him photos on Flickr

Four dressed as Mortal Kombat characters, I'm a little rusty so only recognise Sub Zero and Scorpion. Also featuring random referee chick! 1/400 sec at f/5.6, 17 mm, 200

Jesmond Subway Mosaics, Jesmond, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear, England. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

These stunning mosaics are not actually called Jesmond's Subway Mosaics, but the name will, more than any other, help you to find these lost and forgotten treasures. 14 mosaic panels, each four feet in height, 2 minutes walk from Jesmond Metro, in an underpass under the A1058/Jesmond Road. Why are they worth seeing? Is it really worth breaking your journey at Jesmond Metro? Well all you have to lose is 10 minutes.

Each panel represents an episode in Newcastle's 900 year history from 1080 to 1980. Though strictly speaking Newcastle's history is longer, the Venerable Bede and the Vikings are put on equal footing with the advent of the Tyne and Wear Metro. The Mauritania gets a panel as well it should, so does Stephenson's Rocket. Some of Newcastle's oldest communities, the BlackFriars and the Keelmen are also represented.

None of the panels are in great condition, if anything the thick layer of grime and dirt serves only to protect them. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of students, resident in Jesmond, pass them each day on their way to the city campus. Most people don't seem to notice, cyclists whizz by, the decision to site them in this place is a confusing one. True Newcastle has a lot of public art, but these fine mosaics seem to be languishing here, largely forgotten.

Perhaps one day they will be rescued, Newcastle will again remember its past, and these beautiful mosaics will find themselves protected by a thin, scratch proof layer of perspex with appropriate lighting to draw attention to their finer features. It would make a great sponsorship deal for one of Jesmond's many thriving new businesses.

Jesmond is a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, situated north of the city centre and to the east of the Town Moor. Jesmond is considered to be one of the most affluent suburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne, with higher average house prices than most other areas of the city.

According to local tradition, some time shortly after the Norman conquest there occurred in the valley of the Ouse an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The ruins of St Mary's Chapel, first recorded in 1272, are in Jesmond Dene[1] on the west side of the valley.

A trace of the processions to the shrine which occurred during the Middle Ages is found in the name of that section of the former Great North Road running north of the Tyne called Pilgrim Street. During a period in which the shrine was in need of repair it was endowed with indulgences by a rescript or edict of Pope Martin V on certain feasts of the liturgical year. A spring known as St Mary's Well of uncertain date may also be found near to the chapel. It has the word "Gratia" inscribed upon the stone above it. The greater part of the history of the shrine, its origins and the miracles which were said to have occurred there, were lost in the 16th century when the chapel was suppressed in the Reformation and fell into ruin. The ruin and its grounds later passed through various owners (one of whom tried to turn the well into a bathing pool). It was acquired by Lord Armstrong in the 19th century and given by him to the City of Newcastle. Mass is now offered there on occasion by the local Roman Catholic priest and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle. Flowers along with letters and candles are often left in the ruins by pilgrims and others. A booklet outlining the surviving history of the chapel may be obtained from the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Name on North Jesmond Avenue.

The Beatles began writing their second hit single "She Loves You" in the Imperial Hotel in Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne on 27 June 1963.

The area is notable for Jesmond Parish Church, Holy Trinity Church, Jesmond Dene woodland and the Royal Grammar School. The area's principal commercial area forms around Osborne Road, Acorn Road and St George's Terrace, the former being dominated by hotels and bars, and the latter by shops and cafes.

Newcastle City Council has designated three conservation areas within Jesmond; Brandling Village, South Jesmond and Jesmond Dene.

The Mansion House was owned by a wealthy industrialist Arthur Sutherland, 1st Baronet, and is one of the most impressive residential properties in Jesmond. Built in 1887, the property was donated to the city by Sutherland in 1953 and is now the official residence of the Lord Mayor and can be used for private events. The house, situated in the centre of Jesmond previously sat in 5 acres (20,000 m2) of land. One acre of the land including previous stables were sold as a private property, now owned by relatives of Arthur Sutherland.

Along with Leeds and Belfast, Newcastle has experienced studentification. Jesmond is a popular residential area for students attending Newcastle University and Northumbria University. Osborne Road in Jesmond has a strong student population with a selection of student bars, restaurants and housing.

Newcastle Cricket Club plays its home games at Osborne Avenue, which is also a home venue for Northumberland County Cricket Club. The cricket club is currently on a 50-year lease to Newcastle Royal Grammar School. The Jesmond Lawn Tennis club is also popular for socialising.

Jesmond is one of the 26 areas in England to have a real tennis club which is used to hold events.

Notable Jesmond residents have included the industrialist William Armstrong, the golfer Lee Westwood, philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, actor James Scott, English Rugby Union player Mathew Tait, footballers Shola Ameobi, Kevin Nolan and Jonás Gutiérrez, journalist and broadcaster Nancy Spain, concert pianist Denis Matthews, writer Catherine Cookson, writer and poet Michael Roberts, singers Bryan Ferry and Sting, countertenor James Bowman, TV/Radio broadcaster Bill Steel, songwriter and record producer Steve Hillier, novelists Eva Ibbotson,[15] Yevgeny Zamyatin, and Denis MacEoin (aka Daniel Easterman and Jonathan Aycliffe).

Arthur Sutherland 1st Baronet; former owner of the Mansion House. The only Briton to die[citation needed] in the Killing Fields of Cambodia, John Dewhirst, was born in Jesmond.

West Jesmond Primary School

West Jesmond is a 4-11 primary school. The original building was demolished in 2008 and a new school rebuilt on the same site. The new school building opened on 2 March 2009.

Royal Grammar School, Newcastle

Central Newcastle High School (girls only) – merged into new school

Church High School (girls only) – merged into new school

Central Newcastle High School and Church High School merged in September 2014 to create Newcastle High School for Girls

Northern Counties School

Newcastle Preparatory School

Notable buildings

Jesmond Parish Church, Newcastle upon Tyne

Jesmond Synagogue

Jesmond Parish Church

Jesmond Library

Television

For its first series, the MTV UK reality series Geordie Shore was filmed in Jesmond.

The La Sagesse School in Jesmond (now closed and converted into housing) was used as a set for The Dumping Ground (2013–), a spin-off of the popular children's television series Tracy Beaker Returns (2010–2012), starring Dani Harmer.

Jesmond is served by three Tyne and Wear Metro stations at Jesmond, West Jesmond and Ilford Road. Jesmond station is the point at which Metro trains travelling north emerge from the underground section. Trains travel southbound to Sunderland or South Shields via city centre and Gateshead and northbound to the airport via Kingston Park, or to Whitley Bay. Jesmond also has an extra section of non-passenger track called the Manors Stock Curve, used for re-routing trains. The old Jesmond station, which formed part of the suburban rail network prior to the Tyne and Wear Metro network, is situated on the Manors Stock Curve and can be observed from Osborne Terrace with intact platforms. The former station building is now a public house.

There has been an active Baháʼí Faith community in Jesmond for over 25 years, the town is home to the only Bahá’í Centre in North East England, located on Victoria Square near the civic centre.

One of the largest evangelical Anglican churches in the UK is Jesmond Parish Church, which is affiliated with the Christian Institute (based in nearby Gosforth).

Due to a rising population of students and young professionals, Osborne Road has in recent years become a popular venue for nightlife, eating and socialising. With a large number of bars and restaurants in one location it can become congested on busy nights. The road also has a number of medium-sized hotels.

Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle is a cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the River Tyne's northern bank, opposite Gateshead to the south. It is the most populous settlement in the Tyneside conurbation and North East England.

Newcastle developed around a Roman settlement called Pons Aelius, the settlement became known as Monkchester before taking on the name of a castle built in 1080 by William the Conqueror's eldest son, Robert Curthose. It was one of the world's largest ship building and repair centres during the industrial revolution. Newcastle was part of the county of Northumberland until 1400, when it separated and formed a county of itself. In 1974, Newcastle became part of Tyne and Wear. Since 2018, the city council has been part of the North of Tyne Combined Authority.

The history of Newcastle upon Tyne dates back almost 2,000 years, during which it has been controlled by the Romans, the Angles and the Norsemen amongst others. Newcastle upon Tyne was originally known by its Roman name Pons Aelius. The name "Newcastle" has been used since the Norman conquest of England. Due to its prime location on the River Tyne, the town developed greatly during the Middle Ages and it was to play a major role in the Industrial Revolution, being granted city status in 1882. Today, the city is a major retail, commercial and cultural centre.

Roman settlement

The history of Newcastle dates from AD 122, when the Romans built the first bridge to cross the River Tyne at that point. The bridge was called Pons Aelius or 'Bridge of Aelius', Aelius being the family name of Roman Emperor Hadrian, who was responsible for the Roman wall built across northern England along the Tyne–Solway gap. Hadrian's Wall ran through present-day Newcastle, with stretches of wall and turrets visible along the West Road, and at a temple in Benwell. Traces of a milecastle were found on Westgate Road, midway between Clayton Street and Grainger Street, and it is likely that the course of the wall corresponded to present-day Westgate Road. The course of the wall can be traced eastwards to the Segedunum Roman fort at Wallsend, with the fort of Arbeia down-river at the mouth of the Tyne, on the south bank in what is now South Shields. The Tyne was then a wider, shallower river at this point and it is thought that the bridge was probably about 700 feet (210 m) long, made of wood and supported on stone piers. It is probable that it was sited near the current Swing Bridge, due to the fact that Roman artefacts were found there during the building of the latter bridge. Hadrian himself probably visited the site in 122. A shrine was set up on the completed bridge in 123 by the 6th Legion, with two altars to Neptune and Oceanus respectively. The two altars were subsequently found in the river and are on display in the Great North Museum in Newcastle.

The Romans built a stone-walled fort in 150 to protect the river crossing which was at the foot of the Tyne Gorge, and this took the name of the bridge so that the whole settlement was known as Pons Aelius. The fort was situated on a rocky outcrop overlooking the new bridge, on the site of the present Castle Keep. Pons Aelius is last mentioned in 400, in a Roman document listing all of the Roman military outposts. It is likely that nestling in the shadow of the fort would have been a small vicus, or village. Unfortunately, no buildings have been detected; only a few pieces of flagging. It is clear that there was a Roman cemetery near Clavering Place, behind the Central station, as a number of Roman coffins and sarcophagi have been unearthed there.

Despite the presence of the bridge, the settlement of Pons Aelius was not particularly important among the northern Roman settlements. The most important stations were those on the highway of Dere Street running from Eboracum (York) through Corstopitum (Corbridge) and to the lands north of the Wall. Corstopitum, being a major arsenal and supply centre, was much larger and more populous than Pons Aelius.

Anglo-Saxon development

The Angles arrived in the North-East of England in about 500 and may have landed on the Tyne. There is no evidence of an Anglo-Saxon settlement on or near the site of Pons Aelius during the Anglo-Saxon age. The bridge probably survived and there may well have been a small village at the northern end, but no evidence survives. At that time the region was dominated by two kingdoms, Bernicia, north of the Tees and ruled from Bamburgh, and Deira, south of the Tees and ruled from York. Bernicia and Deira combined to form the kingdom of Northanhymbra (Northumbria) early in the 7th century. There were three local kings who held the title of Bretwalda – 'Lord of Britain', Edwin of Deira (627–632), Oswald of Bernicia (633–641) and Oswy of Northumbria (641–658). The 7th century became known as the 'Golden Age of Northumbria', when the area was a beacon of culture and learning in Europe. The greatness of this period was based on its generally Christian culture and resulted in the Lindisfarne Gospels amongst other treasures. The Tyne valley was dotted with monasteries, with those at Monkwearmouth, Hexham and Jarrow being the most famous. Bede, who was based at Jarrow, wrote of a royal estate, known as Ad Murum, 'at the Wall', 12 miles (19 km) from the sea. It is thought that this estate may have been in what is now Newcastle. At some unknown time, the site of Newcastle came to be known as Monkchester. The reason for this title is unknown, as we are unaware of any specific monasteries at the site, and Bede made no reference to it. In 875 Halfdan Ragnarsson, the Danish Viking conqueror of York, led an army that attacked and pillaged various monasteries in the area, and it is thought that Monkchester was also pillaged at this time. Little more was heard of it until the coming of the Normans.

Norman period

After the arrival of William the Conqueror in England in 1066, the whole of England was quickly subjected to Norman rule. However, in Northumbria there was great resistance to the Normans, and in 1069 the newly appointed Norman Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Comines and 700 of his men were killed by the local population at Durham. The Northumbrians then marched on York, but William was able to suppress the uprising. That same year, a second uprising occurred when a Danish fleet landed in the Humber. The Northumbrians again attacked York and destroyed the garrison there. William was again able to suppress the uprising, but this time he took revenge. He laid waste to the whole of the Midlands and the land from York to the Tees. In 1080, William Walcher, the Norman bishop of Durham and his followers were brutally murdered at Gateshead. This time Odo, bishop of Bayeux, William's half brother, devastated the land between the Tees and the Tweed. This was known as the 'Harrying of the North'. This devastation is reflected in the Domesday Book. The destruction had such an effect that the North remained poor and backward at least until Tudor times and perhaps until the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle suffered in this respect with the rest of the North.

In 1080 William sent his eldest son, Robert Curthose, north to defend the kingdom against the Scots. After his campaign, he moved to Monkchester and began the building of a 'New Castle'. This was of the "motte-and-bailey" type of construction, a wooden tower on top of an earthen mound (motte), surrounded by a moat and wooden stockade (bailey). It was this castle that gave Newcastle its name. In 1095 the Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Mowbray, rose up against the king, William Rufus, and Rufus sent an army north to recapture the castle. From then on the castle became crown property and was an important base from which the king could control the northern barons. The Northumbrian earldom was abolished and a Sheriff of Northumberland was appointed to administer the region. In 1091 the parish church of St Nicholas was consecrated on the site of the present Anglican cathedral, close by the bailey of the new castle. The church is believed to have been a wooden building on stone footings.

Not a trace of the tower or mound of the motte and bailey castle remains now. Henry II replaced it with a rectangular stone keep, which was built between 1172 and 1177 at a cost of £1,444. A stone bailey, in the form of a triangle, replaced the previous wooden one. The great outer gateway to the castle, called 'the Black Gate', was built later, between 1247 and 1250, in the reign of Henry III. There were at that time no town walls and when attacked by the Scots, the townspeople had to crowd into the bailey for safety. It is probable that the new castle acted as a magnet for local merchants because of the safety it provided. This in turn would help to expand trade in the town. At this time wool, skins and lead were being exported, whilst alum, pepper and ginger were being imported from France and Flanders.

Middle Ages

Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was England's northern fortress, the centre for assembled armies. The Border war against Scotland lasted intermittently for several centuries – possibly the longest border war ever waged. During the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, David 1st of Scotland and his son were granted Cumbria and Northumberland respectively, so that for a period from 1139 to 1157, Newcastle was effectively in Scottish hands. It is believed that during this period, King David may have built the church of St Andrew and the Benedictine nunnery in Newcastle. However, King Stephen's successor, Henry II was strong enough to take back the Earldom of Northumbria from Malcolm IV.

The Scots king William the Lion was imprisoned in Newcastle, in 1174, after being captured at the Battle of Alnwick. Edward I brought the Stone of Scone and William Wallace south through the town and Newcastle was successfully defended against the Scots three times during the 14th century.

Around 1200, stone-faced, clay-filled jetties were starting to project into the river, an indication that trade was increasing in Newcastle. As the Roman roads continued to deteriorate, sea travel was gaining in importance. By 1275 Newcastle was the sixth largest wool exporting port in England. The principal exports at this time were wool, timber, coal, millstones, dairy produce, fish, salt and hides. Much of the developing trade was with the Baltic countries and Germany. Most of the Newcastle merchants were situated near the river, below the Castle. The earliest known charter was dated 1175 in the reign of Henry II, giving the townspeople some control over their town. In 1216 King John granted Newcastle a mayor[8] and also allowed the formation of guilds (known as Mysteries). These were cartels formed within different trades, which restricted trade to guild members. There were initially twelve guilds. Coal was being exported from Newcastle by 1250, and by 1350 the burgesses received a royal licence to export coal. This licence to export coal was jealously guarded by the Newcastle burgesses, and they tried to prevent any one else on the Tyne from exporting coal except through Newcastle. The burgesses similarly tried to prevent fish from being sold anywhere else on the Tyne except Newcastle. This led to conflicts with Gateshead and South Shields.

In 1265, the town was granted permission to impose a 'Wall Tax' or Murage, to pay for the construction of a fortified wall to enclose the town and protect it from Scottish invaders. The town walls were not completed until early in the 14th century. They were two miles (3 km) long, 9 feet (2.7 m) thick and 25 feet (7.6 m) high. They had six main gates, as well as some smaller gates, and had 17 towers. The land within the walls was divided almost equally by the Lort Burn, which flowed southwards and joined the Tyne to the east of the Castle. The town began to expand north of the Castle and west of the Lort Burn with various markets being set up within the walls.

In 1400 Henry IV granted a new charter, creating a County corporate which separated the town, but not the Castle, from the county of Northumberland and recognised it as a "county of itself" with a right to have a sheriff of its own. The burgesses were now allowed to choose six aldermen who, with the mayor would be justices of the peace. The mayor and sheriff were allowed to hold borough courts in the Guildhall.

Religious houses

During the Middle Ages a number of religious houses were established within the walls: the first of these was the Benedictine nunnery of St Bartholomew founded in 1086 near the present-day Nun Street. Both David I of Scotland and Henry I of England were benefactors of the religious house. Nothing of the nunnery remains now.

The friary of Blackfriars, Newcastle (Dominican) was established in 1239. These were also known as the Preaching Friars or Shod Friars, because they wore sandals, as opposed to other orders. The friary was situated in the present-day Friars Street. In 1280 the order was granted royal permission to make a postern in the town walls to communicate with their gardens outside the walls. On 19 June 1334, Edward Balliol, claimant to be King of Scotland, did homage to King Edward III, on behalf of the kingdom of Scotland, in the church of the friary. Much of the original buildings of the friary still exist, mainly because, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries the friary of Blackfriars was rented out by the corporation to nine of the local trade guilds.

The friary of Whitefriars (Carmelite) was established in 1262. The order was originally housed on the Wall Knoll in Pandon, but in 1307 it took over the buildings of another order, which went out of existence, the Friars of the Sac. The land, which had originally been given by Robert the Bruce, was situated in the present-day Hanover Square, behind the Central station. Nothing of the friary remains now.

The friary of Austinfriars (Augustinian) was established in 1290. The friary was on the site where the Holy Jesus Hospital was built in 1682. The friary was traditionally the lodging place of English kings whenever they visited or passed through Newcastle. In 1503 Princess Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII of England, stayed two days at the friary on her way to join her new husband James IV of Scotland.

The friary of Greyfriars (Franciscans) was established in 1274. The friary was in the present-day area between Pilgrim Street, Grey Street, Market Street and High Chare. Nothing of the original buildings remains.

The friary of the Order of the Holy Trinity, also known as the Trinitarians, was established in 1360. The order devoted a third of its income to buying back captives of the Saracens, during the Crusades. Their house was on the Wall Knoll, in Pandon, to the east of the city, but within the walls. Wall Knoll had previously been occupied by the White Friars until they moved to new premises in 1307.

All of the above religious houses were closed in about 1540, when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.

An important street running through Newcastle at the time was Pilgrim Street, running northwards inside the walls and leading to the Pilgrim Gate on the north wall. The street still exists today as arguably Newcastle's main shopping street.

Tudor period

The Scottish border wars continued for much of the 16th century, so that during that time, Newcastle was often threatened with invasion by the Scots, but also remained important as a border stronghold against them.

During the Reformation begun by Henry VIII in 1536, the five Newcastle friaries and the single nunnery were dissolved and the land was sold to the Corporation and to rich merchants. At this time there were fewer than 60 inmates of the religious houses in Newcastle. The convent of Blackfriars was leased to nine craft guilds to be used as their headquarters. This probably explains why it is the only one of the religious houses whose building survives to the present day. The priories at Tynemouth and Durham were also dissolved, thus ending the long-running rivalry between Newcastle and the church for control of trade on the Tyne. A little later, the property of the nunnery of St Bartholomew and of Grey Friars were bought by Robert Anderson, who had the buildings demolished to build his grand Newe House (also known as Anderson Place).

With the gradual decline of the Scottish border wars the town walls were allowed to decline as well as the castle. By 1547, about 10,000 people were living in Newcastle. At the beginning of the 16th century exports of wool from Newcastle were more than twice the value of exports of coal, but during the century coal exports continued to increase.

Under Edward VI, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, sponsored an act allowing Newcastle to annexe Gateshead as its suburb. The main reason for this was to allow the Newcastle Hostmen, who controlled the export of Tyne coal, to get their hands on the Gateshead coal mines, previously controlled by the Bishop of Durham. However, when Mary I came to power, Dudley met his downfall and the decision was reversed. The Reformation allowed private access to coal mines previously owned by Tynemouth and Durham priories and as a result coal exports increase dramatically, from 15,000 tons in 1500 to 35,000 tons in 1565, and to 400,000 tons in 1625.

The plague visited Newcastle four times during the 16th century, in 1579 when 2,000 people died, in 1589 when 1700 died, in 1595 and finally in 1597.

In 1600 Elizabeth I granted Newcastle a charter for an exclusive body of electors, the right to elect the mayor and burgesses. The charter also gave the Hostmen exclusive rights to load coal at any point on the Tyne. The Hostmen developed as an exclusive group within the Merchant Adventurers who had been incorporated by a charter in 1547.

Stuart period

In 1636 there was a serious outbreak of bubonic plague in Newcastle. There had been several previous outbreaks of the disease over the years, but this was the most serious. It is thought to have arrived from the Netherlands via ships that were trading between the Tyne and that country. It first appeared in the lower part of the town near the docks but gradually spread to all parts of the town. As the disease gained hold the authorities took measures to control it by boarding up any properties that contained infected persons, meaning that whole families were locked up together with the infected family members. Other infected persons were put in huts outside the town walls and left to die. Plague pits were dug next to the town's four churches and outside the town walls to receive the bodies in mass burials. Over the course of the outbreak 5,631 deaths were recorded out of an estimated population of 12,000, a death rate of 47%.

In 1637 Charles I tried to raise money by doubling the 'voluntary' tax on coal in return for allowing the Newcastle Hostmen to regulate production and fix prices. This caused outrage amongst the London importers and the East Anglian shippers. Both groups decided to boycott Tyne coal and as a result forced Charles to reverse his decision in 1638.

In 1640 during the Second Bishops' War, the Scots successfully invaded Newcastle. The occupying army demanded £850 per day from the Corporation to billet the Scottish troops. Trade from the Tyne ground to a halt during the occupation. The Scots left in 1641 after receiving a Parliamentary pardon and a £4,000,000 loan from the town.

In 1642 the English Civil War began. King Charles realised the value of the Tyne coal trade and therefore garrisoned Newcastle. A Royalist was appointed as governor. At that time, Newcastle and King's Lynn were the only important seaports to support the crown. In 1644 Parliament blockaded the Tyne to prevent the king from receiving revenue from the Tyne coal trade. Coal exports fell from 450,000 to 3,000 tons and London suffered a hard winter without fuel. Parliament encouraged the coal trade from the Wear to try to replace that lost from Newcastle but that was not enough to make up for the lost Tyneside tonnage.

In 1644 the Scots crossed the border. Newcastle strengthened its defences in preparation. The Scottish army, with 40,000 troops, besieged Newcastle for three months until the garrison of 1,500 surrendered. During the siege, the Scots bombarded the walls with their artillery, situated in Gateshead and Castle Leazes. The Scottish commander threatened to destroy the steeple of St Nicholas's Church by gunfire if the mayor, Sir John Marley, did not surrender the town. The mayor responded by placing Scottish prisoners that they had captured in the steeple, so saving it from destruction. The town walls were finally breached by a combination of artillery and sapping. In gratitude for this defence, Charles gave Newcastle the motto 'Fortiter Defendit Triumphans' to be added to its coat of arms. The Scottish army occupied Northumberland and Durham for two years. The coal taxes had to pay for the Scottish occupation. In 1645 Charles surrendered to the Scots and was imprisoned in Newcastle for nine months. After the Civil War the coal trade on the Tyne soon picked up and exceeded its pre-war levels.

A new Guildhall was completed on the Sandhill next to the river in 1655, replacing an earlier facility damaged by fire in 1639, and became the meeting place of Newcastle Town Council. In 1681 the Hospital of the Holy Jesus was built partly on the site of the Austin Friars. The Guildhall and Holy Jesus Hospital still exist.

Charles II tried to impose a charter on Newcastle to give the king the right to appoint the mayor, sheriff, recorder and town clerk. Charles died before the charter came into effect. In 1685, James II tried to replace Corporation members with named Catholics. However, James' mandate was suspended in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution welcoming William of Orange. In 1689, after the fall of James II, the people of Newcastle tore down his bronze equestrian statue in Sandhill and tossed it into the Tyne. The bronze was later used to make bells for All Saints Church.

In 1689 the Lort Burn was covered over. At this time it was an open sewer. The channel followed by the Lort Burn became the present day Dean Street. At that time, the centre of Newcastle was still the Sandhill area, with many merchants living along the Close or on the Side. The path of the main road through Newcastle ran from the single Tyne bridge, through Sandhill to the Side, a narrow street which climbed steeply on the north-east side of the castle hill until it reached the higher ground alongside St Nicholas' Church. As Newcastle developed, the Side became lined with buildings with projecting upper stories, so that the main street through Newcastle was a narrow, congested, steep thoroughfare.

In 1701 the Keelmen's Hospital was built in the Sandgate area of the city, using funds provided by the keelmen. The building still stands today.

Eighteenth century

In the 18th century, Newcastle was the country's largest print centre after London, Oxford and Cambridge, and the Literary and Philosophical Society of 1793, with its erudite debates and large stock of books in several languages predated the London Library by half a century.

In 1715, during the Jacobite rising in favour of the Old Pretender, an army of Jacobite supporters marched on Newcastle. Many of the Northumbrian gentry joined the rebels. The citizens prepared for its arrival by arresting Jacobite supporters and accepting 700 extra recruits into the local militia. The gates of the city were closed against the rebels. This proved enough to delay an attack until reinforcements arrived forcing the rebel army to move across to the west coast. The rebels finally surrendered at Preston.

In 1745, during a second Jacobite rising in favour of the Young Pretender, a Scottish army crossed the border led by Bonnie Prince Charlie. Once again Newcastle prepared by arresting Jacobite supporters and inducting 800 volunteers into the local militia. The town walls were strengthened, most of the gates were blocked up and some 200 cannon were deployed. 20,000 regulars were billeted on the Town Moor. These preparations were enough to force the rebel army to travel south via the west coast. They were eventually defeated at Culloden in 1746.

Newcastle's actions during the 1715 rising in resisting the rebels and declaring for George I, in contrast to the rest of the region, is the most likely source of the nickname 'Geordie', applied to people from Tyneside, or more accurately Newcastle. Another theory, however, is that the name 'Geordie' came from the inventor of the Geordie lamp, George Stephenson. It was a type of safety lamp used in mining, but was not invented until 1815. Apparently the term 'German Geordie' was in common use during the 18th century.

The city's first hospital, Newcastle Infirmary opened in 1753; it was funded by public subscription. A lying-in hospital was established in Newcastle in 1760. The city's first public hospital for mentally ill patients, Wardens Close Lunatic Hospital was opened in October 1767.

In 1771 a flood swept away much of the bridge at Newcastle. The bridge had been built in 1250 and repaired after a flood in 1339. The bridge supported various houses and three towers and an old chapel. A blue stone was placed in the middle of the bridge to mark the boundary between Newcastle and the Palatinate of Durham. A temporary wooden bridge had to be built, and this remained in use until 1781, when a new stone bridge was completed. The new bridge consisted of nine arches. In 1801, because of the pressure of traffic, the bridge had to be widened.

A permanent military presence was established in the city with the completion of Fenham Barracks in 1806. The facilities at the Castle for holding assizes, which had been condemned for their inconvenience and unhealthiness, were replaced when the Moot Hall opened in August 1812.

Victorian period

Present-day Newcastle owes much of its architecture to the work of the builder Richard Grainger, aided by architects John Dobson, Thomas Oliver, John and Benjamin Green and others. In 1834 Grainger won a competition to produce a new plan for central Newcastle. He put this plan into effect using the above architects as well as architects employed in his own office. Grainger and Oliver had already built Leazes Terrace, Leazes Crescent and Leazes Place between 1829 and 1834. Grainger and Dobson had also built the Royal Arcade at the foot of Pilgrim Street between 1830 and 1832. The most ambitious project covered 12 acres 12 acres (49,000 m2) in central Newcastle, on the site of Newe House (also called Anderson Place). Grainger built three new thoroughfares, Grey Street, Grainger Street and Clayton Street with many connecting streets, as well as the Central Exchange and the Grainger Market. John Wardle and George Walker, working in Grainger's office, designed Clayton Street, Grainger Street and most of Grey Street. Dobson designed the Grainger Market and much of the east side of Grey Street. John and Benjamin Green designed the Theatre Royal at the top of Grey Street, where Grainger placed the column of Grey's Monument as a focus for the whole scheme. Grey Street is considered to be one of the finest streets in the country, with its elegant curve. Unfortunately most of old Eldon Square was demolished in the 1960s in the name of progress. The Royal Arcade met a similar fate.

In 1849 a new bridge was built across the river at Newcastle. This was the High Level Bridge, designed by Robert Stephenson, and slightly up river from the existing bridge. The bridge was designed to carry road and rail traffic across the Tyne Gorge on two decks with rail traffic on the upper deck and road traffic on the lower. The new bridge meant that traffic could pass through Newcastle without having to negotiate the steep, narrow Side, as had been necessary for centuries. The bridge was opened by Queen Victoria, who one year later opened the new Central Station, designed by John Dobson. Trains were now able to cross the river, directly into the centre of Newcastle and carry on up to Scotland. The Army Riding School was also completed in 1849.

In 1854 a large fire started on the Gateshead quayside and an explosion caused it to spread across the river to the Newcastle quayside. A huge conflagration amongst the narrow alleys, or 'chares', destroyed the homes of 800 families as well as many business premises. The narrow alleys that had been destroyed were replaced by streets containing blocks of modern offices.

In 1863 the Town Hall in St Nicholas Square replaced the Guildhall as the meeting place of Newcastle Town Council.

In 1876 the low level bridge was replaced by a new bridge known as the Swing Bridge, so called because the bridge was able to swing horizontally on a central axis and allow ships to pass on either side. This meant that for the first time sizeable ships could pass up-river beyond Newcastle. The bridge was built and paid for by William Armstrong, a local arms manufacturer, who needed to have warships access his Elswick arms factory to fit armaments to them. The Swing Bridge's rotating mechanism is adapted from the cannon mounts developed in Armstrong's arms works. In 1882 the Elswick works began to build ships as well as to arm them. The Barrack Road drill hall was completed in 1890.

Industrialisation

In the 19th century, shipbuilding and heavy engineering were central to the city's prosperity; and the city was a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle's development as a major city owed most to its central role in the production and export of coal. The phrase "taking coals to Newcastle" was first recorded in 1538; it proverbially denotes bringing a particular commodity to a place that has more than enough of it already.

Innovation in Newcastle and surrounding areas included the following:

George Stephenson developed a miner's safety lamp at the same time that Humphry Davy developed a rival design. The lamp made possible the opening up of ever deeper mines to provide the coal that powered the industrial revolution.

George and his son Robert Stephenson were hugely influential figures in the development of the early railways. George developed Blücher, a locomotive working at Killingworth colliery in 1814, whilst Robert was instrumental in the design of Rocket, a revolutionary design that was the forerunner of modern locomotives. Both men were involved in planning and building railway lines, all over this country and abroad.

Joseph Swan demonstrated a working electric light bulb about a year before Thomas Edison did the same in the USA. This led to a dispute as to who had actually invented the light bulb. Eventually the two rivals agreed to form a mutual company between them, the Edison and Swan Electric Light Company, known as Ediswan.

Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine, for marine use and for power generation. He used Turbinia, a small, turbine-powered ship, to demonstrate the speed that a steam turbine could generate. Turbinia literally ran rings around the British Fleet at a review at Spithead in 1897.

William Armstrong invented a hydraulic crane that was installed in dockyards up and down the country. He then began to design light, accurate field guns for the British army. These were a vast improvement on the existing guns that were then in use.

The following major industries developed in Newcastle or its surrounding area:

Glassmaking

A small glass industry existed in Newcastle from the mid-15th century. In 1615 restrictions were put on the use of wood for manufacturing glass. It was found that glass could be manufactured using the local coal, and so a glassmaking industry grew up on Tyneside. Huguenot glassmakers came over from France as refugees from persecution and set up glasshouses in the Skinnerburn area of Newcastle. Eventually, glass production moved to the Ouseburn area of Newcastle. In 1684 the Dagnia family, Sephardic Jewish emigrants from Altare, arrived in Newcastle from Stourbridge and established glasshouses along the Close, to manufacture high quality flint glass. The glass manufacturers used sand ballast from the boats arriving in the river as the main raw material. The glassware was then exported in collier brigs. The period from 1730 to 1785 was the highpoint of Newcastle glass manufacture, when the local glassmakers produced the 'Newcastle Light Baluster'. The glassmaking industry still exists in the west end of the city with local Artist and Glassmaker Jane Charles carrying on over four hundred years of hot glass blowing in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Locomotive manufacture

In 1823 George Stephenson and his son Robert established the world's first locomotive factory near Forth Street in Newcastle. Here they built locomotives for the Stockton and Darlington Railway and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, as well as many others. It was here that the famous locomotive Rocket was designed and manufactured in preparation for the Rainhill Trials. Apart from building locomotives for the British market, the Newcastle works also produced locomotives for Europe and America. The Forth Street works continued to build locomotives until 1960.

Shipbuilding

In 1296 a wooden, 135 ft (41 m) long galley was constructed at the mouth of the Lort Burn in Newcastle, as part of a twenty-ship order from the king. The ship cost £205, and is the earliest record of shipbuilding in Newcastle. However the rise of the Tyne as a shipbuilding area was due to the need for collier brigs for the coal export trade. These wooden sailing ships were usually built locally, establishing local expertise in building ships. As ships changed from wood to steel, and from sail to steam, the local shipbuilding industry changed to build the new ships. Although shipbuilding was carried out up and down both sides of the river, the two main areas for building ships in Newcastle were Elswick, to the west, and Walker, to the east. By 1800 Tyneside was the third largest producer of ships in Britain. Unfortunately, after the Second World War, lack of modernisation and competition from abroad gradually caused the local industry to decline and die.

Armaments

In 1847 William Armstrong established a huge factory in Elswick, west of Newcastle. This was initially used to produce hydraulic cranes but subsequently began also to produce guns for both the army and the navy. After the Swing Bridge was built in 1876 allowing ships to pass up river, warships could have their armaments fitted alongside the Elswick works. Armstrong's company took over its industrial rival, Joseph Whitworth of Manchester in 1897.

Steam turbines

Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine and, in 1889, founded his own company C. A. Parsons and Company in Heaton, Newcastle to make steam turbines. Shortly after this, he realised that steam turbines could be used to propel ships and, in 1897, he founded a second company, Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company in Wallsend. It is there that he designed and manufactured Turbinia. Parsons turbines were initially used in warships but soon came to be used in merchant and passenger vessels, including the liner Mauretania which held the blue riband for the Atlantic crossing until 1929. Parsons' company in Heaton began to make turbo-generators for power stations and supplied power stations all over the world. The Heaton works, reduced in size, remains as part of the Siemens AG industrial giant.

Pottery

In 1762 the Maling pottery was founded in Sunderland by French Huguenots, but transferred to Newcastle in 1817. A factory was built in the Ouseburn area of the city. The factory was rebuilt twice, finally occupying a 14-acre (57,000 m2) site that was claimed to be the biggest pottery in the world and which had its own railway station. The pottery pioneered use of machines in making potteries as opposed to hand production. In the 1890s the company went up-market and employed in-house designers. The period up to the Second World War was the most profitable with a constant stream of new designs being introduced. However, after the war, production gradually declined and the company closed in 1963.

Expansion of the city

Newcastle was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835: the reformed municipal borough included the parishes of Byker, Elswick, Heaton, Jesmond, Newcastle All Saints, Newcastle St Andrew, Newcastle St John, Newcastle St Nicholas, and Westgate. The urban districts of Benwell and Fenham and Walker were added in 1904. In 1935, Newcastle gained Kenton and parts of the parishes of West Brunton, East Denton, Fawdon, Longbenton. The most recent expansion in Newcastle's boundaries took place under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974, when Newcastle became a metropolitan borough, also including the urban districts of Gosforth and Newburn, and the parishes of Brunswick, Dinnington, Hazlerigg, North Gosforth and Woolsington from the Castle Ward Rural District, and the village of Westerhope.

Meanwhile Northumberland County Council was formed under the Local Government Act 1888 and benefited from a dedicated meeting place when County Hall was completed in the Castle Garth area of Newcastle in 1910. Following the Local Government Act 1972 County Hall relocated to Morpeth in April 1981.

Twentieth century

In 1925 work began on a new high-level road bridge to span the Tyne Gorge between Newcastle and Gateshead. The capacity of the existing High-Level Bridge and Swing Bridge were being strained to the limit, and an additional bridge had been discussed for a long time. The contract was awarded to the Dorman Long Company and the bridge was finally opened by King George V in 1928. The road deck was 84 feet (26 m) above the river and was supported by a 531 feet (162 m) steel arch. The new Tyne Bridge quickly became a symbol for Newcastle and Tyneside, and remains so today.

During the Second World War, Newcastle was largely spared the horrors inflicted upon other British cities bombed during the Blitz. Although the armaments factories and shipyards along the River Tyne were targeted by the Luftwaffe, they largely escaped unscathed. Manors goods yard and railway terminal, to the east of the city centre, and the suburbs of Jesmond and Heaton suffered bombing during 1941. There were 141 deaths and 587 injuries, a relatively small figure compared to the casualties in other industrial centres of Britain.

In 1963 the city gained its own university, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, by act of parliament. A School of Medicine and Surgery had been established in Newcastle in 1834. This eventually developed into a college of medicine attached to Durham University. A college of physical science was also founded and became Armstrong College in 1904. In 1934 the two colleges merged to become King's College, Durham. This remained as part of Durham University until the new university was created in 1963. In 1992 the city gained its second university when Newcastle Polytechnic was granted university status as Northumbria University.

Newcastle City Council moved to the new Newcastle Civic Centre in 1968.

As heavy industries declined in the second half of the 20th century, large sections of the city centre were demolished along with many areas of slum housing. The leading political figure in the city during the 1960s was T. Dan Smith who oversaw a massive building programme of highrise housing estates and authorised the demolition of a quarter of the Georgian Grainger Town to make way for Eldon Square Shopping Centre. Smith's control in Newcastle collapsed when it was exposed that he had used public contracts to advantage himself and his business associates and for a time Newcastle became a byword for civic corruption as depicted in the films Get Carter and Stormy Monday and in the television series Our Friends in the North. However, much of the historic Grainger Town area survived and was, for the most part, fully restored in the late 1990s. Northumberland Street, initially the A1, was gradually closed to traffic from the 1970s and completely pedestrianised by 1998.

In 1978 a new rapid transport system, the Metro, was built, linking the Tyneside area. The system opened in August 1980. A new bridge was built to carry the Metro across the river between Gateshead and Newcastle. This was the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, commonly known as the Metro Bridge. Eventually the Metro system was extended to reach Newcastle Airport in 1991, and in 2002 the Metro system was extended to the nearby city of Sunderland.

As the 20th century progressed, trade on the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides gradually declined, until by the 1980s both sides of the river were looking rather derelict. Shipping company offices had closed along with offices of firms related to shipping. There were also derelict warehouses lining the riverbank. Local government produced a master plan to re-develop the Newcastle quayside and this was begun in the 1990s. New offices, restaurants, bars and residential accommodation were built and the area has changed in the space of a few years into a vibrant area, partially returning the focus of Newcastle to the riverside, where it was in medieval times.

The Gateshead Millennium Bridge, a foot and cycle bridge, 26 feet (7.9 m) wide and 413 feet (126 m) long, was completed in 2001. The road deck is in the form of a curve and is supported by a steel arch. To allow ships to pass, the whole structure, both arch and road-deck, rotates on huge bearings at either end so that the road deck is lifted. The bridge can be said to open and shut like a human eye. It is an important addition to the re-developed quayside area, providing a vital link between the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides.

Recent developments

Today the city is a vibrant centre for office and retail employment, but just a short distance away there are impoverished inner-city housing estates, in areas originally built to provide affordable housing for employees of the shipyards and other heavy industries that lined the River Tyne. In the 2010s Newcastle City Council began implementing plans to regenerate these depressed areas, such as those along the Ouseburn Valley.

they forget him by كـيّان الهوتي

I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better. ~Plutarch

HIM_0908-001 by John Karnikis

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mardi himal_50 by LamLung

Nepal 2016 by KIDKUTSMEDIA

Facebook l tumblr l kidkutsmedia.de l Instagram

Himes Machinery by Brian Himes

Himes machinery deals in used heavy machinery like robotic welding cell machine and is the sellers focused on machining spares along with industries related to big equipment machinery business. One can find various types of big equipments, machinery and spares, which Himes Machinery deals in. For more details visit here - about.me/himesmachinery

Ganesh Himal by erdj1

View of the Ganesh Himal range (7406m) of Nepal through the airplane window traveling from Kathmandu to Muskat.

She and Him by Amy Ballard

for our anniversary, i got scott tickets to the newport folk festival. it was well worth every penny. here is a shot of she and him........m. ward and zoey deschanel workin' their magic!

amyolsonjewelry.blogspot.com

IMG_3152_1 by Newman University

goodnight from him by Rob Sony Snoad

Got him by Minda Haas Kuhlmann

Minda Haas Kuhlmann | 2021

"Make him as handsome as you possibly can" by Gloria Silverstone

Vista Animations: Summer of Love Photo Contest

Name: Gloria Silverstone Resident

Animation: VMFClappingZ

& VFFClappingZ (Niki Silverweb)

Inspiration: Best friends being silly lounging around the pool on a hot summer day

Title: "Make him as handsome as you possibly can"

Niki Silverweb: Prism, Cristi Bikini

Gloria Silverstone: Shiki, Bikini & Pareo in Sunset

We Warned Him... by Still The Oldie

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Those of us who had gone before tried to mount a menu intervention, but Rob would not listen.

Stay tuned for details of the Memorial...

Milano 2013 by The Heartagram Path THP

HIM - Alcatraz

NEC CT Cong. Jim Himes 060 by The New England Council

HIM_6939-2-1 by John Karnikis

Robin by Val Pond Photographs

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Him and 3 of his buddies are frequent visitors to our garden

She loves him by Agata

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I <3 HIM by Gcruz326

Letter from S. Coleridge-Taylor to Thomas Rimmer, March [1908], Cadbury Research Library by Cadbury Research Library

Addressing him as ‘My Dear Rimmer’, Coleridge-Taylor writes to the leader of the Rimmer Quartet regarding the music and rehearsals for a concert to be held on the 17th. He adds a postscript asking for advice on what to buy for a late wedding present (‘It must not be expensive …’)

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A printed programme and newscutting relating to the concert also form part of this online exhibition.

Reference: Papers of Herman Sutherland Bantock MS33/4/1/3

St Mary the Virgin, Sundridge, Kent by Jelltex

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.

A short drive along the A25 is Brasted, the church just down a side street. I parked behind the church, seeing the vicar get out of her car. And at the priest's door, a warden was arranging two urns with fresh flowers.

The west door was locked, so I asked if I could go in. I could, but there was a funeral in just over an hour, so I had to be quick.

The tower is medieval, but the nave and chancel both Victorian, and the roof even more up to date after a major fire in 1989.

I received a warm welcome, but rushed my shots due t the funeral, and as I made my way back tot he car, the first mourners had already arrived.

One last church to visit, and a short drive further east is Sundridge, though it would take 15 minutes to enter it due to roadworks.

St Mary sits at the end of a dead end lane, and the church is glimpsed though the lych gate. I had been promised by the vicar that all benefice churches would be open, and indeed St Mary was.

A bright and airy church, with much of interest and fine glass.

Time was getting on, so I took my shots and made my way back to the car.

It was a short drive back to the motorway, and two junctions down, the turn to get to the M20 and the road home.

Again, not much to tell, little traffic and no queues at Dover, so I was able to get to the car hire place, and get one of the guys there to drive me home, saving Jools and I the job of dropping it off later.

First job when home was to inspect the garden, seeing what had grown or flowered. The air was full of the scent of imperialis, but of a spike, there was no sign. But the garden was warm in the sunshine, warm enough to sit outside.

Then inside for the feline welcome, I had a brew, and a bowl of All Bran, before emptying my case, shorting my washing and putting stuff away.

I then sat on the bench outside, having filled up the feeders, the birds filling the hedge and bush, singing for the joy of it. It might have been only the 16th of February, but felt like it was April.

My knee was aching, but not as bad, so I hope I am over the worse, although I will rest over the weekend just in case.

At four, Jools came home, so I had another brew before getting down to cook: warmed up beef and the trimmings for a midweek roast.

It went down rather well, and was a good idea to save the leftover beef for the meal.

As always, there was football in the evening, so I watched the game with a glass of Irish whiskey, so can't call it a wee dram.

I was home.

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Standing on the north facing slope of the Vale of Holmesdale, St Marys is a fine example of a thirteenth century rebuild of an earlier building. The living has been in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury since at least the time of Doomsday Book and successive Archbishops and their circles have endowed the building, both in structure and furnishing. The church consists of west tower, aisled nave with eastern chapel and chancel. The thirteenth century aisles were originally lean-to constructions with clerestory windows lighting the nave. In the fifteenth century the aisles were given their own roof structures making the former clerestory redundant though it may still be seen. There is a fine chandelier dated 1726, given by a cousin of the then Archbishop. In the eighteenth century the church received an additional family of benefactors, the Campbells, who lived at Combe Bank (now a school). Two female members of the family are commemorated by marble busts in the chancel. The nave displays five funeral hatchments. The west window of the south aisle depicting the Annunciation is by Kempe, whilst the splendid reredos of painted Caen stone(which cost £190 in 1877) is by the Royal Academician James Forsythe.

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

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SUNDRIDGE.

WESTWARD from Chevening lies SUNDERIDGE, written in most antient deeds Sundrish, which appears to have been its proper name, though now it is in general both written and called Sundridge. In Domesday it is written Sondresse, and in the Textus Roffensis, Sunderersce.

The VILLAGE of Sundridge is situated on the high road leading to Westerham, which crosses the middle of this parish, as does the river Darent, in a double stream, a little to the northward of it; hence the ground rises still further northward for near a mile and a half to the great ridge of chalk hills, where it is little more than a mile in width; midway to the foot of these hills, is the seat of Combebank, the hamlet of Oveney'sgreen, and the seat of Overden, the residence of the dowager lady Stanhope. Just below the village, southward, is the seat not many years since belonging to Tho. Mompesson, esq. who lies buried in the church yard, under a monument, with his brother Henry, who was murdered by robbers in France; it is now the residence of Edward Peach, esq. who is related to the Mompessons by his mother, wife of the Rev. Mr. Peach, rector of Titsey, in Surry. Mr. Peach married, in 1790, Mrs. Elizabeth Leathes, widow of the reverend Edward Leathes, rector of Rodeham, in Norfolk. Near the above seat is the church, and close by it the antient scite of Sundridge-place, on which is now only a farm-house; and about a half a mile eastward the manor of Dryhill, formerly the estate of the Isleys, and now of Mr. Woodgate of Summerhill. Southward from hence the parish extends three miles to the great ridge of sand hills, about midway to which is Brook's-place, near which there is on each side both coppice woods, and much rough ground, and the land becomes very poor. On the top of the hills is the hamlet, called Ide-hill. These hills separate the upland district from that below it, called the Weald, the part above them being distinguished by the name of Sundridge Upland, as that below it is by the name of Sundridge Weald, in the same manner as the other parishes are in the same situation. Near the foot of these hills, in the Weald, is the estate of Hendon, where the foil becomes a stiff clay and a strong tillage land.

SUNDRIDGE was, in very early times, part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury. In the reign of king Edward the Confessor, Godwin unjustly withheld it from the archbishop. After the conquest, Odo, the powerful bishop of Baieux, and half brother to the Conqueror, took possession of it; but archbishop Lanfranc recovered it again, in the solemn assembly of the whole county, at Pinenden-heath, in 1076, together with other estates, which had been unjustly taken from his church.

In the general survey of Domesday, it is thus entered, under the title of the archbishop's land, as follows:

The archbishop himself holds Sondresse. It was taxed at one suling and a half. The arable land is . . . . . . . In demesne there are three carucates and 27 villeins, with nine borderers, having eight carucates. There are eight servants, and three mills and a half of 13 shillings and a half. There are eight acres of meadow; wood for the pannage of 60 bogs. There is a church. In the whole, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, it was worth 12 pounds, when be received it, 16 pounds, and now 18 pounds, yet be pays 23 pounds, and one knight in the service of the archbishop.

In the reign of king Henry III. the manor of Sundrish was held of the archbishop of Canterbury, by the family of Apulderfield, from whom it passed to that of Fremingham; one of whom, Sir Ralph de Fremingham, paid aid for it in the 20th of king Edward III. at the making the Black Prince a knight, as one knight's see, which Henry de Apuldrefield formerly held in Sundreshe of the archbishop.

Sir Ralph de Fremingham resided at Farningham, in this county, of which he was sheriff in the 32d year of king Edward III. and died the next year. His son, John de Fremingham, was of Lose, and was sheriff of Kent in the 2d and 17th years of Richard II. He died in the 13th year of king Henry IV. leaving no issue by Alice his wife, being at the time of his death possessed of this manor, (fn. 1) which he gave to his kinsman and next heir, Roger Isley, and his heirs male. This family of Isle or Isley, called in French deeds, L'Isle, and in. Latin ones, De Insula, was seated in this parish in early times, and John de Insula obtained a charter of free warren to his lands in Sundrish, in the 11th year of king Edward II. whose grandson, Roger Isley, married Joane, sister of Sir Ralph de Fremingham. Their son, John, left Roger Isley, esq. of Sundridge; who, on the death of his kinsman, John de Fremingham of Lose, without issue, in the 13th year of king Henry IV. inherited the manor of Sundridge by his gift, as above mentioned. (fn. 2) They bore for their arms, Ermine, a fess gules.

Roger Isley, above mentioned, died possessed of this manor in 1429, leaving two sons, William and John, the former of whom inherited this manor in fee tail. He was sheriff in the 25th year of king Henry VI. and died possessed of it in the 3d of king Edward IV. holding it of Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, by knights service, and the yearly rent of 22l. 12s. as was found by the inquisition, taken at St. Mary Cray, in the next year after his death; and that he also died possessed of the manor of Dreyhill, and messuages called Brooke place, Blounte's tenement, and Usmondes, with other lands therein mentioned, all in this parish; and that he died without issue, and that John Isley, son of John, his younger brother, then deceased, was his next heir.

John Isley, esq. nephew and heir of William, was justice of the peace and sheriff in the 14th year of king Edward IV. he died in 1483, and was buried in this church, leaving Thomas Isley, esq. who died possessed of Sundridge manor, in the 11th year of Henry VIII. having had by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Sir Richard Guldeford, knight banneret and of the Garter, and comptroller of the household to Henry VIII. (fn. 3) ten sons and three daughters, as appears by their figures on his tomb in this church.

Their eldest son, Sir Henry Isley, was sheriff in the 34th year of king Henry VIII. and in the 5th year of king Edward VI. in which last reign, by an act passed in the 2d and 3d year of it, he procured, among others, his lands in this county to be disgavelled. (fn. 4)

Being concerned in the rebellion, raised by Sir Tho. Wyatt in the 1st year of queen Mary, he was then attainted and executed at Sevenoke, and his lands were consiscated to the crown. He left a son, William, who, before the accession of king Edward VI. had married Ursula, daughter of Nicholas Clifford, esq.

Queen Mary, by her letters patent, anno 1st and 2d of Philip and Mary (reciting that Sir Henry Isley, being attainted, was possessed, among other premises, of the manor of Sundridge, and other lands in this parish) in consideration of one thousand pounds, paid by Wm. Isley, his eldest son, granted and restored them to him and his heirs, on their paying yearly, at the manor of Otford, 22l. 12s. 1d. and in the 5th year of queen Elizabeth an act passed for the restitution in blood of Sir Henry Isley's heirs.

William Isley afterwards possessed this estate in queen Elizabeth's reign, in the 18th year of which, becoming greatly indebted to the crown and others, an act passed for felling so much of his lands as would pay his debts; and by it the lord treasurer and others were appointed for that purpose, who conveyed this manor to the queen, her heirs and successors; from which time it seems to have remained in the crown till king James, by his letters patent, dated at Nonsuch, in the 22d year of his reign, granted the manor of Sundridge, alias Sundrich, late parcel of the possessions of Sir Henry Isley, attainted, to Nicholas Street and George Fouch, at the yearly fee farm rent of 42l. 12s. (fn. 5)

Soon after which, I find this estate in the possession of Brooker, when it appears to have been esteemed as two manors; for he, at the latter end of the reign of king Charles I. conveyed it, by the name of the manors of Sundridge Upland and Sundridge Weald, by sale, to Mr. John Hyde, second son of Bernard Hyde, esq. a commissioner of the customs, and possessor of Bore-place, in the adjoining parish of Chidingstone, who bore for his arms, Gules a saltier or, between four besants, a chief ermine, as may be seen by their monuments in this church, which afterwards became the burial place of his descendants. His descendant, John Hyde, esq. was of Sundridge-place, and died in 1729, leaving two sons; John, of the Temple, esquire; and Savile. After which, this manor seems to have been divided into moieties, called, from their different situations, Sundridge Upland and Sundridge Weald manors, the latter of which became the property of John Hyde, esq. who residing at Quarendon, in Leicestershire, about the year 1773, pulled down the antient Placehouse, leaving only a farm house in its stead; and the former became the property of Savile Hyde, esq. but since their deaths, both these manors are become concentered in the person of Savile John Hyde, esq, who continues the present proprietor of them.

There are two court barons kept, one for Sundridge Upland and other for Sundridge Weald.

The present fee farm rent, paid for these manors, is 32l. 12s. the remainder of the original sum being paid by the several possessors of the other parts of these manors in this parish, by grants of them at different times from the crown.

Overney, alias Overney's-green, now called OVENDEN, is a manor or farm in this parish, which was part of the estate belonging to the Freminghams, and afterwards, as before mentioned, to the Isleys, (fn. 6) in whom it continued in like manner, as has been already described, to William Isley, who possessed it in queen Elizabeth's reign; and, in pursuance of the act, passed in the 18th year of it, for the payment of his debts, was sold by the lord treasurer and other commissioners, appointed for that purpose, two years afterwards, to Leven Buskin, and his heirs, as a collateral security for protecting other land, which he had purchased of the commissioners. Soon after which he reconveyed this estate back again to Henry Isley, son of William before mentioned, who, by deed, in the 22d year of that reign, sold this estate, then called Overney's-green, alias Austin's, to James Austin, who with Henry Isley, and William his father, by deed and by fine, conveyed it to John Lennard and Sampson Lennard, and their heirs, from whom it descended, with another estate, called Cotland barn, in this parish, purchased by Sampson Lennard of one Cacott, to Thomas earl of Suffex, the estate of Overneys being included among those for which the earl had a verdict at the Queen's bench bar, in 1709, as may be further seen under Chevening, whose two daughters and coheirs conveyed them, with Chevening, and other lands in this neighbourhood, to major general James Stanhope, afterwards created earl Stanhope, whose grandson, the Rt. Hon. Charles earl Stanhope, is the present possessor of these estates. (fn. 7)

BROOK-PLACE, so called from its contiguity to the small brook or rill of water here, was once accounted part of the manor of Sundridge, and was most probably the first habitation of the Isleys in this parish; the last who died possessed of it was William Isley, who died in the 3d year of king Edward IV. and as appears by the inquisition taken the year after his death, was then possessed of Brook-place, with the lands and woods belonging to it. He conveyed this estate, by sale, to John Alphew of Bore-place, in Chidingstone, on whose death, in 1489, without male issue, his two daughters and coheirs became entitled to his estates; and on the partition of them, Sir Robert Read, chief justice of the common-pleas, in the reign of king Henry VII. in right of his wife, became entitled to this estate. (fn. 8) He left four daughters and coheirs; one of whom, Catherine, marrying Sir Thomas Willoughby, a younger son of those of Eresby, in Lincolnshire, and lord chief justice of the common pleas, entitled him to Brook-place. His descendant, Thomas Willoughby, esq. about the latter end of the reign of queen Elizabeth, sold it to Sir Thomas Hoskins of Oxsted, in Surry, descended from an antient family of that name in Herefordshire, who bore for their arms, Per pale gules and azure, a chevron engrailed or, between three lions rampant argent; (fn. 9) on whose decease it came to his eldest son, Charles Hoskins, esq. who died in 1657; whose grand son, Charles Hoskins, esq. of Croydon, in Surry, left an only daughter and heir, who carried this estate, in marriage, to John Ward, esq. of Squeries, in Westerham, who died possessed of it in 1775, and his eldest son and heir by her, John Ward, esq. of Squeries, is the present owner of it.

HENDEN, called in antient writings, Hethenden, is a manor, which lies at the southern edge of this parish, in the Weald, below Ide-hill, and is a member of the manor of Boughton Aluph, in the eastern part of this county.

This estate had, for a continued series of years, owners of the highest rank and title in this kingdom, for it was formerly part of the possessions of Barth. de Burghersh, who died possessed of it in the 29th year of king Henry III. leaving, by Elizabeth, his wife, one of the daughters and heirs of Theobald de Verdon, a great baron of Staffordshire, two sons, Bartholomew and Henry; of whom Bartholomew, the eldest, being a man eminent for his valour, was made choice of by king Edward III. in his 24th year on the institution of the order of the Garter, to be one of the knights companions thereof.

He died in the 43d year of king Edward III. leaving by his second wife, Margaret, sister of Bartholomew lord Badlesmere, who survived him, one daughter and heir, Elizabeth, married to Edward le Despencer, the eldest son of Edward, who on the death of his uncle, Hugh le Despencer, without issue, became his heir.

He received summons to parliament from the 31st to the 39th year of the above reign, and departed this life at his castle of Kaerdiff, in the 49th year of it, being then possessed of this manor, in right of his wife, who surviving him, died in the 10th year of king Henry IV. (fn. 10) By her he left a son and heir, commonly called Thomas lord Despencer, of Glamorgan and Morganok, who was, among others, in the 20th year of king Richard II. advanced to great titles of honour, being created earl of Gloucester, and exhibiting his petition in the same parliament, for revocation of the judgment of exile against his great grand father, Hugh le Despencer, had it granted. In which petition it appears, that Hugh le Despencer was then possessed of no less than 59 lordships in different counties, 28000 sheep, 1000 oxen and steers, 1200 king with their calves, 40 mares with their colts of two years, 160 draft horses, 2000 hogs, 3000 bullocks, 40 tons of wine, 600 bacons, 80 carcases of Martinmas beef, 600 muttons in his larder, 10 tons of cyder, armour, plate, jewels, and ready money, 10000l. 36 sacks of wool, and (what was of no small value in those times) a library of books.

This earl married Constance, daughter of Edmond Langley, duke of York, and although he was one of the chief of those peers who formerly acted in the deposition of king Richard II. yet he was soon after degraded from his honour of earl, by parliament, in the 1st year of king Henry IV. as all others were who had been concerned in the death of Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester; after which, being conscious of his danger, he fled; but being taken at Bristol, he was carried into the market place there, by the rabble, and beheaded; and the next year, by the name of Thomas, late lord Spencer, he was adjudged a traitor, and to forfeit all his lands. His daughter, and at length sole heir, Isabel, in the year her father died, was married to Richard Beauchamp, lord Bergavenny, and afterwards earl of Worcester, who in the 2d year of king Henry V. had possession granted to him of all these lordships and lands, which, upon the death of her brother, under age and without issue, descended to her, among which was this manor of Henden, and upon the death of Constance, her mother, had the like possession granted of what she held in dower.

Richard earl of Worcester died before her, and she afterwards, by a special dispensation from the, pope, they being brothers children, married Richard Beauchamp earl of Warwick, one of the most considerable persons of his time; for, at the coronation of king Henry IV. he had been made a knight of the Bath, being then only nineteen years of age. In the 5th year of whose reign, he behaved bravely against Owen Glendower, then in rebellion, whose standard he took in open battle, and afterwards gained great honour in the battle of Shrewsbury, fought against the Percies.

At the coronation of king Henry V. he was constituted lord high steward, as the patent expresses it, for his wisdom and indesatigable industry in the king's service; after which he was declared captain of Calais, and governor of the marches of Picardy, and in 1417, created earl of Aumarle, or as we usually call it, Albermarle, in reward for his bravery in France, and elected knight of the Garter; and upon the death of king Henry V. was appointed governor to the young king, Henry VI. and afterwards, on the death of the duke of Bedford, regent of France, and lieutenant general of all the king's forces in that realm, and in Normandy. He died at the castle of Roan, in 1439, leaving Isabel, his second wife, before mentioned, surviving, (fn. 11) by whom he had Henry, of whom hereafter, and Anne, married to Richard Nevill earl of Salisbury, and afterwards earl of Warwick; she died within a few months after the earl her husband, being then possessed of this manor. (fn. 12)

Their son, Henry de Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, succeeded his mother in this estate at Sundridge, being little more than fourteen years of age at his father's death. He was so great a favourite with king Henry VI. that the highest honours were thought insufficient to express the king's affection towards him. In the 22d year of king Henry VI. he was created premier earl of England, and for a distinction between him and other earls, he had granted to him, and the heirs male of his body, licence to wear a golden coronet on his head, as well in the king's presence, as elsewhere; and within a few days afterwards he was further advanced to the rank of duke of Warwick, with precedence next after the duke of Norfolk, and before the duke of Buckingham; after which he had the grant of the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, and others adjacent, together with other castles, lands, and manors; and, lastly, he was declared king of the isle of Wight, the king placing the crown on his head with his own hands; but he lived not long to enjoy these honours, being taken off in the flower of his age, in 1445, in the twenty-second year. His body was carried to Tewksbury, where it lies interred among his ancestors, in the middle of the choir; he died possessed of this manor of Henden, leaving Cicely, his wife, daughter of Richard Nevill earl of Salisbury, surviving, whom he had married in his father's life time, when he was scarce ten years of age, being then called by the name of lord Despencer, and one daughter, Anne, who died an infant. Upon which Anne, her aunt, sister to the late duke of Warwick, became heir to the earldom and her brother's estates, being at that time the wife of Richard Nevill earl of Salisbury, before mentioned, having been married to him the same year that Henry, her brother, married Cicely, his sister; by reason of which marriage, and in respect of his special services, he had the title of earl of Warwick confirmed to him and his wife, and their heirs.

This earl, who is so well known in English history by the title of the King-maker, finding himself of consequence sufficient to hold the balance of the families of York and Lancaster, by his changing from one side to the other, rendered England, during the continuance of his power, a scene of constant confusion and bloodshed, and made or unmade kings, of this or the other house, as suited his passions, or served his purposes; at length he was slain, endeavouring to re-place king Henry on the throne, at the battle of Barnet, in 1471.

By Anne his wife, before mentioned, he had only two daughters, whom he married into the royal family; Isabel, the eldest, being married to George duke of Clarence, brother to king Edward IV. and Anne, the youngest, first to Edward prince of Wales, son of king Henry VI. and 2dly to Richard duke of Gloucester, afterwards king Richard III. (fn. 13)

After the earl's decease, the countess, his widow, lived in great distress. The vast inheritance of the Warwick family was taken from her by authority of parliament, as if she had been naturally dead, most of which was given to her two daughters, Isabel and Anne.

King Henry VII. after his accession to the throne, in the 3d year of his reign, recalled the old countess of Warwick from her retirement in the North, where she lived in a mean condition, and both her daughters being dead, he, by a new act of parliament, annulling the former, as against all reason, conscience, and course of nature, and contrary to the laws of God and man, so are the words, and in consideration of the true and faithful service, and allegiance, by her borne to king Henry VI. as also, that she never gave cause for such desherison, restored to her the possession of all the inheritance of the Warwick family, with power to her to alien the same, or any part of it. But this was not done with any purpose, that she should enjoy any part of it, but merely that she might transfer the whole of it to the king, which she did that year by a special seossment, and a fine thereupon had, granting the same, consisting of one hundred and fourteen lordships and manors, among which was this of Henden, to the king and his heirs male, (fn. 14) with remainder to herself and her heirs for ever.

From this time the manor of Henden seems to have remained in the crown till king Henry VIII. in his 9th year, exchanged this his manor and park of Henden, with Sir Thomas Bulleyn, for the manor of Newhall and other lands, in Effex; who, on account of the great affection which the king bore to his eldest daughter, the lady Anne, was advanced, in the 17th year of that reign, to the title of viscount Rochford, and three years afterwards to that of earl of Wiltshire and Ormond.

From him this estate passed to William Stafford, esq. who, in the 33d year of that reign, conveyed it to the king; and he, in the 34th year of his reign, demised his park, and the lands called Henden-park, with their appurtenances, in Henden, Brasted, Sundridge, and Chedyngstone, and the lodges in the park, to George Harper, for a term of years; and the next year he granted, among other premises, the fee of this manor, parcel of the possessions of William Stafford and Mary his wife, daughter and heir of Thomas earl of Wiltshire, and the park of Henden, in the parishes above mentioned, to Sir John Gresham, to hold in capite by knights service. He was of Titsey, in Surry, and third son of John Gresham, of Holt, in Norfolk, younger brother of Sir Richard, who was lord mayor and uncle to Sir Thomas, who built the Royal Exchange. (fn. 15) He was lord mayor of London, in 1547, and died possessed of this estate in 1556, some little time before which the park here seems to have been disparked.

His grandson, Sir William Gresham, sold it, at the end of queen Elizabeth's reign, to Sir Thomas Hoskins of Oxsted, in Surry, whose grandson, Sir William Hoskins, died possessed of it in 1712; and in his descendants it continued down to Charles Hoskins, esq. of Barrow-green place, in Oxsted, whose only daughter and heir, Susannah Chicheley Hoskins, then an insant, became intitled to the inheritance of it. She married, in 1790, Richard Gorges, esq. who now in her right possesses this manor.

COMBEBANK is a seat here, so called from some antient camp or fortification, placed at or near it, comb, in Saxon, signifying a camp. Most probably here was once likewise a burying-place for the Roman soldiers, as many urns of an antique shape and figure have been found in digging near it; and some have imagined there was a Roman military way, which led from Oldborough, in Ightham, through this place to Keston camp, near Bromley, in this county.

Combebank was formerly esteemed as part of the manor of Sundridge, and as such now pays a portion of the antient fee farm rent of that manor. As such, it was for many descents the estate of the Isleys, lords of Sundridge manor, with whom it remained till the 18th year of queen Elizabeth's reign, when it was vested, by the act passed that year, in the lord treasurer and others, to be sold with the rest of his estates in this parish, towards the payment of Wm. Isley's debts. By them Combebank was accordingly sold to one of the family of Ash, who were of good repute in this neighbourhood, as well for their possessions as for their long standing in it. The last of them here was William Ash, esq. who alienated it to Col. John Campbell, who, on the death of Archibald, duke of Argyle, in 1761, succeeded to that title.

This noble family is derived from a series of illustrious ancestors, of whom there are traditional accounts so high as the reign of Fergus, the second king of Scotland, anno 404.

In 1545, Sir Duncan Campbell, eldest son of Sir Colin. was advanced to the dignity of a lord of parliament, as was his grandson, Colin, in 1457, to the title of earl of Argyle, whose descendant, Archibald, eighth earl of Argyle, was by king Charles I. in 1641, created marquis of Argyle, in Scotland; all which titles he forfeited for treason, of which he was found guilty, and beheaded at Edinburgh, in 1661.

His son, Archibald, was, in 1663, restored by the king to the estate, title, and precedency, formerly enjoyed by his ancestors, earls of Argyle; but in 1681, being accused of treason, he was found guilty, and though he then made his escape, yet landing with a force from abroad, in 1685, he was taken, and on his former sentence, was beheaded at Edinburgh that year. He married Mary, daughter of James Stuart, earl of Murray, by whom he had four sons and two daughters; of the former, Archibald was created duke of Argyle; John, the second son, was of Mammore, and was father of the late duke; Charles and James were both colonels in the army.

Archibald, the eldest, his father's attainder being taken off by the parliament, immediately after the Revolution, was tenth earl of Argyle, and afterwards, in 1701, created duke of Argyle, marquis of Kyntire and Lorn, earl of Campbell and Cowell, viscount of Lochow and Glengla, and lord Inverary, Mull, Morvern, and Terry, who dying in 1703, left by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Lionel Talmash, two sons and a daughter; John, the great duke of Argyle, who was created a peer of England, by the titles of duke and earl of Greenwich, and baron Chatham; and died in 1743, leaving only four daughters his coheirs, (fn. 16) so that there titles expired with him; but as duke of Argyle, &c. in Scotland, he was succeeded by his brother, Archibald, who, in 1706, had been created earl of and viscount Ila, and lord Ornsay, Dunoon, and Aros, in Scotland, but died without issue, in 1761.

He was succeeded as duke of Argyle, marquis of Lorn, &c. by colonel John Campbell, of Mammore, second son of Archibald, ninth earl of Argyle; (fn. 17) which John, duke of Argyle, purchased this seat of Combebank, before mentioned, and made it one of the principal seats of his residence. He married Mary, daughter of John lord Bellenden, by whom he had John, marquis of Lorn, who succeeded him in titles and estate; three other sons, and one daughter. He died in 1770, but in his life time he gave this seat to his third surviving son, the Right Hon. lord Frederick Campbell, who is the present possessor of it, and resides here.

His lordship married, in 1769, Mary, daughter of Amos Meredith, esq. and widow of Laurence Shirley earl Ferrers, and by her, who died in 1791, has issue. He is a privy councellor, a lord of trade and plantations, lord register of Scotland, and member of parliament for Argyleshire, in that kingdom.

HIS PRESENT GRACE, the duke of Argyle, whilst marquis of Lorn, his father being living, was on December 20, 1766, created a peer of England, by the title of, BARON SUNDRIDGE OF COMBEBANK, in the county of Kent, to him and his heirs male, and in failure of which to the lords William and Frederick, his brothers and their heirs male successively. His Grace married, in 1759, Elizabeth, daughter of John Gunning, esq. and widow of James, late duke of Hamilton, who, in 1776, was created a baroness of England, in her own right, by the title of baroness Hamilton, and who died in 1790, by whom he had George marquis of Lorn, one other son, and two daughters. He bears for his arms, Quarterly, 1st and 4th, Campbell; 2d and 3d, the lordship of Lorn. For his crest, on a wreath, a boar's bead, couped proper, or; and for his supporters, two lions guardant, gules.

Charities.

MRS. ELIZABETH SMITH, alias CRANE, gave by will, in 1638, for the poor of the parish who do not receive alms, part of a tenement, in the occupation of John Shenstone, now of the annual produce of 2l. 16s. 8d.

MRS. ELLEN LEWIS gave by will, in 1646, for four sermons, to be preached, 1l. 6s. 8d. for three Bibles, 2s. and for bread, 3s. 4d. payable out of land, the property of Edward Peach, esq. the annual produce being 2l. 10s.

HUMPHRY HYDE, esq. gave by will, in 1719, for the education of ten poor children, the annual sum of 6l. payable out of a farm, of which John Hulks is tenant, and now of that annual produce.

JOHN HYDE, esq. gave by will, in 1776, for twelve poor families, not receiving alms of the parish, a sum of money, vested in the funds, by the trustees, now of the annual produce of 6l.

A PERSON UNKNOWN gave, for the use of the poor. the annual sum of 3s. 4d. payable out of land, the property of Thomas Hambleton, and now of that annual product.

ANOTHER PERSON UNKNOWN gave, for that purpose, a like annual sum, payable out of a tenement belonging to Queen's college, and now of that annual produce.

SUNDRIDGE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester, and being a peculiar of the archbishop, is as such within the deanry of Shoreham. The church consists of two isles and two chancels, having a pointed steeple at the west end.

Among other monuments and inscriptions in it, on the north side is a fine antient altar tomb, under an arch of Gothic work, on the side of it were the figures of a man and woman, with an inscription now lost, but Philipott says, it was for John Isley, esq. sheriff of Kent, anno 14 Edward IV. and deceased anno 1484. At the foot of the above is a grave stone, on which are the figures in brass of a man in armour, and his wife, with ten sons and three daughters, but the inscription is gone, and one shield of arms, yet there are three remaining, which shew it to have been for one of the Isleys, who married a Guldeford. On the south side is a gravestone, with the figure in brass, of a man in armour, with a lion at his feet, with an inscription in black letter for Roger Isley, lord of Sundresh and Fremingham, ob. 1429; above two shields, one Isley, second the like, impaling ermine a bend. A memorial before the rails for Gervasius Nidd, S.T.P. rector of this parish, ob. Nov. 13, . . . . ˙In the south chancel, a mural monument for John Hyde, esq. lord of the manor of Sundridge Weald and Millbrook, ob. 1729; above these arms, Gules, a saltier or, between four besants of the second, a chief ermine, impaling ermine on a canton argent a crescent or; another like monument for John Hyde, esq. ob. 1677, arms as the former. An oval mural monument for Elizabeth, wife of Humphry Hyde, esq. ob. 1713. A monument for Frances, widow of Peter Shaw, M.D. and daughter of John Hyde, esq. ob. 1767. A memorial for Henry Hyde, gent. A. M. ob. Oct. 26, 1706; and for Humphry Hyde, gent. second son of John Hyde, esq. lord of Sundridge manor, ob. 1709, æt. 18. Near this last stone is one, having a large brass plate, with the figure of a man in somewhat a singular habit, but the inscription and four shields of arms are torn off. In the north chancel is a vault for the Aynsworths. In the middle of the great chancel are two adjoining grave stones, on which were inscriptions in brass capitals of the thirteenth century, let in, separate round the verge of the stones, all which are now picked out; they belonged most probably to one of the family of Isley.

In the first window of the above chancel are two shields, with the arms of Isley, in very antient coloured glass, the first ermine, a bend gules, impaling ermine a cross gules; the second as above, impaling Colepeper. In the third window, a shield quarterly, 1st and 4th, Isley; 2d and 3d, ermine a fess gules.

It is a rectory, the patronage of which was part of the antient possessions of the see of Canterbury, to which it belongs at this time.

In the 15th year of king Edward I. this church was valued at thirty marcs. (fn. 18)

¶By virtue of a commission of enquiry, taken by order of the state, in 1650, issuing out of chancery, it was returned, that Sundridge was a parsonage, with a house, barn, and twelve acres of land thereto belonging, which, with the tithes, were worth one hundred pounds per annum, Mr. Samuel Sharpe then incumbent, being put in by the parliament, who received the profit thereof for his salary, and the vicars tithes also. (fn. 19)

It is valued in the king's books at 22l. 13s. 4d. and the yearly tenths at 2l. 5s. 4d. (fn. 20)

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol3/pp126-145

Him by Zefrog

Rehearsal of the London Gay Men's Chorus' Bad Boys concert at the Cadogan Hall - 20 June 2007

of what was thought but unsaid by shades of mediocrity

on black

Him' palm by Huei-Chiang Tsai

what is ur destiny

Sign him up! by Dave Gunn

Kenilworth Road, Luton

Her vs. Him by MH Photography

St Mary the Virgin, Westerham, Kent by Jelltex

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.

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 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.

Indeed, at the midway point between Oxted and Westerham, there was the welcome to Kent sign, so the crawling could begin.

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.

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)

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol3/pp158-179

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