified border increased. Consequently, the Romans had to withdraw from their line of defenses, thus also from Utrecht, in the second half of that century. We have little information about the following period. Probably, the castellum and its settlements remained inhabited by a small number of people. During excavations around the present Pieterskerk (St Peter's Church), remains were found of a burial ground dating from the early 5th century.
The name of Traiectum/Trecht appeared again in the 7th century. Then, new rulers, the Franks, had established themselves in this area. They wanted to enlarge their empire at the expense of the Frisians. Again, Utrecht was situated in a frontier region. The Frankish Empire had already been Christianized; the Frisians had not yet been converted. Missionaries accompanied the armies of the Franks. From this moment on, their national saint, Martin of Tours, was also honored in Utrecht: a wooden church was dedicated to him. In the middle of the 7th century, it was burnt during the Frisian reconquest of Utrecht.
After Utrecht had been retaken by the Franks around 695, the Anglo-Saxon monk Willibrord appeared. He rebuilt St Martin's Church, which had been destroyed, and, next to this church, he founded Saint Saviour's Church. Thus, a so-called double cathedral came into existence. Willibrord had been appointed archbishop of the Frisians by the Pope. From Utrecht, he carried out his missionary tasks among them. He also founded a school where the clergy were educated. The school was known far and wide for its high standard of education.
In the 9th century, Utrecht was terrorized by Viking invasions, as was the rest of Europe. The bishop fled to the city of Deventer. He returned only in 922 and rebuilt the churches that had been destroyed.
The Low Countries belonged to the German Empire, which was ruled by the Emperor. Utrecht was the capital city of a diocese of the same name. In this period, the Pope could hardly influence the appointment of bishops. They were appointed by the emperor, who also placed the government of large parts of his empire in their hands. An area in which the bishops had worldly power was called a 'Sticht' (bishopric). The Sticht of Utrecht consisted of the present Provinces of Utrecht, Overijssel, Drente and the town of Groningen. The Diocese of Utrecht was much larger. It covered the part of the present Netherlands north of the major rivers. Here, the bishop's authority was limited to ecclesiastical affairs.
At the beginning of the 11th century, the present Dom Square must have made a striking impression. There were two large Romanesque churches: St Martin's Cathedral and St Saviour's Church and, in between them, the Chapel of the Holy Cross. In the west the Episcopal palace was situated and so was the Palace called Lofen, in which the emperor stayed during his official visits to Utrecht. Furthermore, the houses of the clergy of both churches were there.
A Chapter was connected to the Cathedral as well as to St Saviour's. The Cathedral Chapter consisted of forty canons (canonici). They lived according to a certain rule or canon, which enforced chastity and obedience on them, as in the case of monks, but which did not impose poverty. As a consequence, the canons were generally well-off. The chapters were very affluent institutions, resulting from the revenues of landownership, among other things. Part of the money was spent on the construction and maintenance of their churches. The canons lived individually in large houses in a walled area or Close around their churches. In this area of ecclesiastical immunity, the civil authorities did not have any control. The main task of the canons consisted in the celebration of the liturgy and the chanting of the choral prayers seven times a day. Moreover, they were involved in the appointment of new bishops and in the government of the diocese. Furthermore, they managed their lands.
In 1039, Emperor Conrad II died in Utrecht. His heart and intestines were buried in the crossing of the Cathedral. Shortly afterwards, Bishop Bernulfus (Bernold) commissioned a cross of churches to be built around the Cathedral. These were the collegiate churches of St Peter in the east, of St John to the north and the church of St Paul's Abbey to the south of the Cathedral. The collegiate church of St. Mary to the west of the Cathedral was built about half a century later by one of Bernold's successors. Thus, Utrecht acquired four new patron saints and four new places of ongoing prayer.
The common people went to church in their parish church, the Buurkerk (church of the Neighbours). These people, merchants and craftsmen, lived in three settlements along the water. There were situated in between the Steenweg (Paved Road) and the Oude Gracht (Old Canal) along the then river Rhine, and to the north and to the south of the present town centre, where the river Vecht flowed at that time. When these settlements gradually began to grow, on parish church did not suffice. Shortly after 1122, the parishes of St Jame', St Nicholas'- and St Gertrude's Churches were separated from the parish of the Buurkerk.
Around 1100, reforms in the Church of Rome had extended the power of the Pope. A long-standing conflict between the Pope and the emperor concerning the right of appoint bishops, among other things, was settled in 1122 by the Concordat of Worms, through which the emperor lost this right. Thus, the bishops did not get strong political support from the emperor any longer. Consequently, the worldly power of the bishops declined, which manifested itself, among other things, through the fact that the inhabitants of Utrecht acquired their town charter in 1122. In 1125, the Emperor Henry V died during a visit to Utrecht. His heart and intestines were also buried in the Cathedral. A number of 15th-century tiles in the sanctuary still remind us of the Emperors Conrad II and Henry V who both died in Utrecht.
Commemorative tiles in the sanctuary for the Emperors Conrad II and Henry V.
In 1253, the greater part of Utrecht was destroyed by fire. For more than a week, the town was scourged by this fire. St. Martin's Cathedral was also severely damaged. When the reconstruction of the church was started, a new kind of architecture was chosen: the (North French) Gothic. Probably, the Cathedral of Cologne served as an example for the new Utrecht Cathedral.
The Gothic Cathedral
The construction of the Gothic St Martin's Cathedral was officially started in 1254, but is actually began in 1284 and was stopped in 1520. The Romanesque Cathedral was replaced piece by piece. The ambulatory, the rest of the choir, the tower, the transept and the nave were built in succession. But by the beginning of the 16th century, both money and enthusiasm had run out: influences of the Renaissance and of the Reformation made themselves felt. This explains why the nave was never completely finished: it did not have brick vaults, but a flat wooden ceiling, neither buttresses of sufficient height, nor any flying buttresses. Therefore, when, in 1674, town and country were hit by a tornado, the nave of the Cathedral collapsed. It was only in 1826 that the last debris were cleared away. Then, pulling down the entire church was even considered.
During the 16th century, the influence of the Reformation was growing. To oppose its spread a reorganization of the Church was realized: Utrecht became an archbishopric in 1559, among other things. But the tide could not be turned. The dissatisfaction at the abuses of the Church had become so strong that it resulted in a revolt during which statues and furniture in the churches were destroyed.
In 1566, the parish churches in Utrecht were affected by this so-called iconoclasm. It was only in 1580 that the iconoclasts turned to the collegiate churches. Then, the Cathedral was also severely damaged. In this year, Utrecht officially joined the Reformation: from an Episcopal city it was transformed into a stronghold of the Reformation. Even though approximately one third of the people remained Roman Catholic and in spite of a relatively great tolerance, public practice of the Roman Catholic faith was forbidden. The Cathedral was turned into a Protestant church, but the chapter remained. It still managed its lands and formed part of the provincial government of Utrecht. The newly appointed canons, however, were always Protestants.
During the French occupation from 1672-1673, the Dom Church was again used for Roman Catholic services, after the soldiers of Louis XIV had removed everything that was reminiscent of Protestantism. In 1673, the reverse happened. In 1811, the French again brought about a change. The Emperor Napoleon abolished the chapters and separated the tower from the church as to ownership: the tower was given to the civil authorities, the church remained in the possession of the church congregation.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, church and tower were restored several times. The most recent restoration of the church took place between 1979 and 1988. On the outside, among other things, all the decorations which had disappeared were newly mad, e.g. the pinacles with a height of 7 meters. Inside, the position of the furniture was drastically changed. The pews were placed into former choir arrangement: facing each other and not any longer behind each other and directed towards the pulpit. This arrangement is functional with regard to the celebration of the liturgy.
Rise near Yangambi, DRC.
Photo by Axel Fassio/CIFOR
If you use one of our photos, please credit it accordingly and let us know. You can reach us through our Flickr account or at: cifor-mediainfo@cgiar.org and m.edliadi@cgiar.org
Oil palm plantation in Indonesia.
Photo by Ryan Woo/CIFOR
If you use one of our photos, please credit it accordingly and let us know. You can reach us through our Flickr account or at: cifor-mediainfo@cgiar.org and m.edliadi@cgiar.org
Palm tree plantation near Yangambi, DRC.
Photo by Axel Fassio/CIFOR
If you use one of our photos, please credit it accordingly and let us know. You can reach us through our Flickr account or at: cifor-mediainfo@cgiar.org and m.edliadi@cgiar.org
Children are forced to wear masks due to the toxic smoke from peat land fires. Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan.
Photo by Aulia Erlangga/CIFOR
If you use one of our photos, please credit it accordingly and let us know. You can reach us through our Flickr account or at: cifor-mediainfo@cgiar.org and m.edliadi@cgiar.org
Maize near Yangambi, DRC.
Photo by Axel Fassio/CIFOR
If you use one of our photos, please credit it accordingly and let us know. You can reach us through our Flickr account or at: cifor-mediainfo@cgiar.org and m.edliadi@cgiar.org
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
Mechanized Tea Harvesting, Finlays Tea Estate, Koricho.
Photo by Patrick Sheperd/CIFOR
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Mechanized Tea Harvesting, Finlays Tea Estate, Koricho.
Photo by Patrick Sheperd/CIFOR
If you use one of our photos, please credit it accordingly and let us know. You can reach us through our Flickr account or at: cifor-mediainfo@cgiar.org and m.edliadi@cgiar.org
Palm tree plantation near Yangambi, DRC.
Photo by Axel Fassio/CIFOR
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Children are forced to wear masks due to the toxic smoke from peat land fires. Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan.
Photo by Aulia Erlangga/CIFOR
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The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
History
The birth and growth of Utrecht
At the beginning of the Christian era, the Romans dominated extensive parts of Europe. In north-west Europe, the Rhine had become the northern border of their empire. A further expansion into the north did not make sense. This explains why the Roman Emperor Claudius commissioned his general Corbulo to set up a line of fortresses along the Rhine in 47 A.D. One of these fortresses or 'castella' became the origin of the later city of Utrecht. It was built at a ford along the Rhine and, consequently, it was called 'Traiectum' , which means 'crossing'. In the local language this developed into Trecht, Uut-trecht (= lowet-Trecht) and, finally, Utrecht.
Even then, its size was only about 125 x 130 meters. It was situated on the site of the present Dom Square and tist surroundings. Santy remains of the stone walls are left. Excavations have shown that during the Roman period, people lived also to the east and to the west of the castellum. They fulfilled the needs of the soldiers who inhabited the fortress in various ways. Thus, they provided them with goods ranging from food to women.
In the 3rd century, the pressure of Germanic tribes from outside the Roman Empire on the fortified border increased. Consequently, the Romans had to withdraw from their line of defenses, thus also from Utrecht, in the second half of that century. We have little information about the following period. Probably, the castellum and its settlements remained inhabited by a small number of people. During excavations around the present Pieterskerk (St Peter's Church), remains were found of a burial ground dating from the early 5th century.
The name of Traiectum/Trecht appeared again in the 7th century. Then, new rulers, the Franks, had established themselves in this area. They wanted to enlarge their empire at the expense of the Frisians. Again, Utrecht was situated in a frontier region. The Frankish Empire had already been Christianized; the Frisians had not yet been converted. Missionaries accompanied the armies of the Franks. From this moment on, their national saint, Martin of Tours, was also honored in Utrecht: a wooden church was dedicated to him. In the middle of the 7th century, it was burnt during the Frisian reconquest of Utrecht.
After Utrecht had been retaken by the Franks around 695, the Anglo-Saxon monk Willibrord appeared. He rebuilt St Martin's Church, which had been destroyed, and, next to this church, he founded Saint Saviour's Church. Thus, a so-called double cathedral came into existence. Willibrord had been appointed archbishop of the Frisians by the Pope. From Utrecht, he carried out his missionary tasks among them. He also founded a school where the clergy were educated. The school was known far and wide for its high standard of education.
In the 9th century, Utrecht was terrorized by Viking invasions, as was the rest of Europe. The bishop fled to the city of Deventer. He returned only in 922 and rebuilt the churches that had been destroyed.
The Low Countries belonged to the German Empire, which was ruled by the Emperor. Utrecht was the capital city of a diocese of the same name. In this period, the Pope could hardly influence the appointment of bishops. They were appointed by the emperor, who also placed the government of large parts of his empire in their hands. An area in which the bishops had worldly power was called a 'Sticht' (bishopric). The Sticht of Utrecht consisted of the present Provinces of Utrecht, Overijssel, Drente and the town of Groningen. The Diocese of Utrecht was much larger. It covered the part of the present Netherlands north of the major rivers. Here, the bishop's authority was limited to ecclesiastical affairs.
At the beginning of the 11th century, the present Dom Square must have made a striking impression. There were two large Romanesque churches: St Martin's Cathedral and St Saviour's Church and, in between them, the Chapel of the Holy Cross. In the west the Episcopal palace was situated and so was the Palace called Lofen, in which the emperor stayed during his official visits to Utrecht. Furthermore, the houses of the clergy of both churches were there.
A Chapter was connected to the Cathedral as well as to St Saviour's. The Cathedral Chapter consisted of forty canons (canonici). They lived according to a certain rule or canon, which enforced chastity and obedience on them, as in the case of monks, but which did not impose poverty. As a consequence, the canons were generally well-off. The chapters were very affluent institutions, resulting from the revenues of landownership, among other things. Part of the money was spent on the construction and maintenance of their churches. The canons lived individually in large houses in a walled area or Close around their churches. In this area of ecclesiastical immunity, the civil authorities did not have any control. The main task of the canons consisted in the celebration of the liturgy and the chanting of the choral prayers seven times a day. Moreover, they were involved in the appointment of new bishops and in the government of the diocese. Furthermore, they managed their lands.
In 1039, Emperor Conrad II died in Utrecht. His heart and intestines were buried in the crossing of the Cathedral. Shortly afterwards, Bishop Bernulfus (Bernold) commissioned a cross of churches to be built around the Cathedral. These were the collegiate churches of St Peter in the east, of St John to the north and the church of St Paul's Abbey to the south of the Cathedral. The collegiate church of St. Mary to the west of the Cathedral was built about half a century later by one of Bernold's successors. Thus, Utrecht acquired four new patron saints and four new places of ongoing prayer.
The common people went to church in their parish church, the Buurkerk (church of the Neighbours). These people, merchants and craftsmen, lived in three settlements along the water. There were situated in between the Steenweg (Paved Road) and the Oude Gracht (Old Canal) along the then river Rhine, and to the north and to the south of the present town centre, where the river Vecht flowed at that time. When these settlements gradually began to grow, on parish church did not suffice. Shortly after 1122, the parishes of St Jame', St Nicholas'- and St Gertrude's Churches were separated from the parish of the Buurkerk.
Around 1100, reforms in the Church of Rome had extended the power of the Pope. A long-standing conflict between the Pope and the emperor concerning the right of appoint bishops, among other things, was settled in 1122 by the Concordat of Worms, through which the emperor lost this right. Thus, the bishops did not get strong political support from the emperor any longer. Consequently, the worldly power of the bishops declined, which manifested itself, among other things, through the fact that the inhabitants of Utrecht acquired their town charter in 1122. In 1125, the Emperor Henry V died during a visit to Utrecht. His heart and intestines were also buried in the Cathedral. A number of 15th-century tiles in the sanctuary still remind us of the Emperors Conrad II and Henry V who both died in Utrecht.
Commemorative tiles in the sanctuary for the Emperors Conrad II and Henry V.
In 1253, the greater part of Utrecht was destroyed by fire. For more than a week, the town was scourged by this fire. St. Martin's Cathedral was also severely damaged. When the reconstruction of the church was started, a new kind of architecture was chosen: the (North French) Gothic. Probably, the Cathedral of Cologne served as an example for the new Utrecht Cathedral.
The Gothic Cathedral
The construction of the Gothic St Martin's Cathedral was officially started in 1254, but is actually began in 1284 and was stopped in 1520. The Romanesque Cathedral was replaced piece by piece. The ambulatory, the rest of the choir, the tower, the transept and the nave were built in succession. But by the beginning of the 16th century, both money and enthusiasm had run out: influences of the Renaissance and of the Reformation made themselves felt. This explains why the nave was never completely finished: it did not have brick vaults, but a flat wooden ceiling, neither buttresses of sufficient height, nor any flying buttresses. Therefore, when, in 1674, town and country were hit by a tornado, the nave of the Cathedral collapsed. It was only in 1826 that the last debris were cleared away. Then, pulling down the entire church was even considered.
During the 16th century, the influence of the Reformation was growing. To oppose its spread a reorganization of the Church was realized: Utrecht became an archbishopric in 1559, among other things. But the tide could not be turned. The dissatisfaction at the abuses of the Church had become so strong that it resulted in a revolt during which statues and furniture in the churches were destroyed.
In 1566, the parish churches in Utrecht were affected by this so-called iconoclasm. It was only in 1580 that the iconoclasts turned to the collegiate churches. Then, the Cathedral was also severely damaged. In this year, Utrecht officially joined the Reformation: from an Episcopal city it was transformed into a stronghold of the Reformation. Even though approximately one third of the people remained Roman Catholic and in spite of a relatively great tolerance, public practice of the Roman Catholic faith was forbidden. The Cathedral was turned into a Protestant church, but the chapter remained. It still managed its lands and formed part of the provincial government of Utrecht. The newly appointed canons, however, were always Protestants.
During the French occupation from 1672-1673, the Dom Church was again used for Roman Catholic services, after the soldiers of Louis XIV had removed everything that was reminiscent of Protestantism. In 1673, the reverse happened. In 1811, the French again brought about a change. The Emperor Napoleon abolished the chapters and separated the tower from the church as to ownership: the tower was given to the civil authorities, the church remained in the possession of the church congregation.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, church and tower were restored several times. The most recent restoration of the church took place between 1979 and 1988. On the outside, among other things, all the decorations which had disappeared were newly mad, e.g. the pinacles with a height of 7 meters. Inside, the position of the furniture was drastically changed. The pews were placed into former choir arrangement: facing each other and not any longer behind each other and directed towards the pulpit. This arrangement is functional with regard to the celebration of the liturgy.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
Mechanized Tea Harvesting, Finlays Tea Estate, Koricho.
Photo by Patrick Sheperd/CIFOR
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The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.
The village of Rolvenden sits above the shallow valley through which the Kent and East Sussex Railway now runs, although this was once part of the national network, of course. Now it is a preserved line. and the line's headquarters and engine sheds are in Rolvenden.
St Mary sits next to the main junction in the centre of the village, inbetween the village's two pubs.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, most noticeable for the family pews situated in a gallery above the floor of the church in the south east corner. The family is Gybbon, and also, wonderfully, the Moneypennies. No sign of any Bonds though.
At the west end, the impressive organ also sits on a gallery, with another family pew beside it. Both are open to visit and take pictures from.
Beneath the Gybbon gallery/pew, there is a small family chapel, it's roof made so low by the gallery, one has to stoop to walk through, but one is then faced with the impressive family monuments and memorials.
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Standing high on a rise to the south of the village street, this is a prominent sandstone building of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century date. The most interesting feature is the eighteenth century family pew. It stands on a gallery and comes complete with tables and chairs! The screen beneath it was added by W.D. Caroe in the 1920s. In the arch to the opposite chapel is a memorial to Lt Tennant designed by Lutyens. There are three holy water stoups in the church and a very good piscina in the chancel. The font is of about the same date and shows the arms of two prominent medieval families, the Guilfords and the Culpepers. The church contains a seventeenth-century wooden alms box and on the south door-frame is a medieval mass dial.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Rolvenden
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Rolvenden is three miles south west of Tenterden on the A28.
It was first mentioned in the Domesday book as Rovindene. This was changed to Riolvinden in the reign of Edward III. Then changed again to Rounden in the late 17th century.
It is a busy little village with an unusually wide high street.
The C M Booth Motor Museum is to be found in the High Street.
Here you may view a unique collection of Morgan 3 wheelers, along with other various vintage cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and displays of toy and model cars, signs and other automobilia.
Great Maytham Hall which was the inspiration for Frances Hodgson Burnetts 'The Secret Garden' can be found by taking the Wittersham road by the church.
If you travel about 1 mile away from the village also on the Wittersham road you find the small station of Wittersham Road, which is on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway, with trains travelling to Tenterden , and Northiam .
The church of St Mary the Virgin, lies on a low mound on the southern end of the village. The earliest surviving part of the church may be seen in the chancel, and dates from around 1210.
Most of the church is 14th and 15th century, and has remained structurally the same since 1470.
The church has 8 bells, which date from 1819, and were made by Thomas Mears II of London. The clock on the north side of the tower dates from 1810, and bears the name 'Thomas Ollive of Cranbrook'. There are many unusual and attractive memorials to be seen in the churchyard. The War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 11th 1922.
The font stands at the western end of the South Aisle. It is of an uncommon shape, being hexagonal. It dates from the 14th century and is emblazoned with the arms of Guldeforde and Culpepper. The wooden cover is 18th century. Part of the hasps for securing the font cover with a lock can be seen on two sides.
This was for securing the Holy Water from being stolen by Witches.
kent.villagenet.co.uk/rolvenden.php
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LIES the next parish eastward from Benenden. It is universally called, and in general spelt Rounden. The court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds claims paramount over this parish.
THE PARISH of Rolvenden is pleasantly situated, most of it in a dry and healthy country, the soil of it being much the same as that of Benenden last described. It had formerly the mansions of many respectable families resident in it, interspersed in almost every part of it, but they are now several of them converted into farm-houses; the high turnpike road from thence towards Tenterden leading through it. There are about one hundred houses and five hundred inhabitants in it. The village, with the church, stands on high ground, nearly in the centre of the parish, the above road passing along the northern part of it; it is watered by two or three streamlets, which crossing this parish at small distances from each other, run on eastward, and joining a stream from Tenterden, separate the two parishes, and from the eastern boundary of this of Rolvenden. There is but little wood in this parish, what there is, being near the southern boundaries of it.
About half a mile south-eastward from the church, on the opposite side of the road, is a seat called KingsGate-House, which has been for some generations in the possession of the family of Weller. Alexander Weller owned it in the reign of king Charles I. and his descendant John Weller, esq. rear-admiral of the navy, died here possessed of it in 1772, he gave it by will to his brother Nicholas, who died in the East-Indies, and his son Mr. Robert Weller, is the present possessor of it.
A branch of the family of Maplesden, clothiers, were settled here, at the manor of Maplesden in this parish, in the reign of Henry VIII. which now belongs to John Beardsworth, esq.
THE RIVER ROTHER, which divides the parishes of Sandhurst and Newenden from Sussex, and those of Rolvenden, Tenterden, and Apledore, from the Isle of Oxney, about the year 1736, was so swarved, that the proprietors of the adjoining marsh lands were obliged to purchase and cut a new channel through Wittresham level, from Maytham-ferry to Blackwall on the south side of the island, for the passage of the waters; whereupon the course of that river, for the space of five miles or more, became inverted, and instead of running from Maytham to Smalhyth and Reading, in Ebony parish, to the east, now runs from thence to Maytham westward, and thence goes into the new channel.
Many commissions were issued formerly, on the complaints of several of the owners of lands hereabouts, for the safety of the marshes in this and the adjoining parishes, and to oblige the other respective land owners to repair and keep the banks, &c. against the sea, from the reign of king Edward I. to that of king Henry VI. and among others, those especially near the sea coast, between Smalhede and Mayhamme; between the latter and Newenden, and Bodisham bridge, and between Maytham and a certain place called the Pendyng, in Rolvynden and Tenterden, all which may be seen at large in Dugdale's History of Imbanking, &c. p. 40, 42, 47, 83.
SUBORDINATE to the court of the Seven Hundreds is the Manor Of Lambin, alias Halden, which is situated in the north-east part of this parish, and had the former of those names from the antient proprietor of it, Lambin de Langham, who held it by knight's service, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the 20th year of Henry III. His descendants continued in the possession of it till the beginning of king Edward III.'s reign, when it went by purchase into the family of Halden, who fixed their name on it, in addition to its former one of Lambin; and William, son of John de Halden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of that reign, and lies buried in the nave of this church. His son John de Halden died in the reign of Henry IV. and was buried near his father, leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, who carried this manor in marriage to William Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose descendants, though they continued possessed of their more antient seat of Hemsted, in the adjoining parish of Benenden, yet removed to this mansion of Halden, and made it their principal residence, and from time to time kept their shrievalties here. At length Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret and of the garter, died possessed of it about the year 1500, leaving by his first wife, two sons, Edward, to whom he gave this manor of Halden; and George, to whom he gave that of Hemsted. Sir Edward Guldeford, the eldest son, was a man of much eminence and distinction, being marshal of Calais, lord warden and constable of Dovercastle. He had a son Richard, who died in Spain, s. p. and a daughter Jane, who became her brother's heir, and married Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, who in her right became entitled to this manor; which he appears to have been possessed of in the 28th year of Henry VIII. Soon after which, either by purchase or exchange, it came into the hands of the crown, where it staid some time; the mansion and park continuing in the king's own occupation; and the demesne lands of it being demised for a term by the king to Sir John Baker, his attorney-general; to whom this manor of Halden itself, (the scite of the mansion, together with the demesne lands belonging to it being excepted) was granted some years afterwards in fee. The park was disparked by Sir John Baker soon after his grant of it. In the mean time king Edward VI. in his first year, had granted the manor of Halden, with its appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, attainted, to John, earl of Warwick, which on his attainder in the 1st year of queen Mary, came again into the hands of the crown, and was then granted to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned. Since which this manor continued in his descendants, in like manner as Sissinghurst, in Cranbrooke, till it was at length sold with it, not many years ago, to the trustees of Sir Horace Mann, bart. who is the present owner of it.
There are twelve dennes which hold of this manor of Lambyns-court, alias Halden; and on the court-day there are elected twelve officers, called beadles, to collect the rents of assise or quit-rents due from them to it. These dennes lie in Rolvenden, Benenden, Sandhurst, High Halden, Woodchurch, Tenterden, Stone, and in Wittersham.
BUT THE SCITE OF THE MANSION OF HALDEN, alias LAMBYNS-COURT, together with the greatest part of the demesne lands of this manor, which had been demised for a term to Sir John Baker as above-mentioned, were afterwards granted in fee to Sir Henry Sidney, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland, and he died possessed of these lands in the 28th year of queen Elizabeth. His son Sir Robert Sidney, created earl of Leicester, sold them, at the latter end of that reign, to Sir Thomas Smith, of London, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, whose grandson Robert Smith, esq. of Bidborough, in the reign of Charles II. alienated them to Robert Gybbon, esq. of Hole in this parish. Since which they have continued down with that seat, in a like succession of ownership, to John Beardsworth, esq. of London, who is the present proprietor of them.
Halden place is now only a large farm house, situated about a mile and a quarter north from the church. The arms of Guldeford still remain, carved in stone, on the stables belonging to it.
The Hole is a seat in this parish, about a mile north-west from the church, situated within the denne of that name. It had antiently owners of that surname, one of whom, Henry at Hole, in the year 1340, demised this place by deed to his two sisters Honor and Alice. How long it continued in their descendants, I have not found; but in the reign of Henry VIII. it was become the property of Mr. Rob. Gybbon, a wealthy clothier, who then exercised that trade here, as did his son John Gybbon, who died possessed of Hole in the 5th year of Edward VI. anno 1550, and there were some of this name, who held lands in this parish as early as the year 1340. A branch of this family was of Pump-house, in the adjoining parish of Benenden; another of it was of Frid, in Bethersden, and ended in two daughters and coheirs, married to Harlestone and Chowte, and from this branch issued those of Charlton, in Bishopsborne. In the descendants of John Gybbon above-mentioned, it continued down to colonel Robert Gybbon, who was possessed of it at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign. His son Major John Gybbon died in 1707, and was succeeded in it by his brother Robert Gybbon, esq. who was of Hole, where he died in 1719, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Phillips, gent. of Middlesex, one son Phillips, and a daughter Mary, married to James Monnypenny, esq. of this parish. Phillips Gybbon, esq. succeeded his father in this seat, which he resided at, and died here in 1762, bearing for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, argent; but in the windows of the hall at Hole, the arms of Gybbon are painted in antient glass, Or, a lion rampant, sable, charged on the shoulder with an escarbuncle, pomettee and florettee of the first; which glass was brought from the seat of Pumphouse, in Benenden, where it had been for a great length of time. Guillim. p. 359, says, Or, a lion rampant, sable, between three pellets, was borne by the name of Gybbon, and was confirmed to Edmund Gybbon, son and heir of Thomas Gybbon, gent. of Rolvenden, by Sir William Segar, in 1629, anno 5 Charles I. but when they altered their bearing to the present coat, I have not found. Phillips Gibbon left an only surviving daughter and heir, married to Philip Jodrel, esq. whom she survived, and dying possessed of this seat in 1775, s. p. she by will gave it, among her other estates in this county, in tail to Mrs. Jefferson, who since marrying with John Beardsworth, esq. of London, he is in her right, entitled to the possession of it.
KEINSHAM, corruptly so called for Cassingham, its proper name, was once accounted a manor here, and was in very early times held by a family so called from their possessing this estate, as well as much other land in this parish, on the denne of Cassingham. William de Cassinghame held it in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 1) in the 20th year of which he paid aid for it, together with Orlovingden, another inconsiderable manor here, as appears by the Testa de Nevil, at the marriage of Isabel the king's sister, as holding it by knight's service, notwithstanding which, part of it, containing one hundred and twenty acres of land, appears by other certain records to have been held at that time by the same William de Cassinghame, of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in gavelkind; for that archbishop being empowered so to do by the charter granted by king John to archbishop Hubert, his predecessor, changed the tenure of these lands from gavelkind to knight's service, to hold to the said William and his heirs of the archbishop and his successors, by knight's service, and the rent of 10s. 2d. per annum, and the addition of the same liberties as other knights had of the see of Christchurch, Canterbury. He was succeeded in this estate by his son Ralph de Cassinghame, who left two daughters and coheirs, Petronelia, married to Nicholas Aucher; and Benet, to Bertram de Wylmyngton, against whom the archbishop brought a suit for cutting down his oak and beech in this and the adjoining dennes, to which they pleaded the above change of service, and that the owners had constantly felled them. But the jury sound that the trees were the archbishop's, and that he and his predecessors had always felled them, without let of the owners, and had always taken amends for any trespass of this kind; and that they had in time before, and he did then, take a moiety of the pannage in the said woods.
There remains at this day no footsteps of this right, the reason of which is well accounted for by Mr. Somner as follows, in his Roman Ports, p 112:—In the times of king Edward III. and Richard II the archbishops of Canterbury and prior and convent of Christchurch respectively, among other like lords and owners of the Wealdish dens, finding themselves aggrieved by their tenants there and others, in cutting down and wasting their woods, which on former grants they had expressly reserved from their tenants to themselves, (though it is more probable their title to them was from the above-mentioned custom) in order to free themselves from further care and trouble on this account, entered into a composition, and for a new annual rent of assise, over and above the former services, by indenture of seossment, made the wood over to them in perpetuity, either to be cut down or left standing at the tenants choice. Since which the interest of the lord so compounding has been gone, as to the wood itself, and nothing left but this rent of assise, together with the former services.
And a custom of a contrary nature is set up at present in most manors, if not throughout the whole Weald, under the name of landpeerage, i. e. landownership; by which the owners of the lands on each side of the highway claim to exclude the lord from the property of the soil of the way, and of the trees growing on it.
Notwithstanding the account of the coheirs of Cassingham becoming entitled to this manor, yet the family of Cassinghame was still remaining here a long time afterwards, as appears by the will of Peter Cassingham, of Rolvenden, proved anno 1 Edward IV. 1461, in which he mentions his principal messuage, in which he then dwelt, with his lands in this parish, upon the dennes of Casynghame and Hachysdene, and at Maythame.
Bertram de Wylmyngton above-mentioned, appears by the escheat-rolls to have died possessed of lands here anno 2 Henry IV. Soon after which the Mores, of Benenden, are mentioned in the court-rolls as being owners of it until the reign of Henry VIII. when it was alienated in that reign by John More, esq. to John Gybbon, of this parish, clotheir, who by will in the 5th year of Edward VI. gave this manor, with its lands, rents, and services, to his son John; from whom, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by the same court-rolls, it went into the possession of William de la Hay, who, in the records of that time, is said to have held one knight's fee of the archbishop in Cassingham, in right of his wife. From this name it went, in the reign of James I. into the name of Everden, or Everinden, a branch of the Everindens, of Everinden-house, in Biddenden, where they are recorded by the private deeds of it to have been resident many hundred years, until the 2d year of queen Mary, when they alienated it; and thence again, in the next reign, to Munn, from whom it passed, in 1685, to Attained Smith, who gave it by will to Attained and Richard Hoare, the latter of whom having come into the possession of the whole of it, by will in 1757 settled it on Mr. William Gibbs, the present possessor of it.
The manor house was formerly very large; but it has been most of it pulled down, so that now it makes but a mean appearance. The Largest House at this time in this hamlet of Keinsham, is one which formerly belonged to John Kadwell, esq. of this parish, whose daughter and coheir Sarah carried it in marriage to the Rev. Thomas Chamberlaine, of Charlton, near Greenwich, who was succeeded in it by Mr. Thomas Chamberlain, his only son, the present possessor of it.
There has not been any court held for this manor for many years.
GREAT MAYTHAM is a manor in the southern part of this parish, which was antiently held by a family who took their name from it. Orable de Maytham, who with her sister Elwisa, held much land in these parts, appears to have been possessed of it in the reign of Edward I. Soon after which it was become the property of John de Malmains, who died possessed of it anno 10 Edward II. In the 20th year of the next reign of Edward III. the heirs of Thomas Malmayns, of Hoo, held this manor by knight's service. Soon after which the Carews, of Beddington, in Surry, were come into the possession of it. Nicholas Carew, esq. of that place, owned it at the latter end of the reign of Richard II. and in this name it continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when by the attainder of Sir Nicholas Carew, by act of parliament in the 31st year of that reign, it came into the hands of the crown, whence it was granted, with other lands in this parish, immediately afterwards, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, anno 32 king Henry VIII. it came again to the crown, and was again granted, the year after, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, to hold in capite by knight's service, who that same year, with the king's licence, alienated it to Walter Hendley, esq. and his heirs. He was afterwards knighted, and made king's sergeant-at-law, and dying in the 6th year of king Edward VI. without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, and this manor, by the marriage of Helen, the second daughter, with Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, became his property, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the 2d and 3d year of Edward VI. His grandson Sir Anthony Colepeper, of Bedgebury, included this manor in a settlement which he made of it in 1613; and it was sold, under the limitation of that settlement, by one of his descendants, in 1714, to James Monypenny, esq. descended from an antient family of this name at Pitmilly, in Scotland, who bore for their arms, Vert, a dolphin erect, or. He in 1721 began the foundation of a seat here, within this manor and within the borough of Maytham, though not on the demesne lands of it, which he named MAYTHAM-HALL, which his eldest son Robert Monypenny, esq. finished in 1760, and resided here till his death in 1772. He died unmarried, and was succeeded in both manor and seat by his only surviving brother James Monypenny, esq. the present possessor of them, who now resides here. There is no house on this manor, nor any court held for it.
LOWDEN MANOR, formerly called also Little Maytham, as being situated within the borough of that name, was in the reign of Edward I. held by Elwisa de Maytham, as half a knight's fee. In the 20th year of Edward III. it was in the possession of the family of Aucher, for Henry Aucher then paid aid for it as holding it by knight's service, as did his grandson Henry Aucher, esq. of Losenham, in the 4th year of king Henry IV. at the marriage of Blanch, the king's sister, (fn. 2) and his grandson, of the same name, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, she, in the reign of king Henry VII. carried this manor in marriage to Walter Colepeper, esq. of Bedgebury, whose grandson John Colepeper, esq. of Salehurst, in Sussex, alienated it in 1565 to John Wildgose, gent. of that place, and his descendant Robert Wildigos, esq. sold it in 1637 to Mary Barker, widow, who gave it by will to Samuel Sandys, of Ombersley, in Worcestershire, and he in 1663 conveyed it to George Kadwell, esq. of Gatehouse, in Rolvenden, whose descendants Felix, John, and George Kadwell, the sons under age of Thomas Kadwell, esq. becoming possessed of this manor of Lowden, and other lands, of the nature of gavelkind, lying in Rolvenden, Benenden, and Sandhurst. They by their guardians prayed a writ of partition, which was executed by the sheriff, and this manor of Lowden, with its appurtenances, was allotted to the eldest of them. (fn. 3) Felix Kadwell, esq. of this parish, dying in 1748, without male issue, by will gave this manor, wich the farm and lands called Lowden, in tail male, to his grandson Jeremiah Curteis, eldest son of Samuel Curteis, gent. by Mary his wife, his eldest daughter and coheir, (who died in her father's life-time) leaving three sons, Jeremiah, before-mentioned; Samuel, and Felix Kadwell Curteis; and one daughter Sarah). Jeremiah Curteis before-mentioned, was of Rye, gent. and died s. p. upon which it came to his next brother Mr. Samuel Curteis, gent. now of Tenterden, who is the present possessor of it.
There is no house now remaining on this manor; but the scite of the antient mansion, and the moat round it, are still visible. A court baron is held for it.
FRENSHAM, as it is now usually called, through its more proper name is Fresingham, or Fersingham, as it was sometimes written, was antiently accounted a manor, though it has long since lost all pretensions to one. It had been, in the 20th year of Henry III. as appears by the Testa de Nevil, in the possession of a family of the same name. John de Fresingham, or Fersingham, which name was afterwards contracted to that of Frencham, held it then, and paid aid for it, as holding it by knight's service, at the marriage of Isabel, that prince's sister; and in his descendants it continued till the latter end of the reign of Edward III. when it went by sale to Northwood, though there was a family of the name of Frencham remaining here so late as queen Elizabeth's reign, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. In the name of Northwood it remained till that of king Edward IV. and then, as appeared by the old rolls of this manor, it was conveyed to Sir John Guldeford, of Halden, whose son Sir Richard Guldeford settled it on his second son Geo. Guldeford, esq. of Hemsted, whose son Sir John Guldeford alienated it to Mr. John Fowle, of Sandhurst, who gave it to his second son Alexander Fowle, and he sold it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, and was succeeded by his grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. (fn. 4) from one of whose descendants it passed by sale to Mr. Gilbert, afterwards chief baron of the exchequer, who bequeathed it by will to Phillips Gybbon, esq. of Hole, since which it has passed, in like manner as that seat, to John Beardsworth, esq. the present possessor of it. This manor is held of the manor of Swanscombe, by castle-guard rent to the castle of Rochester, and is called, in the rolls of that manor, Fraxingham.
FRENSHAM, alias THE GATEHOUSE, is a seat here, situated on Lain-green, which seems to have been once the antient mansion and scite of the above-mentioned manor, from which it has been alienated many years since. It was once the property of the family of Pointz. Sir John Pointz owned it in 1610. His son Sir Robert Pointz, of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, K. B. sold it in 1640 to George Kadwell, esq. who had resided here as tenant to it, as had his father Thomas Kadwell, who died in 1631. This family was originally spelt Caldwell, and afterwards Cadwell; one of them, John Caldwell, was of this parish in the reign of Henry VIII. and was a great occupier of lands in this parish and Benenden, as appears by the inrolments in the Augmentation-office; they bore for their arms, Azure, a cross formee, fitchee, between eight estroiles, or. George Kadwell, esq. before-mentioned, who purchased this seat, dying in 1660, left a son Thomas Kadwell, who succeeded him in it, and afterwards rebuilt the mansion of it, where he kept his shrievalty for this county in 1677. He died in 1880, leaving three sons, of whom Felix Kadwell, esq. the eldest, succeeded him here, and died in 1748, having had a numerous issue, of whom only two daughters survived, who became his coheirs; of whom Elizabeth, the eldest, married Josias Pattenson, gent. of Biddenden, and Mary married Samuel Curteis, gent. of Tenterden. Josias Pattenson left several children, of whom Kadwell Pattenson, esq. the eldest, succeeded to this seat on his grandfather's death, and died s. p. in 1750, leaving his widow surviving; since married to the Rev. Mr. Williams, but this seat, with several other estates in this parish, devolved to his brother Mr Josias Pattenson, of Brook-place, in Ashford, who is at present entitled to it.
Since the Kadwells resided here, more than a third part of the house has been pulled down, and yet there is a large house remaining.
FORSHAM, alias Nether Forsham, lies in the southern part of this parish, and was once accounted a manor. It had formerly owners of the same name; for Osbert de Forshamme possessed it in the 18th year of king Edward I. Sir John de Forsham held it, as appears by old dateless deeds, in very early times. His successor Stephen de Forsham, in the 11th year of king Edward III. found a man-at-arms for guard of the sea coast; the arms they bore, appears by a deed in the Surrenden library, the seal appendant to which has three crosses, fusilly, the legend, S. STEPHANI DE FORSHAM. After this name was extinct here, the Northwoods succeeded to it, and then the Guldefords, from one of whom, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was sold to Dyke, of Sussex; from whose descendants, by their trustees, it was alienated, at the latter end of king Charles I.'s reign, to Mr. Thomas Bromfield, merchant, of London; from which name it afterwards passed to the Moyses, in which it continued till Mary, only daughter and heir of William Moyse, gent. of Berenden, carried it in marriage to Moyle Breton, esq. of Elmes, near Dover, who died possessed of it in 1735, and his grandson the Rev. Moyle Breton, of Kennington, alienated it a few years since to James Monypenny, esq. of Maytham hail, in this parish, who is the present possessor of it.
On this manor there were within memory, the ruins of an antient stone structure, supposed by some to have been the remains of a sort of some strength, and by others to have been only a chapel, for the use of the antient possessors of the mansion of it.
Charities.
JOHN GYBBON, ESQ. late of Charter-house yard, in Middlesex, by will in 1707, gave to the inhabitants of Rolvenden, three Exchequer annuities, amounting in all to 42l. per annum, in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend in the schooling and education of boys and girls of such of the poor inhabitants of this parish, as receive alms, or are excused from paying the parish rates, and to apply the remainder, if any, in apprenticing so many of the poor boys and girls as it would amount to. He further bequeathed two other Exchequer annuities, amounting together to 170l. per annum, to the said inhabitants in trust, for the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, to expend partly in the purchase of wool, flax, and hemp, for setting the poor to work on the linen or woollen manufacture, and paying them for the same; and partly for cloathing boys and girls of the said poor above the age of seven years, and poor men and women of the age of fifty years and upwards. These annities, by a decree in chancery, in 1763, were converted by sale and transfer into three per cent. consolidated Bank Stock, viz. the former into 921l. 4s. and the latter into 3778l. 15s. now of the annual produce of 113l. 7s. 3d. and of 27l. 12s. 9d.
ALEXANDER WELIER, gent. in 1723, conveyed by deed of gift, a certain field called Well field, to the vicar and churchwardens of Rolvenden, and their successors for ever, in trust, that the rent of it should be applied in the first place to the cleansing, repairing, preserving, restoring, and upon occasion rebuilding the tombstones erected by him in the church yard here; and the remainder, if any, to be distributed yearly on Christmas-day, among the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
EDMUND GYBBON, gent. in 1677, gave an annual rent charge of 50s. per annum, issuing out of certain lands in Rolvynden, now in the possession of John Elphen, and payable yearly on the feast of St. Andrew, to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens amongst the poor of this parish, not receiving alms.
LAURENCE PETERS, in 1777, gave by will 100l. to this parish, the interest of it to be said out, in the first place, to maintain the rails about his grave; and if no such repairs were necessary, then to be distributed one moiety at Christmas, and the other on Good Friday, in good bakers bread and good cheese, to the poor, vested in the vicar and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 4l.
A PIECE OF LAND, called the Well-field, containing five acres, now of the annual produce of 5l. for the use and benefit of the poor, is vested in the minister and churchwardens.
The poor relieved annually are about fifty; casually twenty.
ROLVENDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
The Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is large and handsome, having three isles and three chancels, and a tower steeple with a beacon turret at the west end. In the east window there are remains of good painted glass. Kilburne, p. 131, says, that in the first of the five windows in the great chancel, was the effigies of Carew, esq. in the second, that of Sir John Guldeford; what was in the third was quite defaced; in the fourth was the effigies of Henry Aucher and Elizabeth his wife; and in the fifth that of More; all of them considerable owners of lands in this parish. The font is of an octagon form, on which are these coats of arms: first, a bordure; second, a bend engrailed; third, a saltier, between four martlets; the fourth is hidden by the pews. By a brass plate against the south wall of the south chapel of this church, it appears that it was founded by Edward Guldeford, esq. on the day of St. Tiburtius and Valerianus, martyrs, April '4, anno 1444. In this church lie buried several of the Gybbons's, of Hole, and the Monypenny's. Clement Frencham was buried, as appears by his will, anno 1533, in Skott's chancel. In the church-yard are several tombstones of the Kadwells, and one near them for Kadwell Pattenson, anno 1750.
The rectory of this church was antiently part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, with which it remained till at length it was given, about the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign, being then valued at sixty marcs, by John, lord Cobham, as an addition to the revenues of the college, founded by him at Cobham; which gift was confirmed by pope Urban VI. in his 10th year; and he at the same time confirmed the appropriation of this church to the use of the college, on the death or the cession of the rector of it, reserving, nevertheless, out of the rents and profits of it, a competent portion for a perpetual vicar to serve in it, by which he might be fitly maintained, pay his episcopal rights, and support the other burthens incumbent on it. In which state this appropriation, with the patronage of the vicarage, remained till the reign of Henry VIII. when the master and brethren of the college of Cobham soreseeing their approaching dissolution, in the 30th year of it, with the king's consent, sold the scite with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, to George, lord Cobham, and they were, by an especial clause in the act, anno 31 Henry VIII. excepted out of it to the lord Cobham and his heirs. Notwithstanding which, it appears that this church, with the patronage of the vicarage, came into the king's hands, who by his dotation charter, (fn. 5) in the 33d year of his reign, settled them both on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where they continue at this time.
¶By the survey taken in 1649, after the dissolution of the dean and chapter, this parsonage appears to have consisted of a barn, house, &c. and sixty-eight acres and two roods of land, at the improved rent of 120l. per annum, let by the late dean and chapter, anno 14 Charles I. to Edmund Hamond, esq. for twenty-one years, at 7l. 12s. The present tenants of the parsonage are Mr. Thomas and James Goble.
The vicarage is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly value of forty-four pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 11s. 4d. In 1578 here were communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants four hundred and thirty three.
There is an augmentation of ten pounds per annum paid to this vicarage by the dean and chapter of Rochester. There are about seven acres and an half of glebe land belonging to it.