whom Godliness was great gain in the practical sense at once to charm the peoples Devotion and Benevolence But as if there were in the Vogue and Estimate of that Age a greater Degree of Sanctity entailed on the Church-yard then on the Sunday the holding either Market or Fair in that Place was by a Statute made in the thirteenth year of Ed. the first Chapter the sixth wholly interdicted and prohibited but though the Church-yard were thus empaled and fenced in with this new Law the Sunday lay open and exposed to all Disorder and Prophanation untill the Reign of Henry the sixth and then that pious Prince resenting with regret the many Enormities and other Excesses of a black Complexion which were occasioned by the Conflux of people assembled at these publick Meetings and which had foully stained and debauched the purity of this Solemn Festival did by Statute made and ratified in the twenty seventh year of his Reign Chapter the fifth for the future forbid the keeping of any Markets or Fairs in any Place whatsoever on the Sunday I shall now take a Prospect of all the Parishes Villages and Mannors which are circumscribed within the circle of this County but before I wade farther in this Discourse I shall represent upon what reasons or foundations Mannors were first instituted and established by example and resemblance of the King's policy in the institutions of Tenures saith Sir Francis Bacon The great men and Gentlemen of this Realm did the like so near as they could as for Example when the King had given to any of them two thousand Acres of Lands this party proposing in this place to make his Dwelling or as the old word is his Mansion-house or his Mannor-house did devise how he might make his Land a compleat Habitation to supply him with all manner of necessaries and for that purpose he would give of the uttermost parts of these two thousands Acres one hundred or two hundred Acres or more or less as he should think meet to one of his most trusty Servants with some reservation of rent to find a horse for the wars and go with him when he went with the King to the wars adding vow of Homage and the oath of Fealty Wardship Marriage and Relief This Relief is to pay five pounds for every Knights Fee or after the rate for more or less at the entrance of every Heir which Tenant so created and placed was and is to this day called a Tennant by Knights Service and not by his own person but of his Mannors of these he might make as many as he would then this Lord would provide that the Land which he was to keep for his own use should be plowed and his harvest brought home his House required his Park pailed and the like and for that end he would give to sundry other of twenty thirty forty or fifty Acres reserving the service of plowing a certain quantity or so many dayes of his Lands and certain Harvest works or dayes in the Harvest to labour or to repair the House Park Pail or otherwise or to give him for his provision Capons Hens Pepper Commin Roses Gilliflowers Spurs Gloves or the like or to pay him a certain Rent and to be sworn to be his faithful Tenant which Tenure was called a Soccage Tenure and is so to this day howbeit most of the plowing and Harvest services are turned into Money Rents the Tenants in Soccage at the Death of every Tenant were to pay Relief which was not as Knights Service is five pound a Knights Fee but it was and is still one years Rent of the Land and no Wardship or other profit to the Lord. The remainder of the two thousand Acres he kept to himself whith he used to manure by his Bondman and appointed them at the Courts of his Mannor how they should hold it making an Entry of it into the Roll of the Remembrances of the Acts of his Court yet still in the Lords power to take it away and therefore they were called Tenants at Will by Copy of Court Roll being in truth Bondmen at the beginning but having obtained freedome of their persons and gained a custome by use of occupying their Lands they now are called Copyholders and are so priviledged that the Lord cannot put them out and all through custome some Copyholders are for Lives one two or three successively and some Inheritances from Heir to Heir by custome and Custome ruleth these Estates wholly both for Widows Estates Fines Harriots Forfeitures and all other things Mannors being in this sort made at the first reason was that the Lord of the Mannor should hold a Court which is no more then to assemble his Tenants together at a time by him to be appointed in which Court he was to be informed by oath of his Tenants of all such Duties Rents Reliefs and Wardships Copy-holds or the like that had happned unto him which information is called a Presentment and then his Bailiff to Seise and Distrain for those Duties if they were denied or with-holden which is called a Court Baron and herein a man may Sue for any Debt or Trespass under Forty pound value and the Freeholders are to judge of the Cause up on proof produced upon both fides and therefore the Freeholders of these Mannors as incident to their Tenures do hold by Suite of Court which is to come to the Court and there to judge between no party and party in those perty Actions And also to inform the Lord of Duties Rents and Services unpaid to him from his Tenants By this course it is discerned who be the Lords of Lands such as if the Tenants die without Heir or be attainted of Felony or Treason shall have the Land by Escheat I now proceed to trace out the several Parishes of Kent and marshal them Alphabetically yet in this Scrutiny I have not tortured their Names untill by a nice and curious Anatomie they confessed themselves to be either of British Roman or Saxon Extraction because at once to decline and unravel this Difficulty I have cast them into a peculiar Register by themselves which shall stand as an Appendage to the Book and first therefore to go on I begin with Acris A. A. ACris is a small Parish lying in the Hundreds of Folkston and Lovingborough and was held in the twentieth of William the Conquerour by Anketellus de Rosse from which Name it passed away by Grant to the Cosentons of Cosenton in Alresford to hold of the Barony of Rosse and of his Mannor of Horton near Ferningham This Seat being thus annexed to the Demeasn of this Family came down to William de Cosington who is in the List of those Kentish Gentlemen whom K. John in the eighteenth year of his Reign by pardon absolved for having taken an Oath to Lewis the Dolphin of France Charles King of Navarre as the private Evidences of Cosington inform me in the year of Grace 1366. setled an annual Pension
third but alass neither the Nobleness of the Name nor wideness of the Franchise could keep this Family from departing from this place for about the latter end of Henry the fourth I find it in the Tenure of the eminent Family of Apulderfield but setled not long here for Sir William Apulderfield about the middle of Edward the fourth concluded in Elizabeth Apulderfield who was his Sole Daughter and Heir who by matching with Sir Jo. Phineux Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench in the Reign of Henry the seventh made it his Demeasn but the Title of this place did not long fix here for he dying without Issue Male Jane his only Daughter became his only Heir who by espousing of Jo. Roper Esq of St. Dunstans in Canterbury linked it to the Demeasn of this Family from whom in a continued Current of descent the Proprietie of it is now flowed down to William Roper a Cadet or younger Branch of this Stem Shorne in the Hundred of Shamell was as high as the Reign of K. John the Patrimony of the Noble Family of Nevil Jordanus and in some old Deeds written Jollanus de Nevil held the Mannor of Shorne as appears by the Pipe-Roll of that year and John de Nevil was his Son and Heir who held this Mannor in the thirtieth year of Henry the third but after him I can track no farther Mention of this Family at this place for in the fifty fourth of Henry the third as appears by the Pipe-roll of that year I discover Roger de Norwood to be Lord of the Fee this was that Roger de Norwood who disdaining to have his Lands held in that Lazy and sluggish Tenure of Gavelkind changed it into the more active one of Knights Service in the fourteenth year of Henry the third still reserving to himself by that Licence by which he obtained a Grant of the first to reserve the ancient Rent whereby his Lands held even in the Time of the Conquerour and he in the thirteenth year of Edward the first died possest of this Mannor and all its Perquisites at Oisterland in Cliff and other places and left it to his Son and Heir Sir John de Norwood who together with his eldest Son Sir John de Norwood accompanied that triumphant Prince Edward the first in his Victorious Design undertaken against the Scots in the twenty eighth of his Reign The Mannor of Shorn holding by this Tenure viz. to carry a White Banner forty Dayes together at their own Charges whensoever the King should commence a War in Scotland as appears by an Inquisition taken after the Death of Roger de Norwood in the thirty fifth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 23. Parte secundâ And this was customary not onely in England but elsewhere for Mr. Selden in his Titles of Honour observes out of Prelusius's his Discourses upon the State of Poland in the year 1530 Albert Marquess of Brandenburg and Mr. of the Teutonick or Dutch Order in Prussia receives his Investiture into that Dutchy per Vexilli Traditionem by the Delivery of a Banner from the Hands of Sigismund K. of Poland and his Brother George at his being enstated in that Signory by this Ceremony was suo Fratrum Nomine Vexillum contingere in his own and the Name of his Brother to place his Hands upon the Banner and when the above-mentioned Banner was delivered to an Heir who had not his Title and Right free from the Claim of an ambiguous and perplexed Competition he was onely admitted ad Contactum Extremitatum Vexilli ejusdem to touch the utmost or extream parts of this Banner The Tenure which was annexed to this Investiture was this to assist the K. of Poland with an hundred Horse whensoever he should personally advance into the Field against an enemie But to return John de Norwood was the last of this Name whom I find setled in the Inheritance of Shorne and he enjoyed it at his Decease which was in the second year of Richard the second Rot. Esc Num. 35. But before the latter end of the Reign of that Prince it was removed from the possession of Norwood and by Sale plac'd in the Noble and ancient Family of Savage of Bobbing Court but not long after Sir Arnold Savage determining in Eleanor his Sole Inheritrix who was first wedded to Sir Reginald Cobham by whom she had no Issue and after to William Clifford Esquire she by this Alliance united it to the patrimony of this last Family and here it lay involved until the beginning of Q. Elizabeth and then it was passed away by George Clifford to Nicholas Lewson Esquire Grand-father to Sir Richard Lewson of the County of Stafford who desiring to circumscribe and collect his scattered Interest which lay dispersed in several parcels in this County into the closer circumference of Staffordshire alienated this Mannor almost in our Remembrance with all its Adjuncts at Oisterland in Cliff and other perquisites and out-Skirts to Mr. Woodier of Rochester in whose Lineage and Name the Title of it at this instant lies treasured up Ockington in this Parish was a Limb that made up the Body of that Revenue which anciently did swell into so vast a Bulk and Dimension in this Track and acknowledged for proprietaries the Noble Family of Cobham as appears by an Inquisition taken in the sixth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 45. where Stephen de Cobham was then found to have been possest of it at his Death and from him was the Title in a successive stream of Descent wasted down to the Reign of Hen. the seventh and then it was by Sale transplanted into Sir Henry Wiat where it flourished being supported with the Sap and Verdure of so Noble a Family until the fourth year of Edward the sixth and at that Time it was by Sale torn off from this Name for then Sir Thomas Wiat alienated it to Sir Anthony St. Leger and he passed it away to George Brooke Lord Cobham about the seventh year of Edward the siâ—â—â— whose great Grand-child Sir William brooke Knight of the Bath dying in the year 1643 without Issue Male it cescended to Sir John Brooke restored to the Barony of Cobham by the last King in the year 1644 as being Reversioner in entail Roundal though now shrunk into neglected Ruines was in elder Times the first Seat of the noble Family of Cobham from whence upon its Decay they were transplanted to Cobham Hall and was the Cradle of Men very eminent in their respective Generations of whom take this brief prospect * Ex veteri Rotulo penes Ed. Dering Militem Bar. dejunctum Henry de Cobham is enrolled in the List of those Kentish Gentlemen who were concerned with Richard the first at the Siege of Acon * Rotulus Pipae de Scutagio Wallia Reginald de Cobham accompanied Henry the third in his expedition against the Welch in the forty second year of his Reign Sir Henry Sir
Roper Baron of Tenham in whom it is at this instant resident There was a Castle anciently here at Apledore which when the Danes in the reign of Etheldred Father of Edmund Ironside made this County the Scene of their Devastations was mingled by the flame they put it into in the year 892. in its own Rubbish yet like a Phaenix it rose into new shape and frame again out of its Ashes and continued in the Register and under the notion of the Castles and Fortresses of this County until the year 1380. and then as How relates in his Chronicle who likewise represents the former Tragedie the French making an hostile Eruption on this part of the County made it once more a pitied and calamitous heap of flame and ruine out of whose dismantled reliques the Church now visible was not only repaired but as some from ancient Tradition affirm wholly reedified a probable Argument of the ancient Grandeur Magnificence and Strength of this now totally-demolished Fortresse I had almost omitted the Mannor of Frenchay which likewise lies within the Circle of Apledore and had in elder Times as appears by old evidences Owners of that Sirname but the greatest Glory that it atchieved was that ever since the reign of Edward the third untill the Government of Henry the eighth it acknowledged the Family of Haut for its Proprietaries the last of which was Sir William Haut who concluded in two Daughters and Coheirs whereof Joan the youngest matched to Sir Thomas Wiat shared his estate at this place but he being attainted in the second year of Queen Mary this was confiscated to the Crown and lay there untill the twenty fourth of Queen Elizabeth and then it was granted back to George Wiat Esquite whose Son Sir Francis Wiat not many years since passed it away to Thomas Floyd of Gore-court in Otham Esquire and he in the year 1636 alienated it to Sir Edward Hales of Tunstall Knight Baronet whose Grandchild Sir Edward Hales is now in possession of it Apledore had anciently a Market to be observed here weekly granted to it by Edward the third in the thirty second year of his reign which since is vanished into Disuse by Intermission Adisham in the Hundred of Downhamford was given to the Monks of St. Augustins as appears by Christ Church Book by Ethelbald Son of Ethelbald King of Kent Anno Domini 616. Cum Campis Silvis Pascuis c. as the Record mentions ad illam pertinentibus ad Cibum Monachorum Ecclesiae Christi Cantuariae liberam ab omnibus servitiis fiscali Tributo exceptis tribus istis Consuetudinibus id est Communi Labore de quo nullus excipiatur Pontis Constructione vel Arcis and whereas we frequently trace in ancient Chartularies these three Letters L. S. A. which may at first appearance seem to wrap up some gloomy and mysterious sense they import no more but this that Lands which were given by Charter to the Church should be Liberae sicut Adisham that is be fortified with the same Franchises and Liberties as Adisham Originally was The Austins for some Hundreds of years have been Tenants for this and the Mannor of Godmersham to the Church as if to improve and gratifie the Memory of Augustin their first Abbot the Monks of Christ Church were determined to plant some of their Patrimony in that Name though perhaps but of accidental Coincidence Aldington is the next place to be remembred in the Hundred of Street and Bircholt Franchise more eminent because here are chosen the Officers yearly relating to the Mannors of Romney Mersh Queen Edgiva mother to King Edmund and King Edred gave this Town to Christ Church in Canterbury in Grosse with other Lands Anno Dom. 961. But in the General Survey of the Churches Lands in the Conquerours Time the Arch-Bishops had twenty one Sullings or Plough-Lands there and was valued together with the Appurtenances at Stouting and Lyming at 107 l. and 25 Burgesses held of it The Arch-Bishops of Canterbury did usually retire to their Mannor-house here and had both a Park empailed and a Chase for Deer called Aldington Frith by which Name we express Places where Deer ranged at large as in a Forrest But when the Kings of England intended to pare off something of the Revenue and Power of the Arch-Bishops which was in their Estimate of too vast and wide an Extent this Mannor with many other was passed away by Exchange to the Crown in the twenty ninth of Henry the eighth by Thomas Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Ruffins-Hill in this Parish was the Seat of the Godfrey's ancient Gentlemen whose Estate by two Daughters and Coheirs came to the Clerks of Kingsnoth and the Blechendens But whether descended from Godfrey le Falconer the Son of Balder unto whom K. Henry the second assigned gave and granted much Land in these Parts to hold in Serjeantie by the Service of keeping two Hawks for the King and his Successors I cannot positively say Much of the Land lay in Hurst and the Mannor is called Falconers Hurst and those that for many Generations held it resolved into the Name of Michel-Grove whose Heir General brought this and other fair Demeasns to Shelley's Ancestor of Michel-Grove in whose Name it resides at present The Coat very well alluded to their ancient Name and Tenure and is Quarterly Argent and Azure over all a Falcon Or. Hurst was formerly a Parish and the Church was dedicated to St. Leonard but it is now languished into Decay and Ruine and the Inhabitants assemble for the Performance of divine Offices at Aldington Ainsford in the Hundred of Axtane lieth upon the River of Darent and gave Seat and Sirname to a worthy Family that continued till the Time of Edward the second It hath the Ruines of an ancient Castle which reckons them and the Arsicks to have been the Founders There is another Seat in this Parish of venerable Antiquity called Arkesden whose owners bore the same for their Sirname and were of the Number of the Grand Assise in King John's Time after them the Cobhams were possessors of it and Reginald de Cobham had License the fourteenth of Edward the third to Castelate his House and paid respect of Aid for the same the twentieth of Edward the third at the making the Black Prince Knight From the Cobhams of Sterborough it came by the Heir General to the Lord Burgh or Borough from whom by Sale it devolved its Right on Sir Samuel Leonard Father of Sir Stephen Leonard which Sir Stephen enjoys it at this Day Southcourt and Mayfield are two Mannors lying in the Precincts of this Parish and did anciently relate to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury from whom by exchange they passed over to Dunham and from that Family to the Wiats in which Name and Family they remained till upon the Attainder of Sir Thomas Wiat they escheated to the Crown which by Grant invested their Right and Interest in J. Leonard of Chevening from whom they are
and the other called Joan wedded to Sir William Fiennes this upon the Division of the Estate accrued to Fiennes and coming again by the Heir General of Fiennes Lord Dacres to be possest by Leonard William Leonard Son and Heir of Fiennes Leonard a younger Branch of that House hath lately passed it away to Mr. Francis Barnham and Mr. Edward Maplesden There was in old Time a Fountain within the Limits of this Parish at a place called Haly-Garden venerable it was and of no small Account amonst the People who for the sanctitie they conceived was in it ascribed divine Attributes unto it as the Name imports for what we call Holy our Ancestors long time since styled Halyg as Halyfax in York-shire from holy Haire that that the People devoutly esteemed and frequently with blind credulity visited In the seventeenth of K. Richard the second the Friars Carmelites of Alresford obtained a Grant by Letters Patents to bring the Water from that Fountain in Haly-Garden to their Monastery in Alresford to what purpose they that will survey the Designs of the Monks of those Times may easily discover Burmersh in the Hundred of Worth was a Member of that Patrimony which in Times of a higher Calculation related to the Abby of St. Augustines in Canterbury and had here a Mansion called Abbots Court which is an Adjunct to this Mannor and had this Denomination imposed upon it because the Abbot of that Covent used to sojourn here when he came to survey that Demeasn which augmented the Revenue of that Abby and lay spread into Romney Mersh This Mannor upon the Surrender of the Patrimony of that Cloister into the Hands of Henry the eighth in the twenty ninth year of his Reign was in the thirty fifth of that Prince granted to William Finch Esquire whose Successor Sir Thomas Finch Earl of Winchelsey not many years since passed it away to Sir Ralph Whitfield Serjeant at Law whose Son and Heir Sir Herbert Whitfield is now Lord of the Fee C. C. C. CAnterbury hath so exactly in all the Parts and Limbs of it been described and surveyed by Mr. Somner that I should exceedingly eclipse the Labours of so inductrious a Pen if I should go about to Pourtray that in any contracted Landskip which hath been before represented to the Publick pencilled out in so large and exquisite a Volume Onely some few things are there omitted which in this Search I shall take notice of and so proceed The Augustine Friars or Convent of Black Canons in Canterbury was founded by Thomas de Bonington Pat. 17. Edw. secundi Memb. 18. Parte secunda The Prior of the Trinity in Canterbury was accustomed to receive two pence upon every Vessel of Wine coming into the Port of Sandwich Rot. Claus Hen. tertii Memb. 17. Baldwin de VVereval had a Charter in the second year of K. John for the Aldermanry of Westgate in Canterbury Hubert de Burgh Earl of Kent had the Castles of Canterbury Dover and Rochester granted to his Custody Carta 12. Hen. tertii King Henry the third in the sixteenth year of his Reign at Canterbury took the Fealty of the Knights and Free Tenants of Kent as likewise of the Barons of the Cinque Ports K. Henry the third in the forty eighth of his Reign grants a Pardon for Life to Francis de Balsham for that She was hanged for Felony at Canterbury from nine of the Clock on the Munday till the rising of the Sun next Day and yet escaped with Life Pat. 48. Membra 24. I should not have mentioned this but that an Accident proportionate to this in all the Circumstances of it happened to one Ann Green who not many years since being hanged at Oxford for the supposed Murder of her Child miraculously escaped with Life King Edward the first Landed at Dover 1274 and restored divers Liberties to Canterbury which before were seised into the Hands of the Crown Pat. 4. Edw. 1. There was a Chauntry founded in St. Dunstans Church by John Roper for two Priests to celebrate at the Altar of St. Nicholas in that Church Pat. 4. Hen. 4. Parte prima Memb. 29. There was another Chauntry mentioned by Mr. Somner founded by VVilliam Brenchley Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench for one Priest to celebrate at the Altar of St. John Baptist in Christ Church for the support of which he gives one House in St. Elphage Parish and ten pound Rent issuing yearly out of his Lands at Bilsington Pat. 25. Hen. 6. pars 1. Memb. 15. The Mannor of Dodindale had originally owners of that Name for as Mr. Somner in his Survey of Canterbury out of the Records of St. Augustins instructs us Haymo the Son of Guido de Dodindale gave the Tithes of Dodindale to the Priory of St. Augustins But it seems it was but for certain years for in the Reign of Henry the second as the same Records testifie Robert de Marci gave the Tithes of this place to the Hospital of St. Laurence so far he in that laborious Peice of his hath exhibited to the publick view who were its ancient Possessors when it bore the Name of Dodindale now out of the private Evidences it must be my Task who were its Proprietaries since it carried the Name of Morton By a Deed without date Elias de Morton from whom it assumed the Name of Morton which hath clove to it ever since demises the Fee-simple of it to Hugh Fitzvinon a Family which had large possessions at Selling by Monks Horton whose Daughter Eugenia Fitzvinon passes it away by Deed to Nicholas de Twitham in the twentyeth year of Henry the third and he immediately after by a Deed not bounded with any date settles it in Robert de Polre but whether his Successor sold it to J. Chich or not is incertain because there is a vacancy or gap in in the private Evidences though the Records of St. Augustins make him to have some Interest in it in the year 1330. The next that I find to have been entituled to the possession were Hardres and Isaack who in the twenty second year of Henry the sixth conveyed it away to William Say for the use of Robert Rigdon but it seems the title did not long fix here for he in the thirty third year of the abovesaid Prince transmits all his concernment in it by sale to William Barton and John Whete and they by mutual consent in the eighteenth year of Edward the fourth alienate it to Edward Pargate who transmitted it to his Son and Heir John Pargate from whom descended Edward Pargate who in the twenty fifth year of Henry the eighth demises it to Peter Bruin and after the Title had many years united to this Family Henry Bruin dying without Issue gave it to his Sister Jane Bugge who in the first year of King James cast her Right by Sale into her Kinsman John Bruin who in the fifth year of that Prince by the same alienation translated the Title into William
Croyden in which Family the Inheritance is yet remaining Dimchurh in the Hundred of Worth hath nothing to make it memorable but that it was formerly the Inheritance of Twitham Bertram de Twitham held Lands here at his Death which was in the third year of Edward the third as appears Rot. Esc Num. 115. And from him it came down to Theobald Twitham whose Daughter and Heir Mawd was married to Simon Septuans from whom descended John Septuans whose Daughter and Heir was matched to Fogge who in her Right was entituled to much Land here at Dimchurch and in other places of the Mersh but the Family of Poynings had likewise some Interest here for Michael Poynings was seised in Fee of some Lands in Dimchurch in the forty third year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 14. Parte secunda and in this Name was the Possession carried on untill the Beginning of the Reign of Henry the sixth and then it was alienated to Fogge. Newhall in this Parish is the place where those which are the Lords of Romney Mersh that is of so many Mannors which lye within the Precincts the Liberties of it assemble yearly to compose Laws for the better regulating and securing the Banks of the Mersh against the perpetuall Invasions and Encroachments of the Sea Ditton in the Hundred of Larkefield with its two Appendages Brampton and Sifleston were in times of a very high ascent the Patrimony of a Family called Brampton the Book of Aid which makes a Recapitulation of the ancient owners informs us that anciently they were Bramptons that is in the Reign of King John and Henry the third as the Pipe-Rolls relating to both those Kings times discover to us Afterwards in the Reign of Edward the first I find the Aldons by the Pipe-Rolls to have been Proprietaries of both these places but it seems the Possession remained not long with them for in the third year of Edward the second I find Stephen de Burghurst or Burwash died in the Possession of them as appears Rot. Esc Num. 4. And here the Title continued untill the forty third of Edward the third and then the Lord Bartholomew Burwash this mans Grandchild conveyed them to Sir Walter de Paveley Knight of the Garter and he in the first year of Richard the second passed them away to Windlesor or Windsor in which Family the Inheritance was placed untill the fifteenth year of this Prince's Reign and then they were conveyed to Sir Lewis Clifford but in this Name they made no long abode neither For about the middle of Henry the sixth I find they were alienated to Colepeper and I discover Richard Colepeper enjoyed them at his decease which was in the second year of Richard the third Rot. Esc Num. 28. and in this Family was the Possession lodged untill the latter end of Henry the seventh and then the vicissitude of Purchase brought them to acknowledge the Interest of Leigh and Thomas Leigh exchanged them with K. Henry the eighth and that Prince in the thirty seventh year of his Reign passed them away to Sir Thomas Wriothesley and in the original grant it is recited that they devolved to the Crown by exchange with Thomas Leigh Esquire and he not long after demised them to Sir Robert Southwell who in the second year of Queen Mary conveyed them to Sir Thomas Pope in which Family they remained untill the latter end of Queen Elizabeth and then they were alienated to Wiseman from whom almost in our Memory they were by Sale translated into the Patrimony of Sir Oliver Boteler of Teston Grandfather to Sir Oliver Boteler Baronet who now is entituled to the Proprietie of them The Ropers held some Estate here at Ditton by Purchase from Clifford in the Reign of Henry the fifth which Edmund Son of Ralph Roper died seised of in the third year of Henry the sixth as appears Rot. Esc Num. 33. which his Successor not long after alienated to Colepeper Dodington in the Hundred of Eyhorne contains severall places in it of no contemptible Estimate The first is Sharsted which was the Patrimony of a Family which was known by that Sirname Robert de Sharsted enjoyed it at his death which was in the eighth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 61. But after this mans departure I do not find that it owned this Family any farther for this mans Sole Daughter and heir was matched to John de Bourne Son of John de Bourne who was Sheriff of Kent the twenty second the twenty third and twenty fourth years of Edw. the first and after in the fifth year of Edward the third Certainly this Family was in times of a very high Gradation as eminent for Estate as it was venerable for its Antiquitie Henry de Bourne made a Purchase of Lands and Rents in Duddington of Matilda the Daughter of John de Duddington as appears by a Fine levyed in the forty seventh year of Henry the third and the above-mentioned John de Bourn obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Lands at Bourne Boxley Dodington and other places in the eighteenth year of Edward the first and from this John de Bourne did Mr. William Bourne in an even stream of Descent issue forth who almost in our Remembrance passed away Sharsted-Court to Mr. Delawne of London whose Son Mr. ....... Delawne is the instant Proprietarie of it Ringleston is a second place of note in this Parish of which there is a Tradition that it borrows its principal Appellation from a Ring and a Stone which those who were Tenants to this Mannor were to hold for such a proportion of time as an embleme of their acknowledged Homage and Subjection But this is but a fabulous romance in the whole frame of it the truth is Ring in Saxon imports as much as Borough or Village so that Ringleston signifies no more but the Village-Stone that is some eminent Stone which was placed there to signifie and discover the utmost extent and limits of the Borough Having unveil'd the Name and dispelled the Mist of the former fiction I shall now exhibite to the publique view who were the ancient Possessors of it and first I find the Chalfehunts a Familie of a spreading Demeasne and no lesse reputation in this Track Henry de Chalfehunt died possest of it in the forty fifth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 14. After him Humfrey Son and heir of Thomas Chalfehunt was in the enjoyment of it at his Death which was in the ninth year of Richard the second Rot. Esc Num. 14. After this Family was expired the Hadds a Family which was sometimes written Haddis and sometimes le Hadde which argues it to be of French Etymologie was planted in the Possession and remained many years invested in the Fee till about the beginning of Q. Elizabeth it passed away by Sale from them to Archer from whom not many years after the same fatalitie brought it to devolve to Thatcher who not many years since
John Proude who was unhappily slain at the Groll in the year 1628 whilst he did vigorously pursue the Quarrel of the States General at that Siege against the Capital Enemy of their Religion and Liberty the Spaniard and Mary espoused to Sir Edward Partrich for his first Wife but dyed without any Issue surviving by him Sir John Proud left only one Daughter called Ann who was first wedded to Sir William Springate and secondly to Mr. Isaac Pennington eldest Son to Isaac Pennington Lord Maior of London in the year 1643 in Right of which Alliance he at present holds this Mannor of Goodwenston Goodneston by Wingham vulgarly called Gonston lies in the Hundred of Wingham and was formerly parcell of the Patrimony of Hastings Earl of Pembroke bequeathed to him by his Kinsman John de Hastings who was first Husband to Juliana the Heir generall of Roger de Leybourn John de Hostings held it at his Death which was in the forty ninth year of Edward the third and so did his Son John de Hastings after him and brings a pleading for it in the fourteenth year of R. the second After them the Malmains were possest of it who had some Estate here before which they had by Purchase from Pine and Beauchamp about the Beginning of Edward the third and in this Family did it remain untill Henry Malmains about the year ........ deceased without Issue-male and then by Agnes his Daughter and Heir marryed to Thomas Goldwell it came to own the Jurisdiction of that Name and Family but was not long fastned to it for he ended likewise in a Female Heir called Joan who was wedded to Thomas Took of Bere Esquire and so by her it was united to the Revenue of this Family and here rested untill that Age which came within the Circle of our Grandsathers Knowledge and then it was passed away to Henekar from which Name in Times almost of our Cognisance it went away by a Revolution like the former to Kelley who conveyed it to Engham descended from the noble Family of the Enghams of Woodchurch who flourished so many Ages at Edingam and Pleurinden in that Parish Bonnington in this Parish is the ancient Seat from whence the numerous and Knightly Family of Bois did as from their originall Fountain issue out into Fredville Betteshhanger Haukherst and other parts of this Countie and do derive themselves from John de Bosco who is mentioned in the Battle-Abby Roll of those who entered this Nation with Will the Conquerour and certainly they have not been much lesse at this place then 17 Descents as the datelesse Deeds of several of this Family who writ themselves of Bonnington do easily manifest Nor hath it yet deserted the Name or departed from the Possession of Bois being at this present part of the patrimony of Sir John Bois to whose paternal Arms the late King for his eminent and loyall Service perform'd by him at Donnington Castle added as an Augmentation upon a Canton Azure a Crown imperial Or. Rolling is a third place in this Parish to be taken notice of It contributed a Seat as well as a Sirname formerly to a Family called Rolling Thomas Rolling held some Lands in Lease at his Death which was in the fisteenth year of Ric. the second Rot. Esc Num. 143. which Lands belonged to a Chauntry in St. Peters Church in Sandwich and lay in Eastry near his Mannor of Rolling After this Family was worn out the Idley's who had large Possessions about Mepham Cobham and Higham as appears by the Inquisition taken after the Death of John Idelegh in the forty third year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 58. Parte secunda were by Purchase seated in the Possession and preserved it untill the Reign of Henry the eighth and then it was alienated to Butler of Heronden in Eastry from whom in the Beginning of the raign of Q. Eliz. it went away to Roger Manwood Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer whose Son Sir Peter Manwood in our Fathers Remembrance alienated it to Dickenson from whom not many years since it was brought over to be the Possession of Master .......... Richards Godmersham in the Hundred of Felborough was given to the Monks of Christ-Church in Canterbury by Beornulfus King of the Mercians in the year of Grace eight hundred twenty and one free as Adisham and it was at the Request of Arch-bishop Vlfred to supply the Covent both with Food and Raiment which Grant Arch-bishop Egelnoth who it seems had some Interest in the Place in the year one Thousand thirty and six did fully confirm And in the year one thousand three hundred fourscore and seven Thomas Arundell Arch-bishop of Canterbury with the especiall Licence of Richard the second appropriated the Tiths of the Rectory of Godmersham to the Church of Christ-church to the Support and Maintenance of the Fabrick of the Church abovesaid If you will see what Value was set upon this Mannor in the Time of the Conquerour I shall afford you a Sight of it out of Dooms-day Book Godmersham says that Register est Manerium Monachorum de Vestitu eorum in Tempore Edwardi Regis se defendebat pro VIII Sullings est appretiatum XX. lb. sed tamen reddit XXX That is it paid a Rent of thirty pound to the Church Yolands and Ford are two other little Mannors in this Parish which acknowledged themselves anciently to be parcell of the Inheritance of Valoigns And Robert de Valoigns dyed possest of these and much other Land in this Track in the nineteenth year of Edward the second Rot. Esc Num. 41. Henry de Valoigns this mans Son was Sheriff of Kent in the fourteenth of King Edward the third and he had Issue Waretius de Valoigns and Stephen de Valoigns who planted himself at Gore-Court in Otham and is represented in Record to be one of the Conservators of the Peace for this County in the twenty ninth and thirty first years of Edward the third but Waretius de Valoigns determined in two Daughters and Coheirs one was matched to Fogge and the other to Thomas Aldon Son of Thomas de Aldon who was one of the Conservators of the Peace in Kent in the tenth and twelfth years of Edward the third and he in her Right was entituled to the Possession of these places And in this Family did it for diverse years continue untill the ordinary Mutation of Purchase rowled them into the Inheritance of Austin to which Name the Title remained constantly linked untill that Age we style our Grand-fathers and then they were by Richard Austin passed away by Sale to Broadnix so that they are now by paternal Right devolved to Thomas Broadnix Esquire in whose Estate the instant Propriety of them does lye involved Egerton in Godmersham was a Mannor which formerly swelled the demeasn of the noble Family of Valence who were Earls of Pembroke Aymer de Valence Earl of Pembroke held it at his Death which was in the
expiration of which the said Arch-Bishop recovered severall Lands which he the said Odo and his Tenants then held which were Herbert the Son of Ivo Turold of Rochester Ralph de Curva-Spina and Hugh de Montfort with all the Franchises belonging to them as namely Sac and Soc Toll and Theam Infangtheof and Outfang-theof Flymena Firmth Grithbreach Forestall Heinfare and Cersett the last of which because none of our Interpreters of the dark and obscure Terms of the Law do explain I shall It was a Rent-charge of a certain Proportion of Corn in the ear paid at the Feast of St. Martin with all other Customes greater or less both on the Land and on the Water and it was tried and proved by all the honest and wise Men both Normans and English who were present that as the King himself holds his Lands quiet and free in his Demeasne so the Arch-Bishop holds all his Lands whoily quiet and free in his Demeasne In the presence of these it was shewn by many and most evident Reasons that the King hath no Customes in the Church of Canterbury but onely three which are these If any man digg in the Kings High-way or cut down any Tree to stop it if any man shall be apprehended and found Culpable whilest they are in doing such things whether Pledges be taken of them or not yet by prosecution of the Kings Officer and by Pledges they shall amend what is unjustly done The third Custome is If any man commit Blood-shed on the Kings High-way if whilst he does it he be apprehended and imprisoned he shall then make amends unto the King But if he shall not be apprehended but depart without giving any Pledge the King may not in Justice require any thing of him And it was at the same time farther determined that if any Person did commit Blood-shed or Manslaughter in places which were within the Liberties of the Church of Canterbury from the time that the Church left off to Sing Alleluiah to the Octaves of Easter that then he should make amends onely to the Arch-Bishop And it was likewise shewed at the same Time that whosoever should commit the Crime of Childwitt that is of Bastardy if it were in Lent the Arch-Bishop should have the whole Satisfaction but if out of Lent then he should have onely half of it There were present at this Assembly Goisfrid Bishop of Constance the Kings Substitute Ernost Bishop of Rochester Egelric or Agelric Bishop of Selsey and Chichester a Man of deep insight in the Constitutions Ecclesiastical and of so great an Age that he was brought in a Wagon for his Discussion and Declaration says Textus Roffensis upon the known Laws Usages Franchises and Customes of Holy Church Hugh de Montfort William de Arces Richard de Tunbridge and lastly Haymo Sheriff of Kent Town Malling and East Malling lie in the Hundred of Larkfield and were both Mannors which related to that Revenue which made up the Patrimony of the Nunnery of Town Malling which was founded by Gundulphus Bishop of Rochester about the year 1090 and dedicated to the Virgin Mary and had the Church it self which was likewise named after the blessed Virgin and the Chappel of St. Leonards not far distant Though this Gundulphus was the Founder yet Haimo de Heath as appears by the Records of Rochester aws an eminent Benefactor to it about the year 1339. Both these Mannors upon the Suppression having augmented the Revenue of the Crown they rested there untill the fourth year of Edward the sixth and then they were granted in Lease for Life to Sir Hugh Cartwright and upon his Decease they were passed away upon the same Condition to Pierpoint and he conveyed them to William Brook Lord Cobham whose Son Henry Lord Cobham being attainted in the second year of King James they were re-assumed by the Crown and after granted in Lease to Sir Humphrey Delind a Man furnished with a liberal stock both of divine and humane Learning and he passed away his Interest to Sir Robert Brett but the Fee-simple continued with the Crown until the twenty first of King James and then they were granted for ever to John Rayney Esquire which Concession was fully ratified by King Charles to whom the Profits of these Mannors were assigned when he was Prince towards the Support of of his Court in the second year of his Raign to Sir John Rayney now of Wrotham Knight and Baronet which Sir John is lineally descended from John Reignie for so the Name in old Deeds is written who held the Mannor of Edgeford in Devon and Smitheley-hall in York-shire in the Raign of Edward the third still the Possession of this Family Which John was originally extracted from Sir John de Reignie who as is manifest by the old Rolls and Registers of this Family held the Mannor of Newton in Cumberland in the raign of Henry the third West-Malling had a Market granted to it on the Saturday by Henry the third at the Instance of the Lady Abbesse of that place to whom and to the Nuns of this Cloister the Vicar of East-Malling was Jure Loci always Confessor Parrocks and Ewell are two appendant Mannors involved in the Mannor of West-Malling whose Fee-simple was passed away to John Rayney Esquire when the other was linked by Grant to his Demeasne Ex autographis penes Jo. Reyney Millit Baronetum the last of which lay in Brenchley and was in Lease many years from the Nunnery to Hextall whose Female Heir brought it to VVhetenhall and Sir Richard VVhetenhall in the twelfth year of Q. Elizabeth sold it to George Lord Cobham and his Son Henry Lord Cobham alienated it to Sir Thomas Fane Ancestor to Mildmay Earl of VVestmerland whose Lease being lately expired it is now come to confesse Sir John Reyney Knight and Baronet for sole Proprietarie Borough Court in East-Malling was parcell of the ancient Demease of the noble Family of Colepeper of Preston in Alreâ—ford and was found united to their Revenue at the Death of VValter Colepeper Esquire which was in the first year of Edward the third and in this Family did it continue involved for sundry Ages till allmost in our Grand-fathers memory it was by Sale conveyed away to Shakerley descended from the Shakerleys of Shakerley in Lancashire but it made no long aboad here for in the Age subsequent to that wherein it was purchased this Family resolved into a Daughter and Heir who was matched to Beauley descended from the Beauleys of Beauleys Court in VVouldham who brought Borough Court along with her into the Possession of that Family and left it to her only Daughter and Heir Mary Beauley who by matching lately with Mr ....... Basse of Suffolk hath made it parcel of his Interest and Propriety Marden is not parcell only of the Hundred of Middleton or Milton but an Appendage of the Mannor also but because they are divided by so remote a distance from the above-mentioned place they in
which yet courts the Eye of the Beholder to an Admiration of its former Strength with all the Services annexed to it to Sir Anthony Weldon of Swanscamp whose Son and Heir Ralph Weldon of Swanscamp Esquire is the instant Lord of the Fee There is much Land in this County held of this Castle whose Tenure is perfect Castleguard for upon the Day prefixed for the discharge of the quitt-Rent relating to it there is a Banner displaid and hung out anciently it was over the Castle-Wall and all those who are Tenants to this Mannor and are in Default by their non-Appearance and do not discharge their Customary Duties and Services the Penaltie imposed upon their Neglect is that the Return of every Tide of the adjacent River which finds them Absent doubles their Service or quitt-Rent The Bridge which is almost contiguous to the Root or Basis was anciently when the Frame was of Timber removed to a farther Distance and crossed the Stream over against the Hospital of St Maries at Stroude But this was by Simon de Montfort when he besieged Rochester ruined by Fire and although it was re-edified and repaired not long after yet some twenty years subsequent to this Misfortune it was swept away by Ice so that it appears the Elements entered into a Corrivalship or Competition which should make the most ruinous Impression on this infortunate Structure But after this that is in the raign of Richard the second all those above-mentioned Dysasters and Inconveniences which might again have assaulted the Bridge were for the future prevented for Sir Robert Knolles a Person who had improved and enhaunsed his Fame to the highest Degree of Eminence by his glorious and succesfull Managery of the English Affairs and Interest in France seeking to make himself as usefull to his Friends that is his Contrymen as he was before considerable to his Enemies mastered the Course of the River and somewhat nearer to the Castle as in a place more fit both for the Soliditie and fastnesse of the Soile as likewise for the breaking of the impetuousnesse of the Current erected the Bridge of Stone which is now visible fixed and established on one and twenty Arches and by this Victory over the Elements made his Triumphs more illustrious than he had done before by all the Conquests of his Adversaries for in these he only seemed to have out-gone all others but in this to have outdone himself Being thus fixed and Strengthned there was a Statute enacted in the one and twentieth year of Richard the second wherein there is Provision made for its future Security there being several parcells of Land which are mentioned in that Act tied and obliged for its continual Maintenance and Repair whensoever the Injuries of Time or those of the Elements should deface or impair it The Chappel or Chantry in old Records styled the Chantry of Rochester Bridge was founded in the year 1399 by Iohn de Cobham and was dedicated to the holy Trinity and was called at the first Institution All Souls Chappel because Prayers and other Orizons were there to be offered up for the Redemption and Health of all Christian Souls and likewise a Stipend or Exhibition was there setled for the Support and Maintenance of three Priests or Chaplains particularly to pray for the Souls of John de Cobham the Patron and Founder Sir Robert Knolles to whom the Bridge owed its primitive Establishment William Wangford and Eleanor his Wife Iohn Fremingham and Alice his Wife William Makenade and Sir William Rickhil and likewise for the Souls of some who were deceased before the Foundation of this Chappel as namely for the Soul of Iohn Buckingham formerly Bishop of Lincoln and Sir William Wall worth the eminent Lord Maior of London to whose Virtue and Valour London owes the Addition of the Dagger which was annexed as an Augmentation to the Arms of the City The Priory was founded by Ethelbert King of Kent and dedicated to the Honor of St. Andrew and stored with Monks who were to live under the Rule of St. Benedict though afterwards as Mr. Lambert out of the Book of Rochester observes they altered their Rule and conformed themselves to the Canon of St. Augustine Bishop of Hippo but were reduced again to the primitive Institution of St. Benedict in the year 1080 by Gundulphus then Bishop of Rochester in which Design he was aided and supported by Lanfranc the active Arch-bishop of Canterbury In Ages of an elder Inscription there were several Contests brake forth between the Monks of Christ-church in Canterbury and those of this Covent the first Strugling to bring the Election of the Bishop of Rochester into their Chapiter which the last Sticking close to their own inherent Rights and Priviledges endevoured to disannul and wholly to circumscribe his Election within the Precincts of their own Chapiter Two Presidents which represent to Posterity the whole State of this Controversie do occur in Record The first appears in the year 1227 when after the Death of Benedict the Bishop of Rochester elected to succeed him Henry Sandford a Man of exemplary Piety so that he was inculpable for his Life and of unfathomed Learning so that he was in that Age almost unparallelled for his Knowledge which could not stave off the Monks of Christ-church to justle the Election pretending that the pastoral Staffe or Crosier of Rochester de Jure ought to have been brought to their House after the Decease of the Bishop and that the Election was to have been made in their Chapiter This occasioned much Heat for the Monks of Rochester vigorously asserted their own Choice so that it was referred to the Decision of the Archbishop and he again put it over to the Umpirage of Delegates who hearing the parties concerned and poising the Allegations produced by either side to sustain the Justice of their own Cause they by a finall Determination declared the Right to reside in the Monks of Rochester But it seems this Fire was only allayed not extinguished for in the year 1238 it brake forth again and the occasion which gave Fuell to it was this The Monks of Rochester had elected Richard Wendover for their Bishop which so exasperated and disgusted the Monks of Christ-church that suspecting their own Power they more to inforce and multiply their Strength and evacuate that Election entituled Arch-bishop Edmund to their Cause But the Monks of Rochester disclaiming by a tame Remissenesse either to foment or palliate their own undoing appealed to Rome where after the chargeable Commencement of a three years Sute the Innocency and Justice of their Cause was recompensed with the Triumph of the Day upon which they returned home exalted with the Joy of their Successe and enacted in their Chapiter that the annuall Feast of St. Cuthbert on which Day they archieved this signal Conquest should be doubly solemnized both in their Church and in their Kitchin But as they were successefull in their rancounters with the Arch-bishop so they were
Fremingham died seised of it in the thirtieth year of Edward the third and when this Family went out the Pimps of Pimps-Court and Nettlested by Purchase became Lords of the Fee from whom the same Fare brought it to acknowledge the Signory of the Isleys of Sundrich and here it continued till Sir Henry Isley in the Raign of Q. Mary being attainted of High Treason it became Confiscated to the Crown and She in the second year of her Government granted it to Sir Walter Henley Knight of Coursehorne in Cranbroke in whose Name and posierity the Possession has remained Successively planted till this Day Seventhly Chillington is not to be omitted because I find it in the Register of those Lands which acknowledged the Lords Cobham for Lords of the Fee And when John de Cobham had obtained a Charter of Free-warren in the seventeenth year of Edw. the third to all his Lands in Kent The Mannor of Chillington is Recorded in the Catalogue amongst them After them it came as the Court-rolls and private Evidences of this place inform me to acknowledge the Signory and Jurisdiction of the Mapelysdens of Digons and remained circumscribed in their Revenue till Queen Mary began to weild the English Scepter and then George Mapelysden being entangled beyond all retreat in the unsuccessfull Expedition of Sir Thomas Wyat miscarried in that Attempt and lost his Estate by Forfeiture to the Crown and Q. Mary granted it to Sir Walter and Gervas Henley Esquire who not long after sold his Interest in it to Nicholas Barham Esquire Serjeant at Law to Queen Elizabeth and his Successor alienated this place to Hawle of Wye whose Grandchild Mr. George Hawle lately deceased held the Fee-simple of it Lastly within the Ambute or Limits of Maidstone stands an ancient Castellated House called the Moate It did in times of great Antiquity relate to that Patrimony which confessed the Signory of the noted Family of Leybourne for Roger de Leybourne obtained the Grant of a Market weekly on the Tuesday and a Fair yearly to continue three Dayes at the Feast of St. Cross in the fifty first year of Henry the third as appears Pat. 51. Hen. tertii Memb. 10. But before the beginning of Edw. the third this Name was withered and shrunk into Decay at this place and then Bartholomew Lord Burghurst or Burwash Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and one of the first Founders of the Order of the Garter came to possesse it and Inhabited here in the twenty ninth year of Edward the third and possessed the Signory called Shofford on which the Castle stands and which one John de Shofford held by Knights-Service in the twentieth year as appears by the Book of Aid of Edward the third After the Lords Burghurst the Woodvills were possest of it and removed from Grafton in the County of North-Hampton where they had long continued and lived here A fair Monument of Woodvill on the North-side the Chancell of Maidstone-Church affirms it and when King Henry the sixth created Richard Woodvill Constable of the Isle of Wight a Baron of this Nation and elected him into the Order of the Garter his Style was Lord Rivers Grafton and De la Moat which Act of Grace and Favour mollified a Sentence and Fine of 1000. lb. imposed upon him for matching with Jaquet Daughter of Peter of Luxenbourg Earl of St. Paul Widow of John Plantagente Duke of Bedford without the Kings Licence But when King Edward the fourth had married Elizabeth his eldest Daughter being widow to Thomas Marquesse Dorcett he created him Earl Rivers and Lord of the Isle of VVight which Titles he had observed were concomitant in some of the Styles of the Lords Rivers or de Ripariis who were the Ancient Earls of Devon and assumed to bear in an Escocheon of pretence upon his own Atchievement the old Coat ascribed commonly to Baldwin de Ripariis Earl of Devon viz. Gules a Griphen Segreant Or which I note for Criticks in Armorie to descant on and return to the Historie of the Place When this good man for so he was noted to be was miserably massacred by Robert Ridisdale Captain of the Lewd People of North-Hampton-shire who took him at Edgcot-Field and struck off his head at North-Hampton Their Will being their Law and Mischief Minister to their wild Designs all his seven Sons who survived him died without Issue and then Sir Henry VVyat becomes owner of this place Grandfather to Sir Thomas VViat afterwards his Successor in the Possession of it whose dysastrous Tragedy is presented at Boxley upon whose untimely Exit Hugh VVarham in the second year of Queen Mary by Grant from the Crown enters upon it from whom Alderman Rither afterwards Lord Maior of London and known by the Name of Sir VVilliam Rither Purchased and Repaired it and left it to his Daughter and Coheir the Lady Susan Caesar whose eldest Son Tho. Caesar Esq and his Mother concurring together disposed of their Right in it by Sale to Sir Humphrey Tufton Knight second Son to Sir John Tufton Knight and Baronet and Brother to Nicholas Tufton Earl of Thanett who was Father to John the present Earl There was a Family Sirnamed de Maidstone whose Blazon upon a Monument in Vlcombe Church is Sables a Cheveron between three Cups covered Argent Crowned Or VVilliam de Maidston the Kings Valect being sent to the Court of Rome with certain Instruments and other expresses deceas'd in his Journey as appears Pat. Anno quinto Edwardi primi prima Pars. Pinenden-Heath confines upon Maidston and is eminent for the Punishment of Malefactors and the frequent Assemblies of Free-holders who here convene to elect such Persons for Knights of the Shire as may represent the County in Parliament But it was in elder times more famous for that great Convention of English and Normans who met there in the fourth year of Wil. the Conquerour to decide the great Controversie which then broke forth between Lanfranc Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Odo Earl of Kent touching some Lands and Priviledges which the said Arch-Bishop alleaged were by an unjust Usurpation by the above-said Odo ravished away from the Church which because it gives us a full Prospect of that exorbitant and wide power which the Clergie of those times did entitle themselves to I shall endevour to pourtray it in as Brief and narrow a Landskip as I have pencill'd it out by Textus Roffensis an old Book in Manuscript so called where it is more voluminously represented At Pinenden-Heath says Textus Roffensis in the fourth year of William the Conquerour there was an Assemblie of the gravest and discreetest of the English and Normans by a signall Decision and Debate to deternine of that Controversie which did formerly arise between Odo Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent touching some Lands and Priveledges which were detained from the Church by the said Earl and Lanfranc Arch-Bishop of Canterbury The said Dispute or Debate lasted three Dayes after the