much as the Tower of London they have been very high thick strong and well embattled the Matter of them is Flint marvailous and long Bricks both white and red of the British Fashion The Ciment was made of the Sea and small pibble There is a great likelyhood that the goodly Hill about the Castle and especially towards Sandwich hath been well inhabited Corn grâ—ws there in marvailous plenty and in going to Plough there hath been Time out of Mind and now is found more Antiquities of Romane Money then in any place else of England Surely Reason speaks that this should be Rutupinum for besides the Name somewhat toucheth the very near passage from Calis Cliffs or Calis was to Ratesborough and now is to Sandwich which is about a Mile off though now Sandwich be not celebrated because of Goodwin Sands and the Decay of the Haven There is a good Flight shot off from Ratesborough toward Sandwich a great Dike cast in a round Compass as if it had been for Defence of Men of War the Compass of the Ground within is not much above an Acre and it is very hollow by casting up the Earth They call this place their Little Borough within the Castle is a little Paroch Church of St. Augustine and an Hermitage I had Antiquities of the Hermit who is an Industrious Man not far from the Hermitage is a Cave where Men have sought and digged for Treasure I saw it by Candle within wherein were Conies it was so streight that I had no mind to creep far in In the North-side of the Castle is an Head in the Wall now sore defaced by the weather they call it Q. Berthas Head near to that place hard by the Wall was a Pot of Roman Money lately found Thus far He. The Ancient Lords of the Castle were the Earls of Oxford and Edward Earl of Oxford in the Beginning of Q. Elizabeth alienated it to Gant Ash juxta Faukham lies in the Hundred of Acstane anciently written Clacstane and was in elder Times the Inheritance of the Latimers William de Latimer held it in the thirtieth year of Edward the first and by the Royal Indulgence of that Prince obtained a Charter of Free-Warren to his Mannor of Ash which he held of Roger de Mowbray After the Latimers were worn out the noble Family of Grandison succeeded in the possession and Otho de Grandison held it as appears by the Book of Aid in the twentieth year of Edward the third at making the Black Prince Knight by the fourth part of a Knights Fee But after this there is little Evidence that it was long constant to the Interest of this Family for in the Reign of Richard the second it was wrapped up in the Demeasn of Cressel a Family that were entituled to a large Revenue both at Chiselhurst Hartley and elsewhere in this Track but it seems took no deep root at this place for in the fourth year of Henry the fourth the Knights Hospitalers held it at the Marriage of Blanch that Princes Daughter but whether they had it by Purchase or Exchange from Cressell the Record in the Exchequer does not specifie and here it became fixed and was esteemed as one of the principal Mannors relating to their Order in this County untill the Reign of Hen. the eighth and then in the thirty seventh year of that Prince not without much contest and strugling this was with the rest of their Revenue surrendred and being made parcel of the Income of the Crown K. Edw. the sixth about the second year of his Reign granted it to Sir Martin Bowes and he had Issue Will. Bowes who determined in two Daughters and Coheirs Eliz. matched to Will. Buggin and Ann married to Sir Edmund Fowler who divided his Patrimony and this upon the partition was united to the Revenue of Fowler and continues still to acknowledge his descendants for Proprietaries South-Ash is another Mannor in this Parish which had Owners in elder Times of that Name for in the Book of Aid I find that John at South-Ash paid an auxiliary supply for his Mannor of South-Ash at making the Black Prince Knight but it is possible this Mans original Name was Hodsoll and borrowed this Name from the Situation and Position of his Habitation which was Southerly and that which induces me to this Conjecture is that upon a perusall of the original Evidences I find that the Family of Hodsoll was long before possessors of this Mannor a particular Series of whom I could discover to the Reader but that I will not clog this Treatise with superfluities nor is this Mannor departed from the Signorie of this Name but is at this instant involved in the patrimony of Mr. William Hodsoll Hodsoll and Halywell are two other little Mannors in Ash whereof the last hath been the Seat of Hodsoll who borrowed their Sirname from the first many hundred years and in Relation to this assumed the bearing of three Stone Fountains two and one such as used to be dedicated to some Saint and were frequented anciently by such who reposed any Confidence in his vertue and miraculous efficacie whose Name they bore and of this Figure was â—hat Stone Well at Brackley commonly called St. Rumbals Well much frequented in the misty Times of Popery for the Cure of sore Eyes and other Maladies and that this was the ancient Coat of this Family is most certain for William Hodsoll who in severall Deeds writ himself Esquire both in the Reign of Henry the fifth and Henry the sixth sealed with the three stone Fountains only but now I know not upon what consideration the Fesse Wavee is added so that that the Coat is now Azure a Fesse Wavee between three stone Fountains Argent But to proceed as Hodsoll and Halywell have for so many Generations owned the Title of that Name and Family so hath no Vicissitude of Time so carryed off the Propriety of them but that they are still the present Demeasne of Mr. William Hodsoll North-Ash is another Mannor in this Parish which hath been accounted a Limb of the great Mannor of St. Johns at Sutton at Hone and upon the Suppression of the Alberge of the Knights Hospitallers here in England who for many hundreds of years had owed this Mannor was by Henry the eighth granted to Sir Maurice Dennis by whose Coheir it came to Wrote and he passed it away to Thomas Smith Esquire who upon his Decease gave it to his second Son Sir Tho. Smith in whose Descendants the Interest of it is wrapped up at present Scotgrove is the last place of Account in Ash it was in Ages of a very high Ascent the Estate of a Family called Torpell Mabilia Torpell Widow of John de Torpell who held it in the Reign of Henry the third dyed in the enjoyment of it in the Time of Edward the first as appears Rot. Esc Num. 27. In Times of a lower Gradation I find this Family vanished and then this Mannor came to be
as appears by the Escheat Roll of that year marked with the Number 76. and left Mawde de Twitham heir to his large Possessions in this County who by marrying with Simon Septuans of Checquer in Ash by Sandwich invested him not only in the Signory of Dean-Court but likewise in his other Demeasne which lay dispersed in severall Branches over this County and he had Issue by her Sir William Septuans who matched with Anne Daughter and Heir of Sir Nicholas Sandwich and had Issue by her John Septuans Esquire who likewise wedded Constance Daughter and Heir of Thomas Ellys of Sandwich and had Issue by her John his eldest Son to whom he gave Hells Twitham Chilton Molands in Ash and other Lands in Kent Thomas his second Son who had Dean-Court in Mepeham and other Lands in this County and Gilbert Septuans his third Son who had his Mannor of Chequer in Ash above-said and from them it is sometimes writ At Chequer and afterwards Harfleet for some eminent Service by him performed at a Town of that Name in Normandy as the private Evidences of this Family do seem to insinuate under the conduct of Henry the fifth and so Successively by Custome and Prescription this Name became hereditary to all of the Name of Septuans who were either directly or Collaterally linked in Alliance to this Gilbert And in the Name of Harfleet alias Septuans did the Inheritance of this Mannor of Dean-Court sundry Ages reside till some few years since it was by one of this Name alienated to Mr. Francis Twisden third Brother to Sir Roger Twisden of Roydon-Hall Knight and Baronet Merworth stands in the Hundred of Littlefield and gave Seat and Sirname to a worthy Family of Gentlemen whose Ancestor branched out from a Family called St. Laurence William de Merworth is in the Register of those Kentish Knights who were embarked with Richard the first at the Seige of Acon upon which it is probable the Crosse Corslets were taken into the paternall Coat of this Family In the fifteenth year of King John one Roger the Son of Eustace de Merworth brought a Quare Impedit against the Prior of Leeds for the Adyouson of the Church of Merworth Roger de Merworth obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Mannor of Merworth in the eighteenth year of Edward the first In the twentieth year of Edward the third as appears by the Book of Aid John de Merworth paid respective Aid for a whole Knight's Fee at Merworth and Crombery in Hadloe which he held of the Earl of Glocester at making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth year of Edward the third and an Inquisition taken after this mans Death for his Mannor of Merworth though the Inquisition for his Mannor of Maplescombe and other Lands was not taken untill the forty ninth of Edward the third finds John Malmains of Malmains in Pluckley to be his Heir who in the forty sixth year of Edward the third sells it to Humphrey Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex and he about the beginning of Richard the second conveys it to Nicholas de Brembre Son of Sir John de Brembre who at the Battle of Trent as Mr. Selden relates in his Titles of Honour pag. 556. made himself eminent by a signall encounter with John de Beaumonour in the year 1350. And endevouring to support the prerogative of Richard the second in an Age wherin his Crime was too much Loialty against the Assaults of some of the Factious and Ambitious Nobility sunk under the waight of their Hatred and Opposition and being attainted of High Treason this in the tenth year of the abovesaid Prince Escheated to the Crown and the same King in the thirteenth year of his Raign granted it to John Hermensthorpe who immediately after conveyed it to Richard Fitzallan Earl of Arundell Lord Treasurer and Lord Admirall of England whose Son Thomas Fitzallan dying without Issue Joan one of his Sisters and Coheirs matching with William Beauchampe who was created by Writt Baron of Abergavenny in the sixteenth year of Richard the second knit this Mannor to the Patrimony of that Family where it continued till Richard Beauchampe this mans Son dying without Issue-male in the ninth year of Henry the fifth bequeathed it to Elizabeth his Sole Daughter and Heir who matched afterward to Edward Nevill Baron of Abergavenny from whom the Title both of the Barony and Merworth flowed down to his Great Grandchild Henry Nevill who died the twenty ninth year of Queen Elizabeth and left this Mannor to Mary his Sole Daughter and heir married to Sir Thomas Fane unto whom King James in the first Parliament which he held Restored Gave Granted and so forth the Name Style Title Honour and Dignity of Baroness le Despencer and that her Heirs Successively should be Barons le Desp neer for ever She had Issue by Sir Thomas Fane of Badsell in Kent Sir Francis Fane eldest Son Knight of the Bath whom King James in the twenty second year of his Raign December the 29. created Earl of Westmerland and Baron Burghurst being likewise by his Mothers Descent extracted from the female heir of that old Barony for Edw. le Despencer who maried Elizabeth Heir of Bartholomew Lord Burghurst and Rich. Beauchampe who married Isabell Daughter and Heir of Thomas Lord Despencer and his eldest Son Sir Mildmay Fane Knight of the Noble Order of the Bath now Earl of Westmerland doth not onely enjoy the Concomitant Titles of Despencer and Burghurst but the Mannor of Mereworth likewise with all the Royalties of it which were not inferiour to any which hathreceived Honour by its owners for it is holden in Chivalrie by an entire Knights Fee and a Free-warren which was formerly granted to it is yet extant and the Conveniences of a Park and Conies are not wanting Jotes-Court in this Parish of Merworth had as appears by severall old Deeds some without Date Owners who were written Jeotes and by contraction of the Name call'd Jotes but before the latter end of Richard the second this Family was crumbled away and gone and then it came to have the same possessors with Merworth as namely Fitz-Allan Beauchampe and Nevill the last of which who enjoyed it was Sir Tho. Nevil third Son of George Nevill Baron of Abergavenny which Sir Tho. was one of the Privy Councel to Henry the eighth and Speaker of the Parliament and he in the thirty third year of that Prince conveyed it by Sale to Sir Robert Southwell who in the thirty fifth year of Henry the eighth by the same Fatalitie passed it away to Sir Edmund Walsingham of Scadbery whose great Grandchild Sir Tho. Walsingham Knight hath not many years since alienated all his Concernment in it to his Son in Law Mr. James Masters Swanton-Court is the last place considerable in Merworth It lay couched in that Revenue which related to the Knights Hospitalers untill the publique Dissolution supplanted it and surrendred it to the Crown and K. Henry the eighth about
old German practise is also asserted by Tacitus And that it was customary amongst the Danes Several Urns discovered in Jutland and Sleswick not many years since do easily evince which contained not only Bones but many other Substances in them as Knives peeces of Iron Brass and Wood and one of Norway a Brass guilded Jews-harp When this Custome of Burning of the Dead languished into Disuse is incertain but that it began to vanish upon the Dawning of Christianity as Vapors and Mists scatter before a Morning Sun is without Controversie but when the Light of it did more vigorously reflect like a Meridian Beam on all the gloomy Corners and Recesses of Paganism and Infidelity then this Use of Urn-Burial was wholly superseded and found a Tomb it self in the more sober and severer practise of Christianity And thus much shall be said concerning these Urns digged up at Newington The Mannor of Levenoke in this Parish ought in the last place to be taken Notice of but the Deeds being dispersed into the Hands of those who are Strangers both to this County and my Design I cannot give the Reader that satisfaction in this particular that I aime at Only thus much I can inform him that by an old Court Roll in the Hands of Mr. Staninough of this Parish lately deceased I discovered that in the Raign of Edward the third and Richard the second it was the possession of John Beau Fitz and it is probable by the Heir General of this Name it devolved to Arnold of Rochester and more to fortifie this some ancient Country people at my being there did assure me they had it by Traditional Intelligence from their Predecessors That that Knight purchased it of one Arnold but of that there is no certainty only this is positive that about the latter end of Henry the eighth that Knight enjoyed it and in this Name it remained until almost our Memory and then it was conveyed to Gouldsmith and he alienated it to Barrow whose Descendant having morgaged it to Mr. ...... Alston of London he very lately hath transplanted all his Right by Sale into Mr. ........ Lisle of Middlesex now deceased Nockholt in the Hundred of Ruxley was a Branch which was incorporated into the Revenue of the Lord Say William de Say died possest of it in the twenty third year of Edward the third and from this man was it transmitted to his Grand-child Geffrey Say who concluded in a Sole Daughter and Heir called Elizabeth who was married to William Fiennes Esquire and so in her Right was Nockholt united to the possession of this Noble Family from this man was Richard Fiennes descended who enjoyed this Mannor successively from him and married Joane the Sole Female heir of Thomas Lord Dacre of Hurstmonceaux in Sussex who was extracted from Edward Lord Dacre who was summoned to Parliament by the Title of Lord Dacre of Hurstmonceaux in the Raign of Edward the second and in her Right was this man summoned to Parliament by the Name of Richard Fiennes Lord Dacres in the Government of Henry the sixth And here did both the Barony of Dacre and the Inheritance of Nockholt continue till Gregory Fiennes Lord Dacres deceased in the thirty sixth year of Queen Elizabeth and left by Testament Margaret his Sister matched to Sampson Lennard Esquire he having no Issue Heir to his large possessions amongst which this Mannor was involved from Sampson Lennard who was created Lord Dacres in the second year of King James it is now come down by Successive Inheritance to be the instant Patrimony of his Grand-child Francis Lord Dacres the present Baron of Hurstmonceaux There are two other Mannors in this Parish but of small importance called Brampton and Shelleys-court or at Ockholt both which had Owners who engrafted their own Sirname upon them There is a recital in the Book of Aide of one John de Brampton who held Land at Nockholt and Ditton in the Raign of Edward the first From this Family Brampton came by a Female Heir to be the Inheritance of Petley who about the latter end of Henry the sixth conveyed it to Oliver alias Quintin and hath been for almost two Hundred years as appears by the Evidences now in the Hands of Mr. Robert Oliver of the Grange in the Parish of Leybourn in the Tenure and Possession of that Name and Family Shelleys Court called in the Evidences likewise at Ockholt was as high as the Raign of Edward the third as the originall Deeds now in the Hands of Mr. Rob. Austin of Bexley inform me the Inheritance of Shelley and remained united to the Possession of that Family till the Government of Queen Mary and then by Sale the whole Demise was passed away by Sir John Champneys Lord Maior of London by William Shelley the last of this Name at this place from whom it devolved to his Son Sir Justinian Champneys who left it to his Son Mr. Richard Champneys Esquire and he almost in the Remembrance of that Age we live in alienated his Concernment in it to the present Possessor Mr. Gooday of Suffolk Nonington in the Hundred of Wingham and Eastry hath diverse places in it of considerable Repute The first is Fredville called in old Deeds Froidville from its bleak and eminent Situation Times of an elder Inscription represent it to have been the Possession of Colkin vulgarly called Cokin who it is probable erected the ancient Fabrick and brought it into the Shape and Order of an Habitation this Family was originally extracted from Canterbury where they had a Lane which bore their Name being called Colkins Lane and likewise had the Inheritance or Propriety of Worth-gate in that City William Colkin founded an Hospital neer Eastbridge which celebrated his Name to Posterity and was called Colkin's Hospital he flourished in the Time of K. John and was a liberal Benefactor to the Hospitals of St. Nicholas St. Katharine and St. Thomas of Eastbridge in Canterbury as is recorded by Mr. William Somner in his Survey of that City Page 116. But to proceed John Colkin dyed possest of Fredvill the tenth of Edward the third and in his Posterity was the Title resident untill the latter end of Richard the second and then it was conveyed to Thomas Charleton and he by a Fine levyed the second of Henry the second transplants his Interest into John Quadring in whose Name it made its aboad untill Joan Quadring the Heir General of Thomas Quadring this man's Successor carried the Title along with her to her Husband Richard Dryland and he about the latter end of Edward the fourth alienated it to John Nethersole who by Fine levyed in the second year of Richard the third conveyed it to William Bois Esquire descended from I. de Bosco or de Bois so written in some old Copies of the Battle Abby Roll and in others R. de Bosco or de Bois who entered into England with William the Conquerour which William had Issue Thomas Bois who dying in the
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
of Diggs Court in Barham was upon his decease authoriz'd to discharge the said office for the remainder of the year Thomas Chich of the Dungeon in St. Mary Bredimans Parish in Canterbury was Sheriff of this County the third year of Henry the fourth Richard Cliderow of Gouldstanton in Ash neer Sandwich who was constituted in the Reign of Henry the fourth Admirall of the Seas from the Thames mouth along the Saxon shore to the West was likewise Sheriff of Kent the fourth and most part of the fifth year of the abovesaid Prince Tho. Swinbourn Esquire owner of much Land in the County of Essex was Sheriff of Kent the sixth year of Henry the fourth and kept his Shrievalty at Thevegate in Smeth Michael Horn of Horn place in Apuldore was Sheriff of Kent the seventh year of Henry the fourth Edward Haut of Hauts place in Petham and of Bourn was Sheriff of Kent the eighth year of Henry the fourth William Snaith of Addington was Sheriff of Kent the ninth year of Henry the fourth Reginald Pimp of Pimps Court in East Farleigh Son of William Pimp of Pimps Court and Nettlested was Sheriff of Kent the tenth year of Henry the fourth John Darrell of Cale-Hill in little Chert eldest Brother of Sir William Darrell under Treasurer of England was Sheriff of Kent the eleventh year of Henry the fourth William Notbeame descended out of Suffolk where his Family was of generous rank but whose Residence was at Ash neer Sandwich was Sheriff of Kent the twelfth year of Henry the fourth and in the seventh year of Henry the fifth was return'd amongst those who did Portare arma antiqua William Cheney of Shurland in Shepey Son of Richard Cheney was Sheriff of Kent the thirteenth year of Henry the fourth in which year this Prince deceased Sheriffs of Kent under Henry the Fifth William Cheney above mentioned continued Sheriff of Kent the first year of Henry the fifth William Cliford of whom mention was formerly made was again Sheriff of Kent in the second and third years of Henry the fifth William Langley of Knolton was Sheriff of Kent the fourth year of Henry the fifth John Darrell of Cale-hill above recited was again Sheriff of Kent the fifth year of K. Henry the fifth Richard Cliderow of whom mention was made in the fourth and fifth years of Henry the fourth was now Sheriff again in the sixth year of King Henry the fifth John Burgh was Sheriff of Kent the seventh year of Henry the fifth During this mans Shrievalty there came a special Writ from the King to elect out of the most fit and able Knights and Esquires of the County that bore Arms from antiquity twelve of the most sufficient to serve as Lances for defence of the Kingdome William Haut of Hautsbourne was Sheriff of Kent some part of the eighth and all the ninth year of K. Henry the fifth John Darrell of Cale-hill was Sheriff of Kent the tenth year of Henry the fifth in which year that successeful and triumphant Prince paid the last Debt he owed to Nature and the first which he owed to Sin Sheriffs of Kent in the Reign of Henry the Sixth John Darrell of Cale-hill who was Sheriff of Kent when K. Henry the fifth deceased continued Sheriff in the first year of Henry the sixth William Cheyney of Shurland who was Knighted in the ninth year of K. Henry the sixth was Sheriff of Kent in the second year of that Princes Government John Rykâ—ld of Estlingham in Frend bury neer Rochester was Sheriff of Kent the third year of K. Henry the sixth William Clifford of Bobbing who had been Sheriff of Kent in the first year of K. Henry the fifth was elected to take that Office in the fourth year of K. Henry the sixth William Colepeper of Preston in Alresford Son and Heir of Sir John Colepeper was Sheriff of Kent the fifth year of Henry the sixth Thomas Ellis of Burton in Kennington was Sheriff of Kent the sixth year of Henry the sixth William Scot of Scots Hall in Smeeth was Sheriff of Kent the seventh year of Henry the sixth John Peche of Lullingston was Sheriff of Kent the eighth year of Henry the sixth John St. Leger of Ulcomb was Sheriff of Kent the ninth year of Henry the sixth John Guldford of Halden alias Lambin in the Parish of Rolvenden was Sheriff of Kent in the tenth year of Henry the sixth William Bures who held much Land at Bromeley and Greenwich and was descended from William de Bures who held part of a Knights Fee in Bromley the twentieth year of Edward the third At making the black Prince Knight was Sheriff of Kent the eleventh year of Henry the sixth Richard Woodville of the Moat in Maidston was Sheriff of Kent in the twelfth year of K. Henry the sixth William Clifford of Bobbing and of Shorn of whom mention is made twice before was now again chosen Sheriff the thirteenth year of Henry the sixth William Manston of Manston in the Parish of St. Laurence in the Isle of Thanet was Sheriff of Kent the fourteenth year of Henry the sixth James Fiennes of Kemsing and Seal afterwards created Lord Say and Seal and High Treasurer of England was Sheriff of Kent the fifteenth year of Henry the sixth Richard Waller of Gromebridge in Spelhurst who took Charles Duke of Orleans Captive at the Battle of Agin Court was Sheriff of Kent the sixteenth year of K. Henry the sixth Edward Guldford of Halden in Rolvenden was Sheriff of Kent the seventeenth year of Henry the sixth Gervas Clifton who married Isabel Widow of William Scot Esquire and lived upon his Wives Estate at Brabourn in Kent where he lies buried was Sheriff of Kent the eighteenth year of Henry the sixth John Yerde of Denton near Berham was Sheriff of Kent the ninteenth year of Henry the sixth John Warmer of Votes Crey was Sheriff of Kent in the twentieth year of Henry the sixth William Maries who lived at Ufton in Tunstal was Sheriff of Kent in the twenty first of Henry the sixth Thomas Brown Knight Treasurer to the House-hold of K. Henry the sixth was Sheriff of Kent in the twenty second year of that Prince William Cromer of Tunstal who married Elizabeth Daughter of James Lord Say and Seale was Sheriff of Kent the twenty third year of Henry the sixth This was that William Cromer who was barbarously assassanated by Jack Cade whilst he vigorously sought to oppose that Rebell in his Expedition towards London John Thornbury of Feversham was Sheriff of Kent the twenty fourth year of Henry the sixth William Isley of Sundridge was Sheriff of Kent the twenty fifth year of Henry the sixth William Kene who lived at Well Hall in Eltham in Right of Agnes his Wife Widow of John Tatersal was Sheriff of Kent the twenty sixth year of Henry the sixth Stephen Slegge of Wouldham near Rochester was Sheriff of Kent the twenty seventh year of Henry the sixth William Cromer who was
Sheriff before in the twenty third was now again Sheriff in the twenty eighth year of Henry the sixth Gervas Clifton that had served this Office in the eighteenth year of this Kings Reign was called again to discharge in the twenty ninth of K. Henry the sixth Robert Horne of Hornes Place in Apuldore was Sheriff of Kent the thirtieth year of Henry the sixth Thomas Ballard of Horton near Canterbury was Sheriff of Kent the thirty first year of Henry the sixth John Fogge of Repton in Ashford Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the thirty second year of Henry the sixth Sir Iohn Cheyney of Shurland and Patricksbourn Cheyney was Sheriff of Kent the thirty third year of K. Henry the sixth Philip Belknap of the Moate in Canterbury was Sheriff of Kent the twenty fourth year of Henry the sixth Alexander Iden of Westwell who slew Iack Cade and married the Widow of Will. Cromer slain before by that Rebell was Sheriff of Kent the thirty fifth year of Henry the sixth John Guldford of Halden Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the thirty sixth year of Henry the sixth This Man flourished under the Scepter of Henry the sixth Edward the fourth under whom he was Sheriff and likewise Comptroller of his House-hold Richard the third at whose Coronation he was Knighted and lastly that of Henry the seventh by whom he was admitted as his Monument in the Middle Isle of the Body of Christ Church in Canterbury does attest into his Privy Councell Sir Gervas Clifton who formerly in the eighteenth and twenty ninth years of this Prince had managed this Place was again summoned to execute it in the thirty seventh year of Henry the sixth Sir Thomas Brown of Bechworth Castle in Surrey was again Sheriff of Kent in the thirty eighth year of Henry the sixth John Scot of Scots-Hall Esquire was Sheriff of Kent part of the year above mentioned He was afterwards Knighted by K. Edward the fourth and by him called to be of his Privy Councell Deputy of Callis and Comptroller of his House-hold Sheriffs of Kent under K. Edward the fourth John Isaack of Howlets in Patricksbourne was Sheriff of Kent the first year of King Edward the fourth Sir William Peche of Lullingston Knight was Sheriff of Kent the third and fourth years of Edward the fourth and had likewise the Custody of the Castle of Canterbury annexed to his Office as this Record does inform me Rex concessit Willielmo Peche Milititotum Comit. Cantii una cum Castro Cantuariensi ac constituit eum Vicecomitem Cantii ac ei concessit 40 libras Annuas quousque ei dederit 40 libras Annuas in speciali Taellio Haeredibus Masculis Pat. 2. Edw. quarti Parte secunda John Diggs of Diggs Court in Barham was Sheriff of Kent the fourth year or Edw. the fourth Alexander Clifford of Bobbing Court Son of Lewis Clifford Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the fifth year of K. Edward the fourth Sir William Haut of Hautsbourn Son of William Haut and Elizabeth his Wife Sister to Richard Woodvill Earl Rivers and Aunt to Elizabeth Woodvill Queen of England and Wife to K. Edward the fourth was Sheriff of Kent the sixth year of that Prince Sir Iohn Colepeper of Pepenbury and Bedgebury was Sheriff of Kent the seventh year of Edward the fourth Ralph St. Leger of Ulcomb Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the eighth year of Edward the fourth Henry Ferrers of Chilesmore and Tamworth in the County of Warwick was Sheriff of the County of Kent in the ninth year of Edward the fourth He married Mawde one of the Coheirs of William Hextall of Hextall Place in great Peckham John Brumston of Preston near Feversham Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the tenth year of Edward the fourth This year the King likewise by his Letters Patents committed to his Custody the City of Canterbury Richard Colepeper of Oxenhoath in Little Peckham was Sheriff of Kent the eleventh year of Edward the fourth James Peckham of Yaldham in Wrotham was Sheriff of Kent the twelfth year of Edward the fourth Sir John Fogge of Repton in Ashford sometime Comptroller of the House to Edward the fourth was Sheriff of Kent the thirteenth year of that Prince John Isley of Sundridge Cousin and Heir Generall of William Isley who was Sheriff of this County the twenty fifth of Henry the sixth was Sheriff of Kent the fourteenth year of Edward the fourth Sir William Haut of Hautsbourn formerly mentioned was again Sheriff the fifteenth year of Edward the fourth John Green who lived at Scadbery in Chiselhurst in Right of his Wife Constance Widow of Sir Thomas Walsingham was Sheriff of Kent the sixteenth of Edward the fourth William Cheyney of Shurland Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the seventeenth year of Edward the fourth Richard Haut of the Moat in Ightham younger Brother to Sir William was Sheriff of Kent the eighteenth of Edward the fourth Richard Lee of great Delceâ— in Rochester was Sheriff of Kent the ninteenth year of Edward the fourth Sir John Fogge of Repton formerly mentioned was again Sheriff of Kent the twentieth year of Edward the fourth Sir George Brown of Bechworth Castle Son of Sir Thomas Brown was Sheriff of Kent the twenty first of Edward the fourth Richard Haut of the Moat in Ightham who served the Office of Sheriff of Kent the eighteenth of Edward the fourth was after he had been three years from the place according to the Statute made Sheriff of Kent again the twenty second year of Edward the fourth in which year this worthy Prince cast off the Luggage of humane Frailty by paying the last Debt he owed to Nature Sheriffs of Kent under Richard the Third Sir William Haut of Hautsbourn that had been Sheriff twice before in the Time of K. Edward the fourth was made Sheriff of Kent again in the first year of K. Richard the third from Michaelmass the twenty second of Edward the fourth to the ninth of April and then to the twenty third which day K. Edward the fifth fell an Oblation to the Avarice and Ambition of his usurping Uncle who cast trains no less for his Life then for his Crown and then again to the twenty fifth of June and from the twenty sixth of June untill the Michaelmass following Sir Henry Forrers supplied the place of Sheriff for him John Bamme Esquire of the Mannor of Grench in Gillingham descended from Adam Bamme Lord Maior of London was Sheriff of Kent in the second year of Richard the third Sir Robert Brackenbury of the Moate in Ightham was Sheriff of Kent the third year of Richard the third Will. Cheyney Esquire of Shurland was Sheriff of Kent the last year of Rich. the third Sheriffs of Kent under Henry the Seventh William Cheyney of Shurland Esquire Sheriff of Kent the seventh year of Edward the fourth and last of Richard the third continued in that Office the first year of K. Henry the seventh John Pimpe of Pimpes Court in Farleigh and Lose Esquire was Sheriff
others so that being thus broken into Fragments it hath now lost the estimate of a Mannor and is to be entombed in Silence Hering-Hill is a place not to be forgotten having been in elder Times the Residence of a Family called Abell The first whom I find represented to us under a Character of estimate was Sir John Abell who was in the List of the Kentish Knights which were Assistant to King Edward the first at his Siege of Carlaverock in Scotland John Abell his Successor was a Judge as is manifest by the patent Rolls of the Tower in the eighth year of Edward the second and it is very probable that it was either this John Abell or his Father that obtained a Charter of Free-warren to the Mannor of Catford in Lewsham which was after sold to William de Montacute in the twenty third year of Edward the first In the Reign of Henry the fourth I find by the Registers of the Crown Office one Edward Abell to have been in Commission for the Peace and he lyes enter'd in Erith Church not in the Coemitery or Church-yard though I confesse upon a large square Plate of Wood there is a Register of those accurately enrolled who were Possessors of Hering-Hill from John Abell the Judge down to another John Abell who dyed possest of it about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth but the date is so violated by Time and the Impression of the injurious Elements that it is hardly visible much lesse intelligible the last of this Family at this place was John Abell who about the year 1611 joyning with his Father Samuell Abell alienated his Concernment here to Mr. William Draper whose Successor Mr ..... Draper now of the County of Oxford is the instant Proprietary of it Lesnes Abby was founded by Richard de Lucy Lord Chief Justice of England under H. the second in the year 1179 and dedicated to St. Thomas the Martyr the Saint of Canterbury who as he had been above the Kings Will on earth was now above his Faith in Heaven being after his but early Canonization grown into such Veneration and Estimate that Orisons and Prayers Shrines and Altars Abbyes and Temples were offered up to his Name of which this was none of the least being a House of black Canons or Canons of St. Augustins This Richard de Lucy the Founder was Son of Richard who was Son of Roger de Chilham and he was Son of Fulbert de Dover who entred into England with William the Conquerour and changed his Name of Lucy to Dover of which first there is not only a Signiory or Lordship but likewise a Family at this instant remaining in France because he was one of those eight to whom certain Knights-Fees were assigned by William the Conquerour to be Assistant to John de Fiennes in the Guard of Dover Castle thus much for his Extraction Now for his Dignity he was not only Lord Chief Justice but likewise Protector of England in the twelfth year of Henry the second in his Absence in France which great Office he managed with so much Fidelity Prudence and Magnanimity that when the Earl of Boloign invaded this Island in the thirteenth year of the abovesaid Prince he was forced to retire with Shame Confusion and Losse which Action must certainly have improved his Name to a very high Estimate in the Opinion of those Times Yet notwithstanding he devested himself of that Pomp and Pageantry these great Offices had made him glitter with which Conquest that he made upon himself within was of more Importance then any he could have atchieved without and clouded himself in a Monks Cowle and became the Prior to that Covent he himself had erected and there likewise found his place of Sepulture And it is probable that those Coffins with Pourtraictures insculped which were discovered in a Grotto or Vault upon the breaking down the Foundation of this House in the Government of King James were the Exchequers which treasured up not only the Reliques of this Sir Richard de Lucy but likewise the remains of others of the same Family But to proceed the Prior of this place was in that Repute that it was customary for him as the Records of the Church of Rochester tell us to have his Induction into this place either by the Bishop immediately or else by some Proxie who represented the Bishop of Rochester's Person And in this State it continued untill Cardinall Wolsey laid the Foundation of his eminent Colledge of Christchurch in Oxford and thenwith the consent of the present Abbot in the year 1525 it was supprest and the Revenue of this Cloister being found in the Hands of the abovesaid Cardinal at his Death was by Henry the eighth united to the Income of the Crown where it dwelt untill it was granted to William Brereton Esquire who being engaged in the fatall Business of Katharine Howard was attainted and executed upon whose Tragedy it returned to the Crown and was in the thirty eighth of Henry the eighth granted to Sir Ralph Sadler and he not long after passed it away to Mr. Henry Cook in whose Successors the Possession was resident untill almost our Remembrance and then it was conveyed to Sir Thomas Gainsford of Crowherst in Surrey who not many years since demised his Right in it to Mr. Haws of London who dying lately without Issue hath setled it for ever on the Hospital of St. Bartholomews in Smithfield In the ninth year of Edward the second Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer obtained the Grant of a Market to Erith on the Thursday and a three Days Fair at St. Crosse and another three Days Fair the Monday Tuesday and Wednesday in Whitson Week Lesnes had by the Mediation of William de Wilton a Grant of a Market procured to be observed there on the Thursday and a Fair to continue yearly the Eve Simon and Judes Day and three Days after as is manifest Pat. 41. Henrici tertii Memb. 48. Estling in the Hundred of Feversham gave Sirname to a Family who had here an eminent Mansion called Northcourt the last of which Family was Ralph de Estling whose Daughter and Heir Alice de Estling about the Beginning of Ed. the first was matched to Fulke de Peyforer Custos of the Fleet and Westminster in London who in her Right became Lord of this place and in the thirty second year of Edward the first to inforce his Interest here obtained a Charter of Free-warren to this place and in this Family did it reside untill the latter end of Edward the second and then was Northcourt Denton and Plomford Mannors which came along to Peyforer with Northcourt were sold away to Roger Lord Leybourn and his Widow Juliana de Leybourn held them at her Decease which was in the first year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 86. And after her Decease they devolved to John de Hastings a Kinsman of Lawrence de Hastings Earl of Pembroke who was the first Husband of her Daughter and Heir
was represented to the World under that Notion as appears by very old Deeds without Date in the Hands of Mr. Bartholomew May too tedious here to recite In the twenty fourth year of Edward the first Isabell Wife of Henry de Apulderfield held it at her Death and in the Copy of the Inquisition Roll it is called Manerium de Newburgh but in Ages of a more modern Complexion it fell from its former Reputation and by Disuse shrunk into Neglect and Contempt and is now only eminent in that it was involved in that Estate that by Elizabeth Coheir of Sir William Apulderfield devolved to Sir John Phineux who finding his Sepulcher in Female Coheirs Jane one of them brought it over to her Husband John Roper Esquire and from him by paternal Efflux is the Title now wafted along to the right honorable Christopher Roper Baron of Tenham removed by no wide Distance from this place St. Johns is the last Mannor in Rodmersham to be taken Notice of though the First in its Degree of Eminence because it was a principal place belonging to the Knights Hospitallers An Order that was established and instituted by Gerardus but fenced in and empaled with New Orders and Rules by Raimundus a Podio lest debauched and softned by secular Interest in Decursion of Time they might have sallied out into some Disorder and Excesse At their first Installment they were to be eighteen years of Age at least and none who were without the Verge of that Time were capable of this Order they were to be neither of Jewish nor Turkish Extraction lest they might seem tacitly to wrap up those principles in their Blood which by their Vow they were engaged to destroy Their Pedigree or Genealogie was to be wholly Christian and that of no coorse but of a more refined Temperament for their Birth or Parentage was to be noble and that not to be sullied with the impure Tincture of Bastardy Yet even this Restriction had a gentler sense quilted into it for if they were the Natural Sons of Princes their Birth was enobled and the Rigor of the Rule was by so eminent a Descent softned and allayed and they made capable of this Order Then they were by a general Obligation to defend the Sepulchre of Christ to protect Pilgrims against the Eruptions of Infidels in their visits made to the Holy Land to foment no Clandestine Animosities by engaging in private Duells amongst themselves which were blasted with the Black Character of Illegality and if the Princes of Christedome were entangled in intestine Dissentions amongst themselves they were to shroud themselves under an impartial Neutrality lest they might destroy that Christianity which by Oath they were obliged to assert if they should embark in any impious Sidings or partial Combinations Lastly they were abstracted by their Vow of Poverty Chastity and Obedience from all secular Employments or Negotiations lest the Fumes of Temporal Interest might cloud their Eyes in their prospect towards the Sepulchre in order to which they were not to exercise any Mercantile Affairs or the Designs of Usury they were if possible to receive the Sacrament thrice every year and if not interrupted to hear Masse once a day I have now done with the Ingredients which made up their Vow I shall now come to the form of their Installment As for the Method of their Investiture it was cast into this Mould They had a Sword delivered to them intimating they should fight with Magnanimity and this was guarded with a Crosse Hilt to declare that they were in all Encounters to vindicate and maintain the Crosse and Sepulchre of our Saviour Then they were struck thrice over the Shoulders with that Sword they were invested with to insinuate that they should sustain all Contumelies and Indignities for the Cause and Defence of Christian Religion Then fourthly this Sword was wiped to instruct them that their Lives were to be assoiled from the Spot of all open and scandalous Impieties Fifthly they had guilt Spurs placed upon their Heels to shew first that all temporal Improvement of Wealth was to be cast behind the Designs of Piety and Religion or secondly to demonstrate that Riches were but the Glosse or Parjet but Honor and Vertue was the Solid Body designed by the Spur it self that was to support and sustain it Sixthly they had a lighted Taper put into their Hands by that to discover that by an eminent Integritie and exemplar Piety like the Irradiation of that Luminary they were to make themselves conspicuous to those who were involved in the Mists and Umbrages of a dark and gloomy Infidelity Lastly after these Formalities performed they were obliged to repair to Masse where I leave them Their Customary Habit was a black Cloak being the best Ensigne or Symptome of a solemne external Sorrow and on this was a Crosse potent between four Crosses Patee designing the five wounds of our Saviour they wore constantly when they appeared in publique a red Belt intimating they were at all times ready to bleed in Defence of the Crosse and Sepulcher and on that was fixed a white Crosse to manifest the Purity and Innocence of that Cause and Religion which was contended for This Order was first brought into England in the year of Grace 1100 by Jordan de Briset in some old Deeds written Brinset Lord of Well-hall at Eltham in Kent and Muriell his Wife who founded a House for them at Clerkenwell and dedicated it to St. John which afterwards became the Head of their Alberge here in England to which this Mannor continued united as parcell of their Demeasne untill the Dissolution in the Reign of Henry the eighth like a general Deluge swept it away and transported it into the Revenue of the Crown and that Prince by Royal Concession made it the Estate of William Pordage Esquire in whose Descendant Thomas Pordage Esquire the present Inheritance of it remains at this instant placed Rochester is a City which in elder Times was as eminent for its Antiquity as it was for its Strength and Grandeur and had not those violent Impressions which the rough hand of War formerly defaced it with demolished its Bulke and discomposed its Beauty it peradventure might have been registred at this day in the Inventory of the principal Cities of this Nation It was governed by a Port Reve until King Edw. the fourth in the second year of his Reign raised it into a higher Dignity and decreed by his royal Grant that it should thenceforth be governed by a Maior and twelve Aldermen and to this Monarch does this City owe much of its present Felicity a Prince certainly he was full of Complacence and Benignity of a munificent Mind and an obliging accostable Nature guilty onely of some humane Frailties common to all and adorned with many signal Virtues scarce resident in any one who did not voluntarily sail into that Sea of Blood which was let loose in the Civil War commenced between Him and the
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
Digge who promiscuously writ themselves in elder Times sometimes of Barham and sometimes of VVestwell as appears by many of their ancient Evidences and other Muniments yet extant In the reign of Edward the third there was one Adomarus de Digge who frequently writ himself of Westwell but whether it were he that was the Judge or not I cannot positively aver In fine after this place had for many Ages acknowledged the Signory of this Family it came down to John Digge in whom the Male-line ended so that his Female Heir being wedded to Henry Aucher annexed it to the Revenue of that Family and from him hath the Title by a Thread of many years been guided down to Mr. ...... Aucher Dean-court may be registered likewise in the Catalogue of the principal Mannors of this Parish It was in Times of elder prescription the Inheritance of Hussie who likewise was entituled to the possession of Dean-court in Wingham now the Mansion of the Oxendens by purchase from this Family Henry Hussie a man of great power as appears by that large Estate he was Lord of both at Wingham Lenham Boughton Malherbe and elsewhere died possest of this Mannor in the eighteenth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Numb 36. and from him did it in an even and an undivided Current glide along in this Name until the latter end of King Henry the eighth and then it was passed away by Sale to Milan in which Family the propriety of this place is now resident Nash-court is the next place in Westwell that cals for our Survey in old Deeds I find a Family that sometimes writ At Ash and sometimes Nash into which the former Name resolved who were possessors of it In Times of a lower Step that is in the thirty second year of Edward the third as appears by the close Roll of that year Rot. Esc Num. 94. Alanus de Hanekin held it but before the latter end of Richard the second this Family had quitted the possession by Sale to Brockhull of Calchill and was not long after that is about the twelfth year of Henry the fourth by Henry Brockhull conveyed to John Darell Esquire Sheriff of Kent in the eleventh year of Henry the fourth and Brother of Sir William Darell under-Treasurer of England and in this Name it was permanent until the last year of Edward the sixth and then it went away by Sale to Sharpe of Nin-house in great Chart and hath been now for five Descents resident in that Family Beamonston vulgarly called Beamston is partly situated in West-well and partly spread into East-well but the greatest part of the Demeasne is circumscribed within the Bounds of this Parish And in the twentieth year of Edward the third as appears by the Book of Aide was held by Thomas at More at making the Black Prince Knight But before the fourth year of Henry the fourth this Family was extinguished for at the Marriage of Blanch that Prince's Daughter as appears by the Roll of Blanch Lands kept in the Exchequer John Amias was possest of it and paid respective Aide for it as having purchased it of At-More and in this Name did it reside until the reign of Henry the seventh and then it was conveyed by Sale to John Moile Esquire Father to Sir Thomas Moile who left this with much other Land to Katharine his Daughter and Co-heir matched to Sir Thomas Finch in Right of which Alliance it is now devolved to be the Inheritance of his great Grand-child Hencage Finch the instant Earl of Winchelsey Perytowne lies likewise within the Limits of Westwell and is registered in the Catalogue of those Lands that William de Aldon died possest of in the thirty fifth year of Edward the third and continued chained to the Inheritance of this Family until about the twenty seventh of Henry the sixth it was passed away with much other other Land to Cardinal Kempe who setled it in the twenty eighth year of that Prince on his newly erected Colledge of Wye and rested there until the twenty ninth year of Henry the eighth and then it was resigned into the Hands of that Prince and he in the thirty eighth year of his reign granted it to Thomas Cawarden or Carden Esquire and he not long after conveyed it by Sale to Sir John Baker of Sisingherst whose Successor Sir John Baker Baronet hath this present year 1657. alienated it to Nathaniel Powell of Ewherst in Sussex Esquire Woditon or Wolton is the last place of any Note in Westwell It was originally parcel of the Inheritance of a Family called Wolton or Woditon Ivo de Woditon held it in the year 1236. and left it to his Son John de Wolton who had Issue Richard de Woditon or VVolton a man of principal Note in the twentieth year of Edward the third who held both this Mannor and VVoditon by Berham which he held of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury by Knights Service at making the Black Prince Knight And in this Man's Successors did the Propriety constantly reside until the latter end of Henry the sixth and then some part of it was conveyed to John Hampton and he about the beginning of Edward the fourth passed it away to Richard Rasel who died possest of it as appears by his Will in the twentieth of that Prince but there was some part remained unsold until William Wolton dying 1540 ordered it by his Deed to be passed away to Feoffees in Trust to discharge Debts which accordingly was performed and the Remainder conveyed to Rasell in the Descendants of which Name and Family the entire proprietie is at this instant remaining Werehorne in the Hundreds of Ham and Blackbourne was partly under the Jurisdiction of the Church and partly under the Signory of temporal and Lay Proprietaries that Moitie of it which was of secular Interest belonged to a Family called Bedford Rich. de Bedford obtained a Grant of a Market to it weekly on the Tuesday and a Fair of three days continuance at the Feast of St. Matthew as appears Cart. 52. Henrici tertii Memb. 12 which was renued and confirmed to the abovesaid Person in the eighth year of Edward the first and he in the seventeenth year of that Prince died possest of it as is manifest Rot. Esc Num. 20. But after him it was of no long date in the Tenure of this Family for in the reign of Edward the second I find it in the possession of Hugh de VVindlesore or VVindsor but was not long chained to their Patrimony neither for about the beginning of Edward the third it was alienated to Moraunt of Moraunts Court but about the beginning of Richard the second Sir Thomas Morant Son of VVilliam Moraunt Sheriff of Kent the twelfth and thirteenth year of Edward the third to whom that Prince issued out a Mandate that but one Bell should be rang in any Steeple towards the Sea-Coast in Kent determined in a Female Heir who was matched to James Peckham of Yaldham Sheriff of Kent
the third and twelfth of Richard the second and was as the private evidences of this Family inform me originally descended from Hugh de Peckham who was Constable of the Castle of Rochester under K. John in the first year of his reign and he in her right became entituled to that Interest Moraunt had in this place and in this Family it remained until those Times which approached near the Confines of our Grand-fathers remembrance and then it was passed away to Ellis from whence in Opposition to the other Moitie which was of spiritual Concernment it was called Werehorne Ellis and from this Family not many years since it was carried off by Sale to Tufton in right of which purchase the right honourable John Earl of Thanet is now invested in the possession of it The other Moietie which belonged to the Church was given in the year of Grace 1010 by Elphegus Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to the Monks of Christ-Church and was for the provision of their Garments And if you will discover how this was rated in the twentieth year of VVilliam the Conquerour the Record of Dooms-day Book will discover In Limwarled says the Note in Hundred de Hamme habent Monachi Sanctae Trinitatis de vestitu eorum 1. Manerium de VVerehorne 1. Sulling est appretiatum LXs. This Mannor being by the Monks and Prior of the Convent aforesaid surrendred into the Hands of Henry the eighth in the twenty ninth year of his reign it lay couched in the Demeasn of the Crown until the seventh year of K. James and then it was by Grant passed away to Tho. Paget and Thomas Twisden who in opposition to the other Moity which was of temporal Interess called this Werehorn Twisden and they not long after passed it away to Sir Thomas Tufton Grand-father to the right honourable John Earl of Thanet the instant Possessor of it Tinton in VVerehorne was a Mannor which anciently belonged to the Priory of Horton near Hieth but upon the suppression all its Demeasn being annexed to the Crown this was lodged there until the beginning of K. James and then it was by that Prince conveyed by Grant to Sir VVilliam Sidley of the Frierie in Alresford Grand-father to Sir Charles Sidley Baronet the present Lord of the Fee Capell in this Parish gave Seat and Sirname to a Family so called whose Demeasn lay spread into Ivie-Church Linton Boxley Horsmonden Capell by Brechley Capell in the Isle of Shepey and this Parish John de Capell flourished here in the reign of Henry the third who was as appears by the Leiger Book of Boxley an eminent Benefactor to that Covent and from him descended Sir VVilliam at Capell an eminent Knight of this County in the reign of Edward the third and Richard the second who left it to his Son Richard at Capell and he dying without Issue in the fifteenth year of Richard the second Sir John Orlanston in right of his Wife who was his Sister and Co-heir entred upon his Inheritance at this place and left it to his Son Richard Orlanston Esq who deceased without Issue in the seventh year of Henry the fifth and so upon the Division of the Estate VVilliam Scot who had espoused Joan one of the Sisters and Co-heirs was planted in the Inheritance of this place and from whom it is now devolved to be the possession of Edward Scot of Scots-Hall Esquire Ham is another eminent Mannor in this Parish which gives Name to the whole Hundred and was as high as the Ray of any Intelligence will guide us to discover folded up in the paternal Demeasn of the ancient Family of Orlanston VVilliam de Orlanston obtained a Charter of Free-Warren to his Lands at Orlanston VVerehorne and other places in the fifty first of Henry the third and being fenced in with this Immunity it came along by the Steps of Several Descents to Richard Orlanston Son of Sir John Orlanston who dying without Issue in the seventh year of Henry the fifth as is manifest Rot. Esc Num. 16. Joan one of his two Sisters matched to William Scot of Scots-Hall and Margaret the second wedded to William Parker of Parkers in this Parish became his two Co-heirs and upon breaking the Estate by mutual Division into parcels this in the second year of Henry the sixth was annexed to the Patrimony of Scot and from him did the Thread of successive Descent transmit to Mr. Edward Scot of Scots-Hall Esquire who still by paternal right enjoys the Inheritance of it Parkers is another Mannor which next summons our remembrance which afforded a Sirname as it gave an Habitation to a Family so styled Edward Parker held Lands in Werehore Westerham and other places at his Decease which was in the ninth year of Edward the second as appears Rot. Esc Num. 1.14 and in this Name was the Title and Inheritance constant until the reign of Henry the eighth and then I find by several Court-rolls one John Engham to be fixed by purchase in the possession and in this Family did it remain uninterrupted until the beginning of K. James and then it was by Sale conveyed to Taylor who not long after demised it to Collins from whom not long since it came by purchase to Squire and he not many years since passed it away to Dr. ...... Kingsley Arch-Deacon of Canterbury in whose Descendants the Proprietie of it is still resident Hampton Coclescombe is the last place considerable in Werehorne which gave Name originally to a Family which here had their Habitation and likewise were possessors of much Land at Westwell and other places and having lived here many Descents the possession of this place at last devolved to John Hampton who about the latter end of Edward the fourth passed it away to John May of Bibrook whose successor John May concluding about the latter end in a Daughter and Heir called Alice matched to John Edolph it came to be the Inheritance of that Family but did not long confess the Signory of it for this John Edolph deceased without Issue-male and left it to his sole Daughter Elizabeth matched to William Wilcock who expiring likewise in two Female Heirs Martha matched to Edward Ratcliff Doctor of Physick and Physitian to Q. Elizabeth and K. James and the second matched to William Andrews they divided this Mannor as parcel of his Inheritance William Andrews in the twenty ninth year of Q. Elizabeth demised his proportion to Rowland Bridges and Robert Philipson And Edward Radcliff alienated that part of it which accrued to him in the forty third year of Q. Elizabeth to Edward Rolt and Andrew Mersh Westerham gives Name to the whole Hundred wherein it is placed and was in elder Times the patrimony of a Family called Camville which was of some eminence in this Track William de Camville and G. de Camville entred England with VVilliam the Conquerour Thomas de Camville was one of the Recognitores magnae Assisae in the seventh year of K. John
to Clerke and so in all their Deeds subsequent to this Match have written Clerke alià s Woodchurch ever since But as all Families have their Descent and Period as well as Gradation and Ascent so had this for after this Mannor had for so many hundred years continued in this Family which had been productive of Men which had been planted in places of the greatest Eminence by which they were obliged to perform Service to their Country it came down at last to Humfrey Clerk Esquire who about the year 1594 passed it away by Sale to Walter Harlackenden Esquire by whose Daughter and Heir called Deborah Harlackenden it was united to the Revenue of Sir Edward Hales Knight and Baronet upon whose late Decease it is now descended to his Grand-child Sir Edward Hales Baronet who is entitled to the instant Signory of it Pleurinden in this Parish is a Branch of that Estate which fell under the Signory of the ancient and Knightly Family of Engham very frequently in old Deeds and other Monuments written Edingham and sometimes Hengham In a Deed wherein there is mention of a Match between ....... one of the Co-heirs of Sir Stephen de Penchester and Henry de Cobham and wherein some Land is conveyed over to Cobham there are these Persons recorded to be Testes to it William de Savage William de Oure Otho de Grandison and Roger de Hengham The Deed is very ancient and though not confined to any strict or precise Date yet commences from the reign of Edward the first and from this Roger did Vincent Engham Esquire lineally descend who in the ....... year of Q. Elizabeth passed it away by Sale to Roger Twisden Esquire Grand-father to Sir Roger Twisden Baronet in whom is fixed the instant Propriety of it Tounland is another Mannor in Woodchurch which had anciently Owners of that Sirname Rafe de la Thun died seised of this Mannor and other Lands in Woodchurch the forty third year of Hen. the third After him I find Richard de Tunland possest of it in the reign of Henry the third and Edward the first and had Issue Thomas de Tunlâ—nd who died seised of it in the fifth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 13. and left it to his Son and Heir John de Tunland who was an eminent Benefactor to the priory of Leeds to which Covent he added this Mannor to improve their Revenue at the time of his Decease which was in the forty seventh year of Edward the third and here it remained until the Dissolution and then it was granted by Henry the eighth to Thomas Lord Cromwell and after his Attaint in the thirty second year of his reign being escheated it was in the thirty fifth of Henry the eighth regranted to Sir Thomas Moile Chancellor of the Court of Augmentation and he in the thirty sixth year of Henry the eighth passed it away by Sale to William Goodwin and Tho. Ancos and they not long after alienated their Right in it to Lucas in which Family it continued but until the Beginning of Q. Elizabeth and then it was conveyed by Sale to Thomas Godfrey whose Son James Godfrey in the tenth year of Q. Elizabeth transferred it by the like Devolution to Mary Guldford and she again in the eleventh year of that Princess demised it to Richard Guldford and he not long after sold it away to Shelley of Michelgrove and John Shelley as I find by a Court Roll relating to this place held it in the eighteenth of Q. Elizabeth and in the Descendant of this Name and Family is the Inheritance of it if I be not misinformed at this instant placed Henherst is the last place considerable in Woodchurch which was the possession of a Family of that Denomination of whom I have spoken at Stapleherst where they enjoyed another Mannor of this Name and of which Family this here was but a Cadet or younger Slip and was written sometimes Henherst and as often in old Deeds Engherst and continued Owners of this place until the reign of Henry the seventh and then it devolved to Sir Thomas Hengherst who was the last of that Name which held this place for he dying without Issue Male Humfrey Wise who had matched with his Daughter and Heir in her right was invested in the Inheritance of it but he deceasing likewise without Issue Male his sole Inheritrix united it by marriage to the Revenue of her Husband Mr. Robert Masters Great Grand-father to Mr. Edward Masters of Canterbury in whom the propriety of this place is at this prefent continued Henden likewise is an Appendage to Woodchurch from whence certainly the Name of Henden originally streamed out though it be brought down to our Times in so crooked and perplexed a Chanel that we cannot discover it in all the wandrings and Digressions of it though the Family was made more conspicuous by Sir Edward Henden one of the Barons of the Exchequer to the late King Charles who for his clear speculation and insight into the deepest and most mysterious Intrigues of the Municipal Law of England was commonly called the Picklock of it But this is a Diversion The ancient Proprietaries of Henden represented to us by the eldest Records were the Lords Burwash very frequently written Burghherst and Bartholomew Lord Burwash had a Charter of Free Warren granted to Henden in the eighteenth year of Edward the third And when this Family had deserted the Possession of this place the next which successively held it were the Capells of Capells Court in Ivie-Church and Richard Capell died seised of it in the fifteenth year of Richard the second and here after it had been for some Generations fixed the Name resolved into a Daughter and Heir who was matched unto Harlackenden and so it became twisted into the Revenue of that Family and so remained till Deborah Harlackenden the Heir General of Walter Harlackenden a Branch of this Stock by being wedded to Sir Edward Hales Knight and Baronet Grand-father to Sir Edward Hales now of Tunstall Baronet wound it up in the Demeasn and Interest of that Honourable Family The Borough of Harlackenden is situated in this Parish and has been for many hundred of years the Patrimonial Demeasn of that Name and Family as appears by a Tomb in the Church of Woodchurch whose Inscription signifies that one of them lies enterr'd there a little after the Conquest and though the Character be in the proportion and Shape of it very much like that which was in use in the reign of Hen. the fourth and Henry the fifth and so makes the Truth of it disputable yet to this 't is answered that there was an old Tombstone there before with the same Inscription upon it insculped peradventure in a Saxon Character or such an one as was proportionate to that time in which that person died who lies there entombed which being decayed his Successors to perpetuate and inforce the Memory of so ancient a Predecessor fixed this
couched in their Inheritance untill at length that is almost in our Grandfathers Remembrance by Sale it devolved to Sprot who not many years since conveyed his Right in it to Sir Thomas Finch Earl of Winchelsey Father to the right honorable Heneage Earl of Winchelsey now Lord of the Fee Ashurst or Ashenhurst in the Hundred of Watchlingstone with the Mannor of Buckland as an Appendage annexed to it was anciently the Demeasne as the Dooms-day Text informs us of Philip de Gerund and Hugh de Gerund this mans Successor was seised both of Ashurst and Buckland likewise in the twenty sixth year of Edward the first as appears Rot. Esc Num. 71. But after this Family determined in a Daughter and Heir who matching with Chalfhunt made that Family possessors of the Fee and Henry Chalfhunt as we trace by Record held it in the forty fifth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 14. And after they went out it came about the Beginning of Henry the sixth by the Heir General of this Family to be possest by Hadde whose Successor about the Beginning of Henry the eighth conveyed it to Waller of Grome-bridge and from this Family after some Interval of Time it was carried off by Sale to Thomas Earl of Dorset Lord Treasurer of England and from his Descendant the Title went away not many years since by the same Fatality into Rivers of Chafford in which Family the Title both of Ashurst and Buckland are at this instant placed Chafford next invites our Survey it was for some Descents the Possession of the Roes or Rows streamed out from that original Fountain which was of this Name and Family at Roes Place in Alresford and from these two those numerous Branches have issued out which like so many divided Rivulets have dispersed themselves into so many parts of this Nation but though this Family be here like a River licked up by a Summer Sun shrunk into Oblivion and the Name wholly dryed yet hath the Title of this Seat found out another Chanel for by Sale it now flows in the Name of Rivers and Sir John Rivers Baronet Crandchild to Sir John Rivers Knight and Baronet descended from the ancient Family of Rivers of River Hill in Hantshire upon the late Decease or his Brother Sir Thomas is now Proprietary of it Aythorne in the Hundred of Eastry was given to the Monks of Christ Church by Ulfred Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in the year 824 in exchange for the Mannor of Berham but the principal Honour which did accrue to it was that it was parcel of that Estate which claimed the Family of Badelesmer for Inheritors and lay involved in their Demeasn until the infortunate Attainder of Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer in the Reign of Edward the second when being by this Tempest rent off from his Name and Patrimony it made its abode in the Revenue of the Crown untill K. Edw. the third granted it to Sir John de Bondon who in the eighteenth year of that Prince conveyed it to John de Gildesburgh After whose Exit it came by the same Devolution to be possest by Thomas Holben who in the twelfth year of Richard the second passed it away to Robert Dane And now there being an Interval or Gap in the private Evidences which have an Aspect on this place I must next represent Robert Webbe possessor of it who in the fourth year of Henry the sixth transplanted his Interest in it by Sale into John St. Clere and he not long after by the same Fatalitie transmitted it to Sir Walter Hungerford who about the latter End of Henry the sixth setled the Right and Title by Sale on Sir Thomas Brown of Bechworth Castle in Surrey Comptroler of the House to the abovesaid Prince who in the twenty seventh of his Reign as appears Pat. 27. Hen. 6. Num. 37. obtained the Grant of a Fair to be held yearly on St. Peters Day and in this Family the Propriety and Title was fixed until the sixteenth of Q. Elizabeth and then it was conveyed by Thomas Brown Esq to Francis Santon and his Son by the same Vicissitude in the twenty eighth of the abovesaid Princesse alienated it to Sir William Rither of London who dying without Issue Male setled this Mannor on Susan one of his Coheirs first matched to Sir Thomas Caesar and after to Mr. Thomas Philipott second Son to Sir John Philipott of Compton Wascelin in Hantshire and She upon her Decease gave it to her onely Son by her second Husband Mr. Villiers Philipott who hath lately conveyed it by Sale to Mr. John Brett of London B. B. B. BAbchild but in all ancient Records Escripts and all other Monuments of Antiquity written Becanceald lies in the Hundred of Milton and did as old Deeds testifie relate to the Savages a Family whom elder Times represented under a Character of much eminence in this Tract Arnold de Savage held this Mannor in the forty ninth of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 39. Parte secunda and in this Name the Title stood some years untill it sunk into a Daughter and Heir who being wedded to William Clifford branched out from the Cliffords of Cliffords Castle in Herefordshire the Title of this Mannor with the Name was folded up in this Family and here for some interval of Time it continued untill that common Fate which shifts and changes the Scene of Majesty it self as well as the Face of more subordinate Interests transferred this Mannor by Purchase to William Coting about the Beginning of Q. Elizabeth from whom not long after it passed away by the same fatality to William Biggs Ancestor to that Gentleman his Descendant both of the Name and Family who is now in the enjoyment of it There was at Radfield in this Parish anciently a Free Chappel which is now onely obvious to the Eye by that Mass of Ruines in which at this present it seems to lye gasping the Founder and Uses are both unknown upon the suppression the Demeansn which was annexed to it was by the Concession of Edward the sixth enstated on John Bateman and his Successor John Bateman hath by Testamentary Donation not long since conferred it on John Bateman of Wormesell There was another Oratory or Chappel whose Ruines are yet visible near the Verge or Margin of the Road and here Pilgrims which did usually visit the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury frequently enter'd to offer up their Orizons before they advanced any farther in their Pilgrimage the Oratory as far as possible Conjectures guide us to assert was erected in Memory and Celebration of that Counsel held here by Arch-Bishop Brigthwald under Withredus or as some Copies have it Muthredus K. of Kent in the year 692. He that will read the Results and Decrees of this Councel may have Recourse to Sir Henry Spelman's Concilia Anglicana or his Collections of the English Councels where he shall find the Constitutions and Canons of this Synod represented in an exact Register to
who stuck so close to the Cause and Quarrel of Simon de Montfort the active Earl of Leicester after whose Ruine at the Battle of Evesham and the total Discomfiture and Dissipation of of his Forces in that signal Conflict he was found in the Register of those Kentish Gentlemen who were pardoned by the pacification at Kenelworth and died possest of it in the twenty third year of Edw. the first Rot. Esc Num. 48. and in some old Deeds it is called Caput Baroniae de Say now the vulgar opinion was formerly that that thirteen Knights Fees and a half made up a Tenure per Baroniam now how much in value a Knights Fee was was the Question in elder Times some affirming it to be 50 l. others 30 l. and diverse again but 25 l. but the common received opinion is which hath been generally allowed of by all our Law Books that it is in Estimate but 20 l. consisting of eight Carucates or Hides of Land for they are coincident allowing to every Carucate or Ploughed Land an 100. Acres which was anciently thought to be as much as one team of Oxen could plough up in a year but the Tenure it self which was compounded of these Knights Fees was altogether incertain for unless it be that Manscript stiled Modus Tenendi Parliamentum which is of no higher Age then the Reign of Edward the third there is no Record does state or fix it Walter de Meduana or Mayney Ancestor to the Mayneys of Linton held twenty Knights Fees as appears by the Red Book kept in the Exchequer Folio 84 yet was not under the Repute of a Baron Walter de Wahull had the possession of 30. Knights Fees and John de Port of 50. yet neither of them out of so vast a Tenure could multiply or inforce to themselves the Stile or Title of Baron whereas on the contrary Roger de Leybourn who marryed the Coheir of Vipont and was really a Baron makes a recognisance of his Service as appears by Kirkbies Inquest kept in the Exchequer and taken in the ninth year of Edward the first but for two Knights Fees and an half from all which recited passages is evinced that this Title of Baronage flowed only from the Favour and Indulgence of the Prince who by his Writ or Summons called those who had merited well by some worthy undertakings to this Dignity and Title and not from the vastness of their Patrimony though this did very much concurre afterwards to support their Baronage in its true Value and Lustre But to proceed Jeffrey de Say this Mans Successor had view of Franck Pledge here in the eighth year of Edward the third that is as appears by the Statute of Frank Pledge made in the eighteenth year of Edward the second he was to take Cognisance of those Disorders and Excesses in his Court Baron that were committed by those which held in Free-Soccage of his Mannor of Berling as well as of those which held in Knights Service or Villen age and this Jeffrey in the thirty third year of Edward the third dyed possest of this place Rot. Esc Num. 37. and left it to his Son William de Say who likewise was in the Tenure of it at his Death which happened in the forty third year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 43. Parte secunda and transmitted it to his Son John de Say who likewise held it at his Decease which was in the sixth year of Richard the second Rot. Esc Num. 67. and from him did it devolve by descent to his Son and Heir Jeffrey Lord Say who about the latter end of Richard the second alienated his Interest here by Sale to Richard Fitzallan Earl of Arundell Lord Treasurer and Lord high Admirall of England from whom it came over to his Son Thomas Fitzallan Earl of Arundell and Lord Treasurer of England likewise who dying in the year 1416. without Issue Joan one of his Sisters matched to William Beauchampe summoned to Parliament as Baron of Aburgavenny in the sixteenth year of Richard the second became his Coheir and so he by this Alliance was acknowledged for Lord of the Fee but his Son Richard Beauchampe created Earl of Worcester in the year 1420 dying without Issue male in the ninth year of Henry the fifth Elizabeth his sole Daughter and Heir by matching with Edward Nevill who in her Right became Baron of Aburgavenny annexed Birling and Comfort Parke to his Revenue and he dyed possest of it in the sixteenth year of Edward the fourth and from him did it descend to his great Grandchild Henry Lord Aburgavenny who in the twenty ninth of Queen Elizabeth dying without Issue male gave it to his Kinsman Sir Edward Nevill afterwards Baron of Aburgavenny whose Grandchild John Nevill Lord Aburgavenny possesses now the Signory of it Bobbing in the Hundred of Milton was the ancient Seat of the illustrious Family of Savage Roger de Savage obtained a Charter of Free Warren to his Lands at Bobbing Milsted and elsewhere in the fifth year of Edward the second his Father Sir John de Savage was engaged with Edward the first at the remarkable Siege of Carlaverock in Scotland in the twenty eighth year of his Reign and there for his Signal Service was with Thomas Savage his Brother created Knight Banneret Sir Arnold Savage this mans Grandchild was Sheriff of Kent the fourth and ninth years of Richard the second and was afterwards Speaker of the Parliament in the second year of Henry the fourth as appeats by the late printed Abridgement of the Parliament Rolls preserved in the Tower and was one of the Privie Counsell to that Prince as appears by the private Evidences of this Family his Daughter Eleanor was first matched to Sir Reginald Cobham by whom she had no Issue and after was remarried to William Clifford Esquire Son of Sir Lewis Clifford Knight of the Garter descended from Clifford of Cliffords Castle in Herefordshire who upon the Decease of his Wifes only Brother this Sir Arnold Savage without Issue in her Right as Heir Generall entered upon his Estate here at Bobbing and was Sheriff of Kent in the fourth year of Henry the fifth and again in the thirteenth year of Henry the sixth his Kinsman Robert Clifford Esquire Brother to Richard Clifford first Arch-Deacon of Canterbury secondly Bishop of Worcester and thirdly Bishop of London was Knight of the Shire for Kent in the eighth year of Henry the fourth and lyes buryed in the middle Isle in the Body of Christ Church in Canterbury though now his Portraicture in Copper with the Inscription affixed with the many Coats declaring his Descent and Alliance are torn off and defaced the above mentioned William had Issue Lewis and John Lewis had Issue Alexander Clifford Esquire who was Sheriff of Kent the fifth year of King Edward the fourth and he had Issue Lewis Clifford Esq who was likewise Sheriff of Kent the thirteenth of Henry the seventh and from this Lewis was Henry
Denne who deceasing without Issue Male Margaret his only Daughter and Heir brought it over to her husband Edw. Hougham after whose death it is to devolve to two Daughters who are the surviving Issue of that Wife namely Elizabeth matched to Mr. Edward Rose of Chistlet and Ann wedded to Mr. John Betentham now of Canterbury The Dungeon is another Mannor in Canterbury It was formerly belonging to an ancient Family called Chich Ernaldus de Chich was a man of principal note under Henry the second Richard the first and K. John and the Aldermanry of Burgate in Canterbury did in elder times appertain to this Family Thoma Chich was was Bailiff of Canterbury 1259. and again in the year 1271. was a principal Benefactor to the Church of S. Mary Bredin in Canterbury whose Name in an old Character together with his Effigies are set up in the west Window as his Coat is likewise in Stone-work in the Chancell John Chich was Bailiff of Canterbury in the twenty third and again in the twenty sixth year of Edward the third in the year 1320. Robert Malling then Commissary of Canterbury gave Sentence upon clear Evidence by ancient muniments and otherwise that the Hospital of St. Laurence in Canterbury should not only receive the Tithes of the Mannor of the Dungeon but likewise of 300. Acres adjacient to it but this was not without the Tye or Tribute of some Remuneration for in Autumne John Chich who was then Lord of the Dungeon was to receive for his Servants five loaves of Bread two Pitchers and an half of Beer and half a Cheese of four pence and he himself was to receive unum par Cirocecarum ferinarum one pair of Holyday Gloves and one pound of Wax in Candles and for his Servants three pair of Gloves Thomas Chich this mans Son was Sheriff of Kent in the forty fourth year of Edward the third and held his Shrivealtie at the Dungeon but in Valantine Chich this mans great Grandchild not only the male line but likewise the possession of this place failed for he about the beginning of Edward the fourth passed it away to Roger Brent Esq and he died seised of it as appears by his Will recorded at Canterbury in the year 1486. But in this Family it was not long after this resident for in the beginning of Henry the eighth by an old Court Roll I find one John Butler of Heronden in Eastrye possest of it and he conveyed it to Sir John Hales Chief Baron of the Exchequer and when Leland visited Kent which was in the thirtieth year of Henry the eighth he lived here and from him is it now come down to his Successor Sir James Hales the instant Proprietarie of it The Moate alias Wyke is a third Mannor within the precincts of Canterbury and had owners of that Sirname For I read in Testa de Nevill that Stephen de VVyke possest it in the twentyeth year of Henry the third and paid respective Aid for it at the marriage of Isabel that Princes Sister and in the Book of Aid where there is an Enumeration of the ancient owners there is a Recital of Stephen de Wyke William le Taylour John Tancrey and Richard Betts who had an Interest in it but before the beginning of Richard the second all these Families were mouldred away and vanished For in that Kings Reign I find it by the Court Rolls of this place in the hands of Sir Richard de Hoo and Richard Skippe and they about the latter end of Richard the second by deed conveyed it to Simon Spencer and he some few years after alienated it to John Standford Gentleman who suddenly after Passed it away to Richard Smith in whose hands it had not long continued when the same Devolution brought it over to John Eastfield Esquire Son of Sir William Eastfield who was Knight of the Bath and Lord Maior of London in the year 1438. and from him it was by Sale carried off to William Rogers and he by a Fine levied in the thirty third year of Henry the sixth demises and sells it to Philip Belknap of Canterbury Esquire Maior of that City in the year 1458. and Sheriff of Kent in the thirty fourth year of Henry the sixth he married Elizabeth Daughter of John Woodhouse Esq by whom he had Issue Alice his only Daughter and Heir who was matched to Henry Finch of Nitherfield Esq Father of Sir William Finch Banneret who in his Mothers right was invested in the possession of the Moâ—t and from him is it now by Successive right devolved to the Right Honourable John Lord Finch created Baron of Fordwich by the late K. Charles when he was Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England St. Dunstans in Canterbury was the Ancient Seat of the noble Family of Roper VVilliam Rosper or de Rubra Spathâ for so the Name is written in old Dateless Evidences and Elnith his Wife the Daughter and Heir of Edward de Apuldore flourished in the Reign of Henry the third and were great Benefactors to the Priorie of Saint Martins in Dover Iohn de Rubrâ Spathâ or Rosper did eminent Service in Scotland under Edward the third for which that Prince rewards him and William Clifford as appears by a Deed recorded in the Earl of Dorsets Pedigree about the twenty ninth year of his Reign with the third part of those Forfeitures that were due from the Jews then inhabiting in London for the Violation of some Penal Statutes enected against them Edmund Son of Ralph Roper was an eminent Man in the Reign of Henry the fourth and Henry the fifth under whom he was Justice of the Peace for this County and died the third year of Henry the sixth 1433 and lies buried in this Church of St. Dunstans John Roper his Son and John VVestcliffe as the Records of this Family instruct me were Correctors and Surveyours of the Customes of the Cinque Ports in the ninteenth year of Henry the seventh Jo. Roper his Grandchild was Attorney General to Henry the eighth and Prothonotary of the Kings Bench as appears by the Inscription on his Monument in St. Dunstans Church 1524 and VVill. Roper who was Sheriff of Kent the first and second year of Philip and Mary and matched with Margaret Daughter of Sir Thomas More Lord Chancellor of England who as the Inscription on her Monument was Graecis Latinisque Literis Doctissima succeeded his Father in the Office of Prothonotary of the Kings Bench which he discharged with much of Fidelity and Care fifty four years and left it to his Sor Thomas Roper Esquire 1577 in which year he died and from this Thomas is this Mannor of St. Dunstans which for so many Centuries of years hath constantly confessed the Signorie of this Name now descended to his great Grandchild Mr. Edward Roper Esquire Capell in the Hundred of Folkstone was parcel of that Estate which celebrated the Family of Averenches to have been its Proprieraries which continued no longer in the
Grandchild John de Cobham in the thirty sixth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 43. Parte secunda And in this Family and its Descendants did they settle until the Reign of Henry the sixth and then by an old Survey of Chalke I find them in the Hands of Brent and continued in their Possession until the eighth year of Henry the seventh and then Jo. Brent Esq conveys them as appears by a Fine levied in that year to Sir Henry Wiat and his infortunate Grandchild Sir Thomas Wiat having by an unsuccesseful Solleviation or Rising forfeited them to the Crown in the second year of Queen Mary they remained there until Queen Elizabeth in the thirty seventh of her Rule granted them in Lease to Sir Peter Manwood who passed it to Menfield and he to Mr. James Crispe but the Fee-simple still remained lodged in the Royal Revenue until the late King Charles passed it away to the City of London in the year 1630 and that City the same year they were granted conveyed them to Mr. James Crispe who upon his Departure disposed them by Testament to his two Sons Mr. Thomas Crispe and Mr. James Crispe Challock in the Hundred of Calehill hath two places in it which may deservedly come within the Register of those Mannors which are in this Survey to be recorded The first is Otterpley which was an eminent Seat belonging to the ancient Family of Apulderfield The first that I find of Note in any publick Record to have possest it was Henry de Apulderfield who had the Grant of a Market and Fayre to his Mannor of Apulderfield in Coldham in the thirty eighth year of Hen. the third and this mans great Grandchild Henry de Apulderfield was Sheriff of Kent the fiftieth of Edward the third and held his Shrievalty at Challock His House was near East-well in the Earl of Winchelseys upper Park called Apulderfields Garden which is now so obscured in its own Ruins that we now with Difficulty trace out its Sepulcher made up of its own complicated Rubbish but this Mannor as to some Proportion of it was passed away before he was Sheriff to Edmund de Hant who held it at his Decease which was in the forty fourth year of Edward the third but neither of these Families lasted longer then the Beginning of Richard the second for then I find it entirely invested in Richard Lord Poynings who in the eleventh year of that Prince was possest of it at his Death and left it to his Sole Heir Eleanor matched to Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland in whose Successors the Right was constantly fixed until the twenty third year of Henry the eighth and then it was conveyed by Henry Earl of Northumberland to Sir Thomas Cheyney William Walsingham and William Fitz-Williams and they immediately after re-conveyed it to Sir Christopher Hales and his Son Sir James Hales about the latter end of Henry the eighth alienated it to Sir Thomas Moile by whose Daughter and Coheir Katharine it came to be the Inheritance of Sir Thomas Finch unhappily Shipwract by New-Haven in France a Person who deserved a longer Life and not so dark a Fate from whom by paternal Descent it is now transmitted to the right honourable Heneage Finch now Earl of Winchelsey Loringden and Deane are places in Challock worthy of Consideration There is a Tradition very frequent amongst the Country people in this Track that Loringden now altogether desolate and full of solitude was once the Mansion of Gentlemen of this Name one of which should have waged Combate with one of the Apulderfields of Otterpley not far distant about building a Chappel in the Valley which was pretended by Loringden to be erected on Land that was of his Fee-simple but because this without some more solid Foundation to support then Fame and Vulgar Report will appear but legend I will re-present to you what the original Muniments and Evidences have discovered to me in Relation to those who were Possessors of this place That there was a Family which bore the Name of Lourdingden or Loringden is most certain for there is a place in Challock which yet continues the Name of Lorindens Forestal but when I consulted the private Evidences of this place I found upon a serious Disquition they reached no higher then Henry the fourth and in his Reign it acknowledged it self to be of the Propriety of Cadman a Family grown into a reverend esteem by a long Prescription in this Track but the Name of Dean continued in being till the Reign of Henry the sixth and was in very ancient Deeds some of which are not limited with any Date written At Dean and A Dean and in that Princes Reign was by Sale passed away to the above mentioned Family of Cadman in which Name both Loringdean and Dean remained clapsed up till the entrance of K. James and then by a Sole Daughter and Heir they went over to Plomer who almost in our Memory transferred his Right in both of them by Sale to Peirce The Church of Challock being fallen down was new erected by the Apulderfields as the Glass windows and Stone work in divers places embroider'd and diaper'd with the Voided Cross which was their paternal Coat Armour do more then sufficiently testifie Cranebrook gives name to the Hundred wherein it is seated a Town very populous in respect it was one of the first places where the Manufacture of Clothing was professed and practised being brought into England in Edward the thirds Reign who by proposing rewards and granting many Immunities trained Flemings into this Nation in the tenth year of his reign to teach the English that Art of Draperie or Weaving and making woollen Cloth which is esteemed at this day one of the Butteresse which sustains the Common-wealth and certainly for making durable Broad clothes with very good Mixtures and perfect Colours Cranebrook doth with the most that way excell The first place of note in it which obviates the eye is Sisingherst but more properly and truly written Saxenhurst and as Bittenden not far distant derives its Name from the Brittons so in most probability did this take and assume its Denomination from the Saxons In Testa de Nevil a Book kept in the Exchequer which is a memorial of those who holding their Lands in the Knights Service paid relief in the twentieth year of Henry third towards the Marriage of the Kings Sister There is mention of John de Saxenhurst who was taxed for his Lands here at Cranebrook which certainly was this Sisingherst with the two little Mannors of Copton and Stone which had alwayes the same Owners with Sisingherst In times of a more modern Character the Berhams by the Female Heirs of Saxenhurst were Lords of Sisingherst with its two adjuncts Copton and Stone Richard de Berham who was Sheriff of Kent in the forty fourth year of Edward the third was here resident and is written of this place and Henry de Berham this mans Father paid respective
Aid at the making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth year of Edward the third for sundry parcels of Land which he held in Kent and amongst the rest for his Lands at Cranebrook and in this Family was the possession of this place with that of Copton and Stone concentered till the latter end of Henry the seventh and then part of Sisingherst with Copton and Stone was sold to Mr. Tho. Baker Father to Sir John Baker Attorney General and of the Privy Counsel to Queen Mary and likewise Chancellor of the Exchequer and under-Treasurer who purchased the residue and raised that Magnificent Pile within the Park which now charmes with so much Delight the eyes of the Spectators and from this man by the channel of paternal and lineal Descent is the Inheritance of Sisingherst Copton and Stone emptied into Sir John Baker Baronet the instant Lord of the Fee Secondly Glastenbury is not to be forgotten since it is of so great a Name elsewhere and is called as the other is from Glastney the Saxon Idiome of Inis Witrin the Watry or Glassie place The House which stands in a Park is moated about and hath been for many Generations the capital Mansion of the ancient Family of Rokchurst ever since Stephen Rokehurst or Roberts of Curtesden and in old Records sometimes written Rokehurst Den in Goudherst about the beginning of Henry the fourth married Joan Sole Heir of William Tilley of Glastenbury whose Ancestors had flourished at this place as private Evidencs instruct me ever since the reign of Edward the first and in right of that Alliance became Lord of this Mansion This Stephen Roberts aliàs Rokehurst was Grand-child of William Roberts aliàs Rokehurst and that William was great Grand-child of William de Rokehurst who in the reign of William the Conquerour as the Evidences of this Family inform me came out of Anandale in Scotland into England and to preserve the memory of this man did the Family till the Government of Henry the seventh write Roberts alias Rokchurst till in the East window of the North Chancel of the Church of Cranebrook which was built by Walur Roberts Esq in that Princes Reign as also in most of his Deeds and Conveyences the alias was left out Coursehorne finds place to be remembred in the Map of Kent and then must not be forgotten here it hath been for above three hundred years as appears by private Records the Inheritance of Henley in an Escheat Roll taken in the seventeenth year of Edward the third and marked with the number 92. After the death of Richard Haudloe who it seems had Lands at Cranebrook there is mention of one Gerva Henley that was one of the Jury and concerned in the Inquisition But that which much improves the Fame of this Mansion is that it was the Cradle of Sir Walter Henley Serjeant at Law a man of eminent repute in this County in the Reign of Henry the eighth and by his three Daughters and Coheirs Elizabeth married to ....... Waller of Grome-bridge Hellen first matched to Thomas Colepeper of Bedgbury secondly to Sir George Somersett and thirdly to Thomas Vane of Burston and lastly Ann wedded to Richard Covert of Slaugham in Sussex knit those Noble Families together in one Alliance but Coursehorne did by Descent come over to his Brother Gervas Henley Esquire from whom Sir Thomas Henley now of Coursehorne is lineally extracted Another ancient place there is in Cranebrook called Hartridge the possession in times past of a worthy Family of that Sirname among them chiefly to be remembred is Thomas Hartridge for he was one of the Conservators or Justices of Peace in this County in the thirty fourth year of Edward the third when there was but eight only in the whole Shire It hath been since much honoured by the Will fords who by James Willsford a most worthy Senator of London derive themselves from the right ancient Family of Willsford of Willsford in Devonshire and are fairly spread from hence into many Branches both in this County and elsewhere and after it had thus for divers Descents been resident in this noble Family the Possession was in our Fathers remembrance united by purchase to the Patrimony of Tindall now of Sutton Valence Fifthly Betenham is not to be passed over in silence which is a Note worthy Place in this Parish that gave both Seat and Sirname to the Betenhams but when the eldest Line had only three Daughters and Coheirs matched to More Dering and Fisher who divided the Patrimony this in his Wifes right was annexed to the Demeasn of More and this after More had alienated his Interest in it came to acknowledge for Sole Owners the Roes of which Family was the right Noble Sir Thomas Roe Knight Chancellor of the most Noble Order of the Garter and of the Privy Councel to the late Kidg Charles and severall years Embassador to the Great Mogor Great Turk King of Sweden and lastly to the Princes of the Protestant Union in Germany in the year 1642. After which Negotiation most prudently transfacted he returned and died but in this Family it remained not long for in the remembrance of that Age our Fathers lived in it was by Sale demised to Mansfield in whom the Possession is at this present setled There are two places more which may be registred in this Inventorie The first is Plechinghurst which was an ancient Seat belonging to the Sharpeighs of Sharpeigh a Family of deep rooted Antiquitie in this Track Robert de Sharpeigh flourished here at Cranebrook about the beginning of Edward the first and was witness to a Deed of William de Brindens of Brinden In this Parish formerly the Linds and now the Holdens but this Deed is without Date another Robert Sharpeigh of Sharpeigh and Cranebrook as I find by an ancient Roll was in Commission as Justice of the Peace about the latter end of the Government of Henry the seventh But as all sublunary things are crushed and overturned by the wheel of an inconstant Vicissitude so by Consequence are our Possessions likewise for after this place had been for so many Descents the Inheritance of this ancient Family it was almost within the Verge of our Remembrance first alienated to Martin and by him not long since by Sale demised to Walter The second is Buckhurst which is the last place of Account within the circuit of this Parish If we go to trace the Antiquity of thse Families who were the ancient Proprietorrs of it we shall find that it acknowledged Hadloe and Buckhurst for its elder Possessors that the first had some concernment here not only the private Deeds and Muniments of this place do evince to us but likewise by an Inquisition taken after the decease of Richard de Hadloe by which it is evident he held some Estate here in the seventeenth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 32. And that the second Family had some Interest here not only the Authority abovesaid doth justifie
the supply of their Diet And the Notitia of the particular Mannors belonging to Christ Christ in the Dooms-day Record speaks thus Litel Cert iterum est Manerium Monachorum de Cibo eorum quod in T. E. R. id est Tempore Edwardi Regis se defendebat pro III Sullings nunc pro duo dimidio valet VIII lb. The other half Sulling or Ploughland was at that time held by William Fitz-Herminfrid of the Arch-bishop of Canterbury in Fee and was called Pett This Mannor was many Generations since given in Fee-Farm by Grant from the Monks of Christ Church to the Brockhulls who transmitted it with Calehill to John Darell Esq in the fourth year of Henry the fourth and under that Notion or Capacity it continued till the suppression and then it was confirmed to Sir James Darell by King Henry the eighth in Fee-Ferm there being a small Rent issuing out of it reserved to the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church and under that Character is it now come down to Sir John Darell the instant Lord of the Fee Calehill is that eminent Mannor in Little Chart which gives Name to the whole Hundred it was under the Scepter of Henry the third the Inheritance of a good Family called Frene who as appears by Seals and other Authentick Records of Armorie bare for their paternal Coat Or a Flower de Lis within a plain Bordure Sables in Allufion and Assimulation to that Pluckly of whom it is probable they held some Land in this Track who bore Or only a Flower de Lis Sabler Hugh de Frene in the first year of Ed. the first obtained a Charter of Free Warren to his Mannor of Calehill and Stilley in Charing But before the middle of Edw. the third this Family was departed from the Possession of this place having surrendred the Propriety of it and Stilley in Charing to Sir Thomas Brockhull second Son of Sir William Brockhull and he paid respective Aid for his Mannor of Calehill and his Lands at Charing at making the Black Prince Knight Thomas Brockhull his Son was Sheriff of Kent the seventh and eighth years of Rich. the second and held his Shrievalty at Calehill and he had Issue Hen. Brockhull who in the fourth year of Hen. the fourth conveyed Calehill to * Ex Autographis Jo. Darell de Calchill Militis John Darell Esq younger Brother of Darell of Sesay and elder Brother to Sir Will. Darell under-Treasurer of England which John was Steward of the Lands of Hen. Chichley Arch-B of Cant. a place in those Times of a large Trust and as eminent a Concernment and in the twelfth year of the abovesaid Prince Hen. Brockhull mentioned before passed away Stilley in Charing to John Darell abovesaid from whom it came over to his Successor James Darell who by a Charter of Inspection in the third of Hen. the sixth had the Franchise or Priviledge of Free Warren renewed to his Mannors of Calchill and Stilley in Charing which was originally granted to Hugh de Frene John Darell Esq was Sheriff of Kent the seventh of Hen. the seventh he was afterwards dignified with the Order of Knighthood and was so eminent a Partisan of that Prince that he had his Estate torn from him by * See Rot. Par. de An. tertio Ric. 3 Memb. 6. Richard the third for his Fidelity to his Cause and Quarrel which * See Originale An. 2. Hen. 7. Rot. 17. in the Treasurers side in the Exchequer with thirteen other Mannors lying dispersed in the County of Worcester was granted to him again by Henry the seventh before mentioned and was made Captain of the Lanciers for this part of the County wherein he lived Sir James Darell was his Son and Heir who was Governour of Guines and Hames Castle near Calais Thus have I in prospect represented when Jo. Darell above mentioned originally extracted from the Knightly Family of the Darells of Sesay in York-shire deserted that County to transplant himself into Kent and fix his residence at Little Chart from whom Sir John Darell who now enjoys the Signory of Calehill and Proprietie of Stilley in Charing by a Derivation of many Descents all of whom were very considerable in their Generations as their Monuments and sepulchral Inscriptions remaining in their own Chappel of St. Katharines in Little Chert Church do at this instant eminently manifest is by a just and un-interrupted Series originally and lineally extracted Burleigh is another Mannor partly in this Parish and partly in Charing which had anciently Owners who bore that Sirname and there is a place in Charing Church which at this Day is known by the Name of Burleighs Chauntry which is very probable was founded by them after the Burleighs were extinguished and abstracted from the Possession of this place which was about the Beginning of Edward the third the St. Johns written in Sir John Darells Latin Deeds De Sancto Johanne became Lords of the Fee but long this Mannor was not refident in them for before the end of Edward the third this Family of St. John was crumbled into Decay and Oblivion and having disloged from the Possession a Family called Dalingryg of eminent Note in Hantshire were entituled by Purchase to the Proprtety of it and Sir Edward Dalingryg by a Fine levyed the first year of Richard the first passed it away to Roger Dalingryg and Alice his Wife and they not long after by the same Vicissitude conveyed their united Interest here to Brockhull of Cale hill and Hen. Brockhull in the fourth year of Henry the fourth transmitted it by Sale to John Darrell Esquire and from him by the Chanel of sundry Descents is the Right now descended to Sir John Darrell who hath the instant Fee-simple of it Chart Sutton sometimes called Chart Greene is seated in the Hundred of Eyhorne within the Confines of this Parish there is an ancient Mannor and Mansion called Norton place it gave Name to as ancient a Family as any in this Track in the South-Windows of the Church there was the Effigies of Stephen Norton with his Arms on his Tabard or Surcoat viz. Argent a Cheveron between three Crescents Azure who flourished in King Richard the seconds Time and in a Turnament of the Kentish Gentlemen I find one of this Name in a Tabard of the Arms above mentioned encountring one Christmasse of East Sutton not far distant who was in like manner so habited in a Surcoat charged with his Arms which meetly express the Owners name viz. Gules upon a Bend Sables three Wassail Bowls Or which likewise stand in the South-Windows in Sutton Church But the Effects of Gavelkind did at length grind this Family to a small Remain so that in the Times which did almost border upon those our Fathers lived in this Seat was by Norton sold to Baker from whom by the same Fatality not long after it went away to Sir Edward Hales Grandfather to Sir Edward Hales Baronet who is the
cast into the Revenue of Denny by whose Daughter and Heir it is lately become the Demeasn of Mr. Robert Filmer second Son of Sir Robert Filmer of Sutton not long since deceased Winchcombe is an ancient Seat likewise in Crundall which ever since the Reign of Edward the second hath acknowledged the Carters as appears by private Evidences for its uninterrupted Proprietaries and is still in the Tenure and possession of that Name and Family Cuckston anciently written Cuckleston lies in the Hundred of Totlingtrough and was given to the Church of Rochester by Ethelwolfe Son of King Egbert See Textus Roffensis first Monarch of the English Saxons this King Ethelwolfe after his decease which happened to be about the year 857. was for his several and exemplary acts of Charitie and pious Munificence towards the Church of which Cuckston till these unhappy times ravished it away stood a visible Monument Recorded in the Register of Saints VVhornes-Place in this Parish was erected by Sir VVilliam VVhorne who was Lord Maior of London in the year 1487. upon which though he setled his Name he could not so fasten it to his Family but that the next Age by Purchase brought it over to Vane where the Title had not long fixt but the vicissitude of Sale alienated it to Barnewell who about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth sold it to Nicholas Lewson of the County of Stafford Esq whose Grandchild Sir Richard Lewson desirous to settle himself in his own County where a vaste Estate lay spread which had been transmitted to him from his Ancestors passed away this by Sale to John Marsham Esquire originally extracted from the Marshams of Norfolk where many years before they had flourished under no contemptible Estimate D. D. D. D. DArent in the Hundred of Acstane is very often written North-Darent it belonged in the Conquerours time to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury as the Record called Doomsday Book instructs me and was exchanged for the Mannor of Lambeth by Hubert Walter Arch-Bishop Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice with Gilbert Glanvill Bishop of Rochester in the year of our Lord 197. which exchange was afterwards confirmed by Richard the first Saint Margaret-Hills now united to this Parish had formerly a Church which being decayed and the Congregation diminished it was by Cardinall Pole in the year 1557. incorporated into Darent It was anciently and is so still distinguished by the Name St. Margaret-Hills which additionall Character it borrowed from a Family originally called Hells and then by Tradition and Vulgar corruption afterwards stiled Hills a Family which had large Possessions both here at Dertford and at Ash likewise by Sandwich John de Hells had a Charter of Free-warren to his Mannors of Hells and his Estate at Dertford in the seventeenth year of Edward the first and from this John de Hells did Sir Edmund Hills descend and he about the beginning of Edward the sixth alienated this Mannor to Lane whose Son Henry Lane went out in a Daughter and Heir called Martha who matched to Edw. Rolt descended from the Roults of Bedford-shire in Right of which Alliance Mr. Thomas Rolt his Grandchild is now invested in the Possession of this Place Dartford gives name to that Hundred wherein it is situated and before the Foundation of the Nunnerie was a Mannor which was wrapt up in the Demeasne of the Crown there was a Family called Tingewike which had it in Lease for when King Edward the third Pat. An. primi Edw. tertii Memb. 6. granted the Royalties of the Mannor of Dartford to Edmund of Woodstock Earl of Kent paying as a Rent-Service of 30. l. per annum it is mentioned in the Patent that he should hold them all in as ample a manner as Alice Tingewike formerly had done upon his decease it reverts to the Crown and the same King Edward in the year 1355. and in the fiftieth year of his Reign erects here a Nunnerie whose Lady-Abbess and the Nuns of the Covent were for the most part in succeeding times elected into this Cloister out of the noblest Families of the Nation Upon the suppression King Henry the eighth converted the House into a Palace for his own habitation and under that notion it continued till K. James by exchange passed it away to Robert E. of Salisbury who conveyed it to Sir Edw. Darcy whose Grandchild Edward Darcy Esquire descended from the noble Family of Darcy of Yorke-shire at this instant possesses the Fee-Simple of it The Mannor of Temple in this Parish was involved in that Revenue which was marshal'd under the Jurisdiction of the Knights Templers as the very Name doth seem to insinuate and upon the totall disannulling this order here in England was by a Statute made in the seventeenth year of Edward the second setled on the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem where it was fixed and constant untill the disbanding of that Order likewise in this Nation by King Henry the eighth and then it was annexed to the Patrimony of the Crown and rested there untill K. James exchanged it with Robert E. of Salisbury who sold it to Edw. Darcy Esq whose Grandchild Edw. Darcy Esq hath lately conveyed it by Sale to his Brother in Law Mr. Will. Gough The Mannor of Charles is Seated in this Parish and was a Branch of that Estate which fell under the Signorie of the ancient Family of Charles from whom it assumed its appellation Of this Family was Edw. Charles who was Captain and Admiral of the Fleet from the Thames-Mouth North-ward as appears Pat. 34. Edw. 1. after this Family had left the Possession of this place which was about the beginning of Richard the second Nicholas de Brember was planted in the Proprietie but he was scarce warm in his new atchieved Purchase but he fell under the guilt of high Treason only for being too fast in his Loyaltie and Faith to his Prince and too loose in his fidelity to his Country for there it seems that blind distinction had its first rise and growth which like some Alembeck distil'd and dropped the Power of the King distinguished apart from his Person upon the forfeiture of his Life and Estate together which was in the tenth year of Rich. the second It was by that Prince suddenly after conveyed by grant to Adam Bamme Lord Maior of London in which Family after it had for many Ages been seated it was as appears by an exemplification now in the hands of Mr. Took of Dartford transmitted by Sale to Death who about the latter end of K. James passed it away to Goldsmith of Marshals-Court in Creyford who some few years since sold all his Concernment in it to Mr. Tooks branched out from the ancient Family of the Tooks of Bere in West-Clive though since this Name setled at Dartford it hath by Depravation been called Tuke Horsemans-Place is a Mansion of good account likewise in Dartford in the sixteenth year of Edward the second I find it owned one Thomas
did the Cloister of Davington remain a Seminary of religious Women whilst their revenue without was the Fuel which supported and nourished the Flame on the Altar But when the reign of Henry the eighth approached which became decretory and critical to all these Nurseries of a lazy and speculative Devotion the demeasn which sustained this Covent was by Henry the eighth plucked away and in the eight and thirteeth year of his Government was by patent knit to the patrimony of Sir Thomas Cheyney And his Son Sir Henry Lord Cheyney in the eighth year of Q. Eliz. conveyed it by Sale to Jo. Bradborn descended as appears by his Seal affixed to his Deed by which he alienates it again in the tenth year of Q. Eliza. to Avery Giles from the Bradborns of Darbyshire But in this Family the residence of it was very brief and transitory for his Son Francis Giles in the twentieth year of Q. Eliza. passed it away to Mr. Jo. Edwards and from this Family though the Fate of purchase did not rend it away yet that of marriage did for this Jo. Edwards leaving only one Daughter and Heir called Ann she by matching with Io. Boade of Essex Esquire linked this to his revenue and from him it is descended to Mr. Io. Boade the present Lord of the Fee Little Davington or Davington-court not far distant from that house which was the Nunnerie was formerly wrapped up in that Demeasn which confessed the Dominion of the Earls of Atholl Lords of Chilham by whom the Mansion it self was built as their Arms in Stone-work in the great Hall before they were taken down by Mr. Tho. Mills did abundantly testifie and having for many years acknowledged their Signory at last it devolved to David de Strabolgie Earl of Atholl who dying without Issue-male in the forty ninth year of Edw. the third left it to Philippa one of his two Coheirs who was matched to Io. Halsham and from him did a successive Right bring it down to Sir Hugh Halsham his Grandchild who about the beginning of H. the sixth passed it away to Ja. Drylond who determined in one Daughter and Heir called Constance Drylond who was matched to Sir Tho. VValsingham of Scadbery Knight who in her right became possessor of it and transmitted it to his Son Sir Ja. VValsingham who was Sheriff of Kent in the twelfth year of H. the seventh and kept his Shrievalty at Davington and from him did it descend to his Grandchild Sir Tho. VValsingham who almost in our Grandfathers remembrance conveyed it by Sale to Simons and he not long after to Coppinger And his Son having about the beginning of K. James mortgaged it to Freeman they both joyned and by mutual Concurrence fixed their right in Mr. Tho. Mills of Norton who deceasing without Issue-male it came by Ann his Sole Daughter and Heir to be the Inheritance of Sir Io. Mill of South-hampton who conveyed it to his Brother Dr. Mill and he some few years past alienated it to his Kinsman Mr. Tho. Mill and he serled the propriety of it on his Son Mr. Tho. Mill who hath very lately transmitted all his Right in it by Sale to Tho. Twisden Esquire Serjeant at Law now of Brabourn in East-Malling Since my Writing of this I have discovered by an old Survey of Davington collected by Mr. Tho. Millâ— that Io. Lewknor of Sussex Esq had in the twenty first year of H. the sixth an Interess in Davington-court derived to him by Joan his Wife Sole Inheritrix of Sir Hugh Halsham which he not long after passed away to Mr. James Drylond Detling in the Hundred of Maidstone gave Name to a Knightly Family famous for Fortitude and Chivalrie in token whereof a Massie Lance all wrearhed about with thinn Iron place is preserved in the Church like that of VVillam the Conquerours at Battel in Sussex as the very Spear by them used and left as a memorial of their Atchivements in Arms and an Emblem also of their extraordinary Strength and Abilitie In which respect those in Bedington-Hall in Surrey celebrate the renown of the Carewes atchieved at Tilt and Turnament and that in Lullingston-Hall in Kent the like for the Peches As also that in Gerards-Hall in London upon which a Romance is drest up by the vulgar report fancying he was some Giant when the truth is he was of the Knightly Family of Gizors and Constable of the Tower and this his Capital Mansion was Castellated as the Seat of the Basings was another strenuous Family at Basings-Hall in London these matters allude much to the manner of the Romans whose Victories were aplauded and the Victors in their Triumphs extoll'd by Trophies and other Monuments and Ensigns of Honour as Pancirolus Rosinus and others have judiciously observed that have treated of these kind of Rituals But to return to the Subject from which this discourse hath diverted me in this Family of Detling did the Possession of this place for many Ages remain constantly seated till the beginning of the Reign of Edward the fourth and then John Detling written in some Old Deeds Brampton alias Detling transmitted it by Sale to Richard Lord Woodvill Lord of the Moat in Maidston not far distant created Earl of Rivers Lord Treasurer and Constable of England by his Son in law King Edward the fourth in the year 1466. whose Grandchild Anthony Woodvill Earl Rivers being attainted upon supposed Treason in the first year of Richard the third which was made so by that Usurper and those black Engins which he had raised upon him because he too cordially asserted the Interest of Edward fifth it escheated to the Crown and that Prince in the second year of his Government granted it to Sir Robert Brackenbury Lievtenant of the Tower who it seems disliking a Tenure which was caemented with Blood passed away his right immediately after to Richard Lewknor who had some estate here before by matching with Eleanor Coheir of Tho. Towne which Tho. Towne wedded to Bennett Heir of John Detling and this Richard Lewknor about the latter end of Henry the seventh gave it in franck Marriage with his Daughter to Hills Hills resolved into two Daughters and Coheirs one of which was married to Vincent and the other was matched to Martin and so upon the Division to avoid all Disorder and Confusion Detling was split into two Mannors one was called West-Court which accrued to Vincent and the other was termed East-Court which was annexed to the Demeasne of Martin Martin about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth sold East-Court to Webbe in which Name after it had for severall years been fixed it was in our Fathers Memory passed away to Smith who not many years since alienated it to Sir Edward Henden one of the Barons of the Exchequer who upon his Decease gave it to his Nephew Sir John Henden and from him it is now descended to his eldest Son Edward Henden Esquire But Westcourt was by Vincent passed away to Morton of Whitehorse in
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
conveyed it by Grant to Sir Walter Henley and he in the thirty fourth year of Henry the eighth transmitted it by his Deed to Sir John Baker whose Successor Sir John Baker even in those Times which entrenched on our Remembrance passed it away to Mr ....... Cleyton of London Bewper is the second place of account in this Parish It was in elder Times an Appendage or Fragment of that Demeasn which did contribute to the Support of the Abby of Feversham and upon the Suppression of that Cloister or Seminary by Henry the eighth it was in the thirty fifth year of that Princes Reign granted to Sir Thomas Moil who not long after passed it away to Robert Prat. And his Son Master Franci Prat primo Elizabethae by Fine conveyed it to Mr Edward Bathurst who not many years after transplanted his Interest here by Sale into Sir Richard Baker Ancestor to Sir Jo. Baker of Sisinghurst Baronet who now by paternal Succession is entituled to the instant Signory of it Wallinghurst and Buckhurst are two petty Mannors which belonged to the Abby of Feversham but upon the Suppression of that Covent they were pared off and by Grant from Henry the eighth in the twenty ninth year of his Reign were enstated upon Thomas Lord Cromwell Earl of Essex But long he was not endowed with them for in the thirty second year of that Prince's Government he was bespattered and blasted with an Accusation of high Treason which the Subtlety of his Adversaries had woven so closely together that he was entangled in it and being attainted forfeited both his Life and Estate to the Fury I cannot say Justice of an incensed Prince Amongst the Ruines of his Patrimony these two places were comprehended and upon his Shipwrack it returned to the Crown And then King Henry the eighth by a new Grant in the same year they escheated passed them away to Sir John Baker of Sisingherst in Cranebroke from whom they are now come down to Sir John Baker Baronet his Successor Upper Peasridge was involved in that spatious Inheritance which fell under the Dominion of the Lord Badelesmer of whom I shall speak more at Leeds and when he by his Disloyalty had forfeited both Life and Fortune to the Crown this was enwrapt in the Escheat But was restored in the second year of Edward the third to Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer this Mans Son and he in the twelfth year of that Prince held it at his Death Rot. Esc Num. 44. But Giles his only Son dying without Issue his great Estate was split into parcells and this with some more of his Demeasne was allotted to Mawd his Sister and Coheir who was matched to John Vere Earl of Oxford and he in her Right was possest of it at his Death which was in the thirty fourth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 84. And in this Family did it reside untill the Beginning of Henry the fourth and then it was passed away by Sale to St. Leger to whose Patrimony it remained annexed untill the Government of Philip and Mary and then an Alienation like the former brought it over to Lone descended from the Lones of Lancashire where there is yet a House of the Name and being thus fixt in this Family the Possession continues still united to it Fordwich in the Hundred of West-Gate was given to the Abbot and Monks of St. Austins as the Annalls of that Convent testifie by King Edward the Confessor and was given ad Vestitum for Reparation of their Apparell And there is a Tradition that Hemp-Hall which was an Appendage to this Mannor did pay a quit-Rent in Hemp but certainly it must be then for the use of those secular persons which related as Officers and Servants to this Cloister for the Monks themselves being under the Rule of Bennet harrowed their Skin with Shirts of Hair and slept vestiti in their Apparell the more to tame and controle the Mutinies and Disorders of the Flesh But to advance After this Mannor which the Piety of former Ages had planted in the Revenue of the Church had for a large Decursion of Time owned no other Proprietary it was by the Dissolution in the twenty ninth of Henry the eighth emptied into the Income of the Crown where it lay untill Edward the sixth in the seventh year of his Reign granted it to Sir Thomas Cheyney and he not long after alienated his Concernment in it to John Johnson from whom it came over by Purchase to Paramour who passed it away to the Lady Elizabeth Finch Widow of Sir Moile Finch whose Son Thomas Finch Earl of Winchelsey almost in our Memory passed it away to John Finch Baron of Fordwich late Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England in the year 1640 and in him does the instant Signory of it reside Folkstone does contribute a Name to the Hundred in which it is situated The Mannor it self with the Mannor of Walton was given to the Nunnery by Eadbald King of Kent which it seems was of that Repute in those Times that Eanswide his Daughter was there vailed a Nun under the Rule of St. Bennet and Ermenred and Ercombert his Sons changed their hopes of a Crown into those of one more celestiall and folded up all their Earthly Glories in a Monastick Cowle which they assumed at this place under the Discipline of St. Bennet But this Cloister was some Ages after partly by the Fury of the Danes and partly by the Impressions of the Sea reduced into a heap of Ruines so that in the Reign of William the Conquerour William de Muneville laid the Foundations of a new Priory in another place of the Town which was much augmented afterwards by William de Averenches who had married his only Daughter But it seems upon the former Devastation of this religious Seminary the Mannor had returned to the Crown for in the year one thousand thirty and eight Canutus restored to Christ-church in Canterbury as the Records of that Covent do intimate this Mannor of Folkston which Athelstan Son of King Edward in the year nine hundred twenty and eight had formerly granted to them for the health of his Fathers Soul and to the Honor of Vlfhelme Arch-priest of Canterbury but with this Restriction he limits and bounds this his Concession that this Mannor thus returned to the Church should never be alienated by the Arch-bishop without the Consent of the King and the Covent of Christ-church who it appears joyned with William the Conquerour and the Archbishop of Canterbury and fastned it again to this Priory where it remained untill it was torn away by the Suppression in the Time of Henry the eighth and annexed to the Crown Afterwards that Prince in the thirtieth year of his Reign transplanted his Interest in it and Walton by Grant into Edward Lord Clinton and he the same year passed them away to Thomas Lord Cromwell Earl of Essex who being attainted in the thirty second year of the abovesaid Prince
this Mannor upon the total Suppression and Abolition here in England was in the seventeenth year of Edward the second united to the Revenne of the Knights Hospitalers and remained annexed to their Demeasne until the common Dissolution supplanted it and then King Henry the eighth granted it to Sir Thomas Cheyney who in the first year of Queen Elizabeth by Sale conveyed it to Mr. Thomas Finch from whom it is now by Descent come down to be the Inheritance of his Successor Mr. Thomas Finch Kingston in the Hundred of Kinghamford was one of those Knights Fees which was assigned to Fulbert de Dover for to be assistant to John de Fiennes in the Guard of Dover Castle And indeed it hath been disputable whether this or Chilham or both jointly were that which in Writings is styled the Honor of Fulberts William de Dover was Teste amongst the Magnates in the Charter of Mawd the Empress for creating Miles of Glocester Earl of Hereford and from this man did it descend to Richard de Dover who was base Son to King John and assumed that Name because he had matched with Roesia or Rose de Dover the Heir General of that Family But he dying in the Beginning of Henry the third Rot. Esc Car. Num. 237. lest it to Isabell his Co-heir wedded to David de Strabolgie Earl of Atholl whose infortunate Son John Earl of Atholl a man of an unbroken though a Calamitous Fidelity towards his Native Country of Scotland seeking to rescue the Liberty of that Nation from those Fetters which the Hand of Edward the first would have put upon it was in an unsuccesful Encounter taken Captive and offered up to the Fury of that Prince on a Gibber fifty Foot high at London saies Daniel at Canterbury saies an old Manuscript late in the Hands of Sir Dudley Diggs which last was rather the Stage on which his Tragedy was represented because that City was almost contiguous to his two great Mannors of Chilham and this of Kingston Upon his fatal and deplorable Exit aggravated because so much Virtue and Courage did rather seem to exact Chaplets and Laurels than so black and ruinous a Catastrophe this Mannor was linkt to the Crown untill King Edward the second in the fifth year of his Raign grants it to Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer Steward of his House but he not long after by an ingrateful Defection having forfeited it again to the Crown that Prince by a new Concession invests it for life in David de Strabolgie Earl of Atholl but after his Disease which was in the first year of Edward the third that Prince in the second year of his Raign restores it to Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer who dying without Issue left it in the twelfth year of Edward the third to his Son and Heir Giles who not long after deceasing likewise without any lawful Issue it came to be divided between his two Sisters and Co-heirs Margaret wedded to William Lord Rosse of Hamlake and Margerie matched to John Tiptoft but before the end of Edward the third this Family had wholly departed from this place and the entire Possession was surrendered up to Rosse For Thomas Lord Rosse dyed possest of it in the seventh year of Richard the second Rot. Esc Num. 68. And from him did the Title slide down to his unhappy Successor Thomas Lord Rosse who was attainted in the fourth year of Edward the fourth and his Forfeiture brought it to the Crown where it rested untill the abovesaid Prince granted it to Roger Lord Wentworth And Margaret his Wife Widow of Thomas Lord Rosse in the eighteenth year of his Rule he conveyed it to him because he had been a great Supporter of his Partie and Title and then to her because she was Sister to John Tiptoft Earl of Worcester who was offered up as an Oblation by the Lancastrian Faction to his Cause and Quarrell and from this Roger did it come down to his Successor Richard Lord Wentworth who in the twenty first year of Henry the eighth demised it by Sale to Thomas Colepeper Esquire in which Family it continued untill the thirty fourth year of that Prince and then it was conveyed away to Sir Anthony Aucher whose Successor Sir Anthony Aucher of Bourne Baronet not many years since conveyed it by Sale to Mr. Gibbons of Westcliff who settled it in Marriage upon his second Son Dr. Gibbons not long since deceased in whose Descendants the Propriety is still resident Ilding in Kingston in Times of as high a Step as any Records can ascend to was the Garwintons of Bekesbourn as appears by that Signal Controversie commenced between Thomas de Garwintor and Theobald de Twitham touching some lands couched within the Verge of his Mannor of Ilding and the Question was so knotty and perplexed that Henry de Cobham Geffrey de Say Hugh de St. Leger Ralph de St. Leger Gile de Badelesmere Fulk de Peyferer Robert de Malevill Alexander de Rosse Robert de Gatton Robert de Campania Richard de Bere Henry de Sorne Henry de Enbroke Alured de Corton and other Gentlemen of prime Account in this Track were chosen Recegnitores magnae Assisae in the second year of King John by their Prudence and dextrous Conduct to soften and becalme this Difference But to go on after the Signory of this place had for many Ages been constant to this Family it devolved to Thomas Garwinton who dying without Issue in the eleventh year of Henry the fourth Richard Haut who had married Joan Garwinton his Heir Generall in her Right was entituled to the Possession of this place but his Son and Heir Richard Haut was the last which held it for Margery his Sole Inheritrix united it to the Inheritance of Isaack in which Name it stayed untill the Beginning of Henry the seventh and then it was transmitted by Sale to Diggs of Diggs-court in Berham and remained clasped up in their Revenue untill that Age which almost was concluded in the Circle of our Remembrance and then it was by Sale transplanted into Wilford so that the Lady Eliz. Wilford Widow Dowager of Sir Thomas Wilford is now by Right of Jointure in Possession of it Parmested is a third place which calls for a Survey it was as high as any Evidence drawn from Record will instruct me to discover the Inheritance of a Family which bore that Sirname for in diverse old Deeds which I have surveyed I find one Hugh de Permested to be a Witnesse which is very probable was Lord of this Place But before the latter end of Edward the second this Family was worn out and that of Garwinton planted in the Possession as appears by an old Fine levyed in the eighth year of Edward the third by Hugh Garwinton in which he passes away his Estate at Permested to Thomas Garwinton from whom it descended to his great Grandchild William Garwinton who dyed possest of it in the eleventh year of Henry the fourth Rot. Esc Num. 45.
But left no Issue so that Joan his Kinswoman matched to Richard Haut became his Heir and he had Issue Richard Haut in whom the Male-line concluding William Isaac in Right of his Wife Margerie who was Daughter and Heir to the above-mentioned Richard entered upon his Estate here at Permested and about the Beginning of Henry the eighth passed it away by Sale to Edward Knevet of Newington Belhouse Esquire and his Daughters and Coheirs by joint Sale demised it to Tho. Lord Cromwell and he in the twenty ninth year of Henry the eighth alienated it to Christopher Hales Esquire afterwards knighted first Attorney Generall and then Master of the Rolls under the abovesaid Prince and his Son Sir James Hales conveyed it away to Thomas Alphew aliàs Alphy Yeoman From this Man it came over by Sale in the fifth year of Queen Elizabeth to William Downe of Maidstone Draper and he in the sixth year of that Princesse transmitted it by the like conveyance to Doctour Vincent Denne Doctour of the Civil Law Grand-father to Mr. Vincent Denne of Grays Inne Esquire the present Lord of the Fee A Person to whose Conduct and supply this particular Survey ows a grateful Remembrance because by his Concurrent Aid it was guided along through all those Difficulties which might have probably intercepted it in its farther progresse Denhill in this Parish was not only the Seat but likewise the Seminary of a Family of eminent Note in this County Ralph de Den held much Land in Romney Mersh and likewise at Buckhurst in Sussex as appears by an old Roll now in the Hands of the Earl of Dorset about the twentieth of William the Conqueror and is styled in the Record Son of Robert Pincerna a Name imposed upon his Father from being as is probable either Butler or Sewer to Edward the Confessor an Office of no vulgar Account in those Times Sir Alured de Den flourished in the Raign of Henry the third and was a Person of signal Estimate in that Age for when the Laws of Romney Mersh were compiled by that venerable Judge Henry de Bath from which all England receives Directions for Sewers this Sir Alured and Nicolas de Haudloe were his Associates and Assistants in the Composure of them in the forty second year of Henry the third on Saturday next after the Nativity of St. Mary and which makes this Sir Alured de Den more remarkable he sealed even in that Age divided by so remote a Distance from us with three Leopards Heads couped and full faced which is the ancient paternal Coat of this Family Indeed if I should enter into a particular Discourse of all those Persons who have been originally extracted from this Family and were formerly eminent not only within the private Sphere of this County as being invested with the Commission of Justices of the Peace and other Offices of publique Trust and Concernment but likewise shone like Stars of the first Magnitude within the two Orbes of Divinity and the Law both Civil and Municipal the Survey of this Place which I intend to retrench within as narrow Bounds as may be must swell into a particular Treatise it is enough therefore to inform the Reader that it hath been so many Centuries of years folded up in the Propriety of Den. that there is no Gappe at all in the Succession between Ralph de Den the first of that Name and Tho. Den Esq the last who in a direct Line enjoyed it Nor hath it yet departed from the Name for the above mentioned Thomas lately deceasing without Issue-Male Vincent Donne of Grays-Inn Esquire collarerally issued out of this Family by matching with Mary his yongest Daughter and Coheir in Right of this Alliance is now in the instant Possession of it Kingsnoth in the Hundreds of Chart and Longbridge did in elder Times give Sear and Sirname to a Family which assumed its Denomination from hence who bore as appears by Seals appendant to their ancient Deeds Ermin upon a Bend five Cheverons and John de Kingsnoth who flourished here about the latter end of Edward the first sealed with that Coat and this Inscription encircles the Seal Sigillum Joannis de Kingsnoth Yet I find Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer who was attainted in the seventeenth year of Edw. the second had some Interest in this Mannor which upon his Conviction escheated to the Crown and rested there until Richard the second granted it out again to Sir Robert Belknap the Judge who had not long before purchased that proportion which Kingsnoth was concerned in So that by this Concession it came entirely to own the Signory of this Family But he being infortunately attainted and cast into Exile in the tenth year of the above said Prince this Mannor was annexed to the Revenue of the Crown and was lodged there until Henry the sixth in the twenty seventh year of his Raign granted some part of it to Sir Thomas Brown of Bechworth Castle in Surrey and with it a Charter to inclose a Parke which had Liberty of Free-warren annexed to it and likewise the more to endear him licensed this Town to hold a Fair yearly on Michaelmas Day but the principal part of it was conveyed by Sale to Cardinal Kemp who about the twenty eighth of Henry the sixth settled it on the Colledge of Wye where it remained until the Resignation of its Revenue into the Hands of Henry the eighth in the twenty ninth year of his Raign and he by Royal Concession made it the Demeasne of Thomas Lord Cromwell afterwards Earl of Essex Who being attainted of High Treason in the thirty second year of that Prince it escheated back to the Crown and then a Moiety of it in the thirty fifth year of his Government was granted to Sir John Baker from whom by hereditary Conveyance it was delegated and transmitted to his Successor Sir John Baker of Sisingherst Baronet who some few years since hath alienated his Concerment here to Mr. Nathaniel Powell of Ewherst in Sussex The other Moiety of it lay folded up in the Patrimony of the Crown untill the first year of Queen Elizabeth and then it was by that Princesse granted to her Kinsman Henry Cary afterwards created Baron Hunsdon from whom by the Channel of Descent it was transported to his Grand-child the Right Honorable Henry Cary Earl of Dover who in our Memory conveyed it to Sir Thomas Finch afterwards Earl of Winchelsey Father to the instant Proprietary the Right Honorable Heneage Finch now Earl of Winchelsey Munfidde in this Parish was originally the Seat of the Clere's written in their ancient Deeds le Clere. But as all Families have their Vicissitudes and Tombs and like the Sea which is circumscribed and shut in with a Girdle of Sand are fettered to a determinate Period so was this for about the latter end of Edward the third Henry le Clerc concluded in Susan le Clerc who was his Daughter and Heir and she by matching with Sir Simon Woodchurch annexed
Heir it came to be the Possession of Stringer and he ending likewise in a Female Heir she brought it to Scot a Cadet of Scots-Hall who suddenly after sold his Right in it to VVilcocks by whose two Daughters and Coheirs in the Memory of these Times it came to be divided between their two Husbands Bates and Knight The Mannor of Belgar or Belgrave is Situated likewise in Lidde it was given with the Mannor of Bilsington to the Priorie of Bilsington by John Maunsell the Founder of it and was exchanged by the Abbot and Canons for other Lands not long before the Suppression with VVilliam St. Leger by whom it was alienated to VVilliam Middleton and Edward Arthur who after they had been some small time Seated in their new Acquists by jont-consent passed away their Right in it to Sherley of Sussex who in our Fathers Memorie by Sale transferred the Inheritance to Abdy descended from the Abdys of Abdy-House in the Parish of VVaith in Yorke-shire whose Heir both to the Name and Belgar also is Sir Christopher Abdy a person who for his generall Knowledge may be called without the circumstance of Flatterie an Exchequer of humane Learning Scotney was the Seat of a Family so called for in the Book of Aid there is a recitall of one Richard de Scotney who held Lands in the Mersh not far distant afterwards it came to the Ashburnhams of Sussex but whether by Purchase or by Marriage of the Heir of Scotney is incertain though I rather believe it devolved to them by Marriage because Scotney in Lamberhurst divided by a remote distance from this place was likewise theirs from Roger Ashburnham it came to Henry Chichley Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and he by Gift tied it to his Foundation of All-Souls Colledge in Oxford to whose Revenue it remains at this instant time united Nod in this Parish of Lidde was for sundry Ages the Residence of the Derings before they were transplanted to Pluckley and here are Lands Situated within the Verge of this Parish which by an undivided prescription of many Ages have been named Derings and Derings-Mersh a certain Evidence to enforce the Antiquity of this Family But when they grew more delighted with the Situation of Pluckley than this place it was by ........ Dering in the fourth year of Philip and Mary alienated to Mr. Peter Godfrey of Lidde and Surrenden was tyed for his peaceable Possession in it Lastly here is Manerium Summi Altaris so it is written in old Latine Deeds or the Mannor of the high Altar which for many Hundreds of years has been united to the Vicarage But whether it were given to find Vestments for the Priest to Offociate in at the high Altar or for a supply of wax Tapers or for provision of Books to celebrate Mass with or lastly for all these Uses united and complicated together I know not because the original Instrument which fortified the Donation is lost and so both the Use and Doner are become incertain There was a Water in Lidde called Guestling whose Course the Prior of Christ-Church did by an Inquisition taken in the ninth year of Edward the second consult how to alter If you will discover what price was set on Timber in elder times an old Epitaph affixed to a Tomb-stone in Lidde Church will represent it to you The Inscription Recorded in old English speaks thus Of your Charity pray for the Soul of Tho. Briggs who died on the Feast of St. Leonard the Confessor the year of our Lord 1442. and did doe make the Roffe of this Chirch as far as 45. Copplings goeth which did cost 45. Marks Lidden in the Hundreds of Folkstone and Bewsborough was a Mannor which in elder Times made up that vast Patrimony which related to the Knights Templers in this County but upon the totall Extirpation of that Order here in England in the Raign of Edward the second it was by the Statute called Statutum de Terris Templariorum made in the seventeenth year of that Prince's Government settled by that solemne Act upon the Knights Hospitalers and remained treasured up in their Revenue untill the Disbanding and finall Dissipation of this Order in this Nation by Henry the eighth And then being by that Prince rent away it was in the thirty sixth year of the same Prince granted to John Wilde Esq for Life onely and the Remainder in Fee to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and his Successors for ever in whose Patrimony according to the tenour of the original Concession it lay involved untill that popular Tempest which arose in these Calamitous Times shook it off and cast it into a secular Interest Coclescombe and Swinkfield-Mennes were of the same Complexion with the former that is they were first enwrapped in the Demeasne of the Knights Templers and afterwards supplanted and fastned to the Revenue of the Knights Hospitalers to whose Interest it continued firme untill the Whirl-wind of the publique Suppression in the Raign of Henry the eighth ravished them away and then that Prince in the thirty third year of his Raign by Royall Concession made them the Inheritance of Edward Monins Esq from whom by Successive Devolution they are now come down to his Descendant Sir Edward Monins of Waldershare Baronet Swanton-Court is the last Place in this Parish which Summons our Remembrance It was as appears by private Deeds Muniments and other Authentick Testimonies the Seat and Habitation for severall Descents of a Family deeply rooted in this Track whose Sirname was Greenford and it is possible were originally extracted from a Mannor known by that Denomination in Middlesex who after they had flourished by a large Decursion of Time under a fair and unstained Estimate at this place transmitted the Proprietie of this Mansion to John Greenford Esquire in whom this Family found its Tombe and Period for he dying without Issue-male in the eleventh year of Edward the fourth Alice his Sole Daughter became his Heir and She by matching with John Monins Esquire linked this Seat to his Inheritance and to this Family and to his Descendants hath the Title ever since been so constantly wedded that it hath suffered no Divorce but remains at this instant united to the Patrimony of Sir Edw. Monins of Waldershare Baronet Lyminge lies in the Hundred of Court-At-Street and was anciently Famous for Land which was given here by Edbaldus Son of Ethelbert King Kent to his Sister Edburga upon which she erected a Nunnery and Dedicated it to the Honour of St. Mildred But the Mannor which belonged to it was upon the Suppression granted by Henry the eighth to the See of Canterbury and Arch-Bishop Cranmer in the twenty ninth of that Prince's Government exchanged it for other Lands with the Crown and the above-said Henry the eighth in the thirty sixth year of his Raign granted it to Sir Anthony Aucher who after in the Rule of Queen Mary was slain at Callis whilst he endevoured to make good that City and the English Interest
Welle in this Parish which was alwayes under the Jurisdiction of Lay Proprietaries It was first the position of John de Welle sometimes written At Well from the position of his Dwelling which perhaps was in a bottom but this Man in the forty fourth year of Hen. the third made Ranulph Joremer his Feoffe in Trust who sold it for his Use to Reginald de Cornehill by whose Daughter and Heir it came to Garwinton of Beakesbourne and in this Name after it had been fixed some four Descents it went away to Haut for William Garwinton died without Issue and so Margaret his Kinswoman matched to Richard Haute who was a second stock of the Hauts of Bourne became his Heir but long the Right of it was not united to his Family For Richard Haut this Mans Son left likewise onely a Daughter and Heir called Margery who altered the Possession and brought it with Her to her Husband William Isaack who had by her Edward Isaack and he determined in two Daughters and Coheirs Mary married to Thomas Apulton of Waldingfield in the County of Suffolk and the other first matched to ....... Sydley and after to Sir Henry Palmer who by Donation from his Wife was endowed with the Fee-simple of Well Court and his Successor in our Father's Memory alienated it to Lievetenant Colonel Prude slain at the Siege of Maestricht who left it to his Son Mr. Searles Prude whose two Daughters and Coheirs are by his Will after his Widow's Decease entituled to the Inheritance Reginald de Cornehill in the forty fourth year of Henry the third exchanged Lands with John de St. Leger for Lands at Lukedale in Littlebourne where he founded a Chantry which was endowed with a new accession of Land by his Wife Matilda de Cornehill and was confirmed by Patent from Henry the third Lose in the Hundred of Maidstone was in old Saxon Records written Hlos which imports as much as the Lot or Portion It was as the Book of Christ-Church informs us given by Ethelwulf King of the South-Saxons to Sneta a Widow and her Daughter and they gave it back again to the Monks of Christ-Church in Canterbury to apparel them In the Conqueror's Time upon the general Survey recorded in Doonesday-Book it was accounted as part of the six Sullings of Ferneleigh Pimps Court that gave Name to the Knightly Family of the Pimps is in this Parish although they made Nettlested their more frequent place of abode William de Pimpe held this and other Lands by a whole Knights Fee in the twentieth year of Edward the third at the making the Black Prince Knight and from this William was John Pimpe Esquire who was Sheriff of Kent in the second year of Henry the seventh lineally descended who sold this Place to Edward Stafford Duke of Buckingham Lord Constable of England whose dysastrous Fate having engaged him to make some dark Applications to a Wizard and a Monk about the Succession of the Crown Henry the eighth a Prince of much Jelousie and Fury like an Industrious Spider spun out Venome enough out of this unhappy Address of his to poyson him with the Guilt of High Treason and so made the forfeiture of his Life and Fortune pay the price of his Vanity upon whose Ruine his Estate was not long after his Death and Attaint which was in the thirteenth year of Henry the eighth by that Prince granted to his Confident and Favourite Sir John Rainsford who after a brief enjoyment of it passed it away to Sir Henry Isley who being attainted in the second year of Q. Mary for supporting by his Assistance and Concurrence the Defection of Sir Thomas Wiat this reverted to the Crown and the same Princess in the second year of her Government granted it by Patent to Sir John Baker whose Successor Sir John Baker Baronet hath lately passed it away to Thomas Floyd of Gore Court Esquire Luddenham in the Hundred of Middleton with the appendant Mannor of Bishops-Bush was a Branch of that spatious Revenue which did in these parts own the Northwoods for Possessors and Roger de Northwood in the forty first year of Henry the third amongst divers Parcels of Land which he altered from the Nature of Gavelkind into Knights Service of the which there is a particular Recapitulation in the Book of Aid changed ninety Acres of Mersh Land which lay partly in Iwade and partly in his Mannor of Luddenham into that Tenure After the Northwoods the Frogenhalls were Possessors of this place and William Frogenhall had this amongst other Lands in this Track which he died seised of in the eighth year of Richard the second his Son and Heir was William Frogenhall Father to Thomas Frogenhall the last of the Name at this Place for he left no Issue Male so that the Daughters became his Coheirs One of whom was Anne who married Thomas Quadring of London and so this place became hsi Inheritance as being her Proportion of Frogenhalls Estate but it quickly found an other owner for Joan Quadring his onely Daughter and Heir by marrying with Richard Dryland of Cokesditch in Feversham incorporated it with the Demeasn of that Family since which Alliance it hath by a constant Succession been fixt in the Possession of the Name of Dryland untill of late years by an Heir General it came to own the Signory of Kirton Luddesdowne in the Hundred of Taltingtrough was though now a petty obscure Village more noted formerly when it was the Patrimony of the Barons Montchensie of Swanscamp-Castle Warren de Montchensie one of them obtained a Charter of Free-Warren to this Mannor of Ludsdowne in the thirty seventh year of Henry the third afterwards this Mans Successor William de Monchensie held it and sat in Parliament as Baron of Swanscamp and dying in the year 1287 without Issue Male left this and diverse other Places to Dionys his Sole Daughter and Heir who was married to Hugh de Vere but died without Issue in the year of our Lord 1314 by which means the Title of this Place diverted to Joan de Montchensie Sister to William above-named and She matched in Marriage with William de Valentia Earl of Pembroke half Brother to King Henry the third and by him had Aymer de Valence who expired in two Female Coheirs one of whom called Isabel was married to Lawrence de Hastings who in her Right was afterwards Earl of Pembroke and Proprietary of the Fee-simple of this Place from whom it descended to his Grand-child John Hastings Earl of Pembroke who dying in the fourteenth year of Richard the second left his Estate in Kent in which this was involved to his two Kinsmen Reginald Grey and Richard Talbot and upon the Division of it this Mannor was lincked to the Patrimony of Grey and remained untill the Beginning of Henry the fixth interwoven with the Revenue of this Family and then I find it under the Signory of that eminent Peer and glorious Souldier Thomas Montacute Earl of Salisbury
the thirty second year of his Raign granted it to Sir Robert Southwell who in the thirty fifth year of that Prince conveyed it to Sir Edmund Walsingham of Scadbery whose Successor Sir Thomas Walsingham of the same place hath lately passed away all his Interest here to his Son in Law Mr. James Masters Roger de Merworth obtained a Market weekly and a Fair yearly to his Mannor of Merworth in the eighteenth year of Edward the first as appears by an old originall patent in the hands of the Earl of Westmerland Middleton is so called by Reason it is placed in the middle of the Shire and gives Name to the whole Hundred which is divided into five Baylywicks one whereof is called the Bailiwick of Shepey because it comprehends that Island Antiquity has set a noble Attribute upon it for in ancient Records it is styled Regia Villa de Middleton and here at Kemsley Downe derived from Campsley viz. the pastures where the Camp was kept Within the Parish of Middleton is the very place where in the Time of King Alfred Hasten the Dane that so much infested France arrived and fortified in such manner as he before had at Apuldore where he erected a Castle whose Fragments and Reliques are yet visible Our ancient Chroniclers inform us that this Town was in a good Condition till the Ragin of Edward the Confessor in whose days during the Disgust between him and Earl Godwin such as confederated with the Earl at home burnt the King's House here at Middleton a castellated Pallace beneath the Church whilst he and his Sons ransack'd and ruin'd many other places upon the Seacoasts and Skirts of the Shire In Times of a latter Date John de Burgo the elder had a Grant by Patent of the Mannors of Middleton and Marden in the second year of Edward the first and after Margaret Queen of England had a Grant by Patent likewise in the tenth year of Edward the second and after her Queen Philippa Wife to Edward the third had probably this Mannor in Dower for in the nineteenth year of that King's Raign as appears Pat. Anno 19. part prima memb 26. she grants it for some term of years to William de Clinton Earl of Huntingdon with all the Liberties annexed to it reserving only some royal Franchises which were so inherent to the Crown they could not be separated for an Annual Rent of 200. lb per Annum after his Time was expired it reverts to the Crown and there it remained for ought I can yet discover till the English Scepter was put into the Hands of K. James and then he grants the Mannors of Middleton and Marden for ever to Philip Earl of Pembroke not long since deceased There is within the Limitts of this Parish a Mannor called Northwood Chasteners which Name complies with the situation for it stands North from the Town in a Wood where Chest-Nut Trees formerly grew abundantly Stephen the Son of Jordan de Shepey desirous to plant himself out of the Island in some place not far distant built here a Mansion-house moated about Ez veteri Rot. penes Edo Dering Mill. Baronettum defunctum and a goodly well-wooded Park stored with plenty of Deere and wild Bores and had Licence from the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and religious Men of Christ-church to erect a Free-Chappell which some old People hereabouts who remembred it in the declining Age described to my Father when he visited Kent to be a curious peice of Architecture for Form and Beauty * Rog. de Northwood is listed in the Inventory of those worthy Kentish persons who were engaged with K. Ric. the first at his Seige of Acon in Palestine His Successor was Sir Rog. de Northwood who was ever fast and faithfull to H. the third and having always given himself to a military and martial Profession conceived it was ignominious to hold his Lands here by a lazy and unactive Socage Tenure and therefore in the forty first year of Henry the third changed them from Gavelkind to Knights Service He dyed in the thirteenth year of Edw. the first and his eldest Son Sir John Northwood succeeded both at Northwood and at Shorn and in the time of Ed. the first together with his eldest son Sir Jo. de Northwood was with that K. in his Wars in Scotland at the Seige of Carlaverock The Mannor of Shorn holding by this Tenure viz to carry a white Banner forty Days together at their own Charge when the King should make War in Scotland Sir Jo. de Northwood was called by Writ to sit in Parliament as Baron the first of Edw. the second and his Son John de Northwood was often summoned to sit as Baron in Parliament in the raign of Ed. the third Certainly a numerous Race of worthy Successors were Possessors of this Mannor of Northwood some of which lye buryed crosse-leg'd in Milton Church that had taken upon them to defend the Sepulchre of Christ or otherwise profest themselves for the Wars in the Holy Land And at last it devolved to John Northwood who as all things are wound upon a fixed and determined Period concluded in two Daughters and Coheirs one married to Barley of the County of Hertford and Joan the other was matched to Sir John Norton whose Ancestors were derived from one Nicholas de Norton who flourished in King Stephens Days and had much Land about Norton and Feversham as appears by the Book of St. Austins This Sir John Norton's Son for diverse remarkable Services performed in Flanders was knighted by Mary Queen of Hungary then Lady Regent of the Low-countries for Charles the fifth by the Name of Sir John Norton and his Grandchild Sir Thomas Norton some thirty five years since alienated it to Manasser Northwood Esquire collaterally branched out from the abovesaid John Northwood and his Son Mr. Robert Northwood passed away the Premises by Sale to Sir John Tufton third Brother to Nicholas Tufton Earl of Thanet whose second Son Sir Charles Tufton upon the late Decease of his eldest Brother Sir Benedict is now entered upon it Helmes or Holmes is a Mannor which is partly situated in Iwade and partly in Milton and had still the same Proptietaries as namely Savage and then Clifford whither for Satisfaction I referre the Reader only this I must add that about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth it was rent off by Sale and planted in the Revenue of Thompson Ancestor to Mr ...... Thompson of Royton Chappel in Lenham who is at this instant in the enjoyment of it Kempsley in this Parish puts in its Title to be of Roman extraction and there is something in the Name and in the Situation which does seem to support this originall nor hath Time with its destructive Impressions so defaced it but that there are some Reliques yet remaining of a Camp and other antiquated Fortifications Middleton in the fifteenth of Edward the first had a Market granted by that Prince to be held there
Warden of the Saxon Shore by Pancerollus in his Book called Notitia Provinciarum under the Name of Anderida and sometimes written Anderidos and here was the Castle which the Saxons called Andreds Ceaster and the great Wood which stretched out in length from hence into Hampshire 80. miles was named Andreds-wald and by the Britons Coid Andred other reasons are laid down for the Identity of the place extracted from the Name which the English Saxons gave it who termed it Brittenden that is The Britons Vale from whence the whole Hundred adjoyning is called Sellbrittenden that is The Britons Woody Vale. Here for Defence of the Coast against the Eruptions of Saxon Rovers the Romans placed the Prapositus Numeri Abulcorum and hither the River of Lymen long fince called Rother was sufficiently Navigable But soon after the Romans deserted Brittain it shrunk into Decay being ruined by the English Saxons and yet a marke of the Losse is covertly couched under the Name of the principal Mannor called Losenham of which something is to be remembred when we have done with the History of this place which I have thus abbreviated Hengist being fully determined to expell all the Britons out of Kent and thinking it would much conduce to the improvement of his Design to recruite his Army with Troops of his own Nation called Ella the Founder of the South-Saxon Kingdome and his three Sons with a strong Power out of Germanie and then gave a sharp Assault against this Anderida but was intercepted at that instant in his Designe by those vigorous Impressions which the Britons out of their Ambushments in the Woods then made upon him In Fine after many Prejudices and Losses both given and taken Hengist divided his Army and not onely discomfited the Britons in the adjacent wood but also at the same Time forced the City by Assault and became so enflamed with revenge that nothing but the Extinction of the Inhabitants by a publick slaughter and the totall demolishing of the Town could supersede or allay so great an Animosity The place lying thus desolate was shewed as Henry of Huntingdon reports many Ages after to inquisitive Passengers till in the year 791 King Offa gave this and other Lands to the Arch-bishop and Monks of Canterbury ad Pascua Porcorum for the Pannage of their Hoggs In the Time of the Conquerour the Arch-bishops and Monks of Canterbury held this Mannor of Newenden and it was rated in the extent of it but at one Sulling and was an Appendage to Saltwood and in the Patrimony of the Church did the Title of it remain locked up till the general Dissolution in the Raign of Henry the eighth and then it was unloosned and by Act of Parliament fastned to the Revenue of the Crown where till these infortunate Times it did successively continue Losenham in this Parish was the ancient Seat of the Auchers an eminent and numerous Family this was both in Kent Sussex Nottingham and Essex where they made Coppt-Hall by Epping the Seat and Head of their Barony and it is very probable they derive this their Name from Aucherus that was Consul or Elderman of Kent and led the power of the County wherewith at Richborough nere Sandwich he foiled and defeated the Danes as Alfred of Beverley writes In the Book called Nova Feoffamenta collected in the Raign of Henry the second it is there recorded that that Prince Rot. pipae de Scutagio Walliae An. 42 Hen. 3. gave William Fitz Aucher the fourth part of a Knights Fee in Essex called Lagfare Richard Fitz Aucher his Grandchild is in the Number of those Kentish Gentlemen who were engaged with Henry the third in his Expedition into Wales in the forty second year of his Raign Will. Fitz Aucher See Camdens Britannia pag. 307. another of this Family held the Mannor of Boseham in Sussex by Grant from William the Conquerour and his Rent-service or Acknowledgement was to pay into the Exchequer in whose Time he lived forty pound of tryed and weighted Silver Henry Fitz Aucher fills up the Roll or Inventory of those Kentish Gentlemen who assisted Edward the first at his Seige of Carlaverok in Scotland in the twenty eighth year of his Raign and for his Service there was made Knight Banneret Peter Aucher or Auger for so in old Records they are promiscuously written was Valet to King Edward the second an Office equivalent in its Trust and Dignity to those we called Gentlemen of the Bed-chamber to our late Kings and it seems was mistaken for a Knight Templer in the fourth year of that Prince because he nourished a spreading Beard in that Age an eminent Adjunct of that Order but Edward the second rectified this Mistake and affirmed that his diffused Beard did not evince he was a Knight Templer as appears Pat. 14. Hen. 2. parte secunda Memb. 20. And if it could any way multiply or improve the Eminence of a Family that was so deeply rooted in Antiquity before I could tell you that sundry of this Name and Family were Conservators of the Peace and concerned in other Comissions both to levy Taxes imposed by Parliament and to have Inspection into Sewers both in the Raign of Edward the third and Richard the second but I avoid the recital lest this Book might swell into too large a Bulk by these curious and unnecessary Disquisitions It is enough to inform you that after this Mannor had for many Centuries of years been wrapt up in the Patrimony of this Family it went away by Ann Sole Daughter and Heir of John Aucher of Losenham to Walter Colepeper second Son of Sir John Colepeper of Bayhall in Pepenbury from which Alliance Sir John Colepeper created Lord Colepeper at Oxford by the late K. Charles claims at this instant the Inheritance and Lordship of Losenham There was in this Parish a House of Carmelite Friers called so because they came from Mount Carmel in Palestine and was the first Seminary of that Order here in England who by their Rule were styled Brothers of Mary the blessed Virgin to whom this Covent was dedicated It was founded in the year of our Lord 1241 and in the twenty sixth year of the Government of Henry the third by Sir Thomas Alcher or Fitz Aucher for the Name was often promiscuously written so but never Albuser as Mr. Camden and Mr. Speed have printed it though I do not deny but such a person might be a Benefactor to the Foundation Newenham in the Hundred of Feversham was parcell of that Demeasn which related to the Abbey of Boxley and continued united to it till the Suppression by Henry the eighth and then it was granted by that Prince to Sir Thomas Wiatt in the twenty eighth year of his Government and he by his unhappy Defection in the first year of Queen Mary forfeited it to the Crown where it remained till Queen Elizabeth by royal Concession invested the Possession in her faithfull Servant John Astley Esquire
Master or Conservator of her Jewells whose Son Sir Jo. Astley upon his Decease bequeathed it to his Nephew Sir Norton Knatchbull Knight and Baronet who is the instant Proprietarie of it Champions-Court is the second place of Account in this Parish It was in elder Times the Mansion and Demeasne of a generous Family whose Sirname was Campania and was certainly a Family of eminence in elder Times Robert de Campania is inserted in the Register of those Kentish Gentlemen who accompanied Richard the first to the Seige of Acon John de Campania his Grandchild obtained the Grant of a Market to Newenham weekly on the Thursday and a Fair yearly to continue the Vigil the Day of St. Peter and Paul and the Day after and was one of those Knights of Kent who was embarked in the Seige of Carlaverock in Scotland with Edward the first in the twenty eighth year of his Raign In Times of a younger Aspect the Name by Depravation and vulgar Use languished into Champion and so continued till it expired in Daughters and Coheirs one of which was Katharine Champion who by matching with Robert Corbett descended from the Corbetts of Morton Corbett in the County of Salop upon the Division of Champions Estate united this to his Revenue where it had not long rested but the same vicissitude brought this Name to determine in female Coheirs likewise two of which called Joan and Elizabeth were espoused to Samuell Slap and Ralph Hart. Samuell Slap had Issue Joan Slap who dyed childlesse and so this Mannor was cast into the Possession of Richard Hart Son of Ralph Hart the Successor of Richard Hart in our Fathers Memory alienated his Interest in it to Sir Henry Spiller and he not many years since conveyed all his Right and Title to it by Sale to Mr. Weckerlin descended from the Weckerlins a Family of good Ranke and Account in Upper Germany A third place of Note in Newenham is Sholand whih was in the Raign of H. the third as an old datelesse Deed discovers to us the Patrimony of Adam de Stomynton and after this Name went out the Bournes of Sharsted in Dodington not far removed from this place were about the twentieth year of Edward the third possest of this Lordship from them by purchase the Propriety was carried over to Chevin descended from the Chevins of Chevins-court in Marden and Thomas Chevin of this place married Thomasin Coheir of Champion of Champions Court in this Parish From Chevin the Interest of Sholand did descend by Sale to Maycott and from them by the same Fate to Adye a Family of Note and very much Antiquity as to the Name in this Track whose Right it had not long acknowledged but by the same Devolution the Title was invested in Steere from whom by Purchase it came over to Sayers descended from those of York-shire who in that Age our Fathers lived in sold his Concernment in it to Mr. Hugison of Dover in whose Heirs the Propriety of this place is at this instant resident Newington-Belhouse lies in the Hundred of Folkston and was in the Raign of King John and Henry the third the Possession of Hubert de Burgo Lord Chief Justice of England and from him it descended to his Son John de Burgo who in the fifty fifth year of Henry the third passed it away by Sale to Thomas de Belhouse by the Name of Newington juxta Hieth And probably this may be a Reason why this Family after they had adopted this Mannor into their own Name assumed a Coat which had some Affinitie with that of Hubert de Burgo videlicet Or upon a Bend Gules three Lozinges Argent and Gules which I suppose was done to preserve the Memory of him of whom it was first purchased But to proceed Sir Thomas de Belhouse great Grandchild of the above-mentioned paid respective Aid for this Mannor by the Name of Newington-Belhouse in the twentieth year of Edward the third at making the Black Prince Knight and died possest of it in the forty eighth year of that Princes Raign from whom a descendant Right brought it down to his Heir John de Belhouse who enjoyed it so narrow a space of Time that it is left upon Record that he died seised of it in the forty ninth year of Edward the third and Robert Knevit a younger Son of Sir John Knevit Lord Chancellor of England who had married the Heir Generall of this Family was found to be his Heir and it was this Robert or else probably his Son who in the seventh year of Henry the fourth had a Patent of Confirmation of Liberty of Free-warren to his Lands at Newington formerly granted to Thomas de Belhouse After the Line of the Knevits was extinguished at this place which was about the beginning of Henry the eighth this Mannor devolved to the Cloptons for Edmund Knevit of Stanwaymagna in Essex had three Sisters who were Coheirs to him and their Father Edward Knevit Esquire Thomasin the eldest was matched to Sir William Clopton of Kentwell in Suffolk for his second Wife and Katharine the second Sister was married to John Clopton Esq eldest Son of the above-said Sir William and Dorothy the third was matched to Thomas Carnaby but these desiring to Contract all their Patrimony within the Verge of Suffolk alienared this Mannor in the twenty seventh year of King Henry the eighth with much of their Land in the Mersh to Thomas Lord Cromwell who being attainted in the thirty second year of Henry the eighth this Mannor escheated to the Crown and lay couched in its Revenue untill the first year of Queen Mary and then it was granted to Edward Lord Clinton who in the last year of the above-said Princesse conveyed it with all its perquisites to Henry Herdson whose Grandchild Francis Herdson almost in that Age we entitle to our Fathers Remembrance alienated it to Mr. Henry Brockman Grandfather to the instant Proprietarie James Brockman Esquire Sene and Bithborough were two ancient Seats which related to the Knightly Family of Valoigns of whom I shall speak more in my Discourse of Petham but before the latter end of Edward the third this Family was extinguished and then one of the two Daughters and Coheirs upon the Distinction of the Estate parcells brought these two places to be the Inheritance of Sir Francis Fogge who lies buried Cross-legg'd in Cheriton-Church with the Arms of Fogge and Valoigns empal'd upon his Tombe and from him did the Propriety and Title in an uninterupted Channell stream down to George Fogge Esquire who alienated Sene in our Grandfathers Memory to Honywood and Bithborough to Mr. Henry Brockman who added much to the ancient Building so that it is now become the Seat of that Family Bertrams in Newington is so called because it was parcell of the Estate of Bertram de Crioll who died possest of it in the twenty third year of Edward the first and left it to Joan his Heir espoused to Sir Richard de
of Kent the eighth ninth tenth eleventh twelfth thirteenth and fourteenth years of Henry the second Sir Richard de Lucy was Lord chief Justice and Protector of England in the Raign of the above mentioned Prince of whom I have more largely discoursed at Lesnes in Erith * Ex veteri Rot. penes Edo Dering Mil. Baonettum defunctum Aymer de Lucy was with Richard the first in Palestine at the Seige of Acon and in Memory of some Signal Service manifested there in that holy Quarrel added the Crosse Crosselets unto his Paternal Coat which was before only three Pisces Lucii that is Pike Fish Geffrey de Lucy was frequently summoned to sit in Parliament as Baron in the Raign of Edward the first as the Rols of Summons which relate to that King's Time now preserved in the Tower sufficiently inform us This Geffrey with his two Brothers Aymery and Thomas de Lucy were engaged with Edward the first at the Seige of Carlaverock in Scotland in the twenty eighth year of his Raign and there received the Order of Knighthood They were Sons to Geffrey de Lucy who was constituted High Admiral of England in the Time of Henry the third as appears Pat. 8. Hen. 3. Memb. 4. William and Anthony Lucy both of this Family were frequently summoned to sit in Parliament as Barons in the Raign of Edw. the third In the sixth year of Edward the third Geffrey de Lucy who held Lucy's at his Death which was in the twentieth year of that Monarch had a Charter of Free-warren to this Mannor which priviledge was renued and confirmed by Henry the sixth to Sir Walter Lucy in the 27. year of his Raign in which year he dyed and left his estate here to his Son Sir Jeffery Lucy who with his Sole Daughter and Heir Mawd Lucy transmitted this Mannor to her Husband Sir William Vaux of the County of North-Hampton whose Son Thomas Vaux alienated it about the twenty seventh year of the Raign of Henry the eighth to Sir Roger Cholmeley a younger Branch of the Cholmeleys of Cholmeley in Cheshire from which Family in our Grand-fathers Memory it was by Sale passed away to Sead and from Sead by as quick a vicissitude it came over by purchase to Osborne by whom not many years since it was sold to Pagitt of London Tracies is a second place in this Parish which comes within this List it was in elder Times the Inheritance of a Family of that Appellation John de Tracy was Teste to an old Deed of Richard de Lucy which I have seen wherein he demises some Land to William de Frogenhall the Deed is without Date but by the Antiquity of the Character seems to commence from the Raign of Henry the third Whether these Tracies were extracted from the Tracies of Devon and Gloucestershire or not I cannot positively determine because these of Kent bore a different Coat from the other as appears by all old Ordinaries Vid. Argent two Bends between nine Escollops Gules After the Tracies had left the possession of this place which was about the Beginning of Henry the fourth the Colepepers of Bedgebury were by purchase seised of the Fee-simple of it but staid not long in the Fruition of it for in the Raign of Henry the sixth the Cliffords of Bobbing Court not far distant from whom by Sale in the Raign of Henry the eighth it fell under the Signory of Thomas Linacre Priest Frogenhall in this Parish likewise was a Branch of that wide Demeasne which lay diffused in this Territory and did acknowledge it self to be of the possession of the Ancient Family of Frogenhall whose Seat was in Frogenhall in Tenham but whether this were the Land which I mentioned to be by Deed transmitted to William de Frogenhall in the time of Henry the third by Sir Richard de Lucy I cannot positively determine though it was probable it was and that afterwards as was usuall in those Times to perpetuate the Memory of the Possessor William de Frogenhall fixed his own Name upon it And in this Family did the Possession continue till Thomas Frogenhall concluded in three Co-heirs of which Elizabeth was one who matched with John Northwood of Milton and so linked it to the Inheritance of that Family where it had not long remained when a semblable Fatality brought this Family likewise to expire in Daughters and Co-heirs so that this place came by Joane one of them to be the Fee-simple of Sir John Norton but was not long resident in this Family for he about the Beginning of Henry the eighth conveyed it to Thomas Linacre Priest above mentioned who dying in the seventeenth year of the above-recited Prince gave both Tracies and Frogenhall for ever to augment the Revenue of All-souls Colledge in Oxford The Mannor of Newington it self belonged as an Ancient Manuscript now in my Custody informs me to a Nunnery which was erected here in this Parish but by whom it was founded or endowed is unknown only this Manuscript I mentioned before rehearses a direful Tragedy which it cites as is pretended out of Thorn the Chronicler of St. Augustins and other old Manuscripts It was this Divers of the Nuns being warped with a malitious Desire of Revenge took the advantage of the Night and strangled the Lady Abbesse who was the Object of their Fury and passionate Animosities in her Bed and after to conceal so execrable an Assassination threw her Body into a Pitt which afterwards contracted the traditional Appellation of Nun-pitt but this barbarous offence being not long after miraculously discovered the Manuscript does not intimate how King Henry the third in whose Time this Tragedy was acted seised this Mannor into his Hands and having by Consent of the Church transmitted the Nuns who were culpable to the secular power by Death to make expiation for this Crime he sent the Guiltless Nuns into Shepey and after filled their Cloister with seven secular Canons four of which not long after as if some secret Impiety had lurked in the Wals of the Covent murdered one of the Fraternity upon which the King seises this Mannor again into his Hands which he had before given back to the support of this new instituted Seminary two parts of which laying in the Hamlet of Thetham by the two guiltlesse Canons with the approbation of Henry the third were assigned to the Abby of St. Augustins though some Writings more Ancient affirm them to be given under the Notion of two Prebendaries to that Covent by William the Conqueror and the other five parts of this Mannor were by the abovesaid Henry the third granted to his Lord Chief Justice Sir Richard de Lucy whose Son Almericus de Lucy saies the Manuscript did in the year 1278. exchange them with the Monks of St. Augustins And thus was this Mannor fastned to the Patrimony of the Church and so continued till the General Dissolution in the Time of Henry the eighth disunited it and linked it
and by Sale transmitts it to John Mew and from him about the latter end of Henry the fourth both these Mannors with all their Appendages were passed away to Iohn Tutsham and Nicholas Remkin of Eastmere but he determined in Alize Remkin his Sole Inheritrix who by matching with Thomas Rolfe of Tunbridge brought her Interest in Albans and Black-pits to be the Inheritance of that Family but long the Right of both these places continued neither in Rolfe nor Tutsham for about the beginning of Henry the sixth they were alienated by Sale to Thomas Stidulfe of Badsell Esquire and he by Deed bearing date 1463 that is about the third year of Edward the fourth settles them on his two Sons Robert and Henry Stidulfe and in the Deed there is a remembrance that they were purchased of Rolfe and Tutsham From Robert they descended to his Son Thomas Stidulfe who was Heir both to his Father and his Uncle but he concluded in a Daughter and Heir who was matched about the latter end of Henry the eighth to Richard Vane Ancestor to the right honorable Mildmay Fane now Earl of Westmerland who in Right of this Alliance now enjoys Black-pits but Albans was by Henry Vane Successor to the above-mentioned Richard in the year 1589 passed away to Roger Twisden of Roydon-Hall Esquire Grand Father to the instant Proprietary Sir Roger Twisden Knight and Baronet Eastmere is another Mannor in East-Peckham which acknowledged a Family called Remkin anciently to be its Possessors John Remkin was Father of Christian Remkin who held it as appears by an ancient Court-roll in the thirty fourth year of Edward the third and from him did it by paternal Vicissitude devolve to Nicholas Remkin in whom the male-line failed so that Alice his Sole Daughter became the visible Heir to his Estate and she by matching with Thomas Rolfe of Tunbridge knit this and other Land here at Great Peckham to his Patrimony but it did not long thus continue united for John Rolfe his Son in the sixth year of Henry the sixth conveys it to Richard Ruyton and he in the eighth year of the abovesaid Prince alienated it to William Hextall but he deceasing without Issue-male Margaret his Sole Daughter by her Inter-marriage with William Whetenhall originally descended from the ancient Family of Whetenhall of Whetenhall in Cheshire cast it into the Possession of that Name from whom it is now descended to my worthy Friend Thomas Whetenhall of Hextall Court Esquire Spilfted is a fourth Mannor in this Parish It was the Inheritance for diverse Ages as appears by the Evidences now in the Custody of Sir Roger Twisden of an ancient Family called Cayser the last of which Name who enjoyed this place was John Cayser who went out in Daughters and Coheirs one of which was wedded to Matthew Chetwind to whom this place upon the Separation of the Estate into parcells in his Wifes Right accrued and he after some small residence in the Possession passed away his Right by Sale in the one and fortieth year of Queen Eliz. to Roger Twisden Esq Grand-father to Sir Roger Twisden Knight and Baronet the instant Lord of the Fee a Person upon whom I need drop no other Character when I say that in these times when there is such a Damp and Astonishment by publick blastings and discouragements cast upon Literature He is both a Gentleman and a Scholler Here is likewise a Seat in Peckham very venerable for its Antiquity which in old Rolls is called Hextall Court and was the Mansion of Gentlemen of principal Account in this Track In a Deed without Date Simon de Hougham does demise certain pieces of Land to John de Hextall which lay within the Limits of the Parish of Hougham where anciently this Family enjoyed no contemptible Possessions as well as at East-Peckham The last of this Name at this place was William Hextall who dyed without Issue-male and left Margaret his only Heir who was matched to William Whetenhall Esquire in the raign of Henry the seventh descended from the ancient and illustrious Family of Whetenhall of Whetenhall in the County of Chester and so it was incorporated into the Income of that Family where it hath ever since remained so that it is now the present Inheritance of Thomas Whetenhall Esquire West-Peckham or Little Peckham in the Hundreds of Twyford and Littlefield was annexed to the Demeasne of the Knights Templars when John Colepeper founded a Praeceptory here for them in the year of our Lord 1 .... which upon the finall Extirpation and Dissolution of their Order here in England in the second year of Edward the second was granted to the Knights Hospitallers and was sometimes called a Praeceptory and sometimes a Commandry Now a Praeceptory was a Benefice in Kind and was termed so because this and all others of the same Capacity were possest by the more eminent sort of Templars whom the Chief Master created and called Praeceptores Templi A Commandry was some principal Mannor of the Knights Hospitallers wherein was placed some Brother of the Order who could not dispose of the Profits of it but was to mannage it only to the Use of the whole Fraternity deducting so much of the Revenue as might support his Livelyhood and Subsistence of which see more in Dr. Cowells Interpreter in his Notes and Comment upon the word Commaundry This upon the Suppression was by Henry the eighth in the thirty second year of his raign granted to Sir Robert Southwell afterwards of the Privy Councell to King Edward the sixth and Queen Mary who not long after alienated it to Sir Edmund Walsingham of Scadbery Lieutenant of the Tower from whom it came down by Descent to my Noble Friend Sir Thomas Walsingham his Great Grand-child who not long since passed it over by Sale to his Son in Law Mr. James Masters Oxenheath is an ancient Mannor in West-Peckham and was many Ages past the Demeasn of Colepeper Walter Colepeper dyed seised of it in the first year of Ed. the third Rot. Esc Num. And from him by Successive Transmission threaded together by many Descents did it devolve to ...... Colepeper who determined towards the latter end of Henry the seventh in three Daughters and Coheirs Margaret the eldest was matched to William Cotton of the County of Cambridge Joyce the second was wedded to Edmund Howard a younger Son of Thomas Duke of Norfolke who was Father to Katharine Howard one of the infortunate Wives of Henry the eighth and the third was espoused to Barham of Barham-court in Teston and these three Sisters shared his Inheritance and this upon the Partition was annexed to the Demeasn of Cotton whose Successor passed it away by Sale to Chowne of Faire-lane in which Name it did not long continue for Sir George Chowne in our Fathers Memory being desirous to abridge and contract all his Estate into the County of Sussex alienated this Seat to Nicholas Miller Esquire who upon his Decease bequeathed it to his
Nephew Sir Nicholas Miller to whom we ascribe the new Additions which are set out with all the Circumstances both of Art and Magnificence and is now possest by his Son and Heir Hump. Miller Esquire Pencehurst is seated upon the utmost Boundary of the Lowy of Tunbridge and was an eminent Mansion of a very Ancient Family whose Sirname was Penchester of whom there is mention in the Great Survey of England taken in the twentieth year of William the Conqueror vulgarly called Doomes-day Book and in this Family did the possession reside until the two Daughters and Co-heirs of the famous Sir Stephen de Penchester who was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle in the Raign of Edward the second and who died seised of it in the year of that Prince's Government Rot. Esc Numb ... divided the Inheritance Joane the eldest was matched to Henry Lord Cobham of Roundall in Shorne and she carried away Allington-castle Alice the other Daughter and Co-heir was wedded to John Lord Columbers and she had Pencehurst and other Lands for her proportion And he had Issue by her Thomas de Columbers who by his Deed dated at Pencehurst in the eleventh year of Edward the third passes away his Right in it to Sir John de Poultney and he in the twelfth year of the above-mentioned Prince obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Mannor of Pencehurst and in the twentieth year of Edward the third paid Aid for it at making the Black Prince Knight and held it at his Decease which was in the twenty third year of that Prince and left it to his Son William Poultney who immediatly after alienated it to Guy Lovain who had Issue Sir Nicolas Lovain who held Pencehurst in the forty fourth year of Edward the third and married Margaret eldest Daughter to John Vere Earl of Oxford re-married to Henry Lord Beaumont and after to Sir John Devereux Knight of the Garter Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports Constable of Dover-castle and Steward of the Kings House in the eleventh year of King Richard the second In the sixteenth year of whose raign he had Licence by Letters Patents to fortifie and embattel his Mansion-house at Pencehurst His Daughter and Heir was matched to Walter Lord Fitz-water from whom the Earls of Sussex descended and he had a Brother named Sir Walter Devereux from whom the late Earl of Essex was derived and the Arms of this Sir John Devereux were not long since extant in a Window on the North-side of Pencehurst Church But he only enjoyed this Mannor in Right of his Wife for after her Death it devolved to Philip St. Clere of Aldham St. Clere in Eightham who married Margaret Daughter of Sir Nicolas Lovain above-mentioned Sister and Heir to her Brother Nicolas Lovain who died without Issue And by her he had John St. Clere who passed away his Right here to John Duke of Bedford third Son to Henry the fourth and he enjoyed Pencehurst at his Decease which was in the fourteenth year of Henry the sixth but dying without Issue it came down to Humphrey Duke of Gloucester fourth Son of Henry the fourth who was strangled in the Abby of Bury by the procurement and practises of the Duke of Suffolke and he likewise going out without Posterity it returned to the Crown And Henry the sixth in the twenty fifth year of his raign granted it to Humphrey Stafford Duke of Buckingham whose infortunate Grandchild Edward Duke of Buckingham endeavouring by a specious Semblance of Vanity and Ostentation guilded with all the Cunning and Pompe of Magnificence to make himself popular and entering afterwards into Consultation with a Monk and another who pretended to the dark Art of Necromancy about the Succession of the Crown poured in so many Jealousies into the Bosome of Henry the eighth which were multiplied to the height of Treason by the malice of Cardinal Wolsey that nothing could allay or appease them but the Effusion of this mans Blood in the twelfth year of that Prince upon a Scaffold Upon whose infortunate Exit this Mannor escheated to the Crown and here it remained until King Henry the eighth granted it to his faithful Servant Sir Ralph Vane who being entangled with John Duke of Somersett in that obscure Design which was destructive to them both in the fourth year of Edward the sixth this was again seised upon by the Crown as escheated by his Conviction and remained with its Revenue until the above-said Prince in the sixth year of his Government by Royal Concession planted the Inheritance in Sir William Sidney his Tutor who was likewise Lord Chamberlain of his Houshold and one of his Privy Councel from whom it is descended to his great Grand-child the Right Honorable Robert Earl of Leicester designed Lord Lievtenant of Ireland by the late King Charles and he is the instant Proprietary of it Pencehurst Halymote is another little Mannor in this Parish and had still the same Owners with Pencehurst and upon the Tragedy of Edward Duke of Buckingham devolving by Escheat to the Crown lay couched in the Royal Revenue until the State not many years since passed it away by Grant to Colonel Robert Gibbons Pepenbury vulgarly called Pembury is seated in the Hundreds of Watchlingston and Twyford and contains within the Limits of it that noted Seat called Bayhall which was the Ancient Seat of the Ancient Family of Colepepers The first of which whom I find made eminent by Record is Thomas de Colepeper who was as appears by the Bundels of incertain years in the Pipe-Office one of the Recognitores Magnae Assisae in the raign of King John a place if we consider the Meridian of those Times for which it was calculated that is before the establishment of the Conservators of the Peace of eminent Trust and Concernment And certainly this man was Father of that Thomas Colepeper who was brought upon the Stage and his Tragedy represented at Leeds Castle where he was sacrificed to the Anger of Edward the second because he was a more faithful Castellan to the Lord Badelesmer then he was a Loyal Subject to his Soveraign and with his Life he lost his Estate here at Pepenbury Yet I find by the close Rols of the seventeenth year of Edward the second Memb. 5. that there was much of his Land here and in other places by the Indulgence of that Prince restored to his Son Thomas de Colepeper but yet the Mannor and this Seat remained lodged in the Crown yet certainly it was no contemptible parcel of Land that was granted back for Richard the second by Royal Concession gave Licence to Thomas Colepeper to inclose fifty Acres of Land into a Park at Pepenbury But to advance In the twenty fifth year of Henry the sixth the Crown devests it self of its Right to both these places and transplants it by Grant into Humphrey Stafford the Duke of Buckingham from whom they descended to his infortunate Grand-child Edward Duke of
Buckingham who lost both his Life and Estate being attainted in the thirteenth year of Henry the eighth After his Tragedy they continued until the twenty fourth year of Henry the eighth in the possession of the Crown and then they were passed away by Grant to Sir Edward Guldford and again confirmed to him in the twenty eighth year of that Prince's raign and from him not long after by Joane his Female Heir they increased the Patrimony of John Dudley after Duke of Northumberland and he in the thirtieth year of Henry the eighth alienated them to Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex whose Story Tragedy and Attaint in the thirty second year of the abovesaid Prince are represented to our view in such obvious Characters that I shall not need again to unvail them Upon his ruinous Catastrophe they revert to the Crown and lay shut up in the Royal Revenue until the thirty seventh year of Henry the eighth and then they were made by a new Grant the Inheritance of William Wybourn and Anthony Brown Esquires but that Proportion which was setled in Brown was not long resident in that Family for in the sixth year of Queen Elizabeth it was alienated to William VVybourn Esquire nor was the Interest of these places of any long Date after this in VVybourn for in our Grand-fathers Memory the Fate of Sale annexed them to the Patrimony of Thomas Sackvill Lord Buckurst whose Grand-child the Right Honorable Edward Sackvill Earl of Dorset not many years since conveyed his Right in them to Mr. ...... Amherst Halkewell is an eminent Mannor in this Parish and was a Branch of that Demeasne which fell under the Signory of the Priory of Begham and so remained until the Dissolution and then it was by Henry the eighth about the Time of their suppression that is 1525. granted to John VVybourn who was Tenant to that Abby upon the Suppression but was Anciently seated at a place called Culverdens whither they arrived from about Crofton in Orpington where they originally were planted about the latter end of Henry the third and from this Iohn VVybourn was Mr. Benjamin VVybourn descended who upon his late Death hath left this Mannor to his Widow Mrs. Blanch VVybourn eldest Daughter to Sir Iohn Philipott of the County of South-Hampton Bencrouch Highlands and Prigles were Mannors which related to the Patrimony of the Abby of Rothers-bridge in Sussex and in the year 1525 were pared off from the Ecclesiasticall Revenue by Cardinal Wolsey when he layed the Foundations of his Stately Colledge at Christ-church in Oxford which like some Embrio for want of Maturity became imperfect and indigested by his Death and then these places being found in his Hands at his Decease were seised upon by Henry the eighth who in the twenty fourth year granted them to George Guldford Esquire who not long after conveyed them by Sale to Sir Alexander Colepeper who had a Confirmation of them from the Crown about the thirty fifth year of that Prince's Government and in this Family did they continue laid up untill the Title was in our Fathers remembrance dislodged and by Sale resigned up to Nicholas Miller Esquire who upon his Decease without Issue left them to his Nephew Sir Nicholas Miller and he upon his late Decease hath left them to his Son and Heir Humphrey Miller Esquire Preston situated in the Hundred of Feversham contains sundry places within the Boundaries of it of no vulgar Account The first is Makenade which was the Mansion for many Ages of Gentlemen of that Sitname whereof VVilliam Makenade was Sheriff of Kent in the thirty third year of Edward the third and held his Shrievalty at this House which then was of more Magnificence though now it lye almost gasping in its own Ruines being crushed into that Disorder by the rough Hand of Time from this Man it descended to his Grandchild VVilliam Makenade who in the eighth year of Henry the fourth dying without Issue-male Constance Makenade his only Daughter became his Heir who carried this Seat along with her to her Husband John VVaterslip by whom she had Issue Margaret matched to Henry London and Joan wedded to Thomas Mathew who upon the Division of the Estate shared this House and the Land which related to it in which Family after the Inheritance had been for several years shut up it at length by Sale went out to Maycot who about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth passed it away by Sale to Martin James Esquire Register of the Chancery whose Great Grand-child Mr. ....... James enjoys the present Fee-Simple of it Perry Court in Preston was the Mansion of a good old Family called Barrett who enjoyed this Seat as high as the raign of Edward the second and then I find it was under the Signiory of one Iohn de Perry to whom and to whose Family it seems it afforded anciently both Seat and Sirname Valentine Barrett who matched with Cicelie Daughter and Coheir of Marcellus Att Leeze and Niece of Sir Richard Att Leeze was the last of the Name who held this place for he determined in Cicelie his only Daughter and Heir who was wedded to John Darrell of Cale-hill Esquire for his first Wife who was elder Brother of Sir William Darrell under-Treasurer of England branched out from the knightly Family of the Darrells of Sesay in York-hire whose Heir General matched with the Ancestor of Dawney now Proprietary of that place and by this Alliance Perry Court came to be knit to to the Demeasn of Darrell of Cale-hill for many Descents untill in the raign of Henry the eighth it fell to be divided between two Brothers Sir James Darrell Knight and John Darrell Gentleman John Darrell in the first year of Henry the eighth alienated his proportion to Stephen Jennins and he in the sixth year of that Prince conveyed it to Thomas Michell and he in the eighth of his raign passed it away to Robert Dokket who two years after demised it to Alan Percy and Alan Percy in the fourteenth year of Henry the eighth transmitted it by Sale to John Park who likewise purchased the other Moiety the same year of Sir James Darrell and so became sole Owner of Perry Court from whom by Elizabeth his Sole Daughter and Heir it was carried off to John Roper of Lingsted Esquire and he in the twenty fifth year of Q. Eliz. transferred all his Concernment in it to William Finch by whose Daughter and Coheir it was annexed to the Inheritance of Sir Drue Drewry of Norfolke and he in the Beginning of King James passed it away to Thomas Bennet Esquire whose Descendants are still entituled to the Possession of it Westwood is a third place in Preston not to be declined in our Account It was as high as I can trace out under the Jurisdiction of the eminent Family of Poynings Michaell Poynings who was Son of Thomas Lord Poynings held it at his Death which was in the forty third year of Edward the third Rot. Esc
his Deed remits divers Services to Cicely Wife of Robert de Grencbold which were due from her to his Mannor of Swerdling William de Valoigns was Sheriff of Kent the third fourth fifth and sixth years of Edward the first and his Son Sir William de Valoigns was engaged with Edward the first at the Siege of Carlaverock in Scotland and for some remarkable Service there performed received the Order of Knighthood Henry de Valoigns was Sheriff of Kent in the fourteenth year of Edward the third and he had Issue Waretius de Valoigns in whom the Male-line failed so that his two Daughters one matched to Sir Thomas Fogge Grandchild to Otho Fogge who came out of Lancashire into Kent about the Beginning of Edw. the first and the other wedded to Tho. de Aldon became his Heirs and this upon the breaking of the estate into parcels fell to be the proportion of Fogge in which Name after it had for divers ages continued fixed it was in that Age we style our Grandfathers alienated to Spelman and this Family not many years since determining in a Female Heir it is now by matching with her become the Inheritance of Hadds Sapinton in Petham was the Inheritance of a Family called Bregge for in the forty second year of Edward the third I find Jo. Bregge conveys this Mannor to Sir Richard Atteleeze and he dying without Issue it descended to Marcellus Atteleeze who was his Brother and Heir at Law but he suddenly after expir'd and with him the Name in Daughters and Coheirs whereof Luce who was one of them was first matched to John Norton Esq and after to William Langley of Knolton whose Heirs about the latter end of Richard the second concurred in a joynt and mutual Bargain and Sale and passed away their Interest in this Mannor which was too much disordered and ravel'd whilst it lay thus mingled to George Ballard Esquire from whom by the Clew of several Ages the Title went along to Nicholas Ballard Esquire who about the latter end of Philip and Mary alienated it to Langford and from this Name the four Brothers joyning in the Sale in that Age which was circumscribed within our Fathers Remembrance it was carried off by Sale to Cranmer of Canterbury whose Son Mr. ........ Cranmer is by Descent successively entituled to the present Propriety of it Hauts-place in this Parish was the Fountain from whence that noble Family which fell under that Sirname originally streamed out which afterwards dispersed it self in sub-divided Rivolets over the face of this County Ivo de Haut the first of this Name that ancient Record represents to us is mentioned in a Book kept in the Exchequer called Liber de Terris Templariorum which is a Survey of those Lands that Order held in England in the year of Grace One thousand one hundred and eighty and there it is affirmed that he held this Mannor of Temple Waltham and from this Ivo de Haut did the Title in a never-ebbing Current of Descent glide down to Sir William Haut who was Sheriff of Kent in the sixteenth year and then again promoted to that Office in the twenty ninth year of Henry the eighth and not long after deceased and with him the Name found its Funeral in two Daughters and Co-heirs one of which termed Elizabeth was matched to Thomas Colepeper of Bedgebury Esquire to whom this place in the right of his Wife devolved And from his Family in the Age within the confines of our Grand-fathers Remembrance it was passed away by Sale to Salkeld who not many years since conveyed the Possession over to Bateman There was a Chauntry founded at Depden in this Parish as appears by a Manuscript in the Hands of Mr. Thomas Den Recorder of Canterbury lately deceased founded and endowed by William Gratian Priest in the Raign of Henry the fourth Whose Revenue upon the Dissolution of this Chauntry in the second year of Edward the sixth was granted to Jo. Come and Richard Almot who not long after passed it away to Wilt. Forbrasse Yeoman a Name in some old Deeds written Fortbrasse which argues it to be of French extraction and from this Family it was about the Beginning of K. James carried off by Sale to Gregory who within the Verge of some few years fast past alienated the Title to Sladden of Liminge Postling lies in the Hundred of Hene and was in Ages of a very high Ascent the Patrimony of the Noble Family of Columbers a Name in Times of elder Cognisance of very great reputation in the West of England Philip de Columbariis or Columbers held it at his Decease which was in the fifth year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 5. But after him I discover no more of this Family at this place The next that is represented to be Possessor of it is Hugh de Audley and he held it as appears by ancient Court-rolls in the raign of Edward the second and Edward the third and passed it away to Delves of Delves Court in the County of Chester where it seems it had no long aboad for about the forty third year of Edward the third John de Delves alienates it to Richard Earl of Arundell for which the Earl is pardoned because he purchased it without License first obtained from the King as appears Pat. de An o 43. Edw. tertii Parte secunda Memb. septim And in this Family was it for many Generations fixed and resident until the thirty eighth year of Henry the eighth and then it was by Sale transmitted to Sir Anthony Aucher But the Tenure of it in this Family was brief and Transitory for about the Beginning of Q. Elizabeth it went away from this Name to Robert Cranmer Esquire Nephew to Thomas Cranmer Arch-bishop of Canterbury who expiring in a Female Heir she brought it along with her to Sir Arthur Harris of Crixey in Essex from whom it is devolved to his Son and Heir Sir Cranmer Harris who holds the instant Possession of it Henewood is another Mannor in this Parish from whence the Honywood of Elmsted and those of Pett in Charing do extract their Sirname And Edmund de Honywood who in the raign of Hen. the third is remembred in the Front and Van of those in the Leiger Book of Horton Priory who were munificent Benefactors to that Covent is set down there to have been of Postling and as this Place was then so is it still through all that Flux and Decursion of Time which hath since elapsed wound up in that revenue which acknowledges the Signorie and Jurisdiction of this ancient Name and Family Pluckley in the Hundred of Calehill was originally a Mannor which owned the Arch-bishops of Canterbury for Lords of the Fee until Lanfranc Arch-bishop of Canterbury gave it to William Brother of John de Cobham who in the Grant is styled Miles Archiepiscopi not that he was ever any Knight or Souldier that attended upon him but that he granted him this Mannor to
very infortunate in that intestine Discord which burst out between them and their own Bishop Gilbert Glanville who not only forcibly wrung from them their Goods Ornaments Writings and other Muniments but likewise devested them of a considerable Portion of their Lands Possessions and Priviledges which forced them to appeal to Rome for Redresse where they embroiled themselves in a tedious Law-Sute which engaged them to that vast expence that they were constrained to coin the Silver of Paulinus Shrine into Money to support them in so expensive and costly a Contest and this much embased for the future that Esteem which the World formerly had entertained both of the Piety and Sanctitie of the Monks of this Cloister But these Contests did not so much prejudice or endamage this Cloister within though accompanied with much Heat as the Devastation occasioned by the Element of Fire without for in the year 1130. when Henry the first with a great Convention of the Nobility and Bishops was then present to solemnize the Consecration of St. Andrews Cathedral and Church which was then newly finished a suddain Flame broke out whose Assaults upon this Covent did much deface and empare the Glory of the Ancient Fabrick And as if this impetuous Eruption had not been enough to diminish the Beauty of it there was another Fire in the year 1177. which was about the latter end of Henry the second which exercised its Fury upon it even to a total Depopulation of this Cloister yet after all these Disasters wherein it is disputable whether the Rage of men or that of the Elements were more destructive by the Charitable Beneficence and Piety of that Age it arose like a Phaenix more Beautiful and vigorous even out of its Embers and Ashes and continued in that condition until the general Dissolution in the reign of Henry the eighth and then that Prince having suppressed this Covent and torn off their Revenue upon their Ruines he established a Dean and twelve Prebends and endowed them for their future support with that Demeasne which for the principal part of it as namely Wouldham Halling Snodland Trottescliff Denton Longfeild Borestal Lidsing and Stoke in the Hundred of Hoo had been formerly annexed to the above-mentioned Cloister The Cathedral with the Bishoprick of Rochester united to it were founded and established by that pious Monarch Ethelbert King of Kent and the first Bishop to whom was entrusted the Pastoral Staffe or Crosier by Augustine the Apostle of the Saxons was Justus the above-mentioned Prince not only assenting unto this Election by his Presence but likewise contributing to the Support of the Person so chosen and his Successors by his liberal Beneficence And indeed it is remarkable that in all those Revolutions and Vicissitudes which have rolled and varied the Fate of things and Affairs since the Seeds of Christianity were sown so plentifully by the Hand of Augustine in this Island that the Chair of this Bishoprick was still fixed at Rochester whereas many others have in sundry parts of the Nation suffered divers Translations to other places then that where they at first were established and the Reason is because by the Order of William the Conqueror such Bishops as were before resident in Towns and Villages were forthwith to transplant their Seat into walled Cities and places of Defence the more to oblige the populacie not only to repair thither for the Exercise of Devotion but likewise to augment the Commerce and Bulk of those Cities by such numerous Assemblies but in this Command of his Rochester could not be interressed or concerned that was invested with a Wall or something equivalent to it long before the Age of the Conqueror I should now unfold a Catalogue of those Bishops that swayed the Crosier of this Sea beginning with Justus and concluding with John Warner the instant Bishop of this Diocess but this is so obvious both in Goodwin and a late Manual styled The Help to History that I shall only historically Record the most eminent of them and proceed The first of whom I find to be Justus who was translated from this Sea to that of Canterbury a Man whose Integrity of Life breathed out a noble perfume when he was living and his Body if we may credit the Fabulous and Superstitious Legend of that Age no less grateful an Odour when he was Dead for 't is reported that his Reliques being to be removed after their Enterment many years before cast forth not the Stench or Steam of Putrefaction but a Sent so odorous and fragrant that it did not annoy but exceedingly delight the Nosthrils of those who were present but indeed this might be possible without the Concurrence of a Miracle if we consider that those Remains of his might be rescued from the Fate of Corruption by the Adjuncts or Circumstances of Nard Balm Spicery and Perfume so that the Miracle seems to be imposed by the Monks on the Laity of that Age only to excite both their Devotion and Benevolence Paulinus who was the third Bishop who succeeded him converted Edwin King of Northumberland and Edelburga his Queen to Christianity and so justly merited the Title of Apostle of that Province for which he was recorded after his Death in the Register of Saints and had his Body so far ennobled that it was wrapt up in a silver Shrine Ithamar who next succeeded him had his Reliques likewise enshrined in after Times by Gandulphus Bishop of Rochester which was not only repaired but very much adorned and beautified by Bishop John his Successor because as the Book of Rochester intimates he was redeemed by touching his Reliques ab acerrimo Oculorum Dolore from some sharp Distillation which did afflict his Eye Arnostus was present at Pinenden-heath at the great Debate touching some Lands which were unjustly ravished away from the Church Gundulphus his Successor erected the white Tower in Rochester-castle and whereas he at his first Instalment found but six Canons in the Covent of St. Andrews he so liberally endowed it that he left it replenished with threescore Monks of the Order and Rule of St. Benedict Tobias whom I should have mentioned after Ithamar was as Harp feild out of the Records of Rochester a man very dextrous and skilful in the Tongues and a general Magazine of all other Learning both Divine and Humane beside Walter de Merton Lord Chancellor of England did not only found the Colledge of Merton at Oxford but likewise laid the Foundation of an imperfect Colledge at Maldon in Essex which by his Death was left unfinished He died in the year 1277. and lies buried in his own Church at Rochester to which in his Life Time he had been a Munificent Benefactor In Gratitude to whose Memory Sir Henry Savil and the Fellows of Merton Colledge erected a Magnificent Monument in the year 1599. over his Ashes which though it be much empaired both by Age and the injurious Affronts of these impious Times yet shall the Name of this
great man be the best Steward to his own Dust and when his Sepulchre it self shall lie enterred in its own deplored Rubbish this shall stand unto it self an everlasting Tomb and Epitaph Hamon de Heath was Confessor to Edward the second and a liberal Benefactor to this Church He built the House at the Mannor of Halling which in some Ancient Records is styled his Pallace Joannes de Scapeia or John de Shepey was Lord Treasurer of England three years Richard Young was a principal Contributor to the Reparation of the Church at Frendsbury and wholly glazed the Windows where not long since his pourtracture was exposed to the publick View a good Index not only to his Memory but likewise to the Remembrance of so pious a Work John Lowe was born in the County of Worcester and was a man in the Estimate of Bale who writ his Life not only of signal Piety but likewise an Exchequer of all manner of Learning John Fisher was a man of vast Knowledge which yet was Ruinous to him for asserting the Papal Supremacy when it was invested in Henry the eight by an Act of Parliament he offered up his Life on a Scaffold as a Sacrifice to that opinion Nicolas Ridley was a man of an inculpable Life and of a wide Knowledge who was so an irrefragable Assertor of the Protestant Religion that he gave himself up at Oxford to the Fury of Fire and Faggot for the Testimony of what he before had professed and hath by his exemplary Life and Death taught the Adversaries of Episcopacy this Lesson that it is possible that the Seed may be pure as well as the Soyl that is the persons of the Men as well as the Office may be incorrupt John Warner is the last who brings up this Catalogue in whom the instant Title of this Bishoprick is resident a man worthy of better Dayes yet fit for these who for his vast Encouragement of Learning in the best of Times and his pious Support of it in the worst cannot be mentioned without an Attribute There have in elder Times many Contests and Animosities broke out between the Bishops of Rochester and Worcester and the Fuel which fomented and supplied this Fire of Contention was that both these Prelates pretended to the Support of the Crosier before the Arch-bishop of Canterbury in all Processions and other Acts of publick and signal Solemnity but in Fine the Crosier or Pastoral Staff was fixed or setled in the Hand of the Prelate of Rochester and hath been by Prescription ever since united as a convicted and Inherent Priviledge to this Diocesse Before I wave my Discourse concerning this Bishoprick I must inform the Reader that there are some peculiars which are annexed to the Deanries of Croydon and Shorham and this hath entangled and engaged many in much Difficulty to trace out the last Wils and Testaments of those who deceased within the Confines and Precincts of these peculiars To unravel therefore these Niceties for the future I shall represent a just Scale of these excepted places out of the original Records of the Church of Rochester themselves that those which can find no satisfaction in the Registers of Canterbury or Records of Rochester may yet discover what they are in pursuit of in that Office wherein these are enrolled and filed But before I unwind their Catalogue I shall in brief wrap up what in former Times hath been delivered touching the Office of Rural Deans by Duarenus and others who have more copiously dilated themselves upon this Subject This Officer was certainly brought into the Church to supply the place of those whom Antiquity styled the Chore-Episcopi who were commonly Assistants to the Bishop For indeed where the Diocesse was of that vast Latitude and Extent that the Managery of so great a Trust was disproportionate to the Discharge of one single Person it was necessary that his Care should be supported by the mutual Counsel and concurrent Advice of others whose prudence might improve the Affairs of the Church and upon the going out of the above-mentioned Office as being obsolete and antiquated this of the Rural Dean came in And to him did the Bishop entrust an Inspection into the Lives of the Clergy and from him did receive an exact Account of Scandal in its whole Latitude and other vitious Excesses which might by an impious Connivance have added more blackness to the Cassock He was likewise by Delegation from the Bishop to take Cognisance of all Errors and Deviations from that which in that Age was reputed Orthodox Doctrine that neither the Foundation nor Superstructure of Religion might be assaulted And lastly where the Diocesse was wide and of a large Territory it frequently hapned that the Probate and Administration of sundry Testaments in divers places was committed to his Care and Sway and he was likewise entrusted with a Seal with the Name of the Bishop whose Office by Deputation he was to discharge and not his own insculped upon it which upon his Decease or relinquishing this Office was to be surrendered up into the Hands of the Bishop of the Diocesse for the Time being that he might dispose of it as he should judge convenient Thus much of the Rurall Dean the Peculiars of which I before promised a Catalogue are as follow Ainsford Rectory and Vicarage Bexley Vicarage Brasted Rectory Chiddingtone Rectory Chevening Rectory Cliff Rectory Crayford Rectory Darent Vicarage East-Malling Vicarage East-Peckham Vicarage Ferningham Vicarage Gillingham Vicarage Graine Vicarage Heys Rectory Hever Rectory Hunton Rectory Igtam Rectory Mepham Vicarage Northfleet Vicarage Orpington and St. Mary Crey Rectory Otford Chappel Pencehurst Rectory Sundrige Rectory Sevenoke Rectory and Vicarage Stansted Chappel Wrotham Rectory and Vicarage Having done with the Church I shall now descend to those Mannors which lie circumscribed within the Precincts and Verge of this City The first is Borestall which as Textus Roffensis denotes and signifies unto us was given to the Church and Monks of St. Andrews by Kenulfus King of Mercia and was as the Records of that Church testifie de Cibo eorum to support their Table with a constant supply of Diet and rested annexed to their Demeasne until the Fatality of the General Dissolution ravished it away and afterwards it was by Henry the eighth when he established a Dean and Chapiter upon the Ruines of this above-mentioned Priory linked unto that Revenue which he granted them for their future subsistence The second is Great Delce which had owners of that Sirname as is evident by Testa de Nevill and other Records both of a publick and private Stamp but it appears was not of any permanent continuance in this Name for before the middle of Edward the first it was gon from that and united to the Inheritance of Haspall Geffrey de Haspall enjoyed it at his Death under the Notion of the fourth part of a Knights Fee as appears by an Inquisition taken in the fifteenth year of Edward the first
Possession and transmitted his Concernment in it by Sale to Richard Charles and he enjoyed it at his Decease which was in the fifth year of Richard the second Rot. Esc Num 92. And so did Nicholas Charles his Successor in the eleventh year of Richard the second Rot. Esc Num. 16. And Robert was his Son and Heir who dying without Issue it was united to the Demeasne of Richard Ormeskirk in right of Joan Sister and Heir of the above-mentioned Robert and he in the third year of Henry the fourth alienated it to Henry Perey Earl of Northumberland and he not long after passed it away to Rickhull in which Family it rested untill the seventeenth year of Henry the sixth and then it was by Deed conveyed from William Rickhull Esquire to Thomas Glover and Henry Hunt who had then the Custody or Guardianship of Rochester-Bridge and to the successive Wardens of it towards the Preservation and Reparation of its Fabrick for ever so that at this instant it is parcel of that Revenue which rescues this noble Structure from Decay and Ruin Nashenden next offers it self up to our Remembrance In the raign of Edward the second I find it entituled to the Possession of a Family called Aspall and in the twentieth year of Edward the third John Aspall paid respective Aid at making the Black Prince Knight But before the latter end of Richard the second this Family had surrendred the Inheritance of this place to Peckham the last of which Name which held it was John Peckham who as the Records of Rochester-Bridge informs me in the raign of Henry the sixth made it part of that Demeasn by Sale which was to support with its Income the Fabrick of Rochester Bridge in whose Revenue you may at this instant still find it resident Rolvenden gives Name to the Hundred wherein it is placed and is resolved into several places of eminent Consideration which do not only call for a Survey but even exact it The first is Halden called in Records the Mannor of Lambin alias Halden and the Reason of this Denomination is because it assumed the first part of this Name from Lambinus de Langham who held it under the Distribution of a whole Knights Fee as the Book called Testa de Nevill demonstrates in the twentieth year of Henry the third at the Marriage of Isabell that Prince's Sister at which Time he accounted so for it After this Family was departed from the possession of this place which was about the beginning of Edward the third the Haldens were by purchase setled in the Possession and William de Halden Son of John de Halden died seised of it in the fiftieth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 45. and left it to his Son John Halden but he expiring about the beginning of Henry the fourth in Joan his Daughter and Heir she by matching with John Guldeford Esquire made it parcel of his Patrimony and from him it devolved by Descent to Sir Richard Guldeford who was Knighted at Milford-haven by H. the seventh and was afterwards one of the Privy Counsel to that Prince In the eighth year of his reign he with Courage and Prudence opposed James Lord Audley and his Cornish Squadrons in that Eruption which they made upon this County and in the Battle waged near Deptfordbridge between King Henry the seventh and those Rebels represented such signal Testimonies of personal Magnanimity that he was by that Prince made a Banneret at Black-heath His Son Henry Guldeford Esquire in the first year of Henry the eighth went into Spain and engaged himself under Ferdinand and Isabella King and Queen of Castile and Aragon in their Wars commenced against the Moores and demeaned himself with that Fidelity and exemplary Resolution in all Conflicts entertained with those barbarous Infidels that upon the Reduction of the Province of Granada the above-mentioned Prince for his signal Service performed in his and the Christian Quarrel added to his Paternal Coat as an Augmentation A Pomgranet slipped upon a Canton being the Arms of that regained Province and likewise dignified him with the Order of Knighthood In the fourth year of Henry the eighth he was again invested with the abovesaid Order by that Prince and in the fifth of his reign he commanded one of the Royal Navy called the Regent in which Ship he acted Things worth the future Remembrance in that Sea-fight which was waged between the English and French near Brittain and in the same year as appears by the Original Patent bearing Date the twenty eighth of May he was made Standard-bearer of England and carried it at the Siege of Terwin His Son Sir Edward Guldeford in the fifteenth year of Henry the eighth received the Order of Knighthood for his Service at Tourney and was Captain of the Horse under the Duke of Suffolk at the second Siege of Terwin which was in the fifteenth year of that Prince and not long after reduced Boghan-castle taking the Advantage of the Winter which had sealed up the Marshes which environed it and made it almost inaccessible in a Frost In fine this worthy Souldier and Patriot dying without Issue-male left this Mannor of Halden to be enjoyed by Jane his Sole Inheritrix matched to John Dudley Duke of Northumberland and he having unhappily engaged himself in that ruinous Design which was to devest Queen Mary of the Royal Diadem and place it on the Head of the Lady Jane Grey wedded to his Son Guilford Dudley was in the first year of that Queen for that insolent Attempt which proved unsuccessful attainted and beheaded his Estate here being confiscated to the Crown the Mannor was given by that Princess to Sir John Baker her Attorney General Ancestor to Sir John Baker Knight and Baronet who at this Instant enjoyes the Mannor but the Demeasne of it was granted to Sir Henry Sidney whose Grandchild Robert Earl of Leicester not many years since conveyed it to Sir Thomas Smith of London whose Grand-child Robert Smith Esquire lately died possest of it There are twelve Denns which hold of this Mannor of Lambin aliàs Halden and at the Court-day elect twelve Officers called Beadles to collect the Quit-rents which relate to it The Names of them here ensue Midsell in Rolvenden Stallenden in Rolvenden Ramsden in Benenden West Bishoppenden in Benenden Folkinden in Benenden and Sandherst Holnherst in Benenden Elderherst in Halden and Tenterden Ilehinden in Woodchurch Mensden in Tenterden Strenchden in Tenterden Smeeth in Stone in the Isle of Oxney Blackbrooks and Pisenden in Witresham Casingham is a second place of Estimate In Ages of a very high Ascent I find it had Owners of the same Sirname for in Testa de Nevill I find that William de Casingham held the Mannor of Casingham now corruptly called Keinsham with Orlovingden another inconsiderable Mannor annexed unto it in the twentieth year of Henry the third and paid respective Aid for it accordingly under the Notion of the fourth part of a Knights Fee
of Shepbourn and in the thirteenth year of that Prince's reign had as appears Pat. 13. Edwardi primi Memb. 28. a Grant of a Market weekly to this place to be held on the Monday and a Fair for three Days Space at the Feast of St. Giles and this Adam de Bavent or else his Son was one of those eminent Kentish Gentlemen who was embarked with Edward the first in his Expedition into Scotland and was one of those who were created Bannerets at the Siege of Carlaverock in the twenty eighth year of his reign Roger de Bavent was summoned in the fourteenth year of Edward the second to sit in Parliamennt as Baron After whom I find no more mention of this Family as Possessors of this Mannor for it is probable the Religion and muffled Perswasion of those Times had so warped the Piety and Devotion of this Family that they setled it on the Priory of Leeds for by an old Rental of that Covent I find it wrapped up in their Demeasn in the reign of Edward the third and remained parcel of their Income until the general Shipwrack in the reign of Henry the eighth and then it was in the thirty sixth year of that Prince granted to Sir Ralph Vane and Anthony Tustham Esquire who not long after having passed away his Interest in it to Sir Ralph Vane it hath continued ever since to acknowledge the absolute Signory of this Family so that the right of it now rests in Sir Henry Vane Son and Heir to Sir Henry Vane Secretary of Estate to his late Majesty Fairlane is an eminent Seat in this Parish which likewise did confesse the Signory of the Family of Bavent but before the latter end of Edw. the third they had abandoned the Possession of it and then it came to confesse the Signory of Colepepers who remained Lords of the Fee untill the latter end of Henry the fourth and then it was transmitted by Sale to Chown in which Family after the Propriety had been constantly resident untill that Age which almost was circumscribed within the Verge of our Remembrance Sir George Chown the last of this Name at this place desiring to contract his Revenue solely within the Confines of Sussex alienated his Estate here to Sir Henry Vane Comptroller of his late Majestie 's Houshould and principal Secretary of Estate who having much beautified and adorned the ancient Fabrick with new Additions upon his late Decease bequeathed it to be enjoyed by his Lady Dowager Stelling in the Hundred of Lovingborough was with Wadenhall which lyes partly in this Parish and partly in Petham parcell of the Inheritance of the illustrious Family of Haut and William de Haut had Stelling and Wadenhall in the first year of Ed. the first and this above-mentioned VVilliam founded a Chappel at VVadenhall and dedicated it to St. Edmund the Saxon King of the East Angles and in this Family these Mannors continued untill the latter end of the reign of H. the sixth and then VVill. Haut lineally extracted from the above-said VVilliam conveyed Stelling to Humphrey Stafford Duke of Buckingham and this being forseited to the Crown upon the Attainder of his Grandchild Edward Stafford Duke of Buckingham in the thirteenth year of Henry the eighth this lay enwrapped in the royal Revenue untill Queen Mary in the first year of her reign granted it with much other Land to Edward Lord Clinton who about the last year of that Princesse alienated it to Mr. Henry Herdson whose Grandchild Mr. Francis Herdson about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth passed it away to Mr. John Herdson his Uncle who dying without Issue disposed of it by Will to his Nephew Sir Basill Dixwell of Terlingham in Folkstone from whom by descendant Devolution it is now come down to his Heir General Mr. Basill Dixwell of Broom in Barham But VVadenhall remained in the Name of Haut untill by the Steps of several Descents it was wafted along to Sir VVilliam Haut one of whose two Daughters and Coheirs called Elizabeth being wedded to Sir Thomas Colepeper of Bedgebury brought it to acknowledge the Interest of that Family and he having exchanged it with Edward the sixth it confessed the Signory of the Crown untill Queen Elizabeth in the forty second year of her reign granted it to Sir John Sotherton Baron of her Exchequer whose Heir in the memory of these Times gave up his Right in it by the Fatality of Sale to Mr. Benjamin Pere of Canterbury The Advowson of the two Parsonages or Rectories of Stelling and Vpper Hardres were granted to the Priory of Tunbridge in the twenty sixth year of Edward the third Pat. 3. part 2. Memb. 3. Selling in the Hundred of Street hath several places in it which cannot be declined without some Memorial Willmington and Somervill are the first that occurre and they gave Seat and one of them Sirname to a Family of Repute in that Age because I find they had Land in other places in the County Roger de Wilmington held the Possession of them at his Death which was in the eleventh year of Edward the third and left his Estate here and elsewhere to be shared between his four Daughters and Coheirs matched to Ordmere Bromming Brockhull and St. Laurence but upon the Division of the Estate these accrued to St. Laurence and in Right of paternal Devolution John St. Laurence Son of Thomas St. Laurence held these at his Decease which was in the tenth year of Richard the second and from him their right devolved to his Son Thomas St. Laurence whose Sole Daughter and Heir Katharine brought them to be the Inheritance of Sir William Apulderfield who about the latter end of Henry the sixth passed them away to Ashburnham and Till and the first of those having wholly setled his Right in them by Sale in Till they rested in this Family until the reign of Henry the eighth and then Peter Heyman Esquire having wedded the sole Inheritrix of Till they were transplanted into the Patrimony of that Family and from him the Propriety descended to his great Grandchild my worthy Friend Sir Henry Heyman Baronet lately deceased Haringe is a second place of Consideration it was as high as any Clew of Record can lead us the Possession of the Gurneys Hugh de Gurney who is in the Register of those who entered England with William the Norman held it under his Scepter In Ages almost of the next Step or Descent the Sharsteds had it and Robert de Sharsted who flourished under Edward the first Edward the second and dyed in the eighth year of Edward the third was possest of it at his Decease but this Name was suddenly worn out for in the Time subsequent to this Henry Brockhull of Brockhull in Saltwood enjoyed it who likewise had some Interest in Wilmington and Somervill which his Successor sold to Ashburnham and here the Propriety made its aboad untill the latter end of Henry the sixth and then it was conveyed to
Life and Forfeiture of his Estate and then this Seat upon his unsuccessful Exit returning to the Crown it was by the abovesaid Princess granted to her Cousin Reginald Poole Cardinal for his Life and a year after as he should by Testament dispose After his Death it reverts again to the Crown and then Queen Elizabeth in the third year of her reign grants it to Robert Dudley Earl of Leiceister and he the same year resigning it back into the Hands of his Soveraign it was by Lease made over to John Lennard of Chevening Esquire but the Fee-simple was by Royal Concession invested in the seventh year of Queen Elizabeth in Thomas Sackvill Lord Buckhurst and his Grand-child Richard Sackvill Earl of Dorset almost in our Remembrance conveyed the Fee-simple reserving it yet still in Lease to himself and his Heirs paying such a Rent-charge as is there specified for ninety and nine years to Mr. Richard Smith vulgarly called Dog-Smith who upon his Decease not many years since setled the propriety of it for ever upon St. Thomas Hospital in Southwarke The Honour of Sevenoke was granted by Queen Elizabeth to her Kinsman Henry Carey Lord Hunsdon in the first year of her reign from whom it devolved to his Grand-child Henry Carey Earl of Dover he passed it away by Sale to Richard Sackvill Earl of Dorset who alienated his Interest in it to Mr. Richard Smith who upon his above-mentioned Decease gave it with Knoll which both were exchanged and so united to the Royal Demeasne by William Warham to the Hospital of St. Thomas in Southwarke Kepington is the last place considerable in this Parish which was wrapt up in that Demeasne which owned the Signory of the Lords Cobham of Cobham as appears by an Inquisition taken in the thirty fifth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 62. Parte secundâ and after a Decursion of several Descents came by the Heir General of this Family to be possest by Brook whose Descendant about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth conveyed it to Burges and by his Sister and Heir it came over to Hanger who alienated it to Cowper and he not long since to Mr. Thomas Farnaby Spelherst in the Hundreds of Somerden Codsheath and Watchling stone hath many places in it of Repute First Grome-bridge which is a Chappel of Ease belonging to Spelherst and is dedicated to St. John it is in old Registers written Gromen-bridge and Gormen-bridge from some Saxon who was anciently Owner of it as Godmanchester in Huntingtonshire upon the same Account in old Orthography bears the Name of Gormonchester a Saxon having been possessor of it of that Denomination This Mannor in elder Times confessed the Dominion and Title of the Noble Family of Cobham Henry de Cobham and Joan his Wife obtained a Market to be observed weekly on the Thursday and a Fair three Dayes yearly videlicet the Vigil the Day of St. John Port-latine and the Day after as is manifest from an old Charter which I have seen whose Date commences from the fourteenth year of Edward the first the Market and Fair were kept where now the new Chappel is erected by the piety and expence of that Worthy Patriot John Packer Esquire late one of the Clerks of the Privy Seal After the Cobhams were departed from the possession of this place the Lords Clinton became by purchase Proprietaries of it and John de Clinton who was often summoned to fit as Baron in Parliament in the Time of Richard the second died possest of it in the twenty second year of that Prince Rot. Esc Num. 16. from whom the Title flowed in this Family until the latter end of Henry the fourth and then it was passed away to Waller of Lamberherst where and in Sussex they were before Masters of very ample Possessions for Thomas Waller and Katharine his Wife granted to Thomas Waller of Lamberherst his Father Richard Brenchley and John Brook all his Lands Messuages and Tenements in the Villages and Parishes of Rotherfeild Witheham Wadhurst Lamberhurst Little Horsted Alfricheston and Bucksted together with the moiety of the Advouson of the Church of Little Horsted as appears Claus 11. Richardi secundi in Dorso Memb. 35. Richard Waller Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the sixteenth year of Henry the sixth and kept his Shrievalty at Grome-bridge and was before Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex in the twelfth year of that Prince This is that renowned Souldier that in the Time of Henry the fifth took Charles Duke of Orleans General of the French Army Prisoner at the Battle of Agin-court brought him over into England and held him in honorable Restraint or Custody at Grome-bridge which a Manuscript in the Heralds-Office notes to be twenty four years in the Time of which his Recess he newly erected the House at Grome-bridge upon the old Foundation and was a Benefactor to the repair of Spelherst Church where his Arms remain in Stone-work over the Church-porch but lest such a signal peece of Service might remain entombed in the Sepulchre of unthankful forgetfulness the Prince to convey the Memory of this glorious Action to Posterity assigned to this Richard Waller and his Heirs for ever an additional Crest videlicet the Arms or Escocheon of France hanging by a Labell on an Oake with this Motto affixed Hae Fructus Virtutis This Richard was great Grand-father to William VValler of Grome-bridge Esquire Sheriff of Kent the twenty second of Henry the eighth and he was Father to Sir VValter VValler who was Grand-father to Sir VVilliam VValler now possessor of Winchester-castle and Father of Sir Thomas Waller which Sir Thomas almost in our Fathers Memory passed away Grome-bridge to Thomas Sackville Earl of Donset whose Grand-child Edward Earl of Dorset not many years since conveyed it to John Packer Esquire Father to ...... Packer Esquire now possessor of this place There was a Chauntry founded at Grome-bridge in the thirty eighth year of Henry the third by VVilliam Russell and Hawis his Wife as appears by the first Book of Compositions in Registro Roffensi Hollands in this Parish next cals for a View It was in Ages of a very high Date the Patrimony of a Noble Family of that Sirname and are in the Chartularies of this Parish recorded to have been great Benefactors to the Church of Spelherst and were allied to Thomas Holland Earl of Kent who matched with Joan Daughter of Edmund of VVoodstock but before the beginning of Henry the sixth this Family was worn out and vanished and then the VVallers stepped into the possession in which Family the Right of it did many years reside until it was in our Fathers Memory alienated to Thomas Sackville Earl of Dorset from whose Successor it passed away by Sale to Lindsey and from him not many years since the like Revolution carried it off to Caldicot Ferbies is another Seat of no vulgar Consideration in Spelherst if we consider that it gave Sirname to a Family of important Account in this
third but alass neither the Nobleness of the Name nor wideness of the Franchise could keep this Family from departing from this place for about the latter end of Henry the fourth I find it in the Tenure of the eminent Family of Apulderfield but setled not long here for Sir William Apulderfield about the middle of Edward the fourth concluded in Elizabeth Apulderfield who was his Sole Daughter and Heir who by matching with Sir Jo. Phineux Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench in the Reign of Henry the seventh made it his Demeasn but the Title of this place did not long fix here for he dying without Issue Male Jane his only Daughter became his only Heir who by espousing of Jo. Roper Esq of St. Dunstans in Canterbury linked it to the Demeasn of this Family from whom in a continued Current of descent the Proprietie of it is now flowed down to William Roper a Cadet or younger Branch of this Stem Shorne in the Hundred of Shamell was as high as the Reign of K. John the Patrimony of the Noble Family of Nevil Jordanus and in some old Deeds written Jollanus de Nevil held the Mannor of Shorne as appears by the Pipe-Roll of that year and John de Nevil was his Son and Heir who held this Mannor in the thirtieth year of Henry the third but after him I can track no farther Mention of this Family at this place for in the fifty fourth of Henry the third as appears by the Pipe-roll of that year I discover Roger de Norwood to be Lord of the Fee this was that Roger de Norwood who disdaining to have his Lands held in that Lazy and sluggish Tenure of Gavelkind changed it into the more active one of Knights Service in the fourteenth year of Henry the third still reserving to himself by that Licence by which he obtained a Grant of the first to reserve the ancient Rent whereby his Lands held even in the Time of the Conquerour and he in the thirteenth year of Edward the first died possest of this Mannor and all its Perquisites at Oisterland in Cliff and other places and left it to his Son and Heir Sir John de Norwood who together with his eldest Son Sir John de Norwood accompanied that triumphant Prince Edward the first in his Victorious Design undertaken against the Scots in the twenty eighth of his Reign The Mannor of Shorn holding by this Tenure viz. to carry a White Banner forty Dayes together at their own Charges whensoever the King should commence a War in Scotland as appears by an Inquisition taken after the Death of Roger de Norwood in the thirty fifth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 23. Parte secundâ And this was customary not onely in England but elsewhere for Mr. Selden in his Titles of Honour observes out of Prelusius's his Discourses upon the State of Poland in the year 1530 Albert Marquess of Brandenburg and Mr. of the Teutonick or Dutch Order in Prussia receives his Investiture into that Dutchy per Vexilli Traditionem by the Delivery of a Banner from the Hands of Sigismund K. of Poland and his Brother George at his being enstated in that Signory by this Ceremony was suo Fratrum Nomine Vexillum contingere in his own and the Name of his Brother to place his Hands upon the Banner and when the above-mentioned Banner was delivered to an Heir who had not his Title and Right free from the Claim of an ambiguous and perplexed Competition he was onely admitted ad Contactum Extremitatum Vexilli ejusdem to touch the utmost or extream parts of this Banner The Tenure which was annexed to this Investiture was this to assist the K. of Poland with an hundred Horse whensoever he should personally advance into the Field against an enemie But to return John de Norwood was the last of this Name whom I find setled in the Inheritance of Shorne and he enjoyed it at his Decease which was in the second year of Richard the second Rot. Esc Num. 35. But before the latter end of the Reign of that Prince it was removed from the possession of Norwood and by Sale plac'd in the Noble and ancient Family of Savage of Bobbing Court but not long after Sir Arnold Savage determining in Eleanor his Sole Inheritrix who was first wedded to Sir Reginald Cobham by whom she had no Issue and after to William Clifford Esquire she by this Alliance united it to the patrimony of this last Family and here it lay involved until the beginning of Q. Elizabeth and then it was passed away by George Clifford to Nicholas Lewson Esquire Grand-father to Sir Richard Lewson of the County of Stafford who desiring to circumscribe and collect his scattered Interest which lay dispersed in several parcels in this County into the closer circumference of Staffordshire alienated this Mannor almost in our Remembrance with all its Adjuncts at Oisterland in Cliff and other perquisites and out-Skirts to Mr. Woodier of Rochester in whose Lineage and Name the Title of it at this instant lies treasured up Ockington in this Parish was a Limb that made up the Body of that Revenue which anciently did swell into so vast a Bulk and Dimension in this Track and acknowledged for proprietaries the Noble Family of Cobham as appears by an Inquisition taken in the sixth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 45. where Stephen de Cobham was then found to have been possest of it at his Death and from him was the Title in a successive stream of Descent wasted down to the Reign of Hen. the seventh and then it was by Sale transplanted into Sir Henry Wiat where it flourished being supported with the Sap and Verdure of so Noble a Family until the fourth year of Edward the sixth and at that Time it was by Sale torn off from this Name for then Sir Thomas Wiat alienated it to Sir Anthony St. Leger and he passed it away to George Brooke Lord Cobham about the seventh year of Edward the siâ—â—â— whose great Grand-child Sir William brooke Knight of the Bath dying in the year 1643 without Issue Male it cescended to Sir John Brooke restored to the Barony of Cobham by the last King in the year 1644 as being Reversioner in entail Roundal though now shrunk into neglected Ruines was in elder Times the first Seat of the noble Family of Cobham from whence upon its Decay they were transplanted to Cobham Hall and was the Cradle of Men very eminent in their respective Generations of whom take this brief prospect * Ex veteri Rotulo penes Ed. Dering Militem Bar. dejunctum Henry de Cobham is enrolled in the List of those Kentish Gentlemen who were concerned with Richard the first at the Siege of Acon * Rotulus Pipae de Scutagio Wallia Reginald de Cobham accompanied Henry the third in his expedition against the Welch in the forty second year of his Reign Sir Henry Sir
we style the Lowy of Tunbridge and is a small Territory within it self called in old Latine Records Districtus Leuca de Tunbridge and was formerly subservient to the Dominion of those noble Persons who were Lords of the Fee The first of which was Richard de Clare Earl of Brionie in Normandy to whom it was by William Rufus granted upon this emergent Occasion This Richard was an earnest Abettor and supporter likewise of the Designes of this Prince upon his Brothers Territories in Normandy and so by consequence an active partisan of his which made the Breast of Robert Duke of Normandy to boile with such Animosity and passion against Him that the Flame of his Hatred kindled the Flame of a War which could not be extinguished but by the Depredation of this Earl's Estate and the utter subversion of his Castle of Brionie which was left an Heap of Flame and Ruines which caused William Rufus to risent his Calamitous Condition with so much Regret and Commiseration that he granted him as much Land here at Tunbridge as would spread into a League both in the Extent and Longitude of it and in the Breadth and Latitude of it likewise and Gemeticensis reports that this Richard brought over the Rope with which he was to measure it in the same Ship which transported him and his Retinue From this Richard who founded the Castle the right of Tunbridge was by Descent translated into his Son Gilbert de Clare the first Earl of Hertford and here did the Signory many years find a residence till Isabel Sister and Coheir of Gilbert de Clare by matching with Hugh Audley brought this to be the Inheritance of that illustrious Family where it had not long remained but Margaret Daughter and Heir of Hugh Audley by marrying with Ralph Stafford made it a Branch of their patrimony nor did it depart from this Family till the Vanitie of Edward Stafford Duke of Buckingham embarked him in that Design which the Malice of Cardinal Wolsey aggravated with those Circumstances of Hatred by blowing of wild Conjectures into the Ears of Henry the eighth who was naturally a jealous Prince and emulous of any new blooming Glory that he was stained with the black Tincture of Treason which sunk him into an untimely Sepulcher and his Estate by forfeiture into the possession of the Crown Edward Duke of Buckingham being thus convicted in the twelfth year of Henry the eighth there was a great Controversie started forth in the thirteenth year of that Prince's reign as appears by our Law-books in the Parliament then convened whether or not there were ground enough in the Crimes objected against him to establish an Attainder upon and it was carried in the Affirmative that there was upon which this Castle with all the Mannor of Dachhurst alias Hilden-borough with all the appendant Services and Quit-rents united to them did escheat to the Crown and remained there until Queen Elizabeth dissevered the Mannor of the Castle from her Interest and made it by Grant the possession of her Kinsman Henry Lord Hunsdon whose Son George Lord Hunsdon about the beginning of King James passed it with his Daughter and Heir to Thomas Lord Berkley who conveyed it to Sir John Kenedie from whom not long after by the same Conveyance it fell under the divided Signory of Ferrers Gosson and Johnson and they by a mutual Consent sold their Interest in it to Sir Peter Vanlore by whose three Daughters and Co-heirs matched to Sir Henry Zinzin Sir Alexander Sterling and Robert Crooke Esquire it is now divided between those three Families Although the Onsets of Time and the Assaults of Enemies together hath thrown the Beauty and Strength into such a rude Confusion that it now lurks in its own Rubbish yet formerly it was eminent for being the Scene of much Feude and Contention between the Kings of England and the Barons then in Arms against them In the year 1088. Odo Bishop of Bajeux and Earl of Kent making a Defection from William Rufus to those Barons who sought to support the Title of his eldest Brother Robert placed one Gilbert in this Castle for the Defence of it which enforced that King to invest it with a Siege and compelled the Castellan to a Surrender and afterwards having taken Odo himself imprisoned him in this Fortress from whence he afterwards made a successful Escape In the year 1215. Falcatius de Brent during the Military Contests King John had with his Nobility by Force wrung this Castle from the Earl of Gloucester and maintained it for some Time with signal Evidences of Magnanimity to the Kings Behoof and Use In the year 1231. upon the Decease of Gilbert the then Earl of Gloucester seised the Wardship of his Heir and entrusted the Custody of this Castle to Hubert de Burgh Earl of Kent This occasioned an eager and impetuous Contest between the King and Richard Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Arch-bishop pretended because the Castle held of his See therefore he de Jure ought to have the Custody of the Heir in his Wardship To which the King replyed that the whole Earldome held of him and that he might commit the Custody of the Lands to whomsoever he pleased This caused the Arch-bishop boyling with much Heat and Passion to Appeal for Redress to Rome where he managed this Controversie with that vigorous dexterity that the Pope issued out a solemn determination on his behalf but his Decease in his Journey homewards superseded the Execution of the Papal Sentence The above-mentioned King Henry in the year 1259. granted Licence to Richard de Clare Earl of Gloucester to wall and embattle his Town of Tunbridge in these Words in that Charter Claudere Muro et Kernellare which latter Word being made Latine out of the French Charneaux imports that indented Form of the Top of a Wall which hath Vent and Crest commonly called embattelling very serviceable to the Defendants within not only to annoy the Enemy but likewise to shroud and secure himself from the Fury of any outward Assault This Mode of Fortification was in elder Time with much Caution prohibited within this Nation out of a Jealousie that it might foment any inward Sedition and was therefore amongst many other Articles inquirable before the Escheator de Domibus Kerneliatis But the War breaking out not long after this between the King and Simon de Montfort to whose Interest the Earl of Gloucester was by a Solemn Combination closely united the Grant of the above-mentioned King was made ineffectual and not the least Symptoms of the intended Wall are at this instant visible In the year 1263. the War growing hot between Henry the third and Simon de Montfort the King sets down before Tunbridge-castle and forces it to snrrender to discretion and therein found amongst others the Countess of Gloucester From whence I collect that in those Times it was esteemed if not the only yet at least a principal Mansion of those great Lords of Tunbridge the
assaults his Rear with that Courage that he forced that Duke to a Disorderly Retteat leaving his Canon and Carriages behind him as the Reward of his Valour and Fortune In the twenty seventh year of Henry the sixth he was sent over into France with fifteen hundred men as a fresh supply to buoy up the sincking Affairs of the English in that Nation with which he recovered many pieces of strength but overlaid with Multitude in an Encounter at Formigney by the Earl of Clermont and the Constable of France after he had with unparallel'd Testimonies of personal Courage endeavoured to preserve the Fortune of the Day he received a Defeat the Enemy buying his Victory at so dear a rate that it almost undid the Purchaser Lastly his Fate cast him into that Civil Contest which broke out between the two Houses of York and Lancaster and being satisfied with the Justice of those principles upon which the first had engaged in Arms became an eager Assertor of its Claim to the Diadem and having enbarked himself with Richard Earl of Warwick then the Atlas of that Faction in defence of it at the second Battle of St. Albans perished in the Ruines of that Field and by an unstained though a Calamitous Fidelity became the great Example of Loyalty to the House of York And he dying without Issue-male one of his Daughters and Co-heirs by matching with John Fogge of Repton Esquire brought this Mannor upon the partition of the Estate between Fogge and Bourchier who wedded the other to be annexed to the Demeasn of that Family and upon his Decease it descended to his Son Thomas Fogge Serjeant Porter of Callis who dying without Issue-male Anne Fogge who was one of his two Daughters and Co-heirs Aregrim a Saxon held the Mannor of Minshull in Cheshire as Dooms-day Book testifies in the Time of the Conquerour ut liber homo first matching with William Scot and afterwards to Henry Isham brought this to be parcel of the Inheritance of her second Husband but his Son Edward Isham about the latter end of Q. Elizabeth concluding in Mary Isham his onely Inheritrix she by espousing Sir George Perkins united it to his Patrimony and he setled the Reversion of it after his Wives decease upon Mary his Daughter married to Sir Richard Minshull of Cheshire created Baron of Minshull 1642 descended from that eminent Souldier Michael de Minshul who for his glorious service performed in the Quarrel of Richard the first at the Siege of Acon had the assignment for ever of the Crescent and Star for the Coat-Armour of this Family And he and the Lady Mary Perkins concurring in a joynt Sale passed it away in the second of King Charles to James Hugison of Lingsted whose Son John Hugison Esquire by descendant right is entituled to the Possession of it Waltham in the Hundreds of Bredge Petham and Stowting was anciently a Member of that Revenue which acknowledged the Interess of the Knights Templers as appears by a Survey taken of this Mannor in the year of Grace one thousand one hundred and eighty and registred in the Book styled de Terris Templariorum which is preserved in the Remembrancers Office in the Exchequer and in that Survey there is mention made of Ivo de Haut who held Lands at that Time of Temple Waltham lying at Petham not far distant which justifies the Antiquity of that Name in this Track Upon the total suppression and extinction of this Order here in England on pretence of some prodigious Crimes stuck upon it which whether they were imaginary or real must be discussed in that Critical Day when the secrets of all Hearts and the Bottome of all Secrets shall be opened this Mannor of Waltham was in the seventeenth year of Edward the second by Grant invested in the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem commonly called the Knights Hospitalers and here in this Order it rested until the reign of Henry the eighth and then being dissolved by that impetuous Tempest which like a Hurricano fell upon this and all other Conventual Orders in this Nation it was swallowed up in the Revenue of the Crown and there lay couched till the latter part of Queen Elizabeth and then it was in the forty second year of her swaying the English Scepter granted to John Manwaring Esquire from whom by Hope Manwaring his Daughter and Heir the Interess went to Humphrey Hamond upon whose Decease she was re-married to Sir Robert Stapylton a Person who hath erected his own everlasting Tomb and Epitaph in those exquisite Translations of his of Pliny's Panegyrick to Trajan Juvenal's Satyrs and lastly Strada's History of the Wars and other Transactions of the Low Countries who by purchase from his Son in Law Mr. Manwaring Hamond holds the instant Fee-simple of it Eshmerfeild is another eminent Mannor in Waltham and cals for some Respective Account because in Ages of a higher pedigree it confessed it self in the Revenual of the signal Family of Crioll for Bertram de Crioll possest it at his Death which was in the twenty third year of Edward the first and though he expired in a Daughter and Heir yet it continued still in the Tenure of a younger House until Bennet Daughter and Co-heir of Sir Thomas Crioll who was slain at the second Battle of St. Albans brought it to her Husband John Fogge Esquire whose Son Thomas Fogge about the beginning of Henry the seventh alienated his Right and Concernment in it to Sir Thomas Kempe in which Family the Inheritance remained until the latter end of Queen Elizabeth and then it was passed by Sir Thomas Kempe this mans Grandchild to Roger Twisden Esquire whose Grandchild Sir Roger Twisden Knight and Baronet conveyed it to Sir John Ashburnham to whose Widow the Lady Ashburnham it accrued upon his Decease as having been before by speciall Compact made part of her Dower so that she at this instant hath the Use of the emergent profits and income of it Whetacre is another small Mannor that lies within the Circle of this Parish not worth the memorial were it not for a Family which extracted its Sirname from hence for I find Nigellus de Whetacre mentioned in the Book of Aide to have held Lands here in the twentieth of Edward the third In Times of a lower Date that is about the reign of Henry the sixth I find the Family of Hels or Hils descended from the Hels of Hels-court in Woditon to be planted in the possession and in this Name was the Interest of it constant until the beginning of Edward the sixth and then it was alienated to Prude whose Successor couveyed it to Alderman Cockain of London from whom the same Stream of Vicissitude carried it into Beacon Watringbury in the Hundred of Twiford was in Ages of a very high Gradation the Patrimony of a Family which enjoyed that Sirname and held not only the Mannor of Watringbury it self but Chart and Fowls which lie within the Precincts of this Parish
peradventure may be attributed to the Evaporations of youth which is alwayes volatile and airy rather then to any setled and contracted Habit of vitious Distempers and mutinous passions which was lodged within Him But to proceed when Willesborough had by a successive thread of many Ages been guided along through several Descents down to John Brent he died and left John Brent his Heir who expiring without Issue Margaret his eldest Sister became the Inheritrix of all his possessions and she being matched with John Dering Esquire of Surrenden Dering this place by Female right became transplanted into the Patrimony of that Name and Family and Sir Edward Dering about the year 1635 conveyed it to Robert Scot of Canterbury Esquire whose Son and Heir Thomas Scot of Canterbury Esquire is now proprietary of it Wilmington in Hundred of Dartford resolves it self into two Mannors which exact a peculiar Cognisance and the first is Rue Hill so it was anciently written though now by vulgar Acceptation it is called Rowe Hill It was in Ages of a higher Track the patrimony of an illustrious and generous Family called Gise who were in those times as eminent for the largeness of their possessions as they were for the Antiquity of their Extraction and from hence were the Gises of the Counties of Hereford and Gloucester originally sprouted out Anselmus de Gise had a Charter of Free Warren granted to his Lands at Rue Hill in Wilmington in the twenty second year of Edward the first but it appears the Possession of this place invested and fortified with this Grant was not long after united to this Family for John Gise this mans Grand-child sold it to Nicholas Brember who in the twelfth year of Richard the second being blasted with an impeachment of high Treason fell an Oblation to the fury of those Lords who upon pretence of asserting the publick Liberty sought to fetter up the majesty and prerogative of their Prince within those narrow Restraints and Limits which they prescribed to empale it in and pare off the power of the Crown which like Sampson's Locks being shaved Kings remain like other men Upon his attaint Rue Hill resolved into the revenue of the Crown and King Richard the second in the fourteenth year of his reign granted it to Adam Bamme of London and in his Lineage was the Inheritance of it sundry Generations wrapt up till in our Grand-fathers memory it was alienated to Brett from whose successor the same Alteration rowled the possession not many years since into Smith The second is Highlands which was parcel of the Demeasn of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem and upon the Dissolution of their Alberge here in England was granted about the thirty fifth year of Henry the eighth to Sir Thomas Moile and Sir Maurice Dennis the last of which passed away his Concernment in it to Sir Thomas Moile by whose Daughter and Co-heir called Amy Moile it came to be possest by Sir Thomas Kempe who left it to his Son and Heir Sir Thomas Kempe who conveyed it to his Brother Mr. Reginald Kempe who in our Fathers memory passed it away to Lancelot Bathurst Esquire Father to Sir Edward Bathurst who is the instant proprietary of it Wodnesborough lies in the Hundred of Eastrie and spreads it self into many places of no despicable Account First there is Shelving which was as high as any Evidence can waft us to discover the Demeasn of Houghham of Hougham by Dover a Family rooted in as deep Antiquity as any in this Track Robert de Hougham is enrolled in an ancient Register of those Kentish Gentlemen who supported the cause and Quarrel of Richard the first at the Seige of Acon Sir Robert de Hougham his Son died possest of it in the second year of Edward the first and left Robert Hougham his Heir who determined in Daughters and Co-heirs so that Benedicta Houghham one of them being married to John Shelving this became his Demeasn where he erected a House upon which he fixed his Sirname and called it Shelving which in those Times was of considerable Repute though since by the frequent impressions of Age it is shrunk into Decay and Obscurity from Shelving one Moitie of it by Sale was transmitted to St. Leger and so continued distinguished in the Interest of it till both Shelving and St. Leger did by a mutual Concurrence pass away their joynt right in it to Dynley where it had not long been Seated but the like Fatality transferred the Possession of it to White and here the Title of it was as unfixt and unstable also for from this Family by purchase it was carried into the Revenue of Knight who in our memory altered his Interest in it by Sale to Mr. Solomon Hougham of Sandwich primitively issued out in a Collateral Line from Sir Robert Hougham upon whose late Decease his Son and Heir Mr. Richard Hougham is now possessor of it Ringleton does secondly exact some Remembrance It was anciently the Interest of Perot for Thomas Perot held it at his Death which was in the fourth year of Edward the third but when this Name was extinguished in a Daughter and Heir William Langley by matching with Her entituled himself to the Possession of this place in which Family the Inheritance for sundry Generations was settled till the Vicissitude of Time by Sale conveyed it into the Demeasn of John White who was originally a Merchant of the Staple and did by several Acts of exemplary Munificence evidence himself to be a liberal Benefactor to Canterbury But long it was not fastned to the Possession of this Name for his Successor alienated it to Butler of Heronden in Eastrie from which Family Ringleton by the same Mutation was brought to own the Possession of Neame and his Son Daniel Neame sold it to Spencer of Sandwich whose Successor Nicholas Spencer dying without Issue his Sister who was wedded to Hughs descended from Hughs of Middleton Stony in the County of Oxford who was branched out from the Hughs of North-Wales by a Relative right deduced from that Alliance has planted the present Possession in the Patrimony of that Name and Family Thirdly upper Hamwold may fall under a Disquisition because it was wound up in the Estate and Propriety of Greenshield whose principal residence was at Greenshield in Whitstaple corruptly called Grimgil where I have spoken more largely of this Family onely this I shall add that Henry Greenshield who died in the last year of Edward the fourth was a munificent Benefactor to the poor and other indigent and necessitous people of the Town of Sandwich to whom he bequeaths by his last Testament very liberal Donations for their relief and support After this Family of Greenshield was mouldered away at Hamwold I find the Elis's invested in the Possession but whether by Alliance or Purchase I cannot discover After they went out the Family of Francis was by Purchase from them seated in the Inheritance to whose Interest it was not many