but the Name it self doth tacitly insinuate that this Mansion formerly gave Seat and Denomination to the Family of Buckhurst in times of a lower step that is in the Reign of Henry the seventh I find it in the Tenure of Drayner but how it devolved to this Family I cannot discover It is enough that it continued united to their Dimeasn untill the beginning of Q. Elizabeth and then it was conveyed to Alexander Coachman in whose Descendant the Signorie and Interest of it hath ever since been constantly resident Cranebroke had the Grant of a Market to be observed weekly there on the Saturday in the eighteenth year of Edward the first as appears Cart. Edw. 1. Num. 92. I had almost forgot to tell you that there is a place in this Parish called Holden which with Hawkeridge hath for some Centuries of years acknowledged the Holdens for its Proprietaries and are still united to the Patrimony of this Name and Family which for such a vast Succession of time hath been planted at Cranebroke There was a Chappell at a place called Milkhouse in the Eastern part of this Parish founded and endowed by John Lawless about the latter end of Henry the seventh which upon the generall Dissolation of Chantries and all other Religious Fraternities by Henry the eighth was by that Prince about the latter end of his Rule granted to Sir John Baker of Sisingherst not far distant whose Revenue is yet in the possession of Sir John Baker his Successor There was another Chappell founded at Sisingherst as the Evidences of that place do insinuate by John de Saxenhurst which was reedified by the late Sir John Baker and by a Deed delivered to John Bancroft Bishop of Oxford devoted to the Service of God and dedicated as it was before to St. John the Evangelist After the reception of this Instrument which was in the year 1637. it was by the same Bishop Consecrated first by a Prayer at the entrance of the Chappell then by others made at the Seats Pulpit and Communion Table the effect of all which was that God would accept of it for a House and likewise of the Prayers and Devotions that in that Oratorie were offered up by the faithful People of God to his Honour and Service Charing in the Hundred of Calehill is in Saxon written Cering and by that Name King Kenulf in the year 799. made Restitution of it to Christ Church in Canterbury at the humble request of Arch-Bishop Athelard for King Offa had taken it away from that Church in the time of Arch-Bishop Janibert and being thus regained to the See it continued so till the great Exchange made in the twenty ninth year of Henry the eighth with that Prince by Arch-Bishop Cranmer the Fee-simple was planted in the Crown In the time of the Conquest in the Notitia of the Arch-Bishop and Cathedrals Lands because they held it in ancient Demeasn that is they had possest it long before the Conquest and a Mannor-house or Palace there it was called Proprium Manerium Archiepiscopi In the time of Edward the Confessor it went for eight Sullings or Plough-Lands but in the twentieth year of William the Conquerour it was rated in Domsday Book at seven Sullings because one Plough-Land was laid into his Demeasn The Church dedicated to St. Peter and Paul was anciently famous by a traditional relation which I am not much moved with for it wants the stamp of venerable Authority which did affirm that the Block on which St. John the Baptists Head was cut off was brought into England in the Reign of Richard the first and kept in this Church The first place of secular Interest which doth occurre is Pett the Evidences of this place now in the hands of Sir Robert Honywood do mention the Petts to be in Ages of a very high Assent that is about the Reign of Henry the third and Edward the first Proprietaries of it but publick Records reach no farther than Newcourt Lord of the Mannor of Newcourt not far distant Jeffrey de Newcourt Son of Walter de Newcourt paid respective Aid in the twentieth year of Edward the third for his Lands at Newcourt and Pett After the Newcourts were gone out the Hatches were by Purchase planted at Pett and Newcourt they were called so from their abode near some Gate or passage for one of them who was Possessor of these two places was written Hugh at Hatch from this Family by Sale about the latter end of Henry the seventh the right of Pett and Newcourt devolved to William Warham and in some Copies of Fines which I have seen by a false Transcription written William VVarren and this man sold them both again in the entrance of the Reign of Henry the eighth to Robert Atwater who determining in Mary Atwater his Sole Heir She by matching with Robert Honywood Esquire of Henewood in Postling wound up the Interest of these two places Pett and Newcourt into the Demeasn of that Family so that they now own Sir Robert Honywood his great Grandchild the Sole Proprietary of them Stilley is another little Mannor lying within Charing and was anciently enwrapt in the Revenue of Frene John de Frene who flourished in the Reign of Henry the third is mentioned in Testa de Nevill a Book collected in the twentieth year of that Prince to have paid Aid at the Marriage of the Kings Sider for Lands which he possest at Charing after in the twentieth year of Edward the third there is a recital in the Book of Aid of Sir Thomas de Brockhull Son of Sir William de Brockhull who paid an Auxiliary supply at the making of the Black Prince Knight for his Lands which he held at Saltwood Calehill Charing and other places in this County but after this the Possession was not long resident in this Family for Henry Brockhull this mans second Son to whom these Mannors of Stilley and Newland were assigned for livelyhood about the twelfth year of Henry the fourth transmitted them by Sale to John Darell Esquire Son of Sir William Darell who was extracted out of the right ancient and Knightly Family of the Darells of Sesay from whom Sir John Darell of Calehill and Lord of this Mannor of Stilley is originally and lineally issued out Wickins is another Mannor circumscribed within the Limits of this Parish it was originally the Patrimony of Brent a Family well endowed in this Track and certainly was as ancient a Seat of this Family as any which lay involved in their Revenue for John Brent Son of Robert de Brent of Charing paid respective Aid for Lands which he held here in the twentieth year of Edward the third and William Brent who was Son of Hugh Brent of Charing made his Will the twenty seventh year of Henry the sixth and disposed of this place to his Son Hugh Brent and this Hugh had Issue William Brent who composed his Testament in the tenth year of Henry the seventh and this William was great
the hand of Robert Duke of Normandy his eldest Brother and afterwards to fortifie this Design started out into an open Defection and seised upon this Castle of Rochester but William Rufus with so much Expedition and Courage crushed these Attempts that they became abortive for in the year 1088. he besieges his Uncle Odo in this Fortress and presses upon him with so much Vigor and Animosity that he forces him to surrender to discretion but though he took not away his Life he did that of his Liberty and sent him Prisoner to Tunbridge-castle not under the Notion of Bishop of Bajeux for that would have infringed and invaded the Franchises of the Church but under that of the Earl of Kent After this there was by the mediation and umpirage of Robert Fitz Hamon and Henry Earl of Warwick a Composition made between William Rufus and Gundulphus Bishop of Rochester the Result of which was this The Prince was to confirm the Mannor of Hedenham to this Sea and the Bishop to ballance this Concession with something which had the Face of Retribution was to expend sixty pound in some additions to the Castle and accordingly erected the great square Tower a Morsel which hath been too hard for the Teeth of Time and by the vastness of the instant remaining Skeleton witnesses the strength of it to Posterity when it was in its primitive Grandeur before the Rage of War and the Fury of Elements threw it into this wild Disorder and Confusion yet it is even in this shattered Condition a better Alphabet to the Memory of the Bishop its first Founder then his own Monument or Repository for that lies entered in forgotten and neglected Ruines but this still preserves his Name and is called Gundulphus's Tower And being thus improved and fortified with these new Accessions it is not to be wondered at that this Piece was of that signal Estimate in elder Times that King Henry the first by the Advice of his Councel in the year 1126 granted the Custody of this Castle and the Office of Castellan annexed to it to William the then present Arch-bishop of Canterbury and his Successors with free liberty to erect a Tower that is another Fortresse equivalent or Correspondent to Gundulphs Tower which before was erected for the Defence of this City and Castle In Times succeeding to these that is in the year 1215 William de Albineto or Albiniaco in the Latine of those Times and written D' Albinet in the Usage of ours was Governour of this Fortresse for the factious party of the mutinous Barons who were then in actual Arms against King John but this Prince invested it with a formal Leaguer and after the bloody Debate of a three Moneths Siege forces the above-mentioned D' Albinet to a Surrender wherein though the Virtue of the Opponent was considerable yet it was ruinous to him and the Event hath left us Faith enough to believe that Strength without the Concurrence of a Loyal Principle which may support it is like an Egyptian Reed which ordinarily runs into the Fingers and wounds them which lean upon it In the year after this the Nobility then combined and in Arms against King John finding that their Forces were much empaired and diminished by severall unsuccesful Encounters with that Prince and that they must be forced to resign themselves up to those rigorous Conditions that he would impose upon them called in Lewis the Dolphin of France who landing in the Isle of Thanett with a considerable Army advanced to Rochester and by the concurrent Assistance of the Barons who had united their strength with his made such a furious Onset upon this Castle that like a Tempest which bears down all before it he carried it by Assault In the year 1264. broke out that fatal Contest between Simon Montfort Earl of Leicester and Henry the third the Foundation or Original of which was this That Earl being the great Assertor of the English Liberty against the turbulent Eruptions of Forrainers endeavoured to tear away those Strangers that being placed too near the Royal Throne had obstructed and forelaid all the Avenues and Passages both to the Heart and Eare of that Prince and this dismal clashing like the Collision of two Flints was productive of so wasting and destructive a Fire that it had like not only to have consumed the Crown and Scepter but likewise to have cast the whole Kingdome it self into a heap of Flame and Ruines some Sparks of which were darted hither For this Earl about the Time above specified begirt the City and Castle of Rochester with a powerful Army and that he might multiply all Advantages to himself which might inforce his Design and intercept the Succour intended the Besieged he burned the Bridge whose Frame was then made up of Wood and destroyed a Fortress that was placed upon it which was compounded of the same Materials and having effected this he pressed so hard upon the Castle that he not only pillaged the adjacent Church and Abby but likewise subdued the outward Ward or Gate and had certainly by an absolute Conquest at chieved the whole had not King Henry arrived most opportunely and by a succesful encounter wrested both Earl Warren who had so vigorously maintained it and that likewise from the Impressions of his Fury After this I find little of Moment to have been acted at this place only I find the Castle to have been deposited in the Hands of several eminent Persons who were extracted from Families whose Blood was of as noble a Tincture as any in this County and these held it under the Notion of Castellani or Guardians of it an Office of a very important Concernment in elder Times The first of which who was entrusted with it was William St. Clere whose Ancient Seat before his Successor by the Match of the Coheir of Aldham removed to Ightam was at Woodland in Kingsdown and he died in the Tenure of this place in the forty eighth year of Henry the third After him I discover Robert de Hougham Lord of Hougham by Dover to have had the Custody of it and he died invested in this Office in the second year of Edward the first and in the next year after Robert de Septuans from whom the Harfleets of East-Kent are descended had the Care and Command of it In Times of a nearer Approach to us I find William Keriel or Criol was entrusted with the Care and Government of it and was possest of this Charge at his Death in the first year of Henry the fifth After whose Exit the Custody was committed to Thomas Lord Cobham and he held it at his Decease which was in the eleventh year of Edward the fourth But after this it began so to languish away into its own Ruines that it grew rather an Object of Pity than of Envy and rested amongst the Mannors of the Crown untill King James in the seventh year of his Reign granted that goodly Skeleton of the Castle
of Huntingdon and Cambridge the 16th and 17th of King John and Sheriff of Lincoln six or seven years together The Earls of Warwick were often Sheriffs of Warwick and Leicester-shire under Edward the 3 d. and also of the County of Worcester most part of that Kings Reign indeed the office of Sheriff was so frequent in that Family that it almost appear'd to be Hereditary to the Beauchamps Ralph Earl of Chester was Sheriff of that County the first of Henry the third and of the County of Lancaster the second year of the same King Walter Lord Arch-Bishop of York was Sheriff of Nottingham the fifty fourth and fifty fifth of K. Henry the third and Hugo de Stapleford was his Shire-Clerk Hillarius Bishop of Lincoln was Sheriff of Lincolnshire the ninth tenth eleventh twelfth and thirteenth of Henry the third and Ralph Regnald was his Shire-Clerk Hillarius Bishop of Chichester was Sheriff of Sussex and Surry the eight of Henry the second Richard Bishop of Salisbury was often Sheriff of the County of Dorset under Henry the third and of Hampshire at the same time Joceline Bishop of Bath was Sheriff of Somerset under Henry the third and Peter Bishop of Winchester the first eigth years of Henry the third Walter Bishop of Carlisle was frequently Sheriff of Cumberland under Henry the third and Robert his successor was often Sheriff of the same County under Edward the first and both of them had their Shire-Clerks Walter Bishop of Coventry and Liechfield was often in this office under Richard the first in the County of Stafford Ralph Abbott of Michelen was Sheriff of the Counties of Somersett and Dorset the seventh of Henry the third Many more Presidents of this Nature could be unfolded but I think these are competent Testimonies enough to discover both the Dignity and Eminence of this ancient and illustrous office only this may be deduc'd from these examples That some Counties heretofore were joyned with their next Neighbors for ease of the service as Sussex and Surry Devon and Cornwall Somerset and Dorset Hampshire and Wilts Warwick and Leicester Cambridge and Huntingdon Norfolk and Suffolk Essex and Hartford c. most of which were separated by Queen Elizabeth and the rest taken in sunder by the late King Charles I shall now endevour to unravel the Catalogue of the Sheriffs of Kent as I find them Registred either in the Pipe-Rolls or other Evidences and I have as much as posibly I could Recorded the places where they inhabited which will much improve and inforce that light which I am to distribute to the world in Relation to those places I am in my subsequent discourse to treat upon And first I find Osward a Saxon held divers Lands in Kent as Herst Hagalei Norton Chert Stepedon with Tunsdal and Tong during the Reign of Edward the Confessor all which Lands were in the Conquerors Time possest by Hugo de Port This Osward also held Delce Hadon Alneiton and Har Sham. He was Sheriff of Kent under the Confessor as appears by the prime Record of the Nation Domes day Book where speaking of Tarentford in Axtan Hundred it is thus entred Homines de in Hundredo testificantur quod de isto Manerio Regis ablatum est unum Pratum unum Alnetum unum Molendinum XX. acrae Prati c. Dicunt etiam quod Osward tunc Vicecomes praestitit ea Alestano Praeposito London modo tenet Heltus Dapifer Nepos ejus Hamo and as frequently Hanno Lord of Marourd in the Hundred of Littlefield and of Blen in the Hundred of Whitstaple and Lavinton in the Hundred of Downhamford of Estursete Briested now I take Brasted Nettlested Ditton and divers other Lands in Kent was Sheriff at the Time of the General Survey entred by the Conqueror into his Domes day Book The Records of Christ Church and the Deeds of the Hospital of St. Lawrence near Canterbury prove that Hamo Son of Etardes de Crevequer did in the Reign of Richard the first and K. John hold divers of the Lands if not all above recited He continued Sheriff as then was very usual during life which was enlarged untill about the middle of Henry the first for in the year 10111 which is the 11th of Henry the first Hugh Abbot of St. Augustins granted Bodesham and Smethetum to this Hamo Quod ipse as sayes the Deed si opus fuerit Ecclesiae mihi vel successoribus meis de praedictis in Comitatu vel in Curia Regis contra aliquem Baronem consulat adjuvet succurrat exceptis Dominis suis quorum Homo manibus suis fuerit At the same time this Hamo restored to the same Abby in the Town of Fordwich in this Form Hamo Cantii Vicecomes Henrici Regis Anglorum Dapifer timore Dei ductus reddo Deo Sancto Petro Apostolorum Principi Sancto Augustino Anglorum Apostolo Abbati Hugoni Fratribus ejusdem loci Villam de Fordwich Hanc Donationem meam per Psalterium Sancti Augustini per cultellum meum super principale Altare ejusdem Ecclesiae manibus meis misi c. William de Aynsford was Sheriff of Kent after Hamo in the Reign of Henry the first for in the Chartularies of St. Augustin in Canterbury I find a Transcript of the Kings writ thus Henricus Rex Anglorum Willielmo de Aynsford salutem fac juste habere Abbati de Sancto Augustino consuetudinem suam de Niwentonâ in Denariis Averiis operationibus c. And the Deed from William Son to Henry the first is here entred and imports as much as the former Willielmus Filius Regis Willielmo Vice Comiti de Kent salutem Fac recognosci per Homines Hundredi de Middletuna quas consuetudines in Villâ de Niventonâ c. This Family of Ainsford ended about Edward the first and one of this Name was Sheriff of London Norman Fitz Dering was Sheriff of Kent under K. Stephen unto whom Queen Maud directed her Writ concerning some Land given by her to the Nun Helmida ad faciendam Domum suam in Elemosinam apud Fauresham post Mortem ejus Volo saith the Queen ut Ecclesia Sanctae Mariae de Fauresham pro salute Domini mei Regis Stephani meâ Filiorum nostrornm Statu Regni nostri habeat praefatam Terram in perpetuum He and his Brother Godred Fitz Dering are Teste to a Deed of their Brother Osbert de Morinis so called because his Brother was a Fleming which Deed is Registerd in the Chartularies of Saint Augustins wherein he to that Abby gives six Acres and an half of Land in Thanet for the supply of a Light in the Chapel of St. Mildred within the Abby aforesaid Pro salute Animae suae Animi Uxoris ejus Ermelinae in Honorem Sanctae Virginis Mildrethae This Norman Fitz Dering held Lands at Ashford East Farleigh Lese Bircholt and Bedesham Rualonus or Ruallo de Valoigns was Sheriff of Kent
Ancestor to Will. James aliàs Hastretcht Esquire thrice Knight of the Shire within the Circle of five years who by Paternall Derivation is now Lord of this Mannor of Eightam Before I leave this Discourse of Eightam I must inform the Reader of two things First that Edward the second in the ninth year of his Reign granted Licence to Will. de Inge the Judge to hold a Market here Weekly on the Monday and a Fair yearly at Eightham by the space of three days viz. the Vigill the day of St. Peter and Paul and the day after Secondly that the Family of James now Possessors of Eightam were originally called Hastrecht as being Lords of a place of that Name neer Gouda and were branched out from the ancient Family of Arkell Ex Autographis penes Do. Will. James as likewise was that of Bouteslaw both which Families bear the same Coat without any visible Distinction with Haestrecht viz. Argent two Barrs Crenelle or Counterembattel'd Gules three Pheon or Broad Arrow Heads in Chief Sables Roger James Son of Jacob van Hastrecht came out of Cleve whither his Ancestor a yonger Son of the Lord of Hastrecht had been chased by one of the Lords of Holland because his Father who likewise was forced to Drunen neer Huesden by that Count had been an eager Partisan of his enemy the Bishop of Vtretcht into England about the beginning of Hen. the eighth and being called after the Belgick mode Roger Jacobs the English by a more soft and gentle pronunciation filed off the roughnesse of the Accent and by melting it into a more narrow Volume contracted it into James By marriage the Family of Haestrecht and Arkell above mentioned are allyed to the eminent House of Wassenaer issued out from the ancient Counts of Holland as likewise to the Family of Waermont neer Leyden who matched with the Heir of Hastrecht of Drunen where this Family had for many Descents been planted ever since their first expulsion thither by the Earl of Holland who was Colonel of a Regiment of Foot and Drosart of Breda when it was under the Government and Scepter of the King of Spain St. Cleres is the second place of Note in this Parish it was formerly called Aldham as being for many years the Patrimony of that Family the last of which was Sir Tho. de Aldham who resolved into three Female Coheirs ....... matched to Newborough of the County of Dorsett Margery matched to Martin de Pecham and Isolda wedded to John St. Clere. Upon the partition of his patrimony this place was about the beginning of Ed. the third annexed to the Inheritance of St. Clere and so it becamein procedure of Time styled Aldham St. Cleres but Custome and vulgar Use did not long after file off the first Appellation so that it hath for diverse Generations been styled singly St. Cleres Isolda St. Clere Widow of this John did in the twentieth year of Edward the third pay respective Aid for her Lands at Eightham at the making the Black Prince Knight And in this Family did the Stream of Possession carry down the Possession of this place till towards the latter end of Henry the seventh and then it was alienated from this Name and setled in Richard Empson the grand Projector who had wire-drawn by his close and dextrous Artifices the Treasure of the Kingdome into such subtile Threads as he had almost wound it all into the Kings Exchequer But he being convicted of Felony for his many Excesses in the first year of Henry the eighth this was confiscated to the Crown and there it was not many years after by that Prince granted to Sir Thomas Bullen Knight of the Garter and created Earl of Ormond and Wiltshire in the year 1529 whose infortunate Son George Viscount Rochford being blasted with the black Aspersion of Treason which was multiplyed and inforced to that Bulke that the weight of it sunk him upon a Bloody and untimely Scaffold and then this Mannor upon the Death of his Father which was in the thirtyeth year of Hen. the eighth was seised on by the Crown as being setled before on him and his Heirs male of whom this unhappy Lord was the last Some few years after it was by Royall Concession from the abovesaid Prince made the Patrimony of George Moulton Esquire of Moulton in Hadloe a Man of high Repute in those Times and much interessed in the Favour of Henry the eighth whose Grandchild Robert Moulton Esquire almost in Times within the pale of our Remembrance alienated his Right in it to Sir John Sydley Knight and Baronet who hath upon the old Foundation erected that magnificent Pile which for the Grandeur Elegance and Majestick Aspect it carryes to the publick View surrenders a Priority but to few Structures in this County The Moat is the third and last place which summons our Remembrance It was in elder Times the Inheritance of Ivo de Haut who flourished in the Reign of King John and Henry the third his Grandchild was Henry de Haut who held this Mannor at his Decease which was in the forty fourth of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 34. his Grandchild was Nicholas Haut who was Sheriff of Kent in the ninteenth year of Richard the second Afterwards I find that Richard Haut Grandchild to this Man was Sheriff of Kent the eighteenth year of Edward the fourth and again in the twenty second year of the abovesaid Prince he was second Brother to Sir William Haut of Hautsbourne who was Sheriff of Kent in the sixth yeer of Edward the fourth and great Uncle to Sir William Haut But this Richard Haut having with John Fogge John Guldford Esquire John Darell Esquire James Horne of Westwell William Clifford Reginald Pimpe John Pimpe and Edward Poynings of Marsham or Mersham embarked himself in the Designs of Henry Earl of Richmond John Darell Esq and John Pimpe Esquire had the Grant of thirteen Mannors lying in Worcester-shire made to them which accrued to the Crown upon the Attaint of Humphrey Stafford Esquire in the second year of Henry the seventh as appears Origin Anni 2. Hen. 7. Rot. 17. in the Treasurers side in the Exchequer and the emotion of Henry Duke of Buckingham he was attainted in the third year of Richard the third as appears Rot. Par. de Anno 3. R. 3. Memb. 6. And then the Moat by the Favour and Indulgence of that Prince was conferred on Sir Rob. Brakenbury Lieutenant of the Tower but he enjoyed it not long for Henry abovesaid having triumphed in a Successeful Encounter at Bosworth field over Richard the third and all his Partisans this was restored to Richard Haut above-said in which Family it remained untill the latter end of Henry the seventh and then by an old Court Roll I find it in the Possession of Sir Richard Clement Knight who was Sheriff of Kent in the twenty third year of Henry the eighth he dyed without any legitimate Issue and lies entombed
County for in the Pipe-Rols relating to the Raign of King John I discover that Robert de Malavill was one of the Recognitores magnae Assisae in the fourth year of that Prince and then again in the seventh year of his Rule he was dignified with that eminent Place of Trust and he had Issue William de Malavil who was in the enjoyment of this Mannor at his Death which was in the Raign of Henry the third as appears by an escheat Roll marked with the number 56. And in this Family did the Right and Title of it lie involved untill the latter End of Edward the third and then the noted Family of Bures stept by Purchase into the Possession and John Bures as appears to me by an old Deed held it in the fourth year of Richard the second he was Son of William Bures who paid respective Aid for part of a Knights-fee which lay in Bromley in the twentieth year of Edward the third at making the Black Prince Knight and William Bures Son of John lies entombed in Halsted Church pourtraied at length in Brass and mail'd in Armor upon a fair Grave-stone being Marble with this Inscription Hic jacet Willielmus Bures Armigeri Dominus Manerii de Halsted qui obiit 1454. And this was he who was Sheriff of Kent in the eleventh year of Henry the sixth But after his Death it was not long in the Fruition of this Name for about the Beginning of Edward the fourth I find it in the Hands of Thomas Bourchier descended from the Bourchiers of Essex and he about the Latter End of that Prince passed it away to Stephen Petley Esquire who lies buried in Halsted Church And in this Family was the Title fixed untill the Beginning of King James and then the Fatality of Sale did alternate the Possession and annexed it to the Inheritance of Sir Thomas Watson who dying without Issue-male his only Daughter and Heir was espoused to Sir William Pope afterwards created Earl of Downe in Ireland by King James and so in her Right this Mannor became the Inheritance of his Son the Right Honourable William Earl of Downe who not many years since passed it away to Mr. Edward Ash whose Widow Mrs. ........ Ash holds it at this instant in Right of Dower Halstow in the Hundred of Milton hath nothing memorable in it but Berkesore alias Basser-court which was as high as any print of Antiquity can direct me to discover the Patrimony of the Church for King Stephen devoted it to find a supply of perpetual Lights before the Chest or Shrine ante Capsam those are the words of the Record of Anselme the eminent Arch-bishop of Canterbury and it hath been many years past held by the Darrels of Cale-hill as Lessees and is still by that Right enjoyed by Sir John Darrell of the same place The Church of Halstow as the Records of Christ-church instruct us was given by Boniface Arch-bishop of Canterbury to buy Books for the Chaunter of that Covent Hamme in the Hundred of Eastry was as the Records of Christ-church in Canterbury inform me given to the Prior and Monks of that Covent in the year 934. by one Eylfleda but how it was rated in the Conqueror's Time when if not all yet at least the principal part of this County was surveyed the Pages of Doomesday Book are silent In brief the Moity of this Mannor for one Half of it was alwaies under the Jurisdiction of Lay-proprietaries being by the Donation abovesaid made parcel of the Spiritual Patrimony remained treasured up in the Revenue of the Church as in an unviolable Exchequer until both the Covent of Christ-church and all its Demeasne was surrendered into the Hands of Henry the eighth and that Prince in the thirty fifth year of his Raign granted that part of it which belonged to the Priory of Christ-church to Sir Thomas Moile who not long after passed it away to Sir Robert Oxenbridge Knight from which Family in our Grand-fathers memory it went away by Sale to Bois of Betshanger The other Moity of Hamme belonged to the Criolls of Walmer of which Family I shall speak more at that Place Simon de Crioll as I discover by old Deeds held it in the Raign of King John and Henry the third and transmitted it to his Son Nicolas de Crioll who held it at his Death which was in the one and thirtieth of Edward the first and from him did it by the steps of several Generations descend to Sir Thomas Crioll who was slain at the second Battle of Sr. Albans tamely and in cold Blood that is he was beheaded by Queen Margaret wife to King Henry the sixth in the thirty eighth of that Prince's Raign because he had been an eager Partisan of the House of Yorke and being thus infortunately cut off left that great Estate he was possest of in this County to two Daughters and Co-heirs one of which was matched for his second wife to John Fogg of Repton Esq Son and Heir of Sir William Fogg and he had Issue by her Thomas Fogg Serjeant Porter of Callis Esquire a Place of eminent Trust and Concernment in those Times And he ended in two Daughters and Co-heirs Anne first matched to Mr. William Scott Brother of Sir Reginald and secondly to Mr. Henry Isham and Alice first wedded to Edward Scott of the Moat in Sussex Esquire and after to Sir Robert Oxenbridge of the County of South-hampton but the Moity of this Mannor of Hamme upon the dividing the Estate into equal Portions fell to be the Inheritance of Edward Scott in Right of Alice his wife and his Descendant in our Grand-fathers Remembrance alienated all his Interest and Concernment here to Bois of Betshanger whose Successor Mr. John Bois of Betshanger Esquire is now entirely possest of this Mannor as namely of that Moity which came over to this Family by Purchase from Oxenbridge as well as of that which devolved to this Name by Purchase from Scott Harbledowne in the Hundred of Westgate though at present but an obscure Village and not of much Eminence was in Time of more ancient Date famous for three memorable Places First for an old Chappel situated upon the Margin of that Precipice which overlooks that way which leads to Canterbury In which Oratory as Tradition informs us was preserved the Slipper of Thomas Becket taken from one of his Feet after his being destroyed at his own Church at Canterbury and which as Report insinuates was bespattered with his Blood this being curiously enchased with Diamonds so much did those Times dote on this then reputed Saint and Martyr was let down for Passengers who travelled to Canterbury to offer up their Orizons at his Shrine to adore with a kiss nor was it returned but full fraighted and laden with the Benevolences of devoted Pilgrims The second was Polres which anciently had and still keeps the Repute of a Mannor John de Polre Son of John de Polre payd respective Aid for it in
Extraction in this Territorie by Purchase from the above recited Family There is a place in this Parish called Fogs-Court which is Register'd in the Inventorie of the Mannors of this County and although the Mansion-House which belongs to it be fallen into so low a degree of Contempt that it appears now to be litle more than a Caberet or Cottage yet it calls for some Remembrance even in this respect that it was the Patrimony of that noble and Illustrious Family and is the only Place of this County which I have yet met with that is adopted into their Sirname from Tho. Fogge Esq Serjeant Porter of Callis who was the last of this Name which possest it by Alice Fogge his Daughter and Coheir it came to be the Inheritance of her Husband William Scot and in this Family did the Patrimonial Interest of it reside till almost in our Memory the Signory and Propriety of it was from this Family by Sale translated into Mr. Philip Pownall of Sibertswould Great-Barville partly lying in Mongeham and partly in Tilmanston is the third place considerable in Mongeham It hath been for many Descents which have made up some Centuries of years the Possession of Crayford which are written in Deeds of a very high Ascent de Barville Magna In an old Roll which summs up those Kentish Gentlemen who were with Richard Nevill Earl of Warwick at the Battle of North-Hampton where after a warm and Bloody Debate the Title of the House of York by a glorious Victory was evidently asserted There is mention of William Crayford Esquire who afterwards as some private Evidences inform me now in the hands of Mr. Gethins neer Burntwood was made Bannerett by King Edward the fourth for his various undertakings and Services performed in several Encounters which had an Influence upon the Cause and Quarrell of the House of York and bore as is manifest by his Seal affixed to several Deeds Vpon a Cheveron three Eagles heads cresed which I mention to rectifie that â—istake which through inadvertency hath crept into our Visitations of Kent wherâ—â—he paternall Coat of this Family is represented to have been Vpon a Cheveron tâ—â—â—â— Falcons heads erased and from this eminent Person is Mr. Wil. Crayford Lord of thâ— Mannor in expectance by a Thread of direct Descent originally extracted Mongeham had an anâ—â—ent Market by prescription on the Thursday and Bertram de Crioll had a Grant of iâ— by the Charter of Henry the third which was allowed by the Judges Itinerant â—n the seventh year of Edward the first and a Fair yearly by the space of three Dayes viz. the Eve St. Luke's day and the day after Little-Barville is partly Situated in this Parish and partly in Tilmanston A Family called Pix and sometimes Picks were for some Centuries of years invested in the Possession and contracted this Name from some Office as the Successive Tradition of this Family affirms that they were anciently entrusted with about the Altar and the Utensils which related to it amongst which the Pix was the most considerable as being the Conservatory of the Host and so è Pixide nomen elicitum from their Care and Custody of the Pix they originally assumed their Sirname But to proceed after this Mannor had for so many Descents acknowledged this Name and Family about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth by Sale it came to confess the Signory of Crayford of Great-Barville with whose Revenue the Title and Propriety does at this instant continue Little-Mongeham next offers it self up to our consideration but of that I shall speak more at Northbourne Morston in the Hundred of Milton gave Seat and Sirname to a Family that fell under that Appellation as is evident by the Book of Aid where John de Morston is affirmed to have held it and to have paid an Auxiliary Contribution for it at the making the Black Prince Knight He was descended from Bartholomew de Morston who is in the list of those Kentish Gentlemen who assisted King Richard the first at the Siege of Acon But before the latter end of Richard the second this Family was worn out and then it fell under the Signory of Walter Fitz Walter of Essex who had beenin elder Times summoned frequently by Writ to sit as Baron in Parliament and from the abovesaid Walter did this Mannor by paternal devolution come down to his Son Humphrey Fitzwalter and he held it at his Death which was in the first year of Henry the sixth and had Issue John Fitzwalter who about the latter end of the abovesaid Prince alienated it by Sale to Cromer in which Family the possession was constant and resident untill the latter end of King James and then Sir James Cromer dying without Issue-male Christian one of his Daughters and Coheirs by matching with Sir John Hales upon the distinction of the Estate into parcells was united to the Patrimony of that Family from whom the Right by Descent is now transmitted to the instant Proprietarie Sir Edward Hales his Son and Heir Baronet Esthall is another Mannor in Morston which although it be now by the Vicissitude of Time and the injurious Impressions of Age shrunk from its elder Beauty into decay and Neglect yet in Ages of a higher date it was adorned with a nobler Character of Splendor when it confessed it self to be parcell of the Inheritance of an ancient Family called De la pine so they are written in their old dateless Deeds and bore for their Arms Sable three Pine Apples Or. James De la pine was Sheriff of Kent in the twenty sixth and part of the twenty seventh years of Edward the third and held his Shrievalty here at Esthall and died possest of it in the thirty seventh year of the abovesaid Prince and left it to his Son and Heir Thomas De la pine who about the beginning of Richard the second conveyed his Title and Concernment in it to Thomas St. Leger Esquire Sheriff of Kent in the twentieth year of Richard the second who dying without Issue-male Joan one of his Daughters and Coheirs by matching with John Ewias linked it to the Demeasn of that Name and from him did it transmit it self by Descent to his Son and Heir Humphrey Ewias who was seised of it at his Decease which was in the thirty third year of Henry the sixth and from him by a Thread of paternal Succession was it transported to his Grandchild William Eâ—ias in whom the Male-line determined so that by Alice his Daughter and Heir it came to confess the Signory of Thomas Hales who in the sixth year of Edward the sixth by a Fine and recovery wherein his Wife was concern'd passed away the whole Deâ—â—se to Sir Anthony Aucher whose Son Sir Anthony Aucher in the ninth year of Queeâ— Elizabeth by the same conveyance alienated it to Gardiner where the Title was so â—â—â—atile and mutable that it stayed with this Family but untill the tenth year of the abâ—â—â—said Princess and then it