Diggenby Rogerus Diggenby Thomas Archeriges Johannes Bynott Willielmus Horne apud Lidde Promhill unà cum Hominibus de septem Hundredis In Insula Shepey Abbas de Boxley Johannes de Northwood Thomas Apuldrefeild Miles Johannes Raston Willielmus Syme Johannes de Manney Richardus de Blore in Insula de Shepey unacum Hominibus ejusdem Insulae nec non Hundredorum de Tenham Gillingham Middleton Marden Before I shut up this discourse concerning Sea-watches I shall represent to the Reader the Draught of a Praecipe directed to Gervas Clifton Esquire Sheriff of Kent in the 26. of Henry the Sixth by that Prince by which we may calculate the extent and Latitude of those commands he was to regulate himself by in his care and provision for the defence and Indempnity of this County against the eruptions of any forrain violence whatsoever Rex Vicecomiti Kantii salutem Quia datum est nobis intelligi quod nonnulli inimici nostri super Mare se tenentes regnum nostrum Angliae in diversis locis ingredi intendunt c. Nos malitiae suae obviare volentes tibi praecipimus firmiter injungentes quòd statim visis praesentibus infra Balivam tuam taminfra libertates quà m extra ubi melius expeditius videris faciendum ex parte nostra publicè Proclamari facias Quod omnes singuli Ligei nostri de Baliva tuâ qui Vigilias apud Promhill Helmes Kenell Denge Mersh ac in aliis locis ibidem adjacentibus convicinis super Costeras Maris antiquitus custodire debeant solebant hujusmodi Vigilias in eisdem locis custodiant custodire faciant It a quod defectu Vigiliarum praedictarum sub poena forisfacturae omnium quae nobis forisfacere possunt damnum periculum aut gravamen nobis aut populo nostro non eveniat ullo modo quòd Legei nostri Commitatus tui Signa vocata Beanors in locis consuetis per quae gentes de adventu inimicorum praedictorum congruis Temporibus poterint praemoneri ponant poni faciant Et hoc sub periculo incumbente nullatenus omittatis Teste me ipso apud Westm quarto die Augusti Anno Regni nostri 29. Because there hath been frequent mention of Hobilers in the abovesaid discourse I shall discover to the Reader a brief portraiture of them as I have copied it by that Original which hath been pencil'd out by the learned industry of Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossarie The word Hobiler sayes he is derived from the French word Hobill which imports as much as a light quilted Cassock and indeed all the Latine Records say they should be Wampasa armati which signifies or denotes a Jack and in some parts both of Germany and the Low Countreys at this day Wampas is us'd to express a Doublet or a short Cassock and if you will know with what Horse they were equip'd or furnish'd for service the abovesaid Author will tell you that every Hobiler should be Mediocri eque instructus ad omnem motum agili a Horse of no great proportion but light and fitted for all manner of service Having represented to the Reader how sedulous the Princes of this Nation were in Modern times to secure the Maritime shores of Kent which like a Girdle of sand almost invest this County I shall now discover briefly and in Landskip how they were guarded fortified and preserved in times of an elder Inscription which discourse I shall marshall under the Notion of Littus Saxonicum F L INTALL COMORD P R Faelix liber injustus notariis laterculi continens mandata ordine principis aut Primicerij OTHOMA DUBRIS LEMANNI BRANODVNVM GARIANA REGVLBIVM RVTVPIS ANDERIDOS PORTVS ADVRNI This Comes littoris Saxonici was as Admirall of that time and placed against the Maritime incursions of the Saxons or those of the West part of Germany that were known most commonly by that name the charge or Impress of his ensigne was 9 Maritime Towns but thus placed on the forme of the whole Island that which appeares in the Canton of the Banner besides the Towns names is thus expounded by Pancirollus who notes them to be Sigles and parts of words so well and commonly known in the Office of the Court of the Notaries or of the Clerks of the Crown that it needed not they should be more largely expressed the words he thinks are these Faelix liberinjunctus Notariis laterculi continens mandata ordine Principis or Primicerū which was the Master or President of the Clerks of the Crown And for his Garisons he had under him MM. CC. Foot and CC. Horse with his Officers thus expressed Sub dispositione viri spectabilis COMITIS LITTORIS SAXONICI per BRITANNIAM Praepositus numeri Fortensium OTHOMAE Praepositus numeri Tungricanorum DUBRI Praepositus numeri Turnacensium PORTU LEMANNO Praepositus equitum dalmatarum Branodunensium BRANODUNO Praepositus equitum stablesianorum Garianonensium GARIANNONO Praepositus cohortis primae Vetasiorum REGULBIO Praepositus legionis 11. Aug. RUTUPI Praepositus numeri abulcorum ANDERIDA Praepositus numeri exploratorum PORTU ADURNI Officium antem habet idem vir spectabilis COMES hoc modo Principem ex Officio Magistri Praesentalium á parte peditum Numerarios duos ut supra ex officio predicto Comentariensem ex officio superradicto Cornicularium Adjutorem Subadiuvam Regerendarium Exceptores Singulares Et reliques Officiales For the Maritim Townes within this Government are mentioned here Othoma is conceived by Mr. Camden and some other learned men to have been in the Hundred of Dengy in Essex in the same place or neer where St. Peters in the Wall is And to this day doth not Brithlingsey a Towne adjacent remain a Member of Sandwich and under the Government of the Lord Warden of the Cinque-Port Besides the Testimony of sundry inquisitions of survey of the Lord Wardens Admiral jurisdiction Do they not crosse in direct line from the South-Foreland which is by Margate in Thanet and so turning up to Reculver crosse the main Ocean to the Langrell Poynt in Essex passing along St. Peters in the Wall where this Othoma is said to have been Dubris was DOVER Lemanni or Lemannis which is Pertus Lemanni in Antonius and Λιμὴν in Ptolmy but not it seems as the word _____ is significant in Greek but as it was made from the British name LIME or LIMEHILL in Kent the place where Caesar landed when he Conquered Britain And doth not Shipwey the place where the Lord Warden of the Ports taketh his Oath upon his first entrance into that Government lye in LIME and is yet within his Government as also Hyth which implieth as much as Portus in Latine that is Haven one of the 5 Ports adjoyning and Stutfall-Castell at the foot of LIME-HILL was it not a Fortress built by the Romans for defence of the Saxon Shore Regulbium RECULVER at which the water Genlade or Wantsum entered in and passing by Sarre
first from Chelsfield it passed away to Otho Lord Grandison who paid respective Aid for this Mannor by the sixth part of a Knights Fee at the making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth year of Edward the third but there it had but a frail abode for Sir Thomas de Grandison this mans Son conveyed it over by Sale to Richard Lord Poynings whose Daughter and Heir Eleanor matched to Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland and in his Line was the Right of it for some Descents interwoven till in the Reign of Henry the seventh it was by Sale resigned up to James Walsingham Esquire whose Son Sir Edmund Walsingham alienated it to Giles in the Reign of Edward the sixth which Giles descended from Giles of Lords in Shelvich where for many years before they had been planted and from Giles about the latter end of Q. Elizabeth it came over by purchase to Captain Henry Lee of London who going out in Sisters and Coheirs it is now come by two of them to Serjeant John Clerk of Huntington-shire the principal Possessor and Mr. Thomas Norton of London Ferneborough is but a Chappel of Ease devoted to the honour of St. Giles but belongs to the Mother-Church of Chelsfield which is dedicated to St. James as appears by the Records of the Church of Rochester It was a principal Seat of the Lord Grandison who made this the Head of their Barony William de Grandison held it at his death which was in the ninth year of Edward the third * Otho de Grandison obtained a the grant of Market to Ferneborough in the eighteenth of Edw. the first which was renewed to Hen. Earl of Lancaster in the eighteenth year of Edward the third and the grant of a Fair added at the Feast of S. Giles the Eve and Eight dayes following Otho Lord Grandison this mans Son obtained a Charter of Free Warren to it in the eighteenth year of Edward the third but long after this it did not remain linked to the Inheritance of this Family for in the Reign of Richard the second I find Fleming invested in the Possession whose Tenure was very transitory for not long after by Purchase it was brought into the Demeasn of Petley from whom by as swift a Fatalitie it went away to Peche of Lullingston which Family determined in Sir John Peche in the Reign of Henry the seventh who dying Issueless Elizabeth his Sister and heir brought this and a spatious Inheritance to her husband John Hart Esquire from whom M. William Hart now of Lullingston Esquire is lineally extracted and in right of this Alliance is at this present entituled to the Possession and Signorie of Ferneborough There is a third Mannor in this Parish called Godington which was anciently the Habitation of a Family which was represented to the world under that Name Simon de Godington paid respective Aid for his Mannor of Godington at the making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth year of Edward the third as the Book of Aid informs us and after this Family expired at this place Richard Lord Poynings became Lord of the Signorie of it from whom with Eleanor his Daughter and Heir it went over to Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland but did not long fix in that Family for for almost two hundred years last past the Possession hath been constantly united to the Name of Haddon a Family of principal Account in this Track as may appear by their Arms viz. A Leg couped and wounded which are Registered in the old Rolls and Ordinaries of Kentish Armorie alwayes with this addition Haddon of Kent and sometimes of Godington in Kent Hewat is another small Mannor in Cheslfield One Jeffrey de Hewat was possest of it in the Time of Henry the third ut apparet ex Charta sine Data which was for many Descents the Petleys of Down originally from whom it devolved to a Cadet of that Family who planted himself at Moulsoe in this Parish and there is a Deed in the hands of Mr. Thomas Petley of Vielston of John Coldigate of Coldigate a Farm in Halsted which bears Date from the eleventh year of Henry the fourth to which one William Petley of Chelsfield is Teste After it had been resident for sundry Generations in this Branch of Petley which sprouted out from those of Down the Title in that Age which ushered in this was by Sale from Edward Petley transferred to Mr. Thomas Petley of Vilston in Shorham another Branch shot out from the principal Stem of the Petleys at Down and he left it to his second Son Mr. Ralph Petley of Riverhead in Sevenoke not long since deceased whose Heir who is Proprietary of this place is at this instant in his Minoritie Northsted is situated likewise in Chelsfield and in the reign of Edward the third confessed a Family called Francis for its Proprietaries Simon Francis held it at his death which was in the thirty second year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 33. and acquired it by Purchase of Otho de Grandison who held this and Chelsfield as appears by the Book of Aid in the twentieth year of the former Prince but about the beginning of Henry the fourth this Family had surrendred the possession of this Mannor to Vuedall or Udall a Noble Familie and Masters of much Land both in Surrey Sussex and Hant-shire Sir John de Vuedall was one of the Knights who was with Edward the first at the Siege of Carlaverock Sir Peter D'Vuedall sat as Baron in Parliament the eighth and ninth of Edward the second Nicholas Vuedall was Constable of Windsor under Edward the third John Vuedall was Sheriff of Sussex and Surrey the second fourth and seventh years of Henry the fifth and again the first fifth and twelfth year of Henry the sixth William Vuedall was Sheriff of Sussex and Surrey the eighth of Henry the sixth and he in the sixth year of that Princes Government conveyed it to John Shelley of Bexley whose Successor William Shelley about the latter end of Henry the eighth passed it away to Mr. John Leonard of Chevening whose great Grand-child Henry Lord Dacres not many years since conveyed it to the Lady Wolrich who upon her decease setled it on her Kinsman Mr. ....... Skeggs of the County of Huntington Chelsfield had a Market obtained by Otho de Grandison in the eighteenth year of Edw. the first to be held there weekly on the Monday and a Fair to be observed there yearly by the space of three dayes at the Feast of Saint James Choriton in the Hundred of Folk-stone was the Inheritance of an ancient Family called Scotton Robert Scotton who was Sheriff of Kent the seventh eighth ninth and tenth years of Edward the first lived here and held his Shrievalty at this place and was of eminent Rank in this Track for he was Lieutenant of Dover Castle under the Prince abovesaid and held this Mannor under the Estimate of a whole Knights Fee of the Lord of
the first Sir John de Savage obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Mannor of Werdon But before the middle of Edward the third this Family had surrendered their Interest here to Fremingham for John de Fremingham dyed seised of it in the twenty third year of Edward the third but whether it devolved with other Land by the Heir general of Fremingham to Isley or not is incertain because those privtae evidences which relate to this Mannor extend no higher then the reign of Edward the fourth and then I find the propriety of it in Norton in which Family after the possession had resided untill our times it was conveyed to Edmund Tooke of Dartford Esq Barrister at Law now proprietary of it Thanet lies if not all yet most part of it circumscribed within the Hundred of Ringleslow It is styled in Greek by ancient Authors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Thanetum and in the Saxon it is curtailed into Thanet which an old Manuscript which I have seen deduces from two Saxon Words Thane and Yete which in that Language then implyed as much as the Lords-Entrance but for my particular I believe that the Saxons when upon the Donation of it to them by Vortiger they first entered into this Island finding that Thanetum was a Latine Name imposed upon it by the Romans who had but newly then deserted the Protection of this Island new-softned the Name by contracting it and then quilted it into the Alphabet of their own Language and called it Thanett and that this is probable I shall evince from circumstances Punio in Latine signifies to punish from whence the Saxons styled that place by Maidstone where they punished Malefactors Pinandun Hoath So Castrum was a Name used by the Romans to signifie or expresse any Castle or Fortresse which the Saxons upon their admission into this Island finding it to be imposed upon all places of strength and importance adopted it into their Dialect and from the word Castrum extracted the word Ceaster I could instance in many other particulars but that I should both weary my Reader and clog this Discourse with Superfluities I shall therefore from the untwisting the Name descend to the Description of the Island Serre now vulgarly called Sarre is the first place of Note which offers it self up to a view It was anciently a Parish untill peradventure the unhealthinesse of the Soile for it now confines upon Marishes where formerly glided that Gullet of Sea-water now wholly stifled with Sand which made Thanett an Island as may plainly appear by an ancient Mapp printed by the original and now extant in the Book called Monasticum Anglicanum or else from the insalubrity of the Air which being polluted with those black and foggie vapours which ascend from a loose and soggie earth very frequently leave a venomous Tincture upon the Blood and Spirits of those Inhabitants who are subject to the impression of such pernicious exhalations forced those who dwelt in Serre to abandon so sickly a Habitation and so the Parish by degrees began to languish away into that Solitude we see it is shrunk into at present The Church was dedicated to St. Giles but at present lies entombed in such forgotten Ruines that scarce the least Remains are visible The Mannor it self was one of the ancient Seats of the noble Family of Crioll Bertram de Crioll augments the Register of those Kentish Gentlemen who were with Richard the first at the Siege of Acon in Palestine Bartholomew de Crioll another of this Name and Family was Lieutenant of Dover-castle under the abovesaid Prince Simon de Crioll was with Edward the first at his prosperous Siege of Carlaverock and for his generous Assistance there received the Order of Knighthood and from him it came down to Sir William Crioll Father to Sir John Crioll who held it in the Beginning of Henry the sixth as appears Pat. 9. Hen. 6. Par. prim Memb. 19. And from him was it transmitted to his Son Sir Thomas Keriell Knight of the Garter a Man of that worth and eminence in that time he lived in that I might seem something to obscure his Glory if I should not represent to the Reader some of those honorable Atchievements which he performed in France the Relation of which I have omitted in my Description of Stockbury and Walmer In the ninth year of Henry the sixth he being Governour of Gourney in Normandy issuedout of that place and harassed not only that Province but fought with the Earl of Bretaigne who was sent to oppose his Eruptions and after a sharp Combat gave him a remarkable discomfiture killing about six hundred and captivating two hundred Soldiers In the fifteenth of Henry the sixth he seised upon the Duke of Burgundie's Carriages and Cannons leaving Cretoy a Fortresse then in possession of the English and not long before distressed by the abovesaid Duke furnished with victual for six hundred men for the space of a twelvemonth And lastly in the twenty seventh year of Henry the sixth he was sent over into France with a supply of 1500 men to recruit the English Army where he did as much with so small a quantity of men as could be expected from humane Courage and having reduced some pieces of strength he encountered the Earl of Clermont at a place called Formigney where being overlaid with Multitude after he had given most signal Testimony of his valour and discharged all those duties which might have secured and preserved the Honor of the English Nation and the Glory of the day by which he declared himself to be not only a prudent Man but an expert Commander he was defeated But to proceed after the Family of Crioll went out from the possession of this place which was before the latter end of Henry the sixth John White Esquire became Lord of the Fee and held it at his Death which was in the ninth year of Edward the fourth but after his Decease it was not long resident in this Name for in the reign of Henry the seventh and Henry the eighth I find it the Inheritance of Bere and was fixed in this Family untill the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth and then it was passed away by Sale to Rush ancestor to Sir Francis Rush who not many years since concluding in two Daughters and Coheirs one of them by matching with Sir George Wentworth of Wentworth Woodhouse in York-shire third Brother to Sir Thomas Wentworth late Earl of Stafford hath made it his instant patrimony Downebarton is the next place which occurs and challenges our Survey There was a Family Sirnamed Exeter that had large possessions at or neer this place and were planted in the Tenure of them many Centuries of years In the fourth year of Henry the sixth Margaret Widow of John Exeter held Lands at Downebarton in Right of Dower as appears by an Inquisition taken after her death which commences from that time But the principal Honor this place anciently recieved was that it was a
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
Solley who not many years after transmitted it by Sale to Mr. Jo. Ward of London whose Widow Mrs. Katharin Ward now holds it in Right of Dower Goldstanton in this Parish is a second place of Note and was as high as the Beam of any Evidence will guide me to discover the Patrimony of Leybourn Roger de Leybourn who was in the Register of those Kentish Gentlemen who were pardoned by the Pacification called Dictum de Kenelworth for seeking to support with seditious Arms the Cause and Quarrell of Simon de Montfort held it in the fiftieth year of Henry the third and from him did it descend to his great Grandchild Juliana de Leybourn who dying without Issue or Alliance in the forty third year of Edward the third this with Overland escheated to the Crown but was granted out again by Richard the second to Sir Simon de Burley who being attainted and convicted of high Treason in the tenth year of his Reign that Prince link'd it by a new Donation to the Abby of Childrens Langley But yet I find that in the Reign of Henry the fourth Richard Cliderow who was Sheriff of Kent in the fourth year and most part of the fith year of that Prince and then again in the sixth year of Hen. the fifth held it I suppose only as a Lessee and kept his Shrivealty at this Place a Man he was of no contemptible Account in those Times as I shall discover more amply at little Betshanger which was his capital Seat But to return after this Mannor had made its aboad in the Demeasne of the above mentioned Covent untill the Dissollution in the Reign of Henry the eighth it was then torn off and granted to Tho. Lord Cromwell Earl of Essex upon whose Attaint in the thirty second year of the above said Prince it escheated back to the Crown and then it was granted in the thirty fourth year of Henry the eighth to Vincent Engham Esquire whose Descendant Sir Tho. Engham some few years transplanted his Concernment in it by Sale into Mr. ......... Courcelis of London Nevills Fleet in this Parish was more anciently called Butlers Fleet as being parcell of the Revenue of that Family and the Book of Aid in the Exchequer which makes an enumeration of the ancient Owners mentions one Richard de Boteler to have been its ancient Possessor but in the twentienth year of Edward the third when that Book was taken William Lord Latimer of Corbie Knight of the Garter and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports held it and in the thirty eighth obtained by the Charter of that Prince a Market to be held at Ark on the Thursday and a three days Fair at our Lady Day and from him as in divers Records it is evident did it acquire the Name of Latimers Fleet but stayed not long under that Title for he determined in Eleanor his Daughter and Heir matched to John Lord Nevill who in her Right became Lord of this Mannor and from him did it contract the Title of Nevils Fleet and lay couched in the Patrimony of this Name untill the Beginning of Edward the fourth and then it was alienated to Cromer and James Cromer in the eleventh year of Henry the seventh alienated it to John Isaac from whom not long after it was brought over by Purchase to Kendall and in that Name it fixed untill the Beginninig of Henry the eighth and then it was alienated to Sir John Fogge and he before the end of that Prince conveyed it to Ralph in which Name it was resident untill the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth and then it was demised to Spracklin and Sir Adam Spracklin almost in Times under our Fathers Cognisance passed it away to Harfleet in which Family you may at this instant find it Molands in this Parish gave Seat and Sirname to a Family so called who before the end of Edward the second were worn out and then it became the possession of Harfleet aliás Septuans who much improved the House with additional Buildings where the Arms of this Family do stand yet in Panes of very old coloured Glasse with this Motto annexed Dissipabo inimicos Regis mei ut paleam alluding either to their Coat which was three Fans such as they fan and winnow Corn with or else to William de Septuans who dyed in the year 14011. and warred as the Records of this Family inform me under Edward the third in France and by his Will registred in the Prerogative Office at Canterbury which I mention for the Novelty of it he gives Manumission or Freedome to diverse of his Slaves or Natives and Sir William Septuans was his Son who lyes buryed in Christ Church in Canterbury and as his Epitaph on his Tomb instructs me dyed in the year 1448. and from him did the Title stream in this Name untill the Reign of Henry the eighth and then I find this Seat in the possession of Robert Read but it was not long out of the Name for about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth I find it reinvested again in Harfleet and remains an eminent Mansion of this Family at present Many of this Sirname lye buryed in Ash Church for those three Altar Tombs in the Church yard and those on each side the North Dore were the Repositories or Exchequers that treasured up the Remains of divers of this Family all which had their Figures and Arms insculp'd in Brasse annexed to their Sepulchers which by the impression of Times and the Assaults of Sacrilegious Hands are quite dismantled and torn off Wingham Barton is another eminent Mannor in this Parish which belonged to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and when John Peckham founded his Colledge at Wingham in the year 1282. there was an Exhibition setled on that Seminary or Brotherhood issuing out of this Manuor from whence it is supposed by some it contracted the Name of Wingham Barton though I rather conjecture it was called so from its Situation in opposition to another of that Name called Firmins Barton lying by Canterbury But to proceed this continued Archiepiscopal untill the twenty ninth year of Henry the eighth and then it was exchanged by Thomas Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with the Crown and rested there untill Q. Elizabeth granted it to Sir Roger Manwood whose son Sir Peter Manwood passed it away by his Trustees not many years since to Sir William Curteen of London and he gave it in Dower with his daughter matched to Henry late Earle of Kent who upon his decease ordered it to be sold to discharge some Debts and was accordingly not long since by his Countess conveyed by Sale to Mr. James Thurbarne of Sandwich one of the Cinque Ports Son of James Thurbarne Esquire a Justice of Peace in this County in the Reign of K. James whose Ancestors from 1331 have continued very eminent in the Cinque Ports especially in Hasting and Romney as also in Romney Mersh as appears by divers ancient Records But the ancient Mannor-House was in the
under the Signorie of Catwick and John de Catwick held it and paid respective Aid for it as appears by the Book of Aid at making the black Prince Knight After this Family had deserted the possession of this place I discover by some old Deeds that Commence from the Reign of Rich. the second that the Frankenhams were Lords of the Fee who before the latter end of Henry the fifth were gon out and then it came to own the Propriety of Poynings and went along with this Name untill it devolved to Sir Edward Poyning who had it in possession at his Death which was in the twelfth year of Henry the eighth and after a solemne and signall Inquisition taken in the fourteenth year of that Monarch to discover if there could be traced out any collaterall Alliance for he dyed without any lawfull Issue that could justifie a Claim to his Estate and there none appearing who could do it this Mannot with much other land escheated to the Crown and then the abovesaid Prince granted this to William Lewknor Esquire in which Family it had not rested many years when it was conveyed by Sale to Vane from whom by the like Vicissitude in that Age we call our Fathers it came to be the Possession of Walter of Faukham The Priorie of St. Helens in London had some Interest at South-Ash in the fourth year of Henry the fourth as appears by the Rolls of Blanch Lands kept in the Exchequer but whether upon the Suppression it were wrapped up in the Mannor of Ash and so conveyed in the general Concession or Grant as being a Perquisite I am incertain Ashford in the Hundred of Chart and Longbridge was one of those Mannors which was marshalled under the Jurisdiction and Propriety of the eminent Family of Crioll Simon de Crioll in the twenty seventh and twenty eighth year of Henry the third obtained a Charter of Free Warren to his Mannor of Ashford and Mawde de Crioll his Widow dyed seised of it in the fifty second year of Henry the third and left it to her Son Will. de Keriell who as Will. Glover Somerset Herald out of an old Court Roll does attest confirmed that change his Mother had designed in her life time and passed away this Mannor to Roger de Leybourne for Stocton in Huntington-shire and Rumford in Essex and from him did it come down to his great Grandchild Juliana de Leybourn sole Heir of Roger de Leybourne whose second Husband William de Clinton Earl of Huntington was possest of it at his Death which was in the twenty eighth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 59. And after him Juliana his Countesse deceasing without Issue and without Kindred in the fourty third year of the abovesaid Prince it escheated to the Crown and this Monarch desiring to enhance the Revenue of the Church rather then his own gave it to the Deans and Canons of St. Stephens in Westminster which Donation was confirmed by Richard the second in the twelfth year of his Reign and afterwards more amply ratified with all the Franchises it was anciently fortified with in the twenty first year of his Rule as appears Pat. 1. Memb. 35. par 3. and with it conveyed divers Lands here at Ashford and elsewhere which were formerly relating to the Family of Leybourne but being granted to Sir Simon de Burleigh returned back to the Crown upon his Attaint which was in the tenth year of the abovesaid Prince and here in the Revenue of this Cloister did it make a secure abode untill the rough Hand of Henry the eighth like that of Aeolus scattered such a Tempest upon these and all other Cloisters that they shrunk into a common dissolution and then this Mannor being in that whirlwind ravished from the Church and transplanted into the Crown was by that Monarch granted with Westure which was purchased by Cardinal Kempe of Aldon about the twenty eighth of Henry the Sixth and setled on the Colledge of Wie and came to the Crown upon its Supression to Sir Anthony Aucher and Jo. Polsted and they not many years after conveyed them by Sale to Sir Andrew Judde who expiring in a Female Heir called Alice she by matching with Sir Thomas Smith annexed them to his Revenue and from him is both Ashford and Westure come down by descendant Right to his great Grandchild Philip Viscount Strangford Repton in this Parish was the Seat of that ancient Family of Valoigns Waretius de Valoigns in a Deed whereby on Ash-Wednesday in the the fourty fifth year of Henry the third releases some Services due to his Mannor of Swerdlin to Cecilia Widow of Richard Greenbold writes himself of Repton Rualonus de Valoigns was Sheriff of Kent in the first year of Henry the second and dwelt sometimes at Repton and sometimes at Tremworth The last of this Family at this Place was Waretius de Valoigns who concluding in two Daughters and Coheirs one of them by matching with Sir Tho. Fogge brought this and much other Land to own the Title of that Family and they afterwards made this their Seat which was productive of Persons as eminent for Piety Prudence and Valour as any that this County either in Times which have been tempestuous or else in those which have been calm and serene hath been fertile in one of which was Sir Io. Fogge Comptroller of the House and Privie Counsellor to Edward the fourth who founded a Colledge here at Ashford consisting of a Prebendarie as the Head and of certain Priests and Choristers as Members But to proceâ—d after this Seat had so many Generations acknowledged the Interest of this Family it was in the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth alienated by George Fogge to Sir Michael Sonds and he conveyed it to Iohn Tufton Esquire whose great Grandchild the right Honorable Iohn Tufton Earl of Thanet is the instant Lord of the Fee There was a perpetuall Chauntry here at Ashford in a certain Chappell dedicated to the Virgin Mary which was founded by Will. de Sodington for which he had a Concession from royall Authoritie as appears Pat. 17. Edw. 3. parte secunda Memb. 37. The Land which was tied to support it lay in Ashford Willesborough Charing and Kennington which upon the Suppression being dispersed into many Hands I shall decline any farther labour to trace out Ashford had a Market upon the Saturday which was allowed by the Judges Itinerant to William de Leybourn in the seventh year of Edw. the first which being thus ratified and confirmed continueth in force upon that Day even at this instant I had almost forgot Merdall which is the last Mannor in this Parish It was included in the Patrimony of Corbie untill Robert Corbie of Boughton Malherbe concluded in a Daughter and Heir called Joan Corbie matched to Sir Nicholas Wotton twice Lord Maior of London by which Marriage all that vast Demeasne which acknowledged the Interest of that Family came to be united to this and continued many years
Island upon intelligence received that his Fleet riding in the road at Lymen not far distant had been much afflicted and shattered by a Tempest whereupon he returned and left his Army for ten dayes encamped upon the brow of this Hill till he had new careen'd and rigg'd his Navy but in his march from hence was so vigoriously encountered by the Britons that he lost with many others Leberius Durus Tribune and Marshal of the Field whose Obsequies being performed with solemnities answerable to the eminence of his Place and Command each Souldier as was then Customary bringing a certain quantity of earth to improve his place of Sepulture into more note then ordinarie caused it so much to exceed the proportion of others elswhere and from hence it assumed the name of Julaber whom other vulgar heads ignorant of the truth of the story have fancied to have been a Giant and others of them have dreamed to have been some Enchanter or Witch It is probable the Romanes built something here at Chilham for when Sir Dudly Diggs digged down the ruines of the old Castle to make space for the foundation of that exact and elegant House which he there erected there was the Basis of a more ancient building discovered and many Aeconomical vessels of the Romane antique mode traced out in that place besides the Keeper of the Castle which is yet preserved hath a Senate-House adorned and furnished with Seats round about shaped out of an excellent durable Stone Oldwives Leas is the last place in the Inventorie of those Mannors which lie within the Limits of Chilham It was in elder Orthographie written Old-woods Leas as being indeed the Patrimony of a Family so called as appears both by Deeds without Date and of a more modern Constitution and continued Lords of it untill the Reign of Henry the sixth and then the Daughter and Heir Generall of John Oldwood annexed it to the Inheritance of Paine in which Family it was without any pause or interruption resident almost untill our Fathers memory and then this Name was entombed in four Daughters and Coheirs two of which by the first Wife were matched to Cob and Philipot of Feversham and the two other which were the Issue by the second Wife were espoused to Petit and Prude but this upon the division of the Estate into portions augmented the Revenue of Cob and is still for ought I know wraped up in the Demeasn of the Heirs and Descendants of this Family Chilham by the influence and procurement of Alexander de Balioll and Isabell his wife had the grant of a Market to be held weekly on the Tuesday and a Fair yearly by the space of three dayes viz. the Vigil the day of the Assumption of our Lady and the day after in the ninteenth year of Edward the first which grant was renewed and confirmed to Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer in the ninth year of Edward the second as appears Pat. 9. Edw. secundi Num. 57. Chillenden in the Hundred of Eastry gave Sirname to a Family so stiled and there is a recital in Deeds very ancient which extract their Original from the time of Henry the third of John de Chillenden Edward and William de Chillenden who had an Interest in this place in Ages of a lower step the Bakers who were Lords of Caldham by Capell were in the Possession of this place and after they were gone out the Family of Hunt about the Government of Henry the sixth by Purchase were setled in the Inheritance and here the Title for two or three Descents was Successively permanent and then the same inconstant Revolution which carried it to Hunt wafted it over from that Name by Sale to Gason which Family I find to be of no despiscable Antiquitie about Ickham and that Track and when it had for some years been linked to their Revenue it was for some two or three Ages since alienated to Hamon Ancestor to Anthony Hamon Esquire into whom by original Descent the hereditarie Right of this place is at this present collected Chistlet in the Hundred of Whilstaple was given to the Sea of Canterbury by Ethelbert King of Kent under the notion of Cistelet and here the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury erected a Magnificent Mansion which they called Ford and empaled a certain proportion of Land into the form of a Park as if they had judged it meet to justifie the first Donation of this Christian Prince who by election and design intended it for a chosen portion of Earth devoted to the support of this Arch-Bishoprick Clive formerly Cloves-Hoo lies in the Hundred of Shamell called so from its situation either on some elevated precipice or else its being cloven or rent in some part of it from the Continent by water It was in the Conquerours time called Bishops-Clive and in the Pages of Doomsday Book it is thus rated Cliva est Manerium Monachorum est de vestitu eorum in T. E. R. se defendebat pro II. Sullings Dimidio est appretiatum XVI However the place at present may be represented obscure and despiscable being shrunk from its former Glory yet in those Ages wherein the Saxons flourished it was ennobled with several Synods which were held here both National and Provincial wherein several Rules and Constitutions were enacted and established both to fetter up the Exorbitances of of the Clergie within the Channels and shores of the Ordinances and Decretals Ecclesiastical and likewise to empale the Irregularities of the Laity who then began to be debauched into disorder and excess within the restraints and boundaries of the Laws temporal I shall now exactly unweave them as they are Registred by the learned Spelman in his exact Collection of the Councels held before the Conquest The first was held in the year 742. under King Ethelbald and Arch-Bishop Cuthbert The second under Ethelbald King of Mercia accompanied with the principal of his Nobilitie and Arch-Bishop Cuthbert invested with his Bishops Abbots and other Ecclesiastical Persons in the year 747. The third was celebrated under Arch-Bishop Athelard in the year 798. The fourth Synod or Councell was convened at this place under Kenulf King of Mercians and Athelard Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in in the year 800. The fifth was called together under the abovesaid King Kenulf and Arch-Bishop Athelard in the year 803. The sixth was assembled in the third year of Bernulfe King of the Mercia in the year 822. that Prince himself with Vlfred Arch-Bishop of Canterbury being both present and president at it and over it The result of this eminent Synod was to rescue and restore to the Patrimony of the Church-Lands called Haerghes Hereforddinglond Gedding and Combe which by the Sacrilegious violence of some impious men even in those times had been ravished away from the Ecclesiastical Demeasn Their eighth and last was a small Synodal Convention collected into a Body under the above mentioned King Bernulf and Arch-Bishop Ulfred in the year of Grace 824. And
Sepulchre of Christ against the Assaults of Infidels is incertain for it was customary in those times if they did but vow to undertake the protection of the Crosse in the Christian Quarrel to insculpe their Figures upon their Sepulchres armed and Crosselegged This abovesaid Sir Henry de Cobham was again Sheriff of Kent in the first and ninth years of Edward the second Stephen de Cobham Son and Heir of this Sir Henry was Sheriff of Kent the eighth ninth and tenth years of Edward the third Tho. de Cobham was Sheriff of Kent in the first year of Richard the second John de Cobham was one of the Conservators of the Peace in this County in the third fifth sixth ninth twelfth and eighteenth years of Edward the third a place of no small Consequence in that Age the end of it being to appease Tumults regulate and bridle the Disorders and Excesses of all Irregular Persons whether Felons Outlaws or other Malefactors of what Complexion soever and lastly to secure the Peace of the County from all Eruptions either inbred or forraign This man had Issue Thomas Lord Cobham Father to John Lord Cobham in whom the male Line determined so that Joan became his Daughter and Heir who was first matched to John Delapole secondly to Sir John Ouldcastle by whom she had only a Daughter that died an Infant and thirdly to Reginald Braybrook who dyed as appears by the Inscription on his Tombe in Cobham Church in the year 1433 and by him she had only Joan who was Heir to them both and she by being wedded to Thomas Brook of the County of Somerset Esquire knitt Cobham and a large Income besides to her Husbands Patrimony And this man had Issue by her Sir Edmund Broke who was summoned to Parliament as Baron of Cobham in the twenty third year of Henry the sixth and he was in the direct Line Ancestor to Henry Broke Lord Cobham Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in the first year of King James who being too deeply concerned in the Design of Sir Walter Rawleigh which was as some who pretend to unravell it in the whole Webb by private Collusion and Treaty with Count Aremberg the Spanish Legat to draw over some Forces from Flanders by whose powerfull Concurrence they might engage this Nation in the Flame of Civill Contention since from that they expected their Light though others wrap it up in so many Vails and Umbrages that the whole Scene of this Attempt becomes perplexed and mysterious made the forfeiture of his Estate here at Cobham though not his Life become the price of his undertaking which being thus rent away by this Escheat from the Patrimony of this Family was soon after by King James invested by Grant in his Kinsman Lodowick Stuart Duke of Lenox who expiring without Issue it did successively devolve to his Nephew James Duke of Lenox upon whose late Decease it is come over to ....... his Dutchesse Dowager only Daughter to George Villiers Duke of Buckingham in whom the blood of those three noble Families Villiers Manours and Beaumont appears to be concentered Cobham-Colledge was founded by John Baron Cobham of Cobham in year 1362 for a Master and Chaplains to pray for the Souls of him his Ancestors and Successors Cobham-Bury lyes likewise in this Parish and was always esteemed as an appendant Mannor to Cobham having originally and successively the same Proprietaries and being found wrapped up in the Patrimony of the infortunate Henry Lord Cobham it escheated upon his Attainder to the Crown and was suddenly after by King James granted to Robert Earl of Salisbury whose Son and Heir the right honorable Robert Cecill Earl of Salisbury some few years since transferred his Right in it by Sale to one Zachary King of Watford in the County of Hertford Henherst is the last place of note in Cobham which as the Records in Rochester inform me was given to the Priory of Leed Castle by Robert de Crevequer upon his Foundation of that Cloister and continued folded up in its Revenue until the Whirlwind of the generall Suppression rent it off and King Henry the eighth granted it to George Lord Cobham who immediately after conveyed it to Sir George Harpur Esquire whose Son Sir Edward Harpur about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth passed away his Concernment here to Mr. Thomas Wright from whom it descended to his Son and Heir George Wright Esquire who dying without Issue gave it to his Kinsman Sir George Wright and his Son not many years since surrendered it by Sale to Doctor Obert Physitian to the late Queen Mary The Tythes of this Mannor were given by one Goscelinus as the first Book of of Compositions at Rochester discovers to me in the year 1091 to the Priory of St. Andrews in that City which upon the Suppression were by King Henry the eighth granted to George Brook Lord Cobham which upon the Attainder of his infortunate Grandchild Henry Lord Cobham in the second year of King James returned to the Crown and here the Propriety made its aboad untill the late King Charles by his royal Concession made them the Inheritance of Mr. Stephen Alcock of Rochester Esquire Cobham had the Grant of a Market weekly on the Monday and a Fair yearly on the Day of St Mary Magdalen procured to be observed there at those stated times abovesaid by John Lord Cobham in the forty first year of Edward the third Because I have mentioned before and shall have frequent occasion to mention hereafter those Kentish Gentlemen who were embarqued with Edward the first in his victorious and triumphant Expedition into Scotland and were dignified with the order of Knighthood for their Assistance given to that Prince in his succesfull and auspicious Siege of Carlaverock in the twenty eighth year of his Reign I shall represent to the Reader a List which I have collected from an Authentick Roll gleaned from very ancient Registers and other Records by that eminent Antiquary Robert Glover Esquire Sir Henry de Cobham Sir Reginald de Cobham of Cobham and Roundall in Shorn Sir Stephen de Cobham Sir Henry de Cobham le Uncle Sir Simon de Leybourn Sir Henry de Leybourne of Leybourne Castle Sir Jeffrey de Say de Birling Sir Ralph de St. Leger Sir John de St. Leger of Vlcombe Sir Thomas de St. Leger Sir Jeffrey de Lucy Sir Aymery de Lucy of Newington Lucies Sir Thomas de Lucy Sir John de Northwood Sir John de Northwood his Son of Northwood in Milton Sir John de Savage Sir Thomas de Savage of Bobbing Court Sir Roger de Savage Sir Stephen de Cosington in another old Roll there is mention of Sir William de Cosington it is probable they were deslinct persons but both of Cosington Hall in Alresford Sir Peter de Huntingfield of West-Wickham Sir Robert de Crevequer but of what place is not mentioned in the Roll. Sir Simon de Crioll of Walmer Sir Maurice de Bruin de Bekenham Sir Bartholomew de
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
in the Chancel of Eightham Church and Jo. Clement was his Brother and Heir whose Daughter Ann Clement was married to Hugh Pakenham who in her Right possest the Moat and he about the Reign of K. Edw. the sixth joyning with Sir William Sidney who had matched with Anne his only Heir passed it away to Sir John Ailen Lord Maior of London in the year 1526 and then again 1536 who left it to his Son Sir Christopher Allen and he about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth conveyed it by Sale to John Selby Esq whose Son Sir William Selby dying without Issue to continue it in the Name gave it to Mr. George Selby of London whom it acknowledges at this instant for Lord of the Fee In the North-side of the Church of Eightham in an Arch in the Wall beneath the Quire lyes the Representation of a Knight wrought in Stone and his Arms pourtrayed on the Coat Armour on his Breast according to the usage of eminent Souldiers in the Reign of Edward the third This was Sir Thomas Cawne extracted originally out of the County of Stafford he had not much Land of Inheritance in Kent all I find was at Nulcomb a place so called in Seal as appears by his Deed of Purchase of John Ashburneham dated the thirty ninth of Edward the third but matching with Lora de Morant the Daughter and Heir of Sir Tho. Morant of Morants Court after his Death remarried to James de Peckham he thereby improved and enhaunsed his Fortune in Kent He died without Issue for ought as yet can be discovered his Arms as they be inserted in the Rolls and Registers of Staffordshire are empaled in the Chancel window with the Arms of Morant Elmested in the Hundred of Wye was a Limb of that Revenue which fell under the Signiory of the noble and ancient Family of Heringod In Testa de Nevill there is mention of Stephen de Heringod who paid respective Aid in the twentieth year of Henry the third for Lands which he held at Hardres and Elmsted Stephen de Heringod this mans Grandchild dyed about the beginning of Edward the first and determined in a Daughter and Heir called Grace de Heringod who was matched to Philip de Hardres and so this Mannor in her Right became incorporated into the revenue of this noble Family and remained for many Generations fastned to this Name untill the Age which almost commenced from our Fathers Memory and then Dane-Court a Branch of this Mannor was sold to Cloake and Elmested it self by the same Fatality went out to Marsh whose Successor very lately hath fixed his Interest by Sale in Lushington Evington Court is an ancient Seat in Elmested which was the Inheritance of Gentlemen of that Sirname who bare a Fesse between three Steel Burgonets for their Coat Armour and in a Book coppied out from old Deeds and digested into a just Volume by William Glover Somersett Herald and now in my Custody there is the Copy of an old Deed without date wherein William Fitz-Neal called in Latin Filius Nigelli does passe over some Land to Ruallo de Valoigns which is fortified by the appendant Testimony of one Robert de Evington who was Ancestor to the Evingtons of Elmsted of whom there is mention in the Deeds of this place in the Reign of Hen. the third and Edward the first After this Family was gon out the Gays a Family of no mean Account in this Track were incorporated into the Possession descended originally out of France where there is a Family which even at this Day is known by the Name of Le-gay and is planted in Normandy from whence those of Jersey and Gernesey are extracted a Branch of which is transplanted into South-Hampton and there for ought I know flourishes at present And to justifie the Truth of this their Extraction in the Leiger Book of Horton-Priory there is mention of one John le Gay who was a Benefactor to their House and though they are called at this day only without the Addition Gay yet this hath happened by Disuse and Intermission by not adding it in their Customary writing and affixing it to their Name But to proceed Evington Court though it was not originally erected by this Family yet certainly it was much inforced by Supplement and additionall Building for diverse places of the House are in Relation to the Name adorned with Nose-Gays In Conclusion after it had owned many of this Name of no vulgar Ranck for its Proprietaries it was about the beginning of Henry the seventh by Christopher Gay alienated to John Honywood Esquire of the eldest Family of the Honywoods from whom in a direct Line Edward Honywood Esquire Son and Heir of Sir John Honywood lately deceased is extracted and is now invested in the Possession of this place Elmested had the Grant of a Market obtained to it to be observed weekly on the Thursday and a Fair yearly on the Vigil and Day of Saint James by the Procurement of Henry de Haut Pat. 28. Edwardi tertii N. 20. Elmeston in the Hundred of Wingham was parcell of the Demeasne of the Lord Leybourn Juliana de Leybourn Wife of Roger de Leybourn had an estate here at her Death which was in the first year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 86. and her sole Heir was the Lady Juliana Leybourn first married to John de Hastings and after to William de Clinton but dyed without Issue by either in the forty third year of the Reign of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 57. and as it appears without any visible Alliance that could justify their Title to her Estate for the Crown feised upon it as legally escheated Richard the second granted Elmston to Simon Burleigh and upon his Attaint it returned to the Crown by Defailance of any who could pretend a Claim unto it King Richard the second about the fourteenth year of his Reign granted it to the Abby of Childrens Langley Before I proceed any farther in this Discourse I shall justifie what I before asserted that is that the first Husband of Juliana de Leybourn was John de Hastings a Kinsman of Lawrence de Hastings Earl of Pembroke but not his Son John de Hastings as some suppose and this is obvious if we consider that William de Clinton deceased by the Testimony of all in the twenty eighth yeer of Edward the third Juliana his Widow called in the Escheat Roll Comitissa de Huntington dyed in the forty third year of that Prince and John de Hastings Earl of Huntington in the year 1375 which happened in the forty ninth year of Edward the third which must necessarily upon a serious Computation of Time fall out six years after this Countesse's Decease to whom had she been matched she would have preserved the Stile of Comitissa de Pembroke and not that of Huntington But to return into that Track from whence this Digression hath made me wander after it remained Cloistered up in the Revenue of
descended to John Bamme Sheriff of Kent in the second year of Richard the third And he gave it to his Daughter Katharine Bamme who passed it away by Grant to Kempe and Wiatt Sir Thomas Kempe sold his moiety to Sir Thomas Wiatt who having forfeited this to the Crown by his unhappy Defection in the second year of Q. Mary it lodged in the royal Revenue untill Queen Elizabeth in the twenty fourth year of her Rule granted it back again to the Lady Joan Wiatt and her Son George Wiatt Esq who in our Fathers memory alienated it to Hayward from which Name by the Heir Generall of this Family it is lately brought to acknowledge Mr. Will. De Lawn of London for its present Proprietary There was a Chappel belonging to Grench which upon the Inquisition returned into the Court of Augmentation but upon the Suppression in the Reign of Hen. the eighth was affirmed to have been erected by Sir John Philipott I confesse I have seen no other Record to evince any thing to the Contrary and therefore I acquiesce in that Testimony Vpbery is the last Mannor in Gillingham which was a Limb of that Demeasn which related to the Nunnery at Minster in Shepey and when the whirlwind of the common Dissolution in the Reign of Henry the eighth had shook this into the Revenue of the Crown that Prince in the thirty eighth year of his Reign passed it away by Grant as appears by the original Patent to Sir Thomas Cheyney whose Son Henry Lord Cheyney exchanged it with other Lands with Queen Elizabeth and shee as is manifest by the Patent now in the Custody of Brasen-nose Colledge granted it to Sir Edward Hobby who about the latter end of her Reign conveyed it to the Reverend Alexander Nowell Dean of Pauls and he dying without Issue in the year 1601 left it for ever to Brasennose Colledge in Oxford with this Proviso that one of his Alliance should hold it in Lease from that Society for ever paying to the Colledge an 100 Marks per Annum according to the Tenure of which Testamentary Restriction it is now enjoyed by Col. Tho. Blount of Wriklemersh Esquire Gillingham had a Market procured to it to be held weekly on the Thursday and a Fair to be observed yearly at the Feast of St. Crosse and seven days after by John Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the eleventh year of Edward the first as appears Cart. Num. 3. Lidsing is the last place of Account in this Parish it was in Ages of a higher Ascent the Inheritance of an ancient Family called Sharsted Simon de Sharsted possest it at his Death which was in the twenty fourth year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 42. In Ages of a lower Computation I find Roger de Say to be possest of it and he about the fiftieth of E. the 3d. gives it to Rob. Belknap the Judge who about the tenth year of Richard the second was by Sentence from Parliament exiled into Ireland for too vehemently asserting the Prerogative of the Crown which in the Estimate of those Times was thought to have opened those sluces too much which would have let in the Inundations of an arbitrary Power upon the people's Liberties But this Mannor was again restored by that Prince who looked upon this person as his Martyr to him as its ancient Possessor in the twenty second year of his Reign and he by his Deed bearing Date the eighth of October in the second year of King Henry the fourth gives it to the Priory of St. Andrews in Rochester for one Monk who was a Priest to celebrate Masse for ever for the Soul of his Father John Belknap and for the Soul of his Mother Alice Wife of the said John and likewise for the Soul of himself and all his Successors in the Cathedrall of Rochester This upon the Dissolution of the former Priory was by Henry the eighth upon his Institution of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester granted to them for their support and Alimony and rested in their Revenue untill these Times There was another Chauntry founded at Twidall by John Beaufits which he makes provision for by his last Will the twenty second of November in the year of our Lord 1433 and orders it to be dedicated to John the Baptist and likewise that one Priest should there celebrate Masse for the Soul of Himself his Wife Alice his Father John his Mother Isabell and his Uncle William Beaufitz the Seats in the Chappel and other Remains declare it to have been formerly a neat and elegant Piece of Architecture Here was a signall Encounter as the Annals of St. Austins testifie between Edmund Ironside and Canutus the Dane wherein after a Sharp Debate the Dane was broken and discomfited At Gillingham likewise as Thomas Robburn a Monk of Winchester testifies was acted that bloody Tragedy by Earl Godwin who slew all those Normans who arrived with Edward unto the tenth man for which his Name as well as his Conscience stands bespatter'd and stain'd with an indelible Character of Ignominy and Cruelty to all Posterity Goodwenston in the Hundred of Feversham was the ancient Seat of Chich. The first of Eminence was Ernaldus Chich who was a man of principall Account in the Reign of Henry the second Richard the first and King John nor were they more eminent here then they were at Canterbury where they had large Possessions and unto them did the Aldermanry of Burgate appertain Thomas Chich of Goodwenston was a prime Benefactor to the Church of St. Mary Bredmin in Canterbury where his Name together with his Effigies are in an old Character set up in the West-window as his Coat is likewise in the Chancel insculped in Stone-work He was Bailiff of Canterbury an Office not contemptible in those Times in the year 1259 and again in the year 1271. Thomas Chich this mans Son was Sheriff of Kent in the forty fourth year of Edward the third and held his Shrievalty at Goodwenston Thomas Chich this Mans Son was Sheriff of Kent likewise in the fifteenth year of Richard the second and he was Grandfather to Valentine Chich who matched with Philippa Daughter and Heir of Sir Robert Chichley Brother to Henry Chichley Arch-bishop of Canterbury but dyed without Issue-male so that his three Sisters and Coheirs wedded to Kemp Judde and Martin shared his Inheritance and by a joint Consent about the Beginning of Henry the eighth passed away their Estate here and at Ewell in this parish to Pordage of Rodmersham and from this Name about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth it passed away to Fagg descended from the Faggs of Willesborough where I find by the Court Rolls of the Mannor of Brabourne that one Andrew Fagge held Lands there of that Mannor in the Reign of Edward the third But to go on the Faggs had not long been planted in their new atchieved Purchase at this place when Robert Fagge concluded in two Daughters and Coheirs Ann who was matched to Sir
Hales Baronet in whose Revenue it at this instant is involved Beluncle is another Seat in this Parish whose Antiquity pleads for a Remembrance the first Family whom I find in Record to have been possest of it was Foliot Jordan de Foliot held it in the Time of Henry the second and Richard the first by the fifth part of a Knights Fee and from him did it descend to Richard de Foliot his Son and Heir who in the twentieth year of Henry the third passes it away by Fine to Reginald de Cobham who was Sheriff of Kent from the thirty third year of Henry the third to the fortieth of that Prince and was accounted one of the principal Seats which was couched in the Demeasne of this Family and in divers old Pedigrees and other Deeds they are written Cobham of Beluncle Of this Family was Henry de Cobham who was summoned to Parliament as Baron in the seventh year of Edward the third Stephen de Cobham who was summoned in the eighteenth year of that Prince And Thomas de Cobham who was summoned as Baron in the thirty eighth year of that Prince And in Cobham and then Brook did it continue until Henry Lord Cobham and his Brother George Brooke in the first year of King James being entangled in that cloudy Design of Sir Walter Rawleigh which continues muffled up in a Mist until this Day forfeited both their Estates and the last his Life But King James restored this to Henry Lord Cobham who dying without Issue it devolved to Sir William Brooke Son of George Brooke and he likewise deceasing without Issue-male in the year 1643. it came over to Sir John Brooke now Lord Cobham as Reversioner in Entail Hollingbourne in the Hundred of Eyhorne was given to the Monks of Christ-church in Canterbury for to supply them with Diet by Athelstan Son of Ethelred which Mannor he had before purchased of his Father and in the year 909. with his Licence and Consent bestowed it on that Covent free as Adisham If you will discover how it was rated in the Conquerors Time Doomesday Book thus represents it to you Hollingbourne saies that est Mancrium Monachorum de Cibo corum in Tempore Edwardi Regis se defendebat pro VI. Sullings nunc similiter Et est appretiatum inter totum hoc Maneriam XXX lb. This being thus fixed remained from the Original Donation locked up in the Ecclesiastical Patrimony until the twenty ninth year of Henry the eighth and then it was surrendred into that King's Hands by the Prior and Monks of the Covent aforesaid and he that year exchanged it with Thomas Cranmer Arch-bishop of Canterbury There was the Gallows which appertained to the Priory of Christ-church here erected at Hollingbourne where those who had committed Murders Felonies or other Trespasses worthy of death within the liberties of that Covent were according to their priviledge of Infangtheof and Outfangtheof brought to exemplary punishment See Somner Fol. 286. There is a Mannor in this Parish called Ripple which had Owners of that Name for in the thirtieth of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 91. I find that Richard de Ripple held this and other Lands which he had in Lease from the Priory of Christ-church at his Decease but it only gave him Sirname and then left his Family for before the latter end of Edward the third it went from this Name to Sir William Septuans and he enjoyed it at his Death which was in the forty third year of Edward the third and transmitted it to his Son William Septuans who not long after conveyed it to John Gower in which Name it lay couched until the Raign of Henry the fourth and then it was alienated to Brockhull a Cadet of that Stock which flourished so long at Calehill and here it continued for many Descents in this Family until the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth and then Henry Brockhull dying without Issue-male Anne his only Daughter and Heir brought it to be the Inheritance of Sir John Taylor in which Family after it had lodged only until the latter end of Queen Elizabeth it was passed away to Sir Martin Barnham Elnothington is another Mannor in this Parish which had Owners likewise of that Sirname for in a Deed of Adam de Twisdens which bears Date from the one and twentieth of Edward the first one William de Elnothington is Witness But after this man I find no more mention in any Record of the Name In the Raign of Edward the third I discover Sir Arnold St. Leger of Ulcombe to be possest of it and in the forty second year he makes a Composition with divers of his Tenants for Lands that they held of this Mannor and from him like an uninterrupted Thread did the Title of this place passe thorough many Descents of this Family until at last it devolved to Sir Anthony St. Leger who almost in our Memory alienated it to Sir Thomas Colepeper Pen-Court is another Seat in Hollingbourne worthy our Notice It was in elder Times the Patrimony of a Family called Pen but whether the Pens of Codcot in the County of Bedford were descended from them or not is uncertain in Brief before the end of Edward the third this Family was worn out and then the Donets succeeded but held this Seat not long for by the Heir Generall it devolved with much other Land to St. Leger of Ulcombe and here it rested untill allmost our Remembrance and then it was passed away to Sir Thomas Colepeper and he again conveyed it to Mr. Mark Questwood of London who upon his Decease settled it for ever on the Company of Fishmongers in London Muston is likewise within the Verge of this Parish upon perusall of the ancient Deeds and Court-rols I found it to be written Moston as giving Name in the Raign of Edward the first to a Family of that Appellation which about the Beginning of Richard the second was wholly crumbled away and had surrendred the Possession to Wood in which Family the Inheritance hath ever since been permanent Greenway-court is the last place considerable in this Parish It was as high as the Conduct of any Evidence can guide me to discover parcell of the Patrimony of Atleeze and Sir Richard Atleeze dying without Issue in the year 1394 gave it to his Brother Marcellus Atleeze by whose Daughter and Coheir it came to be possest by Valentine Barret of Pery-Court and he about the Beginning of Henry the fourth conveyed it to Fitz Water in which Family it remained untill the Raign of Edward the fourth and then it was alienated to St. Leger with whose Inheritance it continued untill almost our Age and then it was by Sale transplanted into Sir Alexander Colepeper who upon his Decease gave it to Sir John Colepeper of Losenham Hope in the Hundreds of Langport and St. Martins hath nothing memorable in it but Crawthorn which for those worthy persons who have successively held it calls for some
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
elder Times made their Applications by humble Addresses to the Crown of whose Revenue this Parish was a Limb to rescue them from that Burden which crushed the shoulder and to permit that this Parish Suo integro Dominio Jurisdictione complecterctur might be circumscribed within the Sphere and Circumference of its own Signiory without any adherence or Connexion to any other but it seems the Beams of majesty not beating with any propitious Influence on this Design it grew not up to that Stature and perfection it did first aspire to so that it remained an imperfect Moiety of a Mannor under which Notion it is represented to us at present Yet in the ninth year of Edw. the first Eleanor Wife to that Prince obtained a Market weekly and a Fair yearly to be observed at this place and being improved with these advantageous Franchises it remained marshalled in the Inventory of the Royal Demeasne untill the second year of King James and then it was passed away by Grant to Philip then Earl of Mout Gomery upon whose late Decease it was disposed by Will to own the Interest of his second Son Mr. James Herbert Cheveney and Cheveney House are both within the Verge of Marden and were entituled to a Family of that Sirname Henry de Cheveney held it at his Death which was in the second year of Edward the second Rot. Esc Num. 59. And after him Joan the Wife of John Cheveney his Son was in Enjoyment of it at her Decease which was in the thirty second year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 5. But after this I find no farther Remembrance of this Family at this Place for in the second year of Richard the second I discover by an ancient Court-Roll one William Atweld to have held the Propriety of it And in this Family was the Title lodged until the Beginning of Henry the sixth and then it was transmitted by Sale to Couper and in the thirteenth year of that Monarch I find one William Couper to have discharged some Persons of some Amerciaments and Fines imposed upon them for not performing Suite and Service at this Mannor of Cheveney and in this Family was the Interest successively resident until the Beginning of Q. Mary and then this House and Mannor being by the Custome of Gavelkind ground into two Parcels and those possest by two Brothers Coheirs one of them passed away Cheveney House to Maplesden in which name it is yet constant and the other alienated the Mannor of Cheveny to Lone from whom Mr. ....... Lone the instant Proprietary is lineally extracted Sipherst is another little Mannor in Marden which had Possessors here of that Sirname until the latter End of Edward the third and then they being abolished and the Fee-simple abandoned and surrendred to William Atweld about the second year of Richard the second that Name was entituled to the Estate here until the Beginning of Henry the sixth and then it was alienated with Cheveney to Couper in whom the Fee-simple had not been long constant when it was demised to John Field and he made his Will in the seventeenth year of Edward the fourth and gives it to his Son Jo. Field and from him did it by descendant Right devolve to his Successor Edward Field who held it the fourth year of Q. Elizabeth and after gave it to his Kinsman Thomas Gilbert whose Successor Thomas Gilbert having settled it on his Widow Sibil Gilbert it is now in her Right possest by her second Husband Mr. Richard Knight Tildens Stubbins and Brooke are three other inconsiderable Mannors in this Parish which had three owners of these Denominations the first of which were Persons of Eminence in this County and had an Estate at Wye Catts place in Brenchley and at Tilmanston likewise as it appears by the Book of Aid where there is an Assessement laid upon the Lands of William Tilden in the twentieth year of Edward the third at making the Black Prince Knight But to proceed the Propriety of these three Places were constantly under the Dominion of these three Families until the latter End of Henry the fourth and then Stubbins was passed away to Tilden in whom both Stubbins and Tildens remained combined and wound up together until the Beginning of Henry the sixth and then they were demised to Thomas Stidolfe Esquire and he made his Will in the year 1453 and therein mentions Stubbins and Tildens to have been purchased of Tilden and Brooke of Richard Brooke but this Family about the Beginning of Henry the seventh determining in a Female Inheritrix matched to Richard Vane Esquire united these three Mannors to his Patrimony and from him by the traverses of several Descents are they now come down to be possest by the right Honourable Mildmay Vane Earl of Westmerland Monkton is a Mannor in Marden which made up the Demeasn of the Priory of Leeds and upon the suppression of that Cloister was by K. Henry the eighth granted to Thomas Colepeper of Bedgebury Esquire who not long after alienated it to Thomas Wilfor'd Esquire and he in the seventh year of Q. Elizabeth to Thomas Stanley in which Family it remained until our Fathers Remembrance and then it was demised by Sale to Mr. ...... Board of Sussex St. Mary Church in Romney Mersh lies in the Hundreds of St. Martins and New-Church and was anciently folded up in that large Demeasn which did acknowledge the Dominion of the Criolls John de Crioll or Keriel of a younger Extraction from Bertram de Crioll held it at his Death which was in the forty ninth year of Edward the third and transmitted it to his Son Sir Nicholas Criol from whom by a continued Succession it devolved to Sir Thomas Crioll Knight of the Garter who falling an Oblation at the Battle of St. Albans to the Cause and Quarrel of the House of York by his Daughter and Heir it came to be the Inheritance of John Fogge Esquire who left it to his Son Thomas Fogge and though he determined in two Daughters and Coheirs Alice matched to William Scot and Anne first married to Edward Scot and after to Henry Isham yet it seems to improve and continue the Name he gave this and other Lands to his Kinsman George Fogge whose Posterity enjoyed it even until our Fathers Memory and then it was alienated to Carkeredge St. Maries in the Hundred of Hoo was as appears by Sir Thomas Wisemans Evidences for I can trace not any Notice of it in Publick Records in the Raign of Edw. the fourth for no higher do the Deeds arrive at in the Hands of one William Halton who sold the same to William Lemyng Citizen and Grocer of London as appears by a Deed dated the twenty second day of October in the eighth year of the said King's Raign Afterwards I find this abovesaid Mannor in the Hands of Sir John Brooke Lord Cobham in the Raign of Henry the seventh but from whom it came to him the Evidences do not discover but
on the Saturday which continues until this day Midley in the Hundred of Langport was parcell of the Inheritance of Echingham of whom more is spoken at Jacks-court in Lidde from whom by Margaret Daughter and Heir of Thomas Echingham it devolved to Walter Blount Esquire from him it descended to his Son Edward Blount Lord Montjoy who deceasing without Issue Elizabeth his Sister and Heir entered upon the Possession and she by matching with Andrew Windsor after created Lord Windsor by Henry the eighth swelled the Revenue of that Family by the Addition of Midley who not long after passed it away to Clache by whose Daughter and Heir it came over to Stringer and he transferred his Right in it by Sale to Scot and Scot conveyed the whole Demise to Godfrey whose Son Sir The. Godsrey does now possesse the Signory of the Premises Milsted in the Hundred of Milton though an obscure Village in it Self yet has been anciently eminent for several noble Families which have had their Residence within the Circuit of it For first Hogshaws gave not only Seat but Sirname likewise to a Family of that Denomination in whom when it had for many years continued Edmund Hogshaw in the eleventh year of Richard the second passed it away to Sir Thomas Lovell and he dyed seised of it in the second year of Henry the fourth and Thomas Lovell was his Heir after Lovell Greaves by purchase became entituled to the Possession of it whose Successor Robert Greaves in the ninth year of Henry the eighth passed it away to Roger VVake and this Roger VVake in the fifteenth year of the said Prince's Government alienated by Sale his Concernment in it to Richard Bernard who some few years after devested himself of his Right in it and sold it to Adam Henman of Lenham where after the Title some few years had fixed he in the twelfth year of Queen Elizabeth conveyed it over to Amias Thompson and he gave it in Dower with his Daughter Alice Thompson to Sir John Tooke from whom in the memory of these Times it devolved by Descent to his Son Captain Nicholas Tooke who passed it away by Sale to Mr. Richard Tilden Then we have here secondly another place which in some old Evidences is represented under the Name of Nottingham Court though now it bears the Name of Higham It was the Residence of a noble Family called Nottingham who were Owners of a large Patrimony in this Track and their Armes stand yet in old coloured Glasse in Milsted Church viz. Paly wavee of four pieces Gules and Artent The last of which was John Nottingham who expired in a Daughter and Heir called Eleanor Nottingham who by matching with Simon Cheney second Son of Sir Richard Cheney of Shurland brought this and a large Demeasne with it to acknowledge the Signiory of that Family in which Name without any Vicissitude to transplant the Title it is fixed at this day Milton Septuans in the Hundred of Westgate was anciently a Parish See more of this Family at Thurnham and had a Church appertaining to it though now by disuse it be languished into decay and shrunk into so narrow an Estimate that it has left only an Oratory or little Chappel which is yet visible to instruct us what was its former Glory which certainly was of no inconsiderable Account when it was the Seat of the elder House of Septuans who made this their Residence For VVilliam Septuans Son of William Septuans had here is Habitation when he was Sheriff of Kent which was in the fourth year of Richard the second but long after this Man did it not continue in the Name of Septuans for this Family as to that Branch of it which was planted at this place shrunk into a Daughter and Heir who was matched to Sir Francis Fogge and so this place fell under his Revenue And from him descended Sir Will. Fogge whose Successor Sir John Fogge of Repton Knight passed this away to Sir George Brown of Bechworth Castle in whom it remained till this Mans Grandchild Sir Thomas Brown of Bechworth aforesaid partly sold it and partly gave it in Dower with his Daughter Elizabeth Brown to Sir Robert Honywood of Charing whose eldest Son by this Match Sir Thomas Honywood of Marks Hall in Essex is now planted in the Fee-simple of it Moldash in the Hundred of Felborough is a Branch of the Mannor of Chilham but yet there is the Mannor of Flemings aliàs Bowers for so it is styled in Records and Court-rolls which deserves our Notice It was in the year 1019 as an ancient Court-roll now in the Hands of Mr. Chapman does inform me in the Hands of John de Fleming and probably here it remained diverse years though I can discover nothing which may evince the certainty of it for there is an Intermission or Gap in the Evidences In the twenty fourth year of Henry the sixth as appears by another ancient Court-roll it was the Possession of John Treswenall and in this Name it continued till the Raign of Henry the eighth and then it was alienated to Sir Thomas Moile in whose Posterity the Title and Demeasne was setled till our Fathers memory and then the Fee-simple was sold away to Mr. Henry Chapman Then secondly there is the Mannor of Witherling who had Owners who bore that Sirname and who had certainly the Possession of it severall Generations which is manifest from that compliance the Name had with the Mansion though the Evidence which I have drained from the Deeds and Muniments of this place reaches no higher then the Government of Henry the sixth for in the thirty eighth year of that Prince's Rule Joan Witherling the visible and only apparent Heir of this Family transmitted her Interest in it by Sale to William Keneworth whose Son William Keneworth by the like Fatalitie passed it away in the Raign of Henry the seventh to John Moile of Buckwell Esquire extracted from the Moiles of Bodmin in Cornwall and this John Moile in the fourth year of Henry the eighth sold it to Hamo Vidian a Name very ancient in Moldash for here is a Farme which at this Day carries the Name of Vidian-Forestall and his Grandchild William Vidian at this instant enjoys the Fee-simple of it Mongeham called for distinction Great-Mongeham to difference it from an Hamlet of that Name styled Little-Mongeham lies in the Hundred of Eastry and was given to the Church by Eadbert King of Kent for a supply both of Diet and Apparell of the Monks of St. Austins as the Book of Christ-Church does insinuate and upon the Dissolution of the Covent and annexing the Demeasn to the Revenue of the Crown it was by Henry the eighth in the thirty third year of his Raign granted to the Dean and Chapter of Christ-Church who conveyed it in Lease to John Fropchunt from whom by Purchase it was brought over to Gibs and is now the Patrimony and Hereditarie Right of Crayford a Name of deep and
was by Etheldred let loose from the Veins of his Danish Subjects universally in this Nation and certainly it was this Swain that erected the Castle here to preserve a Winter Station for his Ships and though it now lye gasping in its own Rubbish yet there are yet some Characters and Signatures remaining which evidence and declare to us that there was once a Fortresse there where there is nothing now but dismantled Ruines The Tradition of the Country is that that Valley which interposes between that Hill which ascends up to Northfleet and that which winds up to Swanscamp was once covered with Water and being locked in on each side with Hills made a secure Road for Shipping which invited the Dane to make it a Winter-Station for his Navy and the same Report will tell you likewise of Anchors which have been digged up about the utmost Verge of that Mersh which is contiguous to the Thames and certainly if we consider the Position of this Valley which is nothing but a Chain of Mershland interlaced with a Stream called Ebbs fleet which swells and sinks with the Flux and Reflux of the adjacent River and the Dimension of their Ships then at that Time in use which were not of any extraordinary Bulk this Tradition is not improbable Near this place Stigand the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Egelsine Abbot of St. Augustines assembled the Kentish Men into an Army pretending it was better to dye like Men in asserting and vindicating their Native Liberties with Swords in their Hands then like Slaves to prostitute themselves to the Insolence of the Conquerour by a cheap and tame Submission with Halters about their Necks which had so great an Influence and Impression upon their Spirits that they resolved their Franchises and themselves should find one Tomb together rather then they would give up both to the Sword and Will of an imperious Victor and indeed soon after they managed their Stratagems with that Successe that William Sirnamed the Conquerour advancing with his Normans into Kent to reduce Dover-Castle which was then made good against him he and his Army dropped into those Ambushes which the Kentish Inhabitants had strewed for him where he had indisputably perished had he not by Charter fortified and confirmed those Immunities they then contended and strugled for and which remain unviolated either by any forrain or domestick Eruption even untill this Day The Mannor of Swanscamp it self was as farre as Record can guide us to discover the Inheritance of the Montchensies called in the Latine Repertory de Monte-Canisio and Hubert de Montchensey as appears by Dooms-day Book was the first of that Name of any Eminence who was Lord of the Fee and after him his Son William de Montchensey by paternal Right held it and so dyed in Possession of it in the year 1287 from whom it descended to Dionis his Daughter and Heir and in Relation to her to her Husband Hugh de Vere who became by this Addition of Estate thus accruing Baron of Swanscamp and sat under that Notion in the Parliament which was summoned in the first year of Edward the second but he dying without Issue William de Valence Earl of Pembroke claimed it in Right of his Wife Daughter and Heir to John de Montchensey second Brother to William de Montchensey who was Father in Law to Hugh de Vere above-mentioned from whom it descended to his Son Aymer de Valence who dying without Issue in the seventeenth year of Edward the third Isabell his Sister matched to Lawrence de Hastings became his Heir who in her Right was Earl of Pembroke and Baron of Swanscamp and left it to his Grandchild John de Hastings Earl of Pembroke who dying without Issue in the fourteenth of Richard the second in the fifteenth year of that Prince Reginald Grey and Richard Talbot in respect of Marriage were found to be his Heirs and upon the Partition of the Estate this was united to the Demeasne of Talbot in which Family after it had rested untill the latter end of Henry the sixth it was conveyed to Sir Thomas Brown of Bechworth Castle whose Son Sir William Brown in the twelfth year of Edward the fourth surrendered them into the hands of Edward the fourth for the use of his Mother Cicely Dutchesse Dowager of York upon whose Decease it returned to the Crown and lay there untill the first year of Q. Elizabeth and then it was granted to Ralph Weldon Esq great Grand-father to Colonel Ralph Weldon the instant Lord of the Fee Alcharden alias Combes is another place in this Parish worthy this Survey It was many Hundred years since the Inheritance of a Family called Cumbe or Combe who continued resident in the Possession untill the reign of Edward the fourth and then it went away from them by Sale to Swan of Hook-House in Southfleet in which Family it was fixed untill the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth and then it was conveyed to Lovelace who not long after passed it away to Carter and he alienated it to Hardres from whom about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth the Vicissitude of Sale carried it off to Fagge who in the tenth year of King James transmitted it by Sale to Hudson whose Descendant not many years fince demised it by Sale to Mr. Richard Head of Rochester Ince-Grice is the last place considerable in Swanscampe It related before the general suppression to the Priory of Dartford but being torn off by King Henry the eighth it was by Edward the sixth in the fifth of his reign granted in Fee-Farm to Martin Muriell but the Fee-simple remained in the Crown until Queen Elizabeth in the fifth year of her Rule passed it away to Edward Darbishire and John Bere who not long after jointly conveyed it to Jones who in our Fathers Memory alienated it to Holloway whose Son and Heir Mr. Thomas Holloway hath lately demised his Interest in it to Captain Edward Brent of Southwarke Staple in the Hundred of Eastry hath two places memorable First Crixall which was Anciently written Crickleaddshall when in Ages of a higher Ascent it confessed the Family of Brockhull for its Owners which were Lords of it but until the twenty eighth of Edward the first and then it was setled upon a Daughter but whether she brought it or not by Marriage to Wadham which Family I find about the latter end of Edward the third to have been possest of it I cannot discover and where the Light of Record is dim I must acquiesce in silence William Wadhaem as I trace out by an old Pedigree of Fogg lived in the reign of Henry the fourth Henry the fifth and Henry the sixth under the Scepter of which Princes he managed the Office of Justice of the Peace for the County of Somerset and left his Estate here to his Son and Heir Sir Nicholas Wadham who determined in a Daughter and Heir matched to Sir William Fogg by which Alliance this Mannor came to be ingrafted into the
old Rentall discovers to me and farther none of the ancient Evidences do reach the Patrimony of Thomas Champneys and he makes it over in part to Sir William Wroth of Enfield and he in the second year of Richard the second alienated all his Right and Interest in it to Thomas Lovell but some part remained unsold untill the nineteenth of the abovesaid Prince and then it was wholly invested by Sale from Robert Champneys in the aforesaid Thomas Lovell and he by his Feoffees in Trust as namely John Osborne John Arnold Richard Marshall and John Atsheath conveyed it in the eleventh year of Henry the fourth to Thomas Theobald or Tebald and Mawde his Wife and so by this Purchase did it become the Inheritance of this Family and made its aboad here untill the twenty fourth year of Henry the seventh and then John Theobald alienated it to William Porter which Family it is probable were concerned in it before for in the tenth year of Edward the fourth I find John Alphey releases by Deed his right in Hall to William Porter Esquire and from William Porter abovesaid did the Title slow down in the Chanel of paternal Right to Mr. Andrew Porter who concluding in a Daughter and Heir called Elizabeth it is now by matching with her become the Patrimony of Mr. Peter Stowell Register of the Diocesse of Rochester Stidulfe is a third Mannor in Seale which afforded both Seat and Sirname to a Family so called Robert de Stidulfe is mentioned in Deeds without Date to have held this and much other Land in Seale In the thirty sixth year of Edward the third I find Reginald Stidulfe of Stidulfe accounts with Thomas Champneis for Land held of his Mannor of Hall And lastly I discover that William Stidulfe about the eleventh year of Henry the sixth by Sale conveyed it to William Quintin whose Son William changed the Name of Quintin into Oliver upon what Grounds I have discovered at Leybourn and in this Name was this Mannor lodged untill the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth and then it was passed away to Richard Theobald whose Son John exchanged it with his Kinsman Stephen Theobald who dying without Issue-male left two Coheirs Katharine matched to Edward Michell and Margaret wedded to David Polhill who shared his Inheritance and this upon the Division of the Estate augmented the Revenue of Michell and his Descendant Mr ....... Michell is now the Heir apparent of it Sedingbourn in the Hundred of Milton hath several places in its confines remarkable whereof Bayford and Goodneston first claim our Notice the last of which had a Castle whose Banks and Ruines are yet visible it anciently acknowledged the Family of Nottingham who likewise in elder Times were possest of Bayford for Proprietaries Robert de Nottingham flourished in the reign of Edward the first and dates several of his Deeds in the Beginning of that Prince's Rule apud Castellum suum de Goodneston Robert de Nottingham his Successor was Sheriff of Kent the forty eighth year of Edward the third and held his Shriovalty at Bayford in Sedingbourn in which year he dyed and was found to have held at his Death Lands at Sharsted Pedding in Tenham a place called Newland and another called la Herst Higham in Milsted Bixle in Tong now called Bex and lastly Goodneston and Babford now named Bayford in this Parish all which descended to his only Son John Nottingham whose only Daughter and Heir Eleanor Nottingham was matched to Simon Cheyney second Son of Sir Richard Cheyney of Shurland who brought all this spreading Revenue to acknowledge the Signory of this Family and the Coats of Cheyney and Nottingham viz. Azure six Lions Argent a Canton Ermin and Gules two Pales wavee Argent stand empaled in Milsted-church in coloured Classe But this Alliance though it much enhaunsed by additional improvement the Patrimony of Cheyney yet could not so strongly entwine the Interest of Bayford and Goodneston with this Name but that about the latter end of Henry the sixth they were conveyed away by Sale to Lovelace for Richard Lovelace of Queenhith in London a younger Branch of the Lovelaces of Bethersden made his Will the first of Aprill 1465 and there ordained that his Feoffees should make an Estate of his Mannors of Bayford and Goodneston in Sedingbourn which he had purchased of Cheyney to John Lovelace his Son and Heir which accordingly was performed and he invested in the Possession of them and from him did they by Descent devolve to his Crandchild Thomas Lovelace of Kingsdown who in the tenth year of Queen Elizabeth passed them away to Mr. Ralph Finch from which Family they went away by the same Revolution almost in our Fathers Memory to Alderman Garret of London who had Issue Sir John Garret of the County of Hertford whose Widow Dowager the Lady ..... Garret by right of Jointure now enjoys the Profits of both these Mannors Chilton is another Mannor in Sedingbourn which had Owners of this Sirname who likewise held another Mannor of this Name in Ash both which places William de Chilton held at his Death which was in the thirty first of Edward the first but after his Exit it did not long confesse the Propriety of this Family for about the Beginning of Edward the third it was demised by Sale to Corbie and Robert Corbie was possest of it at his Decease which was in the thirty ninth year of that Prince Rot. Esc Num. 9. and he had Issue Robert Corbie whose Sole Daughter and Heir Joan Corbie espoused Sir Nicholas Wotton twice Lord Maior of London by whom this Mannor and much other Land came by a fruitfull Augmentation to swell the Inheritance of this Family yet I find the Interest in Chilton was not solely lodged in Corbie for by ancient Deeds I discover that an old Family called Maris was concerned in some part of it likewise John de Maris held a Knights Fee in Wicheling and much other Land at Herietsham the twentieth year of Ed. the third as likewise the Mannor of Ackmere in St. Mary Crey in Castle-guard of Dover-castle and his great Grand-child William Maris was Sheriff of Kent the twenty first year of Henry the sixth and was Esquire to Henry the fifth and afterwards to Cardinall Kemp and lyes enter'd in Preston Church with so much of the Inscription left as may instruct the Reader that his Ashes slumber beneath the Tomb-stone yet before his Decease he had alienated his share in this Mannor to Nicholas Wotton Esquire from whom the united Interest of this place came down to Thomas Lord Wotton who not many years since setled it in Marriage on Katherine his eldest Daughter matched to Henry Lord Stanhop Son and Heir to Philip Earl of Chesterfeild lately deceased who still enjoyes the propriety of it In the year 1232. Henry Bishop of Rochester as Thomas Rudborne a Monk of St. Swithens in Winchester does relate came on a Sabbath Day with much exultation out of Sedingbourn Church
Folkstone But before the latter end of Edward the second this Family had diserted the Possession of this place and surrendered their Interest here to Valoigns whose Time was very brief in the enjoyment of it for Waretius de Valoigus dying without Issue Male this Mannor accompanied his Daughter and Co-heir and was upon the division of his Estate linked with much other Land to the Demeasn of her Husband Sir Thomas Fogge who was Knight of the Shire for Kent several times under the Scepter of Edward the third and Richard the second Sir Francis Fogge another of this Family lies entombed in Cheriton Church with his portraicture Cross-legged affixed to his Sepulchral Stone which implies that he had obleiged himself by some vow to assert the Cross and Sepulchre of our Saviour finally after the Proprietie of this place had by the Current of many Descents flowed in this Family it devolved to George Fogge Esquire who about the latter end of Q. Elizabeth passed it away to Mr. Henry Brockman Grand-father to Mr. James Brockman Esquire the instant Lord of the Fee Enbroke is another Mannor in Cheriton which in the twentieth year of Henry the third was the Patrimony of Peter de Alkam and after his Descendants were Extinguished at this place it came by the ordinary fate of Purchase to Enbroke who having erected a Mansion upon the Demeasn it is probable adopted it into his own Sirname and called it Enbroke John de Enbroke held it in the twentieth year of Edw. the third and paid an auxiliarie supply for it as appears by the book of Aid at making the Black Prince Knight Michael Enbroke was a great Benefactor to the Fabrick of Choriton Church in the time of Rich. the second and it is probable those antient Tombs yet visible related to these two or some of this Family the last of which was John Enbroke who flourished here in the Reign of Henry the fourth after whose departure it came to be enjoyed by Thorold or Torold and Walter Torold conveyed it to Nicholas Evering in the seventeenth year of Henry the sixth in which Family the Possession was permanent and constant until that Age which was circumscribed within our Grand-fathers remembrance and then it was alienated to Mr. John Honywood of Elmsted Ancestor to the instant Proprietary John Honywood of the same place Esquire The Tombs in the Church adorned with several Portraictures and Sculptures of Persons deceased related to these two formerly recited Families which the rude hand of Time hath crushed into the disorder of so great a Ruine that now even the Monuments and Sepulchres themselves have found an enterment in their own Dust and Rubbish Godinton in Great Chart was an ancient Mansion of a Family of that Sirname Place Godinton Court Wurthin Singleton and Nin House in Page 105. after Chelmington Simon de Godinton lived here as appears by very ancient Deeds and so did Lucas de Godinton likewise John de Godinton is portraied in Coat Armour in an ancient window in the North-Isle of the Church having an aspect upon a Crucifix in the same Glass placed above him accompanied with eleven others of eminent note in this Track depicted in the same posture with him and this John had Issue William de Godinton who flourished here as appears by his Deed in the fourth year of Richard the second but before the beginning of Henry the fourth had passed away his Interest here to Richard Simon and John Champneys and they in the sixth year of the abovesaid Prince conveyed it to Thomas Goldwell Son of William de Goldwell and he determined in a Daughter and Heir called Agnes who was affianced to Thomas Tooke of Bere by whom he had Issue Ralph Tooke Richard and John Ralph went into Hertfordshire Richard planted himself at Bere by Dover and John Tooke by Donation from his Father was invested in Godinton and continued ever since an eminent Seat of that Family and is at present the residence of that worthy person Captain Nicholas Tooke descended from * See Fox Acts and Mon. pag. 182. Holinshed Chro. pag. 2. Stows Chr. pag. 103. Sieur de Toque or Toc who is recorded in the Rolls of those who entred England with William the Conqueror who hath so industriously and elegantly cultivated and improved our English Vines that the wine pressed and extracted out of their Grapes seems not onely to paralell but almost to out-rival that of France Court Wurthin is a place of good Account in Great Chart which likewise afforded a residence to Possessors of that Sirname William de Wurtin by his Deed without Date demises Land which lay circumscribed within his Mannor of Wurtin to Quikemanus de Bere Henry de Wurtin is in the Register of those twelve eminent persons who are depicted kneeling in a Glass window in this Church the last of this Name at this place was Thomas de Wurtin who about the beginning of Henry the fourth passed it away to Thomas Goldwell by whose Heir General it came with Godinton to Thomas Tooke of Bere who setled it on his third Son Mr. John Tooke from whom it is successively by Descent come down to my Noble Friend Captain Nicholas Tooke Esquire It is observable that there is a Coat of Augmentation united to the Paternal Coat of this Family which the Tookes of Godinton bear in the first quarter viz. Argent upon a Cheveron between three Greyhounds-Heads crased Sables three Silver Plates which was given to John Tooke by Henry the seventh as a reward for his diligence in that Embassie in which he was employed by that Prince the Plates were an Embleme of his Guerdon or Salary and the Creyhounds-Heads a Symbol of his Celeritie Singleton is another eminent Mansion in this Parish which had owners of that Sirname and bore in ancient Armorials as appears by their Deeds Two Cheverons between three Martletts Henry de Singleton is one of those twelve eminent Persons that are depicted kneeling in Coat Armour in a window in Great Chart Church and John Singleton this mans Successor was Justice of the Peace for this County in the Reign of Richard the second and Henry the fourth as appears by an old Roll of the Justices of those times collected by Thin But after this mans Exit the Title was not long wedded to this Family for about the latter end of Henry the sixth I find the Edinghams or Enghams to be by Purchase entituled to the Possession whâ— added much to the Lustre of the ancient Pile by adorning its Fabrick with increase of Building and contniued proprietaries of it untill the beginning of King James and then it was passed away by Sir Edward Engham to Richard Brown Esquire a Cadet or younger Branch of the Browns of Betsworth Castle in Surrey from whom it descended to his Grandchild Mr. Richard Brown who being very lately deceased it is now in behalf of Dower the Habitation of his Widow Mrs. Elizabeth Brown Daughter of Sir William Andrews