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Meridian Beam on all the gloomy Corners and Recesses of Paganism and Infidelity then this Use of Urn-Burial was wholly superseded and found a Tomb it self in the more sober and severer practise of Christianity And thus much shall be said concerning these Urns digged up at Newington The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
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
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
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
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
Rokesley by whose Sole Inheritrix likewise called Joan it was linked to the Demeasn of Sir Thomas de Poynings from whom the Clew of Descent guided it down to Sir Edward Poynings who dying in the twelfth of Henry the eighth without any lawfull Issue or any visible kindred that could pretend a Title to the Estate it lapsed to the Crown and Henry the eighth granted it to Thomas Lord Cromwell upon whose attainder it being again escheated Queen Mary in the first year of her Rule granted it to Edward Lord Clinton who in the last year of that Princess passed it away to Mr. Henry Herdson whose grandchild Mr. Francis Herdson conveyed it by Sale to Mr. Henry Brockman in whose Grandchild Mr. James Brockman the instant Inheritance is fixed Blackose is another little Mannor in Newington which as Sadrach Petit's Inquest an Authentick Manuscript informs me was as high as the raign of Henry the third the Possession of Nicholas de Morehall a Family who were owners of much Land at Folkstone and elsewhere in this Track and in this Name did it continue untill the latter end of Richard the second and then it was transmitted by Sale to William Edwy who paid a proportionate Aid for it at the Marriage of Blanch Daughter of Henry the fourth in the fourth year of his raign from whence much of our Land in Kent which was rated at the same Time and upon the same Design hath assumed the Appellation of Blanch-Lands After Edwy went out which was in the raign of Edward the fourth it became the Possession of Wreake and Thomas Wreake as the abovesaid Sidrach Petit who lived in that Age instructs me exchanged it with Will. Warham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and continued annexed to the Demeasn of that See until the great Exchange made by Tho. Cranmer in the twenty ninth of Henry the eighth with that Prince and then it was made the Demeasn of the Crown and after some brief abode there was granted away to John Honywood Esquire Newchurch in Romney Mersh gives Denomination to the whole Hundred wherein it is situated and dilates and spreads it self into several places which call for some Remembrance The first is Peckmanston which was as high as the Rayes or Light of any Evidence can direct to a Discovery the Inheritance of the Lords Leybourne and was annexed to that vast Revenue which they entituled themselves to in this County and so continued till Sir Roger de Leybourne left this with much other Land to his Sole Daughter and Heir Juliana married to William Lord Clinton Earl of Huntington who dyed in the twenty eighth year of Edward the third but without Issue by this Lady who deceasing likewise not long after the Crown upon a Serious and solemne Disquisition discovering none that upon the Stock of any collateral Alliance could pretend to her Estate seised upon it as an Escheat and King Richard the second in the eleventh year of his Government granted it to the Abbey of Childrens Langley amongst whose Revenue it rested till the Dissolution of that Covent and after that King Henry the eighth by royal Donation planted the Possession in the thirty fifth year of his Raign in Sir Thomas Moile a Gentleman in those Times of principal Estimate in this County and of the Privie Councel to that Prince from whom by Amy his Daughter and Coheir it came suddenly after to be the Inheritance of Sir Thomas Kempe who in the raign of Queen Elizabeth sold it to Thomas Smith Farmer of the Customes to that Princesse and he bequeathed it to his third Son Sir Rich. Smith by whose Daughter and Coheir the Title and Right of it at this instant is lodged in Mr. Barrow of Suffolke Est-Bridge in this Parish is a second place which exacts our Remembrance This with Honychild in St. Maryes Parish likewise in Romney Mersh did anciently belong partly to the Abby of Bradsole ailà s St. Radigunds in Dover and partly to the Knights of St. Jo. which upon the general Suppression in the twenty ninnth year of H. the eighth of all religious Cloisters and Seminaries were swallowed up in the Demeasne of the Crown and lay there till E. the sixth granted them in Lease to Cuthbert Vaughan Esq who afterwards in the fourth year of Queen Elizabeth purchased the Fee-simple of them of the Crown and upon his Decease which happened not long after disposed of Honychild to his Son in Law Roger Twisden Esquire and Est-Bridge Sir Will. Twisden â—old Honychild to Sir Will. Sydley Grandfather to Sir Charles Sydley the instant Owner to his Wives Son Richard Dering Esquire in Right of which original Donation Sir Edward Dering of Surrenden Dering in Pluckley Baronet great Grandchild of this Mr. Richard Dering is present Possessor of this Mannor of Est-Bridge Thirdly Silwell in this Parish is not to be omitted it was in elder Generations an Appendage or Limbe which made up the Body of that plentifull Income which appertained to the Abbey of Boxley in this County and upon the Dissolution was with much other of the Church Demeasn by Henry the eighth granted to Walter Henley Esquire after created Sir Walter Henley and one of the Privy Councell to Henry the eighth and Edward the sixth But as though there had been some fatall malediction which like original Sin did cleave to the Possesssion he left no Issue-male to enjoy that large Patrimony he had thus archieved but concluded in three Daughters and Coheirs Elizabeth matched to William Waller of Grome-Bridge Helen first married to Thomas Colepeper of Bedgebury Esquire Secondly to Sir George Somerset and Thirdly to Thomas Vane of Burston in Hunton Esq and then Anne wedded to Richard Covert of Slaugham in Sussex Esq who shared by these matches and alliances a considerable part of his Inheritance in which this Mannor of Sylwell was involved Newington in the Hundred of Milton has the Addition of Lucies prefixed before it to distinguish it from Newington in the Hundred of Street It was the Ancient Patrimony of the Noble Family of Lucy the first whom I find amongst Records of deep Antiquity was extracted out of Normandy within the Precincts of which Province or upon the Verge and Margent of it there is a Signory of that Name yet existent G. de Lucy so he is written in the most authentick Copies of the Battle Abby Roll entered England with William the Conqueror Fulbert de Lucy and in some old Registers written Sir Fulbert changed his Name of Lucy into that of Dover when he was by William the Conqueror made one of the Assistants to John de Fiennes in the Guard of Dover-Castle having fifteen Knights Fees assigned to him in that Track for the Support of his Dignity and Trust * See Seldens Titles of Honor pag. 644. William de Dover was one of the Magnates or Peers who was Teste to the Charter of Maud the Empresse whereby she creates Miles of Gloucester Earl of Hereford Hugh de Dover was Sheriff
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
Mannor in Tunbridge and was as high as I can track any Record the possession of the Noble Family of Vane who are written in very old Deeds A Vane and was certainly their ancient Seat before by matching with the Heir of Stidolfe they became possessors of Badsell Henry A Vane makes his Will in the year 1456. He was the Son of John A Vane who flourished at this place in the reign of Edward the third but his Predecessors enjoyed it as appears by Original Evidences many years before From Henry Vane it came over to John a Vane whose Son John Vane in the tenth year of Henry the seventh conveyed it by Sale to Dixon descended originally from the Dixons of Scotland Gentlemen of no despicable Account in that Nation and in their possession hath it ever since the first purchase been constantly setled Dachurst aliàs Hilden-borough had the same Possessors still with Tunbridge and being forfeited in the thirteenth year of Henry the eighth by Edw. Stafford Duke of Buckingham its Demeasne was in the fourteenth year of that Prince granced to William Skeffington Esquire in whose Descendant the propriety is yet resident but the Mannor it self rested in the Crown until not many years since it was conveyed by the State to Colonel Robert Gibbons of Hole in Rolvenden Bardens and Hadloe are two little Mannors in Tunbridge both which had Owners of that Sirname John de Barden held the first as the Book of Aide informs us and paid respective Aide for it at making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth year of Edward the third and the dateless Evidences relating to Hadloe do assure us both of the Antiquity and Truth of the second And in the Tenure of the first did Bardens remain until the reign of Henry the fourth and then changed its Owner and came entirely to be possest by Hadloe but remained not long in his Name for John Hadlow dying without Issue Alice his Sister married to John Woodward became his Heir and she in her Widowhood about the latter end of Henry the sixth passed away Bardens to John Hopdey and he in the thirty eighth of Henry the sixth alienated his Right to William Hextall but Hadloe devolved to John Woodward Son of John Woodward abovesaid and he in the thirty seventh of Henry the sixth demises all his Interess in Hadloe to William and Henry Hextall and he the same year by Deed releases all his Right in Hadloe to William which William not many years after dying without Issue-male Margaret his Sole Daughter and Heir brought these two Mannors to be the Inheritance of her Husband William Wherenhall Esquire whose Son William Whetenhall Esquire about the middle of Henry the eighth passed away Bardens to Andrew Judde Esquire who erected the Alms-houses here at Tunbridge and Hadloe to William Waller Esquire Judde died without Issue-male and left his Estate to Alice his Sole Heir matched to Thomas Smith Esquire vulgarly called Customer Smith and he upon his Decease gave Bardens to his second Son Sir Thomas Smith of London in whose Descendants the Title yet is resident but Hadloe descended to Richard Waller Son to William abovesaid who about the forty second year of Elizabeth alienated it to George Stacy and he about the beginning of King James demised it again to Bing whose Successor Mr. John Bing in our Remembrance passed it away to Mr. David Polhill Esquire whose Grand-child Mr. David Polhill upon the late Decease of that his Grand-father is now entituled to the possession of it Hollenden is the last place in Tunbridge to be taken notice of which spreads its appendant Demeasne into the Parish of Leigh and was in Ages of a very high Gradation parcel of the Patrimony of the ancient Family of Fremingham for in the fifty fifth year of Henry the third I find that Ralph de Fremingham obtained a Charter of Free-warren to several of his Mannors in Kent in the Register of which was Hollenden In Times of a more modern Aspect that is about the reign of Henry the fourth I find it by some old Court-rols to be the Cheyneys and there are several parcels of Land that relate to this Mannor which are adopted into their Name and are called Cheyneys Fields and in this Family did the Mannor continue until the latter end of Henry the eighth and then it was alienated to Waller to whose Inheritance it continued united until that Age which fell within the Circle of our Fathers Cognisance and then it was passed away to Crittenden which Family at this instant is entituled to the Signory of it But part of the Demeasne which is spread into Leigh was about the beginning of Henry the seventh conveyed to Stacy whose Successor almost in our Remembrance alienated it to Turner and he not many years since demised it to James Pelset Tuydley anciently written Twidley lies in the Hundreds of Wachlingstone and Twyford and was not worth the Consideration were it not for Badsell where a Family who extracted their Sirname from hence had long since their Habitation from whom by a Daughter and Co-heir the Inheritance went into Stidulph from whom the Stidulphs or Stidolfes of Surrey are originally branched out a Noble Family certainly and of eminent Genealogy there being frequent mention in that Book which they call the Survey of the Lowey of Tunbridge taken in the fourteenth year of Edward the fourth of this Name and Family but when the successive mutation of Time had crumbled the Name of Stidolfe at this place into a Daughter and Heir called Agnes upon her espousals with John Vane Badsell became incorporated into the Interest and Concernment of that Family and by a Communicative Right issuing out from this Alliance does Milmay Fane now Earl of Westmerland entitle himself to the instant proprietie and possession of Tuydley and Badsell Kippings Crosse in Tuydley hath been as appears by several old Dateless Evidences and other Monuments for many hundred years the Seat and Inheritance of Kippings who bore for their Coat Armour as it appears exemplified and confirmed to Robert Kipping of Brenchley Gentleman the fifth of September in the thirty seventh year of Henry the eighth Loringeè Or and Azure upon a chief Gules A Lion passant Or langued and armed Azure But this Family after such a vast continuance here and at Brenchley not many yeart since determined in two Daughters and Co-heirs Dorothy the eldest was married to Edward Darrell Esquire second Son to Sir Robert Darrell of Calchill and Mr. James Darrell fourth Son of Sir Robert above mentioned and now secondly to Thomas Henshaw of Kensington Esquire descended from the ancient Family of Henshaw of Henshaw in Cheshire V. V. V. V. ULcomb in the Hundred of Eyhorne was the patrimony of St. Legers writen in Latin Records de Sancto Leodegario Sir Robert de Sancto Leodegario entred into England with Will the Conquerour and was of that high repute that according to the received Tradition of this Family he
raign of Henry the seventh left two Sons to Thomas his eldest he devised Fredville with his Estate there to William his youngest Bonington and the Lands annexed to it so that the eldest had the Fairest and the youngest the ancient Seat from Fredville are streamed out first the Boois's of Hode the second Branch of the eldest House Secondly those of Betshanger Thirdly Bois of Sandwich issued out from those of Betshanger From Bonington are extracted the Bois's of Willsborough being the second Branch of the second House Secondly Bois of Offington and thirdly Bois of Hawkherst From Thomas Bois above-mentioned is the Title of Fredville in a successive Line now devolved to his Successor Iohn Bois Esquire Elmington is a second place of Note in this Parish It was made eminent in former Times by being parcell of the Patrimony of Condye of Condies Hall in VVitstaple who likewise had some Interest in Fredville by purchase from Colkin which VVilliam Condy passed away to Thomas Charlton above-mentioned Which VVilliam was Son and Heir to Iohn de Condy who dyed possest of Elmington the fifth of September in the forty second year of Edward the third and by descendant Right was invested in the Propriety of this place but enjoyed it not long for he dying without Issue Robert Grubbe who had married Margaret Sister and Coheir of the abovesaid VVilliam entered upon the Possession But he likewise concluding in two Daughters and Coheirs Agnes one of them by matching with Iohn Isaack annexed this to his Inheritance and his Successor James Isaack about the latter end of Henry the seventh conveyed it to George Guldford Esquire who not long after transmitted the Interest he had in this place by Sale to Betenham in whom the Possession was but of a frail and narrow Continuance for from this Family a Vicissitude like the former about the latter end of Henry the eighth carried it away to Sir Christopher Hales and his Son Sir James Hales not long after demised it to VVilliam Bois Esquire Ancestor to Jo. Bois of Fredville Esquire who now holds the instant Signiory of it St. Albans is a third place in Nonington which exacts our Notice It is called so because it was wrapped up in the Revenue of the Abby of St. Albans and did partake of the like priviledges as that Monastery enjoyed a Scale of which you may read of recorded in the late printed Monasticum Anglicanum too tedious here to recapitulate It was in elder Times called Esole and was held by one Edmund de Akcholt in Knights Service whose Arms in Nonington Church videlicet Quarterly Argent and Azure over all a Bend componee Or and Gules are yet visible and obvious This Mannor upon the general Dissolution in the Raign of Henry the eighth being found involved in the Patrimony of the above said Abby was in the thirty second year of that Prince granted with all its Appendages to Sir Christopher Hales and his Son Sir James Hales about the Beginning of Edward the sixth conveyed it to John Sticker who in the fifth year of that Prince alienated it to Sir Thomas Colepeper of Bedgbery from whom not long after the same mutation transplanted it into Sir Thomas Moile and he demised the propriety of it by Sale to Thomas Hamon Esquire Auncestor to Anthony Hamon Esquire who now enjoys the present Signory of it At the Borough of Wolwich in this Parish is a place called Oxendens which was the Original Seminary and Fountain of those of that Name and Family in this County Ratling is another place in Nonington of principal Note It contributed in Times of a more Venerable Date both Seat and Sirname to a Family of that Appellation It would be too tedious and voluminous a Digression to recite all those whom Ancient Records represent to be the possessors of this Place I shall only take notice of Sayer de Ratling Son of Sir Robert de Ratling who was the last of the Name who enjoyed it and had it in Possession at his Decease which was in the tenth year of Richard the second and left Joane his Daughter and Heir who was matched to John Spicer from whom the Spicers who were Owners of the Mannor of Sherford in Monks Horton in this County were collaterally extracted but it appears they were of no long residence at this Place for this Man and his Name together went out in Co-heirs so that Ratling fell under the Dominion of a new Proprietary for by Cicely one of them it was knit to the Demeasne of her Husband John Izaack of Blackmanbery in Bredge and by this Alliance the Title became tied to this Family till Edward Izaack this mans Grand-child in the Raign of Henry the seventh by Sale collated his Right in it on Sir John Phineux whose Successor in the next Age after alienated it to Nevinson from whom not so many years are yet elapsed but that almost our Memory may attaque the time of the Sale By the same Fatality the Possession and Title was rowled into the enjoyment of the present Owner Sir William Cowper Oldcourt is a third place which may exact our Account it was anciently parcel of the Demeasne of a good old Family who derived their Sirname from the Parish of Goodneston vulgarly called Gonston by no far Distance removed from this place and continued in an uninterrupted Series from John William and Robert de Godneston of whom there is frequent mention in private Evidences and who flourished in the Raigns of Henry the third and Edward the first as their Dateless Deeds do intimate until the Raign of Edward the fourth possest of this place and then it went by Edith Daughter and Heir of Edward Godneston in whom the Name was entombed to Vincent Engham descended from the Enghams or Edinghams of Woodchurch from whom it went away by Sale to John Sydley Esquire Auditor to Henry the seventh who added much to the Splendor and Magnificence of the Sydleys of Southfleet by those additional improvements with which he encreased the Patrimony of that Family When this Name went out the next Family which succeeded in the possession of this place by purchase was Wild of Canterbury descended originally from the Wilds of the County of Worcester where they are entituled to an Extraction of deep Antiquity whose Successor Sir John Wild of Canterbury in that Age we call our Fathers passed away his Right in Oldcourt to Mersh who holds the instant Fee-simple of it Northbourne in the Hundred of Eastry was given to Christ-church in Canterbury by Eadbald King of Kent as the Records of that Church do assert after his Return to the Christian Faith for formerly by an open Desertion or Apostacy he had renounced those Principles of Religion which originally had been infused into him And being thus cast into the Revenue of the Church it remained incorporated in its Patrimony till the publique Dissolution made by Henry the eighth dissevered it and laid it up in the Lap of the Royal