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A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 


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A  CORNER  OF  KENT ; 


OK, 


SOME    ACCOUNT     OF     THE     PAEISH    OF 


ASH-NEXT-SANDWIOH, 


ITS    HISTORICAL    SITES    AND    EXISTING    ANTiaUITXES. 


BY    J.    R.   PLANCHfi, 

EOUGE    CKOTX    PURSUIVANT. 


Seal  of  Uohert  de  Septvans,  temp.  King  John. 


LONDON: 
EOBEET    HAEDWICKE,    192,    PICCADILLY. 

1864. 


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TO 

THE    MOST    EEVEBEND 
CHARLES   THOMAS   LONGLBY,  D.D. 

AUCHBISHOP   or   CANTERBURY, 

AND    PRIMATE    OF    ALL    ENGLAND, 

Cljese  C0ntrikti0ns  tobmh  t^t  pistorg  of  a  ||aris|t 

iE  PEINCIPAL  POETION  OF  WHICH,  FKOM  THE  TIME  OF  THE  CONQUEST, 

FOKMED  FOE  SEVERAL  CENTUEIES  PART  OF  THE  POSSESSIONS 

OF  THE  SEE  OF  CANTERBUSY, 

ARE 

{Miii\f  l^txmmiavi) 
RESPECTFULLY      INSCRIBED      BY 

HIS   GRACE'S 
MOST  OBEDIENT  AND  VERY  FAITHFUL  SERVANT, 

J.    R.    PLANCHE. 


vr 


PREFACE. 


X  AM  not  the  first  person  by  many  who  has  found, 
-^  long  before  he  finished  his  work,  that  he  was 
writing  a  book  he  had  no  idea  of  writing  when  he 
began  it.  Having  a  ''vested  interest"  in  the  parish 
of  Ash,  in  the  shape  of  a  daughter  married  to  the 
incumbent  of  it,  and  mother  of  sundry  urchins  born 
in  it,  I  one  day,  in  an  unguarded  moment,  took  it  in 
my  head  that  a  sort  of  digest  of  the  account  of  the 
said  parish,  which  I  had  read  in  the  third  volume  of 
Mr.  Hasted's  ''  History  of  Kent,"  brought  down  to 
the  present  day,  with  a  few  notes  respecting  costume 
and  heraldry  as  illustrated  by  the  fine  series  of 
monumental  effigies  and  brasses  in  the  church,  a 
pretty  woodcut  or  two,  and  possibly  an  attractive 
plate  by  way  of  frontispiece,  might  be  acceptable  to 
the .  inhabitants  and  useful  to  the  visitors  of  this 
out-of-the-way  corner  of  the  county  ;  and,  as  a  shilling 
hand-book,  if  it  did  not  quite  repay  the  cost  of 
publication,  would  not  inflict  any  very  ruinous 
pecuniary  penalty  on  the  compiler.  In  this  com- 
placent state  of  mind  I  commenced  my  self-imposed 
task,  as  an  agreeable  occupation  of  my  leisure  hours 
during  the  following  three  or  four  months,  and  I  am 


Vlll  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

now  about  to  terminate  it  with  a  mortifying  sense  of 
its  many  deficiencies,  after  it  has  reached  the  extent 
of  a  goodly-sized  octavo  volume,  and  absorbed  every 
moment  of  the  time  I  could  give  to  it,  not  for  three 
months,  but  as  many  years.  Whether  I  have  made 
a  mistake  or  not  remains  to  be  seen.  If  the  public 
— I  mean  that  small  portion  of  it  who  take  an 
interest  in  local  and  family  history — do  not  lay  down 
the  book  till  they  have  finished  it,  they  will  not  be 
surprised  that  I  was  unable  sooner  to  lay  down  my 
pen.  I  do  it  now  with  regret,  as  I  feel  there  are 
many  important  genealogical  questions  which  have 
still  to  be  satisfactorily  answered;  but  I  have  at 
least  pointed  them  out  for  the  examination  of  abler 
antiquaries  with  more  leisure  at  their  disposal,  and 
shall  of  course  bear  them  myself  in  mind  while 
occupied  in  similar  researches  professionally.  It  but 
remains  for  me  now  to  perform  the  agreeable  duty 
of  returning  my  sincere  thanks  to  the  kind  friends 
by  whom  I  have  been  materially  assisted  in  the 
progress  of  my  work.  To  Mrs.  Streatfield,  of  Chart's 
Edge,  and  family,  for  the  liberality  with  which  they 
threw  open  the  doors  of  that  cabinet  containing  the 
countless  treasures  collected  with  such  care  and  at 
such  expense  by  the  indefatigable  and  enthusiastic 
antiquary,  the  late  Mr.  Thomas  Streatfield,  for  his 
contemplated  History  of  Kent,  of  which,  alas !  the 
prospectus  alone  has  been  given  to  the  public;  a 
specimen  which  only  deepens  our  regret  at  the  non- 
fulfilment  of  its  splendid  promise. 


PREFACE.  IX 

To  Mr.  Thomas  Godfrey  Eaussett,  the  descendant 
of  another  most  able  and  zealous  Kentish  antiquary, 
for  the  inspection  of  the  MS.  church  notes  of  his  great 
grandfather,  the  Rev.  Bryan  Faussett,  of  Hepping- 
ton,  whose  extensive  collection  of  Anglo-Saxon  anti- 
quities, chiefly  discovered  by  him  in  the  parish  of 
Ash,  now  forms  part  of  the  museum  of  Mr.  Meyer, 
of  Liverpool. 

My  obligations  to  my  friend  and  co-secretary  of 
the  British  Archaeological  Association,  Mr.  Edward 
Roberts,  I  have  acknowledged  in  the  chapter  devoted 
specially  to  the  church,  respecting  the  architectural 
details  of  which  he  has  furnished  me  with  much 
valuable  information;  but  I  cannot  thank  him  too 
often,  and  this  catalogue  of  benefactors  would  not  be 
complete  without  his  name. 

To  another  architect  and  archaeologist  whose  friend- 
ship I  have  still  longer  enjoyed,  and  whose  reputation 
is  too  well  and  too  widely  established  to  require  a 
word  beyond  the  mention  of  his  name,  Mr.  Arthur 
Ashpitel,  I  am  indebted  for  several  important  sug- 
gestions, for  the  drawings  of  the  recently-discovered 
stone  coffin  and  the  plan  of  the  church. 

While  my  brother  officers  at  the  College  of  Arms 
have  one  and  all  cordially  encouraged  and  assisted 
me  in  my  researches,  the  congenial  taste  and  great 
experience  of  William  Courthope,  Somerset-Herald 
and  Registrar,  have  proved  invaluable  to  me.  His 
intimate  knowledge,  not  only  of  all  the  stores  of 
curious  unedited  documents  in  tlie  College  itself,  but 

h 


X  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

of  our  national  records  generally,  guided  me  in  the 
pursuit  of  information,  and  his  own  elaborate  MS. 
pedigrees  and  genealogical  collections  illustrated 
many  important  points  misrepresented  or  totally 
overlooked  by  previous  writers  of  great  authority. 

Lastly,  but  not  less  gratefully,  I  have  to  return 
my  thanks  to  Miss  Adelaide  Godfrey,  of  Brooke 
House,  Ash,  for  the  spirited  little  drawings,  the 
originals  of  the  w^oodcuts  which  adorn  the  heads  of 
the  four  first  chapters;  and  to  the  Hon.  George 
C.  O.  Bridgeman,  for  the  reduction  of  the  map  of 
the  parish. 

J.  E,  BLANCHE. 


College  of  Arms, 


CONTENTS. 

Introduction: xxi. 

CHAPTER  I. 

BEFOUE    THE    CONQUEST. 

The  Rutupiae  shore  alluded  to  by  Lncan,  1.  Kutupis,  or 
Rutupinum,  now  Richborongh,  2.  Etymological  conjectures  re- 
specting its  name,  ih.  Description  of  the  castle,  3.  "  St.  Augustine's 
Cross,"  6.  The  amphitheatre,  9.  Site  of  the  Roman  town,  10.  Notices 
of  Rutupise  by  the  Roman  poets  and  historians,  from  the  second  to  the 
fifth  century,  14.  Summary  of  the  meagre  materials  for  the  history 
of  Richborough,  from  the  first  invasion  by  Julius  Csesar  to  the  final 
departure  of  the  Romans,  15.  Celebrated  personages  who  must 
have  seen  it  in  its  glory,  16.  The  general  features  it  probably 
presented  at  that  period,  18.  Arrival  of  the  Jutes,  19.  Uncer- 
tainty of  all  Anglo-Saxon  history,  21.  Reptacseaster  and  Ricsburg, 
Saxon  names  for  Rutupis,  22.  Eric  or  Esc,  supposed  son  of  Hengist, 
etymology  of  his  name,  23.  Probable  derivation  of  the  name  of 
the  parish  of  Ash,  ib.  Battle  of  Ebbsfleet,  24.  Reigns  of  Eric, 
Octa,  and  Hermenric,  ib.  Guilton,  or  Guiltonfcown,  celebrated 
pagan  Saxon  cemetery  at,  25.  Speculations  concerning  its  name,  ib. 
Local  tradition  of  a  golden  idol  there,  27.  State  of  Ash  in  the  sixth 
century,  28.  Arrival  of  St.  Augustine  in  the  port  of  Richborough,  ib. 
His  reception  by  King  Ethelbert,  30.  Bertha,  queen  of  Ethelbert ;  a 
stone  in  the  walls  of  Richborough  casfcle  called  Queen  Bertha's 
Head,  31.  Restoration  of  paganism  in  Kent  by  Eadbald,  son  and 
successor  of  Ethelbert,  A.D.  616,  ib.  Pious  fraud  of  Laurentius, 
the  successor  of  Augustine,  ib.  Destruction  of  heathen  temples  and 
idols  throughout  Kent  by  order  of  the  Christian  king,  Ercombert,  32. 
Wasting  of  Kent  by  Cadwalla,  King  of  the  West  Saxons,  and  ter- 
mination   of  its    existence   as  a  separate  kingdom,   A.D.   823,    33. 

h  2 


XU  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

Inroads  and  devastations  of  the  Danes,  ih.  Utter  destruction  of 
Richborough  by  the  Danes,  A.D.  990-994,  34.  Subsidence  of  the 
sea  and  accumulation  of  sand  in  the  port  of  Richborough  during  the 
seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  and  consequent  increase  of  the  im- 
portance of  Sandwich,  ih.  The  river  Wantsum,  35.  State  of  the 
parish  at  the  commencement  of  the  eleventh  century,  36.  Bernholt, 
a  supposed  landholder  in  Ash  in  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  ih. 


CHAPTER  II. 

DESCENT   OE   THE    MANORS. 

Ash  next  Sandwich,  supposed  by  Hasted  to  be  the  Ece  in  Eastry 
Hundred  mentioned  in  Domesday,  37.  -  Osbert  Fitz-Letard  a  tenant 
there  under  Odo,  Bishop  of  Baieux,  temp.  William  the  Conqueror,  ih. 
Enumeration  of  the  manors,  39.  Fleet,  granted  by  Archbishop 
Lanfranc  to  Osborne,  1084,  40.  A  portion  held  by  William 
D'Arques,  ih.  Errors  and  confusion  in  the  accounts  of  him  and  his 
family,  41.  Legal  document  of  the  eighth  of  Eichard  I.,  illustrating 
the  state  of  Richborough  at  that  period,  with  the  names  of  the 
landholders  in  1197,  42.  Tenure  of  that  portion  of  the  manor 
knowm  as  Gurson  Fleet,  by  the  De  Yeres,  Earls  of  Oxford,  under 
the  family  of  Sandwich,  48.  The  other  moiety  called  Butler's 
Fleet,  49.  Descent  of  Gurson  Fleet  to  the  reign  of  Henry  YIL,  50. 
Description  of  Bichborough  Castle,  temj).  Henry  YIII.,  51.  Aliena- 
tion of  the  manor  to  Hammond,  temj;).  Elizabeth,  55  ;  and  descent  to 
the  present  day,  ih.  Butler's  Fleet  passed  from  the  family  of 
Pincerna  to  that  of  Latimer  of  Corbie,  5Q.  Name  changed  to 
liATiMER's  Fleet,  57.  Again  to  Nevil's  Fleet,  5^.  Descent  to 
present  day,  59.  Goshall.  Given  by  Archbishop  Lanfranc  to 
Amoldus,  temp.  William  the  Conqueror,  60.  Banulf  and  Walter  de 
Goshall  holders  of  one  and  a  half  knight's  fee  there,  temp.  Henry  III. 
61.  Sir  John  Maunsel  a  tenant  about  the  same  period,  ih.  Re- 
markable notices  of  him  in  the  Chronicle  of  Matthew  Paris  and 
contemporary  records,  %2.     Descent  of  Goshall  in  the  family  of  that 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

name  from  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  to  that  of  Richard  II.,  Q5.  Passed 
by  a  female  heir  to  that  of  St.  Nicholas,  67  ;  and  from  them  to 
Dynely,  ib.  Descent  from  1484  to  the  present  day,  ih.  Goldston 
granted  with  Goshall  to  Arnoldus  by  Archbishop  Lanfranc,  68. 
William  Fitz- Arnold  a  sub-tenant  to  Eobert  de  Goldstanton,  fourth 
of  John,  A.D.  1202,  ib.  In  the  possession  of  the  family  of  Goshall, 
temp.  Edward  I.,  Edward  II. _,  and  Edward  III.,  69.  Elmes,  or  Nell, 
an  appendage  to  Goldston,  held  by  the  family  of  Leyghe,  ib.  Sir 
Boger  de  Leybourne  Lord  of  the  Manor  in  1266,  70.  Passed  with 
his  grandaughter,  Juliana,  to  William  de  Clinton,  Earl  of  Hunting- 
don, ib.  Descent  from  Clinton  to  Clitherow  and  Norris,  sold  to 
John  Lord  Clinton,  forfeited  to  the  Crown  by  the  attainder  of 
Thomas  Cromwell,  Earl  of  Essex;  granted  by  Henry  YIII.  to 
Vincent  Engham,  Esq.  ;  descent  to  the  present  day,  72.  Overland. 
No  record  of,  previous  to  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  74.  Held  then 
by  the  family  of  Criol  under  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  by  grant 
of  Henry  III.  to  Bertram  de  Criol,  ib.  Passed  to  the  family  of 
Leybourne,  temp.  Edward  I.,  ib.  Juliana  de  Leybourne,  the  Infanta 
of  Kent ;  correction  of  errors  concerning  her,  75;  Overland  forfeited 
to  the  Crown  by  attainder  of  Sir  Simon  de  Burley,  K.G.,  1387,  and 
granted  to  the  Priory  of  Canons  alias  Chiltern  Langley,  77.  Descent 
from  the  reign  of  Henry  YIIL  to  the  present  day,  ib.  Molland. 
Held  by  a  family  of  that  name,  teinp.  Henry  III.,  78.  Passed  to 
that  of  Sandwich  before  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  79.  Carried  by 
Anne,  daughter  and  heir  of  Nicholas  de  Sandwich,  to  her  husband, 
John  Septvans,  ib.  Passed  by  a  female  heir  of  Septvans  alias  Har- 
fleet  to  John  St.  Ledger  of  Doneraile,  Esq.,  82.  Descent  from  1710 
to  present  day,  ib.  Chilton,  a  manor  in  a  borough  of  the  same 
name,  83.  A  Boger  de  Chilton  living  fourteenth  Henry  III.,  ib. 
William  de  Chilton  died  seized  of  the  manor  thirty-first  of  Edward  L, 
85  ;  and  William  de  Baude,  fourth  of  Edward  III.,  ib.  Passed  to 
Thomas  de  Walton,  and  from  him  to  Sir  William  de  Septvans,  86. 
Sold  by  John  St.  Ledger  to  Dr.  George  Thorpe,  Prebendary  of  Can- 
terbury, 1675,  ib.  Bequeathed  by  him  in  1716  to  the  Master  and 
Fellows  of  Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge,  the  present  possessors,  ib. 
Names  of  fields  at  Chilton  in  1286,  ib.  Chequer,  anciently  Estche- 
quer,  probably  so  called  from  the  Essex  family  De  Scaccario^  or 
Exchequer,   ib.     Connection  of  that  fandly  with-  those   of  Peyforer 


XIV  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

and  Sandwich,  87.  Manor  carried  by  Anne  de  Sandwich  to  the 
family  of  Septvans,  alias  Harflete,  alias  Atchequer,  ih.  In  the 
families  of  Alday  and  Monins,  tem20.  Henry  YII. — Edward  YL,  88. 
Eepurchased  by  Harfleet,  ih.  Sold  in  1695  by  Jobn  St.  Ledger  to 
the  Kev.  George  Thorpe,  Prebend  of  Canterbury,  and  bequeathed 
by  him  to  Emmanuel  College,  together  with  the  manor  of  Chilton, 
1716,  89.  Hills  Court,  from  the  family  of  Helles,  or  Hills,  of 
Darent,  county  Kent,  ih.  Descent  of  that  family  from  Agnes, 
sister  of  St.  Thomas  a  Becket,  ih.  Passed  through  the  families  of 
Wroth  and  Slaughter  to  Harfleet,  91.  Sold  by  Henry  Harfleet  to 
Edward  Peke,  of  Sandwich,  tem^y.  Charles  I.,  ih.  Sometimes  called 
''the  Manor  of  Hills  Church  Gate,"  ih.  Descent  from  1701  to 
present  day,  92.  Twitham  Hills.  Identity  of  the  families  of  Hills 
and  Twitham,  ih.  Inquisitions  respecting  the  lands  of  Alan,  son  of 
Theobald  de  Twitham,  and  discrepancies  in  Philipot  and  his  followers 
respecting  Maud  de  Twitham,  93.  In  the  family  of  Septvans  temp. 
Richard  II. — Edward  lY.,  94.  Descent  through  Wroth,  Slaughter, 
and  Harfleet  to  the  present  day,  ih.  Levericks.  Uncertainty  as  to 
the  origin  of  the  name,  ih.  Notices  of  the  family  of  Leverick,  of 
Sandwich,  from  1281  to  1510,  95.  Purchased  by  Peke,  of  Sandwich, 
tern]).  Henry  YII.,  97.  Descent  to  the  present  day,  ih.  Wedding- 
ton.  First  found  in  the  possession  of  the  family  of  Hougham,  in  the 
thirteenth  century ;  supposed  collateral  descendants  of  the  Avranches, 
Lords  of  Folkestone,  99.  Match  with  Sanders  of  Norborne,  100. 
Doubts  respecting  the  arms  supposed  to  be  of  Sanders,  101.  Curious 
MS.  memorandum  of  Francis  Hougham  in  1717,  102.  Wingham 
Barton.  Part  of  the  ancient  possessions  of  the  see  of  Canterbury,  103. 
Tithe  of  the  manor  given  to  the  College  of  Wingham  by  Archbishop 
Peckham  in  1286  j  whence  the  name,  ih.  Family  of  Barton  or 
Berton,  ancestors  of  Finneux  and  Diggs,  ih.  Property  passed  from 
the  see  of  Canterbury  to  the  Crown,  temp.  Henry  YIII., — the  manor 
house  given  by  Edward  YI.  to  Sir  Anthony  St.  Ledger ;  the  manor 
itself  granted  by  Queen  Elizabeth  to  Sir  Roger  Man  wood,  104. 
Descent  from  Sir  Peter  Man  wood,  temp.  James  L,  to  present  day,  ih. 


CONTENTS.  XV 


CHAPTER  III. 

PEHAMBULATION   OE   THE   PARISH. 

Extent,  boundary,  and  divisions  of  the  parish,  106.  Church  of 
Ash,  formerly  Chapel  of  Ease  to  Wingham,  107.  Made  a  parish 
church  and  given  to  Wingham  College  by  Archbishop  Peckham  in 
1286,  108.  Rectory  and  advowson  in  the  King's  hands,  temp> 
Edward  YI.,  ih.  A  separate  vicarage  as  early  as  1286  ;  esteemed  a 
perpetual  curacy  at  the  time  of  the  suppression,  and  the  advowson 
granted  by  Queen  Mary  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  his 
successors,  109.  Passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Com- 
missioners, 1836,  ih.  Present  lessees  of  the  great  tithes,  ih.  Pod- 
ding, 110.  Carved  panelling  commemorating  the  family  of  Solly, 
A.D.  1662,  112.  View  from  the  hill  above  Pedding,  113.  Guilton- 
town  and  Guilton  Parsonage,  ih.  The  School  Farm,  Guilton  Farm,  and 
Mill,  115.  Site  of  the  celebrated  Anglo-Saxon  Cemetery,  ih.  Excava- 
tions there  by  the  Rev.  Bryan  Faussett,  the  Rev.  James  Douglas, 
Mr.   Rolfe,  Mr.   Ingram   Godfrey,   and  the   Rev.  H.  S.  Mackarness, 

116.  Chequer  Lane — Manor-houses  of  Molland  and  Chequer  Court, 

117.  Arms  of  the  Harfleets  in  the  windows  at  Molland,  118.  Nell, 
anciently  Elmes ;  perhaps  so  called  from  the  forest  of  elms  formerly 
existing  there,  121.  The  village  of  Ash  or  Ash  Street,  122.  The 
Chequer  Inn,  123.  The  Yicarage,  ih.  The  Infant  School,  ih.  The 
Lion  Inn,  124.  The  Ship  Inn,  125.  Ash  Mill,  ih.  The  Cartwright 
Schools,  126.  The  Moat  Farm,  ib.  Notices  of  the  families  of 
Stoughton  and  Proude,  ih.  John  Proude's  bequest  of  a  house,  127. 
Mount  Ephraim  and  "  Lovekey  Street,"  129.  New  Street,  ih. 
Road  to  Sandwich  ;  old  workhouse,  now  a  brewery,  ih.  Ash-den, 
Hill's  Court,  Levericks,  CoUarmaker's  Hole,  130.  "The  Causeway," 
131.  Associations  connected  with  it,  131-134.  Modern  alterations, 
134.  East  Street,  Goshall  Fleet,  Goshall,  135.  Brooke  House,  136. 
John  Godfrey,  Esq.,  J.P.,  "the  poor  man's  friend,"  137.  Twitham 
Hill,  Lowton,  Cooper  Street,  Fleet,  ih.  Sham  fight  at  Stonor  before 
Queen  Elizabeth,  September  1st,  1572,  138.  Richborough  Castle 
and  Farm,  139.  Gustou,  ih.  Providence  Cottage,  Potts  Farm, 
Sparrow  Castle,  Sandhills,  Upper  and  Lower  GoJdstone,  Cop  Street, 


XVI  A   CORNEH   OE   KENT. 

140.  Crackstakes,  ib.,  note.  Warehorn,  Paramour  Street,  141. 
"Ware,  Bereling  Street,  142.  Westmarsh,  Houghton,  Wingham 
Barton,  Housden  or  XJpliousen,  Sherewater,  143.  Hoden,  144. 
Overland,  Nash,  145.  Review  of  the  general  features  of  the  parish 
and  value  of  the  land,  celebrity  of  its  market-gardens,  its  climate,  and 
salubrity,  147.  Disappearance ,  of  ancient  edifices,  148.  Singular 
proximity  of  the  old  manor  houses,  150.  Ash  apparently  undisturbed 
by  the  civil  wars  and  popular  tumults  of  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth, 
sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  centuries,  151.  Notices  of  the  Cess 
Books  and  other  parish  accounts,  152.  Verbatim  copy  of  the 
Churchwardens'  accounts  for  1634,  153.  Extracts  from  the  accounts 
for  various  years  from  1635  to  1765,  161-172.  Notices  of  the 
registers  of  baptisms,  marriages,  and  burials,  commencing  first  of 
Elizabeth,  1558,  172.  Alphabetical  list  of  the  principal  remarkable 
names  in  them,  173.  License  for  a  market  and  annual  fair  at  Ash 
granted  to  William  Lord  Latimer  by  Edward  III.  ;  the  curfew  and 
five  o'clock  bell ;  number  of  communicants  in  1588-1640  ;  increase  of 
births  from  1620  to  1820  j  population  from  1801  to  the  last  census, 
1861,  174. 


CHAPTEB>  lY. 

THE    CHURCH   AND   ITS   MONUMENTS. 

Situation  of  the  church,  175.  Probability  of  an  earlier  church 
having  existed  on  the  same  site,  176.  No  portion  of  the  present 
anterior  to  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  ib.  General  form  of 
the  church,  arrangement  and  details,  177.  Discovery  of  a  stone 
coffin  in  1863,  181,  note.  Chantry  of  "John  Stevynj"  of  "the 
Upper  Hall,"  and  of  "Our  Blessed  Lady,"  183.  Shields  of  arms  and 
figures  originally  in  the  windows  of  Ash  church,  186.  Miss  Friend's 
memorial  window,  191.  The  high  chancel  thoroughly  repaired  by 
the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners,  1861,  192.  The  tower  and  bel- 
fry, 193.  The  font,  194.  Extracts  from  the  parish  accounts  of 
payments  for  the  repairs  of  the  church,  bells,  churchyard-gates, 
walls,  &c.,  from  1635  to  1791,  195.     Lists  of  benefactors,  198.     The 


CONTENTS.  XVll 

inonuments  : — Sir  John  de  Goshall,  203  j  effigy  of  a  female  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  204  ;  Sir  John  Leverick,  205  ;  brasses  of  Richard 
Clitherow  and  his  wife,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  207  j  brass  of 
Jane  Keriel,  208  j  presumed  gravestone  of  Koger  Clitherow,  210; 
mural  tablets  to  the  memory  of  Elizabeth  and  Jervas  Cartwright, 
and  of  Eleanor  and  Anne  Cartwright,  212  ;  Latin  epitaph  of  Gervase 
Cartwright,  213  j  mural  tablet, —  Henry  and  Susanna  Roberts  and 
their  children,  and  Eleanor,  sister  of  Henry,  214;  Edward,  Samuel,  and 
Sarah  Solly,  215  ;  Thomas  Coleman^  ib. ;  William  and  Frances  Brett 
and  family,  ib.  ;  John  Godfrey  and  his  daughter  Augusta,  216  j  Arthur 
William  Godfrey,  217  ;  Benjamin  and  Frances  Longley,  ib.  ;  Joseph 
Smith,  218;  effigies  of  John  Septvans  and  Katherine,  his  wife,  ib.  ; 
brass  of  Christopher  Harfleet  and  Mercy  his  wife,  224  ;  brass  of  Walter 
Harfleet  and  Jane  his  wife,  227 ;  mural  monument  of  Sir  Thomas 
Harfleet  and  Bennet  his  wife,  229  ;  mural  monument  of  Christopher 
Toldervey  and  Jane  his  wife,  230  ;  gravestone  of  Thomas  Peke,  231  ; 
of  Susanna  Peke,  232  ;  of  Elizabeth  Lady  Peke,  ib. ;  of  Thomas,  son 
of  Sir  Edward  Peke,  233  ;  singular  epitaph  of  John  Brooke,  ib. ; 
sculptured  stone  with  crest,  supposed  of  the  family  of  Gimber,  234 ; 
Thomas  Singleton,  M.D.,  236  ;  Mrs.  Margaret  Masters,  ib.  ;  John 
Masters,  237  ;  mural  tablet,  Whittingham  Wood,  ib.  ;  mural  tablet, 
Vincent  St.  Nicholas,  238 ;  gravestone,  Samuel  St.  Nicholas,  ib. ; 
gravestone,  Vincent  St.  Nicholas,  239  ;  Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  ib.  ; 
.  .  .  .  St.  Nicholas,  240  ;  mural  monument,  Richard  Hougham, 
of  Weddington,  and  family,  241  ;  brass  to  Michael  and  Richard 
Hougham,  242  ;  brass  of  Wyllm  .  .  s  and  Anys  his  wife,  243  ; 
mural  monument,  Henry  Lowman  and  Mary  his  wife  ;  Colonel  Kien 
and  Jane  his  wife,  244  ;  inscriptions  on  their  coffin  plates,  ib.,  note  ; 
Evert  George  Cousemaker,  ib. ;  tablets  to  the  family  of  Tomlin,  245  ; 
Dorothea  St.  Nicholas,  246  ;  Lieutenant  Henry  Dawson,  R.N.,  ib.  ; 
Captain  Westbeach,  R.N.,  247;  John  Fuller,  of  Molland,  and 
family,  ib.  ;  Richard  Horsman  Solly,  ib.  ;  C.  R.  Streatfield  Nixon,  ib. 
Gravestones  : — Mary  Bax,  248  ;  Mary  Curling,  Mary  Ferrier,  and 
Ann  Roberts  ;  Martha  Westbeach,  Benjamin  and  Elizabeth  Rowe,  of 
Chequer,  and  family  ;  John  Bushell,  ib.  Tombstones  in  the  church- 
yard, 249.  List  of  incumbents,  250-52.  Notices  of  the  chapels  of 
Overland  and  Fleet,  253. 


XVIU  A   CORNEH   OF    KENT. 


CHAPTEE  Y. 

NOTES   AND    QUERIES,    GENEALOaiCAL    AND    HERALDIC. 

Prefatory  observations,  254.  Family  of  Arques,  256.  Avranches, 
260.  Yere  and  Bolbec,  264.  Crevecoeur,  286.  Auberville,  290. 
Criol,  or  Keriel,  291.  Sandwicb,  296.  Septvans  alias  HarHeet,  307. 
Goshall,  350.  St.  Nicholas,  361.  Leverick,  375.  Paramour,  379. 
Hougham,  390.     Solly,  401.     Postscript,  407. 


EEEATA. 

Page  73,  line  25,  /or  "Nicholas  Toke,  of  Goddington,  Esq.,"  read 

"  the  Keverend  Nicholas  Toke  of  Godington." 

Page  78,  line  22, /or  "the  forty-fifth,"  read  "  the  fifty-fifth." 
Page  88,  line  9,  for  "  Masters  and  Wardens,"  read  "  Masters  and 

Fellows." 


DESCEIPTION    OP    ILLUSTRATIONS, 

AND   DIRECTIONS   TO   BINDER. 


Plate  1. — View  of  Ash  Street to  face  Title 

Woodcut. — Seal  of  Sir  Robert  de  Septvans,  ante  9th  of  King  John,  attached  to 
a  deed  whereby  **  Robertus  de  Sevanz,  filius  Roberti  de  Sevanz/'  grants 
to  St.  Gregory's  Priory,  Canterbury,  for  the  sum  of  one  mark,  half  an  acre  of 
land  in  Huggefeld  (said  in  dorso  to  be  Hothfield),  from  the  "  Evidences  of 
Cumbewell  Abbey,"  in  the  College  of  Arms on  Title-page 

Woodcut. — Part  of  the  Ruins  of  Eichborough  Castle Page  1 

Plate  2. — Specimens  of  Anglo-Saxon  Antiquities  discovered  at  Guilton  : — Fig.  1, 
Fibula ;  fig.  2,  Sword-hilt  (reduced)  ;  fig.  3,  Buckle ;  fig.  4,  Chain  and  por- 
tion of  Horse's  Bit,  with  Roman  Coin  attached  to  it     . .  . .  . .    to  face  Page  25 

Woodcut. — Coffer  of  the  Fifteenth  Century,  in  the  Vestry  of  St.  Nicholas 
Church,  Ash    , Page  37 

Woodcut. — View  of  Ash  from  Mount  Ephraim Page  106 

Plate  3. — Map  of  the  Parish  of  Ash    _ to  face  Page  110 

Plate  4. — Ash  Church  from  the  South-west    to  face  Page  175 

Woodcut. — Piece  of  Carved  Oak,  a  portion  of  the  old  Stalls,  dug  up  in  the 
Chancel  in  1861 Page  175 

Plate  5. — Plan  of  St.  Nicholas  Church,  Ash _ to  face  Page  177 

A.  The  Nave ;  B.  Chancel  of  Our  Lady  ;  C.  Central  Tower  ;  D.  North  Tran- 
sept, or  St.  Thomas's  Chapel ;  E.  South  Transept ;  F.  Probable  Site  of 
early  English  Tower,  as  evidenced  by  thicker  walls,  &c.  ;  G.  St.  Nicholas, 
or  Molland  Chancel ;  H.  Porch  ;  /.  Stairs  to  Parvise,  now  a  Vestry ; 
a,  1).  Respond  piece  in  South  Wall ;  c.  Column  built  into  Wall,  from  which 
Arches  spring  right  and  left  ;  d,  e.  Probable  length  of  Anglo-Norman 
Church ;  f,  g,  Ragstone  Column  and  Respond  ;  h,  i.  Foundation  of  old 
Wall. 
No.  1.  Effigy  of  Sir  John  Goshall ;  2.  Effigy  of  a  Lady  ;  3.  Effigy  of  Sir 
John  Leverick  ;  4.  Effigies  of  John  Septvans,  Esq.,  and  Wife  ;  5.  Brasses  of 
Richard  Clitherow  and  Lady  ;  6.  Brass  of  Jane  Keriel ;  7.  Brasses  of  Chris- 
topher Harfleet  and  Wife  ;  8.  Brasses  of  Walter  Harfleet  and  Wife  ; 
9.  Brass  of  William  (Leus  ?)  and  Anys  his  wife ;  10.  Burial-place  of  the  family 
of  St.  Nicholas  ;  11.  Spot  where  the  Stone  Coffin  was  found  ;  12.  Piscina  ; 
13.  Aumbry. 

Plate  6. — View  from  South  Transept,  looking  through  the  High  Chancel  into  the 
Molland  Chancel  , to  face  Page  185 

Plate  7.— Fig.  1.  Effigy  of  Sir  John  Goshall ;  2.  Effigy  of  a  Lady  ;  3.  Capital  of 
Column  in  the  Nave  ;  4.  Fragment  of  a  Monumental  Cross,  dug  up  in 
Churchyard ;  5.  Border  of  Fresco  in  North  Transept  ;  6.  Lid  of  Stone 
Coffin  discovered  in  North  Transept  in  December,  1863  ;  7.  Portion  of 
the  Septvans'  Seat,  discovered  186-1  ;  8.  Capital  of  a  Column  dug  up  in 
Chancel ^ to  face  Page  204 


XX  A   COHNER   OF    KENT. 

Plate  8. — Effigy  of  Sir  John  Leverick to  face  Page  206 

Plate  9. — 1.  Gravestone  and  Keraains  of  Brass  of  Eicliard  Clitherow  and  his 
Wife  ;  2.  Brass  of  Jane  Keriel    to  face  Page  207 

Plate  10. — Effigies  of  John  Septvans,  Esq.,  temj^.  Henry  VI.,  and  his  wife 
Katharine  (?) to  face  Page  218 

Plate  11. — 1.  Brasses  of  Christopher  Septvans,  alias  Harfleet,  and  Wife  ; 
2.  Brasses  of  Walter  Harfleet  and  Wife  ;  3.  Brass  of  William  (Leus  ?)  and 
Anys  his  wife   ,  . ....._ 

Plate  12, — 1.  Monument  of  Sir  Thomas  Harfleet  and  Wife  ;  2.  Monument  of 
Christopher  Toldervy  and  Wife - to  face  Page  229 

Woodcut. — Crest  of  Sir  William  de  Septvans,  from  a  drawing  by  Philipot,  in 
the  College  of  Arms,  from  the  brass  formerly  in  Canterbury  Cathedral,  and 
Shield  of  Arms  of  St.  Nicholas,  from  a  MS.  in  the  College  of  Arms,  marked, 
Vincent,  141 Page  254 

Plate  13. — Figs.  1,  2,  3,  4.  Personages  represented  in  the  old  Windows  of  Ash 
Church,  from  drawings  copied  by  Mr.  Hasted  from  the  ''  Church  Notes  "  of 
Peter  le  Neve  in  1613  {vide  page  189) ;  figs.  5,  6,  John  St.  Nicholas  and  his 
wife,  Margaret  de  Campania,  formerly  in  a  Window  of  Ash  Church,  from 
drawings  by  Philipot,  College  of  Arms;  7.  Seal  of  William  de  Auberville  ; 
8.  Arms  of  Walter  de  Goshall,  from  the  copy  of  a  Poll  of  the  time  of 
Edward  I.,  College  of  Arms — Vincent,  164  ;  9.  Seal  of  Margret  de  Goshall, 
Harleian  Charters,  British  Museum .- to  face  Page  254 


INTEODUCTION. 


nPHE  parish  of  Ash-next-Sandwich,  notwithstand- 
^  ing  that  it  can  boast  but  of  one  village  of  any 
importance,  that  to  which  it  gives,  or  from  which  it 
takes  its  name, — has  probably  as  great  claims  upon 
the  respect  and  interest  of  Englishmen  as  any  other 
in  the  kingdom.  Within  its  boundaries  the  Gauls 
found  their  most  commodious  haven;  the  Eomans 
erected  their  most  famous  fortalice ;  the  pagan  Jute 
established  his  dominion ;  the  holy  Augustine  planted 
the  cross.  Many  of  the  most  celebrated  names  in 
the  roll  of  our  Norman  ancestors  are  connected  with 
its  manorial  records,  and  the  greatest  sovereigns  of 
this  country  for  many  centuries  made  its  now  almost 
deserted  road  the  highway  to  conquest,  returned  by 
it  in  triumph,  or  displayed  on  it  the  pageantry  of 
a  peaceful  progress. 

These  distinctions  have  frequently  been*  claimed 
for  the  county  in  which  it  is  situate ;  but,  while  we 
freely  accord  to  Kent  all  the  honour  that  is  fairly  its 
due,  as  ''  the  grand  scene  of  the  earliest  recorded  of  the 
most  important  events  in  the  annals  of  our  country," 
we  cannot  allow  the  fact  to  be  forgotten  that  it  was 


XXll  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

within  the  boundaries  of  the  present  parish  of  Ash 
that  the  greater  number  actually  occurred. 

The  stranger  who  may  now  ascend  the  venerable 
tower  of  its  church  and  gaze  on  the  wide  and  pleasant 
panorama  presented  to  him  from  its  summit,  will  see 
no  remarkable  object  to  excite  his  curiosity.  The 
long  grey  crumbling  walls  of  E^ichborough  may  easily 
escape  his  notice,  as  his  eye  strays  over  them  to  the 
white  cliffs  of  Eamsgate,  and  blue  waters  of  Pegwell 
Bay,  and  then,  following  to  the  right  the  straight  line 
of  marsh,  rests  upon  the  red  roofs  and  dusky  towers 
of  the  little  old-fashioned  town  of  Sandwich. 

Wo  rock-throned  Pharos  tells  from  afar  of  Eoman 
domination, — no  frowning  battlements  of  feudal 
power, — no  ivy-mantled  arch  of  monastic  grandeur ; 
— all  appears  modern,  peaceful,  pastoral,  and  unro- 
mantic.  On  the  one  hand,  marsh  and  meadow  dotted 
with  sheep ;  on  the  other,  a  smiling  valley,  bounded 
by  a  range  of  low  wood-crowned  hills, — here  and 
there  a  distant  spire,  a  cluster  of  farm-buildings, 
a  mill,  or  an  oasthouse. 

Yet  those  meadows  have  swarmed  with  Csesarean 
soldiery ;  over  what  is  now  a  marsh  have  sailed  the 
Roman  galleys  and  the  Saxon  keels.  Those  hills 
have  witnessed  the  worship  of  Woden ;  amongst  the 
trees  of  one  of  them  nestles  a  village  still  bearing 
his  name ; — that  mill  marks  the  site  of  a  vast  pagan 
cemetery;  those  farms  are  the  remains  of  manor- 
houses,  whose  knightly  owners  lent  lustre  to  the  roll 
of  English  chivalry.     The  sculptured  effigies  of  some 


INTRODTJCTION.  XXlll 

yet  moulder    on  their   monuments   in   the    chancel 
beneath. 

Puffs  of  white  smoke  point  out  the  progress  of  the 
up-train  from  Sandwich  rattling  over  a  railway  which 
sweeps  by  the  amphitheatre  and  round  the  castrum 
of  Rutupis;  an  omnibus  is  rolling  along  the  road 
by  which  Eichard  Coeur-de-Lion  passed  on  foot  to 
Canterbury,  and  Edward  the  Black  Prince  conducted 
a  captive  King  of  Prance  to  London. 


A   CORNER    OF    KENT. 


CHAPTER  I. 


BEFORE    THE    CONQUEST. 


•^  Ant  vaga  cum  Thetis  Eutupinaque  lifcora  fervent, 
Unda  Caledonios,  fallit  turbata  Britannos." — Lucan. 

"So 'Northern  Britons  never  hear  the  roar 
Of  seas  that  break  on  the  far  Cantian  shore." — Bowe. 

rpHE  history  of  the  parish  of  Ash  may  be  said  to 
J-  commence  with  the  above  allusion  by  Lucan,  in 
his  '' Pharsalia,"  lib.  vi.,  to  the  Eutupine  shore:  the 
coast  of  Kent,  or  at  least  that  corner  of  it  north- 
east of  Sandwich,  having  received  that  appellation 
apparently  from  the  Portus  Eutupensis,  the  name 
given  by  the  Eomans  to  the  estuary  which  then 
separated  the  Isle  of  Thanet  from  the  mainland. 


2  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

At  each  end  of  this  estuary  was  a  fort  which 
protected  a  haven,  the  one  called  E^egnlbium,  now 
Reculver;  and  the  other  Rutupis  or  Rutupinnm, 
now  Richborough.  Hence,  it  is  presumed,  the  plural 
name  E;utupi8e.^  The  etymology  of  this  name  is  still 
a  vexed  question.  Camden  suggests  its  derivation 
from  the  British  words  rhyd'tufeth,  vadum  sahulo- 
sum,  or  sandy  flats  or  fords. t  Battely,  from  rupes,  a 
rock;  or  from  the  it^i^^m,  a  people  of  Gaul ;  andMale- 
hranche,  from  ridhen,  interpreted  a  "  rotten  shore." 
But  Pliny  speaks  of  a  Portus  Butubis  in  Africa.^ 
jElian  mentions  a  Sicilian  city  named  Butupi,  and 
the  river  Baya,  which  falls  into  the  Gulf  of  Genoa 
above  Yintimillia,  is  in  the  ancient  maps  of  Liguria 
set  down  as  the  Butuba.  Ordericus  Yitalis  also  tells 
us  of  a  powerful  chief,  called  Butubus,  whose  castle, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Seine,  was  besieged  and  taken  by 
Julius  Caesar,  and  named  by  him,  after  its  former 
owner,  Butubi  Portus.  These  facts  disincline  us, 
therefore,  to  be  satisfied  with  any  of  the  above  sug- 
gestions. A  writer  of  the  Augustine  age,  whose  works 
have  perished,  appears  to  have  used  the  word  rutuba 
to  express  turbulence,  tumult,  or  disorder. 

"  Ergo  turn  Rorase  parce  pureque  prudenteis 
Yixere  in  patria,  nunc  sumus  in  rutuha'"' — Yarro. 

And,  as  it  has  been  already  observed  by  Mr.  Hasted, 

*  The  name  of  it  is  variously  spelt  by  different  authors.  We  find 
"Rutiipise  m-bem,"  "Portus  Rutupensis,"  "Eitupias,"  and  "Ritupis 
portum,"  "Ritupise  statio,"  "Rhutubi,"  and  "Ruthubi  portum,"  &c. 

t  Mag.  Brit.  %  Nat,  Hist.  v.  15. 


BEFORE   THE    CONQUEST.  3 

that  in  old  glossaries,  rutuhari  is  interpreted  *'  the 
raging  of  the  sea,"  and  rutuha^  the  "perturbation  of 
the  waters,"  we  agree  with  him  in  believing  that  the 
stormy  coast  of  Britain  obtained  from  the  Romans 
the  appellation  of  the  Hutupine  shore  in  the  sense  of 
the  ancient  word  which  Nonius  has  preserved  to  us.* 
The  calm  and  safe  harbour,  "stationem  ex  adverso 
tranquillam,"t  offered  to  their  fleets  by  the  estuary, 
might  still  be  called  "Portum  E;utupensem,"  and 
the  city  that  rose  beside  it  '*  Urbem  Rutupise,"  or 
jointly,  as  by  Orosius,  *'  Rhutubi  Portum  et  Civi- 
tatem."  In  the  absence,  however,  of  all  conclusive 
evidence,  we  must  leave  our  readers  to  make  their 
own  election  between  the  Rhyd-tufeth  of  the  Belgic 
Britons  and  the  Eutubus  of  the  Romans  and  Cis- 
alpine Gauls,  the  two  most  probable  conjectures. 
Under  whatever  name  the  locality  might  have 
been  known  to  the  original  colonists,  the  trans- 
mutation to  which  all  foreign  words  were  sub- 
jected by  the  Romans  has  too  effectually  destroyed 
in  this,  as  in  so  many  instances,  the  hope  of  the 
etymologist. 

The  high  ground  upon  Avhich  the  ruins  of  the 
castrum  or  citadel  of  Rutupis  still  exist  was  at  the 
time  of  its  construction  completely  surrounded  by 
water.     Whether  it  has  been  originally  the  site  of  a 

*  "E/utuba,  96,  f. — Rutubam  Yett.  turbationem  appellat  Non.  ex 
Yar.  a  Ruo,  a  tumult,  trouble,  or  disorder." — (Littleton,  Latin  Diet. 
London,  1684.) 

t  Ammianus  Marcellinus. 

B    2 


4  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

British  fort  cannot  now  be  ascertained  ;  but  that  the 
sea  ran  up  to  it,  around  it,  and  far  past  it,  forming  a 
secure  haven  for  the  peaceful  merchant,  or  an  inviting 
entrance  to  the  hostile  invader,  is  a  recorded  fact, 
which  the  features  of  the  country  at  the  present  day 
sufficiently  corroborate. 

Mr.  Hasted,  writing  at  the  close  of  the  last  century, 
says,  *^  It  is  at  this  time  cut  off  from  Gurson  (Gust on) 
by  a  narrow  slip  of  the  marsh,  across  which  even  now 
in  wet  times  the  water  flows  in  so  much,  that  people 
passing  along  the  road  from  Ash  to  Hichborough  are 
obliged  to  ford  through  it.  It  is  an  entire  parcel  of 
land  by  itself,  of  its  own  construction,  being  a  mile 
and  a  quarter  in  length  and  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
in  the  widest  part.""*' 

The  military  genius  of  the  Eomans  was  not  slow 
to  perceive  the  strategic  importance  of  this  point, 
or  to  exert  its  utmost  skill  in  taking  advantage  of  it. 
There  does  not  appear  any  satisfactory  authority  for 
the  exact  date  of  the  erection  of  the  castrum.  The 
Sandwich  MS.,  printed  by  Mr.  Boys,t  professedly 
compiled  from  ancient  records  and  chronicles,  says, 
"  The  ancient  castle  of  Hutupi,  now  Bichborrow,  was 
begun  to  be  built  by  Vespatian,  being  the  generall  of 
the  Romans  in  Brittaine,  A.D.  55,  and  was  perfected 
by  Severus  the  emperor ; "  but  as  no  authority  is 
quoted  for  this  assertion,  we  can  do  no  more  than 


*  Hist,  of  Kent,  vol.  iii.  p.  686,  note. 

t  Collections  for  the  History  of  Sandwich. 


BEFORE   THE   CONQUEST.  5 

admit  the  possibility  of  the  circumstance.*     By  who- 
ever built,  it  was  in  form  nearly  square,  walled  on 
three  sides,  but,  like  Oaistor  in  Norfolk,  and  other 
similarly   situated   Eoman  fortresses,   open   on   the 
fourth,  which  was  nearest  the  water,  t     Of  the  north 
wall,  according  to  the    measurement   of    the  most 
recent  investigators  of  this  ancient  remain,  |  nearly 
450  feet  are  still  standing,  and  rather  more  than  half 
that  quantity  of  the  south  wall.  The  western  wall  has 
suffered  the  most  injury,  but  when  perfect,  measured 
460  feet.§     At  the  north-east  corner  are  the  ruins 
of  a  return  wall,  which   seems  to   have   run   down 
under  the  cliff,  or  rather  bank;  and  from  observa- 
tions made  at  the  foot,  there  is  reason  for  believing 
there  was  a  landing-place  on  the  beach,  and  that  a 
sloping  road  behind  the  wall  led  up  into  the  citadel. 
Eound  towers  of  solid  masonry  protected  the  angles 
of  the  castle,  and  the   sides  were  strengthened  by 
square  towers,  solid  to  the  height  of  nearly  eighty 
feet  from  the  foundation,  the  walls  themselves  being 

*  Kilburne  attributes  its  erection  to  the  British  chief  popularly 
known  as  Arviragus,  the  opponent  of  Vespasian  ;  but  the  work  is 
undoubtedly  Roman.  The  Britons  may  very  possibly  have  fortified 
the  hill  after  their  own  fashion  j  but  no  evidence  remains  of 
the  fact. 

t  Writers  unaware  of  this  peculiarity  have  represented  the  fourth 
side  as  fallen. 

J  "Wanderings  of  an  Antiquary,"  by  Thomas  Wright,  F.S.A. 
"Antiquities  of  Eichborough,"  by  Charles  Roach  Smith,  F.S.A. 

§  Mr.  Fussell  in  his  "Journey  round  the  Coast  of  Kent,"  gives  the 
dimensions  as  existing  as  that  time,  as  500  feet  on  the  north  side, 
540  on  the  south,  and  iSi  on  the  west. 


6  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

from  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet  high,  and  twelve  feet 
in  thickness.  A  well-protected  postern  gateway 
exists  on  the  north-east  side,  designated  in  one  of 
the  j)lates  of  Battely's  ''Antiquitates  Entupinse  "  as 
the  Decuman  Gate,  which  latter,  so  called  because 
it  was  wide  enough  to  allow  the  passage  of  ten  men 
abreast,  is  assumed  by  others  to  have  been  nearly  in 
the  middle  of  the  western  wall,  but  its  precise  posi- 
tion is  no  longer  discernible.* 

Within  the  area,  and  much  nearer  to  the  bank  than 
to  the  western  wall,  is  what  appears  to  have  been  the 
foundation  of  some  building,  which,  from  its  cruci- 
form shape,  is  now  popularly  known  by  the  name  of 
St.  Augustine's  Cross.  Camden,  however,  seems  to 
imply  that  in  his  day  this  name  was  not  given  par- 
ticularly to  this  object.  He  says,  ''Wherever  the 
streets  have  run  the  corn  grows  thin,  which  the 
common  people  call  St.  Austin's  Cross ;  "  t  but  he 
is  speaking  of  the  fields  whereon  he  supposes  the 
city  stood,  and  not  of  the  area  within  the  walls  of 
the  castrum.  This  is  worthy  of  observation,  as  he 
does  not  mention  ''the  cross"  we  are  describing  at 
all,  though  recent  writers  have  from  the  above 
passage  assumed  that  he  has  done  so,  and  the 
inference  therefore  is,  that  it  was  not  visible  in 
Elizabeth's  time,  and  that  the  appellation  of  "  St. 

*  Dr.  Battely  lias  evidently  founded  his  opinion  on  the  description 
of  Yitruvius,  who,  in  speaking  of  the  Decuman  Gate,  uses  the  words, 
"  Egressus  patet  non  rectus  sed  ohliquus.'' — (Architect.  1.  5.) 

t  Mag.  Brit,  page  298,  edit.  1600. 


BEPOUE   THE    CONQUEST.  7 

Austin's  Cross  "  has  been  transferred  to  it  at  a  much 
later  period.  Somner,  who  appears  to  have  written 
his  '*  Treatise  of  the  Eoman  Ports  and  Ports  of  Kent" 
(published  in  1693)  during  the  reign  of  Charles  IL, 
seems  to  be  the  first  who  mentions  it.  The  words 
"  Wherever  (ubicunque)  the  streets  have  run"  dis- 
tinctly prove,  that  in  Camden's  day  there  were  several 
crosses  indicated  by  the  partial  growth  of  the  corn, 
and  not  one  large  mass  of  solid  work,  an  object  too 
remarkable  to  have  escaped  observation. 

In  excavating  round  this  structure,  Mr.  Boys 
discovered  that  it  stood  on  a  platform,  five  feet  thick, 
104  feet  long,  and  nearly  145  feet  wide,  formed  of  a 
composition  of  boulders  and  coarse  mortar,  on  which 
was  laid  a  smooth  floor  of  mortar  six  inches  thick. 
The  cross  itself,  measuring  from  north  to  south  forty- 
two  feet  by  thirty-four,  and  from  east  to  west  nearly 
thirty  feet  by  eight,  had  been  faced  with  square 
stones,  some  of  which  remained  in  sitic.^ 

In  1822  a  subterranean  building  was  discovered 
beneath  the  platform,  which  was  supposed  to  contain 
chambers  used  as  store-rooms  for  the  garrison,  a 
granary  or  an  arsenal;  but  no  indications  of  any 
entrance  could  be  traced,  either  at  that  time  or  as 
late  as  1843,  when  the  late  Mr.  Eolfe,  of  Sandwich, 
made  a  vigorous  but  unsuccessful  attempt  to  pene- 
trate the  compact  masonry. 

Mr.  Eoach  Smith,  in   his  "Antiquities  of  E/ich- 

*  Collecti-jii>5. 


8  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

borough/'  says,  ''  The  popular  notion  that  the  cruci- 
form foundation  on  the  platform  is  the  base  of  a  cross 
need  scarcely  be  refuted,  and  the  opinion  that  it  may 
have  supported  a  pharos  is  equally  untenable.'*  We 
must  beg,  however,  to  differ  with  him  on  this  latter 
point.  The  sandy  nature  of  the  soil  would  render 
exactly  such  a  foundation  imperatively  necessary  to 
the  safety  of  a  tower  of  the  height  and  magnitude 
requisite  for  such  a  purpose,  and  the  cruciform  shape 
which  the  surface  now  presents  might  have  arisen 
from  lateral  buttresses  projecting  from  its  base. 
That  there  was  some  such  building  we  cannot  doubt ; 
and  if  not  there,  in  what  other  part  of  the  area 
would  it  be  likely  to  have  existed  ?  This  theory  by  no 
means  prevents  us  from  admitting  the  probability  that 
vaults  may  yet  be  discovered  beneath  the  platform. 
''  That  the  subterranean  building  was  constructed  for 
some  extraordinary  and  important  purpose,"  observes 
Mr.  Smith,  '*is  obvious  from  the  fact  that  nothing 
analogous  to  it  has  been  discovered  at  any  of  the 
Roman  stations  in  this  country,  or,  as  far  as  can  be 
ascertained,  on  the  Continent."  It  is  surely  as  obvious 
that  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  soil  required  a  founda- 
tion unlike  any  needed  where  the  Pharos  was  built 
on  a  rock  or  other  solid  substratum.  Is  there  any 
other  instance  in  England  or  on  the  Continent  of  an 
important  Homan  fortress  erected  actually  on  a  sand- 
bank ? 

On  the  highest  part  of  the  hill,  about  460  yards 
from  the  south-west    angle  of  the  castrum,  are  the 


BErORE   THE    CONQUEST.  9 

remains  of  an  amphitheatre,  first  noticed,  it  would 
appear,  by  the  Eev.  Mr.  Gostling,  in  his  ''  Walk  about 
Canterbury,"*  and  which  Dr.  Stukely  calls  a  '^  cas- 
trensian  amphitheatre." 

In  1849,  Mr.  Eolfe  and  Mr.  Eoach  Smith  ascer- 
tained  this  work  to  have  been  a  regular  elliptical 
building  resembling  in  miniature  the  great  amphi- 
theatres of  the  Continent.  Coins  were  found  by  them 
ranging  from  the  reign  of  Domitian  to  that  of  Arcadius, 
who  died  A.D.  408,  with  a  large  number  of  small  coins 
called  minimi,  which  are  believed  to  belong  to  the 
period  when  the  Eoman  towns  were  left  to  their  own 
government,  so  that  this  amphitheatre  must  have  been 
in  use  down  to  the  latest  period  of  the  Roman  rule 
in  Britain,  if  not  for  an  age  or  two  after  their  depar- 
ture. We  regret  to  add  that  agricultural  interests 
have  necessitated  the  filling  up  again  of  this  little 
amphitheatre,  the  situation  of  which,  so  near  to  the 
old  castle,  rendered  its  preservation  still  more  desir- 

*  "  We  visited  these  venerable  ruins,"  says  the  Reverend  traveller, 
"  with  a  gentleman  of  Sandwich,  who  from  the  old  castle  conducted 
us  to  some  banks  hard  by,  which  he  called  the  mounts ;  where  are 
found  very  plain  remains  of  this  work,  an  amphitheatre  not  mentioned 
by  any  Kentish  writer  that  I  know  of,  unless  the  little  camp,  as  Dr. 
Harris  calls  it  (p.  379  of  his  History),  to  the  south-west  of  the  castle 
be  so,  containing,  as  he  guesses,  not  above  an  acre  of  ground,  having 
a  mount  at  each  corner,  though  the  form  is  oval  or  circular,  and 

some  remains  of  an  entrance  on  each  side The  sloping 

bank,  lowered  by  long  cultivation,  measures  in  circumference  about 
220  yards,  and  its  present  height  from  the  arena  or  centre  of  the 
excavation  is  in  the  different  parts  from  seven  to  nearly  twelve 
feet." 


10  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

able.  Such  a  circumstance  could  not  have  occurred 
in  France  or  Germany.  The  two  or  three  acres  of 
land  would  have  been  purchased  by  Government  and 
the  amphitheatre,  like  that  at  Treves,  been  carefully 
preserved  for  the  public. 

No  satisfactory  conclusion  has  yet  been  come  to 
respecting  the  site  of  the  E^oman  town,  or  of  the 
cemetery  connected  with  it ;  but  the  former  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  situated  on  the  sloping  ground 
to  the  south  and  west  of  the  citadel.*  Ptolemy  the 
geographer,  who  lived  in  the  first  half  of  the 
second  century  of  the  Christian  era,  names  Kutupise 
as  one  of  the  three  towns  of  the  Cantii,  the  other 
two  being  Londinium  (London)  and  Durovernum 
(Canterbury),  while  in  the  Itinerary  of  Antoninus 
the  port  or  haven  alone  is  mentioned,  ''  Ad  portum 
Kitupis." 

We  find,  in  the  work  attributed  to  E^ichard  of 
Cirencester,  the  expression  ''  Ehutupis  Colonia ;"  and 
not  only  in  his  description  of  the  ancient  state  of 
Britain  does  he  place  Eutupis  among  the  nine  colonial 
cities^  but,  under  the  head  of  Cantium,  asserts  that  it 
became  the  Metropolis  of  the  Province ,  that  its  haven 
was  the  rendezvous  of  the  Roman  fleet  which  com- 
manded the  North  Sea,  and  that  its  city  was  of  such 
celebrity  that  it  gave  the  name  of  Eutupine  to  the 
neighbouring  shore.  Mr.  Roach  Smith  demurs  to 
this,  and  considers  that  Richard  was  led  into  this 

*  Camden. 


BErOEE   THE    CONQUEST.  11 

mistake  by  Ptolemy  and  Orosius,  and  by  tlie  term 
Colonice  applied  to  Hutupis  in  the  Iter  above  men- 
tioned. He  observes  that  ^'we  have  no  evidence 
in  existing  remains  or  in  recorded  discoveries  to 
warrant  our  placing  Kutupise  in  the  category  vrith 
Londininm,  Camulodunum,  and  such-like  places, 
which  were  clearly  towns  or  cities  of  great  extent, 
the  limits  of  most  of  which  may  still  be  traced,  often 
serving  as  the  municipal  boundary  down  to  the 
present  time."* 

Without  presuming  to  dispute  the  opinion  of  so 
competent  an  authority  as  Mr.  Smith,  or  relying  on 
the  statements  of  B^ichard,  who  has  been  suspected 
of  being  no  authority  at  all,  we  may,  I  think, 
suspend  our  judgment  until  further  discoveries 
enable  us  to  fix  the  site  of  the  Eoman  city,  which 
Twine  places  at  Dover,  and  Boys  is  anxious  to 
prove  was  at  Canterbury!!  It  is  possible  remains 
may  yet  be  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
little  hamlet  of  Bichborough,  as  well  as  in  the 
direction  of  Sandwich,  tending  to  corroborate  the  as- 
sertion of  Ptolemy,  that  it  was  one  of  the  three  cities 
of  Kent,  and  originally,  perhaps,  the  most  important 
from  situation,  though  ultimately  outgrown  and  sur- 
passed by  Londinium  and  Durovernum,  with  which 
it  is  classed  by  him.  It  may  not  have  been  a  walled 
town,  the  castrum  and  the  sea  being  considered 
sufficient  protection.     Mr.  Smith  himself,  in  another 

*  Antiquities  of  Kichborough.  t  Collections. 


12  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

work,*  admits  that  the  whole  neighbourhood,  includ- 
ing Sandwich,  is  proved  by  sepulchral  remains  conti- 
nually discovered  to  have  been  well  populated  in  the 
time  of  the  E^omans,  and,  as  one  of  the  earliest 
settlements,  it  may  have  been  less  regular  in  plan, 
and  consequently  more  extensive,  than  deliberately- 
constructed  cities.  What  if  it  should  have  embraced 
the  site  of  Sandwich  itself?  There  are  not  wanting 
those  who  assert  that  Sandwich  was  actually  the 
ancient  city  of  Eutupise,!  and  it  is  so  marked  in 
some  maps.  The  site  of  the  Roman  burial-place 
attached  to  it  has  also  to  be  ascertained.  J  Mr.  Boys 
states  that  in  his  time  some  urns  were  found  in  a 
sand-pit  on  the  hill  on  the  left  hand  of  the  road  lead- 

*  Inventorium  Sepulchrale,  p.  19,  note. 

t  Math.  Westminster.  Somner's  Ports  and  Forts,  pp.  3  to  7. 
Vide  also  Harris,  Battely,  and  Plott. 

J  Hasted  remarks  :  "  There  are  two  large  mounts  like  tumuli  on  the 
sides  of  the  road  at  a  small  distance  westward  from  where  the  Canter- 
bury Gate  of  the  town  of  Sandwich  lately  stood,  and  there  is  another 
on  the  south  side  of  the  same  road  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  westward 
from  them  :  but  without  opening  them  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain 
for  what  purpose  such  as  stood  in  the  marshes  and  low  grounds,  as 
these  three  last  do,  were  made." — (Vol.  iii.  p.  688,  note.)  There  are 
several  mounds  in  the  marshes,  which  we  believe  to  have  been  made 
in  later  times  for  the  purpose  of  affording  refuge  to  sheep  and  cattle 
when  the  marshes  were  flooded  by  high  tides,  or  the  prevalence  of 
heavy  rain.  One  of  the  largest  tenants  in  this  district,  to  whom  we 
are  indebted  for  this  suggestion,  assures  us  that  he  has  levelled  and 
examined  some  of  them,  and  never  found  the  slightest  indication  of 
their  being  sepulchral  monuments.  It  is  quite  clear  they  could  not 
have  been  of  Roman  construction,  as  the  sea  was  at  that  period  navi- 
gable over  the  spots  on  which  they  stand. 


BEFORE   THE    CONQUEST.  13 

ing  from  the  castle  to  the  modern  hamlet  of  Rich- 
borough  ;*  and  Mr.  Smith  observes  that  the  situation 
is  such  as  would  be  likely  to  haye  been  chosen  for  this 
purpose. t  Mr.  Pausset  and  other  antiquaries  have 
imagined  it  to  have  been  at  Guilton,  adjoining  the 
village  of  Ash,  where  indications  of  Roman  interments 
have  been  discovered  amongst  the  Saxon  graves  ;  but 
these  Mr.  Smith  considers  to  have  belonged  to  the 
people  of  a  vicus  on  the  site  of  Ash  or  thereabouts.  J 
It  is  nevertheless  probable  that  the  city  may  have 
extended  in  that  direction  very  nearly  as  far  as  the 
village  of  Ash,  and  that  such  vicus  was,  in  fact,  a 
straggling  suburb  not  altogether  disconnected  with 
the  city,  which  evidently  stretched  away  behind  the 
castrum  and  the  Portus  Rutupis  or  actual  harbour  of 
Rutupise,  and  must  have  been  limited  to  the  highest 
ground  in  the  parish,  the  rest  being  at  that  period 
undoubtedly  covered  by  the  sea  at  high  tides,  if  not 
continually. 

Suggesting,  therefore,  that  Antoninus  speaks  of 
the  road  to  the  Fort,  and  Ptolemy  of  the  City  itself, 
while  Orosius  mentions  them  jointly,  just  as  writers 
of  the  present  day  might  speak  separately  or  jointly 
of  the  port  and  city  of  London;  we  will  leave  this 
point  to  be  decided  by  future  researches,  and  proceed 
to  notice  the  few  facts  that  have  been  recorded  of 
the  history  of  Eichborough. 


*  Collections.  f  Antiquities  of  Eichborough. 

X  Inventorium  Sepnlchrale. 


14  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

As  early  as  the  second  century  of  the  Christian 
era,  the  delicious  oysters  conyeyed  to  Rome  from 
this  coast  were  celebrated  by  Juvenal  in  his  Fourth 
Satire : — 

....."  Eutupinove  edita  fundo 
Ostrea."  ..... 

An  immense  quantity  of  oyster-shells  has  been  dis- 
covered here  amongst  the  Eoman  debris  turned  up 
at  various  periods,  and  particularly  in  the  progress 
of  the  works  for  the  Sandwich  Eailway,  which  runs 
immediately  under  the  walls  of  the  castrum.* 

The  Latin  poet  Ausonius,  in  the  fourth  century, 
makes  several  allusions  to  Rutupise.  One  of  his 
uncles,  Claudius  Contentus,  he  tells  us,  was  buried 
there  ;t  and  his  brother-in-law,  Elavius  Sanctus, 
appears  to  have  been  governor  or  prefect  of  the 
Rutupine  district,  which  enjoyed  great  tranquillity 
imder  his  rule.  :|: 

Ammianus   Marcellinus    records   that    Lupicinus, 

*  From  the  appellation  of  "  Trutulensis,"  given  by  Tacitus  to  this 
port,  it  has  been  suggested  that  the  trout  for  which  tlie  Stoiir  is  still 
famous  were  as  celebrated  in  the  time  of  the  Romans. 

t  "  Et  patruos  Elegeia  meos  reminiscere  cantus 

Contentum  Tellus  quern  Rutupina  tegit." — Paeentalia. 

J  "  Militiam  nullo  qui  turbine  sedulus  egit 
Prseside  Isetatus  quo  Rutupinus  ager." 

Dr.  Harris  says  there  were  in  his  time  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
westward  from  the  castle  two  very  large  tumuli  which  he  supposes 
to  have  belonged  to  the  two  persons  above  mentioned.  This  is  of 
course  a  mere  conjecture  :  but  vide  note  J,  ante,  p.  12. 


BEFORE   THE    CONQUEST.  15 

marshal  of  the  army,  landed  in  Rutupisej  with  a  force 
of  light-armed  troops,  sent  by  the  Emperor  Julian  to 
repel  the  Picts  and  Scots ;  and  in  the  time  of  Yalentian 
and  Valens,  the  arrival  of  Theodosius,  father  of  the  em- 
peror of  that  name,  on  a  similar  expedition,  is  com- 
memorated by  the  same  historian.*  At  the  beginning 
of  the  fifth  century,  we  learn  from  the  Xotitia  that 
the  town  was  the  head-  quarters  of  the  second  legion, 
called  Augusta,  and  sometimes  Britannica.f  Pive  or 
six  facts  in  nearly  as  many  hundred  years  !  Such  is  the 
meagre  amount  of  information  to  be  depended  upon, 
which  has  been  handed  down  to  us  respecting  E^ich- 
borough  during  its  occupation  by  the  Romans.  The 
rest  is  mere  assertion  or  speculation,  more  or  less 
probable.  We  may  be  justified  in  supposing  that  the 
highest  ground  in  this  district  was,  in  the  days  of 
Julius  Caesar,  covered  with  wood,  principally  elm 
and  oak;  and  imagination  may  people  the  sandy 
shore  of  that  sea  which  then  flowed  over  the  marshes, 
with  painted  Britons,  shaking  their  bronze-headed 
spears  in  defiance  of  the  veteran  soldiers  advancing 
against  them,  with  the  same  confidence  in  their  dis- 
cipline and  superior  weapons  which  a  regiment  of 
the  line  would  feel  in  making  good  its  landing  against 
a  swarm  of  South- Sea  islanders.  Por  the  claims  of 
the  beach  between  Deal  and  Dover  to  be  considered  as 
the  locality  wherein  the  Iloman  invader  first  set  foot 

*  Books  XX.  aud  XXVII. 

t  "Prepontus  Legionis  secuncU'e  Augustse  Rutupii." — (Cap.  Hi.) 


16  A   COKNER   OF    KENT. 

are  by  no  means  undisputed.  Nearly  every  possible 
spot  between  the  North  Poreland  and  Beachy  Head 
has  its  enthusiastic  advocate,  and  E-ichborough  is  not 
without  its  tradition  and  its  theory ;  but  while  we 
are  in  utter  ignorance  of  the  many  changes  the  coast 
has  undergone  since  that  period,  it  is  next  to  im- 
possible to  draw  any  reliable  inferences  from  Caesar's 
description  of  it. 

The  frowning  masses  of  masonry  which  have  re- 
sisted the  assaults  of  time,  tempest,  and  man  for 
eighteen  centuries,  are,  after  all,  the  great  fact  which 
is  more  valuable  than  a  thousand  theories.  Whether 
a  British  fort,  raised  by  a  chief  who  has  been  called 
Arviragus,  originally  occupied  the  site  of  the  castrum, 
may  never  be  ascertainable ;  but  *  that  the  walls  still 
existing  were  reared  by  the  masters  of  the  ancient 
world ;  that  through  that  nearly  perfect  postern 
gate  Ptoman  emperors  have  entered  and  departed; 
that  the  shouts  of  joyous  multitudes  mingled  with 
reverential  cries  of  ''Ave,  Csesar  Imperator!"  have 
arisen  from  that  amphitheatre  over  which  the  corn 
now  waves  or  the  plough  now  passes,  is  as  well 
known  to  us  as  if  it  were  recorded  in  the  pages  of 
Tacitus. 

Vespasian  may  not  have  built  the  castle;  but  as 
an  officer  serving  in  the  army  of  Aulus  Plautus,  he 
must  have  entered  the  natural  harbour  it  afterwards 
commanded.  Claudius  came  over  to  Britain  to 
partake  the  triumph  of  his  general,  took  Maiden,  in 
Essex,  the  Camulodunum  of  the  Bomans,  and  the 


BEFORE    THE    CONQUEST.  17 

capital  of  Cunobellin,  remained  sixteen  days  in  the 
island,  and  returned  to  E^ome,  leaving  Plantus  to 
govern  Britain.  Titus,  the  future  conqueror  of 
Jerusalem,  came  hither  as  military  tribune  under  his 
father  Vespasian.  Agricola  with,  possibly,  Tacitus 
in  his  train,  for  there  are  expressions  in  his  graphic 
account  of  the  expedition  that  would  justify  our 
believing  he  was  an  eye-witness  of  some  of  the  events 
he  records;  Hadrian;  Severus,  who  is  presumed  to 
have  completed  the  defences  of  Richborough,  and  died 
at  York ;  Constantius,  who  also  expired  in  Britain ; 
his  son  Constantino  the  Great,  who  was  raised  to  the 
purple  in  this  country ;  and  Maximus,  the  competitor 
of  Gratian,  a  Briton  by  birth,  according  to  some 
historians,  and  who  is  stigmatized  by  Ausonius  as 
"the  Bobber  of  Butupis," — must  all  have  passed 
through  the  water-gate  of  Butupium,  the  common 
port  of  communication  with  Gaul.  One  still  greater 
than  emperor,  general,  or  historian,  is  presumed  to 
have  landed  at  Bichborough.  There  is  a  vague 
tradition  that  Christianity  was  first  preached  in 
Britain  by  St.  Paul,  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  and 
much  learning  has  been  wasted  in  vain  attempts  to 
establish  the  fact.*  We  must,  however,  be  first 
satisfied  that  he,  like  those  we  have  already  named, 
actually  did  visit  these  shores,  before  we  speculate  on 
the  place  of  his  landing.  Amongst  the  holy  and 
canonized  men  who  in  these  early  ages  must  have 

*  Harris,  Hist.  Kent,  p.  488. 
C 


18  A   CORNER   or   KENT. 

seen  Richborougli  in  its  glory,  we  may  mention  St. 
Germanus,  Bishop  of  Anxerre,  who  twice  encoun- 
tered the  perils  of  the  ocean  to  combat  the  Pelagian 
heresy  in  Britain,  narrowly  escaping  on  his  second 
voyage,  in  company  with  Lupus  of  Troyes,  the  fearful 
tempests  raised,  as  the  Venerable  Bede  assures  us, 
"by  the  malevolence  of  demons,  who  were  jealous 
that  such  men  should  be  sent  to  bring  back  the 
Britons  to  the  faith."  * 

With  such  materials  for  our  fancy  to  work  upon, 
we  may  stand  upon  that  now  deserted  highland,  and 
rebuild,  in  imagination,  that  celebrated  fortress.  We 
may  still  picture  to  ourselves  ''  the  Channel  fleet  "  of 
that  period  at  anchor  in  the  placid  waters  which  then 
reflected  its  proud  battlements,  or  seeking,  by  the 
light  of  its  lofty  Pharos,  a  refuge  in  that  *'  tranquil 
haven  "  from  the  dark  and  turbulent  ocean  without. 
Turning  to  the  north,  we  may  descry  the  Belgic 
Briton,  in  his  wicker  coracle,  paddling  over  to  the 
Isle  of  Thanet,  divided  from  the  mainland  by  the  sea, 
at  that  point  nearly  a  mile  in  breadth,  and  studded 
with  trading  vessels  from  Gaul,  Greece,  or  Phoenicia. 
Or,  looking  westward,  see  the  colonial  city  covering 
the  slope  of  the  hill;  its  busy  streets,  of  which  the 
tracks  were  visible  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth ;  the 
forum  thronged  by  its  mixed  population,  foreign 
merchants,  curious  travellers,  idle  mariners,  and  all 
the  motley  crowd  that  congregate  in  a  thriving  com- 

*  Eocles.  Hi!^l.  chiip,  xviii. 


BEFORE   THE   CONQUEST.  19 

mercial  seaport  town.  The  temple  of  ^Esculapius^* 
the  palace  of  the  Prefect  Sanctus,  the  villa  of  the 
opulent  Contentus,  of  which,  perhaps,  that  broken 
tile  at  our  feet  may  he  the  last  remaining  relic. 
The  reader  may  smile;  hut  there  is  no  exaggera- 
tion in  the  picture.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
such  were  the  general  features  of  the  scene  which 
once  presented  itself  to  the  sight  on  this  spot, 
and  the  probability  is  that  our  slight  sketch  is 
rather  under  than  over-coloured.  Even  after  the 
final  departure  of  the  Romans,  Rutupis  retained 
its  importance  for  centuries,  both  as  a  mart  and 
a  haven.  Vessels  from  the  west  found  a  safer 
and  shorter  passage  to  the  mouth  of  the  Thames 
by  passing  through  the  estuary,  and  the  large 
quantities  of  minimi  to  which  we  have  already 
alluded,  as  well  as  of  Saxon  coins  which  have  been 
discovered  here,  from  those  of  the  earliest  descrip- 
tion called  Sceattas,  down  to  some  of  the  ninth 
century,  prove  the  continuous  occupation  of  the  site 
to  that  period. 

The  first  event  of  consequence  after  the  withdrawal 
of  the  E;oman  legions,  was  the  arrival  of  the  Jutes, 
traditionally  under  Hengist.  '*  The  Saxon  fleets," 
remarks  Mr.  Thomas  Wright,  ''  had  long  infested  the 
eastern  shore  of  Britain  with  their  incursions,  and  in 
the  long  series  of  usurpations  of  the  imperial  title  by 

*  A  large  brass  image  of  a  cock,  the  bird  sacred  to  that  deity,  and 
supposed  to  have  sarmounted  a  temple  dedicated  to  him,  was  exhumed 
here,  according  to  a  tradition  at  Sandwich  recorded  by  Dr.  Battely. 

c  2 


20  A    COKNER   OF   KENT. 

governors  of  tlie  island  during  the  latter  period  of 
the  E/oman  sway,  the  Saxon  and  E-oman  fleets  had 
frequently  ridden  side  by  side  in  friendly  alliance.  In 
fact  it  is  probable  that  the  E-omano- British  navy  con- 
sisted, in  a  greater  degree  than  we  would  suppose,  of 
Saxon  mariners.  It  is  not  unlikely  they  had  formed 
settlements  on  the  eastern  coast,  called  after  them  the 
Littus  Saxonicum,  or  Saxon  shore,  long  before  the 
Roman  legions  had  relinquished  the  island.  Eich- 
borough,  the  chief  station  of  the  Eoman  navy,  would 
be  the  last  post  deserted ;  and  a  comparison  of  various 
traditions  on  the  subject  with  a  few  facts  that  are 
known,  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  these  Saxon 
settlers  came  rather  as  allies  of  the  Eomans  than 
under  any  other  character,  and  that  they  established 
themselves  in  Thanet  under  the  protection  of  Eegul- 
bium  and  Eutupise  rather  than  in  fear  of  those  strong 
fortresses.  As  the  support  of  the  Eoman  power  was 
eventually  withdrawn,  the  supremacy  in  the  province 
of  Britain  was  left  to  be  contended  for  in  a  confused 
struggle  between  the  new  Saxon  settlers,  the  old  and 
more  civilized  Eomano-British  population,  and  the 
barbarian  Picts  and  Scots  of  the  North."*  In  the 
year  449  according  to  the  Saxon  Chronicle — but  it  were 
safer  to  say  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century — 
two  Jutish  chieftains,  familiar  to  us  under  the  typical 
names  of  Horsa  and  Hengist,  with  a  small  band  of 
chosen  followers  on  board  of  three  vessels,   entered 

*  Wanderings  of  an  Antiquary,  pp.  71,  72. 


BEFORE   THE   CONQUEST.  21 

the  port  of  Rutupis  and  landed,  according  to  the  best 
authorities,  at  a  spot  subsequently  called  Wypped's- 
floet,  now  Ebbsfleet,  in  the  Isle  of  Tlianet.  Bede 
says  they  were  the  sons  of  Victgilsus,  whose  father 
was  Yicta,  son  of  Woden  or  Odin,  a  deified  chief  of 
the  Scandinavians.*  The  Saxon  Chronicle  interposes 
a  fourth  generation  ;t  but  it  is  needless  for  us  to  enter 
into  that  controversy,  or  even  to  decide  between 
those  who  assert  that  these  victors  were  wandering 
exiles,  and  others  who  contend  that  they  were  invited 
protectors.  We  purposely  refrain  from  even  briefly 
noticing  the  stories  of  Nennius,  Gildas,  and  Geoffrey 
of  Monmouth.  The  romance  of  "Vortigern  and 
Eowena"  was  appropriately  dramatized  by  the  im- 
postor Ireland.  Sir  Francis  Palgrave  observes:  "These 
details  have  been  told  so  often  that  they  have  acquired 
a  prescriptive  right  to  credit ;  but  I  believe  they  bear 
no  nearer  relation  to  the  real  history  of  Anglo-Saxon 
England  than  the  story  of  jEneas  as  related  by  Yirgil 
does  to  the  real  history  of  the  foundation  of  E;ome."3: 
Whatever  contests  occurred  between  the  Britons  and 
Saxons  at  this  period,  it  is  clear  that  up  to  the  present 
time  neither  the  places,  dates,  or  names  of  the  leaders 
have  been  accurately  recorded.  All  that  we  know  for 
certain  is  that  a  Saxon  or  Jutish  sovereignty  was 
established  during  the  latter  half  of  the  fifth  century 

*  Eccles.  Hist.  cap.  xv. 

t  "  Sons  of  Wihtgils  j  Wihtgils  son  of  Witta,  Witta  of  Wecta, 
Wecta  of  Woden." — (Saxon  Clironicle,  sub  anno.) 
%  History  of  England,  Anglo-Saxon  Period,  p.  30. 


L&'iia«i,^-.ai.^. 


22  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

in  this  part  of  Kent,  either  by  the  chieftain  called 
Hengist  himself,  or  by  a  near  kinsman,  some  say  his 
son ;  and  that  Richborough  was  one  of  the  earliest 
royal  Saxon  residences,  its  Roman  name  of  Rutupis 
being  transmuted  by  its  new  masters  into  Eepta- 
cseaster,*  and  occasionally  Ricsburg,  or  the  King's 
castle, t  from  whence  its  modern  appellation. 

Whateyer  may  have  been  the  real  name  of  Hengist, 
that  of  his  successor  was  undoubtedly  Eric ;  but,  like 
his  relatives,  he  also  had  a  typical  cognomen,  the 
derivation  of  which  is  uncertain,  but  possibly  of  more 
consequence  to  our  present  inquiry  than  has  been 
imagined.  He  was  surnamed  Esc,  or  Oisc,  which  has 
been  latinized  Escus,  the  interpretation  of  which 
must  depend  upon  whether  the  name  was  given  him 
by  his  own  people  or  by  the  Britons.  Use  and  Oisc 
are  both  of  them  forms  of  the  old  British  word  for 
water,  which  may  be  found  in  all  its  varieties,  as  asc^ 
isc,  osc,  use,  &c. ;  from  whence  the  Axe,  the  Exe, 
the  Ouse,  and  other  names  of  rivers  in  this  country, 
and,  what  is  of  more  interest  to  us,  the  Eshe,  as  that 
part  of  the  Stour  was  called  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Ashford,  anciently  Eshetisford,  or  the  ford  of  the 
Eshe;  the  Stour  itself  meaning  the  same  thing, 
being  only  a  corruption  of  es  dilr,  which  also  signifies 
in  Celtic  "the  water."  But,  by  one  of  those  singular 
coincidences  which  so  distract  and  mislead  the  etymo- 

*   '•  E-uthubi  portum,  qui  portns  a  gente  Anglorum  nunc  corrupta 
E-eptacester  vocatus." — (Becle,  Eccles.  Hist.  lib.  i.  cap.  i.) 
t  Alured  of  Beverley. 


BEFORE   THE    CONQUEST.  23 

legist,  the  word  iEsc  in  Anglo-Saxon  signifies  an  ash- 
tree.  Sir  Erancis  Palgrave,  one  of  onr  most  intelligent 
Anglo-Saxon  historians,  says,  ''Prom  the  spear  which 
he  wielded,  or  the  vessel  which  bore  him  over  the 
waves,  he  was  surnamed  ^sc  or  Ash-tree;  and 
^Escingas,  or  Sons  of  the  Ash-tree,  did  the  Kings  of 
Kent,  his  descendants,  call  themselves  so  long  as 
their  dynasty  endured."*  It  would  also  seem  pro- 
bable, as  has  been  observed  by  another  erudite  and 
elegant  writer,  that  Ash  was  the  general  name  for  a 
hero,  in  allusion  to  the  primeval  man  of  Teutonic 
mytholog}^,  who  was  believed  to  have  sprung  from  the 
sacred  ash-tree,  t  Without  dwelling  further  on  this 
subject,  or  insisting  in  any  way  on  the  value  of  the 
suggestion,  we  will  simply  call  upon  our  readers  to 
remark  that  no  question  has  hitherto  arisen  as  to  the 
cause  of  the  name  of  Ash  (Ece  or  Esce,  as  it  appears 
in  the  earliest  documents)  being  given  to  this  ex- 
tensive parish,}:  and  leave  them  to  form  their  own 

*  Hist.  Anglo-Saxon,  p.  37.  Vide  also  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  lib.  ii. 
cap.  V.  who  calls  him  Orric,  "  surnamed  Oisc,  from  whom  the  kings 
of  Kent  are  wont  to  be  called  Oiscings"  The  descendants  of  Offa 
or  Uffk,  King  of  Mercia,  were  in  like  manner  termed  Offingse  or 
XJffings. 

t  Historical  Memorials  of  Canterbury,  by  Canon  Stanley,  p.  15, 
note.     Grimm's  Deutsche  Myth.  i.  324,  530,  617. 

X  Philipot,  in  his  "  Yillare  Cantium,"  p.  395,  briefly  says,  "Ash,  from 
that  kind  of  tree  j"  a  mere  suggestion  applying  to  any  place  of  that 
name  (and  there  are  several  in  Kent  alone),  and  of  the  same  value  as 
his  derivation  of  Ashford,  viz.  :  "  Orignally  Eshetisford,  implying  the 
great  plenty  of  Ashen  trees  growing  about  the  forde"  (p.  394)  ;  for- 
getting that  £Jshe  in  this  instance  is  clearly  the   old   name  of  the 


jM^^^k::- 


•-" 


24  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

opinion  as  to  the  probability  of  its  derivation  either 
from  the  water  which  in  the  days  of  the  Britons 
covered  so  large  a  portion  of  it,  or  from  the  warlike 
Saxon,  who,  as  Sir  Prancis  Palgrave  remarks,  appears 
to  have  been  the  first  real  king  of  this  part  of  the 
country,  as  "he  and  not  his  father  Hengist  was 
honoured  as  founder  of  the  Kentish  dynasty." 

According  to  the  Saxon  Chronicle,  Hengist  and  his 
son  JEsc  fought  against  the  Britons  several  battles  in 
various  parts  of  Kent :  one  at  Aylesford  in  455,  where 
Horsa  was  killed ;  another,  if  not  two,  the  following 
year  at  Crayford;  and  in  465  a  decisive  one  near 
Ebbsfleet,  and  there  slew  twelve  British  chieftains, 
losing  one  of  their  own  thanes,  whose  name  was 
Wypped ;  from  which  circumstance  the  place  is  sup- 
pose to  have  received  its  name  of  Wypped's  fleet.  In 
488,  according  to  the  same  authority,  ^sc  succeeded 
to  the  kingdom. 

The  reign  of  Eric  or  Esc,  and  of  his  successors  Octa 
and  Hermenric  are  described  as  "inactive,"  and  we 
may  therefore  consider  them  peaceful.  The  battles 
of  Cerdic  in  Sussex  and  the  landing  of  Ida  in 
Northumbria  do  not  appear  to  have  disturbed  the 
tranquillity  of  Kent ;  and  for  about  eighty  or  ninety 
years  Bichborough  and  its  vicinity,  it  may  fairly  be 
presumed,  enjoyed  prosperity  and  increased  its  popu- 
lation.    The    extent    of  the    sepulchral  remains  at 

river.  As  regards  our  parish  of  Ash-next-Sandwich,  it  is  remarkable 
that  the  whole  district  is  nearly  destitute  of  ash,  and  is  not  tradi- 
tionally even  celebrated  for  the  growth  of  it. 


Platl  2. 


Fig.i 

Fib'Qla  of  SilTer  gilt 
^T\  d   Br  oplz  e  . 


Jig.  3.  , 

Buclde  of  G-irdle  or  STTordBelt,! 
Sit\rer  gilt  w.i  th  p'  o  1  d.  b  or  der  s  .    i 


■  Waller  LUb-lB.HiUcn'Jar'i'ri 


]- ait  of  a Eoi s e s Bit  lAn  glo  S  axon) 

mtli  a.PvomaiL  Com  attacfied  to  it .  w&,siBxtt.aeietm; 


Aiigl  o  S  axo j\  Aruti  q  u  i  ti  e  s    di  s  c  over  e  d  at  GrUiltoii 


BErORE    THE    CONQUEST.  25 

Guilton,  and  the  character  of  the  ornaments  and 
weapons  discovered,  prove  that  a  large  and  wealthy 
community  lived  and  died  in  this  neighbourhood 
previous  to  the  conversion  of  the  Kentish  Jutes  to 
Christianity. 

The  name  of  Guilton  or  Guiltontown,  as  it  is 
indifferently  called  from  its  earlier  appellation  Guil- 
denton,  is  provocative  of  a  little  inquiry,  connected 
as  it  is  with  this  celebrated  pagan  Saxon  ceme- 
tery, in  which  it  is  most  probable  King  Esc  and  his 
immediate  successors  were  royally  interred;  more 
particularly  as  neither  Lambarde  nor  Philipot, 
Harris  nor  Hasted  have  indulo^ed  in  the  slio;htest 
speculation  as  to  its  origin.  The  unfortunate  silence 
of  Anglo-Saxon  annals  and  charters  is  still  more  to 
be  deplored,  as  we  have  no  more  ancient  form  of  the 
name  to  assist  our  investigation  than  one  which  occurs 
in  a  will  of  the  fifteenth  century,  where  it  is  spelt 
Gildenston.  In  another,  a  century  later,  it  is  spelt 
Gildestowne  ;  but  the  arbitrary  character  of  the  ortho- 
graphy of  the  Middle  Ages  must  never  be  lost  sight 
of  in  such  researches. 

Gill,  in  Anglo-Saxon,  signifies  a  small  stream,  or 
rivulet ;  and  as  that  which  is  called  Wingham  Brook 
runs  through  the  meadows  below  Guilton,  it  might 
fairly  be  held  to  signify  "  the  town  on  the  brook ;" 
but  taking  into  consideration  the  important  evidence 
which  the  excavations  in  this  locality  have  brought  to 
light,  we  are  inclined  to  believe  that  it  indicates  the 
existence  here  of  some  particular  place  of  worship 


26  A   COENER   OF   KENT. 

— some  peculiar  object  either  of  Celtic  or  Teutonic 
adoration.  Cry  Id,  or  Gylt,  signifies,  in  one  sense  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon,  idol,  or  altar,  and  giltodan  is  to 
worship.  It  is  true  that  the  latter  is  deducible  from 
the  custom  of  offering  money,  gelt,  at  the  altar,  and 
is  equiyalent  to  payment ;  but  that  interpretation 
by  no  means  weakens  our  argument;  it  rather 
strengthens  it.  The  guilds  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  de- 
rived their  appellation  from  the  same  source,*  being 
originally  convivial  and  social  clubs  or  confederations, 
established  to  meet  the  expenses  of  penal  mulcts  and 
other  pecuniary  liabilities.  In  process  of  time,  from 
general  associations  connected,  after  the  conversion 
of  the  Saxons  to  Christianity,  with  religious  establish- 
ments and  observances,  they  became  purely  secular 
fraternities  of  particular  craftsmen  or  dealers,  known 
as  ''  merchants'  guilds,"  and  protected  by  special 
charters  of  incorporation.  Guildenton,  or  Gildes- 
towne,  may  therefore  be  fairly  interpreted  either  as 
the  circle,  enclosure,  or  town  of  worship  or  offering, 
or  of  the  altar  or  idol,  or  as  the  town  of  the  guild, 
or  place  where  the  community  paid  those  offerings  or 
contributions  which  defrayed,  amongst  other  expenses, 
those  oi  burial  and  funeral  ceremony .i 

*  The  payments  or  subscriptions  to  them  in  the  earliest  stage 
appear  to  have  been  in  beer  or  mead,  honey  or  malt,  and  not  in  coin  ; 
geld  must  therefore  in  this  instance  be  taken  in  its  wider  sense  of 
offering  or  tribute. — {Vide  Thrupp's  "Anglo-Saxon  Home,"  8vo.  1862, 
p.  160.) 

t  "  One  of  the  first  occupations  which  the  Guilds  added  to  that  of 
conviviality,  was  the  superintendence  of  the  burial  of  members.     They 


BEFORE   THE   CONQUEST.  27 

It  was  not  till  some  time  after  this  opinion  had 
been  entertained,  that  the  writer  was  informed  there 
had  actually  existed,  from  time  immemorial,  a  local 
tradition,  which  appears  to  have  been  thought  un- 
worthy of  record  by  Kentish  topographers  ;  viz.,  that 
on  this  precise  spot  stood  an  idol  of  solid  gold,  three 
feet  in  height,  and  that  it  still  lay  buried  beneath 
one  of  the  tumuli. 

So  strong  is  that  belief  at  the  present  day,  that  on 
applying  recently  for  permission  to  dig  on  some  land 
at  Guilton,  adjoining  that  portion  which  had  been 
previously  excavated,  it  was  granted  with  the  distinct 
stipulation,  that  if  the  golden  idol  should  be  disco- 
vered, it  should  be  held  as  the  property  of  the  owners 
of  the  estate. 

Although  local  traditions  are  not  to  be  entirely 
depended  upon,  as  they  have  frequently  their  origin 
in  the  attempts  of  imaginative  but  unlearned  persons 
to  account  for  objects  and  circumstances  which  they 
do  not  understand,  they  are  still  deserving  our  re- 
spectful attention,  as  there  is  generally  some  modi- 
cum of  truth  to  be  extracted  from  them.  Witness 
the  legend  of  the  British  chief  whose  ghost,  in 
golden    armour,   was    said    to   haunt    the    tumulus 

bound  themselves  to  recover  the  body  of  every  fellow  guildsman 
who  died  far  a-field,  to  form  a  procession  for  bringing  it  home,  and 
to  wake  and  bury  it  with  musical  honours.  The  assistance  of  the 
clergy  was  necessary  on  these  occasions,  and  consequently  the 
payment  of  soul-shot  and  a  certain  sum  for  masses,  were  among  the 
earliest  recognized  charges  on  the  corporate  funds," — (Thrupp,  ut 
supi'ci,  p.  161.) 


28  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

under  which  he  was  buried,  at  Mold,  in  Flintshire, 
and  out  of  which  tumulus  the  excavators  for  the 
railway  between  Chester  and  Bangor  dug  what 
they  at  first  believed  to  be  an  old  brass  fender, 
but  which  proved  to  be  an  ancient  British  corslet  of 
pure  gold.  The  greater  portion  of  it  is  now  to 
be  seen  in  what  is  called  the  ''  Gold  Boom,"  at  the 
British  Museum. 

We  are  not  sanguine  enough  to  expect  a  similar 
confirmation  of  the  tradition  of  Guiltontown  by  the 
exhumation  of  a  golden  idol ;  but  the  tradition  itself 
is  singularly  in  accordance  with  the  suggested  etymo- 
logy of  Guildenton  or  Gildestown. 

Be  this,  however,  as  it  may,  we  are  fully  justified 
in  concluding  that  in  the  sixth  century  the  highlands 
in  this  parish  had  been  considerably  cleared  of  wood, 
and  were  well  covered  with  the  habitations  of  a  mixed 
people,  Romano-British  and  Anglo-Saxon  ;  a  friendly 
fusion  of  races,  enjoying  a  community  of  interests,  and 
if  not  adoring  the  same  divinities,  undoubtedly  buried 
in  the  same  graves. 

It  was  at  this  period  and  during  the  reign  of 
Ethelbert,  the  great-grandson  of  Eric  or  Esc,  that 
Augustine  and  his  companions  arrived  in  the  port  of 
Bichborough.  The  date  is  generally  conceded  to  be 
597.  The  Venerable  Bede  merely  states  that  he  dis- 
embarked in  the  Isle  of  Thanet ;  but  Thorne,  a  monk 
of  Canterbury,  says,  "  in  insula  Thanet,  in  loco  qui 
dicitur  Batesburgh,"  i,e.  Bichborough;  and  Leland 
tells  us  that  Bichborough  was  at  that  time  considered 


BEFORE    THE    CONQUEST.  29 

to  be  a  portion  of  Thanet.  The  holy  missionary,  on 
leaving  the  ship,  trod,  we  are  told,  on  a  stone,  which 
retained  the  print  of  his  foot  as  though  it  had  been 
clay.  This  stone  was  preserved  in  a  chapel  dedicated 
to  Augustine  after  his  canonization,  and  yearly,  on 
the  anniversary  of  its  deposit,  crowds  of  people  flocked 
thither  to  pray  for  and  receive  health.  This  state- 
ment, though  of  no  historical  worth,  being  written  in 
the  fourteenth  century,  is  of  value,  says  Mr.  Smith, 
in  reference  to  the  antiquity  of  the  chapel  mentioned 
by  Leland  (of  which  we  shall  speak  anon),  while  the 
general  belief  in  the  sanctity  of  the  place  and  its  asso- 
ciations, the  periodical  visits  paid  by  the  sick  and  the 
devout  to  the  chapel  of  St.  Augustine  and  to  the  holy 
stone,  if  they  are  not  received  as  proofs  of  his  landing 
at  E;ichborough,  may,  at  all  events,  be  admitted  as 
a  tradition  founded  on  a  general  knowledge  that  the 
Eutupine  coast,  and  particularly  Eichborough  itself, 
were  in  the  sixth  century,  and  later  still,  the  principal 
points  of  debarcation  from  Gaul.* 

The  majority  of  the  most  respectable  authorities 
concur  in  fixing  upon  Ebbsfleet  in  Thanet  as  the  spot 
on  which  Augustine  landed,  and  we  have  no  wish  to 
claim  for  Eichborough  more  than  is  fairly  its  due. 
It  was  undoubtedly  into  the  haven  it  protected  that 
the  Christian  missionaries  guided  their  barque,  and 
although  it  is  most  probable  that  they  might  first  set 
foot  on  English  soil  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  harbour, 

*  Antiquities  of  Richborongh,  pp.  160,  161. 


30  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

it  was  no  douM  in  the  royal  residences  of  Eicliborough, 
Eeculver,  and  Canterbury  that  their  labours  were 
prosecuted ;  and  in  the  ''  Sandwich  Manuscripts," 
printed  by  Mr.  Boys  in  his  Collections,  a  compila- 
tion of  the  sixteenth  century  from  ancient  chronicles 
and  records,  we  find  an  account  which  we  are  much 
inclined  to  think  approaches  the  truth  as  nearly  as 
possible : — 

"  Upon  the  east  part  of  Kent  lyeth  the  Isle  of 
Thanet,  where  Augustine  and  his  fellows  landed, 
being  in  number  forty  persons,  as  it  is  reported,  who, 
by  his  interpreter  sent  to  King  Ethelbert,  gave  the 
King  to  understand  that  he,  with  his  company,  was 
come  from  Rome  to  bring  unto  him  and  his  people 
the  glad  tidings  of  the  Gospell,  the  way  unto  eternal 
life  and  blisse  to  all  them  that  believe  the  same  ;  which 
thing  the  King  heareing,  came  shortly  after  into  his 
pallace  or  castle  of^upticester,  or  Michborrow^  situate 
nigh  the  old  city  of  Stonehore,  and  the  King  sitting 
under  the  cliff  or  rock  whereon  the  castle  is  built, 
commanded  Augustine  with  his  followers  to  be  brought 
before  him." 

This  graphic  and  interesting  description  is  in  per- 
fect harmony  with  Bede's  statement  that  the  King 
'^  had  taken  precautions  that  they  should  not  come  to 
him  in  any  house,  lest,  according  to  an  ancient  super- 
stition, if  they  practised  any  magical  arts,  they  might 
impose  on  him,  and  so  get  the  better  of  him ;"  and 
his  assertion,  that  some  days  after  their  arrival  *'  the 
King  came  into  the  island,"  is  not  invalidated,  if  we 


BEFORE   THE    CONQUEST.  31 

are  to  credit  those  who  tell  us  that  Hichhorough  was 
then  considered  to  be  a  portion  of  Thanet. 

That  the  sovereign  of  Kent  should  be  seated  on  the 
sea-shore,  under  the  shadow  of  his  own  castle,  and 
command  the  attendance  of  these  mysterious  strangers, 
is  much  more  probable  than  that  he  should  have 
crossed  over  to  the  Isle  of  Thanet  for  the  purpose  of 
a  first  interview. 

The  Queen  of  Ethelbert  was  a  Frankish  princess, 
named  Bertha,  sister  of  Charibert,  King  of  Paris. 
Bertha  had  embraced  the  Christian  faith  previous  to 
her  marriage,  and  had  been  accompanied  to  England 
by  Luithard,  Bishop  of  Soissons,  who  died  in  Kent 
and  was  buried  at  Canterbury.  Bertha  is  naturally 
supposed  to  have  influenced  her  royal  husband  in 
Augustine's  favour.  "  In  the  north  side  of  the  cas- 
tel,"  writes  Leland,  "  ys  a  hedde  in  the  walle,  now  sore 
defaced  with  wether ;  they  cawle  it  Queue  Bertha 
hedde."  A  piece  of  stone  or  marble,  now  worn  com- 
pletely smooth,  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  north  wall 
near  the  postern-gate  of  Bichborough ;  but  whether 
of  Boman  or  Saxon  introduction  it  would  be  difficult 
now  to  determine. 

Eadbald,  the  son  and  successor  of  Ethelbert,  a.d. 
616,  restored  the  Saxon  paganism  in  Kent,  and  drove 
out  the  Christian  ecclesiastics ;  but  Laurentius,  the 
successor  of  Augustine,  appeared  before  Eadbald, 
bleeding  from  severe  stripes,  and  audaciously  declared 

*    Vide  pp.  28,  29,  ante. 


32  A   COUNER   OF   KENT. 

that  St.  Peter  had  inflicted  them  on  him  during  the 
night,  because  he  was  about  to  forsake  his  flock,  and 
had  commanded  him  to  go  to  the  King  and  make 
known  the  true  faith  to  him.  The  ignorant  and 
superstitious  Saxon,  terrified  at  the  idea  that  the 
next  visit  of  St.  Peter  might  be  to  him,  became  a 
penitent  convert,  recalled  the  exiled  clergy,  and 
eventually  died  in  the  odour  of  sanctity. 

Ercombert,  his  youngest  son,  who  succeeded  him, 
was,  we  are  told,  a  zealous  Christian,  and  ordered  the 
heathen  temples  throughout  his  dominions  to  be  razed 
to  the  ground,  and  the  idols  to  be  broken  in  pieces, 
lest  they  should  hereafter  prove  a  snare  to  the  people. 
If  an  idol  or  Saxon  temple  of  any  description  ever 
existed  at  Guilton,  its  destruction  may  therefore  be 
fixed  at  this  date.  The  fluctuations  between  Christi- 
anity and  Paganism,  which  no  doubt  took  place 
amongst  the  people  as  well  as  in  their  princes,  are 
curiously  illustrated  by  the  contents  of  the  Guilton 
sepulchres. 

The  peace  and  prosperity  of  this  part  of  the  island 
were  now  rapidly  departing.  Intestine  divisions  en- 
couraged foreign  aggression,  and  towards  the  close  of 
tlie  seventh  century,  Cadwalla,  King  of  the  West 
Saxons,  in  revenge  for  the  death  of  his  brother,  Mul, 
Mol,  or  Mollo,  who,  after  overrunning  and  plundering 
the  country,  had  been  burnt  alive  in  a  farm-house 
by  the  exasperated  inhabitants, ^^  entered  Kent  at  the 

*  Saxon  Chron.  suh  anno  687 ;  Henry  Hunttingdon,  lib.  iv. ;  and 
William  of  Malmsbniy,  lib.  i.  cap.  i. 


BEFORE    THE    CONQUEST.  33 

head  of  a  formidable  army,  and  wasting  it  from  end 
to  end  with  fire  and  sword,  reduced  it  to  such  a  state 
that  it  never  recovered  its  importance  during  its  ex- 
istence as  a  separate  kingdom,  which  terminated  in 
823  with  the  death  of  Baldred,  when  it  was  annexed 
by  the  victorious  Egbert  to  the  rest  of  his  dominions, 
and  became  part  of  the  kingdom  of  England. 

It  was  now,  however,  to  suffer  from  a  new  scourge. 
As  early  as  787,  we  learn  from  the  Saxon  Chronicle 
that  the  Danes  had  made  their  appearance  on  the 
English  coast.  In  832  they  landed  on  the  Isle  of 
Sheppy,  plundered  it,  and  returned  unmolested  to 
their  ships.  Six  years  afterwards  they  again  landed 
in  Kent,  and  extended  their  ravages  to  Canterbury, 
Eochester,  and  even  London  itself.  In  851,  after 
being  defeated  at  sea,  off  Sandwich,  by  King  Ethel- 
stan,  who  took  nine  of  their  ships,  they  landed  in  the 
Island  of  Thanet,  and  wintered  there,  probably  held  in 
check  by  the  still  formidable  fortress  of  Uichborough. 
Alured  of  Beverley,  under  this  date,  informs  us  that 
Alcher,  the  Ealderman,  with  the  people  of  Canter- 
bury, fell  on  the  Danes,  encumbered  with  booty,  and 
routed  them  at  this  place,  then  called  Richberga. 

Undismayed  by  this  reverse,  they  landed  at  Sand- 
wich in  the  following  spring,  and  pillaged  it ;  and 
repeatedly,  during  the  tenth  and  the  beginning  of 
the  eleventh  century,  these  ferocious  Northmen  re- 
peated their  fearful  visitations,  and  laid  waste  the 
neighbouring  country  with  fire  and  sword.  That  the 
whole  of  this  parish  was  more  than  once  involved  in 

D 


34  A    CORNER   OF    KENT. 

this  destruction  tliere  can  be  no  doubt.  In  the  Sand- 
wich. MSS.  we  read  :  ''  The  city  of  Eutupi,  with  the 
castle  now  called  E;ichborrow  Castle,  was  utterly 
destroyed  b^^  fire  and  sword.  Such  was  the  rage  of 
King  Sweyne  and  his  Danes  in  the  year  of  grace  990." 
We  doubt  the  accuracy  of  the  date.  The  invasion  by 
Sweyne  and  Olave  is  recounted  by  the  Saxon  Chronicle 
in  993  and  994,  in  which  latter  year,  it  is  quaintly 
recorded,  "  they  wrought  the  utmost  evil  that  ever 
any  army  could  do,  by  burning  and  plundering  and 
by  man-slaying,  both  by  the  sea-coast  and  among  the 
East  Saxons,  and  in  the  land  of  Kent ^  and  in  Sussex 
and  Hampshire."  There  is  no  particular  mention  of 
E;ichborough ;  but  as  they  do  not  appear  to  have  held 
it  at  any  period,  they  most  likely  did  tlieir  utmost  to 
ruin  it ;  and  as  it  had  ceased  for  some  time  to  be  a 
royal  residence,  it  may  not  have  been  thought  neces- 
sary to  repair  the  damages  inflicted,  and  we  have  no 
evidence  of  its  having  ever  been  a  place  of  strength  or 
consideration  after  that  date.  The  injury  to  its  har- 
bour by  the  increase  of  the  sand,  and  the  consequent 
transfer  of  its  commercial  and  military  importance  to 
the  adjacent  port  of  Sandwich,  which  is  first  heard  of 
in  the  seventh  century,  contributed  to  its  decay,  and  at 
the  period  of  its  history  at  which  we  have  now  arrived, 
it  had  been  completely  superseded  by  Sandwich,  de- 
scribed, in  the  reign  of  Canute  as  ''  the  most  famous 
of  all  the  ports  of  England."* 

*  EncoDi,  Emma3, 


BEFOUE    THE    CONQUEST.  35 

As  early  as  the  time  of  Bede,  who  wrote  at  the 
commencement  of  the  eighth  century,  we  find  the 
noble  estuary  had  subsided  into  ''the  river  Want- 
sum,  about  three  furlongs  over,  and  fordable  in  two 
places.*"  An  old  map  in  Lewis's  "Thanet"  illus- 
trates this  description.  Before  the  I^orman  invasion, 
Bichborough  had  dwindled  down  to  an  insignificant 
hamlet,  and  its  castle  was  crumbling  away  beneath 
the  hand  of  time  and  the  depredations  of  man.  The 
extinction  of  paganism  had  written  Ichabod  on  the 
glory  of  Guiltontown,  and  the  high  road  or  street 
between  Wingham  and  Sandwich,  running  through 
what  is  now  the  village  of  Ash,  was  the  only  import- 
ant feature  of  the  parish. 

Important  it  must  have  been,  as  the  direct  line  of 
communication  by  land  between  the  capital  of  Kent 
and  the  principal  port  on  its  south  coast.  Here,  if 
anywhere  within  the  preserit  parochial  boundaries, 
would  the  Saxon  inhabitants  have  been  most  likely  to 
congregate  around  a  Christian  church  (occupying, 
perhaps,  the  site  of  the  present),  having  been  itself 
erected  on  the  ruins  of  a  Boman  temple,  which  had 
replaced  a  Druidical  altar.  That  such  was  the  ordi- 
nary course  throughout  the  country  there  is  ample 
evidence ;  and  without  assuming  it  as  a  fact,  we  may 
believe  that  in  all  probability  Ash  was  not  an  excep- 
tion to  the  rule. 

As  during  the   Boman  occupation  the  history  of 

*   Eccles.  Hitit.  ciq).  xxv. 
D    2 


36  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

this  corner  of  Kent  is  that  of  Richborough,  so  under 
the  sway  of  the  Saxons  (at  least  after  their  conversion 
to  Christianity)  it  merges  into  that  of  Sandwich ;  and 
throughout  the  first  half  of  the  eleventh  century  we 
have  continual  mention  of  the  plundering,  burning, 
and  ravaging  to  which  the  whole  neighbourhood  was 
subjected. 

The  last  previous  to  the  great  Norman  invasion 
appears  to  have  been  in  1048,  when,  according  to  the 
Saxon  Chronicle,  "  Sandwich  and  the  Isle  of  Wight 
were  ravaged,  and  the  chief  men  that  were  there 
slain."  At  this  period  the  powerful  Godwin  was 
Earl  of  Kent,  and  during  his  subsequent  struggle  with 
Edward  the  Confessor,  the  fleets  of  the  King  and  of 
his  turbulent  subject  alternately  entered  the  port  and 
threaded  the  diminishing  channel  of  the  Wantsum ; 
and  in  1052  Godwin  and  his  son  Harold  sailed  through 
it  to  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  on  their  hostile  expe- 
dition to  London. 

It  is  only  in  the  latter  days  of  Edward  the  Confes- 
sor that  we  discover  the  name  of  a  solitary  landholder 
in  some  part  of  this  devastated  district,  when  a  few 
acres  were  possessed  by  a  person  named  Bernholt, 
at  a  place  called  Ece,  in  the  hundred  of  Eastry,  and 
which  Mr.  Hasted  takes  to  be  Ash-next-Sandwich, 
with  what  probability  we  shall  inquire  in  the  next 
chapter.  ^ 


Coffer  of  the  15th  Century  in  the  Vestry  of  St.  Nicholas  Church,  Ash. 

CHAPTEE  II. 

DESCENT   OF   THE   MANOHS. 

WITH  the  reign  of  William  the  Conqueror,  com- 
mences that  valuable  series  of  official  documents 
by  which,  with  the  exception  of  some  fifty  or  sixty 
years,  we  are  enabled  to  trace  pretty  clearly  the 
descent  of  property  in  this  country  from  the  close  of 
the  11th  century  to  the  present  day,  and  illustrate  by 
legal  evidence  the  genealogies  of  its  principal  families. 
It  is  in  the  great  Survey  of  England,  known  as  the 
''  Domesday  Book,"  made  by  order  of  the  king,  A.D. 
1082 — 1086,  that  we  find  mention  of  a  place  called 
JEce,  in  Ustrei  hundred,  which,  after  the  Conquest, 
formed  part  of  the  enormous  possessions  of  William's 
half-brother  Odo,  Bishop  of  Baieux  and  Earl  of  Kent, 
and  wherein  a  yoke  of  land  was  held  under  him 
by  one  Osbert  Fitz-Letard.     That  on  it  were  three 


38  A   COBNER    OF    KENT. 

villains  (husbandmen,  be  it  understood) ;  that  in  King 
Edward's  time,  when  it  was  held  by  a  Saxon  named 
Bernholt,  it  was  worth  125.  annually,  afterwards  only 
6s,,  and  at  the  period  of  the  survey  had  risen  in  value 
to  16^.* 

According  to  the  same  document,  this  Osbert,  or 
Osbern  Eitz-Letard,  was  a  very  considerable  land- 
holder in  this  neighbourhood  under  Bishop  Odo  and 
other  lords ;  t  but  of  his  parentage  or  descendants 
we  know  nothing.  The  name  of  Letardus  occurs  as 
that  of  an  undertenant  in  Wiltshire ;  but  whether 
the  Osbert  of  Ash  were  his  son  or  not,  we  are  without 
means  of  ascertaining.  There  was  also  a  Letard, 
Rector  of  Northfleet,  who  died  in  1199,  who  might 
have  been  a  collateral  descendant  of  our  Osbert ;  but 
we  have  not  been  able  to  trace  any  connection, 

Mr.  Hasted  also  quotes  an  entry  in  Domesday,  by 
which  it  appears  that  one  Turstin  held  two  yokes  in 
Ece  of  the  bishop ;  but  as  that  Ece  is  said  to  have 
been  in  Summerden  (Smerden)  hundred,  and  the 
former  in  Estrei  (Eastry)  hundred,  it  is  clear  they 
are   two   different   places;    and  indeed  it  might  be 

*  The  jugum,  or  yoke  of  land,  is  estimated  by  Mr.  Morgan 
(England  under  the  Norman  Invasion,  p.  39)  at  half  a  ploughland, 
or  carucate,  which  varied  according  to  the  soil ;  being  as  much  as  a 
plough  could  till  in  a  year.  The  yoke  has  been  calculated  at  forty- 
eight  acres,  set  by  the  perch  of  sixteen  feet ;  bat  cannot  be  exactly 
determined.     See  notes  *,  pp.  39,  40. 

t  "In  Estrei  Hund.  Oslai  filii  Letard  ttn  de  Ej  o  Hama."  He 
also  held  Bedesham,  now  Beacham,  in  Wingham  hundred,  under  which, 
m  Domesday,  he  is  called  both  Oabert  and  Osbern. 


DESCENT    OE    THE    MANORS.  39 

questioned  whether  either  of  them  was  the  Ash  next 
Sandwich,  in  the  hundred  of  Wingham. 

Of  Ash  as  a  parish  we  shall  speak  hereafter.  It  is 
only  from  the  descent  of  the  manors  it  contained 
that  we  can  learn  much  of  its  early  history.  These 
amounted  to  twelve ;  namely.  Overland,  Goldston, 
Holland,  Checquer,  Chilton,  Weddington,  Levericks, 
Goshall,  Hill's  Court,  Twitham  Hills,  Barton,  and 
Elect. 

We  shall  commence  with  that  of 

ELEET, 

as  in  it,  or  attached  to  it,  were  the  hamlet  and 
castle  of  Eichhorough ;  and  in  following  the  descent 
of  the  manor,  we  shall  continue  and  complete  the 
history  of  that  famous  fortress.  Elect,  from  the 
Anglo-Saxon  fleot,  a  running  water, — flood,  is  a 
district  in  the  north-east  part  of  the  parish,  and 
was  anciently  held  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
as  of  his  manor  of  Wingham  ;  accordingly  it  is 
entered  under  the  general  title  of  the  Archbishop's 
lands  in  the  survey  of  Domesday  as  follows  : — "  Of 
this  manor  {i.e.  Wingham)  William  de  Arcis  holds 
1  suling*  in  Eletes,  and  there  he  has  in  demesne 
1  carucate  and  4  Villeins,  and  1  Knight  with  1  earn- 

*  Suliog,  swolling,  or  swilling,  is  a  word  common  to  Kent,  from 
the  Anglo-Saxon  sul,  a  plough.  So  in  a  charter  of  King  Offa  we 
find  "  aliquam  partem  terrse  trium  aratrorum  quam  Cantianse  Anglice 
dicunt  'three  sulinge.' " — (Somner's  Gavelkind,  p.  58;  Kenet's 
Glossary,  under  Selio.)  In  Dorsetshire  a  plough  is  still  called  a  zuU. 
According  to  some  authorities,  a  yoke  of  land  was  the  fourth  of  a 


40  A   CORNER   or   KENT. 

cate,*  and  one  fishery  with  a  saltpit  of  30  pence; 
the  whole  is  worth  forty  shillings."  The  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  at  this  period  was  the  celebrated 
Lanfranc,  who  had  acquired  the  see  on  the  disgrace 
of  Stigand,  A.D.  1070.  On  founding  the  priory  of 
St.  Gregory  in  1084,  Lanfranc  gave  that  establishment 
the  tithe  of  the  Manor  of  Elect ;  and  this  gift  was 
confirmed  by  Archbishop  Hubert  in  the  reign  of 
Hichard  I.  The  manor  itself  was  granted  by  Lanfranc 
''  to  one  OsbornCjt  of  whom,"  says  Hasted,  "  I  find 
no  further  mention,  nor  oftliis2^lctce,  till  Senry  IIL's 
reign  J'  Hecent  researches  will  enable  us,  however, 
to  supply  some  curious  information  on  the  latter 
point. 

The  person  called  William  de  Arcis  in  Domesday, 
who  held  under  Archbishop  Lanfranc  the  aforesaid 
portion  of  the  manor  of  Meet,  was  William  d'Arques, 
supposed  to  be  a  son  of  Godfrey  or  GeoflPrey  Eitz- 
Goscelin,  Viscomte  d'Arques,  a  bourg  and  viscomte 
in  the  Pays  de  Caux.l     Much  confusion  has  arisen 


suling,  which,  by  the  computation  given  above  (note  *,  p.  38),  would 
make  a  suling  about  192  acres. 

*  A  carucate  is  a  plough-land  containing  two  yokes,  and  therefore 
half  a  suling,  or  ninety-six  acres,  according  to  the  above  calculation. 
This  seems  borne  out  by  the  context,  as  William  de  Arcis  is  said  to 
hold  one  suling,  and  to  have  therein  in  demesne  two  carucates ;  viz., 
one  carucate  with  four  villeins,  and  one  knight  with  one  carucate. 

+  Dugdale,  Mon.  Aug.,  vol.  ii.  p.  373- :  "  Quod  feodum  dedimus 
Orfberno." 

J  Such  is  Mr.  Stapleton's  view  of  the  case.  ( Vide  his  elaborate 
paper  in  the  Archseologia,  vol.  xxxi.)     The  authors  of  the  "  Recherches 


DESCENT    OF    THE    MANORS.  41 

respecting  him  by  the  capricious  spelling  of  the  name 
Arcis  and  Arsic,  neither  of  which  truly  represents  the 
Norman  title,  and  occasion  it  to  be  confounded  with 
Arsick,  the  cognomen  of  an  entirely  different  family. 
William  d' Arques,  by  his  wife  Beatrice,  left,  according 
to  some  writers,  two  daughters  :  1st,  Matilda,  married 
to  William  the  Chamberlain,  de  Tancarville;  and 
2nd,  Emma,  who  married  first  Nigel  de  Muneville, 
and  secondly  Manasses,  Comte  de  Guisnes.  This 
Emma,  it  is  quite  clear,  had  a  daughter  by  each  of 
her  husbands,  the  descent  from  whom  we  shall  often 
have  occasion  to  refer  to.  William  d'Arques  was 
Lord  of  Eolkestone,  and  that  barony  passed  with 
Maud,  daughter  of  Emma,  by  her  first  husband, 
Nigel  de  Muneville,  to  Euallon  d'Avranches. 

Of  this  great  family,  from  w^hom  descended,  by 
female  heirs,  nearly  all  the  large  estates  in  this  part 
of  the  country  to  the  families  of  Orevecoeur,  Criol, 
and  Sandwich,  the  most  imperfect  and  inaccurate 
pedigrees  have  hitherto  been  published.  Consider- 
able light  is  thrown  upon  it  and  its  early  connections 
by  the  recent  publication  of  two  very  valuable  original 
documents  by  the  Kentish  Archaeological  Society ; 
the  first  being  specially  interesting  to  us,  as  it  shows 
the  descent  of  this  very  property  in  Elect,  which  we 
have  seen  was  vested  in  William  d'Arques  at  the  time 

snr  le  Domesday"  consider  William  d'Arques  to  be  a  collateral  of 
the  Viscomte.  For  our  opinion  the  reader  is  referred  to  Chapter  Y. 
of  this  volume,  which  we  have  specially  devoted  to  all  vexed  questions, 
genealogical  or  heraldic. 


42  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

of  the  great  survey,  and,  consequently,  fills  up  the 
gap  which  Hasted  describes  as  existing  between  that 
period  and  the  reign  of  Henry  III. 

It  is  a  legal  agreement,  called  ''  a  Pinal  Concord," 
of  the  eighth  year  of  the  reign  of  Hichard  I., 
A.D.  1197,  between  Elias  de  Beauchamp  and  Con- 
stance de  Bolbec,  his  wife,  plaintiffs,  on  the  one  part, 
and  Buellinus  de  Abrincis  (Avranches)  *  tenant,  on 
the  other,  concerning  half  a  knight's  fee,  with  its 
appurtenances,  at  Pleet.  The  above-named  persons 
agree  that  a  moiety  of  the  aforesaid  knight's  fee, 
with  the  lordship,  shall  remain  in  the  hands  of  Elias 
and  Constance  his  wife,  and  their  heirs ;  "  to  wit,  a 


*  The  Kuellinus  de  Abrincis  named  in  this  document  Las  never 
appeared  in  any  pedigree  of  the  family  of  D' Avranches.  From  the 
other  interesting  record  to  which  we  have  just  alluded_,  we  infer  that 
he  was  the  brother  of  Simon  d' Avranches,  plaintiff,  or  appellant,  in 
a  trial  by  wager  of  battle  with  Baldwin,  Comte  de  Guisnes,  10th 
February,  1201,  respecting  the  right  to  some  lands  in  Newington  ; 
for  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  hiatus  in  the  MS.  should  be  filled 
up  thus  '.—'■'■  Inter  Simonem  de  Avranches  petentem  per  IioeUa.h6i. 
fratrem  suum." — (Archieol.  Cant.  vol.  ii.  p.  265.)  This  name, 
which  was  that  of  his  grandfather,  who  married  Maud  de  Muneville, 
heiress  of  Folkestone,  being  most  capriciously  spelt,  not  only 
Koellandus,  Kuellinus,  Roelent,  Rualo,  and  E-uallon,  but  also 
Graalandus  and  Graelent,  as  it  will  be  found  in  the  families  of  Tany, 
Yaloignes,  St.  Ledger,  and  others,  beside  tbat  of  D'Avrauches,  In 
a  document  of  the  date  1127,  printed  by  Mr.  Boys  in  his  "  Collections 
for  the  History  of  Sandwich,"  pp.  551—3,  the  name  of  the  grandfather 
is  corrupted  into  Querent  de  Aurences,  and  in  the  "  Hot.  Curiae  Begis," 
9th  &  10th  of  Bichard  L,  that  of  the  grandson  is  indifferently  given 
as  Grelent,  Rohelandus,  and  Rolandus.  It  has  subsided  into  the  more 
familiar  form  of  Bulaud. 


DESCENT   OF   THE    MANORS.  43 

capital  messuage  and  all  the  land  within  the  walls  of 
Ratteburg  (the  name  by  which  Hichborongh  was  now 
known),  and  one  acre  which  is  outside  the  walls 
towards  the  south  of  the  western  entrance  of  the 
wall ;  and  the  eastern  part  of  the  field  called  Cnolla  ; 
and  the  northern  part  of  the  field  which  is  north  of 
the  aforesaid  field  called  Cnolla;  and  the  northern 
part  of  the  field  called  Claiire ;  and  the  southern  part 
of  the  field  to  the  south  of  the  Thornhushes  ;  and  the 
northern  part  of  the  field  which  is  northward  of  Hoga; 
and  the  southern  part  of  the  field  called  Nollis  ;  and 
the  western  part  of  the  field  called  Scantegas ;  and  the 
western  part  of  the  field  which  is  to  the  north  of  the 
road  which  reaches  to  the  walls  of  Ratteburg ;  and 
the  eastern  part  of  the  field  called  Staldingburg  ;  and 
the  southern  part  of  Soga ;    and  the  western  part 

of and  the  north  part  of  the  field  called 

Stepatra  ;  and  the  western  part  of  one  acre  which  is 
to  the  south  of  the  houses  of  the  Lady  Isabella. 
Moreover,  these  men  remain  to  the  aforesaid  Elias 

and  Constance   his  wife,  and  their   heirs 

Settlee,  with  all  his  holding  and  service ;  Estrilda,  the 
wife  of  Wlfi,  with  all  her  holding  and  service  ;  Luke 
and  Philip,  the  sons  of  Wlfi,  with  all  their  holding 
and  service  ;  Nicholas  Pitz-Wimund,  with  ten  acres 

of  his  holding Jordan  of  Mete,  witli  all  his 

holding  and  service,  excepting  the  moiety  of  service 
which  he  owes  for  tenants'  cart  service  ;  Edric  le 
Sauner,  with  all  his  holding  and  service,  and  a  moiety 
of  the  service of  Walter  Hassard ;  to  wit, 


44  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

for  the  eastern  part  of  his  holding ;  and  for  the  ser- 
vice of  Alice  the  Angevine  (or  of  Anjou) ;  three  pence 
halfpenny,  and  half  the  service  of  E^oger  Bulege ;  and 
for  the  revenue  of  Libricus  Eitz-E^ichard,  three  pence 
three  farthings. 

''  And  for  E/uellinus  de  Avranches,  and  his  heirs, 
there  remains  his  messuage  in  the  field  which  is  to 
the  south  from  the  ThornhiislieSi  and  all  the  land 
where  the  thorns  are,  to  wit,  of  the  above-named  half 

knight's   fee it   belongs   to   Euellinus   de 

Avranches next   to   the   Mill;     and   the. 

western  part  of  the  field  called  Cnolla ;  and  the 
southern  part  of  the  field  to  the  north  of  the  aforesaid 

field  of  Cnolla ;  and  the  southern  part The 

part  of  the  field  to  the  south  of  the  Thornhtishes  ;  and 
the  southern  part  of  the  field  to  the  north  of  Hoga  ; 
and  the  northern  part  of  the  field  called  Noll ;  and 

the  eastern  part  of  the  field The  part  of 

the  field  which  is  to  the  north  from  the  road  to  which 
reaches  to  the  walls  of  Eatteburg ;  and  the  northern 
part  of  the  field  which  is  to  the  south  of  the  wall  of 

Hatteburg and the  part  of  the 

field  called  Staldinghurga ;  and  the  northern  part  of 
Hoga ;  and  the  eastern  part  of  Pasture;  and  the 
southern  part  of  the  field  called  Stepatra ;  and  the 
eastern  part  of  one  acre  which  is  to  the  south  of  the 
houses 

"  Moreover,  Alan  de  Berelinge  remains  to  Euellinus 
de  Avranches,  with  all  his  holding  and  service ;  and 
Albrea,  wife  of  Godwin,  with  all  her  holding  and  ser- 


DESCENT   OE   THE    MANOKS.  45 

vice  ;  and  "William  le  Scot,  with  all  his  holding  .... 
Humphrey  and  Roger,  sons  of  Wlwinus,  with  all  their 
holding  and  service ;  Hugo  Pitz-Eluric,  with  all  his 
holding  and  service ;  and  the  homage  of  Nicholas  Pitz- 

Wimund  de  v are  towards  the  north,  near 

the  field  called  Scantega;  Mathew,  son  of  Osbert, 
with  all  his  holding  and  service ;  and  half  the  service 
and  revenue   of  Walter    Hassard,   to   wit,   for  the 

western and  for  the  service  of  Alice  the 

Angevine  two  pence  halfpenny ;  and  half  the  service 
of  Roger  de  Bulege ;  and  for  the  holding  of  Ederic  * 
Fitz-Richard    one   penny  three  farthings,    and   two 

hens,  and  a  moiety  of  service da 

to  wit owes  for  tenant  cart  service. 

"And  be  it  known  that  a  whole  moiety  in  the 
marshes  and  saltpits,  with  all  the  other  appurte- 
nances that  belong  to  the  above-named  half  knight's 
fee,  remain  to  Elias  de  Beauchamp  and  his  wife, 
and  their  heirs ;  and  the  other  moiety  remains  to 
Ruellinus  de  Avranches  and  his  heirs,  with  all  its 
appurtenances,  and  the  forstall  t  which  is  before  the 

gate   of   the   court  is  between Elias  de 

Beauchamp  received  the  homage  of  the  aforesaid 
Buellinus  for  all  the  holdings  described,  which 
remain   to   the   same  Buellinus,  to   be  held  by  him 

*  Previously  called  Lihricus  Fitz-Richard. 

t  Forstall  signified  a  grass  plot  in  front  of  a  gateway  :  several 
families  have  received  the  name  of  Forstall  from  owning  or  residing 
near  one.  "  Fostal,  sl  paddock  to  a  large  house  or  a  way  leading 
thereto.     Sussex.'" — (Halliwel],  Archaic  Diet.) 


46  A   COrvNER    OF    KENT. 

and  his  heirs  of  the  aforesaid  Elias  and  Constance 
his  wife,  and  of  their  heirs,  for  the  service  of  a 
fourth  part  of  a  knight's  fee;  and  for  this  fine 
and  agreement  B^uellinus  de  Avranches  gave  to 
Elias  de  Beauchamp  and  Constance  his  wife  ten 
silver  marks." 

"We  are  sure  it  is  not  necessary  to  apologize  to  our 
least  erudite  readers  for  the  insertion  of  this  document 
in  extenso,  replete  as  it  is  with  local  and  personal 
information  of  the  greatest  interest.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  tantalizing  lacunae  which  here  and  there 
occur  in  the  manuscript,  we  learn  from  it  the  names 
of  tw^entv  individuals  who  held  lands  in  Eleet  in  the 
reign  of  Kichard  Coeur  de  Lion,  and  nearly  all  of 
whom  were  living  on  the  4th  of  June,  1197,  when 
this  agreement  was  solemnly  entered  into  at  West- 
minster hefore  Hubert,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury ; 
Ralph,  Bishop  of  Hereford;  and  Richard,  Bishop  of 
Ely ;  Master  Thomas  de  Husseburne,  Bichard  de 
Heriet,  Osbert  Eitz-Hervey,  Simon  de  PateshuU,  Oger 
Eitz-Oger,  justices ;  and  other  faithful  servants  of 
the  King  being  then  present.  Amongst  the  names  of 
the  under-tenants  we  find  that  of  Alan  de  Berelinge, 
reminding  us  of  Bereling  Street,  in  this  parish,  and 
that  persons  are  still  living  in  the  neighbourhood 
who  bear  this  name  ;  of  Jordan  de  Elete,  apparently 
the  most  considerable  landowner,  as  he  had  his 
surname  from  the  manor  itself.  The  Saxon  names 
of  Godwin,  Ulfi  or  Ulsi,  and  Wulwin  or  Wulfin, 
probably   those   of    descendants   of  families    settled 


DESCENT    OF    THE    MANORS.  47 

there  long  before  the  Norman  occupation.*  But  not 
only  the  names  of  the  tenants  are  handed  down  to 
us,  but  those  of  the  very  fields  they  cultivated  around 
the  walls  of  Richborough  Castle,  and  their  positions 
so  minutely  and  clearly  described,  that  it  would  take 
no  great  trouble  at  the  present  day  to  identify  them. 
That  called  CnoUa  was  most  probably  the  one  in 
which  the  amphitheatre  was  discovered.  It  still 
presents  the  appearance  of  a  mound  or  knoll  of 
earth.  StaldingS^^r^,  from  its  termination,  indicates 
some  tradition  of  a  town.  The  other  names  are  of 
uncertain  orthography,  and  may  be  corruptions ;  but 
it  is  yet  possible  they  may  be  traced  in  charters  and 
rolls  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  The 
salts  mentioned  are  specified  in  Domesday  {vide 
page  40,  ante),  and  are  still  known  as  "the  salt- 
pans ;"  and  "  the  land  within  the  walls  of  Ratteburg" 
leads  us  to  imagine  that  it  was  even  then  pretty 
clear  of  buildings,  and  devoted  to  pasture  or  cultiva- 
tion. Whether  the  "  one  capital  messuage"  was  one 
of  '*  the  houses  of  the  Lady  Isabella,"  afterwards 
mentioned,  is  doubtful.  The  Lady  Isabella  was  the 
sister  of  Constance,  wife  of  Elias  de  Beauchamp,  one 
of  the  parties  to  the  agreement.  They  were  daughters 
and  co-heirs  of  Walter  de  Bolbec.  By  the  Pipe  Boll 
of  the  second  of  Bichard  I.  (six  years  previous  to  the 

*  Just  seventy  years  previous  to  this  date  we  find  the  names  of 
Wulfin  de  Bocklande,  Sirent  filius  Godwyne,  and  Wolfioyne  filius 
Coke,  amongst  those  of  grave  old  men  of  good  reputation,  "de 
proviucie  circa  Sandwicum." — (Boys's  Coll.  p.  652.) 


48  A    CORNER   OP    KENT. 

above  agreement),  we  find  that  Earl  Alberic  de  Yere* 
rendered  account  to  the  King  of  500  marks  for  the 
daughter  of  "Walter  de  Bolbec,  to  give  her  to  his, 
Alberic' s,  son  in  marriage ;  and  by  the  Pipe  'Roll  of 
the  ninth  of  John,  A.D.  1208,  that  Eobert  de  Yere 
gave  the  King  200  marks  and  three  palfreys,  to  have 
Y[sabella]  de  Bolbec  in  marriage.  The  Lady  Isabella 
then,  about  eleven  years  after  the  date  of  the  Einal 
Concord,  became  the  wife  of  Robert  de  Yere,  after- 
wards third  Earl  of  Oxford,  and  who  died  fifth  of 
Henry  III.,  1221.  Their  son,, Hugh  de  Yere,  fourth 
earl,  was  a  minor  at  that  period,  and  doing  homage 
the  fifteenth  of  Henry  III.,  1231,  had  livery  of  his 
paternal  inheritance.  His  mother,  Isabella,  died 
twenty-ninth  of  the  same  reign,  1245,  when  he  had 
also  livery  of  the  lands  of  her  inheritance.  Hugh 
died  forty-seventh  of  Henry  III.,  1263,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  son:Bobert,  fifth  earl,t  who  died 
twenty-fourth  of  Edward  I.,  1297,  when  an  inquisition 
was  taken  at  Elect,  and  the  jurors  returned  that  he 
held  the  manor  of  ''  Elete  next  Sandwich"  of  John, 

*  This  Alberic  de  Yere  was  the  first  husband  of  Beatrice,  only- 
daughter  and  heir  of  Kose  (or  Sibilla,  as  she  is  sometimes  called)  de 
Guisnes  and  Henri  Castellan  de  Bourbourg,  and  grand-daughter  of 
Emma  d'Arques,  by  her  first  husband  Manasses  Comte  de  Guisnes. 
Vide  Chapter  Y.,  in  which  the  singular  confusion  existing  in  the 
genealogy  of  the  De  Yeres  is  examined,  and  an  attempt  made  to 
reconcile  the  conflicting  evidencCc 

t  The  editor  of  the  Archseolog.  Cant.,  in  his  remarks  on  the  Final 
Concord,  has  confounded  this  Robert  de  Yere,  fifth  Earl,  with  his 
grandfather  Robert,  third  Earl  of  Oxford. 


DESCENT    OF    THE    MANORS.  49 

son  of  John  de  Sandwyco  (Sandwich)  by  service  of 
one  knight's  fee,  and  that  there  is  a  capital  mes- 
suage, with  the  curtilage,  dove-cot,  and  certain  closes, 
worth  6s.  Sd.  per  annum.  That  the  rents  of  assize  at 
Michaelmas  are  24<s.  Sd. ;  at  the  Peast  of  St.  Martin, 
74iS,  6^d. ;  at  the  Eeast  of  the  Purification,  22s.  Sd. ; 
besides  a  rent  at  the  Nativity  of  Our  Blessed  Lord  of 
twenty-seven  cocks,  worth  l^d.  each,  and  forty-two 
hens,  worth  2d.  each.  That  there  are  eighty  acres  of 
arable  land  worth  2s.  per  acre  per  annum ;  and 
315  acres  of  marsh  land  worth  1^.  each  per  annum ; 
and  that  the  sum  total  of  the  extent  is  £30.  ISs.  6^d. 
Here  we  arrive  at  another  curious  and  official  descrip- 
tion of  Meet  in  the  reign  of  Ed wjj^  I.,  at  whigh 
time  the  manor  was  held  by  the  *Earl  of  Oxford  of 
John,  son  of  John  de  Sandwich,  by  his  wife  Agnes 
de  Crevecoeur,  eldest  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Maud 
d^ Avranches,  Lady  of  Eolkestone.  He  was,  therefore, 
a  collateral  descendant  of  the  Ruellinus  d'Avranches 
who  held  the  moiety  of  half  a  knight's  fee  in  Eleet 
in  1197.  John  de  Sandwich,  the  younger,  died  in 
1284,  leaving  an  only  daughter  and  heir,  Juliana, 
aged  eight,  who,  by  her  marriage  with  Sir  John  de 
Segrave,  carried  the  barony  of  Eolkestone  and  other 
estates  into  that  family. 

The  manor  of  Eleet,  however,  held  by  the  Earl 
of  Oxford  twenty-fourth  of  Edward  L,  was  only  one- 
half  of  the  original  manor,  and  was  distinguished  as 
Gurson  Eleet,  The  other  half  was  called  Butler's 
Eleet,   being   held   in   the   reign  of  King  John  by 

E 


50  A   COHNEH   OP   KENT. 

Thomas  Pincerna  {i.e,  Butler),  a  relative,  no  doubt, 
of  the  Archbishop  Hubert,  brother  of  Theobald 
"Walter,  under  whom  he  held  it  as  half  a  knight's 
fee. 

To  proceed,  however,  with 

GTOSON   ELEET, 

so  named  from  the  farm  of  Gurson,  now  called  Gus- 
ton,  immediately  adjoining  that  which  has  retained 
the  name  of  Eleet.  Kobert  de  Yere,  sixth  Earl  of 
Oxford,  surname d  the  Good,  ^  who  died  third  of 
Edward  III.,  1329,  was  found  by  the  escheators  of 
the  king  in  that  year  to  have  been  seized  of  this  manor, 
still  held  of  the  family  of  Sandwich,  as  in  the  twentieth 
of  the  same  reign,  1346,  John,  Earl  of  Oxford,  and 
Nicholas,  son  of  Thomas  de  Sandwich,  were  charged 
jointly  to  it  for  one  knight's  fee ;  the  said  Thomas  de 
Sandwich  having  before  held  it  of  the  Archbishop. t 
The  De  Yeres  continued  to  hold  this  manor  to  the 
end  of  the  reign  of  Henry  YI.,  when  the  venerable 
John  de  Yere,  Earl  of  Oxford,  and  his  eldest  son, 

*  His  temperance  was  such  that  the  commonalty  accounted  him  a 
saint.  By  the  inquisition  just  quoted,  he  was  found  to  be  twenty-four 
years  of  age  at  the  death  of  his  father  Robert,  in  1297. 

t  A  Fine  Roll  of  the  3rd  of  Edward  L,  1276,  appears  to  indi- 
cate the  period  at  which  the  family  of  Sandwich  became  holders  of 
this  manor.  Thomas  de  Sandwich  being  then  the  plaintiff,  and 
Robert  de  Crevecoeur  and  Isolda  his  wife,  defendants,  (fee,  in  Fleet  by 
Sandwich,  the  right  to  which  is  recognized  as  belonging  to  the  said 
Thomas  de  Sandwich  and  Johanna  his  wife,  and  the  heir  of  the  said 
Thomas.  This  heir  was  eventually  the  Sir  Nicholas  whom  ^ye  find 
holding  it  in  1346. 


DESCENT   OF   THE    MANORS.  51 

Aubrey,  for  their  attaclimeiit  to  the  house  of  Lancas- 
ter, were  attainted  and  afterwards  beheaded  on  Tower 
Hill,  first  of  Edward  TV.,  and  their  estates  forfeited 
to  the  Crown.  The  manor  of  Eleet  was  given  to 
E;ichard,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  afterwards  Richard  IIT, 
by  his  brother.  King  Edward,  in  the  second  year  of 
his  reign;  and  after  the  battle  of  Bosworth  and 
death  of  E^ichard,  was,  by  King  Henry  VII.,  in  the 
first  year  of  his  reign,  restored  to  the  family  of  De 
Yere,  with  the  rest  of  their  possessions. 

It  is  shortly  after  this  period  that  we  obtain  some 
further  information  respecting  the  state  of  Eich- 
borough.  Leland,  who  visited  it  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  YIII.,  quaintly  describes  it  as  follows  : — 
*' Eatisburgh,  otherwise  Eichboro,  was,  or  ever  the 
river  Sture  did  turn  his  botom  or  old  canale  withyn 
the  isle  of  Thanet,  and  by  lykilyhood  the  mayne  se 
cam  to  the  very  foote  of  the  castel.  The  mayne  se  is 
now  of  it  a  myle  by  reason  of  the  woze  (ooze)  that 
hath  there  broken  up.  The  site  of  the  old  town  or 
castel  ys  wonderful  fair  upon  an  hill.  The  walls,  the 
wych  remain  ther  yet,  be  in  compasse  almost  as  much 
as  the  tower  of  London.  They  have  been  very  hye, 
thycke,  stronge,  and  well  embatelled.  The  mater  of 
them  is  flynt,  mervelluss  and  long  brykes,  both  white 
and  redde,  after  the  Britons'  fashion.  The  sement 
was  made  of  the  sand  and  smaul  pibles.  There  is 
lykelyhood  that  the  goodly  hill  about  the  castel,  and 
especially  to  Sandwich  ward,  hath  been  well  inhabited. 
Corne  groweth  on  the  hill  yn  mervelus  plenty ;  and 

E  2 


52  A   COENER   OF   KENT. 

yn  going  to  plough  there  hath  out  of  mynde  (been) 
found,  and  now  is,  mo  antiquities  of  Romayne  mony 

then  in  any  place  els  in  England There  is 

a  good  flyte  shot  of  fro  Eateshurgh  toward  Sandwich 
a  great  dyke,  cast  yn  a  round  cumpas,  as  it  had  been 
for  fens  of  menne  of  warre.  The  cumpase  of  the 
ground  withyn  is  not  much  above  an  acre,  and  that 
is  very  holo  by  casting  up  of  the  yerth.  They  call  the 
place  ther  Lytelborough.  Withyn  ye  castel  is  a  little 
paroche  church  of  St.  Augustine,  and  an  hermitage. 
I  had  antiquities  of  the  heremite,  the  which  is  an 
industrius  man.*  Not  far  fro  the  hermit  ay  ge  is  a 
cave,  wher  men  have  sowt  and  dygged  for  treasure. 
I  saw  yt  by  candel  withyn,  and  there  were  conys. 
Yt  was  so  straite  {i.  e.  narrow)  that  I  had  no  mynd 
to  crepe  far  yn.  In  the  north  syde  of  the  castel, 
ys  a  hedde  in  the  walle,  now  sore  defaced  with 
wether.    They  cawle  yt  Queue  Bertha  hedde. t    Neare 

*  It  appears  there  was  a  hermit  at  Reculver  also  at  the  close  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  of  whom  the  name  has  descended  to  us.  King 
Richard  III.,  in  the  second  year  of  his  reign,  granted  a  commission 
to  "  Thomas  Hamond,  Hermyte,  of  the  chapel  of  St.  James,  being  at 
our  Lady  of  Eeculver,  ordeyned  for  the  sepulture  of  such  persons  as 
by  casual  tie  of  stormy  or  other  misadventures  were  perished,  to 
receive  the  alms  of  charitable  people  for  the  building  of  the  roof  of 
chapel  fallen  downe."— (Harl.  MS.  No.  433,  2,170.)  There  is  an  old 
Kentish  family  of  the  name  of  Hamond,  or  Hammond,  of  which  the 
hermit  was  probably  a  member.  Some  of  them  afterwards  possessed 
this  manor  of  Elect. —  Vide  p.  55. 

t  A  piece  of  stone  so  designated  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  wall 
near  the  postern  gate,  but  with  every  trace  of  features  completely 
obliterated. 


DESCENT   OE   THE   MANORS.  53 

to  that  place,  hard  by  the  wal,  was  a  pot  of  Eomayne 
mony  found."* 

It  is  clear,  from  the  above  description,  that  there 
were  still  existing  in  Leland's  time  indications  unmis- 
takable of  a  considerable  population  having  resided 
between  the  castle  of  Richborough  and  Sandwich, 
and  in  Lowton  (a  group  of  cottages  below  the  amphi- 
theatre towards  Sandwich)  we  may  probably  distin- 
guish a  suburb  of  the  ancient  Eitupis.  The  dyke 
called  Littleborough  was  thought  by  Mr.  Hasted  to 
have  been  a  Danish  work  of  the  10th  century ;  but  may 
it  not  have  been  the  amphitheatre  since  discovered  ?t 
The  '^  little  parish  church"  mentioned  by  Leland  is 
thus  recorded  in  the  will  of  Sir  John  Saunders,  preben- 
dary of  Wingham,  parson  of  Dymchurch,  and  vicar  of 
Ash,  dated  August  14th,  1509  : — •"  Item,  I  bequeath  to 
the  chapel  of  Richborough  one  portuys  %  printed,  with 
a  masse  book  that  was  Sir  Thomas  the  old  preste. 
Item,  to  the  use  of  the  said  chapel  205.  to  make  them 
a  new  windowe  in  the  body  of  the  church."  On  the 
eastern  side,  towards  the  cliff,  were  recently  the  ves- 
tiges of  walls,  certainly  of  mediaeval  date,  which  were 
considered  by  Mr.  Eoach  Smith  to  be  the  remains  of 
a  chapel,  and  the  adjoining  spot,  where  portions  of 
skeletons  were  discovered,  appeared  to  have  been  the 
site  of  a  burial-place  attached  to  it.§ 

*  "Itinerary,"  by  Hearne,  vol.  vii.  p.  128. 

+  Sucli  seems  to  have  been  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Fussell. —  Vide 
*'  Journey  round  the  Coast  of  Kent." 

X  Portasse,  a  Breviary.  §  "Antiquit.  of  Eichborough,"  p.  47. 


54  A   CORNER   or   KENT. 

This  chapel,  however,  wherever  it  stood,  was  pro- 
bably  erected   on    the   site    of  the   original   Saxon 
church,  which  would  scarcely  have  escaped  demolition 
by   the   Danes,    and   subsequently   to   the   reign   of 
Richard  I.,  as   no    mention   of  any   such   building 
occurs  in  the  minute  description  of  Richborough  in 
the  Pinal  Concord  we  have  quoted  above.    It  is  called 
both   chapel   and   church   in  the  will   of  Sir  John 
Saunders,  and  appears  to  have  been  a  chapel  of  ease 
to  the  church  of  Ash,  for  the  few  remaining  inhabi- 
tants in  this  part  of  the  parish,  and  is  mentioned  as 
such   in   the   grant   of  the  rectory  of  that  church, 
in  the  third  year  of  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.,  when  it 
was  still  in  existence ;  soon  after  which,  says  Hasted, 
it   probably   fell  to   decay.     And   this    leads   us   to 
another  point  of  controversy  amongst  the  antiquaries 
who   have  written   on   Richborough.     The   singular 
object  now  called  St.  Augustine's  Cross  has  been  by 
some  thought  to  have  marked  the  spot  on  which  the 
chapel  of  St.  Augustine  once  stood ;  but  Mr.  Roach 
Smith  dismisses  the  suggestion  as  untenable.     We 
venture   to    express   our   opinion   that   it   does   not 
deserve  to  be  disposed  of  so  hastily.     It  by  no  means 
follows,  because  the  mass  of  masonry  beneath  it  was 
the  foundation  of  some  Roman  structure,  that  after 
the  demolition  of  such  structure  a  chapel  might  not 
be  built  upon  it.     The  very  cruciform  appearance  it 
presented    (and    which    we    have    endeavoured    to 
account   for   in   the    former    chapter),   would   have 
favoured  its  selection  in  the  eyes  of  the  founders. 


DESCENT   or    THE    MANOES.  65 

Nor  need  the  size  (42  feet  by  34,  and  30  by  8)  be 
urged  as  an  objection,  as  chapels  may  be  found  as 
small.  Bonchurch,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  is  scarcely, 
if  any,  bigger.  And  it  was  not  imperative  to  limit 
the  building  to  the  exact  proportions  of  the  cross, 
which  might  have  formed  a  remarkable  feature  within 
it.  We  by  no  means  insist  on  such  being  the  fact ; 
we  only  object  to  the  positive  assertion  to  the  contrary 
on  such  grounds  as  are  given  for  it. 

To  return  to  the  descent  of  this  manor.  In  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth,  Edward  de  Yere,  Earl  of  Oxford 
(Philipot  says  Jolm,  who  died  fourth  of  Elizabeth) 
alienated  the  manor  of  Gurson  Elect  to Ham- 
mond, in  which  family  it  continued  till  the  reign  of 
Charles  II.,  when  it  was  sold  by  them  to  the  Rev.  T. 
Turner,  D,D.,  who  died  possessed  of  it  in  1672.  In 
1748  it  was  purchased  of  his  descendant  by  Dr.  John 
Lynch,  Dean  of  Canterbury,  whose  son.  Sir  William 
Lynch,  K.B.,  died  possessed  of  it  in  1785,  and 
bequeathed  it,  with  all  the  rest  of  his  estates,  to  his 
widow.  Lady  Lynch,  who  was  the  possessor  in  the 
time  of  Hast^.  Erom  the  family  of  Lynch  it  passed 
to  that  of  Brockman,  of  whom,  in  1833,  it  was  pur- 
chased by  the  late  Mr.  Thomas  Coleman,  who,  in 
1845,  sold  it  to  the  Marchioness  Dowager  of  Conyng- 
ham,  who,  dying  October  11th,  1861,  bequeathed  it, 
with  other  property  in  this  parish,  to  her  eldest  son, 
the  present  Marquis  of  Conyngham. 

The  site  of  Bichborough  Castle,  however,  seems 
to  have  been  reserved  in  the  sale  of  the  manor  to 


56  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

Hammond,  and  passed  to  the  family  of  Grant ;  thence 
to  that  of  Thurbarne,  of  Sandwich  ;  and  from  thence 
by  marriage,  with  other  property  in  this  parish,  to 
Colonel  Edward  E^ivett,  whose  son,  John  Rivett,  Esq., 
conveyed  it  in  1750  to  Mr.  Josias  Earrer,  of  Doctors' 
Commons,  London.  His  son,  Josiah  EuUer  Earrer, 
Esq.,  sold  the  whole  estate,  with  the  site  of  Kich- 
borough  Castle  and  other  lands  and  premises  adjoining, 
in  1781,  to  Peter  Eector,  Esq.,  of  Dover.  In  the  deed 
of  conveyance  is  this  description  : — ^'  And  also  all 
those  walls  and  ruins  of  the  antient  Castle  of  Ruter- 
pinum,  now  known  by  the  name  of  E;ichborongh 
Castle,  with  the  scite  of  the  antient  port  and  city  of 
E^uterpinum,  being  on  and  near  the  lands  above 
mentioned." 

The  other  portion  of  the  manor  of  Elect  was 
distinguished  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  by 
the  name  of 

butler's  tleet, 

from  Thomas  Pincerna,  or  le  Boteler  (?),  its  tenant 
under  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  of  his  manor 
of  Wingham^  in  the  reign  of  King  Jotyp..  That  this 
Thomas  Pincerna  was  of  the  family  of  Theobald 
Walter  Butler,  ancestor  of  the  Earls  of  Ormond,  and 
brother  of  Hubert,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  under 
whom  he  held  the  manor,  can  scarcely  be  doubted. 
His  successor,  Eobert  Pincerna,  left  three  sons — 
Eobert,  called  le  Boteler,  Thomas,  and  William,  a 
priest.  John,  son  and  heir  of  Eobert,  temp.  Edward  I., 
married  Anne,  daughter  of Hanbury,  and  had 


DESCENT   OF   THE    MANORS.  57 

issue  by  her  John  le  Boteler,  living  temp,  Edward  III., 
in  the  twentieth  of  whose  reign  the  heir  of  E^ohert 
le  Boteler  answered  for  half  a  knis^ht's  fee  which 
E/obert  le  Boteler  had  previously  held  in  Pleet  of 
the  Archbishop,  and  which  was  at  that  time  held 
by  William  Lord  Latimer,  of  Corbie,  knight,  and 
Lord  Warden  of  the  Cinque  Ports  ;  and  from  him 
the  name  of  the  manor  was  changed  to 

LATIMEll's   ELEET. 

Elizabeth,  his  sole  daughter  and  heir,  married 
John  Lord  Nevil  of  Baby,  w^hose  son  John  bore 
the  title  of  Lord  Latimer,  having  been  knighted  at 
Leicester  by  the  King  himself,  and  summoned  to 
Parliament  as  Lord  Latimer  from  the  sixth  of 
Henry  lY.  to  the  ninth  of  Henry  VI.  inclusive, 
in  which  year  he  died,  and  the  greatest  part  of  his 
inheritance  came  to  Balph  Lord  Neville,  first  Earl 
of  Westmoreland,  his  eldest  but  half-brother,  to 
whom  he  had  sold  the  reversion,  at  his  decease, 
of  the  barony  of  Latimer.  The  Earl  vested  it, 
together  with  this  manor  and  much  of  the  above- 
mentioned  inheritance,  in  his  younger  son,  George 
Neville,  who  was  accordingly  summoned  to  Parlia- 
ment as  Lord  Latimer,  tenth  of  Henry  YL,  as 
"  George  de  Latimer,  Chevalier."  His  son.  Sir 
Henry  Neville,  was  slain  at  Edgecote  Eield,  near 
Banbury,  ninth  of  Edward  lY.,  and  Lord  Latimer 
died  shortly  afterwards  in  the  same  year,  an  idiot, 
his    lands    being    in    the   custody   of    his    nephew, 


58  A  CORNEE   OF   KENT. 

E^icliard  Nevil,  Earl  of  Warwick,  the  ^'  King- 
maker." He  was  succeeded  by  his  grandson, 
Eichard,  son  of  Sir  Henry,  killed  at  Edgecote ;  and 
he,  in  the  same  reign,  alienated  this  manor,  which 
had  now  acquired,  from  its  last  possessors,  the 
name  of 

nevil's  fleet, 

to  Sir  James  Cromer,  Knight.  His  grandson.  Sir 
William  Cromer,  in  the  eleventh  of  Henry  YIL, 
sold  it  to  John  Isaak,  of  Westbere,  son  of  James 
Isaak,   of  Hode,  and  Elizabeth,  daughter  and  heir 

of Cundy,  Yice-Admiral  to  King  Henry  YII. 

Erom  John  Isaak  it  passed  to Kendall,  and  he, 

in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry  YIIL,  sold  it 
to  Sir  John  Eogg,  of  Eepton,  near  Ashford,  Knight, 
who  died  possessed  of  it  in  1533.  His  son,  of  the 
same  name,  parted  with  it  to  Mr.  Thomas  Eolfe, 
and  he  shortly  afterwards  to  Stephen  Hougham, 
of  Ash,  gentleman,  who,  by  his  will,  dated  20th 
of  November,  1555,  and  proved  23rd  of  March 
following,  devised  to  his  youngest  son,  Richard 
Hougham,  of  Eastry,  all  his  rents,  suit,  and  service 
of  his  manor  of  Neville's  Elect,  and  a  piece  of 
meadow  called  Swallow's  Brook,  lying  in  Ash, 
which  he  lately  purchased  of  Thomas  Eolfe, 
junior,  John  Brooke,  of  Ash,  nephew  of  Stephen 
Hougham,  also  gave  ^'  certain  lands,  parcel  of  the 
manor  of  Nevil's  Elect"  to  John,  son  of  Hichard 
Hougham,     his     godson,     by     will     proved    Eeb- 


DESCENT   OF   THE    MANORS.  59 

ruary  7th,  1582.  From  the  Houghams  it  seems  to 
have  passed  to  Sir  Adam  Spracklyn,  Knight,  who, 
according  to  Hasted,  sold  it  to  one  of  the  family 
of  Septvans,  alias  Harfleet,^  in  which  it  continued 
till  shortly  after  the  reign  of  King  Charles  I.,  when 
it  went,  he  tells  us,  by  a  female  heir,  Elizabeth, 
in  marriage,  to  Thomas  Kitchell,  Esq.  We  have 
not  been  successful  in  identifying  this  Elizabeth  in 
any  of  the  multifarious  pedigrees  of  the  Harfleets;* 
but  an  Elizabeth  Harfleet  was  married  to  Thomas 
Kitchell,  at  St.  Mary  Bredin's  Church,  Canterbury, 
in  1652. t  According  to  Hasted  also,  the  heirs 
of  Kitchell  alienated  the  manor,  about  1720,  to 
Mr.  Thomas  Bambridge,  warder  of  the  Eleet  Prison, 
London  (a  singular  association  of  localities) ;  upon 
whose  death  it  became  vested  in  his  heirs-at-law, 
Mr.  James  Bambridge,  of  the  Inner  Temple,  London, 
and  another  Thomas  Bambridge,  who  divided  the 
estate,    the    latter    parting    with    his    portion    to 

*  Henry  Harfleet^  soa  of  Henry  Harfleet  and  Mary  Slaughter, 
married  secondly  Bennedetta  Hougliam,  March  26th,  1629  (Ash 
Eegisters),  by  whom  he  does  not  appear  to  have  had  any  issue.  His 
first  wife  was  Dorcas,  daughter  of  Joshua  Pordage,  of  Sandwich,  by 
whom  he  had  nine  children. 

+  Additional  MSS.  Brit.  Mus.,  l^o.  5507.  The  Harfleets  had  lands 
in  Fleet  as  early  as  the  fifteenth  century,  but  they  were  in  the  other 
portion,  called  Gurson  Fleet,  as  is  clear  from  the  will  of  Thomas, 
who  died  1559,  and  bequeathed  to  his  son  Christopher  his  "lease  in 
the  manor  of  Flete  next  Sandwich,  being  of  the  inheritance  of  the 
Earl  of  Oxford^'  which  Nevil's  Fleet  was  not.  A  branch  of  the 
Harfleets  continued  to  reside  at  Fleet  to  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century. 


60  A   CORNEE   OF   KENT. 

Mr.  Peter  Moulson,  of  London.  His  only  daughter 
and  heir  carried  it  in  marriage  to  Mr.  George 
Yanghan,  of  London,  and  he  and  the  assignees 
of  Mr.  James  Bambridge,  last  mentioned,  conveyed 
the  whole  fee  of  the  manor  to  Mr.  Joseph  Solly, 
of  Sandwich,  the  owner  in  Hasted's  time,  and 
in  whose  family  it  continued  till  1846,  when  it  was 
purchased  by  the  late  Mr.  Thomas  Coleman,  of 
Gurson,  for  the  Marchioness  Dowager  of  Conyng- 
ham,  who  devised  it  by  will,  together  with  Gurson 
Meet,  to  her  eldest  son,  the  present  marquis. 

GOSHALL. 

The  origin  of  the  name  of  this  manor  has  not  been 
made  a  subject  of  inquiry  or  speculation.  In  early 
documents  it  is  spelt  indifferently  Goshall,  Gosehaule, 
Goshale,  and  Gozehale ;  but  no  inference  can  safely 
be  drawn  from  the  arbitrary  orthography  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  In  the  reign  of  the  Conqueror  we 
find  it  held  by  a  knight  named  Arnoldus,  of  the  gift 
of  Archbishop  Lanfranc,  who,  by  the  same  charter 
we  have  quoted  concerning  Pleet,*  gives  the  tithes  of 
the  manors  of  Goshall  and  Golston  to  the  church 
of  St.  Gregory  in  Canterbury.  In  the  record  which 
Dr.  Somner  calls  Domesday,  an  Arnoldus — probably 
the  same — holds,  in  conjunction  with  Wibertus,  three 
sulings  of  the  archbishop,  of  the  manor  of  AYingham, 
valued  at  £12.     As  early  as  the  eighth  of  Henry  III., 

*  Dugdale,  '-'Mon.  Ang."  vol.  ii.  p.  373. 


DESCENT   OE   THE    MANOUS.  61 

A.D.  1224,  we  find  a  Eanulph.  de  Gosehaule  holding 
land  under  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  ;*  and  by  a 
fine  roll,  seventeen  years  later,  it  appears  to  have 
been  a  knight's  fee  and  a  half  in  Goshall ;  that 
E^anulph  was  then  dead,  and  his  son  and  heir  Walter 
in  possession  of  it.f  But  about  the  same  period  there 
was  another  and  much  more  important  person  con- 
nected with  Goshall,  though  we  have  not  yet  been 
able  to  ascertain  the  exact  nature  of  his  tenure.  This 
was  Sir  John  Maunsel  or  Mansel,  one  of  the  secular 
clergy,  the  great  favourite  of  Henry  III.,  who  heaped 
preferment  upon  him  until  at  last  his  annual  income 
is  said  to  have  amounted  to  more  than  4,000  marks, 
"  besides  700  which  he  had  accumulated ;"  insomuch, 


^■"  "P.  dno  Cantuar.  'Rex  Yic  Kaiic  salt.  Monst'vit  no'b  S.  Can- 
tuar  ArcH  qd  tu  ^a  Eann  de  Gosehaule  q  est  de  feodo  suo  T  maD-Q 
tua  cepisti  eo  qd  cuilz  Yic  de  novo  costituto  dari  cosuevit  dun  marc 
de  ?ra  ilia  ut  dicis.  Et  io  t^  pcipimus  qd  si  ita  est  pdem  feodu  dno 
Cantuar  i  pace  dimittas  inq  sup  pxim  copotu  tiiu  ad  sa'cm  nrm  ad 
instans  festu  sci  Micli  ut  tuc  cora  fidelibz  de  cosilio  nro  vitas  inde  pleni 
in^at^  q^  inqisita  qd  justti  fait  statuat.  T.  E.  ap.  Bed.  xxxj  die 
Jut"— Kot.  Glaus.  8th  Henry  III.,  1224. 

From  a  charter  cited  in  p.  84,  it  would  appear  that  this  Ranulf 
was  the  son  of  a  Eobert  de  Gosehaule. 

t  "P.  WalK  de  Gosehal.  Mandatum  est  Custodibz  Archifpat' 
Cantuar  ql  accepta  secitate  a  Walto  de  Gosehal  iilio  t  hede  Eanulfi 
de  Gosehal'  qui  tenuit  feed  uni'  militis  t  dimid  en  ptin  in  Gosehal'  de 
vij  libi  't  X.  sol  p  quos  Sne  fecit  cum  P  p  serviio  suo  t  de  alio  svicio 
si  quod  inde  R  debet  de  omibuz  tris  t  tenementis  que  ipsom  Walt 
heditar  ctlngt  't  de  quibz  id  Ranulf  fuit  seisit'  ut  de  feodo  die  quo 
obiit  eidem  Walt"o  sesma  hrVfac.  T.  P.  apud  Windles  xvj  die  Marc." — 
Pine  Poll,  25th  of  Henry  III.,  A.D.  1241. 


62  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

says  the  old  chronicler,^  that  there  was  not  a  clerk 
found  so  wealthy  as  he.  Parson  of  Maidstone  in 
Kent,  of  Hoveden  (Howden),  co.  York,  and  of  Wigan, 
CO.  Lancaster,  Treasurer  of  the  church  of  York,  Chan- 
cellor of  St.  Paul's,  London,  Provost  of  Beverley, 
Chief  Justice  of  England,  a  privy  councillor,  chaplain 
to  the  king,  and  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal ;  to  these 
multifarious  offices  and  duties  were  added,  in  1254, 
the  appointment  of  Ambassador  to  the  court  of  Spain, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  marriage  of  Edward,  the  king's 
son,  to  Eleanor,  daughter  of  Alphonso,  King  of  Cas- 
tile ;  whence  he  brought  back  with  him  a  charter 
sealed  with  gold,  by  which  King  Alphonso,  for  himself 
and  his  heirs,  renounced  to  the  king  of  England  all 
claim  to  the  province  of  Gascony.  He  was  also  asso- 
ciated with  the  Earl  of  Gloucester  on  a  special  mis- 
sion to  Germany,  and  was  sent  with  other  persons  of 
distinction  to  attend  the  parliament  in  Paris.  "With 
all  this,  he  was  a  valiant  soldier.  He  took  prisoner 
the  High  Steward  of  Boulogne  in  the  great  battle 
between  the  Erench  and  English  at  Saintoigne  in 
1242,  and  was  w^ounded  severely  the  following  year 
in  an  action  before  the  monastery  of  Yerines,  in  Gas- 
cony, by  a  stone  flung  from  the  walls,  which  crushed 
his  leg,  and  caused  him  a  long  and  serious  illness,  but 
increased  his  favour  still  more  with  the  king,  who 
bestowed  most  abu.ndant  revenues  upon  him,  and 
whose    will   he   witnessed  in   1253. t     Li   1258,   he 

*  Matthew  Paris.  t  "Ptjmeri  Foecleraj"  vol.  i.  pars  I. 


DESCENT   OF   THE    MANOUS.  63 

founded  the  Priory  of  Bilsington,  in  the  hundred  of 
Newchurch,  Romney  Marsh,  having  purchased  part  of 
the  manor  of  Bilsington  of  the  heirs  of  Hugh  de 
Albany,  Earl  of  Arundell,  and  bestowed  upon  it  all 
his  portion  of  the  manor,  and  his  whole  land  of  Poire 
Gozeliale,  and  Eeche  (Ash),  making  one  William  the 
first  prior  thereof.*  In  1262  he  had  charge  of  the 
Tower  of  London,  from  which  he  took  flight  clandes- 
tinely in  1264,  in  order  to  escape  from  the  fury  of  the 
rebellious  barons.  This  is  the  last  we  hear  of  him 
in  the  history  of  the  period ;  and  it  appears  he  died 
in  the  course  of  that  year,  "  the  richest  man  in  the 
world,"  says  Matthew  Paris,  ''according  to  report." 
As  an  instance  of  his  wealth,  the  following  circum- 
stance is  related  by  the  same  chronicler,  under  the 
date  1256,  and  on  the  occasion  of  the  visit  of  Alex- 
ander, King  of  Scotland,  and  his  queen  to  King 
Henry  III. 

"  When  the  king  (Henry)  approached  London,  his 
eldest  son,  Edward,  with  many  other  nobles,  went 
to  meet  him,  and  the  city  was  decorated  in  honour 
of  the  arrival  of  the  great  personages  expected; 
for  there  were  present  the  King  and  Queen  of 
England,  the  King  and  Queen  of  Scotland,  Edward, 
and  a  large  number  of  nobles  and  prelates.  On  the 
festival  of  St.  Augustine  the  Teacher,  John  Mansel 
asked  permission  to  entertain  all  the  noble  guests  on 
the  morrow,  which  request  was  granted  to  him.     He 

*  ''Mon.  Ang."  vol.  ii.  p.  333. 


64  A   COENEE,   or   KENT. 

therefore  invited  to  a  magnificent  dinner  the  kings  of 
England  and  Scotland,  and  all  the  earls,  barons,  and 
knights,  English  as  well  as  Scotch ;  also  the  Bishop 
of  London,  and  a  great  many  of  the  citizens.  So 
numerous,  indeed,  were  his  guests,  that  his  house  at 
Totliale  ^  was  not  capable  of  holding  them  all :  and 
he  caused  some  large  and  regal  pavilions  to  be  pitched 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  guests.  Those  who 
partook  of  this  feast  were  so  many  in  number  that 
seven  hundred  dishes  were  scarcely  sufficient  for  the 
first  course  of  it;  and  never  at  any  time  was  any 
prelate  known  to  be  able  to  provide  such  a  rich  and 
abundant  feast,  for  all  were  supplied  with  an  abun- 
dance of  every  kind  of  luxury"  (page  931). 

Of  the  family  of  this  Wolsey  of  the  fourteenth 
century  nothing  has  been  handed  down  to  us  on  which 
we  can  rely.  A  Philip  de  Maunsel,  son  of  Philip 
Arbalistarius  and  Mabel  de  Erlegh,  appears  to  have 
married  a  daughter  of  the  Sir  Hugh  de  Auberville 
who  died  fourteenth  of  John  (1213).  If  Sir  John 
Maunsel  was  the  son  of  Henry,  the  elder  brother  of 
this  Philip,  as  set  down  by  some  genealogists,  his 
connection  with  the  Aubervilles  might  account  for  his 
possession  of  property  in  this  corner  of  Kent,  where, 
by  their  intermarriage  with  the  families  of  Sandwich 
and  Criol,  so  much  land  must  have  been  owned  or 
occupied  by  their  collaterals ;  but  he  is  also  said  to 

*  A  manor  then  in  the  possession  of  Sir  John  Maunsel,  afterwards 
popularly  known  as  Tothill  Fields,  Westminster. 


DESCENT   OF   THE    MANORS.  65 

have  married  Joan,  tlie  daughter  of  Simon  de  Beau- 
champ,  of  Bedford  (from  this  marriage  Collins  and 
Banks  derive  the  family  of  Lord  Mansell  of  Margam) ; 
and  here  we  come  upon  another  family,  holding  in 
the  immediate  vicinity,  jointly  with  that  of  Avran- 
ches,  in  the  reign  of  B/ichard  I.  He  may,  however, 
have  acquired  his  estates  in  this  parish  hy  purchase, 
as  he  did  that  of  Bilsington.  Some  of  them  even- 
tually passed  into  the  possession  of  the  family  of 
Sandwich ;  but  the  Gosh  alls  continued  to  hold  their 
own  portion  of  that  particular  manor  for  some 
considerable  period.  We  have  seen  that  Walter 
de  Goshall  succeeded  his  father,  Banulph,  in  1241. 
He  was  living  in  the  37th  of  that  reign,  A.D.  1253, 
when  a  final  concord  was  entered  into  between  him 
and  Bichard  de  Hagshebye,  respecting  sixty  acres 
of  land  in  Ash.  After  which,  eighth  of  Edward  I., 
1280,  we  find  a  Henry  de  Gosehale  entering  into  an 
agreement  with  Alan  Tyte  about  lands  at  Cotmanton, 
in  Ash.  The  next  of  that  name  we  meet  with  is 
Sir  John  de  Goshall,  who  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I. 
accounted  to  the  Archbishop  for  two  knight's  fees  he 
held  under  him  at  Goshall.  He  was  living  in  the 
34th  of  that  king's  reign,  A.D.  1306,  when  he  had 
a  suit  with  one  Peter  Lincoln,  respecting  some 
lands  in  Ash.  (Einal  Concord,  sub  anno.)  He  was 
succeeded  by  Henry  de  Goshall  in  or  before  the  6th 
of  Edward  XL,  1313,  who  married  Margaret,  daughter 
of  Sir  Thomas,  and  sister  of  Nicholas  de  Sandwich. 
This  Henry  was   seized  of  Goshall  in  the  18th  of 

r 


68  A   CORNER    OF   KENT. 

Edward  11.,  and  was  associated  with  Henry  de  Cob- 
liam,  6th  of  August,  1824,  as  supervisor  in  the  parts  of 
East  Kent,  of  the  general  array  of  the  kingdom  against 
the  invasion  threatened  by  the  King  of  Erance.*  He 
was  dead  in  the  7th  Edward  III.,  1335,  leaving  four 
sons,t  the  eldest  of  whom,  John  de  Goshall,  resided 
here  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  in  the  20th  of 
whose  reign,  A.D.  1346,  the  Lady  Goshall,  who  was 
late  wife  of  Sir  John  de  Goshall,  paid  aid  for  one 
knight's  fee  and  a  half  which  he  had  held  at  Goshall 
and  Goldstanton  of  the  Archbishop. 

A  third  John  de  Goshall  appears  to  have  attained 
his  majority  in  the  following  year ;  J  and  at  the  same 
time  we  meet  with  a  notice  of  a  Walter  de  Goshall, 
who  had  a  suit  against  Thomas  de  Podding  for  the 
manor  of  Clivesend,  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet.§  In 
1369,  Elizabeth  Goshall  is  returned  as  seized  of 
lands  in  Goshall,  Wingham,  Preston,  Goldstanton, 
Overland,  Elmstone,  Whelmstone,  and  Helles ;  1|  and 
acquittances  and  charters  are  extant  in  which  she  is 


'^  Ryiner's  "  Fc&dera,''  vol.  iv.  p.  78  ;  and  on  the  22nd  of  September 
with  Thomas  de  Sandwich  as  guardians  of  the  ports  and  coasts  of 
Kent  during  the  absence  of  the  fleets. 

t  John,  Henry,  Walter,  and  Robert :  the  last  three  were  under  age 
in  1335.  From  a  charter  of  Walter  there  appears  to  have  been 
another  brother,  named  Thomas,  who  died  vit.  Patris,  leaving  no  issue 
by  his  wife  Beatrice.      Vide  Chajiter  V. 

X  Kot.  Pat.  21st  Edward  III.,  pars  I.  Fine  for  the  manor  of 
Goldston. 

§  Rot.  Pat.  21st  Edward  III.,  1347. 
•     II   Inquisition  iwst  mortem,  43rd  Edward  III. 


DESCENT    OF   THE    MANORS.  67 

described  as  Elizabeth,  '^  qui  fuit  uxor  Johannes  de 
Gosehale,"  as  late  as  the  2nd  of  Richard  II.,  1379. 
Shortly  after  which  time.  Gosh  all  appears  to  have 
passed  by  a  female  heir,  Elizabeth,  in  marriage,  to 
Thomas  St.  Nicholas.*  Eoger  St.  Nicholas,  who  died 
in  1484,  left  a  sole  daughter  and  heir,  Elizabeth,  who 
conveyed  Goshall  to  her  husband,  John  Dynely,  of 
Charlton,  co.  Worcester,  Esq.  His  eldest  son,  Henry, 
alienated  it  about  the  middle  of  Queen  Elizabeth's 
reign,  to  John  Roper,  of  Linsted,  co.  Sussex,  Esq., 
who  was  afterwards  knighted,  and,  14th  James  I., 
A.D.  1616,  created  Baron  of  Teynham.  In  his  de- 
scendants it  remained  till  1705,  when  Henry,  Lord 
Teynham,  conveyed  the  estate  to  trustees  for  the  use 
of  Sir  Henry  Eurnesse  of  Waldershare,  Bart.,  who  in 
1708  settled  it  on  his  son  Bobert  on  his  marriage  with 
Anne,  daughter  of  Anthony  Balam,  Esq.  Sir  Bobert 
died  in  1733,  leaving  by  his  second  wife,  the  Lady 
Arabella  Watson,  a  son  Henry,  who  survived  his 
father  only  a  short  time,  dying  under  age  and  un- 
married, in  1735,  when  the  estates,  being  divided 
according  to  the  limitations  in  his  grandfather's  will, 
the  manor  of  Goshall,  with  the  mansion,  lands,  and 
appurtenances  belonging  to  it,  was  allotted  by  a  writ 
of  partition,  confirmed  by  Act  of  Parliament  ninth 
of  George  IL,  1737,  to  Selina,  daughter  and  co-heir 
of  Sir  Bobert  Eurnesse.  This  lady  married  Edward 
Bering,   of  Surrenden,  Esq.,  afterwards  Sir  Edward 

*    Vide  Chapter  V. 
F    2 


68  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

Dering,  Bart.,  who  sold  Goshall  in  1779  to  Peter 
Eector,  of  Dover,  Esq.  His  son,  John  Minet  Pector, 
resold  it  in  1835  to  the  late  Mr.  Thomas  Coleman,  of 
Gurson,  from  whom  it  was  conveyed  in  184i5  to  the 
Dowager  Marchioness  of  Conyngham.  Her  lady- 
ship, who  deceased  Oct.  11,  1861,  bequeathed  it,  with 
other  estates  in  this  parish,  to  her  eldest  son,  the 
present  Marquis  of  Conyngham,  of  whom  the  land 
is  now  rented  by  Mr.  Thomas  Coleman,  of  Gurson, 
son  of  the  former  proprietor. 

GOLDSTON, 

otherwise  Goldstanton,*  was,  together  with  Goshall, 
granted,  as  we  have  already  stated,  by  Archbishop 
Lanfranc  to  one  Arnold,  or  Arnoldus,  and  in  1202 
(fourth  of  John)  we  find  a  E^obert  de  Goldstanton, 
who,  in  a  recognizance  of  "  mort  d' ancestor,"  acknow- 
ledges twenty-five  acres  in  Goldstaneston,  *'  cum 
pertinentiis,"  to  be  held  by  William  Pitz- Arnold  and 
his  heirs  for  ever  of  the  said  Robert  and  his  heirs, 

'^  Originally,  perhaps,  Goldstan's  Town,  from  some  Saxon  pro- 
prietor. In  a  plea  held  at  Sandwich  in  1127,  by  command  of 
Henry  II.,  concerning  the  toll  and  custom  of  Sandwich  haven,  we 
find  one  of  the  twelve  jurors,  "King's  men  of  Dover,"  named 
''  Goldstan  filius  Brunig,"  whom  it  is  not  too  wild  a  speculation 
to  imagine  a  descendant  of  the  old  Saxon  stock  in  Ash,  as  the 
whole  twenty-four  persons  selected  from  Dover  and  the  vicinity 
of  Sandwich  are  particularly  said  to  have  been  all  grave  old 
men  and  of  good  reputation  : — "  Yiginti  quatuor  maturi  sapientes 
sanes  multorum  mannorum  bonum  testimonium  habentes." — (Bojrs's 
Collections.)  And  the  above  date  is  only  sixty-one  years  after 
the  Conquest. 


DESCENT   or   THE   MANORS.  69 

by  the  payment  of  half  a  marc  per  annum  in  lieu 
of  all  service  except  ''  forinsec  "  {i.  e.,  extraordinary 
military  service).      Prom   the   particular   nature   of 
this  document  there   can  scarcely   be  a  doubt  that 
the    immediate   descendants   of  Lanfranc's    original 
grantee,  Arnoldus,  were  still  living  on  their  paternal 
estate  at  the  commencement  of  the   reign  of  King 
John.      The  manor  is   found  in   the   possession  of 
the  family  of  Goshall,  Sir   John   de   Goshall  being 
recorded,   temp.  Edward  I.,  as  holding  of  the  Arch- 
bishop two  knight's  fees  in  Goldstanton  and  Goshall, 
and  we  have  little  doubt  that  the  E^obert  de  Gold- 
stanton  of  1202   is   identical   with   the   E/obert  de 
Goshall  who  was  dead  in  1224.     A  division  of  this 
property  appears  to  have  been  subsequently  made, 
as  in  the  twentieth  of  Edward  III.,  Walter,  son  of 
Henry   de   Gosehale,    Knight,   gave  by  his  charter, 
dated  12th  of  January  in  that  year,  a  third  part  of 
the  manor  of  Goldstanton,  with  its  appurtenances, 
which  Beatrice,  the  widow  of  his  late  brother,  Thomas 
de  Gosehale,  held  in  dower,  to  John  de   Gosehale, 
Knight,  and  Elizabeth  his  wife. — (Harleian  Charters, 
Brit.   Mus.,    78  D,  32.)     In  the  same  book  of  the 
fees  held  of  the  Archbishop,  William  de  Leyghe  is 
said  to  hold  half  a  fee  in  Elmes,  otherwise  Nell,  a 
place  about  half  a  mile  distant  from  Goldston  House, 
to  the  manor  of  which   it  seems  formerly  to  have 
been  an  appendage,  and  on  the  aid  paid  the  20th  of 
Edward  III.,  Anne,  late  wife  of  William  de  Leyghe, 
is  charged  with  one  quarter  of  a  fee,  which  the  said 


70  A   CORNEH   OP    KENT. 

William  before  held  of  the  Archbishop,  in  Elmes  or 
Ash.* 

Simultaneously  with  the  Goshalls  and  the  Leyghes 
the  great  family  of  Leybourne  had  some  property 
in  this  manor.  Harris  says  that,  in  the  fiftieth  year 
of  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  (1266),  this  manor  was  in 
the  possession  of  Sir  Robert  (Roger)  de  Leybourne ; 
and  it  was  certainly  brought  in  marriage  by  his  grand- 
daughter Juliana  to  her  third  husband,  William  de 
Clinton,  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  who,  in  the  twenty- 
eighth  of  Edward  III.,  appears  by  the  Escheat  Rolls 
to  have  died  without  issue, t  seized  of  the  manor  of 
Goldstanton,  leaving  his  nephew,  Sir  John  Clinton, 
his  heir,  in  whose  descendants  it  continued  till  the 
reign  of  Henry  IV.,  when  it  passed  from  one  of 
them  to  Richard  Clitherow,  Sheriff  of  Kent,  fourth 
and  fifth  of  Henry  IV.,  and  in  the  seventh  of  the 
same  reign  appointed  Admiral  of  the  Seas  from  the 
Thames  westward.  By  his  wife,  the  daughter  of  Sir 
John  Oldcastle,  he  left  a  son,  Roger  Clitherow,  one 
of  the    warriors    at    Agincourt,    who    by    his   wife, 

*  Amongst  the  Harleian  cliarters  are  several  acquittances  for  rent 
for  the  manor  of  Elmes  or  Nelmes,  in  Eshe  juxta  Sandwich,  from 
Elizabeth  Domina  de  Goshall  to  another  William  de  Legh  and  other 
persons,  of  various  dates,  from  the  44th  of  Edward  III.  to  the 
1st  of  Richard  II.  ;  and  two  similar  documents  are  amongst  the 
charters  of  Combewell  Priory,  preserved  in  the  College  of  Arms. 

t  Segur,  however,  in  a  note  in  his  MS.  Baronage,  a  most  valuable 
recent  addition  to  the  library  of  the  College  of  Arms,  says  that  he 
found  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Sir  John  Fitz- William,  of  Sprotsburgh, 
CO.  York,  "to  be  a  daughter  of  this  Earl  of  Huntingdon."— 
Vol.  i.  p.  260. 


DESCENT   OF   THE    MAKOHS.  71 

Matilda,  left  three  daughters  and  co-heirs.  The 
eldest,  Alianor,  married  John  Norris,  who  had  with 
her  this  manor ;  and  his  son  and  heir,  John,  was  in 
ward  by  reason  of  his  nonage,  at  the  time  of  his 
father's  death,  ninth  of  Edward  lY.  His  descendant, 
William  Norris,  of  Ash,  gentleman,  died  possessed  of 
it  second  of  Henry  VII.  (1487),  without  issue  by 
Anne,  his  wife,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  younger 
brother,  John,  who  alienated  it  to  John  Lord 
Clinton,  who,  in  the  sixth  of  Henry  YIII.,  died 
seized  of  the  manors  of  Goldstanton  and  Lee,  alias 
Elmes,  leaving  Thomas  Lord  Clinton  his  son  and 
heir.  This  nobleman  died  two  years  afterwards,  of 
that  fatal  disorder  called  ''  the  sweating  sickness," 
which  swept  off  many  distinguished  personages  at 
that  period.  His  son  and  heir,  Edward,  was  then 
an  infant,  but  afterwards  became  one  of  the  most 
eminent  men  of  the  age,  and  in  the  thirtieth  of 
Henry  YIIL,  by  the  title  of  Lord  Clinton  and  Saye, 
he,  with  Elizabeth  his  wife,  conveyed  the  manor  of 
Goldstanton,  with  all  other  his  estates  in  this  parish, 
to  Thomas  Lord  Cromwell,  afterwards  Earl  of  Essex, 
on  whose  attainder,  only  two  years  after,  it  came 
into  the  hands  of  the  Crown.  In  the  thirty-fourth 
year  of  his  reign,  Henry  YIIL  granted  the  manor 
of  Goldston,  alias  Goldstanton,  with  the  manor  of 
Lees,  alias  Nells,  in  Ash,  Winsborough  (Woodens- 
borough),  and  Wingham,  to  Yincent  Engham,  Esq., 
to  hold  "in  capite,"  and  his  son  Thomas  had  seizing 
of  this  estate  fifth  of  Elizabeth.     He  bequeathed  it  to 


72  A   COENEU   OP   KENT. 

his  son  Thomas,  afterwards  Sir  Thomas  Engham,  of 
Goodneston  (now  Gunston),  Knight,  who,  at  the  latter 
end  of  Qaeen  Elizabeth's  reign,  alienated  it  to  Mr. 
Conrcelis,  of  London,  who  sold  it  to  Sir  William  Wilde, 
Bart.,  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  King's  Bench,  in  the 
reign  of  Charles  II.,  and  Recorder  of  London  and 
M.P.  for  the  City  in  1660.  He  died  1679,  and  was 
buried  in  the  Temple  Church,  London,  haying  settled 
these  manors  in  tail  male  on  the  issue  of  his  second 
wife,  Erances  Lady  Wilde,  who  resided  at  Goldston 
in  her  widowhood,  and  died  possessed  of  it  in  1719.  On 
the  death,  in  1731,  of  the  widow  of  her  son,  William 
Wilde,  Esq.,  who  held  it  in  jointure,  the  manor  de- 
volved to  the  only  daughter  of  Sir  Eelix  Wilde,  the 
eldest  son  of  Sir  William  by  his  first  wife,  "  Eleanor, 
daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Twisden,  the  Judge,"*  and 
the  three  daughters  and  co-heirs  of  William,  his  son 
by  his  second  wife,  Erances ;  and  they  continued  joint 
owners  of  the  undivided  estate  till  the  twenty-seventh 
of  George  II.,  1754.  In  that  year  an  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment was  passed  to  divide  it  and  apportionate  it  in 
six  parts,  according  to  articles  of  agreement  entered 
into  by  the  several  parties  concerned.  Three  of  the 
six  parts,  or  one  moiety  of  the  whole,  were  allotted 
to  Nicholas  Toke,  of  Godington,  Esq.,  in  right  of 
Eleanor,  his  wife,  sole  daughter  and  heir  of  John 
Cockman,  M.D.,  by  Anne  (or  Margaret),  daughter 
and  sole  heir  of  Sir  Eelix  Wilde,  above  mentioned. 

*  Streatfield's  MS.     ^'  She  died  1689." 


DESCENT   OP   THE    MANORS.  73 

This  moiety  consisted  of  the  manor  of  Goldston,  with 
the  Court  Baron,  and  its  rights  and  appurtenances, 
and  a  farm  called  Goldston  Parm,   containing   220 
acres  of  land.     The  other  three  parts  were  allotted, 
first,  to  Eobert  Colebrooke,  of  Chillam  Castle,  Esq., 
whose  father,  James,  had  purchased  Upper  Goldston 
Parm  of  William  Beaudon,  Esq.,  husband  of  Erances, 
eldest  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Mr.  William  Wilde 
aforesaid  ;  second,  Lower  Goldston  Earm,  containing 
the  mansion  of  Goldston  House,  with  the  lands,  126 
acres,   garden,  lodge,   and  moat,   and  several   other 
premises  in  Ash,  to  John  Masters,  in  right  of  his 
wife    Margaret,    second    daughter    and    co-heir   of 
William  Wilde ;  third,  consisting  of  divers  premises 
in  Ash,  to  Anna   and  Maria   Herenden,  co-heirs  of 
Thomas  Herenden,  of  Eltham,   surgeon,   by   Eliza- 
beth   his     wife,    third     daughter    and    co-heir    of 
William  Wilde.     The  manor    of  Goldston  remains 
still  in  the  family  of  Toke  of  Goddington,  descended 
from  Ejobert  de  Toke,  who  was  present  with  Henry  III. 
at  the  battle  of  Northampton,  1264d,  and  was  also 
ancestor  of  the   Tokes   of  Bere,   in  Westcliffe   and 
other  places  in  the  counties  of  Cambridge,  Dorset, 
and   Hertford.     Its   present  representative  in  Kent 
and   owner    of   this    manor,   is    Nicholas    Toke,    of 
Goddington,  Esq. 

Upper  Goldston  Earm  was  sold  in  1775  to  Robert 
Heron,  of  Chillam  Castle,  Esq.,  from  whom  it  passed 
to  Eogg  and  others,  and  then  to  Brown,  of  Ash,  who 
alienated  it,  in  1788,  to  Mr.  John  Alexander,  of  God- 


74  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

mersham,  the  possessor  in  Hasted's  time,  who  had 
married  Jane,  daughter  of  Henry  Brown,  of  Ash.  It 
is  now  the  property  of  Mr.  Delmar,  of  Canterbury. 

Lower  Goldston  Earm  was  sold  by  Mr.  John  Tur- 
ner, of  Ash,  surgeon,  grandson  of  Mr.  John  Masters 
(and  who  was  the  owner  in  Hasted's  time),  to  Mr. 
Delmar.  This  has  been  since  resold  in  portions,  and 
the  principal  proprietor  is  now  Mr.  Chandler.  The 
mansion  of  Goldston,  which  was  the  residence  of 
Mr.  Thomas  Jull,  second  husband  of  Elizabeth 
Masters,  was  pulled  down  some  few  years  ago. 

OVERLAND. 

Of  this  manor,*  situated  in  a  borough  of  the  same 
name,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  north-west  from  Ash 
church,  we  have  as  yet  found  no  record  previou.s  to 
the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  when,  as  Hasted  has  stated, 
it  was  held  of  the  Archbishop  by  the  eminent  family 
of  Criol  or  Keriel,  having  been  granted  by  that  king, 
in  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  his  reign,  to  Bertram  de 
Criol,  Warden  of  the  Cinque  Ports,  and  Constable  of 
Dover  Castle,  who,  from  his  large  possessions  in  this 
county,  was  called  the  Great  Lord  of  Kent,  from  whose 
heirs  it  passed,  in  the  following  reign  of  Edward  I., 
into  the  family  of  Leybourne';  and  William,  son  of 
Roger  de  Leybourne,  died  seized  of  it  in  the  second 

'''  The  name  of  this  manor  is  evidently  derived  from  the  high  land 
of  which  it  is  composed,  and  which  formerly  was  the  shore  (Ofer, 
A.-S.)  of  the  sea  which  covered  the  marsh  beneath  it,  and  was  bounded 
on  the  other  side  by  the  Isle  of  Thanet. 


DESCENT   OE   THE   MANOES.  75 

year  of  the  reign  of  Edward  II.,  A.D.  1328,  leaving 
liis  grand- daughter  Juliana,  the  daughter  of  his  son 
Thomas,  who  died  in  his  lifetime,  his  next  heir.  This 
lady,  the  heiress  not  only  of  her  paternal  grandfather, 
''  the  Great  Lord  of  Kent,"  but  of  her  maternal  great- 
grandfather. Sir  Ralph  de  Sandwich,*  was,  with  equal 
felicity,  styled  "  the  Infanta  of  Kent."  Hasted  says 
"  she  married  three  husbands,  and  yet  died  childless, 
her  vast  estates  escheating  to  the  Crown,  it  appearing 
that  no  one  could  be  found  to  make  claim  to  her 
property  even  by  a  collateral  alliance."  Such,  how- 
ever, is  not  exactly  the  case,  although  the  assertion 
is  apparently  borne  out  by  the  fact  that  the  lands 
were  seized  by  the  Crown ;  and  that  this  manor  of 
Overland  remained  in  it  until  E^ichard  II.  bestowed 
it  on  Sir  Simon  de  Barley,  K.G.,  Lord  Warden  of  the 
Cinque  Ports.  It  is  singular  so  little  should  be 
known  of  this  celebrated  heiress,  first  the  wife  of 
John  de  Hastings,  Lord  Bergavenny ;  secondly,  of 
Thomas  le  Blunt;  and  thirdly,  of  Sir  William  de 
Clinton,  a  younger  brother  of  Lord  Clinton  of  Max- 
toke,  ancestor  of  Lord  Clinton  and  Say,  and  of  the 

*  Sir  Kalph,  hy  his  wife  Juliana  (Peyforer  ?),  had  a  daughter  of 
the  same  name,  who  married  William  de  Leybourne.  She  survived 
her  husband,  and  died  ante  second  of  Edward  III.  Juliana,  relicta 
W™i  (de  Leybourne)  tenuit  messuagium  et  40  acras  terri  cum  ptni  in 
Overlande  de  Archipatu  Cantuar.  Juliana  defunct  2nd  Edward  III. — 
(Originalia,  2,  17.)  In  the  close  Roll  of  the  1st  of  Edward  III. 
she  is  stated  to  be  the  heir  of  Kalph  de  Sandwich.  Juliana  de 
Leybourne,  daughter  of  her  son  Thomas^  was  born  32nd  Edward  I., 
1304. 


76  A   CORNER   OE   KENT. 

present  Duke  of  Newcastle.  By  this  fortunate  mar- 
riage Sir  William  attained  great  honours,  and  was 
raised  by  King  Edward  III.  to  the  title  and  dignity 
of  Earl  of  Huntingdon.  Upon  Ms  decease,  twentieth 
Edward  III.,*  Juliana,  for  the  third  time  a  widow, 
became  again  possessed  of  this  and  others  of  her 
estates,  and  died  in  the  forty-first  of  the  same  reign, 
1367,  but  not  under  the  strange  circumstances  above 
mentioned.  She  had  issue  by  her  first  husband  a 
son  named  Lawrence,  born  thirteenth  of  Edward  II., 
who  succeeded  his  father  as  Lord  Bergavenny,  and 
was  created  Earl  of  Pembroke.  His  son  John,  Lord 
Hastings,  second  Earl  of  Pembroke,  died  in  1375, 
leaving  a  son  John  under  age,  and  ward  of  the  king. 
This  young  nobleman  being  accidentally  killed  in  a 
tournament  at  Windsor,  fifteenth  of  Richard  II.,  1392, 
while  still  a  minor,  all  the  estates  to  which  he  was 
heir  of  course  escheated  to  the  crown,  and  it  was  on 
this  occasion  that  his  great-grandmother  Juliana, 
who  had  preceded  him  to  the  grave  some  five-and- 
twenty  years,  was  found  to  have  no  surviving  kindred, 
either  direct  or  collateral.  Becent  inquiries  have 
also  resulted  in  the  discovery  that  it  was  through  her 
great-grandmother,  also  named  Juliana,  wife  of  Sir 
Simon  de  Sandwich,  that  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  property  must  have  descended.    Who  «A^  was  has 

'^  He  is  stated  by  the  jurors  to  have  died  seized  of  Folkestone 
Villa,  Goldstanton  in  Ash  Villa,  Wingham  Villa,  St.  Nicholas  Villa, 
Isle  of  Thanet,  Preston,  Elmstone,  Overland,  and  Sandwich  Villa. — 
Escheat,  28th  Edward  III. 


DESCENT   OF   THE   MANORS.  77 

still  to  be  ascertained.  It  is  probable,  however, 
that  she  was  the  daughter  of  Eulk  Peyforer,  and 
perhaps  of  the  blood  of  Crevecoeur,  as  some  of  the 
estates  are  found  to  haye  been  held  hj  an  early  an- 
cestor of  that  family.  Sir  Simon  de  Burley  being 
attainted  of  treason  in  the  tenth  year  of  E^ichard  II., 
1387,  he  was  found  guilty  and  beheaded,  and  was 
buried  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  The  manor  of  Over- 
land became  again  vested  in  the  Crown,  and  was 
subsequently  granted  to  the  Priory  of  Canons,  alias 
Chiltern  Langley,  co.  Herts. 

On  the  suppression  of  that  house,  thirtieth  of 
Henry  VIII.,  it  came  into  the  king's  hands,  and  was 
granted,  with  the  priory  and  other  estates  belonging 
to  it,  to  Eichard,  Bishop  Suffragan  of  Hover,  for  his 
life,  or  till  he  should  be  promoted  to  some  ecclesias- 
tical benefice  of  the  yearly  value  of  £100,  which  had 
not  occurred  before  the  thirty-sixth  year  of  that 
reign,  as  the  king  then  granted  the  reversion  of  this 
and  other  manors  to  Sir  Thomas  Moyle,  Knight,  and 
Walter  Hendley,  his  Attorney-General,  who  was  after- 
wards knighted ;  the  latter  of  whom  died  seized  of  the 
manor  of  Overland,  sixth  of  Edward  YI.,  leaving 
three  daughters  and  co-heirs, — Elizabeth,  married  to 
George  Eane ;    Helen,  to  Thomas  Colepepper ;  and 

Anne,  wife  of Covert,  who  joined  in  the  sale  of 

it  in  the  following  year  to  Simon  Lynch,  of  Staple, 
gentleman.  Erom  Lynch  it  passed  through  the  fami- 
lies of  Gybbs,  Harfleet,  Bargrave,  and  Solly,  by  sale, 
before  the  end  of  Queen  Elizabeth ;  and  shortly  after 


78  A   COHNEU   OP    KENT. 

to  Mr.  John  Ward,  of  London,  whose  widow,  Cathe- 
rine, held  it  in  dower  at  the  restoration  of  Charles  II. 
After  her  death,  it  continued  in  tlie  family  of  Ward 
till  one  of  them  sold  it  to  William  Lord  Cowper, 
afterwards  created  Earl  Cowper.  In  1735  and  1739, 
two  acts  of  parliament  were  passed  for  settling  this 
estate,  then  valued  at  £90  per  annum  ;  among  others, 
of  William  Earl  Cowper,  deceased.  His  great-grand- 
son, George  Augustus  Earl  Cowper,  succeeded  to  the 
estate  in  1789,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  George 
Clayering  Earl  Cowper,  at  Elorence  ;  and  the  pro- 
perty is  still  in  the  same  nohle  family. 

A  Court  Baron  is  held  for  this  manor.  Of  the 
chapel  of  Overland,  formerly  a  chapel  of  ease  to  the 
church  of  Ash,  we  shall  speak  elsewhere. 

HOLLAND. 

The  manor  of  Holland  is  situated  in  the  horough 
of  Chilton,  and  a  short  distance  north  of  Guilton 
Town.  In  the  thirteenth  century  it  was  held  hy  a 
family  to  which  it  gave  its  name.  One  of  the  jurors 
named  in  the  inquisition  of  the  36th  of  Henry  III., 
above  quoted,  was  ''  William  atte  Molande,"  and 
in  the  forty-fifth  of  the  same  reign  (A.D.  1271)  two 
parts  of  a  messuage  in  Ash  were  acknowledged  by 
Andrew  de  MoUand,  Matilda  his  wife,  and  Idonea  de 
la  Eorde,  to  be  the  property  of  Thomas  de  Sandwich. 
Harris  says  the  Hollands  were  extinct  in  Edward  II. 's 
time;  but  "  Thomas  at  Molond  "  is  a  witness  to  two 
charters  by  John  deGoshall,  dated  16th  of  Edward  III., 


DESCENT   OF    THE    MANORS.  '79 

and  there  was  certainly  a  family  of  that  name  living 
in  Ash  as  late  as  the  reign  of  E;ichard  II.*  It  is 
probable,  however,  that  the  issue  of  the  branch  resi- 
dent at  Holland  may  have  failed  about  the  former 
period,  as  Sir  Nicholas  de  Sandwich,  son  of  Thomas 
de  Sandwich,  by  his  wife,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  de 
Helles,  of  Woodnesborough,  died  seized  of  Molland  in 
the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  and  left  an  only  daughter 
named  Anne,  who  carried  it  with  other  estates  in  this 
parish  to  her  husband,  John  Septvans,  brother  or 
cousin  of  the  Sir  William  Septvans  who  was  Sheriff 
of  Kent  fourth  of  Richard  II.  His  son  Gilbert 
succeeded  to  his  mother's  inheritance  in  this  county, 
comprising  the  manors  of  Molland  and  Checquer. 
He  resided  at  the  latter  manor-house,  and  married 
Constance,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Thomas  Ellis,  of 
Sandwich,  founder  of  the  hospital  of  St.  Bartholomew 
at  that  place. 

John  is  said  to  have  been  lieutenant  to  John  Lord 
Gray  of  Codnore,  at  the  siege  of  Harfleur  in  1415, 
and  his  son  Gilbert,  by  reason  of  his  residence  there, 
or  the  services  performed  by  himself  or  his  father, 
assumed  the  old  English  name  for  that  town,  viz. 
Harfleet.  That  this  cannot  be  altogether  true,  is 
clear  from  the  fact  that  John  Septvans  must  have 

-^    Vide  Chapter  V. 

t  Philipot,  and  Hasted  following  him,  sometimes  represent  John 
Septvans  as  the  son  of  Sir  William,  father  of  the  sheriff,  and  some- 
times as  the  son  of  Simon  de  Septvans,  Sir  William's  brother.  Vide 
Chapter  V.  for  an  inquiry  into  this  matter. 


80  A   CORNEU   OF   KENT. 

died  before  1399,  as  by  a  deed  dated  in  tbat  year 
(twenty-second  of  Eicbard  II.),  William  and  Tbomas 
de  Holland  in  Asb  gave  to  ''  Gilbert  Septvans, 
alias  at  Cbeker,"  balf  an  acre  of  land  near  Small- 
brooke,  in  Asb,  situated  between  tbe  lands  of 
the  aforesaid  William  and  Tbomas  on  tbe  west ; 
tbose  of  tbe  beirs  of  William  Roger  on  tbe  nortb ; 
of  tbe  lands  of  tbe  aforesaid  Gilbert  on  tbe  soutb ; 
and  of  tbe  heirs  of  John  Septvans  on  tbe  east. 
Unfortunately  also  for  tbe  tradition,  tbe  name  of 
Gilbert  Alfleet  occurs  in  a  deed  of  gift  of  Jobn 
Septvans  to  tbe  said  Gilbert  and  Jobn  Gray,  of  all 
bis  lands  in  Asb,  as  early  as  tbe  seventeentb  of 
Ricbard  II.,  1394 ;  so  tbat  tbe  deatb  of  Jobn  may  be 
fairly  considered  to  bave  taken  place  witbin  tbe 
following  five  years,  and  consequently  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  years  previous  to  Henry  Y.'s  celebrated 
expedition.  Tbe  same  Gilbert  Alfleet,  no  doubt, 
answers,  twenty-second  Ricbard.  IL,  1399,  for  tbe 
cbantry  of  tbe  cburcb  of  Asb,  for  tbree  messuages, 
242  acres  of  land,  and  seventeen  -acres  of  marsb, 
seven  marcs  seven  sbillings  and  fourpence.  Tbere 
is  mucb  doubt  and  confusion  indeed  in  all  tbe 
accounts  of  tbis  family,  and  also  in  tbat  of  Sandwicb, 
from  an  heiress  of  which  tbe  Harfleets  descended. 
Pbilipot  has  tbree  pedigrees  in  the  College  of  Arms, 
each  contradicting  the  other  in  some  most  important 
particulars,  though  avowedly  compiled  from  evidences 
partly  furnished  by  tbe  family.  In  his  '^  Villare  Can- 
tianum  "  be  also  gives  two  entirely  different  accounts 


DESCENT   OF   THE   MANORS.  81 

of  the  descent,  and  seems  to  have  bewildered  Hasted, 
who  has  made  confusion  worse  confounded  by  stating, 
both  in  his  account  of  Holland  and  Chequer,  in  Ash, 
and  of  Milton  Septvans,  that  Anne,  daughter  and  heir 
of  Sir  Nicholas  de  Sandwich,  married  Sir  William 
de  Septvans,  who  died  in  1407.  But  we  should  be- 
wilder our  readers  if  we  attempted  to  unravel  this 
tangled  skein  in  this  portion  of  our  history.  It  must 
suffice  to  state  at  present,  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
errors  appear  to'  have  arisen  from  the  confusion  of 
two  separate  branches  of  the  family,  occasioned  by 
a  similarity  of  Christian  names,  as  will  be  shown 
hereafter.  Gilbert,  we  have  seen,  was  styled  "  Sept- 
vans, alias  at  Cheker;"  and  his  son  Thomas  also 
thus  designates  himself.  Philipot  in  one  of  his 
Pedigrees  says  that  this  Thomas  assumed  the  name 
of  Harfleet  from  his  manor  of  Pleet,  altogether 
ignoring  the  tradition  he  has  in  other  places  re- 
corded. Thomas's  son  Christopher  was  undoubtedly 
called  '*  Harflete,  alias  at  Cheker,"  as  was  his  son 
Raymond,  who  married  Beatrix,  daughter  of  Richard 
Brooke,  and  is  described  as  of  Holland.  Their  son, 
Thomas  Harfleet,  called  himself  also  Thomas  at 
Chequer,  and  marrying  first  Bennet,  daughter  and 
heir  of  John  Winborne,  and  secondly  Harian,  daughter 
of  Edward  Brockhull,  died  seized  of  Holland  in  1559, 
and  bequeathed  it  to  his  son  Christopher  Harfleet, 
who  wrote  himself  "  Septvans,  alias  Harflete,"  re- 
suming the  old  name  of  his  family.  He  died  in  1575, 
leaving    by  his  wife    Hercy,   daughter   of  Thomas 


82  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

Hendley,  and  widow  of  Edmund  Eowler,  of  Islington, 
seyeral  children.  She  possessed  this  seat  at  her  death 
in  1602,  when  it  came  to  her  eldest  son.  Sir  Thomas 
Harfleet,  Knight,  who  was  three  times  married  ;  first 
to  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  William  Gilborne,  Esq. ; 
secondly  to  Bennett,  daughter  of  Michael  Berisford, 
Esq.  ;  and  thirdly  to  Dorothy,  daughter  of  Avery 
Mantell,  and  widow  of  Menvil,  or  Menfield,  of  Eever- 
sham.  By  his  first  wife  he  appears  to  have  had  no 
issue.  Hasted  does  not  even  mention  her;  but  by 
Bennett  he  had  a  very  numerous  family.  Michael 
Harfleet,  of  Molland,  Esq.,  his  eldest  son,  died  without 
issue  in  1619,  and  left  this  estate  to  his  brother, 
Christopher  Harfleet,  who  was  afterwards  knighted, 
and  at  first  resided  here,  and  then  removed  to  St. 
Stephen's,  near  Canterbury,  where  he  died  in  1662, 
leaving  by  Aphra,  his  wife,  widow  of  Alcott,  a  son, 
Thomas  Harfleet,  of  Molland,  Esq.,  who  is  said  by 
Hasted  to  have  married  Margaret,  sister  of  George 
Newman,  of  Bochester,  Esq.,  by  whom  he  left  an 
only  daughter,  Aphra,  wife  of  John  St.  Ledger,  of 
Deloraine,  in  Ireland.  This  statement  is,  however, 
contradicted  by  the  pedigree  in  the  Visitation  of 
Kent,  D.  13,  Coll.  Arms,  signed  by  Margaret  herself, 
who  was  the  wife  of  another  Thomas  Harfleet,  of 
Trapham,  in  Wingham,  cousin  of  Christopher.  ( Vide 
Chapter  Y.)  John  St.  Ledger  sold  Molland  to  Thomas 
Singleton,  M.D.,  who  died  here  in  1710.  Mary,  his 
Avife,  held  it  in  dower  in  Harris's  time,  who  com- 
memorates her  as  "  a  lady  of  fine  endowments  both 


DESCENT   or   THE    MANORS.  83 

of  mind  and  body."  At  her  death  it  came  to  her  son 
John,  who  sold  it  in  1727  to  the  trustees  under  the 
will  of  Admiral  Sir  George  Eooke,  for  the  benefit 
of  his  son  George,  who  died  in  1739  without  issue, 
and  his  widow,  Prances,  alienated  it  to  Mr.  William 
Allen,  of  Canterbury,  brewer,  whose  widow  held  it 
in  Hasted's  time.  Of  her  it  was  purchased  by  the 
late  Mr.  Peckham,  whose  son,  Mr.  Richard  Peckham, 
sold  it  to  the  Master  and  Wardens  of  Emmanuel 
College,  Cambridge,  its  present  proprietors. 

CHILTON. 

This  manor  is  situated  in  a  borough  of  its  own 
name,  which  extends  over  the  greatest  part  of  the 
parish  of  Ash,  comprehending  all  that  portion  of  it 
from  Goldston  south  and  westward,  the  rest  being  in 
the  borough  of  Overland. 

The  manor  was  held  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, and  the  earliest  notice  we  have  as  yet  found  of 
it  is  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry  III., 
when  it  appears  to  have  been  in  the  possession  of  a 
family  deriving  their  name  from  it. 

In  the  fourteenth  year  of  that  reign,  a  writ  was 
issued  to  inquire  whether  it  would  be  to  the  king's 
injury,  or  that  of  neighbouring  traders,  if  the  king 
granted  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  permission 
to  hold  a  market  on  every  Tuesday  at  his  manor  of 
Wingham.  The  first  juror  on  the  list  of  persons 
appointed  to  make  this  inquisition  is  E/Oger  de 
Chilton,  and  the  answer  was  that  it  would  not  be  to 

G  2 


84  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

the  injury  of  the  king  or  of  the  neighbouring  traders, 
but  rather  to  their  advantage ;  that  the  markets  of 
Canterbury  and  Sandwich  would  be  improved  by  the 
accession  of  traders  coming  to  the  said  market  of 
Wingham  ;  and  that  on  Tuesday  there  was  no  market 
it  could  possibly  hurt,  nor  any  nearer  than  twenty 
leagues,  which  was  at  Lenham.  Some  caution  is 
necessary  in  our  attempts  to  identify  members  of  this 
family,  as  there  are  other  Chiltons  in  Kent  (one  in 
Sittingbourne,  another  in  the  parish  of  St.  Lawrance, 
Isle  of  Thanet),  which  may  claim  as  their  owners 
some  of  the  persons  of  that  name  that  we  meet  with 
in  early  documents ;  *  but  there  is  an  extract  from 
a  charter,  sans  date,  in  the  MS.  collection  marked 
''  Kent,"  R.  27,  Coll.  of  Arms,  which  we  think  we 
may,  withoiit  hesitation,  ascribe  to  this  E^oger,  in 
which  he  names  Eobert,  his  father,  and  Goodhert, 
his  mother;  and  Walter,  John,  and  Theobald,  his 
brothers.  It  is  witnessed  by  Robert  de  Gosehcmle, 
and  Ralph  his  son ;  Theobald  de  Helle,  and  Thomas 
and  John  his  sons;  Peter  de  Cumbe,  and  Hamon, 
Adam,  and  Theobald,  his  sons.  The  names  of  these 
witnesses,  all  holding  property  in  Ash  and  its  imme- 
diate vicinity  at  the  commencement  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  afford  us  all  but  positive  evidence  of  the 
identity  of  this  Roger  de  Chilton  with  the  juror  in  the 
inquisition  of  the  fourteenth  of  Henry  III.,  and  who 

*  Philipot  says  that  the  Chiltons  of  Sittingbourne  were  also  owners 
of  the  manor  of  Chilton  in  Ash. — Vill.  Cant.  p.  311. 


DESCENT   OF   THE    MANORS.  85 

was  probably  the  father  of  Simon  de  Chiltime^  one  of 
the  jurors  in  an  inquisition  post  mortem  forty-seventh 
of  Henry  III.,  1263,  respecting  the  property  of  which 
Hamo  de  Crevecoeur  had  died  seized  in  that  year,  and 
son  of  the  "William  de  Chilton  who  held  the  manor 
in  the  reign  of  Edward  I.,  and  died  in  the  thirty-first 
year  of  it. 

By  an  escheat  of  that  date,  we  find  he  left,  by  his 
wife  Isabella,  two  daughters,  Isabella  and  Sara,  and 
died  seized  of  Wending,  Chilton,  B;Ocking,  and  fifteen 
acres  of  pasture  at  Pleet,  near  Sandwich.  We  next 
find  the  manor  in  the  possession  of  the  family  of 
Baude,  William  de  Baude  dying  seized  of  it  fourth 
of  Edward  III.  This  William  de  Baude  had  married 
Johanna,  daughter  of  Johanna  de  Criol,  by  Sir  Eichard 
de  Bokesly.  This  lady  was  directly  descended  from 
William  d'Arques,  through  the  families  of  Avranches 
and  Crevecoeur  ;  and  supposing  Isabella  and  Sara,  the 
coheiresses  of  William  de  Chilton,  to  have  died  un- 
married or  without  issue,  the  manor  might  have  passed 
to  Johanna  as  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  Criols^ 
with  whom  the  Chiltons,  we  suspect,  were  connected. 
Her  great-uncle,  Alured  de  Criol,  had  a  daughter 
named  Isabella,  of  whose  marriage  we  have  no  evi- 
dence, and  who  we  are  inclined  to  believe  was  the 
Isabella,  wife  of  William  de  Chilton  above  mentioned. 
Sir  William  de  Baude  also  was  found  cousin  and  heir 
to  John  de  Criol,  son  of  Bertram,  and  nephew  of 
Alured,  on  the  death  of  the  said  John  without  issue, 
thirtieth  Edward  I. 


86  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

Sir  Wm.  de  Baude  died  seized  of  Chilton  fourth  of 
Edward  III. ;  from  him  it  came  to  Thomas  de  "Walton, 
who  died  possessed  of  it  in  the  thirty-seventh  year  of 
the  same  reign ;  soon  after  which  it  was  alienated  to 
Sir  William  de  Septvans,  whose  descendant  Aphra, 
wife  of  John  St.  Ledger,  Esq.,  sold  it,  in  1675,  to 
George  Thorpe,  G.T.P.,  Prehendary  of  Canterbury, 
who  bequeathed  it,  in  1716,  with  the  manor  of 
Chequer,  to  which  it  was  then  united,  to  the  Master 
and  Eellows  of  Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge,  who 
still  possess  it.  There  are  no  remains  of  a  manor- 
house,  but  there  is  a  hamlet  called  Chilton  on  the 
north  side  of  Ash- Street,  consisting  only  of  a  few 
cottages,  which  are  held  of  the  above  manor,  now 
called  of  Chequer  and  Chilton.  We  gather  from  the 
deed  of  foundation  of  the  college  of  Wingham,  by 
Archbishop  Peckham  in  1286,  that  there  were  fields 
here  at  that  time,  known  as  Bradfelde,  Brenthe,  and 
Utlekre,  which  he  gave  to  the  canons  of  Wingham  in 
common. 

X       CHEQUER. 

Chequer,  written  in  ancient  records  Estchequer, 
is  close  to  Holland  and  adjoining  to  Chilton.  There 
was  an  ancient  Kentish  and  Essex  family  of  the  name 
of  Chequer,  or  de  Scaccario  {i.  e,  of  the  Exchequer), 
which  they  bore  as  hereditary  ushers  to  the  Court  of 
Exchequer ;  and  from  them  there  can  be  little  doubt 
this  manor  received  its  name.  A  Robert  de  Estche- 
quer married  Alice  de  Esley,  now  Easlin,  in  Eeversham 


DESCENT   OP   THE   MANORS.  87 

hundred,  in  the  time  of  Stephen,  and  their  descendants 
held  the  manor  of  Addington,  in  Larkfield  hundred, 
in  the  reigns  of  Edward  II.  and  III.  In  the  Court 
Rolls  of  the  reign  of  John,  we  find  Pulbert,  of  Dover, 
and  Albinum  de  Scaccario,  petitioners  in  a  suit  versus 
Adam  de  Taleworth  and  Henry  Propositus  de  Sand- 
wich. Simon,  son  and  heir  of  Eoger  de  Scaccario, 
did  homage  for  his  lands  fifty-fifth  Henry  III.,  and 
died  without  issue  twentieth  Edward  I.  His  sister 
Lora  married  John  Peyforer,  whose  family  inter- 
married with  that  of  Sandwich,  and  was  connected 
collaterally  with  many  of  the  principal  landholders  in 
Ash.  By  an  escheat  of  thirty-first  of  Edward  L,  we 
find  a  ''Radulphus  de  Chekker"  married  to  Johanna, 
daughter  and  co-heiress  of  Salomon  de  Charmes, 
CO.  Kent.  '^Rogerus  de  Estcheker"  is  one  of  the 
hobilers  or  lighthorsemen  appointed  by  William  de 
Clinton,  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  John  de  Cobham,  and 
Thomas  de  Aldon,  to  keep  watch  and  ward  in  that 
part  of  the  coast  of  Kent  called  the  Genlade  {i.  e. 
Inlet)  of  Hoo,  between  Sandwich  and  E^eculver 
(where  now  runs  the  St  our),  in  the  eleventh  of 
Edward  III.  We  have  not  yet  discovered  the  pre- 
cise link  of  the  connection  by  which  the  manor  of 
Chequer,  with  those  of  Holland  and  Chilton,  passed 
into  the  family  of  Sandwich ;  but  all  three  were 
eventually  carried  by  Anne,  daughter  and  heir  of 
Sir  Nicholas  de  Sandwich,  to  that  of  Septvans,  alias 
Harfleet,  the  later  members  of  which,  as  we  have 
already   stated,    frequently   styled   themselves    alias 


88  A   CORNEU   OP   KENT. 

Chequer,  or  Atclieqiier.  The  name  of  Roger,  com- 
mon in  that  of  De  Scaccario,  was  preserved  in  the 
Harfleet  family.  E;Oger  Harfleet,  alias  E;Oger  Atchie- 
quer,  one  of  the  sons  and  heirs  of  Christopher  Harfleet, 
alias  Atehequer,  conveyed  all  his  lands  and  tene- 
ments in  Ash  to  his  brother  Raymond,  by  a  deed 
dated  3rd  of  May,  twenty-fonrth  of  Henry  YII., 
A.D.  1509.  He  left  an  only  daughter,  Agnes,  mar- 
ried to Stamble,  of  Ash.    Previous  to  this  period, 

however,  the  manor  of  Chequer  had  passed,  either 
by  marriage  or  purchase,  to  the  family  of  Alday,  one 
of  whom,  Thomas  Alday,  married  Bennett,  or  Bene- 
dicta,  daughter  of  Richard  Exherst,  of  Ash,  by  Alice, 
daughter  of  Constance,  widow  of  Gilbert  Septvans, 
by  her  second  husband,  Jobn  Notbeam,  of  Ash. 
Jerome  and  Adam  Alday,  sons  of  Thomas  and  Alice, 
parted  with  tbeir  portion  again  to  Raymond  Har- 
fleet, of  Holland,  and  his  son  Thomas  purchased 
another  portion  of  it  of  the  beirs  of  John  Monins, 
Lieutenant  of  Dover  Castle,  who  had  acquired  it  by 
marriage  with  Margaret,  daughter  of  Thomas  Alday, 
of  Chequer,  by  bis  wife  Bennett  Exherst,  some  part 
of  the  manor,  however,  still  remaining  with  Monins ; 
for  by  his  will,  proved  21st  of  January,  1554,  he 
leaves  to  William,  his  son,  all  bis  right,  part,  and 
purport  in  the  manor  of  Chequer,  in  Ash,  and  all  his 
lands  in  that  parish,  in  tail  male. 

Sir  Thomas  Harfleet,  though  resuming  the  name 
of  Atehequer,  continued  to  reside  at  Holland  till 
his  death  in  1559.     His  great-grandson.  Sir  Chris- 


DESCENT   OE   THE   MANORS.  89 

topher,  removed,  as  we  have  said,  to  Canterbury, 
where  he  died  in  1662,  and  with  Aphra  Harfleet 
this  estate  passed,  with  the  manor  of  Chilton,  in 
marriage  to  John  St.  Ledger,  and  both  were  sold  by 
them  in  1695  to  the  Rev.  George  Thorpe,  Prebend 
of  Canterbury,  who  in  1716  bequeathed  the  manor  of 
Chequer,  alias  Chequer  and  Chilton,  to  the  Master 
and  Pellows  of  Emmanuel  College,  as  before  stated. 

HILLS   COURT 

is  a  manor  adjoining  that  of  Goshall,  and  took  its 
first  name  from  a  family  named  Helles  or  Hilles,  who 
possessed  large  estates  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Darent 
and  Dartford,  in  this  county.  Their  wealth  and  in- 
fiuence  probably  were  the  result  of  the  marriage  of 
Theobald  de  Helles  with  Agnes,  daughter  of  Gilbert, 
and  sister  of  the  celebrated  Archbishop  Thomas  a 
Becket,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  named  Thomas  after 
his  uncle.  The  Christian  name  of  Theobald  indeed, 
which  we  find  continued  in  the  family,  is  suggestive 
of  a  descent  from,  or  connection  with,  a  still  earlier 
archiepiscopal  stock — that  of  Hubert  Walter,  from 
whence  the  Botelers  or  Pincernas  of  Pleet,  Eastry, 
and  Herenden ;  but  at  present  we  have  no  proof  to 
adduce  of  such  a  parentage.  In  the  eighth  of  John, 
1207,  we  have  record  of  a  suit  against  Manasser  de 
Hastings,  for  some  lands  in  Graveney,  instituted  by 
Adam  de  Helles,  and  his  brothers  Theobald  and  Wil- 
liam. Bertram  de  Helles  was  Lieutenant  of  Dover 
Castle   under   Ueginald  de  Cobham,  Constable  and 


90  A   CORNER   OE   KENT. 

Lord  "Warden,  thirty-ninth  of  Henry  III. ;  and  at  the 
same  period  we  find  another  Theohald  de  Helles,  a 
juror  associated  with  Eoger  de  Chilton  and  William 
at  Holland,  in  the  inquisition  respecting  Wingham 
market,  preyiously  mentioned  (page  83),  where  we 
have  also  spoken  of  a  charter  of  Eoger  de  Chilton, 
witnessed  hy  this  Theobald  de  Helles  and  two  of  his 
sons,  Thomas  and  John ;  and  we  accordingly  find  a 
Thomas  de  Helles,  or  Hilles,  in  possession  of  this  ma- 
nor, and  dying  seized  of  it  seyenteenth  of  Edward  I.; 
and  in  the  sixth  of  Edward  II.,  William  and  Thomas, 
sons  of  John  de  Helles,  were  in  ward  to  Thomas,  son 
of  Thomas  de  Sandwich,  by  assignment  of  John  de 
Malmaynes,  their  guardian  by  assignment  of  Robert 
de  Dene,  who  was  appointed  by  E^obert,  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  as  being  "  next  of  kin,  to  whom  their 
heritage  could  not  come."*  Sir  Henry  de  Helles  was 
knight  of  the  shire  for  the  county  in  the  fourth  par- 
liament of  Edward  III.  He  was  deceased  in  the 
ninth  of  that  reign,  1337,  leaving  a  widow  named 
Margaret ;  t  and  Gilbert  de  Helles,  of  Hills  Court,  in 
Ash,  and  of  St.  Margaret  Hills,  in  Darent,  was  Sheriff 
of  Kent  in  the  thirtieth  of  the  same  reign.  Thomas 
and  Allen  de  Helles  witnessed  a  charter  of  Walter  de 

*  His  mother's  name  was  apparently  Alicia,  as  in  a  Plea  Koll  of 
the  47tli  of  Henry  III.  we  find  "Alicia  qui  fuit  uxor  Theobald! 
de  Helles." 

t  Robert  de  Dene  was  son  and  heir  of  Eadulph  de  Dene,  by 
Sibilla,  his  wife,  which  Kadulph  was  by  birth  a  PiDcerna  or  Butler, 
a  fact  which  tends  to  corroborate  our  opinion  that  the  family  of 
De  Helles  were  originally  of  that  stock. 


DESCENT   OF   THE    MANORS.  91 

Goshall  in  1348,  and  in  tlie  same  family  the  manor 
continued  down  to  the  reign  of  King  Edward  lY., 
when,  according  to  Hasted,  it  was  alienated  to  Wroth, 
who  held  it  till  Henry  YII.'s  time ;  not  long  after 
which  it  appears  to  have  come  into  the  possession  of 
the  family  of  Slaughter ;  Mary,  daughter  of  George 
Slaughter,  of  Ash,  having  brought  it  in  marriage  to 
Henry  Harfleet,  of  Ash,  gentleman,  a  younger  son  of 
Thomas  at  Chequer,  alias  Harflete;  and  he  by  his 
will,  in  1608,  left  it  to  his  eldest  son  Henry,  who  sold 
it  to  Edward  Peke,  son  of  Peter  Peke,  Esq.,  M.P. 
for  Sandwich  in  the  first  and  third  parliaments  of 
Charles  I.  His  son,  Thomas  Peke,  of  Hills  Court, 
Esq.,  died  possessed  of  it  in  I6783  leaving,  by  Katha- 
rine his  wife,  daughter  of  William  Kingsley,  Arch- 
deacon of  Canterbury,  four  sons ;  the  eldest  of  whom, 
Sir  Edward  Peke,  Knight,  resided  at  Hills  Court,  the 
manor  of  which  is  called  in  his  father's  will  ''  Hill's 
Churchgate."  By  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  George 
Went  worth,  Sir  Edward  Peke  left  issue  three  sons. 
Thomas  Peke,  of  Hills  Court,  Esq.,  died  in  1701, 
having  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Mr.  Anthony 
Ball,  by  whom  he  had  Edward  Peke,  Esq.,  who,  after 
the  death  of  his  mother,  who  married  secondly  Bobert 
Minchard,  of  Ash,  succeeded  to  the  property,  and  died 
without  issue.  His  niece  Anne,  wife  of  Oliver  Ste- 
phens, Esq.,  assigned  the  fee  of  this  and  other  manors 
to  Sir  Erancis  Head,  Bart.,  in  1750  ;  and  he,  in  1760, 
alienated  them  to  Peter  Eector,  Esq.,  of  Dover,  of 
whose  son,  John  Minet  Eector,  Hills  Churchgate  and 


92  A   CORNER   or   KENT. 

other  property  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Thomas  Cole- 
man, of  GursoHj  senior,  and  re-sold  by  him  to  the  late 
Marchioness  Dowager  of  Conyngham.  It  is  now  the 
property  of  her  ladyship's  eldest  son,  the  present 
marquis. 

TWITHAM    HILLS, 

a  manor  a  little  to  the  north-west  of  Hills  Court, 
belonged  first  to  the  same  family  of  Holies  or  Hilles ; 
but  before  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  they  had,  accord- 
ing to  Hasted,  parted  with  their  interest  in  it  to  the 
family  of  Twitham,  from  which  it  receiyed  its  other 
name.  We  are  much  inclined  to  believe,  however, 
that  the  family  of  Holies  was  the  same  as  that  of 
Twitham,  a  branch  of  it  having  assumed  the  latter 
name  from  the  lands  they  held  at  Twitham,  or 
Twittam,  in  the  parish  of  Wingham. 

An  Alan  de  Twitham  is  recorded  as  having  been 
with  Eichard  I.  at  the  siege  of  Acre  ;  and  there  was 
a  famous  suit  in  the  second  of  John,  A.D.  1201, 
between  Theobald  de  Twitham  *  and  Thomas  de  Gar- 
winton,  concerning  some  lands  in  Ileden.  Another 
Alan  de  Twitham  was  living  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  II.,  who  was  succeeded  by  a  Theobald  de 
Twitham,  whose  heirs,  a  third  Alan  and  a  Hamo  de 
Twitham,  paid  aid  in  the  twentieth  of  Edward  III., 
for  one  part  of  a  knight's  fee  which  Alan  de 
Twitham  had  previously  held  in  Twitham  of  the 
Archbishop    of    Canterbury.      In    the    twenty-fifth 

*  Sou  of  Hamo  de  Twitham.— Plea  EoU  lOtli  of  John. 


DESCENT   OF   THE   MANOES.  93 

of  that  reign,  1353,  there  was  an  inquisition  post 
mortem^  when  Alanus  de  Twitham,  son  of  Theobald, 
son  of  Alanus  Dominus  de  Twitham,  was  found 
to  be  heir,  and  five  years  old.  In  the  fourth  of 
Eichard  II.,  1381,  there  was  another  inquisition  to 
ascertain  the  holdings  of  this  Alan  Fitz  Theobald 
de  Twitham,  when  the  jurors  returned  him  as 
seized  of  Twitham  manor,  in  the  vill  of  Godneston 
juxta  Wingham,  Helles  manor,  in  Ash  juxta  Wing- 
ham;  six  acres  of  land  in  Godneston,  and  an  acre 
of  meadow  land,  and  half  a  rood  of  land  in  Ash. 
In  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  of  Richard  II., 
1396 — 1397,  there  are  other  similar  valuations  of 
his  property,  but  no  proof  of  his  death ;  nor  have  we 
found  any  further  mention  of  him.  He  is  said  to 
have  had  a  sister  named  Maud,  eventually  his  heir, 
whom  Harris  and  Hasted,  following  apparently 
Philipot  in  his  "  Villare  Cantianum,"  p.  235,  marry 
to  Simon  Septvans,  a  person  of  whose  existence  we 
have  been  unable  to  find  any  record  on  which  we  can 
safely  rely,  and  who,  according  to  Philipot' s  own 
statements,  in  his  pedigree  of  the  family  in  the 
College  of  Arms,  MS.  No.  26,  wherein  he  is  called 
Symkin,  lived  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II.,  and  was 
brother  of  Sir  William  Septvans,  who  is  there  made 
husband  of  Maud  de  Twitham.  We  accordingly  find 
in  some  other  places  that  Hasted  has  adopted  the 
latter  statement  without  noticing  its  contradiction  of 
the  former.  In  brief,  all  the  old  pedigrees  of  the 
Septvans  are  full  of  errors  previous  to  the  Heralds' 


94  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

Visitations,  which,  unfortunately,  commence  too 
late  to  settle  this  point.  As  we  shall  have  occasion 
to  return  to  this  subject  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  this 
volume,  we  will  simply  state  here  that,  however 
derived,  the  manor  of  Twitham  Hills  remained  in 
the  family  of  Sept  vans  till  the  reign  of  Edward  TV., 
when  it  passed  to  that  of  Worth,  who  at  the  same 
time  became  owners  of  Hills  Court ;  and  from  them 
to  Slaughter,  and  by  Mary,  the  daughter  of  George 
Slaughter,  back  to  that  of  Septvans,  then  called 
Harfleet,  as  stated  in  our  account  of  Hills  Court; 
and  after  some  intermediate  owners  to  that  of  Elgar, 
whose  descendant,  Nathaniel  Elgar,  of  Sandwich, 
gentleman,  was  the  proprietor  in  Hasted's  time. 
He  died  in  1795,  when  the  manor  devolved  to  S. 
Toomer,  Esq.,  and  then  to  the  late  Thomas  Minter 
Tomlin,  in  whose  family  it  still  remains. 

LEYERICKS 

is  a  manor  adjoining  to  Hills  Court  northward,  and 
was  anciently  the  residence  of  a  knightly  family  of 
that  name,  and  whose  ancestors  had  been  citizens 
and  mayors  of  Sandwich.  There  is  less  known  about 
the  early  history  of  this  manor  than  of  any  other  in 
the  parish.  The  name  of  Leverick  is,  we  think,  a 
corruption  of  Leofric ;  but  we  find  in  early  docu- 
ments relating  to  this  locality,  the  name  of  Libricus, 
and  also  of  Eluricus,  from  either  of  which  it  might 
be  derived.  At  the  same  time  we  are  aware  that 
there  was  an  ancient  Wiltshire  family  of  the  name 


DESCENT   OE   THE   MANORS.  95 

of  Loveraz,  eventually  Loveriekj  as  that  of  Sandwich 
is  frequently  spelt,  and  which,  in  Sir  E^ichard  Colt 
Hoare's  history  of  that  county,  is  said  to  be  derived 
from  Loveries,  or  Louveries,  a  place  ^'  either  infested 
by  wolves  or  an  establishment  for  hunting  them." 
As  this  is  only  an  assumption  on  the  part  of  Sir 
Richard,  we  shall  merely  observe  that  the  ancestors 
of  the  Wiltshire  family  are  nearly  all  called  "cfe 
Loveraz,"  whereas  those  of  the  Sandwich  Lovericks 
are  in  no  instance  preceded  by  the  Norman  "  de."* 
A  Solomon  LoveryTc  is  mentioned  in  a  document 
printed  by  Eoys,  in  his  Collections  for  a  History  of 
Sandwich  (p.  661),  of  the  date  of  1281.  In  1306 
(thirty-fourth  of  Edward  I.)  there  was  a  Einal  Concord 
between  John  de  Goshall  and  Henry  Liwerick  and 
Margery  his  wife,  respecting  lands  in  Ash  jitxta 
Sandwich,  t  showing  the  connection  of  the  family 
with  this  parish  at  least  as  early  as  the  commence- 
ment of  the  fourteenth  century.  A  John  Loverick 
was  mayor  of  Sandwich  in  1346,  and,  according  to  a 
pedigree  by  Philipot,  in  the  College  of  Arms,  a  Sir 
John  Leverick,  of  Ash,  married  about  this  period 
Joan,  daughter  of  John  Septvans,  of  Eromhill ;  but 

'"'  The  arms  of  Leverick  of  Carne,  co.  Dorset,  are  set  down  in 
Philipot's  "Ordinary,"  page  94, — Argent  on  a  chevron  Sahle,  three 
leopards'  faces  Or,  being  the  same  as  those  attributed  to  the  Levericks 
of  Ash  and  Sandwich  ;  but  no  authority  is  quoted,  and,  if  not  an 
error  arising  from  similarity  of  name,  it  is  just  possible  that  the 
Leverick  of  Carne,  whom  we  have  not  been  able  to  identify,  might 
be  of  the  Kentish  and  not  the  Wiltshire  family. 

t  Lansdown  MS.  209,  p.  293. 


96  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

whether  one  and  the  same  with  the  mayor  or  not  we 
have  at  present  no  proof.  Thomas  Loveryck  sat  in 
Parliament  for  Sandwich  in  the  forty-second  of 
Edward  III.,  1368,  and  in  the  first  of  Eichard  II., 
1377.  This  was  prohably  the  Thomas  Loverick  who 
gave,  in  1370,  to  "Gilbert,  son  of  John  Septvans, 
of  Cheker,  in  Ash,"  three  acres  of  land  in  Ash.* 
Sir  William  Leverick,  Knight,  of  Ash,  a  son  or 
brother  of  this  Thomas,  married,  according  to 
Philipot,  Emma,  daughter  of  the  John  Septvans  and 
sister  of  the  Gilbert  above  mentioned.  Sir  William 
and  Dame  Emma  are  said  to  have  been  great  bene- 
factors to  the  church  of  St.  Mary,  Sandwich,  by 
their  liberal  repair  and  restoration  of  it  after  it  had 
been  burned  by  the  Erencli  in  the  reign  of  Eichard  II. 
They  died  in  the  following  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  and 
were  buried  in  St.  Mary's  aforesaid.  Another  Thomas 
Loveryck  was  mayor  of  Sandwich  in  1412  and  1416, 
and  a  Henry  Leverick  sat  in  Parliament  for  Sand- 
v/ich,  and  was  in  possession  of  this  manor  in  Ash  in 
the  seventh  of  Henry  Y.  Amongst  the  Harleian 
Charters  is  one  by  Thomas  Eamsey  to  Henry  Love- 
ryck and  others,  of  lands  in  the  parish  of  St.Dunstan's, 
Canterbury,  dated  first  of  Eichard  III.,  1483  ;  and  at 
length  we  arrive  at  some  genealogical  data  on  which 
we  can  confidently  rely.  This  Henry  of  Canter- 
bury died  in  1487,  having  married  two  wives, — first, 
Katharine,  and,  second,  Elizabeth,  who  survived  him. 

*   Vide  Chapter  V.,  under  "  Septvans." 


DESCENT   OE   THE   MANORS.  97 

He  had  issue  two  daughters, — Susannah,  a  nun  in 
Sheppey,  mentioned  in  her  father's  will,  and  Johanna, 
who  was  Hying  in  1475,  but  who  is  not  named  in  it, 
and  probably  died  before  him.  This  Henry  had  a 
sister,  Johanna,  married  to  William  Manston,  whom 
she  survived,  and  died  in  1475.  Her  will  was  proved 
by  her  brother  Thomas,  and  she  mentions  in  it 
Anthony  and  Henry  Leverick,  her  brothers;  John 
the  son  of  Anthony,  and  Johanna  daughter  of  Henry, 
as  we  have  stated  above.  Anthony  Leverick,  of 
Heme,  Esq.,  had  by  his  wife  Constantia,*  besides 
his  son  John,  living  in  1475,  an  only  daughter, 
named  Pernel,  who  seems  to  have  been  eventually 
his  heir,  and  carried  this  manor  of  Leverick,  in  Ash, 
eighteenth  of  Henry  YIL,  1503, t  to  her  husband, 
Edward  Monins,  of  Walder share,  Esq.,  who  joined 
with  his  wife  in  the  sale  of  it  to  one  of  the  family  of 
Peke,  of  Sandwich,  from  whom  it  descended  to  Edward 
Peke,  the  purchaser  of  Hills  Court.  His  son,  Thomas 
Peke,  of  Hills  Court,  Esq.,  who  died  in  1678,  speaks 
in  his  will  of  his  manor  or  lordship  of  Hill's  Church- 
gate,  and  his  manor  or  lordship  of  lAveroches,  with 
their  royalties,  rents,  and  services,  and  the  capital 
mansion-house,  buildings,  lands,  marshes,  and  woods 
to  them  belonging,   in  Ash.     Prom  the  Pokes  the 

*  "  Daughter  and  heir  of  Turberville,"  according  to  one  pedigree 
of  Monius  (Pin go,  1  Coll.  of  Arms) ;  but  in  another  (Philipot,  26,  27), 
"  d.  of  Woolbright,"  who  bore  "  Argent,  three  roses  gules." 

t  Anthony  Leverick  of  Heme  died  October  16th,  1510. — Monu- 
mental inscription,  Heme  Church — "  Tour  in  Thanet." 

H 


98  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

property  passed,  as  stated  at  page  91,  from  Stephens, 
to  Sir  Erancis  Head,  and  from  him  to  Peter  Eector, 
of  Dover,  of  whose  son,  John  Minet  Eector,  lord  of 
the  manor  in  1839,  it  was  purchased,  together  with 
Hills  Court  and  Goshall,  by  Mr.  Thomas  Coleman, 
senior,  of  Guston,  and  sold,  with  the  other  property, 
to  the  late  Marchioness  Dowager  of  Conyngham ;  all 
of  which  has  now  passed  by  her  ladyship's  will  to  her 
eldest  son,  the  present  marquis. 

WEDDINGTON, 

says  Hasted,  "  was  formerly  accounted  a  manor, 
though  it  has  long  since  lost  the  reputation  of  having 
been  one."  We  have  no  account  of  its  possessors 
previous  to  the  thirteenth  century  ;  from  which  period 
down  to  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  it  appears  to  have 
remained  in  the  family  of  Hougham,  a  knightly  race, 
taking  their  name  from  the  manor  of  Hougham, 
Huffam,  or  Hicham,  as  it  is  spelt  in  Domesday,  near 
Dover.  In  Hicham,  or  Hougham,  a  suling  of  land 
was  held  in  the  Conqueror's  reign  by  one  Baldwin ; 
but  whether,  an  ancestor  of  this  family  or  not,  we 
cannot  pretend  to  say. 

The  parish  of  Hougham  was  part  of  the  lands 
given  by  the  Conqueror  to  Pulbert  de  Lucy,  called 
''  of  Dover,"  for  the  defence  of  Dover  Castle,  and 
therefore  in  the  Barony  of  Pulbert,  as  it  was  called, 
of  which  Chillam  Castle  was  the  chief  seat,  or  cajgut 
haroniai ;  and  we  consequently  find  Hougham  held 
by  knight's  service  in  the  time  of  Edward  III.     A 


DESCENT   OF   THE   MANORS.  99 

Eobert  de  Hougham  was  one  of  the  Kentish  knights 
with  B;ichard  I.  at  the  siege  of  Acre,  and  is  the 
earliest  at  present  known  of  the  owners  of  that 
manor.  His  son,  of  the  same  name,  died  seized  of 
it  in  the  forty-first  of  Henry  III.,  and  his  son,  a 
third  Robert  de  Hongham,  who  died  in  the  second 
of  Edward  I.,  held  it,  together  with  the  office  of 
Constable  of  Rochester  Castle.  A  fourth  Robert 
de  Hougham  died  twenty-ninth  of  Edward  I., 
and  a  fifth  in  the  eleventh  of  Edward  III.,  leaving 
two  daughters  his  coheirs, — Benedicta,  married  to 
John  de  Shelving,  and  Matilda,  wife  of  Waretius  or 
Warin  de  Valoignes,  the  latter  of  whom  became  pos- 
sessed of  Hougham  on  the  division  of  the  inheritance. 
He  also  left  two  daughters  and  coheirs,  Joan,  mar- 
ried to  Sir  Thomas  Eogg,  of  Repton  Ashford,  and 
Matilda,  to  Thomas  de  Aldelyn,  or  Aldon.  Which 
of  these  Roberts  de  Hougham  was  the  first  who  owned 
Weddington,  or  how  it  came  into  the  possession  of 
that  family,  neither  Philipot  nor  Hasted  seems  to  have 
discovered;;  but  the  former  tells  us  that  the  arms  of 
Hougham  Argent,  five  chevronels  sable,  was  borne 
by  them  in  token  of  their  holding  under  the  family  of 
Avranches,  Lords  of  Eolkestone,  who  bore  Or,  five 
chevronels  gules,  such  being  a  common  practice  in 
the  early  ages  of  heraldry ;  the  family  of  Evering  in 
like  manner  bearing  Argent,  five  chevronels  azure, 
either  to  mark  their  descent  from,  or  feudal  connection 
with,  the  same  Lords  of  Eolkestone.  It  is  therefore 
probable  that  the  Houghams,  although  named  from  a 

H  2 
L.ofC. 


100  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

manor  which  they  held  of  the  honor  of  Dover  or 
Chillam,  were  collateral  descendants  of  the  family  of 
Avranches,  or  connected  with  it  by  marriage.  The 
position  of  Weddington  favours  this  assumption,  for 
it  is  adjacent  to  the  lands  we  know  were  part  of  the 
Earony  of  Eolkestone,  and  in  the  tenure  of  E^uellinus 
d'Avranches  in  the  twelfth  century.  According  to 
one  account,  the  Ash  branch  of  the  family  descended 
from  E;ichard  de  Hougham,  brother  of  the  Robert 
whose  coheirs  married  with  Yaloignes  and  Shelving.* 
He  had  a  son  Simon,  who  had  a  son  Robert,  said  to 
have  died  in  Ash.  His  son  was  called  Robert  of 
Elmston,  and  his  son,  William  Hougham,  resided  at 
Weddington  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry 
YIII.  By  Elizabeth  his  wife  he  had  Solomon, 
described  as  "  holding  many  lands  in  the  hundred  of 
Wingham,"  whose  son  Stephen  died  in  1555,  having 
married  Bennett,  daughter  of  John  Brooke,  of  Brooke- 
street,  Ash,  and  eventual  heir  of  her  nephew  John, 
whose  singular  epitaph  is  one  of  the  curiosities  in 
Ash  church.  Their  son,  Michael  Hougham,  had  a  son 
Richard,  who  marrying  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Edward 
Sanders,  of  Norborne,  their  descendants  are  said  by 
Hasted  to  have  assumed  the  arms  of  Sanders ;  viz..  Or, 


*  "Robert  de  Hugham,"  the  fourth  of  the  name,  father  of  this 
Kichard  and  Robert,  is  named  in  the  Placita  de  quo  Warranto  as 
one  of  the  jurats,  21st  of  Edward  I.,  in  conjunction  with  Robert 
de  Ashe,  John  de  Goshall,  Adam  de  Twytham,  Richard  de  Pimpe, 
and  HeDry  de  Schorne  {vel  Thorne),  all  persons  of  importance  in 
this  parish,  either  from  residence  in  or  connection  with  it. 


DESCENT    OF    THE    MANORS.  101 

on  a  chevron  between  three  elephants'  heads  gules, 
as  many  mullets  argent.  Mr.  Streatfield,  however, 
in  a  note  on  this  passage,  remarks  :  '^  I  doubt  very 
much  whether,  after  all,  it  was  the  coat  of  Sanders, 
which  the  Houghams  seem  to  have  had  no  right  even 
to  quarter,  and  which  are  described  (copy  of  Visitation, 
B.  P.)  as  parti  per  chevron,  argent  and  sable,  three 
elephants'  heads  counterchanged ;  totally  different 
arms,  it  will  be  seen,  to  those  given  above."  And 
in  another  note  he  suggests  that  the  coat  was  an 
allusive  one  to  that  of  Sanders,  as  ''it  is  probable 
the  heralds  would  not  allow  the  ancient  coat  of 
Hougham,  for  want  of  an  unbroken  chain  of  evidence 
of  descent."  The  branch  of  the  Houghams  which  re- 
mained at  St.  Martin's,  Canterbury,  certainly  retained 
their  ancient  family  arms  ;  but  their  other  coat, 
whether  that  of  Sanders  or  not,  was  borne  by  the 
Houghams  of  Ash  long  previous  to  the  marriage  of 
Richard  and  Elizabeth  Sanders,  as  we  shall  show  in 
Chapters  lY.  and  Y.  Michael  Hougham,  son  of  the 
above  E^ichard  and  Elizabeth,  resided  at  Weddington, 
and  dying  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  was  buried 
with  his  ancestors  in  the  south  transept  of  Ash 
church.  He  left  by  Margaret,  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam Courthope,  of  Stodmarsh,  Esq.,  and  Mildred, 
daughter  of  Christopher  Harfleet,  alias  Septvans,  of 
Molland,  a  son  named  William,  whose  descendants 
settled  in  London,  and  Weddington,  after  passing 
through  several  hands,  was  finally  purchased  by  the 
Garrets  of  Thanet,  and  was  in  the  possession  of  Mr. 


102  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

John  Garret  in  the  time  of  Hasted.     At  the  end  of  a 
GO]}j  of  the  "Yillare  Cantianum,"  formerly  belonging 
to  Mr.  J.  Warburton,  Somerset  Herald,  was  pasted, 
however,    a    manuscript    memorandum    by   Erancis 
Hougham,  only  surviving  son  of  the  last  "William, 
stating  that  his  aunt  {i.  e.  his  great-aunt)  Anne  left 
his  father  executor,  and  the  estate  to  his  (Francis's) 
younger  brother  Michael ;  and  in  case  he  died,  it  was 
to  go  to  the  next  youngest  of  the  children  of  William, 
''  which  was  I,  Prancis  Hougham,  only  son  left ;  and 
I,  by  my  last  will,  do  give  it  to  my  son  Gervase 
Hougham  ;  but  I  find  that  my  father  has  mortgaged 
it  for  ninety-nine  years,  and  that  it  is  impossible  it  can 
come  to  me ;  so  I  have  made  this  memorandum  of  it, 
that  my  son  Gervase  may  have  it  notwithstanding. 
I  believe  it  is  now  (1717)   about  sixty  years  since 
the  date.    It  lies  in, the  parish  of  Ashe.     It  was  in  the 
hands  of  a  Mr.  Wills  as  tenant.     The  mortgage  was 

to  one  Mr.  Eobinson,  and  he  gave  it  to who 

married  one  Admiral  Davis ;  and  since  I  cannot  tell 
any  further.  There  has  been  an  acknowledgment  in 
the  Court  of  Chancery  from  them  to  me,  that  it  does 
belong  to  me,  about  the  year  1685-6-7,  as  Mr.Hardisty, 
of  Essex  Street,  and  Mr.  Bourne  (of  Lincoln's  Inn), 
do  affirm  to  me,  for  they  were  the  lawyers  concerned 
forme." — Signed  "Prancis  Hougham."  '*  He  was, 
according  to  Guillim"  (adds  Mr.  Streatfield,  to  whose 
MSS.  we  are  indebted  for  this  little  piece  of  family 
history),  "  a  citizen  and  painter-stainer,  and  bore  the 
ancient  coat  of  the  family."  We  shall  have  more  to 
say  on  this  subject  in  Chapter  V. 


DESCENT   OE   THE   MANORS.  103 


WINGHAM   BARTON, 

lying  at  the  north-west  extremity  of  this  parish,  about 
half  a  mile  from  the  river  Stour,  seems  to  have  been 
a  parcel  of  the  ancient  possessions  of  the  see  of  Can- 
terbury ;  and  when  Archbishop  Peckham  founded  the 
college  of  Wingham,  in  1286,  he  endowed  it  with  all 
his  archiepiscopal  tithe  "  de  la  Berton,"  meaning  this 
manor,    which    thenceforth    was    called    Wingham 
Barton,  to  distinguish  it  from  other  manors  named 
Barton,  which  simply  means  a  farm.     Who  were  the 
sub-tenants  at  that  period,  and  during  the  following 
century,  we  have  not  been  able  as  yet  to  discover; 
but  early  in  the  fifteenth  century  there  was  a  family 
residing  here  called  from  it  At  Berton  or  Barton. 
Margaret,  daughter  of  Thomas  Septvans,  alias  Har- 
fleet,  married  Walter  Barton,   of  Wingham  Barton ; 
and  Johanna,   daughter   of  Lawrence   St.  Nicholas, 
temp,  Henry  IV.,  married  first,  "  Salam  (or  Solomon) 
att  Berton,"  and  secondly,  Eichard  Pinneux.     Ano- 
ther  Johanna,   sister   of  Margaret   Septvans   above 
named,  married  Thomas  Pinneux,  ancestor  of  Judge 
Pinneux,  whose  daughter,  by  a  second  wife,  married 
the  ancestor  of  Sir  Dudley  Diggs,  whose  descendants 
we   eventually  find   renting   a   portion  of  the   land 
here.      The   manor   appears   to   have   remained  the 
property  of  the  see  of  Canterbury  until  the  reign 
of    Henry  VIII.,  when    it    passed    to    the    Crown. 
Edward  VI.,  in  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign,  gave  the 
ancient  manor-house  to  Sir  Anthony  St.  Ledger,  Kt.; 
but  the  manor  itself  continued  Crown  property  until 


104  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

Queen  Elizabeth  granted  it  to  Sir  Roger  Manwood,  of 
Hackington,  near  Canterbury,  Chief  Baron  of  the 
Exchequer,  a  person  in  great  favour  with  the  qneen 
and  her  ministers,  and  founder  of  the  free  school  at 
Sandwich,  of  which  town  his  father,  Thomas  Man- 
wood,  was  a  draper  ;  ''  a  goodly  and  pleasant  gentle- 
man, and  one  that  was  had  in  good  account  there."  * 
At  this  period  the  leases  of  Wingham  Barton  marshes 
were  held  by  Thomas  Diggs,  Esq. ;  and  the  Chief 
Baron,  Sir  Boger  Manwood,  sought  to  deprive  him  of 
them,  as  we  are  told,  '^  most  unconscionably,  and  by 
subtil  and  cunning  practices,  and  extreme  rigour  of 
the  law ;  nor  could  he  come  to  any  conclusion  with 
him  but  to  his  loss,  £1,000  at  the  least,  besides  the 
great  charge  of  the  suit  many  ways,  by  the  unjust 
vexation  of  the  tenants." 

Sir  Peter  Manwood,  son  of  Sir  Boger,  passed  the 
manor  away,  by  his  trustees,  at  the  latter  end  of  the 
reign  of  James  I.,  to  Sir  William  Courtenay,  of  Lon- 
don, Kt.,  who  gave  it  in  marriage  with  his  daughter 
Mary  to  Henry  Grey,  Earl  of  Kent ;  and  he,  at  his 
death  in  1651,  ordered  it  to  be  sold  to  discharge  some 
debts,  which  was  accordingly  done  by  his  widow  and 
second  wife,  Arabella,  to  Mr.  James  Thurbarne,  of 
Sandwich,  whose  son,  John  Thurbarne,  Esq.,  Serjeant- 
at-law,  leaving  an  only  daughter  and  heir,  Joan,  she 
carried  it  in  marriage  to  Colonel  Edward  Bivett, 
1690 ;  and  her  son  by  him,  named  John,  sold  it,  in 

*  Boys's  Collections,  p.  245. 


DESCENT   OF   THE    MANORS.  105 

1750,  to  Josiah  Parrer,  of  Doctors'  Commons,  together 
with  the  site  of  Richborough  Castle,  for  the  sum  of 
£6,812 ;  and  his  son,  Josiah  Puller  Earrer,  alienated 
both  to  Peter  Pector,  Esq.,  of  Dover,  in  1761.*  The 
mansion  or  manor-house  remained,  however,  the  pro- 
perty of  the  St.  Ledger  family  from  the  time  of  Ed- 
ward YL,  who  granted  it  to  Sir  Anthony  St.  Ledger, 
until  that  of  Charles  I.,  when  another  Sir  Anthony 
St.  Ledger  sold  it  to  Mr.  Yincent  Denne,  of  Wenderton 
in  Wingham,  who  gave  it  to  his  nephew,  Mr.  Thomas 
Denne,  of  Gray's  Inn.  He  bequeathed  it  to  his  brother 
John  Denne,  of  the  Inner  Temple,  Esq.,  who  dying 
without  issue,  it  was  sold  by  his  sisters  to  Mr.  Robert 
Beake,  of  Sapperton  in  Wingham,  husband  of  their 
cousin  Bridget,  third  daughter  of  Yincent  Denne. 
Mr.  Thomas  Beake,  of  "Wickham  Breus,  was  the  pos- 
sessor of  it  in  Hasted' s  time  ;  and  it  still  remains  in 
that  family. 

*  A  place  called  Keyt  Marsli  is  mentioned  as  parcel  of  this  manor 
in  tlie  will  of  Christopher  Nevinson,  proved  11th  Sept.,  1551,  and 
Michael  HuflPam  of  Ash,  in  his  will,  proved  Dec.  10th,  1583, 
bequeaths  to  his  son  Stephen  his  "  lands  lying  helow  the  Kete,  in  the 
said  parish,  being  marsh."  We  have  not  succeeded  in  discovering 
the  character  or  locality  of  "  the  Kete,"  the  name  of  which  seems  to 
be  no  longer  remembered  here. 


View  of  Ablifrom  Mount  jLj/hraim. 


CHAPTEH  III. 


PERAMBULATION   01^   THE    PARISH, 


HAVING  traced,  as  far  as  it  is  in  our  power  now 
to  do,  the  descent  of  the  manors  in  Ash  from  the 
time  of  the  Conquest  to  the  present  day,  we  will  pro- 
ceed with  the  general  history  and  description  of  the 
parish,  including  that  portion  of  it  which  has  been 
recently  constituted  a  separate  Ecclesiastical  District, 
namely,  Westmarsh,  by  order  of  Council,  June  20, 
1849.  Its  extent,  previous  to  that  separation,  was 
about  four  miles  from  east  to  west,  and  rather  more 
than  three  from  north  to  south.  The  northern 
boundary  is  the  river  Stour,  which  divides  it  from 
the  Isle  of  Thanet.  On  the  west  are  the  parishes  of 
Stourmouth,  Elmstone,  and  Wingham.  On  the  south 
those  of  Staple  and  Woodnesborough,  the  latter  of 
which  wraps  round  it  also  on  the  east,  crossing  the 


PERAMBIJLATION   OE   THE   PAKISH.  107 

high  road  to  Sandwich  near  Each-end  gate,  from 
whence  the  line  of  demarcation  runs  on  the  further 
side  of  East  Street  across  the  marshes  till  it  again 
encounters  the  winding  Stour  a  short  distance  below 
E;ichborough. 

This  area  contains,  according  to  the  latest  calcula- 
tion, 7,028  acres,*  a  considerable  portion  of  which  is 
marsh.  Hasted  says,  that  in  his  day  the  land  let, 
taking  one  description  of  it  with  the  other,  at  £1  per 
acre  per  annum.  The  average  price  is  now,  however, 
nearly  £2.  10s.,  and  some  portions  have  recently 
brought  £3.  10s.  per  acre. 

The  parish  is  situate  in  the  lower  half-hundred  of 
Wingham,  and  a  small  part  of  an  isolated  portion  of 
Bownhamford  hundred,  in  the  diocese  and  arch- 
deaconry of  Canterbury,  the  deanery  of  Bridge,  the 
lathe  of  St.  Augustine,  and  Eastry  union.  East  Kent. 
It  contains  two  boroughs — Chilton  and  Overland — 
and  was  divided  in  the  thirteenth  century  into  three 
distinct  parsonages  or  tytheries,  the  first  comprising 
the  rectories  or  parsonages  of  Ash,  usually  called 
Guilton  Town;  the  second  that  of  Overland,  late 
belonging  to  Wingham  College ;  and  the  third  that 
of  Goldston,  parcel  of  the  possessions  of  St.  Gregory's 
Priory,  Canterbury. 

The  church  of  Ash  was  originally  a  chapel  of  ease 
to  that  of  Wingham,  but  on  the  foundation  of  the 
college  there  by  Archbishop  Peckham,  in  1286,  it  was 

*  Census  1861. 


108  A   COENER   OF   KENT. 

made  a  distinct  parisli  cliurcli,  and  tlien  given  to  the 
college,  with  the  chapels  of  Overland  and  Elect  (or 
Eichborough)  in  this  parish,  and  appertaining  to  this 
church,  which,  becoming  thus  appropriated  to  the 
college  of  Wingham,  continued  with  it  till  the  sup- 
pression of  that  establishment  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  YL,  when  this  rectory  or  parsonage  appro- 
priate with  the  advowson  of  the  church  of  Ash  came, 
with  the  rest  of  the  possessions  of  the  college,  into 
the  hands  of  the  Crown.  Edward  VI.,  in  the  third 
year  of  his  reign,  granted  a  lease  for  twenty-one  years 
to  Henry  Manning,  of  "  the  king's  rectory  of  Ash, 
and  the  chapels  of  Overland  and  E^ichborough,  with 
their  appurtenances,  late  belonging  to  or  arising  from 
the  chapels  of  Ash,  Overland,  and  Eichborough, 
and  in  the  vills  of  the  same,  to  the  said  rectory 
belonging  (excepting  the  portion  belonging  to  the 
Provost  of  Wingham,  at  Overland  aforesaid,  and 
20  quarters  of  barley,  to  be  delivered  yearly  to  Sir 
Anthony  Aucher,  Kt.,  in  right  of  the  late  priory- 
of  Eolkestone),  and  also  the  mansion  called  the 
Yica^rage  House,  and  the  advowson  of  the  parish 
church  of  Ash,  to  hold  at  the  yearly  rent  of  £54. 10s. ; 
and  the  king  covenanted  to  save  the  tenant  harmless, 
and  particularly  in  a  rent  of  ten  shillings,  issuing  out 
of  the  said  premises  to  the  late  priory  of  St.  Sepulchre 
there  {i.e.  at  Eolkestone)  to  Sir  James  Hales,  Kt., 
yearly.  The  king  to  allow  rough  timber  for  the  repair 
of  the  chancel  and  buildings,  which  the  tenant  was  to 
repair," 


PERAMBULATION   OP    THE   PARISH.  109 

It  appears,  however,  that  at  the  time  of  the  appro- 
priation of  the  church  of  Ash  to  Wingham,  in  1286, 
there  was  a  vicarage  endowed  here,  the  advowson 
of  which  did  not  go  with  the  rectory  to  Manning, 
and  was  at  the  time  of  the  suppression  esteemed  a 
perpetual  curacy. 

This  advowson  was  granted  by  Queen  Mary  in 
the  sixth  year  of  her  reign,  A.D.  1558,  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  his  successors ;  and 
in  the  third  year  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  1561,  the 
rectory  or  parsonage  appropriate  of  Ash  with  its 
chapels,  since  called  Guilt  on  parsonage  from  the 
hamlet  of  Guilton,  in  Avhich  the  house  and  barns 
belonging  to  it  are  situate,  was  granted  by  that 
sovereign  to  Archbishop  Parker;  when,  with  the 
chapels  of  Overland  and  Richborough,  the  annual 
value  was  £54.  10s.,  reprises  to  the  archdeacon 
7s.  6d.,  and  to  the  carate  £16.  13s.  M.,  —  the 
patronage  of  the  perpetual  curacy  remaining  vested 
in  the  see  of  Canterbury. 

At  the  valuation  of  the  rent-charges  under  the  Tythe 
Commutation  Act,  the  gross  value  of  the  great  tythes 
was  fixed  at  £3,333  per  annum,  subject  to  a  fine  to 
the  archbishop  on  renewal  and  payment  to  the  per- 
petual curate  of  Ash.  In  1836  the  whole  property 
of  the  see  of  Canterbury  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Ecclesiastical  Commissioners,  by  whom,  after  the 
expiration  of  the  present  leases,  granted  in  1856,  they 
will  probably  not  be  renewed. 

The  present  lessees  are  E.  P.  Delme  Hatcliffe,  Esq., 


110  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

Charles  Delmar,  Esq.,  Messrs.  Painter  &  Old- 
field,  Mr.  Simmons,  and  the  Ecclesiastical  Commis- 
sioners. The  present  lessees  of  Overland  and 
Goldston  are  Messrs.  James  Petley  and  the  heirs 
of  Mr.  Castle. 

Other  matters  relating  to  the  church  and  its  chan- 
tries, with  the  succession  of  incumbents,  the  chapels 
of  Overland,  Elect,  &c.,  will  be  found  in  the  chapter 
dedicated  especially  to  the  edifice  itself,  and  in  our 
notice  of  particular  localities  during  our  perambula- 
tion, which  we  will  now  commence  in  company  with 
the  reader. 

Entering  the  parish  from  the  west  by  the  high 
road  which  passes  through  Wingham  from  Canter- 
bury to  Sandwich,  we  see  immediately  on  our  right 
the  large  farm  of  Pedding,  pleasantly  situated  in 
the  valley  below.  A  family  taking  its  name  from 
this  place  is  mentioned  as  early  as  the  time  of 
Henry  III.  In  a  fine-roll  of  the  fifty-third  of 
that  king's  reign,  A.D.,  1270,  the  sheriff  of  Kent 
is  informed  that  Thomas  de  Pedding,  Eoger  son 
of  Nicholas  de  Pedding,  Stephen  son  of  John 
de  Pedding,  and  Robert  his  brother,  with  others, 
have  paid  half  a  mark  for  a  brief  to  the  next 
term.  A  John  de  Pedding  witnesses  a  charter 
of  Henry  de  Goshall,  eighth  Edward  I.,  and  a 
Peter  de  Pedding  one  of  Walter,  son  of  Henry  de 
Goshall,  dated  12th  January,  twentieth  Edward  III. 
Before  the  end  of  the  following  century  it  had  passed, 
probably  by  marriage,  into  the  family  of  Solly,  one 


Platl3 


PERAMBULATION    OF    THE    PARISH.  Ill 

of  whom  named  Stephen  possessed  it  in  the  reign 
of  Henry  VII.  This  Stephen,  called  ''  Stephen  Solly 
the  elder,"  married  {circa  1509,  according  to  the 
tradition  of  the  family)  "  the  daughter  of  Thomas 
Harflete ;"  but  we  have  not  been  able  to  identify 
this  Thomas  in  the  Harfleet  pedigree.  It  is  possible 
it  may  have  been  the  ''  Thomas  Harflete  of  Staple," 
a  near  neighbour,  whose  will  is  dated  1493  ;  but  he 
only  mentions  his  wife  Isabella,  and  his  place  in  the 
pedigree  is  not  yet  ascertained.*  Erom  the  son  of 
Stephen  Solly  the  elder,  named  after  his  father,  and 
who  married  in  1547  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Stephen 
Hugham,  by  Benedicta,  or  Bennett,  Brooke,  the 
descent  of  the  SoUys  of  Ash,  Sandwich,  and  London, 
as  far  as  this  inquiry  is  concerned,  is  perfectly  clear. 
John  Solly,  of  Wingham,  great-grandson  of  the 
younger  Stephen,  died  before  his  father, t  and  left 
Podding  to  his  son  Stephen,  and  it  remained  in  that 
branch  of  the  family  till  1748,  when  it  was  sold  to 
the  Very   Eev.   John   Lynch,  dean   of  Canterbury, 

*  We  reserve  the  discussion  of  this  and  other  similar  points  of 
family  history  for  our  Fifth  Chapter,  which  being  purely  genealogi- 
cal need  only  be  consulted  by  those  who  take  a  deeper  or  more 
antiquarian  interest  in  our  researches. 

t  In  his  (John's)  will,  proved  October  8th,  1661,  he  states  that, 
whereas  he  had  a  right  and  title  to  the  reversion,  after  the  death  of 
his  father,  Mr.  Stephen  Solley  (the  name  is  still  so  spelt  by  some  of 
the  family),  of  and  in  a  messuage  and  lands  commonly  called  Pedding, 
in  Ash,  he  wills  the  same,  after  his  wife  Margaret's  death,  to  his  eldest 
son  Stephen  and  his  heirs  for  ever.  This  lady  appears  to  have 
survived  her  husband  forty-nine  years,  being  buried  at  Ash,  1710, 
aged  80.      He  was  buried  at  Ash  29th  August,  1661. 


112  A   COENER   OF   KENT. 

whose  son.  Sir  William  Lynch,  K.B.,  at  his  death  in 
1785,  left  it  to  his  wife,  Lady  Lynch,  who  possessed 
it  in  Hasted's  time. 

It  is  now  the  property  of  J.  P.  Plumtre,  of 
Eredviile,  Esq.,  late  M.P.  for  Canterbury,  and  the 
residence  of  his  nephew,  Charles  Plumtre,  Esq.  The 
house  has  been  considerably  enlarged  by  its  present 
owner ;  but  mnch  of  the  old  building  remains,  and 
presents  ns  with  several  interesting  features  of  the 
brickwork  of  the  sixteenth  century.  In  the  upper 
part  of  the  house  is  an  oaken  partition,  with  the 
initials  carved  on  it  of  various  members  of  the  Solly 
family— viz.,  S.  S.  :  E.  S. :  I.  S.  :  P.  S. :  M.  S.  :  E.  S. : 
J.  S. :  S.  S.  :  T.  S,  :  and  part  of  the  letter  E.  ; 
also  the  initials  W.  C,  with  the  date  1662.  These 
letters  correspond  with  the  initials  of  eight  of  the 
nine  children  of  the  John  Solly  of  Wingham  before- 
mentioned.  Their  names  were  Stephen,  Elizabeth, 
John,  Prancis,  Mary,  Richard,  Susan,  and  Thomas. 
This  leaves  another  I.  or  J.  S.  to  be  accounted  for, 
and  the  imperfect  E.  His  ninth  child,  according  to 
the  family  pedigree,  had  the  name  of  her  mother 
Margaret.  The  initials  W.  C.  are  most  probably 
those  of  the  carver,  as  they  are  apart  from  the 
others,  and  also  occur  on  another  piece  of  ornamental 
woodwork  in  Ash,  which  we  shall  presently  have 
occasion  to  mention. 

The  summit  of  the  hill  beyond  Podding  is  nearly, 
if  not  quite,  the  highest  ground  in  the  parish,  and 
from  thence  an  '  extensive  view  is   obtained  on  the 


PERAMBULATION  OP  THE  PARISH.      113 

left  of  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  the  sea  and  the  cliffs  of 
Ramsgate,  Minster  and  its  fine  old  church,  Monckton, 
St.  Nicholas,  and  the  Eeculvers;  and  on  the  right 
the  valley  of  Staple,  with  the  villages  of  Staple  and 
Addisham,  the  new  station  near  the  latter  of  the 
London,  Chatham,  and  Dover  Railway,  Barham 
Downs,  and  the  woods  of  Goodnestone  Park,  the  seat 
of  Sir  Brook  Bridges,  Bart.,  M.P. 

In  front  the  spire  of  Ash  church  rises  above  the 
trees  and  hamlet  of  Guilton.  A  little  lane,  now  called 
Sandy  Lane,  but  in  early  documents  Black  Lane, 
steals  down  into  the  valley  on  the  right  behind  Guilton 
to  the  hamlet  of  Durlock,  and  its  bridge  over  Wing- 
ham  brook,  a  streamlet  which,  rising  immediately 
below  Ash  church,  runs  through  the  valley  of  Staple, 
and  forms  part  of  the  southern  boundary  of  our  parish. 

A  little  further  on  our  left  we  pass  the  branch  road 
to  Elmstone  and  Grove  Perry,  and  arrive  at  Guilton, 
or  Guilton-town,  as  it  is  usually  called,  the  house 
known  as  Guilton  Parsonage,*  or  the  Bectory,  con- 
fronting us  on  the  right  as  we  turn  the  corner, 
embowered  amongst  some  fine  old  limes  at  the 
junction  of  the  high  road  from  Wingham,  with 
Durlock  Lane  leading  to  the  village  of  Staple.  The 
house,  built  apparently  at  the  beginning  of  the  seven- 

*  Vide  p.  109,  ante.  In  the  earliest  Cess  Book  of  this  parish,  we 
find  amongst  the  accounts  of  "uncollected  averages"  for  the  year 
1601  :  "Daniel  Prior,  uncollected  for  his  part  of  the  parsonages 
10s.  4d.  j"  and  in  1604,  the  same  Daniel  Prior,  "for  his  part  of  the 
parsonage  of  Ash,  and  the  parsonage  of  Gregories  10s." 

I 


114  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

teenth  century,  has  been  considerably  altered  by 
successive  occupants.  Sir  Prancis  Clarke  resided 
here  in  1634,  and  was  succeeded  by  Sir  Matthew 
Mennes  in  1639-40.*  It  was  afterwards  the  residence 
of  the  Minchards,  and  in  1713  of  the  venerated 
founder  of  the  charity  school  of  Ash,  Gervase  Cart- 
wright,  who,  in  conjunction  with  his  two  sisters, 
Eleanor  and  Anne,  in  1720-21,  gave  an  estate  of  the 
value  of  £50  per  annum  for  the  teaching  of  fifty  poor 
children  to  read  and  write,  which  land  is  vested  in 
the  minister  and  churchwardens  of  Ash  for  the  time 
being  and  other  trustees.! 

His  gentle-hearted  sisters,  who  are  said  to  have 
died  of  grief  for  the  loss  of  their  beloved  brother, 
also  gave  £100  for  beautifying  the  chancel  of  Ash 
church,  and  the  purchase  of  two  pieces  of  plate  for 
the  communion  service.  Captain  Brett,  E^.N.,  died 
here  in  1769,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Eobert  le 
Grand.  J     The  lease  of  the  tythery  was  purchased  by 

*  Hasted  says  in  1643  ;  "but  the  first  assessment  of  Sir  Matthew 
Mennes  for  the  parsonage  was  in  1639-40." — Cess  Book  of  Ash,  sub 
anno. 

t  Amongst  the  parish  muniments  is  the  release  of  Margaret  Har- 
flete  of  Erapham,  in  the  parish  of  Wingham,  to  Gervase  Cartwright, 
of  the  City  of  London,  merchant,  of  the  messuages,  lands,  and  premises, 
afterwards  bequeathed  by  him  to  the  parish  of  Ash.  The  date  of 
the  release  is  1673,  and  she  is  joined  in  the  act  with  John  St.  Ledger, 
of  Doneraile,  in  the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  and  Aphra  his  wife ;  the 
parties  on  the  other  side  being  Sir  Arnold  Braems,  of  Bridge,  co. 
Kent,  Knight,  and  John  Thurbarne,  of  Sandwich,  Esq. 

X  In  the  parish  registers  are  the  following  entries  of  marriages  : — 
George  le  Grand,  of  St.  Andrews,  Canterbury,  to  Anne  Hayward  of 


PERAMBIJLATION   OF   THE   PAUISH.  115 

Mr.  Michael  Becker,  of  Dover,  in  or  about  the  year 
1792,  and  after  his  death  the  property  was  divided 
amongst  his  five  children  ;  and  the  Eectory  is  at 
present  occupied  by  Charles  Delmar,  Esq.,  who 
married  one  of  the  daughters  and  coheirs. 

Entering  the  hamlet,  the  eye  of  the  antiquary  is 
arrested  by  an  old  Elemish-looking  gable-ended  build- 
ding,  with  a  small  arched  porch  before  its  door.  This 
is  also  said  to  have  been  the  residence  of  Gervase 
Cartwright  previous  to  his  occupation  of  the  Par- 
sonage. It  is  now  called  the  School  Earm,  being 
part  of  the  estate  bequeathed  by  Mr.  Cartwright  as 
above  mentioned.  Nearly  opposite  is  Guilton  Earm, 
the  land  of  which  is  in  the  occupation  of  T.  Mayhew, 
of  Sevenscore,  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  Esq.,  the  house 
being  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Austin  Gardner.  On  the 
wall  at  the  back  is  a  curious  old  sundial. 

Immediately  beyond  on  the  right  is  Guilton 
Mill,  marking  the  locality  of  that  great  Anglo-Saxon 
cemetery  which  has  given  to  this  little  hamlet  a 
world-wide  celebrity  amongst  antiquaries. 

It  is  exactly  one  hundred  years  ago  since  the  Hev. 
Bryan  Eaussett,  of  Heppington,  commenced  his  ex- 
cavations here.  During  the  years  1760,  1762,  and 
1763,  he  opened  no  less  than  a  hundred  and  six 
tumuli  and  graves,  and  obtained  from  them  a  large 
proportion  of  that  valuable  collection  of  antiquities 


Ash,  May  7tb,  1767  ;  and  John  Hunter,  M.D.,  of  St.  James's,  "West- 
minster, to  Elizabeth  le  Grand,  of  Guilton,  Ash,  July  30th,  1784. 

I  2 


116  A  CORNER  OE  KENT. 

now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Meyer,  of  Liverpool, 
who  liberally  purchased  the  whole  after  it  had  been 
neglected  by  the  antiquaries  of  Kent,  and  declined 
by  the  authorities  of  the  British  Museum.  Mr. 
Bryan  Paussett  died  in  1776,  and  his  successor  in 
these  researches  was  the  Bev.  James  Douglas,  the 
author  of  the  now  rather  scarce  work,  "  Nenia 
Britannica." 

In  1783  Mr.  Douglas  opened  a  group  of  barrows  in 
the  parish  of  Ash,  and  the  result  of  his  researches  will 
be  found  in  the  volume  above  mentioned.  The  late 
Mr.  Bolfe,  of  Sandwich,  also  more  recently  extracted 
some  beautiful  and  interesting  relics  from  this  locality, 
and  an  account  of  them  by  Mr.  Charles  Boach  Smith 
is  published  in  the  30th  volume  of  the  Archseologia, 
or  "  Transactions  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  in 
London,"  p.  132,  accompanied  by  engravings  of  the 
principal  articles.  The  last  excavations  at  Guilton 
were  made  in  1858  by  Mr.  Ingram  Godfrey,  of  Brooke 
House,  and  the  Be  v.  Henry  S.  Mackarness,  the 
present  incumbent  of  Ash,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
demolition  of  two  mills  out  of  the  three  which  for- 
merly stood  there.  The  only  result  was  the  discovery 
of  an  iron  spear-head,  exceedingly  corroded,  and  a 
small  tazza  of  Samian  ware. 

It  is  needless  for  us  here  to  recite  the  conflicting 
opinions  of  Mr.  Faussett  and  Mr.  Douglas,  or  to  do 
more  than  allude  to  a  controversy  which  later  autho- 
rities have  pretty  nearly  settled.  It  is  only  since 
more  critical  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  subject 


PERAMBULATION   OF   THE   PARISH.  117 

by  the  late  Lord  Londesborough,  Mr.  Thomas  Wright, 
Mr.  0.  B;.  Smith,  and  other  modern  antiquaries,  that 
we  have  been  enabled  to  state  with  tolerable  cer- 
tainty that,  although  indications  of  Roman  or  British- 
Romano  interments  may  be  traced,  the  majority  of 
the  relics  discovered  at  Guilton  are  those  of  pagan 
Anglo-Saxons,  from  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  to 
the  middle  of  the  seventh  century. 

We  have  already  (page  27)  spoken  of  the  tradi- 
tion of  the  Golden  Idol,  and  expressed  our  con- 
viction that  the  ancient  Guildenton  was  a  place  of 
religious  as  well  as  political  importance  in  the  early 
days  of  Jutish  dominion,  the  reigns  of  King  Ash  and 
his  Ashelings.  Whether  more  discoveries  may  yet  be 
made  in  this  interesting  spot  or  its  neighbourhood, 
which  has  not  been  half  explored,  it  is  impossible 
to  say ;  but  the  probabilities  are  greatly  in  favour  of 
it,  and  our  hopes  are  now  centred  in  the  council  of 
the  Kentish  Archaeological  Society,  whose  attention, 
we  understand,  has  been  specially  directed  Ashward, 
and  who  propose  to  commence  their  labours  at  Eich- 
borough. 

A  lane  on  our  left,  as  we  leave  Guilton,  leads  to 
the  old  manor-houses  of  MoUand  and  Chequer,  the 
seat  of  the  Septvans,  alias  Harfleets  ;  but  little  re- 
mains of  either  to  recall  to  us  even  the  times  of  the 
Tudors,  much  less  of  the  period  when  their  knightly 
owners  sallied  forth  "in  complete  steel,"  at  the  sum- 
mons of  their  lord  the  king,  to  join  him  at  Sandwich 
and  swell  the  gallant  hosts  that  mustered  there  for 


118  A   COBNER   OP   KENT. 

the  conquest  of  Bretagne  or  the  protection  of  Poitou.* 
The  cellars  beneath  Holland  are  probably  the  only 
remains  of  that  mansion  which  the  heiress  of  Sir 
Nicholas  de  Sandwich  brought  in  marriage  to  John 
de  Septvans,  and  whose  son  Gilbert  is  said  to  have 
assumed  the  name  of  Harfleet  in  commemoration  of 
some  achievements  under  the  fifth  Harry  at  Harfleur. 
We  have  elsewhere  expressed  our  doubts  concerning 
this  tradition ;  but,  be  the  truth  as  it  may,  neither  the 
gallant  lieutenant  of  John  Lord  Grey  of  Codnore, 
who  "  saw  young  Harry  with  his  beaver  on"  at  that 
celebrated  siege,  nor  his  cousin  John,  the  esquire  of 
the  body  to  King  Henry  VI.,  whose  fine  effigy  in 
armour  is  in  the  Holland  chancel,  could  ever  have 
looked  upon  any  portion  of  the  comfortable  farm- 
house which  now  presents  itself  at  the  end  of  an  avenue 
of  limes,  once,  according  to  tradition,  extending  to 
the  church. 

Christopher  Harfleet,  who  succeeded  to  the  pro- 
perty in  1559,  was  probably  the  builder  of  the  present 
edifice,  for  we  find  here  his  arms,  with  those  of  his 
wife,  Hefcy  Hendley,  in  painted  glass,  dated  1561 ; 
also  those  of  his  father  Thomas,  and  his  grandfather 
Raymond  {vide  Chapter  Y.).  These  shields  of  arms 
were  formerly  in  the  old  parlour  windows.  Pour 
were  removed  in  1831  to  a  staircase  window,  where 

*  In  1342,  Edward  III.  sailed  from  Sandwich  with  a  considerable 
fleet  and  army  to  obtain  possession  of  the  duchy  of  Bretagne  for 
John  de  Montfort,  and  in  1372  he  collected  there  a  force  of  3,000 
lancers  and  10,000  archers,  by  summoning  all  men  to  come  ready 
armed  to  Sandwich,  and  other  parts,  in  order  to  save  Thouars  and 
the  rest  of  Poitou. — Kymer's  Foedera.     Walsingham. 


PERAMBULATION    OF   THE   PARISH.  119 

those  of  Thomas  and  Raymond  have  been  inserted 
topsy-turvy.  A  fifth,  sadly  mutilated  and  put  to- 
gether "  anyhow,"  has  been  let  into  a  small  fanlight 
over  the  back  parlour  door.  On  a  piece  in  the 
staircase  window  can  still  be  read  "  0.  Septuans  ats 

Harflete  &  Ma-rcie  filia  T.  Hend armigeri 

1561."  A  similar  inscription  is  legible  over  the  shield 
in  the  fanlight ;  Philipott  says,  with  this  motto : — 
"Dissipabo  inimicos  Regis  mei  ut  paleam" — '*!  will 
disperse  the  enemies  of  my  King  like  chaflP,"  in 
allusion  to  the  wheat-screens  or  fans  for  winnowing 
corn  in  the  arms  of  the  Septvans ;  but  this  is  not  at 
present  to  be  seen.  The  preservation  of  this  glass, 
even  in  this  dilapidated  state,  is,  however,  of  con- 
siderable importance,  as  in  a  work  entitled  ''The 
Topographer  and  Genealogist,"*  it  is  stated  that  a 
grant  of  arms  to  Christopher  Septvans,  alias  Harflete, 
by  Robert  Cooke  Clarenceux,  dated  1574^,  was  in  the 
possession  of  Mr.  Thomas  JuU,  of  Holland.  It  is  clear, 
therefore,  from  the  date  in  the  glass,  that  this  was  not 
a  grant,  but  a  confirmation  of  the  arms  borne  by 
Christopher  in  1561,  and  engraved  on  his  monumental 
brass  in  Ash  church.f  The  family  ceased  to  reside 
here  in  1662,  when  Sir  Christopher  Harfleet,  grandson 
of  the  Christopher  just  mentioned,  removed  to  Canter- 
bury. Since  that  time  even  the  house  has  undergone 
considerable  and  repeated  alterations  by  various 
tenants,  particularly  by  the  late  Mr.  Austin  Gardner, 
in  1831,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  staircase,  a 

*  Vol.  iii.  p.  286.  t   Vide  Chapter  IV. 


120  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

porch  over  a  bricked-up  door,  and  the  painted  glass 
aforesaid,  there  are  few  noticeable  remains  of  the 
domestic  architecture  or  ornament  of  the  sixteenth  or 
even  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  ample  cellars, 
with  their  massive  oaken  joists  and  uprights,  might 
be  of  still  earlier  date ;  but  there  is  nothing  to  verify 
the  conclusion.  The  garden  retains  some  character- 
istic features  of  the  old  formal  style  of  laying  out 
which  immediately  preceded  the  "  landscape  garden- 
ing" of  the  present  century,  and  the  pleasing  effect 
of  the  church  tower  terminating  the  vista  in  front  of 
the  house  makes  one  still  more  regret  the  demolition 
of  that  once  noble  avenue. 

Chequer  Court,  which  stands   some  quarter  of  a 
mile  further  down  the  lane,  in  a  more  sequestered 
position,  and  is  approached  by  what  has  been  a  fine 
avenue  of  poplars,  but  of  which  only  those  on  the 
right  remain,  has  undergone  less  alteration  than  Hol- 
land but  cannot   boast   of  much  greater  antiquity. 
The  moat  that  defended  the  old  manorial  mansion  of 
Estchequer,  when  Henry  de  Goshall  went  a-wooing 
to  Margaret  de  Sandwich,  still  encircles  the  garden 
in  which  they  may  have  wandered ;  but  the  bridal 
procession  of  that  lady  fair  never  issued  from  the 
embattled  porch,  which,  bristling  with  wooden  can- 
non, is  now,  thank  heaven,  only  needed  to  protect 
the  occupier  or  visitor  from  a  cutting  wind  or  a 
pelting~shower. 

The  previous   building,   however,  could   not  have 
been  much  larger,  as  no  traces  of  old  foundations 


PERAMBULATION  OP  THE  PARISH.      121 

have  ever  been  met  with,  nor  are  there  any  indica- 
tions of  the  present  edifice  having  sufPered  demolition 
or  important  exterior  alteration  since  its  first  erection, 
which  we  should  certainly  not  beinclined  to  date  earlier 
than  the  sixteenth  century.  The  interior  has  been 
gradually  modernized  by  its  successive  inhabitants, 
and  no  stained  glass  is  remaining,  as  at  Holland.  A 
gateway  fronting  the  house,  where  the  moat  is  passed 
by  a  little  bridge,  was,  with  the  stables  and  outhouses 
adjoining  it,  destroyed  by  fire  some  thirty  years  ago ; 
but  we  are  informed  that  it  possessed  no  distinctive 
character  or  ornamentation  which  would  enable  us  to 
arrive  at  a  nearer  conclusion  respecting  the  age  of  the 
house  than  we  can  under  the  present  circumstances. 
Beyond  Chequer  Court  is  Nell,  anciently  Elmes,  an 
appendage  formerly  of  the  manor  of  Goldston,  and 
sometimes  called  Lee,  from  being  the  seat  of  the 
Leyghes  in  Edward  III.'s  time,  as  we  have  already 
stated  in  our  notice  of  the  manor  of  Goldston  (page 
69).  The  old  house  has  been  very  recently  pulled 
down  and  an  entirely  new  one  built  at  some  distance 
from  its  site.  Whether  the  name  of  Elmes  may  have 
been  derived  from  the  forest  of  elms  which  formerly 
existed  here  we  will  not  venture  to  say ;  but  immense 
numbers  have  been  felled  in  this  neighbourhood 
within  the  remembrance  of  the  present  generation, 
and  agricultural  interests  are  at  this  moment  enforc- 
ing the  continuation  of  the  havoc,  which  we  fear  will 
only  cease  with  the  fall  of  the  last  of  these  beautiful 
old  trees,  still,  for  a  few  hundred  yards,  making  a 


122  A   CORNER   or   KENT. 

perfect  bower  of  this  lane  during  "  the  leafy  month  of 
June/'  and  rendering  it  one  of  the  most  agreeable 
walks  in  the  parish. 

As  there  is  no  other  point  of  interest  in  this  lane 
between  Nell  and  Warehorn,  through  which  we  shall 
have  to  pass  anon,  we  will  now  retrace  our  steps  to 
the  high  road  and  enter  the  village  of  Ash,  or  Ash 
Street,  which  commences  at  the  mile-stone  at  the 
corner  of  this  lane,  under  a  high  bank  and  group  of 
trees  sheltering  E^ose  Hill  Cottage,  a  small  modern 
erection,  now  the  property  of  Mr.  W.  L.  Jordan. 

The  village,  which  has  gradually  arisen  under  the 
shadow  of  its  church,  and  by  the  side  of  the  high 
road  or  street  (the  Eoman  stratum,  the  British  strad) 
to  Sandwich,*  straggles  over  the  brow  of  a  hill  which 
skirts  the  southern  boundary  of  the  parish,  and  sinks 
almost  suddenly  behind  the  churchyard  into  the 
valley  of  Staple. 

Except  the  church  (a  description  of  which  we  re- 
serve for  an  especial  chapter),  there  is  no  building  of 
any  description  remaining  in  it  which  can  pretend  to 
an  earlier  date  than  the  17th  century,  save  and  except 
the  Chequer  Inn,  which  stands  at  the  corner  of  the 
lane  leading  to  Cop  Street,  and  has  probably  under- 
gone less  alteration  than  any  other  house*  in  the 
parish. 

*  Though  street  is  used  for  road  in  many  parts  of  England,  it  is 
particularly  so  in  Kent,  where  it  is  applied  to  any  lane  or  highway, 
running  through  a  village,  as  will  be  observed  in  passing  through  this 
parish.  To  go  "up"  or  "down  street,"  is  the  usual  phrase  for  an 
excursion  into  the  village. 


PERAMBULATION   OE   THE    PARISH.  123 

"  The  Chequers"  (plural)  is  so  common  a  sign  for 
an  inn,  that  were  it  not  for  the  lords  of  Chequer  in 
Ash,  its  designation  might  have  passed  unnoticed. 
There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  in  this  instance 
the  inn  is  so  named  from  the  manor  of  Chequer,  and 
may  formerly  have  displayed  the  arms  of  the  family 
of  Septvans,  alias  Atchequer.  That  it  was  originally 
an  inn,  however,  we  will  not  undertake  to  say.  The 
probabilities  are  against  it.  The  earliest  mention  of 
it  as  an  inn  that  we  have  been  able  to  discover  is  as 
recent  as  1707,  when,  from  the  vestry  books,  we 
gather  that  it  was  kept  by  John  Beall.  As  the 
house  must  at  that  time  have  been  at  least  two 
hundred  years  old,  it  is  quite  possible  it  may  have 
been  part  of  Chilton  manor-house  or  court,  this  par- 
ticular portion  of  the  village  being  in  the  manor,  as  it 
is  now  called,  of  Chequer  and  Chilton. 

The  road,  of  which  it  forms  the  western  corner, 
is  sometimes  called  Vicarage  Lane,  as  a  few  yards 
beyond  the  Chequer  stands  the  Vicarage,  a  very  small 
portion  of  which  is  of  any  considerable  age,  alterations 
and  additions  having  been  made  by  various  incum- 
bents. In  the  cellar,  on  a  beam,  however,  we  find  the 
initials  A.  H.,  and  the  date  1655,  at  which  period  it 
is  probable  the  old  house  was  built.  It  was  purchased 
as  late  as  1813,  with  some  land  belonging  to  it,  and 
enlarged  in  order  to  render  it  an  eligible  residence  for 
the  perpetual  curate,  the  rectory,  or  parsonage-house, 
being  occupied  by  one  of  the  lessees  of  the  great 
tythes.     Beside  the  vicarage  stands  the  infant  school. 


124  A   CORNER   or   KENT. 

newly  built  and  endowed  by  the  munificence  of  a 
private  individual,  Mr.  Thomas  Kelsey,  of  Ash  Street, 
whose  name  may  be  worthily  coupled  with  that  of 
Gervase  Cartwright  {vide  Chapter  IV.). 

There  are  two  other  inns  in  Ash  Street,  of  which 
we  find  mention  a  few  years  earlier  than  the  notice 
of  the  Chequer,  both  of  which  are  still  in  exist- 
ence,— the  Lion  and  the  Ship ;  but  as  neither  could 
pretend  to  an  earlier  date  of  erection,  it  tends  to 
confirm  our  opinion  that  the  Chequer  was  not  a 
public  house  of  entertainment  before  the  commence- 
ment of  the  last  century. 

The  Lion,  sometimes  called  in  the  vestry  books 
the  Red  Lion,  appears  to  have  been  kept  in  1697 
by  Thomas  Horn — 

''  Paid  goodman  Horn,  at  the  Lyon,  spent 
upon  the  parish's  account,  at  Easter 
and  other  times 0  11     9 

Paid  Thomas  Horn,  for  lodging  and  quar- 
tering travillers 0     6     3" 

In  the  passage  facing  the  bar  in  this  house  is  a 
small  square  piece  of  oak  carving,  with  the  figures  of 
stags  and  human  hearts,  and  a  larger  heart  between 
the  initials  W.  C,  with  the  date  1660,  whether 
originally  belonging  to  the  house  we  cannot  undertake 
to  say,  but  it  has  been  there  as  long  as  any  one  now 
living  can  recollect,  and  was  always  understood  to 
have  formed  a  portion  of  it.  The  diamond  pattern  of 
the  border,  and  the  initials  and  date,  recall  the  carving 


PERAMBULATION   OF   THE   PARISH.  125 

of  the  oaken  partition  at  Pedding,  and  was  probably 
by  the  same  hand. 

"  Met  at  the  Ship,"  constantly  occnrs  in  the  parish 
books  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  century ;  but  the 
name  of  the  host  does  not  transpire.  In  167f  the 
constable  was  paid  4s.  "  for  money  laid  out  by  him 
when  Barber  and  B;ussell  were  kept  in  costodity  for 
pulling  down  widow  Pennell's  signe ;"  but  as  in  those 
days  signs  were  wont  to  be  displayed  by  dealers  in  all 
sorts  of  commodities,  we  cannot  undertake  to  say 
that  Mrs.  Pennell  was  the  landlady  of  the  Ship  or  of 
one  of  "the  victualling  houses"  for  ''lodging  and 
quartering  travillers"  mentioned  in  1699  (twenty 
years  later),  and  to  defray  the  expenses  of  which 
19s.  3d.  were  paid  to  Mr.  Small  the  borsholder,  or 
disburser,  as  that  officer  is  denominated  in  later 
records.  The  persons  paid  as  victuallers  on  that 
occasion  were  the  widow  Ewell,  Adam  Hammond, 
and  John  Beall,  the  latter  of  whom  we  know  kept 
the  Chequer  in  1707.  Pulling  down  signs,  however, 
appears  by  the  above  entry  to  have  been  a  frolic  as 
old  as  the  times  of  Charles  II.,  and  Messrs.  Barber 
and  Bussell  figure  as  the  respectable  prototypes  of 
Tom  and  Jerry. 

''  Ash  mill,"  probably  the  one  still  standing  behind 
the  Lion,  is  mentioned  in  1637,  when  Edward  White 
is  assessed  for  six  acres  of  land  belonging  to  it. 

On  the  left  beyond  the  Lion,  with  a  small  plot 
of  garden  in  front  of  it,  is  the  school-house  for  the 
boys   of  Cartwright's   charity,   and  in  an   adjacent 


126  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

building  the  girls'  scliool.  The  latter,  with  an  adjoin- 
ing house  for  the  master  and  mistress,  were,  together 
with  the  noble  sum  of  £1,000,  bequeathed  to  the 
parish  by  the  late  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Godfrey,  of  Brooke 
Street  {vide  Chapter  IV.).  The  removal  of  these 
schools  from  the  vestry-room  and  the  Holland  chancel 
in  the  church  was  a  most  beneficial  arrangement. 

On  the  right  of  the  street,  nearly  facing  '*the  Lion," 
a  road  leads  down  to  the  Moat  Parm,  sometimes  called 
Brook  House,  from  the  "Wingham  brook  which  rises 
close  beside  it ;  but  we  must  not  confound  it  with 
Brooke  House,  properly  so  called,  at  Brooke  Street  in 
this  parish,  just  alluded  to,  and  of  which  we  shall 
shortly  have  to  speak.  Moat  Parm  was,  as  early  as 
Queen  Elizabeth's  reign,  in  the  possession  of  the 
family  of  Stoughton.  One  of  them — '*  Edward 
Stoughton,  of  Ash,  Gent.,"  whose  will  was  proved  in 
1573,  bequeathed  to  his  son  Joel,  amongst  other 
things,  "  the  embroidering  of  a  vestment,  set  with 
5,000  pearls  and  more,  and  2,000  spangles  and  more 
of  silver-gilt  upon  the  same." 

This  Edward  Stoughton  of  Ash  was  the  great- 
grandson  of  Sir  John  Stoughton,  Knight,  Lord  Mayor 
of  London,  whose  second  son,  John  Stoughton,  of 
Dartford,  the  grandfather  of  Edward,  married,  before 
1457,  Jane,  one  of  the  daughters  and  coheirs  of 
Boger  Clitherow,  of  Goldston  in  Ash,  by  which  mar- 
riage the  estate  of  Little  Betshanger,  in  Eastry 
parish,  came  to  the  family  of  Stoughton,  from  whom 
it  passed  first  to  Gibbs  and  then  to  Omer,  with  whom 


PERAMBULATION   OF   THE   PARISH.  127 

it  remained  till  the  decease  of  Lawrence  Omer,  of 
Ash,  when  his  only  daughter  and  heir,  Jane,  brought 
it  back  to  the  Stoughtons  by  her  marriage  with 
Thomas  Stoughton  of  Ash,  and  afterwards  of  St. 
Martin's,  Canterbury,  son  of  Edward,  of  the  Moat 
Parm  aforesaid.  Thomas  Stoughton  died  in  1591, 
and  left  three  daughters,  his  coheirs,  one  of  whom, 
named  Elizabeth,  married  Thomas  Wilde,  of  St.  Mar- 
tin's Hill,  Canterbury,  Esq.,  and  he  alienated  this 
estate  of  the  Moat  Earm  to  Mr.  John  Proude,  who 
resided  here,  as  did  his  descendants,  to  the  time  of 
Charles  II. 

John  Proude  of  Ash,  the  elder,  yeoman,  by  his 
will,  proved  in  1626,  ordered  that  his  executor  should 
erect  upon  his  land  **  adjoining  to  the  churchyard, 
but  not  upon  it,"  a  house  or  building  of  the  size  and 
sort  therein  mentioned,  which  should  be  disposed 
of  always  in  future  by  the  churchwardens  and  over- 
seers for  a  school-house,  and  for  a  store-house  to  lay 
in  provisions  for  the  church  and  poor ;  and  if  they 
should  not  sufficiently  repair  it,  or  otherwise  dispose 
of  it,  such  person  or  persons  to  whom  the  adjoining 
land  belonged,  should  enter  into  it  and  enjoy  the 
same  as  if  his  bequest  had  not  been  made.  We  have 
taken  some  trouble  to  ascertain  whether  this  house 
is  still  in  existence,  and  believe  it  to  be  the  long 
building  "adjoining  the  churchyard,  but  not  upon 
it,"  behind  the  Ship  Inn,  and  which  was  used  as 
a  Wesleyan  chapel  in  1827.  It  is  now  appropriated 
by  the  rifle  volunteers  to  the  purposes  of  drill,  &c.. 


128  A  CORNER  OF   KENT. 

and  belongs  to  Mr.  Ash,  brewer,  of  Canterbury, 
owner  of  the  Ship  Inn,  to  which  property  it  seems 
to  have  become  attached  by  some  such  default 
or  neglect  as  is  anticipated  in  the  will.  Whether  it 
is  identical  with  "the  church-house,"  of  which  con- 
stant repairs  are  recorded  in  the  Cess  Books,  and 
which  was  let  at  £1.  0s.  8d.  per  annum,  we  are 
unable  to  say,  but  rather  think  not.  The  ''  Church 
house"  appears  from  other  evidence  to  have  been 
situate  in  the  street.  Proude's  house  is  said  by 
Hasted  to  have  been  let  at  £1  per  annum  in  his 
time.  In  the  churchwardens'  accounts  for  1660, 
4d.  is  charged  for  mending  the  lock  of  "  the  stoarre 
(store)  house,"  which,  from  the  terms  of  the  will,  may 
possibly  be  the  same  building. 

John  Proude,  son  of  the  above  John,  was  church- 
warden of  Ash  in  1648,  and  from  him  the  Moat 
Parm  appears  to  have  passed  to  the  family  of  Solly 
of  Pedding,  by  the  marriage  of  Pichard  Solly,  great- 
grandson  of  Stephen  Solly  the  younger,  with  Mary 
Proude,  October  5th,  1658.  Pichard  Solly  died  pos- 
sessed of  it  in  1683,  and  his  great-grandson,  Edward 
Solly,  Esq.,  was  the  owner  in  Hasted's  time.  Prom 
Edward  it  descended  to  the  present  proprietor,  Samuel 
Peynolds  Solly,  of  Manchester  Square,  London,  Esq., 
M.A.,  P.P.S.,  and  P.S.A.,  and  is  now  rented  of  him 
by  Mr.  Collett,  of  Pingleton. 

The  house,  altered  into  a  modern  farm,  with  its 
buildings,  has  nothing  picturesque  about  it  but  its 
situation,  which  is  in  a  valley  to  the  south-east  of  the 


PERAMBULATION   OF   THE   PARISH.  129 

church,  hy  the  side  of  a  pretty  shady  lane  continuing 
the  road  from  Ash  Street,  and  winding  round  the 
base  of  a  hill  called  Mount  Ephraim,  on  which  stands 
a  mill,  until  it  enters  the  parish  of  Woodnesborough, 
at  the  hamlet  of  Combe.  We  rather  think  this  lane 
is  the  ''  LoYekey  Street "  of  Edward  I.'s  time,  men- 
tioned by  Harris,  as  Hasted  gives  that  name  to  it  in 
his  description  of  Woodnesborough,  and  so  long  ago 
as  the  thirteenth  century  one  may  easily  believe  that 
a  branch  from  it  to  the  right  might  lead  by  the  side 
of  the  Wingham  brook  to  Poulton. 

Passing  through  the  turnpike  a  little  beyond  this 
lane,  the  road  to  Sandwich  sweeps  round  to  the  left, 
another  to  the  right  leading  to  Dover,  and  crossing 
the  boundary  of  the  parish  just  before  it  enters  the 
hamlet  of  Combe.  As  there  is  nothing  to  call  for 
attention  on  the  latter  road,  except  a  fine  view  to  the 
north  of  Kamsgate  Cliffs  and  Pegwell  Bay,  from 
the  high  ground  which  forms  a  sort  of  plateau  or 
terrace  in  front  of  the  straggling  cottages  of  New 
Street,  a  place  first  mentioned  in  the  Cess  Books  in 
the  year  1699,  we  shall  continue  our  perambulation 
along  the  direct  road  to  Sandwich,  passing  ''  the  large 
and  commodious  workhouse,"  of  which  Hasted  speaks, 
erected  between  the  years  1725  and  1730,  and  since 
the  establishment  of  the  Eastry  union  converted  into 
a  brewery  (that  of  Gardner,  Godden,  &  Co.),  and 
which,  with  a  handsome  modern  mansion*   in  the 

*  In  digging  the  foundations  of  this  house  two  fine  Roman  urns 
were  discovered,  now  in  the  possession  of  Captain  Godden. 

K 


130  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

style  of  the  Renaissance,  called  Ash-den,  the  resi- 
dence of  Captain  Godden,  one  of  the  firm,  stands  on 
the  right  hand  of  the  road,  and  terminates  in  this 
direction  the  village  of  Ash. 

A  short  distance  from  the  road  on  the  left  hand 
stands  Hill's  Court,  or  rather  the  remains  of  the 
Manor  House  of  that  name,  sometimes  called  Hill's 
Church  Gate,  the  residence  of  Sir  Edward  Peke  at 
the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  which  now 
presents  no  features  of  either  beauty  or  antiquity  to 
arrest  our  attention.  It  is  inhabited  only  by  the 
farm  servants  and  other  persons  in  the  employ  of 
the  present  tenant  of  Goshall,  which,  embosomed  in 
trees,  rises  just  beyond  it.  In  the  very  same  field 
with  Hill's  Court,  a  little  to  the  north,  stood  within 
these  few  years  what  remained  of  the  Manor  House  of 
Levericks,  the  residence  of  the  Ash  branch  of  that 
ancient  family.  The  site  of  it  is  no  longer  distin- 
guishable. It  is  represented  to  us  as  having  been  a 
very  small  brick  building  of  the  same  class  as  Hill's 
Court  and  Goshall.  The  land  is  now  farmed  by  Mr. 
Thomas  Coleman,  of  Guston. 

At  a  turn  of  the  road  on  the  right  is  a  large 
sand-pit,  which  has  long  been  known  by  the  name  of 
Collarmaker's  hole ;  wherefore,  nobody  can  inform  us. 

A  family  of  the  name  of  Collar  is  frequently  men- 
tioned in  the  Cess  Book  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
Solomon  Collar  is  assessed  as  an  outman  in  1637,  but 
collar-maker  is  the  common  term  used  for  a  saddler 
or  harness-maker,  and  some  one  of  that  trade  may 


PERAMBULATION  OF  THE  PAHISH.       131 

have  formerly  rented  the  land  or  resided  near  this 
spot.  At  all  events,  as  veracious  chroniclers,  we 
regret  to  say  that  no  wild  legend,  no  mysterious  inci- 
dent, as  we  had  fondly  imagined  on  first  hearing  of 
"  collar-maker's  hole,"  divests  of  its  common-place 
character  this  solitary  sand-pit,  shortly  after  passing 
which  we  come  in  sight  of  Sandwich  and  reach  the 
eastern  extremity  of  this  parish,  which  terminates  a 
few  hundred  yards  on  the  west  side  of  Each-end  turn- 
pike gate  in  Woodnesborough  parish,  and  a  little  be- 
yond the  junction  of  a  road  onthe  left  leading  to  East 
Street  and  Brooke  Street.  Before  us  is  "  the  cause- 
way" mentioned  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Henry  III. 
as  "  the  causeway  or  common  road  between  Sandwich 
and  Esche,"  Each,  or  Echo,  being  only  another  name 
for  Esche,  Esshe,  and  Ash.  "We  have  close  at  hand 
Upper  Echo  and  Nether  Echo,  and  this  point  has 
naturally  been  called  Each-end,  as  it  is  the  eastern 
termination  of  the  parish.  Here,  at  any  rate,  we 
have  no  cause  to  regret  the  absence  of  legend  or  tra- 
dition. "  Truth,  stranger  than  fiction," — history, 
authenticated  by  official  documents,  invests  "this 
causeway  "  and  the  common  road  connecting  it  with 
Ash,  which  we  have  for  some  time  followed,  with 
interest  far  superior  to  any  derivable  from  "  auld 
wives'  tales  "  or  rustic  superstition.  Along  this  road 
the  lion-hearted  Eichard  of  England  walked  barefoot 
to  Canterbury  on  his  return  from  captivity  in  Ger- 
many in  1194.  Edward  I.,  in  the  twenty-sixth  year 
of  his  reign,  landed  at  Sandwich  on  his  return  from 

K  2 


132  A   CORNER   OE   KENT. 

Manders,  and  journeyed  Londonward  by  this  route. 
Edward  III.,  who  usually  embarked  and  disembarked 
at  Sandwich,  must  frequently  have  passed  through 
Ash,  and  particularly  in  1347,  when,  after  the  sur- 
render of  Calais,  he  returned  to  Sandwich  in  very 
tempestuous  weather,  accompanied  by  his  fair  queen, 
Philippa,  and  his  gallant  son,  Edward  the  Black 
Prince.  That  by  this  road  that  model  of  chivalry 
conducted  his  royal  captive,  John,  king  of  Erance, 
after  the  victory  of  Poictiers,  has  been  asserted  by 
some  historians,  and  doubted,  though  not  absolutely 
disproved,  by  others.  Instructions  were  certainly 
issued  to  prepare  for  the  arrival  and  landing  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales  at  Plymouth,  but  there  is  no 
authentic  account  of  his  having  done  so.  Sailing 
from  Bordeaux,  it  w^ould  certainly  be  the  more  direct 
route ;  but  Eroissart  (chap.  172)  not  only  positively 
says  Sandwich,  "  where  they  took  up  their  quarters 
in  the  town  and  neighbourhood,  and  remained  two 
days  to  refresh  themselves,"  but  goes  on  to  record 
their  staying  one  day  at  Canterbury,  where  the  king 
and  prince  made  their  offerings  to  the  shrine  of  St. 
Thomas,  resting  the  second  day  at  E;Ochester,  and 
the  third  at  Dartford,  and  arriving  on  the  fourth  day 
at  London.  This  account  is  too  circumstantial  to  be 
lightly  discredited  in  the  absence  of  direct  evidence 
to  the  contrary. 

Edward  TV,  was  at  Sandwich  on  Whitsun-eve,  in 
the  tenth  year  of  his  reign ;  and,  in  the  sixteenth, 
assembled  there  a  magnificent  army,  and  sailed  on 


PERAMBULATION  OP  THE  PARISH.       133 

that  expedition  to  France  which  was  followed  by  the 
peace  of  Pecquigni. 

Henry  YIII.  visited  Sandwich  in  1533,  and  again 
in  1537 ;  and  Queen  Elizabeth  was  royally  entertained 
there  in  1573.     ( Vide  page  138.) 

We  have  no  positive  proof  that  the  two  latter 
sovereigns  travelled  by  way  of  Ash.  "  Bluff  King 
Hal "  may  have  gone  thither  from  Deal,  Walmer,  or 
Dover ;  but  when  Queen  Elizabeth  went  from  the 
archbishop's  palace  at  Beakesbourne  across  Barham 
Downs  to  Sandwich,  it  is  highly  probable,  either  at 
that  time  or  on  returning,  the  good  people  of  Ash 
Street  had  a  glimpse  of  her.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  all  in  the  parish  who  had  the  power  were  present 
at  the  sham  fight  at  Stonor,  and  very  little  that  in 
her  progress  to  or  from  Sandwich,  she  passed  along 
some  part  of  the  road  we  are  supposed  to  be  travelling. 

"Whether  the  duke  of  York,  afterwards  James  II., 
was  at  Ash  "when  his  men  lay  there"  in  1665  {vide 
page  165),  does  not  appear;  most  probably  not.  He 
went  to  join  the  fleet  at  Harwich,  and  returned  from 
that  port  to  London  after  his  victory  over  the  Dutch 
on  the  3rd  of  June  ;  some  of  the  crew  of  the  Royal 
Charles i  the  duke's  ship,  may  have  come  ashore  at 
Sandwich  or  Margate,  as  she  was  in  the  Thames  later 
in  the  year.*  Eor  the  last  two  hundred  years,  how- 
ever, this  road  has  not  been  honoured  by  the  passage 
of  royalty,  with  one  notable  exception.     Her  present 

*  Pepys'  Journal. 


134  A   CORNER   or   KENT. 

most  gracious  Majesty,  when  Princess  Victoria,  drove 
through  Ash  on  her  way  to  Walmer,  in  company  with 
her  illustrious  mother,  H.R.H.  the  duchess  of  Kent. 

Sandwich  has  ceased  in  its  turn  to  be  a  point  of 
embarcation  for  the  Continent,  although  it  yet  ranks 
as  one  of  the  Cinque  Ports.  The  South-Eastern 
Eailway  monopolizes  the  passenger  traffic  between 
it  and  the  metropolis,  and  Ash  Street,  through  which, 
not  many  years  ago,  the  Deal  mail  dashed  twice  a  day, 
and  which  well-laden  stage-coaches  from  Walmer  to 
Canterbury,  Heme  Bay  and  London,  kept  continually 
alive  with  the  clatter  of  four  horses  and  the  echoes 
of  the  guard's  horn,  is  now  rarely  traversed  by  any- 
thing more  imposing  than  a  neighbouring  farmer's 
dog-cart,  a  parson's  pony  chaise,  or  mine  host 
of  the  Lion's  daily  omnibus  to  Canterbury.  Still 
the  parish  bears  itself  bravely  up.  It  responds 
promptly  and  heartily  to  any  call  upon  its  good 
feeling  or  good  fellowship.  It  has  its  gay  cricket 
matches,  its  joyous  school  feasts,  its  merry  May 
games,  and  its  genial  harvest  homes.  Por  the  cele- 
bration of  these  two  last  time-honoured  and  truly 
English  festivals  it  has  lately,  indeed,  acquired  a 
high  and  well-merited  county  reputation,  and  can 
afford  to  smile  at  the  malicious  old  couplet,  never  less 
applicable  to  it  than  at  present,  of 

"  Ash  church  with  its  peaked  steeple, 
A  bad  parson  and  worse  people.'* 


*  Local  tradition  throws  no  light  on  the  date  or  origin  of  this 


PERAMBULATION   OF   THE   PARISH.  135 

But  we  are  digressing.  Let  us  proceed  on  our 
journey. 

Leaving  the  liigh  road  at  this  point,  and  taking  the 
bye  one  to  the  left,  of  which  we  have  spoken,  we 
pass  the  half-dozen  cottages  that  form  the  hamlet  of 
East  Street  on  our  right,  and  arrive  at  Goshall,  with 
its  stately  elms,  the  remains  of  an  avenue  which  it  is 
said  stretched  formerly  far  away  towards  Sandwich. 
Amongst  them  rises  a  little  stream,  called  Goshall 
Heet,  which  running  through  Brook  Street,  finds 
its  way  across  the  marshes  into  the  Stour,  below 
Bichborough. 

Goshall,  like  Molland  and  Chequer,  is  now  a  com- 
fortable modernized  residence.  It  was  probably  re- 
built on  the  site  of  the  old  hall  by  the  Dynelys  or 
the  Bopers  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  since  which 
it  has  undergone  continual  alterations,  especially  by 
the  late  Mr.  Coleman,*  Harris,  whose  History  of 
Kent  was  published  in  1719,  says  that  there  was  a 
stone  coffin  dug  up  here  "  some  ten  years  ago ;"  and 
in  his  notice  of  Trapham,  in  Wingham  parish,  where 
a  similar  relic  was  found,  he  tells  us  that  he  had  his 
information  from  "  the  minister  of  Ash."  This  must 
have  been  either  poor  Shocklidge,  who  was  drowned 

libel.  It  must  have  been  composed  at  least  a  hundred  years  ago,  as 
its  first  circulation  is  "not  within  the  memory  of  the  oldest  in- 
habitant." 

*  Mrs.  Coleman,  his  widow,  and  mother  of  the  present  Mr. 
Thomas  Coleman,  died  at  Goshall,  September  29th,  1863,  and  her  son 
has  subsequently  removed  hither  from  Guston. 


136  A   CORNER   or   KENT. 

in  1712,  or  his  successor,  Obadiah  Browne,  who  was 
the  incumbent  to  1721. 

At  an  angle  of  the  road  immediately  before  us  is  the 
entrance  to  Brooke  House,  in  the  hamlet  of  Brooke 
Street,  and  which,  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
was  the  property  of  John  Brooke,  Gent.,  who  died  in 
1582,  and  was  buried  in  the  north  chancel  of  Ash 
church.      He  left   no  issue  by  his  wife  Magdalen, 

daughter  of Stothard,  of  Mottingham,  and  this 

seat  consequently  came  to  the  heirs  of  his  aunt 
Bennett,  sister  of  his  father,  John  Brooke,  and  who 
had  married  Stephen  Hougham,  of  Weddington. 

Prom  the  Houghams,  after  some  intermediate 
owners,  the  estate  passed  to  John  Hayward,  of  Sand- 
wich, Gent.,  who,  by  Jane  his  wife,  sister  of  John 
Paramour,  of  Stattenborough,  Esq.,  left  a  daughter 
and  heir  named  Jane,  first  married  to  John  Hawker, 
and  secondly  to  John  Dilnot,  Esq.,  of  Sandwich,  who, 
in  her  right,  possessed  it  in  Hasted's  time.  Mrs. 
Dilnot  died  without  issue,  Eeb.  23rd,  1790,  and  the 
estate  passed  a  few  years  afterwards,  by  bequest  of 
Peter  Godfrey,  Esq.,  to  his  kinsman,  Thomas  JuU, 
Esq.,  who  assumed  by  Act  of  Parliament,  4th  Jan., 
1799,  the  surname  of  Godfrey  only,  and  from  him, 
after  the  death  of  his  wife  Elizabeth,  to  his  nephew, 
John  Jull,  Esq.,  who  24th  May,  1810,  obtained  the 
Boyal  licence  for  himself  and  issue  to  take  and  bear 
the  name  and  arms  of  Godfrey,  and  died  here  in 
1861,  sincerely  lamented  throughout  the  parish  of 
Ash,  in  which  he  had,  by  a  long  life  of  kindness  and 


PERAMBULATION   OF   THE   PARISH.  137 

benevolence,  deservedly  obtained  the  enviable  title  of 
"  the  poor  man's  friend." 

Brooke  House  is  at  present  the  residence  of  his 
widow  and  eldest  son,  Mr.  Ingram  Fuller  Godfrey, 
M.A.  It  was  converted  into  a  handsome  villa  resi- 
dence by  the  late  Mr.  Godfrey,  but  there  is  still  a 
portion  of  the  original  building  preserved,  with  the 
date  of  1577  upon  the  ornamental  end  of  one  of  the 
rafters. 

On  quitting  Brooke  Street  the  road  runs  northward 
behind  Twitham  Hill,  now  the  property  of  John 
Minter  Tomlin,  Esq.,  the  land  being  farmed  by  Mr. 
Drayson,  of  Sandwich ;  and  Weddington,  the  old  seat 
of  the  Houghams.  The  "  Hall  House  at  "Wedding- 
ton,"  specified  in  the  will  of  Michael,  son  and  heir  of 
Bennett  Hougham,  as  the  one  in  which  he  dwelt,  no 
longer  exists,  and  that  of  Twitham  Hill,  so  called, 
not  from  its  position  on  any  eminence,  but  from  the 
family  of  Hills  or  Helles,  another  branch  of  the 
Twithams,  is  now,  like  MoUand  and  Goshall,  nothing 
more  than  a  comfortable  farmhouse,  possessing  no 
interest  for  the  antiquary  beyond  the  recollections 
connected  with  the  names. 

To  the  east  the  marshes  stretch  away  to  the 
Stour  and  the  cottages  of  Lowton,  at  the  foot  of 
the  isolated  hill  on  which  still  crumble  the  walls  of 
Bichborough. 

Passing  through  the  hamlet  of  Cooper  Street  we 
arrive  at  Fleet,  around  which  there  still  runs  water 
enough  to  account  for  its  name.     The  house  is  only 


138  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

occupied  by  servants  in  the  employ  of  Mr.  Coleman 
of  Guston,  who  uses  the  land  which  has  recently  passed 
into  the  possession  of  the  Marquis  of  Conyngham. 

It  is  reported  that  Queen  Elizabeth  was  once  enter- 
tained here  by  the  Earl  of  Oxford.  If  such  was  the 
fact,  it  must  have  been  in  1572,  on  the  occasion  of  her 
Majesty's  visit  to  Sandwich,  where  she  arrived  on  the 
31st  of  August,  and  lodged  at  Mr.  Manwood's,  a 
house  in  which  her  father.  King  Henry  VIII.,  had 
lodged  twice  before. 

In  the  curious  description  of  this  visit  printed  in 
Boy's  Collections  and  Nichol's  Progresses  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  there  is  no  mention  of  Eleet ;  but  it  appears 
that  '*  on  the  next  day  after  her  arrival  at  Sandwich, 
being  Tuesday  and  the  1st  of  September,  she  went  to 
Stonar,  where  the  towne  having  builded  a  fort  on 
t'other  side  of  the  haven,  the  captains  aforesaid  (viz., 
Alexander  Combe,  Edward  Peke,  and  Edward  Wood) 
led  over  their  men  to  assault  the  said  fort,  during 
which  time  certain  Walloons,  who  could  well  swim, 
had  prepared  two  boats,  and  in  the  end  of  each  boat  a 
board,  upon  which  boards  stood  a  man,  and  so  met 
together  with  either  of  them  a  staff  and  a  shield  of 
wood,  and  one  of  them  did  overthrow  another,  at 
which  the  queen  had  good  sport,  and  that  done,  the 
captains  put  their  men  into  a  battle,  and  taking 
with  them  some  loose  shot,  gave  the  scarmishe  (skir- 
mish) to  the  fort,  and  in  the  end,  after  the  discharge 
of  two  falconets  and  certain  chambers,  after  divers 
assaults  the  fort  was  won." 


PERAMBULATION   OF   THE   PARISH.  139 

As  this  '*  good  sport*'  and  sham  figlit  took  place  on 
the  Stour  in  front  of  Eichboroughj  it  is  scarcely  out 
of  our  province  to  notice  it,  independently  of  the  tra- 
dition of  the  queen's  visit  to  Heet  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood,  which  must  have  been  in  an  unusual 
degree  of  excitement  on  such  an  occasion.  The 
silence,  however,  of  the  contemporary  chronicler 
respecting  Meet,  while  so  minutely  recording  every 
particular  of  the  queen^s  visit,  and  the  absence  of  the 
name  of  the  Earl  of  Oxford  from  the  list  of  persons  in 
attendance  on  her,  or  assembled  to  receive  her,  induce 
us  to  doubt  the  story  of  her  having  ever  passed  the 
threshold  of  the  present  or  any  older  mansion  of  the 
De  Veres  in  this  vicinity. 

On  our  right  the  road  runs  into  the  hamlet  of 
Eichborough,  and  terminates  abruptly  at  the  foot  of 
the  hill  on  which  stands  the  castle  (now  the  property, 
by  purchase,  of  Denne  Denne,  Esq.,  of  Elbridge  Park, 
near  Canterbury,  and  which  is  already  sufficiently 
described  in  our  two  first  chapters),  and  in  front  of 
Eichborough  Earm,  occupied  by  Mr.  George  Solly, 
descended  from  one  of  the  numerous  branches  of  that 
prolific  tree  which  has  flourished  in  this  parish  and 
its  immediate  neighbourhood  for  upwards  of  five 
hundred  years,  and  probably  from  the  time  of  the 
Conqueror. 

Turning  to  our  left,  then,  we  take  the  road  to 
Guston,  formerly  Gurson,  another  moiety  of  the  great 
manor  of  Elect,  held  by  the  De  Veres  for  centuries 
under  the  family  of  Sandwich.     The  house  was  till 


140  A   COENER   OF   KENT. 

lately  the  residence  of  Mr.  Thomas  Coleman,  whose 
father  sold  this  estate,  with  others  adjacent,  to  the 
late  Marchioness  Dowager  of  Conyngham,  and  which 
are  now  rented  and  farmed  by  Mr.  Coleman  as  tenant 
of  the  present  marquis. 

Beyond  Guston,  to  the  north  and  east,  all  is 
marsh,  with  here  and  there  a  solitary  cottage, — one 
named  ^'Providence  Cottage,"  which  must  surely  stand 
in  need  of  its  especial  care ;  and  heyond  the  Stour  the 
high  land  of  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  the  village  and  the 
fine  old  church  of  Minster  forming  an  agreeable 
foreground. 

Our  road  now  brings  us  by  Potts  Parm,  and 
an  old  hovel  dignified  by  the  title  of  Sparrow 
Castle,  past  Sandhills,  to  Upper  and  Lower  Gold- 
stone,  the  ancient  domains  of  the  Levbournes  and  of 
the  Clintons,  Earls  of  Huntingdon,  but  retaining  no 
vestige  of  their  might  or  their  magnificence.  Of  their 
later  owners,  the  family  of  Toke  of  Goddington  still 
retains  possession  of  the  manor. 

A  lane  on  the  left  leads  to  the  hamlet  of  Cop  Street, 
so  called,  it  would  seem,  from  a  family  of  the  name  of 
Cop  or  Cope,  one  of  whom,  John  Cope,  had  lands 
granted  to  him  in  "  the  vill  of  Esshe,"  by  John 
de  Goshall,  in  the  sixteenth  year  of  the  reign  of 
Edward  III.,  A.D.  1343,*  and  from  thence  into  the 

*  The  witnesses  to  this  deed,  which  is  preserved  amongst  the 
Harleian  Charters  in  the  British  Museum,  78  D.  30,  are  Henry  att 
Crouch  and  Thomas  Mollonde. 

There  is  a  cottage  and  oasthouse  between  Cop  Street  and  Ash, 


PERAMBULATION   OP   THE   PARISH.  141 

village  of  Ash;  but  our  road  is  still  to  the  north, 
until  it  runs  into  that  which  traverses  the  parish  from 
the  western  extremity  of  Guilton,  past  Holland, 
Chequer  Court,  and  Nell,  to  Warehorn  and  Paramour 
Street,  the  latter  locality  taking  its  name  from  an 
old  and  widely-spread  Kentish  family,  the  Paramours 
of  Sandwich,  Stattenhorough,  Ash,  Eastry,  and  St. 
Nicholas,  Thanet.  Thomas  Paramour,  of  Paramour 
Street,  Ash,  was  seated  here  as  early  as  the  close  of 
the  fifteenth  century.  By  his  wife  Cecilia,  daughter 
and  heir  of  Hambroke,  he  had  two  sons,  William 
and  Henry.  Henry  Paramour  was  living  16th  of 
Henry  VIII.,  A.D.  1525,  and  by  his  wife,  Alice  Por- 
nell,  had  a  son,  John,  who  married  Jane,  daughter 
of  Thomas  Beke,  of  Wickham  Breaux.  Their  son 
Thomas  married,  first,  Anne,  daughter  of  Michael 
Hougham,  of  Weddington,  and,  secondly,  Maria, 
daughter  of  E;ichard  Sampson,  of  London,  and  widow 
of  Bobert  Garth,  of  London.  This  Thomas  resided  at 
Pordwich,  and  was  Mayor  of  Canterbury  in  1619 ;  and 
from  his  epitaph  in  Minster  Church,  Isle  of  Thanet, 
in  which  he  is  called  "  our  champion,"  it  is  probable 
he  was  the  "  Thomas  Param or"  whose  wager  of  battle 
respecting  lands  in  the  Isle  of  Harty  was  so  singularly 
terminated  in  Tothill  Pields,  London,  A.D.  1571. 
But  of  this  and  other  matters  connected  with  this 


now  called  Crackstakes,  which  we  think  may  be  a  corruption  of 
Crouch  or  Cruxstakes.  A  family  of  the  name  of  Copp  was  in 
existence  in  this  parish  in  1619. 


142  A   COUNER   OF   KENT. 

ancient  and  numerous  family  we  shall  speak  in  our 
fifth  chapter  to  those  who  take  an  interest  in  genea- 
logical details,  contenting  ourselves  at  present  with 
pointing  out  to  our  fellow-traveller  Paramour  Grange, 
the  family  mansion,  which  was  alienated  to  the  Eul- 
lagers,  one  of  whom,  Mr.  Christopher  PuUager,  of 
Maidstone,  was  the  owner  in  Hasted's  time.  Turning 
to  the  west  at  Warehorn,  we  proceed  to  Ware,*  for- 
merly the  property  of  the  Crayfords,  of  whom  it  was 
purchased  hy  John  Paramour,  of  Stattenborough, 
Esq.,  who  dying  without  issue  in  1750,  it  came  to  his 
three  nieces,  two  of  them  being  daughters  of  his  sister, 
Mary  Paramour,  wife  of  Thomas  Puller,  of  Sandwich, 
gentleman  ;  and  the  third,  Jane,  daughter  of  Jane,  his 
other  sister,  by  John  Hayward,  of  Sandwich,  and  wife 
of  William  Boteler,  of  Eastry,  Esq.,  who  on  a  division 
of  the  estates  became  entitled  to  it  in  her  right. 

Between  Wareham  and  Ware  are  two  roads  on  the 
right.  One,  running  parallel  with  Paramour  Street, 
leads  to  Bereling  Street,  t  a  name  which  is  as  ancient 
in  this  parish  as  the  time  of  Bichard  I.,  as  we  find  an 
Adam  de  Bereling  holding  lands  in  Elect  under  the 

*  A  William  at  Ware  was  one  of  the  constables  of  the  hundred 
of  Wingham  at  the  time  of  Wat  Tyler's  rebellion,  4th  of  Richard  II., 
A.D.  1381. 

t  Occasionally  written  Barding  Street  in  the  old  Cess  Books  of  the 
17th  century,  and  also  called  Brewer  Street  and  Brasing  Street,  appel- 
lations obviously  derived  from  the  original  name  of  Bere(6eer)ling, 
a  manor  anciently  belonging  to  the  Maminots,  ancestors  of  the 
Crevecoeurs,  and  the  church  of  which  was  given  by  Walkeline 
Maminot  to  the  Priory  of  Bermondsey. 


.   PERAMBULATION  OP  THE  PARISH.       143 

Avranches  and  Beauchamps  in  1197.  The  other  road 
runs  almost  due  north  through  Westmarsh  to  within 
a  short  distance  of  the  Stour,  near  to  Stourmouth, 
the  extreme  northerly  point  of  the  parish. 

Westmarsh  is  the  largest  hamlet  in  Ash,  and  is 
now  in  a  separate  ecclesiastical  district,  having  a 
small  church,  built  in  1841,  and  dedicated  to  the 
Holy  Trinity.* 

Beyond  this,  in  the  middle  of  the  marshes,  stands 
a  group  of  cottages  called  Houghton  (query.  Out 
town) ;  one  is  a  very  old,  half-timbered  house,  per- 
haps the  oldest  unaltered  one  in  the  parish. 

Turning  to  the  south-west  on  leaving  the  village  of 
Westmarsh,  we  come  to  Wingham  Barton,  still  the 
property  of  the  Bekes  or  Beakes  of  Wickham  Breus, 
who  held  it  in  Hasted's  time.  The  ancient  mansion 
or  manor-house  of  Barton  was  granted  fourth  of 
Edward  YI.  to  Sir  Anthony  St.  Ledger.  It  is  pro- 
bably the  one  still  standing  —  a  long,  low,  white- 
washed building,  utterly  destitute  of  architectural 
ornament. 

Another  sharp  angle  of  the  road  at  the  hamlet  of 
Housden,  or  XJphousen,  brings  us  to  the  very  verge 
of  the  parish  at  a  place  called  Sherewater,  from  which 
a  road  branches  off  to  Elmstone,  entering  immediately 

*  The  funds  for  this  purpose  beiog  entirely  collected,  and  princi- 
pally contributed  by,  Bishop  Nixon,  then  the  incumbent.  A  place 
called  Cold-marsh  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the  old  assessments, 
before  we  hear  of  Westmarsh,  and  may  possibly  indicate  the  same 
locality. 


144  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

the  parish  of  that  name,  which  here  forms  the  north- 
western boundary  of  Ash. 

Skirting  this  boundary,  the  road  passes  through 
Hoden,  a  seat  of  the  ancient  family  of  St.  Nicholas 
in  this  parish,  whose  principal  messuage  here  in  the 
seventeenth  century  was  called  *'The  Mote."  Here 
again  we  must  refer  our  antiquarian  friends,  or 
"  those  whom  it  may  concern,"  to  our  fifth  chapter 
for  details  of  this  highly  interesting  family,  who  by 
their  intermarriages  with  the  heiresses  of  the  Goshalls, 
the  De  Campanias,  Septvans,  Manstons,  &c.,  might 
boast  of  their  descent  from  the  noblest  houses  in 
England,  yet  never  attained  in  their  own  person  to 
higher  honour  than  knighthood,  and  have  died  out, 
leaving  even  in  their  own  county  nothing  to  remember 
them  by  beyond  their  names  and  arms  upon  their 
decaying  gravestones.  Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  of  Ash, 
gentleman,  by  his  will  proved  in  1626,  appears  to  have 
resided  at  '*  The  Mote  "  here,  and  devised  it  to  his  son 
Thomas,  whose  daughter  Elizabeth*  in  1655  brought 
it  in  marriage  to  Mr.  Wittingham  Wood,  after  whom 
it  passed  to  Nathaniel  Elgar,  of  Sandwich,  Esq. 

Behind  Hoden  a  little  to  the  west  is  Overland,  in 

*  Mr.  Hasted  calls  her  Grace;  but  the  following  registration 
of  the  marriage  must  surely  be  conclusive  : — "  The  publication  of 
Wittingham  Wood,  of  the  City  of  Canterbury,  Esq'*^.,  and  Elizabeth 
St.  Nicholas,  the  daughter  of  Thomas  St.  Nicholas  and  Susanna  his 
wife,  3rd,  7th,  and  14th  of  November,  in  Sandwich  Market-place, 
and  they  were  married  the  25th  day  of  December,  1655,  by  Justice 
Foat  of  Canterbury." — (Ash  Registers.)  She  is  also  described  as 
"  Elizabeth,  y^  sole  daughter  of  Thomas  St.  Nicholas,"  in  the  mural 


PERAMBTJLATION   OE   THE   PARISH.  145 

the  borough  of  that  name,  so  called,  as  we  have 
previously  stated,  from  the  Saxon  ofer,  a  shore,  being 
the  high  ground  which  anciently  formed  the  bank 
of  the  Stour,  according  to  Somner,  and  we  may  add 
the  shore  of  the  sea,  which  undoubtedly  covered  all 
the  marsh  below  it  in  the  time  of  the  Eomans. 

Overland  formed  part  of  the  enormous  possessions 
of  Johanna  de  Leybourne,  "  the  Infanta  of  Kent," 
and  has  belonged  at  various  periods  to  several  of  the 
greatest  of  our  English  families.  Prom  Hoden  the 
road  still  skirts  the  boundary  of  the  parish  to  Nash, 
and  thence  to  the  road  from  Preston,  which  divides 
it  from  Staple,  and  brings  us  out  into  the  high  road 
from  Canterbury  at  Guilton  Parsonage,  thus  com- 
pleting our  perambulation. 

The  tourist  in  search  of  the  picturesque  will  not 
be  tempted  to  follow  our  path.  The  general  traveller 
may  consider  it  all  barren  ''  from  Dan  to  Beersheba." 
With  the  exception  of  two  or  three  shady  lanes, 
agreeable  enough  in  the  height  of  summer,  the 
parish  of  Ash,  within  its  bounds,  possesses  little 
rural  beauty,  and  the  ruins  of  Eichborough  are 
devoid  of  those  romantic  features  which  give  to  the 
towers  of  a  feudal  fortress,  ''  nodding  to  their  fall," 
an  indescribable  charm  in  the  eyes  of  the  least 
imaginative  spectator.     The  church,  which  we  have 

tablet  of  her  husband  in  Ash  Church  {vide  chap,  v.),  on  which  the 
introduction  of  the  word  "Grace,"  in  large  letters,  has  evidently 
been  the  origin  of  the  error. 

L 


146  A   COENER   OP   KENT. 

yet  to  notice,  is  probably  the  only  object  that  would 
arrest  the  attention  of  the  casual  visitor,  and  could 
scarcely  fail  to  repay  him  for  the  trouble  of  its 
inspection.  But  in  historical  associations,  in  archaeo- 
logical interest,  few  parishes  in  the  United  Kingdom 
perhaps  can  equal,  and  certainly  none  surpass,  that 
of  Ash  next  Sandwich. 

It  is  also  remarkable  in  other  respects.  Half 
of  it  a  huge  sandbank  deposited  by  the  sea,  which 
gradually  retiring  has  left  the  other  half  a  marsh, 
the  value  of  its  pasture  and  arable  land  has  nearly 
trebled  during  the  present  century,  while  its  nume- 
rous and  prolific  gardens  supply  not  merely  the 
markets  of  all  the  neighbouring  towns  and  watering- 
places  ;  but  to  a  very  great  extent  even  the  celebrated 
one  of  Covent  Garden,  London,  with  fruit  and 
vegetables;  Mr.  Thomas  Sutton,  of  Ash,  being  one 
of  the  most  considerable  market  gardeners  in  England. 
The  climate  is  cold,  but  in  the  higher  portions  of 
the  parish  from  Guilt  on  to  New  Street  the  situation 
is  healthy,  a  fresh  sea-breeze  sweeping  across  the  low 
grounds,  neutralizing  the  effects  of  what  some  of  the 
good  folks  in  the  neighbourhood  call  the  ^^  marshal 
air."  The' bells  in  the  adjacent  parish  of  Wingham 
rang  in  November,  1861,  in  celebration  of  the 
hundredth  birthday  of  a  hale  and  clear-minded 
dame  who  was  born  at  Ash  in  1761,  and  lived  to 
enter  the  second  year  of  her  second  century.  Her 
daughter  is  still  a  parishioner  here,  whole  and  hearty 
at  eighty-four.     But  a  few  years  ago  another  female 


PERAMBULATION   OF   THE   PARISH.  147 

centenarian  on  her  birthday  was  carried  out  of  the 
village  into  a  cornfield,  where  she  bravely  reaped  and 
bound  a  sheaf  of  wheat  with  her  own  hands,  and  was 
borne  back  with  it  in  triumph.  A  cheerful  old  body 
now  living  in  Ash  Street*  only  complains  that  at 
ninety-seven  she  can't  "  prowl "  as  she  was  wont ; 
and  although  we  will  not  presume  to  say  of  our 
parish  as  the  American  did  of  his,  '^  If  you  want  to 
die  you  must  go  into  the  next,  for  you  can't  die 
here,"  we  may  still  claim  for  it  a  very  creditable 
position  in  the  records  of  the  E^egistrar-General.t 

With  the  before-mentioned  exceptions  of  E;ich- 
borough  and  the  church,  no  buildings  remain  of  any 
considerable  antiquity.  During  the  Middle  Ages, 
down  to  the  time  of  the  Tudors,  the  habitations  of 

*  She  died  as  this  book  was  passing  through  the  press,  Oct.  6th, 
1863,  having  just  entered  her  ninety-eighth  year. 

t  We  may  remark  here  that  in  the  year  1572,  when  the  plague 
was  at  Sandwich,  in  July,  the  burials  at  Ash  during  the  whole 
twelve  months,  from  April,  1572,  to  the  end  of  March,  1573,  amounted 
but  to  21,  and  in  the  following  twelve  months  but  to  17, — but 
one  person  (Rebecca,  daughter  of  Hamlet  Taylor)  being  buried  in 
the  month  of  July,  1572,  and  none  in  the  months  of  May,  June,  and 
July,  1573.  The  plague  was  again  at  Sandwich  in  1597,  when  the 
number  of  burials  at  Ash  reached  36,  rather  exceeding  the  annual 
average,  which  at  this  period  was  about  24.  In  1635,  at  a  third 
visitation  of  that  dreaded  pestilence,  the  deaths  at  Ash  were  22 
rather  under  the  average ;  and  in  1665,  the  year  of  the  great  plague 
of  London,  but  16.  That  there  have  been  sickly  years  in  this  parish, 
as  well  as  in  others,  we  do  not  for  a  moment  deny.  In  1592  and 
1593,  the  deaths,  from  some  prevailing  malady  we  presume,  but  of 
which  we  find  no  record,  reached  to  67  in  the  former  and  Q2  in  the 
latter  year. 

L  2 


148  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

persons  of  consideration  and  property  were  princi- 
pally composed  of  wood.  Here  and  there  a  castle 
or  moated  and  crenelated  mansion  might  be  found 
of  stone ;  but  the  generality  of  dwelling-houses  de- 
served the  contemptuous  remark  of  the  foreigner 
in  the  suite  of  Philip  of  Spain,  who  declared  that 
English  houses  were  built  of  '^  sticks  and  dirt."  In 
the  fifteenth  century,  at  the  great  epoch  of  the  revival 
of  the  Arts,  domestic  architecture  experienced  the 
influence  of  the  "renaissance,"  not  only  in  orna- 
mental design,  but  in  scientific  construction.  Many 
of  the  finest  of  those  old  red-brick  "courts"  and 
"  halls  "  which  rear  their  quaint  gables  and  enormous 
stacks  of  decorated  chimneys  above  "the  ancestral 
oaks  "  of  our  nobility  and  gentry,  were  erected  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  YIII.,  and  a  still  greater  number 
during  those  of  Elizabeth  and  James  I.,  at  which 
period  there  was  such  a  rage  for  building  in  London 
that  it  was  found  necessary  to  restrict  it  by  Act  of 
Parliament.*  It  would  seem  as  if  at  this  latter 
period  all  the  landed  proprietors  in  this  part  of  the 
country  had,  by  common  consent,  in  obedience  to  the 
Boyal  mandate  insisting  on  the  residence  of  the 
nobility  and  gentry  on  their  estates,  determined  to 
rebuild  their  manor-houses  and  "  capital  messuages," 
and  leave  no  vestige  of  the  homes  of  their  fathers 


*  Several  proclamations  were  issued  during  the  reigns  of  Elizabeth, 
James,  and  Charles  I.  on  this  subject,  and  prosecutions  commenced 
against  noble  persons  of  both  sexes  who  disregarded  them. 


PERAMBULATION   OP   THE   PARISH.  149 

or  of  their  feudal  lords,  to  gratify  the  curiosity  of  a 
later  generation.  Even  the  better  sort  of  cottages 
are  of  brick  and  of  this  date,  or  altogether  of  very 
recent  construction.  Pew  are  to  be  seen  of  wood,  and 
but  two,  to  the  best  of  our  recollection,  of  that 
picturesque  admixture  of  blackened  timber  and  white 
plaster  which  produces  so  charming  an  effect  in 
many  parts  of  this  county,  in  which  such  buildings 
are  sometimes  called  "  needlework  houses,"  no  doubt 
from  the  fashion  prevalent  in  the  fifteenth  century 
of  embroidering  shirt  collars,  cuffs,  and  other  linen 
articles  of  apparel  with  black  or  dark-blue  silk. 
We  are  left  therefore,  unfortunately,  in  complete 
ignorance  of  the  character  and  class  of  the  mansions 
inhabited  by  the  nobles  and  knights  who  actually 
resided  in  the  parish  of  Ash  during  the  twelfth, 
thirteenth,  and  fourteenth  centuries.  That  some,  if 
not  all,  of  the  manor-houses  were  moated,  we  have 
existing  evidence ;  and  we  may  conclude  that  in  those 
times  they  were  to  a  certain  degree  fortified,  but  as 
to  their  size  or  internal  arrangement,  the  materials 
of  which  they  were  constructed,  or  the  distinguishing 
features  of  their  architecture,  we  are  in  total  darkness. 
Contemporary  examples  in  other  parts  of  England, 
or  even  of  Kent,  would  be  but  of  little  service  to 
us.  The  soil,  the  situation,  are  both  exceptional, 
and  it  is  therefore  still  more  to  be  deplored  that  no 
relic  should  remain  of  edifices  so  peculiarly  inter- 
esting to  us.  One  most  remarkable  fact  respecting 
them  is  their   exceedingly  close  proximity   to  each 


150  A   CORNEE   OE   KENT. 

other.  The  manor-houses  of  Hills  Court  and  of 
Levericks  actually  stood  in  the  same  field,  and  that 
not  a  large  one,  and  Goshall  in  the  next,  so  near 
that  an  urchin  might  fling  a  stone  from  either  into 
the  windows  of  the  other.  Twitham  Hills  could  not 
have  been  beyond  a  bow-shot  of  Levericks,  and 
Weddington  scarcely  a  greater  distance  from  the 
former.  Molland  and  Chequer  Court  are  not  sepa- 
rated by  more  land  than  would  be  required  to  form 
a  small  park  for  a  modern  country  house;  and  although 
the  rest  stand  farther  apart  from  each  other,  the 
distance  is  in  no  case  considerable.  In  these  happy 
days  of  domestic  peace  and  social  intercourse,  such 
contiguity  may  be  very  agreeable,  and  cannot  under 
any  circumstances  be  greatly  inconvenient;  but  in 
the  time  of  bills  and  bows,  mail-shirts  and  steel  caps, 
when  family  feud  or  party  strife  might  suddenly  set 
the  whole  parish  by  the  ears, — when  a  tenant  by 
knight's  service  could  be  summoned  by  the  great 
lord  of  the  fee  to  take  arms  with  all  his  retainers 
against  the  holder  of  an  adjoining  manor — his  nearest 
kinsman,  perchance,  as  well  as  his  nearest  neighbour, 
— the  position  must  have  been  vastly  embarrassing. 
Fortunately,  however,  we  have  reason  to  believe, 
from  the  absence  of  all  evidence  to  the  contrary, 
that  this  particular  district,  however  it  might  have 
sufi'ered  by  the  depredations  of  the  Danes  before  the 
Conquest,  or  on  the  occasional  landings  of  the  French 
at  Sandwich  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries, 
escaped  in  its  own  immediate  locality  the  horrors  of 


PERAMBULATION  OF  THE  PARISH.       151 

civil  war,  and  was  never  seriously  disturbed  by  private 
quarrels  or  domestic  discords. 

The  popular  tumults  in  the  reign  of  Eichard  II. , 
when  Wat  Tvler  of  Essex  and  John  Abel  of  Erith,  on 
Monday,  10th  of  June,  1381,  dragged  William  Sept- 
vans,  the  Sheriff  of  Kent  and  the  kinsman  of  John  of 
Ash,  from  Canterbury  to  Milton,  and  compelled  him 
under  the  fear  of  death  to  deliver  up  to  them  fifty 
rolls  of  the  pleas  of  the  county  and  all  the  writs  of 
the  king  in  his  custody,  and  burnt  them  the  same 
day  at  Canterbury,  do  not  appear  to  have  extended 
to  Ash,  though  outbreaks  took  place  so  near  it  as 
Ickham,  Littlebourne,  and  Chillenden,  as  well  as  in 
various  parts  of  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  and  amongst  the 
parties  compromised  we  find  the  names  of  John 
Twytham  and  John  Clerk  of  Preston  ;  but  they  were 
found  not  guilty  by  the  Jurors  of  the  Hundreds  of 
Wingham  and  Eastry,  according  to  their  present- 
ment. The  fearful  passions  awakened  by  the  wars  of 
the  Eposes,  however  they  may  have  affected  the 
knightly  families  who  possessed  property  in  the 
parish  at  that  period,  do  not  seem  to  have  given  rise 
to  any  memorable  incident  within  its  boundaries. 
Even  the  calamitous  troubles  preceding  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Commonwealth  have  left  no  record  of 
their  visitation  of  Ash  in  the  minute  accounts  of  the 
parochial  authorities. 

Parishes  were  first  made  liable  to  the  relief  of  the 
poor  by  Act  of  Parliament  in  the  forty-third  year 
of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  A.D.  1601,  and  the  church- 


152  A   COENER   OE   KENT. 

wardens'  accounts  for  tliat  and  the  eight  following 
years  have  been  partially  preserved.  There  is  then  a 
hiatus  unfortunately  for  twenty-five  years,  but  from 
1634  an  unbroken  series  exists  to  the  present  day. 
The  first  six  pages  of  the  earliest  book  are  imperfect, 
and  the  names  of  the  parish  officers  do  not  appear 
till  1603,  when  the  churchwardens  were  Ethelbert 
Omer,  and  Eobert  Atwood,  and  Thomas  Gibbs — 
Humphrey  Gardiner  and  Thomas  Harlowe,  overseers. 
The  examiners  of  the  accounts  for  1603  were  John 
Stebbing,  Henry  Harfleet,  Thomas  St.  Nicholas, 
Richard Hougham,  Ethelbert  Omer ;  and  the  accounts 
were  allowed  by  Thomas  Harfleet  and  Thomas  Enge- 
ham.  The  entries  in  this  book  are  nearly  all  of  small 
weekly  payments  to  the  poor  ''in  relief,"  and  there 
are  no  notices  of  the  parish  or  church  which  deserve 
extracting;  but  from  the  pages  of  the  other  books, 
containing  the  receipts  and  expenses  of  the  church- 
wardens and  overseers  for  upwards  of  two  hundred 
years,  we  gain  considerable  authentic  information 
respecting  the  affairs  of  the  parish  from  the  time  of 
Charles  I.,  and  much  that  is  generally  illustrative  of 
manners  and  customs,  as  well  as  particularly  interest- 
ing to  the  inhabitants  of  Ash.  As  an  example  of 
these  Cess  Books,  we  give  the  whole  of  the  payments 
of  one  of  the  churchwardens  for  1634  verbatim  et 
literatim^  after  which  we  shall  only  extract  such 
entries  as  are  either  curious  or  amusing  in  themselves, 
or  bear  directly  on  the  history  of  the  church  and 
parish.     The   book   commences   with   the   following 


PERAMBULATION  OF  THE  PARISH.      153 

information  : — ''  Anno  Domini  1633,  there  was  a  ces 
made  in  Ash  by  the  churchwardens  and  constable  and 
oyerseears  aftar  the  reate  of  on  peny  the  Ackar  and  a 
peny  for  eyary  house  towards  the  E^epayrasions  of 
the  parish  church  of  Ash,  which  did  amount  too 
£26.  16s.  lid. ;"  then,  after  a  few  unimportant  entries 
of  receipts  and  some  layings  out  by  Hichard  Carr,  one 
of  the  churchwardens,*  we  come  to  the  subjoined 
account  of  his  brother  officer,  Michael  Inkpet : — 

Seare  followetJi  the  layings  out  of  Michael  Inkpet, ^ 

Item,  for  quit-rent  to  Chilton  Court,  Aprill 

the  14th  day,  1634,  for  the  church  hous..  £0     0     8 
Item,  payd  too  John  Tomson  for  breed  and 
wine  for  7  monthly  communions,  begin- 
ning the  i  day  of  Jully,  and  the  ending 

the  second  of  March  1     7     1 

Item,  for  sand  for  the  church    0     0     8 

Item,  for  expenses  0     0     6 

Item,  to  fouar  travillars 0     0     4 

Item,  for  a  pies  of  timbar  0     1     2 

Item,   for  27  pound  and  a  half  of  sadar 

(solder)  for  the  leedes 17     6 

Por  three  days  worke  for  the  pllumer  and 

his  son  0  10     0 

For  a  masons  worke  about  the  church 0     2     0 

*  By  the  same  book  we  find  that  he  was  assessed  for  the  year 
1635,  at  Hichborough,  for  2Qi  acres. 

t  He  appears  to  have  resided  at  this  time  at  Guilton  Town,  where 
he  paid  cess  in  the  following  year  for  5  acres. 


154  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

Item,  too  2  travillars £0     0     6 

Item,  for  three  hordes  for  the  church  0     2     0 

And  a  pies  of  timbar  0     0     6 

And  for  sande 0     0     4 

And  for  expensses  on  the  workmen    0     2     0 

Item,  too  2  travillars  0     0     3 

Item,  for  a  brush,   brome,  and   a  mon* 

basket   0     0     5 

Item,  for  a  loade  of  lime    0     9     6 

Item,  too  the  gllazar  for  mending  the  win- 
dows   0  15     4 

Item,  too  Thomas  CouUson  for  worck  about 

the  church    0     2     0 

And  too  Haman  the  mason  for  worcking...  0  10     0 

Item,  brom,  brush,  &  key 0     0  10 

And  too  4  sefaring  man 0     0     4 

Item,  for  a  small  corde  and  for  rosen    0     0     4 

Item,  for  dyet  for  worckmen 0     2     8 

And  for  a  small  pices  of  timbar 0     0     6 

Item,  for  a  proctars  fees 0     10 

Item,  too  6  travillars 0     2     0 

Item,  too  Abraham  Whetstone  for  worcke.  0     5     0 

Item,  for  a  sarvis  boocke  for  the  church...  0     9  10 

Item,  for  a  sacke  of  charcolle    0     1     6 

Item,  too   Coullson  for  working   at    the 

church 0  16     0 

And  for  expences  at  that  tim 0     10 

Item,  for  a  pUancke  and  A  boord 0     12 

*  Maund  Basket — an  oblong  shallow  basket  without  a  cover,  used  by- 
ostlers  in  this  part  of  the  country  for  carrying  keep  for  their  horses  in. 


PERAMBULATION   OF  THE   PARISH.  155 

And  for  A  hundred  of  lates   £0  1  4 

And  for  nayles 0  0  4 

Por  half  A  dayes  worcke  too  CouUson 0  0  6 

Por  too  dayes  worcke  of  the  mason 0  3  0 

Item,  for  bring(ing)  of  boords  from  Sand- 
wich    0  1  6 

For  ringing  on  gonpowder  treson  day  0  2  6 

Givin  to  John  Broun,  a  travellar 0  0  8 

And  too  another  travellar 0  0  3 

Por  Coullson  and  his  son  working    0  3  0 

Item,  for  Brickes     0  6  0 

Item,  too  5  Travellars     0  0  10 

Item,  for  this  papar  boocke    0  3  8 

Item,  for  bringing  of  Boordes  from  Sand- 
wich   0  2  0 

Item,  too  A  poor  scollmastar 0  10 

Item,  for  a  load  of  clay  bringing  0  1  0 

For  searching  of  Mary  Dikson  And  another 

mayd  suspacted   0  2  0 

Item,  for  32  foot  of  timbar    0  18  8 

Item,  for  too  pUanckes  0  6  3 

Too  Thomas  CUifard  for  on  day  &  a  half 

for  himself  an  his  man   0  4  0 

For  a  pice  of  ocke  for  the  bells 0     14 

Item,  for  on  days  worcke  at  church.  And 
another   day  too  towne  for    bords  too 

Eichard  Sandar    ,.  0     3  0 

Item,  slliting  of  too  delle  boordes 0  0  6 

Item,  for  nayles  and  spickes  &  houldfastes, 

fet  (?)  at  Thomas  Baxes 0     9  0 


1 

0 

0 

8 

0 

2 

3 

10 

0 

6 

2 

6 

0 

6 

156  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

Per  iron  worcke  about  the  third  bell    £0 

Naylls  for  mastar  Gibbeses  pewe  0 

Por  sharpling  of  the  church  mathocke 0 

Item,  for  a  new  shufell  a  new  sparde  0 

And  iron  for  too  lay  in  the  church  wall  ...     0 
Por  mending  of  the  gugen  of  the  fourth 

Bell  an  maeking  5  wedges  theareto 0 

Por  too  Staples  for  the  Keeches  of  the  Bells     0 
A  cech  for  the  church  gate  for  brades,  a 

houldfast  an  a  flaylle 0     0     6 

For  spikes,  naylles  and  priges  for  the  church 

and  church  hous 0     3  11 

Item,  for  Thomas  Cliffard  and  his  man's 

worcking  at  the  church  0 

Por  too  days  worck  of  Thomas  CouUson  ...      0 

Three  days  worck  of  A  mason    0 

Por  hearre  (hair) 0 

Por  sande 0 

Por  collaring  the  new  pewes 0 

Por  bringing  of  a  load  of  paying  tiles  0 

Givene  too  2  travillars 0 

Item,   too   Bichard    Sandar    and    thomas 

Cliffard  for  pulling  up  of  ould  pewes  and 

seting  up  of  new  in  the  north  winge  of 

theOhurch  2  17     0 

Item,  for  boordes  to    macke   thoues  new 

pewes  and  mend  othar    3     5     0 

Item,  too  Simon  Barow  for  washing  and 

cleaning   all    the    linan    an    the   other 


4 

0 

2 

0 

4 

0 

0 

6 

0 

4 

1 

0 

2 

0 

0 

4 

PERAMBULATION  OE  THE  PAHISH.       157 

tMnges  Bee-longing  to  the  Communion 

Table £0     5     0 

Item,  for  writing  of  the  eeas  which  is  men- 
tioned in  the  beegining  of  this  acounte     0     2     0 

And  for  writing  of  Acounte    0     2     6 

Por  expences  at  our  Acountes  writing  the 

3rd  of  June  1634 0     3     9 

The  layings  out  in  the  Year  of  our  Lord^  1634  : 

Item,  at  the  visitation  for  Mastar  Brigame's 
Ordinary  and  the  dinar  of  us  church- 
wardens and  sydemen   Aprill  the  15th 

daye  £0  10     0 

Item,  for  an  Articll  Boocke  on  our  othes 

taeking 0     4     0 

Item,  for  the  Billes  of  presentment  writing  0  3  0 
And  for  the  expences  of  the  writing  thearof  0  6  0 
Item,  spent  at  the  wallkin  of  the  peram- 

bewlasion 0     2     0 

Item,  givin  to  a  travillar    0     0     4 

Item,  for  leading  and  banding  of  13  foot 

of  gUas 0     3     3 

And  for  41  quares  of  new  gllas  for  the 

Church  windowes    0     3     5 

Item,  too  three  trauellars  at  seuarall  times  0  18 
Item,  too   Mychall  wood  for  5  batharers 

lethars  0     18 

Payd  too  Silluistar  Cooke  Apon  oulld 
Recknings  for  te  Church  worcke  ABout 
the  gates  And  belles 056 


158  A   COKNER   or   KENT. 

Payd  too  Thomas   Coullson  for  A  dayes 

worcke £0     1     0 

And  for  his  ficting  too  Ladars  from  beekes 

boarn  (Beaksbourne) 0     1     0 

Item,  payd  for  bread  and  wine  for  the  Estar 
communions  beeing  6  in  numbar  and  the 
partyes  623  which  reseved  for  Estar  in 

the  yeare  1634  the  sume    0  24  10 

Item,  payd  too  William  Mathyes  for  A 
Tribell  Eoop  and  a  Tenar  Eoope  of 
vi  pence  the  pound  beeing  xvij  pound...     0     8     6 

Item,  given  too  6  poor  sefaring  men    0     1     0 

And  too  A  poor  man  &  his  wife 0     0     6 

And  to  John  Cooke  a  poor  travillar 0     0     4 

Item,  payd  for  the  hoode  an  typet  for  the 

minister    0  27     7 

And  for  mending  of  the  surplis 0     10 

Item,  payd  to  tomas  brown  for  on  quartar 
of  A  year  keeping  the  dodgs  out  of  the 

church  0     2     0 

Item,  given  too  A  travilling  gentillwoman     0     10 

Item,  to  too  travilling  men  in  destres  0     0  10 

Item,  to  A  travillar  and  his  wif  which  had 

bin  A  souldiar  and  the  Kinges  pas   0     1     0 

Item,  to  to  souldiers  mor   0     0     8 

Item,  given  to  a  man  which  had  bin  with 
The  Kinge  for  hellp  for  the  Kinges  Evells 

for  his  wife  and  3  childdren  0     16 

Item,   spent  whene  met  to  give  up  this 

Acounte    0     10 


PERAMBULATION  OF  THE  PARISH.       159 

Item,  to  henary  waties,  scoole  mastar,  for 

writing  of  A  Jaylle  ses  £0     1     0 

Item,  to  a  poore  travillar    0     0     3 

And  to  anothar  travillar  with  a  lame  arme     0     0     3 
Item,  payd  too  master  brigham  for  writing 
of  the  bill  of  preesentment  the  first  day 

ofOctober    0    10 

And  for  our  expences  at  that  time    0     4    0 

Item,  given  too  2  poor  souldiars  which  had 

A  travilling  pas   0     1     0 

Item,  puting  in  of  the  bill,  and  my  expences     0     10 
Item,  payd  to  Johhn  tomson,  the  6  day  of 
October,  for  the  bread  and  wine  of  fouar 

monthly  Communions    0  15     8 

Item,  given  to  2  travillars 0     0     6 

Payd  to   thomas    brown  for   A   quartars 
wadges  for  whipping  the  doges  out  of 

the  church    0     2     0 

Item,  layd  out  at  the  Corte   0     1     4 

Giveen  to  thomas  woodrufe  A  preachar  for 

his  acxarsies  in  our  minestars  absence  ...     0     5     8 

To  a  poor  travillar  0     0     6 

Given  to  the  ringars,  the  5  day  of  November     0     4     0 
Item,  for  13  hundared  of  brickes  for  the 
Church  yard  walles,  bought  of  Sur  frances 

CUarke 0  19     0 

And  for  bringing  them  from  Gillthan  Toune 

to  the  church  0     3     4 

And  for  lime  and  sande  and  caring  of  it  . . .     0  10     0 
And  William  Clarke  had  for  his  measson 

worcke  about  the  walles...... 0  16     0 


160  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

Item,  giveene  to  a  travillin  minnistar  £0     1     4 

Item,  for  expeneeses  at  Cantarbury 0     1     4 

Giveen  to  a  poor  travilar    0     0     6 

Item,  pay d  for  a  pices  of  timbar    0     1     4 

Item,  payd  for  to  new  bellroopes  0     7     3 

Item,  for  a  boord  for  the  eliurcli  hous 0     1     6 

And  to  Thomas  CUiffard  half  a  days  worcke     0     0     9 

Item,  to  a  travilling  minnistars  widow    ...     0     0     6 

Item,  for  onr  expencses  when  wee  E>od  to 

Ashford  to   the  shreve  (sheriflP)  a  bout 

the   Cesse  for  the  shipes,*  and  for  the 

boeke  casting  up  of  the  Acers  of  land  in 

our  parish 0  13     6 

Item,  for  mending  of  the  gllass  windowes 

of  the  Church  lofte  or  scoUe  houes   0     3  10 

Item,    payd    to   Thomas  browne  for   his 
Christmas  quartars  wadges  for  whiping 

The  dodges  oute  of  the  Church 0     2     0 

Item,  payd  to  John  tomson  for  the  breed 

and  win  of  3  monthly  Communions 0  14     5 

And  for  our  Expenses   at  seyarall  meet- 

inges  about  the  parish  busines 0     4     5 

Item,  layd  oute  apone  gooing  to   Cantar- 
bury,  Apon  to  sitasions  a  boute  the  parish 

busines 0     4     0 

Item,  given  to  tenn  pore  travellars  0     0  10 

*  This  was  the  obnoxious  "  ship  money "  tax,  one  of  the  three 
principal  and  proximate  causes  of  the  Great  Eebellion. 


PERAMBULATION   OP   THE   PARISH.  161 

Item,  for  Eepayaring  of  the  gUass  windows, 
for  134  peans  of  new  gllas,  and  sadaring 
of  the  ould  leedes  of  the  windowes   £0  22     9 

Item,  payd  to  Simon  barrowes  wife  for 
washing  the  Communion  linan  and 
souring  the  pllate  and  pewtar  for  on  year     0     5     0 

And  to  Simon  Barrow  for  tacking  the  Com- 

municats  names  all  the  yeare,  monthly..     0     4     0 

And  for  the  writing  of  this  acount  and  the 

cesse  following  to  Simon  Barrow 0     5     0 

Item,  payd  to  Thomas  Goullson  for  chinch- 
ing  of  the  gUas  windowes  with  lime  and 
heare  0    10 

In  the  year  1635  we  meet  with  the  two  following 
entries,  which  tell  their  own  story : — 

Given  to  one  poor  Man  and  his  wife  and 
too  female  children,  being  driven  from 
their  dwelling  by  reson  of  the  wars  and 
their  house  burnt    £0     1     0 

Given  to  Mr.  John  Carig  (?  Carrick  or 
Craig),  driven  from  Youghall  in  Ireland 
by  the  rebels    0     1     0 

In  1635-6,  the  number  of  persons  assessed  in  the 
parish  was  150 ;  out-men  (^.  e.,  owners  or  tenants  of 
land  not  residing  in  the  parish),  75;  cottagers,  36: 
total,  261. 

In  1653  Thomas  Beere,  senior,  churchwarden, 
accounts  for  the  sum  of  £1.  5s.,   '^  received  of  Jfr, 

M 


162  A   COENER   OF   KENT. 

Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  Esq.^  given  by  Mr.  Camden's 
last  will  and  testament  as  an  annuity  payable  to  the 
churchwardens  of  Ash  aforesaid,  to  be  bestowed — 5s. 
to  the  clerk  and  sexton,  and  5s.  to  be  retained  to  the 
usex)f  themselves,  and  15s.  to  the  use  of  the  poor  of  the 
same  parish,  which  is  disposed  as  forthwith  amongst 
the  poor."  This  is  what  is  called  sometimes  the 
Toldervey  Gift  or  Charity ;  but  in  addition  to  this  gift 
Mr.  Hasted  states  that  '*Mr.  E^ichard  Camden,  in 
1642,  gave  by  will  40  perches  of  land,  now  in  the 
occupation  of  William  Chapman,  for  the  use  of  the 
poor,  and  of  the  annual  produce  of  15s.,  which  land 
is  vested  in  the  minister,  churchwardens,  and  other 
trustees,"*  thereby  making  two  bequests  to  the  parish 
instead  of  one.  The  fact  is,  that  Mr.  Camden,  who 
was  a  connection  by  marriage  of  Mr.  Toldervey,  t  left 
£20  to  be  invested  in  a  house  or  lands,  so  as  to 
produce  a  yearly  sum  of  £1.  5s.,  to  be  disposed  of  as 
above  stated, — the  five  shillings  to  the  churchwardens 
being  to  buy  them  gloves,  or  to  spend  at  a  meeting, 
^^  as  they  shall  think  fit,"  and  the  five  shillings  to  the 

*  Vide  Chapter  lY.,  where  in  the  list  of  lands,  tenements,  and 
benefactions,  this  gift  is  mentioned  without  the  name  of  the  donor, 
the  words  "in  the  occupation  of  William  Chapman"  referring  appa- 
rently to  the  date  of  tlie  inscription,  which  is  1742,  one  hundred 
years  later  than  the  period  of  the  donation,  or  rather  date  of  the  will. 

t  Christopher  Toldervey,  of  Chatham,  Esq.,  married  Jane,  daughter 
of  Sir  Thomas  Harfleet,  and  died  in  1618;  and  Eichard  Camden's 
second  wife  was  Sarah,  daughter  of  John  Darrell,  of  Calehill,  Esq.,  by 
the  Lady  Dorothy  Harfleet,  second  wife  and  widow  of  Sir  Thomas,  and 
mother,  or  mother-in-law^  of  Jane  Toldervey, 


PERAMBULATION  OF  THE  PAHISH.       163 

clerk  and  sexton  as  payment  for  keeping  clean  the 
Toldervey  monument  in  Ash  Church.  The  church- 
wardens to  whom  this  bequest  was  made  in  trust 
were  in  that  year  Thomas  Beere,  senior,  and  John 
Solly,  who,  in  conformity  with  the  testator's  direc- 
tions, bought  with  the  £20  an  annuity,  secured  upon 
land,  the  property  of  Mr.  Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  of 
Hoden  (son  of  the  Thomas  who  died  in  1626),  who 
by  his  deed  of  the  24th  of  January,  1653,  acknow- 
ledges the  receipt  of  the  £20,  and  charges  the 
land  in  question,  which  was  in  Elmstone  parish,'* 
with  the  annual  payment  of  twenty-five  shillings 
accordingly. 

The  inaccuracy  is  easily  to  be  accounted  for,  as 
there  are  entries  in  the  Cess  Books  of  receipts  for 
£1.  5s.  of  Mr.  St.  Nicholas,  as  "a  gift  from  Mr. 
Touldervy,"  and  the  original  deed  is  actually  endorsed 
"  Toldervy  Charity  *'  instead  of  Camden  Charity, 
which  it  certainly  is,  and,  to  increase  the  confusion, 
is  occasionally  so  termed  in  the  churchwardens' 
accounts. 

It  is  amusing  to  examine  local  traditions,  generally 

*  "  All  that  my  piece  or  parcel  of  arable  land  commonly  called 
Hales  Close,  containing  by  estimation  seven  acres  and  a  half,  more  or 
less,  and  now  in  the  custody  of  me  Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  lying  and 
being  in  the  parish  of  Elmstone,  in  the  county  aforesaid." — (Original 
deed  in  the  Muniment  Chest  in  Ash  Church.)  Mr.  Hasted  says, 
"Mr.  Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  who  died  in  1626,  left  an  annuity  of  £1.  5s. 
charged  on  his  estate  of  Hoden,  for  the  repairing  and  keeping  clean 
of  the  Toldervy  monument,  &c."  We  have  carefully  examined  the 
will,  and  it  contains  no  such  bequest. 

M   2  ■  ' 


164  A   CORNEE   OE   KENT. 

fonnded  to  some  extent  upon  facts,  and  see  hovr  inge- 
niously stories  are  constructed  upon  them.  The 
bequest  of  five  shillings  for  gloves  to  the  church- 
wardens, in  conjunction  with  that  of  five  to  the  clerk 
and  sexton  '^  to  look  to  the  monument "  of  Christopher 
Toldervy,  has  given  rise  to  a  belief  that  the  gloves 
were  to  be  white,  and  that  the  churchwardens  were 
to  pass  their  hands  in  them  over  the  monument,  so 
as  to  detect  the  slightest  dust  or  dirt  if  any  remained 
upon  it,  in  which  case  the  clerk  and  sexton  would 
lose  their  annual  gratuity. 

The  only  characteristic  entry  during  the  time  of 
the  Commonwealth  is  under  the  year  1655,  when  the 
churchwarden  accounts  for  6s.,  "  received  for  a  fine 
for  Mr.  William  Eaker,  for  his  profane  swearing  in 
the  parish  of  Ash." 

Prom  April,  1655,  to  the  Eestoration  in  1660,  no 
incumbent  of  Ash  officiated  at  a  marriage  ceremony. 
The  publication  of  the  banns  was  made  in  Sand- 
wich or  other  market-places,  and  the  parties  were 
married  by  a  justice  of  the  peace  or  the  minister  of 
another  parish. 

In  1660  there  is  an  entry  of  3d.,  paid  "  for  setting 
up  of  the  king's  arms,"  and  another  of  5d.  to  the 
ringers  upon  'Hhe  King's  Crownacion-day,"  which 
is  all  we  find  respecting  the  restoration  of  the 
Monarchy. 

In  1662,  however,  there  was  Is.  6d.  given  in  relief 
to  two  women  by  order,  ''  their  husbands  being  killed 
in  the  king's  service." 


PEEAMBULATION  OE  TKE  PAEISH.       165 
1665. 

Paid    to    the     ringers    when     the    Dake 

of  York's  men  lay  in  Ashe'^   £0     6     0 

Tor    matting   of   my    new  pew    (Robert 

Wood's,  churchwarden) 0     2     0 

1677. 
Paid  for  one  Bible  forty-five  shillings, 
and  for  one  Common  Prayer  Book  four- 
teen shillings,  and  the  hoy-man t  for 
bringing  them  down  from  London  one 
shilling,  (in)  all £3     0     0 

1678. 

Paid  for  a  new  Begister  Book  for  the  regis- 
tering of  all  persons  buried  in  woollen, 
as  was  commanded £0     3     0 

Paid  for  the  Act  of  Parliament  to  that  end     0     0     6 

By  this  Act,  which  was  passed  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  the  woollen  trade,  the  parties  contravening 
it  were  liable  to  a  penalty  of  £5,  and  we  accordingly 
find  in  the  accounts  for  1679  :  "  Here  followetli  the 
names  of  those  persons  that  received  of  the  church- 
wardens of  Ash  the  five  pounds  paid  by  David  Ben, 
of  Eastry,  for  burying  his  son,  John  Den,  of  Ash,  in 
linen,  made  payable  by  that  Act  made  for  burying 

*  After  the  DuWs  great  victory  over  tlie  Datcli  fleetj  commanded 
by  Tromp  and  Opdam,  June  3rd,  1665. 

t  The  Sandwich  hoy  stills  runs  to  and  from  the  port  of  London. 


166  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

all  persons  in  woollen," — £2.  10s.  being  paid  "to 
John  Priend,  informer,"  and  the  rest  to  the  poor. 
The  persecution  of  the  Protestants  in  Prance,  and 
their  consequent  emigration  to  England,  is  indicated 
in  the  year  1686  by  the  following  entry : — 

"May  30.  Collected  then  towards  the  french 
protestants'  Erief,  in  the  parish  of  Ash  next  Sand- 
wich, in  the  county  of  Kent,  the  sum  of  three  pounds 
nine  shillings  and  sixpence.  (Signed)  John  Smith, 
deac;  William  Price,  and  John  May,  churchwardens." 

Of  the  great  revolution  of  1688  we  find  no  distin- 
guishable traces.  The  only  remarkable  entry  during 
that  year  is  under  the  date  of  May  7th  : — 

Given  to  15  Welsh  that  had  a  warrant 
to  collect  the  charity  of  all  well-disposed 
people,  8  parishes  being  drowned  by  the 
sea £0     10 

1689. 
Gave  to  14  poor  distressed  persons  who 
had  lost  by  sea  and  fire  the  sum  of 
£2,750,  and  (some  ?)  of  their  husbands 
killed  by  a  Prench  Privateer,  as  appeared 
by  their  certificate 0     2     0 

Immediately  following  the  munificent  distribution 
of  two  shillings  amongst  fourteen  destitute  and 
bereaved  creatures,  we  read : — 

Paid  John  Chandler  for  killing  of  an  otter 

in  our  parish £0     2     6 


PERAMBULATION   OF   THE   PARISH.  167 

Paid  Stephen  Cox  for  going  to  Canterbury 
for  orders  for  the  militia  going  to  Canter- 
bury at  the  same  time £0     2     8 

ffor  writing  these  accoumps  and  soming  of 

them  up 0     2     6 

The  accomplished  scholar  who  earned  half  a  crown 
by  the  extraordinary  feat  just  recorded,  is  not  without 
a  rival  in  these  records.  In  the  extraordinary  expenses 
of  Eichard  May,  1715-16,  is  the  mysterious  entry, — 

Pd.  a  pon  a  p.articklear  ocassion      £1     7     6 

As  the  date,  however,  is  the  5tli  of  November,  we 
think  it  is  a  pretty  clear  occasion,  and  were  we  in- 
clined to  speculate,  the  delicate  manner  in  which  the 
Popish  plot  is  alluded  to  would  induce  us  to  imagine 
Master  Richard  May  was  not  the  soundest  of  Pro- 
testant parish  officers.  There  is  little  after  this  date 
to  interest  even  the  local  reader,  and  we  shall  there- 
fore conclude  this  section  of  our  work  with  a  fev/ 
extracts  from  another  set  of  books,  containing  the 
accounts  of  the  overseers  of  the  poor,  as  they  illustrate 
the  mode  in  which  that  portion  of  the  parish  business 
was  conducted  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  give 
us  some  insight  into  the  nature  and  price  of  food, 
clothing,  and  other  necessaries  of  life  at  that  period. 

In  the  first  place,  it  appears  that  before  the  erection 
of  the  workhouse,  one  mode  of  dispensing  out- door 
relief  was  to  make  agreements  with  certain  parish- 
ioners to  lodge  and  board,  and  sometimes  to  clothe, 
the  pauper  for   a   stipulated   yearly   or    half-yearly 


168  A   CORNEE   OF    KENT. 

payment.  One  of  the  earliest  entries  in  the  first 
book,  and  the  first  year  of  the  operation  of  the  Act 
of  Parliament  34th  Queen  Elizabeth  before  men- 
tioned, is  as  follows  :  '*  Item,  to  Widdow  Paramore 
for  keeping  of  a  poor  maid  child  till  she  could  be 
placed."  We  add  two  examples  of  agreements  under 
the  date  of  May  11th,  1676  :-- 

"  John  Petley  has  agreed  with  the  parishioners  to 
keep  ISTeave's  girl  this  year  for  one  pound  and  ten 
shillings,  and  he  is  to  find  her  in  all  manner  of 
clothing  whatsoever." 

"  Prances  Barrow  has  agreed  with  the  parishioners 
to  keep  Susanna  Dunkin  for  meat  and  drink,  washing 
and  lodging,  this  year,  and  the  parish  is  to  find  her 
in  all  manner  of  clothing  whatsoever." 

Of  miscellaneous  items  we  have  selected  the  follow- 
ing :— 

1668. 

Paid  Mr.  Harflete  for  18  sacks  of  coals  for 

the  poor    , £1  13     0 

Paid  for  a  pair  of  bodyes  and  a  pair  of  hose 

(and)  to  Aprons  for  Manly 's  girle 0     5     9 

Paid  for  a  new  hat  and  gloves   0     1     0 

Paid  Mrs.  Licod  for  16|  yards  of  Kersie  to 

cloath  the  poore  2     8  11 

Paid  her  more  for  36  yards  of  red  cotton  for 

the  poore 3     2     4 

Clothes  for  20  poor  persons,  and  such  other 
necessary  things  as  bee  used  to  make 
them  up    116     0 

Paid  for  a  pair  of  shoes  for  Pearmans  boy..     0     2     0 


PERAMBULATION   OF   THE   PARISH.  169 

1672. 

Paid  to  Adam  Jull  for  things  the  Widow 
Brown  had  in  her  sickness,  and  for  letting 
Elizabeth  Poat  blood  £0     6     3 

Paid  to  Adam  Jull  for  making  a  coat  and 
hose    and   waiscoat  for  John  Pairman, 
and  for  making  Widdow  White's  suit  ...     0     7     6 
It  would  therefore  appear  that  Dr.  Jull,  as  he  is  in 

other  entries  described,  paid  attention  in  a  double 

sense  to  the  habits  of  body  of  the  parishioners. 

1677. 

Amongst  the  accounts  of  this  year  some  "  mute 
inglorious  Milton"  has  scrawled  a  few  couplets,  the 
most  ingenious  of  which  must  surely  Iiave  been  in- 
spired by  the  '^Paradise  Lost"  and  ^'Paradise  Pc- 
gained  "  of  his  great  contemporary  : — 

"  Christ  in  a  garden  was  apprehended 
Because  in  a  garden  Adam  first  ofiended." 

To   which  is    appended  the  following  moral  reflec- 
tion : — 

"I  made  a  covenant  with  mine  eyes, 
Whyfore  should  I  think  upon  a  maid." 

1678. 

A  hat  for  Gainsfords  girle £0  3  0 

Paid  for  canvas  for  a  pair  of  britches  for 

Gainsfords  boy     0  1  0 

A  pair  of  shoes  for  Ilobacks  boy  0  2  4 


170  A    CORNEE.   OE    KENT. 

Shoes  vary  from  9d.  to  3s.  per  pair,  of  course  accord- 
ing to  size  and  description. 

1683. 

A  pair  of  pattens  for  Moynes  girl     £0     1     4 

1685. 
Por  a  pair  of  gloves  for  Rows  boy    £0     0     6 

In  this  year  the  burial  of  a  pauper  cost  thirteen 
shillings  and  threepence,  as  under  : — 

April  10th,  for  the  laying  forth  of  John 

Carter   £0  2     0 

Eor  his  coffin,  knell,  and  grave 0  9     0 

Por  wool  to  bury  him  in 0  0     9 

Eor  his  affidavit  and  register 0  16 

£0  13     3 

This  affidavit  was  the  certifying  that  he  was 
"  buried  in  woollen." 

1710. 

On  April  27th  in  this  year,  at  a  vestry  held  at  the 
Lion,  it  was  magnanimously  ''  Ordered  that  every  one 
who  comes  to  a  parish  meeting  shall  spend  his  own 
money." 

1712. 

Paid  Mr.  Solly  for  cloathes  as  follows  : 
21  yards  of  cattaloon  (challoon?),  at  5^d. 
3  yards  of  blue  cotton,  at  16d. 
3  ells  and  J  of  TicMens  (?  Bed  ticking),  at  lOd. 


PEUAMBTJLATION   OP   THE    PAHISH.  171 

1^  yard  of  cattaloon  and  cadis  (a  sort  of  wool),  9d. 
3  ells  of  ossins  (?),  2s.  6d. 

5  ells  of  locker  (in  other  accounts  lockeram),  at  lOd. 
A  pair  of  leather  bodies,  2s.  8d. 

A  bushel  of  wheat  in  this  year  cost  4s.  6d. 

1714. 

In  this  year  coals  cost  2s.  4d.  per  sack,  '*  28s.  a 
chalder,"  and  "  3  one-and-twenties  of  coals,"  £5.  5s. 

1725. 

In  this  year,  under  the  date  of  March  30th,  ''  It 
was  agreed  that  Thomas  Minter,  Charles  Horn, 
churchwardens,  and  David  Denne,  overseer,  do 
build  or  hire,  at  y"  charge  of  y^  parish,  a  house  for 
the  use  of  the  poor."     And  in 

1730. 

'*  It  was  agreed  between  the  parishioners  and  Doctor 
Hogben,  that  y^  s"^  Doctor  shall  look  after  all  the 
poor  in  y'  workhouse,  and  all  that  receive  w^eekly 
collection,  for  y^  sum  of  ten  pounds  per  yeare,  except 
broken  bones,  &  what  y'  overseers  shall  think  fit  to 
send  him  to  which  have  not  weekly  collection,  and 
for  them  he  is  to  be  paid  as  y""  overseers  and  he  shall 
agree  for ;  &  in  case  y^  small-pox  should  be  breef,  for 
the  s'^  Doc''  to  be  allowed,  &  reasonable  allowance." 

A  memorandum,  dated  June  25th  of  that  year, 
informs  us  that  Henry  Eastman  and  his  wife  were 
"  appointed  for  7  years,  at  £10  per  annum,  and  also 
meat,  drink,  and  lodging,  for  looking  after  the  poor 


172  A   CORNEll   OF   KENT. 

of  the  parish  of  Ash  ;  and  to  have  the  lower  room  and 
chamber  next  the  street,  and  to  leave  at  a  quarter's 
warning,"  which  was  apparently  given  them  at 
Christmas,  for  in  March,  1731,  Leonard  Bedo  and 
his  wife  were  appointed  to  replace  the  Eastmans. 

Another  entry  of  that  year  records — "  Spent  when 
Leonard  Bedo  was  chosen  master  of  the  workhouse." 

A  fevi  later  entries,  referring  to  the  church,  will  be 
noticed  in  the  section  appropriated  to  its  description ; 
but  the  above  extracts  are  sufiBcient  to  show  the 
nature  of  the  information  to  be  derived  from  the 
parish  records,  and  contain  all  we  considered  likely  to 
amuse  or  enlighten  our  readers.  Pages  are  occupied 
in  entries  of  payments  for  all  sorts  of*birds'  heads  by 
the  dozen,  and  the  only  item  during  the  rest  of  the 
century  we  thought  worthy  of  transcription  occurs  in 
the  accounts  for  the  year  1765,  viz. : — 

"  Paid  Henry  Poster  for  saving  James  Johncocke 
a  wig,  Is." 

The  registers  of  baptisms,  marriages,  and  burials 
commence  as  early  as  the  month  of  November  in  the 
first  year  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  A.D. 
1558  ;  but  the  upper  part  of  a  leaf  has  been  cut  out 
of  the  oldest  book,  making  a  blank  from  July,  1561, 
to  January,  156^,  and  from  October  3,  1562,  to 
April,  1563.  There  are  also  twelve  years  wanting 
of  all  the  registers  from  164^  to  1653.  Omitting 
the  names  common  to  all  the  parishes  of  England — 
the  inevitable  Smiths,  the  celebrated  firm  of  '*  Brown, 
Jones,  and  Ptobinson,"  the  Whites,  the  Greens,  and 


PEilAMBULATION   OV  THE   PARISH.  173 

tlie  Blacks,  and  the  equally  popular  appellations  of 
Adams,  Jackson,  Johnson,  Wilson,  and  other  sons — 
the  following  are  some  of  the  most  remarkable,  and 
those  of  the  principal  families  to  be  found  in  these 
valuable  records  : — Affeld,  Alason,  Allen,  Ames, 
Androe,  Anley,  Ansell,  Anselm,  Arbeston,  Aymis ; 
Bax,  Backett,  Beake,  Beere,  Benskin,  Bing,  Bishop, 
Blaxland,  Bonner,  Boughton,  Boykin,  Bourne, 
Brompton,  Burthen,  Bushell ;  Camden,  Carloil,  Oatt, 
Chandler,  Chapman,  Claringbold,  Cleveland,  Cock, 
Collins,  Coleman,  Coltson,  Combe,  Constant,*  Cooke, 
Copp,  Corke,  Craythorne,  Curling,  Cutburne;  Dane, 
Danton,  Davy,  Delmar,  Dilnot,  Dive,  Dunkin  ;  Elgar, 
Elvery,  Elyot,  Emptidge,  Esdee ;  Pennell,  Eidge, 
Eoate,  Eoote,  Eorstall,  Eriend ;  Gammon,  Gardner, 
Gibbs,  Gifford,  Godden,  Godfrey,  Gold,  Goldstone, 
Goldup,  Griggs;  Harfleet, Harness, Hogben,  Hougham, 
Howbancke,  Huckstep;  Innocent,  Inkpet;  Jethery, 
Johncock,  Juddrey,  Jull ;  Keeble,  Kelsey,  Kennett ; 
Lacy,  Lad,  Landy,  Laslett,  Lass,  Legnail,  Legrand, 
Lettice,  Lilly;  Macket,  Masters,  Matson,  Meriam, 
Mezday,  Minter,  Musred  ;  Natau,  Nott,  JSTunham ; 
Omer,  Onyon,  Organ,  Osborne ;  Paramour,  Pay, 
Plosse,  Peke,  Ponte,  Pordage,  Prestly,  Priggenden, 
Proude ;  Quested,  Quillock ;  Ealph,  Eatcliffe,  Beist, 
Bigden,  Bowe,  Bye ;  Sacket,  Saffery,  St.  Nicholas, 
Saltenstone,     Seed,     Sevenaker,     Sherry,     Sladden, 


*  A  James  Co/isiantinople  msLYvied  Mai-y  Simmonp,  Nov.  19,  1617. 
There  is  no  repetition  of  the  name. 


174  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

Solly,  Spaine,  Storke,  Stumble,  Stupple,  SwaflFord; 
Tappenden,  Thrumb,  Tilley,  Tomlin ;  Umfield, 
Under  do  wne  ;  Waaker,  ¥/hale,  Wigg,  Wild,  Winalls. 

William  Lord  Latimer,  in  the  thirty-eighth  year 
of  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  obtained  license  for  a 
market  to  be  held  at  Ash  every  Thursday,  and  an 
annual  fair  on  Ladyday.  The  market  has  expired ; 
but  a  few  gingerbread-stalls  and  '^  knock'em  downs" 
continue  to  do  duty  for  "  the  fair  "  upon  Old  Lady- 
day  and  Old  Michaelmas-day  yearly,  to  the  delight  of 
small  children,  the  amusement  of  waggoners'  mates, 
and  the  advantage  of  the  beer-shops. 

Amongst  other  ancient  customs,  the  curfew  still 

"  Tolls  the  knell  of  parting  day," 

and  the  "five  o'clock  bell,"  rung  every  morning, 
though  it  now  only  summons  man  ''  to  go  forth  to 
his  work  and  to  his  labour,"  formerly  at  the  same 
hour  cailed  priest  and  people  to  "  matins." 

The  number  of  communicants  in  1588  was  500 ;  in 
1640  they  had  increased  to  850 ;  and  from  the  registers 
it  appears  that  from  1620  to  1820  the  births  had  nearly 
doubled.  The  population  in  1801  was  1,575  ;  in  1821, 
2,020 ;  in  1831,  2,140.  In  1841  there  were  420  houses 
and  2,077  inhabitants ;  in  1851,  2,095  inhabitants ; 
and  at  the  last  census,  in  1861,  the  inhabited  houses 
were  found  to  be  438,  uninhabited  11,  and  building  5  ; 
the  males  in  number,  1,008 ;  females,  1,031 :  total 
population,  2,039 — a  slight  decrease  during  the  last 
ten  years. 


-r^ 


uJ 

^— 


,-.a 


175 


Fiece  of  carved  oaJc  dug  zip  in  1861. 


CHAPTER  IV, 


THE   OHTJECH   AND   ITS   MONUMENTS. 


THE  Parish  Church  of  Ash  stands  nearly  in  the 
middle  of  the  village,  on  the  south  side  of  the 
high-road  running  through  it,  crowning  the  hrow  of 
the  hill  which  overlooks  the  valley  of  Staple.  Erom 
its  elevated  position,  its  spire  forms  a  conspicuous 
feature  in  the  landscape  for  miles  around.  On  the 
site  it  now  occupies  stood,  according  to  tradition,  a 
Druidical  temple  or  altar.  This  tradition,  purely 
local,  is  not  supported  by  any  testimony  that  we 
have  been  enabled  to  discover.  No  exhumation  has 
brought  to  light,  as  at  Guilton  Town,  relics  which,  if 
not  corroborating  the  statement,  might  yet  account 
for  its  origin.  At  the  same  time  the  circumstance  is 
exceedingly  probable:  so  exactly,  indeed,  what  we 
should  look  for  on  such  a  spot,  that,  while  we  by  no 


176  A   CORNEH   OF   KENT. 

means  insist  on  tlie  truth  of  the  story,  we  are  unable 
to  discard  it  as  altogether  unworthy  of  credence.  No 
allusion  has  been  made  to  it  by  Kilburne,  Lambarde, 
Philipot,  Harris,  or  Hasted ;  but  we  do  not,  on  that 
accoimt,  hesitate  to  record  the  existence  of  such  a 
tradition,  leaving  our  readers  to  place  their  own  value 
upon  it.  That  an  earlier  Christian  church,  of  Saxon  or 
Norman  erection,  stood  on  this  spot  there  can  belittle 
doubt,  as  a  considerable  portion  of  the  foundation- 
walls  was  found  on  the  north  of  the  Molland  chancel. 
The  most  ancient  portions  of  the  present  edifice  are 
of  quite  the  close  of  the  12th  and  commencement  of 
the  13th  century,  and  no  discovery  has  yet  been  made 
of  any  fragment  of  sculpture  of  an  earlier  date. 
During  the  recent  thorough  repair  of  the  high  chancel, 
a  small  piece  of  carved  oak,  apparently  part  of  some 
stall,^  was  dug  up,  perfectly  corresponding  with  the 
oldest  portions  of  the  architecture. 

The  general  form  of  the  church  is  that  of  a 
cross,!    with    a    tower    at    the    intersection,    and 

*  Vide  woodcut  at  tlie  head  of  lliis  chapter.  That  there  were 
stalls  in  the  choir  here  as  late  as  the  reign  of  Henry  YIII.  is  clear 
from  the  will  of  Sir  John  Saunders,  vicar  of  Ash  in  1509,  already 
quoted,  as  he  bequeaths  £4:  for  "  the  buying  of  a  book  called  the 
Antiphonar  for  Holydays  and  Sundays,  for  (the)  quire  on  the  vicar's 
side  in  Ashe  Church." 

t  For  the  architectural  details  and  professional  description  of  this 
interesting  building  we  are  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Edward 
Roberts,  of  Parliament-street,  AVestminster,  F.S.A.,  one  of  the 
Honorary  Secretaries  of  the  British  Archaeological  Association,  the 
publications  of  which  society  contain  abundant  evidence  of  his  industry 
and  intelligence  in  the  study  of  mediaeval  architecture. 


Platl  b 


yl 


m 

m 


THE    CHURCH   AND    ITS    MONUMENTS.  177 

having  the  cathedral-like  feature  of  a  departure 
from  a  strictly  rectangular  plan,  so  as  to  give  a 
leaning  of  the  chancel  towards  the  south,  supposed 
to  be  indicative  of  the  bent  position  of  the  body 
of  our  Saviour  on  the  cross.  This  peculiarity  of 
arrangement  is  too  often  repeated  to  be  accidental ; 
and  we  are  too  familiar  with  the  exactitude  of 
mediseval  builders  to  believe  that  it  was  the  result  of 
error.  In  this  particular  case,  the  divergence  from 
the  straight  line  is  so  great  as  to  become  almost  pain- 
fully visible,  and  is  the  more  remarkable,  not  only 
from  its  extent,  but  from  its  being  unusual  in  mere 
parish  churches. 

Its  arrangement  differs,  apparently,  from  that  of 
the  earlier  edifice  in  some  respects,  for  the  former 
had  a  tower,  the  remains  of  which  are  clearly  to  be 
seen  at  the  north-west  angle,  now  part  of  the  north 
aisle,  and  this  would  seem  to  be  the  most  ancient 
existing  portion  of  the  building,  and  of  the  time  of 
the  transition  from  Norman  to  Early  English  (circa 
1190),  the  outer  walls  here  having  an  appearance  of 
greater  age  than  in  any  other  part,  though,  being  all 
composed  of  flints  and  boulders,  it  is  not  so  easy  to 
distinguish  earlier  from  later  work,  as  where  different 
and  more  perishable  materials  have  been  used.  It 
may  be  doubtful  if  there  was  at  the  same  time  a 
central  tower  also — most  likely  not ;  although  it 
rarely  if  ever  happened  that  a  cruciform  church  was 
altogether  without  one,  or  some  arrangement  which 
took  the  place  of  one,  so  as  to  avoid  the  very  common 


173  A   COKNEU   OE    KENT. 

system  of  the  present  day  of  crossing  the  timbers  of 
the  roof  at  the  intersection,  and  enabling  them  to  abut 
the  roofs  against  masonry.  The  present  tower,  how- 
ever, has  been  stuck  in  bodily  from  the  foundation. 
This  will  be  referred  to  presently.  The  sub-arrange- 
ment of  the  church  is  into  a  nave,  with  a  north  aisle 
and  north  porch,  a  tower  and  transepts,  the  north 
transept  being  larger  than  the  south  by  reason  of  the 
aisle  beyond  which  it  extends,  a  chancel  of  great 
length,  with  a  north  chancel  beside  it.  There  has 
been,  also,  a  south  aisle  or  chapel,  with  two  bays,  the 
piers  and  arches  of  the  arcade  remaining  in  the  pre- 
sent walls,  which  have  been  filled  in ;  the  shafts  and 
capitals,  as  far  as  they  are  visible,  appearing  to  be  of 
the  same  date  as  those  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
nave;  viz.,  from  1200  to  1220. 

Let  us  now  apply  ourselves  to  the  details,  taking 
first  those  of  the  nave  or  body  of  the  church. 
Looking  from  west  to  east,  we  have  behind  us 
the  large  modern  western  window  and  restored 
door,  both,  however,  in  the  position  of  their  prede- 
cessors. On  the  left  we  have,  first,  the  base  of 
the  old  tower,  then  three  equilateral  arches  of  the 
same  size  and  shape  (date  from  1200  to  1220),  with 
hood  mouldings  on  both  faces,  and  with  responds 
or  abutments  at  each  end  of  the  arcade.  The  first 
respond  has  a  corbel  in  lieu  of  a  shaft.  The  two  shafts 
beyond  are  (beneath  the  cap  mouldings,  which  are 
alike)  dissimilar  in  all  other  respects,  save  that  of 
material,  both  being  built  of  Kentish  rag ;  the  smaller 


THE   CHURCH   AND   ITS   MONUMENTS.  179 

one,  however,  has  certainly  been  inserted,  probably 
at  the  time  the  central  tower  was  built,  as  there  are 
no  appearances  of  large  rag-stones  in  other  parts  than 
where  alterations  are  evident. 

The  nearer  and  larger  shaft  is  in  eleven  unequal 
courses  of  small  stones,  5  feet  4f  inches  high  in  all, 
and  23  inches  diameter.  This  is  certainly  in  substi- 
tution of  something  which  preceded  it ;  the  other  may 
be  original, — i.e,,  coincident  with  the  first  alteration 
or  rebuilding,  when  only  the  west  tower  was  left 
standing.  The  shaft  in  the  respond  is  similar  to  the 
last  described,  and  was  most  likely  built  at  the  same 
time  as  the  tower.  This  seems  to  confirm  the  view 
already  taken,  that  the  one  shaft  is  original  and  the 
other  two  are  later,  although  in  imitation ;  and  it  is 
further  strengthened  by  a  red  colour,  of  which  there 
are  evident  traces  on  the  entire  shaft  and  base. 

At  each  pier  is  a  corbel  projecting  into  the  nave; 
there  has  been  a  depression  in  their  upper  surface, 
showing  that  something  was  to  have  lain  in  them. 

On  our  right  hand,  or  south  side,  we  have  firstly 
an  inserted  window,  of  about  the  date  1400,  and  two 
quite  recent  windows  beyond  in  the  filling  in  of  the 
spaces  of  the  old  arcade,  which  led  into  the  demo- 
lished aisle  or  chapel  before  mentioned.  The  buttress 
outside  has  been  added,  and  in  other  respects  there 
appear  to  have  been  great  alterations,  the  use  of 
similar  materials  tending,  as  we  have  before  observed, 
to  defeat  the  judgment  as  to  age.  Inside,  however, 
Caen  stone  has  been  used — always  a  sign  of  early 

N  2 


180  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

work.  The  shafts  of  this  arcade  cannot  be  seen  at 
all  fx'om  the  interior  :  could  they  be  perfectly  ex- 
amined, they  would  most  probably  be  found  to  corre- 
spond in  material  and  workmanship  with  the  large 
one  opposite  to  them. 

Th€  north  aisle  is,  including  the  old  tower,  of  the 
same  length  as  the  nave.  Three  sides  of  the  tower 
remain,  about  fifteen  feet  high.  The  north  porch 
and  priest's  chamber,  or  vestry,  above  it,  are  new,  but 
occupy  the  same  position  as  those  Avliich  preceded 
them.  They  were  rebuilt  in  1848,  chiefly  at  the 
expense  of  the  E;ev.  Edward  Penny,  then  the  incum- 
bent here,  and  now  rector  of  Great  Mongeham,  Deal. 
On  each  side  of  the  old  porch  were  compartments  of 
stonework,  once  ornamented  with  brasses,  *'  most 
probably,''  says  Hasted,  ''  in  remembrance  of  some 
of  the  family  of  Harflete,  several  of  whom  lie  buried 
on  the  north  side  of  the  churchyard;"  but  the 
brasses,  as  well  as  the  tombs,  were  all  gone  in  his 
time.*     In  1663-4,  the  sum  of  £3.  15s.  was  paid  to 

^  Mr.  Bryan  Faussett,  iu  his  Charcli  Notes,  taken  in  1760,  says, 
"  On  each  side  of  the  entrance  to  the  porch  is  an  ancient  monument. 
They  both  Imve  been  adorned  with  brasses,  which,  together  with 
their  inscriptions,  are  now  lost."  Hasted  alludes  to  the  tombs  of 
Thomas  Atcheker,  otherwise  Harfleet,  and  his  father,  Kaymond 
Harfleet,  as  the  former  in  his  wil],  proved  29th  January,  15||^, 
desires  to  be  buried  in  the  churchyard  of  Ash,  on  the  north  side, 
where  his  father  lieth,  and  that  a  tombstone  be  laid  over  his  father, 
with  sculpture  of  his  name,  mentioning  the  day  of  his  death,  and 
without  picture  ;  and  another  tombstone  to  be  laid  over  himself,  with 
sculpture  mentioning  his  name  and  day  of  his  death,  and  vnthout 
picture.     As  the  tombs  Mr.  Faussett  describes  had  been  adorned  with 


THE    CHURCH   AND    ITS   MONUMENTS.  181 

the  painter  "  for  painting  the  church  porch,  and 
writing  the  sentences  there,  for  shadowing  the  outside 
of  the  great  doors,  and  for  painting  the  screenes,^^  &c. 
The  window  beyond  the  porch  is  modern.  At  the 
east  end  of  the  aisle  is  an  early  arch,  one  pier  of 
which  was  rebuilt  when  the  central  tower  was  inserted, 
and  shows  a  different  impost  from  that  on  the  opposite 
side.  This  arch  is  perhaps  thirty  years  later  than 
the  nave,  and  would  induce  us  to  think  the  transept 
an  addition  to  it,  and  we  find  that  it  was  formerly 
called  the  Chapel  of  St.  Thomas  the  Martyr.  The 
tower,  when  built,  converted  it  into  a  transept  proper. 
In  this  transept  recently  stood  the  organ,  and  a 
gallery  of  modern  erection,  both  of  which  have 
been  judiciously  removed.'*     At  the  east   end  is  an 

brasses,  they  could  not  liave  been  those  of  Thomas  and  Raymond 
Harfleet,  which  appear  to  have  been  flat  gravestones,  with  name  and 
date  of  death  cut  upon  them,  and  without  pictures — i.  e.,  brasses. 
John  Harfleet,  of  Ash,  son  of  Thomas  above  mentioned,  also  desires 
to  be  buried  "  in  the  churchyard  of  Ashe,  on  the  north  side,  where 
my  father  lieth."  Will  proved  September  19,  1581.  But  "the 
compartments  of  stonework  "  described  by  Hasted  were  evidently  in 
the  sides  of  the  porch  itself,  and  the  disappearance  of  the  brasses, 
which  must  have  been  before  1613,  is  much  to  be  lamented. 

*  On  taking  down  the  organ  (December,  1863)  the  remains  of 
fresco  paintings,  borders,  and  inscriptions  were  found  on  the  walls, 
but  unfortunately  too  dilapidated  to  trace  or  decipher.  On  the  east 
wall,  the  naked  feet  and  lower  portion  of  the  red  robe  of  a  figure 
were  discernible.  The  borders  seem  to  have  been  black  bands  with 
rows  of  white  or  yellow  roundels  on  them.  Of  the  inscriptions 
(probably  texts)  not  one  word  was  perfect  enough  to  render  it  legible. 
While  superintending  the  works  in  progress  for  the  restoration  of  this 
transept,  the  Rev.  H.  S.  Mackarness  (the  present  incumbent)  dis- 


182  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

archway  of  the  fourteenth  century,  leading  out  of 
the  transept  into  the  north  or  Molland  chancel. 
There  are  here  two  corbels,  carved  in  the  shape  of 
human  heads,  with  the  hair  arranged  in  the  pecu- 
liar curl  which  distinguishes  the  figures  of  the 
time  of  Edward  I.  and  II. ;  but  they  have  been 
sadly  mutilated,  indeed  all  but  destroyed,  in  the 
erection  some  years  ago  of  a  wooden  partition,  now 
happily  removed,  converting  the  chancel  into  a 
school-room  for  the  girls  of  the  Cartwright  Charity, 
the  boys  occupying  the  vestry  above  the  porch 
previous  to  its  reconstruction  in  1840. 

There  is  an  oaken  screen  here  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  We  have  seen  the  painter  was  paid  for 
painting  the  screenes  in  the  church  in  1663-4. 

This  chancel  was  anciently  called  St.  Nicholas' 
chancel,  and  the  remains  of  string-courses  of  early 
thirteenth-century  work  show  that  up  to  a  certain 
point  there  are  portions  of  the  old  walls  standing. 
This  is  visible  at  the  east  end,  where  the  string  is 

covered  a  stone  coffin  of  the  thirteenth  century,  on  the  lid  of  which 
was  sculptured  a  cross,  planted  on  three  steps  (called,  heraldically,  "  a 
cross  degreed  or  degraded  "),  the  form  of  which  is  rather  uncommon, 
the  transverse  limb  of  the  cross  curving  like  the  guard  of  an  ancient 
sword.  The  coffin  had  evidently  been  opened,  and  the  contents 
disturbed,  the  skull  and  other  portions  of  the  skeleton  of  an  adult 
person  being  mixed  up  with  large  flint  boulders  and  rubbish  of  every 
description.  The  lid,  of  great  weight,  considerably  overlapped  the 
coffin.  The  upper  half  of  another  lid,  quite  plain,  was  dug  up  near  it. 
A  small  fragment  of  painted  glass  out  of  the  old  window  was  found 
at  the  same  time,  with  a  pattern  upon  it,  from  which  the  borders 
above  mentioned  seem  to  have  been  imitated. 


THE    CHURCH   AND    ITS   MONUMENTS.  183 

surmounted  by  a  modern  window.  On  the  north 
side  are  two  recently  inserted  windows,  carefully 
copied  from  those  they  have  replaced ;  and  an  altar 
tomb  of  the  fifteenth  century,  under  a  canopy  slightly 
earlier.  The  tomb  itself  is  of  Purbeck  marble,  and 
is  supposed  to  have  been  removed  from  some  other 
part  of  the  church,  and  put  into  a  recess  with  which 
it  does  not  in  any  way  correspond,  being  too  long 
and  too  dwarfed.  Upon  it  have  been  placed  the 
alabaster  effigies  of  John  Septvans,  Esquire  of  the 
Body  to  King  Henry  YI.,  who  founded  a  chantry  here, 
called  the  chantry  of  the  Upper  Hall,  as  appears  by 
the  will  of  his  widow  Katharine,  dated  April  14? 
1495.  We  have  much  to  say  on  this  subject  when 
we  come  to  describe  the  monuments,  but  necessarily 
mention  this  particular  fact  here  as  it  is  probable 
that  the  alterations  made  in  the  fifteenth  century  in 
this  chancel  took  place  at  the  time  of  the  foundation 
of  the  chantry  aforesaid.  In  1540  we  find  payment 
''  to  Sir  Thomas  Bruer,  chauntry  priest  of  the 
chauntry  of  John  Stevyn^  in  the  church  of  Ashe, 
for  land,  and  tenements  by  the  yeare,  £vij,  £vi,  £viii : 
thereof  to  be  deducted  for  one  obyte,  to  be  yearly 
kept  in  the  said  church  of  Ashe,  v'"*  John  Stevyn 
has  been  ludicrously  perverted  into  Saint  Stephen  by 
Hasted  or  his  informant,  the  name  of  the  founder 
being  mistaken  for  that  of  the  Christian  proto- 
martyr.     It  is  just  possible  that  Stevyn  may  be  itself 

'""  Yalor  Ecclesiasticus,  temp.  Henry  YIII. 


18 i  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

one  of  the  many  corruptions  of  the  name  of  Sept  vans, 
which  has  undergone,  as  we  shall  hereafter  show,  the 
most  extraordinary  transformations.  In  that  case 
the  chantry  so  dedicated  would  be  the  same  as  that 
of  the  Upper  Hall  which  we  have  just  mentioned ;  but 
we  must  not  omit  to  state  that  there  was  an  ancient 
family  here  of  Stiven  (Stephyn,  Stephen),  one  of 
whom  married  Alice,  daughter  of  John  Solly,  of 
Pedding  and  Woodnesborough,  ante  1624,  and  that 
there  may  have  been  a  separate  chantry  founded 
by  an  ancestor  of  that  family.*  There  was  another 
in  this  church  named  ''  the  chantry  of  Our  Blessed 
Lady,"  suppressed  with  the  rest  in  first  year  of 
the  reign  of  Edward  VI. ,  when  that  of  Our 
Lady  was  returned  to  be  of  the  clear  value  of 
£15.  lis.  l^d.,  the  lands  with  which  it  was  endowed 
consisting,  amongst  other  premises,  of  a  house  and 
fourteen  acres  of  land  in  Ash,  which  were  granted 
to  Hichard  Monins  and  Thomas  "Wotton,  Esqs., 
and  they  sold  them  again  to  Thomas  Atchecquer, 
alias  Harfleet.t  Those  belonging  to  John  Stevyn's 
chantry  consisted  of  a  messuage,  barn,  &c.,  in  Ash, 

*'  Sampson  Stevyn  is  named  in  the  will  of  Sampson  Style,  of 
Middleton,  dated  12tli  August,  1464;  and  tbe  will  of  Christiana 
Stephyn  was  proved  16th  ISTovember,  1498. 

t  By  his  will,  proved  29th  January,  1-559-60,  he  bequeaths  to  his 
son  Cliristopher  Harfleet,  with  other  property,  his  principal  messuage, 
and  nine  pieces  of  land,  containing  fourteen  acres,  in  Ash,  late  belong- 
ing to  the  late  chantry  of  Our  Lady  in  Ash  aforesaid,  which  he  bought 
of  Richard  Monnyngs  (Monins)  and  Thomas  Wotton,  Esqs. — (Prerog. 
Off.  Canterbury.) 


Plate  6 


'''X 


AlMJ  i''/^^/^ 


/  ;  /A^'M    /^:  ^'///'' 


4:' 


'    A^^ 


t/M 


I 

I 

E.lWalLer.LitnLiaEatton&aiden.  i        "L 

Viewfeomtlie    SoutK   Transept  looking  tkrougin  ttie 
liLgK  CiiarLcel  irLto   the  Holland     CliaTLC  el . 

Tro-m^cLTlxotoyTccpl-L   l^J    M^  l\r.  Dixon 


\    I.     Smith.. LI tti. 


THE    CHURCH   AND    ITS   MONUMENTS.  185 

and  220  acres  of  arable,  30  acres  of  pasture,  and 
8  acres  of  marsh  land,  in  the  parishes  of  St.  Nicholas 
and  Monkton,  Thanet,  granted  to  Cheney,  and  held 
in  capite.  The  land  charged  with  the  annual  pay- 
ment of  twenty  shillings  to  the  chantry  of  the  Upper 
Hall  is  simj)ly  stated  in  the  will  of  Septvans's  widow^ 
to  be  "that  which  lyeth  or  beith  next  to  the  said 
chantry,"  which  must  therefore  have  been  in  the 
village  of  Ash. 

The  piscina  in  this  chancel  is  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  A  priest's  door  (restored)  communicates 
with  the  high  chancel,  called  also  the  south  chancel 
and  the  Guilton  chancel,  and  in  the  fourteenth 
century  designated,  as  already  stated,  the  chancel  of 
Our  Lady.  The  wall  on  each  side  the  door  is  pierced 
with  arches  appropriated  to  monuments  of  the  families 
of  Goshall  and  Leverick.  The  most  important  and 
peculiar  is  the  one  towards  the  west.  The  arch  and 
jambs  are  in  rag-stone,  with  imposts  of  the  same ; 
the  former  are  chamfered,  and  the  imposts  with  a 
slightly  hollowed  moulding.  The  sill  of  the  opening 
is  sunk  out  for  the  reception  of  a  recumbent  figure, 
and  has  a  sculptured  trefoil  border,  so  arranged  as 
to  be  perfectly  finished  at  the  ends,  or,  technically, 
mitred,  and  returning  through  the  opening.  The  work 
is  well  executed,  very  elegant,  and  with  all  the  cha- 
racter and  spirit  of  the  sculpture  of  the  early  part  of 
the  fourteenth  century.  On  the  east  side  the  door  is  a 
beautifully-canopied  tomb,  of  the  latter  half  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  with  three  traceried  and  crocketed 


186  A   CORNER   or   KENT. 

gablets,  with  curved  outline.  The  portions  of  those 
which  remain  are  very  judiciously  left  untampered 
with.  The  recess  is  groined  in  three  bays,  and  the 
back  is  pierced  with  an  opening  into  the  north 
chancel,  as  already  stated.  Of  the  effigies  on  these 
two  tombs  we  shall  speak  anon. 

In  the  south  wall  of  this  chancel  is  a  trefoil-headed 
piscina,  with  round  corbels  (date  about  1200),  above 
it  a  lancet-headed  window  of  the  same  period,  beside 
it  an  aumbry,  and  two  other  windows  of  later  dates, 
one  on  each  side  of  the  priest's  door,  which  is 
modern. 

Mr.  Hasted  simply  informs  us  that  ''  in  the  win- 
dows formerly  were  to  be  seen  the  armorial  bearings 
of  Septvans,  alias  Harflete,  Notbeame,  Brook,  Ellis, 
Clitherow,  Oldcastle,  Keriell,  and  Hougham,  and 
the  figures  of  a  St.  Nicholas,  a  Keriell,  and  a 
Hougham,  kneeling  in  armour,  with  their  surcoats 
of  arms;  but  all  these  were  long  ago  demolished." 

Amongst  the  Additional  MSS.  in  the  British 
Museum,*  however,  are  Mr.  Hasted's  own  copies 
of  a  collection  of  drawings  and  notes  taken  in  Ash 
Church  on  the  20th  of  November,  1613 ;  and  from 
these  valuable  memorials  we  are  enabled  to  supply 
some  most  interesting  details,  not  only  of  these 
windows,  but  of  several  of  the  monuments  which 
were  then  in  existence.     We  have  also  had  the  good 

'^  "  Peter  le  Neve's  Church  Notes,"  (Add.  MSS.  No.  5479).  The 
originals  appear,  by  Mr.  Hasted's  account,  to  have  been  lent  to  him 
by  Joseph  Edmonson. 


THE    CHURCH   A:ND   ITS   MONUMENTS.  187 

fortune  to  be  permitted  to  examine  the  MS.  Church 
Notes  of  that  indefatigable  and  learned  antiquary  the 
E;eY.  Bryan  Eaussett,  taken  in  1760,  and  now  in  the 
possession  of  his  great-grandson,  Mr.  T.  Godfrey 
Paussett,  from  which  we  have  obtained  corrobo- 
rative and  conclusive  evidence  on  some  highly  im- 
portant genealogical  points,  as  will  appear  in  the 
progress  of  this  and  the  following  chapter. 

Prom  these  combined  sources  of  authentic  infor- 
mation, we  have  formed  the  following  list  of  shields 
of  arms  that  adorned  the  "storied  panes"  of  St. 
Nicholas,  Ash,  in  the  seventeenth  century  : — 

1.  Gules,  a  lion  rampant  argent. 

2.  Argent,  a  plain  cross  gules. 

These  two  were  existing  as  late  as  1760,  and  are 
stated  by  Mr.  Bryan  Eaussett  to  have  been  in  the 
"  westmost  window ;"  by  which  we  presume  he  meant 
the  original  window  over  the  west  door. 

3.  Azure,  three  winnowing  fans  or  :  Septvans, 
alias  Harfleet. 

4.  Gules,  a  fess  nebulee  ermine :    Notbeame. 

5.  Or,  on  a  chevron  azure  three  leopards'  heads  of 
the  first :   Leverick. 

6.  Argent,  on  a  fess  between  six  cross-crosslets 
azure  three  plates  :   Ellis  of  Sandwich. 

7.  Or,  a  cross  sable  (Brockhull  ?) 

8.  Ermine,  on  a  chief,  three  lions  rampant  : 
Aucher. 

9.  Septvans  quartering  Twitham,  Sandwich,  Ellis, 
Brooke  of ,  Wolfe,  and  Wyborne,  as  in  the  win- 


188  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

dows  at  Molland,  and  on  the  brass  of  Christopher 
Harfleet  in  the  north  chancel. 

10.  Party  per  bend  ;  two  eagles  displayed  counter- 
changed  :  Brooke  of  Brooke  Street. 

11.  Party  per  chevron,  embattled  argent  and  sable, 
three  mullets  counterchanged,  within  a  bordure 
engrailed  ermine  :   Stoddard  of  Mottingham. 

12.  Argent,  three  cups  sable  :  Clitherow,  impaling 
argent,  a  castle  tripled  towered  sable  :   Oldcastle. 

13.  Clitherow,  as  above,  impaling  argent,  three 
bugle  horns  in  pale  sable. 

It  is  not  stated  in  what  particular  window  or 
windows  the  last  eleven  were  situated ;  but  it  is 
probable  that  they  were,  for  the  most  part,  in  the 
north  chancel. 

The  following  fourteen,  and  the  four  kneeling 
figures,  we  are  strongly  inclined  to  believe,  from  the 
particular  order  in  which  they  are  drawn  on  one  page 
of  the  MS.,  adorned  the  great  window  at  the  east  end 
of  the  high  chancel.  At  top,  ranged  four  and  three, 
are : — 

1.  Or,  two  chevrons  and  a  canton  gules  :  Keriel, 
impaling  Clitherow,  as  above. 

2 a  chevron  between  three  wolves'  heads  : 

Wolfe,  impaling  Clitherow,  as  before. 

3.  Clitherow  impaling three  bugle  horns, 

two  and  one. 

4 a  chevron  inter  ten  cross-crosslets 

impaling  .....  on  a  chevron three  lions  ram- 
pant :  (Cobham  ?) 


THE    CHURCH   AND    ITS   MONUMENTS.  189 

5.  Argent,  three  bars  sable,  impaling  (Cobham  ?), 
as  above. 

6.  Clitherow  impaling  Oldcastle,  as  before. 

7.  Oldcastle  quartering  party  per  pale  ..'...  a 
double-headed  eagle  displayed 

Beneath  these  seven  shields  are  ranged  in  a  line 
the  four  figures,  three  male  and  one  female,  all  in 
the  costume  of  the  fifteenth  century,  kneeling  on 
cushions. 

1.  Male  figure  in  armour,  temp.  Henry  VI.  or 
Edward  lY.,  with  tabard  of  arms.  Ermine,  a  chief 
quarterly  or  and  gules,  an  annulet  for  difference  in 
first  quarter :  St.  Nicholas  of  Thanet.  This  figure 
most  probably  represented  John  St.  Mcholas,  who 
died  in  1462. 

2.  Male  figure  in  armour,  with  tabard  of  arms. 
Or,  two  chevrons  and  a  canton  sable.  If  not  a  mis- 
take, a  variation  of  the  coat  of  Criol  or  Keriel.  If 
intended  to  represent  John  Keriel,  the  husband  of 
Joan  Clitherow,  the  canton  should  have  been  differ- 
enced by  a  crescent.  Notwithstanding  these  discre- 
pancies, the  result  perhaps  of  error,  we  are  inclined 
to  assign  it  to  the  aforesaid  John,  of  whom  more 
hereafter. 

3.  Male  figure  in  armour  with  tabard,  on  which 
are  drawn  :  Argent,  on  a  chevron  between  three 
elephant's  heads  erased  sable,  as  many  mullets  or. 
This  coat,  with  different  colours,  is  found  quartered 
with  that  of  Brooke,  in  the  "Visitation  of  Kent," 
A.D.  1619,  and  this  figure  is  underwritten  "  Solomon 


190  A   COHNER   OF   KENT. 

Hougham."  "We  shall  have  occasion  to  return  to 
this  subject  in  our  fifth  chapter. 

4.  A  lady  in  the  costume  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
wearing  a  mantle  on  which  are  the  arms  of  Wolfe, 
as  quartered  with  Clitherow  in  the  shield  above  men- 
tioned. This  figure  is  underwritten  "The  Wife  of 
Keriell ;  "  but  this  must  be  simply  the  note  of  the 
writer.  This  is  also  an  interesting  point  for  discus- 
sion hereafter.  There  are  no  arms  of  Keriel  on  any 
part  of  her  dress. 

Beneath  these  four  figures  are  ranged  seven  more 
shields  of  arms,  in  two  lines,  four  and  three,  as  the 
seven  above. 

1.  Septvans,  with  a  crescent  for  difference. 

2.  Earry  of  six  pieces  nebulee  argent  and  gules : 
De  Campania,  or  Champion,  of  Champions  Court,  co. 
Kent,  impaling  St.  Nicholas.* 

3.  St.  Nicholas,  with  annulet  for  difference,  as  on 
armed  figure  just  described. 

4.  De  Campania  impaling  argent  three  bh^ds 
marked  ''proper."     (Query,  Crows  for  Corbet  ?)t 

5.  De  Campania,   impaling  chevron  between  ele- 


*  This  is  curious.  John  St.  Nicholas  married  Margaret,  daughter 
and  heir  of  Simon  de  Campania  (vide  Chapter  Y.)  :  but'  here  we 
have  the  indication  of  one  of  the  Campania  family  having  taken  to 
wife  a  St.  Nicholas. 

t  This  again  is  noteworthy.  Catharine,  daughter  of  Jolin  de 
Campania  and  Margery  his  wife,  married  a  Corbet :  but  this  sbield, 
like  the  former  (note,  ante),  would  indicate  exactly  the  reverse  ;  the 
arms  of  Campania  being  on  the  baron  or  dexter  side. 


TUE    CHURCH   AND    ITS    MONUMENTS.  191 

pliants'  heads,  as  on  the  tabard  of  Solomon  Hougham 
above  mentioned.* 

6.  De  Campania  impaling  De  Campania,  t 

7.  Keriel  impaling  Wolfe,  corroborating  the  state- 
ment, ''  The  Wife  of  Keriell,"  under  the  female  figure 
above  described. 

The  herald  and  genealogist  will  at  once  perceive 
the  valuable  information  that  may  be  drawn  from 
these  records,  in  illustration  of  the  very  imperfect 
and  inaccurate  pedigrees  at  present  existing  of  these 
fine  old  Kentish  families.  We  shall  do  our  best  in 
the  next  chapter  to  elucidate  some  of  the  vexed 
questions ;  but  there  will  be  still  much  to  do  for  our 
successors  in  these  researches.  The  grand  east  win- 
dow, which  we  have  here  most  probably  recalled  to 
us,  had  been  demolished  before  1760,  when  Mr. 
Bryan  Paussett  took  his  notes,  and  was  most  pro- 
bably then  succeeded  by  the  plain  one  which  was  in 
existence  till  1855,  when  an  exceedingly  handsome 
memorial  window,  designed  and  executed  by  Mr. 
Williment, .  E.S.A.,  was  put  up  by  the  late  Miss 
Eriend,  of  Ash.  {     Beneath  it  is  the  following  inscrip- 


*  Indicating  a  match  with  either  Sanders  or  Houghana. 

+  We  have  here  evidence  of  the  intermarriage  of  two  of  the  same 
family ;  but  as  yet  have  found  no  such  match  in  the  scattered  notices 
of  the  Campanias. 

i  We  lament  to  add  that  this  estimable  lady  was  burned  to  death 
at  the  residence  of  her  sister,  at  Felderland,  near  Sandwich,  April 
15th,  1862,  in  the  75th  year  of  her  age  ;  having  fallen  into  the  fire, 
it  is  presumed  in  a  fit,  while  sitting  alone  in  her  apartment. 


192  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

tion : — "  Dedicated  to  the  memory  of  "William  and 
Sarah  Priend,  by  their  affectionate  daughter,  Ann 
Eriend,  December  25th5  A.D.  1855. 

Prom  the  will  of  William  Norrys,  of  Ash,  it 
appears  that  in  I486  there  was  an  ''image  of  St. 
Mary  Magdalene  "  in  the  chancel,  either  in  statuary 
or  painting.  That  there  were  stalls  in  it  at  a  very 
early  period,  and  as  late  as  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  we  have  already  stated ;  and 
pews  as  early  as  1573-4,  in  which  year  Edward 
Stoughton,  by  will  proved  Pebruary  16th,  desires  to 
be  buried  in  Our  Lady's  chancel  of  Ash,  against  his 
pew  there.  Of  the  rood-screen  the  only  remains  are 
the  lower  portions  of  panelled  oak. 

The  heavy  altar-piece  and  massive  rails  with  which 
the  chancel  was  ''  beautified,"  according  to  the  taste 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  out  of  the  £100 
bequeathed  by  Eleanor  and  Ann  Cartwright  in  1721 
(see  page  114  and  list  of  benefactions),  were  replaced 
by  the  present,  and  a  new  pulpit  and  reading-desk 
also  erected  from  a  fund  provided  by  Bishop  Nixon, 
while  incumbent  of  Ash,  1838-42,  from  the  sale  of 
the  later  editions  of  his  excellent  work,  ''  Lectures 
on  the  Church  Catechism;"  and  in  1861  the  chancel 
was  thoroughly  repaired  and  newly  roofed  and  paved, 
at  the  expense  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners, 
and  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Ewan  Christian, 
their  architect. 

The   south  transept   appears  to  have  undergone 


i^HH^ttflH 


THE    CHURCH   AND    ITS   MONUMENTS.  193 

considerable  repairs  in  the  year  1675,  as  in  almost 
every  portion  of  the  outer  wall  stones  are  to  be 
seen  inscribed  with  the  names  of  various  officers 
and  inhabitants  of  the  parish,  all  bearing  the  same 
date.  Amongst  the  most  legible  are  the  follow- 
ing : — ''  John  Saffery,  of  Checquer,  Churchwarden, 
1675."  "Geoarge  Jay,  1675."  "  Henry  Proud,  1675." 
"John  Pidge,  1675."  '' Martha... ampson,  1675." 
"John  Brice,  1675."  "James  Kingsland's  stone, 
1675."     "Thomas  Sayer,  ...75." 

We  now  come  to  the  tower,  the  style  of  which 
is  almost  of  debased  Perpendicular,  or  beginning  of 
sixteenth  century.  It  may  have  been  built  at  three 
different  periods  ;  one  stage  at  a  time.  The  large 
piers  inside  the  church  are  almost,  if  not  quite, 
unique  for  the  size  of  the  stones,  which  are  about 
6  feet  long,  4  feet  wide,  and  2  feet  thick,  and,  for 
ragstone,  very  unusual.  The  south  aisle,  or  chapel, 
had  evidently  been  destroyed  before  the  building  of 
the  tower.  Over  the  arch,  at  the  entrance  to  the 
high  chancel,  is  a  board,  with  the  following  in- 
scription :-— "  This  belfry  was  raised  and  rebuilt  by 
Thomas  Beake  and  Richard  Laslett,  churchwardens, 
1750." 

This  was  in  consequence  of  the  fall  of  the  great 
clock-weight,  which  broke  through  the  flooring  of  the 
belfry  and  ceiling  of  the  tower — providentially  when 
the  church  was  empty,  as  it  crushed  everything  it 
came  in  contact  with. 

o 


19  i  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

In  1760,  Mr.  Bryan  Paussett  found  five  bells  in  the 
belfry,  on  whicb  were  the  following  inscriptions  : — 

1.  (Only  the  date  remains)  ...   1581. 

2.  Joseph  Hatch  made  me   ...   1615. 

3.  Joseph  Hatch  made  me  ...   1620. 

4.  Joseph  Hatch  made  me  ...    1620. 

5.  Henry  Wilner  made  me  ...   1661. 

The  present  white  marble  font  appears  to  have 
been  given  to  the  church  by  E^obert  Minchard*  and 
Abraham  Pennell,  churchwardens,  in  1726,  which 
date,  with  their  initials,  is  also  on  the  poor-box. 
Their  names  in  full  are  engraved  on  the  font,  toge- 
ther with  the  arms  of  the  Minchard  family,  a  mullet 
within  the  horns  of  a  crescent ;  but  in  1664  there  is 
in  the  churchwardens'  accounts  the  following  entry  : 
"  Pd.  Mr.  Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  Usq.,  for  the  ffunt, 
£1.  Os.  Od."  And  in  a  payment  to  a  painter  imme- 
diately following,  one  of  the  items  is  "  for  painting 
the  ffunt.'' 

We  are  left  to  conjecture  whether  this  was  a  new 
font  of  common  stone  purchased  of  Mr.  St.  Nicholas, 
or  whether  these  expenses  were  incurred  for  the  repair 
of  an  ancient  one. 

Beside  the  items  we  have  already  extracted 
from  the  accounts  for  1634  {vide  page  153),  the 
following,  relating  to  repairs  of  the  church,  its 
pews   and   ornaments,   the   bells,    churchyard-gates, 

*  Robert  Minchard  married  Elizabeth,  widow  of  Thomas  Peke,  of 
Hills  Court,  Esq.,  who  died  in  1701,  and  in  her  right  held  the  manors 
of  Hills  Court  and  Levericks  during  his  lifetime. 


THE    CHTJRCH  AND   ITS   MONUMENTS.  195 

walls,  &c.,  may  have   some  interest  for  our  local 
readers  : — 

1635. 

Item,  first  for  timber  to  repair  the  steeple, 

with  all  the  carrying  and  recarrying    ...  £9  11     0 

To  Justed  the  plumber  for  changing  old 
lead  for  new  and  laying  it  on  the 
steeple 83     2  11 

1641. 

Eor  the  ringers  and  the  workmen  when 
the  bells  were  a  hanging,  and  when  the 
bell  founders  came  to  see  them  hanged..     0     8     6 

More  laid  out  for  changing  the  communion 

flaggon 0     4     0 

Item,  paid  to  Henry  Willner  of  Borden 
for  casting  the  bell  and  the  bell  brasses 
for  the  third  bell,  and  the  little  beU 6  15     8 

1652. 

Paid  to  the  churchwardens  of  Littlebourne 

for  carrying  the  bell  to  the  bell-founders     10     0 

Paid  to  Simon  Brice  for  his  journey  to 
bargain  with  the  churchwardens  to  carry 
thebell 0     10 

Paid  to  Thomas  Sanders  for  carrying  the 

bell  to  Littlebourne 0     3     4 

Paid  the  glazier  for  glazing  and  leading  the 

church  windows  6  19  S^ 

o  2 


196  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

1655. 

Per  a  frame  for  the  hour-glass* £0     1     0 

1661. 

Paid  Eichard  Pidge  for  himself  and 
labourers  for  work  done  about  the 
church  wall,  the  church  gate-house,  the 
church  and  church-house  3  10     1 

Paid  for  a  lock  and  key  for  the  chancel 

door  -    0     5     0 

1662. 
To  Richard  Fidge  for  whiting  and  colour- 
ing the  church  and  finding  all  materials 
for  the  same 2  10     0 

1663-4. 

Paid  John  Harris  for  5  days'  work  about 
the  church,  and  a  table  for  the  com- 
mandments      0     8     4 

Paid  to  Edwards  the  painter  for  writing 
the  commandments  and  for  flourishing 
of  the  hand  doors  and  the  great  doors 
and  the  pillars 8     0     0 

1665. 
"  Por  matting  of  my  pew"  [Robert  Woods 
then  churchwarden]    0     2     0 

*  An  hour-glass  was  an  almost  uni\^ersal  appendage  to  a  pulpit 
during  the  16th  and  17th  centuries.  The  ironwork  of  the  holders 
was  sometimes  of  the  most  elaborate  and  tasteful  description. 


THE   CHURCH   AND    ITS   MONUMENTS.  197 

In  the  Register  of  Baptisms  for  1744,  p.  88,  there 
is  the  following  note  by  B.  Longley,  curate : — 

"In  the  year  1744,  Thomas  JuU  and  Henry 
Minter,  churchwardens,  built  the  north  wall  [of  the 
churchyard],  and  coped  it  with  stone,  and  made  a 
new  gate  at  the  east  end.  The  gate  at  the  west  end, 
with  the  piers,  were  put  up  some  years  before  by  the 
father  of  the  said  H.  Minter  and  John  May,  church- 
wardens." 

In  1779  the  Molland  chancel  needed  repairs,  and 
Mrs.  Allen,  the  owner  of  the  manor  of  Molland  at 
that  time,  was  called  upon  to  repair  it.  On  her 
refusal  so  to  do,  proceedings  were  taken  against 
her,  and  the  suit  being  heard  before  the  Dean 
of  Arches  in  Trinity  Term  that  year,  it  was  decreed 
that  she  should  forthwith  repair  it,  and  certify  the 
same  by  the  first  day  of  Michaelmas  term  next 
afterwards,  and  was  condemned  to  pay  the  full 
costs  of  suit. 

In  1791,  £161.  Is.  9d.  was  paid  ''  as  per  bill"  for 
casting  a  new  peal  of  bells ;  and  "  at  the  opening  of 
the  new  peal  of  bells,''  £2.  13s.  Od.  "  To  William 
Bushell  for  carrying  the  bells,  £1.  Is.  Od. ;"  and  "  to 
Thomas  Jull,  junior,  for  ditto,  15s." 

These  bells  are  eight  in  number,  and  bear  on  them 
the  names  of  E-obert  Tomlin  and  Hichard  Sutton, 
churchwardens,  with  those  of  the  founders,  **  Thomas 
Mears,  late  Lester  Pack  and  Chapman,  of  London," 
with  the  date  1790.  In  the  belfry  is  a  board  with 
the  following  information  in  gold  letters  : — 


198  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

QUEX  INSTITUTION. 

J.    p.    POWELL,    ESQ.,    PATRON   AND    FOUNDER. 

On  Saturday,  the  18*^  of  February,  1826,  was  rung  on  these  Bells 
Holt's  true  and  complete  Peal  of  grandsire  trebels,  consisting  of  5,040 
changes,  with  98  Bobs  and  2  Singles,  in  3  hours  and  4  minutes,  by 
the  undermentioned  persons,  members  of  the  above  Institution.  This 
was  the  first  true  peal  ever  rung  in  this  steeple,  though  the  bells 
have  been  hung  36  years. 

Will-  Darley,  Treble  Will-  Clark,  5*^ 

John  Beer,  2'''^  George  Francis,  6*^ 

James  Carter,  3'*^  Eobert  Byall,  7*^ 

John  White,  4*^  Nath^  Brewer,  Tenor. 


>  Churchwardens. 


Conducted  by  John  Beer. 

Thom^  Coleman 
Geo®  Quested 

On  the  nortli  wall  of  the  north  aisle  of  the  church 
is  a  board  with  the  following  : — 

Lands, 

Tenements,  and  Benefactions, 

IN  Ash. 

Imprimis,  one  house  in  the  street  called  y'  Church 

house,  with  2  garden  plotts  of  12  perches. 
Item,  4i  acres  and  a  ^  of  land  in  Chapman  Street, 

now  in  the  occupation  of  Thomas  Horn. 
Item,  another  piece  of  land  containing  40  perches, 

in  y'   occupation   of   William   Chapman.     As   to 

these  3  articles  see  the  terrier.* 

*  The  terrier  is  unfortunately  no  longer  to  be  seen.     The  third 
article  is  the  donation  attributed  to  Mr.  Richard  Camden  by  Hasted. 


THE   CHURCH   AND   ITS   MONUMENTS.  199 

Item,  1  pound  5  shillings  on  account  of  y^  Toldervey 
Monument,  10  shillings  of  which  is  for  looking  after 
y^  said  monument,  and  15  shillings  every  Christm'ss 
for  y^  poor.     See  Thos.  St.  Nicholas,  Esq.,  his  deed. 

Item,  in  y^  years  1720  and  1721.  Gervas  Cartwright, 
Esq.,  and  his  sisters  did  for  y^  teaching  50  poor 
children  to  read,  write,  etc.,  endow  a  charity 
school  for  ever  with  an  estate  in  land  to  the 
yearly  value  of  31  pounds.  See  y^  deed  of  gift 
in  y^  chest,*  and  y^  tombstone  within  the  rails 
of  the  communion  table. 

Item,  Mrs.  Eleanor  and  Mrs.  Ann  Cartwright  (y*' 
sisters  of  the  above  gentleman),  besides  y^  hand 
they  had  in  y^  said  great  charity,  gave  an  100 
pounds  for  beautifying  the  chancel  and  providing 
2  large  pieces  of  plate  for  the  communion  service. 

*  The  chest  alluded  to  is  engraved  from  a  drawing  by  Miss 
Godfrey,  of  Brooke  House,  and  graces  the  head  of  Chapter  II.  It 
is  kept  in  the  vestry  over  the  porch,  and  presents  us  with  a  fine 
specimen  of  a  coffer  of  the  15th  century.  It  is  strongly  banded  with 
iron,  and  has  three  padlocks,  one  of  which  secures  an  iron  rod 
passing  through  staples  over  the  bands  connected  with  the  other 
two.  Edward  Stoughton,  of  Ashe,  by  his  will,  proved  February  16, 
1573,  bequeaths  to  Joel  his  son,  amongst  other  things,  "  his  coffer 
with  lock  and  key  and  bound  with  iron,  in  his  counting-house, 
wherein  his  evidences,  deeds,  and  escripts  are."  In  the  marriage 
contract  between  Sir  John  Stafford  and  Anne  Bottereaux,  March  16, 
1426,  the  Lord  William  Bottereaux  is  required  to  deliver  to  the 
Prior  of  Bath  all  the  charters,  evidences,  &c.,  in  "  a  coffer  locked 
with  three  divers  locks."  .  .  .  .  "  One  of  the  keys  of  the  said  coffer 
to  be  delivered  to  the  Prior,  to  remain  in  the  keeping  of  him  and 
his  successors  ;  another  key  to  the  said  Lord  ;  and  the  third  to  the 
said  John  and  Anne,  to  remain  with  them  and  the  heirs  of  their  body." 


200  A   CORNER   or   KENT. 

See  the  paten  and  flagon.  Soon  after  Mrs. 
Susanna  Roberts*  added  2  other  pieces  of  plate 
for  collecting  the  offertory.     See  the  said  pieces  : 

Prancis  Conduitt  -\  Rich'^  Horn   /     Church 

Curat.           >          and  j    Wardens, 

M.D.CCXLII.  )  Will"  Leger  v.      1742. 
W"  Pilcher  pinxit  .  Deal. 
Eeside  it,  on  another  board  : — 
St.  Nicholas, 
Ash. 
Benefactions  and  Donations. 
1813. 
Grant   from    the   Governors   of  Queen 
Anne's  Bounty  towards  the  purchase 
and     enlargement   of   the   Vicarage, 
and     the    purchase    of    Glebe    land 
attached  thereto , £600     0     0 

1818. 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Godfrey,  widow  of  Thos. 

Godfrey,  Esq.,  towards  ditto £500     0     0 

John  Minet  Eector,  Esq.,  ditto     50     0     0 

Bey.  Chas.  James  Burton,  ditto    50     0     0 

Grant  from  the  Governors  of  the  Eund 
for  the  Augmentation  of  Small  Livings, 
ditto 900     0     0 

£2,100     0     0 

*  A  tablet  to  her  memory  and  that  of  her  husband  is  on  the  south 
wall  of  the  chancel,  within  the  rails  of  the  communion  table. 


THE    CHURCH   AND   ITS   MONUMENTS.  201 

John  Minet  Pector,  Esq.,  by  bequest  to 
the  minister,  which  sum  the  Kev. 
Chas.  James  Burton  gave  towards  the 
support  of  the  Sunday  school    £10     0     0 

1819. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Godfrey,  by  gift  of  deed 
in  the  Court  of  Chancery,  in  trust  to 
the  trustees  of  the  Cartwright  Charity, 
all  those  messuages  and  tenements, 
with  their  appurtenances,  comprising 
the  girls'  schoolroom  and  adjoining 
cottage. 

1832. 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Godfrey,  by  bequest,  in 
trust  to  the  trustees  of  the  Cartwright 
Charity 1000     0     0 

With  which  sum  (less  the  legacy  duty),  was 
purchased  in  the  3  per  Cent.  Consols,  £993.  2s.  2d. 
in  the  names  of  "W.  E.  Boteler,  Esq.,  and  Wm. 
Eriend,  Esq.,  her  executors,  producing  the  yearly 
interest  of  £29.  15s.  Id.,  to  be  appropriated  to  the 
repairs  of  the  above-named  messuages,  etc. 

And  the  surplus,  if  any,  to  be  expended  in  coats,  to 
be  distributed  annually  to  the  deserving  poor  residing 
in  the  parish. 

Rev.  Charles  Eorster,  Curate. 

George  Quested     ^ 

EiCHARD  HoLTUM    j  Churchwardens,  1839. 


202  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

A  third  board  records  tliat : — 

''The  Master  and  Pellows  of  Emmanuel  College, 
Cambridge,  gave  a  piece  of  land  to  the  Incumbent 
and  Churchwardens  of  Ash,  for  the  site  of  an  Infant 
School. 

''Mr.  Tho'.  Kelsey  built  an  Infant  School,  at  his 
own  expense,  on  the  site  so  given,  and  in  August, 
1860,  Mr.  Kelsey  conveyed  by  deed  of  gift  to  the 
Incumbent  and  Churchwardens  of  Ash  for  ever, 
and  to  three  trustees,  Messrs.  Tho'.  Coleman,  John 
Maylam,  and  James  Petley,  lands  and  tenements  in 
the  parish  of  Ash,  of  the  then  yearly  value  of  £68, 
for  the  perpetual  endowment  of  the  said  Infant 
School." 

GooDBAN  Charity. 

Interest  of  £100,  3  per  Cent.  Stock,  to  be  given 
away  at  Christmas. 

Mrs.  Mary  Wood  is  now  endowing  the  parish  with 
£300  Bank  Stock,  the  interest,  after  providing  for  the 
due  preservation  of  her  sister's  monument,  to  be  ex- 
pended in  warm  clothing  for  poor  females  in  Ash,  at 
the  discretion  of  the  Yicar  and  Churchwardens.* 


*  While  recording  charities,  we  may  mention  that  John  Malyn,  by 
will  proved  10th  January,  1473,  bequeathed  "To  the  lazars  of  Eche 
(Ash),  near  Sandwich,  iiij^."  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  there  was 
a  lazar-house  somewhere  in  this  parish  at  that  period,  but  we  have 
found  no  other  indication  of  it. 


the  church  akd  its  monuments.  203 

The  Monuments. 
The  most  ancient  sepulchral  effigy  now  extant  in 
the  church,  is  that  of  a  knight,  cross-legged,  lying 
under  an  arch  on  the  left  of  the  doorway  passing 
from  the  hisrh  chancel  to  the  Molland  chancel.  It 
has  been  appropriated  by  tradition  to  Sir  John  de 
Goshall,  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Edward  III. ;  but 
the  costume  contradicts  that  assertion :  and  if  it  be 
indeed  the  effigy  of  a  Sir  Jolm^  it  must  be  that  of 
his  grandfather,  who  possessed  two  knight's  fees  in 
Goldstanton  and  Goshall  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  III. 
and  Edward  I.  The  figure  is  represented  in  a  long 
surcoat,  open  in  front,  of  a  form  recalling  to  us 
that  of  Edmund  Crouchback,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  in 
Westminster  Abbey  ;  but  this  effigy  presents  us  with 
the  additional  feature  of  those  singular  defences  for 
the  shoulder  called  ailettes^  which  first  make  their 
appearance  towards  the  close  of  the  reign  of 
Edward  I.,  but  were  not  common  previous  to  that 
of  his  son  and  successor  Edward  II.  In  the  will 
of  Daniel  Hole,  quoted  by  Hasted  (Hist.  Kent, 
vol.  III.  page  692,  note),  the  testator  desires  to  be 
buried  in  the  chancel  of  Ash  Church,  near  the  tomb 
of  Sir   John   Goshall;*    showing   that   as   early   as 

*  "  With  a  fair  gray  marble  tombstone  and  superscription  in  brass 
for  that  he  and  his  ancestors  had  lived  at  Goshall  for  an  hundred 
years  and  upwards."  We  have  not  succeeded  in  finding  his  name  in 
the  burial  registers  of  this  parish.  David  Hole  and  others  of  the 
name  occur,  but  no  Daniel.  Neither  is  there  any  fair  gray  marble 
stone  remaining  near  the  tomb  of  John  de  Goshall  that  would  answer 
to  the  description. 


204  A    CORNER   OF   KENT. 

1617,  the  date  of  that  document,  unless  some  other 
monument  has  disappeared,  the  name  of  John  had 
been  associated  with  this  effigy.  But  for  this  fact, 
we  should  have  been  inclined  to  attribute  it  to  Sir 
Henry  de  Goshall,  probably  son  of  the  first,  and 
father  of  the  second  Sir  John,  who  was  seised  of 
Goshall  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II.  In  that  case  the 
female  effigy  in  the  cavity  beneath,  which  is  coeval 
with  it,  might  have  been  fairly  assumed  to  represent 
Margaret,  daughter  of  Thomas,  and  sister  of  Nicholas 
de  Sandwich,  of  Checquer,  the  wife  of  Henry  de 
Goshall,  as  we  have  stated  at  page  65.  There  is 
nothing,  however,  in  the  costume  of  either  effigy  to 
forbid  our  admitting  them  to  be  those  of  the  first  Sir 
John  and  his  lady,  both  of  whom  were  living  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  L,  and  probably  did  not  die  before 
the  accession  of  Edward  II.*  The  male  figure  has 
been  engraved  for  the  Journal  of  the  Archaeological 
Institute,  in  illustration  of  a  paper  by  Mr.  Hewitt, 
who  erroneously  attributes  it  to  one  of  the  Leverick 
family.  Our  sketch  of  it  is  from  the  opposite  side, 
showing  the  broken   shield  on  which,  in  Philipot's 

time,  were  visible  the  arms  of  the  Goshalls  : 

semee    of  cross-crosslets a    lion    rampant 

crowned,  as  visible  on  the  seal  attached  to  a  deed 
of   the    7th    of   Edward    III.,    preserved    amongst 


*  There  was  a  Final  Concord  between  John  de  Goshall  and  Henry 
Leverick  and  Margery  his  wife,  in  the  thirty-fourth  and  last  year  of 
the  reign  of  Edward  I.,  A.D.  1306.— (Fic^  page  95.) 


Plate  7. 


Zig  1    Effigy  of  Sir  Jolm   Go  shall    p    2  03 


■►™~-"^^«^ 


Tig.  3. 
CapitalinlNfa^e 


4 


Tig.  4. 


AS^A' 


iHi 


n 


Iig.  7. 
PortioiL  of  ttLe  SeplTajLS 
seat  discoTered.  1864. 


FiQ'.  5 


Tig.b, 
Lid  of  Stoae    CofiiTi. 


r  "VMerJith.ie.ikttQii  Gaidea. 


Fig.  2 


"W"  C-.  Smith.,  del  et  litti . 


Effigj  of   a  Ladv  (unknown.)  p.  2  0b 


THE   CHURCH   AND   ITS   MONUMENTS.  205 

the  Harleian  Charters.*  The  effigy  was  no  doubt 
originally  completely  painted  and  gilt;  but  not  a 
trace  of  colour  or  metal  is  now  discernible.  The 
female  effigy  beneath  is  of  much  ruder  work- 
manship, and  has  suffered  also  considerably  from 
ill-treatment  as  well  as  time.  It  presents  us,  how- 
ever, with  the  distinctive  features  of  the  costume 
of  a  lady  of  the  thirteenth  or  commencement  of 
the  fourteenth  century.  The  head  is  enveloped  in 
couvrechef  and  wimple,  and  the  body  in  a  robe 
reaching  to  the  feet ;  the  long  tight  sleeves  of 
the  kirtle  being  visible  from  just  below  the  elbow. 
This  effigy,  we  believe,  is  now  engraved  for  the 
first  time.  On  the  eastern  side  of  the  entrance 
to  the  Holland  chancel,  and  on  the  north  of  the 
communion  table,  lies  the  effigy  of  one  of  the 
Leverick  family,  as  evidenced  by  the  arms  which 
were  in  Philipot's  time  visible  on  the  shield,  but 
have   now  totally  disappeared;    viz..   Argent,  on  a 

*  Vide  Chapter  V.  In  the  Additional  MS.,  No.  4579,  from  which 
already  we  have  obtained  such  valuable  information,  is  a  sketch  of 
this  effigy,  very  ill  drawn,  but  undoubtedly  displaying  both  on  the 
shield  and  surcoat  the  lion  and  cross- crosslets.  Mr.  Bryan  Faussett,  in 
his  Church  Notes,  A.D.  1760,  says:  "  On  the femme  side,  I  with  much 
ado  made  out  the  arms  of  Septvans,  alias  Harflete,  as  in  the  following 
page,  but  the  Baron's  side  was  quite  effaced."  If  not  a  mistake,  this 
circumstance  would  prove  that  the  shield  had  been  re-painted 
between  1613  and  1760,  and  though  in  one  sense  incorrectly,  as  the 
arms  of  the  wife  were  never  displayed  on  the  war  shield  of  the 
knight,  it  would  indicate  the  knowledge  or  belief  at  that  time  preva- 
lent, that  this  Sir  John  de  Goshall  had  married  the  daughter  of  a 
Septvans. 


206  A   CORNER   OE   KENT. 

cheyron  sable  three  leopard's  heads  or.*  We  take 
this  effigy  to  be  that  of  Sir  John  Leverick,  knight, 
of  Ash,  who  married  Joan,  daughter  of  John 
Septvans,  of  Milton,  living  1351,  by  a  daughter  of 
Koger  Manston.  The  figure  has  been  finely  engraved 
by  the  late  Mr.  Stothard  in  his  beautiful  work,  "  The 
Sepulchral  Effigies  of  Great  Britain,"  and  represents 
a  knight  of  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
temp.  Edward  III.,  in  a  highly  ornamented  suit  of 
plate  armour;  the  bascinet  is  spherical,  with  an 
escalloped  border,  and  the  camail  is  secured  to  the 
shoulders  by  embossed  plates,  representing  lions' 
heads.  The  jupon,  laced  up  the  right  side,  is 
encircled  by  a  magnificent  military  belt.  The 
dagger  is  gone  on  the  right  side.  The  legs  of  the 
figure  are  crossed,  and  the  feet  rest  on  a  lion,  the 
head  of  which  is  remarkable  for  its  life-like  expres- 
sion. There  is  a  great  similarity  between  this  e^gj 
and  one  in  St.  Peter's,  Sandwich,  erroneously  attri- 
buted to  a  Sir  John  Grove,  who  died  in  the  reign 
of  Henry  VI.  Erom  a  sketch  of  the  latter  in  Addi- 
tional MS.  4579  it  clearly  represents  one  of  the 
Grove  family ;  but  it  is  of  the  same  date  with  this 
at  Ash,  and  certainly  not  later  than  the  time  of 
Richard  II. 


*  The  coat,  as  we  Lave  blazoned  it,  occurs  in  Philipot's  "  Ordinary 
Coll.  of  Arms,"  p.  94,  as  that  of  "  Leverick  of  Carne,  co.  Dorset." 
There  is  also  a  pen-and-ink  sketch  of  this  effigy  in  the  Additional 
MS.  above  quoted,  with  the  arms  distinctly  drawn  both  upon  shield 
and  jupon. 


Plate  8 


'^tj^§-^^^t^i-^ 


'//ciilsrIitK  18  Harron  taiden 


>imtiL  del  etlitti 


Effig}r   of     Sir    JoliTL   Le^enck. 


Platl  9 


m" 


\ 


riT 


^1 


it 


rw-  'W^ 


ilH'fe=^ 


^'-'  ■■  .IP"' 


Fig, 


Grave  stoxi.e   of  Richard     CiLttierow 
and  "Aftfe.    p.   2  0  7. 


Hg.2, 

Bxass   of  JaxLC   Keriel. 
p.   208. 


"WTG-  SraiflL    afil  et  Hth. 


-A'Valier.IithLiaHaLfcon  Garden 


THE    CHTJIICH   AND    ITS   MONUMENTS.  207 

On  the  floor,  and  nearly  in  the  centre  of  the  high 
chancel,  are  the  remains  of  a  fine  brass  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  once  commemorating  Richard  Clitherow,  of 
Ash,  Esquire,  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Goldstanton,  now 
Goldston,  in  this  parish,  Sheriff  of  the  county  of  Kent, 
fourth  and  fifth  of  Henry  lY.,  and  Admiral  of  the 
Seas  from  the  Thames  westward ;  and  his  wife, 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Oldcastle.  Weever  has  pre- 
served the  portion  of  the  inscription  remaining  in  his 
time :  *'  Hie  jacet  ....  Clitherow  Ar.  &  .  .  .  . 
uxor  ejus  filia  Johannis  Oldcastell  qui  obiit  .  .  .  ." — 
(Euneral  Mon.  p.  264.)  The  upper  portion  of  the 
figure  of  the  lady  now  alone  remains,  arrayed  in  kirtle 
and  mantle,  couvrechef  and  barbe,  i.  e.,  a  piece  of  linen 
closely  plaited,  worn  above  the  chin  by  all  noble 
ladies  in  mourning  down  to  the  rank  of  a  baroness, 
and  under  the  chin  by  lords'  daughters  and  knights' 
wives ;  the  inferior  gentry  and  '^  chamberers  "  being 
ordered  to  wear  the  barbe  ''  below  the  throat  goyll," 
that  is,  the  lowest  part  of  the  neck.  In  this  example 
the  barbe  is  represented  as  covering  the  neck,  and 
coming  up  close  under  the  chin,  as  the  daughter  of 
Sir  John  Oldcastle,  who  assumed,  in  right  of  his 
wife,  to  be  Lord  Cobham.  The  Q^^j  of  her  husband 
is  totally  gone,  together  with  one  of  the  crocketed 
canopies,  the  inscription,  the  miniature  effigies  of  six 
children  at  their  feet,  and  four  shields  of  arms,  three 
of  which,  from  a  drawing  in  the  Additional  MS. 
before  quoted,  exhibited  (1)  Clitherow,  three  cups 
covered  within  a  bordure   engrailed,  impaling  Old- 


208  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

castle  ....  a  castle  triple-towered;  (2)  Clitherow 
alone,  and  (3)  Oldcastle  quartering  party  per  pale,  a 
double-headed  eagle  displayed.*  It  is  grievous  to 
look  upon  the  desecrated  slab,  and  think  that  wanton 
mischief  or  paltry  cupidity  should  have  been  suffered 
to  deprive  us  of  siXch  interesting  memorials. 

Side  by  side  with  it  lies  a  similar  record,  which  has 
fortunately  escaped  such  wholesale  spoliation.  It  is 
the  brass  of  Jane,  daughter  of  Eoger  Clitherow,  son 
of  the  Richard  before  mentioned,  and  wife  of  John 
Keriel,  second  son  of  Sir  William,  and  brother  of 
Sir  Thomas  Keriel,  K.G.,  beheaded  1461.  As  nothing 
appears  to  have  been  said  about  the  lady  or  her 
husband  by  any  one  who  has  noticed  her  gravestone, 
we  will  here  briefly  state  that  she  appears  to  have 
been  born  between  the  years  1420  and  1430,  and 
died  before  12th  March,  1454-5,  the  date  of  her 
father's  death,  without  issue  by  her  husband,  who 
was  for  many  years  a  prisoner  in  Prance,  Leland  says 
from  1450  to  1472.  He  married,  secondly,  Elizabeth 
Chiche,  who  survived  him,   and  married  two  other 

*  Harris  says  the  Clitherows  of  Goldston  and  Little  Betshanger 
bore  Argent,  on  a  chevron  gules  between  three  spread-eagles  sable 
five  annulets  or ;  and  Oldcastle,  Per  pale  argent  and  gules  an  eagle 
displayed  counterchanged  ;  but  the  seal  of  Sir  John  Oldcastle, 
attached  to  an  indenture  made  between  him  and  his  wife  Johanna 
on  the  one  part,  and  Sir  Thomas  Brooke  on  the  other,  exhibited 
Quarterly,  1st  and  4th,  a  castle  ;  2nd  and  3rd  Cobham  :  and  it  was 
circumscribed,  "  Sigillum  Johannis  Oldcastle  D'ni  de  Cobham." — 
(MS.  Coll.  Arms,  Philipot,  P.  E.  I.  p.  107.)  The  '^  party  per  pale  and 
eagle  displayed "  coat  was,  as  we  have  seen,  occasionally  quartered 
with  Oldcastle,  and  was  also  in  the  windows  of  Ash  Church. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    ITS    MONUMENTS.  209 

husbands,  but  had  no  issue  by  any,  and  died  in  1499. 
We  have  no  record  of  his  death  or  the  place  of  his 
burial,  but  it  is  not  improbable  that  he  also  was 
buried  here,  as  the  figure  of  a  Keriel  kneeling  in  his 
coat  armour  A¥as  formerly  in  the  windows  of  this 
church,  as  we  have  stated  at  page  189.  She  is  repre- 
sented in  the  full  gown  of  the  period,  girdled  at  the 
waist,  with  wide  sleeves,  and  wearing  what  has  been 
designated  the  mitre-shaped  head-dress  of  the  reign 
of  Henry  YI.,  a  fashion  the  varieties  of  which  are 
almost  innumerable,  and  more  or  less  extravagant, 
according  to  the  caprice  or  taste  of  the  wearer. 
Beneath  the  figure  are  the  following  lines  : — 

Pi'ey  for  the  sowle  of  Jane  Keriell 

Ye  ffrendes  alle  that  forthby  pass 

In  endeles  ijfe  perpetuell 

That  God  it  grawnt  mcy  [mercj|  and  grace. 

Roger  Clitherowe  her  fader  was 

Thowgh  erthe  to  erthe  of  kind  reto^'ne 

Prey  that  the  sowle  in  blisse  sojo^^ne. 

The  slab  was  formerly  adorned  with  four  cscu- 
cheons  of  arms,  long  since  lost,  two  of  which  it  would 
seem  bore  those  of  Keriel  :  Two  chevrons  and  a 
canton,  the  latter  charged  with  a  crescent  for  ditfer- 
ence,  impaling  Clitherow.*      Nearer  the  altar-rails, 

*  Additional  MS.,  Brit.  Mus.,  No.  4579,  wherein  the  effigy  and 
shields  are  rudely  drawn.  The  loss  of  the  other  two  is  the  more  de- 
plorable, as  they  doubtlessly  displayed  the  arms  of  her  own  family, 
and  might  have  accounted  for  those  of "  Wolfe"  displayed  on  the 
mantle  of  "  the  wife  of  Keriell  "   in  the  old  window. 


210  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

and  at  the  foot  of  Richard  Clitherow's  gravestone, 
is  a  slab,  from  which  the  whole  of  the  brasses  haye 
disappeared,  and,  in  fact,  has  been  so  much  injm^ed 
by  time  or  ill  usage,  that  it  is  difficult  to  decide 
whether  it  ever  possessed  more  than  one  brass,  which 
seems  to  have  represented  the  upper  portion  of  a 
male  figure  (whether  in  civil  or  military  habit  we 
will  not  undertake  to  say),  with  an  inscription 
beneath  it. 

This  may  be  the  gravestone  of  Roger  Clitherow, 
son  of  the  above  Richard,  and  father  of  Jane  Keriel, 
who  in  his  will  desires  to  be  buried  "  in  the  quire  of 
St.  Nicholas,  Ashe,"  near  Johanna  [Stoughton],  his 
daughter ;  bequeathing  a  missal  to  the  altar,  and 
ten  marks  for  all  things  necessary  to  it,  and  the 
residue  of  his  estate  to  his  wife  Matilda,  who  is 
appointed  executrix  in  conjunction  with  Thomas 
Hardres  and  John  Oxenden.  His  wife  Matilda,  by 
her  will  proved  in  1457,  also  desired  to  be  buried 
in  the  choir  here  near  her  husband ;  devising  to  John, 
son  of  John  Norrys,  and  Eleanor  his  wife  (who  was 
her  eldest  daughter),  the  whole  suit  of  armour  of  her 
late  husband  ;  a  bequest,  perhaps,  the  more  precious, 
as  it  was  probably  the  one  he  fought  in  at  the  memo- 
rable battle  of  Agincourt.  In  this  chancel  must  also 
have  been  the  tombstone  of  William  Norrys,  of  Ash, 
gentleman,  a  descendant  of  the  above-named  John, 
probably  his  grandson,  who  by  his  will  dated  Sep- 
tember 10,  I486,  and  proved  at  Canterbury  before 
the  Prior  and  Chapter  20th  November  the  same  year. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    ITS    MONUMENTS.  211 

desires  to  be  buried  in  the  cliancel  of  Our  Lady  in  the 
parish  of  Ash,  at  the  south  end  of  the  altar  there, 
that  his  red  cloth  of  Bauderkyn*  be  laid  upon  his 
body  in  the  said  church  of  Ash,  and  is  there  to  remain 
for  a  perpetual  remembrance,  and  a  black  cloth  and 
two  tapers  thereon  set,  to  be  lit  and  burning  in 
the  time  of  saying  Divine  service  there,  to  be  had 
and  ordained  over  his  tomb  for  a  special  remembrance 
of  prayer.  That  a  convenient  stone  be  set  in  the  ivall 
before  his  said  tomb,  under  the  image  of  Mary 
Magdalen  there,  with  an  image  of  the  Trinity  graven 
in  brass,  and  picture  of  his  body  and  arms  therein 
set  for  a  special  remembrance  of  prayer.  No  trace 
of  this  stone  existed  in  the  old  wall  here  specified, 
which  was  thoroughly  repaired  and  partially  rebuilt 
in  1861.  Nor  can  we  venture  to  speculate  on  the 
position  which  the  image  of  Mary  Magdalen  occupied 
at  the  period  in  question.  It  is  probable  they  both 
disappeared  at  the  Reformation. 

There  were  several  other  dilapidated  gravestones 
on  the  floor  of  the  chancel,  which  were  taken  up 
during  the  recent  repairs ;  but  being  for  the  most  part 
broken,  as  well  as  entirely  destitute  of  any  traces  of 
sculpture  or  inscription,  it  was  not  thought  necessary 
to  replace  them. 

On  the  north  wall  of  the  chancel  is  the  following 
inscription  on   a  mural  tablet,   surmounted  by  the 

*  BaldekiD,  a  rich  stuff  originally  manufactured  at  Baldeck,  whence 
the  name.  The  French  call  a  canopy  baldaquin,  from  the  material 
of  which  it  is  composed. 

p  2 


212  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

arms  of  Cartwrigkt :    Or,  a  fess  embattled  between 
three  cartwheels  sable ;  crest,  a  griffin's  head  erased. 

In  a  vault  in  this  Chancell 

lieth  interr'd 

the  body  of  M^'^  Eliz.  Cartwright,  widdow, 

who 

departed  this  life  Decemb^-  2^^  1713. 

As  also  of  Jervas  Cartwright,  Esq^^ 
her  only  son,  who  died  A|/  6*^  1721. 

And  M^"s  Eleanor  and  M^"^  Ann  Cartwright, 

her  daughters,  who  died 

the  one  Jan  20*^      | 

theother  Febyl9t^/  ^^^^-^ 

At  their  desirs  this  Chancell  was 

beautified  and  adorn'd  and  by  their 

order  a  Charity  school  was 

erected  in  this  Parish  and  munificently 

endow'd  for  ever. 

Inasmuch  as  you  have  done  it  unto  one 

of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye 

have  done  unto  Me. 

St  Matt.  C.  25th  Y.  40. 

Blessed  are  the  dead  what  dye  in  the 

Lord,  for  they  rest  from  their  labours 

and  their  works  doe  follow  them. 

On  the  floor  of  the  chancel,  within  the  altar-rails,  is 
an  additional  memorial  of  these  worthy  persons,  in 
the  shape  of  one  of  the  most  singularly  constructed 
Latin  epitaphs  we  have  ever  met  with. 

'^  Old  style;  we  should  say  1722. 


THE    CHURCH   AND    ITS   MONUMENTS.  213 

H.  S.  E. 

Gervasius  Cartwright,  Armiger, 

Londini  natus 

Hujusce  Parochise  dum  vixit 

Decus  et  tutamen.     Qui 

fin  Deum  pietatem 

c..  j  In  cosjnatos  charitatem  I  .^^ 

Smceram  i  -r  ■,       ^  .      .  \  ita  exercuit. 

In  egenos  beneiicientiam 

In  omnes  deniq'  morum  suavitatem 

Ut  non  magis  omnibus  peramatus  vixerit. 

Quam  desideratus  Occident 

Yitam  tranquille  instituendo  semper  felix  evasit 

Tandem  sequa  animi  serenitate  deponendo  felicior 

Cum  enim  mors  ipsa 

Apertis  armata  terroribus 

Certum  intenderet  telum 

Mira  constantia 

Crudelem  imperterritus  excepit  Ictum 

Et  Deo  conservatori 

Animam  placidissime  reddidit 

Ingens  sane  X^anse  Fortitudinis  Exemplum 

nee  vanum  futures  illius 

quam  animitus  anhelabat 

Felicitatis  Indicium 

In  Pauperiorum  hujus  Parochise  Alumnorum  Eruditionem. 

....  impendendas  in  perpetuum  reliquit. 

Obiit  6  die  Aprilis, 

Anno  j^'o-i"*  1721- 
C  ^tatis  44. 

Juxta  hoc  locum  conduntur  reliquiae 

Dilectissimarum  Sororum 

Eleonor^  J 

et         >  Cartwright,  Virginum, 

Ann^     j 

Quae  ne  nimium  diu  tarn  cbaro  capite  carerent 

Post  decem  menses  morte 

Fratrum  libenter  secutse  sunt 

Ilia  20  die  Januarii  >    .  -p.      •   •  i^,i    zrii.  j.    f  47 

H^c  19  Februarii    }  ^"•^°  ^°"'^"  ^^H  ^*^*-  {  46 


214  A   CORNER   01'    KENT. 

Above  it  the  arms  of  Cartwrigbt,  as  in  the  mural 
tablet. 

On  the  east  end  of  the  south  wall  of  chancel,  facing 
Mr.  Cartwright's  :— 

In  a  vault  in  this  Chancell 

lieth  interred 

The  body  of  Henry  Egberts,  Esq^" 

Grandson  of  Sir  W^  Roberts 

Of  Wilsden  in  y<^  County  of  Middlesex^  Bar* 

who  died  Feby  25^^  1718. 

He  had  issue  by  Susanna  his  wife  three 

sons  and  two  daughters  viz  :  Catherine,  Henry, 

Harry,  Susanna  and  Henry  of  which  y^  first 

and  the  last  only  surviv'd ;  the  rest  are 

with  him  in  the  same  vault. 

As  also  M^^  Eleanor  Roberts  his  Sister 

who  died  Feb!  1^^  1719. 

"  Come  ye  beloved  of  my  Father  inherit  the 

Kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the 

Foundation  of  the  World."     S^  Mat.  c.  25,  v.  34. 

In  the  same  vault  is  also  interr'd  the 

body  of  M^s   Susanna   Roberts,   late 

wife  of  the  above  Henry  Roberts  Esq^. 

Obiit  the   IV^  of  Feby   1730.     Mb.   44. 

Arms :  Argent,  three  pheons  sable,  on  a  chief  of 
the  second  a  greyhound  courant  of  the  first, 
Roberts ;  impaling,  argent,  on  a  mound  vert  a  bull 
gules.     Crest :  A  greyhound  sejant  argent. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    ITS    MONUMENTS.  215 

In  Memory  of 

Edward  Solly  Esq^' ; 

of  London,  a  descendant 

of  the  Solly's  formerly  of 

Pedding  and  the  Moat 

in  this  Parish,  who  died 

30*^  March  1792  aged 

63  years. 

Also  Samuel  Solly  Esq^"  of  London, 

his  brother  who  died  5*^  of  Jany  1807, 

aged  79  years. 

And  of  Sarah  Solly  wife  of 

Samuel  Solly,  who  died 

14th  of  November  1805, 

Aged  59  years. 


In  memory  of 

Thomas  Coleman, 

of  Goss  Hall  in  this  Parish,  where  he  resided 

during  the  last  thirty-eight  years  of  his  life. 

He  died  February  23^,  1856,  aged  67  years. 


NORTH   WALL   OP    CHANCEL. 

In  memory  of 

William  Brett,  Esq^^,* 

Cap*  of  the    Hoyal    Navy, 

Late  of  Guilton  in  this  Parish, 

who  died  Jany  y^  19  1769, 

Aged  51. 

Frances  his  Wife  (who 

erected  this  monument)  died 

Jany  11,  1773,  aged  39. 

W.    F.    Brett    their    son 

died  March  y^  17  1779, 

Aged  13. 

Frances  their  daughter  died  July  14  1778,  aged  23. 


*  He  was  brother  of  Sir  Percy  (or  Percival)  Brett,  Knt.,  M.P.  for 
Queensborough  28th  Geo.  11.  and  1st  &  7th  Geo.  III. 


216  A    CORNER    OP    KENT. 

Above  the  inscription  are  the  arms  of  Brett:  Argent, 
a  lion  rampant  gules,  an  orle  of  cross-crosslets  fitchee 
of  the  2nd ;  impaling,  argent,  on  a  cheyron  gules 
between  three  lion's  jambs  sable  as  many  crescents 
or,  for  Harvey. 


Sacred  to  the  Memory  of 

John  Godfrey  Esq^, 

of  Brooke  House  in  this  Parish, 

Magistrate  and  Deputy  Lieutenant  of  the  County  of  Kent, 

who  died  January  26*^  1861,  aged  71. 

His  truest  memorial  is  in  the  hearts  of  his  Family, 

his  friends,  and  the  people  of  this  parish. 

*'  The  path  of  the  just  is  as  the  shining  light  that 

shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day." 

Prov.  iv.  18. 

Also  to 

Augusta  Frances  Elizabeth, 

eldest  and  beloved  daughter  of  the  above, 

who  died  May  15^^,  1861,  aged  36. 

"  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall 

see  God."     Matt.  v.  8. 

Arms  :  Azure,  a  chevron  or  between  three  pelican's 
heads,  erased.  Crest :  A  demi-man  naked,  holding 
in  his  right  hand  a  cross-crosslet.  Motto  :  ''  Corde 
Eixam/' 


THE    CHURCH    AND    ITS   MONUMENTS.  217 

Sacred  to  the  Memory  of 

Arthuk  William  Godfrey, 

second  sod  of  John  and  Augusta  Isabella  Godfrey, 

of  Brooke  House  in  this  Parish. 

Born  at  S*  Hillier's  Jersey,  Jany  W\  1829 ; 

Entered  2^  Batt.  Kifle  Brigade  as  2^^  Lieut.  Dec'^  30th,  1845, 

from  H.M.  College,  Sandhurst  j 

Served  in  Nova  Scotia  and  Lower  Canada, 

and  as  Lieut.  1^*  Batt.  in  the  Kaffir  War,  1852-53, 

for  which  he  obtained  the  Medal. 

Served  also  with  distinction  in  the  Crimea, 

and  gained  the  medal  and  clasps  for 

Alma,  Balaclava,  Inkerman. 

Died  on  27^^  of  Nov^,  1854,  of  Cholera,  in  Camp  before  Sebastopol. 

His  brother  officers  in  affectionate  commemoration, 

of  his  worth  and  gallantry, 

erected  a  stone  over  his  grave  on 

Cathcart's  Hill. 


"  The  righteous  hath  hope  in  his  death." 


This  monument  is  erected  by  those  to  whom  alone  his  value 
and  endearing  qualities  were  fully  known. 


Same  arms  as  on  the  last» 


ON   THE    FLOOR   OF   THE    CHANCEL. 

Benjamin  Longley,  LL.B. 

Minister  of  y^®  Parish  29  years  ; 

Also  Yicar  of  Eynsford 

and  of  Tongue. 

Died  6tii  Feb.  1783, 

aged  68. 

Frances  Longley, 

sister  of  the  above,  born 

31  Oct.  1729  ;  died  26th  Dec^ 

1813. 


218  A   GORNEH   OF   KENT. 

Beneath  lies 
the  remaiDS  of 
Joseph  Smith, 

late  Curate 

of  this  Parish. 

Died  May  22,  1817, 

aged  32  years. 

Passing  into  the  MoUand^  or  St.  Nicholas  chancel, 
the  eye  is  attracted  by  the  fine  alabaster  effigies  of  a 
knight  and  lady  upon  an  altar-tomb  under  a  canopy 
against  the  north  wall,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the 
window.  These  noble  examples  of  the  sculpture  of 
the  fifteenth  century  represent  John  Septvans,  Esquire 
of  the  Body  to  King  Henry  VI.,  and  founder  of  a 
chantry  here,  who  died  A.D.  1458,  and  his  wife, 
Katherine,  who  died  in  1498.  This  John  Septvans 
was  the  son  of  John  Septvans,  of  St.  Lawrence  and 
Constance  St.  Nicholas,  and  nephew  of  Joan  Septvans, 
wife  of  Sir  John  Leverick,  of  Ash,  whose  effigy  imme- 
diately facing  we  have  recently  described.  "  Kateryn 
Martin,  of  the  town  of  Feversham,  widow,"  by  her 
will  dated  14  April,  1495,  and  proved  19  January, 
1498,  desires  to  be  buried  ''in  the  parish  church  of 
Ash,  in  the  same  tomb  where  the  body  of  John 
Septvans,  her  husband,  resteth."  She  bequeaths 
to  the  chantry  of  the  Upper  Hall,  founded  by  her 
husband,  for  ever,  20  shillings  annually  of  ''  the  land 
which  lyeth,  or  beith  next  to  the  said  chantry,"  upon 
this  condition,  that  there  be  kept  annually  in  the 
parish  church  of  Ash  an  obit  for  the  souls  of  her 
relations  and  friends.     That  after  the  decease  of  her 


Platl  10 


Sinitb    del  "t  hlk 


Effigies  of  Jolm.   Septvaiis  EscF®   &-  liis  Wile 

^  \no  ^  -L  ^^''"    "   ^-'■-.  I"  Batten  (Jaiden. 

p.  Clio. 


THE    CHURCH   AND    ITS   MONUMENTS.  219 

daughter,  Edythe  Wygmere  (Wigmore),  the  manor 
of  Short  (Shoart)  be  divided  among  the  daughters  of 
her  son,  John  Wygmere,  viz.,  Margaret,  Elizabeth, 
Anne,  and  Beatrix ;  each  of  them  to  have  portion 
alike,  and  to  be  each  other's  heirs ;  and,  if  all  decease 
unmarried,  then  the  same  to  be  distributed  towards 
maiden's  marriages,  highways,  and  other  charitable 
deeds.* 

To  return  to  our  effigies.  The  male  figure  is 
in  the  full  military  costume  of  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  consisting  of  a  complete  suit 
of  plate  armour,  with  elegantly  designed  knee  and 
elbow  pieces;  the  thighs  protected  by  what  were 
termed  tuilles,  fastened  by  straps  and  buckles  to 
the  taces  or  tassets  ;  horizontal  bands  of  steel 
forming  a  sort  of  skirt  to  the  breast-plate,  over  which, 
at  this  period,  was  worn  a  tabard  of  arms,  with 
sleeves  nearly  to  the  elbow,  and  open  at  the  side  from 
the  hips.t  Eound  his  neck  is  a  collar  of  SS.,  denoting 
his  rank  of  Esquire  of  the  Body  to  the  sovereign. 
The  hair  is  cut  close  above  the  ears,  a  fashion  intro- 


*  Prerog.  Office,  Canterbury.  In  Sittingbourne  Church  was  for- 
merly "On  a  fayre  Alabaster  Tomb"  this  : — "Pray  for  y^  soul  of 
John  Sepuans,  Esq'",  of  y^  Isle  of  Thanett,  sonne  of  John  Sepuans,  of 
this  Parish,  Esq'^,  and  for  the  soule  of  Katharine  his  wife,  w^^  Jo^ 
dyed  ye  28  Decemb'*,  1458."— (Harleian  MS.,  No.  3917.) 

t  The  drawing  of  this  effigy  in  the  Additional  MS.,  so  often  quoted,, 
shows  the  three  fans  on  the  tabard.  The  monument  is  described  as 
*'  a  very  large  tomb  in  the  north  chancel  in  the  wall,  of  a  second 
brother  of  the  Sepvans,  who  lies  in  his  coat  of  arms  with  a  collar  of 
SS  about  his  neck.     He  dwelt  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet." 


220  A   CORNER   or    KENT. 

duced  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century;  and 
the  head,  represented  partially  bald,  reposes  on  a 
tilting  helmet  supported  by  angels,  and  surmounted 
by  the  torse,  or  wreath,  out  of  which  issues  the  crest 
of  this  branch  of  the  family,  the  head  of  a  fish  erect, 
or  hawiant,  as  it  is  termed  in  heraldry  ;  those  of  the 
Harfleet  line  bearing  an  entire  fish — "  a  bream  in  its 
proper  colours"  (Yinct.  145,  Coll.  Arms),  in  a  hori- 
zontal position,  or  naiant,  i.e.,  swimming.*  The  feet 
of  the  effigy,  in  pointed  sollerets,  rest  upon  a  couchant 
lion.  The  cuffs  of  the  gauntlets,  and  the  edges  of  the 
jambs,  or  leg-pieces,  have  a  richly  ornamented  border. 
The  openings  between  the  jambs  and  the  sollerets 
are  protected  by  gussets  of  chain  ;  and  a  thick  gorget 
of  chain  protects  the  neck.  The  sword,  somewhat 
mutilated,  is  on  the  left  of  the  figure  ;  and  the  dagger, 
the  hilt  of  which  is  gone,  as  well  as  the  belt  by  which 
it  was  suspended,  lies  on  the  right.  The  lady  is 
represented  in  the  dress  of  a  noble  widow,  ''  barbed 
above  the  chin,"  with  an  ample  veil,  and  wearing  a 
kirtle  with  tight  sleeves  buttoned  at  the  wrist,  over 
which  is  a  very  full-skirted  surcoat,  reaching  in 
graceful  folds  to  the  feet,  and  itself  surmounted  by  a 
mantle  of  state,  with  cords  and  tassets  dependent. 
At  her  feet  are  the  remains  of  a  small  headless 
animal — probably  a  dog.  The  lady's  head  reposes  on 
two   square  cushions,   tasselled  at   the  corners,  the 

*  By  another  authority  it  is  called  " a  chevin,"  i.e.,  a  chub,  and 
we  incline  to  think  that  this  is  its  most  correct  designation,  for 
reasons  we  shall  adduce  in  our  5th  chapter. 


THE    CHURCH   AND    ITS    MONUMENTS.  221 

upper  one  placed  diamond  fashion,  and  supported  by 
angels.  On  each  side  of  the  recess  in  which  the  tomb 
stands  are  places  formerly  occupied  by  shields  of  arms. 
The  tomb  itself,  of  dark  grey  marble,  is  simply 
ornamented  with  quatrefoils.  Here,  again,  we  have 
to  deplore  tlie  loss  of  the  armorial  bearings,  which,  in 
this  case,  prevents  our  perfectly  clearing  up  one  of 
the  mysteries  both  genealogical  and  architectural  of 
this  interesting  memoriaL  In  the  first  place,  these 
effigies  are  declared  not  to  belong  to  the  altar-tomb 
on  which  they  now  are  placed ;  and  that  the  tomb 
itself,  as  well  as  the  effigies,  have  been  removed  from 
some  other  part  of  the  church* — the  now  demolished 
chapel  or  aisle  on  the  south  side  of  it,  as  supposed  by 
some  who  have  taken  an  interest  in  the  subject ;  and 
in  the  second  place,  there  is  much  confusion  and 
misunderstanding  respecting  the  lady  presumed  to  be 
represented  by  the  female  effigy. 

Had  all  the  shields  of  arms  been  fortunately  pre- 
served, they  must  have  thrown  some  light  on  both 
these  questions.  One,  however,  and  a  most  important 
one,  was  existing  in  1760,  when  it  was  drawn  by 
Mr.  Bryan  Eaussett.  It  was  the  small  one  in  the 
point  of  the  arch  above  the  monument,  and  displayed 

*  It  is  worth  noting  that  the  tomb  which  formerly  existed  in 
Sittingbourne  Church,  and  on  which  was  an  inscription  respecting  this 
very  John  Septvans  and  Katharine  his  wife,  was  of  "  fayre  alabaster," 
as  are  their  effigies  here.  Is  it  possible  that  the  effigies  were 
removed  previous  to  1613  from  Sittingbourne  to  this  church,  and 
placed  on  the  tomb  of  Purbeck  marble  in  or  under  which  the  bodies 
were  actually  deposited  ? 


^22  A   COHNER   OE    KENT. 

Septvans  impaling  a  fess  between  three  fleurs-de-lys  in 
chief,  and  three  fishes  naiant  in.  base,  giyen  by  Philipot 
as  the  arms  of  Kirton.  If  the  effigies  did  not  originally 
repose  under  the  canopy  which  now  overhangs  them, 
either  on  the  tomb  at  present  there,  or  on  a  similar 
one,  the  armorial  bearings  within  the  recess  and 
above  it  would,  in  all  reasonable  probability,  have 
proclaimed  them  intruders.  On  the  contrary,  if 
rightfully  entitled  to  rest  there,  the  family  of  the 
lady  (there  can  be  no  doubt  about  her  husband) 
might  have  been  satisfactorily  ascertained.  At  present 
we  can  only  draw  our  conclusions  from  the  solitary 
shield  just  mentioned,  the  vague  wording  of  the  will 
we  have  just  quoted,  and  some  Church  Notes  by 
Philipot  in  the  Harleian  Collection,  British  Museum, 
No.  3917,  from  which  we  gather  that  she  was  by 
birth  a  Kirton ;  that  after  the  death  of  John  Septvans, 
Esq.,  December  28,  1458,  she  married  a  gentleman 
named  Wigmore,  by  whom  she  had  a  son,  John,  who 
died  October  23,  1492,  leaving  by  his  wife  Edith 
three  daughters,  who,  with  their  mother,  were  all 
living  in  1495  ;  and  that  after  the  decease  of  Katha- 
rine's second  husband,  Wigmore,  she  married  thirdly 
....  Martin,  of  Eeversham,  dead  in  1495,  in  the 
April  of  which  year  she  made  her  will  as  his  widow, 
and  desired  to  be  buried  with  her  husband,  John 
Septvans,  at  Ash.  The  evidence  in  support  of  this 
view  will  be  found  more  fully  detailed  in  our  fifth 
chapter  by  those  who  are  inclined  to  pursue  the 
subject ;  but  we  by  no  means  consider  it  conclusive. 


THE    CHURCH   AND    ITS   MONUMENTS.  223 

The  effigy  of  the  lady  on  this  tomb  is,  as  we  have 
remarked,  hsLrhed  above  the  chin,  a  distinction  limited 
at  the  time  of  the  decease  of  Katharine  Martyn  to 
ladies  not  lower  in  rank  than  the  wishes  of  barons,  by 
the  funeral  ordinances  of  Margaret  Tudor,  mother  of 
King  Henry  VII.  That  sumptuary  laws  were  con- 
tinually evaded  we  admit ;  but  the  sculptor's  object 
would  be,  of  course,  to  indicate  correctly  the  rank  of 
the  person  commemorated,  and  neither  as  the  wife 
of  Septvans,  Wigmore,  or  Martyn,  could  Katharine 
Kirton  have  been  entitled  to  such  a  distinction. 
We  have  just  pointed  out  to  the  reader  the  strict 
attention  paid  to  this  apparently  trivial  point  in  the 
brass  of  the  daughter  of  Sir  John  Oldcastle.  Two 
questions  therefore  suggest  themselves  :  (1)  Is  the 
effigy  that  of  Katharine  ?  (2)  Are  the  arms 
those  of  Kirton  ?  She  might  be  buried  according 
to  her  directions,  in  her  husband's  tomb ;  but  it  does 
not  follow  that  she  was  his  only  wife.  He  might 
have  had  a  previous  one  of  higher  rank  ;  and  the  fact 
of  Katharine  having  survived  him  forty  years,  is 
strongly  indicative  of  his  having  been  considerably 
her  senior,  and  therefore  likely  to  have  been  a  widower 
at  the  time  of  their  marriage.  As  yet  we  have  failed 
to  discover  a  family  of  Kirton,  bearing  the  arms 
attributed  to  them.  Philipot,  in  his  Church  Notes 
(Harleian  MS.  3917),  describing  the  tomb  at  Sitting- 
bourne,  says  doubtfully  :  "  her  arms ...  Kirton  ?,"  and 
speaks  of  ''4  escocheons,  3  gon,  and  y^  fourth,  the 
which  is  y^  armes  of  Valoynesy   further  research  may 


224  A    CORNER    OP    KENT. 

yet  decide  this  question.  I  will  only  add,  respecting  the 
original  position  of  these  effigies,  that  John  Brooke,  of 
whom  we  shall  presently  have  to  speak,  desires  in  his 
will  in  1582  to  be  buried  in  St.  Nicholas'  chancel, 
''  under  the  north  window,  hy  Sepham^s  tomb,  close 
by  the  wall.  Now,  if  Sepham  be,  as  it  is  considered, 
one  of  the  many  corruptions  of  the  name  of  Septvans, 
the  position  of  Brooke's  gravestone  proves  that  the 
tomb,  at  any  rate,  was  not  far  from  that  spot  in  1582  ; 
but,  as  if  purposely  to  complicate  matters,  there  was 
a  knightly  Kentish  family  of  the  name  of  Sepham, 
whose  arms  were  semee  of  cross-crosslets,  three  roses, 
and  who  matched  with  the  Cobhams  and  other  families 
of  distinction  in  this  county ;  and  it  is  not,  of  course, 
impossible,  that  a  Sepham  may  have  been  buried 
at  Ash  in  the  fourteenth  or  fifteenth  century.  The 
cruel  despoliation  the  recess  and  canopy  have  under- 
gone in  the  abstraction  of  the  shields  of  arms,  which 
could  have  enlightened  us,  cannot  be  sufficiently 
deplored  or  reprobated. 

On  the  floor  of  this  chancel  at  the  back  of  the 
Goshall  monument,  is  a  large  slab  with  brasses  in 
tolerable  preservation,  commemorating  Christopher 
Septvans,  alias  Harfleet,  of  Molland,  Esquire,  and 
his  wife,  the  daughter  of  Thomas  Hendley,  in  some 
documents  called  Margaret,  and  in  others  Maria  and 
Mercy. 

The  brass  fillet  on  which  was  the  description  of 
the  persons  represented  has  been  partially  destroyed. 
It  reads  at  present  as  follows : — '*Hic  jacent  corpora 


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THE    CHURCH   AND    ITS   MONUMENTS.  225 

Christopher!  Septvans  alias  Harflete   de  MoUand  in 
Ash,  Armigeri  qui  natus  fuit  xx°  die  Julii  .... 

Hendley  de  Offam 

Amig^ri  quse  nata  fuit  xxix  Septembris  1530  et 
obiit  xxvii  die  Maii,  1602."  We  have,  therefore, 
neither  the  date  of  Christopher's  death,  nor  the 
Christian  name  of  his  wife  preserved  to  us ;  but  con- 
sidering the  vrholesale  spoliation  in  other  instances, 
we  cannot  be  too  grateful  for  what  remains  in  the 
present.  Christopher  Harfleet,  we  know  from  other 
sources,  died  in  1575.  His  widow,  who  had  been 
previously  the  wife  of  Edmond  Eowler,  of  Islington, 
Esq.,*  survived  him,  therefore,  twenty-seven  years. 
In  one  of  the  windows  at  Holland,  over  the  arms, 
may  clearly  be  deciphered  ''  Ma — rcie  filia  T. 
Hend  .  .  .  le  armigeri"  (^vide  page  119) ;  while  in 
another  it  appears  like  '^  Mar — r^^."  In  the  Burial 
E^egister,  under  the  date  of  May  27,  1602  (the  very 
day  of  her  death  according  to  the  monumental  in- 
scription), the  entry  is  ''Mercie  Harflete  Widdow;" 
and  as  her  son  Walter  had  a  daughter  named  Mercy, 
and  we  do  not  find  the  name  of  Margaret  given  to 
any  of  her  children,  we  think  we  may  lean  to  the 
side  of  Mercy  without  any  detriment  to  justice. t 

*  By  whom  she  had  three  sons  and  one  daughter,  viz.,  Sir  Thomas 
Fowler,  Kt.,  of  Walmestone,  John,  and  Edmond,  who  died  without 
issue,  and  Alicia,  the  wife  of  Edmund  Oxenden,  of  Winghara,  Esq. — 
(MSS.  Coll.  Arms;  Philipot,  26-27  ;  Vincent,  119  ;  and  J.  P.,  Q^.) 

t  In  her  will  (Prerog.  Office,  Canterbury)  the  name  is  written  Mary 
in  the  first  folio,  and  Marcy  in   the  following  on-e ;  and  a  marginal 

Q 


226  A    CORNER    OF    KENT. 

The  figures  of  Christopher  and  his  wife  are  engraved 
with  much  feeling  and  spirit.  He  is  in  armour,  but 
bare-headed  and  looking  towards  the  lady.  His  beard 
is  peaked,  a  ruff  close  round  the  neck  surmounts 
the  gorget.  The  breastplate  has  the  projecting  ter- 
mination characteristic  of  that  period,  in  which 
it  took  the  shape  of  what  was  called  ''  the  peasecod 
bellied  doublet "  of  the  civilian.  The  pauldrons  (i.  e, 
shoulder-plates)  are  very  large ;  and  long  tassets, 
rounded  at  the  bottom,  are  suspended  from  the 
breastplate  and  strapped  over  the  trunk-hose;  leg- 
pieces  and  round-toed  sollerets  complete  the  defence 
of  the  person.  The  pommel  of  the  hilt  of  the 
dagger  which,  according  to  the  fashion  of  that  day, 
is  worn  horizontally  at  the  back,  is  just  visible  on 
the  right,  and  a  long  sword  with  a  bow  guard  hangs 
straight  beside  him  on  the  left,  the  point  resting  on 
the  ground.  In  his  right  hand,  raised  to  his  breast, 
he  holds  a  small  prayer-book. 

The  lady  wears  that  peculiar  cap  which  is  popularly 
called  "  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,"  a  large  ruff,  and  cover- 
ing for  the  neck  called  a  partlet,  a  peaked  stomacher, 
an  ample  gown  with  turnover  collar,  open  in  front, 
and  displaying  a  richly  embroidered  petticoat. 

Over  the  head  of  each  figure  is  a  shield  of  arms. 
The  one  on  the  right  displaying  three  winnowing 
screens  or  fans,  the  later  coat  of  Septvans;  and  that 

note  is  made  in  the  book  (No.  59,  folio  69)  to  that  effect.  From 
this  document,  dated  14th  of  May,  44th  Queen  Elizabeth  (1602),  we 
learn  that  these  fine  brasses  were  executed  by  her  own  order. 


THE    CHURCH   AND   ITS    MONUMENTS.  227 

on  the  left  the  same  impaling  Hendley  of  Otham, 
quartering  Argent,  a  saltier  raguly  between  four 
torteaux,  on  a  chief  azure  a  hind  couchant,  or : 
Hendley  of  Coseburne  (?). 

Between  the  figures,  in  a  square,  is  a  large  shield 
of  quarterings  of  the  Harfleet  family,  corresponding 
with  that  formerly  in  the  church  window,  with 
helmet,  crest  (the  fish  nalant),  and  mantlings. 
Below  the  figures  are  the  following  lines  : — 

"  Quid  genus  humanu  sine  Ohristo  pulvis  et  umbra 

Limus,  fax,  fumus,  debita  massa  neci 
Quid  genus  humanu  in  Christo,  divina  propago 

Christi  solius  morte  redempta  Deo. 
Ergo  nosce  Deum,  Christum  cole,  sperne  caduca. 

Sterna  vita  morte  fruere  pia." 

Below  these  lines  again  there  are  two  cavities  in 
the  stone  where  small  oblong  brasses  have  been 
fastened,  most  probably  engraved  with  figures  of 
their  children. 

Close  beside  Christopher  and  Mercy  Harfleet  lie 
the  bodies  of  Walter  their  son,  and  his  wife  Jane 
Challoner.  The  brasses  are  in  perfect  preservation, 
representing  Walter  and  his  wife  with  their  respective 
shields  of  arms,  and,  in  miniature,  their  three  sons 
Thomas,  Walter,  and  John ;  and  their  three  daughters, 
Jane,  Mercy,  and  Joan.  The  inscription,  which  is 
complete,  reads  as  follows :  ''  Hie  jacet  corpus 
Walteri  Septvans  alias  Harflete  de  Cheker  in 
Parochia  de  Ash  Armigeri  qui  natus  fuit  die  Set' 
Michaelis  A.D.  1567  &  obiit  4"  die  Junii  1642,  & 

Q  2 


228  A   CORNER   OE    KENT. 

Jana  uxor  ejus  filia  Johannis  Challoner  de  Pulham 
Armigeri  quae  nata  fuit  23^  Julii  1576  &  obiit 
4°  die  Decembris  1626."  Walter  is  represented  in 
the  civil  dress  of  a  gentleman  of  the  reign  of  Charles  I. 
He  wears  long  hair  and  peaked  beard,  a  short-waisted 
doublet  with  tabs,  full  breeches,  stockings,  and  shoes 
with  large  shoe-strings,  a  very  deep  rehato  or  fall- 
ing collar,  and  a  long  full  cloak  over  his  shoulders. 
In  his  right  hand  he  holds  a  small  prayer-book. 

His  wife  is  represented  with  a  large  veil  over  her 
cap  or  coif;  a  full  gown,  with  short,  loose  sleeves;  a 
boddice,  with  tabs,  encircled  with  a  girdle  tied  in  a 
precise  bow,  and  a  large  falling  collar.  She  holds  a 
small  prayer-book  in  her  right  hand,  and  a  kerchief 
in  her  left.  Over  the  head  of  the  male  figure  is  a 
shield,  with  the  three  fans  and  a  mullet  for  difiPerence. 
Over  that  of  the  female,  the  same  impaling  three 
mascles  and  a  chief — the  arms  of  Challoner. 

Between  them,  in  a  circle,  is  a  shield  of  quarterings 
of  the  Harfieet  family,  as  in  the  adjacent  brass,  with 
helmet,  crest,  and  mantlings.  Beneath  the  figures 
are  the  following  lines  : — 

"  Nominis  egregium  decus  et  solidata  propago. 

Nunc  ciuis  (amplexus  conjugis  ossa)  jacet 
Quam  bene  disposuit  commissa  charismata  servns 

Si  fas  sit  dicas,  utilis  ille  fuit 
Impiger  et  prudens  vitee  documenta  reliquit 

Et  moriente  omnes  hinc  dedicere  mori." 

On  the  south  wall,  at  the  east  end,  over  the  effigy 
of  Sir  John  Leverick,  is  a  mural  m.onument  to  Sir 


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THE    CHURCH   AND    ITS   MONUMENTS.  229 

Thomas  Harfleet  (the  elder  brother  of  Walter)  and 
his  second  wife,  Bennet  Berisford.  The  figures  of  Sir 
Thomas  and  his  lady  are  represented  kneeling.  He 
is  in  armour  similar  to  that  of  his  father,  Christoplier, 
and  the  lady  in  the  full  costume  of  her  period,  with 
Prench  hood,  ample  rufiF,  and  farthingale.  In  front 
of  the  prie-dieu,  between  them,  is  a  shield  of  arms  : 
Harfleet  impaling  Berisford.  Over  the  head  of  Sir 
Thomas  are  the  arms  of  his  father  and  mother 
(Septyans  impaling  Hendley),  and  oyer  those  of  Lady 
Harfleet  the  arms  of  her  parents  (Berisford  impaling 
gules  six  plates,  each  charged  with  a  fleur-de-lys 
sable.)  (Kniyet?)  Between  these  shields  is  the 
following  inscription  : — 

Here  lyethe  y^  bodyes  of  S^  Thomas 

Septvans  al's  Harflete  of  Molland  in 

this  P'ishe  Knight  who  died  ye 

\bla7iJc  left  for  date] 
and  the  Ladye  Bennet  his  wife 
daughter  of  Michael  Berisford  of 
Westerham  in  y^  county  of  Kent 

Esquier  which  Lady  Bennet 

dyed  y^  2^  daye  of  July  A^  Dni 

1612  being  of  the  age  of 

46  years. 

On  that  portion  of  the  base  of  the  monument 
immediately  under  the  figure  of  Lady  Harfleet,  are 
sculptured  seyen  female  children,  all  arrayed  like 
the  mother,  but  the  four  first  and  the  last  much 
smaller  than  the  other  two,  and  carrying  skulls  in 
their  hands.     The  two  largest  are  no  doubt  intended 


230  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

to  represent  her  daughters  E/Ose  and  Jane,  who 
married  Tripp  and  Toldervey.  The  other  five,  children 
deceased  in  her  lifetime — viz.,  an  infant  buried 
March  12,  1585— Elizabeth,  baptized  April  25,  1598, 
and  buried  Sept.  27,  1599 — and  Katharine,  Susan, 
and  Hose,  who  all  three  died  in  one  month,  August, 
1593.  The  corresponding  side  is  blank,  but  may 
originally  have  contained  the  figures  of  the  sons, 
Michael  and  Christopher.* 

In  a  line  with  this,  at  the  west  end  of  the  south  wall, 
is  the  often  mentioned.  Toldervey  monument.  Chris- 
topher Toldervey  and  his  wife  Jane  (daughter  of  Thos. 
Harfleet  and  the  Lady  Bennet  just  spoken  of)  are 
similarly  represented  kneeling,  one  on  each  side  of  a 
prie-dieu:  the  husband  in  the  civil  costume  of  a 
gentleman  of  the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  wearing  doublet,  full  breeches,  cloak,  and 
ruff.  The  wife  in  Erench  hood,  gown,  mantle,  and 
ruff.     Beneath  them  this  inscription  : — 

Here  lye  the  the  body  of  Christopher  Toldervey  of  Chartham 
Sonne  &  heire  of  Christopli^'  Toldery  late  of  London  Esq'" 
deceased  ;  he  had  to  wife  Jane  daiight^'  to  Sir  Thomas 
Harefleete  K*  with  whom  not  longer  livinge  hee 

depi'ted  this  life  y"-  25*^  of  April  1618. 

in  y^  32^^  year  of  his  age  in  acknowledgement  of 

whose  kind  love  as  well  y^  said  Jane  his  wife  as 

Kichard  Camden  Gent,  his  kiasman  have  caused 

this  remembrance  of  him  to  be  here  erected. 


*  Mr.  Bryan  Faussett,  in  1760,  says,  "  The  marble  under  the  man 
on  which  I  imagine  were  the  figures  of  the  sons,  is  lost." 


THE    CHURCH   AND   ITS   MONUMENTS.  231 

Above  the  monument  is  a  shield  of  arms,  with 
helmet  and  crest,  displaying  the  armorial  bearings  of 
Toldervey :  Azure,  a  fess  or  in  chief,  two  cross- 
crosslets  fitchee  of  the  second.  Crest :  A  dexter  hand 
proper  grasping  a  sea-shell,  sable ;  and  above  the 
prie-cUeu,  between  the  figures,  the  same  impaling 
Septvans.  On  the  floor  of  this  chancel,  to  the  north 
of  the  Harfleet  brasses,  are  several  memorials  of  the 
Peke  family,  some  quite  illegible.  The  best  preserved 
are  as  follows  : — ■ 

Here  lieth  interred  y®  

Peke  of  Hills  Court  Esq*' 

Edward  Peke  Esq*"  of 

Who  had  to  wife  Kather 

D*"  William  Kingsley  A    

Prebend  of  Canterbur  

Had  issue  six  sons  and 

Whereof  left  S^  Edw     

Damaris  &  Elizabe    

OctoVAnnl    

The  terminations  of  the  lines  are  quite  effaced ;  but 
we  are  able,  from  what  remains,  to  supply  the  defi- 
ciency. The  stone  is  in  memory  of  Thomas  Peke,  of 
Hills  Court,  in  Ash,  son  of  Edward  Peke,  of  Sand- 
wich, who  purchased  Hills  Court  from  Henry  Harfleet 
the  younger  (vide  page  91).  By  Katharine,  daughter 
of  Dr.  William  Kingsley,  Archdeacon  and  Prebend  of 
Canterbury,  he  had  six  sons,  of  whom  four  were 
Edward  (afterwards  knighted),  Thomas,  Charles,  and 
Peter;  and  four  daughters — Damaris  (who  married 
Henry  Dering   of  Purington),    Susan    (wife   of  Dr. 


232  A    COENEH    OF    KENT. 

Aucher),  Elizabeth,  and .     He  died  October  8, 

1677,  aged  74.*  Above  the  inscription  are  the  arms 
of  Peke  :  Three  talbots,  impaling  a  cross  engrailed  for 
Kingsley.  At  the  head  of  this  stone  is  another,  partly 
illegible,  to  the  memory  of  Susanna,  a  sister,  we 
presume,  of  the  Thomas  just  mentioned  : — 

Here  lyeth  buried  the 
body  of  Susanna  Peke 
daughter  of  Edward  Peke 
Esq^'  who  dyed  the  . . .  day  of 

October  in 

yeare  of  her 

Ao  Dmi  16...  t 

Over  the  inscription  are  the  arms  of  Peke,  as  above, 
quartering  a  chevron  between  three  crescents  (Norton 
of  Peversham  ?).  Eastward  of  these  is  a  stone  to 
the  memory  of  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Sir  Edward,  the 
eldest  son  of  the  Thomas  Peke  above  mentioned : — 

Here  lyes  interr'd  the 
body  of  the  virtuous  Dame 
Elizabeth  Peke  relict 
of  Sir  Edward  Peke  K*  & 
daughter  of  S'"  George 
Wentworth  K*  brother 
to  the  most  Illustrious 
Thomas  late  Earl  of 

Strafford 
she  departed  this  life 
the  29^^  day  of  February.^ 

Over  the  inscription  are  incised  the  arms  of  Peke, 

*  This  date  is  given  by  Cozens  in  his  "Tour  in  Thanet/'  p.  114. 
t  "Sasanwah  Peke,  daughter  of  Edward  Peke,  Esq.  ;  died  Oct.  26, 
1633,  aged  17." — (Cozens'  "Tour  in  Thanet,"  ut  sujora.) 
%  1691,  Cozens'  Tour. 


THE    CHURCH   AND    ITS   MONUMENTS.  233 

impaling  a  chevron  between  three  leopard's  faces : 
Wentworth.  At  the  foot  of  this  stone  is  one  to  her 
elder  son  Thomas,  on  which  are  the  arms  of  Peke 
only,  with  this  inscription  : — 

Here  lyetli  y^  body  of  Thomas 
Peke  of  Hills  Court  in  this 
Parish  Esq^  eldest  son  to  S'^ 
Edward  of  y^  same  place  K* 
who  departed  this  life  y*^  7*^^ 
of  August  1:701  in  ye  29  yeare 

of  his  age. 
He  married  Elizabeth  eldest 
daughter  to  M^"  Anthony  Ball 
of  Bromley  in  Kent  by  whome 
he  had  six  children  viz.  Thomas 
Edward,  Ann,  Elizabeth, 
Margaret  and  Sarah. 

To  the  north  of  this  stone  is  the  following  quaint 
acrostic  over  the  resting  place  of  John  Brooke,  of 
Brooke  Street : — 

J   OHN  Brooke,  of  the  parishe  of  Ashe 

O    nly  he  is  now  gone 

H  is  days  are  past  His  corps  is  layd 

N  ow  under  this  marble  stone 

B    rooke  Strete  he  was  the  honor  o-f 

B    ob'd  now  it  is  of  name 

0    nly  because  he  had  no  sede 

O    r  child  to  have  the  same. 

K  nowing  that  all  must  passe  away 

E    ven  when  God  will,  none  can  dellay.* 

He  passed  to  God  in  the  yere  of  grace 

A  thousand  five  hundred  fourscore  and  two  it  was 

The  sixteenth  day  of  January  I  tell  you  for  playne 

The  five  and  twentyeth  yere  of  Elizabeth  raigne. 


*  The  above  ten  lines  were  his  own  composition,  and  are  contained 
in   his  will,  proved  February  7th,  1582,  in  which  he  desires  to  be 


234  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

Above  it  the  arms  of  Brooke :  Party  per  bend 
argent  and  sable  two  eagles  displayed  (connter- 
cbanged).  Crest:  On  a  ebapeau  an  eagle  rising.  At 
the  foot  of  this  stone  is  one  with  the  inscription 
totally  effaced ;  above  it  a  shield  of  arms,  the  bear- 
ings of  which  are  also  completely  obliterated;  bnt 
the  crest  is  still  clearly  visible  and  displays  a  dexter 
arm  embowed,  the  hand  grasping  a  spiked  mace  or 
mallet.  The  arm  having  been  worn  perfectly  smooth, 
and  not  the  slightest  trace  of  any  details  distinguish- 
able, it  is  impossible  to  say  whether  it  was  naked, 
vested,  or  in  armour.  The  crest  of  Bathurst,  a 
Kentish  family,  is  a  mailed  arm  embowed,  the  hand 
grasping  a  spiked  club,  sometimes  drawn  as  a  mace ; 
but  the  arm  is  embowed  the  opposite  way  to  that  on 
this  gravestone.  The  crest  of  a  Hampshire  family 
named  Cresswell  resembles  it  in  attitude,  but  the 
arm  is  vested  in  a  slashed  and  puffed  sleeve,  which 
we  do  not  think  could  have  been  the  case  in  this 
instance.  The  only  crest  appearing  to  us  as  precisely 
corresponding,  which  we  have  hitherto  met  with,  was 
granted  by  Bobert  Cooke,  Clarenceux,  August  5th, 
1590,  to  Pabian  Gimber,  of  London,  gentleman.*    No 

buried  in  the  church,  of  Ash  in  St.  Nicholas  chancel,  under  the  north 
window,  by  Sephams  tombe,  close  by  the  wall,  and  that  a  large  marble 
stone  be  laid  over  him  with  the  said  epitaph  therein  written  verbatim. 
The  will  is  witnessed  by  Henry  Harflete,  gent.,  and  Vincent  St. 
Nicholas. 

'^  The  patent  sets  forth  that  he  was  "  The  son  of  William  Gimber, 
of  London  ;  the  son  of  William  Gimber,  of  Tennesford  ;  the  son  of 
William    Gimber,    of    Doddington,    in  the    county  of   Huntingdon, 


THE   CHURCH   AND   ITS   MONUMENTS.  235 

trace  of  that  name,  or  of  any  corruption  of  it,  can  be 
found,  however,  in  the  registers  of  this  parish ;  but 
persons  of  that  name  are  still  living  in  Kent,  and  a 
Mr.  Gimber  is  now  resident  in  Sandwich.  If  it  be  the 
grave  of  any  member  of  that  family,  it  is  probable 
the  person  was  buried  between  the  years  1641  and 
1653,  during  which,  as  we  have  stated,  no  entries 
were  made.  That  this  stone  should  have  escaped  the 
notice  of  all  previous  investigators,  ancient  or  modern, 
is  very  remarkable,  as  it  must  originally  have  formed 
an  important  feature  on  the  floor  of  this  chancel. 
The  arms  have  been  very  spiritedly  and  tastefully 
sculptured,  with  crest,  helmet,  and  mantlings,  speci- 
ally ordered  in  the  grant  to  be  "  Gules  doubled 
{i.  e.  lined)  silver,"  in  the  best  style  of  the  sevto- 
teenth  century.  There  being  no  mention  of  it  in 
the  Church  Notes  taken  in  1613,  is,  we  think,  con- 
clusive as  to  its  *non-existence  at  that  period.  The 
next  minute  inspection  of  the  church  with  which  we 
are  acquainted,  appears  to  have  been  that  of  Mr. 
Paussett  in  1760,  and  we  can  only  account  for  his 


gentleman  ;"  and  having  first  granted  him  permission  to  bear,  as  his 
ancestors  heretofore  have  borne,  these  armes  hereafter  following,  to> 
wit :  The  field  saWes  on  a  bend  silver,  three  chevrons  gules,  cotised 
(cotticed)  silver ;  he  adds,  "  and  for  that  I  find  noe  creast  or  cogni- 
zance to  the  same  armes,  as  to  many  ancient  armes  there  is  none,  I 
the  said  Clarencenx,"&c.  &c, .  . .  "On  a  wreath  silver  and  sable  an  armed 
arme  in  male  (mail)  proper  holding  a  horseman's  weapon  called  a 
holy- water  sprinkell,  gould."  .  .  .  .  "  Unto  the  said  Fabian  Gimber, 
gentleman,  and  to  his  posterity,  and  to  the  posterity  of  William 
Gimber  his  father." — (Grants,  vol.  ii.  p.  499,  Coll.  Arms,  London.) 


236  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

silence  respecting  it  by  presuming  that,  at  the 
moment  of  his  visit,  it  was  concealed  by  some 
temporary  construction.  There  were  pews  in  the 
north-west  corner  of  this  chancel,  and  there  may 
have  been  some  at  the  east  end  during  the  last 
century.  Previous  to  the  noble  gift  of  Mrs.  Godfrey 
in  1819,  the  girls'  school  of  the  Cartwright  charity 
was  held  in  this  chancel,  and  some  desk,  matting  or 
wooden  flooring  may  have  covered  this  particular 
spot  when  Mr.  Cozens  copied  the  epitaphs  in  1793 ; 
but  it  must  have  been  exposed  to  friction  for  many 
years,  or  it  could  not  have  been  worn  so  exceedingly 
smooth  as  we  now  find  it. 

To  Mr.  Paussett  we  are  indebted  for  the  record 
of  the  following  inscriptions,  which  are  now  no 
longer  legible : — 

Here  lies  the  body  of  Mr.  Thomas  Singleton,  late  of  Molland,  in 
this  Parish,  descended  from  the  ancient  Family  of  the  Singletons,  of 
Broughton  Tower,  in  Lancashire.  He  was  educated  in  the  College 
of  Peter  House,  in  Cambridge,  where  he  took  his  first  degree  in 
Physick,  and  afterwards  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Mr.  Abraham 
Dawes,  Merchant,  of  London,  who,  with  one  son,  John,  aged  10  years, 
survived  hioi.  He  died  December  7th,  A.D.  1710,  in  the  48th  year 
of  his  age. 

Arms  :  Two  chevrons  between  three  martlets,  two 
in  chief  and  one  in  base.  Singleton,  impaling  three 
mullets,  Dawes. 

Here  lies  interred  the  body  of  Mrs.  Margaret  Masters,  the  wife 
of  Mr.  John  Masters,  second  daughter  and  co-heiress  of  William 
Wilde,  Esq.,  of  Goldstone,  in  this  Parish,  who  departed  this  life  the 
18th  of  April,  1758,  in  the  58th  year  of  her  age. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    ITS    MONUMENTS.  237 

Mr.  Cozens  records  the  following  addition: — 

Mr.  John  Masters,   her  husband,  of  Dorchester,  died  Feb.  5th, 
1761,  aged  64  year^^f. 

NORTH    TRANSEPT. 

Against  the  west  wall  is  a  mural  tablet  with  the 
following  inscription  : — 

Keare  this  Place 

Is  interred  the  body 

of 

Whittingham  Wood  'Ei-c^' 

The  last  pretious  Branch  of 

The  Male  line  of  his  Familie  who 

Lived 

Exemplarily  in  y^  service  of  God  &  of  this 

His  Countrie,  under  y'^  Eminent  Teachinge 

of  that  Grace*     Tit.  2.  11.  12.  13.  &  havinge 

Married 

Elizabeth  y^  sole  daughter  of  Thomas  S* 

Nicholas  of  this  parish  Esq^'  December  25.  1655 

Dyed 

In  much  sweet  Peace  July  27  1  656. 

In  the  42'!  yeare  of  his  age 

Psalm  112.  6. 

Y^  Righteous  shall  be  in  Everlasting  Remembrance. 


On  the  floor  is  the  gravestone  inscribed- 


Dormitorium 

Whittingham  Wood.  Arm. 

July  27.  1656. 


*  Vide  page  144,  note. 


238  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

Against  the  east  wall,  in  a  diamond-sliaped  tablet: — 

Christus  mihi  vita  est.  Et  in  morte  lucrum. 

ViNCENTius  S*  Nicolas,  al's  Sennicalas 
Al's  Seniclas,  geDerosus  obiit  certa 
Spe  resurgendi  20  die  Augusti, 
Anno  Domini  1589,  Circiter  setatis 
Annum  5S.     Qui  uxorem  duxit 
Mariannam  filiam  Edwardi 
Brockhill*  armigeri,  quam 
Super stitem  cum  tribus  liberis 
Yid^  Mercia  Filia,  Thoma  et 
Timotheo  iiliis  ex  ipsa  procre- 
atis  reliquit  quibus  videntibus 

Deus  sit  Propitius 
Civitatem  Euturam  Inquirimus. 

On  the  floor,  accompanied  by  an  escutcheon  in 
brass  of  the  arms  of  St.  Nicholas  :  Ermine,  a  chief 
quarterly  or  and  gules  :  — 

A  Domino  (Samuel)  natum  petiere  parentes 
Excultum  innumeris  te  dedit  ille  modis 
Rursus  abis  (Sanctus  que)  locis  coelestibus  ardes 
Ac  velut  Astra  tuo  lucidus  orbe  micas 
Vere  igitur  (Nicolas)  coelis  agis  ipse  triumpbos 
Victor  et  hsec  laudis  nos  monumenta  damns. 


Thy  parents  asked  a  sonn  God  gaue  them  thee 
Soe  well  adorned  w*^  hopeful  parts  that  wee 
Did  much  admire  thy  guifts  and  sobb  at  this 
Soe  rich  a  Jewell  lost  so  soone  wee  miss. 
But  sure  thou  wast  to  bright  for  us  belowe 
Which  glisterest  now  above  the  starry  rowe 
Thy  selfe  hast  gain'd  by  death  (though  we  have  lost) 
Heavens  richest  tryumphs  w*^  the  glorious  host 
Thy  righteous  soule  in  joyes  doth  rest  above 
Under  the  stone  thy  corps  on  it  may  love. 


*  She  was  the  widow  of  Thomas  Harfleet,  of  Holland,  who  died 
1559. 


THE    CHURCH   AND    ITS   MONUMENTS.  239 

Around  the  stone  is  : — 

Samuel,  the  son  of  Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  by  Eliza  his  Wife,  born 
at  Ohatshara  Bushes,  by  Ely,  the  18th  of  August,  1614.     Hasted  to 

Heaven  or  his  mornfuU by  Sandwich,  in  Kent 

of  October,  1624,   and  is  here  buried.     ^'I  know  that  my  redeemer 
liveth." 

A  square  brass  has  been  taken  away  from  the  lower 
part  of  this  stone. 

Beside  it,  round  an  escutcheon  of  arms  (St.  Nicholas 
quartered  with  a  cross  voided,  Apulderfield,  and  im- 
paling a  cross  between  twelve  cross-crosslets  fitchee, 
Brockhill),  this  imperfect  inscription  : — 

YiNCENTi(?)  St.  Nicholas  qui  pacem  ingressus  hie  requiescit 

in  cubili  suo etatis  suss  56  (58?) Memorial  of 

y- just  shall  be  blessed — wicked  shall  rott. 

Prov.  10  ver 

This  would  appear  to  be  the  actual  gravestone  of 
Vincent  St.  Nicholas,  second  husband  of  Marian 
Brockhill,  to  whom  the  tablet  against  the  east  wall 
of  the  transept  is  dedicated  ;  and  a  little  to  the  west 
of  it  are  two  other  gravestones  with  brasses  upon 
them,  one  of  which,  within  a  square  border  of 
alabaster,  is  similarly  engraved  with  St.  Nicholas 
and  Apulderfield  quarterly,  impaling  Brockhill  as  the 
latter,  and  the  other  with  a  lozenge  of  alabaster,  the 
same  coats  quarterly,  but  impaling  one  which  is  all 
but  entirely  obliterated,  but  from  earlier  inspections 
would  appear  to  have  been  the  coat  of  Tilghman.* 

*  Party  per  fess,  sable  and  argent,  a  lion  rampant  regardant,  coun- 
terchanged,  crowned,  or.  The  crown  alone  being  now  discernible, 
the  charge  has  been  mistaken  for  a  regal  personage. 


240  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

If  SO,  it  probably  indicates  the  actual  resting-place 
of  Thomas,  son  of  the  aforesaid  Vincent  and  Marian, 
buried  at  Ash  October  30th,  1626,  and  his  first 
wife  Dorothea,  daughter  of  William  Tilghman,  to 
whom  we  shall  find  a  mural  tablet  in  the  nave. 
Immediately  beyond  these  to  the  west  again  is  a  very 
large  and  much-damaged  gravestone,  very  few  words 
of  the  inscription  on  which  can  now  be  deciphered. 
At  the  head  of  it,  however,'are  the  arms  of  St.  Nicholas, 
with  a  mullet  for  difference,  plainly  incised,  beneath 
which  may  yet  be  read  : — 

Thomas  St Parish  Gent .er  of  John 

on the  19th in  the re  of  his 

and  some  other  letters  here  and  there  more  or  less 
uncertain.  The  absenco  of  dates  increases  the  diffi- 
culty of  interpretation ;  but  Timothy,  son  of  Thomas 
St.  Nicholas,  by  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth  Woodward, 
and  brother  of  the  Samuel  lying  vvithin  a  few  feet  of 
this  spot,  was  buried  here  on  the  19th  May,  1638 ; 
and  there  are  instances  of  burial  on  the  day  of 
decease,  or  it  may  be  Thomas,  son  of  another 
Thomas  and  Elizabeth  Plumley.  The  mullet  for 
difference  rather  inclines  us  to  this  belief,  as  it  is 
the  mark  of  a  third  son,  which,  if  he  were  not  the 
eldest  of  that  second  family,  he  must  have  been, 
Samuel  being  born  in  1614,  and  Timothy  in  1616. 
The  arms  also  being  simply  those  of  St.  Nicholas, 
without  an  impalement,  would  add  to  our  opinion 
that  he  died  unmarried,  which  Timothv  did  not :  at 
any  rate,  it  would  appear  as  if  all  the  descendants  of 


THE   CHURCH   AND   ITS   MONUMENTS.  241 

this  branch  of  the  family  who  died  at  Ash  were 
deposited  as  nearly  as  possible  to  one  another  in  this 
spot.  There  may  be  some  other  memorials  of  this 
family  still  concealed  by  the  flooring  of  the  pews, 
about  to  be  removed,  in  this  transept.  In  Peter  le 
Neve's  Church  Notes  we  read  :  '*  There  are  in  this 
church  four  monuments  of  the  St.  Nicholas's,  whose 
wives  are  here  expressed  in  pale  with  their  hus- 
bands;" and  the  first  mentioned  is  ''St.  Nicholas 
and  Engham,"  which  we  have  been  unable  to  discover. 

SOUTH   TRANSEPT. 

Near  unto  this  monument  lyes  the 
Body  of  EiCHARD  Hougham,  Gen* 
Late  of  Weddington  of  this  Parish 
and  Elizabeth  his  Wife,  who  was 
the  daughter  of  Edward  Saunders 
of  Norton  nere  Sandwich  Gen*  w^^ 
said  Richard  &  Elizabeth  had 
Issue  3  Sonnes  and  on  Daughter  (viz*) 
Michael,  Edward,  Solomon  and  Ann 
The  aforesaid  Michael  and  Ann 

are  also  interred  here. 
This  Monument  was  erected  accord- 
ing to  the  last  will  and  testament 
of  the  aforesaid  Ann  Hougham  De- 
ceased, who  was  baptized  the  17*^ 
of  January  Anno  Dmii  1601  and  De- 
parted this  natural  life  the  9*^ 

of  June  16-61. 
If  grace  and  vertue  could  have  deified 
Here  is  interred  a  maide  who  nere  had  dyd 
Her  charity  on  earth,  that  put  her  love 
On  Heaven  fitt  only  for  the  Saints  above 
Let  theise  frayle  ashes  a  memento  be 
Her  life  a  pattern  and  a  legacy. 

R 


242  A   CORNER   OP    KENT. 

Above  the  inscription  are  the  arms  of  Hougham, 
of  "Weddington :  Argent  five  chevronels  sable,  quar- 
tering Saunders  (?)  and  Brooke,  of  Brooke  Street,  Ash. 

On  the  floor  of  this  transept,  under  the  boarding 
of  a  pew,  is  another  memorial  of  this  Bichard  and 
his  family,  and  of  his  brother  Michael.  A  brass,  on 
which  is  engraved — 

Here  lieth  buried  the  bodies  of  Michael  and  Eicha.rd  Huffam, 
sonnes  of  Michael  Huffam.  Michael  died  in  July,  1594,*  & 
E-ichard  died  October,  1606.  Richard  married  Elizabeth,  daughter 
to  Mr.  Edward  Sanders,  by  whom  he  had  three  sonnes,  Michaell, 
Edward,  and  Sollomon,  and  one  Daughter,  named  Ann,  all  yet  livinge. 
They  were  men  both  of  a  tall  stature  and  comely  persons,  besides 
were  well  estemed  amonge  all  sortes  of  people,  both  for  their 
vertuous  lives  and  also  in  their  younge  yeares  for  there  good  and 
thriftie  government,  not  of  themselves  onlie,  but  also  they  were  a  good 
stay  in  this  Parish  amonge  ther  neighboures. 

This  stone  was  laide  by  the  appointment  of  them  w°  were  exec^  to 
ther  wills,  viz.,  Thomas  Paramor,  now  mayor  of  Canterby,  who  married 
Ann  Huffam,  their  sister,  Mr.  Series  Hawket,  and  Yalint  Austin, 
their  Unckle. 

Immediately  adjoining  this  brass  is  another,  on 
which  are  engraved  the  figures  of  a  man  and  woman 
in  the  costume  of  the  early  part  of  the  16th  century ; 
the  man  in  a  long  gown  with  loose  sleeves,  similar 
to  those  in  which  merchants  or  magistrates  are  re- 
presented; the  woman  with  the  peculiar  head-dress 
rendered  familiar  to  the  public  by  the  portraits  of 
Catharine    of  Arragon,  Anna  Boleyn,    and,  indeed. 


*  Buried  12th  July,  1596  (Ash  Reg.)  ;  so  the   date  in  the  brass 
must  be  an  error. 


THE    CHURCH   AND   ITS   MONUMENTS.  243 

most  of  the  many  wives  of  Henry  VIII.  The  in- 
scription beneath  being — 

Pray  for  the  soulys  of  Wyllm  .   .   .  s  &  Anys  his  wyf  thy  dyed  the 
XXIII  day  of  martins  in  the  year  of  our  lord  god  Mcccccxxv. 

Are  we  to  conclude  that  they  both  died  on  the 
same  day  ?  Of  the  surname  the  last  letter  s  only  is 
undoubted.  They  have  been  read  Leus  for  Lewis ; 
but  we  can  only  give  an  engraving  from  a  rubbing, 
and  leave  our  readers  to  form  their  own  opinions. 
Annys  is  one  of  the  most  frequent  Christian  names 
of  females  that  we  find  in  the  Baptismal  Regis- 
ters of  Ash.  This  burial  took  place  thirty-three 
years  before  the  commencement  of  the  registers,  but 
one  of  the  earliest  interments  recorded  is  that  of  an 
''Annys  Lewes,  July  Tth,  1562,"  not  improbably 
a  daughter  of  the  William  and  Annys  aforesaid. 
There  is  no  mention  of  this  brass  in  any  of  the 
Church  Notes  of  Ash  printed  or  in  MS.  that  we  have 
inspected. 

On   the   west  wall   of    this   transept  is   a   mural 
monument — • 

To  the  memory 

of  Mrs.  Maky  Lowman, 

Daughter  of  Gregory  Butler  Gen*  of  Blackwall 

in  the  County  of  Northumberland 

Wife  of  Henry  Lowman  of  Dortnued  in  Germany  Esq^^ 

She  died  the  29*^  of  September  1737  aged  84.* 


*  From  their  coffin-plates,  recently  discovered,  we  learn  that  Mrs. 
Lowman  was  "Laundress  to  King  William  and  King  George  y®  1^*^ 
&  joynt  house  and  Warde  Robe  Keeper  at   Kensington,  with  h^er 

K    2 


244  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

Also  of  her  husband  Henry  Lowman 

of  Dortnued  in  Germany  Esq'' 

He  died  3^  of  February  174|. 

Aged  93. 

And  also  of  Christopher  Ernest  Kien 

Lieut  Colonel  of  the  Horse  Guards* 

He  died  the  29*^  of  October,  1744,  aged  61. 

and  Jane  his  Wife 

Sole  daughter  of  the  above 

Henry  &  Maiy  Lowman 

She  died  Jan^  17*^  1762  aged  Sl.f 

Also  of  Evert  George  Cousemaker  Esq^^ 

who  died  April  the  6'^  1763  aged  41 
and  interred  in  a  Yault  near  to  this  place. 

Arms,  in  a  lozenge :  or,  on  a  mount  vert  a  naked 
man  holding  a  branch  in  his  hand  proper,  for  Kien ; 
impaling  per  bend  sinister  argent  and  gules  a  knight 
armed  on  horseback,  holding  a  tilting  spear  erect,  the 
point  downwards  (Lowman). 

In  this  transept  there  are  also  two  modern  white 
marble  mural  tablets.  The  first  over  the  gallery 
against  the  south  wall,  to  the  memory  of  Erancis 
Tomlin,   of    Goldston,    Gentleman    (younger  son   of 

husband  to  King  William,  Queen  Anne,  and  King  George  y^  P*  :" 
that  she  died  29*^  of  Novemher  (buried  December  5, — Ash  Keg.),  and 
that  Henry  Lowman,  Esq''%  "  born  of  a  good  family  at  Dortnued, 
in  Westphalia,"  was  "  Clerk  of  the  Kitchen  and  house  Keeper  and 
wardrobe  Keeper  of  the  Palace  of  Kensington,  in  the  reynes  of  King 
William,  Queen  Anne,  and  George  y®  1^*^,  and  his  present  Majesty, 
King  George  y^  2^^."     Also  that  he  died  in  the  91st  year  of  his  age. 

*  "  Lieut. -Colonel  of  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  third  troop  of  Horse 
Guards." — Coffin-plate. 

t  ''Obiit  12^^  of  January,  1762,  jetatis  78."— Coffin-plate. 


THE    CHURCH   AND    ITS   MONUMENTS.  245 

Prancis  Tomlin,  of  Northdown,  Thanet,  Esquire,  and 
Martha,  his  wife),  who  died  27th  of  July,  1751,  aged 
56   years ;    and  of  Eichard   Motton,    of    Sandwich, 
Gentleman,  who  died  26th  of  May,  1800,  aged  81 
years;    and  of  Ann,  first  wife   of  the  said   Prancis 
Tomlin,  and  afterwards  of  the  said  Hichard  Motton, 
who  died  10th  of  June,  1801,  aged  81  years ;  and  of 
the  following  sons  of  the  said  Prancis  Tomlin  and 
Anna  his  wife : — Thomas  Tomlin,  of  Twitham  Hill,  in 
this  parish.  Gentleman,  who  died  4th  of  September, 
1784,  aged  33  years ;  William  Tomlin,  of  Birchington, 
Thanet,  Gentleman,  who  died  11th  of  April,  1789, 
aged  44  years;  and  John  Tomlin,  of  The  Moat,  in 
this  parish,  who  died  19th  of  Noyember,  1820,  aged 
71  years ;  and  of  Mary  Tomlin,  the  wife  of  the  said 
Thomas  Tomlin,  who  died  26th  of  August,  1781,  aged 
30  years ;  Susanna  Tomlin,  wife  of  the  said  William 
Tomlin,  who  died  9th  of  April,  1830,  aged  82  years ; 
and  Sarah  Tomlin,  wife  of  the  said  John  Tomlin,  who 
died   30th  of  June,  1835,  aged   84   years ;    and  of 
Edward  Tomlin,  the  son  of  the  said  William  Tomlin 
and  Susanna  his  wife,  who  died  2nd  of  August,  1800, 
aged  17  years.     The  other,  oyer  the  door  leading  to 
the  belfry,  commemorates  Thomas  Minter  Tomlin, 
of  Twitham  Hill,  Esquire,  who  died  in  1857 ;   and 
the  following  children  by  Sarah  his  wife ;  yiz.,  Sarah 
Tomlin,  1820 ;  Thomas  Minter  Tomlin,  1815  ;  Mary 
Belsey  Tomlin,  1821 ;  Thomas  Belsey  Tomlin,  1828  ; 
Elizabeth  Tomlin,  1837 ;  and  Jane,  wife  of  T.  Collet, 
1845 ;  also  Sarah  Georgina  Tomlin,  1853,  and  Sackct 


24^6  A   CORNEH   OE   KENT. 

Arthur  Tomlin,  grandchildren  of  Thomas  M.  Tomlin 
and  Sarah  his  wife. 

On  the  floor  under  the  window  in  this  transept  is 
a  dilapidated  gravestone,  from  which  the  brasses 
have  long  disappeared.  The  outlines  of  the  space 
they  occupied  indicate  a  robed  figure ;  but  whether 
of  a  priest,  a  magistrate,  a  merchant,  or  a  female,  it 
would  be  hazardous  to  assert. 

THE    NAVE. 

On  the  south  wall  a  tablet  to  the  memory  of 
Dorothea,  first  wife  of  Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  who 
married  secondly  Elizabeth  Woodward : — 

Pise  cordatse  modestse  amabilique  Foeminse  fidelissimse  conjiigi 
dilectissimse  que  Dorothea]:  (filise  Gulielmi  Tilghman  gener :  ex 
Susanna  filia  Thomse  Whetenham  Armig.),  27  setatis,  annum  agenti 
Tres  filios  Tbomam  Johannam  Vincentiu  filias  duas  que  Deboram  et 
Dorotlieam  chara  pignora  superstites  marito  reliquenti  18  die  Sep- 
tembris,  An°  Dom.  1605  (circiter  tres  horas  post  partum  Yincentii 
predicti)  suaviter  in  Christo  obdormienti  Thomas  S*  Nicholas  moes- 
tissime  viduatus  pise  memorise  gratique  animi  ergo  hoc  monumentum 
statuit. 

She  was  buried  in  the  north  transept,  where  her 
husband  was  afterwards  laid  by  his  express  desire. 
We  are  inclined  to  think  this  tablet  is  not  in  its 
original  position. 

Near  this  is  a  tablet  to  the  memory  of  Lieut. 
Henry  Dawson,  B;.N.,  who  died  of  fever  at  Bombay, 
September  15th,  1839,  erected  by  his  widow. 

Another — 


THE   CHURCH   AND   ITS   MONUMENTS.  247 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Joseph  Westbeech,  Esq^",  Captain  of  tbe 
Hoyal  Navy,  who  died  in  this  parish  on  the  9th  of  November,  1811, 
aged  53  years. 

Erected  by  his  brother. 
Also  one  to 

John  Fuller,  late  of  Holland,  in  this  Parish,  Gen*,  died  the  10*^ 
of  February,  1797,  aged  84  years.  Elizabeth  his  wife,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Boteler,  of  Eastry,  Gen*,  died  the  20th  of  June,  1785,  aged 
77  years.  Mary,  their  daughter,  died  the  17*^  of  October,  1763, 
aged  20  years.  Thomas,  their  son,  died  the  28*^  of  May,  1742,  aged 
8  days.  Their  only  surviving  daughter  Elizabeth,  the  widow  of 
Thomas  Godfrey,  late  of  Brooke  Street,  in  this  Parish,  Esq'^^,  from 
affection  for  the  best  of  parents  and  for  an  amiable  sister,  long  and 
sincerely  lamented,  has  consecrated  this  monument  to  their  memory. 

Arms :  Argent,  three  bars  and  a  canton  gules,  for 
Puller,  impaling  argent,  three  escutcheons  azure 
each  charged  with  a  covered  cup  or,  for  Boteler  of 
Eastry.     Crest :  A  talbot's  head  argent. 

On  the  north  wall  is  a  tablet  to  the  memory  of 
Richard  Horsman  Solly,  Esq.,  of  48,  Great  Ormond 
Street,  London,  eldest  son  of  Samuel  Solly,  Esq., 
of  the  above  place,  and  Sarah  his  wife.  He  died 
March  30th,  1858,  and  was  interred  in  the  Woking 
Cemetery. 

At  the  west  end  of  the  nave,  on  a  mural  tablet  of 
white  marble,  in  form  of  a  cross,  is  an  inscription 
to  the  memory  of  Charles  Kobert  Streatfield  Nixon, 
eldest  son  of  Francis  E^nssell,  Lord  Bishop  of 
Tasmania,  late  perpetual  curate  of  this  parish,  born 
August  31st,  1837  ;  died  September  26tb,  1842. 


248  A   COENER   OF   KENT. 

On  the  floor  of  tlie  nave  are  the  following  : — 

Here  lieth  interr  d  the  body  of  M''^  Mary  Bax,  Wife  of  M^^  John 
Bax,  Gen*,  who  departed  this  life  the  14*^  of  June,  1743,  aged  58  years. 
Also  the  body  of  the  above  M^'  John  Bax,  Gen<^,  who  departed  this  life 
July  11*1^,  1759,  aged  77  years. 

Also  of  Mary  Curling,  Widow  of  Tho^  CurliDg,  late  of  Eamsgate, 
Daughter  of  the  above  John  and  Mary  Bax,  who  departed  this  life 
the  5*^  of  July,  1769,  aged  58  years. 

Hark  from  the  tombs  a  doleful  sound 
My  ears  attend  the  cry. 
Ye  living  men  come  view  the  ground 
Where  you  must  shortly  lie. 


Under  this  marble  lieth  interred  the  body  of  Mary,  Wife  of 
Major  Solomon  Ferrier,  of  the  Town  and  Port  of  Sandwich.  She 
departed  this  life  April  5*^,  1760,  aged  41  years. 

Also  Ann  Roberts,  mother  of  the  above  said  Mary.  She  died  the 
26*^  of  April,  1766,  aged  77  years. 


Joseph  Westbeach,  B.N.,  died  9  Nov.,  1811.* 
Also  Miss  Martha  Westbeach,  eldest  daughter  of  the  above,  who 
died  16  September,  1821,  aged  21  years. 


M.  Elizabeth  Bowe,  wife  of  M^  Benjamin  Eowe,  of  Chequer 
Farm,  in  this  Parish,  who  departed  this  life  23^  of  November,  1811, 
aged  56  years.  Benjamin  Bowe  died  17*^  Dec^',  1820,  aged  69  years. 
Mary  Bowe  died  19*''  June,  1813,  aged  70  years.  Sarah  Quested 
died  7*^  Feb>",  1816,  aged  5  months.  Jane  B.  Quested  died  7^^  March, 
aged  18  years. 


Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  John  Bushei>l,  of  this  Parish,  who 
departed  this  life  the  6*^  day  of  June,  1831,  in  the  89*^  year  of  his 
age.  He  was  born  at  Minster,  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  and  many  years 
resident  at  Batting  Court,  in  the  Parish  of  Nunnington. 


*  The  marble  tablet  on  the  south  wall  of  nave  commemorates  the 
same  officer.     The  flat  stone  is  over  the  vault. 


THE    CHURCH   AND   ITS   MONUMENTS.  249 

UNDER   THE   TOWER. 

W.   B. 

1760 
A  Yaulfc. 

In  tlie  clinrchyard  were  formerly  many  tombs  of 
the  Harfleets  and  the  Aldays;*  but  they  had  dis- 
appeared before  the  end  of  the  last  century.  The 
memorials  at  present  1^  existing  are  principally  to 
the  families  of  Ansell,  Alexander,  Beake,  Bushell, 
Claringbold,  Cleveland,  Chandler,  Chapman,  Dane, 
Eigar,  Priend,  Eennell,  Gibbs,  Godfrey,  Holtum, 
Home,  Joy,  Jull,  Kelsey,  Kingsford,  Laslett,  Lad, 
Neame,  Petley,  Balph,  Solly,  Smith,  Stothard, 
Tomlin,  West ;  and  the  only  remarkable  epitaph  that 
of  "  Bartholomew  Joy,  of  Ware  in  this  parish,  who 
died  4th  Dec.  1778,  aged  71  years,"  and  is  described 
as  ''  a  good  parent,  though  afflicted,  he  trusted  in 
God  in  hope  of  a  more  paradiscal  situation^ 

*  Jolin  Aldaye,  of  Ashe,  in  his  will  dated  Oct.  19th,  1485,  desires 
"  to  be  buried  in  the  Churchyard  of  Ashe,  in  the  tomb  where  Joane 
his  late  wife  lies."  Kaymond  Thomas  and  John  Harflete  were  also 
buried  there  on  the  north  side.  {Vide  p.  180,  note.)  In  Le  Neve's 
Notes  we  read  : — "  There  are  in  the  churchyard  some  of  the  Aldies 
buried  who  did  sometime  dwell  where  Sir  Thomas  Harflete  now  does, 
and  some  of  the  Gibbs  now  remaining  about  Elmstone,  not  far  from 
this  place,  whose  arms  are  as  underneath — viz.,  Argent,  three  battle- 
axes  sable." — (Additional  MS.  No.  5472.)  Sir  John  Saunders,  vicar 
of  Ash,  desires  "  to  be  buried  in  the  churchyard  of  Ashe,  at  the 
south  side  of  the  west  door,  afore  the  grave  of  his  mother"  (Will  in 
Prerog.  Off.  Cant.  1509)  ;  and  Ellen  Stoughton,  widow  of  Edward 
Stoughton,  late  of  Ash,  to  be  buried  in  the  churchyard  of  Ash, 
between  her  late  husband  Lawrance  Omer  and  her  children  there. 
(Will  proved  June  20th,  1575.) 


250  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

The  following  List  of  Incumbents,  though  by  no 
means  perfect,  previous  to  the  16th  century,  is  the 
best  we  have  been  able  to  compile  from  the  sources 
accessible  to  us  : — 

Alanus    Capellanus    de   Ash,*    A° 

43rd  Edward  III 1369 

Dom'.  Thomas   Monketon   Capel- 
lanus,! 4tli  Henry  Y 1416 

John  Middleton 1463 

John  Eussell 1493 

John   Saunders  J  1494—1509 

Thomas  Bode  §  1519 

William  Berimell|l     1550 

William  Lynch  1554 

Christopher  Meming^ 1558 

John  Stybbinge,   ''  Minister  "**...  1593—1615 

*  "  Cart^  Antique  "  (Hasted). 

+  Charter  of  Gilbert  de  Cheker  {alias  Septvans). — Philipot,  Coll. 
Arms. 

{  "Sir  John  Saunders,  Yicar  of  Ashe."  (Will  dated  14th  August, 
1509.) 

§  "  Syr  Thos.  Bode,  Yicar  of  Ashe."    (Will  dated  1st  July,  1519.) 

II  "Yicar  of  Ashe."  (So  named  in  the  will  of  Dr.  Christopher 
Nevynson,  of  Addisham,  dated  ]\ larch  15th,  1550.) 

^  Ash  Registers,  suh  anno.     As  all  that  follow. 

**  He  so  signs  himself  in  the  Register ;  but  he  and  all  his  prede- 
cessors, whose  wills  are  to  be  found  in  the  Prerogative  Office,  Can- 
terbury, are  styled  vicars,  after  which  they  are  described  as  curates. 
John  Stybbinge  was  also  rector  of  St.  Mary's,  Sandwich,  and  was 
buried  in  the  chancel  of  Ash  Church,  according  to  his  desire  expressed 
in  his  will,  December  30th,  1615. 


THE    CHURCH   AND   ITS   MONUMENTS.  251 

William  Brigham 1626 

William  Holden    1638 

William  Lovelace  1643 

William  Brigham 1655 

William  Noakes     1659 

James  Brenchley  1660 

John  Benchkin  1664—1693 

John  Shocklidge* 1693—1712 

Obadiah  Bom-ne 1712—1721 

Erancis  Conduit 1722—1753 

Benjamin  Longleyt 1753—1783 

John  Lawrence 1783,  obiit  June  9tli 

Robert  Philips  1783—1784 

Nehemiah  Nesbitt  J  1784—1803 

Charles  Baker  § 1803—1810 

*  Drowned  in  the  Stour. 

+  He  was  also  vicar  of  Eynsford  and  of  Tongue,  co.  Kent.  Mr. 
Longley's  entries  go  down  to  Marcli  5th,  1782,  after  which  in  one 
book  there  occurs  this  notice  : — "  The  E,ev.  Mr.  Lawrence  was 
appointed  Curate  in  the  room  of  Mr.  Longley,  deceased,  but  died  in 
about  two  months,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Philips,  since 
removed  to  Beakesbourne."  Mr.  Longley  died  February  6th,  1783, 
and  was  buried  at  Ash.  (Vide  p.  217.)  Mr.  Lawrence,  who  had  also 
been  presented  by  the  Lord  Chancellor  with  the  rectory  of  Pambroke 
St.  Gabriel,  in  the  county  of  Lincoln,  died  June  9th,  1783,  and  was 
buried  at  St.  Margaret's,  Canterbury,  in  the  same  grave  with  his 
father,  Dr.  Lawrence,  physician,  who  died  the  day  before  his  son. 

i  From  March  29th,  1782,  to  October  5th,  1783,  the  entries  are 
chiefly  by  "  Thomas  Yerrier  Alkin,  Minister."  ISTesbitt's  handwriting 
begins  in  October,  1783,  but  his  first  actual  signature  occurs  in  the 
Banns  Book,  under  the  date  of  June  6th,  1784. 

§  He  seldom  officiated,  and  the  Rev.  J.  Smith  was  his  curate 
during  the  whole  period  of  his  incumbency. 


252  A   CORNER   OE   KENT. 

Henry  Dimock,  A.M 1810—1812 

'*  William  Wods worth,  incumbent 

pro  tempore  "*   

"  Joseph  Smith,  A.B.,  was  nomi- 
nated to  this  cure  April  6th  "  t     1812 
Charles  James  Burton,  M.A.  %    ...     1817—1821 

G.  R.  Gleig,  M.A.  § 1821—1834 

Charles  Eorster,  M.A.  ||     1834—1838 

Prancis  Eussell  Mxon,  D.D.  ^   ...     1838—1842 

Edward  Penny,  M.A.  **  1842—1849 

George  Eidout,  M.A.tt    1849—1857 

Henry  Smith  Mackarness,  M.A. ...  1857,  present 
incumbent ;  late  Pellow  of  King's  College,  Cambridge  ; 
rector  of  St.  Mary  the  Virgin,  in  E^omney  Marsh,  1853 
to  1857  ;  and  chaplain  to  the  24th  company  of  Kent 
Volunteer  Biiies. 

Of  the  chapels  of  Overland  and  Fleet  (or  Pich- 
borough)  appertaining  to  Ash,  and  given,  with  the 
parish  church,  to  the  college  of  Wingham,  by  Arch- 
bishop Peckham,  in  1206,  there  are  but  few  parti- 
culars to  mention.     That  of  Pleet  must  have  existed 

*  Ash  Register. 

t  Ibidem.  He  was  afterwards  promoted  to  W^oodnesborough,  co. 
Kent  ;  died  May  22nd,  1817  ;  and  was  buried  at  Ash.    {Vide  p.  218.) 

%  Now  vicar  of  Lydd  and  chancellor  of  the  diocess  of  Carlisle. 

§  Now  Chaplain- General  of  the  Forces,  and  rector  of  Ivy  Church, 
Komney  Marsh. 

II  Now  rector  of  Stisted,  co.  Essex. 

IF  Afterwards  bishop  of  Tasmania. 

**  Now  rector  of  Great  Mongeham,  co.  Kent. 

ft  Now  rector  of  Sandhurst,  co.  Kent. 


THE   CHURCH   AND   ITS   MONUMENTS.  253 

early  in  the  12tli  century,  for,  in  the  seventh  of  John, 
we  find  that  the  presentation  to  it  was  in  the  family 
of  Bolbeek,  and  that  Helewisa  de  Bolbeck,  grand- 
mother of  Constance  de  Bolbeck,  then  the  wife  of 
Elias  de  Beauchamp,  had  previously  possessed  the 
advowson. — (Abb.  of  Pleas.)  We  have  noticed  the  be- 
quests to  it  of  Sir  John  Saunders,  vicar  of  Ash  in  1509, 
at  page  58.  To  the  chapel  of  Overland  he  bequeathed 
his  ''  little  portys  "  (breviary)  "  of  fine  parchment, 
written  with  hand,  p'ce  40s,"  and  also  ''40s.  to  make 
a  window  in  the  east  end  of  the  same  chapel."  In  the 
Valor  Ecclesiasticus,  temp,  Henry  YIII.,  A.D.  1540 — 
1545,  we  find  the  following  entries  :  — 

All  manner  of  tythes  and  other  pfytes  of  the 
chapell  of  Overland  xx. 

Por  the  salary  of  the  iij  Prests  s'vying  the 
cures  of  the  said  Chapels  of  Ashe  Over- 
land and  Bichborough xvij 

Henry  Jones  the  elder,  of  Ash,  near  Sandwich, 
yeoman,  in  his  will,  proved  1588,  mentions  the 
chapel  and  churchyard  of  Overland,  and  the  green 
next  the  churchyard,  among  other  parts  of  the  manor 
then  occupied  by  him.  Vincent  St.  Nicolas  was  at 
that  time  the  owner  of  the  lease  of  the  parsonage 
of  Overland,  which  he  bequeathed  to  his  son  Thomas, 
with  all  the  glebe  land  and  appurtenances  belonging 
to  it.  (Will  proved  Sept.  20,  1589.)  No  remains 
now  exist  of  either  of  the  chapels. 


254 


Crest  of  Septvans  and  Shield  of  Arms  of  St.  Nicholas. 


CHAPTEE  Y. 


NOTES   AND   QUERIES,    GENEALOGICAL    AND    HERALDIC. 


AT  the  entrance  to  these  premises  we  feel  the 
necessity  of  affixing  some  such  notice  as  is 
usually  to  be  found  at  the  gates  of  manufactories  or 
the  doors  of  private  edifices  or  public  works  in  the 
course  of  construction,  viz.,  "  Nobody  admitted 
except  on  business ;  "  but  as  the  reader  has  already 
(we  hope)  paid  for  admission,  he  cannot  be  so 
unceremoniously  excluded.  It  is  only,  therefore, 
for  U.S  to  warn  him  frankly,  that  unless  he  have 
special   business    herein,    he   will    find    nothing  to 


Plate  13 


-p .         r  J:  1  g.  b  .  ^"f  G^  S-irdiL  del  et  hth., 

Pig.lto  6  rormerlym  Asli  Ctaircli  "Wiudows.-vide  p.  189   and  postscript 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  255 

interest  or  amuse  him.  We  have  raked  together 
a  heap  of  dry  archaeological  material  out  of  '*  the 
dast  of  dead  ages,"  presenting  to  his  sight  a  dreary 
region,  in  which  he  will  feel  no  inclination  to  wander. 
To  the  antiquary,  however,  it  opens  a  rich  field  of 
information  as  well  as  inquiry,  as  our  subject  has  led 
us  most  unexpectedly  into  tracks  either  utterly  neg- 
lected by  previous  explorers,  or  very  superficially  and 
imperfectly  examined  by  them. 

Of  the  great  Anglo-Norman  families  who  from 
the  time  of  the  Conquest  to,  at  least,  the  close 
of  the  14th  century,  were  most  intimately  connected 
with  the  parish  of  Ash,  little  is  known  beyond  their 
names,  and  the  armorial  ensigns  either  actually 
borne  by,  or  commonly  attributed  to  them.  Al- 
though the  stock  from  which  so  many  noble  houses 
have  sprung— although  those  ancient  coats  are  still 
to  be  seen  quartered  in  so  many  achievements, 
and  studding  the  roof  of  Canterbury  cathedral — the 
pedigrees  of  the  most  important  which  are  presented 
to  us  in  the  various  published  Baronages  and 
Peerages,  or  existing  in  MS.  collections,  are  so 
imperfect,  unconnected,  and  contradictory,  that 
while  they  cannot  be  relied  upon,  even  as  regards 
the  direct  male  line,  they  afford  us  little  or  no 
information  of  the  collateral  branches,  and  but 
rarely  enlighten  us  on  the  very  important  question 
of  matrimonial  alliances.  Of  some  there  are 
actually  no  pedigrees,  either  in  print  or  in  MSS. 
In  illustration  of  our  second  chapter,  ''  The  Descent 


256 


A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 


of  the  Manors,"  we  have  drawn  up  the  following 
genealogical  notices,  and  propose  to  examine  the 
evidence  on  which  they  are  founded  in  chronolo- 
gical order.  We  will  therefore  commence  with  the 
family  of 

D'arqtjes, 

latinized  De  Arcis,  and  in  English,  Arches,  Avhich  is 
the  earliest  one  we  find  holding  land  in  this  parish. 
"William  de  Arcis,  as  we  have  stated  in  our  second 
chapter  (p.  39),  is  recorded  in  Domesday  as  holding 
one  suling  of  land  in  Pleet.  This  William  de  Arcis  is 
supposed  to  he  the  same  personage  as  William,  the 
son  of  Godfrey,  who  in  the  same  valuable  record  is 
stated  to  hold  Folkestone  and  various  other  property 
in  Kent,  and  specially  three  houses  in  Dover,  one  of 
which  was  the  Gihalla  or  Gishalla  of  the  burgesses. 
All  that  is  known  of  him  with  any  certainty  is, 
first,  that  in  the  lifetime  of  the  Conqueror  he 
claimed  certain  lands  which  had  belonged  to 
Gozelin,  Yicomte  d'Arques  (a  bourg  and  vicomte 
of  the  Pays  de  Caux,  in  Normandy),  of  whom  he 
assumed  to  be  the  grandson.  The  late  Mr.  Stapleton 
on  this  remarks,  that  ''  Gozelin  was  his  grandfather 
by  his  mother's  side ;  for  Osborne  de  Bolbec  .... 
is  reported  to  have  been  his  paternal  grandfather." 
We  presume  the  report  alluded  to  is  that  of  Guil- 
laume  de  Jumiege,  who  states  as  much  in  his  8th 
book,  cap.  37.  The  learned  authors  of  ''  Eecherches 
sur  le  Domesday  "  differ  from  Mr.  Stapleton  and  his 
apparent  authority.      They  assert  that  he  was  the 


GENEALOGICAL  AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  257 

son  of  an  Osborne  de  Arcis,  m4io  was  the  son  of 
William,  the  son  of  Gozelin,  Viscomte  d'Arques,  tlms 
making  our  William  the  ^r^^^f- grandson  of  Gozelin, 
and  rejecting  his  descent  from  Bolbec.  But,  if 
their  story  be  true,  he  could  not  be  the  Lord  of 
Folkestone  we  find  in  Domesday,  because  he  is 
therein  distinctly  described  as  '*  Willielmus  filius 
Goidfride,^^  and  not  of  Osborne,  as  they  make  him. 
Here  we  find  ourselves  between  Scylla  and  Charybdis 
at  starting,  with  only  one  fact  to  depend  upon, — that 
he  was  the  grandson,  by  his  own  account,  of  Gozelin 
the  Viscomte.  The  second  fact  concerning  him  is, 
that  he  had  a  wife  named  Beatrix,  who  survived 
him,  and  had  in  dower  the  manors  of  Newington 
near  Hythe,  and  Eedingfiekl.^'  Of  her  parentage 
we  at  present  know  nothing  ;  but  the  mother  of 
William  de  Arcis,  who  is  said  to  have  been  a 
daughter  of  Gozelin  the  Viscomte,  is  also  called 
Beatrix ;  and  until  clearer  evidence  is  discovered,  we 
are  inclined  to  believe  in  a  theory  Mdiich  would 
reconcile  the  above  contradictions.  We  believe 
William  de  Arcis  to  be  the  son  of  a  Godfrey  or 
Geoffrey  Mtz Gozelin  or  Joceline,  an  elder  son  of 
Gozelin,  Viscomte  d'Arques,  in  that  case  his  paternal 
grandfather ;  and  we  think  it  highly  probable  that 
Beatrix,  the  daughter  of  Gozelin,  married,  as  it  is 
stated,  Geoffrey   de    Bolbec,   by  whom    she   had  a 

*  She  gave  to  the  cliurch  of  LoDlay  a  moiety  of  tlthes^of  Ne wing- 
ton,  CO.  Kent. 

S 


258  A   COENEE   OF   KENT. 

daughter,  named  after  herself  Beatrice,  wlio  became 
the  wife  of  her  first  cousin  William  de  Arcis. 

We  are  sustained  in  this  view  of  the  case  by  the 
fact  that  there  were  other  male  members  of  the 
family  of  De  Arcis  existing  at  this  period,  A 
William  and  a  Hugh  de  Arcis,  said  by  the  authors 
of  the  '' Eecherches "  to  have  been  brothers  of 
Beatrix  d'Arques,  the  wife  of  Geoffrey  de  Bolbec, 
from  the  eldest  of  whom  they  consequently  derive 
the  Lord  of  Eolkestone,  as  we  have  already  men- 
tioned.* But  though  we  consider  them  to  be 
mistaken  on  the  latter  point,  there  is  evidence  of  the 
existence  of  an  Osbert  and  his  son  a  William  de  Arcis, 
the  latter  of  whom  had  a  daughter  and  heiress  named 
Ivetta,  who  married  Adam  Bruce,  of  Skelton,  and 
after  his  death  in  1180  became  the  wife  of  Bichard 
de  Mamville.t  That  they  were  the  son  and  grandson 
of  another  William  de  Arcis,  brother  of  Beatrix,  we 
will  not  dispute  :  all  we  contend  for  is,  that  they  had 
an  elder  brother,  Geoffrey  Eitz Jocelin,  who  was  the 
father  of  our  William  PitzGeofFrey,  Lord  of  Folke- 
stone, or  othervase  they  must  have  carried  off  the 
representation.  Another  line  of  this  family  seems 
to    have    terminated    in    the    person    of   Jana,  the 

*'  There  was  a  Hugo,  son  of  William,  holdiDg  a  large  portion  of  tlie 
land  in  tins  manor,  and  wlio  is  first  mentioned  after  William  de 
Arcis.  This  Hugo  must  surely  have  been  his  son,  and  if  by  Beatrice 
de  Bolbec,  must  have  died  without  issue  in  his  father's  lifetime,  as  his 
sisters  were  undoubtedly  co-heirs  of  William. 

t  Vincent  in  B.  2,  Coll.  Arms,  makes  Flamville  her  first  husband 
— at  all  events,  she  survived  hoth.-^-Vide  Mon.  Ang.  vol.  ii.  p.  43. 


GENEALOGICAL  AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  259 

daugliter  and  heiress  of  a  Eichard  de  Arclies,  and 
the  wife  of  Sir  John  Dinham,  by  whom  she  had  a 
daughter  Isabella,  who  married,  first,  Pulke  Pitz- 
warin ;  and  secondly.  Sir  John  Sapcote."*  The  coat 
attributed  to  the  family  of  Arches,  and  which  must 
have  been  invented  for  them  in  the  12th  or  13tli 
century,  is  gules,  three  arches  argent,  which  is 
brought  in  by  Dinham,  and  sometimes  seen  quar- 
terly with  it  in  the  achievements  of  several  of  our 
nobility  and  gentry.! 

William  de  Arcis  is  supposed  by  our  English 
genealogists  to  have  died  about  the  latter  end  of  the 
reign  of  Eufus ;  but  the  authors  of  the  ^^Recherches" 
assert  that  he  took  the  habit  of  a  monk  in  1088, 
and  died,  circa  1090,  Abbot  of  St.  Severs  at  llouen. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  certain  that  he  left  by  his 
Vvddow  Eeatrice  two  daughters :  Matilda,  who 
married  William  the  Chamberlain  de  Tancarville, 
who  inherited  the  Norman  possessions  of  her  father ; 

*  Amongst  other  members  of  tbis  family  may  be  mentioned 
Radulpli  and  Robert  de  Arcbes. — (Mon.  Ang.  voL  i.  pp.  330 — 773.) 
Herbert  de  Arcbes  and  'William,  "  fil.  suus,"  witnesses  to  a  charter  of 
Julianna,  daughter  of  Alexander  de  Alreton,  and  wife  of  Richard, 
son  of  Hugo,  to  Kirkdale  Abbey. — (Whitaker's  History  of  Leeds, 
vol.  i.  p.  126.)  Also  Peter  de  Arches,  who  held  half  a  knight's  fee  in 
Potter  JSTewton,  co.York,  of  the  Earl  of  Lincolu. — (Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  120.) 
An  Agnes  de  Archis  was  wife  of  Herbert  de  St.  Quintin,  and  founded 
the  nunnery  of  Chillinge  or  Nun-Kelling,  co.  York,  in  1152. — Mon. 
Ang.  vol.  i. 

t  As  that  of  Richard  de  Arches,  it  is  given  in  a  Roll  of  Arms,  of 
the  time  of  Edward  I.  or  IT.,  a  copy  of  v/hich  is  in  Vincent,  16-5, 
p.  63,  Coll.  Arms. 

s  2 


260  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

and  Emma,  the  heiress  of  Eolkestone,  ^Yho  married, 
first,  Nigel  de  Muneville,  or  Monyille,  and  secondly, 
Manasses,  soDietimes  called  Eobert,  Count  de  Guisnes, 
to  the  latter  of  whom  she  ultimately  brought  the 
lands  which  had  been  settled  on  her  mother  in  dower 
at  Newington  and  Redingfield.  In  conjunction  with 
her  first  husband  Nigel  she  founded  the  Priory  of 
Polkestone  in  1095.  By  him  she  had  a  daughter 
named  Matilda,  who  carried  the  lordship  of  Polkestone 
and  the  land  atEleet  into  the  great  family  of  Avranches. 
By  her  second  husband  she  had  also  an  only  child, 
named  Bosa  or  Sybilla,  of  whom  we  shall  say  more 
under  the  head  of  De  Yere.  We  must  preyiously, 
however,  follow  the  issue  of  the  elder  daughter  and 
eo-heiress  Matilda  to  the  termination  of  the  direct 
male  line  of 

AVRANCHES. 

Contemporary  with  the  Conqueror  we  find  a  Wil- 
liam d' Avranches  who  was,  according  to  Ordericus 
Vitalis,  the  son  of  Guitmond,  Witmund,  or  Wymond, 
and  cousin  {i.  e.  blood  relation)  to  Bichard,  surnamed 
Goz,  father  of  Hugh  d'Avranches,  the  famous  Earl 
of  Chester.  The  exact  degree  of  relationship  has 
yet  to  be  proved ;  but  it  is  no  part  of  our  present 
inquiry,  and  we  shall  not,  therefore,  encumber 
ourselves  and  our  readers  with  more  questions  than 
are  absolutely  necessary.  William  d'Avranches  is  not 
named  in  Domesday,  but  he  ajopears  to  have  been 
one  of  eight  knights  intrusted  by  John  de  Eiennes 
with  the  wardship  of  Dover  Castle.     There  is  some 


GENEALOGICAL  AND   HERALDIC  NOTES,  261 

reason  to  believe  that  his  wife  was  Emma,^  a  daughter 
of  Baldwin  de  Brionnej  Viscomte  or  Sheriff  of 
Devonshire ;  but  whoever  might  be  his  wife,  by 
her  he  had  a  son,  named  Rualo  or  E/uallon,t  to  whom 
Henry  I.  gave  in  marriage  Matilda,  the  only  child 
of  Nigel  de  Muneville  by  his  wife  Emma  d'Arqnes, 
and  heiress  of  Folkestone.! 

Eualo  was  Sheriff  of  Kent  in  1131,  and  died  be- 
fore 1147,  leaving  by  Matilda  a  son  named  William, 
and  a  daughter,  a  nun  at  Elstow.§  Not  even  the 
Christian  name  of  the  wife  of  the  second  William 
d' Avranches  has  yet  been  discovered ;  but  it  is  clear 
that  he  had  issue  at  least  three  sons  :  Simon,  Eualo, 
and  Geoffrey.  William  died  in  or  before  1190,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Simon,  who  confirmed  to  the  monks 
of  St.  Andrew  of  Northampton  the  grants  of  Wil« 
liam  his  father  and  Matilda  his  grandmother. 
This  clearly  proves    that  he  was  the  son,  and   not 

*  According  to  others,  Alicia.  She  was  the  widow  of  William. 
Avenelj  by  whom  she  had  Ralph  Avenel,  Baron  of  Okehampton, 
who  married  Matilda,  daughter  of  Baldwin  de  Bedvers,  Earl  of 
Devon. 

+  And  another,  supposed  to  be  the  elder,  named  Bobert,  the 
adopted  heir  of  his  uncle,  Bichard  de  Brionne,  and  who  recovered 
from  his  half-brother  Balph  Avenel  the  barony  of  Okehampton. 

X  She  survived  her  husband,  and  gave  to  the  church  of  St.  Andrew, 
Northampton^  for  the  good  of  lier  soul,  the  souls  of  her  father,  her 
husband,  and  her  sons,  the  manor  of  Sywell,  in  the  county  of  North- 
ampton. This  gift  was  confirmed  by  her  son  William  in  1147. — 
Mon.  Aug.  vol.  i.  p.  680. 

§  With  whom  she  gave  to  the  priory  there  i\  virgates  of  land  in 
Sywell. — Mon.  Ang.  ut  sujyra. 


262  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

hrotlier,  and  lieir  of  William,  as  set  down  in  some 
pedigrees. 

In  1190  (2nd  Kicliard  I.)  he  was  in  account  with 
the  Exchequer  touching  certain  ships  going  to  the 
Holy  Land;  and  in  1194  (6th  Richard  I.)  paid 
£4.  15s.  towards  the  king's  ransom.*  In  1197  (8th 
Eichard  I.)  we  find  his  brother  Eualo  (or  Euellinus 
as  he  is  called  in  the  record)  party  to  the  final  concord 
with  Elias  de  Beauchamp  which  afforded  us  so  much 
information  respecting  Eichborough  in  the  12th  cen- 
tury ;  and  in  1209,  as  we  have  already  stated  (page  42, 
note),  Simon  had  a  dispute  with  Baldwin,  Count  de 
Gruisnes,  respecting  some  lands  in  Newington,  near 
Hythe,  which  we  have  seen  formed  part  of  the  dower 
of  Beatrice  d' Arques.  Simon  d'Avranches  married  a 
lady  named  Cecilia,  said  by  Segar  (MS.  Baronagium, 
Coll.  Arms)  to  have  been  one  of  the  family  of  Criol, 
or  Keriel,  another  of  those  great  Kentish  houses  of 
which  we  hear  so  much  and  know  so  little.  The 
date  of  his  death  is  uncertain,  but  it  occurred  in  or 
before  the  16th  of  John,  1214,  when  his  son  and  heir 
William  had  a  charter  for  a  fair  at  Folkestone. 
Besides  William  (third  of  that  name),  who  succeeded 
him,  he  had  issue  by  the  same  wife  three  other  sons  : 
Geoffrey,  Simon,  and  Boger.  Cecilia  survived  her 
husband,  and  in  1215  sold  her  manor  of  Sutton,  in 
Sussex,  to  the  monks  of  Bobertsbridge,  to  raise  money 
to  ransom  her  son  William,  who  had  been  taken 
prisoner  by  the  king's  forces. 

*  Eot.  Pip.  sub  ann. 


GENEALOaiCAL  AND   HERALDIC  NOTES.  263 

William  confirmed  the  grants  of  lands  in  I^^ortlieye 
which  his  mother  Cecilia,  then  living,  had  made  to 
Edmund,  son  of  "William  Goding.^  He  claimed 
the  manor  of  Avranches  against  Hugh  Bigot,  Earl 
of  Norfolk,  ninth  of  Henry  III.  (1224),  \Yas  constable 
of  Dover  Castle  tenth  of  Henry  III.  (1225),  and 
deceased  before  the  fifteenth  of  Henry  III.  (1230). 
He  married  Maud,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  William 
de  Bocland,  by  Maud,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Wil- 
liam de  Say.  She  was  also  sister  and  heir  of 
Hawisia  de  Bocland,  wife  of  John  de  Bovil,  and 
succeeded  to  her  lands  in  1226.  Looking  at  this 
descent,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  possessions 
of  the  family  of  Avranches  must  have  been  largely 
increased  by  this  marriage,  the  issue  of  which  was 
a  son  and  daughter.  The  son,  William,  was  a 
minor  in.  1230,  when  Hubert  de  Burgh  paid  50 
marks  for  his  custody  and  marriage,  and  still  under 
age  in  1233,  when  the  Bishop  of  Exeter  paid  2,000 
marks  to  have  his  custody,  intending  to  marry  him 
to  a  daughter  of  Bichard  de  Chilham  and  Boesia  de 
Dover.  Eventually,  however,  he  is  said  to  have 
married  Mabel,  daughter  of  Nicholas  de  Sandwich,t 
but   deceased  without  issue  before  1236,  when  his 

*  MS.  Coll.  Arm.  Yincent,  88,  p.  72.  Geoffrey  and  Simon  witnessed 
this  grant  of  their  brother  "^Villiam.  Sir  E,oger,  the  fourth  sod, 
is  said  to  have  been  the  progenitor  of  the  family  of  Everinge,  co. 
Kent.  The  drawing  of  the  seal  of  William  in  the  above  MS.,  repre- 
sents him  on  horseback,  with  the  shield  chevronny;  the  obverse 
displaying  a  kite-shape  shield,  with  the  same  arms. 

t  MS.  Pedigree  William  Courthope,  Esq.    Somerset  Herald. 


264  A   CORNER   OE   KENT. 

sister  Matilda  or  Maud  became  heiress  of  the  whole 
barony  of  Folkestone. 

This  great  heiress  became  the  second  wife  of 
Hamo,  son  of  Eobert  de  Crevecoeur,  who  did  homage 
for  her  lands  twentieth  of  Henry  III.  (1236),  when, 
according  to  the  presumed  date  of  her  mother's 
marriage,  she  could  not  have  been  more  than 
fifteen.  Prom  her  birth  she  appears  to  have  been 
the  ward  of  Peter  de  Maulay,  out  of  whose  custody 
her  father  received  her  in  the  first  or  second  year  of 
her  age.'^ 

Of  the  Crevecoeurs  we  shall  speak  anon ;  but 
we  must  now  return  to  the  collateral  descent  from 
Emma  d'Arques  the  first  lady  of  Eolkestone,  who,  as 
we  have  already  stated,  married,  secondly,  Manasses, 
Comte  de  Guisnes,  and  show  the  connection  of  this 
branch  with  the  families  of 

YEEE   AND   BOLBEC. 

The  only  issue  of  the  marriage  of  Emma  d'Arques 
with  the  Comte  de  Guisnes  appears  to  have  been  a 
daughter,  known  like  her  father  by  two  different 
names,  Posa  and  Sibilla.  She  married  Henri  Cas- 
tellan de  Bourbourg,  by  whom  she  had  an  only  child, 
a  daughter,  named  Beatrice.  Eosa  died  in  her  father's 
lifetime,  and  her  mother  Emma,  Comtesse  de  Guisnes, 
being  an  English  woman,  advised  the  selection  of 
an  English  husband   for   the   young   heiress.      The 

*  Clo£e  Eolls,  5lh  of  Henry  III.  mem.  12. 


GENEALOaiCAL  AND   HERALDIC  NOTES.  265 

choice  fell  on  Alb  eric,  the  son  of  Alberic  or  Aubrey 
de  Vere,  the  king's  chamberlain.  The  marriage  is 
said  to  have  been  hastened  in  consequence  of  the 
precarious  state  of  the  health  of  Beatrice,  and  as  in 
case  of  her  death  without  issue  the  comte  of  Guisnes 
would  revert  to  the  next  heir,  Arnold  de  Gand.  On 
the  death  of  Manasses  in  1137,  Alberic  de  Vere  was 
requested  by  his  father-in-law  Henri  de  Bourbourg, 
to  hasten  and  take  possession  of  the  county  of 
Guisnes.  He  complied  with  the  request,  and  was 
invested  by  the  Comte  de  Planders,  his  suzerain; 
but,  preferring  a  residence  at  the  English  court,  he 
neglected  his  matrimonial  domains  and,  sooth  to  say, 
his  wife,  till  at  length  afiPairs  culminated  in  a  revolu- 
tion and  a  divorce ;  Baldwin  of  Ardres  marrying  the 
Countess  Beatrice,  who  survived,  however,  but  a 
few  days,  and  dying  without  issue  by  either  of  her 
husbands,  Arnold  de  Gand  succeeded  as  next  heir  to 
the  county  of  Guisnes.  This  little  history,  which  we 
have  condensed-  as  much  as  possible  from  Mr.  Staple- 
ton's  elaborate  essay,  is  necessary  to  the  clear  under- 
standing of  the  position  of  Aubrey  de  Vere  the 
younger,  who  was  thus  styled  Count  or  Earl  before 
he  was  Earl  of  Oxford.  His  father,  the  king's 
chamberlain,  was  killed  in  London  during  a  riot  in 
the  year  1140,  and  left  by  his  wife  Alicia,  beside 
Alberic  of  whom  we  have  been  speaking,  several  sons 
and  two  daughters  :  Bohesia,  married  first  to  Geoffrey 
de  Mandeville,  Earl  of  Essex,  and  secondly  to  Pagan  de 
Beauchamp  ;    and    Juliana,    married  first  to  Hugh 


266  A   COENER  OE   KENT. 

Eigod,  Earl  of  Norfolk,  and  secondly  to  Walkeline  de 
Mamignot.  Alberic  having  become  one  of  the  most 
active  partisans  of  the  Empress  Matilda  against 
King  Stephen,  had  a  grant  from  her  in  the  year  1141 
of  all  the  land  of  William  d'Avranches  together 
with  all  the  inheritance  he  claimed  on  the  part  of 
his  wife  as  the  heiress  of  William  d'Arques,*  and  the 
promise  of  the  town  and  castle  of  Colchester,  as 
soon  as  they  should  be  in  her  power,  also  the 
reversion  of  the  earldom  of  Cambridgeshire  and  the 
third  penny  thereof,  as  an  earl  ought  to  have, 
provided  the  King  of  Scots  had  it  not ;  but  in  that 
case  Alberic  was  to  have  the  choice  of  four  earldoms, 
— Oxfordshire,  Berkshire,  Wiltshire,  and  .Dorsetshire, 
— according  to  the  decision  of  her  brother,  the  Earl 
of  Gloucester,  Earl  Geoffrey  (of  Essex),  and  Earl 
Gilbert  (of  Pembroke).  His  brothers  Geoffrey  and 
E;obert  were  also  made  barons,  and  his  brother 
William  was  promised  the  Chancellorship  of 
England. 

King  Henry  XL,  on  his  accession  to  the  throne,  in 
1135,  made  the  famous  Thomas  a  Becket  chancellor, 
but  performed  that  part  of  his  mother's  promise 
which  related  to  an  earldom  for  Alberic,  and  gave 
him  that  of  Oxford. t     Alberic   enjoyed   his   honour 

*  This  was  the  land  at  IS^ewington  and  Kedingfield  which  we 
have  seen  her  grandmother  Emma  brought  to  her  second  husband, 
Manasses  de  Guisnes. 

+  William,  in  lieu  of  the  chancellorship,  had  the  bishopric  of 
Hereford. 


GENEALOaiCAL  AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  267 

for  nearly  forty  years,  dying  26tli  December,  1194, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  of  the  same  name,  who 
in  the  sixth  of  John,  A.D.  1205,  paid  fine  to  the 
king  of  100  marks  to  be  confirmed  in  his  earldom 
and  in  the  receipt  of  the  third  penny.  Dying  with- 
out issue  male  in  1214,  his  next  brother,  Hobert, 
succeeded  as  third  Earl  of  Oxford.  All  this  is  per- 
fectly clear  and  indisputable,  and  consequently  those 
genealogists  who  are  content  with  recording  the 
descent  of  the  earldom  have  no  difficulties  to  contend 
with.  But  that  does  not  satisfy  us.  We  desire  to 
know  who  were  the  wives,  and  especially  the  mothers, 
of  these  earls  ;  and  on  referring  to  the  existing  cata- 
logues or  pedigrees  for  such  information,  we  are 
astounded  at  the  mass  of  confusion  and  contradiction 
they  exhibit."^ 

In  order  to  arrive  at  something  like  the  facts,  we 
must  retrace  our  steps.  Alberic  de  Vere,  the  king's 
Chamberlain,  slain  in  1140,  and  father  of  Alberic, 
first  Earl  of  Oxford,  was  himself  the  son  of  an 
Alberic  de  Vere,  founder  of  Colne  Abbey,  county 
of  Essex.  We  have,  therefore,  including  Alberic, 
the  second  Earl  of  Oxford,  four  Alberics  de  Vere  in 
immediate  succession.  Dugdale  would  make  it 
five,  by  commencing  with  the  "  Albericus  Comes  "  of 
Domesday  ;  but  it  is  now  generally  conceded  that  he 

*  Mr.  J.  Gougli  Nichols,  in  his  paper  on  the  Earldom  of  Oxford 
(Journal  of  the  Archseological  Institute,  vol.  ix.  p.  17),  to  which  we 
naturally  turned  for  information,  has  not  touched  upon  the  points  in 
question. 


268  A   COENEll  OP   KENT. 

was  not  of  this  family;  the  earliest  of  whom  at 
present  identified  is  the  Albericus  de  Vere  of  the 
same  record,  founder  of  Colne  Abbey,  as  above 
stated,  and  father  of  the  king's  chamberlain. 

This  Alberic  the  first,  it  appears,  from  a  confirma- 
tion charter  of  Henry  I.  *  and  also  by  a  charter  of 
Geofi'rey  de  Vere,  the  eldest  son  of  Alberic  and  who 
died  in  his  father's  lifetime,  had  for  wife  a  lady 
named  Beatrix,  by  some  called  a  sister  of  William 
the  Conqueror,  and  by  Dugdale  confounded  with 
Beatrix  de  Bourbourgh,  who  married  this  Alberic's 
grandson.  All  we  can  really  rely  upon  is  that  her 
name  was  Beatrix  and  that  she  was  the  mother  of 
Godfrey  de  Yere,  the  eldest  son,  as  acknowledged  by 
him.  It  is,  however,  probable,  that  she  was  also 
the  mother  of  his  brothers  Alberic,  William,  Bobert, 
and  Eoger. 

Alberic  the  second  certainly  married  a  lady  named 
Adeliza  or  Alicia,  stated  in  the  Book  of  the  Miracles 
of  St.  Osyth  to  have  been  the  daughter  of  Gilbert 
de  Clare.  Kennet  asserts  that  she  was  the  daughter 
of  Boger  de  Ivray,  and  brought  her  husband  the 
manor  of  Islip,  in  Oxfordshire  ;  and  Sandford,  in  his 
Genealogical  History,  marries  him  to  Mabel,  a 
daughter  of  Bobert,  Consul  of  Gloucester ;  but  we 
prefer  the  authority  of  the  "Libri  de  Miraculis  St. 
Osythse,"  which  is  attributed  to  the  pen  of  one  of 

*  Henry  I.  confirmed  the  gift  of  Alberic  de  Yere  of  twenty  acres 
of  land  to  St.  Mary  of  Abbingdon  for  the  soul  of  Godfrey,  his  sod, 
deceased. 


GENEALOaiCAL  AND   HEEALDIC  NOTES.  269 

the  sons  of  Alberic  by  this  yery  Adeliza,  a  priest  at 
St.  Osyth's,  and  brother  of  William  de  Vere,  Bishop 
of  Hereford.*  A  curious  corroboration  of  his  state- 
ment is  to  be  found  in  the  life  of  Giraldus  Cam- 
brensis,  which  is  more  valuable  as  it  occurs  inci- 
dentally and  without  reference  to  any  disputed  point 
of  genealogy.  We  give  it  in  the  words  of  the 
biographer : — 

'^It  happened  about  this  time  that  by  an  order 
from  the  king,  Ehys  ap  GrufFydh  was  summoned  to 
hold  a  conference  with  Baldwin,  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, and  E^anulf  de  Glanville,  chief  justice  of 
England,  at  Hereford.  When  seated  at  dinner  in  the 
house  of  William  de  Vere,  bishop  of  that  see,  and 
Walter,  a  noble  baron,  both  of  whom  were  descended 
from  the  noble  family  of  Clare,  Giraldus,  the  arch- 
deacon, approached  the  table,  and  standing  before 
them,  thus  facetiously  addressed  himself  to  Prince 
Rhys :  *  You  may  congratulate  yourself,  Bhys,  on 
being  now  seated  between  two  of  the  Clare  family, 
whose  inheritance  you  possess  ! '  for  at  that  time  he 
held  all  Cardiganshire,  which  he  had  recovered  from 
Roger,  Earl  of  Clare.  Rhys,  a  man  of  excellent 
understanding,  and  particularly  ready  at  an  answer, 
immediately  replied:  'It  is  indeed  true  that  for  a 
considerable  time  we  were  deprived  of  our  inheri- 

*  It  appears  she  gave  to  tlie  monks  of  St.  Osyth  lands  of  the  value 
of  seven  pounds  per  annum,  lying  at  Dalham,  Frustall,  and  Dinham, 
being  part  of  her  portion  in  frank  marriage,  and  which  Alberic,  her 
son,  confirmed. 


270  A   COENEE,   OE   KENT. 

tance  by  the  Clares;  but  as  it  was  our  fate  to  be 
losers,  we  had  at  least  the  satisfaction  of  being  dis- 
possessed of  it  by  noble  and  illustrious  personages, 
not  by  the  hands  of  an  idle  and  obscure  people.'  The 
bishop,  desirous  of  returning  the  compliment  to 
Prince  Rhys,  replied  :  '  And  we  also,  since  it  has  been 
decreed  that  we  should  lose  the  possession  of  those 
territories,  are  well  pleased  that  so  noble  and 
upright  a  prince  as  Uhys  should  be  at  this  time 
lord  over  them.'  "  * 

It  would  need  strong  evidence  to  rebut  the  con- 
temporaneous evidence  of  two  such  witnesses  as  the 
priest  of  St.  Osyth,  the  son  of  Adeliza,  and  Giraldus 
de  Earri,  the  acquaintance  of  her  other  son,  the 
Bishop  of  Hereford,  in  whose  cathedral  he  was  a 
prebend. 

Ey  the  Book  of  St.  Osyth  we  find  also  that  the 
issue  of  Alberic  by  Adeliza  was  five  sons.  Alberic, 
the  first  Earl  of  Oxford ;  William,  Bishop  of  Here- 
ford; Gilbert,  Lord  of  Bayham,  county  of  Essex; 
Geofirey,  who  married  Isabel  de  Say ;  and  the  afore- 
said priest  of  St.  Osyth.  Their  daughters  were 
Bohesia,  Countess  of  Essex ;  Julianna,  Countess  of 
Norfolk,  before  mentioned ;  and  Adeliza,  wife  of 
Henry  de  Essex,  and  subsequently  of  Boger  Eitz 
Bichard,  Lord  of  Warkworth. 

We  now  come  to  the  third  Alberic,  who,  as  we  have 
shown,  was,  during  his  father's  lifetime^  undoubtedly 

^  Itinerary,  vol.  i.  p.  23. 


GENEALOGICAL  AND   HERALDIC  NOTES.  271 

married  to  Beatrix  de  Bourbourgh,  Countess  de 
Guisnes,  from  whom  he  was  divorced,  and  by  whom 
he  had  no  issue.  As  this  fact  has  only  been  elicited 
through  the  labours  of  the  late  Mr.  Stapleton  (Dug- 
dale,  and  previous  writers,  having  confounded  her 
with  her  husband's  grandmother  of  the  same  name), 
she  is  not  to  be  found,  of  course,  in  any  of  the  older 
pedigrees  in  this  her  proper  place ;  but  to  make  up 
for  the  omission,  three  other  wives  have  been  accorded 
to  him— Lucia,  Euphemia,  and  Agnes.  The  first,  on 
the  authority  of  Leland,  and  supposed  by  Segar  to 
have  been  a  daughter  of  William  de  Arches  by  a 
daughter  of  William  de  Avranches,  we  may  dismiss 
in  a  few  words. 

She  w^as  the  first  prioress,  and  perhaps  founder  of 
a  nunnery  in  the  parish  of  Castle  Heningham ;  but 
whoever  she  might  be,  there  is  not  the  slightest 
evidence  that  she  was  ever  the  wife  of  Alberic  ;  and 
Weever,  who  prints  the  lament  of  the  prioress,  her 
successor,  for  her  loss,  only  suggests  that,  ''  belike 
she  was  one  of  that  honourable  house,"  i.e.,  a  De 
Vere.*  The  next,  Euphemia,  is  said  to  have  been  the 
daughter  of  Sir  William  de  Cantelupe.  Of  this  we 
have  no  proof;  but  her  charter  to  Colne  Abbey  is 
conclusive  as  to  her  being  the  wife  of  Alberic.  In  it, 
as  the  Countess  Euphemia,  she  gives  to  the  monks  of 
Colne,  with  the  consent  of  her  husband,  the  Earl 
Alberic,  100  shillings  from  her  manor  of  Icklington, 

'"-  Fan.  Mon.  p.  621. 


272  A   COENEE   OF   KENT. 

for  the  health  of  the  body  and  soul  of  Stephen,  King 
of  England,  and  for  the  soul  of  his  queen  Matilda, 
and  the  soul  of  Earl  Eustace,  their  son,  which  manor 
of  Icklington,  she  states,  M^as  given  her  by  the  said 
king  and  queen  in  frank  marriage.  This  charter  is 
witnessed  by  Earl  Albert  himself  and  his  brother, 
Gilbert  de  Vere.^  This  is  very  important,  as 
although  the  document  is  not  dated,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  about  the  period  in  which  it  was  executed. 
The  particular  mention  of  the  hodij  of  Stephen  shows 
that  the  king  was  at  that  time  living,  his  queen, 
Matilda,  and  his  son  Eustace  being  dead,  therefore 
not  earlier  than  1152 ;  and  the  fact  of  the  manor  of 
Ikclington  having  been  given  to  her  by  Stephen  and 
Matilda  as  a  marriage  portion  proves  that  Alberic 
must  have  been  in  favour  with  that  monarch  and  his 


*  Ego  Eufemia  Comitissa  concessu  comitis  Alberici  mariti  mei  dedi 
monachis  de  Colne  redditione  C  s.  in  Iclintonia  cum  corpore  meo 
sepeliendo  pro  salute  corporis  et  animse  Stephani  Eegis  Anglise  et  pro 
anima  Matildis  Reginae  et  pro  anima  Comitis  Eustachie  filii  eorum,  &c. 
.  .  .  .  sicut  Kex  Stephannis  et  Matildis  Kegina  uxor  sua  qui 
prsenominatum  manerium  de  Iclintonia  mihi  dederunt  in  libero 
maritagio,  &c.  Witnessed  by  "  Comite  Alberico  et  Gilberto  de 
Yeer." — (Dugdale,  Mon.,  vol.  ii.  p.  877.)  Alberic  afterwards  founded 
a  nunnery  at  Icklington,  in  the  diocese  of  Ely.  The  Empress  also 
granted  to  Alberic,  Diham  (Dinham),  "  which  belonged  to  Robert  de 
Ramis  and  was  the  right  of  the  nejohews  of  this  earl ;  viz.  the  sons  of 
Roger  de  Ramis.'' — (Dugdale's  Baronage.)  As  Alberic  had  no  sister 
married  to  Roger  de  Ramis,  it  would  seem  as  if  the  earl  had  married 
Roger's  sister.  The  family  of  De  Ramis,  Raimes,  or  Raines,  is  always 
alluded  to  as  of  great  importance,  and  has  never  yet  been  thoroughly 
investigated. 


aENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  273 

queen  at  the  time  that  marriage  took  place,  which, 
as  he  was  diyorced  from  Beatrix  about  1143-4,  and 
the  queen  died  in  1151,  could  have  been  only  a  few 
years  after  his  zealous  partisanship  of  the  Empress 
Matilda  and  her  son  Prince  Henry.  Another  re- 
markable circumstance  is,  that  in  the  charter  above 
mentioned  Alberic  and  Euphemia  style  themselves 
Earl  (or  Count)  and  Countess,  although  he  had 
ceased  to  be  Count  de  Guisnes  when  he  was  divorced 
from  the  Countess  Beatrix  (who  carried  the  county 
and  title  to  her  second  husband,  Baldwin  de  Ardres), 
and  was  not  made  Earl  of  Oxford  till  1155,  first  of 
Henry  II.  This  appears  to  sustain  the  opinion  that 
he  was  by  descent  Comte  de  Vere,  as  we  find  him 
indeed  called  by  Giraldus  Cambrensis ;  but  the  royal 
gift  of  the  manor  of  Icklington  and  the  favour  of 
Stephen  and  his  queen  have  still  to  be  accounted 
for,  and  we  are  therefore  induced  to  believe  that 
Euphemia  was  not  simply  the  daughter  of  Sir 
William  de  Cantelupe,  but,  like  her  predecessor 
Beatrix,  a  countess  in  her  own  right,  and  probably 
a  relation  or  connection  of  either  Stephen  or  Matilda, 
who  must  assuredly  have  had  some  strong  reason  for 
thus  sanctioning  the  marriage  and  endowing  the 
bride  of  one  of  their  chief  opponents. 

Whether  Euphemia  lived  to  be  Countess  of 
Oxford  we  are  at  present  without  means  of  deciding ; 
but  the  book  of  Colne  Abbey  gives  Alberic  a  third 
wife,  named  Agnes,  and,  according  to  Giraldus 
Cambrensis,    he    was    married    before    1163    to    a 

T 


274  A   CORNEE   OP   KENT. 

daughter  of  Henry  de  Essex,  from  whom  he  was 
striving  to  be  divorced,  on  account  of  the  disgrace  of 
her  father,  at  the  time  that  she  w^as  pregnant  with  his 
eldest  son  Alberic,  the  fourth  of  that  name,  who 
succeeded  him  as  second  Earl  of  Oxford.*     But  he 


*  Itin.  cap.  vii.  He  does  not  mention  her  Christian  name,  but,  in 
speaking  of  natural  defects  inherited  by  children  from  their  parents, 
he  says,  "  A  like  miracle  of  nature  occurred  in  Alberic,  son  of  Alberic, 
Earl  of  Vere,  whose  father,  during  the  pregnancy  of  his  mother,  the 
daughter  of  Henry  of  Essex  ('filia  scilicet  Henrici  de  Essexia'), 
having  laboured  to  procure  a  divorce  on  account  of  the  ignominy  of 
her  father,  the  child,  when  born,  had  the  same  blemish  in  its  eye  as 
the  father  had  got  from  a  casual  hurt."  Sir  Eichard  Colt  Hoare,  in 
his  annotations  on  this  chapter,  vol.  ii.  p.  132,  considers  this  to  be 
a  biographical  error,  as  he  found  by  the  pedigrees  of  the  Vere  and 
Essex  families  that  "  Henry  de  Essex  m^arried  a  daughter  of  the 
second  Alberic  de  Yere."  We  have  stated,  on  the  authority  of  the 
work  of  St.  Osyth,  that  he  did  marry  a  daughter  of  the  second 
Alberic,  who  was  of  course  sister  of  the  third  ;  and  we  have  here  the 
circumstantial  statement  of  an  actual  contemporary,  who,  being  born 
in  1146,  was  seventeen  years  of  age  when  Henry  de  Essex  was 
defeated  by  Robert  de  Montforfc  in  the  famous  trial  by  battle  in 
1163,  and  thereby  adjudged  guilty  of  the  cowardly  and  treasonable 
offence  of  throwing  down  the  royal  standard,  of  which  he  was  the 
hereditary  bearer,  and  flying  from  the  field  during  the  conflict  between 
the  king's  forces  and  those  of  Owen  Gwyneth,  Prince  of  Powys,  in 
1157.  Henry  II.  spared  his  life,  but  ordered  him  to  be  shorn  a 
monk  and  retire  into  the  Abbey  of  Reading.  These  remarkable  events 
are  just  such  as  would  be  likely  to  make  a  powerful  impression  on  the 
mind  of  a  youth  of  the  age  of  Giraldus,  and  who  was  subsequently  the 
friend  and  companion  of  Henry  II.  and  of  William  de  Yere,  Bishop 
of  Hereford,  the  brother  of  that  very  Earl  Alberic,  with  whom  and 
with  his  countess  indeed  it  is  very  probable  he  was  also  acquainted  ; 
as,  by  his  own  account,  this  Itinerary  was  written  in  1190,  which 
would  be  four  years  previous  to  the  death  of  the  earl,  who  seems  to 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  275 

had  also  issue  Eobert,  afterwards  third  earl,  and 
Henry,  from  whom  the  De  Veres  of  Addington  are 
said  to  be  descended ;  and  as  Giraldns  does  not 
inform  us  whether  or  not  he  succeeded  in  obtaining 
the  divorce,  we  are  left  in  doubt  as  to  their  being 
children  of  the  same  mother. 

Unfortunately,  in  none  of  the  charters  of  his  sons 
and  successors  that  wo  have  yet  met  with  is  there 
any  mention  of  their  mother,  nor  do  we  know  whe- 
ther or  not  she  survived  her  husband,  w^ho  died  26th 
December,  1194;  but  the  presumption  is,  that  she 
did  not. 

The  fourth  Alberic  de  Vere,  and  second  Earl  of 
Oxford,  is  said  to  have  married  Adeliza,  daughter  of 
Eoger  Bigod,  and  died  without  issue  1214  ;  but  now 
comes  the  hardest  knot  in  this  exceedingly  entangled 
skein. 

Robert  de  Yere  succeeded  his  brother  Alberic,  and 
was  at  that  time  the  husband  of  Isabella  de  Bolbec. 
Of  these  two  facts  the  proofs  are  manifold.  The 
Pipe-roll  of  the  second  of  Eichard  I.,  1191,  records 
that  Earl  Alberic  rendered  an  account  of  500  marks 
to  have  the  daughter  of  Walter  de  Bolebec  for  a  wife 


have  married  his  first  cousin,  unless  she  were  the  daughter  of  Henry 
de  Essex  by  a  former  wife.  The  facts  and  dates  we  have  cited  give 
us  the  following  result : — 


Beatrice,    = 

Alberic  de  Vere, 

=       EuPblEMlA,       =: 

Agnes, 

1st  wife, 

1st  Earl  of  Oxford, 

2nd  wife. 

3rd  wife. 

divorced  1143. 

died  1194. 

married  before 

married  before 

1151. 

1163. 

T    2 


276  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

to  his  son,  not  named.*  It  would  seem  that  the  mar- 
riage did  not  take  place  previous  to  the  earl's  death 
in  1194,  for  in  the  Pipe-roll  of  the  ninth  of  John, 
1208,  it  is  stated  that  Robert  de  Vere  gave  200  marks 
and  three  palfreys,  to  have  Y(sabella)  de  Bolbec  to 
wife,  provided  she  consented ;  and  in  which  case  he 
would  pay  the  fine  which  she  the  said  Y.  had  agreed 
to  pay  the  king,  not  to  be  compelled  to  marry  by  the 
plea  of  Earl  Alberic.f  On  the  death  of  Eobert,  Earl 
of  Oxford,  fifth  of  Henry  III.,  1221,  his  widow, 
Isabella,  paid  a  fine  to  the  king  of  £2,228  2s.  9^d., 
for  the  wardship  of  her  son,  then  about  six  years  old, 
after  which  she  married  Henry  de  Novant,  and  was 
deceased  in  1245,  when  Hugh  de  Yere,  who  had 
succeeded  his  father  as  fourth  Earl  of  Oxford,  on 
attaining  his  majority  in  1236,  had  livery  of  his 
mother's  estates ;  as  in  the  Pine  roll  of  the  twenty- 
ninth  of  Henry  III.  we  read,  ''  The  king  received 
the  homage  of  Hugh,  Earl  of  Oxford,  son  and  heir 
of  Isabella  de  Bolbeck,  late  Countess  of  Oxford."  J 
Now  in  the  face  of  this  evidence  we  have  to  account 
for  the  existence  of  two  charters,  in  both  of  which 

*  "  Comes  Alberici  reJdit  coraputnm  de  D  marcis  pro  habenda  filia 
Walter!  de  Bolbeck  ad  opus  filii  sui."—  (Mag.  Rot.  Pip.  A^  2nd  Eic.  I.) 

t  '•'  Kobertiis  de  Yer  CC  marcas  et  iij  palefridos  pro  habenda  in 
uxorem  Y  de  Bolbec  si  ipsa  voluerit  ita  quod  si  cum  duxerit  in 
uxorem  ipse  reddit  finem  quern  ipsa  Y  fecit  ne  distriogatur  ad 
maritandum  per  placitam  comitis  Alberici." — (Mag.  Rot.  Pip.  A''  9 
John.) 

%  "  Rex  cepit  homagium  Hugo.  co.  Oxon.  filii  et  hered.  Isabella  de 
Bolbeck  quondam  Comitissa  Oxon."— (Ptot.  Fin.  A°  29  Hen.  III.) 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  277 

Isabella,  the  daughter  of  Walter  de  Bolbec,  is  dis- 
tinctly averred  to  be  the  wife  of  Alberic  de  Yere, 
who  is  in  one  specified  as  the  son  of  Earl  Alberic. 
The  first  is  in  the  cartulary  of  Nottley  Abbey,  and  is 
a  confirmation  of  the  grant  of  Earl  Walter  Gifi'ord 
of  lands  in  the  vill  of  Hillerdon  to  the  church  and 
canons  of  Saint  Maria  de  Crendon,  by  Alberic  de 
Vere  and  Isabella,  daughter  of  Walter  de  Bolbec,  his 
wife,  with  the  consent  of  Hugh  de  Bolbec*  The 
other  is  in  the  Harleian  Collection  of  Charters, 
British  Museum,  No.  57,  c.  3,  and  is  a  grant  by 
Alberic  de  Vere,  son  of  the  Earl  Alberic  and  his 
wife  Isabella  de  Bolbec  C'  ego  et  Isabella  de  Bolbec, 
uxor  mea")  to  William  Eitz  Bering,  of  the  land  of 
Hoquering.f    Had  the  evidence  occurred  in  only  the 

*  "  Notura  sit  omnibus  tarn  pntibus  quam  futuris  quo  ego  Albericus 

de  Yer  et  Isabella  de  Bolbec  Jilia  Walteri  de  Bolbec  sponsa  mea'^  d'c. 

.  The   Hugh  de  Bolbec  whose  cousent  was  required  to  this 

gift  must  have  been  the  cousin  of  Isabella,  as  her  uncle  Hugh  was 

dead  in  1165.— (Vide  page  282,  note.) 

t  It  is  indexed,  '•'  Carta  Alberici  de  Yer  fil  Alberici  comitis  et 
femince  sum  Isabellce  filice  Walteri  de  Bolbec,  Willielmo  fil  Derinck  de 
Terra  de  Hoquering,  cum  sig."  The  seal  is  a  curiosity,  as  it  is  one 
used  by  this  family  immediately  previous  to  the  introduction  of 
armorial  bearings,  and  represents  a  human  figure  erect  with  arms 
extended,  the  lower  half  hidden  by  a  monstrous  animal,  a  lion, 
dragon,  or  dolphin,  or  more  probably  one  of  those  nondescripts  we 
find  upon  the  shields  of  the  Norman  knights  in  the  Bayeux  tapestry. 
The  arms  of  De  Yere,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  were  Quarterly 
Gules  and  Or,  in  the  first  quarter  a  mullet  argent. — (Effigy  of  Bobert, 
third  Earl  of  Oxford,  Hatfield  Broadoak,  and  seal  of  the  same  ) 
This  mullet  was  certainly  borne  as  a  difference.  Now  it  is  worthy  of 
observation  that  Geoffrey  de  Mignaville,  Earl  of  Ess"x,  bore  the  same 


278  A   COENEE  OP   KENT. 

first  charter,  it  might  have  been  questionable.  It 
might  have  been  incorrectly  transcribed,  or  altogether 
a  forgery ;  but  we  cannot  so  easily  dispose  of  the 
second.  The  original,  with  its  curious  seal,  can  be 
seen  by  any  one  in  the  British  Museum,  and  the  words 
''son  of  the  Earl  Alberic"  show  that  it  must  have 
been  executed  during  the  lifetime  of  the  first  Earl  of 
Oxford,  i.e.  ante  Dec.  26th,  1194,  and  subsequent  to 
1191,  when  we  know  that  the  earl  gave  King 
Bichard  I.  500  marks  to  marry  a  daughter  of  Walter 
de  Bolbec  to  a  son  of  his,  not  named.  Now,  unless 
there  were  two  Isabellas,  daughters  of  a  Walter  de 
Bolbec,  it  seems  clear  that  the  son  he  had  selected  as 
the  husband  of  Isabella  was  his  eldest,  Alberic,  and 
that  they  were  accordingly  married  during  his  life- 
time. That  there  were  not  two  Isabellas,  or,  at  least, 
that  the  daughter  of  Walter  de  Bolbec,  for  the  dis- 
posal of  whose  hand  the  Earl  Alberic  paid  500  marks, 
was  the  Isabella  eventually  wife  of  E^obert  de  Vere, 
his  second  son,  is  equally  clear  by  the  proof  that  he, 
Robert,  in  addition  to  his  own  fine,  promised  to  pay 
that  which  "  Y.  de  Bolbec,"  the  lady  in  question,  had 
agreed  to  give  the  King  that  she  might  not  be  com- 
pelled to  marry  according  to  the  plea  of  Earl  Alberic. 
And  yet  this  contract  with  the  King  was  entered  into 
in  1208,  six  years  before  the  death  of  Alberic  de 
Vere,  second  Earl  of  Oxford,  with  whom  in  the  two 

witliin  a  bordure  vairy,  and  ClaveriDg  descended  from  Fitz-Bichard, 
the  same  with  a  bend  sable. 


GENEALOaiCAL  AND   HERALDIC  NOTES.  279 

charters  we  have  just  quoted,  she  is  associated  as  his 
Avife  !  The  only  inference  that  we  can  possibly  draw 
from  these  data  is,  that  Isabella,  who  was  certainly  a 
minor  in  1191,^'  and  is  only  spoken  of  as  "  the  Lady 
Isabella"  in  1198,  at  which  time  she  would,  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  have  been  Countess  of  Oxford, 
was  married  to  Alberic  in  her  nonage,  and  separated 
from  him  for  some  reason  before  1198,  t  and  that  a  dis- 
solution of  this  marriage,  and  a  dispensation  from,  the 
Pope,  on  the  ground  of  non-cohabitation,  enabled 
her  to  marry  her  brother-in-law,  E^obert  de  Yere,  in 
1208,  when  she  had  become  of  full  age,  and  after  she 
had  protested  against  being  compelled  to  marry  con- 
trary to  her  own  inclination.  We  are  by  no  means 
confident  that  this  is  the  clue  to  the  mystery,  but 
see  no  other  way  to  reconcile  such  startling  contra- 
dictions. Por  Alberic's  marriage  with  Adeliza, 
daughter  of  Ptoger  Bigod,  Earl  of  Norfolk,  we  have 
no  positive  authority;  but  without  disputing  it,  we 
know  that  he  died  without  issue,  and  therefore  escape 

*  If  the  folio wiDg  record  applies  to  her,  she  was  then  (1191)  in 
her  sixteenth  year,  as  she  was  stated  to  have  been  in  the  tenth 
year  of  her  age  in  1185.  "  Filia  Walter!  de  Bolbec  que  fait  ix. 
annorum  a  festo  sancti  Michaelis  fuit  in  custodia  Comitis  Alberici." — 
(Rot.  de  Dom.) 

t  Even  infantile  marriages  were  by  no  means  uncommon  in  a 
much  later  age,  the  object  being  to  secure  the  property  of  the  heiress 
as  soon  as  possible.  Isabella  was  fifteen  when  she  was  sold  to  the 
earl  for  his  son  ;  twenty-three  when  she  was  mentioned  as  "  the 
Lady  Isabella"  in  the  Final  Concord,  A.D.  1198,  thirty-three  in  1208, 
and  nearly  seventy  at  the  time  of  her  death  in  1245. 


280  A   COENER   OF   KENT. 

one  difficulty  which  might  have  seriously  increased 
our  embarrassment.* 

We  have  now  struggled  into  the  light  of  day.  The 
Close  E;oll  of  the  sixteenth  of  John  announces  the 
succession  of  the  Earl  of  Oxford  on  the  death  of  his 
brother  Alberic,t  and  that  of  the  seventeenth  gives  to 
E^obert  de  Vere,  Earl  of  Oxford,  the  third  penny  of 
the  county.  {  We  have  already  mentioned  the  date 
of  his  death,  the  enormous  fine  paid  by  his  widow 
Isabella  for  the  wardship  of  her  son  Hugh,  her 
subsequent  marriage  with  Henry  de  Novant,  and 
death  in  1245. 

Our  next  step  in  the  pedigree  is  to  show  that  in 
the  seventh  of  Henry  III.,  1223,  Margaret  de  Quincy, 
Countess  of  Winchester,  paid  1,000  marks  to  the  king 
for  permission  to  marry  her  daughter  Hawisia  to  Hugh, 
the  young  son  and  heir  of  E;obert  de  Vere,  formerly 
Earl  of  Oxford,  and  who  at  that  time  could  not  be 
more  than  fourteen.  §    Hugh  died  in  the  forty-seventh 

*  Alberic,  if  we  may  rely  upon  the  statement  of  Giraldus,  was  born 
a  few  months  after  the  disgrace  of  his  grandfather,  Henry  de  Essex,  in 
11G3,  at  latest  in  1164.  This  would  make  him  twenty-six  or  twenty- 
seven  at  the  time  of  his  marriage  with  Isabella.  According  to  the 
same  calculation,  he  was  not  more  than  fifty  at  the  period  of  his 
decease  in  1214. 

t  "Admissus  comitem  Oxon  post  mortem  fris  Alberici  comitis." — 
(Rot.  Glaus.  16  John,  p.  2,  m.  19.) 

J  "  Robtus  de  Yeer  Comes  Oxon  de  tertio  denario  comitatus 
Oxon."— (Rot.  Clans.  17  John,  m.  30.) 

§  ''  Margareta  comitissa  Winton  finem  fecit  cum  Dno  Rege  per  1,000 
marcas  ut  Hawisia  filia  sua  marietur  Hugoni  fil  et  her  R  de  Yeer 
quondam  comitis  Oxon." — (Rot.  Fin.  7  Hen.  III.  m.  7.) 


GENEALOGICAL  AND   HERALDIC  NOTES.  281 

of  Henry  III.,  leaving  by  his  countess,  the  aforesaid 
Hawisia,  a  son  named  Robert,  twenty-three  years  of 
age  at  his  father's  death,  and  who  succeeded  him  as 
fifth  Earl  of  Oxford,  and,  marrying  Alice,  daughter  of 
Gilbert  Lord  S andf or d.  Chamberlain  to  Queen  Eleanor, 
died  in  the  twenty-fourth  of  Edward  I.,  1297,  when 
it  was  found  that  he  held  the  manor  of  Eleet-next- 
Sandwich,  of  John,  son  of  John  de  Sandwich,  and 
that  Robert  de  Vere,  son  of  said  Robert,  was  his  next 
heir,  and  twenty-four  years  of  age. 

We  may  here  dismiss  the  De  Veres,  as  the  re- 
mainder of  the  pedigree  is  unconnected  with  this 
inquiry,  and  has  been  sufficiently  set  down  in  our 
second  chapter,  on  the  descent  of  the  manor  of 
Fleet,  and  return  to  the  family  of  Bolbec,  respecting 
which  the  greatest  uncertainty  exists  in  all  its 
branches. 

If  we  are  to  credit  the  assertion  of  William  the 
monk  of  Jumieges,  and  we  admit  that  we  have  no 
evidence  to  rebut  it,  one  Osborne  de  Bolbec,  by 
Avelina,  sister  of  Gunnora,  Duchess  of  Normandy, 
was  the  progenitor  of  half  the  noble  houses  in 
England,  but  specially  of  the  great  family  of  Giffard, 
and  of  that  which  retained  the  original  designation 
of  Bolbec.  We  have  already,  in  this  chapter,  under 
the  head  of  D'Arques,  examined  the  conflicting 
testimony  of  the  descent  of  Emma,  the  heiress  of 
Eolkestone,  from  Osborne,  and  stated  our  view  of 
the  connection  between  the  families  of  De  Arcis  and 
Bolbec.     Beside  the  Geoffrey  de  Bolbec  there  men- 


282  A   COENEE  OF   KENT. 

tioned,  there  was  a  Hugh  de  Bolbec,  who,  at  the 
time  of  the  compilation  of  Domesday,  possessed 
several  lordships  in  various  counties,  but  particularly 
in  Buckinghamshire,  and  who  is  said  to  have  had  two 
sons,  Walter  and  Hugh,  who  succeeded  each  other 
in  the  barony  of  Bolbec*  ISTearly  at  the  same  period, 
however,  another  Hugh  de  Bolbec,  li\dng  tenth 
Henry  I.,  in  Northumberland,  had  also  two  sons 
named  Walter  and  Hugh.  Walter  founded  the 
priory  of  Blancland,  in  that  county,  and  died 
before  thirty-third  of  Henry  II.,  leaving  issue  by  his 
wife,  Margaret,  a  son  and  heir,  Walter,  who  died 
without  issue  seventh  of  John,  when  Hugh,  the  second 
son,  was  found  heir  to  his  brother  Walter.  He  was 
one  of  the  justices  itinerant  for  the  counties  of  North- 
ampton, York,  Northumberland,  Cumberland,  and 
Lancaster,  and  died  forty-third  of  Henry  III.,  1259, 
leaving  by  his  wife  Theophania  four  daughters  and 
coheirs ;  viz.,  Philippa,  wife  of  Boger  de  Lancaster ; 
Margery,  first  married  to  Nicholas  Corbet,  and 
secondly  to  Balph,  son  of  William,  Lord  of  Grim- 
thorp;  Alice,  wife  of  Walter  de  Huntercombe;  and 
Maud,  of  Hugh  de  la  Val. 

We  have  been  particular  in  clearing  off  this  line 
of  the  Bolbecs  of  Northumberland,  because  from  the 

*  His  wife  appears  to  have  been  Hawisia  or  Helewisia  de  Courtenay. 
(Vide  i)ages  253  and  285,  note.)  His  son  Hugh  'founded  the  Abbey 
of  Woburne,  in  Bedfordshire,  10th  of  September,  1145,  and  was  dead 
in  1165,  when  Walter  gave  the  king  100  marks  for  the  wardship  of 
his  brother's  son  and  heir. — Rot.  Pip. 


GENEALOaiCAL  AND   HERALDIC  NOTES.  283 

parity  of  names  and  dates  confusion  has  occurred 
on  various  points  between  it  and  that  of  the 
Buckingham  branch,  the  eldest,  as  it  would  appear 
from  the  descent  in  it  of  the  barony  of  Bolbec,  and 
therefore  undoubtedly  the  one  to  which  we  must 
trace  Isabella,  Countess  of  Oxford,  as  through  her 
that  barony  came  to  the  De  Veres.  That  she  was 
the  daughter  of  "Walter  de  Bolbec,  and  niece  of 
Hugh,  is  clear  enough  from  the  charters  and  wills 
we  have  quoted,  though  Dugdale  has  increased  the 
confusion  by  stating,  inadvertently  we  presume,  that 
she  was  dmighter  of  Hugh  and  sister  of  Walter,  in 
his  Baronage,  vol.  i.  p.  191.  That  she  had  a  sister 
and  coheir  named  Constance,  married  to  Elias  de 
Beauchamp,  is  also  clear  from  the  Pinal  Concord  of 
1198,  often  alluded  to  in  these  pages.  Dugdale 
records  the  match,  but  did  not  know  the  name  of  the 
lady,  which  has  only  reached  us  through  the  above- 
mentioned  valuable  record.  That  Constance  was  the 
younger  sister  we  presume  from  the  barony  of  Bolbec 
falling  to  Isabella's  share ;  and  therefore,  if  we  have 
been  tolerably  correct  in  our  calculation  of  the  age 
of  the  latter,  Constance  was  the  wife  of  Elias  de 
Beauchamp  at  the  early  age  of  thirteen  or  fourteen 
at  the  utmost.*'  But  who  was  the  mother  of  these 
two  children  ?    Certainly  not  the  Margaret  de  Mont- 

*  We  tliink  it  probable  that  she  also  died  at  an  early  age,  for  no 
issue  is  recorded  of  her,  and  in  1224  Isabella,  as  we  shall  see  presently, 
speaks  of  herself  as  the  heir  (not  one  of  the  heirs)  of  Walter  de 
Bolbec. 


284  A   COUNER   OF    KENT. 

fitchet  whom  Dugdale  lias  married  in  one  place  to 
Walter  and  in  another  to  Hugh  de  Bolbec ;  for  she 
was  one  of  the  sisters,  and  coheir  of  Richard  de 
Montfitchet,  living  forty-second  Henry  III.,  1258, 
and  dead  in  the  fifty-first  of  the  same  reign  (Rot. 
Pip.  suh  anno)  ;  nor  could  she  have  been  the  wife  of 
the  Walter  de  Eolbec  who  founded  the  priory  of 
Blancland,  as  stated  in  Banks,  vol.  i.  p.  38,  unless  she 
survived  her  husband  more  than  seventy  years,  as  he 
was  dead  in  1185  or  1186.  In  the  Pine  Boll  of  the 
9th  of  John,  1208,  we  find  that  a  Margaret  de 
Bolbec,  who  had  been  the  wife  of  Walter  de  Bolbec, 
was  remarried  to  Henry  de  Pontibus,  and  she  is 
expressly  stated  to  have  been  the  daughter  of  Henry 
the  son  of  Hervey.*  As  the  father  of  Isabella  must 
have  been  dead  in  1191,  second  of  Bichard  I.,  the 
date  would  correspond  well  enough  with  that  of  the 
remarriage  of  his  widow  in  1208 ;  but  here  we  are 
met  by  the  evidence  of  the  existence  of  an  undoubted 
widow  of  our  Walter  de  Bolbec  previous  to  1224. 
In  that  year,  being  the  eighth  of  Henry  III., 
Isabella,  then  widow  of  Bobert  de  Yere,  petitions 
against  the  abbot  of  Mendham  (co.  Bucks)  to 
recover  from  him  three  carucates  of  land  in  Mend- 
ham,  her  right  and  heritage,  on  the  plea  that  the 
said  lands  formed  no  part  of  the  dowry  of  Egelina 


*  Or  Henry  Fitz-Hervey,  wliicli  is  not  quite  the  same  thing. 
"  Margareta  de  Bolbec  filia  Henrici  filii  Hervei  qui  fait  uxor  ^Yalteri." 
She  was  probably  the  widow  of  the  founder  of  Blanchnd. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   HEKALDIC   NOTES.  285 

cle  Courtenay,  of  the  gift  of  her  husband  Walter  de 
Bolbec,  whose  heir  she  (the  said  Isabella)  is.*  We 
must  surely  conclude  from  this  document  that 
Egelina,  widow  of  Walter  de  Bolbec,  was  not  the 
mother  of  his  daughter  Isabella,  and  that  both  she  and 
her  sister  Constance  were  by  a  former  wife,  who  could 
not  long  have  survived  the  birth  of  her  second  child, 
as  Walter  must  have  remarried  before  1191,  in  which 
year  he  was  dead.  His  having  no  son  would  account 
for  his  re-entering  the  married  state  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible ;  but  whether  Egelina  was  a  Courtenay  by  birth, 
or  had  taken  to  herself  a  second  husband  of  that 
family  before  1224,  we  have  yet  to  discover:  from 
the  lapse  of  time,  most  probably  the  latter. f  The 
production  of  a  single  charter,  the  information  con- 
tained in  a  few  lines  of  some  overlooked  record,  may, 
before  these  pages  meet  the  public  eye,  upset  all 
these  calculations ;  but  they  are,  at  any  rate,  founded 

*  "  Isabella  qui  fuit  uxor  Roberti  de  Yeer  petit  vsus  abbatem  de 
Mendliam  3  caruc  terr  cum  ptni  in  ib  ut  jus  et  bereditatem  suam  in 
quos  id  Abbas  non  het  iugressum  nisi  per  Egelinam  de  Courtenay 
qui  non  babuit  inde  nisi  dotem  ex  done  Walteri  de  Bolbec  viri  sui 
cujus  teres  ipse  est."— (MSS.  Coll.  Arm.  Yinct.  13,  p.  16.)  The 
Abbey  of  Mendham  was  founded  by  Hugb,  the  brother  of  Walter,  as 
a  cell  to  Woburne,  shortly  after  the  foundation  of  the  latter  in  1145. 

+  A  Reginald  de  Courtenay  had  custody  of  the  daughter  and  lands 
of  the  other  Walter  de  Bolbec,  founder  of  the  priory  of  Blancland, 
according  to  two  entries  in  the  Rot.  de  Dominabus,  1185.  We  have 
proof  also  that  a  Helewisia  de  Bolbec,  grandmother  of  Constance  de 
Bolbec,  possessed  the  advowson  of  the  Chapel  of  Fleet  (vide  p.  253) ; 
and  in  a  pedigree  in  the  Coll.  of  Arms  (E.  13,  p.  15),  she  is  stated 
to  have  been  "Hawes  d.  to  the  Lord  Courtenay." 


286  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

on  official  data,  and  are  offered  as  the  best  solution 
we  can  suggest  of  a  hitherto  neglected  genealogical 
puzzle. 

CREYECOEUR. 

Hamo  de  Crevecoeur,**  in  consequence  of  his  for- 
tunate marriage  with  Maud  d'Avranches,  the  second 
great  lady  of  Polkestone,  figures  very  conspicuously 
in  all  the  pedigrees  of  his  family,  as  well  as  those 
of  several  connected  Avith  it ;  but,  as  is  too  often  the 
case  in  such  matters,  this  important  match  is  alone 
recorded,  no  mention  being  made  of  his  first  wife,  or 
third  wife  who  survived  him,t  and  the  issue  by  the 
first  confounded  with  his  children  by  the  second. 
The  four  coheiresses  of  Maud  d'Avranches — Agnes, 
Isolda,  Eleanor,  and  Isabel — are  incorrectly  stated 
in  our  standard  genealogical  works  to  have  succeeded 
to  the  large  estates  of  their  mother  upon  the  death 
without  issue  of  their  brother  Eobert.  This  is  an 
error.  The  E;obert  alluded  to  was  their  nephew,  the 
son  of  their  half-brother  Hamo  de  Crevecoeur,  who 
was  the  only  son  of  their  father  Hamo  by  his  first 
wife,  name  and  family  unknown.  $    Hamo  the  younger 

*  The  arms  of  this  family  were,  Or  a  cross  voided  gules. 

t  His  third  wife  was  named  Alice,  by  whom  he  had  no  issue. 

J  Hamo  the  elder  was  the  son  of  a  Robert  de  Crevecoeur,  son  of 
Daniel,  son  of  Kobert  Fitz  Hamon  de  Crevecoeur,  who  had  two  wives  ; 
by  the  first,  named  Isabella,  he  apparently  had  his  son  Adam,  co- 
founder  of  the  Priory  of  Ledes,  co.  Kent.  By  the  second,  Rosina,  he 
had  two  sons,  Elias  and  Daniel.  The  former,  lord  of  the  manor  of 
Sarre,  temp.  Hen.  I.,  had  an  only  daughter  and  heir,  Emma,  of  whom 
hereafter.       Hamo,   the    husband  of    Maud    d'Avranches,    was   the- 


GENEALOGICAL  AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  287 

died  during  the  lifetime  of  his  father,  forty-seventh 
of  Henry  III.  (1263),  leaving  the  said  Robert  and 
two  other  sons — John  and  Thomas — by  his  wife 
Joan — his  widow  in  1263.  Eobert,  by  his  wife 
Isolda  (family  yet  undiscovered),  had  a  son  named 
William,  wbo  died  unmarried,  or  at  least  without 
issue,  tw^o  or  three  years  before  his  father.  Hamo 
the  elder  had  also  by  his  first  wife  a  daughter,  who 
married  a  son  of  Thomas  de  Camville  under  age  in 
1234.  Erom  a  charter  dated  thirty-first  of  Edward  I., 
A.D.  1303,  we  believe  this  lady's  name  was  Isabella, 
and  that  of  her  husband  Roger  de  Oamville;  and 
they  and  their  issue,  if  they  had  any,  would  be  the 
heirs  of  Robert  de  Crevecoeur  before  his  aunts  of  the 
half-blood.  To  these  ladies,  however,  the  four 
daughters  of  Maud  d'Avranches,  came,  it  is  evident, 
the  great  property  derived  from  Emma  d'Arques  and 
Maud  de  Bovil.  The  eldest,  Agnes,  married  John, 
de  Sandwich,  a  member  of  one  of  the  oldest  and^ 
most  influential  families  in  this  part  of  Kent,  yet  ' 


grandson  of  Daniel,  as  above  stated,  and  is  also  called  the  son  of 
Robert  de  Crevecoeur,  heir  of  Walkeline  de  Maminot  j  but  whether 
through  his  own  parents  or  by  his  wife  is  not  clear.  "Walkeline  de 
Maminot  married  Julianna  de  Yere,  daughter  of  Alberic,  the  Cham- 
berlain, and  widow  of  Hugh  Bigod,  Earl  of  Norfolk,  but  died 
without  issue.  He  is  said  to  have  left  one  only  sister  and  heir,  who 
carried  the  honor  of  Maminot  into  the  family  of  Say  ;  but  by  his 
charter  to  St.  Saviour's,  Bermondsey,  witnessed  by  his  wife  Julianna, 
it  appears  he  had  several  brothers  (one  named  Matthew)  and  sisters. 
"Matthei  fratris  mei  et  fratrum  meorum,  et  sororum  mearura." — 
(Harleian  MSS.,  No.  4757.) 


288  A   CORNER   OE   KENT. 

of  which  no  pedigree  exists,  and  hut  for  this 
great  prize  in  the  lottery  of  marriage,  might  have 
escaped  altogether  the  notice  of  our  genealogists. 
Isolda  married  Nicholas  de  Lenham,  Eleanor  became 
the  wife  of  Bertram  de  Criol,  and  Isabel  espoused 
Henry  de  Gant.* 

Of  the  descent  from  Agnes  we  shall  speak  in  our 
notice  of  the  mysterious  family  of  Sandwich,  and 
the  issue  of  Eleanor  will  likewise  be  described  in  our 
examination  of  the  pedigree  of  Criol,  or  Keriel.  The 
heirs  of  Isolda  appear  to  have  been  the  Giffords  of 
Bures,  or  Bury,  in  Essex,  and  the  property  passed  to 
the  family  of  St.  Nicholas,  under  which  we  shall 
revert  to  this  line.  Of  Isabel  no  issue  is  recorded 
by  either  of  her  husbands,  and  her  sisters  or  their 
issue,  by  an  escheat  of  the  eleventh  of  Edward  I., 
No.  38,  are  said  to  be  next  of  kin.  It  is  an 
extent  of  the  manor  of  Morton,  which  the  jurors 
find  Isabella  de  Gant  held  of  the  king;  and  they 
say  that  Eleanora,  wife  of  Bertram  de  Kyriel,  John  de 
Lenham,  and  Juliana,  daughter  of  John  de  Sandwico, 
are  her  nearest  heirs ;  and  they  further  say  that 
Eleanora,  sister  of  the  said  Isabella,  is  of  age,  and  has 
been  so  now  for  thirty  years  past ;  and  that  the  said 

*  MSS.  Coll.  Arm.  Vincent.  No.  61,  and  Segar,  Baron,  vol.  i.  319. 
She  is  styled  in  a  charter,  "Domina  de  Mortona,  quondam  uxor 
Henrici  de  Gandivo"  (MSS.  Coll.  Arm.  R  27,  marked  ''Kent"), 
and  died,  as  we  shall  see,  seized  of  that  manor,  11th  of  Edward  I., 
A.D.  1284.  Segar,  in  his  MS.  Baronage,  Coll.  Arms,  says  she  re- 
married with  William  de  Patteshull. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  289 

John  de  Lenham,  son  of  Ysonde  (Isolda),  sister  of  the 
said  Isabella,  is  of  age,  and  has  been  for  nine  years 
past ;  and  that  the  said  Julianna,  daughter  of  the  said 
John  de  Sandwico,  who  was  the  son  of  Agnes,  sister 
of  the  said  Isabella,  is  under  age,  and  of  the  age  of 
eight  years. 

Should  any  general  reader,  ''  unsifted  in  such  peril- 
ous matters,"  have  ventured  to  follow  us  thus  far,  or 
accidentally  cast  his  eye  over  the  above  dozen  lines, 
he  may  be  interested  at  finding  how  much  curious 
and  trustworthy  material  for  the  historian  or  bio- 
grapher is  to  be  picked  out  of  these  ancient  inquisi- 
tions, the  truth  of  which  was  sworn  to  by  the  twelve 
persons  appointed  to  make  the  return.  We  learn  by 
the  document  just  quoted,  that  in  1284  Eleanor  de 
Criol  was  the  sole  surviving  sister,  and  upwards  of 
fifty  years  of  age;  that  John,  son  of  Ysoude  (Isolda), 
by  her  husband,  Nicholas  de  Lenham,  had  attained 
the  age  of  thirty ;  and  that  Julianna  de  Sandwich, 
grand-daughter  of  Agnes,  the  eldest  sister,  was  a  child 
of  eight  years  old.  Such  facts  enable  us  to  correct 
the  numerous  inaccuracies  which  occur  in  pedigrees 
compiled  from  other  genealogical  works,  untested  by 
the  investigation  of  similar  official  records.  The 
attempt,  by  any  other  means,  to  reconcile  the  contra- 
dictions they  involve,  invariably  leads  to  confusion 
worse  confounded. 

We  shall  find  the  Criols  or  Keriels  in  our  path  in 
almost  every  step  of  our  present  inquiry ;  but  before 
we  examine  their  pedigree,  we  will  dispose  of  what 

V 


290  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

concerns  us  in  another  important  family,  of  whicli 
they  seem  to  have  carried  off  the  heiress,  viz.,  that  of 

ATJBERVILLE. 

The  name  of  Auberville  or  Osburvill,  and  occasion- 
ally latinized  Albertvilla,  occurs  in  Domesday,  at  the 
period  of  the  compilation  of  which  a  William  de 
Auberville  held  Berham,  in  Hertfordshire.  A  Roger 
de  Auberville  was  also  a  contemporary  of  the  Con- 
queror, and  is  presumed  to  have  been  the  father  of 
the  aforesaid  William.  In  the  next  century,  however, 
during  the  reign  of  Henry  I.,  there  were  co-existing 
a  Hugh  de  Auberville  and  a  John  and  a  William  de 
Osburville.  In  the  thirty-first  year  of  that  monarch's 
reign,  A.D.  1131,  John  and  William  were  still  living, 
but  Hugh  was  dead,  having  left  a  widow  named 
Wynanc  ;*  and  Turgisius  d'Avranches  gave  the  king 
three  hundred  silver  marks,  one  gold  mark,  and  one 
war-horse,  for  the  lands  and  wife  (widow)  of  Hugo  de 
Albertvilla,  and  twenty-two  marks  annually  to  have 
his  son  in  ward.  This  son  was  William  de  Auberville, 
Lord  of  Westenhanger,t  who  married  Matilda, 
daughter  and  co-heir  of  Eanulph  de  Glanville,  by  his 
wife,  Berta  de  Yaloignes.  In  his  charter  to  Langdon 
Priory,  he  mentions  his  wife  Matilda,  his  son  William, 

*  Kamed  in  the  foundation  charter  of  Langdon  Priory,  1192,  as 
one  of  those  to  be  prayed  for. — Mon.  Ang.  vol.  ii.  p.  622. 

t  Hugh  had  also  a  daughter  named  Alice,  married  to  Fulk  de 
Lizures,  and  living,  his  widow,  1185,  aged  fifty  and  upwards. — Rot. 
de  Dominabus. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  291 

and  his  daughter  Emma.     He  died  before  the  tenth  of 
John,  A.D.  1208. 

His  son  and  heir  was  Hugh  de  Auberville,  who 
married  a  lady  named  Johanna  or  Joan,  and  died 
fifteenth  of  John,  1213,  when  William  Brewer  gave 
the  king  one  thousand  marks  to  have  the  whole  of 
his  land,  and  the  marriage  of  his  heirs  and  of  Johanna, 
who  was  the  wife  of  the  said  Hugh.     His  successor 
was  his  son    Sir  William  de  Auberville,    who  died 
twenty-ninth  of  Henry  III.,  1245,*  leaving  a  widow, 
named  Isabella  (who  in  1249  married  Heginald  de 
E vermuth),  and  an  only  daughter,  Joan,  who  married, 
first,  in  1247,  Sir  Henry  de  Sandwich,  of  Dentdelion, 
Thanet;  and  secondly,  before  1254,  Nicholas  de  Criol.        j,  \^ 
There  is  no  record  of  any  issue  by  her  first  husband f^  ^A^^'^^^^^^^ 
but  the  descent  from  her  second  husband  is  most     (^j^^  o^ 
important  to  our  history,  and  will  be  pursued  in  our      ^/^^ 
examination  of  the  pedigree  of 

CEIOL   OR   KERIEL. 

This  family,  which  took  its  name  from  Creuil  or 

*  In  that  year  lie  made  a  grant  to  Christ  Church,  Canterbury,  of 
20s.,  *'  de  libro  redditu  de  Domico  meo  de  Ostringehanges  et  Beruvye" 
etc.  ....  The  witnesses  being  Dn^  Koberto  de  Auberville,  Dii<^ 
Symone  de  Sandwyco,  Dn^  Simone  de  Hauth  militibus,  John  Checke, 
WilH  Brewere.— (MS.  Coll.  Arms,  R.  27,  C.  1989,  1993.)  The  seal 
attached  to  a  deed  of  this  William  exhibits  his  arms, — Parted  per  fess 
dancette  two  annulets  in  chief  and  one  in  base.  We  are  inclined  to 
believe  that  this  coat  is  composed  of  that  of  Glanville  and  the  original 
arms  of  Auberville,  or  that  it  is  simply  the  coat  of  Glanville  differenced 
by  the  annulets.  In  the  coat  of  Sandwich,  derived,  as  we  believe, 
from  a  collateral  source,  the  indented  chief  is  frequently  so  deep  that 
it  appears  as  if  the  shield  were  parted  per  fess. 

u  2 


>^- 


292  A  coRNEii  or  kent. 

Crielj  a  town  in  the  department  of  the  Oise,  and  now 
a  station  on  the  railway  not  far  from  Paris,  was  of 
eminence  in  England  shortly  after  the  Conquest,  and 
before  the  close  of-  the  twelfth  century  held  consider- 
able possessions  in  the  county  of  Kent.*  John  de 
Criol,  in  1194,  gave  the  church  of  Sarre,  or  Serres, 
in  the  parish  of  St.  Nicholas,  Thanet,  to  the  Priory 
of  Ledes,  and  a  daughter  of  this  house,  named  Cecilia, 
appears  to  have  been  the  wife  of  Simon  d'Avranches, 
in  the  reign  of  Eichard  I.,  as  we  have  already  men- 
tioned, p.  262. 

John  de  Criol  had  by  his  wife  Margery  four  sons, — 
Bertram,  who  became  Sheriff  of  Kent,  Simon,  Wil- 
liam, and  Nicholas.  The  latter  married  Margery  de 
Clifford,  by  w^hom  he  left  three  daughters  and  coheirs. 
The  elder  brother  Bertram  married  a  lady  named 
Emma,t  and  had  by  her  three  sons, — John,  Simon, 

^  It  is  important  to  remark  that  Elias  de  Crevecoeur,  living  1145, 
and  great-uncle  of  Hamo  de  Crevecoeur,  was  lord  of  the  manor  and 
patron  of  the  church  of  Sarre,  the  advowson  of  which  he  gave  to 
the  Canons  of  Ledes  Priory,  co.  Kent,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I. 
(Text.  Roffensis,  vol.  i.  p.  598),  and  left  an  only  daughter  and  heir, 
named  Emma,  living  1207,  from  whom,  by  marriage  or  otherwise,  this 
property  must  have  passed  to  the  Criols, 

t  Supposed  to  be  the  above-named  Emma  de  Crevecoeur ;  but  not 
only  do  the  dates  render  this  improbable,  but  the  advowson  of  the 
church  of  Sarre  we  find  had  been  previously  claimed  by  Bertram's 
father  in  1194.  In  the  MS.  Coll.  Arms,  marked  R.  27,  are  copies 
of  three  charters.  1.  That  of  Emma  de  Creuquer,  confirming  a 
grant  of  Philip  Utdevers  to  the  canons  of  Begeham  ;  2.  that  of 
Robert  de  Creuquer,  confirming  the  donation  of  Emma;  and  3.  that 
of  Nicholas  de  Kenet,  confirming  the  gift  of  Emma  de  Creuquer, 
"  mater  mea'^ 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  293 

and  Nicholas.*  The  eldest,  John,  married  in  1233 
Matilda  de  Estwell,  his  father  Bertram  in  that  year 
paying  40  marks  to  the  king  for  the  permission. 
John  de  Criol  died  forty-eighth  Henry  III.,  1263, 
leaving  by  his  wife  Matilda  four  sons, — Bertram, 
Ralph,  Edmund,  and  Alured.t  Bertram  married 
Eleanor,  one  of  the  four  daughters  and  coheiresses 
of  Hamo  de  Crevecoeur  and  Maud  d'Avranches,  as 
noticed  at  p.  288.  He  died  second  of  Edward  I., 
leaving  by  Eleanor  two  sons,  John  and  Bertram,  and 
one  daughter  named  Joan.  John  married  a  lady 
named  Eleonora,  and  Bertram  one  named  Petronilla. 
The  families  of  both  ladies  are  at  present  unknown  ; 
neither,  however,  had  any  issue,  and  consequently, 
on  the  death  of  Bertram  (who  survived  his  brother) 
in  the  thirty-fourth  year  of  Edward  I.,  his  sister 
Joan,  then  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  and  the  wife  of 
Sir  Bichard  de  Bokesly,  was  found  to  be  the  next 
heir.  This  Joan,  by  her  husband  Sir  Bichard,  had 
two  daughters  and  coheirs,  Johanna  and  Agnes. 
The  former  married  Sir  William  Baude,  and  the 
latter,  first,  Walter  de  Patteshull,  and  secondly 
Thomas  de  Poynings.  We  must  now  return  to 
Nicholas,  the  younger  son  of  Bertram  de  Criol  by 
his  wife  Emma.  This  was  the  Nicholas  who,  as 
we    have    stated,   p.    291,   married   Joan,   daughter 

*   Inquis.  post  Mort. 

+  This  Aliired  appears  to  have  had  a  daughter  named  Isabel,  ^nd 
we  are  inclined  to  believe  that  she  married  William  de  Chilton  {vide 
p.  85),  as  Chilton  passed,  after  William's  death,  to  the  heirs 
of  Criol. 


294  A   CORNER   or   KENT. 

and  heir  of  Sir  William  de  Auberville,  aud  widow 
of  Sir  Henry  de  Sandwich.  He  appears  to  have 
survived  her  and  married  a  second  wife  named 
Margery,  family  unknown,  by  whom  he  had  no  issue. 
By  his  first  wife  Joan,  however,  he  had  at  least  one 
son,  named  after  him  Nicholas,  living  thirtieth 
Edward  I.,  and  who  married  Margaret,  daughter  of 
Sir  John  Peche.  By  her  he  had  a  son,  also  named 
Nicholas,  who  died  third  of  Edward  III.,  A.D.  1320, 
leaving  by  his  wife  E^osia  (who  re-married  John 
Bertram)  a  son  John,  who  died  in  1377,  leaving  by 
his  wife  Lettice,  who  survived  him,  two  sons, 
Nicholas  and  John,  and  a  daughter  Ida,  who  married 
Sir  John  Brockhull.  John,  the  youngest  son,  mar- 
ried Alice,  daughter  and  coheir  of  John  de  Botetourt, 
and  dying  sixth  of  Henry  YL,  left  an  only  daughter 
Joan,  wife  of  John  Wykes,  of  Sarre  Court  and  St. 
Lawrence,  Isle  of  Thanet.  Nicholas,  his  elder  bro- 
ther, survived  his  father  Sir  John  but  four  years, 
dying  third  of  Eichard  IL,  1380.  His  wife  was 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Maud  Trussell,  who  survived 
him,*  and  by  w4iom  he  had  William,  son  and  heir, 
aged  thirty  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death. 
William  died  first  of  Henry  Y.,  1412,  leaving  two 
sons,  Thomas  and  John.  Thomas  Keriel,  the  eldest 
(for  so  the  name  had  now  become  written),  was 
found  at  that  period  to  be  eighteen  years  of  age, 
and   heir   to   his   grandmother   Elizabeth,  daughter 

"^  Tuq.  post  mortem,  seventh  of  Henry  Y.,  1419. 


GENEALOGICAL   ANB    HERALDIC   NOTES.  295 

of  Maud  Trussell.  He  was  made  a  Knight  of  the 
Garter  by  King  Henry  YI.,  but  was  never  installed, 
and  was  beheaded  in  1461  by  order  of  Edward  IV., 
having  been  taken  prisoner  in  the  fatal  battle  of  St. 
Albans.  He  was  twice  married :  by  his  first  wife, 
whose  name  is  yet  unknown,  he  had  an  only  daughter 
named  Alice,  who  married  Sir  John  Pogg,  of  Repton. 
His  second  wife  was  Cecilia,  daughter  of  John  Stor- 
ton,  of  Preston  and  Birmpton,  co.  Kent,  and  who 
re-married  with  John  Hill.  By  her  he  had  no 
children.  John  Keriel,  his  younger  brother,  mar- 
ried, first,  Jane,  daughter  of  Roger  Clitherow,  whose 
brass  we  have  described  at  page  208,  and  secondly 
Elizabeth  Chiche,  who  survived  him,  and  married 
two  other  husbands,  but  had  no  issue  by  any. 
Here,  then,  we  arrive  at  the  extinction  of  this 
male  line  of  Criol,  and  it  is  not  within  the  scope  of 
this  inquiry  to  follow  the  descent  of  the  various 
other  branches.* 

*  The  arms  of  Criol  or  Keriel  are  generally  blazoned,  Or  two 
chevrons  and  a  canton  gules ;  but,  in  a  KoU  of  Henry  lll.'s  time, 
the  canton  is  called  a  quarter.  "  Bertram  de  Criol,  d'or  ove  deux 
chevrons  et  ung  quartier  de  goules ;"  and  in  a  Roll  of  the  same  date 
copied  by  Nicholas  Charles,  Lancaster  Herald,  the  canton,  if  a  canton 
it  be,  is  certainly  as  large  as  a  quarter.  A  singular  variety  of  the 
arms  of  Criol  is  to  be  found  in  the  copy  of  an  ancient  Roll  of  Arms  in 
the  Heralds'  College,— (Vincent,  165.)  It  is  attributed  to  "Nicholas 
de  Cry  el,"  and  displays  party  per  chevron  (or,  from  the  curving  of 
the  lines  it  may  be  intended  for  what  Heralds  call  Point  in  Point,)  or 
and  gules,  three  annulets,  counterchanged.  The  original  Roll  we 
should  date  about  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  ;  and  the  coat 
a])pearing  to  be  founded  on  that  of  Auberville  induces  us  to  imagine 


296  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

We  must  now  attack  one  of  the  most  difficult 
subjects  we  have  to  deal  with,— the  pedigree  of  the 
family  of 

SANDWICH. 

Mr.  Boys,  in  his  valuable  Collections  for  the  his- 
tory of  the  place,  from  whence  they  derived  their 
name,  gives  up  the  task  in  despair,  and  contents 
himself  with  enumerating  the  instances  in  which  a 
Henry,  a  Simon,  a  John,  or  a  Ealph  de  Sandwich,  is 
met  with  in  charter  or  chronicle,  without  any  attempt 
to  identify  the  individual.  The  great  match  of  John 
de  Sandwich  with  Agnes  de  Crevecoeur,  Lady  of  Eolk- 
stone,  has  secured  for  him  and  his  immediate  de- 
scendants a  most  prominent  position  in  all  genealogical 
histories,  baronages,  peerages,  &c. ;  but  who  was  his 
father  or  mother  ?  Had  he  any  brothers  or  sisters  ? 
With  what  other  families  of  eminence  was  he  con- 
nected by  intermarriage  or  descent  ?  On  these  points 
all  are  silent ;  and  for  the  little  information  we  are 
now  enabled  to  lay  before  our  readers  we  are  mainly 
indebted  to  William  Courthope,  Esq.,  Somerset  He- 
rald, whose  familiarity  with  our  ancient  records  has 
made  his  kind  assistance  of  the  greatest  value  to  us. 
The  origin  of  the  family,  however,  is  still  involved  in 
mist.  The  earliest  members  of  it  do  not  appear  to  have 
been  called  "  de  Sandwich,"*  and  the  similarity  of  the 

it  is  that  of  Nicholas  de  Criol,  son  and  heir  of  Joan  de  Auberville. — 
Vide  p.  291. 

*  We  are  told  by  Tanner,  Notit.  Monast.,  that  Thomas  Crump- 
tlwrne  and  Elizabeth  his  wife,  who  founded  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospi- 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC    NOTES.  297 

armorial  bearings  accorded  to  that  name,  with  those 
of  the  Butlers,  descended  from  Hervey  Walter  (viz. 
Or,  a  chief  indented  azure),  point  to  a  common  origin,  a 
marriage  with  an  heiress  or  an  important  infeudation.* 
Herbert  "Walter,  one  of  the  sons  of  Hervey,  and  bro- 
ther of  Theobald  Walter,  the  immediate  ancestor  of 
the  Butlers  of  Ireland  and  Marquises  of  Ormond, 
was  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  must,  therefore, 
have  possessed  the  greatest  power  and  influence  in 
this  Corner  of  Kent.  We  know  that  a  branch  of 
these  Butlers  descended  from  a  Thomas  Pincerna, 
held  land  in  Pleet  of  the  Archbishop,  from  which 
circumstance  it  obtained  the  name  of  Butler's  Tleet; 


tal  in  1190,  were  of  the  family  of  Sandwich,  and  Mr.  Boys  quotes  a 
MS.  in  his  possession  to  the  same  effect  : — "Anno  secundo  Eichardi 
primi  Thomas  Crawthorne  and  Maude  his  wife,  of  the  worshipful 
familie  of  the  Sandwiches,  first  founded  the  Hospital  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew." William  Burcharde,  one  of  the  early  benefactors,  was  after- 
wards in  possession  "  de  tenemento  de  Crawthorne,"  and  in  the 
Costumal  of  Sandwich,  the  priests  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital  are 
required  to  pray  for  the  souls  of  Bertine  de  Crawthorne,  William 
Bourcharde,  Sir  Henry  de  Sandwich,  and  all  their  ancestors  and 
posterity.  Can  Crumpthorne  and  Crawthorne  be  corruptions  of 
Crookthorne,  Curvaspiria,  and  Courbespine,  the  well-known  name  of 
an  ancient  Norman  family,  and  ancestors  of  the  Maminots  ?  A  Sir 
Balph  de  Courbespine  was  witness  with  William  de  Arches  to  a 
charter  of  William  the  Conqueror. 

*  The  arms  of  the  family  of  Crauthorne,  lords  of  Crauthorne,  in 
Langport  hundred,  corroborate  this  statement,  as  they  are  the  same 
as  those  of  Butler  and  Sandwich,  differenced  by  a  label  of  five  points 
gules.  Thomas  de  Crauthorne,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I.,  was  a 
benefactor  to  the  Carmelites  of  Saudwich,  and  was  buried  in  St. 
Peter's  Church  there. — Hasted,  vol.  iii.  p.  506. 


298  A   CORNER    OF   KENT. 

and  also  that  the  great  family  of  Yere  continued  for 
several  generations  to  hold  land  in  the  same  locality 
under  that  of  Sandwich.  Philipot  has  an  unsupported 
pedigree  beginning  with,  the  names  of  Manwin  and 
of  Salomon  of  Sandwich,  the  son  of  Manwin  ;*  but  it  is 
not  till  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  that  we  get  any  reliable 
information  respecting  the  family.  In  a  grant  to 
St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  Sandwich,  by  William 
Burcharde,  we  meet  with  the  names  of  Henry  de  Sand- 
wich,t  and  of  his  son  Simon, — ''Domino  Henrico  der"^" 
Sandwich,  Domino  Simonefilio  suo."  His  son  Bobert 
is  also  a  witness  to  a  charter  of  Henry  de  Kubergh. 
Henry  de  Sandwich  names  his  wife  Lucia  in  a  deed 
without  date,  of  the  Abbey  of  St.  Eadegund.J      Sir 


*  He  appears  to  have  found  these  names  in  a  deed  without  date  in 
the  Priory  Book  of  St.  Martin's  at  Dover,  by  whicli  Salomon  of 
Sandwich,  the  son  of  Manwin,  makes  a  donation  to  the  priory  of  the 
value  of  6s.  8d.  per  annum.— Church  Notes,  Harl.  MS.,  No.  3917, 
p.  36. 

t  Sir  Henry  de  Sandwich  had  a  grant  of  the  lands  of  Kobert  de 
Curcy,  CO.  Kent,  30tli  September,  1204.  He  was  remitted  from 
knight's  service  27th  April,  1205,  and  6th  of  June  following  had 
by  writ  seizin  of  the  manor  of  Bilsington,  co.  Kent.  He  was  bailiff 
of  Sandwich  A.D.  1213-1223,  was  seized  of  Dane  Court,  in  Thanet, 
1230,  which  had  previously  belonged  to  Sir  Ralph  de  Sandwich,  and 
had  license  to  erect  an  oratory  there  in  that  year  j  held  Ham,  in  the 
same  county,  as  heir  of  E.alph  Fitz  Bernard  j  endowed  the  hospital  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  Sandwich,  about  the  year  1244,  with  the  license 
of  Pope  Innocent  III.  in  the  second  year  of  his  pontificate,  and  was 
buried  in  the  chapel  there,  where  his  effigy,  in  the  military  liabit  of 
the  period,  is  still  to  be  seen  in  good  preservation. 

t  "  Hen.  de  Sandwyco  d.  &c.,  10s.,  A.R.  apud  Sandwic,  &c. 
salute  anime  mee  et  Lucij  uxoris  mee,  etc."     The  witnes^ses  are  Dno. 


.4 

I 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  299 

Simon  de  Sandwich  first  married  a  lady  named 
Juliana,  and  it  is  strano^e  that  her  family  should  not 
have  been  recorded,  as  it  is  evident  she  must  have 
been  a  person  of  considerable  importance,  the  name 
of  Juliana  being^cherished  by  her  descendants,  and 
much  wealth  apparently  derived  from  her.  He  had 
two  brothers,  E^obert  and  John ;  the  latter  was  the 
fortunate  husband  of  the  great  coheiress  Agnes  de 
Crevecoeur,  sometimes  called  Agnes  d'Avranches,  as 
she  carried  off  the  whole  barony  of  Folkestone? 
which  had  come  down  in  that  family  from  Maud 
de  Monville,  wife  of  the  first  Rualon  d'Avranches. 
By  this  Agnes,  John  de  Sandwich  had  two  sons,  John 
and  Nicholas.  John,  afterwards  Sir  John  de  Sand- 
wich, died  eleventh  of  Edward  I.,  1282,  leaving  by 
his  wife  Alice,*  who  re-married  with  Sir  Henry  de 
Panebrig,  an  infant  daughter,  aged  eight  at  that  pe- 
riod, and  named  Juliana,  who  became  the  wife,  first, 
of  Sir  E/ichard  Weylond,  from  whom  she  was  divorced 
in  1302,  and  secondly,  of  Sir  John  de  Segrave.  No 
mention  is  made  of  issue  by  her  first  husband ;  but 
she  is  said  to  have  had  an  only  daughter  by  her  second 
husband,  named  Maria,  who  died,  aged  fifteen,  unmar- 
ried, the  twenty-third  of  Edward  III.  This,  however, 
is  wholly  incorrect ;  Maria  was  her  grand-daughter, 

Hoger  de  Betleshanger,  Osbo  &  Hamo  fribus  suis,  Augero  et  Omero 
de  Sandwich.^MS.  Coll.  Arms,  R  27,  "  Kent." 

*  She  was  party  to  an  agreement  with  her  brother-in-law, 
touching  her  dower  (thirty-fourth  Edward  I.,  1305)  out  of  land  at 
Woodensborough,  co.  Kent. 


300  A    COIINEK    OF    KENT. 

the  only  child  of  her  son  John  de  Segrave,*  and  on 
the  death  of  this  Maria,  who  was  only  fifteen  days 
old  at  the  death  of  her  father,  and  lived  altogether 
but  five  months, t  Nicholas  de  Sandwich,  son  of 
Nicholas,  brother  of  Sir  John  de  Sandwich,  was  found 
to  be  her  cousin  and  next  heir,  and  at  that  time,  1349, 
to  be  fifty  years  of  age.  He  was  lord  of  the  manor 
and  rector  of  Otham,  co.  Kent,  and  also  rector  of  St. 
Michael's,  Crooked  Lane,  London ;  and  in  him  this 
line  of  the  family  expired.  J 

We  must  now  return  to  Simon  and  Juliana.  They 
appear  to  have  had  issue  three  sons,  Henry,  John, 
and  Ralph,  and  one  daughter,  Juliana,  married  to 
Pulk  Peyforer.  Henry  de  Sandwich  was  the  first 
husband  of  Joan,  daughter  and  heir  of  Sir  William 
de  Auberville,  and  did  homage  for  his  lands  which 

*  Aged  twenty -nine  at  the  death  of  his  father  in  1343,  and  whom 
he  only  survived  six  years,  dying  on  Wednesday,  8th  of  July,  1349. 
—(P.  M.  Inqnis.,  22nd  August,  twenty-third  Edward  III.,  1349.) 
Julianna  had  also,  by  Sir  John  Segrave,  a  daughter  Elizabeth,  married 
first  to  Kichard  Foliot,  Esq.,  and  secondly  (fifth  of  Edward  III.,  1331) 
to  Sir  Eoger  de  North wode.  She  died  without  issue  at  Canterbury, 
11th  Dec,  1335,  and  was  buried  at  Sheppey. 

+  She  died  on  Tuesday  after  the  feast  of  St.  Bartholomew,  A.D. 
1349.— P.  M.  Inquis.,  taken  at  Lyminge,  Dec.  16th,  1349,  twenty- 
third  of  Edward  III. 

i  He  died  in  1370,  having  in  1358  enfeoffed  Edward  de  Stabelgate 
into  his  manors  of  Bilsiugton,  Poldre,  Eastry,  and  rent  charge  on 
Folkestone.  His  arms  in  Otham  church  had  a  mullet  in  chief  for 
difference. — (Petre  le  Neve's  Ch.  Notes,  1610-24.)  He  had  a  younger 
brother  John,  dead  before  1357,  who  was  the  first  husband  of  Bene- 
dict, daughter  of  John  de  Shelving,  who  remarried,  1358,  Sir 
Edmond  Haute. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  301 

he  held  of  the  king  in  capite,  in  right  of  his  wife, 
the  aforesaid  Joan,  thirty-second  of  Henry  III.,  1248. 
He  was  of  Dent-de-Lion,  now  called  Dandelion,  in  the 
Isle  of  Thanet,  and  seems  to  have  had  no  issue  by 
Joan  d' Auberville,  as  Dent-de-Lion  eventually  passed, 
by  marriage  with  his  niece  Juliana  to  William  de 
Leybourne,  who  died  seized  of  it  third  of  Edward  II., 
1310.  This  Juliana  is  said  by  some  genealogists  to 
have  been  daughter  of  his  sister  Juliana  by  Eulk  ' 
Peyforer,  and  heir  to  her  uncle  Sir  Ealph.  Others 
make  her  daughter  as  well  as  heir  to  Halph,  who  was 
probably  heir  to  his  brother  Henry.  Sir  Halph  was 
certainly  married,  for  he  was  one  of  the  Kentish 
knights  summoned  with  his  wife,  "  consortis  suae." 
to  attend  the  coronation  of  Edward  II.  He  appears 
to  have  been  a  person  in  great  estimation,  as  we  find 
him  appointed  to  various  high  offices  during  the 
reigns  of  Henry  III.  and  Edward  I.  He  was  keeper 
of  the  king's  wardrobe,  and  as  such  received  the 
great  seal  at  Gloucester  forty-ninth  of  Henry  III. 
(1264i-5)  ;  had  the  custody  of  the  bishopric  of  Lon- 
don, first  Edward  I.,  1272,  and  of  the  archbishopric  of 
Canterbury,  sixth  of  the  same  reign,  1277.  The  same 
year  he  was  made  constable  and  warden  of  Dover 
Castle  ;  witnessed  the  homage  of  Alexander,  king  of 
Scots,  29th  September,  1278 ;  was  one  of  the  council 
deputed  to  hear  the  complaints  of  the  barons  of 
Sandwich  1280 ;  a  member  of  the  council  of  Prince 
Edward  in  1297 ;  had  the  custody  of  the  Tower  of 
London  in  1306 ;    and  was  summoned,  as  we  have 


302  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

already  stated,  to  attend  with  his  wife  the  coronation 
of  Edward  11.,  8th  February,  1308 ;  and  yet  we  are 
ignorant  who  was  that  wife,  or  whether  she  was  the 
mother  of  his  child,  for  such  we  certainly  believe 
Juliana  to  have  been,  as  on  her  marriage  with 
William  de  Leybourne  she  had  settled  on  her  Dane 
Court,  of  which  we  find  Sir  Ralph,  his  brother 
Henry,  his  father  and  grandfather,  were  each  in  turn 
seized.*  She  survived  her  husband,  who  died  before 
March  3rd,  1310,  and  by  whom  she  had  two  children 
— Idonea,  married  to  Geoffrey  de  Say,  and  Thomas 
de  Leyburn,  who  died  during  his  father's  lifetime, 
leaving  an  only  daughter,  an  infant  of  three  years 
of  age,  Julianna  de  Leyburn,  that  great  heiress  of 
whom  we  have  already  so  often  spoken,  and  whose 
line  failed  in  1391,  on  the  death  of  her  great-grand- 
son, John  de  Hastings,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  when  all 
her  issue  became  extinct  {vide  p.  76).  -Of  John, 
the  third  son  of  Sir  Simon,  all  we  know  at  present 
is,  that  certain  lands  in  E^ipple,  Ham,  and  Walling 
were  settled  on  him  in  remainder  by  his  father  in 
1255.t 

*  The  point  is  all  but  settled  by  the  fact  recorded  in  the  Patent 
Roll  of  the  49th  Henry  III.,  M.  4,  that  the  manor  of  Preston,  which 
had  belonged  to  Simon  de  Sandwich  (the  father  of  Sir  Ralph),  and 
which  had  been  seized  by  the  King  in  consequence  of  the  said  Simon 
being  ''  inimicus  Regis,"  is  directed  to  be  given  to  Juliana  de  Ley- 
bourne,  to  whom  it  would  come  "  de  jure  hereditatis." 

t  A  John  de  Sandwich,  armiger,  is  entered  amongst  the  persons 
commemorated  in  the  Leiger  Book  of  Davington  Priory,  and  imme- 
diately after  his  name  we  read  "  Beatrice  de  Sancwhich." 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  303 

Here  we  are  at  fault,  and  fear  even  to  venture  a 
guess  respecting  the  origin  of  another  branch  of  this 
great  family,  from  which  the  Harfleets  of  Checquer 
and  Holland  were  immediately  descended.  There 
was  undoubtedly  a  Nicholas,*  son  of  Thomas  de 
Sandwich,  whose  sister  Margaret  married  Henry  de 
Goshall,  and  whose  daughter  and  heiress  Anne  was 
the  wife  of  John  Septvans,  the  progenitor  of  the 
Harfleets,  according  to  the  pedigree  in  Philipot's 
MS.,  before  mentioned.  Thomas,  in  that  pedigree, 
is  set  down  as  the  son  of  a  William  de  Sandwich, 
who,  in  one  account,  is  made  the  husband  of  a 
daughter  of  John  Lord  Oobham,  and  in  another,  of 
Eleanor^    daughter   of   Hamo   de   Orevecoeur,t   the 

*  There  was  a  Nicholas  de  Sandwich,  whose  daughter  Mabel  is  said 
to  have  married  William,  the  last  male  heir  of  Avranches,  before  1236. 
Another  Nicholas  de  Sandwich  was  prior  of  Christchurch,  Canterbury, 
elected  November  1, 1244  j  resigned,  1258  j  precentor,  1262.  A  third 
Nicholas  was  a  proprietor  of  lands  in  the  hundred  of  Cornhil  and  Eastry, 
seventeenth  of  Edward  I.,  and  died  1289. — (Epitaph  in  Canterbury 
Cathedral.)  A  fourth  Sir  Nicholas,  son  of  Sir  Simon  de  Sandwich,  Lord 
Warden,  temp.  Richard  II.,  was  a  great  benefactor  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Hospital  at  Sandwich,  and  is  buried  in  the  chapel  there. — ("MS. 
penes  G.  B.,"  quoted  by  Boys  in  his  Collections.)  His  arms  are 
said  to  have  been  those  of  the  Cirque  Ports,  impaling  a  lion  rampant 
guardant. 

t  This  at'first  sight  seems  to  be  a  blunder  arising  from  some  confusion 
respecting  the  match  of  John  de  Sandwich  with  Agnes,  daughter  of 
Hamo  de  Crevecoeur,  and  that  of  Eleanor,  her  sister,  with  Bertram  de 
Criol  j  but  non  constat  that  there  might  not  have  been  an  Eleanor, 
daughter  of  another  Hamo  de  Crevecoeur,  one  of  the  branch  of  Hamo 
de  Blen.  The  name  of  Hamo  is  exceedingly  common  in  the  family 
of  Crevecoeur,  and  we  find  a  Ham.o  de  Sandwich  who  was  prebendary 


304  A   CORNER   or   KENT. 

said  William  being  the  son  of  Salomon,  the  son  of 
Man  win,  as  we  have  already  stated.  No  trace  of  any 
of  these  names  occurs  in  any  of  the  numerous  official 
records  and  charters  from  which  we  have  gleaned 
the  information  just  laid  before  our  readers.  Boys 
is  perfectly  silent  respecting  them,  and  Philipot 
himself  appears  to  have  been  doubtful  of  his  infor- 
mation, and  quotes  no  authorities,  though  we  have 
seen  from  whence  he  obtained  the  names  of  Man  win 
and  Salomon.  To  Thomas  he  gives  for  a  wife  a 
nameless  daughter  of  Thomas  de  Helles,  of  Wood- 
ensborough,  and  to  his  son  Nicholas  an  anonymous 
daughter  of  ...  .  Hess,  of  Great  Mongeam, 
distinguishing  that  family  by  a  shield  of  arms, 
displaying  argent  a  fess  sable  (charged  with  a 
mullet  or)  between  three  lions  rampant  gules.  This 
coat,  without  the  mullet,  is  to  be  found  in  a  copy  of  a 
Eoll  of  Arms  of  the  14th  century.  ^ — (Vincent,  165,  Coll. 
Arms.)  And  a  E,obert  de  Hes  is  witness  to  a  charter 
of  Matilda  de  Auberville  in  company  with  Henry 
de  Sandwich,  Eobert  de  Gosehall,  William  de  Bock- 
land,  and  Andrew  and  Wibert  de  Sandwich. — (Har- 
leian  Charters,  45  E.  33.)  Now,  first,  as  to  William. 
Thoroton,  in  his  History  of  Nottinghamshire,  men- 

of  Hereford  in  1318. — (Willis's  Cathedrals.)  The  match  with  a 
daughter  of  John  Lord  Cobham  could  not  so  well  have  escaped  notice 
in  some  of  the  Cobham  pedigrees ;  but  there  is  one  curious  piece  of 
evidence  in  support  of  it,  viz.  the  arms  of  Sandwich  dimidiated 
with  those  of  Cobham,  formerly  in  a  window  of  Cobham  church,  Kent. 
^Philipot,  MS.  Coll.  Arms,  Pe.  I.  p.  94. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  305 

tions  a  William  de  Sandwich,  who  had  a  brother 
John  and  a  sister  Idonea ;  but  they  were  the  children 
of  a  John  de  Sandwich  living  in  1312.*  Boys  has 
also  discovered  in  the  Register  Berthona,  Archives  of 
Canterbury,  a  William,  brother  of  Henry  ;  but  neither 
of  the  Henries  of  whom  we  have  found  positive 
evidence  was  the  son  of  "  Salomon,  the  son  of 
Man  win."  Next,  as  to  Thomas.  Bobinson,  in  his 
"  Gavelkind,"  tells  us  of  a  Thomas,  son  of  Thomas  de 
Sandwich,  who  had  the  custody  of  William  and 
Thomas,  sons  of  John  de  Helles,  sixth  of  Edward  II., 
as  *'next  of  kin  to  whom  their  inheritance  could 
not  come."  Philipot,  we  have  observed,  gives  to 
Thomas  de  Sandwich  the  daughter  of  a  Thomas  de 
Helles  for  a  wife.  Supposing  her  to  have  been  a  sister 
of  John,  father  of  the  wards  William  and  Thomas 
de  Helles,  her  son  Thomas  de  Sandwich  would  have 
been  their  cousin,  to  whom,  for  some  reason,  their 
inheritance  could  not  come.  It  is  clear,  at  any  rate, 
that  the  two  families  were  connected  by  ties  of  blood  ; 
and  by  a  Plea  Boll  of  the  thirty-third  of  Edward  I. 
we  find  that  a  Thomas  de  Sandwich,  living  about  the 

*  It  is  a  fine  levied  in  1312  between  Jobn  de  Sandwich  and  Mar- 
garet, daughter  of  Walter  de  Lundy,  querentes,  and  Nicholas  de 
Haliwell,  deforciant,  of  three  messuages,  &c.  ;  whereby  they  were 
settled  on  the  said  John  and  Margaret  for  life,  afterwards  on  Idonea, 
the  daughter  of  John  and  the  heir  of  her  body  ;  remainder  to  John , 
his  brother,  and  his  heirs ;  remainder  to  John  de  Sandwich  and  his 
heirs,  William  being  brother  of  Idonea,  and  John  the  son  of  John. 

Vide  also  MS.  Coll.  Arms,  R.  27,  where  the  witnesses  to  a  charter, 
C  750,  are  "Henr.  de  Sandwico,  Will,  fre  suo." 

X 


306  A    COUNER   OF   KENT. 

same  period,  had  a  wife  named  Johanna  and  a  son 
named  John.*  That  he  was  the  son  of  a  Thomas, 
and  may  therefore  be  identified  as  the  guardian  of 
the  children  of  John  de  Helles,  is  fairly  deducible 
from  the  two  following  extracts  from  the  Pine  Rolls. 
The  first,  circa  third  of  Edward  I.,  shows  us  Thomas 
de  Sandwich,  plaintiff,  and  E/obert  de  Crevecoeur  and 
Isolda  his  wife,  defendants,  in  a  suit  respecting 
lands  in  Meet  by  Sandwich,  the  right  of  said 
Thomas  and  Johanna  his  wife,  and  the  heirs  of  the 
said  Thomas ;  while  in  an  earlier  one  of  the  forty- 
fifth  of  Henry  III.,  Andrew  de  MoUand,  Matilda  his 
wife,  and  Idonea  de  la  Porde,  are  plaintiffs,  and 
Thomas  de  Sandwich,  defendant,  respecting  two  parts 
of  a  messuage,  &c.,  in  Ash,  recognized  by  said 
Andrew  and  others  as  the  right  of  the  said  Thomas. 
Still  later  we  find  another  Thomas  de  Sandwich,  of 
Essex,  who  had  a  wife  named  Elena ;  but  still  we  are 
unable  to  identify  him  with  Thomas,  the  son  of 
William,  and  the  father  of  Sir  Nicholas,  or  even  to 


*  *' Inter  Thomam  de  Sandwico  Joha  uxorem  ejus,  et  JoM  filius 
eorum  de  terris  in  Lyme."  Vide  also  a  Final  Concord  of  thirty-second 
Edward  I.  between  Thomas  de  Sandwich  and  Henry  Perot  and 
Johanna  his  wife  j  from  which  it  may  be  inferred  that  Johanna  Perot 
was  the  daughter  of  Thomas  de  Sandwich. — (Lansdowne  MS.,  Brit. 
Mus.  268.)  It  is  also  worth  observing  that  in  the  twenty-eighth  of 
Henry  III.  there  was  a  Final  Concord  between  one  of  this  same  family 
of  Perot,  named  Alan,  and  Simon  Fitz  Henry  de  Sandwich,  respecting 
land  in  Poire,  the  right  of  the  said  Alan  (who  was,  probably,  father  of 
the  Henry  Perot  above  named),  showing  an  earlier  connection  between 
the  two  families.— Lansdowne  MS.,  Brit.  Mus.  No.  269,  p.  26. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  307 

guess  how  the  descendants  of  Manwin  and  Salomon 
are  connected  with  those  of  Henry  and  Simon,  or 
Ralph.  We  have  shown  the  extinction  of  the  latter 
line  in  the  persons  of  the  two  Juliannas  and  the 
Rector  of  Otham.  The  male  issue  of  the  former 
failed  nearly  about  the  same  period  when  Anne,  sole 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  Nicholas  de  Sandwich, 
married  one  of  the  equally  important,  but  little 
better  known  family  of — 

SEPTVANS,  alias  hareleet.* 

This  remarkable  name  is  suggested  by  Mr.  Mark 
Anthony  Lower  to  be  derived  from  a  place  called 
Septvas  or  Septvents  {i.e.  Seven  winds)  in  Normandy ; 
but  whatever  may  have  been  its  origin,  the  corrup- 
tions of  it  exceed  in  number  those  of  any  other 
patronymic  that  we  remember.  In  Latin,  it  is  gene- 
rally rendered  Septemvannis,  and  sometimes  Septem- 
vallibus ;  but  in  Norman  Erench,  or  English,  we 
find  it  written  Setuans,  Septvans,  Septvaus,  Seavaus, 
Sevanz,  Sephans,  Sevance,  Sevaunces,  Senantz,  Cen- 
nants,  and  even  Setwentz  and  Setwetz ! 


*  We  have  purposely  throughout  this  volume,  except  when  quoting 
literally  aucient  documents  or  other  writers,  spelt  this  name  H&xfleet, 
in  conformity  with  that  of  the  manor  of  Fleet,  from  which  we  believe 
it  to  have  been  taken,  as  asserted  in  one  instance  by  Philipot, 
apparently  from  the  information  of  the  family,  who,  though  they  con- 
tinued nearly  to  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  to  write  both 
Flete  and  Harflete,  occasionally  in  some  of  the  later  instances,  signed 
themselves  Har/^ee^e,  in  accordance  with  the  progress  of  orthography. 

X  2 


308  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

The  name  does  not  occur  in  Domesday,  and  the 
probability  is  that  the  earliest  bearer  of  it  in  this 
country  was  the  Robert  de  Septvans,  husband  of 
Emma,  coheir  of  William  Eitz  Helte.*  She  is  de- 
scribed as  Emma  de  Septvans,  of  Aldington,  which 
estate  we  find  descend  in  the  family,  and  where  it 
would  appear  they  were  first  seated  in  England. 

Emma  had  two  sisters,  Sibilla  and  Alicia.  The 
former  married  Hugo  de  Ceriton,t  and  the  latter 
Ansfrid  de  Caney.  The  husband  of  Emma  was  dead 
in  1180,  and  in  1185  his  son  Robert  was  found  to  be 
twelve  years  of  age.:|:  An  Isilia  de  Septvans  appears 
as  a  benefactress  to  St.  John's  Abbey,  Colchester, §  in 
the  12th  century,  who  might  have  been  the  wife  of 
the  second  Robert,  who  possessed  property  in  Essex, 

*  William  Fitz  Helte  died  shortly  before  twenty-sixth  Henry  II., 
1180;  for,  by  the  Pipe  Roll  of  that  year,  we  fibd  that  William  de 
Ceriton  and  Ansfrid  de  Cani  and  Emma  de  Septuans  rendered 
account  of  100  marks  to  have  the  land  of  William  Eitz  Helte. 

t  She  appears  to  have  remarried,  before  1181,  John  Monaco,  as  in 
that  year  seventy  shillings  was  paid  in  to  the  Treasury  "  de  Johanna 
Monaco  et  Emma  de  Setuans,"  who  in  the  last  line  of  the  entry  is 
described  as  "  uxorem  ejus."  In  the  same  year  William  de  Haga  paid 
five  marks  for  a  jury  of  matrons  to  ascertain  whether  Emma  de 
Septuans  had  borne  a  child  (to  her  first  husband)  ;  the  object  being  to 
prove  the  heirship.  In  1185  the  sheriff  renders  an  account  of 
71s.  and  5d.  for  Aldinton,  the  land  of  Emma  de  Setvans,  and  for 
60s.  for  Maplescamps,  also  her  land;  and  in  1187  the  sheriff  makes 
his  return  for  Aldinton,  the  heir  to  which  is  in  the  custody  of  the  king. 

J  Rot.  de  Dominabus.  Emma  was  dead  in  1187,  and  in  the  Plea 
RoU  of  the  9  th  of  John,  1216,  she  is  called  "  avia  Rob't  de  Septem- 
vannis." — Abbrev.  of  Pleas,  p.  57. 

§  Morant's  Essex. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HEEALDIC   NOTES.  309 

two  persons  named  Malger  and  E^ichard,  receiving 
his  rents  for  him  during  his  minority,  in  Wigeberg, 
in  that  county.*  In  1199  (tenth  Eichard  I.)  a  suit 
was  brought  against  Robert  de  Septvans,  then  of 
full  age,  and  Malger  de  Wigeberg,  by  Alicia,  wife  of 
Eobert  de  Newlond,  and  daughter  of  Avicia,  the  wife 
of  Swainus  or  Swain,  to  recover  1^  hide  of  land  in 
Wigeberg,  now  held  by  the  said  Malger.  By  the 
pleadings  in  this  suit  we  learn  that  Alicia  had  an 
elder  sister,  in  right  of  whom  it  would  seem  the 
defendants  resisted  the  claim.  Her  name  is  not 
given,  nor  any  affinity  to  the  defendants  implied ; 
but  she  must  have  been  some  near  connection  of  one 
or  both  of  them.  Eobert  the  second  was  dead  in  or 
before  the  ninth  of  John,  1216,  and  was  succeeded  in 
his  estates  by  his  son,  a  third  Robert,  of  whom 
Emma  de  Septvans  is  in  that  year  described  as  the 
grandmother,  t  There  is  another  family  named  in 
connection  with  Robert  de  Septvans  the  second, 
bearing  the  singular  appellation  of  Ut  Devers.  In 
1205,  sixth  of  John,  there  was  a  Pinal  Concord  be- 
tween Philippa  de  Ut  Devers,  petitioner,  and  Robert 
de  Septvans,  tenant,  respecting  an  acre  of  land  in 
Audington  (Aldington),  the  right  of  the  said  Robert 

*  "  Robertus  filius  Robert!  de  Setvans  est  in  custodia  Domini  Regis 
et  per  eum  in  custodia  Yicecomitis  de  Essex  et  est  xij  annorum. 
Terra  sua  de  Wigeberga  fait  in  manu  Domini  Regis  elapso  1  anno 
ab  Epiphania.     Malger  et  Ricardus  receperunt  inde  firmam  ij  termino- 

rum Postea    commisit    Yicecomes   terram   illam    Rogero 

Preposito  pro  xi  libras,  &c." — Rot.  de  Dominabus. 

t  Rot.  Cur.  Reg.  sub  anno. 


310  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

and  his  heirs,*  and  in  the  sixth  Henry  III.,  another 
between  Fhilijp  de  Utdevers  (the  son,  it  may  be,  of 
Philippa)  and  the  third  "Robert  de  Sevans,"  for 
apparently  the  same  land  in  Aldington  to  which  he 
had  then  succeeded. t  There  is  also  a  charter  of 
this  Philip  Utdevers,  who,  with  the  consent  of  his 
wife,  and  Osbert,  his  son,  ''  remits  10s.  to  the  canons 
of  Begeham,  which  they  owed  for  the  land  of 
Blachinden."J  In  the  eighth  of  Henry  III.,  Hugh 
de  Scerpton  is  the  petitioner  and  Robert  de  Septuans 
the  defendant  in  a  Pinal  Concord  respecting  half  the 
manor  of  Aldington,  the  right  of  Robert  and  his 
heirs. 

We  know  of  nothing  more  that  can  at  present 
throw  any  further  light  upon  this  third  Robert  save 
that  he  died  thirty-third  of  Henry  III.,  A.D.  1249, 
seized  of  Aldington,  Whelmstone,  and  Milton,  was 
buried  at  Lid,  and  left  a  widow  Matilda,  who  was 
living  in  1253  ;§  and  a  son  Robert,  aged  nearly  forty 
at  the  time  of  the  inquisition,  to  succeed  him.     This 


*  Lansdowne  MS.,  Brit.  Mus.  No.  269. 

t  LaDsdowne  MS.,  No.  269. 

X  MS.  Coll.  Arms,  R  27,  Kent.     Finis  Levatt.  in  Cur.  Eeg. 

§  In  the  15th  of  Henry  III.,  1238,  there  was  a  Final  Concord 
between  Isabella  de  Septvans  and  Mabilia,  daughter  of  Gilbert  de  St. 
Ledger,  respecting  fifteen  acres  of  land  at  Lidd  and  Bromhill,  held  by 
Stephen  de  Ospringe,  the  right  of  the  said  Isabella.  Who  was  she  ? — 
one  of  the  St.  Ledgers  who  had  married  a  Septvans  ?  The  widow 
of  the  second  Robert,  or  the  wife  of  his  grandson,  the  fourth  Bobert  ? 
who  would  have  been  about  five-and-twenty  at  that  period,  and 
certainly  had  a  wife  named  Isabella. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  311 

Robert,  the  fourth  of  the  name  at  present  known, 
survived  his  father  only  four  years,  dying  thirty- 
seventh  of  Henry  III.,  1253,  when  it  was  found  that 
he  had  a  wife  Isabella,  and  a  son  Eobert,  three  years 
of  age. 

By  the  pedigrees,  it  would  appear  that  he  also  left 
a  daughter  named  Joan,  who  married  John  Lord 
Cobham;  whether  older  than  her  brother  E^obert  or  not 
we  have  no  means  at  present  of  ascertaining  ;  we  are 
also  in  the  dark  as  to  the  families  of  the  two  widows 
Matilda  and  Isabella,  co-existing  in  1253.  Segar, 
in  the  MS.  copy  of  his  Baronage,  recently  purchased 
by  the  College  of  Arms,  has  a  note  to  the  effect  that 
Joan  Septvans,  Lady  Cobham,  was  coheir  of  Bose, 
widow  of  Sir  Stephen  Penchester.*  Now  Bose  was 
the  daughter  of  Hawisia  de  Beseville,  living  in  1270, 
and  was  not  the  widow  but  the  first  wife  of  Stephen 
de  Penchester,  who  married  secondly  Margaret,  daugh- 
ter of  John  de  Burgh,  who  survived  him  and  married 
John  de  Oreby.  Bose  had  a  sister  Johanna  de 
Beseville,  also  living  1270 ;  and  Stephen  de  Penchester 
had  a  daughter  named  Joan,  aged  forty,  second  of 
Edward  IL,  1309, t  and  the  wife  of  Henry  Cobham 
at  Bensdale. 


*  Banks  also  calls  her  "coheir  to  Hose,  the  widow  of  Stephen 
de  Pencestre"  (vol.  ii.  p.  104). 

t  Date  of  escheat  of  "  Margaret  uxor  Stephen  de  Pencester." — 
(Philipot,  4,  P.E.)  But  query,  had  not  Stephen  a  third  wife  j  for  we 
find  in  the  same  MS.,  under  the  18th  of  Edward  II.,  Johanna  uxor 
Stephen  de  Pencester. 


312  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

By  that  calculation  she  must  have  been  born  in 
1269,  and  therefore  the  daughter  of  Eose,  and  not  of 
Margaret,  as  asserted ;  but  even  correcting  these  two 
material  errors  does  not  enlighten  us  as  to  the  connec- 
tion of  Joan  Septyans  with  E^ose  de  Penchester. 

Let  us  proceed  a  little  further. 

Sir  Robert  de  Septyans,  fifth  in  succession,  born,  as 
we  haye  found,  in  1250,  died  thirty-fourth  Edward  I., 
1306,  and  was  buried  at  Chartham.  Of  this  E-obert 
there  are  many  notices  in  the  parliamentary  writs,*  but 
nothing  to  throw  light  on  his  genealogy.  Philipot  in 
his  pedigree,  marked  Annulet,  p.  37,  marries  him  to 

a  daughter  of Aldon.     It  is  quite  possible  that 

he  might  haye  married  one  of  that  family ;  but  a 
curious  piece  of  information  is  supplied  by  a  Pine 
Eoll  of  the  twenty-second  of  Edward  L,  1294.  We 
find  therein  that  he  had  married  Johanna,  widow 
of  E/ichard  le  Wallies,  in  contempt  of  the  king's 
authority. 

Who  this  Johanna  was  by  birth,  howeyer,  we  haye 
not  been  able  to  ascertain,  nor  whether  she  was  the 
mother  of  his  children.  His  son  William  was  found 
to  be  "twenty-five  years  of  age  and  upwards"  at 
his  father's  death  in  1306.  He  must,  therefore,  have 
been  born  at  the  latest  in  1281 ;  but  we  do  not  know 
when  the  marriage  of  Robert  with  Johanna  took 
place,  but  only  that  she  was  dead  in  1294. 

We  are  half  inclined  to  believe  that  a  mistake  of 

*  He  was  knight  of  the  shire,  returned  for  Parliament  18th  and 
30th  of  Edward  I,  1290  and  1302. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  313 

one  generation  has  been  made  respecting  Joan  Lady 
Cobham,  that  the  last  two  Roberts  de  Septvans 
have  been  confounded,  and  that  the  wife  of  John 
Lord  Cobham  was  daughter,  not  of  the  third,  but 
of  the  fourth  Eobert  by  this  Johanna  le  Wallies. 
Whether. or  not,  she  was  Johanna,  sister  of  Rose  de 
Beseville,  unmarried  in  1270,  which  would  allow 
twenty-four  years  for  her  to  become  wife  and  widow 
of  Richard  le  Wallies,  wife  of  Robert  de  Sept- 
vans, and  mother  at  least  of  Joan  Lady  Cobham, 
can  only  be  ascertained  by  further  inquiry.  Philipot, 
who  asserts  that  his  pedigree  was  compiled  from 
family  evidences,  was  clearly  ignorant  of  this  match. 
If,  as  he  sets  down,  the  last  Sir  Robert  de  Septvans 
married  a  daughter  of  Aldon,  either  before  his  mar- 
riage with  Johanna  le  Wallies,  or  after  her  death  in 
1294,  she  was  most  probably  the  daughter  of  Elias 
de  Aldon,  by  Christiana  de  Heringode,  and  sister  of 
Sir  Thomas  de  Al(Jon,  w'ho  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Geoffrey  de  Say ;  but  the  pedigrees  of 
Aldon  are  silent,  as  usual,  respecting  daughters,  and 
we  have,  therefore,  no  baptismal  name  to  assist  our 
speculations. 

To  return  to  facts.  Sir  Robert,  born  in  1250,  mar- 
ried one  of  the  aforesaid  ladies  some  time  previous 
to  1281,  in  which  year  at  the  latest,  we  find  his  eldest 
son,  William,  w^as  born,  being  twenty-five  and  upwards 
at   his  father's  death  in  1306,  and  already  married 

to   Elizabeth,  daughter   of Pimpe,    of  Pimpe's 

Court,  Esq.,  in  the  county  of  Kent. 


314  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

Immediately  upon  his  succession  to  his  father's 
estates  he  appears  to  have  had  a  settlement  with  a 
Eyohert  de  Septvans  respecting  a  messuage  and  two 
carrucates  of  land  in  Lidd  and  Bromhill.  The  same 
E^obert  de  Septvans,  we  presume,  holding  two  knights' 
fees  in  Wigberg,  county  of  Essex,  some  nine  years 
later. 

What  relation  this  Kobert  was  to  William  does 
not  appear.  He  may  have  been  his  brother;  but 
not  being  so  designated,  it  is  more  probable  that 
he  was  a  cousin.  Down  to  this  point  we  have  no 
collateral  descent  recorded,  or  any  trace  of  one ;  yet 
it  is  not  likely  that  the  four  E^oberts  should  all  have 
been  only  sons.* 

Sir  William  Septvans,  of  Milton,  for  he  was 
knighted,  and  is  so  described,  was  sheriff  of  Kent 
14th  and  15th  of  Edward  II.,  and  died  16th  of  same 
reign,  1323,  leaving  by  his  wife,  Elizabeth  Pimpe, 
William,  his  eldest  son,  aged  twenty-two  and  upwards 
at  that  date,  John,  Symkin  or  Simon,  and  Robert. 
No  daughters  are  mentioned.  John  married  a 
daughter  of  Hoger  Manston,  of  Manston  Court,  Isle 
of  Thanet,  and  had  issue,  of  which  anon.  Robert 
was  priest  and  parson  of  St.  Poter's,  Sandwich,  where 
he  was  buried.  Of  Simon,  or  Symkin,  as  he  is  indif- 
ferently called,  we  have  no  information  we  can  rely 

*  In  the  old  Koll  of  Arms,  temp.  Edward  I.,  already  quoted,  are 
the  arms  of  a  Robert  de  Septvans, — Azure,  3  faDS,  or,  differenced  by 
nine  cross  crosslets  of  the  second,  3,  3,  2,  and  1 ;  evidently  that  of  a 
younger  brother  or  collateral. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  315 

upon.  We  will  return  to  him  presently ;  but  must 
first  clear  ofP  the  descent  from  his  brothers.  Sir 
William  and  John. 

William  (second  of  that  name)*  is  set  down  in 
some  of  Philipot's  Pedigrees  as  the  husband  of  Maud, 
sole  daughter  and  heir  of  Sir  Theobald  de  Twitham, 
Lord  of  Twitham  in  Ash ;  but  no  actual  authority  is 
quoted,  or  can  be  found,  for  this  marriage.  On  the 
other  hand,  we  have  official  documents,  showing  that 
he  left  a  widow  named  Elizabeth,  to  whom  his  son 
William  was  next  heir.  In  the  first  place,  there  is 
the  post-mortem  inquisition,  showing  that  William 
Septemvannis  died  25th  of  Edward  III.,  1351,  and 
that  William,  his  son,  was  at  that  time  aged  five 
years  and  upwards.  We  have  next  the  inquisition 
taken  at  Canterbury  on  the  Saturday  next  after  the 
Eeast  of  St.  Andrew,  30th  of  Edward  III.,  1356,— 
*'  Post  mortem  Eliz.  de  Seyvance,"  in  which  the 
jurors  say  that  she  held  for  life  the  manor  of  Milton  ; 
that  she  died  on  Wednesday,  the  Eeast  of  the 
Apostles  St.  Simon  and  St.  Jude,  in  the  year  aforesaid ; 
that  William,  son  of  William  de  Seyvance,  is  next 
heir  of  the  said  Elizabeth,  and  that  the  said  heir  is 

*  It  does  not  appear  that  he  was  ever  knighted,  though  set  down 
as  "  Sir  William  "  in  the  Pedigrees.  He  was  summoned  as  "  Wilhel- 
mus  de  Setzvans,  ^man  at  arms'  to  attend  the  great  council  of 
Westminster,  on  Wednesday  next  after  Ascension  day,  30*^  May, 
17  Ed.  2^1.,"  and  as  "William  de  Sevanns,"  appointed  with  others  to 
blockade  the  sea-coast  from  Bromhill  to  Dengemarsh,  for  the  purpose 
of  preventing  the  landing  of  emissaries  from  France,  19  Edward  II.— 
Vide  Parliamentary  Writs  under  those  dates. 


316  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

aged  fifteen  years.  Thirdly,  on  the  1st  of  November, 
1364  (38th  of  Edward  III.),  another  inquisition  was 
taken  at  Canterbury,  **  post  mortem "  the  same 
^'  Elizabeth,  who  was  wife  of  William  Sevance,  de- 
ceased," when  the  jurors  say  that  she  held  no  lands 
"  in  capite,"  but  that  she  held  for  term  of  life  the 
manor  of  Milton  with  William  de  Sevance,  late  her 
husband,  deceased,  of  the  heirship  of  William,  son  of 
the  late  William,  deceased,  who  held  in  capite,  being 
within  (under)  age,  and  in  custody  of  the  king. 
*'  That  said  Elizabeth  died  Thursday,  on  the  Eeast  of 
St.  Simon  and  St.  Jude,  An°  30  of  the  king  that 
now  is ;  and  they  say  that  William  de  S.  is  son  and 
heir  of  the  said  William,  and  of  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  years  and  more."  It  will  be  observed  that  in 
none  of  these  inquisitions  is  "William,  son  of  Wil- 
liam de  Sept  vans,"  called  also  the  son  of  Elizabeth, 
but  only  her  next  heir.*  That  he  was  her  son,  how- 
ever, there  can  be  little  doubt,  from  the  singular 
proceedings  which  took  place  in  1366,  fortieth   of 


*  It  is  singular  that  none  of  the  records  respecting  this  Elizabeth 
de  Septvans  enlighten  us  on  the  important  point  of  her  own  family. 
We  are  inclined  however  to  believe  that  she  was  by  birth  a  Darrell. 
In  Le  Neve's  Church  Notes,  so  often  quoted  by  us,  we  find  that  in  the 
windows  of  St.  John's  Hospital  at  Canterbury  there  were  the  figures 
of  a  lady  and  a  knight  kneeling  on  cushions,  underwritten  "  Orate 
p.  anima  W^  Septuan  Militis  et  Eliz.  ux^'  ejus."  The  lady  having  on 
her  mantle  azure  a  lion  rampant  crowned,  or  ;  and  that  at  the  -same 
period  were  to  be  seen  in  St.  Alphage  Church  in  the  same  city  : 
azure  a  lion  rampant,  crowned,  or,  in  conjunction  with  the  arms  of 
Septvans. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  317 

Edward  III.,*  when  an  inquisition  ''  probatio  etatis  " 
was  granted  on  the  petition  of  William  de  Septvans, 
who  had  been  "  led  away  and  counselled "  by  Sir 
Nicholas  Loveyne,  of  Penshurst,  and  others  named 
in  the  petition,  "  to  alienate  his  lands  and  tene- 
ments" to  them,  he  not  being  at  that  time  of  full  age, 
as  had  been  falsely  represented.  The  result  of  this 
inquiry,  held  before  John  de  Cobham,  Thomas  de 
Lodelowe,  and  William  Waure,  at  Canterbury,  was 
the  proof  that  the  petitioner  was  not  even  then  of 
age,  and  would  be  only  ''  twenty  years,  and  no  more, 
on  the  Peast  of  St.  Augustine  the  Doctor  next 
coming;"  and  the  grounds  on  which  they  came  to 
this  decision  was,  that  many  of  the  knights  and 
esquires  on  this  inquest  f  were  with  the  Earl  of 
Huntingdon  when  the  King  (Edward  III.)  was  at 
Caen  (20th  of  July,  1346),  and  that  the  said  Earl  of 
Huntingdon  returned  to  England  to  be  cured  of  a 
malady  which  he  had,  and  William  de  Septvans,  father 
of  the  infant,  was  in  the  retinue  of  the  Earl,  and 
returned  to  England  with  him,  at  which  time  they 

*  The  letters  patent  were  dated  "  13*^  of  April,  in  the  fortieth 
year  of  our  reign,"  the  King  being  then  at  Rushingdon,  a  manor  in 
Minster,  Isle  of  Sheppy. 

t  These  twelve  "  knights  and  squires "  were  Sir  John  de  North- 
wode,  Sir  Thomas  Apuldrefield,  Sir  Thomas  Chiche,  Sir  Richard  at 
Lese,  Sir  John  de  Brockhull,  John  Barry,  William  Apuldrefield, 
Thomas  Colepepper,  Henry  Apuldrefield  senior,  Henry  Aucher,  Fulk 
Payforer,  and  Geoffrey  Colepepper;  all  Kentish  worthies,  many  of 
whom  we  learn  were  at  the  taking  of  Caen  and  the  surrender 
of  Calais. 


318  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

found  the  wife  of  the  said  William  pregnant  of  the 
said  infant.  That  the  Earl  of  Huntingdon  went 
away  to  Poplar  in  order  to  have  his  physicians  handy 
from  London,  and  made  the  countess  *  live  at  Pres- 
ton (a  parish  adjacent  to  Ash),  in  order  to  be  god- 
mother of  the  child  when  it  should  be  born;  that 
the  infant  was  born  on  the  day  of  St.  Austin  the 
Doctor,  next  after  (28th  of  August,  1346) ;  and  that 
William,  abbot  of  St.  Austin's,  and  Thomas  de 
Aldon  the  elder,  both  since  deceased,  were  godfathers 
of  the  said  infant,  and  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon 
godmother ;  and  very  soon  after  the  earl  was  cured, 
and  returned  to  Erance,  and  came  to  the  siege  of 
Calais,  and  William  de  Septvans  with  him ;  and  the 
said  William  told  his  companions,  who  were  sworn  on 
this  inquest,  how  since  his  departure  from  them  God 
of  His  grace  had  so  visited  him,  that  he  had  sent 
him  a  son,  &c. 

We  have  abridged  this  account  from  the  docu- 
ments which  are  printed  in  extenso  in  the  1st  volume 
of  the  Archseologia  Cantiana,  to  which  excellent  work 
we  refer  those  who  need  further  particulars,  our 
object  being  only  to  show  that  William  de  Septvans 
was  born  28th  of  August,  1346,  and  must  certainly, 
therefore,  have  been  the  child  of  Elizabeth,  widow  of 

"^  This  was  the  celebiated  Julianna  de  Leyborne,  countess  of 
Huntingdon,  of  whom  we  have  spoken  so  often.  The  inventory  of 
her  goods  at  her  ^^  House  at  Preston  "  is  published  with  her  will  and 
various  other  interesting  particulars  in  the  Archaeologia  Cantiana, 
vol.  i. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  319 

the  elder  William,  in  1351,  when  his  heir  was  cor- 
rectly found  to  he  five  years  of  age.  Most  pro- 
vokingly,  however,  neither  her  name  nor  that  of  her 
family  is  mentioned  in  the  ahove  minute  particulars. 
It  is  important,  also,  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that 
no  other  issue  is  alluded  to ;  and  as  William  de 
Septvans  returned  to  Prance  shortly  after  his  wife's 
confinement,  the  probabilities  are  that  his  son  William 
was  an  only  child,  whereas  a  brother,  named  John, 
has  been  given  to  him  in  the  pedigrees,  from 
whom  descended  the  Septvans,  alias  Harfleets,  of 
Holland  and  Checquer.  We  must  clear  off  this  direct 
line  first. 

Sir  William  de  Septvans  (third  of  that  name), 
Knt.,  was  sheriff  of  Kent,   and   married   Elizabeth, 

daughter  of Boteler,  of  Woodhall,  co.  Hertford. 

He  died  in  1407,  and  was  buried  at  Christ  Church, 
Canterbury,  under  a  flat  stone  in  the  middle  aisle, 
with  his  arms  and  those  of  his  wife,  and  the  following 
epitaph : — 

''  Icy  gist  Guliam  Sepvanus  chevalier  qui  morust  le  Darnier  jour 
D'Aust  L'an  de  Grace  m.ccccvu.  de  quele  Alme  Deux  eit  pite  et 
mercy  Ame." 

Sir  William  Septvans  left  by  his  wife  Elizabeth 
Boteler,  who  survived  him,*  a  son,  named  after 
him  William,  who  was    also  knighted,  and  married 

*  She  was  living  in  1448,  and  had  remarried  with  Sir  Eichard 
Welsted,  Kt. 


320  A   CORNER   OP    KENT. 

Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Peche,*  and  died 
March  Mh,  1448-9,  being  closely  followed  to  the 
grave  by  his  widow,  who  died  only  twenty-four  days 
after  him,  as  we  learn  from  his  epitaph,  formerly  in 
Christ  Church,  Canterbury,  where  they  were  buried 
close  to  his  father  the  sheriff. 

"Sub  lioc  marmore  jacent  corpora  Willi  Sepuans,  militis  qui  obijfc 
quarto  die  Martij,  Anno  Dni  1448,  et  Elizabethse  uxoris  ejus  filise 
Johanis  Pecbe  militis  quae  obiit  28  die  mensis  Martii  quorum  anima- 
bus  propitietur  Deus,  Amen." 

They  had  issue  but  one  child,  Elizabeth,  who 
married  Sir  William  Eogg,  of  E^epton,  near  Ashford, 
and  thus  ended  the  name  of  Septvans  in  the  eldest 
line  of  the  family.  We  must  now  return  to  the 
issue  of  John,  son  of  the  first  William  de  Septvans 
by  Elizabeth  Pimpe,  and  husband  of  a  daughter  of 
Koger  Mansion.  By  her  he  had  John  Septvans,  of 
St.  Laurence  and  Sittingbourne,  and  a  daughter 
named  Joan,  who  became  the  wife  of  Sir  John 
Leverick,  of  Ash. 

John  Septvans,  of  Sittingbourne,  married  Constance 
St.  Nicholas ;  but  which  of  that  family  was  her  father 
has  not  yet  been  discovered.  It  is  only  stated  that 
he  was  of  Thanet.  No  such  name  as  Constance  is  to 
be  found  in  the  pedigrees  or  wills  of  the  St.  Nicholas' ; 
but  her  husband  is  said  to  have  been  lord  of  the  manor 


*  The  singular  fact  of  four  successive  Williams  de  Septvans 
marrying  eacb  a  wife  named  Elizabeth,  increases  the  usual  difficulties 
and  confusion  to  be  found  in  such  researches. 


GENEALOGICAL  AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  321 

of  Upper  Hall,  whicli  came  to  the  family  of  St. 
Nicholas  through  the  Goshalls.*  By  this  Constance 
he  had  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  John,  Thomas, 
Constance,  and  Susan.  John  Septvans  was  Esquire 
of  the  Body  to  King  Henry  YI.,  and  died  Dec.  18th, 
1458,  apparently  without  issue  by  his  wife,  Katharine, 
who  survived  him  and  married,  as  it  has  been  sup- 
posed, secondly,  Wigmore,  and  thirdly,  Martin  of 
Graven ey,t  and  dying  in  1498,  desired  to  be  buried 
with  her  former  husband,  John  Septvans,  at  Ash. 
We  have  gone  so  fully  into  the  question  of  this  lady's 
family  (presumed  to  be  Kirton),  in  our  last  chapter 
(pp.  218 — 224),  that  we  need  not  dwell  upon  it  here, 
further  than  to  express  our  doubt  of  the  accuracy  of 
the  statement  that  she  married,  secondly,  "Wigmore. 
The  ''  John  Wigmore"  she  calls  her  son  died  26th  of 
October,  1492,  and  the  name  of  ^^Editha  consortis  suae," 
has  been  singularly  omitted  in  Weever's  copy  of  the 

*  Philipot.  Yi  11.  Cant.  "We  know  from  the  will  of  Katherine,  wife 
of  John,  the  son  of  this  Constance,  that  he  founded  the  Chantry  of 
the  Upper  Hall  in  St.  Nicholas  Church,  Ash,  but  we  question  the 
manor  descending  from  the  Coshalls.  Lewis  (Hist.  Thanet)  tells  us 
that  Upper  Court  was  so  called  to  distinguish  it  from  Nether  Court, 
which  belonged  to  the  Goshalls,  and  that  it  was  formerly  a  part  of 
the  estate  of  the  family  of  Criol,  in  which  it  continued  till  the  latter 
end  of  the  reign  of  Henry  YI.,  when  it  was  passed  away  by  Sir 
Thomas  Criol  to  John  White,  Esq.,  who  died  seized  of  it  ninth  of 
Edward  lY.  If  this  descent  of  the  property  be  correct,  we  cannot 
see  when  or  how  Upper  Court  or  Hall,  as  it  was  indifferently  called, 
came  to  either  St.  Nicholas  or  Septvans  before  1458. 

t  "Orate  Johannis  Martin  Arm.  qui  obiit  ultimo  Octob.  1479." — 
Mon.  Inscrip.,  Graveney,  Weever's  Mon.,  p.  282. 

Y 


322  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

monumental  inscription  at  Paversham,  but  preserved 
by  Lewis  in  his  History  of  that  place,  p.  19.*  It  is, 
therefore,  more  probable  that  the  "Edythe  Wygmere" 
she  calls  her  daughter  was,  in  point  of  fact,  her  own 
child,  either  by  Septvans  or  Martyn,  and  John 
Wygmere,  the  husband  of  Edith,  her  son  iit  laiv. 
Both  could  not  be  her  own  issue,  and  the  distinction 
we  nowadays  make  is  of  very  recent  origin.  In 
Graveney  church  we  are  told  that  the  arms  of  Martin 
impaling  those  assigned  to  Kirton  were  in  a  window 
by  the  north  door,  and  the  figure  of  a  woman  by  it 
kneeling. t  This  is  conclusive  as  far  as  the  match 
with  Martin  goes,  and  we  have  shown  that  a  similar 
proof  existed  in  Ash  church,  in  1760,  of  the  match 
with  Sept  vans ;  but  where  have  we  such  a  corrobora- 
tion of  the  match  with  Wigmore  ?  In  Mr.  Streat- 
field's  interleaved  copy  of  Hasted  it  is  true  there  is 
a  drawing  of  a  shield,  Wigmore  impaling  Kirton, 
placed  in  conjunction  with  two  others,  displaying 
Septvans  and  Martyn,  with  similar  impalements ;  but 
no  authority  is  quoted,  and  we  are  inclined  to  believe 
that  it  was  only  drawn  in  accordance  with  the  re- 
ceived opinion  that  Wigmore  was  her  second  husband. 
Of  this  we  humbly  submit  we  have  no  proof,  and  that 

*  Orate  pro  animabus  Johannes  Wygmore  generosus  qnondam 
socii  de  Gray's  Inn  et  Editha  eousortis  suse  et  omnium  filiariim 
suarum  ac  Ricardi  filii  ejus  qui  quidem  Johannis  obiit  xxvi  die 
mensis  Octobris  Anno  Domini  millessimo  ccccxcij,  quorum  animabus 
propicietur  Deus  Amen."  On  a  brass  plate  fastened  on  a  flat  stone  ; 
no  arms  mentioned. 

t  Philipot's  Church  Notes,  Harleian  MSS.  Brit.  Mus.,  No.  3917. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  323 

the  evidence  adduced  in  its  favour  is  fairly  open  to 
the  interpretation  we  have  given  to  it. 

To  return  to  our  genealogy.  Thomas  is  marked  as 
son  and  heir  hy  Philipot,  and  may,  therefore,  have 
been  the  elder  brother  of  John  :  he  died  before  him, 
however,  and  unmarried,  or  at  least  without  issue, 
31st  of  Henry  YI.,  1453.  Susan  married  Sir  Henry 
Hardress,  Knt.,  and  Constance  became  a  nun,  and 
eventually  Abbess  of  Minster  in  Sheppey.  Thus 
terminated  this  line  of  the  family  of  Septvans. 

We  have  now  to  affiliate  another  John  Septvans, 
the  husband  of  Anne  de  Sandwich,  and  progenitor  of 
that  prolific  branch  of  the  family  afterwards  assuming 
the  name  of  Harfleet.  This  John  Septvans  is,  both 
by  Philipot  and  by  Hasted,  who  has  followed  him 
without  comment  or  investigation,  made  in  some 
places  the  son  of  Sir  William  Septvans,  who  died  in 
1351,  and  in  others  of  Sir  William's  brother,  Simon 
or  Symkin ;  in  each  case  his  mother  is  said  to  have 
been  Maud  de  Twitham,  who,  with  equal  impartiality 
is  made  daughter  of  Theobald,  and  daughter  of  Alan 
de  Twitham,  and  married  to  William  in  one  pedigree, 
and  to  Simon  in  another.*  Hasted  under  Meopham 
(Hist.  Kent,  vol.  i.)  very  circumstantially  informs 
US,  that  Theobald  died  seized  of  that  manor,  4th  of 
Eichard  II.,  without  issue,  leaving  Maud,  his  only 
daughter,  heir  to  his  large  possessions  in  this  country, 
all  of  which  she  carried  in  marriage  to  Simon  Sept- 

*  Philipot's  MS.  Coll.  Arms,  marked  Annulet. 
Y    2 


324  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

vans,  a  younger  branch  of  the  Septvans  of  Milton, 
&e.,  quoting  Philipot,  and  Avhat  is  of  more  im- 
portance, ''Rot.  JEsch.  sub  anno''  He  then  adds, 
Simon  had  by  Maud  a  son,  Sir  William  de  Septvans, 
whose  son  John  married  Constance,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Ellis,  Esq.,  of  Sandwich,  &c.,  &c.* 

We  would  not  bewilder  our  readers  with  this  mass  of 
error  and  confusion,  were  there  not  glimpses  of  truth 
to  be  seen  through  it  which  may  greatly  assist  our 
inquiries.  The  glaring  inaccuracies  and  contradic- 
tions of  Philipot's  statements  which  had  been  so 
complacently  copied  by  Hasted  without  a  note  of 
interrogation,  induced  us  to  rely  with  more  confidence 
on  an  elaborate  pedigree  by  the  former,  compiled 
apparently  from  family  documents,  and  certified  by  no 
less  a  personage  than  Camden  Clarenceux.f  In  this 
pedigree,  Maud  de  Twitham  is  definitively  married  to 
Sir  William  Septvans,  and  made  the  mother  of  Sir 
William  the  Sheriff,  and  of  the  John  Septvans  in 
question.  We  have,  however,  shown  a  few  papers 
back,  that  Sir  William  the  Sheriff,  about  whose  age 
so  much  dispute  occurred,  must  have  been  the  son  of 
Elizabeth,  who  survived  his  father,  and  of  whom  he 
is  found  to  be  the  heir,  and  that  the  peculiar  circum- 
stances of  the  case  render  it  improbable  that  he  had  any 
brother.   In  the  will  of  the  Sheriff,  proved  October  4th, 


*  Philipot's  MS.    Coll.  Arms,   marked  Mascle,  and  Yillare  Can- 
tianum,  page  235. 

t  Philipot's  MS.,  marked  Annulet,  ut  supra. 


GENEALOaiCAL   AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  325 

1407,  no  mention  is  made  of  a  brother  John ;  but, 
in  the  curious  proceedings  above  alluded  to,  we  find 
that  amongst  the  lands  illegally  alienated  by  William 
while  under  age  and  before  1364,  was  the  Manor 
of  Promhull  (Bromhill)  in  the  County  of  Kent,  which 
he  had  of  the  gift  and  feoffment  of  Eichard  de  Alesle, 
Rector  of  the  Church  of  Harrietsham,  on  which  was  a 
rent-charge  of  ten  pounds  per  annum  for  life  to  John 
Septyans:  but  no  hint  as  to  his  affinity.  We  now 
come  to  another  curious  piece  of  evidence  which  has 
hitherto,  we  believe,  escaped  observation.  The  earliest 
pedigree  of  the  Septvans  contained  in  the  "Visitations 
(D.  13,  Coll.  Arm.),  commences  with  John  de  Septvans, 
but  does  not  say  of  whom  he  was  the  son.*  The 
arms,  however,  which  are  drawn  in  trick,  display 
azure,  three  winnowing  fans,  or  (the  old  coat  of  the 
Septvans),  differenced  with  a  border  chechy  of  the 
same.  This  is  surely  a  strong  corroboration  of  the 
statement  which  makes  him  the  cousin  instead  of  the 
brother  of  Sir  William  the  Sheriff,  and  induces  us,  in 
conjunction  with  other  evidence,  to  believe  so  far  in 

*  Nor  whom  he  married.  No  wives  are  mentioued  in  the  earlier 
portion  of  this  Pedigree,  which  otherwise  would  have  been  so  valu- 
able. The  MS.  is  not,  however,  quite  so  old  as  presumed,  at  least 
this  part  of  it.  It  is  described  as  a  visitation  by  Benolt  Clarenceux, 
temp.  Henry  YIII.,  and  the  majority  of  the  arms  and  pedigrees 
appear  to  be  of  that  date  ;  but  we  shall  show  hereafter  that  this  par- 
ticular genealogy  of  Septvans,  at  page  27  of  the  volume,  could  not 
have  been  entered  before  the  sixth  of  Elizabeth,  1564,  and  it  is 
evident  that  other  entries  have  been  made  in  several  pages  by  a  later 
hand. 


326  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

that  pedigree  wMcli  makes  him  the  son  of  Simon  by 
Maud  de  Twitham.  All  we  hear  of  Simon  is  that  he 
was  living  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II. ;  of  Maud  de 
Twitham  we  have  found  no  trace. 

The  EoU  of  4th  Richard  11.,  apparently  quoted  by 
Hasted  in  support  of  the  statement  of  the  marriage 
of  Simon  with  Maud,  daughter  and  heir  of  Theobald 
de  Twitham,  mentions  neither  of  them.  It  is  a  mere 
repetition  of  the  post  mortem  Inquisition  of  the  25th 
of  Edward  III.,  1351,  concerning  the  lands  of  Alan 
de  Twitham,  Lord  of  Twitham,  and  showing  that  Alan 
the  son  of  Theobald  de  Twitham,  son  of  the  before - 
named  Alan,  is  the  nearest  heir,  and  of  the  age  of  five 
years.  It,  however,  proves  this  much  in  contradiction 
to  the  assertions  of  Philipot  and  Hasted,  viz. :  that 
Theobald  did  not  die  without  male  issue,  and  that  if 
any  Maud  de  Twitham  became  his  heir,  it  must  have 
been  after  the  death  of  his  son  Alan,  who  was  living 
1351,  and  nearest  heir  to  his  grandfather.*  Of  course 
it  does  not  follow  that  he  had  not  a  sister  or  an  aunt 
(for,  as  we  have  mentioned,  she  is  sometimes  called 
daughter  of  Theobald  and  sometimes  of  Alan),  who 
was  named  Maud,  and  married  Simon  Septvans,  and 
as  we  hear  no  more  of  young  Alan,  she  or  her  issue 
might   have   inherited   the   whole   of  the   property. 

*  A  valuation  of  the  lands  of  the  same  Alan  the  son  of  Theobald, 
also  appears  in  the  Escheats  of  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  of 
Kichard  II.,  1396-97,  as  we  have  already  stated  at  j)age  93,  but 
neither  seems  to  be  an  inquisition  on  the  death  of  Alan,  who,  if 
living  at  that  period,  would  have  been  only  fifty. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  32? 

That  some  such  circumstance  did  occur  is  evident  by 
the  descendants  of  John  de  Septvans,  quartering  the 
coat  of  Twitham,  and  the  same  fact  tends  to  substan- 
tiate our  statement,  that  William  the  Sheriff  was  not 
the  son  of  Maud  de  Twitham,  as  no  such  quartering 
is  to  be  found  in  the  arms  of  that  branch  of  the 
family. 

John  Septyans,  son,  as  we  believe,  of  Simon  by 
Maud  de  Twitham,  married  Anne,  daughter  and  heir 
of  Sir  Nicholas  de  Sandwich.  And  now  we  arrive  at 
a  period  when  our  researches  are  assisted  by  several 
important  documents,  for  the  copies  of  which  we  are 
indebted  to  Philipot,  who  has  appended  them  to  one  of 
his  Pedigrees  of  Septvans.* 

We  shall  give  them  in  chronological  order,  and  in 
support  of  the  various  points  as  they  arise. 

The  first  we  shall  quote  is  the  earliest  in  date,  and 
is  a  deed  of  gift  by  Thomas  Loverick,  Esq.,  to  Gilbert, 
son  of  John  Sepuans,  of  Cheker  in  Ash,  Co.  Kent, 
Esq.,  of  three  acres  of  land  in  Ash  aforesaid,  dated 
10  day  of  May,  44th  of  Edward  III.  (a.d.  1370),  and 
the  witnesses  are  John  Sepuans,  Esquire,  John  at 
MoUand,  Thomas,  Adam,  Nicholas  at  Children 
(Chilton?),  John  and  Thomas  Eoger,  Hamon  de 
Strigula,  and  many  others. t 

*  MS.  Coll.  Arm.  marked  "Mascle,"  p.^8,  and  headed,  "The 
profe  for  the  changinge  the  name  of  Sepuans  toe  Cheker,  and  from 
Cheker  toe  Harflete,  appereth  in  these  evidences." 

t  "  Sciant  presenter,  &c.,  quod  ego  Thoma  Loverick  armiger  dedi, 
&c.   Gilberto   filio  Johis   Sepuans   de  Cheker  in  Ashe  in  com  Cantij 


328  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

The  second  is  a  similar  grant  by  John  Diggs  to 
John  Sepuans,  of  two  acres  and  a  half  of  land  lying 
below  Checquer  Court  (''sub  cur  del  Escheker"), 
dated  2nd  of  Eichard  II.  (a.d.  1379),  witnessed  by 
Gilbert  at  Cheker.* 

The  third  is  a  gift  (we  presume  in  trust)  by  John 
Septuans  to  Gilbert  Alflete  and  John  Gray,  of  all  the 
lands  he  had  in  Ash,  dated  the  day  of  St.  Barnabas 
the  Apostle,  17th  of  Richard  II.  (a.d.  1394).t  These 
three  documents  show  that  John  Septvans  of  Checquer 
in  Ash,  Esq.,  was  living  in  1394,  and  had  a  son, 
Gilbert,  who  we  shall  find  succeeded  him  in  that  pro- 
perty. Philipot  also  gives  him  a  daughter  Emma, 
who  married  Sir  William  Leverick,  as  we  have  stated 
at  page  96.  John  Septvans  of  Checquer  died,  we 
presume,  shortly  after  the  execution  of  the  above 
deed.  At  all  events,  he  was  dead  in  1399,  when  the 
fourth  document  shows  that  "William  and  Thomas  of 
Holland  in  Eshe  (Ash)  gave  to  Gilbert  Sepuans,  alias 


Armigeri  tres  acras  terrse  mee,  jacent  in  Ash  p'"dic.  Data  apud 
Ash  pMic  10  die  mensis  Maij  anno  44  regni  Edwardi  tertij.  Hijs 
Testibus  Johane  Sepuans  Armigero,  Johanne  at  Holland,  Thome, 
Adam,  Nicholas  at  Childern,  Johanne  et  Thome  Rogero,  Hamone 
de  Strigula,  et  multis  alijs."     Seal  obliterated. 

*  "Sciant  presentes  et  futuri  quod  ego  Johannes  Diggs  dedi  Johanni 
Sepvans  duas  acras  et  dimid  terre  iacent  sub  cur  del  Escheker," 
Data  ij  Richard  2^^^  Hijs  testibus  Gilbert©  at  Cheker  et  multis 
alijs. 

+  Sciant,  &c.,  quod  ego  Johes  Sepuans  dedi,  &c.,  Gilberto  Alflete 
et  Johanni  Gray  omnes  illas  terras  quod  habui  in  Ash,  Data  die 
S**^  Barnabi  Aposti.  17  Richardi  secundi, 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  329 

"at  Cheker,"  half  an  acre  of  land  lying  at  Small- 
brooke  in  Eshe  aforesaid,*  the  lands  of  William  and 
Thomas  aforesaid,  to  the  West,  and  the  lands  of  the 
heirs  of  William  E^oger  to  the  North,  and  the  lands 
of  the  said  Gilbert  to  the  South,  and  the  lands  of 
the  heirs  of  John  Septvans  to  the  East,  Given  at 
Eshe  aforesaid  22nd  of  Eichard  II.,  a.d.  1399.t 
This  completely  settles  the  question  as  to  John 
Septvans  being  at  the  Siege  of  Harfieur  with  Henry 
v.,  in  1415 ;  and  supposing  him  to  be  the  John 
Septvans  who  had  a  rent-charge  on  Bromhill  in  1366, 
it  is  clear  he  had  a  son  Gilbert  past  infancy,  if  not  of 
full  age  in  1370,  and  must  therefore  have  been  born 
some  time  previously  to  Sir  William  the  Sheriff,  yet 
certainly  not  his  elder  brother. 

Besides  Gilbert,  John  had  two  other  sons,  J  named 
John  and  Thomas,  amongst  whom  his  property  is  said 
to  have  been  thus  divided : — To  John,  called  the 
eldest,  he  gave  Hills  or  Helles,  Twitham,  Chilton,  and 

*  Qiiere,  Swallow  brook  ?  vide  will  of  Stephen  Hongham,  cited 
at  page  5S, 

t  "  Sciant  presentes  et  futuri  quod  nos  WillilTs  et  Thomas  de 
Holland  in  Eshe  dedimus,  etc.  Gilbert©  Sepuans  als  atte  Cheker 
dimidium  acram  terre  jacentum  q  apud  Smallbrooke  in  Eshe  p^  diet 
terris  Willi  et  Thome  pMic  versus  west  et  terris  hered^  Willi  E-oger 
versus  north  et  terris  dicti  Gilberti  versus  south  et  terris  Hered^ 
Johannis  Sepuans  versus  Est.  Data  apud  Eshe  p''  die  22  Kegni 
Kegis  Ricdi  secundi."     No  seal. 

X  "John  Sepvans,  of  the  maner  of  Cheker,  in  the  county  of  Kent, 
Esquire,  marrid  and  had  yssue  John  SepvanSj  his  eldyst  sone, 
Thomas  seconde  w^  died  bothe  sans  yssue ;  Gilbert,  third  sone, 
succeeded."     D.  13  Coll.  Arms. 


330  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

MoUand  in  Ash,  and  other  lands  in  Kent.  Thomas, 
second  son,  had  Dean  Court,  in  Meopham,  and  other 
lands ;  and  Gilbert  his  manor  of  Checquer,  in  Ash.* 
As  we  have  sufficient  evidence  of  the  last  fact,  in  the 
grant  we  have  just  quoted,  we  may  fairly  give  cre- 
dence to  the  other  portion  of  the  statement  professing 
to  be  drawn  from  family  sources  at  a  time  when  the 
lineal  descendants  were  in  possession  of  the  estates 
aforesaid.  John  and  Thomas,  we  are  told,  died 
without  issue,  whether  married  or  unmarried  we 
know  not.  Their  portions  probably  reverted  to  Gil- 
bert, the  sole  surviving  son,  who,  by  Constance, 
daughter  and  coheir  of  Thomas  Ellis,  of  Sandwich, 
Esq.,  had  three  sons,t  Thomas,  Edward,  and  John, 
and  one  daughter,  Margaret.  This  Constance  has 
been  confounded  with  Constance  St.  Nicholas,  who 
married  John  Septvans,  of  St.  Lawrence  and  Sitting- 
bourne,  by  some  writers,  and  is  made  the  wife  of  her 
father-in-law,  John  of  Ash,  in  one  of  Philipot's 
pedigrees.  After  the  death  of  her  husband,  Gilbert, 
she  married,  secondly,  John  Notbeam,  of  Ash.  Gil- 
bert was  living  in  1416,  when  he  executed  a  testa- 
mentary document,  the  fifth  of  those  copied  by 
Philipot,   wliich   is   to   this   effect  :~As   Gilbert   de 

*  Philipot  and  Yiocent's  "  Kent."     Coll.  Arm. 

t  The  Visitation,  D.  13.  Coll.  Arms,  only  names  Thomas.  "Gilbert 
Sepvance,  thirde  sone  to  John  Sepvance,  was  called  Gilbert  Atcheker 
als  Harfleure,  who  niarrj^ed  and  had  yssue  Thomas."  He  is  after- 
wards, however,  called  "eldyst  sone  and  heire  to  Gilbert,"  indicating 
that  there  was  otbcr  issue. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  331 

Cheker,  he  confirms  a  charter  of  the  same  date 
infeoffing  Sir  Thomas  Monketon,  chaplain,  and  John 
Churchgate,  of  the  parish  of  Ash,  in  all  his  arable 
lands,  on  condition  that  the  said  Thomas,  the  chaplain, 
and  John  shall,  after  his  death,  give  his  wife  seizin 
and  possession  of  forty-one  acres,  the  same  number 
of  acres  to  his  son  Thomas,  two  acres  to  Margaret 
Armys,(?)  and  one  acre  to  the  chantry  of  Ash,  the 
residue  of  his  goods  and  arable  lands  to  remain  in  the 
possession  of  his  executors.  Dated  20th  of  September, 
fourth  of  Henry  V.  (A.D.  1416)/^ 

"We  are  here  met  by  a  most  serious  contradiction. 
In  one  of  Vincent's  MSS.,  Coll.  Arms,  No.  145,  is 
this  note  : — "  This  Gilbert  was  called  Gilbert  Septvans, 
alias  Cheker,  as  appearith  by  a  dede  dated  eighth 
Henry  lY.  He  was  also  called  Gilbert  Harflete  by  the 
last  will  of  Joane,  his  wife,  dated  1432,  Ao.  11.  6,  xi., 
and  by  the  said  will  the  sayd  Johan  did  make  Thomas, 
her  son,  her  executor." 

*  Omnibus  presentes  literas  visuris  vel  auditur  salutem.  Cum 
ego  Gilbertus  de  Cheker  20  die  Septemb  carta  meam  de  feodo 
confirmavi  Dno  Tlio  Monketon  Capellano  et  Jolii  ChurcLgate  de 
Parocbia  de  Ash  omnes  terras  meas  arabiles  ut  p^  die  carta  evidencis 
apparet  sub  toti  tamen  condicione  qd  p'"  die  Tho  Capellanus  et 
Johis  post  mortem  meum  p  conffestum  reddant  uxori  mei  seissinam 
et  possessionem  xli  acr.  Item  qd  reddant  Thorn se  filio  meo  xli  acr 
Item  qd  reddant  Margarete  Armijs  (?)  sessinam  diiar  acrse.  Item 
qd  reddant  Cantuarise  de  Eshe  seissinam  unius  acrse.  Kesiduum 
omnem  honorz  mearz  terraz  Arabiliu  qd  dimittant  in  possessiorie 
Excecutorm  mearz  in  cuis  res  Testimonium  sigillum  meum  appossui. 
Dat  20  Septembris,  4^°  Regis  Henrici  quinti."  Sealed  with  3 
vans. 


332  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

This  is  terribly  circumstantial,  and  unfortunately 
Gilbert,  in  the  above  disposition  of  his  property, 
simply  says  "uxori  mei,"  without  the  addition  of  her 
name ;  but  there  is  pretty  sufficient  evidence  that  his 
widow,  Constance  Ellis,  remarried  with  John  or 
"William  [N'otbeame,  of  Ash,  by  whom  she  had  a 
daughter,  Alice,  married  to  Eichard  Exherst,  of  Ash, 
and  the  arms  of  Ellis,  of  Sandwich,  are  quartered 
next  to  those  of  Sandwich  in  the  escutcheons  of  the 
Harfleets,  their  immediate  descendants.  We  could 
find  no  will  of  a  Joan  Septvans  in  the  Prerogative 
Court  at  Canterbury,  and  though  we  do  not  doubt 
that  Vincent  had  knowledge  of  such  an  instrument, 
yet,  as  he  does  not  give  us  a  copy  of  it,  we  feel  con- 
fident that  there  is  some  confusion  either  of  names 
or  persons.  There  may  have  been  a  Gilbert  Harfleet 
living  (circa)  1432  who  had  a  wife  Joan  and  a  son 
Thomas.*  We  have  often  wondered  that  the  name  of 
Gilbert  did  not  reappear  at  all  in  the  pedigree.  There 
is  nothing  in  Vincent's  note  to  identify  the  husband 
of  Joan  with  the  Gilbert  Septvans  alias  Cheker  "  of 
the  deed  of  the  eighth  of  Henry  IV.,  A.D.  1407," 
who  was  at  that  time  the  husband  of  Constance.  We 
have  no  very  positive  evidence  respecting  the  issue  of 

*  Thomas  At  Chequer,  alias  Harfleet,  in  his  will  proved  1559-60, 
mentions  a  "Joan  Harflete,  widow,"  who  late  held  certain  premises  in 
Ash  street  for  the  term  of  her  life,  but  unfortunately  does  not  say 
of  whom  she  was  the  widow.  The  word  "late,"  however,  would 
indicate  a  more  recent  date  than  1432,  that  of  the  will  of  the  Joan 
in  question. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  333 

Gilbert,  except  that  of  his  having  a  son  Thomas.  A  son 
John  is  named  by  Philipot,  and  a  son  Edward,*  who 
had  a  daughter  named  after  her  grandmother  Con- 
stance, by  Vincent. t  There  might  have  been  a  fourth 
son  named  after  his  father  Gilbert,  of  whom  this  is 
the  only  record,  and  who  at  the  same  time,  with  his 
elder  brother  Thomas,  assumed  the  name  of  Harfleet ; 
for  here  again  we  are  helped  by  Philipot,  who  appends 
to  his  ^*profes"  above  quoted  this  note: — ''Thomas, 
the  Sonne  of  Gilbert  Sepuans  (who  tooke  the  name  of 
the  manner  of  y^  Clieker),  loste  that  name  after  it  was 
sould  to  Mr.  Aldy,  and  wrote  himself  in  all  his  deeds 
Thomas  at  Clieker  alias  Harflete ;  and  soe  it  continued 
till  Sir  Thomas  Harflete' s  father,  who  revived  the 
name  of  Sepuans,  and  Sir  Thomas  aforesaid  hath 
bought  the  manner  of  y^  Cheker  againe ;  and  it  is  to 

*  In  the  Prerog.  Off.,  Cant,,  is  the  will  of  an  Edward  Sept  vans, 
"  Armiger"  of  Canterbury  (9*^  of  Sep^',  1465),  in  which  he  leaves  all 
his  goods  to  his  wife,  Benedicta,  and  makes  her  executrix  with 
William  Lynnch  (?)  and  Thos.  Arnold.  If  the  son  of  Gilbert,  he 
must  have  died  "vita  patris."  An  Edward  Septvans  is  named  in 
the  will  of  John  Notbeame  of  Rucking,  March  4,  1400,  who 
bequeaths  to  him  six  spoons,  at  the  same  time  he  leaves  to  William 
Septvans  K*,  various  articles  of  plate  and  seven  of  his  best  silver 
spoons,  making  him  residuary  legatee  and  executor  of  his  will  in 
conjunction  with  his  own  brother  William  Notbeame  and  Stephen 
Wynder.  Isabella,  servant  to  said  Edward  Septvans,  is  also  men- 
tioned in  the  will. 

t  No.  123,  Coll.  Arms,  and  Philipot  26,  they  also  give  Gilbert  a 
daughter  named  Margaret,  who  married  William  Falcocke,  according 
to  Philipot,  and  is  made  "  uxor  Barton  "  by  Yincent.  Was  she  the 
Margaret  Armys  (?)  mentioned  by  Gilbert  in  his  will  above 
quoted  ? 


334  A   COENEU   OF   KENT. 

be  noted  that  they  sealed  with  the  Fanns,  and  fixed 
them  on  their  monuments,  which  are  most  of  them 
yet  to  be  seene  at  Ash." 

In  addition  to  this,  he  inserts  in  the  Pedigrees 
accompanying  "the  proofs,"  ''Thomas  Sepuans  took 
the  name  of  his  manour  of  Plete,  and  called  himself 
Harflete."  Thus  completely  ignoring  the  whole  story 
about  the  assumption  of  that  name  by  John  in  con- 
sequence of  deeds  performed  by  him  at  the  Siege  of 
Harfleur,  called  Harfieet  by  the  English. 

This  Thomas,  the  eldest  son  of  Gilbert  of  Checquer, 
married  Alice,  daughter  of  John  Yaloynes,  Esq.,  by 
whom  he  had  two  sons,  Thomas  and  John,*  and  four 
daughters,  Mary  who  married  a  Smith,  Elizabeth  who 

married   Lancaster,  Margaret  wife  of  Walter 

Barton  of  Wingham  Barton, t  and  Joan  wife  of 
Thomas  Einneux,  from  whom  Judge  Einneux. 
Thomas,  according  to  the  Visitation  D.  13  Coll. 
Arms,  was  the  eldest  son,  but  died  without  issue.  | 
John  the  second  son  married  Elorence,  daughter  and 
heir  of  John  Clarke  of  Brayborne,  Co.  Kent,  by  a 
daughter  of  Engham  of  Chart.  We  have  no  record 
of  the  death  of  Thomas  Harfleet,  or  of  Alice  his  wife, 

*  "Thomas  Atcheker  als  Harflewe,  eldyst  sone  and  heire  to 
Gilbert,  marjed  and  had  yssue  Thomas,  hys  eldyst  sone,  John,  second 
sone."     D.  13. 

t  There  may  be  some  confusion  here  between  this  Margaret, 
daughter  of  Thomas,  and  her  aunt  Margaret,  daughter  of  Gilbert,  as 
both  are  said  to  have  married  Barton. 

X  "Thomas  Atcheker,  eldyst  sone  and  heire  to  Thomas,  died 
sans  yssue." 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   HEUALDIC   NOTES.  335 

but  Vincent,  in  his  '*  Kent,"  No.  145,  Coll.  Arms,  has 
this  note  :  "  It  appears  by  a  deed  dated  32^^  of  Henry 
6^\  that  this  John  was  the  son  of  Thomas  Sepvans, 
alias  Harflete."  It  is  probable  therefore  that  Thomas 
was  living  1458,  as  well  as  his  son.  The  issne  of  John 
by  .Florence  Clarke  is  said  to  have  been  two  sons, 
John  and  Christopher;*  we  hear  of  no  daughters. 
John  died  without  issue  ;  Christopher  married  Alice, 

daughter  of Notbeame  of  Ash,  and  was  dead  in 

1488,  for  here  again  we  enter  the  region  of  fact,  as 
we  have  the  will  of  his  widow  Alice,  dated  16th  of 
October  in  that  year,  beginning,  "Y^  Dame  Alice 
Septvans,  the  widow  of  Christopher  Sept  vans,  Esq., 
late  of  the  parish  of  Ay  she  beside  Sandwich."  In  it 
she  names  the  daughter  of  Edward  Septvans,  but  does 
not  give  her  Christian  name,  nor  enlighten  us  as  to  the 
parentage  of  Edward. 

The  only  daughter  of  an  Edward  Septvans  we  have 
yet  met  with  is  Constance,  daughter  of  Edward,  son 
of  Gilbert.  It  is  possible  she  might  be  living  in 
1488,  but  at  a  very  advanced  age.  We  cannot  posi- 
tively identify  that  Edward  with  the  Edward  husband 
of  Benedicta,  whose  will  is  dated  in  1415,  and  from 
the  fact  of  the  latter  being  described  as  of  Canterbury, 
we  are  inclined  to  think  he  may  have  been  a  younger 
son  of  Sir  William  the  SherifiP,  who  is  executor  to  the 
will  of  John  Notbeame,  in  which  Edward  and  his 

*  "John  Atcheker  als  Harflete,  seconde  sone  to  Thomas,  and 
brother  and  heire  to  Thomas  aforesaid,  maryed  and  had  yssue 
Xpher."     D.  13. 


336  A   CORNEE   OF   KENT. 

servant  Isabella  are  remembered.  In  1471,  a  Thomas 
Septyans  of  the  parish  of  Worth  bequeaths  to 
Benedicta  his  mother  for  life  an  annuity  of  6  marks, 
which  the  lady  Septuans  gave  him  out  of  the  tenement 
called  "  Le  Cheker,"  and  the  lands  belonging  to  the 
same ;  also  his  house  at  Newenton,  remainder  together 
with  said  annuity  to  be  sold.*  Was  he  the  son  of  the 
Benedicta,  widow  of  Edward  ?  There  is  nothing  but 
the  name  to  guide  us.  He  leaves,  however,  to  William 
Saye  eleven  shillings,  and  to  John  Saye  '' fratre  meo^^ 
a  garden  in  the  parish  of  Worth.  By  "  my  brother" 
he  must  mean  either  his  mother's  son  by  a  former 
husband  or  his  brother-in-law,  for  such  a  connection 
is  constantly  so  called  in  documents  of  this  period. 
He  also  leaves  to  Elizabeth,  wife  of  William  Leute  of 
Sandwich,  3s.  and  4d.  No  children  are  mentioned, 
but  it  by  no  means  follows  that  he  had  none. 

There  is  no  mention  in  any  of  the  pedigrees  or 
genealogical  notices  of  any  issue  of  Thomas  Har- 
fleet  by  Alice  Valoynes,  except  Thomas  and  John; 
nor  of  any  of  John  by  Elorence  Clarke,  except  Chris- 
topher ;  but  the  latter  is  called  eldest  son  and  heir  of 
John,  in  the  Visitation  D.  13,  thereby  indicating  other 
issue. t  Christopher  Harfleet  had  by  Alicia  at 
least  two  sons,  Baymond  and  Boger,  both  living 
in   149f,   when  a    "Thomas   Harfleet"    of  Staj)le, 

*  Prerog.  Office,  Canterbury. 

t  "Xpher  Atcheker  als  Harflete,  eldyst  sone  and  heire  to  Jolin, 
maryed  and  had  issue  Raymond,  his  eldj'st  sone,  Roger,  his  seconde 


i 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  337 

possessor  of  lands  in  the  Hamlets  of  Chilton 
and  Molland  in  Ash,  wills  to  Isabella  his  wife 
all  his  lands  and  tenements  for  the  term  of  her 
life,  with  remainder  to  Raymond  Harfleet,  in  tail  and 
remainder  to  E^oger,  brother  of  the  said  Raymond ; 
dated  Pebruary  14th,  and  proved  the  same  year.'* 
He  does  not  mention  his  own  relationship  to  Roger 
and  Raymond,  but  they  seem  to  have  been  his  next 
of  kin,  and  he  may  have  been  their  uncle,  a  younger 
brother  of  Christopher,  t 

Of  Roger  we  have  the  following  evidence  amongst 
Philipot's  proofs : — "  I,  Roger  Harflete,  otherwise 
called  Roger  at  Checker,  son  and  one  of  the  heirs  of 
Christopher  Harflete,  otherwise  called  Christopher 
at  Cheker,  and  Alice,  formerly  his  wife,  release 
Raymond  Harflete  also  called  Raymond  at  Cheker, 
my  brother,  in  all  the  lands  and  tenements  in 
Ashe.  Dated  3rd  of  May,  24ith  year  of  the  reign 
of  Henry  yiL"t 

This  Roger  Harfleet  is  set  down  by  Philipot  as 


*  Prerog.  Office,  Canterbury. 

t  It  was  probably  a  daugliter  of  this  Thomas  of  Staple  who  was 
the  wife  of  Stephen  Solly  in  1509. 

J  "Noverint  &c.  quod  ego  Rogerus  Harflete  als  dictus  Rogerus 
at  Checker  filius  et  unus  heredem  Christopheri  Harflete  alij  dicti 
Christoferi  atte  Cheker  et  Alicii  nuper  uxoris  ejus,  remisisse 
Eaymondo  Harflete  also  dicti  Eaymondo  atte  Cheker  fratre  meo  in 
omnibus  terris  et  tenementis  in  Ashe.  Data  .3  Maij,  24  Regni 
Kegis  Henrici  Septimi."  Henry  YII.  died  in  April,  1509,  in  the 
24^A  year  of  his  reign,  commencing  on  the  23rd  of  August,  1508. 
It  should  therefore  probably  be  the  23rd  year. 

Z 


338  A   COKNER   OF   KENT. 

leaving  an  only  daughter  named  Agnes,  married  to 

" Stamble  (Stumble),  of  Ash,  father  of  James, 

father  of  Christopher,"*  but  we  have  no  hint  as  to 
who  was  her  mother.  In  the  above  grant  of  Eoger 
to  Raymond  he  neither  mentions  wife  nor  daughter. 
With  respect  to  the  latter,  we  were  in  hopes  the 
registers  at  Ash  might  throw  some  light  on  the 
subject ;  our  readers  may  therefore  imagine  our  disap- 
pointment at  finding  among  the  burials  in  December, 

1570,  " Stumble,  widow,  buried  y®  4th,"  neither 

her  own  Christian  name  nor  that  of  her  husband ! 
We  are  consequently  prevented  identifying  her  with 
Agnes  Harfleet,  and  so  far  corroborating  Philipot's 
assertions. 

Eaymond  Harfleet  alias  at  Checquer,  witnessed  the 

*  Pedigree  Pbilipot,  Annulet.  The  name  was  Stwmble  as  appears 
from  the  various  registers  at  Ash,  and  the  wills  of  James  and 
Christopher.  It  is  in  no  case  written  Stamble.  James  Stumble  was 
of  Woodnesborough.  His  will  is  dated  25th  March,  1582,  and  was 
proved  1st  April  following,  but  unfortunately  it  contains  no  mention 
of  the  name  of  his  father  or  mother.  James  Stumble  married 
Christian  Lee,  October  21st,  1572.  Christopher,  son  of  James 
Stumble,  baptized  December  8th,  1573.  Oliver  Stumble  baptized 
October  2nd,  1575,  and  Christian,  wife  of  James  Stumble,  buried 
October  21st,  1578.  The  above  are  all  extracted  from  the  Registers 
at  Ash.  Christopher  Stumble  of  Woodnesborough  died  in  February, 
1596-7.  In  his  will,  proved  4th  of  that  month,  he  describes 
himself  as  "husbandman,"  bequeaths  all  his  goods  and  chattels  to 
his  brother  Oliver,  and  desires  his  master,  William  Marshall,  to  be 
overseer  of  his  will,  which  is  witnessed  by  Elias  Jacob,  and  Henry 
Harfleet.  Pre.  Off.,  Cant.  The  latter  name  indicates  a  family 
connection,  but  the  above  dates  are  difficult  to  reconcile  with  the 
statements  in  Philipot's  pedigree. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  339 

will  of  Sir  Thomas  Bode,  Vicar  of  Ash,  July  1st, 
1519;  but  we  have  not  the  date  of  his  death.  He 
married  Beatrix,  daughter  and  heir  of  E^ichard 
Brooke,"*  by  whom  he  had,  according  to  the  earliest 
Visitation  of  Kent,  D.  13,  two  sons,  Thomas  and 
William,!  and  we  believe  a  third,  named  John ;  as 
we  find  a  "  John  Harflete  "  buried,  15th  December, 
15584  whom  we  can  trace  to  no  other  line.  Of 
William  we  hear  no  more.  Both  may  have  married 
and  had  issue,  but  we  have  no  record  of  the  fact.  A 
*' Nicholas  Harflete,"  whom  we  cannot  affiliate,  is 
witness  to  the  will  of  Stephen  Hougham  of  Ash, 
dated  20th  November,  1555,  with  Christopher  Har- 
fleet,  eldest  son  of  Thomas  (brother  of  William),  just 
mentioned. 

With  this  Thomas,  then,  we  must  now  proceed. 
He  married,  first,  Bennett,  daughter  and  heir  of 
George  Wynborne,  and  Alice  his  wife,  daughter 
and    heir    of    Wolfe    of    Huntingdonshire  ;§     and 

*  His  arms  quartered  with  those  of  Twitham,  Sandwich,  and 
Ellis,  impaling  Lozengy  or  and  gules,  a  chief  azure  for  Brooke  are 
still  in  the  windows  of  Holland,  vide  page  119.  We  have  doubts, 
however,  on  this  subject.  No  such  arms  appear  for  any  family  of 
the  name  of  Brooke,  but  this  identical  coat  is  set  down  in  Vincent's 
Ordinary  as  that  of  William  Brooke  of  London.  It  is  also 
remarkable  that  no  Richard  occurs  in  the  whole  of  the  Harfleet 
pedigrees. 

t  "  Raymond  At-Cheker,  alias  Harflete,  eldest  sone  and  heir  to 
Xpofer,  maryed  and  had  issue,  Thomas  his  eldyst  sone,  William 
seconde  sone." 

%  Ash  Reg. 

§  His  arms,  quartering  Twitham,  Sandwich,  Ellis  and  Wolfe  (?), 

z  2 


340  A   CORNER   or   KENT. 

secondly,  Marianne,  daughter  of  Edward  Brock- 
bill,'*  and  was  buried  at  Asb,  April  4tb,  1559.  By 
bis  first  wife,  Bennett  Wynborne,  be  bad  five  sons : 
Cbristopber,  William,  Jobn,  Vincent,  Edward,  and 
George, t  and  a  daughter  named  Constance; J  by  bis 
second  wife  be  bad  one  son,  Henry,  and  two  daugh- 
ters,  Bennett  and  Susan.  §  In  his  will,  proved  29th 
of  January,  1559-60,  he  describes  himself  as  ''  Thomas 
Atcheker,  otherwise  called  Thomas  Harflete,"  and 
mentions  all  his  sons  above-named,  but  no  daughters. 
Bennett,  however,  was  married  to  William  Bishop,  of 
London,  and  Susan  died  unmarried,  and  was  buried 
at  Ash,  April  28th,  1565.  Of  Constance  we  hear  no 
more. 

Christopher,   eldest    son   of    Thomas    Atcbequer, 
married  before  1561,  ||  Mercy,  daughter  of  Thomas 

impaling  quarterly,  Wynborne  and  Wolfe,  are  in  the  staircase  window 
at  Holland,  vide  page  119.  The  quartering  of  Wolfe  in  his  own 
coat,  implies  the  previous  match  of  a  paternal  ancestor  with  an 
heiress  of  that  family,  unless  brought  in  by  Ellis.  If  not  a  mistake, 
a  curious  point  for  investigation.  We  have  not  succeeded  in  finding 
any  pedigree  of  Wolfe  of  Huntingdon,  which  family  appears  to  have 
been  connected  with  the  Keriels,  vide  pp.  190,  191. 

*  She  survived  him,  and  married,  secondly,  Vincent  St.  Nicholas, 
vide  pp.  238,  239. 

t  Visit.  D.  13.  X  Philipot.  §  Visit.  D.  13. 

II  We  by  this  fact  approach  to  a  certainty  the  date  of  that  portion  of 
the  MS.  D.  13,  in  Coll.  of  Arms,  as  we  find  in  it,  "  Xpher  Atcheker 
als  Harflete,  eldyst  sone  and  heire  to  Thomas,  maryedM^rcj,  daughter 
to  Thomas  Hendley  of  Kent,  and  by  her  hathe  issue,  Thomas  hys 
eldest  sone,  and  Dorothye."  As  Thomas  was  born  1562,  and  Dorothy 
in  1564,  it  is  clear  that  this  entry  was  made  in  or  after  the  5th  of 
Queen  Elizabeth. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   nERALDIC   NOTES.  341 

Hendley,  of  Otham,  Esq.,  and  widow  of  Edmond 
Eowler  of  Islington,  Esq.,  born  29th  September,  1530. 
Christopher,  who  dropped  the  name  of  Atchecquer 
and  resumed  that  of  Septvans,  signing  his  will 
''  Christopher  Septvans,  alias  Harflete,"  died  in  1575.* 
His  widow  survived  him  twenty-seven  years,  and 
died  27th  May,  1602.  She  bore  to  him  five  sons  : 
Thomas,  Samuel,  Walter,  Raymond,  and  Cornelius, t 
and  three  daughters :  Dorothy,  Susan,  and  Mildred ; 
Dorothy  died  an  infant,  Susan  married  Edward 
Carewe  of  Romford,  Co.  Essex,  Esq.,  and  Mildred, 
William  Courthope  of  Stodmarsh,  Esq.  J 

William,    second    son     of    Thomas     Atchecquer, 

married  a  daughter  of Eiske,  by  whom  he  had 

issue,  Edward.  § 

John  Harflete  of  Ash,  third  son,  in  his  will  proved 
19th  September,  1581-82,  |1  mentions  his  sons  William 

*  Buried,  September  17th,  Ash  Reg.  By  his  will,  proved  18th 
October  following,  he  bequeaths  to  his  wife  "  Mercy,''  his  Manor  of  Hol- 
land and  other  estates  in  Ash,  for  her  life,  with  remainder  to  Thomas, 
his  son  in  tail  male,  and  remainder  to  sons,  Samuel,  Walter,  and 
Raymond,  in  like  tail. 

t  "  Cornelius  Harfleet,  my  son,"  twice  mentioned  in  her  will,  dated 
14th  May,  44th  Queen  Elizabeth  (1602),  with  her  sons  Walter  and 
Thomas  ]  but  no  mention  of  Raymond  or  Samuel,  they  might  have 
been  dead  in  1602  ;  but  Cornelius  would  appear  to  have  been  a  post- 
humous son,  as  he  is  not  named  in  the  remainders  over  in  his  father's 
will.  We  find  neither  baptism  nor  burial  of  this  Cornelius  in  the 
register  at  Ash. 

%  1583,  "Edward  Carewe  and  Susan  Harflete  married,  November 
19th,"  Ash  Reg.  "My  daughter  Susanne  Caro we."  Will  of  Mary 
Harflete,  1602.  Pedigree,  Philipot  Annulet.  Will  of  Christopher,  1575. 

§   Pedigree,  Philipot  Annulet.  \\   Prevog.  Off.,  Cant. 


342  A   CORNER   OE   KENT. 

and  John,  and  Mary  his  daughter,  bnt  no  wife,  she 
was  probably  dead ;  but  we  know  neither  her  name 
nor  her  family. 

Of  Vincent,  Edward  and  George,  the  other  sons  of 
Thomas  Atchecquer,  by  his  first  wife,  we  find  no 
further  trace.  ^  Henry  Harfleet,  his  only  son  by  his 
second  wife,  married,  July  9th,  1577,  Mary,  daughter 
of  George  Stoughton  of  Ash,  and  by  her,  who  died  in 
1594,  had  a  numerous  family,  of  whom  anon ;  and 
secondly,  Silvester,  daughter  of  his  stepfather,  Vincent 
St.  Nicholas,  by  a  former  wife,  but  by  her  he  had  no 
issue,  t 

To  proceed  with  the  elder  line  :  Thomas  Harfleet, 
afterwards  knighted,  eldest  son  of  Christopher  Sept- 
vans,  was  born  in  1562,  and  married,  first,  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  William  Gilborne  of  London,  Esq., 
and  sister  of  Sir  Eichard  Gilborne  of  Charing, 
Co.  Kent,  knight ;  secondly,  Bennett,  daughter  of 
Michael  Berrisford  of  Squerries^  Esq.,  by  Bose, 
daughter  of  John  Knevit,  who  died  July  2nd,  1612 ; 
and  thirdly,  Dorothy,  daughter  of  Avery  Mantell, 

*  An  Edward  Harfleet  of  St.  Paul's,  Canterbury,  Gent.,  was  married 
to  Mary  Goodhead  of  Preston,  October,  1605  (Add.  MS.,  Brit.  Mus. 
5507),  and  a  George  Harflett  was  buried  in  1574  (Ash  Reg.)  j  another 
George  Harflete  of  Petham,  yeoman,  aged  38,  was  married  to  Susan, 
relict  of  Pobert  Friend,  December,  1628  (Add.  MS.  ut  supra),  but 
we  cannot  undertake  to  identify  them. 

f  She  re-married  with  Richard  Knight  of  Aldington,  yeoman 
(Add.  MS.  ut  supra),  and  she  was  a  widow  when  she  married  Henry 
Harfleet,  who  alludes  in  his  will  to  her  "  first  husband,"  but  not  by 
name. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  343 

and  widow  of  Thomas  Mendfield,  Esq.,  Mayor  of 
Peversham,  who  survived  him,  and  married  John 
Darell  of  Calehill,  Esq.*  Sir  Thomas  Harfleet  had 
no  issue  by  his  first  or  third  wife;  but  by  Bennett 
Berrisford  he  had  two  sons  :  Michael,  who  died  with- 
out issue,  November,  1618,t  and  Christopher,  who 
succeeded  him,  and  seven  daughters,  of  whom  only 
two  survived;}:  Eose,  baptized  April  27th,  1595, 
married  Charles  Trippe  of  Trapham  in  Wingham, 
Co.  Kent,  July  I7th  1615  ;§  and  Jane,  married,  first, 
in  1617,  to  Christopher  Toldervey,  of  Chartham,  Esq., 
who  died  the  following  year ;  H  and  secondly,  January 
24th,  1619-20,  to  her  cousin,  Michael,  son  of  George 
Berrisford,  Esq.^ 

Sir  Christopher  Harfleet,  only  surviving  son  of  Sir 
Thomas,  was  baptized  April  5th,  1592,  died  at 
Canterbury,  and  was  buried  at  Ash,  August  6th, 
1662.     He  married,  April  6th,  1618,  Aphra,  daughter 

of and  widow  of Alcot,  who 

died  in  1664,  by  whom  it  appears  he  left  no  issue.** 

Of  Samuel,  second  son  of  Christopher  Septvans,  by 

*  Ash  Registers  and  Pedigrees,  Coll.  Arms,  Philipot  23,  p.  8. 
Sir  Thomas  Harfleet  was  buried  27th  September,  1617  (Ash  Reg.) ; 
will  dated  16th  September,  and  proved  9th  of  October,  same  year. 
P.O.C.  The  will  of  Thomas  Mendfield  is  printed  in  Lewis's  Fever- 
sham,  p.  62,  dated  July  26th,  1614. 

t  Will,  Prerog.  Off.,  Cant.,  dated  17th  October,  1617,  proved  10th 
March,  1618-19. 

X   Vide  page  229.  §  Ash  Reg. 

II  Mod.  In.,  vide  page  230,  and  Ash  Reg. 

%  Ash  Register. 

**   Vide  pages  82  and  344,  and  note  *  page  345. 


344i  A   CORNER   01^   KENT. 

Mercy  Hendley,  we  know  but  little  beyond  his 
baptism.  May,  1566.  He  married  September  4th, 
1592,  Winifred,  daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Peyton,  Bart.,* 
by  Elizabeth,  sister  of  Lord  E.ich,  and  widow  of  — — 
Osborne,  Esq.,  Counsellor  at  law,  who  survived  him 
and  married,  thirdly,  John  Hornbye,  of  Lincolnshire, 
Esq.  Philipot  says  he  had  a  son  also,  named 
Samuel,  t 

Walter,  third  son  of  Christopher,  described  as  of 
Beakesbourne,  married  Joan  Challoner,  and  died 
January  4th,  1642  ;  by  her  he  had  three  sons  and 
three  daughters  :  John,  Walter,  Thomas,  Jane,  Mercy, 
and  Joan; J  of  the  sons,  John  and  Walter  died 
(apparently)  unmarried.  Thomas,  the  youngest, 
called  of  Trapham,  married  Margaret,  daughter  of 
Sir  George  Newman  of  Canterbury,  knight,  by  whom 
he  had  two  daughters,  Jane  and  Aphra  ;  Jane  died 
unmarried,  167x5  and  Aphra,  as  heir  to  her  father 
and  sister,  succeeding  to  all  the  estates  in  the  Parish 
of  Ash,  formerly  held  by  Sir  Christopher  Harfleet 
(from  whom,  in  default  of  male  issue,  they  had  passed 

-^  AsTi  Reg.  and  Add.  MS.,  Brit.  Mas.  5507.  John  Peyton  of 
Iselkam,  son  of  Sir  Robert  Peyton  and  Elizabeth  Rich,  married  Alice, 
daughter  of  Sir  Edward  Osborne,  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  A.D.  1583, 
progenitor  to  the  Duke  of  Leeds. 

t  Philipot,  MS.,  marked  Mascle. 

%  Mary  (Mercy  ?)  Harfleet,  aged  18,  daughter  of  Walter  Harfleet 
of  Beakesbourne,  married  Jacob  Braems  of  Dover,  Esq.,  widower, 
aged  27,  in  1624,  and  Joan,  daughter  of  Walter  Harfleet  of  Beakes- 
bourne, Gent.,  aged  21,  married  Arnold  Braems  of  Dover,  Merchant 
(afterwards  knighted),  aged  27  in  1731.     Add.  MS.  ut  sui^ra. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  845 

in  remainder  to  his  cousin  Thomas,  son  of  Walter, 
according  to  the  will  of  Christopher  Septvans,  before 
quoted),  conveyed  them  to  her  husband,  John  St. 
Ledger  of  Doneraile,  Ireland,  Esq.,  and  thus  was 
extinguished  the  line  of  Septvans,  alias  Harfleet,  of 
Holland  and  Checquer.* 

We  must  now  return  to  the  issue  of  John  Harflete 
of  Ash,  third  son  of  Thomas  Atchecquer,  before 
mentioned.  His  son  John,  died  March,  158f,t 
unmarried.  William,  sole  surviving  son,  described 
as  of  Sandwich,  married  Clara,  daughter  of  John 
Trippe  of  Trapham  in  Wingham.  J  By  his  will,  proved 
10th  December,  1610,  we  find  he  left  four  sons  under 
age  :  John,  William,  Charles,  and  Thomas ;  and  four 
daughters,  Clara,  Elizabeth,  Mary,  and  Jane.§     Of 


*  We  have  already  alluded  to  the  important  error  of  Mr.  Hasted, 
at  page  82.  The  following  extract  from  the  Trust  Deed,  in  the  chest 
at  Ash,  will,  we  think,  be  perfectly  conclusive  : — "  This  Indenture 
made  the  six  and  twentieth  day  of  Aprill,  in  the  four  and  twentieth 
yeare  of  our  Gracious  Soveraigne  Lord  Charles  the  Second,  by  the 
Grace  of  God,  of  England,  Scotland,  France,  and  Ireland,  King, 
Defender  of  the  Faith,  &c.  ;  and  in  the  Yeare  of  our  Lord  God,  one 
thousand  six  hundred,  seventy  and  two.  Between  Margaret  Harjleete 
of  Trapham,  in  the  parish  of  Wingham,  in  the  County  of  Kent, 
widow  and  relict  of  Thomas  Harfleete,  Esq.,  late  of  Trapham  aforesaid, 
John  St.  Leger  of  Donerayle  in  the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  Esq.,  aud 
Aphra  his  wife,  daughter  and  heir  of  Thomas  Harfleete  aforesaid,  and 
sister  and  heir  of  Jane  Harfleete,  virgin,  deceased,  on  they  re  part,"  &c. 

t  Ash  Reg.  %  Visit.  Keut,  D.  18.  Coll.  Arms. 

§  Prerog.  Off.,  Cant.  Clara  Harflete  of  Sandwich,  married  John 
Page  of  Sandwich,  mariner.  May,  1612;  aud  Mary  Harflete  of 
Canterbury,  aged  22,  daughter  of   William    Harflete  of   Sandwich, 


346  A   COHNER   OF   KENT. 

the  sons,  Charles  appears  to  have  become  Vicar  of 
Nonnington,  Co.  Kent,  where,  according  to  Hasted, 
he  died  in  1672.  Of  William  and  Thomas  we  know 
nothing ;  but  John,  the  eldest  son,  married  Margaret, 
daughter  of  Edward  Lawrence  of  Tutsham  Hall,  Co. 
Kent,  Esq.,  by  whom  he  had  Harriet,  married  to 
Thomas  Shirley,  Esq.,  and  one  son,  Cornelius,  born  in 
1642,  who  married,  first,  in  1670,  aged  28,  Mary, 
relict  of  John  Earmer  of  Sandwich,  and  secondly, 
in  1684,  Elizabeth  Nichols  of  Adisham.* 

This  ''Cornelius  Harflete,  Gentleman,"  is  the 
person  we  believe  to  have  been  buried  in  the  Chancel 
of  Ash  Church,  May  17,  1694  ;t  but  there  was  an- 
other ''  Cornelius  Harflete  of  Sandwich,  woollen 
draper,"  living  at  the  same  period,  who  was  a 
''  widower  "  in  1678,  when  he  married  Mary  Elgar  of 
Sandwich,  aged  21,  and  again  a  widower  in  1685, 
married  Mary  Shrubsole  of  Canterbury,  aged  26.  | 

Whether  the  Cornelius  Harfleet,  who  died  in  1694, 
left  issue,  we  have  not  ascertained,  but  by  what 
appears  to  be  the  will  of  the  latter  Cornelius,  therein 
calling  himself  "  of  Sandwich,  merchant,"  dated  10th 
Eebruary,  1708-9,  §  and  proved  11th  March  following, 
he  left  two  sons,  Thomas  and  Henry,  the  latter  under 
age  at  that  date,  and  three  daughters,  Dorothy,  Sarah, 

Gent.,  deceased,  married  John  Old  field  of  St.  Gregories,  Canterbury, 
yeoman,  aged  19,  in  1623.     Add.  MS.  ut  siqwa. 

*  Add.  MS.  ut  supra. 

t  "  J/r.  Cornelious  Harfleete,  buried  in  the  Chancel." — Ash  Reg. 

X  Add.  MS.  ut  supra.  §  Prerog.  Off.,  Cant. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  347 

and  Margaret,  the  two  former  apparently  by  a  previous 
marriage.  It  is  to  be  observed,  however,  that  he  twice 
names  his  then  wife,  whom  he  leaves  sole  executrix, 
"  Margaret,"  and  not  "  Mary."  The  latter  name  may 
have  been  an  error  of  transcription. 

Thomas  Harfleet  of  Sandwich  (the  son  named  in 
the  will,  we  presume,)  married  Jane  Hyde  of  Margate, 
in  1723,*  and  another,  or  perhaps  the  same  Thomas, 
was  made  parish  clerk  of  St.  Clement's,  Sandwich,  in 
1749.  t  What  a  termination  to  a  pedigree  traceable 
from  the  reign  of  Henry  II. ! 

It  now  only  remains  for  us  to  continue  the  line  from 
Henry  Harfleet  of  Hills  Court,  called  the  elder,  the 
half  brother  of  Christopher  and  John,  being  the  only 
son  of  Thomas  Atchecquer,  by  his  second  wife  Marian 
Brockhill.  This  Henry,  by  his  wife  Mary  Slaughter, 
had  four  sons  and  three  daughters :  Henry,  John, 
Thomas,  and  Edward,  Mary,  Martha,  and  Susan.J 
John  and  Edward  died  young.  §  Thomas,  baptized 
18th  August,  1587,  married  November,  1610,  Eliza- 
beth Oxenden,  ||    by  whom  he  had  three  sons,  Chris- 

*  Add.  MS.  ut  supra.  +  Ibidem. 

X  Ash  Eeg.  Mary  married  Ethebert  Omer,  yeoman,  at  St. 
Margaret's,  Canterbury,  October  16th,  1600.  Martha  married  John 
Hasnode  of  Canterbury,  tailor,  November  7th,  1608.  And  Susan, 
Henry  Musred  of  Ash,  husbandman^  November  30th,  1609. — Ash 
Reg.  and  Add.  MS.  ut  supra. 

§  John  baptized  March  3rd,  1583-4,  buried  June  28th,  1599, 
Edward  baptized  January  25th,  1589-90,  buried  May  28th,  1599.— 
Ash  Reg. 

II  "  Thomas  Harflete  of  Ash,  Gent.,  and  Elizabeth  Oxenden  of 
Wingham."— Add.  MS.  5507. 


348  A   COENER   or   KENT. 

topher,  John,  and  Thomas,  and  two  daughters,  Mary 
and  Elizabeth.^  The  latter,  baptized  at  Wingham 
2nd  February,  161f ,  was,  we  presume,  the  Elizabeth 
Harfleet  w^ho  married,  in  1652,  Thomas  Kitchell, 
and  was  at  that  time  probably  heir  to  her  father,  as 
her  sister  died  in  infancy,  and  we  hear  no  more  of  her 
brothers.  Henry,  the  eldest  son  of  Henry  of  Hills 
Court,  married  Dorcas,  daughter  of  Joshua  Pordage 
of  Sandwich,  by  whom  he  had  six  sons — Henry, 
Arthur,  Thomas,  Christopher,  Samuel,  and  Samuel, 
and  four  daughters  —  Anne,  Mary,  Deborah,  and 
Priscilla.t  Of  the  sons,  Henry  alone  seems  to 
have  married  and  had  issue.  By  his  wife,  Dorothy, 
daughter  and  heir  of  Anthony  Combe  of  Greenwich, 
he  had  issue  two  sons,  Henry  and  Samuel,  and  two 
daughters,  Abigail  and  Ursula.  Of  Samuel,  baptized 
at  Ash  in  1635,  we  hear  no  more.  "  Henry  Seffans, 
alias  Harflete  of  Ash,"  J  the  elder  brother,  born  27th 
September,  1633,  and  unmarried  in  1663,  was  buried 
at  Ash  in  1679,  and  with  him  this  line  seems  to  have 
expired.  His  sister  Abigail  married  E;ichard  Bellamy 
of  Buxley,  Co.  Leicester,  Gent. ;  and  Ursula  was 
buried  at  Ash  two  days  after  her  mother  Dorothy, 

*  Kegisters  of  Ash  and  Wingbara. 

+  Ash  Register,  Visitation,  Co.  Kent.,  D.  18.  The  first  Samuel  died 
in  infancy,  and  the  second  was  baptized  in  the  following  year,  1626. 
Anne  and  Piiscilla  also  died  infants,  Deborah  unmarried  in  1641,  and 
Mary  married  William  Sprote  of  Eastwell,  Gent.  (Add.  MS.  5,507). 
Henry  Harfleet  marrifd,  secondly,  March  26th,  1629,  Bennett  Hnffam 
(Ash  Reg.),  by  whom  it  does  not  appear  he  had  any  issue. 

:|:  Visitation,  D.  18. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  349 

as  ''a  syngle  maiden  daughter  to  the  former,"  June 
9th,  1659. 

Either  the  first  or  the  second  Henry  Ilarfleet  must 
have  been  the  author  of  a  book  without  date,  entitled 
"  Vox  Coelorum ;  or.  Predictions  Defended,  with  a 
Vindication  of  Mr.  Lilly's  (the  celebrated  astrologer) 
Reputation,"  and  dedicated  to  **  John  Boys  of  Bets- 
hanger,  Esq''%  one  of  the  members  of  the  honourable 
House  of  Commons."  Henry  Harfleet  "  the  elder," 
who  died  in  1608,  left  all  his  law  books  to  his  son 
Henry,  then  28  years  old;*"  and  the  probability  is 
that  they  were  both  men  of  literary  tastes  and 
habits. 

The  author  of  ''Vox  Coelorum,"  Mr.  Streatfield 
observes,  was  "  a  favourable  prophet  to  the  Bepubli- 
cans." — (Streatfield  MSS.)  And  we  are  inclined  to 
attribute  the  work  to  the  second  Henry. 

A  word  or  two  must  still  be  said  respecting  the 
arms  of  this  remarkable  family.  The  seal  of  Bobert 
de  Septvans,  son  of  Bobert  de  Septvans,  to  the  charter 
to  St.  Gregory's,  Canterbury,  ante  1216,  preserved  in 
the  College  of  Arms,  presents  us  with  no  armorial 
bearings,  and  the  earliest  example  we  at  present 
know  of  them  appears  in  the  often  engraved  sepul- 
chral brass  at  Chartham  of  Sir  Bobert  de  Septvans, 
fifth  of  that  name,  who  died  34th  of  Edward  I., 
1306.     It  afibrds  us  a  fine  specimen  of  the  ailettes 

*  Will  Prerog.  Off.,  Cant.  He  was  a  member  of  some  Inn  of  Court. 
See  will  of  his  brother  Christopher,  who  leaves  him  ''  £40  per  annum 
if  he  so  so  long  continue  at  an  Inn  of  Court." 


850  A   CORNER   or   KENT. 

in  fasMon  at  that  period  {vide  our  notice  of  tlie  effigy 
of  Sir  John  Goshall,  p.  203),  and  displays  on  them, 
as  well  as  on  the  surcoat,  the  winnowing  fans,  which 
were  most  probably  at  first  seyen  in  number  for 
"  /S'^^^-vans,"  but  reduced,  in  compliance  with  a  later 
practice,  to  three,  as  they  continued  to  bear  them  from 
the  14ith  century.  The  earliest  example  of  the  crest 
we  have  met  with  is  engraved  at  the  head  of  this 
chapter  from  the  brass  on  the  gravestone,  formerly 
in  Canterbury  Cathedral,  of  Sir  William  Septvans, 
1407,  exhibiting  the  head  of  a  fish  erect,  as  in  the 
monument  of  John  Septvans,  Esq.,  in  Ash  Church. 
The  line,  however,  from  which  the  Harfleets  de- 
scended, bore,  as  we  have  already  observed,  an  entire 
fish  naiant,  called  a  bream  by  Vincent,  and  by  Philip ot 
a  chevin  or  chub.  A  family  named  Chevin  was  settled 
at  Sholand  in  Newenham,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III., 
when  one  of  them  married  a  co-heiress  of  the  Cam- 
panias.  We  have  strong  suspicions  that  the  Chevins 
were  originally  Septvans  (Sevins),  but  if  not,  the 
alteration  of  the  crest  may  have  been  occasioned  by 
an  unrecorded  alliance  between  the  two  families. 

GOSHALL. 

Of  the  origin  of  this  name,  whether  derived  from 
the  family,  or  vice  versd,  we  have  already  acknow- 
ledged our  ignorance.  Kobert,  the  earliest  of  the 
family  so  called,  appears  with  his  son  E^alph  as  a 
witness  to  the  Charter  of  Eoger  de  Chilton,  unfortu- 
nately not  dated,  but,  from  the  names  of  all  the  parties 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  351 

concerned  in  it,  evidently  not  later  than  the  commence- 
ment of  the  thirteenth  century.  "  Eob"  de  Gosehaule 
et  E^adfo  f.  ejus."*  If  this  E^alph,  the  son  of  Robert, 
he  identical  with  the  "  Rannulph  de  Gosehale,"  who 
held  lands  under  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  8th 
of  Henry  III.,  A.D.  1224,  as  we  have  every  reason  to 
believe,  his  father  Eobert  must  have  deceased  some 
short  time  previous  to  the  latter  date,  and  was  there- 
fore living  in  the  time  of  King  John  and  Richard  I. 
A  Robert  de  Gosehall,  most  likely  the  same,  is  witness 
with  Henry  de  Sandwich  to  a  charter  of  Matilda  de 
Auberville.t  Ranulph,  we  know,  was  dead  25th  of 
Henry  III.,  A.D.  1241,  when  Walter,  his  son  and 
heir,  held  IJ  knight's  fees  in  Goshall.J  In  the  37th 
of  Henry  III.,  1253,  there  was  a  final  concord  between 
Walter  de  Gosehale  and  Richard  de  Heyrhebye, 
respecting  60  acres  of  land  in  Ash,  with  appurte- 
nances, in  which  mention  is  made  of  Margery,  who 
was  the  wife  of  R.  Sanders.  §  Here  we  come  to  a 
break  in  our  evidence.  We  have  no  information 
respecting  the  wives  of  Robert,  Ranulph,  or  Walter, 
nor  whether  they  were  (and  it  is  most  probable  they 
were  not)  the  only  children  of  their  fathers,  nor  can 
we  yet  state  positively  who  succeeded  Walter  de 
Goshall,  but  we  learn  from  another  source,  the  Lieger 
Book  of  the  Priory  of  Davington,  that  in  the  reign 
of  Henry  III.  there  was  a  Peter  de  Goleshaule  or 
Gosehaule,  who  is  distinguished  as  one  of  the  bene- 

*   Vide  page  84.  t  Harleian  Charters,  45,  E.  33. 

X    Vide  page  61.  §  Lansdown  MS.,  Brit.  Mus.,  267. 


352  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

factors  of  that  establishment.  "  Dons  Petrus  de  Goles- 
haule  sive  Gosehaule  unus  benefactorii  nostrorn," 
and  about  the  same  period  we  find  "  Sara  de  Gos- 
haule  Monachd^^  and  "  Johanna  soror  domine  Sara 
de  Gosehaule,"  recorded  amongst  the  friends  or 
inmates  of  that  house,  who  were  probably  buried 
there. 

Hasted,  without  quoting  his  authority,  says  boldly, 
"  John  de  Goshale  was  possessed  of  this  manor  in  the 
reign  of  K.  Henry  III.,"  at  which  time,  as  we  have 
already  told  our  readers,*  the  celebrated  Sir  John 
Maunsell  certainly  held  some  portion  of  it,  as  in 
1258,  on  his  foundation  of  the  Priory  of  Bilsington, 
he  gave  to  it  all  his  lands  in  "  Goshale,  Poire,  and 
Eche."  A  few  years  previously,  A.D.  1244,  we  find 
Simon  son  of  Henry  de  Sandwich  was  in  possession 
of  lands  at  Poire,  and  we  can  scarcely  doubt  that 
there  was  some  intimate  connection  between  these 
three  families ;  but  the  link  has  yet  to  be  discovered. 
In  the  year  1300,  a  Henry  de  Thorne  owned  the  I 
manor  of  Thorne  in  Minster,  Isle  of  Thanet ;  and  on  / 
7th  Kalends  of  January,  1300-1,  complaint  having 
been  made  against  him  for  causing  mass  to  be  publicly 
said  in  his  private  oratory  at  Thorne,  to  the  prejudice 
of  the  mother  church,  and  no  notice  taken  of  the 
interdiction  of  the  oratory  by  Thomas,  Abbot  of  St. 
Austin's,  letters  were  sent  by  the  Abbot  to  the 
Vicar  of  Minster,  enjoining  and  commanding  him  to 

*  Page  63. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HEUALDIC   NOTES.  353 

acknowledge  the  interdict,  and  threatening  with 
anathematization  any  person  going  to  mass  at  the 
said  chapel.*  This  manor  of  Thorne  passed,  it  would 
appear,  to  the  family  of  Goshall  upon  the  death  of 
Henry,  by  marriage,  it  is  supposed,  with  an  heiressr ; 
but  whether  the  daughter  or  sister  of  Henry,  we  have 
no  evidence.  It  is,  however,  just  at  the  time  that  we 
find  the  family  of  Goshall  in  connection  with  those  of 
John  Maunsel,  Henry  de  Sandwich,  and  Henry  de 
Thorne,  that  the  names  of  John  and  Henry  make 
their  first  appearance  in  the  pedigree.  We  question 
if  any  John  de  Goshall  was  in  possession  of  a  por- 
tion of  the  manor  of  Goshall,  tem]^,  Henry  III.,  as 
Hasted  asserts.  We  have  evidence  of  the  existence  of 
Walter  de  Goshall  in  1276,  third  of  Edward  I.,t  and 
in  1281,  eighth  of  Edward  I.,  we  find  Henry  de 
Goshall  and  Alan  Tyete  concerned  in  the  settle- 
ment of  lands  at  Cofcmanton,  in  the  parish  of  Ash,  J 
which  Lewis  tells  ns  was  in  his  time  parcel  of  the 
estate  of  Thorne,  and  anciently  belonged  to  St.  Aus- 

*  Lewis;  " Thanet,"  4to,  1723. 

t  His  name  appears  as  witness  to  a  charter  of  William  de  Breus 
to  Walter  de  Shipley,  Cierico.  "H.  T.  Walter  de  Gossehale  3  of 
Edward  son  of  King  Henry."  A.D.  1276.  (Coll.  Arm.  R  27,  Kent.) 
In  a  copy  of  a  Roll  of  Arms  of  the  13th  century,  Vincent  164,  p.  136, 
the  arms  of  a  Walter  de  Goshall  are  drawn  as  those  of  Sandwich,  dif- 
ferenced by  a  hurt,  charged  with  a  cinquefoil,  or,  and  in  chief  two 
bezants,  each  charged  with  a  cinquefoil,  azure.  A  very  importan 
piece  of  genealogical  evidence. 

X  "  Conventio  inter  Henricum  de  Goshale  et  Alanum  Tyete  de  terr 
apud  Cotmanton  in  poch  de  Esshe  8  Ed.  1st."  (Harleian  Charter, 
78.  D.  24.)     The  seal  to  this  instrument  has  only  a  flower  upon  it. 

2   A 


354  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

tin's  Abbey.*  As  this  would  be  twenty  years  at  least 
before  the  death  of  Henry  de  Thorne,  we  are  inclined 
to  think  his  heiress,  whoever  she  was,  must  have 
been  the  wife  of  the  Sir  John  de  Goshall  who  suc- 
ceeded Henry  de  Goshall ;  but  whether  as  son  and 
heir,  or  brother  and  heir,  we  have  nothing  to  inform 
us.  We  find  amongst  the  Harleian  Charters  several 
in  which  mention  is  made  of  the  Sir  John  de  Goshall 
who  held  two  knight's  fees  at  Goldstanton  and  Goshall 
of  the  Archbishop,  in  the  time  of  Edward  I.  No.  76 
E.  55  is  one  in  which  Eobert,  John,  and  Thomas, 
sons  of  Sir  Robert  de  Champagne,  acknowledge  an 
annual  rent  of  three  pence  and  one  hen  to  the  said 
John  de  Goshall,  for  the  occupation  of  lands  not 
specified,  dated  22nd  Ed.  I.  (1294).  No.  76  E.  56  is 
another  by  the  same  parties,  but  without  date.  Nos. 
80  A.  43,  53,  and  75,  are  three  charters  of  William, 
son  of  Roger  de  Pondfelde,  to  the  Lord  John  de  Gos- 
hall, Knight,  of  land  in  Goldstanton  and  elsewhere 
not  named,  the  first  being  dated  34th  Edward  I., 
1306. 

There  is  also  a  charter  by  William  de  Sandfold 
confirming  John  de  Goshale,  knight,  in  divers  lands 
and  tenements  in  Ash,  of  which  he  had  had  novel 
deseisin  from  Edward  I.  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  that 
reign  (A.D.  1303),  given  at  Goldstanton  and  wit- 
nessed by  Alan  and  Theobald  de  Helles,  Thomas  at 
Mollond,  &c. 

*  Called  Cotmannefeld  in  the  Yaliiation  by  Nicholas  de  Thorne, 
Abbot,  1275.— Lewis's  "Thanet,"  pp.  75-82. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  355 

In  the  Lansdowne  Collection,  'No.  268,  Brit.  Mus., 
there  is  a  final  concord  between  John  de  Gosehawle, 
Andrew  de  Barre,  and  Kroger  de  Camyille,  and  Isa- 
bella his  wife,  respecting  a  messuage,  &c.,  in  Ash, 
next  Sandwich,  dated  thirty-first  of  Edward  I. ;  and 
in  the  same  MS.,  page  293,  another  between  John 
Gosehall  and  Henry  Leverick  and  Margaret  his  wife, 
respecting  land  in  Ash,  next  Sandwich,  thirty-fourth 
Edward  I.,  1306. 

It  would  appear  that  Sir  John  de  Goshall  did  not 
long  survive  the  latter  date,  and  was  certainly  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Henry  before  the  sixth  of  Ed- 
ward II.,  1313,  under  which  date  we  have  in  the 
Harleian  Charters,  78  D.  25,  a  charter  by  Henry 
de  Goshall,  presenting  certain  lands  in  Ash,  next 
Sandwich,  to  Alicia,  widow  of  Bobert  de  Holonde. 
The  seal  is  impressed  simply  with  the  figure  of  a 
rabbit. 

This  Henry  de  Goshall,  afterwards  knighted,  was 
seised  of  Goshall  in  the  eighteenth  of  Edward  11., 
1325,  and  dead  in  the  seventh  Edward  III.,  1335, 
when  a  partition  took  place  between  John,  Henry, 
Walter,  and  Bobert,  sons  of  Henry  de  Gosehall  and 
of  Margaret  his  wife,  of  lands  in  St.  Lawrence, 
Minster,  and  Isle  of  Thanet,  which  they  had  in 
reversion  after  the  death  of  Alice,  wife  of  Anselm  de 
Bipple,  who  had  fined  for  them  to  John  de  Gosehall, 
grandfather  of  the  said  John,  &c.  This  most  im- 
portant document,  which  we  have  so  happily  lighted 
on,  gives  us  in  a  few  lines  a  quantity  of  information 

2  A  2 


356  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

not  to  be  found,  perhaps,  at  present,  elsewhere.  Mar- 
garet, the  wife  of  this  Henry  de  Goshall,  was,  as  we 
have  stated  in  our  second  chapter,  the  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  sister  of  Nicholas  de  Sandwich  ;  and  the 
seal  to  this  instrument  exhibits  two  shields  suspended 
from  the  branches  of  a  tree,  according  to  the  fashion 
of  that  period ;  the  dexter  with  the  arms  of  Goshall 
semee  of  crosslets,  a  lion  rampant,  as  formerly  on  the 
shield  of  the  Goshall  effigy  in  Ash  church,  and  the 
sinister  with  those  of  Sandwich  ;*  the  whole  in  an 

oval  with  the   words    "  Margare Gosehal" 

still  clearly  legible.  We  learn  from  this  document 
that  Henry,  AYalter,  and  Kobert,  the  three  younger 
sons,  were  all  at  that  time  under  age,  and  the 
affiliation  of  their  father,  Henry,  is  proved  by  the 
declaration  that  Alicia  de  Eipple  had  paid  for 
her  lands  to  John  de  Gosehale,  "  avus  predict! 
Johannis"  (son  of  the  elder  Henry)  and  his 
brothers.  Anselm  de  E^ipple,  we  gather  from  other 
charters,  married  one  of  the  family  of  St.  Ledger ;  and 
John,  the  son  of  Anselm,  assumed  the  name  of  Pesing, 
or  Pysing,  from  the  manor  so  called  in  the  Hundred 
of  Branesbergh,  held  by  Graaland  de  St.  Ledger  in 
1227,  and  which  seems  to  have  passed  to  Anselm  de 
Kipple  with  his  wife  Alicia,  in  one  instance  called 
Alicia  de   Pesing.f     Prom  the  lands  in    St.   Law- 

*  The  indentation  of  the  chief  is" obliterated. 

t  Daughter  of  Philip  de  Pesing,  who  was  brother  of  Hugo  de  St. 
Ledger,  by  Matilda. 

John   de  Eipple  (called  also  de  Pesing)  had  a  daughter  named 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES. 


857 


rence,  &c.  being  left  in  reversion  to  the  sons  of  Henry 
de  Gosliall,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  Alicia  de 
Eipple,  who  had  fined  to  their  grandfather  for  them, 
was,  either  by  birth  or  descent,  a  member  of  one 
of  that  family.  It  is  unnecessary,  however,  for  us 
to  do  more  than  point  out  the  sources  from  which 
further  evidence  on  this  point  may  be  obtained  by 
those  who  are  interested  in  the  pursuit  of  it.*  Our 
next  step  is  to  show  the  succession  of  the  eldest  son, 
John  de  Goshale,  who  was  in  possession  of  his  father's 
estates  in  thirteenth  of  Edward  III.,  when,  as  John, 
son  of  Henry  de  Gosehale,  he  made  an  agreement 
with  Margaret,  formerly  wife  of  the  said  Henry, 
respecting  lands   at   St.  Lawrence   and   Minster  in 

Alice,  wife  of  Benedick  de  Ospringe,  living  S2nd  Henry  III. — MS. 
Coll.  Arm.  E.  27. 

*  The  following  documents,  copied  in  MS.  H.  27  CoU.  Arms,  are 
those  which  have  led  ns  to  these  conclusions  : 

Charter  of  "  Graeling,  de  8"^°  Leodegario,  lands  in  Pyssing,  H.  T. 
Dom^  Bertramo  de  CrioUio  Constabul  de  Dover,  Henr.  de  Sandwyco, 
&c." 

Charter  of  Johes  de  Pyssing  f  Anselme  de  Bipple.  Charter  of  the 
same  f.  Alicia  de  Pyssing,  4th  Edward  I.  Charter  of  the  same  Johes 
de  Pesing,  land  which  beloDged  to  Grailand,  "  cognati  mei." 

"Johes  de  Pessing  de  undecim  aeras  tre  ppe  trans  que  fuit  Grailandi 
cognati  sui."     H.  T.  Ph«  de  Pesiug. 

Johes  de  Stifford  F.  et  h.  Mich,  de  Stifford  remissi,  &c.,  totum  jus 
meum  in  uno  messuag  et  tribus  aeris  tre,  &c.,  apd  Pessing  et  in 
hundredo  de  Branesbergh  quod  hui  post  Johem  filiam  Phi.  de  Pessing 
militis  et  Graalandi  de  Set**  Leo^  Legar  £  eiusdem  Joham  ava  meam 
etc.  remisi  etiam  de  64  aeras  trd  jacent  in  manerio  de  Pesing  quas 
hui   post  Alicia  filiam  dni   sorori  die  Johe   matris   dni  Graellandi 


358  A   COENEE   OE   KENT. 

Thanet ;  by  the  description,  apparently,  that  portion 
to  which  he  became  entitled  on  the  death  of  Alicia 
de  Ripple.  Henry  de  Goshall  appears,  however,  to 
have  had  another  son  named  Thomas,  who  must  have 
been  the  eldest,  married  and  dead  before  1335,  as  he 
is  not  named  amongst  the  brothers  in  the  deed  of 
partition  aforesaid.  We  learn  this  from  a  charter  of 
Walter,  the  fourth  son,  who,  on  the  12th  of  January, 
twentieth  Edward  III.,  1348-9,  having  then,  of 
course,  attained  his  full  age,  as  Walter,  son  of  Henry  de 
Gosehale,  knight,  gives  to  John  de  Gosehale,  knight, 
and  to  Elizabeth,  his  wife,  the  third  part  of  the  manor  of 
Goldstanton,  with  its  appurtenances,  which  Beatrice, 
who  M^as  the  wife  of  Thomas  de  Gosehale,  his  late 
brother  {quondam  fratris  mei)  held  in  dower  by  the 
assignment  of  the  said  Thomas,  her  late  husband. 
The  witnesses  are  Thomas  and  Adam  de  Helles,  Henry 
Attecrouch,  Nicholas,  William,  and  Thomas  Saffery, 
Peter  de  Pedding  (all  well-known  names  in  Ash), 
Thomas  de  Garwynton,  Poger  T.  Kynnere,  William 
Styward,  Stephen  le  Groom,  Andrew  Coneyfer,  &c. 
The  seal  is  too  much  obliterated  for  us  to  distinguish 
the  impression.* 

The  following  charters  by  Sir  John  de  Goshall  it 
will  be  sufficient  for  us  to  indicate  : — 


*  This  same  Walter  de  Gosliall  had  a  suit  the  following  year, 
21st  of  Edward  III.,  against  Thomas  de  Pedding,  concerning  the 
manor  of  Clivesend,  Isle  of  Thanet.  Hot.  Pat.  sub  anno.  The 
same  roll,  part  1,  contains  the  exemplification  of  fine  by  John  de 
Goshall  for  the  manor  of  Goldstanton. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HEEALDIC    NOTES.  359 

Carta  J.  de  Goeshall  Johanni  Sherrene  de  Maneris 
de  Olyves  in  Insula  Thanet. — Cum  sig.  14  Edward  III. 
Harl.  78  D.  28. 

Carta  Johannis  de  Goseliale,  fil  Henrici  de  Gose- 
hale.  Mil.  Stephano  de  Byrking  de  Messagio  in  Esshe. 
Sine  sig.  16  E^  III.  13M.     (Harl.  78,  D.  29.) 

Carta  J.  de  Goshale,  Johannis  Cope  de  terr.  in 
villde  Esshe.   Sine  sig.    Same  date.   (Harl.  78,  D.  30.) 

Carta  J.  de  Gosehale,  fil  Henrici  de  Gosehale,B;Ogero 
de  Henthorne  et  Julianas  uxori  suae  de  Messagio 
in  Esshe  cum  sig.  (merely  a  human  figure).  Same 
date.     (Harl.  78,  D.  31.) 

Also,  Carta  Laurenti  de  Boklande  Johanni  de 
Gossehall  de  Terr,  in  Esshe  juxta  Sandwicum.  Sine 
sig.     Same  date.     (Harl.  76,  C.  54.) 

The  ahove  are  principally  interesting  as  a  record  of 
names  of  holders  or  occupiers  of  land  in  the  parish  of 
Ash,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III. 

We  have  seen  from  the  charter  of  Walter  de 
Goshall,  just  quoted,  that,  in  1348-9,  his  eldest  sur- 
viving hrother,  John,  was  married  to  a  lady  named 
Elizabeth.  This  Elizabeth  we  believe  to  have  been 
the  daughter  and  heir  of  Sir  John  Grove,  whose 
mutilated  effigy  in  St.  Peter's,  Sandwich,  was  pre- 
served from  complete  destruction  by  Mr.  Boys,  and 
is  engraved  in  his  "  Collections."  Upon  the  tomb  to 
which  it  pertained  were,  in  1613,  six  shields  display- 
ing, 1,  Grove ;  three  leaves  in  bend,  on  a  canton,  three 
crescents,  as  on  the  shield  of  the  effigy ;  2,  Septvans ; 
3,  St.  Ledger ;  4,  Hilpurton ;  5,  Isaac ;  and  6,  Sand- 


360  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

wich; — important  materials  for  the  pedigrees  of  all 
tliose  families.  Elizabeth  survived  her  husband, 
who  was  dead  in  1372,  and  was  herself  living  in 
1378,  second  of  Richard  II.,  when  William  Wylt- 
shire  gives  a  bond  to  Elizabeth,  "quae  fuit  uxor 
Johannis  de  Gosehale  Militis"  for  £20. — (Harleian 
Charters,  No.  80,  I.  69.)  In  the  same  collection, 
and  amongst  the  evidences  of  Combewell  Abbey, 
preserved  in  the  College  of  Arms,  are  numerous 
acquittances  from  "  Elizabeth,  who  was  the  wife 
of  John  de  Goshall,  knight,"  or  from  '*  Eliza- 
beth, Lady  of  Goshall,"  for  different  sums  from 
various  persons  farming  the  manor  of  Elmes,  or 
Nelmes,  in  Ash,  next  Sandwich,  to  which  we  have 
already  alluded  in  our  second  chapter ;  and  here  our 
knowledge  of  the  family  of  Goshall  terminates.  The 
heiress,  daughter,  it  is  presumed,  of  the  aforesaid  Sir 
John  and  Elizabeth,  and  named  after  her  mother, 
married  Thomas  St.  Nicholas."^  Of  her  uncles,  Henry, 
Walter,  and  Robert,  if  they  were  her  uncles,  we  have 
not  at  present  found  the  slightest  trace,  or  the  exist- 
ence of  any  collateral  branches.  We  find  from  the 
extract  from  the  Lieger  Book  of  Davington  that  the 
Goshalls  were  great  benefactors  to  the  Priory  there  ; 
and  the  cartulary  of  that  house,  if  still  in  existence, 
may  yet  enlighten  us  on  some  important  particulars. 

*  This  opinion  is  greatly  strengthened  by  the  fact,  that  in  the  list 
of  persons  commemorated  in  the  Lieger  book  of  Davington  we  find 
"Domina  Elizabetha  St.  Kicliolas  una  benefactoru,"  as  well  as 
"  Domina  Elizabetha  de  Goshaule,"  and  "  Matilda  de  Goshall  una 
benef." 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  361 

We  have  done  all  we  can  with  the  materials  within 
our  reach  and  in  the  time  at  our  disposal,  and  must 
now  turn  our  attention  to  the  family  of 

St.  Nicholas, 

into  which  the  elder  line  of  Goshall  merged,  towards 
the  close  of  the  14ith  century.* 

Certainly  about  the  last  place  in  the  world  where 
we  might  have  expected  to  find  an  elaborate  pedigree 

*  The  arms  of  St.  Nicholas,  ermiDe,  a  chief,  quarterly,  or  and 
gules  {vide  woodcut  at  the  head  of  this  chapter),  deserve  an  essay  to 
themselves ;  and  we  regret  that  our  space  will  not  allow  us  to  do 
more  than  briefly  notice  the  most  important  facts  connected  with 
them.  Camden,  in  his  "  Remains,"  has  pointed  out  the  similarity  of 
them  to  those  of  the  families  of  Peckham  and  Parrock,  and  given 
them  as  an  example  of  the  bearing  of  coat  armour  derived  from  that 
of  a  feudal  lord;  that  portion  of  the  shield  called  "the  chief"  in 
heraldry,  being  in  this  instance  the  coat  of  the  great  family  of  Say. 
The  origin  of  the  three  families,  St.  Nicholas,  Peckham,  and  Parrock, 
is  generally  considered  to  have  been  a  common  one,  but  which  of  them 
may  lay  claim  to  the  possession  of  the  earliest  designation  has  yet 
to  be  discovered.  Archbishop  Peckham,  who  gave  the  church  of 
St.  Nicholas,  Ash,  to  Wingham  College,  in  1286,  is  said  to  have  been 
the  son  of  humble  parents  in  the  County  of  Sussex ;  while  the  St. 
Nicholases  appear  to  have  been  settled  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Henry 
III.  in  Essex.  They  afterwards  are  found  seated  at  St.  Nicholsis 
Court,  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet ;  but  whether  they  gave  their  name  to, 
or  derived  it  from  that  property,  has  not  been  ascertained.  If  the 
latter,  it  is  most  probable  that  they  were  a  branch  of  the  Peckhams, 
and  that  the  elevation  of  an  obscure  member  of  that  family  to  the 
Archbishopric  of  Canterbury  was  the  prelude  to  their  importance 
in  the  county  of  Kent.  Whether  the  arms  of  Say  betoken  sub- 
infeodation  or  collateral  descent,  further  research  may  determine. 
The  Parrocks  bore  a  chess-rook  in  the  first  quarter,  as  a  difference, 
and  must  therefore  have  been  an  offshoot  from  the  parent  stock. 


362  A   COHNEE,   OF   KENT. 

of  the  old  Kentish  family  of  St.  Nicholas,  was  in  a 
History  of  the  County  of  Leicestershire.  Neverthe- 
lesSj  although  the  descent  of  it  from  Goshall  has  been 
but  briefly  and  vaguely  mentioned  by  Philipot  and 
Hasted,  and  the  Visitations  of  Kent  contain  only 
disjointed  records  of  three  or  four  generations 
during  the  16th  and  17th  centuries ;  the  late  Mr. 
Nichols,  in  consequence  of  the  incident  of  a  match 
between  a  younger  son  of  that  family  with  a 
Leicestershire  lady,  has  presented  us,  in  his  yolu- 
minous  and  valuable  History  of  the  latter  county, 
with  a  pedigree  from  the  time  of  Edward  III., 
down  to  his  own  time.  As  this  Leicestershire  lady 
was  the  Lady  Priscilla  Grey,  daughter  of  Anthony, 
Earl  of  Kent,  it  is  still  more  extraordinary  that  so 
little  trouble  should  have  been  taken  by  Kentish 
historians  and  genealogists  in  later  days,  respecting 
the  descent  of  her  husband,  particularly  as  it  is  an 
exceedingly  good  one. 

Mr.  Nichols's  Pedigree  professes  to  be  compiled 
from  information  received  from  the  family,  and 
evidences  in  their  possession.  We  shall  therefore 
follow  it  when  not  contradicted  by  researches  of 
our  own,  and  hope  to  illustrate  it  in  several 
important  parts  from  unquestionable  authority. 
Mr.  Nichols  heads  his  Pedigree  with  a  Sir  Eoger 
St.  Nicholas  of  St.  Nicholas  Court,  Isle  of  Thanet, 
living,  apparently,  about  the  time  of  Edward  II.  or 
Edward  III.,  from  whom  descended  Thomas  and 
Sir   John,  the   latter   of  whom  was  living  ninth  of 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  363 

Eichard  II.,  1386.'*  As  early,  howeyer,  as  1213, 
we  find  in  the  Close  HoUs  the  mention  of  a  Lawrence 
de  St.  Nicholas,  who  is  described  as  attorney  for  the 
nephew  of  Cardinal  Gale.f  We  admit  we  have  no 
evidence  to  prove  that  he  was  a  member  of  this  family ; 
but  the  name  of  Lawrence  is  met  with  early  in  the 
Pedigree,  and  the  probabilities  are  in  favour  of  the 
assumption.  J  To  come  to  matters  of  fact : — In  the 
nineteenth  of  Edward  III.,  1345,  the  King's  writ  was 
issued,  "  Dilectis  et  fidelibus  suis  Petro  Hayward, 
Thomce  de  Sancto  Nicholao  et  Willielmo  de  Manston," 
in  custody  of  the  ports  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet.§  This 
Thomas  St.  Nicholas  was  apparently  dead  in  1350, 
for  in  that  year,  on  the  death  of  Sir  John  Gifford  of 
Bures,||  it  was  found  that  Thomas,  son  of  Thomas 

*   Vide  Note,  p.  364.  _  _ 

t  "Rot.  Claus.  15  John.  Eex,  W.  Thes.  G.  t.  R.  can  ariis  tc. 
Libate  de  the  nro  Laurencio  de  Sco  Nicho.  pcuratori  nepotis  dni 
Gale  Cardinal  XX  m  quas  ei  debemur  de  hoc  anno  sec  fi  pcipum  T. 
Epo  Osberne  et  aliis  Romanis," 

%  In  the  20th  of  Edward  III.  a  Lawrence  St.  Nicholas  paid  aid 
for  the  making  of  the  Black  Prince  a  Knight,  as  holder  of  one  quarter 
of  a  knight's  fee  at  Selgrove  in  Seldwich,  Faversham  hundred,  which 
he  held  of  the  honor  of  Gloucester. — Hasted,  vol.  ii.,  p.  786. 

§  Rymer  Foedera,  vol.  iii.,  part  1. 

II  Bury,  in  Essex.  The  St.  Nicholas  family  had  certainly  early 
connections  with  this  county,  and  we  therefore  think  it  worth  notice, 
that  in  the  44th  of  Henry  III.  the  name  of  Senicla  (a  form  in  which 
we  find  that  of  St.  Nicholas  in  the  wills  and  on  the  tombs  of  the 
family)  occurs  in  some  pleadings  between  William  and  Gilbert,  sons 
of  William  fil  Senicla  of  Dunmowe.  Senicla,  the  father  of  William, 
having  held  12  acres  of  land  at  Westinghales  payne,  and  2  sold  ia 
Brimfield.     Abbrev.  Plac.  H.  III.  No.  44,  Essex. 


364  A   COUNER   OP    KENT. 

St.  Nicholas,  was  his  (Sir  Jolin's)  next  heir,  and  that 
the  said  Thomas  was,  at  that  time,  of  the  age  of 
twelve  years.  This  Thomas,  afterwards  knighted, 
died  in  1375,  and  hy  his  will  we  find  that  he  left  a 
widow  named  Elizabeth,  and  three  children,  viz. : 
a  son  named  Lawrence,  and  two  daughters,  Elizabeth 
and  Agnes.*  These  alone  are  named  in  his  will ; 
but  it  would  seem  that  he  must  have  had  another  son, 
whose  name  we  believe  to  have  been  John,  as  we 
shall  show  presently.  Elizabeth,  his  widow,  is  pre- 
sumed to  have  been  the  daughter  and  heir  of  Sir 
John  Goshall,  by  Elizabeth,  daughter  and  heir  of  Sir 
John  Grove,  as  we  have  intimated  under  Goshall. 
Of  the  daughters,  Elizabeth  and  Agnes,  we  have  no 
further  account;  but,  Lawrence  de  St.  Nicholas  is 
mentioned  in  Dover  Plea  Rolls,  in  1401 ;  and  we  find 
he  had  a  daughter  named  Johanna,  who  married, 
first,  Salam,  or  Salamon,  at  Berton;  and  secondly, 
Richard  Einneux.  He  is  said,  also,  to  have  had 
a  son  named  Nicholas — dead  in  1446 — who  left  a 

*  Printed  in  Nichols ;  Wills.  A  "  Thomas,  son  of  Sir  Roger 
St.  Nicholas,  was  sued  hy  the  Abbot  of  St.  Augiistines,  as  his 
ward,  for  refusing  to  marry  Margaret,  daughter  of  Thomas  Fagg, 
^  Chivaler,^  to  whom  the  Abbot  had  engaged  him.  Die  Lunse 
proximo  post  Festum  Purificationis  Beatse  Marise  anno  Ricardi  Regis 
Secundi  nono.  Regist.  Ccenob.  S.  Angus,  penes  R.  Parmer,  D.D., 
(Nichols,  Hist.  Leicest.)  Awssuming  the  correctness  of  this  extract, 
this  Thomas  could  not  have  been  the  Thomas  whose  will  we  have 
just  quoted,  and  who  died  in  1375,  and  we  must  therefore  presume 
that  the  latter  had  a  brother  named  Roger,  also  a  knight,  who  was 
dead  in  the  9th  of  Richard  II.,  1386,  and  left  a  son  Thomas,  in 
ward  of  the  Abbot  aforesaid. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  365 

sole  daughter  and  heiress,  named  Christian.*  Having 
cleared  ofiP  this  branch,  we  return  to  the  John  who 
we  imagine  was  an  elder  brother  of  Lawrence,  for 
this  reason : — Thomas  Senyclas  or  St.  Nicholas  of 
Thorne,  who  married  Julian,  daughter  and  heir  of 
Nicholas  Manston,  by  Eleanor,  daughter  and  heir  of 
Edward  Haute, t  in  his  will,  dated  1474,  names  his 
mother,  Bennett  (i.  e,  Benedicta),  but  not  his  father. 
In  a  pedigree  by  Vincent  (Philipot's  MS.,  Coll.  Arm., 
Nos.  26-27,  p.  37),  which  commences  with  the  father 
of  this  Thomas,  the  Christian  name,  John,  has 
been  added  in  pencil  by  the  younger  Vincent. 
Whether  we  may  rely  on  this  evidence  or  not,  as  to 
his  Christian  name,  we  cannot  doubt  his  immediate 
descent  from  Sir  Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  as  we  find 
his  sons  bequeathing  estates,  which  they  could 
only   have   derived   from  the   heir   of    Sir   Thomas. 

*  Close  Eoll  of  25tli  of  Henry  VL,  1446,  by  which  it  appears 
that  Christian  St.  Nicholas,  Lady  Prioress  of  the  Minories  without 
Aldgate,  was  daughter  and  heir  of  Nicholas  St.  Nicholas  of  St.  Nicholas 
Court,  Thanet,  and  Thomas  St.  Nicholas  is  named  in  the  same 
record. — Yfeever,  p.  265. 

t  There  is  some  strange  confusion  or  error  about  this  lady  in 
Weever's  Monuments.  At  page  267,  we  read — "Here  lieth  Thomas 
St.  Nicholas,  who  married  Joane,  daughter  of  |Edmund  Haute  of 
Manston,  died  .  .  .  ,  had  issue  Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  here  interred." 
Also,  "  Thomse  Sayen  Nicolas  Armiger  et  Johanne  consortis  sue  quse 

obiit  XX Anno  Domini  Millesimo  CCCCLXXIY.  quorum 

animabs  propitietur  Deus.  Amen."  Now  it  is  quite  clear  that  the 
Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  who  died  in  1474,  married  Julianna^  grand- 
daughter  of  Edmund  Haute,  and  not  Johanna  his  daughter.  Yide 
her  will  in  1493. 


366  A   COENEU   OF    KENT. 

One  of  these  sons  was  named  John,  we  may  fairly 
assume  after  him;  he  heing  himself  baptized  John, 
according  to  the  prevalent  fashion  of  the  times,  after 
his  maternal  grandfather,  John  de  Goshall.  The 
other,  we  have  seen,  was  named  Thomas,  after  his 
paternal  grandfather.  We  will  clear  off  the  descent 
from  this  Thomas  (the  younger  son,  as  we  take  it,  of 
John  and  Bennet),  first,  as  the  line  in  which  we  are 
most  interested  descends  from  the  elder,  John. 

By  Julian  Manston  his  wife,  who  survived  him,  we 
find  he  left  four  sons :  Boger,  Thomas,  Bichard,  and 
John ;  and  perhaps  one  daughter,  Eleanor,*  married 
to  ...  .  Aucher.  Boger  St.  Nicholas,  the  eldest  son, 
died  in  1484,  seized  of  the  manor  of  Thorne,  leaving 
an  only  daughter,  named  Elizabeth,  married  to  John 
Dynely  of  Worcestershire.  Thomas,  second  son,  died 
1493.  In  his  will  he  mentions  Katharine,  his  wife, 
and  Elizabeth  his  daughter.  Of  these  we  have  no 
further  knowledge,  nor  have  we  met  with  any  mention 
of  Bichard  or  of  John,  later  than  in  the  will  of 
Julianna  St.  Nicholas,  their  mother,  who  appears  to 
have  died  shortly  after  her  son  Thomas,  her  will  being 
made  7th  of  July,  eighth  of  Henry  VII.  (1493),  and 

*  In  Add.  MS.  Brifc.  Mus.  No.  5,520,  HeDry  Aucher,  son 
of  Kobert  Aucher,  is  set  down  as  having  married  .  .  .  .  d.  of 
John  St.  Nicholas,  of  Thanet,  the  brother  of  this  Thomas.  Thomas 
certainly  does  not  call  Eleanor  his  daughter  in  his  will ;  he  simply 
names  her  "  Eleanor  Aucher."  Nor  does  the  pedigree  give  the 
Christian  name  of  the  wife  of  Henry  Aucher,  who  may  have  married 
one  of  the  two  daughters  of  John  St.  Nicholas,  mentioned  in  his  will 
without  their  names. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  367 

proved  on  the.  31st  of  January  following,  1493-4. 
In  that  will  she  describes  herself  as  late  the  wife  of 
Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  Esq. ;  mentions  her  son,  John 
St.  Nicholas,  but  not  E/ichard  (who  was  probably 
dead),  and  Edmund  Haute,  her  grandfather.  She 
died  seized  of  the  Manors  of  Wormsell,  Shelving, 
and  Goshall ;  and  as  we  find  that  Henry,  eldest 
son  and  successor  of  John  Dynely  of  Charlton,  about 
the  latter  end  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  conveyed  his 
right  in  Thome,  Manston  Court,  Goshall,  and  Powcies, 
to  Sir  John  Roper,  afterwards  Baron  Teynham  ;  it  is 
quite  clear  that  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Eoger  St. 
Nicholas,  and  mother  of  Henry  Dynely,  must  have 
inherited  nearly  the  whole  property  of  Thomas,  her 
grandfather,  and  therefore  survived  her  uncle,  John, 
and  her  cousin,  Elizabeth.* 

With  her,  then,  the  name  of  St.  Nicholas  expired 
in  this  branch  of  the  family.  We  now  return  to 
John,  eldest  son  of  John  and  Bennett  St.  Nicholas. 
He  married  Margaret,  daughter  and  heir  of  Simon  de 
Campania;  inherited  from  his  father  the  Manor  of 
Bures  or  Bury  in  Essex,  the  old  property  of  the 
Giffords,  to  which  his  grandfather.  Sir  Thomas,  had 
been  found  heir;  died  in  1462,  and  was  buried  at 
Ash,  in  the  Chapel  of  St.  Thomas  the  Martyr.     By 

*  Dynely  quarters  St.  Nicholas,  bringing  in,  1.  Manston ;  2.  Haute  ; 
3.  Shelving ;  4.  Argent,  a  lion  rampant  gules  crowned  or,  Thorne  ;  5. 
a  lion  ramj^ant  crowned,  between  three  mullets  (no  colours) ;  6.  Argent 
three  leaves  in  bend  proper,  on  a  canton  azure  three  crescents  or, 
Grove.— Ped.  Dynely,  Add.  MSS.  Brit.  Mus.  5,507, 


368  A   CORNEE   OF   KENT. 

his  will,  dated  ISth  June,  1462,  it  appears  he  left 
four  sons :  Thomas,  Eicliard,  Eobert,  and  Eoger,  all 
under  age  at  that  time ;  and  two  daughters,  un- 
married. His  son  Thomas  was  to  have  the  Manor  of 
Bury,  CO.  Essex ;  B^ichard,  certain  lands  in  Ash  and 
"Wingham;  and  Boger,  those  at  Billericay.  He 
mentions  his  sister  Elizabeth,  married  to  William 
Edwards,  and  Thomas  his  brother.*  Of  Bobert,  the 
fourth  son,  we  hear  no  more ;  Boger,  the  third  son, 
married  Dorothy,  daughter  of  Walter  Boberts  of 
Cranbrook  (living  1522), t  and  widow  of  Simon 
Lynch,  J  19  Henry  VII.,  1504  ;  but  we  have  no  know- 
ledge of  any  issue.  Bichard  St.  Nicholas  appears  as  a 
witness  to  a  charter,  twenty-third  Henry  YII.,  1508  ; 
but  we  cannot  undertake  to  decide  whether  it  was  the 
second  son  of  John  of  Ash,  or  his  cousin  Bichard, 
son  of  Thomas  of  Thorne.  At  all  events,  our  inform- 
ation fails  us  as  to  any  descent  from  the  three 
younger  brothers.  The  eldest,  Thomas,  married  a 
daughter  and  co-heir  of  Apuldrefield,§  by  whom  he 

*  Prerog.  Office,  Cant. 

t  Will  of  her  father,  Walter,  dated  11th  September,  and  proved 
13th  October,  1522.— MS.  Coll.  Arm.  B.  P.  A.  vi.  p.  485. 

J  This  Simon  Lynch  would  seem  to  be  the  eldest  son  of  William 
Lynch,  of  Cranbrook,  who  names  him  in  his  will  dated  April  28,  1480. 
He  has  been  confounded  with  another  Simon  who  died  in  1573,  and 
whose  widow,  consequently,  could  never  have  been  re-married  to 
Eoger  St.  Nicholas. 

§  William  de  Apuldrefielrl,  according  to  some  pedigrees.  We 
doubt,  however,  her  being  the  daughter  of  William.  In  his  will, 
proved  April,  1487,  he  mentions  his  wife  Mildred,  and  his  brother 
Eichard^  and  "  remainder  to  Elyn  Brayne  and  the  heirs  of  her  body ;" 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HEUALDIC   NOTES.  369 

had  John,  and  certainly  another  son,  named  E^oger 
or  Thomas.  John,  the  eldest,  afterwards  knighted, 
is  said  to  have  married  a  daughter  of  Walter  E-oberts 
of  Cranbrook,*  by  whom  he  had  an  only  daughter 
and  heir,  Anne,  who  married  John  Baker,  Esq.,  of 
Norfolk,  to  whom  she  carried  the  manor  of  Bury. 
Of  this  latter  fact  and  descent,  the  best  collateral 
evidence  exists  in  the  coat  of  the  Baker  family,  whose 
paternal  arms  are  quartered  with  St.  Nicholas, 
Thorne,  GifFord  of  Bures,  Lenham,  Apuldrefield, 
Avranches  and  Champion  or  Campania,  in  perfect 
accordance  with  the  descent  aforesaid. 

We  come  now  to  the  last  hitch  in  this  pedigree. 
We  have  ventured  to  state  that  Thomas  St.  Nicholas, 
who  married  the  heir  of  Apuldrefield,  had  certainly 
a  second  son,  named  Boger  or  Thomas.  Our  only 
proof  at  present  of  this  assertion,  is  in  the  arms  borne 
by  the  descendants  of  this  Boger,  the  earliest  of  his 
family,  who  appears  in.  the  Visitations  and  Pedigrees 

but  no  daughter,  unless  Elyn  was  such,  and  who,  in  that  case,  was 
living  as  wife  or  widow  of  Braynein  1487. 

*  Sister  of  Dorothy,  who  married  his  uncle,  Roger.  This  appears 
rather  unlikely.    In  the  pedigrees  of  Roberts,  two  daughters  of  Walter, 

Mary  and  Dorothy,  are  set  down  as  wives  of  " St.  Nicholas," 

no  Christian  name  or  other  indication  being  given  us  whereby 
they  could  be  identified  ;  and  Philipot  names  Roger  as  the  husbaud, 
of  Mary  in  his  MS.  marked  Mascle,  p.  39^  It  is  clear,  how- 
ever, from  her  father's  will,  quoted  above,  that  Dorothy  was  the 
wife  oi  Roger  in  1522;  and  in  the  same  document  his  daughter 
Mercy  (not  Mary)  is  also  mentioned  as  the  wife  of  a  St.  Nicholas 
then  living,  but,  unfortunately,  not  identified  by  his  baptismal 
appellation. 

2   B 


370  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

in  the  College  of  Arms.  He  is  there  stated  to  have 
been  the  son  of  a  Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  to  have  married 
(circa  1530  ?)  Jane,  daughter  of  Vincent  Engham  of 
Sandwich,  and  to  have  had  by  her  a  son,  Yincent, 
born  in  1531,  and  who  married  Marion,  daughter  of 
Edward  Brockhill  of  AUington,  Esq.,  and  widow  of 
Sir  Thomas  Harfleet ;  Vincent  St.  Nicholas  died  20th 
of  August,  1589,  and  was  buried  in  Ash  Church.* 
The  arms  of  this  Vincent  and  of  all  his  immediate 
descendants,  display  the  coat  of  St.  Nicholas  quarter- 
ing that  of  Apuldrefield.  ( Vide  engraving  at  the  head 
of  this  chapter,  copied  from  a  Pedigree  in  the  Coll.  of 
Arms,  Vincent  145,  and  our  description  of  the  brasses 
remaining  on  the  grave-stones  of  the  St.  Nicholas 
family,  in  the  north  transept  of  Ash  Church,  p.  239.) 
Now,  as  Thomas  St.  Nicholas  of  Bury,  Co.  of  Essex, 
the  father  of  John  St.  Nicholas,  whose  heiress,  Eliza- 
beth, conveyed  that  manor  to  Baker,  is  the  only 
individual  who,  we  find,  married  an  heiress  of  the 
Apuldrefields ;  it  follows,  as  a  matter  of  course,  that 
Boger,  the  father  of  Vincent,  must  have  been  either 
a  son  or  grandson  of  that  Thomas ;  and  such  dates  as 
we  can  rely  upon,  induce  us  to  think  he  was  the 
latter.  In  St.  Lawrance  Church,  Thanet,  there  is  the 
grave-stone  of  a  Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  who  married 
Joane  or  Jane  Manston,  and  had  issue  Thomas  St. 

*  Marion  Harfleet  was  his  second  wife.  By  his  first,  who  does  not 
appear  in  the  Visitations,  he  had  a  daughter  named  Sylvester,  whose 
second  husband  was  Henry  Harfleet  the  elder,  of  Hill's  Court,  Ash. 
Vide  p.  342. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  371 

Nicholas,  who  is  buried  in  the  same  chapel.  The 
date  was  gone  in  Weever's  time ;  but  the  Johanna, 
daughter  of  Eoger  Manston,  whom  we  believe  to  be 
the  person  above-named,  died  in  1499.*  It  does  not 
absolutely  follow,  that  because  no  other  children  are 
named  but  Thomas,  buried  beside  her,  that  Joane 
St.  Nicholas  might  not  have  had  another  son  named 
E^oger  (as  usual,  after  his  maternal  grandfather),  and 
the  probabilities  are  in  favour  of  this  being  the 
missing  link  in  this  line  of  the  pedigree  of  St. 
Nicholas  of  Ash. 

Henceforv/ard  the  Visitations  and  the  Registers  are 
our  safe  guides.  By  Marion,  his  second  wife,  Vincent 
St.  Nicholas  had  five  sons  and  one  daughter;  John, 
baptized  December  24th,  1565,  died  an  infant;  Thomas, 
baptized  August  27,  1567;  another  John,  baptized 
November  28th,  1568 ;  Timothy,  who  died  young ;  and 
Samuel,  who  only  lived  a  year.  The  daughter  Mary, 
called  Mercy  in  the  monumental  inscription,  was  their 
eldest  child,  being  baptized  March  25th,  1563-4,  and 

*  Peter  le  Neve,  in  Ms  "Church  Notes,"  1603-1624,  says,  simply, 
"  A.  gravestone  of  Thomas  Sainct  Nicholas,  who  married  Jane  Manston. 
Had  issue  Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  who  is  buried  in  the  same  chapel" 
(Add.  MSS.  Brit.  Mus.  No.  5,479) ;  contradicting  Weever,  who  calls 
her  daughter  of  Edmund  Haute,  of  Manston. 

We  believe  the  Thomas  who  married  Joan  Manston  to  have  been 
Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  of  Ore,  near  Feversham.  In  the  church  there, 
were  the  arms  of  Lenham,  quartering  St.  Nicholas ;  and  in  a  window  an 
armed  figure,  with  a  tabard  of  the  same,  kneeling. — (Philipot's  Ch. 
Notes,  Harleian  MSS.  No.  3,917,  and  Philipot  P.  d.  20.  Coll.  Arms.) 

2  B  2 


372  A   CORNER   OE   KENT. 

married  the  Kev.  Anthony  Pield,  Eector  of  Chillenden, 
Co.  Kent.*  Thomas,  the  second  son,  alone  survived 
and  preserved  the  name  of  St.  Nicholas.  He  was 
twice  married,  and  died  in  1626.  Ey  his  first  wife, 
Dorothea,  daughter  of  William  Tilghman,  who  died  in 
childbed,  September  18th,  1605,  he  had  Deborah, 
baptized  August  20th, t  1598;  Susan,  |  December  7th, 
1599;  Dorothy,  April  5th,  1601  ;§  Thomas,  October 
3rd,  1602;  John,  March  25th,  1603-4;  and  Yincent, 
baptized  two  days  after  the  death  of  his  mother, 
September  20th,  1605,  and  who  only  survived  her  a 
few  months,  being  buried  March  1st  in  the  following 
year.  By  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth  Woodward,  he 
had  three  sons :  Timothy,  Samuel,  and  Thomas, 
and  one  daughter,  Elizabeth,  married  to  Edward 
Mills  of  Westbere.ll  Thomas  St.  Nicholas  of  Ash, 
the  eldest  son  by  the  first  wife  Dorothea  Tilghman, 

*  In  the  will  of  Marion  St.  Nicholas,  of  Chillenden,  widow,  dated 
23rd  June,  1604,  and  proved  1st  October  following,  she  mentions 
"my  daughter  Brett."  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Mary 
married  Mr.  Field,  as  we  find  her  brother  Thomas  speaking  of  her  as 
"My  dear  and  loving  sister,  Mrs.  Field— ^her  reverend  husband, 
Anthony  Field. "—(Will  of  Thomas  St.  N.,  proved  1st  Jan.  1626-7.) 

t  Married  Jan.  4=,  1617-18,  to  German  Major.  (Ash  Eeg.)  "My 
daughter,  Deborah  Major." — (Will  of  Thos.  St.  N.  uf  supra.) 

J  He  does  not  mention  his  daughter  Susanna  in  his  will ;  she  was 
probably,  therefore,  deceased. 

§  Married  Oct.  3,  1622,  Edward  Pordage.  (Ash  Keg.)  "My 
daughter  Dorothy  Pordage." — (Will  of  Thos.  ut  supra  ) 

II  Visitation,  D.  18,  p.  139,  Coll.  Arms.  She  was  unmarried  at 
the  time  of  her  father's  death.  "My  youngest  daughter,  Elizabeth 
St.  Nicholas."— (Will,  icf  supra.) 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC    NOTES.  373 

also  married  two  wives,  and  died  in  1668.  By  his  first, 
Susannah,  daughter  of  William  Copley,  ofWadsworth, 
Co.  York,*  he  had  one  son,  Thomas,  baptized  Octo- 
ber 1st,  1637  ;  and  one  daughter,  Elizabeth,  who  mar- 
ried first,  Wittingham  Wood,  Esq.,  and  secondly,  John 
Pratt,  of  Hinckley,  Co.  Leicester.     Thomas,  his  son 

and  heir,  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 

Plomley,  who  died  1671,t  by  whom  he  had  issue  Yin- 
cent  and  Thomas,  and  was  living  in  1668,  when  his 
name  appears  for  the  last  time  in  the  parish  accounts 
for  Hoden.  Vincent  left  an  only  daughter  and  heir, 
named  Grace.  Of  Thomas,  baptized  May  27th,  1667, 
the  last  of  the  St.  Nicholases  of  Ash,  we  have  found 
no  further  record. 

By  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Henry 
Croke,  of  Well  Place,  Co.  Oxon,:j:  to  whom  he  was 
married  at  St.  Dunstan's,  London,  Eebruary  I7th, 


*  Visitation,  D.  18,  p.  137,  Coll.  Arms. 

t  Elizabeth,  widow  of  Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  buried  at  Ash, 
Dec.  3rd,  1671. 

X  She  was  his  kinswoman,  the  daughter  of  his  great-aunt.  "My 
aunt,  Mrs.  Bennett  Croke,  widow,  the  natural  mother  of  the  wife  of 
my  son,  Thomas  St.  Nicholas." — Will  of  Thomas  St.  Nicholas  the 
elder,  before  quoted.  On  a  flat  stone  in  the  north  aisle  at  Knoll,  Co. 
Warwick,  are  the  arms  of  St.  Nicholas,  quartering  Apuldrefield  ;  and 
in  addition  to  a  long  inscription  in  Latin,  the  following  is  round  the 
borders  of  the  stone  : — ^"  In  this  cabinet  is  layd  up  the  body  of  Eliza- 
beth, late  wife  of  Thomas  St.  Nicholas  of  Ash,  in  the  County  of  Kent, 
Gent.,  daughter  of  Henry  Crooke,  of  Well  Place,  in  the  County  of 
Oxon,  Esq.,  who  lived  as  meet  helper  with  her  husband  six 
years,  and  had  issue  by  him  four  sons;  deceased,  March  9th,  1631. 
Mat.  V.  17." 


374  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

1624,  Thomas  St.  Nicholas  had  issue  four  sons,  as 
we  learn  from  the  monumental  inscription  in  Dug- 
dale's  Warwickshire,  page  702 ;  but  their  names  are 
not  mentioned,  and  we  know  nothing  more  about 
them. 

We  must  now  return  to  John,  the  second  son  of 
Thomas  and  Dorothea.  He  also  married  twice.  His 
first  wife  was  Ethelreda,  or  Audrey,  daughter  of  Basil 
Good,  of  Shilton,  Co.  Warwick,  by  whom  he  had  three 
sons,  Timothy,  Vincent,  and  Thomas,  and  three 
daughters,  Abigail,  Marie,  and  Elizabeth.  Of  these 
only  two  survived,  Timothy  and  Marie.  Timothy 
married  first  Anne,  daughter  of  Christopher  Copley, 
of  Wadsworth,  Co.  York,  who  died  1664,  leaving 
one  son,  named  Basil,  who  died  without  issue; 
secondly,  Elizabeth  More,  of  Linley,  who  died  June 
10th,  1698.* 

Marie  married  first  Captain  Morick,  and  secondly, 
Henry  Watts,  an  Independent  minister,  of  Wedding- 
ton,  Co.  Warwick. 

Audrey  St.  Nicholas  died  November  11th,  1654,  and 
her  husband  John  married,  secondly,  the  Lady  Priscilla 
Grey,  daughter  of  Anthony,  Earl  of  Kent,  who  died 
1657,  without  issue,  and  survived  her  forty-one  years, 
dying  in  1698,  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-five.  A 
long  and  elaborate  biography  of  him  will  be  found  in 
Mr.  Nichols's  History  of  Leicestershire ;  but  it  con- 

*  Mon.  In.  ISTortli  aisle,  Monk's  Kirby,  in  which  Timothy  is 
described  as  "an  affable,  grave,  wise,  and  useful  man  in  his 
generation." 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  375 

tains  no  interest  to  justify  our  even  introducing  an 
abridgement  of  it  here.* 

Timothy,  son  of  Marie  St.  Nicholas  and  Henry 
Watts,  assumed  the  name  of  St.  Nicholas  in  or  before 
1724,  in  which  year,  as  Steward  to  the  Duke  of  Kent, 
he  is  styled  Timothy  St.  Nicholas  of  Burbach,  Esq. ; 
and  the  male  line  of  the  St.  Nicholases  of  Ash 
seems  to  have  been  extinguished  in  the  person  of 
Thomas,  younger  son  of  Thomas  St.  Nicholas  and 
Elizabeth  Plomley  before  mentioned,  but  of  whose 
death  and  burial  we  have  found  no  record. 

LEVERICK. 

This  ancient  family  has  been  the  most  neglected 
of  any  connected  with  the  history  of  Sandwich  and 
Ash.  Although  not  utterly  extinct  before  the  com- 
mencement of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  therefore 
within  reach  of  the  Visitations,  not  a  scrap  of  pedigree 
is  to  be  found  in  them,  save  and  except  the  mention 
of  a  match  with  Monins  of  Waldershare ;  and  neither 
Vincent  nor  Philipot,  Glover  nor  Brooke,  has,  either 
intentionally  or  accidentally,  collected  any  genealo- 
gical information  respecting  it. 

*  He  was  a  Puritan  minister  and  volunteer  lecturer  amongst 
tlie  Independents  ;  was  nominated  to  the  Kectory  of  Lutterworth,  by 
the  Parliamentary  Sequestrators,  and  ejected  by  the  Bartholomew 
Act  in  1662,  when  he  retired  to  Burbach,  where  he  lost  his  wife, 
the  Lady  Priscilla,  and  lived  in  retirement  till  his  death.  He  was 
the  author  of  the  History  of  Baptism,  1678,  and  several  other 
theological  works.  His  father-in-law,  Anthony  Grey,  was  also  an 
Independent  Minister,  Hector  of  Burbach  j  and  on  his  succession  to 
the  Earldom,  refused  to  quit  his  ministry. 


376  A   CORNEE    OF   KENT. 

Mr.  Boys,  in  his  "  Collections,"  while  he  professes 
himself  disappointed  at  not  being  able  to  gather  more 
particulars  respecting  the  family  of  Sandwich,  takes 
no  heed  of  that  of  Leyerick ;  and  we  have  been  left, 
therefore,  to  make  the  most  we  can  of  the  few  traces 
we  have  been  able  to  discover  of  it  in  the  Rolls  and 
Charters  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries. 
The  origin  of  the  name  is  left  entirely  to  our  imagin- 
ation. We  naturally  turn  to  the  Saxon  Leuric  and 
Leofric,  so  many  examples  of  which  are  to  be  found 
in  the  early  annals  of  England,  and  some  particularly 
connected  with  this  corner  of  Kent ;  but  there  is  also 
in  Domesday  mention  of  a  Loveraz  existing  at  that 
period  in  "Wiltshire,  and  Sir  Eichard  Colt  Hoare,  in  his 
elaborate  History  of  that  county,  gives  us  a  pedigree 
of  a  family  of  that  name  from  William  and  Odo  de 
Loveraz,  temp.  Henry  II.,  to  Stephen  and  his  wife 
Alicia,  5th  of  Edward  III.,  the  descendants  of  whom 
appear  to  have  spelt  the  name  indifferently  Loeras, 
Lueraz,  Loverick,  and  Leverick. 

John  Leverick,  of  Crockerton,  Co.  Wilts,  was  living 
30th  of  Edward  IIL,  and  Alicia  Leverick,  daughter 
of  William  Levericke,  of  Shropham,  Co.  Norfolk,  is 
mentioned  in  a  Eoll  of  the  time  of  Edward  I.  Love- 
ricks  and  Lavericks  are  also  to  be  found  in  Southamp- 
tonshire,  Dorsetshire,  and  even  Cumberland.  Whether 
the  Lovericks  and  Levericks  of  Sandwich  were  a 
branch  of  the  Wiltshire  family,  we  cannot  presume 
to  say ;  but,  in  an  old  MS.  book  of  arms  in  the  Heralds' 
College,  we  find  those  of  Sir  John  Leverick  of  Carne, 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC    NOTES.  877 

(Co.  Dorset) — Argent,  on  a  chevron  sable;  three 
leopards'  heads,  or ;  which  are  identically  the  same  as 
those  borne  by  the  Levericks  in  whom  we  are  inter- 
ested. Still  we  cannot  connect  even  this  John  of  Carne 
in  any  other  way  with  the  Kentish  line,  or  show  that 
he  was  one  of  the  Wiltshire  family ;  and  we  must 
for  the  present,  therefore,  rest  content  with  pointing 
out  the  above  facts  to  the  reader. 

,  The  earliest  mention  we  have  found  of  a  Loverick 
of  Sandwich  is  in  1281,  when  a  Salamon  Loverick 
appears  a  witness  to  a  charter. 

We  next  find  a  Henry  Leverick  and  Margery  his 
wife  parties  in  a  final  concord  with  John  de  Goshall, 
respecting  land  in  Ash  near  Sandwich,  34th  of  Edward 
I.,  A.D.  1306.*  John  Leverick  was  Mayor  of  Sand- 
wich 1346,  18th  of  Edward  III.  Thomas  Loverick 
was  Member  of  Parliament  for  Sandwich  43rd  of 
Edward  III.,  1371,  and  1st  of  Eichard  IL,  1377.t 
Contemporary  with  him  were  Salomon  Leverick  (spelt 
Leverske  in  Lewis's  "Thanet"),  who  with  John  Denis, 
Mayor  of  Sandwich,  and  others,  was  attached  to  answer 
to  a  plea  of  trespass,  by  Robert  de  Stokes,  Sheriff 
of  Kent,  prosecutor  for  the  King,  and  not  having 
made  a  sufiicient  defence,  was  committed  to  jail,  1369. 
And  Sir  John  Leverick  of  Ash,  who  married  Joan, 
daughter  of  John  Septvans,  and  whose  effigy,  we 
believe,  lies  on  the  north  side  of  the  high  chancel  at 

*  Lansdown  MS.  268,  p.  293. 

t  See  his  deed  of  gift  to  Gilbert  SeptvaDS  in  1370,  page  327. 


378  A   COUNER   OF   KENT. 

Ash  within  the  altar  rails.*  At  all  events,  Sir  John 
was  living  about  this  period.  We  have  next  a  Thomas 
Leverick,  Mayor  of  Sandwich  1412-1416,  and  contem- 
porary with  him  Sir  William  Leverick  of  Ash,  hus- 
band of  Emma,  daughter  of  John  Septvans  of  Ash, 
and  who  with  his  wife  were  buried  in  St.  Mary's, 
Sandwich,  to  which  they  had  been  great  benefactors, 
temp,  Henry  lY. ;  and  following  them  a  Henry 
Leverick,  M.P.  for  Sandwich,  7th  Henry  Y. 

Not  one  of  the  above  can  we  venture  to  affiliate ! 

Not  the  least  indication  have  we  found  of  the  affin- 
ity of  any  one  of  them  to  the  other,  and  it  is  only 
some  fifty  or  sixty  years  later  that  we  arrive  at  any- 
thing resembling  genealogical  detail.  From  the  will 
of  Johanna  Leverick,  widow  of  William  Manston,  of 
the  parish  of  Heme,  proved  in  1475,  we  gather  that 
she  had  three  brothers,  Anthony,  Henry,  and  Tliomas 
Leverick,  but  no  hint  of  their  parentage.  She  names 
''  John  Loveryk,"  son  of  her  brother  Anthony,  and 
Johanna,  daughter  of  Henry,  both  living  at  that  date, 
as  also  her  own  son,  John  Manston.  Her  brother 
Thomas  proved  her  will,  but  of  him  we  hear  no  more. 
Her  brother  Henry  died  in  1487,  and  by  his  will  we 
learn  that  he  was  twice  married.  The  first  wife's 
name  was  Katharine,  and  the  second,  who  survived 
him,  Elizabeth.  He  names  his  daughter  Susannah, 
then  living  a  nun  at  Sheppey,  but  does  not  indicate  of 
which  wife  she  was  the  issue,  nor  does  he  mention 

*   Vide  page  206. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC    NOTES.  379 

the  "  Johanna,  daughter  of  Henry,"  named  in  the  will 
of  his  sister.  Anthony  Leverick  of  Heme,  her 
elder  (?)    brother,   married    Constance,    daughter   of 

Woolbright,   according  to  Philip ot ;   but  in 

the  Pedigree  of  Monins  set  down  as  daughter  and 
heir  of  Turberville.  By  her  he  had  John,  named 
above,  who  must  have  died  unmarried  or  without  issue, 
and  Pernel,  who,  as  daughter  and  heir  of  her  father, 
became  the  wife  of  Edward  Monins  of  Waldershare. 
Anthony  Leverick  died  October  16th,  1510,  and  with 
his  wife  Constantia  was  buried  at  Heme,  when  the 
name  appears  to  have  been  extinguished  in  this 
county. 

PARAMORE. 

Of  this  family  no  trace  has  yet  been  discovered 
earlier  than  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The 
name,  spelt  indifferently  Paramore,  Paramour,  and 
Paramor,  is  so  remarkable,  that  had  any  persons  of 
consideration  borne  it  in  England  previous  to  that 
period,  it  could  scarcely,  we  think,  have  escaped  notice. 
The  early  Kentish  topographers  and  genealogists  are 
perfectly  silent  as  to  its  origin,  and  we  are  inclined  to 
believe  that  the  founder  of  the  family  in  this  country 
was  some  Erench  or  Italian  merchant,  who  settled  at 
Sandwich  during  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  Perhaps 
the  very  Thomas  Paramore  who  heads  the  earliest 
pedigree  in  Philipot's  MSS.,  and  who  is  therein 
described  as  "of  Paramore  Streete  in  Ashe  prope 
Sandwicum,"  and  having  by  his  wife,  "  Cecilia  filia 
et  heres  Hambroke,"  two  sons :    William,  who  died 


380  A   COENER   OF   KENT. 

without  issue,  and  Henricus,  married  to  Alice  Fornell, 
and  living  lOtli  of  Henry  YIII.,  1525-6,  as  we  have 
already  stated,  p.  141.  This  Henry  had  a  son  John, 
who,  by  Jane,  daughter  of  Thomas  Beake  of  Wickham 
Breaux,  had  issue  Thomas  Paramor  of  Pordwieh, 
Mayor  of  Canterbury,  to  whom  a  mural  monument  was 
erected  in  the  Church  of  St.  Mary,  Minster,  Isle  of 
Thanet ;  *  and  underneath  the  kneeling  effigies  of  the 
mayor  and  his  wife  the  following  inscription :  ^^  Neere 
to  this  place  lie  enterred  the  bodies  of  Thomas  Para- 
more,  Esq.,  sometime  Mayor  of  the  citie  of  Canterburie, 
and  Anne  his  first  wife,  by  whom  he  had  issue  three 
sons  and  two  daughters,  viz. :  Michael  and  Thomas, 
who  died  in  his  lifetime,!  and  Henry  surviving,  who 
married  Marie,  the  daughter  and  heir  of  Tho.  Garth  of 
London,  Esq. ;  Jane,  wife  to  Henry  Saunders  of  Can- 
terbury, Esq.,  and  Bennet,  married  to  Thom.  Eoach 
of  Wotton,  Gent.  His  second  wife  was  Marie,  the 
widowe  of  Tho.  Garth  of  London,  Esq. ;  he  departed 
this  life  the  vij  of  July,  A.D.  1621,  resigning  his  soule 
to  God  that  gave  it." 

*  There  are  two  coats  of  arms  of  Paramour  :  Paramour  of  St. 
Nicliolas,  Thanet,  bearing  azure,  a  fess  embattled  between  three 
etoiles,  or,  crest,  a  cubit  arm,  vested  azure,  cuffed  argent  j  the  hand 
proper,  holding  an  etoile  of  six  points  wavy,  or. — Granted  by  Cooke, 
Clarenceux,  1585  :  and  Paramour  of  Ash,  a  similar  coat,  the  fess  being 
counter-embattled,  and  for  crest,  two  arms  embowed  similarly 
vested  azure,  cuffed  argent,  and  supporting  an  etoile,  or. — Granted 
by  Camden,  Clarenceux,  May  1616. 

t  Michael  died  "  about  the  age  of  9  years."  Thomas  married  Ann, 
daughter  of  Henry  Frankly n  of  Throwley,  and  died  without  issue, 
September  13th,  1615.    (Mon.  In.  St.  Magdalen's  Church,  Canterbury.) 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  381 

Under  his  effigy  are  the  following  verses : — 

Canterb. — Thanks,  Isle  of  Thanet,  for  this  Champion 
Ofs  never  dying  name,  my  chiefe  glorie  ; 
His  Trophie  hath  made  me  companion 
Unto  the  proudest  by  hisYictorie. 
Thanet. — Indeed  thy  countrie  and  unpeopled  plaine, 
Unworthie  were  his  wit  and  employment, 
And  gladly  do  receive  him  home  againe 
Kesting  contented  with  his  monument. 

We  have  transcribed  these  lines,  certainly  not  for 
their  beauty  or  their  pathos,  but  because  we  believe 
that  Canterbury,  in  thanking  the  Isle  of  Thanet  for  a 
champion,  alludes  to  a  singular  trial  by  battle  which 
was  to  come  off  in  Tothill  Pields,  the  18th  of  June, 
1571,  and  is  told  at  great  length  by  the  old  chronicler 
Stow.  The  subject  in  dispute  was  a  certain  manor 
and  demaine  lands  belonging  thereunto,  in  the  Isle  of 
Harty,  belonging  to  the  Isle  of  Sheppey  in  Kent.* 

*  The  manor  of  Harty,  otherwise  Sayes  Court,  was  held  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  II L  by  the  family  of  De  Campania  under  John  de 
St.  John.  John  and  Mary  de  Campania,  temp.  Edward  III.,  left 
three  daughters  and  co-heirs,  one  of  whom,  Thomasine,  married 
Thomas  Chevin  of  Sholand  in  Newnham.  His  descendant,  John  Chevin, 
3rd  of  Elizabeth,  sold  'Hhe  Mote,"  a  parcel  of  this  manor,  to  Mr. 
Paramour,  by  the  description  of  a  manor  or  messuage,  60  acres  of 
land  and  50  acres  of  marsh,  with  the  appurtenances,  in  the  parish  of 
St.  Thomas  the  Apostle,  in  the  Isle  of  Harty,  of  the  fee  of  William 
(Paulet),  Marquis  of  Winchester  (great  grandson  of  John  de  St.  John 
by  Constance  Poynings),  capital  lord  of  it ;  but  it  being  subsequently 
alleged  by  the  said  John  Chevin  that  he  was  under  age  at  the  time 
of  the  above-mentioned  alienation,  and  that  he  had  passed  it  away 
again  to  John  Kyme  and  Simon  Low,  they  in  the  13th  year  of  the 
same  reign  brought  out  their  writ  of  right. 


382  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

Simon  Low  and  John  Kyme  were  plaintiffs,  and  had 
a  writ  of  right  against  Thomas  Paramore,  who  offered 
to  defend  his  right  by  battle,  a  challenge  which  they 
accepted,  and  offered  to  prove  by  battle  that  Paramore 
had  no  right  or  title  to  the  said  manor  and  lands. 
Herenpon,  says  the  chronicler,  the  said  Thomas  Para- 
more brought  before  the  Judges  of  the  Common 
Pleas  at  Westminster  one  George  Thorne,  a  big, 
broad,  strong-set  fellow;  and  the  plaintiffs  brought 
Henry  Nailor,  master  of  defence  and  servant  to  the 
Earl  of  Leicester,  a  proper  slender  man,  and  not  so 
tall  as  the  other.  Thorne  cast  down  a  gauntlet,  which 
Nailor  took  up.  On  the  Sunday  before  the  battle 
was  to  take  place,  however,  "the  matter  was  stayed," 
and  the  parties  agreed  that  Paramore,  being  in  posses- 
sion, should  have  the  land,  being  bound  in  £500  to 
consider  the  plaintiffs  as,  upon  hearing  the  matter,  the 
judges  might  award.  The  Queen's  Majesty,  we  are  told, 
was  the  taker  up  of  the  matter  in  this  wise.  It  was 
thought  good  that,  for  Paramore' s  assurance,  the 
order  should  be  kept  touching  the  combat  in  every 
particular,  except  the  combat  itself  1  The  lists  were 
set  out,  double  railed,  a  stage  set  up  for  the  judges, 
and  scaffolds  erected  one  above  the  other,  for  people 
to  stand  and  behold.  Behind  were  two  tents,  one  for 
Nailor,  the  other  for  Thorne.  Thorne  was  there  in 
the  morning  timely ;  Naiior  about  seven  of  the  clock 
came  through  London  apparelled  in  a  doublet  and 
gallygascoine  breeches,  all  of  crimson  satin,  cut  and 
raised,  a  hat  of  black  velvet  with  a  red  feather  and 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  383 

band,  before  him  drums  and  fifes  playing.  The 
gauntlet  that  Thorne  had  cast  down  borne  before  the 
said  JSTailor  upon  a  sword's  point,  and  his  baston  (a 
staff  of  an  ell  long,  made  taperwise,  tipt  with  horn) 
with  his  shield  of  hard  leather  was  borne  after  him  by 
Askam,  a  yeoman  of  the  Queen's  guard.  He  was 
brought  to  his  tent  by  Sir  Jerome  Bowes,  Thorne 
being  already  in  his  with  Sir  Henry  Cheney.*  The 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  arrived  at  ten  o'clock.  The 
Lord  Chief  Justice  and  his  two  associates  took  their 
seats.  Low  was  solemnly  called  to  come  in,  or  else 
to  lose  his  writ  of  right,  it  having  been  previously 
arranged  that  he  should  make  default.  The  cham- 
pions were  next  called  for,  and  Sir  Jerome  Bowes 
led  in  Nailor  by  the  hand,  who  ''curtseyed"  to 
the  judges  first  with  one  leg  and  then  with  the 
other,  and  went  through  the  farce  of  stripping  for 
the  combat,  pulling  off  his  nether  stocks  (stock- 
ings) and  appearing  bare-foot  and  bare-legged,  save 
his  silk  scavilonions  (drawers)  to  the  ancles,  and 
his  doublet  sleeves  tied  up  above  the  elbow,  and 
bareheaded.  Sir  Henry  Cheney  next  led  in  George 
Thorne  in  like  manner.  Proclamation  w^as  made  by 
the  Justices  in  the  Queen's  name  that  no  person  of 
what  estate  or  condition  he  be,  should  be  so  hardy 
as  to  give  any  token  or  sign,  by  word  or  look,  to 
either  prover  or  defender,  that  might  give  one  the 

*  Henry,  Lord  Cheney,  at  that  time  was  lord  of  the  manor  of 
Harty,  and  with  the  consent  of  Jane  his  wife  sold  it  subsequently 
to  Kichard  Thornhill  and  Walston  Dixie,  Esqs. 


384  A   COENER   OF   KENT. 

advantage  over  the  other,  or  suffer  either  of  them  to 
take  and  avail  themselves  of  any  of  their  weapons, 
&c.,  under  pain  of  forfeiture  of  lands,  tenements, 
goods,  chattels,  and  imprisonment  of  their  bodies,  and 
making  fine  and  ransom  at  the  Queen's  pleasure. 
The  prover  was  then  sworn  in  form  as  foUoweth : 
"  Hear  you  Justices,  that  I  have  this  day  neither  eat, 
drunk,  nor  have  upon  me  either  bone,  stone,  or  glass, 
or  any  enchantment,  sorcery,  or  witchcraft,  where 
through  the  power  of  the  Word  of  God  might  be 
inleased  or  diminished,  and  the  Devil's  power 
increased,  and  that  my  appeal  is  true,  so  help  me  God 
and  his  saints,  and  by  this  book."  The  solemn 
mockery  was  then  terminated  by  the  Lord  Chief 
Justice  rehearsing  the  matter  in  dispute,  and  the 
proceedings  taken  upon  it,  and  adjudging  the  land  to 
Paramore  for  default  of  appearance  in  Low,  dismissing 
the  champions,  and  acquitting  the  sureties  of  their 
bonds.  Upon  being  desired  to  return  Thorne  his 
gauntlet,  Nailor  answered  that  his  lordship  might 
command  him  in  anything,  but  that  he  would  not 
willingly  render  the  gauntlet  unless  Thorne  would 
win  it,  and  challenged  him  to  play  with  him  half  a  score 
blows,  to  show  some  pastime  to  the  Lord  Chief  Jus- 
tice and  the  others  there  assembled;  but  Thorne 
replied  that  he  came  to  fight  and  not  to  play.  Then  the 
Lord  Chief  Justice,  commending  Nailor  for  his  valiant 
courage,  commanded  them  both  quietly  to  depart  the 
field — no  doubt  to  the  bitter  disappointment  of  the 
good  citizens  of  London  there  assembled  to  the  num- 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  385 

ber  of  4,000,  who  it  is  to  be  supposed  were  not  in 
the  secret  of  this  child-like  make-believe  exhibition. 
If  we  are  correct  in  identifying  the  defendant  in  this 
case  with  the  champion  "whose  never-dying  name 
was  the  chief  glory"  o'f  Canterbury,  we  must  say 
that  old  Durovernum  was  not  difficult  to  please  in 
those  days,  if  the  victory  of  a  challenger  who  did  not 
even  fight  by  proxy  was  considered  an  achievement  to 
be  proud  of. 

A  John  Paramor  of  the  parish  of  St.  James,  Isle 
of  Harty^  yeoman,  in  his  will,  proved  June  15th,  1585, 
names  his  uncle  Thomas  Paramor,  but  does  not 
enable  us  to  connect  him  with  the  mayor.  He  seems, 
however,  to  have  lived  on  the  disputed  estate,  and 
left  a  wife  named  Agnes,  and  a  daughter  Alice. 

The  mayor  had  a  brother  Henry,  who  died  before 
him,  and  bequeathed  to  him  Shreeves  Court. 

Henry,  the  only  surviving  son  of  Thomas  of  Pord- 
wich,  died  in  1646,  leaving  by  his  wife,  Mary  Garth,  a 
son  Thomas,  who  died  1652.  A  branch  of  the  original 
stock,  however,  remained  and  flourished  at  Ash,  in 
the  street  to  which  they  had  given  their  name.  The 
will  of  Thomas  Paramore,  of  Ash,  yeoman,  was  proved 
March  9th,  1559-60,  in  which  he  mentions  his  sons 
Symon,  Raymond,  John,  Henry,  and  Thomas,  Hobert 
Paramore  of  Worde,  and  his  messuage  at  Paramore 
Street  in  Ash. 

This  Thomas  Paramore  is  called  cousin  by  Thomas 
Harfleet,  alias  At-Chequer,  in  1555 ;  but  his  exact 
place  in  the  pedigree  has  not  been  ascertained.     His 

2  c 


386  A   CORNER   OP   KENT. 

son  Henry,  we  presume,  is  the  Henry  Paramore  of 
Ash,  whose  will  was  proved  25th  May,  1600;  in 
which  he  mentions  his  wife  Joan,  and  a  sister  married 
to  Edward  Purday.  Thomas  Paramor  of  Ash,  pro- 
bably his  younger  brother,  was  overseer  of  the  will 
of  Stephen  Petley  of  Dover,  2nd  March,  1594.  It  is 
this  Thomas  Paramor,  most  probably,  whose  name  we 
find  so  often  in  the  earliest  parish  accounts,  from  1600 
to  1608 ;  in  which  latter  year,  he  was  churchwarden. 
At  the  same  time,  the  Parish  Cess-Books  make 
mention  of  a  E/ichard  and  a  Bartholomew  Paramore, 
and  a  John  Paramore  of  Worde;  the  latter,  ap- 
parently, one  of  the  six  sons  of  B;obert  Paramor  of 
Worde  and  Wilmot  his  wife,  named  in  his  will, 
proved  May  19th,  1579 ;  the  other  five  being 
Stephen,  William,  Thomas,  Nicholas  and  E/ichard. 
Bartholomew  appears  to  have  been  a  son  of  Saphir 
Paramore  of  Eastry  and  Stattenboro'.  Bartholomew's 
eldest  son  was  named  Peter.  Thomas  Paramor,  the 
churchwarden,  died  in  January,  1609-10,  and  his 
son  Joshua,  in  1635.  His  burial  is  the  last  but  three 
of  the  family  of  Paramour  entered  in  the  registers  at 
Ash.  They  appear  about  this  date  to  have  died  out 
here,  some  of  them  having  fallen  into  poverty,  and 
being  in  the  receipt  of  parish  relief.  The  heirs  female 
of  the  Stattenboro'  and  Eastry  branches  carried  the 
property  into  the  families  of  Sanders,  Dilmot,  Puller, 
Boys  of  Sandwich,  and  Boteler  of  Eastry. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  387 

The  following  are  all  the  entries  of  this  family  to 
be  found  in  the  registers  at  Ash : — 


BAPTISMS. 

John,  son  of  Edward  Paramore,  18th  July,  1575. 
Timothy,  son  of  Edward  Paramore,   15th  October, 

1577. 
Angelica,  daughter  of  John  Paramore,  23rd  August, 

1579. 
Kichard,  son  of  Edward  Paramore,  12th  January, 

1579-80. 
Margaret,    daughter   of   John    Paramore,    Eebruary 

1580-81. 
Jane,  daughter  of  Henry  Paramore,  April,  1581. 
Edward,   son   of  Edward    Paramore,    6th   January, 

1582-3. 
Margaret,  daughter  of  Edward  Paramore,  8th  August, 

1585. 
Mary,  daughter  of  Edward  Paramore,  10th  August, 

1589. 
John,  son  of  Henry  Paramor,  5th  October,  1596. 
Henry,  son  of  Thomas  Paramour,  27th  August,  1597. 
Edward,  son  of  Henry  Paramor,  3rd  March,  1598-9. 
Joshua,  son  of  Thomas  Paramour,  1st  December,  1603. 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Thomas  Paramor,  5th  April, 

1607. 
John,  son  of  Henry  Paramour,  11th  August,  1622. 
Edward,  son  of  Henry  Paramour,  21st  August,  1625. 
Henry,  son  of  Henry  Paramour,  16th  March,  1627-8. 

2  c  2 


388  A   CORNER   OE   KENT. 

Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Henry  Paramour,  11th  May, 

1629. 
John,  son  of  Edward  Paramour,  28th  June,  1629. 
Steven,  son  of  Edward  Paramour,  11th  Eebruary, 

1632-3. 
Mary,  daughter  of  Edward  and  Anne  Paramor,  23rd 

December,  1634. 
Anne,  daughter  of  Edward  and  Anne  Paramour,  21 

Eebruary,  1640-1. 

MARRIAGES. 

John  Proud  and  Alice  Paramore,  18th  October,  1561. 
Edward  Paramore  and  Jone  Hole,  26th  November, 

1565. 
John  Paramore  and  Mary  Hole,  13th  October,  1578. 
Thomas  Paramore  and  Ann  Huffam,  24th  January, 

1582-3. 
John  Wayman  and  Sarah  Paramor,  16th  October, 

1598. 
Richard  Paramor  and  Eve  Stonard,  20th  April,  1607. 
Nicholas  Essex  and  Eve  Paramor,  widow,  7th  April, 

1608. 
Henry  Paramor  and  Elizabeth  Bax,  25th  June,  1621.* 


*  June  24tli,  1646,  a  Thomas  Pa/rimore  of  Shoreditch,  was  married 
to  Mary  Adams  of  St.  George's,  Southwark,  at  St.  Lawrence  Pount- 
neys,  London.  This  solitary  entry,  which  was  accidentally  met  with 
by  a  friend,  and  kindly  handed  to  us,  might  be  of  some  importance  to 
a  pedigree  of  the  family,  and  we  therefore  record  it,  although  there 
is  nothing  to  show  a  connexion  with  the  Paramours  of  Ash. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  389 

George  Gainsford  and  Mary  Paramour,  25th  June, 

1676. 
Henry   Paramor  of  Minster  in  Thanet,  and  Sarah 

Haslett,  30th  January,  1807. 
William  Farmour  batchelor,  and  Martha  Hills,  23rd 

October,  1830. 

BURIALS. 

Infant  daughter  of  John  Paramor,  4th  May,  )     -.  k^o 
Mary,  wife  of  John  Paramor,  6th  May,  J 

Mary,  daughter  of  Edward  Paramor,  7th  May,  1586. 
Henry  Paramor,  householder,  I7th  April,  1600. 
John,  son  of  Henry  Paramor, 27th  November, 

1601. 
Richard  Paramour,  householder,  1st  November,  1607. 
Henry,  son  of  Edward  Paramour,  5th  May,  1609. 
Thomas     Paramour,     householder,     1st     February, 

1609-10. 
Mary,  wife  of  Henry  Paramour  Esq.,  26th  Eebruary, 

1617-18. 
Henry,  son  of  Henry  Paramour,  21st  June,  1628. 
Stephen,  son  of  Edward  Paramour,  18th  November, 

1633. 
Joshua  Parramor,  25th  Eebruary,  1634-5. 
Ann,  daughter  of  Edward  Paramour,  23rd  October, 

1635. 
A  male  infant  of  Edward  and  Ann  Paramour,  10th 

Eebruary,  1637-8. 
Elizabeth  Paramor,  30th  August,  1638. 


390  A   CORNER   or    KENT. 

We  will  add  to  these  extracts  the  following  entries 
of  admittances  to  Gray's  Inn : — 
1601.  Thomas  Paramore,  son  of  Henry  Paramore  of 

the  Isle  of  Thanet. 
1617.  Henry    Paramore,   late    of   Staple    Inn,    son 

and  heir  of  Thomas  Paramore  of  Pordigay 

« 

(Pordwich  ?),  co.  Kent,  Esq. 
1620.  Thomas   Paramore,    second    son    of    K^ichard 

Paramore  of  Shankton,  co.  Leicester,  Esq. 
1635.  Thomas  Paramore,  son  and  heir  app.  of  Thomas 

Paramore  of  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  Esq. 

HOUGHAM. 

This  is  another  Kentish  family  of  great  antiquity, 
large  possessions,  and  important  connexions,  which 
has  been  totally  neglected  by  the  genealogists. 
Prom  the  arms  borne  by  the  most  ancient  branch,  it 
is  supposed  that  the  Houghams,  who  derive  their 
name  from  a  manor  so  called,  near  Dover,  as  we  have 
already  stated  in  our  second  chapter,  were  a  branch 
of  the  family  of  Avranches  or  Everinge.  We  have 
therein  mentioned  five  Roberts  de  Hougham,  who, 
from  the  time  of  Richard  I.,  succeeded  each  other  in 
regular  rotation  to  the  eleventh  of  Edward  III.,  when 
the  manor  of  Hougham  went  to  the  family  of  Yaloins 
by  the  marriage  of  one  of  the  daughters  and  co-heirs 
of  the  fifth  Robert  to  Waretius  de  Yaloins.  The 
father  of  this  Robert,  who  died  twenty-ninth  Ed- 
ward I.,  and  left  a  widow  named  Alicia,  is  said  to  have 


aENEALOGICAL   AND   HEKALDIC   NOTES.  391 

had  a  younger  brother  named  E;ichard5  from  whom 
descended  the  Houghams  of  Ash.     We  have  not  been 
fortunate  enough  to  find  a  trace  of  this  Richard,  but 
in  the  MS.  we  have  so  often  quoted,  marked  E..  27, 
in  the  College  of  Arms,  there  are  abstracts  of  several 
charters,  unfortunately  not  dated,  but  apparently  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  in  which  we  find  a  Radulphus 
de  Hugham,  who  had  a  son  Osbert  married  to  a  lady 
named  Pelicia,  and  that  to  this  Osbert  William  de 
Lenham,  by  consent  of  his  wife  Cecilia,  granted  all 
the  lands  he  had  in  marriage  with  her  and  of  her 
inheritance;   this   deed   of  gift  being  witnessed  by 
Robert  and  Alexander  de  Hugham,  Philip,  Walter 
and  Peter,  sons  of  Beatrice  de  Hugham,  and  Ralph, 
the  son  of  Matthew  de  Hugham.     This,  we  presume, 
was  in  the  time  of  Edward  II.,  as  in  the  fourteenth 
of  that  king's  reign  we  have  a  charter  of  Beatrice  de 
Hougham,  at  that  period  the  widow  of  Baldwin  de 
Hougham,  whom  we  therefore  take  to  be  the  father 
of  her  children,  Philip,  Walter,  and  Peter ;  and  the 
same  document  informs  us  that  she  was  the  daughter 
of  Robert  de  Chillenden.     In  another  charter  we  find 
Thomas,  son  of  Henry  de  Hougham ;  but  no  Richard 
in  any.     Nevertheless,  a  Richard  de  Hugham  was 
Prior   of    Dover,    A.D.    1350,    and    a    scrap   of    a 
pedigree    is    headed    with    '*  Simon    de    Hougham 
filius  Richardi,"  followed  by  ''  Robertus  de  Hougham 
filius  Simonis,"  with  the  information,  "  Obiit  in  Ash." 
His  son  Robert  is  described  as  of  Elmstone,  and  father 
of  William  de  Hougham,  to  whom  a  wife  is  given  named 


392  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

Elizabeth,  their  son  being  Solomon  de  Hougham,* 
"  whose  figure,"  we  are  told,  "  stood  in  Ash  church 
windows;"  no  doubt  that  of  the  kneeling  warrior 
described  at  page  189,  on  whose  tabard  are  arms 
differing  only  in  colour  from  the  other  arms  of 
Hougham,  said  to  have  been  assumed  from  the  family 
of  Sanders  of  Norborne.t  If  there  be  any  foundation 
for  this  assertion,  it  is  very  probable,  from  the  special 
mention  of  Elizabeth  as  his  mother,  that  she  was 
an  heiress  of  the  family  entitled  to  this  coat.  The 
descent  from  Solomon  is  a  little  clearer.  He  had 
two  brothers,  Thomas  and  Stephen  (and  perhaps  a 
third,  John  Hougham,  buried  December  16,  1559), 
and  a  daughter  not  named,  the  wife  of  John  Brooke 
(*'  son  of  John"),  by  whom  she  had  a  son  also  named 

*  A  Solomon  de  Hougham  died  seized  of  Maplescombe,  Co.  Kent, 
2nd  of  King  Edward  III.  There  were  also  two  other  Solomons,  son 
and  grandson  of  John  Hougham  of  St.  Martin's,  Canterbury,  by  Joan 
his  wife ;  as  we  find  by  the  will  of  said  John,  dated  May  4th,  and 
proved  July  2nd,  1482  :  his  son  Solomon  being  then  dead,  and  his 
grandson  apparently  a  minor.  He  bequeaths  all  his  lands  and  tene- 
ments in  Ash  to  Joan  his  wife,  for  life  ;  remainder  to  Solomon,  son  of 
Solomon  Hougham,  his  late  son,  deceased,  when  he  shall  arrive  at  the 
age  of  30  years,  in-tail,  &c.  He  names  Dionisia  his  daughter,  late  wife 
of  John  Bishop,  taillour,  and  also  Jovina,  his  daughter,  late  wife  of 
John  Bishop,  of  St.  Paul's,  aforesaid  !  Also  his  own  sisters,  Isabella 
and  Margaret.     The  will  of  his  widow  Joan  is  dated  May  8,  1503. 

t  In  the  Visitation  of  Kent,  1619,  C.  16,  Coll.  Arms,  these  arms 
are  or,  on  a  chevron  between  three  elephants'  heads  gules,  three 
mullets  argent.  The  drawing  in  le  Neve's  notes  gives  the  field 
argent,  and  the  charges  sable,  which  may  be  an  error  of  the 
copyist.  The  crest  in  the  Visitation  is  that  of  Brooke  of  Brooke 
Street,  the  arms  of  Brooke  being  in  the  second  and  third  quarters. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  393 

John,  who  died  without  issue,  by  his  wife,  Magdalen 
Stothard,  1582-3  (will  proved  Pebruary  7th).  Of 
Thomas  we  know  no  more;  but  Stephen  married 
Bennetta,  daughter  of  John  Brooke,  the  elder,  and 
heir  to  her  brother,  it  is  said,  on  the  death  of  her 
nephew.  The  property,  however,  could  only  have 
come  to  her  heirs,  as  she  herself  died  nearly  two-and- 
twenty  years  before  her  nephew. 

"Bennet  Huffam"  was  buried  June  9th,  1560, 
according  to  the  registers  at  Ash,  and  by  her  will, 
proved  October  14th  following,  as  ''  Benedict  HuflPam 
of  Ashe,  widow,"  she  desires  to  be  buried  near  her 
husband  (who  was  dead  in  March,  1556),  and  names 
Michael  and  E^ichard,  her  sons,  Joan,  Margaret,  and 
Elizabeth,  her  daughter's  children,  and  Bennett,  the 
daughter  of  Michael  Huffam.  John  Brooke,  the 
nephew,  did  not  die  till  January  16th,  1582-3,  and 
by  his  will,  proved  February  7th  following,  wills  cer- 
tain lands,  part  of  the  manor  of  Nevil's  Pleet,  to  John, 
son  of  Bichard  Huffam,  his  godson,  and  his  heirs  male. 
Bennett's  brother,  John  Brooke,  was  living  in  1555, 
as  he  is  named  in  the  will  of  Stephen  Hougham,  dated 
November  20th  in  that  year.  Stephen  names  therein 
also  his  "  wife  Benet,"  his  brother  Thomas  Hougham, 
Michael  Hougham  his  son,  and  Stephen  Solly,  his 
daughter  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Stephen  Solly,  son  of 
Stephen  Solly  the  elder,  and  her  daughters,  Margaret, 
Elizabeth,  and  Joan,  whom  we  have  seen  mentioned 
in  their  grandmother's  will.  Michael,  his  eldest  son, 
married  Edith,  daughter  of  Austin  of  Addisham,  and 


394  A   CORNER   or   KENT. 

Bicliard,  his  other  son,  Joan  Foad.  Michael  of  Ash 
left  three  sons,  Michael,  Stephen,  and  E;ichard,*  and 
three  daughters  :  Anne,  married  to  Thomas  Paramore 
of  Pordwich,  Bennett,  who  married  Thomas  Country, 

and  ,  married   to  Bateman.f     He  died  in 

1583.  His  brother  Bichard  of  Eastry  had,  by  Joan 
his  wife,  five  sons,  Thomas,  Vincent,  John,  George, 
and  Stephen,  and  two  daughters,  Susan  and  Bennet, 
who  both  died  unmarried. 

Michael,  eldest  surviving  son  of  Michael  of  Ash, 
married,  first,  Elizabeth  Joade,  October  11th,  1578,  by 
whom  he  had  three  sons,  Thomas,  Henry,  and  Bich- 
ard,  and  one  daughter,  Elizabeth ;  and  secondly,  Jane 
Brook,  by  whom  he  had  a  son  named  Brook,  baptized 
January  25th,  1596. 

Bichard,  second  son  of  Michael  of  Ash,  had  Wed- 
dington,  and  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Edward 
Sanders  of  Norborne,  who  survived  him  and  married 
Thomas  Hawkes.     Bichard  died  in  1606  (buried  at 


*  Will  proved  December  lOth,  1583. 

t  From  a  pedigree  in  one  of  Hasted's  collections  (Brit.  Mus.,  Add. 
MSS.,  5,520),  we  find  that  William,  eldest  son  of  Michael  and  Margaret 
Courthope,  had  by  his  wife,  Susanna,  daughter  of  John  Clarke, 
fifteen  children,  eight  sons  and  seven  daughters;  and  that  of  the 
former,  only  one  left  issue.  This  was  Francis  Hougham,  the  "Citizen 
and  Painter-Stainer,"  whose  memorandum  appears  at  page  102.  He 
was  twice  married,  and  had  issue  by  both  wives.  Gervase,  whom  in 
1717  he  names  his  heir,  was  his  only  child  by  his  first  wife,  Mary, 
daughter  and  heir  of  Gervase  Plumbe,  Gent,,  and  was  born  June  13th, 
1708.  Nathaniel,  the  only  surviving  son  by  his  second  wife,  was 
living  in  1722. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC    NOTES.  395 

Ash    October    Sth),    and    left    three    sons :      first, 
Michael,   baptized    June    6th,   1596,   who    married 
Margaret  Courthope,  from  whom  the  Houghams  we 
have  enumerated  in  the  last  note,  page  394 ;  second, 
Edward,  baptized  May  25th,  1598,  who,  by  Margaret 
his  wife,  left  a  daughter  Anne,  married  to  John  Bet- 
tenham ;  and  third,  Solomon,  baptized  January  1st, 
1599-1600,  who,  by  his  wife  Mary,  left  three  sons : 
first,  Solomon,  a  merchant  in  London,  and  who,  hav- 
ing purchased  the  manor  of  Langport,  alias  Barton, 
at   Canterbury,   resided   there,   and  was    Sheriff    of 
Kent  in  1696 ;  second,  Richard  of  Sandwich,  dead  in 
1662,  and  Henry,  who  left  issue  three  sons,  Solomon, 
John,  and  Charles ;  the  two  first  died  without  issue, 
and  Charles  became  heir  to  his  brother  Solomon,  who 
had  inherited  Langport  from  his  uncle  the  Sheriff,  in 
1697.     Charles  had  a  son  Henry,  who  married  Sarah, 
daughter  of  William  Hunt,  and  died  1726,  leaving  a 
son  William,  who  married  Margaret  Hannah  Boberta, 
daughter  and  one  of  the  heirs  of  John  Corbett,  Esq., 
Co.  Salop,  by  whom  he  had  a  son  William,  born  in 
1752,  who  married  the  daughter  of  Charles  Bobinson, 
Esq.,  Barrister  at  Law,  Becorder  of  Canterbury,  and 
brother  of  Matthew,  first  Lord  Bokeby.      Eor  the 
collateral  branches   we   must    refer    the    reader    to 
the  information  we  have  been  able  to  gather  from 
the  registers  of  Ash,  the   parish   in  which  we   are 
alone   interested.     The   name   of  Hougham  is   still 
extant  there  and  in  the  neighbourhood,  but  it  seems 
to  have  died  out  of  the  parish  during  the  seventeenth 


396  A   CORNER   OE   KENT. 

century.*  Stephen,  brother  of  Eichard  of  Wedding- 
ton,  who  married  Joan,  daughter  of  Thomas  Beke, 
and  was  overseer  of  Ash  in  1605,  and  whose  daughter 
Bennet  was  the  second  wife  of  Henry  Harfleet, 
and  Thomas  Huffam,  churchwarden  in  1609,  being 
apparently  the  last  of  the  name  who  held  any 
position  here. 

The  entries  of  the  family  of  Hougham  in  the 
registers  of  Ash  are  as  follow  : — 

BAPTISMS. 

George  Huffam,  6th  March,  1558-9. 
Elizabeth  Huffame,  3rd  September,  1560. 
Stephen  Huffame,  11th  April,  1561. 

(Page  cut  from  July  to  January,  1561-2;  and 
from  26th  October  to  16th  April,  1563.) 
Susan,  daughter  of  Richard  Hougham,  10th  October, 

1563. 
Anne,  daughter  of  Michael  Hougham,  28th  January, 

1564-5. 
Vincent,  son  of  Richard  Huffam,  26th  July,  1566. 
Michael,  son  of  Michael  Huffam,  28th  October,  1569. 
Richard,  son  of  Michael  Huffam,  4th  June,  1574. 
Stephen,  son  of  Michael  Huffam,  22nd  June,  1577. 
Thomas,  son  of  Michael  Huffam,  17th  July,  1579. 
Magdalen,  daughter  of  Vincent  Huffam,  3rd  October, 

1591. 

*  No  marriage  of  a  Hougham  is  registered  at  Ash,  between  1 655 
and  1763,  but  one  baptism  during  the  last  century,  and  no  burial 
between  1660  and  1824. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND   HERALDIC   NOTES.  397 

Brooke,  son  of  Michael  Huffam,  25th  January,  1595-6. 

Michael,  son  of  Richard  Huffam,  6th  June,  1596. 

Edward,  son  of  Eichard  Huffam,  25th  May,  1598. 

Margaret,  daughter  of  Stephen  Huffam,  5th  Septem- 
ber, 1599. 

Solomon,  son  of  Richard  Huffam,  1st  January,  1599- 
1600. 

John,  son  of  Stephen  Huffam,  5th  October,  1600. 

Judith,  daughter  of  Stephen  Huffam,  1st  November, 
1601. 

Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Stephen  Huffam,  17th  June, 
1604. 

Bennett,  daughter  of  Stephen  Huffam,  8th  October, 
1605. 

Mildred,  daughter  of  Thomas  Huffam,  6th  December, 
1607. 

Samuel,  son  of  Thomas  Huffam,  6th  May,  1610. 

Edward,  son  of  Solomon  Huffam,  17th  November, 
1626. 

Anne,  daughter  of  Solomon  Huffam,  17th  November, 
1626. 

John,  son  of  George  and  Martha  Huffam,  2nd  Febru- 
ary, 1607-8. 

(No  entries  from  1641  to  1654.) 

Martha,  daughter  of  John  and  Martha  Huffam,  8th 
May,  1654. 

Sarah,  daughter  of  Henry  and  Elizabeth  Hougham, 
5th  April,  1750. 

Susannah,     daughter     of     Henry     and     Elizabeth 
Hougham,  14th  July,  1751. 


398  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

Henry,  son  of  Henry  and  Elizabeth  Hougham,  8th 

October,  1752. 
Edward,  son  of  Henry  and  Elizabeth  Hougham,  12th 

March,  1754. 
Alice,  daughter  of  Henry  and  Elizabeth  Hougham, 

7th  May,  1758. 
Edward,  son  of  Edward  and  Sarah  Hougham,  10th 

November,  1765. 
Sarah,  daughter  of  Edward  and  Sarah  Hougham,  1st 

March,  1767. 
Harriet,  daughter  of  John  and  Margaret  Hougham^ 

labourer,  of  Westmarsh,  9th  October,  1814. 
George,  son  of  John  and  Margaret  Hougham,  10th 

November,  1816. 
Alice,  daughter  of  John  and  Margaret  Hougham. 
Michael,  son  of  John  and  Margaret  Hougham,  1821. 

MARRIAGES. 

Hichard  Huffam  and  Jane   Eord,    November   27th, 

1558. 
Thomas   Country   and  Bennett  Huffam,  July  16th, 

1575. 
Thomas  Paramore  and  Anne  Huffam,  January  24th, 

1582-3. 
Vincent  Huffam  and  Elizabeth  Pynnocke,  January 

1st,  1590-1. 
Thomas   Browning  and  Margaret  Huffam,  October 

28th,  1624. 
Henry  Harflete  and  Bennett  Huffam,  March  26th, 

1629. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  399 

Edward  Hougham,  widower,  and  Sarah  Chandler, 
December  7th,  1763. 

Anna  Hongham  and  John  Capell,  March  6th,  1774. 

William  Hougham,  son  of  John  Hougham,  gardener, 
and  Esther  Carpenter,  December  2nd,  1839. 

Ann  Hougham,  daughter  of  John  Hougham,  labourer 
of  Ash,  and  John  Greggs,  April  10th,  1841. 

Alice  Hougham,  daughter  of  John  Hougham, 
labourer  of  Ash,  and  John  Wall,  widower,  Novem- 
ber 22nd,  1845. 

Harriet  Hougham,  daughter  of  John  Hougham, 
farmer  of  Ash,  and  Thomas  Upton  of  Eastry,  No- 
vember 11th,  1848. 

BUHIALS. 

Bennet  Huffam,  June  9th,  1560. 

Infant  daughter  of  Michael  Huffam,  December  15th, 

1580. 
Michael  Huffam,  householder,  July  12th,  1596. 
John,  son  of  Stephen  Huffam,  October  11th,  1600. 
Mary,   daughter   of   Stephen  Huffam   of  Sandwich, 

June  21st,  1604. 
Ideth  (Edith)  daughter  of  Stephen  Huffam,  Oct.  9, 

1604. 
Edward,   son   of  Thomas   Huffam,   December  18th, 

1619. 
Joane,   wife    of    Stephen   Huffam,   Eebruary   15th, 

1632-3. 
John,  son  of  George  Huffam,  Eebruary  6th,  1637-8. 

(No  entries  from  1641  to  1656.) 
Stephen  Hougham  of  Ash,  aged  9,  September,  1835. 


400  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

Edward  Hougham  of  New  Street,  aged  30,  September 

8th,  1854. 
George  Hougham  of  Cooper  Street,  Ash,  aged  16, 

February  19th,  1857. 

We  add  the  following  entries  from  other  sources, 
as  partially  supplying  the  gap  between  the  sixteenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries : — 

WiNGHAM   EeGISTERS. 
BAPTISM. 

Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Stephen  and  Elizabeth  Huffam, 
December  8th,  1662. 

BURIALS.* 

Stephen  Huffam,  tailor,  1691. 

Stephen  Huffam,  son  of  Richard  and  Anne,  1695. 

E;ichard  Huffam,  tailor,  1697. 

Elizabeth  Huffam,  widow,  same  year. 

TeNTERDEN    EEaiSTERS. 

Thomas  Hougham  and  Mary  Jenkin,  married  Decem- 
ber 28th,  1595. 

Add.  MSS.  Brit.  Mus.  5,507. 
marriages. 
Bennett,    daughter   of   Stephen   Hougham   of  Ash, 
gentleman,  aged  22,  and  Henry  Forstall,  Mayor 
of  Sandwich,  162f . 

*  "Michael  Hougham,  ob*.  1679,  get.  61."  Anne  Hougham, 
daughter  of  Edmund  Joy,  ob*.  1677,  set.  55.  Mon.  In.  Preston 
Church.  In  Tenterden  churchyard  is  a  tombstone  to  the  memory  of 
Henry  Hougham,  and  Joan,  his  wife,  by  whom  he  had  fourteen 
children.  He  died  September  8th,  1818,  aged  75;  he  was  therefore 
born  in  1743. 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC   NOTES.  401 

Stephen  Hougham  of  Ash,  gentleman,  aged  21,  vivo 
patre,  and  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Henry  Light- 
foot  of  Canterbury,  deceased,  aged  18,  1629. 

Edward  Huffam  of  Stourmouth,  gentleman,  widower, 
married  Mary,  daughter  of  Richard  Laming  of 
Preston,  deceased,  1631. 

Bennett,  daughter  of  Thomas  Huffam  of  Dover, 
gentleman,  aged  18,  married  Thomas  Dedes  of 
Dover,  maltster,  aged  20. 

Thomas  HufiPam  of  Ash,  husbandman,  aged  24, 
married  Susan,  relict  of  Stephen  Browne  of  Ash, 
1634. 

Stephen  Hougham  and  Elizabeth  Selden,  1650. 

Solomon  Hougham  of  Norborne,  gentleman,  aged  20, 
and  Sarah  Beke  (or  Beale),  gentlewoman,  aged  21. 

Susan  Hougham  and  Andrew  Honess,  1653. 

Sibel  Hougham  and  William  Lucket,  1656. 

Henry  Hougham  and  Elizabeth  Morris,  1681. 

Alice  Hougham  and  Anthony  Bayner,  1682. 

SOLLY. 

This  ancient  family,  of  which  so  many  descendants 
are  resident  in  the  parish  at  the  present  day,  is  pre- 
sumed to  have  taken  its  name  from  the  manor  of 
Soles,  in  the  neighbouring  parish  of  Nonnington,  in 
Wingham  hundred,  part  of  the  possessions  in  1080 
of  Odo,  Bishop  of  Baieux.  A  John  de  Soles  was  in 
possession  of  it  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I.^  and  his 
descendant,  another  John,  died,  seized  of  it  in  1376. 
It  was  alienated  in  1400  or  1401. 

2  D 


402  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

Without  affirming  or  contradicting  this  statement, 
with  which  we  have  been  favoured  by  the  direct 
representative  of  the  Pedding  branch  of  the  family, 
there  is  the  fact  that  a  John  Solly  is  entered  in  the 
register  of  the  Abbey  of  St.  Augustine,  as  holding 
the  manor  of  Linucre  or  Linacre  Court  of  tlie  Abbot, 
by  Knight's  service,  in  the  49th  year  of  Edward  III., 
1377.  We  have  been  unable  to  connect  this  John 
Solly  with  any  of  the  family  of  De  Soles,*  or  to 
discover  any  intermediate  male  descendant  between 
him  and  the  Stephen  Solly  who  married  a  daughter  of 
Harfleet,  and  was  settled  at  Pedding  in  1509 ;  but 
in  the  Ash  registers  we  found  the  following  entry 
amongst  the  burials  during  March,  1586 : — "  Sexborow 
Solly,  wyd :  buryed,  being  an  hundred  years  owld, 
xxvj^^."  She  was,  therefore,  born  in  1486,  would 
have  been  23  in  1509,  and  possibly  the  wife  of  Stephen 
Solly  above  mentioned.  The  name,  which  appears 
singular  enough  in  the  corrupt  orthography  of  the 
register,  is  correctly  Sexburgha,  being  that  of  a 
celebrated  Abbess  of  Minster,  and  appears  to  have 
been  a  favourite  one  in  the  sixteenth  century.  A 
"  Sixborrowe  Sollye  "  preceded  her  venerable  name- 
sake to  the  grave,  being  buried  April  24th,  1573,  and 

*  Richard  Sawlew  is  a  witness  to  a  grant  of  land  from  William 
Sanders,  of  the  parish  of  Ash  next  Sandwich,  son  and  heir  of  William 
Sanders  of  Minster,  to  John  Bennett  of  Ash,  aforesaid,  dated  Septem- 
ber 17th,  in  the  19th  year  of  the  reign  of  Richard  11.  (A.D.  1398).— 
(Philipot  MS.,  No.  23,  Coll.  Arm.,  p.  103.)  The  absence  of  the  "  de  " 
before  the  name  of  the.  oldest  Solly,  identified  as  one  of  the  family,  iR 
not  to  be  overlooked. 


GENEALOGICAL    AND    HERALDIC    NOTES.  403 

another  ''Sixborrowe  Sollye,  widow,"  followed  her 
January  6th,  1591-2. 

Unfortunately,  the  earliest  registers  rarely  afford 
us  any  information  beyond  the  name  and  date  of 
burial  or  baptism,  and  identification  is  therefore 
little  assisted  by  them.  No  mention  is  made  of  whom 
the  first  of  these  Sexburghas  was  the  widow,  or  the 
second,  the  daughter,*  nor  do  we  find  the  name  any- 
where in  the  Harfleet  Pedigree.  We  must  therefore 
confine  ourselves  to  the  observation  of  the  facts,  and 
leave  the  conclusions  to  be  drawn  by  the  reader.  We 
find  no  entry  of  the  burial  of  Stephen  Solly,  ''the 
elder,"  as  he  is  called  in  the  will  of  Stephen  Huffam, 
dated  November  2nd,  1555,  unless  he  was  the 
"  Stephen,  son  of  William  Sollye,"  buried  March  4th, 
1561-2.  He  had,  however,  a  son  Stephen,  who 
married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Stephen  Hougham 
aforesaid,  and  had  a  son  John,  who  died  at  Podding 
in  1624,  leaving  three  sons,  John,  Stephen,  and 
Richard.  The  latter  was  of  Pleet  in  Ash,  and  married 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Daniel  Pryor  of  Ash.  He 
died  March  18th,  1652,  and  left  four  sons ;  the  eldest, 
Richard,  married  Mary,  daughter  of  John  Proude,  of 

*  The  other  widow,  we  presume,  was  the  wife  of  a  William   Solly, 
as   the  first   entry   of  a  marriage  is  that  of "  William   Sollye  and 

Sexborowe "   (no  maiden  name  mentioned  !),   November 

24th,  1558  ;  and  a  "  William  Sollye"  was  buried  March  5th,  1570-71; 
and  another  ^'William  Sollye,  householder,"  January  2nd,  1591-2,  only 
four  days  before  "  Sixborrowe."  The  latter  was  most  probably  her 
husband,  but  there  is  no  deciding  from  any  evidence  we  have  hitherto 
inspected. 

2  D  2 


404  A   CORNER    OF    KENT. 

the  Moat  in  Ash,  and  died  at  the  Moat,  October  22nd, 
1683,  aged  50.  His  eldest  son  John  married  twice, 
and  by  his  second  wife  Anne,  sister  to  Sir  Henry 
Purnesse,  had  a  son  E^ichard,  who  married  Anne, 
daughter  of  John  HoUis,  by  whom  he  had  five  sons : 
first,  John,  who  died  unmarried,  1750 ;  second,  Isaac, 
who  married  Ann,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Neale,  and 
had  twelve  children;  third,  Richard,  who  died  un- 
married, 1743  ;  fourth,  Edward,  who  died  unmarried, 
1792;  and  fifth,  Samuel,  who  married,  1776,  Sarah, 
daughter  of  Dr.  Horsman,  and  died  1805,  leaving 
two  sons,  Eichard  Horsman  Solly,  who  died  1858, 
and  Samuel  E/cynolds  Solly,  of  Manchester  Square, 
London,  E.R.S.  and  E.S.A.,  the  present  owner  of 
the  Moat. 

Of  the  collateral  descendants  (whose  name  is  legion) 
we  can  trace  no  other  line  with  any  confidence  to 
the  Sollys  now  living  in  the  parish.  Mr.  George 
Solly  of  E/ichborough  is  probably  the  representative 
of  one.  {Vide  page  139.)  Some  branches  of  the 
family  had  fallen  into  poverty  early  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  We  find  ''John  SoUye,  a  poor  house- 
holder," buried  January  7th,  1594-5  ;  ''  Matthew 
Sollye,  a  servant,"  buried  May  18th,  1606 ;  and 
*'  Priscilla  Solly,  servant  to  Mrs.  Solly  of  Podding," 
buried  September  22nd,  1666 ;  and  the  name,  like 
those  of  Paramore  and  Hougham,  is  still  found 
amongst  the  labouring  classes  and  in  the  humbler 
ranks  of  the  community.     But  "  apprenticeship  doth 


GENEALOGICAL   AND    HERALDIC    NOTES.  405 

not  extinguish  gentry,"  and  the  poorest  and  lowliest 
members  of  these  ancient  English  families  may  have 
the  barren  satisfaction  of  writing  the  proud  motto  of 
"  Euimus  "  under  the  escutcheon  they  have  inherited 
from  ancestors  who  owned  the  broad  acres  they  now 
till,  in  the  times  of  the  Plantagenets  and  the  Tudors. 
Apropos  of  escutcheon,  the  arms  attributed  to  the 
Sollys  of  Sandwich  by  Mr.  Hasted  (vol.  iii.  p.  670, 
note)  are  vert  a  chevron  per  pale  or  and  gules,  between 
3  soles  naiant,  argent.  In  vol.  iv.  p.  24,  note,  he 
confounds  them  with  those  of  the  family  of  Sole  of 
Bobbing;  Argent,  a  chevron  saUe  between  3  soles 
haurient,  proper  within  a  bordure  engrailed  of  the 
second :  but  the  fact  is,  that  no  arms  for  the  family 
of  Solly  of  Kent  are  recorded  in  the  Heralds'  College ; 
neither  does  any  pedigree  of  Solly  appear  in  the 
Visitations  of  that  county.  There  was,  however,  a 
family  of  the  name  of  Solley  existing  in  Worcester- 
shire as  early  as  the^  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  and  their 
pedigree  from  Thomas  Solley  living  in  the  thirteenth 
year  of  that  reign  (A.D.  1412)  down  to  Humfrey 
Solley,  in  1683,  is  to  be  found  in  the  Visitations, 
C.  30  and  K.  4,  Coll.  Arms.  The  coat  accompanying 
it  is  a  chevron  between  3  fish  (not  soles)  naiant ;  no 
colours  marked,  which  would  indicate  absence  of 
proof  of  their  authenticity.  There  is,  however,  much 
more  probability  that  these  SoUeys  were  collaterals 
of  the  Sollys  of  Kent  than  that  the  latter  are  descended 
from  the  De  Soles. 


406  A   COENER   OF   KENT. 

Of  the  family  of  Solly  the  entries  of  baptisms  at 
Ash  alone  amount  to  292,  of  marriages  to  104,  and 
of  burials  to  176,  exceeding  those  of  any  other  in 
the  register,  except,  perhaps,  that  of  Lacy. 


POSTSCRIPT. 


TTTHILE  awaiting  the  completion  of  the  illustra- 
^  *  tions  promised  to  our  subscribers  (the  illness 
of  the  artist  originally  employed  having  delayed  the 
publication  of  this  volume  considerably  beyond  the 
period  we  had  contemplated),  the  works  in  progress 
at  Ash  and  accidental  circumstances  have  enabled 
us  to  add  a  few  notes  of  some  importance  by  way 
of  postscript. 

In  the  first  place,  there  has  been  discovered  under 
the  flooring  of  the  pews  in  the  South  Transept  a 
piece  of  carved  oak  which  evidently  formed  part  of 
the  family  seat  of  the  Septvans  in  Ash  Church,  as  on 
one  side  of  it  appears  a  shield  of  arms,  on  which  are 
the  well-known  fans  or  wheat-screens  as  represented 
on  the  brasses  in  the  Holland  Chancel,  and  on  the 
other  an  elaborately  carved  letter  S  of  very  graceful 
design.     {Vide  Plate  VII.  fi^.  7.) 

Secondly,  in  one  of  the  unindexed  MSS.  in 
Philipot's  Collection,  Coll.  of  Arms,  we  have  lighted 
upon  a  pedigree  of  the  family  of  St.  Nicholas,  illus- 
trated by  coats  of  arms,  &c.,  and  attached  to  it  are 
some  rude  pen-and-ink  drawings  of  figures  formerly 


408  A   CORNER   OF    KENT. 

in  the  windows  of  the  churches  at  Ore  and  Ash. 
Two  of  these,  stated  to  have  heen  "  in  Ecclesia  de 
Ash  jnxta  Sandwicum,"  are  kneeling  figures  of  a 
man  and  woman,  the  former  in  armour,  with  a  tabard 
displaying  the  arms  of  St.  Nicholas ;  and  the  latter 
in  kirtle  and  mantle,  on  which  appear  the  arms 
of  Campania.  Underneath  them  is  written  ''  Orate 
pro  animabus  Johannis  Seynnicholas  et  Margaretse 
uxoris  suae.  8  filiorum  et  septem  filiar."  This  is  a 
curious  piece  of  genealogical  information,  as  we  have 
only  the  knowledge  from  his  will  of  four  sons  and 
two  daughters,  all  under  age,  at  the  date  of  its 
execution  in  June,  1462.  As  he  died  the  same  year, 
he  must  have  lost  nine  children  in  infancy  previous 
to  that  period.  As  these  figures  do  not  occur 
amongst  the  drawings  of  Peter  le  Neve  in  1610,  we 
must  conclude  that  the  glass  on  which  they  were 
painted  had  been  destroyed  before  his  time.  The 
particular  window  is  not  specified  by  Philipot ;  but  it 
was  probably  that  of  the  South  Transept,  wherein 
all  the  family  lie  bm^ied.  We  give  the  figures,  in 
addition  to  the  four  drawn  in  Peter  le  Neve's  Church 
Notes,  on  Plate  XIII.  page  254. 

Thirdly,  on  a  more  minute  examination  of  the  lid 
of  the  stone  coffin  recently  dug  up  in  the  South 
Transept,  our  artist  has  discovered  faint  traces  of  the 
ornamental  portion  of  the  cross  proper,  and  has 
indicated  its  probable  original  form  by  dotted  lines 
on  Plate  YII.  fig.  6,  page  204. 

Pourthly,  w^e  have  found  amongst  the  old  grants 


POSTSCRIPT.  409 

by  J.  DaltoD,  Norroy  King  of  Arms,  that  on  the 
11th  of  May,  1560  (2nd  of  Queen  Elizabeth),  there 
was  one  of  a  crest  to  "  Edward  Singleton  of 
Broughton   Tower,    in    the   Countie   of    Lancaster, 

Gentleman,"  which  is  blazoned  as  ''  an  arme 

armed  at  all  pieces,  the  hand,  charnell  {i.  e,,  flesh- 
colour,  or  proper),  holding  a  horseman's  staff,  gold, 
the  hede  sylver."  We  have  no  doubt,  therefore,  that 
the  gravestone  described  by  us  at  page  234  is  that 
of  Dr.  Singleton  of  Molland,  whose  epitaph  was 
preserved  by  Mr.  Eaussett  in  his  Church  Notes 
{vide  page  236) ;  but  though  the  coat  is  described  by 
him  correctly,  he  does  not  mention  the  crest,  and 
the  only  one  appearing  exactly  to  correspond  with 
it  which  we  could  discover  was  that  of  Gimber, 
for  the  sculptor  of  the  gravestone  has  embowed 
the  arm  the  reverse  way,  which,  according  to  the 
rules  of  Heraldry,  makes  altogether  another  crest  of 
it,  and  would  still  cause  us  to  hesitate  had  we  not 
proof  of  the  burial  of  Mr.  Thomas  Singleton  in  this 
chancel  in  1710,  coupled  with  the  statement  that  he 
was  ''  descended  from  the  ancient  family  of  the 
Singletons  of  Broughton  Tower,  in  Lancashire." 
This  fact  '*  dissolves  our  mystery,"  as  Mrs.  Malaprop 
would  say,  for  it  was  certainly  difficult  to  comprehend 
how  such  a  stone  could  have  escaped  the  notice  both 
of  Mr.  Eaussett  and  Mr.  Cozens. 

"We  had  indulged  a  faint  hope  that  we  should  have 
been  able^  by  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Ashpitel,  to  have 
thrown  some  new  light  upon  the  remarkable  deflec- 


410  A   CORNER   OF   KENT. 

tion  of  the  High  Chancel.  We  have  mentioned  at 
page  177,  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Eoherts,  one 
theory  propounded  by  Eeclesiologists ;  bnt  there  is 
another  less  fanciful  which  has  also  its  supporters. 
The  laying  of  the  foundation  of  a  church,  or  any 
particular  portion  of  it,  was  generally  preceded  by  a 
nocturnal  service  on  the  eve  of  the  day  of  the  saint  to 
whom  it  was  to  be  dedicated ;  and  as  previously  to  the 
invention  of  the  mariner's  compass  the  only  mode  of 
ascertaining  the  east  was  by  observing  the  rising  of 
the  sun,  this  was  done  on  the  following  morning  by 
"  the  watchers  of  the  matins,"  and  the  orientation 
of  the  building  depended  upon  their  report  to  the 
architects,  who  set  out  the  new  work  accordingly. 
Granting  this  to  be  fact,  it  follows  as  a  matter  of 
course  that  when  the  body  of  the  church  was 
dedicated  to  one  saint  and  the  chancel  to  another, 
there  would  be  a  sensible  deviation  from  the  right 
line  in  the  orientation  of  the  two  portions  of  the 
edifice.  Now,  the  Church  of  Ash  is  dedicated  to 
St.  Nicholas,  while  the  High  Chancel  is  expressly 
described  as  that  of  Our  Lady,  and  an  opportunity 
was  therefore  afforded  us  to  test  the  value  of  this 
theory.  The  result  of  our  observations  were,  how- 
ever, singularly  contrary  to  our  expectations, — the 
nave  of  the  church  being  in  a  direct  line  towards  the 
point  at  which  the  sun  would  rise  on  the  2nd  of 
February,  the  day  of  the  Purification  (one  of  three 
great  days  appropriated  to  the  Virgin),  and  the  chan- 
cel diverging  towards  the  point  of  sunrise  on  the  6th 


POSTSCRIPT.  411 

of  December,  St.  Nicholas'  Day — the  exact  reverse 
of  the  proposition ! 

The  question  may  arise,  has  there  been  any  re- 
dedication  ?  Was  the  old  Norman  church,  originally 
dedicated  to  St.  Nicholas,  and  the  short  nave  then 
existing  in  a  direct  line  with  the  chancel,  or  was 
there  an  earlier  edifice  raised  in  honour  of  the  Virgin, 
and  a  new  Church  of  St.  Nicholas  constructed  nearly 
upon  the  same  foundation  in  the  12th  century  ? 
The  nave  has  evidently  been  lengthened  westward 
during  the  first  half  of  the  13th  century,  and  pre- 
viously to  the  period  when  it  was  made  a  parish 
church  and  appropriated  to  the  College  of  Wingham 
by  Archbishop  Peckham,  whose  family,  from  the 
exact  similarity  of  their  coat  armour,  is  supposed  to 
be  identical  with  that  of  St.  Nicholas  of  Ash  and 
Thanet.  I  cannot  do  better  than  conclude  this 
postscript  by  transcribing  some  general  observations 
on  the  church,  which  have  been  kindly  contri- 
buted by  Mr.  Ashpitel,  in  further  illustration  of 
the  plan,  Plate  Y.,  for  which  we  are  also  indebted 
to  him : — 

''  An  examination  was  made  of  the  south  wall  of 
the  nave  (see  Plan  A,  B),  where  there  are  evidently 
the  remains  of  two  arches,  leading  either  into  a 
side  chapel,  or  more  probably  what  was  once  a 
south  aisle. 

''  A  cursory  view  shows  they  are  supported  by  a 
column  at  C,  but  on  cutting  into  the  wall  at  b,  it 
was  clear  there  was  a  half-column  attached  to  a  pier. 


412  A    CORNEE   OP    KENT. 

or,  as  it  is  technically  called,  a  respond,  and  not 
another  column.  It  was  then  suggested  that  the 
original  church  might  have  only  extended  as  far  as 
the  dotted  lines  d,  e,  and  that  it  was  probably  (for 
the  arches  now  built  into  the  wall  are  pointed) 
the  work  of  the  Anglo-Norman  period,  circa  1160 — 
1180,  and  consisted  of  a  short  nave  (as  shown  by  the 
dotted  lines)  and  two  aisles;  and,  as  was  usual  at 
the  time,  there  was  also,  in  all  likelihood,  a  small 
chancel,  with  an  octagonal  or  circular  apsis,  under 
where  the  central  tower  now  stands.  If  this  were 
the  case,  the  ragstone  column  aty,  and  the  respond 
at  g,  may  be  original ;  and  the  upper  abacus,  like  that 
at  e,  has  been  superimposed  at  the  time  of  the 
erection  of  the  new  Early  English  arches,  for  this 
is  of  Caen  stone,  like  that  at  e,  while  the  rest  of  the 
columns,  capital,  and  base  are  of  rag. 

"  This  yiew  is  further  strengthened  by  the  section 
of  the  capitals  e  and/,  and  still  more  so  by  those  of 
the  bases  ^  and  /,  the  latter  of  which  is  in  all  proba- 
bility half  a  century  later  than  the  first. 

"  About  fifty  years  after  this  date,  in  the  palmy  days 
of  the  Early  English  style,  1220  to  1240,  the  nave 
seems  to  have  been  lengthened  westward,  and  the 
chancel  built  as  we  now  see  it.  The  transepts  also 
must  have  been  erected  about  that  time;  and,  as 
previously  stated,  it  would  appear,  from  the  extra 
thickness  of  the  walls  at  the  north-west  end  of  the 
building  (see  letter  E),  there  must  have  been  a  tower 
at  that   spot.     This  idea  has  been  corroborated  by 


POSTSCRIPT.  413 

the  finding  the  cill  of  a  small  oylet,  or  arrow-slit 
window,  close  under  the  present  eaves,  which  could 
only  have  been  made  for  the  first  floor,  or  ringing- 
loft,  of  a  tower.  That  the  Holland  Chancel  or  St. 
Nicholas  Chapel  was  then  built,  or  shortly  afterwards, 
is  probable,  as  the  remains  of  a  foundation  were 
discovered  a  short  time  ago,  northward  of  the  present 
wall,  A,  i.  This  part  of  the  building,  as  it  exists  at 
present,  was  probably  erected  at  the  same  time  with 
the  central  towers." 


THE   END. 


cox   AND   WYMAN,    PRINTEES,    GREAT  QUEEN   STREET,    LONDON. 


3W^ 


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