demeasn at Halden in Dower with Mary his Daughter matched to Sir Hen. Sidney Lord Deputy of Ireland and Knight of the Garter a person of that Value and Eminence that he that would discover him represented in his best Features and proportion must view him in his Worthy and Signal undertakings in Ireland where he will find him better pourtraid than he can be by any faint or drowsie Attributes that drop from my humble and unequal pen and from him did this Mannor in right of this Alliance descend to his Grandchild the right honorable Robert Earl of Leicester who not many years since passed it away to Sir Edward Hendon one of the Barons of the Exchequer who upon his Decease gave it to his Nephew Sir John Hondon of Biddenden and he not long since alienated it to Mr. John Austin of Tenterden from whom it is lately devolved by Death to be now the possession of his second Brother Mr. Rob. Austin of Hall-place in Bexley Brocket is another Mannor in Ebeney which had possessors as appears by ancient Deeds of that Name who likewise were written in Evidences Brocket but whether the Brockets of Brocket-hall in the County of Hartford were descended from these or these from them I cannot discover But the greatest honor which this obscure Mannor hath acquired is that ever since the reign of Henry the fourth untill the thirtieth year of Henry the eighth it acknowledged the noble Family of Guldford and then it changed its proprietaries for that year it was by John Guldford Esquire conveyed to Sir John Hales Baton of the Exchequer from whom it is now come down to own the proprietary of his Descendant Sir Edward Hales of Tunstall Baronet The Island of Shepey comes next to be treated of It called by Ptolomie Toliatis in Latin Insula Ovium in Saxon Sceapige all agreeing in their Verdict that it was so named from its plenty of Sheep It is environed with the mixed Waters of the Thames and Medway on the West the Swale or Genlade on the South and the Main Ocean beats on the East and North more celebrated for the fertility of the Soil then Salurbity of Air which is grosse and thick causing Aguish Infirmities that keep long Residence they get possession Quinborough or rather originally Kingsborough as Konisbergh in Prussia is now corruptly called Quensborough acknowledged King Edward the third for the Founder who having wedded Philippa Daughter of William Earl of Henault and Holland and his occasions often calling him to passe into her Fathers Dominion whose Aid and Assistance he required in the great enterprise for the Recovery of his undoubted right to the Diadem of France heerected this strong and stately Fottresse for defence of the mouth of the Thames and his own secure Accomodation And because the Situation of this place was unhealthy he to allure Inhabitants in the year 1366 enobled the Town with a Charter of Incorporation wherein he indulges by Grant ample priviledges and Immunities unto it as namely to hold two Mercates weekly one on the Munday and the other on the Thursday and two Fairs yearly one at the Feast of St. James the other on the twenty fourth of March and to make Choice of Burgesses to send to Parliament The principal Architect and Surveyout of the work was William Wickham after Bishop of Winchester who had been formerly employed in that kind at the reedifying Windsor-castle when his good patron John de Vuedal was Constable there This man used to inscribe on the edifices thus erected this Inscription This made VVickham whereby some conceived he arrogated to himself the Cost and payment of the Structure and informed the King thereof but his ingenious exposition satisfied that Prince when he shewed him that by his Inspection and Insight into those matters he had obtained both his Ecclesiastical and secular promotions being made Bishop of Winchester first Keeper of the privy Seal and then of the King's Conscience his last Gradation or Ascent being to be Lord Chancellor of England When King Edward had perfected this Castle he instituted a Chief Governour who was for the future to carry the Title of Constable like as at Dover-castle and elsewhere The Catalogue of those who succeeded in that Command I have set down The care and cost of King Henry the eighth in the year 1536 to repair this place when he erected Fortresses for Defence of the Sea Coast drew this Eulogie from the Pen of Leland Castrum Regius editum recepit Burgus Fulmina dira Insulanos Tutos servat ab omni vel omni Constables of Quinborough Castle JOhn Foxly a valiant Souldier and faithful Servant to King Edward the third was the first Constable of Quinborough Castle which Office he received the thirty sixth of Edward the third 50. Edw. 3. John of Gaunt 8. Rich. 2. Robert de Vere 16. Rich. 2. Arnold Savage of Bobbing Court. 20. Rich. 2. William Scroop 1. Hen. 4. Sir Hugh Waterton 4. Hen. 4. Sir Jo. Cornwallis Lord Fanhope Knight of the Garter 10. Hen. 4. Thomas Arundel Arch-bishop of Canterbury 1. Hen. 5. Gilbert Vmfreville 28. Hen. 6. Humfrey Stafford Duke of Buckingham 1. Edw. 4. John Northwood Esquire ... Edw. 4. George Duke of Clarence 1. Rich. 3. Thomas Wentworth 2. Rich. 3. Christopher Collins 1. Hen. 7. William Cheyney 2. Hen. 8. Sir Francis Cheyney 3. Hen. 8. Sir Tho. Cheyney of Shurland Knight of the Garter 1. Reginae Elizab. Sir Robert Constable  Sir Edward Hobbie Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery Baron of Shurland and Knight of the Garter Minster is the next place of Account in this Island and is contracted from the Latin Word Monasterium from whence this Town hath its Appellation and may challenge the third place amongst our English Nunneries For Sexburga Daughter to Ercombert King of Kent to whom and the Virgin Mary the Church of this Parish is devoted and dedicated in the year 664 erected a Religious House at this place and liberally endowed it for the Sustentation of vayled Virgins The second was founded by Eanswith Daughter of Eadbald King of Kent at Folkston And the first had its Institution at Liminge likewise in this County by Eadburga and erected to the Honor of the Virgin Mary and St. Mildred But the Antiquity of this Cell and the Sanctity attributed to it by elder times could not so skreen or rescue it from the Heat of War but it was thrice sacked and dismantled by the barbarous irruptions of the Danes within lesse then an Age which by usual Account is said to be thirty year The first misfortune happened to it in the year 832 when thirty five Sail of them rived here and rifled it The second and third time was in the year 851 and then again in the year 855 by the Armies of them who wintered their Ships within this Island Besides these depredations the complices of Earl Godwin and his Sons in the Time of their proscription and exile which was in the year
original In Ages of a lower step these Comites were frequently call'd Reguli In Cantia saith Malmsbury Omnis justitia laborabat sub cujusdam Gorongiregimine qui tamen sicut omnes Reguli insulae Vortigerno substernebantur Afterwards when Hengist had establish'd his Kentish Kingdome the Title of Earl began to commence in Otho and Ebusa Brothers to the abovesaid Hengist as the same Malmesbury observes in his Tract de Gestis Regum Cap. 3. And the Title of Earl was anciently expressed by the word Comes amongst the Saxons for to King Ethelberts Charter for the foundation of the Abby of St. Augustins cited by Reynerus there are these subscriptions Ego Hamigilus Dux laudavi and then Ego Ocea Comes consensi Ego Graphio Comes benedixi and there is an old Epitaph quoted by Mr. Selden in his Titles of Honour the substance of which is this that Alwain which was Founder of Ramsey-Abby was Comes Aldermannus totius Angliae but in decursion of Time this word Eolderman being used by others besides those to whom it was proper and analogical it began to languish into disuse and the Title of Thane and Earl was assumed which last hath remained in force untill this day Now the relief of a Thane who was certainly an Earl by office rather then Title if he were of the first rank that is had the custody of some County under the King which he paid to the Crown was four Horses two sadled and two unsadled two Swords and four Spears and as many Shields And if he were of the second rank he paid two Horses one sadled and one unsadled one Sword two Lances as many Shields and fifty Marks in Silver sometimes if he were a Thane of an inferior rank he paid eight-pound and frequently three-pound The relief which an Earl paid constantly to the Crown after the Norman Conquest was as Mr. Selden in his Titles of Honour does demonstrate out of severall Records was an Hundred pound Now the benefit which did accrue to the Count or Earl besides a Barren and naked Title to support the dignity of his Person in its due Magnificence and Splendor was the third penny arising out of the Profits of the County Algar Earl of Mercland as Dooms-day Book informs us had the third penny of the County of Oxford and the Borough of Stafford under Edward the Confessor And Mawde the Empresse when she created Milo Earl of Hereford assigned to him for the support of his Honor the third penny of that County Many examples of the like condition are discoverable in Mr. Selden's Titles of Honour whither I refer the Reader And as they had the third penny so they had frequently the Castle of the County annexed to their Title but when by experience the Kings of England were instructed how fatally pernicious it was to have so many local powers concurrent with theirs that by the strength of their retreat and the number of confederates and Partisans seem'd even to out-poise the Royal Authority it was by a Statute made in the 13 th year of Richard the 2 d. for the future interdicted and prohibited Now if you will enquire when Earls or Counts from being absolute became Feudal Sr. Henry Spelman in his Glossarie will tell you that it was Tempore Othonum sub excessu Merovinae stirpis in Galliâ that is about the year onet housand Now as concerning the Ensigns of Investiture with which the Earl was created it was anciently only with the Cincture of a Sword but about the latter end of Edward the first the Coronet began to be in use for Aymer de Vallence Earl of Pembrook who died in the 16 th year of Edward the 2 d. had one as appears by an instrument of William de Lavenham cited by Mr. Selden in his Titles of Honour by which he acknowledges the receit of it from Sr. Henry Stacheden in the 12 th year of Edward the 2 d. Richard Earl of Arundel died in the 49 th year of Edward the 3 d. and by his last Will dated the fifth of December gives his Noblest and Richest Coronet to his Son the Lord Richard Fitz-allan his second to the Lady Joan his eldest and the 3 d. he bequeaths to the Lady Alice his youngest Daughter What the Counts Palatine were I shall now demonstrate they were taken immediately à Palatio from whence they assum'd their name and were customarily such as had the nearest relation to the Prince either by friendship or Affinity and to whose care and administration he did entrust such or such a Province and the more to improve and enable them in the discharge of their Duty did unite some privileges and Franchises to their office as erecting Courts of Judicature appointing Judges to sit in them and determine by signal decision upon causes both Criminal and Civil and others of the like nature that were of that luxutiant latitude that they had the Stamp and Character of something which resembled Regality fixt upon them He that will discover by example more of this honorary Title may read Mr. Seldens Titles of Honor whither to decline all superfluity of discourse I refer to the Reader I have now done with the Title I shall now proceed to unwind the Register of those who were Earls of Kent subsequent to Earl Godwin 1067 1 Odo Bishop of Baieux halfe Brother to William the Conquerer Lord chief Justice and Lord Treasurer of England 1141 2 William de Ipre 1227 3 Hubert de Burg Lord Chief Justice of England 1321 4 Edmund de woodstock Son to King Edward the first 1330 5 Edmund Plantaginet 1333 6 John Plantaget  7 Thomas Holland Earl of Kent in right of Joan his wife who was Daughter of Edmund of Woodstock 1360 8 Thomas Holland 1397 9 Thomas Holland Duke of Surry 1400 10 Thomas Holland Lord High Admiral of England 1461 11 Will. Nevill Lord Fauconbridge 1464 12 Edmund Grey Lord Ruthin Lord Treasurer of England created Earl of Kent by King Edward the 4 th  13 George Grey  14 Richard Grey  15 Reginald Grey  16 Henry Grey  17 Charles Grey  18 Henry Grey  19 Anthony Grey Clerk Parson of Burbage in the County of Leicester Grandchild of Anthony 3 d. Son of George Earl of Kent above mentioned  20 Henry Grey  21 Anthony Grey Earl of Kent now living 1658. but in his Minority Having represented in Prospect the Comites and Consules the Earls and Consuls which were originally to manage those Provinces subordinate to the Romane Government I shall now take cognisance of those which were anciently styl'd Vice Comites Proconsules and had care of the Provincial revenue in relation to which they were term'd Questores Provinciarum and the jurisdiction of some Causes only as our Sheriffs have of divers Actions Viscontiel and inquiry of Causes Criminal but not determination of them In the Saxon times they were sometimes call'd Ealdormen and in Latine Vice Comites which was applyed
Roper Baron of Tenham in whom it is at this instant resident There was a Castle anciently here at Apledore which when the Danes in the reign of Etheldred Father of Edmund Ironside made this County the Scene of their Devastations was mingled by the flame they put it into in the year 892. in its own Rubbish yet like a Phaenix it rose into new shape and frame again out of its Ashes and continued in the Register and under the notion of the Castles and Fortresses of this County until the year 1380. and then as How relates in his Chronicle who likewise represents the former Tragedie the French making an hostile Eruption on this part of the County made it once more a pitied and calamitous heap of flame and ruine out of whose dismantled reliques the Church now visible was not only repaired but as some from ancient Tradition affirm wholly reedified a probable Argument of the ancient Grandeur Magnificence and Strength of this now totally-demolished Fortresse I had almost omitted the Mannor of Frenchay which likewise lies within the Circle of Apledore and had in elder Times as appears by old evidences Owners of that Sirname but the greatest Glory that it atchieved was that ever since the reign of Edward the third untill the Government of Henry the eighth it acknowledged the Family of Haut for its Proprietaries the last of which was Sir William Haut who concluded in two Daughters and Coheirs whereof Joan the youngest matched to Sir Thomas Wiat shared his estate at this place but he being attainted in the second year of Queen Mary this was confiscated to the Crown and lay there untill the twenty fourth of Queen Elizabeth and then it was granted back to George Wiat Esquite whose Son Sir Francis Wiat not many years since passed it away to Thomas Floyd of Gore-court in Otham Esquire and he in the year 1636 alienated it to Sir Edward Hales of Tunstall Knight Baronet whose Grandchild Sir Edward Hales is now in possession of it Apledore had anciently a Market to be observed here weekly granted to it by Edward the third in the thirty second year of his reign which since is vanished into Disuse by Intermission Adisham in the Hundred of Downhamford was given to the Monks of St. Augustins as appears by Christ Church Book by Ethelbald Son of Ethelbald King of Kent Anno Domini 616. Cum Campis Silvis Pascuis c. as the Record mentions ad illam pertinentibus ad Cibum Monachorum Ecclesiae Christi Cantuariae liberam ab omnibus servitiis fiscali Tributo exceptis tribus istis Consuetudinibus id est Communi Labore de quo nullus excipiatur Pontis Constructione vel Arcis and whereas we frequently trace in ancient Chartularies these three Letters L. S. A. which may at first appearance seem to wrap up some gloomy and mysterious sense they import no more but this that Lands which were given by Charter to the Church should be Liberae sicut Adisham that is be fortified with the same Franchises and Liberties as Adisham Originally was The Austins for some Hundreds of years have been Tenants for this and the Mannor of Godmersham to the Church as if to improve and gratifie the Memory of Augustin their first Abbot the Monks of Christ Church were determined to plant some of their Patrimony in that Name though perhaps but of accidental Coincidence Aldington is the next place to be remembred in the Hundred of Street and Bircholt Franchise more eminent because here are chosen the Officers yearly relating to the Mannors of Romney Mersh Queen Edgiva mother to King Edmund and King Edred gave this Town to Christ Church in Canterbury in Grosse with other Lands Anno Dom. 961. But in the General Survey of the Churches Lands in the Conquerours Time the Arch-Bishops had twenty one Sullings or Plough-Lands there and was valued together with the Appurtenances at Stouting and Lyming at 107 l. and 25 Burgesses held of it The arch-Arch-Bishops of Canterbury did usually retire to their Mannor-house here and had both a Park empailed and a Chase for Deer called Aldington Frith by which Name we express Places where Deer ranged at large as in a Forrest But when the Kings of England intended to pare off something of the Revenue and Power of the Arch-Bishops which was in their Estimate of too vast and wide an Extent this Mannor with many other was passed away by Exchange to the Crown in the twenty ninth of Henry the eighth by Thomas Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Ruffins-Hill in this Parish was the Seat of the Godfrey's ancient Gentlemen whose Estate by two Daughters and Coheirs came to the Clerks of Kingsnoth and the Blechendens But whether descended from Godfrey le Falconer the Son of Balder unto whom K. Henry the second assigned gave and granted much Land in these Parts to hold in Serjeantie by the Service of keeping two Hawks for the King and his Successors I cannot positively say Much of the Land lay in Hurst and the Mannor is called Falconers Hurst and those that for many Generations held it resolved into the Name of Michel-Grove whose Heir General brought this and other fair Demeasns to Shelley's Ancestor of Michel-Grove in whose Name it resides at present The Coat very well alluded to their ancient Name and Tenure and is Quarterly Argent and Azure over all a Falcon Or. Hurst was formerly a Parish and the Church was dedicated to St. Leonard but it is now languished into Decay and Ruine and the Inhabitants assemble for the Performance of divine Offices at Aldington Ainsford in the Hundred of Axtane lieth upon the River of Darent and gave Seat and Sirname to a worthy Family that continued till the Time of Edward the second It hath the Ruines of an ancient Castle which reckons them and the Arsicks to have been the Founders There is another Seat in this Parish of venerable Antiquity called Arkesden whose owners bore the same for their Sirname and were of the Number of the Grand Assise in King John's Time after them the Cobhams were possessors of it and Reginald de Cobham had License the fourteenth of Edward the third to Castelate his House and paid respect of Aid for the same the twentieth of Edward the third at the making the Black Prince Knight From the Cobhams of Sterborough it came by the Heir General to the Lord Burgh or Borough from whom by Sale it devolved its Right on Sir Samuel Leonard Father of Sir Stephen Leonard which Sir Stephen enjoys it at this Day Southcourt and Mayfield are two Mannors lying in the Precincts of this Parish and did anciently relate to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury from whom by exchange they passed over to Dunham and from that Family to the Wiats in which Name and Family they remained till upon the Attainder of Sir Thomas Wiat they escheated to the Crown which by Grant invested their Right and Interest in J. Leonard of Chevening from whom they are
alienated to Godfrey of Lidde where after it had some small Time been setled a Mutation like the former united it to the Propriety of Wood and he about the Beginning of King James demised it by Sale to Mr. John Fagge Grandfather to Mr. John Fagge Esquire one of the Justices of the Peace for the County of Sussex who is the instant Lord of the Fee Brook in the Hundred of Chart and Longbridge was given to the Priory of Christ Church by Charlemanus a Priest which Donation was first ratified by the Charter of Henry the first and secondly confirmed by that of Henry the second In the Conquerours time you will find it thus represented Rodbertus de Romeney tenet 1 Manerium de Brock ad firmam de Cibo Monachorum pro 1 Sulling defendebat se nunc pro Dimidio valet 4 l. This upon the Surrender of the abovesaid Cloister and its Revenue into the Hands of Henry the eighth was enstated on the newly erected Dean and Chapter of Christ Church and there was lodged untill this Age of Discomposure and Distraction and now it is rent off Bromley gives Name to the whole Hundred where it is situated and hath been many Ages part of the Demeasne of the Church since it was given as appears by the Records of the Church of Rochester by John Later a Goldsmith of London to the Bishop of that Sea in the year of our Lord 1300. There are two Seats within this Parish which were alwaies of temporall Interest and pretend to a deep Antiquity The first is Sundridge which formerly was the Patrimony of a noble Family called Blund Peter le Blund was Constable of the Tower of London the thirty fourth of Henry the third and Ralph le Blund his Grandchild paid respective Aid for his Lands at Bromley which he there held by a whole Knights Fee of the Bishop of Rochester in the twentieth of Edward the third and when this Name was entombed in a Female Heir this Seat went with her to the Willoughbies from whom the Earl of Lindsey is descended and when some years it had rested in this Family by the Circumstance of Purchase it became the Patrimony of Booth when this Name was likewise wound up in an Heir Generall the Betenhams of Pluckley by matching with her became Lords of this Manfion and and continue still Proprietaries of it Simpsons is the second Seat of Account though in Ages of a later Inscription it contracted that Name yet anciently it was the Demeasne of Bankewell a Family of Signall Repute in this Track John de Bankewell had a Charter of Free Warren to his Lands in Bromley in which this was involved in the thirty first of Edward the first and Thomas de Bankewell dyed seised of it in the thirty fifth year of Edward the third and when this Family was shrunk at this Place into a finall extinction the next who were eminent in the Possession of it were the Clarks and one William Clark that flourished here in the Reign of Henry the fifth that he might not be obnoxious to the Statute of Kernellation obtained Licence to erect a strong little Pile of â—ime and Stone with an embattell'd Wall encircled with a deep Moat which is supplyed and nourished with a living Spring but this mans posterity did not long enjoy it for about the latter end of Henry the sixth John Simpson dwelt here by right of Purchase and he having much improved the ancient Fabrick setled his Name upon it and indeed that is all that 's left to Evidence they were once Owners of it for in an Age or two after this it was conveyed to Mr. John Stiles of Bekenham Esquire from whom descends Sir Humphrey Stiles Knight and Baronet Cupbearer to the late K. Charles and him does Simpsons confesse for its instant Owner There is a Well in the Bishops Park called St. Blases Well which anciently had an Oratory annexed to it dedicated to St. Blasius which was much frequented at Whitsontide because Lucas who was Legat for Sixtus the fourth here in England granted an indulgent remission of forty Days injoyned Pennance to all those who should visit this Chappell and offer up their Orizons there in the three Holy-days at Pentecost Boughton Montchensey is placed in the Hundred of Twyford and hath that Addition annexed to it to signifie to us that it was once the Possession of the Family of Montchensey whose principall Seat was at Swanscamp where I shall treat more largely of them but though originally they held this Place yet it was not long a Branch of their Demeasne for about the Beginning of Henry the third they had deserted the Possession and surrendred it up to Hougham of Hougham by Dover and Robert de Hougham dyed possest of it in the forty first year of Henry the third and had Issue Robert de Hougham after whose Death the Spindle prevailed against the Spear for he concluding in Daughters and Coheirs Bennet one of them was matched to John de Shelving and he by a Right derived from her was invested in the Possession and dyed seised of it in the fourth year of Edward the third and so did his Widow in the twenty second year of that Prince and with them the Name of Shelving expired in a Daughter and Heir called Helen who was affianced to John de Bourn and so he in her Right became entituled to the Signory of this Mannor but before the end of Richard the second this Family found likewise its Tomb in a Female Inheritrix who was married to Haut of Hauts Place in Petham and Edward Haut held this Mannor in the eighth year of Henry the fourth as appears by the Pipe Roll relating to that Time but after this it was not long united to their Inheritance for about the latter end of Henry the sixth by an old Court Roll I find it in the Tenure of Reginald Peckham Esquire and Katharine Peckham Widow of James Peckham his Son held it at her Death which was in the seventh year of Henry the seventh and after her Thomas Peckham Esquire her Descendant enjoyed it at his Decease which was in the twelfth year of Henry the eighth and left it to his Son Reginald Peckham Esquire who about the latter end of the above mentioned Prince passed it away to Sir Thomas Wiat and he not long after alienated it to Robert Rudston Esquire who having been entangled in the unsuccesful Design of that Knight forfeited it to the Crown but was reinvested again in it by a new Concession in the second year of Queen Mary and much improved the ancient Structure with the increase of Building in the years 1567 and 1576 and left it to his Son and Heir Belknap Rudston Esquire who by his last Will and Testament setled it on his Kinsman Sir Francis Barnham in the year 1613 from whom it is now descended to that worthy person Mr. Robert Barnham Esquire his Son and Heir Wierton House is a
Ancestor to Will. James aliàs Hastretcht Esquire thrice Knight of the Shire within the Circle of five years who by Paternall Derivation is now Lord of this Mannor of Eightam Before I leave this Discourse of Eightam I must inform the Reader of two things First that Edward the second in the ninth year of his Reign granted Licence to Will. de Inge the Judge to hold a Market here Weekly on the Monday and a Fair yearly at Eightham by the space of three days viz. the Vigill the day of St. Peter and Paul and the day after Secondly that the Family of James now Possessors of Eightam were originally called Hastrecht as being Lords of a place of that Name neer Gouda and were branched out from the ancient Family of Arkell Ex Autographis penes Do. Will. James as likewise was that of Bouteslaw both which Families bear the same Coat without any visible Distinction with Haestrecht viz. Argent two Barrs Crenelle or Counterembattel'd Gules three Pheon or Broad Arrow Heads in Chief Sables Roger James Son of Jacob van Hastrecht came out of Cleve whither his Ancestor a yonger Son of the Lord of Hastrecht had been chased by one of the Lords of Holland because his Father who likewise was forced to Drunen neer Huesden by that Count had been an eager Partisan of his enemy the Bishop of Vtretcht into England about the beginning of Hen. the eighth and being called after the Belgick mode Roger Jacobs the English by a more soft and gentle pronunciation filed off the roughnesse of the Accent and by melting it into a more narrow Volume contracted it into James By marriage the Family of Haestrecht and Arkell above mentioned are allyed to the eminent House of Wassenaer issued out from the ancient Counts of Holland as likewise to the Family of Waermont neer Leyden who matched with the Heir of Hastrecht of Drunen where this Family had for many Descents been planted ever since their first expulsion thither by the Earl of Holland who was Colonel of a Regiment of Foot and Drosart of Breda when it was under the Government and Scepter of the King of Spain St. Cleres is the second place of Note in this Parish it was formerly called Aldham as being for many years the Patrimony of that Family the last of which was Sir Tho. de Aldham who resolved into three Female Coheirs ....... matched to Newborough of the County of Dorsett Margery matched to Martin de Pecham and Isolda wedded to John St. Clere. Upon the partition of his patrimony this place was about the beginning of Ed. the third annexed to the Inheritance of St. Clere and so it becamein procedure of Time styled Aldham St. Cleres but Custome and vulgar Use did not long after file off the first Appellation so that it hath for diverse Generations been styled singly St. Cleres Isolda St. Clere Widow of this John did in the twentieth year of Edward the third pay respective Aid for her Lands at Eightham at the making the Black Prince Knight And in this Family did the Stream of Possession carry down the Possession of this place till towards the latter end of Henry the seventh and then it was alienated from this Name and setled in Richard Empson the grand Projector who had wire-drawn by his close and dextrous Artifices the Treasure of the Kingdome into such subtile Threads as he had almost wound it all into the Kings Exchequer But he being convicted of Felony for his many Excesses in the first year of Henry the eighth this was confiscated to the Crown and there it was not many years after by that Prince granted to Sir Thomas Bullen Knight of the Garter and created Earl of Ormond and Wiltshire in the year 1529 whose infortunate Son George Viscount Rochford being blasted with the black Aspersion of Treason which was multiplyed and inforced to that Bulke that the weight of it sunk him upon a Bloody and untimely Scaffold and then this Mannor upon the Death of his Father which was in the thirtyeth year of Hen. the eighth was seised on by the Crown as being setled before on him and his Heirs male of whom this unhappy Lord was the last Some few years after it was by Royall Concession from the abovesaid Prince made the Patrimony of George Moulton Esquire of Moulton in Hadloe a Man of high Repute in those Times and much interessed in the Favour of Henry the eighth whose Grandchild Robert Moulton Esquire almost in Times within the pale of our Remembrance alienated his Right in it to Sir John Sydley Knight and Baronet who hath upon the old Foundation erected that magnificent Pile which for the Grandeur Elegance and Majestick Aspect it carryes to the publick View surrenders a Priority but to few Structures in this County The Moat is the third and last place which summons our Remembrance It was in elder Times the Inheritance of Ivo de Haut who flourished in the Reign of King John and Henry the third his Grandchild was Henry de Haut who held this Mannor at his Decease which was in the forty fourth of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 34. his Grandchild was Nicholas Haut who was Sheriff of Kent in the ninteenth year of Richard the second Afterwards I find that Richard Haut Grandchild to this Man was Sheriff of Kent the eighteenth year of Edward the fourth and again in the twenty second year of the abovesaid Prince he was second Brother to Sir William Haut of Hautsbourne who was Sheriff of Kent in the sixth yeer of Edward the fourth and great Uncle to Sir William Haut But this Richard Haut having with John Fogge John Guldford Esquire John Darell Esquire James Horne of Westwell William Clifford Reginald Pimpe John Pimpe and Edward Poynings of Marsham or Mersham embarked himself in the Designs of Henry Earl of Richmond John Darell Esq and John Pimpe Esquire had the Grant of thirteen Mannors lying in Worcester-shire made to them which accrued to the Crown upon the Attaint of Humphrey Stafford Esquire in the second year of Henry the seventh as appears Origin Anni 2. Hen. 7. Rot. 17. in the Treasurers side in the Exchequer and the emotion of Henry Duke of Buckingham he was attainted in the third year of Richard the third as appears Rot. Par. de Anno 3. R. 3. Memb. 6. And then the Moat by the Favour and Indulgence of that Prince was conferred on Sir Rob. Brakenbury Lieutenant of the Tower but he enjoyed it not long for Henry abovesaid having triumphed in a Successeful Encounter at Bosworth field over Richard the third and all his Partisans this was restored to Richard Haut above-said in which Family it remained untill the latter end of Henry the seventh and then by an old Court Roll I find it in the Possession of Sir Richard Clement Knight who was Sheriff of Kent in the twenty third year of Henry the eighth he dyed without any legitimate Issue and lies entombed
Partisans of the House of Lancaster but rather was driven into it by the Tempest of his ill Fortune Having represented the City in its Modern Face or Aspect I shall now draw the Curtain something wider and discover its Pourtracture in its calamitous Sufferings occasioned by the Invasions not only of an entaged Enemy but likewise which is worse by the Onsets of its own incensed Prince and these two mixing together have much disordered the Ancient Glory and Splendor of it In the year 680. Eldred King of Mercia harrassed Kent and by an impetuous Inroad laid it wast And as particular Lamentations are not distinguishable in universal Groans so in this publick Depopulation of the County then Kingdome the Tragedy and Devastation acted by that Prince at that Time upon this City was not resented with that Regret as so deplorable Ruine might seem to exact which had it been singly poured out upon this City it could not have been repeated or rehearsed without a bleeding Heart and a weeping Eye In the year 986. King Etheldred infested Rochester with a Siege having entertained some discontent or disgust against the Bishop and would not dissolve his Leaguer until the said Bishop had expiated his Offence with the Sacrifice of an hundred pounds a Sum of importance in those dry Times though inconsiderable in these profuser ones of ours where commonly the pecuniary Supply that is extracted from the Subject is steeped in his Tears In the year 999. the Danes invaded Canterbury and though by the vigorous Resistance and Magnanimity of the Defendants their Assaults were made null yet at length by the treacherous Combination of an insidious Party within it was rather betrayed then subdued and miserably depopulated by the Barbarous Adversary the Signatures of which Devastation are yet visible and though the wideness of the Orifice which that wound had made be something closed up with the Hand of Time yet there is a huge Scar left to represent to Posterity the Greatness of the former Ruine After they had thus harrassed and defaced that City they to improve â—heir Victory advanced to Rochester where the Inhabitants astonished with an Example of so much Terror after some faint Opposition against the Danish Impressions and Onsets gave themselves up to Flight and this City to a Calamitous Depopulation In the year 1130. Henry the first with the Arch-bishop of Canterbury were present at the Consecration of St. Andrews Church in Rochester which was then brought to perfection having been before much empaired by the Iron Teeth of Time But then the Fury of the Elements began to enter into a Corrivalship or Competition with the Fury of Enemies for by a casual Eruption of an Accidental Fire the whole City almost found an infortunate Sepulchre in its own Ashes But it seems like a Phaenix it rose again into new Beauty and Order out of these Ashes and Embers but did not long continue in this Condition for in the year of Grace 1177. which was in the Time of Henry the second it was again assaulted by the Outrage and Fury of this implacable Element the Impressions and remaining Signatures of which Conflagration are obvious to the Inspection of an Inquisitive Eye even until this Day In the year 1225. it was by the Indulgent Bounty of King Henry the third invested with a Wall and that this Fortification might be of more Concernment it was likewise secured or fenced with a Ditch In the year 1251. A Solemn Tornament was held at Rochester wherein the English entered the Lists against those Strangers or Forrainers who having in that Age a great Concernment in the Eare of Henry the third had likewise a strong Interest in his Heart and by consequence a powerful Impression or Influence upon the publick Affairs of those Times wherein they managed the Honor of this Nation with so much Courage and Gallantry that they forced them with Shame and Confusion to retire into the City and as if that were not a Shelter of sufficient Importance to seek for their Security in the Castle The Castle THat there was in the Age before the Norman Invasion the Rudiments or if I may so say the Embrio of a Castle represented to the World under imperfect Lineaments or Dimensions here at Rochester is most certain For the Records of the Cathedral inform us that Egbert King of Kent in the year 763. gave certain Lands to Eardulfe Bishop of Rochester situate within the Wals of the Castle of that City which argues that there was some Trench or Fortification even in those Times which was in Strength by the Analogy of Proportion equivalent to the Fortresses of that Age and so might merit by Resemblance the Name of a Castle though the Bulk and Grandeur of it was added in Times of a more Modern extraction For in the Time of the Conquest I find that the Bishop of Rochester received Land at Alresford for Land at Rochester proportionate to it to erect a Castle on which was in all probability onely to enlarge the Boundaries of the old one which peradventure was thought too contemptible in those active Times to secure so important a Pass as this of Rochester was without the Additional Supply of some new Strength And that these Augmentations did acknowledge if not for their Founder or Author yet at least for their eminent Benefactor Odo Bishop of Bajeux and Earl of Kent half Brother to the Conqueror is without Controversie a man who was afterwards dignified and adorned with the Office of Lord Chief Justice of England a place of the most eminent Trust in that Age and which was often managed by the Kings of England personally themselves and from the Marble Seat in Westminster-hall did deliver their Decisions and Determinations of Law from whence in Ancient Seals and other Sculptures they are often represented to us sitting in Judicature upon this Marble Seat and hence result those Customary Expressions in Original Writs and other Processes Coram Nobis and Teste Rege and sometimes me Ipso apud Westmon and some other Phrases and Tearms in our Ancient Law-books of the same Complexion as namely such a one Allocutus est Nobis sedentibus supra Sedem Marmoream which justifies that the Kings of England did sometimes personally sit and assist in Judicature in that Court we now call the Upper Bench where like a great Orb or Glob of Light they dispersed their Beams of Mercy and Justice into all the parts of our English Horizon and dispelled all those Crievances which like so many Fogs or Clouds exhaled from corrupred Nature seemed to eclipse the Serenity of this Nation But I wander too much I now return This Accumulation of Offices and Dignities could not so ingage this above-mentioned Odo to the Interest of William Rufus his Nephew but that he first enwrapped himself in a Combination with some of the discontented Nobility whose Endeavors were to ravish the Scepter out of the Hand of that Prince and place it in
Rogers alienates it by Sale to Stephen Drayner and it is probable Rogers purchased it of Norton which Family as appears by the Feudaries Book held much Land here at Smerden and at or near Romden But to return In Drayner the Interest of this place was fixed until the seventeenth of Queen Elizabeth and then William Drayner passed it away by Sale to Sir Roger Manwood and he in the eighteenth year of that Princess alienates it again to Martin James Esquire Remembrancer of the Exchecquer and from him by the Devolution of successive and paternal Right it is now come down to acknowledge the Propriety of Mr. .... James Snergate in the Hundred of Aloe bridge celebrates the Memory of an Ancient Family styled Alarar Gervas Alarar was Captain and Admiral of the Fleet of Ships set forth and furnished by the Cinque-ports in the fourteenth year of Edward the first and Gervas Alarar was his Grand-child whose Widow Agnes Alarar was in possession of it at her Death which was in the forty second year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 1. But before the end of Henry the fourth this Family was shrunk into an Expiration and then Walter Moile who was a Judge in the reign of Henry the sixth succeeded in the Possession and he by a Fine levied in the thirtieth year of Henry the sixth demises it to Hugh Brent from whom about the latter end of Edward the fourth it was conveyed to Cheyney and in this Name it was fixed until Henry Lord Cheyney in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth alienated it to Henry Nevill Lord Aburgavenny who in the twenty ninth year of Queen Elizabeth dying without Issue-male Mary Nevill was found to be his Sole Inheritrix and she by matching with Sir Thomas Vane knit this Mannor to his Patrimony and his Son Francis Vane created Earl of Westmerland in the twenty second of King James alienated it in our Fathers Memory to Jackman who not long after sold it to Sir Edward Henden one of the Barons of the Exchecquer who upon his Decease gave it to his Nephew Sir John Henden whose Son and Heir Edward Henden Esquire now enjoyes the Signory of it Smeth in the Hundred of Bircholt hath in the Limits of it Scots-hall which is now and hath been for divers Descents the Inheritance of eminent Gentlemen of that Sirname whom I dare aver upon probable Grounds were originally called Balioll. William Balioll second Brother to Alexander de Balioll frequently writ his Name William de Balioll le Scot and it is probable that upon the Tragedy of John Earl of Atholl who was made prisoner by Edward the first and barbarously executed in the year 1307. whilst he endevoured more nobly then successfully to defend the gasping Liberty of Scotland against the Eruptions of that Prince this Family to decline the Fury of that Monarch who was a man of violent passions altered the Name of Balioll to that of their Extraction and Country and assumed for the future the Name of Scot. That the Sirname of this Family was originally Balioll I farther upon these Reasons assert First the ancient Arms of Balioll Colledge in Oxford which was founded by John Balioll and dedicated to St. Katharine was a Katharin-Wheele being still part of the paternal Coat of this Family Secondly David de Strabogie who was Son and Heir to the infortunate Earl abovesaid astonished with an Example of so much Terror altered his Name from Balioll to Strabogie which was a Signory which accrued to him in Right of his Wife who was Daughter and Heir to John Comin Earl of Badzenoth and Strabogie and by this Name King Edward the second omitting that of Balioll restored Chilham-castle to him for Life in the fifteenth year of his reign Thirdly the Earls of Bucleugh and the Barons of Burley in Scotland who derive themselves originally from Balioll are known at this instant by no other Sirname but Scot and bear with some inconsiderable Difference those very Arms which are at present the paternal Coat of this Family of Scots-hall Having thus traced out the Name I shall now represent a Scale of those eminent Persons who have either directly or collaterally been extracted from Scots-hall Sir William Scot who was knighted the tenth of Edward the third was Lord Chief Justice and Knight Marshal of England in the reign of that Prince Sir Robert Scot was Lieutenant of the Tower in the year 1424. Sir John Scot was Comptroller of the House one of the Privy Councel to Edward the fourth and Marshal of Calais Thomas Scot who was first Bishop of Rochester next of Lincolne Provost of Beverley Arch-bishop of York Lord Chancellor of England and Privy Councellor to King Edward the fourth altered his Name from Scot to Rotheram as being the place of his Education and Nativity but it is probable originally issued out from this Family Sir William Scot who was Son to Sir John above-mentioned was Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports Sir John Scot his Son was knighted by the Prince of Castile for signal Service performed by him against the Duke of Gueldres Sir Reginald Scot was Captain of the Castle of Callis Sir Thomas Scot was Commander in Chief of the Kentish Forces who assembled upon the plains by Northbourn to oppose the Spanish Invasion in the year 1588. All of which were either directly or collaterally Predecessors being of the same Family to Edward Scot now Proprietary of Scots-hall Esquire who was Son and Heir of Sir Edward Scot who was made Knight of the Bath at the Coronation of K. Charles Thevegate is a second Mannor in this Parish which was in elder Times the Inheritance of Gentlemen of no mean Account in this Track Robert de Passeley or Passelew for they are promiscuously so written was Treasurer of England under Peter de Rivallis in the reign of Henry the third as Mat. Paris in the Life of that Prince does record Edmund de Passeley was with Edward the second at Borough-Bridge in the seventeenth year as the Pipe-roll of that Time discovers and probably was instrumental in the Defeat given there to the Nobility then in Arms against that Prince and from him this Mannor did descend to John Passeley Esquire who in the reign of Edward the fourth determined in Elizabeth his sole Heir matched to Reginald Pimp Esquire who likewise had the Fate to conclude in a Female Inheritrix called Ann who was wedded to Sir John Scot of Scots-hall and Shee united Thevegate to the Revenue of that Family and from him is the Right of it by Descent transportted to his Successor Edward Scot of Scots-hall Esquire Smeth had the Grant of a Market procured to it by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the tenth year of Edward the third Shepebourn in the Hundred of Wrotham was the Patrimony of an ancient Family called Bavent whose principal Estate lay in Sussex and Surrey Adam de Bavent in the twelfth year of Edward the first obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Mannor
bore the same paternal Coat were known by the same Name and were both deduced from the same Root and Original Ex Autograph's penes Dom. Tho. Peyton Baronettum onely Peyton was the elder House Now the ground on which the Mutation of the Name was established was briefly this John de Peyton flourished in the reign of Henry the second and left four Sons whereof the three eldest were named John Robert and John to John the eldest he gave his Mannor of Peyton lying extended into Stoke Neyland Boxford and Ramsholt Parishes in Suffolk to Robert his second Son he gave his Mannor of Ufford lying in Suffolk likewise who altered his Name from Peyton and assumed that of Ufford a Name borrowed from that Signory of which he was become newly possessor and from him the Name of Ufford was communicated to the Earls of Suffolk and other persons of eminent Repure in those Generations wherein they flourished John de Peyton the third Brother by Deed without Date demises all his Interest in Boxford to his elder Brother John de Peyton by that Name he there calls him which justifies nor only the Antiquity but the Seniority of this Family of Peyton before that of Ufford And from John de Peyton the elder above mentioned are the Peytons of Cambridgeshire and Sir Tho. Peyton of Knolton Baronet originally descended Lidde in ancient Records written Hlyden is a second Mannor in Werd of considerable Account ever since it was given at the Request of Janibert the Arch-Bishop by K. Offa in the year 874 to the Monks of Christ-Church as the Records of that Church discover to me under the Notion of three Sullings or Ploughlands And the Instrument which confirmed this Donation was signed with the Marks that is Crosses of Offa the King Janibert the Arch-Bishop Kenedrith the Queen three other Bishops five other Abbots Duke Edbald and eleven other principal Persons or Noblemen And that this was the manner of Signature in elder Times that is the affixing of Crosses to all publick Instruments and other original Donations is most certain For Sealing came into England with Edward the Confessor who being bred up in Normandy in which Province and in France the Use of affixing Seals to Deeds had been in Use long before his Time introduced that Custome and way of Signature into this Nation as being more conspicuous and distinguishable than that of Crosses or those other wayes of confirming of Grants of Land either to the Church or to secular Uses which was either per Collocationem Gladii seu Cultelli supra Altare by the placing or laying a Sword or Knife upon the Altar whereby those which did make Donations of Land did tacitly insinuate that their Honour was involved in their Conscience or else per Traditionem Surculi vel stipitis which Custome is yet observed in our Copy-hold Land where Surrenders are made by delivery of a Turfe Twig or white Wand But sealing with Coats of Arms was not brought in untill the reign of Edward the first but were borne by persons of Honor on their Tabards or Surcoats two Examples of which I have seen one of William Warren Earl of Pembroke who in the second year of Henry the second sealed with the Figure of a Chivaler on Horseback his Caparisons Tabard and Shield being all Checquee the paternal Coat of this Family the other was of Richard Curzon of Croxall in Derbyshire who in the reign of King John stands in a Window pourtrayed in his Surcoat surmounted with a Bend charged with a Martlet And this was done in Imitation of the Heralds who wore the Arms of those Princes they servâ—d on their Tabards as Badges to distinguish them from the Heralds of other Princes either in the Time of War or Peace Indeed Seals in higher Ages were of that sacred Estimate that being lost they were decryed by the owners least they might be affixed to any surreptitious Instrument which might prejudice either their Fame or Estate And in the interval of their Absence or Losse the Owners abovesaid were accustomed to Seal with the Seal of the Bishop of the Diocess or else with that of the next adjacent Abbot all Deeds and Instruments either of Publick or private Interess But to return this Donation of Offa's though thus secured and strengthned could not shelter this Mannor from the Rage of ahat Tempest which in the twenty ninth year of Henry the eighth like a Whirlwind caught it up in the Patrimony of the Church and drop'd it into the Revenue of the Crown where it lay untill Queen Elizabeth in the Beginning of her Raign passed it away by Grant to William Lovelace Esquire Serjeant at Law whose Son Sir William Lovelace not long after demised it by Sale to Sir John Smith Grand-father to Philip Viscount Strangford who now enjoys it Wickham Brews in the Hundred of Downhamford distinguished from other places of that Name by the Addition of the Sirname of Brews which Family were Lords thereof In the twentieth year of William the Conquerour Odo Bishop of Baion and Earl of Kent held this place of the Gift of his half Brother which was that Prince and Trendle Park adjoyning there was a Composition between the Arch-bishop and this Man for certain Land of the said Arch-bishop to be inclosed and included within the said Park at Trendley which signifies thus much unto us that Woodstock which boasts it self to be the first inclosed Park of England was not so ancient as this at Trendley In Times of a more modern Character that is in those which commence from the reign of Henry the third it acknowledged the Brewses Barons of Brember in Sussex to be its proprietaries who engrafted their own Name upon it which hath sprouted out and flourished upon it untill this Day William de Brewosa or de brewe held it and was several times summoned to sit in Parliament as Baron in the reign of King Edward the first and Edward the second and dyed in the ninth year of the last Prince Rot. Esc Num. 204. After this Family had deserted the possession which was about the Beginning of Edward the third it became the Inheritance of many of the most eminent Nobility of this Kingdome I shall represent them out of some ancient Court-rolls in a Compendious Series Edmund Plantagenet Earl of Kent held it in the fourth year of Edward the third William Longspey had it in the the twentieth year of the abovesaid Prince and paid an auxiliary supply for it at making the Black Prince Knight John Earl of Kent dyed seised of it in the twenty sixth year of Edw. the third Thomas Holland Earl of Kent and Joan his Wife Sister and Coheir of the abovementioned Earl were possest of it in the thirty fifth year of Edward the third Lucie Wife of Edmund Holland Earl of Kent was seised of it in the second year of Henry the sixth After whom it devolved to Edmund Mortimer Earl of March and he held it in the
alienated both the Title and Demeasn to Allen and he in our Memory sold one moitie of it to Ford and setled the other proportion of it upon his Daughter and Heir who was matched to Giles Down-Court in Dodington is an ancient Mannor which in elder times owned the Signorie of Simon de Dodington who flourished here in the Reign of K. John and Henry the third and was entituled likewise to the Patronage or Advouson of the Church but he determined in an only Daughter called Matilda de Dodington who in the forty first of King Henry the third as appears by a Fine levied in that year passed away her Interest here to John de Bourne in which Family the Title many years after rested untill about the latter end of Henry the sixth it was conveyed to Dungate of Dungate-Street in Kingsdowne And Andrew Dungate the last of this Name at this place dying without Issue male his sole Daughter and Heir was marched to Killigrew who likewise about the entrance of Henry the eighth expired in two female Coheirs whereof one was wedded to Roydon the second to Cowland In Roydon The Pssession was but brief for he about the latter end of Henry the eighth alienated his Proportion to Adye a Name deeply rooted in this Track whose Successor Mr. John Adye still enjoyes the capitall Messuage or Mansion called Down-Court but the Mannor it self which accrued to John Cowland upon the Division of the Estate was by his Will made 1540. ordered to be sold to discharge Debts and Legacies and was according to the Tenure of the premises not long after conveyed to Allen Ancestor to him who is the instant owner of it Downe in the Hundred of Rokesley is so called from its eminent situation it was in times of elder Aspect the Habitation of a Family which passed under that Sirname Richard de Downe who flourished under Edward the first and Edward the second lies buried in the Chancell of the Church but with no date upon his Tombe Soon after this Family was expired the Petleys became Lords of the Fee and Stephen Petley is Recorded in the Book of Aid to have paid an Auxiliary supply for Lands at Down at making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth year of Edward the third and in this Family was the Title of this place successively wrapped up for many Generations untill about the latter end of Henry the eighth it melted away with the Name For Jo. Petley resolved into four Daughters and Coheirs Agnes the eldest was matched to Jo. Manning the second was espoused to Bird the third was wedded to Casinghurst of Valous and the fourth was married to Childrens and upon partition of the Estate this Mannor fell to be the Inheritance of Manning and in this Name for many years it remained constant untill in our Fathers Remembrance it went away by Sale to Sir Nicholas Carew of Beddington in Surrey and his Son Sir Francis Carew conveyed it to Ellis of London who not many years since alienated his Right in it to Colonel Richard Sandys third Son of Sir Edward Sandys of Northbourne but Down-Court was long before passed away by Manning to Palmer which was separated from the Mannor of Downe and singly sold by it self The Arms of Philipot and Petley are extant in the South-window of the Chancell with this Inscription affixed to the Pedestall of their two Pourtraicttures Orate pro Animabus Jo. Petley Christiana Uxoris Jo. Petley Aliciae Filiae Tho. Philipot ........ ac Parentum corum E. E. E. E. EGerton in the Hundred of Calehill hath two places within the Verge of it remarkable The first is Barmeling which was the Seat of a Family of that Sirname Robert de Bermeling and in old datelesse Deeds called Sir Robert de Barmeling he held it at his Decease which was in the fifty third year of Henry the third and left Issue William de Bermeling who was also in the enjoyment of it at his Death which was in the twenty second year of Edward the first and so did Robert de Bermeling who made his Exit the thirty first of Edward the first and here in this Family hath the Propriety by an undivided Track of Succession been so fixed and permanent that it is yet the unseperated Inheritance of this Name of Barmeling The second is Bruscombe This was a Branch of that Demeasn which formerly acknowledg'd the Chitcrofts for its Possessors a Name of very great Antiquity both here and at Lamberherst Agnes wife of Richard Chitcroft held it at her Death which was in the eighteenth year of Edward the second Rot. Esc Num. 198. After Chitcroft was worn out the Beaumonts were invested in the Possession and John de Bellemont or Beaumont deceased in the enjoyment of it in the twentieth year of Richard the second Rot. Esc Num. 14. But not long after this the Title ebbed away from this Name and by a successive Channel of Vicissitude was powred into Baron a Family originally extracted out of the West where they are yet in being John Baron died seised of Bruscombe the second year of Henry the fifth The Family which succeeded this in the Inheritance upon their Recesse which was about the latter end of Henry the sixth were the Wottons of Boughton Malherbe in which Family the Title and Propriety hath been ever since so constantly resident that it still rests in the Descendants and Heirs of Tho. Lord Wotton of Marley Eltham in the Hundred of Black heath anciently called Ealdham did anciently belong in part to the King and partly to the Mandevills from whence it came to be called Eltham Mandeville King Edward the first granted that Moiety which belonged to himself to John de Vescy a potent Baron in the North in the ninth year of his Reign and in the twelfth year ennobles his former Concession and gives him a new Grant to hold a Market weekly and a Fair yearly at his Mannor of Eltham In the fourteenth year of the abovesaid Prince John de Vescy with his Knowledge and Consent made an Exchange with Walter de Mandevill for that Proportion of Eltham in which he was Interessed and gave the sixth part of the Mannor of Luton in Bedfordshire for one Messuage with the Appurtenances in Eltham and Modingham This John de Vescy died without Issue in the eighteenth of Edward the first and William his Brother succeeded in the Possession and was Lord Vescy and had Issue by Isabell Daughter of Robert Perington Widow of Sir Robert de Wells William de Vescy his lawfull Son born in the year 1269 who died without Issue in his Fathers life Time at Conway and was buryed at Malton Then William de Vescy having a base Son called William Vescy de Kildare born at Compston in the County of Kildare 1292 * Fines de Anno 24. Ed. primi VVill. de Vescy sold to Anth. Beck Bishop of Durham the Mannor of Eltham with the Appurtinances which Isabell the Widow of
John de Vescy held for term of her Life begotten upon Dergavile his Concubine Daughter to Dunwald a petty Prince in Ireland he made a Feoffment of all his Lands in England to Anthony Beck Bishop of Durham to the use of William Vescy of Kildare his base Son and also infeoffed King Edward in Kildare in Ireland and in Sproxton in Scotland for Licence of his good Leave and Assent to the other Feoffment William de Vescy of Kildare was slain in the Warrs of Stripling in Scotland The King of England himself being then present in Person By which means the State being in the Bishop of Durham he disposed of Alnewike Castle in the North to Henry de Percy that had married Idonia de Clifford and considering that the Estate of Lands at Eltham came from the Crown the said Bishop reserving an estate for life disposed of them back again to the Crown he himself dyed there the twenty eighth of March 1311. In the fifth year of Edward the second and had bestowed great cost in building there The Stone-work of the outward Gate being Castle-like is a remnant of the work of that Time The Palace it self being much more modern and Augmented by several additions of the Kings of England who in a manner kept here their constant residence and here were made the Statutes of Eliham the precedents for Government of the Kinâ—s House to this day The Bishop of Durham being dead K. Edward the second kept his residence here 1315 9 Edw. 2. and his Q. was here brought to bed of a Son called John of Eliham K. Edward the third intending to give a princely reception to K. John of France which had been Prisoner in England and came over to visit the King 1363. and dyed before his return entertained him here at Eltham K. Henry the fourth kept his last Christmas at Eliham 1412. K. Henry the fifth his Son and Successor lay there at Christmas likewise when he was fain to depart suddenly for fear of some that had conspired to murther him K. Henry sixth made it his principal place of residence and granted the Tenants of the Mannor of Eltham a Charter of renovation of a Market in the seventeenth of his reign which containeth more ample priviledges than any such grant that yet I have seen as will be likewise evident to those who will peruse the original Record of that year in the Tower of London K. Edward the fourth greatly to his cost repaired the House Pat. Anno 21. Edw. 3. pars 2. Memb. 2. and inclosed Hornpark so called being the Site of the Mannor of West-horn which was anciently in the Kings Demeasne For King Edward the third in the twenty first year of his reign granted liberty to all his Tenants of this Mannor to be toll-free throughout England K. Henry the seventh set up the fair Front there towards the Moat and was usually resident there I find in a Record in the Office of Arms that he did usually dine in the Hall and all his Officers kept their Tables there and at such time as he created Stanley Baron Monteagle by reason of some Infection then reigning in and near the City of London none were permitted to dine in the Kings Hall but the officers of Arms who at the serving in the Kings second Course of meat according to the Custome came and proclaimed the Kings style and the style of the said new Lord. King Henry the eighth built much at Greenwich with Bricks made here at Eltham and then neglected this place yet he lived here sometime and kept a royal Christmass at this place 1515. There is an ancient place in this Parish called Henleys which in the time of King Edward the third was a Marnor belonging to John de Henley whose House was moated about the situation is yet extant below the Conduit-head but he dying without Issue it came by his guift to King Edward the third and was annexed unto the Mannor by William de Brantingham his Feoffee The Mannor East-horn and Well-hall was in the year 1100. possest by Jordan de Iriset or Brinset first establisher of the Order of Knights Hospitallers here in England In Ages of a lower Descent that is in the reign of Edward the third it was held by Iohn de Poultney and from that Family about the reign of Richard the second it devolved by Sale to Chichley Iohn Tatterst all married Agnes the Daughter of Iohn Chichley of Wolwich Son of William Chichley Alderman of London and by her had VVell-hall and East-horn he had Issue by her two Daughters Ann was married unto Sir Ralph Hastings and Margery was married unto Iohn Roper Esquire and Agnes their Mother was remarried to VVill. Kene who likewise had Issue by her from whom the Mansells of Wales are extracted and by this Descent are of the Blood and Kindred of Henry Chichley Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury Founder of All-Souls Colledge in Oxford but VVell-hall and East-horn were united to the patrimony of Roper and have continued here so fixed that they are the present Inheritance of Edward Roper Esquire To this Mannor the Chancel of St. Michael in the South-side of Eltham Church belongeth called sometimes Tatershalls Chancel In the windows the Matches before mentioned are impaled in Coloured glass The utmost extent of this Hundred East-ward reacheth to Shooters-Hill so called of the Thievery there practised where Travellers in elder Times were so much infested with Depraedations and bloody mischiefs that order was taken in the sixth of Richard the second for the enlarging the High-way according to the Statute made in the Time of King Edward the first so that they venter still to rob here by prescription Pat. 6. R. 2. pars 2. Mem. 34. and some have been so impudent to offer to engage the Sun shining at mid-day for the repayment of money called borrowed in a Theevish way to the great charge of the Hundred that still was in the Counter-bond and King Henry the fourth granted leave to Thomas Chapman to cut down burn and sell all the Woods and Under-woods growing and confining to Shooters-Hill Pat. 7. H. 4. pars 2. Memb. 12. on the South-side and to bestow the money raised thereby upon mending the High-way Surely Prince Henry his Son and Sir John Falstaffe his make-sport so merrily represented in Shakespear's Comedies for examining the Sandwich Carriers loading at this place were not the Surveyers Mottingham in the Hundred of Blackheath is a Hamlet and member to Eltham enjoying like priviledges which are annexed to both these places as being of ancient Demealn It was formerly written Modingham denoting that it was proudly situated for so we interpret Mod in old English It passed away from the Crown with the Mannor of Eltham to Jo. de Vescy and returned back again with it inhabited in the time of K. Edw. the third by the Family of Bankwell and after in the reign of H. the sixth by the Chesmans the last