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AMAZONE GV.7486 then GV 317499
Type of ship: Trawler type malamok Trawler
Year Built: 1953
Shipyard: Pierre Glehen Guilvinec
Hull: wood
Rough measure: 20 tx
Length: 12.94 m
Width: 4.70 m
Engine: Baudouin
Power: 118 kw
Maritime District: Guilvinec
Homeport: Lesconil
Registration: GV.7486 then GV. 317499
Call sign TPDQ
Information
Withdrawn from the fleet in October 20, 1990
Abandoned at the cemetery of Odet Bénodet
USAF Heritage Flight , Viper West F-16 / P51 Mustang flyover at Thunder on the Ohio, part of The Freedom Festival in Evansville IN.
More info:
Dating back to 1678, then known as Morris, the plantation was used in 1780 during the American Revolutionary War by British General Sir Henry Clinton as his headquarters while planning to invade and occupy nearby Charleston, with many enslaved workers assisting in the effort and being granted their freedom by the British. The present house was built in 1858 in the Greek Revival style, with two one-story porches on the front and rear of the building. The grounds also contain a cotton gin house, barn, carriage house, outhouse, kitchen, dairy, and slave cabins that all date to before the civil war. During the Civil War, the main house was utilized by Confederate forces occupying the area as a hospital, with the house in 1865, upon the occupation of Charleston by the Union army, becoming the headquarters of the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiments, made up of free people of color. Following the war, during reconstruction, the house was home to a branch of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, with many newly freed formerly enslaved people camping and living on the grounds during this time. As a result of this part of the land’s history, the site has gained a large amount of significance to the local Gullah-Geechee people. Between 1910 and 1926, under the ownership of a descendant of the McLeod family whom had built the house, the house was renovated with the addition of a one-story wing containing a kitchen and butler’s pantry to one side, and a substantial two-story portico on what had formerly been the rear of the house, giving the house a grander appearance more befitting of the idea of what a proper “plantation house” was supposed to look like in the minds of people living at the time. The house was lived in by the McLeod family until 1990, when it was given to the Historic Charleston Foundation. In 1993, about half of the remaining land at McLeod plantation was set aside in perpetuity for the cultivation of sweetgrass, which is used by Gullah-Geechee craftspeople, allowing them to benefit from a place where their ancestors were once exploited. In 2011, the rest of the land was sold to the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission, with the portion of the land along Wappoo Creek on the far side of Country Club Drive being set aside as a public park, while the house and grounds immediately surrounding it have been converted into a historical house museum that interprets the history of the site in a comprehensive manner. The remaining plantation buildings and land were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and the site is one of South Carolina’s state-designated African-American historic places.
'Born Naked and Then ...'
Dimensions: 18" x 24"
Medium: compressed charcoal pencil on paper
Description: This is drawn (for the most part) with one continuous line searching to be expressive. $NFS (Artist# 17)
Moving into Miraflores Lock-2nd Chamber and then into Miraflores Lake / Panama Canal locks (Esclusas del Canal de Panamá) are a lock system that lifts a ship up the 85 feet to the main elevation of the Panama Canal and down again. The original canal had a total of six steps (three up, three down) for a ship's passage. The total length of the lock structures, including the approach walls, is over 1.9 miles. The locks were one of the greatest engineering works ever to be undertaken when they opened in 1914. No other concrete construction of comparable size was undertaken until the Hoover Dam, in the 1930s. There are two independent transit lanes, since each lock is built double. The size of the original locks limits the maximum size of ships that can transit the canal; this size is known as Panamax. Construction on the Panama Canal expansion project, which included a third set of locks, began in September 2007, finished by May 2016 and began commercial operation on 26 June 2016. The new locks allow transit of larger, New Panamax ships, which have a greater cargo capacity than the previous locks were capable of handling / There are twelve locks in total. A two-step flight at Miraflores, and a single flight at Pedro Miguel, lift ships from the Pacific up to Gatun Lake; then a triple flight at Gatun lowers them to the Atlantic side. All three sets of locks are paired; that is, there are two parallel flights of locks at each of the three lock sites. This, in principle, allows ships to pass in opposite directions simultaneously; however, large ships cannot cross safely at speed in the Culebra Cut, so in practice ships pass in one direction for a time, then in the other, using both "lanes" of the locks in one direction at a time. Each lock chamber requires 26,700,000 US gal (101,000 m3) of water to fill it from the lowered to the raised position; the same amount of water must be drained from the chamber to lower it again. The water is moved by gravity and is controlled by huge valves in the culverts. Each cross culvert is independently controlled. A lock chamber can be filled in as little as eight minutes. There is significant turbulence in the lock chamber during this process.
Then with KYN, now transferred to BNDM (As on Jul 2011) Shakti #13369 rests at Koparkhairane with a departmental rake in tow. 2nd Feb 2009
The British Heart Foundation Brighton Marathon 2018. Action shots of runners at Cheer Point 13.5miles and then afterthe race in the hospitality/ massage tent. 15th April 2018
Photography by Fergus Burnett
Accreditation required with all use - 'fergusburnett.com'
Gerbera in early bloom just received some rain, then came the sun. Carefully selected split-toning in Lightroom 2 for a timeless, vintage look and feel. Please comment positives and negatives!
This Guy - Civic Virtue Triumphant Over Unrighteousness - created from 1909–22 - sculpture group created by sculptor Frederick William MacMonnies and architect Thomas Hastings and carved by the Piccirilli Brothers - originally placed in front of New York City Hall in Manhattan but got kicked out in 1940 then spent about 72 years beside Queens Borough Hall - now located in Green-Wood Cemetery Brooklyn NYC 2018 New York City 09/01/2018
At the St. Louis County Fair & Air Show, a P-51 WWII era fighter flying formation with an A-10 (Wart Hog) from the present Air Force
street scene in buenos aires
© All rights reserved. Written permission is required for use of any of my images .
The current images I am showing now here on Flickr, are Collaboration's with my son A.J. He is 8 years old. We make all the images in the camera first, then I work on them in photoshop to find the best parts from several images to make the finale composition. All the images start from motion and movement of toys and other objects that my son has. A.J. is very unique. He has a way of helping me to see things in people and in the surroundings of my life in a newer way then ever. He inspires me to work harder in understanding my life in art, photography, people, spiritual things, and so much more...
I believe A.J. came in to my life to change every thing I understand about life. AJ was born Dec. 17, 1998 at 36 weeks gestation. He weighed 3.7lbs. He is a kid of special needs. He was born with broken femurs although he was born by cesarean. He has scoliosis of the back. His legs do not move and his right arm is flacid, the left arm has limited range of motion. He eats by a "G" tube in his tummy and can't swallow. He has a tracheotomy in his neck to breath through SIMV, a ventilation device to assist with his breathing. He’s extremely nearsighted and what he truly sees we just don’t really know. Most would describe A.J as a quadriplegic. He cannot speak. AJ is a wonderful inspiration to my wife and family and we are very honored and thankful to be his parents.
OK now you are asking your self or me how a kid like A.J. Collaborates with me. he likes light and lights that move. toys that fly over his bed. he has a large mobil near his bed that we have hung toys on all his life. one day many years a go I was doing my normal daddy thing doing a photo of him and I found that the toys looked cool in the photo. I began to experiment on how to have more fun looking at this toy thing that happened. I wonted to controll it more but I did one thing I made a rule that he must be a part of it as much as I could help him to be. it was his stuff that cot my eye. now that mobil of his is run by a switch that he pushes on or off. it dose not seem like much to some but it is his part and all he can do. so I don't know which way it might turn. the shutter speeds are long and some times I move the camera or hold it still. A.J. adds all the magic to it and he is the true energy. yes I did try many shots that he was not part of but when I have done this it is just not as wow as when he and I work as a team. it is a fun way to play with him and be a bigger part of his life. I show him the photos in the back of the camera after we do a few, or from a lap top. he just looks. I don't know if he likes them or not but I do. I get a lot of joy from working with him like this. it is one of the only things I feel that I can truely look in to his secret world by. we have ben doing this for several years now. and I have built a large collection of cool images to share with you doing this part is a new thing for use to do. I hope you have fun looking at the images we have here. we have only printed a few on paper so far. this art is the first of extreme abstract art I have realy began to enjoy.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided.
Exodus 14:21
The goal of this shot was to have the ancient memorials as well as the Kilmartin Hotel both visible in the shot to show the evolution of the village through the years.
While the metering wasn't done as spectacularly as I would have liked, I am really happy with how the different textures of the stones came out.
So this is it then, one of the most iconic lanes in British music history, or the corner of anyway! At the junction of Greenbank Road/North Mossley Hill Rd. Over the years many of these road signs have gone missing at one stage the council started painting the road name onto walls, a version of which can be seen just around the corner from this spot, as can be seen conventional signs are used again, but are now more difficult to remove.
"Penny Lane" is a song by the Beatles, written primarily by Paul McCartney. It was credited to Lennon–McCartney. Recorded during the Sgt. Pepper sessions, "Penny Lane" was released in February 1967 as one side of a double A-sided single, along with "Strawberry Fields Forever". Both songs were later included on the Magical Mystery Tour LP (1967). The single was the result of the record company wanting a new release after several months of no new Beatles releases.
Slightly differently then residential glass, architectural glass is reinforced by a second layer to increase its strength for the purpose of building. Architectural glass is used in places such as sliding doors and industrial windows, but some of its more impressive uses can be seen in buildings such as the National Center for the Performing Arts, a giant entirely glass dome in China that entirely reflects on the water around it well remaining partially visible inside. Good customer service is always sure from BKNY Glass and you can buy it from us here in New York. This has got a good variety and really offers some very good options. The quality is also very good so you can really enjoy your experience. Architectural glass has been used to strengthen the modern glass structural achievements that are growing every day. Whole glass buildings can now be built in a variety of shapes and designs, stretching up and out with the same structural integrity as a traditional building. Glass is durable, easy to clean, incredibly sanitary and can be used as walls, floors and ceilings to create an environment flooding with natural light. If you work hard on the support then. This does not only make the customer to stay tuned on their inquiry, but also helps build customer relations. Customer service is the demonstration of dealing with the customers needs by giving and conveying proficient, supportive, amazing service and help some time recently, amid, and after the customers prerequisites are met. Customer service is addressing the necessities and cravings of any customer. A few qualities of good customer benefit include:
Promptness: Promises for conveyance of items must be on time. Deferrals and cancelations of items ought to be stayed away from.
he holds his stare for what seems like an age. teh only movement is the well practiced journey of glass to lip. the eyes see, the glass holds, the image is made.
Dating back to 1678, then known as Morris, the plantation was used in 1780 during the American Revolutionary War by British General Sir Henry Clinton as his headquarters while planning to invade and occupy nearby Charleston, with many enslaved workers assisting in the effort and being granted their freedom by the British. The present house was built in 1858 in the Greek Revival style, with two one-story porches on the front and rear of the building. The grounds also contain a cotton gin house, barn, carriage house, outhouse, kitchen, dairy, and slave cabins that all date to before the civil war. During the Civil War, the main house was utilized by Confederate forces occupying the area as a hospital, with the house in 1865, upon the occupation of Charleston by the Union army, becoming the headquarters of the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiments, made up of free people of color. Following the war, during reconstruction, the house was home to a branch of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, with many newly freed formerly enslaved people camping and living on the grounds during this time. As a result of this part of the land’s history, the site has gained a large amount of significance to the local Gullah-Geechee people. Between 1910 and 1926, under the ownership of a descendant of the McLeod family whom had built the house, the house was renovated with the addition of a one-story wing containing a kitchen and butler’s pantry to one side, and a substantial two-story portico on what had formerly been the rear of the house, giving the house a grander appearance more befitting of the idea of what a proper “plantation house” was supposed to look like in the minds of people living at the time. The house was lived in by the McLeod family until 1990, when it was given to the Historic Charleston Foundation. In 1993, about half of the remaining land at McLeod plantation was set aside in perpetuity for the cultivation of sweetgrass, which is used by Gullah-Geechee craftspeople, allowing them to benefit from a place where their ancestors were once exploited. In 2011, the rest of the land was sold to the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission, with the portion of the land along Wappoo Creek on the far side of Country Club Drive being set aside as a public park, while the house and grounds immediately surrounding it have been converted into a historical house museum that interprets the history of the site in a comprehensive manner. The remaining plantation buildings and land were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and the site is one of South Carolina’s state-designated African-American historic places.
Askil was booked on a flight from Southampton at half nine, so to get him there in time we had to be on the six o'clock ferry. And to be on that, we had to be on the road at five to drive to Newport and then back out to East Cowes as the floating bridge does not work at that time.
So, alarm at twenty to five, finish packing, and out to the car to load up, and inching past us on the Solent was a huge cruise ship, like a Vogon Constructor fleet vessel, lit up like a Christmas tree, but the shape of a brutalist concrete block.
I was pretty sure I could find the ferry terminal without the sat nav, so we drove through the empty streets of West Cowes, then on the main drag to Newport past the two illuminated prisons, past the retail park, over the now narrow River Medina, and out of the town towards Cowes.
Not much traffic, but what there was, was in a train behind us, all heading to the ferry terminal.
We arrived at half five, the ferry had just arrived, so we waited in line to be allowed on.
The ferry was not even a quarter full, but there was a rush up the stairs to get to the cafeteria in order to get fresh food.
We joined them and had a child's breakfast, which was four items off the menu, which was two sausages, bacon and hash browns for me.
The ferry glided out of her moorings, down the river and out into open water, with only light winds, it was a pleasant crossing, and near to Southampton dawn's warm light was spreading from the south east. The city itself was only just waking up.
From there it was a fifteen minute blast up to the motorway and along to the airport, dropping Askil and his bags off at the railway station so to avoid the £2 drop-off fee at the airport.
We were not the only ones doing this.
And I was alone again.
I turned the car round, drive back to the motorway, then up the M3 as the first rays of the sun lit the Hampshire countryside.
It was going to be a fine day, and I was heading back home.
I thought it was going to be the drive from hell, getting up the M3 before eight, then along the M25 the following hour. I mean, traffic was going to be awful, right? It always is on the M25, it used to still be mad at midnight when I used to drive back to Lyneham after a weekend at home.
Well, maybe because it was half term, but the traffic on the M3 was light, and lighter still on the M25. Only hold up being the A3 junction where it is being rebuilt, even then just for a few minutes, and clear after that.
I had some time to kill, so wasn't going straight home. I was doing some crawling in west Kent before then.
First up was Westerham, so important it is mention on a junction of the M25.
Off the motorway at the junction before Clacket Lane Services, so still in Surrey. I followed the A25 through Oxted, which I supposed was still in Sussex, though was hoping there be a sign where Kent began.
Indeed, at the midway point between Oxted and Westerham, there was the welcome to Kent sign, so the crawling could begin.
Westerham is a small town, just 4,000 souls live there, and the church it situated near the green. Around which I could find no parking. But opposite, through an arch there was some public parking, so abandoned the car there, grabbed the cameras and walked over to the church, and from the churchyard, the ground fell away steeply, revealing the roofs of the town in the warm spring sunshine.
I took a shot.
The church was open, a voice reading softly in the north chapel turned out to be the Vicar, conducting a service for just himself.
When he finished, he came to speak and told me not to miss the chapel behind the organ.
However, in the tower there is a remarkable survivor, the only known representation of the Royal coat of arms of Edward VI, who ruled after Henry VIII until his death at the young age of only 15, declaring Lady Jane Grey to succeed him.
It did not end well.
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The tower staircase is the feature most visitors remember, a wide circular construction of timber enclosed within vertical posts. It is quite an eye-catcher and has stood here for nearly five hundred years. The church has something of a Victorian feel to it by virtue of the thorough restoration and enormous amounts of money lavished on it at that time. Yet there are earlier features of note - most importantly the Royal Arms of Edward VI. They are painted on a wooden board, not stretched canvas, and the supporters - which include a dragon (unicorns didn't come along until 1603) - are very tall and lean. In fact the lion is little more than a pussy cat with his crown at quite a jaunty angle! The church also contains some very fine sixteenth-century memorial brasses, and a consecration cross may be picked out at the base of the tower. The south chapel has a fourteenth-century piscina with a credence shelf. However, when it comes to furnishings it is the stained glass that impresses. The east window is by Holiday (1882), the south chapel east window Crucifixion by Kempe (1888) is particularly good, whilst a north aisle window is by Morris and Co. to the designs of Burne-Jones and dates from 1909.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Westerham
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WESTERHAM, USUALLY CALLED, AND FREQUENTLY WRITTEN, WESTRAM,
IS the next parish westward from Brasted, being called in Domesday, Oistreham, and in the Textus Roffensis, Westerham; taking its name from its situation at the western extremity of this county.
WESTERHAM is a parish of large extent, and like those before described in a similar situation is much longer than it is in breadth. It extends to the summit of the range of chalk hills northward, where it bounds to Cowden, and southward, beyond the sand hill, into the Weald. In the whole it is about five miles and a half from north to south, and on an average, in breadth, about two miles and a half, bounding westward to Surry. The soil is much the same as the last described parishes, adjoining to the double range of hills. The high road from Maidstone and Sevenoke, across this parish, midway between these hills, towards Surry; on it is situated the town of Westerham, a very healthy and pleasant situation, at the west end of which is a seat, which has for many years belonged to the family of Price, and continues so now; and at the east end is the church and parsonage; besides which there are many genteel houses dispersed in it. The high road from Bromley by Leaves-green joins the Sevenoke road, on the north side of the town, near the south side of which is the mansion of Squeries. The river Darent takes its rise in this parish, at a small distance southward from Squeries, and having supplied the grounds of it, runs along near the south side of the town, and having turned a mill, it takes its course north east, and in about half a mile, passes by Hill-park towards Brasted; northward from hence the land rises about a mile and a half to the foot of the chalk hills, near which, close to the boundaries of Surry, is Gasum. From the town southward, to the summit of the sand hill, is about two miles, over a very hilly unfertile soil, interspersed with commons, waste rough grounds, and woods, among which, bounding to Surry, is Kent-hatch, taking its name from its situation; and on the summit of the hill the hamlet of Well-street, and a seat called Mariners, belonging to Mr. Stafford Whitaker; from whence, down the hill, this parish extends two miles further southward into the Weald, where, near the boundaries of it, is the estate of Broxham; the soil over which is a stiff clay and deep tillage land. The abbot of Westminster, in the 25th year of king Edward III. obtained the grant of a market, to be held weekly here on a Wednesday, which is still continued, and is plentifully supplied with all sorts of provisions; and a fair yearly, on the vigil, the day, and the day after the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, being Sept. 8; (fn. 1) which is now, by alteration of the style, held on the 19th and the following days, for bullocks, horses, and toys.
In the year 1596, the following astonishing scene happened in this parish, in two closes, separated from each other only by a hedge, about a mile and a half southward from the town, not far from the east side of the common highway, called Ockham-hill, leading from London towards Buckhurst, in Sussex; where part of them sunk, in three mornings, eighty feet at the least, and so from day to day. This great trench of ground, containing in length eighty perches, and in breadth twenty-eight, began, with the hedges and trees thereon, to loose itself from the rest of the ground lying round about it, and to slide and shoot all together southward, day and night, for the space of eleven days. The ground of two water pits, the one having six feet depth of water, and the other twelve feet at the least, having several tusts of alders and ashes growing in their bottoms, with a great rock of stone underneath, were not only removed out of their places, and carried southward, but mounted alost, and became hills, with their sedge, flags, and black mud upon the tops of them, higher than the face of the water which they had forsaken; and in the place from which they had been removed, other ground, which lay higher, had descended, and received the water on it. In one place of the plain field there was a great hole made, by the sinking of the earth, thirty feet deep; a hedge, with its trees, was carried southward; and there were several other sinkings of the earth, in different places, by which means, where the highest hills had been, there were the deepest dales; and where the lowest dales were before, there was the highest ground.
The whole measure of the breaking ground was at least nine acres; the eye witnesses to the truth of which were, Robert Bostock, esq. justice of the peace; Sir John Studley, vicar; John Dowling, gent. and many others of the neighbourhood.
In the spring of 1756, at Toy's-hill, about a mile and a half eastward from the above, a like circumstance was observed, in a field of two acres and an half, the situation of which was on the side of a hill, inclining towards the south; the land of which kept moving imperceptibly till the effect appeared, for some time, by which means the northern side was sunk two or three feet, and became full of clefts and chasms, some only a foot deep, others as large as ponds, six or eight feet deep, and ten or tweleve feet square, and most of them filled with water. Part of a hedge moved about three rods southward, and though straight before, then formed an angle with its two ends. Another hedge separated to the distance of eight feet, the southern part, which was on a level before with the rest of the field, after this, overhung it like a precipice, about the height of twelve feet; and the land on each side, which had not moved, was covered with the rest, which folded over it, to the height of six or seven feet.
Dr. Benjamin Hoadly, late bishop of Winchester, was born in this parish, in the year 1676.
General James Wolfe was likewife born here, on Jan. 2, 1727. He died in America, Sept. 13, 1759, the conqueror of Quebec, and an honour to his profession and his country.
THIS PLACE, in the reign of William the Conqueror, was in the possession of Eustace, earl of Bologne, and it is accordingly thus entered in the general survey of Domesday, taken in that reign, under the title of Terra Comitis Eustachii.
Earl Eustace holds of the king Oistreham. Earl Godwin held it of king Edward (the Confessor) and it was then, and is now taxed at four sulings. The arable land is ...... In demesne there are two carucates, and42 villeins, with 7 borderers, having 30 carucates. There are ten servants and one mill of five shillings, and 16 acres of meadow, and wood sufficient for the pannage of 100 hogs.— In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth 30 pounds, when he received it 24 pounds, and now 40 pounds.
This place came afterwards into the possession of the family of Camvill, called in Latin, De Cana Villa, the ancestor of which came into England with William the Conqueror, and bore for their arms, Azure, three lions passant argent, which coat still remains carved on the roof of the cloisters of Christ church, in Canterbury.
It appears by the second scutage, levied in the reign of king John, in the 2d and 3d years of that reign, that Thomas de Camvill then held this place of the honour of Bologne, as did his descendant, John de Camvill, in king Henry III.'s reign.
Roger de Camvill, son of Walter, a younger son of Richard de Camvill, founder of Cumbe abbey, held it in the same reign. He left issue an only daughter, Matilda, who married Nigell de Moubray, but died without issue, soon after which it came into the hands of the crown, where it remained till Edward I. by his letters patent, in his 20th year, granted the manors of Westram and Edulnebrugg, now Eatonbridge, the manor paramount of which parish has long been esteemed only as an appendage to this of Westerham, with their appurtenances, together with other estates, to Walter, abbot of Westminster, and his successors, for the performance of certain religious duties, for the repose of the soul of his queen Alianor, in the abbey there, and at the same time the king granted several liberties and free warren in all the de mesne lands of the manors, hamlets, and members of them, and the next year the abbot brought in his plea for these liberties (fn. 2) within the hundred of Westerham, and had them allowed to him. (fn. 3)
In the 27th year of that reign, the king granted a confirmation of these manors to the abbot and convent, with several more liberties within them. (fn. 4)
In the 1st year of the reign of king Edward II. the abbot of Westminster again brought his plea for certain liberties in Westerham, Edelinebrigge, &c. which were allowed him.
In the 9th year of king Edward III. the abbot had a fresh confirmation of these manors from the king, and in the 25th year of that reign he had a grant for a market and fair at Westerham.
In the 20th year of king Edward III. the abbot of Westminster paid respective aid for two knights fees, which he held in Westerham, and Edelnesbregge of Robert de Camvill, and he of the king, as of the honour of Bologne.
King Richard II. by his patent, in his 17th year, confirmed these manors, with all manner of liberties, to the abbot and his successors, with whom they remained till the final dissolution of that abbey, when they were, with their appurtenances, by an instrument under the common seal of the convent, in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. surrendered, together with the rest of their possessions, into the king's hands; who, by his letters patent, under his great seal, in his 32d year, for certain considerations therein mentioned, granted, among other premises, these manors, with all their members, rights, and appurtenances, lately belonging to the above monastery, to Sir John Gre sham, to hold in capite by the service of the 20th part of a knight's fee, paying yearly, for ever, the rent of 9l. 6s. 9d. sterling in his court of augmentation.
The family of Gresham is said to have been so named from the village of Gresham, in Norfolk. John Gresham of Gresham, gent. lived in the reigns of king Edward III. and king Richard II. His son, James Gresham, was of Holt, in that county, and was twice married; by the first marriage he had John, who succeeded him at Holt; and William, who was of Walsingham Parva, in Norfolk. John, the eldest son, had three sons; William, who succeeded him at Holt; Richard, who was afterwards knighted, and lord mayor of London in 1537, whose second son, Sir Thomas Gresham, by his industry in trade, rose to great credit and riches, and built the Royal Exchange. And Sir John, the third son, had the grant of the manors of Westerham, &c. in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. as above mentioned. They bore for their arms, Argent a chevron ermines between three mullets pierced sable. (fn. 5)
Sir John Gresham was of Titsey, in Surry, sheriff of London in 1537, and lord mayor in 1547. He died in 1556, having been a good benefactor to the poor, as well in London, as elsewhere, and was most sumptuously buried in the church of St. Michael Bassishaw, in London. (fn. 6) At his death he was possessed of the manors of Westerham and Eatonbridge-stangrave, which he held of the queen in capite by knights service, and also of the rectories of Westerham and Eatonbridge. He was twice married, but he left issue only by his first, five sons and six daughters. Of whom William was his eldest son and heir, and John was of Fulham, in Middlesex, and was ancestor to those of Fulham, Albury, and Haslemere, in Surry; as to the rest I find no mention of them.
William Gresham, esq. succeeded his father in these estates, and was of Titsey, in Surry, and afterwards knighted; (fn. 7) he died at Limpsfield, in Surry, in the 21st year of queen Elizabeth; in whose descendants, resident at Titsey, all of whom had the honour of knighthood, this estate continued down to Marmaduke Gresham, esq. who was advanced to the dignity of a baronet on July 31, 1660, and died possessed of this manor of Westerham, with that of Eatonbridge, alias Stangrave, with their appurtenances, being greatly advanced in years, at Gresham college, in 1696, and was buried at Titsey. (fn. 8)
Sir Charles Gresham, bart. his great grandson, died possessed of this estate in 1718, and was succeeded in it by his eldest son, Sir Marmaduke Gresham, bart. who, about the year 1740, sold this manor to John Warde, esq. of Squeries, in this parish, who died possessed of it in 1775, and his eldest son, John Warde, esq. now of Squeries, is the present owner of it.
There is both a court leet and a court baron held for this manor.
SQUERIES is a manor here, which gave both surname and seat to a family who resided at it, as appears by antient evidences, as early as the reign of king Henry III. when John de Squeries was possessed of it, and bore for his arms, A squirrel brouzing on a hazel nut, which coat was formerly painted in the windows of Westerham church.
His descendant, Thomas Squerie, possessed this estate in the beginning of the reign of king Henry VI. in the 17th year of which he died possessed of it with out issue male, leaving two daughters his coheirs; of whom Margaret, the eldest, married Sir William Cromer of Tunstal, in this county; and Dorothy, the youngest, married Richard Mervin of Fontels, in Wiltshire; and upon the division of their inheritance, this estate was allotted to Sir William Cromer, whose descendant, William Cromer, esq. (fn. 9) possessed it in the beginning of the reign of king Henry VIII. when by some means it came into the hands of the crown, (fn. 10) and that king, in his 36th year, granted, among other premises, this manor of Squeries, a messuage, called Painters, now an inn, known by the sign of the King's arms, and other lands in Westerham, to Thomas Cawarden, to hold in capite by knights service.
His descendant, about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, alienated this estate to Michael Beresford, esq descended of a family seated in Derbyshire for many generations, who bore for their arms, quarterly, first and fourth, Argent, semee of cross croslets fitchee sable, three fleurs de lis of the last within a bordure gules; second, Argent, a bear salient sable, muzed and collared, the cord wreathed over the back, or, third, Party per chevron argent, and or, three pheons sable; he left by Rofe, daughter of John Knevit, esq. several sons and daughters, of whom Tristram, the third son, was ancestor of the present Marquis of Waterford, and the others of this family in Ireland. George, the eldest son, succeeded his father at Squeries, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Ralph Cam, of London, afterwards remarried to Thomas Petley, of Filston, by whom he had several sons and daughters; of whom Michael Beresford, the eldest son, was of Squeries, which he alienated to George Strood, esq. afterwards knighted, who passed away this seat, with the estate belonging to it, to Thomas Lambert, esq. the parliamentary general; and he soon afterwards conveyed it to John Leach, esq. (fn. 11) whose son, Sir William Leach, sheriff, in 1667, sold it in 1681 to Sir Nicholas Crisp, of Hammersmith, who had been created a baronet in 1665, and bore for his arms, Or, on a chevron sable five horse-shoes argent, nailed of the second, (fn. 12) and his son, Sir John Crisp, bart. about the year 1701, sold it to William Villiers, earl of Jersey, whose son, William, earl of Jersey, passed it away by sale to John Warde, esq. and his son, John Warde, esq. died possessed of Squeries in 1775. He left by the daughter and sole heir of Charles Hoskins, esq. of Croydon, in Surry, who was his second wife, his first being the daughter of Mr. Gore, two sons, John and Charles, the eldest of whom in 1781 married Susannah, sister of James, viscount Grimston, and the youngest married in 1784 the daughter of Arthur Annesley, esq. of Oxfordshire, and one daughter, who in 1783 married Sir Nathaniel Duckenfield, bart. He died in 1751, and was succeeded in this seat by his eldest son, John Warde, esq. before-mentioned, the present possessor who resides in it.
There is a court-baron held for this manor, which pays a fee-farm to the crown of seventeen shillings per annum.
GASUM is an estate in this parish, lying at the foot of the chalk-hill, which was antiently possessed by the family of Shelley; one of whom, Thomas Shelley, in the 46th year of king Edward III's reign, settled it by his will on Thomas, his son; whose descendant, about the latter end of king Henry VI's reign, demised it by sale to John Potter, who bore for his arms, Sable, a fess ermine between three cinquesoils argent, whose descendant, in the next reign of king Edward IV. purchased another estate at Well-street, near the summit of the lower ridge of hills in the more southern part of this parish, of the heirs of Cothull, which estate had formerly had proprietors of its own name; one of whom, William At-Well, was in the possession of it in the 35th year of king Edward III. as appears by an antient court-roll of that date.
This branch of the family of Potter was descended from John Potter, who held lands at Dartford, in the 12th year of king Edward II. (fn. 13)
After the purchase at Well-street, they resided there, and continued possessors of it till the reign of king James I. when Thomas Potter, esq. of Well-street, died possessed of it, leaving an only daughter and heir Dorothy, married to Sir John Rivers, bart. of Chafford, who procured an act of parliament in the 21st year of that reign, to alter the tenure and custom of his lands, those of Sir George Rivers, and those of Thomas Potter, esq. deceased, being then of the nature of gavelkind, and to make them descendible according to the course of the common law, and to settle the inheritance of them, upon the said Sir John Rivers and his heirs, by dame Dorothy before-mentioned, his wife.
Sir John Rivers becoming thus possessed both of Gaysum and Well street, joined some years afterwards with his eldest son John Rivers, esq. in the conveyance of Well-street to Mr. Thomas Smith, of London, scrivener; who about the year 1661 alienated it to Robert Whitby, whose son, Samuel Whitby, in 1664 passed it away to John Bridger, esq. who left two daughters and coheirs, one of whom married with Mr. Francis Ellison, and the other sister dying without issue, he in his wife night became intitled to it, their son, Mr. Thomas Ellison gent. of Westerham, afterwards inherited this estate and died possessed of it some few years ago, and his devisee is the present proprietor of this estate.
But Gaysum continued in the descendants of Sir John Rivers, till the reign of king William, when it was sold, about the same time that Squeries was, to William earl of Jersey, since which it has had the same owners as that seat, the inheritance of it being at this time vested in John Warde, esq. of Squeries.
BROXHAM is a manor situated below the sand hills in that part of this parish within the Weald, and so close to the boundaries of it, that a part of it is within the adjoining parish of Eatonbridge. It was antiently in the possession of the family of de Insula, or Isley.
John de Insula, or Isley, was lord of this manor, and obtained a charter of free-warren for it, in the 11th year of king Edward II. From this name it soon afterwards passed into that of Ashway; Stephen de Ashway obtained a licence to inclose a park here, in the 41st year of king Edward III. (fn. 14) At the latter end of the next reign of Richard II. Sir John de Clinton was possessed of this manor, of which he died possessed in the 20th year of that reign.
He had by Idonea his wife, one of the sisters, and at length coheirs, of William de Say, two sons, William and Thomas. The former of whom died in his life-time, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Sir John Deincourt, a son, William; who on his grandfather's death became his heir, and by reason of the descent of Idonea, his grandmother, bore the title of lord Clinton and Say, by which he received summons to parliament from the 23d of king Richard II. to the time of his death, in the 10th year of king Henry VI. He left by Anne his wife, daughter of lord Botreaux, a son John, (fn. 15) who soon after his father's death, passed away this manor to Thomas Squerie, of Squeries-court in this parish, with which it descended, in the same tract of ownership, to Michael Beresford, who possessed it about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, as may be seen more fully before, in the account of Squeriescourt. His grandson, Michael Beresford, esq. of Squeries, alienated Broxham to Mr. Thomas Petley, of Filston, in Shoreham, in whose family it descended in like manner as their seat in Riverhead already described in this volume, to Elizabeth, widow of Charles Petley, esq. in whom the possession of it continues vested at this time.
There is a court-baron now held for this manor.
HILL-PARK is a seat in this parish, which was formerly the residence of a family, called in old dateless deeds, De Valoniis, in English, Valons, by which name it was called till within these few years; after which it continued for many descents in the family of Casinghurst, one of whom, in the reign of Henry VII. conveyed it to John Islip, abbot of Westminster, who gave it to his servant, Wm. Middilton, and he much improved the building of this seat. He died in 1557, and lies buried in this church, together with Elizabeth and Dorothy, his wives, by whom he had fifteen children. He bore for his arms, Quarterly gules and or, in the first quarter a cross patonce argent, which coat was confirmed by patent to his son, David Middleton, descended, as is there said, from those of Bletsoe castle, in Northumberland, by William Segar, anno 8 king James I. (fn. 16)
In his family it continued till the latter end of the reign of queen Elizabeth, and then it was conveyed to Jacob Verzelini, esq. of Downe, in this county, a Venetian born, and he died possessed of it in the 5th of king James I. and lies buried in that church. (fn. 17) By his daughter and coheir Elizabeth, it went in marriage to Peter Manning, esq. of Trowmer, in the parish of Downe; one of whose descendants, in the next reign of Charles I. passed it away to Mr. Ranulph Manning of London, a branch of them, who bore for their arms, Argent, a chevron gules, between three cinquefoils of the second, in whose family it remained till the year 1718, when it was alienated to colonel Henry Harrison, who about the year 1732, passed it away to Wm. Turner, esq. and he, in 1753, conveyed it by sale to captain Peter Dennis, of the royal navy, who about the year 1766, sold it to William M'Gwire, esq. who had formerly been a governor in the East Indies; and he again, a few years afterwards, alienated it to Wills Hill, earl of Hilsborough, who having almost rebuilt this seat, and greatly improved the park and grounds about it, changed its former name of Valons to that of HILL-PARK, and afterwards resided here till the death of his lady, in 1780; soon after which he sold it to John Cottin, esq. who resided here, and served the office of sheriff, in 1787, and he still continues the owner of it.
The college of St. Peter, at Lingfield, in Surry, was possessed of a house, called Painters, in Westerham, with other lands in this parish, which were surrendered into the king's hands at the suppression of it, in the reign of king Henry VIII. and were afterwards granted, to hold in capite by knights service. This house has been for many years an inn, known by the name of the King's arms.
King Henry VIII. in his 31st year, granted to Sir John Gresham the manor of Lovestede, in Surry and Kent, to hold in capite by knights service. One of the former owners of this manor, John Lovestede, of Westerham, lies buried in this church, where his inscription on brass still remains.
Charities.
EDWARD COLTHURST, by deed in 1572, gave for decayed housekeepers lands and tenements vested in the vicar and churchwardens.
ALICE PLUMLEY gave by will in 1584, to ten poor persons, to be paid on Christmas and Easter days, land vested in the same, of the annual product of 1l.
JOHN BRONGER gave by will in 1615, for the use of the poor, the annual sum of 3s. 4d. vested in the same.
ARTHUR WILLARD gave by will in 1623, sundry cottages for the use of poor widows resident in the parish, now vested in the same.
JOHN TROT gave by will in 1629, for a penny loaf to six poor widows each, every Friday, land vested in the same, of the annual product of 1l. 6s.
GERTRUDE STYLE gave by will in 1635, for twenty housekeepers on Good-Friday, the sum of 20l. vested in the same, and of the annual produce of 1l.
WILLIAM HOLMDEN gave by will in 1640, for the use of the poor, land vested in the same, of the annual product of 4l. 4s.
THOMAS HARDY, citizen of London, gave by will in 1747, for the repairing his wife's monument in this church, remainder for the use of the poor, 100l. stock in S. S. Annuities, vested in the same, with six of the most substantial inhabitants, and of the annual product of 3l.
CHARLES WEST gave by will in 1765, for the use of the poor, 100l. stock vested in the same, and of the annual produce of 3l.
RALPH MANNING gave by will in 1786, for the use of twelve poor persons in equal shares, 100l. stock, vested in William Pigot, and of the annual produce of 3l.
WESTERHAM is in the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester, and deanry of Malling. The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is a large handsome building, consisting of a nave, two side isles, and a cross isle; but being too small for the use of the inhabitants, a gallery has been erected for their accommodation in it.
Among other monuments and inscriptions in it are the following:—In the cross isle, at the west end, is a grave-stone near the south door, having the figure of a priest in brass, and inscription in black letter, for Sir William Dyne, priest, sometime parson of Tattisfylde, obt. 1567; a memorial for Bridget, daughter of Ranulph and Catherine Manning, obt. 1734.—In the middle isle, at the entrance, a stone, on which is the figure of a man, that of his wife is lost, and inscription in black letter, for Richard Hayward, and Anne his wife, he died in 1529, beneath were four sons now lost, six daughters now remain; in the pew, where the font is, a stone, with an inscription for Nicholas Manning, gent. of this parish, obt. 1723, and Mary his wife, daughter of Samuel Missenden, esq. deputy governor of the Merchant Adventurers of England, residing at Hamburgh, obt. 1735, arms, a chevron charged with a crescent for difference between three qua terfoils, impaling a cross ingrailed, a bird in the dexter point; on the south side is a mural monument, shewing that near it, in a brick grave, (which being full was arched over in 1733) lies interred Ranulph Manning, gent. obt. 1712, and Catharine his wife, daughter of Saul Missenden, esq. mentioned before, obt. 1732, erected by Ranulph Manning, their eldest son, who died in 1760; above, argent, a chevron gules between three cinquefoils of the second, and quarterings impaling Missenden; over the south door is a plain neat monument of marble, for the brave general James Wolfe, the son of colonel Edward Wolfe, and Henrietta his wife, who was born in this parish Jan. 2, 1727, and died in America, Sept. 13, 1759, conqueror of Quebec, and these lines:—
Whilst George in sorrow bows his laurell'd head, And bids the artist grace the soldier dead, We raise no sculptur'd trophies to thy name, Brave youth! the fairest in the list of fame; Proud of they birth, we boast th' auspicious year—Struck with thy fall, we shed a general tear; With humble grief inscribe one artless stone, And from thy matchless honours date our own.
In the south isle, a memorial for John Thorpe, descended of an antient gentleman's family in Kent and Sussex; he married Anne, daughter, and at length coheir of John Luck, S. T. B. of Mayfield, in Sussex, by whom he had four sons and three daughters, obt. 1703, erected by his grandsons, John and Oliver, sons of his son John Thorpe, of Penshurst, arms, quarterly, 1st and 4th, a fess dancette ermine;-2d and 3d three crescents; at the upper end a grave-stone, with the figures of a man and his two wives in brass, and inscription in black letter for Richard Potter, obt. 1511, beneath the figures of five boys and three girls; another with the figure of a man in brass, and like inscription for Thomas, son of John Potter, gent. obt. 1531; another, with the figure of a man and his two wives in brass, and inscription in black letter for William Myddleton, esq. and Elizabeth and Dorothy, his wives, he died 1557; beneath were the figures of fifteen children, seven of which yet remain.—In the middle of the isle, a brass plate and inscription for John Lovestede, of Westerham; on the south side a mural monument for Anthony Earning, merchant; he married the only daughter of Thomas Manning, esq. of Valens, by whom he left two sons and a daughter, obt. 1676: on the south side are two adjoining altar tombs for Thomas Manning, esq. of Valence, obt. 1695, and for Susan, his wife, daughter of Sir Thomas Dacres, obt. 1654; arms on both, Manning with quarterings; on the north side, at the upper end next the chancel, a mural monument, with the figures of a man and woman kneeling at a desk, for Thomas Potter, esq. of Westerham, who married Mary, daughter and coheir of Richard Tichbourne, esq. of Eatonbridge, by whom he left one son Nisell, and a daughter Dorothy, married to John, eldest son of Sir John Rivers, of Chafford; he married 2dly, Elizabeth, widow of Sir J. Rivers, late lord mayor of London, obt. 1611; above, the arms of Potter sable, a fess ermine between three cinquefoils, argent with impalements.— In the middle isle, are two gravestones, with figures and inscriptions in brass, for the Stacys. In the north isle, are several grave-stones, with memorials for the Dallings, of this parish, arms, on a bend, three acorns; a grave-stone and memorial for Mr. Andrew Daulinge, citizen of London, (son of Richard Daulinge, rector of Ringswold) who married Anne, eldest daughter of Mr. John Daulinge, gent. of Westerham, by whom he had seven sons and two daughters, and left her great with child, obt. 1714; several more memorials for the Dallings, who by their arms appear to have been the same family as the Daulings before-mentioned; on the north side a mural monument for Mr. Thomas Hardy, citizen of London, who died in 1747, and for others of his family; near it is a brass plate fixed to the wall, with an extract from his will, relating to his charity bequeathed to this parish, which has been given above among the other charities belonging to it; at the east end is a mural monument for Mary, wife of Henry Street, daughter of Sir John Gerrard, bart. obt. 1651, and left only one son Edward.—In the cross isle, at the east end, an elegant mural monument for Thomas Knight, esq. of Westerham, obt. 1708, being clerk of the assize for Norfolk; he married first, Catherine, daughter of Mr. Crispe, of Maidstone, and secondly, Jane, daughter of Mr. Blome, of Sevenoke, but left no issue; near it another for Eleanor, youngest daughter of Sir Thomas Seyliard, second baronet of that antient family, and of the lady Frances, his first wife, sole daughter and heir of Henry Wyat, esq. eldest son of Sir Francis Wyat, of Boxleyabbey, who died in 1726; she married Robert Paynter, esq. son of Allington, son of William, son of Anthony, son of William Paynter, esq. clerk of the ordnance to queen Elizabeth, and lord of the manors of East-court and Twydall, in Gillingham, he died in 1731, arms, Paynter gules, a chevron or, between three griffins heads erased of the second on a chief; or an helmet between two balls sable, with impalements and quarterings. A gravestone for the Heaths, of Leigh; another for Anthony Earning, merchant, obt. 1695; a grave-stone within the rails, shewing that Sir John Crisp, bart. paved this communion space in remembrance of Nich. Crisp, esq. eldest son of Sir Nich. Crisp, bart. who died in 1697, æt. 17, arms above, on a chevron five horse-shoes. (fn. 18)
George Strood, esq. in consideration of 16l. 14s. had granted to him, by the vicar, churchwardens, and major part of the parishioners, the uppermost part of the north isle of the church, called the organ–room, for a burying place for himself and his successors, owners of the mansion house of Squeries, to be decently kept and repaired at the cost of him and his successors for ever, which was ratified and confirmed in 1637, (the see of Rochester being then vacant) by the archbishop of Canterbury, as it was afterwards in 1640, by John, bishop of Rochester.
Alianor, queen to king Edward I. gave an acre of land, with its appurtenances in Westerham, and the advowson of the church, together with the chapels, tythes, and all other things and rights belonging to it, to the prior and convent of Canterbury, in pure and perpetual alms, free from all secular service for ever.
This grant appears, by the Chronicles of Christ church, to have been made, among other premises, in exchange for the port of Sandwich.
King Edward I. in his 18th year, confirmed the above gift, and farther granted to the prior and convent his licence, to appropriate this church, and the chapels belonging to it, and to hold the same to their own proper use for ever; which pope Celestine V. in 1294, confirmed, with the allowance of twenty marcs sterling to the vicar, out of the profits of this church and chapel; but the church not becoming vacant, this bull did not take place, and the prior and convent, in 1327, making heavy complaints of their great losses, by the inundation in Romneymarsh, among other grievances, petitioned Hamo, bishop of Rochester, for relief; who, accordingly, that year, appropriated this church, with the chapel of Edulwesbrogge annexed to it, to their use; and at the same time endowed a perpetual vicarage in this church, and a fit portion for a perpetual vicar in it, to be presented by the religious, and to be instituted by him and his successors; and he further decreed, with the consent of the religious, that the vicar should take and have entirely and wholly for his portion, the tithes of silva cedua, pannage, hay, herbage, flax, hemp, milk, butter, and cheese, wool, lambs, calves, pigs, swans, geese, apples, pidgeons, mills, fisheries, fowlings, merchandizing, and all other small tithes and oblations whatsoever, and all legacies and mortuaries to the church or chapel, of right or custom due, as well dead as living; and that the vicar should have, on the soil belonging to the church, to be chosen and assigned by the bishop, a competent house to reside in, to be built for this first time by the religious; and he decreed, that the portion of the vicar should for ever consist in the things above mentioned; and further, that the vicar, for the time being, should as often as there should be occasion, cause the books to be bound, and the vestments to be washed, mended, and renewed; and should find and provide, at his own costs, bread and wine, and processional tapers, and other necessary lights in the chancel, and ministers, as has been accustomed, as well in the church of Westerham as in the chapel of Edulwesbrege; and should, for the future, keep and maintain the buildings of the vicarage, and should wholly pay all episcopal and archideaconal procurations; and that he should sustain and take upon him the tenth and other extraordinary burthens then incumbent, or which might be imposed in future, according to the value of his portion; which, so far as related to the sustaining of the burthens of this kind, he taxed, and rated at ten marcs sterling; and lastly, that the religious should sustain, and take upon them for ever, the payment of the pension of ten shillings due to him and his successors, from this church, and all other burthens, ordinary and extraordinary, according to the value of their portion, which he valued at forty marcs.
Richard de Haute, the rector of this church, dying in 1327, the prior and convent of Christ-church were, by the archdeacon, put into the possession of it, with the chapel of Edelnesbregge annexed, in the person of Robert Hathebrand, monk of it, their proctor specially appointed for this purpose.
The rectory and advowson of the vicarage of Westerham, with the chapel of Eatonbridge, remained with the prior and convent of Christ-church till the general dissolution in the reign of king Henry VIII. in the 31st year of which, it was surrendered into the king's hands.
After which, the king granted to Sir John Gresham, the rectories of Westerham and Eatonbridge, with the advowson of the church and chapel belonging to it, and he died possessed of them in 1556, (fn. 19) as did his eldest son and heir, Sir William Gresham, of Titsey, in Surry, in the 21st year of queen Elizabeth, holding them in capite by knight's service. By his will in the 17th year of queen Elizabeth, he gave these rectories to his second son, Thomas, and his heirs male, (fn. 20) who, on the death of his elder brother, William, without male issue, became likewise his heir, and from him the rectory of Westerham, with Eatonbridge, descended to Sir Marmaduke Gresham, bart. who in his life-time gave it to his eldest son, Edward Gresham, esq. and he in the 30th year of king Charles II. procured an act of parliament to vest it in trustees to be sold for the payment of his debts.
Accordingly, Sir Marmaduke and Edward, his eldest son, joined in the conveyance of the rectory or parsonage of Westerham, with its appurtenances, to James Hudson, esq. of London, and John Steers, of Westerham, yeoman. By which word, appurtenances, the advowson of the church appurtenant to the rectory, though not intended so to do, passed with it.
After which, partly in right of his wife, and partly by purchase from the name of Steers, it came into the possession of John Bodicoate, esq. whose son, the Rev. Mr. John Bodicoate, died in 1791, and his widow, Harriet, re-married to Edward earl of Winterton, is at this time proprietor of the church of Westerham, with the advowson of the vicarage appurtenant to it.
By an antient valuation made in the 15th year of king Edward I. this church was valued at fifty marcs. (fn. 21)
¶By virtue of the commission of enquiry into the value of church livings, in 1650, issuing out of chancery, it was returned, that the parsonage and vicarage of Westerham were two distinct things. That the parsonage house, buildings, and sixty acres of glebe land were worth twenty pounds per annum, and the tythes were worth eighty pounds per annum, and one acre and an half of glebe land worth thirty shillings per annum, all which were impropriate and belonging to master Gresham the proprietor thereof. That there was a vicarage, house, garden and backside, worth forty pounds per annum, and vicarage tythes, worth fifty pounds per annum, which was the vicar's salary, and the said Mr. Gresham was patron thereof; that in former times the vicars of Westerham had been presented vicars of Westerham, (fn. 22) with the chapel of Eatonbridge, and had hired a curate there; but it was conceived that Eatonbridge had been, and still continued sitting to be, a distinct parish church. (fn. 23)
The church of Westerham, with the chapel of Eatonbridge annexed, is valued in the king's books at 19l. 19s. 4½d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 19s. 11¼d. (fn. 24)
Then we departed back to the place where we left and returned the jet skis, before getting back on the ship. On the trek back, my brother and cousin acted a bit like idiots and kept going left and right many times, causing me to hit the waves they created since I was behind both of them.
Askil was booked on a flight from Southampton at half nine, so to get him there in time we had to be on the six o'clock ferry. And to be on that, we had to be on the road at five to drive to Newport and then back out to East Cowes as the floating bridge does not work at that time.
So, alarm at twenty to five, finish packing, and out to the car to load up, and inching past us on the Solent was a huge cruise ship, like a Vogon Constructor fleet vessel, lit up like a Christmas tree, but the shape of a brutalist concrete block.
I was pretty sure I could find the ferry terminal without the sat nav, so we drove through the empty streets of West Cowes, then on the main drag to Newport past the two illuminated prisons, past the retail park, over the now narrow River Medina, and out of the town towards Cowes.
Not much traffic, but what there was, was in a train behind us, all heading to the ferry terminal.
We arrived at half five, the ferry had just arrived, so we waited in line to be allowed on.
The ferry was not even a quarter full, but there was a rush up the stairs to get to the cafeteria in order to get fresh food.
We joined them and had a child's breakfast, which was four items off the menu, which was two sausages, bacon and hash browns for me.
The ferry glided out of her moorings, down the river and out into open water, with only light winds, it was a pleasant crossing, and near to Southampton dawn's warm light was spreading from the south east. The city itself was only just waking up.
From there it was a fifteen minute blast up to the motorway and along to the airport, dropping Askil and his bags off at the railway station so to avoid the £2 drop-off fee at the airport.
We were not the only ones doing this.
And I was alone again.
I turned the car round, drive back to the motorway, then up the M3 as the first rays of the sun lit the Hampshire countryside.
It was going to be a fine day, and I was heading back home.
I thought it was going to be the drive from hell, getting up the M3 before eight, then along the M25 the following hour. I mean, traffic was going to be awful, right? It always is on the M25, it used to still be mad at midnight when I used to drive back to Lyneham after a weekend at home.
Well, maybe because it was half term, but the traffic on the M3 was light, and lighter still on the M25. Only hold up being the A3 junction where it is being rebuilt, even then just for a few minutes, and clear after that.
I had some time to kill, so wasn't going straight home. I was doing some crawling in west Kent before then.
First up was Westerham, so important it is mention on a junction of the M25.
Off the motorway at the junction before Clacket Lane Services, so still in Surrey. I followed the A25 through Oxted, which I supposed was still in Sussex, though was hoping there be a sign where Kent began.
Indeed, at the midway point between Oxted and Westerham, there was the welcome to Kent sign, so the crawling could begin.
Westerham is a small town, just 4,000 souls live there, and the church it situated near the green. Around which I could find no parking. But opposite, through an arch there was some public parking, so abandoned the car there, grabbed the cameras and walked over to the church, and from the churchyard, the ground fell away steeply, revealing the roofs of the town in the warm spring sunshine.
I took a shot.
The church was open, a voice reading softly in the north chapel turned out to be the Vicar, conducting a service for just himself.
When he finished, he came to speak and told me not to miss the chapel behind the organ.
However, in the tower there is a remarkable survivor, the only known representation of the Royal coat of arms of Edward VI, who ruled after Henry VIII until his death at the young age of only 15, declaring Lady Jane Grey to succeed him.
It did not end well.
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The tower staircase is the feature most visitors remember, a wide circular construction of timber enclosed within vertical posts. It is quite an eye-catcher and has stood here for nearly five hundred years. The church has something of a Victorian feel to it by virtue of the thorough restoration and enormous amounts of money lavished on it at that time. Yet there are earlier features of note - most importantly the Royal Arms of Edward VI. They are painted on a wooden board, not stretched canvas, and the supporters - which include a dragon (unicorns didn't come along until 1603) - are very tall and lean. In fact the lion is little more than a pussy cat with his crown at quite a jaunty angle! The church also contains some very fine sixteenth-century memorial brasses, and a consecration cross may be picked out at the base of the tower. The south chapel has a fourteenth-century piscina with a credence shelf. However, when it comes to furnishings it is the stained glass that impresses. The east window is by Holiday (1882), the south chapel east window Crucifixion by Kempe (1888) is particularly good, whilst a north aisle window is by Morris and Co. to the designs of Burne-Jones and dates from 1909.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Westerham
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WESTERHAM, USUALLY CALLED, AND FREQUENTLY WRITTEN, WESTRAM,
IS the next parish westward from Brasted, being called in Domesday, Oistreham, and in the Textus Roffensis, Westerham; taking its name from its situation at the western extremity of this county.
WESTERHAM is a parish of large extent, and like those before described in a similar situation is much longer than it is in breadth. It extends to the summit of the range of chalk hills northward, where it bounds to Cowden, and southward, beyond the sand hill, into the Weald. In the whole it is about five miles and a half from north to south, and on an average, in breadth, about two miles and a half, bounding westward to Surry. The soil is much the same as the last described parishes, adjoining to the double range of hills. The high road from Maidstone and Sevenoke, across this parish, midway between these hills, towards Surry; on it is situated the town of Westerham, a very healthy and pleasant situation, at the west end of which is a seat, which has for many years belonged to the family of Price, and continues so now; and at the east end is the church and parsonage; besides which there are many genteel houses dispersed in it. The high road from Bromley by Leaves-green joins the Sevenoke road, on the north side of the town, near the south side of which is the mansion of Squeries. The river Darent takes its rise in this parish, at a small distance southward from Squeries, and having supplied the grounds of it, runs along near the south side of the town, and having turned a mill, it takes its course north east, and in about half a mile, passes by Hill-park towards Brasted; northward from hence the land rises about a mile and a half to the foot of the chalk hills, near which, close to the boundaries of Surry, is Gasum. From the town southward, to the summit of the sand hill, is about two miles, over a very hilly unfertile soil, interspersed with commons, waste rough grounds, and woods, among which, bounding to Surry, is Kent-hatch, taking its name from its situation; and on the summit of the hill the hamlet of Well-street, and a seat called Mariners, belonging to Mr. Stafford Whitaker; from whence, down the hill, this parish extends two miles further southward into the Weald, where, near the boundaries of it, is the estate of Broxham; the soil over which is a stiff clay and deep tillage land. The abbot of Westminster, in the 25th year of king Edward III. obtained the grant of a market, to be held weekly here on a Wednesday, which is still continued, and is plentifully supplied with all sorts of provisions; and a fair yearly, on the vigil, the day, and the day after the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, being Sept. 8; (fn. 1) which is now, by alteration of the style, held on the 19th and the following days, for bullocks, horses, and toys.
In the year 1596, the following astonishing scene happened in this parish, in two closes, separated from each other only by a hedge, about a mile and a half southward from the town, not far from the east side of the common highway, called Ockham-hill, leading from London towards Buckhurst, in Sussex; where part of them sunk, in three mornings, eighty feet at the least, and so from day to day. This great trench of ground, containing in length eighty perches, and in breadth twenty-eight, began, with the hedges and trees thereon, to loose itself from the rest of the ground lying round about it, and to slide and shoot all together southward, day and night, for the space of eleven days. The ground of two water pits, the one having six feet depth of water, and the other twelve feet at the least, having several tusts of alders and ashes growing in their bottoms, with a great rock of stone underneath, were not only removed out of their places, and carried southward, but mounted alost, and became hills, with their sedge, flags, and black mud upon the tops of them, higher than the face of the water which they had forsaken; and in the place from which they had been removed, other ground, which lay higher, had descended, and received the water on it. In one place of the plain field there was a great hole made, by the sinking of the earth, thirty feet deep; a hedge, with its trees, was carried southward; and there were several other sinkings of the earth, in different places, by which means, where the highest hills had been, there were the deepest dales; and where the lowest dales were before, there was the highest ground.
The whole measure of the breaking ground was at least nine acres; the eye witnesses to the truth of which were, Robert Bostock, esq. justice of the peace; Sir John Studley, vicar; John Dowling, gent. and many others of the neighbourhood.
In the spring of 1756, at Toy's-hill, about a mile and a half eastward from the above, a like circumstance was observed, in a field of two acres and an half, the situation of which was on the side of a hill, inclining towards the south; the land of which kept moving imperceptibly till the effect appeared, for some time, by which means the northern side was sunk two or three feet, and became full of clefts and chasms, some only a foot deep, others as large as ponds, six or eight feet deep, and ten or tweleve feet square, and most of them filled with water. Part of a hedge moved about three rods southward, and though straight before, then formed an angle with its two ends. Another hedge separated to the distance of eight feet, the southern part, which was on a level before with the rest of the field, after this, overhung it like a precipice, about the height of twelve feet; and the land on each side, which had not moved, was covered with the rest, which folded over it, to the height of six or seven feet.
Dr. Benjamin Hoadly, late bishop of Winchester, was born in this parish, in the year 1676.
General James Wolfe was likewife born here, on Jan. 2, 1727. He died in America, Sept. 13, 1759, the conqueror of Quebec, and an honour to his profession and his country.
THIS PLACE, in the reign of William the Conqueror, was in the possession of Eustace, earl of Bologne, and it is accordingly thus entered in the general survey of Domesday, taken in that reign, under the title of Terra Comitis Eustachii.
Earl Eustace holds of the king Oistreham. Earl Godwin held it of king Edward (the Confessor) and it was then, and is now taxed at four sulings. The arable land is ...... In demesne there are two carucates, and42 villeins, with 7 borderers, having 30 carucates. There are ten servants and one mill of five shillings, and 16 acres of meadow, and wood sufficient for the pannage of 100 hogs.— In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth 30 pounds, when he received it 24 pounds, and now 40 pounds.
This place came afterwards into the possession of the family of Camvill, called in Latin, De Cana Villa, the ancestor of which came into England with William the Conqueror, and bore for their arms, Azure, three lions passant argent, which coat still remains carved on the roof of the cloisters of Christ church, in Canterbury.
It appears by the second scutage, levied in the reign of king John, in the 2d and 3d years of that reign, that Thomas de Camvill then held this place of the honour of Bologne, as did his descendant, John de Camvill, in king Henry III.'s reign.
Roger de Camvill, son of Walter, a younger son of Richard de Camvill, founder of Cumbe abbey, held it in the same reign. He left issue an only daughter, Matilda, who married Nigell de Moubray, but died without issue, soon after which it came into the hands of the crown, where it remained till Edward I. by his letters patent, in his 20th year, granted the manors of Westram and Edulnebrugg, now Eatonbridge, the manor paramount of which parish has long been esteemed only as an appendage to this of Westerham, with their appurtenances, together with other estates, to Walter, abbot of Westminster, and his successors, for the performance of certain religious duties, for the repose of the soul of his queen Alianor, in the abbey there, and at the same time the king granted several liberties and free warren in all the de mesne lands of the manors, hamlets, and members of them, and the next year the abbot brought in his plea for these liberties (fn. 2) within the hundred of Westerham, and had them allowed to him. (fn. 3)
In the 27th year of that reign, the king granted a confirmation of these manors to the abbot and convent, with several more liberties within them. (fn. 4)
In the 1st year of the reign of king Edward II. the abbot of Westminster again brought his plea for certain liberties in Westerham, Edelinebrigge, &c. which were allowed him.
In the 9th year of king Edward III. the abbot had a fresh confirmation of these manors from the king, and in the 25th year of that reign he had a grant for a market and fair at Westerham.
In the 20th year of king Edward III. the abbot of Westminster paid respective aid for two knights fees, which he held in Westerham, and Edelnesbregge of Robert de Camvill, and he of the king, as of the honour of Bologne.
King Richard II. by his patent, in his 17th year, confirmed these manors, with all manner of liberties, to the abbot and his successors, with whom they remained till the final dissolution of that abbey, when they were, with their appurtenances, by an instrument under the common seal of the convent, in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. surrendered, together with the rest of their possessions, into the king's hands; who, by his letters patent, under his great seal, in his 32d year, for certain considerations therein mentioned, granted, among other premises, these manors, with all their members, rights, and appurtenances, lately belonging to the above monastery, to Sir John Gre sham, to hold in capite by the service of the 20th part of a knight's fee, paying yearly, for ever, the rent of 9l. 6s. 9d. sterling in his court of augmentation.
The family of Gresham is said to have been so named from the village of Gresham, in Norfolk. John Gresham of Gresham, gent. lived in the reigns of king Edward III. and king Richard II. His son, James Gresham, was of Holt, in that county, and was twice married; by the first marriage he had John, who succeeded him at Holt; and William, who was of Walsingham Parva, in Norfolk. John, the eldest son, had three sons; William, who succeeded him at Holt; Richard, who was afterwards knighted, and lord mayor of London in 1537, whose second son, Sir Thomas Gresham, by his industry in trade, rose to great credit and riches, and built the Royal Exchange. And Sir John, the third son, had the grant of the manors of Westerham, &c. in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. as above mentioned. They bore for their arms, Argent a chevron ermines between three mullets pierced sable. (fn. 5)
Sir John Gresham was of Titsey, in Surry, sheriff of London in 1537, and lord mayor in 1547. He died in 1556, having been a good benefactor to the poor, as well in London, as elsewhere, and was most sumptuously buried in the church of St. Michael Bassishaw, in London. (fn. 6) At his death he was possessed of the manors of Westerham and Eatonbridge-stangrave, which he held of the queen in capite by knights service, and also of the rectories of Westerham and Eatonbridge. He was twice married, but he left issue only by his first, five sons and six daughters. Of whom William was his eldest son and heir, and John was of Fulham, in Middlesex, and was ancestor to those of Fulham, Albury, and Haslemere, in Surry; as to the rest I find no mention of them.
William Gresham, esq. succeeded his father in these estates, and was of Titsey, in Surry, and afterwards knighted; (fn. 7) he died at Limpsfield, in Surry, in the 21st year of queen Elizabeth; in whose descendants, resident at Titsey, all of whom had the honour of knighthood, this estate continued down to Marmaduke Gresham, esq. who was advanced to the dignity of a baronet on July 31, 1660, and died possessed of this manor of Westerham, with that of Eatonbridge, alias Stangrave, with their appurtenances, being greatly advanced in years, at Gresham college, in 1696, and was buried at Titsey. (fn. 8)
Sir Charles Gresham, bart. his great grandson, died possessed of this estate in 1718, and was succeeded in it by his eldest son, Sir Marmaduke Gresham, bart. who, about the year 1740, sold this manor to John Warde, esq. of Squeries, in this parish, who died possessed of it in 1775, and his eldest son, John Warde, esq. now of Squeries, is the present owner of it.
There is both a court leet and a court baron held for this manor.
SQUERIES is a manor here, which gave both surname and seat to a family who resided at it, as appears by antient evidences, as early as the reign of king Henry III. when John de Squeries was possessed of it, and bore for his arms, A squirrel brouzing on a hazel nut, which coat was formerly painted in the windows of Westerham church.
His descendant, Thomas Squerie, possessed this estate in the beginning of the reign of king Henry VI. in the 17th year of which he died possessed of it with out issue male, leaving two daughters his coheirs; of whom Margaret, the eldest, married Sir William Cromer of Tunstal, in this county; and Dorothy, the youngest, married Richard Mervin of Fontels, in Wiltshire; and upon the division of their inheritance, this estate was allotted to Sir William Cromer, whose descendant, William Cromer, esq. (fn. 9) possessed it in the beginning of the reign of king Henry VIII. when by some means it came into the hands of the crown, (fn. 10) and that king, in his 36th year, granted, among other premises, this manor of Squeries, a messuage, called Painters, now an inn, known by the sign of the King's arms, and other lands in Westerham, to Thomas Cawarden, to hold in capite by knights service.
His descendant, about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, alienated this estate to Michael Beresford, esq descended of a family seated in Derbyshire for many generations, who bore for their arms, quarterly, first and fourth, Argent, semee of cross croslets fitchee sable, three fleurs de lis of the last within a bordure gules; second, Argent, a bear salient sable, muzed and collared, the cord wreathed over the back, or, third, Party per chevron argent, and or, three pheons sable; he left by Rofe, daughter of John Knevit, esq. several sons and daughters, of whom Tristram, the third son, was ancestor of the present Marquis of Waterford, and the others of this family in Ireland. George, the eldest son, succeeded his father at Squeries, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Ralph Cam, of London, afterwards remarried to Thomas Petley, of Filston, by whom he had several sons and daughters; of whom Michael Beresford, the eldest son, was of Squeries, which he alienated to George Strood, esq. afterwards knighted, who passed away this seat, with the estate belonging to it, to Thomas Lambert, esq. the parliamentary general; and he soon afterwards conveyed it to John Leach, esq. (fn. 11) whose son, Sir William Leach, sheriff, in 1667, sold it in 1681 to Sir Nicholas Crisp, of Hammersmith, who had been created a baronet in 1665, and bore for his arms, Or, on a chevron sable five horse-shoes argent, nailed of the second, (fn. 12) and his son, Sir John Crisp, bart. about the year 1701, sold it to William Villiers, earl of Jersey, whose son, William, earl of Jersey, passed it away by sale to John Warde, esq. and his son, John Warde, esq. died possessed of Squeries in 1775. He left by the daughter and sole heir of Charles Hoskins, esq. of Croydon, in Surry, who was his second wife, his first being the daughter of Mr. Gore, two sons, John and Charles, the eldest of whom in 1781 married Susannah, sister of James, viscount Grimston, and the youngest married in 1784 the daughter of Arthur Annesley, esq. of Oxfordshire, and one daughter, who in 1783 married Sir Nathaniel Duckenfield, bart. He died in 1751, and was succeeded in this seat by his eldest son, John Warde, esq. before-mentioned, the present possessor who resides in it.
There is a court-baron held for this manor, which pays a fee-farm to the crown of seventeen shillings per annum.
GASUM is an estate in this parish, lying at the foot of the chalk-hill, which was antiently possessed by the family of Shelley; one of whom, Thomas Shelley, in the 46th year of king Edward III's reign, settled it by his will on Thomas, his son; whose descendant, about the latter end of king Henry VI's reign, demised it by sale to John Potter, who bore for his arms, Sable, a fess ermine between three cinquesoils argent, whose descendant, in the next reign of king Edward IV. purchased another estate at Well-street, near the summit of the lower ridge of hills in the more southern part of this parish, of the heirs of Cothull, which estate had formerly had proprietors of its own name; one of whom, William At-Well, was in the possession of it in the 35th year of king Edward III. as appears by an antient court-roll of that date.
This branch of the family of Potter was descended from John Potter, who held lands at Dartford, in the 12th year of king Edward II. (fn. 13)
After the purchase at Well-street, they resided there, and continued possessors of it till the reign of king James I. when Thomas Potter, esq. of Well-street, died possessed of it, leaving an only daughter and heir Dorothy, married to Sir John Rivers, bart. of Chafford, who procured an act of parliament in the 21st year of that reign, to alter the tenure and custom of his lands, those of Sir George Rivers, and those of Thomas Potter, esq. deceased, being then of the nature of gavelkind, and to make them descendible according to the course of the common law, and to settle the inheritance of them, upon the said Sir John Rivers and his heirs, by dame Dorothy before-mentioned, his wife.
Sir John Rivers becoming thus possessed both of Gaysum and Well street, joined some years afterwards with his eldest son John Rivers, esq. in the conveyance of Well-street to Mr. Thomas Smith, of London, scrivener; who about the year 1661 alienated it to Robert Whitby, whose son, Samuel Whitby, in 1664 passed it away to John Bridger, esq. who left two daughters and coheirs, one of whom married with Mr. Francis Ellison, and the other sister dying without issue, he in his wife night became intitled to it, their son, Mr. Thomas Ellison gent. of Westerham, afterwards inherited this estate and died possessed of it some few years ago, and his devisee is the present proprietor of this estate.
But Gaysum continued in the descendants of Sir John Rivers, till the reign of king William, when it was sold, about the same time that Squeries was, to William earl of Jersey, since which it has had the same owners as that seat, the inheritance of it being at this time vested in John Warde, esq. of Squeries.
BROXHAM is a manor situated below the sand hills in that part of this parish within the Weald, and so close to the boundaries of it, that a part of it is within the adjoining parish of Eatonbridge. It was antiently in the possession of the family of de Insula, or Isley.
John de Insula, or Isley, was lord of this manor, and obtained a charter of free-warren for it, in the 11th year of king Edward II. From this name it soon afterwards passed into that of Ashway; Stephen de Ashway obtained a licence to inclose a park here, in the 41st year of king Edward III. (fn. 14) At the latter end of the next reign of Richard II. Sir John de Clinton was possessed of this manor, of which he died possessed in the 20th year of that reign.
He had by Idonea his wife, one of the sisters, and at length coheirs, of William de Say, two sons, William and Thomas. The former of whom died in his life-time, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Sir John Deincourt, a son, William; who on his grandfather's death became his heir, and by reason of the descent of Idonea, his grandmother, bore the title of lord Clinton and Say, by which he received summons to parliament from the 23d of king Richard II. to the time of his death, in the 10th year of king Henry VI. He left by Anne his wife, daughter of lord Botreaux, a son John, (fn. 15) who soon after his father's death, passed away this manor to Thomas Squerie, of Squeries-court in this parish, with which it descended, in the same tract of ownership, to Michael Beresford, who possessed it about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, as may be seen more fully before, in the account of Squeriescourt. His grandson, Michael Beresford, esq. of Squeries, alienated Broxham to Mr. Thomas Petley, of Filston, in Shoreham, in whose family it descended in like manner as their seat in Riverhead already described in this volume, to Elizabeth, widow of Charles Petley, esq. in whom the possession of it continues vested at this time.
There is a court-baron now held for this manor.
HILL-PARK is a seat in this parish, which was formerly the residence of a family, called in old dateless deeds, De Valoniis, in English, Valons, by which name it was called till within these few years; after which it continued for many descents in the family of Casinghurst, one of whom, in the reign of Henry VII. conveyed it to John Islip, abbot of Westminster, who gave it to his servant, Wm. Middilton, and he much improved the building of this seat. He died in 1557, and lies buried in this church, together with Elizabeth and Dorothy, his wives, by whom he had fifteen children. He bore for his arms, Quarterly gules and or, in the first quarter a cross patonce argent, which coat was confirmed by patent to his son, David Middleton, descended, as is there said, from those of Bletsoe castle, in Northumberland, by William Segar, anno 8 king James I. (fn. 16)
In his family it continued till the latter end of the reign of queen Elizabeth, and then it was conveyed to Jacob Verzelini, esq. of Downe, in this county, a Venetian born, and he died possessed of it in the 5th of king James I. and lies buried in that church. (fn. 17) By his daughter and coheir Elizabeth, it went in marriage to Peter Manning, esq. of Trowmer, in the parish of Downe; one of whose descendants, in the next reign of Charles I. passed it away to Mr. Ranulph Manning of London, a branch of them, who bore for their arms, Argent, a chevron gules, between three cinquefoils of the second, in whose family it remained till the year 1718, when it was alienated to colonel Henry Harrison, who about the year 1732, passed it away to Wm. Turner, esq. and he, in 1753, conveyed it by sale to captain Peter Dennis, of the royal navy, who about the year 1766, sold it to William M'Gwire, esq. who had formerly been a governor in the East Indies; and he again, a few years afterwards, alienated it to Wills Hill, earl of Hilsborough, who having almost rebuilt this seat, and greatly improved the park and grounds about it, changed its former name of Valons to that of HILL-PARK, and afterwards resided here till the death of his lady, in 1780; soon after which he sold it to John Cottin, esq. who resided here, and served the office of sheriff, in 1787, and he still continues the owner of it.
The college of St. Peter, at Lingfield, in Surry, was possessed of a house, called Painters, in Westerham, with other lands in this parish, which were surrendered into the king's hands at the suppression of it, in the reign of king Henry VIII. and were afterwards granted, to hold in capite by knights service. This house has been for many years an inn, known by the name of the King's arms.
King Henry VIII. in his 31st year, granted to Sir John Gresham the manor of Lovestede, in Surry and Kent, to hold in capite by knights service. One of the former owners of this manor, John Lovestede, of Westerham, lies buried in this church, where his inscription on brass still remains.
Charities.
EDWARD COLTHURST, by deed in 1572, gave for decayed housekeepers lands and tenements vested in the vicar and churchwardens.
ALICE PLUMLEY gave by will in 1584, to ten poor persons, to be paid on Christmas and Easter days, land vested in the same, of the annual product of 1l.
JOHN BRONGER gave by will in 1615, for the use of the poor, the annual sum of 3s. 4d. vested in the same.
ARTHUR WILLARD gave by will in 1623, sundry cottages for the use of poor widows resident in the parish, now vested in the same.
JOHN TROT gave by will in 1629, for a penny loaf to six poor widows each, every Friday, land vested in the same, of the annual product of 1l. 6s.
GERTRUDE STYLE gave by will in 1635, for twenty housekeepers on Good-Friday, the sum of 20l. vested in the same, and of the annual produce of 1l.
WILLIAM HOLMDEN gave by will in 1640, for the use of the poor, land vested in the same, of the annual product of 4l. 4s.
THOMAS HARDY, citizen of London, gave by will in 1747, for the repairing his wife's monument in this church, remainder for the use of the poor, 100l. stock in S. S. Annuities, vested in the same, with six of the most substantial inhabitants, and of the annual product of 3l.
CHARLES WEST gave by will in 1765, for the use of the poor, 100l. stock vested in the same, and of the annual produce of 3l.
RALPH MANNING gave by will in 1786, for the use of twelve poor persons in equal shares, 100l. stock, vested in William Pigot, and of the annual produce of 3l.
WESTERHAM is in the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester, and deanry of Malling. The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is a large handsome building, consisting of a nave, two side isles, and a cross isle; but being too small for the use of the inhabitants, a gallery has been erected for their accommodation in it.
Among other monuments and inscriptions in it are the following:—In the cross isle, at the west end, is a grave-stone near the south door, having the figure of a priest in brass, and inscription in black letter, for Sir William Dyne, priest, sometime parson of Tattisfylde, obt. 1567; a memorial for Bridget, daughter of Ranulph and Catherine Manning, obt. 1734.—In the middle isle, at the entrance, a stone, on which is the figure of a man, that of his wife is lost, and inscription in black letter, for Richard Hayward, and Anne his wife, he died in 1529, beneath were four sons now lost, six daughters now remain; in the pew, where the font is, a stone, with an inscription for Nicholas Manning, gent. of this parish, obt. 1723, and Mary his wife, daughter of Samuel Missenden, esq. deputy governor of the Merchant Adventurers of England, residing at Hamburgh, obt. 1735, arms, a chevron charged with a crescent for difference between three qua terfoils, impaling a cross ingrailed, a bird in the dexter point; on the south side is a mural monument, shewing that near it, in a brick grave, (which being full was arched over in 1733) lies interred Ranulph Manning, gent. obt. 1712, and Catharine his wife, daughter of Saul Missenden, esq. mentioned before, obt. 1732, erected by Ranulph Manning, their eldest son, who died in 1760; above, argent, a chevron gules between three cinquefoils of the second, and quarterings impaling Missenden; over the south door is a plain neat monument of marble, for the brave general James Wolfe, the son of colonel Edward Wolfe, and Henrietta his wife, who was born in this parish Jan. 2, 1727, and died in America, Sept. 13, 1759, conqueror of Quebec, and these lines:—
Whilst George in sorrow bows his laurell'd head, And bids the artist grace the soldier dead, We raise no sculptur'd trophies to thy name, Brave youth! the fairest in the list of fame; Proud of they birth, we boast th' auspicious year—Struck with thy fall, we shed a general tear; With humble grief inscribe one artless stone, And from thy matchless honours date our own.
In the south isle, a memorial for John Thorpe, descended of an antient gentleman's family in Kent and Sussex; he married Anne, daughter, and at length coheir of John Luck, S. T. B. of Mayfield, in Sussex, by whom he had four sons and three daughters, obt. 1703, erected by his grandsons, John and Oliver, sons of his son John Thorpe, of Penshurst, arms, quarterly, 1st and 4th, a fess dancette ermine;-2d and 3d three crescents; at the upper end a grave-stone, with the figures of a man and his two wives in brass, and inscription in black letter for Richard Potter, obt. 1511, beneath the figures of five boys and three girls; another with the figure of a man in brass, and like inscription for Thomas, son of John Potter, gent. obt. 1531; another, with the figure of a man and his two wives in brass, and inscription in black letter for William Myddleton, esq. and Elizabeth and Dorothy, his wives, he died 1557; beneath were the figures of fifteen children, seven of which yet remain.—In the middle of the isle, a brass plate and inscription for John Lovestede, of Westerham; on the south side a mural monument for Anthony Earning, merchant; he married the only daughter of Thomas Manning, esq. of Valens, by whom he left two sons and a daughter, obt. 1676: on the south side are two adjoining altar tombs for Thomas Manning, esq. of Valence, obt. 1695, and for Susan, his wife, daughter of Sir Thomas Dacres, obt. 1654; arms on both, Manning with quarterings; on the north side, at the upper end next the chancel, a mural monument, with the figures of a man and woman kneeling at a desk, for Thomas Potter, esq. of Westerham, who married Mary, daughter and coheir of Richard Tichbourne, esq. of Eatonbridge, by whom he left one son Nisell, and a daughter Dorothy, married to John, eldest son of Sir John Rivers, of Chafford; he married 2dly, Elizabeth, widow of Sir J. Rivers, late lord mayor of London, obt. 1611; above, the arms of Potter sable, a fess ermine between three cinquefoils, argent with impalements.— In the middle isle, are two gravestones, with figures and inscriptions in brass, for the Stacys. In the north isle, are several grave-stones, with memorials for the Dallings, of this parish, arms, on a bend, three acorns; a grave-stone and memorial for Mr. Andrew Daulinge, citizen of London, (son of Richard Daulinge, rector of Ringswold) who married Anne, eldest daughter of Mr. John Daulinge, gent. of Westerham, by whom he had seven sons and two daughters, and left her great with child, obt. 1714; several more memorials for the Dallings, who by their arms appear to have been the same family as the Daulings before-mentioned; on the north side a mural monument for Mr. Thomas Hardy, citizen of London, who died in 1747, and for others of his family; near it is a brass plate fixed to the wall, with an extract from his will, relating to his charity bequeathed to this parish, which has been given above among the other charities belonging to it; at the east end is a mural monument for Mary, wife of Henry Street, daughter of Sir John Gerrard, bart. obt. 1651, and left only one son Edward.—In the cross isle, at the east end, an elegant mural monument for Thomas Knight, esq. of Westerham, obt. 1708, being clerk of the assize for Norfolk; he married first, Catherine, daughter of Mr. Crispe, of Maidstone, and secondly, Jane, daughter of Mr. Blome, of Sevenoke, but left no issue; near it another for Eleanor, youngest daughter of Sir Thomas Seyliard, second baronet of that antient family, and of the lady Frances, his first wife, sole daughter and heir of Henry Wyat, esq. eldest son of Sir Francis Wyat, of Boxleyabbey, who died in 1726; she married Robert Paynter, esq. son of Allington, son of William, son of Anthony, son of William Paynter, esq. clerk of the ordnance to queen Elizabeth, and lord of the manors of East-court and Twydall, in Gillingham, he died in 1731, arms, Paynter gules, a chevron or, between three griffins heads erased of the second on a chief; or an helmet between two balls sable, with impalements and quarterings. A gravestone for the Heaths, of Leigh; another for Anthony Earning, merchant, obt. 1695; a grave-stone within the rails, shewing that Sir John Crisp, bart. paved this communion space in remembrance of Nich. Crisp, esq. eldest son of Sir Nich. Crisp, bart. who died in 1697, æt. 17, arms above, on a chevron five horse-shoes. (fn. 18)
George Strood, esq. in consideration of 16l. 14s. had granted to him, by the vicar, churchwardens, and major part of the parishioners, the uppermost part of the north isle of the church, called the organ–room, for a burying place for himself and his successors, owners of the mansion house of Squeries, to be decently kept and repaired at the cost of him and his successors for ever, which was ratified and confirmed in 1637, (the see of Rochester being then vacant) by the archbishop of Canterbury, as it was afterwards in 1640, by John, bishop of Rochester.
Alianor, queen to king Edward I. gave an acre of land, with its appurtenances in Westerham, and the advowson of the church, together with the chapels, tythes, and all other things and rights belonging to it, to the prior and convent of Canterbury, in pure and perpetual alms, free from all secular service for ever.
This grant appears, by the Chronicles of Christ church, to have been made, among other premises, in exchange for the port of Sandwich.
King Edward I. in his 18th year, confirmed the above gift, and farther granted to the prior and convent his licence, to appropriate this church, and the chapels belonging to it, and to hold the same to their own proper use for ever; which pope Celestine V. in 1294, confirmed, with the allowance of twenty marcs sterling to the vicar, out of the profits of this church and chapel; but the church not becoming vacant, this bull did not take place, and the prior and convent, in 1327, making heavy complaints of their great losses, by the inundation in Romneymarsh, among other grievances, petitioned Hamo, bishop of Rochester, for relief; who, accordingly, that year, appropriated this church, with the chapel of Edulwesbrogge annexed to it, to their use; and at the same time endowed a perpetual vicarage in this church, and a fit portion for a perpetual vicar in it, to be presented by the religious, and to be instituted by him and his successors; and he further decreed, with the consent of the religious, that the vicar should take and have entirely and wholly for his portion, the tithes of silva cedua, pannage, hay, herbage, flax, hemp, milk, butter, and cheese, wool, lambs, calves, pigs, swans, geese, apples, pidgeons, mills, fisheries, fowlings, merchandizing, and all other small tithes and oblations whatsoever, and all legacies and mortuaries to the church or chapel, of right or custom due, as well dead as living; and that the vicar should have, on the soil belonging to the church, to be chosen and assigned by the bishop, a competent house to reside in, to be built for this first time by the religious; and he decreed, that the portion of the vicar should for ever consist in the things above mentioned; and further, that the vicar, for the time being, should as often as there should be occasion, cause the books to be bound, and the vestments to be washed, mended, and renewed; and should find and provide, at his own costs, bread and wine, and processional tapers, and other necessary lights in the chancel, and ministers, as has been accustomed, as well in the church of Westerham as in the chapel of Edulwesbrege; and should, for the future, keep and maintain the buildings of the vicarage, and should wholly pay all episcopal and archideaconal procurations; and that he should sustain and take upon him the tenth and other extraordinary burthens then incumbent, or which might be imposed in future, according to the value of his portion; which, so far as related to the sustaining of the burthens of this kind, he taxed, and rated at ten marcs sterling; and lastly, that the religious should sustain, and take upon them for ever, the payment of the pension of ten shillings due to him and his successors, from this church, and all other burthens, ordinary and extraordinary, according to the value of their portion, which he valued at forty marcs.
Richard de Haute, the rector of this church, dying in 1327, the prior and convent of Christ-church were, by the archdeacon, put into the possession of it, with the chapel of Edelnesbregge annexed, in the person of Robert Hathebrand, monk of it, their proctor specially appointed for this purpose.
The rectory and advowson of the vicarage of Westerham, with the chapel of Eatonbridge, remained with the prior and convent of Christ-church till the general dissolution in the reign of king Henry VIII. in the 31st year of which, it was surrendered into the king's hands.
After which, the king granted to Sir John Gresham, the rectories of Westerham and Eatonbridge, with the advowson of the church and chapel belonging to it, and he died possessed of them in 1556, (fn. 19) as did his eldest son and heir, Sir William Gresham, of Titsey, in Surry, in the 21st year of queen Elizabeth, holding them in capite by knight's service. By his will in the 17th year of queen Elizabeth, he gave these rectories to his second son, Thomas, and his heirs male, (fn. 20) who, on the death of his elder brother, William, without male issue, became likewise his heir, and from him the rectory of Westerham, with Eatonbridge, descended to Sir Marmaduke Gresham, bart. who in his life-time gave it to his eldest son, Edward Gresham, esq. and he in the 30th year of king Charles II. procured an act of parliament to vest it in trustees to be sold for the payment of his debts.
Accordingly, Sir Marmaduke and Edward, his eldest son, joined in the conveyance of the rectory or parsonage of Westerham, with its appurtenances, to James Hudson, esq. of London, and John Steers, of Westerham, yeoman. By which word, appurtenances, the advowson of the church appurtenant to the rectory, though not intended so to do, passed with it.
After which, partly in right of his wife, and partly by purchase from the name of Steers, it came into the possession of John Bodicoate, esq. whose son, the Rev. Mr. John Bodicoate, died in 1791, and his widow, Harriet, re-married to Edward earl of Winterton, is at this time proprietor of the church of Westerham, with the advowson of the vicarage appurtenant to it.
By an antient valuation made in the 15th year of king Edward I. this church was valued at fifty marcs. (fn. 21)
¶By virtue of the commission of enquiry into the value of church livings, in 1650, issuing out of chancery, it was returned, that the parsonage and vicarage of Westerham were two distinct things. That the parsonage house, buildings, and sixty acres of glebe land were worth twenty pounds per annum, and the tythes were worth eighty pounds per annum, and one acre and an half of glebe land worth thirty shillings per annum, all which were impropriate and belonging to master Gresham the proprietor thereof. That there was a vicarage, house, garden and backside, worth forty pounds per annum, and vicarage tythes, worth fifty pounds per annum, which was the vicar's salary, and the said Mr. Gresham was patron thereof; that in former times the vicars of Westerham had been presented vicars of Westerham, (fn. 22) with the chapel of Eatonbridge, and had hired a curate there; but it was conceived that Eatonbridge had been, and still continued sitting to be, a distinct parish church. (fn. 23)
The church of Westerham, with the chapel of Eatonbridge annexed, is valued in the king's books at 19l. 19s. 4½d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 19s. 11¼d. (fn. 24)
CIFF42 And Then I Go Q&A with Director Vincent Grashaw, Screenwriter Brett Haley, and Producer Rebecca Green at Tower City Cinemas
Q&A, Filmmaker
Photo credit: Timothy Smith
I am mad.
Clearly.
I have all day to travel back home, but here I am , catching the six o'clock ferry from East Cowes, sitting now on the deck, taking photographs as we cast off.
Because I am mad.
I have a couple of places to visit on the way home, so I catch the early ferry, missing breakfast at the hotel. I could have had breakfast and caught the ferry at nine, but that would have meant battling traffic in and out of Newport due to the Floating Bridge being out of action.
So here I am.
Taking shots.
It is the blue hour. Or is it the pink hour in the morning?
I don't know. But sunrise is half an hour away, the engines tone rises, calm water on the river turn to foam, and we move off.
Once the ferry leaves the river, I go back downstairs and buy a coffee and a Twix, then go to the back lounge to see the island blend into the murk of dawn's shadows.
The ferry is only 10% full, so plenty of room to spread out and pretend that there's no other people about. I could have gone back up to snap Southampton in the golden light as the sun had risen, but instead I just sit and wait for the call to return to your cars.
I program the sat nav, so once we were docked and tied up, I was one of the first off, and was soon heading north to the motorway and away from the Southampton rush hour.
Traffic was heavy, but I made good progress, allowing me to stop at Fleet services for breakfast in Costa, before pressing on to the M25 and the chaos that drive east would be.
Traffic much heavier than it was three weeks back, meaning I was half an hour later, which I didn't mind, as the church I planned to visit would be more likely to be unlocked at half nine rather than nine.
West Kent is picturesque, full of pretty villages full of former merchant's houses, now seamlessly turned into what used to be called the stockbroker belt.
Otford was a village, now a suburb of Sevenoaks, the ancient centre of the village is around the pond, and around the edge of the green is the pub and the church.
A parking space outside the papershop offered half an hour's free parking, so I abandoned the car there and limped over the main road to the church, showing well through the bare trees, just waking up as spring arrives.
A modern church centre sits to the north, and having tried the west and south doors, I try going through the church centre, and the doors swing open into the church, no one else was inside.
There was a grand monument, the west wall covered in hatchings and the east window in the Chancel had several Flemish painted panels of saints arranged into a cross.
I take many, many shots.
I am back at the car within the half hour, and a three mile drive away through the rolling countryside is the next target, Kemsing.
We had been here before, but the porch door was locked, but the parish website promised it would be open from nine. And it was.
John Vigar's description stated that access to the Chancel would not be possible, which confused me, but the large arts and crafts recreation of the rood screen, was locked, and the door through the vestry was also out of bounds.
So I took shots through the screen, not ideal, but better than nothing, and I think they came out well.
It was time to go home. So, back in the car I program my phone, and it leads me back to the M20, and from there I know the way.
Lots of trucks and lorries also heading south, but I cruise past them. Its a fine day to be driving, the sun is breaking through the low cloud and mist, making for a pleasant drive.
I have also judged the fuel well, so don't need to refill before stopping at the car hire office.
They give it the once over, I tell them the things which are not working on te brand new car, they make notes, and I am done.
Emma drives me back to St Maggies, dropping me off on Station Road. I walk along to Chez Jelltex, check the garden for new flowers and growth, then go onside.
The cats sleep on, and I am overcome with weariness. MY knee is aching, I am out of painkillers, but massage it, nd its a little better.
I have brunch and a brew, listen to some podcasts, have a shower, unpack the suitcase.
Phew.
It now stays light until gone six, meaning we could have gone for a walk before dinner. But not at the moment. So I cook hash for dinner, which was ten minutes away from being done by the time Jools got home.
So we eat and drink wine.
One day and the weekend will be here.
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This is a very wide church and relatively short, the walls being entirely rendered and a sombre grey in colour. From the roof hang a dozen brass chandeliers which almost create an impression of a warm country kitchen. At the west end above the tower door hang many hatchments, from a distance almost looking like a chessboard in their regularity The pews are unusual too, for although they are of normal proportions they each have a little closing door. Through the wide chancel arch the east window shows some small seventeenth-century glass panels, rather unhappily set together, while below it is an well-carved tomb constructed as an Easter Sepulchre. What a pity we do not know whose tomb it is, especially as it is of relatively late date.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Otford
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OTFORD.
NEXT to Shoreham southward lies OTFORD, called in Saxon, OTTANFORD, in the book of Domesday, OTEFORT, and in the Textus Roffensis, OTTEFORD; for it is observable, that the syllable an, when it is the second in the Saxon name of a place, is generally left out in our modern pronunciation. (fn. 1)
OTFORD PARISH is about nine miles in circumference, and contains about two thousand four hundred acres of land, of which about seventy are woodland. It lies for the greatest part of it in a low damp situation, which makes it far from being pleasant, and gives it a lonely and gloomy appearance, and in all probability it would have been but little known had it not been for the residence of the archbishops at it for such a length of time. In the valley much of it is meadow land, and though the rivulets and springs throughout it render it very moist and marshy, yet it is here rather fertile. Towards Sevenoke the soil becomes sandy, and on the eastern and western hills it is entirely chalk mixed with flint stones, and is in general very barren. The river Darent runs through it northward, and it is otherwise watered by two other streams which join the river here. Hence the chalk hills rise on each side towards the east and west. The high road from Dartford to Sevenoke goes through the village of Otford, which stands at the foot of the chalk hills in the valley, not far from the eastern banks of the Darent, across which another road branches off from the village towards Chevening. At the entrance of the village from Eynsford, stood till lately, an antient seat, seemingly of the time of queen Elizabeth, which carried with it the appearance of its former opulence.
It seems formerly to have been known by the name of Colletwell, and to have been for many years the residence of the Petty's; several of whom lie buried in this church, after which it for some time remained uninhabited and dropping into ruin. From the heirs of the above family it passed at length by sale to George Lake, esq. whose sister Mary, about 1790; sold it to Mr. James Martyr, who pulled the whole of it down, and built a good genteel house on the scite of it, in which he now resides. On the opposite or southern side are the ruins of the archiepiscopal palace, and near them the church. Here was a seat inhabited for many years by a branch of the family of Petley, and another by a branch of the Polhill family. David Polhill, esq. the last of that name, began to rebuild this house, intending to reside in it, but he again pulled it down before it was quite finished. The scite of it, with a considerable estate in this parish, is now in the possession of his son Charles Polhill, esq. of Chepsted.
The liberty of the duchy of Lancaster claims over a part of this parish. A fair is held here on the 24th of August, for pedlary ware, &c.
Antient history makes mention of two famous battles fought at Otford, one of which happened among the Saxons themselves, contending for glory and supreme sovereignty, the other between the Danes and Saxons, for their lands, lives, and liberties.
The first of these was fought in the year 773, when Offa, king of Mercia, having already joined to his dominion most part of Wessex and Northumberland; and perceiving the weak estate of the kingdom of Kent, thought it a fair opportunity to subdue it, and add it to his own domains. In consequence of which he invaded it, and fought a famous battle with Aldric, king of Kent, at this place; and though Offa gained the victory, yet it was not without great slaughter on both sides. (fn. 2)
The other battle was fought in 1016, when king Edmund, surnamed Ironside, passing the river Thames with his army, marched after Canute, the Danish king, through Surry, into Kent, and encountering the Danes at this place, made a great slaughter of them; after which he pursued them as far as Aylesford, in their rout to the Isle of Shepey, and had he not desisted from the pursuit there, through the treacherous advice which was given him, he would, in all probability, in the compass of that day, have made the victory compleat over their whole army.
The fields here are full of the remains of those slain in these battles; bones are continually discovered in them, particularly when the new turnpike road which leads from Eynsford, through Otford, to Sevenoke, was widened in 1767, many skeletons were found in the chalk banks on each side of it.
Mr. Polhill has a field in this parish, called Dane Field, which most probably was the spot on which the last-mentioned battle with the Danes was fought.
IN THE YEAR 791, Offa, king of Mercia, whose gifts to the British churches and monasteries in general were great and munificent, gave Otteford to the church of Canterbury; (fn. 3) soon after which one Werhard, a powerful priest, and kinsman to archbishop Wlfred, found means to gain the possession of it; but, at the command of the archbishop in 830, he by his last will, restored this place, then estimated at ten hides, again to the church of Canterbury; part of the possessions of which it remained at the coming of Lanfranc to that see, in the 4th year of the Conqueror's reign, anno 1070; who, when he divided the manors and possessions belonging to his church, (fn. 4) reserved Otford to the use of himself and his successors, and it remained in the archbishop's possession at the taking the survey of Domesday, in which record it is thus entered, under the title of Terra Archiepi Cantuariensis, i. e. the land of the archbishop of Canterbury.
The archbishop himself holds Otefort in demesne. It was taxed at 8 sulings. The arable land is 42 carucates; in demesne there are 6 carucates. There are 100 and one villein, with 18 borderers, having 45 carucates; there are 8 servants, and 6 mills of 72 shillings, and 50 acres of meadow. There is wood for the pannage of 150 hogs.
Of this manor three Thaines (fn. 5) hold 1 suling and an half, and there they have in demesne 3 carucates, and 16 villeins, with 11 borderers, having 4 carucates. There are 5 servants, and 2 mills of 24 shillings, and 28 acres of meadow, wood for the pannage of 30 hogs. The whole value of it, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, was . . . . Now the demesne of the archbishop is rated at 60 pounds, of the Thaines 12 pounds; what Richard de Tonbridge holds in his lowy is rated at 10 pounds.
From this period of time Otford continued part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, till archbishop Cranmer, in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. conveyed the manor, lordship, and seignory of Otford, and the manor of Otford Stuyens, alias Sergeants Otford, with the chapel of Otford annexed to the parsonage of Shoreham, and all other his estates in Otford, among other premises, in exchange to that king.
This manor, lordship, and seignory of Otford coming thus into the king's possessions, appears thenceforth to have been stiled the HONOR OF OTFORD, having a high steward appointed to preside over it, and it remained with the view of frank-pledge, and the courts and law days of it, in the hands of the crown at the death of king Charles I. in 1648. After which the powers then in being seized on the royal estates; and passed an ordinance to vest them in trustees, in order to their being surveyed, and sold to supply the necessities of the state.
Accordingly, in 1650, the honour of Otford was surveyed, when it was returned, that there belonged to it several court leets, within the hundreds of Codsheath, Sommerdenne, Sherborne Borough, and Kingsborough; all adjacent hundreds to this honour.
That there belonged to it a three weeks court held at Otford, wherein actions not above forty shillings were tried and determined. (fn. 6)
After the above survey, the honour of Otford was sold by the state to Edward Sexby, and Samuel Clerke, with whom it remained till the restoration of king Charles II. when the possession of it again returned to the crown, where it continues at this time.
The high stewardship of the honour of Otford has been from time to time granted by the crown to divers of the nobility and gentry of this county. John-Frederick, duke of Dorset, is the present high steward of it.
The archbishops of Canterbury had, from the earliest accounts, a HOUSE Or PALACE here, in which they resided from time to time, as appears by their frequent mandates, dated from their manor house of Otford, being a most commodious and favorite retirement for them; adjoining to which they had two large parks, extensive woods, and other lands for their pleasure and convenience, in their own possession.
Archbishop Thomas Becket seems to have been greatly pleased with the retired situation of this palace, and several tales are told of the miracles he wrought whilst at it; among others, that the archbishop finding the house wanted a fit spring to water it, stuck his staff into the dry ground, and that water immediately burst forth, where the well called from thence St. Thomas's Well, now is, which afterwards plentifully supplied the palace.
Here that great prelate archbishop Robert Winchelsea entertained king Edward I. in his 29th year, anno 1300, (fn. 7) and he resided here at the time of his death in the 6th year of king Edward II. anno 1313, (fn. 8) at which time it appears that there was a park here, which extended into Sevenoke parish, for four years afterwards the succeeding archbishop, Walter Reynolds, had the king's licence to purchase lands in that parish towards the enlarging of it, (fn. 9) but this afterwards not being thought by one of his successors, archbishop Simon Islip, sufficient for his accommodation, he with the king's licence purchased lands and meadows here, in the 33d and 34th years of king Edward III's reign, in order to be inclosed with other lands by the archbishop, and for another park to be made here, since known by the name of the Lesser or Little Park. (fn. 10)
Archbishop Deane, who came to the see in the 16th year of king Henry VII. rebuilt great part of this house; notwithstanding which, his immediate successor, (fn. 11) archbishop Warham, thinking the house too mean for him to reside in, as he intended to do, on account of his quarrel with the citizens of Canterbury, rebuilt the whole of it, excepting the hall and the chapel, at the expence of 33,000l. a large sum at that time, and here he entertained that splendid prince king Henry VIII. who rested with the archbishop at it several times both in the 1st and 7th years of his reign. (fn. 12) His next successor, archbishop Cranmer, observing that this stately palace excited the envy of the courtiers, passed it away, with his other estates in this parish, in exchange, in the 29th year of that reign, to the king, as has been already mentioned.
After this palace, with its parks and appurtenances, had thus come into the king's possessions, he kept the mansion with the two parks, called the Greater and Lesser, or Little Park, and the woods and lands belonging to this estate in his own hands, and soon afterwards purchased of a descendant of Sir Edward Bo rough, the manor of Danehull, in this parish, formerly possessed by the Cobhams of Sterborough, which he laid into his park here, all which continued pretty entire in the crown till king Edward VI. in his last year, and queen Elizabeth, afterwards made several grants of different parts of it. But the former in that year granted the little park of Otford, then lately disparked, to Sir Henry Sidney, as will be further mentioned below, and the latter in her 34th year granted to his son, Sir Robert Sidney, the scite of the honour of Otford, the archbishop's house commonly called the Castle, and the greater park, containing seven hundred acres, lying in Otford, Seal, and Kemsing; in the 15th year of king James I. bearing then the title of lord Sidney, he was created lord viscount Lisle, and that same year, with Barbara his wife, Sir Robert Sidney his son, and others his trustees, conveyed the whole of the above mentioned premises to Sir Thomas Smith, second son of Customer Smith, in whose descendants they continued down to Sir Sidney Stafford Smythe, chief baron of the exchequer, who died in 1778, as did his widow lady Sarah Smythe, in 1790, and by her will devised this estate, consisting of the ruins of the palace, and three farms, called the Place, Great Lodge, and Greatness farms, containing about eight hundred and sixty acres of land, in trust, to be sold for the benefit of her nephews and nieces, which they were accordingly, next year, to Robert Parker, esq. of Maidstone, in which situation they still continue.
Most probably the palace was demolished, and the lands of the Greater Park disparked soon after the grant of them to Sir Thomas Smith. It stood behind the present ruins more to the south. There is nothing left of the mansion itself, but vast heaps of rubbish and foundations, which cover near an acre of ground. The present ruins were part of the outer court, the two remaining towers of which were not many years ago two stories higher, but the roof of the largest which was covered with lead falling in, the uppermost story of each was taken down.
THE MANOR OF SERJEANTS OTFORD, with the LITTLE PARK, part of those possessions likewise granted by the archbishop to king Henry VIII. as mentioned before, remained in the crown till king Edward VI. in the 7th year of his reign, granted to Sir Henry Sidney, his park, called the Little Park of Otford, lately disparked, and his lands, meadows, &c. inclosed within it, parcel of the honour of Otford, for the term of thirty years, which lease was renewed anno 10 queen Elizabeth. After his death, his eldest surviving son, Sir Robert Sidney, by letters patent, in the 44th year of that reign, had a grant in see of the manor of Otford Stuyens, alias Sergeants Otford, the little park, and other premises here, late belonging to the see of Canterbury, at the yearly rent of thirty pounds. (fn. 13) This manor came afterwards to be possessed in undivided thirds, by Mompesson, Hyde, and Wall. The two former sold their shares to Sir Thomas Farnaby, bart. of Kippington, in Sevenoke, whose son, Sir Charles Farnaby Radcliffe, bart. is the present possessor of them. The other third part of this manor descended from the Rev. Dr. William Wall, vicar of Shoreham, whose only daughter and heir, Catherine, married Mr. Waring, and had by him eight sons and eight daughters, to his grandson, Mr. Sampson Waring, of Rochester, who, some few years ago, sold it to Sir Jeffry Amherst, K.B. since created lord Amherst, baron of Holmsdale, and he is the present owner of it. By the name of Park-fields, which several lands, now belonging to Charles Polhill, esq. between the village and the river Darent, have immemorially been called by, it should seem that he is owner of some part of the lands formerly inclosed within these parks of Otford.
But the little or Lesser Park, lying on the north side of this parish, and parted on the west side by the river from that of Shoreham, now claims the reputation of a manor, and is called OTFORD NEW PARK. It has been for some years possessed by the family of Bostock, and is now the property of the Rev. Stillman Bostock, of East Grinsted, in Sussex.
RYE-HOUSE is an estate here, which was formerly accounted a manor, and seems in the reign of king Edward III. to have been owned by John At-Welle and Robert William; for they had, in the 46th year of it, the king's licence to assign four marcs yearly rent, issuing out of certain tenements, called Le Rye, in Otford, held of the archbishop, to Adam Fleming, chaplain, and his successors, celebrating divine offices in the chapel of Apuldrefelde, for the good state of the king whilst he lived, and for his foul afterwards. (fn. 14)
This estate afterwards came into the name of Palmer, ancestors to those of Bekesborne, who bore for their arms, Argent, a chevron sable, between three palmers scrips or purses of the second, stringed and tasselled or
One of this family, John Palmer, died possessed of the manor of Le Rye, in Otford, in the second year of king Richard III. his descendant, of the same name, conveyed it by sale to king Henry VIII. in the 30th year of his reign; (fn. 15) who, in his 33d year, demised it to John Walker, yeoman, for a term of years; after which the family of Bosville had the see of this estate, in which name it continued down to Henry Bosville, esq. of Bradborne, in Sevenoke, who dying without issue, in 1761, devised this estate, among others, to his kinsman, Sir Richard Betenson, bart who dying, without issue, it came by the limitation of the same will to Thomas Lane, esq. who is the present possessor of it. (fn. 16)
Sir George Harper, anno 33 king Henry VIII. conveyed to that king a messuage, called BROUGHTON'S, and other premises in Otford, in exchange for lands in Essex; (fn. 17) all which were granted in the 1st and 2d of king Philip and queen Mary, (fn. 18) to Humphrey Colwych, to hold in capite by knights service.
The Polhills afterwards became owners of this estate; David Polhill levied a fine of it in the 16th year of queen Elizabeth, in whose descendants this estate has continued down to Charles Polhill, esq. the present owner of it.
Charities.
In the rolls of the 13th of king Henry III. there is mention made of an hospital, or house of leprous persons here. (fn. 19)
SIR THOMAS SMITH, gave by will, in 1625, to six poor persons who do not receive alms, and frequent divine service, bread to be delivered to them weekly, to be paid out of land, vested in the Skinners company, now of the annual produce of 5l. 10s.
ONE OF THE FAMILY OF POLHILL gave by will, 20s. yearly, to be distributed among the poor, at the discretion of the trust, parish officers, to be paid out of land vested in Mr. Polhill, and now of that annual produce.
JOHN CHARMAN by will, gave 20s. yearly, for the like purpose, to be paid out of land, vested in Mr. Amhurst, as trustee of the children of Mr. Richard Round, deceased, and of that annual produce.
OTFROD is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester, and being a chapel to Shoreham, is a peculiar of the archbishop of Canterbury, and consequently in that deanry.
The church, which is situated at the east end of the village, near the palace, is dedicated to St. Bartholomew, a saint of great credit here for the gift of curing barrenness in women, which caused great resort of people to his image and shrine in this church; and a fair was held at Otford on his anniversary. It consists of two isles and one chancel, having a pointed steeple at the west end, in which are two bells.
Among other monuments and memorials in this church, in the south isle, on the south side, is a mural monument, of elegant sculpture, with a busto of statuary marble, and inscription, for David Polhill, esq. of Cheapstead, son of Thomas Polhill, esq. of Otford, by Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Ireton, by Bridget, daughter of Oliver Cromwell; he was one of the Kentish petitioners in king William III.'s reign, obt. M.P. for Rochester, and keeper of the records in the Tower, in 1754, æt. 80; he married three wives, first Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Trevor, esq. of Glynd, in Sussex; secondly Gertrude, sister of Thomas Holles, duke of Newcastle, who both died, s. p. thirdly, Elizabeth, daughter of John Borret, esq. of Shoreham, by whom he had four sons and one daughter; he left surviving Charles and Elizabeth; arms at top, Polhill with impalements; several memorials for the Rounds and Mainards. In the south chancel, a memorial for William Sidney and Alice his wife, descended from William Sydney lord of Kingsham, by Chichester, and of Isabella St. John, daughter of lord St. John, obt 1625; arms, a pheon; memorials for the Everests and Pettys. In the great chancel, on the north side, a magnificent monument, with the statue of a gentleman, as large as life, standing and leaning on an urn, over him is the head of a lady, in profile, with figures of statuary marble on each side, most beautifully executed; and a memorial for Charles Polhill, esq. youngest son of Thomas Polhill, esq. by Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Ireton, ob. 1755; he married Martha, daughter of Thomas Streatfield, esq. of Sevenoke, by whom he had no issue. Memorials for Bostock and Brasiers; a memorial on the south side of the altar for Robert Polhill, gent. of Otford, son of John and Jane, of Otford, obt. 1699, æt. 57; arms, Polhill. On the north side of the altar is an antient altar tomb, with an arch in the wall, ornamented with Gothic carved work, but the inscription is lost. In the east window is a shield of arms, Lennard, in stained glass, being or on a sess gules, three fleurs de lis of the field, with quarterings, in the middle a mullet for difference. At the end of the chancel a mural monument for George Petty and Anne his wife, daughter of John Polhill, esq. of Otford, he died 1719, and for Robert their eldest son, obt. 1727.
The chapel of Otford, annexed to the parsonage of Shoreham, was part of the antient possessions of the see of Canterbury, and continued so till the same was exchanged by archbishop Cranmer with Henry VIII. in the 29th year of his reign, as has been mentioned before.
King Edward VI. in his 1st year, granted the parsonage and advowson of Shoreham, with this chapel of Otford, to Sir Anthony Denny, to hold in capite by knights service, who presently exchanged the same with the dean and chapter of St. Peter's, Westminster, for the advowson and patronage of Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire. (fn. 20)
By virtue of the commission of enquiry into the value of church livings, in 1650, issuing out of chancery, it was returned, that Otford was a parsonage, rented at one hundred pounds per annum, the house and glebe of which was worth fourteen pounds per annum beyond that sum. (fn. 21)
It is an appropriation, now belonging to the dean and chapter of Westminster, the present lessee being the Right Hon. the lord Willoughby de Brooke.
The curate of this church, in 1719, had a stipend of twenty pounds per annum. In 1724, the dean and chapter of Westminster augmented this curacy with two hundred pounds. (fn. 22)
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Dating back to 1678, then known as Morris, the plantation was used in 1780 during the American Revolutionary War by British General Sir Henry Clinton as his headquarters while planning to invade and occupy nearby Charleston, with many enslaved workers assisting in the effort and being granted their freedom by the British. The present house was built in 1858 in the Greek Revival style, with two one-story porches on the front and rear of the building. The grounds also contain a cotton gin house, barn, carriage house, outhouse, kitchen, dairy, and slave cabins that all date to before the civil war. During the Civil War, the main house was utilized by Confederate forces occupying the area as a hospital, with the house in 1865, upon the occupation of Charleston by the Union army, becoming the headquarters of the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiments, made up of free people of color. Following the war, during reconstruction, the house was home to a branch of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, with many newly freed formerly enslaved people camping and living on the grounds during this time. As a result of this part of the land’s history, the site has gained a large amount of significance to the local Gullah-Geechee people. Between 1910 and 1926, under the ownership of a descendant of the McLeod family whom had built the house, the house was renovated with the addition of a one-story wing containing a kitchen and butler’s pantry to one side, and a substantial two-story portico on what had formerly been the rear of the house, giving the house a grander appearance more befitting of the idea of what a proper “plantation house” was supposed to look like in the minds of people living at the time. The house was lived in by the McLeod family until 1990, when it was given to the Historic Charleston Foundation. In 1993, about half of the remaining land at McLeod plantation was set aside in perpetuity for the cultivation of sweetgrass, which is used by Gullah-Geechee craftspeople, allowing them to benefit from a place where their ancestors were once exploited. In 2011, the rest of the land was sold to the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission, with the portion of the land along Wappoo Creek on the far side of Country Club Drive being set aside as a public park, while the house and grounds immediately surrounding it have been converted into a historical house museum that interprets the history of the site in a comprehensive manner. The remaining plantation buildings and land were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and the site is one of South Carolina’s state-designated African-American historic places.
Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).
Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions
"Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). The term "graffiti" is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write".
The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vanadlism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.
The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.
Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia. The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago. Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiences Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.
Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the "mirror wall", adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:
Wet with cool dew drops
fragrant with perfume from the flowers
came the gentle breeze
jasmine and water lily
dance in the spring sunshine
side-long glances
of the golden-hued ladies
stab into my thoughts
heaven itself cannot take my mind
as it has been captivated by one lass
among the five hundred I have seen here.
Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.
Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls. When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.
There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.
Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790s. Lord Byron's survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.
The oldest known example of graffiti "monikers" found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.
In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:
During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed "Yardbird" or "Bird"), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives".
Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains. and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.
While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight. The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’
Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.
An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington, north London in the autumn of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.
Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983
Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture
Main article: Commercial graffiti
With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.
In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings "a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse".
Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration". Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities". Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York". The "sprawling metropolis", of São Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti"; Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples", and to "Brazil's chronic poverty", as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture". In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently". Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised", that is South American graffiti art.
Prominent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.
Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference "נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן" ("Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.
Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19. Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.
There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.
The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.
Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the "canvas" gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.
Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France); by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis
Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting "their name, initial or logo onto a public surface" in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.
Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.
Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up"
Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal
In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.
Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles "Galang" and "Bucky Done Gun", and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.
Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery. Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere form sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.
Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.
With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.
Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.
Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy's anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. "One of the pieces was left up above Steve's Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome"- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.
Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.
Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.
Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.
Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.
Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat". To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.
The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.
I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.
The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.
Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest. The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.
Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.
In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thank to your mother". Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past". Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".
There are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave. Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement". Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.
Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.
A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come. A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.
By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.
Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.
In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.
A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.
From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.
Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.
Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs. A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.
In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.
Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.
In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.
In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones". From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."
In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.
In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.
In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.
In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.
In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.
The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.
To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."
In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.
In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.
Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".
Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)
In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[108][109] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.
Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.
Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.
In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.
Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.
Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.
To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.
When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.