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Somehow I had missed Boxley from previous crawls in the area. I guess, once upon a time, Boxley was a quiet village halfway up the downs, relying on sheepfarming for its income. In the 21st century, its just a suburb of Maidstone, though a mile or so outside the county town.
All Saints popped up on the churchcrawling group on Facebook, and thought it looked interesting, which is something of an understatement.
We arrived at just after eleven, in the lych gate there was a sign saying the church was open, so, result!
Approaching the church aloong a stone path it feels very un-Kent-like, especially as entrance to the church is in the very west end.
You enter, and are in a large space, in fact this was the Norman chancel of the original church, then into the space below the west tower, and there is the door into the church as it is now.
But I could hear voices from within, probably wardens cleaning, or so I thought...
But turned out to be a lecture on wildflowers; maybe i should crash it? But don't.
We find a leaflet and find that it had been going on nearly an hour, so we go to sit outside to see if it was going to end on the hour mark....
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The church lies at the far end of the village green. Visitors who do not first walk around the outside of the church wonder if they are ever going to get in - for they have to walk through two rooms first! From the outside it is not so puzzling; the first room is in fact the nave of the Norman church. Then comes the base of the fifteenth-century tower, built on the site of the Norman chancel. Only after we have gone through this do we come to the church proper - a complete fourteenth-century structure. It is wide, with two aisles, and relatively short. The chancel is well proportioned and has a definite lean to the south indicating medieval building error.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Boxley
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BOXLEY.
ADJOINING to Maidstone north-eastward lies the parish of Boxley, written in Domesday, Boseleu, and in the Textus Roffensis, Boxele and Boxle, a parish noted, as well for the famous assembly of the whole county, held at Pinenden heath, within the boundaries of it, in the reign of the Conqueror, as for the abbey not long afterwards founded in it.
THE VILLAGE of Boxley situated at the foot of the chalk hills, above which this parish extends among the coppice woods, over a barren dreary country covered with flints, to Dun-street, at the northern boundaries of it. Southward it extends to the rivulet in the valley, at a very small distance from the town of Maidstone, a length of near four miles, the width of it is not more than three at its greatest extent, and in most parts much less; the soil from its extent is of course various, to the northward it is chalk; in the middle, and towards the west a deep sand; to the eastward a wet cludgy earth, and to the south and south-east for the most part a not unfertile loamy soil bounding upon the rock. It is a situation much more healthy than it is pleasant, owing to its chalky and sandy soils, and its bleak situation. The village is watered by a clear spring, which rises just below the church, and directs its course through the street; this spring, as well as another, which rises likewise at the foot of the chalk hill, just above Boxley abbey, are both very inviting to the sight, but the water is very hard and unfit for culinary uses, especially the latter, which in two months will petrify wood, the incrustation resembling brown and unpolished marble. These join just below the abbey, and flow together into the Medway, almost opposite to Allington castle.
The village lies on a descent from the hills, there are several genteel houses in it; at the upper or northern part of it is Boxley house, lord Romney's, inhabited by his three sisters and Mr. Coker; somewhat lower down is a house, which for many years was the property and residence of the family of Charlton, who bore for their arms, Or, a lion rampant gules, the last of them, John Charlton, esq. dying in 1770 unmarried, it came by his will, together with the chief of his other estates, to his eldest nephew, the Rev. George Burville, (son of the Rev. Henry Burville, by Anne his sister). The Burvilles bear for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three oak leaves erect, vert. Mr. Burville married Juliana, daughter of William Bowyer, esq. of Denham, in Buckinghamshire, by whom he has a son John, and daughter Frances, married to the Rev. Philip Rashleigh. He is the present possessor of this house, in which he resides; below this is the parsonage and vicarage, the latter a handsome genteel house, and just above it at a small distance from the east side of the street, the church; almost adjoining to Mr. Burville's house, is another more antient one, called Park-house, once part of the estate of Boxley abbey, and afterwards in like manner, the estate of Sir Thomas Wyatt, whose son forfeited it for treason in the 1st year of queen Mary How it passed afterwards I have not found, though it seems never to have been restored to his descendants; in the beginning of the present century it was in the possession of the family of St. John, in which it remained till Mrs. St. John joining with her son, Paulet St. John, sold it in 1720 to Maudistley Best, esq. (son of Mr. Thomas Best, of Chatham) who resided and kept his shrievalty here in 1730, bearing for his arms, sable, two cross croslets in chief, and a cinquefoil in base, or. He died in 1740, leaving two sons, Thomas, late of Chilston, esq. and James, of Chatham, and a daughter, married to the hon. Robert, afterwards lord Fairfax, of Leeds castle, who died s. p. He gave by will this seat to his youngest son James, who served the office of sheriff in 1751, and resided here at times, and died in 1782, leaving by Frances his wife, one of the daughters of Richard Shelley, esq. four sons and four daughters, to the eldest of the former, Thomas Best, esq. he by will gave this house and his estate in this parish, and he now resides in it. There has been from time immemorial a warren for rabbits here, the lands of which lay close at the foot of the chalk hills, it formerly belonged to Boxley abbey, and was afterwards in the possession of the Wyatts, and is now from them the estate of lord Romney, and there was likewise another part of it used likewise as a warren, lying near Pinenden-heath, which was part of the Park-house estate, and as such, is now the property of Mr. Best, but the name only remains, the rabbits having been for some time destroyed, and the land made arable. About a mile. eastward from the village in a low flat situation, at no great distance from the high road from Rochester to Maidstone, is Boxley abbey, with a small hamlet of houses near it, and nearer to the hills the abbey farm. The plantations of the estate called the Park-house, likewise, the old seat of which was situated in Maidstone parish, near the high road to Rochester, as has been already described, extend into the western part of this parish. The late Sir Henry Calder, whose property it was, pulled down the old house, and on a beautiful spot near adjoining, though within this parish, began a handsome stone mansion, which after his death was finished by his widow, who with her son Sir Henry, for some time resided in it; it is now inhabited by Mr. Osborne. At a small distance eastward from hence, in nearly the centre of this parish, excepting that Maidstone stretches itself with a point or nook over a part of it, is that noted plain Pinnenden, now usually called Pickenden heath, a place made famous in early times; the western part is in Maidstone parish, the remainder in this of Boxley. From its situation almost in the middle of the county or shire of Kent, this heath has been time out of mind used for all county meetings, and for the general business of it, the county house for this purpose, a poor low shed, is situated on the north side of it, where the sheriff continues to hold his county court monthly, and where he takes the poll for the members of the county, and for the coroners, the former of which, after a few suffrages is usually adjourned to Maidstone; on a conspicuous hill on the opposite side of the heath, though in Maidstone parish, is the gallows, for the public execution of criminals condemned at the assizes.
At the time of the conquest it was the noted place for the public meetings of the county; for in the book of Domesday there is mention made, that when the inhabitants of Kent were summoned to meet ad sciram, that is, in public assembly at the shyregemot or Sheriff'stourn, for the trial of certain customs therein mentioned, they should go for that purpose as far as Pinnedenna, but no further.
In the year 1076, being the 11th of the Conqueror's reign, a famous assembly was held at this place on the following occasion.
Odo, bishop of Baieux and earl of Kent, had by means of his great power, defrauded the church of Canterbury of many manors and lands, and of several liberties, and had kept possession of them; but upon Lanfranc's being made archbishop in the year 1070, he represented the whole of the injury done to his church to the king, who forthwith commanded that it should be enquired into and determined by the nobles, and other competent men, not only of this county, but of the other counties of England, assembled for this purpose at this heath.
There were present at this meeting Goisfrid, bishop of Constance, who sat as the king's representative on this occasion; archbishop Lanfranc, who pleaded his church's cause; Odo, earl of Kent, who defended himself against his accusers in what he had done; Ernest, bishop of Rochester; Agelric, bishop of Chester, an antient man, and well versed in the laws of the realm; who on account of his great age was, by the king's order, brought hither in a waggon, in una quadriga; Richard de Tunebrige, Hugh de Montfort, William de Arsic, Hamo Vicecomes or Sheriff, and many others, barons of the king and of the archbishop, many tenants of those bishops, and many others of good and great account, as well of this as of other counties, both French and English.
This trial lasted three days, at the end of which the archbishop recovered several of the antient possessions of his church, as well from Odo as from Hugh Montfort and Ralph de Curva Spina or Crookthorne, and established the liberties of it, in matters between the king and himself. (fn. 1)
On the south side of the heath the turnpike road from Maidstone through Detling to Key-street aud Sittingbourn crosses this parish, and another branches off from hence to Bersted and Ashford; in the southern part of it are the hamlets of Grove green and Wavering-street, Newnham court, and the beautiful seat of Vinters, most pleasantly situated; below which in the vale is the stream which turns the paper mills, and separates this parish from Maidstone. At Grove, as has been already noticed, is a remarkable fine vein of fuller's earth, by the working of which Mr. John Watts, the owner of it, at the beginning of this century, became famous. But this earth was in working in 1630, at which time John Ray, merchant, of London, was sentenced to a severe fine and punishment in the Star Chamber, for transporting of it clandestinely to Holland. (fn. 2) This vein lies about thirty feet deep, and is about seven feet thick. There are two sorts of it, the blue and the dark grey, the latter of which lying under the former is most valuable; a great quantity of this earth is sent from hence by sea for the use of the clothiers in distant countries. For the manufacture carried on in this parish for the making of paper there are four sets of mills, two of which are situated at the south-east extremity of it, on the stream called the Little River, which rises near Lenham, and runs by Leeds castle hither; the upper ones, belonging to lord Aylesford, and the lower ones to Messrs. Hollingworth's; the other two are situated on the western side of the parish, near Aylesford, on the rivulet which rises under the chalk hills, and are made use of for making an inferior kind of merchandize, one of these belongs to lord Romney. The lower mills above-mentioned belonging to Messrs. Hollingworth, stand at a small distance on the north side of the road leading from Maidstone to the Mote, and are called the Old Turkey Mills, they deserve a more particular notice in this place for their superiority, as well in the many extensive buildings, machines and conveniences erected for carrying on this large and curious manufacture, and the number of people continually employed in the different branches of it, as the easy and regular method, and the neatness with which the whole is conducted. They were formerly used as fulling mills, but on the decay of the cloathing trade in these parts, were, by Mr. Gill, the proprietor, converted into paper mills, and used by him as such for a few years; he sold them to Mr. James Whatman, who in 1739 pulled the whole of them down, and erected them on a much more curious and extensive plan, which was afterwards much more improved by his son James Whatman, esq. who with infinite pains and expence, brought his manufactory of writing paper, for no other sort is made here, to a degree of perfection, superior to most in the kingdom. In 1794 he sold these mills to Messrs. Hollingworth, and retired to Vintners, where he now resides, and they now carry on this manufacture here; under the buildings is a strong chalybeat spring, which however does not produce any great quantity of water. In 1711 a Roman urn was dug up at Grove, by the workmen, near the vein of Fuller's earth there, as several others have been since, with other relics of antiquity and coins, both there and at Vintners, most of the coins having the inscription of the emperor Adrian, and the like have been from time to time discovered at Goddard's hill, in this parish, where there are several stones set up similar to those about Horsted.
OUR BOTANISTS have observed the following scarce plants in this parish:
Borago minor silvestris, small white bugloss, or German madwort.
Scopyllum angustifolium glabrum, smooth narrowleased thyme.
Buxus, the box tree, which grows plentifully in the woods here. (fn. 3)
Stellaria sanicula major, ladies mantle.
BOXLEY, at the time of taking the general survey of Domesday, was part of the vast estate of Odo, the great bishop of Baieux and earl of Kent, the Conqueror's half-brother; in which record it is thus described:
Robert Latin holds to ferm Boseleu. It was taxed at seven sulings in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and now at five sulings. The arable land is twenty carucates. In demesne there are three carucates, and fortyseven villeins, with eleven borderers having sixteen carucates. There are three mills of thirty-six shillings and eight-pence, and sixteen servants, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of thirty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth twenty-five pounds, now thirty pounds, and Robert yet pay fifty-five pounds. Alnod Cilt held it.
Four years after the taking of the above survey, about the year 1084, this estate, on the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, became forfeited to the crown, among the rest of his possessions.
In the year 1146, (fn. 4) William d'Ipre, earl of Kent, who afterwards became a monk himself at Laon, in Flanders, (fn. 5) founded an ABBEY at this place for monks of the Cistertian order, some of whom he brought from Claravalle, in Burgundy, for this purpose, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary, as all the houses of this order were. The first monastery of this order in England was at Waverly, which was built in 1129, by Walter Gifford, bishop of Winchester. They were a branch of the Benedictines, called by the English, from their habit, White monks, and likewise Cif tertians; which last name they had from the town of Cistertium or Cisteaux, in the bishopric of Chalons, in Burgundy, where this order was first instituted by Robert, abbot of Molesme, in the year 1098. There were eighty-five houses of this order, at the time of the dissolution, in England.
King Richard I. in his 1st year, anno 1189, gave the MANOR of BOXELE (fn. 6) to this abbey, which king Henry III. in his 37th year, confirmed by his letters of inspeximus. (fn. 7)
King Henry III. in his 37th year, granted to the abbot and convent to hold a market weekly within their manor of Boxley. (fn. 8) The place where it was held appears to have been called Farthings.
In the 7th year of Edward I. the abbot claimed, before the justices itinerant, certain liberties, by the charters of king Henry and king Richard, and the confirmation of them by the charter of king Henry, the then king's father. And he claimed to have warren in all his demesne lands in Kent and Surry, which he had in the time of king Henry, the king's father; and that he and his predecessors had fully used those liberties, &c. and it was then found, that the abbot had in his manor of Boxley a free court, &c. and that the tenants of the manor ought to plead in the hundred of Maidstone, pleas of Withernam, &c. and that the abbot ought to allow pannage, &c, and that the tenants of the manor owed pontage, and paid it to Rochester bridge. (fn. 9)
The abbot of Boxley was summoned to parliament twice in the 23d year of king Edward I. once in the 24th, and twice in the 28th years of that reign, but never afterwards, that I can find. (fn. 10)
In the reign of king Henry III. there were sixtyfour abbots and thirty-six priors summoned to parliament; but this number being thought too great, king Edward III. reduced them to twenty-five abbots and two priors, to which were afterwards added two more abbots, so that there were no more than twentynine in all, who statedly and constantly enjoyed this privilege, of which only St. Austen's, near Canterbury, was in this county. (fn. 11)
King Edward II. in his 15th year, honoured this abbey with his presence, where, on Oct. 25, he granted to the aldermen and citizens of London to nominate a mayor out of their own body, at his will. (fn. 12) King Edward III. in his 33d year, granted to the abbot, &c. free warren in their manor of Boxele, &c. (fn. 13)
In the reign of king Richard II. the revenues of this abbey were valued at 218l. 19s. 10d. of which 98l. 19s. 7d. was in the diocese of Canterbury, (fn. 14)
John Dobbes, the last abbot, and the convent of Boxley, surrendered it into the hands of Henry VIII. on January 29, in the 29th year of his reign, (fn. 15) and it was, together with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, confirmed to the king and his heirs, by the general words of the act, passed in the 31st year of that reign for this purpose; after which there were pensions allowed to the abbot, 50l. and to eight of the canons, from 2l. 13s. 4d. to 4l. yearly, for their lives, or until the person was promoted to a benefice of equal or superior value; the five last of which pensions remained in charge in 1553. (fn. 16)
It was endowed, at its dissolution, with 204l. 4s. 11d. per annum, clear revenue, according to Dug dale; or, according to Speed, with 218l. 9s. 10d. per annum, yearly income. (fn. 17)
The coat of arms belonging to it was, Argent, a dexter bend lozenge, gules; on a canton of the second, a crozier or pastoral staff of the field. (fn. 18) This coat, without the crozier, as also another, being a pastoral staff, surmounted of a bend, are still remaining carved in stone on the capitals of two pillars, from which springs a small circular arch in the garden, at the back of this abbey.
There was a chapel, dedicated to St. Andrew the apostle, founded hard by the outer gate of this monastery, which was served by a curate appointed for that purpose.
The lands of the abbey of Boxley, of the order of Cistertians, were as such, in particular circumstances, exempted from the payment of tithes. Pope Pascal II. exempted all the religious in general from the payment of tithes for lands in their own occupation, and this continued till the reign of Henry II. when pope Hadrian IV. restrained this exemption to the three religious orders of Cistertians, Templars, and Hospitallers, to which pope Innocent III. added a fourth, viz. the Præmonstratenses, from whence these were generally called the four privileged orders. After which the general council of Lateran, in 1215, further restrained this exemption to lands in their own occupation, and to those which they possessed before that time. After this the Cistertians procured bulls to exempt all their lands likewise which were letten to farm. To restrain which, the statute of the second of king Henry IV. cap. 4. was made, which enacted, that whoever, religious as well as secular, should put these bulls in execution, and purchase any others, and by colour of them should take any advantage in any shape, should be guilty of a præmunire. This restrained their privilege again to such lands only as they had before the Lateran council above mentioned; so that the lands they afterwards acquired are in no wise exempted, and this statute left them subject to the payment of such composition for tithes of their demesne lands as they had made with any particular rectors, &c. who contesting their privileges, even under that head, brought them to compound. This monastery of Boxley was one of those dissolved by the act of the 31st of king Henry VIII. the only ones which continued these privileges to their possessors afterwards; by which act, as well the king, his heirs and successors, as all others who should have any of those monasteries, their lands or possessions, were to hold and enjoy them, according to their estates and titles, discharged and acquitted of payment of tithes, as freely, and in as large and ample a manner as the late abbots, priors, &c. of the same before held them. (fn. 19)
In the Registrum Roffense, (fn. 20) are the names of the fields, woods, and other premises in the parish of Boxley, of which the abbot and convent here should in future be free and exempt from the payment of all tithes whilst they were in their own hands.
In the church of this abbey was the statue of St. Rumbald, usually called by the common people, St. Grumbald, which was held in great reverence for his fancity by them, for the miracles it was said to perform.
¶King Henry VIII. in his 32d year, exchanged with Sir Thomas Wyatt, of Allynton, for other premises, the house and scite of this monastery, lately dissolved, and the church, steeple, and church yard of it, with the buildings, lands, &c. as well nigh and adjoining to the scite and precinct of it, his lordship of Boxley, Hoo, and Newenham court, with their appurtenances and the farm and lands, called Upper Grange, and all lands, tenements, and other premises late belonging to it, in the parishes, townships, or hamlets of Boxley, Boxley-street, Burley, Burthin, Sandelyng, Wilston, Wavering, Havurland, Oxefiyth, Dunstreet upon the Hill, and elsewhere, in Kent, excepting to the king the parsonage of Boxley and the advowson of the parish church; (fn. 21) all which were soon afterwards again vested in the crown, as appears by the Escheat rolls of the 38th year of that reign, (fn. 22) when the king regranted the whole of them to Sir Thomas Wyatt, son of Sir Thomas before mentioned, to hold in capite by knight's service, who having, in the 1st year of queen Mary, with other gentlemen of note in this county, raised a rebellion, was found guilty of high treason, and executed that year, and his estate was consiscated to the crown; but the queen, through her bounty, the next year, granted the manor of Boxly, with the Upper Grange, and some other lands adjoining, to his widow, the lady Jane Wyatt, (daughter and coheir of Sir William Haut, of Bourne) and her heirs male, to hold in like manner. On her death, her son, George Wyatt, succeeded to them; but the abbey seems to have continued in the crown, for queen Elizabeth, in her 11th year, granted the scite and mansion of it to John Astley for a term of years. In the 13th year of that reign, George Wyatt, esq. was restored in blood by act of parliament, after which he became possessed of this seat, and resided here, having the fee of it granted to him by the crown. He died in 1624, and was buried in the chancel of this church, as were his several descendants, who bore for their arms, Per fess azure and gules, a barnacle argent, the ring or; he left several sons and daughters, of whom the second son, Haute Wyatt, was vicar of this parish; and Francis, the eldest, succeeded him in the manor of Boxley, the mansion of the abbey, the Grange, and his other estates in this parish. He was afterwards knighted, and was twice governor of Virginia. He died in 1644, leaving two sons, Henry, his eldest son and heir, and Edwin, who afterwards became possessed of this manor, seat, and estates, above mentioned, and a daughter, Elizabeth, who married Thomas Bosvile, esq. of Littlemote in Eynsford, esq. whose daughter Margaret became the wife of Sir Robert Marsham, bart. great grandfather of the present lord Romney.
Henry Wyatt, esq. was of Boxley abbey, and left an only daughter and heir, Francis, who carried this manor, seat, with the Grange and other estates above mentioned, in marriage to Sir Thomas Selyard, bart. but Edwin Wiat, the younger brother of Henry above mentioned, disputing at law the lady Selyard's title to them, recovered the manor of Boxley, with other estates last mentioned, in this parish and elsewhere; but the abbey, with the lands belonging to it, remained in the possession of Sir Thomas Selyard, as will be mentioned hereafter.
BOXLEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sutton.
The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, stands on the east side of the village; it is not large, but neat, and contains three isles and a chancel, with a handsome square tower at the west end, in which hang four small bells, which were cast in 1652, by M. Darby.
In this church, before the Reformation, was a famous rood, called the Rood of Grace, which was held in great esteem for the miracles it was supposed to work. It was broken to pieces by the king's command at St. Paul's cross, in London, on Sunday, February 24, 1538, in the presence of John Hilsey, bishop of Rochester, and a vast concourse of the populace. (fn. 35)
The church of Boxley was given by king Henry I. in 1130, to the church of Rochester, with all its liberties and rights, in like manner as his chaplain, Jeffry or Ansfrid, the clerk, had ever held it; but that church and monastery, having been destroyed by fire, and the monks dispersed abroad, king Stephen, in 1137, dispossessed them of this church, which, howeever, on their return to their monastery, was on their remonstrance to the court of Rome, by the pope's bull, restored and confirmed to them; and Walter, bishop of Rochester, not only confirmed to them the appropriation of it, but granted to them the free disposal and presentation of the vicarage, saving the right of the bishop of the diocese; which grant was confirmed likewise by the several archbishops of Canterbury afterwards.
In the year 1180, there was an agreement made between the monks of Boxley and those of Rochester, concerning the parochial tithes of this church; by which the latter granted to the former a certain field belonging to the parish church of Boxley, above the hills, but by the consent of the former they retained out of it for ever half an acre of wood for fencing; and the monks of Rochester granted to those of Boxley all the tithes above the hills of all lands, as well of those free lands, which the latter had of the king's gift, as of those which they had acquired, to be held finally in villenage, or might acquire in future, at any time for their own use; and likewise certain land belonging to this parish church, under the hill, with the meadow adjoining, between the abbey and village of Boxley; on the other hand, the monks of Boxley granted to those of Rochester all their tithes under the hills, without the bounds of the abbey and grange; that is to say, of all corn only and pulse, of all their lands under the hills, as well of those antiently as newly cultivated, and which they had from the foundation of the abbey, or might bring into culture at any time in future; and that the monks of Rochester should have all the tithes on the sides of the hills of all lands which at that time, or before were reduced to culture, excepting the field which the monks of Boxley bought of John de Horespole; which composition was confirmed by Richard, archbishop of Canterbury.
The confirmations of this church to the priory seem afterwards to have been but little regarded, and they were again dispossessed of it, with a reservation of 60s. annual pension only from it; and it appears, that the bishop of Rochester, together with the prior and convent, used to present to it on a vacancy, till the time of archbishop Islip, who at the petition of the monks, with the consent of the bishop, in 1363, restored this church to them, in as ample a manner as they had before held it; and he granted them full liberty to reenter into the corporal possession of it, with all its rights and appurtenances, on the vacancy of the rector then incumbent on it; reserving, nevertheless, in the first place, a proper portion out of the fruits and profits, for the maintenance of a perpetual vicar, at the presentation of the bishop, to be instituted by him and his successors, and for the due support of the episcopal and archidiaconal burthens, and others belonging to it; and a vicarage was afterwards accordingly endowed in it by archbishop Sudbury, in the year 1377. (fn. 36)
In 1403, a definitive sentence was passed concerning the tithes of this vicarage; (fn. 37) at which time, and so late as the year 1485, this church and advowson belonged to the priory of Rochester, for in the latter year, archbishop Bouchier, cardinal and apostolic legate, confirmed the appropriation of it to them; and a composition was entered into, anno 20 Richard II. between the prior and convent, and Adam Motrum, archdeacon of Canterbury; that as the archdeacon and his archdeaconry was detrimented in the yearly sum of 6s. 8d. the like sum should be yearly paid to the latter, out of the profits of it so long as they possessed it.
The appropriation, as well as the advowson of the vicarage, seems very soon afterwards to have passed into the hands of the prior and convent of Boxley, tho' by what means I do not find, before its dissolution, which happened in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. for that king, by his dotation charter, in his 32d year, settled his rectory and church of Boxley, late belonging to the dissolved monastery of Boxley, and the vicarage of it, on his new erected dean and chapter of Rochester, part of whose possessions they now remain.
In the 15th year of king Edward I. this church was valued at 32l. the vicarage is valued in the king's books at 12l. 19s. 2d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 5s. 11d.
King Henry VIII. in his 29th year, let to Thomas Vicary, one of his surgeons, the tithes of corn and the glebe lands of this rectory, and the capital messuage, houses, and buildings belonging to it, and ten pieces of land, late belonging to the monastery of Boxley and the advowson of the vicarage, for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of forty pounds.
In the exchange of lands, made between Henry VIII. and Sir Thomas Wyatt, in the 32d year of his reign, the parsonage of Boxley, and the advowson of the vicarage, with their appurtenances, were particularly excepted, to remain to the king's use.
By a survey of this parsonage, on the abolition of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. in 1649, by order of the state, is appears, that the par sonage-house, a fair and goodly house, with its appurtenances, tithes, &c. late belonging to the late monastery there, and forty-eight acres, three roods, and two perches of land, in the improved rents, were the whole of them worth 140l. 3s. 6d. per annum; and were let by the dean and chapter, anno 15 Charles I. to Robert Parker for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of 26l. 13s. 4d. and twelve couple of conies, or 16s. in money; that the lessee was bound to repair the chancel, and that the vicarage, which was excepted out of the lease, was worth sixty pounds per annum.
The present lessee of the parsonage is Mr. William Fowle; the vicarage is reserved out of the lease of it, and is in the disposal of the dean and chapter.
The vicar of Boxley has belonging to him all tithes of wood, hops, hay, clover, cinquefoil, flax, wold, wool, lambs, milk, eggs, apples, cherries, and other fruit, and of pasture; his dues are, for burials, 2s. for marriages, 5s. for christenings in houses, 2s. 6d. and for churchings at church, 6d. at home, 1s. for Easter offerings he can demand of every person, above sixteen years old, 6d. so of a man and his wife, 1s.
He has a pension of 8l. per annum, payable out of the exchequer, as an augmentation; the fees for receiving of which are, if he receives it himself, 12s. if by another, 20s. (fn. 38)
¶The land the vicarage house, with its appurtenances, stands on, with the garden and court yard, is not above the third part of an acre; which, with the herbage of the church yard, is all the glebe the vicar has. The house, which is built of brick, and sashed, is handsome and commodious, and has proper offices adjoining to it. It was erected by Mr. archdeacon Spratt, whilst vicar of this parish; since which it has been considerably improved by Dr. Markham, vicar likewise, now arch bishop of York, who sometimes resided in it, as did his successor, Dr. North, now bishop of Winchester.
In 1733, the vicarage was valued at 200l. it is now 300l. per annum.
Bishop Henry de Sandford, by his decree temp. Henry III. at the petition of the vicar and parishioners, changed the feast of the dedication of this church, from the 10th of February to the Monday next after the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul.
I came across this lean to while exploring the Washington coast by the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. Pretty cool, huh!
By mistake I ended up in West Malling, but it was a good thing, as the village is chocolate box pretty, and the church very fine indeed. The only church I visited that had no wardens to welcome (I think, sorry if I have mis-remembered). Anyway, a fine church, amazing coat of arms, and glad I visited.
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A story of all's well that ends well. A Norman tower and thirteenth-century chancel are linked by a twentieth-century nave that had in its turn replaced one erected to replace its medieval predecessor in the eighteenth century! The west window and those in the south aisle are by C.E. Kempe and Co. Ltd, and of special note is the one depicting the Three Kings. On the south side of the chancel, backing on to a medieval lean-to vestry, is the splendid tomb of Sir Robert Brett (d. 1620), which has recently been restored. The colours are superb and show how churches must have looked when these monuments were new. In the north aisle is a large painting of the Last Supper by Francis Slater, the eighteenth-century artist who painted the ceilings of nearby Mereworth Castle. Hanging on the front of the west gallery are the outstanding Royal Arms of James II, of carved and painted wood. The twentieth-century rebuilding of the church was financed by the sale of an Elizabethan stoneware jug (now in the British Museum), the transaction being recorded on an inscribed stone in the north porch.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=West+Malling
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WESTWARD from East Malling lies the town and parish of West Malling, now most commonly called Town Malling.
It is written in Domesday, MALLENGETIS, and in the Textus Roffensis, MELLINGES. In many deeds after the conquest, it is stiled MILLINGES PARVA, to distinguish it from East Malling, then the larger and more noted village of the two.
The town and parish of West Malling, excepting the borough of St. Leonard, which is under the jurisdiction of the constables of the hundred of Larkfield, is under the jurisdiction of its own constables, of which there are two chosen yearly.
THE PARISH of Town Malling, as it is usually called, is situated equally pleasant and healthy. It lies on high ground, and though dry is well watered, the soil of it being in the northern part a sand, the rest of it a loam, covering the quarry rock, which is very fertile, as has been frequently noticed before in the like situations. The high road from London through Wrotham to Maidstone, at the twenty-ninth mile stone leads along the northern boundaries of the parish, being called in king Edmund's grant of this place to the bishop of Rochester, the military way, no doubt from its having been used as such by the Romans, southward of it the ground gently rising; at less than a quarter of a mile's distance is the town of Malling, which is well built, having many genteel houses in it, the streets of a handsome width, and well paved. At the east end of it is the abbey, to which the approach is by a venerable antient gateway. Although the house itself was almost all of it pulled down and rebuilt by Mr. Honywood, yet many of the antient buildings and offices be longing to it are still remaining, and are made use of as such at present. A handsome tower of the church, the front of which is decorated with intersecting arches and zig-zag ornaments, similar to those on the west front of Rochester cathedral, built by the same founder, bishop Gundulph, is still remaining, as is an antient chapel or oratory, now made use of as a dwellinghouse.
From the foundations discovered in levelling the ground by Mr. Honywood, it appears, that this abbey consisted of two quadrangles or courts, with cloysters, and a spacious hall; and that the church had another tower, of the like size to that now standing. The burying-place seems to have been on the south side of the church, as in digging there, great quantities of human bones have been thrown up, and two stone coffins with skeletons in them, the lids of them had no inscriptions on them, but were ornamented each with a cross, having a quaterfoil pierced at the upper end, the stem of which was crossed more than once with foliage, several rings and trinkets, and some old coins have likewise been found at different times in cleaning away the rubbish.
Over the west end of the grand gateway, which stands at the entrance into the precinct of the abbey from the town, at the west end of the building, there is carved in stone, a heart distilling drops of blood, and on the other side, in a shield, Ermine, a crozier in bend sinister, on a chief three annulets.
In the meadows above the gardens, are large square excavations still visible, where the fish ponds of the aunnery formerly were.
The precinct of this monastery is washed by a rivulet of excellent clear water, which rising in the hamlet of St. Leonard, runs by the house, and through the gardens of it, whence gushing through the wall with a cascade, it crosses the road towards the Rev. Mr. Brooke's gardens. There is a view of this abbey in its present state published by Mr. Grose, in his Antiquities of England.
Near the abbey gate there is a good house, with a large garden, canal, and pleasure grounds, behind it, reaching down to the London road. It has been many years the residence of the Brooke's, from whom it passed by the will of Joseph Brooke, esq. who died in 1792, after the decease of his widow in 1796, to the Rev. John Kenward Shaw, brother of Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. who has since, in pursuance of the above will, and by the king's licence, taken the name of Brooke, and now resides in it. A little further westward there is a very antient stone building, called the Old Gaol, having narrow gothic windows, and the walls of great thickness. It is reported to have been the prison belonging to the abbey, and is now used as an oast for the drying of hops. About the middle of the street stands the church, and a little distance from it a good house, late the residence of Benjamin Hubble, esq. whose family have been inhabitants of this town for some length of time, several of them lying buried in this church. He died in 1780, leaving his widow, sister of Richard Savage, esq. of Boughton Monchelsea, surviving, and two daughters, his coheirs, one of whom having married Thomas Augustus Douce, esq. he now resides in it; further southward is the hamlet of St. Leonard, now making part of the town, and called St. Leonard's-street, in which is an antient seat, some years ago the residence of Charles Stewart, esq. whose father admiral Stewart purchased it of judge Twisden. This district had once a cell in it, belonging to the abbey, with a chapel. It was given at the time the manor and church was to it, as has been already mentioned. The whole of it has been long since desecrated, and in ruins; the square tower of the chapel which stands in the next field south-west from the late Mr. Stewart's house, is all that remains of it. It was purchased by him some years ago, of Sir John Honywood, in exchange for other premises near the abbey, and is now made use of as a stowage for hops. Mr. Stewart died in 1780, and was buried near his father in this church, and he was succeeded here by the hon. admiral John Forbes, who lately died posfessed of it. A market is held in the principal highstreet every Saturday, which is plentifully supplied and well frequented. There are three fairs, which are held by the alteration of the stile on August 12, October 2, and November 17, yearly, for horses, cattle, toys, &c. The whole town is excellently well watered with fine springs, which having supplied the town and abbey, collect themselves into one stream, and passing northward through Mr. Brooke's grounds, cross the high Maidstone road, and runs from thence into the Addington brook, just above Leyborne mill.
About half a mile south-east from the abbey there is a good modern-built house, called New Barne, which formerly belonged to Mr. Alchin, from whom it passed to Graham, the present possessor, who resides in it.
Above St. Leonard's street is the high road from Teston over East-Malling-heath, and through this parish to Offham, southward of which this parish extends into the large tract of coppice woods which reach to West Peckham and Mereworth.
Dr. William Briggs, an eminent physician, resided at the latter end of the last century at Town Malling, where he died, Sept. 1704, æt. 64, and was buried in this church, He was a great traveller into foreign countries, and was greatly esteemed for his skill in his profession, as well as for his learning, of which the several writings he published are sufficient testimonies. He was physician in ordinary to king William, and to St. Thomas's hospital, and bore his arms, Gules, three bars gemelles, or, a canton sable. (fn. 1)
THIS PLACE was given, about the year 945, by Edmund, king of the Angles and of Mercia, to Burhric, bishop of Rochester, by the description of a small portion of his land, called Meallingas, containing three plough lands; and he granted it to him, for the good of his soul, in perpetual inheritance, in augmentation of the revenues of his monastery of St. Andrew, with all its rights, liberties, members, and appurtenances, and this he did with the consent of his nobles and princes, whose names were subscribed to it. After the names of king Edmund, Edred his brother, and Eadgife his mother, are those of the archbishops and bishops, and then that of Ælgifu, the king's concubine, Ego Ælgifu Concubina Regis affui, and after her the dukes, &c. The bounds of this land are thus described in Saxon, viz. from the south part of it to the king's plaine, and from thence to the bounds of the parish of Offaham, and thence to the military way, and so along the said way over Lilleburne to the bounds of the parish of Est Meallinges, and so directly southward from the east of the cross or gallows to the broad way towards the south, in a direct line along the said way to the king's plaine. To which the king added certain denberies for the pannage of hogs.
This land did not continue long in the possession of the church of Rochester, being wrested from it in the time of the Danish wars; and when William the Conqueror had attained the crown, he gave it to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half brother, from whom it was recovered, together with the church of Mallinges, in the solemn assembly of the whole county held on this occasion, by the king's command, at Pinenden heath, in 1076, by archbishop Lanfrance, who afterward restored it to bishop Gundulph, and the church of St. Andrew; which gift was confirmed by archbishops Anselm and Boniface. (fn. 2)
In the survey of Domesday, taken about four years afterwards, this manor is thus described, under the general title of the bishop of Rochester's lands:
The same bishop (of Rochester) holds Mellingetes, it was taxed, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, at three sulings, and now at one and an half. The arable land is three carucates. In demesne there is one, and five villeins, with fix borderers, having two carucates. There is a church, and one mill of two shillings, wood for the pannage of twenty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth forty shillings, and now four pounds.
Bishop Gundulph, in the 4th year of the reign of king William Rufus, anno 1090, having founded an abbey of Benedictine nuns in this parish, to the honor of the Virgin Mary, gave this manor and church to it, with other possessions for the endowment of it; (fn. 3) and although it was, about one hundred years after its being first erected, with the adjoining village, destroyed by fire, yet it was again soon afterwards re-edified, and continued to increase in a flourishing state.
In the 7th year of king Edward I. anno 1278, the abbess of Malling claimed sundry liberties in this parish, by grant from king Henry III. and a market weekly throughout the year on a Saturday and Wednesday; and she claimed by grant from king John to have warren in all her lands at Malling, by grant from king Henry, from time beyond memory; and to have fairs in the parish on the eve, day, and morrow of St. Matthew the apostle, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Leonard, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Peter, ad vincula.
By which, and such like favours granted to it, this place, which at the first foundation of the monastery was plain fields, and almost without an inhabitant, became notwithstanding its former calamity mentioned before, exceedingly populous from the numbers who flocked to it from all parts, who building themselves houses here, increased the village to a large size, well suited for trade, to the no small emolument of the nuns; whence it soon lost its name of Malling Parva, which was for some time transferred to the neighbouring parish of East Malling, as appears by some grants, &c. of this time, and king Edward III. (fn. 4)
In the 15th year of king Edward I. the temporalities of the abbess of Malling in this parish and East Malling were valued at forty-five pounds.
There was an annual pension of ten pounds of wax, and one boar, paid by the abbess to the bishop of Rochester, as an acknowledgment of her subjection to that see.
In the year 1321, the bishop of Rochester, at the king's request, to whom the nuns had made a complaint, that their monastery was ruined by the bad management of their abbess, sister of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, visited it, and heard the complaints against her; in consequence of which she resigned, and the lady Agnes de Leyborne, was chosen in her room. Three years after which she died, and the bishop, at the unanimous request of the nuns, appointed Lora de Retling abbess here, though much against his will, knowing her to be very ignorant, and unfit for the office. However, he inhibited her giving a corredy to her maid servant, as had been the custom, and sequestered their common seal, inhibiting her from using it without his licence.
A great pestilence raging in the year 1348, the bishop made two abbesses here, who presently died; nor were there more than four nuns professed, and four not professed, remaining in this monastery; and he com mitted the custody of the spirituals and temporals to two of them, as there was not a proper person for the office of abbess.
In the year 1493, anno 9 Henry VII. Joane Moone was abbess of this monastery. (fn. 5)
This abbey was surrendered into the king's hands, with all its possessions, (fn. 6) among which were the manors of East and West Malling, with the precincts of Ewell and Parrock annexed to the latter, by Margaret Vernon, abbess, and the convent of it, in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. at which time it was valued at 245l. 10s. 2½d. annual rent, according to Speed, and 218l. 4s. 2½d. clear value, according to Dugdale, and there was granted to the abbess a pension of forty pounds yearly, and to eleven nuns from 31. 6s. 8d. down to 2l. 13s. 4d. yearly pensions, each for their lives.
After which that king, by his letters patent, in his 31st year, granted and sold, in exchange, among other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, the scite of the abbey, with the precinct and circuit of it, and the manors of West Malling, Ewell, and Parocke, and the parsonage of West Malling, late appropriate to it, excepting to the king all advowsons, presentations, &c. to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned; and as the king was entitled to the tenths of these premises, he discharged the archbishop of them, and all other outgoings whatsoever, except the rent therein mentioned. Which grant was in consequence of an indenture made between the king and the archbishop, inrolled in the Augmentation-office.
These manors and premises were again exchanged with the crown in the beginning of the reign of queen Elizabeth, in the 12th year of which she granted them in lease to Sir Henry Brooke, alias Cobham, fifth son of Sir George Brooke, lord Cobham; after which they were held by the same possessors, as the manor of East Malling before described, till at length, after the death of Sir Robert Brett, anno 1621, king James granted the manor of West, alias Town Malling, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, the scite of the late monastery, with the house, buildings, and ground within the precinct of it with all their appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of the late monastery, in fee, to John Rayney, esq. which was further confirmed to Sir John Rayney, his eldest son, in the 2d year of king Charles I. He was of Wrothamplace, in this neighbourhood, and was created a baronet of Nova Scotia, in 1641, and his son of the same name, about the time of the restoration, conveyed these premises to Isaac Honywood, gent. of Hampsted, Middlesex, who was the only son of Edward, third son of Sir Thomas Honywood, of Elmsted, ancestor likewise of the present Sir John Honywood, of Elmsted, baronet, and he continued to bear the same coat of arms; whose second son, Isaac Honywood, esq. of Hampsted, succeeded him in this manor and estate. Frazer Honywood, esq. of Hampsted and London, his only son and heir, rebuilt the abbey house of Malling in the antient gothic taste, at a very great expence, making it one of the seats of his residence, and having thus greatly improved it, he died possessed of this seat and manor, with the estate belonging to it, in 1764, leaving no issue by his wife, the daughter of Abraham Atkins, of Clapham. He gave them, as well as the rest of his estates here and elsewhere, by will, to his kinsman, Sir John Honywood, bart. of Elmsted, and his heirs male, with divers remainders over to the family of Honywood. Sir John Honywood, bart. is since deceased, and his grandson of the same name is the present owner of this manor, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, and the seat of Malling abbey, with the lands and appurtenances in this parish belonging to it, but Mr. Foote resides in it.
The family of Say antiently possessed THE MANOR of CLEMENTS IN EWELL, in this parish. Geoffry de Say held it in the 7th year of king Edward II. as half a knight's fee. His son, Geoffry de Say, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as half a knight's fee, which John at Forde held before in Ewell, in Malling, of the bishop of Rochester. This manor was afterwards in the name of Coveney, (fn. 7) and in the latter end of king Henry VIII. it was in the possession of Mr. William Fowle. Since which it has sunk into such obscurity, that neither the scite nor the owners of it can be traced out even by the most diligent enquiries.
CHARITIES.
THERE is a lecture founded in this church of a sermon every fortnight, on the Saturday; two of the preachers to be the ministers of East and West Malling, who are to be paid 10s. for every sermon they preach; the other preachers are appointed at the will of the trustees.
FRANCIS TRESSE, gent. of this town, who died in 1632, by his will gave a piece of land, and 40l. towards the building of a free school in this parish; and he charged one of his houses in Town Malling with the sum of 13s. 4d. per annum, for the keeping of it in repair; and appointed that four principal freeholders of this parish should be trustees for the execution of this part of his will for ever. This school was accordingly erected, and was made use of for the teaching of boys writing and arithmetic. The charity is veisted in the minister and tour substantial freehold inhabitants, and the estate out of which it is paid in Mr. Robert Sutton, of this parish, but there being no master, the school-house is at present let to the late master's widow at 2gs. perannum, which with the 13s. 4d. is applied towards the maintaining of the building. He also gave two silver cups for the use of the holy communion, and 6s. 8d. payable yearly out of a piece of land, called Cousin's Plat, now vested in Mary Brome, widow.
SIR ROBERT BRETT, by will in 1620, gave land sufficient to pay yearly 10s. per week, to be bestowed in bread and meat to twenty poor persons, or else to be distributed in money to them. His executors accordingly conveyed lands in Tewksbury, in Gloucestershire, for this purpose, which is now vested in lord Romney, and twenty-three others, trustees, of the annual produce of 26l. but of late years the annual produce has been but 19l. 14s.
TOWN MALLING is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURIDISCTION of the diocese of Rochester, and gives name to the deanry of Malling, in which it is situated.
The church, which is a handsome building, with an elegant spire steeple, is dedicated to St. Mary.
At the latter end of the year 1778, some of the main pillars of the body of it giving way, the whole roof of it fell in, leaving only the steeple and chancel at the two extremities of it standing. It has since been repaired, and thoroughly finished by a brief, which was obtained for that purpose.
The church of West Malling was given, with the manor, to the church of Rochester, by king Edmund, in 945; and having afterwards been taken from it, was again restored by archbishop Lanfranc to bishop Gundulph, in the time of the Conqueror, who gave it to the monastery here, at his foundation of it, and this gift was confirmed by several succeeding kings, archbishops of Canterbury, bishops of Rochester, &c. as has been already mentioned.
It was appropriated to the abbess and convent by bishop Gundulph, at the time it was given to them; which appropriation was specially confirmed by Simon, archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1351.
In the reign of king Edward III. great discutes arising between the abbess and nuns of this monastery, and Robert de Beulton, perpetual vicar of this church, especially concerning the receiving of the tithes of flax and hemp, and the payment of archidiaconal procurations, they were at last settled by Hamo, bishop of Rochester, who in the year 1339, decreed, that, saving the due and accustomed portion of the prebend of the great mass in the conventual church of Malling, and the portion of the vicar, as undermentioned, the religious should take all tithes of corn within the parish, and all oblations and obventions belonging to their conventual church, and the cell of St. Leonard; and that they should not be bound to pay to the vicar the tithes of their hay, woods, or mills. And whereas the bishop was informed, and it was allowed, that the above-mentioned prebendary, and other domestics, serving in the monastery, or in the houses of the prebendary, or perpetual chaplain, celebrating for the dead, as also the brothers and sisters, and other persons dwelling in the monastery, or house of the prebendary, who, when they were without the monastery and houses, were not housekeepers in the parish, were wont to receive the sacraments and sacramentals, in life and in death, and to be buried there, if they happened to die within the monastery or houses, unless by chance they chose to be buried elsewhere; in which case, the religious had the first mass for the body before them, in their monastery, and received all the oblations then and there made, so that no portion was left for the vicar of the parish church. And further, that the prebendary for the time being had been used to receive antiently, and to that time, in part of the portion due to him, all the great and small tithes of the demesne lands of the religious, and of the food of their cattle, and also the great tithes arising from many of the crofts of their tenants situated in the said parish, and also the small tithes of his house, and of the house and land of the perpetual chaplain aforesaid, and all the predial tithes arising from the houses or messuages, curtilages and gardens, late of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, in the street, called Holirode-strete, of this parish of Malling, situated above the house of the prebendary; and of all the houses, messuages, curtilages, and gardens whatsoever, from thence towards the east and north in Holirode-street, and in the street, called Tan-street, as far as the end of the parish of Malling on that side; and that the religious and prebendary had possessed all and singular the premises aforesaid, in certain distinct portions, peaceably and without contradiction, from the time beyond memory. (fn. 8)
The bishop, therefore, that none of the premises should be altered, decreed, saving all and every matter as aforesaid, that the vicar should receive for his portion all other small tithes, oblations, obventions and profits belonging to the parish church more especially, viz. the tithe of herbage, silva cedua, apples, pears, flax, hemp, wool, milk, cheese, calves, lambs, pigs, pidgeons, geese, ducks, bees, eggs, merchandizings, fowlings, fishings, swans, pulse, and other fruits, and also of corn growing in orchards or gardens, as he had-been accustomed to receive them.
¶And that the vicar should also receive the personal tithes of the inhabitants of the houses or messuages of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, and of others, inhabiting in the houses or messuages situated in the streets, called Holirode-strete and Tan-strete, and the oblations due and accustomed to the parish church, and should administer ecclesiastical rights to them, and should have the burial of them in the parish church; and that the vicar should have for his habitation, as assigned to him by the religious, the dwelling with its precinct, which the vicar then inhabited, and his predecessors used to inhabit, which he should repair at his own expence, and preserve in a decent state, and should pay the yearly rents and services, due and accustomed from thence; all which the bishop adjudged to be a sufficient portion for the vicar for the time being. And he further decreed, that the vicar should cause the books to be bound, the vestments to be washed; and the same, and the rest of the ornaments of the parish church, which belonged to the religious to find, as often as need should require, to be repaired, and should cause them to be safely and honestly kept; and that he should provide and find bread, wine, processional tapers, and other lights necessary and accustomed in the chancel, the necessary and accustomed ministers, rochets, surplices, napkins, unconsecrated vessels, basons, and also green rushes to strow the church, if they had been so accustomed, and did not belong to the parishioners to find; and that he should pay the dues to the bishop, and the archidiaconal procurations, and that the vicar should acknowledge and undergo, according to the rate of the taxation of his portion as under-mentioned, all ordinaries and extraordinaries, which, although it might amount to five marcs, being near the moiety of the value of the whole church, according to the estimation then had, he decreed should remain according to the antient taxation of it, as often as burthens of this kind were to be borne, and paid from small benefices. And he decreed, that the religious should acknowledge and undergo all and singular other burthens happening to the parish church, by reason of their portion, which he estimated at twelve marcs, according to the antient taxation of it, notwithstanding this assignation, which was made with the consent of both parties, and which by his episcopal authority, he corroborated and confirmed, &c. and that it might not be called in doubt in future times, or be litigated, he had caused it to be entered in his register, and to be reduced into three different writings, of which he decreed one to remain in the hands of the religious, another in the hands of the vicar, and the third in the hands of the prebendary aforesaid, to perpetuate the memory of it, and had caused it to be authenticated with his seal, &c.
This parsonage, prebend, and the advowson of the vicarage, were, on the dissolution of the abbey in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. surrendered into the king's hands. After which the king, next year, granted this parsonage, with the manor of West Malling, and other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned. After which it passed, with the manor of West Malling, in a like succession of ownership, down to Sir John Rayney, bart. who sold these premises, about the time of the restoration, to judge Twisden, and his descendant, Sir John Papillon Twisden, bart. is the present possessor of this parsonage, and the advowson of the vicarage of West or Town Malling.
The vicarage is valued in the king's books at ten pounds, and the yearly tenths at one pound.
Winterbourne Botanical Gardens, Edgbaston, Birmingham, West Midlands.
Winterbourne Botanic Garden is the botanic garden of the University of Birmingham, located in Edgbaston, Birmingham. It is adjacent to Edgbaston Pool, a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Set in 7 acres (28,000 m2), it is notable as a rare surviving example of an early 20th-century high
status suburban "villa" garden, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement of the Edwardian period. Both Winterbourne Botanic Garden and Winterbourne House are owned by the University of
Birmingham and are open to the public as a heritage attraction. The site is also part of the University conference park.
The house and garden are family friendly with interactive exhibits and a beautiful terraced tearoom. The site boasts an on-site gift shop, plant sales, second hand books for sale and a gallery with a changing programme of guest exhibitions. Winterbourne is open daily for a small charge with hours varying between summer and winter. Staff and students at the University of Birmingham are entitled to free entry. It is also part of the Historic Houses Association.
Winterbourne House and Garden were designed in 1903 as a family home for John and Margaret Nettlefold. John Nettlefold commissioned local architect Joseph Lancaster Ball to design and build the house which was finished in 1904. The house was made of brick and tile and has an intentionally wavy roof line. Margaret Nettlefold designed the original garden herself. The influence of designer Gertrude Jekyll can be seen in the colour themed border planting.
The Nettlefolds lived in the house with their children until Nettlefold's health meant he had to move away. In 1919, Margaret Nettlefold sold Winterbourne and moved away to be closer to her husband. The property was then bought by the Wheelock family who had 9 children. Wheelock was a local lawyer. The Wheelocks stayed at Winterbourne until 1925 when it was purchased by John Nicolson who was a successful businessman. Nicolson was a keen gardener and made several improvements to the garden at Winterbourne including expanding the rock garden and adding an alpine area.
Nicolson remained at the house until his death in 1944 and Winterbourne was bequeathed to the University. The house and garden remain a part of the University.
The University of Birmingham has made varied use of the building since 1944 but in 2010 it was
restored to its former glory as a family home (complete with William Morris design wallpapers). The garden had already undergone a period of restoration. The house and garden are now open as a
visitor attraction and the property is grade II listed.
The garden contains many plants from across the world. Highlights include an NCCPG collection of Anthemis, an orchid house, alpine garden, arid house, geographic beds and a Hazel (Corylus) tunnel. Other features of the garden include a restored wooden pergola, sunken rock garden, and a lean-to glasshouse that is notable for having been built on a slant. In 2011 a pleached lime walk was planted to reinstate one that was part of the original garden.
The design of the house was intended to make the best use of available light; notable features are its large windows, white painted panelling and south facing rooms. The house contains furniture dating from the late Victorian period to the 1920s. Restored rooms include a drawing room, study, bedroom and nursery. The visitor tearoom is located where the original dining room would have been.
By mistake I ended up in West Malling, but it was a good thing, as the village is chocolate box pretty, and the church very fine indeed. The only church I visited that had no wardens to welcome (I think, sorry if I have mis-remembered). Anyway, a fine church, amazing coat of arms, and glad I visited.
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A story of all's well that ends well. A Norman tower and thirteenth-century chancel are linked by a twentieth-century nave that had in its turn replaced one erected to replace its medieval predecessor in the eighteenth century! The west window and those in the south aisle are by C.E. Kempe and Co. Ltd, and of special note is the one depicting the Three Kings. On the south side of the chancel, backing on to a medieval lean-to vestry, is the splendid tomb of Sir Robert Brett (d. 1620), which has recently been restored. The colours are superb and show how churches must have looked when these monuments were new. In the north aisle is a large painting of the Last Supper by Francis Slater, the eighteenth-century artist who painted the ceilings of nearby Mereworth Castle. Hanging on the front of the west gallery are the outstanding Royal Arms of James II, of carved and painted wood. The twentieth-century rebuilding of the church was financed by the sale of an Elizabethan stoneware jug (now in the British Museum), the transaction being recorded on an inscribed stone in the north porch.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=West+Malling
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WESTWARD from East Malling lies the town and parish of West Malling, now most commonly called Town Malling.
It is written in Domesday, MALLENGETIS, and in the Textus Roffensis, MELLINGES. In many deeds after the conquest, it is stiled MILLINGES PARVA, to distinguish it from East Malling, then the larger and more noted village of the two.
The town and parish of West Malling, excepting the borough of St. Leonard, which is under the jurisdiction of the constables of the hundred of Larkfield, is under the jurisdiction of its own constables, of which there are two chosen yearly.
THE PARISH of Town Malling, as it is usually called, is situated equally pleasant and healthy. It lies on high ground, and though dry is well watered, the soil of it being in the northern part a sand, the rest of it a loam, covering the quarry rock, which is very fertile, as has been frequently noticed before in the like situations. The high road from London through Wrotham to Maidstone, at the twenty-ninth mile stone leads along the northern boundaries of the parish, being called in king Edmund's grant of this place to the bishop of Rochester, the military way, no doubt from its having been used as such by the Romans, southward of it the ground gently rising; at less than a quarter of a mile's distance is the town of Malling, which is well built, having many genteel houses in it, the streets of a handsome width, and well paved. At the east end of it is the abbey, to which the approach is by a venerable antient gateway. Although the house itself was almost all of it pulled down and rebuilt by Mr. Honywood, yet many of the antient buildings and offices be longing to it are still remaining, and are made use of as such at present. A handsome tower of the church, the front of which is decorated with intersecting arches and zig-zag ornaments, similar to those on the west front of Rochester cathedral, built by the same founder, bishop Gundulph, is still remaining, as is an antient chapel or oratory, now made use of as a dwellinghouse.
From the foundations discovered in levelling the ground by Mr. Honywood, it appears, that this abbey consisted of two quadrangles or courts, with cloysters, and a spacious hall; and that the church had another tower, of the like size to that now standing. The burying-place seems to have been on the south side of the church, as in digging there, great quantities of human bones have been thrown up, and two stone coffins with skeletons in them, the lids of them had no inscriptions on them, but were ornamented each with a cross, having a quaterfoil pierced at the upper end, the stem of which was crossed more than once with foliage, several rings and trinkets, and some old coins have likewise been found at different times in cleaning away the rubbish.
Over the west end of the grand gateway, which stands at the entrance into the precinct of the abbey from the town, at the west end of the building, there is carved in stone, a heart distilling drops of blood, and on the other side, in a shield, Ermine, a crozier in bend sinister, on a chief three annulets.
In the meadows above the gardens, are large square excavations still visible, where the fish ponds of the aunnery formerly were.
The precinct of this monastery is washed by a rivulet of excellent clear water, which rising in the hamlet of St. Leonard, runs by the house, and through the gardens of it, whence gushing through the wall with a cascade, it crosses the road towards the Rev. Mr. Brooke's gardens. There is a view of this abbey in its present state published by Mr. Grose, in his Antiquities of England.
Near the abbey gate there is a good house, with a large garden, canal, and pleasure grounds, behind it, reaching down to the London road. It has been many years the residence of the Brooke's, from whom it passed by the will of Joseph Brooke, esq. who died in 1792, after the decease of his widow in 1796, to the Rev. John Kenward Shaw, brother of Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. who has since, in pursuance of the above will, and by the king's licence, taken the name of Brooke, and now resides in it. A little further westward there is a very antient stone building, called the Old Gaol, having narrow gothic windows, and the walls of great thickness. It is reported to have been the prison belonging to the abbey, and is now used as an oast for the drying of hops. About the middle of the street stands the church, and a little distance from it a good house, late the residence of Benjamin Hubble, esq. whose family have been inhabitants of this town for some length of time, several of them lying buried in this church. He died in 1780, leaving his widow, sister of Richard Savage, esq. of Boughton Monchelsea, surviving, and two daughters, his coheirs, one of whom having married Thomas Augustus Douce, esq. he now resides in it; further southward is the hamlet of St. Leonard, now making part of the town, and called St. Leonard's-street, in which is an antient seat, some years ago the residence of Charles Stewart, esq. whose father admiral Stewart purchased it of judge Twisden. This district had once a cell in it, belonging to the abbey, with a chapel. It was given at the time the manor and church was to it, as has been already mentioned. The whole of it has been long since desecrated, and in ruins; the square tower of the chapel which stands in the next field south-west from the late Mr. Stewart's house, is all that remains of it. It was purchased by him some years ago, of Sir John Honywood, in exchange for other premises near the abbey, and is now made use of as a stowage for hops. Mr. Stewart died in 1780, and was buried near his father in this church, and he was succeeded here by the hon. admiral John Forbes, who lately died posfessed of it. A market is held in the principal highstreet every Saturday, which is plentifully supplied and well frequented. There are three fairs, which are held by the alteration of the stile on August 12, October 2, and November 17, yearly, for horses, cattle, toys, &c. The whole town is excellently well watered with fine springs, which having supplied the town and abbey, collect themselves into one stream, and passing northward through Mr. Brooke's grounds, cross the high Maidstone road, and runs from thence into the Addington brook, just above Leyborne mill.
About half a mile south-east from the abbey there is a good modern-built house, called New Barne, which formerly belonged to Mr. Alchin, from whom it passed to Graham, the present possessor, who resides in it.
Above St. Leonard's street is the high road from Teston over East-Malling-heath, and through this parish to Offham, southward of which this parish extends into the large tract of coppice woods which reach to West Peckham and Mereworth.
Dr. William Briggs, an eminent physician, resided at the latter end of the last century at Town Malling, where he died, Sept. 1704, æt. 64, and was buried in this church, He was a great traveller into foreign countries, and was greatly esteemed for his skill in his profession, as well as for his learning, of which the several writings he published are sufficient testimonies. He was physician in ordinary to king William, and to St. Thomas's hospital, and bore his arms, Gules, three bars gemelles, or, a canton sable. (fn. 1)
THIS PLACE was given, about the year 945, by Edmund, king of the Angles and of Mercia, to Burhric, bishop of Rochester, by the description of a small portion of his land, called Meallingas, containing three plough lands; and he granted it to him, for the good of his soul, in perpetual inheritance, in augmentation of the revenues of his monastery of St. Andrew, with all its rights, liberties, members, and appurtenances, and this he did with the consent of his nobles and princes, whose names were subscribed to it. After the names of king Edmund, Edred his brother, and Eadgife his mother, are those of the archbishops and bishops, and then that of Ælgifu, the king's concubine, Ego Ælgifu Concubina Regis affui, and after her the dukes, &c. The bounds of this land are thus described in Saxon, viz. from the south part of it to the king's plaine, and from thence to the bounds of the parish of Offaham, and thence to the military way, and so along the said way over Lilleburne to the bounds of the parish of Est Meallinges, and so directly southward from the east of the cross or gallows to the broad way towards the south, in a direct line along the said way to the king's plaine. To which the king added certain denberies for the pannage of hogs.
This land did not continue long in the possession of the church of Rochester, being wrested from it in the time of the Danish wars; and when William the Conqueror had attained the crown, he gave it to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half brother, from whom it was recovered, together with the church of Mallinges, in the solemn assembly of the whole county held on this occasion, by the king's command, at Pinenden heath, in 1076, by archbishop Lanfrance, who afterward restored it to bishop Gundulph, and the church of St. Andrew; which gift was confirmed by archbishops Anselm and Boniface. (fn. 2)
In the survey of Domesday, taken about four years afterwards, this manor is thus described, under the general title of the bishop of Rochester's lands:
The same bishop (of Rochester) holds Mellingetes, it was taxed, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, at three sulings, and now at one and an half. The arable land is three carucates. In demesne there is one, and five villeins, with fix borderers, having two carucates. There is a church, and one mill of two shillings, wood for the pannage of twenty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth forty shillings, and now four pounds.
Bishop Gundulph, in the 4th year of the reign of king William Rufus, anno 1090, having founded an abbey of Benedictine nuns in this parish, to the honor of the Virgin Mary, gave this manor and church to it, with other possessions for the endowment of it; (fn. 3) and although it was, about one hundred years after its being first erected, with the adjoining village, destroyed by fire, yet it was again soon afterwards re-edified, and continued to increase in a flourishing state.
In the 7th year of king Edward I. anno 1278, the abbess of Malling claimed sundry liberties in this parish, by grant from king Henry III. and a market weekly throughout the year on a Saturday and Wednesday; and she claimed by grant from king John to have warren in all her lands at Malling, by grant from king Henry, from time beyond memory; and to have fairs in the parish on the eve, day, and morrow of St. Matthew the apostle, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Leonard, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Peter, ad vincula.
By which, and such like favours granted to it, this place, which at the first foundation of the monastery was plain fields, and almost without an inhabitant, became notwithstanding its former calamity mentioned before, exceedingly populous from the numbers who flocked to it from all parts, who building themselves houses here, increased the village to a large size, well suited for trade, to the no small emolument of the nuns; whence it soon lost its name of Malling Parva, which was for some time transferred to the neighbouring parish of East Malling, as appears by some grants, &c. of this time, and king Edward III. (fn. 4)
In the 15th year of king Edward I. the temporalities of the abbess of Malling in this parish and East Malling were valued at forty-five pounds.
There was an annual pension of ten pounds of wax, and one boar, paid by the abbess to the bishop of Rochester, as an acknowledgment of her subjection to that see.
In the year 1321, the bishop of Rochester, at the king's request, to whom the nuns had made a complaint, that their monastery was ruined by the bad management of their abbess, sister of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, visited it, and heard the complaints against her; in consequence of which she resigned, and the lady Agnes de Leyborne, was chosen in her room. Three years after which she died, and the bishop, at the unanimous request of the nuns, appointed Lora de Retling abbess here, though much against his will, knowing her to be very ignorant, and unfit for the office. However, he inhibited her giving a corredy to her maid servant, as had been the custom, and sequestered their common seal, inhibiting her from using it without his licence.
A great pestilence raging in the year 1348, the bishop made two abbesses here, who presently died; nor were there more than four nuns professed, and four not professed, remaining in this monastery; and he com mitted the custody of the spirituals and temporals to two of them, as there was not a proper person for the office of abbess.
In the year 1493, anno 9 Henry VII. Joane Moone was abbess of this monastery. (fn. 5)
This abbey was surrendered into the king's hands, with all its possessions, (fn. 6) among which were the manors of East and West Malling, with the precincts of Ewell and Parrock annexed to the latter, by Margaret Vernon, abbess, and the convent of it, in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. at which time it was valued at 245l. 10s. 2½d. annual rent, according to Speed, and 218l. 4s. 2½d. clear value, according to Dugdale, and there was granted to the abbess a pension of forty pounds yearly, and to eleven nuns from 31. 6s. 8d. down to 2l. 13s. 4d. yearly pensions, each for their lives.
After which that king, by his letters patent, in his 31st year, granted and sold, in exchange, among other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, the scite of the abbey, with the precinct and circuit of it, and the manors of West Malling, Ewell, and Parocke, and the parsonage of West Malling, late appropriate to it, excepting to the king all advowsons, presentations, &c. to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned; and as the king was entitled to the tenths of these premises, he discharged the archbishop of them, and all other outgoings whatsoever, except the rent therein mentioned. Which grant was in consequence of an indenture made between the king and the archbishop, inrolled in the Augmentation-office.
These manors and premises were again exchanged with the crown in the beginning of the reign of queen Elizabeth, in the 12th year of which she granted them in lease to Sir Henry Brooke, alias Cobham, fifth son of Sir George Brooke, lord Cobham; after which they were held by the same possessors, as the manor of East Malling before described, till at length, after the death of Sir Robert Brett, anno 1621, king James granted the manor of West, alias Town Malling, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, the scite of the late monastery, with the house, buildings, and ground within the precinct of it with all their appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of the late monastery, in fee, to John Rayney, esq. which was further confirmed to Sir John Rayney, his eldest son, in the 2d year of king Charles I. He was of Wrothamplace, in this neighbourhood, and was created a baronet of Nova Scotia, in 1641, and his son of the same name, about the time of the restoration, conveyed these premises to Isaac Honywood, gent. of Hampsted, Middlesex, who was the only son of Edward, third son of Sir Thomas Honywood, of Elmsted, ancestor likewise of the present Sir John Honywood, of Elmsted, baronet, and he continued to bear the same coat of arms; whose second son, Isaac Honywood, esq. of Hampsted, succeeded him in this manor and estate. Frazer Honywood, esq. of Hampsted and London, his only son and heir, rebuilt the abbey house of Malling in the antient gothic taste, at a very great expence, making it one of the seats of his residence, and having thus greatly improved it, he died possessed of this seat and manor, with the estate belonging to it, in 1764, leaving no issue by his wife, the daughter of Abraham Atkins, of Clapham. He gave them, as well as the rest of his estates here and elsewhere, by will, to his kinsman, Sir John Honywood, bart. of Elmsted, and his heirs male, with divers remainders over to the family of Honywood. Sir John Honywood, bart. is since deceased, and his grandson of the same name is the present owner of this manor, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, and the seat of Malling abbey, with the lands and appurtenances in this parish belonging to it, but Mr. Foote resides in it.
The family of Say antiently possessed THE MANOR of CLEMENTS IN EWELL, in this parish. Geoffry de Say held it in the 7th year of king Edward II. as half a knight's fee. His son, Geoffry de Say, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as half a knight's fee, which John at Forde held before in Ewell, in Malling, of the bishop of Rochester. This manor was afterwards in the name of Coveney, (fn. 7) and in the latter end of king Henry VIII. it was in the possession of Mr. William Fowle. Since which it has sunk into such obscurity, that neither the scite nor the owners of it can be traced out even by the most diligent enquiries.
CHARITIES.
THERE is a lecture founded in this church of a sermon every fortnight, on the Saturday; two of the preachers to be the ministers of East and West Malling, who are to be paid 10s. for every sermon they preach; the other preachers are appointed at the will of the trustees.
FRANCIS TRESSE, gent. of this town, who died in 1632, by his will gave a piece of land, and 40l. towards the building of a free school in this parish; and he charged one of his houses in Town Malling with the sum of 13s. 4d. per annum, for the keeping of it in repair; and appointed that four principal freeholders of this parish should be trustees for the execution of this part of his will for ever. This school was accordingly erected, and was made use of for the teaching of boys writing and arithmetic. The charity is veisted in the minister and tour substantial freehold inhabitants, and the estate out of which it is paid in Mr. Robert Sutton, of this parish, but there being no master, the school-house is at present let to the late master's widow at 2gs. perannum, which with the 13s. 4d. is applied towards the maintaining of the building. He also gave two silver cups for the use of the holy communion, and 6s. 8d. payable yearly out of a piece of land, called Cousin's Plat, now vested in Mary Brome, widow.
SIR ROBERT BRETT, by will in 1620, gave land sufficient to pay yearly 10s. per week, to be bestowed in bread and meat to twenty poor persons, or else to be distributed in money to them. His executors accordingly conveyed lands in Tewksbury, in Gloucestershire, for this purpose, which is now vested in lord Romney, and twenty-three others, trustees, of the annual produce of 26l. but of late years the annual produce has been but 19l. 14s.
TOWN MALLING is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURIDISCTION of the diocese of Rochester, and gives name to the deanry of Malling, in which it is situated.
The church, which is a handsome building, with an elegant spire steeple, is dedicated to St. Mary.
At the latter end of the year 1778, some of the main pillars of the body of it giving way, the whole roof of it fell in, leaving only the steeple and chancel at the two extremities of it standing. It has since been repaired, and thoroughly finished by a brief, which was obtained for that purpose.
The church of West Malling was given, with the manor, to the church of Rochester, by king Edmund, in 945; and having afterwards been taken from it, was again restored by archbishop Lanfranc to bishop Gundulph, in the time of the Conqueror, who gave it to the monastery here, at his foundation of it, and this gift was confirmed by several succeeding kings, archbishops of Canterbury, bishops of Rochester, &c. as has been already mentioned.
It was appropriated to the abbess and convent by bishop Gundulph, at the time it was given to them; which appropriation was specially confirmed by Simon, archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1351.
In the reign of king Edward III. great discutes arising between the abbess and nuns of this monastery, and Robert de Beulton, perpetual vicar of this church, especially concerning the receiving of the tithes of flax and hemp, and the payment of archidiaconal procurations, they were at last settled by Hamo, bishop of Rochester, who in the year 1339, decreed, that, saving the due and accustomed portion of the prebend of the great mass in the conventual church of Malling, and the portion of the vicar, as undermentioned, the religious should take all tithes of corn within the parish, and all oblations and obventions belonging to their conventual church, and the cell of St. Leonard; and that they should not be bound to pay to the vicar the tithes of their hay, woods, or mills. And whereas the bishop was informed, and it was allowed, that the above-mentioned prebendary, and other domestics, serving in the monastery, or in the houses of the prebendary, or perpetual chaplain, celebrating for the dead, as also the brothers and sisters, and other persons dwelling in the monastery, or house of the prebendary, who, when they were without the monastery and houses, were not housekeepers in the parish, were wont to receive the sacraments and sacramentals, in life and in death, and to be buried there, if they happened to die within the monastery or houses, unless by chance they chose to be buried elsewhere; in which case, the religious had the first mass for the body before them, in their monastery, and received all the oblations then and there made, so that no portion was left for the vicar of the parish church. And further, that the prebendary for the time being had been used to receive antiently, and to that time, in part of the portion due to him, all the great and small tithes of the demesne lands of the religious, and of the food of their cattle, and also the great tithes arising from many of the crofts of their tenants situated in the said parish, and also the small tithes of his house, and of the house and land of the perpetual chaplain aforesaid, and all the predial tithes arising from the houses or messuages, curtilages and gardens, late of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, in the street, called Holirode-strete, of this parish of Malling, situated above the house of the prebendary; and of all the houses, messuages, curtilages, and gardens whatsoever, from thence towards the east and north in Holirode-street, and in the street, called Tan-street, as far as the end of the parish of Malling on that side; and that the religious and prebendary had possessed all and singular the premises aforesaid, in certain distinct portions, peaceably and without contradiction, from the time beyond memory. (fn. 8)
The bishop, therefore, that none of the premises should be altered, decreed, saving all and every matter as aforesaid, that the vicar should receive for his portion all other small tithes, oblations, obventions and profits belonging to the parish church more especially, viz. the tithe of herbage, silva cedua, apples, pears, flax, hemp, wool, milk, cheese, calves, lambs, pigs, pidgeons, geese, ducks, bees, eggs, merchandizings, fowlings, fishings, swans, pulse, and other fruits, and also of corn growing in orchards or gardens, as he had-been accustomed to receive them.
¶And that the vicar should also receive the personal tithes of the inhabitants of the houses or messuages of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, and of others, inhabiting in the houses or messuages situated in the streets, called Holirode-strete and Tan-strete, and the oblations due and accustomed to the parish church, and should administer ecclesiastical rights to them, and should have the burial of them in the parish church; and that the vicar should have for his habitation, as assigned to him by the religious, the dwelling with its precinct, which the vicar then inhabited, and his predecessors used to inhabit, which he should repair at his own expence, and preserve in a decent state, and should pay the yearly rents and services, due and accustomed from thence; all which the bishop adjudged to be a sufficient portion for the vicar for the time being. And he further decreed, that the vicar should cause the books to be bound, the vestments to be washed; and the same, and the rest of the ornaments of the parish church, which belonged to the religious to find, as often as need should require, to be repaired, and should cause them to be safely and honestly kept; and that he should provide and find bread, wine, processional tapers, and other lights necessary and accustomed in the chancel, the necessary and accustomed ministers, rochets, surplices, napkins, unconsecrated vessels, basons, and also green rushes to strow the church, if they had been so accustomed, and did not belong to the parishioners to find; and that he should pay the dues to the bishop, and the archidiaconal procurations, and that the vicar should acknowledge and undergo, according to the rate of the taxation of his portion as under-mentioned, all ordinaries and extraordinaries, which, although it might amount to five marcs, being near the moiety of the value of the whole church, according to the estimation then had, he decreed should remain according to the antient taxation of it, as often as burthens of this kind were to be borne, and paid from small benefices. And he decreed, that the religious should acknowledge and undergo all and singular other burthens happening to the parish church, by reason of their portion, which he estimated at twelve marcs, according to the antient taxation of it, notwithstanding this assignation, which was made with the consent of both parties, and which by his episcopal authority, he corroborated and confirmed, &c. and that it might not be called in doubt in future times, or be litigated, he had caused it to be entered in his register, and to be reduced into three different writings, of which he decreed one to remain in the hands of the religious, another in the hands of the vicar, and the third in the hands of the prebendary aforesaid, to perpetuate the memory of it, and had caused it to be authenticated with his seal, &c.
This parsonage, prebend, and the advowson of the vicarage, were, on the dissolution of the abbey in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. surrendered into the king's hands. After which the king, next year, granted this parsonage, with the manor of West Malling, and other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned. After which it passed, with the manor of West Malling, in a like succession of ownership, down to Sir John Rayney, bart. who sold these premises, about the time of the restoration, to judge Twisden, and his descendant, Sir John Papillon Twisden, bart. is the present possessor of this parsonage, and the advowson of the vicarage of West or Town Malling.
The vicarage is valued in the king's books at ten pounds, and the yearly tenths at one pound.
I would like to see brilliant blue tarpaulins hung from that little shed at the left.
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In Parkersburg, West Virginia, on December 23rd, 2018, a house (built circa 1900) on the west side of Lynn Street, south of Tefft Street.
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Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names terms:
• Parkersburg (2119512)
• Wood (county) (2002303)
Art & Architecture Thesaurus terms:
• artificial stone (300010788)
• beige (color) (300266234)
• brown (color) (300127490)
• brownish orange (300126858)
• gables (architectural elements) (300002296)
• houses (300005433)
• morning (300343630)
• porches (300004132)
• satellite home antennas (300189671)
• sheds (storage structures) (300006411)
• shelters (single built works) (300007688)
• siding (300014861)
• Queen Anne Style (300021197)
• veneer (material) (300012855)
• winter (300133101)
Wikidata items:
• 23 December 2018 (Q45922080)
• 1900s in architecture (Q16482507)
• December 23 (Q2676)
• December 2018 (Q31179612)
• Parkersburg–Marietta–Vienna metropolitan area (Q7138431)
• Queen Anne Revival architecture (Q55164904)
• satellite dish (Q253843)
• stone veneer (Q2470272)
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
• Dwellings—West Virginia (sh89004849)
yachts are racing on the Broadwater at Southport - we are anchored of an island near the shore
ODC - leaning
112 Pictures in 2012 - 9. Afternoon
Somehow I had missed Boxley from previous crawls in the area. I guess, once upon a time, Boxley was a quiet village halfway up the downs, relying on sheepfarming for its income. In the 21st century, its just a suburb of Maidstone, though a mile or so outside the county town.
All Saints popped up on the churchcrawling group on Facebook, and thought it looked interesting, which is something of an understatement.
We arrived at just after eleven, in the lych gate there was a sign saying the church was open, so, result!
Approaching the church aloong a stone path it feels very un-Kent-like, especially as entrance to the church is in the very west end.
You enter, and are in a large space, in fact this was the Norman chancel of the original church, then into the space below the west tower, and there is the door into the church as it is now.
But I could hear voices from within, probably wardens cleaning, or so I thought...
But turned out to be a lecture on wildflowers; maybe i should crash it? But don't.
We find a leaflet and find that it had been going on nearly an hour, so we go to sit outside to see if it was going to end on the hour mark....
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The church lies at the far end of the village green. Visitors who do not first walk around the outside of the church wonder if they are ever going to get in - for they have to walk through two rooms first! From the outside it is not so puzzling; the first room is in fact the nave of the Norman church. Then comes the base of the fifteenth-century tower, built on the site of the Norman chancel. Only after we have gone through this do we come to the church proper - a complete fourteenth-century structure. It is wide, with two aisles, and relatively short. The chancel is well proportioned and has a definite lean to the south indicating medieval building error.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Boxley
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BOXLEY.
ADJOINING to Maidstone north-eastward lies the parish of Boxley, written in Domesday, Boseleu, and in the Textus Roffensis, Boxele and Boxle, a parish noted, as well for the famous assembly of the whole county, held at Pinenden heath, within the boundaries of it, in the reign of the Conqueror, as for the abbey not long afterwards founded in it.
THE VILLAGE of Boxley situated at the foot of the chalk hills, above which this parish extends among the coppice woods, over a barren dreary country covered with flints, to Dun-street, at the northern boundaries of it. Southward it extends to the rivulet in the valley, at a very small distance from the town of Maidstone, a length of near four miles, the width of it is not more than three at its greatest extent, and in most parts much less; the soil from its extent is of course various, to the northward it is chalk; in the middle, and towards the west a deep sand; to the eastward a wet cludgy earth, and to the south and south-east for the most part a not unfertile loamy soil bounding upon the rock. It is a situation much more healthy than it is pleasant, owing to its chalky and sandy soils, and its bleak situation. The village is watered by a clear spring, which rises just below the church, and directs its course through the street; this spring, as well as another, which rises likewise at the foot of the chalk hill, just above Boxley abbey, are both very inviting to the sight, but the water is very hard and unfit for culinary uses, especially the latter, which in two months will petrify wood, the incrustation resembling brown and unpolished marble. These join just below the abbey, and flow together into the Medway, almost opposite to Allington castle.
The village lies on a descent from the hills, there are several genteel houses in it; at the upper or northern part of it is Boxley house, lord Romney's, inhabited by his three sisters and Mr. Coker; somewhat lower down is a house, which for many years was the property and residence of the family of Charlton, who bore for their arms, Or, a lion rampant gules, the last of them, John Charlton, esq. dying in 1770 unmarried, it came by his will, together with the chief of his other estates, to his eldest nephew, the Rev. George Burville, (son of the Rev. Henry Burville, by Anne his sister). The Burvilles bear for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three oak leaves erect, vert. Mr. Burville married Juliana, daughter of William Bowyer, esq. of Denham, in Buckinghamshire, by whom he has a son John, and daughter Frances, married to the Rev. Philip Rashleigh. He is the present possessor of this house, in which he resides; below this is the parsonage and vicarage, the latter a handsome genteel house, and just above it at a small distance from the east side of the street, the church; almost adjoining to Mr. Burville's house, is another more antient one, called Park-house, once part of the estate of Boxley abbey, and afterwards in like manner, the estate of Sir Thomas Wyatt, whose son forfeited it for treason in the 1st year of queen Mary How it passed afterwards I have not found, though it seems never to have been restored to his descendants; in the beginning of the present century it was in the possession of the family of St. John, in which it remained till Mrs. St. John joining with her son, Paulet St. John, sold it in 1720 to Maudistley Best, esq. (son of Mr. Thomas Best, of Chatham) who resided and kept his shrievalty here in 1730, bearing for his arms, sable, two cross croslets in chief, and a cinquefoil in base, or. He died in 1740, leaving two sons, Thomas, late of Chilston, esq. and James, of Chatham, and a daughter, married to the hon. Robert, afterwards lord Fairfax, of Leeds castle, who died s. p. He gave by will this seat to his youngest son James, who served the office of sheriff in 1751, and resided here at times, and died in 1782, leaving by Frances his wife, one of the daughters of Richard Shelley, esq. four sons and four daughters, to the eldest of the former, Thomas Best, esq. he by will gave this house and his estate in this parish, and he now resides in it. There has been from time immemorial a warren for rabbits here, the lands of which lay close at the foot of the chalk hills, it formerly belonged to Boxley abbey, and was afterwards in the possession of the Wyatts, and is now from them the estate of lord Romney, and there was likewise another part of it used likewise as a warren, lying near Pinenden-heath, which was part of the Park-house estate, and as such, is now the property of Mr. Best, but the name only remains, the rabbits having been for some time destroyed, and the land made arable. About a mile. eastward from the village in a low flat situation, at no great distance from the high road from Rochester to Maidstone, is Boxley abbey, with a small hamlet of houses near it, and nearer to the hills the abbey farm. The plantations of the estate called the Park-house, likewise, the old seat of which was situated in Maidstone parish, near the high road to Rochester, as has been already described, extend into the western part of this parish. The late Sir Henry Calder, whose property it was, pulled down the old house, and on a beautiful spot near adjoining, though within this parish, began a handsome stone mansion, which after his death was finished by his widow, who with her son Sir Henry, for some time resided in it; it is now inhabited by Mr. Osborne. At a small distance eastward from hence, in nearly the centre of this parish, excepting that Maidstone stretches itself with a point or nook over a part of it, is that noted plain Pinnenden, now usually called Pickenden heath, a place made famous in early times; the western part is in Maidstone parish, the remainder in this of Boxley. From its situation almost in the middle of the county or shire of Kent, this heath has been time out of mind used for all county meetings, and for the general business of it, the county house for this purpose, a poor low shed, is situated on the north side of it, where the sheriff continues to hold his county court monthly, and where he takes the poll for the members of the county, and for the coroners, the former of which, after a few suffrages is usually adjourned to Maidstone; on a conspicuous hill on the opposite side of the heath, though in Maidstone parish, is the gallows, for the public execution of criminals condemned at the assizes.
At the time of the conquest it was the noted place for the public meetings of the county; for in the book of Domesday there is mention made, that when the inhabitants of Kent were summoned to meet ad sciram, that is, in public assembly at the shyregemot or Sheriff'stourn, for the trial of certain customs therein mentioned, they should go for that purpose as far as Pinnedenna, but no further.
In the year 1076, being the 11th of the Conqueror's reign, a famous assembly was held at this place on the following occasion.
Odo, bishop of Baieux and earl of Kent, had by means of his great power, defrauded the church of Canterbury of many manors and lands, and of several liberties, and had kept possession of them; but upon Lanfranc's being made archbishop in the year 1070, he represented the whole of the injury done to his church to the king, who forthwith commanded that it should be enquired into and determined by the nobles, and other competent men, not only of this county, but of the other counties of England, assembled for this purpose at this heath.
There were present at this meeting Goisfrid, bishop of Constance, who sat as the king's representative on this occasion; archbishop Lanfranc, who pleaded his church's cause; Odo, earl of Kent, who defended himself against his accusers in what he had done; Ernest, bishop of Rochester; Agelric, bishop of Chester, an antient man, and well versed in the laws of the realm; who on account of his great age was, by the king's order, brought hither in a waggon, in una quadriga; Richard de Tunebrige, Hugh de Montfort, William de Arsic, Hamo Vicecomes or Sheriff, and many others, barons of the king and of the archbishop, many tenants of those bishops, and many others of good and great account, as well of this as of other counties, both French and English.
This trial lasted three days, at the end of which the archbishop recovered several of the antient possessions of his church, as well from Odo as from Hugh Montfort and Ralph de Curva Spina or Crookthorne, and established the liberties of it, in matters between the king and himself. (fn. 1)
On the south side of the heath the turnpike road from Maidstone through Detling to Key-street aud Sittingbourn crosses this parish, and another branches off from hence to Bersted and Ashford; in the southern part of it are the hamlets of Grove green and Wavering-street, Newnham court, and the beautiful seat of Vinters, most pleasantly situated; below which in the vale is the stream which turns the paper mills, and separates this parish from Maidstone. At Grove, as has been already noticed, is a remarkable fine vein of fuller's earth, by the working of which Mr. John Watts, the owner of it, at the beginning of this century, became famous. But this earth was in working in 1630, at which time John Ray, merchant, of London, was sentenced to a severe fine and punishment in the Star Chamber, for transporting of it clandestinely to Holland. (fn. 2) This vein lies about thirty feet deep, and is about seven feet thick. There are two sorts of it, the blue and the dark grey, the latter of which lying under the former is most valuable; a great quantity of this earth is sent from hence by sea for the use of the clothiers in distant countries. For the manufacture carried on in this parish for the making of paper there are four sets of mills, two of which are situated at the south-east extremity of it, on the stream called the Little River, which rises near Lenham, and runs by Leeds castle hither; the upper ones, belonging to lord Aylesford, and the lower ones to Messrs. Hollingworth's; the other two are situated on the western side of the parish, near Aylesford, on the rivulet which rises under the chalk hills, and are made use of for making an inferior kind of merchandize, one of these belongs to lord Romney. The lower mills above-mentioned belonging to Messrs. Hollingworth, stand at a small distance on the north side of the road leading from Maidstone to the Mote, and are called the Old Turkey Mills, they deserve a more particular notice in this place for their superiority, as well in the many extensive buildings, machines and conveniences erected for carrying on this large and curious manufacture, and the number of people continually employed in the different branches of it, as the easy and regular method, and the neatness with which the whole is conducted. They were formerly used as fulling mills, but on the decay of the cloathing trade in these parts, were, by Mr. Gill, the proprietor, converted into paper mills, and used by him as such for a few years; he sold them to Mr. James Whatman, who in 1739 pulled the whole of them down, and erected them on a much more curious and extensive plan, which was afterwards much more improved by his son James Whatman, esq. who with infinite pains and expence, brought his manufactory of writing paper, for no other sort is made here, to a degree of perfection, superior to most in the kingdom. In 1794 he sold these mills to Messrs. Hollingworth, and retired to Vintners, where he now resides, and they now carry on this manufacture here; under the buildings is a strong chalybeat spring, which however does not produce any great quantity of water. In 1711 a Roman urn was dug up at Grove, by the workmen, near the vein of Fuller's earth there, as several others have been since, with other relics of antiquity and coins, both there and at Vintners, most of the coins having the inscription of the emperor Adrian, and the like have been from time to time discovered at Goddard's hill, in this parish, where there are several stones set up similar to those about Horsted.
OUR BOTANISTS have observed the following scarce plants in this parish:
Borago minor silvestris, small white bugloss, or German madwort.
Scopyllum angustifolium glabrum, smooth narrowleased thyme.
Buxus, the box tree, which grows plentifully in the woods here. (fn. 3)
Stellaria sanicula major, ladies mantle.
BOXLEY, at the time of taking the general survey of Domesday, was part of the vast estate of Odo, the great bishop of Baieux and earl of Kent, the Conqueror's half-brother; in which record it is thus described:
Robert Latin holds to ferm Boseleu. It was taxed at seven sulings in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and now at five sulings. The arable land is twenty carucates. In demesne there are three carucates, and fortyseven villeins, with eleven borderers having sixteen carucates. There are three mills of thirty-six shillings and eight-pence, and sixteen servants, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of thirty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth twenty-five pounds, now thirty pounds, and Robert yet pay fifty-five pounds. Alnod Cilt held it.
Four years after the taking of the above survey, about the year 1084, this estate, on the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, became forfeited to the crown, among the rest of his possessions.
In the year 1146, (fn. 4) William d'Ipre, earl of Kent, who afterwards became a monk himself at Laon, in Flanders, (fn. 5) founded an ABBEY at this place for monks of the Cistertian order, some of whom he brought from Claravalle, in Burgundy, for this purpose, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary, as all the houses of this order were. The first monastery of this order in England was at Waverly, which was built in 1129, by Walter Gifford, bishop of Winchester. They were a branch of the Benedictines, called by the English, from their habit, White monks, and likewise Cif tertians; which last name they had from the town of Cistertium or Cisteaux, in the bishopric of Chalons, in Burgundy, where this order was first instituted by Robert, abbot of Molesme, in the year 1098. There were eighty-five houses of this order, at the time of the dissolution, in England.
King Richard I. in his 1st year, anno 1189, gave the MANOR of BOXELE (fn. 6) to this abbey, which king Henry III. in his 37th year, confirmed by his letters of inspeximus. (fn. 7)
King Henry III. in his 37th year, granted to the abbot and convent to hold a market weekly within their manor of Boxley. (fn. 8) The place where it was held appears to have been called Farthings.
In the 7th year of Edward I. the abbot claimed, before the justices itinerant, certain liberties, by the charters of king Henry and king Richard, and the confirmation of them by the charter of king Henry, the then king's father. And he claimed to have warren in all his demesne lands in Kent and Surry, which he had in the time of king Henry, the king's father; and that he and his predecessors had fully used those liberties, &c. and it was then found, that the abbot had in his manor of Boxley a free court, &c. and that the tenants of the manor ought to plead in the hundred of Maidstone, pleas of Withernam, &c. and that the abbot ought to allow pannage, &c, and that the tenants of the manor owed pontage, and paid it to Rochester bridge. (fn. 9)
The abbot of Boxley was summoned to parliament twice in the 23d year of king Edward I. once in the 24th, and twice in the 28th years of that reign, but never afterwards, that I can find. (fn. 10)
In the reign of king Henry III. there were sixtyfour abbots and thirty-six priors summoned to parliament; but this number being thought too great, king Edward III. reduced them to twenty-five abbots and two priors, to which were afterwards added two more abbots, so that there were no more than twentynine in all, who statedly and constantly enjoyed this privilege, of which only St. Austen's, near Canterbury, was in this county. (fn. 11)
King Edward II. in his 15th year, honoured this abbey with his presence, where, on Oct. 25, he granted to the aldermen and citizens of London to nominate a mayor out of their own body, at his will. (fn. 12) King Edward III. in his 33d year, granted to the abbot, &c. free warren in their manor of Boxele, &c. (fn. 13)
In the reign of king Richard II. the revenues of this abbey were valued at 218l. 19s. 10d. of which 98l. 19s. 7d. was in the diocese of Canterbury, (fn. 14)
John Dobbes, the last abbot, and the convent of Boxley, surrendered it into the hands of Henry VIII. on January 29, in the 29th year of his reign, (fn. 15) and it was, together with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, confirmed to the king and his heirs, by the general words of the act, passed in the 31st year of that reign for this purpose; after which there were pensions allowed to the abbot, 50l. and to eight of the canons, from 2l. 13s. 4d. to 4l. yearly, for their lives, or until the person was promoted to a benefice of equal or superior value; the five last of which pensions remained in charge in 1553. (fn. 16)
It was endowed, at its dissolution, with 204l. 4s. 11d. per annum, clear revenue, according to Dug dale; or, according to Speed, with 218l. 9s. 10d. per annum, yearly income. (fn. 17)
The coat of arms belonging to it was, Argent, a dexter bend lozenge, gules; on a canton of the second, a crozier or pastoral staff of the field. (fn. 18) This coat, without the crozier, as also another, being a pastoral staff, surmounted of a bend, are still remaining carved in stone on the capitals of two pillars, from which springs a small circular arch in the garden, at the back of this abbey.
There was a chapel, dedicated to St. Andrew the apostle, founded hard by the outer gate of this monastery, which was served by a curate appointed for that purpose.
The lands of the abbey of Boxley, of the order of Cistertians, were as such, in particular circumstances, exempted from the payment of tithes. Pope Pascal II. exempted all the religious in general from the payment of tithes for lands in their own occupation, and this continued till the reign of Henry II. when pope Hadrian IV. restrained this exemption to the three religious orders of Cistertians, Templars, and Hospitallers, to which pope Innocent III. added a fourth, viz. the Præmonstratenses, from whence these were generally called the four privileged orders. After which the general council of Lateran, in 1215, further restrained this exemption to lands in their own occupation, and to those which they possessed before that time. After this the Cistertians procured bulls to exempt all their lands likewise which were letten to farm. To restrain which, the statute of the second of king Henry IV. cap. 4. was made, which enacted, that whoever, religious as well as secular, should put these bulls in execution, and purchase any others, and by colour of them should take any advantage in any shape, should be guilty of a præmunire. This restrained their privilege again to such lands only as they had before the Lateran council above mentioned; so that the lands they afterwards acquired are in no wise exempted, and this statute left them subject to the payment of such composition for tithes of their demesne lands as they had made with any particular rectors, &c. who contesting their privileges, even under that head, brought them to compound. This monastery of Boxley was one of those dissolved by the act of the 31st of king Henry VIII. the only ones which continued these privileges to their possessors afterwards; by which act, as well the king, his heirs and successors, as all others who should have any of those monasteries, their lands or possessions, were to hold and enjoy them, according to their estates and titles, discharged and acquitted of payment of tithes, as freely, and in as large and ample a manner as the late abbots, priors, &c. of the same before held them. (fn. 19)
In the Registrum Roffense, (fn. 20) are the names of the fields, woods, and other premises in the parish of Boxley, of which the abbot and convent here should in future be free and exempt from the payment of all tithes whilst they were in their own hands.
In the church of this abbey was the statue of St. Rumbald, usually called by the common people, St. Grumbald, which was held in great reverence for his fancity by them, for the miracles it was said to perform.
¶King Henry VIII. in his 32d year, exchanged with Sir Thomas Wyatt, of Allynton, for other premises, the house and scite of this monastery, lately dissolved, and the church, steeple, and church yard of it, with the buildings, lands, &c. as well nigh and adjoining to the scite and precinct of it, his lordship of Boxley, Hoo, and Newenham court, with their appurtenances and the farm and lands, called Upper Grange, and all lands, tenements, and other premises late belonging to it, in the parishes, townships, or hamlets of Boxley, Boxley-street, Burley, Burthin, Sandelyng, Wilston, Wavering, Havurland, Oxefiyth, Dunstreet upon the Hill, and elsewhere, in Kent, excepting to the king the parsonage of Boxley and the advowson of the parish church; (fn. 21) all which were soon afterwards again vested in the crown, as appears by the Escheat rolls of the 38th year of that reign, (fn. 22) when the king regranted the whole of them to Sir Thomas Wyatt, son of Sir Thomas before mentioned, to hold in capite by knight's service, who having, in the 1st year of queen Mary, with other gentlemen of note in this county, raised a rebellion, was found guilty of high treason, and executed that year, and his estate was consiscated to the crown; but the queen, through her bounty, the next year, granted the manor of Boxly, with the Upper Grange, and some other lands adjoining, to his widow, the lady Jane Wyatt, (daughter and coheir of Sir William Haut, of Bourne) and her heirs male, to hold in like manner. On her death, her son, George Wyatt, succeeded to them; but the abbey seems to have continued in the crown, for queen Elizabeth, in her 11th year, granted the scite and mansion of it to John Astley for a term of years. In the 13th year of that reign, George Wyatt, esq. was restored in blood by act of parliament, after which he became possessed of this seat, and resided here, having the fee of it granted to him by the crown. He died in 1624, and was buried in the chancel of this church, as were his several descendants, who bore for their arms, Per fess azure and gules, a barnacle argent, the ring or; he left several sons and daughters, of whom the second son, Haute Wyatt, was vicar of this parish; and Francis, the eldest, succeeded him in the manor of Boxley, the mansion of the abbey, the Grange, and his other estates in this parish. He was afterwards knighted, and was twice governor of Virginia. He died in 1644, leaving two sons, Henry, his eldest son and heir, and Edwin, who afterwards became possessed of this manor, seat, and estates, above mentioned, and a daughter, Elizabeth, who married Thomas Bosvile, esq. of Littlemote in Eynsford, esq. whose daughter Margaret became the wife of Sir Robert Marsham, bart. great grandfather of the present lord Romney.
Henry Wyatt, esq. was of Boxley abbey, and left an only daughter and heir, Francis, who carried this manor, seat, with the Grange and other estates above mentioned, in marriage to Sir Thomas Selyard, bart. but Edwin Wiat, the younger brother of Henry above mentioned, disputing at law the lady Selyard's title to them, recovered the manor of Boxley, with other estates last mentioned, in this parish and elsewhere; but the abbey, with the lands belonging to it, remained in the possession of Sir Thomas Selyard, as will be mentioned hereafter.
BOXLEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sutton.
The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, stands on the east side of the village; it is not large, but neat, and contains three isles and a chancel, with a handsome square tower at the west end, in which hang four small bells, which were cast in 1652, by M. Darby.
In this church, before the Reformation, was a famous rood, called the Rood of Grace, which was held in great esteem for the miracles it was supposed to work. It was broken to pieces by the king's command at St. Paul's cross, in London, on Sunday, February 24, 1538, in the presence of John Hilsey, bishop of Rochester, and a vast concourse of the populace. (fn. 35)
The church of Boxley was given by king Henry I. in 1130, to the church of Rochester, with all its liberties and rights, in like manner as his chaplain, Jeffry or Ansfrid, the clerk, had ever held it; but that church and monastery, having been destroyed by fire, and the monks dispersed abroad, king Stephen, in 1137, dispossessed them of this church, which, howeever, on their return to their monastery, was on their remonstrance to the court of Rome, by the pope's bull, restored and confirmed to them; and Walter, bishop of Rochester, not only confirmed to them the appropriation of it, but granted to them the free disposal and presentation of the vicarage, saving the right of the bishop of the diocese; which grant was confirmed likewise by the several archbishops of Canterbury afterwards.
In the year 1180, there was an agreement made between the monks of Boxley and those of Rochester, concerning the parochial tithes of this church; by which the latter granted to the former a certain field belonging to the parish church of Boxley, above the hills, but by the consent of the former they retained out of it for ever half an acre of wood for fencing; and the monks of Rochester granted to those of Boxley all the tithes above the hills of all lands, as well of those free lands, which the latter had of the king's gift, as of those which they had acquired, to be held finally in villenage, or might acquire in future, at any time for their own use; and likewise certain land belonging to this parish church, under the hill, with the meadow adjoining, between the abbey and village of Boxley; on the other hand, the monks of Boxley granted to those of Rochester all their tithes under the hills, without the bounds of the abbey and grange; that is to say, of all corn only and pulse, of all their lands under the hills, as well of those antiently as newly cultivated, and which they had from the foundation of the abbey, or might bring into culture at any time in future; and that the monks of Rochester should have all the tithes on the sides of the hills of all lands which at that time, or before were reduced to culture, excepting the field which the monks of Boxley bought of John de Horespole; which composition was confirmed by Richard, archbishop of Canterbury.
The confirmations of this church to the priory seem afterwards to have been but little regarded, and they were again dispossessed of it, with a reservation of 60s. annual pension only from it; and it appears, that the bishop of Rochester, together with the prior and convent, used to present to it on a vacancy, till the time of archbishop Islip, who at the petition of the monks, with the consent of the bishop, in 1363, restored this church to them, in as ample a manner as they had before held it; and he granted them full liberty to reenter into the corporal possession of it, with all its rights and appurtenances, on the vacancy of the rector then incumbent on it; reserving, nevertheless, in the first place, a proper portion out of the fruits and profits, for the maintenance of a perpetual vicar, at the presentation of the bishop, to be instituted by him and his successors, and for the due support of the episcopal and archidiaconal burthens, and others belonging to it; and a vicarage was afterwards accordingly endowed in it by archbishop Sudbury, in the year 1377. (fn. 36)
In 1403, a definitive sentence was passed concerning the tithes of this vicarage; (fn. 37) at which time, and so late as the year 1485, this church and advowson belonged to the priory of Rochester, for in the latter year, archbishop Bouchier, cardinal and apostolic legate, confirmed the appropriation of it to them; and a composition was entered into, anno 20 Richard II. between the prior and convent, and Adam Motrum, archdeacon of Canterbury; that as the archdeacon and his archdeaconry was detrimented in the yearly sum of 6s. 8d. the like sum should be yearly paid to the latter, out of the profits of it so long as they possessed it.
The appropriation, as well as the advowson of the vicarage, seems very soon afterwards to have passed into the hands of the prior and convent of Boxley, tho' by what means I do not find, before its dissolution, which happened in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. for that king, by his dotation charter, in his 32d year, settled his rectory and church of Boxley, late belonging to the dissolved monastery of Boxley, and the vicarage of it, on his new erected dean and chapter of Rochester, part of whose possessions they now remain.
In the 15th year of king Edward I. this church was valued at 32l. the vicarage is valued in the king's books at 12l. 19s. 2d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 5s. 11d.
King Henry VIII. in his 29th year, let to Thomas Vicary, one of his surgeons, the tithes of corn and the glebe lands of this rectory, and the capital messuage, houses, and buildings belonging to it, and ten pieces of land, late belonging to the monastery of Boxley and the advowson of the vicarage, for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of forty pounds.
In the exchange of lands, made between Henry VIII. and Sir Thomas Wyatt, in the 32d year of his reign, the parsonage of Boxley, and the advowson of the vicarage, with their appurtenances, were particularly excepted, to remain to the king's use.
By a survey of this parsonage, on the abolition of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. in 1649, by order of the state, is appears, that the par sonage-house, a fair and goodly house, with its appurtenances, tithes, &c. late belonging to the late monastery there, and forty-eight acres, three roods, and two perches of land, in the improved rents, were the whole of them worth 140l. 3s. 6d. per annum; and were let by the dean and chapter, anno 15 Charles I. to Robert Parker for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of 26l. 13s. 4d. and twelve couple of conies, or 16s. in money; that the lessee was bound to repair the chancel, and that the vicarage, which was excepted out of the lease, was worth sixty pounds per annum.
The present lessee of the parsonage is Mr. William Fowle; the vicarage is reserved out of the lease of it, and is in the disposal of the dean and chapter.
The vicar of Boxley has belonging to him all tithes of wood, hops, hay, clover, cinquefoil, flax, wold, wool, lambs, milk, eggs, apples, cherries, and other fruit, and of pasture; his dues are, for burials, 2s. for marriages, 5s. for christenings in houses, 2s. 6d. and for churchings at church, 6d. at home, 1s. for Easter offerings he can demand of every person, above sixteen years old, 6d. so of a man and his wife, 1s.
He has a pension of 8l. per annum, payable out of the exchequer, as an augmentation; the fees for receiving of which are, if he receives it himself, 12s. if by another, 20s. (fn. 38)
¶The land the vicarage house, with its appurtenances, stands on, with the garden and court yard, is not above the third part of an acre; which, with the herbage of the church yard, is all the glebe the vicar has. The house, which is built of brick, and sashed, is handsome and commodious, and has proper offices adjoining to it. It was erected by Mr. archdeacon Spratt, whilst vicar of this parish; since which it has been considerably improved by Dr. Markham, vicar likewise, now arch bishop of York, who sometimes resided in it, as did his successor, Dr. North, now bishop of Winchester.
In 1733, the vicarage was valued at 200l. it is now 300l. per annum.
Bishop Henry de Sandford, by his decree temp. Henry III. at the petition of the vicar and parishioners, changed the feast of the dedication of this church, from the 10th of February to the Monday next after the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul.
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Somehow I had missed Boxley from previous crawls in the area. I guess, once upon a time, Boxley was a quiet village halfway up the downs, relying on sheepfarming for its income. In the 21st century, its just a suburb of Maidstone, though a mile or so outside the county town.
All Saints popped up on the churchcrawling group on Facebook, and thought it looked interesting, which is something of an understatement.
We arrived at just after eleven, in the lych gate there was a sign saying the church was open, so, result!
Approaching the church aloong a stone path it feels very un-Kent-like, especially as entrance to the church is in the very west end.
You enter, and are in a large space, in fact this was the Norman chancel of the original church, then into the space below the west tower, and there is the door into the church as it is now.
But I could hear voices from within, probably wardens cleaning, or so I thought...
But turned out to be a lecture on wildflowers; maybe i should crash it? But don't.
We find a leaflet and find that it had been going on nearly an hour, so we go to sit outside to see if it was going to end on the hour mark....
We give up after 20 minutes, but decide to visit a third church, then come back. Maybe it would be free then......
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The church lies at the far end of the village green. Visitors who do not first walk around the outside of the church wonder if they are ever going to get in - for they have to walk through two rooms first! From the outside it is not so puzzling; the first room is in fact the nave of the Norman church. Then comes the base of the fifteenth-century tower, built on the site of the Norman chancel. Only after we have gone through this do we come to the church proper - a complete fourteenth-century structure. It is wide, with two aisles, and relatively short. The chancel is well proportioned and has a definite lean to the south indicating medieval building error.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Boxley
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BOXLEY.
ADJOINING to Maidstone north-eastward lies the parish of Boxley, written in Domesday, Boseleu, and in the Textus Roffensis, Boxele and Boxle, a parish noted, as well for the famous assembly of the whole county, held at Pinenden heath, within the boundaries of it, in the reign of the Conqueror, as for the abbey not long afterwards founded in it.
THE VILLAGE of Boxley situated at the foot of the chalk hills, above which this parish extends among the coppice woods, over a barren dreary country covered with flints, to Dun-street, at the northern boundaries of it. Southward it extends to the rivulet in the valley, at a very small distance from the town of Maidstone, a length of near four miles, the width of it is not more than three at its greatest extent, and in most parts much less; the soil from its extent is of course various, to the northward it is chalk; in the middle, and towards the west a deep sand; to the eastward a wet cludgy earth, and to the south and south-east for the most part a not unfertile loamy soil bounding upon the rock. It is a situation much more healthy than it is pleasant, owing to its chalky and sandy soils, and its bleak situation. The village is watered by a clear spring, which rises just below the church, and directs its course through the street; this spring, as well as another, which rises likewise at the foot of the chalk hill, just above Boxley abbey, are both very inviting to the sight, but the water is very hard and unfit for culinary uses, especially the latter, which in two months will petrify wood, the incrustation resembling brown and unpolished marble. These join just below the abbey, and flow together into the Medway, almost opposite to Allington castle.
The village lies on a descent from the hills, there are several genteel houses in it; at the upper or northern part of it is Boxley house, lord Romney's, inhabited by his three sisters and Mr. Coker; somewhat lower down is a house, which for many years was the property and residence of the family of Charlton, who bore for their arms, Or, a lion rampant gules, the last of them, John Charlton, esq. dying in 1770 unmarried, it came by his will, together with the chief of his other estates, to his eldest nephew, the Rev. George Burville, (son of the Rev. Henry Burville, by Anne his sister). The Burvilles bear for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three oak leaves erect, vert. Mr. Burville married Juliana, daughter of William Bowyer, esq. of Denham, in Buckinghamshire, by whom he has a son John, and daughter Frances, married to the Rev. Philip Rashleigh. He is the present possessor of this house, in which he resides; below this is the parsonage and vicarage, the latter a handsome genteel house, and just above it at a small distance from the east side of the street, the church; almost adjoining to Mr. Burville's house, is another more antient one, called Park-house, once part of the estate of Boxley abbey, and afterwards in like manner, the estate of Sir Thomas Wyatt, whose son forfeited it for treason in the 1st year of queen Mary How it passed afterwards I have not found, though it seems never to have been restored to his descendants; in the beginning of the present century it was in the possession of the family of St. John, in which it remained till Mrs. St. John joining with her son, Paulet St. John, sold it in 1720 to Maudistley Best, esq. (son of Mr. Thomas Best, of Chatham) who resided and kept his shrievalty here in 1730, bearing for his arms, sable, two cross croslets in chief, and a cinquefoil in base, or. He died in 1740, leaving two sons, Thomas, late of Chilston, esq. and James, of Chatham, and a daughter, married to the hon. Robert, afterwards lord Fairfax, of Leeds castle, who died s. p. He gave by will this seat to his youngest son James, who served the office of sheriff in 1751, and resided here at times, and died in 1782, leaving by Frances his wife, one of the daughters of Richard Shelley, esq. four sons and four daughters, to the eldest of the former, Thomas Best, esq. he by will gave this house and his estate in this parish, and he now resides in it. There has been from time immemorial a warren for rabbits here, the lands of which lay close at the foot of the chalk hills, it formerly belonged to Boxley abbey, and was afterwards in the possession of the Wyatts, and is now from them the estate of lord Romney, and there was likewise another part of it used likewise as a warren, lying near Pinenden-heath, which was part of the Park-house estate, and as such, is now the property of Mr. Best, but the name only remains, the rabbits having been for some time destroyed, and the land made arable. About a mile. eastward from the village in a low flat situation, at no great distance from the high road from Rochester to Maidstone, is Boxley abbey, with a small hamlet of houses near it, and nearer to the hills the abbey farm. The plantations of the estate called the Park-house, likewise, the old seat of which was situated in Maidstone parish, near the high road to Rochester, as has been already described, extend into the western part of this parish. The late Sir Henry Calder, whose property it was, pulled down the old house, and on a beautiful spot near adjoining, though within this parish, began a handsome stone mansion, which after his death was finished by his widow, who with her son Sir Henry, for some time resided in it; it is now inhabited by Mr. Osborne. At a small distance eastward from hence, in nearly the centre of this parish, excepting that Maidstone stretches itself with a point or nook over a part of it, is that noted plain Pinnenden, now usually called Pickenden heath, a place made famous in early times; the western part is in Maidstone parish, the remainder in this of Boxley. From its situation almost in the middle of the county or shire of Kent, this heath has been time out of mind used for all county meetings, and for the general business of it, the county house for this purpose, a poor low shed, is situated on the north side of it, where the sheriff continues to hold his county court monthly, and where he takes the poll for the members of the county, and for the coroners, the former of which, after a few suffrages is usually adjourned to Maidstone; on a conspicuous hill on the opposite side of the heath, though in Maidstone parish, is the gallows, for the public execution of criminals condemned at the assizes.
At the time of the conquest it was the noted place for the public meetings of the county; for in the book of Domesday there is mention made, that when the inhabitants of Kent were summoned to meet ad sciram, that is, in public assembly at the shyregemot or Sheriff'stourn, for the trial of certain customs therein mentioned, they should go for that purpose as far as Pinnedenna, but no further.
In the year 1076, being the 11th of the Conqueror's reign, a famous assembly was held at this place on the following occasion.
Odo, bishop of Baieux and earl of Kent, had by means of his great power, defrauded the church of Canterbury of many manors and lands, and of several liberties, and had kept possession of them; but upon Lanfranc's being made archbishop in the year 1070, he represented the whole of the injury done to his church to the king, who forthwith commanded that it should be enquired into and determined by the nobles, and other competent men, not only of this county, but of the other counties of England, assembled for this purpose at this heath.
There were present at this meeting Goisfrid, bishop of Constance, who sat as the king's representative on this occasion; archbishop Lanfranc, who pleaded his church's cause; Odo, earl of Kent, who defended himself against his accusers in what he had done; Ernest, bishop of Rochester; Agelric, bishop of Chester, an antient man, and well versed in the laws of the realm; who on account of his great age was, by the king's order, brought hither in a waggon, in una quadriga; Richard de Tunebrige, Hugh de Montfort, William de Arsic, Hamo Vicecomes or Sheriff, and many others, barons of the king and of the archbishop, many tenants of those bishops, and many others of good and great account, as well of this as of other counties, both French and English.
This trial lasted three days, at the end of which the archbishop recovered several of the antient possessions of his church, as well from Odo as from Hugh Montfort and Ralph de Curva Spina or Crookthorne, and established the liberties of it, in matters between the king and himself. (fn. 1)
On the south side of the heath the turnpike road from Maidstone through Detling to Key-street aud Sittingbourn crosses this parish, and another branches off from hence to Bersted and Ashford; in the southern part of it are the hamlets of Grove green and Wavering-street, Newnham court, and the beautiful seat of Vinters, most pleasantly situated; below which in the vale is the stream which turns the paper mills, and separates this parish from Maidstone. At Grove, as has been already noticed, is a remarkable fine vein of fuller's earth, by the working of which Mr. John Watts, the owner of it, at the beginning of this century, became famous. But this earth was in working in 1630, at which time John Ray, merchant, of London, was sentenced to a severe fine and punishment in the Star Chamber, for transporting of it clandestinely to Holland. (fn. 2) This vein lies about thirty feet deep, and is about seven feet thick. There are two sorts of it, the blue and the dark grey, the latter of which lying under the former is most valuable; a great quantity of this earth is sent from hence by sea for the use of the clothiers in distant countries. For the manufacture carried on in this parish for the making of paper there are four sets of mills, two of which are situated at the south-east extremity of it, on the stream called the Little River, which rises near Lenham, and runs by Leeds castle hither; the upper ones, belonging to lord Aylesford, and the lower ones to Messrs. Hollingworth's; the other two are situated on the western side of the parish, near Aylesford, on the rivulet which rises under the chalk hills, and are made use of for making an inferior kind of merchandize, one of these belongs to lord Romney. The lower mills above-mentioned belonging to Messrs. Hollingworth, stand at a small distance on the north side of the road leading from Maidstone to the Mote, and are called the Old Turkey Mills, they deserve a more particular notice in this place for their superiority, as well in the many extensive buildings, machines and conveniences erected for carrying on this large and curious manufacture, and the number of people continually employed in the different branches of it, as the easy and regular method, and the neatness with which the whole is conducted. They were formerly used as fulling mills, but on the decay of the cloathing trade in these parts, were, by Mr. Gill, the proprietor, converted into paper mills, and used by him as such for a few years; he sold them to Mr. James Whatman, who in 1739 pulled the whole of them down, and erected them on a much more curious and extensive plan, which was afterwards much more improved by his son James Whatman, esq. who with infinite pains and expence, brought his manufactory of writing paper, for no other sort is made here, to a degree of perfection, superior to most in the kingdom. In 1794 he sold these mills to Messrs. Hollingworth, and retired to Vintners, where he now resides, and they now carry on this manufacture here; under the buildings is a strong chalybeat spring, which however does not produce any great quantity of water. In 1711 a Roman urn was dug up at Grove, by the workmen, near the vein of Fuller's earth there, as several others have been since, with other relics of antiquity and coins, both there and at Vintners, most of the coins having the inscription of the emperor Adrian, and the like have been from time to time discovered at Goddard's hill, in this parish, where there are several stones set up similar to those about Horsted.
OUR BOTANISTS have observed the following scarce plants in this parish:
Borago minor silvestris, small white bugloss, or German madwort.
Scopyllum angustifolium glabrum, smooth narrowleased thyme.
Buxus, the box tree, which grows plentifully in the woods here. (fn. 3)
Stellaria sanicula major, ladies mantle.
BOXLEY, at the time of taking the general survey of Domesday, was part of the vast estate of Odo, the great bishop of Baieux and earl of Kent, the Conqueror's half-brother; in which record it is thus described:
Robert Latin holds to ferm Boseleu. It was taxed at seven sulings in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and now at five sulings. The arable land is twenty carucates. In demesne there are three carucates, and fortyseven villeins, with eleven borderers having sixteen carucates. There are three mills of thirty-six shillings and eight-pence, and sixteen servants, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of thirty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth twenty-five pounds, now thirty pounds, and Robert yet pay fifty-five pounds. Alnod Cilt held it.
Four years after the taking of the above survey, about the year 1084, this estate, on the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, became forfeited to the crown, among the rest of his possessions.
In the year 1146, (fn. 4) William d'Ipre, earl of Kent, who afterwards became a monk himself at Laon, in Flanders, (fn. 5) founded an ABBEY at this place for monks of the Cistertian order, some of whom he brought from Claravalle, in Burgundy, for this purpose, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary, as all the houses of this order were. The first monastery of this order in England was at Waverly, which was built in 1129, by Walter Gifford, bishop of Winchester. They were a branch of the Benedictines, called by the English, from their habit, White monks, and likewise Cif tertians; which last name they had from the town of Cistertium or Cisteaux, in the bishopric of Chalons, in Burgundy, where this order was first instituted by Robert, abbot of Molesme, in the year 1098. There were eighty-five houses of this order, at the time of the dissolution, in England.
King Richard I. in his 1st year, anno 1189, gave the MANOR of BOXELE (fn. 6) to this abbey, which king Henry III. in his 37th year, confirmed by his letters of inspeximus. (fn. 7)
King Henry III. in his 37th year, granted to the abbot and convent to hold a market weekly within their manor of Boxley. (fn. 8) The place where it was held appears to have been called Farthings.
In the 7th year of Edward I. the abbot claimed, before the justices itinerant, certain liberties, by the charters of king Henry and king Richard, and the confirmation of them by the charter of king Henry, the then king's father. And he claimed to have warren in all his demesne lands in Kent and Surry, which he had in the time of king Henry, the king's father; and that he and his predecessors had fully used those liberties, &c. and it was then found, that the abbot had in his manor of Boxley a free court, &c. and that the tenants of the manor ought to plead in the hundred of Maidstone, pleas of Withernam, &c. and that the abbot ought to allow pannage, &c, and that the tenants of the manor owed pontage, and paid it to Rochester bridge. (fn. 9)
The abbot of Boxley was summoned to parliament twice in the 23d year of king Edward I. once in the 24th, and twice in the 28th years of that reign, but never afterwards, that I can find. (fn. 10)
In the reign of king Henry III. there were sixtyfour abbots and thirty-six priors summoned to parliament; but this number being thought too great, king Edward III. reduced them to twenty-five abbots and two priors, to which were afterwards added two more abbots, so that there were no more than twentynine in all, who statedly and constantly enjoyed this privilege, of which only St. Austen's, near Canterbury, was in this county. (fn. 11)
King Edward II. in his 15th year, honoured this abbey with his presence, where, on Oct. 25, he granted to the aldermen and citizens of London to nominate a mayor out of their own body, at his will. (fn. 12) King Edward III. in his 33d year, granted to the abbot, &c. free warren in their manor of Boxele, &c. (fn. 13)
In the reign of king Richard II. the revenues of this abbey were valued at 218l. 19s. 10d. of which 98l. 19s. 7d. was in the diocese of Canterbury, (fn. 14)
John Dobbes, the last abbot, and the convent of Boxley, surrendered it into the hands of Henry VIII. on January 29, in the 29th year of his reign, (fn. 15) and it was, together with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, confirmed to the king and his heirs, by the general words of the act, passed in the 31st year of that reign for this purpose; after which there were pensions allowed to the abbot, 50l. and to eight of the canons, from 2l. 13s. 4d. to 4l. yearly, for their lives, or until the person was promoted to a benefice of equal or superior value; the five last of which pensions remained in charge in 1553. (fn. 16)
It was endowed, at its dissolution, with 204l. 4s. 11d. per annum, clear revenue, according to Dug dale; or, according to Speed, with 218l. 9s. 10d. per annum, yearly income. (fn. 17)
The coat of arms belonging to it was, Argent, a dexter bend lozenge, gules; on a canton of the second, a crozier or pastoral staff of the field. (fn. 18) This coat, without the crozier, as also another, being a pastoral staff, surmounted of a bend, are still remaining carved in stone on the capitals of two pillars, from which springs a small circular arch in the garden, at the back of this abbey.
There was a chapel, dedicated to St. Andrew the apostle, founded hard by the outer gate of this monastery, which was served by a curate appointed for that purpose.
The lands of the abbey of Boxley, of the order of Cistertians, were as such, in particular circumstances, exempted from the payment of tithes. Pope Pascal II. exempted all the religious in general from the payment of tithes for lands in their own occupation, and this continued till the reign of Henry II. when pope Hadrian IV. restrained this exemption to the three religious orders of Cistertians, Templars, and Hospitallers, to which pope Innocent III. added a fourth, viz. the Præmonstratenses, from whence these were generally called the four privileged orders. After which the general council of Lateran, in 1215, further restrained this exemption to lands in their own occupation, and to those which they possessed before that time. After this the Cistertians procured bulls to exempt all their lands likewise which were letten to farm. To restrain which, the statute of the second of king Henry IV. cap. 4. was made, which enacted, that whoever, religious as well as secular, should put these bulls in execution, and purchase any others, and by colour of them should take any advantage in any shape, should be guilty of a præmunire. This restrained their privilege again to such lands only as they had before the Lateran council above mentioned; so that the lands they afterwards acquired are in no wise exempted, and this statute left them subject to the payment of such composition for tithes of their demesne lands as they had made with any particular rectors, &c. who contesting their privileges, even under that head, brought them to compound. This monastery of Boxley was one of those dissolved by the act of the 31st of king Henry VIII. the only ones which continued these privileges to their possessors afterwards; by which act, as well the king, his heirs and successors, as all others who should have any of those monasteries, their lands or possessions, were to hold and enjoy them, according to their estates and titles, discharged and acquitted of payment of tithes, as freely, and in as large and ample a manner as the late abbots, priors, &c. of the same before held them. (fn. 19)
In the Registrum Roffense, (fn. 20) are the names of the fields, woods, and other premises in the parish of Boxley, of which the abbot and convent here should in future be free and exempt from the payment of all tithes whilst they were in their own hands.
In the church of this abbey was the statue of St. Rumbald, usually called by the common people, St. Grumbald, which was held in great reverence for his fancity by them, for the miracles it was said to perform.
¶King Henry VIII. in his 32d year, exchanged with Sir Thomas Wyatt, of Allynton, for other premises, the house and scite of this monastery, lately dissolved, and the church, steeple, and church yard of it, with the buildings, lands, &c. as well nigh and adjoining to the scite and precinct of it, his lordship of Boxley, Hoo, and Newenham court, with their appurtenances and the farm and lands, called Upper Grange, and all lands, tenements, and other premises late belonging to it, in the parishes, townships, or hamlets of Boxley, Boxley-street, Burley, Burthin, Sandelyng, Wilston, Wavering, Havurland, Oxefiyth, Dunstreet upon the Hill, and elsewhere, in Kent, excepting to the king the parsonage of Boxley and the advowson of the parish church; (fn. 21) all which were soon afterwards again vested in the crown, as appears by the Escheat rolls of the 38th year of that reign, (fn. 22) when the king regranted the whole of them to Sir Thomas Wyatt, son of Sir Thomas before mentioned, to hold in capite by knight's service, who having, in the 1st year of queen Mary, with other gentlemen of note in this county, raised a rebellion, was found guilty of high treason, and executed that year, and his estate was consiscated to the crown; but the queen, through her bounty, the next year, granted the manor of Boxly, with the Upper Grange, and some other lands adjoining, to his widow, the lady Jane Wyatt, (daughter and coheir of Sir William Haut, of Bourne) and her heirs male, to hold in like manner. On her death, her son, George Wyatt, succeeded to them; but the abbey seems to have continued in the crown, for queen Elizabeth, in her 11th year, granted the scite and mansion of it to John Astley for a term of years. In the 13th year of that reign, George Wyatt, esq. was restored in blood by act of parliament, after which he became possessed of this seat, and resided here, having the fee of it granted to him by the crown. He died in 1624, and was buried in the chancel of this church, as were his several descendants, who bore for their arms, Per fess azure and gules, a barnacle argent, the ring or; he left several sons and daughters, of whom the second son, Haute Wyatt, was vicar of this parish; and Francis, the eldest, succeeded him in the manor of Boxley, the mansion of the abbey, the Grange, and his other estates in this parish. He was afterwards knighted, and was twice governor of Virginia. He died in 1644, leaving two sons, Henry, his eldest son and heir, and Edwin, who afterwards became possessed of this manor, seat, and estates, above mentioned, and a daughter, Elizabeth, who married Thomas Bosvile, esq. of Littlemote in Eynsford, esq. whose daughter Margaret became the wife of Sir Robert Marsham, bart. great grandfather of the present lord Romney.
Henry Wyatt, esq. was of Boxley abbey, and left an only daughter and heir, Francis, who carried this manor, seat, with the Grange and other estates above mentioned, in marriage to Sir Thomas Selyard, bart. but Edwin Wiat, the younger brother of Henry above mentioned, disputing at law the lady Selyard's title to them, recovered the manor of Boxley, with other estates last mentioned, in this parish and elsewhere; but the abbey, with the lands belonging to it, remained in the possession of Sir Thomas Selyard, as will be mentioned hereafter.
BOXLEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sutton.
The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, stands on the east side of the village; it is not large, but neat, and contains three isles and a chancel, with a handsome square tower at the west end, in which hang four small bells, which were cast in 1652, by M. Darby.
In this church, before the Reformation, was a famous rood, called the Rood of Grace, which was held in great esteem for the miracles it was supposed to work. It was broken to pieces by the king's command at St. Paul's cross, in London, on Sunday, February 24, 1538, in the presence of John Hilsey, bishop of Rochester, and a vast concourse of the populace. (fn. 35)
The church of Boxley was given by king Henry I. in 1130, to the church of Rochester, with all its liberties and rights, in like manner as his chaplain, Jeffry or Ansfrid, the clerk, had ever held it; but that church and monastery, having been destroyed by fire, and the monks dispersed abroad, king Stephen, in 1137, dispossessed them of this church, which, howeever, on their return to their monastery, was on their remonstrance to the court of Rome, by the pope's bull, restored and confirmed to them; and Walter, bishop of Rochester, not only confirmed to them the appropriation of it, but granted to them the free disposal and presentation of the vicarage, saving the right of the bishop of the diocese; which grant was confirmed likewise by the several archbishops of Canterbury afterwards.
In the year 1180, there was an agreement made between the monks of Boxley and those of Rochester, concerning the parochial tithes of this church; by which the latter granted to the former a certain field belonging to the parish church of Boxley, above the hills, but by the consent of the former they retained out of it for ever half an acre of wood for fencing; and the monks of Rochester granted to those of Boxley all the tithes above the hills of all lands, as well of those free lands, which the latter had of the king's gift, as of those which they had acquired, to be held finally in villenage, or might acquire in future, at any time for their own use; and likewise certain land belonging to this parish church, under the hill, with the meadow adjoining, between the abbey and village of Boxley; on the other hand, the monks of Boxley granted to those of Rochester all their tithes under the hills, without the bounds of the abbey and grange; that is to say, of all corn only and pulse, of all their lands under the hills, as well of those antiently as newly cultivated, and which they had from the foundation of the abbey, or might bring into culture at any time in future; and that the monks of Rochester should have all the tithes on the sides of the hills of all lands which at that time, or before were reduced to culture, excepting the field which the monks of Boxley bought of John de Horespole; which composition was confirmed by Richard, archbishop of Canterbury.
The confirmations of this church to the priory seem afterwards to have been but little regarded, and they were again dispossessed of it, with a reservation of 60s. annual pension only from it; and it appears, that the bishop of Rochester, together with the prior and convent, used to present to it on a vacancy, till the time of archbishop Islip, who at the petition of the monks, with the consent of the bishop, in 1363, restored this church to them, in as ample a manner as they had before held it; and he granted them full liberty to reenter into the corporal possession of it, with all its rights and appurtenances, on the vacancy of the rector then incumbent on it; reserving, nevertheless, in the first place, a proper portion out of the fruits and profits, for the maintenance of a perpetual vicar, at the presentation of the bishop, to be instituted by him and his successors, and for the due support of the episcopal and archidiaconal burthens, and others belonging to it; and a vicarage was afterwards accordingly endowed in it by archbishop Sudbury, in the year 1377. (fn. 36)
In 1403, a definitive sentence was passed concerning the tithes of this vicarage; (fn. 37) at which time, and so late as the year 1485, this church and advowson belonged to the priory of Rochester, for in the latter year, archbishop Bouchier, cardinal and apostolic legate, confirmed the appropriation of it to them; and a composition was entered into, anno 20 Richard II. between the prior and convent, and Adam Motrum, archdeacon of Canterbury; that as the archdeacon and his archdeaconry was detrimented in the yearly sum of 6s. 8d. the like sum should be yearly paid to the latter, out of the profits of it so long as they possessed it.
The appropriation, as well as the advowson of the vicarage, seems very soon afterwards to have passed into the hands of the prior and convent of Boxley, tho' by what means I do not find, before its dissolution, which happened in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. for that king, by his dotation charter, in his 32d year, settled his rectory and church of Boxley, late belonging to the dissolved monastery of Boxley, and the vicarage of it, on his new erected dean and chapter of Rochester, part of whose possessions they now remain.
In the 15th year of king Edward I. this church was valued at 32l. the vicarage is valued in the king's books at 12l. 19s. 2d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 5s. 11d.
King Henry VIII. in his 29th year, let to Thomas Vicary, one of his surgeons, the tithes of corn and the glebe lands of this rectory, and the capital messuage, houses, and buildings belonging to it, and ten pieces of land, late belonging to the monastery of Boxley and the advowson of the vicarage, for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of forty pounds.
In the exchange of lands, made between Henry VIII. and Sir Thomas Wyatt, in the 32d year of his reign, the parsonage of Boxley, and the advowson of the vicarage, with their appurtenances, were particularly excepted, to remain to the king's use.
By a survey of this parsonage, on the abolition of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. in 1649, by order of the state, is appears, that the par sonage-house, a fair and goodly house, with its appurtenances, tithes, &c. late belonging to the late monastery there, and forty-eight acres, three roods, and two perches of land, in the improved rents, were the whole of them worth 140l. 3s. 6d. per annum; and were let by the dean and chapter, anno 15 Charles I. to Robert Parker for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of 26l. 13s. 4d. and twelve couple of conies, or 16s. in money; that the lessee was bound to repair the chancel, and that the vicarage, which was excepted out of the lease, was worth sixty pounds per annum.
The present lessee of the parsonage is Mr. William Fowle; the vicarage is reserved out of the lease of it, and is in the disposal of the dean and chapter.
The vicar of Boxley has belonging to him all tithes of wood, hops, hay, clover, cinquefoil, flax, wold, wool, lambs, milk, eggs, apples, cherries, and other fruit, and of pasture; his dues are, for burials, 2s. for marriages, 5s. for christenings in houses, 2s. 6d. and for churchings at church, 6d. at home, 1s. for Easter offerings he can demand of every person, above sixteen years old, 6d. so of a man and his wife, 1s.
He has a pension of 8l. per annum, payable out of the exchequer, as an augmentation; the fees for receiving of which are, if he receives it himself, 12s. if by another, 20s. (fn. 38)
¶The land the vicarage house, with its appurtenances, stands on, with the garden and court yard, is not above the third part of an acre; which, with the herbage of the church yard, is all the glebe the vicar has. The house, which is built of brick, and sashed, is handsome and commodious, and has proper offices adjoining to it. It was erected by Mr. archdeacon Spratt, whilst vicar of this parish; since which it has been considerably improved by Dr. Markham, vicar likewise, now arch bishop of York, who sometimes resided in it, as did his successor, Dr. North, now bishop of Winchester.
In 1733, the vicarage was valued at 200l. it is now 300l. per annum.
Bishop Henry de Sandford, by his decree temp. Henry III. at the petition of the vicar and parishioners, changed the feast of the dedication of this church, from the 10th of February to the Monday next after the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul.
Somehow I had missed Boxley from previous crawls in the area. I guess, once upon a time, Boxley was a quiet village halfway up the downs, relying on sheepfarming for its income. In the 21st century, its just a suburb of Maidstone, though a mile or so outside the county town.
All Saints popped up on the churchcrawling group on Facebook, and thought it looked interesting, which is something of an understatement.
We arrived at just after eleven, in the lych gate there was a sign saying the church was open, so, result!
Approaching the church aloong a stone path it feels very un-Kent-like, especially as entrance to the church is in the very west end.
You enter, and are in a large space, in fact this was the Norman chancel of the original church, then into the space below the west tower, and there is the door into the church as it is now.
But I could hear voices from within, probably wardens cleaning, or so I thought...
But turned out to be a lecture on wildflowers; maybe i should crash it? But don't.
We find a leaflet and find that it had been going on nearly an hour, so we go to sit outside to see if it was going to end on the hour mark....
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The church lies at the far end of the village green. Visitors who do not first walk around the outside of the church wonder if they are ever going to get in - for they have to walk through two rooms first! From the outside it is not so puzzling; the first room is in fact the nave of the Norman church. Then comes the base of the fifteenth-century tower, built on the site of the Norman chancel. Only after we have gone through this do we come to the church proper - a complete fourteenth-century structure. It is wide, with two aisles, and relatively short. The chancel is well proportioned and has a definite lean to the south indicating medieval building error.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Boxley
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BOXLEY.
ADJOINING to Maidstone north-eastward lies the parish of Boxley, written in Domesday, Boseleu, and in the Textus Roffensis, Boxele and Boxle, a parish noted, as well for the famous assembly of the whole county, held at Pinenden heath, within the boundaries of it, in the reign of the Conqueror, as for the abbey not long afterwards founded in it.
THE VILLAGE of Boxley situated at the foot of the chalk hills, above which this parish extends among the coppice woods, over a barren dreary country covered with flints, to Dun-street, at the northern boundaries of it. Southward it extends to the rivulet in the valley, at a very small distance from the town of Maidstone, a length of near four miles, the width of it is not more than three at its greatest extent, and in most parts much less; the soil from its extent is of course various, to the northward it is chalk; in the middle, and towards the west a deep sand; to the eastward a wet cludgy earth, and to the south and south-east for the most part a not unfertile loamy soil bounding upon the rock. It is a situation much more healthy than it is pleasant, owing to its chalky and sandy soils, and its bleak situation. The village is watered by a clear spring, which rises just below the church, and directs its course through the street; this spring, as well as another, which rises likewise at the foot of the chalk hill, just above Boxley abbey, are both very inviting to the sight, but the water is very hard and unfit for culinary uses, especially the latter, which in two months will petrify wood, the incrustation resembling brown and unpolished marble. These join just below the abbey, and flow together into the Medway, almost opposite to Allington castle.
The village lies on a descent from the hills, there are several genteel houses in it; at the upper or northern part of it is Boxley house, lord Romney's, inhabited by his three sisters and Mr. Coker; somewhat lower down is a house, which for many years was the property and residence of the family of Charlton, who bore for their arms, Or, a lion rampant gules, the last of them, John Charlton, esq. dying in 1770 unmarried, it came by his will, together with the chief of his other estates, to his eldest nephew, the Rev. George Burville, (son of the Rev. Henry Burville, by Anne his sister). The Burvilles bear for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three oak leaves erect, vert. Mr. Burville married Juliana, daughter of William Bowyer, esq. of Denham, in Buckinghamshire, by whom he has a son John, and daughter Frances, married to the Rev. Philip Rashleigh. He is the present possessor of this house, in which he resides; below this is the parsonage and vicarage, the latter a handsome genteel house, and just above it at a small distance from the east side of the street, the church; almost adjoining to Mr. Burville's house, is another more antient one, called Park-house, once part of the estate of Boxley abbey, and afterwards in like manner, the estate of Sir Thomas Wyatt, whose son forfeited it for treason in the 1st year of queen Mary How it passed afterwards I have not found, though it seems never to have been restored to his descendants; in the beginning of the present century it was in the possession of the family of St. John, in which it remained till Mrs. St. John joining with her son, Paulet St. John, sold it in 1720 to Maudistley Best, esq. (son of Mr. Thomas Best, of Chatham) who resided and kept his shrievalty here in 1730, bearing for his arms, sable, two cross croslets in chief, and a cinquefoil in base, or. He died in 1740, leaving two sons, Thomas, late of Chilston, esq. and James, of Chatham, and a daughter, married to the hon. Robert, afterwards lord Fairfax, of Leeds castle, who died s. p. He gave by will this seat to his youngest son James, who served the office of sheriff in 1751, and resided here at times, and died in 1782, leaving by Frances his wife, one of the daughters of Richard Shelley, esq. four sons and four daughters, to the eldest of the former, Thomas Best, esq. he by will gave this house and his estate in this parish, and he now resides in it. There has been from time immemorial a warren for rabbits here, the lands of which lay close at the foot of the chalk hills, it formerly belonged to Boxley abbey, and was afterwards in the possession of the Wyatts, and is now from them the estate of lord Romney, and there was likewise another part of it used likewise as a warren, lying near Pinenden-heath, which was part of the Park-house estate, and as such, is now the property of Mr. Best, but the name only remains, the rabbits having been for some time destroyed, and the land made arable. About a mile. eastward from the village in a low flat situation, at no great distance from the high road from Rochester to Maidstone, is Boxley abbey, with a small hamlet of houses near it, and nearer to the hills the abbey farm. The plantations of the estate called the Park-house, likewise, the old seat of which was situated in Maidstone parish, near the high road to Rochester, as has been already described, extend into the western part of this parish. The late Sir Henry Calder, whose property it was, pulled down the old house, and on a beautiful spot near adjoining, though within this parish, began a handsome stone mansion, which after his death was finished by his widow, who with her son Sir Henry, for some time resided in it; it is now inhabited by Mr. Osborne. At a small distance eastward from hence, in nearly the centre of this parish, excepting that Maidstone stretches itself with a point or nook over a part of it, is that noted plain Pinnenden, now usually called Pickenden heath, a place made famous in early times; the western part is in Maidstone parish, the remainder in this of Boxley. From its situation almost in the middle of the county or shire of Kent, this heath has been time out of mind used for all county meetings, and for the general business of it, the county house for this purpose, a poor low shed, is situated on the north side of it, where the sheriff continues to hold his county court monthly, and where he takes the poll for the members of the county, and for the coroners, the former of which, after a few suffrages is usually adjourned to Maidstone; on a conspicuous hill on the opposite side of the heath, though in Maidstone parish, is the gallows, for the public execution of criminals condemned at the assizes.
At the time of the conquest it was the noted place for the public meetings of the county; for in the book of Domesday there is mention made, that when the inhabitants of Kent were summoned to meet ad sciram, that is, in public assembly at the shyregemot or Sheriff'stourn, for the trial of certain customs therein mentioned, they should go for that purpose as far as Pinnedenna, but no further.
In the year 1076, being the 11th of the Conqueror's reign, a famous assembly was held at this place on the following occasion.
Odo, bishop of Baieux and earl of Kent, had by means of his great power, defrauded the church of Canterbury of many manors and lands, and of several liberties, and had kept possession of them; but upon Lanfranc's being made archbishop in the year 1070, he represented the whole of the injury done to his church to the king, who forthwith commanded that it should be enquired into and determined by the nobles, and other competent men, not only of this county, but of the other counties of England, assembled for this purpose at this heath.
There were present at this meeting Goisfrid, bishop of Constance, who sat as the king's representative on this occasion; archbishop Lanfranc, who pleaded his church's cause; Odo, earl of Kent, who defended himself against his accusers in what he had done; Ernest, bishop of Rochester; Agelric, bishop of Chester, an antient man, and well versed in the laws of the realm; who on account of his great age was, by the king's order, brought hither in a waggon, in una quadriga; Richard de Tunebrige, Hugh de Montfort, William de Arsic, Hamo Vicecomes or Sheriff, and many others, barons of the king and of the archbishop, many tenants of those bishops, and many others of good and great account, as well of this as of other counties, both French and English.
This trial lasted three days, at the end of which the archbishop recovered several of the antient possessions of his church, as well from Odo as from Hugh Montfort and Ralph de Curva Spina or Crookthorne, and established the liberties of it, in matters between the king and himself. (fn. 1)
On the south side of the heath the turnpike road from Maidstone through Detling to Key-street aud Sittingbourn crosses this parish, and another branches off from hence to Bersted and Ashford; in the southern part of it are the hamlets of Grove green and Wavering-street, Newnham court, and the beautiful seat of Vinters, most pleasantly situated; below which in the vale is the stream which turns the paper mills, and separates this parish from Maidstone. At Grove, as has been already noticed, is a remarkable fine vein of fuller's earth, by the working of which Mr. John Watts, the owner of it, at the beginning of this century, became famous. But this earth was in working in 1630, at which time John Ray, merchant, of London, was sentenced to a severe fine and punishment in the Star Chamber, for transporting of it clandestinely to Holland. (fn. 2) This vein lies about thirty feet deep, and is about seven feet thick. There are two sorts of it, the blue and the dark grey, the latter of which lying under the former is most valuable; a great quantity of this earth is sent from hence by sea for the use of the clothiers in distant countries. For the manufacture carried on in this parish for the making of paper there are four sets of mills, two of which are situated at the south-east extremity of it, on the stream called the Little River, which rises near Lenham, and runs by Leeds castle hither; the upper ones, belonging to lord Aylesford, and the lower ones to Messrs. Hollingworth's; the other two are situated on the western side of the parish, near Aylesford, on the rivulet which rises under the chalk hills, and are made use of for making an inferior kind of merchandize, one of these belongs to lord Romney. The lower mills above-mentioned belonging to Messrs. Hollingworth, stand at a small distance on the north side of the road leading from Maidstone to the Mote, and are called the Old Turkey Mills, they deserve a more particular notice in this place for their superiority, as well in the many extensive buildings, machines and conveniences erected for carrying on this large and curious manufacture, and the number of people continually employed in the different branches of it, as the easy and regular method, and the neatness with which the whole is conducted. They were formerly used as fulling mills, but on the decay of the cloathing trade in these parts, were, by Mr. Gill, the proprietor, converted into paper mills, and used by him as such for a few years; he sold them to Mr. James Whatman, who in 1739 pulled the whole of them down, and erected them on a much more curious and extensive plan, which was afterwards much more improved by his son James Whatman, esq. who with infinite pains and expence, brought his manufactory of writing paper, for no other sort is made here, to a degree of perfection, superior to most in the kingdom. In 1794 he sold these mills to Messrs. Hollingworth, and retired to Vintners, where he now resides, and they now carry on this manufacture here; under the buildings is a strong chalybeat spring, which however does not produce any great quantity of water. In 1711 a Roman urn was dug up at Grove, by the workmen, near the vein of Fuller's earth there, as several others have been since, with other relics of antiquity and coins, both there and at Vintners, most of the coins having the inscription of the emperor Adrian, and the like have been from time to time discovered at Goddard's hill, in this parish, where there are several stones set up similar to those about Horsted.
OUR BOTANISTS have observed the following scarce plants in this parish:
Borago minor silvestris, small white bugloss, or German madwort.
Scopyllum angustifolium glabrum, smooth narrowleased thyme.
Buxus, the box tree, which grows plentifully in the woods here. (fn. 3)
Stellaria sanicula major, ladies mantle.
BOXLEY, at the time of taking the general survey of Domesday, was part of the vast estate of Odo, the great bishop of Baieux and earl of Kent, the Conqueror's half-brother; in which record it is thus described:
Robert Latin holds to ferm Boseleu. It was taxed at seven sulings in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and now at five sulings. The arable land is twenty carucates. In demesne there are three carucates, and fortyseven villeins, with eleven borderers having sixteen carucates. There are three mills of thirty-six shillings and eight-pence, and sixteen servants, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of thirty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth twenty-five pounds, now thirty pounds, and Robert yet pay fifty-five pounds. Alnod Cilt held it.
Four years after the taking of the above survey, about the year 1084, this estate, on the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, became forfeited to the crown, among the rest of his possessions.
In the year 1146, (fn. 4) William d'Ipre, earl of Kent, who afterwards became a monk himself at Laon, in Flanders, (fn. 5) founded an ABBEY at this place for monks of the Cistertian order, some of whom he brought from Claravalle, in Burgundy, for this purpose, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary, as all the houses of this order were. The first monastery of this order in England was at Waverly, which was built in 1129, by Walter Gifford, bishop of Winchester. They were a branch of the Benedictines, called by the English, from their habit, White monks, and likewise Cif tertians; which last name they had from the town of Cistertium or Cisteaux, in the bishopric of Chalons, in Burgundy, where this order was first instituted by Robert, abbot of Molesme, in the year 1098. There were eighty-five houses of this order, at the time of the dissolution, in England.
King Richard I. in his 1st year, anno 1189, gave the MANOR of BOXELE (fn. 6) to this abbey, which king Henry III. in his 37th year, confirmed by his letters of inspeximus. (fn. 7)
King Henry III. in his 37th year, granted to the abbot and convent to hold a market weekly within their manor of Boxley. (fn. 8) The place where it was held appears to have been called Farthings.
In the 7th year of Edward I. the abbot claimed, before the justices itinerant, certain liberties, by the charters of king Henry and king Richard, and the confirmation of them by the charter of king Henry, the then king's father. And he claimed to have warren in all his demesne lands in Kent and Surry, which he had in the time of king Henry, the king's father; and that he and his predecessors had fully used those liberties, &c. and it was then found, that the abbot had in his manor of Boxley a free court, &c. and that the tenants of the manor ought to plead in the hundred of Maidstone, pleas of Withernam, &c. and that the abbot ought to allow pannage, &c, and that the tenants of the manor owed pontage, and paid it to Rochester bridge. (fn. 9)
The abbot of Boxley was summoned to parliament twice in the 23d year of king Edward I. once in the 24th, and twice in the 28th years of that reign, but never afterwards, that I can find. (fn. 10)
In the reign of king Henry III. there were sixtyfour abbots and thirty-six priors summoned to parliament; but this number being thought too great, king Edward III. reduced them to twenty-five abbots and two priors, to which were afterwards added two more abbots, so that there were no more than twentynine in all, who statedly and constantly enjoyed this privilege, of which only St. Austen's, near Canterbury, was in this county. (fn. 11)
King Edward II. in his 15th year, honoured this abbey with his presence, where, on Oct. 25, he granted to the aldermen and citizens of London to nominate a mayor out of their own body, at his will. (fn. 12) King Edward III. in his 33d year, granted to the abbot, &c. free warren in their manor of Boxele, &c. (fn. 13)
In the reign of king Richard II. the revenues of this abbey were valued at 218l. 19s. 10d. of which 98l. 19s. 7d. was in the diocese of Canterbury, (fn. 14)
John Dobbes, the last abbot, and the convent of Boxley, surrendered it into the hands of Henry VIII. on January 29, in the 29th year of his reign, (fn. 15) and it was, together with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, confirmed to the king and his heirs, by the general words of the act, passed in the 31st year of that reign for this purpose; after which there were pensions allowed to the abbot, 50l. and to eight of the canons, from 2l. 13s. 4d. to 4l. yearly, for their lives, or until the person was promoted to a benefice of equal or superior value; the five last of which pensions remained in charge in 1553. (fn. 16)
It was endowed, at its dissolution, with 204l. 4s. 11d. per annum, clear revenue, according to Dug dale; or, according to Speed, with 218l. 9s. 10d. per annum, yearly income. (fn. 17)
The coat of arms belonging to it was, Argent, a dexter bend lozenge, gules; on a canton of the second, a crozier or pastoral staff of the field. (fn. 18) This coat, without the crozier, as also another, being a pastoral staff, surmounted of a bend, are still remaining carved in stone on the capitals of two pillars, from which springs a small circular arch in the garden, at the back of this abbey.
There was a chapel, dedicated to St. Andrew the apostle, founded hard by the outer gate of this monastery, which was served by a curate appointed for that purpose.
The lands of the abbey of Boxley, of the order of Cistertians, were as such, in particular circumstances, exempted from the payment of tithes. Pope Pascal II. exempted all the religious in general from the payment of tithes for lands in their own occupation, and this continued till the reign of Henry II. when pope Hadrian IV. restrained this exemption to the three religious orders of Cistertians, Templars, and Hospitallers, to which pope Innocent III. added a fourth, viz. the Præmonstratenses, from whence these were generally called the four privileged orders. After which the general council of Lateran, in 1215, further restrained this exemption to lands in their own occupation, and to those which they possessed before that time. After this the Cistertians procured bulls to exempt all their lands likewise which were letten to farm. To restrain which, the statute of the second of king Henry IV. cap. 4. was made, which enacted, that whoever, religious as well as secular, should put these bulls in execution, and purchase any others, and by colour of them should take any advantage in any shape, should be guilty of a præmunire. This restrained their privilege again to such lands only as they had before the Lateran council above mentioned; so that the lands they afterwards acquired are in no wise exempted, and this statute left them subject to the payment of such composition for tithes of their demesne lands as they had made with any particular rectors, &c. who contesting their privileges, even under that head, brought them to compound. This monastery of Boxley was one of those dissolved by the act of the 31st of king Henry VIII. the only ones which continued these privileges to their possessors afterwards; by which act, as well the king, his heirs and successors, as all others who should have any of those monasteries, their lands or possessions, were to hold and enjoy them, according to their estates and titles, discharged and acquitted of payment of tithes, as freely, and in as large and ample a manner as the late abbots, priors, &c. of the same before held them. (fn. 19)
In the Registrum Roffense, (fn. 20) are the names of the fields, woods, and other premises in the parish of Boxley, of which the abbot and convent here should in future be free and exempt from the payment of all tithes whilst they were in their own hands.
In the church of this abbey was the statue of St. Rumbald, usually called by the common people, St. Grumbald, which was held in great reverence for his fancity by them, for the miracles it was said to perform.
¶King Henry VIII. in his 32d year, exchanged with Sir Thomas Wyatt, of Allynton, for other premises, the house and scite of this monastery, lately dissolved, and the church, steeple, and church yard of it, with the buildings, lands, &c. as well nigh and adjoining to the scite and precinct of it, his lordship of Boxley, Hoo, and Newenham court, with their appurtenances and the farm and lands, called Upper Grange, and all lands, tenements, and other premises late belonging to it, in the parishes, townships, or hamlets of Boxley, Boxley-street, Burley, Burthin, Sandelyng, Wilston, Wavering, Havurland, Oxefiyth, Dunstreet upon the Hill, and elsewhere, in Kent, excepting to the king the parsonage of Boxley and the advowson of the parish church; (fn. 21) all which were soon afterwards again vested in the crown, as appears by the Escheat rolls of the 38th year of that reign, (fn. 22) when the king regranted the whole of them to Sir Thomas Wyatt, son of Sir Thomas before mentioned, to hold in capite by knight's service, who having, in the 1st year of queen Mary, with other gentlemen of note in this county, raised a rebellion, was found guilty of high treason, and executed that year, and his estate was consiscated to the crown; but the queen, through her bounty, the next year, granted the manor of Boxly, with the Upper Grange, and some other lands adjoining, to his widow, the lady Jane Wyatt, (daughter and coheir of Sir William Haut, of Bourne) and her heirs male, to hold in like manner. On her death, her son, George Wyatt, succeeded to them; but the abbey seems to have continued in the crown, for queen Elizabeth, in her 11th year, granted the scite and mansion of it to John Astley for a term of years. In the 13th year of that reign, George Wyatt, esq. was restored in blood by act of parliament, after which he became possessed of this seat, and resided here, having the fee of it granted to him by the crown. He died in 1624, and was buried in the chancel of this church, as were his several descendants, who bore for their arms, Per fess azure and gules, a barnacle argent, the ring or; he left several sons and daughters, of whom the second son, Haute Wyatt, was vicar of this parish; and Francis, the eldest, succeeded him in the manor of Boxley, the mansion of the abbey, the Grange, and his other estates in this parish. He was afterwards knighted, and was twice governor of Virginia. He died in 1644, leaving two sons, Henry, his eldest son and heir, and Edwin, who afterwards became possessed of this manor, seat, and estates, above mentioned, and a daughter, Elizabeth, who married Thomas Bosvile, esq. of Littlemote in Eynsford, esq. whose daughter Margaret became the wife of Sir Robert Marsham, bart. great grandfather of the present lord Romney.
Henry Wyatt, esq. was of Boxley abbey, and left an only daughter and heir, Francis, who carried this manor, seat, with the Grange and other estates above mentioned, in marriage to Sir Thomas Selyard, bart. but Edwin Wiat, the younger brother of Henry above mentioned, disputing at law the lady Selyard's title to them, recovered the manor of Boxley, with other estates last mentioned, in this parish and elsewhere; but the abbey, with the lands belonging to it, remained in the possession of Sir Thomas Selyard, as will be mentioned hereafter.
BOXLEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sutton.
The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, stands on the east side of the village; it is not large, but neat, and contains three isles and a chancel, with a handsome square tower at the west end, in which hang four small bells, which were cast in 1652, by M. Darby.
In this church, before the Reformation, was a famous rood, called the Rood of Grace, which was held in great esteem for the miracles it was supposed to work. It was broken to pieces by the king's command at St. Paul's cross, in London, on Sunday, February 24, 1538, in the presence of John Hilsey, bishop of Rochester, and a vast concourse of the populace. (fn. 35)
The church of Boxley was given by king Henry I. in 1130, to the church of Rochester, with all its liberties and rights, in like manner as his chaplain, Jeffry or Ansfrid, the clerk, had ever held it; but that church and monastery, having been destroyed by fire, and the monks dispersed abroad, king Stephen, in 1137, dispossessed them of this church, which, howeever, on their return to their monastery, was on their remonstrance to the court of Rome, by the pope's bull, restored and confirmed to them; and Walter, bishop of Rochester, not only confirmed to them the appropriation of it, but granted to them the free disposal and presentation of the vicarage, saving the right of the bishop of the diocese; which grant was confirmed likewise by the several archbishops of Canterbury afterwards.
In the year 1180, there was an agreement made between the monks of Boxley and those of Rochester, concerning the parochial tithes of this church; by which the latter granted to the former a certain field belonging to the parish church of Boxley, above the hills, but by the consent of the former they retained out of it for ever half an acre of wood for fencing; and the monks of Rochester granted to those of Boxley all the tithes above the hills of all lands, as well of those free lands, which the latter had of the king's gift, as of those which they had acquired, to be held finally in villenage, or might acquire in future, at any time for their own use; and likewise certain land belonging to this parish church, under the hill, with the meadow adjoining, between the abbey and village of Boxley; on the other hand, the monks of Boxley granted to those of Rochester all their tithes under the hills, without the bounds of the abbey and grange; that is to say, of all corn only and pulse, of all their lands under the hills, as well of those antiently as newly cultivated, and which they had from the foundation of the abbey, or might bring into culture at any time in future; and that the monks of Rochester should have all the tithes on the sides of the hills of all lands which at that time, or before were reduced to culture, excepting the field which the monks of Boxley bought of John de Horespole; which composition was confirmed by Richard, archbishop of Canterbury.
The confirmations of this church to the priory seem afterwards to have been but little regarded, and they were again dispossessed of it, with a reservation of 60s. annual pension only from it; and it appears, that the bishop of Rochester, together with the prior and convent, used to present to it on a vacancy, till the time of archbishop Islip, who at the petition of the monks, with the consent of the bishop, in 1363, restored this church to them, in as ample a manner as they had before held it; and he granted them full liberty to reenter into the corporal possession of it, with all its rights and appurtenances, on the vacancy of the rector then incumbent on it; reserving, nevertheless, in the first place, a proper portion out of the fruits and profits, for the maintenance of a perpetual vicar, at the presentation of the bishop, to be instituted by him and his successors, and for the due support of the episcopal and archidiaconal burthens, and others belonging to it; and a vicarage was afterwards accordingly endowed in it by archbishop Sudbury, in the year 1377. (fn. 36)
In 1403, a definitive sentence was passed concerning the tithes of this vicarage; (fn. 37) at which time, and so late as the year 1485, this church and advowson belonged to the priory of Rochester, for in the latter year, archbishop Bouchier, cardinal and apostolic legate, confirmed the appropriation of it to them; and a composition was entered into, anno 20 Richard II. between the prior and convent, and Adam Motrum, archdeacon of Canterbury; that as the archdeacon and his archdeaconry was detrimented in the yearly sum of 6s. 8d. the like sum should be yearly paid to the latter, out of the profits of it so long as they possessed it.
The appropriation, as well as the advowson of the vicarage, seems very soon afterwards to have passed into the hands of the prior and convent of Boxley, tho' by what means I do not find, before its dissolution, which happened in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. for that king, by his dotation charter, in his 32d year, settled his rectory and church of Boxley, late belonging to the dissolved monastery of Boxley, and the vicarage of it, on his new erected dean and chapter of Rochester, part of whose possessions they now remain.
In the 15th year of king Edward I. this church was valued at 32l. the vicarage is valued in the king's books at 12l. 19s. 2d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 5s. 11d.
King Henry VIII. in his 29th year, let to Thomas Vicary, one of his surgeons, the tithes of corn and the glebe lands of this rectory, and the capital messuage, houses, and buildings belonging to it, and ten pieces of land, late belonging to the monastery of Boxley and the advowson of the vicarage, for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of forty pounds.
In the exchange of lands, made between Henry VIII. and Sir Thomas Wyatt, in the 32d year of his reign, the parsonage of Boxley, and the advowson of the vicarage, with their appurtenances, were particularly excepted, to remain to the king's use.
By a survey of this parsonage, on the abolition of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. in 1649, by order of the state, is appears, that the par sonage-house, a fair and goodly house, with its appurtenances, tithes, &c. late belonging to the late monastery there, and forty-eight acres, three roods, and two perches of land, in the improved rents, were the whole of them worth 140l. 3s. 6d. per annum; and were let by the dean and chapter, anno 15 Charles I. to Robert Parker for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of 26l. 13s. 4d. and twelve couple of conies, or 16s. in money; that the lessee was bound to repair the chancel, and that the vicarage, which was excepted out of the lease, was worth sixty pounds per annum.
The present lessee of the parsonage is Mr. William Fowle; the vicarage is reserved out of the lease of it, and is in the disposal of the dean and chapter.
The vicar of Boxley has belonging to him all tithes of wood, hops, hay, clover, cinquefoil, flax, wold, wool, lambs, milk, eggs, apples, cherries, and other fruit, and of pasture; his dues are, for burials, 2s. for marriages, 5s. for christenings in houses, 2s. 6d. and for churchings at church, 6d. at home, 1s. for Easter offerings he can demand of every person, above sixteen years old, 6d. so of a man and his wife, 1s.
He has a pension of 8l. per annum, payable out of the exchequer, as an augmentation; the fees for receiving of which are, if he receives it himself, 12s. if by another, 20s. (fn. 38)
¶The land the vicarage house, with its appurtenances, stands on, with the garden and court yard, is not above the third part of an acre; which, with the herbage of the church yard, is all the glebe the vicar has. The house, which is built of brick, and sashed, is handsome and commodious, and has proper offices adjoining to it. It was erected by Mr. archdeacon Spratt, whilst vicar of this parish; since which it has been considerably improved by Dr. Markham, vicar likewise, now arch bishop of York, who sometimes resided in it, as did his successor, Dr. North, now bishop of Winchester.
In 1733, the vicarage was valued at 200l. it is now 300l. per annum.
Bishop Henry de Sandford, by his decree temp. Henry III. at the petition of the vicar and parishioners, changed the feast of the dedication of this church, from the 10th of February to the Monday next after the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul.
The shops down Golders Green Road in Golders Green (North London).
Shops here include: Phone City and Norwood.
Grade II listed.
BARNET
TQ 2587 GOLDERS WAY
31/28/10343 Golders Green
09-JUL-02 (South side)
Cheapside
GOLDERS GREEN ROAD
Golders Green
(North side)
10-90
Cheapside
GV II
Includes: Cheapside, GOLDERS WAY, Golders Green
Parade of shops, with flats above. C.1911 onwards, by Herbert A. Welch and H. Clifford Hollis, architects. Dark red-brown brick, Flemish bond and English bond, with orange-red bands; hipped and gabled orange plain tiled roofs, brick chimneys. 4 storeys and 3 storeys with attics. Shallow concave crescent plan, with ground floor shops entered from Golders Green road; rear service access from Golders Way behind, and external access stairs to each group of flats. Vernacular revival style.
EXTERIOR: parade of 41 shops with flats over. The long principal frontage is relieved by varied wall treatment, fenestration, and roof details. Overall composition divided into three elements End corners emphasised by placing chimney breast, and triple shafted stack on the diagonal, flanked by paired canted bays, with stone mullion and transom windows on first and second floors, wood casements on the third, capped by projecting paired hipped roofs. Jettied tile-hung projection at second floor, with gabled and quarter hipped roof and linked tilehung 'M' gable with hipped margin adjoin the cornerpiece at each end of the Golders Green Road frontage. Wood mullion and transom casement windows throughout main frontage. Visual accents created by further 'M'-roofed projections. The centrepiece has 3 narrowly spaced tall canted oriel bay windows, with attic dormers above, flanked by ornamental studwork and plaster, with tile-hung triple gable above; all set between square chimneystacks and projecting hip roofs, with further studwork beyond, on second floor, over a hipped margin roof above the first floor, and capped by triple tile-hung gables. The name of the parade 'Cheapside' is spelt out in tiles over Nos.16 and 86. Ground floor shopfronts have been renewed and shop units combined many times through the years, and none are now of special interest.
REAR ELEVATION: the rear elevation to Golders Way was designed as a service mews, and is of comparatively simplified design. The ground floor had rear service yards, with access to shops through arched openings, with timber half-glazed doors and sidelights, many of which have been infilled, with the shops and stores extended rearwards to the street frontage. Access to the flats is taken from external staircases to the first floor at regular intervals, each serving pairs of flats and maisonettes, with doors set in tile-roofed lean-to's, on 4 bay projections, with wood small-paned casement windows. Hipped tiled roofs, and tall slab-like chimneystacks.
INTERIORS: ground floors much altered; interiors not inspected.
HISTORY: Welch and Hollis, who also designed the shops on the south side of Golders Green Road in 1908-9, chose a full-blooded Arts and Crafts style for Cheapside, which was detailed and executed with panache and finesse. They drew on the precedents of Temple Fortune House and Arcade House, Finchley Road, Hampstead Garden Suburb (A.J. Penty for Parker and Unwin 1909-11). Herbert Arthur Welch (1884-1953) and Henry Clifford Hollis had both worked with Parker and Unwin. Work commenced at the south-east end of the parade: Nos.10-22 were bult by 1912, Nos.24-46 were built by 1915. Nos.4-8 Golders Green Road [q.v.], completed in c.1921, formed the south-eastern continuation of this parade. A notable vernacular revival parade of shops, showing the adaptation of the Hampstead Garden Suburb style for use in this important Edwardian suburban development.
Source: English Heritage
Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence: PSI Click-use licence number C2008002006.
Many garages don't have much room for anything but your vehicles. Add a lean to and have a spot for your tools, bikes, equipment, camping gear, etc.
By mistake I ended up in West Malling, but it was a good thing, as the village is chocolate box pretty, and the church very fine indeed. The only church I visited that had no wardens to welcome (I think, sorry if I have mis-remembered). Anyway, a fine church, amazing coat of arms, and glad I visited.
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A story of all's well that ends well. A Norman tower and thirteenth-century chancel are linked by a twentieth-century nave that had in its turn replaced one erected to replace its medieval predecessor in the eighteenth century! The west window and those in the south aisle are by C.E. Kempe and Co. Ltd, and of special note is the one depicting the Three Kings. On the south side of the chancel, backing on to a medieval lean-to vestry, is the splendid tomb of Sir Robert Brett (d. 1620), which has recently been restored. The colours are superb and show how churches must have looked when these monuments were new. In the north aisle is a large painting of the Last Supper by Francis Slater, the eighteenth-century artist who painted the ceilings of nearby Mereworth Castle. Hanging on the front of the west gallery are the outstanding Royal Arms of James II, of carved and painted wood. The twentieth-century rebuilding of the church was financed by the sale of an Elizabethan stoneware jug (now in the British Museum), the transaction being recorded on an inscribed stone in the north porch.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=West+Malling
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WESTWARD from East Malling lies the town and parish of West Malling, now most commonly called Town Malling.
It is written in Domesday, MALLENGETIS, and in the Textus Roffensis, MELLINGES. In many deeds after the conquest, it is stiled MILLINGES PARVA, to distinguish it from East Malling, then the larger and more noted village of the two.
The town and parish of West Malling, excepting the borough of St. Leonard, which is under the jurisdiction of the constables of the hundred of Larkfield, is under the jurisdiction of its own constables, of which there are two chosen yearly.
THE PARISH of Town Malling, as it is usually called, is situated equally pleasant and healthy. It lies on high ground, and though dry is well watered, the soil of it being in the northern part a sand, the rest of it a loam, covering the quarry rock, which is very fertile, as has been frequently noticed before in the like situations. The high road from London through Wrotham to Maidstone, at the twenty-ninth mile stone leads along the northern boundaries of the parish, being called in king Edmund's grant of this place to the bishop of Rochester, the military way, no doubt from its having been used as such by the Romans, southward of it the ground gently rising; at less than a quarter of a mile's distance is the town of Malling, which is well built, having many genteel houses in it, the streets of a handsome width, and well paved. At the east end of it is the abbey, to which the approach is by a venerable antient gateway. Although the house itself was almost all of it pulled down and rebuilt by Mr. Honywood, yet many of the antient buildings and offices be longing to it are still remaining, and are made use of as such at present. A handsome tower of the church, the front of which is decorated with intersecting arches and zig-zag ornaments, similar to those on the west front of Rochester cathedral, built by the same founder, bishop Gundulph, is still remaining, as is an antient chapel or oratory, now made use of as a dwellinghouse.
From the foundations discovered in levelling the ground by Mr. Honywood, it appears, that this abbey consisted of two quadrangles or courts, with cloysters, and a spacious hall; and that the church had another tower, of the like size to that now standing. The burying-place seems to have been on the south side of the church, as in digging there, great quantities of human bones have been thrown up, and two stone coffins with skeletons in them, the lids of them had no inscriptions on them, but were ornamented each with a cross, having a quaterfoil pierced at the upper end, the stem of which was crossed more than once with foliage, several rings and trinkets, and some old coins have likewise been found at different times in cleaning away the rubbish.
Over the west end of the grand gateway, which stands at the entrance into the precinct of the abbey from the town, at the west end of the building, there is carved in stone, a heart distilling drops of blood, and on the other side, in a shield, Ermine, a crozier in bend sinister, on a chief three annulets.
In the meadows above the gardens, are large square excavations still visible, where the fish ponds of the aunnery formerly were.
The precinct of this monastery is washed by a rivulet of excellent clear water, which rising in the hamlet of St. Leonard, runs by the house, and through the gardens of it, whence gushing through the wall with a cascade, it crosses the road towards the Rev. Mr. Brooke's gardens. There is a view of this abbey in its present state published by Mr. Grose, in his Antiquities of England.
Near the abbey gate there is a good house, with a large garden, canal, and pleasure grounds, behind it, reaching down to the London road. It has been many years the residence of the Brooke's, from whom it passed by the will of Joseph Brooke, esq. who died in 1792, after the decease of his widow in 1796, to the Rev. John Kenward Shaw, brother of Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. who has since, in pursuance of the above will, and by the king's licence, taken the name of Brooke, and now resides in it. A little further westward there is a very antient stone building, called the Old Gaol, having narrow gothic windows, and the walls of great thickness. It is reported to have been the prison belonging to the abbey, and is now used as an oast for the drying of hops. About the middle of the street stands the church, and a little distance from it a good house, late the residence of Benjamin Hubble, esq. whose family have been inhabitants of this town for some length of time, several of them lying buried in this church. He died in 1780, leaving his widow, sister of Richard Savage, esq. of Boughton Monchelsea, surviving, and two daughters, his coheirs, one of whom having married Thomas Augustus Douce, esq. he now resides in it; further southward is the hamlet of St. Leonard, now making part of the town, and called St. Leonard's-street, in which is an antient seat, some years ago the residence of Charles Stewart, esq. whose father admiral Stewart purchased it of judge Twisden. This district had once a cell in it, belonging to the abbey, with a chapel. It was given at the time the manor and church was to it, as has been already mentioned. The whole of it has been long since desecrated, and in ruins; the square tower of the chapel which stands in the next field south-west from the late Mr. Stewart's house, is all that remains of it. It was purchased by him some years ago, of Sir John Honywood, in exchange for other premises near the abbey, and is now made use of as a stowage for hops. Mr. Stewart died in 1780, and was buried near his father in this church, and he was succeeded here by the hon. admiral John Forbes, who lately died posfessed of it. A market is held in the principal highstreet every Saturday, which is plentifully supplied and well frequented. There are three fairs, which are held by the alteration of the stile on August 12, October 2, and November 17, yearly, for horses, cattle, toys, &c. The whole town is excellently well watered with fine springs, which having supplied the town and abbey, collect themselves into one stream, and passing northward through Mr. Brooke's grounds, cross the high Maidstone road, and runs from thence into the Addington brook, just above Leyborne mill.
About half a mile south-east from the abbey there is a good modern-built house, called New Barne, which formerly belonged to Mr. Alchin, from whom it passed to Graham, the present possessor, who resides in it.
Above St. Leonard's street is the high road from Teston over East-Malling-heath, and through this parish to Offham, southward of which this parish extends into the large tract of coppice woods which reach to West Peckham and Mereworth.
Dr. William Briggs, an eminent physician, resided at the latter end of the last century at Town Malling, where he died, Sept. 1704, æt. 64, and was buried in this church, He was a great traveller into foreign countries, and was greatly esteemed for his skill in his profession, as well as for his learning, of which the several writings he published are sufficient testimonies. He was physician in ordinary to king William, and to St. Thomas's hospital, and bore his arms, Gules, three bars gemelles, or, a canton sable. (fn. 1)
THIS PLACE was given, about the year 945, by Edmund, king of the Angles and of Mercia, to Burhric, bishop of Rochester, by the description of a small portion of his land, called Meallingas, containing three plough lands; and he granted it to him, for the good of his soul, in perpetual inheritance, in augmentation of the revenues of his monastery of St. Andrew, with all its rights, liberties, members, and appurtenances, and this he did with the consent of his nobles and princes, whose names were subscribed to it. After the names of king Edmund, Edred his brother, and Eadgife his mother, are those of the archbishops and bishops, and then that of Ælgifu, the king's concubine, Ego Ælgifu Concubina Regis affui, and after her the dukes, &c. The bounds of this land are thus described in Saxon, viz. from the south part of it to the king's plaine, and from thence to the bounds of the parish of Offaham, and thence to the military way, and so along the said way over Lilleburne to the bounds of the parish of Est Meallinges, and so directly southward from the east of the cross or gallows to the broad way towards the south, in a direct line along the said way to the king's plaine. To which the king added certain denberies for the pannage of hogs.
This land did not continue long in the possession of the church of Rochester, being wrested from it in the time of the Danish wars; and when William the Conqueror had attained the crown, he gave it to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half brother, from whom it was recovered, together with the church of Mallinges, in the solemn assembly of the whole county held on this occasion, by the king's command, at Pinenden heath, in 1076, by archbishop Lanfrance, who afterward restored it to bishop Gundulph, and the church of St. Andrew; which gift was confirmed by archbishops Anselm and Boniface. (fn. 2)
In the survey of Domesday, taken about four years afterwards, this manor is thus described, under the general title of the bishop of Rochester's lands:
The same bishop (of Rochester) holds Mellingetes, it was taxed, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, at three sulings, and now at one and an half. The arable land is three carucates. In demesne there is one, and five villeins, with fix borderers, having two carucates. There is a church, and one mill of two shillings, wood for the pannage of twenty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth forty shillings, and now four pounds.
Bishop Gundulph, in the 4th year of the reign of king William Rufus, anno 1090, having founded an abbey of Benedictine nuns in this parish, to the honor of the Virgin Mary, gave this manor and church to it, with other possessions for the endowment of it; (fn. 3) and although it was, about one hundred years after its being first erected, with the adjoining village, destroyed by fire, yet it was again soon afterwards re-edified, and continued to increase in a flourishing state.
In the 7th year of king Edward I. anno 1278, the abbess of Malling claimed sundry liberties in this parish, by grant from king Henry III. and a market weekly throughout the year on a Saturday and Wednesday; and she claimed by grant from king John to have warren in all her lands at Malling, by grant from king Henry, from time beyond memory; and to have fairs in the parish on the eve, day, and morrow of St. Matthew the apostle, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Leonard, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Peter, ad vincula.
By which, and such like favours granted to it, this place, which at the first foundation of the monastery was plain fields, and almost without an inhabitant, became notwithstanding its former calamity mentioned before, exceedingly populous from the numbers who flocked to it from all parts, who building themselves houses here, increased the village to a large size, well suited for trade, to the no small emolument of the nuns; whence it soon lost its name of Malling Parva, which was for some time transferred to the neighbouring parish of East Malling, as appears by some grants, &c. of this time, and king Edward III. (fn. 4)
In the 15th year of king Edward I. the temporalities of the abbess of Malling in this parish and East Malling were valued at forty-five pounds.
There was an annual pension of ten pounds of wax, and one boar, paid by the abbess to the bishop of Rochester, as an acknowledgment of her subjection to that see.
In the year 1321, the bishop of Rochester, at the king's request, to whom the nuns had made a complaint, that their monastery was ruined by the bad management of their abbess, sister of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, visited it, and heard the complaints against her; in consequence of which she resigned, and the lady Agnes de Leyborne, was chosen in her room. Three years after which she died, and the bishop, at the unanimous request of the nuns, appointed Lora de Retling abbess here, though much against his will, knowing her to be very ignorant, and unfit for the office. However, he inhibited her giving a corredy to her maid servant, as had been the custom, and sequestered their common seal, inhibiting her from using it without his licence.
A great pestilence raging in the year 1348, the bishop made two abbesses here, who presently died; nor were there more than four nuns professed, and four not professed, remaining in this monastery; and he com mitted the custody of the spirituals and temporals to two of them, as there was not a proper person for the office of abbess.
In the year 1493, anno 9 Henry VII. Joane Moone was abbess of this monastery. (fn. 5)
This abbey was surrendered into the king's hands, with all its possessions, (fn. 6) among which were the manors of East and West Malling, with the precincts of Ewell and Parrock annexed to the latter, by Margaret Vernon, abbess, and the convent of it, in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. at which time it was valued at 245l. 10s. 2½d. annual rent, according to Speed, and 218l. 4s. 2½d. clear value, according to Dugdale, and there was granted to the abbess a pension of forty pounds yearly, and to eleven nuns from 31. 6s. 8d. down to 2l. 13s. 4d. yearly pensions, each for their lives.
After which that king, by his letters patent, in his 31st year, granted and sold, in exchange, among other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, the scite of the abbey, with the precinct and circuit of it, and the manors of West Malling, Ewell, and Parocke, and the parsonage of West Malling, late appropriate to it, excepting to the king all advowsons, presentations, &c. to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned; and as the king was entitled to the tenths of these premises, he discharged the archbishop of them, and all other outgoings whatsoever, except the rent therein mentioned. Which grant was in consequence of an indenture made between the king and the archbishop, inrolled in the Augmentation-office.
These manors and premises were again exchanged with the crown in the beginning of the reign of queen Elizabeth, in the 12th year of which she granted them in lease to Sir Henry Brooke, alias Cobham, fifth son of Sir George Brooke, lord Cobham; after which they were held by the same possessors, as the manor of East Malling before described, till at length, after the death of Sir Robert Brett, anno 1621, king James granted the manor of West, alias Town Malling, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, the scite of the late monastery, with the house, buildings, and ground within the precinct of it with all their appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of the late monastery, in fee, to John Rayney, esq. which was further confirmed to Sir John Rayney, his eldest son, in the 2d year of king Charles I. He was of Wrothamplace, in this neighbourhood, and was created a baronet of Nova Scotia, in 1641, and his son of the same name, about the time of the restoration, conveyed these premises to Isaac Honywood, gent. of Hampsted, Middlesex, who was the only son of Edward, third son of Sir Thomas Honywood, of Elmsted, ancestor likewise of the present Sir John Honywood, of Elmsted, baronet, and he continued to bear the same coat of arms; whose second son, Isaac Honywood, esq. of Hampsted, succeeded him in this manor and estate. Frazer Honywood, esq. of Hampsted and London, his only son and heir, rebuilt the abbey house of Malling in the antient gothic taste, at a very great expence, making it one of the seats of his residence, and having thus greatly improved it, he died possessed of this seat and manor, with the estate belonging to it, in 1764, leaving no issue by his wife, the daughter of Abraham Atkins, of Clapham. He gave them, as well as the rest of his estates here and elsewhere, by will, to his kinsman, Sir John Honywood, bart. of Elmsted, and his heirs male, with divers remainders over to the family of Honywood. Sir John Honywood, bart. is since deceased, and his grandson of the same name is the present owner of this manor, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, and the seat of Malling abbey, with the lands and appurtenances in this parish belonging to it, but Mr. Foote resides in it.
The family of Say antiently possessed THE MANOR of CLEMENTS IN EWELL, in this parish. Geoffry de Say held it in the 7th year of king Edward II. as half a knight's fee. His son, Geoffry de Say, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as half a knight's fee, which John at Forde held before in Ewell, in Malling, of the bishop of Rochester. This manor was afterwards in the name of Coveney, (fn. 7) and in the latter end of king Henry VIII. it was in the possession of Mr. William Fowle. Since which it has sunk into such obscurity, that neither the scite nor the owners of it can be traced out even by the most diligent enquiries.
CHARITIES.
THERE is a lecture founded in this church of a sermon every fortnight, on the Saturday; two of the preachers to be the ministers of East and West Malling, who are to be paid 10s. for every sermon they preach; the other preachers are appointed at the will of the trustees.
FRANCIS TRESSE, gent. of this town, who died in 1632, by his will gave a piece of land, and 40l. towards the building of a free school in this parish; and he charged one of his houses in Town Malling with the sum of 13s. 4d. per annum, for the keeping of it in repair; and appointed that four principal freeholders of this parish should be trustees for the execution of this part of his will for ever. This school was accordingly erected, and was made use of for the teaching of boys writing and arithmetic. The charity is veisted in the minister and tour substantial freehold inhabitants, and the estate out of which it is paid in Mr. Robert Sutton, of this parish, but there being no master, the school-house is at present let to the late master's widow at 2gs. perannum, which with the 13s. 4d. is applied towards the maintaining of the building. He also gave two silver cups for the use of the holy communion, and 6s. 8d. payable yearly out of a piece of land, called Cousin's Plat, now vested in Mary Brome, widow.
SIR ROBERT BRETT, by will in 1620, gave land sufficient to pay yearly 10s. per week, to be bestowed in bread and meat to twenty poor persons, or else to be distributed in money to them. His executors accordingly conveyed lands in Tewksbury, in Gloucestershire, for this purpose, which is now vested in lord Romney, and twenty-three others, trustees, of the annual produce of 26l. but of late years the annual produce has been but 19l. 14s.
TOWN MALLING is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURIDISCTION of the diocese of Rochester, and gives name to the deanry of Malling, in which it is situated.
The church, which is a handsome building, with an elegant spire steeple, is dedicated to St. Mary.
At the latter end of the year 1778, some of the main pillars of the body of it giving way, the whole roof of it fell in, leaving only the steeple and chancel at the two extremities of it standing. It has since been repaired, and thoroughly finished by a brief, which was obtained for that purpose.
The church of West Malling was given, with the manor, to the church of Rochester, by king Edmund, in 945; and having afterwards been taken from it, was again restored by archbishop Lanfranc to bishop Gundulph, in the time of the Conqueror, who gave it to the monastery here, at his foundation of it, and this gift was confirmed by several succeeding kings, archbishops of Canterbury, bishops of Rochester, &c. as has been already mentioned.
It was appropriated to the abbess and convent by bishop Gundulph, at the time it was given to them; which appropriation was specially confirmed by Simon, archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1351.
In the reign of king Edward III. great discutes arising between the abbess and nuns of this monastery, and Robert de Beulton, perpetual vicar of this church, especially concerning the receiving of the tithes of flax and hemp, and the payment of archidiaconal procurations, they were at last settled by Hamo, bishop of Rochester, who in the year 1339, decreed, that, saving the due and accustomed portion of the prebend of the great mass in the conventual church of Malling, and the portion of the vicar, as undermentioned, the religious should take all tithes of corn within the parish, and all oblations and obventions belonging to their conventual church, and the cell of St. Leonard; and that they should not be bound to pay to the vicar the tithes of their hay, woods, or mills. And whereas the bishop was informed, and it was allowed, that the above-mentioned prebendary, and other domestics, serving in the monastery, or in the houses of the prebendary, or perpetual chaplain, celebrating for the dead, as also the brothers and sisters, and other persons dwelling in the monastery, or house of the prebendary, who, when they were without the monastery and houses, were not housekeepers in the parish, were wont to receive the sacraments and sacramentals, in life and in death, and to be buried there, if they happened to die within the monastery or houses, unless by chance they chose to be buried elsewhere; in which case, the religious had the first mass for the body before them, in their monastery, and received all the oblations then and there made, so that no portion was left for the vicar of the parish church. And further, that the prebendary for the time being had been used to receive antiently, and to that time, in part of the portion due to him, all the great and small tithes of the demesne lands of the religious, and of the food of their cattle, and also the great tithes arising from many of the crofts of their tenants situated in the said parish, and also the small tithes of his house, and of the house and land of the perpetual chaplain aforesaid, and all the predial tithes arising from the houses or messuages, curtilages and gardens, late of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, in the street, called Holirode-strete, of this parish of Malling, situated above the house of the prebendary; and of all the houses, messuages, curtilages, and gardens whatsoever, from thence towards the east and north in Holirode-street, and in the street, called Tan-street, as far as the end of the parish of Malling on that side; and that the religious and prebendary had possessed all and singular the premises aforesaid, in certain distinct portions, peaceably and without contradiction, from the time beyond memory. (fn. 8)
The bishop, therefore, that none of the premises should be altered, decreed, saving all and every matter as aforesaid, that the vicar should receive for his portion all other small tithes, oblations, obventions and profits belonging to the parish church more especially, viz. the tithe of herbage, silva cedua, apples, pears, flax, hemp, wool, milk, cheese, calves, lambs, pigs, pidgeons, geese, ducks, bees, eggs, merchandizings, fowlings, fishings, swans, pulse, and other fruits, and also of corn growing in orchards or gardens, as he had-been accustomed to receive them.
¶And that the vicar should also receive the personal tithes of the inhabitants of the houses or messuages of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, and of others, inhabiting in the houses or messuages situated in the streets, called Holirode-strete and Tan-strete, and the oblations due and accustomed to the parish church, and should administer ecclesiastical rights to them, and should have the burial of them in the parish church; and that the vicar should have for his habitation, as assigned to him by the religious, the dwelling with its precinct, which the vicar then inhabited, and his predecessors used to inhabit, which he should repair at his own expence, and preserve in a decent state, and should pay the yearly rents and services, due and accustomed from thence; all which the bishop adjudged to be a sufficient portion for the vicar for the time being. And he further decreed, that the vicar should cause the books to be bound, the vestments to be washed; and the same, and the rest of the ornaments of the parish church, which belonged to the religious to find, as often as need should require, to be repaired, and should cause them to be safely and honestly kept; and that he should provide and find bread, wine, processional tapers, and other lights necessary and accustomed in the chancel, the necessary and accustomed ministers, rochets, surplices, napkins, unconsecrated vessels, basons, and also green rushes to strow the church, if they had been so accustomed, and did not belong to the parishioners to find; and that he should pay the dues to the bishop, and the archidiaconal procurations, and that the vicar should acknowledge and undergo, according to the rate of the taxation of his portion as under-mentioned, all ordinaries and extraordinaries, which, although it might amount to five marcs, being near the moiety of the value of the whole church, according to the estimation then had, he decreed should remain according to the antient taxation of it, as often as burthens of this kind were to be borne, and paid from small benefices. And he decreed, that the religious should acknowledge and undergo all and singular other burthens happening to the parish church, by reason of their portion, which he estimated at twelve marcs, according to the antient taxation of it, notwithstanding this assignation, which was made with the consent of both parties, and which by his episcopal authority, he corroborated and confirmed, &c. and that it might not be called in doubt in future times, or be litigated, he had caused it to be entered in his register, and to be reduced into three different writings, of which he decreed one to remain in the hands of the religious, another in the hands of the vicar, and the third in the hands of the prebendary aforesaid, to perpetuate the memory of it, and had caused it to be authenticated with his seal, &c.
This parsonage, prebend, and the advowson of the vicarage, were, on the dissolution of the abbey in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. surrendered into the king's hands. After which the king, next year, granted this parsonage, with the manor of West Malling, and other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned. After which it passed, with the manor of West Malling, in a like succession of ownership, down to Sir John Rayney, bart. who sold these premises, about the time of the restoration, to judge Twisden, and his descendant, Sir John Papillon Twisden, bart. is the present possessor of this parsonage, and the advowson of the vicarage of West or Town Malling.
The vicarage is valued in the king's books at ten pounds, and the yearly tenths at one pound.
And so to the weekend again. And what might be the last orchid-free weekend until well into June or even August.
So, enjoy the churches while you can.
Saturday, and not much really planned. We get up at half six with it fully light outside. The cloud and drizzle had not arrived, instead it was pretty clear and sunny.
No time for thinking about going out to take shots, as we had hunter-gathering to do.
In fact, we didn't need much, just the usual stuff to keep us going. That and the car was running on fumes. So we will that up first, and then into Tesco and round and round we go, fully the trolley up. It being Mother's Day on Saturday, we were having Jen round on Sunday, we were to have steak, so I get mushrooms.
And once back, we have breakfast then go to Preston for the actual steak, three ribeyes, all cut from the same stip. Jools had gone to look at the garden centre for ideas as we're going to dig up the raspberries, so just wondering what to put in their place.
By then the rain had come, and so we dashed back to the car, and on the way home called in at two churches.
First off was Goodnestone, just the other side of Wingham.
Its a fine estate church, covered in wonderfully knapped bricks, giving it an East Anglian feel. Before we went in, we sheltered under a tree to much on a sausage roll I had bought at the butcher, that done, we go to the church, which is open.
I have been here quite recently, five years back, and in truth no much glass to record, but I do my best, leave a fiver of the weekly collection and we drove over the fields to Eastry.
St Mary is an impressive church, with carved and decorated west face of the Norman tower, at its base an odd lean-to porch has been created, leading into the church, which does have interest other than the 35 painted medallions high in the Chancel Arch, once the backdrop to the Rood.
I snap them with the big lens, and the windows too. A warden points out what looks like a very much older painted window high among the roof timbers in the east wall of the Chancel.
I get a shot, which is good enough, but even with a 400mm lens, is some crop.
I finish up and we go home, taking it carefully along nearly flooded roads.
Being a Saturday, there is football, though nothing much of interest until three when Norwich kick off against Stoke: could they kick it on a wet Saturday afternoon in the Potteries?
No. No, they couldn't.
Ended 0-0, City second best, barely laid a glove on the Stoke goal.
And then spots galore: Ireland v England in the egg-chasing, Citeh v Burnley in the Cup and Chelsea v Everton in the league, all live on various TV channels.
I watch the first half of the rugby, then switch over when England were reduced to 14, so did enjoy the lad Haarland score another hat-trick in a 6-0 demolition.
And that was that, another day over with.....
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Set away from the main street but on one of the earliest sites in the village, flint-built Eastry church has an over restored appearance externally but this gives way to a noteworthy interior. Built in the early thirteenth century by its patrons, Christ Church Canterbury, it was always designed to be a statement of both faith and power. The nave has a clerestory above round piers whilst the east nave wall has a pair of quatrefoils pierced through into the chancel. However this feature pales into insignificance when one sees what stands between them - a square panel containing 35 round paintings in medallions. There are four deigns including the Lily for Our Lady; a dove; Lion; Griffin. They would have formed a backdrop to the Rood which would have been supported on a beam the corbels of which survive below the paintings. On the centre pier of the south aisle is a very rare feature - a beautifully inscribed perpetual calendar or `Dominical Circle` to help find the Dominical letter of the year. Dating from the fourteenth century it divides the calendar into a sequence of 28 years. The reredos is an alabaster structure dating from the Edwardian period - a rather out of place object in a church of this form, but a good piece of work in its own right. On the west wall is a good early 19th century Royal Arms with hatchments on either side and there are many good monuments both ledger slabs and hanging tablets. Of the latter the finest commemorates John Harvey who died in 1794. It shows his ship the Brunswick fighting with all guns blazing with the French ship the Vengeur. John Bacon carved the Elder this detailed piece of work.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Eastry
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Above the Chancel Arch, enclosed within a rectangular frame, are rows of seven "medallion" wall paintings; the lower group was discovered in 1857 and the rest in 1903. They remained in a rather dilapidated state until the Canterbury Cathedral Wall Paintings Department brought them back to life.
The medallions are evidently of the 13th Century, having been painted while the mortar was still wet. Each medallion contains one of four motifs:
The trefoil flower, pictured left, is perhaps a symbol of the Blessed Virgin Mary to whom the church is dedicated; or symbolic of Christ.
The lion; symbolic of the Resurrection
Doves, either singly, or in pairs, represent the Holy Spirit
The Griffin represents evil, over which victory is won by the power of the Resurrection and the courage of the Christian.
www.ewbchurches.org.uk/eastrychurchhistory.htm
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EASTRY,
THE next parish north-eastward from Knolton is Eastry. At the time of taking the survey of Domesday, it was of such considerable account, that it not only gave name, as it does at present, to the hundred, but to the greatest part of the lath in which it stands, now called the lath of St. Augustine. There are two boroughs in this parish, viz. the borough of Hardenden, which is within the upper half hundred of Downhamford, and comprehends the districts of Hardenden, Selson and Skrinkling, and the borough of Eastry, the borsholder of which is chosen at Eastry-court, and comprehends all the rest of the parish, excepting so much of it as lies within that part of the borough of Felderland, which is within this parish.
THE PARISH OF EASTRY, a healthy and not unpleasant situation, is about two miles and an half from north to south, but it is much narrower the other way, at the broadest extent of which it is not more than a mile and an half. The village of Eastry is situated on a pleasing eminence, almost in the centre of the parish, exhiblting a picturesque appearance from many points of view. The principal street in it is called Eastrystreet; from it branch off Mill street, Church-street and Brook-street. In Mill street is a spacious handsome edisice lately erected there, as a house of industry, for the poor of the several united parishes of Eastry, Norborne, Betshanger, Tilmanstone, Waldershare, Coldred, Lydden, Shebbertswell, Swynfield, Wootton, Denton, Chillenden and Knolton. In Churchstreet, on the east side, stands the church, with the court-lodge and parsonage adjoining the church-yard; in this street is likewise the vicarage. In Brook-street, is a neat modern house, the residence of Wm. Boteler, esq. and another belonging to Mr. Thomas Rammell, who resides in it. Mention will be found hereafter, under the description of the borough of Hernden, in this parish, of the descent and arms of the Botelers resident there for many generations. Thomas Boteler, who died possessed of that estate in 1651, left three sons, the youngest of whom, Richard, was of Brook-street, and died in 1682; whose great-grandson, W. Boteler, esq. is now of Brook-street; a gentleman to whom the editor is much indebted for his communications and assistance, towards the description of this hundred, and its adjoining neighbourhood. He has been twice married; first to Sarah, daughter and coheir of Thomas Fuller, esq. of Statenborough, by whom he has one son, William Fuller, now a fellow of St. Peter's college, Cambridge: secondly, to Mary, eldest daughter of John Harvey, esq. of Sandwich and Hernden, late captain of the royal navy, by whom he has five sons and three daughters. He bears for his arms, Argent, on three escutcheons, sable, three covered cups, or; which coat was granted to his ancestor, Richard Boteler, esq. of Hernden, by Cooke, clar. in 1589. Mr. Boteler, of Eastry, is the last surviving male of the family, both of Hernden and Brook-street. Eastry-street, comprizing the neighbourhood of the above mentioned branches, may be said to contain about sixty-four houses.
At the south-east boundary of this parish lies the hamlet of Updown, adjoining to Ham and Betshanger, in the former of which parishes some account of it has been already given. At the southern bounds, adjoining to Tilmanstone, lies the hamlet of Westone, formerly called Wendestone. On the western side lies the borough of Hernden, which although in this parish, is yet within the hundred of Downhamford and manor of Adisham; in the southern part of it is Shrinkling, or Shingleton, as it is now called, and the hamlet of Hernden. At the northern part of this borough lie the hamlets and estates of Selson, Wells, and Gore. Towards the northern boundary of the parish, in the road to Sandwich, is the hamlet of Statenborough, and at a small distance from it is that part of the borough of Felderland, or Fenderland, as it is usually called, within this parish, in which, adjoining the road which branches off to Word, is a small seat, now the property and residence of Mrs. Dare, widow of Wm. Dare, esq. who resides in it. (fn. 1)
Round the village the lands are for a little distance, and on towards Statenborough, inclosed with hedges and trees, but the rest of the parish is in general an open uninclosed country of arable land, like the neighbouring ones before described; the soil of it towards the north is most fertile, in the other parts it is rather thin, being much inclined to chalk, except in the bottoms, where it is much of a stiff clay, for this parish is a continued inequality of hill and dale; notwithstanding the above, there is a great deal of good fertile land in the parish, which meets on an average rent at fifteen shillings an acre. There is no wood in it. The parish contains about two thousand six hundred and fifty acres; the yearly rents of it are assessed to the poor at 2679l.
At the south end of the village is a large pond, called Butsole; and adjoining to it on the east side, a field, belonging to Brook-street estate, called the Butts; from whence it is conjectured that Butts were formerly erected in it, for the practice of archery among the inhabitants.
A fair is held here for cattle, pedlary, and toys, on October the 2d, (formerly on St. Matthew's day, September the 21st) yearly.
IN 1792, MR. BOTELER, of Brook-street, discovered, on digging a cellar in the garden of a cottage, situated eastward of the highway leading from Eastrycross to Butsole, an antient burying ground, used as such in the latter time of the Roman empire in Britain, most probably by the inhabitants of this parish, and the places contiguous to it. He caused several graves to be opened, and found with the skeletons, fibulæ, beads, knives,umbones of shields, &c. and in one a glass vessel. From other skeletons, which have been dug up in the gardens nearer the cross, it is imagined, that they extended on the same side the road up to the cross, the ground of which is now pretty much covered with houses; the heaps of earth, or barrows, which formerly remained over them, have long since been levelled, by the great length of time and the labour of the husbandman; the graves were very thick, in rows parallel to each other, in a direction from east to west.
St. Ivo's well, mentioned by Nierembergius, in Historia de Miraculis Natureæ, lib. ii. cap. 33; which I noticed in my folio edition as not being able to find any tradition of in this parish, I have since found was at a place that formerly went by the name of Estre, and afterwards by that of Plassiz, near St. Ives, in Huntingdonshire. See Gales Scriptores, xv. vol. i. p.p. 271, 512.
This place gave birth to Henry de Eastry, who was first a monk, and then prior of Christ-church, in Canterbury; who, for his learning as well as his worthy acts, became an ornament, not only to the society he presided over, but to his country in general. He continued prior thirty-seven years, and died, far advanced in life, in 1222.
THIS PLACE, in the time of the Saxons, appears to have been part of the royal domains, accordingly Simon of Durham, monk and precentor of that church, in his history, stiles it villa regalis, quæ vulgari dicitur Easterige pronuncione, (the royal ville, or manor, which in the vulgar pronunciation was called Easterige), which shews the antient pre-eminence and rank of this place, for these villæ regales, or regiæ, as Bede calls them, of the Saxons, were usually placed upon or near the spot, where in former ages the Roman stations had been before; and its giving name both to the lath and hundred in which it is situated corroborates the superior consequence it was then held in. Egbert, king of Kent, was in possession of it about the year 670, at which time his two cousins, Ethelred and Ethelbright, sons of his father's elder brother Ermenfrid, who had been entrusted to his care by their uncle, the father of Egbert, were, as writers say, murdered in his palace here by his order, at the persuasion of one Thunnor, a slattering courtier, lest they should disturb him in the possession of the crown. After which Thunnor buried them in the king's hall here, under the cloth of estate, from whence, as antient tradition reports, their bodies were afterwards removed to a small chapel belonging to the palace, and buried there under the altar at the east end of it, and afterwards again with much pomp to the church of Ramsey abbey. To expiate the king's guilt, according to the custom of those times, he gave to Domneva, called also Ermenburga, their sister, a sufficient quantity of land in the isle of Thanet, on which she might found a monastery.
How long it continued among the royal domains, I have not found; but before the termination of the Saxon heptarchy, THE MANOR OF EASTRY was become part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, and it remained so till the year 811, when archbishop Wilfred exchanged it with his convent of Christchurch for their manor of Bourne, since from the archbishop's possession of it called Bishopsbourne. After which, in the year 979 king Ægelred, usually called Ethelred, increased the church's estates here, by giving to it the lands of his inheritance in Estrea, (fn. 2) free from all secular service and siscal tribute, except the repelling of invasions and the repairing of bridges and castles, usually stiled the trinoda necessitas; (fn. 3) and in the possession of the prior and convent bove-mentioned, this manor continued at the taking of the survey of Domesday, being entered in it under the general title of Terra Monachorum Archiepi; that is, the land of the monks of the archbishop, as follows:
In the lath of Estrei in Estrei hundred, the archbishop himself holds Estrei. It was taxed at Seven sulings. The arable land is . . . . In demesne there are three carucates and seventy two villeins, with twenty-two borderers, having twenty-four carucates. There is one mill and a half of thirty shillings, and three salt pits of four shillings, and eighteen acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of ten hogs.
After which, this manor continued in the possession of the priory, and in the 10th year of king Edward II. the prior obtained a grant of free-warren in all his demesne lands in it, among others; about which time it was valued at 65l. 3s. after which king Henry VI. in his 28th year, confirmed the above liberty, and granted to it a market, to be held at Eastry weekly on a Tuesday, and a fair yearly, on the day of St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist; in which state it continued till the dissolution of the priory in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when it came in to the king's hands, where it did not remain long, for he settled it, among other premises, in the 33d year of his reign, on his new created dean and chapter of Canterbury, part of whose possessions it continues at this time. A court leet and court baron is held for this manor.
The manerial rights, profits of courts, royalties, &c. the dean and chapter retain in their own hands; but the demesne lands of the manor, with the courtlodge, which is a large antient mansion, situated adjoining to the church-yard, have been from time to time demised on a benesicial lease. The house is large, partly antient and partly modern, having at different times undergone great alterations. In the south wall are the letters T. A. N. in flint, in large capitals, being the initials of Thomas and Anne Nevinson. Mr. Isaac Bargrave, father of the present lessee, new fronted the house, and the latter in 1786 put the whole in complete repair, in doing which, he pulled down a considerable part of the antient building, consisting of stone walls of great strength and thickness, bringing to view some gothic arched door ways of stone, which proved the house to have been of such construction formerly, and to have been a very antient building. The chapel, mentioned before, is at the east end of the house. The east window, consisting of three compartments, is still visible, though the spaces are filled up, it having for many years been converted into a kitchen, and before the last alteration by Mr. Bargrave the whole of it was entire.
At this mansion, then in the hands of the prior and convent of Christ-church, archbishop Thomas Becket, after his stight from Northampton in the year 1164, concealed himself for eight days, and then, on Nov. 10, embarked at Sandwich for France. (fn. 4)
The present lessee is Isaac Bargrave, esq. who resides at the court-lodge, whose ancestors have been lessees of this estate for many years past.
THE NEVINSONS, as lessees, resided at the courtlodge of Eastry for many years. They were originally of Brigend, in Wetherell, in Cumberland. They bore for their arms, Argent, a chevron, between three eagles displayed, azure. Many of them lie buried in Eastry church. (fn. 5)
THE FAMILY of Bargrave, alias Bargar, was originally of Bridge, and afterwards of the adjoining parish of Patrixbourne; where John Bargrave, eldest son of Robert, built the seat of Bifrons, and resided at it, of whom notice has already been taken in vol. ix. of this history, p. 280. Isaac Bargrave, the sixth son of Robert above-mentioned, and younger brother of John, who built Bifrons, was ancestor of the Bargraves, of Eastry; he was S. T. P. and dean of Canterbury, a man of strict honour and high principles of loyalty, for which he suffered the most cruel treatment. He died in 1642, having married in 1618 Elizabeth, daughter of John Dering, esq. of Egerton, by Elizabeth, sister of Edward lord Wotton, the son of John Dering, esq. of Surrenden, by Margaret Brent. Their descendant, Isaac Bargrave, esq. now living, was an eminent solicitor in London, from which he has retired for some years, and now resides at Eastry-court, of which he is the present lessee. He married Sarah, eldest daughter of George Lynch, M. D. of Canterbury, who died at Herne in 1787, S.P. They bear for their arms, Or, on a pale gules, a sword, the blade argent, pomelled, or, on a chief vert three bezants.
SHRINKLING, alias SHINGLETON, the former of which is its original name, though now quite lost, is a small manor at the south-west boundary of this pa Kent, anno 1619. rish, adjoining to Nonington. It is within the borough of Heronden, or Hardonden, as it is now called, and as such, is within the upper half hundred of Downhamford. This manor had antiently owners of the same name; one of whom, Sir William de Scrinkling, held it in king Edward I.'s reign, and was succeeded by Sir Walter de Scrinkling his son, who held it by knight's service of Hamo de Crevequer, (fn. 6) and in this name it continued in the 20th year of king Edward III.
Soon after which it appears to have been alienated to William Langley, of Knolton, from which name it passed in like manner as Knolton to the Peytons and the Narboroughs, and thence by marriage to Sir Thomas D'Aeth, whose grandson Sir Narborough D'Aeth, bart. now of Knolton, is at present entitled to it.
There was a chapel belonging to this manor, the ruins of which are still visible in the wood near it, which was esteemed as a chapel of ease to the mother church of Eastry, and was appropriated with it by archbishop Richard, Becket's immediate successor, to the almory of the priory of Christ-church; but the chapel itself seems to have become desolate many years before the dissolution of the priory, most probably soon after the family of Shrinkling became extinct; the Langleys, who resided at the adjoining manor of Knolton, having no occasion for the use of it. The chapel stood in Shingleton wood, near the south east corner; the foundations of it have been traced, though level with the surface, and not easily discovered. There is now on this estate only one house, built within memory, before which there was only a solitary barn, and no remains of the antient mansion of it.
HERONDEN, alias HARDENDEN, now usually called HERONDEN, is a district in this parish, situated about a mile northward from Shingleton, within the borough of its own name, the whole of which is within the upper half hundred of Downhamford. It was once esteemed as a manor, though it has not had even the name of one for many years past, the manor of Adisham claiming over it. The mansion of it was antiently the residence of a family of the same name, who bore for their arms, Argent, a heron with one talon erect, gaping for breath, sable. These arms are on a shield, which is far from modern, in Maidstone church, being quarterly, Heronden as above, with sable, three escallop shells, two and one, argent; and in a window of Lincoln's Inn chapel is a coat of arms of a modern date, being that of Anthony Heronden, esq. Argent, a heron, azure, between three escallops, sable. One of this family of Heronden lies buried in this church, and in the time of Robert Glover, Somerset herald, his portrait and coat of arms, in brass, were remaining on his tombstone. The coat of arms is still extant in very old rolls and registers in the Heralds office, where the family is stiled Heronden, of Heronden, in Eastry; nor is the name less antient, as appears by deeds which commence from the reign of Henry III. which relate to this estate and name; but after this family had remained possessed of this estate for so many years it at last descended down in king Richard II.'s reign, to Sir William Heronden, from whom it passed most probably either by gift or sale, to one of the family of Boteler, or Butler, then resident in this neighbourhood, descended from those of this name, formerly seated at Butler's sleet, in Ash, whose ancestor Thomas Pincerna, or le Boteler, held that manor in king John's reign, whence his successors assumed the name of Butler, alias Boteler, or as they were frequently written Botiller, and bore for their arms, One or more covered cups, differently placed and blazoned. In this family the estate descended to John Boteler, who lived in the time of king Henry VI. and resided at Sandwich, of which town he was several times mayor, and one of the burgesses in two parliaments of that reign; he lies buried in St. Peter's church there. His son Richard, who was also of Sandwich, had a grant of arms in 1470, anno 11th Edward IV. by Thomas Holme, norroy, viz. Gyronny of six, argent and sable, a covered cup, or, between three talbots heads, erased and counterchanged of the field, collared, gules, garnished of the third. His great-grandson Henry Boteler rebuilt the mansion of Heronden, to which he removed in 1572, being the last of his family who resided at Sandwich. He had the above grant of arms confirmed to him, and died in 1580, being buried in Eastry church. Richard Boteler, of Heronden, his eldest son by his first wife, resided at this seat, and in 1589 obtained a grant from Robert Cook, clarencieux, of a new coat of arms, viz. Argent, on three escutcheons, sable, three convered cups, or. Ten years after which, intending as it should seem, to shew himself a descendant of the family of this name, seated at Graveney, but then extinct, he obtained in 1599 a grant of their arms from William Dethic, garter, and William Camden, clarencieux, to him and his brother William, viz. Quarterly, first and fourth, sable, three covered cups, or, within a bordure, argent; second and third, Argent, a fess, chequy, argent and gules, in chief three cross-croslets of the last, as appears (continues the grant) on a gravestone in Graveney church. He died in 1600, and was buried in Eastry church, leaving issue among other children Jonathan and Thomas. (fn. 7) Jonathan Boteler, the eldest son, of Hernden, died unmarried possessed of it in 1626, upon which it came to his next surviving brother Thomas Boteler, of Rowling, who upon that removed to Hernden, and soon afterwards alienated that part of it, since called THE MIDDLE FARM, to Mr. Henry Pannell, from whom soon afterwards, but how I know not, it came into the family of Reynolds; from which name it was about fifty years since alienated to John Dekewer, esq. of Hackney, who dying in 1762, devised it to his nephew John Dekewer, esq. of Hackney, the present possessor of it.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sandwich.
The church, which is exempted from the archdeacon, is dedicated to St. Mary; it is a large handsome building, consisting of a nave and two side isles, a chancel at the east end, remarkably long, and a square tower, which is very large, at the west end, in which are five very unmusical bells. The church is well kept and neatly paved, and exhibits a noble appearance, to which the many handsome monuments in it contribute much. The arch over the west door is circular, but no other parts of the church has any shew of great antiquity. In the chancel are monuments for the Paramors and the Fullers, of Statenborough, arms of the latter, Argent, three bars, and a canton, gules. A monument for several of the Bargrave family. An elegant pyramidial one, on which is a bust and emblematical sculpture for John Broadley, gent. many years surgeon at Dover, obt. 1784. Several gravestones, with brasses, for the Nevinsons. A gravestone for Joshua Paramour, gent. buried 1650. Underneath this chancel are two vaults, for the families of Paramour and Bargrave. In the nave, a monument for Anne, daughter of Solomon Harvey, gent. of this parish, ob. 1751; arms, Argent, on a chevron, between three lions gambs, sable, armed gules, three crescents, or; another for William Dare, esq. late of Fenderland, in this parish, obt. 1770; arms, Gules, a chevron vaire, between three crescents, argent, impaling argent, on a cross, sable, four lions passant, quardant of the field, for Read.—Against the wall an inscription in Latin, for the Drue Astley Cressemer, A. M. forty-eight years vicar of this parish, obt. 1746; he presented the communion plate to this church and Worth, and left a sum of money to be laid out in ornamenting this church, at which time the antient stalls, which were in the chancel, were taken away, and the chancel was ceiled, and the church otherwise beautified; arms, Argent, on a bend engrailed, sable, three cross-croslets, fitchee, or. A monument for several of the Botelers, of this parish; arms, Boteler, argent, on three escutcheons, sable, three covered cups, or, impaling Morrice. Against a pillar, a tablet and inscription, shewing that in a vault lieth Catherine, wife of John Springett, citizen and apothecary of London. He died in 1770; arms, Springett, per fess, argent and gules, a fess wavy, between three crescents, counterchanged, impaling Harvey. On the opposite pillar another, for the Rev. Richard Harvey, fourteen years vicar of this parish, obt. 1772. A monument for Richard Kelly, of Eastry, obt. 1768; arms, Two lions rampant, supporting a castle. Against the wall, an elegant sculptured monument, in alto relievo, for Sarah, wise of William Boteler, a daughter of Thomas Fuller, esq. late of Statenborough, obt. 1777, æt. 29; she died in childbed, leaving one son, William Fuller Boteler; arms at bottom, Boteler, as above, an escutcheon of pretence, Fuller, quartering Paramor. An elegant pyramidal marble and tablet for Robert Bargrave, of this parish, obt. 1779, for Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Sir Francis Leigh, of Hawley; and for Robert Bargrave, their only son, proctor in Doctors Commons, obt. 1774, whose sole surviving daughter Rebecca married James Wyborne, of Sholdon; arms, Bargrave, with a mullet, impaling Leigh. In the cross isle, near the chancel called the Boteler's isle, are several memorials for the Botelers. Adjoining to these, are three other gravestones, all of which have been inlaid, but the brasses are gone; they were for the same family, and on one of them was lately remaining the antient arms of Boteler, Girony of six pieces, &c. impaling ermine of three spots. Under the church are vaults, for the families of Springett, Harvey, Dare, and Bargrave. In the church-yard, on the north side of the church, are several altar tombs for the Paramors; and on the south side are several others for the Harveys, of this parish, and for Fawlkner, Rammell, and Fuller. There are also vaults for the families of Fuller, Rammell, and Petman.
There were formerly painted in the windows of this church, these arms, Girony of six, sable and argent, a covered cup, or, between three talbots heads, erased and counter changed of the field, collared, gules; for Boteler, of Heronden, impaling Boteler, of Graveny, Sable, three covered cups, or, within a bordure, argent; Boteler, of Heronden, as above, quartering three spots, ermine; the coat of Theobald, with quarterings. Several of the Frynnes, or as they were afterwards called, Friends, who lived at Waltham in this parish in king Henry VII.'s reign, lie buried in this church.
In the will of William Andrewe, of this parish, anno 1507, mention is made of our Ladie chapel, in the church-yard of the church of Estrie.
The eighteen stalls which were till lately in the chancel of the church, were for the use of the monks of the priory of Christ church, owners both of the manor and appropriation, when they came to pass any time at this place, as they frequently did, as well for a country retirement as to manage their concerns here; and for any other ecclesiastics, who might be present at divine service here, all such, in those times, sitting in the chancels of churches distinct from the laity.
The church of Eastry, with the chapels of Skrinkling and Worth annexed, was antiently appendant to the manor of Eastry, and was appropriated by archbishop Richard (successor to archbishop Becket) in the reign of king Henry II. to the almonry of the priory of Christ-church, but it did not continue long so, for archbishop Baldwin, (archbishop Richard's immediate successor), having quarrelled with the monks, on account of his intended college at Hackington, took this appropriation from them, and thus it remained as a rectory, at the archbishop's disposal, till the 39th year of king Edward III.'s reign, (fn. 10) when archbishop Simon Islip, with the king's licence, restored, united and annexed it again to the priory; but it appears, that in return for this grant, the archbishop had made over to him, by way of exchange, the advowsons of the churches of St. Dunstan, St. Pancrase, and All Saints in Bread-street, in London, all three belonging to the priory. After which, that is anno 8 Richard II. 1384, this church was valued among the revenues of the almonry of Christ-church, at the yearly value of 53l. 6s. 8d. and it continued afterwards in the same state in the possession of the monks, who managed it for the use of the almonry, during which time prior William Sellyng, who came to that office in Edward IV.'s reign, among other improvements on several estates belonging to his church, built a new dormitory at this parsonage for the monks resorting hither.
On the dissolution of the priory of Christ-church, in the 31st year of king Henry VIII.'s reign, this appropriation, with the advowson of the vicarage of the church of Eastry, was surrendered into the king's hands, where it staid but a small time, for he granted it in his 33d year, by his dotation charter, to his new founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, who are the present owners of this appropriation; but the advowson of the vicarage, notwithstanding it was granted with the appropriation, to the dean and chapter as above-mentioned, appears not long afterwards to have become parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, where it continues at this time, his grace the archbishop being the present patron of it.
This parsonage is entitled to the great tithes of this parish and of Worth; there belong to it of glebe land in Eastry, Tilmanstone, and Worth, in all sixtynine acres.
THERE IS A SMALL MANOR belonging to it, called THE MANOR OF THE AMBRY, OR ALMONRY OF CHRIST-CHURCH, the quit-rents of which are very inconsiderable.
The parsonage-house is large and antient; in the old parlour window is a shield of arms, being those of Partheriche, impaling quarterly Line and Hamerton. The parsonage is of the annual rent of about 700l. The countess dowager of Guildford became entitled to the lease of this parsonage, by the will of her husband the earl of Guildford, and since her death the interest of it is become vested in her younger children.
As to the origin of a vicarage in this church, though there was one endowed in it by archbishop Peckham, in the 20th year of king Edward I. anno 1291, whilst this church continued in the archbishop's hands, yet I do not find that there was a vicar instituted in it, but that it remained as a rectory, till near three years after it had been restored to the priory of Christchurch, when, in the 42d year of king Edward III. a vicar was instituted in it, between whom and the prior and chapter of Canterbury, there was a composition concerning his portion, which he should have as an endowment of this vicarage; which composition was confirmed by archbishop Simon Langham that year; and next year there was an agreement entered into between the eleemosinary of Christ-church and the vicar, concerning the manse of this vicarage.
The vicarage of Eastry, with the chapel of Worth annexed, is valued in the king's books at 19l. 12s. 1d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 19s. 2½d. In 1588 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants three hundred and thirty-five. In 1640 here were the like number of communicants, and it was valued at one hundred pounds.
The antient pension of 5l. 6s. 8d. formerly paid by the priory, is still paid to the vicar by the dean and chapter, and also an augmentation of 14l. 13s. 4d. yearly, by the lessee of the parsonage, by a convenant in his lease.
The vicarage-house is built close to the farm-yard of the parsonage; the land allotted to it is very trifling, not even sufficient for a tolerable garden; the foundations of the house are antient, and probably part of the original building when the vicarage was endowed in 1367.
¶There were two awards made in 1549 and 1550, on a controversy between the vicar of Eastry and the mayor, &c. of Sandwich, whether the scite of St. Bartholomew's hospital, near Sandwich, within that port and liberty, was subject to the payment of tithes to the vicar, as being within his parish. Both awards adjudged the legality of a payment, as due to the vicar; but the former award adjudged that the scite of the hospital was not, and the latter, that it was within the bounds of this parish. (fn. 12)
This Premier Tall Ranch Lean To was turned into a playhouse with some creative touches. Shown with custom siding (scallops), split door, windows, shutters, window boxes and vents.
Somehow I had missed Boxley from previous crawls in the area. I guess, once upon a time, Boxley was a quiet village halfway up the downs, relying on sheepfarming for its income. In the 21st century, its just a suburb of Maidstone, though a mile or so outside the county town.
All Saints popped up on the churchcrawling group on Facebook, and thought it looked interesting, which is something of an understatement.
We arrived at just after eleven, in the lych gate there was a sign saying the church was open, so, result!
Approaching the church aloong a stone path it feels very un-Kent-like, especially as entrance to the church is in the very west end.
You enter, and are in a large space, in fact this was the Norman chancel of the original church, then into the space below the west tower, and there is the door into the church as it is now.
But I could hear voices from within, probably wardens cleaning, or so I thought...
But turned out to be a lecture on wildflowers; maybe i should crash it? But don't.
We find a leaflet and find that it had been going on nearly an hour, so we go to sit outside to see if it was going to end on the hour mark....
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The church lies at the far end of the village green. Visitors who do not first walk around the outside of the church wonder if they are ever going to get in - for they have to walk through two rooms first! From the outside it is not so puzzling; the first room is in fact the nave of the Norman church. Then comes the base of the fifteenth-century tower, built on the site of the Norman chancel. Only after we have gone through this do we come to the church proper - a complete fourteenth-century structure. It is wide, with two aisles, and relatively short. The chancel is well proportioned and has a definite lean to the south indicating medieval building error.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Boxley
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BOXLEY.
ADJOINING to Maidstone north-eastward lies the parish of Boxley, written in Domesday, Boseleu, and in the Textus Roffensis, Boxele and Boxle, a parish noted, as well for the famous assembly of the whole county, held at Pinenden heath, within the boundaries of it, in the reign of the Conqueror, as for the abbey not long afterwards founded in it.
THE VILLAGE of Boxley situated at the foot of the chalk hills, above which this parish extends among the coppice woods, over a barren dreary country covered with flints, to Dun-street, at the northern boundaries of it. Southward it extends to the rivulet in the valley, at a very small distance from the town of Maidstone, a length of near four miles, the width of it is not more than three at its greatest extent, and in most parts much less; the soil from its extent is of course various, to the northward it is chalk; in the middle, and towards the west a deep sand; to the eastward a wet cludgy earth, and to the south and south-east for the most part a not unfertile loamy soil bounding upon the rock. It is a situation much more healthy than it is pleasant, owing to its chalky and sandy soils, and its bleak situation. The village is watered by a clear spring, which rises just below the church, and directs its course through the street; this spring, as well as another, which rises likewise at the foot of the chalk hill, just above Boxley abbey, are both very inviting to the sight, but the water is very hard and unfit for culinary uses, especially the latter, which in two months will petrify wood, the incrustation resembling brown and unpolished marble. These join just below the abbey, and flow together into the Medway, almost opposite to Allington castle.
The village lies on a descent from the hills, there are several genteel houses in it; at the upper or northern part of it is Boxley house, lord Romney's, inhabited by his three sisters and Mr. Coker; somewhat lower down is a house, which for many years was the property and residence of the family of Charlton, who bore for their arms, Or, a lion rampant gules, the last of them, John Charlton, esq. dying in 1770 unmarried, it came by his will, together with the chief of his other estates, to his eldest nephew, the Rev. George Burville, (son of the Rev. Henry Burville, by Anne his sister). The Burvilles bear for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three oak leaves erect, vert. Mr. Burville married Juliana, daughter of William Bowyer, esq. of Denham, in Buckinghamshire, by whom he has a son John, and daughter Frances, married to the Rev. Philip Rashleigh. He is the present possessor of this house, in which he resides; below this is the parsonage and vicarage, the latter a handsome genteel house, and just above it at a small distance from the east side of the street, the church; almost adjoining to Mr. Burville's house, is another more antient one, called Park-house, once part of the estate of Boxley abbey, and afterwards in like manner, the estate of Sir Thomas Wyatt, whose son forfeited it for treason in the 1st year of queen Mary How it passed afterwards I have not found, though it seems never to have been restored to his descendants; in the beginning of the present century it was in the possession of the family of St. John, in which it remained till Mrs. St. John joining with her son, Paulet St. John, sold it in 1720 to Maudistley Best, esq. (son of Mr. Thomas Best, of Chatham) who resided and kept his shrievalty here in 1730, bearing for his arms, sable, two cross croslets in chief, and a cinquefoil in base, or. He died in 1740, leaving two sons, Thomas, late of Chilston, esq. and James, of Chatham, and a daughter, married to the hon. Robert, afterwards lord Fairfax, of Leeds castle, who died s. p. He gave by will this seat to his youngest son James, who served the office of sheriff in 1751, and resided here at times, and died in 1782, leaving by Frances his wife, one of the daughters of Richard Shelley, esq. four sons and four daughters, to the eldest of the former, Thomas Best, esq. he by will gave this house and his estate in this parish, and he now resides in it. There has been from time immemorial a warren for rabbits here, the lands of which lay close at the foot of the chalk hills, it formerly belonged to Boxley abbey, and was afterwards in the possession of the Wyatts, and is now from them the estate of lord Romney, and there was likewise another part of it used likewise as a warren, lying near Pinenden-heath, which was part of the Park-house estate, and as such, is now the property of Mr. Best, but the name only remains, the rabbits having been for some time destroyed, and the land made arable. About a mile. eastward from the village in a low flat situation, at no great distance from the high road from Rochester to Maidstone, is Boxley abbey, with a small hamlet of houses near it, and nearer to the hills the abbey farm. The plantations of the estate called the Park-house, likewise, the old seat of which was situated in Maidstone parish, near the high road to Rochester, as has been already described, extend into the western part of this parish. The late Sir Henry Calder, whose property it was, pulled down the old house, and on a beautiful spot near adjoining, though within this parish, began a handsome stone mansion, which after his death was finished by his widow, who with her son Sir Henry, for some time resided in it; it is now inhabited by Mr. Osborne. At a small distance eastward from hence, in nearly the centre of this parish, excepting that Maidstone stretches itself with a point or nook over a part of it, is that noted plain Pinnenden, now usually called Pickenden heath, a place made famous in early times; the western part is in Maidstone parish, the remainder in this of Boxley. From its situation almost in the middle of the county or shire of Kent, this heath has been time out of mind used for all county meetings, and for the general business of it, the county house for this purpose, a poor low shed, is situated on the north side of it, where the sheriff continues to hold his county court monthly, and where he takes the poll for the members of the county, and for the coroners, the former of which, after a few suffrages is usually adjourned to Maidstone; on a conspicuous hill on the opposite side of the heath, though in Maidstone parish, is the gallows, for the public execution of criminals condemned at the assizes.
At the time of the conquest it was the noted place for the public meetings of the county; for in the book of Domesday there is mention made, that when the inhabitants of Kent were summoned to meet ad sciram, that is, in public assembly at the shyregemot or Sheriff'stourn, for the trial of certain customs therein mentioned, they should go for that purpose as far as Pinnedenna, but no further.
In the year 1076, being the 11th of the Conqueror's reign, a famous assembly was held at this place on the following occasion.
Odo, bishop of Baieux and earl of Kent, had by means of his great power, defrauded the church of Canterbury of many manors and lands, and of several liberties, and had kept possession of them; but upon Lanfranc's being made archbishop in the year 1070, he represented the whole of the injury done to his church to the king, who forthwith commanded that it should be enquired into and determined by the nobles, and other competent men, not only of this county, but of the other counties of England, assembled for this purpose at this heath.
There were present at this meeting Goisfrid, bishop of Constance, who sat as the king's representative on this occasion; archbishop Lanfranc, who pleaded his church's cause; Odo, earl of Kent, who defended himself against his accusers in what he had done; Ernest, bishop of Rochester; Agelric, bishop of Chester, an antient man, and well versed in the laws of the realm; who on account of his great age was, by the king's order, brought hither in a waggon, in una quadriga; Richard de Tunebrige, Hugh de Montfort, William de Arsic, Hamo Vicecomes or Sheriff, and many others, barons of the king and of the archbishop, many tenants of those bishops, and many others of good and great account, as well of this as of other counties, both French and English.
This trial lasted three days, at the end of which the archbishop recovered several of the antient possessions of his church, as well from Odo as from Hugh Montfort and Ralph de Curva Spina or Crookthorne, and established the liberties of it, in matters between the king and himself. (fn. 1)
On the south side of the heath the turnpike road from Maidstone through Detling to Key-street aud Sittingbourn crosses this parish, and another branches off from hence to Bersted and Ashford; in the southern part of it are the hamlets of Grove green and Wavering-street, Newnham court, and the beautiful seat of Vinters, most pleasantly situated; below which in the vale is the stream which turns the paper mills, and separates this parish from Maidstone. At Grove, as has been already noticed, is a remarkable fine vein of fuller's earth, by the working of which Mr. John Watts, the owner of it, at the beginning of this century, became famous. But this earth was in working in 1630, at which time John Ray, merchant, of London, was sentenced to a severe fine and punishment in the Star Chamber, for transporting of it clandestinely to Holland. (fn. 2) This vein lies about thirty feet deep, and is about seven feet thick. There are two sorts of it, the blue and the dark grey, the latter of which lying under the former is most valuable; a great quantity of this earth is sent from hence by sea for the use of the clothiers in distant countries. For the manufacture carried on in this parish for the making of paper there are four sets of mills, two of which are situated at the south-east extremity of it, on the stream called the Little River, which rises near Lenham, and runs by Leeds castle hither; the upper ones, belonging to lord Aylesford, and the lower ones to Messrs. Hollingworth's; the other two are situated on the western side of the parish, near Aylesford, on the rivulet which rises under the chalk hills, and are made use of for making an inferior kind of merchandize, one of these belongs to lord Romney. The lower mills above-mentioned belonging to Messrs. Hollingworth, stand at a small distance on the north side of the road leading from Maidstone to the Mote, and are called the Old Turkey Mills, they deserve a more particular notice in this place for their superiority, as well in the many extensive buildings, machines and conveniences erected for carrying on this large and curious manufacture, and the number of people continually employed in the different branches of it, as the easy and regular method, and the neatness with which the whole is conducted. They were formerly used as fulling mills, but on the decay of the cloathing trade in these parts, were, by Mr. Gill, the proprietor, converted into paper mills, and used by him as such for a few years; he sold them to Mr. James Whatman, who in 1739 pulled the whole of them down, and erected them on a much more curious and extensive plan, which was afterwards much more improved by his son James Whatman, esq. who with infinite pains and expence, brought his manufactory of writing paper, for no other sort is made here, to a degree of perfection, superior to most in the kingdom. In 1794 he sold these mills to Messrs. Hollingworth, and retired to Vintners, where he now resides, and they now carry on this manufacture here; under the buildings is a strong chalybeat spring, which however does not produce any great quantity of water. In 1711 a Roman urn was dug up at Grove, by the workmen, near the vein of Fuller's earth there, as several others have been since, with other relics of antiquity and coins, both there and at Vintners, most of the coins having the inscription of the emperor Adrian, and the like have been from time to time discovered at Goddard's hill, in this parish, where there are several stones set up similar to those about Horsted.
OUR BOTANISTS have observed the following scarce plants in this parish:
Borago minor silvestris, small white bugloss, or German madwort.
Scopyllum angustifolium glabrum, smooth narrowleased thyme.
Buxus, the box tree, which grows plentifully in the woods here. (fn. 3)
Stellaria sanicula major, ladies mantle.
BOXLEY, at the time of taking the general survey of Domesday, was part of the vast estate of Odo, the great bishop of Baieux and earl of Kent, the Conqueror's half-brother; in which record it is thus described:
Robert Latin holds to ferm Boseleu. It was taxed at seven sulings in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and now at five sulings. The arable land is twenty carucates. In demesne there are three carucates, and fortyseven villeins, with eleven borderers having sixteen carucates. There are three mills of thirty-six shillings and eight-pence, and sixteen servants, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of thirty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth twenty-five pounds, now thirty pounds, and Robert yet pay fifty-five pounds. Alnod Cilt held it.
Four years after the taking of the above survey, about the year 1084, this estate, on the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, became forfeited to the crown, among the rest of his possessions.
In the year 1146, (fn. 4) William d'Ipre, earl of Kent, who afterwards became a monk himself at Laon, in Flanders, (fn. 5) founded an ABBEY at this place for monks of the Cistertian order, some of whom he brought from Claravalle, in Burgundy, for this purpose, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary, as all the houses of this order were. The first monastery of this order in England was at Waverly, which was built in 1129, by Walter Gifford, bishop of Winchester. They were a branch of the Benedictines, called by the English, from their habit, White monks, and likewise Cif tertians; which last name they had from the town of Cistertium or Cisteaux, in the bishopric of Chalons, in Burgundy, where this order was first instituted by Robert, abbot of Molesme, in the year 1098. There were eighty-five houses of this order, at the time of the dissolution, in England.
King Richard I. in his 1st year, anno 1189, gave the MANOR of BOXELE (fn. 6) to this abbey, which king Henry III. in his 37th year, confirmed by his letters of inspeximus. (fn. 7)
King Henry III. in his 37th year, granted to the abbot and convent to hold a market weekly within their manor of Boxley. (fn. 8) The place where it was held appears to have been called Farthings.
In the 7th year of Edward I. the abbot claimed, before the justices itinerant, certain liberties, by the charters of king Henry and king Richard, and the confirmation of them by the charter of king Henry, the then king's father. And he claimed to have warren in all his demesne lands in Kent and Surry, which he had in the time of king Henry, the king's father; and that he and his predecessors had fully used those liberties, &c. and it was then found, that the abbot had in his manor of Boxley a free court, &c. and that the tenants of the manor ought to plead in the hundred of Maidstone, pleas of Withernam, &c. and that the abbot ought to allow pannage, &c, and that the tenants of the manor owed pontage, and paid it to Rochester bridge. (fn. 9)
The abbot of Boxley was summoned to parliament twice in the 23d year of king Edward I. once in the 24th, and twice in the 28th years of that reign, but never afterwards, that I can find. (fn. 10)
In the reign of king Henry III. there were sixtyfour abbots and thirty-six priors summoned to parliament; but this number being thought too great, king Edward III. reduced them to twenty-five abbots and two priors, to which were afterwards added two more abbots, so that there were no more than twentynine in all, who statedly and constantly enjoyed this privilege, of which only St. Austen's, near Canterbury, was in this county. (fn. 11)
King Edward II. in his 15th year, honoured this abbey with his presence, where, on Oct. 25, he granted to the aldermen and citizens of London to nominate a mayor out of their own body, at his will. (fn. 12) King Edward III. in his 33d year, granted to the abbot, &c. free warren in their manor of Boxele, &c. (fn. 13)
In the reign of king Richard II. the revenues of this abbey were valued at 218l. 19s. 10d. of which 98l. 19s. 7d. was in the diocese of Canterbury, (fn. 14)
John Dobbes, the last abbot, and the convent of Boxley, surrendered it into the hands of Henry VIII. on January 29, in the 29th year of his reign, (fn. 15) and it was, together with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, confirmed to the king and his heirs, by the general words of the act, passed in the 31st year of that reign for this purpose; after which there were pensions allowed to the abbot, 50l. and to eight of the canons, from 2l. 13s. 4d. to 4l. yearly, for their lives, or until the person was promoted to a benefice of equal or superior value; the five last of which pensions remained in charge in 1553. (fn. 16)
It was endowed, at its dissolution, with 204l. 4s. 11d. per annum, clear revenue, according to Dug dale; or, according to Speed, with 218l. 9s. 10d. per annum, yearly income. (fn. 17)
The coat of arms belonging to it was, Argent, a dexter bend lozenge, gules; on a canton of the second, a crozier or pastoral staff of the field. (fn. 18) This coat, without the crozier, as also another, being a pastoral staff, surmounted of a bend, are still remaining carved in stone on the capitals of two pillars, from which springs a small circular arch in the garden, at the back of this abbey.
There was a chapel, dedicated to St. Andrew the apostle, founded hard by the outer gate of this monastery, which was served by a curate appointed for that purpose.
The lands of the abbey of Boxley, of the order of Cistertians, were as such, in particular circumstances, exempted from the payment of tithes. Pope Pascal II. exempted all the religious in general from the payment of tithes for lands in their own occupation, and this continued till the reign of Henry II. when pope Hadrian IV. restrained this exemption to the three religious orders of Cistertians, Templars, and Hospitallers, to which pope Innocent III. added a fourth, viz. the Præmonstratenses, from whence these were generally called the four privileged orders. After which the general council of Lateran, in 1215, further restrained this exemption to lands in their own occupation, and to those which they possessed before that time. After this the Cistertians procured bulls to exempt all their lands likewise which were letten to farm. To restrain which, the statute of the second of king Henry IV. cap. 4. was made, which enacted, that whoever, religious as well as secular, should put these bulls in execution, and purchase any others, and by colour of them should take any advantage in any shape, should be guilty of a præmunire. This restrained their privilege again to such lands only as they had before the Lateran council above mentioned; so that the lands they afterwards acquired are in no wise exempted, and this statute left them subject to the payment of such composition for tithes of their demesne lands as they had made with any particular rectors, &c. who contesting their privileges, even under that head, brought them to compound. This monastery of Boxley was one of those dissolved by the act of the 31st of king Henry VIII. the only ones which continued these privileges to their possessors afterwards; by which act, as well the king, his heirs and successors, as all others who should have any of those monasteries, their lands or possessions, were to hold and enjoy them, according to their estates and titles, discharged and acquitted of payment of tithes, as freely, and in as large and ample a manner as the late abbots, priors, &c. of the same before held them. (fn. 19)
In the Registrum Roffense, (fn. 20) are the names of the fields, woods, and other premises in the parish of Boxley, of which the abbot and convent here should in future be free and exempt from the payment of all tithes whilst they were in their own hands.
In the church of this abbey was the statue of St. Rumbald, usually called by the common people, St. Grumbald, which was held in great reverence for his fancity by them, for the miracles it was said to perform.
¶King Henry VIII. in his 32d year, exchanged with Sir Thomas Wyatt, of Allynton, for other premises, the house and scite of this monastery, lately dissolved, and the church, steeple, and church yard of it, with the buildings, lands, &c. as well nigh and adjoining to the scite and precinct of it, his lordship of Boxley, Hoo, and Newenham court, with their appurtenances and the farm and lands, called Upper Grange, and all lands, tenements, and other premises late belonging to it, in the parishes, townships, or hamlets of Boxley, Boxley-street, Burley, Burthin, Sandelyng, Wilston, Wavering, Havurland, Oxefiyth, Dunstreet upon the Hill, and elsewhere, in Kent, excepting to the king the parsonage of Boxley and the advowson of the parish church; (fn. 21) all which were soon afterwards again vested in the crown, as appears by the Escheat rolls of the 38th year of that reign, (fn. 22) when the king regranted the whole of them to Sir Thomas Wyatt, son of Sir Thomas before mentioned, to hold in capite by knight's service, who having, in the 1st year of queen Mary, with other gentlemen of note in this county, raised a rebellion, was found guilty of high treason, and executed that year, and his estate was consiscated to the crown; but the queen, through her bounty, the next year, granted the manor of Boxly, with the Upper Grange, and some other lands adjoining, to his widow, the lady Jane Wyatt, (daughter and coheir of Sir William Haut, of Bourne) and her heirs male, to hold in like manner. On her death, her son, George Wyatt, succeeded to them; but the abbey seems to have continued in the crown, for queen Elizabeth, in her 11th year, granted the scite and mansion of it to John Astley for a term of years. In the 13th year of that reign, George Wyatt, esq. was restored in blood by act of parliament, after which he became possessed of this seat, and resided here, having the fee of it granted to him by the crown. He died in 1624, and was buried in the chancel of this church, as were his several descendants, who bore for their arms, Per fess azure and gules, a barnacle argent, the ring or; he left several sons and daughters, of whom the second son, Haute Wyatt, was vicar of this parish; and Francis, the eldest, succeeded him in the manor of Boxley, the mansion of the abbey, the Grange, and his other estates in this parish. He was afterwards knighted, and was twice governor of Virginia. He died in 1644, leaving two sons, Henry, his eldest son and heir, and Edwin, who afterwards became possessed of this manor, seat, and estates, above mentioned, and a daughter, Elizabeth, who married Thomas Bosvile, esq. of Littlemote in Eynsford, esq. whose daughter Margaret became the wife of Sir Robert Marsham, bart. great grandfather of the present lord Romney.
Henry Wyatt, esq. was of Boxley abbey, and left an only daughter and heir, Francis, who carried this manor, seat, with the Grange and other estates above mentioned, in marriage to Sir Thomas Selyard, bart. but Edwin Wiat, the younger brother of Henry above mentioned, disputing at law the lady Selyard's title to them, recovered the manor of Boxley, with other estates last mentioned, in this parish and elsewhere; but the abbey, with the lands belonging to it, remained in the possession of Sir Thomas Selyard, as will be mentioned hereafter.
BOXLEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sutton.
The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, stands on the east side of the village; it is not large, but neat, and contains three isles and a chancel, with a handsome square tower at the west end, in which hang four small bells, which were cast in 1652, by M. Darby.
In this church, before the Reformation, was a famous rood, called the Rood of Grace, which was held in great esteem for the miracles it was supposed to work. It was broken to pieces by the king's command at St. Paul's cross, in London, on Sunday, February 24, 1538, in the presence of John Hilsey, bishop of Rochester, and a vast concourse of the populace. (fn. 35)
The church of Boxley was given by king Henry I. in 1130, to the church of Rochester, with all its liberties and rights, in like manner as his chaplain, Jeffry or Ansfrid, the clerk, had ever held it; but that church and monastery, having been destroyed by fire, and the monks dispersed abroad, king Stephen, in 1137, dispossessed them of this church, which, howeever, on their return to their monastery, was on their remonstrance to the court of Rome, by the pope's bull, restored and confirmed to them; and Walter, bishop of Rochester, not only confirmed to them the appropriation of it, but granted to them the free disposal and presentation of the vicarage, saving the right of the bishop of the diocese; which grant was confirmed likewise by the several archbishops of Canterbury afterwards.
In the year 1180, there was an agreement made between the monks of Boxley and those of Rochester, concerning the parochial tithes of this church; by which the latter granted to the former a certain field belonging to the parish church of Boxley, above the hills, but by the consent of the former they retained out of it for ever half an acre of wood for fencing; and the monks of Rochester granted to those of Boxley all the tithes above the hills of all lands, as well of those free lands, which the latter had of the king's gift, as of those which they had acquired, to be held finally in villenage, or might acquire in future, at any time for their own use; and likewise certain land belonging to this parish church, under the hill, with the meadow adjoining, between the abbey and village of Boxley; on the other hand, the monks of Boxley granted to those of Rochester all their tithes under the hills, without the bounds of the abbey and grange; that is to say, of all corn only and pulse, of all their lands under the hills, as well of those antiently as newly cultivated, and which they had from the foundation of the abbey, or might bring into culture at any time in future; and that the monks of Rochester should have all the tithes on the sides of the hills of all lands which at that time, or before were reduced to culture, excepting the field which the monks of Boxley bought of John de Horespole; which composition was confirmed by Richard, archbishop of Canterbury.
The confirmations of this church to the priory seem afterwards to have been but little regarded, and they were again dispossessed of it, with a reservation of 60s. annual pension only from it; and it appears, that the bishop of Rochester, together with the prior and convent, used to present to it on a vacancy, till the time of archbishop Islip, who at the petition of the monks, with the consent of the bishop, in 1363, restored this church to them, in as ample a manner as they had before held it; and he granted them full liberty to reenter into the corporal possession of it, with all its rights and appurtenances, on the vacancy of the rector then incumbent on it; reserving, nevertheless, in the first place, a proper portion out of the fruits and profits, for the maintenance of a perpetual vicar, at the presentation of the bishop, to be instituted by him and his successors, and for the due support of the episcopal and archidiaconal burthens, and others belonging to it; and a vicarage was afterwards accordingly endowed in it by archbishop Sudbury, in the year 1377. (fn. 36)
In 1403, a definitive sentence was passed concerning the tithes of this vicarage; (fn. 37) at which time, and so late as the year 1485, this church and advowson belonged to the priory of Rochester, for in the latter year, archbishop Bouchier, cardinal and apostolic legate, confirmed the appropriation of it to them; and a composition was entered into, anno 20 Richard II. between the prior and convent, and Adam Motrum, archdeacon of Canterbury; that as the archdeacon and his archdeaconry was detrimented in the yearly sum of 6s. 8d. the like sum should be yearly paid to the latter, out of the profits of it so long as they possessed it.
The appropriation, as well as the advowson of the vicarage, seems very soon afterwards to have passed into the hands of the prior and convent of Boxley, tho' by what means I do not find, before its dissolution, which happened in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. for that king, by his dotation charter, in his 32d year, settled his rectory and church of Boxley, late belonging to the dissolved monastery of Boxley, and the vicarage of it, on his new erected dean and chapter of Rochester, part of whose possessions they now remain.
In the 15th year of king Edward I. this church was valued at 32l. the vicarage is valued in the king's books at 12l. 19s. 2d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 5s. 11d.
King Henry VIII. in his 29th year, let to Thomas Vicary, one of his surgeons, the tithes of corn and the glebe lands of this rectory, and the capital messuage, houses, and buildings belonging to it, and ten pieces of land, late belonging to the monastery of Boxley and the advowson of the vicarage, for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of forty pounds.
In the exchange of lands, made between Henry VIII. and Sir Thomas Wyatt, in the 32d year of his reign, the parsonage of Boxley, and the advowson of the vicarage, with their appurtenances, were particularly excepted, to remain to the king's use.
By a survey of this parsonage, on the abolition of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. in 1649, by order of the state, is appears, that the par sonage-house, a fair and goodly house, with its appurtenances, tithes, &c. late belonging to the late monastery there, and forty-eight acres, three roods, and two perches of land, in the improved rents, were the whole of them worth 140l. 3s. 6d. per annum; and were let by the dean and chapter, anno 15 Charles I. to Robert Parker for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of 26l. 13s. 4d. and twelve couple of conies, or 16s. in money; that the lessee was bound to repair the chancel, and that the vicarage, which was excepted out of the lease, was worth sixty pounds per annum.
The present lessee of the parsonage is Mr. William Fowle; the vicarage is reserved out of the lease of it, and is in the disposal of the dean and chapter.
The vicar of Boxley has belonging to him all tithes of wood, hops, hay, clover, cinquefoil, flax, wold, wool, lambs, milk, eggs, apples, cherries, and other fruit, and of pasture; his dues are, for burials, 2s. for marriages, 5s. for christenings in houses, 2s. 6d. and for churchings at church, 6d. at home, 1s. for Easter offerings he can demand of every person, above sixteen years old, 6d. so of a man and his wife, 1s.
He has a pension of 8l. per annum, payable out of the exchequer, as an augmentation; the fees for receiving of which are, if he receives it himself, 12s. if by another, 20s. (fn. 38)
¶The land the vicarage house, with its appurtenances, stands on, with the garden and court yard, is not above the third part of an acre; which, with the herbage of the church yard, is all the glebe the vicar has. The house, which is built of brick, and sashed, is handsome and commodious, and has proper offices adjoining to it. It was erected by Mr. archdeacon Spratt, whilst vicar of this parish; since which it has been considerably improved by Dr. Markham, vicar likewise, now arch bishop of York, who sometimes resided in it, as did his successor, Dr. North, now bishop of Winchester.
In 1733, the vicarage was valued at 200l. it is now 300l. per annum.
Bishop Henry de Sandford, by his decree temp. Henry III. at the petition of the vicar and parishioners, changed the feast of the dedication of this church, from the 10th of February to the Monday next after the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul.
Mack Bigfoot 'Romper Stomper' looking pretty gutted after major engine failure. Note how it's too big to fit under the lean to,with the fitters having to work in the sun. Not much fun in a 50 degree Pilbara summer.
Woodie Woodie,Aug 2006.
Watched this almost full Hunters moonrise over Newcomb lake from fish rock lean-to in the Adirondacks. Most satisfying.
Nikon D90
Nikkor 12-24 at 24mm.
6 sec at f8.
By mistake I ended up in West Malling, but it was a good thing, as the village is chocolate box pretty, and the church very fine indeed. The only church I visited that had no wardens to welcome (I think, sorry if I have mis-remembered). Anyway, a fine church, amazing coat of arms, and glad I visited.
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A story of all's well that ends well. A Norman tower and thirteenth-century chancel are linked by a twentieth-century nave that had in its turn replaced one erected to replace its medieval predecessor in the eighteenth century! The west window and those in the south aisle are by C.E. Kempe and Co. Ltd, and of special note is the one depicting the Three Kings. On the south side of the chancel, backing on to a medieval lean-to vestry, is the splendid tomb of Sir Robert Brett (d. 1620), which has recently been restored. The colours are superb and show how churches must have looked when these monuments were new. In the north aisle is a large painting of the Last Supper by Francis Slater, the eighteenth-century artist who painted the ceilings of nearby Mereworth Castle. Hanging on the front of the west gallery are the outstanding Royal Arms of James II, of carved and painted wood. The twentieth-century rebuilding of the church was financed by the sale of an Elizabethan stoneware jug (now in the British Museum), the transaction being recorded on an inscribed stone in the north porch.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=West+Malling
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WESTWARD from East Malling lies the town and parish of West Malling, now most commonly called Town Malling.
It is written in Domesday, MALLENGETIS, and in the Textus Roffensis, MELLINGES. In many deeds after the conquest, it is stiled MILLINGES PARVA, to distinguish it from East Malling, then the larger and more noted village of the two.
The town and parish of West Malling, excepting the borough of St. Leonard, which is under the jurisdiction of the constables of the hundred of Larkfield, is under the jurisdiction of its own constables, of which there are two chosen yearly.
THE PARISH of Town Malling, as it is usually called, is situated equally pleasant and healthy. It lies on high ground, and though dry is well watered, the soil of it being in the northern part a sand, the rest of it a loam, covering the quarry rock, which is very fertile, as has been frequently noticed before in the like situations. The high road from London through Wrotham to Maidstone, at the twenty-ninth mile stone leads along the northern boundaries of the parish, being called in king Edmund's grant of this place to the bishop of Rochester, the military way, no doubt from its having been used as such by the Romans, southward of it the ground gently rising; at less than a quarter of a mile's distance is the town of Malling, which is well built, having many genteel houses in it, the streets of a handsome width, and well paved. At the east end of it is the abbey, to which the approach is by a venerable antient gateway. Although the house itself was almost all of it pulled down and rebuilt by Mr. Honywood, yet many of the antient buildings and offices be longing to it are still remaining, and are made use of as such at present. A handsome tower of the church, the front of which is decorated with intersecting arches and zig-zag ornaments, similar to those on the west front of Rochester cathedral, built by the same founder, bishop Gundulph, is still remaining, as is an antient chapel or oratory, now made use of as a dwellinghouse.
From the foundations discovered in levelling the ground by Mr. Honywood, it appears, that this abbey consisted of two quadrangles or courts, with cloysters, and a spacious hall; and that the church had another tower, of the like size to that now standing. The burying-place seems to have been on the south side of the church, as in digging there, great quantities of human bones have been thrown up, and two stone coffins with skeletons in them, the lids of them had no inscriptions on them, but were ornamented each with a cross, having a quaterfoil pierced at the upper end, the stem of which was crossed more than once with foliage, several rings and trinkets, and some old coins have likewise been found at different times in cleaning away the rubbish.
Over the west end of the grand gateway, which stands at the entrance into the precinct of the abbey from the town, at the west end of the building, there is carved in stone, a heart distilling drops of blood, and on the other side, in a shield, Ermine, a crozier in bend sinister, on a chief three annulets.
In the meadows above the gardens, are large square excavations still visible, where the fish ponds of the aunnery formerly were.
The precinct of this monastery is washed by a rivulet of excellent clear water, which rising in the hamlet of St. Leonard, runs by the house, and through the gardens of it, whence gushing through the wall with a cascade, it crosses the road towards the Rev. Mr. Brooke's gardens. There is a view of this abbey in its present state published by Mr. Grose, in his Antiquities of England.
Near the abbey gate there is a good house, with a large garden, canal, and pleasure grounds, behind it, reaching down to the London road. It has been many years the residence of the Brooke's, from whom it passed by the will of Joseph Brooke, esq. who died in 1792, after the decease of his widow in 1796, to the Rev. John Kenward Shaw, brother of Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. who has since, in pursuance of the above will, and by the king's licence, taken the name of Brooke, and now resides in it. A little further westward there is a very antient stone building, called the Old Gaol, having narrow gothic windows, and the walls of great thickness. It is reported to have been the prison belonging to the abbey, and is now used as an oast for the drying of hops. About the middle of the street stands the church, and a little distance from it a good house, late the residence of Benjamin Hubble, esq. whose family have been inhabitants of this town for some length of time, several of them lying buried in this church. He died in 1780, leaving his widow, sister of Richard Savage, esq. of Boughton Monchelsea, surviving, and two daughters, his coheirs, one of whom having married Thomas Augustus Douce, esq. he now resides in it; further southward is the hamlet of St. Leonard, now making part of the town, and called St. Leonard's-street, in which is an antient seat, some years ago the residence of Charles Stewart, esq. whose father admiral Stewart purchased it of judge Twisden. This district had once a cell in it, belonging to the abbey, with a chapel. It was given at the time the manor and church was to it, as has been already mentioned. The whole of it has been long since desecrated, and in ruins; the square tower of the chapel which stands in the next field south-west from the late Mr. Stewart's house, is all that remains of it. It was purchased by him some years ago, of Sir John Honywood, in exchange for other premises near the abbey, and is now made use of as a stowage for hops. Mr. Stewart died in 1780, and was buried near his father in this church, and he was succeeded here by the hon. admiral John Forbes, who lately died posfessed of it. A market is held in the principal highstreet every Saturday, which is plentifully supplied and well frequented. There are three fairs, which are held by the alteration of the stile on August 12, October 2, and November 17, yearly, for horses, cattle, toys, &c. The whole town is excellently well watered with fine springs, which having supplied the town and abbey, collect themselves into one stream, and passing northward through Mr. Brooke's grounds, cross the high Maidstone road, and runs from thence into the Addington brook, just above Leyborne mill.
About half a mile south-east from the abbey there is a good modern-built house, called New Barne, which formerly belonged to Mr. Alchin, from whom it passed to Graham, the present possessor, who resides in it.
Above St. Leonard's street is the high road from Teston over East-Malling-heath, and through this parish to Offham, southward of which this parish extends into the large tract of coppice woods which reach to West Peckham and Mereworth.
Dr. William Briggs, an eminent physician, resided at the latter end of the last century at Town Malling, where he died, Sept. 1704, æt. 64, and was buried in this church, He was a great traveller into foreign countries, and was greatly esteemed for his skill in his profession, as well as for his learning, of which the several writings he published are sufficient testimonies. He was physician in ordinary to king William, and to St. Thomas's hospital, and bore his arms, Gules, three bars gemelles, or, a canton sable. (fn. 1)
THIS PLACE was given, about the year 945, by Edmund, king of the Angles and of Mercia, to Burhric, bishop of Rochester, by the description of a small portion of his land, called Meallingas, containing three plough lands; and he granted it to him, for the good of his soul, in perpetual inheritance, in augmentation of the revenues of his monastery of St. Andrew, with all its rights, liberties, members, and appurtenances, and this he did with the consent of his nobles and princes, whose names were subscribed to it. After the names of king Edmund, Edred his brother, and Eadgife his mother, are those of the archbishops and bishops, and then that of Ælgifu, the king's concubine, Ego Ælgifu Concubina Regis affui, and after her the dukes, &c. The bounds of this land are thus described in Saxon, viz. from the south part of it to the king's plaine, and from thence to the bounds of the parish of Offaham, and thence to the military way, and so along the said way over Lilleburne to the bounds of the parish of Est Meallinges, and so directly southward from the east of the cross or gallows to the broad way towards the south, in a direct line along the said way to the king's plaine. To which the king added certain denberies for the pannage of hogs.
This land did not continue long in the possession of the church of Rochester, being wrested from it in the time of the Danish wars; and when William the Conqueror had attained the crown, he gave it to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half brother, from whom it was recovered, together with the church of Mallinges, in the solemn assembly of the whole county held on this occasion, by the king's command, at Pinenden heath, in 1076, by archbishop Lanfrance, who afterward restored it to bishop Gundulph, and the church of St. Andrew; which gift was confirmed by archbishops Anselm and Boniface. (fn. 2)
In the survey of Domesday, taken about four years afterwards, this manor is thus described, under the general title of the bishop of Rochester's lands:
The same bishop (of Rochester) holds Mellingetes, it was taxed, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, at three sulings, and now at one and an half. The arable land is three carucates. In demesne there is one, and five villeins, with fix borderers, having two carucates. There is a church, and one mill of two shillings, wood for the pannage of twenty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth forty shillings, and now four pounds.
Bishop Gundulph, in the 4th year of the reign of king William Rufus, anno 1090, having founded an abbey of Benedictine nuns in this parish, to the honor of the Virgin Mary, gave this manor and church to it, with other possessions for the endowment of it; (fn. 3) and although it was, about one hundred years after its being first erected, with the adjoining village, destroyed by fire, yet it was again soon afterwards re-edified, and continued to increase in a flourishing state.
In the 7th year of king Edward I. anno 1278, the abbess of Malling claimed sundry liberties in this parish, by grant from king Henry III. and a market weekly throughout the year on a Saturday and Wednesday; and she claimed by grant from king John to have warren in all her lands at Malling, by grant from king Henry, from time beyond memory; and to have fairs in the parish on the eve, day, and morrow of St. Matthew the apostle, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Leonard, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Peter, ad vincula.
By which, and such like favours granted to it, this place, which at the first foundation of the monastery was plain fields, and almost without an inhabitant, became notwithstanding its former calamity mentioned before, exceedingly populous from the numbers who flocked to it from all parts, who building themselves houses here, increased the village to a large size, well suited for trade, to the no small emolument of the nuns; whence it soon lost its name of Malling Parva, which was for some time transferred to the neighbouring parish of East Malling, as appears by some grants, &c. of this time, and king Edward III. (fn. 4)
In the 15th year of king Edward I. the temporalities of the abbess of Malling in this parish and East Malling were valued at forty-five pounds.
There was an annual pension of ten pounds of wax, and one boar, paid by the abbess to the bishop of Rochester, as an acknowledgment of her subjection to that see.
In the year 1321, the bishop of Rochester, at the king's request, to whom the nuns had made a complaint, that their monastery was ruined by the bad management of their abbess, sister of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, visited it, and heard the complaints against her; in consequence of which she resigned, and the lady Agnes de Leyborne, was chosen in her room. Three years after which she died, and the bishop, at the unanimous request of the nuns, appointed Lora de Retling abbess here, though much against his will, knowing her to be very ignorant, and unfit for the office. However, he inhibited her giving a corredy to her maid servant, as had been the custom, and sequestered their common seal, inhibiting her from using it without his licence.
A great pestilence raging in the year 1348, the bishop made two abbesses here, who presently died; nor were there more than four nuns professed, and four not professed, remaining in this monastery; and he com mitted the custody of the spirituals and temporals to two of them, as there was not a proper person for the office of abbess.
In the year 1493, anno 9 Henry VII. Joane Moone was abbess of this monastery. (fn. 5)
This abbey was surrendered into the king's hands, with all its possessions, (fn. 6) among which were the manors of East and West Malling, with the precincts of Ewell and Parrock annexed to the latter, by Margaret Vernon, abbess, and the convent of it, in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. at which time it was valued at 245l. 10s. 2½d. annual rent, according to Speed, and 218l. 4s. 2½d. clear value, according to Dugdale, and there was granted to the abbess a pension of forty pounds yearly, and to eleven nuns from 31. 6s. 8d. down to 2l. 13s. 4d. yearly pensions, each for their lives.
After which that king, by his letters patent, in his 31st year, granted and sold, in exchange, among other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, the scite of the abbey, with the precinct and circuit of it, and the manors of West Malling, Ewell, and Parocke, and the parsonage of West Malling, late appropriate to it, excepting to the king all advowsons, presentations, &c. to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned; and as the king was entitled to the tenths of these premises, he discharged the archbishop of them, and all other outgoings whatsoever, except the rent therein mentioned. Which grant was in consequence of an indenture made between the king and the archbishop, inrolled in the Augmentation-office.
These manors and premises were again exchanged with the crown in the beginning of the reign of queen Elizabeth, in the 12th year of which she granted them in lease to Sir Henry Brooke, alias Cobham, fifth son of Sir George Brooke, lord Cobham; after which they were held by the same possessors, as the manor of East Malling before described, till at length, after the death of Sir Robert Brett, anno 1621, king James granted the manor of West, alias Town Malling, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, the scite of the late monastery, with the house, buildings, and ground within the precinct of it with all their appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of the late monastery, in fee, to John Rayney, esq. which was further confirmed to Sir John Rayney, his eldest son, in the 2d year of king Charles I. He was of Wrothamplace, in this neighbourhood, and was created a baronet of Nova Scotia, in 1641, and his son of the same name, about the time of the restoration, conveyed these premises to Isaac Honywood, gent. of Hampsted, Middlesex, who was the only son of Edward, third son of Sir Thomas Honywood, of Elmsted, ancestor likewise of the present Sir John Honywood, of Elmsted, baronet, and he continued to bear the same coat of arms; whose second son, Isaac Honywood, esq. of Hampsted, succeeded him in this manor and estate. Frazer Honywood, esq. of Hampsted and London, his only son and heir, rebuilt the abbey house of Malling in the antient gothic taste, at a very great expence, making it one of the seats of his residence, and having thus greatly improved it, he died possessed of this seat and manor, with the estate belonging to it, in 1764, leaving no issue by his wife, the daughter of Abraham Atkins, of Clapham. He gave them, as well as the rest of his estates here and elsewhere, by will, to his kinsman, Sir John Honywood, bart. of Elmsted, and his heirs male, with divers remainders over to the family of Honywood. Sir John Honywood, bart. is since deceased, and his grandson of the same name is the present owner of this manor, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, and the seat of Malling abbey, with the lands and appurtenances in this parish belonging to it, but Mr. Foote resides in it.
The family of Say antiently possessed THE MANOR of CLEMENTS IN EWELL, in this parish. Geoffry de Say held it in the 7th year of king Edward II. as half a knight's fee. His son, Geoffry de Say, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as half a knight's fee, which John at Forde held before in Ewell, in Malling, of the bishop of Rochester. This manor was afterwards in the name of Coveney, (fn. 7) and in the latter end of king Henry VIII. it was in the possession of Mr. William Fowle. Since which it has sunk into such obscurity, that neither the scite nor the owners of it can be traced out even by the most diligent enquiries.
CHARITIES.
THERE is a lecture founded in this church of a sermon every fortnight, on the Saturday; two of the preachers to be the ministers of East and West Malling, who are to be paid 10s. for every sermon they preach; the other preachers are appointed at the will of the trustees.
FRANCIS TRESSE, gent. of this town, who died in 1632, by his will gave a piece of land, and 40l. towards the building of a free school in this parish; and he charged one of his houses in Town Malling with the sum of 13s. 4d. per annum, for the keeping of it in repair; and appointed that four principal freeholders of this parish should be trustees for the execution of this part of his will for ever. This school was accordingly erected, and was made use of for the teaching of boys writing and arithmetic. The charity is veisted in the minister and tour substantial freehold inhabitants, and the estate out of which it is paid in Mr. Robert Sutton, of this parish, but there being no master, the school-house is at present let to the late master's widow at 2gs. perannum, which with the 13s. 4d. is applied towards the maintaining of the building. He also gave two silver cups for the use of the holy communion, and 6s. 8d. payable yearly out of a piece of land, called Cousin's Plat, now vested in Mary Brome, widow.
SIR ROBERT BRETT, by will in 1620, gave land sufficient to pay yearly 10s. per week, to be bestowed in bread and meat to twenty poor persons, or else to be distributed in money to them. His executors accordingly conveyed lands in Tewksbury, in Gloucestershire, for this purpose, which is now vested in lord Romney, and twenty-three others, trustees, of the annual produce of 26l. but of late years the annual produce has been but 19l. 14s.
TOWN MALLING is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURIDISCTION of the diocese of Rochester, and gives name to the deanry of Malling, in which it is situated.
The church, which is a handsome building, with an elegant spire steeple, is dedicated to St. Mary.
At the latter end of the year 1778, some of the main pillars of the body of it giving way, the whole roof of it fell in, leaving only the steeple and chancel at the two extremities of it standing. It has since been repaired, and thoroughly finished by a brief, which was obtained for that purpose.
The church of West Malling was given, with the manor, to the church of Rochester, by king Edmund, in 945; and having afterwards been taken from it, was again restored by archbishop Lanfranc to bishop Gundulph, in the time of the Conqueror, who gave it to the monastery here, at his foundation of it, and this gift was confirmed by several succeeding kings, archbishops of Canterbury, bishops of Rochester, &c. as has been already mentioned.
It was appropriated to the abbess and convent by bishop Gundulph, at the time it was given to them; which appropriation was specially confirmed by Simon, archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1351.
In the reign of king Edward III. great discutes arising between the abbess and nuns of this monastery, and Robert de Beulton, perpetual vicar of this church, especially concerning the receiving of the tithes of flax and hemp, and the payment of archidiaconal procurations, they were at last settled by Hamo, bishop of Rochester, who in the year 1339, decreed, that, saving the due and accustomed portion of the prebend of the great mass in the conventual church of Malling, and the portion of the vicar, as undermentioned, the religious should take all tithes of corn within the parish, and all oblations and obventions belonging to their conventual church, and the cell of St. Leonard; and that they should not be bound to pay to the vicar the tithes of their hay, woods, or mills. And whereas the bishop was informed, and it was allowed, that the above-mentioned prebendary, and other domestics, serving in the monastery, or in the houses of the prebendary, or perpetual chaplain, celebrating for the dead, as also the brothers and sisters, and other persons dwelling in the monastery, or house of the prebendary, who, when they were without the monastery and houses, were not housekeepers in the parish, were wont to receive the sacraments and sacramentals, in life and in death, and to be buried there, if they happened to die within the monastery or houses, unless by chance they chose to be buried elsewhere; in which case, the religious had the first mass for the body before them, in their monastery, and received all the oblations then and there made, so that no portion was left for the vicar of the parish church. And further, that the prebendary for the time being had been used to receive antiently, and to that time, in part of the portion due to him, all the great and small tithes of the demesne lands of the religious, and of the food of their cattle, and also the great tithes arising from many of the crofts of their tenants situated in the said parish, and also the small tithes of his house, and of the house and land of the perpetual chaplain aforesaid, and all the predial tithes arising from the houses or messuages, curtilages and gardens, late of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, in the street, called Holirode-strete, of this parish of Malling, situated above the house of the prebendary; and of all the houses, messuages, curtilages, and gardens whatsoever, from thence towards the east and north in Holirode-street, and in the street, called Tan-street, as far as the end of the parish of Malling on that side; and that the religious and prebendary had possessed all and singular the premises aforesaid, in certain distinct portions, peaceably and without contradiction, from the time beyond memory. (fn. 8)
The bishop, therefore, that none of the premises should be altered, decreed, saving all and every matter as aforesaid, that the vicar should receive for his portion all other small tithes, oblations, obventions and profits belonging to the parish church more especially, viz. the tithe of herbage, silva cedua, apples, pears, flax, hemp, wool, milk, cheese, calves, lambs, pigs, pidgeons, geese, ducks, bees, eggs, merchandizings, fowlings, fishings, swans, pulse, and other fruits, and also of corn growing in orchards or gardens, as he had-been accustomed to receive them.
¶And that the vicar should also receive the personal tithes of the inhabitants of the houses or messuages of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, and of others, inhabiting in the houses or messuages situated in the streets, called Holirode-strete and Tan-strete, and the oblations due and accustomed to the parish church, and should administer ecclesiastical rights to them, and should have the burial of them in the parish church; and that the vicar should have for his habitation, as assigned to him by the religious, the dwelling with its precinct, which the vicar then inhabited, and his predecessors used to inhabit, which he should repair at his own expence, and preserve in a decent state, and should pay the yearly rents and services, due and accustomed from thence; all which the bishop adjudged to be a sufficient portion for the vicar for the time being. And he further decreed, that the vicar should cause the books to be bound, the vestments to be washed; and the same, and the rest of the ornaments of the parish church, which belonged to the religious to find, as often as need should require, to be repaired, and should cause them to be safely and honestly kept; and that he should provide and find bread, wine, processional tapers, and other lights necessary and accustomed in the chancel, the necessary and accustomed ministers, rochets, surplices, napkins, unconsecrated vessels, basons, and also green rushes to strow the church, if they had been so accustomed, and did not belong to the parishioners to find; and that he should pay the dues to the bishop, and the archidiaconal procurations, and that the vicar should acknowledge and undergo, according to the rate of the taxation of his portion as under-mentioned, all ordinaries and extraordinaries, which, although it might amount to five marcs, being near the moiety of the value of the whole church, according to the estimation then had, he decreed should remain according to the antient taxation of it, as often as burthens of this kind were to be borne, and paid from small benefices. And he decreed, that the religious should acknowledge and undergo all and singular other burthens happening to the parish church, by reason of their portion, which he estimated at twelve marcs, according to the antient taxation of it, notwithstanding this assignation, which was made with the consent of both parties, and which by his episcopal authority, he corroborated and confirmed, &c. and that it might not be called in doubt in future times, or be litigated, he had caused it to be entered in his register, and to be reduced into three different writings, of which he decreed one to remain in the hands of the religious, another in the hands of the vicar, and the third in the hands of the prebendary aforesaid, to perpetuate the memory of it, and had caused it to be authenticated with his seal, &c.
This parsonage, prebend, and the advowson of the vicarage, were, on the dissolution of the abbey in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. surrendered into the king's hands. After which the king, next year, granted this parsonage, with the manor of West Malling, and other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned. After which it passed, with the manor of West Malling, in a like succession of ownership, down to Sir John Rayney, bart. who sold these premises, about the time of the restoration, to judge Twisden, and his descendant, Sir John Papillon Twisden, bart. is the present possessor of this parsonage, and the advowson of the vicarage of West or Town Malling.
The vicarage is valued in the king's books at ten pounds, and the yearly tenths at one pound.
Somehow I had missed Boxley from previous crawls in the area. I guess, once upon a time, Boxley was a quiet village halfway up the downs, relying on sheepfarming for its income. In the 21st century, its just a suburb of Maidstone, though a mile or so outside the county town.
All Saints popped up on the churchcrawling group on Facebook, and thought it looked interesting, which is something of an understatement.
We arrived at just after eleven, in the lych gate there was a sign saying the church was open, so, result!
Approaching the church aloong a stone path it feels very un-Kent-like, especially as entrance to the church is in the very west end.
You enter, and are in a large space, in fact this was the Norman chancel of the original church, then into the space below the west tower, and there is the door into the church as it is now.
But I could hear voices from within, probably wardens cleaning, or so I thought...
But turned out to be a lecture on wildflowers; maybe i should crash it? But don't.
We find a leaflet and find that it had been going on nearly an hour, so we go to sit outside to see if it was going to end on the hour mark....
We give up after 20 minutes, but decide to visit a third church, then come back. Maybe it would be free then......
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The church lies at the far end of the village green. Visitors who do not first walk around the outside of the church wonder if they are ever going to get in - for they have to walk through two rooms first! From the outside it is not so puzzling; the first room is in fact the nave of the Norman church. Then comes the base of the fifteenth-century tower, built on the site of the Norman chancel. Only after we have gone through this do we come to the church proper - a complete fourteenth-century structure. It is wide, with two aisles, and relatively short. The chancel is well proportioned and has a definite lean to the south indicating medieval building error.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Boxley
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BOXLEY.
ADJOINING to Maidstone north-eastward lies the parish of Boxley, written in Domesday, Boseleu, and in the Textus Roffensis, Boxele and Boxle, a parish noted, as well for the famous assembly of the whole county, held at Pinenden heath, within the boundaries of it, in the reign of the Conqueror, as for the abbey not long afterwards founded in it.
THE VILLAGE of Boxley situated at the foot of the chalk hills, above which this parish extends among the coppice woods, over a barren dreary country covered with flints, to Dun-street, at the northern boundaries of it. Southward it extends to the rivulet in the valley, at a very small distance from the town of Maidstone, a length of near four miles, the width of it is not more than three at its greatest extent, and in most parts much less; the soil from its extent is of course various, to the northward it is chalk; in the middle, and towards the west a deep sand; to the eastward a wet cludgy earth, and to the south and south-east for the most part a not unfertile loamy soil bounding upon the rock. It is a situation much more healthy than it is pleasant, owing to its chalky and sandy soils, and its bleak situation. The village is watered by a clear spring, which rises just below the church, and directs its course through the street; this spring, as well as another, which rises likewise at the foot of the chalk hill, just above Boxley abbey, are both very inviting to the sight, but the water is very hard and unfit for culinary uses, especially the latter, which in two months will petrify wood, the incrustation resembling brown and unpolished marble. These join just below the abbey, and flow together into the Medway, almost opposite to Allington castle.
The village lies on a descent from the hills, there are several genteel houses in it; at the upper or northern part of it is Boxley house, lord Romney's, inhabited by his three sisters and Mr. Coker; somewhat lower down is a house, which for many years was the property and residence of the family of Charlton, who bore for their arms, Or, a lion rampant gules, the last of them, John Charlton, esq. dying in 1770 unmarried, it came by his will, together with the chief of his other estates, to his eldest nephew, the Rev. George Burville, (son of the Rev. Henry Burville, by Anne his sister). The Burvilles bear for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three oak leaves erect, vert. Mr. Burville married Juliana, daughter of William Bowyer, esq. of Denham, in Buckinghamshire, by whom he has a son John, and daughter Frances, married to the Rev. Philip Rashleigh. He is the present possessor of this house, in which he resides; below this is the parsonage and vicarage, the latter a handsome genteel house, and just above it at a small distance from the east side of the street, the church; almost adjoining to Mr. Burville's house, is another more antient one, called Park-house, once part of the estate of Boxley abbey, and afterwards in like manner, the estate of Sir Thomas Wyatt, whose son forfeited it for treason in the 1st year of queen Mary How it passed afterwards I have not found, though it seems never to have been restored to his descendants; in the beginning of the present century it was in the possession of the family of St. John, in which it remained till Mrs. St. John joining with her son, Paulet St. John, sold it in 1720 to Maudistley Best, esq. (son of Mr. Thomas Best, of Chatham) who resided and kept his shrievalty here in 1730, bearing for his arms, sable, two cross croslets in chief, and a cinquefoil in base, or. He died in 1740, leaving two sons, Thomas, late of Chilston, esq. and James, of Chatham, and a daughter, married to the hon. Robert, afterwards lord Fairfax, of Leeds castle, who died s. p. He gave by will this seat to his youngest son James, who served the office of sheriff in 1751, and resided here at times, and died in 1782, leaving by Frances his wife, one of the daughters of Richard Shelley, esq. four sons and four daughters, to the eldest of the former, Thomas Best, esq. he by will gave this house and his estate in this parish, and he now resides in it. There has been from time immemorial a warren for rabbits here, the lands of which lay close at the foot of the chalk hills, it formerly belonged to Boxley abbey, and was afterwards in the possession of the Wyatts, and is now from them the estate of lord Romney, and there was likewise another part of it used likewise as a warren, lying near Pinenden-heath, which was part of the Park-house estate, and as such, is now the property of Mr. Best, but the name only remains, the rabbits having been for some time destroyed, and the land made arable. About a mile. eastward from the village in a low flat situation, at no great distance from the high road from Rochester to Maidstone, is Boxley abbey, with a small hamlet of houses near it, and nearer to the hills the abbey farm. The plantations of the estate called the Park-house, likewise, the old seat of which was situated in Maidstone parish, near the high road to Rochester, as has been already described, extend into the western part of this parish. The late Sir Henry Calder, whose property it was, pulled down the old house, and on a beautiful spot near adjoining, though within this parish, began a handsome stone mansion, which after his death was finished by his widow, who with her son Sir Henry, for some time resided in it; it is now inhabited by Mr. Osborne. At a small distance eastward from hence, in nearly the centre of this parish, excepting that Maidstone stretches itself with a point or nook over a part of it, is that noted plain Pinnenden, now usually called Pickenden heath, a place made famous in early times; the western part is in Maidstone parish, the remainder in this of Boxley. From its situation almost in the middle of the county or shire of Kent, this heath has been time out of mind used for all county meetings, and for the general business of it, the county house for this purpose, a poor low shed, is situated on the north side of it, where the sheriff continues to hold his county court monthly, and where he takes the poll for the members of the county, and for the coroners, the former of which, after a few suffrages is usually adjourned to Maidstone; on a conspicuous hill on the opposite side of the heath, though in Maidstone parish, is the gallows, for the public execution of criminals condemned at the assizes.
At the time of the conquest it was the noted place for the public meetings of the county; for in the book of Domesday there is mention made, that when the inhabitants of Kent were summoned to meet ad sciram, that is, in public assembly at the shyregemot or Sheriff'stourn, for the trial of certain customs therein mentioned, they should go for that purpose as far as Pinnedenna, but no further.
In the year 1076, being the 11th of the Conqueror's reign, a famous assembly was held at this place on the following occasion.
Odo, bishop of Baieux and earl of Kent, had by means of his great power, defrauded the church of Canterbury of many manors and lands, and of several liberties, and had kept possession of them; but upon Lanfranc's being made archbishop in the year 1070, he represented the whole of the injury done to his church to the king, who forthwith commanded that it should be enquired into and determined by the nobles, and other competent men, not only of this county, but of the other counties of England, assembled for this purpose at this heath.
There were present at this meeting Goisfrid, bishop of Constance, who sat as the king's representative on this occasion; archbishop Lanfranc, who pleaded his church's cause; Odo, earl of Kent, who defended himself against his accusers in what he had done; Ernest, bishop of Rochester; Agelric, bishop of Chester, an antient man, and well versed in the laws of the realm; who on account of his great age was, by the king's order, brought hither in a waggon, in una quadriga; Richard de Tunebrige, Hugh de Montfort, William de Arsic, Hamo Vicecomes or Sheriff, and many others, barons of the king and of the archbishop, many tenants of those bishops, and many others of good and great account, as well of this as of other counties, both French and English.
This trial lasted three days, at the end of which the archbishop recovered several of the antient possessions of his church, as well from Odo as from Hugh Montfort and Ralph de Curva Spina or Crookthorne, and established the liberties of it, in matters between the king and himself. (fn. 1)
On the south side of the heath the turnpike road from Maidstone through Detling to Key-street aud Sittingbourn crosses this parish, and another branches off from hence to Bersted and Ashford; in the southern part of it are the hamlets of Grove green and Wavering-street, Newnham court, and the beautiful seat of Vinters, most pleasantly situated; below which in the vale is the stream which turns the paper mills, and separates this parish from Maidstone. At Grove, as has been already noticed, is a remarkable fine vein of fuller's earth, by the working of which Mr. John Watts, the owner of it, at the beginning of this century, became famous. But this earth was in working in 1630, at which time John Ray, merchant, of London, was sentenced to a severe fine and punishment in the Star Chamber, for transporting of it clandestinely to Holland. (fn. 2) This vein lies about thirty feet deep, and is about seven feet thick. There are two sorts of it, the blue and the dark grey, the latter of which lying under the former is most valuable; a great quantity of this earth is sent from hence by sea for the use of the clothiers in distant countries. For the manufacture carried on in this parish for the making of paper there are four sets of mills, two of which are situated at the south-east extremity of it, on the stream called the Little River, which rises near Lenham, and runs by Leeds castle hither; the upper ones, belonging to lord Aylesford, and the lower ones to Messrs. Hollingworth's; the other two are situated on the western side of the parish, near Aylesford, on the rivulet which rises under the chalk hills, and are made use of for making an inferior kind of merchandize, one of these belongs to lord Romney. The lower mills above-mentioned belonging to Messrs. Hollingworth, stand at a small distance on the north side of the road leading from Maidstone to the Mote, and are called the Old Turkey Mills, they deserve a more particular notice in this place for their superiority, as well in the many extensive buildings, machines and conveniences erected for carrying on this large and curious manufacture, and the number of people continually employed in the different branches of it, as the easy and regular method, and the neatness with which the whole is conducted. They were formerly used as fulling mills, but on the decay of the cloathing trade in these parts, were, by Mr. Gill, the proprietor, converted into paper mills, and used by him as such for a few years; he sold them to Mr. James Whatman, who in 1739 pulled the whole of them down, and erected them on a much more curious and extensive plan, which was afterwards much more improved by his son James Whatman, esq. who with infinite pains and expence, brought his manufactory of writing paper, for no other sort is made here, to a degree of perfection, superior to most in the kingdom. In 1794 he sold these mills to Messrs. Hollingworth, and retired to Vintners, where he now resides, and they now carry on this manufacture here; under the buildings is a strong chalybeat spring, which however does not produce any great quantity of water. In 1711 a Roman urn was dug up at Grove, by the workmen, near the vein of Fuller's earth there, as several others have been since, with other relics of antiquity and coins, both there and at Vintners, most of the coins having the inscription of the emperor Adrian, and the like have been from time to time discovered at Goddard's hill, in this parish, where there are several stones set up similar to those about Horsted.
OUR BOTANISTS have observed the following scarce plants in this parish:
Borago minor silvestris, small white bugloss, or German madwort.
Scopyllum angustifolium glabrum, smooth narrowleased thyme.
Buxus, the box tree, which grows plentifully in the woods here. (fn. 3)
Stellaria sanicula major, ladies mantle.
BOXLEY, at the time of taking the general survey of Domesday, was part of the vast estate of Odo, the great bishop of Baieux and earl of Kent, the Conqueror's half-brother; in which record it is thus described:
Robert Latin holds to ferm Boseleu. It was taxed at seven sulings in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and now at five sulings. The arable land is twenty carucates. In demesne there are three carucates, and fortyseven villeins, with eleven borderers having sixteen carucates. There are three mills of thirty-six shillings and eight-pence, and sixteen servants, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of thirty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth twenty-five pounds, now thirty pounds, and Robert yet pay fifty-five pounds. Alnod Cilt held it.
Four years after the taking of the above survey, about the year 1084, this estate, on the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, became forfeited to the crown, among the rest of his possessions.
In the year 1146, (fn. 4) William d'Ipre, earl of Kent, who afterwards became a monk himself at Laon, in Flanders, (fn. 5) founded an ABBEY at this place for monks of the Cistertian order, some of whom he brought from Claravalle, in Burgundy, for this purpose, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary, as all the houses of this order were. The first monastery of this order in England was at Waverly, which was built in 1129, by Walter Gifford, bishop of Winchester. They were a branch of the Benedictines, called by the English, from their habit, White monks, and likewise Cif tertians; which last name they had from the town of Cistertium or Cisteaux, in the bishopric of Chalons, in Burgundy, where this order was first instituted by Robert, abbot of Molesme, in the year 1098. There were eighty-five houses of this order, at the time of the dissolution, in England.
King Richard I. in his 1st year, anno 1189, gave the MANOR of BOXELE (fn. 6) to this abbey, which king Henry III. in his 37th year, confirmed by his letters of inspeximus. (fn. 7)
King Henry III. in his 37th year, granted to the abbot and convent to hold a market weekly within their manor of Boxley. (fn. 8) The place where it was held appears to have been called Farthings.
In the 7th year of Edward I. the abbot claimed, before the justices itinerant, certain liberties, by the charters of king Henry and king Richard, and the confirmation of them by the charter of king Henry, the then king's father. And he claimed to have warren in all his demesne lands in Kent and Surry, which he had in the time of king Henry, the king's father; and that he and his predecessors had fully used those liberties, &c. and it was then found, that the abbot had in his manor of Boxley a free court, &c. and that the tenants of the manor ought to plead in the hundred of Maidstone, pleas of Withernam, &c. and that the abbot ought to allow pannage, &c, and that the tenants of the manor owed pontage, and paid it to Rochester bridge. (fn. 9)
The abbot of Boxley was summoned to parliament twice in the 23d year of king Edward I. once in the 24th, and twice in the 28th years of that reign, but never afterwards, that I can find. (fn. 10)
In the reign of king Henry III. there were sixtyfour abbots and thirty-six priors summoned to parliament; but this number being thought too great, king Edward III. reduced them to twenty-five abbots and two priors, to which were afterwards added two more abbots, so that there were no more than twentynine in all, who statedly and constantly enjoyed this privilege, of which only St. Austen's, near Canterbury, was in this county. (fn. 11)
King Edward II. in his 15th year, honoured this abbey with his presence, where, on Oct. 25, he granted to the aldermen and citizens of London to nominate a mayor out of their own body, at his will. (fn. 12) King Edward III. in his 33d year, granted to the abbot, &c. free warren in their manor of Boxele, &c. (fn. 13)
In the reign of king Richard II. the revenues of this abbey were valued at 218l. 19s. 10d. of which 98l. 19s. 7d. was in the diocese of Canterbury, (fn. 14)
John Dobbes, the last abbot, and the convent of Boxley, surrendered it into the hands of Henry VIII. on January 29, in the 29th year of his reign, (fn. 15) and it was, together with all the lands and possessions belonging to it, confirmed to the king and his heirs, by the general words of the act, passed in the 31st year of that reign for this purpose; after which there were pensions allowed to the abbot, 50l. and to eight of the canons, from 2l. 13s. 4d. to 4l. yearly, for their lives, or until the person was promoted to a benefice of equal or superior value; the five last of which pensions remained in charge in 1553. (fn. 16)
It was endowed, at its dissolution, with 204l. 4s. 11d. per annum, clear revenue, according to Dug dale; or, according to Speed, with 218l. 9s. 10d. per annum, yearly income. (fn. 17)
The coat of arms belonging to it was, Argent, a dexter bend lozenge, gules; on a canton of the second, a crozier or pastoral staff of the field. (fn. 18) This coat, without the crozier, as also another, being a pastoral staff, surmounted of a bend, are still remaining carved in stone on the capitals of two pillars, from which springs a small circular arch in the garden, at the back of this abbey.
There was a chapel, dedicated to St. Andrew the apostle, founded hard by the outer gate of this monastery, which was served by a curate appointed for that purpose.
The lands of the abbey of Boxley, of the order of Cistertians, were as such, in particular circumstances, exempted from the payment of tithes. Pope Pascal II. exempted all the religious in general from the payment of tithes for lands in their own occupation, and this continued till the reign of Henry II. when pope Hadrian IV. restrained this exemption to the three religious orders of Cistertians, Templars, and Hospitallers, to which pope Innocent III. added a fourth, viz. the Præmonstratenses, from whence these were generally called the four privileged orders. After which the general council of Lateran, in 1215, further restrained this exemption to lands in their own occupation, and to those which they possessed before that time. After this the Cistertians procured bulls to exempt all their lands likewise which were letten to farm. To restrain which, the statute of the second of king Henry IV. cap. 4. was made, which enacted, that whoever, religious as well as secular, should put these bulls in execution, and purchase any others, and by colour of them should take any advantage in any shape, should be guilty of a præmunire. This restrained their privilege again to such lands only as they had before the Lateran council above mentioned; so that the lands they afterwards acquired are in no wise exempted, and this statute left them subject to the payment of such composition for tithes of their demesne lands as they had made with any particular rectors, &c. who contesting their privileges, even under that head, brought them to compound. This monastery of Boxley was one of those dissolved by the act of the 31st of king Henry VIII. the only ones which continued these privileges to their possessors afterwards; by which act, as well the king, his heirs and successors, as all others who should have any of those monasteries, their lands or possessions, were to hold and enjoy them, according to their estates and titles, discharged and acquitted of payment of tithes, as freely, and in as large and ample a manner as the late abbots, priors, &c. of the same before held them. (fn. 19)
In the Registrum Roffense, (fn. 20) are the names of the fields, woods, and other premises in the parish of Boxley, of which the abbot and convent here should in future be free and exempt from the payment of all tithes whilst they were in their own hands.
In the church of this abbey was the statue of St. Rumbald, usually called by the common people, St. Grumbald, which was held in great reverence for his fancity by them, for the miracles it was said to perform.
¶King Henry VIII. in his 32d year, exchanged with Sir Thomas Wyatt, of Allynton, for other premises, the house and scite of this monastery, lately dissolved, and the church, steeple, and church yard of it, with the buildings, lands, &c. as well nigh and adjoining to the scite and precinct of it, his lordship of Boxley, Hoo, and Newenham court, with their appurtenances and the farm and lands, called Upper Grange, and all lands, tenements, and other premises late belonging to it, in the parishes, townships, or hamlets of Boxley, Boxley-street, Burley, Burthin, Sandelyng, Wilston, Wavering, Havurland, Oxefiyth, Dunstreet upon the Hill, and elsewhere, in Kent, excepting to the king the parsonage of Boxley and the advowson of the parish church; (fn. 21) all which were soon afterwards again vested in the crown, as appears by the Escheat rolls of the 38th year of that reign, (fn. 22) when the king regranted the whole of them to Sir Thomas Wyatt, son of Sir Thomas before mentioned, to hold in capite by knight's service, who having, in the 1st year of queen Mary, with other gentlemen of note in this county, raised a rebellion, was found guilty of high treason, and executed that year, and his estate was consiscated to the crown; but the queen, through her bounty, the next year, granted the manor of Boxly, with the Upper Grange, and some other lands adjoining, to his widow, the lady Jane Wyatt, (daughter and coheir of Sir William Haut, of Bourne) and her heirs male, to hold in like manner. On her death, her son, George Wyatt, succeeded to them; but the abbey seems to have continued in the crown, for queen Elizabeth, in her 11th year, granted the scite and mansion of it to John Astley for a term of years. In the 13th year of that reign, George Wyatt, esq. was restored in blood by act of parliament, after which he became possessed of this seat, and resided here, having the fee of it granted to him by the crown. He died in 1624, and was buried in the chancel of this church, as were his several descendants, who bore for their arms, Per fess azure and gules, a barnacle argent, the ring or; he left several sons and daughters, of whom the second son, Haute Wyatt, was vicar of this parish; and Francis, the eldest, succeeded him in the manor of Boxley, the mansion of the abbey, the Grange, and his other estates in this parish. He was afterwards knighted, and was twice governor of Virginia. He died in 1644, leaving two sons, Henry, his eldest son and heir, and Edwin, who afterwards became possessed of this manor, seat, and estates, above mentioned, and a daughter, Elizabeth, who married Thomas Bosvile, esq. of Littlemote in Eynsford, esq. whose daughter Margaret became the wife of Sir Robert Marsham, bart. great grandfather of the present lord Romney.
Henry Wyatt, esq. was of Boxley abbey, and left an only daughter and heir, Francis, who carried this manor, seat, with the Grange and other estates above mentioned, in marriage to Sir Thomas Selyard, bart. but Edwin Wiat, the younger brother of Henry above mentioned, disputing at law the lady Selyard's title to them, recovered the manor of Boxley, with other estates last mentioned, in this parish and elsewhere; but the abbey, with the lands belonging to it, remained in the possession of Sir Thomas Selyard, as will be mentioned hereafter.
BOXLEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sutton.
The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, stands on the east side of the village; it is not large, but neat, and contains three isles and a chancel, with a handsome square tower at the west end, in which hang four small bells, which were cast in 1652, by M. Darby.
In this church, before the Reformation, was a famous rood, called the Rood of Grace, which was held in great esteem for the miracles it was supposed to work. It was broken to pieces by the king's command at St. Paul's cross, in London, on Sunday, February 24, 1538, in the presence of John Hilsey, bishop of Rochester, and a vast concourse of the populace. (fn. 35)
The church of Boxley was given by king Henry I. in 1130, to the church of Rochester, with all its liberties and rights, in like manner as his chaplain, Jeffry or Ansfrid, the clerk, had ever held it; but that church and monastery, having been destroyed by fire, and the monks dispersed abroad, king Stephen, in 1137, dispossessed them of this church, which, howeever, on their return to their monastery, was on their remonstrance to the court of Rome, by the pope's bull, restored and confirmed to them; and Walter, bishop of Rochester, not only confirmed to them the appropriation of it, but granted to them the free disposal and presentation of the vicarage, saving the right of the bishop of the diocese; which grant was confirmed likewise by the several archbishops of Canterbury afterwards.
In the year 1180, there was an agreement made between the monks of Boxley and those of Rochester, concerning the parochial tithes of this church; by which the latter granted to the former a certain field belonging to the parish church of Boxley, above the hills, but by the consent of the former they retained out of it for ever half an acre of wood for fencing; and the monks of Rochester granted to those of Boxley all the tithes above the hills of all lands, as well of those free lands, which the latter had of the king's gift, as of those which they had acquired, to be held finally in villenage, or might acquire in future, at any time for their own use; and likewise certain land belonging to this parish church, under the hill, with the meadow adjoining, between the abbey and village of Boxley; on the other hand, the monks of Boxley granted to those of Rochester all their tithes under the hills, without the bounds of the abbey and grange; that is to say, of all corn only and pulse, of all their lands under the hills, as well of those antiently as newly cultivated, and which they had from the foundation of the abbey, or might bring into culture at any time in future; and that the monks of Rochester should have all the tithes on the sides of the hills of all lands which at that time, or before were reduced to culture, excepting the field which the monks of Boxley bought of John de Horespole; which composition was confirmed by Richard, archbishop of Canterbury.
The confirmations of this church to the priory seem afterwards to have been but little regarded, and they were again dispossessed of it, with a reservation of 60s. annual pension only from it; and it appears, that the bishop of Rochester, together with the prior and convent, used to present to it on a vacancy, till the time of archbishop Islip, who at the petition of the monks, with the consent of the bishop, in 1363, restored this church to them, in as ample a manner as they had before held it; and he granted them full liberty to reenter into the corporal possession of it, with all its rights and appurtenances, on the vacancy of the rector then incumbent on it; reserving, nevertheless, in the first place, a proper portion out of the fruits and profits, for the maintenance of a perpetual vicar, at the presentation of the bishop, to be instituted by him and his successors, and for the due support of the episcopal and archidiaconal burthens, and others belonging to it; and a vicarage was afterwards accordingly endowed in it by archbishop Sudbury, in the year 1377. (fn. 36)
In 1403, a definitive sentence was passed concerning the tithes of this vicarage; (fn. 37) at which time, and so late as the year 1485, this church and advowson belonged to the priory of Rochester, for in the latter year, archbishop Bouchier, cardinal and apostolic legate, confirmed the appropriation of it to them; and a composition was entered into, anno 20 Richard II. between the prior and convent, and Adam Motrum, archdeacon of Canterbury; that as the archdeacon and his archdeaconry was detrimented in the yearly sum of 6s. 8d. the like sum should be yearly paid to the latter, out of the profits of it so long as they possessed it.
The appropriation, as well as the advowson of the vicarage, seems very soon afterwards to have passed into the hands of the prior and convent of Boxley, tho' by what means I do not find, before its dissolution, which happened in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. for that king, by his dotation charter, in his 32d year, settled his rectory and church of Boxley, late belonging to the dissolved monastery of Boxley, and the vicarage of it, on his new erected dean and chapter of Rochester, part of whose possessions they now remain.
In the 15th year of king Edward I. this church was valued at 32l. the vicarage is valued in the king's books at 12l. 19s. 2d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 5s. 11d.
King Henry VIII. in his 29th year, let to Thomas Vicary, one of his surgeons, the tithes of corn and the glebe lands of this rectory, and the capital messuage, houses, and buildings belonging to it, and ten pieces of land, late belonging to the monastery of Boxley and the advowson of the vicarage, for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of forty pounds.
In the exchange of lands, made between Henry VIII. and Sir Thomas Wyatt, in the 32d year of his reign, the parsonage of Boxley, and the advowson of the vicarage, with their appurtenances, were particularly excepted, to remain to the king's use.
By a survey of this parsonage, on the abolition of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. in 1649, by order of the state, is appears, that the par sonage-house, a fair and goodly house, with its appurtenances, tithes, &c. late belonging to the late monastery there, and forty-eight acres, three roods, and two perches of land, in the improved rents, were the whole of them worth 140l. 3s. 6d. per annum; and were let by the dean and chapter, anno 15 Charles I. to Robert Parker for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of 26l. 13s. 4d. and twelve couple of conies, or 16s. in money; that the lessee was bound to repair the chancel, and that the vicarage, which was excepted out of the lease, was worth sixty pounds per annum.
The present lessee of the parsonage is Mr. William Fowle; the vicarage is reserved out of the lease of it, and is in the disposal of the dean and chapter.
The vicar of Boxley has belonging to him all tithes of wood, hops, hay, clover, cinquefoil, flax, wold, wool, lambs, milk, eggs, apples, cherries, and other fruit, and of pasture; his dues are, for burials, 2s. for marriages, 5s. for christenings in houses, 2s. 6d. and for churchings at church, 6d. at home, 1s. for Easter offerings he can demand of every person, above sixteen years old, 6d. so of a man and his wife, 1s.
He has a pension of 8l. per annum, payable out of the exchequer, as an augmentation; the fees for receiving of which are, if he receives it himself, 12s. if by another, 20s. (fn. 38)
¶The land the vicarage house, with its appurtenances, stands on, with the garden and court yard, is not above the third part of an acre; which, with the herbage of the church yard, is all the glebe the vicar has. The house, which is built of brick, and sashed, is handsome and commodious, and has proper offices adjoining to it. It was erected by Mr. archdeacon Spratt, whilst vicar of this parish; since which it has been considerably improved by Dr. Markham, vicar likewise, now arch bishop of York, who sometimes resided in it, as did his successor, Dr. North, now bishop of Winchester.
In 1733, the vicarage was valued at 200l. it is now 300l. per annum.
Bishop Henry de Sandford, by his decree temp. Henry III. at the petition of the vicar and parishioners, changed the feast of the dedication of this church, from the 10th of February to the Monday next after the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul.
I could live here.. Falling asleep to the roar of the brook, watching the crescent moon rise thru the tree line .. It was pretty much bliss.
BSP-Maine
Greenfield-Central’s Finnley Greene(1) leans to hit a Pendleton Heights’ serve back during the IHSAA Class 4A Girls Volleyball Sectional 9 Semi-final on October 15,2022 at Yorktown High School.
On West Street in Coggeshall, Essex. Heading towards the National Trust property of Paycocke's House where we would spend the next hour or so.
Paycocke's Cottage, followed by Paycocke's House & Gardens.
Listing Text
TL 8422-8522 COGGESHALL WEST STREET
(south side)
9/226 No. 23 (Paycocke's
31.10.66 Cottage) (formerly
listed as on the N
side of West Street)
GV II
House. C18 or earlier. Timber framed, plastered and weatherboarded, roofed
with handmade red plain tiles and slate. 2 bays facing N, with rear stack near
left end. C19 wing to rear with internal end stack and slate roof. 2 storeys.
C19 single storey lean-to extension to left of main range. 2-window range of
early C19 sashes of 16 lights with crown glass. Central early C19 6-panel door,
upper panels fielded, bottom panels flush, in simple doorcase with profiled
brackets and altered canopy. 6-panel door in left extension, 4 panels moulded
and lower panels flush, with moulded pediment on profiled brackets. Interior
not inspected. Included for group value.
Listing NGR: TL8479922508
This text is from the original listing, and may not necessarily reflect the current setting of the building.
Description
TL 8422-8522 COGGESHALL WEST STREET
(south side)
9/226 No. 23 (Paycocke's
31.10.66 Cottage) (formerly
listed as on the N
side of West Street)
GV II
House. C18 or earlier. Timber framed, plastered and weatherboarded, roofed
with handmade red plain tiles and slate. 2 bays facing N, with rear stack near
left end. C19 wing to rear with internal end stack and slate roof. 2 storeys.
C19 single storey lean-to extension to left of main range. 2-window range of
early C19 sashes of 16 lights with crown glass. Central early C19 6-panel door,
upper panels fielded, bottom panels flush, in simple doorcase with profiled
brackets and altered canopy. 6-panel door in left extension, 4 panels moulded
and lower panels flush, with moulded pediment on profiled brackets. Interior
not inspected. Included for group value.
Listing NGR: TL8479922508
Paycocke's House and Gardens are a surviving example of a Tudor merchant's house and garden in Coggeshall, Essex, England. The house was built for Thomas Paycocke, a wealthy cloth merchant in Coggeshall. The house was very nearly destroyed in the 19th century, but was rescued and restored by Lord Noel Buxton in the early 20th century, before it was handed to the care of the National Trust.
The house has been described as an attractive half-timbered house, which is notable particularly for it's intricate woodwork and carvings.
Thomas Paycocke was a successful business-man in the later half of the 15th Century. He can be described as an artisan, having made his money in a skilled craft. The wool trade was the dominant economic force in East Anglia, including in the town of Coggeshall, and Paycocke capitalised on this. The house was built from a medieval hall as a place for him to live as well as a place to process wool. It would also have served as a status symbol in Coggeshall due to the intricate nature of some of the details of the house.
The house was built outwards from an existing medieval building, which was owned by Thomas Paycocke's father, John Paycocke, who had died in 1506. John Paycocke himself was a relatively wealthy man. Paycocke's is a house built in or around 1500 by John Paycocke. It was built as a wedding present for his son Thomas and daughter-in-law Margaret. initials T.P. and M.P. appear in the wood carvings that decorate the house.The land was left to his children, and Thomas Paycocke used the land to build the house in 1509. Records show that Thomas Paycocke remained a wealthy man. His will shows £1500 was left in cash bequests, not including goods or property. This is equivalent to roughly £570,000 in modern prices.
The house stayed in the Paycocke's family until the last male heir died in 1584. The house was subsequently sold to the Buxton family. In 1746, whilst it was still owned by the Buxton family, the house was divided into three smaller cottages and sold off. The houses fell into a state of disrepair.
In 1906, the historian G F Beaumont protested against the destruction of Paycocke's House. The house was sold to Lord Noel Buxton. he was a descendant of the Buxton family who bought the house in the 16th Century. Buxton oversaw the restoration of the house, with a number of carvings restored. The house was left to the care of the National Trust.
Grade I Listed Building
Listing Text
TL 8422-8522 COGGESHALL WEST STREET
(south side)
9/227 No. 25 (Paycocke's)
2.5.53 (formerly listed as
Paycocks House)
GV I
House. C15 and C16, altered c.1600 and in C18, restored 1910. Timber framed,
plastered with some exposed framing and brick nogging, roofed with handmade red
plain tiles. Main range of 5 bays facing N, c.1505, with C19 axial stack near
right end and 2 rear stacks, late C16 and C18. 3-bay wing to rear of right end,
C15/early C16, with stack in rear bay. Beyond it, and originally separate, is a
2-bay building jettied to the left, C15, with a short connecting link. 3-bay
rear wing near left end of main range, with end jetty, c.1570. C18 stair tower
in angle to right of it, and C18/19 small extension to right. 2 storeys (the
main range reduced from an original build of 3 storeys c.1600). The close-
studded main elevation has been comprehensively restored in 1910 with carving of
high quality by Ernest Beckwith, retaining some original carved woodwork (see
photograph before restoration, Country Life, 2 February 1984, 291, and others by
Miss Frances Noel, copies with Essex County Planning Department). Ground floor,
2 square oriels and 3 fixed lights, and 5 similar oriels on first floor, all
C20, in early C16 style. An original door of 6 linenfold panels with moulded
rails and muntins, restored, has been moved since the exterior was photographed
by RCHM, c.1922, now almost central, 2 C20 carved figures above it. 2 blocked
doorways with carved arched heads, C20. Original double vehicle doors,
restored, at left end, with linenfold panelling, moulded frames, rails and
muntins, with original 4-centred arched head and spandrels carved with foliage.
The door-posts have restored pedestals, each with an original figure of a man
below a canopy; the left figure wears a hood and long gown and holds a staff or
musical instrument, of which part is missing; the right figure wears a short
tunic, holds a mask in the right hand, the left arm missing from the elbow.
Attached to the lower parts of the posts is original weathered carving of
serpentine foliage, re-sited. Full-length jetty with original moulded and
carved fascia with serpentine vine ornament, small heads and figures, the
letters T and P (for Thomas Paycocke) and a shield with a merchant's mark of a
2-stemmed clover or ermine tail, all in high relief. The jetty plate is carved
with blind tracery. 2 of the modern oriels on the ground floor appear to be
accurate reconstructions of missing originals; a plain section of jetty plate
with 2 free tenons near the right end indicates that originally there was a
third oriel there. Restored attached shafts with chevron carved capitals and
moulded brackets on both storeys. The jetty plate above the upper storey is
carved with spiral foliage. The original beams and joists above, which formerly
projected to form a second jetty, have been sawn off, and moulded and carved
extension pieces added in 1910. The exposed brick nogging is partly original,
partly of 1910. On the lower storey 8 panels are substantially original, and 17
panels on the upper storey, all in opposed triangles pattern. Panels adjacent
to the modern windows have been infilled with modern bricks in rectangular
patterns; 2 panels in reversed blocks pattern on the upper storey appear to be
of original bricks (J. McCann, Brick Nogging in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth
Centuries, with examples drawn mainly from Essex, Trans. Ancient Monuments
Society 31, 1987, 106-133). On the upper storey of the rear left wing, at the
rear and the right, are original windows each with 2 ovolo mullions, the saddle
bars missing; the latter has a later wrought iron casement. The rear elevation
has a moulded bressumer and moulded tiebeam. The rear right building has
exposed studding with restored curved tension braces trenched to the outside. In
the main range all the rear posts continue upwards above the girt which now
effectively forms the rear eaves plate, sawn off when the building was reduced
from 3 storeys. There are structural indications that the left bay was added
shortly after the original build. Close studding with curved bracing trenched
into it is exposed in most rooms. The partition wall between the vehicle way
and the left ground-floor room has been moved outwards; the transverse beam
which originally divided the 2 is chamfered on the left side, moulded on the
right. In the bay to the left the axial beam is chamfered, and the joists are
chamfered with step stops. In the bay to the right all the beams are moulded,
and the joists are moulded with foliate carved stops. At the rear the joists
are framed round an original stair-trap, now blocked with C20 moulded joists;
the blocked entrance to the stair is visible in the wall to the right. A
similar stair-trap in the floor above originally led to the former second floor.
In the rear wall a late C16 wide wood-burning hearth has a re-used early C16
mantel beam with cranked top, moulded soffit, and face carved with animals, the
merchant's mark, and scrolls with the name Thomas Paycock; the right end is
wholly C20 restoration, and there is minor restoration elsewhere. The remainder
of the room is lined with original linenfold panelling. The middle room of 2
bays has a C20 hearth. All the beams and joists are moulded and richly carved
with flowing blind tracery; additionally some joists are carved with the
merchant's mark and the initials T.P. and M.P. (for Thomas Paycocke and his
first wife Margaret, née Horrold). The plates and beams are carved to form a
frieze of similar tracery all round. In the right ground-floor room the beams
and joists are moulded. The front and rear walls have a frieze of billet
moulding. There are original doorways to left and rear with moulded jambs and
4-centred arched heads with carved spandrels. The small C19 hearth is faced
with Delft tiles. Over the first-floor middle and left rooms the beams and
joists are moulded; in the front bays the planks are laid parallel with the
joists, across them elsewhere. Over the 2 outer rooms the beams are chamfered,
and the joists are chamfered with step stops. In the second room from the left,
near the rear left corner, the lower half of one panel retains plaster painted
with roses and foliage, and a later painted border half-covering the roses. In
this room a wood-burning hearth has an original mantel beam carved with
grotesque beasts and the merchant's mark. In the right wall is a blocked
original doorway with moulded jambs, the arched head missing. Above the right
room is a blocked original stair-trap; in its left wall is a similar blocked
doorway with a mortice for a draught screen. The room between has an C18 hearth
with rounded interior. The roof is of clasped purlin construction with thin
arched wind-bracing, characteristic of the late C16 or early C17, and of poorer
quality than the remainder of this range. All the rafters are modern. Some
charring near the left end is reported to have occurred c.1950. In the rear
left wing the binding and bridging beams (2 in each bay) are chamfered with
lamb's tongue stops, and plain joists of horizontal section are jointed to them
with soffit tenons with diminished haunches. Arched braces are trenched inside
the studding; jowled posts. A C17 hearth on the upper floor has a plain mantel
beam, to which has been applied carved timber from elsewhere. The roof has been
rebuilt in gambrel form in the C18. The stair tower has unjowled posts and
primary straight bracing. Heavily weathered timber on the rear wall of the main
range indicates that it was added long after the main construction. The wing to
rear right is of narrow span, with chamfered binding beams and plain joists of
horizontal section jointed to them with unrefined soffit tenons; clasped purlin
roof with high arched collars. The building beyond has a chamfered axial beam;
to right of it plain joists of horizontal section are jointed to it with
unrefined soffit tenons; to left the jointing is of low-central tenons,
indicating a sophisticated appreciation of the cantilever effect of the jetty
Complete unglazed window to right of upper storey, with 2 diamond mullions and
rebate for shutter. Thick arched braces to central tiebeam. Coupled rafter
roof. The frame is illustrated in C.A. Hewett, The Development of Carpentry,
1200-1700, an Essex study, 1969, 135, 137, 197. (G.F. Beaumont, A History of
Coggeshall in Essex, 1890, 207-9 and 241. J.S. Gardner (ed.), Coggeshall,
Essex, 1951, 22). RCHM 3.
Listing NGR: TL8478322508
This text is from the original listing, and may not necessarily reflect the current setting of the building.
The Fleece public house to the right of Paycock's House on West Street in Coggeshall.
Grade II* Listed Building
Listing Text
TL 8422-8522 COGGESHALL WEST STREET
(south side)
9/228 No. 27 (The Fleece
2.5.53 Public House)
(formerly listed as
The Fleece Inn)
GV II*
House, now public house. C15 and early C17, altered in C18, C19 and C20.
Timber framed, plastered, roofed with handmade red plain tiles. 4-bay main
range facing N with external stack to rear of left bay, early C17. To right,
C15 2-bay crosswing surviving from a former hall house on the site of the
present main range. C17 full-length 2-storey lean-to to rear of main range and
crosswing. C18 2-storey extension to rear of left end, roofed as a parallel
range, C20 single-storey wing to rear of it, and early C19 single-storey lean-to
extension to right of it, roofed with red clay pantiles. Early C19 single-
storey wing to rear of crosswing, extended to right in C20. 2 storeys. Full-
length jetty, and below it one C18 square bay of casements with pulvinated
frieze and brick below, casements altered; and 2 early C19 splayed bays of
sashes, respectively of 4-20-20-4 and 4-20-4 lights, with 5 simple pilasters,
continuous plain fascia and moulded shallow canopy. First floor, 3 early C19
tripartite sashes of 4-12-4 lights. Much crown glass. Mid-C18 half-glazed door
with 9 lights, 8 of original bullseye glass, one inscribed 'G. 1752',
transferred from an internal position. Double vehicle doors to passage through,
to left of crosswing. Pargetting on first floor, with C17/18 vine-leaf frieze
and roll-moulding below eaves, and modern date 1505, restored or modern designs
in panels below it. Scrolled wrought iron bracket for inn sign. In the vehicle
entry, at rear right, is a mid-C18 window of 12 fixed lights, one of original
bullseye glass. In the left elevation of the rear left wing is one mid-C18 sash
of 12 lights, re-set, and one early C19 sash of 16 lights. To the rear of the
rear lean-to is one early C19 sash of 10+10 lights. Framing is exposed
internally in the upper right wall of the crosswing, with wide curved tension
bracing trenched into the studs. The walls have been raised approximately one
metre in the early C17 rebuild, and the floor and jetty rebuilt; chamfered
transverse and axial beams with lamb's tongue stops. The main range has jowled
posts; the front left post has a carved and ovolo-moulded step supporting the
girt; chamfered binding and bridging beams with lamb's tongue stops, joists
plastered to the soffits. A ground-floor studded partition has been removed.
The upper storey is of unusual height, with similar beams and joists above. In
the front wall of it is one blocked original window in the main range, with one
ovolo mullion, the saddle bars missing, and a similar inserted window in the
crosswing. On each floor is an original wood-burning hearth with ovolo-moulded
jambs and depressed arch, and rear splays. The date 1505 in the modern
pargetting has no historical basis, derived only from Paycockes, to the left
(item 9/227, q.v.). Listed at the higher grade for exceptionally complete
details of the early C17 phase, and later exterior features. RCHM 86.
Listing NGR: TL8477622498
This text is from the original listing, and may not necessarily reflect the current setting of the building.
Description
TL 8422-8522 COGGESHALL WEST STREET
(south side)
9/228 No. 27 (The Fleece
2.5.53 Public House)
(formerly listed as
The Fleece Inn)
GV II*
House, now public house. C15 and early C17, altered in C18, C19 and C20.
Timber framed, plastered, roofed with handmade red plain tiles. 4-bay main
range facing N with external stack to rear of left bay, early C17. To right,
C15 2-bay crosswing surviving from a former hall house on the site of the
present main range. C17 full-length 2-storey lean-to to rear of main range and
crosswing. C18 2-storey extension to rear of left end, roofed as a parallel
range, C20 single-storey wing to rear of it, and early C19 single-storey lean-to
extension to right of it, roofed with red clay pantiles. Early C19 single-
storey wing to rear of crosswing, extended to right in C20. 2 storeys. Full-
length jetty, and below it one C18 square bay of casements with pulvinated
frieze and brick below, casements altered; and 2 early C19 splayed bays of
sashes, respectively of 4-20-20-4 and 4-20-4 lights, with 5 simple pilasters,
continuous plain fascia and moulded shallow canopy. First floor, 3 early C19
tripartite sashes of 4-12-4 lights. Much crown glass. Mid-C18 half-glazed door
with 9 lights, 8 of original bullseye glass, one inscribed 'G. 1752',
transferred from an internal position. Double vehicle doors to passage through,
to left of crosswing. Pargetting on first floor, with C17/18 vine-leaf frieze
and roll-moulding below eaves, and modern date 1505, restored or modern designs
in panels below it. Scrolled wrought iron bracket for inn sign. In the vehicle
entry, at rear right, is a mid-C18 window of 12 fixed lights, one of original
bullseye glass. In the left elevation of the rear left wing is one mid-C18 sash
of 12 lights, re-set, and one early C19 sash of 16 lights. To the rear of the
rear lean-to is one early C19 sash of 10+10 lights. Framing is exposed
internally in the upper right wall of the crosswing, with wide curved tension
bracing trenched into the studs. The walls have been raised approximately one
metre in the early C17 rebuild, and the floor and jetty rebuilt; chamfered
transverse and axial beams with lamb's tongue stops. The main range has jowled
posts; the front left post has a carved and ovolo-moulded step supporting the
girt; chamfered binding and bridging beams with lamb's tongue stops, joists
plastered to the soffits. A ground-floor studded partition has been removed.
The upper storey is of unusual height, with similar beams and joists above. In
the front wall of it is one blocked original window in the main range, with one
ovolo mullion, the saddle bars missing, and a similar inserted window in the
crosswing. On each floor is an original wood-burning hearth with ovolo-moulded
jambs and depressed arch, and rear splays. The date 1505 in the modern
pargetting has no historical basis, derived only from Paycockes, to the left
(item 9/227, q.v.). Listed at the higher grade for exceptionally complete
details of the early C17 phase, and later exterior features. RCHM 86.
Listing NGR: TL8477622498
(Digitalis leans to the sun.) Flowers are easy to photograph, while catching pretty light to show the garden takes more....luck and observation. These are the small back area in my Pacific Northwest, USA, garden.
By mistake I ended up in West Malling, but it was a good thing, as the village is chocolate box pretty, and the church very fine indeed. The only church I visited that had no wardens to welcome (I think, sorry if I have mis-remembered). Anyway, a fine church, amazing coat of arms, and glad I visited.
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A story of all's well that ends well. A Norman tower and thirteenth-century chancel are linked by a twentieth-century nave that had in its turn replaced one erected to replace its medieval predecessor in the eighteenth century! The west window and those in the south aisle are by C.E. Kempe and Co. Ltd, and of special note is the one depicting the Three Kings. On the south side of the chancel, backing on to a medieval lean-to vestry, is the splendid tomb of Sir Robert Brett (d. 1620), which has recently been restored. The colours are superb and show how churches must have looked when these monuments were new. In the north aisle is a large painting of the Last Supper by Francis Slater, the eighteenth-century artist who painted the ceilings of nearby Mereworth Castle. Hanging on the front of the west gallery are the outstanding Royal Arms of James II, of carved and painted wood. The twentieth-century rebuilding of the church was financed by the sale of an Elizabethan stoneware jug (now in the British Museum), the transaction being recorded on an inscribed stone in the north porch.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=West+Malling
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WESTWARD from East Malling lies the town and parish of West Malling, now most commonly called Town Malling.
It is written in Domesday, MALLENGETIS, and in the Textus Roffensis, MELLINGES. In many deeds after the conquest, it is stiled MILLINGES PARVA, to distinguish it from East Malling, then the larger and more noted village of the two.
The town and parish of West Malling, excepting the borough of St. Leonard, which is under the jurisdiction of the constables of the hundred of Larkfield, is under the jurisdiction of its own constables, of which there are two chosen yearly.
THE PARISH of Town Malling, as it is usually called, is situated equally pleasant and healthy. It lies on high ground, and though dry is well watered, the soil of it being in the northern part a sand, the rest of it a loam, covering the quarry rock, which is very fertile, as has been frequently noticed before in the like situations. The high road from London through Wrotham to Maidstone, at the twenty-ninth mile stone leads along the northern boundaries of the parish, being called in king Edmund's grant of this place to the bishop of Rochester, the military way, no doubt from its having been used as such by the Romans, southward of it the ground gently rising; at less than a quarter of a mile's distance is the town of Malling, which is well built, having many genteel houses in it, the streets of a handsome width, and well paved. At the east end of it is the abbey, to which the approach is by a venerable antient gateway. Although the house itself was almost all of it pulled down and rebuilt by Mr. Honywood, yet many of the antient buildings and offices be longing to it are still remaining, and are made use of as such at present. A handsome tower of the church, the front of which is decorated with intersecting arches and zig-zag ornaments, similar to those on the west front of Rochester cathedral, built by the same founder, bishop Gundulph, is still remaining, as is an antient chapel or oratory, now made use of as a dwellinghouse.
From the foundations discovered in levelling the ground by Mr. Honywood, it appears, that this abbey consisted of two quadrangles or courts, with cloysters, and a spacious hall; and that the church had another tower, of the like size to that now standing. The burying-place seems to have been on the south side of the church, as in digging there, great quantities of human bones have been thrown up, and two stone coffins with skeletons in them, the lids of them had no inscriptions on them, but were ornamented each with a cross, having a quaterfoil pierced at the upper end, the stem of which was crossed more than once with foliage, several rings and trinkets, and some old coins have likewise been found at different times in cleaning away the rubbish.
Over the west end of the grand gateway, which stands at the entrance into the precinct of the abbey from the town, at the west end of the building, there is carved in stone, a heart distilling drops of blood, and on the other side, in a shield, Ermine, a crozier in bend sinister, on a chief three annulets.
In the meadows above the gardens, are large square excavations still visible, where the fish ponds of the aunnery formerly were.
The precinct of this monastery is washed by a rivulet of excellent clear water, which rising in the hamlet of St. Leonard, runs by the house, and through the gardens of it, whence gushing through the wall with a cascade, it crosses the road towards the Rev. Mr. Brooke's gardens. There is a view of this abbey in its present state published by Mr. Grose, in his Antiquities of England.
Near the abbey gate there is a good house, with a large garden, canal, and pleasure grounds, behind it, reaching down to the London road. It has been many years the residence of the Brooke's, from whom it passed by the will of Joseph Brooke, esq. who died in 1792, after the decease of his widow in 1796, to the Rev. John Kenward Shaw, brother of Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. who has since, in pursuance of the above will, and by the king's licence, taken the name of Brooke, and now resides in it. A little further westward there is a very antient stone building, called the Old Gaol, having narrow gothic windows, and the walls of great thickness. It is reported to have been the prison belonging to the abbey, and is now used as an oast for the drying of hops. About the middle of the street stands the church, and a little distance from it a good house, late the residence of Benjamin Hubble, esq. whose family have been inhabitants of this town for some length of time, several of them lying buried in this church. He died in 1780, leaving his widow, sister of Richard Savage, esq. of Boughton Monchelsea, surviving, and two daughters, his coheirs, one of whom having married Thomas Augustus Douce, esq. he now resides in it; further southward is the hamlet of St. Leonard, now making part of the town, and called St. Leonard's-street, in which is an antient seat, some years ago the residence of Charles Stewart, esq. whose father admiral Stewart purchased it of judge Twisden. This district had once a cell in it, belonging to the abbey, with a chapel. It was given at the time the manor and church was to it, as has been already mentioned. The whole of it has been long since desecrated, and in ruins; the square tower of the chapel which stands in the next field south-west from the late Mr. Stewart's house, is all that remains of it. It was purchased by him some years ago, of Sir John Honywood, in exchange for other premises near the abbey, and is now made use of as a stowage for hops. Mr. Stewart died in 1780, and was buried near his father in this church, and he was succeeded here by the hon. admiral John Forbes, who lately died posfessed of it. A market is held in the principal highstreet every Saturday, which is plentifully supplied and well frequented. There are three fairs, which are held by the alteration of the stile on August 12, October 2, and November 17, yearly, for horses, cattle, toys, &c. The whole town is excellently well watered with fine springs, which having supplied the town and abbey, collect themselves into one stream, and passing northward through Mr. Brooke's grounds, cross the high Maidstone road, and runs from thence into the Addington brook, just above Leyborne mill.
About half a mile south-east from the abbey there is a good modern-built house, called New Barne, which formerly belonged to Mr. Alchin, from whom it passed to Graham, the present possessor, who resides in it.
Above St. Leonard's street is the high road from Teston over East-Malling-heath, and through this parish to Offham, southward of which this parish extends into the large tract of coppice woods which reach to West Peckham and Mereworth.
Dr. William Briggs, an eminent physician, resided at the latter end of the last century at Town Malling, where he died, Sept. 1704, æt. 64, and was buried in this church, He was a great traveller into foreign countries, and was greatly esteemed for his skill in his profession, as well as for his learning, of which the several writings he published are sufficient testimonies. He was physician in ordinary to king William, and to St. Thomas's hospital, and bore his arms, Gules, three bars gemelles, or, a canton sable. (fn. 1)
THIS PLACE was given, about the year 945, by Edmund, king of the Angles and of Mercia, to Burhric, bishop of Rochester, by the description of a small portion of his land, called Meallingas, containing three plough lands; and he granted it to him, for the good of his soul, in perpetual inheritance, in augmentation of the revenues of his monastery of St. Andrew, with all its rights, liberties, members, and appurtenances, and this he did with the consent of his nobles and princes, whose names were subscribed to it. After the names of king Edmund, Edred his brother, and Eadgife his mother, are those of the archbishops and bishops, and then that of Ælgifu, the king's concubine, Ego Ælgifu Concubina Regis affui, and after her the dukes, &c. The bounds of this land are thus described in Saxon, viz. from the south part of it to the king's plaine, and from thence to the bounds of the parish of Offaham, and thence to the military way, and so along the said way over Lilleburne to the bounds of the parish of Est Meallinges, and so directly southward from the east of the cross or gallows to the broad way towards the south, in a direct line along the said way to the king's plaine. To which the king added certain denberies for the pannage of hogs.
This land did not continue long in the possession of the church of Rochester, being wrested from it in the time of the Danish wars; and when William the Conqueror had attained the crown, he gave it to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half brother, from whom it was recovered, together with the church of Mallinges, in the solemn assembly of the whole county held on this occasion, by the king's command, at Pinenden heath, in 1076, by archbishop Lanfrance, who afterward restored it to bishop Gundulph, and the church of St. Andrew; which gift was confirmed by archbishops Anselm and Boniface. (fn. 2)
In the survey of Domesday, taken about four years afterwards, this manor is thus described, under the general title of the bishop of Rochester's lands:
The same bishop (of Rochester) holds Mellingetes, it was taxed, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, at three sulings, and now at one and an half. The arable land is three carucates. In demesne there is one, and five villeins, with fix borderers, having two carucates. There is a church, and one mill of two shillings, wood for the pannage of twenty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth forty shillings, and now four pounds.
Bishop Gundulph, in the 4th year of the reign of king William Rufus, anno 1090, having founded an abbey of Benedictine nuns in this parish, to the honor of the Virgin Mary, gave this manor and church to it, with other possessions for the endowment of it; (fn. 3) and although it was, about one hundred years after its being first erected, with the adjoining village, destroyed by fire, yet it was again soon afterwards re-edified, and continued to increase in a flourishing state.
In the 7th year of king Edward I. anno 1278, the abbess of Malling claimed sundry liberties in this parish, by grant from king Henry III. and a market weekly throughout the year on a Saturday and Wednesday; and she claimed by grant from king John to have warren in all her lands at Malling, by grant from king Henry, from time beyond memory; and to have fairs in the parish on the eve, day, and morrow of St. Matthew the apostle, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Leonard, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Peter, ad vincula.
By which, and such like favours granted to it, this place, which at the first foundation of the monastery was plain fields, and almost without an inhabitant, became notwithstanding its former calamity mentioned before, exceedingly populous from the numbers who flocked to it from all parts, who building themselves houses here, increased the village to a large size, well suited for trade, to the no small emolument of the nuns; whence it soon lost its name of Malling Parva, which was for some time transferred to the neighbouring parish of East Malling, as appears by some grants, &c. of this time, and king Edward III. (fn. 4)
In the 15th year of king Edward I. the temporalities of the abbess of Malling in this parish and East Malling were valued at forty-five pounds.
There was an annual pension of ten pounds of wax, and one boar, paid by the abbess to the bishop of Rochester, as an acknowledgment of her subjection to that see.
In the year 1321, the bishop of Rochester, at the king's request, to whom the nuns had made a complaint, that their monastery was ruined by the bad management of their abbess, sister of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, visited it, and heard the complaints against her; in consequence of which she resigned, and the lady Agnes de Leyborne, was chosen in her room. Three years after which she died, and the bishop, at the unanimous request of the nuns, appointed Lora de Retling abbess here, though much against his will, knowing her to be very ignorant, and unfit for the office. However, he inhibited her giving a corredy to her maid servant, as had been the custom, and sequestered their common seal, inhibiting her from using it without his licence.
A great pestilence raging in the year 1348, the bishop made two abbesses here, who presently died; nor were there more than four nuns professed, and four not professed, remaining in this monastery; and he com mitted the custody of the spirituals and temporals to two of them, as there was not a proper person for the office of abbess.
In the year 1493, anno 9 Henry VII. Joane Moone was abbess of this monastery. (fn. 5)
This abbey was surrendered into the king's hands, with all its possessions, (fn. 6) among which were the manors of East and West Malling, with the precincts of Ewell and Parrock annexed to the latter, by Margaret Vernon, abbess, and the convent of it, in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. at which time it was valued at 245l. 10s. 2½d. annual rent, according to Speed, and 218l. 4s. 2½d. clear value, according to Dugdale, and there was granted to the abbess a pension of forty pounds yearly, and to eleven nuns from 31. 6s. 8d. down to 2l. 13s. 4d. yearly pensions, each for their lives.
After which that king, by his letters patent, in his 31st year, granted and sold, in exchange, among other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, the scite of the abbey, with the precinct and circuit of it, and the manors of West Malling, Ewell, and Parocke, and the parsonage of West Malling, late appropriate to it, excepting to the king all advowsons, presentations, &c. to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned; and as the king was entitled to the tenths of these premises, he discharged the archbishop of them, and all other outgoings whatsoever, except the rent therein mentioned. Which grant was in consequence of an indenture made between the king and the archbishop, inrolled in the Augmentation-office.
These manors and premises were again exchanged with the crown in the beginning of the reign of queen Elizabeth, in the 12th year of which she granted them in lease to Sir Henry Brooke, alias Cobham, fifth son of Sir George Brooke, lord Cobham; after which they were held by the same possessors, as the manor of East Malling before described, till at length, after the death of Sir Robert Brett, anno 1621, king James granted the manor of West, alias Town Malling, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, the scite of the late monastery, with the house, buildings, and ground within the precinct of it with all their appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of the late monastery, in fee, to John Rayney, esq. which was further confirmed to Sir John Rayney, his eldest son, in the 2d year of king Charles I. He was of Wrothamplace, in this neighbourhood, and was created a baronet of Nova Scotia, in 1641, and his son of the same name, about the time of the restoration, conveyed these premises to Isaac Honywood, gent. of Hampsted, Middlesex, who was the only son of Edward, third son of Sir Thomas Honywood, of Elmsted, ancestor likewise of the present Sir John Honywood, of Elmsted, baronet, and he continued to bear the same coat of arms; whose second son, Isaac Honywood, esq. of Hampsted, succeeded him in this manor and estate. Frazer Honywood, esq. of Hampsted and London, his only son and heir, rebuilt the abbey house of Malling in the antient gothic taste, at a very great expence, making it one of the seats of his residence, and having thus greatly improved it, he died possessed of this seat and manor, with the estate belonging to it, in 1764, leaving no issue by his wife, the daughter of Abraham Atkins, of Clapham. He gave them, as well as the rest of his estates here and elsewhere, by will, to his kinsman, Sir John Honywood, bart. of Elmsted, and his heirs male, with divers remainders over to the family of Honywood. Sir John Honywood, bart. is since deceased, and his grandson of the same name is the present owner of this manor, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, and the seat of Malling abbey, with the lands and appurtenances in this parish belonging to it, but Mr. Foote resides in it.
The family of Say antiently possessed THE MANOR of CLEMENTS IN EWELL, in this parish. Geoffry de Say held it in the 7th year of king Edward II. as half a knight's fee. His son, Geoffry de Say, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as half a knight's fee, which John at Forde held before in Ewell, in Malling, of the bishop of Rochester. This manor was afterwards in the name of Coveney, (fn. 7) and in the latter end of king Henry VIII. it was in the possession of Mr. William Fowle. Since which it has sunk into such obscurity, that neither the scite nor the owners of it can be traced out even by the most diligent enquiries.
CHARITIES.
THERE is a lecture founded in this church of a sermon every fortnight, on the Saturday; two of the preachers to be the ministers of East and West Malling, who are to be paid 10s. for every sermon they preach; the other preachers are appointed at the will of the trustees.
FRANCIS TRESSE, gent. of this town, who died in 1632, by his will gave a piece of land, and 40l. towards the building of a free school in this parish; and he charged one of his houses in Town Malling with the sum of 13s. 4d. per annum, for the keeping of it in repair; and appointed that four principal freeholders of this parish should be trustees for the execution of this part of his will for ever. This school was accordingly erected, and was made use of for the teaching of boys writing and arithmetic. The charity is veisted in the minister and tour substantial freehold inhabitants, and the estate out of which it is paid in Mr. Robert Sutton, of this parish, but there being no master, the school-house is at present let to the late master's widow at 2gs. perannum, which with the 13s. 4d. is applied towards the maintaining of the building. He also gave two silver cups for the use of the holy communion, and 6s. 8d. payable yearly out of a piece of land, called Cousin's Plat, now vested in Mary Brome, widow.
SIR ROBERT BRETT, by will in 1620, gave land sufficient to pay yearly 10s. per week, to be bestowed in bread and meat to twenty poor persons, or else to be distributed in money to them. His executors accordingly conveyed lands in Tewksbury, in Gloucestershire, for this purpose, which is now vested in lord Romney, and twenty-three others, trustees, of the annual produce of 26l. but of late years the annual produce has been but 19l. 14s.
TOWN MALLING is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURIDISCTION of the diocese of Rochester, and gives name to the deanry of Malling, in which it is situated.
The church, which is a handsome building, with an elegant spire steeple, is dedicated to St. Mary.
At the latter end of the year 1778, some of the main pillars of the body of it giving way, the whole roof of it fell in, leaving only the steeple and chancel at the two extremities of it standing. It has since been repaired, and thoroughly finished by a brief, which was obtained for that purpose.
The church of West Malling was given, with the manor, to the church of Rochester, by king Edmund, in 945; and having afterwards been taken from it, was again restored by archbishop Lanfranc to bishop Gundulph, in the time of the Conqueror, who gave it to the monastery here, at his foundation of it, and this gift was confirmed by several succeeding kings, archbishops of Canterbury, bishops of Rochester, &c. as has been already mentioned.
It was appropriated to the abbess and convent by bishop Gundulph, at the time it was given to them; which appropriation was specially confirmed by Simon, archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1351.
In the reign of king Edward III. great discutes arising between the abbess and nuns of this monastery, and Robert de Beulton, perpetual vicar of this church, especially concerning the receiving of the tithes of flax and hemp, and the payment of archidiaconal procurations, they were at last settled by Hamo, bishop of Rochester, who in the year 1339, decreed, that, saving the due and accustomed portion of the prebend of the great mass in the conventual church of Malling, and the portion of the vicar, as undermentioned, the religious should take all tithes of corn within the parish, and all oblations and obventions belonging to their conventual church, and the cell of St. Leonard; and that they should not be bound to pay to the vicar the tithes of their hay, woods, or mills. And whereas the bishop was informed, and it was allowed, that the above-mentioned prebendary, and other domestics, serving in the monastery, or in the houses of the prebendary, or perpetual chaplain, celebrating for the dead, as also the brothers and sisters, and other persons dwelling in the monastery, or house of the prebendary, who, when they were without the monastery and houses, were not housekeepers in the parish, were wont to receive the sacraments and sacramentals, in life and in death, and to be buried there, if they happened to die within the monastery or houses, unless by chance they chose to be buried elsewhere; in which case, the religious had the first mass for the body before them, in their monastery, and received all the oblations then and there made, so that no portion was left for the vicar of the parish church. And further, that the prebendary for the time being had been used to receive antiently, and to that time, in part of the portion due to him, all the great and small tithes of the demesne lands of the religious, and of the food of their cattle, and also the great tithes arising from many of the crofts of their tenants situated in the said parish, and also the small tithes of his house, and of the house and land of the perpetual chaplain aforesaid, and all the predial tithes arising from the houses or messuages, curtilages and gardens, late of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, in the street, called Holirode-strete, of this parish of Malling, situated above the house of the prebendary; and of all the houses, messuages, curtilages, and gardens whatsoever, from thence towards the east and north in Holirode-street, and in the street, called Tan-street, as far as the end of the parish of Malling on that side; and that the religious and prebendary had possessed all and singular the premises aforesaid, in certain distinct portions, peaceably and without contradiction, from the time beyond memory. (fn. 8)
The bishop, therefore, that none of the premises should be altered, decreed, saving all and every matter as aforesaid, that the vicar should receive for his portion all other small tithes, oblations, obventions and profits belonging to the parish church more especially, viz. the tithe of herbage, silva cedua, apples, pears, flax, hemp, wool, milk, cheese, calves, lambs, pigs, pidgeons, geese, ducks, bees, eggs, merchandizings, fowlings, fishings, swans, pulse, and other fruits, and also of corn growing in orchards or gardens, as he had-been accustomed to receive them.
¶And that the vicar should also receive the personal tithes of the inhabitants of the houses or messuages of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, and of others, inhabiting in the houses or messuages situated in the streets, called Holirode-strete and Tan-strete, and the oblations due and accustomed to the parish church, and should administer ecclesiastical rights to them, and should have the burial of them in the parish church; and that the vicar should have for his habitation, as assigned to him by the religious, the dwelling with its precinct, which the vicar then inhabited, and his predecessors used to inhabit, which he should repair at his own expence, and preserve in a decent state, and should pay the yearly rents and services, due and accustomed from thence; all which the bishop adjudged to be a sufficient portion for the vicar for the time being. And he further decreed, that the vicar should cause the books to be bound, the vestments to be washed; and the same, and the rest of the ornaments of the parish church, which belonged to the religious to find, as often as need should require, to be repaired, and should cause them to be safely and honestly kept; and that he should provide and find bread, wine, processional tapers, and other lights necessary and accustomed in the chancel, the necessary and accustomed ministers, rochets, surplices, napkins, unconsecrated vessels, basons, and also green rushes to strow the church, if they had been so accustomed, and did not belong to the parishioners to find; and that he should pay the dues to the bishop, and the archidiaconal procurations, and that the vicar should acknowledge and undergo, according to the rate of the taxation of his portion as under-mentioned, all ordinaries and extraordinaries, which, although it might amount to five marcs, being near the moiety of the value of the whole church, according to the estimation then had, he decreed should remain according to the antient taxation of it, as often as burthens of this kind were to be borne, and paid from small benefices. And he decreed, that the religious should acknowledge and undergo all and singular other burthens happening to the parish church, by reason of their portion, which he estimated at twelve marcs, according to the antient taxation of it, notwithstanding this assignation, which was made with the consent of both parties, and which by his episcopal authority, he corroborated and confirmed, &c. and that it might not be called in doubt in future times, or be litigated, he had caused it to be entered in his register, and to be reduced into three different writings, of which he decreed one to remain in the hands of the religious, another in the hands of the vicar, and the third in the hands of the prebendary aforesaid, to perpetuate the memory of it, and had caused it to be authenticated with his seal, &c.
This parsonage, prebend, and the advowson of the vicarage, were, on the dissolution of the abbey in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. surrendered into the king's hands. After which the king, next year, granted this parsonage, with the manor of West Malling, and other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned. After which it passed, with the manor of West Malling, in a like succession of ownership, down to Sir John Rayney, bart. who sold these premises, about the time of the restoration, to judge Twisden, and his descendant, Sir John Papillon Twisden, bart. is the present possessor of this parsonage, and the advowson of the vicarage of West or Town Malling.
The vicarage is valued in the king's books at ten pounds, and the yearly tenths at one pound.
Leaving Coggeshall in Essex via East Street and Church Street in the car.
Church Street.
The Parish Church of Saint Peter Ad Vincula
Grade I Listed Building
Parish Church of St Peter Ad Vincula
Listing Text
TL 8422-8522 COGGESHALL CHURCH STREET
(north-west side)
9/52 Parish Church of St.
31.10.66 Peter and Vincula
GV I
Parish church. C15, restored in C19, severely damaged by enemy action in 1940,
restored 1955-8 by S.E. Dykes Bower. Flint rubble with fragments of brick,
partly faced with ashlar, with limestone dressings, roofed with lead. Chancel,
Nave, N and S chapels, N and S aisles, W tower and S porch all rebuilt in the
C15. The N arcade and clerestorey, most of the N aisle, the roofs of the Nave
and N aisle, and the tower, have been rebuilt 1955-8, and the remainder
repaired. The Chancel and N and S chapels have walls faced with ashlar, and
plinths enriched with quatrefoil panels and shields, mostly restored, bearing 2
crossed keys; the lower buttresses have plain panels and the upper buttresses
have trefoil-headed panels. The restored E window of the Nave is of 7
cinquefoiled ogee lights with vertical tracery in a 2-centred head, with moulded
external and internal reveals and external label. Externally below the E window
is a recess with hollow-chamfered jambs, defaced cinquefoiled and sub-cusped
4-centred head, each spandrel carved with a pomegranate, and moulded label;
traces of former crucifix and 2 figures. The N and S arcades are each of three
2-centred arches of 2 moulded orders; the columns each have 4 attached shafts
with moulded bases and capitals; the responds have attached half-columns. The
2-centred chancel-arch is of 2 moulded orders, the outer continuous, the inner
on attached shafts with moulded bases and capitals. The clerestorey has an
internal moulded string course, and on each side 3 restored windows each of 3
cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a 4-centred head. In the E wall of the N
chapel is a restored window of 4 cinquefoiled ogee lights with tracery in a
4-centred head, with hollow-moulded splays and rear-arch. In the N wall are 3
restored windows; the easternmost is uniform with the E window; the others are
each of 3 cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a segmental-pointed head, with
hollow-moulded splays and rear-arch. At the W end of the N wall is a small
doorway with moulded jambs and 4-centred head into the semi-octagonal rood-stair
turret. The W arch is 2-centred and of 2 continuous chamfered orders. The S
chapel is generally similar to the N chapel, and has an E window similar to that
of the N chapel. In the S wall are 3 windows similar to the E window; below the
middle window is a doorway with moulded jambs and 4-centred arch in a square
head, with a moulded label; each spandrel is carved with a lion. The arch is
uniform with that of the N chapel. The Nave has N and S arcades each of 5 bays
with moulded 2-centred arches and labels; the columns are similar to those in
the Chancel. The clerestorey has a similar moulded string-course, and on each
side 5 similar restored windows. The N aisle has in the N wall 4 restored
windows each of 3 cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a segmental-pointed head,
with hollow-moulded splays and rear-arch. Between the 2 western windows is the
rebuilt N doorway, with moulded jambs and 2-centred head with a moulded label.
In the W wall is a window uniform with those in the N wall. The S aisle is
uniform with the N aisle except that the restored S doorway has moulded jambs, a
4-centred arch in a square head with cusped spandrels enclosing shields, and a
moulded label. W of it is a small doorway with moulded jambs and 3-centred arch
in a square head with recessed spandrels; the door is original, comprising 3
rebated wedge-shaped planks nailed to 4 rear ledges, with an incised ring-
handle; it leads to a turret-stair to an upper room of the porch. The W tower
and tower-arch are wholly of 1955-8. The S porch is of 2 storeys, with a C19
outer entrance. In each side is a restored window of 2 cinquefoiled lights in a
2-centred head with moulded label, with hollow-moulded jambs and rear-arch, the
sill dropped to form a seat. The ribbed vault is restored, retaining a central
boss carved with a pelican, 3 smaller bosses carved with leopard's heads, and
one with a woman's head. In each angle is an attached shaft with moulded base
and capital. The upper stage has 3 windows, restored. The RCHM reported that
all the roofs are modern (i.e. after 1714), incorporating some old material.
The roofs of the N and S chapels appear to be wholly C19, but all the others
have the staining and shakes characteristic of ancient timber; as they were
exposed to rain penetration from 1940 to 1955 it is difficult to determine from
ground level how much of each roof is original and how much is C19 and C20
restoration. The low-pitched roof of the Chancel is in 7 bays, with moulded
tiebeams, and 3 moulded butt-purlins in each bay, with plain rafters of
horizontal section, and carved corbels (restored 1847). The low-pitched roof of
the Nave is in 5 bays, with moulded tiebeams at half-bay intervals, short king-
posts, and tracery above the tiebeams; 3 moulded butt-purlins in each bay;
moulded wallplates, ashlar-pieces on carved corbels, with tracery in the arches
between; plain rafters of horizontal section. The low-pitched lean-to roofs of
the N and S aisles are in 5 bays, with moulded principal rafters at half-bay
intervals, 2 moulded butt-purlins in each bay, moulded wallplates, arched braces
from carved corbels, and plain rafters of horizontal section. Fittings. Piscina
in S chapel, with moulded jambs and 4-centred arch with foliate carved spandrels
and octagonal drain, C15. Recess for former piscina in N chapel, with
segmental-pointed head. In Chancel, range of 3 sedilia with cinquefoiled
2-centred heads and moulded labels, moulded and shafted jambs with capitals and
bases, C15. Stoup on S wall of S chapel, E of doorway, with broken round bowl,
and base of pedestal, C15. Font with round bowl with shallow carved arcade of
trefoiled arches on pilasters with imposts and stepped bases, round stem with 4
detached shafts, partly restored, having moulded capitals and bases, early C13.
In the Chancel, floor-slabs to (1) Sir Mark Guyon, 1690, black marble with
achievement of arms, (2) James Boys, A.M., black marble with achievement of
arms, (3) Dame Dorcas Guyon, 1714, black marble; the last two are partly covered
by the altar; on the N arcade, monuments to (1) William Boys, 1742, white marble
tablet with pediment, (2) Henry Skingley, 1795, tablet of white, brown and black
marble with lamp; on the S arcade, to (3) William Fuller, 1748, slate tablet
with white marble pediment, and (4) Henry Skingley, 1839, white marble
sarcophagus on grey marble. In the N chapel, brasses (1) [of John Paycock,
1533, and his wife] figures of man and woman, with indents of foot and marginal
inscriptions, 5 scrolls, figure of Virgin and child, 2 groups of children and 4
shields, (2) of Thomas Peaycocke, 1580, figure of man in gown, foot and part of
marginal inscription, indents of 5 plates and a scroll, (3) of George Laurance,
1594, inscription and merchant's mark, (4) of Thomas Aylett, 1638, plate with
achievement of arms and inscription, (5) figures of 2 women with butterfly
head-dress, c.1480, (6) said to be of William Goldwyre, 1514, figures of man in
fur-lined gown and woman in pedimented head-dress, and (7) of John Oldam, 1599,
inscription only; monuments of (1) John Grime, 1714, black marble with
achievement of arms, on stone base, (2) Samuel Carter, 1777, with achievement of
arms, (3) Thomas Andrew, 1826. In the S chapel, of (1) Thomas Guyon, 1664,
black, grey and white marble altar-tomb with moulded slab and plain pilasters at
the angles, (2) Edward Coldham Matthew, 1820, oval white marble tablet on black
marble, (3) Mark Guyon, 1839, white and black marble tablet, and (4) Mary
(Waters), wife of Robert Honywood, 1620, painted figure of woman kneeling at
prayer-desk, flanked by Ionic columns supporting a pediment, lozenge and 2
shields of arms, 2 skulls and animal, in black and coloured marble (removed from
Markshall parish church on its demolition in 1932). In the Nave, floor-slab of
Jane and Elisabeth Boehm, 1738, Jane Boehm II, 1740, and Richarda Boehm, 1742,
black marble. In the S aisle, monuments of (1) Robert Townsend, 1728, white
marble tablet with achievement of arms, (2) Richard White Townsend, 1823, white
stone tablet on black marble, with pediment, and loose, (3) Richard Meredith
White, 1796, oval stone tablet, and (4) Mary Ann Dennis, 1827, white marble
tablet. There are 9 bells, the fourth by Miles Graye, 1681, the fifth, sixth
and seventh by Thomas Gardner, dated 1733, 1757 and 1733 respectively, and a
C13/14 bell possibly by William Dawe, removed from Frating parish church, now
used as a clock bell. Externally, against the S aisle and S wall of the tower,
are 9 stone slabs, reversed or illegible, and one broken indent. The base of a
churchyard cross recorded by the RCHM is not known now; and the headstones and
table tomb recorded by the RCHM are not either, unless included in the above.
RCHM 2.
Listing NGR: TL8535023016
This text is from the original listing, and may not necessarily reflect the current setting of the building.
Description
TL 8422-8522 COGGESHALL CHURCH STREET
(north-west side)
9/52 Parish Church of St.
31.10.66 Peter and Vincula
GV I
Parish church. C15, restored in C19, severely damaged by enemy action in 1940,
restored 1955-8 by S.E. Dykes Bower. Flint rubble with fragments of brick,
partly faced with ashlar, with limestone dressings, roofed with lead. Chancel,
Nave, N and S chapels, N and S aisles, W tower and S porch all rebuilt in the
C15. The N arcade and clerestorey, most of the N aisle, the roofs of the Nave
and N aisle, and the tower, have been rebuilt 1955-8, and the remainder
repaired. The Chancel and N and S chapels have walls faced with ashlar, and
plinths enriched with quatrefoil panels and shields, mostly restored, bearing 2
crossed keys; the lower buttresses have plain panels and the upper buttresses
have trefoil-headed panels. The restored E window of the Nave is of 7
cinquefoiled ogee lights with vertical tracery in a 2-centred head, with moulded
external and internal reveals and external label. Externally below the E window
is a recess with hollow-chamfered jambs, defaced cinquefoiled and sub-cusped
4-centred head, each spandrel carved with a pomegranate, and moulded label;
traces of former crucifix and 2 figures. The N and S arcades are each of three
2-centred arches of 2 moulded orders; the columns each have 4 attached shafts
with moulded bases and capitals; the responds have attached half-columns. The
2-centred chancel-arch is of 2 moulded orders, the outer continuous, the inner
on attached shafts with moulded bases and capitals. The clerestorey has an
internal moulded string course, and on each side 3 restored windows each of 3
cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a 4-centred head. In the E wall of the N
chapel is a restored window of 4 cinquefoiled ogee lights with tracery in a
4-centred head, with hollow-moulded splays and rear-arch. In the N wall are 3
restored windows; the easternmost is uniform with the E window; the others are
each of 3 cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a segmental-pointed head, with
hollow-moulded splays and rear-arch. At the W end of the N wall is a small
doorway with moulded jambs and 4-centred head into the semi-octagonal rood-stair
turret. The W arch is 2-centred and of 2 continuous chamfered orders. The S
chapel is generally similar to the N chapel, and has an E window similar to that
of the N chapel. In the S wall are 3 windows similar to the E window; below the
middle window is a doorway with moulded jambs and 4-centred arch in a square
head, with a moulded label; each spandrel is carved with a lion. The arch is
uniform with that of the N chapel. The Nave has N and S arcades each of 5 bays
with moulded 2-centred arches and labels; the columns are similar to those in
the Chancel. The clerestorey has a similar moulded string-course, and on each
side 5 similar restored windows. The N aisle has in the N wall 4 restored
windows each of 3 cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a segmental-pointed head,
with hollow-moulded splays and rear-arch. Between the 2 western windows is the
rebuilt N doorway, with moulded jambs and 2-centred head with a moulded label.
In the W wall is a window uniform with those in the N wall. The S aisle is
uniform with the N aisle except that the restored S doorway has moulded jambs, a
4-centred arch in a square head with cusped spandrels enclosing shields, and a
moulded label. W of it is a small doorway with moulded jambs and 3-centred arch
in a square head with recessed spandrels; the door is original, comprising 3
rebated wedge-shaped planks nailed to 4 rear ledges, with an incised ring-
handle; it leads to a turret-stair to an upper room of the porch. The W tower
and tower-arch are wholly of 1955-8. The S porch is of 2 storeys, with a C19
outer entrance. In each side is a restored window of 2 cinquefoiled lights in a
2-centred head with moulded label, with hollow-moulded jambs and rear-arch, the
sill dropped to form a seat. The ribbed vault is restored, retaining a central
boss carved with a pelican, 3 smaller bosses carved with leopard's heads, and
one with a woman's head. In each angle is an attached shaft with moulded base
and capital. The upper stage has 3 windows, restored. The RCHM reported that
all the roofs are modern (i.e. after 1714), incorporating some old material.
The roofs of the N and S chapels appear to be wholly C19, but all the others
have the staining and shakes characteristic of ancient timber; as they were
exposed to rain penetration from 1940 to 1955 it is difficult to determine from
ground level how much of each roof is original and how much is C19 and C20
restoration. The low-pitched roof of the Chancel is in 7 bays, with moulded
tiebeams, and 3 moulded butt-purlins in each bay, with plain rafters of
horizontal section, and carved corbels (restored 1847). The low-pitched roof of
the Nave is in 5 bays, with moulded tiebeams at half-bay intervals, short king-
posts, and tracery above the tiebeams; 3 moulded butt-purlins in each bay;
moulded wallplates, ashlar-pieces on carved corbels, with tracery in the arches
between; plain rafters of horizontal section. The low-pitched lean-to roofs of
the N and S aisles are in 5 bays, with moulded principal rafters at half-bay
intervals, 2 moulded butt-purlins in each bay, moulded wallplates, arched braces
from carved corbels, and plain rafters of horizontal section. Fittings. Piscina
in S chapel, with moulded jambs and 4-centred arch with foliate carved spandrels
and octagonal drain, C15. Recess for former piscina in N chapel, with
segmental-pointed head. In Chancel, range of 3 sedilia with cinquefoiled
2-centred heads and moulded labels, moulded and shafted jambs with capitals and
bases, C15. Stoup on S wall of S chapel, E of doorway, with broken round bowl,
and base of pedestal, C15. Font with round bowl with shallow carved arcade of
trefoiled arches on pilasters with imposts and stepped bases, round stem with 4
detached shafts, partly restored, having moulded capitals and bases, early C13.
In the Chancel, floor-slabs to (1) Sir Mark Guyon, 1690, black marble with
achievement of arms, (2) James Boys, A.M., black marble with achievement of
arms, (3) Dame Dorcas Guyon, 1714, black marble; the last two are partly covered
by the altar; on the N arcade, monuments to (1) William Boys, 1742, white marble
tablet with pediment, (2) Henry Skingley, 1795, tablet of white, brown and black
marble with lamp; on the S arcade, to (3) William Fuller, 1748, slate tablet
with white marble pediment, and (4) Henry Skingley, 1839, white marble
sarcophagus on grey marble. In the N chapel, brasses (1) [of John Paycock,
1533, and his wife] figures of man and woman, with indents of foot and marginal
inscriptions, 5 scrolls, figure of Virgin and child, 2 groups of children and 4
shields, (2) of Thomas Peaycocke, 1580, figure of man in gown, foot and part of
marginal inscription, indents of 5 plates and a scroll, (3) of George Laurance,
1594, inscription and merchant's mark, (4) of Thomas Aylett, 1638, plate with
achievement of arms and inscription, (5) figures of 2 women with butterfly
head-dress, c.1480, (6) said to be of William Goldwyre, 1514, figures of man in
fur-lined gown and woman in pedimented head-dress, and (7) of John Oldam, 1599,
inscription only; monuments of (1) John Grime, 1714, black marble with
achievement of arms, on stone base, (2) Samuel Carter, 1777, with achievement of
arms, (3) Thomas Andrew, 1826. In the S chapel, of (1) Thomas Guyon, 1664,
black, grey and white marble altar-tomb with moulded slab and plain pilasters at
the angles, (2) Edward Coldham Matthew, 1820, oval white marble tablet on black
marble, (3) Mark Guyon, 1839, white and black marble tablet, and (4) Mary
(Waters), wife of Robert Honywood, 1620, painted figure of woman kneeling at
prayer-desk, flanked by Ionic columns supporting a pediment, lozenge and 2
shields of arms, 2 skulls and animal, in black and coloured marble (removed from
Markshall parish church on its demolition in 1932). In the Nave, floor-slab of
Jane and Elisabeth Boehm, 1738, Jane Boehm II, 1740, and Richarda Boehm, 1742,
black marble. In the S aisle, monuments of (1) Robert Townsend, 1728, white
marble tablet with achievement of arms, (2) Richard White Townsend, 1823, white
stone tablet on black marble, with pediment, and loose, (3) Richard Meredith
White, 1796, oval stone tablet, and (4) Mary Ann Dennis, 1827, white marble
tablet. There are 9 bells, the fourth by Miles Graye, 1681, the fifth, sixth
and seventh by Thomas Gardner, dated 1733, 1757 and 1733 respectively, and a
C13/14 bell possibly by William Dawe, removed from Frating parish church, now
used as a clock bell. Externally, against the S aisle and S wall of the tower,
are 9 stone slabs, reversed or illegible, and one broken indent. The base of a
churchyard cross recorded by the RCHM is not known now; and the headstones and
table tomb recorded by the RCHM are not either, unless included in the above.
RCHM 2.
Listing NGR: TL8535023016
Lady on a bike.
By mistake I ended up in West Malling, but it was a good thing, as the village is chocolate box pretty, and the church very fine indeed. The only church I visited that had no wardens to welcome (I think, sorry if I have mis-remembered). Anyway, a fine church, amazing coat of arms, and glad I visited.
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A story of all's well that ends well. A Norman tower and thirteenth-century chancel are linked by a twentieth-century nave that had in its turn replaced one erected to replace its medieval predecessor in the eighteenth century! The west window and those in the south aisle are by C.E. Kempe and Co. Ltd, and of special note is the one depicting the Three Kings. On the south side of the chancel, backing on to a medieval lean-to vestry, is the splendid tomb of Sir Robert Brett (d. 1620), which has recently been restored. The colours are superb and show how churches must have looked when these monuments were new. In the north aisle is a large painting of the Last Supper by Francis Slater, the eighteenth-century artist who painted the ceilings of nearby Mereworth Castle. Hanging on the front of the west gallery are the outstanding Royal Arms of James II, of carved and painted wood. The twentieth-century rebuilding of the church was financed by the sale of an Elizabethan stoneware jug (now in the British Museum), the transaction being recorded on an inscribed stone in the north porch.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=West+Malling
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WESTWARD from East Malling lies the town and parish of West Malling, now most commonly called Town Malling.
It is written in Domesday, MALLENGETIS, and in the Textus Roffensis, MELLINGES. In many deeds after the conquest, it is stiled MILLINGES PARVA, to distinguish it from East Malling, then the larger and more noted village of the two.
The town and parish of West Malling, excepting the borough of St. Leonard, which is under the jurisdiction of the constables of the hundred of Larkfield, is under the jurisdiction of its own constables, of which there are two chosen yearly.
THE PARISH of Town Malling, as it is usually called, is situated equally pleasant and healthy. It lies on high ground, and though dry is well watered, the soil of it being in the northern part a sand, the rest of it a loam, covering the quarry rock, which is very fertile, as has been frequently noticed before in the like situations. The high road from London through Wrotham to Maidstone, at the twenty-ninth mile stone leads along the northern boundaries of the parish, being called in king Edmund's grant of this place to the bishop of Rochester, the military way, no doubt from its having been used as such by the Romans, southward of it the ground gently rising; at less than a quarter of a mile's distance is the town of Malling, which is well built, having many genteel houses in it, the streets of a handsome width, and well paved. At the east end of it is the abbey, to which the approach is by a venerable antient gateway. Although the house itself was almost all of it pulled down and rebuilt by Mr. Honywood, yet many of the antient buildings and offices be longing to it are still remaining, and are made use of as such at present. A handsome tower of the church, the front of which is decorated with intersecting arches and zig-zag ornaments, similar to those on the west front of Rochester cathedral, built by the same founder, bishop Gundulph, is still remaining, as is an antient chapel or oratory, now made use of as a dwellinghouse.
From the foundations discovered in levelling the ground by Mr. Honywood, it appears, that this abbey consisted of two quadrangles or courts, with cloysters, and a spacious hall; and that the church had another tower, of the like size to that now standing. The burying-place seems to have been on the south side of the church, as in digging there, great quantities of human bones have been thrown up, and two stone coffins with skeletons in them, the lids of them had no inscriptions on them, but were ornamented each with a cross, having a quaterfoil pierced at the upper end, the stem of which was crossed more than once with foliage, several rings and trinkets, and some old coins have likewise been found at different times in cleaning away the rubbish.
Over the west end of the grand gateway, which stands at the entrance into the precinct of the abbey from the town, at the west end of the building, there is carved in stone, a heart distilling drops of blood, and on the other side, in a shield, Ermine, a crozier in bend sinister, on a chief three annulets.
In the meadows above the gardens, are large square excavations still visible, where the fish ponds of the aunnery formerly were.
The precinct of this monastery is washed by a rivulet of excellent clear water, which rising in the hamlet of St. Leonard, runs by the house, and through the gardens of it, whence gushing through the wall with a cascade, it crosses the road towards the Rev. Mr. Brooke's gardens. There is a view of this abbey in its present state published by Mr. Grose, in his Antiquities of England.
Near the abbey gate there is a good house, with a large garden, canal, and pleasure grounds, behind it, reaching down to the London road. It has been many years the residence of the Brooke's, from whom it passed by the will of Joseph Brooke, esq. who died in 1792, after the decease of his widow in 1796, to the Rev. John Kenward Shaw, brother of Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. who has since, in pursuance of the above will, and by the king's licence, taken the name of Brooke, and now resides in it. A little further westward there is a very antient stone building, called the Old Gaol, having narrow gothic windows, and the walls of great thickness. It is reported to have been the prison belonging to the abbey, and is now used as an oast for the drying of hops. About the middle of the street stands the church, and a little distance from it a good house, late the residence of Benjamin Hubble, esq. whose family have been inhabitants of this town for some length of time, several of them lying buried in this church. He died in 1780, leaving his widow, sister of Richard Savage, esq. of Boughton Monchelsea, surviving, and two daughters, his coheirs, one of whom having married Thomas Augustus Douce, esq. he now resides in it; further southward is the hamlet of St. Leonard, now making part of the town, and called St. Leonard's-street, in which is an antient seat, some years ago the residence of Charles Stewart, esq. whose father admiral Stewart purchased it of judge Twisden. This district had once a cell in it, belonging to the abbey, with a chapel. It was given at the time the manor and church was to it, as has been already mentioned. The whole of it has been long since desecrated, and in ruins; the square tower of the chapel which stands in the next field south-west from the late Mr. Stewart's house, is all that remains of it. It was purchased by him some years ago, of Sir John Honywood, in exchange for other premises near the abbey, and is now made use of as a stowage for hops. Mr. Stewart died in 1780, and was buried near his father in this church, and he was succeeded here by the hon. admiral John Forbes, who lately died posfessed of it. A market is held in the principal highstreet every Saturday, which is plentifully supplied and well frequented. There are three fairs, which are held by the alteration of the stile on August 12, October 2, and November 17, yearly, for horses, cattle, toys, &c. The whole town is excellently well watered with fine springs, which having supplied the town and abbey, collect themselves into one stream, and passing northward through Mr. Brooke's grounds, cross the high Maidstone road, and runs from thence into the Addington brook, just above Leyborne mill.
About half a mile south-east from the abbey there is a good modern-built house, called New Barne, which formerly belonged to Mr. Alchin, from whom it passed to Graham, the present possessor, who resides in it.
Above St. Leonard's street is the high road from Teston over East-Malling-heath, and through this parish to Offham, southward of which this parish extends into the large tract of coppice woods which reach to West Peckham and Mereworth.
Dr. William Briggs, an eminent physician, resided at the latter end of the last century at Town Malling, where he died, Sept. 1704, æt. 64, and was buried in this church, He was a great traveller into foreign countries, and was greatly esteemed for his skill in his profession, as well as for his learning, of which the several writings he published are sufficient testimonies. He was physician in ordinary to king William, and to St. Thomas's hospital, and bore his arms, Gules, three bars gemelles, or, a canton sable. (fn. 1)
THIS PLACE was given, about the year 945, by Edmund, king of the Angles and of Mercia, to Burhric, bishop of Rochester, by the description of a small portion of his land, called Meallingas, containing three plough lands; and he granted it to him, for the good of his soul, in perpetual inheritance, in augmentation of the revenues of his monastery of St. Andrew, with all its rights, liberties, members, and appurtenances, and this he did with the consent of his nobles and princes, whose names were subscribed to it. After the names of king Edmund, Edred his brother, and Eadgife his mother, are those of the archbishops and bishops, and then that of Ælgifu, the king's concubine, Ego Ælgifu Concubina Regis affui, and after her the dukes, &c. The bounds of this land are thus described in Saxon, viz. from the south part of it to the king's plaine, and from thence to the bounds of the parish of Offaham, and thence to the military way, and so along the said way over Lilleburne to the bounds of the parish of Est Meallinges, and so directly southward from the east of the cross or gallows to the broad way towards the south, in a direct line along the said way to the king's plaine. To which the king added certain denberies for the pannage of hogs.
This land did not continue long in the possession of the church of Rochester, being wrested from it in the time of the Danish wars; and when William the Conqueror had attained the crown, he gave it to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half brother, from whom it was recovered, together with the church of Mallinges, in the solemn assembly of the whole county held on this occasion, by the king's command, at Pinenden heath, in 1076, by archbishop Lanfrance, who afterward restored it to bishop Gundulph, and the church of St. Andrew; which gift was confirmed by archbishops Anselm and Boniface. (fn. 2)
In the survey of Domesday, taken about four years afterwards, this manor is thus described, under the general title of the bishop of Rochester's lands:
The same bishop (of Rochester) holds Mellingetes, it was taxed, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, at three sulings, and now at one and an half. The arable land is three carucates. In demesne there is one, and five villeins, with fix borderers, having two carucates. There is a church, and one mill of two shillings, wood for the pannage of twenty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth forty shillings, and now four pounds.
Bishop Gundulph, in the 4th year of the reign of king William Rufus, anno 1090, having founded an abbey of Benedictine nuns in this parish, to the honor of the Virgin Mary, gave this manor and church to it, with other possessions for the endowment of it; (fn. 3) and although it was, about one hundred years after its being first erected, with the adjoining village, destroyed by fire, yet it was again soon afterwards re-edified, and continued to increase in a flourishing state.
In the 7th year of king Edward I. anno 1278, the abbess of Malling claimed sundry liberties in this parish, by grant from king Henry III. and a market weekly throughout the year on a Saturday and Wednesday; and she claimed by grant from king John to have warren in all her lands at Malling, by grant from king Henry, from time beyond memory; and to have fairs in the parish on the eve, day, and morrow of St. Matthew the apostle, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Leonard, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Peter, ad vincula.
By which, and such like favours granted to it, this place, which at the first foundation of the monastery was plain fields, and almost without an inhabitant, became notwithstanding its former calamity mentioned before, exceedingly populous from the numbers who flocked to it from all parts, who building themselves houses here, increased the village to a large size, well suited for trade, to the no small emolument of the nuns; whence it soon lost its name of Malling Parva, which was for some time transferred to the neighbouring parish of East Malling, as appears by some grants, &c. of this time, and king Edward III. (fn. 4)
In the 15th year of king Edward I. the temporalities of the abbess of Malling in this parish and East Malling were valued at forty-five pounds.
There was an annual pension of ten pounds of wax, and one boar, paid by the abbess to the bishop of Rochester, as an acknowledgment of her subjection to that see.
In the year 1321, the bishop of Rochester, at the king's request, to whom the nuns had made a complaint, that their monastery was ruined by the bad management of their abbess, sister of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, visited it, and heard the complaints against her; in consequence of which she resigned, and the lady Agnes de Leyborne, was chosen in her room. Three years after which she died, and the bishop, at the unanimous request of the nuns, appointed Lora de Retling abbess here, though much against his will, knowing her to be very ignorant, and unfit for the office. However, he inhibited her giving a corredy to her maid servant, as had been the custom, and sequestered their common seal, inhibiting her from using it without his licence.
A great pestilence raging in the year 1348, the bishop made two abbesses here, who presently died; nor were there more than four nuns professed, and four not professed, remaining in this monastery; and he com mitted the custody of the spirituals and temporals to two of them, as there was not a proper person for the office of abbess.
In the year 1493, anno 9 Henry VII. Joane Moone was abbess of this monastery. (fn. 5)
This abbey was surrendered into the king's hands, with all its possessions, (fn. 6) among which were the manors of East and West Malling, with the precincts of Ewell and Parrock annexed to the latter, by Margaret Vernon, abbess, and the convent of it, in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. at which time it was valued at 245l. 10s. 2½d. annual rent, according to Speed, and 218l. 4s. 2½d. clear value, according to Dugdale, and there was granted to the abbess a pension of forty pounds yearly, and to eleven nuns from 31. 6s. 8d. down to 2l. 13s. 4d. yearly pensions, each for their lives.
After which that king, by his letters patent, in his 31st year, granted and sold, in exchange, among other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, the scite of the abbey, with the precinct and circuit of it, and the manors of West Malling, Ewell, and Parocke, and the parsonage of West Malling, late appropriate to it, excepting to the king all advowsons, presentations, &c. to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned; and as the king was entitled to the tenths of these premises, he discharged the archbishop of them, and all other outgoings whatsoever, except the rent therein mentioned. Which grant was in consequence of an indenture made between the king and the archbishop, inrolled in the Augmentation-office.
These manors and premises were again exchanged with the crown in the beginning of the reign of queen Elizabeth, in the 12th year of which she granted them in lease to Sir Henry Brooke, alias Cobham, fifth son of Sir George Brooke, lord Cobham; after which they were held by the same possessors, as the manor of East Malling before described, till at length, after the death of Sir Robert Brett, anno 1621, king James granted the manor of West, alias Town Malling, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, the scite of the late monastery, with the house, buildings, and ground within the precinct of it with all their appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of the late monastery, in fee, to John Rayney, esq. which was further confirmed to Sir John Rayney, his eldest son, in the 2d year of king Charles I. He was of Wrothamplace, in this neighbourhood, and was created a baronet of Nova Scotia, in 1641, and his son of the same name, about the time of the restoration, conveyed these premises to Isaac Honywood, gent. of Hampsted, Middlesex, who was the only son of Edward, third son of Sir Thomas Honywood, of Elmsted, ancestor likewise of the present Sir John Honywood, of Elmsted, baronet, and he continued to bear the same coat of arms; whose second son, Isaac Honywood, esq. of Hampsted, succeeded him in this manor and estate. Frazer Honywood, esq. of Hampsted and London, his only son and heir, rebuilt the abbey house of Malling in the antient gothic taste, at a very great expence, making it one of the seats of his residence, and having thus greatly improved it, he died possessed of this seat and manor, with the estate belonging to it, in 1764, leaving no issue by his wife, the daughter of Abraham Atkins, of Clapham. He gave them, as well as the rest of his estates here and elsewhere, by will, to his kinsman, Sir John Honywood, bart. of Elmsted, and his heirs male, with divers remainders over to the family of Honywood. Sir John Honywood, bart. is since deceased, and his grandson of the same name is the present owner of this manor, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, and the seat of Malling abbey, with the lands and appurtenances in this parish belonging to it, but Mr. Foote resides in it.
The family of Say antiently possessed THE MANOR of CLEMENTS IN EWELL, in this parish. Geoffry de Say held it in the 7th year of king Edward II. as half a knight's fee. His son, Geoffry de Say, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as half a knight's fee, which John at Forde held before in Ewell, in Malling, of the bishop of Rochester. This manor was afterwards in the name of Coveney, (fn. 7) and in the latter end of king Henry VIII. it was in the possession of Mr. William Fowle. Since which it has sunk into such obscurity, that neither the scite nor the owners of it can be traced out even by the most diligent enquiries.
CHARITIES.
THERE is a lecture founded in this church of a sermon every fortnight, on the Saturday; two of the preachers to be the ministers of East and West Malling, who are to be paid 10s. for every sermon they preach; the other preachers are appointed at the will of the trustees.
FRANCIS TRESSE, gent. of this town, who died in 1632, by his will gave a piece of land, and 40l. towards the building of a free school in this parish; and he charged one of his houses in Town Malling with the sum of 13s. 4d. per annum, for the keeping of it in repair; and appointed that four principal freeholders of this parish should be trustees for the execution of this part of his will for ever. This school was accordingly erected, and was made use of for the teaching of boys writing and arithmetic. The charity is veisted in the minister and tour substantial freehold inhabitants, and the estate out of which it is paid in Mr. Robert Sutton, of this parish, but there being no master, the school-house is at present let to the late master's widow at 2gs. perannum, which with the 13s. 4d. is applied towards the maintaining of the building. He also gave two silver cups for the use of the holy communion, and 6s. 8d. payable yearly out of a piece of land, called Cousin's Plat, now vested in Mary Brome, widow.
SIR ROBERT BRETT, by will in 1620, gave land sufficient to pay yearly 10s. per week, to be bestowed in bread and meat to twenty poor persons, or else to be distributed in money to them. His executors accordingly conveyed lands in Tewksbury, in Gloucestershire, for this purpose, which is now vested in lord Romney, and twenty-three others, trustees, of the annual produce of 26l. but of late years the annual produce has been but 19l. 14s.
TOWN MALLING is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURIDISCTION of the diocese of Rochester, and gives name to the deanry of Malling, in which it is situated.
The church, which is a handsome building, with an elegant spire steeple, is dedicated to St. Mary.
At the latter end of the year 1778, some of the main pillars of the body of it giving way, the whole roof of it fell in, leaving only the steeple and chancel at the two extremities of it standing. It has since been repaired, and thoroughly finished by a brief, which was obtained for that purpose.
The church of West Malling was given, with the manor, to the church of Rochester, by king Edmund, in 945; and having afterwards been taken from it, was again restored by archbishop Lanfranc to bishop Gundulph, in the time of the Conqueror, who gave it to the monastery here, at his foundation of it, and this gift was confirmed by several succeeding kings, archbishops of Canterbury, bishops of Rochester, &c. as has been already mentioned.
It was appropriated to the abbess and convent by bishop Gundulph, at the time it was given to them; which appropriation was specially confirmed by Simon, archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1351.
In the reign of king Edward III. great discutes arising between the abbess and nuns of this monastery, and Robert de Beulton, perpetual vicar of this church, especially concerning the receiving of the tithes of flax and hemp, and the payment of archidiaconal procurations, they were at last settled by Hamo, bishop of Rochester, who in the year 1339, decreed, that, saving the due and accustomed portion of the prebend of the great mass in the conventual church of Malling, and the portion of the vicar, as undermentioned, the religious should take all tithes of corn within the parish, and all oblations and obventions belonging to their conventual church, and the cell of St. Leonard; and that they should not be bound to pay to the vicar the tithes of their hay, woods, or mills. And whereas the bishop was informed, and it was allowed, that the above-mentioned prebendary, and other domestics, serving in the monastery, or in the houses of the prebendary, or perpetual chaplain, celebrating for the dead, as also the brothers and sisters, and other persons dwelling in the monastery, or house of the prebendary, who, when they were without the monastery and houses, were not housekeepers in the parish, were wont to receive the sacraments and sacramentals, in life and in death, and to be buried there, if they happened to die within the monastery or houses, unless by chance they chose to be buried elsewhere; in which case, the religious had the first mass for the body before them, in their monastery, and received all the oblations then and there made, so that no portion was left for the vicar of the parish church. And further, that the prebendary for the time being had been used to receive antiently, and to that time, in part of the portion due to him, all the great and small tithes of the demesne lands of the religious, and of the food of their cattle, and also the great tithes arising from many of the crofts of their tenants situated in the said parish, and also the small tithes of his house, and of the house and land of the perpetual chaplain aforesaid, and all the predial tithes arising from the houses or messuages, curtilages and gardens, late of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, in the street, called Holirode-strete, of this parish of Malling, situated above the house of the prebendary; and of all the houses, messuages, curtilages, and gardens whatsoever, from thence towards the east and north in Holirode-street, and in the street, called Tan-street, as far as the end of the parish of Malling on that side; and that the religious and prebendary had possessed all and singular the premises aforesaid, in certain distinct portions, peaceably and without contradiction, from the time beyond memory. (fn. 8)
The bishop, therefore, that none of the premises should be altered, decreed, saving all and every matter as aforesaid, that the vicar should receive for his portion all other small tithes, oblations, obventions and profits belonging to the parish church more especially, viz. the tithe of herbage, silva cedua, apples, pears, flax, hemp, wool, milk, cheese, calves, lambs, pigs, pidgeons, geese, ducks, bees, eggs, merchandizings, fowlings, fishings, swans, pulse, and other fruits, and also of corn growing in orchards or gardens, as he had-been accustomed to receive them.
¶And that the vicar should also receive the personal tithes of the inhabitants of the houses or messuages of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, and of others, inhabiting in the houses or messuages situated in the streets, called Holirode-strete and Tan-strete, and the oblations due and accustomed to the parish church, and should administer ecclesiastical rights to them, and should have the burial of them in the parish church; and that the vicar should have for his habitation, as assigned to him by the religious, the dwelling with its precinct, which the vicar then inhabited, and his predecessors used to inhabit, which he should repair at his own expence, and preserve in a decent state, and should pay the yearly rents and services, due and accustomed from thence; all which the bishop adjudged to be a sufficient portion for the vicar for the time being. And he further decreed, that the vicar should cause the books to be bound, the vestments to be washed; and the same, and the rest of the ornaments of the parish church, which belonged to the religious to find, as often as need should require, to be repaired, and should cause them to be safely and honestly kept; and that he should provide and find bread, wine, processional tapers, and other lights necessary and accustomed in the chancel, the necessary and accustomed ministers, rochets, surplices, napkins, unconsecrated vessels, basons, and also green rushes to strow the church, if they had been so accustomed, and did not belong to the parishioners to find; and that he should pay the dues to the bishop, and the archidiaconal procurations, and that the vicar should acknowledge and undergo, according to the rate of the taxation of his portion as under-mentioned, all ordinaries and extraordinaries, which, although it might amount to five marcs, being near the moiety of the value of the whole church, according to the estimation then had, he decreed should remain according to the antient taxation of it, as often as burthens of this kind were to be borne, and paid from small benefices. And he decreed, that the religious should acknowledge and undergo all and singular other burthens happening to the parish church, by reason of their portion, which he estimated at twelve marcs, according to the antient taxation of it, notwithstanding this assignation, which was made with the consent of both parties, and which by his episcopal authority, he corroborated and confirmed, &c. and that it might not be called in doubt in future times, or be litigated, he had caused it to be entered in his register, and to be reduced into three different writings, of which he decreed one to remain in the hands of the religious, another in the hands of the vicar, and the third in the hands of the prebendary aforesaid, to perpetuate the memory of it, and had caused it to be authenticated with his seal, &c.
This parsonage, prebend, and the advowson of the vicarage, were, on the dissolution of the abbey in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. surrendered into the king's hands. After which the king, next year, granted this parsonage, with the manor of West Malling, and other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned. After which it passed, with the manor of West Malling, in a like succession of ownership, down to Sir John Rayney, bart. who sold these premises, about the time of the restoration, to judge Twisden, and his descendant, Sir John Papillon Twisden, bart. is the present possessor of this parsonage, and the advowson of the vicarage of West or Town Malling.
The vicarage is valued in the king's books at ten pounds, and the yearly tenths at one pound.
If you’ve been reading our fitness blog I know what you’re thinking: “Uh oh. Foxhound with their shirts off again.” Yep. Our first official bodybuilding photo-shoot has become our second official Foxhound-team-effort-photo-shoot (if you missed our first one, the grad shoot, it’s right here).
So what makes this one special? Well. It took a lot of work, mostly in the gym. The photo-shoot itself was also rather tough. Flexing isn’t as fun as our smiles make it seem. But that’s the test of a true bodybuilding pose, right? Can you hold it while smiling. So we tried our best to smile our hearts out. A lot of effort went into the poses themselves, too. There are a lot of particulars to each pose.
The photography is probably what you’re curious about though. They aren’t HDR photos and they aren’t painted—in fact, they aren’t even touched up! We got this effect by combining four things: Dynamic lighting, olive oil, boosted clarity (Adobe Lightroom) and Jared’s sharpening algorithm (Adobe Photoshop). I know everyone paints on muscles these days, and it’s more or less accepted. But this isn’t 300 or Twilight, this is our attempt at a legitimate bodybuilding shoot, so we tried to keep it real. We didn’t brush on muscles with make-up, we didn’t paint them in Photoshop, we didn’t selectively boost shadows—we didn’t even remove pimples or smooth out pores. This is us . . . albeit well lit and covered in oil.
A bonus summer church on the way back home from yet another orchid hunt, situated up a narrow land from the picturesque village and opposite the village school.
despite the church claiming the key could only be obtained from the school during term time, I found it unlocked, which was nice.
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Petham is a little visited church high above its village on the edge of a picturesque valley. Burned out in the 1920s it has lost some of the patina of age but nonetheless it contains much of interest. The south aisle once had a lean to roof – as can be clearly seen inside today. Apart from that most of the church is thirteenth century and many lancets survive. Some have rere-arches, a decorative carved stone feature over the top inside that shows wealth. The lovely tie beams and wall plates were painted after the fire in a late Arts and Crafts form with colourful cherries and vines. The east window contains quarries that may have been made by Powell’s whilst at the west end against the wall is a thirteenth century stone coffin lid. Outside on the west wall of the tower is a much weathered cross, possibly of thirteenth century date, that was discovered in the eighteenth century walled up high in the tower. The intervention of a local clergyman saved it from destruction and preserved it for us to see.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Petham
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PETHAM
LIES the next parish southward from Upper Hardres, and was once so considerable as to give name to the hundred, in which it is situated, which being since joined to that of Bridge, is now stiled the lower half hundred of Petham. This parish has in it the boroughs of Sapington, Broadway, Cotterell, and Stonestreet.
THE PARISH OF PETHAM lies in a healthy, though wild and romantic country of steep hills, the soil of which is very poor, barren and chalky, and covered with sharp slints, the fields are in general large; at the western boundaries it is covered with woodland, at the eastern runs the Stone-street way from Canterbury to Hythe and Limne, the Portus Lemanis of the Romans. Swerdling downs extend from Chartham for the length of two miles, on a side hill facing the south, as far as Lower Hardres, along the northern part of this parish, and have plain remains of intrenchments over them, four single lines of which cross the whole of them in different places, at no great distance from Iffins wood above it, great, part of which is within this parish. The remains of fortification in this wood, and the intrenchments below it, are by many supposed to be on the place to which the Britons retreated, after they were driven by the Romans from their hold in the woods, which Cæsar says was fortified both by art and nature, and where he again found them, after he had fortified his camp, with their allies, under the command of Cassivilaun, and sought his decisive battle with them. (fn. 1) At this end of the parish, in the valley, close adjoining to Lower Hardres, at a field's distance from the high road to Hythe, is the house called Street-end, formerly belonging to the Spracklyns, then to the Whitfields, and afterwards to H. Fonnereau, esq. who rebuilt it, and new laid out the adjoining grounds, after which he sold it to James Tillard, esq. who now resides in it. At a small distance below Swerdling downs southward, in the valley, which is here noble and wide, are the estates of Sapington, Depden, and Swerdling; further on stands the village of Petham, on the road leading to Elmsted and Hastingleigh, with the church on the hill at a small distance from it. From a pond in the village, and sometimes as high as Dene, in Elmsted, there flows through this valley, though but very seldom, a nailbourn, which runs on towards Shalmsford, and thence into the river Stour. On the hill, at no great distance westward from the village, is the seat of Kenfield, a conspicuous object from the downs, towards which it fronts, and beyond the large tract called Denge wood, and the farm of Bockholt, belonging to the archbishop. A fair is held here on the 15th of July.
THE MANOR OF PETHAM was given in the year 1036, to Christ-church, in Canterbury, by Haldene, a Saxon prince, in the presence of king Cnute, and at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in 1080, was part of the possessions of that see; accordingly it is thus entered in it, under the general title of the archbishop's lands:
In Piteham hundred, the archbishop himself holds Piteham. It was taxed for seven sulings. The arable land is as much as twenty carucates. In demesne there are three carucates, and thirty-two villeins, with twenty one borderers having nineteen carucates. There are two churches. There are two servants, and thirteen acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of twenty bogs. In the whole value in the time of king Edward the Confessor this manor was worth seventeen pounds and six shillings and three pence, and afterwards as much, and now it is worth twenty pounds. Of this manor Godefrid and Nigell hold of the archbishop one suling and an half and a yoke, and there they have four carucates, and four villeins, with eight borderers having three carucates. In the whole they were worth nine pounds, of these the monks have eight shillings per annum.
After which this manor continued parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury till some time after the reformation, when it passed by act of parliament into the hands of the crown, where it staid till it was granted in the 5th year of king Charles I. to William White and others, (fn. 2) and they soon afterwards sold it to Henry Thomson, esq. who resided at THE MANOR OF KENFIELD, in his mansion then called Upper Kenfield, in this parish, being descended of a family originally of Sandwich, who bore for their arms, Gules, two bars, argent, a chief, ermine; and in his descendants they both continued down to Thomas Thomson, esq. of Kenfield, who died in 1762, leaving four sons and three daughters; of the former, Thomas the eldest, married Sarah, daughter of Mr. Samuel Belcher, and was of Ulcomb, and afterwards of Maidstone; Thomas, the second son, will be mentioned hereafter, who married Anne, widow of the Rev. Edward Wilson, of Romney, by whom he has no issue; John, the third son, was of Chartham deanry, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. John Thurston, of Sittingborne; and Edward, the fourth, is of Romney Marsh. Of the daughters, Charlotte, the second, married Mr. William Belcher, of Ulcombe. By his will he gave these manors, with the mansion of Kenfield, to his second son, the Rev. Henry Thomson, now of Kenfield, the present possessor of them; (fn. 3) but he entailed them, on failure of male issue by his three younger sons, on the branch of this family of Somersham, in Huntingdonshire. A court leet and court baron is held for it.
HAUTS PLACE lies partly in this parish, and partly in that of Waltham, which, though now dwindled down almost to a cottage, was once eminent for being the original seat of that family, which afterwards branched out into several parts of this county, who bore for their arms, Or, a cross engrailed, gules. Ivode Haut is mentioned in the book of survey, now kept in the exchequer, entitled Liber de Terris Templariorum, being of such lands as were held by that order in England in the year 1180, anno 27 Henry II. in which he appears to have held this estate of their manor of Temple Waltham. His descendant Sir Piers Fitzhaut, was steward of the king's houshold anno 29 Henry III. from whom descended Sir Edmund de Haut, who in king Edward III.'s reign, had two sons, Nicholas, of Hauts-court, and Edmund, father of John, of Surrenden, in Pluckley, whose daughter and coheir Christian carried that seat in marriage to John Dering, ancestor of the Derings, baronets, of that place.
Nicholas Haut, the eldest son, lest two sons, Nicholas, of Hauts-place, and William, who was seated at Bishopsborne, under which his descendants will be further mentioned. Nicholas Haut, of Hauts-place lastmentioned, lest a son Richard, who in the beginning of king Henry VI.'s reign, alienated this seat to Thomas Broumston, of Preston, near Faversham, in whose descendants it continued for some time, and till it was at length alienated to Sawkins, and Nicholas Sawkins, gent. of Liminge, died possessed of it in 1619, whose eldest son, of the same name, sold it to Bateman, in which name it continued down to the Rev. John Bateman, of University college, Oxford, (fn. 4) who at his death devised it to his niece, married to Philpot, and they joined in the sale of it to Mr. Thomas Bridges, gent. of St. Nicholas, in the Isle of Thanet, who died possessed of it in 1777, and his son Thomas Bridges, esq. of Glamorganshire, is the present owner of it.
SAPINGTON is a manor, situated in the north-west part of this parish, which was formerly the inheritance of a family named at Bregge, the last of whom, John ate Bregge conveyed it, anno 42 Edward III. to Sir Richard at Lese, elder brother of Marcellus, who had married his only daughter and heir Anne. He died possessed of it anno 18 Richard II. and was succeeded by his brother and heir Marcellus, whose eldest daughter and coheir Lucy, first married to John Norton, and afterwards to William Langley, esqrs. of Knolton, upon the division of his estates became entitled to it, and her issue by her two husbands afterwards jointly possessed it, though not without much dispute between them; but afterwards they joined in the sale of it, about king Henry IV.'s reign, to Gregory Ballard, esq. whose descendant Nicholas Ballard, at the end of Philip and Mary, alienated it to Stransham, from which family, about the 40th of Elizabeth, it was sold to Appleford, and he not long afterwards conveyed it to Langford, from which name, four brothers of it joining in the sale, it was passed away to Cranmer, of Canterbury, descended from archdeacon Cranmer, the archbishop's brother, in whose descendants it continued down to Sir William Cranmer, of London, who dying unmarried in 1697, devised it by will to his nephew John Kenrick, whose arms were, Ermine, a lion rampant, sable, who lest it to his eldest son Clayton, as he did to his younger brother Matthew Kenrick, esq. of London, with remainder to his third son Matthew Kenrick, clerk, LL. D. rector of Blechinglye, in Surry, the present owner of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
SWERDLING, vulgarly called Great Swarling, is a manor in the northern part of this parish, close at the foot of the downs of the same name. It was given, on payment of a sum of money, by Cenulph, king of Mercia, and Cudred, king of Kent, anno 805, to one Vulshard, a priest belonging to the archbishop's monastery of Christ church, to be possessed by him in hereditary right; and he most probably at his death, if not before, gave it to his monastery; and king Edmund afterwards freed it from all secular services, excepting the trinoda necessitas. (fn. 5) After the conquest, on the division made by archbishop Lanfranc, of the revenues of his church, this manor seems, by the entry in Domesday before, to have been allotted to the archbishop, being then held of him, as of his manor of Petham, by Godefrid and Nigell, as there mentioned. Not many years after which it became part of the possessions of the eminent family of Valoigns, one of whose principal seats it was, for they resided at times at Repton, in Ashford, and at Tremworth, in Crundal, likewise, being severally from time to time knights of the shire, and sheriffs of this county, and keeping their shrievalty at one or other of those seats. Ruallon de Valoigns possessed this manor in king Stephen's reign, being written of Swerdling, and Waretius de Valoigns is in the catalogue of Kentish gentlemen who were at the siege of Acon, in Palestine, with Richard I. At length his descendant Sir War. de Valoigns, possessor likewise of this manor in king Edward the IIId.'s reign, (who was a benefactor of tithes in this parish to the hospital of St. Laurence, near Canterbury, now in the possession of the owners of that dissolved hospital) died without male issue, and in the 20th year of that reign it was come into the possession of Jeffry de Saye, who held it by knight's service of the archbishop. After which I find it possessed by the family of Haut, for Sir Nicholas Haut was owner of it in the next reign of king Richard II. in which he was knight of the shire, and in the 19th year of it kept his shrievalty at Wadenhall, in Waltham; and in his descendants it continued down to Edward Haut, esq. who did homage to archbishop Warham for it anno 22 Henry VII. whose heirs passed it away to Spilman, and his descendant Thomas Spilman, gent. of Chart Sutton, gave it in marriage in 1602, with Margaret his daughter, to Edward Hadde, esq. of Canterbury, in whose descendants, (by one of whom in 1645, part of this mansion was pulled down) it continued till it was at length sold to Spracklyn, of St. Laurence, in Thanet, from which name it passed by sale, about the end of George I.'s reign, to Dawes, whose descendant William Dawes, esq. of Hernehill, about the year 1747, alienated it to Mr. William Hammond, of Stone-house, near Canterbury, who died in 1773, and his son, of the same name, is now possessed of it.
THERE WAS, as early as the year 1190, a chapel at this manor of Swerdling, which was served by the brethren of St. John of Jerusalem. (fn. 6) To which John de Valoyns gave land, for the maintenance of one chaplain celebrating in it.
THERE IS A PORTION OF TITHES arising from a part of this manor, containing about one hundred and one acres, which belongs to the see of Canterbury, Mr. William Hammond being lessee of it.
DEPDEN, or rather Depeden, so called from its situation, is a manor in this parish, which lies south-eastward from Swerdling. It had in early times owners of its own name, one of whom, John Depeden, possessed it in the 47th year of Edward III. How long they continued owners of it, I have not found; but in king Henry IV.'s reign it was become the property of William Gratian, clerk, who founded a chantry here for one priest; and he endowed it with the rents of this manor, which, upon the suppression of all such foundations anno 2 Edward VI. came into the hands of the crown, and were soon afterwards granted to John Comb and Richard Almot, who not long after joined in the sale of it to William Farbrace, yeoman, from which name it was, about the beginning of king James, carried off by sale to Gregory, who in king Charles I.'s reign, alienated it to Sawkins, of Liminge, from whose descendant it passed by sale to Thomas Morris, esq. of Monks Horton, since which it has remained in the same line of descent with that manor, down to the right hon. Matthew Robinson Morris, lord Rokeby, the present owner of it.
Charities.
EDWARD STRONG gave by will, in 1623, the sum of 1l. 10s. per annum, payable out of a small farm in this parish, to be distributed among the poor annually. Which sum is vested in trustees.
THOMAS THOMSON, ESQ. of Petham, by his will in 1626, gave 5l. 10s. for the relief of the poor of it. This money is now vested in the Rev. Henry Thomson, of Kenfield, the interest of of which, amounting to 5s. 6d. in money, is given to the poor yearly.
The poor constantly relieved are about thirty, casually as many.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, is large, consisting of two isles and one chancel, having a square flat tower at the south-west corner, in which are six bells. The church is very neat and well kept. In the chancel and north isle are several monuments and memorials of the family of Thomson, of Kenfield, and of the Lefroys, who married into the family. A stone in the north isle for Martha, wife of Benjamin Macaree, gent. of Canterbury, obt. 1756. A monument for Anne, daughter of the Rev. John-Edward Wilson, of New Romney, by Anne, his wife, re-married to the Rev. Henry Thomson, of Kenfield, obt. 1786. A memorial for several of the family of Halke, of this parish. In the south isle is a memorial for John Honywood, A. M. vicar, obt. 1737. In the churchyard is a tomb for Thomas Halke, gent. of this parish, who lest one son Thomas, and a daughter Mary, married to Hopkins Fox, gent. of Nackington, obt. 1747; arms, A fess, between three hawks.
¶THIS CHURCH was antiently appendant to the manor of Petham, parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, and continued so till archbishop Ralph, in king Henry I.'s reign, gave it to the priory of St. Osyth, in Essex, to which it was afterwards appropriated, and a vicarage endowed in it anno 1226. (fn. 7) In which state it remained till the suppression of the priory anno 31 Henry VIII. when it came into the king's hands, who granted the parsonage appropriate and advowson to the archbishop, from whom they came in exchange again to the crown, and were soon afterwards granted again to Spilman, from which name they went by marriage to Hadde, in whose family they continued some time, and till at length the parsonage, then become impropriate, was sold to Francis Brooke, esq. who died in 1720, as did his grandson Joseph Brooke, esq. of Town Malling, in 1792, whose devisee the Rev. John Kenward Shaw Brooke is the present owner of it.
BUT the advowson of the vicarage was sold from the Haddes to Sir William Honywood, bart. of Elmsted, in whose descendant Sir John Honywood, bart. the alternate presentation of it still continues. For in 1698 this vicarage was, with the consent of both patrons, united to that of the adjoining parish of Waltham, and both churches made one cure. The presentation to be alternate in future; the first turn to belong to the archbishop, as patron of the vicarage of Waltham, and the next to the family of Honywood, as patrons of the vicarage of Petham. In which state of alternate presentation it continues at this time.
This vicarage is valued in the king's books at 8l. os. 2½d. and the yearly tenths at 16s. 0½d. The pension of forty shillings formerly paid by the prior of St. Osyth, is now paid by the impropriator to the vicar. In 1640 it was valued at forty pounds, communicants one hundred.
By mistake I ended up in West Malling, but it was a good thing, as the village is chocolate box pretty, and the church very fine indeed. The only church I visited that had no wardens to welcome (I think, sorry if I have mis-remembered). Anyway, a fine church, amazing coat of arms, and glad I visited.
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A story of all's well that ends well. A Norman tower and thirteenth-century chancel are linked by a twentieth-century nave that had in its turn replaced one erected to replace its medieval predecessor in the eighteenth century! The west window and those in the south aisle are by C.E. Kempe and Co. Ltd, and of special note is the one depicting the Three Kings. On the south side of the chancel, backing on to a medieval lean-to vestry, is the splendid tomb of Sir Robert Brett (d. 1620), which has recently been restored. The colours are superb and show how churches must have looked when these monuments were new. In the north aisle is a large painting of the Last Supper by Francis Slater, the eighteenth-century artist who painted the ceilings of nearby Mereworth Castle. Hanging on the front of the west gallery are the outstanding Royal Arms of James II, of carved and painted wood. The twentieth-century rebuilding of the church was financed by the sale of an Elizabethan stoneware jug (now in the British Museum), the transaction being recorded on an inscribed stone in the north porch.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=West+Malling
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WESTWARD from East Malling lies the town and parish of West Malling, now most commonly called Town Malling.
It is written in Domesday, MALLENGETIS, and in the Textus Roffensis, MELLINGES. In many deeds after the conquest, it is stiled MILLINGES PARVA, to distinguish it from East Malling, then the larger and more noted village of the two.
The town and parish of West Malling, excepting the borough of St. Leonard, which is under the jurisdiction of the constables of the hundred of Larkfield, is under the jurisdiction of its own constables, of which there are two chosen yearly.
THE PARISH of Town Malling, as it is usually called, is situated equally pleasant and healthy. It lies on high ground, and though dry is well watered, the soil of it being in the northern part a sand, the rest of it a loam, covering the quarry rock, which is very fertile, as has been frequently noticed before in the like situations. The high road from London through Wrotham to Maidstone, at the twenty-ninth mile stone leads along the northern boundaries of the parish, being called in king Edmund's grant of this place to the bishop of Rochester, the military way, no doubt from its having been used as such by the Romans, southward of it the ground gently rising; at less than a quarter of a mile's distance is the town of Malling, which is well built, having many genteel houses in it, the streets of a handsome width, and well paved. At the east end of it is the abbey, to which the approach is by a venerable antient gateway. Although the house itself was almost all of it pulled down and rebuilt by Mr. Honywood, yet many of the antient buildings and offices be longing to it are still remaining, and are made use of as such at present. A handsome tower of the church, the front of which is decorated with intersecting arches and zig-zag ornaments, similar to those on the west front of Rochester cathedral, built by the same founder, bishop Gundulph, is still remaining, as is an antient chapel or oratory, now made use of as a dwellinghouse.
From the foundations discovered in levelling the ground by Mr. Honywood, it appears, that this abbey consisted of two quadrangles or courts, with cloysters, and a spacious hall; and that the church had another tower, of the like size to that now standing. The burying-place seems to have been on the south side of the church, as in digging there, great quantities of human bones have been thrown up, and two stone coffins with skeletons in them, the lids of them had no inscriptions on them, but were ornamented each with a cross, having a quaterfoil pierced at the upper end, the stem of which was crossed more than once with foliage, several rings and trinkets, and some old coins have likewise been found at different times in cleaning away the rubbish.
Over the west end of the grand gateway, which stands at the entrance into the precinct of the abbey from the town, at the west end of the building, there is carved in stone, a heart distilling drops of blood, and on the other side, in a shield, Ermine, a crozier in bend sinister, on a chief three annulets.
In the meadows above the gardens, are large square excavations still visible, where the fish ponds of the aunnery formerly were.
The precinct of this monastery is washed by a rivulet of excellent clear water, which rising in the hamlet of St. Leonard, runs by the house, and through the gardens of it, whence gushing through the wall with a cascade, it crosses the road towards the Rev. Mr. Brooke's gardens. There is a view of this abbey in its present state published by Mr. Grose, in his Antiquities of England.
Near the abbey gate there is a good house, with a large garden, canal, and pleasure grounds, behind it, reaching down to the London road. It has been many years the residence of the Brooke's, from whom it passed by the will of Joseph Brooke, esq. who died in 1792, after the decease of his widow in 1796, to the Rev. John Kenward Shaw, brother of Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. who has since, in pursuance of the above will, and by the king's licence, taken the name of Brooke, and now resides in it. A little further westward there is a very antient stone building, called the Old Gaol, having narrow gothic windows, and the walls of great thickness. It is reported to have been the prison belonging to the abbey, and is now used as an oast for the drying of hops. About the middle of the street stands the church, and a little distance from it a good house, late the residence of Benjamin Hubble, esq. whose family have been inhabitants of this town for some length of time, several of them lying buried in this church. He died in 1780, leaving his widow, sister of Richard Savage, esq. of Boughton Monchelsea, surviving, and two daughters, his coheirs, one of whom having married Thomas Augustus Douce, esq. he now resides in it; further southward is the hamlet of St. Leonard, now making part of the town, and called St. Leonard's-street, in which is an antient seat, some years ago the residence of Charles Stewart, esq. whose father admiral Stewart purchased it of judge Twisden. This district had once a cell in it, belonging to the abbey, with a chapel. It was given at the time the manor and church was to it, as has been already mentioned. The whole of it has been long since desecrated, and in ruins; the square tower of the chapel which stands in the next field south-west from the late Mr. Stewart's house, is all that remains of it. It was purchased by him some years ago, of Sir John Honywood, in exchange for other premises near the abbey, and is now made use of as a stowage for hops. Mr. Stewart died in 1780, and was buried near his father in this church, and he was succeeded here by the hon. admiral John Forbes, who lately died posfessed of it. A market is held in the principal highstreet every Saturday, which is plentifully supplied and well frequented. There are three fairs, which are held by the alteration of the stile on August 12, October 2, and November 17, yearly, for horses, cattle, toys, &c. The whole town is excellently well watered with fine springs, which having supplied the town and abbey, collect themselves into one stream, and passing northward through Mr. Brooke's grounds, cross the high Maidstone road, and runs from thence into the Addington brook, just above Leyborne mill.
About half a mile south-east from the abbey there is a good modern-built house, called New Barne, which formerly belonged to Mr. Alchin, from whom it passed to Graham, the present possessor, who resides in it.
Above St. Leonard's street is the high road from Teston over East-Malling-heath, and through this parish to Offham, southward of which this parish extends into the large tract of coppice woods which reach to West Peckham and Mereworth.
Dr. William Briggs, an eminent physician, resided at the latter end of the last century at Town Malling, where he died, Sept. 1704, æt. 64, and was buried in this church, He was a great traveller into foreign countries, and was greatly esteemed for his skill in his profession, as well as for his learning, of which the several writings he published are sufficient testimonies. He was physician in ordinary to king William, and to St. Thomas's hospital, and bore his arms, Gules, three bars gemelles, or, a canton sable. (fn. 1)
THIS PLACE was given, about the year 945, by Edmund, king of the Angles and of Mercia, to Burhric, bishop of Rochester, by the description of a small portion of his land, called Meallingas, containing three plough lands; and he granted it to him, for the good of his soul, in perpetual inheritance, in augmentation of the revenues of his monastery of St. Andrew, with all its rights, liberties, members, and appurtenances, and this he did with the consent of his nobles and princes, whose names were subscribed to it. After the names of king Edmund, Edred his brother, and Eadgife his mother, are those of the archbishops and bishops, and then that of Ælgifu, the king's concubine, Ego Ælgifu Concubina Regis affui, and after her the dukes, &c. The bounds of this land are thus described in Saxon, viz. from the south part of it to the king's plaine, and from thence to the bounds of the parish of Offaham, and thence to the military way, and so along the said way over Lilleburne to the bounds of the parish of Est Meallinges, and so directly southward from the east of the cross or gallows to the broad way towards the south, in a direct line along the said way to the king's plaine. To which the king added certain denberies for the pannage of hogs.
This land did not continue long in the possession of the church of Rochester, being wrested from it in the time of the Danish wars; and when William the Conqueror had attained the crown, he gave it to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half brother, from whom it was recovered, together with the church of Mallinges, in the solemn assembly of the whole county held on this occasion, by the king's command, at Pinenden heath, in 1076, by archbishop Lanfrance, who afterward restored it to bishop Gundulph, and the church of St. Andrew; which gift was confirmed by archbishops Anselm and Boniface. (fn. 2)
In the survey of Domesday, taken about four years afterwards, this manor is thus described, under the general title of the bishop of Rochester's lands:
The same bishop (of Rochester) holds Mellingetes, it was taxed, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, at three sulings, and now at one and an half. The arable land is three carucates. In demesne there is one, and five villeins, with fix borderers, having two carucates. There is a church, and one mill of two shillings, wood for the pannage of twenty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth forty shillings, and now four pounds.
Bishop Gundulph, in the 4th year of the reign of king William Rufus, anno 1090, having founded an abbey of Benedictine nuns in this parish, to the honor of the Virgin Mary, gave this manor and church to it, with other possessions for the endowment of it; (fn. 3) and although it was, about one hundred years after its being first erected, with the adjoining village, destroyed by fire, yet it was again soon afterwards re-edified, and continued to increase in a flourishing state.
In the 7th year of king Edward I. anno 1278, the abbess of Malling claimed sundry liberties in this parish, by grant from king Henry III. and a market weekly throughout the year on a Saturday and Wednesday; and she claimed by grant from king John to have warren in all her lands at Malling, by grant from king Henry, from time beyond memory; and to have fairs in the parish on the eve, day, and morrow of St. Matthew the apostle, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Leonard, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Peter, ad vincula.
By which, and such like favours granted to it, this place, which at the first foundation of the monastery was plain fields, and almost without an inhabitant, became notwithstanding its former calamity mentioned before, exceedingly populous from the numbers who flocked to it from all parts, who building themselves houses here, increased the village to a large size, well suited for trade, to the no small emolument of the nuns; whence it soon lost its name of Malling Parva, which was for some time transferred to the neighbouring parish of East Malling, as appears by some grants, &c. of this time, and king Edward III. (fn. 4)
In the 15th year of king Edward I. the temporalities of the abbess of Malling in this parish and East Malling were valued at forty-five pounds.
There was an annual pension of ten pounds of wax, and one boar, paid by the abbess to the bishop of Rochester, as an acknowledgment of her subjection to that see.
In the year 1321, the bishop of Rochester, at the king's request, to whom the nuns had made a complaint, that their monastery was ruined by the bad management of their abbess, sister of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, visited it, and heard the complaints against her; in consequence of which she resigned, and the lady Agnes de Leyborne, was chosen in her room. Three years after which she died, and the bishop, at the unanimous request of the nuns, appointed Lora de Retling abbess here, though much against his will, knowing her to be very ignorant, and unfit for the office. However, he inhibited her giving a corredy to her maid servant, as had been the custom, and sequestered their common seal, inhibiting her from using it without his licence.
A great pestilence raging in the year 1348, the bishop made two abbesses here, who presently died; nor were there more than four nuns professed, and four not professed, remaining in this monastery; and he com mitted the custody of the spirituals and temporals to two of them, as there was not a proper person for the office of abbess.
In the year 1493, anno 9 Henry VII. Joane Moone was abbess of this monastery. (fn. 5)
This abbey was surrendered into the king's hands, with all its possessions, (fn. 6) among which were the manors of East and West Malling, with the precincts of Ewell and Parrock annexed to the latter, by Margaret Vernon, abbess, and the convent of it, in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. at which time it was valued at 245l. 10s. 2½d. annual rent, according to Speed, and 218l. 4s. 2½d. clear value, according to Dugdale, and there was granted to the abbess a pension of forty pounds yearly, and to eleven nuns from 31. 6s. 8d. down to 2l. 13s. 4d. yearly pensions, each for their lives.
After which that king, by his letters patent, in his 31st year, granted and sold, in exchange, among other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, the scite of the abbey, with the precinct and circuit of it, and the manors of West Malling, Ewell, and Parocke, and the parsonage of West Malling, late appropriate to it, excepting to the king all advowsons, presentations, &c. to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned; and as the king was entitled to the tenths of these premises, he discharged the archbishop of them, and all other outgoings whatsoever, except the rent therein mentioned. Which grant was in consequence of an indenture made between the king and the archbishop, inrolled in the Augmentation-office.
These manors and premises were again exchanged with the crown in the beginning of the reign of queen Elizabeth, in the 12th year of which she granted them in lease to Sir Henry Brooke, alias Cobham, fifth son of Sir George Brooke, lord Cobham; after which they were held by the same possessors, as the manor of East Malling before described, till at length, after the death of Sir Robert Brett, anno 1621, king James granted the manor of West, alias Town Malling, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, the scite of the late monastery, with the house, buildings, and ground within the precinct of it with all their appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of the late monastery, in fee, to John Rayney, esq. which was further confirmed to Sir John Rayney, his eldest son, in the 2d year of king Charles I. He was of Wrothamplace, in this neighbourhood, and was created a baronet of Nova Scotia, in 1641, and his son of the same name, about the time of the restoration, conveyed these premises to Isaac Honywood, gent. of Hampsted, Middlesex, who was the only son of Edward, third son of Sir Thomas Honywood, of Elmsted, ancestor likewise of the present Sir John Honywood, of Elmsted, baronet, and he continued to bear the same coat of arms; whose second son, Isaac Honywood, esq. of Hampsted, succeeded him in this manor and estate. Frazer Honywood, esq. of Hampsted and London, his only son and heir, rebuilt the abbey house of Malling in the antient gothic taste, at a very great expence, making it one of the seats of his residence, and having thus greatly improved it, he died possessed of this seat and manor, with the estate belonging to it, in 1764, leaving no issue by his wife, the daughter of Abraham Atkins, of Clapham. He gave them, as well as the rest of his estates here and elsewhere, by will, to his kinsman, Sir John Honywood, bart. of Elmsted, and his heirs male, with divers remainders over to the family of Honywood. Sir John Honywood, bart. is since deceased, and his grandson of the same name is the present owner of this manor, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, and the seat of Malling abbey, with the lands and appurtenances in this parish belonging to it, but Mr. Foote resides in it.
The family of Say antiently possessed THE MANOR of CLEMENTS IN EWELL, in this parish. Geoffry de Say held it in the 7th year of king Edward II. as half a knight's fee. His son, Geoffry de Say, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as half a knight's fee, which John at Forde held before in Ewell, in Malling, of the bishop of Rochester. This manor was afterwards in the name of Coveney, (fn. 7) and in the latter end of king Henry VIII. it was in the possession of Mr. William Fowle. Since which it has sunk into such obscurity, that neither the scite nor the owners of it can be traced out even by the most diligent enquiries.
CHARITIES.
THERE is a lecture founded in this church of a sermon every fortnight, on the Saturday; two of the preachers to be the ministers of East and West Malling, who are to be paid 10s. for every sermon they preach; the other preachers are appointed at the will of the trustees.
FRANCIS TRESSE, gent. of this town, who died in 1632, by his will gave a piece of land, and 40l. towards the building of a free school in this parish; and he charged one of his houses in Town Malling with the sum of 13s. 4d. per annum, for the keeping of it in repair; and appointed that four principal freeholders of this parish should be trustees for the execution of this part of his will for ever. This school was accordingly erected, and was made use of for the teaching of boys writing and arithmetic. The charity is veisted in the minister and tour substantial freehold inhabitants, and the estate out of which it is paid in Mr. Robert Sutton, of this parish, but there being no master, the school-house is at present let to the late master's widow at 2gs. perannum, which with the 13s. 4d. is applied towards the maintaining of the building. He also gave two silver cups for the use of the holy communion, and 6s. 8d. payable yearly out of a piece of land, called Cousin's Plat, now vested in Mary Brome, widow.
SIR ROBERT BRETT, by will in 1620, gave land sufficient to pay yearly 10s. per week, to be bestowed in bread and meat to twenty poor persons, or else to be distributed in money to them. His executors accordingly conveyed lands in Tewksbury, in Gloucestershire, for this purpose, which is now vested in lord Romney, and twenty-three others, trustees, of the annual produce of 26l. but of late years the annual produce has been but 19l. 14s.
TOWN MALLING is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURIDISCTION of the diocese of Rochester, and gives name to the deanry of Malling, in which it is situated.
The church, which is a handsome building, with an elegant spire steeple, is dedicated to St. Mary.
At the latter end of the year 1778, some of the main pillars of the body of it giving way, the whole roof of it fell in, leaving only the steeple and chancel at the two extremities of it standing. It has since been repaired, and thoroughly finished by a brief, which was obtained for that purpose.
The church of West Malling was given, with the manor, to the church of Rochester, by king Edmund, in 945; and having afterwards been taken from it, was again restored by archbishop Lanfranc to bishop Gundulph, in the time of the Conqueror, who gave it to the monastery here, at his foundation of it, and this gift was confirmed by several succeeding kings, archbishops of Canterbury, bishops of Rochester, &c. as has been already mentioned.
It was appropriated to the abbess and convent by bishop Gundulph, at the time it was given to them; which appropriation was specially confirmed by Simon, archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1351.
In the reign of king Edward III. great discutes arising between the abbess and nuns of this monastery, and Robert de Beulton, perpetual vicar of this church, especially concerning the receiving of the tithes of flax and hemp, and the payment of archidiaconal procurations, they were at last settled by Hamo, bishop of Rochester, who in the year 1339, decreed, that, saving the due and accustomed portion of the prebend of the great mass in the conventual church of Malling, and the portion of the vicar, as undermentioned, the religious should take all tithes of corn within the parish, and all oblations and obventions belonging to their conventual church, and the cell of St. Leonard; and that they should not be bound to pay to the vicar the tithes of their hay, woods, or mills. And whereas the bishop was informed, and it was allowed, that the above-mentioned prebendary, and other domestics, serving in the monastery, or in the houses of the prebendary, or perpetual chaplain, celebrating for the dead, as also the brothers and sisters, and other persons dwelling in the monastery, or house of the prebendary, who, when they were without the monastery and houses, were not housekeepers in the parish, were wont to receive the sacraments and sacramentals, in life and in death, and to be buried there, if they happened to die within the monastery or houses, unless by chance they chose to be buried elsewhere; in which case, the religious had the first mass for the body before them, in their monastery, and received all the oblations then and there made, so that no portion was left for the vicar of the parish church. And further, that the prebendary for the time being had been used to receive antiently, and to that time, in part of the portion due to him, all the great and small tithes of the demesne lands of the religious, and of the food of their cattle, and also the great tithes arising from many of the crofts of their tenants situated in the said parish, and also the small tithes of his house, and of the house and land of the perpetual chaplain aforesaid, and all the predial tithes arising from the houses or messuages, curtilages and gardens, late of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, in the street, called Holirode-strete, of this parish of Malling, situated above the house of the prebendary; and of all the houses, messuages, curtilages, and gardens whatsoever, from thence towards the east and north in Holirode-street, and in the street, called Tan-street, as far as the end of the parish of Malling on that side; and that the religious and prebendary had possessed all and singular the premises aforesaid, in certain distinct portions, peaceably and without contradiction, from the time beyond memory. (fn. 8)
The bishop, therefore, that none of the premises should be altered, decreed, saving all and every matter as aforesaid, that the vicar should receive for his portion all other small tithes, oblations, obventions and profits belonging to the parish church more especially, viz. the tithe of herbage, silva cedua, apples, pears, flax, hemp, wool, milk, cheese, calves, lambs, pigs, pidgeons, geese, ducks, bees, eggs, merchandizings, fowlings, fishings, swans, pulse, and other fruits, and also of corn growing in orchards or gardens, as he had-been accustomed to receive them.
¶And that the vicar should also receive the personal tithes of the inhabitants of the houses or messuages of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, and of others, inhabiting in the houses or messuages situated in the streets, called Holirode-strete and Tan-strete, and the oblations due and accustomed to the parish church, and should administer ecclesiastical rights to them, and should have the burial of them in the parish church; and that the vicar should have for his habitation, as assigned to him by the religious, the dwelling with its precinct, which the vicar then inhabited, and his predecessors used to inhabit, which he should repair at his own expence, and preserve in a decent state, and should pay the yearly rents and services, due and accustomed from thence; all which the bishop adjudged to be a sufficient portion for the vicar for the time being. And he further decreed, that the vicar should cause the books to be bound, the vestments to be washed; and the same, and the rest of the ornaments of the parish church, which belonged to the religious to find, as often as need should require, to be repaired, and should cause them to be safely and honestly kept; and that he should provide and find bread, wine, processional tapers, and other lights necessary and accustomed in the chancel, the necessary and accustomed ministers, rochets, surplices, napkins, unconsecrated vessels, basons, and also green rushes to strow the church, if they had been so accustomed, and did not belong to the parishioners to find; and that he should pay the dues to the bishop, and the archidiaconal procurations, and that the vicar should acknowledge and undergo, according to the rate of the taxation of his portion as under-mentioned, all ordinaries and extraordinaries, which, although it might amount to five marcs, being near the moiety of the value of the whole church, according to the estimation then had, he decreed should remain according to the antient taxation of it, as often as burthens of this kind were to be borne, and paid from small benefices. And he decreed, that the religious should acknowledge and undergo all and singular other burthens happening to the parish church, by reason of their portion, which he estimated at twelve marcs, according to the antient taxation of it, notwithstanding this assignation, which was made with the consent of both parties, and which by his episcopal authority, he corroborated and confirmed, &c. and that it might not be called in doubt in future times, or be litigated, he had caused it to be entered in his register, and to be reduced into three different writings, of which he decreed one to remain in the hands of the religious, another in the hands of the vicar, and the third in the hands of the prebendary aforesaid, to perpetuate the memory of it, and had caused it to be authenticated with his seal, &c.
This parsonage, prebend, and the advowson of the vicarage, were, on the dissolution of the abbey in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. surrendered into the king's hands. After which the king, next year, granted this parsonage, with the manor of West Malling, and other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned. After which it passed, with the manor of West Malling, in a like succession of ownership, down to Sir John Rayney, bart. who sold these premises, about the time of the restoration, to judge Twisden, and his descendant, Sir John Papillon Twisden, bart. is the present possessor of this parsonage, and the advowson of the vicarage of West or Town Malling.
The vicarage is valued in the king's books at ten pounds, and the yearly tenths at one pound.
Amtrak westbound Pennsylvanian train 43 or 07T by NS starts the round the curve in Tipton, Pa as the sun slowly sets over PA.
And so to the weekend again. And what might be the last orchid-free weekend until well into June or even August.
So, enjoy the churches while you can.
Saturday, and not much really planned. We get up at half six with it fully light outside. The cloud and drizzle had not arrived, instead it was pretty clear and sunny.
No time for thinking about going out to take shots, as we had hunter-gathering to do.
In fact, we didn't need much, just the usual stuff to keep us going. That and the car was running on fumes. So we will that up first, and then into Tesco and round and round we go, fully the trolley up. It being Mother's Day on Saturday, we were having Jen round on Sunday, we were to have steak, so I get mushrooms.
And once back, we have breakfast then go to Preston for the actual steak, three ribeyes, all cut from the same stip. Jools had gone to look at the garden centre for ideas as we're going to dig up the raspberries, so just wondering what to put in their place.
By then the rain had come, and so we dashed back to the car, and on the way home called in at two churches.
First off was Goodnestone, just the other side of Wingham.
Its a fine estate church, covered in wonderfully knapped bricks, giving it an East Anglian feel. Before we went in, we sheltered under a tree to much on a sausage roll I had bought at the butcher, that done, we go to the church, which is open.
I have been here quite recently, five years back, and in truth no much glass to record, but I do my best, leave a fiver of the weekly collection and we drove over the fields to Eastry.
St Mary is an impressive church, with carved and decorated west face of the Norman tower, at its base an odd lean-to porch has been created, leading into the church, which does have interest other than the 35 painted medallions high in the Chancel Arch, once the backdrop to the Rood.
I snap them with the big lens, and the windows too. A warden points out what looks like a very much older painted window high among the roof timbers in the east wall of the Chancel.
I get a shot, which is good enough, but even with a 400mm lens, is some crop.
I finish up and we go home, taking it carefully along nearly flooded roads.
Being a Saturday, there is football, though nothing much of interest until three when Norwich kick off against Stoke: could they kick it on a wet Saturday afternoon in the Potteries?
No. No, they couldn't.
Ended 0-0, City second best, barely laid a glove on the Stoke goal.
And then spots galore: Ireland v England in the egg-chasing, Citeh v Burnley in the Cup and Chelsea v Everton in the league, all live on various TV channels.
I watch the first half of the rugby, then switch over when England were reduced to 14, so did enjoy the lad Haarland score another hat-trick in a 6-0 demolition.
And that was that, another day over with.....
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Set away from the main street but on one of the earliest sites in the village, flint-built Eastry church has an over restored appearance externally but this gives way to a noteworthy interior. Built in the early thirteenth century by its patrons, Christ Church Canterbury, it was always designed to be a statement of both faith and power. The nave has a clerestory above round piers whilst the east nave wall has a pair of quatrefoils pierced through into the chancel. However this feature pales into insignificance when one sees what stands between them - a square panel containing 35 round paintings in medallions. There are four deigns including the Lily for Our Lady; a dove; Lion; Griffin. They would have formed a backdrop to the Rood which would have been supported on a beam the corbels of which survive below the paintings. On the centre pier of the south aisle is a very rare feature - a beautifully inscribed perpetual calendar or `Dominical Circle` to help find the Dominical letter of the year. Dating from the fourteenth century it divides the calendar into a sequence of 28 years. The reredos is an alabaster structure dating from the Edwardian period - a rather out of place object in a church of this form, but a good piece of work in its own right. On the west wall is a good early 19th century Royal Arms with hatchments on either side and there are many good monuments both ledger slabs and hanging tablets. Of the latter the finest commemorates John Harvey who died in 1794. It shows his ship the Brunswick fighting with all guns blazing with the French ship the Vengeur. John Bacon carved the Elder this detailed piece of work.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Eastry
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Above the Chancel Arch, enclosed within a rectangular frame, are rows of seven "medallion" wall paintings; the lower group was discovered in 1857 and the rest in 1903. They remained in a rather dilapidated state until the Canterbury Cathedral Wall Paintings Department brought them back to life.
The medallions are evidently of the 13th Century, having been painted while the mortar was still wet. Each medallion contains one of four motifs:
The trefoil flower, pictured left, is perhaps a symbol of the Blessed Virgin Mary to whom the church is dedicated; or symbolic of Christ.
The lion; symbolic of the Resurrection
Doves, either singly, or in pairs, represent the Holy Spirit
The Griffin represents evil, over which victory is won by the power of the Resurrection and the courage of the Christian.
www.ewbchurches.org.uk/eastrychurchhistory.htm
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EASTRY,
THE next parish north-eastward from Knolton is Eastry. At the time of taking the survey of Domesday, it was of such considerable account, that it not only gave name, as it does at present, to the hundred, but to the greatest part of the lath in which it stands, now called the lath of St. Augustine. There are two boroughs in this parish, viz. the borough of Hardenden, which is within the upper half hundred of Downhamford, and comprehends the districts of Hardenden, Selson and Skrinkling, and the borough of Eastry, the borsholder of which is chosen at Eastry-court, and comprehends all the rest of the parish, excepting so much of it as lies within that part of the borough of Felderland, which is within this parish.
THE PARISH OF EASTRY, a healthy and not unpleasant situation, is about two miles and an half from north to south, but it is much narrower the other way, at the broadest extent of which it is not more than a mile and an half. The village of Eastry is situated on a pleasing eminence, almost in the centre of the parish, exhiblting a picturesque appearance from many points of view. The principal street in it is called Eastrystreet; from it branch off Mill street, Church-street and Brook-street. In Mill street is a spacious handsome edisice lately erected there, as a house of industry, for the poor of the several united parishes of Eastry, Norborne, Betshanger, Tilmanstone, Waldershare, Coldred, Lydden, Shebbertswell, Swynfield, Wootton, Denton, Chillenden and Knolton. In Churchstreet, on the east side, stands the church, with the court-lodge and parsonage adjoining the church-yard; in this street is likewise the vicarage. In Brook-street, is a neat modern house, the residence of Wm. Boteler, esq. and another belonging to Mr. Thomas Rammell, who resides in it. Mention will be found hereafter, under the description of the borough of Hernden, in this parish, of the descent and arms of the Botelers resident there for many generations. Thomas Boteler, who died possessed of that estate in 1651, left three sons, the youngest of whom, Richard, was of Brook-street, and died in 1682; whose great-grandson, W. Boteler, esq. is now of Brook-street; a gentleman to whom the editor is much indebted for his communications and assistance, towards the description of this hundred, and its adjoining neighbourhood. He has been twice married; first to Sarah, daughter and coheir of Thomas Fuller, esq. of Statenborough, by whom he has one son, William Fuller, now a fellow of St. Peter's college, Cambridge: secondly, to Mary, eldest daughter of John Harvey, esq. of Sandwich and Hernden, late captain of the royal navy, by whom he has five sons and three daughters. He bears for his arms, Argent, on three escutcheons, sable, three covered cups, or; which coat was granted to his ancestor, Richard Boteler, esq. of Hernden, by Cooke, clar. in 1589. Mr. Boteler, of Eastry, is the last surviving male of the family, both of Hernden and Brook-street. Eastry-street, comprizing the neighbourhood of the above mentioned branches, may be said to contain about sixty-four houses.
At the south-east boundary of this parish lies the hamlet of Updown, adjoining to Ham and Betshanger, in the former of which parishes some account of it has been already given. At the southern bounds, adjoining to Tilmanstone, lies the hamlet of Westone, formerly called Wendestone. On the western side lies the borough of Hernden, which although in this parish, is yet within the hundred of Downhamford and manor of Adisham; in the southern part of it is Shrinkling, or Shingleton, as it is now called, and the hamlet of Hernden. At the northern part of this borough lie the hamlets and estates of Selson, Wells, and Gore. Towards the northern boundary of the parish, in the road to Sandwich, is the hamlet of Statenborough, and at a small distance from it is that part of the borough of Felderland, or Fenderland, as it is usually called, within this parish, in which, adjoining the road which branches off to Word, is a small seat, now the property and residence of Mrs. Dare, widow of Wm. Dare, esq. who resides in it. (fn. 1)
Round the village the lands are for a little distance, and on towards Statenborough, inclosed with hedges and trees, but the rest of the parish is in general an open uninclosed country of arable land, like the neighbouring ones before described; the soil of it towards the north is most fertile, in the other parts it is rather thin, being much inclined to chalk, except in the bottoms, where it is much of a stiff clay, for this parish is a continued inequality of hill and dale; notwithstanding the above, there is a great deal of good fertile land in the parish, which meets on an average rent at fifteen shillings an acre. There is no wood in it. The parish contains about two thousand six hundred and fifty acres; the yearly rents of it are assessed to the poor at 2679l.
At the south end of the village is a large pond, called Butsole; and adjoining to it on the east side, a field, belonging to Brook-street estate, called the Butts; from whence it is conjectured that Butts were formerly erected in it, for the practice of archery among the inhabitants.
A fair is held here for cattle, pedlary, and toys, on October the 2d, (formerly on St. Matthew's day, September the 21st) yearly.
IN 1792, MR. BOTELER, of Brook-street, discovered, on digging a cellar in the garden of a cottage, situated eastward of the highway leading from Eastrycross to Butsole, an antient burying ground, used as such in the latter time of the Roman empire in Britain, most probably by the inhabitants of this parish, and the places contiguous to it. He caused several graves to be opened, and found with the skeletons, fibulæ, beads, knives,umbones of shields, &c. and in one a glass vessel. From other skeletons, which have been dug up in the gardens nearer the cross, it is imagined, that they extended on the same side the road up to the cross, the ground of which is now pretty much covered with houses; the heaps of earth, or barrows, which formerly remained over them, have long since been levelled, by the great length of time and the labour of the husbandman; the graves were very thick, in rows parallel to each other, in a direction from east to west.
St. Ivo's well, mentioned by Nierembergius, in Historia de Miraculis Natureæ, lib. ii. cap. 33; which I noticed in my folio edition as not being able to find any tradition of in this parish, I have since found was at a place that formerly went by the name of Estre, and afterwards by that of Plassiz, near St. Ives, in Huntingdonshire. See Gales Scriptores, xv. vol. i. p.p. 271, 512.
This place gave birth to Henry de Eastry, who was first a monk, and then prior of Christ-church, in Canterbury; who, for his learning as well as his worthy acts, became an ornament, not only to the society he presided over, but to his country in general. He continued prior thirty-seven years, and died, far advanced in life, in 1222.
THIS PLACE, in the time of the Saxons, appears to have been part of the royal domains, accordingly Simon of Durham, monk and precentor of that church, in his history, stiles it villa regalis, quæ vulgari dicitur Easterige pronuncione, (the royal ville, or manor, which in the vulgar pronunciation was called Easterige), which shews the antient pre-eminence and rank of this place, for these villæ regales, or regiæ, as Bede calls them, of the Saxons, were usually placed upon or near the spot, where in former ages the Roman stations had been before; and its giving name both to the lath and hundred in which it is situated corroborates the superior consequence it was then held in. Egbert, king of Kent, was in possession of it about the year 670, at which time his two cousins, Ethelred and Ethelbright, sons of his father's elder brother Ermenfrid, who had been entrusted to his care by their uncle, the father of Egbert, were, as writers say, murdered in his palace here by his order, at the persuasion of one Thunnor, a slattering courtier, lest they should disturb him in the possession of the crown. After which Thunnor buried them in the king's hall here, under the cloth of estate, from whence, as antient tradition reports, their bodies were afterwards removed to a small chapel belonging to the palace, and buried there under the altar at the east end of it, and afterwards again with much pomp to the church of Ramsey abbey. To expiate the king's guilt, according to the custom of those times, he gave to Domneva, called also Ermenburga, their sister, a sufficient quantity of land in the isle of Thanet, on which she might found a monastery.
How long it continued among the royal domains, I have not found; but before the termination of the Saxon heptarchy, THE MANOR OF EASTRY was become part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, and it remained so till the year 811, when archbishop Wilfred exchanged it with his convent of Christchurch for their manor of Bourne, since from the archbishop's possession of it called Bishopsbourne. After which, in the year 979 king Ægelred, usually called Ethelred, increased the church's estates here, by giving to it the lands of his inheritance in Estrea, (fn. 2) free from all secular service and siscal tribute, except the repelling of invasions and the repairing of bridges and castles, usually stiled the trinoda necessitas; (fn. 3) and in the possession of the prior and convent bove-mentioned, this manor continued at the taking of the survey of Domesday, being entered in it under the general title of Terra Monachorum Archiepi; that is, the land of the monks of the archbishop, as follows:
In the lath of Estrei in Estrei hundred, the archbishop himself holds Estrei. It was taxed at Seven sulings. The arable land is . . . . In demesne there are three carucates and seventy two villeins, with twenty-two borderers, having twenty-four carucates. There is one mill and a half of thirty shillings, and three salt pits of four shillings, and eighteen acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of ten hogs.
After which, this manor continued in the possession of the priory, and in the 10th year of king Edward II. the prior obtained a grant of free-warren in all his demesne lands in it, among others; about which time it was valued at 65l. 3s. after which king Henry VI. in his 28th year, confirmed the above liberty, and granted to it a market, to be held at Eastry weekly on a Tuesday, and a fair yearly, on the day of St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist; in which state it continued till the dissolution of the priory in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when it came in to the king's hands, where it did not remain long, for he settled it, among other premises, in the 33d year of his reign, on his new created dean and chapter of Canterbury, part of whose possessions it continues at this time. A court leet and court baron is held for this manor.
The manerial rights, profits of courts, royalties, &c. the dean and chapter retain in their own hands; but the demesne lands of the manor, with the courtlodge, which is a large antient mansion, situated adjoining to the church-yard, have been from time to time demised on a benesicial lease. The house is large, partly antient and partly modern, having at different times undergone great alterations. In the south wall are the letters T. A. N. in flint, in large capitals, being the initials of Thomas and Anne Nevinson. Mr. Isaac Bargrave, father of the present lessee, new fronted the house, and the latter in 1786 put the whole in complete repair, in doing which, he pulled down a considerable part of the antient building, consisting of stone walls of great strength and thickness, bringing to view some gothic arched door ways of stone, which proved the house to have been of such construction formerly, and to have been a very antient building. The chapel, mentioned before, is at the east end of the house. The east window, consisting of three compartments, is still visible, though the spaces are filled up, it having for many years been converted into a kitchen, and before the last alteration by Mr. Bargrave the whole of it was entire.
At this mansion, then in the hands of the prior and convent of Christ-church, archbishop Thomas Becket, after his stight from Northampton in the year 1164, concealed himself for eight days, and then, on Nov. 10, embarked at Sandwich for France. (fn. 4)
The present lessee is Isaac Bargrave, esq. who resides at the court-lodge, whose ancestors have been lessees of this estate for many years past.
THE NEVINSONS, as lessees, resided at the courtlodge of Eastry for many years. They were originally of Brigend, in Wetherell, in Cumberland. They bore for their arms, Argent, a chevron, between three eagles displayed, azure. Many of them lie buried in Eastry church. (fn. 5)
THE FAMILY of Bargrave, alias Bargar, was originally of Bridge, and afterwards of the adjoining parish of Patrixbourne; where John Bargrave, eldest son of Robert, built the seat of Bifrons, and resided at it, of whom notice has already been taken in vol. ix. of this history, p. 280. Isaac Bargrave, the sixth son of Robert above-mentioned, and younger brother of John, who built Bifrons, was ancestor of the Bargraves, of Eastry; he was S. T. P. and dean of Canterbury, a man of strict honour and high principles of loyalty, for which he suffered the most cruel treatment. He died in 1642, having married in 1618 Elizabeth, daughter of John Dering, esq. of Egerton, by Elizabeth, sister of Edward lord Wotton, the son of John Dering, esq. of Surrenden, by Margaret Brent. Their descendant, Isaac Bargrave, esq. now living, was an eminent solicitor in London, from which he has retired for some years, and now resides at Eastry-court, of which he is the present lessee. He married Sarah, eldest daughter of George Lynch, M. D. of Canterbury, who died at Herne in 1787, S.P. They bear for their arms, Or, on a pale gules, a sword, the blade argent, pomelled, or, on a chief vert three bezants.
SHRINKLING, alias SHINGLETON, the former of which is its original name, though now quite lost, is a small manor at the south-west boundary of this pa Kent, anno 1619. rish, adjoining to Nonington. It is within the borough of Heronden, or Hardonden, as it is now called, and as such, is within the upper half hundred of Downhamford. This manor had antiently owners of the same name; one of whom, Sir William de Scrinkling, held it in king Edward I.'s reign, and was succeeded by Sir Walter de Scrinkling his son, who held it by knight's service of Hamo de Crevequer, (fn. 6) and in this name it continued in the 20th year of king Edward III.
Soon after which it appears to have been alienated to William Langley, of Knolton, from which name it passed in like manner as Knolton to the Peytons and the Narboroughs, and thence by marriage to Sir Thomas D'Aeth, whose grandson Sir Narborough D'Aeth, bart. now of Knolton, is at present entitled to it.
There was a chapel belonging to this manor, the ruins of which are still visible in the wood near it, which was esteemed as a chapel of ease to the mother church of Eastry, and was appropriated with it by archbishop Richard, Becket's immediate successor, to the almory of the priory of Christ-church; but the chapel itself seems to have become desolate many years before the dissolution of the priory, most probably soon after the family of Shrinkling became extinct; the Langleys, who resided at the adjoining manor of Knolton, having no occasion for the use of it. The chapel stood in Shingleton wood, near the south east corner; the foundations of it have been traced, though level with the surface, and not easily discovered. There is now on this estate only one house, built within memory, before which there was only a solitary barn, and no remains of the antient mansion of it.
HERONDEN, alias HARDENDEN, now usually called HERONDEN, is a district in this parish, situated about a mile northward from Shingleton, within the borough of its own name, the whole of which is within the upper half hundred of Downhamford. It was once esteemed as a manor, though it has not had even the name of one for many years past, the manor of Adisham claiming over it. The mansion of it was antiently the residence of a family of the same name, who bore for their arms, Argent, a heron with one talon erect, gaping for breath, sable. These arms are on a shield, which is far from modern, in Maidstone church, being quarterly, Heronden as above, with sable, three escallop shells, two and one, argent; and in a window of Lincoln's Inn chapel is a coat of arms of a modern date, being that of Anthony Heronden, esq. Argent, a heron, azure, between three escallops, sable. One of this family of Heronden lies buried in this church, and in the time of Robert Glover, Somerset herald, his portrait and coat of arms, in brass, were remaining on his tombstone. The coat of arms is still extant in very old rolls and registers in the Heralds office, where the family is stiled Heronden, of Heronden, in Eastry; nor is the name less antient, as appears by deeds which commence from the reign of Henry III. which relate to this estate and name; but after this family had remained possessed of this estate for so many years it at last descended down in king Richard II.'s reign, to Sir William Heronden, from whom it passed most probably either by gift or sale, to one of the family of Boteler, or Butler, then resident in this neighbourhood, descended from those of this name, formerly seated at Butler's sleet, in Ash, whose ancestor Thomas Pincerna, or le Boteler, held that manor in king John's reign, whence his successors assumed the name of Butler, alias Boteler, or as they were frequently written Botiller, and bore for their arms, One or more covered cups, differently placed and blazoned. In this family the estate descended to John Boteler, who lived in the time of king Henry VI. and resided at Sandwich, of which town he was several times mayor, and one of the burgesses in two parliaments of that reign; he lies buried in St. Peter's church there. His son Richard, who was also of Sandwich, had a grant of arms in 1470, anno 11th Edward IV. by Thomas Holme, norroy, viz. Gyronny of six, argent and sable, a covered cup, or, between three talbots heads, erased and counterchanged of the field, collared, gules, garnished of the third. His great-grandson Henry Boteler rebuilt the mansion of Heronden, to which he removed in 1572, being the last of his family who resided at Sandwich. He had the above grant of arms confirmed to him, and died in 1580, being buried in Eastry church. Richard Boteler, of Heronden, his eldest son by his first wife, resided at this seat, and in 1589 obtained a grant from Robert Cook, clarencieux, of a new coat of arms, viz. Argent, on three escutcheons, sable, three convered cups, or. Ten years after which, intending as it should seem, to shew himself a descendant of the family of this name, seated at Graveney, but then extinct, he obtained in 1599 a grant of their arms from William Dethic, garter, and William Camden, clarencieux, to him and his brother William, viz. Quarterly, first and fourth, sable, three covered cups, or, within a bordure, argent; second and third, Argent, a fess, chequy, argent and gules, in chief three cross-croslets of the last, as appears (continues the grant) on a gravestone in Graveney church. He died in 1600, and was buried in Eastry church, leaving issue among other children Jonathan and Thomas. (fn. 7) Jonathan Boteler, the eldest son, of Hernden, died unmarried possessed of it in 1626, upon which it came to his next surviving brother Thomas Boteler, of Rowling, who upon that removed to Hernden, and soon afterwards alienated that part of it, since called THE MIDDLE FARM, to Mr. Henry Pannell, from whom soon afterwards, but how I know not, it came into the family of Reynolds; from which name it was about fifty years since alienated to John Dekewer, esq. of Hackney, who dying in 1762, devised it to his nephew John Dekewer, esq. of Hackney, the present possessor of it.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sandwich.
The church, which is exempted from the archdeacon, is dedicated to St. Mary; it is a large handsome building, consisting of a nave and two side isles, a chancel at the east end, remarkably long, and a square tower, which is very large, at the west end, in which are five very unmusical bells. The church is well kept and neatly paved, and exhibits a noble appearance, to which the many handsome monuments in it contribute much. The arch over the west door is circular, but no other parts of the church has any shew of great antiquity. In the chancel are monuments for the Paramors and the Fullers, of Statenborough, arms of the latter, Argent, three bars, and a canton, gules. A monument for several of the Bargrave family. An elegant pyramidial one, on which is a bust and emblematical sculpture for John Broadley, gent. many years surgeon at Dover, obt. 1784. Several gravestones, with brasses, for the Nevinsons. A gravestone for Joshua Paramour, gent. buried 1650. Underneath this chancel are two vaults, for the families of Paramour and Bargrave. In the nave, a monument for Anne, daughter of Solomon Harvey, gent. of this parish, ob. 1751; arms, Argent, on a chevron, between three lions gambs, sable, armed gules, three crescents, or; another for William Dare, esq. late of Fenderland, in this parish, obt. 1770; arms, Gules, a chevron vaire, between three crescents, argent, impaling argent, on a cross, sable, four lions passant, quardant of the field, for Read.—Against the wall an inscription in Latin, for the Drue Astley Cressemer, A. M. forty-eight years vicar of this parish, obt. 1746; he presented the communion plate to this church and Worth, and left a sum of money to be laid out in ornamenting this church, at which time the antient stalls, which were in the chancel, were taken away, and the chancel was ceiled, and the church otherwise beautified; arms, Argent, on a bend engrailed, sable, three cross-croslets, fitchee, or. A monument for several of the Botelers, of this parish; arms, Boteler, argent, on three escutcheons, sable, three covered cups, or, impaling Morrice. Against a pillar, a tablet and inscription, shewing that in a vault lieth Catherine, wife of John Springett, citizen and apothecary of London. He died in 1770; arms, Springett, per fess, argent and gules, a fess wavy, between three crescents, counterchanged, impaling Harvey. On the opposite pillar another, for the Rev. Richard Harvey, fourteen years vicar of this parish, obt. 1772. A monument for Richard Kelly, of Eastry, obt. 1768; arms, Two lions rampant, supporting a castle. Against the wall, an elegant sculptured monument, in alto relievo, for Sarah, wise of William Boteler, a daughter of Thomas Fuller, esq. late of Statenborough, obt. 1777, æt. 29; she died in childbed, leaving one son, William Fuller Boteler; arms at bottom, Boteler, as above, an escutcheon of pretence, Fuller, quartering Paramor. An elegant pyramidal marble and tablet for Robert Bargrave, of this parish, obt. 1779, for Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Sir Francis Leigh, of Hawley; and for Robert Bargrave, their only son, proctor in Doctors Commons, obt. 1774, whose sole surviving daughter Rebecca married James Wyborne, of Sholdon; arms, Bargrave, with a mullet, impaling Leigh. In the cross isle, near the chancel called the Boteler's isle, are several memorials for the Botelers. Adjoining to these, are three other gravestones, all of which have been inlaid, but the brasses are gone; they were for the same family, and on one of them was lately remaining the antient arms of Boteler, Girony of six pieces, &c. impaling ermine of three spots. Under the church are vaults, for the families of Springett, Harvey, Dare, and Bargrave. In the church-yard, on the north side of the church, are several altar tombs for the Paramors; and on the south side are several others for the Harveys, of this parish, and for Fawlkner, Rammell, and Fuller. There are also vaults for the families of Fuller, Rammell, and Petman.
There were formerly painted in the windows of this church, these arms, Girony of six, sable and argent, a covered cup, or, between three talbots heads, erased and counter changed of the field, collared, gules; for Boteler, of Heronden, impaling Boteler, of Graveny, Sable, three covered cups, or, within a bordure, argent; Boteler, of Heronden, as above, quartering three spots, ermine; the coat of Theobald, with quarterings. Several of the Frynnes, or as they were afterwards called, Friends, who lived at Waltham in this parish in king Henry VII.'s reign, lie buried in this church.
In the will of William Andrewe, of this parish, anno 1507, mention is made of our Ladie chapel, in the church-yard of the church of Estrie.
The eighteen stalls which were till lately in the chancel of the church, were for the use of the monks of the priory of Christ church, owners both of the manor and appropriation, when they came to pass any time at this place, as they frequently did, as well for a country retirement as to manage their concerns here; and for any other ecclesiastics, who might be present at divine service here, all such, in those times, sitting in the chancels of churches distinct from the laity.
The church of Eastry, with the chapels of Skrinkling and Worth annexed, was antiently appendant to the manor of Eastry, and was appropriated by archbishop Richard (successor to archbishop Becket) in the reign of king Henry II. to the almonry of the priory of Christ-church, but it did not continue long so, for archbishop Baldwin, (archbishop Richard's immediate successor), having quarrelled with the monks, on account of his intended college at Hackington, took this appropriation from them, and thus it remained as a rectory, at the archbishop's disposal, till the 39th year of king Edward III.'s reign, (fn. 10) when archbishop Simon Islip, with the king's licence, restored, united and annexed it again to the priory; but it appears, that in return for this grant, the archbishop had made over to him, by way of exchange, the advowsons of the churches of St. Dunstan, St. Pancrase, and All Saints in Bread-street, in London, all three belonging to the priory. After which, that is anno 8 Richard II. 1384, this church was valued among the revenues of the almonry of Christ-church, at the yearly value of 53l. 6s. 8d. and it continued afterwards in the same state in the possession of the monks, who managed it for the use of the almonry, during which time prior William Sellyng, who came to that office in Edward IV.'s reign, among other improvements on several estates belonging to his church, built a new dormitory at this parsonage for the monks resorting hither.
On the dissolution of the priory of Christ-church, in the 31st year of king Henry VIII.'s reign, this appropriation, with the advowson of the vicarage of the church of Eastry, was surrendered into the king's hands, where it staid but a small time, for he granted it in his 33d year, by his dotation charter, to his new founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, who are the present owners of this appropriation; but the advowson of the vicarage, notwithstanding it was granted with the appropriation, to the dean and chapter as above-mentioned, appears not long afterwards to have become parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, where it continues at this time, his grace the archbishop being the present patron of it.
This parsonage is entitled to the great tithes of this parish and of Worth; there belong to it of glebe land in Eastry, Tilmanstone, and Worth, in all sixtynine acres.
THERE IS A SMALL MANOR belonging to it, called THE MANOR OF THE AMBRY, OR ALMONRY OF CHRIST-CHURCH, the quit-rents of which are very inconsiderable.
The parsonage-house is large and antient; in the old parlour window is a shield of arms, being those of Partheriche, impaling quarterly Line and Hamerton. The parsonage is of the annual rent of about 700l. The countess dowager of Guildford became entitled to the lease of this parsonage, by the will of her husband the earl of Guildford, and since her death the interest of it is become vested in her younger children.
As to the origin of a vicarage in this church, though there was one endowed in it by archbishop Peckham, in the 20th year of king Edward I. anno 1291, whilst this church continued in the archbishop's hands, yet I do not find that there was a vicar instituted in it, but that it remained as a rectory, till near three years after it had been restored to the priory of Christchurch, when, in the 42d year of king Edward III. a vicar was instituted in it, between whom and the prior and chapter of Canterbury, there was a composition concerning his portion, which he should have as an endowment of this vicarage; which composition was confirmed by archbishop Simon Langham that year; and next year there was an agreement entered into between the eleemosinary of Christ-church and the vicar, concerning the manse of this vicarage.
The vicarage of Eastry, with the chapel of Worth annexed, is valued in the king's books at 19l. 12s. 1d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 19s. 2½d. In 1588 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants three hundred and thirty-five. In 1640 here were the like number of communicants, and it was valued at one hundred pounds.
The antient pension of 5l. 6s. 8d. formerly paid by the priory, is still paid to the vicar by the dean and chapter, and also an augmentation of 14l. 13s. 4d. yearly, by the lessee of the parsonage, by a convenant in his lease.
The vicarage-house is built close to the farm-yard of the parsonage; the land allotted to it is very trifling, not even sufficient for a tolerable garden; the foundations of the house are antient, and probably part of the original building when the vicarage was endowed in 1367.
¶There were two awards made in 1549 and 1550, on a controversy between the vicar of Eastry and the mayor, &c. of Sandwich, whether the scite of St. Bartholomew's hospital, near Sandwich, within that port and liberty, was subject to the payment of tithes to the vicar, as being within his parish. Both awards adjudged the legality of a payment, as due to the vicar; but the former award adjudged that the scite of the hospital was not, and the latter, that it was within the bounds of this parish. (fn. 12)