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This is an entry for ABS Forever's These Go to Eleven Contest on MOCpages.
We were asked to build a MOC centered on a short quote.
"Artists don't make objects. Artists make mythologies."
-Anish Kapoor
More images can be found on MOCpages: LINK
EDIT: Except for when the Wayback Machine copies almost no images...
Entry to the BoBS Challenge V - Category A
It was a bright day and the sun was beating down on the streets of Kings Port.
Inside the governor's hall the temperature and the mood was much milder.
Admiral van Draumen had found the courage to propose to her - Princess Vinapptshitshi of Mardier, King Alphonso's beloved daughter.
As he kneeled down before her she gladly answered his beaming smile - and his proposal by a softly whispered "yes".
Van Draumen had backed his proposal with a slight show-off of his riches, but it seemed that the princess cared more for him than for his money.
Which was good, as van Draumen did not expect the King to approve of this marriage.
Troubled times lay ahead, but this was not the time to worry. This was a day to celebrate
The Postcard
A postally unused postcard that was published by the National Art Service Co. Inc. of Washington, D.C. On the divided back in the space for a stamp it states:
'Place One Cent
Stamp Here.'
To see the exterior of the mansion, please search for the tag 24CTM89
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is a United States military cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., in whose 639 acres (259 ha) the dead of the nation's conflicts have been buried, beginning with the Civil War, as well as re-interred dead from earlier wars.
The national cemetery was established during the Civil War in the grounds of Arlington House, previously the estate of Mary Anna Custis Lee, a great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, and wife of Robert E. Lee.
The Cemetery, along with Arlington House, Memorial Drive, the Hemicycle, and Arlington Memorial Bridge form the Arlington National Cemetery Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in April 2014.
Early History of the Cemetery
George Washington Parke Custis, grandson of Martha Washington and adopted grandson of George Washington, acquired the land that now is Arlington National Cemetery in 1802, and began construction of Arlington House, which was named after the village of Arlington, Gloucestershire, England, where his family was originally from.
The estate passed to Custis's daughter, Mary Anna, who had married United States Army officer Robert E. Lee. Custis's will gave a "life inheritance" to Mary Lee, allowing her to live at and run Arlington Estate for the rest of her life but not enabling her to sell any portion of it. Upon her death, the Arlington estate passed to her eldest son, George Washington Custis Lee. The building had previously been known as the Custis-Lee Mansion.
When Virginia seceded from the Union after the start of the American Civil War at Fort Sumter, Robert E. Lee resigned his commission on the 20th. April 1861, and took command of the armed forces of the Commonwealth of Virginia, later becoming commander of the Army of Northern Virginia.
On the 7th. May 1861, troops of the Virginia militia occupied Arlington House. With Confederate forces occupying Arlington's high ground, the capital of the Union was left in an untenable military position.
General Winfield Scott ordered Brigadier General Irvin McDowell to clear Arlington and the city of Alexandria, Virginia, of all troops not loyal to the United States.
Despite not wanting to leave Arlington House, Mary Lee believed that her estate would soon be recaptured by federal soldiers, and so on the 14th. May, she buried many of her family treasures in the grounds and left for her sister's estate at Ravensworth in Fairfax County, Virginia. McDowell occupied Arlington without opposition on the 24th. May 1861.
Arlington House
At the outbreak of the Civil War, most military personnel who died in battle near Washington, D.C. were buried at the United States Soldiers' Cemetery in Washington, D.C., or Alexandria Cemetery in Alexandria, Virginia.
However by late 1863 both were nearly full, and so on the 16th. July 1862, Congress passed legislation authorizing the U.S. federal government to purchase land for national cemeteries for military dead, and they put the U.S. Army Quartermaster General in charge of this program.
In May 1864, Union forces suffered large numbers of dead in the Battle of the Wilderness. Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs ordered that an examination of eligible sites be made for the establishment for a large new national military cemetery.
Within weeks, his staff reported that the Arlington Estate was the most suitable property in the area. The property was high and free from floods, it had a view of the District of Columbia, and it was aesthetically pleasing.
It was also the home of the leader of the armed forces of the Confederate States of America, and denying Robert E. Lee use of his home after the war was a valuable political consideration.
The first military burial at Arlington, for William Henry Christman, was made on the 13th. May 1864.
The US Government acquired Arlington at a tax sale in 1864 for $26,800, Mrs. Lee did not appear in person, but rather sent an agent, attempting to pay the $92.07 in property taxes assessed on the estate in a timely manner. However the Government turned him away, refusing to accept the tendered payment.
In 1874, Custis Lee, heir under his grandfather's will passing the estate in trust to his mother, sued the United States, claiming ownership of Arlington. On the 9th. December 1882, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lee's favor, deciding that Arlington had been confiscated without due process.
After that decision, Congress returned the estate to him, and on the 3rd. March 1883, Custis Lee sold it back to the government for $150,000. The land then became a military reservation.
Freedman's Village
Beginning in 1863, the Federal Government used the southern portion of the land now occupied by the cemetery as a settlement for freed slaves, giving the name of "Freedman's Village" to the land.
The Government constructed rental houses that up to 3,000 freed slaves eventually occupied while farming 1,100 acres (450 ha) of the estate. They received schooling and occupational training during the Civil War and after the war ended.
However, after the land became part of a military reservation, the government asked the villagers to leave. When some remained, John A. Commerford, the Superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery, asked the Army's Quartermaster General in 1887 to close the village on the grounds that people living in the Village had been taking trees at night from the cemetery for use as firewood.
The Quartermaster General and the Secretary of War then approved Commerford's request. The last of the village's residents departed after Congress appropriated $75,000 in 1900 to settle the government's debts to them.
Expansion of the Cemetery
With limited space but large numbers of World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, and other veterans dying and needing to be buried at Arlington, the requirement for additional burial space at the cemetery became a pressing issue.
In 1991, Cemetery superintendent John C. Metzler Jr. implemented a $1.4 million plan to clear a former 13-acre (5.3 ha) parking lot in order to create space for about 9,000 new graves.
The Cemetery was authorized to transfer 12 acres (4.9 ha) of woodland from the NPS-controlled Arlington House in 1996. Additional parcels of land totalling 59 acres (23.9 ha) were also subsequently acquired between 1999 and 2005, including land from Fort Myer.
In 2007, Metzler implemented the Millennium Project, a $35 million expansion plan to begin utilizing the Arlington woodland, Fort Myer, and Navy Annex land.
The project also included converting 40 acres (16 ha) of unused space and 4 acres (16,000 m2) of maintenance property on the cemetery grounds into burial space in 2006 and 2007 in order to allow an additional 26,000 graves and 5,000 inurnments.
The Millennium Project expanded the cemetery's physical boundaries for the first time since the 1960's, and was the largest expansion of burial space at the site since the American Civil War. Several environmental and historical preservation groups criticized Metzler's plans, as did the NPS and the manager of Arlington House.
Arlington Woods Expansion Controversy
On the 22nd. February 1995, the United States Department of the Interior and the United States Department of the Army signed an agreement to transfer from Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, to the Army a part of Arlington Woods. The property transfer, which involved 12 acres (4.9 ha) of NPS land, was intended to permit Metzler to start expanding the cemetery beyond its existing boundaries.
Environmentalists were concerned that this would result in the partial destruction of the 24-acre (9.7 ha) remnant of a historically important stand of native trees. A historical marker near the woodland notes that, while visiting Arlington House in 1825, Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette had warned Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis:
"Cherish these forest trees around
your mansion. Recollect how much
easier it is to cut a tree than to make
one grow."
The marker further notes that the Virginia Native Plant Society has recognized the woodland as being one of the best examples of old growth terraced gravel forest remaining in Virginia.
On the 23rd. September 1996, the Secretary of the Interior was authorized to transfer to the Secretary of the Army all of the land in Section 29 that was within an "Arlington National Cemetery Interment Zone" and some of the land in the Section that was within a "Robert E. Lee Memorial Preservation Zone".
On the 5th. March 1998, the NPS stated that it wanted to transfer only 4 acres (1.6 ha) to the cemetery, rather than the 12 acres (4.9 ha) that the 1995 agreement had described. In response, Metzler stated:
"I was surprised. But we will continue
to work with the Department of Interior
and see what happens."
On July 12, 1999, the NPS issued a notice of an environmental assessment (EA) for the transfer. The EA stated that the Interment Zone contained the oldest and largest tract of eastern hardwood forest in Arlington County.
This forest was the same type that once covered the Arlington estate, and had regenerated from trees that were present historically. A forestry study determined that a representative tree was 258 years old.
The 2010 Mismanagement Controversy
On the 9th. June 2010, United States Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh reprimanded the cemetery's superintendent, John C. Metzler, Jr., and his deputy, Thurman Higgenbotham, after a DOD inspector general's report revealed that cemetery officials had placed the wrong headstones on tombs, buried coffins in shallow graves, and buried bodies on top of one another.
Metzler, who had already announced his intention to retire on the 2nd. July 2010, admitted some mistakes had been made, but denied allegations of widespread or serious mismanagement.
The investigation also found that:
"Cemetery employees are burdened in their
day-to-day work by dysfunctional management,
lack of established policy and procedures, and
an overall unhealthy organizational climate."
Both Metzler and Higgenbotham retired soon after the investigation commenced.
In March 2011, as a result of the problems discovered, Kathryn Condon, executive director of the Army National Military Cemeteries, announced that the cemetery's staff had been increased from 102 to 159. She added that the cemetery was also acquiring additional equipment because:
"They don't have the proper equipment
to do the job really to the standard they
need to do."
The mismanagement controversy included a limitation on mass media access to funerals, which also proved controversial. Until 2005, the cemetery's administration gave free access, with the family's permission, to the press to cover funerals at the cemetery.
According to The Washington Post in 2008, the cemetery gradually imposed increasing restrictions on media coverage of funerals beginning about 2005.
Wreaths Across America
In 1992, the Worcester Wreath company in Harrington, Maine, had a surplus at the end of the Christmas holiday season. Recalling a boyhood trip to the cemetery, company founder Morrill Worcester donated to the cemetery 5,000 wreaths to honor the cemetery's dead, with the help of volunteers and a local trucking company.
After thirteen years of similar donations, in 2005 a photo of snowy gravestones covered with wreaths at the cemetery received widespread circulation on the internet. Thousands of people called Worcester wanted to replicate the wreath-laying service at their own veteran cemeteries.
In 2014, volunteers were able to place wreaths in all sections of the cemetery for the first time.
150th. Anniversary
During May and June 2014, the cemetery celebrated the 150th. anniversary of its founding with a month-long series of events, tours, and lectures.
During these celebrations, cemetery officials formally re-designated the Old Amphitheater as the James Tanner Amphitheater. James R. Tanner was a Union Army officer who lost both legs during the war.
He later became a War Department stenographer, and recorded much of the early evidence in the investigation into the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He later was active in the Grand Army of the Republic, a Union Army veterans group. Tanner is buried a few yards from the amphitheater.
Sections of the Cemetery
The Cemetery is divided into 70 sections, with some sections in the southeast and western part of the cemetery reserved for future expansion.
Section 60, in the southeast part of the cemetery, is the burial ground for military personnel killed in the "war on terror" since 2001.
Section 21, also known as the Nurses Section, is the burial site for many nurses, and the location of the Spanish–American War Nurses Memorial and the Nurses Memorial.
Another section – Chaplains Hill – includes monuments to Jewish, Protestant, and Roman Catholic military chaplains.
In 1901, Confederate soldiers who had been buried at the Soldiers' Home and various locations within Arlington were re-interred in a Confederate section that was authorized by Congress in 1900.
On the 4th. June 1914, the United Daughters of the Confederacy dedicated the Confederate Memorial designed by Moses Ezekiel. Upon his death in 1917, Ezekiel was buried at the base of the monument as he was a veteran of the Confederate army. All Confederate headstones in this section are peaked rather than rounded.
More than 3,800 formerly enslaved people, called "Contrabands" during the Civil War, are buried in Section 27. Their headstones are designated with the word "Civilian" or "Citizen".
Grave Markers, Niches, and Headstones
Placement of inscriptions and faith emblems are made at no charge to the estate of the deceased, submitted with information provided by the next of kin that is placed on upright marble headstones or columbarium niche covers.
The Department of Veterans Affairs currently offers 63 authorized faith emblems for placement on markers to represent the deceased's faith. Over time this number grew as the result of legal challenges to policy.
Prior to 2007, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) did not allow the use of the pentacle as an "emblem of belief" on tombstones in military cemeteries. This policy was changed following an out-of-court settlement following a legal challenge by the family of Patrick Stewart.
Between 1947 and 2001, privately purchased markers were permitted in the cemetery. The sections in which the cemetery permitted such markers are nearly filled, and the cemetery generally does not allow new burials in these sections.
Nevertheless, the older sections of the cemetery have a wide variety of private markers placed prior to 2001, including an artillery piece.
There are 32 British Commonwealth war dead burials, 11 from the Great War and 19 from World War II, and some headstones are Commonwealth War Graves Commission style.
Arlington Memorial Amphitheater
The Tomb of the Unknowns is part of the Arlington Memorial Amphitheater. The Memorial Amphitheater has hosted state funerals and Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies. Ceremonies are also held for Easter. About 5,000 people attend these holiday ceremonies each year.
The structure is mostly built of Imperial Danby marble from Vermont. The Memorial Display room, between the amphitheater and the Tomb of the Unknowns, uses Botticino stone, imported from Italy.
The amphitheater was the result of a campaign by Ivory Kimball to construct a place to honor America's servicemen/women. Congress authorized the structure on the 4th. March 1913. Woodrow Wilson laid the cornerstone for the building on the 15th. October 1915. The cornerstone contains 15 items, including a Bible and a copy of the Constitution.
Before the Arlington Memorial Amphitheater was completed in 1921, important ceremonies were held at what is now known as the "Old Amphitheater." This structure sits where Robert E. Lee once had his gardens.
The amphitheater has an encircling colonnade with a latticed roof that once supported a web of vines. The amphitheater has a marble dais, known as "the rostrum", which is inscribed with the U.S. national motto found on the Great Seal of the United States, E pluribus unum ("Out of many, one").
The rostrum was designed by General Montgomery C. Meigs, then Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army. The amphitheater seats 1,500 people.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier stands on top of a hill overlooking Washington, D.C. The tomb is made from Yule marble quarried in Colorado. It consists of seven pieces, with a total weight of 79 short tons. The tomb was completed and opened to the public on the 9th. April 1932, at a cost of $48,000.
Other unknown servicemen were later placed in crypts there, and it also became known as the Tomb of the Unknowns, though it has never been officially named. The soldiers entombed there are:
-- Unknown Soldier of World War I, entombed 11th. November 1921; President Warren G. Harding presided
-- Unknown Soldier of World War II, interred 30th. May 1958; President Dwight D. Eisenhower presided
-- Unknown Soldier of the Korean War, also interred 30th. May 1958; President Dwight Eisenhower presided again, Vice President Richard Nixon acted as next of kin
-- Unknown Soldier of the Vietnam War, interred 28th. May 1984; President Ronald Reagan presided. The remains of the Vietnam Unknown were disinterred, under the authority of President Bill Clinton, on the 14th. May 1998, and were identified as those of Air Force 1st. Lt. Michael J. Blassie, whose family had them reinterred near their home in St. Louis, Missouri. It has been determined that the crypt at the Tomb of the Unknowns that contained the remains of the Vietnam Unknown will remain empty.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has been perpetually guarded since the 2nd. July 1937, by the U.S. Army. There is a meticulous routine that the guard follows when watching over the graves. The Tomb Guard:
-- Marches 21 steps southward down the black mat behind the Tomb
-- Turns left, facing east for 21 seconds
-- Turns left, facing north for 21 seconds
-- Takes 21 steps down the mat
-- Repeats the routine until the soldier is relieved of duty at the changing of the guard
-- After each turn, the Guard executes a sharp "shoulder-arms" movement to place the weapon on the shoulder closest to the visitors to signify that the Guard stands between the Tomb and any possible threat.
Twenty-one was chosen because it symbolizes the highest military honor that can be bestowed – the 21-gun salute.
At each turn, the guard makes precise movements followed by a loud click of the heels as the soldier snaps them together. The guard is changed every half-hour during daylight in the summer, and every hour during daylight in the winter and every two hours at night (when the cemetery is closed to the public), regardless of weather conditions.
The USS Maine Mast Memorial
Near the Tomb of the Unknowns stands the USS Maine Mast Memorial, which commemorates the 266 men who lost their lives aboard the USS Maine. The memorial is built around a mast salvaged from the ship's wreckage.
The Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial
The Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial was dedicated on the 20th. May 1986, in memory of the crew of flight STS-51-L, who died during launch on the 28th. January 1986.
Transcribed on the back of the stone is the text of the John Gillespie Magee, Jr. poem High Flight, which was quoted by then President Ronald Reagan when he addressed the disaster.
Although many remains were identified and returned to the families for private burial, some were not, and were laid to rest under the marker. Two crew members, Dick Scobee and Michael Smith, are buried in Arlington.
On the 1st. February 2004, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe dedicated a similar memorial to those who died when the Shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry on the 1st. February 2003. Astronauts Laurel Clark, David Brown, and Michael Anderson, who were killed in the Columbia disaster, are also buried in Arlington.
The Lockerbie Cairn
The Lockerbie Cairn is a memorial to the 270 killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The memorial is constructed of 270 stones, one for each person killed in the disaster.
The Pentagon Memorial
In section 64, a memorial to the 184 victims of the September 11 attacks on the Pentagon was dedicated on the 11th. September 2002. The memorial takes the shape of a pentagon, and lists the names of all the victims that were killed. Unidentified remains from the victims are buried beneath it.
The Commonwealth Cross of Sacrifice
On the 25th. June 1925, President Calvin Coolidge approved a request to erect a Commonwealth Cross of Sacrifice with the names of all the citizens of the United States who lost their lives fighting in the Canadian forces during the Great War. The monument was dedicated on the 11th. November 1927, and after the Korean War and World War II, the names of US citizens who died in those conflicts were added.
The Laos Memorial
The Laos Memorial, or Lao Veterans of America memorial, dedicated to Lao and Hmong veterans who served with US Special Forces and CIA advisors during the Vietnam War, to defend the Royal Kingdom of Laos from the North Vietnamese invasion of Laos, is located on Grant Avenue near the eternal flame memorial to U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
Burial Procedures
The flags in the cemetery (including the one at Arlington House) are flown at half-staff from a half-hour before the first funeral until a half hour after the last funeral each day. Funerals are normally conducted five days a week, excluding weekends.
Funerals, including interments and inurnments, average between 27 and 30 per day. The cemetery conducts approximately 6,900 burials each year.
With more than 400,000 interments, the cemetery has the second-largest number of burials of any national cemetery in the United States. The largest of the 130 national cemeteries is the Calverton National Cemetery, on Long Island, near Riverhead, New York, which conducts more than 7,000 burials each year.
In addition to in-ground burial, the cemetery also has one of the largest columbaria for cremated remains in the country. Four courts are currently in use, each with 5,000 niches. When construction is complete, there will be nine courts with a total of 50,000 niches, giving a capacity for 100,000 remains. Any honorably discharged veteran is eligible for inurnment in the columbarium, if they served on active duty at some point in their career.
Burial Criteria
Due to limited space, the criteria for ground burial eligibility are more restrictive than at other national cemeteries, as well as more restrictive than for inurnment in the columbarium.
The persons specified below are eligible for ground burial in the cemetery, unless otherwise prohibited. The last period of active duty of former members of the armed forces must have ended honorably. Interment may be of casketed or cremated remains:
-- Any active-duty member of the armed forces (except those members serving on active duty for training only)
-- Any veteran who is retired and eligible for retirement pay from service in the armed forces, including service members retired from a reserve component who served a period of active duty (other than for training)
-- Any former member of the armed forces separated honorably prior to October 1, 1949, for medical reasons and who was rated at 30% or greater disabled effective on the day of discharge
-- Any former member of the armed forces who has been awarded one of the following decorations:
---- Medal of Honor
---- Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, or Air Force Cross
---- Silver Star
---- Purple Heart
-- Any former member of the armed forces who served on active duty (other than for training) and who held any of the following positions:
---- An elective office of the U.S. Government (such as a term in Congress)
---- Office of the Chief Justice of the United States or of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
---- An office listed, at the time the person held the position, in 5 USC 5312 or 5313
-- Any former prisoner of war who, while a prisoner of war, served honorably in the active military, naval, or air service, whose last period of military, naval or air service terminated honorably and who died on or after November 30, 1993
-- The spouse, widow or widower, minor child, or permanently dependent child, and certain unmarried adult children of any of the above eligible veterans
-- The widow or widower of:
---- A member of the armed forces who was lost or buried at sea or fell out of a plane or officially determined to be permanently absent with a status of either missing or missing in action
---- A member of the armed forces who is interred in a US military cemetery overseas that is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission
-- The spouse, minor child, or permanently dependent child of any person already buried in Arlington National Cemetery
-- The parents of a minor child, or permanently dependent child whose remains, based on the eligibility of a parent, are already buried at Arlington.
A spouse divorced from the primary eligible, or widowed and remarried, is not eligible for interment
Provided certain conditions are met, a former member of the armed forces may be buried in the same grave with a close relative who is already buried and is the primary eligible
Inurnment criteria for columbarium
Notable Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
Five state funerals have been held at Arlington: those of Presidents William Howard Taft and John F. Kennedy, his two brothers, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy, as well as General of the Armies John J. Pershing.
Whether or not they were wartime service members, U.S. presidents are eligible to be buried at Arlington, since they oversaw the armed forces as commanders-in-chief.
Among the most frequently visited sites in the cemetery is the grave of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy, who is buried nearby along with their son Patrick and their stillborn daughter Arabella.
Kennedy's remains were interred there on the 14th. March 1967, a re-interment from his original Arlington burial site, some 20 feet (6.1 m) away. The grave is marked with an eternal flame.
The remains of his brothers, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy, are buried nearby. The latter two graves are marked with simple crosses and footstones. On the 1st. December 1971, Robert Kennedy's body was re-interred 100 feet (30 m) from its original burial site.
Two of the astronauts who were killed on the 27th. January 1967 by a flash fire inside the Apollo 1 Command Module, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee, are buried at the cemetery. John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth and a longtime U.S. Senator from Ohio, was buried at the cemetery in April 2017.
British diplomat and Field Marshal Sir John Dill was buried at the cemetery when he died in Washington D.C. during World War II. The equestrian statue on Dill's grave is one of only two such statues at the cemetery
Lauri Törni, known for having served in the Finnish army during the Winter War, the German army during World War II, and the US army during the Vietnam War, is buried at Arlington. He is the only former member of the Waffen-SS to be interred there.
Security Procedures
In September 2016, acting superintendent of the cemetery Hallinan announced that the cemetery was increasing security measures for its visitors.
In addition to random identification checks and other security measures already in place, the cemetery would require pedestrians to enter at set access points: the main entrance on Memorial Avenue, the Ord and Weitzel gate, and the Old Post Chapel gate.
Before entering the cemetery through its main entrance, all pedestrians are now screened through the Welcome Center. All vehicle access requires presenting valid, government-issued photo identification, such as a driver's license or passport, when entering the cemetery. Vehicles are also subject to random inspections.
This Drain is very cool! It has a multi path entry and an Adventurous Urbex Women taking photos of herself! lol
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This entry is part of New York City Undertakers and Funeral Directors group.
_______________________________________________________________
Collected by Dr. Jim Moshinskie, Funeral Service Historian
James_Moshinskie@baylor.edu
1897 - Founded by Louis Meyers as "Meyers Livery Stable" on Norfolk Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan
1905 - Name changed to "Meyers Undertakers" and moved to 54 East 109th Street in Manhattan
1916 - Name changed to "Meyers & Company" and moved to 228 Lenox Avenue (at 122nd Street) in the fashionable Harlem section of Manhattan
1926 - The 4-story facility was built at present location, 180 West 76th Street at Amsterdam in Manhattan. Consisted of a large Chapel with fixed pews, with vaulted ceilings 2 stories high (now known as the "Gothic Chapel"), some arrangement rooms, a casket selection room, three elevators and a spacious lobby.
1928 - First branch of "Meyers & Company" opened at 1250 Central Avenue in Rockaway, Queens, NY
1933 - The "Meyers & Company" divides into two separate companies: "Riverside Memorial Chapel" which remains at the present location at 180 West 76th Street in Manhattan and "Parkwest Chapels", located at 79th Street and Columbus Avenue, also in Manhattan.
1935 - The first "Riverside Memorial Chapel" opened in Florida on Douglas Road
1938 - "Riverside Memorial Chapel" in Brooklyn is erected on Ocean Parkway
1940 - "Riverside Memorial Chapel" in the Bronx is completed on the Grand Concourse and 179th Street
1950 - "Riverside Memorial Chapel" in Westchester County (just north of New York City) opens its doors
1961 - "Riverside Memorial Chapel" goes public under the parent corporation of "Kinney Service Corporation" Kinney Parking Company was originally a funeral home company which had expanded with the acquisition of New York parking lots, office cleaning firms and construction companies.
1971 - "Kinney Service Corporation", and therefore "Riverside Memorial Chapel" purchased by Service Corporation International - It included Rothschild West Side Funeral Chapel in the merger.
1997 - "Riverside Memorial Chapel" celebrates 100 years of service to the Jewish Community
1998 - Morton Rosenthal, 89, one of the founders of Warner Communications which became Time Warner, died May 15, 1998 in Chappaqua, NY. Rosenthal, a resident of Ocala, FL, was former vice president and head of the executive committee of Warner. He began his career in the funeral business. Together with his family, he built a family-owned funeral home, the Riverside Memorial Chapel, into the largest funeral service business in America that included Riverside, Frank E. Campbell Funeral Church, Universal Funeral Chapel, and Walter B. Cooke Funeral Chapels. His father, Charles Rosenthal, was considered the founder of Riverside Memorial Chapel. The funeral business, through a series of mergers and acquisitions, grew to include the Abbey Rent a Car, Kinney Parking Systems, and Warner Brothers, the country's largest entertainment conglomeration. These evolved into Warner Communications built by Rosenthal and his brother Edward, and Edward's son-in-law, Steven Ross. He is survived by his wife of 63 years Roz, a son John of Charlotte VT, and daughters Judy Rosenthal of Stowe, VT, Jane Goldman of Chappaqua, NY and Sarah Hart of Hartsdale, plus six grandchildren. (Obituary that appeared in the American Funeral Director magazine, August 98, p 77). The funeral homes were later sold to Service Corporation International (SCI), based in Houston.
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The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland was founded in 1909 by Thomas Gillespie, an Edinburgh lawyer. Within four years the Society had gained sufficient funding to purchase an 85 acre site to the west of the City Centre, with assistance from Edinburgh City Council. Gillespie took for his model the so-called 'open zoo' at Hamburg, designed by Carl Hagenbeck. Instead of bars and cages, Edinburgh Zoo was designed from the outset to have large, open enclosures, using ditches and moats to separate the animals from the visitors.
By April 1913 Patrick Geddes, and his son-in-law Frank Mears had prepared a Report and preliminary plans for laying out the zoological gardens, and work on construction of the pools for polar bears and seals, aviaries, and enclosures for wolves, monkeys bars and lions was commenced immediately. Edinburgh Zoo was opened to the public on 22 July 1913, and was incorporated by Royal Charter later that year.
Edinburgh Zoo was the first zoo in the world to house and to breed penguins. It is also the only zoo in Britain to house koalas and giant pandas.
The Zoo gardens boast one of the most diverse tree collections in the Lothians and incorporate the former Corstorphine House (1793), now Members House, and also some work by Sir Robert Lorimer.
Re-opened 29th June 2020 after Coronavirus closure with social distancing measures and restricted entry.
And always been a big fan of this operator and the livery is one of my all time favourites. Driver of the year Darryl with BIB4844 a daf powered Vanhool TX15Alicron C53FT. Well done Darryl. Photo taken 01/04/23
Santa's coming to town a little faster this year, thanks to his new Global Entry membership.
You too can enroll by visiting your nearest Global Entry Enrollment Center.
Photos by: Josh Denmark
In the 67th UK Coach rally was the wonderful Bethall family of South Staffs travel who entered GB23KBZ a Temsa HD12 C53FTL it won best temsa and is the first of three to be entering the fleet...well done guys, very well deserved . Photo taken 01/04/23
The kit and its assembly:
Another entry for the “Flying Boat, Seaplane and Amphibian” Group Build at whatifmodelers.com in late 2017, and the result of a spontaneous inspiration from a drawing of a Luft’46/fantasy creation of a Me 262 fuselage with a planning bottom, a parasol(!) wing and a single jet engine exhausting right above the cockpit, and no (visible) stabilizing floats at all. Rather spurious.
Well, nevertheless, the Me 262 jet fighter has a very shark-like profile and shape, and it has already been converted into flying boats or even submarines by modelers, and I decided to create my personal interpretation of the theme. I remembered a lone He 115 float in my stash (maybe 35 years old or even more!), and when I held to a Me 262 fuselage the parts had almost the same length and width. So, creating a flying boat jet fighter seemed like a realistic task.
Things started straightforward with an 1:72 Smer Me 262 fighter, which is actually the vintage Heller two-seater night fighter with a new fuselage and canopy. My kit of choice would have been the Matchbox kit, but the Heller kit is also O.K., due to its simplicity and simple construction.
Creating something amphibian from a Me 262 is not a trivial task, though. With its low wings and underslung engine nacelles there’s a lot to be changed until you get a plausible floatplane. Another challenge is to integrate some form of stabilizer/outrigger floats, what also influences the wings’ position. Placing the engines where they are safe from spray ingestion is also a serious matter – you have to get the high and the intakes as far forward as possible.
Doing some legwork I found some similar builds, and they all did not convince me. And, after all, I wanted to create my own “design”; in order to incorporate some realism I eventually settled on Dornier’s typical WWII designs like the Do 18 and Do 24. These elegant aircraft had a common, elegant trait: low stub wings as stabilizer floats, paired with high wings (in the case of the Do 18 held by a massive central pylon) which carried the engine out of the water’s reach. This appeared like a feasible layout for my conversion, even though it would mean a total re-construction of the kit, or rather assembling it in a way that almost no part was glued into the intended place!
Work started with the cockpit, which had to be moved forward in order to make room for the wings behind the canopy, placed high on a pylon above the fuselage. For this stunt, the cockpit opening and the place in front of it (where the original front fuselage tank would be) were cut out and switched. The cockpit tub was moved forward and trimmed in order to fit into the new place. The nose section was filled with lead, because the stub wings/floats would allow a retractable landing gear to be added, too, making the aircraft a true amphibian!
The He 115 float was cut down in order to fit under the OOB Me 262 fuselage, and a front wheel well was integrated for a tricycle landing gear. Once the fuselage was closed, the planning bottom was added and the flanks sculpted with putty – lots of it.
In the meantime the Me 262 wing received a thorough re-arrangement, too. Not only were the engine nacelles moved to the upper wing surface (cutting the respective wing and intake sections of the nacelles off/out and turning them around 180°), the original connecting ventral wing part with the landing gear wells were turned upside down, too, the landing gear covers closed (with the respective OOB parts) and the inner wing sections modified into a gull wing, raising the engines even further. VERY complex task, and blending/re-shaping everything took a lot of PSR, too.
Under the central wing section I added a pylon left over from a Smer Curtiss SC Seahawk kit, because a massive Do 18-esque construction was out of question for a fast jet aircraft. The gaps were filled with putty, too.
In order to keep the stabilizers free from water spray they were moved upwards on the fin, too. The original attachment points were sanded away and hidden under putty, and the OOB stabilizers placed almost at the top at the fin.
Finding suitable stub wings/floats became a challenge: they have to be relatively thick (yielding buoyancy and also offering room for the retractable landing gear), but also short with not-so-rounded tips. It took a while until I found suitable donor parts in the form of the tips of an 1:32 AH-64 Apache (!) stabilizer! They were simply cut off, and openings for the main landing gear cut into their lower sides.
Once glued to the lower flanks and the stabilizers in place it was time to place the wing. In the meantime the moved cockpit had been blended to the fuselage, and initial tests indicated that the pylon would have to be placed right behind the canopy – actually on top of the end of the clear part. As a consequence the canopy was cut into pieces and its rear section integrated into the fuselage (more PSR).
However, the relatively thin and slender central pylon from the Curtiss SC indicated that some more struts would be necessary in order to ensure stability – very retro, and not really suited for a jet-powered aircraft. And the more I looked at the layout, the more I became convinced that the wings and engines were in a plausible position, but placed too high.
What started next were several sessions in which I shortened the pylon step by step, until I was satisfied with the overall proportions. This went so far that almost everything of the pylon had gone, and the wings almost rested directly on the Me 262’s spine!
However, this new layout offered the benefit of rendering the extra struts obsolete, since I decided to fill the small gap between wing and fuselage into a single, massive fairing. This would also mean more internal space, and consequently the original idea of a jet-powered combat aircraft was modified into a fast multi-purpose amphibian vehicle for special tasks, capable of transporting personnel behind enemy lines with a quick move.
More PSR, though, and after some finishing touches like a scratched landing gear (front leg/wheel from an Italeri Bae Hawk, main struts from a Mistercraft PZL Iskra trainer, wheels from an Academy OV-10 Bronco and with improvised covers), several antennae and mooring lugs made from wire, the aircraft was ready for painting. On the downside, though, almost any surface detail had been lost due to the massive, overall body sculpting – but the application of the light zigzag pattern helped to recreate some “illusionary” details like flaps or panel lines. ;-)
12/14/09
Your Vernon Parish Chamber of Commerce Annual Christmas parade rolled through historic downtown Leesville recently. The community turned out by the thousands and there was no shortage of candy and Christmas cheer. With almost 90 entries, the 2009 parade was met withy rave reviews. Citizens on hand commented that it was one of the best parades in recent memory.
The 2009 Grand Marshall, Leesville Mayor Betty Westerchil, kicked off the festivities with the help of the Fort Polk/JRTC Color Guard and Polk Commander BG James Yarbrough. The 83rd Chemical Company Commander was also on hand to support this community and brought along some interesting military vehicles for parade-goers to enjoy. The support from Fort Polk continued with the entry of 162nd infantry heavy vehicles.
As the parade rolled past the Vernon Parish Police Jury office they were announced to the attendees and the volunteer judges. Based on creativity, Christmas spirit and the degree of work, the judges chose winners for each category and chose a winner for best float overall. Santa Claus rode down 3rd Street marking the end of the annual event. Attendees who followed him were greeted by the announcement of the winners of the cash prizes awarded by the stage sponsor, Navy Federal Credit Union. Navy Federal Manager, Kate Safstrom alongside Sammy the Sea Otter, and the staff of the Leesville Fort Polk branch drew tickets to determine which lucky patrons would go home with cash in hand. $600 in cash prizes were awarded to the holders of drawn tickets.
For the category of Automobiles, The Neal Family took home the prize with their entry in loving memory of Kevin Neal. The category of Marching Units/Drill Teams went to a repeat winner, The Interdenominational Church of Faith for their spirited performance. Galilee Baptist Church took home the prize for the category of Churches/Civic Clubs for their festive and musical float. The winner chosen for the Commercial category was Leesville Residential & Employment Services. This is a proud second consecutive win for Leesville Residential. Leesville Junior High JAG claimed the win for the best School Organization/Club category. The best Marching Band category win was clenched by the Leesville High School Band with an energetic performance.
The Grand Marshall Award for best overall float was presented by 2009 Grand Marshall, Leesville Mayor Betty Westerchil. The winner for this category cemented themselves as master float craftsman. The Antioch Baptist Church Puppet Team of Leesville has taken home the Grand Marshall for the second consecutive year. Antioch Baptist has previously claimed the prize in the Churches/Civic Club category as well proving that they are stiff competition for many years to come.
Pictured: (1) Holliday Belle Sr, Princess Samantha Sage. (2) 4-H Junior Queen Kasci Toups. (3) Holliday Belle Miss Congeniality Tiffany Mango. (4) LA Forestry Festival Queen Sara Reese.
Pictured: (1) Galilee Baptist Church receives their plaque for best float in the Churches/Civic Clubs category. (2) Interdenomination of Faith took home the prize for best Marching Unit/Drill Team. (3) The Neal Family won for best entry in the Automobile category for their entry In Loving Memory of Kevin Neal. (4) The Grand Marshall Award for the best overall float presented to Antioch Baptist Church Puppet Team.
Brabourne nextes in the shadow of Wye Down, nestling in a fold in the land, and driving through it hardly seems to be a village, more a few houses and a farm. But just visible down a gravel track, which has a sign stating quite clearly that it was not suitable for parking for the church. In which case I woulve to partially block the lane through the village.
One approaches the church down a brick path, which is tricky as over the years it has developed quite an arch. You soon see that the trees are hiding a formidable church, and the most impressive of towers, almost castle keep-like.
A small porch allows the visitor to leave the chill air outside, and you are met my a sturdy door, which invites you in.
St Mary is a large and impressive church, the walls covered with memorials to the local big family, also are several cut out which may indicate where carved figures one laid. High in the north wall of the chancel, is possibly the oldest stained glass still in original position (although reset), which seem to date to the year 1200 AD, which is incredible if true, and I have no reason to diubt that.
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St Mary's is a very tall church, more Saxon in its proportions than Norman. The church dates in its present form from the twelfth century, with typical decoration in the form of pilaster buttresses on the outside north wall of the chancel. In the thirteenth century a south aisle was added and the present arch to the tower rebuilt; the remains of the original Norman arch may still be seen. In the chancel is a remarkable survivor - a twelfth-century window with its original glass. It has been reset and restored, but vividly recalls the dusky colours of the period. The pattern is purely geometric, of flowers and semi-circles, and may be compared to the contemporary glass in Canterbury Cathedral. Also in the chancel is one of the two thirteenth-century heart shrines in Kent. This little piece of sculpture consists of a plain shield - originally painted - under decorated and cusped tracery, the whole squeezed between thin pinnacles. It is uncertain whose heart was buried here, but it dates from about 1296 and may be associated with the de Valence family. The other Kent heart shrine is at Leybourne (see separate entry).
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Brabourne
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A Church has existed here since Saxon times - mention is made of one at 'Bradeburna' soon after the coming of Archbishop Lanfranc to Canterbury in about 1070.
The present St Mary's Church is of Norman design, and dates from the twelfth century.
Most of the original Norman nave can be seen on the north side, and the Chancel is pure Norman. Notice the priest's doorway and the twelfth century window in the Chancel - this still has its original glass. It is almost certainly unique in the country as most were smashed during the reign of Henry VIII, or later, during the Civil War. It was also left when other stained glass from the Church was sold in 1774. It is believed to be England's oldest complete Norman window still in its original setting with light falling through.
Additions were made in the thirteenth century , including the rebuilt arch to the tower. The staircase in the tower is of great antiquity: halves of an oak tree 31ft long form the sides, with another tree for the base and a forked branch as a support.
The Chancel also holds one of only two thirteenth century heart shrines in Kent (the other is in Leybourne). The sculpture consists of a plain shield (the original paint has long since worn away) under fine decorated arches. In the back there is a recess, which would have been used to contain a heart encased in silver or ivory. It is thought that the shrine was built for the heart of John Baliol, founder of Balliol College, Oxford. Whether it served its intended purpose is unknown, but it was found to be empty when opened in the early 1900s.
The tomb of Sir John Scott, made of Caen stone, stands in the north wall of the Chancel. Sir John, who died on October 17th 1485, was a Privy Councillor and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. Above the tomb hangs a trophy helmet, carried at the funeral of a knight, most probably Sir Thomas Scott, Commander of the Kentish Forces during the reign of Elizabeth I.
Another helmet (in the south east corner of the Chancel) is thought to have belonged to Sir William Scott, who died in 1433.
The altar is a tomb, topped with a slab of Bethersden Marble, and dates from around 1600. It is decorated with the arms of the Scott family.
www.brabournepc.kentparishes.gov.uk/default.cfm?pid=1140
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LIES the next parish to Bircholt north-eastward, being written in Domesday both Breburne and Bradeburne, and taking its name from its situation on the broad bourne or rivulet which rises in it.
THE PARISH is situated at the foot of the upper range of the chalk or down-hills, which reach from hence to the sea shore at Folkestone, and here take the name of Braborne downs; it is an unfrequented place, and from the soils of it not a pleasant one, for near the downs it is mostly chalk; the middle part, though there are various soils in it, consists mostly of a stiff, though not unfertile clay, and the southern part is a deep red sand. It is about two miles across from north to south, and somewhat more from east to west, stretching itself along a narrow slip beyond Hampton, almost as far as the village of Brooke, and on the other part within a very little of Stowting court-lodge. The village of Braborne, having the church and court-lodge in it, lies at the foot of the Down-hill, on the side of a wide valley, which extends below it southward. At the foot of the hills westward are Combe, Bedlestone, the hamlet of West Braborne-street and Hampton. The parish is well watered by several rivulets, one of them, which rises in and near Braborne-street, runs southward into that branch of the Stour below Scottshall, and so on by Sevington to Ashford; and there are others, which from the foot of the hills, more towards the west, which join the stream which runs by Swatfield bridge towards Ashford likewise.
In the southern part of the parish is the heath called Braborne-lees, one half of which only is within the bounds of it; across these lees the high road goes from Ashford towards Hythe. Here is a noted warren for rabbits, belonging to the Scotts-hall estate, they are of a remarkable fine flavor, from which Canterbury, and all the neighbouring towns are plentifully supplied with them. A fair is held in the village on the last day of May, for pedlary and toys.
That part of it which is within the borough of Cocklescombe, is in the hundred, and within the liberty of the royal manor of Wye.
THE MANOR OF BRABORNE, soon after the dissolution of the Saxon heptarchy, was, according to a very antient record, the inheritance of a lady called Salburga, who is stiled in it Domina de Brabourne, and by her will, in the year 864, ordered that the future possessors of it should give yearly to the monastery of St. Augustine, a quantity of provisions, on condition of their performing certain religious services for the health of her soul; which provisions were forty measures of malt, fifteen rams, twenty loaves of bread, one measure of butter, one measure of cheese, four cart loads of wood, and twenty hens. Who were the possessors of this manor afterwards till the time of the Norman conquest, does not appear; but at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, it was become part of the pos sessions of Hugo de Montfort, on whom that prince had bestowed likewise more than thirty other manors and estates in the neighbourhood of it. Accordingly he is numbered in that record as one of the thirteen, (for there are no more) who held lands in this county at that time, and under the general title of his lands this manor is thus entered in it.
In Wivart lath, in Berisout hundred, Hugo himself holds Breburne, Godric de Burnes held it of king Edward, and it was taxed at seven sulings, and now for five sulings and an half and half a yoke, because another part of it is without the division of Hugo, and that the bishop of Baieux holds. The arable land is fifteen carucates. In demesne there are two, and thirty-one villeins, with ten borderers having ten carucates. There is a church, and eight servants, and two mills of seven shillings, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of twenty-five bags. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth twenty pounds, and afterwards eight pounds, now sixteen pounds.
That part mentioned above, as without the division of Hugo de Montfort, is likewise noticed in the same book, in the description of the adjoining manors of Hastingligh and Aldelows, belonging to the bishop of Baieux, as may be seen hereafter, in the account of them.
On the voluntary exile of Robert de Montfort, grandson of Hugh above-mentioned, in the reign of king Henry I. this manor, among the rest of his possessions, came into the king's hands, whence it was soon afterwards granted to Robert, son of Bernard de Ver, constable of England, who had married Adeliza, daughter of Hugh de Montfort, and was the founder of the priory of Horton, in the next adjoining parish. (fn. 1) After which it appears to have come into the possession of Henry de Essex, who was constable likewise of Eng land, from his succession to which, as well as from other circumstances, it should seem that he became entitled to this manor by inheritance Henry de Essex, before-mentioned, was baron of Raleigh, in Essex, his chief seat, and hereditary standard-bearer of England; but by his misbehaviour in a battle against the Welsh, in the 10th year of that reign, he forfeited all his possessions to the crown. (fn. 2) Before which he had confirmed to the priory of Horton all the former grants of his ancestors. And by another charter he granted to it, in free and perpetual alms, the pasture of twelve oxen in his park of Braborne, with his own oxen, for so long as they should be at feed, whether within his park or without; and all tithe of his hay, to be taken wholly and fully with his carriages to the barns of the monks. After which this manor appears to have been held by Baldwin de Betun, earl of Albermarle, who, in the 5th year of king John, granted it to William Mareschal, earl of Pembroke, with Alice his daughter in frank marriage, to hold to them and their heirs. William, earl of Pembroke, in the 10th year of king Henry III. his first wife being deceased, married Alianore, the king's sister, and in the 14th year of that reign had a confirmation of this manor, on condition that Alianore his wife, if she survived him, should enjoy it for life. He died in the 15th year of that reign, and she became possessed of it, and afterwards remarried Simon, earl of Leicester, who was slain fighting on the part of the discontented barons at the battle of Evesham. After which the countess and her children were forced to forsake the realm, and she died abroad in great poverty. In the mean time the four brothers of William, earl of Pembroke, successively earls of Pembroke, being dead s. p. their inheritance became divided between their five sisters and their heirs, and upon the division of it, the manor of Braborne, among others, was allotted to Joane, the second sister, then the widow of Warine de Montchensie, by whom she had one son William, and a daughter Joane, married to William de Valence, the king's half brother, who afterwards, through the king's favour, on William de Montchensie's taking part with the discontented barons, and his estates being confiscated, became possessed of this manor, of which he died possessed in the 23d year of king Edward I. leaving Joane his widow surviving, who had it assigned to her as part of her dower. She died in the 1st year of king Edward II. holding it in capite by knight's service, as of the king's marechalsy, and leaving one son Adomar or Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, and three daughters; Anne, married to Maurice Fitzgerald, secondly to Hugh Baliol, and lastly to John de Avennes; Isabel, to John de Hastings, of Bergavenny; and Joane, to John Comyn, of Badenagh. (fn. 3) Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, on her death, succeeded to this manor, and in the 6th year of that reign, obtained a charter of privileges for it, among which were those of a market, fair, and free-warren. He was a nobleman greatly favoured by king Edward I. and II. but in the 17th year of the latter reign, attending the queen into France, he was murdered there that year. He died possessed of this manor, and without issue; so that John de Hastings, son of Isabel, one of the earl's sisters, and John Comyn, of Badenagh, in Scotland, son of Joane, another of the earl's sisters, were found to be his coheirs and next of kin; and the latter of them, on the division of their inheritance, had this manor, in his mother's right, allotted to him. He died s. p. in the 19th year of king Edward II. leaving his two sisters his coheirs, of whom the eldest, Joane, married to David de Strabolgie, earl of Athol, possessed this manor as part of his wife's inheritance, and died next year. His descendant David de Strabolgie, earl of Athol, died in the 49th year of that reign, possessed of this manor, (fn. 4) leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Henry, lord Ferrers, who died the same year, anno 1375, and was buried in the high chancel of Ashford church, two daughters his coheirs, the youngest of whom Philippa, married to John Halsham, of Halsham, in Sussex, by her father's will, became entitled to this manor. The Halshams bore for their arms, Argent, a chevron engrailed, between three leopards heads, gules. Their grandson Sir Hugh Halsham, died anno 21 Henry VI. leaving Joane, his only daughter and heir, who entitled her husband John Lewknor, esq. of Sussex, to the possession of it; in whose descendants it continued till the latter end of king Henry VII.'s reign, when Sybilla, daughter of Sir Thomas Lewknor, carried it in marriage to Sir William Scott, K. B. and in his descendants, resident at Scotts-hall, this manor, with the rents, services, courtlodge, and demesne lands, remained, till at length George Scott, esq. about the year 1700, sold the manor-house, called Braborne court-lodge, with the demesne lands belonging to it, being enabled so to do by an act passed anno 10 and 11 William III. to Tho. Denne, of Patricksborne, whose grandsons Daniel and Thomas Denne, of Sittingborne, in 1768, conveyed this estate to William Deedes, esq. of St. Stephen's, (who was before possessed of an estate in this parish, which had been purchased of George Scott, esq. by his grandfather William Deedes, M. D. of Canterbury) and his eldest son of the same name, now of Hythe, esq. is the present owner of it.
BUT THE MANOR RENTS AND SERVICES remained in the family of Scott for some time afterwards, and till Edward Scott, esq. some few years ago, alienated the quit-rents of this manor, together with the Park and Pound farms, in this parish, to Thomas Whorwood, esq. of Denton, who by will devised them for life to Mrs. Cecilia Scott, of Canterbury, daughter of George Scott, esq. before-mentioned, on whose death in 1785 the property of them became vested in lady Markham, widow of Sir James Markham, bart. of Lincolnshire, who was Mr. Whorwood's heir-at-law, and she sold them in 1787 to Sir Edward Knatchbull, bart. the present owner of them.
BUT THE MANOR OF BRABORNE ITSELF, with the court baron and other manerial rights belonging to it, remained in the descendants of George Scott, esq. down to Francis Talbot Scott, esq. whose trustees, about the year 1784, conveyed it, with his other estates in this neighbourhood, to Sir John Honywood, bart. of Evington, who is the present proprietor of it.
HEMINGE is a manor, lying at the south-east corner of this parish, next to Horton, which in antient time gave both surname and residence to a family so called, as the deeds without date belonging to it plainly shew. At length, after this manor had been in the possession of this name, as might be traced out fully by these evidences for almost three hundred years, it was conveyed by William Heminge, in the 2d year of Edward VI.'s reign, to Peter Nott, in whose descendants it continued till the 16th year of Charles II. when one of them alienated it to Avery Hills, by whose daughter and heir it went in marriage to Hobday, whose descendant sold it, in the year 1713, to Mr. John Nethersole, who left three sons surviving, John, who was of Barham; Stephen, who was of Wimlinswold; and William, who was of Canterbury, in whose three daughters, or their representatives, this manor at length became vested. They agreed on a partition of their inheritance, on which the whole of this manor was allotted to Jacob Sharpe, esq. of Canterbury, the surviving son of Mr. Jacob Sharpe, by Elizabeth, the eldest of the three daughters, who in 1796 sold it to Mr. Thomas Ken nett, of Brabourn, who is the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
COMBE is another manor, in the northern part of this parish, close at the foot of the downs, which name it had from its situation, cumbe signifying in the Saxon a bottom or valley, and to distinguish it from other manors of the same name in this neighbourhood, it was called Braborne Combe. About the year 990, one Edward de Cumbe, whose son Leofard was a monk in St. Augustine's monastery, by his will bequeatned the land of Cumbe to that monastery. Whether the abbot and convent ever gained the possession of it, or if they did, how long it staid with them, I do not find; but at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in the Conqueror's reign, it was parcel of the possessions of the bishop of Baieux, under the general title of whose lands it is entered in it as follows:
The same Wadard holds of the bishop, Cumbe. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is two carucates. In demesne there is one, and nine villeins, with five borderers having one carucate and an half. There are fourteen acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of five hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth sixty shillings, and afterwards fifty shillings, now four pounds, and the service of one knight. Leuret de rochinge held it of king Edward.
After this, on the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, this manor was held of the crown, by a family who took their name from their residence at it; of whom Richard de Combe, and Simon his son, served the office of sheriff, as assistants to Sir John de Northwood, in the 20th year of king Edward I. and bore for their arms, Sable, three lions passant-guar dant, in pale, gules. At length by a female heir of this name, it went by marriage, in the reign of king Richard II. to John Scott, who afterwards resided at it, as did his descendants till Sir William Scott removed to Scotts-hall at the latter end of king Henry IV.'s reign; and in his descendants, of Scotts-hall, this manor continued down to George Scott, esq. of Scotts-hall, who procured an act anno 10 and 11 king William, to vest this manor, among his other estates, in trustees, to be sold for payment of his debts, in pursuance of which it was soon afterwards sold to Brook Bridges, esq. of Goodnestone, afterwards created a baronet, whose great-grandson Sir Brook Bridges, bart. of Goodnestone, is the present possessor of it.
HAMPTON is the last manor to be described in this parish, being situated in the north-west corner of it, adjoining to Brooke. It has the name in antient deeds of Hampton Cocklescombe, and sometimes is described by the name of the manor of Cocklescombe only, being so called from its situation in the borough of that name, and within the hundred of Wye. This manor was given by Robert de Ver, constable of England, and lord of Braborne, to Osbert his marshal, and Emeline his wife, who gave it again to the priory in the adjoining parish of Horton, by the description of the land of Hanetone; which gift was confirmed to the priory by the same Robert de Ver, and Adeliza de Montfort his wife, and afterwards by Henry de Essex, (fn. 5) as appears by the register of it; of the priory of Horton this manor was afterwards again held, at the rent of forty shillings in perpetual fee farm, by a family who took their name of Hampton from their residence at it, as appears not only by the above register, but by antient deeds and court-rolls, and that they remained here till the reign of king Henry VI. when John Hampton pasted it away to one of the name of Shelley, by whose heir general it became the property of John May, of Bibroke, in Kennington, whose son of the same name leaving an only daughter Alice, the carried it in marriage to John Edolph, of Brenset, and his daughter Elizabeth entitled her husband William Wil cocks, esq. of New Romney, to it, who died possessed of this manor in the 16th year of queen Elizabeth, holding it in free socage. His widow survived him, and afterwards married Ralph Radcliffe, esq. of Hitchin, in Hertfordshire, who survived her. She died in the 39th year of that reign, and by her last will devised this manor to her only son by her first husband, John Wilcocks, who dying s. p. his two sisters became his coheirs, of whom Martha married Sir Edward Radcliffe, of Sevington, in this county, and physician to king James I. and Elizabeth married William Andrews; and on the partition of their inheritance, Sir Edward Radcliffe became entitled to the sole possession of it, in whose descendants it continued down to John Radcliffe, esq. of Hitchin priory, who dying in 1783, s. p. this manor, among his other estates, came to Sir Charles Farnaby, bart. of Sevenoke, in right of his wife Penelope, sister and heir-at-law of the above mentioned John Radcliffe. Sir Charles Farnaby afterwards took the name of Radcliffe, (fn. 6) and removed to Hitchin, where he died in 1798, and his heirs are now entitled to it.
Charities.
WILLIAM FORDRED, by will in 1550, gave to this parish, among others, a proportion of the rents of 25 acres of land in St. Mary's parish, in Romney Marsh; which portion to this parish is of the annual produce of 4l. 12s. 4¾d. to be distributed annually to the poor, and vested in trustees.
MR. KNOTT gave for the use of the poor, a sum of money, vested in Robert Goddard, of Mersham, now of the annual produce of 8s.
The poor constantly relieved are about fifty-five, casually twenty-five.
BRABORNE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Elham.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is a large handsome building, consisting of two isles and two chancels, having a square tower steeple at the west end, in which are five bells. The northern isle is much lostier than the other, having an upper story, choir-like, with the three upper windows to the south; below which is the roof of the north isle. Both chancels are full of the interments of the Scott family; but the brasses and inscriptions are almost all gone. Against the north wall is a tomb, with an arch and recess over it; against the back have been two figures, with inscriptions, and two shields of brass, now gone; on the side of the tomb are two shields carved in stone, one Pympe, the other Scott. Against the opposite wall is a kind of altar, the form of which is given before, P. I. At the east end, within the rails, is a large altar-tomb against the wall, of Bethersden marble; on it the marks of a figure, the brass gone; on the front five shields, with the arms of Scott, and their several impalements. Over the tomb is a kind of altar-piece, ornamented with stone carve-work, and three shields of arms; I. Scott impaling oblit. over it the date 1290; 2, being the middle shield, Scott and the following quarterings, Beaufitz, Pympe, Pashley, Normanville, Warren, Sergeaux, Gower, and Cogan In which arms of Scott it is noted, all the bordures are plain. In the south chancel belonging likewise to the Scott family, the brasses on the gravestones, with which the pavement is covered, are all gone. In the south wall is a very antient tomb with an arch over it; underneath this tomb the late Edward Scott, esq. was buried. Against this wall is a monument for Arthur Scott, commissioner of the navy, third son of Geo. Scott, of Scotts-hall. Against the north wall a monument for lieutenant-colonel Cholmeley Scott, esq. youngest son of George Scott, esq. of Scotts-hall. Weever mentions several memorials of this family in the body of the church remaining in his time, all which have been long since obliterated, and their brasses destoryed. In the south isle is a stone, with the figure of a man in brass, habited in armour, with sword and spurs on, the latter having the rowels much like the figure of a catherine wheel; a greyhound under his feet; the inscription gone, excepting the words of Brabourne, armigr. and anno Dni mil. Against the north wall, a monument for William Richards, put up by Gabriel Richards, gent. of Rowling, in 1672; arms, Sable, a chevron between three fleurs de lis, argent; a crescent for difference. Another for John Richards, vicar, obt. 1727. In the south scite of the body of the church, is a memorial for Dionisia, daughter of Vincent Fynche, alias Harbert, esq. obt. 1458; arms, Finch impaling Cralle; and in the same isle is a stone, robbed of the figure on it, but the brass inscription remains, for Joane, daughter of Sir Gervas Cliston, married to John Diggs; arms, Clifton impaling Fineh, and Diggs impaling Clifton. The tower at the west end is of a large size, but flat at top, and only of equal height with the roof of the north isle.
Mr. Evelyn, in his Discourse on Forest Trees, mentions a superannuated yew-tree growing in this churchyard, which being 58 feet 11 inches in circumference, bore near 20 feet diameter; and besides which there were goodly planks, and other considerable pieces of square and clear timber, which he observed to lie about it, which had been hewed and sawn out of some of the arms only, torn from it by impetuous winds. This tree has been many years since gone, and a fine stately young one now flourishes in the room of it.
The church was formerly appendant to the manor, and continued so till it was given, in the beginning of king Henry II.'s reign, by Robert de Ver, lord of the manor of Braborne, to the priory of Horton, at his first foundation of it; and it was appropriated to the priory before the 8th year of king Richard II. the priory being bound to pay the tenth of the vicarage. But there does not seem to have been any endowment made till anno 1445, when there was one assigned by the prior to Thomas de Banstede, the vicar of it. (fn. 7) In which state this church, with the advowson of the vicarage, continued till the dissolution of the priory in the reign of king Henry VIII. when it came into the king's hands, and remained there till it was granted in exchange to the archbishop, where it still continues, the parsonage being at this time parcel of the see of Canterbury, and his grace the archbishop the present parton of the vicarage.
The parsonage is a very handsome brick house, standing at a small distance from the church-yard, to which the vicarage adjoins likewise, being a neat small brick building. The family of Kennet have been lessees for many years, Mr. Claude Kennet being the present lessee of it, who resides at it.
¶The vicarage of Braborne is valued in the king's books at 11l. 12s. 6d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 3s. 3d. And there is annually, by the endowment of it, paid out of the parsonage to the vicar, one seam or quarter of wheat, and the like of barley; and archbishop Juxon, anno 15 Charles II. augmented it sixteen pounds per annum, to be paid by the lessee of the parsonage. In 1640 this vicarage was valued at sixty-four pounds, communicants one hundred and six. In 1733 it was valued at one hundred pounds. There is one acre of glebe land belonging to it.